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Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold... The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever-present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords. In that realm a man may, perhaps, count himself fortunate to have wandered, but it's very richness and strangeness tie the tongue of a traveler who would report them. And while he is there it is dangerous for him to ask too many questions, lest the gates should be shut and the keys be lost.

— J. R. R. Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories"

***

Back with Triss…October 27th, 2001Álfheimr

Coming here was risky.

Alfheim or… Faerie was a really rough place despite the idyllic landscape full of green forest, plains and mountains and lakes. But this was a cruel place where ‘might makes right’ ruled. The blue sky was cloudless, and there were rings in the sky as well as two moons.

We heard a roaring in the sky, and saw a big dragon landing in the forest facing us. A humongous golden scaled beast with blue slit eyes and spikes on its back and its crown. Its eyes focused momentarily on the two of us, then ignored us as it lowered itself and lay on its belly. Only the top of its wings were visible.

If the world wanted to tell me that I was getting carried away and too big from my breeches; then the message was received. I could feel the dragon's magic from my location and I was five kilometers from it. And it wasn't any run of the mill dragon, but a true gold dragon.

Gold dragons were the strongest and most majestic of the metallic dragons, and were considered the apex of the draconic race. Graceful and wise, they were relentless and dedicated foes of evil, injustice, and foul play. While respected for their fairness and knowledge, they were also grim and reserved, and usually avoided casual contact with other dragons. At least that's what the book on true dragons from my family library says.

Turning to Raven I couldn't help but ask with trepidation, "Are you sure that you want a familiar from here, Raven?"

Gulp. "Yeah…"

Even a gold dragon the size of a small hill wasn't enough to deter my sister… "Very well. Fawkes!"

FWOOSH! The red and gold Phoenix appeared, screeching and landed on my shoulder. He looked around himself and for the first time I saw a Phoenix show panic and fear. <Where did you girls summon me to?>

The Phoenix glared at me with accusation. Why was it always me people thought was guilty of something? I raised my hands in placation. "Don't look at me, I am just a follower this time."

The firebird’s head turned to Raven who had the decency to look sheepish and mulish at the same time. <What are you in Alfheim for? Do you have any idea how dangerous this place is?>

Raven wrapped a finger around a strand of her hair and played with it. "Intellectually I do, I've read about the place."

The Fair Folks living in this dimension aren't the Disneyfied version of fairies we see in the movies like the Fairy Godmothers of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty or Tinker Bell in Peter Pan. The Fairies in the old tales and in our legends would be considered evil if mundanes ever met them; they weren't cute little bewinged pixies who fluttered happily around humans. Or the elves aren’t even like Tolkien described them… they would be tricksters that deliberately delighted in the utter mess they made of mortal lives. At worst, they're like serial killers with magic: otherworldly horrors who kidnap humans for explicit use as playthings to torment, assault, rape, maim, or… eat.

At best our knowledge of the Fae courts and its people was also encyclopedic. But we didn’t intend to stay longer than necessary to get caught by either fairy queens.

I put a hand on Fawkes’ side and petted him in the sense of his feathers. "Me too, fairies aren't like they are depicted in Peter Pan. They're deadlier and vicious. But don’t worry, we can leave when we want and they won’t catch us." I said, praying that I didn’t raise a flag and that Murphy didn’t eff me in the ass.

Fawkes pressed us to take flight and to go further away from the True Dragon, lest we bothered him or her. We flew West of the parts where the Gold dragon nested, to the Unseelie side of this forest; Basically the part of the forest that was super dark. The Portent spell designated this area as the one where we would most likely find the object of our quest.

We landed in a meadow with a cave abutting the small mountain bordering the forest. "Okay we're here."

But before entering this cave, we needed to do a little check. Turning to Raven, I asked a very important question. "Do you have your timekeeper amulet?"

The black haired and blue eyed sorceress smiled and showed me one of the numerous necklaces at her neck. The Time Keeper was an amulet in the form of a pocket watch with the symbol of fate, present and future in Norse runes.

I checked the rest of my stuff on my utility belt; wand, salt, gemstones, tarot cards… Yes I had taken the essentials for this sortie. Raven continued to speak. "Yes, it says that there's a time difference between the realms."

"How much?" I asked while I was still checking my gear in my expanded utility belt; Batman had nothing on me. I had two glass beakers, a metal frame to hold a beaker in place over an open flame, a glass stirring rod, a small mortar and pestle, and a pouch of common alchemical ingredients including salt, distilled alcohol, powdered iron, and purified water.

"One hour is a year." Raven announced.

I almost let a vial of Paralytic venom fall on the ground but stopped it from shattering by using TK to catch it with my magic. I looked up at Raven who sported a vicious grin. "What?!"

“You’re finally paying attention?” My sister had a sarcastic expression on her face; it seemed that she didn’t like me being too ADHD and checking things before the action.

Glaring at her, I told her with a bit of heat in my voice, “This is serious Raven, we need to be prudent in this place-”

My sister walked up to me and placed her hands on my shoulders. It was with a reasonable tone in her voice that she argued, "Chill out, Trissy. We will be back in the afternoon on the same day. Remember it’s me, the magic genius, I made the portal that led us here myself and the time keeper will keep us synchronized with our home realm."

If there was someone I could trust with time and space magic, it was Raven. She took to four dimensional and higher physics like a duck to water.  Sighing, I was relieved to hear that we won’t get back to England one hundred years later… "You scared me… wait, you did that deliberately!"

Now I was pissed, she got me good! Raven let go of me and looked behind her and pointed her finger at something. "Oh look! A fairy!"

Raven power walked toward the glittering ball of light entering the cave; I ran after her and shouted with anger, "Raven, get back here you little twilight addict!"

Just like planned, Raven stopped in her tracks and turned briskly toward me and looked furious. "What do you have against Alice X Bella?"

And so went one the first thing we have feuded over in five years… Twilight was a piece of shit series in my original reality, but in this DC universe it was a dumpster fire; it was a book written for girls who liked girls. The author seemed still obsessed with dating old blood suckers, it was still a pedo romance. I mean Bella is effing sixteen in the story and Alice is one hundred years old or so.

Raising my chin in disdain, I added, "Bella is a boring dead fish who can't show emotions."

Gasp! Raven teleported before me, her blue stormy eyes full of hurt and anger. "Take that back, Trissy!"

Fawkes arrived just in time, he landed on my right shoulder and opened his wings to grab our attention. When he spoke the phoenix had a scolding tone. <Children, focus.>

I winced, "Um, sorry Fawkes."

The firebird primly nodded his head and looked toward the mouth of the cave. <Let's do what you came here for and leave.>

"Aye, aye sir!" I performed a mock salute.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Bossy… okay let's do this."

I cast the Third Eye spell and suddenly could see in the dark, my vision shifting to black and white, devoid of colors. The two of us walked into the cave. It was well cared for… how strange. There were glowing flowers on the cave’s walls, and as we advanced we saw more and more stalactites and stalagmites. It was getting hard to walk in there, so we levitated over the ground to not be bothered.

“Who is't dares enter the dark one’s lair?” A grave voice vibrated everywhere in the cave when we reached a really big chamber.

The chamber was filled with crystals of every color and elemental energy; it was really beautiful. But we had more pressing issues than being amazed and touring the cave. The creature in that cave, despite being weaker than the gold dragon, could hurt us; they were at least a third of the gold dragon’s power.

“Oh hey, hello oh Dark One! We’ve come to ask a favor of you.” Raven walked up, looking around her with her Third Eye spell to look where the being was.

I immediately located her with Truesight, yes the being was female and was using illusion magic to alter our perception. She was tall for a Fairy, at least thirty centimeters tall. She was naked and had purple-black horns on her head that formed a beautiful crown; her black wings shone with inner purple light inside their membranes. What was strange to me was that she also had a spiked tail reminding me of a lizard or… dragon.

The Fairy laughed haughtily and her eyes shone with a dangerous light. “Thee’ve cometh to asketh a favor of Shemrie, the dark one? ‘t seemeth yond the court hath short memories about the last time they did dare cometh hither for-”

Yeah, no, let’s stop her right here; we don’t have all the time in the world for that bullshit. “We aren’t Fae and we’re not from any of the courts, we’re mages from Gaea. My name is Triss and this is my sister Raven at my side.”

