Tyrannus

Not even the relaxing sounds of galloping horses calmed Tyrannus's nerves. He found himself tapping against the glass widows of the carriage again. Mother would get on to him if she were here, showing anything but a noble air was forbidden in her presence. Father was always more lenient. Sometimes he was too lenient. His sister was allowed to find herself. It showed who had final say in the family.

When a message from a plebe gobling of all things found its way to their doorstep, mother was quick to answer. Plans that involved manipulating his sister's situation put Tyranus in a mood, so he tapped against the glass windows of his carriage impatient to meet the fool. Frost covered the window with each tap. No one threatened his sister.

In a case at the edge of his vision, his sisters team lay stored and prepared. Six black lingballs mirror polished each with a knight class or higher ling of some sort inside. She'd abandoned them as she'd abandoned the family. Claudia was just a youngling by ling standards when she left. A prodigy and tactician in the ling trainer ways but still ranked so low. She feared the possibility of falling to Blessed Ancestor rank. So, for years she remained in the lowly youngling rank.

A green light flooded the road his carriage traveled upon. Masterless flesh puppets meandered through hidden villages harvesting lings living in these primitive outskirts of the empire. He'd come because dear Claudia had been captured. Tyrannus planned to gloat and mock at his sister, but that was all. She'd receive a reprimand from mother, and open arms from father. The ling had lied. Claudia had fallen and now he must do his duty.

"This isn't what we were called for. Shouldn't we contact the nearest Legate. This is legion business." Rudolpho said. Tyrannus felt his tentacles wind. This wasn't happening, the insult to his family would last a hundred years. How could Claudia do this to them?

"If you call a Legate or speak of this to anyone, you won't make it home." Tyrannus warned.

The nightmare outside screeched and the carriage flew off course. The glass of the carriage exploded. Shards bounced off their shields as the carriage tipped over and fell. They rolled to a stop and the world exploded with blue light. When that light vanished the green of the Blessed Ancestor vanished with it.

His sister was dead. He waited for the snapping of their psychic link. That painful snapping never came. Strong dark hands ripped open the carriage like a ratling through a rotting flesh. Tyrannus stared at the beautiful face of his first Darkling.

Elena was a fine specimen of the darkling knight class. Her official name was Elena Cortez, she was knight rank, and a darkling Moon Fallen. One of the rare crossbreeds between Mind Flayer and Darkling. Her delicate white skin, blonde hair, and human face expressed her incredible talent with white series magic. He believed she was what the humans failed to create, a darkling that could bring the sun. It pleased him that they'd never get their hands on her.

She lifted him and Rudalpho from the remnants of the carriage with a silent telekinesis spell. He'd been planning to breed her with another Rare darkling and create an even more powerful specimen. After taking over with his own telekinesis, he walked over to a fallen Knightmare.

The beast's red eyes pleaded with him for help. Its legs were broken. A fall couldn't have broken its legs, but another nightmare could have. He figured that's what must have happened. When they fell their legs must have tangled and, in their terror, they broke each other. Equine brain wasn't his favorite. His tastes were of the feminine and rebellious.

Tyrannus tapped the air with telekinesis and drove a hole through both horses' heads. The small display of telekinetic master felt no more exhausting to him than hovering.

He heard the crack of a whip behind him. Elena screamed as flesh ripped from her back. "Enough," Tyrannus yelled before the second strike connected.

Something destroyed the Blessed Ancestor, but his sister wasn't dead. That meant the Blessed Ancestor was another of their kind. It was unrelated to their goals. Something around here was strong enough to slay a Blessed Ancestor. He hadn't heard of any assets being sent to this area. Either the Overmind Governor of of Territory 15 was losing his touch, or this wasn't connected. He heard another crack of the whip and Elena grunted in pain.

He sent a mental command. Elena turned faster than Rudalpho could react. She raised a hand and white lightning blasted from her fingertips. Rudalpho screamed his eyes wide in disbelief. "Enough," Tyrannus said. The lightning stopped immediately. Not even a semblance of wrath could be detected in Elena's mind. She was almost the perfect instrument.

Her tail moved back in forth with the barest hint of satisfaction. Fortunately, Rudalpho was too shocked at being attacked by a Darkling to notice such a flaw. "Did you think I'd allow you to damage my property?" He wouldn't speak of the bond between a trainer and their first Darkling. Rudalpho wasn't a part of trainer culture and wouldn't understand.

"You will carry my bags while we make our way to this Dol's tower." Tyrannus said with all the contempt he could push through their companion link.

"I'm a noble, my house," Tyrannus nodded to Elena. She wasted no time in blasting him again. "I'm sorry Tyrannus it wasn't my place to discipline your property. I'll carry the bags." As much as it pained him, he'd have to let Rudalpho live for now.

