Many millennia ago, an anomaly occurred in the vast region of the Cloud Plaine Kingdom. A man and a woman who were pregnant with twins were traveling to an outpost that would teleport them back to the world below. They were part of a large expedition, a grand exodus from the land they once occupied. Their kingdom was being invaded, so they broke off. Some stayed, and others left.
One of the features that the Cloud Plaine Kingdom wielded was easy travel, as it was a straight shot, with little obstructions. Besides the monsters that spawned. This rather large expedition were making great time. As they rested for the night, the entire expedition was sound asleep, beside a few guards. Unfortunately the guards were not enough for the trouble that was near.
A figure slowly rose out of the clouds. In an instant, the guards were killed by spears made entirely of clouds. The monster was some mutated elemental; it was humanoid, without a mouth or nose. It stared with blank, pure white, inhuman eyes. Weapons made completely from clouds formed all around it. A guard saw one of his comrades fall. He shouted loud, blowing a horn right before he was cut down.
The camp stirred as they heard the blast of the horn. Swords, wands, and battle staves all were drawn. Power rose from the camp as the warriors and mages prepared for battle. In a moment, flashes of various spells were fired toward the cloud being. It dodged most of the attacks easily, barely gesturing controlling the cloud weapons. The members of the expedition were being struck down with various weapons. This fight was utterly unequal. This being was too fierce, too fast, too strong, too much for this expedition.
The warning turned from fight to flee. It was not uncommon that large expeditions were attacked, but that was not the anomaly that occurred. It was the event that followed. A man with his very pregnant wife fled. They left immediately and swiftly. They ran without ever taking a break. When his wife grew tired, he would put her on her back and carry her. This was how they travelled for what felt like days.
They knew they needed to return to the ground, and they could be refugees in whatever big city they were above. Following the path of the expedition, they continued walking. The man was feeling confident; he felt like they put a good amount of distance between the monster who killed everyone and themselves. As he was walking, his wife shrieked. She grabbed her belly as the unmistakable pain ran through her body. She had entered labor.
The man faced a mixture of emotions - jubilation and fear. It was too early. She wasn’t due for another two weeks. Unfortunately, the combination of adrenaline, fear, and stress were the key emotions to induce labor. The twins wanted out, and they wanted out right then and there. What made matters even worse was a being rose up out of the clouds they were standing on. With swiftness, the monster stabbed the man in the stomach, killing him.
It walked over to the woman who was screaming in labor. Her voice words were panicked as she mourned the death of her lover and the fear of being killed while giving birth. The being tilted its head at the woman. It was curious. It looked at the woman once again, reaching out a hand. Its cloud hand began glowing bright white; it touched the womb.
Her womb began glowing brightly as the pain within her subsided. With a final scream, more so for the pressure to push two babies out at the same time. That scream was her final as the babies were born. The monster’s body began to dissolve and meld with the two babies. Their alabaster skin grew some strange markings; blue swirls appeared all over their body. The clouds around them surrounded and nourished the babies for the following months.
The babies grew very quickly, ingesting the mana from the clouds. They grew big and strong. There was one male and one female baby. Over the years, the clouds took their mana and allowed them to reproduce. Both of the beings were able to have their own offspring, giving them individuality. Over the millennia, the Tornadians grew and became synonymous with the Cloud Plaine Kingdom. There were many different factions within the growing race. They were all led under one king, the original family, Torndaious. That’s right; the supposed princess Helveesa was not a part of the more prominent, more critical family but a more minor faction.
This was why she had to resort to the foolish tactics of stealing money from those who were seeking to leave or rest in the Cloud Plaine Kingdoms. Did this matter to her? Of course not; why would it matter? She was still a princess, and this was her family’s kingdom. They had been here for as long as the elementals have been around. She would not stand for such insolence.
She unsheathed her sword and took an offensive position against the man who brazenly walked past her. Whether it was ignorance or boldness, she didn’t know, and it mattered not. What mattered was that he was disrespectful, and disrespect would not be tolerated.
“You have chosen death,” Helveesa said. “A poor choice.” A small tornado appeared in place of her legs, she and her lackeys started to create a formation around the team. All four had surrounded the four in the middle.
“One each?” Tycen asked. He pulled out his morning star; it started to glow with purple power.
“Sounds good to me,” Piper said as she pulled out a kunai knife in each hand.
“Who wants the boss?” Anna said. She took out her spell book and wand. Her robes started to flow with power as she began chanting some words. “The princess?”
“Not I,” Levi said. “You got it Anna, do your thing.”
Her eyes narrowed, and her face was full of determination, “with pleasure.” Helveesa scoffed. She moved right for Anna. The speed at which these cloud beings moved was incredible; it rivaled Piper’s speed, which was, to say, much faster than Anna's. But it was also to say, not nearly fast enough. The cloud princess swung her sword but was blocked by an onyx orb. She dodged as Anna cast shards of ice at her foe. Helveesa held up her arms in a protective manner; her bracers glowed with power. The attack bounced harmlessly off the armor.
