The 12 Realms Story (All Characters Slots Taken)

[Flayne]

Chapter 55
Nations Unite

"DAMN IT! What do you mean we´ve lost a Phase dragon!? Who ordered for the use of a Phase dragon!?"

I was extremely upset about losing a precious Phase dragon on Nerora to a small battalion squad, it was too much to be true.

"My Lord, please come calm yourself and let me explain what happened"

Pleaded the elite immortal, whom had allegedly survived the battle against the gravity squad on Nerora. Which was the same gravity squad who had laid waste to the a village. They said it was a territorial dispute, but it seemed they were really after...it.

He explained everything, how sole Captain of the squad creating an electro-magnetic field that redirected all the spells to the dragon, and allegedly survived. A dangerous but smart tactic indeed.

The Elite immortal had sent in the sargeant that was in charge of keeping the dragons, he explained that last he saw, the dragons were all there and that no one had permitted the use of it, nor had he sanctioned anything of the sort.
This was very confusing, but it could have been worse.
I sent him and the Immortal out of my office, I just wanted some time to think.
As they both phased out, I walked to my window and watched my realm, its structures gleaming in a metallic aqua blue. The inhabitants walking up and down, mostly consisting of immortals and phase recluses.

I didn't understand what the Gravity Realm was up to, destroying villages randomly, and rampaging across the lands as usual, was my assumption.
But why that particular village? They had made such an effort to break through our lines and into the village. It seemed too strange.

As I pondered, a low ranked immortal had come to my office. A messenger.

"My lord, Leader of Time Realm, Izan'os wishes for your presence"

"Thats it? Nothing in detail?"
I asked.

"No my lord, he says its of utmost privacy and delicacy to mention to anyone anyone else"

"Very well"

I prepared myself and began focusing on the coordenates. As I found my pace, I took off into the Phase path. The phase path is a non-visible portal that is opened up when I wish to phase to a location. It mostly resembles a White path with strange wave particles that show me the path. In this ethereal portal, my body is not weighed down by any planetray force and as an aether elemental, I can easily fly fast in this dimensional gateway. The beauty of this path is that time and matter don't apply to it. therefore, in this ethereal realm, it may take me less than a minute to reach my destination. However, on the outside of these dimensional paths, It will seem as though I have instantaneously shifted from one location to another, but infact, It takes almost a minute, depending on the distance travelled.
The dangerous part, is that I must only follow that path, not breaking my line formation, otherwise I may suddenly break out of the path and end up in either another dimension and lose my coordinates, potentially never finding my way back, or parts of me will be broken up, scattered across the planes.


I suddenly find myself in front of Izan'os door, however the door opens before I my subconscious even told me to knock on it, that was just like Izan'os, his power of accurate future sight.

"Greetings Saphzar'eth, that was fast, please come in!" He smiled cheerfully.

I thanked him and walked into his office.

"So, what is it you wish to tell me Izan'os?"

"Something very important, of utmost secrecy but first I shall make an introduction for it, this will be long so please, rest, take a seat"
replied Izan'os as he motioned to a chair by his desk.

I sat down. "I am listening"

"Well, I wanted to first express my worry for the future. After the visions I had, the blockage and the individuals I saw; I have been having some weird feelings toward them.
I don't understand why, but I fear that there will be changes in the future, perhaps dark ones or perhaps better ones, but I can't help and shake off this feeling and worry."

"If I may Izan'os, maybe you are just stressed from recent events"

Though it didn't make sense, I had never seen Izan'os this uncomfortable before, I thought surely it was something else.

"Are you implying that I'd be stressed by seeing weird things that easily? You know me better than that. No, I am just having a strange sensation, and in relation with it,
I have noticed that the bond between our people has been, deteriorating.
If in the future we are headed for dark times, it is imperative that our nations be more united than ever."

I thought about what Izan'os was saying, it seemed true enough that the relationship between the people of Aether Realm and Time Realm has been a little restless lately.
Basically, we have a united relationship, where some of the people of Time realm live amongst my people in Aether realm, and vice versa. They usually migrate between the realms by large structures called dimensional gateways, that mechanically intend to replicate Aether's Phasing abilities.
Since that was the case, our nations might aswell have been a united one.
Only three months ago in my realm, I saw a massive crowd of Time elementals confront another crowd of Aether elementals. It seemed they had a dispute relating to a fight that broke out prior to it. The authority immediately reacted and broke it up.
During those three months, the amount of such disputes only kept becoming more frequent.
It had seemed the people had created more tension between each other.

"I agree, our people have been creating tensions between each other for the last quarter year. But I suppose that is normal, unless you have seen something?"

"Yes, I did. Basically, as you know, if i concentrate, I can see the future of what different decisions will make, though the accuracy of such is slightly low since the decisions weren't taken yet, and since there are infinite possibilities, I can only guess one happening out of those infinite possibilities. I can look to the future to see that we will make an agreement, that is ninety nine percent certain judging from my power: however, from that point, it creates many divergent paths, possible outcomes of such decisions. If my precognition is to improve its accuracy, actions need to be made to do so, since I cannot be one hundred percent sure, ever."

"Why can't you see one hundred percent?"

"Because, I am only an elemental, my powers are not of the purest form of Time, remember, a Time Nymph is basically the purest representative and physical form of Time power, they can see everything, they virtually know all events that come. A Time nymph's power is far superior to that of any Time elemental, a Time nymph dwarfs my power of future sight or any Time power at that.
It is the same as any Nymph from any element. For example, as I have noted in my studies, an Aether nymph can cause matter to become immaterial, Phase out to any dimension possible with the flick of a thought: they are virtually omnipresent, knowing of all dimensions.
Can you do such things, Saphzar'eth?"

"No, of course not. Forgive me, I had forgotten about the nymphs"

"In relation to all of this, one cannot be certain of what lies ahead in the future. I propose we act."

"So, how exactly can we do such a thing? We couldn't force them or use propaganda"

"Nooo, no, of course not! no, I have a much better idea Saphzar'eth. But first, the secret I've been wanting to tell you.
But I need your absolute attention and focus Saphzar'eth"

Izan'os face became very serious, a slight nervousness was noted aswell.
I had never seen him like that in all the years I've known him. I was very apprehensive at that moment.

"I am listening"

"I must ask you for your forgiveness, as we have been friends for a long while now, I still had not the courage to tell this to anyone, even you, my most trusted friend.
However, due to cirumnstances, I have no other choice but to finally let it out of my own subconcious. Now... Do you remember how I told you that my entire family was killed many years ago?"

Indeed I had remembered, a sad story. As he had told me, this was before I was even born. When Izan'os was but a mere Chronai at the age of fifty. When he was once, only called Izan. A massive war had broken out, to a point where a Time fortress on Nerora was infiltrated, Izan'os lived in that area. His family was slaughtered, all of them, and he was out on duty on another location in the war. I could have only imagined his reaction when he was informed of the news.

"Yes, I remember"

"Well, In a sense, I lied"

That changed everything, this person had lied to me, perhaps he was keeping secrets from me, perhaps he had lied to me many times, I was shocked, but I had a feeling there was a good reason to it.

"And I ask of your forgiveness for that aswell Saphzar'al.
When I was informed, I had cast a haste spell on myself and ran towards home like crazy.
When I got there, all was destroyed, dead.
I piled up my brothers, sisters, wife and children. Only to notice that two were missing, my youngest daughter and my eldest Daughter.
I searched like crazy, expecting to see then dead, but also with a small hope that they weren't dead. Until I had Lifted a furniture and sent it flying. I found a small hole in the wall, and in it was my baby daughter hidden, the tears of joy flowing from my eyes to see the innocent soul in my arms once again. I could not find my other elder daughter, so I had assumed she was taken. I mourned for the rest of my family, but at least I had salvaged my baby daughter from the ruins. It must have been one of my family members that hid her behind the furniture, I had thanked them and to this day aswell, eternally"

A small tear ran down Izan'os pale face, and vanished into his small golden beard.

I felt sorry and saddened to hear the story again, but at least that version, was slightly better with the survival of a family member.

"Where is she now?"
Was my only question.

"Let me finish first.
And so, that was a hundred and fifty years ago, when I became leader of this realm at the age of 120, I had felt the need to hide her away due to the mass attention I would be given as the leader. She has been hidden for a hundred years, so I assume she is one hundred and seventy years of age, a blossoming age, coming out of youth, in my opinion.
Before I reveal the location to you, I must first ask you a question, it may sound terribly intrusive, but forgive me please."

"Go on."

"I hear your son, Razeth, was considered the finest and fairest of the elementals in your realm. Does he have a current relationship, and how old is he?"

I was a little shocked and embarassed to receive such questions, it wasn't like Izan'os at all.
I became very apprehensive indeed from that moment, but interested to see what he was playing at.

"Well, no. He in fact has rejected all proposed relationships for the past few years.
He is a hundred and seventy five years old. Why do you ask?"

"Wow, such coincidence. As a note, I pay visits to my grand daughter once a month. sometimes I skip a month just in case of preying eyes. You see, It was not really the attention of me being the leader of Time, no. Possibly not that at all.
It was the attention my daughter, Alez'es.
Her beauty, is...so great, but its not just her natural outlooks, she has something that seems to attract a lot of eyes and wonder. It's like her happiness seems to drown everything. I knew she was at risk in those cases, so I hid her away.

Anyway, I ask because I want to ask you for two favors, however, the last one might cause you to be offended or even worse, end our friendship here, so I ask you to please think carefully on your answer.
But first..."

Izan'os went to his deck and took something out of one of the drawers.
He gave it to me. It was a scroll of some sort. Its paper had a golden shine to it, as though it was really made of gold. He motioned me to open it, and so I did.

It read:

This certificate is an official and single existent copy that certifies the following:

I, Leader of the Time Realm, Lord Izan'os, give the holder of this document the authority to take my daughter, Alez'es under their wing and bring her back here to me at the Time fortess.

However, If at the time, I am currently not at the fortress, take her to the Time Realm and place her under the temporary care of the council leader or bring her directly to my office in Time Realm if I am present. If I have died in anyway and/or If the new Leader of Time Realm is not present there, I request the holder of this document to immediately take her to the Time Realm and Introduce her to the new Time Leader.
Also, on my behalf, Izan'os, the Previous Leader of Time Realm, request the New Time leader with all my heart, soul and blood, to take her under his/her care for me, as she has no where else to go. Note: If the new Leader of Time Realm refuses, do not let her be under the care of anyone else suggested. If such a situation rises, take her back to her previous hide away and If he still is alive and conscious, Contact Lord Saphzar'al and please repeat my pleading of taking Alez'es under his wing, until she is of the age 200, to finally make her own decisions in life. If Lord Saphzar'al is not alive however, take her back to her hideaway and leave her there again, notify her nana, at the age of 200, she is to decide her own fate.
Until then, she is to remain at her hideaway. Once all of the requirements and/or conditions are fulfilled, destroy this document.

If in the case that she is already of 200 years of age in such an event, let her know that she has the right to make her own decisions in life and express my apologies to her for not being there for her and for the current state she is in.