The chambers lit up as the crystals glowed brightly and the real body of Shemrie appeared. I cut off the Third Eye spell, not wanting to be blinded; Raven looked at the fairy in all her glory, not saying anything.

“Interesting.” The fairy said as she fluttered around us; she stopped before Raven that she must find more interesting than me. Good.

Shemrie floated up some kind of crystal throne and sat on it; she really thought of herself as some kind of queen or high lady despite living in a cave. “What hath't thee cometh hither to asketh of me?”

The fairy then turned her gaze on me and smiled as if I was an interesting toy or barbie. I waved away my hand and said, “Don’t mind me, I’m just here to accompany my sister.”

Sniff. “Thee aren’t blood related.”

Did she just smell me to see if I was related to Raven? How keen are her senses? This was worrying… “Family is more than being tied by blood.”

I learned that as I grew up, Angela loved me like her own daughter; Raven loved me like a sister, and I would die or kill for them. It was my conviction that they would do the same for me. You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them like a certain theologian said.

“Hm, well said.” Shemrie answered me with a regal nod.

The fairy turned her eyes to Raven this time, my sister took this as the cue to start to speak. “I came to petition you about becoming my familiar.”

Shemrie slammed her tiny left fist on one of the amrest, it cracked slightly. “Mortal, did doth thee cometh hither to telleth me to becometh thy slave”

Raven interrupted the dangerous fairy’s rant. “No slavery needed, times have changed Lady Shemrie and we only perform an equal contract nowadays. We can even set a time limit for the familiar bond.”

The heat from Shemrie’s eyes disappeared as she seemed to be able to discern lies from the truth; Fae were freaky like that. The fairy relaxed and leaned into her throne, putting her hands in her lap. “Thee’re shrewder than I did doth bethink, despite being mere baby humans.”

The fairy chuckled as she looked at our offended expression; I couldn’t help but cry out to her, “Hey, we’re not babies!”

Shemrie raised an eyebrow as she looked at me. Mockingly she asked me, “How old are you?”

Putting my fists on my hips, I announced proudly, “Eleven!”

The half dragon rewarded my declaration with a haughty sniff. “I’m one hundred and fifty years old, so thee’re babies to me.”

My voice caught at that, Shemrie looked young but reality was different… “Huh, she’s older than Fawkes.”

I should have guessed that things were different here; magic allowed for a lot of bullshit.  Shemrie fleeted away from her throne and was now floating before me, looking at me curiously. “Who is Fawkes?”

Raven answered that question. “Triss’ familiar, he is here…” My sister sought out the Phoenix with her eyes. “Huh, Triss, where's your bird?”

I still felt Fawkes on my shoulder; somehow he was using a powerful notice-me-not that Shermie and Raven couldn’t even detect to not be seen. Was my Familiar scared of Shemrie somehow?

“He is being shy.” I found myself saying to the two of them who couldn’t perceive Fawkes being there.

Shemrie floated up to seven feet and crossed her arms under her naked chest. “Anyhow, thee’ve cometh to bargain for something very much important; what art the boons thee’ll entice me with to becometh thy familiar?”

“Ah, I like that; let’s put our cards on the table, Lady Shemrie.”

It was finally time to wheedle and negotiate, for this we took boxes of food with stasis enchantment out of my pocket space. We opened them and they were full of homemade sweets and cakes made by mum Angela. “If you become Raven’s familiar, each week three boxes of sweets will be given to you.”

One thing all fairies have in common is a love of delicious food. Fruits, berries, and wild honey are sure to keep almost any fairy happy for hours on end. A nibble of cake or pastry will make them positively joyous! Or at least that’s what the book said about them.

Shemrie landed on the ground and took a bite of the Mille-feuille in the box; this pastry consisted of three layers of puff pastry and two layers of the delicious crème pâtissière. Shemrie’s eyes lit up when she tasted, of course she closed the box and wiped her upper lips covered cream. “Yond’s a valorous start, this food smells heavenly and is still hot, like they art just out of the oven. I approve; what else doth thee hath't for me?”

It seemed that the book on fairies didn’t lie to me.

They were theoretically fresh from the oven, mum Angela had sent the boxes today. Grinning, I answered her by taking a book with some beginner spells from my own grimoire. “Magical knowledge and the right to build a grove/lair on my island. There’s a nexus there, you won’t lose any power if you come to Gaea.”

The half-dragon fairy used telekinesis to take the book from my hands and she began to leaf through it. For five minutes the fairy began to read and emitted satisfied sounds, even tested a summoning spell to bring a jewel into her hands. When she was done, I felt Shemrie do something similar to me when I took out things out of thin air and placed the book and the boxes of pastries in her own pocket space.

*She can use dimensional magic?!* Shemrie was more dangerous than I had expected, it put me on guard immediately. This trip into Alfheim finally made me realize why my phoenix was scared.

With a greed filled gaze, the little monster asked me, “Those are good terms; but what’s the catch?”

Raven was startled by the question; she couldn’t think that it would be easy, right? Fae are smart and cunning, so of course they are aware that some things can be too good to be true. My sister sighed and chose to be honest with her future familiar. “Your power will be needed to fight our enemies, they seek to weaken our homeland, brainwash the people and their children into thinking that blood and tradition count as power.”

Shemrie frowned and stomped a foot on the ground. “Blood is only part of power! Who is't sayeth those lies! They hath't nay idea how  magic worketh if 't be true they bethink yond!”

Raven shrugged, waved away Shemrie's comment as if it was futile to try to reason with the idiots back home. “The inbred mages at home, they interbred between themselves so much that they have little power and intelligence.”

“But art they still dangerous? Thee wouldn't asketh mine help if 't be true they weren't .” Shemries kept asking the good questions; a question that Raven had a bad time answering as she looked at me to please save her.

This was an easy one. “They’re not,” I said while thinking about Dumbledore and the people he had gathered and helped keep him out of the veil. “Those who’re dangerous to us are hidden in the shadows, and are shaping the future, manipulating lives.”

The more I spoke, the more I felt Shemrie’s excitement as I told her what was happening in Wizarding Britain. “They control the information, many innocent people have died -mundane and magical- because of them as they played their games.”

The mages elite hid behind lies and proxy soldiers… At least that’s what I believe happened with Dumbledore creating Voldemort; that the old Dark Lord had a hand in creating someone he could use to turn into public enemy number one to start a rallying cry to unify Britain.

When I first used The experimental divination spell called Greater Portent which had the effect of making the visions in my dreams intensify and paint a more accurate picture in my mind of what is to come; there was so much pain and death that it scared me. “In my visions of the next two years, old monsters resurface and bring doom to our people and magical creatures on Gaea.”

“There’s prophecy involved as well, but we don’t care about it, you know how they are, if you take them into account they end up making your life miserable.” I said while shrugging about the fact that fate was playing with our lives.

Shemrie had the biggest smile on her perfect little face and was trembling in excitement as if I was giving her the nicest things ever. She spoke with a lilt in her voice that said a lot about what she enjoyed. “Thee giveth  me delicious food, magic and a way to slaughter some human-magis as much as I wanteth?”

I winced, yes… the little half dragon fairy was going to be a pain to work with. “Essentially yes.”

The fairy jumped in the air and did a little barrel that placed her before Raven’s face. “Alright, I wilt accept, but Baby Raven wilt showeth me her valor;  I won’t assist a weak contractor!”

