WIEDERGEBURT Act III: Chapter 60

I climbed back up Mount Himmellyn. It was easier this time than it had been the last time, or at least, that was how it seemed.

Stepping onto the mountaintop, I looked at the destroyed bird nest that had once belonged to the Giant Horned Lightning Eagle. It, like the rest of this mountaintop, had been thoroughly wrecked. Cracks split the ground. Several peaks had been annihilated. There was even a massive split that went from one side of the mountaintop to the other, making it look like a giant had nearly succeeded in slicing this mountain in half.

The directions for using the Yin-Yang Spiritual Enhancement Pill stated that it was best to use the pill within an area where the element you wanted to absorb was the most dense. As I looked at the dense thunderclouds forming around the mountain, I knew there was no better place than this to use the pill.

I soon found myself sitting down with my legs crossed. I had chosen the highest peak of the mountain. Above my head were swirling black clouds. Thunder crackled inside of them, dancing back and forth as though leaping from droplets of water. Even the clouds below me contained the tremulous hum of lightning. The very currents in the air made the hairs on my neck and arms prickle.

Releasing a deep breath to ease the nervous tension in my chest, I removed the jar from my pouch, popped open the lid, and tipped the contents out. The Yin-Yang Spiritual Enhancement Pill fell onto my hand.

My mouth went dry. My hand suddenly felt heavy.

This was the moment I had been waiting for, for a long time, the moment I took my first step toward growing strong enough to kill the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain. Just that thought alone made my heartbeat quicken with anticipation. Yet I was also nervous. Would this really work? Could I really gain the strength I needed? Doubt and desire waged war inside of my mind.

However, fortune often favored the bold. An old autobiography I once read a long time ago had this quote. I couldn’t… quite remember who the autobiography had been about. It was something I’d read long before Nevaria was destroyed. However, I vividly remember that sentence because I’d read it several days after Kari told me she was marrying Grant Leucht. Back then, this quote had made me wonder if things could have been different had I just been bolder.

It seemed like a lifetime ago.

“I guess there’s no point hesitating now,” I muttered to myself.

I tipped my head back, placed the pill in my mouth, and bit down. The outer shell of the pill cracked. An intensely bitter taste surged over my tongue and down my mouth, nearly causing me to gag and throw it all back up. I bore with it, however, telling myself that if I could just bear with this, I would become stronger.

The medicinal liquid soon gushed down my throat and into my stomach. I could actually feel it settling there. I waited to see if something would happen.

Nothing happened.

I waited some more.

Nothing happened.

A frown unwittingly appeared on my face as I wondered if something had gone wrong, if maybe I’d gotten the ingredients incorrect, or if I’d slipped up during the refining process. The idea caused my heart to sink into my stomach. I didn’t even want to imagine that. No, I couldn’t imagine that. I had to have gotten this right!

CRACKLE!

Just as I was about to curse myself, lightning flashed across the sky, a brilliant bolt of pale yellow energy far larger than anything I had ever seen before. I traced the line it created. My eyes felt like they were about to bulge from their sockets as I saw a sight I never thought I would ever witness.

Hundreds of thousands of lightning bolts were flashing across the sky. All of it was converging into a single point above my head. Even the lightning from the clouds below me were streaking toward this single spot, which was gathering all that lightning into a ball of energy so bright it could potentially outshine the sun.

The crackling orb of electricity was large, easily ten times bigger than a full grown human. It might even be the same size as a Behemoth. What’s more, it was growing bigger with every passing second.

My arm hairs prickled.

My heartbeat quickened.

An incredible sense of danger caused my heart to shudder.

Just as I was about to leave, to forget about what I had been doing, the massive sphere crackled once and released a bolt of lightning that slammed into me.

My entire body was overridden with pain. My nerves were being fried, my body was on fire, every centimeter of skin was being burnt to a crisp, and it was getting harder to think and I couldn’t figure out what was going on and where was this and why did it hurt so much and what was Idoingeverythingwasgoingbackfadingfadingintopainand—

The pain stopped, an act so abrupt that I needed to blink several times because I couldn’t figure out what was happening. I looked around. However, all I saw was darkness. It was dark everywhere—no, wait. There was a spot that wasn’t dark. The swirling nebula several meters away was emitting an intoxicating light that I found myself drawn to. As I got closer, I realized this was my Spiritual Core, the place where all my Spiritual Power was stored.

