03 Atavism of the Ifrit Page 23

  Greetings were exchanged and those already unable to fly were told to climb up on the two gray ones brought. Vitalli, Ellen, Panther, Kyoko and Dallare climbed one while Blake, Reevy, Magnus, Nell, Kira and Baldr took the other.

  This time they flew over Africa.

  While gliding over the Sahara and looking at distant mountains Methrom had made into a Dragon nesting colony, Floa let known Merlin and his team of Wizards working alongside Kyoko’s Shaman had thus far failed recreating the masking spell on metal that hides a Pixie’s scent from demonic bugs, but weren’t giving up. Apparently they had made molds of hers and casted molten metal. The thing is, making an identical mold isn’t the same as crafting a spell. Sure it would look the same, but without focusing energy to a finger or fist, the item would be just a meaningless trinket. Metal, nothing more. Spells would sink into material, imbuing molded energy to a specific meaning.

  Harder still, mixing Demon and Spirit Energy. It had never been done before Ethan and he said so. Floa though explained Princess Chille, her sisters and queen mother request he make as many as possible and would be greatly compensated for his time. With a shrug he said “Sure.”

  Deserts, plains and forests passed beneath Ethan as he enjoyed flying. The freedom and majestic beauty it offered made it worth everything. He saw lions lounging in the shade. A cheetah chase down a gazelle. It missed, but was beautiful in action. Most flown over was uninhabited land which was perfect for Ethan. He wanted to see wild Africa and Methrom delivered.

  After flying over the plains of Africa, that night while Kyoko and Kanade were again busy, Ethan worked outside on the beach at the table, on blank discs the size of a quarter all made from platinum. Floa personally brought the hefty bag of coins straight from Princess Chille’s vault. He understood platinum. Pixies were magpies for sparkly objects and platinum was near mirror quality.

  Luckily the spell was simple and required relatively little energy. The upper spells would have been impossible to do. There were thousands of coins and as he worked Floa brought out a team headset. It was just a single clear lens over one eye held up by a thin bar connected to an earpiece. Only it had many features. She asked “May I record your process? The leaders want to see how you do it and Merlin said it would help greatly.”

  “Be my guest.” He allowed while gently using a pinky to bring one piece closer from the pile. Floa jumped right on the table and sat cross-legged before him. The camera was no larger than a pinhead, but recorded everything as soon as he created a silver fireball for light above them. He could see perfectly in the dark, but firelight was clearer than the camera switching to night-vision and everything going green. His fist turned purple and needle thin lines of violet light were left behind in the fist’s passing, swirling and angling a complex pattern that went unbroken. At its completion his glowing fist opened to a glowing palm and gently slapped the magic like one would hit a big red emergency stop button. It shrunk down as it melted into the coin. Ethan knew the recording also caught timing and energy output. On the next coin she switched to a thermal view. The next was x-ray and so on. She recorded every process capable within Tattoo’s invention.

  By the time Kanade finished working with Kyoko and let her sleep, Ethan finished working. Floa was ecstatic as she scooped the bag and went home with the good news and the process of its creation.

  For the first time in almost a week, Ethan and Kanade both were drained enough to sleep and got a full night. Before that though he touched her sealing amulet and his own to make the world safe from them for yet another day.

  Days passed in a blur of amazing scenery and wonderful company. After Methrom came Gaia who introduced Ethan to Cultivated Humans. Interestingly though they looked like seaweed wrapped mummies sprouting from the ground. The mature ones walked around mindlessly moaning with a vine-like cord attached to their lower backs that rooted them to one place. He learned that it was like an umbilical cord. One day the cord will dry out and the Cultivated Human would attack anything and anyone unless eaten first. She allowed him to pick one that recently got free, but was captured quickly by a Goblin. He happily partook after discovering it didn’t have a brain. It was after all a plant. He set it on fire and cooked it to find out it was delicious. Better than Kobe Beef, but he didn’t tell Kyoko who dined on a foot she had him roast to well done perfection. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Kanade tried a thigh and held a femur like it were ham still on the bone. The rest went down his throat.