“We’re not babies!” Raven cried out despite how happy she was to have come to a good bargain.

~~~ G.O ~~~

We were in the meadow facing the cave’s entrance. We were surprised to see that Shemrie had another form and it was that of a SUV sized black dragon with iridescent purple scale, she was even more beautiful now. However, Raven looked a bit worried about having to fight such a foe.

She waited for us in the middle of the meadow, her eyes focused on my sister. Fawkes slightly pecked the top of my head making me stop following Raven. I listened, but not before allowing myself to cast some buffs upon my sister.

I started by casting the spell Crusader's Mantle by praying in my heart to Freya for guiding my allies and sister’s magic to strike true. Divine energies funneled into me and radiated from my body in a radius of thirty feet around me; enveloping my surroundings and boosting Raven’s capabilities.

Aura Of Vitality was next, I stacked this spell to up my and Raven’s defenses and to boost our life forces. To avoid becoming collateral damage for this fight, I took a small round transparent crystal bead from utility belt and cast Leomund's Tiny Hut, a spell that had been difficult to adapt in real life from the Dungeons and Dragons spell books due to the sheer level of complexity I had to load in the arithmetic formula and had no choice to anchor the spell into a gem to form the golden dome of force around me stretching ten feet from my body.

The more precious the gem, the stronger the dome that it produced; Gemcraft was one of my talents but I still didn’t have the time to perfect it. Once ensconced into the golden dome. It was also an excellent spell for resting due to the duration of the spell, a whomping eight hours before it broke; it was also an excellent strategic defense as within the Dome when its cast I and my allies can move through it as we please — making it a great vantage point for hit-and-run strategies.

As an afterthought, I cast a Shield spell on Raven, covering her with a transparent bubble-like magical barrier that will negate the damage of one attack. Sure, my sister could cast it herself, but me having cast it would free her to blast the damned dragon with some blast of energy like she’s so adept at.

All this time as I cast the buffs, Shemrie observed me. I think that she was learning from me somehow. Dragons had the uncanny ability to mimic things. They seemed to have a similar ability to mine in grasping what I wanted to happen with my magic and shape it in a manner to allow the desired phenomena to take effect.

Shemrie raked her claw over the earth, producing deep gouges on the ground; I gulped, I was lucky that it was Raven fighting her today. My sister was stronger and more resistant to physical damage due to her demonic heritage.

"Art thee finally done preparing? I even let thy sister reinforce thee, be honored." The dragon's voice made my bones rattle in my own body.

Her voice has a sybillant quality that was at once beautiful and elicited in me my flight or flight instincts. Was it my hindbrain telling me to turn back and run for the hills? I think so. "Yes, Lady Shemrie, I thank you for your generosity."

I slightly bowed to her, then looked at Raven who was psyching herself up. Her eyes glowed purple from under the wide hood of her hoodie; she focused and began to float three meters from the ground. Fawkes stopped using his notice-me-not and placed a wing over my head in a worried manner.

"Good, thou art ready. Now fight me, Baby Raven." The dragon boomed as she beat her wings and launched at my sister with a speed defying imagination despite her bulk.

Just in time, Raven evaded the charging dragon, but got thrown into a tree; sundering the trunk and falling down on the side. The magical barrier instantly broke, shattering like glass. Obviously, this wasn’t enough to take down Raven, she teleported in a haze of purple light and appeared in the sky over the meadows, sending bolts of concussive energy that hit the dragon to no effect.

Shemrie chuckled. “'t did win’t worketh.”

The dragon took flight and from her mouth, a dark shroud of energy was expelled and rushing toward Raven who teleported away to avoid the attack yet again. Only for her to find that her flight was being disrupted and she fell toward the ground. "Graaah!"

My heart in my throat, I watched as my sister was about to crash, but just in time, Raven caught herself from splattering on the ground by using her telekinesis to cushion her fall.

She beat the ground with her fist and looked balefully at Shemrie who laughed as she was amused by the situation. "Yes, let the hate flow through thee! Yours is delicious."

"Wow, she's a discount Palpatine." I found myself mumbling.

Shemrie was holding back massively, she was toying with my sister and that pissed me off. That’s it the gloves needed to come off. Using the Sonorus charm to amplify my voice. "Raven! Use it! The ESD Beam!"

Shemrie cocked her head and looked at me, stopping her assault on Raven. The dragon asked, “ESD Beam?”

Her only answer was Raven teleporting back into the sky and screaming at the top of her lungs while pointing her index finger at Shemrie, "Eat Shit and Die! Cero."

Instantly, a sphere coalesced into one point in a ball of hyper concentrated magic that fired at Raven’s draconic foe. I cast multiple Shield and a Mage Armor on me; the sphere produced by my Leomund's Tiny Hut spell was the first to shatter when the magical attack reached the ground and Shemrie.

BOOOOOMMMM!!! The explosion blasted everything in its radius and shattered the ten shields I had stacked. I was blown toward the entrance of the cave and momentarily blacked out. When I opened my eyes, I felt a warm sensation on my forehead and I woke up laying on the rough earth and to see Fawkes head over mine, the phoenix was crying on my forehead. Sitting up, I took my familiar in my arms and whispered, “Thanks Fawkes…”

The Phoenix trilled. <You’re welcome.>

My forehead had blood on it, but there was no wound. I guess that phoenix tears were really healing wonders like told in the legends. Standing up, I moved Fawkes to my shoulder and exited the cave; there was still dust in the air. With a good use of Gust, a wind cantrip, I dispersed it only to find that I had almost walked into a crater.

The meadow had turned into a giant chasm and inside it was Shemrie’s dragon form still smoking from the Cero spell. I looked up for Raven, she was looking rather exhausted when I found her floating over the still form of Shemrie.

My sister suddenly teleported at my side and leaned against me. She looked at me and her eyes widened as she fixed my forehead. “Don’t worry, Fawkes took care of it.”

Raven looked guilty. “I put too much power into the spell.”

It wasn’t the first time I had taught Raven a dangerous spell, but right now she kind of overdid it. I can barely blow up the back yard and she can destroy a city block, teaching her how to measure how much magic she put into a destruction spell was needed. I guess we will have to go back to the Sahara and blow up some dunes.

“Hahahahahahahahahahaha!” The eerie voice of Shemrie echoed from the crater.

Raven and I turned to look at the Dragon, opening her wings wide and a purple aura of magic surrounded her, visibly healing the scratched scales on her body. I couldn’t help but comment with awe, “What the-”

“She survived that?” Raven looked agape at Shemrie in admiration and a bit of fear.

"Marvelous! Thee singed my scales. Thou art good enough to be my contractor." The dragon looked at us and then started to shift form.

This again showed how powerful we needed to become to survive in this world, even Raven’s biggest spell wasn’t enough to do anything against a draconic fairy. *It’s back to the drawing board for us, we need more powerful attacks.*

This was no longer a matter of fire power, but we needed more conceptual magic to negate whatever other caster sent at us or would be unable to tank. For this, there was a need for me to study higher science now to be able outpower dragons or whatever came my way.

"Bloody hell, I thought we had her." I whispered to Raven who nodded to me, acknowledging what I said but not saying anything as she watched the big fairy complete her transformation.

As she flew toward the cave's mouth, Shemrie cast spells to fill in the crater instantly and erase all the damage that her fight with Raven had done. This was an excellent showing of conjuration and transmutation magic; that was scary, Shemrie was powerful and smart, but with the attention span of a toddler.

The fairy stopped before Raven and put a hand on her cheek, my sister didn’t even flinch. "Yond spell, Cero was it? ‘t wast a audacious attempt, but thee don't hath't the power required to doth more than scratch me."

"Not yet." I piped up.

I already had an idea on how to add anti-magic to my arsenal to become a mage killer. The draconic fairy turned to me and acknowledged the fact that we were still powerful for kids and that we would grow up to become even more so.

"Indeed not yet." The fairy conceded.

After this we did our preparation to start the familiar ritual; we had begun tracing the magical circle under Shemrie’s supervision for any shenanigans. Raven and I even made an oath that we aren’t looking to enslave or bamboozle her; but I understood why she was being so paranoid, Faerie was a dangerous place. I’m sure that the Queens have sought to enslave her before.

Inside the center of the magical circle we put a brass brazier in which we filled with charcoal, incense, and herbs. As we were about to begin we heard rustle coming from the bushes and… three attractive men strode out of the woods.

They looked eerily beautiful but something was off about them; Raven put her hand on my shoulder and I was seeing through their glamor. They looked somewhat demonic in their beauty. Black skin and red eyes with pale white hair. They all wore armor made of a silver like material. The weapons that they wore exuded more magic energy than I saw from artifacts such as those.

"I didn't expect to see thee playeth with mortals, Shemrie."

Shemrie immediately transformed and placed herself between us and the three strangers. The dragon growled as she said menacingly, "Bairrfhionn, what are you doing on my lands?"

The man in the lead was all smiles, his eyes never quitting Raven or I. That guy Bairrfhionn was bad news as he clearly didn’t have good intentions. I discreetly took my sister’s hand and we completed our coven bond right away and pooled our magical might together. It would’ve been better if Daphne or Tracey were with us to make a triad.

The man… thing? I doubted he could be called a man slightly bowed to Shemrie and explained with an smile, "Thither wast a lot of commotion in thy land and we did doth cometh to see what wast happening or if 't be true thee wast having one of thy legendary tantrums"

"Leaveth, thee'll kicketh the bucket hither if 't be true thee stayeth one more minute." Shemrie warned.

The man-thing shook its head and its eyes settled on my sister and I with a hungry gaze. "I don't bethink so, those strangers hath't invaded faerie…"

The three unsheathed their swords and rushed toward the dragon and us. Fawkes took flight and spewed a tongue of fire toward them as an opening salvo.

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Shemrie, The Dark one)

Today was an eventful day, she met two mortal baby mages who entered Alfheim without care for their own safety to meet her. The red haired one called Triss seemed to be touched by the sight as she revealed how she could see the portents of fate; Shemrie hoped that none of the Lord and Ladies of the court found her, they would enslave her for her gift.

They came to ask her to be Baby Raven’s familiar, but they didn’t want a slave and from the magical circle they built, they were genuine in wanting an equal contract. Shemrie was getting excited, she would go to Gaea and gain even more power by creating a grove; maybe even create her own family. She had never allowed herself to have younglings as they would surely become a weakness, the Faerie courts would try to enslave her offspring.

Triss and Raven changed the status quo, they promised her a safe haven on Gaea, and she hoped that it would be a great land. However, it seems fate was conspiring against her; her erstwhile would-be-mate, Bairrfhionn, appeared just when they were about to seal the bond. That fiend had been hounding her on behalf of Queen Maeve due to her being related to Dalax, the Gold Dragon who had chosen to make Alfheim his home five hundred years ago. Her father has sired countless offspring to tend to his territory between the borders of the two courts.

Bairrfhionn thought that she would be easy prey to seduce, but she had already known about his reputation from her mother, Valorie Purplestone, Queen of the dark fairies who still attended the unseelie court despite being affiliated with Dalax. It wasn’t the time for remembering the attempts at seduction of that oaf, Bairrfhionn. Now was the time for the second fight of the day, contrary to her expectation, Shemrie wouldn’t have to protect the baby magi as a powerful energy signature appeared right next to them in the form of a legendary creature.

“Beautiful.” It was a red and gold phoenix flying high in the sky with a screeching battlecry. A cone of fire bearing upon them forced the three Unseelie knights to spread out to evade the fire attack. Only to be corralled by walls of stones with jagged and pointed ends surging from the ground.

“Fireball!” Triss the red incanted and instantaneously, a ball of fire took form and charged the three foes who casted shields to protect themselves from the fiery onslaught.

*Interesting use of fire.* Shemrie thought as she watched the Unseelie knights being hit without being able to retaliate.

Each domed shield simply cracked as an explosion wracked the area for twenty feet. The three winter knights were not unscathed as they looked gravely burnt, as if they had gone on a tour to the Seelie part of Alfheim. Some had several burns on their face and missing pieces to their armors.

