Oliviala Le’Cruex
Olive and Cameron arrived above the walls of Cruex. The truly massive capital of the central metropole spread out below them, tens of thousands of buildings stretching to the distant horizon. Drably-colored short, square and pyramid shaped shops and homes nestled inside walled districts as far as the eye could see, even from their high vantage. After being gone for so long, the bastion of civilization felt overwhelming and no longer held the same sense of excitement she once experienced while gazing out palace windows.
They waited patiently for the aerial guards to inspect the party ahead of them. She recognized the group ahead of her from the academy. Two full years her senior and only recently tier five. Catching up to them proved that her progress in ascending was just as spectacular as Jiran’s method of flight. It had been a mere half day since separating with the others. Their attempts to mimic Jiran’s method of exploding fire behind them to travel were only mildly successful and incredibly wasteful to their manapools.
Olive couldn’t keep the giddy grin from her face; for once in her life, she wasn’t the least bit worried about running low on mana. Afterall, she was only a single good meal from being topped off again. She shook her head with a rueful chuckle at how ridiculous a concept claiming density was. For the hundredth time, she was left speechless at how much the empire was about to change.
“Looks like we really lost her. Told you we could figure it out well enough to get away.” Cameron gazed in the direction they had come, the desert princess and her entourage nowhere to be seen.
“Her? You mean them?” Olive eyed him suspiciously.
“O-of course, h-them. Yup, they’re long gone,” Cameron laughed awkwardly and refused to meet her gaze.
“Aww, you’re so cute. I’ll let her know she’s chasing the wrong man the next time we meet.”
“Sure, go ahead. Don’t blame me if I accidentally let it slip that you mumble Jiran’s name at night…”
“Nice try, his aura’s good enough to know that for the lie it is,” Olive grinned triumphantly.
“Huh, that’s funny. For some strange reason, I don’t feel his aura right now. Oh! That’s right, you only started calling for him after he was gone. How could I forget such a simple fact?”
Olive froze, her jaw falling open as she realized he had outmaneuvered her, “Fine, you win. And I most certainly do not call out anyone's name at night!” She huffed, flying over the city wall after finally being waved forward by the guards.
They flashed the signal to move along instead of stopping her like the rest in line. Assuming it was because they were expected, she pulled herself through the air toward the speck on the horizon that was the Imperial Palace. The party ahead of them were the only other people in the tier five flightlane and they veered off toward the western portion of the city center soon enough, allowing her and Cameron to pick up speed.
“How many times did we dream about being in this flightlane? Now that we’re here, all I can think about is moving to the tier six lane!” Cameron’s remark caused Olive to giggle as she had been having the exact same thought while gazing longingly to the side at the floating colored stones denoting the next lane.
“Let’s hurry then. The sooner we return to our party, the sooner we can ascend.”
“Our party. Damn I like the sound of that.” Cameron agreed wholeheartedly.
“Want to make a wager that Jiran will find a way to push us to tier seven by the end of the moon like he said?” Olive flashed her eyebrows at him as thousands of buildings blurred beneath them, the palace still far in the distance.
“Hah! You’re on! There’s no way that’s going to happen. Easiest bet of my life. When I win, you have to wash my laundry for a moon, all of it.” Cameron shot her a confident grin.
“Very well. If any of us are successful at reaching the seventh tier by the end of the moon, I get to tell Princess Viyolla how aura-over-ass smitten you are with her.” Cameron’s grin faltered and he dropped in the air, nearly falling from the lane before recovering.
“Should’a known you wouldn’t give up so easily,” He grumbled.
Jiran of Madra
“Can you believe she actually told me to get good? She even used that stupid voice! I was literally beating her ass in every metric and she had the audacity! Oh, looks like we’re out of time.” Daughter finished her most recent story of, well, Jiran wasn’t honestly sure what she was talking about since every relevant detail that might explain it was left out. He had gotten used to her lack of specifics over the last half hour of conversation, which he managed to extend so long only because he was draining two trees simultaneously. Since his mouth was full, that also meant Daughter ended up doing most of the talking.
