The Storm King

Leon stared back at Anastasios for a long moment, shocked at the Lord Protector’s appearance. However, after several seconds, propriety kicked back in and he raised a hand in greeting, returning the Lord Protector’s casual acknowledgment.

For his part, Anastasios seemed amused more than anything at Leon’s shock, and briefly smirked before returning to the conversation he was having with someone who looked quite important. Leon didn’t think it was too important of a conversation, else they’d have been speaking in a place where he wouldn’t have been able to see them, but he could tell that the topic was shifting in his direction when the important person, an eighth-tier mage formally dressed, glanced in his direction.

Feeling awkward and on-edge, Leon turned around and, as gracefully as he could, hurried into the nearby Heaven’s Eye guesthouse where the wards against magic senses would keep him out of sight until he regained his composure.

As he worked on that, he hurriedly made his way to where his family was settling back in and told them of who was in the city.

“Why would the Lord Protector come here?” Elise wondered, sounding just as shocked as Leon had felt. “There aren’t any particularly important religious festivals or political conferences happening—at least, as far as I’m aware of…”

“Could be he’s just here on vacation,” Valeria suggested, though her own doubtful tone indicated how little she believed it.

“Has something happened recently that would prompt the Lord Protector to come here?” Elise wondered further.

“If anything had happened,” Leon said, “then we probably would’ve heard about it on the way south. Something big enough to draw a man of his power and position this far north would’ve had all the Empire talking about it.”

[You’re here,] Maia said, giving voice to what was on all of their minds.

Leon, grimacing, responded, “But would he come all this way just for me? More than ten years since we’ve last spoken; if he wanted to speak with me, then I was just down the Scamander River. But instead—if he’s here for me—then why wait until now? When I’m so much further away?”

“He might’ve waited until you were outside of Heaven’s Eye’s direct influence,” Valeria whispered.

“Somewhere the Director can’t necessarily reach,” Elise agreed.

“The Director is not all-powerful within Occulara,” Leon pointed out. “The city is still within the Ilian Empire, and any authority the Director has within it has been leased to him by the Ilian Emperor. He has no authority to stop the Lord Protector himself from arriving for any reason, nor could he stop Anastasios if he tried to force the issue.”

Elise frowned lightly. “Just because there’s nothing preventing him from coming to our home in Occulara doesn’t mean that doing so is the best course of action, politically. Better to meet on neutral ground.”

Leon frowned to match his wife. “I really hope he’s not here for me. I do not want to deal with him right now.”

“Unfortunately,” Valeria whispered, “that might not be up to us. If he comes here, what are we going to do? Turn him away?”

“Right,” Elise concurred. “Besides with us back in the Empire, I’m sure we’ll receive some kind of invitation to the Imperial Palace for a party of some kind. It might be a couple of days so that Princess Cassandra can heal, but I can see it coming. And if we’re invited to a get-together, the Lord Protector isn’t going to be snubbed at the same time.”

[We can leave,] Maia suggested, and Leon agreed with the sentiment, even if he knew it wasn’t a good idea.

“That would be rude,” Elise replied. “Better to wait a few days to ensure that if the Evergolden Empress wants to summon us, then we’re in the city. Leaving before then makes it look like we’re running away, and our hosts might be insulted. It’s not a good thing to do just to try and avoid Lord Protector Anastasios.”

“Like cutting off a foot after stepping in glass,” Valeria said. “Yeah, that glass isn’t bothering you anymore, but you’ve done yourself more harm than good.”

Maia frowned and shrugged.

Through clenched teeth, Leon said, “We’ll stay. We can play the game. No need to let a lack of desire to speak with the Lord Protector push us into doing something stupid. We don’t even know why he’s here at all. Could be he’s just here on vacation, like you said.”

“I doubt I was right, though,” Valeria replied.

It was Leon’s turn to shrug. “We’ll find out eventually, I think.”

“That we will,” Elise replied. “That we will.”

---

Whatever Anastasios’ reason for being here, it clearly didn’t immediately involve Leon—or if it did, then the Lord Protector seemed like he was going to wait. So, without much else to do except wait around for a while, Leon decided to spend some time meditating.

During the expedition, he’d used black fire more consistently than he’d ever had before; exciting on its own, but it paled in comparison to the realization he’d had on the way back to Evergold.

He could now use his black fire just about at will.

The Heaven’s Eye guest house in Evergold came with plenty of room for private training, so Leon soon found himself in a secluded meditation chamber, sitting cross-legged on a cushion on the floor. His hands were in front of him, and above his up-raised palms was a small black flame, roiling and churning in the air as Leon marveled at what he was now doing.

Just as with his silver-blue lightning, his black flame had come so easily that he was astounded that he’d had so much trouble with it before. The Great Black Dragon’s suppression was clearly slipping hard, he figured.

