The King of the Ice Tomb and the Messenger’s Vow

Daphne had encountered a Giant King before. Even “Gogir the Mountain-Mover,” standing at his full, imposing height, would barely reach Arsuga’s knees.

Behind layers of dense ice, a majestic body slumbered. Its iron-blue armor remained perfectly donned, making it impossible to fathom the sheer quantity of steel and charcoal that must have been required to forge such a suit for a being of this magnitude.

Arsuga was a colossal cadaver.

At the highest point, almost beyond sight, ghostly blue undead flames ignited within the depths of his eye sockets. The King of the Ice Tomb gazed down upon the one who had come to seek an audience.

“The Mother Goddess wishes me to deliver a message,” Daphne said, her voice calm and unhurried. “Or rather, an instruction.”

“Mother? Oseriel? Her?” Arsuga uttered a rapid succession of questions, his tone laced with doubt. “She has already left Nocartia. This is a world devoid of hope.”

“You don’t believe me?” Daphne countered, feigning composure.

“Indeed, you carry the Mother’s aura.” The Bone King paused for a moment. “The perpetually sealed sarcophagus—you emerged from within it, I know. That is how you acquired the Death Sigil and the cloak.”

“And I also know the method to appear before your true form. Who do you think told me?” Daphne scoffed, a cold sound.

“Hm,” Arsuga mused, his deep voice drifting from behind the ice. “I believe you, messenger of the Great Mother. But given the circumstances, with destruction predetermined, what more could she want from me?”

This somewhat surprised Daphne.

After all, in the game, this entity’s mortal avatar would rant upon arrival, proclaiming things like, “This world is destined for ruin; why shouldn’t I be the one to bring it?” He would also declare, “Foolish insects, I have guarded you for ten thousand years. Now, the suffering I endured shall be repaid in full by you!” Yet, seeing his true form now, he seemed more like a contemplative sage. He was quiet, steady, and logical, utterly unlike a madman driven insane by Chaos demons.

“She bids you uphold your duty, King of the Ice Tomb,” Daphne stated, attempting to leverage the Mother Goddess’s name to steer his thoughts. “Even in the coldest depths of winter, it should remain so.”

Arsuga fell silent. The ghostly blue flames, flickering high above, extinguished only to reignite.

A heavy sigh escaped him.

Shards of ice rained down from the ceiling, which stretched beyond sight, much like a moderate hailstorm. Fortunately, Melville’s presence seemed to repel the worst of it, and the magical cloak ensured these shards posed no harm to Daphne.

“If it is merely an instruction, I can choose not to follow it,” Arsuga whispered after a long silence. “Hopeless resistance is futile. A single pillar cannot support a collapsing edifice.”

“Tell me, messenger of the Great Mother, after this, will you journey south to seek audience with other deities?” he inquired.

Now, it was Daphne’s turn to fall silent.

“The Mother knows well; she knows better than anyone, which is why she chose to depart,” Arsuga stated in a deep voice. “Vatitaya, Mayekase, Gregory—their divine souls have dissipated, leaving behind only empty husks and concepts. Lamia willingly succumbed to corruption and decay. The Mother long ago foretold the fragmentation and strife among us, her siblings. The future is utterly clear in her eyes: this world is destined for ruin—”

“Which is why she sent me here,” Daphne interjected, cutting Arsuga off.

Even though her voice was so faint it couldn’t compare to Arsuga’s mere exhalations, it instantly silenced the skeletal giant behind the ice.

“You?” Arsuga questioned, his voice laced with disbelief.

A half-vampire girl, so diminutive she was almost imperceptible—why would the Great Mother choose her as a messenger? What exceptional qualities did this girl possess?

Arsuga couldn’t discern them for now.

Yet, how could he presume to fathom or see through the Great Mother’s power?