“One last thing, Father. My powers work by tapping into a… background buzz. But it disappeared lately for most of the empire. I think something big is coming. Sorry I don't know what or when. Whatever it is, it's cutting out divinations. Stay safe!”
Jiran had just enough time to hastily pull the vines from his mouth and say “Bye, you too!” Before she was gone. “Well, that was fun. Sounds like she’s not lonely. Didn’t realize the entities had so much interaction with each other.” Jiran stretched his jaw before moving to another group of trees. It took nearly four hours to completely refill his mana from the low-density sap. It would have taken less if he hadn’t taken several breaks to experiment with teleportation whenever he thought of a new method.
When he got up and stretched, Niya and Mayalyn joined him. While Mayalyn gave him a hug, Niya gave him a serious look, “Looks like we still have a couple hours until first dawn. Are you… interested in teaching me some of the other elements? Or maybe more about healing?”
“Sure, sounds fun. Which one, healing or an element?”
Niya fell silent, staring hard at the ground like she had a grudge against the dirt itself. After a short, yet intense bout of self-reflection, she spoke with determination, “Healing. After leaving Shara to find you, I fell in with the kind of people who made me focus on protecting myself and fighting. After watching you help her… Anyway, I want-need to get better at healing.”
Warmth spread through Jiran’s chest and he couldn't have wiped the grin off his face if he tried. He was overjoyed she hadn’t lost that fiery spark of determination he’d admired so much when they were kids. In his perception, it was only a few moons ago that she’d been chasing the dream of being the best healer in the empire. Then, she had been forced to grow up far too quickly while he was trapped in time. He dropped into the first stance of the Soratta—a stretching routine Samris taught him.
His aura pushed against him, causing sweat to instantly bead his skin and his words to come out in short grunts, “Just like with rocks, and anything else, the body is made up of innumerable smaller parts called cells. And those cells are made of even smaller parts, but we’ll cover that another time. There are several kinds of cells, each with their own purpose.” Both Niya and Mayalyn listened with rapt attention as he revealed everything he knew from Brandon’s incomplete memories. By the time First Father was about to peek above the horizon, Niya had moved to the shade of a nearby tree and was making shallow cuts on her arm which she quickly healed, a vine pushed into one cheek keeping her mana topped off.
“I did not know she could be so happy,” Mayalyn remarked with a gentle smile as she watched Niya.
“She’s changed a lot in the last year,” Powerful emotions cascaded out of control causing Jiran’s fist to tighten so hard that an audible tearing and popping filled his bubble of aura. Mayalyn’s face snapped in his direction in time to see him regain control of his momentary bout of fury. “I missed so much,” He growled through clenched teeth, “I get why Madra did it, I just wish I could have been there for her. She needed me.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Mayalyn’s hand gently rested on his shoulder, her touch doing more to soothe his anger than any breathing exercise ever could. “You are here for her now, and you are here for Madra, and for these Timberlings. Wherever you go, continue to leave the world a better place. Let your few failures be the stick you use to measure your many successes.”
“That was… beautiful. And insightful. Thank you.”
“Mhm,” She nodded, “Something my Grandmother used to say.” Mayalyn’s expression turned wistful as she allowed fond memories to consume her for a moment.
Jiran waited patiently, and when he saw her focus returning, he darted in and stole a quick kiss. Her gaze sharpened immediately but he was already withdrawing. Being conscious of her heating cycle, he marched past her, allowing his nearly overwhelming anticipation for what was coming to fill his voice, “Been a while since we’ve gone on a hunt together. Excited?”
Her fingers came up to touch her lips and she chuckled before switching emotional gears as well, “Yes! A hunt is exactly what I need. Where shall we begin?”
“Daughter said it didn’t matter which way we went. Figured we can pick randomly and go looking for trouble.”
