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Chapter 86: Developments 2 weeks later

Fate ress can swerve, it can have dips or drives, turns or branches, but it can never come to a still

Fate is inevitable Fate cannot be destroyed Fate is the bedrock of life itself

My Fate is one I have railed against, struggling to surainst Fate, and realized in ht but lose

I stand here today humbled and determined

I will force Fate to bend its knee to me

Maybe not now Maybe not in a hundred years

But one day… Fate itself will bend to my will alone

On a planet far fros as it settled down, resting atop a small hill Tall trees dotted the woodland landscape around the hill, quietly tee ildlife

"Helena, Iyou join us I haven’t seen you in so long!&8221; A cheerful voice echoed out, disturbing the dying evening light

"I mean, you still haven’t seen her yet, have you now Trajan?&8221; Probus’ dry voice cut through the cheer raised by Trajan

"What with you being blind and all&8221;

A ain The next time I see you, I will kill you&8221;

"…&8221;

"He didn’t ht here&8221;

"Yep&8221; Helena’s exasperated voice appeared, full of equal parts mild amusement and annoyance

"Damn you Probus!&8221;

A racket broke out as the Wizard and swordy rocking the air

Helena sighed as she watched the duo go at it Despite their injuries and disabilities, the two Pseudo-King Class Vahtly affected At the least, their ridiculous personalities hadn’t changed a bit

She stretched her hands, looking down at her outfit

She earing a perfect, slins and marks It was fashionable and perfectly accentuated her sli to , one of the Ano

A couple of weeks had passed since Trajan and Probus had been injured The war between the Vahtly in that time

Hundreds of Vampires had been badly injured, and dozens had died The nureater, in the thousands The Shades were a far more numerous race than the Vampires, however, and could le Vampire dead was a bitter loss in Helena’s heart The Aurelius Family only had so many men and women, spread across a small nuhly 2,000 Worlds Just in sheer numbers alone, they were heavily outmatched

Despite all of that, she ell aware that this was still si their defenses The Cohlord Marcus was around, it was likely they would take their tihlord o, and won, just barely, but suffered horrid injuries in the process Unless the Shade King was confident in taking out the Highlord, the war effort would remain quiet and muted

There were multiple factions within the Shade Commune, and it was impossible for the Co, there were the six Dukes of Shadow and the huge Church of Light, both of which held strained relationships with the Shade King

Still, the fact that the Shades weren’t giving up and were siustus Fa

She had asked General Carus about it, the leader of the Reavers, and the e of the defensive front, and he had simply told her to focus on her side a small troop of Blood Wizards, were to join up with a pair of Anomalies and sneak across several worlds on a secret mission to make contact with the Ano to their Blood Wizard researchers, killing it should restore Trajan’s eyes and Probus’s arm

They could use Trajan’s and Probus’ injuries to track the creature through Fate Then, the Anomalies were supposed to convince it to restore their injuries and defect, and if that failed…

They were to kill it

She looked down at her wrist, where a s of a wolf on it

‘What if the Anomalies betray us?’ She had asked General Carus, as she was being debriefed

General Carus, a big, muscular vampire full of quiet confidence and power, had smiled at her and handed her this artifact

‘If that happens, you have been given permission to activate the Capitoline Wolf Bracelet’ He said, nodding at the bracelet

Helena’s eyes had widened

The Capitoline Wolf Bracelet was one of the Aurelius Faic artifact created thousands and thousands of years ago It was one of the legacy treasures of the Aurelius Family, and incredibly valuable

Theit over for her to use showed how tense the situation was, and ho Vampires they could spare Almost every available Wizard or warrior at the Lord Class was spread out across various worlds to fight the Shades There was al her forehead, trying to relieve some stress

"An Ano that can steal from Fate itself This will be a hard foe to talk to or defeat&8221; Sheout, full of supreround in front of her,

"Never fear, htiness that ison the ground near them

"Well, it’s never facedat Probus, or attelare without eyes, Trajan had corey suit that was only slightly daed A set of black cloth rapped around where his eyes were, covering up the terrible scar left by the Anomaly

Probus smiled back Unlike Trajan’s finer clothes, Probus wore a simple white shirt and a loose set of black pants A sas strapped to his back, secure and within its sheath His right sleeve was tied up close to his body, clinging to hi his chin as he looked at Trajan

"SIIIGGGHH&8221; Helena felt a s the on avoice of Dorian Of his quiet confidence and steady nature His will to do good and the bravery he held to always do the right thing Of his siht, cheerful nature filled her heart

Her thoughts couldn’t help but slip to him, almost every day now

She s towards the world of Mag Dorian was supposed to be going to that world, at some point, to help save his friend

She couldn’t wait to see hi to as she looked around the s preparations off to the side There were only three other va with them, all at the Granduests will be here soon&8221;

Far fro vampires, there existed a unique Exotic World

A world co the entire landscape Large lakes and rivers were interspersed between certain lobe was covered with misty, mysterious mountains Some were dotted with trees, others barren and frozen, while still others were dry, and covered in sand