Chương 13: Appearances?
Throne (Nasth):
Darkness flowed as usual.
But there was something different.
It was almost as though- “Derk-o-nal?” The undead queen said, looking ahead.
She was on the throne, just looking ahead. There wasn’t anyone in the room other than the maid by the throne- at least in hindsight.
A man appeared before the queen just as the queen’s words echoed. He bowed, darkness oozing through his body like mist. “I’ve brought news my lady.” His voice was rather high-pitched for a man. Slender, and long hair- black.
“Go on.” The queen was in a neutral mood. Ever since the battle, her mood hadn’t improved and it also hadn’t deteriorated.
“Right.” The man’s head moved. His face was hidden behind a thick fox mask. His features were hidden behind darkness. His chest however was fully exposed almost as though he was showing it off. “The heroes plan on attacking us in three days and they plan to brainwash our summon hero.”
“Yes, I’ve expected as much.” Her lips curled upwards, forming a smile. “But aren’t they underestimating us, perhaps a bit too much?”
The man raised his head, and stared at the queen. “Perhaps. But these heroes seem fairly competent, my lady.”
“Yes, it would seem so.”
“But are you sure? With our agents, we could have easily prevented-”
The queen smiled. The dark aura around her violently shook. She didn’t say anything but the man started shivering.
The air suddenly felt heavy. It was hard to breathe.
“Pa-pardon me, my lady.” He again just stared at the ground. “I’ve spoken out of terms.” His chest shook and he sweated in buckets, breathing rapidly.
“The demons are evil; the humans are good. The humans preach as much. Meanwhile, the demons preach the opposite. Even if one should spend years trying to deduce who’s right and who’s wrong, they’d just be on a wild goose chase.” She just stared at her fingers, waving them through the air. “Go, and make sure it’s done.”
“Even if it costs my life.” The man stood up, clamped his hand tight on his chest and disappeared. He exhaled in relief before leaving.
Meanwhile, the queen just stared ahead. Her eyes, glowing red. Her smile was nowhere to be found.
After a long while- she was neutral no more.
“It is time for dinner, my lady.”
*** Maria
Something appeared before Maria.
It was small. The size of a small mirror.
A ball.
A black ball.
“You’re the one who talked?”
It was floating just next to the bed.
She tried poking it.
“Stop touching girl! I am Xermohensier!”
“Yes, you already told me that.” Maria grabbed the ball and gripped it tight. “Rather light.”
It looked awfully metallic but once she tried lifting, it was light as a feather.
“TO THINK I’d be defiled by such a BRAT!”
Maria was bored.
And she was also slightly annoyed from before.
So, it sufficed to say she wasn’t in the best of mood to be called a brat.
“What are you?” She spoke.
“Respect girl! Show respect!”
That was the last straw.
Maria started crushing the ball like it was nothing.
Crack!
Small cracks appeared.
“Wait! Wait!” its tone changed dramatically. “I’m begging you, stop!”
Maria herself was shocked. Wasn’t this strength a bit too much? Anyway, she stopped crushing.
“Well?”
“I’m Xermohensier!” And it was awfully proud of the fact.
“Next!” She just stared.
“Right, right! I’m your attendant! I was only teasing you a little to see more of your character. I’m sorry, I’m reflecting, now please let me go. Please!” And the poor thing started sobbing.
Maria let out a small sigh and dropped the ball. It almost fell to the floor but floated at the last second.
The cracks gradually disappeared.
“My attendant? I see, go get me a mirror.”
“Tch! Look at this little girl ordering me around,” it mumbled.
“You want me to crush you for good, this time?” Maria made a fist.
The ball was black in color and lacked any distinguishing features other than just a shine. But it still looked awfully pale. “Right away!” And it grew, or rather, it stretched.
The ball stretched two meters in all directions and become a circular mirror. The reflection was a little crude but Maria could see it pretty well.
‘So, it could change its shape at will?’
Fascinating and perhaps a little surprising. But something else was also surprising. Very surprising.
Before anything else, “The hell! I Have scales!” Or four small silver scales just beneath her eyes to be more specific. “Wha-”
She checked her whole body.
Everything was there. And some things were also there: some things that shouldn’t have been.
“I have horns?” Maria said, not quite believing herself.
All this time she felt normal. Not a thing wrong with her. But now that she was looking, she was shaken, she really was. And yet, she felt this odd sense of calm.
Like it didn’t really matter or something.
“So, they weren’t kidding when they mentioned this was a new body.”
Maria unhooked her dress and just stared at the mirror. No one else was in the room and she didn’t really worry about being seen naked, after all, she was still in her underwear.
She had scales just below her neck, and below her belly button. She checked her back and there weren’t any there.
The scales were rather silver in color, and they felt almost like skin- just a tad cooler. The scales on her face were small. But the ones below were bigger: They were large scales, each one the size of a small Ping-Pong ball. Of course, she didn’t really feel any difference. And the scales only covered a small part of her body, the rest were very much the same as she was when she was back on earth. Her horns were finger sized and barely poked out of her hair. They were slightly sensitive though.
She checked her body again and again but nothing else seemed out of place. She was perhaps slightly curvier than before. “But is it me or do I actually look pretty for once?”
Her face was more symmetrical than she remembered and her nose was actually the perfect size for once. She always did get comments about how her nose was absurdly long. And yet, she found her nose a little lacking now that it was normal.
“It’s just you, little girl. For humans, you’d be considered a princess. But for a dragonborn, I’d say you are maybe a bit better than average?” A burst of rowdy laughter echoed throughout the room.
“A dragonborn?”
“Heh! You don’t even know that!”
Maria squinted her eyes and made a fist.
“So-sorry.” It cleared its throat. “They are a special race of dragons and elves. Long ago a dragon princess and an elf made love and then that race was born.”
It was almost as though the mirror was mocking all three races at the same time.
“How would a dragon and an elf-” Maria almost blushed for a second. “Anyway, I’m a Dragonborn?”
“Your body is.”
“I see.”
Knock! Knock!
After a knock, the maid came in. “It’s time for dinner.” She had this big smile.
Maria looked ahead. “I guess?” She was about to walk towards the door when she remembered. “Oh shit, the clothes!”
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