Risha: Chapter 46

A/N: Changed Kolo's name to Rilok. Kolo (now Rilok) is the orc who pleaded with Risha to save his people against the humans. Later he went and gathered his people to her cause. I made this change because Klu and Kolo are gonna be in a lot of chapters together and their names are super similar. (I'll make this announcement again on the next chapter)

***

“I want my fire to burn brighter.”

Risha smiled, knowing exactly which evolution to take for Saya. Magic flowed through Risha as she spoke to the Drake.

[Motherly Advice]

Risha’s magic wrapped around the drake, the purple spirit flowing through the two of them. The creature changed with Risha’s words. Where once the drake had two legs, she now had four. Her scales thickened, taking on an orange hue. Her head grew larger, her snout taking on the color of ash, while her teeth sharpened. Both her wings gained extra length, their tips igniting into small flames. Then Risha’s magic moved across the bond with Saya’s rider, and wrapped around Alexandra, changing her. Her eyes turned orange, while her hair turned from brown to a fiery red.

When Risha’s magic finished, the drake had grown in size, nearly half-again as big as the other drake. 

“Draconic Ember.” Risha lowered her hand, her body aching with the exhaustion of using her magic so soon after granting Klaz’zks her evolution. “That’s what your evolution is called.” 

“This is…” Alexandra looked at something Risha couldn’t see, then turned to look at her drake, “you look like…”

“A Dragon.” Caleb’s voice was awed, his eyes taking in the drake and her rider.

Now that it was said, Risha could see the resemblance to the creature she’d briefly seen in the mountains, except that creature had been bigger.

A large head placing itself right in front of Risha made her take a step back, “Me next. Please.” Kaldero’s voice had taken on a completely different note than when she’d first heard him.

Caleb stifled a laugh, then looked away when Risha looked at him. 

Risha laughed, then placed her hand on the drake’s snout. Her magic examined the drake and another screen appeared in front of her.

Analyzing Drake Kaldero’s feats…

Possible Evolutions:

Draconic Sapling

Draconic Frost

Elder Drake

Wyrm

“What do you want to become, Kaldero?” 

“Strong,” Kaldero looked to the forest, “I want to grow into something unstoppable.” 

Risha smiled, then her magic wrapped around the drake as she spoke the unknowable words. 

His scales took on green and brown hues, then vines rose from the earth, wrapping around his body and hanging from him. His body shifted, taking on the same shape as Saya before Risha’s magic jumped from him to his rider. Caleb’s braided hair took on streaks of green, looking much like the vines that hung from his Drake. His iris’s gained a ring of green, growing with small leaves.

“Draconic Sapling-” Risha stumbled slightly, but one of the kobolds was there, holding her up. “Please speak with Glo about the swamplands. I’ll see what I can do for the rest of your people later. Sun-Chaser.” 

The fox was there in a second, taking the spot of the kobold who caught her. “Yes, Grand Mother?”

“Arrange for one of them to have a seat on the council. Risha needs to rest.”

“Yes, Grand Mother.”

“Grand Mother Risha,”

Risha looked up to Alexandra who watched her with an unreadable gaze.

“Thank you.”

“Always.” Risha showed her sharp teeth, “Risha protects her children.”

***

Klu kneeled before the altar, his spirit flowing through the crude wooden figurines and back into him. 

The spirits whispered to him, their voices slowly becoming audible. He opened his eyes, and found himself in a large stone hall, unlike anything he’d ever seen before. Ancient pillars held up the ceiling, slowly crumbling into dust. The only piece of furniture in the hall was a throne inlaid with gold, upon which an orc sat, his features obscured by shadow. 

“Mystic Klu,” The figure started, “You’ve changed. Your presence in the spirit realm is… stronger.”

Klu stood up, then bowed to the figure, “Mystic Klu greets his Ancestor.” He rose from his bow, “I have been blessed with an evolution.”

“A Mystic evolving? That has not happened since… a very long time. I wish I were alive to meet your Grand Mother.”

“My body is not yours to take.”

The figure waved Klu off, “Yes, yes, I know. I remember the pact. What brings you to me, Klu? I’m sure there are other spirits you could lord your newfound power over.” 

“When you were alive, you fought the Seraphim, didn’t you?”

The figure paused, then leaned forward in interest, “Oh? So the time has already come for you to clash with Sarah.”

“Sarah?”

“The Grand Mother of those pigeons. Yes, I fought the oldest of the Seraphim. I shot Archangel Daniel from the sky, and brought him to the earth. Abaddon’s throat was slit with my sword. There were many lessers, whose names I forget.”

“How did you fight them?” Klu kept his voice steady, wary of the Ancient Mystic.

The orc laughed, “You ask for secrets that are not easily given, Klu.”

“We have a pact.” 

“I agreed to teach you the ways of a mystic. This is beyond that, and falls outside of my agreement with your master.”

Klu stared at the spirit for a long moment, then nodded, “What would you require?”

“Just a taste. I have not felt the gentle care of a Grand Mother since Freera walked the world of the living.”

Klu called upon the spirit within him, his body glowing with a purple mist. “I bind you to this pact. I shall give you a piece of my spirit, and in exchange you will give me the knowledge I ask. This pact is held in word and in spirit.”

“So it shall be.” The Ancient Mystic smiled.

