The moon bathed the streets, rain fell on the metal roofs of buildings while families took refuge in their homes enjoying family night.
"These people have been living in the capsule-city for hundreds of years, taking care of each other fighting against the flora and fauna of a continent as aggressive as Alus. Their commitment and dedication is admirable, staying together to face of all adversity.
Is it right to bring them to the fiery alliance? The empress has expressed her desire to finally have allies on this planet... but I dont doubt that the bosses took advantage of these good people..."
Flynn fell backwards, letting the rain fall down his face. "How did we get to this point? At what point did our alliance become an invasive colonization tool willing to put extreme requirements for possible allies? Sigh... Come on Flynn! You are the prophet! You should see the answers easily!"
But nobody answered him, leaving the ex-prophet to cover himself with doubts and fears.Rain fell on the prophet, the moon bathed the proud remains of a civilization while the elves of the storm prepared the camp on the outskirts.
External X-51 rescue capsule, Dracopride camp.
At night
Sarah opened her eyes slowly, trying to get used to the new lighting. The giantess felt as dizzy as usual after using a portal, something that the other giantesses had nicknamed "car sickness" as a reminder of the time where some of them could use cars.
The huge fabric tent had, in addition to the station of portals, a bed, a chair, a simple table and a power station for the C-com; all in giantess size. "Feel free to use this site to rest! Courtesy of your grandfather!" Xilven shouted as he left the canvas tent, followed by his entourage.
Sarah sat on the bed, not very comfortable but more than enough. Destructon while jumping into the energy station to look the machinery. "You can tell that this isnt an official mission, this charger is from the old generation... it will also help me load this body, now I just need to find a DieR source so I dont run out of combat capability!"
"You plan to fight? you know this is a peaceful mission, right?" The robot did not even do it, focusing on stripping one of the cables for its own interest. Sarah shrugged, getting up and heading for the exit. "Do what you want, I'll go outside to see how the place is"
With a determined step, the giantess came out of the canvas tent, looking at the city in the distance. As Xilven had commented, the city was built inside what appeared to be a capsule ship, taking advantage of the entire structure of this for the walls that covered the perimeter. Huge curved mountains (similar to claws) covered the entire area, which seemed to be some kind of natural depression in the terrain, judging by the amount of grass, trees and some rivers that descended into the city.
No building too high, but if they seemed to have at most 15/20 plants. Design slightly Arabic with a technological level close to New Bahia... a really curious place.
"Sarah! Come!" Xilven shouted from one of the outer walls of the camp, a wall that reached a little higher than Sarah's navel. The giantess approached very carefully, looking all the time to the ground to avoid damaging any infrastructure or any elf at work.
"That is the reason for our visit, the rescue capsule X-51 or Miraculus as the Empress has referred to the place. Inhabited by an exclusively female species that your grandfather has described as 'Lamias'; Its outer skin is scaly and similar to that of a snake, but the upper part of its body is very similar to an anthropomorphic body.
Apparently in the past there were men of his kind, because they werent surprised to see me or your grandfather"
"Lamias? like the extrahuman species? Curious though not implausible, I had been thinking about the birth of the extrahumans for an anthropology job at the university, and one of my classmates made the theory that Azure Key should have taken all the ideas for each species of some place...
And I must suppose that the Empress you mention is her highest authority, right?"
"Right, the Empress Sindas is their spiritual and political leader, bearing the title of 'Guardian of the memories of the Solaborne' or something like that. In addition, Sindas is easily recognizable by its unique scale color and its superior size... the thing is serious, Sindas is easily like 3 normal Lamias one behind the other"
Sarah crossed her arms, memorizing everything and planning the questions for the Empress. "Interesting... and the grandfather? where is he?"
"According to his message, he will return to the camp in an hour, while I will show you the place" Jumping from the top of the wall to the ground, Xilven began to walk through the camp followed by Sarah. (Which had to walk super slowly to not overtake the elf)
"Are you familiar with elven infrastructures?" Sarah refused, looking and studying the first of the buildings, an altar of green stone surrounded by crystals charged with electricity.
"I imagined it! Quick summary, this is an 'Altar of the climates', one of our most precious legacies and from where every elf of the storm that has mastered the dragon arts can channel its power to alter the elements and recharge our Turrets of tempest"Pointing at the turrets on the walls, Xilven continued walking towards what appeared to be a communal camping tent made of purple semitransparent cloth.
"Our Astro-nexus, from where we can reach a high level of concentration to study the stars and prevent climate changes or manipulate them at will, although some also use them to channel arcane energy even though it is against our laws...
Dont tell anyone, but while they dont get drunk with the arcane I will not judge anyone for wanting to gather energy from the cosmos instead of the heavens"
"Dont forbid them the use of their magical arts you honor them, Xilven" Sarah was surprised to be able to say something good about the elf, who until now had turned out to be just a little less idiot than Destructron.
"We are all born of dragons, but some have interpreted their scrolls not as a source of knowledge about their legacy but as an open world of magical possibilities. Whether you want to channel the heavens, the arcane, the shadows or the corruption, as long as do with control and without getting drunk with power I'm not going to cut your wings! And speaking of wings, this is our last important stop: the dragon kite station"
And as Xilven pointed out, a last building built around a kind of lightning rod from which dozens of comets hung served as the center of the camp.
"It seems strange, but it is a point of vital importance for the sky-hunters, each one of these kites is impregnated with the essence of different flying species of Alus, serving as baits to capture and train them! We have never been able to make so many kites bait, so this is going to be the first field test for our sky-hunters!"
"Sky... hunters... I mean, elves of the storm archers... you're one step away from going through a combination of forest elves and dark elves..." Sarah said in a whisper, hoping no soldier would hear her.
