“Aziriel,” the voice was a whisper. I opened my eyes and was momentarily confused about where I was—not in my own bed, no Alcuon beside me….

I sat up. It was Zirilla.

“Everyone’s safe, no alarms,” she said. “Hassina’s asleep, so I’m sending you off” she said. “She said these were for you.”

+ 2 [Elemental 2], 1 [Life 2]

“Mm,” I said, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. “Don’t mind if I do.”

“She said that since we have the keys, you should upgrade your [Life Magick] in case you mess up and get injured.”

“Love you too, Hassina,” I muttered.

You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Elemental 2] and [Elemental 2] to create the skill: [Elemental Power 9]

[Elemental Power 9]

Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Elemental 2] + Elemental 2]

+ 33% [Elemental] Attunement. Attunement reduces the [Focus] requirements of skills.

+ 33% [Elemental] Efficiency. Efficiency refunds a portion of spent mana spent on skills.

+ 33% [Elemental] Potency. Potency increases the effect strength of skills.

I got up and began to stretch, my muscles aching and stiff from sleeping on a thin bedroll over a stone floor. Because I hadn’t woken up in a panic, my mental state was sluggish and [Primeval Resonance], normally over 100%, was fairly low at 59%. Once I felt more like my usual self, the skill would be boosting my [Elemental] skills by 39% or so, not 33%.

But a new skill was just the thing to dispel the discontent of the morning and keep my thoughts clear. Attunement, efficiency, and potency were most often found on multi-aspect active skills, not passive ones like this: they made it so that specializing in one area made someone vastly more powerful in it. A windcaller with six [Air] skills, even some with overlapping functions, could move massive amounts of air compared to an elementalist who only had [Air Magick].

On passive skills attunement, efficiency, and potency tended to be conditional, such as how the attunement on my [Kite’s Grace] only affected my windsleeve. In this regard [Elemental Power] was like most pure skills: exceptional.

Anything that applied to one aspect applied to its subtypes as well. Hence [Element] attunement applied to [Air], [Earth], [Fire], [Frost], [Lightning], and [Water] skills.

I'd just gotten a very potent upgrade to my flight and my lightning bolts. The only reason that skills like [Surging Power] and [Primeval Mana] had been better choices than [Elemental Power] earlier was that I’d had next to no [Channel] or [Source].

“I know that look,” said Zirilla. “And I’m envious. Go get me some keys, Lux Irovex. I haven’t flown for more than five minutes since a day ago.”

I smiled. Those of us who could fly flew every day. That was the way of things. “How did the hunting parties fare?”

“Me and my people didn’t come out of the swamp with much,” she said. “Some [Surge], though, and some [Mana]. Didn’t find your decay caster, unfortunately—I’m thinking it mostly lives in the water, and I didn’t want anyone delving the depths, not yet. As for the rest… the most productive group was Larash’s. They found a massive flock of the missile-throwing grazers you mentioned yesterday and returned with a lot of [Missile], [Armor], [Body], and [Life] boons. There were more than a hundred of the beasts, a whole herd.”

“Excellent,” I said.

“Valir led his to the forest, wanted to assess how safe the route was to the slopes of the mountains for future wyvern hunting. They came back with keys and essence, then found a cave system that he insisted on exploring—against my recommendation, I’ll add. He should be back soon enough.”

“I see,” I said. “I’ll have to ask him about it later. In the meantime I want everyone brought in while I’m gone.”

Zirilla blinked. “Everyone?”

“I’m going to be out of range of flares and signals.”

“I can put together a squad of windcallers to watch over our people,” Zirilla said. “Valir won’t be far behind me if I need to answer the call.”

I scowled. “It’s a risk,” I said. “And for just a few hundred thousand more essence and some increases to limit.”

