It rained in torrents.
A solitary figure crossed the fields, in the middle of the inhospitable forest of the southern lands. It was a woman wearing a long hooded cloak. Her face was covered up to the nose with bandages, only her eyes and the forehead hair were visible.
It had been 2 days since Marianne had left on a mission to look for the enemy and take her challenge to him.
Upon her departure, she had asked Lamo, her faithful spokesperson, to convey the following words after she had left: "I'm going to look for our enemy to take them my challenge. I will challenge all the warlords one by one."
No one in the Phoenix knew Marianne's face or voice, nor did they even know she was a woman, a precaution in case there were spies mingled among the ranks. The warlords were powerful and the challenge she now was bringing to them was absurd, but it was better than waiting to die doing nothing. The very idea of someone daring to challenge them would make the warlords furious, and furious people make stupid mistakes, she was not afraid of anything, not even death, even if she had no chance of winning a direct fight against such monsters, she was smart and bold enough to become an obstacle. It was just a pity her spirit wasn't up to the task.
Certain warriors were born with powerful spirits that gave them superhuman speed and strength, Marianne's spirit was far below the spirits of the warlords, and on top of that, every time she used it, she got dizzy. Not only did her spirit fall short, but her body couldn't stand it.
She was coming to the edge of the woods, in the valley below, a camp. A dozen tents were arranged in a small circle. Some people were sharpening their weapons, and others talking and drinking. In the center was a person tied to a thick wooden pole, chained and bleeding.
"What kind of camp is this? It doesn't even have a perimeter barrier", she said to herself.
As if in response, three figures materialized behind her, "That way it's easier to catch mice," one of them said.
"Don't move a muscle, or you won't have enough time to regret it," the other said, touching the tip of the spear to her back, his hair was shaved except for a crest.
The shortest of them all, a dumb-looking guy, looked at her trying to glimpse signs of movement. "She blinked, she moved a muscle! Kill her!" He shouted to the other two.
"That doesn't count you retard!" The guy with the spear shouted, punching the short guy in the head.
"It would also be a shame to kill her, let's see what she has here," he said, putting a naughty hand inside her cloak trying to feel her breasts.
"Don't touch her you idiot! The boss will kill us if he finds out we touched a new slave before him," the best-looking of the three said.
"There's no rush, we'll have plenty of time to get to know her better", he said, smiling.
The guy with the shaved head also laughed, "Move, the boss will decide what to do with you", he said, increasing the pressure of the spear, forcing Marianne to walk.
Upon reaching the entrance to the camp, two bulky guards crossed their spears and shouted: "Stop! Identify yourselves."
"Damn man, we've only been through this entrance a million times, you'd expect that by now you'd recognize our faces," the guy with the shaved head mocked.
"Perimeter guard, We have a delivery for the boss, a...woman!" He said, opening the woman's cloak, and exposing her protruding chest so that there would be no doubt.
At the camp, everyone stopped what they were doing, the word "woman" made them all rush to the entrance to see for themselves.
At the entrance, a huge uproar erupted, with everyone greeting the newcomer with lively excitement.
"Nice body!"
"I want her!"
"When does she start?"
"OWOOOOOOO!"
Behind the guards, a huge figure detached himself and walked over to Marianne. He was at least 2 meters tall. The giant blade on his back seemed to weight over thirty kilograms. The giant stared at the intruder from the top of the barrier of guards.
"Who da fuck are you? And do you want from here?" The voice was harsh, like thunder.
"I am a messenger for the Phoenix, I need my message to be delivered to the southern warlord. Also, hand over your prisoner to me, now that I've seen him, I can't close my eyes, don't you think?"
After an awkward silence, everyone laughed. That woman must be crazy.
"We should hire her as our jester, she's good." One of the soldiers said.
"Oh, if I was you I wouldn't worry about the message, the dead do not have an obligation to deliver them." The boss mocked.
"The dead?" Marianne asked surprised.
The guards quickly rushed to the sides, anticipating the boss's attack. The gigantic blade sliced through the air, raising leaves and dust on all sides. Strangely, it found no resistance when it hit the woman's body.
The dust settled and the huge creature was startled when he saw the dumb-looking small man on the ground sliced in half instead of the woman, all the guards were dead on either side of the entrance.
Sensing someone behind him, he tried to turn around but something strange happened: his body turned, but his head didn't follow the movement.
"Too bad, let it be, I'll deliver the message myself," Marianne said as the giant's head fell to the ground.
Moments earlier, when the giant blade swung in front of her, Marianne ducked down quickly, taking advantage of the dust, stole one of the guards' swords, moving like thunder, killed them all, and still had time to cut off the chief's head.
The camp was deserted, it seemed that all the occupants had come to the entrance to welcome her.
"I didn't want to kill them, but they wouldn't give me access to the prisoner otherwise", she said looking at the bodies on the ground.
"Strange, I had the feeling that I was being watched even after killing them all, but it's gone now. Was it... my imagination?"
Arriving at the center of the camp she saw the prisoner tied to the thick pole, after all, it was a woman, with a dark complexion, short afro crispy hair, young, in her early 20s. She was the guards' sex slave. She was in very bad shape, several areas of her body were purple and swollen, and blood was running profusely from her head and between her legs.
"Somehow, I no longer regret killing them, that's no way to treat a woman, what savages!"
Marianne could barely imagine the hell that woman had been through, she had nothing to offer her but free her from the pain.
She picked up a sword that was on the ground and swung it back, the movement would be so fast that the slave wouldn't feel anything.
Marianne swung the sword towards the slave's neck, at the exact moment it was going to hit her she had an overwhelming glimpse, the vision of a gigantic entity lying deep inside the dying woman, by far, bigger than anything she had ever felt before.
With a superhuman movement, Marianne managed to stop the sword's inertia, stopping it at the first contact with the slave's skin. Obeying inertia, a violent gust of wind from the sword's interrupted movement followed its course, knocking down a tent in its path.
"I'm sorry my queen, I didn't mean to disturb you!" Marianne said, prostrating herself on the ground, at the base of the trunk.
"I've never felt anything like this, surely human, but it's...colossal. A queen...a Magnifica!"
After a minute, Marianne looked up and realized the ridiculousness of her prostration. "What the hell am I doing? This woman did not benefit at all from being the bearer of such spirit."
"Could it be? The Magnifica inside her...is still dormant?"
"If that's the case, this could be an amazing opportunity! If I can secure this person's heart before the queen emerges… or before I get killed in the process… She could become an ally instead of an enemy of mankind."
"This changes things I guess, if she gets enough rest, chances are she'll heal quickly." Marianne swung the sword once more and broke the chains that held her to the pole and the woman fell helpless. Marianne caught her fall, holding her in her arms.
In a hoarse voice, the slave babbled a few tenuous words, "wa…nt..o…be…st..r..on…g…lik..e…yo…u.."
Marianne replied with a soft voice: "You already are, but you still didn't realize it yet." The slave had a brief moment of surprise as if she had heard total nonsense, and then she fainted.
With the bloody slave in her arms, Marianne gazed at the distance, "It's incredible how I found a queen inside the most unlikely of the pawns."
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