The Storm King

“What a curious creature…” Nestor murmured as he inspected the enormous corpse of the monster Leon and Grandin killed around Kavad’s Lance. He most closely inspected the forehead of the creature, where the strange rune could still be clearly seen graven into the bone. “It displayed a measure of intelligence?” he asked.

Leon frowned a bit as he recalled the brief but brutal fight. “Some,” he confirmed. “Not like it was trying to talk to us, but I didn’t get the impression that it was a mindless beast acting on instinct.”

“And your impression of it compared to the… what were you calling it? The ‘Wailing Dirge’?”

“It seemed more aware of its surroundings. Given its power, I imagine it more than had the capacity for sapience. I’d guess it didn’t want to communicate with us, not that it couldn’t.”

Nestor cocked his head and wove a rune of light in the air. Little power was put into the rune, but when it pulsed twice, Nestor was satisfied and let it dissipate.

“Some believe that if one could teach a lion to speak, we still wouldn’t understand what it says,” Nestor mused aloud. “Our Clan and all those descended from other Ascended Beasts are proof that that’s not the case.”

“I think that’s just a commentary on the perspective that beasts have of the world being different than those of men,” Leon stated. “It’s not saying that the beasts are incapable of relating to and communicating with humans, just that they would communicate in different ways and have different priorities. Any sapient creature is capable of viewing the world from different viewpoints and finding some way to communicate to others—the issue is whether or not they have the desire to do so.”

“I’d argue that capability does play a role,” Nestor responded. “Tigers are solitary creatures, and wolves are not. I’d expect more earnest attempts to connect from a wolf than from a tiger. A tiger is so disconnected from social norms that teaching it would be impossible.”

“And yet we have a Tiger Tribe sworn to the Clan.”

“Please.”

Nestor began walking around the beast cadaver again, indicating certain points on its skeleton. “Much like the Wailing Dirge, this creature has had many of its bones engraved, not just its forehead. An enchantment has wound its way through its body completely, in a way that’s far more efficient than what had afflicted the Dirge. Which leaves us with some questions…”

Nestor trailed off, silently offering Leon to speculate, which Leon was more than willing to indulge.

“What is the purpose of the enchantment? Everything starts there.”

“Indeed.”

Continuing, Leon said, “There is some evidence to suggest that the Dirge was once human, forced into his transformation. The evidence we had for this creature is less clear, though there’s still the possibility that it and the Dirge are alike in that regard.”

“A shame that island went down,” Nestor said mournfully. “Such a magnificent expression of spatial magic should’ve been studied, not thrown to the earth like trash.”

“Hardly had much choice in the matter.”

“I’m not blaming you, boy, though I could if I wished.”

Leon scoffed. “You could blame me for the Nexus being round, I’m sure.”

“How dare you create such a rude, spherical thing, Leon! What a disgrace! Nothing is better than a nice, flat plane! You fool!”

“Knew it.”

Nestor snorted, his mechanical body looking almost relaxed as he continued to pace around the monster.

“So,” Leon said to haul them away from this tangent, “if the enchantment is smaller, yet more efficient, then we could assume that it’s a more advanced version of the same enchantment used on the Dirge.”

“We could make many assumptions about that,” Nestor pointed out, his tone becoming more didactic. He was starting to remind Leon of their enchantment lessons, back when he could sit through them more regularly. “With a sample size of two, all we can do is hypothesize. But why don’t you run me through what you think are the most likely scenarios?”

“The one I just said is what I consider most probable,” Leon opined. “However, there is also the possibility that the Dirge was a failed attempt to create a more complex, more powerful enchantment. Hard to say without notes. There’s also the possibility that this thing was a beast before it had the enchantment graven into it. If the Dirge was human before it had its enchantment, as I’ve been assuming, then it would stand to reason that the two different creatures would have two different enchantments.”

“Well reasoned,” Nestor said. Leon almost did a double take at the rare praise. “It would help if we had a greater idea of how long that creature had been on that mountain. We can reason that the city down in the Aesii is older than the creature, though both it and the Dirge were pre-Apotheosis, which limits our timetable.”