"Soon we'll get my sister back and you'll be married. I'll soon call you brother Rudalpho." The word felt bitter upon his lips. Mother's plans and father's weaknesses are mounting, and his sister put herself into such a convenient spot. Rudalpho had agreed to leave his guards behind. They were to be brothers after all. Hopefully, his sister can make this pitiful excuse for a mind flayer into a proper noble. They needed Rudalpho's family status.

"If she's intact. I won't wed a plucked flower." Rudalpho said. That he had the gall to say even that spoke of a simple fact. Tyrannus couldn't afford to kill him until Claudia produced heirs. That didn't mean he'd take the insult. Elena raised her hands and blasted Rudalpho again.

"I'm sure she'll be more than willing to offer all her flower to you once she knows you spearheaded her rescue. Though, I advise the use of your noble grace in dealing with her. She took to liberal thoughts before she left." Tyrannus said.

"My lord I sense the aura of a powerful Darkling." That intrigued him. Most were hunted down and captured when they appeared. Elena rarely spoke except to produce a spell. She risked his punishment to speak of this Darkling. The twitch of enjoyment from her tail was one infraction but this could make up for it. He had only five lings in his roster. There was a spot left for one more.

"What can you sense?" Tyrannus asked.

"It's a male, plebe, armed, and overflowing with aura. Shall I engage?" Elena asked.

"Let me have it. This new Darkling will surely impress Claudia. You said she was a fierce battler." Rudalpho said.

Tyrannus sneered beneath the mask of polite disinterest he wore. Claudia his sister won the Uber cup in the games. She was destined to drag their family from the merchant caste to the height of nobility. If only her mind hadn't been poisoned new age idealism. They would have much better prospects than a noble under a mountain of gambling debts.

Maybe watching this loser of a noble fail to capture a darkling would be entertaining. Heavily armed darklings often killed and asked questions never. He'd have to keep Elena on standby. The fool wasn't allowed to die until the lines were connected. His father was hard at work finding a wife for himself of a declining noble line.

He nodded his head and Elena shot off. "She'll go on ahead and weaken the wild Darkling first. you have bags to carry."

…

Doppel was hale and hearty as ever. Her limb had grown back fully and not a burn marked her skin. We were busy on a project. While gone, we didn't want anyone finding the source of the qi. She used her telekinesis to place a few buildings to fall into each other. While I pushed against one, she pushed against the other. The goal was to collapse them into each other.

I gave a heave and tipped the building over into the massive hole. Doppel did the same and the buildings fell in unison. Afterwards, I summoned 20 Wyrms to guard the place. Each of the metallic snakes were well over 120ft long now. In the heavily qi concentrated environment, they'd have little trouble maintaining their existence.

The wyrms took up some hiding positions. After shutting the gates to the town, we tossed what was left of the ruined guard towers in front of them.

"Hopefully, this'll hold until we get Gwen back. How are we going to find Gwen's brother?" I felt like I'd just stepped on a landmine. Suddenly, aura had built up. I pulled my sword in front of me just before white lightning blasted me. Flames erupted from my blade countering the electric current. On reflex I shot two javelins where the lightning came from. Just before they hit the current stopped.

A white skinned woman flew out of the darkness like a ghost. Twin white blades slashed down in rapid succession. I placed a hand against the flat of my blade and took the attack. Each hit failed to move my blade. I was stronger but a one walled house couldn't stop an invader. Static erupted from my aura in tandem with a volley of javelins. My opponent was a shadow. Before my attacks struck, she was already out of the way. Was it precognition, shear speed, or experience?

Our blades clashed. The edge of my blade scored deep scratches across her skin but failed to pierce. Despite my strength, I couldn't deal the kill. It was just out of reach and she was fast.

We exchanged blows again. She flashed more lightning leapt into the air and blasted the ground. Doppel took to my side and shielded us with her psy shield. When the lightning waned, I flew from the shield and aimed to deal a killing blow.

I placed both hands on my sword and swung with killing blows. Both of her blades shattered when my sword met them. Javelins flew from my aura in rapid fire. To my reserves a 1000AP was nothing. Damn, she was good. Oh, I was stronger and faster, but she seemed to know where I aimed. I decided to swap to area effect and cover denial.

Just before I could employ my new strategy the white skinned woman looked between Doppel and me before fleeing. Doppel and I shared a look before giving cautious chase.

"This has to be a trap." Doppel projected to my thoughts.

"What rank do you think she is? I'm getting knight class. Now that I have a second to think, she's a super rare variant Darkling. Why would one be out here?" I asked.

"Tyrannus wants to capture you. Under regulation, if I have a stronger claim and declare provable ownership, he can't capture you. We can sue this to join his entourage." Doppel said. We flew after her at full speed.