There were four soldiers in the room. They looked a great deal like roman legionnaires save full leg armor in lieu of the armored skirts called baltea she had studied at school. All of these men’s armor was accentuated by padding of some kind of fur and each of them wore a helm with stag-like elements. Only one of them wore no helm, an angry looking human man with thick black hair that showed obvious signs of being malformed by a helmet recently. Each of them was holding a spear and glaring at her.

  Maria winced, likely baring her fangs, when she saw that the dome around her was starting to break into glowing silver motes and crumble into nothingness. She cast a single glance at the huge Ohzj woman with her holy implement and stood as straight as her new form could manage.

  She tried to tamp down her growing fear and ignore the spreading chill that was starting to make her shiver. She slowly pulled the symbol hanging around her neck up in clear sight of the soldiers.

  There was some grumbling amidst them and then the man offered a scowling smile, “The Dominus truly does test us, and our faith.” The hulking man turned to the Ohzj woman and smirked nastily at her, “The beast is all yours Mysta. We shall speak again when she fails at her task.” He leered up at the woman with that final proclamation and cast a single cold look back at Maria before turning back to his soldiers.

  The soldiers all stood to attention as the man and growled, “Back to your posts.”

  The soldiers grunted some form of reply and filed into a tunnel leaving Maria alone with the towering Ohzj woman. She worked her fingers and toes slowly and cursed inwardly at the madness of the entire situation. What if all of this was not really a dream? Perhaps she had been abducted by extraterrestrials? With a sinking feeling she wondered if she had indeed died at the hospital, and this was some form of afterlife. If so, her mom had certainly backed the wrong religious figure.

  After several painful moments she looked toward the exit and muttered through trembling lips, “Why were they here if they were just going to leave?” Her voice was higher and more raspy than usual.

  The giant woman chuckled and said, “The First Spear does not believe that my gambit would succeed. He hoped that he could find an excuse to simply end my effort here.” She had been right. Even on other planes of existence, all cops were the same.

  As she started to speak again she clutched her slender arms around herself and rubbed her sides to try and dispel the freezing temperatures, “Who are you and where am I?”

  The giant woman walked to a nearby stone and hefted a thick cloak. She rolled it out to reveal a human sized fur cloak. With a quick glance at Maria she reached to her side to pull a very large axe from her belt. She sliced the extra length from the cloak and then tossed it to Maria as she said slowly, “We are in the northern reaches of the western continent. Ours is an exploratory legion looking for resources, possible colonizable locations, and concentrations amidst the,” she cast a wary but knowing smile at Maria and said, “enemy.” She started to organize several other things on the stone table and said, “My title and name are Mysta Freia Lanterra.”

  Maria wrestled the cloak around her shoulders and pulled her arms inside the fur lined gray garment hopping from foot to foot as feeling rushed back into her limbs. It was somewhat terrifying being in a new body. Even movement felt different and threw off her senses. Her vision, sight, and senses of smell were stronger. The most unbalancing and unfamiliar aspect was her tail. She could tell that it was there to keep her balanced but what passed for an extra limb was ironically throwing it off considerably.

  She looked up at the Ohzj woman and spoke softly, “Thank you.”

  The massive figure rumbled a soft laugh and said, ‘I am but a servant as you are Angelus.”

  Maria flinched and wrinkled her nose and started to question the name and designation. However, something told her to keep her mouth shut. Apparently, this ‘First Spear’ would happily kill her if she sneezed too loudly. While the giant woman might be kind now, she may decide to side with her more militant friend if indignant questions started to fly. She erred on the side of caution and decided to ask a question that might make sense, “Why did the Dominus send me here?”

  The Mysta lifted a scroll made of some kind of hide and rolled it out onto the stone table gesturing for her to come forward. The table was too tall so, without much thought and in a move that surprised her Maria clambered easily up onto the stone platform. What lay before her appeared to be a rather detailed map in charcoal. It showed what must be a mountain range surrounded on its southern border by a massive forest. There were a number of lakes and other water bodies and several locations that looked like small forts or buildings.