“Unless there were other shenanigans going on,” Leon mentioned. “Maybe they had unusual longevity? A tenth-tier mage can live for a millennium and a half, easily—perhaps as long as two millennia if they’re healthy, active, and lucky. But who’s to say that a beast can’t live longer? Especially one so twisted as the Dirge was?” As he spoke, Leon began to circle the slain beast, too, brushing his hand against the burns he’d left on the beast’s hide.

After a short, thoughtful break in conversation, he asked another question.

“How’s the cordoning of the pit going, by the way?”

“Quickly,” Nestor said as he waved at a sheet of paper spanning a long table, upon which was a detailed scale map of the pit, around which he’d already started meticulously planning a ward scheme to not only contain the fell energies of the Aesii below them but also to keep anyone from stumbling into the pit.

Nestor continued, “We’ll have it properly gated off in less than two months. Assuming we can lift this siege and relieve our manpower constraints, that is.”

Leon nodded in satisfaction. Less than two months was hardly a restrictive time frame, and with most of the people in the valley manning the walls, it wasn’t like there were many people in danger of falling in.

“The sooner it happens, the better I’ll feel,” he said. “I really don’t like that place.”

“You shouldn’t,” Nestor matter-of-factly replied. “It’s not for nothing so many people believe the rivers of the Aesii ferry the dead to the afterlife. These places are dangerous.”

A grimace slowly spread across Leon’s face as he remembered the city in the eerie caverns below Artorion, and the stele that had given the Wailing Dirge its name. Generations had lived down there; even by mortal standards, that would’ve been hundreds of years. By more magical standards, that might’ve meant thousands of years.

Centuries spent below the earth, immersed in the toxic energies of the Aesii. Leon shuddered at the thought, while also wondering at the true nature of those who’d called it home.

Leon turned away from the map, trusting Nestor to have it in hand. Many projects required Nestor’s attention, of course, but so far, the dead man had risen to the challenge for every one of them. A testament not only to his skills but also to the men and women Leon had supporting him.

“There are… a few more things I wanted to pick your brain about, kinsman,” he whispered.

“Calling me ‘kinsman’, huh?” Nestor grumbled. “This must be serious.”

With a wave of his hand, Leon summoned a large sheet of paper and a writing implement and began to sketch a rough runic diagram. Nestor watched from over his shoulder, his impatience bleeding away the more that Leon fleshed out the diagram.

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“What… is this…?” the dead man whispered when Leon took a break.

“Some of what I remember from the enchantments placed around the Stormborn Oak,” Leon stated. With another wave of his hand, he summoned the pale white branch from the top boughs of the tree, the silver acorn still attached at the end of the leafless branch. “I’ll go into more detail later. This should be enough to get something of an idea about what was being done to it, right?”

Nestor bent over the paper, his featureless faceplate practically pushing up against the paper to see the tiny runes that Leon had written upon it.

“The work of a master…” he whispered before turning his eyes to the branch and acorn. “And these…?”

Leon had already explained what had happened in Redspark Forest, but he went into more detail for the dead man, telling him not only of Sasan but of all that he’d said.

“A ‘confluence’ of power…” Nestor murmured in thought as his face turned from the paper, to the branch, and back again, over and over. “I have no idea what that means. Or what ‘Sasan’ wanted it for. Or even how this was possible. I can gather that this was meant to gather power, to manipulate it into some kind of feedback loop… But some of these ancient runes are unfamiliar to me, and I can’t say for certain just what all of that power was supposed to be used for.”

“This is a first,” Leon observed. “I’d have thought you’d recognize exactly what this was from a single glance.”

“Much though it pains me to admit, I don’t know everything, boy. Only mostthings.”

“Fine. What do you make of this branch and seed, then?”

“From what you’ve told me, I’d say that planting this seed should be made a priority. If not planted immediately, then as soon as the tree sprite gets here.”

Leon nodded, wondering again just how Tikos might respond to such a unique tree.

“I’ll do that as soon as I leave, then.”

“And I’ll come with.”

A look of genuine surprise flashed across Leon’s face at that statement. Despite his featureless metal face, Nestor looked almost aggrieved.

“What’s with the face, boy? This thing fascinates me.”

