This is going far better than I imagined, and I barely had to do anything! It's great! Snowstorm is floundering around the battlefield erecting walls of ice to shield his team, which has dwindled numbers. Everyone who was injured fatally was teleported to a large clear platform far above, their injuries tended by Aftermath and their voices sealed in. We can't see them nor hear them so that neither team obtains an advantage from an eye up there, and any telepathy is severed unless from some overpowered unique skill.
“This is going amazing!” A voice comes from behind me. I turn to see Ysolda wearing a pear of the glasses, looking at me. I am standing, invisible, by the flag, watching everyone closely.
“You shouldn't look directly at me while I'm invisible.” I point out. She immediately looks away.
“Sorry. But I repeat, this is going far better than I could have imagined.”
“Don't say that. You'll jinx us.” I say flatly, then chuckle. “But they aren't done. I think I know what they are going to try to do.”
“What?” Ysolda asks me, turning to me for a moment.
“They're going to- behind you.” Ysolda whips around and punches an invisible person in the face. I launch a simple dark bolt at him and away he goes.
“Anyways,” I continue, “Bertram is a water mage. I did my homework on the enemy team. We filled the bottoms of the holes with water. That wasn't just to cushion their falls.”
“Was it- oh. Is it bait?” Ysolda asks, mulling it over.
“Yep, bait. Most of their forces that weren’t sent up by the fall are still down there. If he smashes the holes open again and pulls the water up, he will have most of his soldiers back to throw at us.”
“That doesn't sound like a good trap.” Ysolda points out.
“Oh, but it is.” I grin viciously. “When Bertram wants to control water, he has to extend his own water tendrils into the holes to link up with all the water. Janet, get over here!”
“Here!” Janet pops up beside Ysolda, making her jump.
“You know the basic lightning bolt spell, right?”
“Sure do, but why'd ya ask?” She blinks curiously in my direction, but not looking directly at me. She doesn't have the true sight glasses.
“Well, Ysolda, here's a fun little fact you learn in elementary school.” I gaze over the battlefield with malicious glee. “Water conducts electricity.”
<{(0)}>
“I've weakened the stone enough.” I whisper to Bertram. I'm currently in my demi form, one hand planted firmly on the ground. The earth below has a soft white sheen to it now, making it more slippery and brittle. I don't care about the slippery bit, what I care about is the brittle part.
“Alright, lets do this.” Bertram grins, raising a hand. Tendrils of water spread from his hand, shooting forward. Each location of every hole I remember was catalogued in my mind before Abhor sealed them up, so I guided him to each location where he slips a tendril into the ground. The goal is to send all the troops up at once to surprise them. Each soldier has been debriefed by a Redwood, who happens to be a good mind mage.
“Alright, every single one of them is linked up.” Bertram nods to me. “I will need you to share mana with me.” I nod, resting a hand on his back. Then, something in the distance catches my eye. At the back of Red team's side of the courtyard lays a small pool of water.
“Bartram, do your senses happen to connect to that pool?” I ask Bertram, squinting. A woman with hot pink hair stands over the pool.
“Yeah, why?” Bertram asks, focusing on his task.
“What is she- oh. Oh no.” I barely have time to remove my hand as the woman thrusts her hands down.
Lightning bolt!
Electricity crackles into the pool, shooting out of her hands and into the water. They shoot deep down into the earth and into every single chamber below. Somehow Abhor connected the damned chambers together! Or- no, he only connected it to one chamber. We did the rest of the connecting. We were played.
Bertram screams as electricity uses his body as a conduit to spread. In but a moment he was gone, whisked up to the platform above, along with 70% of my team.
“Dammit!” I slam a gauntlet into the ground, though not putting any actual force into it. However, the ground cracks slightly from my fist.
“I got outplayed.” I mutter to myself. “This round is practically over.”
“You got that right.” My blood runs colder as I whip my head around just in time to see the trident. Then, suddenly, I find myself on a platform in the sky, surrounded by people.
<{(0)}>
The only way I could describe this game is easy. It was fun, very fun, but easy. Both teams were so… predictable. Bertram's team barely changed it's strategy despite getting Snowstorm. Red, however, got an overhaul. The strategy basically let us bulldoze over them easily. I should have better explained my plan to them, though, so I need to work on that.
“Well, that's game.” I grin as I plant the red flag down beside our own. I turn to Ysolda and Geo who stand beside me, looking a little bewildered.
“I barely did anything.” Geo mutters, fiddling with his claws.
“Neither.” Ysolda just blinks at me.
“The game is over.” Aftermath's voice rolls across the field like a thundercloud, bringing the attention of all towards him. Those above instantly find themselves teleported down below to the courtyard with their teams, and both sides scramble to get into lines. me and Snow storm group up by the back. I grin at him while he gives me a few colorful words before we turn back to the bag of bones in front of us.
