Selewyne’s abode was a strange place, with curtains of floating clothing acting as his shutters, and furniture that moved when you touched it, making Liam feel like he was trapped in a glass house. Everything seemed fragile, mobile. With an old man who had a strange aversion to clothes. But he was decent enough to keep his rock on a stick within his briefs.
“Bah, you must throw off your human conception of ‘wind’ magic.” Said Selewyne, taking a mocking tone as he uttered the word. “Those idiots at the human college only call it ‘wind magic’ because it slips through their simple minds, passing through the hot air they call a brain!” Said Selewyne, correcting Liam for the sixth time.
“Okay, sorry, I've been calling it wind magic since the day I knew about it. Cmon Selewyne, is it really that important?”
The elf spluttered, turning beat red. As if Liam had walked into his kitchen and slapped his mother’s buttcheeks.
“That! Pffft! Important! Ah! You simpleton!” He shouted, throwing his hands into the air. “How Taloc made you a Lord is beyond me!”
“Explain it to me as you would an unawoken child. After all, I was taught magic by humans.” Said Liam, remaining in the meditation pose Selewyne had insisted upon.
They’d been discussing magic in all its forms, trying to find common ground between wind and any of the other affinities. With each postulation being rebuked by the other as nonsense.
“Fine!” Shouted Selewyne, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply.
They remained like that for ten minutes, both men sitting in a treehouse, surrounded by floating detritus of every conceivable arcane bent.
“Magic, the four cardinal affinities are all the same, they are expressions of our inner self, fire is the consuming wrath that devours all, earth is the unshakable fear of loss, water is fluid like our regret slipping away, and ‘wind’” Said Selewyne, saying the word with a sneer, “Wind is joy. The total serenity that comes after you know yourself and have found that which gives you purpose. A black conscious cannot summon the strength of your own spirit to work it.”
Liam clenched his jaw to avoid snapping at the man. The endless mumbo jumbo was making less and less sense.
“I was dauntless when I entered this world, I strove for peace then, just as I do now.”
“If you had, then your wind blades would have awoken in a time of need. So you failed. Something darkened your mind. Was there someone you left behind?”
“Ha, my fiance died in my arms, slain by Taloc…” Said Liam, his voice trailing off at the guilt he’d felt by abandoning his grandparents, the ones who loved him.
“Who would have grieved for your death?” Asked Selewyne, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I never knew my parents, but my grandparents raised me, I left them behind.”
“Mmmm. Tis a hard thing when a parent has to bury a child, worse still when you have to bury your child, raise their child, and then bury them as well. Truly, it makes me jealous of the human lifespan, for they are often spared that irrevocable sorrow.”
A pair of briefs floated between them, Selewyne let them pass, wiping the tears from his eyes.
“How many grandchildren have you buried?” Liam asked.
“Eight. I remember the last war against humans, and the war against Pandora’s ilk, after Taloc slew half the continent and awoken her by accident. She was once humanity's mother, the bringer of rain, and when Taloc threatened to erase humanity their blood cried out to the only god left with the power to oppose him. Though their deaths tainted her rebirth, forever altering her.”
Liam looked around the room, there was no sign of a woman, no feminine clothes, and he doubted Selewyne would galavant about with his gander out if his wife were present. Yet his thoughts turned dark, thinking of what he would do if Furana was slain, and he buried her, then her child was slain as well.
“I’d go mad from loss. How can one soul endure such pain?”
“Finally, you understand.” Said Selewyne, nodding sagely. “You had one fiance, were you married?”
“Uhm… I married an eclipsiarch, the Lady Nyota Green, who I seek to return to now. Taloc said we would have a child, but I have never seen her face, nor heard her speak.”
“Tis a heavy burden you carry. But is not knowing your child the worst pain you have ever felt? Or was there greater pain when you died?” Asked Selewyne.
That stumped Liam, the pains were too different, attacking him from opposite angles. His mind replayed memories of being ripped apart and mocked, toyed with as a god’s manifestation promised to torture Nyiota. But physical pain passed. Nyota was safe. That wasn’t the worst pain. Not by a hundred miles. The worst pain he had ever suffered –hands down– was when Quetzalcoatl had spoken with lightning, forcing Liam to face his first death, and visions of his second, all while Nyota relived the worst parts of slavery, the coercion of breeding and having her children stolen from her. Of Blackwood’s eclipsiarch breeding program, meant to produce an army of magi that only he could control. The fool had been doomed from the start, the eclipsiarchs, no matter how low he dragged them, would never serve him with magic. Only Taloc himself, or one of his chosen Lightning Lords could call upon them.
Liam’s teeth ground together, breaking the silence.
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“Yes, that pain you feel now, that is the agony that comes before the release. Close your eyes.” Said Selewyne.
Liam shut his eyes, perceiving the world’s flow of mana as Selewyne levitated them both onto the porch.
He exited via a window, while floating Liam through the doorway.
“Concentrate on that pain, joy can only come after the fall, after the world casts you out and abandons you. It is the inner power of our spirits. The indomitable will that drove you through your lowest moments. Grasp that joy, and show it to the world.” Said Selewyne, raising a hand and sweeping it across his body.
Three wind blades erupted from his chest, gathering speed until they cracked the sound barrier in clouds of white vapor. Shockwaves rippled back towards the Aelorn tree, knocking a cascade of green leaves from its boughs. But Liam never saw them.
His mind only saw Nyota’s popped eyeball, her burnt ears, and how she tried to flick her tail at his return, only for her tail to snap in half. His mind was full of the hell she’d endured, all for him. All because he was a so-called Lightning Lord of Taloc, one of his Warrior Prophets, meant to change the world. Meant to change Nyota’s world.
