Dragon Gods Reign

 

[Bral Kingdom]

Waking up in the burned-down house she had spend the night in, Melidra instantly felt that something was off though her unfamiliarity with her new powers made her unable to determine what it was.

Ever since Darganth freed her, Melidra had to constantly watch out for the armies send after her. Originally they had been chasing Darganth and Allaire on the orders of the city's leadership, but after a slip-up that exposed her, they switched to the easier target, her.

This wasn't an unwarranted reaction even with the chaos inside the city not traced to her. Few undead would peacefully coexist with the living, with most mindless ones just blindly killing them while the more intelligent ones need them as a source of nourishment, whether it be blood like in the case of vampires, their flesh, life energy, or their souls.

So when one of the mana users among the soldiers felt death energy from a being that otherwise showed no signs of being an undead, they started to worry. Even the best-case scenario, her being an uncannily human-looking vampire, still spelled trouble, an unknown type of undead was a disaster.

Thus she was forced to constantly be on the lookout for attackers as she made her way through the landscape. Luckily she had already gained some distance from the city before being found, forcing her pursuers to spread out across a vast distance.

Running for days with barely any pause, only stopping to wait for nightfall when being faced with an open stretch of land, she took full advantage of her new undead physiology. Contrary to her pursuers who had to rest and were limited in their stamina, she had no such weakness.

And even though there were multiple close calls for her, with her even being forced to fight off a mana user at one point, she was pretty sure that she had escaped the pursuit by now. Nonetheless running for a day longer, she kept changing direction at irregular intervals in her search for a good place to rest. Her body may not feel tired, but her mind was exhausted from the constant stress.

This ruined village was thus a godsend for her, these small settlements being practically completely ignored by the nobles. Most don't even care or don't notice if the taxes stopped coming as the small amount of revenue wasn't worth it. Even the loss of their crops and livestock that serve as the foundation for the food supply of the cities wouldn't be that important, only a handful towns being large enough to individually make a difference.

Thus they were seen as practically independent from the rest of the territory, having no real oversight but also receiving no protection from the army. This leads to even just a single beast being able to destroy most of these villages, with a lucky few having criminal mana users that need to hide and would offer at least some protection.

All these factors make it a perfect hiding spot, one that was mostly disregarded despite being known widely. With this thought and the idea that even if the soldiers would search in such places they wouldn't first pick a destroyed one, Melidra didn't have to debate for long.

Though she somewhat regretted it now, fearing her theory to be wrong enough that it would now potentially cost her her life. Against normal humans she was confident in beating a nearly indefinite amount but a single mana user would already pose a problem.

Slowly sneaking through the ruined building and rushing across the open spaces between them, she patrolled through the entire village in search of the source of her unease.

Finding nothing in house after house and each street in between, she was just about to relax again when she saw a woman leisurely sitting in what likely once was a church.

Unsure what to do, Melidra continued observing her for a few minutes. During this time she noticed that the building looked different from the day before.

Instead of missing any signs that would identify the target of worship, commonly elemental gods, the primordials with a rare few still worshiping gods that walked this universe in the distant past, there hung a banner above the entrance.

On a background that was split into two horizontally, one pitch black and one glowing white half, there was a similarly split symbol that had some similarities to a yin-yang symbol. Though instead of consisting of just two colors it had dozens, each flowing into the next, that were separated into two categories.

On the bottom with the black background were lighter colors that were arranged similarly to a rainbow, the two most prominent being white and gold, with the reverse being true above them. Among these darker colors black and red stood out the most. Depicted coiled around this was a snake that formed a full circle, white and black stripes winding themselves along its entire body.

When her eyes fell on this banner, Melidra felt as if she was pulled into a trance, its duality speaking to her on a level she didn't fully understand.

Without thinking, she walked out of her cover, crossing over the street and making her way into the church.

The woman inside seemed to have expected this, lifting her gaze just as Melidra stepped into the building. Watching her with some interest, her gaze alone was to make her tremble in fear.

“I must say, I expected something a bit less common.” The woman finally said after over a minute had passed in silence.

Irritated by her words and unsure of the purpose of her presence, Melidra kept silent. The strange feeling she had since waking up now being stronger than before only added to her confusion.

Sensing this hesitation the woman let out a disappointed sigh and muttered something under her breath before returning her attention to Melidra.

“Alright, starting from nothing it seems. I am Cehlya, the goddess you now serve.”

These words ripped Melidra out of her stupor. Feeling her body acting against her will and lowering her head, her eyes flashed with a confusing mixture of emotions that included both gratitude and hate.

“I didn't know, please excuse my attitude.” She said respectfully.

“I will, I invested too much effort to lose you this early over something this small. But I nonetheless hope that you prove yourself worthy of it.” Cehlya said.

“And I am thankful for the opportunity.”

Hearing her response, Cehlya nodded slowly. Rising off the throne she sat on, it dissolved into black smoke while she walked towards Melidra.

“Then follow me.” She said, walking right past her and out of the building.

“Of course.”

Just as Melidra turned around to follow her, she stopped. Freezing mid-step right behind her, Melidra also waited though she was irritated as to why.

“Before everything else, stop with this act, I can easily see through it. And even if I couldn't, your annoyance practically radiates with every word you speak.”

“Tsk, so what now?” Melidra asked after a moment of hesitation.

“You'll prove to either be worthy of the power you gained or die, it's that easy. And before you ask, no, there is no way back for you.”

These words made Melidra frown.

“So my options are to live in the service of a goddess I know little about or to die? How do I know you won't just betray me once I have served my purpose?” She asked.