Note: under no circumstances, any other copy of this document is NOT to be accepted from anyone, this is the only copy that is acceptable and legal to the authority it gives.

I give my gratitude to you for assisting me, signed:

 Lord Izan'os, Leader of the Time Realm....


I looked at Izan'os after reading the document, I didn't know what to say.

"I apologize if I had involuntarily appointed you as a caregiver nominee Saphzar'al"

"You know very well that I would have accepted Izan'os, I believe you should have placed me as the first nominee before the new Time Realm leader"

"I would have, but circumnstances pushed me to not place you in danger of any thing to go wrong with my daughter and risk your life and people's blood for the sake of someone who was not of Aether nationality, how acceptable do you think it would be in the eyes of your people? I do not mean to refer to your people as being of such attitude, but I mean in the sense of priority and politics, it would cause a certain discomfort, no? I also considered how unbalanced a relationship it would cause between you and your son, and you and my daughter, I did not want you to risk your reputation, family relations and people's loyalty for such a cause. So I found it wiser to involve her only in Time Realm's matters, and if it wasn't successful, you would have been the only acceptable option afterwards."

"I thank you for your honesty and consideration, but I would have transcended such discomfort amongst my people, politicians, and family. You have done much for me and have saved my life a number of times, it would be the least I could..."

"And you have done the same for me numerous times Saphzar'al, I did not want to leave a debt unrepaid, you know how I am towards such situations, I cannot help it. There is no offense intended Saphzar'al, I only wanted to not complicate your life for my cause."

"Fair enough Izan'os, I thank you once again for the consideration. I assume now, what matters is that I am the holder of this document, am the one to release your daughter of her hide out and therefore could bypass your instructions of giving your daughter to a new Time Leader, since I am a candidate caregiver no?"

Izan'os laughter echoed in his office.

"A very wise point Saphzar'al, apologies for my rambling, it seems you are getting your own precognitive powers"

He made a last laugh.
Suddenly, he became serious again.

"Now, the reason why i give you this document is because I need a quick and efficient method of getting my daughter here to initiate my plan if acceptable, but let me ask you the final favor, be warned, it won't sound very usual"

I braced myself, since I never saw Izan'os this serious before, though I had a feeling of what he was going to ask me.

"I only ask, that you let your son be introduced to Alez'es. That is all"

I was, actually surprised. I had no idea why Izan'os was so serious about it.

"Really? that is all?"

"Think about why I am asking you Saphzar'al, It's not that simple of a favor, remember, my gran daughter's beauty is to be considered"

I thought about what he was suggesting, then it hit me.

"No, you can't be serious, I thought..."

"Calm down Saphzar'al, it's not that simple of a favor, but then again it might fail, its only a meeting between them both, nothing so serious. However, if the reverse is imminent,
then my plan will be initated"

"What do you mean?"

Izan'os became excited and his face turned somewhat devious.

"A ceremony Saphzar'al! A marriage! Think of the possibilities! Setting such an example for the people of our nations would change everything, I've seen it! This will be the ultimate key to uniting our people, as well as the security of my granddaughter, it works both ways"

I didn't know what to say, my self centered ego broke out and kept telling me to refuse and telling me that this old fool wants to use my son as a tool for the safety of his own  grand daughter. But at the same time, my consciousness told me that Izan'os plan was brilliant, and Izan'os was correct in every sense, plus I was worried at my son's behaviour from rejecting every proposed relationship, I was worried he may never have a partner due to his attitude. I thought about how Izan'os described his granddaughter, if she really was as beautiful as she said, then maybe Razeth would have a chance.
I considered every aspect of it, and realized that what Izan'os actually meant by "works in both ways". The clever bastard, that's where he was getting at the entire time. Obviously this man knew what he was doing from the very beginning, he was a Time elemental for crying out loud. He knew a lot of things, despite him  not being accurate a hundred percent and the effects it could create in his perception, but this man knew a whole damn lot. Maybe luck was on his side, or maybe it was his way of making precautions. I didn't know how he could do it, but he sure as hell could do it. I thought, if this thing worked, then I owed this man absolutely everything.
My thoughts were interrupted and I snapped into reality.

"Well Saphzar'al? What do you say?"

I knew he was correct, and I trusted this man. After all, he wasn't asking for a forceful relationship, just an introduction, if not even that, just for my son to bear witness of his granddaugther. Although since I was going to bring her back here, I would witness her so-called beauty myself, so there was no harm done.

"I accept"

Izan'os made such a huge smile, it literally creeped me out. I had never seen him smile like that in all the years I had known him. Todays events sure revealed many surprises.

"Excellent! Shall we make a toast?"
He went to a cabinet and took out a bottle of what looked to be golden wine, and two wine glasses. He poured one for himself and one for me.

"A toast to success!"

"Cheers"

The glasses clinked and I drank some of the nice tasty wine.

"By the way, would you be interested in making a bet?"

"Izan'os, I believe I have as much chance of winning a bet against you as I have a chance to beat a Steel golem in an arm wrestle, you have a very considerable advantage"

"Ahh, but you are forgetting the other five to ten percent chance of me getting an incorrect guess, plus usually even though the it isn't applied, they still affect the things I see, however, I shall inbalance the debt towards your side. If Razeth falls in love with Alez'es, you win one thousand electrum. If I win, I get only a hundred electrum. You put in a hundred, I put in ten times that. According to my calculations, I do have a better chance of winning, however, a thousand electrum against approximately twenty percent is quite tempting wouldn't you agree?"

It was tempting, I didn't see any harm in it, it was quite a fair offer, especially since I haven't really seen her beauty, perhaps a slight disadvantage, but that was covered with an extra nine-hundred electrum, also by my son's hard gained attention.

"Done"

We shook hands in agreement and finished off our wine.

"Now, I believe it is time for me to witness the beauty of your granddaughter for myself. What are the coordinates?"

Izan'os didn't say anything but instead went to his deck and took out a piece of paper and a quill pen. He wrote something down. Then he came and gave me the paper.
I assumed he did not want to say it out loud, he would have preffered it read, smart.

I read it and processed the information in my head.

"Saphzar'al, the hideout is approximately two hundred kilometers from here. Don't lose the Certificate, that's the only thing I have to free my granddaughter, without it, she may never leave."

"Don't worry, I won't. I will be back shortly"

Izan'os smiled.

"Here is one of the mirrors, this one is your starting point, you may have noticed that I have a few mirrors placed randomnly in a few places. But you may also have noticed, most of them lead to a single direction."

I had noticed that, it seemed strange but it made sense.
I could see the other mirror about three hundred yards away from Izan'os window, on top of another building.
I could also make out another one three hundred yards from that one, shining in the sun.

"So, how far do the mirrors go?"

"About two hundred kilometers north, I didn't take that long in posting them considering Haste."

"Very well, I shall commence the journey immediately, I will be back soon"

"Be safe"

I nodded as I concentrated in the mirror ahead of me. And I phased off on to the top of that building. Then to the next and next, until I was heading into the deslotate plains.
It wasn't before ten minutes that I had reached a spot where I was under a palm tree, and there was a pond of water infront of me.
I stepped down to take a drink. It was very fresh and cool.
I thought I suddenly saw a small black dune scorpion scurry its way into its little burrow.
Strange creatures they were, like the rest of us.

I kept phasing in and out for another five minutes, from mirror to mirror.
I must have retraced at least a hundred and ninety kilometers, I was almost there.


Suddenly I find myself just twenty meters from a stone outpost.
I was shocked to see a massive amount of Chronai just standing there in an army-like formation, there were at least more than fifty of them, including two of them standing at the head of the guard formation. They wore slightly different armor than the rest of them with golden mini-capes worn in a skewed manner, flowing from their backs.

I walked slowly towards the two, so not to cause hasty reactions.
I was already within visible range, they did nothing but wait, however I noticed they slightly changed posture, as though they were preparing themselves.
I decided it was wise to un-scroll the document and show them while I was going near.
I did so, suddenly they remained calm again as they saw the golden sides of the document shine brilliantly in the sunlight.

I was finally in front of the two elites.
"Good evening lord Aether, forgive me but it seems I do not know your name.
We have been guarding these outposts for a very long period of time. So far, only two other Aether Leaders have been here at our presence, the last one not less than twenty years ago.
Which is why I have addressed you as lord Aether, according to the insignia on your chestplate and my ignorance of you, please forgive me"

"Good evening to you too sir, my name is Saphzar'al, current leader of Aether Realm, I have this document given to me directly from Lord Izan'os, please do not worry about any falsehood"

"It is an honor my lord, unfortunately as much as it spoils this historic day, I will need my two spell weavers to check you of any illusive magic or the sort. We have had an instance where an intruder, a theif almost got into the facility, until our spell weavers detected him.
He was instantly killed on sight, turns out it was just an ordinary theif that had illusive powers.
So for the sake of the protection of the contents of the facility, I am obliged directly by order of Lord Izan'os to proceed with such measures. Forgive me, May we?"

"No apologies needed, well said and understood, you may do so"

Two chronai approached me side by side and made strange hand gestures and whispering noises. The process only took a mere two minutes.

"He is official"
declared one of the spell weavers, the other simply nodded in agreement.

"Very well, May I now see the document Lord Saphzar'al?"

"Of course"
I handed the document to the Elite Chronai.
He read it carefully and quickly.

"Very good, it seems legitimate enough, one more security question"

I merely listened.

"What is the most important or main content of the Facility?"

"Miss Alez'es, Grand daughter of Lord Izan'os"

"You may pass Lord Saphzar'al, Leader of the Aether Realm"
The Elite Chronia rose his arm into the air and struck it back down to his side.

The chronai instantly reacted, made a majestic miliataristic movement with their spears, both halves of the formation turned to face each other, stamped their feet one last time in such a synchronized movement that it almost seemed as thought the very ground shook.
Then both halves raised their spears to cross with each other, forming an arch towards the entrance. A very majestic sight indeed.

Honored by this sight, I walked through the arch slowly, every face was still and stern, not a single eye followed me, only one direction. Such discipline, no wonder the Time Realm was very powerful.

I finally arrived at the entrance, which beheld a stone gate, in the middle where the doors parted, was the Time Realm's infinity symbol.
The gates opened, and in I went.

The corridors were basically a solid gold and shiny color, they were lit by enclosed yellow energy in glass spheres stuck to the walls which were continuous along the corridors.
I kept walking until I reached a much larger chamber.
The chamber was round and there was a large crystal window lit by the same energy behind it. The crystal windows had different asymmetric forms and colors on it, which represented a figure. the figure looked liked a tall Chronai but with orange-golden armor, and a large golden cape that was a much lighter shade of the armor. The figure held an intricate Staff that was golden but with some decorations on it that were blue and white. I assumed it represented a Time leader though I wasn't sure.
I kept walking until suddenly a female chronai, dressed in a very light armor and dress, walked towards me from my side.

"Welcome my Lord, may I escort you to your destination?"

"Of course, thank you"
The mid-aged lady made a friendly smile.