  The giant Ohzj pointed to a spot in the foothills of the mountain range and said, “This is our location. Three days ago a local group of heretical tribals stole a runestone from us.” She drew a line into the woods to the southwest of the location, “They fled this way. We will not last long without the stone. I used my authority to overrule the First Spear and used the Friar’s holy scroll to summon you to retrieve the stone.”

  The Mysta spoke the next words as if they were ritual enunciating each word with care, “Your quest is to return the wardstone to the dias in our camp within two weeks time, at whatever cost.”

  She studied the Mysta for several long moments and asked, “What happens if I fail?”

  The Ohzj woman gave her a grave look, “We are not privy to that information. The scriptures say that Angelus who forsake their duty and choose not to finish their quest are banished, some consumed by a pillar of flame or steam. What has been proven is that when this has happened in the past Angelus could never be summoned again. It is as if the Dominus reduced them to ash, or consumed them.”

  Maria took in a deep breath and winced. She was confused why this Dominus seemed to be in such prominence. The sprite had suggested that the deity’s power was on the wane. There was a suggestion of colonizers attempting to avoid the decline of his faith within the text about the human race and she assumed that these people were related. She did not want to chance the wrath of someone these people considered a deity. With that she leaned forward and tried to memorize the map. She said, “What is so important about this stone?”

  The Mysta put her hands together and looked toward the ceiling as she said, “It is our wardstone. It protects the camp from Noctis incursion, and alerts the Centurion of the watch that any hostile force has chosen to invade our camp.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She had her suspicions already given all she knew about this world and the way that the First Spear and his soldiers had glared at her and voiced them, “They are grath tribesmen?”

  Lanterra offered a nod and an approving grunt at her observation, “They have raided our patrols and our supply stores before. Their forces do not seem strong enough to wipe us out but their stealth vexes us.”

  She offered a small packet of what looked like jerky and Maria grabbed a strip and tore it off with gusto. She had not realized how hungry she truly was. Her mouth stuffed with jerky she mumbled, “How much do you know about my,” she paused as she swallowed, “kind?”

  The Mysta turned and studied her with her hands folded, “The Angelus?”

  Maria nodded and the woman said, “You are the Dominus’ hand to aid his faithful. If the appropriate sacrifice is made you will always come to our aid.”

  The little Grath frowned and said softly, “What kind of sacrifice?”

  Lanterra turned toward the burn pit where the four legged mammal still burned, a pronounced crackling sound filling the chamber as the bones settled further into the pit, ”The sacrifice varies. The more significant the life offered the longer an Angelus remains with us.”

  Maria looked down to the map to hide her shock and said softly, “What abilities do your legends attribute to the Angelus?”

  There was a long pause before the Ohzj woman continued, her expression inscrutable, “Angelus are said to be capable of varied abilities including artes and martial aptitude but their greatest asset is that they can not be killed. That is, until the task for which they have been summoned has been completed. If you are struck down you will return to the scroll,” the Ohzj woman put a hand on the silvery and fragile looking scroll and said, “unharmed and ready to continue your task.”

  When Maria did not speak for several moments the Ohzj Mysta gestured to the items gathered around the stone table and said, “We are prepared to provide all that you may need to complete your task, that is within our ability to offer. It was my hope that you would depart as soon as possible. We are in dire straits.”

  The Ohzj woman stood and brushed down her heavy fur lined robe and said, “Gather what you think you may need and meet me outside the cave. I will show you around the camp.”

  The towering woman bowed and started to depart.

  Maria raised a hand to the Ohzj woman and stammered, “Ok… ok wait. I have to tell you something.”

  The Mysta paused and looked down at her with interest.

