Chapter 51 Directly.

Chapter 51: 51 Directly.

"So how did you two get involved?" I asked, gently guiding Ayra’s hand back to a more neutral position and reclaiming my own hand from Elsa’s top. "I’m guessing this isn’t standard royal duty."

A soft smile touched down on Elsa’s perfect pink lips, but it faded almost immediately. "Hardly. When Lazarus true intentions became clear, my father moved to stop him. But Lazarus came prepared for resistance."

Her voice faltered. "He... he killed my father and much of the royal court in one night of fire and blood. The palace burned while he laughed."

I instinctively pulled her closer, feeling her tremble slightly against me. "I’m so sorry, Elsa."

She nodded and pressed herself against me. "I escaped only because of my handmaiden’s sacrifice. She pushed me through a servant’s passage moments before the flames consumed her. I fled the capital, uncertain what to do next. That’s when the Prophet found me."

"Prophet?" I asked, keeping my arm protectively around her shoulders. Meanwhile, Ayra greedily grabbed my other arm and threw it around hers. This was so confusing.

"Seer Morvain," Ayra supplied as she reached out and squeezed Elsa’s hand. At least they could put aside competing for my attention long enough to console each other.

The dog-girl went on. "An ancient mystic who lived in the Crystalline Caves beneath the Silverspike Mountains. She had foreseen Lazarin’s betrayal and the rise of Black Lazarus, as he now calls himself."

"She told me I was chosen to lead the maidens of the Hero’s Party," Elsa continued, her voice growing firmer at the memory, "to stop Black Lazarus and save the multiverse. It sounded completely absurd at first. I was a princess trained mainly in court etiquette and only basic combat, not a savior with otherworldly powers."

"But the Seer was never wrong," Ayra added with reverence. "Not once in seven centuries had her visions failed to take shape. She instructed Elsa to find her companions by going on a quest to the other two great kingdoms of Antheria. That’s where I entered the picture."

I looked at the dog-girl with renewed interest, taking in her features with a fresh eye. "And your story? How did our princess find you in the midst of such chaos?"

Ayra’s tail thumped against the couch. "I was a healer in the Moon Mother’s temple in the Canid Kingdom. My people have long maintained alliances with elves, though rarely intermixing socially or romantically. When Elsa sought the blessing of the Moon Mother, I was chosen to accompany her."

"Because of your healing abilities?" I asked, genuinely curious about their past.

"Perhaps," she nodded, her ears perking up. "But I also possess my tracking skills and combat training. Moon Mother acolytes aren’t just healers—we fight too. We’re quite formidable when properly motivated. As for why me, and not some other priestess from the Canid Kingdom, I can only speculate, but the chrono crystal reacted to me, which meant it was likely that I was the fated maiden."

"Thankfully she was also the only one willing to follow my orders without constant questioning," Elsa added with a smirk.

"I’m a good girl," Ayra grinned. The statement somehow sounded simultaneously innocent and horny in a way that made Grey 2: Cock of the Walk stir in his gloomy cotton chamber.

"And Juniper?" I prompted, curious about the missing third member who continued to be mentioned without detail. "What’s her story?"

"We found her in the Blasted Lands," Elsa explained, adjusting herself to get more comfortable against me. "Like Morvain, she also has the powers of farseeing and prophecy, but to a more limited degree. She wasn’t exactly a princess, but she was of higher station in her lands—educated, with recognized talent. My crystal reacted to her immediately, so it was easy to determine she was meant to join us."

"You’ll like her," Ayra said with a mischievous glint in her eye that made me immediately tighten my glutes. "She’s... different."

"Different how?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"You’ll see," they answered in unison.

Ayra continued, "Together we trained under Seer Morvain, learning to fight together, using each other’s strengths and living with each other’s weaknesses. That’s when we received the System and received confirmation from the Heavens that we are indeed the true, fated Hero’s Party."

"So if you had to train under Seer Morvain," I wondered aloud, "why did I get the System without even trying?"

The two of them looked at each other briefly, then shrugged in unison. "We knew only that we would find you eventually, and that you would have the System too. We weren’t told why or how or even when," Ayra said, her tail swishing thoughtfully as her hand continued to play with my junk.

"Suffice it to say, neither of us expected to find you so easily," Elsa added, stroking my arm with gentle motions. The way she caressed me made it clear she harbored no disappointment about that particular development, and I really was grateful for that.

"And why is it that Elsa never leveled up her Constitution?" I asked. "Since it’s so low, shouldn’t raising it be her main priority?"

Elsa frowned instantly, making me regret my question a little, but I had to know. "Maidens of the Hero’s Party aren’t like you, Sir Grey," the princess explained. "Our skills have capped maximums. Though it is... a little low... four is my maximum for Constitution."

Ouch. That really sucked.

Anyway, that line of questioning had reached a dead end, so I pushed forward. "And when you finally confronted Black Lazarus?" I asked, sensing we were approaching the crucial part of their tale.

Elsa’s face fell. "We failed, of course. We were destined to fail without you, but it was a necessary step in our journey that forced him out of our domain. We possessed strength, but not enough. Not yet. He’d already completed significant portions of the ritual, enough to tear open a portal to Earth. I followed him through the rift alone, while Seer Morvain and Juniper worked to reopen the portal so that Ayra and Juniper could follow me using their chrono crystals to pinpoint my location."

"If you went through the same portal as Black Lazarus, why did you get here so early?" I wondered aloud, furrowing my brow. "You said Black Lazarus won’t make his move for twenty years. Why send you here now?"

"That remains a frustrating mystery," Elsa admitted, tapping her finger thoughtfully against her lips. "Though I suspect it involves you directly."