Langyao had just turned 14 the day prior and was being groomed by an attendant as she was scheduled to begin meeting potential suitors from the neighboring clans. She was to choose one to become her betrothed who will join the Lang clan as her husband and become a vice head when she ascends to become the next clan head.. Her clan was currently the most powerful clan on the northern isle and as such were part of the council for The Great Isles. They governed their own isle and while did not directly control the other clans, they set the laws that the others must uphold and are the ones responsible for their enforcement.

  The day carried on as expected, her appearance was refined without a single hair out of place. She wore the traditional dress of the Lang Clan’s 1stborn heir. A long sleeveless black dress, cut on the sides to not restrict the movement of her legs in any way. Golden embroidery of a dragon snaked around the dress. She walked out of her home, walking out into the upper grounds of her clan’s compound. She could see the mid and lower grounds over the walls. Her home was built partly up one of the spires of the mountain they hold. Her father’s private home lay at the peak, up a long set of steep stairs. From the house on the peak they could see not only their own clan’s compound, but most of the northern island as well.

  Langyao was heading down to the lower grounds where their set of docks were on the shore with a number of their ships and smaller boats were docked. As she walked, everyone she passed would stop what they were doing and greet her with a deep bow. They were going to be her people so she gave a respectful smile in return to each one. Her father had been growing ill and she had to do her part and allow him to rest when she comes of age, so she had to think of the members of their clan not as other members, but her people she was responsible for.

  As she reached the mid grounds, slowly descending the mountain, she saw something off. There weren’t any scheduled meetings with the Hung clan, why were their ships coming to their port.. She squinted and saw what looked like a glint before suddenly she heard a strong voice in her head, it spoke urgently and with authority. It said “Duck” and Langyao listened. Suddenly, she saw a flash of color and something black had whizzed over where she was just a moment ago. It crashed into the 2nd floor of the building behind her due to the angle and a chilling noise filled her ears as everything shook violently. She turned and saw a large portion of the building had, within less than a second, rotted and decayed to dust.

  Her eyes widened and she saw more flashes as a sorcerer on the Hung ship began assaulting their mid grounds and scores of soldiers jumped off to lay siege to their lower grounds. Their docked ships being set on fire and the hung clan’s soldiers cutting down anyone they could reach.. She scowled with anger. The Hung clan were their close allies and 2nd strongest clan on the northern isle. The voice she heard in her head returned, speaking just as urgently. It said “Roll left” and she did so without hesitation, rolling left onto her back as she saw the shine of metal swinging down. A glaive embedded itself in the dirt where she was just a second ago and she saw a hung clan assassin staring down at her. It was unmistakable from this close. They wore a hood that made it look like they had wolf ears like most of her clan did, but she clearly saw his face and he had the shorter nose and round ears of a bear type beastkin.

  “Kick their hand” is what she heard the voice say and now she knew it was there to help her, whatever the hell it was. She kicked the hung assassin’s hand as hard as she could, finding herself hitting significantly harder than she remembered herself able to do before. The handle of the glaive broke along with every bone in the assassin’s hand as he backed up and cursed in pain. “On your feet.” and Langyao rose up. She slid a foot forward and held her hands up with flat hands. She watched as this bearkin drew a dagger with his good hand and rushed in.

  Langyao focused and backpedaled to avoid the bear’s aggressive swipes before the voice spoke again. “Move in, elbow the stomach.” and she was worried about getting closer but listened. She saw why. The bear committed to a lunge as he tried to catch her off-step with her back steps. She drove her elbow into the bear’s gut, aiming for the solar plexus. She heard a crack happen as her elbow sunk deeper than expected and felt a hard object give way. She realized she broke off the tip of his sternum as the assassin’s eyes rolled back and collapsed. Struggling to breathe on the ground.

  “Run back to the upper grounds, you will need your sword.” she heard and listened, she spoke in her native tongue “I know not who you are, but thank you for the assistance.”

  She did not hear the voice respond but she did run back up to the upper grounds of the compound. After a couple minutes “You are out of range of their mage” rang through her head. She relaxed a little but did not slow down. Quickly ascending the steps and yelling at everyone she passed to go find somewhere to hide, they are under attack from the Hung clan.

  Langyao ran into her private home and grabbed the sword on her mantle, tying the sheath to her waist since this dress had nothing to hold it with by itself.

  Her sword was a long single edged blade with a slight curve and angular point. A gold plated oval guard protected her hand and the fabric wrapping the handle tied off at the end, leaving two red strings hanging loosely.

