Chương 52: Chapter 51: Rolling Diplomacy

The room was swallowed into darkness, and I quickly began to curse my senses. Right away the room came into full focus for me as it truly was, with many grinning skulls borne to the open air, with bones glinting and fading in the charnel house of the ballroom hall, no less ghastly for having been long-decayed. I could smell the rot here, I could smell dust and corruption, rotten marrow and dry bones. I could smell decaying fabric...

and my breath misted in front of me, as did everyone else's what drew breath among us. Gelidia shone. She stood like a beacon of blue-green light as her spectral form reacted to something in the air as the temperature plunged to arctic depths, as the anger of a ghost filled the room Not just a ghost. Ghosts.

"Daughter mine..." the voice came again, and the sound of it grated at my senses, swirled with the Dead Mist, with visions of tormented souls in my mind's eye. I clawed at my Wolf-Ren desperately as faces swirled in the mist, as the darkness took unspeakable forms in my mind's eye, and I managed to shut it off by clutching my ears and shutting my eyes tight, a soft canine whine escaping my lips. Faintly luminescent to me before I pushed my senses away, the Dead Mist began to fill the room.

"Lights!" Roxala barked, and Torch pulled a torch out even as the knight herself did. Fel shuddered, and seemed to lean upon his staff more heavily as the cold bit into him and the mist clawed at his life force, as it was the others. The cold tendrils sank their teeth into me as well... but as they had in the crypt... they only prompted my skin to warm, and my wolf to stir in my breast as I fought down my terrified reaction to what I'd seen in the roiling mists.

Gelidia took my hand, and I simply stood at my Lady's side as we stared down the dark.

"... I'm glad you're here at last... sweet Mirabilis, my precious daughter." the voice growled, and it was clear from where the anger came. Phantom boots clicked on the ground and the mist seemed to congeal, to coalesce around a human form. Or perhaps he was simply walking out of it? No, it was more than that. It was like he was gathering it around himself, forming himself from it, from the mad faces and swirling agony of the Dead Mist itself!

And as he walked, his footfalls seemed to grow louder, heavier, even as his body formed further and further. He turned out to be wearing a suit of armor with a greatcoat over it, and even as I watched it crackled and became literal, became real as it shrouded him. He didn't form a human face though... just... a grinning human skull with a crown that made a sound like creaking ice or distant thunder as it took shape on his brow.

"... Hello, papa." Gelidia said, and bowed her head to him without taking her eyes from his approach. He stopped maybe ten feet away, and I could see the flames flickering in his skull that took the place of his eyes. He didn't even try to look human - and to form his body as he had... world... I inspected him.

Duke Edmond Windbinder IV, Undead Lord of Dead Mists, Level Unknown 💀💀 His burning gaze tracked to us, to the three adventurers and I, moving to clearly include me, and the mist swallowed all light around him, leaving only the lantern flames of his eyes.

"Leave us." the Duke commanded in a voice that made the air reverberate around us. Roxala, Torch, and Felorikaan reeled and swayed backward as if struck by a physical blow as his command hit them, and I certainly felt it... but clearly not to the extent that they had. I just grit my teeth, and balled my fists.

"This is a family matter, and not the concern of outsiders." he said, almost in an off-hand way, but it reverberated around the room in a deafening wash of noise that seemed to make the air itself ripple with the raw anger in his polite tones. Even as my friends clutched their ears and receded backward, mist simply poured off of me, and I physically moved between Gelidia and her father.

Roxala and Torch were desperately trying to light torches to fight back the mist, but clearly failing to do so - it was just too suddenly clammy to get a light and the mist was somehow... wet, cloying, condensing dew out of the air to dampen the wood and rags to uselessness. I could see Fel almost doubling over in the cold and in the mist. The Duke's eyes swung from them... to me.

"I Am Lord of This Keep." he intoned, and gathered his power once again, more strongly this time.

"And You Will Obey. Leave, Hound." he commanded, and his power raked at me, drove the mist billowing from my body to stream from me horizontally like a cape as terrible cold assailed my senses and inundated me with arctic pain. Frost formed on my eyelashes, and in my hair, but... I didn't move more than a step backward. Instead...

my hand found Gelidia's grasping, cool fingers, and I let the low growl bubbling in my breast rise to full audibility, making bones rattle and dance near me in sympathy with the basso note produced, an inhuman sound from my human breast. Touching my Lady's hand, I felt her presence, her comfort, and somehow, she just made the terrible power of her father's will recede and continue to wash past me.

