Rebirth of the Nephilim

Having a dragon owe one a favor wasn’t a common occurrence.

When Jadis had saved the great ice dragon Vetregin from being possessed by a Greater Demon, she had not expected to receive any sort of thanks from the mighty beast. Jack, the over CLR two-hundred Fetch who had asked her to help? Yes, she had expected some gratitude from him, even if he was a crazy asshole. Yorath, the leader of the Dryad grove who had been threatened by the Demons and Vetregin’s possession? Yeah, he owed her some thanks, too. But the colossal dragon of winter and frost who ruled the Kalters Wall mountain range as an unchallenged king at the top of all magical beasts? No, she hadn’t expected anything from him.

However, Jadis’s expectations had been proven wrong. Vetregin had granted her a token, a stone with his markings carved onto it, which counted as one favor that she could ask of the massive beast. What exactly a dragon could offer her, Jadis hadn’t really been sure of at the time. She had figured that maybe she could get a scale or a tooth, something along those lines that could be used by Sabina to craft an enchantment. The Dryads had already given her a box of those, so probably not the best use of the token, but who knew if she would need more some day? Regardless, she hadn’t asked for anything right away, since she thought that maybe having a way to guarantee Vetregin changed his mind about attacking her or people she cared about in the future was a good thing to have in her back pocket. Better to wait and see than rush to claim a reward that wouldn’t be worth as much as she could possibly get later.

After having seen the treasure hoard of a dragon like Korsregon, Jadis was glad that she had waited.

The flight from Volto to Weigrun took most of the day. Having departed early in the morning, before the camp had even stirred, Jadis had left the army and Volto behind with four passengers in tow. Thanks to their various responsibilities, most of Jadis’ lovers could not join her on the trip, even though she really would have preferred to bring them all. Alex in particular would have been the best to bring for simple convenience’s sake, but the hidden Demon Lord had to keep providing Tiernan and the earth mages with magic so that the army could continue its steady progress to Volto. Instead, Jadis had to bring a sack of magic replenishment potions to make sure that she didn’t run out of magic midflight. Alex had promised to perform her prayers as often as possible to help keep Jadis’ reserves high, but even so, Weigrun was a long, long way from Volto. Wings of the Succubi was going to need to be recast a lot of times.

Noct had taken Jadis up on her offer to accompany her on the trip. They would be gone for two days, possibly three at the worst, which meant that there would be time for a bit of experimentation with the Valravn’s boosted stats. Thea was happy to provide support to Noct, which was deeply appreciated, and Meli was needed to make sure that they had a way to communicate with Vetregin when they found him. With those three, Jadis had thought that her party was complete. However, there was one last-minute addition that she couldn’t turn down, even though she suspected that it probably would have been for the best if she had.

“We’re finally coming up on Kaltars Wall,” Jay called out as she slowed down to a speed where she and the others could speak to each other. “I’ve never seen it from this side before.”

“This is the side that most people see it from,” Maeve said as she peaked her head out of the backpack on Syd’s back. “Even Seraphim don’t cross these mountains.”

Jadis didn’t need to question why. Kalters Wall stretched out for endless miles before her, a forest of frozen peaks that towered so high that they looked like they were scraping the sky. No one had any precise measurements; no one had ever tried to measure the tallest mountains in the range. But Jadis knew that even the smaller mountains she could see were at least three miles high, with many, many more rising up to dwarf those snowbound runts. From her current view, Jadis was fairly certain that she could see at least three or four mountains that would put Mount Everest to shame.

Thanks to her extremely boosted attributes, Jadis wouldn’t have any trouble flying over and around the insane heights of Kalters Wall. The only real concern she had at the moment was for Maeve. Her inclusion in the trip to Weigrun had not been planned, but was at her request. Considering her reason for joining, Jadis couldn’t help but worry about the interaction that was almost certain to come once they got to Weigrun.

“Hey,” Syd said quietly enough that the bundled-up Dryad strapped to her chest wouldn’t be able to easily overhear. “Are you sure about this?”

“A little late to turn back now,” Maeve murmured into Syd’s ear. “Don’t worry so much. It’s not like I’m going to try and kill him or something.”

“Yeah, but I might if he fucks with you,” Syd said lightly, though her words were not a joke.

“He’s a jackass,” she laughed before kissing the side of Syd’s helmet. “He fucks with everyone. But he isn’t evil. It’ll be fine.”

