────── Fenrir Dróttning ──────
Spring 80, 125
Kage sat with the Deep One that he usually worked with to work through his memory issues. He had modified his memories so many times over the years that large chunks of his past were a blur to him. He learned not to trust those blurs, as the mind would fill in gaps naturally with anything that it thought was reasonable. Kage’s true history was a mystery to him, and was a closely guarded secret stored in a series of books.
Arne had one such book open. He was writing down what Kage was telling him as he recounted his adventures over the last couple hundred years. They had been at it for hours now even though Kage was doing his best to be brief.
Arne cracked his knuckles and rested his hands in a solution of soothing flora and medicating gel while Kage let his voice rest. Arne doubled as a therapist, the only one that Kage even bothered to go to anymore.
The older aelf, Kage, picked out the first book. No matter how many times he had his memory wiped he still found an urge to find out what his origins were. History so old that even the oldest aelves probably had trouble recalling it. That was why books like these were so important. If someone tampered with them… that would throw people for a loop. But Kage’s records had not been tampered with, as far as either of the two aelves knew.
“Can’t help yourself, can you?” Arne asked.
“Can you blame me?” Kage replied, skimming the pages. “It’s not every day that I do this, it’s like reading your favorite book for the first time all over again. Hmm, this is interesting it says here…”
“That you were born a girl named Fenrir Dróttning?” Arne continued. “And next you’ll tell me that you’re surprised that you have a sister that you don’t remember.”
Kage smirked, “I’m that consistent? I did remember that I used to go by Fenrir though.”
“Very.” Arne grinned and squeezed his hands to release some more of the healing properties of the flora.
“How often do I actually assume a woman’s form?” Kage asked.
“Eh, it depends. You go through your phases. You seem to really like being a male because it allows you to have your fun with the faelnir women. As a female you are quite ruthless. Your missions usually are better suited for a male, so I’m not sure how much of an accurate answer I can give.”
“That makes sense,” Kage said with a nod, “it would hard to do my last mission as a woman, being the husband of a cor’norai and all.”
“Exactly.”
There was a long pause before Arne continued, “this is about the time where you ask if I can surgically modify you to look like your former self. And yes, I can do that. I can rewrite your recent memories as a man to make you think you were a woman the whole time. Your mind will fill things in to make it make sense.”
“Then I suppose you already know that I want to go through with this?” Kage asked with a sigh.
“More or less. Sometimes you back out, but usually you’re in a different sort of mood.”
“Fenrir, sounds like more of a male name, but being androgenous I suppose it doesn’t really matter,” Kage said to himself before standing up. “Alright, let’s do this.”
Arne nodded. He didn’t like this part of his job. He liked being a record keeper and he liked soothing people’s mental woes. Surgery wasn’t he really wanted to do, but since nobody else knew what he did about many of his patients in espionage, he was the only one who could do the job. It wasn’t all bad though, he could expect to get paid well, probably by having Kage doing something for him or bringing him something that was hard to get.
There were a list of changes that Kage wanted made, unrelated to swapping to another gender. He had an inari that had a Crux that needed transplantation. And he wanted the modifications that Velho had made removed. Not because they were bad, but rather because he didn’t feel like paying the upkeep cost for them. He simply did not need to be superhumanly strong often enough.
Kage went home to fetch the Inari and then came back. Then he was knocked out via drug, perhaps even by the magic of Scourge. He didn’t know or care about any of that stuff. All he knew was that after a couple days of surgery, he was Fenrir again and he felt a lot more at ease.
When she woke up, Fenrir was back at home where her staff had already been briefed about her appearance change. There was a stack of paperwork that Fenrir filled out that helped facilitate her name change. There was no telling how long this appearance would stick – maybe she would change her mind, maybe she would keep this body for a thousand years. Or maybe a job would require her to take a completely new form and look like… a dwarf or something.
She felt sore, especially around her chest which contained the newly implanted Crux organ. She had no intention of inciting it anytime soon, but it was good to have the option. If she hadn’t undergone surgery for other reasons she probably would have waited to do that surgery for several years.
Her soreness didn’t stop her from hanging out with some of her new friends. About a week later she invited some of them to come to her little plot of land where her treant production had been ongoing for most of the season. As fate would have it, this was the exact day that things would go to shit.
Not ten minutes after they’d arrived, Fenrir saw a tree plummeting to the earth, crushing some animals below. Cursing his inability to save them, as clearing away dead carcasses was always an annoying mess, Fenrir’s instincts quickly began to take over as she assessed the situation. Construction over on her plot of land had been going well but there were so many workers and Hana could only do so much.