“Mmmm, sounds wonderful,” Mayalyn’s eyes lit up as the elemental lightning within her began to churn in response to her desire.
Niya joined them as they approached their softly snoring guide, who still rested on a cushy layer of Jiran’s aura. He was about to lean down and shake her shoulder when Mayalyn stopped him. “Let me, I have no desire to see her reaction to you waking her up.” Jiran nodded with an awkward laugh as he backed away.
Mayalyn gently roused Lulu, who stretched languidly with her arms above her head. She yawned, and her eyes fluttered open to see Mayalyn sitting above her. Confusion crossed her face as her eyes darted to each of them in turn before the leaves covering her shoulders and head suddenly exploded with new growth. “I-I am so sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep!”
Mayalyn did her best to reassure Lulu with a kind smile and a comforting touch on her arm while Jiran was quick to respond, “Don’t worry about it, it’s fine, really. We couldn’t have done much in the dark and we were able to work on things we never have enough time for. It was a good night. But now, it’s time to go meet these mysterious hunters of the hives.”
Outwardly, Jiran appeared calm. Internally, Mana Confluence raged, instinctively responding to his irrepressible excitement by bringing his mana to a boil. Lulu’s mouth opened and closed several times as she stared into his brightly shining green eyes before a crimson flush worked its way up her neck to flood her cheeks with color.
Seeing Mayalyn’s tail twitch sharply, Jiran came back to his senses enough to realize what was happening. He coughed and spoke quickly, “What do you want to do, Lulu? You can stay here, or come with us on the hunt. I can’t guarantee your protection either way, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be safer if you come with us.”
“I-I want to go with you! I have a duty to guide you, and-and, I need to know. I need to see.” Seeing three faces all looking down at her with proud smiles was apparently too much for the girl as her leaves rapidly grew once more to hide her face. Jiran chuckled and swooped both her and Mayalyn up in his aura. Lulu let out a frightened squeal as they rose higher and higher.
Niya was right behind him as they breached the canopy and saw the Forest of Melodies in the light for the first time. Vibrant green and purple grass stretched roughly two kilometers beyond the edge of the forest before crashing into a steep cliff wall that rose high into the air. Turning to look both left and right, Jiran noted how the cliff seemed to curve inward, as if wrapping around the forest and outer grasses.
He put on speed, quickly rising to the lip of the valley’s rocky enclosure. Below, the forest stretched out for around twenty-five kilometers, the same grasses forming a perfect ring around the entirety of its circumference. And beyond that ring, the cliff formed an outer circle, completely nestling the Timberlings home within a massive, bowl-shaped indent.
They live in a crater?
Lulu was shaking as he moved even higher to see beyond the walls of the crater and confirm his theory. The Forest of Melodies rested far below the ground level of the surrounding lands. Lulu gasped as she saw beyond her valley for the first time. Her mouth hung open and tears threatened to leak from her eyes. Whatever fear she had of flying was quickly forgotten as a whole new world spread out beneath her.
Mayalyn pointed and Jiran followed the line of her extended finger to see trails of smoke coming from a forested region not far beyond the edge of the cliffs. He shrugged, figuring that was as good a direction as any to begin their search. Niya cracked her knuckles beside him, a vicious smirk dominating her features.
Looks like we’re all itching for a fight.
“You were s-serious. W-why?” Lulu’s song cracked and she swallowed before trying again, “Why did you learn to fight? Do you like it?”
After Jiran translated, Mayalyn answered first, not taking a single second to consider her words, “Freedom. Survival on Madra requires strength, and I wish for more than merely surviving. It is instinctual for me, I was born to hunt, so yes, I enjoy it very much.”
Jiran nodded, agreeing completely. Though his instincts were now more geared toward pilfering mana, there was definitely something within him that yearned for a good fight, “I didn’t like fighting at first, but now I do. Cultivating mana and intent, and the control necessary to bend reality to my desires—as well as the adrenaline of near death—it’s all exhilarating beyond measure.”