  “Speak with your father, today is the last day you can.” the voice spoke in her head and Langyao felt a deep pit form in her stomach. She ran out and asked “What do you mean, why would today be my last to speak with father?” and received no response. She scowled and ran, finding herself running faster than she remembered being able to. When she looked around her, she noticed trials of violet fire circling her. She was about to worry but the voice said “The fire is my power manifesting through you. You command it. Do not fear it.”

  Langyao reached the house on the summit of this mountain and ran inside. She was met with the sound of fighting and she saw her parents. Her father, a human with short orange hair, was just pushed onto the floor by her mother, a vibrant red wolfkin woman. She pushed him away from a Hung assassin wielding a dagger as her mother was dealing with another assassin on her own. Her father looked thin and pale, gone was the strong vitality he used to have before falling ill.

  Langyao drew her sword as an indignant rage boiled from within. The air around her igniting in rapidly encircling wisps of violet flame. This fire even moved along her sword.. Her sudden inclusion had gotten everyone’s attention for a moment. The assassins looked back, and her parents stared at her as well.. But her mother did little more than glance as she brought her claws down upon the assassin’s throat as he was distracted, then brought him to the ground taking his dagger from his hand.

  Langyao rushed the other assassin but yelled “No!” when she saw him throw his own dagger, and seeing it pierce her father’s stomach. A roar of rage came from beside Langyao and her mother had pounced the assassin, tackling him to the ground and began to mutilate the man. Striking down, ripping open the flesh of his neck, and tearing it away before repeating. The red fur of her hands and forearms were soaked in blood by the time the anger subsided and she could realize the bearkin assassin was dead.

  Langyao knelt beside her father who was holding his stomach and she began carefully trying to pull the robes off of him to be able to tend to his wound. The wisps of fire still encircled her but not to the same extent. Her sword was on the floor beside them.

  “I’ll.. I’ll go get bandages” Langyao’s mother said as she quickly ran out of the main room of their home.

  “My precious gem.. You look beautiful” Langyao heard her father say weakly. The weakness in his voice felt like it opened a pit in her chest and she said “You will live through this, father. Please, relax.”

  Langyao quickly set aside his outer robe and shirt, able to see the wound clearly now. She knew it was a bad idea to remove the knife right away, but Langyao’s face paled as she saw a blackness spreading through the veins from the dagger still in her father’s lower abdomen. “No, no, no… It was poisoned. No.” Langyao said as a panic began to set in just as her mother came back in, looking like she hurriedly cleaned off the blood as her arms were dripping wet with water now. She ran to her husband’s side and said “The healers should have an antidote.”

  “This will hurt, my beloved, but bear with us.” the older wolf woman said, carefully pulling the knife from the human’s stomach and pushing bundles of cotton onto the wound. “Langyao, hold this down firmly while I wrap the bandage” and Langyao looked up and nodded, putting her hands on the cotton quickly turning red. Langyao was having trouble focusing but a gentle but unnervingly cold hand resting on her cheek caught her attention. She looked up and saw her father as he gently rubbed a thumb over her cheek. He had a smile beaming with pride on his face. “Look at you, my precious gem.. You’ve become blessed by one of the gods.”

  He turned to his wife and said calmly “Langkim, our daughter.. Today is a day for celebration.”

  “Yes, we will celebrate Langyao’s blessing. But please, we need to get you to a healer first.” Langkim said as she tightly wrapped the bandages. Langyao only moving her hands to let the bandages under and keep pressure.

  “No, that won’t happen..” her father said with a solemn tone to his voice. Making both his wife and daughter flinch. “I can see Niohlenth.. He stands before me.. I can feel his chains weighing down my body”

  Langyao looked up and around, she couldn’t see him but she did feel a presence among them.

  “My beloved.” her father said, letting go of Langyao to instead gently rub the wolfkin woman’s chin. “Be strong for me, your life is not yet over. We can come back from this.” and Langyao saw the tears begin to fill her mother’s eyes. He planted a gentle kiss upon her snout before turning his gaze back to Langyao.

  “My precious gem, you have a great destiny ahead of you. Be strong, live well, I know you will be an amazing leader..”

  He gently pulled Langyao in for a hug and Langyao couldn’t stop herself from breaking out into cries as she wrapped her own arms around her father’s frail form.

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  “We will celebrate when this is over..”

  Langyao was being closely held by her mother.. Openly weeping into her soft robes as they had just spent her father’s final moments together. He only remained alive for a few minutes after she arrived but despite the wound and the poison, he had been beaming with pride and joy at seeing the violet fire and aura of power that Langyao had not been hiding.

