“It’s like… there’s this cloud of something everywhere in the air here. If I concentrate, I can pull that cloud into me, like, into my arm or hand or whatever through my skin. With that ice ball, I was trying to pull all the whatever that was into the center of my palm… This must be another power I have. Wait! Wait, wait! Maybe you have it too!”
“Oh, shit, you’re right! I-I might be able to do some really cool shit, wait, lemme check!”
With that prompt, Shaula raised her own palm into the air. After a few seconds, she feels something, but it is not exactly as Ajax had described. She does not feel anything weird in the air, nothing that new or novel. However, inside her body, she can feel a current of something flowing through each blood vessel, each nerve, each cell. Whatever it is, it is in constant flux, pulsing continuously through her head and heart into every single part of her body. But, if she concentrates just a little, she can move it through her body, then into her arm, and then through her index finger. Just a little of it.
“Oh my God. Whoa, that’s fucking cool!”
“...”
Shaula opens her eyes. As if flipping a switch, she can feel that energy in her body much more easily now. It will always be there for her to tap into and use. It feels somewhat endless. On the tip of her index finger, she looks at what she has brought forth. It is a small floating flickering fire. Fire. She stares at it. Her family home had burned down and her foster parents had died in fiery agony. Every day, she had to look at that burn mark on her thigh, the scar that disappeared as soon as she came to this new world.
“Wow. I can use fire.”
Ajax cannot decipher the particular emotion in her voice, but he does see the slight smile on her face. She is definitely happy.
The two of them continue to test their abilities while there are few predators in the surroundings. Ajax tests how he can use this power of his. He pulls that intangible something into his hands, then his arms, then his entire body. He creates gloves made of ice, gauntlets made of ice, then an entire ice armor. Shaula tests how closely she can control her fire. She finds that she cannot throw it or fire it outwards like a flamethrower. However, it can get quite hot. Although the trunks of the enormous trees do not burn or melt, they can see the heaviness in the air, the mirage of heat coming from her flames. She applies her fire to his ice and the strongest fire she can muster can melt an ice block the size of a brick in half a second. Although, she doesn't know how cold he made his own ice so perhaps testing things in this manner is a fool's errand.
Furthermore, they have solved their current water issue. So long as Ajax can generate ice on the surface of his skin, she can melt it down into drinkable water that they can both partake in. The common expression is three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food so they should be good for three weeks now. She feels slightly depressed that she has to be in a situation where she feels happy that she can survive for three weeks.
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All of a sudden, she turns her attention away from her powers.
“Stop. Did you hear that?”
“Is it past those three trees there? That was like a growl, right? Wait–”
“More than one. Those were the screeches I was afraid of. Something is coming closer to this part of the forest, in a pack.”
“...Now is probably a good time to test how fast we can run in these super bodies, don’t you think?”
“Couldn’t agree more.”
****
A young man sits in a brightly lit office that is decorated extravagantly. On the other side of his desk is someone he does not enjoy seeing, but who has to give him some important news that only he can give.
“Baron. The church has just confirmed the details. Between fifteen and seventy million people died on the southern coasts. We’ve never had a tremor like this. Our estimates seem to point to it being caused by the battle.”
“Couldn’t be a bit less destructive, could they…”
“Do not doubt our Lord, Baron.”
“Yes, yes, Bishop, I would not dare.”
“The current consensus among the Western nobility as well as the Cardinals is that the quake should be kept secret until the capital escalates talks about what to do with the Empire. There are potentially two billion refugees that will move into the rest of the continent. Only about a billion will continue to live in those lands. The rest have no homes and their crops have been washed away. The damage to the soil is irreversible, if anyone wants to live there now, they’ll need to rely on importing crops or full-time fishing.”
“So, it’s obvious, the church wants to use the Empire to resettle them, right?”
“There is far more land than they could ever hope to settle, but it might quell the commoners’ worries.”
“Right, right. So, then. Tell me, Bishop. Who has won? I ask this with all respect, but, has Osva defeated Semjaza?”
“I understand your concerns, Baron Tritol. Between you and I, even the Bishops at the capital haven’t received a clear declaration of victory for the Federation. The fact that the earthquake hit the southern continent does not bode well either. However, the Cardinals have told the Bishops and Archbishops that Semjaza has been defeated.”
So, they cannot confirm the details, but Semjaza has been defeated? The Baron knows that the Bishop is going around in circles. He personally doesn’t doubt that Semjaza, the God Empress, has been defeated. However, the way that the Bishop is wording it… The answer seems clear then. The current state of Osva is unclear. Has he died? Has he been sealed? When the god protecting humanity goes out of commission, the future of the Federation that has lasted for ten thousand years is in jeopardy.
Only one thing is clear at this point, at least to the Baron.
That fucking old prick, running away when the Devil declared war on God. He may have handed his Barony to me, his eldest son, but I’ll show him who comes out on top in the West. I’ll make this city so rich, he’ll want to fight me for it.