“Magic missiles!” Baby Raven shouted and three darts of glowing concentrated magical energies flew toward the knights, damaging their armors further and targeting between the joints that were not covered metal. The chainmail heated up and the two knights following Bairrfhionn cried out in pain and fell on their knees, trying to take off their armor.

Bairrfhionn ignored the pain and charged toward; his sword shone with sickly blue light and he pointed it at Triss the red. The ray was batted away at the side by Baby Raven who shouted, “Protego.”

Shemrie understood that the girl knew how to fight humanoid foes better than other magical creatures. That must be why Baby Raven didn’t know how to fight her and kept floundering in their bout.

“Destructive Wave!” Shemrie’s thoughts were interrupted when Triss the red accumulated mana and stomped on the ground, creating a wave of energy that rippled outward from her in the direction of Bairrfhionn.

Bairrfhionn resisted the shockwave, his armor didn’t as most of the pieces fell off him. Shemrie chuckled, those baby magi had been methodically taking down those mighty Unseelie Knights, trapping them and shaving off their defenses; she watched as the Raven let go of her sister’s hand, took her wand from its sheath on her left arm and moved it into a ‘S’ shape and chanted, “Conjure rocks.”

A big rock in an oval shape appeared before the two babies. Raven moved her wand with a sharp upward movement while chanting, “Stone shape.”

Magic carved five arrows out of the stone that floated before the babies and Triss the red used her own wand to transfigure the stone arrows into… *Was that cold iron?*

Bairrfhionn and his minions looked at the dangerous arrows that came into being and attempted to flee, turning their backs. Shemrie asked herself if the two babies would let the three run away, she had heard that humans were soft. But apparently those two babies weren’t normal human-magi as they let out the salvo of arrows.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! With precise accuracy, the arrows lodged themselves into the Unseelie knights who screamed bloody murder. Normally cold iron instantly kills midlings of low ancestry and power; but it seemed that the transfigured iron didn’t, it still must hurt like a Hag or Troll biting on a limb. All of this happened so quickly that those Unseelie knights had no time to react.

Shemrie was proud of the fact that the babies were not pansies with any do-gooder syndromes. Triss the red advanced toward the downed knights who were still screaming on the ground as the cold iron was now coursing through their system. Big ulgy red veins started to spread from the wound to the rest of their body.

Triss the red looked at each of them with an analytical eye and used her magic to take their weapons from them and strip them of their armor. She looked at Bairrfhionn’s minion and held her wand aloft in a stylish pose. “Fiendfyre.”

From the end of Triss’ wand, enchanted flames of immense size and heat taking the form of gigantic fiery beasts such as phoenix, dragons and chimeras went after  Bairrfhionn’s two minions and consumed them. Shemrie was impressed by the ruthlessness that the baby magi demonstrated. *But why didn’t she kill Bairrfhionn  as well?*

Her internal question was answered by Triss’ following action. “Raven, you know what to do. We can’t have them attack us each time we come to Alfheim.”

The dark haired girl strode to the fallen Bairrfhionn and held her hand aloft; a black ball of energy appeared over Baby Raven’s palm. “Bestow Curse.”

The ball turned into a coiling black snake with amethyst eyes and plunged into Bairrfhionn’s body through his navel. The Unseelie knight’s body arched and he started to claw at his muscular abdomen. His suffering continued for a minute until

“I want you to listen to me carefully. Hey, hey, don’t pass out. Reennervate.” A flash of red light struck the knight’s body, and he was suddenly awake.

Bairrfhionn looked around him again, and his eyes widened when he saw Triss the red again. Shemrie sniffed the air and understood that Bairrfhionn had just soiled himself. She liked those baby magi even more, they were suitably cruel. Triss the red crouched near Bairrfhionn and began playing with her wand and began to speak with venom in her voice. “Listen, I don’t know who you are and I don't care. I don’t know why earlier you looked at us like we were slices of meat; but I can guess what you Unseelie bastards think about  doing all day to mortals like me. That’s why I’m going to use you to deliver a message to your silly Queen and any members of your court.”

Bairrfhionn flinched each time the baby Triss moved her wand closer to his face. “The message is: If you Faerie bastards don’t come after us again each time we step into Alfheim, we won’t look for trouble for your people and that will be the end of it. But if you're too stubborn to listen, we shall make anyone who's been sent after us feel what you're feeling right now.”

*Bairrfhionn must feel as if his body was on fire and slowly getting destroyed; this isn’t a good sensation at all.* Thought Shemrie as she looked at the effects magical cold iron had on Fae.

Fortunately, she was immune to its effects due to her draconic constitution. She couldn’t thank fate enough to have been born a daughter of Dalax. Bairrfhionn began to nod fervently. “I wilt… deliver yo-your message.”

Triss the red nodded sagely. “Yes, I see that you understand. Before I send you on your way, I shall give you a little parting gift.”

Powdered iron appeared in Triss’ palm and she looked at Bairrfhionn with a wicked smile and overturned her hand and placed it on the right side of the knight’s face. “Aaaaaaaaaahh!”

Baby Raven took away the iron arrow in the knight’s body and banished it with a thought. Triss stopped playing with the knight and used some kind of mental spell to invade Bairrfhionn’s mind and teleported him with a gesture. Shermie was intrigued by Triss the red’s ability with dimensions, it seemed to be similar to her space-time magic taught by her father.

The Draconic fairy returned to her Fae form and flew toward Triss, asking her, “Where did thee sendeth him?”

With a grin, Triss replied, “Oberon’s palace.”

Shemrie's curious expression shifted into one of shock; then started to titter with bell like laughter. “Ah! I like thee, red one! Thou art so bold.”

The red one smiled and looked at the remaining equipment strewn all over the ground. “Okay, now I’ll take all their stuff; I can’t wait to be able to study their armors and weapons!”

Shemrie was sad that she wouldn't be able to gather all the shinies, but she didn’t get to fight the knights. She decided to let the babies gather those treasures for their own hoards. The Draconic fairy turned to Triss’ sister and said, “Baby Raven and I needeth to finish the ritual.”

Triss stopped trying to say that they weren’t babies and proceeded to gather all the armor pieces and weapons into her pocket space. Meanwhile Raven stomped her foot and pouted at Shemrie with her arms crossed under her budding chest. “Why don’t you stop calling us babies.”

Obviously, Shemrie ignored her and flew toward the magical circle to complete the familiar ritual. Raven followed on her tail. “Stop ignoring me!”

This day was one of the best in Shemrie’s life.

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Albus Dumbledore)

Great HallOctober 31st, 2001Halloween feast

Albus gazed at all the children gathered at the tables of their respective houses, the decoration of Halloween suspended in the air glided as the ceiling mimicked the night's sky. Everyone was having a good time, but a disturbance was putting a damper on the festivities. Dumbledore saw less and less people eat the sweets available and spurned the good English food for foreign cuisine, Ratatouille, steamed rice and vegetables curry were on the menu.

This change in diet was more pronounced in the female population of Hogwarts; they have decided to adopt some changes that have been brought from other magic schools and that the board of governors and the Healer guild had approved. Something Dumbledore was powerless to stop as it concerned the health of the children in Hogwarts.

Albus knew who started this and again he was powerless to do anything about it. Triss Merigold, that snot nosed kid had become a thorn in his side since she took down Tom's wraith. She was wielding the power of the law to block him from even speaking or approaching her. Albus escaped the assault charge thanks to some of the favor he was owed, he however was outsmarted and outmaneuvered by Regent Merigold who commanded  the tremendous political capital that House Merigold possessed.

For once, Albus was shown that despite all his fame, political backroom dealings and the favor he owed or was owed were nothing compared to the collective might of the more numerous Wizarding houses. He had thought that since Geralt Merigold died with the Potters that he wouldn’t have any setbacks for his domination of the magical british world, but his Regent and daughter were being problematic.

He sought with his eyes the magic aura of those Triss and Rachel girls; he couldn’t find them. Slumping on his golden throne at the professor table, the old man started reminiscing on when his problems started.

*Angela Roth? No, someone else is behind her; she is attacking the Light faction with methodical strikes. Is it Tom? I recognize the ruthlessness… but no, the Dark would be more powerful, it’s not Tom.* Albus thought.

He had made many enemies in his long life; magical communities and other lone powerful sorcerers spurned him for his opinion and ideas, telling him that he was wrong in his approach to magic and that he took his people with him to the way to extinction. Albus couldn’t believe them, he refused to.

The old man felt in the dumps since he lost almost everything propping up his acclaimed power; Albus didn't have the Elder Wand, nor a convenient Phoenix who could apparate him everywhere anymore. What he had left was his position as Headmaster and Chief Warlock as well as all the Knowledge and treasures he had accumulated from stealing from dead magical families' houses and ruins he had raided personally.

It pained him to have done another thing he couldn’t take back, but he attached the loyalty of the staff with potion to him one week ago. Strangely the effects of the potions brewed by Severus seemed to not affect the staff at all; however, he still detected the trace of potions in their food. Maybe it was just his imagination? The staff still listened to him after all.

Albus focused his mind on the wards and tried to look for the Merigold girl; he couldn’t find her anywhere, not even in her normal hang out in the fifth floor; nor in the second and third floor of the Ravenclaw’s tower. He had followed her before, on the seventh floor in the left corridor of the Hogwarts castle. But the girl somehow always disappeared from his senses despite using the monitoring wards at full power.

“Are you looking for someone, Albus?” A voice startled Albus from his search.

It was Minerva, she looked at him like one of her Gryffindor who are up to no good. To Albus she didn’t act at all as if she was under his thrall… “I’m looking for Miss Merigold and Roth; do you know where they are?”

He put a Drumstick squashy into his mouth, he loved them. Those candies had a texture somewhere between a gummy bear and a marshmallow; They have a two-tone flavor: raspberry and cream.

As he masticated and was about to swallow, Minerva informed him. “Of course I do, their mother excused them from the feast and called them home.”

It caused him to choke on the candy; the woman didn’t even help him by patting his back and watched him with a disinterested look as he unclogged his throat. “What for? This is a school week! Where are they, Minerva?”

The Head of Gryffindor house primly swallowed a bit of treacle tart, and wiped her mouth with a handkerchief. “I wasn’t made aware of why, Albus; but look back at those house tables, they aren’t alone, didn’t you notice that a lot of other students aren’t present?”

Now that Minerva told him, Albus realized that there were some absentees… Mostly in Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and in Slytherin. The Gryffindors were all there fortunately. “Where are they? They can’t just quit school like this…”

Albus frowned, he had tried to get the two girls expelled; but it had backfired on him. Regent Merigold accused him of misuse of power, after all he never punished the students going too far and kept them in school; and now he wanted to expel the best students in first year that were Ravenclaws? Obviously, the board of governors didn’t let him as House Merigold held a seat on the board. Once again showing his failing authority on the school.

“They will be coming back tomorrow.” Minerva took a swig of apple cider in her glass, not even looking at Albus.

Filius didn’t even acknowledge him at all as he watched his house table like a hawk. Waiting for any disturbance to happen it seemed.

*That isn’t like him.* Albus thought.

He continued to ask himself why people would miss Halloween, then the old man realized that all the students that were missing… that their families were members of the Gray faction; Albus slapped his hand on the table, rattling the cutlery and dishes. He turned his head to Minerva and sent her an accusatory look, “They are going to celebrate Samhain…!”

Minerva drank a bit again, then a thin smile appeared on her face. “Oh, you guessed. Good.”

Albus raged. “This is illegal! They need to come back before they are tainted by the sabbat’s ritual!”

Raising an eyebrow, Minerva looked at the Headmaster with pity. She had practiced the sabbats all her life, there was nothing wrong with them; Dumbledore was obviously Barmy. She sniffed at him as she turned her face to the Great hall’s tables. Some of the students watched the drama happening with Albus.

Minerva then said, “Yes it is illegal in Britain; go back to eating your sweets Albus.”

This revelation struck Albus like lightning. “Oh…”

It seemed that the students were no longer in his reach, Albus looked dejected and stared into his plate filled with candy.