It was easy to tell that this tree had not been felled intentionally by her workers. The technique was all wrong, for one. Also, there was a giant, monstrous sized bear that was throwing its weight around. It didn’t appreciate so much activity being nearby its cave and had finally decided to make a grand stand for more territorial control.
Grabbing her bow, Fenrir glanced off in the distance to see the bear, a giant bioluminescent monstrous thing that seemed pleased with the destruction it was causing. Then out from the corner of her eye, Fenrir saw Raggi shoot up into the sky using zephyr. Through the lens of mysticism Fenrir could see a blue aura around her as she released her aether in the shape of crackling lightning.
Fenrir didn’t think rushing in with an attack was a good idea, but she had no time to call to Raggi as the warrior shot her arms forward with a loud “AHHHH!!” and a giant streak of blue lightning fired out towards the giant bear. The bolt was one of the most impressive Fenrir had ever seen anyone muster, yet as it made contact with Bear, it crackled around him as if the bear’s hide was made of some sort of lightning resistant material.
The bear roared and seemed to dissipate with the wind. There was a blur of motion which Fenrir was able to see rise into the air with mysticism. Looking up for just a moment, they saw the form of bear slowly reappearing above Raggi. Shouting for her, Fenrir called for his bird fetches to fly towards them. They crowded around Raggi and pushed her out of the way as the bear solidified and tried crashing down on her.
Raggi tumbled atop a rooftop, scraping along the wood before sliding off. Fenrir ran alongside her and caught her as she fell. The pain she felt from the impact was heightened by her not being used to having reduced strength. Fenrir’s knees gave out and then both fell.
“That damn bear!” she cried out as she started to wield more aether.
“Raggi wait, I don’t think that’s going to do any damage to it,” Fenrir stated. Raggi, still visibly shaken and angered by the bear, just glared at Fenrir.
“I’m not just going to roll over and let this bear wreak havoc!”
“I’m not asking you to! But we need to fight smart, we need to come up with a plan! Let’s wait for it to solidify then try hitting it.”
Raggi continued to glare at Fenrir as she got up off the ground. Slightly softening her expression, Raggi then reached down and helped Fenrir to her feet.
“Alright fine,” Raggi stated, “I wonder where Axel wandered off to.” Axel had gone off on an errand but he was supposed to be meeting up with them here. Hopefully he would arrive in time to actually make a difference.
Fenrir nodded as he began to concentrate. She tapped into the various birds around her to see if she could spot Axel through them – she could not. It was a shame because the aelf was a skilled animist and could probably pacify the bear.
The bear fully solidified and started towards the both of them. Its large claws dug up entire root systems as it walked. With a loud exhaling growl, the rotund monster glanced upwards. Its eyes seemed to glisten as it spotted what could be its next target. Its body began to grow as it began to suck air in again.
Gazing where the bear was looking, Fenrir saw Axel sitting cross legged. He seemed to be chanting some words, probably beast tongue. But Fenrir could tell that from this distance that it wasn’t working.
“There’s Axel!” Fenrir shouted with a pointed finger. “We have to give him some more time.”
Raggi nodded firmly as the two started running, “I’ll soften the damn thing up!”
Raggi could fly so she launched herself off the ground and propelled herself forwards with wind. Fenrir followed Raggi’s lead as she trailed behind, her mind somewhat distracted while trying to move her treants into position. With a mighty shout, the warrior threw her hands forward as if she was chucking two balls. On cue, several treants jumped out from the brush and rammed into the bear’s side. She maneuvered more treants in front of the bear as Raggi came swirling in, spinning around in a 360 as she sliced her steel blade across the bear’s underbelly.
The bear cried out in pain in an unearthly tone as its round body leaned upwards, the breath of wind it had been preparing launched harmlessly into the sky. Fenrir and Raggi kept their momentum going and kept the bear in the field of view. The bear dropped back down onto all fours and seemed to bury its face into the ground over and over again. Raggi glanced over at Fenrir with a proud smile.
“I think we hurt him,” Raggi said proudly with a rejuvenated smile on her face. She appeared more motivated, which inspired Fenrir to feel the same. “Let’s make it a race to see if we can kill this oversized buffoon since Axel clearly isn’t getting the job done”
Fenrir nodded with a smile, but her expression suddenly twisted as he heard painful screaming behind her. Both turned around to see one of the faelnir that had been relocated to the area scrambling along the ground, flames seemed to be sprawling all around him. Right before him stood the same cloaked figure before that Kage had met last season. The necromancer that Kage still hadn’t managed to deal with properly.
Fenrir furrowed her brows. She had thought she’d told that necromancer to stay out of these forests. Clearly that message hadn’t stuck, and there really wasn’t a way to deal with the necromancer without going on a long hunt that might never lead her to the actual necromancer in question. She had learned next to nothing about them except for what she’d been told. This one liked to be referred to as “My Lady” and still hadn’t attacked anyone. They liked to send out their undead minions as spies instead of causing death and destruction which was why Fenrir was especially surprised to see that they had shown up here with a bear.
