A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Having gotten his answer from Elora, Erik refocused on Eira, who was still searching her memories for any mention of the reason Audumla couldn't leave her dimension. Her expression was complicated, as she didn't want to fail Erik and give him a reason to reconsider his decision to find Audumla.

Seeing that, Erik held up his hand soothingly, "It's okay, Eira. You don't need to try so hard, alright? Just tell me everything you know right now, and you can tell me anything else later if you think of it."

His words made Eira sigh a little in relief, before nodding. "A— Alright, thank you. So what else do you want to know?"

"Well," Erik began. "You mentioned guardians. Are they the ones that rebelled two thousand years ago? What can you tell me about them?"

"Right!" Eira exclaimed animately as she waved her fist somewhat cutely. "Those bastards dared to go against the mistress! I'll tell you all I know!"

So she started telling them the history of the guardians, and what they eventually became. Her story went accompanied by a lot of animated movements, shadowboxing, expletives, and a clear bias towards Audumla, but the gist of it was this:

—————

Over eight thousand years ago, when Earth lost its connection to the planetary network, aetherium began to seep away, and all the species that relied on it for their survival started gradually dying out.

This is when Audumla made her plans for the future, and started a sect of humans, vampires, and shapeshifters, dedicated to preserving the peace between the three races, and aiding her plans for Earth's future.

The guardians became a secretive organization who watched as humans recovered from the loss of aetherium and build new civilizations. Eventually, knowledge of aetherium was lost, while the many other races they once lived alongside, including the supernaturals, slowly became attributed to myth.

For six thousand years everything went fine, as the guardians served Audumla and waited for Earth's reawakening to happen. But then, something changed. Radical factions among the shapeshifters and vampires started to ignore her teachings and decided that, because of their superior bodies, they deserved to rule over the humans. Experience stories on m_vl_em_p_yr

This led to a brutal subjugation war.

The humans weren't so easily defeated, however. With some help from sympathetic elements among the shapeshifters and vampires, their generally superior numbers, and by exploiting the supernatural's weaknesses, the humans just barely held on against the two physically superior races.

The conflict lasted many years and was fought on several fronts. In modern Earth's history, these conflicts were believed to be several different rebellions within the Roman Empire, the outward face of the guardians.

At first, Audumla tried to reconcile the two factions, but the supernaturals proved too dogged in their pursuits. Eventually, she was forced to make a choice: sit back and let the guardians destroy themselves, or support either of the two factions. The problem was that both factions still claimed a desire to help Audumla with her future plans.

Yet, eventually, she chose the human faction.

The reasons for this were multiple. First of all, the human faction still claimed to want peace between the races, rather than any one ruling over the other. And second of all, the human faction possessed two important resources she needed for her future plans, while Erik's ancestors lived far in the North and were not involved in this conflict.

With her support, the humans began increasing their number of first-rankers, and finally managed to beat back the uprising, scattering the supernaturals across the globe.

But, it didn't end there.

While the human leader at the time, a man by the name of Merlin, was a devout follower of Audumla, the war had fostered a deep seated hatred for supernaturals amongst the guardians.

So, emboldened by their newfound power and hatred, a second uprising began.

Unfortunately, the rebels, fueled their desire to take vengeance on the remaining vampires and shapeshifters, far outnumbered the loyalists.

Thus, this rebellion was over before it even really began.

Afterwards, the guardians renamed themselves the hunters, ignored their original goals, and dedicated themselves solely to the preservation of human life… by eradicating the supernaturals.

As the de facto rulers of Rome, they then subverted and adopted the Christian faith for their own ends, and began their hunt for supernaturals.

Luckily, there was one speck of light in this drama: Merlin had escaped with Audumla's dimensional anchor.

From that moment forth, Audumla and Merlin traveled the globe, putting things in motion to try and salvage as much as possible of Audumla's original plans.

Unfortunately, Merlin did not have an unlimited lifespan. By the time he fled with Audumla, he had already been a hundred years old. Naturally, his status as a first-ranker, combined with Audumla's support, allowed him to keep going for a very long time but, eventually, time caught up to him.

After that, it wasn't long before the anchor point was recaptured by the hunters, and Audumla started a life of solitude. The only comfort being that, despite their best attempts, the hunters failed to gain any benefits from Audumla's dimension, as any time they tried to enter, they were simply killed instantly.

So instead, the anchor point became a symbol of their power, and over the years that followed, most hunters and supernaturals forgot Audumla even existed.

———————

After Eira's story was done, silence fell over the people gathered in front of her.

"So that's why the voice in that dream wanted me to go after Edda…" Erik mumbled inwardly towards his two wives. "Audumla is with the hunters, and so, presumably, is Edda. The voice wanted to use my desire for revenge to steer me in the direction it wants me to go…. Not that that realization matters, I suppose."

It wasn't like knowing this was going to stop him from going after Edda, after all.

Elora could only agree wit his assessment, and nodded. "You're probably right, although it still doesn't explain why it didn't sent you here first."

"Well, it doesn't matter." Erik shrugged. "Although I'm thankful for the hint at Edda's location, I wasn't going to let myself be guided by whoever sent that dream anyway."

With that cleared up, Erik looked at Eira and mentioned something he had been wondering about during her story. His tone was skeptical. "To be honest, I'm just surprised it took a whole six thousand years for those guardians to fall apart. I would have expected it to happen far sooner. Why didn't Audumla take some more precautions?"