As a time elemental, It was apparent that she envisioned me coming here.
She escorted me through another much wider corridor with similar coloring and decoration, however there was long a red carpet that was in the center of the corridor and made up most of the floor of the corridor. I assumed this was an important and prestigous path, perhaps the one that would lead me towards my goal.

We walked until finally reaching a golden double door, which had symmetrical door handles fashioned like the time symbol.

"This is the door that leads to your destination my Lord, please enter as you will"
She turned to leave.
I turned around to ask her a question but it seemed she suddenly vanished.
I found that awfully strange and wondered.
I turned back and reached for the door handles.
As I reached for them, multiple thoughts bombarded my mind.
I realized that I was potentially opening the door to the future of my people, my son,
and our nations. This was the ultimate revelation that I was going to experience, as I had never known Izan'os had another existing relative, and for it to be revealed so quickly was rather...awkward in a sense, it seemed as though I knew nothing of this world, due to its infinite possibilities and secrets.
Suddenly I find myself opening the door and I walk inside.
The first thing I saw was light, shining from the slight opening of the curtains to a balcony ten meters away from me, and I felt a light breeze. I thought I could hear some birds chirping outside at the balcony.
I walk in and close the doors.
I examine the room more closely. There was a large queen sized bed with a royal bed top that had nigh-transparent silky curtains which were a soft violet color.
The walls were mostly painted beige and its edges were golden.
I see a dining table that was made of varnished willow wood. There were a few intricate mirrors in the room, a lounge, wardrobes and all sorts of intricate and generic wooden furniture.
It seemed no one was in the room.
Until suddenly I saw the curtains of the balcony open once again and see a feminine figure walking in, the light prevented me from seeing anything else until she passed the curtains which closed after her.

I was utterly stunned...at the woman that was standing in front of me.
In that moment I knew Izan'os was never exagerating.

Her body was that of a form that gave her a feline touch, very balanced, yet looked so sensitive but also acrobatic and flexible.
Her long, shining and silky copper hair lay partially over her shoulders and front.
Her eyes were the most impressive detail. They were very slightly arched upward, giving her a very innocent and joyful persona of her face. They were golden in color, brighter than honey and at their center the color was even more saturated, slighly intensifying the general outlook of her face. She had a very beautiful face, perfect nose, nice wide lips, nigh-perfect jawline.
But what really impressed me was this strange aura she had, an aura that seemed to attract or create a rather strange atmosphere.
It was as though her innocence and happiness drowned everything else or rather engulfed it.
Suddenly I found myself pondering the most stupid thoughts such as, if I were only younger.
It was almost impossible to explain.
What I did know however, was that I was going to lose a hundred electrum.

"Oh my, you startled me, good evening my Lord"
She made a graceful bow.

"Apologies Miss Alez'es"

"My where are my manners, would you like something to drink? to eat perhaps my Lord?"

"No no, that is fine thank you"

"Oh, very well then, so, what brings you here my lord?"

It seemed she was educated somehow, since she immediately refered to me as 'lord', this girl was supposedly at her blossoming age, somehow she knew about my status of being leader, as well as the insignia on my chest plate. Perhaps one of her maids or care takers may have educated her for such a time, after all, Time elementals could see virtually every event coming at some point and form, so it would be no surprise at all.

"I am here because I was sent by your Grandfather to take you home"

She looked at me with the most unbelieving eyes, she seemed surprised and shocked.
Although it was strange her being a Time elemental and having to experience such an emotion. But then again, she was at her blossoming age, she was only barely going to begin life as a mature woman, so I assumed her powers would have the same maturation effect and rate as well. However her surprise was so great that she actually fell into tears.
I had absolutely no idea on what to say or do.

"Umm, miss, are you okay?"
I walked toward her to comfort her and patted her back.
"There there young one"
Suddenly she flung herself at me and cried on my shoulder.

In all honesty I felt so stupid, so idiotic. I realized that it was my mistake.
I should not have engaged her so early with such news. I had not realized the effects it could possibly take, and had forgotten that she was practically here most of her life. Years of waiting, only to suddenly be notified of her release by some authority figure. I thought, a little bit more earlier and she might have had a heart attack. At that moment I had wished I had precognition powers of my own. Then again I felt a slight tinge of anger towards Izan'os, for putting his granddaughter in such a place for such a time. I could not blame him though, he had lost almost his entire family. Sometimes, things like that intend to affect a man's mind so hard that they take such extreme measures. In a way I did understand, if it were me, who didn't have the luxury of precognition, I'd imagine I would have taken much higher measures than this...much higher. So I concluded it was more so trauma from the loss of practically his entire family rather than logic. I thought, wow, even the most wise of men can take drastic decisions due to such a state of mind, what a world.

Suddenly she stopped crying, stood her own ground, wiped her tears, and a smile appeared on her face. She even had perfect brilliant white teeth, and a beautiful smile.
Such a change in emotion was so strange, I had never witnessed such a thing.

"Thank you so much!"

Suddenly she started to grab a few small things of hers into a small purse.

"Apologies again miss, I haven't mentioned my name.
I am Saphzar'al."

She laughed nerviously
"Sorry for my reaction earlier my lord, its just that I have been here so long and..."

"That's fine, no need to explain, I understand completely"
She smiled as she grabbed a last small object.

"I am ready now my lord"

"Very well, let us take leave"
However I was reluctant to take the long way again.
So I went towards the balcony. She followed.
the balcony was very nice, a beige like color. It had a nice view of a huge garden, though I couldn't comprehend why there was a garden, I assumed this balcony basically portruded from out under the facility and was hidden from view, since it was actually on a sand wall of some sort. It was quite high, but the garden was beautiful,  it even had a small pool, I imagined there were other corridors back in the big chamber that led to it.

"My lord, what are we doing on the balcony?"

"I'm pretty sure Izan'os would have left something here for me to work with, he must have seen visions of me coming here"

"Umm, I am not sure I understand"

"You'll see"

I kept searching for any reflective surface amongst the sand dunes, suddenly I see it shining three hundred feet away.

"Alez'es, grab my arm tightly and whatever happens, do not let go"

"Umm sure"

She did so tightly, and I instantly phased next to the mirror.
One did not necesarily have to grab onto me to phase with me, all they had to do was simply keep their hand on any part of my body. But I suspected this girl had never done such a thing before, plus it was extra security in case she got scared and decided to let go.
If the person stops touching me at any instant when I phase, it could go wrong and that person could be left in empty space forever.

"Oh my goodness! That was amazing! We teleported or something"

"Yes, one of Aether Realms signature techniques, being able to phase instantly through a mirror or reflective surface, also, with high concentration and patience, one could even phase across the world to a place they have been before and remember very well"

"Wow that is amazing"

I smiled, it was obvious this girl wasn't afraid.
I searched for other mirrors around me, I saw another one ontop another tall sand dune.

The process started again, as we headed back towards the fortress, across the majestic desert plains.


To be continued....

[Bloodshadow]

Chapter 56

Taking Your Time

Despite their advances in magic, the Elementals did not truly understand much about their universe. They knew that their planet was called Nerora. They knew that it orbited a white sun named Solaris. They knew that their planet had three moons, named Graviton, Lunaria, and Eosphorus, or Hesperus, if the name given to it by Darkness was to be considered more official than that given by Light. And they knew that there were twelve Elemental Realms, each contained in its own pocket universe and connected to Nerora through various portals.

Elementals did not know much about their Elemental Realms either. They did not know how the Realms came to be. They did know that all twelve Realms were somehow connected, but every attempt at trying to make a map of these connections had failed. It seemed that space itself was twisted so that the Realms could be tied into extra-dimensional knots. But at the moment, the "how" did not concern Evelyn and  Zenith. The "what" was the only thing that mattered.

The Realms of Death and Time were connected. In Zenith's perspective, the gray sand of Death under his feet gradually turned yellowish brown. The sky became a shade of soft, light yellow, cloudless, and as still as a frozen canvas. The cold indigo sun was gone, replaced by twin golden stars, surrounded by a brilliant yellow aurora in the shape of an infinity sign. There was no wind, the temperature was unchanging everywhere, and everything was completely static like a snapshot in  the flowing stream of eternity. At least, everything except the two walking figures, their presence breaking the perfect stillness of Time.

Evelyn was bored, very bored indeed. She liked fun things. Monotonous jobs like soulkeeping in the Death Realm were of no interest to her, and she preferred to spend her time on more interesting things, such as reanimating skeletons or making them explode. However, treading on sand, in a place where nothing ever changed, was about as uninteresting as she could get. True, she felt a little guilty about blowing up Zenith's  friend, but the main reason she decided to accompany the Light Elemental was that she thought a resurrection would be fun. She never tried performing one before; the theory sounded so easy, so she wondered why so few had succeeded. But at the rate they were going, it seemed that they wouldn't be resurrecting anyone anytime soon.

Eve decided to kill some time, no pun intended, by talking to her mental companion. Hey Yüruk, tell me about yourself.

Huh, me? Yüruk popped into existence as a ball of pink energy, floating beside Evelyn's head. Zenith did not seem to notice, since only Eve could see this mental projection of Yüruk. Why do you wanna know?

Just bored and want to talk, said Eve. Besides, we know nothing about each other. If you're gonna be stuck in my head from now on, I'd better get used to you.

Alright, Yüruk made it seem as though he shrugged even though he had no body. I used to be a Life Elemental, an Elf. When I was a kid, a bunch of Elves wanted to experiment with new forms of life, so they learned Entropy magic and started mutating things. We didn't like them so we called them Fallen Elves, and we banned them from using Entropy. They eventually left because they thought Life didn't give enough freedom.

Wait, are you gonna talk about the war between Life and Entropy? Evelyn asked. Seems like everybody's at war these days. Gravity's trying to conquer the planet, Life and Entropy are slapping each other in the face, Air's trying to expand territory, and Light is just being a jerk as usual. I don't want all those dead souls to come whining in my Realm...

Yeah, I don't like wars either, said Yüruk. Anyways, I was pretty strong back then, so I led one of the Life armies in the war. Too bad I don't have that kind of powers anymore... So  yeah, I fought this guy named Zerus; I think he was their leader or something. He was really powerful, mutated me pretty bad. Next thing I knew, I was nothing but bones, standing in your Death Realm next  to a  glowy  portal   thing. I stepped into it, came to some forest in the native world, and eventually met Zenith.

So you led an army, huh? Okay, show me what you looked like back then.

Show you? How? Yüruk was puzzled. I'm just a ball of energy right now. I can't even feel my body. Sigh... This feels worse than being a skeleton.

Well, you're technically just a piece of imagination, aren't you? Evelyn explained. When Zenith did that weird mind trick and pulled me into my own head, I just imagined myself with fancy clothes and a nice seat. And they just appeared out of nothing, easy as that.

Really, it works like that? Alright, I'll try... Yüruk sounded uncertain. He concentrated, trying to imagine himself in his original form, prior to his mutation and death.

