Chronicles of the Rising
Book One - Omega
Chapter One - A Lesson (part 3)
~*Galen*~
I stared as the dust began to settle and Aurum stood there covered in a thick layer and let out a little cough. He was not amused. He raised his staff and I panicked as I looked to a lone Jotun standing on the mountainside with a look of shock on his face. "Aurum don't-"
He slammed his staff down and there was a sound as if the sky was being cracked open and the flash of light that fell from the sky was intense, even from behind my hands as I shielded my eyes yet again. I looked over and saw that part of the mountain had been shorn off from the force of the Indignation that Aurum had summoned down.
"oh look, I missed." I glanced at Aurum as his gaze told me everything. He wasn't pleased that I thought he would be petty enough to kill someone over a cheapshot that wasn't a threat to him in the first place.
Apparently Lagertha wasn't as forgiving as she was suddenly across the arena and at the man's side. Her voice carried out echoing off the mountains.
"YOU DARE STRIKE AN ENEMY AFTER MERCY WAS SHOWN TO YOUR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN?! YOU HAVE BROUGHT SHAME NOT ONLY TO YOURSELF BUT UPON OUR PRIDE AS HONORABLE PEOPLE!" She flicked her hand and the man was thrown against the wall and his clothes stripped from him. She took out a black band from somewhere within her robes and snapped it around his neck. I couldn't help the small gasp that escaped my lips.
A subjugation collar.
A tool from the war of corruption.
Meant to inhibit the Blessings of the one wearing it. I had heard stories of them but had never seen one in person. Where she could have gotten such a thing was beyond me, but from my understanding. Lagertha was as old as the mountains in which her people inhabited. I'm sure she had found a few keepsakes during her lifetime.
She gave another wave and stone shackles sprang out of the wall and held him spread eagle facing the mountain.
I told Strom to go get his rest as I walked over and snatched Aurum by the arm and led him away. He had been staring at the subjugation collar, we’d be having a conversation over that at some point I was sure. The fact that he didn't struggle or argue was more than enough evidence that he had over extended himself.
As soon as we had entered the large doorway leading to the guest quarters the smaller man promptly fell over and I caught him just in time. I shook my head. "Why do you insist on showing off when it's going to cost you so much?" Of course there was no response as he was fast asleep in my arms.
I left his staff where it had landed. No one would be able to pick it up anyways. The weapon was bonded to Aurum and wouldn’t allow another to wield it without his consent.
Making my way through the extensive labyrinth of caves and passages to his room, was a small journey in itself. I tucked him in bed and leaned down inhaling his scent. Strawberries mixed with Lemons. I just smiled to myself before I kissed him on the forehead. "If only you were as peaceful awake as you are asleep.” There wasn’t much of an answer as he murmured and rolled over and curled into a ball.
My gaze slid down to the crystal at his throat. It was shining pretty intensely now. I didn’t need to turn on the lamp to see around the room with the soft glow the ball cast around the room.
With the Omega fast asleep and worn down like this, I took it upon myself to place the wards around his room for his safety, I doubted many would try anything after his display of power today, but one could never rule out a would-be assassin for the sake of wounded pride.
Walking out and turning to face the door to his room I placed my hand on the thick solid door. I sent my senses out into the room and allowed my Blessings to spiderweb out along the walls and the door. I may not be too proficient at quickly blending my Blessings together to effectively use them in battle, I could work them just fine in tandem.
Satisfied with my handiwork I trudged to my own room. Anyone who attempted to enter his room would break the Blessings I had surrounding his room and I’d know immediately and could come investigate.
I sighed,
I’d hear it from Aurum about being a possessive territorial Alpha for my actions just now. He had made himself pretty clear where he stood on the subject of us being mates. I couldn’t just do something simply as keeping him safe without being scrutinized.
Oh well. He’d get over it.
Once in my room and willed my Aegis away. It began to fade away in stages piece by piece, just disappearing into nothing. Stripping of my clothes I stepped into the shower and turned on the hot water.
The engineering that went into not only pumping water into the cisterns but heating it then piping it to rooms and fountains throughout the mountain was absolutely amazing. Being able to create such a network of flowing heated water in solid rock was only possible with advanced metalworking with Fire and Earth Blessings. I paused my hands wondering just who had done this since the Jotuns didn’t have anyone Blessed with the ability to use Fire.
A mystery for another day I decided as I crawled into bed. I had a brief wave of guilt at the thought of a dust-covered Aurum sound asleep in his bed. I shuddered at the repercussions had I even attempted to clean him off before placing him in bed. He was extremely self-conscious about his body and refused to even take off his shirt in front of anyone else. Shaking my head at the thought of how he would have reacted to having been naked in front of me I waved my hand toward the Spirit Light I had created when I walked in. It slowly dimmed and the room faded into absolute darkness.
A groan escaped me as I thought about the long trip ahead of us back to Hallow Bastion. Since Strom couldn’t control his Wind Blessing enough to fly, we’d have to make the long cold journey by foot. Hopefully Aurum would have an idea to cut the journey down from a month.
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