Ad Astra - The Alagore War

AA V0 Prolog, Chapter 4

"Still the romantic," the Natilite said. "It is nice to see you again, Reagel. I would have been here sooner, but convincing the City-States to join our cause had proven troublesome."

"As I feared and expected," Raegel said. "Did any join our cause?"

The Valkyrie held her hand up to silence Raegel. "I have lots to say, but first, I do not think your daughter remembers me."

Raegel looked toward his daughter and laughed. "My apologies. Fraeya, this is an old friend of mine, Natilite. Natilite, this is my daughter, Fraeya."

The Templar took Fraeya's hand gently and held it up with a smile. "It is nice to meet you in person finally."

Staring at the Valkyrie golden-eyes, Fraeya felt nervous and embarrassed as she was scared by this woman's confidence. The words struggled to form within her mouth.

Natilite pulled back but giggled. "I apologize if I was too forward."

"No, no," Fraeya said. "It is not that. It is nice to meet you, Natilite. How long have you two been friends?"

"Oh, a long time now, I think," Natilite said.

"It has been," Raegel said. "We met one day during a dig. If I recall, the nearby town hired you to kill me."

Fraeya's ears perked again after hearing what her father said. She then watched the valkyrie chuckle. "You tried to kill my father?"

"It was my job," Natilite said. "I remember it was yesterday. I was passing by, and the townsfolk begged me to kill this elf who was disrespecting these ruins from the old era. So, I rushed off to kill him."

"Why would you do such a thing?" Fraeya asked. She then felt her father place a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"It is okay, my daughter," Raegel said. "It is water under the bridge. You know most people do not like it when people bother the ruins. Most think they are cursed and all that."

"Well," Natilite said. "I would still agree that they are cursed, but when I found your father, I decided to spy on him and see what he was doing. Only a fool would risk their lives in exploring the orilla."

Orilla. Past civilizations, ruins, structures, legends. If the children of Alagore agreed on anything, that orilla must be forgotten and feared. What remains of it litters throughout Alagore. Some ruins lay underground, within mountains. Very rarely, some are in plain sight, either from decay or destroyed from some orlilla warfare. Fraeya learned from the academy that no one can search for anything from orlilla.

She does not understand why. Her father always said that was why he left Thali'ean, as they kept impeding his world. Why she did not know why the elves made searching for anything related to orlilla taboo, she heard plenty of stories from the professors of fools going to search for these ruins and relics. The professors said the lucky ones found nothing, while the unlucky ones were dead.

"I would agree with you," Fraeya said with a chuckle. "My father can be a fool. But I want to know what happened."

"As I watched," Natilite said. "I realized that he was not dangerous. Maybe to himself, but no one else. So, I studied him for a few days. Wondering what he was trying to do. I only showed myself once a party of orcs came."

"You fought off a party of orcs alone!? I knew valkyries were skilled warriors, but one cannot defeat a horde. And I mean no offense, a female warrior would.... I mean..., I am impressed the worst did not unfold." Fraeya placed her hands on her cheeks as she struggled to properly what she wanted to say. She felt the stress of what she wanted to say and what was the proper way to say it.