The ball of magenta energy that was Yüruk trembled and shook, tints of verdant green and deep indigo appearing on its pink surface like droplets of ink dissolved in water. Then the sphere writhed and inflated like a bloon, rapidly deforming and expanding until it almost resembled a person. More streaks of green and indigo appeared, mixing with the pink and turning into colors that somewhat resembled the skin tone of an Elf. After a few more second the shaped solidified itself. It looked like an elf, with shoulder-length, straight, wooden  brown  hair, clad in green and brown armor crafted from enchanted bark. But a few things were slightly off. Instead of the normal green, Yüruk's eyes were magenta. And his skin was a little too pale to be a normal Elf.

How do I look? Yüruk asked uncertainly.

Wow, I never imagined that you would look this cute! Evelyn grinned. And you're already dead, so it's even better! Here, want a mirror? She snapped her fingers, and a large mirror appeared out of thin air, floating just beside Yüruk. It was another mental projection, of course; the image "reflected" in the mirror actually came from Eve's memory.

Yüruk looked into the mirror, saw the magenta eyes of his image, and cringed. Gah! I look like a Fallen Elf! Then he noticed his unnaturally pale skin. And I'm as pale as a zombie!

Don't worry, you look good like that, Evelyn reassured him. It's probably because of the Death, Life, and Entropy in you.

Okay, if you say so... Yüruk drooped his head. This form was not without imperfections, but at least it was better than a skeleton or a ball of energy. What about you, Eve? What was your life like?

Well hun, I'm afraid I'm nothing special. Just a little girl who's too lazy to do her job. I mostly spent my time messing with skeletons, trying to animate them by making temporary bogus souls. Too bad we aren't allowed to stick real souls into skeletons...

Wait a second. Undead creatures are soulless, so... How did I end up being stuck into a skeleton? Yüruk asked with a confused expression.

I don't really know, Evelyn shrugged. I was pretty surprised when I saw a little skeleton sitting there, with a soul inside it. I'd guess that your soul tried to cling to a body because it used to be Life or something, but honestly I have no idea.

I guess it doesn't matter now, since you blew up my skeleton body...

They kept walking, following Zenith's footsteps, and chatting about nothing in particular. Zenith did not say a word, seemingly lost in thought. This continued for what appeared to be hours. Finally, Evelyn could not take it anymore. "Are we there yet?" She whined.

"No," Zenith replied without looking back.

"Come on, we've been walking for hours!" Evelyn said indignantly. "How long till we can find a village in this desert?!"

"Hours?" Zenith raised an eyebrow. "It's been thirty minutes at most."

"What?!" Evelyn exclaimed. "Half an hour?! Are you kidding me?! It can't be that short!"

Zenith gave her a strange look. "Really. Turn your head and look back. Would you still be able to see the Death Realm if we have been walking for hours?"

Eve turned back. And surely enough, she could see the purple sky of Death in the far-off horizon. They had not traveled far, which meant that they couldn't have been walking for hours. "What the...?! I swear, we've  been walking for longer than half an hour!"

"This is like Yüruk and his dead trees all over again..." Zenith sighed. "I suppose this is another environmental effect?"

"How should I know!" Eve snapped. "I haven't been to the Time Realm before! Nothing changes in this dump of sand, so how can you blame me if I lose track of time?"

"True; the scenery is rather... static," Zenith said. "However, I suspect that the abundance of Time elemental energy in the air is having an effect on your perception of time."

"Great. Any ways to fix that?" Evelyn asked impatiently. "I don't wanna walk for ten minutes but think that it's five hours!"

"The purifying properties of my Angelic aura should alleviate such an environmental effect," said Zenith. His white aura became slightly brighter, expanded, and enveloped Evelyn in its soft sheen. "We must make haste, however. Increasing my aura beyond its natural size is an exertion that, though small, cannot be kept around indefinitely. I would  likely need to replenish my energy through food or some other method within five or six hours."

"Food? Does anything edible even grow here?" Evelyn complained. "I should've stocked up on memories. My reserve is almost out..."

"I thought you have the memories of at least several hundred souls stored in your mind. Shouldn't those sustain you for quite a while?"

"Most of those aren't edible," Evelyn groaned. "We can only digest subconscious memories. Instincts, urges, things like those. Conscious memories give us indigestion."

"Oh well, we have to find some food then," Zenith shrugged. "The Time Elementals didn't starve, did they? Edible things must grow here."

"Whatever. Just hope that there's enough for both of us."

Zenith sighed. "Would you please kindly cease your complaining? Allow me  to remind you that it was your fear of heights that prevents me  from simply  flying us to our destination."

...

An hour later, Eve was beginning to feel tired. She had been burning off her excess memories, and it really was starting to run out. She should have worked harder at soulkeeping; she would've gotten more memories and not be so unnaturally thin if she did that.

But at least their surroundings had some variations now. Starting from about twenty minutes ago, they were beginning to see some strange Time flora sparsely jutting out of the sand. The height of those things ranged anywhere from below their knees to above their  shoulders. The plants looked like thin, dark yellow sticks, with many smaller sticks  branching out from the main ones. From the looks of  them, they did not need sunlight to survive, judging from the total absence of leaves. According to a book he once read in the  great library of Sanctum Solaris, Zenith remembered that these strange plants only required the ambient Time elemental energy to survive. Their structures looked fragile, susceptible to the corrosion of time; it was exactly this that helped them maximize the  absorption of  Time energy. If he remembered correctly, these plants were called Chronophytes.

"I'm hungry," said Evelyn. She walked toward one of those strange Time plants. "Can we eat those things? They poisonous or anything?"

"Doesn't matter," said Zenith casually. He walked toward the same Chronophyte branch that Evelyn was examining. With a single slice of his sword, Zenith cut down the plant at its root. Then he gathered  Light elemental energy in his left hand. Bending down, he touched the Chronophyte, causing it to momentarily emit a white glow, then  fade to gray. "I have purified this plant. Whatever ill effects it may have had, they are no more. It is now perfectly safe to eat."

"It'd better be..." Evelyn grumbled as she sat down on the sand. She snapped off a branch of the purified Chronophyte, and bit into it. "Meh, tastes alright."

Zenith was a little surprised. He expected Evelyn to complain about the taste as well. But considering the fact that her main food source was memories, she probably would not be too picky. Zenith snapped off a branch of his own and chewed. He frowned slightly; it tasted similar to what bones would be if they were more crisp and brittle. Still, it was better than nothing. After consuming about half of the large Chronophyte, he felt considerably more refreshed. His last meal was some fruits he found in the forest where he met Yüruk and  that strange talking tree; that was quite a while ago.

Zenith suddenly tensed in alarm. Evelyn was about to ask him what's wrong, but  then she felt it too. A large mass of elemental energy was headed their way, composed of at least ten Time Elementals. Normally Zenith would not worry, but this time it seemed that those Elementals were specifically looking for the two of them.

"D-Do you feel that?" Evelyn asked, tense and afraid. "Who are those..."

"Prepare to either fight, or run for your life," Zenith said with a grim expression. "Those cannot be the average Time Elementals. They must be the exceptionally strong ones, powerful elite soldiers trained for combat."

"Why are they coming after us?" Evelyn was beginning to panic.

"Who knows?" Zenith shrugged. "They can see into the future. For all I know,  they could be trying to prevent a crime we have not yet committed."

"What?!" Evelyn exclaimed in disbelief. "How the oblivion are we supposed to tell them we're innocent then?! We haven't even done anything yet!"

"Well, we attempt to negotiate with them, of course," said Zenith nonchalantly. "If that is insufficient, we fight and escape."

"You sure you can take them?" Evelyn was shaking now. The large mass of energy was approaching them at an alarming speed. A few minutes, and they'd be upon her.

"No, Evelyn, I am not sure," Zenith replied calmly. "As powerful as I am, I do not think I can win against ten of Time's most elite. Thus, I suggest that you make yourself slightly more useful than you are now, and assist me."

"O-Okay..." Eve said hesitantly. She had gotten herself into a couple of fights before, but managed to come out more or less unharmed each time. She knew how to throw venomous, corrosive bolts of Death elemental energy, and if there were corpses nearby then she could animate them to fight alongside her. She was no elite, or even a real fighter, but  at least she could protect herself and maybe help out Zenith. Besides, she had Yüruk's strange power that turned damage into healing, so she should be safe.

Zenith drew his longsword, the Morning Glory, and channeled his power of Light into the finely crafted blade. The sword hummed gently, and glowed a radiant white. Just a few seconds after he had unsheathed his weapon,  the Time Elementals arrived, golden energy swirling around them.

There were eleven of them, ten soldiers led by a captain. The soldiers were all clad in full body armor made of a golden metal, their faces hidden by their helms. They were each carrying a brass-colored spear, with tips made of an unnaturally glittering, shiny golden  metal. The captain wore armor similar to the soldiers, except his was more ornate, with a  billowing sand-colored cape attached to the back. His sword was drawn like Zenith's, its blade made entirely of the unnaturally bright golden metal. His jaws were square, his face was strong, and his brown eyes showed a curious mixture of youth and battle-hardened weariness. The captain's skin was slightly darker than Zenith's, but the two of them could not discern anything else from under the captain's helm.

Zenith narrowed his eyes, his aura flaring slightly brighter than usual. "What business do you have with us?" He asked in a calm, neutral tone.

"Our leader, Lord Izan'os, has requested your presence," said the captain. His voice was deep and intimidating, but it still held a hint of the vigor of youth. "He has some rather important issues to discuss with the two of you."

Izan'os? Isn't that, like, the leader of Time or something? Yüruk asked in Evelyn's mind. What can he possibly want with us?

The guy probably saw our futures or something, Evelyn replied. She was about to say something out loud, but Zenith stopped her.

"I apologize, but I'm afraid we must respectfully deny the request of His Lordship," Zenith said carefully. "Like him, we have rather important issues of our own to attend to."

The captain's face hardened. "This issue is of the utmost importance. I have been ordered to apprehend you by force if necessary, but I would prefer if you come with us willingly."

Zenith tightened the grip on his sword. "Unfortunately, our issue is also of utmost importance. Like you, we are prepared to use force if necessary."

"Should we capture them, Captain Reen'os?" One of the soldiers behind the captain asked. His spear was already beginning to charge with golden energy.

Close your eyes! Zenith sent a shout directly into Evelyn's mind. Then, from his sword, he launched a bolt of energy that burst into a massive, blinding white flare. The Time Elementals yelped in surprise, instinctively covering their eyes, but they were too slow. They were all temporarily blinded by the intense light, their eyes seeing nothing but red. Zenith swooped Evelyn up in his arms and, despite her shrieking protest, took to the skies with a powerful flap of his wings. He flew as fast as he could, desperately trying to outrun  those elite Time soldiers.

Zenith silently cursed under his breath. Time Elementals were among the most difficult, if not the most difficult opponents to fight against. Their magic was capable of  speeding up or slowing down time, able to cause severe atrophy of body parts and lock things in near stasis. The chance of Zenith winning against eleven of Time's best warriors was extremely low, even  lower than the time in the past when he single-handedly fought and defeated an  Obsidian Dragon. At least the Time soldiers were not airborne...

