Magical Mayhem

By: Person42

Magic, the mysterious energy. Many studied it, but nobody understands. In a magical society, a man has mysterious dreams. Could they mean something more than they appear?

MAGICAL MAYHEM

1. Introduction

2. Chapters

1. Chapter 1

2. Chapter 2

3. Chapter 3

4. Chapter 4

5. Chapter 5

6. Chapter 5.5; Rirnk's Origins

7. Chapter 6

8. Chapter 7

9. Chapter 8

10. Chapter 8.5; Wtherm

11. Chapter 9

12. Chapter 10

13. Chapter 10.5; Mren

14. Chapter 11

15. Chapter 12

16. Chapter 13

17. Chapter 14

18. Chapter 15

19. Chapter 15.5; Discovery

20. Chapter 16

21. Chapter 17

22. Chapter 18

23. Chapter 19

24. Chapter 20

25. Chapter 20.5; Byul

26. Chapter 21

27. Chapter 22

28. Chapter 23

29. Chapter 24

30. Chapter 25

31. Chapter 26

32. Epilogue

GUIDE

1. Table of Contents

2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Silence, beautiful silence. It was a crisp night in Snow Season in the Capital as she sat there.

Focused, silent. Hidden.

She stood up, disappearing and reappearing in another place. There.

A pompous man shook, laughing. The life of the party. She pulled up her hood with a smirk.

He wore brightly colored clothes, and was loved by everyone. The type of guy who you couldn't help but smile about. Friends with everyone.

She fell from the ceiling, plunging the dagger straight through his ribs.

A single, solitary scream and she disappeared.

Night well spent.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

He awoke with a scream, his mystic alarm blaring and zooming throughout the room. Why had he been plagued with nightmares of murder? He'd seen a mystic, who was also confused. They weren't magic induced, or if they were it was one of the schools that hadn't been fully understood.

"Vent! Ge' down 'ere!"

Vent sighed and waved his hand, the magic alarm recognizing the pattern and falling back into position. He shuddered as a breeze went through the room, his mother's doing.

His mastery was Wind. Always was, always will be. Why was he having advanced magic dreams? He couldn't even begin to understand the logistics of cutting a wormhole seamlessly through space and time required to teleport!

Vent walked downstairs, to his mother. Wind, a prestigious name for those mastering in the Wind school, smiled. " 'Bout time ya got here. Breakfast's gettin' cold."

Vent's brother Window walked in, a slight breeze accompanying him. He sat down gracefully and dug into his mana-infused pancakes.

Window was new at magic, and just coming into the full range of his wind power. He couldn't control his power very well yet, though, and needed mana supplements.

Vent was hoping to get ahead today, maybe even get a new name. He practiced and practiced, and believed he was able to do it, get further along in his schooling and acquire the name of "Breeze" like his father.

Names were given as ranks for your specialty. It helped identify who needs help within schooling, and gave everyone a way to figure out who not to mess with. High ranking names, like Vent's mother "Wind" were typically Commanders, Generals, and other extremely high positions when it came to war.

Breeze was only two ranks away from Wind. However, it got harder and harder to go up from Vent on, simply because of how difficult spells were at the high level.

Which made Vent's dreams even weirder. The dreams he was experiencing had to be of a woman of unmatched skill. With power like that, she could likely use spells of many simpler schools, like Wind or Earth.

Teleportation, true teleportation, was a gift used solely by those ranking Emperor, High Queen, or even the legendary God status. It required a mastery of the two hardest schools, Time and Space.

"I'm gunna head out, Ma," Vent said, standing and cracking his back. "Gunna do mah best with a travelin' spell to get there, and I'll prolly crash a cupla times."

Wind smiled at her son, nodding. Vent walked out of the house and into the windstream generated by his mother, taken down to ground level.

Wind school people all lived up in the clouds. It was easy to access, for them, and great anti-burglary since only people who were allowed could travel in private windstreams. Vent had to become friends with someone to visit their house, and even then it had to be with permission each time. No spontaneously showing up until they were, like, best friends.

He landed on the ground and took a look around at the shabby neighborhood Earth school folk lived in. The exteriors of their houses stuck out of the ground in unholy ways and decimated the view that the Wind school had. Earth school people tended to group together, and were fiercely protective of their own.

Vent cocked his head, hearing his neck crack. Here goes nothing, he thought.

He focused on the air around him, connecting to it. He made a few complex motions and the wind picked him up, lifting him a few feet in the air. Vent smiled and looked around, his hands at his sides. He lifted his right arm, designating it as his steering arm, and held his shoulder with his left arm, moving his elbow to control the wind for balance purposes.

He took a practice loop around the neighborhood before one of his friends, Mole, came out from his house and lifted the ground beneath him.

Earth was a difficult school to master for one reason only: Rocks were not very consistent. To do advanced spells, one had to take into account potentially hundreds of different sizes, shapes, weights, densities, and auras that gave Vent a headache to even think about. Mole did it naturally, like his whole family.

" 'Ey, Vent! Goin' for Breeze today?"

"Ya betcha I am!"

Mole smirked and let the ground beneath him drop except for the top, lightest layer of earth, a moderate level wind spell holding it up. The combination spell he used was surprisingly advanced, though Mole made it look easy.

Mole was somewhat of a genius when it came to magic. Everything else, though, he had major problems with. Math was impossible unless related to one of the fundamental magical laws, and science? If it didn't directly incorporate into magic, he couldn't explain what gravity even was.

They sat there, waiting for a while before a column of smoke shot past before turning around and stabilizing on the ground.

"Livin' up tah yur name, dere?" Vent called, smirking.

Smoke walked out, dusting himself off. "Are you?"

Arguably the smartest of the trio when it didn't come to magic, Smoke's mastery was fire. He was more intent on the more difficult part of fire, that is sustaining and controlling its shape, and had potential to change his mastery to something more difficult, something Vent didn't.

Mole, on the other hand, was one of the rare few who had the potential to take up two or three masteries, and even earn a full name. He envisioned himself, in the future, as "Plate Wood Metal" for Supreme Mastery of Earth school, then mastery of Wood and Metal schools.

Supreme mastery was difficult to achieve, even by a natural standpoint. People would spend their whole lives working towards it, like Vent's mother, but may not achieve it. Every school had a mastery, gifting the names of the school to its student, but there was a Supreme Mastery too, a name signifying raw power. The name Tornado, for instance, was the Supreme Mastery of Wind school, and a Tornado could destroy a moderate sized town with normal resistance forces.

Smoke vanished into puffs of smoke and swirled around, trapping himself in Vent's stream. The three of them all enjoyed using Wind school for travel, as many did, though Mole could have probably just taken all of them using the expressway of underground where there were no traffic laws.

The sky was oddly unpopulated that day, though, and Vent laughed to himself at how ridiculously easy it was to learn this new spell. All he had to do was-

Vent hit a wall of solid ice, breaking it and sending him, Smoke, and a mousy looking girl tumbling to the ground. Vent hit something soft, most likely courtesy of Mole, and looked up.

The girl was already up and standing, and Smoke was already back in the air. Then again, Smoke likely didn't even bother solidifying, so he couldn't have gotten hurt.

"S-sorry dere..."

"Rink."

"Gods. I hit a Rink? Mren damn me. Oop, pardon mah language."

Rink giggled, helping Vent up. "And you are?"

"Name's Vent, but prolly only for a lil' while longer. Goin' for Breeze today."

"Well, nice to meet you Breeze."

Rink. Gods, Rink. Rink was one step below Ice, and Vent had heard about this girl. A prodigy, probably would be able to go for Glacier, the Supreme Mastery.

Vent waved off his friends, smiling at Rink. "Well, s'always nice to meet a new friend. Whatchu up tah today?"

Rink smiled sweetly, giggling. "Oh, nothing interesting. Nice accent, lower cloud district?"

Vent nodded, blushing. Despite his mother being Wind ranked, and his father Breeze, Vent and Window had always grown up with a Byullian accent, the accent of the magic-hating kingdom of Byul. It had spread across the lower cloud district due to his mother's rank and status within the city, and Vent had never noticed it until being sent to University.

Vent rubbed his chest, wincing. "Man, yur ice is hard. Nice job."

Rink blushed and thanked him, lifting them both up onto an ice platform that reached the ground. "Thanks fo' dis," Vent said, motioning. The air was, surprisingly, not chilled as most Ice school folks tended to have it.

"Not a problem! I should have been watching out..."

"Nah! T'was mah fault, I had a passenger."

Vent coughed, trying to get rid of his accent. He could do it, he just didn't like to. But once it was gone, it would stay gone until he intentionally let it slip back, or times of stress.

"Well, if you'll take the blame..." Rink said, giggling.

"You're good with magic, right?"

Rink blinked at his change in accent and smiled, nodding. "Yeah, I am."

"I have a... problem."

Rink nodded slowly, making a complicated motion with her hands before the ice lurched and crumbled, leaving them on a thin piece that began moving towards the university.

"What about?"

"Dreams," Vent said, blushing. "I can't figure them out, but they're recurring."

"Again, what about?"

"Well... take a look." Vent sat down, closing his eyes and letting his head tip forward. Rink looked towards him and placed a freezing cold hand on his head. Oh, how he hated Ice masters.

Rink screamed, the ice dropping from the sky. She was clutching her head, staring at Vent as they stopped, caught by a sudden blast of wind, created by Vent.

"What the Mren was that!?"

Vent blinked, looking at Rink. "I honestly don't know, what happened?"

"T-there was some kind of... defense. Something extremely complicated when I tried to tap into your deep brain, your magic center. Something... powerful. I have Master rank defenses, and those were swatted away like new ones!"

"Mren..."

Vent was dumbfounded. "The dreams. It must be the dreams," he said after a pause. They were almost to university, so Vent apologized to Rink.

"No problem, no problem. Actually, hey, mind if I go on over to your place after this? I'm probably going to Master Ice today, so maybe I can bring it up with the SM and see if I can get a spell to do a bit more."

"S-sure, no problem!"

A girl? In Vent's house? Oh, his mother was going to have a field day with that...

Rink smiled sweetly and jumped off, landing on ice that sank down and took away the shock from the landing. She ran off, on ice that was made and disappeared with her movement, to her respective class.