"Understand us, Sarah." Xilven crossed his arms on his back, looking at the kites. "We have hundreds of years, if not thousands, at the peak of the dragons waiting for their return... without any achievement We have had time to plan, invent and develop all kinds of technology during our vigil, always slowed down by disability to trade or accumulate wealth beyond what the orcs gave us.
My people dont love the fiery alliance for pleasure, they do it because we are finally able to create everything we have always wanted. To open our wings and start looking for a way beyond our original designs! We will fight, we will live and we will die for the fiery alliance that has given us the tools to shape our future!"
Sarah nodded, trying not to offend the elf. The motives of the storm elves to join was something that could be considered an open secret, although his tribe always tried to give it an epic meaning. The explanation about all the present soldiers extended until the zenith of the moon, which in turn was accompanied by the return of Flynn to the camp.
Once the ex-prophet delivered several documents to one of Xilven's assistants, Flynn went to his granddaughter who was waiting for him with open arms. "Sarah, my little granddaughter, what a joy to see that you wanted to come and help!"
"Dalia is going through the dream phase, and since I have nothing better to do, I've decided to help! Plus it didnt cost me anything and you really seemed to have problems with the lamias!" Sarah hugged her grandfather with natural care, then opened her right hand to frenet her face as they had rehearsed.
"You dont have to say it, Sarah! It's a difficult decision, more difficult than it should be because of the bosses..." Flynn jumped into her granddaughter's palm, sitting cross-legged without shoes, something that very few people had in mind.
"They are a peaceful but very protective species and I have no doubt that the integration with the rest of the Alliance would be very helpful... but seeing the state of this valley, but I am very afraid of that the requirements that the big bosses will put to these good people are too hards! From what I have seen and heard first hand, the lamias havent had contact with any race close since their arrival, subsisting thanks to the preconstructed factories in the capsule and the vegetation of the valley... You see my point of view, right?"
Sarah nodded, greatly cheering her grandfather. "You dont want these people to have to commit follies in order to pass the requirements of the alliance, but also you dont want to leave them alone now that they have met other peaceful races. They have weapons or something that could be considered dangerous for us?"
"Although their technology is certainly advanced in most sectors, their military advances arent. Empress Sindas only daughter runs a militia with a level of firepower similar to the old Ash-Pacifier rifles... they can defend themselves of the local fauna without much trouble, but the Orlealis would easily destroy these people and I cant let that happen! But I cant give them weapons without a permit from the alliance! The policy is too difficult!"
"I know, grandpa... Can I meet the Empress? I'd like to hear her point of view before I can begin to assess the situation and the possible consequences" Flynn nodded, jumping to the ground and starting to walk back towards the capsule. "Wait... not now, Grandpa, it's too late!"
"Sarah, these people are nocturnal! Xilven hasnt explained it to you? that's why all the storm elves are so active at this time! We have been changing our schedule to be able to adjust negotiations with them more easily, which you should also!" Flynn disappeared through a portal, leaving an angry Sarah behind.
The giantess sighed getting up and going back to the camping tent, leaving a dazed Xilven in the middle without knowing what to say or do.
Destructron was still fiddling with the energy station when Sarah came in, ignoring the giantess as she sat on the bed. "I'm not going to ask you about your feelings, because I honestly dont care. I'm going to ask you how much you've endured by speaking correctly?"
"I've been super hard, and I hate it! I'm a cultured person! I dont want to have to force the speech just to pretend! Damn it! I dont want my real personality to appear in such a delicate matter!" Sarah lay on the bed, burying her head in the pillow.
"You have nothing to do! You've had your personality modified by Azure Key for many years as a Dirty Lover, so it's time for you to free yourself!"
"Stop saying that! I understand that who I really am is a good thing, but you do not have to be saying it all the time as if I should be thanking heaven for that! You know how hard it is not to know if the words come out of your mouth are they real or forced by your previous personality!?"
Destructron said nothing, getting up and jumping toward the bed. "Robot, are you okay?" Destructron continued without answering, approaching one of the feet of the giantess. "Dont do anything you could regret..." Sarah tried to pull her feet back, but the size of the bed didnt help.
"Ple"
"Ple?
"SUPLEX!" Grabbing the big toe of the giantess with both hands, Destructron threw herself backward, twisting the giantess finger and moving her foot in the process.
"Auuuuuu! Idiot!" With an accurate kick, Sarah stamped the robot against the energy station, taking advantage to check her aching finger. "Ahhhh... you've left me with a red finger! Do you know how damn important it is for a giantess to keep her feet perfect?!"
Taking off from the wall, Destructron managed to fall on the bed, sitting on his knees. "I know, it's a mania that you have the giantess-"
"MANIA?! IS AN OBLIGATION! The first thing that 95% of people see is our feet, so avoiding bad odor, broken nails or dead skin is a very important task for any giantess! It is a fact that when a normal person judges a giantess, he does it because of the appearance of her feet!"
"And all that could not matter to me less... mature, Sarah! Only the fetishists are so fixed on their feet! 100% of people prefer to keep looking at the gigantic juicy asses or the titanic breasts of the giantesses!If someone looks at their feet or because their neck hurts or because the giantess is an ironing board!"
Sarah could not be more outraged. "That's rude on many levels! You moron!"
"Hate me for telling the truth, but... but hey... it's true and you cant do anything to prevent it!" The outrage of the giantess was such that a single second more in that tent would suppose the murder of a robot for nothing innocent. Sarah walked away as quickly as possible, stomping so hard that the grass floor cracked under her feet.
"Well..." Destructron rubbed the back of his neck, looking around. "Not only is she a siscon but also annoys easily, more interesting facts about the real Sarah, I hope this is good for something... Bah! Someone else will swallow the anger!" Smiling, Destructron went back up to the energy station working again on his fix.