And the object that was glowing wasn’t the nebula. It was the electric blue sphere that symbolized my lightning affinity.

Traveling over to the floating sphere, I watched in fascination as sparks skittered along its surface with increasing frequency. The bright light emitting from it was so lustrous that I could have mistaken it for the sun. As I continued watching, I remembered what happened and wondered if this was the result of that lightning bolt hitting me.

I reached out a tentative hand and touched the sphere. The moment I did, my body jerked back as though I’d been shocked, but my hand refused to budge. It remained on the sphere as though it had been fused there. With my hand stuck to the sphere, I found myself suddenly enlightened.

Lightning was the occurrence of natural electric discharges of very short duration and high voltage between a cloud and the ground or within a cloud, accompanied by a bright flash and typically thunder. The flash itself, the light, came from the discharge.

Water and ice moved inside a cloud; forced up by warm air currents, down by gravity, and compressed in the cloud. It was like when you rubbed your socks against the carpet and it caused your body to produce a small shock. Yes, just like that, the particles within the cloud become charged. The charge separated the cloud. Positive charges moved up and negatives moved down. Once a significant charge separation had built up, the positive and negative charges sought to reach each other and neutralize each other. When this happened, streamers came up from the ground to form a pathway, and once the pathway is complete, a spark formed, neutralizing the charge.

Once the negative charge raced down, the surrounding air would heat it up. The spark was incredibly hot. It ran at about 20,000 degrees and rapidly heated the air to create a shock wave by traveling at the speed of light. This was also why lightning flashed before you heard the thunder. Light traveled faster than sound.

As these principals flowed into my mind, the energy within me surged and swelled, growing larger, denser, and more powerful.

I opened my eyes, which I couldn’t remember closing, and looked at the sphere. There was now a flowing line of electric energy moving from the lightning sphere and into the nebula where my Spiritual Power was stored.

I could feel my Spiritual Power growing at a rate so rapid it boggled my mind. It doubled, then tripled, then quadrupled, and continued to expand even after that. Only when my Spiritual Power had grown to become ten times more powerful than it had been before did it finally stop.

The nebula had become far larger than before. It had grown to about eleven or twelve times bigger. What’s more, crackling lightning raced around inside of the nebula. There were also strangely swirling clouds that contained an electric blue glow and seemed denser somehow.

I blinked once, then found myself back in the outside world, still seated cross-legged on the mountain peak. The thunder clouds were gone. The giant lightning sphere was also gone. However, as I looked down to study my body, I realized that I was covered from head to toe in glowing blue energy. Lightning crackled and hissed around me. I could feel the power surging inside of me. Holding my hand in the air, I released just a fraction of the power I now possessed, watching in awe as a bolt of lightning tore through the sky and traveled up to the stars, where it disappeared.

So this was the Fourth State of Spiritualism? Magnificent.

Standing to my feet, I brushed myself off and walked over to the edge. I looked at the vast sky that seemed to have no beginning nor an end, then channeled Spiritual Power through my body, which caused my feet to leave the ground as if gravity no longer possessed any influence over me. With but a simple thought, I willed my body forward. I shot through the sky like a bolt of lightning. I traveled toward my next destination.

I may have reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism, but that did not mean I could rest on my laurels. I still had two more elements left that I needed to reach this state with. There was no time to lose.

***

There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. It created quite the juxtaposition to the dreary and solemn atmosphere on the ground.

“I stand before you all today in honor of those who gave their lives for our safety.”

Empress Hilda Astralia stood with her three husbands, three sons, daughter, Fay, Lin, Siv, and myself. We stood on a stage that had been hastily erected inside of the cemetery several days prior. Made of the wood, the stage didn’t look like it would hold up under the immense weight and pressure of over one dozen humans and a lamia, but it seemed to be doing fine… for now.

“Several days ago, an army of Demon Beasts and a monstrous race known as the Sekbeists came to attack Nevaria. They were repelled, fortunately, by the combined effort of the Nevarian Spiritualists, the Imperial Royal Guard, and the Nevarian Braves. These brave Spiritualists fought and gave their lives to safeguard us all. Many sacrificed themselves so that we might live to see tomorrow.”

