Clash of the Elements Part 0: The Winds of Days Past

by mewmaster93

2000 years ago, there was a hero of renown called the Elemental Overlord. Many have spoken of his daring feats and accomplishments, but his past has remained unknown...Until now. Hidden within three journals left behind by his wife are the details of his journey from young boy to the hero of legend. Venture to Genestasia, to uncover the many truths hidden in the distant past...

84. Chapter -81

Chapter -81: Nurture in a Warrior's Heart

A couple months pass by with Sarajin continuing his efforts to help out the other Tribes. In the middle of one afternoon, Brine and Carmine are out for a walk with him through the forest trying to scope out some ideas to help each other out.

"Look chum, all I'm sayin' is that if we put a lot of water in the forest, it'd help yer plants grow faster." Brine said to Carmine.

"Plants rely on water, but too much is a bad thing," Carmine brushed his hand up and briefly shook his head, "It's a nice thought, but the last thing this forest needs is to become a mud pit."

Sarajin then waved his hand out and asked, "What if we put all the water in one place and then sent it out in multiple streams?"

Carmine rubbed his chin and muttered aloud, "That could work, but where would we put it?"

Brine innocently rubbed the back of his head and muttered, "Anywhere?"

The vine on Carmine's shoulder wiggled around and he shook his head to communicate its pantomiming, "Ividae has some gardens its proud of."

The vine then bobbed up and down and Carmine said in a more sorrowful tone, "Not to mention we don't know what plants the Sage here has tainted."

Brine clicked his teeth together and muttered, "Still ain't seen that slimy eel wiggling around eh?"

"He knows this place too well," Carmine spoke with a hint of ire in his voice, "But rest assured the moment we pluck him out in the open, he WILL answer for the taint he's brought to this forest."

Brine and Sarajin stood there with wide eyes and Brine shivered, cracking a smile, "Gave me goosebumps there mate..."

Sarajin then commented with a deep sense of concern, "...Don't try to confront him alone, Carmine."

"I'll have Ividae by my side. But I understand. I don't plan to be the next flower he laces with poison." Carmine answered with a fond smile.

The three shared a hearty laugh as friends. Then Sarajin began to turn his head to the left, his eyes narrowing intensely while he muttered, "Speaking of the Ten Sages..."

Brine leaned past him and wondered aloud, "Oh yeah, I can smell the cinders and sweat way in 'ere."

Carmine glanced at the vine rustling around and then remarked to himself, "She's alone?"

"What?" Brine murmured.

Sarajin ran to the edge of the forest and Carmine and Brine were close behind. There they found Vermilion standing around, cocking her head back with a haughty, fearsome scowl.

"Two rats and one chicken. Is this all you got to show today?" Vermilion that spat a boiling wad of spit at the ground and slanted her head so only her good eye was showing, "Bah, whatever, you better be at your best, cause if you're not, I'm going to be REALLY pissed and you don't want to know what happens next!"

Sarajin held Brine at bay briefly with his hand and then stepped out of the forest's protection, reaching for his sword, "You keep targeting this forest, why?"

"Because of the Titan living here. What a stupid question." Vermilion said with a grumble beneath her breath.

Sarajin drew his sword at her in one hand and remarked with an unsurprised and rather scornful murmur, "Right...you're just after the Wellspring."

"Wellspring?" Vermilion reared her head back with an insulting sneer thrown his way, "Like I could give two heaping Heaver shits about those!"

Sarajin's eyes widened, the scorpion lady seeing that as cause to widen hers with a fiery gaze, "Titans are the ultimate prey in this world...! Anyone with a craving for strength would want to take a crack at them!"

"You've got tons of power, and you're telling me you've never had...the urge?" Vermilion smiled extra-wide, her skin looking like it would peel off from how far it was stretching, every sentence, a gasp of cold ecstasy, "It's not something you seek...it comes to you...wiggles in your loins! Grinding against your nerves and flesh until you feed it...! And then it craves more, and MORE, so you feed it, and feed it, AND FEED IT...!"

Her breathing became thick with vapor and Sarajin felt himself wanting to step away, his head pulled back in concern.

Vermilion pulled her head back and moaned, her whole body quivering as she giggled moistly with excitement, "Ooooh, and when you come out on top against the hunger, it's the proof that you're still alive...!"

Brine then stepped up beside Sarajin and waggled his finger at her, "Lady, ya really need a cool off..."

She then jerked her head down in a stiff motion with her eye wide open, "Then do it...! FEED ME!"

She lunged straight for Brine and Sarajin checked him out of the way with his shoulder and intercepted Vermilion's hand with his blade.

She immediately ducked down and slid through his feet to knock him up, where she grabbed hold of his leg while rising and proceeded to hammer him against the ground multiple times. Each impact, forming lava cracks in the ground.