Vent sighed, heading upwards and through the large window that served as a door to his own mastery class.

Chapter 2

"Vent! About time you got here! We're ready for your test!" Tornado called, smirking.

Oh, Mren, Tornado was there, Vent thought, paling. He had had a bad run-in with Tornado in the past, involving a column of dirt and smoke magically appearing at the back of his head, heading towards him at around terminal velocity.

A healer, that is a Biological school Master, had to step in to save him because he was such a high rank.

Tornado personally oversaw most of Vent's rank ups nowadays.

Vent gulped, nodding. "Ran into someone on the way, my apologies."

Tornado waved it away with a fake smile, which quickly turned into a rather evil-looking one.

"Not a problem, let's begin."

The room darkened and the wind picked up. Tornado's orders were simple, "Defend."

Vent pulled up a shield quickly, his arms crossed halfway between his elbows and his wrists before him, wind diverting the opposing wind away from him. Flame rushed towards him, only to be stopped by his shield.

"Acceptable. Next, attack."

Tornado made a simple motion and Vent could feel a shield, Breeze-level, appear around him.

Vent focused all his energy onto a small space, holding his arms behind his back. He brought them over his head and down to his hips, and felt his magic respond.

The wind picked up and hammered down upon Tornado, piercing his Breeze-level shield but not the hidden one he had. Tornado nodded.

"Acceptable. Next, solve."

The room went pitch black as Light school was manipulated around him. He tentatively reached out and felt Wind Monsters attack, eating his mana. He winced and pulled back on his magic. Okay, so it was this kind of maze.

He blindly walked left, where he didn't sense a monster. He pushed out violently with his magic, and the monsters toppled.

"Acceptable. Last, your other school of magic demonstration."

Oh, Mren, Vent thought. He didn't actually study for this part. He bit his lip before thinking back a few minutes. "Invade my mind."

Tornado smirked and walked over, placing his hand on Vent's head. Vent felt a tingle as his resistance was wiped away.

"Fai-"

Tornado screamed, being thrown against the wall. Vent could hear something break from a few feet away, and Tornado fell to the ground.

"What in Mren was that!? Argh!"

Tornado coughed up a bit of blood before chuckling, looking at Vent.

"Breeze be damned, I'm promoting you directly to Gust."

Vent... Gust sat there, shocked. A double promotion?! Unheard of! At this level? What spell was that?

"What was that, Gust?" Tornado asked, coughing up a bit more blood. "It swatted away my Supreme shield like it was Paper school!"

Paper school, surprisingly adaptive, but had the absolute worst defenses of every school ever. Of all time. And that had been checked by mystics.

The mystics were rare, Supreme Masters who gave up their careers to study anomalies to better understand magic and potentially become God ranked. Most failed.

"Just a shield, Sir," Gust replied, smiling coyly. He'd done it by sheer luck. He guessed it was a good thing he hit Rink's ice wall earlier.

Tornado stood up and walked to the window-door, pausing. "I'm bringing that spell up with the others. Gust.... good job, and congrats. You deserve it."

Gust stood there, flabbergasted. Tornado? Sincerely congratulating him? What in Mren was that spell? God level, at least.

Holy Mren maybe he had the ability to go God ranked.

Gust shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking like that. He should be learning Gust-level spells. He walked over to the Gust stream, now allowed to go through it to the library.

He walked in, being thrown around the jet stream. It was uncomfortable to the inexperienced and non-wind users, but it was a comfortable, mana-refilling ride for Gust.

He landed, barely making a sound. Gust sighed. In his dreams, the woman never made a sound when she didn't want.

That woman, who was she? Was she going to kill him? Or... Gust gulped, train him? Abduct him and force him to kill? Use him as bait?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had a whole level of spells to catch up on.

Needless to say, he spent an hour simply searching for the correct books to check out. So many spells, so many new concepts to master, to learn...

Gust groaned. He hated at-home studying.

He picked his tower of books up using a moderate spell, ensuring it wouldn't all fall to the floor and explode or some other magical trap some student had doubtlessly put on the books as part of a dare.

Gust hated public schooling. It was half the reason he wanted to head to the Masters section, only a level away now!

Still, there were so many spells to learn...

Gust arrived back in the classroom, and started fingering through the books, looking through the key to learning it all quickly. There had to be one, every level had it. It got increasingly hard to decipher and figure out what it was.

But Breeze and Gust level spells were completely different things. "Ah, Gah damn it."

Gust sighed, looking through Breeze one last time, eyes widening. There! Every spell, to the very last one, had one thing in common, only four of the five fingers actually used the magic!

This breakthrough put a whole new spin on Breeze spells, and he started... well, understanding would be going too far, but they were certainly starting to make a lot of sense. He mumbled some things and waved his hand, his thumb retracted, and the books flipped to the Gust section.

Success. Now he only had to memorize the spells and then focus on Gust.

So he looked through Gust spells, looking specifically for subtle things in every spell. When the bell rang, signifying the end of Mastery class, and everyone packed up their stuff. Gust groaned, realizing just how many books he had to expend mana carrying around.

His next class was Mathematics In Magic. Gust smirked, strutting in confidently.

"Vent, you're late!" the teacher remarked, glaring.

"It's Gust, now. Had tah go by dah office to check out dese books."

"Gust?" the teacher, Mrs. Wood, said. One of the handful of Supremes in the university, she was eminently qualified to deal out punishments to those disrespecting her, and any and all other teachers.

She was ruthless to troublemakers, but a wonderful teacher to everyone else. Gust, luckily, was one of the "everyone else" group.

"Yeah, Tornado tested me."

"TWO levels?"

"Just you try to breach my mental defenses."

Gust smiled sweetly and sat down. Mrs. Wood sighed and grinned. "Oh, well I'll see how wrong Tornado was..."

"Careful, it'll hurt."

Mrs. Wood laughed, and tapped Gust's head, sending a tentative probe out to see what all the fuss was about.

Gust grinned, relaxing, and felt something entering his mind, going deeper, about to touch his magic...

"WHOA! Okay, now I see why you were promoted twice. What kind of barrier is that? I've never felt anything like it."

"It's, uh, a secret. Don't want anyone finding out the spell just to find a weak spot I missed and get in like it isn't there," Gust replied, thinking on the spot. He didn't really know what type of magic it was, just that it was there, protecting him. A gift from his mother, perhaps?

He'd ask later, until then he had to learn about the complexities of math in magic and why it made every spell ever so much more powerful. Throw a few numbers into a spell, maybe even an equation, and watch it get exponentially stronger than advertised. Suddenly that novice spell you memorized needlessly becomes your favorite spell to confuse the Mren out of your opponent.

Gust's next class, since mathematics was a breeze (pun intended, Gust thought, smirking) that passed by quickly, was the History of Magicka.

Commonly known as "Mren damn it all, I have to go to HoM."

Age was the teacher for HoM. One level away from a Mastery in History of Magicka, and rumored to be close, Age took his work seriously, rather unlike everyone else who thought it was a joke.

HoM itself was barely considered a School of Magic, it's main reason for existing being teaching others what not to do in their own masteries.

"Fifteenth year of the sixth age," Age began, smiling.

It was the Tenth Age now, and Gust inwardly groaned. He was the same level as Age, why did he have to sit here learning about something he didn't care about?

Then again, there was a Master in this class, Metal. Guy was a creep, always wore some form of armor, "expecting an attack" at all hours of the day. But hey, he worked miracles with metal.

Different Ages began as certain major historical events took place. The First Age, as they called all time before the invention of writing and storing information, lasted roughly four thousand years of humanoid existence. Storing information for later use marked the entrance of the Second Age, and so on.

Age was going on about some legend, a hero of a grand caliber that would probably be ranked Supreme by the modern ranking system that marked the beginning of the Seventh Age.

Gust looked around the class and saw a fellow student, smirking. He recognized her, a Sound student. Her name was... Chirp. Yeah, that sounded right.

Chirp stretched, her hands making the tell-tale motion of a spell being cast. She sat her head on the desk and smiled, closing her eyes.

An alarm, she set an alarm. Lucky girl, Gust thought.

Why did Gust choose Wind as his mastery? Because his mother and father did? Other things would have been more helpful, like Sound for instance. He'd love to sleep through his classes for credit to show how good his alarm systems were.

He set up a rudimentary alarm system that would probably end up waking them all, a strong breeze (since Gust was typically a heavy sleeper and cooling the wind was a Gust level spell he hadn't quite figured out) to shake him and probably the rest of the class, awake.

Age, somehow, never seemed to know, or at least let on that he did, as his entire class slept through HoM.

Gust was indeed awoken as he was blown out of his chair. Oh, right, don't add a six in the equation, just a four. A number of students were laughing at the few closest to the origin, that being Gust, who were all blown out of their seats.

As the alarm bell rang, class quite literally ran or flew out of the room, only a few students deeming Age cool enough today to say goodbye to. Gust, as an apology of sorts, decided to do the same.

"See ya, Age."

"Bye bye, Vent."

"It's, uh, Gust now. Tornado tested me earlia."

"Oh, well congratsulations," Age said with a smile, mocking his accent. "You'll never make it to Wind."

Gust laughed, and Age winked. "Just 'cuz you cain't hit History don't mean I cain't hit Wind!"

Gust walked out of the class with a smirk, drawing a few incredulous stares. Aw, Mren, he thought, now rumors would start that he liked HoM.

His final class of the day, approached. This class was special, that being it changed daily depending on who felt like showing up and teaching it. Gust walked in and smiled, seeing who it was.

"Oh, ya a teacha now, Mole?"

Chapter 3

Mole grinned, nodding. "Mren yeah I do. How ya doin'... Breeze?"

"Gust."

Mole laughed, walking over and patting Gust on the back twice, rather hard. "Dude, good job!"

Gust chuckled, taking his seat, waiting patiently for everyone to walk in.

The bell rang and one person was right outside the door. He sprinted in, his feet getting trapped in rock that rose from the floor and stuck him in place.

"Tardy, again, Cell."

Cell was pretty... slow, when it came to magic. And everything else, but most people were judged on magical ability. Everyone capped at a certain point and just could not understand any more, and Cell just so happened to be one of those people who capped at a moderate level.

An organic specialist, since he'd never get close enough to master to call him such, Cell groaned and feebly struggled against the rocks with, most likely, strengthened legs.

