“This is the Temporal Magic, the magic of Time. As Space is actually its own Element, naturally its other counterpart must be about.” It was so casual the way I said it, but I saw the tremble in Thunderbird’s feathers at seeing the magic made manifest.

According to Babe, being able to sense the edge of Time is what made the greatest of the Beast Emperors who they were, almost immortal creatures! The fact I was bringing it up so casually was both horrifying and incredible to Thunderbird... because as soon as I let it go, He couldn’t feel it any more...

The ethereal, misty motes that faded in and out of existence, like a cloudy lens that was just out of focus, rippled as I swept my hand through them. “This is Divination Magic, a magic unsought and unappreciated for the power of one’s Magical Awareness and various passive senses of the other Elements. The last is the Silver Magic, the Magic of breaking Magic and Purification, defying other Magic at the purest level,” I finished up in the same bland tone as the pure liquid silver flared like starmotes, and then faded smoothly away.

“YOU CAN TOUCH THE POWER OF TIME...” Thunderbird stared at me in disbelief.

“His Majesty also touches the power of time, every time He hops through dimensions.” I Blinked from where I was seated to another fifty yards away, His eye on me even as I materialized, not fooled in the slightest. “There, you see? You knew where this one was going to emerge.

“His Majesty knows that when one crosses space like this, one is traveling through the Dimension of Time to do so?”

He stared at me, and all His feathers began to stand up on edge, humming with a fundamental power that extended out into the firmament, seething, searching, poking at the Veil without actually touching it, trying to see. The six Stormbound Eagles around literally could not tear their eyes away in fascination for what they were seeing.

“FLOWING SILVER DID NOT MENTION THAT YOU HAD KNOWLEDGE OF TIME...” He murmured, looking away and casting about with sharp motions, as if He could see what was not there.

“The subject of Time never came up. This one did not speak with Him often, for there was a bit of a war on at the time.” I tilted my head slightly. “Is the Magic of Time so important for you, Your Imperial Majesty?”

“I HAVE SOUGHT THE TOUCH OF TIME FOR THOUSANDS OF TURNING OF THE SEASONS, AND YOU WIELD IT AS AN AFTER THOUGHT, HEALER FAE...”

“Its touch is all about you, Your Imperial Majesty. You feel it every moment of every day. This one thinks what you wish is to see it as you do space, and that... is not so easy. Everyone and everything can see space, an enhanced view of it is nothing much. Seeing Time, now...” I made an exploding motion at my head. “One needs a fifth-dimensional point of view, and that requires a mind not limited by the physical body.

“Also very dangerous, as there are plenty of things that notice when such minds pop up, and they attract attention.”

He shuffled a moment in surprise. “THIS...” the great True Emperor of North America murmured in shock. “IT IS THE HIGH EMPERORS WHO ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF THE DARK REALMS?”

“Souls flow into the Underworld from countless Realms and places, like trickles of water filtering through the ground, Your Imperial Majesty. Those who can perceive Time are not trickles of water. They are stars shining atop mountains, islands in the flow of Time, absolute things where all is in motion. If the High Emperors can perceive Time, they are the single most visible thing from other Realms, more visible than the planet itself.”

“YOU DO NOT POSSESS THIS ABILITY,” the greatest of the Eagles murmured. “YET YOU CAN TOUCH THE POWER OF TIME?”

“That is much like asking if one needs to be looking at the ocean to dip a bucket in a stream or well, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“HOW DOES ONE CONCEAL THEMSELVES FROM THOSE WHO WOULD SEE THEM, THEN?” Thunderbird Emperor asked after thinking about my reply. I was right, of course. One didn’t need to understand all Fire or even see a source of it to wield Fire Magic, or any other Magic.

“My guess is that is the power level of a Realm Lord, Your Imperial Majesty. For instance, the Underworld invasion of the Beast Realm did not begin until well after the Dark Lords of that Realm had begun infiltrating Earth. This one believes they saw the connections of the Summoning Magic to the Beast Realm, followed them back, and in doing so located another Realm that had no connection to theirs, even via the souls of the dead. They likely considered it quite serendipitous.”

Thunderbird Emperor flapped His wings once, grabbing ahold of me with TK and carrying me with Him as He basically hopped back to His nest and settled down within it, setting me down on a jutting log some ten feet thick. His Stormcrowned attendants settled on other perches all around, listening in as Thunderbird actually bent His head to stare at me.

“THERE ARE NO REALM LORDS ON THIS WORLD, HEALER FAE,” He stated with absolute certainty, golden eyes nominally hard to meet, since they were basically as tall as I was. Quite overwhelming.

Dauntless and Aura of Valor no-sold the intimidation factor, thank you, thank you...

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Aye, Your Imperial Majesty,” I agreed, also taking a seat on the ground. “The closest ones are in the Underworld, and the Realm of Light.”

He stirred again. “THOSE FORCES OF LIGHT HAVE REMAINED DISTANT SINCE THEY EMPOWERED SOME HUMANS AS THEIR AGENTS,” He noted.

I slowly shook my head at Him as He regarded me. “No, Your Imperial Majesty. They are not distant at all. They are merely watching and waiting, collecting the souls of those sworn to the Light, and building their strength in their realm. Their Churches in various forms started rising to power at much the same time as the Underworld started gaining followers. It is very likely that either of the Realm of Light or the Underworld discovered our world first, and the other then noticed and moved to counter them, or steal it from them.

“By remaining ‘distant’, as His Majesty calls it, they tacitly force the Underworld to remain the same way, and so their confrontation is played out between mortal souls... of which they consider the Beast Emperors to be just more mortal souls.

