>>6173163She scrunches her face and holds out her free hand, the one not holding her steel morningstar. “Bradiamante di Chiaramonte da Cantàra,” she murmurs, and one of the thousand motes dancing between her horns flings into her palm, glowing pale. “<span class="mu-i">Fulfil your balance.</span>”
A silvery flash, then the mote disappears, leaving behind a tall figure of a young woman in white ceramid armour, surrounded by a thin glow, like a ghostly apparition. Her long flowing hair a faint gold, far from the rich blonde they used to be in life, her grey eyes sharp with confusion.
<span class="mu-i">Where am I?</span> She calls out. <span class="mu-i">Is there light here?</span>
“Not much. We are in the Night Lands,” she sighs. “I have called you because I need this thing destroyed, and I need it done quick.”
The ghostly woman turns towards the Stilladìa, blinking as if seeing her, then back towards the black tentacled thing as it approaches.
<span class="mu-i">I understand. This will fulfil my balance, won’t it o Star of Morn and Eventide?</span>
“As much as I regret using up your indentured time, I have but one word,” the Stilladìa sighs.
<span class="mu-i">Very well,</span> Bradiamante reaches for her side, taking out her sword, of which only the hilt remains, guarding emptiness where a blade ought to be.
The Stilladìa takes a few steps back.
If nothing else, she doesn’t want to miss the spectacle.
It’s been too long since she has summoned Bradiamante — and even with more than thirty years of her balance to fulfil, she wouldn’t waste one second of her contract—
But fighting that filth is really too much for her.
The ghostly woman walks towards the creature, her armoured feet passing through the blades of grey grass, her hair flowing under an unseen wind.
She raises her hilt to the skies.
<span class="mu-i">Questa lama forma non ha,</span> she murmurs. The Stilladìa can’t stifle a smile from appearing on her lips.
Oh, Bradiamante. It’s been a bit too long since she has seen her do this. If she had a heart still, still it would not rest.
Definitely one of her best purchases.
<span class="mu-i">E ossa e ferro a fendere va.</span>
With a sound like a huge silver bell, the air right over the hilt ripples, forming a translucent blade, a shimmer line that etches itself into the world.
A further rumble casts from the blade, and the Stilladìa feels it echo through her reconstructed body, thrumming through the land rising to the overcast skies beneath the ring.
The bell tolls once again and Bradiamante swings her arm back, just as the creature rushes to her, raising its tentacles, its mouths ready to cleave through ghostly flesh, its eyes shining with the reflected glow of the sword.
<span class="mu-i">Questa lama fine non ha. E sole e luna a fendere va.</span>
A pause as Bradiamante’s grey eyes look upon the tentacled creature, about to rush onto her.
<span class="mu-i">This is my sword, monster.</span>
[cont.]
