Taking a glance inside as the doors shut, I saw that, unlike other Crest Houses, Raina's throne room was the first room beyond the entrance. They were really confident to have her so accessible. Then again, there weren't many who'd target the greatest pneumarian on the planet, I guess.
"Hello, again," Raina said, smiling, then stretched her arms to the open scenery before asking, "How do you like my personal domain?"
Avarice leaned on a pillar, cross-armed, as he paid close attention while Za'Fia sat at the edge of a cliff and quietly watched children climb the cliffs. I found that unsettling, but none of the other cindarians flying about seemed to be concerned about it.
Actually, now that I had a moment with Raina, I was about to ask her if she'd learned anything concerning the children that were missing, but I remembered my promise to let Michael deal with it while I focused on familiarizing myself with Cindar first.
I hadn't heard anything from him yet, so I chose to trust him and wait.
I'd forgotten to answer her question, which must've caught her attention. When Raina looked down at me, she must've seen my concern and spoke.
"Your representative, Michael. He has a lot of faith in you," she remarked tenderly. "He's currently contributing to helping me weed out a certain suspicion."
"Really?" I relaxed a little, relieved that at least one of us was helping with the situation. "Well, I'm glad to hear that. It puts me at ease," I gave a nervous laugh.
I opened my mouth to finally answer her, maybe try to learn a little more about her district, when Raina suddenly went on alert and looked down in the distance. Seconds later, alarms sounded and bells rang.
Unbothered, Avarice looked around casually and asked, "Is someone attacking?"
Approaching the edge of the cliff that Za'Fia sat at, Raina continued to look down, below the clouds, as she replied, "No. Sacred Guardians are fighting."
Without warning, she took off in a gust of wind and descended rapidly. Her personal guards were already following her, and I told Avarice and Za'Fia to do the same as we rocketed after them.
It was near one of the district's borders that we finally caught up to them. There was an uproar as a massive bear had wandered into the griffin territory and was being attacked by a pride of griffins.
How'd she know this was happening before the alarm even went off? I wondered as I landed and observed Raina calmly approach the creatures.
That would be due to her sacred gift, Beastmaster, Viraa told us. She can sense the presence of beasts, but not in the same way that we can feel their power. Her sacred gift also protects her from all forms of beasts. No beast will ever view her as an enemy. Most befriend her quite quickly, actually.
I like that ability, Za'Fia stated as we watched Raina step between the griffins and the injured large bear.
The griffins were in a feral attack state, so it took a moment for them to realize what was happening. They looked at her with fierce animosity at first, then quickly calmed down as their gaze shifted back and forth from her to the bear lying on the ground. Then they each lowered until they lay before her submissively.
"Lei Gong, get a team to escort the pride of griffins back to their nests," Raina ordered. "Xiu, I want a transportation team here. They'll travel with me to get this one safely back where she belongs."
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"How'd the bear get from the Berserker Crest to here? Aren't we on the opposite side of the district now?" Za'Fia asked as she petted the injured bear.
"Griffins only descend to the ground when hunting; they must've missed her as she wandered about," Raina replied, rubbing the bear.
"Isn't this a violation of some sort? A Berserker Bear in Griffin territory," Avarice remarked callously.
"Not at all," Raina told him. "Creatures are free to roam as they please, though we try to keep them within their respective districts for safety. Less territorial incidents that way," she gestured to what had just taken place. "Still, this happens now and again in every district. Minor creatures like the common bird or predator are disregarded, but the Crest Head is responsible for personally getting any wandering guardians back to their respective territories. If anything were to happen to them, the entire crest would be punished for its negligence, but the Crest Head would be held personally responsible."
When Raina saw the worried expression on my face, she chuckled.
"Don't worry. My particular sacred gift keeps me more aware of the guardians in my district compared to other Crest Heads, but the sacred guardian that a Crest Head links with usually keeps the other guardians of its kind in check for you. They can even warn you when something's wrong among the guardians."
Raina looked up as a pneumarian and two klevonians descended from the sky. The klevonians folded their wings in and bowed to Raina alongside the pneumarian before rushing to the injured bear.
"Ah, well, unfortunately, I can't stay any longer, but feel free to explore the district. I will see you all later, I'm sure," she said as they used an advanced stretcher to lift the bear off the ground and flew away.
After they were gone, I looked around and saw that we were practically already at the next district. That bear made it quite far. I wanted to see what else the district had to offer, but decided it was best to move forward since we were already there.
"Well, on to the next," I told them. "Let's see what the Gargoyle District has going on."
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Fun fact: Circi - one of Meira's personal guards. Circi is devoted to money and thrives within the elitist society of Crysus. For full details about lore you may have forgotten, such as locations, characters, items, and to check out every up-to-date cintracy, visit the series' Patreon!
Legacies Saga Layout:
The Primordials: New World (Volume 5)
The Primordials: Transcended (Volume 6)
The Primordials: Culling Phase (Volume 7)
The Primordials: Secret Vendetta (Volume 8)
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