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afb728 -> RE: (DF) Ember: The Story of Unfulfilled Potential (8/11/2014 1:12:06)
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Book 1: Chapter 9
I never learned to swim, growing up. Living on a volcano, where the only water around was boiling, I had very little use for any sort of contact with water. So being fully submerged was a frightening experience.
Realizing that I was in the ocean did not help.
Luckily, the water seemed breathable, which I noticed when I panicked and inhaled a lungful of it. I stopped panicking and did a quick inventory: maybe an eighth of my mana capacity. I hadn’t had enough time overnight to regenerate enough to teleport outside of my cave, let alone go to an ocean, at least several hundred miles away, and still have that amount of mana. Which meant that something had taken me.
“And he figures it out.” Neso’s voice sounded like a rushing stream, waves on a beach, and a rainstorm all at once. “Tell me, are you surprised to meet me?”
“Well, honestly, no. I am surprised that you bothered to bring me here, normally I am expected to provide my own transportation.”
“Some of my peers are less than courteous, it would seem. Shall we do business?” I nodded in response. “Good. I need you to bring back the elves.”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“One of the Old Ones, a giant squid, transformed all of my elves into monsters. It is vital that they are cured.”
“I have two questions: Why am I necessary, and why is it necessary for them to be back?”
“You know, Fiamme always bragged about your schooling, but you seem to be either dense or ignorant, based on what I’ve heard.” She sighed. “The elves are what you might call an indicator species. They, more than anything else, are an accurate measure of an Elemental Lord’s power on Lore. Weak elves mean weak Lords.
They were created to bridge the gap between the Elements and the Mortals. Fire, among a few of the others, decided to create beings such as you. Fire’s choice was rather selfish. It ruined multiple lives, one after another, and robbed the mortals in question of their free will. The rest of us chose to make elves, the first of whom were willing participants in our experiment. For the first few centuries, the experiment seemed to be working. Unfortunately, the elves became too invested in their own culture and their own survival. If you meet any elves outside of their villages, they are exiled, insane, or desperate for something. They forgot their duty, and the world suffered because of it. The relationship between the Realms and Lore decayed. And because of that, my power on Lore weakened enough for the elves to be transformed by a lesser Being. Comparatively, of course. They must be saved, for the safety of my Realm and Lore.”
“So why can’t you do it?”
“I am the Avatar. I am the power of the Water Lord, concentrated so densely in one Plane that I gained a mind of my own, unless, similarly to what happens to the current Tongue of Fire, the Water Lord takes control. I have no mortal element in my person. You were meant to be the next Tongue, to fulfill the same function of the elves. There is only one other who could possibly help me, but I know that that one would not.”
“But you do not need the Orb saved? Most of my tasks seem to be for that purpose.”
“Allow me to educate you. The Orb is important, but, like me, it is pure Elemental power in the Mortal Plane. Any Avatar worthy of the name should be more concerned for the elves. If necessary, I could create 100 more orbs of the same power as the current one immediately. I could also take back the Orb or destroy it.”
“Then why did Haeos—“
“Haeos is a fool. Haeos is concerned for the trouble that Orbs might cause is the wrong hands. He tried to convince me of the ‘danger’, but the word of my strongest competitor is not to be trusted. You will find a way to cure the elves.”
“What of the Hero of Falconreach? He seems to be everywhere I go. What part will he play?”
“The Hero looks for the Orb, just as he did for the other Elements. He is, however, still battling his way through Drakonnan’s fortress. He will likely not be Underwater for several weeks. He will fight the Being unless the elves are healed in time.”
“And the Orb?”
“In the event that the Orb is stolen, no great harm will come of it. Haeos’s worries are without justification.” She paused. “I will decide your reward based on my satisfaction with your work.” She dissolved into a cold swirl around me.
