[TWS] Chapter 275 – Loyalty to the Grave (Patreon)

Asterios spent a while longer examining Althea, squinting his eyes as his gaze roamed over her figure. No one said anything yet, waiting for him to finish. Civienne wanted to ask what he meant, but Althea managed to silence the queen with a single glance. She could feel Ast’s focus and didn’t want to disrupt it.

After a moment, Asterios let out a soft sigh and his eyes found Althea’s gaze once more, this time paying proper attention to her rather than the inner, spiritual aspects.

“Do you know anything about the disease?” the queen finally spoke up.

“It might not be a disease,” he replied, causing her to raise a brow at him. “I would like to learn a bit more about what you know about it.”

“If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask openly and I shall answer them to my utmost ability.” Althea politely lowered her head.

“I’m sure you can feel the pain coming from your spiritual circuits, but is there anything related to your body, perhaps?” he asked.

“I don’t think I can give you a straight answer to that. From the moment I noticed something wrong, the moment I started growing weaker, I quickly began suppressing the development of whatever is happening to me by reinforcing my body. I’m not sure how much that helps exactly, but I’m not dead yet so it should be doing something,” Althea replied. “Unfortunately, I’m not able to do much about my circuits. I can only focus on one aspect and keeping my body relatively healthy is already taking almost everything out of me.”

“Do you remember when it all began?” Asterios started looking over the visible parts of the woman’s skin.

“A few months ago, no longer than half a year, I think. I’m unable to pinpoint a more accurate timeframe. Who knows for how long I might have been experiencing the initial symptoms before it grew enough for me to notice that something is wrong?” She shook her head gently. “I’ve been suppressing my body for about ten weeks or so. It’s getting increasingly more difficult. I’m not sure for how long I can continue this. If the pace at which I keep getting weaker doesn’t change, I predict a month or two at best.”

“It’s incredible that you were able to fight it back for so long,” Bryn commended the Dragon lady. “Would strong Healing Magic extend that period? Assuming that we could supply a more or less constant stream of it to keep revitalizing your body?”

“It might, but not much. As Asterios said, I can feel that my spiritual circuits are getting worse. What use will healing my flesh be when they inevitably fail?” Althea sighed dejectedly. “I presume it would bring me a little more comfort before my final moments.”

Feeling the slight shift underneath him, Asterios glanced over his shoulder and met Bryn’s golden eyes. They didn’t need to exchange words to communicate and he smiled warmly at the kind Valkyrie. Standing up, he let her get out from under him and Miria quickly took her place. As the girls moved to accommodate the change, a spot near Althea was created and their winged friend quickly took it.

While Miria pulled Asterios down into her snuggly embrace with an adorable grin, Bryn touched Althea’s forearm and assumed a focused expression. “I’ll at least do what I can to make it easier for you while we are here.”

“Thank you.” Althea nodded at her and then at Asterios.

“Before you start, though, I might want to suggest something,” he said, capturing their attention. “I’m not sure if you will be willing to agree to it.”

“What do you have in mind?” The queen glared at him with slight uncertainty in her cold gaze.

“I’m fairly sure about my guess but I would like to be certain. To do that, I would need Althea to stop restoring her body for a moment,” he explained.

“No.” Civienne shot him down instantly.

Before she could continue emphasizing her stance, Althea raised her hand. “Let him continue.”

“Of course, only if you think that you will be able to fight this disease back to a bearable level,” Asterios added. “I don’t want you to cross the line a bit too far.”

The emerald-haired woman pondered for a moment while holding Ast’s gaze. “With your companion’s help, I might be able to. I did manage to improve the condition of my body after noticing how far the disease had developed but I was much less drained at that time. Right now, I’m afraid that letting go while alone would be passing the point of no return.”

“But with Bryn, it should be alright?” He raised a brow at her. “I don’t want to risk your health too much just to confirm my suspicions.”

“I didn’t use my full power earlier,” Bryn joined in, brushing her fingers over Althea’s smooth skin. “And I can always draw on more of your energy, Master. I don’t have much experience with both of your Hearts at once but I’m confident in being able to manage it.”

“Then that should be alright.” Althea glanced between them before stopping back at Asterios. “What do you need of me?”

Asterios tapped Miria’s thigh and she unwrapped herself from him. Seeing Asterios moving around the table, Tina hopped into his place and the girls made some space once more. He arrived by Althea’s side and stopped, looking down at the queen. She stared back at him for a moment, a bit hesitant, until she finally relented and slid away too, letting him sit directly next to her mentor.

