The day the girl gave birth Scylla was summoned to the Warrior's Hall.

  When the elf arrived the warriors had already gathered. Tens of thousands strong, standing arrayed among the tiers rising to a crescendo of snowy light filtering through the narrow gap. The gap was massive, itself bigger than what the humans would have called skyscrapers, and it revealed the dull gray sky of the Domain of Fire. Massive red banners were suspended from the roof of the hall, each also as big as a skyscraper, and upon those banners was rendered in black the oval shape of a warrior's mask.

  Thousands of warriors had lit chemical torches which burned the color of dusk. Waves of sanguine embers washed across the stage as Scylla ascended the steps to face the crowd. The warriors cheered when she arrived, though she did not wave to them. She remained perfectly still facing the warriors until they erupted in an even louder outburst of sound. Two pairs of footsteps ascended the steps behind Scylla and two figures arrived at her side.

  The girl stood opposite the Flame Keeper, naked to the waist and breastfeeding the infant child. The illegitimate daughter of Prince Adrian of House Maryy, the new Reagent of Heyl. Klara the Flame Keeper, who wore her signature red robes and black ruby-studded fishnet, removed her hood and her mask and she cast the mask into the crowd with a raucous explosion of cheers.

  She raised her arms like a prophet and with a flash of red-orange light the First High Daughter of the Queen of Fire appeared in front of her. An Elemental shaped like a girl-child wearing a frilly dress made of pure flames. Next the First High Daughter of the Queen of Heaven appeared in a flash of indigo light. Another girl-child wearing a dress that resembled a window into another sky, a night sky filled with stars and varicolored nebulae, a harlequin opal of colors against near-black shades of indigo.

  With a voice amplified by a Wind Elemental, Klara the Flame Keeper spoke thus: "She is named! She is named!"

  The sound of the warriors was deafening. The girl took the infant from her breast and she offered it to Klara. The Flame Keeper took the child and she raised the child over her head.

  "Her name is Lady Peace!"

  The humor of this name was not lost on Scylla. Peace was the name of one of the Pegasus mounts ridden by the Immortal Worshippers of the Elemental Queen of Life. Klara likely chose the name as a contrast to the War Elemental, Felicia, who was typically associated with Reyndell the Paladin.

  "LAY-DEE PEACE!" the crowd chanted. "LAY-DEE PEACE! LAY-DEE PEACE!"

  Klara waved her hand and the crowd instantly went silent. Not a murmur, not a cough.

  "The King of Taisia and the Reagent of Heyl have both achieved great strides in the subjugation of the banks. However, our battle is just beginning. First High Daughter of the Queen of Heaven! Give me a sign! Let me witness the tyranny of the seasons and the stars!"

  The High Daughter of Heaven raised her arms and a hole in reality appeared above the stage. A long, misshapen-oval window into another sky, the same sky which appeared to constitute her frilly dress. The image in that sky shifted elsewhere, revealing a configuration of Little Planets connected by airy conduits.

  The first of these little planets was the Planet of Ice and Fire, which, like the Domain of Fire, featured many snowfields and volcanos, burning forests and rivers of lava. This Little Planet was connected to the Forest Planet and the Gray Baby. Opposed to this network was a second, disconnected network of Little Planets. The Planet of Solid Gold was connected to the Planet of Darkness, the Planet of Blood, and the Planet of Overgrowths.

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  "Scylla," Klara said. "Please interpret this configuration for the warriors."

  "Very well," Scylla said, her voice echoing through the Warrior's Hall. "The Gray Baby represents the abomination Kai, who was exiled from my tribe for agreeing to bond the First High Daughter of the Queen of True Death. This Elemental is also named Gray Baby. The Forest Planet represents myself, Scylla, as the elf tribes often live in forests. The first network indicates the alliance between Klara, myself, and Kai."

  "And the second network?" Klara asked.