Brine then readied his trident and thrust it out to send three pressurized streams of water at her. She threw Sarajin through the water and knocked both of them onto the ground with ease.

She then leaped towards them and thrust her hands down repeatedly to pelt them with fire resembling arrow heads.

Brine and Sarajin rolled until they could get solid footing and then combined their efforts to hit her on both sides with a swirling torrent of water. This trapped her in an uncontrollable state long enough for Sarajin to freeze the water.

But immediately after the ice shattered with a fiery burst and Vermilion dropped the ground hunched on all fours and her ponytail wiggling like it was alive on its own.

She licked her lips and raced towards Sarajin as he staggered, jabbing her fingertips into his chest to further the length he was stunned.

She then widened her eye and went straight for his heart using the stinger at the end of her ponytail.

Brine's trident dropped from above and impaled the ponytail into the ground. She then pulled back and ripped the trident up, snatching it in her hand and spinning right back around to vault it towards its owner.

Brine went sideways and the prongs nearly scraped his abs.

It then impaled itself into a tree beside Carmine, causing his expression to freeze up.

"Sorry, chum!" Brine hastily whispered out before being forced to fend off Vermilion's vicious assault.

With one reckless swing of her arm, she managed to make Brine's wrist crack even after he pulled away.

"GAHH!" He gasped in pain.

"BRINE!" Sarajin shouted, clutching his sword tighter and running up to Vermilion in the blink of an eye to slash her.

She raised her hand but suffered recoil, causing her whole arm to shake for a couple seconds. She laid it down, hunched her back, and then giggled, "I FELT that...!"

She then grinned at Sarajin bordering on calm and angry and told him, "Sooooo, you won't hold back on me if I hurt your rat pack bitches, huh?"

She then slid needles out from her left sleeve and reeled back with great force to slash Brine's legs. Cuts deep enough to burn, but not enough to prove fatal.

She then kept swinging around to clash with Sarajin's next attack, which blew her off her feet and staggered her towards the edge of the forest.

Sarajin then used a gale to force her back towards him where he slashed at her again, this time shaving sparks off her needles.

"That's more LIKE IT!" She sprung out and kept him on the defensive through his offense by matching him blow for blow.

All the while Carmine left the forest and helped drag Brine back into safety, applying a leaf wrap to his scars. Brine laid a hand on his heaving chest and chuckled, "C-Can't say this is a good look for me, eh?"

"You'll be fine once I apply the bandages." Carmine said, somehow keeping his cool despite the shock waves emanating from both fighters still out there.

Carmine looked up and muttered, "Something about this feels off..."

After a few seconds ruminating over it, he stood and said, "Maybe she has no interest in the Wellspring, but I know who does..."

Brine then forced himself to stand and pulled his trident from the tree, "Ya take care of whatever business ya need to, chum. I'll back up Sarajin!"

"But your legs-"

"Aye! A man of the sea's gotta have a strong pair of legs, ya know?" Brine then shoved his hand back and shouted, "Go!"

He then forced himself back into the frey while Carmine split off deeper into the forest.

Vermilion suddenly twisted her head back and thrust her palms out to force Sarajin and Brine to take a step back, "Oh no, you ain't getting out of this scuffle ya moss-eating RAT!"

She then shifted her sleeve up and a glass orb was fired out into the forest, releasing a thick purple cloud upon impact with the tree.

Sarajin trembled and the vine on Carmine began to flail about in pain. The purple cloud started seeping into the bark and leaves, causing them to slowly turn black and crumble.

Sarajin threw up a breeze to push the cloud out of the forest, but the damage had already been done and everything in radius of it was turning into a black goop.

"Heh...!" Boasted Vermilion, "Vein head's little concoction works!"

She then turned around and grabbed hold of Sarajin's sword as he swung it down, taunting him with a sinful gaze from her eye, "I wonder what kind of effect it would have on a person...!"

She tried to expel another orb but Brine ran up and stabbed her side with his trident. She stumbled away, letting go of Sarajin while blood spit from her side in dot-sized streams.

She burned the wounds closed and then tucked her arms in her sleeves with a sneer, "We'll pick this back up another time..."

Fire ran free from her eyepatch as the two warriors held their guard against her, "There'll be a HELL of a lot more war coming your way soon enough...!"

Sarajin continued to hold his sword towards her, causing her to flinch and then snicker.

"You want to keep going...?" She said in a dull, lucid tone, as a flicker of blue appeared from the flame behind her eyepatch, "Because I can do this ALL day..."

Sarajin shivered, and slowly but hesitantly put his blade away within his sheath. The flame then flickered off, causing her to whisper in a mocking tone, "That's right. Know your place, chicken shit."

