Liv jumped to her feet, ready to unleash a wind blade on anyone nearby. There was no one to face her wrath, the stars twinkling alone in the sky. She sighed, sinking back down onto the rooftop. Everything hurt. The speed from her newest move was far too much for her body to handle without enhancing it further than she could at the moment. Her energy pool also ached from it's recent expansion, probably done after she conked out on the rooftop. Liv formed a tentative theory on how to get one's energy pool to increase. Maybe it had to do something with the hardships they faced, or the spirits seeing them as worthy? 

  One's energy pool advanced naturally as people used energy, pulling it's bounds outwards. However, Liv had only seen this drastic(and painful) expansion after fights. Liv tapped her stomach, her aching arm complaining at the motion. She forcefully pushed herself up. There was no time to waste here- they'd undoubtedly discovered the murder. Liv looked over the rooftop, seeing more guards than before patrolling the streets. There were also signs posted with her face on them. "How do they know what I look like?," Liv questioned to herself, dropping into a quiet alley to examine one of the posters.

  Ripping it off the wall, Liv read down the page. "This girl is demanded for arrest on account of assassinating the glorious Headmaster. She has no bound spirit, and her abilities are unknown. This was verified by timebinders. Most of the fight was blotted out by Dream, preventing more information from being acquired."

  Liv frowned. Was the headmaster important enough that they would put up signs for her? Also, why'd they call in timebinders? They were ridiculously expensive, and in the stories, greedy as hell.

  She jumped back up to the roof, hopping around towards the gates. Whatever the case, Liv couldn't stay here long. Eventually, she would get found, and that wouldn't mean a good ending. Liv kept jumping towards her way out, suddenly being stopped by a voice from below. "Where could she have gone? There's no way this rat could have escaped the city. The gates are closed, and all the secret passages are being watched. Our bounty's hiding somewhere."

  Another voice replied. "She's likely far too powerful for us. This girl defeated the Headmaster, whether she snuck up or not."

  A stronger voice spoke up. "Enough! We're going after this girl because we'll be rich after bringing them her head. No matter what tricks she has, we'll win. There's no way someone without a bound spirit can defeat five binders."

  The room quieted at that, and Liv left. If the gates were closed, there was no way out in that direction. The gates were as tall as the walls around them, and the walls themselves were far too tall to climb. Liv shook her head, sitting down on a rooftop. She would just have to survive until they opened the gates again. The city lord couldn't lock down the city forever. There had to be a way in and out opened, eventually, or famine would set in without food from outside, and trade would falter.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Liv dropped down from the rooftop, snatching a bun from a merchant's stall and disappearing before he knew it had been taken. Munching on it, Liv jumped to the center of the city. Now that she had time, why not do a little sightseeing?

  Liv knew this was incredibly dumb. However, there was no going back now. Liv stood in front of the Church of wind, the building housing an ancient ritual site which was fabled to turn the city around the site into a Gate of Wind, which is how Maanterin earned it's name. No one had seen it done, or recieved any reactions from the site at all.

  She walked through the doors, none of the people around taking any notice. Quickly pulling the hat she'd stolen down over her face, Liv walked towards the altar. Turning on her magic vision, she could see spirits clustering around the altar, all of them green orbs, dream spirits, and some other ones Liv didn't recognize. They all covered the altar, and Liv was careful not to disturb them as she examined it with her normal eyes.

  Cracks ran over the altar, which looked like a black stone pedestal wihtout any ornamentation or markings. Liv put her hand on it's center, the only location free of spirits. The stone seemed to hum, pulling her hand in. Liv jerked back in surprise, pulling her hand away from the altar and drawing a few wierd looks from the crowd. She swiftly walked out of the area, clambering onto another rooftop. Taking off her hat, Liv looked back down at the building. She would investigate this at night, when no prying eyes would see her. Liv darted off, finding a good rooftop to hide until night.

  Liv snuck into the building through the roof. It was a bad idea, likely worse than going into public to find the altar. However, it was cool to pull apart the wooden roof slightly so she could clamber through, then sealing it up like how she imagined a master thief would. Walking up to the altar, Liv put her hand on the altar once more, letting it stay as the humming started again. The altar hummed, the power increasing until it climaxed, a breeze flowing throughout the room. The dream spirits joined, the breeze changing intrinsically. The other spirits in the room also joined, and Liv now recognized them as lightning and water spirits, joining what could now only be classified as a storm. The elements of dream within the storm let it stay cohesive as it spun, a small hurricane forming in the room.

  Liv took a step back, her hand released from the pedestal. Maanterin wasn't truly the Gate of Wind. That was wrong. The only name Liv could think of was the Gate of Storm.

  In another universe, a girl struggled against the winds of a hurricane, finally finding the Stormraven inside. She sang, and it broke. An ancestor of the world appeared to her and showed her the next step. A boystood in front of a flesh monster covered in gaping maws, cleaving it in half with his Thought. Another child, another boy, stood before a ruler, and defied him with his Aura. Above the worlds, destiny pulled its strings, pushing the heroes, each wielding a different power, toward each other to prevent the impending doom of existence.