"My head hurts..." I groaned, thumping said head on the desk.
The library had gotten a lot of upgrades since I had helped out when we first arrived at the estate. The number of shelves and books, for one. The kobolds had left most of their things back at there village, they were in a hurry to escape, after all. But there were more than a few suborn old book lovers that had insisted on packing up at least some of their collections, and copies of those books and scrolls had been made to add to this collection.
But it wasn't just the books. Some crazy smart monster or Demi-human had convinced the builders to get a fireplace in here, and it, as well as the new cozy chairs and desks had made this room one of my favorites in the whole estate now. I figured a fire place in a library would be bad for the books, but I was told that Reihekiu- who had taken to teaching magic to those with an aptitude, as well as becoming the resident blacksmith- had performed some spell on the thing so it wouldn't result in heat damage, nor would ash and soot get on the works.
Still, the up-do did nothing to improve my current mood.
"Barring some kind of high level magical interference, I am quite sure you are incapable of getting a head ache, Lady Enna." My torturer said, amused smirk firmly in place on his handsome face.
Margund, The goblin king himself, had made it his personal mission to get me up to date on everything he knew about the monster races that were to be present at the up coming summit. Apparently, the moment he heard of it, he decided that it would be best if we went together, despite the fact that it meant that he would have to travel for twice as long.
So, I have been in study hall hell for the last three days. Tomorrow we would be on our way to the harpy's lands.
"Aren't you supposed to be protecting me?" I asked Lagdon, the younger brother of my torturer. He stood several feet away, skimming though some titles. He couldn't fool me, however. He may know how to read, but I knew for a fact that his least favorite place to be was here. He hated studying more than I did. "Where is your sense of loyalty?" I sighed, rolling my head slightly so that I could glare at him without having to pick up my head.
"You're fine." Lagdon said, shaking his head and disappearing behind a shelf. Like a freaking traitor.
"I thought you wanted to learn this?" Laughed Margund. He was slightly shorter and slimmer than Lagdon, but he always carried the air of an older brother, and especially that of a king. It had been that way, even before they had evolved to hobgoblins. Though, technically, Margund had evolved into the rare subspecies of Goblin Lord. It suited him well, as it was essentially a more regal type of hobgoblin.
"Learn, yes. Though Cram School? No way." I said, picking up my head and glaring down a rather good drawing of an ogre. It was detailed but lacking color, so I could not see the vibrant skin colors the race was known for.
According to my trauma inducing studies, Ogres were a peek evolution of a small, nearly blind, race of cave dwelling monsters known as Gremlins. But Ogres were about the opposite of that. They were as big as the hobgoblins with skin colors ranging from bright reds, deep blues, or even lime green. They had a variety of horns, usually inherited via the maternal line, and sharp, pointed teeth.
They seemed like a really interesting race. Margund had told me that it was the Ogres and the Harpies that were the apex races when Aeros ran things. I found that odd, given I had been told that the goblins had been Aeros' favorites. But, apparently, they were the favorite in that Aeros thought they were amusing, and their subservience to him was desired. Essentially, harpies and ogres were the jocks and goblins were the teacher's pets.
The third race that I was likely to meet at the summit were the Equestrians. It was a name used to encompass the monster line, much like how I call all hobgoblins or goblane 'goblins' or how the foxie and foxmen to me were just 'the foxes'.
As the name suggested, they were a monster race of horses, evolved from the very simple monster known as an equas. They, essentially looked quite similar to a mundane horse, but had some skill in using earth based magic. With Aeros' blessing some evolved into other races, like Pegasus, or unicorns... apparently there were even a couple hippocampi. But most evolved into the branch race known as sterna, they were about the size of the massive Shire Horses of my old world. They may as well be skinny elephants with feet that could take a man's head off without a thought.
The sterna were a magical based race. Where the equas specialized in earth magic alone, the sterna could be born to any element, and the element they were born specializing in would effect things like the color of their hide. They were a truly beautiful race.
According to Margund, they were considered an intelligent race in that they were self aware and possessed language. But they were pretty primitive and had not need for books, writing, math, or anything else that most might think of as intelligence. They were proud and suborn, and refused to be left out of any summits, however, even if they rarely interacted in them.
"Shouldn't I be helping with preparations for tomorrow?" I asked, in a last ditched attempt to skip out on another hour of staring at paper.
"You are a Land god." Smirked Margund, his face infuriatingly soft and relaxed. This man always seemed amused and understanding. "If it is silly for a king like me to be down their, running around, collecting rations and making sure the Rohgek don't have sore feet, than it would be down right scandalous to have you doing it."