~~~ G.O ~~~

(Rachel ‘Raven’ Roth)

Folkvangr IslandTronjheim Village

Today was Wednesday 31st, Raven’s birthday! And it happened that it was the start of Samhain as well; Raven celebrated her birthday with her friends in Ravenclaw first, and now she did with her family. Triss made her a new necklace; it was a gold coin embossed with runic symbols on the two faces. Raven’s redheaded sister didn’t say what it was useful for, but she knew it had serious mana loaded into the enchantment.

Angela gifted her daughter a dragon leather jacket that cleaned and repaired itself. This was one of the best gifts Raven has received and she thanked her mother for contributing to her obsession with goth fashion. The three of them had combined Raven’s birthday with Samhain. At the diner table they offered prayers to the departed in particular to Geralt and Sonya, leaving plates full of offerings for them.

Before leaving for the village of Tronjheim, five kilometers from the Manor, Triss lit the hearth fires in the foyer. It was tradition after all. It was time to go help the villagers to gather the harvest from the fields of vegetables and the orchard.

Triss opened one of her purple portals and like a pinhole was pierced into reality, they could see the gathering place of the village. The old well was fully visible, and some of the new blood that Angela hired seven years ago to develop the land were already waiting for them. Tronjheim was part fishing village, you could easily see the long pier stretching to sea with fishing ships anchored to it.

Angela was the first to go through the portal, followed by Raven and Triss. Around the old well and the workers a literal mountain of wooden nesting crates were piled onto each other. It would take all day to harvest the apples and vegetables, fortunately, they were allowed to use magic to help gather them.

Raven floated instead of walking, showing a smart mind; she wanted to preserve herself until the ceremony tonight. Triss didn't bother cheating, she knew her body and had been getting physical training when she was nine years old. Raven had neglected doing the same with her sister because of laziness; but recently their common friends guilted her into participating in the sports club and going jogging before breakfast on the newly created four hundred meters outdoor running track with climate control and protection from the wild life and which repaired itself.