“He doesn’t have to be evil to be bad for you.”

“I know,” Maeve agreed. “But I want to see him. It’s what I want.”

“Alright,” Syd nodded, setting her worries aside, for the moment. “I understand. But if Jack acts up around you, I reserve the right to throw him off a mountain.”

“Good luck catching him.”

Coming from a Fetch, an appeal to luck meant quite a lot.

Resuming their flight southward, Jadis was careful to avoid straying too close to any of the peaks. Having learned from past experience with her last two encounters with dragons, she didn’t want to set off any sort of territorial reaction to her presence. She was moving fast enough that she didn’t think any dragons would have time to notice her anyway, but out of a sense of respect she did the best she could. Some of the taller peaks in the mountain range forced her to fly around them anyway, since Jadis could only fly so high before the atmosphere became too thin and whatever bending of physics that allowed her to breathe at high speeds no longer supported her. The result of her caution and physical limitations was that even though the technical distance from Volto to Eldingholt was longer than the distance from Eldingholt to the southern edge of Kalters Wall, Jadis still ended up taking just as much time crossing the second half of the trip as the first. By the time she had reached the borders of Weigrun, the sun was in its last quarter of the sky, and the land had grown dark with long shadows.

A shiver went through Jadis’ spines as she flew over the dark, towering pines of the Great Southern Forest. It had been months since she had been forcefully taken away from Weigrun, but it felt like years. Here she was, back again, in the land where her new life had started. Part of her wanted to visit the old locales, check on the places where so much of her grand adventure had transpired. Were the Bernd’s Blades still manning the fort on the border of the forest? Was that one restaurant where she shared so many meals with Aila, Eir, and Kerr still serving the same dish of eggs and potatoes? Had the abandoned mining town she had lived her first month as a Nephilim been reclaimed, or was it still a pile of ruins?

Had General Egilhard fucked everything up since being granted authority over the area?

The answers to those questions would have to wait. Jadis and her quartet of lovers had come to Weigrun for the specific purpose of calling in the favor that Vetregin owed her. All other concerns had to take a backseat. That said, Jadis was in the position of not actually knowing where the mighty ice dragon nested. So, to find Vetregin meant that they had to start at the one place where they were certain to get directions, which also meant that at least one other important question would be answered.

How was Tegwyn’s family grove doing?

“There,” Thea pointed as they flew at a slower pace over the mountains and valleys that made up the northern border of Weigrun. “It’s there.”

“I think you’re right,” Jay squinted at the location her shieldmaiden had pointed to. “It looks different from this angle, but there’s the split peak. This has to be the spot.”

Indeed, Jadis had only ever seen Yorath’s valley from the ground, and even then, only from the east. Coming from the northwest, and at a high altitude as well, changed the perspective quite a bit. As Jadis carried her lovers down to the valley where she had once fought a great battle against a horde of Demons, two Demon Matriarchs, and a half-possessed dragon, she saw that it was not only her perspective that had changed. The valley itself looked like a whole different world from the frozen and besieged winter wasteland it had been.

The grove Jadis remembered had been a tightly bound bulb of leafless tree trunks, wound together in a protective wall that constantly regrew from any damage it sustained. Now, with the summer evening’s light just leaving the valley, Jadis could see a wide-open blossom radiating from where the winter bulb had once been. Verdant trees reached out for half a mile, their ends planting into the soil and their backs draped in moss, vines, and other greenery. Animals of all kinds walked on the raised pathways, using them like highways to get to different parts of the valley. Strange, glowing flowers dotted the area, their light growing as the sun’s faded, and an ethereal feeling of otherworldliness emanated from the forest.

At the center of the unbound trees was the same patch of green pasture that Jadis remembered from her time spent under the Dryads’ hospitality. Only now, with the landscape changed, Jadis could clearly see the tiered waterfalls that fed the little stream running down from the side of the valley into the Dryads’ home. It was a beautiful, idyllic sight, and she regretted not having revisited the grove sooner.

“I see now why my grandmother has always spoken so well of Yorath,” Meli spoke in awe as her eyes traced the magnificent view of the Dryad grove. “He is not just a caretaker. He is an artist.”

“It really is beautiful,” Maeve agreed as she leaned over Syd’s shoulder. “I get why Madoc would spend so much time here.”