  Gaia showed off her territory happily. Carrying most everyone aside from Kanade and Ethan. They could keep up with her long strides. She showed off her mountain home. A mountain of course, but it was quite modern and lined with veins of silver and gold. Gaia was clearly the most wealthy of the Lords. Ethan even got to meet the cursed Atlas who held up the entirety of Mount Olympus. The veil hid the gap between ground and mountain with him standing tall in the center. Like Gaia, he was a Titan, had four arms and bronze skin. But he was huge and had not an ounce of fat holding the whole mountain up. Four arms were in use at all times, but rather than a struggling, straining face. He seemed serene. And eager. Especially to meet Ethan. He also greeted Blake and Reevy as old friends. Atlas had turned to Order and Gaia punished him to hold up the mountain for a rather long time. Once it was up, he could join Order, not before. If he set it down for one moment, he had to either return or start over from the beginning.

  On day sixteen they were led around by Sarimee who showed off the most interesting places of South America. The Amazon, going carnival dancing in Brazil… all of it. Sarimee let loose once she was in her own territory. She was a party animal. Her nine tails dancing and powerful illusions made for one crazy party after another. The only one to never party was Panther. The team split guard duty and never over indulged to compromise themselves if threatened. The only one to get close to drunk was Baldr, but oddly enough he apologized to Kyoko for being an ass. He still didn’t like her and likely never would, but he forgave her.

  She accepted.

  Then seven days before departure was day two of Dileep’s turn to show off North America’s prime sites. The day before was a visit to the Grand Canyon and a wish was granted. He and Kanade raced through the narrow passes at breakneck speeds. Some corners were too tight, but unlike an airplane, wings were better for maneuvering. Both of them acrobatically did flips around blind corners and planted their feet on a canyon wall to redirect momentum. The winner was Kanade only because she had more flight experience. Bets were placed and Floa cleaned house. Most were on Ethan as his size and wingspan made him stronger and faster, but Kanade was nimble and flexible. Corners she excelled at.

  But that was yesterday. Unlike the days of fun and excitement. Another kind of excitement decided to show up when Ethan, Kanade and Kyoko - who began also stripping power - were weakened considerably. An excitement of the murderous variety.

  Realization came about power shedding that with its loss it also diminished heightened brainpower. At the beginning trillions of thoughts passed at any given moment and were gone just as fast. A week before leaving Earth for good had dropped thoughts down to less than a thousand. Silvery-white sparks around his horns still swirled, but about ten or so sparks lived compared to more than a hundred. Physical strength diminished as well, which was good, but Ethan could still lift a power pole right out of the ground and twirl it like a quarterstaff. The main five senses, Sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste though were retained and as acute as ever. Flying was still effortless, but unlimited stamina was gone five days ago. Limits had returned along with sleeping longer and every other night.

  Unfortunately the planet’s protection didn’t let up. It still saw him as a threat and the pressure made it harder and harder to breathe. It felt like a pound of weight was daily added though it actually remained constantly poisoning. Growing weaker simply expedited the process. Normal activities could be completed, but the days ahead would become exponentially more difficult.

  Despite this th
ey and the team met Dileep right outside Belvedere Castle in Central Park, in the heart of New York City. Their group stood almost at the edge of Turtle Pond, an algae infested water. Floa’s Translocation near got Kira’s feet wet if not for Magnus’ quick reflexes at her elbow. Through the trees Ethan spotted the outdoor theatre to the right of the castle. North of their position in the early dawn were six baseball fields. Then he sniffed.

  First words out of Ethan’s mouth was “Holy hell!” and he pinched his nose closed. Eyes watered.

  “What’s up, Big Man?” Baldr asked with a hand on his blade.

  “Oh, it reeks!” his pensive expression of disgust was all too clear.

  “I love it.” Nell took a deep breath of air.

  “Plant.” He grumbled.

  “Animal.” She snorted, flipping her long green hair.

  Kanade too kept her nose closed as her sense of smell was nearly as acute.

