Nil

Krahinn was an enigma; he always seemed torn between something that piqued his curiosity and his joy of tormenting those who were in his presence. Krahinn showed me some that completely obscured all and consumed that hit it. From his limited explanation when you combined this with another it made a near impenetrable defense. Getting Krahinn to talk or explain his past was difficult; he stuck to the one question a day on those. He rewound time for Luna for some reason yesterday. After Helga asked how old I was mentally. She made some mistake that Krahinn undid. From how Krahinn and Luna acted I knew it was something to do with her wager with Dha and that part of it was no one could know it. Except Krahinn didn’t count. He’s not people, Lord verified.

“That’s insulting. Lucky for you, I’m in a good mood.” Krahinn interjected. His ability to read thoughts at near will was obnoxious.

“Why?” I inquired. I knew enough about Krahinn to know that was not good for me.

“It might be good for you.” Krahinn stated with a chuckle.

“Really?” I asked, knowing the next words would inform me of how bad this was going to be.

“No.” Krahinn confirmed with his real smile.

“So what are we doing that has you in a good mood?” I checked, trying hard not to sigh.

“Do you feel that? That shimmer in the air? Mwahahahaha.” Krahinn chuckled as his smile got dangerous.

“The is a little odd today, but why does that bring you joy?” I probed. Krahinn was shifting in joy he was so excited.

“There’s a storm; an aether storm. We’re going to have a blast.” Krahinn informed me. What did that have to do with me?

His appearance shifted as I think I saw his actual form. He was some kind of humanoid raven, covered in dark gray feathers. His feet became actual talons as his legs now looked like a bird’s. Krahinn’s nine eyes were all on his face, looking a much deeper crimson now that they weren’t glowing. He had a more humanoid looking face with a beak where his mouth should have been. As expected of a raven, he had long tail feathers. Krahinn was still missing his left arm, and he still had on the black cloak with gold trim. Why? Why was he showing me this? Better yet, what was an aether storm? Should I try to run? Not like I stood a chance against Krahinn at getting away. I was struggling not to sigh as I knew I was about to go into a storm one way or another.

“Are you going to expl-“ I began to ask before Krahinn tore open a hole in the space nearby which unleashed this gust as he grabbed me and jumped in.

Wait, that wasn’t a portal. We were surrounded by these odd little tunnels, orbs, and stars as we kind of floated before being slammed by a gust of wind. How was there wind? Krahinn turned me to face a maelstrom of swirling stars. There were these dark clouds that glowed with ominous white energy shaking where we were. Flashes of as it equalized rammed through the tunnels and orbs; vibrations shook the area each time. What was I witnessing? Why was this called an aether storm? Better yet, where were we? Krahinn was laughing maniacally as he let go. I tried using , hoping it would work. To my surprise it did. So, we weren’t in outer space. Duh, you wouldn’t be able to breathe. Wait, could I use to? Krahinn seemed to be excited as we kind of floated along.

“Where are we? What’s so fun about an aether storm?! Why are we here?! How does time move here compared to Tenebrae?!” I cried at Krahinn. Sound was kind of distorted here, so I had to basically yell so I knew he’d hear it.

“This is Nexus! It’s the space between Realms! More of a magical space than the kind you’re probably thinking, but it’s still fun to be in! As for time, check the !” Krahinn told me excitedly.

“Can you please tell me why we are here though?!” I pressed as I summoned the . The time wasn’t moving at all which was a relief. Krahinn let out an irritated sigh.

“Because aether storms are fun, wild rides! forms a vortex of raw power that twists through Nexus! There’s another reason, but that’ll be a surprise!” Krahinn yelled back.

“I don’t have wings! How could I ride a storm?!” I pointed out. Krahinn shrugged. This forling .

“Innovate! You got like, three minutes!” Krahinn informed me with a laugh.

I wanted to scream at him, but now was not the time. What would be the best way to ride a storm? What happened if I couldn’t? Wait. What was that Krahinn showed me? Make a surfboard out of it? Would that work? Plan one obtained at least. Crap. I activated my as I replicated the , slowly forming a surfboard out of it. Krahinn was watching me, all nine eyes focused on what I was doing. Hopefully the rough shape would work, and the trick was maintaining the . I’m more athletic this time around, so hopefully I can do this. I stood on the board and used to anchor myself to it. What should I do if this didn’t work? Try again? What would my best back up plan be?

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“That’s the only method you have a hope of doing!” Krahinn told me. How kind of him to confirm that.

“How long until the storm reaches us?!” I checked, doing a quick rundown of my and body.

“Oh, I was only going to give you three minutes to come up with an answer! We’re going now~!” Krahinn confessed as he used to bring us a lot closer.