"But-"
"I am sure your people are more than trustworthy enough to get the job done with out you micro managing them."
But I wasn't going to do that...
"And it would be just as discourteous to be down their, under their feet, distracting them, while they worked." The kings mouth was smiling, but his eyes were squinted, knowingly. Shoot, I was found out.
I groaned again, bopping my head back on the table with a thud.
"You may as well send her to bed." I heard Lagdon sigh from around the corner. "She will just keep moaning."
"I hope Reinga comes back soon." I said, maybe a little cattily. But I was tired and Lagdon always got so relaxed and deferential when Margund was around. The relaxed was annoying, cause it wouldn't kill him to chill out around me too. As for the other thing... well, a non-in-charge-Lagdon was just weird to see.
"That's not funny." He snapped, poking his head around the corner.
But the desired effect had been achieved. Margund perked up at Lagdon reaction and asked "Who is Reinga?"
"No one!" Snapped Lagdon, hurrying over and and yanking my smiling self to my feet.
"Probably your future sister-in-law." I said as Lagdon frog marched me out of the library, leaving Margund grinning, still seating in a chair that looked way to small for his massive form.
"That was uncalled for." Lagdon huffed once he was sure Margund wasn't following us and we were out of earshot of his body guards who were stationed outside the library doors.
"You should have saved me hours ago." I said, stretching out. I was still getting used to being full grown again. "We both know that you were laughing on the inside while I was being tortured.
He didn't even have the decency to deny it.
We walked to my room in companionable silence, passing only a few people on the way, due to the late hour. Twp hobgoblins stood guard outside my room tonight, and I thanked them for their hard work before wishing Lagdon a good night. Tomorrow would be busy and the workaholic needed some rest.
Kishi was already curled up on my over sized bed. At a distance, you may not even think she was roughly the size of a horse. She had looked up briefly when I entered, but settled back down immediately. It was going to be a long trip for her as well. She would be carrying me.
I tried to banish that idea, especially when I was informed that they were going to make a saddle for Kishi to wear. She was my friend, not a pack mule. But even Kishi insisted on it, saying she would feel much better if I were with her for the long trip rather than locked in a wooden box. Apparently it was either ride on Kishi, or these over protective monsters were hell bent on making me a dang carriage. And a carriage would be a huge pain given the lack of roads in this forest.
I had given in. As per usual.
No that I was full size again, I didn't need sleep, but it had become a habit to settle in with Kishi and Mittens- when he and Kishi were moderately civil to each other- and read a book or something. But tonight I was planning on doing something that had been neglected as of late: Visit my mind space.
It wasn't so much that I had forgotten to, just that it had been a hectic few weeks. And when I was 'Little Enna' I couldn't enter the dang place. Every time I tried I would just fall into a dreamless sleep.
I got ready for bed, ran my fingers through Kishi's fur, and clambered up to join her, her warmth firmly at my back. Once I was settled in, the grouchy cat appeared out of nowhere and settled down against my belly, stoutly avoiding eye contact. I'd win him over eventually.
It was surprisingly easy to enter the dreamscape this time. Almost as soon as I shut my eyes I was there. But I could tell immediately that things were very different. Though, at first I couldn't pinpoint why...
The trees were the same, same purple blossoms... There was the dais with its Greacen pillars and the merry fire dancing in it. And it was still dark.
Then I realized that, yes, the trees were the same, but the seemed farther away than I remembered, making a good sized clearing around the temple now. The fire was dancing, alright. A little too much. It looked as if there was a fierce wind tossing it about, embers flicking up and around. And the temple itself looked odd. After a second I realized that it was because it now had a domed roof where it had previously been open to the stars.
Well. it wasn't like this didn't happen every time I came here. Still, something felt very off. Was it darker than usual?
I was mid, lifting my head I gaze up at the normally star strewn sky when I heard something i had never thought I would here in this space: A woman crying like a two-year-old, followed by pleas for help.
My eyes jerked back down just in time to see a small woman with a long mane of curly, fiery red hair, big, tear streaked, blue eyes, and a pale skinned face etched with fear.
"What-?" I managed to get out just as the woman- barely above four feet tall- slammed into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me, and wrapped her slender, yet oddly strong arms around me.
"Don't let him eat me!" She bawled, shivering against my diaphragm.
"Hu?"
I heard a deep rumbling noise, and felt my head start to rise again, back to the sky once again. Up, up... up.
