Kazius tensed up, wondering how the strange woman could have gotten behind him. Slowly turning around, he was went on his guard.

“Who-” Kazius began, wondering who she was and what she even meant by refusing her song.

“I suppose that is why I can’t decide whether I should be angry at or impressed by you, Dark One… Though considering how I owe you, it is hard to be angry… I have never seen my Champion have so much fun… Or even smile in such a way, even after granting him my power.” The strange woman would say.

Now that Kazius had turned to see her, he realized this woman was actually no stranger. He had actually seen her multiple times before… After all, there was a statue of her near his new home. Considering this was the peak of Mount Cyklon… And her appearance, there was just no one else she could be.

It was Vind, in the flesh. She really did live in this mountain.

She was quite the beauty and her statue did not do her justice. Then again, she was a Goddess and the statue had been made by The First Chief, not some craftsman or artist.

She had long green curly hair that would reach her rear, it constantly swayed in the wind that seemed to come from her herself. As for her eyes, they were a golden color that shined. Her clothes were a white robe adorned with gold and emeralds. Her face was adorned with nothing but irritation and it was directed at him.

She sat on a rock; her legs crossed as she seemed to be drinking some wine from a glass. Where she even got such a thing while on a mountain… Kazius had no clue.

‘Vind? Is it really her? Champion? Is she talking about Damon?’

“I am Vind, The Queen of the Winds. This mountain is my home… As you can see, the wind in Mount Cyklon is my doing… It is my song… This is my domain… Which you are intruding on, may I add. I will admit, I am surprised you manage to come into my realm… Not even my Champion has managed that… Even though I much rather speak with him than with you… Yet you are the one here instead… You even speak my tongue, how curious… Though considering things, I suppose it is expected… If I recall, your kind always does what they want… All so insolent.” She would state, her words just came right after the other. It was like she never took a breath. Her words were like wind to the face that never stopped.

“I don’t know how I could have offended you… I don’t even know what I did to stop the wind from affecting me, but I am sorry about that. It is nothing personal against your song. I also don’t know what sort of experience you have with my kind, but I have never met anyone else like me… So if you could tell me more about them, then I would be grateful…”Kazius questioned, feeling lost and a bit concerned that he already was disliked by the Goddess of his own people without even speaking to her much. Due to this, he tried to be as polite as he could, but that did not help the situation.

“I see… How curious… You know nothing.” Vind spoke to herself more than him. She barely acknowledged what he said, especially his apology. Their conversation was beginning to feel very one sided.

‘She seems to be more aloof than Azanor when he is being evasive… Great… Am I even going to get answers from her? I will probably just keep the fact Vind doesn’t seem to like me very much to myself…’

“My Champion used to come here crying… Hiding here, despite my wind… He was such a scrawny and miserable little thing back then… Even my favor did not stop his weeping… But now he seems happier… He considers you a friend, from what I have witnessed… I suppose I could tell you something good, as thanks… Even though I really don’t want to help you… And I wished my Champion picked better company… Your actions and blood are enough reason for me to blow you off this mountain… And you are oh so insolent… No one has dared reject my beautiful song before… Until you, Dark One…. You might be worse than your father… I didn’t even know Seselis had a son… Yet there is no way you are anyone else’s son other than that abhorrent umbra… I had no clue anyone could be even more insolent than him… Anyway… Here is the one and only gift I will ever give you… Seek out the Temple in Mount Ulf… The secret entrance should be hidden in an archway of stones that seem to lead to nowhere… Beware of the guardian… The key is not needed if you have the shadows… Now… If you will excuse me… I will return to enjoying my song and drink. Now go, Dark One… And don’t you dare show me your horrid face again. Take good care of my Champion.” She would dismiss with a wave like he was a fly, blowing wind at his face.

“Seselis? Wai-“ Kazius began, but she barely let him get a word in.

Before Kazius could protest or ask more questions, the wind would blow harder than ever for a second, blinding him temporarily, a gust purposefully hitting his eyes before he would find himself at the peak… Alone… An odd shrine now where Vind once stood, Vind’s symbol right in the center of the stone shrine.

Kazius frowned. Her dismissiveness greatly annoyed him and her attitude genuinely made him angry.

‘First The Oracle screws with my life and now Vind treats me with disgust without me even doing anything… I am really getting tired of all these so-called gods just messing with me… If I don’t believe in them, will they leave me the fuck alone? Though I guess they have been a bit helpful… Even if they are annoying…’

“Kazius!” He would then suddenly hear, snapping him out of his thoughts, Damon and Alice approaching.

“Are you okay? You never told us why you ran ahead… The bet wasn’t that serious, you know? I was worried when you almost slipped like that…” Alice stated in concern, panting from effort. After all, going to the top was not easy and at the moment, the wind was affecting her more intensely than ever. It was a miracle she could even breathe considering she was only Human.

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“I am fine… I should be asking you that too… You seem exhausted… I’m sorry for going off ahead… I just wanted to check something.” Kazius responded, irritation fading from his face when he saw Alice. He looked concerned, his expression softening before he began helping her support her weight. She looked about ready to fall over.

Damon sighed, looking relieved.

“That was crazy… Your shadow just came out of nowhere! I had a mini heart attack when I thought I wouldn’t be able to grab you in time! You have no idea how worried I was! I had no idea you could do that! No point in worrying though… I should be praising you! I am proud you made it up here, both of you! Just no running up ahead next time.” Damon scolded lightly. He was usually quite carefree, but he did worry about his friends.

