Violent Wind

The anger of the villagers heated the air, giving a potential spark for battle. The few survivors were full of vengeance and fury; Barbaricca smiled at seeing such spirit. "It was your magic that wiped out our village! The war is supposed to be over; you must pay for crimes!"

Unfortunately, her summoner was fearful. That wasn't right. The ones that should be full of fear were the ones who stood against them. After glancing over to make sure she was by him, he quiveringly replied, "I did nothing against you! I was at the castle all day yesterday."

They did not lower their weapons. "No, your magic was traced from the cyclones that leveled everything! You've been nothing but destructive; we're going to bring you to justice!"

"Justice!" the crowd echoed, eager for blood. When would they strike? Maybe she should strike first.

Her summoner grabbed her arm, though. "Get us out of here!" he squealed.

Sighing, Barbaricca raised up a cyclone to take them away. She made sure to edge it with cutting winds so that the villagers paid some price for moving against her and her summoner (as wimpy as he was lately). To make a point, she whisked them off to a hill overlooking the destroyed village. "What's been with you lately?" she asked. "Your desire for battle has gone completely downhill."

He didn't see the village right away, which was a pity as it was a glorious testament to her power. "This war has gone on much too long; it's ruining all the countries involved, bleeding us dry. The meetings this week were supposed to put a stop to it. I want it to end."

"You wanted this war to begin," she reminded him; he cringed at that. Barbaricca ran her fingers through her hair, causing a breeze to kick up. "I remember that so well. I waited and waited for so long for my first summoner, searching for someone whose spirit suited me. And then you called out with passion, wanting revenge just like those folks that came to us. We've found so much glory in these years."

"It's no longer glory," he said. "It's become a senseless slaughter these days. I should have stopped once those who killed my family were killed."

"But no one can stop us, until you let them stop us like that," Barbaricca said.

He shook his head, then turned around to spot the village. His eyes went wide and his face went pale. "D-did you do this?"

"Of course," she said, smiling with pride. "Do you remember that idiot who berated you on the first day of the meetings? He paid the price for doing so and won't bother you any more."

"He wasn't wrong," the summoner said, still horrified. "I made things much worse than they needed to be. I should have..." he stopped abruptly, then looked at her with worry.

"What should you have done?" she asked.

"I should have realized sooner that I can't control you," he said, reaching into his bag.

"Do you mean to seal me away?" Barbaricca said, narrowing her eyes at him. "You called me to destroy your enemies. I've done so; none of them can touch you. Why would you seal me away?!"

"You're more of a fiend than an eidolon," he said, resolute now that he had made a decision. He was angry at her.

"I'd rather be a fiend than a wimp," she said, slicing through his body with her wind.

There was a sudden chill in her whole body, cuts matching those on the dying summoner's body. But she was free of him now, free to do what she wanted. While the death of a linked eidolon would kill the summoner, the death of a linked summoner only destroyed the physical body of the summoned monster. Barbaricca laughed as she started to turn to dust. She was up in the surface world, after all. If she wanted, she could stay here rather than return to the underworld and Feymarch.

If these people wanted to stop this wonderful war, she would find a people more to her liking and destroy the ones here.

War was a beautiful force, much like a hurricane. People got so excited for it, bellowing threats, beating war drums, raising flags for the glory of their nation. When the sun broke dawn, it cast its light over a vast field full of banners waving in the wind, armor shining on soldiers in dense packs, horses stamping their hooves, war machines sitting tuned and ready, everyone brimming with eagerness for the conflict to begin. At that sight, Barbaricca felt such a thrill being there. She didn't care what side won as long as the fighting was fierce. These mortal creatures had made a raw part of nature in conflict into this art form of strategy and power.

While she loved being in the thick of it, Barbaricca stayed as wind for the most part. She wanted to witness the entirety of the battle, not get knocked out in the middle of it. She flew this way and that, watching cavalry charges and spontaneous spars. Who was right? Who was wrong? It didn't matter. As long as they fought well, she was satisfied.

Her fingers itched still, to do something herself. But there was a strong wizard on the field, someone that could destroy Barbaricca if she wasn't careful. That was no fun, so she flew over unseen towards some knights on the field. "Hey, that wizard over there is trouble," she whispered to them. "But you lot can handle him. Take him out, for the glory of your king."

The knights weren't sure where her words were coming from, but they took them for orders and headed off to take down the dangerous wizard. Wizards commanded a lot of power, but once a strong fighter like these knights got up close, the wizards usually died quickly. This one was no different. Once he was gone, Barbaricca couldn't resist any longer. She materialized nearby and cursed the knights to cut into their armor.