"Look out!" Evelyn screamed. But Zenith already sensed the attack, as he abruptly veered to the left, narrowly dodging a shimmering, translucent, golden beam of energy. Zenith recognized that beam; it was Time's most infamous offensive spell. The spell was a stream of hyper-accelerated  time, and anything within the stream will age at a rate much faster than normal. The rate of time passage was inversely proportional to the volume affected by the spell, so with the time stream compressed into a thin beam, anything hit by the spell would decay at more than a hundred times the normal rate. Body parts would die off due to the lack of nutrients, physical structures would crumble and collapse, and magical  constructs of energy would simply dissipate. The spell was not destructive, but it was deadly and very difficult to block.

More golden beams shot up from the ground, along with small, concentrated balls of energy; Zenith took extra care to avoid those since smaller volume meant greater increase in the rate of time passage. Trying her hardest to conquer her fear of heights and stop shaking, Evelyn slung an indigo splotch of corrosive energy toward the ground, but it  simply dissipated into nothingness when it impacted against a shimmering golden barrier conjured by Captain Reen'os.

Suddenly, Zenith found himself unable to control his right wing. He cried out in surprise as they began to plummet toward the ground. His entire wing was numb; energy simply was not flowing from his body to the wing. A split second later Zenith realized what must have occurred: the joint connecting his wing to the rest of his body must have been struck by one of the golden beams. He would heal it later, but now the priority was to make sure neither he nor Evelyn were splattered when they reach the ground. Zenith's aura hardened into a solid barrier of light, barely in time to soften the bone-shattering impact as they made contact with the ground. If it had been anything other than sand, Zenith's hastily-made barrier would not have protected the two of them.

"WHAT THE OBLIVION WAS THAT!" Evelyn shrieked. But Zenith ignored her. He redirected the Light elemental energy in his body towards the joint of his right wing, healing the tissues that were unnaturally decayed with age. He was about to fly again, when he noticed that something was wrong. Somehow his movements were becoming sluggish, his limbs not as fast as they used to be.

Zenith turned around, the movement of his neck agonizingly slow in his own mind. He saw Reen'os, his palm spread, waves of golden energy appearing from his hand to cover Zenith and Evelyn. The Time captain was attempting to hold them under stasis, with a spell that slowed down the passage of time.

Zenith tried to cast a spell, swing his sword, fly away, anything. But all hope was lost when the rest of the Time soldier arrived, shrouded in golden energies that made them faster by accelerating their rate of time passage. The soldiers combined their powers, golden light flowing from their hand into the spell that slowed down their captives. Evelyn tried to protest, but her mouth would not move fast enough. Eventually, her brain became so slow that it could no longer keep up with her soul. The two desynchronized, and Evelyn lost consciousness.

[nerd1]

could you compile this into a word document please, so i can read it on my tablet?

[Nepycros]

could you compile this into a word document please, so i can read it on my tablet?

A massive re-write will happen sometime in the future. At that point, we may as well compile it into a doc for you to look at... But I'd rather not have anyone download. Too... insecure.

[918273645]

could you compile this into a word document please, so i can read it on my tablet?

A massive re-write will happen sometime in the future. At that point, we may as well compile it into a doc for you to look at... But I'd rather not have anyone download. Too... insecure.

Then again, this IS a public forum and everything.
(Sorry I haven't written in a while, Real life is a bitch)

[ZephyrPhantom]

Chapter 57

Escape from The Vines

PoV : EmeraldTiger

We walked through the tunnel with Nepycros leading and Jorporel holding the light for the rest of us. We find ourselves at the end of the tunnel. In front of us is a ladder made from roots. Jorporel held up the light for us to better see the ceiling, all we could see was thick roots. As the light passed by one area I noticed the roots seemed to react. Seeing this reminded me of a motto my mother told me, "By the light, life holds the truth." Instinctively, I spoke it out loud, almost yelling, "BY THE LIGHT, LIFE HOLDS THE TRUTH."

Before anyone could ask why I was yelling the roots on the ceiling began to move. They curved and twisted over each other, like snakes. They squirmed, and then began to recede. They slid away from a patch on the ceiling and soft moonlight began to filter in. When the roots stopped, an opening was revealed and the root ladder appeared, slowly becoming thicker and stronger, until it was capable of holding a lot of weight. After getting over the initial shock, I said, "That definitely should not have worked," to which Zblader asked, "Why not?"

"Because only someone from my family could have known about that motto," I answered.

Since it was a motto only my family could know, that means either this was rigged by my sister, or by him...

With an aggravated tone, Jorporel snapped, " Let's get out of this hole already." Nepycros turned and cocked his head to emphasize his surprise, and remarked, "What, is it too dark for you?" Without any more thought on the matter, Nepycros climbed the ladder. On the way up he directed Flayne to exit last describing how if he went earlier, "Your aura could kill the roots, and the others would be trapped." I remarked quickly, saying, "That should not happen. These roots are enchanted." Nepycros shrugged, and continued climbing. We all followed suit, and went up after him. Within a matter of moments, we all made it to the surface. Jorporel seemed especially pleased to be out of the tunnel. It was only now that I could see how pale he was wandering around down there. The others seemed fine.

It seemed everyone was glad to be out of the tunnel, to receive the fresh air. As I turned to examine our surroundings, it was apparent we were at the top of a small grassy hill in a clearing. In front of us was the fortress, an entire mile away. For the time being, it seemed no one had actually noticed that we escaped; otherwise I would have expected to see torches, marking the soldiers as they would have begun running out. It was that... or they did realize at some point and just couldn't really be bothered? I decided that wasn't possible. I pushed it into the back of my mind, and began to relax.

It felt nice to feel the calm breeze, soothing our aching muscles. I saw Flayne walk up to Blader, who was facing the fortress with arms crossed and pensive look about him. "So, What's next?" asked Flayne.

"I'm not sure, I'm just glad we were able to get out at last. I suppose we should head towards the same direction we were going, where ever that is," Blader replied warily.

Silence, only broken by the soft sounds of the wind, overtook our group. A few moments of rest had passed until Blader turned around, stating calmly, "I guess we should be heading out. No point going directly through, we should go around on a wide arc so that they won't notice us again."

Everyone nodded. As soon as we all got up, I heard a change in the wind, as though something flew straight up. Suddenly a huge object landed with a massive thud right in the middle of the group. I felt the air rush out of my lungs as I recieved a powerful hit to my adbomen. I was sent straight through the air, slamming into a tree trunk with tremendous force, and slid down onto the floor. I looked up again to see an enormous figure attacking the group. I saw Flayne and Zblader were both sent flying to one direction while Nepycros was dodging the attacker's strikes.

He was huge, about two meters tall easily, wearing a furry-oxide armor of some sort. He was very fast for his size. I unleashed my glowing claws and ran straight toward him while he was distracted by Jorporel whom was fending him with rapid jabs.

I jumped and swung my arm downwards towards the attacker's neck; only to be blocked his sword, to recieve a back-fist to the face and sent falling to the ground again. As I fell to the ground, I saw Nepycros run towards the attacker but then jump onto the floor and slide right under him, slicing the attacker's legs with his Memento. The attacker gave a small yelp of pain but grabbed Nepycros by the collar of his shirt before he went out of reach, swung him around, and tossed him high away in the air. Nepycros barely landed on his feet and began charging again towards the attacker. I got up and did the same, we ran from opposite directions and the attacker went into a fighting stance at the ready.

As I swung my arm again and Nepycros swung Memento, the attacker made a spinning movement and blocked both our strikes. Suddenly he kicked me on the side, spun around and punched Nepycros on the arm, stunning him. He was about to strike Nepycros with his sword until Jorporel jumped on the attacker's back and stabbed him with a small dagger.
I wondered where he got the dagger from. Our assailant gave a small yelp again, grabbed Jorporel and threw him over fifteen feet away. I noticed that Flayne and Zblader were missing for a while. When were a distance away from the attacker, I was about to charge again until I saw Flayne and Zblader suddenly jump from what seemed like nowhere from a great height. Both swung their blades in long arcs, ready to smite the attacker. The attacker was focused on Nepycros and didn't notice until he kicked Nepycros away and lifted his head up.

He panicked and tried to watch both of them, but the movements of Flayne and Zblader were so synchronized that it seemed as though they were both mirror images, which caused the attacker to be unsure of his stance. He tried to block both of them but failed and both their blades came falling down on either of his sides. One along his side, the other along the left side of his back. The attacker gave a much louder roar and pushed them away. He suddenly fell into a crouching position.

"Quickly everyone, attack!" yelled Zblader.

I was already on the move, and so was everyone else. We all started striking the attacker with everything we had, sword slashes, dagger slashes, claw slashes, punches, kicks; everything. Suddenly the attacker roared and a green aura emanated from him; he whirled around and and kicked all of us away. But we would not give up, we kept pushing and attacking him, we tried to keep him sealed tightly in our attacking circle. Again he roared and this time unleashes a huge splash of green energy that sent us all flying away.
I was knocked aside from the fight.  Laureth'al was trying to reanimate my body so she could keep fighting, but my vision began to blur. I heard a loud clash of metal and Zblader yell in that cold voice...

PoV Swap : Zblader

"Soleam Ring!" Lyra/me yelled as I quickly flipped over the Beastman's lance.  The resulting beam of light barely hit him but it was close enough to blind him. I resheathed my sword and  landed a few punches on his chest,but he knocked me off with a huge blow that sent me flying. Lyra however took over again at this point and I landed on my hands, spinning myself rapidly to kick him multiple times.

How irritating. Lyra snapped. Let me try this.
Unsheathing my sword, she faked an attempt to throw the sword at the colossus of an  elemental. He fell for it and spun straight into a swing from  Nepycros's Memento.
"Where were-" I glanced at the shade in suprise as he stared at me.
"It  would be inconvient if you died." He retorted. It didn't take a scholar to figure that Lyra had talked to him for a few brief seconds.

I suddenly saw a pair of hands slightly below mine, holding a sword. The hands swung at the elemental, the sword radiating with a strange brightness. Lyra's blue-clothed arms followed those hands, and I realized that she want me to mimic her movements. I held my sword in the same position and began to follow the dancelike swings she was making, which resounded with loud clashes as they made contact with the elemental's armor.

It didn't take long to realize that he was easy to read. Apparently we were that agile.

PoV Swap : EmeraldTiger

We all got up again and kept our distance. The attacker looked as though he was going to continue. He took a step forward but fell over and into a crouch position again.

He was puffing loudly.

"Wow, you guys are very tough, I'll give you that." said the attacker. The silence that followed lasted for a while. He got up and put his sword away, his wounds were healing incredibly fast thanks to what I identified to be as an adrenaline spell he had on due to the intense green aura he had. It accelerated the natural healing process of wounds.

"Well, I guess I lost, so there is no point in continuing this fight."

"Why did you attack us!?" interrogated Zblader.

"Well you guys are escaped convicts according to the fortress!"

"We've done nothing wrong, why did you seal us up?"

"To be honest, I'm under orders by the Life Fortress to seek out an outlaw with a bounty on his head..."

"What outlaw?"

"Apparantley, there is some maniac Entropy elemental on the loose, leaving death and suffering in his wake. He has been on the run for years. We recently had word that he crossed the Nalia River fifty miles from here not three days ago and was spotted heading towards this direction. He's got a bit of a juicy bounty on his head."