“Sorry… To both of you.” Kazius stated sheepishly.

“I didn’t mean to worry you both.” He added with a small smile.

“It is okay.” Alice sighed out, catching her breath while leaning on him.

“I am happy though, other than The First Chief, we are the only ones to have seen the main shrine of Vind! Today is a day for celebration for sure! How about we go down and have a feast?’ Damon questioned, forgetting about his concern and growing happy again.

At the mention of Vind, it took a lot for Kazius to not make a face. He would not tell Damon something as bad as ‘your Goddess is a bitch’ or anything of the sort. So, he simply nodded, deciding to keep the secret of his meeting with her… And when they got to Mount Ulf, he would have to naturally bring up the idea of going into the temple there…

‘Still… She said something else that was helpful… Didn’t she say I was the son of someone named Seselis?’

Kazius thought to himself. He supposed that would be a question for Azanor… He might know who Seselis is…

‘I just hope he actually answers when I ask him about Seselis… I know Azanor acts paranoid whenever I bring up my kind…’

“I think a celebration is a great idea…” Kazius agreed, going into thought. Normally Damon grabbed them and jumped down whenever they got tired… Instead of walking all the way back down. Perhaps it was a bad idea, but Kazius was beginning to feel confident enough in getting down on his own. His own shadow catching him was giving him confidence in the attempt. Not to mention, he wanted to understand his power better and get stronger.

“Alright, let’s get down the mountain. I think I can get down on my own today.” Kazius added.

Damon and Alice both looked surprised at the suggestion.

“Are you sure?” Alice asked in concern, clearly worried about what could go wrong.

“It is no trouble to help you down, that is what friends are for.” Damon assured in confusion.

“I know, but, I am sure. I have an idea. I am confident it will be fine. You should also know by now, I can manage something like this, I got us up that wall back at Remus and down from it too. If you want to try anything, I could probably catch you too.” Kazius reassured with a small grin, starting to feel more confident in himself and his abilities.

“I think I want to try too then… All this wind from the mountain gave me a bit of an idea.” Alice stated eagerly.

“Buahaha! Look at you two! And here I thought you couldn’t make me prouder! Alright then, how about a race down? This time I can participate too!” Damon beamed eagerly with a wide grin.

“Oh, you’re going down!” Alice beamed, excited at yet another race. After all, she wanted to redeem herself since she lost the race up Mount Cyklon.

“Well, I would hope so. I am going down, before you do.” Kazius teased playfully.

“You know what I meant.” Alice stated with an eyeroll and grin.

The trio would approach the edge of the mountain, able to spot quite the crow had formed even from this distance. A lot of people were waiting for them.

“On 3?” Alice questioned.

“That will make it fairer.” Kazius agreed.

“Alright… 3… 2… 1!” Kazius decided to count before they would all get a head start over the edge.

Damon went down a lot faster than usual without having to carry them, he used the wind to go down faster, while also bracing himself to cushion his fall.

Kazius had been curious about what Alice intended to do. After all, he couldn’t think of a power she had that could help her, but she had sounded so confident that he didn’t argue. What she did surprised him for sure, as well as her speed.

After taking the leap off the mountain, Alice would quickly draw her massive heirloom sword, crouching in the air as she held onto the hilt. Her violet eyes seemed to almost shine for a second before she started to fly down quickly on it , controlling the metal of her blade to go down even faster than even Damon. The friction from such a thing was of course intense, but it was probably nothing compared to the wind of Mount Cyklon.

As for Kazius, he fell down the mountain with incredible speed, not doing anything for a while at first, which was how he had time to study Alice and Damon. It was then when he saw the shadows in the distance of the foot of the mountain where everyone was waiting. Last time he had to climb the wall at Remus, he moves along flat surfaces from shadow to shadow… But Kazius realized… If the shadows had arms, mouths, ears, and could even become him… He realized that he could become them… Why wouldn’t he be able to? Just like how they could become him to save him, the reverse should be true.

With that logic in mind, despite Alice being in the lead in their race, Kazius simply took the place of the shadow he saw in the distance. Deciding to appear next to Azanor to mess with him.

“So, what are we looking at?” Kazius joked, looking up at the others as they landed, blending with the crowd since they were too busy looking up to notice him.

At his sudden appearance, not only was Azanor a bit surprised, but as Alice began to land triumphantly, her sword stopping midair when she noticed him.

“What?! Oh, come on!” Alice whined, clearly wanting to win this time.

Damon was the last to land, “Buhaha! I can’t believe you both beat me down! Looks like I have some training to do!” He beamed.

Azanor had been surprised, but considering he could fully actually teleport himself; likely a normal ability for Demons, he was not too surprised to see Kazius could manage something similar.

“Congratulations.” Azanor stated at all of them.

“You were so high up! Good job!” Eve exclaimed happily, clapping.

“Chief! I did not see you go down! To think we have 3 people able to make it to the top of Mount Cyklon! Vind surely is smiling upon us with blessings! It must be a sign of great things to come during your leadership! I insist on a feast. In fact, one should already be waiting for us.” Egil stated in awe, admiration in every word he said and on his face.

Kazius struggled to not grimace. He was excited for the feast, but at the mention of Vind… Well, he supposed what his people didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. After all, if they discovered Vind hated him, that would cause a rebellion for sure… Thankfully, considering Vind had been unable to talk to even Damon… Her telling such things to anyone else was unlikely.