"It's starting!" A young voice called out as several children and their overburdened caretaker barrel past several cloaked figures and begin attempting to climb a nearby tree, to their charge's dismay. One of the cloaked figures, a taller, muscular man pulled the kids down and walked them back to their caretaker before joining his companions again. The six of them had no intention to join the festivities as they wandered around together seemingly without a destination. The ‘guards’ for the occasion, The Goldspire, were stationed at the bottom of every tree that held residences and the market was so heavily guarded you'd think the matriarch herself was present, so they made sure to avoid such locations while they watched as the dureivan began their Festival of Life to welcome new hatchlings.

The festival was taking place in the areas that are home to elementals of the nature and water persuasions, as their areas promote life and growth. As such the fields themselves were surrounded by lush forests with trees tall and thick enough that each one held thirty to forty homes along it's trunk. There were massive clearings that contained branching, shallow streams from the great river that flows through the plateaus where water elementals reside. Along the bank of those streams were eggs of all colors, textures and sizes, wrapped in vines, and exposed directly to the several star-like light sources that permanently hang in the sky.

"Worthy of being called the home of the elementals, right? This place holds nothing but the extremes for every alignment. Not that I'm complaining." A deep, soft and sultry voice reverberated, as if traveling through space itself.

"Now, this is your first time here, so remember the rules." A very tall older man spoke. "Don't talk to the primordials, don’t get involved with The Goldspire and don't draw attention to yourself unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Let's spread out to cover more ground." A surprisingly young member of the group spoke out. The commotion grew as more and more people gathered around, the time for hatching was rapidly approaching.

"Agreed" 5 voices spoke in unison as they began to break off from one another.

"You, you're with me." The old man from earlier dragged their newest member along with him to a nearby overlook.

"Aren't we kind of far?"

The old man laughed, "Let’s just say that I’m confident in my abilities." His face straightened as he regained his composure. "Can you see from here?"

"Well... yes, bu-"

“What can you see?”

The somewhat inexperienced dureivan squinted as he looked down on the fields lined in rows upon rows of eggs. In the distance he could vaguely see two other fields similar to this one. Though he was unable to tell if the dureivan gathered at all of them or only the one beneath him. He described what he could see to the old man.

"Good, If you see anything let me know, I'll be to keeping an eye on The Goldspire. Those zealots answer only to the Matriarch, even still, they’ll go against her word if they think it’ll be for the greater good of the Eadhn."

"Remind me, why exactly do we need to watch for the Goldspire?"

"The Matriarch promised us minimal interference and that they’d send all of our kind over to our side, and I intend to make sure they keep their end of the deal." The old man began scoping out the location, taking note of the exact locations of Goldspire guards.

"Alright, but uh... what exactly are we doing here?"

The old man halted in his tracks and slowly turned to face their semi-abducted partner. "... Is that a joke?"

"Well, I never received any form of explanation. I happened to see those of renown gathered in one location and Lord Zan asked if anyone else would like to come along, so I volunteered. I came expecting to do something for the good of the Aesoterii, but didn't think we'd be terrorizing the primordials."

"Terrori- ... What in all of creation do you think we're doing here?"

"Stealing hatchlings." His straight face caused the old man’s bewilderment to turn into disappointment and then tacit understanding.

"... Well, I-..." He Sighed. "Let's start from the beginning."

The old man stuck a claw into the ground and drew some crude imagery in the rock. "How much do you know about your own people?"

"Well, that we're elementals like everything else from the Eadhn. Most of the mortal races refer to us and our descendants as... drakes? Was it? No... Wyverns. Wait no, dragons... or was it draconids?"

"... Is that all? You, a Dureivan yourself, don't know a thing about your own kind?" The old man placed a palm on his forehead and slowly ran it down the bridge of his nose and along his snout. "You're a disappointment, boy."

"The Dureivan are considered ancient race amongst the elementals of the Eadhn. We were one of the first elementals to existence and many of the others owe their fruition to us in some way."

"Well, yes I know that, but what does that have to do with the current conversation?"

"Do you know why we call the dureivan of the Eadhn ‘primordials’? It’s because their alignments are more rudimentary, closer the dureivan of old. Being of the ancient bloodlines means that our alignment with the elements is much stronger than most, and that allows for variance. Variance such as the Aesoterii, us."

"Why are we called that anyways? It doesn't seem like any dureivan dialect I know of."