Helveesa scoffed again, “Such a pitiful attack.” she mocked. Anna, not one to talk and fight, attacked with more spells.
Tycen was fighting a large tornadian who used heavy claymore. The weapon was too slow to cause any actual harm to Tycen. The advantage the tornadians had with speed was not helpful for one who could fly. Tycen soared high above the ground, circling the enemy. He dove down and swung his morning star and chanted words of power. The morning star began to glow, and purple sparks of energy would fly off with every swing.
The male tornadian stood no chance. It was soon on the back… foot… well, it was retreating with every swing that Tycen swung. It would try to lift the claymore in time to parry, but it was too slow. A few minutes went by without any reprieve. The male tornadian was covered in cuts that glowed with a purple hue. White blood was pouring out of each of the cuts, and the speed of the man was diminished. His tornado was gone; on staggered two feet, he fell down and bled to death.
Piper threw her knives, and they exploded with blasts of water. The tornadian she was fighting was a female about double the size of Piper. The female warrior covered her face as the water exploded. Piper used this time to create a quick ritual in front of her. Once the water cleared, the warrior made a b-line for Piper, right into Piper’s trap. Red light exploded out of the ritual circle, encasing the tornadian, who started bashing the red barrier. Spiderweb cracks started to form with each strike.
“Damn,” Piper breathed. “You’re pretty strong.”
“I’ll gut you the moment I am free,” she threatened.
“That’s not very nice,” Piper frowned. “Oh well.” She chanted a spell, and red bolts of power began shooting out of the ritual circle. Every time it connected with the tornadian, a gentle stream of red energy would make its way toward Piper. Eventually, the power of the ritual circle died down, and the tornadian resumed her pursuit. She flew toward Piper with great speed. Piper was faster. She dodged easily, put away her knives, and pulled out her short sword. She jumped over the tornadian, slashing against the exposed part of the warrior's torso.
She quickly threw two knives before the warrior could turn around. With each explosion, she made her way over quickly, covering the distance. By the time the water cleared, Piper had arrived; she was right in front of the tornadian who screamed defiance before cold steel slit her throat. White blood exploded out, the tornado diminished, and the warrior fell dead on the cloudy floor.
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Levi was tired. It was not that long ago they had completed the dungeon. Although he had used some recovery rituals when they thought they were getting attacked. It was still no substitute for a good night’s rest. This led Levi to want to finish this battle as quickly as possible. So he let Anza loose.
“Finish it,” he ordered. Anza and ten drones appeared from a blue and orange glow, respectively. The foe tasked with facing Levi froze. It dropped its weapon and diminished its tornado.
“Take me as a slave,” he said, kneeling. “I knew not that you were a summoner.” Levi’s right eyebrow almost shot off of his face.
“I don’t do slaves,” Levi said. The whole concept made him very uncomfortable. If Levi was honest, he wasn’t the most comfortable with killing, yet he did it out well, not getting killed himself.
“Have mercy,” the tornadian begged. As soon as Levi went to open his mouth, a sword came lashing through, severing the head at the neck. The tornadian’s body fell as white blood oozed from the neck. Levi’s eyes went wide as he froze. He looked to see the crown princess. In front of him, her blade over the dead body. She spat.
“Weak,” she growled. “He was undeserving of death; torture for years would have been better. But he held too many secrets.” She turned her villainous gaze on Levi.
Anna’s battle was not going as smoothly as she’d like. She had managed to keep her foe at bay for the most part, but she was unable to land any worthwhile hits. It was infuriating. It was clear that this being was on the edge of advancement and focused on vitality. With such high defense and her armor, which wielded high magical defense properties, almost all of Anna’s attacks were ineffective. She pushed her opponent back and looked at the other battles taking place.
Tycen had the front foot; he would be fine. Piper also looked like she was controlling the battle. She glanced over at Levi and did a double take. Why was the person in front of him kneeling? Anna quickly realized she was still in her own battle. After returning her attention, she noticed that the princess was also observing the odd behavior. Her aura flared, and she darted with speed Anna had never seen before toward the battle.
Freaked out that she was going to attack Levi, Anna began summoning her most significant spell. It would leave her wholly spent and force her recovery to be much longer. She didn’t care. The clouds rose all around her and began layering, turning dark gray. Thunder roared inside the clouds as ice chunks began to form inside the gathering storm.
Levi looked at the princess, his face confused.
“Why did you do that?” he asked. “That was your own team member?”
“He’d rather surrender than die, I granted his wish,” she spat once again.
“What? That makes no sense, you’d rather throw your life away than try to live and escape for another day?”
“I’d rather die then become a slave. Death is better than bondage.”