*****
The next month passed quickly as I recuperated. The magic was slower to return than I would have expected, but I was able to use what I had the day after the moglin’s treachery to pay for a room in the tavern in the Locker. The bartender liked cheap magic tricks. A gift of a flower that sang a different song each time it was touched was more than enough to buy me at least six weeks of room and board. I had strange dreams during my convalescence, like a dragon was speaking monotonously nonstop. It kept telling me to submit to it, that I could “not resist” and could not “fight it”. That was made me indignant enough (too much like what Fiamme had told me) to power through the dreams, mentally fighting whatever appeared in them.
Each day, I cast out my magic a little further. One day, I felt a very deep, cold, and dark presence on the edge of my range. I resolved to investigate the following day. In the meantime, the hero had been spat out by a Johnnyfish.
The hero, from what I had seen, was, although dense (I know for a fact I’m not the only one to think so.), kind-hearted. I did plenty of spying on him from afar as he tried to befriend the only Water Elf in the town. He did some swimming around, looking for something to do something to save the Water Elves. I don’t know. Honestly, I didn’t listen that closely. He did seem to be acting strangely: twitching, screaming in his sleep, talking to himself. But, then again, the entire Inn was acting like that.
The day I decided to investigate the presence. I summoned my sickles just in case and hung them on my belt. Some distance out of town was a mysterious trench, and in that general direction I could feel the presence. I figured that the trench was a good place to start.
I jumped into the trench when I reached it and sank. It took a solid hour. When I finally reached the bottom, the pressure was overwhelming. It took a great deal of effort to shield myself against it, reducing my magic, which had just gotten to about three quarters capacity, to one third. Changing my vision to see in the dark reduced it to a quarter capacity. It takes more mana to cast any spell when under physical duress: in a fight, trapped under your bed, anytime you’re stressed. Part of it is psychosomatic: your concentration is broken, which means your finesse is off, leading to taking more than is necessary from your body’s reserve. It also takes more effort if you are deep in an elemental Domain and not an Elementalist. Underground, in the stratosphere, in a fire, a glacier, or, most topically, an ocean. Being at the ocean floor and unbonded to any Element, especially water, was difficult.
I followed the trench toward the Presence. Its magical pressure was far greater than the pressure the ocean was placing on me, and the voice from my dreams began speaking ever more loudly in my head, telling me to give up. By the time I reached the valley where it was located, I was finding it hard to breathe. A large mass of tentacles lay before me, slowly pulsing. One shifted slightly, giving me a glimpse of an eye as far across as a Guardian Tower is tall. A sharp-looking mountain poked out of the tentacles; looking more closely, I realized it was a beak.
“Ah. A snack has come to greet me.”
“You speak like a dragon.”
“I am far greater than a dragon. The Guardians will tell you that the Dragons were the first Elemental Champions, but they were only given that task when my brethren and I proved to be too strong for the Avatars to handle.”
“Your brethren? Am I to believe there is a squid for each element?”
“We were each created to be the ultimate masters of our respective environment. We were worshipped by you humans… And then the dragons came along. They were called something different back then. The world had no use for my brethren and me, not when the Lords had so clearly shown that we were not favored anymore. I suppose I am lucky. I am one of the few of my brethren to have not been transformed by the Cataclysm some millennia ago. Only those deepest in the planet’s recesses remain: myself, my Earth-brother, and possibly my Fire- and Ice-sisters. The rest are gone, either dead or forced into a lesser existence…” He fell silent for some time.
“I have come to ask you nicely to restore the Elves. I’m assuming that you are the giant squid who transformed them.”
“That I am. But I shall not restore them. Neso told you that they are the indicator of how strong an Element’s foothold is on this planet, yes? When they all belong to me, I will have one third of Water’s living power in my grasp. Combined with the Orb, the only thing that would be able to stand against me is Neso herself, backed by that puny dragon and her brethren. My adepts and my mortal servants could easily overcome the dragons, allowing me to easily usurp the Champion, Hyonix, (Who is nothing without the strength of her race behind her.). By the time Neso became directly involved, I would be more than capable of defeating her.”
“Could a dragon and rider defeat you?”