"It comes from the great expanse, a bastardization of some word that refers to abstract concepts, those aligned with 'elements' that are more conceptual than physical. For Zan, that's time; Saendra, dreams; Lakon, Antithesis; and myself, chaos."

"Chaos?" The man asked, hoping for clarification.

"Your alignment, if I recall correctly, is Celestial. Rare, and order bound. You wouldn't understand what I’m referring to even if I drowned you in it." He chuckled.

"The Goldspire are the direct bloodline of the primordial Dureivan. Unmixed, and undiluted. As a result, they're often gifted with greater control and more than one alignment."

"Wait, unmixed... you mean-"

"Mhm. It's not that uncommon all things considered. Certain elemental alignments effect the personality in ways that force self-isolation. Many of those dureivan have mated with several generations of their own offspring."

"That's... unsettling."

"Oh, grow up." The old man scoffed.

"As I was saying, due to the absence of a necessary energy source to efficiently use the magic which we are aligned to, the Aesoterii were once seen as disposable weapons otherwise considered borderline useless as it took an extreme amount of time to gather enough aether to do even a small fraction of what we can with Kaos.

"Ah, yes my mentor had me do that exercise, he said I needed to know how to do so in 'case of emergency'. I was also forced to learn hand to hand combat, as if magic isn't good enough."

"There was a time when our only redeeming quality was our robust bodies that are often twice if not three times stronger than the majority of primordials. They trained us in close quarters combat more so than magic and we were employed as bodyguards for members of the Goldspire during their pursuit of power."

He turned to the man, "You said you've already gone. Right?"

"Pfft, of course I have. It's a sort of tradition to be considered an adult. We leave the Eadhn, or in our case, the Foeldhn, and can't return until our mastery over our alignments is of a certain level. Do I look so young that I wouldn't have gone yet?"

The old man chuckled, "Well, for us Aesoterii, learning hand to hand combat has become a bit of a tradition in and of itself. Besides, can you truly tell me that it wasn't useful?"

He thought back to his adventures and hesitantly admitted it, "Barely."

"I'm having a heart-to-heart with your master when we get back." The old man, halted the conversation to quickly survey his surroundings.

The festivities were ramping up, ceremonial body paint representing life and prosperity was spreading like a fire. Dancing, singing, and the sound of instruments flooded the forest. The guards from the Goldspire maintained their distance as well as their icy countenance as they observed the young and old gather around the hatching grounds. The old man began to check his equipment, he'd hoped he wouldn't need to use any of it as he didn't come here to fight, but that didn't mean wasn't willing to. He took note of the locations that new guards had been added to before returning to the conversation.

"Ask yourself, what is an elemental without their alignment?" He abruptly asked after a period of silence.

They thought for a moment, "... Are they even an elemental then?"

"Exactly." The old man said.

"The Aesoterii were barely considered dureivan, so we were never allowed to complete our pursuit of power. For a race as proud as ours to let us roam the greater expanse would be akin to letting showing others that we can falter." He pointed at a massive structure in the distance, the matriarch's den. The fortress eclipsed about every other structure within the Eadhn.

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"One day the matriarch took pity upon us. She decreed that we Aesoterii were to go on our pursuit of power like any other dureivan."

"I get the feeling one of you were involved in that decision?" He gave the old man a knowing glance.

"I was one of her retinue. As the Aesoterii were physically stronger than any of the primordials, I was entrusted with her safety. I was given many chances to converse with the matriarch and her advisors, so I made it known how we felt about the matter and how others treated us for it. To be unable to go on our own pursuit of power, is to deny our recognition as dureivan." He admitted.

"So you were each sent out on your pursuits of power? I'm surprised they allowed more than one of you to go if you came back as powerful as you are now."

"The outcome might have differed if that were the case, however, since we were seen as weak they allowed the five of us to go together on our pursuit of power. To proceed amongst peers was a privilege previously granted only to the children of the Goldspire."

"So you left powerless, and came back manipulating the fabric of reality with the flick of a hand?"

The old man chuckled and shook his head. "If only it was that simple." He turned back towards his young companion. "Your name is Xiig, correct?"

He hesitated slightly. "That is, in fact, my name."

"Well, Xiig, do you remember your pursuit of power?"

"Of course I do, it was a major part of my growth."

"Don't you think you would have had a much harder time without magic?"

Xiig pondered for a moment before answering, he began to smile as he recounted his adventures before the smile faded into horror. "I... I'd probably have died, and more than a few times if I'm being completely honest."