Before long, there was a swath of death around her. Barbaricca could feel strands of terror as the soldiers began to notice, but most of them were still focused on their battle. She laughed and raced across the battlefield, taking down the wounded and letting the strong ones know that something even stronger was there.

She won the battle in the end, but someone had distracted her by letting loose a number of Bombs. By the time she made the last of them explode brilliantly, the battlefield was abandoned. The survivors had decided to flee rather than confront her. "Cowards," she grumbled, angered that they wouldn't make the battle last until sundown.

But, there were a great many ghosts here now, trying to work out their last moments. Some of them were already back at battle, not realizing that it was over. Barbaricca soon smiled again, flitting here and there to encourage the ghosts to fight harder, fight more, fight on. They were dead now, so they had no reason to stop.

She got so into keeping the ghostly battle going that she failed to notice someone alive step into the fields of the fallen. "Hold, spirit of wind!" a woman commanded in fierce authority. "Cease your cruelty."

Barbaricca turned around, hopeful for more challenge from the living. There was a group there, a pair of dragoons from a nearby kingdom that hadn't wanted to be a part of this war along with the woman who tried to command her. From the air around her, it was clear that she was an experienced summoner. Perhaps even a master. "What cruelty do you speak of?" Barbaricca asked. "These spirits were eager for war; they called for it. I will make sure they get what they wanted."

"This was another battle that should not have occurred," one of the dragoons said.

"This is not what the people wanted," the summoner said. "But you, Barbaricca, have stirred up the flames of war so that it happened anyhow. You are a fiend who should be stopped."

"Am I a fiend?" Barbaricca said, smiling again. "I've not been branded one yet. I am merely a spirit of the wind, doing as the wind does. If I happen to stir up flames, well that is simply what wind does."

The summoner rapped her staff on the ground, beginning to summon someone to her side. "You, a mere spirit? You have laid waste to this beautiful land; you have ravaged many kingdoms."

Nodding, she replied, "That is simply what wind does, as a fierce storm that challenges all creatures to prove their worth. You summoners always talk about keeping in touch of nature. Why would you not recognize nature's fiercer side as well?"

While she had been speaking, the one who'd been called arrived. She was clearly a powerful one, with four faces and no clear element. "Ah, it's you," the queen of eidolons said, settling on a stern face. "You were always a bad seed, too enamored of destruction to do anything good."

"Hello, it's our lovely queen," Barbaricca said sarcastically. "You have such power, Ashura, but you never use it. It's a waste if you ask me."

"I will use it to stop you," Ashura said, ready for battle along with her summoner and their companions.

"How absurd," she said, swinging her hair around to wrap around her in a cyclone. "You may be powerful, but not powerful enough to stop me."

Ashura and her summoner both brought up shields to protect against magic and weapons. A wise strategy, but Barbaricca was sure it wouldn't be enough against her. She blasted them with winds meant to turn flesh to stone; it was an insult against them, to be turned into something motionless and ugly. The stone curse didn't set and the two dragoons somehow managed to dispel her lovely cyclone with their spears.

Those two dragoons… it was a pity they weren't fighting for her. They wore armor of metal, but they jumped and darted around like they were nimble dragons themselves. No one had ever used her own element against her before them. If she won this, she might go investigate the dragoons some more. Find one with a suitable hate and passion, then observe how they used their powers to defy the common sense that metal could not support the speed of a gale. It could let her in on how to make herself more powerful.

If it had been just Ashura and her summoner, they would not have stood a chance against Barbaricca. But the two dragoons soon had her grounded with her spears. Barbaricca whipped at them with her hair and struggled to escape, primarily because she hated being pinned down. "You will now be sealed away from the world, fiend of wind," the eidolon queen said, with the regal haughtiness of someone who believed she had won. "Goodbye, Barbaricca, and good riddance."

The sealing sphere appeared around her, ready to trap her. But, Barbaricca laughed at them. She wasn't about to explain it to them. No, let them wonder; let them be afraid that she'd foreseen this and was plotting to escape immediately. Ashura had just branded her as a fiend. That meant that she was, in fact, a fiend. And that meant that someday, when someone who desired war sought out the power to claim victory before their war began, they would likely call upon her to bring war to the world. She would be a fiend of wind to spread beautiful conflict and terror, much like the great lady Tiamat.

It appeared to be a loss, but Barbaricca felt like she had won honor and glory as a result.