"Ey man, lemme go. Waddaye ever do tah you?"

Mole smirked and cocked his head, the rocks going down, back into the ground. "Seat. Now."

Gust chuckled silently, Mole was clearly enjoying his time as a teacher. "Now, now, let's begin. We're going to focus on Earth School today-"

A collection of groans silenced Mole, who stopped and stood there, fiddling with magic. A desk bent around a particularly obnoxious student, whose eyes widened.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yes, Earth School today. We will be focusing with filtered sand, all the same consistency and density to ease your puny minds."

"Hey, Mole, I'm the same level as you! Don't call my mind puny!"

"Shuddup Mache, you're a paper master. My younger sister could be your level."

Mache blushed and quieted down, Mole smirking. He held up a hand and a bunch of sand rose from the ground.

Gust blinked, holding his head...

And blinked again. Gods, but she hated bugs. Always flying too close to her face, buzzing incessantly.

Her target was on the other side of town, fortunately for him. She leaned back, her arms going behind her head, relaxing.

"Miss? Can Ah 'elp ya?"

She looked up at the incompetent fool addressing her, putting on a fake, sweet, smile. "Yes, you could show me to the nearest wind tunnel, please, I need to get going to the capital."

"Da caps? If ya don't mind, why ya goin' dere? Ain't nothin' but a bunch of fat goblins up dere havin' unspeakable times wit' each od'a."

Despite herself, she laughed. Clearly the facade they had built up over the years had worked. It was actually an assassin's playground, people dying left and right. It was too quiet to be considered a legitimate ongoing battle.

"Ah funneh Miss?" the man asked, confused.

"Yeah, sure. What's your name?"

"Paper, Miss. Yers?"

The woman shook her head, smiling slightly. "Sorry, I don't tell it to those who don't need to know."

Paper looked even more confused. The woman smiled. "And trust me, you don't want to need to know it."

She stood up and walked away, leaving Paper there, confused.

Such a simple man, he'd be wondering what she meant by that for months to come, probably. She hated backwater towns like this one, small colleges and few Masters outside of it. It was a shame.

Then again, she hated super large cities like the Capital. Huge place, very dangerous. Her kind of place, had it not been so... large. Too many hiding places, she'd been ambushed a number of times. Of course, the ambushers had come out worse for wear, or not at all. Usually the latter.

Paper ran up to her, evidently insistent on gaining her favor. She glanced at his arm, no band, not married. Based on how persistent he was, probably single too.

"Miss, Ah do think-"

The woman rolled her eyes and teleported away.

Paper stood there, flabbergasted.

Gust woke up on the floor, sweating. Mole was not in sight, but the other students were surrounding him. "What the Mren was that?"

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Smoke, Rink, and Mole all came in to the healer's room, finally permitted to visit Gust.

"Heyall," Gust said, coughing. He didn't like using his accent around pretty girls. "Hello all."

Rink smiled slightly, Smoke disappearing into smoke and reappearing next to him, and Mole waving.

"You missed class! We learned all about the-"

"Yeah, don't care. Earth is your forte, not mine."

Rink walked up, nodding. "I hear you were promoted to Gust. That, and you like HoM."

Gust groaned. Now double-promotions would be linked with liking HoM.

Healer, the healer, walked in. She shook her head, looking at Gust. "I'm confused. You are perfectly fine as far as I can tell, but I can feel your magic from here and it's hidden from me. It's odd."

Gust rubbed the back of his hand and nodded. "I'm going to get going home, who's coming?"

All of them raised their hands, and Gust grinned. "Well, let's get going then."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Mole asked, eyes widening.

"No you don-"

Gust threw his hands into the air, throwing all of them out the window. Smoke went into travel-mode and turned into a puff of smoke, but was still getting thrown around between them.

Rink giggled, letting herself get thrown around like it was fun. Gust's eyes widened as he looked in front of himself and screamed, violently throwing himself upwards. Mole's screams intensified, and Smoke tried desperately to break free from the vortex surrounding him.

Rink encased herself in ice, probably the smartest thing she could have done. She was protected in case they crashed. Smoke was too, but Gust and Mole were vulnerable. Unless they hit the ground, then Mole could save himself.

Gust, however, was screwed if he messed up.

He wished he had figured out Gust level spells...

Breeze spells! He was using his thumb! He retracted it and they steadied out.

"Mren that was close. You're a terrible driver there, Gust!" Mole said.

Gust kept himself focused, not bothering to reply.

Eventually, though, they made it to his mother's jetstream, right as Window got there too. Window laughed at the disgruntled group as all but himself and Gust were violently tossed around the personal jetstream.

Gust was, however, the only one who landed on his feet when they landed in the house.

"Vent! Ya forgotsa do yer chores!" his mother called, and Rink giggled.

"Name's Gust now, Ma!"

"Gust! Ya forgotsa do yer chores!"

"Also got friends over, we're figuring out a spell!"

"After dat ya kin do yer chores!"

Gust hung his head in defeat and Rink laughed, Smoke and Mole having the decency to hold in a chuckle and simply smile.

"Sure Ma. Le's git goin'."

Gust coughed, changing his accent again. He hated doing that, but liked being formal around most people.

Gust was blushing as they entered his room. "And this is where She came to be."

"She?"

Gust turned around, wind blowing the door closed. "Yeah, that spell you stumbled upon? Dreams I've been having? All of a woman, powerful Supreme Master of, like, Space and Time and probably one or two others."

Gust proceeded to tell them all about one of the dreams he had a long time ago, one of the first.

"Well... she's never said her name and rarely speaks. Always, always, I'm in her point of view.

It was a city I couldn't identify," Gust began, "and I was in Her shoes. She was sitting in a park, observing around her. Someone, a high level fire scholar, walked into the park and did some things with smoke and flames."

Smoke laughed and imitated what Gust was describing.

"Anyhow, she stood up and began conversing with him. Complimenting him. When he reached up to show her his most advanced spell... she threw a knife straight into the back of his neck, paralyzing him. He went down without a sound and she stood over him. She grinned maniacally, lunging down at him and grabbing the knife, the one sticking through his throat, by the blade and pulling it out, cutting herself. She then beat him to death with the handle, letting him bleed out at the same time."

The room was silent, and Gust chuckled awkwardly. "In fact, in class today with you, Mole, I had another vision. No murder, no assassination, but it was of her talking with a guy named Paper. She ended up ending their conversation by teleporting away."

Stark silence. Rink was the first to respond, shaking her head. "That's... creepy. Very creepy."

Gust nodded, sighing. "I don't know what it means. I'm not sure I want to know. I just want to be done with it."

Wind walked in, laughing loudly. "Next time why don'tcha tell meh when ya bring ova yer girlfren!"

Rink laughed and Gust choked, looking at his mother. "I literally just met her today, by running into her wall of ice! Anyhow, Rink this is my mother Wind, Ma, this is Rink."

Wind curtseyed, rather poorly, to Rink and Rink did the same.

"Well, Gust, yer lunch's ready. Made enuf for y'all, so ya kin eat lunch whenever."

Wind walked out and Rink raised an eyebrow at Gust. "I'll give ya one guess where I git dis accent from."

Smoke chuckled and walked out. "Hungry, food now, concern about assassination later."

Lunch was mana-infused, and felt reinvigorating for Gust who had spent a lot more energy than he thought. "What is this?" Mole asked.

"I dunno, why dooya wanna know?"

"Because I'm curious."

"I threw some food onto dat dere stove and cooked it, den gave it tah yah. S'what I usually do, 'nd i's neva came back on meh."

Mole quietly set down his fork and stretched. "Excuse me for a moment."

Wind shrugged and went back to "cooking."

After lunch, they all headed back to Gust's room. Gust clutched his head, a spell forming in his head.

Experimentally, he followed it. Made the advanced motions, did everything...

He was silent. He jumped, and made no sound.

A sound spell.

Chapter 4

"Holy Mren."

Rink turned around, and Gust shook his head. "Y-y'all should prolly git goin', sorry all."

Smoke and Mole turned around, confused. "What?"

"Y-y'all needa git goin'."

Mole and Smoke recognized his tone and inability to stop talking in his normal accent, nodding. "Let's get going, Rink. We can meet up tomorrow at university."

Rink, confused, nodded and the jetstream took them out.

This was scaring Gust. He did not know even the basics of sound spells, what was this!? A Master level silence spell. How could he just cast it, no problems?

It felt... natural.

Gust silently sprinted through the house, ending up behind his mother. " 'Ey, Ma," he began.

Wind let out an eep and spun around, glaring at Gust. "Wha da Mren da ya wan'?"

"Ah think Ah needa switch Masteries, Ma. Dat okay?"

Wind smirked at her son, laughing. "Yer not smart enough, I bet. Go ahead, try. If ya get a name change, or another name, I'll treat ya tah a nice dinna with yer fada."

Gust nodded, smiling. "I'ma do it, ya know. I'm gonna change my Mastery to somefin' else."

"Good luck wid dat, slowpoke."

Gust rolled his eyes and sighed. He knew his mother was joking about him being slow, after all he took after her when it came to learning magic, but Gust still felt slightly insulted.

Gust made his way back to his room, still silent. He checked his memories of the dream-girl, recognizing the spell, kind of.

What was this, some sort of memory transfer? Was he being possessed by a power-crazed Healer?

A necromancer?

Oh, Mren, he hoped he wasn't being attacked by a necromancer. He would be a vessel in life, and a thrall in death, for all eternity, bound to his Mistress even in Mren...

No, she didn't seem to be a necromancer. Whoever "she" was.

So just possession? How was that possible? Gust couldn't even think of all the Schools of Magic required to even think about possession.

Gust lay on his bed, the one floating in the corner. It was fluffy, a result of his mother providing air within it, no doubt.

He sat down on it, sighing. He could cast a master spell for sound. Now what?

He didn't know any other sound spells, not even the simple ones. He'd never been the most... interested in them.

But now...

Gust tried to cast a spell, just a simple one. He felt the magic around him and bent it to his will, trying to make a light beeping noise.

It worked.

That should not have worked. Only naturals should be able to do things like that with no prior practice, and not counting his master spell Gust had never practiced before.

So he was a sound master now, too? He could imagine it now: Tornado Sound.