Levi shrugged, “I can’t really argue that point…” he said. Would that have been the choice he made? No. He wasn’t going to fault someone for not wanting to endure slavery, torture, or whatever horrible things that could happen. Levi would just rather fight than give up. Well, okay, Levi, now, after being in this world for a year, I would rather fight than give up. He did have to admit the irony of his stance. Anyone who knew him no more than a year and a half ago would have said he gave up. Which, in fairness, he had. He had given up; he had thrown his life away, sure it wasn’t physical death. However, letting your social, relational, mental, and emotional life all perish was not much better.
Levi was just one of the lucky ones who was offered, or forced, an opportunity to be something better. Sure, there was a lot of pressure, saving the world and all. But it was a form of stress he had not felt in so many years. These were emotions he had not experienced in far too long. It was a sense of challenge; was it scary? Absol freaking lutely, but Levi was also excited. He was excited to -
“You DARE ignore me,” the princess interrupted his inner monologue. “DIE!”
“Sorry, was having an internal breakthrough,” Levi apologized. As Helveesa made her move toward Levi, a massive blizzard rolled over Helveesa. Hail the size of softballs, shards of onyx stones, icicles, snow, and heavy wind blasted Helveesa. Once the blizzard died down, there was a frozen Swiss cheese version of the crown princess. Holding her sword. The hail and onyx stones went straight through her with winds exceeding 60 miles per hour.
Levi looked over at Anna, who had collapsed. He rushed over and picked her up. She was alive, just very spent. She had fainted from over-exertion. Levi carried Anna over to where the rest of the group was.
“Y’all good?” He said. Feeling impressed that he was able to carry Anna on theme with his introspection, he would have never been able to do this before.
“I am unharmed,” Tycen said.
“All good,” Piper said with a smile. “You? What happened?”
“The blizzard happened,” Levi replied. “Yeah, I’m good. Come on.”
“Did you get loot?” Tycen asked. “I know that’s a thing for you.”
“I did,” Levi said. “I haven’t looked yet; let’s head check out an Inn first before I do.” Tycen nodded. Levi placed Anna on Anza’s back as they walked into the outpost. As they walked in, they saw that there weren’t a lot of people around. A cloud elemental that had gained sapients approached.
“Goodday, welcome to outpost 19, how may I be of assistance?” it asked.
“We’re looking to teleport down,” Tycen said. “How much does it cost?”
“Of course, sir,” he said with a bow. “That would be four silver in total, one per each being.” Tycen nodded and pulled out the needed coins. “Right, follow me if you would.” The cloud elemental led us through the small outpost, where different creatures resided, and gave us assessing looks. None of them were that strong that would have posed a threat, so Levi wasn’t concerned. “Might I ask, did you happen to run into some lower members of the royal family?”
“We did,” Tycen said. “They were quite rude.”
“Ahh, I apologize for any inconvineance they might have caused. We are prepared to reimburse you for whatever coin they took from you.”
“Not necessary,” Tycen replied with a devious smile. “They were taken care of.” The cloud elemental froze. Levi looked at him curiously. It was hard to tell on an elemental, but it almost looked like there was a smile that crossed the not really face of the monster.
“Well, that’s too bad,” it said. Not really sounding like it was bad at all. “Oh well, I will miss them.” It definitely would not miss them. Levi smirked at Piper; she hid a giggle. She had slipped her hand into his as they were being led by the elemental. “Here we are,” he said. He held out his… hand? It was a cloudy stub. Tycen put his hand under it, and the four silver pieces fell. “That’s for helping us with our pest problem.”
“Uhhh,” Levi said. “You’re welcome?”
“The portal is ready for you whenever you are,” it replied, definitely smiling. “Take care and safe travels. Good luck adventurers.”
The portal began to glow, and they all stepped through the glimmering gate. Levi stepped through and felt his stomach doing backflips. It was unsettling, to say the least. He knelt to the ground, trying to keep his faculties together. After a few calming breaths, he was able to stabilize himself. He looked at the grass that he was kneeling on. It was brown, not brown like it was dead, brown like it was spray painted brown.
“Uhh, any idea where we are?” Levi asked. In the distance was a large city. The only issue was a massive body of water separated them from the city. They had appeared on an island somewhere in the world.
“No,” Tycen said, furrowing his brows.
“I don’t either,” Piper said. “That city looks familiar though… like I had seen a painting of it somewhere but I cannot place my finger on it.”
“Well, it looks like there is a town on the coast; maybe a ferry goes to that city every once in a while. Let’s head there and get some food and rest,” Levi said. Everyone nodded in agreement. They made their way down the hill they were standing on toward the coastal town.
Back in the Cloud Plaine Kingdom, the cloud elemental looked at the portal.
“Was the location you requested the correct one, my lady?”
“Yessss, it wassss.”