"No, papa." Gelidia said, voice soft, but reverberating in the exact same way. The Duke looked at her, and narrowed his eyes at her, the flames becoming pin-pricks in his skull.

"She's staying here." Gelidia said firmly.

"You're right though - we need to talk." she said, and lifted her chin as she brought her own power up. Light burned from her breast, and it seemed to claw at the umbral dark all around us, seemed to repel the Deadmist, to push it back from her. No, that wasn't right either - it was fleeing from her, pulling back from her influence! I linked fingers with her more tightly, and... something strange happened. I felt a kind of...

tingle inside me, a kind of instinct I couldn't begin to put words to, but it felt like a skill tugging at me, at my mind, telling me what I should do. I'd done pretty well trusting and listening to my skills so far, so I listened to them now and reached up to clasp the Wolf Pendant around my neck as my growl quieted only slightly. The pendant. I could do something with the Wolf Pendant. As I clutched the golden coin in my free hand, I let the instinct guide me more. I just had to put mana into it.

I just had to set my will onto what my instincts told me was possible. Power flooded the cursed pendant, my power, my will, undirected but... questing. It sensed Gelidia and I could actually feel it click in place as it found what it wanted. She became a lightning rod for my energy and manifested beside me fully, no longer spectral! Her own body began to steam, just as mine did, and her hand warmed in mine.

Her eyes went from white within white to a pretty green, and she condensed like droplets on the edge of a cold glass of water, losing transparency, her hair becoming more vibrant, her cheeks rosier, her dress newer in a swirl of light as I watched my mana plummet. 80, 70, 60, 50, then it stopped as she became just that much more real beside me as her father's eyes widened! Where she stood... the ball room became clean. No, it was more than that - where she stood, and a few inches all around, it was... new.

It was whole again, like the decades and carnage hadn't happened. The Duke clenched his fists even more tightly, and drew his sword.

"Very well, since you insist on this farce, this heretical course, I have no choice but to-" and Gelidia, glowing like a beacon in the dark room, raised her hand - palm out to her father. Power flickered - so much more mana than I could move - and the light swelled in a wash of wind that bore down on him. He lifted his free hand to shield his face with a cry of fright! Suddenly, the dark power of the Deadmist fled from him, leaving only wreckage and bone, and then he had no defense left, nothing to shield him.

He let out a shudder, and the wave of light expanded more over him. He staggered a little, leaning on a heater shield, the sword he held used as further support for his weight. He was a healthy man, probably in his early forties, and youthful looking with salt and pepper in his beard, vibrant, his dark eyes flashing with rage as he was forced to manifest thus. The mist pushed away, but not fast enough - it was dragged into shape too!

Human forms collapsed around him, behind him, - guardsmen, waiting staff, I recognized Ms. Birchwood, some of the other staff as well - Cherise the maid, Gon the manservant, and Lionel the barber, all of them had been locked in the Deadmist, and their expressions were sickened, pained as they recovered - going from terrible agony to sudden respite in moments. Had they really been in that mist? Made part of it like that? I could think of little as terrible as that.

The ruin faded as the room was restored to full splendor as Gelidia... altered the world around her with her will and mine in tandem. No, that wasn't right... it was more that her will was pushing away her father's, her will was reshaping the way we were percieving the dungeon, not how it was. It wasn't real, but neither was the Deadmist or the supernatural cold that was fading from the air even as I felt it warming. I glanced at Gelidia, and used another ten mana - why not?

[Monster, Magic] Phantasmal Manifestation The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. [Spell: Charm Against Evil] The Duke glared at his daughter, even as the whole hall became... well, a dance hall. Nobles and guards, dancers and servants strewn all around us, their bones rising and... flooding with color and flesh even as their ghosts were forced out of the mist, which had nowhere to flee but back to their bodies, forcibly reshaped into their spectral selves...

then manifested back into the real world once more.

"What... is this?" and the Duke's voice was whole again. A warm tenor, a far cry from the monstrous sounding rasp it had been before now. He was angry, that was clear, but he was also frightened, filled with wonder, and relieved somehow all at once. His shoulders sagged a moment, as if a terrible burden was lifted from his back at long last. Tears filled his eyes and Gelidia took her hand from mine to push his sword aside and hug her dad.

