Liv healed, albeit slowly. The radiant scars curling down her arms turned into mundane scars holding the same shape. The rest of her body healed as well, until she could move again, and eventually run. Her Voice and Will pushed against each other, the edges of each of their pools brushing up against the other, but no Aether crystallized.

  Liv would know-she was carefully watching.

  Eventually, she was cleared by the doctors and started practicing with the company again. News eventually arrived at the castle that the enemy had suddenly disappeared, leaving the woods to the elves.

  Liv expected this was a trap-after all, she'd only killed one of their weaker commanders.

  Zara thought so, too, carefully sending out patrols to make sure the land was clear. No one in any of them saw the dark elves or corrupted dryads, but they did find a letter.

  Dear elves and dryads,

  I invite you to join my company.

  You will get paid well for your talents.

  An example of one of my employees-The King of Flames. I trust you've heard of him.

  -IIII

  None of the elves could figure out who the signature was from-after all, it was a set of four bars, without any other indications of who it was from.

  Liv eventually remembered to ask about the altar, getting led directly to it by the queen.

  "Where are we going?," Liv asked, as the queen confidently walked out the gates.

  "Directly to the encampment you attacked," the queen said, glancing back at her.

  "That'll take a while to get to."

  The queen shook her head. "As soon as we get out of sight, carry me and start going faster."

  Liv gaped, surprised. "You don't seem to care much for proprietry."

  The queen shook her head. "You're right, I don't."

  When Liv judged they were out of earshot, she flashed over to the queen, picking her up. The queen let out a yelp of surprise as Liv grabbed her in a princess carry, starting to run. They traveled quite quickly as Liv ran on top of the water, the spirits within more than happy to let her. The wind boosted her, and the lightning increased her speed immensely, but Liv held back to avoid killing the queen. Eventually, the queen let out a sound Liv thought she'd never hear from her. "WHEEEEEEE!"

  Liv slowed down. "Uh, could you repeat that?," she asked, staring down into the queen's eyes.

  "...No," the queen said, quietly, starting to blush.

  Liv, confused, just started to run again, flying across the bog.

  Eventually, they reached the previous encampment, which was now destroyed. She put the queen down at the edge and followed her wobbly walking towards the center.

  The queen stopped at the center of the encampment, looking around. When she spotted the big tent, now sporting multiple holes and many burn marks, she strode off towards it, slowly regaining her walking skills. Reaching the tent, she walked inside, and, seeing the beds within, walked over to the one farthest away from them. As Liv walked over, she could already feel the altar. Internally, she slapped herself. She was this close and didn't notice?

  Liv pulled the bed aside, the altar now visible under it. As if it was compressed, the altar suddenly grew, reaching the size she was used to seeing them at. Liv reached out to touch it, then stopped herself, looking at the queen. "You... may want to step away," she said.

  The queen nodded, walking away from the altar as Liv touched it. Her energy got sucked into the altar, spirits of Poison and Nature, along with a single spirit of Cataclysm, starting to swirl around her. Liv felt them unleash their power, watching plants suddenly grow at incredible speeds, gaining the power to cause a calamity. Poison dripped off of the growing thorns, the plants making a barrier around her.

  Then, the sucking stopped, and the plants started to recede. Liv pulled her hand away from the altar, ready to leave, when she realized she couldn't. The process wasn't done yet. The altar started sucking out her Will, imbuing it with the same elements as her Voice, copying along the existing elements as well. Once again, the circle of plants started, fueled by her own mind and not spirits this time. It, once again, receded, and Liv tried to pull her hand away, suspecting the next occurrence. As expected, her hand stuck to the altar. Liv sighed, readying herself for what was going to come.

  The rest of her Will and Voice got sucked out of her, the inscriptions on the altar lighting up. The energies followed the inscriptions to the top of the altar, where a small depression lay. The energies were fed into each other, generating a pool of Aether in the center.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The familiar voice spoke to her once again, as Liv desperately ripped her hand away from the altar. You know you want it.

  A dome of wood encased the altar as Liv pulled out all the power she had. She felt the Aether inside, ready to explode. She piled on more, and more, and ever more, never feeling like it was enough. After burying the altar under a massive dome, Liv felt the explosion.

  A line of radiance flew into the sky, the power easily breaching the dome. Liv sighed in relief. The only reason she was still alive was because it wasn't aimed at her.

  She stepped towards the queen, who seemed incredibly calm. "Was that Aether?"

  "The explosion? Yes," Liv replied, turning to look at the dome.

  The queen shook her head. "The voice."

  Liv nodded. "Yes. Do you understand now?"

  The queen sadly, slowly, looked into Liv's eyes. "Yes," the queen whispered.

  They reached the elven kingdom, being greeted by Jade at the gates. Liv and the queen entered, Jade haranguing them. The queen seemed abnormally quiet, so Liv took it upon herself to answer all the questions put to her.

  "What was that explosion?," Jade asked, looking concerned for the first time, ever.

  "That was us," Liv said, refusing the explain any more as she recounted their small expedition.

