Wings! She did have wings! Alia couldn’t contain her growing excitent and leapt up, bouncing around the arena, giggling uncontrollably. “You an it!?” she asked Serena as she stopped and began tippy-tapping the floor with her four hands. “We’re going to fly to Shimashina!? You’re going to ride !?”
“Ha!” Serena exclaid, looking amused at Alia’s antics. “Not quite. We’ll fly within fifty klicks of the city and enter the forest before the periter ships and their aetherscopes can pick you up. Then you’ll transform back, and we'll run the final leg. We-” Serena frowned. “Hang on.”
She vanished into the ship, where Alia could sense her collecting their luggage. While that was happening, a small voice piped up.
“We’re really going to… fly?” Polina asked in a small voice.
Alia flashed a gigantic smile. “Looks like it! Don’t worry, I’ll ward you so if anything goes wrong you’ll be unhard!” At her words, Polina’s eyes widened and a small smile appeared on her face.
“Ward ? Of course, you can do sothing like that…” she muttered. “How can you Speak the Second Word? It should be impossible. You’re twenty-five! Unless…” Suddenly, Polina looked apprehensive. “Are you a darkblade!?” she blurted out.
“Nope!” Alia chirped, waiting for Polina’s blessing to verify her statent before continuing, “I’m just ! Alia!” She punctuated her point using two of her four hands to point to herself.
Polina mumbled so more stuff about impossible things as she twiddled her fingers. Alia let her be, turning back to the ship as Serena appeared with their luggage and a large rope.
“Our stuff. I figured we might as well bring it. After all, when you change back…” Serena looked Alia up and down, “... you’ll be naked. Can’t have you strolling into Shimashina wearing nothing, can we?”
“Hehe…” Alia giggled.
“We’ll wrap the luggage in this rope,” Serena said, holding the thick rope up. “You can hold it in one of your hands. You’ll need to be careful not to crush it accidentally. Look at what those wings and talons have done to the tree bark!” Serena pointed, and Alia followed her finger to see the deep scratches and cuts in the enormous trees surrounding them.
“It’s just tree bark, right?” Alia asked, raising a taloned hand and carving into a nearby tree. She barely felt any resistance.
“That bark is two inches thick and almost as tough as iron,” Serena intoned. “In ergencies, ships have been known to land and harvest it for repairs and armour! Be careful with your hands! You’ll slice soone in half if you’re not careful!”
“Ahh…” Alia gulped and made a ntal note to always pay attention to where her hands were. “I see…”
“I’ll find another rope to make so kind of harness for and that girl,” Serena jerked her head towards Polina, who shrank back a little. Serena couldn’t keep the distaste out of her voice. “It would be best to put her to sleep for the journey. Because-” Alia’s aether flared, and a mont later Polina fell to her side, under the effects of Alia’s sleep spell.
Serena’s eyes widened in surprise. “That was easy; I thought you would be against the idea…”
“It’s not that,” Alia said quickly, focusing almost entirely on the aetherfield as her instincts scread at her. “Sothings coming, sothing big. Fifty kilotres... closing fast.” As the entity approached, Alia cast an eighth-circle ward on Polina and then an enormous sixth-circle ward covering the entire ship and its unconscious inhabitants.
So many wards were a strain on even Alia’s titanic aether reserves. Her regeneration - which she now understood to be a result of how her soul bent the aetherfield into her, similar to how a planet bent space-ti - was struggling to keep up. Alia cancelled the ward she had cast around the trio earlier, stabilising her aether.
Still, it made her oddly anxious for her maintenance costs to more or less match her regeneration. The tiers of spells accessible from the Second Word, the seventh, eighth and the monstrous ninth-tier were no joke. They were exponentially more expensive than the lower tiers. This was the first ti she had begun to sense the precise limit of her powers. Of course, she still had nurous buffs she could cast upon herself to increase her capabilities, although she had zero experience using them in the real world.
If it ca to a fight, then hopefully everything worked like it did from the ga.
The wind began to pick up as the entity approached. First, it was just the whisper of wind, the slight rustle of the forest canopy and the gentle ruffling of her feathers. Then it picked up, and the branches began to creak under the growing wind, and leaves began to fall. Serena seed to sense it now as well, and moved closer to Alia, her hand gripping her training sword.
As it closed in on them, the wind beca a storm, and thunder sounded from close by. The air humd with electricity, and her feathers and fur rose. Small branches snapped off and fell, carpeting the mostly barren floor with a carpet of greenery.
Then, it breached the forest canopy.