“I would need to examine your eyes for a brief moment. I bet the disease will spread quickly after being held back for so long so just a few seconds should be enough. Before we try that, though, it would be stupid not to check in your current state.” Asterios reached out to the woman’s beautiful face and paused. “May I?”

She nodded and offered him her cheek. Asterios gently touched it and began guiding her head.

“Look up, please,” he requested and she did as he asked. “Thank you. Now down.”

They repeated the motion a few times so that Asterios could get a good look at the whites of her eyes from both above and below. Withdrawing his hand, he met Althea’s faintly expectant gaze again.

“Nothing, unfortunately. Or fortunately. I’m not sure which is worse.” He showed a small smile. “Do you want to go ahead?”

“Let us try.” She nodded.

Asterios nodded back and turned to Bryn. “Be ready to start anytime.”

Instead of replying, the Valkyrie began preparing herself. Asterios placed his hand on Althea’s cheek once more, waited a second for the Dragon lady to be ready too, and as soon as she took a deep breath, he lifted her face a bit and kept staring at her eye from below.

Immediately, he noticed how quickly her skin began turning paler by the second but that wasn’t exactly what he was looking for. Hoping that he really wasn’t just pointlessly endangering the woman, he squinted and poured his draconic mana into his pupils, enhancing his sight, but without turning it magical.

Just moments before he was going to call the examination off with a failure, he caught sight of minimal change and it was more than enough.

“Now,” he ordered Bryn right away, Althea taking it as her signal to start fighting back too.

He watched as Bryn’s healing energy flowed into Althea’s arm as the Valkyrie’s forehead wrinkled from heavy focus. The Dragon lady did her best to take care of things from the inside. A deep breath escaped Ast’s lips, one he hadn’t even been aware he was holding, as Althea’s complexion slowly returned to a slightly more natural shade. It definitely was still sickly, but not deathly.

“Did you catch anything, Master?” Miria asked curiously.

“Yes.” He nodded. “Stripes.”

She and Selene inhaled sharply while the other girls exchanged knowing glances.

“What does that mean?” the queen asked.

“Poison,” Asterios answered. “Quite a nasty one. And one you might possibly be acquainted with already. To some extent.”

As Civienne frowned, he fished out a small vial out of his spatial ring and held it out to Althea.

“I don’t know if this will take care of it completely, but it should at least buy us some more time,” he said.

She took it without a hint of hesitation and gently drank its entire contents. “I’m getting warm inside.”

“Good. That means it’s working.” Asterios smiled at her. “Now, how many visitors does Althea usually get here?”

“Besides me, none,” the queen answered.

“Is there anyone else who knows about her?” he continued.

“The Coven of Elders is aware of Althea’s existence and influence since she becomes the teacher of every new queen. They are the ones to guide the candidate here in case the previous queen’s rule ends abruptly, without proper succession,” Civienne replied.

“Which most likely means death,” Grea commented.

“Besides us, well, every single elf knows that our race is protected by a Lesser Dragon. The population isn’t exactly aware if that means some kind of a blessing, a divine entity watching over us, or a draconic being actually living underneath the Garden of Sinners,” the woman added.

“The truth being the last,” Silvia pointed out.

“Correct.” The queen nodded. “And I can see where you are going with this. There is no way that anyone allowed in here would dare to poison our sacred guardian. It’s a sin equal to trying to harm the Tree of Life. Besides, none of the elders has descended here in years. They don’t feel worthy. Even the queens don’t.”

“There’s still a chance that you might have done it. Unknowingly, of course,” Selene suggested. “I assume even a Dragon can’t forever feed only on essence, even if it comes straight from the Tree of Life. At least not without hibernating or something.”

The queen’s eyes widened briefly in shock at her words, just long enough for Asterios to catch the faint change in the woman’s icy expression, but she quickly regained her composure. She most likely couldn’t completely refute the possibility.

She turned her focus to Asterios. “You said that this is familiar, right? And that I’m supposedly acquainted with this poison?”

He nodded. “The poison cult. You did work with King Welrond to take care of it if I’m not mistaken.”

Some realization flashed in the queen’s gaze. “Yes. And with the other rulers. We coordinated to strike down all their hideouts in our lands at the same time. They should have been all eliminated.”

“Granted, none of them moved instantly after Asterios’ raid on the first complex in the land of Damascu Clan,” Silvia shared her thoughts. “I heard that they sealed the area to prevent any communication but we can’t be sure if the word hadn’t gotten out somehow.”

“Or if there aren’t any places that have been missed,” Tina added.

“The timing does match,” Althea said calmly, staring intently at the table. “And it’s the only moment in years that I left this chamber, to participate in one of the raids.”

“Right.” The queen sighed heavily. “We needed all the strongest people for that. I don’t remember you getting hurt though, Teacher. Unless you are hiding something from me.”