“How so?”

Nestor scoffed. “If you need to ask… Even in a form as… diminished as mine, the sheer concentration of power within this seed is tantalizing.” He paused and sounded almost as if he were breathing in, smelling and tasting the air despite his lack of tongue or lungs. “Even Heartwood seeds aren’t this radiant.”

For a brief moment, Leon’s mind turned to the cold, black Heartwood seed in his soul realm, tucked away in an almost forgotten corner of his Mind Palace. It had been so long since he’d last seen the seed’s golden twin, that he was inclined to believe Nestor despite having handled the thing personally.

“And the branch?” Leon asked.

Nestor ran his hand over the branch, not quite touching it but still close enough for him to give it a good look.

“Wondrous…” he whispered before his tone once again turned didactic. “What is something that enchantments can do that the human body cannot?”

Leon glanced down at the branch and smirked, knowing what Nestor was alluding to. “Combine elemental magic.”

“Correct! Maybe I was wrong about you, Leon! Maybe you actually do have something more than cotton between your ears!”

“The point, dead man. Get to it, please.”

“Hmph. Well, since you asked so nicely… Yes, elemental magic cannot be combined within the human body, preventing mages from using more than one element at any given time.”

“We can switch pretty quickly, though,” Leon muttered.

“An interruption? Do you want to continue or not?”

Leon spared Nestor a withering glare, holding it until the dead man pushed on.

“Anyway. It’s rare to find any living creature that can combine magical elements. Normally, something like nature magic, consisting of earth, light, and water, can only be accomplished through the use of enchantments. Likewise for spatial magic—only the combination of darkness, light, and lightning is it possible.”

“As you’ve forced into my head numerous times during the development of the Nestorian Drives.”

“Is that a complaint? Mayhaps if you were a better student…”

“You’re really drawing this out, Nestor. Let’s go, come on, get to the point before we die of boredom.”

“Context is key, boy, so don’t rush me!”

“You’re just going to say that you’re sensing the three component elements of spatial magic within that branch. That’s what you’re working up to.”

Nestor groaned. “If you knew that already, then why did you ask for my opinion?”

“Because I wanted to know something that wasn’t obvious from the start? Shouldn’t that be obvious?”

“Bah. Brashness and impatience of youth. Fine then, kid, why don’t you ask what you want, specifically?”

Leon sighed. “What kind of powers can this branch give? Could I use it to defend Artorion?”

“You could use a wooden spoon to defend Artorion if you wanted,” Nestor grumbled. “But yes, in the spirit of your question, I’ll say that this branch could be used to defend the city, if properly used.”

Leon savagely grinned. “A bow, maybe?”

Nestor propped his head up in his hand while crossing his other arm over his chest. “I was thinking of something the other day, you know. An errant thought, an idea born of a thread of brilliance that our recent circumstances had prevented me from following…”

Without saying another word, Nestor retrieved from the controlled chaos of his lab a diagram of a thunder wood bow and placed it before Leon.

Despite the lack of prompting, Leon inspected the diagram, his eyes widening the further he scanned. It was incomplete and he could see numerous problems with the design, but he could also see potential ways to complete it, given a couple days of devoted study.

In short, the ‘bow’ that Nestor intended to make had neither physical string nor arrow—the thunder wood bows he’d made since discovering the materials didn’t have physical arrows either, using the inherent power of the wood to conjure an arrow of lightning, but this diagram took the concept even further, eschewing the bowstring for a string of lightning.

Unfortunately, one of the problems that Leon could see was that the strength of a thunder wood bow wasn’t great enough to sustain such an enchantment for long. But with this new branch…

“This branch is perfectly sized to make a bow,” Leon said. “It would only need minimal whittling.”

For a moment, he almost thought he could see a smile on Nestor’s face, despite the dead man’s lack of a face.

“Let’s plant that seed, then work on this bow, boy. If what I can sense from that branch is true… if we can harness all of that power… Then it will put a weapon of terrible power into the hands of the Clan.”