The empress spoke with an eloquence I could not help but envy. I had never been that great at preparing speeches—even when I was the Sect Master of Brave Vesperia. My manner of speaking was unrefined and crude. Kari had been a much better orator than me.

The crowd she was speaking to stood down below us. There was quite the gathering. While not the same size I had seen during Kari’s birthday, there was still a large number of people.

Within this sea of heads were several people I recognized, such as Catalyna and Marko Kriger, who looked destitute as they stood next to their stoic mother. While the two younger people had eyes red with tears, the head of the Kriger Family remained impassive. The only way for me to tell she was feeling something was the trembling of her lips.

Bjark and Ingrid were also present, as were the remaining 246 members of the Nevarian Braves. Their hands were clasped together. Their heads were bowed. These Spiritualists just had their first taste of war a few days ago. I was sure many of them were still reeling from shock. It wouldn’t surprise me if more than a few were suffering from nightmares. The Great Overlord knows I had many nightmares those first few nights me and Kari became involved in the war against the Sekbeist in my previous life.

I even found Sigrid standing beside Gudmund and Gudbrand Drage. Several other people were with them. I could only assume they were members of the Drage Family. Most of them were fairly young—though they all looked older than me. Sigrid seemed to be the youngest person present among her family.

“In honor of those who lost their lives, we have erected a monument to celebrate their accomplishments in life and mourn their passing from our lives.”

Empress Hilda walked down the stage. She was followed first by her husbands, then her sons, and then Kari, myself, Fay, Lin, and Siv.

The five of us—me, Kari, Fay, Lin, and Siv—were dressed in dark clothing meant for mourning. My black slacks were a snug fit against my thighs and hips. Meanwhile, the shirt I wore had loosely flowing sleeves that were a lot more comfortable. Kari, Fay, and Siv were dressed in full-body gowns that went all the way down to their feet (Lin’s gown didn’t but only because she didn’t have feet). Siv’s had been specially modified to have a V-cut back to accommodate for her wings.

Each of us was holding a single flower.

As the crowd parted for her, Empress Hilda moved through the gathering, with us following behind her, and eventually reached a large stone monument. The monument was an obelisk. It was made from an obsidian material. As we stopped in front of it, I saw that thousands of names had been carved into the surface.

Empress Hilda turned to the crowd.

“This monument shall serve as a testament to the strength and courage of those who gave their lives for us. I hope that all of you will honor the dead with me.”

After speaking, she stepped forward and placed a flower on the ground at the foot of the obelisk. When she stepped back, Valence went up, followed by Dante and Rainer. Her sons went up next. The expressions on Geirolf’s, Earland’s, and Mykkel’s faces remained stoic as they placed their flowers before the obelisk. Once they were done, I went up with Kari, Fay, Lin, and Siv. We all stood back after we placed our flower on the ground, then one by one, the people who had come to this gathering walked forward and followed our example.

A crying Catalyna went up with Marko and Catherina, Bjark and Ingrid silently walked up and set their flowers down, and the other members of the Nevarian Braves followed their example.

Sigrid, Gudmund, and Gudbrand also went up. However, I didn’t get the feeling they were honoring the dead so much as humoring everyone else. It might have been my perception. I would admit that I didn’t trust them, so that might have been coloring my judgement, but it still seemed like they didn’t particularly care.

There were at least a few thousand people present, and not all of them were related to the deceased. Some simply seemed to be people who were paying their respects. However, from the tears so many people shed, I assumed a good portion of them were the remaining family of the Spiritualists who’d died. I recognized at least several of them from having met them previously to inform them of what happened to their loved ones.

After the memorial service, a lot of people came up to speak with Empress Hilda. Most of them thanked her for holding the service. They probably wanted to do more. I was sure some of them wanted to rage and scream more than anything, but they couldn’t do that to the empress, so they held back. When Catherina went up to Empress Hilda and began speaking, Catalyna and Marko came up to us.

“Hey, Commander,” Catalyna said.

“Hey,” I said back. “You doing okay?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m okay, but I’m hanging in there.” She looked back at where her mom was talking to the empress, sighed, then offered us a resigned smile. “It almost doesn’t feel real, you know? Grandpa always seemed so powerful to us. The idea that he’s gone hasn’t really sunken in yet.”

“I’m sorry,” Kari apologized to Catalyna. “If I had been stronger, this wouldn’t have happened. If I had reached the Third State of Spiritualism sooner, I could have saved him.”