Amazing name. Was there any other mastery he could go for?

Gust grinned, trying to cast an ice spell, to no avail. Then a water one, nothing. Fire? Nope. Wood, nothing, metal with similar results, earth couldn't be touched from up in the sky... Gust was running out of ideas.

So Gust decided to keep up with Sound Mastery spells. He'd inform the university tomorrow... a dual master? Maybe even a dual Supreme...

Gust's eyes widened. Not just Tornado Sound, but what if he was Tornado Roar?

Oh, that felt good to say. Yes, he would go for Tornado Roar. Perhaps he'd be Gust Sound by tomorrow...

Oh, he would absolutely try that. He opened his door, his books from university finally catching up and flying into his room, flopping around the floor. He wasn't focused on them.

"Ma! Ah'm headin' out!"

"Careful dere, Gust! Rumor has it a few gremlins got out!"

Gremlins. Nasty little creatures. Sucked the mana out of a person to fuel their insatiable rage and proceeded to murder all they could see until taken down, whether by magic or blade.

Gust bit his lip and jumped out, trying out a Gust level spell. If he could do Master level Sound, he could surely do a Gust level!

Wings of air appeared behind him. Well, not visibly, but he could feel the concentration of magic. He smiled, flying away towards the library with ease.

He arrived a while later, a shorter time than if he had used other spells, and sighed. There would no doubt be some sort of test to get into the magic section, so Gust prepared his Master level silence spell.

As he figured, there was a mage in mage robes standing in front of the door to the magic section. He waved and smiled, the mage frowning. Only high level mages were allowed in, others were turned down because the information those mages needed was easy to come by and they didn't want their books being torn to pieces too early when they were so valuable. Not to mention possible theft...

"Spell," the mage grunted. He was an old guy, and Gust rolled his eyes. He silenced himself, jumping up and down. "Good enough. Proceed."

All business, no fun at all. Gust sighed and walked past him, making sure the mage didn't steal anything of his. Gremlins were around, people were cautious and didn't trust each other during trying times. It was rather annoying, and Gust was relatively strong compared to the average person who capped out at... well, Gust really, in his city. But he had Sound School up his sleeve!

He found a book on Sound Mastery, pulling it out and looking at it. There weren't too many spells, it seemed to ignore ones that would inspire crime like the silence one. He'd have to find one at the university for that, in the restricted section.

However, he did find a couple nice spells that would be useful. An alarm one couldn't ignore if they tried, a way to affect some people while not others while talking and such... Sound School seemed quite useful.

He looked for a pattern, but didn't need to bother. He found he could use the spells naturally.

Wow, amazing, Gust thought. He could do so much with this!

Gust Sound was absolutely happening tomorrow. Perhaps... perhaps even Gust Roar soon enough!

Gust sounded like a better first name than last. Sound Gust or Roar Gust just didn't have the same ring to it.

He looked for a Supreme book of spells, but couldn't find one. He suspected he had to get those at university too, since they had copies of most books.

Except the Forbidden Magicks, such as the ancient magic of Summoning School. Resurrecting the dead was a Master spell of that school, and conjuring up demons was so looked down upon that the nearest university would dispatch Supremes to hunt down Summoners.

Gust put the books back after a while of flipping through them. He found another book on Sound, and one on Wind he hadn't found at university. It wasn't very helpful at his level, though.

Gust flew back home, smiling. He hadn't figured out the pattern for Gust, but he got this spell down pat.

He fell asleep peacefully, setting himself an alarm.

There was a nip in the air. It was chilly out, she should have brought a sweater. Her breath was fogging in front of her face and it was snowing. Not good. She never could quite get the hang of temperature spells, no matter if they were hot or cold. She was too easy to track.

Easy to track meant she'd have to deal with this one differently.

Luckily, her senses weren't impeded in the snow like they were in the heat. When warm, magic tended to... react sluggishly, and her enhanced senses did not like that one bit. She was always a bit worse when overheating, and likely at her most vulnerable, not that her many enemies needed to know that.

No, stealth was always her forte. It loved her, she loved it... they were perfect together.

"Ey, Miss! Li'l 'elp 'ere pleeze?"

She rolled her eyes, putting on her fake smile. "Of course!" she chirped.

The man's eyes lit up, and he laughed. "Oh, good!"

She smiled sweetly, and the man motioned towards her. "This way!"

"What's your name by the way?" she asked, sounding as innocent as possible.

"Folks 'round 'ere call me Imagination."

"Oh Mren."

Imagination, a Supreme Master of the Mind School. With him around... it might not even be snowing. It could all just be her seeing things.

"Ya see, I've been told tah kill ya. And that's what I'ma do, dawl."

He smirked, twisting a knife that was suddenly in her stomach. No no no no this wasn't how she died.

She screamed and did what she hated doing, focused her magic on deadly. She threw him into the wall with a wind spell, healed herself with a rudimentary organic spell, and glared daggers at him.

"No."

Or at least she thought she did. With an Imagination around, she could really be locked in a cage for all she knew.

So she didn't kill him. Killing him here might alert him if this wasn't real. So she did what she did best and hid, focusing intently and teleporting into a real location she knew existed.

She had a bloody lip. It was warm and flowing down her face. She'd just been punched and...

That. That was an enchanted sword. Very nice one, too. She'd have to keep it.

Oh, how lucky she was to have found the one imbecilic Imagination that didn't go for the throat of taking away rational thought. Or perhaps it was her own defenses that blocked that much out.

She yanked the sword free, using a sound spell to muffle her screams. Her eyes were tearing up, but she was in no way crying. She was stronger than a simple sword to the chest, even if it was enchanted...

With a tracking enchantment. Oh, Mren, was she in trouble.

She set the sword down, carefully. It still had her blood on it, not good. How to save herself now... there was probably a tracking enchantment in her bloodstream as she thought.

The best way to rid oneself of an enchantment is to destroy the mother enchantment, in this case the sword. She grinned, wondering just how to destroy it before she figured it out.

She knew one thing: Magic did not like heat. It responded sluggishly, weakened...

Fire.

She slowed time to a near-halt, just enough for it to pass ever so slowly. She picked up two sticks with the utmost care, and then rapidly struck them. She kept doing it with more and more until she pretty much had the entire bush on the sword, then she stepped back and let time flow normally.

She smiled as the entire bush caught fire, a bright yellow contrasting the dark night. Her target could wait, she had to move before they could find her.

She didn't know who wanted her dead this time, but clearly someone with connections to the Supremes Underground did. That did not bode well for her future.

Chapter 5

Gust woke to the alarm, sweating. So the woman he'd been dreaming about wasn't evil. She couldn't be. If someone in the Supremes Underground wanted her dead, she had to have done something good.

The Supremes Underground was the most dangerous place on the planet. "Place" barely fit the description, though, since it was scattered and thin until a direct feud lit up and all Mren broke loose.

A fight between two Supremes was always, always dangerous. Not just to the two Supremes, but usually a large portion of land surrounding them.

And when two Supremes of humongous power fought each other, using both cunning and depravity, many innocents died. Lately there had been an uneasy truce between them all, as rumors had described it, that they'd been united against a common enemy.

That common enemy must be her.

Gust sat back, smiling. She wasn't evil. She couldn't be. Which meant... she killed for good? But good people don't kill...

A villain with heroic intentions? Suicidal hero?

A... God?

It made sense. So many Masteries would make one lose their name, due to it being too long. They would have a simplified name, one instantly recognizable... if they wanted. Most Gods hid among the masses, posing as Masters or lower usually.

He could name one God off the top of his head, the one residing famously in the Capital: Rirnk. Nobody was confident on what Rirnk could do, but they had the common sense to not try and find out.

After all, if a Supreme could wipe out a town... what could a God do? They were never used in combat, since they were never volunteers. You couldn't force a God-level to do anything they didn't want to, not without a large team of varied Supremes that worked extremely well together capable of taking down a God-leveled mage.

What would a God want with Gust?

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Gust arrived at school and sought out a Sound teacher to test him. He was early today, and looked around with a grin. "Ah, if it isn't the miraculous Gust. What can I do you for?" Sound, the resident Sound Master asked.

"Actually... I was hoping to add a second Mastery. Sound."

Sound cocked his eyebrow, nodding. "Well, I'm not going to discourage others practicing Sound. What rank you shooting for today? Novice, so Whimper?"

"Uh... well, I'm actually going for Sound."

Sound laughed out loud, stopping after a minute or so. "You're serious."

Gust just nodded, smiling. "I bet I can do everything you can."

Sound made a slight chuckle, grinning. "Go ahead. Silence yourself."

Gust did so, and Sound lunged at him, beginning the battle that constituted the Mastery Test.

Sound screamed, impossibly loudly, and Gust winced. He fell to his knees, silently smirking.

Sound walked over and Gust set up a silence shield to avoid that kind of attack. He started mumbling, which sounded like an explosion in Sound's eardrums to him.

Sound must have casted the same type of spell, because he suddenly stopped. Sound glared, smiling one last time.

"Well done. But not well enough..."

Sound lunged at Gust, throwing him backwards and hitting him with a wall of pure sound. It hit Gust's defense that he never put up and rebounded, Sound screaming and clutching his ears as his eardrums likely imploded.

"Unbelievable," Sound muttered, clutching his ears. "I'm going to see a healer... Is Sound going to be your first or second name?"

"Second."

"Well, I commend you, Gust Sound. Your name will go down in this university's history... so much so quickly!"

Sound stumbled through the door, groaning. Gust laughed, smiling and flying up, spiralling towards the ceiling.

He... he did it. He actually did it!

A Sound Master! Unbelievable!

Gust let himself float down in the courtyard of the university, smiling. He landed next to Mole, who cocked an eyebrow. Smoke and Rink both saw them and came over, Smoke walked while Rink turned the ground in front of her into ice and gracefully skated over, letting it melt behind her.

Rink grinned, laughing. "What's up, Gust?"

"I'll give you one hint."

"You defied the laws of physics and are now Wind?"

Gust chuckled, shaking his head. "Better."

Rink smiled, cocking her head. "Tornado?"

"My name's now Gust Sound."

Gust's friends were shocked, and Rink broke the silence by laughing. "I've known you two days, and yesterday you didn't know anything about sound, and ranked up twice in one session with an SM."

