AT 25,000

“Welcome, your majesty” He could not help the smile that appeared, his gold eyes watching as the woman known as the Queen of the Ancients came again for another visit. He could not help the flutter in his heart.

“Sheesh, stop calling me a queen. Urbarra, just call me Urbarra” He could not help but chuckle at her pouting. For a being that was very old, she sure was acting like a young adult. She went by many names, the nameless sword of Ancients. He had a hard time believing that she was a weapon but he heard the stories from the souls that came his way.

“Urbarra, a lovely name. What brings the Great Wolf to this neck of the world. I thought you were busy with Odin again”

“Shhhhhhhh, I decided to ditch him…. But Huginn and Muninn can’t give me a break” The queen continued to laugh as she laid on her back on the grass. She was looking at the sky of the Sea of Souls. It was beautiful to be in this area. The blue butterflies glowed and disappeared as they moved to the next life.

“Well you know he will call me in the end” The grass was wilting as the Queen pouted, doing a backflip she aimed to land on the owner of the voice’s shoulder as he dodged her to the side. The man was beyond beautiful. Pale skin and abysmal black eyes. He had his scythe with him as he leaned on it and chuckled at the queen who began to shapeshift into a puppy and give him puppy eyes. “You know you can’t ditch your work, your majesty”

“Death come on! I wanna stay here a little more. The Roomkeeper is such an interesting being pweeeeeeease, pretty pretty pretty pweeeeeease with the entire nuki for you?”

Death pouted and sighed “NO, you know I don’t have enough time to entertain you, your majesty. But I’ll tell him you’ll be back before Huginn and Muninn make the trip around, and that you’ll remain and finish all your paperwork. Merodach is not gonna do it again, he’s already causing chaos as is” He sighed as he saw her shapeshift into her human form, arms wrapping around him and a kiss on his lips as the Queen smiled to him “I owe you a big one, dear” He was horrified for a moment before he shook his head and smiled to her “Don’t do that, you might be immune to me, but others will think differently of me”

She smiled at him as she chuckled and nodded to him as he disappeared in a puff of black butterflies. She waited for a bit as she smiled to her companion “Silly death, no one is immune to you” She took out a strip that was dissolving quickly as she smiled to her companion “But I will never make you feel like you are an abomination,” She shook her head and stretched for a bit as she began to strip down the extra layer she had on her as they shriveled and died on the ground. She would then look to the patch that wilted as she took a deep breath and spoke in a soft tone: “Ninhursag, I ask thee your power to heal this ground please” She smiled as she felt the wind pick up and the land began to mend itself “Thank you, child” She whispered as she turned back to her companion “so, tell me more! You can now summon more than just Brahma?” She had forgotten about the man who was now telling her about these beings he can summon.

“So let me get this straight, you need to form a bond with them to get to summon them?” She was still confused by his power but the Roomkeeper shook his head and went through the explanation one more time that the bond was an added bonus, he had to record them in order to be able to summon them. She nodded to him as she began to watch him practice. He had gotten better and Merlin was worried that his power was growing to be too much for them. She also knew that he was going to head off soon to some war that her ‘creator’ had decided to take on the others.

“Do you really have to go?” She had turned back into a wolf as she laid her head over his lap and allowed him to pet her, rubbing behind her ears as she purred a little bit to him: “Nothing good comes from that deadbeat asshole”

“Language, Urbarra…”

“I should get your marked….” She blushed as she began to stammer “I-I-I-I mean …. W-w-w-w-w-well … y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you n-n-n-n-n-n-n-need to be careful”

“What is marked?” The angelic deep voice made the Ancient Queen burry her head more into him as she looked at him and pointed with her snout to his mind. He would nod to her as she knocked into his mind and he allowed her.

It’s a sacred bond between two Ancients. This is the ultimate vow of loyalty and it is …. Well… how do I put it… it’s the vow of forever, to be marked means you will give your life to this person. Matters not the origin of the being or if it's even a child of Adam or child of Ancient.

He looked confused as she began to think.

It is the same concept in your language as being well… intimate. But it is a binding of the souls. Well if you have one. It means you shall never betray this person and it makes the connection all that stronger, no matter where your marked is you will feel them, and if they are in danger you will be able to well possess them for a bit to help them if you are the fighter in the group. It is … very rare to mark another as many see it as slavehood. But in truth, I see it as a trust that goes beyond words.

He began to blush as it sank in what she was talking about.

“Do you see me that way, your majesty?”

“I grow… fond of being around you. I do not know the feeling, to be honest. It’s strange. I want to remain beside you but at the same time, I have my duties as the Queen. If I can give that up to just stay here…”

“OI! QUEEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE” She heard the most annoying squawk as she looked up to see Huginn looking at her and Muninn continued “We are telling Odin you are slacking off again” She was already up to them as she grabbed the two with her paws and pinned them down. They began to squawk more she growled

“I was having a good moment here, you two should I eat you?” The way they squawked irritated her as she looked at her host and sighed releasing them: “Excuse me, I have to leave. I’ll race you back you two” She began to move fastback as the Roomkeeper was left dumbfounded by the conversation that just happened.

“Did the queen just… confess?” He shook his head and chuckled, he must have misunderstood the words as she did not tell him she loved him. He sighed and chuckled to himself as he looked to the ground and thought to himself about the idea of being marked. It sounded very risky and he needed to know more about that. Though another thought began to creep over. Should he really join the war? Was it the right thing to do? He had been deployed before for skirmishes here and there but really never a full-out war. She did bring out a point but his sense of duty was more important. He will need to think it through as he looked to his lap. He had feelings for her but he too did not understand the feeling. Maybe if he goes to … He felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand up as he whirred to see Death looking at him.

“Is there something you wish to tell me?” Death spoke in a soft tone. But it was menacing as The Roomkeeper looked confused.

“Stay away from the Queen. You will only cause her agony and I will not watch her get hurt?” He could not help the question.

“Do you love her?”

“Love? The concept you humans use is different from what we use. Her soul belongs to me and fulfills me, so stay away from her. I cannot force her to pick her companion but I can damn well make it hard for you to be with her. You do have a war to go to. Go to it, and then if you handle that and that which you see then I’ll let you have her.” He disappeared with a black puff as He got confused more.

“What was that about?”