Zirilla made a noise of frustration. “Aziriel, they’ll be fine,” she said. “They can sense everything coming their way with [Wild Sight] and [Telepathic Sight]. They’re armored, they have healers, and they have elven arrows and elemental magic. We have far more strength now to protect our the colony with than we had yesterday when we first arrived. We’re not triggering any convergences and we haven’t run into anything too strong for us, not once. You can go.”

I worked my mouth. She was right, but I still didn’t like it. “I’ll go,” I said. “But our circumstances yesterday are what we’re trying to get away from,” I said. “Everyone is less safe if I go than if I stay.”

“I know,” she said. Then she shrugged. “I know. It’s a risk, but not much of one. And we both know how much you can get done. You’re too much power in too fast a package.”

I gave a small, conciliatory tilt of my head.

“Another thing while we’re on the topic of you going out.”

“What is it?”

“That cat may have been an elementalist, but it got its [Lightning] keys from somewhere.”

I nodded, following her reasoning. Natural lightning elementals destroyed themselves in the instant that they were created—meaning that somewhere here was wildlife that cultivated [Lightning] keys. And wherever it was, we could find and hunt it. “The mists seem like the best place to look, so far.”

But Zirilla shook her head. “It’s not that,” she said. “You and I both know the power of lightning. If one apex predator has found some [Lightning] keys and figured out how to use them, why not others? Intelligent creatures can change class if they need to, but even brute beasts or hybrid elementals with innate [Lightning] stand a good chance of reaching the top.”

“I hadn’t thought of it,” I said, nodding. It seemed obvious in retrospect. There were many mountain peaks beyond the one I’d visited yesterday. How many were topped with creatures who threw lightning?

“Ultimately, it’s good for us,” Zirilla continued. “Anything leaning on lightning won’t have much of a chance against you, Valir, or me.” She paused, then added: “Or Luthiel, for that matter. “Seriana never learned to block lightning, but I don’t think she’s much interested in going hunting anyhow.”

“So what you’re saying is that I should trigger convergences and hope for some [Lightning] keys.”

“More or less."

"The most important thing to me today is that I figure out whether the are intelligent air elementals," I said. "A few hundred dead wyverns and a couple of primeval convergences are mostly ancillary. We can't plan the future of the colony until we learn who rules the skies."

"I suppose that makes sense," said Zirilla. "I should also mention that Hassina mentioned the kids.”

I frowned. “The children? What about them?”

“They were moving stones all day yesterday, but they’re running out of things to do.”

“Have them channel, then.”

“All day?”

“I… just….” I shook my head, then reached up and ran a hand across my forehead. I sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to think of the children,” I said.

“Oh.” Zirilla’s voice was heavy with realization. Alcuon, my husband, had died so that all of them could live. I didn’t hate them for it—I just didn’t want to think of them. “I’ll think of something, then.”

“Thank you.” I drew in a breath, re-oriented myself to the world around me, the world outside.

Grief had always been a trap, for me. I was the sort of person who wanted to get up and do something about every problem that faced me—but the only way I could really interact with my grief was to get mired in it, to spin away into useless thought spirals, pointless rumination.

Time. The only thing that had ever helped me with grief was time.

“Have they butchered the cat, yet?” I asked. “I’m sure the children will all want to touch it once they’re awake.”

“Heh. Hassina wanted me to tell you that it was inconsiderate for you to punch so many holes in him before he died. That the healers had to work hard to fix all those.”

I nodded in agreement. “It was very selfish, the way I fought for my life.”

“In any case, come see for yourself.”

We walked out into the main chamber. Lying out in the open, circled by runes, was Palefang’s carcass. They had healed everything except his scars and his broken teeth, which they’d collected and laid out on a cloth in front of his muzzle.

I saw Fireesha standing by the carcass’s side and went over to her, feeling a sharp drop in temperature as I drew close to the runes. “Lux Irovex,” she said, nodding in greeting. She pulled a bow off her back and passed it to me.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“It’s the bow you used to kill Palefang,” she explained. “The one you brought here. Larana finished repairing it while you were asleep. It had gathered more aspect, and so I was able to use it for the higher-ranked enchantment without any degradation.”

