The Storm King

The werewolf had returned to human form in less than a minute thanks to the enchantment carved into his flesh by Sasan. Leon stared in amazement, hardly able to believe what was before his eyes.

Sasan’s runes were still fully legible even with the change in body size and the blood that now seeped from them, and as the mysterious but eminently powerful mage withdrew his hand from the former werewolf’s forehead, Leon saw another rune there, this one ancient where all the others were modern. ‘Cleanse’, if Leon read it correctly, but modified. It wasn’t complex enough to do the job by itself, necessitating the other runes, but Leon judged from what he could see that the cleanse rune had done most of the work and the rest of the enchantment had merely boosted and controlled what it had started.

Leon wasn’t alone in his amazement; the rest of his party stared in abject awe, for lycanthropy wasn’t known to have a cure, let alone one so dramatic and immediate.

“Breathe,” Sasan instructed the former werewolf. “Breathe, and eat, if your stomach can handle it. Your body will cry out for energy after what it just went through, so feed it all that it demands…” With a wave of his hand, he summoned fresh-smelling bread, a lump of orange cheese, and a pitcher of wine in front of the former werewolf and nodded in assent, silently telling him that all he saw was his. With another wave of his hand, Sasan conjured clothes for the werewolf to wear, for only a few tattered scraps remained of the clothes he’d been wearing before his initial transformation had gone so far.

Without a word, the former werewolf weakly reached out for the food and, after a few tentative bites, began tearing into it with as much gusto as his drained body could manage.

“How…?” Anna exclaimed, speaking for Leon’s entire party. “… How is this possible? This isn’t supposed to be possible!”

Sasan grinned and said, “Everything’s possible. Whatever you can imagine is possible; all you need to bring it about is power.”

[He’s not wrong…] the Thunderbird whispered. [Bit of an ass, but he’s not wrong.]

[How is he an ass?] Leon asked as his eyes wandered the former werewolf’s body, committing the enchantment there to memory.

He heard the Thunderbird click her beak, but it took a couple seconds for her to respond properly.

[He seems like one. What kind of man has this much power and isn’t ruling his lessers? Why is he here at all? Where is his entourage? It is unbecoming of a man of position to go anywhere without warriors willing to kill on his command.]

[Is that your entire gripe? That he’s too strong to be here without an escort? Do you truly think it’s so wrong for a man to go adventuring on his own, especially with this guy’s power?]

[Do you have any idea how much power this ass has?]

[He’s stronger than me, that’s about as much as I can tell. Maybe stronger than Archelaus, too.]

[He’s an Anax, for sure. Fifteenth-tier mage. This man has reached the pinnacle of power in the human world. The number of other humans who are at this man’s level of power in the entire universe is likely to be less than one hundred.]

Leon’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at this revelation. With that context, he had to admit that it was a little weird seeing him just out in the world. However, as his eyes drifted slightly from Sasan to the Stormborn Oak, he supposed that if he were going to stumble across a fifteenth-tier mage, this would be one such place where an encounter would happen.

His eyes returned to Sasan, and he found the man staring back at him, a curious look on his face. “Are you all right, Leon of House Raime?” he asked pleasantly. “You looked a million miles away for a moment…”

With a wave of his hand, Leon replied, “I’m fine. Just lost in thought. What you’ve done is quite remarkable, Sasan.”

“It is nothing, really,” Sasan responded. “I am merely watching out for my fellow man. When a man appears so cursed, his blood so polluted with foul magic, it is not only right but expected of me to restore purity to his body. A man is not a man if he leaves his fellow in such a state.”

Leon nodded, finding the sentiment agreeable.

“Alas,” Sasan continued, “I am too often disappointed in my fellows; they leave such corruptions to fester, so taken are they with petty concerns of power and authority. Though I believe it is the duty of the strong to watch out for his weaker kindred, I must admit that when you arrived with our new friend in tow, I was quite surprised. The compassion you showed for a man you could not in any other way assist is rare to see in the Nexus.”

“It’s understandable, I think,” Leon conceded on behalf of what seemed to be the vast majority of people in the Nexus, whom Sasan was criticizing. “It’s only human nature to look out for themselves first, and the universe can be a harsh place. What is a stranger’s plight if aiding them harms you and your family’s chances of survival?”

“The same might be approached from the opposite angle,” Sasan argued. “What is your plight compared to the prosperity of others? In desperate times, what will a man do if others spurn him? How long will a man remember being turned away when he seeks aid from his neighbors? How long will he remember it if his neighbors aid him in his time of need?”

Leon smiled. “A man will do all he feels he has to do to ensure the lives of him and his, first and foremost. If others turn him away despite having the capacity to help, then he might take drastic actions. Is it really so unbelievable that he will watch out for himself first, and see to others later?”

“If that is the case, then both parties are in the right,” Sasan pointed out. “One for not rendering aid to the desperate, and the other for depraving those who do not aid them. How can both of these things be right? How can either one of them be right?”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to call either one of them ‘right’ in any way,” Leon said. “All I’m saying is that it shouldn’t be surprising when someone doesn’t act ‘neighborly’. This is the norm for mankind. Charity and compassion are reserved for others only when it's affordable.”