Gust simply nodded, laughing. He was confident that this would spread like a wildfire, the knowledge that he did the impossible.

They stood there awkwardly for a minute before Gust sighed. "Today's going to be boring as Mren."

Smoke chuckled and shook his head. "Why, man? You did the impossible!"

"Yep. Now I have to spend the next week and a half hunched over books on advanced Sound theory and Master level Wind spells."

Rink shook her head, sighing. "I know the pain."

"As do I," Mole chimed in, "Going for Bark next week."

Smoke shuffled his feet and stretched, smiling. "Well you all magical user people have fun, I've gotta go research advanced physics and thermodynamics."

Gust held in a smile, biting his lip. Thermodynamics class was brutal, even to Fire Masters.

"Well, I gotta go tuh find out wheder or not Sound's mah new Mastery," Gust said, too distracted to keep his accent in check. "See y'all 'round."

Gust let his wind-wings out and flew off, towards the Arch-Magus' office.

Dealings with the Arch-Magus were never fun. He was, generally, a horrible person to be around. Short, fat, quick to temper, and with magic nobody has quite found out, the Arch-Magus was every student's, and many teacher's, worst nightmare.

Gust knocked on the door, and found it opening. "I've been expecting you, Gust Sound. Amazing how far you got so quickly, I'm impressed. Here, have this."

The Arch-Magus tossed a small box at Gust, who quickly grabbed it, shocked. This was... very out of character.

"Now, you're probably wondering what that is. It's an enchanted gem, let's you absorb mana a bit faster from the world around you."

"W-wha? Why ya handin' me dis, Mistah Arch-Magus?" Gust asked, coughing and blinking, cutting back on his accent.

The Arch-Magus smirked and waved the question away. "I have my reasons. Let's just say I want to see how far you can go."

Gust cocked his head, confused, and the Arch-Magus turned around, focused on something else entirely and Gust walked out.

"Oh!" Gust said, turning around right as the door was about to close. "Do I go to Sound Mastery or Wind Mastery class?"

The Arch-Magus didn't bother turning around to respond, simply saying "Wind," and continuing his work.

Gust shrugged and activated the wings, flying towards Wind Mastery Class.

He made no discernible progress towards Wind-level spells.

HoM class came and went with a similar feeling, but this time he got to use a silent alarm to wake him five minutes before class ended.

The alarm worked perfectly, and Gust, along with most other students, stretched happily.

His final class for that day was Organic. He bit his lip and walked in, Organic standing up front.

Organic was pretty close to Healer, he might get there within the year. He made no secret of his progress, and openly helped others understand the intricacies of what he was doing, a rare thing for Masters in general to do.

"Welcome class," he began, "Today we will be learning something many of you will find in handy, a minor healing spell."

The class muttered amongst themselves. Healing spells were Cell level and above, and moderate levels were high for those not in the Mastery.

"Now, I want you focused. I will be explaining the intricacies of this spell, so PAY ATTENTION!" Organic slammed a book down onto the floor, the sound echoing. Gust instantly and instinctively covered the sound with a spell, smiling. He couldn't have done that yesterday.

Organic had them focused on their energy, their mana, directing it towards a wound. Then came the Organic magic, manipulating the wound, having the blood go back into the body and the skin mending itself at an accelerated rate.

It was a lot more difficult than it sounded.

By the end of class, Gust sort of had the spell down, and was happy about that. He tired himself out, though, and even with his new enchanted gem he wasn't in any shape to fly home, which meant he'd have to catch a ride with a friend.

He met up with his group of friends, Rink assimilated into it by now, who was slumped against the wall.

"Ah cain't guh on," Gust drawled, "y'all's gunna havta carry meh."

Mole chuckled as Smoke grinned and grabbed Gust's arm. "Gladly. Here's for yesterday..."

"WAIT NO-"

Gust tried screaming as he turned to smoke, everything hurting yet nothing hurting all at the same time. It was an incredibly uncomfortable way to travel, though arguably the second fastest behind only manipulating time.

They arrived at Gust's house, Gust shaking and eventually collapsing into a chair at the table. His eyes rolled back into his head and he hung his head in exhaustion.

"Sit up straight dere, Gust, or yer not gunna git nutin' tah eat!"

Gust forced himself to straighten out, looking at the table. Smoke was already eating, and Wind had her arms crossed and was looking down at him. "Cut meh abit'a slack, Ma! I mastered Sound today."

Window came in with Rink and Mole, who were talking with each other. "Oh, Mren, ya actually did it?"

Gust nodded, chuckling. "Mah name's now Gust Sound."

Window choked on his food, looking up at his brother. "Wha? Since when?"

"We litrally just sayed, Window. Todeh."

Window shook his head, staring. "You's da one dey're talkin' 'bout?"

"Prolly."

"Oh Mren."

Gust eyed his food with hunger; he could smell the mana from there. So concentrated...

Gust attacked the food viciously, momentarily forgetting Rink was sitting right next to him before she laughed.

"You're a troll," she said, giggling.

"Ah's not a troll! Ah'm exhausted, dat battle wid Sound took a lot ouda meh."

Rink giggled again, and Gust took a good look at her.

It was odd, he hadn't taken a really good look at Rink since he met her. He made it out like he wasn't staring for a while.

She was pretty. Cute face, not one would call sexy but cute, and a bright smile. She had a wonderful laugh, and beautiful, sparkling green eyes. She was a bit pale, and short when compared to them all. Actually, she looked rather attractive, now that he thought about it.

He blinked, seeing raindrops. But they were indoors, weren't they?

"I'm about to pass out, have a magic dream," Gust warned, swaying.

Drip, drip...

"Git 'im tah 'is room, will ya Rink? Ya kin kiss 'im goonite."

Gust briefly saw Rink blush and open her mouth before he saw something else.

Chapter 5.5; Rirnk's Origins

He was five and it was his first day of University. He was excited to be there. "Mommy, can I go by myself now?"

"Sure, Sweetie, go ahead," his mom said. She let go of his hand and he marched proudly on through the big, intimidating iron gates.

He looked around, eyes full of wonder. There was so much knowledge encased within these walls!

His name was officially Sprout, a wood novice, but in reality he hit the rank of Rink a few days ago, yet said nothing to anybody. It was unheard of.

He liked the name, Rink, but it could use a little something else. Not like Rink Forest or something like that, no. Something... else.

He walked around, feeling out the magic. He never told anyone about that, since nobody seemed to mind.

Sprout looked at everything, wide eyed and amazed. So many tall people who didn't even notice him, so many new things!

There was a class going on about people and healing. It sounded interesting, but Sprout knew he couldn't do anything with it. He didn't understand healing and skin and stuff like he did other things.

Ice and water were his favorites. They did whatever he wanted them to, whenever he wanted them to. It was almost like they could talk to him, and he liked it. Everywhere he went, he could feel the water and ice. Sometimes, when there was boiling water, he could even feel it in the air around him!

His favorite time was when it was raining, or snowing. It was cloudy and felt like it would rain soon.

He knew that if he tried, and showed someone, he'd be named Tsunami super soon. He just didn't want that. He didn't know why, but he knew he didn't want that. The name just didn't feel right.

Rink felt... almost right. Not quite, but almost.

After a few minutes the bell rang, right as it started to rain. People hurried inside, except for the ones the rain bent around. That was cool, but Sprout liked to feel the rain on his skin, absorbing into him.

He walked in and found where he was supposed to be, the shape for "Beginning" imprinted on the door. Sprout ran in, grinning wildly, and sat down next to all the other jittery children.

"Now, class, I want to get two things done today. One, we're going to show you around the University. Two, we need to talk about something.

"Bullying. I'm sorry to say that it does happen. It's when one of the older students decides to be mean and attack one of the younger ones like you."

The class was silent, wondering if that really happened or if the teacher was a meanie liar.

"Be careful and stay with the group, please! Now, kids, follow me. OH! No, don't! We need your names!"

There were a few other Sprouts in the large class, but most of them were something like Spark or Warm or Droplet.

They walked around, being shown the library which was a huge place with gajillions of books. They went by the offices, where all the SM's played tag or whatever adults did, and the healer's place where they went if they got hurt.

Then they went by the projects from the high classes. The goodbye presents to the University. Sprout was drawn to a giant painting made by a number of schools of magic. There was Wood, and Paint, and Metal, and even more that Sprout couldn't tell. There was no water, though, so it didn't interest him too long.

But long enough for the group to move on. "Uh oh," Sprout said. He rushed down the hallway, outside into the front yard. It was raining super hard now, and Sprout giggled to himself.

"Hey! Kid! Gimme yer money!"

Sprout turned to the side and cocked his head. "But I only have enough for lunch!"

"And I don't have any! Gimme yer money!"

The big kid reached out and made a grab at Sprout, who let out an "eep" and jumped back.

"Hey, that's mean!" Sprout said. "What's your name?"

"Name's Cell. I'm going to make your arm pop off if you don't gimme yer money!" Cell said, lunging once more, grazing Sprout's arm.

Sprout screamed as his arm felt like it was coming off. Tears filled his eyes, followed by unmistakable anger. Cell stood up, a knife in his hands, just as the teacher approached Sprout's line of view, looking worried.

"Yer goin' to the healer's, kid!"

"My name is Sprout!" Sprout screamed, standing up, letting the water obey him. "No, not Sprout. Rirnk."

The name was perfect. Right. The water applauded him.

The rain twisted, coalescing into streams and circling around him, at points freezing and at other points heating up to boiling. The skies cleared as Rirnk drained the sky of all it's rain, feeling it circle around him.

Miles of water all at his command, compressed into a small circle.

"My name is Rirnk! And you shall pay for hurting me!" Rirnk screamed, throwing his arms forward with an angry scream and letting all the water out.

As the torrent of water, going faster than terminal velocity and eliciting more pressure than the bottom of the oceans, hit Cell the entire world seemed to silence. Rirnk floated, the water surrounding as he looked around. Everything was distorted by the water, the comforting, nice water.

He relaxed, letting his arms drop as the water retreated to the ground, at his command yet not visible. He dropped to the ground and looked up.

There was a hole, a small hole just large enough for a person the size Cell was to fit through, cutting through everything.