It had been funny to see Dumbledore try to stop the club opening and the building of the track between the castle and the Quidditch pitch. But wizards and witches weren’t immune to logic; a sane and rational argument put down any misgivings that Dumbledore presented.

She was kind of getting slightly angry with her friends, everyday since the creation of the sport; they woke her up at five AM, and since then the little sorceress has been feeling tired and stiff after having run for one hour. That was in part why Raven had chosen to fly as she followed her family, it hurt less this way. Triss’ smug smile as she looked at Raven pissed her off; the redhead knew exactly why Raven was floating and it amused her.

The workers finally saw the trio approaching and waved at them; in particular a tall old man with a graying beard and a bald head with black corvid styled tattoos on the left and right sides of his head.  Raven could distinctly see some norse runes hidden in the tattoos. The powerfully built man wore a red flannel shirt, blue jeans and cowboy boots made of dragon leather. "Ma'am Roth! You came!"

"As if I would miss this, Mister Ornsson." Angela hollered back.

The man scratched under his nose and looked warmly at the trio. "Well, I thought you'd celebrate the sabbat privately as usual."

Olaf Ornsson is the mayor of the village; he’s been managing it since he was thirty five years old. Geralt, Triss’ father had handed him the position to succeed the previous mayor whose family line was extinct. Mister Ornsson was a farmer and a creature caretaker. He raised the Heidrun goats, an animal that has been magically altered  by Goddess Freya; the goats were fed buds and leaves of the Læraðr that could be found at the center of the island. From the female goat’s teats, delicious mead could be harvested in huge quantities.

It was a speciality of Folkvangr and one of its most guarded secrets. The blessed mead could renew stamina and help the natural healing of the body… the most useful effect was that it helped strengthen and replenish magic for magical creatures or magic users. Triss’ ancestors have been selling the mead for £38'000 per liter.

Angela put a hand on Raven’s shoulder, smiling proudly. "It’s Raven’s birthday and Triss has decided to officiate as the priestess today. So we decided to make this Sabbat a special occasion… and there are friends and allies of the House who are going to be here today as well."

Mister Ornsson's eyes widened and a big grin spread on his face; he slapped lightly on Triss' shoulder. "Oooh the little missy’s finally old enough to officiate the rituals and congregation?"

Grinning back, Triss declared, "I will do it, Mister Ornsson!"

The mayor became more thoughtful. "I will have my little Vigdis help you, she officiates at the temple all the time."

Vigdis, a tall blonde and blue eyed woman was the local priestess who had been filling in for Triss as she couldn't do her job as a priestess yet. Raven didn't specialize in ritual magic, but her sister had to; just to be able to fulfill her role as a priestess of Freya… the Goddess hid the Fólkvangr island from prying eyes and supported the community here.

"I hope that you won't mind if Vigdis chaperones you while working at the temple, little missy?" The mayor asked.

Raven found it logical that Mister Ornsson was using a professional priestess to guide Triss; sometimes her sister did things recklessly, and shouldered too many responsibilities. For example, she took it upon herself to teach Harry Potter the customs and traditions of the Wizarding world; she even slipped him nutrition potions after his meal. She intended to save the little guy by taking on the greatest and most successful Dark Lord ever; a man with decades of experience. Raven was worried for Triss, but she would help her along the way.

Triss walked up to the mayor and said in a more uncertain manner, "I am new at this, so it's a given that I need guidance, tell your daughter that I thank her in advance, Mister."

Raven took her sister’s hand into hers. "I'll help too."

"Thanks Raven, you're the best sister." Triss hugged Raven and kissed her on the cheek.

"Huh-uh. Can we go now? We're losing daylight." Raven hid her embarrassment with her usual biting comments, avoiding to show her red face to Triss and the others.

Mayor Ornsson clapped his hand and grinned; then he turned to one of the men behind him who was helping load children in a horse cart. "Gunnar! Take the little missies with the other children!"

The man was younger and more muscular than Mister Ornsson and wore a straw hat with his distinctive forest green shirt and blue jeans. "Yes, sir!"

Raven sighed and followed everyone in the horse cart that will bring them outside the village; Triss holding onto her hand with a big smile. *My butt will suffer because of this cart…*

There were three large fields surrounding the village, the third one was left in fallow, the reason for this was that there was always a need to have one spare field available for planting the following year. These fields were divided up into sections for different families to work on and grow their own crops.

With magic used as a tool, Raven, Triss and the children from the village helped with telekinesis to harvest many different vegetables and fruits: Aubergine, Apples, Beetroot, Blackberries, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celeriac, Celery, Chestnuts, Chicory, Chillies, Courgette, Cucumber, Elderberries, Kale, Leeks, Lettuce, Marrow, Onions, Parsnips, Pears, Peas, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Quince, Radishes, Red Cabbage, Rocket, Runner Beans, Salsify, Savoy Cabbage, Spinach, Spring Greens, Spring Onions, Summer Squash, Swede, Sweetcorn, Sweetheart Cabbage, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watercress, Wild Mushrooms, Winter Squash, White Cabbage.

Raven did her best to harvest the products, and she even did better than Triss who suddenly looked more and more covered in earth and dust. It was the little sorceress’ turn to smile smugly at her sister who kept lamenting about how she looked right now.

When they were done, they filled carts powered by horse with the wooden nesting crates and transported them to the village’s barns where everything would be stored in stasis. The barns were protected against vermin and climate controlled, part of the food was for the village itself and the rest would be to sell either in France or Diagon Alley. It was strange how ready the British Ministry latched onto all House farming families to not have a famine on their hands.

This in turn drove the price up for vegetables and fruits, House Merigold raked in a lot of money incidentally. Raven would have thought that Triss was secretly evil if she wasn’t her sister, by how she let the dominoes fall by just publishing a book and destroying the economy of the British magical world and got richer in the process. *What did she call this plan again? Operation control the whacky inbreds?”

The Wizarding World had no idea of how The law of supply and demand worked. Triss had shown the mundane book in her personal library; it went like this: The law of supply and demand is a theory that explains the interaction between the sellers of a resource and the buyers for that resource. The theory defines the relationship between the price of a given good or product and the willingness of people to either buy or sell it.

House Merigold controlled the food and was now in Market Equilibrium; where supply meets demand. From what Raven remembered from the business book, equilibrium is the point where demand for a product equals the quantity supplied. This means that there's no surplus and no shortage of goods. A shortage occurs when demand exceeds supply – in other words, when the price is too low.

Triss had no mercy on those fools in the Wizengamot, they don’t even notice when they are being played by a cabal of business minded people hell bent on destroying them.

Raven used a tempus spell; it was three in the afternoon, and it meant that it was time to gather around the water fountain, in the village plaza where the fair will start. When they arrived a colorful exhibition was held in the open space near Freya’s temple.

Men and women of all ages and particularly the children find great delight in visiting the main village’s fair. Various articles are sold in the fair through assigned stands. Of them, Raven could see a good number of fancy goods, sweets.

Displayed in other stands there were clothes of various kinds, ready-made garments, cheap fancy goods, clay pots, whistles, musical implements, toys, dolls, utensils, cheap sweets, cosmetics, etc. that had the greatest demand in the fair. The rural craftsmen and artisans exhibited and sold their handmade goods.

From the other villages on the island came entertainers who either started singing and dancing or others did magic shows; also there were enchanted merry-go-rounds that are the special attractions of Tronjheim’s village.