"Exactly my point. We may have had superior combat training but without magic we encountered many difficult situations that almost put an end to our adventures. One such difficulty was when we discovered something. Something separate from the seven known energies. We found the energy of incongruence, which we came to call Kaos."

"Wait, you guys found Kaos? Isn't it just... around?"

"No... I'm going to have a long talk with your mentor when we get back." He squinted as he stared daggers into Xiig.

He sighed deeply and carved 7 lines into the sand. "Do you know the seven energies?" He asked.

"Aether, Strahl, Siyu, Kinodir, Setrum, Vael and Flughia, correct?"

"And then there's Kaos, an unstable mixture of the seven that is hostile to those without affinity to it. The problem is that it used to be hostile towards anything that came into contact with it."

"... How did you fix something like that?"

"Well, we didn't. We felt at home when in contact with it, and it allowed us to use our magic as we pleased. It was an opportunity, one that the five of us would not let pass. The first problem was that the energy would continuously attack us after we found it, but it attack by forcing it's way into our bodies. The five of us nearly drowned in it, corrupted by the energy itself. Our only solution was to try to drain it until it became manageable, so we all used our magic continuously for cycles until we were able to gain control over it."

"Wait, why don't the rest of us have to do that? When I hatched Kaos was relatively tame, I was barely growing my second set of teeth when I was learning to use it and the biggest issue it gave me was that it's difficult to manipulate precisely."

"To be honest, we aren't sure either, Zan and Lakon have a hypothesis, but the energy simply became tame at some point before we came back."

The old man cleared his throat, "That aside, as I was saying. The opportunity to gain power came with a cost. As we became able to freely exert our powers, we earned the ire of the primordials and the Goldspire. We were powerful enough to rend the Eadhn leaving it but a shell of its former self with the wave of a hand, if we wished to."

"I imagine that didn't go over well with the established standard of what is 'strong'?"

"The idea that there were several individuals wielding power that even the Matriarch pales in comparison to was problematic. The comparison between the Matriarch and the Aesoterii was causing great unrest amongst the elementals of Eadhn."

"Unrest? What, they thought we'd take over?"

"Some did fear that. Others wished for us, who have experienced the heavy hand of the Goldspire and Primordials in power, to seize control."

"That's a bold request, to put slaves in power... it never ends well."

"Sounds as though you're speaking from experience." The old man commented as he continued his story.

"Rather than take over, I made a deal with the matriarch, In exchange for our peace and freedom I would lead the Aesoterii away and we would not appear in the Eadhn en masse.

I gathered as much power as I could, found a corner of the Eadhn that was all but abandoned and tore a hole in it. On the other side of that hole, was a world abandoned, tainted by the Kaos energy that permeated every object within it. That place became the home of the Aesoterii, the place known to the primordials as the chaos abode, the Foeldhn."

A commotion erupted below and the old man sprang to action. Stopping for a moment as he carved glowing white sigils that floated and slowly rotated in the air in front of him, encased in circles and squares.

With a small flick of the claw, they aligned with each other. "I am the reason our people are separated from the Eadhn, and the creator of the Foeldhn. So I need to protect it, no matter the cost." He rotated his hand and was suddenly hovering over the hatching grounds as a loud distorted sound rang out, halting everything, even the wind in its tracks.

“Let’s get to it.” The Aesoterii whos voice shakes reality began relaying information to the other 5.

“Zan's magic can only stop time for so long here, magic powered by Kaos can be fatal to those who don't have affinity with it so we need to be quick. Zan and I will handle the other hatching grounds. Lakon, Xiig and Akuoun, you three work together to clear the main field.”

Lakon's muscular physique could be found sprinted at incredible speeds through the rows of eggs and occasionally tossing some of them up to Akuoun who was waiting in the sky above him. Xiig sighed, he didn't want to be dead weight so performed a short ritual of his own design using his body as a medium. A massive column of fluorescent starlight descended upon the six, linking them together like a constellation. From the earlier conversation, he'd somewhat grasped what the others were here to do and refused to sit on the sidelines. He closed his eyes for a moment and a seperate beam, brighter than the other six, appeared and scanned across the eggs, leaving behind approximately twenty more beams of light by the time it disappeared, beams shining upon the eggs that would hatch Aesoterii.

"Akuoun!" He shouted.

The old man in the sky glanced over at him and understood his intentions. "Lakon, the ones marked by the stars are our kin!"

The bulky man running within the area where time was halted abruptly changed his course, quickly darting to the marked eggs and tossing them high into the sky where Akuoun would intercept them.