“Beautiful,” I said, my face breaking into a smile.

You unbind: [Aziriel’s Matchbow of Primeval Missile Conjuring]. You have 2 free Bindings available.

You bind: [Aziriel’s Matchbow of Windborne Missile Conjuring] You have 1 free Binding remaining.

Binding this item has granted you the [Conjure Windborne Primeval Missiles 11] skill.

[Conjure Windborne Primeval Missiles]

Components: [*Primeval 5] + [*Missile 2] + [Air 2] + [Mana 2]

You may have this weapon conjure its own ammunition, so long as that ammunition is composed of primeval materials.

You may encompass missiles that you launch from this weapon with a magical sleeve of air that protects them from shifting wind currents.

“I put air caps on it,” she said, gesturing to indicate the thick steel fastenings on either side of the grip. “Made the weight feel a bit off to me, but Seriana said you’d be all right with it.”

I hefted the bow. “You’re right,” I said. “It does feel strange. But I’ll manage.”

It was, after all, my bow. The one I’d been using for several hundred years, after the one before it had been irrecoverably incinerated in battle. Even if its native aspect had been stripped when I’d come here, it still carried a lot of sentiment.

“And this,” she said, hefting a necklace. It was a simple leather cord with five rune-inscribed wooden beads on it. “Another temporary.”

I took the necklace.

You bind: [Aziriel’s Temporary Necklace of Animal Sight]. You have 0 free Bindings remaining.

Binding this item has granted you the [Animal Sight 8] skill.

!—This enchantment is unstable and will degrade in approximately 9.45 days. This duration will go down with use.

[Animal Sight 8]

Components: [*Primeval 5] + [*Sight 2] + [Animal 1]

This skill allows you to sense animal creatures with your gaze, and vastly increases the range at which you can sense such creatures.

“Perfect,” I said.

“How’s your surge binding?”

I queried the Verse:

?—[Aziriel’s Temporary Wristwrap of Channeling] has 2.12 days remaining.

“Good for now,” I said. “I may need another by the time the day is out. It’s going to see a lot of use.”

“All right,” she said. “As for this….” she looked over at the gigantic cat carcass. “The other enchanters and I are putting together some more missile conjuring bows right now. That’s the priority. Once that’s done, Hassina wants a cloak of blood magick made from the hide. We talked about cutting it up for multiple cloaks, but it’ll take the whole thing to bear a permanent enchantment that strong.”

She walked around the carcass to the front, where the teeth they’d collected were laid out on a cloth. “As for these,” she said. “I’m sure they’ll take a [Fray] key. Now, I know that none of the reptiles that you’ve encountered so far have been wizards, but it would at least be useful for the elementals, yes?”

“Definitely. Think you could get them to take a [Plural]?”

Fireesha made an uncertain sound. “I’ll have to look into it. A lot of symmetry in teeth… but you also tore half of them away.”

[Plural] was one of the most important aspects to add to a secondary lightning skill, because it created [Forked Lightning] and all its variants. [Forked Lightning] would allow me to split the power of a whole bolt as I chose along the ends of any fork that I made. It was a crucial skill not just for striking multiple targets, but for forcing singular targets to evade multiple streams of mana lest they take the power of the whole bolt.

“If it doesn’t work, it’s not a problem,” I told her. Then I grinned. “I can always get you more teeth, Fireesha.”

Fireesha laughed.

“If that’s all, I’ll be off. Best to get started when I know I’ll be gone awhile.”

“Good hunting, Lux Irovex,” Fireesha said.

“Yeah,” said Zirilla. “Don’t die.”

I ate and washed in the cave’s central pool, then went on my way. When I finally got my tortoiseshell skysail on and got outside, I was desperate to start flying. I’d spent six hours sleeping on hard ground, and many hours before that stuck in the cave. I wanted to be free again.

