The shuffling and clanking of armor sounded out like a church bell as soldiers descended from the mountains, a rolling avalanche of fury and desperation. The mountains, which grasped at the sky like sinners desperate for an escape from the Hells, rumbled beneath the footsteps of a thousand unified Kunori warriors, each armed to the tooth and each willing to die. Pebbles tumbling down turned to boulders cascading as the mountains shook and split open, unleashing the dragons held within. Their roars were a symphony among the church-bell clanks, and the beating of their wings kept a tempo to the Kunori march. A horned woman clad in armor, black as a flock of ravens, led the horde, her call a cry of war that bounded down to the lands below and struck against the waiting humans, like waves on a shore.

Aeliana Varysha, born of the blood of dragons and devils, was not the woman to allow humans to simply encroach upon the lands of her people. Not after she had toiled for months to unify them all. Thus, she led the unified Kunori down the mountains to meet their enemy. Corvians, the humans were calling themselves, as if they had any place among the peoples of these lands. Magicless, powerless, and armed with nothing but obnoxious persistence. That’s all humans were.

At the bottom of the mountain, Aeliana only came to a stop once she was face to face with the Corvian leader. He was a younger man, not much younger than her, with ash blond hair and a cruel scar over his hooked nose. He stared at her silently, breath ragged.

She would not speak the first word. She was born of this land. She would not bow to an intruder and grace him with her voice.

This must’ve frustrated him, as he opened his vile mouth and spoke with bitter regard.

“You are a very poor people. You let the other races of this land walk your lands as if it’s nothing, but us? We are slain on the spot. We did not ask to be sent here. But we expect to stay.”

“You are of no gods.” Aeliana spat, “You have been blessed with nought. We will not welcome those our gods did not create. We of this realm allowed you the lands across the sea. That is generous enough. Too generous. Our gods have shrunken our herds because of our generosity. But now you cross these seas to take Kunori land? To steal what we have only newly built?”

He simply smiled, as if he had everything already figured out. “So, you unified yourselves just to oppose us? A unification born in hatred won’t last. You are a cruel woman.”

Aeliana hissed in reply, “I am a protector. You are a poison.”

“Are we not the same?” He proposed, “I have unified my people so that we may survive. I am their protector. You and yours are nothing but greedy beasts.”

“We will not squander the land given to us by our gods by giving it to unholy creatures. You take and take, but you have given nothing to us or our lands except rot and death.”

“We all need to eat, Varysha.”

Frustration boiled within her. She ought to strike him down now and be done with it, but then his people would only have more reason to attack hers. With a scowl, she slammed the pommel of her spear against the rocky ground. The largest of the dragons landed at her side immediately. The scaled beast, its hide darker than night, glowered at the humans with disgust. The dragons had been given to the Kunori by their holiest of gods, the god of Origin, Ilya. Naturally, it had to be appalling to see such an unholy horde of pests standing before it. Under any other circumstances, Aeliana would’ve considered it a sin to call such a beast to face such a pest.

The man put his hands up—not in surrender, but merely to back away a bit. Something in his eyes changed, as if a sliver of his confidence had been shredded at the sight of the dragon.

“Strike him down.” A voice sounded in her head. It was rasping and ancient, yet powerful enough to fill and flood every crevice of her mind as it spoke its divine decree. She had heard this voice before, when she was in the clutches of the mountains, desperately searching for a way to save her people.

Aeliana raised her spear and pointed its shining silver tip to the man’s heart. “You have been given no blessings from any of the gods. You are not worthy to walk their lands. By order of the Origin god, Ilya, I will see you and your people slain.”

The man lowered his hands—only slightly—and smiled in a way Aeliana had only seen devils do.

“You forget Ilya’s counterpart, Varysha.”

Aeliana glowered at him, suspicion and a hint of confusion rising in her body. “Sycharos does not give out blessings. Merely mistakes. That is why he would’ve claimed you—for your kind is too ugly to be claimed by any other god. Even then, he does not bless your kind.”

“I would beg to differ.” The man grinned as he opened his palm. Sparks of magic sputtered from his fingertips. It was infantile, and something most Kunori toddlers could manage, but the sight of it alone was enough to send a cold dread branching throughout Aeliana’s body. Even the great dragon beside her stilled in its rhythmic breathing.

Aeliana froze as fear…was it fear? Took hold. She’d never felt this…unsure, before. No god that she knew of had created these humans, and thus they were unable to be blessed with magic. That was what she had been taught. What everyone was taught. No godly maker, no blessings. Even Ilya and Sycharos, both origin gods and above all beings, were not powerful enough to instill something in which there was no place to instill it. At least…Ilya was not so powerful.

“Tell me your name.” Aeliana whispered as her mind became a screaming tempest of fear, confusion, and hatred, “I will know you before I kill you. You will be the only human this realm remembers.”

The man merely chuckled as he introduced himself and even dared to extend his hand out to shake, “My god will protect me, but if you must know it is Magnus. Magnus Jaeren. I will make sure my scribes note the little monster leading the Kunori was Aeliana Varysha.”

Aeliana plunged her spear into his heart without a second thought. Too distraught from fear and confusion, she did not notice what had unfolded around her, only the choked gasp from Magnus as blood sputtered from his wound and his body became a heavy weight on the end of her spear. His god had not protected him.