A delicate smirk curled the Dragon lady’s lips as she shook her head. “I might be a Dragon but I’m not so prideful to conceal my wounds from my closest friends. I was at full strength back then. The laboratory I was deployed to posed no challenge to me.”

“Well, even if Lady Althea was somehow poisoned during her mission, it’s all good now that Master gave her the antidote, no?” Miria asked, tilting her head a little.

“Only time will tell. It won’t work that fast. Especially after she suffered from the poison so much,” Asterios replied. “But, I don’t think the poison we have the antidote for was strong enough to give this much trouble to a Dragon, even a lesser one. Don’t forget that those labs didn’t seem to collaborate too heavily. They certainly shared pointers and knowledge but each facility conducted its own tests on various races.”

“They did seem to be working on some kind of ultimate poison capable of killing everything that lives.” Selene tapped her chin. “If it’s this effective on a Lesser Dragon, the variant that might be in play here could possibly be a much more advanced one.”

“What if…” Tina frowned as her eyes jumped all over the table as she pondered something, catching everyone’s attention. “What if their target is the Tree of Life? At least for the researchers on these lands?”

Grea grunted. “That would mean—”

“That they know about it in the first place,” the queen interjected. “The elders would have to leak its existence and that is just not possible. Their vows are incredibly severe. They would literally die if someone tried to read their mind without Althea’s permission. There’s a reason no elder has ever been kidnapped. It gives the captors nothing. No secrets of the nation can be extracted from them.”

“So, none of them went missing recently? Or quit?” Miria asked.

Civienne shook her head. “It’s not a position that lets one quit whenever they want. It’s a lifelong responsibility and servitude. And that lifetime is much longer than the average lifespan of an elf. The Coven of Elders shares a connection with the Tree of Life, which grants them something close to immortality. Most of the current elders are old enough to almost remember the unharmed Tree itself. There was no change in their circle for decades.”

“But was there one?” Asterios raised a brow at her.

The queen searched her memories for a while. “Immortal doesn’t mean that they can’t die. I think the last change in the ranks of the Coven happened about a century ago, a few years after my inauguration. One of the elders lost his life in an accident at his own home. Broken spine, from what I can remember. He was found at the bottom of quite tall, spiraling stairs, possibly falling over the railing. It's been a long time.”

“The first facility, or rather prison, that we have found with Master, was under an old, abandoned watchtower in human lands,” Selene reminded them. “It was long abandoned too. It’s only the second time we stumbled on these people that we found an active hideout. We have no idea for how long this cult has been running.”

“I fail to see the connection here,” Civienne admitted.

“Besides the change you mentioned, when was any earlier one?” Asterios asked.

“A much, much longer time ago for sure. Multiple centuries. But I still—”

“What if it wasn’t an accident?” he suggested, interrupting the queen, whose mouth hung open for a moment.

“It doesn’t change anything,” she replied after regathering her wits. “Even if it was an assassination or whatever else, the fact that he is dead persists.”

“And you made sure that he really was dead, right?” Asterios looked between the two women.

Althea and Civienne exchanged glances before the queen turned to him again. “Our healers definitely checked his state. They would have tried to help however they could, inspecting the injury.”

“What happened to the body, then?” he continued his questioning.

“All the deceased elders receive the grace of being buried underneath the Tree of Life. In the past, this was the sacred burial chamber. This tradition continues up to this day. The mentioned elder lies further away from this bower, amongst the other few, most of them ancient,” Althea answered.

“Should I grab a shovel?” Grea grinned, happy that there would be some action at last.

The queen stood up, looking offended. “You can’t be thinking about desecrating the hallowed burial grounds of our race. I will not allow it.”

“I will obviously not force anything on you, Your Majesty, but personally, I’m of the belief that the living are much more important than the dead. And we are trying to save your friend from joining the latter,” Asterios replied, firmly holding her gaze. “I’m not the one to judge the matters of your nation, but the ‘what if’ feels extremely serious in this case.”

Civienne scowled at him but said nothing.

Althea reached out to hold her hand. “Sit down, Little Lavender. His words feel sincere. I don’t believe he would suggest such an offensive action lightly.”

The queen seemed torn. Asterios could understand, of course. It was a sensitive subject and she felt responsible for the sacred grounds of her people. But, after a while, she must have come to a decision and sighed heavily, taking her seat once more.

“I will follow your will, Teacher,” Civienne said.

“We aren’t grave robbers. It’s possible to excavate a tomb with respect. We will make sure that everything proceeds with proper regard and consideration. Our new friends agree with this, right?” Althea glanced over Asterios and the girls, pausing on Grea for a longer moment.