I filled my sail and rose out of the red mist, pushing myself toward the distant mountains. I let a bit of the air into my windsleeve so that it pressed at my face and body like a warm blanket, tousling my hair.

I flew high and fast, my mana pool remaining full now that I had multiple skills devoted to keeping me in the air—the total efficiency bonus from [Kite’s Grace] and [Elemental Power] was close to 90%, almost enough to halve the cost of flight by refunding spent mana.

The third mist layer, the one that hid the mountain’s summit, was red now. I rose above it to see that even the fourth layer, kilometers above the peak of the mountain, had turned red.

Did the mists keep time? The fourth layer was a little lighter in color than the ones below it. Was it changing already, like the mists had yesterday?

I took in a good view of the peaks that rose beyond the nearest mountain, then dipped back below the third layer, avoiding an air elemental that tried to give me a push. I could have easily destroyed it with lightning, netting myself an [Air] key, but I held back just as I had yesterday. I was too afraid to kill an air elemental, not until I’d either met its more intelligent kin or determined that they didn’t exist.

Wyverns didn’t usually hunt at night, and the wyverns of this place didn’t seem to be much different. I could sense almost a half-kilometer in every direction when focused on using my [Animal Sight], and I didn’t find any in the mists.

I didn’t pass close to the slopes of the first mountain, moving straight for the second instead. Once there, I cleared the third mist layer and gained altitude as I looked down at the slopes. Even with [Animal Sight], it was still faster to look for wyvern nests with my naked eye now that I could fly forever—[Sable Grace] meant I had near-perfect night vision, and the tangled mounds of barkless tree-stumps were easy to spot, even amidst the undergrowth.

But first I made for the summit, which was a rounded, snow-capped cone. I saw a noticeable lack of wyvern nests anywhere near the peak, but a snowy outcrop of rock got my attention. As I approached I saw it was made of packed ice, not stone, and it had an entrance facing away from the mountaintop. As I came toward the mountain I sensed a single creature inside the small structure—and I tilted my head, confused.

I’d been expecting one of the white cats. Judging by its shape, however, the icy structure’s occupant a frilled-neck lizard the size of Palefang. My [Animal Bond] should have detected it much farther than I had—it was hiding from my psychic senses.

I felt the animal’s presence on my mind, let it sense me, then once again hid myself using the bond. Then I felt it move to the mouth of its icy lair and caught sight of it for the first time.

It had burnt orange skin that was covered all over in glittering icy plating—[Frost Armor]. Its frills were bright red and bare of any armor—steam billowed off of them into the wintry air. Its eyes were bright green, and its hind legs were much stockier than one of its smaller kin.

It saw me and reared up onto its hind legs, flaring its frills and letting out a low hiss. I just stared at it, confused. Why was this creature living on the peak of a mountain, in the cold?

The creature conjured an unusually thick shard of ice, then flung it at me. I leapt out of the way, kicking the snow beneath my feet high into the air as I moved to avoid the fast-moving projectile, reaching out with my claim to begin building a powerful lightning bolt….

Then the shard of ice exploded, the force throwing me off-balance as little chinks of ice embedded themselves in my skin. My ears rang with the sound of the explosion, and a cloud of fog was spreading from where the ice had detonated.

The lizard took advantage of my momentary disorientation to hurl a half-dozen icy javelins my way, and I hastily threw myself to one side using a blast of wind, happy to feel that my skysail was still intact even if it had been pierced by a few small ice shards.

The icy javelins whipped past my head, and I pulled myself back, away from the mountain, then dropped my altitude, falling along the slopes and using another blast of air to soften my landing, putting a sheer cliff face between myself and the ice-throwing lizard.

I reached out with my gaze, cautiously hoping to throw another lighting bolt… but I saw, a moment later, a massive hunk of ice descending through the air toward me, traveling almost level with the general slope of the mountain.

