Legacy of the M'Zee Chapter 19

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

SURPRISE! I got far enough ahead that I feel comfortable putting another chapter out today, so enjoy a big party!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

The sixteenth night found me leaning against the invisible shield that prevented us from moving into the center of the divine territory. We’d found it a few days ago, and had successfully search the entirety of its boundaries. The circle was about five kilometers in diameter, more than enough to hide a tower. We could see through the shield, but only forest extended as far as we could see. Which wasn’t far, the undergrowth got very thick soon after the shield formed.

“There must be a lot of untapped natural treasures behind the barrier,” Lilianna said, sitting across from me. Aleks and Vaya were sparring, both girls laughing as they swung Aether-enhanced blades at each other. Jon and Lea were cooking again, this time making a ground meat mixture of both the crocodile and the last remaining bit of the manticore meat.

“Untapped treasures?” I asked her.

“My mom is the head of Kourier Deliveries, which is the second largest trading firm in Craesti,” she said, “but she always told me about how she got started delivering ale from my father’s brewery to a tap house near the arena. That is how they met, and she always tells me to work hard at the beginning of a venture. You never know when it might pay off.”

“Hard work and dedication are very important,” Xiao said, sitting beside her.

“Then why do I never see you working hard?” she asked sardonically.

“Uh,” he said. I could tell he wanted to defend himself, but also didn’t want to tell the person he liked she was wrong. “I will endeavor to show you my dedication every day.”

“Well, then after dinner you could spar with me,” she smiled at him.

He looked over the moon for a second, then calmed. “Of course, my lady,” he gave her an attempt at an elegant bow from his seated location.

I worked hard to hold in a snort. “Someone comes,” Sia said, disappearing into the trees. I picked up my weapons, sitting close by since we were not truly safe, even though we had cleared out any Beast higher than level four from the area.

A minute later Sia reported back, “It is the Volk. All eight of them are coming.”

I repeated it out loud, and the others relaxed.

“I wonder why they are coming.” Jamila said.

“Maybe to trade again?” I asked. “They did want some more of the berries but didn’t have something of equal value before.”

“Or they want to party before the center opens up!” Jon said excitedly.

“You’re thinking of the dwarves from my stories,” I said. I’d taken to telling them tales from Earth as a dinner treat sometimes.

“No, the Volk are very similar,” Aleks said, wiping her face off with a towel.

Two minutes later, Prince Gunther walked into the clearing. “Princess Aleksandra, Knight Aiden, everyone! Well met. We sought you out to celebrate the opening of the Tower of Trials!” he shouted boisterously, holding up two large bottles of something.

“Wooo!” Jon yelled out.

A howling came from the other side, and then a Topraki leapt into the clearing in full werewolf form. He quickly changed back when we all turned towards him. “Did I hear ‘party’?” The wolf man said.

“Welcome, Shehzada Maayari,” Gunther said.

“Thank you, Prince Gunther,” Maayari growled. He howled, and then seven more Topraki walked out of the forest, along with four massive wolves.

“Might as well signal everyone else around,” I said with a shrug, then spent a few seconds channeling a Wrath of the Plasma Herald before sending the blindingly bright beam into the sky. “Hey Sia, can you and Zimnodlot fly around and see if you can find the Ashkha? Might as well get everyone here for a party and networking.”

“Networking?” Sia asked, and I realized that there was no translation for that word.

“Uh, creating a web of connections to help advance my personal goals,” I answered his question.

“Strange word, but sure,” Sia said. He and Zimnodlot flapped off into the night.

“Why did they leave?” Gunther asked.

“Find the Ashkhas,” I said.

Gunther whistled, and the rest of his people came into the clearing, followed by two Steelwool Goats and a Starnosed Mole. He walked over, and after a few terse sentences the two Goats bounded off with their Bonds riding them.

In the center of the clearing, two Volk, three Topraki, Jon, and Lea were creating a massive edifice to cook on. The Volk quickly formed a grill out of stone and metal, while a Topraki was enhancing the flames, quickly turning the green wood into charcoal to create a more even heat. Jon and Lea were joined by the other Topraki putting seaoning on the meat from the Manticore, Crocodile, and something the Volk provided.

Potato-like tubers were sliced open and placed on the grill, vegetables of all sorts of colors and shapes sliced apart and put into a pot over a second fire pit. All told a massive feast was quickly taking shape.

“So, Prince Aiden,” Gunther said, walking up to me.