For a brief moment, Aeliana almost felt pity for the man. She, and the rest of this realm, had the luxury of growing up knowing Ilya’s form was dark because he had given all he had to them, whereas Sycharos’ form was bright and brimming with power solely because he was too selfish to give it away. It was a children’s tale, taught at such an early age that its lesson seemed obvious to Aeliana, but she supposed such a thing wouldn’t be apparent to an intruder like Magnus. No matter. The fool got what he deserved. Aeliana kicked his limp body off the point of her spear. In the distance, she heard a dragon’s roar followed by the clashing of metal against metal.

Whether she was simply in a trance for the remainder of the battle or too numb to register what even she was doing, Aeliana did not regain her senses until she awoke with a start in an oddly comfortable bed late into the night. Her brow furrowed; this wasn’t where she’d set up camp—

“Lady Varysha!” A servant girl exclaimed, startling and dropping her novel as she rushed to Aeliana’s side. The girl’s devilish tail curled nervously as she spoke, “Why have you awoken at such an hour? Is something the matter?”

“I have not been awake since…since the confrontation.” Aeliana whispered as she rubbed her eyes, which had not yet adjusted to the darkness. The servant girl was…vaguely familiar. She was too tired to wrack her brain for a name, but Aeliana remembered seeing her help the healers prepare for the battle. And horses. This girl had helped with the horses too by sneaking them fruits when their riders weren’t looking. “What happened? After…after I killed him?”

The servant took a moment to think before reporting, “No one’s quite sure, my lady. No one but the dragon was within earshot of you two, from what I’ve gathered. All the warriors saw was you two talk, and then you killed the human leader. After that…a few of the humans tried to fight. They stole his body and retreated back to their ships, though. You weren’t really responding to anyone. Everyone’s been asking what happened. You haven’t given anyone a proper response.”

Now it was Aeliana’s turn to hesitate. Something deep within her warned her of speaking the truth. Her people would not take it well if they found that the Corvians had magic. “We spoke. He…he tried to prove he was blessed. By Sycharos, of all gods, if you’ll believe it. He wasn’t. He was a mere insult to everything the gods toiled to create for us. A powerless, magicless mistake. I killed him by order of Ilya. That is what happened.”

“I shall tell it to the scribes, my lady. They will be…pleased, I suppose, to finally have an answer. You can only imagine all the things the warriors were telling them, especially once they started drinking.” The servant girl bowed before skittering out of the room, her devilish tail flicking behind her. Yavine. That was her name. She came from a family of miners in the north, if Aeliana recalled correctly.

When she was gone, Aeliana let out a relieved sigh and slowly crept out of bed. She’d shed her armor, but she still wore the linen clothes she’d had on underneath. Her head throbbed, and she ran a hand through her dark hair, her fingertips brushing against the horns on her head as she scanned the opulent chamber she found herself in.

It was far grander than the caves and tents she was used to. Even the Kunori villages she had seen were never more than some stone cottages or wood shacks. Dark walls, accented with draconic filigree…she’d never seen anything like it.

Aeliana approached the grand, pointed arch windows that led to a balcony. Outside, the night sky glittered with a sea of stars while the balcony itself overlooked a dazzling palace coupled with a city whose spires clawed at the stars. It took her only a moment to recognize the shore her view overlooked—this was home. It was this shore where Aeliana had been born, and this shore where her tribe returned at the end of each year. Far different from the encampment she was used to, yet…as recognizable as ever. The city nestled itself into the mountainsides perfectly. Below, Aeliana saw lamplights flicker and illuminate the stained-glass windows of nearly every building. Her gaze saw pointed arches, towering spires, statues and carved idols everywhere. The architecture was familiar, yet…foreign. She could see bits and pieces that she most certainly recognized from typical Kunori buildings, but these bits and pieces had been made grander than she had ever imagined they could be. No longer was she surrounded by tents made of hide or temporary shelters made of stone or the walls of a cave. No longer would the Kunori travel in a cyclical fashion, following wherever the dragons and the herds led them next. No, they had a home now. A proper home, nestled in the claws of mountains and a shoreline defended by the realm’s finest warriors.

“This is my gift to you.” The divine voice of Ilya spoke once more, “I asked of you, and you delivered me a soul that never should have been made. Do not ever think I will not reward those who serve me.”

“Thank you.” Aeliana whispered as she took in the sheer grandeur of it all.

“You will be crowned ruler of an empire. Slaughter any humans found within your borders. Sycharos molded humans himself, and thus they are blights upon this world. Ensure they do not ruin all I have created. I have given you my most trusted of dragons, the Lastbreakers. Their leader, Ilvara, will advise you and all who come after you. Do not squander this gift.”

Aeliana nodded as Ilya spoke his divine orders, though her head suddenly felt heavy. She reached up to brush her fingers against her hair, only to gasp as her fingers met with the cold metal of a wrought crown resting on her brow. The metal was freezing, yet the moment her fingers touched the crown it began to grow warm. Ever so faintly, she could feel the thrum of magic begin to grow. Aeliana allowed herself a smile as she watched the sun begin to creep over the ocean’s horizon.