“What are you still doing here?” she asked. “I thought it was odd for a bear to attack for no reason.”
The hulking mass of flesh that was controlled by “My Lady” spoke. “I saw what you are working on. An army… One can only assume that you mean to send them to battle. What fun is being a necromancer if you don’t have to deal with a hiccup here and there.”
“Can I at least get your name?” Fenrir asked exasperatedly, “referring to you as ‘My Lady’ doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.”
The thrall grinned and showed its skeletal face. “You can call me… Angira.”
Fenrir nodded, “in that case, you can call me Fenrir. We both get to call each other something different now.” She then turned back to the burning faelnir. She could make out skeletons within the flames that engulfed the human. The skeletons appeared to be grasping onto the man, as if they were holding him down within the flames.
When the cloaked hulk saw that Fenrir meant to do something about the fire, it recognized the opportunity to escape and started to run away. It sprang away across the rooftops.
“After him Fenrir! I’ll handle Bear!” Raggi ordered. Fenrir hesitated, not wanting to leave her comrade behind against such a powerful opponent. However, she began to see that the bear was faltering under Axel’s beast tongue. And so Fenrir sprinted off after the hulk.
The cloaked being leapt from rooftop after rooftop fleeing from the scene of the spreading fire, however, a flurry of leaves and wood shot out at it from the nearby trees. This was thanks to Fenrir’s connection to her grove – she directed the plant matter with one hand and used her other to grab onto her sword. Tumbling backwards, the mysterious figure’s hood was blown back by the force of getting whacked by a large branch. Fenrir landed atop the roof, determinedly walking towards the figure with her blade extended out.
The cloaked figure stood up slowly, revealing its full skeletal face with long black hair that parted across the face. The being had a mellow expression about him. His blue eyes glimmered ever so dimly even though they were showing signs of rotting away.
“I would very much like to keep this thrall..." the figure spoke as he brushed dust off of his dark cloak. As Fenrir neared him she suddenly began to feel his blood take a cold shift. There was a tingling in the back of her neck, something warm rising in his chest.
“I bet you would, but now that you’ve crossed the line, I can no longer turn a blind eye to your activities. I will be forced to fight you.”
The black haired individual raised a brow curiously towards the aelf, but then his expression seemed to calm again.
“We liches live so frightfully long. We need some excitement, else we’ll lose our edge. I welcome the challenge.”
Almost forgetting the complete urgency of the situation, Fenrir gazed confusingly at the man. Her emotions felt mixed, he couldn’t yet comprehend why a lich would choose to start trouble, especially here. They had eternal life if they didn’t step out of line.
“It seems you’re a lich too. I see something else about you now, yes. You have ascended. If you are a lich now… you are competition.” the man tilted his head curiously as he walked slightly closer to Fenrir, “perhaps it is time I step out of the shadows and cull you. AElheim has far too many liches as is.”
Fenrir craned her head back in confusion, “What do you mean?”
The black haired man continued to stare at Fenrir, his eyes getting narrow as he studied the AElf deeply. It had no lips but it was clear that it was trying to smile. The tendons along its jaw indicated as much.
“I mean I will hunt you down. I will find your phylactery and end you. If this is the extent of your army… you likely wouldn’t be able to stop a full scale invasion.”
“Unlikely,” Fenrir said with a smirk, “you said it yourself, aelheim has far too many liches. You wouldn’t even make it that far past our borders regardless how large your army is.” She twirled her sword then stabbed it into the ground. She instead pulled out a pistol from her holster and held it steady.
She aimed it at the hulk’s head. “We can sit here and make idle threats all day. I will keep an eye on you and your thralls with interest. Do take care not to slip up.” She then pulled the trigger and blew the hulk’s head off.
Fenrir turned from the downed thrall and then ran back to see what was going on with the fire. There were several skeletons laying around with a handful of faelnir. They had been rigged to explode, and they had exploded, but the damage had been minimal. If Fenrir had come here alone it would have probably been able to burn down a good portion of her army but since Raggi was good at galdr, she was able to put the flames out and deal with the undead.
She looked to see that Axel had tamed the bear long enough to knock it out as well.
“Sorry about all this,” Fenrir said as they regrouped. “I swear this doesn’t happen often.”
Reserves:
4 – 0.3ish passive tether drain -0.33 1 expert floramancy = 3.37
-1 bullet
-660 SP master sculpting and maledict services
+1 transplanted Crux around the heart area
Changing appearance to a female aelf, details to be updated to the character sheet after canonization
Removing previously transplanted strength modifications
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