To Fly the Soaring Tides

“Yahhhh!!!!!” Tawny’s cries softened as she plummeted towards the picturesque waves.

Does this girl not have mastery over wind? There is no excuse for her ineptitude given her ambitions.

A moment before she slammed against the water, a gust threw her up haphazardly. She tumbled around the air like she had no control over her body.

“Tawny.” Suddenly the girl slowed down. “All exists within space, one way or the other. You should be able to control your body as you would a marionette. If you can’t do this much, perhaps you should rethink your goals.”

“I—I can do it!” She shouted, hovering above the waves by someone else’s power. “All I need to do… is not move, right?!”

Cira induced severe drag, but at Tawny’s words, she stopped moving completely, mere inches from the water. She even blew on the surface to push herself out of reach of the waves.

“Not bad, but why would you blow air when you could simply alter your position?” The ocean dripped upward and then Cira appeared before Tawny. “The path you intend to walk is much too difficult for one who refuses to circumvent their limitations, rather than merely surmount them. I understand the limits of your power, but is this the extent of your will?”

Cira enjoyed the faint scent of salt on the breeze. It was a pleasant scent. Refreshing.

“N-no, of course it’s not! My will has no limits!” The girl looked like she was going to lose her balance, teetering there in the wind. “But space is hard… The best I can do is lift a glass and I can’t even drink it without spilling all over myself.”

“Just practice. Start with a ball of water and keep making it bigger each time to manage to maintain a perfect sphere.” Cira pulled one up from below that could fit in her palm and tossed it over.

“Wait, but I can’t control water!” It splashed over her shirt.

“We’re using space, remember? Do we need to start smaller?” Cira tossed her a large marble of water. “Just pretend you’re holding it in your fist.”

She mimicked Cira’s gesture and closed her fist. The water certainly rippled, but fell away all the same. “But water just falls from my fist!”

Cira raised her shoulders, “You just need to practice. We’ll get closer to the waves and you can try scooping it up yourself, but that will have to wait. For now…”

___

“What…?” I followed her line of sight and didn’t see anything. The clouds ahead had long devolved into a stormfront and thunder blatantly pursued us. If she hadn’t said anything, I would have asked.

“It seems there really are more guardians.” Cira nonchalantly replied and I squinted my eyes. Directly ahead, in the shadow of the clouds, it looked like some kind of seabirds in the distance. “And I think these ones are perfect to test your abilities.”

Wait… she wasn’t joking?! Is she really going to make me fight another monster like that snake? Just what are those—wait.

I pulled the spyglass from my pocket, and with a chuckle Cira did the same. Hers looked like it was either made from gold or the same thing as that staff she carried around. I noticed a couple expensive gems and incomprehensible runes along it and surrounding each lens before turning my eyes down the sights of my own cheap spyglass.

“What—” My heart skipped a beat, “What the hell are those things?”

My hands shook and I put the spyglass away, having almost dropped it.

“They do look a bit tougher than usual, but those are pretty typical sirens.” I could see pristine white wings at their back as the waves shimmered reflections up on them, but their beauty ended as the feathers grew thin where they connected to the back. The wings were attached to a hunched over body that looked wrapped in scales as the feathers stopped completely around the shoulders and breas.

The sirens’ faces looked like a week-past drowned woman. Same black and blue as their scales, but pallid and seeming to sag off the skull. The talons on their arms or legs could grasp my head and pinch off my neck at the bottom in one go. I shuddered picturing one coming in for a swoop and just leaving with my head.

“Th-those are typical?! Aren’t sirens supposed to be beautiful like angels? Singing sweet songs…?” As they approached it was like a chorus of tortured moans.

“Naturally, I’ve disabled their illusions and charm. And for your information, sirens are supposed to take the form of a beautiful seraph. If you wish to see an angel, look to the fountain in the palace courtyard.”

“And you expect me to fight them off by myself?!” A whole flock was coming for us. I was as good as dead. “Those things are monsters…”

“If you want to be pedantic, yes, they likely host raw mana crystals, but they’re a great matchup for you. Now, where is your staff?” Cira raised her brow expectantly.

“My… my staff?” At the realization, my eyes went wide. “Oh no! It’s on Breeze Haven!”

“Tisk tisk… I know this would happen.” A short staff appeared in front of her, or perhaps it was a morning star crafted of solid ruby. “You may borrow the infernal scepter for now. It was collecting dust in my dad’s closet and wrinkling a set of robes.”

The flapping of wings was so close I could see their horrible forms clearly with just my eyes now. Just looking at them face to face was enough to make my blood run cold.

“And don’t worry about burning me,” Cira added with a laugh, floating off a little behind me. “Show me what you learned”

“You… can’t be serious.” I looked behind me and she was still drifting away. I was still held aloft, actually incapable of moving under my own power.

She is serious… I turned back to the sirens and gulped. Their groans had turned to ravenous shrieks as their prey was almost in their grasp and three poor souls flew off to avoid me and go straight for Cira.

Come on, I only have to defeat ten… no, eleven horrific winged women twice my size. And wait, there’s something important I’m forgetting about sirens…

A torrent of wind battered against me as they came within range. I could see them swiping their claws from afar and furling the air. That’s right… sirens can control the wind from birth.

I remained frozen for a moment, but the warmth in my hand brought me comfort. The infernal scepter, huh? It’s practically tingling just being close to my aura. Just what is this thing capable of?

It seemed the sirens wanted to push me away with their approach and forced me to slide around the sky. Somehow, I was still aloft, but Cira wasn’t going so far as controlling my position anymore.

I don’t have time to learn how to move space… but I can still move around with wind like this, right?