She then bounced away, cracking the ground with every jump.

Brine then tucked his trident away and muttered, "What was that all about?"

They then remembered what she had done to the forest and hastily returned to Carmine's side as he was in the middle of examining the black goop where the plants once thrived.

The tree trunk cracked and fell down into the wasteland, causing Brine to cautiously lower his pace as he remarked, "This don't look good."

Carmine was already reaching down and putting the goop on his fingers.

"C-Carmine!" Sarajin shouted. But the worry was premature, as it did nothing on contact.

Instead the goop stretched from the puddle in firm, sticky strands. He curled his hand to snap the goop off, then raised his body up with a sigh, "The Sage here is sending a message...He wants me and Ividae, or perhaps all of us, to know what he can do to this forest if we try to get in his way."

"That bastard...!" Brine scowled, before looking upon his friend's face with confusion, "I'm surprised ya can stay calm in a time like this, chum."

Carmine narrowed his eyes and muttered, "So am I."

His hand was shaking, wanting to become a fist...

But this was hardly the last struggle that would be happening on the planet today...

All the way over in Oreore, Auris was helping Ezekiel check up on the gem mines, using her expertise in shields to help put together sturdy barricades for when the miners weren't working.

By the time the worksmiths were done, they had two iron clad doors that could slide perfectly around the cavern entrance.

Ezekiel crossed his arms and muttered in surprise, "Huh, seeing it all propped up, I can't believe we never thought of this before."

"It should keep out Pulsa Minoria and Cryofloe at the very least." Auris remarked in a relaxed tone.

"Hey, any stress off me mum's back is stress off my back," Ezekiel chuckled, "Lord knows how rough nuff it's been with Cecilia-"

He then quickly clamped his mouth shut with a pop and his eyes darted around for a while, "I said nuthin'. So, about that thing you were asking earlier, Auris?"

Auris smiled knowingly with a tender raise of her brows and then elected to walk along with him back to the mouth of the ravine.

Ezekiel then started fiddling with his chin and muttering aloud, "So, a big man going bald with a huge green shield on his back...That's the Sage monitoring this area?"

Auris nodded, and Ezekiel gestured his hand out, "Y'know...I vaguely recall a man of that description coming through the ravine a couple times when I was a wee lad. Talked with my old man a bit."

"I don't suspect he'll cause any trouble, but it would be nice to know what he's doing here." She pointed out.

"Course," Ezekiel responded, "You or Sarajin'll be the first to know if I see him."

As they rounded across to the front of the ravine, Auris stopped and looked out towards the wasteland with a narrow gaze.

A cloud of dust was rising to greet them, growing bigger and thicker by the second.

Ezekiel was about to comment when he saw it too, laying his hand out to comment in a dull, joking tone, "Guess this'll be a good test of those doors."

He then reached out and patted her on the back, "You go greet 'em, I'll be right behind ya."

With sword and shield drawn, Auris sprinted across the wasteland with an annoyed look while Ezekiel ran into the ravine and waved his hand up high.

"I need all able men to arm up and head out! We got enemy forces comin' from the front!"

Auris ran until she reached the border between these lands and the wastes. There she stood resolute and a little lax while the enemy came stampeding upon this doorstep.

With a twirl of her sword she thrust it out right as the army of ice stopped their march. Leading the pack was Colrez, with a bit of a black eye still left over.

He rustled his mustache and muttered coldly, "Ah, if it isn't the she-devil. Why don't you be a good little girl and step aside, let the men fight a good jolly fight with these barbarians?"

Auris shook her head and scoffed, "You just don't learn, do you? Guess I'll have to blacken the other eye this time."

As she swung down and prepared to activate her Aegis Dragoon Drive, a sharp sound sliced through the air and the next thing she knew, her bracelet was surrounded by a ring of small metal blades.

Colrez's smile then perked up as he remarked, "As a matter of fact, I am a learner. And the best way to deal with troublesome obstacles is to enlist a little aid..."

Auris pointed her gaze up sharply to find Nimus floating high above the forces of Cryofloe, one hand floating out and the other tucked neatly in his pockets.

"Hey! Been a while, how's the lover's life treatin' ya, princess?"

"Nimus...I thought you were on my side." Auris said with a biting tone of betrayal and a glare that could cut through diamond.

"Hey I gave my support where it counted!" He replied in a nonchalant tone, "But uhh, you know, boss' orders and all that."

"This won't stop me." She tried to reach for the bracelet again only for the blades to start spinning around viciously.

"Yeeeeah, I'm thinking it will," Nimus chuckled, "Your body's a good tank, but you can't power through with just your bones remaining. And please don't be tough and try, I just had a good meal."