“This round went far differently.” Aftermath says. “Ysolda, Bertram, why do you think that is?” The two leaders exchange glances before Bertram answers hesitantly. "Because of… the tier 2 dragons who joined our teams.” he says, though it sounds more like a question then a statement.
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“Oh, that's quite clear. I'm asking how the presence of Abhor and Snowstorm influenced the battle. What do you think I was trying to make you learn from this?” This time it's Ysolda's turn to hesitantly respond.
“The battle was influenced by two factors by them. Their powers and their minds. Making them into individuals with roles of co-leadership gave them more say, and they had power they could use to influence the battle in ways they level 20 people like us just couldn't do.” Aftermath looks at her for a moment, then nods.
“And as for what I wanted you to learn?”
“Powerhouses” Ysolda responded immediately. “Every true powerful army will have one or more individuals with greater power than the rest of their entire military force. Someone stronger than the rest, a Trump card or a frontal force. This exercise taught us how powerhouses can influence a battlefield when in a role of leadership.”
“Good, good. You are correct. Correct and a winner.” Aftermath raises one massive skeletal claw in front of her. she freezes, caught between reverence, terror, and anticipation. A claw rests on the back of her right hand. And when he removes it, a triangle rests there with 2 triangles within it. She just states at it.
“Th-this… this is…” Ysolda looks like she is about to faint. Oh wait, she's falling over.
I quickly hop through her shadow and catch her.
“I mostly expected that outcome, though I did not believe she would faint.” Aftermath looks down at the woman as I lay her down on a stone chair I forge. Every time I manipulate the earth, it gets easier. I guess that's what practice does for you.
“She has an unhealthy amount of reference for you.” I say flatly. A Lot of the people from both teams look at me like I just spoke some heretical prophecy.
“Most do. It's useful, though tedious.” Aftermath nods to me. “Having friends like you is a rarity. It's a welcome one, though.” Now the people form both teams look at me like a divine prophet. Strange how that works. Not that I'm complaining, being buddy buddy with a God is absolutely awesome, and gives me so much ammo to use when it comes to bragging rights.
“Hey, I don't mind.” I grin. “But let's not drift from the topic.”
“Yes, yes. Bertram, come here.” Aftermath waves Bertram to walk over. I give Snowstorm a meaningful expression. What did the expression mean? Simple. To catch Bertram when he faints.
Aftermath gave him a blessing. He fainted. Snowstorm caught him. All is well.
<{(0)}>
Well, not all is well apparently. After everyone cleared out and both Ysolda and Bertram were carried away by some priests, apparently bringing them to new residences, Snowstorm dragged Evelyn and Rosaline away to do something. I think he said something about “tactics” and “That purple prick” and stuff of the like. But that wasn't what wasn't well. Eventually, it was just me, Aftermath, and a few life mage priests.
“hey, Aftermath, can we chat in private?” I look up at the big guy. He seemed surprised for a moment, but eventually nodded his skeletal skull in affirmation.
“In my rooms then.” With not even a flick of a claw, we were there. Being a God is straight up cheating.
“Are you ok, bud?” I ask him. He freezes up, which must be difficult considering how still he normally is.
“I… have been doing better.” Aftermath thinks to himself for a moment. “You help more than you know. Just… having good people like you around makes things easier.” He sighs. “Nobody makes it to godhood that can't stand what it comes with. Loneliness, loss, separation. It's par for the coarse.” If he had facial muscles, I'd imagine he would have a melancholic smile on his face as he rested one talon on the wooden wall.
“You can talk to me.” I insist. “And toy have a champion now, right? Maybe try bonding with her a bit.”
“She is too… young. And too zealous.”
“I'm 16 and she's, what, 35? That's very young for a tier 3 like her, and impossibly young for a tier 2 like me. She's smart, you can get through to her. She's very kind and would make a good friend. It helps to talk to people, you know. I always talked with… Smokewind, about my problems. She… helped.” Me and Aftermath just look at each other for a moment. Then, simultaneously, we sigh.
*“Claws of a talon, huh?”
“Claws of a talon.” Aftermath agrees. “Thank you.”
“We are friends. It's what friends do. I'm here for ya, you know that, right?” I smiled at him.
“I do know that.” He stares down at me for a moment. “You remind me of an old friend. Always so worried about my mental health. I miss him.”
“He died?” I ask. I had considered that about him before. He's lost a lot of friends.
“Not entirely, but yes. Maybe I will tell you about him one day.”
“I look forward to it.” I smile. “So… what now?”
“I think you know that you've made enemies. You appeared in Camica, killed an important person, trashed a city, and escaped with an experiment of theirs. They won't leave that. They'll likely want to hunt you for nothing more than closure for the people.”