Niya shrugged and piped in, “I hate watching others decide the fates of those weaker than them. Strength gives me the right to stop them. If I'd been there when the Matron tried to turn you into a tree, I would’ve stopped her. I’ll do anything to be strong enough to never have regrets like that again.”
Lulu’s eyes widened a little further with each response until she hummed, “Thank you,” And then fell into a deep silence, considering their words. They flew toward the rising snakes of smoke. A flock of two dozen birds along the cliff wall in front of them took to the skies and she snapped from her ruminations, shaking with instinctive terror.
Niya made eye contact and nodded before moving herself a few paces to the side as they waited for their prey to come to them. Mana Confluence formed and then warped a panel of light to give them a zoomed-in view of the hunters. They had two arms and legs tipped with sharp claws and talons, respectively. Dark, segmented plates covered their bodies but did not extend to their black, feathered wings. Flowing hair cascaded from heads tipped by sharp beaks. Piercing, glowing red eyes were centered on Jiran as their wings flapped powerfully, propelling them forward at impressive speeds.
Mana Omnis revealed the energies wrapping around their feathers and pushing against the air with every flap. Jiran’s eyes narrowed as they moved closer, and with each meter, his fury mounted. By the time the lead hunter was close enough for Identify to confirm Jiran’s suspicions, he was shaking with barely repressed rage.
[Forkara: (Tier 5 - Sapient - Scorn) (4980/4980) Avian mammaloids that take pride in their ability to reach incredible speeds. Highly territorial and aggressive. Subjugation recommended]
image [https://i.imgur.com/mH45Cmj.jpg]
“Hold them for a minute,” Jiran growled as he tossed Mayalyn and Lulu at Niya then sped off toward the approaching hunters.
His aura stretched out to its full size and the mana suffusing every corner of his body leaked from his skin to pollute the air around him with hazy waves of undulating energy. The flying men and women that made up the flock of hunters faltered as Jiran released the restraints on both his powers and emotions. He roared and blasted toward them on a wave of exploding hydrogen. Before they could even scatter, they were within the confines of his aura.
Only the leader was tier five, and his aura crumbled instantly beneath Jiran’s manabody. The others were dominated in a heartbeat, their bodies squeezed inside immaterial fists they could neither see nor resist. Skills flickered to life within their chests, sending Ineffectual gusts of razor-sharp wind his way. They were casually batted aside by the searing mana bubbling from his skin. Jiran released the tight hold on his Remalon instincts, allowing Enthralling Touch to pilfer their precious mana and making it his own, putting an end to even that minuscule resistance.
Jiran’s anger blazed as his manabody perceived them beneath their segmented armor and helmets, clearly designed to appear as beast-like as possible. They were all too human in appearance save for their feathered, talon-tipped legs and the wings that grew from their backs. Wings which gave them the very pride that Identify alluded to. Pride that he would strip away as punishment for what they had done to the Timberlings. One by one, he crushed their wings and dropped them as their brethren watched on helplessly in mounting horror. Screams accompanied the crunching of delicate bones and the sprays of blood that fell from the skies.
They pleaded with him in screeching shouts that he could not yet translate. By the time the last fell, he understood, and soon, he would make them understand as well. He dragged their leader down and shoved his face in the dirt hard enough to crack his helmet. Niya caught up to him and hovered with the others, all three of them gazing down with shock at the shattered wings and bruised bodies of the Forkara hunters. Three were tier four, the rest tier three, save for the leader. All were alive, a simple fall into soft grass and dirt unable to kill someone as tough as a tier three.
Jiran’s aura eased, allowing the leader’s head enough leverage to look up at him. He spoke, knowing they would understand him now that his Adaptive Translator had absorbed enough of their language. His voice was thick with scorn and vitriol, “You hunt the Timberlings to safely advance beyond the third tier. You knowingly confine and murder a sapient race for your own gain. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill every single one of you.”