It was a giant humanoid thing. It didn’t seem to have a physical form. Instead, its outline was subtly defined by the flow of wind around its location - its body vaguely represented where the leaves and dirt struggled to pass through. As it floated down, nearby leaves and branches were entirely vapourised by the arcs of electricity firing off the giant’s body.
It landed about fifty ters away from them and simply watched them. At least, Alia thought it was watching them. She could only barely make out its facial features. Looking at it with her newly gained perception, she suspected that this entity mostly existed in the mirror realm she had identified, and only a small portion of it was manifested in this plane. The power of its soul was almost blinding to her eyes and made it sowhat uncomfortable to look directly at.
He was also enormous. Perhaps twenty-five ters tall. If Alia stood upright than maybe she would be taller, at least if it weren’t for the great horns of shadow that crowned the figures head. Alia swallowed nervously, and then slowly raised one of her four arms and gave a small wave to the familiar entity.
“Hello again,” she said to the eastern overlord.
The overlord was silent for an awkward amount of ti that stretched to the point Alia considered speaking again. Thankfully, he broke the silence first.
“You again,” intoned the overlord, the act of just speaking sending bolts of lightning to vapourised parts of tree bark, leaving oddly shaped holes behind. Alia couldn’t help but suspect that perhaps this was why he landed away from them. “The first violation in Kenhoro, and now… this.” He hissed the last word, and a stream of lightening crackled wildly as it ate away at the surrounding trees.
“I-” Alia began to explain.
“Asclepius,” interrupted the overlord. “Why did you accept the connection? Is your thirst for knowledge regarding this woman so great that you’ll violate the accords?”
“Vikram!” Alia spluttered, her mouth moving on its own. It was Asclepius, speaking through her. “This daemon lord forced the connection! I couldst not break it!”
It felt odd to have a literal god complain about her through her own body. Besides, what was she supposed to do? Who knows how much damage she might have done if she had Spoken the Second Word of one of the more powerful demon gods who specialised in combat?
“Every fleet in the east was scrambled because of… this event.” Vikram waved an almost invisible hand dismissively. “I thought it was an attack. Miss Thornheart, do you know how much financial expenditure you just cost ?”
“Umm…” Alia mumbled, taking back control of her mouth.
“Furthermore, to Speak with such power this far south. You’ll have disturbed Rhaknam’s slumber! Another ss that you have caused that others will need to clean up!” The storm giant glared at her. He seed to be waiting for a reply, but the mont Alia opened her mouth to apologise, he began chastising her again. “And your presence here! Disrupting the ecosystem! Every trade post or mining village in two hundred klicks will need deploynts of soldiers to defend against the hordes of monsters fleeing you!”
After he finished, Alia waited an extra long ti to make sure he was done. “I’m sorry!” she blurted out quickly, getting the words out before any potential interruption could co. “I didn’t know!”
“Exactly,” said the overlord, “you didn’t know.” The giant turned its head to look down. “Young Speaker Halen, you have done a poor job of teaching this realm-traveler how to conduct herself!”
“I…” Serena began, and Alia looked down to see Serena was on her knees, bowing with her head touching the ground. “My deepest apologies, great one!” Seeing Serena in such a state was a shock to Alia. It was a position of submission that she would never have been able to imagine her girlfriend taking. The sight of it tickled her anger.
“And this human with two blessings. What an unbelievable thing you have found...” The overlord’s attention turned to the sleeping Polina, his voice taking on a tone of curiosity. “Explain everything to .”
“Well, it-” Alia began.
“Not you,” snapped the overlord. “Speaker Halen will explain!”
Well, alright then! Alia decided she didn’t really like this grumpy overlord. Always interrupting her and snapping at this and that. How much would a smile cost him? Wouldn’t it pay for him to be a little more… relaxed?
Alia resisted the urge to roll her eyes and waited quietly while Serena explained who Polina was and the events that lead up to the ship breaking. She didn’t hold anything back, and explained in detail what Polina’s blessings were. On occasion, the overlord would interrupt with a probing question or other enquiry. When they were done a full minute of silence passed before the overlord spoke.
“Perhaps sothing can be salvaged from this situation…” the overlord murmured. “Continue as you planned towards Shimashina. The quicker you leave the forest the better. Fly mid-sky, for if you travel too close to the canopy you’ll frighten the monsters.” The storm giant seed to ponder for a mont before continuing. “Leave the human girl. I will take her.”
“Hang on a minute,” Alia began, “I-”
“Alia!” Serena hissed at her. “Don’t! Not this ti!” Alia looked into Serena’s hard eyes and saw a layer of fear and perhaps even anger. It was a look she had never shown before, and the fact that it was because of the overlord made Alia dislike him even more.