I let her reluctantly - something about this didn't feel right - I hadn't stopped growling.

"This isn't real..." the Duke said heavily as he embraced his daughter, letting himself relax a moment in her arms. I could see his resolve firm, and anger flared in me as I realized what was happening - I'd seen enough movies to recognize a hard line when it was coming up"... we're dead. None of this is real. I am not truly your father - I am but a shade... and you are not my daughter." he said. I was already moving.

"Of course I am, papa." she said, and looked into his cold eyes.

"I know it's scary, but -" Then I punched the Duke full on in the face, swinging my fist forward with all the strength of my hips to spill him backward from his daughter a full fifteen feet away as he finished thrusting his sword forward, only managing to nick my mate and carve a pink line on her breast. She squeaked in pain and surprise at the sudden savage violence of the exchange! The Duke flopped bonelessly for a bounce or two before catching himself and skidding to a stop on his knees.

He let out a shocked and furious cry of"To Arms!" that was taken up by the entire court with every shocked gasp and each and every whisper of drawn steel by armed guards and retainers in the wake of the terrible blow I'd laid on their ruling Lord. I stepped forward, putting myself between her and him fully once again, pulling out my Lucerne Hammer from its strap. With a practiced set of motions, I screwed it together without taking my eyes off the snake.

Darkness gathered around the lord of Windbinder Keep, and many of the retainers and guards of the House began to de-manifest, even as their lord did, becoming misty once again as his will fought his daughter's, but the Deadmist was agonizing - and many of the other nobles in attendance, many of the servants, including Ms. Birchwood, Gon, Cherise, and Lionel - scrambled away towards the doors, unwilling to partake in it. Roxala and Torch managed to light a pair of lanterns - where had they gotten those?

- and moved to stand beside Gelidia and I, to face down the furious shade of the Duke.

"How dare you meddle in this affair - she is not Gelidia Windbinder, nor am I truly the Duke - we are but shades of our selves! The World's weapons, to test the faithful!" he said, and his flesh seemed to slough into mist again around him as he rejected Gelidia. As he continued speaking, he once again became what he'd been before.

"She has no authority to knight you, nor I an inclination to recognize your rank, beast! We are servants of the Dungeon, of the World's Will, and nothing more!" he called, and his voice took on that terrible aspect once again.

"How dare you so presume to understand Her Will, when it was she who made us as we are now, She whom we serve!" he said, in his dark corner as he fought Gelidia's influence. That side of the room became ruin again, and things sank into decay with a sound like creaking ice.

"The World gave us the ability to choose differently! She who gave us a gift of free will, if only we're brave enough to take the second chance she's offering!" Gelidia said in rejoinder. She squeezed my hand and I heard her voice in my head, even as her will surged into me like cool waters. My mana began to fill - forty... fifty! Sixty! Seventy! Change, my love. Her voice hit me, and my Wolf roused fully to the surface in the mirror. YES - TOGETHER WE WILL DEFEND OUR MATE Together!

What a beautiful night to have a Curse... I stopped fighting the Wolf, and willingly grasped her paw, pulling her through the mirror of our mindscape. Or perhaps, she pulled me? It was the same thing - Pain and Power surged in my breast, and Gelidia's power got involved - gave it more than it needed, more than it asked for, and soothed my body with her cool energies, like an icy wind blowing through my hair as the collar around my neck became incandescently bright...

and my clothes vanished, even as I smoothly and quickly swelled outward. It hurt - it hurt a lot, but it didn't take nearly as long as it normally would have, not with Gelidia's help and energy to push it along, not with her magic. Where she touched me it hurt like sticking my hand into embers, but... I wouldn't have pushed her touch away for the world as golden fur blossomed around her fingers and my face lengthened.

I never took my hand off the Halberd, and I felt her power manifest around it with my change as it grew, became... more. I lifted my head, golden eyes flaring with green light, and slammed the butt of my Lucerne Hammer onto the marble, cracking it for a foot in every direction with a hollow boom. All of that made the Duke's flamebright eyes narrow, and made his guards, clad in mist-corroded armor and wielding rusted weapons raise them as they readied to charge.

My body began to glow, shining with green-white light as my eyes did, and armor began to manifest over my form in a ripple, scale mail with green cloth that resembled my shawl and skirt and cloak, but mail shimmering and bronze instead of leather scales like the actual dress.

