168 - Proliferous Nimbus
Sunset fell upon Green Pit. Everyone present, which was now hundreds of people, had made their way to the shores of Green Lake. The surviving members of the Stick Brigade, along with the entirety of the Far Shore Pirates, all their mages, and apparently more Gratos had hired in Shores’ extended absence surrounded the lake. Behind them, word of the Saint’s return had evidently travelled all the way to the shoreside refugee camp.
They of course were desperate for any news, especially if they could get it from the that crazy woman directly.
Alas, it had been almost ten hours and there was no sign of the Saint returning. Jimbo swore up and down she went into the lake to find Paradise, but at this point many of those rescued from the palace were starting to think he was brainwashed like those other religious nuts. To start, his words didn’t make any sense, but he claimed to not have any better way to explain it.
Her students of Breeze Haven were quite bummed they couldn’t go along. What kind of threat could possibly exist in a place called Paradise? An extra-stiff breeze? Captain Shores understood that she knew best, bless his heart, but the rest were mildly upset. They thought after all their training they still weren’t good enough. That they had failed her.
That line of thinking would irritate Cira to no end, if only she knew. But she would also feel guilty for half-assing it with their education regardless. That was neither here nor there.
___
Here and there, thunder crackled. Lightning broached the cloudy sky like needles, shattering Cira’s model islands without mercy. More formed, of course, but the assault of thunder and exploding masses of stone had me completely deaf. I even formed a wind barrier around my ears, but it did precious little.
The so-called ‘pure lightning’ seemed to have a will of its own. It really wanted to kill Cira. I watched multiple layers of barrier form around me for the past few minutes and they hadn’t been tested yet. Instead, the baseless wrath decided she was the one who needed to die. Perhaps I would be next… but it’s not like I could help her if I wanted to.
There must have been metal in them or something, I don’t know, but the lightning kept arching towards her little islands. They were her primary shields, though I noticed her diffusing a few stray bolts with a glowing river. It seemed she was even manipulating wind to draw in surrounding moisture as it lit up with the eerie color of concentrated water mana. The temperature kept dropping in flashes from one side or the other before but returning to normal just after the bang. If it weren’t perfectly timed with thunder, I would think I was hallucinating.
Jimbo took me to the sea once—the real sea. He said some experts told him it was a once in a lifetime chance to see the glowing tides. Some strange, small fish or something glowed under certain conditions, and this natural phenomenon washed up on the shores of Tide’s Oasis. Somehow each wave’s crest was lit with a soft light of pure water.
All around me, the sky turned into a brilliant cerulean haze, just like the water washing up on the sands that evening, but bright enough to make my aura shudder. The shining mist only lasted for a minute or so while earth continued to explode in my peripherals and eardrums, but then… the lightning seemed somehow weakened.
At the same time, Cira’s rivers were… somehow shrouded in a crackling veil of cerulean lightning. I had never seen anything like it…
“Cira!” I cried in an embarrassing panic, “What is this monster? What’s attacking us?!”
“The storm itself.” The same grin as earlier marred her face. “This is something I have neither seen nor read about. Make sure you’re ready to evade in case my barriers fail.”
Wait… They can fail…?
I became very nervous as Cira left me alone and pulled herself closer to the storm. Somehow it seemed to struggle more the closer to her it became, but she still had to block larger bolts that shattered boulders the size of houses.
Some of the lightning she rejected seemed to bounce around without rejoining the black clouds above. Like a massive spell, they all grew together, forming a tangled ball of lightning. Cira could block lightning all day, it seemed, but she didn’t have an attack ready to, well, attack lightning. Could she not disperse it? Or was she just watching to see what came of it?
I found myself covering my ears at the relentless blasts, but Cira was completely unconcerned as she kept her eyes on the growing ball of mana. If I didn’t know any better, I would say she was using the air to lead more into it, as if in anticipation of what would come.
“What are you doing?!” I shouted, completely drowned out by the maelstrom, but she still heard me, I think.
“The guardian is the storm. Don’t stray far.” Her words were short, and the distance between us closed quickly. Suddenly a chain of lightning crushed her earthen shields and sizzled away in a flare of light upon an unseen barrier around us both. “This is not an opponent that can be beaten.”
What does she mean…? One couldn’t possibly fight the storm itself or defeat it for that matter—that much makes sense. But that can’t be what’s happening here. This is some mythical creature she simply hasn’t had a chance to tell me about yet.
Lightning demolished Cira’s islands faster than she could conjure them and soon the remaining bolts rained against her barrier in a tremendous volley. Seeing them fizzle out upon it with no noticeable damage or change in my master’s expression made me feel a little better, I admit, but they quickly started dissipating sooner and sooner. Before long, they had found a range at which they could coalesce safely.
The first few lightning bolts who figured this out took the shape of some abomination with innumerable claws of lightning, then the next was a set of jaws big enough to swallow her whole, absorbed by her glimmering river, of course.
This had me terrified to my core as more and more vicious appendages formed in faint-purple bolts, but Cira just chuckled.
