“Aether blade, can you see?” A voice called out, childlike. Motes of… something lighting up the forest, drifting in the air. I swallowed. Oh yes… different. “Show it, come on, dance!!” The voices called out, a howl that seemed to chill the air. Something was stirring…

Two lights lit up in the dark beyond my sight, as I Delved I saw magic taking shape even inside the thick soup of activated magic that permeated the area. It wasn’t a soul, something was directing it. Multiple strands pulled from it like a puppeteer’s strings, and a Chimaera strode into view. Formed of ice, it had flames for its eyes, and yet even as they licked at the orbits I could see no water form. That’s fire, water and earth. I mused. What does wind do?

I received my answer in the form of a great roar, the pressure pushes me back, and I draw the Aen, arming it. As the blade juts from the hilt the voices speak again. “A human design…? Not from the Aerathi… Can the humans wield aether now…? ANotHeR PeRVErsIoN.” The Chimaera leaps, and I duck beneath it, jamming the blade into its abdomen as it passes over me. It doesn’t roar, doesn’t react, except when it lands. Ice shards fall from its stomach, cracking against the ground as I stand up.

“No normal human can wield this.” I say quietly. “Their souls are torn apart, consumed. Not even the Edratchi can. If you fight me, you will lose, and I may have to kill you.” The Chimaera turns to me, ice reforming, I’d need to sever the puppeteer’s cords to kill this golem.

“It’s strong! Really strong! Enough that only the Aerathi could use it.” A voice echoes, for a moment tickling my left ear. I spin, stepping aside to find nothing. Dammit. I thought, gritting my teeth. “So come on… Play with us!” It was giggling now, as the Chimaera settled into a playful stance, eyes turning to a bright green. It darted towards me, and I sidestepped, swiping at the beast.

“No aether!” All the voices said, my head hurt at the number of echoes that I could hear. The Chimaera lunged again, bumping me lightly on the stomach and darting away. “Catch us Seraph! Catch us!” Laughter, still couldn’t tell where it was from, wondered if it mattered, could they just be the manifestations of air? I ran after the Chimaera, wary, but seeing little choice.

On it went, touch and go, touch and go. The Chimaera voluntarily lagged behind, evening the disparity between our physical abilities. I was forced further and further into the forest, I made my markings as we passed, carving marks that I hoped I would still be able to find on my way back. The forest grew denser and denser, until once again we reached a grove, where the trees had grown large enough to crowd out the others.

“Do you like it?” The voices asked once more. “It’s home, for after you left. We were lonely.”

I looked around. This was getting more disturbing by the second. Who left? This place doesn’t even look different from all the other groves. I swallowed, looking around for the Chimaera, where had it gone? Something emerged from the shadows of the groves. Small spirits, some flickered like fingers of flame, others were dust given form, dancing from the eaves of the trees. Some rocks pulled themselves from the ground, small golems accompanied by amorphous liquid blobs.

The nature spirits surrounded me, not many of them were humanoid, often they were simply amorphous, changing with every flicker of the wind. All of them seemed curious to see me, waving and encircling me. “It’s the Seraph!” A voice cried out. Who in the heck is this Seraph? I thought to myself. Some kind of folk tale? The Aerathi’s liaison with the other races?

“I need to talk to you about the Edratchi, and perhaps enlist your aid in combating them.” I said. “Why have you hidden yourselves away?” I asked, turning to look at the massed elementals. No discernible leader… The way they act… It’s like… children, creepy children.

“Are they back?” A chorus of voices said in unison, before they fell apart into individual discussion. Their voices each carried a distinctive… tinge of their element, gravelly deep earth, the crinkling of dry leaves in air, the crackling of flames and some shifting fluid… It was disorienting.

“So they’re back, just like the last Seraph said they would…” a stronger voice whispers, their voice rustled with the susurration of leaves. I turned, and was greeted by a humanoid shaped dust cloud. It was roughly the size and shape of a person, though with no discerning features thanks to the dust forming its body.

“The last Seraph told you all that?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Will you join the fight then?”

“I will serve as the Seraph directs.” The sylph answered, giving a simple bow to me. I gave it a flat look, one that didn’t pass my faceplate. “That isn’t to say that we don’t see the need to take up arms, but as the successor to our creator, it falls to you to decide our path.”

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At that I paused. “… Creator?” I asked, uncertainty and puzzlement in my voice. “Actually, now that I think of that, how are you able to speak this language? You haven’t been in contact with the others at all.” The humanoid sylph gave a laugh, their form solidified, texture and colour forming where once there were none. Their voice also became more solid, losing its eerie tone.

“That we aren’t in contact with humans doesn’t mean that we don’t contact the other races.” She said with a grin. “The elven elders know of me and my undine sisters. The dwarven patriarchs occasionally have cause to speak to the gnomes and salamanders.” That… makes some sense… “They don’t speak of us to the common folk, and we remain as myth to many.”