Colrez threw his head back and shouted, "Quit consorting with the enemy! Is this...she-devil incapcitated?"

"The princess won't be able to access her full power so long as I keep my blades up," Nimus then tucked his other hand away following a lazy gesture, "You should be able to handle that much, right, Colrez the Bold and Cold?"

"Oh and..." He wiggled his brows and the entire Cryofloe armor got to enjoy the gift of a nice, heavy breeze flowing from here to the ravine, "This ought to give your frost a little more bite."

"Heh heh..." Colrez' face crumpled into a sinister form as he beheld his lance and muttered in Auris' direction, "Vengeance shall be swift, monster..."

Auris withdrew her hand away from her bracelet and muttered back, "Then you better live up to your words, 'conqueror'."

"Men! CHARGE! Lay waste to the barbarian's ravine and take whatever spoils you can!" On Colrez' command his army charged around Auris.

She could manage to slice her sword across a couple of the mount's legs to slow them down before being forced to direct her attention on Colrez.

She let his lance impale upon her shield and then leaped up, slashing quickly at his body. He parried with his lance and then his mount reared its head back to knock her away.

Upon landing she swerved to the left as the bear slammed its claws down, then put up her shield to guard its charge.

Colrez then leaped off to get behind her, pelting her with a few ice blasts from above.

She took them head on and then thrust her sword back to hit him when he landed.

"Guh...!" Colrez grunted from the pain in his hip and sallied forth, trying to get his lance around her sword.

All the while she swerved her shield in circles to direct the bear's head elsewhere so she could safely pull it off. Then she immediately jumped at Colrez with her shield riposting the lance thrust to make it point up.

She then kept charging until he was blown down onto his back, where she spun right around and tried to leap up to impale his leg.

Her gaze shifted upright and she threw her shield up at the last second to block a small rain of blades.

Upon landing again she glared up at Nimus, who smiled and wiggled his fingers around like he had puppet strings attached, "What's with that ugly glare? You chose your side..."

He then squeezed his fist and declared, "Now...you got to work for their victories!"

Auris pulled her right arm back before the blades could impale her arm. A second set of blades then took their place to keep the pressure on.

Colrez was able to stand and raised his lance to rain hundreds of icicles out of the sky upon her location and wherever she'd weave around after.

After a while of staving off the ice she charged in to try and knock Colrez down.

He thrust his lance out, purposefully aiming for the shield while Nimus collapsed the blades down upon her wrist.

With a wily smirk she dispelled both her weapons and pulled away, then summoned her shield back in her right hand. She then shoved out and, with the shield infused with aura, rammed the blades into Colrez's chest to break them and shattered a good chunk of his armor.

"Ghh...!" Colrez staggered back.

Nimus was riding high in a good mood and let out a whistle, "Not bad, not bad. Stony taught you well."

He had plenty of blades to keep her preoccupied though. But with her weapons back in the proper places, she gave her blade a twirl and hunched over with a grin.

"What you said before, Nimus, about working for victory? You better be prepared to work hard for once in your life then, because I don't intend to make this easy for you OR father!"

She was unaware of the mischievous smirk the man was hiding behind his coat collar.

An all-out brawl was breaking out at the mouth of the ravine with the men and women of Oreore barely matching the enemy forces in numbers.

While their spirits and strength could weather the impact of their attacks, thanks to Nimus' breeze they were using a harsher cold to chill them to the bone.

Ezekiel was swinging around the blunt edge of his hammer as hard as he could to push against the army and repel the breeze. He was succeeding to some extent but his knees were clacking together and his sweat was freezing against his skin.

"Bloody heck, how'd this come about?!" He shouted.

"What're we supposed to go, they're past the boundary!" One of the miners shouted back.

"Ghhh...!" Ezekiel bit his teeth and though the violent urges were rising with every ounce of aggression the soldier's ice threw out without discretion, he held steady to his beliefs and yelled loud enough for all to hear, "Just keep 'em at bay until Auris sorts out their leader!"

It was a desperate plan but at least Auris had the power to make it possible, cause who knows where the heck Sarajin was at that moment...

After a few scrapes and shoulder rams against the enemy's mounts, Ezekiel could feel bits of ice coming out of his breath and started coughing.

"T-This sucks...! If only Cecilia wasn't-"

A soldier ran up behind him and prepared to take a swing at his vulnerable back.

"Shit...!"

Suddenly two black streaks cut into the soldier's armor followed by Cecilia flying in and rounding a kick into their gut to shatter the armor off.

Once she finished sliding she hopped back behind Ezekiel and braced her swords together in a guard, "I take a small nap and that bastard somehow figures out its time to invade!"

"W-What the heck are ya doin'? You should be-"

"Where is he?!" Cecilia shouted.