The enchanted school premises, the hill, Rirnk could feel it stop a few miles away, though his power was just as prevalent. He was connected to the water. It was his, he was it's.

He was one with the water.

Rirnk smiled and swirled around, realizing what it all meant. "I'm a God."

Chapter 6

It was pouring. She would have been concerned about the whether had she not done extensive checking. There were no natural disasters detected nearby, nor should a Supreme be angry, it was just a strong storm.

With harsh winds. She smiled, absorbing a bit of mana. She liked Wind school, had respect for it. It was also rather fun to use, nice and useful, but she never had time to go and finish her Mastery of it. Too much to do.

She smiled, standing up. Her target was somewhere around, she knew.

A dangerous target, like most of them. But this was her first Supreme. She couldn't take risks, they could fight back and might actually get in a few hits.

Not to mention those hits would hurt. A lot.

"Can I help you Miss?"

Why was she so bad at hiding in plain sight?

"Uh, yeah. I'm new to the city, just looking for the mayor. I have a question about the laws here."

She turned around and held her breath. Her target.

Her name was Tsunami. Very, very dangerous. Worst comes to worst, and the entire area floods, half the city losing it's homes and businesses. It wasn't as if she was in a small city, either. No, she was in one of the School's Capitals. She forgot which one at the sight of her target, her mind readying itself for a battle.

"Oh, are you now? That's wonderful! We could always use new people!"

She smiled, hopefully not as falsely as she felt, and inwardly groaned. She hated this type of person. Evidently someone else did too, since she was marked for death.

"You can, now? Why?"

Tsunami laughed, hugging her and wrapping an arm around her. She rolled her eyes to herself.

"Well, the economy is having a bit of trouble and we could use a few more teachers at the university. Think you got it in you?"

"No, no, I'm not even Master ranked."

"Oh, that's no matter! We're in desperate need of more teachers. Say, what's your name?"

"I'm almost at Breeze. Though I'm still Vent. What's your name?"

"Tsunami, but don't feel shy! I don't bite."

She bit back a sigh, shivering. "It's getting cold out here."

"Oh Mren, not now. Move, Vent!" Tsunami yelled, pushing her away. "Vent" looked up angrily as a wall of solid ice slammed into Tsunami.

She stepped back surprised, cocking her head. Who hired this one? A Glacier? Hopefully not, hopefully just Ice.

Another wall of ice came at Tsunami and she watched as it melted, turning into water and swirling around her, rushing back towards the Glacier.

The water froze, and both competitors did too. "Stalemate, Glacier," Tsunami said.

Glacier nodded, standing straight and letting the ice disappear. "So it would seem. I'll try not to destroy the city, so we will put this on hold."

She heaved a sigh, shaking her head. "Let's not. I was entertained there for a moment."

She threw a light gust of wind that knocked Glacier back, who got up and laughed.

Then she teleported, plunging a knife into the surprised Glacier's pancreas as Glacier screamed.

Tsunami took a step back; her radars surrounding her picked it up. Surprise must be running through her too as they realized they were dealing with someone on equal, if not better terms than both of them combined as she utilized three masteries in her teleportation.

She cracked her neck, grinning. "Oh, I do love it when I have to fight two people without the element of surprise. Makes things so much more fun."

Glacier was looking pale but still mustered the strength for Rink-level spells. Good, she didn't want to deal with two Supremes tactically fighting, one was more than enough.

She probed at Tsunami's magic, testing out it's guard. Like most Water Masters, her defense was liquid and difficult to penetrate as it molded itself to each attack, but was vulnerable to rapid switching.

Like attacking it with Wind Mental Form, slowing time and shoving the force of Space Mental right through it.

Tsunami's eyes widened as her most intimate defenses were breached.

Ah, the glory of mental defenses. That brought her back a ways.

She was not that old, still coming into magic when her teacher was explaining it all.

"Mental defense is the most important thing you will learn. Lucky for you all, it is simply a form of your Mastery already, but difficult to learn when compared to other spells.

"The key to mental defense is to utilize, sorry, is to use your Mastery in it's most basic form. Focus on how the wind is, how easy it is to pass through. But now focus on how hard it is to walk through when it's blowing at you very strongly. Focus on how water is hard to swim through deep down, on how fire burns as you touch it. Defend yourself using your element.

"If you don't defend yourself, bad things happen. Anyone can steal your mana, making you weak and vulnerable. You would be constrained by what you can do without magic. You would be at the mercy of others.

"They could take away your magic ability."

She shook her head and smiled, laughing to herself. Take away magical ability? That sounded fun. She'd never actually tried that before, but it would be interesting...

She walked over to Tsunami, shrugging off Rink spell after Rink spell as Glacier wasted her mana.

Tsunami backed into a wall, pure fear in her eyes. She smiled coyly, and Tsunami whimpered.

One of Glacier's spells bounced off her shield and hit her in the leg, encasing it in ice. She briefly turned around, and saw she was bleeding heavily. Must have hit an artery or something. She was never the best at anatomy, she probably missed the pancreas by a longshot. Mren, it probably wasn't even on that side of her body.

She turned back towards Tsunami and put a hand to her lips. "Shh, now, don't you worry about a thing..."

Tsunami calmed down as her eyes fluttered and her head hung. Ooh, powerful magics. Perhaps, like many mystics, she'd start dabbling and see if she couldn't create a whole new school and call it Mental School.

Using her knowledge on Mental defenses and this view of another's mind, though scared, she made a few predictions and wondered what was happening as she gently pressed in magic.

Then her leg was stabbed by a normal blade, not enchanted, not magic, so it bypassed all her defenses.

She gasped and spun around, kicking Glacier, who was bleeding heavily. She passed out and would never wake up.

The knife was deeply embedded in her leg, but her magic wasn't going crazy like it would through a lethal wound. She pulled it out, wincing and looking at the wound.

It was surprisingly clean, for what she could see before it started bleeding heavily. She rolled her eyes and tore off a bit of Tsunami's shirt, who simply sat there, and tied it around the wound as a makeshift solution.

She focused back on Tsunami, looking for her reaction to the alien magic... but she didn't have any. "Oh, wouldja just stand up?" she asked, groaning and letting a bit of an accent through.

Tsunami did.

"What? Uh... walk forward three steps."

She did.

Oh Mren she made a thrall on accident. Oh, Supreme's Underground would not like this. Or maybe they would. She never knew.

"Follow."

She walked out, Tsunami obediently following. Honestly, she felt a little bad for the Supreme, reduced to a mere thrall. She would take her home and care for her, see if she couldn't help her out or at least keep her as happy as she could be.

There was a difference between killing and... this. This was worse.

She grabbed Tsunami's wrist and sighed, teleporting away, home.

Truly beautiful green eyes greeted her, looking confused.

Chapter 7

Gust screamed, sitting up. Not because of what happened to Tsunami, not because of what she did or her reasoning.

Those eyes.

They were familiar. Very familiar, yet he couldn't quite place them. Wind waltzed in and looked him up and down. "Ya look terrible."

"Thanks ya, Ma."

"What was'da dream about?" Wind asked, leaning against the wall. "Ya weren't out enuf time fo' yer friend's tah leave, dey prolly herd yer scream."

Gust blushed, rubbing his eyes and letting out a yawn. He walked out into the main room, his new group of friends sitting there. Mole was reading a book, Smoke was doing thermodynamics homework that made Gust shudder, and Rink was looking at him oddly.

With those green eyes.

Gust stumbled back, shocked, falling down and scooting against the wall. "T-those eyes... they were there, in the dream."

Rink blinked, confused. "What?"

"Your eyes. They were... they were there, she saw them."

Rink paled, stepping back. "W-what?"

"Oh Mren, wha's dat mean? She's not evil, I mean. She can't be."

Rink shook her head and stepped back once more. "N-not evil, she's not evil... they probably weren't even my eyes! Just something like them."

Gust nodded, accepting the answer. "Y-yeah, prolly."

Smoke looked up with a grin. "What, that's what your scream was about?"

Gust simply nodded, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. "You look terrible," Mole noted, "Why don't you go and keep talking with your girlfriend?"

Rink blushed and Gust copied her. "She's not my girlfriend! I barely know her."

"Well, then get to know me," Rink said, giggling as her blush faded. Gust just choked on his words, blushing.

Wind grinned and smirked. "Ya know, mah Ma forced me ontah a date wid yer fada, Gust. Ah hated it, but now we's married happily. And he's out on business all dah time anyhow."

Gust shook his head, clearing it. "Whaddaya sayin' Ma?"

"Ah'm sayin' yer going on a date wid her right now if I hafta throw y'all out da door. And tomorrah we can eat out wid yer fada like I said we would if yah got tah Sound."

Gust stood there, flabbergasted. Wind rolled her eyes while Rink blushed and stood by the door. A bit of gold and silver, with a few copper and bronze pieces mixed in, floated in front of Gust. He grabbed them and shoved them into his pocket, realizing his coin purse wasn't on him.

And then he was thrown out the door by a powerful gust of wind.

Rink caught him and he blushed, not in control of the jetstream they found themselves on.

"I like your accent, Gust. It's cute."

Gust blushed, biting his lip. "T-thank ya, Rink. I dun't like it mahself, doh, so dun't expect it all too often."

Rink giggled and smiled, looking around. "The view from here is really beautiful."

Gust paused and took a moment to look around. She was right. "So it is. Ah never really look at it, since Ah see it every day and all."

They flew over the land, and Gust took it all in. They were slowly spiraling around, and when they hit turbulence they were flung around like pebbles in a swinging basket. But the view...

They could see for miles. The air was clear, and the sun was still partway through the sky. It was clear, cloudless, and a dismay to all the Water Masters but a wonderful time for the Light Masters. There were trees dotting the landscape, and a large forest behind them, the reason for their town in the first place.

There was an ongoing battle there, at the forest. Wood Masters defended it for power and research purposes, a handful of mysterious elves lived in it who destroyed any opposition to them, and then there was the economy trying to destroy the forest methodically and slowly enough to replant for lumber.

The replanting was a recent thing, made because of a negotiation between an elvish ambassador who threatened to destroy the whole city. It seemed like things would be smoother if they could just wait a while so that they replanted one side of town and worked on the other, switching every 30 to 40 years.