“Hmm… maybe,” Catalyna said with a shrug. “We can’t really deny that there is a possibility you could have saved him, but that doesn’t mean it’s your fault he died.” She placed a hand on Kari’s shoulder. “You fought as hard as you could, and Grandpa also fought the best he could. He was a Spiritualist. Like the rest of us, he accepted all the risks that came with his duty. I don’t want you blaming yourself for what happened to him, okay?”

“If that’s what you want,” Kari muttered.

“It is.”

While Kari and Catalyna were speaking, Siv clenched her hands into fists. I’d heard that she had joined the battle after awhile. However, it seemed that, for the longest time, she had simply stood back and watched. Out of all the people there, she likely felt the most guilty because she could have saved Grimm and many others but didn’t.

I reached out to grab her hand. I was planning to reassure her. However, when my hand touched hers, Siv jerked back, her face turning a brilliant red. I remained with my hand outstretched like that, then slowly retracted it.

“Uh… sorry,” I said.

Catalyna, despite being red eyed, giggled. “It seems despite being engaged to three women, you really don’t understand women that well, do you?”

I frowned at her. “I’m pretty my inability to understand women is not the issue here.”

“Are you sure about that?” she asked.

“Darling understands this princess just fine,” Lin said, crossing her arms and frowning at Catalyna.

“I guess I stand corrected then.” Catalyna continued to chuckle despite her words. While I wasn’t happy her laughter came at my expense, I was glad to see that she could still laugh.

Catalyna and Marko soon traveled back to their mother’s side after Catherina finished speaking with Empress Hilda. I thought about what Catalyna said. Did I really not understand women like I thought I did? I’d admit that maybe I didn’t understand every woman, but I was fairly confident that I understood Kari, Fay, Lin, and Siv fairly well.

As the two left, Fay came up to my side, leaned over, and spoke into my ear. “You know Siv didn’t jerk away from you because she doesn’t like you, right?”

I whispered back. “I know.”

“Do you know why she did that?” I opened my mouth to answer, but then I slowly closed it and shook my head. Fay smiled at me. “It’s because she likes you. Maybe she only realized it recently, but I can see she likes you from how she acts.” Fay wore a slightly self-deprecating smile. “I recognize the signs since I was the same way as her for a time.”

“So that’s it.” I frowned as the knowledge sank in. Siv liked me. I wasn’t sure what I should do. “Then… I should talk to her?”

“I’d recommend giving her some space for now,” Fay said. “Siv seems awfully shy. If you push her too hard, she’ll just run away from you.”

I sighed at that, but then nodded and agreed to do what Fay said.

The rest of the memorial service was spent speaking with some of the people who arrived. A lot of the families I had visited the previous day came up. Some of them apologized for being so harsh with me the other day, but others simply seemed to be paying me obligatory courtesy because of my status. The children from the orphanage were also present, though only Margaret came up to thank me. Balder also came up. However, it was only to tell me that he had decided to join the Nevarian Braves like his “big sister” when he grew up.

As the day wore on, the people soon left, and I traveled home with Kari, Fay, Lin, and Siv. We ate a small dinner once we got back. However, none of us were that hungry despite having not eaten the entire day. Only Lin and Siv, a Lamia and Dragon respectively, had an appetite… but even they only ate about half of what they normally did.

I soon found myself snuggling with Kari and Lin. They leaned into my sides and hugged my arms. Fay looked like she wanted to join them, but she was sitting on the other couch with Siv.

Since all of us were together, I decided now was the best time to bring up a subject I wanted to discuss with them.

“I’m planning to travel back to the Morkdypt Ravine,” I said. “Now that the Sekbeists are gone, I’d like to go back and free the people who have been enslaved. There are many more people aside from just Siv who have had their will taken from them.”

I remembered seeing a few Dweorg among those who had been enslaved, and I really wanted to free them. Of course, I had my sentimental reasons. However, I also thought it would be good if we could get the Dweorg to live in Nevaria. Dweorg were great craftsmen. I was sure that they would be able to help the city-state flourish even more.

Kari nodded as though she’d been expecting this. “We assumed you’d be going back there. We’re going to travel with you. There’s also something we wanted to show you, and it’s not that far out of the way.”