"Quickly, the primordials won't be able to withstand Zan's magic for much longer." The reverberating voice warned.

With all but one of the eggs floating next to Akuoun, a rift opened near Akuoun. Once Rondo, the sixth Dureivan that left with them had confirmed the rift's stability, he sent the eggs through one by one.

"We're out of time. Any more than this and we'll have problems with the Goldspire." Saendra relayed to everyone as Zan began to deactivate his magic.

"Lakon, there's one more left to go, it's up to you."

The magic that Zan had cast on the hatching grounds faded as Lakon darted towards the final egg. Zan's magic fading made it difficult for him not to draw the attention of the primordials without using any magic so he quickly carved out a sigil in front of himself and ran through it, magic unique to the Antithesis, causal interference. Where he ran, the grass didn't flatten, no wind was generated, light phased through him and his powerful footsteps didn't reshape the earth. He reached the egg, and for an instant deactivated his magic, grabbed the egg, and then reactivated it as he took off for the Foeldhn. When he got there he was greeted by Zan the young looking dureivan from before that seemed to be taking command of the operation, and Saendra, who was only second in size to Akuoun and the source of the reverberating voice they’d all been hearing. Akuoun exited the portal they were transporting eggs through along with their new celestial friend, Xiig. With that, the six of them were gathered once more.

"Good work everyone, let's head back." Akuoun declared as Saendra counted the eggs.

Zan grabbed 3, Saendra picked up 5 and Akououn, Xiig and Lakon together grabbed another 31. "39 new little ones!" Saendra announced happily as Lakon tapped on her shoulder.

"You forgot one." He removed the egg from his cloak, and placed it with the rest.

"You know the rules, you five get first pick." Akuoun reminded them as they excitedly examined the eggs.

Zan had already picked his, Saendra chose the smallest while Lakon chose the largest, Xiig chose the egg that looked most similar to what he can remember of his own and Rondo picked at random.

After everyone but Akuoun chooses an egg, they start to head back to home when Zan grabs Akuoun by the arm, stopping him from leaving.

"You need to stop to this nonsense." Zan locked eyes with him. "We're not leaving 'til you pick one."

Akuoun opened his mouth to protest and was met with a glare from Zan, Saendra and Rondo also gave him a look of discontent. Xiig looked over in confusion,

“What’s the big deal, if the big guy doesn’t want a pupil then it’s not like he won’t have a chance in the future.”

Zan sighed and looked Xiig in his star-ridden eyes, “Akuoun has been leading these covert excursions into the Eadhn for the good of the Foeldhn for ten or so cycles. The only reason he hadn’t chosen one yet is because he think it will detract from his ability to act for the good of the Aesoterii.”

Xiig’s eyes widened as he quickly shifted to look at Akuoun, “Ten cycles… Ten?! Do you understand how many generations have to have passed in that span of time? The birth and death of a star is by no means quick. For you to be holding back on something so important for that long is beyond absurd.”

Akuoun, in order to quell their protests quickly and avoid further contact with the creatures of the Eadhn, he quickly looked over the eggs and chose one with peculiar marks on it.

"Satisfied?" Akuoun scoffed as he ripped through the veil separating the Eadhn from the Foeldhn and strolled in followed by the others and the clutch of eggs.

The Aesoterii, upon their return to begin a festival of their own to celebrate saving their kin and the selection of disciples, the festival of names. In the birdcage, those who have completed their pursuit of power earn the right mentor a new arrival of their own choosing. The bond for the Aesoterii is closer to that of a parent-child relationship than the traditional master-pupil dynamic, as they raise their pupils from the moment of hatching, to when they inevitably leave for their pursuit of power.

“The time of naming is upon us.” Zan silenced the crowd in an instant, those that chose an egg stood on a visibly raised platform and they began naming their pupils whilst placing their hand atop the egg. Once the others had gone, the six who chose first were the center of attention, as they were the last to announce their pupil’s names.

“Haj” Zan placed his hand atop his chosen egg and closed his eyes, the others followed suit.

“Sylln” Saendra’s voice reverberated throughout the birdcage.

“Niviin” Lakon’s rune-covered arms glowed as he came into contact with his egg.

“Vaunt” Rondo’s egg moved slightly as he placed his hand atop it.

“Kehll” Xiig stared at his egg, wondering what its future holds.

Akuoun approached the egg he’d chosen and raised it into the sky, with great volume he announced his pupil’s name,

“Set.”