First Demonic Dragon

On her throne made from bone and jagged rock, Mira maintained a cold outward look as she listened to the chieftain's report.

According to him, around a week or so ago, a small tribe of frost giants attacked a stone giant village.

This alone would have been considered odd, as their numbers are far too inferior for them to attempt any sort of worthwhile siege.

They know this better than anyone. Up until then, it was much more common for them to only attack hunting parties.

Their rise in confidence seemingly came from the strange book their leader carried with him.

Upon opening it's pages, the books spewed dark creatures from the depths of it's pages.

The chieftain described them as 'icky'.

Mira was able to create quite the mental picture with that description alone.

After she had heard everything, she leaned back into her throne and stared into the dark sky overhead.

She closed her eyes and an intangible 'pulse' left her body.

Using her own unfair version of echolocation, Mira spread her consciousness across the whole of the snowy realm in exactly one minute.

While it was a monumental feat, Mira didn't look all too pleased with herself.

In the back of her mind, she knew that her parents probably could have done it in less than a minute.

Once she finished her search, Mira re-opened her twin colored eyes.

"I can't find the book."

The chieftain's face turned a pale, grey color like that of fresh smoldering ash.

"P-Princess, I promise that my words were not a lie just now!"

Mira smirked as if she found his fear amusing. "I'm aware the book you spoke of is real, Chieftain. There could be many reasons for why I cannot find it. They might have it stored in a pocket dimension, or the book could have just been inactive for too long."

"I see..." The Chieftain only understood roughly every third word Mira had said. But he wanted to at least pretend like he knew what was going on.

Mira stood up from her throne and dusted off her dress.

"Take us to the sight of your most recent battle. We'll begin the search there before night fall."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

-Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Mira and her Unongendi were led to what appeared to be a landfill.

A large, sunken in trench filled with torn bodies, broken weapons and rubble. The stench of bloodshed and death was so concentrated that the air had practically become miasma.

Now that she stood here, Mira could feel it.

Eldritch entities had definitely walked along these grounds... the energy flowing through their bodies tends to leave a supernatural 'stain' on the world. Similar in scale to a place where a mass ritualistic sacrifice has occurred.

"S-So how do we find them, princess? We will help in any way that we can!"

Mira smiled as she patted the oversized giant on the belly. Stay connected with empire

"No worries, Chief. We'll take it from here. You should get your people somewhere far away and deep underground for the time being."

"U-Underground..?" The chieftain looked crestfallen. "B-But, why are we…"

Mira immediately recognized her mistake.

"Just for the time being. I recognize that this may be uncomfortable for all of you, but I only urge this because it may be absolutely necessary.

When the battle begins it may be difficult to keep the area of destruction localized.

There is an extremely high chance that the ensuing devastation will be more than what your people can survive."

The chieftain looked like he was at a loss.

For many millennia, the frost giants' dominance had driven their rocky skinned brethren into the unwelcoming underground.

Conditions were worse than the surface. Sufficient food was scarcer too.

By the time things were nearing the end, they had resorted to cannibalism and their intellectual level was no greater than that of a second grader.

Perhaps that was the reason why they and Mira initially got along so good. They were all rather childish individuals who acknowledged strength above all else.

They trusted Mira because they sympathized with her ideals.

Rather than rest on her laurels and enjoy the power past down through her lineage, she wanted to keep growing and establish herself as her own individual.

It was commendable. But more importantly, it helped the stone giants earn her trust.

Mira was willing to put herself through unbelievable hardships to grow into her own woman.

She wasn't a coward. And that was what made her trustworthy.

"…We will do as you say, princess. Please, come to find us soon." The chieftain asked.

Mira smiled reassuringly.

"You have my word, friends. Please be safe."

Mira didn't actually start her tracking until the backs of the tribe had fully left her line of vision.

For once, she felt like she knew what it was like to have kids and be worried about their wellbeing. It sucked.

No wonder her parents had only just started to let Courtney go places by herself.

"Princess..?"

One of the Unongendi placed a hand on Mira's shoulder to spur her into the present.

She placed her hand over her follower's and gave it a firm squeeze. "I'm fine, Angi. Perhaps I'm just getting sentimental in my old age."

If Mira's parents knew that she had started to call herself old then they would probably lose their minds.

Finally, Mira regained a sophisticated and thoughtful demeanor. Her eyes began to scatter the ground for tracks of any kind.

Luckily, it hadn't snowed here in a little over a day. There were still some fresh tracks nearby.

"Let's get started then."

Mira's eyes glowed with their own respective colors.

The wind around them kicked up fiercely.

The tracks Mira had set her sights on began to glow with a soft, pure light.

Mirages appeared.

They were huge, twenty foot behemoths with bodies thickened with muscle.

The mirages traveled in exactly the same path as the tracks they were born from.

Mira looked back at her silent followers and smiled.

"Let's hurry now. We can't leave our friends underground for too long."