Ezekiel flinched and then muttered weakly, "He's to the west, but Cecilia-"

"Then help me break through!" She made her demands without a hint of chill in her voice.

Ezekiel threw his head back with a groan, "Ya can get revenge another day, yer not in any fightin' shape!"

"Am I holding my blades?" She asked rhetorically, earning his silence, "Then I am fighting!"

Ezekiel sighed and then gripped his hammer in both hands, the two knocking their own soldier off their mount in tandem and switching where they stood.

"Fine...! Just keep your waist guarded, ok?"

As the two started to turn the tides of battle just a little bit, Nimus was happily observing the proceedings with the telescopic features of his goggles.

"Oh ho ho, good! They're all distracted!" He then took two fingers into his mouth to create a very high-pitched whistle.

Auris froze in the middle of a clash against Colrez upon feeling a tingling sensation in her skin, coming from a couple miles away.

It was rapidly closing that gap and she only had one chance to intercept it.

She pulled away and swung her sword back as her reflexes made time feel like it was crawling to a halt.

She shaved off the top part of a rampant lightning bolt and the rest bent downward to arc under her blade. She kept locking eyes with it and the electricity dispersed long enough for her to see that it was Adderbolt, the Sage of Electricity.

With no further opposition in his path Adderbolt kept flying straight for the ravine as lightning, where he weaved around the brawling army with ease and slipped into the ravine.

The hairs on the back of Cecilia's neck stood up and she made a sharp swerve for the ravine, "Someone just slipped by...!"

"W-What?" Ezekiel shouted after clobbering one of the soldiers out of sight.

"Ghh...!" Cecilia then clamped her swords in her hands and felt a jolt coming from her waist. Keeping her body steady, she glanced aside and remarked, "I-I can handle the cold. You'd be better off chasing after them."

"I-I shouldn't leave ya alone right now."

"I'm more insulted by your sympathy than I am endeared, Ezekiel," Cecilia replied firmly, "This place is your home, and these soldiers are my enemy...Go! I can stand long enough to fend them off!"

Ezekiel gave a reluctant nod then broke off into the ravine.

The mining tools and plenty of ore chunks, the metal ones specifically, were being thrown every which way across the ravine.

The living lightning bolt had slowed down and now had the lightning traveling behind them in a sphere, where it attracted large chunks of metal ore to it.

"HEY!" Ezekiel shouted to grab their attention.

The weirdly dressed man turned around and paused long enough to give Ezekiel time to catch up. Adderbolt waggled his hands around in the air and remarked, "Oh you're very upset. Look! Sorry I have to do this, but if you just let me take my leave I won't hurt anyone, promise!"

"Oooor, better idea," Ezekiel gripped his hammer in both hands and gave the handle a tight twist, "Ya drop our ore, and I don't bash yer portly gut in!"

Adderbolt froze, flicked his fingers up, then pointed them at Ezekiel, "Uhhh, can we compromise another way? I know this great recipe for sweets and-"

Ezekiel jumped straight at him with his hammer swung back hard.

"oh." Adderbolt got a blank look on his face then zapped his fingers up to pull the hammer from Ezekiel's grip.

Adderbolt dodged the hammer when he realized how much weight it was packing and then saw Ezekiel fall flat on his face up to his feet.

Adderbolt then bent down and patted him on his scruffy hair, "No hard feelings...?"

Ezekiel swung for the legs, a shambling effort if there ever was one. Adderbolt zipped out of the way and patted the top of his hammer, "Don't worry, I didn't damage it!"

He was then off and running, dragging more metal ore into his crazy sphere of electrical bullshit.

Ezekiel punched the ground quickly then scrambled over to his hammer and dragged it across the floor.

Cracks darted along past Adderbolt before he could really pick up speed and then summoned a series of thick, rocky spires to bar his path.

Adderbolt zipped left and right to try and find a gap to squeeze through and was scared shitless by Ezekiel coming at him with a ferocious roar.

Adderbolt spun around and snatched one of the metal ore pieces out of the sphere, then threw his arm up to block Ezekiel's hammer.

The resulting impact was contained to only shatter the spires but upset an Argent Heaver making the rounds.

Adderbolt was holding his own but it was weird how he did it. It was like his body was suddenly much more dense and hard.

"Wow, you're strong!" Adderbolt kept piling on the nice guy remarks and frankly, it was REALLY making it difficult for Ezekiel to want to hurt the thieving rat.

Adderbolt then started rubbing his strange suit and electricity once more surged out of his body. He then pushed his hand out and Ezekiel's hammer was repelled with great force, dragging him up into the sky.

Adderbolt then turned around and was ready to keep running and collecting.