I grinned. It had launched its frost bomb in an arc to flush me out of my cover. This creature was truly fascinating.

I reached out with my claim and batted the bomb to one side of me while using my [Surge of Might] to leap in the other direction. Before I landed, I took flight again, this time throwing myself up the side of the mountain, back toward the lizard.

It threw another two bombs at me, but my absurdly fast channeling speed meant that I could perform equally fast aerial maneuvers when I wanted to, even if they were costly in terms of mana and essentially meant slapping myself around. I batted myself to the ground with a wall of air, then shot a focused gust of wind forward into a volley of icy javelins, parting the cluster of missiles as I rushed forward through a plume of windblown snow, charging for the lizard.

The lizard let out a warbling shriek, rearing up on its hind legs again and sucking all of the snow in front of it together into the form of a twenty foot high wall, then coating the wall in conjured ice to create an opaque barricade with a hard, translucent coating.

A moment later another icy bomb came over the wall, appearing as if tossed, then zooming toward me as soon as it fell far enough for the lizard to push it hard with its [Frost Magick].

I used my [Surge of Might] to leap into the air, calling upon my [Air Magick] once more to empower my leap and get clear of the shell….

It only half-worked. The shell detonated below me a split-second after I jumped, sending me spinning but not altering my trajectory. But I didn’t need to be well-oriented—I was reaching out with my claim, funneling a massive amount of mana into the air, a line that followed a path straight downward toward the lizard, quickly reaching the edge of the creature’s claim now that I was this close.

Lighting cut the red night as I ignited my mana, its sudden, cacophonous crack ringing out across the mountains around us as it rent the air between us, the most powerful bolt I’d yet thrown in the new world.

?—Mana 489/1940?—[Surge Pool] 58/100

Through a haze of steam, I could feel with my [Wild Bond] that it was still alive.

I pushed myself to the ground with my air magic, then surged strength and bounded across the snow on all fours, kicking up a flurry behind me before skidding to a halt beneath the creature’s steam-shrouded form and pulling my axe free of my harness.

A red heat welled up in the steam ahead of me as I raised my weapon, and a moment later the lizard breathed out a plume of fire. I reached into my claim behind me and drew forth the cool air there, blowing it against the firebreath and diverting the stream long enough for me to come out of my crouch with a surge of strength and smash the front-facing pick of my slayer’s axe into the lizard’s throat.

It gargled, and a stream of fire trailed my axe as I tore it sidelong through the creature’s throat, scorching my face.

The creature’s tail came round to lash at me, and I fell to one knee, slashing the end of the tail clean off. Its claw came down on me a moment later and I surged my strength again, the axe snapping upward to cleave off two of its claws.

It let out a piteous, gurgling cry, leaping back while I regained my stance, conjuring a smaller wall of ice as it did so—only while it had leapt back, I’d pushed forward with my claim, drawing a line of mana toward it that ended halfway between us, invading its claim so that I left a hole in its wall of ice.

I leapt, and as I crested the top of its hastily-conjured ice wall, I trailed the last of my mana into the air, then ignited a shaped bolt of lightning that reached down along the arc of my leap and bent to strike the lizard through the hole in its wall of ice.

The creature hissed, momentarily stunned by the bolt of lightning—and I landed with the pick of my axe between its eyes a moment later, forcing its head to the ground before I used the last of my [Surge Pool] to tear the axe free in a spray of blood and shattered bone.

+ 44,561 Essence

+ 2 [Boon]

Your level limit has increased to 26!

I stood over the corpse as it twitched, gasping, my breath fogging in the chill air. Its firebreath had scorched my arm and face, and my skin was waxy along the side of my arm where it had hit the worst. As I spent my [Life Pool] to heal these wounds, my face slowly spread into a grin. I looked down at its broken, steaming remains.

“You were incredible!” I told it.