MISTRESS OF NATURE

CHAPTER 8

The four blessed queens of Yther were imprisoned and exploited.

The Infernal Empire wanted the Mistress of Nature for her blood and presence. Sollel never kept it to herself what her blood could do. To help the humans and everyone who wanted to forge, she had gifted them her blood. But that was enough to humans whose greed knows no bounds. They wanted all of Mistress of Flames blood. Every last drop. So Queen Sollel was imprisoned in the empire.

While the kingdom took and imprisoned Gatria for her presence alone could alleviate the land and its agriculture. Knowing about the Mistress of Flame's blood ability, they too harvested the Mistress of Nature's blood to use as a fertilizer to their land— to make it more bountiful. But what they didn't count on was Queen Gatria's resentment that turned the kingdom's one's bountiful land into a barren land. As a result, they needed more of the Mistress of Nature's blood to survive in the barren land that they had become dependent on her.

The next was the archipelago who chose and imprisoned the Mistress of the High Seas. They knew that they could not fully weaken Queen Aenwyn because her prison was under the water, but the presence of the Mistress of the High Seas could alleviate sea hunting and calm the raging humongous waves that pester the archipelago. As long as Queen Aenwyn was in prison, the citizen of the archipelago will have a peaceful, prosperous and safe life. What they didn't count was Queen Aenwyn's boredom and the form of entertainment she wanted to ease her boredom away.

And last was Caelum Kingdom. A small, but the most advance of all kingdoms. And they had one goal, to turn their kingdom into a floating one, for they believed that through that, they will reach the deities and have their blessing to be deities themselves. And the Mistress of the wind was the answer to their plight. Using their latest technology and Queen Astrid's presence and blood, the Caelum Kingdom had become the Sky Castle. Floating in Azitera above everyone else.

Gatria found out the reason why the four kingdoms imprisoned them through Treven and Warlord Hakkeran. When she read the real history after the Yther's sieged, she nearly exploded in anger. But not wanting to harm the people in Adral, she reigned her anger in.

And now, she had to curl her anger again. For the sake of Azitera.

But seeing the state the Belrac was in when they arrived, Gatria couldn't explain the mixed feelings that overcome her.

Belrac had now become a barren town. Gone the bustling town and the bountiful forest that the citizen of Belrac was so proud and thankful of. Now, instead of the forest, monsters pestered their town and soldiers and hunters alike surrounds the town's wall to fend off the monsters, but it was a failing battle.

There was never a day that there was no large numbers of casualties and as days passed, the people in Belrac started abandoning their own town for greener pasture which was understandable for everyone, but still a hard truth to swallow. But what else could they do? Belrac was no longer safe and everyone knew that.

"... and that's the situation here in Belrac." Said the man at the town's gate when Treven asked him what happened to the town when they entered and saw its state.

The man was Count Salas, a noble of birth. He stayed in town instead of escaping to the capital to try and save his home. He was on the front line and Treven didn't even know that he was a Count until he introduced himself when Treven asked what happened to the town.

"We need all the help we can get," Count Salas did not hide his intention in Gatria's group who all looked like strong warriors. The group, after all, entered Belrac from the barren land and they all looked unharmed, not even a sign of fatigue was seen. In Count Salas' understanding, they had to be strong to be able to cross such dangerous terrain. Only hunters ever dared to traverse the barren land and there was no assurance that they'll reach their destination in one piece. Of course, he didn't know the woman that seemed to be the one in control of the group was the Mistress of Nature.