  “I knew New York smelled bad, but I never realized just how polluted the air is. Yuck.” He fought a real need to gag.

  Blake said “I tried to warn you that this time of year would be bad. Be grateful it isn’t summer and we aren’t in Hell’s Kitchen or in Lower Manhattan when the sewers back up. It’d be worse if we didn’t choose to stay in Central Park for a few hours.”

  “Yikes. The last time I was here I was with my mom.” He said to take his mind off how keen his senses were and all the smells of exhaust, sewage and industry clogging their way in his nasal passages. “She drove her chair down this very path.” He said by planting a cloven hoof on the concrete. It was her last vacation before the car accident.” He told.

  “So where’s Dileep?” Floa chimed on Kanade’s shoulder.

  “Right here.”

  At the sound of the Kelpie’s whinny they all turned to Turtle Pond to find him coming out. Pond scum and algae clung to his black coat and off one fang. He wasn’t alone. Four smaller Kelpie, one Shaman Lamia and six Sirens followed their master. The eleven extracted themselves and the half naked Sirens pulled out brushes to wipe off the debris clinging to the bodies of the aquatic equestrians. Dileep, largest of them all by far, waited a minute while three minions cleaned him of most of the filth. Afterwards he came forward and did a horse’s version of a bow before Ethan. “Greeting’s, Young Master.” He rose. “We waited for your arrival. How long will we stay here before I can continue leading to the best places?”

  “Not too long. I just wanted one good round of this place to remind me of my time with my mom. But I need to ask. How can you have breathed that water when I can’t stand the air?”

  A horse-like shrug came as he said “I’ve swam worse.” A large head turned to the minions. “Surround us and we may begin.”

  Joggers skirted around the bulk and both Sirens and Kelpie took deep feeding breaths of the passerby’s. Adults seemed more agitated afterwards and once a Siren fed off a baby being pushed in a stroller by a young jogging mother. Ethan reacted without thinking and backhanded the Siren in the chest and sent him flying into a tree just a second before crumpling on the ground. Mother and child were oblivious and to her looked like a man throwing a dog a Frisbee. Ethan warned once after stomping over that feeding on babies under a year was against the rules as it effected development. Doing so again would be signing his own death warrant. It laid there in pain and was left behind as Ethan broke it’s sternum and several ribs.

  Dileep’s red eyes didn’t show pity to his minion or anger to his superior though he had power enough to tear his throat out. Not only didn’t Dileep want to, but couldn’t with the Balam general on constant alert.

  Soon the round through Central Park came to an end and Dileep told Floa their next destination. They all Translocated to a ranch in Nebraska. Near as far as the eye could see were plains and hills with trees popping up randomly. Dileep said “This is the heart of my territory and…”

  “GET DOWN!” Ethan roared the moment he got centered and noticed something big and bright incoming from the east, using the rising sun as cover. Bright light didn’t hurt his vision anymore.

  Everyone reacted the same. They all ducked as his wings spread and he jumped straight for it. His left arm came around and the forearm shield came front and center not two seconds before the object exploded.

  Ethan’s senses came to understand that the power of the spell was mixed by multiple spell casters and would have killed them all had spells he made soon after Transcending not been in place. His armor took the brunt of the ball of orange magic twice his own size. Dampening spells activated in his left arm sleeve, limiting the sound of the explosion.

  It was a combination spell and after the detonation it turned into fire.

  Feet below Kanade spread her wings and gathered Kyoko, Dallare, the Sirens and demons under her like a mother hen covering its chicks and yelled in the ancient Spirit Guide language “Presmanthmmuim!” Which meant ‘Surrounding sphere.’ Her own Transcendent spell within the gold and tear-pearl necklace flared and everything within the range of her wingspan was captured in a blue bubble of magic. Only when the firestorm hit, they were all too spread out and her spell didn’t reach everyone.