There were a few major bonfires going off in the distance, smoke trailing up. The University was looking grand, located at the center of the town and glowing golden from magical lights from the Light Students practicing.

There was a river cutting through town, coming from a lake. It was slow and meandering, a nice place during summer days when they weren't in classes or at work.

"I'm glad to see it from this point of view," Rink said, smiling and letting go of Gust, who promptly steadied himself.

There were no mountains nearby, which kind of disappointed Gust. He'd heard tales of them, and really wanted to see them. They supposedly dotted the landscape at some parts, and dominated it at others. There were even rumors of impossibly high mountains where Supremes went to study the fundamentals of the world.

The jetstream suddenly cut out, and the two found themselves stranded in air. Rink grabbed onto Gust, who did his best to steady himself using a Breeze spell. As they floated to the ground, Rink smirked and let go, arms spread wide as a slide of ice caught her.

Gust chuckled, letting the magic go and fell onto the cold slide as well. They slid down, ice creating itself before them and sublimating behind them, probably heading to the front and depositing there.

They laughed, Gust blushing. "Dat was real fun, Rink," Gust mentioned as they got off the slide at the door to a restaurant. It was an average place, serving only a couple of mana infused meals and a couple of normal ones.

They walked in and an angry manager waved them to a table where they sat down, looking at the manager. "Whatchu want?" he asked, motioning at the sign behind him.

It only said mana.

"Uh... mana."

"Same."

That was odd. Gust was sure they served more than just plain mana.

The manager nodded and walked off, looking a bit relieved. Rink giggled to herself, blushing and looking at Gust. "Does your mom always do this to you?"

"No, usully not. Ah dun't know whu made 'er do it, bu' she did it."

"It was sort of sweet in a way."

Gust chuckled, shaking his head. "Ah barely even know ya."

"Well, ask some questions then. I'll do the same! It'll be fun."

"Okay den. How's about dis: Whatcha fave-rit food?"

"Smoked Gremlin with a side of mana. Your dreams about the girl... you said she wasn't evil? But you told me she..." Rink leaned in and switched to a whisper, "...killed that one guy, the fire one, rather brutally."

Gust gulped and nodded, whispering as well. "Y-yeah, but she cain't be evahl, da Supremes Underground is aftah 'er."

Rink went silent, nodding, looking a bit more satisfied. "Why dah yah mention it?"

"Y-you mentioned my eyes in it. I want to know why."

"Ah cain't tell yah right now. Ah really cain't. I'll tell you whenever Ah can doh."

Rink smiled sweetly and giggled, watching their meals arrive. "'Ere y'all go. Dat'll be a gold, three silvers, a copper and two bronzes."

Gust bit back a scream of annoyance. He handed over the money, wondering just why it was such an odd amount. His mother must have planned this all for his first date.

The manager left and Gust let out the breath he had been holding. The mana given to them was in solid form, probably with some spices and other unspeakable things to make it taste better than homemade mana.

Mana, the force that kept magic going and the populace fed. It was the best discovery since... well, it was the discovery that created the world as they knew it. The side of gremlin was cooked pretty nicely too, much better than Wind would have "cooked" it. He didn't know why it was there, it wasn't on the menu nor did he order it.

They ate in relative silence, Gust blushing most of the time. "This is my first date," Rink said, breaking the silence after a few minutes.

"Same 'ere. I dunno whadda say."

Rink giggled and Gust smiled slightly. "Well, you could ask me out? Then we can figure out what to ask each other at University."

Gust opened his mouth silently, closing it a few times as Rink giggled once more. "Nervous? I'll say yes..."

Gust still couldn't do it, blushing.

"I'll take that as you asking me out, then."

Gust felt his blush deepen to as red as it could be. He nodded silently, Rink smiling and freezing his hand slightly to the table. "Still there, Gust Sound?"

Gust shook his head and blinked rapidly, his blush going away as he easily tore through the ice, a silence spell allowing him to avoid gaining the attention of the others staying the night in the restaurant. It was unique in that it spent most nights acting as an inn to whoever knew about that part of it.

Gust stood up as they both finished and waved at the manager, who grunted in response. He pulled out Rink's seat and she got up, fluttering her eyes. "Oh, well look who gained his manners!"

Gust continued his impromptu silence and felt his cheeks. At this point, they felt as though Smoke had done an experiment on since them they were so warm.

The outside was cold, and Gust wondered if the manager was a Fire Specialist. It would make sense, there was no firewood in the fireplace. No wonder every meal had mana in it.

"Brr," Rink said with a grin, "Must be cold for you."

Gust shivered and glared at her before breaking into a smile. She looked so... silly. She was basking in the cold and he could see the slight shimmer of her absorbing energy.

Gust chuckled and wished he knew how warmth spells worked before sighing and sending them spiralling into the air with a gust of wind. Rink shrieked before playfully hitting him, a slight smile on her face.

"Windy?" Gust asked with a grin.

They flew around for a minute before Gust blushed. "Uh..." he began, "Where do you live? I can drop you off so you don't have to skate all the way home."

"Sound district."

Gust looked at Rink oddly, who blushed. "Both my parents are Sound Specialists."

Gust nodded, turning left and heading towards the river where the few Sound neighborhoods were. "So, they'll like me for being Gust Sound then?"

Rink laughed loudly, shaking her head. "Probably jealous, more likely. They aren't Masters."

Gust slowed so Rink could point out her house, which she promptly did.

"They're going to want to meet you, it's late after all," she said, grinning. "So you're coming with."

Gust paled and landed roughly, barely keeping his balance. "Oh, great."

Chapter 8

"So, what're yer parent's names anyhow?" Gust asked, slowly walking towards where Rink was waiting, at the door.

"Song and Speech," she replied, grinning.

Song was the rank directly under Sound, and Speech was one below that. "So advanced specialists?" Gust asked, nervous beyond belief.

Gust briefly wondered why there were so many Super Specialists, that being the rank below Master and rank below that one, in his town before remembering a hazy fact about his town being one of the top in creating Super Specialists.

Rink opened the door and smiled. "Hey Ma, Pa, I'm home! And there's someone you should meet!"

Gust heard a bit of shuffling and saw a woman and a man walk into view.

They were well dressed, the woman standing elegantly in a modern dress and the man holding onto her hips in the robes of an archbishop of one of the churches, the one dedicated to magic: Slyf's Church.

Slyf, a deity, and the one that made appearances most often. Granted, that was twice. They, for Slyf was portrayed as both male and female, claimed to have given the mortals magicka and the ability to learn and use magic.

"And who is this, Rink?"

Gust smiled nervously and weakly waved. "Ma, Pa, this is Gust Sound. My boyfriend."

"How do you do?"

Speech and Song were silent, surprised.

"W-why isn't Sound your first name?"

"Er..." Gust began, blushing. "I kind of got it very recently. And... well, didn't know any Sound spells before a few days ago."

"That's not possible."

Gust shook his head, blushing. "No it's not."

"God," Song, the woman (based on a nudge and whisper from Rink) said.

Gust shook his head faster. "No! Not a God rank!"

"T-then it's not possible. You're lying."

Gust opened his mouth and closed it silently. "Well, I guess we'll have to meet your parents at some point soon, Gust," Song said. She seemed to be the leader of the family, the matriarch.

Gust nodded, silent. He was blushing and Song giggled softly. "Cute. I can see why Rink let you talk with her."

Rink blushed and Gust kept blushing, though deeper than previously. "W-what do you mean by that?"

Song smiled rather evilly, looking at Rink. "She doesn't like talking to people she doesn't think worthy. What did you do?"

Rink broke out laughing, wiping a tear from her eye as Gust blushed, amazingly, even deeper and nearly fell over. "I-I... w-well, I ran into her wall of ice..."

Rink's parents stared before concealing smiles themselves. "I-I shoul' prolly git goin'," Gust said, nervously coughing and trying to get rid of his accent.

Song smirked and nodded, waving towards the door. "We look forward to seeing you later, then..."

Gust walked out, accidentally muffling himself. In surprise, he tripped, a gust of wind keeping him upright but knocking over a vase. Gust stammered, and Rink just shook her head and motioned towards the door, mouthing the words "don't make a fool of yourself."

Gust blushed as deep as physically possible, bowing his head slightly and leaving quickly, taking off and letting the wind carry him home.

He was angry with his mother. Why would she set it up, and how? How long had she been planning it?

He arrived at home in a bad mood, and his mother was "cooking" in the kitchen. He cornered her, which wasn't hard as their kitchen was very cluttered with pots and pans and other things his mother hadn't gotten around to cleaning.

"Didja have fun dere?" Wind asked, smirking. "Ah know ah didn' back when ah was forced tah date."

Gust opened and closed his mouth soundlessly, a bit confused. "Nah, dose dates are nevah fun. 'N fact, ah betcha yer goin'a find a way tah be all romantic wid her tah spite me. Ah know dat's wha' ah did wid mah ma."

"Wha?"

"Mmhmm. Yer friends got tah talkin' righ' aftah yah left. Yah didn' exacly meet Rink in a romantic way, didja? Ran intah her... by Slyf yer bad at it, aintcha?"

Gust shook his head and gave his mother back the change. She threw it into the air, a sudden current carrying it away. "Ah dunno whadda say, Ma."

Wind giggled, shaking her head. "As yah shouldn'. Now geh goin' tah bed."

Gust didn't argue, simply walked over to his room and flopped down in bed, tired.

He didn't know why he was suddenly so tired but... wait, tired?

She wasn't tired. In fact, she was on edge. Her most dangerous mission yet. She bit her lip and glanced around.

It was night time. That was bad. They were most active at night.

She got the feeling she would be using her manipulation of time a lot here. After all, a Supreme of the Summoners was not to be trifled with.

How had they let them get so out of hand? The government, fragmented and broken though it is, had eyes on the Summoners at all times! And now there was a Supreme on the loose!

There, just around the corner was an eerie blue light and unnatural fog. That must be the Summoner.

The Supreme for Summoners didn't even have a name, too feared. She approached, turning the corner and screaming like an innocent bystander.

"Fool! You walked straight into my trap! BEHOLD MY POWER! WTHERM! GRANT UNTO ME POWER, AND FILL THESE FOUR VESSELS!"