Raven loved this time of the year in her home, her 11th birthday was simply the best in the end.

~~~ G.O ~~~

Back with Triss…Freya’s Temple08:23 PM

It wasn’t the first time that I went to the temple, it had always seemed grand and beautiful from outside with its white walls, gold decorations carved with care and devotion; the tiled red roof shone like ruby under the moonlight. Inside was even more majestic with depictions of the Valkyries, war, beautiful shieldmaidens fighting and leading armies engraved onto the walls.

I had a bit of stage fright before I passed through the curtain separating the dais from the backstage. I walked up to the end of the dais with the ceremonial artifact in the form of a golden spear.

“Today we're gathered here to celebrate the Samhain.” I started the ceremony this way.

The congregation members of Freya’s temple looked on upon me in my priestess garb. It was a velvet white ceremonial gown with gold trim. It was rather tight on my body and the style reminded me of those medieval dresses we could see in the shows. Vigdis had literally forced it on me when Raven and I entered the temple's quarters.

Gripping on the ceremonial golden spear that served as a conduit to the Goddess Freya, I looked at everyone and started speaking about giving thanks to the Goddess for her protection and the fertility she gifted the land and rivers. For the fruitful harvest that she bestowed upon us since the founding of Folkvangr, our home. The prayers consisted mainly in praise to the Goddess and request to help becoming better people and worth the Goddess’ grace.

Freya, Goddess of gold, inspires me today.Teach me to walk through my daywith pride in my own being,with confidence, with power.Goddess of fiery passion,bless me with the insightto the marrow of my bonesthat I am a person of worthin the eyes of the Godsthe eyes of the ancestorsand of myself.May I radiate thisand transforms all I meet.That is my prayer for this day, oh great and powerful Goddess,that I may mirror Your presence throughout my day.In return, I shall praise You always,and lay amber before Your image,consigning it to the sacred fires that burnwhen the day is at its longest.Hail Freya, shining Goddess of gold.I praise You.

Then thirty minutes later, we passed to the meat of the ceremony, we made offerings to Freya and asked her to take good care of our loved ones in her care. Next I had to put everyone into trance to allow them to meet the deceased and spend some time with them in their astral body; for this, I mustered my magic and channeled it through the spear and made a request to Freya:

This is the night when the gateway betweenour world and the spirit world is thinnest.Tonight is a night to call out those who came before.Tonight I honor my ancestors.Spirits of my fathers and mothers, I call to you,and welcome you to join me for this night.

I watched as everyone’s spirit raised from their body and passed through the veil separating the realms. Technically this was necromancy and was dangerous to use for a non-initiated, that was why Vigdis was double checking everything that I did.

I was allowed to rest on a stool while everyone was getting to visit their dead family members.

Samhain, was the only time such a ritual was allowed, the Temple was always on guard for anyone trying to reproduce the ritual and they had access to part of the wards matrix covering the island to check. Personally, I never got to meet my parents while participating; I always thought that it was unfair that such a gift had been bestowed upon others but not me. Though Freya had told me that there was a reason and that everything would be revealed in time.

If my life was a story, it would mean that my parents aren’t dead; but such a thing couldn’t just happen right? I knew this world was full of magic and wonders, but effed up situations like this don’t happen to everyone.

With a smile I watched as everyone was getting back into their body one by one; time was relative in the veil between worlds, those people generally spent days with their ancestors and loved ones as Freya sheltered them from harm.

As they all returned to the world of the living, everyone offered prayers of thanks to Goddess, the head of my ceremonial spear glowed in a pink purplish light and a wave of soothing divine magic traveled from it, filling the room with warmth and dare I say love? Freya loved us, her people. That kind of phenomena was a tangible proof that Gods were a thing in this world, and I was happy to have converted to the Norse religion; can you imagine what it would have been like to be under the Greek Gods? Those inbred assholes are like kids having tantrums all the time.

Standing up from the chair I was allowed to rest on, I came forward at the center of the dais and started officiating.

“I’m happy to see so many of you smiling or crying in joy. You were shown that there’s something else waiting for us after death; this is a gift that not everyone gets to experience in the world.” I said as my gaze slid over the entire congregation.

Everyone started congratulating me for the service I provided, some of the more rowdy people present even hollered their thanks.

“Thank you for the experience, Priestess Merigold!”

“Thank you, Priestess!”

Slightly bowing, I found myself replying to them. “And I thank you for your time and your devotion on behalf of our Goddess.”

I started to like the job of Priestess, becoming a spiritual and ritualistic leader for my community didn't sound too bad. Vigdis had explained the job to me and it was mainly about offering services to the community by establishing spiritual or meditative practices; or by preparing magical spells and Potions of fertility, pregnancy, and health. The priestess even dabbled in making perfume and incense; apparently, Goddess Freya enjoys the scent of Rose, Cedar and Sandalwood, Cypress and Myrtle......

There were other duties as well, in time of war, such as healing and shielding towns or cities with magic or blessing the armies under Freya’s banner. From the Head priestess I received a grimoire full of exorcism spells, diverse ritual and battlemagic that Freya’s priesthood practiced that were certainly destructive; Vigdis intended to teach them to me next summer…

To shut everyone up, I lightly stomped the ground and used a sonorus charm; everyone cringed a bit and silenced themselves as they paid attention to me. With an encouraging smile I began phase two of my big plan to establish myself as a local priestess. “Normally, this would be the end of this ceremony but we have one more thing to do today. We have to help the friends and allies of House Merigold, House Greengrass. Please come on up, Marcus and everyone.”

Marcus Greengrass and his family were the first one to walk up to the dais, passing between the spaces between the pews. Daphne and the cutie, Astoria, stopped before me; their mother holding onto them. I waved at them and they waved back; Marcus came forward and held out his right hand to me. “Thank you for doing this, Priestess Merigold.”

I shook his hand firmly and said with honesty, “You’re family to me Marcus, none of that Priestess stuff with me, please.”

The man smiled and positioned himself at my side, everyone looked at him as more of his entourage was walking before the dais. When they stopped coming in, I began explaining the situation to the congregation. “Marcus Greengrass has allowed me to reveal one of his family secrets to give you context about the situation of House Greengrass.”

Samhain was the best day to do a curse removal; the Greengrass family was originally from Greece and worshiped the Greco-Roman god of medicine, Asklepios. Tonight was about contacting him to heal his lost people to accept them back into his fold. I was loath to invite another god on Freya’s domain, but she was reasonably okay with him being there. I think that there was some backroom deal going on in the Sphere of the Gods; a metaphysical reality whose inhabitants exist on a higher plane of existence than the inhabitants of the 52 realities that are known to exist in the DC universe.

There were some questions being shouted by people at the back of the crowd, but with a ‘thunk’ sound I brought down the butt of my spear on the ground and I silenced them.

“Are you done interrupting me?” I asked with steel in my voice.

No one answered, so I decided to continue speaking. Cough. “House Greengrass suffers from a curse placed on one of their ancestors, which resurfaces from time to time randomly in each new generation. They’ve looked for ways to destroy the curse for hundreds of years and as a Priestess of the Temple of Freya I decided to offer them a solution.”

I chose to not tell what the effects of the blood malediction on Daphne’s family was; it basically weakened their lines, the curse sought to end them once and for all, making their body weak and often unable to live past eighteen years old. “Let’s start this…”

Turning to the Greengrass patriarch, I looked into his green eyes. “Marcus, do you have everyone?”

The man nodded in relief, he showed me four of his fingers. “It took us four years and a lot of Galleons to track down every descendant of House Greengrass and affiliated Houses and families; we even reached out to the squibs lines we’re taking care of.”

I was impressed and looked down from the dais; there were at least two hundred people gathered before the dais, fortunately, there were spatial compression enchantments inside the temple; space wasn’t a problem at all. The Temple was one of the cornerstones of the island and was powered by the ten Ley lines forming a Nexus under the island. “Please gather all in the circle, don’t worry it will expand to take you all in.”

The Greengrass group and affiliates listened, the oldest members took more time to position themselves in the circle. I needed a helper from the gathered family, and my choice settled on the third member of my own coven, Daphne.

I called her out. “Daphne, come here, you’ll help me officiate.”

“Coming.” Daphne said as she walked up briskly toward me.

She wore a short white and silver toga-like dress that left her knees and arm showing skin with attractive beige velvet boots, as well as silver jewelry making her look like one of the Roman princesses of yore. I was a bit jealous of how beautiful she looked, it was because of Daphne that my fashion sense was somewhat skewed to magical girl and era fashion.

Daphne placed herself on my right as I gave her an ornate ritual Kopis dagger with golden handle and runic blade enchanted to heal any wound it causes. Marcus suddenly looked nervous as he watched Daphne being a participant in the ritual; but he knew his little girl was a skilled mage at this point. I could see some people who looked skeptical as they looked at the proceedings, many of them seemed to not have been in contact with magic before.