The Mother’s aura was undeniably genuine. This girl must have received the Great Mother’s guidance and enlightenment to possess such a powerful mind and spirit. Perhaps this was a test before the Great Mother’s return…

Arsuga dared not delay further. “What can you achieve? What does the Mother Goddess command you to do?”

“On the day after twilight, I will bring every ray of dawn and morning sun to Nocartia thereafter. The Great Mother commands me to bring victory and salvation to this world.” Daphne met Arsuga’s gaze, her voice resolute.

Her voice was delicate, yet it resonated with deafening clarity.

This time, the silence lasted exceptionally long.

The ice surface began to vibrate once more. Another hailstorm descended from the air, and the entire ice tomb trembled violently.

The former leader of the Snowfield Direwolves descended rapidly from the swirling snow crystals, manifesting his colossal form. The beast of bone and ice, a reanimated cadaver, squatted before the Ice Tomb Throne, head held high.

This King of the Dead suddenly burst into thunderous laughter, as if the entire mountain range would tremble in response.

Daphne remained convinced she had spoken no false words. She maintained an unwavering expression, meeting Arsuga’s gaze with neither humility nor arrogance.

“Then you must first pass my trial, messenger of the Great Mother,” Arsuga’s voice deepened and grew more resonant after his laughter. “Klogotia has guarded this world long enough. But if you cannot even halt my army of the dead, how can you speak of bringing victory and salvation to the world?”

The Frost Giant Sword resonated with a thunderous roar at his words. Violent blizzards erupted from its ice-blue blade, whipping Daphne’s hair and cloak into a turbulent dance.

“I am the Night and the Winter! If you wish to witness the dawn and the warm spring, you must first step over my body!” the King of the Ice Tomb declared.

Daphne pondered for a moment, then replied, “Ten years. In ten years, I will return here to challenge your mortal avatar, and then seek audience with you again.”

Under the combined gaze of Arsuga and Melville, she made her vow.

“But Klogotia will not halt. The Archlich will continue to lead the army of the dead to seize territories,” Arsuga stated, neither confirming nor denying.

“However much is lost today, that much shall be reclaimed tomorrow. The Empire is not as fragile as you believe. I wish your Archlich good fortune,” Daphne declared, unyielding.

She had not anticipated such a volatile outcome. The air crackled with tension, yet she perceived no immediate danger.

Daphne had a lingering feeling that Arsuga was close to being swayed by her words, perhaps merely hesitant to agree directly out of pride. However, this might just be an illusion, as the minds of deities differed vastly from mortals and could not be easily conjectured.

Still, none of that mattered now. It was time to reveal her true intent.

“The Great Mother said you would have something to give me,” she stated.

“I had thought she’d forgotten about that item. I have preserved and guarded it for far too long,” Arsuga replied, without any pretense of concealment.

As his resonant words faded, a small door opened in the very center of the ice tomb. A faint light shone from within, seemingly inviting Daphne to enter and retrieve the item herself.

“The exit is also there. I won’t need to escort you back,” Melville added.

Daphne had no idea what Oseriel might have left with Arsuga; she had merely bluffed. Nevertheless, any gain was a good gain, making this trip worthwhile.

Melville watched the half-vampire girl approach step by step, then disappear behind the door. “This isn’t like you, Ar.”

Arsuga, seated on the Ice Tomb Throne, remained silent for a moment. After a pause, he quietly said, “I should re-enter my slumber now. Return to your post, Mel.”

“See you in ten years.” The skeletal direwolf took a few leaps, then dissipated once more, transforming into swirling snow crystals.

Only Arsuga remained, as he had for a millennium.

The sharp, cunning voice, predictably, echoed in his ear once more: “Don’t be deceived by that girl! Your Mother abandoned this world long ago! What you need is a grand revenge! Let this world, let those foolish insects, taste the suffering you once endured!”

The incessant, clamorous noise continued to coil around his ears. Arsuga was on the verge of collapse.

“Enough! Get out of my head, you damned Tzeentch!” he roared with a muffled fury, like distant thunder.