Valkyrie

Vroni led the party back to the third sub-level. They asked passing vanguards whether anyone had seen Maya, but did not receive any positive information. Cecilia became increasingly concerned as they continued their descent.

They reached an intersection and Vroni paused, turning to consult with Nadja. They cast their gilded lanterns about and found the severed hand of a monster and a small, recently chipped hole in front of the center tunnel.

Nadja looked into the center tunnel while Vroni looked into the tunnel on the right.

"It's one of our spikes!" cried Vroni. She held up a bent spike from the ground.

Cecilia motioned to Wiltern.

"We'll take the lead. Petra and Nadja will keep watch at the rear with Sister Clara. Vroni, stay close to us."

As they advanced into the tunnel, they could hear the sound of writhing, squirming scales as the monsters ahead of them were jammed into the tunnel. Wiltern and Cecilia began stabbing into the bodies of the massed beasts. The monsters were so intent on moving forward that they did not even realize that their numbers were being destroyed from the rear.  

As they emerged from the tunnel covered in dark ichor, they saw Maya to one side amid mounds of slain beasts. A pair of cadets protected her sides, as a healer tended to a fallen cadet behind them. 

Maya's armor was dented and coated in reeking black ichor. Her visor was up, revealing a face pale with exhaustion, but when she saw that reinforcements had arrived, she let out a cry and redoubled the strength of her blows. She recklessly waded into the midst of the monsters ignoring her defenses as the two cadets behind her advanced to support her.

Cecilia could feel her divinity resonating with Maya. She swung her heavy backsword in wide, sweeping arcs, shearing through three scaled torsos at once. She could barely register the resistance of bone and scaly hide. She saw a group of the creatures circle around Maya's flank and head toward the healer. Cecilia tried to shout a warning, but a heavy blow knocked her to the ground.

* * *

Petra entered the cavern as a leaping beast took Cecilia to the ground. She could see the wings on Cecilia's helmet skewing wildly to the right and saw the monsters advancing on a pair of defenseless cadets.

She sprang to intercept the monsters, knowing that it was what Cecilia would have wanted. Vroni was right beside her as Petra struck down the first beast by splitting its head down the middle.

Vroni was knocked from her feet as a leaping monster impaled itself on her outstretched blade. Petra cut halfway through its body to make sure it was dead. Spinning, and using the cavern wall to launch herself into the air, Petra landed onto the final monster's back, stabbing it in the head repeatedly until it collapsed.

When she turned back to see what happened to Cecilia, the cavern had already fallen silent, save for the sound of ragged breathing.

Wiltern and Nadja were helping Cecilia out from under the body of the beast that had knocked her down.

She found herself walking beside Maya as she walked to help Cecilia, and the two of them ignored each other's presence.

"Is everyone safe?" asked Cecilia.

Petra nodded. "Let's get out of here as fast as we can."

* * * 

The training expeditions had been cancelled as the dungeons of the Golden Circuit were placed on provisional access by Dominion authorities after the incident at Gardanmah, and the cadets were all returned home with little fanfare.

A week after their return, Cecilia had been summoned to the office of the Kommandeur. The Verwaltungsleiter, their dorm Erzieher, and the Erziehungsoffizier who had been with them on the training expedition were all in attendance.

She left the meeting shaken, and returned to the dormitory to discuss the events with her companions. When she returned to her room, she found everyone in her antechamber huddled around her desk.

A broadsheet was spread on the tabletop, and on the front page was a picture of their vanguard—the photograph they had taken at the Tears of the Moon. Above the picture ran the headline:

SAVIORS OF GARDANMAH!

Underneath the picture was a short caption:

The Valkyrie of Eisenfelde and her Vanguard! A terrifying, unprecedented cataclysm struck while our noble vanguards visited Gardanmah! Surrounded by swarms of ancient fiends, these brave young women held the line against impossible odds!

(From left to right) Petra, Cecilia Gullfot von Holtzaten, Nadja Klose, Shadow Councilor M.

Cecilia did not want to read any more, and folded the broadsheet, setting it to one side.

"I have some important news," she stated. "We have been granted an enormous endowment from the Imperial Chancellor— Dietmar Geyr himself. Haus I is now officially our own Stiftungshaus. They want to call it Haus Amazonia.

* * *

Later that evening, Cecilia had tea with Petra.

"I'm not sure I like how events have been told in the broadsheets or over the Musikkasten," Cecilia stated with a hint of petulance.

Petra shrugged, taking a sip of tea. "It isn't about truth. It's about power and who gets to write the official story."

"I'm coming to understand that now," said Cecilia.

She was sickened that the death of Rothaermel was used to elicit pity for the survivors. That the tragedy at Gardanmah had made the site even more popular as a site for tourism. That she was being rewarded for her silence regarding the involvement of Julian Geyr in the catastrophic events.

In weeks past, she had decided to be the blade through which her divinity operated. But like the backsword that carried her family’s dark, violent history—how she turned the edge was entirely up to her. By wielding her power with discipline and precision, she could transform it from a force for domination into a tool for protection.

She would still perform as an elite instrument for the family, climb the academy ranks, gain entry to the Selecta; but rather than conquer whatever stood in the way of her lineage, she would protect the discarded and the weak, absorb the blows meant for others, and refuse to let the infamies of the world turn her into anything else.

She decided that her divinity would be the blade—the sword that protects, and she would be the one to wield it.