When he’d first made the realization of what he had to do to call upon this power, he’d felt almost like a sleeping dragon just waiting to be woken up. That metaphorical dragon had woken up in the Prota Forest, and now it rested within him, patiently waiting for him to call upon it.

It felt amazing. Leon stared at the small burning ball of black fire hovering in the air. He poked his finger at it, and it felt kind of like he’d stuck his finger in a bowl of warm water. However, a moment later, he stuck a shard of scrap iron into the fire, and it just about liquified. He was taken off guard and had to pull it back to keep molten iron from dripping all over himself and the floor of the meditation chamber.

But still, he was ecstatic. This power, so long denied him, was now in his control, and with so little fanfare. He wasn’t sure how long he could maintain it or the scale at which he could consciously produce it, but he knew that in terms of sheer destructive potential, black fire quite possibly outclassed his lightning. His lightning, of course, was something he was far more adept at using and it was much more useful in general, but if he wanted to kill something or destroy it utterly, then his black fire might just be what he used from now on.

He restrained himself as much as he could from reveling in this turn of events. It represented such a huge boon to his personal power that it was incredibly difficult to hold back his emotions, but he did his best, knowing that there were some problems that might crop up now.

So, Leon stopped channeling his black fire and cast himself down into his soul realm. Once there, he saw Xaphan immersed in absorbing the Mists of Chaos, and Nestor was busy seeing to the piece of thunderous wood that Leon had received from the tree sprites. The one he was far more concerned about was perched nearby, watching him with as much of a smile as her avian face could express.

With a flap of her wings, the Thunderbird took off, making a beeline for the mountain within which lay Leon’s transformation enchantment. Without hesitation, Leon took off after her.

When they both landed, the Thunderbird transformed back into her human body, and the first thing Leon noticed was the smile that her beak couldn’t make, now spread across her bronze face so wide that he was almost afraid her head was about to fall off.

“You did it,” she said, pride dripping from her voice as she strode forward and pulled Leon into a deep, motherly hug. “I always knew that that power was yours to command, and it’s so gratifying to be proven right!”

Leon chuckled as he returned the hug, his usual discomfort with physical contact nowhere to be seen.

“It feels far better to actually use this power,” he responded as he pulled back from his ancestor.

“Describe it to me,” the Thunderbird demanded, though her enthusiasm and glee was obvious enough that Leon wasn’t in the least offended.

“I think…” he murmured as he searched for the right words. “It’s kind of like I’ve been sleeping for a long time. My slumber has been getting lighter for years, and I’ve nearly stirred several times, but now, it feels like I’m finally awake! I’m still a little sleepy, but…”

His heart thumped in his chest, his grin was unwavering, and he could barely contain his laughter. His excitement was so great that he couldn’t even finish his description.

However, as the Thunderbird just watched him try to maintain his composure with a look of pride and amusement on her face, his mind drifted back toward the problem that now presented itself, and his demeanor quickly changed to something much more serious.

“Ancestor,” he said, his tone heavy with consequence, “how able are you to do me harm here?”

“Hm?” the Thunderbird responded, now looking a little confused.

Leon’s eyes drifted in the direction that hers always pointed whenever the Great Black Dragon was brought up, and he repeated, “If you wanted to harm me, how capable are you of doing so? This place is my soul realm, right? The place where I’m both most powerful and most vulnerable. You are… dead, but you still have some power at your disposal. Are you able to turn that against me?”

The Thunderbird followed his gaze, and when understanding came to her, she replied with a conciliatory smile, “Yes and no. My ability to harm you here is limited, as your soul realm is the last place that I can even exist within. If it were to be destroyed, I would have nowhere left to exist, and so I would dissipate into nothingness. I don’t know what might happen after that, but suffice it to say that while I could turn what remains of my power upon you, I would never do so.

“But I suppose to fully answer your question without conditions: yes, if I wanted to, I could do damage to your soul realm. I might even be able to go so far as to kill you if I were to really put my mind to the task.”

All traces of Leon’s smile vanished as she spoke, and his gaze turned sharp. Before he could interrupt, the Thunderbird continued.

“You don’t need to worry about too much, Leon. It’s not only my existence that relies upon your continued well-being, but my legacy, as well. If there’s one thing that all Ascended Beasts value, it is their legacy.”

Leon glanced at her, skepticism dripping from his countenance. “I’m the last member of your Clan yet living.” He said no more, his point made.

The Thunderbird looked a little uncomfortable, and an awkward silence settled over them for a moment.

“The Great Black Dragon takes these matters much more seriously than I do,” the Thunderbird eventually said, her voice quiet with emotion that her stony face didn’t betray. “That he has other descendants doesn’t matter. He postures and he threatens, but he won’t act against you.”

“How certain are you?” Leon asked.

“Relatively,” she replied.

Leon stared at her, trying to pry more answers from her without saying a word. However, his pressure paled in comparison to hers, and it soon became clear that this conversation was over.

