Chapter 161

"Ashlani."

Sybil's voice roused me immediately, and I sat bolt upright, worried that something had happened. I'd thought I would dream before I had fallen asleep, maybe something about the torn and burnt keelish bodies, or the savaged human ones, or maybe still about my upcoming duel. Instead, I'd slept soundly, comfortable next to my mate, sprawled across the spread pelts. I turned my gaze to her, my eyes involuntarily wide. She had already risen, but instead of standing tall was in a deep bow. 

"It is time, my Alpha." 

With a deep breath I gathered my thoughts and mind before standing tall. Before I was ready to leave my quarters, though, I stretched, and fully prepared myself to go out. I needed to exude confidence with every step, and I consciously thought of [Imperial Bearing]. With each movement, I felt the descent of an almost ethereal grace fill my steps, my posture, and my mind. I leveled my gaze at Sybil, a feeling of approval growing within me as I looked at her. She was a worthy companion to one such as I. Though I recognized the foreign origin of this thought, I didn't think any further on it, instead flaring my frills and beginning to sweep past her as I spoke.

"Come along. We have several things to do before we begin this farce."

My steps carried me out of my quarters, and spread all around the entrance and throughout the den, dozens of keelish watched for my appearance. I paused, deliberately looking over the assembled body of my followers, and realized that those of my elites, Took, Foire, Vefir, Shemira, Solia, Ytte, Percral, and others, stood waiting directly outside my room and keeping the rabble away. With an easy thought, I drew on all my [Skills] that allowed me to briefly influence the packed space.

"It is time. Time to witness our swarm's evolution to new leadership, to new options, and to a new, better future." Then, without another word, I strode onward and through my assembled subordinates. They parted before me, subconsciously lowering themselves into a bow. The movement passed like a wave through the keelish, and as my elites flanked me, Took and Sybil on my right and left, we swept out of our smaller den. Our path continued, going further up and towards the exit out into the light under the suns, but that was not my current destination. 

Instead, I stepped into an individual den, one nearly close enough to the exit to see the natural light. Within, a small horde of not-so little keelish hatchlings waited for me. Joral, the little Brood Alpha of the hatchlings, could no longer truly be called a hatchling. He stood almost four feet tall, and he still had a good time before he had truly reached adulthood. He was going to grow into a monster like Rulac, I was sure, but the moment he saw me, he bowed his head low for a moment, his whole brood mirroring his actions behind him. As he raised his head and met my gaze, I spoke.

"It's time."

Joral didn't speak, and merely flared his frills in acknowledgement before letting out a low whistle. Behind him, the eight young wolfstags stepped into position beside their masters and let out low growls of acknowledgement. I knew that the beasts weren't quite so intelligent as we were, but through their frequent contact enhanced and facilitated by magic, I also knew that the wolfstags were able to communicate in near sentences with their companions. Joral's companion was one I recognized as the bravest of Arwa's eight pups, and he'd continued growing, now standing over two feet tall at the shoulder. They would not reach adulthood nearly so quickly as the hatchlings, and I looked forward to seeing what they would become.

I turned and saw Arwa waiting for me in the corner, and I quietly clicked my tongue in my mouth to summon her. Immediately, she strode forward until she was ready to follow my steps out of the cramped den. Somehow, she understood the solemnity of the situation, and didn't lean into me for the scratches she loved at the base of her horns, nor even an affectionate lick at my hands. Instead, she looked into my eyes, her own belying the surprising intelligence to be found in her canine body. I'd continued slowly growing, so I was gradually getting to the point to truly be taller than the crest of her head, but still her antlers towered above me, maybe seven and a half feet tall.

Seeing that the hatchings and pups were ready, though, I simply turned on my heel and began to step out of the den, moving to lead my followers out into the light, into the duel with Redael. Before I could truly take the lead, though, Joral led his own "elites", the seven other keelish selected to be worthy of bonding with a wolfstag, ahead as an honor guard of sorts. They jogged forward, and I transitioned my vision to see them step into the bright light of the suns in the late morning. 

The light reflected off of multiple colors of scales, and the sixteen creatures, furry and scaled alike, stepped to the side in pairs to present my passage. As my own head crested the slope and into the suns, Sybil's voice echoed up from behind me, "Now approaching Ashlani, the True Alpha!" The words were magically charged, and as they filled the space in the clearing before me, I saw hundreds of assembled keelish react. Many were ambivalent, but most were almost… derogatory in their obvious disregard of me. There were no supporters of my introduction already here, and I consciously noted as much. 

In response, for a brief moment I internally designated every keelish I could see as an enemy. I could see the influence of [Adversary] sweep over them as twitches, shivers, averted gazes, and nervous whispering. For a brief moment I considered addressing them all, but instead decided to do so only after my victory over Redael. They would soon witness their folly.

I wasn't left looking over the swarm for long, Redael making his presence obvious as he flared [Absolute Dominance]. I paid the notification no mind as he laconically drawled at me, "Did you think all this… worthless drivel would help you? That it would give you strength?" Redael stepped ever closer, his body finally fully in view as he stepped out of the press of excited keelish, of his foolish followers. His face was covered by a terrible rictus of a grin, only the barest approximation of joy that was tainted and overcome with his obvious bloodlust and need to slaughter me. As I measured him up, he continued walking, each step punctuated with another word.

"No, words do nothing. They're for the weak. And now, your final lesson from me–what true strength is."

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HEY! I don't know how other creators are going to go about this, so I'm saying this here now, and will mention it again when November rolls around. Starting November, Apple is going to start charging extra on new memberships created through the Patreon App. There's more to it than that, but effectively, the 10$ Patreon tier will cost just under $15 if you sign up for a new subscription through the Apple app. That doesn't mean if your primary reading is done on the Apple app it'll cost you more, just that if you sign up on the app, it'll be more expensive. So, if you sign up for my Patreon from November on, just get to a desktop or Android, or maybe even just access the site through the website instead of the app. Please don't sign up for the Patreon at a 50% inflated price when you can save me money without putting into Apple's pocket.

In the interest of transparency, there is a different option available to me--to not have Apple charge an additional 5ish dollars and have me eat the cost. Effectively, Apple would take a couple dollars from any subscription instead of it going to me. A 10$ subscription through Patreon gives me something like $8.70 after fees and deductions from the service, but with Apple sticking their fingers in, it would become something like $6.20. So, just don't sign up for any memberships through Apple's app, cause it's just pretty shitty of them to do. That's all!