“I’d like to see them try. I am almost strong enough magically to take on the Great Dragon, and I am certainly physically strong enough.”
“But despite all your power, you’re still mortal. Neso took back all of Water’s elemental support of you.”
“Not Neso. I Was before the Avatars came to be. The Lord of Water itself took back my power, or all that it could without un-creating me.”
“And that touch of divinity in you, mixed with your mortality, makes it impossible for Neso to battle you directly unless…”
“Unless the Realm of Water is in danger. Yes, Avatars may only affect pure mortals or pure elementals unless their Realm is in immediate jeopardy. Creatures like elves and dragons of their own Realm are special exceptions, unless they have fallen under the power of another. (In this case, me.) The elves do not technically belong to Water anymore, and therefore Neso cannot affect them unless they directly attack her.”
“And by the time that happens, you’ll have significantly more power than she does… And all you need is the Orb and the final elf, right? Were I not being paid for this mission, I might’ve even helped you. You seem to have it all figured out. Are you the reason everyone in the Inn is having strange dreams?”
“Yes. If you are not here to aid me, then you have no use to me. Except for as a snack.”
“Wait. I’m going to warn you: Nothing good comes to those who fight the Powers that Be. It’s in your best interest to just comply with Neso’s wishes and restore the elves. You’ve been lucky to have been forgotten for this long.”
“Ha! Nothing good? Speaking from experience, are you? I’ve been forgotten since before the shining one came in his machine to try to exterminate me. I was forgotten before his civilization began their most primitive stages. That’s more than seven millennia of having no purpose. I will regain my power, or I will be so severely beaten that I will not rise again for double the time I’ve been forgotten. And I will not be beaten.”
Another presence above us and to the West caught my attention. “What is that?”
“A competitor from the Eastern Ocean. He is young and born of Wind. I do not know why he is in my domain, but after I have taken Neso’s place, I will quickly dispatch him. I will not be bound by the laws of the Avatars, and I certainly will not allow some upstart to encroach on my territory, that is, all of the Oceans on the planet.”
“I’m going to ask you once more: please restore the Elves.”
“Never.” With that, his tentacles lashed out and grabbed me. He pulled me toward his beak and stopped. Suddenly, he pulled back and flung me toward the surface, launching himself up after me.
I pulled out my sickles as I went upwards and concentrated on protecting myself from the decompression; it required only a minor change to by pressure-shield spell. The squid shot past me as I slowed, releasing a cloud of ink and grabbing me again. I struck with my sickles, one glancing off of him and the other somehow slicing my leg. He began to squeeze as I struck again and again, doing very little damage to him and plenty to myself. I felt one rib, then two, then four ribs crack as I began to fall unconscious. With the last of my will and my magic, I sent a distress call to the competitive presence, notifying it of my situation and informing it that my captor was weak and distracted. I felt it turn towards us, and moments later something massive plowed into the squid and myself. I was dropped and floated down to the ledge on the edge of the trench. I was vaguely aware of their battle: two titanic, tentacled sea monsters writhing in the water, creating waves that would swamp the lands across the Ocean. I hoped that Falconreach and the surrounding towns had some sort of storm protection, otherwise they would be washed away.
Hours later, the competitor slunk away, soundly defeated. The squid was also well-worn and made its way toward the trench. However, the arrival of the Hero of Falconreach with the last Elf stopped it and it turned to do battle with them. Another several hours later, the combined power of the Hero, his dragon, and the Elf defeated the squid. It gave a groan and fell deep into the trench, its body hitting the walls of the ravine and bringing them down on top of it as its minions were transformed into Elves by the girl.
Neso waited until the Hero had gone before appearing to me.
“That is not how I would have planned it. However, you did accomplish the task, so I suppose I will allow you to call on me for a favor.”
“What… if… I want… something… else?” I wheezed.
“I told you that I would decide your payment. However, because you are in pain, I shall heal your external wounds as a bonus.”
A cold current washed over me and my cuts closed. My ribs were still broken and my last thoughts as I sank into Darkness were of agony.
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