  They reached the castle, Jade running up the stairs to her room. Liv turned to the queen, opening her mouth when the queen forestalled her with a single finger.

  "You're going to leave, aren't you?"

  Liv nodded. "Yes. I still need to find the hooded man, and find out what happened between him and my parents."

  The queen, knowing her story, nodded. "I have no leads for you. Just know that if he's anywhere, I would expect someone of that caliber to be in the capital. Tales are told of your parents, and not just anyone could fight them."

  Liv nodded. "Which direction?"

  The queen shrugged. "I don't know. We're in the middle of the forest, and the elves haven't had contact with the outside world for god knows how long."

  Liv nodded. "I'll find it."

  "And one more thing," the queen said. "I understand about Aether. You were right. Also, take this," she spoke, reaching into the small bag she carried.

  "You said one thing. That's two!," Liv said.

  The queen smiled, pulling out a coin. "It seems I cannot count. Anyways, this is all the money the elves have in the outside world. Trade this to any bank and you'll get all the money we've hoarded. Think of this as a small recompense for what you've done for us. Come back and visit anytime!"

  Liv nodded, walking off backwards in the direction of the gate, waving before she turned back around. She stared at her feet, continuing to walk until the queen's voice reached her. "You're literally going off without any supplies. Get back here. Also, that's the wrong direction."

  Liv looked up, seeing that, yes, she was going the wrong direction. Turning, she ran back to the queen, who held a pack and pointed in the exact opposite direction she'd just gone. "Shoo."

  Liv nodded, walking away from perhaps the unqueenliest queen in existence. "Bye!," she shouted, before starting to jog through the streets.

  A ways through the forest, Liv turned back for a final look at the massive trees of the elven city. Smiling, she turned, starting to walk off to a new adventure.

  The hooded man faced the generals of the dark elves and corrupted dryads. "What are these problems I'm hearing about?"

  The dark elf licked his lips, his throat suddenly growing dry. "Sir, one of our lesser generals is missing."

  "And one of my lesser dryad generals is missing."

  The hooded man looked between them. "Did they go missing, or did they run off and have an affair?"

  The dark elf noticed the pleading eyes the dryad gave him, and so, gave the report. "Our scouts say it was a pair of human girls. They easily kileld the dryad site commander and then fought the dark elf commander in the woods, after his increase in power. The dark elf almost won, before the girls forced him back and unleashed a beam of light, ending him."

  The hooded man stared the commander in the eye before suddenly ripping off his head. He turned to the dryad, whose power suddenly increase. She looked at her muscles in wonder. "You're the commander of the dryads and the dark elves. When you exit this room, send someone inside to clean up this mess."

  The hooded man strode away from his desk to the door behind it, opening it and stepping through. Walking down the short passageway to his rooms, the hooded man performed a quick hand signal. When he entered his room, a man stood there, waiting for him. "How is the King of Flames doing?," he asked.

  The man looked out the window. "Not very well, lord. He's caught the girl multiple times, but she always manages to escape him. He's found that she's traveling towards the capital, sir."

  The hooded man looked out the window, at the rest of the capital surrounding him. "We need to be careful, then. We can't kill openly without a throwaway."

  The man nodded, recognizing this as the end of his orders. He disappeared, as if he was never in the room. The hooded man reached out, making a fist.

  "Girl, I will have your power."

  The gods looked down at the world, noticing the blast of Aether. "Oh? Someone's using Aether?," the god of fire, Ignen, said.

  "Apparently," the goddess of Illusions, Illisia, replied."

  Suddenly, a burst of Domination happened in its vicinity as well. Another burst emerged directly in between the ring of gods, and they watched a man rip open space. "Hello. I know you're planning to steal the person who released the Aether. Just know you can't. Goodbye," the man said, and without any fanfare, proceeded to rip a hole in space.

  He suddenly stopped, taking a step back. A beam of eradication, powered by Void, shot directly in front of him. Jay turned. "Do you really want to fight me?"

  The gods looked frightened at the mere prospect, while one of them, a newer god who likely hadn't experienced what he could do yet, nodded. "I am the god of Eternity. Us gods get to do whatever we want to do, and that means you cannot step in our way! I will kill you and regain the honor of the gods! Besides, what can a non-god do to a god?"

  Jay sighed. "You claim to be the god of Eternity? Already, I can sense you don't even understand the concept."

  The god's face turned red as he shot off another beam of destruction. Another god spoke up, attempting to save him. "Kid, he has a spirit of Eternity with him... The last one, in fact... Even without it, he could still win."

  The god ignored his counsel, determined to fight. Jay sighed. "No more warnings, then. You die now."

  Ichor flew through space as the god fell apart, suddenly carved into many pieces, all falling apart and floating away. Jay gave the gods one last sentence. "You may be gods, but you've allowed yourselves to be corrupted by the higher energies. Also, know that was Amondrienne, not me. I didn't move an inch. You do remember what happened the last time I truly fought, don't you?"

  The gods stared in abject fear at the space where the man had just stood, having teleported without bothering to rip open space.