“I’m not a prince,” I said, shaking my head at him.

“Hah, I have seen you and Princess Aleksandra together. It is only a matter of time,” he laughed. “But still, Knight Aiden, how has your journey been?”

“So far profitable,” I said. “Did you find the trial sites?”

“Yes, and the results are greater than you implied they were. I owe you more than you have given for them,” Gunther said, putting his fists together and bowing to me.

“Hey, we’re all allies here,” I said.

“Nevertheless, I formally invite you and all of the Craesti here to come to the Weltreich and test yourselves on the Turm der Starke, our Tower of Strength that is very similar to the Tower of Determination that we climbed at the start of the tournament,” he said. “And I want to spar with you when you are there.”

“Thank you,” I said with a grin. “I’d love to spar with you sometime as well.”

“Crazy battle maniac,” a female Volk shouted from nearby.

“Not that you are any different, my Mathilda,” Gunther said, grinning over at the young woman. “Knight Aiden, this is Pfalzgrafin Mathilda. Mathilda, this is Knight Aiden, second strongest in our generation.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Knight Aiden,” the Volk girl said, bowing her head.

“The pleasure is mine,” I said, giving her a lower bow. The Pfalzgrafin had translated as Countess in my head, though the meaning was slightly different, but either way she technically had a higher political rank than I did. I was curious why she had a noble rank, when basically no other kid did except the prince and princess equivalents.

“Hah, she is the one who keeps me sane,” Gunther said, grinning and pulling her out his side. “Though my father decided to put us on separate teams.”

“Only because yours already had a defender,” Mathilda said. “I am not quite as strong as Gregory.”

“Have you been able to use the (Weltreich tempering) again since (name) taught you?” Gunther asked, changing the subject.

“Not yet,” I said with a shrug, “we were told to finish using our own tempering methods on another Element before using yours.”

“Your trainers are probably right. The Volk are naturally stronger than you Craesti,” Mathilda said with a smirk, “though you make up for it in your ability to manipulate the Elements from farther away. At least through early Core Formation. Once we can achieve Perfect Body, we often are stronger than you are at Perfect Core. On average at least. You and Princess Aleksandra will probably break that trend though.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said.

“Knowing your background, I would have been surprised if you did,” he laughed. “Thus, I am explaining it to you.  So that later on, you will be a good sparring partner!”

“Does everything come back to fighting for you?” I asked.

“Well, yeah,” he huffed. “Of course. I love fighting.”

I just shook my head and laughed. Over the next hour, food was cooked, stories told, and drinks drank. At some point, Vaya, Lilianna, Gunther, Mathilda, and a Topraki named (name) had raised a seires of stone pillars off to one side of the clearing. They then began to bet who had the best attack, smashing them apart. (Name) breathed a beam of Fire that melted a pillar, while Mathilda used a technique that ended up throwing a fist of Earth that punched out three of them.

This quickly became a massive game, and I got roped into helping rebuild the pillars. Making a wall had become significantly easier after advancing. I was able to maintain control of my Aether significantly farther from my body, increasing how much dirt and rock I could bring up. Swirls of Aether shot out of us, raising more pillars, and then the game continued.

“Aiden, Plasma attack,” Jon whispered urgently to me. “Come on, you can win me this round of betting.”

“What’re the stakes?” I asked.

“Uh, drinks,” he said with a grin.

“Aren’t you going to drink anyway?”

“Well, probably,” he laughed sheepishly. “But you should anyway. Show off for your girls.”

“We come,” Sia sent.

Only a few seconds later, the Ashkhas arrived. “I see you started a party, Prince Gunther,” the lead Ashkhas yelled out.

“Sezhade (name)!” Gunther cried out. “You made it. Tell me you brought stuff to party with.”

“Of course,” the cat man laughed. “We bring raki.” The two Ashkhas behind him raised large bottles.

The Topraki cheered, while the Volk groaned. A clap of thunder from behind me reminded me of the game going on. Jon dragged me over to the launch line.

“Fine, fine,” I laughed, shrugging off his arm. Runes formed around me, faster than before as my Aether flowed quickly and easily. “Wrath of the Plasma Herald,” I stated pretentiously, then threw my hands forward. The attack shattered every pillar in a line, then blew apart a tree. The bright flash of light caused everyone to look over, then seeing the destruction cheered again.

“See, I told you,” Jon exclaimed to a Volk.

The Volk laughed, “You did. Bottoms up!” He grabbed the bottle he had been sipping out of and started to chug.

