Ilus Rises: Chapter 13 Part 1 of 2

Chapter 13:

Lord Osori stabbed the creature with his harpoon, quick and direct. It stiffened and then slumped, the tithe of essence flowing into his own core.

He remembered the days where he had swum through the oceans of the water plane, challenging the beasts of the deep. Where he had led ships in battle against one another.

The terrifying thrill of it that seemed all the sweeter in memory.

How many had died through those travels, how many maimed and left behind?

He drew a blade, expertly cutting into the beast, filleting it. He reached inside finding the core at the beast’s center and drew it out with a sucking noise. Green Mixed with blue.

An attendant moved up, holding out a towel. He dropped the core onto it.

He stepped out of the pool, made of white carved stone—like the rest of the room. Arches, engraved and gilded led to four alcoves and three rooms, the last to a door.

He stepped up to one of the alcoves, turning on the tap, fresh water pouring out to wash the green blood from his hands. A luxury that few could boast.

He looked up at the mirror, his twin horns running back from his head, his reptilian appearance, eyes suited for water more than land. Humanoid enough to be a curiosity to the humans instead of a ‘beast’.

Though such things are to be said behind ones back, not infront of them.

He snorted and dried his hands, stretching his back.

Osori stretched his back. His scales shimmering from the blue light that illuminated the space. His attendants quietly cleaning and harvesting the beast.

Tomorrow it would be the main dish for some feast. Another show of his strength and to keep others in line.

There were always traders, merchant houses, captains and fleet admirals getting to big for their britches. If it wasn’t them then it was the races that lived under the city.

He let out a sigh. To be out on open waters was to invite a naval battle. Here at the center of Misty Cove he was protected. Those he cared about were safe.

Though how is it any less a shark caught in a cage, fed scraps to keep it alive and strong so that the others around it behave?

The water in the sink over flowed, Osori looked down and stepped back. Damn thing was blocked.

I swore I turned it off.

It pooled into an unnatural perfect spell and started to rise, giving shape.

Osori gathered his mana as he felt something resonate within his chest.

He dissipated his mana and dropped to a knee, cracking the tile.

The attendants dropped what they were doing, facing the rising water, gaining greater definition and lay in supplication.

The water solidified, Osori trying to keep his breathing stable as he looked at the plain blue robes and taloned feet.

“My Lord.”

“Osori of the Misty Cove. I am coming. One that we owe a debt to walks your docks. A breaker of prisons. An ally of our people, a human, Desari Haker.”

“I understand.”

“Raise your eyes,” the sentence phrased lightly commanded Osori on a visceral level. Mortals had their gods, elements and the planes had their elemental lords.

His elemental lord had his left arm in a yukata, the other arm and chest bear and free, with it tied around his midriff. It reflected a scene of a ship caught in a fight with a fish twice its size, lunging at the crew, the scene moving, water shifting.

His own scales were the blacks, whites and blues of the water, its depths and its waves. His eyes captured Osori, like looking into the depths of the realm. A crushing pressure that squeezed his very core like the depths would squeeze his body.

“Know it is I.”

“Yes my lord,” Osori bowed his head.

The lord’s visage collapsed back into water and splashed Osori. He rose and strode from the room. His guards at the door recovering from where they’d laid down.

“Put out word, Desari Haker is under my protection and to be invited here once found. And send word to the staff. They are to prepare to greet our Elemental Lord.”

Nereus his confidant, old ship mate and now captain of his guard raced to follow after him.“May the Liberator look over us. Do I need to get out the fine silverware?”

Osori cracked a smile as his ridiculous words calmed his heart.

***

Desari glanced up at the water collectors. They’d gotten progressively thicker and well built the closer to the convergence point. And blocking out the damn sky.

She looked to the left and right of dock they’d reached the end of.

“Go left and circle around?” Petor asked.

“Worth a try.” She turned right, Petor followed.

“How were you able to move the ship like that? I thought you would use a single spell but there were lots of them,” Petor asked. His voice low.

Desari drew up a simple spell that would drag in other sounds around her and Petor and another that would disrupt the air around them to make it hard to hear in. “Its multi-casting, you can create several spells at the same time.”

“Isn’t that, really tricky? I’m just thinking of one spell at a time and its hard.”

“Time is your friend here. The longer you have to cast, the more spells you can cast. The more you can refine each of them, cut down on the overall mana cost to create them and use them. A lot of the time people don’t take into account the amount of mana they need to power all of those spells and get drained way too fast.”

“But like holding that all in your head it must be hard right?” Petor frowned. She’d been worried when she met her companions that they would deal with the world with absolutes, swords, shields and fighting. Each of them had a razor wit and will to use it.

“In a way,” Desari checked a street they passed, nothing coming down it she continued on. Several guards wearing bone armor over leathers were noticing them. There were small carriages pulled by people moving through the streets. Buildigns separated from one another and grander in appearance.

Traders have to come through here and I doubt the rich and mighty want to see them wandering their streets.