They all nodded, including the demon woman. She knew better than to take her jokes too far or show any improper expressions. Everyone started standing up and slowly making their way out of the roofless bower, which was now pretty much just a table surrounded by a low fence with benches on the inside.

As Althea was stepping out onto the path, the queen held a hand on her shoulder. “You should stay here, Teacher. There’s no need for you to strain your body any further. I can lead them to the burial grounds on my own.”

“You needn’t worry about me so much, Little Lavender. I’m feeling much better after receiving Bryn’s aid. And the antidote from Asterios seems to be slowly helping too,” the Dragon lady replied with a gentle smile.

“I will continue using my magic as we walk,” Bryn added. “I’m capable of not breaking my focus with simple, regular movements.”

The queen didn’t argue anymore. Before they departed, though, Asterios approached his winged mate and offered to replenish the Valkyrie’s reserves, sharing more of his draconic mana with her too. She accepted his loving kiss with a faint blush and peppered his lips with delicate nibbles, trying to hide their faces behind one of her majestic wings, which made Asterios chuckle.

Althea walked first and everyone else followed the ancient Lesser Dragon through the lush, magical woods. There was no path leading through it but she seemed to know exactly where to go. The girls felt a little bit lost after the bower disappeared from their sight. Every direction seemed pretty much identical and the fake sky wasn’t of much help.

After a few minutes of a slow stroll, they came out of the trees and found another small hill, this one a bit bigger than the one with the bower. It spanned wider with an almost completely flat topside. They didn’t see any structures atop it until they climbed higher. Beautiful flower formations surrounded the rise, though.

Stepping onto the plateau, they found evenly spaced wooden tombstones. There weren’t many, just a few. The elders really were long-lived. Each tombstone was a unique work of art, clearly prepared by the best artisans of the nation. The only matching element between all of them was the font of the inscriptions. A modest but still respectable burial place.

“So… The shovel?” Grea asked, trying not to sound cynical.

The queen still scoffed at her.

“I’ve recovered enough to take care of this. You might need to reform the grave back, though,” Althea said and moved closer to the correct tombstone.

The Dragon lady knelt some distance from it and pressed her hands to the grass, starting to whisper a chant. Asterios knew inherently that it was done in Draconic. He still hadn’t really properly learned the language so he made a mental note to ask Althea if she wouldn’t be willing to give him some pointers or help with it.

In any way, his attention was soon back on the patch of earth that began shifting in front of their eyes. The grass split in the middle with a thin line and receded to the sides. The mud began bubbling and wriggling, forming two moving waves that met in the center. They flowed into each other and their level gradually lowered. After about a minute, the movement stopped.

Miria peered into the rectangular hole. “Ummm… Where is the coffin?”

“We don’t bury our people in coffins. They return to nature as they are, accepting the embrace of earth,” Civienne explained.

“That still fails to explain the lack of any remains.” Grea snorted. “Or is this place somehow special? Does the Tree of Life absorb them through the soil or something?”

“No. There still should be bones or at least traces of clothes and jewelry.” Althea shook her head after standing up. “Which means…”

“That he pulled a smart one on you,” Asterios finished for her. “Or someone took the body.”

“This is impossible.” The queen didn’t seem to come to an agreement with the answer. “There’s no way to leave this place without Althea or the sentries noticing. And what would desecrating his grave help anyone?”

“Do the oaths still work after someone’s death?” Asterios pondered. “There certainly are ways to communicate with the deceased. We personally spoke with a Phantasmal Horror. You can’t cross out the possibility of someone creating one intentionally. It could take a while, but about a century might be enough.”

“The oaths…” Civienne hesitated.

“Was this person powerful?” Tina asked.

“He was a knowledgeable magician. The stairs he was found at were in his sizable, personal library,” Althea answered.

“Then we can’t exclude the possibility of him preparing spells to somehow sneak out. He could have received some kind of poison that puts someone in a death-like state, got out of his grave, and fled,” Asterios pondered out loud. “The sentries change shifts, right?”

“Of course.” The queen nodded.

“He could have taken one out and impersonated them,” Silvia suggested.

“And if he joined the cult, they might have found a way to get around the oaths,” Selene added. “Might have already had it before turning the elder to their side, using it as a bargaining chip.”

“We can stand here and keep speculating forever,” Asterios said, turning to face everyone, focusing on the queen. “One thing is certain. You have a rat. And a quite big one at that.”

★━━━━━━━━━━━━Author's Notes━━━━━━━━━━━━★

I will be trying to drop two chappies tomorrow (or today considering the time) but we will see how that goes. So far it's not the best :v