Sasan sighed. “Much as I wish it were not so, you speak true. Man is a jealous and greedy beast. But we have the capacity to be better.” He paused a moment and steadied his gaze on Leon. “You sounded as if you were speaking from experience. Please, come and sit with me. You said before that you have not come all this way just to see this tree, magnificent though it may be. I am curious to hear what you are willing to share of your plight.”

“Who’s to say it’s a plight?” Leon asked as Sasan conjured chairs and a table for them, while with a wave of his hand, additional seats were provided for the rest of the party—but farther away, in a silent request for him and Leon to speak alone.

Leon nodded to his party, wordlessly telling them that it was fine to leave him with Sasan. He couldn’t sense anything hostile from the man, though he decided it would be best to be at least a little guarded around him, pleasant though he may seem. After all, he trusted the Thunderbird’s judgment, even if he wasn’t picking up on the same cues about Sasan as she was.

Once they had at least a modicum of privacy, Leon sat with Sasan and explained what he felt he should. He didn’t get too into specifics about where he was from, recalling Ambrose’s warnings about telling people he was from the Divine Graveyard, nor did he get into too many specifics about his claims of descent from the Thunderbird. He merely explained that he and his people were new to the Nexus and were currently facing hardships due to the arrogance of the Ocean Lords.

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When he was done, Sasan appeared both apologetic and downcast. With a great sigh, he said, “There was once a time when mankind was united. When we banded together, cast down the gods of yore, and asserted our place in the universe. We became the new gods. In the end, however, nothing changed. We are still the same base animals that we once were when the boot of the Primal Beings were upon our necks. Though I am in no position to speak for all of the Nexus, Leon of House Raime, I apologize on all of our behalf for the struggles that you have found here. We ought to welcome our brethren from the lower planes, not fight against them. We should strive to raise our weaker kin, not throw them back down.”

“There are many things that we ‘ought’ to do, but don’t,” Leon stated. “It is what it is, I suppose. Nothing to do but deal with it as best as we can.”

“A stoic approach, and not one I particularly agree with,” Sasan replied. “But it’s not one I feel I should argue against right now. So, to move on, should I assume that you have come here to the Stormborn Oak seeking power to aid your city in its current predicament?”

Leon nodded, hoping that Sasan might be willing to help, though he felt rather awkward about asking for anything from the powerful mage.

Apologetically, Sasan said as if able to read Leon’s mind, “I’m afraid that I can’t do anything to help you, as much as I might wish I could. Neither can the Stormborn Oak, I believe, wondrous though it is.”

“How can you be so certain? There’s an incredible amount of power contained in this tree, surely I can use something from it?”

Sasan gently laughed. “It is a confluence of lightning magic, a concentration of such power that I feel it’s strange that it hasn’t shown any signs of intelligence. Tell me, Leon of House Raime, what do you see in the tree? How much of it can you perceive?”

“Please, just ‘Leon’, no need to be so formal,” Leon responded as he concentrated his attention upon the Oak. “You call it a confluence of lightning magic, but it’s clear the tree has more than just that. I can sense darkness and light, too, especially concentrated in the tree’s leaves.”

“Precisely,” Sasan said with a grin. “You see those leaves above us? They are particularly special, you know…”

Leon focused on the leaves. As before, he was struck by the similarity they had with teleportation portals. Black, with a hint of blue, seeming to devour all light shone upon them… With more time to study the tree, he also noticed the light shining from the tree’s bark seemed to shine through the leaves, while the red lightning that struck the highest branches seemed to be feeding power throughout the tree.

“Are these leaves portals?” Leon asked.

“They are!” Sasan exclaimed. “This tree, this miracle beyond anything I could’ve imagined, grows teleportation portals as its leaves! Every leaf at the end of every branch leads to another location in the universe! This one tree could be a hub for travel beyond anything ever devised by mankind! A great misfortune it is that the tree is in so dangerous a place, and its leaves so small, else we might’ve been able to use it for greater purposes…”

Leon stared, awed that his hypothesis was correct. As far as he could tell, the tree was an accident, a result of not only its own strange magic and biology combined with the strange magic of the Redspark Forest. The tree existing anywhere else was unlikely…

‘… but not impossible…’

With the Iron Needle and Tikos’ skills… then he might be able to create something similar…

He’d need years of study, though, and his heart sank at that realization. It seemed that Sasan was right: the Stormborn Oak was unlikely to provide Leon with the power he needed to save Artorion. But that wasn’t to say that there was nothing to learn from it…

Focusing his senses again, Leon tuned himself to the red lightning that arced through the branches and beneath the bark. At first glance, it was utter chaos, the lightning seeing to flow wherever it pleased. But after some time, Leon began to notice some method to the madness, noting how much lightning was flowing first to the roots via the bark, and then back up through the trunk into the spatial leaves. Additional magic was flowing back into the tree through the leaves—additional lightning, if he had to guess.