“Now, then,” the Thunderbird said, “shall we do some training? These were some heavy matters, and I’m eager to put them behind us. What do you say?”

Leon was about to agree when the pit that housed the transformation enchantment caught his eye.

“I have a few more questions, if you’ll indulge,” he said.

“So long as you indulge me during training,” she responded with a sadistic look, and Leon had to suppress a shiver. His Ancestor, while generally lax and permissive, could be quite the taskmaster when she wanted to be.

So, after taking a moment to steel himself, Leon glanced at his transformation enchantment and asked, “Can this thing be adapted to stimulate my dragon blood? Is that even a wise thing to do?”

“I’m sure it could be adapted,” the Thunderbird replied. “Much of my own knowledge of such magic comes from the Great Black Dragon himself, from back when he actually deigned to answer my questions and when the idea of you transforming was still theoretical. As it is now, he’ll render me no more aid, and I don’t have enough knowledge on the particulars of his bloodline to properly tune this enchantment to target it.

“So, I suppose, the answer is ‘yes’, but you’ll have to find your own way to adapt it.”

“I’ll just add it to the list of things to study,” Leon whispered.

“That list must be extensive by now,” the Thunderbird wryly stated.

“It’s a good thing for a man to have goals,” Leon shot back. “Would you rather I wile away my days doing nothing at all? With no hopes and dreams besides some vague notion of rebuilding the Clan?”

“No need to be so touchy, boy,” the Thunderbird responded, her smile back on her face. “You have other questions, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Leon said, moving on. “That tree sprite—the ninth-tier one from back in the Prota Forest—gave me a piece of wood that contains a ton of lightning magic. Do you have any idea what it is or how it can be used? Or how it can be reproduced?”

“Had I the Iron Needle still in hand, such knowledge would be easy to acquire,” the Thunderbird stated. “With that Universe Fragment, and especially when combined with the Storm Diamond, all the secrets of lightning were laid bare to me. After mastering them, I would only have to ask, and the Universe Fragments would teach me. Unfortunately, they are lost to us.”

“Right; one in the north, and one in the Clan’s vault, right?” Leon confirmed.

“Possibly. Probably.”

Leon nodded. “But… your knowledge of lightning is still unparalleled, isn’t it? Surely you have some insight, even without your toys?”

“Universe Fragments are not toys, boy.” The Thunderbird sounded mildly affronted but didn’t dwell. “I’ll have a look at what you’ve found. It’s not something native to the Nexus, but it does… seem rather familiar…”

“Familiar how?”

The Thunderbird went quiet for a long moment, her eyes narrow and wistful, as if lost in memory. When she spoke again, she showed that that was an accurate description.

“A long, long time ago,” she quietly narrated, “before my Clan had been established, and before I’d even made a name for myself in the Nexus, I saw an ark built of strange wood. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the personal vessel of a Primal God—or one of its highest-ranked angels, I honestly can’t remember. The ark was beyond powerful, and I never quite knew how such a thing had been built. It was almost as if the wood contained all the lightning within the fiercest of storms, and could discharge it without enchantment. Such was my impression, at least. This wood feels similar. The ability to channel lightning without enchantment… and to store power without gems… As an enchanter, I’m sure you know the implications of what that would mean?”

Leon nodded. If such a material existed—and he had to force himself to remain skeptical even though the wood was now in his possession—then it could completely revolutionize the way he made his enchantments. Steel would never be completely replaced, and he’d certainly never make a sword completely out of wood, but such a material would be worth far more than its weight in gold.

At the very least, he’d gone years without a new bow, and it was about time to get one. If he could replicate this material, then he might be able to make a bow that might rival a Flame Lance, if not exceed one, in power. If he used this wood as a power source for his Lightning Lances, then he could potentially increase their power as well.

He couldn’t wait to explore the possibilities.

Leon looked at the Thunderbird. “Will you take a look at it for me?”

“You couldn’t stop me from examining that thing if you tried.”

Leon smiled again. “I’m looking forward to your findings.”

“You can look forward to them after you finish your training. Come now, boy, let’s see what that black fire of yours is capable of.”

Without another word, the Thunderbird assumed an aggressive posture, and Leon was forced to do likewise. Like a lightning bolt, the Thunderbird exploded at him after a moment of quiet tension, and he was forced to fight hard to keep himself from being instantly beaten.

Unfortunately, despite her statement implying otherwise, it seemed to Leon that the Thunderbird didn’t actually want to test his black fire, but rather wanted to show him just how much better lightning was as an element. The speed she attacked him with was something he simply couldn’t match with fire coursing through him. He was forced to use his own lightning to keep up and didn’t once manage to land a hit on his Ancestor with black fire, to her obvious amusement.

So, when he left his soul realm, he did so just a little bit less excited about his black fire, but the knowledge that it was now his to command still buoyed him up more than he ever thought it would.