“What words you’ve used, what beautiful words. ‘Weapon’. ‘Terrible power’.” Leon began laughing maniacally, and only some of it was performative. Nestor joined in, sharing in Leon’s glee at what they could make together…

---

The nine-peaked mountain hadn’t changed much despite now floating hundreds of feet in the sky. The opened pit below it had only partially filled with the Aesii’s mist, but it was enough to emanate a dire aura from the pit. Still, above the mountain, Mir’s aura overpowered it, like perfume drowning out the stench of an unwashed peasant.

Leon smiled at the sight of the mountain, despite the danger it now hovered over. So little had been disturbed, and so much of the mountain’s beauty remained. Streams trickled down its sides, nourishing the vibrant forests that grew along its slopes and in the narrow valleys between the peaks.

Mir now resided upon the highest peak, but that peak was also the peak that was furthest east. In fact, all nine of the peaks formed a rough circle around the center of the mountain, forming an almost crater-like valley between them. Water and soil accumulated in that valley, allowing the tall trees and thick underbrush to sink their roots deep.

There, nestled within the nature of the new home, was to be where he’d plant the seed.

Leon flew down, accompanied by a flight belt-equipped Nestor, vanishing into the densest part of the forest upon the nine-peaked mountain. In the exact center of the nine-peaked mountain lay a deep mountain spring, with water almost as clear as the fresh mountain air. It was so clear that almost the only way to see it with the naked eye was to look for the way it reflected the light of the Origin Spark far above.

There wasn’t anything particularly special about this spring as far as Leon could tell, but the plants grew thickly around it, and he couldn’t find any traces of animals moving through, despite the freshness of the water and bounty of several fruit-bearing bushes nearby.

On a small promontory sticking into the spring awaited Elise and Maia. Leon and Nestor quickly flew over, landing next to them both.

“Leon,” Elise warmly greeted as she gave him a deep, cherishing hug. Maia followed up with one of her own.

After a few words of greeting of his own, Leon asked, “So… what does everyone think of this place?”

“It’s beautiful,” Elise said. “I was thinking of sampling some of the water here for my own plants.”

[Be careful with it,] Maia warned. [These waters shouldn’t be used in excess. There’s power in it. Not intense, but undeniable.]

“What kind of power?” Leon asked.

[… I don’t know,] Maia responded, her heart-shaped face twisting into a frown. [None of my girls want to live in it, despite how perfect it seems. I don’t even want to merge with it, and I can’t say why. I don’t like this place, but I do like this place. It’s perfect and peaceful, yet foreboding and threatening. Don’t ask me to explain any more, I don’t have the words.]

Leon chuckled a moment as his river nymph wife turned in a huff, and filled his gaze with his fire-haired wife instead. “Is it ready?”

Elise pulled a spell from her soul realm, the runes written in her elegant hand upon the spell paper practically shining in the Origin Spark’s light.

“This is the best spell I’ve ever made,” she said reverently. “I was saving it for something special. It seems we now have that something, don’t we?”

Leon grinned and retrieved the Stormborn branch and silver acorn. As he held the branch, Elise conjured a pair of garden shears and carefully snipped the acorn from the branch, catching it in the spell paper she held beneath it. Given the power contained in it, Leon wasn’t surprised she didn’t want to make skin contact with the acorn.

Once that was done, nothing happened. Leon had almost been expecting the sky to darken and crack open for the crime of separating the seed from the branch, but Elise simply wrapped the seed in the spell, until the seed was no longer in view.

Taking the lack of dramatic events as a good omen, Leon opened a small pit in the promontory with his earth magic, and Elise laid the spell-wrapped acorn in the hole. Once that was done, Leon filled it back in, then looked to the fire-haired woman for what to do next.

“That’s it,” she beamed.

“That’s it?” he asked disbelievingly.

“The spell will help the seed to take root and grow,” Elise explained. “The paper will dissolve over the next couple years. Once that happens, the seedling will be on its own—assuming I or Tikos don’t come and help it out a little more.”

Leon took her hand and said, “Good enough for me.”

Elise kissed his cheek, and he turned his attention back to Nestor, who like him, seemed almost disappointed at how simple planting the seed turned out to be. Nestor met his gaze, and after a moment, Leon almost physically felt their gleeful thoughts sync up.

It was time to build a weapon of terrible power.

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