“You’ve never been before?” Syd asked as she followed her other selves slowly into the valley.

“No,” the Fetch scoffed. “He told me plenty about the places he would go, but Madoc never took me with him. If I couldn’t make it there on my own, he wasn’t going to carry me along. I had to learn how to do it myself or forget about it.”

“A hard teacher,” Meli commented. “However, I can understand the lesson of self-reliance.”

“He’s a jerk,” Maeve grumbled, “but his advice was usually good. It was just the delivery that always fucking pissed me off.”

“Have you ever been this far south before?” Dys asked Noct.

Despite the Valravn having been strapped to her chest for hours, there hadn’t been much opportunity for small talk. Not that Noct was the type to chatter on about the weather, anyway. Still, Jadis knew that her lover had flown a few messages here and there, as all Seraphim seemed to do, and she wasn’t sure how far her range had taken her.

“Never,” Noct replied in her usual succinct way. “Eldingholt.”

“Just the capital, huh?” Dys intuited. “Well, Yorath is a lot like his son, Tegwyn. Just sort of… grander, I guess. You’ll like him.”

Noct only nodded, not answering verbally as by that point they had all floated down to be only a few yards above one of the large tree walkways. A few snow elk with their summer coats bounded away from them, leaping past a solitary figure who strode towards them along the path that the magically altered flora had made. Jadis recognized the man right away. Grinning, she lifted the visors on her helms and waved in excited greeting.

“Yorath! It’s great to see you again!”

The elder Dryad was tall and thin, with broad shoulders and a long beard made of bushy purple leaves. His dark, richly brown skin was lined like rough bark, yet he still managed to look younger than Soteria thanks to his straight back and energetic smile. With arms spread wide in welcome, Yorath greeted Jadis with the same kindness and humor as his son always did.

“Young Jadis,” his deep voice echoed in the trees. “Please, be welcome and welcomed again, as you are friend and family to my grove. I see much has changed since you last came to rest here.”

“That’s an understatement,” Syd laughed as she helped Meli and Maeve out of their harnesses.

“I have so much to tell you,” Jay said as she lowered Thea to the ground.

“And I have some important questions to ask, too,” Dys advised as Noct slipped out of her hold.

As the three of her spoke, Jadis noticed the way Yorath was tilting his head to one side, curiously staring at the two women who stood before her Syd self. Other than Thea, none of her other lovers had been with her when she had lived and fought in Weigrun, so naturally Noct, Meli, and Maeve were strangers to the old Dryad. However, with the way he was staring at them, Jadis sensed that his interest was a little more than just curiosity about the newcomers.

With a sudden realization, Syd put a hand on Meli’s shoulder and confidently clarified the truth before any confusion could start.

“This is Meli,” she said. “I did not find a way to transform your son into a woman. Meli is a completely different Dryad.”

Blinking owlishly up at her, Yorath responded slowly.

“I had no suspicion that you had. I am able to identify others, young Jadis, and I would certainly know my own son no matter what form he chose to inhabit.”

“Ah, right,” Syd grimaced as not only her lovers, but her other selves stared at her. “Forgot about that.”

Turning his attention onto Meli, the elder Dryad continued in a brighter tone.

“I presume you are a relation of Soteria, are you not? I apologize for identifying your status sheet without permission, however, with the danger of demonic possession still distinct, I am in a position where I must invade a small amount of privacy for the safety of my grove.”

“I am not offended,” Meli bowed to Yorath. “And yes, Soteria is my grandmother.”

“Wonderful,” the purple-leafed Dryad grinned broadly. “I look forward to hearing of my old friend, and of learning why one of her seedlings has flown so far from home.”

Sweeping his gaze over the rest of their group, Jadis noticed the way Yorath’s eyes paused on Maeve before he continued.

“I look forward to hearing all of your tales. Come, join me and my wife for a meal and we can speak at our leisure. News of distant lands does not reach my grove often, and we will all appreciate what you can tell us.”

“Like I said, we have a lot to tell you,” Jay said as she walked up to stand next to the bearded Dryad. “And some introductions to make. But before we really get into things, I have to ask because we’re on a time-sensitive mission. Do you have any idea where either Vetregin or Madoc might be?”

Again, turning his speculative gaze onto Maeve, who resolutely stared back, Yorath nodded slowly.

“I might have that idea, indeed.”