“Maybe the leaves don’t lead everywhere through the universe?” he speculated aloud. “Maybe the leaves seek out lightning like a normal tree might seek sunlight?”

“Maybe…?” Sasan whispered. “To confess something and correct any potential misconceptions: I am not a lightning mage, Leon. I ask that you do not hold that against me. I consider myself a student of all disciplines, but lightning is an element with which I haven’t as much experience as I would like. Any insight you may give to me would be of immense aid…”

Leon nodded, not bothered by Sasan’s claimed lack of ability. He didn’t have much respect for the rigidity of Khosrow’s Law, and a non-lightning mage being in the Storm Lands was hardly something he was going to get upset about.

“There are rare places in the universe where variants of the powers we wield can be found,” Leon explained, though he doubted Sasan wasn’t familiar with that much already. “It seems to me that this tree might be using its leaves to seek out unique sources of lightning and absorbing it. How and why I’m not sure, but I can certainly sense a lot of strange magic beneath the surface of this tree, and it feels to me like this power comes from multiple kinds of unique lightning.”

Sasan burst out laughing. “I should’ve come here with some lightning mage friends of mine!” he loudly proclaimed. “I have spent weeks here seeking an answer, and here you are, giving me the answer I sought in mere minutes! Doesn’t that just go to show the differences that skill in magic can make?”

Sasan continued laughing seemingly at himself, and Leon refrained from speculating that those other lightning mages might not have been of much help. He thought that the main reasons why he could sense such differences in lightning was not only because of the power he’d inherited from the Thunderbird making differences in lightning a quality of his blood but also because he wielded the Iron Needle, a Universe Fragment that could command seemingly every kind of lightning that could exist.

“Well!” Sasan exclaimed as his laughter died down. “Perhaps there’s a way you may help me, Leon?”

There was a benefit to helping someone so powerful, and while such a sentiment did run through Leon’s head, he was also curious about what the man might want. If he were honest with himself, he might’ve admitted that his curiosity and desire to help someone seeking knowledge outweighed his desire to suck up to this fifteenth-tier mage.

“What do you need?” Leon asked. “Nothing too onerous, I hope? I have a time limit to return home by, I would remind you.”

“It’s a small thing,” Sasan said. “Most of the work I’ve done ought to accomplish all of what I need, anyway. I’m just missing a crucial piece that you may be able to help me with. I need you to blast this tree with lightning in a certain way, to aid this confluence in forming something new…”

“Could you show me the enchantment that you’re using?” Leon asked, automatically resorting to stalling for time while he thought through this particular problem. He wanted to help Sasan without reservation, but he had reservations; he didn’t want to immediately reveal some of his cards, such as his silver-blue lightning or the Iron Needle. He didn’t want to hide who he was, but before such a powerful mage, agreeable though he may be, he still wanted to keep his cards a little closer to his chest than he might with other people.

After a moment’s thought, Sasan said, “There are some dangerous elements of this enchantment of mine that I do not wish leaked. But most of it should be fine, so… sure, I will show you what I can.”

Leon nodded gratefully as Sasan summoned several large sheets of paper onto the table. Leon immediately began pouring over them, noting that they were general plans and diagrams of the enchantment in question, stretching over the entire clearing in which the Stormborn Oak grew. Roots were mapped out, and additional petrified trees were scattered about, if what he was reading was right—something which he easily confirmed with a pulse of magic senses.

The specific purpose of the enchantment was hard to figure out, though. The ‘sensitive’ parts were missing, but from what Leon could tell, Sasan wanted the power of the tree to concentrate for… some purpose.

Leon’s quick understanding of the enchantment stemmed largely from his experience in creating thunder wood—the magic he used to create the material was surprisingly similar, though hardly identical, to what Sasan had devised here.

“It may require a bit of tailoring…” Leon murmured as he retrieved from his soul realm a large sheet of spell paper, “but I often use something that may help with this in creating a material I call ‘thunder wood’…”

Making thunder wood with the Iron Needle was fairly easy and how he usually went about it, he, Tikos, the Raven Tribe, Helen, and Nestor had long since pooled their knowledge to create enchantments that anyone could use to make thunder wood. Such was necessary for truly large-scale creation of the material to occur without Leon’s input.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Leon, with some input from Sasan further explaining the mechanics of his enchantment and what it was designed to do without being too specific, quickly threw together a slightly modified spell that would summon the purple lightning that would, under more controlled circumstances and with Tikos’ help, create thunder wood. He wasn’t worried about harming the Stormborn Oak since the tree was strong and he wasn’t planning on using too much power with this spell, but it was at least a place to start with Sasan’s mysterious purpose.

Once it was finished, he grinned at Sasan. “Now… let’s see what happens with this, shall we?”

“Let’s,” Sasan said with a matching grin, their magical curiosity shared.

Together, they rose from their seats, faced the Stormborn Oak, and made their final preparations to hit it with purple lightning and see what happened…