"What's the bounty?" asked Nepycros suddenly.

The Life elemental scrutinized him. "Ten million electrum."

For the first time since I've known him, Nepycros put on a shocked face with wide eyes.

"What!? That's ridiculous! I've never heard of such a bounty"

"Well this guy has been on the loose for somewhat 50 years or so, constantly leaving victims in his wake"

I thought, 'Mythias?'

No, use your logic! Mythias is a rogue mark, he couldn't possibly have his own body. He is a spiritual entity like myself. It's impossible for him to have a body unless he went through a soul ressurection, which is entirely superstition as far as I know. Besides, he needs people to do the ritual for him. Who would work for him though? He's just a crazy leech that jumps to other minds, or he works for someone already. I wouldn't be surprised if both.

...Though this outlaw does sound extremely dangerous. Ten million electrum, wow. Back in my days only a mere hundred thousand was considered a huge fortune.

'Umm, How old are you exactly?'

How rude, asking a woman her age? You should learn some manners. Besides, it's none of your business.

I saw an image of her making a cheeky smile.

Chapter's original author was EmeraldTiger - other authors contributed to it as well.

[918273645]

Sorry about inactivity, guys. I don't have the time to write. If someone wants to take over my character, or just remove me from the story all together, fine by me.

Sorry.

[Nepycros]

Sorry about inactivity, guys. I don't have the time to write. If someone wants to take over my character, or just remove me from the story all together, fine by me.

Sorry.

Already working on that.

[ZephyrPhantom]

Chapter 58

From Maps to Beasts

Marisa's PoV

"Grab it!" I yelled. "We have to get that map back!"

"Are you saying that dinner is less important than paper?" Krathos retorted.

"I'm pretty sure I don't want to get lost!" I retorted, my pink hair flailing in the fierce wind. Not a good night to be out.

"I'll handle dinner!" Tremor yelled, firing arrows at the birds in the distance. "You guys get the damn map!"

"Now, if only he had remembered to take an actual map from those Gravity idiots..." I muttered as I quickly leaped and shot a ball of water. It caught the map, and went back to me.

"That's going to be one soaked map." Krathos noted. I simply sighed at that comment.

"Just wait." The map fluttered from the ball and into my hand as I reached into the ball. It was dry as a Desert Scorpion - just like every single other time I did it.

Why didn't you go after the food? I thought you were always one who cared about health.

"Says the boy who had quite the obessession with lasagna." I responded inward, and turned to Krathos. "Here, hold this." I then watershifted again and flew towards the birds that Tremor was shooting at, now a blur of water.

Tremor's PoV

I was firing arrows one second.
A stream of water appeared the next.
Then birds fell on the ground around me.

Didn't take one of our elders to recognize an Aquasain's swift and merciless kills.

Then, two raging balls of lightning flew at us. With a cry, we all jumped back moments before the crash sent our entire ground where we just were up in bursts of crackling light. There goes our dinner. In frustration, I shouted, "What's the meaning of this?!" and turned, instantly wishing I didn't have to have an answer. Our meal was gone, and we'd attracted some sort of two-headed dragon child to our hunt - it's probably Nerorian, and considering the fact we're in a canyon we can't exactly run away. For a child, it was very largely grown, nearly 1.5 meters in length from tip of the tail to tip of the nose, with a width of around three-quarters of a meter. Grooves in its back showed that its wings were fully functional, and they often twitched, showing it was prepared to leap into the skies on a moment's notice. It's lips (both sets of them) curled in the way one could always tell was predatorial, and its claws tore up the soil below it. It began lurching towards us, sparks flying out of its maws, turquoise eyes on the left gleaming and reciprocating the light blue eyes on the right. It wasn't here to have a look at our soaked map, and the sharp horns on its heads rising up weren't for decoration.

Oh well. I needed to warm up my combat skills anyway - fighting with the Aquassain has proved me to be rusty. I nocked an arrow, pointing it at the uncanny mongrel. Neither face showed fear, but its movements suddenly became more erratic. Unbelievably, it seemed that it knew what I was planning to do! This was an unordinary creature, indeed. I let the arrow lose, but the wyrm practically vanished, reappearing several feet to its left. It was moving at speeds that were simply impossible for a creature that must weigh a least 90 pounds. Before I could conduct a thorough cross-reference of how it could have done that (and before I could have cared), the wyrm responded to my assault, sending in twin bursts of ball-shaped lightning right towards me. I held my bow out in front of me and stabbed it into the ground. The lightning struck the bow, and the metal tips at the ends of the bow grounded the lightning. The moment the shocking sensation that brushed my fingertips was gone, I pulled my bow out of the ground, and proceeded to prepare my next shot.

The wyrm hissed in annoyance, but didn't move as I aimed my new projectile at its body. Its heads suddenly started moving in slow circles, both moving counterclockwise. I decided that hesitation would cost me a few years of precious life, so I let loose, the shaft searing through the air, right on course. As it was but 2 meters away from hitting home, the impossible happened... again. The arrow curved at an obscenely acute angle, and ended up striking into the ground nearly 10 meters from its original target. I narrowed my eyes. The only things that could do that were Gravity, Air, and Entropy. I was missing something, but what? This thing was unable to be hit by conventional projectile weapons, so I would have to rely on less conventional means.

"Krathos," I yelled, "Marisa, try slowing that thing down!"

Krathos jumped to attention, replied, "I'm on it!" and started surrounding the wyrm, while Marisa simply snapped "I'm already here." She was circling around the Wyrm, firing bolts of water that instantly solidified into ice. Again, the Wyrm clearly had no trouble getting around this problem. It simply dove into the air, twisting away from the ice bolts.

As I began using all my concentration to search for an answer.

Marisa's PoV

I simply circled the the strange Wyrm, waiting to strike. Tremor's arrows were clearly a waste of energy. It took him a while to understand this but as soon as he did he began to focus on analyzing his enemy. Those hawk-like eyes were ones that I sometimes saw in my own face... when I stared at the mirror.

Marisa! Concentrate! Hearing "him", I quickly twisted to the side to avoid the Ball Lightnings that came flying at me.

"Nice catch there."

I'm far from where you are.

"You really need to take a look at what you did when you still had a body." I retorted. "Without you, I wouldn't be running from the good old Council, for goodness sakes."

Hey, we got there together, and we're stuck together. He grunted. I responded by firing an Ice Bolt at the dragon's mouth, which he countered with another Ball Lightning shot.

"Cursed thing is way too fast."' I quickly shot water at the Wyrm's four pairs of eyes. It screeched in pain and staggered for just a second. Then again, I only needed a second. Everything blurred, and I hovered in midair in a crystalline field. Soon, a projection of a boy with white armor joined me in the realm of my mind.

"So, any ideas?"

There's no Time elemental, so we can't slow it down. I was thinking we might be able to trick it with a Rage Spell and then Accelerate it into the ground, but that takes too long.

"Are you implying Water's useless here?!"

Yeah, it is. Think of it. Any physical shots are either way too slow or are getting blown aside somehow, and magical shots just get countered with Ball Lightning. If we could cover the whole area in something, it might work.... but I don't think it'd let you charge up for an Ice Barrage.

"Covering the field in something.... how about a gravity field?" He just shrugged in response. "Can't you be a little more constructive?!"

It could work, but it depends on how fast your Gravity "friend" can do it. You might want to distract the dragon-thing for a while.

"It's something worth trying, anyways." I blinked and found myself staring into the two enraged heads. "C'mere, boy."

"Hey Tremor! How quickly can you make a large Gravity field?"

"About 3-5 minutes, if I'm standing still!" He yelled back.

"Alright! Krathos, help me distract this Wyrm! Tremor, increase it's Gravity and slam it onto the ground!"
They nodded, before running off.

To be continued....

Chapter was started by Krathos and finished by Zblader and Nepycros.

[Flayne]

Chapter 59

Another maniac inside my head!?

I was still awake at the hour of night as I watched the group sleep deeply, perhaps dreaming.
Once again I found myself pondering strange thoughts about my very existence. Was Aznaraex right? Was I brought here to forge my own destiny by having an ambition? I didn’t know. But one thing was for certain, he had an ambition and was surely not going to let death itself stop him; it was the reason why he taught me a few things on survival and fighting.
Many things were unknown to me, from the very beginning. Though I had an interesting thought:
It seemed as though my basic knowledge on what basic things were in my existence was either natural or it came from a source. I was basically born from the ground, with no memories of any past, yet I seemed to know a lot about the things that existed here, their names, basic functions and such; could that knowledge have come from a past life?
 
Suddenly it seemed as though my head started to hurt with too much deep thoughts flowing in it. But the pain started to grow, then I find that it wasn’t really pain at all but a strange feeling, as though my very perception started to become distorted. Suddenly the moon had begun to distort itself into a weird spiral, then I realized it was my sight and suddenly all became dark.
 
I felt as though I was falling fast into nothingness. But things began to light up a little, and I could make out some clouds that I was falling through, suddenly I broke out of the final layer of clouds and I could see a large amount of very tall buildings. I was falling faster and faster toward them, I find that I am falling in between two of them, heading straight for the ground. Until suddenly I started moving backwards from whence I fell, though I still felt as though I were falling in the same direction, until suddenly I began to “fall” in the other direction, falling back towards the sky.
 
Suddenly I stopped dead in the air, as though I were floating still. I see that I am right next to the edge of the tallest and thickest building. I try to move toward it, and with success I found I was able to move slightly through the air until I gained footing on the building roof.
It seemed gravity was normal at the point. I looked around to see where I was, but there was only silence. These were strange looking buildings, they were gold colored and had strange golden attachments to them. I was beginning to think Aznaraex had pulled me in here.
 
“Gabran” called a strange voice behind me.
I turn to look and there was a figure standing there, he was very dark, practically black, his eyes were big circle shapes, glowing a strange electric blue color. I could barely make out the crystalline colored wings that he had.
 
“Who  are you?”
 
“I am Liahnz, your creation”
 
“what?”
 
“Yes, you created me Gabran out of raw psi energy”
 
“Gabran? Sorry you have me mistaken for someone else, my name is Flayne”
He came closer to me until he was eight feet away and stopped. He examined me more thoroughly, the glow of his eyes were constantly changing in intensity. He stood there for a few moments, pensive.
 
“You’re right, I seem to have confused you with someone else, apologies…Flayne”
 
His voice sounded as though two or more people were talking simultaneously.
I wondered who this Gabran was, and also wondered what his “creation” was doing in my head, it all seemed confusing.
 
“So who are you really, and what are you doing in my head?”
 
“I am a mimetic spiritual psi organism created by Gabran, I am not sure however of the reason that I am in your mind, however I can only assume…”
 
“Assume what?”
 
“It doesn’t really matter, what matters now is that fate has brought us together here, tell me about yourself Flayne, who are you and what do you do?”
 
“There is not much to say, I was born from the ground, gave myself a name, joined a group of people and am now on a journey to an unknown destination. I am not sure why I exist”
 
“Ah, so you are not yet sure of your personal goals or needs correct?”
 
