The oculii, the fragile organ that grants us the gift of sight, the ability to visualize the world around us. The windows of one's soul, they said, twas' no wonder the Sacred Spark housed itself within me through my eye. And while the blind ignorant masses can only see a one-eyed man, the truth is, I can now gaze far beyond any mortal and immortal alike. Through the Blessing of my Ichor, I had opened my third eye, the telescope to the infinite stars. After all...
If in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, therefore, the third-eyed man must be Divine.But I'm not wholly divine, not yet, I need to ascend and to do so, I must journey to the Dead God's final resting place, at the center of the Fortress-City That Watches The Abyss. It'll be a perilous journey with countless trials and tribulations. Though I am Blessed, I'm no fool, I can't do this alone. I'll need allies, loyal followers who believe in my-...
our cause, for I am a generous God. Once I ascend, all who have stood by my side will do so with me, we shall transcend beyond our fragile vessels and become one with the stars.
Amongst these followers, as abundant as the stars, I see twelve among them as my brightest and mightiest, twelve who will lead the flock by my side. Each of them a constellation in the celestial sphere, symbols of their divine power; Muridus, Bovinus, Pantherus, Leporidus, Draconus, Ophidius, Equidus, Caprinus, Simius, Gallus, Canus, and Suidus. Though as of now, only one had come under my embrace.
Indeed, I must gather them all, welcome them into my flock just as Draconus did, for I am Almagest-...
"-ter...!"-...Master of the Domain of the Stars, and I-...
"-aster!"...huh?
"MASTER!!"--The Outer Layer - 11th District-
The one-eyed human man blinked his single remaining eye, his conscious mind returning to him as he instinctively gazed down at the petite, horned figure of a dragonkin girl standing in front of him, hands pressed against her hips in palpable frustration.
"Geez, you're spacing out again, Master Klau-... Almagest," The silver-haired girl sighed, red eyes closing in tandem,
"I know that it's your quirk and all, and I'd be fine with it had we're at home, however..." She spared a moment to sharply and deftly survey her surroundings in the peculiar way that only someone who grew up in the slums could do,
"We're in Oratorio now, and this place - most especially the Outer Layers - aren't too keen on letting an 'easy prey' go, and you, Master, were the definition of one just now.""I... see..." The old man murmured quietly, looking at the dragonkin three decades his junior, well, being street-smarts was one of the things that never changed from the former street orphan,
"I understand, Frederika, my gratitude." Almagest made a small nod as he deigned himself to focus his mind down from the stars to ground level, an unideal place to be in, but ignoring his Paladin's wisdom could possibly end his journey early, especially in this merciless district of the Fortress-City.
"Heh~ where would you be without me, Master?" Probably slumped on his desk, dead, having succumbed to his fever,
"Now then, we made it to the Fortress-City, though we don't have many coins left, enough to buy a bread or two maybe, but definitely not to get a night's say at the inn." The dragonkin mused as she rubbed her chin, though there was notably no sense of urgency in her tone, after all, she survived the cold unforgiving streets as a child,
"That's not a big deal for me, but I don't think we can say the same for you, Master, despite your ehm... 'divinity'" Whatever that means."Hmm, that's fair," Almagest nodded solemnly, then gazed into Frederika's eyes, the windows of her soul,
"What do you suggest?""Glad you asked~" Frederika allowed herself a few chuckles before flashing a smirk of the mischievous kind,
"There should be plenty of lowlives around these parts that I can beat u-... percussively persuade to relinquish their ill-gotten coins for a better cause." Her smirk remained even as she finished.
Ah, the appropriation of dishonest wealth for honest pursuits, kill two birds with one meteorite,
"That sounds wise, Rika, they're better off serving their betters, through coins or otherwise.""Now we're talkin'! Okay, let's go, don't fall behind and watch out for the buckets, yeah?" After giving a solid thumbs up to her absent-minded mentor, the dragonkin continued her walk once more, leading Almagest through the dirty, shit-stained streets of Outer District 11. Almagest might be the 'Master of the Stars', but right here, right now, this was her lair and she the Dragon-Queen of the Streets.
..........
.....
...
Not too long after, as the duo were passing one of the many narrow backstreets of the Outer Layers, it was actually Almagest who turned his gaze
first to the side as he felt an inexplicable throb in his very soul.
"..." "Hmm? What's up, Master?" Oh wait, he's not looking at the sky... Noticing this, Frederika's curiosity was piqued and she too followed suit as she shifted her scarlet gaze to the backstreet. And there, right before the Ichor-Blessed and Paladin of the Stars, was a rather... troubling sight. A young man of comely persuasion with mystical white hair and icy blue eyes being accosted by a trio of greedy, stinkin' scum of society. The latter abusing their sense of superiority in numbers as they attempted to bully the man for all of his coins.
"Ohooo...~" Frederika curled a grin as ideas immediately came to her mind,
"Pssst, hey, Master, whaddya say we help that lad over there and ask for well-deserved payment for our protection services? Better to give us a few coins than all of them to those thugs, am I right or am I right? And not to mention, we can help ourselves to whatever goodies those lowlives have too!"However, Almagest's gaze had already shifted from the white-haired young man to the nearby merry band, most especially the violet-haired young woman among them. Though his eyes were directed toward her bountiful chest, he was gazing not at her curves, but deeper, beyond superficial skin, muscle, and bones, for he felt the same presence from her as the one he noticed earlier from the young man.
"Eeergh..." At this, Frederika rolled her eyes, not due to any perceived disgust of Almagest being a dirty old man, no, she knew him far too well to not know that her master had no carnal desires whatsoever, instead, the dragonkin was annoyed at the fact that he wasn't listening to her... again.
Shucks, guess I'll just take that as a yes. She mentally shrugged as she readied her gauntlets, donning one on each forearm before flexing her fingers to test her newfound ‘dragon claws’,
Yep, all good!Without further ado, Frederika took three bold steps into the backstreet,
"HEY, SHITFACE!" The dragon roared as her voice violently reverberated on the walls,
"Why don't you pick someone your own size?!" Before getting into a combat stance, primal and untamed, the stance of someone who had to fend for herself before she even knew how to speak, read, and write.
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