I could hear them asking questions or discussing aloud about what was happening.

“When are they starting?”

“I’m kinda nervous.”

“Everyone is a witch here?”

“I was paid to come here, and so far the food has been the only highlight.”

Their discussion was kind of annoying, it caused me to retaliate by asking to shut up with a Sonorus spell. “Please be silent while we’re praying.”

Fortunately, they all shut up while I showed Daphne the paper sheet with the prayer she would repeat with me three times. My friend wouldn’t have any problem memorizing it, Occlumency was bullshit like that. It was one of the first skills I trained since I was five years old; Occlumency can be developed further than simple defense to be highly resistant to psychic attacks. It is a way to use magic to dissociate from emotions. This can aid a mage by controlling fear, minimizing pain, and breaking through enchantments meant to twist perception.

Further advance in this skill inevitably lead to a user of Occlumency to develop a method of memory enhancement which uses visualization to organize and recall information. The items to be remembered in this mnemonic system are mentally associated with specific physical locations. Everyone was doing things differently, but most methods relied on memorized spatial relationships to establish, order, and recollect memory content.

Daphne gave me back the piece of paper with a big smile on her face; I took it from her and placed it back in my pocket space. Some of the Greengrass’ people flinched when they saw the paper disappear from my hand with the effect of a purple-black flame consuming it without burning it. My ceremonial spear’s head glowed as I let it stand without assistance at my side.

Taking Daphne’s hands into mine, we looked into each other's eyes and began channeling magic outside our body and let it strike the magical circle at our feet. The gold engraved in the marble tiles slowly gained a shine as Daphne and I began to pray:

Kind Asklepios, son of far-shooting Apollo,first of physicians, swiftest of healers, trustedmender of broken men and women, through youdo the lame walk, the sick renew their good health;through you are wounds healed, bones knit, and illnessburnt away; by your goodness and might do we regainjoy in our lives. Asklepios, friend of mankind,I pray to you, I seek your favor. May Ibe healed of this affliction, may I recoverthrough and through, may vigor and vitalityreturn to me. Asklepios, compassionate one,learned one, resourceful one, I ask your blessing.

We repeated the prayer three times before the serpent on a staff symbol appeared in the air, glowing in blue as a construct of divine mana; it appearing was telling us that we attracted the attention of the God of Medicine. My ceremonial spear began to blindingly glow, showing that the Goddess was there and watching the ritual. From my pocket space I took two straw baskets full of flowers. One contained Sacred Lotus flowers, those were big plants, 30 cm in diameter; the petals were a beautiful pink. As a perfect symbol of purity, it is above tumult and ugliness; they were the first component for the ritual.

In the other basket we had Egyptian Blue Lily, the God creator’s plant in the cosmogony of ancient Egypt. Associated with death, as a symbol of the transition to the afterlife and rebirth, it is also an element of ornament used as a symbol of power.

I gave the basket full of Lotus to Daphne and said, “Place those at the four cardinal points around the circle, Daph.”

My friend nodded and began to delicately place  the four flowers in the north, east, south and west directions. Daphne quickly came back to stand next to the spear, and it was finally my turn; I walked in the same direction Daphne had placed her flowers, starting from the north, east, south and west and closed the circle. Turning to everyone in the circle who looked at me, I held my hand open and the glowing ceremonial golden spear flew into my hand.

I twirled it like a cheerleader would, the spear’s head stopping before the south Lotus flower. Looking at the Greengrass and affiliates, I said, “This is going to feel somewhat itchy for a bit, don’t panic when it happens.”

I poked the Lotus flower and the glow spread to the flower; the serpent on a staff symbol slowly approached Daphne who unsheathed her Kopis and the blue colored mana entered the blade. Daphne knew exactly what she needed to do… she cut her wrist and let some of her blood drop on the Lotus. The effect was instantaneous and the golden glow spread to the connected flowers; Egyptian Blue Lily and Sacred Lotus glowed gold and blue.

I took Daphne’s hand, her wrist was already healing and I pushed her into the circle without disturbing the circle. Marcus and her mother caught her. “Now is time to be delivered, heed to the holy call. SACRED REBIRTH!!”

The ceiling opened with a mechanical sound and a pillar of golden light with blue lightning struck everyone in the circle. A barrier erected around the circle to not allow anyone to exit the circle. No one would hear them scream as the Rebirth ritual would not only remove the curse but it would also rebuild their body, eliminating any defects magical or genetic they may have.

I looked at the time with a Tempus spell, it was 9:30 PM; depending on the potency of the blood curse, the people in here are going to stay there for another hour. My golden spear glowed and I felt my spirit being pulled upwards; I let it happen and found myself in a typical bedchamber, the walls were made of wood and the golden knots at every angle told me that I was in a familiar room.

On the golden bed with ruby red sheets, a naked blonde woman, powerfully built, laid there. She exited her bed, and I blushed as I saw a lot of nubile flesh; but the goddess put on her personal raiment consisting of the combination of a light armor and a cloak of falcon feathers. She had her golden Brísingamen at her neck.

“Welcome, my Champion.” The goddess welcomed me.

I immediately went on a knee and lowered my head. “My Goddess.”

Without looking up I felt her come before me; she emitted so much magic that it was blinding. I felt the happiness and love she had for me, it was intoxicating to be in her presence; Freya was distracting… The goddess put a hand on my head and let her hand glide over my face and lifted my head by lifting my chin.

Looking into my eyes she had a delighted expression on her face. “I am proud of what you did for me tonight, you gathered a lot of faith; more than usual at least.”

Why were her eyes so captivating? I knew she was a goddess of beauty but she put to shame any mortal I found attractive in my two lives. I didn’t want to stay tongue tied for too long, so I forced myself to speak.

“I didn’t expect it to be this much, but I’m glad it helped you. Though most of all, I wanted to help my friend.” I said with honesty.

Freya caressed my cheek affectionately. “You’re such a good girl, Triss. Thanks to you, I recovered some of my former power; when you go back, make more of your magic and gather more followers for me.”

I was about to object, but the Goddess put a hand on my mouth to stop me, she gave me a sexy grin. “As an incentive, I shall bless you.”

Is it going to be an annoying blessing like in the isekai I’ve read before? Freya wasn’t an annoying Goddess though, she had been straight with me since I met her when I first entered the Temple. I chose to trust her, she hadn’t led me astray yet.

The goddess nodded, having read my mind despite my mental defense; without a doubt they must be like papier maché for someone like her.

Freya held her hand to me and I caught it without hesitation; she lifted me up and as I stood before her, she caught my face between her two hands. “My Champion, I gift you with the blessing of War.”

Something began filling me, it was just like when that entity had infused me with my powers; I felt my soul grow to accommodate the power that was now mine. I now understood the essence of war and I found myself saying words from deep inside my heart, “War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only those which they defend.”

Freya laughed, kissed me on the lips and let go of my face. I didn’t even notice the norse tattoos on my arms but it was as if I had been marked. Those were Primordial Runes, glowing a deep purple on my astral body.

Stepping back and sitting on her bed, The goddess waved at me. “Now go forth my child!”

Leaning forward with an intense look into her blue eyes, she added, “Crush your enemies! See them driven before you! and delight in the lamentations of their women."

My mind went blank at that, and I found myself asking, “Huh, did you just quote Conan The barbarian?”

With a smile, the Goddess moved her right hand with a sharp downward gesture; a flash of rainbow light brought me back to the Temple holding onto the ceremonial spear and… I instantly understood how to use it. *Something to test in a safe environment.*

Everyone was looking at me, I didn’t understand why until I looked at the divine aura around my body. Freya was being too flashy here… I ignored everyone and focused on the pillar of light that was slowly dissipating.

Some of the Greengrass were asleep or laid on the ground, but they looked alive. Marcus was the first to wake up and as he stood up he looked at himself. Then one by one everyone started to wake up; everyone who didn’t have magic had it now, the squib were blessed by their patron gods, I’m sure that Asklepios has given them instructions about what to do now that they were back under his aegis.

“Welcome to the world of magic.” I told the Greengrass and their related families.

They all looked at me in wonder and… kneeled before. I rolled my eyes and then began to say, “With great power, comes great responsibility. You were given magic, use it wisely; some of you are healers, protectors and soldiers; do your God proud.”

Then I began to instruct them about Samhain. About the 'doorways' to the Otherworlds which opened at this time of the year, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into the world. It was actually true, the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world break down during Samhain, allowing more interaction between humans and denizens of the Otherworlds: Fae realms, demonic ones or even a dragon realm. It was the duty of mages and sorcerers to stop any incursion or people from being lost forever by entering them.

Many have forgotten, but it was my duty to help them remember. “Once again welcome to the world of magic.”