Wide eyed, I found my neck bent back and my wide lilac eyes staring into the huge eyes and even bigger teeth of an obsidian black monster.
"Why is that thing here!?" Wailed the girl at my hip.
Wait, why were either of these beings here? What the heck was going on!?
"You are the one trespassing here." Growled what was now, very clearly, a dang dragon. A dragon bigger that a commercial air plane!
"I Just came to introduce myself! I though you were dead, you cantankerous old demon!" The redhead spat at the dragon, glaring while hiding behind me.
"Wait! Stop!" I shouted, waving my arms frantically. "What in the world is going on?" I glared up at the dragon first. Should I fear a dragon that had teeth nearly as tall as me, who could swallow me in one bite? Sure. But I recognized the voice and so I was more incredulous that afraid. I suppose that just shows how acclimatized I had become to dealing with monsters that could snap me in half if they really wanted too... This ain't my hospital bed anymore.
"Aeros!" I snapped at the mountain of scales, towering above me. "Why aren't you dead?"
"Well, that is surprisingly blood thirsty of you, human." Mused the dragon. I just glared back. "I am dead, this isn't me."
"What?" I asked, flabbergasted. What the heck was that supposed to mean. Feeling bad for the strange, terrified girl, I set a comforting hand on her head.
The dragon sighed, settling back so that I didn't have to crane my neck back to look at him. I saw that his big, obsidian scaled body, was seated behind my temple, and that he had been blocking out a good chunk of the sky.
"I am but an imprint of the dragon known as Aeros. An after image. A pale imitation of a mana ghost." He said, waving a paw in a circular mothing, causing a gust of wind.
"What?" I asked, yet again.
Aeros narrowed his eyes at me. "I sometimes forget how slow humans are..." He sighed again, then proceeded to speak slowly, like I was an infant. "You recently took in a significant- er, large- amount of concentrated mana that had once been mine. Due to its size and concentration, it held a slim piece of my consciousness within it. A manifestation, if you will... Do you know what mani-?"
"Yes I know what it means!" I snapped, annoyed at the dragon already. "Can you not, I don't know, go away?" I asked, really not wanting to deal with this insufferable, self involved, neglectful, egotistical...
"I can not." He said. "Though, you may, eventually, burn though the mana that holds this portion of my self. You are the god now, after all. How a human has succeeded me, I have no idea."
"Do you not remember the last time we spoke?" I asked, my curiosity putting a temporary hold on my ire.
"No." Said the dragon. "I am not the- 'real'- Aeros. Just an imprint that had been left in the condensed mana of the Dark. Why would I speak with a human?"
"You are doing it now, aren't you?" I asked, back to being annoyed.
"Tch."
"Must you be so large?" I asked, yet another question. It was really very annoying having to crane my neck to speak with him.
"This is in your head." Said the woman, still clinging to me and glaring teary eyed at the dragon. "You can make this manifestation any way you like. Or banish it completely." She added acidly. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one displeased to se the former god.
I sighed, and focused on the dragon. As I watched, he shrank in size. He still was not small, but at the sized of an extremally heavy giraffe, he was much easier to speak to. Aeros eyed his new size with distaste, but didn't complain.
"Now, who are you." I asked the woman, who blinked up at me innocently. then i glared back at the dragon. "And don't you go anywhere, I am not done with you yet." The dragon made another 'tch' sound but listened all the same.
I turned back to the woman.
"Oh!" She said, followed by releasing me and taking a few hops backward so I could get a good look at her. "I'm Pilo!"
"Pilo? Not to be rude, but I don't know that name." I said.
She giggled. "I am not surprised. Most Land Gods are actually not well known by name, you know. Unlike you and that horrendous dragon over there."
"So I have been told."
Pilo was very short. It could just be that it just ran in her family, but I had a suspicion that it was more race related, than a family trait. She looked sweet and delicate, but I could see a mischievous glint to her eyes as well. And despite her youthful looks and the childish way she acted, I also sensed that she was much older than she appeared. Maybe even as old as the currently ignored dragon who was examining his now smaller claws like he couldn't be bothered.
"I look after the plains land to the west of your lands." Pilo went on. Her fear of Aeros seemed to have been forgotten. That or she had a great deal of trust in my ability to keep a ages old death machine in check that she really should have.
"You mean, Pern?" I asked, surprised. It was the kingdom located to the west, after all.