Mist drifted away from Klu, and the Spirit reached out, gently taking in the mist. His expression was hidden by shadow, but Klu could read the deep sadness that echoed from the orc. Despite his rough words, Klu knew him to be one of his more caring ancestors.

The Ancient Mystic let out a breath, then slumped into his throne. “In the battle of The Dual Forest, I called upon the power of my ancestors.” 

“Who?” The Spirit knew well that Klu needed a name.

“Katharkalonos, the fifth Spark.” The hall shook as a gaze turned its attention to them. 

Speaking its name in the spirit realm had drawn its attention, and it watched them for a long moment. Klu looked to the Ancient Mystic, but the old orc looked into the distance, unworried about the gaze that watched them. 

The eyes turned away, and Klu felt like he could breathe again. “Thank you Ancestor.”

“Protect her well, Klu. Succeed where we failed.”

Klu kneeled down, and the spirit world shifted. He raised his head to see the same wooden figurines he’d first bowed down to in his room. 

He stood, and left the room. Outside Shasha waited with a bowl in hand. She handed it to him, and his stomach rumbled in response. 

“Thank you, love of mine.” Klu kissed his wife gently.

She enjoyed the tenderness, and placed her head in his shoulder. He wished he could hear her now, but knew that the healing required was beyond any in Risha’s nation. Some selfish part of him wanted to ask Risha to grant her the evolution of spirit that she gave him. Evolution would heal what was missing, and allow his wife to talk again.

But he knew that the power was limited, and he knew how many suffered injuries beyond his wife. Shasha would never accept the gift when other tortured orcs stayed in the healing halls.

His wife pulled away, and signalled something with her hands and pointed to the door.

“Rilok is here?” Klu asked.

She nodded.

Klu gave her one last kiss on the cheek, then stepped into the other room. 

Rilok sat awkwardly with a bowl in front of him. Cali and Calu sat right next to him, excitedly asking him questions. 

Klu laughed, then joined them with his own bowl of food. 

He enjoyed his food while his children continued to ask the young orc about the wars across the mountains. 

Rilok was a good storyteller, a valuable ability for one who was looking to join the ranks of the Death Bringers. Klu still wasn’t sure whether he would choose him as the next Mystic, but he trusted Risha’s assessment of the orc as someone with potential.

Klu ate the last bite of his food, savoring the venison his wife had cooked. 

“I thought it was over. Surrounded on all sides, the women and children falling before the power of the humans and the elves.” Rilok paused, “Then she came. Her bow drawn as she crested the hill. She fell on them like a flood.” Rilok clapped, the sound echoing through the room. Even Shasha was drawn into the storytelling. “The spirits of the ancients rode with her, more terrifying than your greatest nightmare. More beautiful than a flower in bloom. Her sword flashed, taking lives with every strike.” Rilok swiped his hand through the air, taking the life of an imaginary human, “Seeing her there, covered in the blood of our enemies to protect my people, I knew. I knew that this was the chief I wanted to follow, the Empress. The Grand Mother. Blood flowed like a river through them-”

The edges of Klu’s vision turned red, blood dripping from the walls themselves. A canvas of red. Their eyes watching him, unseeing. They blamed him, for he had failed them. Bodies, piled to the sky, an unending battle where there were no winners. His blade did not stop, taking lives as he grew blind from the mud and blood.

Blood, always, everywhere, covering them all.

“She accepted my oath-”

Klu stood up from the table. “Are you ready, acolyte?” 

Rilok immediately rose from the table, “Yes, Mystic.”

Klu caught Shasha’s look as he walked to the door of their home, but he pretended he didn’t see it. He would speak with her later, alone and in the comforts of their room.

The two orcs left their home, and walked down the dirt road in the middle of town. Death-Bringers greeted them from their own homes, an honor guard that protected his family from those who thought him weak. Despite all of Klu’s efforts, he still had enemies, as did the Grand Mother. 

Rilok walked a step behind Klu, following him as they exited the front gates. Klu made his way to the camp situated just outside the city. Here, the orcs who had yet to find homes prepared themselves for a journey to create another town in the forest. 

They were greeted with bows and boisterous voices. Despite everything, the orcs kept the love for partying that their goblin cousins had, and it showed in the spirits they managed to keep in spite of everything. 

Spiders walked through the town, working with orcs who had volunteered to serve them as repentance. Kobolds gambled and partied with the orcs, and Klu even spotted the occasional High Goblin spending time with the orcs. 

Soon they were greeted by the leaders who wished to establish the new town, orcs that Klu knew well, all loyal to the Grand Mother. Rilok spoke for the Mystic, as they discussed the logistics of what was needed for the coming days. 

Klu watched it all for a while, before his gaze moved to the distance, where he knew Risha to be. The spirits loved her, and gathered around her in flocks. She worked magic, calling on help that the spirits happily gave her. 

The blood on the edges of Klu’s vision slowly receded, bringing light back to the world. Another gift from the evolution he’d been gifted. It used to be ever present, alway threatening to take him, but now it came in spurts, only after he’d worked strong magics.

Klu turned back to the preparing orcs as they asked him a question. 

His power would continue to grow, and with the power of a Spark behind him, he wouldn’t be so helpless next time he met Seraphim Raphael.