He raised one hand, recalling how long it had taken to heal her, how close they’d come to dying, and how they’d met Niana, the first of Nyota’s children. The joy of seeing Nyota embrace her lost daughter. Liam treasured the memory, recalling the love he could see in Nyota’s eyes as she combed Niana’s hair on the way to Blackwood Castle-
-And Liam’s death for them.
Mana poured from his heart, filling his arms. He lifted his arm, then slashed with a simple chop. Air distorted around him, torn apart by the force of Liam’s agony, then mended in an instant. The distortion rippled outward, breaking the sound barrier mere feet from the tips of Liam’s fingers.
An alert appeared in his mind, followed by four more.
[Mana Domination] increased to level 5
[spirit magic] increased to level 1
[spirit magic] increased to level 2
[spirit magic] increased to level 3
[spirit magic] increased to level 4
[spirit magic] increased to level 5
Liam smiled, tears flowing freely down his cheeks.
Then the shockwave hit, bursting his eardrums and flattening him against the wall. Green leaves rained down, blinding Liam in the chaos. He tried to rise, but found his balance was gone. A healing pulse cured his ears, and mended the dozen bruises he’d acquired.
“AH, WHAT THE HELL!” Screamed Selewyne, clearly unable to hear himself.
Liam grasped the elf’s ear, healing the old man.
“THAT WAS- Ah, no need to shout, oh, what the hell kid. You’ve got some serious problems.” Said Selewyne, his gaze turning towards the open air.
Confused by the silence, Liam followed his gaze, and found that the sky itself had been torn asunder. An enormous portal, at least the size of the dragon portal now floated above the elven lands, but instead of the other side being a foggy mess, it was crystal clear.
–(would make a good cliff)--
Liam stared through the enormous portal.
“What in god’s anus.” He muttered.
On the other side of the portal he could see an obsidian keep, the very same structure Baron Green had lived in for his entire life. It was unmistakable, though he had never seen it from the sky. A stone wall encircled Greenhaven, with the Keep being positioned on the Southeastern end of the city, completing the fortifications. Around the city farms were tilled and growing, with farmers going about their business in groups and patrols of militia –though they were better equipped than any militia Liam had ever commanded, with spears and shields and more than a patchwork of proper armor– circled the farmlands, keeping the farmers safe. Sabertoothed Servals perched on farmland walls. There were dozens of them, paralyzing mice and growing fat by keeping the farmlands free of pests. Even the sabertoothed servals who lacked the third eye were growing a bit round in the gut. Several of the creatures followed the felinid militia, fascinated by humans with cat ears and tails.
But such sights did not exist to Liam, he stopped scanning the city when Greenwood Keep’s main gate opened and a platinum haired eclipsiarch walked into view. She was slender, no longer pregnant, with Arlet at her side, along with four umbraquins in their panther form. She was so close, literally in front of Liam. Leaves floated through the portal, some vanished, but others made it through unharmed, raining down on Greenhaven.
“The portal works.” Muttered Liam.
“Selewyne! Toss me! I need to go home!” Shouted Liam, frantically looking around.
He doubted his ability to reach the portal unaided, so he ran into the treehouse and set his feet against the far wall in a sprinter’s start. He summoned all his mana, trying to empower his limbs with his desire to hold Nyota in his arms once more.
“Are you crazy? Get away from the portal!” Shouted Selewyne, diving for cover under a rotating wardrobe.
Liam kicked off, powering forward faster than any human had ever run.
He was too late.
Scales, feathers and claws flashed. Talons pierced the portal, rending it. The portal shattered. Purple shards of glass erupted in every direction, crumbling to ashes. A shard with Nyota’s face still on it, sailed towards Liam, he tried to catch it, but his hand passed through the image of her face, caressing the air where her cheek had been only a second before.
He let out a howl that echoed through the heavens. Single handedly spawning a thousand legends of banshees in the elven woods. All who heard the cry felt the anguish of his loss, though they knew not what it meant. Nor how close he’d been to reuniting with his beloved.
Liam leapt off the Aelorn tree, summoning wind around him. At level five it came easily, a tornado that launched him forward, flying through the sky on its power. It wasn’t enough. With each wingbeat the creature generated a typhoon, casually slapping Liam away.
“You cockblocking piece of birdshit!” Screamed Liam, aiming a finger at the bird thing.
“Pew.”
A bolt of lightning flashed. Light slammed into the bird’s tail feathers, frying two. The creature barely noticed, flapping its two pairs of wings in an alternating pattern. Quickly shooting up into the clouds. Liam sent another four bolts of lightning after the bird, but they were equally ineffective. He’d never felt so small, so impotent. Except when fighting against Pandora. But he’d won that battle. Via carefully laid traps and preparations. This wasn’t a battle he could win unprepared.
“I’m gonna learn wind magic, then turn your feathery ass into some dino nuggets!” Shouted Liam, turning and flying back to the Aelorn tree.
On his way down, he realized flying kinda sucked, leaves and bugs pelted his face, tearing at his skin and hair. He didn’t dare close his eyes for fear of plowing into a treetrunk, so he slowed down, increasing the drag on his body, noticeably upping the mana drain. Until he landed on Selewyne’s porch, running as he landed to avoid cartwheeling off the treehouse’s porch.
“I’m gonna kill that bird.” Snapped Liam, already beginning to plot.
He needed a way to go faster, or at least a way to pierce the bird’s downdraft. And a helmet to keep the bugs out.