“Well… yikes.” I sigh. “Sounds like fun.” I say sarcastically.
“Well, I doubt they see it that way.”
“I’m pretty sure they want me dead. Actually, scratch that, I know they do. The civilians want me dead because I broke in and murdered people, then escaped with something valuable, that being Darkness. They see me as some savage beast ripping through their homes. They want that threat to their lives gone. The government officials want me dead because not only did I damage their property, I also put doubt into the civilians. Doubt for their safety, and the competence of the government. The grand general wants me dead because I am a risk to letting his secret out. Brennen doesn’t want Camica to know that dragons are sapient. He wants them oblivious and subservient. He also wants his people to have an enemy. Someone to point fingers at instead of himself. Unity through fear.”
“That…” Aftermath seemed at a loss for words for a moment, baffled. “Sometimes I forget how intelligent you are.”
“I’m really not.” I insist. “It’s easy to see that just by staring at the situation for a second.”
“I… whatever you say, Timeling. Just keep that confidence of yours up. You beat yourself up too much and you don’t even realize it.”
“What?”
“Exactly. By the way, have you visited your guardian yet?” I shift in my spot a bit, then sink onto a pillow in the corner of the room, sighing.
“No, I haven’t. I… I’m scared. I don’t want to see him like that. Snowstorm visited him a few times, and even introduced Evelyn to him. He hasn’t let her get close, though. He is scared of humans now. What if…” I look up at Aftermath. “What if he sees my demidragon form and is afraid of me? What if he hates me too?”
“Do you believe he will?” Aftermath’s voice is calm, controlled.
“I don’t know!” I shout, resisting the urge to claw my eyes out in frustration. “I don’t know anything anymore! I’m so confused! I’ve lost someone I loved, and now I’m scared I might have lost another one too! What am I doing?! Why am I here?! What is WRONG WITH ME?!” I can’t help but roar. The sound crashes through the walls of the great tree, bouncing around and down into the church. The noise makes priests below freeze up, the lower tier ones out of fear and the higher tier ones out of worry. I feel like I’m breaking apart. Everything is nothing and what is happening anymore?! I don’t know what to do! I don’t know what my future is supposed to look like. When I was younger, everything was a series of unknowns. I didn’t know my tomorrow, and I was fine with it. Yet now, I’m scared. I don’t know my tomorrow, and it terrifies me. I’m scared of losing Darkness. It was so close. So close to disaster. I could have lost him.
I died. I never really got the chance to consider what the effect of that was on myself. I think it did something to me, yet I don’t care. I’d die a million times for those I care about.
“Abhor.” Aftermath’s voice drives me out of my own head. My snout is soaked with tears and my eyes are more red than white at this point.
“Abhor, look at me.” I can’t look up. I can’t look up at him.
“Abhor. Please, look up at me.” Something about his tone… I don’t know, but I find myself slowly turning my head up to look into those wisps of eyes.
“I-I…” I can’t figure out what to say. He beats me to it.
“Thank you for being you.” I freeze up. I didn’t expect those words, or anything like them.
“W-what?” I choke out.
“Thank you for being you.” He repeats. “Thank you for caring, for loving, for laughing, for crying, for being right here, right now. You came here to see if I was ok. You never had to do that, yet you did. So to that, I say thank you for being you. It’s all that anyone could ever ask of you.” I look up at him, truly look. Then I just break down sobbing. For the second time today, a flood washes away everything. Thank you for being you.
Name:Snowstorm
Level:50/150
Age:16
Titles:Frostbreaker, knowledgeer, study master, Tier 2 evolution, Humanify FREEZE
Strength:150
Durability:150
Speed:150
Stamina:150
Intelligence:172.5
Essence:1,009
Class:Frostbane boxer(Epic)
Soul weapon:Frostbane gauntlets
Species:Frostwing demi-wyvern
Skills: Heat vision(low)Uncommon, Greater enhanced intelligence(medium)Rare, Enhanced knowledge intake(medium)Uncommon, cold resistance(high)Rare, photographic memory(Medium)Rare, swimming(low)Common, split thought(Low)Rare, body temperature reduction(Medium)Uncommon, ice mana manipulation(medium)Rare, heat shift foundation(Low)Uncommon
Techniques:Swimming(D), Mana manipulation(C), Mind mana manipulation(D), Ice mana manipulation(C), Mana claws(C), Ice spear(C), Iceout(D), Icicle hail(D), Mind bridge(D), Ice mana barrier(C), Heat shift(D), Mana bolt(D), Mana sense(D), Illusion mana manipulation(E),
Mutations: Knowledge intake stomach(B), Multi-Mind system(A)