"No. Well, maybe?" She said, confusing me. "I assume 'Pern' is the name of a city or some such? I don't really bother myself with the happenings of the races." She said, waving a disinterested hand. "I protect the entire plains lands there. The borders of humans, elves, or dwarves mean very little to me. I am not a land god who cares to much about what the people do, so long as it doesn't interfere with the land itself."
Ah, so Pilo was what others would call a 'typical' land god. She didn't care to much about worshipers, or intense interference like myself. So long as the land was happy, she was happy. And that made her a hundred times better than the dang lizard as far as I was concerned, at least.
"Okay." I said. "It's very nice to meet you. I am Enna, the new land god of these parts... but, ah, why are you here?"
"Well," She said, thinking. "I just felt a change in my neighboring lands recently. I figured the dragon had finally disappeared, and I wanted to come introduce myself. Imagen my shock to find him here still!"
"You and me both." I sighed. "I didn't even know that land gods could meet one another this way."
"They don't" interrupted Aeros. "It's considered highly rude."
Pilo puffed out her tiny chest and glared bravely at the still disinterested dragon. "And you would know all about rudeness! You absolutely destroyed my lands when you came here to be a land god!"
"Please" Aeros rolled his eyes, picking a tooth with an equally long claw. "A slight torching from time to time is good for the soil. You should have thanked me."
"How do land gods normally meet?" I asked Pilo, trying to put an end to a fight.
"Normally we don't..." She admitted, looking a little ashamed. "Every few hundred years we meet up for a sort of world review to discuss things. But it's not a requirement to attend. And then, if there are major world events, sometimes we all meet up then too. But... Well, I just thought I would come say 'hi'."
She felt lonely. I could understand that. I mean, if she didn't interact with the people living on her lands, and only attended meeting once every few hundred years... yikes.
I smiled at the woman. Maybe it wasn't normal for a land god to be friends with one another, but I hadn't done anything 'normal' so far, right?
"I don't mind you coming to visit from time to time." I said as kindly as I could.
A bright smile crossed her face and she fairly beamed up at me. "Really!?"
"Foolishness." Huffed Aeros, earning another glare from me.
"Yes. Though, I do spend a great deal of my time in the physical world, you know. So I don't know how often we can meet here. It may only be a few times a year..." I realized mid sentence how silly I was. Once every few months might seem long to me, but for long lived beings, it might as well have been once a week.
"That's fine! I don't mind at all!" She laughed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "And, if you like the physical world so much, we can meet there too, sometimes! Pern, you said, right? Feel free to come to my lands if you like, and if I sense you there I will come say 'hello' then too."
"Are you sure that it is okay?" I still was unsure the rules around a land god leaving their territory and entering another's.
"Oh yes! Just leave that one here." She added, glaring at Aeros and folding her arms over her chest. "He is not welcome!"
I chuckled. "I can do that."
"Great!" She smiled happily, clapping her hands. "I will leave now then. I really did just want to come and introduce myself."
Without even waiting for me to say goodbye, Pilo just vanished, taking her mane of hair and bubbly personality with her. Now it was just me and the dragon.
"That was irritating." Aeros said, breaking the silence.
Irritated was how I felt about this honking lizard. "Are you really going to be here forever now?" I sighed, not really wanting to deal with this at all.
"That is up to you really. I am but a phantom of my true self. Even your measly human powers are greater than the ones this aspect of myself have been left with. Conceivably, you could expel me if you like."
"I don't suppose you have any solid reason I shouldn't do that?" I asked, kinda hoping that he didn't.
"Other than it being a waste of power when you clearly do not have much?" He asked, still sounding very nonchalant about the whole thing.
"Yes, other than that." I ground out.
"Hmmmm. Well, I do possess minimal autotomy. So I could act somewhat independently here, in this space. Given the rather embarrassing level of defenses you have here- evidenced by that puny dwarf goddess getting in without you even knowing about it- I could be used to defend here while you play with my old toys?"
I took a deep breath, trying my best to put aside the nasty comment about my people being his old toys. Now was not the time to get angry and frustrated. As he already said, my measly powers out classed his current levels, and so I could be rid of him any time I wanted.
But he was also right that anyone being able to barge in here was a big problem. First the Specter, and now Pilo. She was a nice visitor, but the next one may be as unpleasant as the dragon standing before me. Time to be logical, I guess.
"Fine, do that. But you had best not make a mess in here!" I turned from the dragon, who was now examining his claws like they were more interesting than me. "Please don't let me regret doing this..." I sighed to myself, rubbing my head like there really was a dragon flapping around in there.