Ezekiel, having just about as much of this nonsense as he could take, resorted to tossing his hammer as hard as he could and hoping for the best.

Not at the thief, mind you, but all the ore he was collecting.

The hammer crashed into the sphere and caused most of the ore to shatter to dust. Better that than letting the enemy have it.

"Aww man!" Adderbolt briefly called out before continuing his ravine run to snatch up whatever he could and get out.

And with Ezekiel at the mercy of gravity for now, it was up to the rest of the miners to try and hold him back in some way.

They tried swinging with their pick-axes or erecting rock walls in his way but either his speed kept him safe, or his ability to attract to metal allowed him to run up the sides of the ravine.

This one weirdo in a strange suit was making bloody fools out of them all and it'd be a shame that'd they'd be forced to carry for a long time after...

And while this was happening, Nimus, the mastermind behind this whole debacle, was enjoying watching the sparks fly from afar.

"Not bad kid...Not. Bad." While he was lapping up the spectacle, Auris' sword nearly sliced him up vertically.

She called it back with a glare and then twirled forward, slashing her sword up to knock Colrez's lance out of his grasp and simultaneously hit him with an energy wave that knocked him into the air.

"Y-You ogre...! Just die already!" He let gravity drop him down and he unsheathed his two blades of black ice as his lance impaled the ground behind him.

Auris braced herself in place and waited for Colrez to charge with reckless abandon, with a field of Nimus' broken blades at her feet.

She gripped her sword and saw the man's rage left him wide-open. The string hovered before his neck, all she had to do was slice it...!

But no...!

Her body hesitated. She had been taking in too much adrenaline. Her mind had almost fogged up, and what she would have done next would betray all the trust she earned with Sarajin...

Thus, Colrez was allowed to get in dangerously close and take a swing at her, dislodging the blade from her hand.

She quickly mounted her shield to block the second swing, enduring a flurry of icy waves that continually pushed her back.

All the while remaining vigilant, telling the man bluntly, "It doesn't matter how hard you make a fuss, I won't let you win!"

"He doesn't have to," Nimus remarked slyly, "This whole show's all about sending a message."

He then swerved his head to the left and kicked his legs up in a comfortable pose, "And...it looks like we're just about to wrap it up."

Auris looked at the ravine and saw Adderbolt speeding out of there with a decent load of metal ore magnetically towed behind him.

Nimus then glanced aside down at Colrez and made a nonchalant remark of, "Might want to get your men out of there now. The miners are gonna be P-I-S-S-E-D."

Colrez ruffled his mustache smugly and raised his right blade into the air, using the sun's light to give a signal to his men.

When Auris was prepared to attack him one last time, Nimus' intercepted her wrist with his blades.

He then jumped onto his mount as it passed by, raising his brows and muttering triumphantly, "To the victor go the spoils."

"Not yet it doesn't...!" Auris knew she lost her chance to take Colrez, but she could still put a dent into their looting efforts.

With one strong flick of the wrist and a little luck guiding her, she swung her shield out towards Adderbolt's estimated path and hit the lode flying behind him. A good chunk of the ore was dislodged and all she had to do was think to call her shield back.

Adderbolt kept running and running without a care, taking the ore away to parts unknown.

And Colrez was already following suit, with his battered but victorious soldiers trailing behind in droves. Auris stood there, a spectator to events she could no longer stop...Despite her best efforts, the enemy had won this round.

She craned her head back up towards Nimus and he wasn't looking smug, but his laid-back posture sure said otherwise.

He was flying with half-broken wings, but what did that matter at this point.

She narrowed her gaze with scorn and remarked, "How could you ally yourself with that conqueror...?"

"I wouldn't say we're allying so much as using him, but whatever makes you feel like you've got the moral high ground, princess," Nimus took up a slightly more mocking tone, "See, you do realize you're fighting to maintain the status quo, yeah?"

"We're trying to end the war-"

"Not the war! I mean what the Titan's are enforcing. And by 'enforcing', I mean demanding," Nimus tucked his hands in his pockets, "Loyalty within borders. Subservience to gods...It's sickening, isn't it? Well my buddies and I? We're going to tear down this crappy system they set up and give freedom BACK to the people!"

"And to that end you'll incite violence between Tribes?" Auris said with utter disdain.

"Hey nobody died today did they?" Nimus said, the blunt realization brought on by his words leaving Auris vulnerable to his follow-up, "And the Titans have let...how many of their people die again?"

Auris looked down, ignoring the two-fingered gesture Nimus gave off his forehead as he said, "Some food for thought, princess."

He then flew off towards Sancturia, leaving her to close her eyes and with a heavy sigh, dispel her weapons.

Suddenly, she opened them up to see Cecilia skating past her on a sheet of ice and trying to throw her lance through the air at Colrez in the distance.