The Windbinder crest featured on my chest, and as I stepped forward, I felt a green cloak manifest on me, heavy pauldrons fastening it to my shoulders, bracers bearing the Hawk crest forming on my wrists from that same green light of Gelidia's will!

"Are you a coward, father? Are you so fearful that you would pretend there is no choice?!" Gelidia called harshly, and I let out a snarl, showing my fangs in support of her. Her father bristled furiously!

"Look at her!" Gelidia cried"She is no mad beast out of control! She has labored in your demesne, woman and wolf, to rescue those that remain from the rubble, to bring safety and sanity back to us! - She is a Good Girl!" I felt my tail wagging behind me as embarrassment colored my cheeks! Roxala heh'd and I could literally hear Torch and Fel grin to themselves.

"I am no heretic, papa! We have been blessed with a second chance by the World!" she said, voice gentler, but no less determined.

"The World has given Her Blessing, Father, and shown this road to Goldtail, a Riftwalker!" Gelidia said. She drew her own lightning-soaked crackling sword, even as her pretty dress became mail of her own, her pretty little tiara becoming an almost Corinthian helmet on her head. With her free hand, she kept holding my great paw, as raw as it still felt from not having let go.

The Nobles who had fled the mist, the servants and retainers who had not sided with her father, they looked on at the sight of us ahead of them, defending them, with wonder. Gelidia looked around at them, and met Ms. Birchwood's eyes directly. Abbey looked sad... but knelt. Green light shimmered over her as she chose, and she was just the first.

The other staff we'd met followed her lead, and the green light and sound of distant thunder began to fill the room as they stabilized, as they compared what Gelidia offered, the truth she'd shown, to the reality of the Dead Mist and their places in the Duke's dead kingdom. The abyss and torment of undeath, or a second chance blessed by the World's Will? Not a hard choice. Even some of the Duke's men edged away from him, but most of them remained loyal to their Lord, even beyond death.

"The World accounts for many roads! Don't make ours go through you!" Gelidia growled. The Duke was still for a long moment. He stood with his head bowed a little, the fires in his eyes banked to smoldering cinders. For a moment, I thought she would actually pull this off, that she might actually convince her Father not to fight, to embrace, to take her example too. But... there was pride in that creature, pride... and a kind of terrible certainty. He had his beliefs, and...

even when it was terrible, he wouldn't be turned from them. I saw the truth of that as he lifted his head, and what was left of his face smiled grimly.

"You have your road, shade of my daughter, your foolish friends who have come to die with your cause, and your own abominable pet monster whom I will slay for you..." he said, with the grave finality of a tomb door sliding shut. He raised his sword until it was horizontal to his side, and dark power flared. The Dead Mist swirled with green light once again, and... another figure rose from the floor.

His men that had remained at his side shifted and adjusted their stances as platemail formed over their bodies, and their ragged weapons became much like mine - greater, invested with his power as... a familiar form manifested at his Duke's side. Sir Gotthardt Gotthardtson, Rustungeist Armiger level 8, calm, resolute. 💀 Undead Knight of Windbinder Keep, level 6, Calm, Determined There were six undead knights, and Sir Gotthardt himself, back from the Dead Mist at his Lord's Command.

"... and I have mine." Gulp. Roxala growled, and affixed her Lantern to her belt, much like our friends. Torch drew his crossbow, and in a matter of fact kind of way, hooked his foot into the goat leg mechanism and cranked it back, slotting in a heavy iron bolt. Felorikaan raised his staff, and a quiet word had blue light forming a rippling barrier over himself, and then each of us in turn as his power manifested a ward - how come he'd never done that yet until now?

Maybe it was a statement of how seriously he was taking this, that he was willing to go all out?

"I want a rematch with that damn goat herder. I'll take him." Roxala said.

"Gelidia, you're the only one even remotely close to your dad's level range. What level is he?" She asked"Fourteen, same as me." She said quietly.

"Goldie and I will take him and his men." She said, voice low.

"Right. Torch? Take shots, and keep Fel safe. Fel? Now's not the time to pull punches. If you see a shot and you think you can get away with it, you let them have it - none of us have exclusive rights, we're badly outnumbered, no playing fair, no actual duels." Roxala growled, and we all nodded.

"BREAK!" and it was on.