“What’s ten plus four?” Desari asked.

“Fourteen.”

“What’s fourteen times two?”

“Twenty eight?” Petor asked.

“What’s the answer to my math question?

“Twenty eight?” He was thoroughly confused now.

She snapped her fingers and pointed at the sky. “That’s the trick with multi-casting. You build up the answer in your mind. Then when you’re asked to recall it, you can do so and quickly. After all you did all of the hard work already, you know the answer.”

She opened her hand. “And well, magic. When you create a spell and power it up then it creates an imprint lets call it. Once you’ve cast something, its easy to cast it again. That’s why lazy spell casters will use the same spell repeatedly.”

“Do elementals help with spells?” Petor asked.

They crossed another street. Of course they had to make it confusing. “Might have to back track to find someone that isn’t chewing on the broom shoved up their ass. They do, kind of?”

“Two very different conversations, yeah this place is confusing and how? We made a contract and that didn’t change anything?”

She glared back at his innocent smile and shrug.

She kept walking, trying to figure a way to tell him what he wanted to know, while keeping her particulars, quieter.

“What do you know of elementals?”

“Shit and all.” he opened his hands with a wide grin.

Desari rolled her eyes.

“Elementals are a living incarnation of elemental forces. We’re not really sure how they are formed, but we know that they spawn in areas of high elemental density. So a place where a storm has been raging for centuries say. Once an elemental is formed they take on the properties of their element. As they grow their appearance might change. More knowledge, the way they interact with the world, higher sentience.”

“Okay,” Petor said, following along.

“The biggest thing is that elementals have a ‘resonance’ lets say, with their natural element. As we can control mana with our will, they can control elements. It is limited to begin, but as they get smarter and gain more power in the form of mana they are able to do much greater feats.”

“Like the beasts we had to break through when we left Irshon?”

“Exactly.” She nodded. “Now there are two kinds of elementals to start, world born, and altered. It matters little as they grow. World born are created from the world and the elements themselves. Their sentience is usually the weakest, but their resonance is the strongest.” She took in a breath. “Altered are like Irshon, a creature that started off in the world, then through some even they were altered and became much closer to a single element. They can be creatures or people. Their base sentience is higher, but their resonance is weaker.”

“So the world born have to get stronger and smarter, while the altered have to work on their resonance and possibly get smarter?” Petor asked.

“Correct again. You been sneaking in books on elementals?”

“Hah,” Petor rubbed the back of his head. “The only books I have is the one Irshon gave me. I was meaning to get some more.”

“Well let me know what you’re interested in learning and I’ll see what we can work out. I really want to get you a tool to increase your fine will control.”

“Why?” Petor asked.

“The finer the control the better you’re going to get at spell craft. Take Multi-casting. Most can hold say three spells in their mind. With a stronger will then you can increase that. You can reach out into the fabric of the world and use mana to change it.”

“That sounds a little terrifying.”

Desari reached the next intersection, clicking her tongue and kept walking. “We can jump between planes and worlds already. A horn can summon rare beasts and control others to do our bidding. The application of spells is terrifying. It can create and destroy in equal amounts.”

Petor fell into silence.

She glanced back, leaving him to mull over his thoughts.

“It’s the thought that maybe, just maybe the stories we heard about the various champions of Yasseen weren’t too overly exaggerated.” He shook his head. “So elementals?”

“Where was I?”

“We talked about how they’re formed,” Petor supplied.

“Right, so there are non sentient, bestial and sentient elementals. Each growing in strength magnitudinally.”

“That’s a big word,” Petor snickered.

“Works though! There are three main bonds you can make with an elemental. Imbuement, enhancement and equal. Imbuement you trap them within an item using them as a power source or augment. Enhancement you control them totally and bind them to yourself. This increases your resonance with said element. The stronger the elemental the stronger the resonance.”

“Alright.” Petor said it in a way of understanding the information if not liking it.

“Equal is a sharing between the contractees. Neither is bound to one location. Each can summon the other across planes, though it would depend on distance. Same world, not too bad, different world, much harder, same plane, much cheaper. You get an increased resonance with the element that grows with the elemental you are contracted with. While you greatly increase their mana pool. You can also both cancel the contract,” Desari said.

“So as you get stronger, you do so together?” Petor said.

“Correct. Though an elemental can only be bound to one thing at a time.” Desari said. No beast would dare to challenge Irshon before. Freddie lives in the chaos of the fire plane. She quickened her pace. The faster she got the material plane, the faster she could bind with the others and empower them.

“So why don’t more people do it?” Petor asked.

“Trust, and binding yourself to another is not something done lightly. Also people might have stipulations of joining into such a contract.” Desari grimaced. “I don’t think you would be able to.”

“Huh, why?”

“Well the way that your leeching ability works and the type of contract… I’m not sure if you could stop yourself from draining an elemental of their mana when you were low. Mana to them is an inherent part of their being so everytime you ran out of mana you’d harm them.”

Petor winced. “Ah fuck.”