With my empty left hand, I could still push against the air behind me to move forward and cut into their offensive gusts. I didn’t want to close the distance, but I needed to get in range or I’d accomplish little more than sweeping their hair. Most looked like they could rip me in half, but a few of the sirens were lean, and faster in flight. They held spears of what seemed to be bone in their hands.

One pulled ahead of the others and rose up until the sun was just behind it. That it was smart enough to blind me like this really pissed me off, and with squinted eyes, I held the Infernal Scepter aloft.

“I have a spear too, you son of a bitch!” I felt heat like a burning coal right next to my face and pushed myself away in a panic. Something that could hardly be called a spear was trying to materialize, like a pillar of condensed flame with a sharpened point. Its form furled and threatened to disperse when I got startled, so I frantically poured more mana out trying to get it to reform.

What the hell is going on? I could have harpooned that serpent with this! The scepter still gave off that warming comfort, no hotter than before after conjuring such a magnificent spear. This isn’t the time to complain though…

“Now!” The spear was stable, so I sent it off, gesturing with the scepter like I was clubbing someone.

With a sound like a cannon that tore through the wind and pushed me back, the spear disappeared from sight. I could follow the noise of rippling air and saw a puff of smoke before watching a beam of flame disappear into the dark clouds above.

I followed the smoke down as its trail split and a pair of charred wings fell one way while clawed legs fell the other, burning still like embers as they plummeted toward the vast sea.

“H-holy shit…” Did I just do that?

“Good one.” I turned to Cira’s voice and watched her dodging the three sirens relentless flurries as if she had wings herself. She had that orichalcum staff in her hands and blocked the odd kick or slash with it. “But don’t lose focus now.”

I heard a flutter of wings, and another siren was on me, thrusting its spear at my gut. In a panic I pushed myself to the side and into striking range. As if I had a sword or something, I swung down using my wind’s momentum.

The moment the scepter touched the siren’s chest, an explosive blast tore through it. The monster disappeared in a plume of smoke, and I heard a pained shriek from behind it. The third spear-wielder had one wing burnt to a crisp and the other not far off. It fell like a lead weight, no matter how frantically it tried to flap.

Great. Only… eight left? I almost cried to hear the ravenous flapping of wings surround me. Cira had three of her own occupied, but the others had apparently just registered me as the real threat here. I couldn’t make that many spears and hit the mark with them if I tried. Amazing as this staff was, it couldn’t make up for my inabilities.

“Don’t worry about burning me.” Why did she say that…? Or… That’s right. I glanced at the ball of fire forming above my staff. It slowly condensed flame for me to use in a pinch—the passive reservoir Cira wanted us to work on—but I was thinking too small.

I felt a stark breeze and pushed myself to the side in a panic, just narrowly avoiding a wind blade that could have taken my leg off. It was within a hair’s breadth and my stomach dropped to notice there wasn’t a reaction from any of Cira’s barriers. Almost like there wasn’t one placed on me in the first place. In a moment, I realized the danger I was in.

The force of the wind blade was much too great for me to disperse. If another caught me by surprise… I could die.

These harpies are enveloped in air. Their mastery is greater than mine and I’m fighting them in the perfect environment for their advantage. Instead of this little fireball, why don’t I just fill this place with flames?

At that thought, an inferno sprouted from my scepter. When the flaming spear appeared earlier, it was the hottest thing I had ever felt, but somehow it didn’t hurt. It was difficult to explain, but I could tell it wouldn’t hurt me—so long as I held the scepter, at least.

If they dare attack me with more wind spears, it will only feed the flames.

Fire poured out in a spiral, like a blooming flower and quickly grew into a hellish storm. I could hear the harpies caw and cry somewhere beyond the crimson flares, but it was so hectic I couldn’t really see anything. There was nothing but the flame, so my only choice was to keep them coming. The staff made it easy, and I could tell I only used a fraction of the mana I would by hand, but as I held it up, I started to get a feel for it.

The chaotic flames that formed trails from the scepter’s jewel which I thought could not be controlled felt almost like sand falling through the cracks in my fingers. I held onto that feeling and started to chase it.

With a spear, a set amount of mana needed to be condensed, but controlling a constant flow of flame with similar accuracy was in the realm of legendary mages, especially of this magnitude. I was still a far cry away, but the flames started to take refined shape. Their hue seemed less natural and a richer crimson the further I chased that feeling.

Soon, the flames closer to me almost looked like molten ruby, or literal waves of magical fire.

“Uhhhh…” Cira appeared through the unstoppable flames like it was a curtain hung in a doorway. “I think you got ‘em.”

My eyes shot open, and I remembered what I was doing. The flames started to disperse into light or steam that was carried off on the wind. Thunder struck and I felt a light drizzle evaporating far above.

“I-I’m so sorry! I got carried away!” I looked between her and the scepter in fear while a grin grew on her face.

“I like where you were going with that though, but replacing the harpies’ air with flame was a tad overkill here. It never hurts to mess around a little if you’re really feelin’ the mana, though.” She flipped the orichalcum staff around and it rest on her back, as if holstered there. “Generally, you could have just swept them up in flames the normal way. No need to burn everything… for future reference. Typically, you can’t afford to spend three-quarters of your mana on an attack for a full five minutes after incinerating them.”

“Right… that was reckless.” I clenched my fists in determination.

“No problem. I’ll just give you some more. You have had months to be low on mana, by my understanding.” Cira chuckled and floated away as energy coursed through my body. “And one more thing.”

“What’s that…?” I got kind of nervous, looking up at her.

“The Infernal Scepter will not burn you, but there are some things it cannot protect.” I suddenly felt a chill on the breeze quite thoroughly. I must have flushed red from head to toe. “Your next task will be to craft a new set of clothes out of flame.”