“They are simply playing the game, counting on organization and devotion to overcome corruption and ambition... or simply for the Beast Emperors to take personal action and wipe out the Dark influences upon this world themselves. That will then force the Dark Lords of the Underworld to take personal action, and the Realm of Light can use the excuse to come down in full force and claim the entire world for themselves.

“They have the intrinsic upper hand in a direct clash against the Underworld, and they will win that direct battle without some severe sacrifices on the other side, which will only help in conflicts elsewhere. It will only help that their own mortal forces will likely be more entrenched than those of the Dark, giving them a distinct edge here.”

The Thunderbird was unblinkingly silent for long moments. “THE ONLY BEASTS OF THIS WORLD WHO SERVE THE REALM OF LIGHT ARE HUMANS,” he murmured at long last.

“His Imperial Majesty is wise,” I agreed. There were of course Beasts who served the Synod’s Sages and lesser mages, but that was not the same thing... and the Synod could Summon Beasts of the Light, too!

“THE REALM OF LIGHT WILL ALSO PURGE ALL WHO DO NOT SERVE THEM, WILL THEY NOT?” Thunderbird Emperor asked with grim certainty.

“They will, Your Imperial Majesty, with neither callousness nor cruelty. If you do not serve the Light, you will be expunged. In doing so, this world will likely be turned over to their Human faithful servants as a source of Faith and souls for perpetuity, with the threat of the Great Beasts wiped away. Humans will inherit the entire world.”

His great head, which should have seemed so threatening, as I was basically a candy bar to Him at best, turned slightly. “YOU ARE NOT A SERVANT OF THE LIGHT...”

“Correct, Your Imperial Majesty. This one is a Servant of Heaven. ‘The Light’ is a euphemism used by Heaven’s rivals to misdirect potential adherents of Heaven into serving it, as ‘the Underworld’ and ‘the Darkness’ are terms used to misrepresent who is actually profiting from their actions.

“If this one may be so bold as to present something to His Imperial Majesty...”

“PROCEED.”

I brought up a ball of Lightning, and despite Himself, the Thunderbird turned His head and brought it even closer to me, for this Lightning was swirling with gold, silver, and rainbow energies that had nothing to do with Elemental power, speaking directly to the soul.

I brought up two more such orbs of Lightning, but they did not hold the same demeanor at all. One was rigid, constrained, powerful, and tightly focused, burning and humming brightly in an extremely complex pattern that yet was restricted to a single united hue of shining blue sapphire. Opposite it, the Lightning swirled through an incredibly loose array of forms and colors, constrained only by my Will upon it, surging and dimming through countless permutations of shape and hue, aching to break free of control and loose itself upon all.

The last orb of Lightning crackled with sinister intent, darkness upon the light it generated and at its core. It was wrapped with fell and malicious energies that brought to mind blood, power, dreadful ambition, greed, and thoughts that anything could be yours, if you but chose to embrace the darkness and cast off all limits and instincts and take what was rightfully yours...

There they shown in a diamond, opposite one another. Those opposite were clearly opposed in all ways, yet those adjacent clearly affected one another.

A ripple passed through The Thunderbird as He stared and considered the Lightning crackling and dancing there. He knew Lightning, perhaps better than any other being alive on the planet, but He did not know these Lightnings, nor the energies that flowed through them... only that they were unspeakably profound, and the Lightning was touching only a tithe of them.

The Lightning... was a lesser power to them! In much the same way that Dark Magic and Dimensional Magic transcended Elemental Magic!

“WHAT ARE THESE POWERS?” He demanded to know after a long moment. “THAT... SEEMS TO BE A GREATER POWER THAN THE DARK MANA. THIS... SEEMS TO BE OF THE REALM OF LIGHT, BUT IT HAS NO LIGHT ABOUT IT...”

“Your Imperial Majesty, these are the powers of the four Profound Alignments. The one His Majesty is most familiar with is that of Sin, Woe, or Evil, to give poetic names to it.” I gestured at the brooding, malevolent ball of Lightning, waiting to leap out and claim whatever it desired.

“To this side is the power of Axiom, or Fate, or Order, or Law. It has nothing to do with Light, Light being merely one of its favorite weapons, as it falls more naturally to the will of Axiom than something as erratic and unrestrained as Lightning.”

My hand moved to point to the third orb. “Here is represented the power of Anarchy, or Luck, or Freedom, or Chaos. Again, it has nothing to do with Lightning, but the unrestrained and random nature of Lightning is one of its favorite tools.”

My hand turned to the highest sphere. “This is naturally the power of Weal, or Virtue, or Good, usually exemplified by the term ‘Heaven’, although such is often misappropriated by servants of Law in various forms of Nirvana, Utopia, Paradise, and so forth, where their vision of perfection seeks to displace one’s dream of Heaven.” The orb rose, and the energies empowering it swirled out and divided into gold, silver, and rainbow. “This one is of the Gold in service to Heaven, Your Imperial Majesty.”

Just tiny flickers as His attention danced between each sight, trying to comprehend the profoundness behind each representation, and failing. “HOW POWERFUL ARE THESE FORCES, HEALER FAE?” He demanded of me, clearly unsettled.

“Your Imperial Majesty, this entire world we stand upon is a tiny grain of sand on a forgotten beach on the shore of an infinitely deep ocean larger than we can conceive. Those Forces are the ocean, and how they interact is the waves and storms that roil the skies and seas.”

“IS THERE NO CENTRAL POSITION?” Thunderbird Emperor asked, with the vocal equivalent of a frown.