“I understand,” I said. “Tomorrow, me and Kari will inform Empress Hilda of our decision.” I glanced at Lin, Fay, and Siv. “Can I leave packing our supplies for the journey to you three?”

“You can count on me,” Fay said.

“This princess will help!” Lin added.

Siv hesitated before nodding. “I will… do my best.”

“Thank you,” I said.

With our decision made, the five of us continued speaking until it was later in the night, and then went to bed.

Of course, all of us except Siv ended up in the same bed.

***

“Now is the best time to strike! With Grimm Kriger dead, we have one less Spiritualist who has reached the Third State of Spiritualism to worry about!”

“You fool! You’re being too hasty! Did you forget that Kari Astralia has now reached the Third State of Spiritualism?! And let’s not forget about Eryk Veiger and his abominable strength! If we attack now, we would only be inviting disaster!”

“You’re the fool here! The longer we wait, the greater their strength will grow! If we don’t attack now, then we’ll have missed our opportunity!”

Sigrid sighed as she listened to these old codgers continue arguing. She was standing in the center of the Drage Council chamber alongside her eldest brother and father, silently listening as the elders argued with each other.

The Elder Council consisted of three people—two men and one woman—who had been a part of the Drage Family for a long time. She didn’t know exactly how old they were. It was impossible to judge their age just by listening to them because they didn’t sound all that old, but these codgers supposedly belonged to the same generation as Herleif Astralia and Grimm Kriger, which meant they were at least over one hundred.

As she continued listening to them argue with each other, Sigrid grew sick of hearing them talk and interrupted them.

“I do not believe attacking them is a good idea right now.”

“Sigrid! What are you doing?!” her father hissed, but Sigrid ignored him.

“You are speaking out of turn, Sigrid,” the Head Elder said.

The three Drage Council members were not visible, but Sigrid could see their silhouettes beyond the cloth fabric hiding them from view.

“I am aware of that. You may punish me if you wish, but I would at least like you to hear what I have to say,” Sigrid said. The woman sitting on a chair to the left of the Head Elder gesture for her to continue. She nodded and spoke some more. “The first reason why attacking would be a bad idea right now is because of Eryk Veiger. Our information on him was woefully inaccurate. Eryk doesn’t have a dual-affinity. During the battle, I saw him use the earth and darkness elements and top of lightning.”

The elders, and even Gudmund and Gudbrand, sucked in a breath.

“Are you certain of this?” asked the woman.

“I am quite certain. My eyes would not deceive me,” Sigrid said.

The elders looked at each other. Even though she couldn’t see their faces, she could almost sense their nervousness—not that she couldn’t understand what they were thinking. If Eryk could indeed use four elements, then he would be an incredible force, one that not even they would be able to contend with, especially if he’d reached the Third State of Spiritualism with all four of them.

“What’s more, we are still more or less evenly matched in terms of how many Spiritualists we have that have reached the Third State of Spiritualism,” Sigrid continued. “We have six—your august selves, me, Father, and Gudmund. They have Hilda, Herleif, Kari, and Eryk, plus that dragon girl, Siv. Assuming Eryk can use four different elements, he can likely fight off at least two of us at the same time, which means we don’t have an advantage in terms of superior firepower. To top it off, they have the Nevarian Braves, the Nevarian Spiritualists, and the Imperial Royal Guard. Our entire Drage Family combined is not be enough to take on those numbers, especially if the Kriger Family decided to get involved… and they will, given how close Herleif was to Grimm.”

As Sigrid listed off all the reasons they shouldn’t make a move yet, the elders found themselves nodding along with her, and even her father and brother could not help but agree.

“You bring up some excellent points,” the Head Elder said.

“It’s all that blasted Eryk’s fault!” The Second Elder slammed his fist onto the armrest of his chair. “Had he never shown up, we would have taken control of Neveria already!”

Sigrid didn’t know about that, but she wouldn’t deny that Eryk Veiger’s presence had certainly put a damper on the plan these old codgers had concocted.

“How should we deal with this then?” asked the Third Elder.

“If possible, could you leave these matters to me?” asked Sigrid.

The elders, Gudbrand, and Gudmund all gawked at Sigrid.

“Why should we leave this to you?” asked the Head Elder.

Sigrid curled her lips into a viper’s smile. “Because I have a plan that I believe will help us take control of Nevaria. It will just take some extra planning and patience on our part.”