“You don't, that's something you have to live with. But if it makes you feel better, I have no reason to abandon you, both now and in the future.”

“It doesn't.” Melidra grumbled.

But despite this unwillingness to have her fate controlled by someone else, she knew that accepting this situation was the best choice. Maybe had she known this in the cell she would have decided otherwise, but now that she tasted freedom she was unwilling to just give up her life.

“Before I go, there are some things you should know. Firstly, don't limit yourself by the view others have on my element, your authority encompasses both sides. Secondly, you should start learning about your power or this journey will end fast.”

Pausing after this sentence, Cehlya waited for Melidra to indicate that she had understood before continuing.

“And lastly,” She said deliberately slowly, “Don't even try anything funny. I may be the goddess of death, but my skills also extend to divination and far more. So if I catch you scheming against me, trying to free yourself or anything of the likes, no matter how futile the attempt is, you will regret it. Have you understood?”

Saying those words, Cehlya placed her hand on Melidra's shoulder, slowly increasing the force with which she pressed down until the latter could barely stand.

This combined with the pressure she was emitting prompted Melidra to hastily nod, banishing the thought to try and gain another god's favor as a safety net. Even though she didn't plan on outright betraying Cehlya as she had an instrumental part in saving her, she now understood that even allying with other gods wasn't allowed.

“Good that you understand. And better get this rebellious behavior under control and learn to trust me. As long as you don't start it, I won't abandon you so no need to run to other gods for extra security to placate your trust issues.” She said, her form slowly fading.

Just a moment later Cehlya had completely vanished, leaving a slightly perplexed Melidra behind. Staring at the space where the goddess had stood just moments prior, a multitude of emotions flashed across her face.

Simultaneously cursing the situation she now found herself in but also regretting her hastily thoughts that could have cost her this power, she couldn't decide what to think of this arrangement. She wanted to live, as is the case with most beings, but the thought that it all depended on the whims of another person sickened her.

Faced with this existential crisis, she didn't know how to react. Even just thinking about planning something seemed to be seen through instantly, giving her a sense of hopelessness.

With seemingly no solution to this, she instead relegated the thought to the back of her mind and focused on the rest of Cehlya's words. The uncertainty brought her anxiety, but it also pushed her to grow stronger and these were the best leads she had.

'Even gods need useful subordinates, so as long as I am just that I should be safe.' She thought, half in an attempt to convince herself.

Calming her nerves and thoughts she tried to focus on the second part, though it quickly proved itself more difficult than imagined. Already taking nearly an hour before managing to relax, she tried and failed to sense her mana.

Panicking slightly, she opened her mana pool like Dexter, the mage that had imprisoned her, had made her do dozens of times but instead of feeling mana trying to equalize her mana reserves with the surroundings she just continued to feel emptiness.

From what little he had explained to her, this technique was a weakened version of the standard version for mana users. Instead of actively drawing in mana, the mana did all the work, making it perfect for him as he didn't want to risk giving her the means to become a mana user.

Though this alone wouldn't have changed anything as she knew no application for this mana. At most, it would make her slightly more healthy compared to other humans.

So whenever he needed her mana pool to be full for one of his experiments he would fill the sealed room he used as lab with his own mana before commanding her to open up her mana pool.

'*Sigh*, let me give you a jumpstart.' Cehlya's voice suddenly resounded in her mind.

Then Melidra felt new knowledge settling in her head and as if enlightened, she drew the surrounding mana into her. As if she was a black hole it instantly started congregating on her position, calling a whirling maelstrom of mana into existence that stretched for over a kilometer.

While mana-less people noticed nothing of this, the mana users within tens of kilometers of it did. Most of them, especially those of lower ranks and orders, could only feel how much mana was around them and noticed the drop, some talented people and higher-ranking ones had far better senses towards mana.

They sensed it like one would do with strong air currents or water flow, just in a far wider range. And even they were far from the peak when it came to this, barely managing to sense the direction of the flow thanks to a handful of currents where the mana was especially dense. But their combined effort counteracted this and they quickly found the spot where Melidra sat. The large vortex didn't help with this, its presence being sensed from kilometers away.

Unaware of the beacon she had created that would call dozens if not hundreds of soldiers to her position, Melidra continued drawing in mana. Though luckily for her, the most powerful among those sent out were a few first ranks, the second ranks in the region all being far too busy to deal with such an insignificant event.

After roughly half an hour she started to notice the flood that filled her mana pool to die down, slowly bringing her out of the basking sensation that had accompanied it.

Instantly, she noticed the first difference as the mana sense that all mana users gain showed itself. While it currently only covered roughly two meters, it was far more detailed than she would have expected. Inside this area she felt the mana with great accuracy, even feeling the slowly slowing twirl around her that her prior actions had caused.

Outside of this range her senses sharply dropped, lacking even the power to sense whether there was ambient mana or not. Only particularly strong presences would go noticed, mostly magical items and mana users, with stronger concentrations being picked up from further away.

This allowed her to soon spot the approaching humans, first confusing her somewhat as she sensed only the peak first ranks, but quickly clarifying itself as she registered more and presences.

Initially irritated by the strange sensation it brought, knowing there to be someone or something but not seeing it in any way, as if she had a sixth sense, her mind only took a few seconds to adapt and associate a picture with it. This was only a visual aid many new mana users would instinctively use in the first weeks, months, or sometimes even years, but it helped immensely.

Melidra was already smiling at the prospect of testing out her new powers as she thought them to be as easy of an opponent now as normal humans were to her the past week when she realized that she knew no applications for mana.

Feeling out her mana pool again in the hopes of a similar enlightenment, she froze when she noticed it to not be filled with mana but a different energy.