  Maria considered how best to raise her concerns without condemning herself to the displeasure of the priestess or worse, the soldiers outside. Finally she said, “This is the first time I have been summoned as an Angelus. I’ve,” she paused and stammered softly, “if fighting is needed I have never…”

  The Ohzj smiled gently and waved a dismissive hand, “Any Mysta who is given the Dominus’ blessing to summon the Angelus is warned of this.” She gently took the little Grath’s hand and said, “The Dominus has prepared you for this. You will rise to the challenge and save us. Have faith.”

  Maria’s brow furrowed and she asked softly with a dawning dread, “How many other Angelus have there been?”

  Freia released her hand and considered the question, “Hundreds perhaps? There are legends of the greatest amongst your kind. Archmagus Chance of Harlock, Maximus Poole the Butcher of Elminta… a number of others of particular note.”

  Maria looked away and offered a nod. Taking that as an affirmation the Mysta departed through the cave.

  She stared after her for several long moments and then cursed, “Fuck.”

  As she went through the various items gathered at the table she considered her options. She could easily run off into the wilds when they loosed her on this task but she had no idea where she was or how she would ever get home. The indication seemed to be that if she didn’t fetch this stone that belonged to this camp, she may never get to go home again.

  Amidst the travel goods she was surprised to find a small mirror. Peering into it she hissed at her ape-like features. As her avatar had been during the bizarre tutorial her grath form shared her half shaved, undercut black hair. There was no sign of her tattoos, though they might have been hidden under the thick black hair on her neck and arms.. Her face had just enough of her features for her to recognize herself.

  She groaned and sighed. She realized she bore an uncomfortable resemblance to Helena Bonham Carter’s character from the lackluster Apes movie from when she was a kid. She tucked the mirror away and grumbled, “The first time I make a sound even vaguely ‘hoot’-like or start thinking about making out with Mark Wahlberg I know that I’m dreaming and this can’t be real.”

  She started carefully placing items into her backpack including a length of coarse rope and several pitons, a small hammer, several packets of hard tack biscuits, a hunting knife with a sheath that she looped onto her belt, and a simple wooden shield that would have been quite small for a human. There was a small hunting bow and a quiver of fifteen arrows. She took both.

  She gathered up a small scroll and a piece of charcoal from the pile and used it to create a rudimentary copy of the Mysta’s map. She dragged her finger along the track that the grath had likely taken again. As long as she kept the mountains to her right she could easily travel to the west and south and keep her bearings. The detail on the map west of this was significantly less, indicating that these people had not traveled that far very often.

  Taking a deep breath she said to herself, “All we have to do is steal this rock back. Grath are supposed to be sneaky. I can do this. If I do this, I will go home.”

  "What if I do not?"

  "What if this is the rest of my existence?"

  "I have no idea who these people are and whether I want to help them. Somehow I have become a slave to this system."

  She steeled herself and pulled her pack onto her back. She thought, “I will find a way out of this.”

  With a resolute nod she hopped off the stone table and made her way past the silver circle she had been summoned into and down the tunnel. As she did she felt the intense chill increase as the growing wind as it careened past her. Before long she emerged into the open light.

  The cave was on a ledge overlooking an icy shelf where an entire camp of various races, most soldiers, went about their tasks. There were several tents where men and women, most human or Imperial Grath, filtered in and out. There was an area that appeared to be a forge where a burly Ohzj man was swinging a hammer on red hot steel. Below the icy shelf a steep slope dropped away for several hundred feet before reaching snow covered hillocks and intermittent trees. Beyond them an unbroken forest stretched away toward the horizon.

  Mysta Lanterra stood looming over her with hood up and a heavy scarf across her face to stymie the heavy wind. She said, “One of my acolyte’s has offered to accompany you on your journey.”

  She waved a dismissive hand and sighed, “As long as they don’t get in my way they can do what they want.”

  The Ohzj led the way down the icy ledge toward the camp. She followed after noting with concern that many of the soldiers turned and watched their passage. Most had their faces covered and some even wore simple goggles.