  "The Planet of Overgrowths, the Planet of Blood, and the Planet of Darkness together represent Reyndell the Paladin. The Planet of Solid Gold represents the banks. This indicates that the banks will soon make an alliance with Reyndell, an alliance which we must contest."

  "I agree with this interpretation."

  There was an explosion of red-orange light behind them and Klara's face betrayed sudden surprise. Scylla, Klara, and the mother all turned to face the disturbance. Behind them, standing prominently in the center of the stage, was the towering figure of the Elemental Queen of Fire. She wore a smokey gray-black dress and her orb-like earrings matched the fiery hue and texture of her blazing mane. She regarded them with eyes which seemed to hold forgotten suns within.

  Klara dropped to one knee and offered the infant child up to the Queen of Fire. The Queen of Fire reached down and touched the child on the breastbone and nodded. If something was done to the child at that moment there was no indication. The child cried for her mother and Klara offered the child to the girl and she pressed those greedy lips against one bare breast and this pacified the child's cries.

  "What have you given her?" Klara asked.

  "A new Phoenix Elemental," the Queen of Fire replied. "Seventeenth of seventeen, now, as the banks control the original sixteen. Among all the Elemental Queens, only I have created a seventeenth Greater Daughter. Furthermore, I shall be the only one to grant this boon."

  "Thank you, for this boon," Klara said guardedly. "For what purpose was it granted?"

  "Reyndell knows a secret that has evaded even you, Klara," the Queen of Fire replied. "The fires of a Phoenix Elemental are hot enough to melt the blood-forged metal that Reyndell uses to create his mind-slaves, his so-called thralls. With a Phoenix Elemental, this child will be protected from Reyndell's weapons."

  Klara's face lit up.

  "Thank you!" she beamed. "O' Great Queen, thank you!"

  "The time has come," the Queen of Fire said, voice loud enough to echo across the Warrior's Hall. "The Elemental Queens are in agreement. The pieces are in place. The die has been cast. If this child fails, then we will simply create another. Klara, my loyal Flame Keeper, heed my words. My sister-self, the Queen of Water, has offered her chosen champion, Reese, who carries the bond with the First of Water. Preparations are being made. Reese will aid this child when the time is right."

  Klara bowed again.

  "Klara, my chosen champion, heed my command. Free the First of Light. Free the Queen of Darkness. Cleanse the Queen of Light, who the banks have corrupted. Do this for me, and with my blessing."

  "Yes, Great Queen."

  The Elemental Queen of Fire vanished in a blinding flash of red-orange light.

  "Warriors!" Klara cried. "Reyndell thinks he can exterminate the Taisians in the Physical Realm. He does not know that six tenths of all the Taisians in the universe live here, with me. My children! There is not one in this hall who doesn't carry the blood of one of my former incarnations. Every single warrior in this room has at least one ancestor that has passed from my womb into this world. My beloved children! Remove your masks!"

  The Warrior's Hall was filled with the sound of tens of thousands of masks shattering on the ground.

  "Even now the humans discover the secrets they had once lost. The secrets of the flying machines of old. The banks think they control all the Fire Elementals, but they never controlled those summoned by the First of Fire. With access to your Fire Elementals, your cousins will soar the skies once more. Our people will finally be free!

  "The time has come! The time has come to travel to the Physical Realm! The people of every land will sever their sword arms rather than face you in battle. They will open their own throats rather than face the searing justice of your Fire Elementals. You will wash across the land as a tide of pure chaos and holy fire. Go! For me! And with my blessing!"

  Two portals to the Physical Realm opened at the base of the podium, one for each of Klara's hands. Through these portals Scylla recognized the city streets of Taisia City and Heyl. And with a sound like a stampede, tens of thousands of Taisian warriors flooded forward down the tiers, red robes flowing like a river of liquid sunset. Tens of thousands of Taisian warriors to invade the Physical Realm, to stand against Reyndell's ambitions of genocide.

  "Scylla," Klara said. "You must teach this child."

  "I will teach her," Scylla promised.