“... fine,” she muttered, turning her head to the side.
“Speaker Halen. Despite the circumstances, you’ve done well collecting this prize-” Alia felt herself twitch as he referred to Polina in such a way. “You are no longer a re Lord-Prospect. I hereby declare you Cascadian Lord! Stand now, and serve and our divine empress with your body and soul! Bleed for demonkind, and let demonkind bleed for you! Stand, Lord Halen! And answer! Will ye serve?”
Serena swallowed and stood up with shaky legs. She bowed deeply, clasping her hands together. “With great honour, I will serve!” she declared with a strange intensity that was again unfamiliar to Alia.
“Make preparations for your flight and leave,” the overlord commanded, beginning to float upwards as the wind picked up again. As he rose, so did Polina’s sleeping form. It pained Alia to see her friend be taken away from her. She dropped the eighth-circle ward on Polina and replaced it with the strongest sixth-circle one she knew. Despite being a lower tier, she was confident she could maintain this even without Speaking the First Word. She made a promise to Polina that she wouldn’t let anyone harm her, and it was a promise she intended not to break. Alia would maintain this ward across the entire empire if needed.
“I will ensure the safety of the ship's inhabitants from above,” intoned the overlord as he entered the canopy.
“Y-yes, overlord!” Serena shouted, remaining in her bow until the overlord and Polina had passed through the hole he had created in the forest canopy and travelled several kilotres above into the clouds, where he remained - in Alia’s opinion - like a lingering fart.
Serena eventually straightened, but didn’t say anything. It appeared she was deep in thought. Her mouth would occasionally curl into a smile before correcting itself. Perhaps she was happy? After all, Serena was now a full Cascadian Lord. That was like getting a massive promotion at work, right?
“Congratulations… I think?” Alia said, unable to withstand the long silence. Serena turned to her.
“Thank you, Alia,” Serena said with a smile.
“Is… everything alright?”
“Yes, I’m sorry,” Serena motioned for Alia to co closer. When she bent her head down, Serena began massaging her feathered neck. Despite the mood not being quite right, Alia couldn’t stop the deep rumbling of a purr erupting in her throat. “I’m quite literally overjoyed,” Serena explained. “I can’t put it into words. Becoming a Cascadian Lord this young? It’s a monuntal achievent! Lots of things will change now…”
“...Change?” Alia muttered. She wasn’t sure what she thought of that.
“Yes, but in a good way, I think,” Serena said softly. “Now, it will be easier for to protect you!”
“Do I need protection?” Alia wasn’t sure what level of attack she could withstand in this form, but it was surely far greater than anything Serena could handle. “I’m super strong, you know?”
“Not that kind of protection… you’ll see…” Serena gave her neck a hug and then withdrew. “Let’s prepare to leave! It might take a while to figure out the best way to secure this luggage. Here… hold this! Try not to slice the rope with your talons…” Serena set about tying the luggage together.
Eventually, they got it in a position where it was half strapped to Alia and half cradled in her lower two arms. After assuring Serena multiple tis that she definitely wasn’t going to drop it, Serena clambered onto her back, gripping Alia’s feathers as she settled into a comfortable position.
“I’m worried… about Polina…” Alia said, unable to stop herself from sounding sad. She was sure the overlord could hear her, but she didn’t care. “She’s going to wake up in a strange place, and I won’t be there!”
“Don’t be,” Serena said. “Believe , she’s so valuable not a hair on her head will be hard. You can trust the overlords, they are principled and honourable. She'll likely be given a place to stay that makes The Highguard look like a slum in comparison.”
“I hope so…” As long as Alia maintained her ward on Polina, she could follow the trail of aether to her location. “I will write her a letter,” Alia announced to herself, Serena, and the listening overlord. “I don’t want this forest to be the last ti I see her!” Serena didn’t say anything in response, but Alia was sure her stubbornness was recognised.
Once Serena confird she was secure on Alia's back, Alia used her other two hands and legs to clamber up a tree and through the forest canopy. “Wow…” she exclaid, trying to ignore the blinding soul of the annoying overlord above them.
“What a beautiful night sky…” Serena mumbled from her back. “Look! You can see the blue moon! It’s only going to get bigger from now, until the next moonrain!” Alia looked at the shining blue object in the far distant sky. Serena was right; it was beautiful. Alia felt a yearning inside her. If she were a wolf, she would want to howl into the sky. Sadly, she couldn’t howl, but she could fly.
“Ready?” Alia called out as she unfurled her great wings under the night sky.
Flying would be easy, right?
User Comments
0 comments from readers