  The sound of battle continued below so Langyao and her mother could not take the time to grieve for more than just a moment. Her mother shook her and said “Langyao, please, you may cry but we have to fight first.. We need to head down to the lower grounds.”

  Langyao gathered herself and tried to stem the tide of tears, but it was not easy. She nodded as she turned to look.. As they descended the steps, the deep pit of sorrow she felt had become ablaze with outrage towards the Hung clan.

  Thoughts of vengeance began to roar through her mind, but before they could truly take root the voice spoke again. “Three enemies approach. One bears a blessing of wrath.” and Langyao stopped her mother from rounding the corner around a building. She relayed the info and didn’t explain how she knew, but her mother nodded. Together, they stepped out prepared. Langyao had drawn her sword and her mother held the two daggers taken from the assassins. Just ascending the stairs, three Hung soldiers in full battle armor had spotted them and readied their own weapons. Each wielding a glaive in their hands and a straight sword on their hips.. Langyao could feel a source of power she had never felt before radiating from the one in the lead.

  Langyao scowled, bearing her own fangs as her wolf ears pinned forwards and her tail had spiked. Her mother growled fiercely beside her.

  Langyao then, with the guidance of the voice in her head, said “you flank to the left. I will deal with their leader.” and before her mother could try to protest, Langyao became engulfed in violet fire as she felt battle instincts she had never experienced before.

  The voice said “I will aid your movements the little I can”. Her mother was a highly trained martial artist and recognized her daughter’s movements seemed unusually more skilled than normal as Langyao ran forth. But she did as suggested and flanked to the side to take at least one of them.

  Langyao parried the glave of the enemy blessed by wrath and felt her fire begin to coat her blade. She stepped into range of them, dodging the thrust of the supporting soldier. The voice said to duck then strike so she did. As if she knew what the enemy was doing before he moved, she ducked. And found the scales of an armored fist brushing between her ears above her head before putting everything she had into a thrust.

  She saw the awakened Hung soldier erupt into a scarlet aura and while she did push her sword forwards, he backed fast enough that she only cut a shallow wound into him through thick leather on part of his armor where there were no metal scales.

  “Block up”

  Langyao raised her sword above her head and sparks flew as she stopped the enemy’s glaive dead in its tracks.

  “Circle left”

  Langyao moved and kept the glaive’s blade away from her, making it collide with the other soldier’s, throwing off his attack.

  “Backstep twice”

  Langyao threw herself back then kicked for a second step, the first step she had the enemy disengage his glaive from her sword and avoiding being struck with the weighted end as he spun it around. Then the 2nd step let her see the black bolt of energy narrowly miss her as the mage from down below spotted her and made to assist from the far distance.

  “Three steps in, jump.”

  Langyao kicked off the ground and after 3 footfalls she leaped, tucking her legs to her chest as the enemy awakened narrowly missed bisecting her with his glaive.

  “Step to the left, then slash from the right.”

  Langyao did just that, stepping to the left saved her from a face full of elbow as she landed on the flank of the awakened. She grabbed her sword with both hands and cut as best she could, a strictly horizontal slash. She felt a slash would have been a bad idea because the man was wearing armor, but Langyao’s eyes widened as she washed her sword, bathed in violet fire, cut through steel scales as if it were made of bamboo instead.

  As she cut through, she found her sword already in position to block the last effort of this awakened bear. His glaive spun around but her blade cut through the haft and sent the bladed head flying into the dirt behind her. And she watched as his upper body fell away from his legs, falling in different directions.

  The man had a realization on his face as he hit the dirt and struggled to right himself.. Then started screaming as he saw his waist faced the other direction.

  Langyao had just killed him.. She was not a stranger to combat.. But she had never killed anyone before. She felt a tightness in her own chest and stomach but the voice that had been guiding her said “focus, Langyao.” before getting her attention back to the remaining enemy and seeing her mother driving a dagger into the neck of the soldier she had been fighting.

  “Jump back!” Langyao shouted, she felt it coming before the voice could warn her.. Langyao’s mother trusted her daughter and leaped back, narrowly avoiding a black bolt of energy that was aimed directly at her.

  She didn’t know how she knew it was coming, but she could feel the energy spiking from the mage down by the docks.. Then felt the killing intent behind it aimed at her mother.

  “You learn fast.” The voice spoke as her attention returned to the last guy. The bear was visibly scared now, alone, outnumbered, outclassed. He dropped his glaive and raised his hands to surrender, but he wasn't given the chance. Langyao was shocked to hear the level of hatred in her mother's voice as she roared and ran forward. “Hung scum!” And her daggers flashed. Then the bear beastkin collapsed as his head was sent flying back onto the dirt, cleanly separated from his body.