I only nodded.
We both just stood there.
What he said reminded me of Aznaraex, about the things he said based on ambition.
 
“hmm, Aznaraex eh?”
 
I froze, then I asked myself, did this guy just read my thoughts? 
 
“Who is this persona? tell me about him”
As he said this he walked towards me slowly
 
“I can’t I’m not supposed to”
 
A Flashback came to my head, I did my best to conceal the image of Aznaraex, the shadow of Aznaraex said: Remember, do not tell anyone of my existence here; it is vital to have trust in each other, I need you promise me this…
 
“I see, due to that, there is a bit of a problem”
 
“what?”
 
I was feeling a bit strange suddenly, as though suddenly the presence of danger was occupying the atmosphere.
“I was born to be the Guardian of this mind, I must destroy all intruders, You are not an intruder because I find I can trust you and your heart seems to show no threat to this mind.
But, this Aznaraex figure, I shall find and eliminate”
 
“Why? Has he done wrong? What gives you the right?”
 
“I am the guardian of this mind, and for a while I have been sensing a presence that threatens this mind…”
 
“Could you stop calling it that!? My mind, ok?”
 
Liahnz was quite for a moment.
“Apologies, your mind”
 
“I guess it won’t matter anyway, I can’t allow you to kill someone for no apparent reason or for something they haven’t even done yet. In fact Aznaraex has been a great help to me, so I cannot allow you to kill him”
 
“What are you going to do to stop me?”
 
I rose my sword and took a stance.
 
“Flayne, you know not what you seek, you were born into a world confused, with no sense of identity or direction; what makes you think you do the right thing now? Perhaps Aznaraex could be using you or deceiving you”
 
“Perhaps you are the one deceiving me”
 
Liahnz made a low laugh, the sound was strange, it sounded as though ten people were laughing simultaneously accompanied with the sound of electricity.
 
“Good answer, but still, you know not whom to trust. That places you in a bad position”
 
“I’m still not going to let you kill someone for nothing”
 
“Hmm, interesting, despite the fact that you have no sense of identity or ambition, you tend to have a strong moral judgment affiliated with justice. But such things may at some point lead you to your doom if not judged correctly”
 
“Enough of this! Stop patronizing me!”
 
Suddenly a deep anger burst into flames within me, I wasn’t going to let this person lower my self esteem and treat me as though I were a senseless rat.
I leapt into the air, slashing downward towards Liahnz, he just simply stood there observing me. My blade was within a centimeter of his neck, then suddenly he vanished into nothing.
Then I felt an ice cold touch across my neck, it was so cold, that it prickled my skin.
 
“Flayne, you cannot defeat me, unless you keep track of your emotions and think before acting. I easily prompted you to attacking me with the use of taunting”
 
“What was that you did just now?”
 
“Through the use of very little mind energy or in more appropriate terms, Psi energy; I simply tampered with your sense of sight and caused you to believe that I was still standing in the same spot, when in reality I just took one step to the side and walked behind you”
 
I couldn’t believe it, he just simply used the power of his mind to simply screw with my senses and fool me. I caught myself thinking: who was this person and what was he?
 
“Of course, I could’ve just used slightly more psi energy and simply teleported behind you, but I prefer to be more strategic when it comes to the usage of energy”
 
He removed his blade from my neck, I turned around to see that the blade was part of his arm, which was now morphing back into his normal arm.
 
“So, is that your true power?”
 
“No, my power is far beyond than what you saw, but that is not important, what is important, is your survival, I will help you Flayne. I will guide you through your life, as well as protect your mind from the harm of others, including Aznaraex if that is what he is intending”
 
I couldn’t be bothered arguing with him, it seemed that he believed Aznaraex was a great threat, so I just nodded.
 
“I will teach you some things Flayne, that will be used for your defense on the outside world, but first, let’s see what you can really do with that blade of yours”
 
“But you can teleport and stuff, what can I do against that?”
 
“´Patience, I will play easy, we will start from the bottom and work our way to the top. Mind you even teleporting cannot save one´s life forever. I will not teleport or use any mind trickery, only blade techniques and general movement for now. Come, let us spar”
 
I lifted my blade and went into a battle stance, I wasn’t sure how long Liahnz was going to keep me here, but if it really was for my good, I suppose it didn’t matter.
 
 
 
To be continued….

[ZephyrPhantom]

Side Story 8

A Short Conversation

Within the shadows, two dark figures lurked.

"So... how goes tracking the tree and the soldier?"

"Not good. Activity seems to have ceased for now."

"What are you planning to do, anyway? They just seem like useless rats to me."

"Do not underestimate them."

And by the cricket's chirp, they were gone once more.

Nephaedron's (Number's PoV)

"Hey Oldtrees, did you hear something?"

"Nunthin' o' thee stange sorts." He swatted at the squirrels once more. "Go'on, back t'sleep. We 'ave more walkin' t'do tommoreh."

[Flayne]

Meeting Fate chapter 60

PoV: Alez'es (Izan'os daughter)


I didn't understand what the true purpose of going to the Aether realm was, I mean, why my grandfather suddenly decided that we go there four days after our reunion.
It was rather strange, but I was glad I was with him once again, after so many years of solitude.

Saphzar'al was rather nice as well, he seemed to be very close to my grandfather, if not his best friend. I was happy for him. My father said that he wanted to show me the things i've missed during my time in the secret underground estate.
We were riding on a small transport vehicle and phasing our way to the Aether realm using a similar ability that Saphzar'al used.
We were only but a few minutes away from it. It was beautiful, high pyramid like towers dotted the realm, the highest one of all at it's core must have been Saphzar'als palace.
It was dotted with city like clusters which consisted of various tall buildings, a lot of them emanating a strange fluorescent electric blue. The detail with each building semeed very elaborate and intricate. I could see many Aether elementals phasing from one point to another in order to get to their location. It was fascinating, a massive city of wonder.

We finally reached the main palace roof of Saphzar'al and stepped out of the vehicle. We were escorted by an Aether guard. His armor was just as glowy and intricate as the buildings, by the looks of his cape and helm, he seemed to give the impression that he was an elite.

He bowed in front of Saphzar'al and said:

"Welcome home my Lord Saphzar'al! I am hoping that your trip was a good one, I am glad you returned here safely"

Then he saw my grandfather and his eyes went wide with shock.

"Lo...Lord Izan'os! It's been a long time! I remember you being here around fifty years ago! I was but a mere child, It's such a pleasure to meet with one as great as yourself once again. Oh dear my humble apologies I must have spoken out too much!"

He dropped to the floor in a respectful and gracious bow.

"calm yourself young warrior, I remember you too for I have seen you in my visions and have seen what you may and perhaps will become, be proud and aim for your goals my child, for it is a noble one, rise please no need for the pleasantries for me, you're making me blush"

Grandfather gave a cheery laugh and the guard smiled then suddenly rose up and saluted.

"yes my lord! please allow me to escort you and..."

before he could continue he saw me and suddenly went quiet.

"uhh...umm, it is an honor to...uh, meet you my lady"

he made a smaller but more gracious bow to me. I was quite embarrassed, I didn't know what had transpired to put him into such a state or to make such an action.
He even blushed and tried to look away.

"Thank you very much, but I am not someone who deserves a bow, you are too kind, please rise" I said with a smile.
He rose and saluted in an exaggerated manner.

"yes ma'am, apologies ma'am! Please let me escort you all to Lord Saphzar'als lounge"

He made a quick spin to face the opposite direction and commenced the escort.
I caught Saphzar'al just in time to see him raise an eyebrow at the soldier's sudden and strange behavior.

We walked through very runic halls, all bright by the fluorescent lights of the same color as the light that emantes from the buildings outside.
We took a left then a right, passing various rooms. We came up towards a door marked with the Aether symbol at its center. Saphzar'al stepped forward and touched the center with the palm of his hand. Suddenly the symbol glowed to life and the door opened, revealing a strange round glowing portal, with steel legs of silver.

The guard stood and motioned us into the portal. It seemed as though he wasn't allowed in there.
So we walked in, I felt so cold suddenly as the energy from the portal enveloped us all. The feeling only lasted for a moment, then I found myself standing in front of a family mansion-like estate, it was quite tall and beautiful. The environment here seemed different, as though it were in Nerora, not that it wasn't a possibility through the concept of phasing.
It was mostly white with aqua blue accenting the edges of the roof, railings of the stairs, balconies and things like that. It seemed to be the most intricate building i've seen so far.

"Welcome to my estate, my personal home"

"I can never get over the lovely decorations of your home Saphzar'al"

"Why thank you"

It truly was a very nice building, and the very fact that it was hidden in between two dimensions was astounding, inconcievable.
We went inside, the furniture and decoration was just as impressive. The bookshelves made of oakwood, couches made of the finest fabric, glass tables and things like that.
In the center of the room was a wide royal staircase that led to the second floor, just as intricate as everything else, plated with electric blue metal on the railing.

Saphzar'al looked at me and smiled.
"Alez'es my dear, please don't hesitate to look around, feel free, my house is your house"

"Oh thank you my lord, I will it is very fascinating, I love the design and decorations"
he raised a hand.

"no need to call me by lord Alez'es, just Saphzar'al will do, your grand father and I are very close friends, there's no need for formalities"

he smiled again and I laughed nervously.

I immediately climbed the stairs to see what was on the second floor while my grandfather and Saphzar'al sat down and began a conversation.

There was generally more furniture and some paintings of Aether elementals; then I came across a very interesting painting featuring who seemed to be both Saphzar'al and my Grandfather in a casual pose together. They truly were best friends, my grandfather had generally told me stories about his adventures with Saphzar'al when he came to visit me at the underground estate.

I kept walking down a corridor until I came across a door that was intricately designed and different to some others I saw. I could see light emanating from under the door gaps, I couldn't tell what was going on in there but I could hear strange electric sounds.
I put my ear on the door and could hear it more loudly, then I thought how rude I was being and was going to lift my head until the door suddenly opened inward and with a small yelp I fell forward into someone's chest with my head down. I was quite shocked and embarrased, my head was resting face down on what felt like a man's chest.

"Are you okay?"

I slowly look up and into his turquoise eyes, lined with light electric blue on the edges. His eyes suddenly looked shocked as though he had seen something he hadn't expected. I take a quick step back and examine him. His face was very fair and quite sharp, his body was very slender and athletic though he wasn't that tall; only half a head taller than I was. He had silvery silky hair, it fell slightly above shoulder height. He was quite good looking. He seemed quite shocked, his reaction was slightly similar to that of the guard's, except much less exaggerated.

"Umm...yes i'm fine thank you" I said

He suddenly regained his composure and smiled.

"I'm glad, I'm Raz'eth, son of Saphzar'al, who might you be?"

"I am Alez'es, Grand daughter of Izan'os"

Again the same shocked expression had taken form on his face.

"I'm sorry, did you just say grand daughter of, Izan'os? The lord Izan'os of the Time realm?"

"yes, why?"

"My goodness, is he here with you? I haven't seen him in years!"

he seemed quite excited at the mentioning of my grand father's name.