“Reminds you of something, doesn’t it?” She reached out and let one touch her, instantly diffusing it.
“No way…” I couldn’t believe my ears. It did in fact remind me of something, but a hundred times more terrifying. “These are slimes?!”
Her chuckle turned into a hearty laugh as lightning bounced around her body and she slapped fangs and hoofed feet away. “Of course not! This is a storm, through and through. I just think it’s a fascinating analog for the mimicry of nature. Think about it. The slimes evolved the most effective characteristics of their prey to survive and prosper—yet this storm who was probably tasked with defeating all who get too close has stumbled upon the same predatory forms to overpower us.”
What the hell is she talking about? “Do you think you’re saying something profound? Things that want to kill us strive to kill us better. When has the world ever worked in any other way?”
As I complained though, it seemed the lightning’s form was becoming more complete with each iteration. A claw became a forearm, then all the way up the shoulder. Kicks that were once spontaneous were now led by a full leg’s swing. Sharp jaws now belonged to a skull formed from lightning no longer bound by nature or reason.
“You’re missing the point.” When Cira held out her palm, a hazy barrier surrounded us, and our surroundings became silent. I guess she got tired of constant, deafening explosions, but I couldn’t complain. “Have you learned nothing? The signs were all there. Just when we were starting to relax, a snake slithered out to impede our path. In the same way, one may be caught in the rain on their way home or stabbed in the back by a close friend.
“Serpents are never to be trusted. Regardless of the hidden serpent’s efforts and motives, such an encounter heralds dark times indeed.” Cira shook her head, “Our friend above, Cumulonimbus, makes that much clear.”
She uncharacteristically didn’t have a Lamplight conjured, and her face was covered in shadow. Aside from two opposing points on the distant horizon, the clouds blocked the sun completely. We were in near-complete darkness if it weren’t for the lightning’s perpetual flash. Skulls and limbs seemed to build up and fall away, attacking and dimishing while Cira completed her monologue.
“What are you getting at?” I demanded, shaking from the horrific lightning creatures taking form just outside her barrier.
“Cumulonimbus blots out the sun, for one. Their story has been etched in the sky with a quill of clouds. But I was actually mistaken earlier. This lightning is born of the realm creator’s wrath. Rather, lightning is the most efficient medium for wrath. You could say there’s something of an affinity there.”
While I trembled, my insane master’s vision grazed over the half-formed lightning creatures with unmistakable curiosity. Honestly, looking at her in the dark leather coat and pirate captain’s hat only made her that much more ridiculous. With this much power, I couldn’t believe she let the so-called Mortal Council push her around.
“What are you trying to say? I think… I think you should destroy whatever this is before it gets out of control…” That meager suggestion was all I could come up with. I knew my magic couldn’t do anything, even if I had the scepter back. I could only witness whatever was to occur today.
“This person was betrayed. Their enemies quickly grew. The wrath in penance of a crime not committed festered and only grew as time went on. Before long, it had taken on forms of its own too far removed from the truth, such that the truth didn’t even matter anymore. Don’t you see?” Cira cast those same eyes which were somewhere between disappointment and irritation, “Haven’t I already told you the implications if cirrostratus should progress to cumulonimbus and the storm prevails to disastrous proportions?”
“What?! What are you—” Wait… I haven’t noticed how hard it’s raining because of all these barriers but, “When storm breaks in relentless deluge, and fury falls like rain… The clouds must run their course?”
“I would have preferred something paraphrased, so I know you get it, but yes.” She’s lucky I remembered at all.
“So…” I watched arcing skulls try to form spines only to disintegrate when Cira looked at them, “The realm’s creator was betrayed by… everyone? And the fact that we’re even here in the first place means he conjured this place with the last of his life afterwards?” It wasn’t quite landing with me. “Who was he? Why was he even betrayed? I feel like I’m missing important parts of this story.”
“Of course we are. Could we not survive the sky’s inexplicable wrath, we would never be worthy to hear the end to this tale.” Cira’s creepy shadow staff appeared, then bolts of pure black corroded the lightning creatures in the blink of an eye. “Now answer me this. What does a sorcerer do in this situation, or one like it?”
What?! She’s quizzing me?! That lighting is quickly evolving, and that orb from earlier doesn’t look any less threatening… Do we have time for a lecture?!
“Are you kidding?! I don’t know! Destroy it?!” I shouted, which was met with another jovial laugh.
“Not far off. Consider this the pinnacle of the phenomenon that is lighting. As a sorcerer, you can’t let nature scare you. The sky will trouble you in a great many ways… but you must rise above it.” My eyes went wide as Cira floated outside her barrier. The lightning beings slashed away at her before losing form, almost like they were being sucked into the onyx. “Go on then!” She shouted. “I will accept your wrath! Up to this point I have found it quite meager!”
As if in response to her declaration, thunder roared. The ominous orb of lightning that had been building up at a distance seemed to shudder while the stream of beasts stopped forming nearby. It seemed all the energy of the storm converged on the mysterious ball, and it grew, slightly rocking like an egg that couldn’t wait to hatch.