  Langyao reflexively stepped back at the display of brutality. Her attention was returned to the sight of three men dead, one of them at her hands. She tightened the grip on her sword and tried to push the thoughts away, she could deal with them later.

  The young half human beastkin shouted “Mother, with me!” and reached the gate and descended the stairs. The lower area had more Hung clan soldiers, they were pillaging.. Langyao felt her anger stir the well of power she could feel within herself at the sight. She and her mother, who had dropped the daggers and now held a single straight sword, made it their mission to cut down any Hung clan member they found within their own clan’s grounds. The next level down they found most of their own Lang clan men fighting back. Most unarmored, but now after some time had passed some did properly arm and armor themselves to repel the force. There were more of them than the Hung but the surprise attack and that damned mage had gotten rid of most of their best warriors and even their own mages.. Langyao figured he could sense and target their clan’s blessed with that spell. Langyao could feel different sources of power around her and almost none of them were of her own people.

  Langyao and her mother joined the fight, though Langyao was hesitant to kill.. Despite wielding a sword, she was wielding it defensively to parry the enemy’s weapons and were taking them down with kicks. Kicks that were very effective she could see, it seemed they had superhuman levels of physical strength now. And judging how she managed to completely overpower another awakened enemy with little effort, knocking his own sword away as if he were a mere child and not a grown man more than three times her size with a blessing of the warrior as the voice in her head called it, it was a lot more strength than most other awakened.

  With the addition of Langyao and her mother, one of the best swordswomen of their entire clan, they pushed back the Hung soldiers back down to the lower grounds. But every minute that damned mage standing on the bow of that ship was launching those black bolts at her or others. She saw it hit a group of her own soldiers and nearly feinted at the horrid sight. When struck, their bodies decayed and rotted. Those not killed instantly screamed wails of agony that still sometimes haunt her to the present day.. Langyao couldn’t bear herself to do it but other soldiers and her mother put them out of their misery, no one deserved to have most of their body rot away around them. The smell of decay still lingers in her memory..

  Langyao cut down a Hung soldier with a blessing of might. The voice in her head guided her through the fights and instructed her which way to break through to. It seemed to be leading her to the docks, but distinctly not the dock with the mage on it. A mage she could see clearly now. It was only two hundred yards away. Langyao stood on a high part of the 2nd lowest level of ground their clan held. Able to see the deck of the ship just over the exterior walls of their compound and she stared at the mage..

  They wore robes so dark she could see no texture within it. As if it was a hole in the world and not simple cloth. Patterns of silver and scarlet decorated the robe, and a hood over the mage’s head. He held a staff made of blackened burled wood. The staff was thin and appeared to have been preserved half rotted and half burned wood with twists and knots everywhere.

  What put a sense of fear within Langyao at this close of a distance was the mask the mage wore and the horrid sense of wrongness about the power behind their magic. A single solid iron mask hid their face.. A simple oval of matte grey metal with a faint swirling pattern around an open hand carved into the metal. There were no holes for eyes, no holes anywhere on it.. Yet she could feel the Mage’s gaze on her.

  The power he called on as he charged yet another bolt made her feel revulsion all the way down to her soul being this close to it. That did not belong in this world. That power should not exist. It was wrong.

  Having direct line of sight of the awakened, focusing on his power, and being so close.. Langyao even heard the voice in her head mutter “That’s.. Not right..” as if she wasn’t meant to be told that. It had presumably one of the gods themselves stumped.

  Watching the mage turn and point his staff directly at her, Langyao felt every instinct she had scream she was in danger. She dove down and ran as fast as she could, the tip of her tail barely being caught by that black bolt and thankfully nothing more than less than a fistful of hair would fall out and wither on the ground. Color draining from it.

  Langyao needed to get rid of that mage. But just as she thought that, the voice in her head with as much authority as it could muster said “You will stay as far away from that as possible.”

  “But my mother! My people!” she shouted back to herself.

  “You must reach safety. When you are safe, I will do what I can.” it responded.

  “Who the hell even are you!? I’m not going to let whatever the hell that mage is destroy my clan!” Langyao shouted again, thoroughly confusing the Hung soldier she ran across. One that stopped caring when Langyao broke his leg with a kick.

  “I am the strongest of all the divine. And I am telling you, you can not fight that thing. You will die if you do. The Cerna commands you to survive, that is its will!”