"COLREZ!" She screamed, "Turn around and face your execution!"

She then quivered and grasped her waist, looking like she would fall on one knee but REFUSING to do so.

With pained gasps and sweat dominating her demeanor, it was up to Auris to come to her aid and offer her support. But as she laid a hand on her waist, her expression suddenly stirred with surprise as she felt a kick...

Cecilia's eyes were full of vengeance, anguish, and above all else...regret, and she could hardly bear to look Auris in the face.

A half hour later the aftermath left the miners laying down atop beds of hot coal to get their blood flow going again after that bitter frost. The miners were busy trying to pick up whatever ore they could but this was a heavy loss, and some of their weapons had been carried out or crushed by the Argent Heavers in the process.

Then there was Ezekiel, who had to explain all this to his mother while Auris tended to Cecilia in the privacy of the Gaia's second bedroom.

Cecilia had refused to let go of her blades ever since they got back. She looked ready to get up and go on a one-woman rampage towards Cryofloe at any moment.

Auris stared at her with a hard degree of concern and peered out of the corner of the door. Upon seeing how consumed mother and son were in their conversation, she safely erected a wall of aura in the doorway and then turned to face Cecilia.

With no restraint in her mannerisms, Auris laid her arms under her chest and spoke up, "...How long have you been pregnant, Cecilia?"

"Don't...!" Cecilia squeezed her swords tight and stood up, "I don't want to think about this...this...mistake...!"

Auris kept her distance and took a deep breath, empathetic to her discomfort, "Ok...can you tell me how this happened, at the very least?"

"How am I supposed to know...?" Cecilia shook her head and looked sincerely lost in her own world, "Ezekiel and I...We were so involved in our training. One thing led to another. We were exhausted, laying on the bed. He held me close and I let him...then I held onto him, all against my body's will..."

"My mind is...foggy after that. Bits and pieces appear in sequence but I can't place them all together. The person I was in those moments is distasteful, an utter stranger..."

"We did it not only once, but multiple times. Until eventually...I wound up with THIS inside of me...!"

"I'm ruined...!" She gasped in utter anguish, "This was the very thing I was fighting against and he RUINED me...!"

She then bit her teeth down, trying to regain some of her warrior's vigor in her scowl, but instead her voice cried out like someone in desperate need of direction, "S-So why can't I bring myself to hate him...?"

"..." Auris glanced downward at the ground and spoke out, "Because...what you have is special."

"Special?" Cecilia said, utterly devoid of either joy or sorrow. She then turned her sword upon Auris and raised her voice in disgust, "There's only one role for someone who births a child...! And that is to be a mother who sits back, never to raise a blade again...!"

She then dropped her blades to her hips and rushed for the door in desperation, "I need to kill Colrez NOW...!"

Auris firmly grabbed her upper arms and tried to push her back, but she fought like a fevered bull and dug her heels into the ground before finally swinging her arms out to throw her off.

"Out of my way!" She yelled.

Auris narrowed her gaze and laced her tongue with a scathing tone, "This is reckless behavior and I will not enable it."

Cecilia pointed her blade at her Auris' neck and told her plain and simple, "I'm on a time limit! Either he dies now or I lose that chance forever!"

Auris grabbed her blade tight in her hand and accepted the shakiness of her body into her frame, "Look at yourself, Cecilia Frost. You're in no shape to fight him, and he won't hesitate to slaughter you and your unborn child."

"So WHAT do you expect me to do?" Cecilia begged for her answer.

"Accept this new life you've created," Auris said softly, "That you managed this with Ezekiel means there's a genuine bond of love between you both, and the Lords are blessing that love with a child to raise, nurture and protect."

"I don't want to be a mother...! I'm supposed to be a warrior!" Cecilia said, unable to curse this gift with a single breath...

"You CAN be both," Auris said with assurance, "If that child makes you feel even a single bit of love towards it then you'll move both Heaven and Earth just to keep it safe. And that, right there, is where true strength lies...!"

Cecilia looked her dead in the eyes and asked, "H-How can you be certain...?"

"..." Auris closed her eyes and remarked sincerely, "I suppose...I will never be able to speak from experience."

She then turned her gaze aside and her voice started to crack, "Yes, I...never will..."

She then immediately asserted her gaze upon Cecilia and told her gently, "This isn't a decision you can make alone. Please, at least discuss this with Ezekiel first."

"He already knows, but..." Cecilia hardly had the energy to fight back at this point, and with Auris' help brought her sword down and stepped aside, "I suppose it wouldn't do either of us any harm to...talk."

The two then kept their distance for a bit as Cecilia returned to the edge of the bed. Auris began to peel the door down, during which Cecilia whispered out, "You know, you were my inspiration to become stronger."