  Baldr began to whistle a merry tune as soon as he felt his bloodlust rising and drew both blade and shield. Using the flat of his double edged sword he muscled Kira and Nell in a fluid move which got them standing on either side as he too lifted his polished shield, said the simple phrase “Block the flood!” and spells of protection surrounded the three of them.

  Blake threw himself over Reevy and Vitalli knocked Ellen over to cover her with his body too.

  Magnus jumped in front of Dileep just as Panther’s claws sprung out fully.

  Then the fire swept through them all. Ethan’s spells imbued within leather worn by the team all activated and flashed bright in response to a threat. Air was trapped around close to their bodies as the fire quickly ate it from the surrounding area like a vacuum. But the spell wasn’t done yet as the enemy fire turned to lightning. Lightning focused by magic that aimed at living bodies and spells.

  In the absence of a vacuum, once the spells ended in an instant the air for over a mile away rushed back as physics dictated and would have compressed them all with the force of being crushed deep within the ocean, dropping ten thousand feet in less than a second. It boomed and shook the ground. It took several seconds to equalize the atmosphere from the devastating attack.

  Only thing was, being Transcendent who made spells didn’t mean one had to be strong enough to use them. The automatic spells Ethan created had enough power to survive the attack a billion times over. Plus his team all wore his unique automatic spells and were unharmed.

  “Is everyone alright?!” He roared with anger and worry as his mind shut down to a single minded focus. Pain, emotion. It flew right out the window as he took control and made priorities. For the first time in weeks his rage burned through his veins rather than fun. Most stared at him in shock. Unmarked and unharmed after that level of attack. Then to the ground charred and blackened all around them. It wasn’t a perfect circle around the group, no more than sixty feet around them all was unscathed, but compared to over a mile in any direction of charred plains, it was. The pressure-wave of returning air snuffed out any lingering fire through the grass and trees.

  Ethan’s mind calculated that had he not acted the moment he felt the slight tingle associated with energy and took the brunt, at minimum… ten miles in any direction would have been immolated just to reach a target by the three stage mystical bomb. It was too quick to control the fire of stage two. It lasted less than two seconds. Too fast at his current mental speed’s reaction to surprise. Had he known beforehand he could have drew it all in safely and nothing dangerous could have been harmed.

  Not seeing any bleeding ears from burst eardrums or ash streaks marring skin and movement from everyone spoke his spells had undoubtedly saved them all.

  Baldr lowered his shield to show Nell already notched an arrow to her Dragon’s horn bo
w while Kira’s finger traced frantically, but smoothly from years of practice. Offensive spells came alive with hundreds of blue needles around her wrist and three glowing marbles, but were actually mini-bombs imbued with a nasty curse that caused brain hemorrhaging to anyone caught in the area of effect which was five feet wide. Blake and Vitalli got off their respective wives and both Panther and Magnus stepped away from Dileep. Kanade kept her translucent blue shield up and wing’s spread.

  But before Ethan got his answer he watched an angry Balam draws his arms back with fully extended claws over twenty inches long, facing Dileep. He yowled, glowing blue eyes burning with hatred. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you for this trap.”

  The Kelpie froze with fear. He stammered, unable to coherently respond.

  “Panther, stand down! He’s still loyal. His light remains true to me.” Growled Ethan like an angry avalanche. He didn’t wait to see if his protector obeyed as he spun back around and leapt three stories straight up and flapped his wings, catlike eyes narrowing easterly. Following the flight path the bomb came from he looked past the damaged land and further out on the plains to roar. “Panther! Twelve miles that way!” a finger pointed. “Hurry! I want them alive!”

  Panther sucked in his claws as he bent over and used his inhumanly long arms to run on all fours. Grass, ash and dirt flew behind as he got traction and sped across the land faster than the eye could follow. The only sign of his movement was sudden and deep scars in the ground that seemed to have appeared all at the same time, going in the same direction. In a moment he ran past the damaged land and on lush plains. Soon after he caught the scent of prey and spotted a group of ten covered head to toe in disguise and as he went to engage the enemy, the shortest one of them made a motion and they disappeared not a moment too soon as his hand was but a foot away from one.