Krahinn truly sucked. My knees screamed at me as the gusts of slammed into my makeshift surfboard. It didn’t shatter! I was launched at incredible speed as Krahinn and me began riding the winds. When did he make his own surfboard? He was going side to side, before launching to the side and getting some height to do spins. Krahinn looked like he was having a blast as he built up speed to do flips, handstands, and that move where you held your board out without your feet touching it. What a showoff. Something occurred to me. Is Krahinn trying to have fun? He’d been such a jerk so far that I hadn’t considered it. I tried swaying back and forth a bit to try and build up some speed before trying to launch up and get air. That was rewarded by tumbling board over head and slamming my face into the gusts. Thankfully it didn’t hurt at all, but I was now riding the storm upside down. Krahinn was laughing before he flipped his body, so he also was surfing upside down. I realized I didn’t feel the blood rushing to my head. Is it possible to be upside down here?

“No! Now relax!” Krahinn answered as he kept doing tricks. I guess down was whatever side the wind of was on.

Easy for him to say. We kept riding along the in the storm, steadily getting faster. As I looked around, seeing what resembled a swirling galaxy as we surfed the storm. Okay, I’ll admit, this is pretty cool. Maybe I should try having some fun with this. Krahinn’s lack of explanation aside, this was probably a rare opportunity. I began weaving like Krahinn did to build up speed so I could try to do a flip again, which ended in me rotating about one hundred eighty degrees again. Slowly I'll get it to work. Thankfully if I wipe out it just makes me tumble. It took me about nine attempts before I could do a single flip properly. Just for peace of mind I checked the , seeing all of two seconds had passed so far. Time moves so much slower here. With that off my mind, I began trying to surf the storm more as Krahinn was performing tricks like they were going out of style. There had to be some method he was using to make it easier. Or he has done this that much.

“How many times have you done this?!” I asked as I tried building enough speed to flip.

“I’ve lost count! It’s a fun activity a lot of like to do!” Krahinn answered as he flipped so he was surfing on his hand with the board above him.

“So why are we the only ones here?!” I inquired. I certainly didn’t see anyone else nearby, but Nexus was truly massive.

“Probably the only ones nearby!” Krahinn explained. That made sense.

“What was the surprise?! Or is it not formed yet?!” I checked. Krahinn began laughing maniacally.

“You’ll know it when you see it! Or more accurately, hear it!” Krahinn answered with a shiza eating grin.

I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt as surfing a storm was pretty fun so far. Given the smile and his track record, a large portion of my brain thought what he was omitting was something bad. Was I just paranoid? Untrusting? I just couldn’t shake the part of my brain that was screaming Krahinn was not to be trusted. I kept trying to figure out how to do more than a simple flip while Krahinn continued to have a blast. My had gotten quite a bit more stable as I maintained it. I noticed Krahinn looking at it as he bobbed his head back and forth occasionally. He definitely was working some side angle. Was this some sort of test? Part of me wanted to ask him point blank, but I knew he’d likely dodge the question. I could see him doing some cryptic test without informing me; he also still hadn’t given me anything usable in regard to winning the wager, which was not surprising. Perhaps if I asked him now, he would actually give me an answer? See if I tried while he was in a good mood there was a chance. What should I ask?

“KRAHINN! I’M GOING TO FORLING KILL YOU!” A deep, monstrous voice roared through the space. I glared at Krahinn. I knew it. Surprises with you are never a good thing.

“And how are you going to do that?!” Krahinn taunted the being as he brought himself next to me. His face was pure excitement and joy as the surprise was arriving.

“I WILL RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB YOU SADISTIC, WORTHLESS, WORM-EATING, BIRD BRAINED SON OF A BEZKA!” the voice declared as the two of us rounded the curve.

What am I looking at? To describe this thing as huge was an understatement. Colossal was not accurate. Utterly gargantuan began to approach just how beyond massive this being was as it dwarfed the storm with its sheer size. It looked almost like a dragon, covered in pitch black scales. I was struggling to fully see the full body as six of the angriest, golden eyes were all glaring at Krahinn. The being’s maw seemed large enough to swallow stars as it barreled towards us. What was the point of bringing me here? Serve me as an hors d’oeuvre?

“WHY DID YOU NOT MENTION THE GIANT, ANGRY DRAGON?!” I snarled at Krahinn.

“Because I knew you’d chicken out if I mentioned a big murder lizard was on the agenda! Relax, we’ve got this!” Krahinn replied, smiling from ear to ear.

“We?! What am I going to do?! Hope my death causes it a moment of sadness?!” I snapped back as the massive beast approached us at a speed that was not good for my mental health. Krahinn was laughing without a care in the world.

“Oh?! Is this dangerous?!” Krahinn taunted as the dragon’s mouth began glowing. That couldn’t be good.

“FAREWELL YOU BOMSLOG!” the dragon roared at us with immense wrath in its voice.

Before I could begin cursing out Krahinn, the dragon unleashed a massive breath attack. He effortlessly pivoted his body to use the surfboard to ride the breath attack like it was the storm. I realized that Krahinn didn’t move me far enough away to dodge it, so I was forced to join him in surfing the breath attack. How was I not dead? My feet felt cool, but I could feel on my face just how hot the fire beneath the truly was. Krahinn was laughing as we surfed along the flames of the dragon. Who was attacking us? What did Krahinn do to make them attack him on sight? Did Krahinn piss off a dragon just so he could surf along its breath attacks?

“Exactly!” Krahinn confirmed as he looked over the moon.