They were about three or four thousand miles away from the capital, which was close enough to reach within a few hours if Jonathan kept his speed to a pace that his allies could match.This was what he should have done in the first place.
About thirty minutes later, Edgar stopped, letting the wind beneath him go. He dropped to the ground, crossing his arms.
“Jonathan! Stop! Have you even thought this through?”
“I don’t need to,” he hissed. “I’m more than strong enough.”
“You need to stop and think about what you’re planning here. I know it’s hard to do that when people you know just died, and the culprit is just a few hours away. Gods, I’m furious myself. It does them no good to simply rush to an early grave though. Granath will be at the peak of his power, and so will his minions. You might be able to win, but what about the rest of us? You don’t have to carry the weight of the world by yourself.”
“You… You’re right,” Jonathan replied. He sighed. “That would just tarnish their memories. What do you suggest then?”
“We should do this more subtly than simply charging towards the city. Let’s sneak in instead, and then strike when nobody is looking.”
“What about our power signatures?” Hushar asked. “I cannot simply remove the power that the Primal One gave me. I doubt any of you can either.”
“Well, this hinges on whether Jonathan can learn a new technique,” Edgar replied. “Your element devours all. Why not use it to shield us from inspection? Your aura already has an effect on my perception of reality. It feels like I’m standing within a patch of unreality, as if everything around me is temporary, laid bare before the eyes of some god-like predator who could erase it at any moment. And that is with you shielding me from most of the effects.”
“That… might work. I’ll have to practice though.” Jonathan took a deep breath. “However, there is something that I need to tell you all first. Something that explains any, uh, curiosities that you might have noticed about me.”
“What do you mean?” Edgar asked, confused.
“I’m not from this world. I come from a different universe, from a planet called Earth. Before a few months ago, I had no idea that magic, gods, or any of this stuff even existed. Adapting has been difficult, especially considering how violence is commonplace here.”
“Wait, you’re an Outsider?” Eva asked, shocked.
“That explains so much about you,” Edgar continued. “The strange references, the confusion at certain aspects of life here. How on Telvaria did you manage to grow so strong in such a short time?”
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“I’ve had some advantages that others do not, based on my status as an Outsider,” Jonathan said, not wanting to elaborate more. Being from another world was one thing, but being what was equivalent to an infant god was another. That was a discussion for another day.
“I understand your drive to kill Granath now,” Hushar said. “You must not be used to losing those who serve beneath you, and your rage eclipsed your common sense. It happens to the best of us.”
“Why are you all so blase about this? I would have expected a revelation like this to be a lot more shocking,” Jonathan replied. He pointedly ignored the comments, although he knew somewhere deep down that they were true.
“I don’t know if you noticed, but this is Hell. Any stigma against Outsiders is a result of the teachings of the gods and their disciples. To be quite frank, they can take their gilded excrement that they call wisdom, and return it to where it came from.”
Edgar raised his voice, an uncharacteristic behavior for the normally reserved man. It was at moments like this that Jonathan remembered that the wind mage was just as rage filled as him at the gods of this world. He just didn’t show it as much.
“I second that,” Eva added. The others quickly expressed similar sentiment. In the case of the Uthraki, that might have been because they worshiped a different god to those of Telvaria.
“Thanks,” Jonathan replied, oddly touched by the camaraderie. “I must say, Hell was not the place I expected to find friends. Some of you, I barely know,” he said, looking at Maranta and Bordeg. “Some I am more acquainted with. However, my quest, no, our quest, will be built on each others’ shoulders. The Hells will one day ring to the sound of our names, and to freedom!”
“Damn straight, my friend. Damn straight,” Edgar replied.
“Now, to achieve that, I think it’s high time I got to work,” Jonathan said.
Leaving the others with the revelation of his origin, he started to cycle his elemental energy, heading over to an isolated pillar of rock to meditate. As he grew in power, the Ash Heaps was starting to seem less and less real. The stately tower of granite that once would have seemed like a monument to the implacable will of nature was nothing more than a pile of sand before him. He could blast it apart with an idle slap, let alone a proper technique. He yearned for something greater. The sooner he left this forsaken land, the better.
“Focus, Jonathan,” he thought as he sat. “Don’t let them down.”
What he had achieved so far with the Void was mainly based on its ability to destroy everything. The most advanced form of it that he had found this far was its ability to remove the air around himself, creating a slipstream that he could use to increase his maximum speed. However, what he was planning now would take a far subtler touch.
There were two parts to an element in this world. The concept of the element, and the element itself. The latter was the abyssal purple flame of the Void in Jonathan’s case, but the former was its desire to consume. He would need the concept of the Void in this case. As he envisioned the all devouring force of his element, he imagined it devouring the light around him, rendering him invisible. The best part was that it would be exceedingly hard to detect, even if his watchers had immense sensory powers. If there was no light, it was impossible to see something, no matter how powerful you were.