“Did the dwarves and elves not ask for your aid for the Edratchi then?” I asked, eyebrows knitting together. “What happened if they did do so?”

“They did not do so.” The sylph replied. “And we would not have taken up arms unless they encroached into our territory. The only one we would obey to begin a war is you, Seraph.” She said with a nod in my direction. “The Seraph created us, but the orders he gave were specific, and that we were to pursue our own ends once it was completed.” She sighed. “I don’t think he understood that we had no needs, we would wait an eternity to serve him once more, but you are here.” She giggled. “And I have to say, you’ll do as his successor.”

I arched an eyebrow, sighing. “Alright, how can you help the war effort exactly?” I asked, leaning against a nearby tree. “Will you be like the others and ask to keep something secret from the alliances?” She cocked her head, fixing me with a bemused expression.

“As I said before Seraph, we will do as you direct.” She said, her grin widening as I gave a groan. “In all seriousness, we would prefer to act within our elements. We are not strong enough for a direct confrontation, made almost entirely from the elemental essences as we are. We could slow the Edratchi down, drown them in the rivers, conjure miniature storms and bog. We could also hit them when they enter the forests, whittle them down slowly and randomly.” Her grin turned predatory.

I nodded. “That makes sense, I’ll tell the others we came to an agreement then.” She nodded, but reached out and held my arm as I turned towards the edge of the grove. “What is it?” I asked, it was a light hold, a simple shift would have broken it, she wasn’t trying to hold me down at least.

“Before you leave, there is something I would ask of you.” She said tentatively. I cocked my head, before nodding to her. “Good… yes, that’s good.” She said, brightening. “This way.” She tugged on my arm, deeper into the grove, turning incorporeal once more. “Did he tell you how we were made?” She asked, giggling, a few other elementals joined us, almost the same size as the sylph.

“Is the Seraph going to help us reproduce?” The undine asked, glancing at me. “We could use the numbers if the Edratchi are back, maybe even help the fragments come together again.”

“Hah! Don’t mind her Seraph, we’re all glad to have you here once more.” The salamander said with a happy lilt in her voice. “I hope to fight alongside a Seraph again once more.”

“We may better serve as generalized diversions. We are easily dissipated by the Edratchi’s magic.” The gnome stated. “Though with the Seraph here once more, perhaps…” They trailed off.

“Oh come on, the war can wait, we’ve got more important things to do.” The sylph cried, turning to the others, arms spread wide. “We have the Seraph back, surely that’s worth a little celebration!” She twirled into the air, spinning into the leaves and sending a small gust around.

“You’d say that if you saw a squirrel find a lost nut during winter.” The gnome grumbled, their tone however was soft and it was clear it was in jest. “You are correct however, we can afford a little celebration.” We arrived at a kind of altar, somehow formed of tree roots grown into shape.

“Here we are then.” The undine remarked. Gliding up beside me as we approached the altar. “The Seraph took this apart after the war, and we swore to watch over it, prevent the other races from making others like us. It was also his weapon in the war, we were… accidents of a type. When he first used it, the bleed of the aether formed fragments, the small elementals that guided you to us. In time it was refined, and he made us.” She stared at the object on the altar, face pensive.

“When the war ended.” The salamander remarked. “Many of us had been splintered, or worse. The fragments had been reformed into beings like us during the war, he hated it, fearing that it had killed them to make another, but found no other recourse.”

I approached the altar, reaching forward to pick up the four separate pieces. This looks like sword. I thought. Similar in construction to the Aen. I traced my fingers along the runes. It’s mechanical and magical. I realized in surprise, the runes coated the pieces, but they could come together, each one interacting with the other at the points of contact. That makes putting this together a whole lot easier. Who needs screws when you have magical adhesives I guess…

I paused, visualizing the device, the Seraph at the very least hadn’t made this to be very difficult, was the gesture more symbolic than anything else I wondered, tracing the runes. I really can’t afford to care at this point can I? I thought to myself, the other elementals watched me intently, waiting for me to begin, and so I did.

As the last piece slotted together, the blade glowed, the runes energizing all at once. I didn’t Delve to look, blinding as it was on the material, I could hardly even dare to peek beneath the veil. A collective sigh rang out from throughout the grove. “And so it will be again.” A voice spoke, a carrying whisper across the grove. “You are the successor then?” My head jerked to the side, staring at the being that now stood beside me. “The next Seraph.”

As he spoke, he materialized as a person with feathers on their arms, pointed ears, and gold amber eyes. “Hmm, pure human? A little mundane I suppose, but in a way perhaps that’s the goal? Can’t judge you on your taste…”