“Don’t kill yourself iwth alcohol,” I yelled at him.

“Bah, this is nothing,” he said dismissively after finishing the drink. “Have some of that raki, it will grow hair on your chest.”

That left me laughing, remembering some classmates back on Earth who said the same thing.

“Did I hear you wanted some raki?” (Name) said, walking up. “After a magnificent technique like that, I can see why. We must celebrate! Too bad we never got to face each other in the tournament.”

“Yeah,” I said, “that would have been good. Maybe in the next one.”

“If there even is one,” he said. “We shall see what the war brings.”

Sia landed on my shoulder. “Tell him, what happens, happens,” Sia said. “But you should plan on a positive future, even when you think it is unlikely to happen. “

“Wise words,” (name) said, giving Sia a bow. “What was that technique you used?”

“Uh, I call it Wrath of the Plasma Herald, since I based it upon a technique I learned. All I did was change the Lightning Aether into Plasma, a composite of,” I started to explain.

“Ah, please. Do not tell me how you make your composite Aethers,” he said. “That is not something you should tell others that are not close, personal friends or family.”

“Why?” I asked. “Do the combinations change?”

“The specific proportions do,” he said. “And knowing how you created it will let me work on a counter easier.”

“Okay,” I said. “So, what’ve you got?”

“Hmm, this will work,” he said. He took two steps back, then swung his hands through a complicated loop. A green flash shot from his hands and impacted the closest pillar. Nothing happened for a second, then a swarm fo vines grew from it and smashed a dozen others around it.

“That was awesome,” Jon said.

“How did you do that?” Vaya asked, walking over from where she had been talking with Jamila and Aleksandra.

Jamila followed her, looking interested as well. Aleks came over and pulled my arm. I reluctantly followed her, kinda hoping to hear the explanation even if my talents really didn’t lay in Wood Aether. Aleks entwined her arm in mine, and led me over to grab another skewer of cooked Beast meat.

“Uh,” Aleks started to say something, then stopped. She bit her lip nervously. It was super cute, “So, I was talking with Vaya and Jamila.” She was breathing hard, looking down at the ground. “I would like to take you to dinner when we get back. So we can get to know each other better.”

“I would be happy to take you on a date,” I said.

“Why would a date be something you take me on?” She asked, confused.

I laughed. “That is what it was called back on Earth when two people went out to explore courtship together.”

She smiled at me, nervous and hopeful at the same time. “I like that. I would like to take you on a date.”

“I accept,” I said. “You will have to take me to your favorite place in (Ashkhas city), if you have one. I’m also holding you to a dinner in Craesti City, just so you know.”

“You know dad is going to make you come to dinner all the time, right?” Aleks asked. “Do not be surprised if he tries to get you to move to Craesti Academy soon after we get back.”

“I know,” I said. I looked off to the side. “I don’t think I’ll accept though. I doubt Librarian Narwan will want to move.”

“I know,” she said. “And you will be with Vaya and Jamila and away from me. I did not think this through.”

“Like I told you before,” I pulled her into a hug. “We will make this work, or we won’t. Either way, I will be on your side. Not every courtship results in marriage. This attempt won’t fail because of inattention though. Even when we are in different cities, I will write you and do my best to come visit often.”

“You better,” she said, sounding sad.

I reached over and picked her chin up. “Hey,” I grinned at her. “Just remember, you are worth it, and will be an amazing leader for Craesti. I mean, you are the strongest in our generation.”

“Only because you let me be,” she said, gently smacking my arm.

“Nah,” I laughed. “I was barely able to stand. I coudln’ t have fought you.”

“Well, we will have to have a fight sometime when we are both fresh,” she said. “I want to know how strong you really are, since the only time we fought before that was after I had already went through three others.”

“Fine,” I said. “Only if you allow me to hug away any hurts afterwards.”

“That will be Jamila and Vaya’s job,” she said.

I won’t lie, that made me pause for a minute. I shook my head and dismissed the thoughts that comment had engendered. “Come on, let’s see how they are doing,” I said, and we went back over to where (name) was teaching Jamila, Vaya, and Hanna to manipulate vines at a large distance from themselves.

I laughed and cheered when Jamila managed to mimick his technique, picking her up and spinning her in a hug when the vines smashed apart two other pillars.

The party went late into the night, all of the Bonds congregating and laughing at their partners once we finally collapsed.

At sunrise, a massive flash of Aether woke us all up.