"Yes he is, I'll gladly take you to him if you like"

"I'd love that! Thank you Alez'es"

I only nodded and started walking, with Raz'eth by my side. He seemed sort of shy suddenly.

"So, h..how has your evening been?"

"Quite fine thank you, in fact it was very interesting, the Aether realm is a truly remarkable one, so full of surprises and wonder. It's very beautiful, and yours?"

"Well it was okay I guess, just same old as usual"

He made a small shy laugh and scratched the back of his head.
We decended to the lounge and found them both.

"Hello father, it is a pleasure to see you back here safely"
Saphzar'al only smiled and nodded.
Raz'eth turned to my grand father.

"Izan'os, it is indeed an honor to meet you once again, I have missed your presence"
Izan'os made a cheery laugh and clasped Raz'eth by the shoulder with his hand.

"Indeed, it has been long since we've seen each other, my you've grown into quite the man, yet I still see that same innocence in your face, you're face has not changed as much as your height and stature. You'll make a fine ruler one day and I don't have to look into the future to confirm, I have faith in you"

He made that same shy laugh and scratched his head again. I found it was a cute habit of his. My grandfather was examining Raz'eths face as though he were searching for something, then he grinned.

"So, I see you've met my grand daughter Alez'es, I hope you get to know each other and become good friends"
He smiled but then coughed as I caught Saphzar'al nudging my grand father softly in the side and looked at him for an instance.

"Erhem.. ah yes, there is a subject that I need to bring up with you, Saphzar'al shall we discuss the matter in your office?"

"Indeed, let us go there"
They were going up the stairs to the second floor, then grand father turned around and said,

"Now you play nicely kids, we'll be in the office for a while"
He winked and followed Saphzar'al.
I found my grandfather's behavior quite strange, but I ignored it, I thought perhaps he had changed after all these years.

So we ended up sitting on the couches ourselves and being quite silent.
"So, what do you do often these days?" asked Raz'eth

I felt sad to hear that question, due to the fact that I was practically a prisioner of my own danger and risk in life. Sent in hiding for the better part of my life, with no friends, no family; nothing.
In certain ways, I resented my grandfather for doing such a thing, but at the same time felt his love and concern for me because he did such a thing. But I can't deny that he could have found better ways to do it, and neither can he.

"Not much to be honest, I just came back from many years of hiding, not much to do when you're isolated from the rest of the world"

"what? isolated? hiding? From what?"

"It's complicated and a bit of a long story which I really don't want to talk about. Besides what's important now is...Im finally free and out of that place"

I felt a tear coming down my face, it was quite embarrasing so I wiped it off straightaway.
I saw Raz'eth seemed guilty of himself for asking such question, but I guess it was a common curiosity.

"Anyway, what do you do Raz'eth?"

"Well, generally I just help my father out with some deeds involving tactics and security for the city and the realms military. I also am currently conducting a research based on the limits and maximum saturation of raw Aether energy, and how to implement them within other elementals and objects. Of course I've only been into it for two years now, it'll take much more to actually make it happen, but prototypes recently have proven to be successful. Eh... sorry am I rambling too much?"

"No! not all, I'm quite interested, please keep going"

So thats how one great chunk of the evening was spent, me and Raz'eth exchanging stories (though I didn't have much to tell, only small parts of my earlier life) and facts.
I found Raz'eth to be quite a nice person, he seemed just as innocent as my grand father told him he was. He had some funny and cute habits like being shy at compliments and scratching the back of his head while laughing nervously. He was quite cute.
For being the first guy or for that matter the first person that i've seen besides my grandfather since my ages in hiding, it was a great experience and step for me.

"Say, would you like to see something interesting?"

"Yes, of course"

"Come with me"

We climbed the stairs again and back to Raz'eths room. He opened the door and gestured me in, the first thing I saw was this strange electric aqua blue light. I thought it was right next to us at first, however it seemed to be at a great distance toward the end of the room and I could see it was behind a thick glass screen.
 It was a strange sphere about 4 feet in diameter. It was held on a pedestal and was glowing a lot. I could hear a strange humming noise coming from it.

"Wow, so this is your experiment, this is full of aether energy?"

"Yes, it contains so far ten times the amount of energy six elite soldiers could produce at max in one instant, or so calculated."

"So, thats enough to do what exactly?"

"Beside's from destroying this entire building, It could cause an actual space rift to open if released and combusted at one instant, of course this has never been tested due to its dangerous nature"

I was quite shocked that he'd have something dangerous like this in his house, that said something else about him.

"And this is in your house because?"

"I couldn't find anywhere else to put it, I couldn't put it in the actual palace outside of here because it would put other people's lives in danger, however if I put it here, where just me and father are, we could easily phase out of here before it actually combusts if anything were to go wrong. Im sorry if it seems so vague but I didn't know where else to put it. In all honesty I didn't think I was going to be able to grow it to this size. At first it started out as the size of a small marble. Two years it took to be able to grow it into this size without it combusting and blowing up."

He laughed joyously and kept smiling at his work. We looked at it from the other side of the glass. Only then did I notice the rest of the rooms features. Mainly there were many test tubes and glass like loops that contained moving liquids which traveled from one test tube to another at certain moments. I could hear some bubbles from boiling liquids and drops of liquid falling on other surfaces. It was quite a fascinating laboratory.
So it was true that Raz'eth was a studious scientifc person. However what seemed strange to me was that this didn't seem to fit his personality at all or at least the person that I saw from the outside.
First off I thought, he had quite an athletic body and seemed to like being active and exercise, something I'd expect most scientists to hardly ever have since they spend hours on end in the same room and same chair or position (the reason I knew so much was because I was schooled at the secret underground estate). Secondly, he never uses any strange scientific words or keywords, he has a habit of using the words "thing, liquid, energy, etc" but no actual definitions or actual names. I was wondering if he were hiding the true nature of this thing. However I never wanted to impose, so I left it at that, I even wondered why he had shown it to me in the first place. Im thinking, hes only known me for like four to five hours and yet he shows me a piece of dangerous scientific work, conducted for perhaps over two years. It was all quite strange. I tried ignoring it, but I couldn't over look this so easily. So I was going to keep my mind open to it and be cautious.
 
 "So, what do you think?"
 
 I woke from my thoughts so suddenly that I flinched a bit.
 
 "Umm, yea I think its quite beautiful, yet so destructive"
 
 I laughed at what I had said, it seemed so corny, Raz'eth had caught on to it and we both ended up laughing about it.
 
 "Yes, that may be true, but this thing will one day become a great asset to not mainly miliatiristic properties, but essentially for medical purposes which is the main reason I do this. If we can harness some saturated energy and use it to restart an aether elementals energy flow, we can save that person from energy clotting which tends to damage the insides of people because of how it stacks on one spot and also causes back flow which interrupts energy flow to cause chemical reactions within the body. Certain aether elementals suffer from such a disease, at least i've classified as a rare disease for now"
 
At that moment I truly saw why he was doing this, I was beginning to think he was some kind of military freak of some sort, but it turns out he must have personal reasons for wanting to help such disadvantaged people, it was very nice of him to dedicate so much time for the cause of others. He suddenly seemed like the nice Raz'eth I had met once again. It also explained why he wasn't using so much scientific terminology, since he was doing this perhaps because of a hardship he had gone through in the past. I would have also thought that after two years he would have gained a lot more energy than this, but again it explained itself after all, he needed to read about it and find more information before conducting such experiments which counted as part of the entire research. It all made sense at that moment.

"Sorry, I must be boring you with all this stuff, would you like some fresh air?"

I was beginning to think that his meaning of me being bored or uninterested in such affairs had something to do with my gender, however I knew he wasn't that kind of person, but I had an idea at that moment and decided to play a joke on him out of sheer randomness.

"Are you implying that because I'm a woman I naturally wouldn't be interested in science? Is that some kind of sexist joke?"

"Huh!? Err, well, I, No no noo!. I meant it sencerely to consider your, er, personal interests and um, wait no, that's not right. I mean, I want to consider your needs and perhaps, er  other interests, and, oh yea! And also to show you around more rather than just one place!"

He laughed very nervously and scratched the back of his head vigorously, but this time he was blushing quite a lot on his face.
I smiled in a cheeky way and laughed so hard at his reaction, I couldn't stop for at least twenty seconds.
"It was a joke silly! Of course I know you wouldn't mean such a thing, even though I've only known you for as much as today, I don't think you're that kind of person!"

I smiled and giggled. He paused and looked at me with a rather strange expression.
Then he started laughing out loud and I couldn't hold it, we both started laughing again for a few seconds. At that moment as we were laughing ourselves like crazy, I took a step back and slipped on something, then I doubled over toward Raz'eth to keep myself from falling backwards, I made a yelp sound as Raz'eth heard it and looked shocked as he saw me falling over toward him. He was caught by surprise and fell backwards as he caught me. I shut my eyes tightly.
The moment we landed on the floor I found myself lying on top of him, staring into his bright blue eyes. I could feel his breath on my lips and feel him holding me tightly against him.

We glanced at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, our eyes locked on to each other as though they were inseperable magnets, as though they were one.
I had a strange sensation run through me, it almost felt like a rush of heat through my veins and heart. However in that same instant I came to my senses and tried to get up, but Raz'eth was still pressing me against him.

"Umm Raz'eth?"

"Yea?"

"Thanks for saving me and breaking my fall, but could you please let me go?"

He seemed confused at one point but then came to his senses.

"OH! Umm, yes of course, so sorry"

He let go and I got up slowly, as I did I helped Raz'eth up as well. I examined him.

"Are you hurt?"

"What? No I'm fine thank you, more importantly what about you? are you okay? are you hurt?"

I laughed briefly

"No of course not, you caught me and saved me from the fall remember?"

"I'm glad you're okay, what did you slip on by the way?"

I looked at the place where I slipped and found a small cork. I gently plicked it up and showed him. I laughed a bit.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, sometimes I can be so damn messy when it comes to tiding up this room"

"No, its okay, accidents happen and besides no one is perfect, we all forget things sometimes, I can be a bit reckless and clumsy too"

"No, nothing to do with you, it was all my clumsiness, but im glad you're okay"

He somewhat exhaled in gladness, though as he spoke those things, he seemed pensive and at the same time shocked.

"I guess I'd like to take up your offer on some fresh air now"

"Oh yes, of course, come this way"

I followed him through another corridor until we entered another room, this one with similar furniture but it was a bedroom, with a double bed and a balcony. I pushed the dark blue curtain away and we stepped onto the balcony. There were two seats at the end of it, the balcony rails seemed just as intricate as the railing of the stairs to the second floor and its floor was made of white marble. Below us was the garden, it was very nice, with a large round fountain in the center of the field, the flower beds seemed to copy its shape and surround it partially.
It was very beautiful and there was a light breeze. I took in a deep breath of fresh air.

"Thank you Raz'eth"

"For what?"

"For saving me and giving me some fresh air"

We both laughed as we sat there just watching some small exotic chirpy birds fly around the garden and land on the fountain to drink some water. It was a beautiful peaceful afternoon. I was finally grasping the true feeling of freedom.



to be continued...