Auris turned around and with a fond smile, Cecilia remarked, "It's comforting to know you're on our side, Auris Aurora."

Auris gave a soft nod and then made her out into the living room. Ezekiel and his mother were still talking, this time thinking about making larger doors to barricade both ends of the ravine.

She silently crept out the front door to take a breather, Cecilia's ails having winded her emotionally.

"Haaa..." She laid her fingertips against her forehead and sat down on the edge of the porch.

She then sprung up when she saw a shadow flying overhead and almost drew her sword, only to be welcomed by Sarajin dropping down next to her.

He was looking a bit frazzled and hastily explained why he was here, "I-I saw someone running to the west with a bunch of ore and came right over! W-What happened?"

There was a clear scent of ash permeating his body, and from there Auris finally let out her tiredness and remarked, "Looks like we've both had a rough day."

They caught each other up, save for the matter of Cecilia's pregnancy, and by the end Sarajin was left tense and lightly punched the ground at his hip.

"I should have been here, I could have stopped Nimus...!"

"It's not your fault," Auris assured him, "They blind sided us. Nothing more."

"How did they blind side us though?" Sarajin remarked, turning to her with a brief look of anger in his eyes "Shouldn't you have seen it-?!"

He froze up and she did the same, looking frightened by his scowl. He then retracted his anger and fervently shook his hand out, ashamed to look her way, "S-Sorry, sorry, I'm not...I'm not mad at you..."

Auris closed her eyes and remarked, "No. Don't make excuses for me. You're right...They shouldn't have gotten the drop on us like that."

She then faced forward, kicking her feet off the edge while making a light-hearted comment of, "Perhaps you're not the only one who needs to train..."

"Huh?" Utter Sarajin.

"Right now, I can only see a little way into the future. I was afraid of over relying on it, out of fear that I would stagnate, or second guess myself," She opened her eyes and saw the hard work the miners were putting in to clean their home up, "But the Ten Sages have the experience to keep me from using my strength against them. And if we don't use every advantage we're allowed, then they'll keep piling on victory after victory until they've succeeded in their goals."

She then laid her hands on top of Sarajin's and brought them to the space between their legs. There, she proceeded to lock eyes with him and lay her heart bare, "I let myself be swallowed up in the splendor of spending time with you, Sarajin...But I recognize now that I'm not just a part of your life, but that of every heart you've touched."

"And I want to help them reach a brighter future. So...let us make a vow here and now. To never let the Sages get the better of us again."

Sarajin clutched her hands gently and smiled, "That's a promise I can get behind."

She smiled with a tender closing of her eyes, withdrawing her hand to place them on her lap, "Then we should start by discussing the Ten Sages. How many of them have you met so far?"

"Obviously there's your father, and Nimus...I've also met Vermilion, Stonestein, and Adderbolt." Sarajin explained, placing his feelings where appropriate.

"My father is the Alchemist Who Decides the Future. He leads the Ten Sages from Sancturia, and is the only one who I'd claim is stronger than me among them."

"Nimus, known as the Sky Scourge, is supposed to be observing Arc Hurricanos, but seems to fly to his own rhythm these days."

"Vermilion, the One-Eyed Scorpion, is one of the four youngest Sages, only a couple years older than me. Her rage and lust for the hunt makes her a dangerous and unpredictable foe."

"Lord Stonestein, the Aegis Scarab, is a scholarly man who spends most of his days reading or exploring. I sincerely doubt he'll become a threat unless father orders it."

"Adderbolt, the Piercing Dragonfly, has a Drive that allows him to fuse the properties of whatever makes contact with his body. He is also rather easy-going, which can make him either an ally, or easily tricked into being our enemy."

"Then, among the five you haven't met there is Lilith, the Guiding Firefly. Father's most loyal aide, she governs Light and brings about plenty of sagely wisdom to keep him on the right path."

"Her brother, Atrax, is the Web-Weaver of Shadow. He works in the silence of darkness and has only been seen in Sancturia on rare occasions to report to his sister or my father."

"Glade, the Preying Mantis, is an expert on all things toxic and is no doubt the sole creator behind the mess you encountered earlier in Tanglefae...Even I can't guess what his motives are though."

"Carolina, the Muted Moth, is someone I've never understood. Because she's never been heard uttering a word, nor has she ever taken the cloth wrap off her eyes. She watches over Cryofloe though, so I doubt she's got altruistic motives in mind..."

"And finally, there is Torren, the Elegant Strider. She is an extraordinary dancer and considered one of the prettiest ladies in Sancturia. She is-"

Sarajin's eyes slowly widened as a drop of cold sweat trickled down the side of his face, "Torren...?"

Next Time: Between Duty and Love