Oh, Mren, she thought, Four vessels? She glanced at the ground and her eyes widened as blue light penetrated into four skeletons, and they grew black flesh, skin turning redish green, horns and spikes growing, becoming taller, stockier...

Within moments, four twelve-foot-long demons stood up, sixteen feet high with four heads, eyes purer green than her wife's, and she was suddenly glad that she could control time.

They lashed out, faster than sound, but she was already behind them. Time was frozen, and she laughed.

She hadn't quite worked out a name yet, but she was working on it. She cut a hole through space, reaching through and grabbing a sword she had enchanted. It was a powerful, insanely powerful and unique enchantment. It was not a product of any normal enchantment, nor could anyone hope to replicate it.

Time reversed around it.

She swung at a demon, restarting time. What better time than now to test it in all it's glory?

The demon screamed as it caught fire, friction from an object that suddenly appeared and sliced through him causing an intense heat, and then it happened.

He started convulsing, reverting back into a skeleton. The other demons backed away in fear, as did the Supreme Summoner.

Holy Mren it banished Wtherm's power!

She threw a bit of power at one of the demons sending it to breach his mind. It succeeded, and she gasped.

This mind was very, very different from Tsunami's. It was honed, focused on one thing only, created for the sole purpose of destruction.

She gained a familiar understanding with minds at that point that was... different than ever before. All minds were similar, from a created being to free-will-ruled mind.

She adjusted her defenses. They took up way too much energy for such little defense! She surrounded her mind in a thin layer of mana, thin but complete. She... understood.

Mental School was hers to command.

She bent the three remaining demons to her will instead of Wtherm's, and they turned on the Summoner. Oh, the Supremes Underground would kill her. They had been studying this for eons yet she did it.

She laughed, taking off using a Gust spell, wings extended. She flew up in a circle, smiling and laughing. She sent the demons to an area of space created for them explicitly, impossible to breach as it was a pocket universe with only one opening she hadn't made yet.

She was a God. She had her own realm, her own School, all the tell-tale signs of a God.

If she revealed everything... perhaps... perhaps she would start the Eleventh Age.

Her heart pounding, she teleported back home, smiling.

It was a small place but had a personal touch. She was in her room, smiling to herself. She was lucky her job paid well, and what she didn't pay for she made.

She felt a mind, her wife's, and giggled.

Then Gust sat up in a cold sweat, feeling three minds within his house.

Chapter 8.5; Wtherm

They sat with a circle of creatures surrounding them, grinning. Yet another mortal asked for power. Oh, they couldn't wait to harvest more souls, corrupting them and turning them into the very demons asked for!

Wtherm gladly gave out a minuscule fragment of their power, chuckling. Their realm has remained uncharted since the beginning of time.

Their brother created time. Foolish mortal-loving brother, taking a gender, lowering himself from the absolute power divinity came with.

And their sister, giving the mortals power. But Wtherm turned it against her, tempting mortals into abusing it, corrupting them and bending them to their will.

They marked the soul, to the dismay of their siblings. Slyf approached, materializing without a sound.

"There's another."

Wtherm looked at her, scowling.

She stood, radiant, nude, the demons shivering and moving away.

"What do you mean by 'there's another'?"

Slyf pointed in a seemingly abstract direction. "Calls himself Rirnk."

Wtherm nodded in understanding. Another wannabe god.

"Why should I care?" Wtherm asked, stretching their formless shape.

"Look at his power. If he makes a realm..."

Every time another god-rank mortal arose, Slyf came into their realm and warned Wtherm. Wtherm did not enjoy it, but put up with it. They did enjoy their sister's company, more or less.

"Sister, I understand. You worry more than necessary. My eye is always on the powerful."

Slyf shook her head, sighing. "That's not all. Another-"

"Sister. I understand. Head back to your realm, get some rest."

Slyf nodded once, disappearing to her own realm. Wtherm cared for their sister, despite her being... well, a mortal-lover.

Mortals were for teasing, for tempting, for corrupting, for abusing for pleasure... not loving. Caring for mortals was pointless, they all died and acted the same. None were too interesting until given power, and even then they became boring quickly.

Wtherm has never interacted directly with mortals, else they would have had to choose a permanent form. They did not want to choose a form. Wtherm, instead, sent down demons and couriers and other messengers to carry out his will indirectly. Slyf had interacted twice before and was on the verge of doing so again, and their brother only once, in the creation of humans.

Their brother was the creator, Slyf the fair one, and Wtherm was the powerful one. Wtherm liked this balance of power, and knew that the time would eventually come when mortals started trying to tip it.

They had tried, in the past, and do try still, but never a god-ranked. If a god-ranked mortal, as Wtherm referred to them, decided to actually try and imitate a god, then there could be problems.

A shrill scream came up from somewhere within the realm, and Wtherm felt out his realm. None but his demons were in, no threats, no siblings.

More corruption must have permeated the ranks, not that it mattered. The mortal who had asked for power received his demons an-

Something was wrong. He felt his connection to the demons and stretched it to the limit, seeing out of their eyes.

A woman, god-ranked Wtherm assumed, was fighting them. Wtherm watched as the woman abused magic and fought their creations, destroying one and harming Wtherm indirectly. The demon being possessed reared back, frightened.

Wtherm glared from within the demon as the nameless woman discovered the magic Wtherm had thought to be exclusively used by themselves, and froze.

She created a realm and forced their demons into it, freezing it in time. Wtherm floated around, shocked, and began contemplating things.

Things that just got interesting.

A new player had entered the game. Things would have to be rebalanced, and Wtherm was not going to lose his position. They would make that clear.

Perhaps they would even take a different approach, perhaps... gain power. Wtherm liked that idea, favored it. Yes, when the time was right, Wtherm would make contact, even lower himself temporarily to choose a form so that they may gain power in the long run.

Perhaps some of their brother's power, that would be nice. Instead of corrupting souls... making them.

Wtherm would have smiled had they had a body, but instead contented themselves to permeate their realm in silent pleasure. If she allowed, they would make a lovely team.

Wtherm and the unknown woman, a force for power.

Chapter 9

Gust determined he would keep it a secret, Mental School. Gust got up and dressed, groaning to himself. Something felt off, and it wasn't just new magic.

Where was all this magic coming from? He was never the best, but he was persistent and dedicated. Why the sudden, and rather extreme, boost in power?

What of Her?

There were too many unanswered questions for Gust's tired brain to handle, so he just shut it off and focused on getting ready for University.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Gust walked out into the main center of the University, one of the few centers, planning on meeting up with his friends and newfound girlfriend to talk to while heading home after a thoroughly boring day of studying both Gust level and Supreme Sound spells. Though "studying" Supreme spells was a relative term, in reality a Supreme would have the knowledge to create new spells as he or she saw fit. Gust glanced around and froze as he saw a horrifying sight.

Wind walked towards him, confidently strutting, and Gust felt, rather than saw, his friends approach him. "What's up?" Smoke said, dancing a bit of smoke and flames in front of Gust's face. They dropped out of sight as Wind finished her walk towards them.

"Heya, Gust. Rink, Ah is formly invitin' ya 'n' yer famly tuh join us fo' a famly dinna. Ah's meetin' yer parents one way or tuh uder 'n' tonite would be perfect."

Rink blushed and nodded, saying, "T-thanks! Where and when?"

Wind smirked and motioned in an abstract direction. "Da Floatin' Goblin, right befo' sundown."

Gust did his best but simply could not stammer out a protest. He didn't get to see his father too often, but he certainly was not eager to see Rink's parents again.

"Now, Gust, ya gotta do yer chores still, so Ah'm takin' ya home."

And before Gust knew it, he was being thrown around in a Master-level Wind spell. Shuddering, Gust simply tried to take in a bit of energy, but couldn't due to the nature of the spell.

Wind was humming next to him, idly being tossed around. Gust was being thrown around, while Wind somehow produced a broom as they landed.

"Chores time," she said, walking away with a smirk.

Gust groaned and began sweeping manually, every attempt to create even the tiniest wind being immediately stifled.

Hours later of mindless work, Gust's father Breeze came in, looking exhausted. "I've got news, but for now where's your mother, Vent?"

"Mah name's Gust Sound now Da."

Breeze stepped out the door again accidentally and was thrown back in, startled. "You're what?"

"Ah did it, Ah'm Gust Sound now. Ma wantsa take us all out fo' dinna."

Breeze shook his head and sighed, rolling his shoulders. "Anthing else I should know before I talk to your mother?"

"We's goin' out an' meetin' mah new girlfriend."

Breeze grinned and laughed. "She forced you, didn't she? Don't you worry about it son, it's an old tradition stretching back to the beginnings of time that says the mother forces their children to date and usually marry, but only Wind Specialists or Masters observe it nowadays."

Gust nodded and went silent, finishing with the last chore of "Wash da dishes Gust, Ah don' feel like it".

Sighing and finished, Gust stretched. He had just enough time to get dressed in something nice for dinner. He fished out his robes from his closet and sighed. They were torn from a little experiment. Well, he did have a single pair of fine clothes, courtesy of his mother. He pulled them out and prayed that they weren't damaged. The gods must have been listening, as they weren't.

Gust put the clothes on and walked out, seeing his entire family dressed in their best, with Wind smirking.

"Ya look nice, Gust. If only yer brotha could."

Gust looked at Window, who was looking small and blushing. He was wearing his finest robes, and looking younger than he actually was.

"S'bout ta be sundown, le's get goin'," Wind said, throwing up her arms. Gust's eyes widened and everyone was thrown from the house and into the air, where Wind showed a blatant disregard for the law by speeding straight towards the Floating Goblin.

They landed in front of it and Gust looked up in surprise. He'd never actually been to the Floating Goblin before, and had only seen it from a distance.

It was very high in the air, and had a number of people patrolling around the airstreams entering it. Wind strutted confidently and walked up to one of the people, briefly flashing something Gust couldn't quite make out and being allowed in.

There were many candles, rugs, and stuffed monsters around the place, and high-profile people sat around the tables. Wind followed the waiter towards an empty, and rather large, table. They waited for a little while, Rink and her family approaching with Rink beaming in a light blue, ice colored, dress.

"Hello Gust!" she exclaimed, sitting down. Her parents followed suit, Song in a dress and Speech in fine priest robes.

A moment of silence followed, which was broken by Speech. "So, what do you both do? I'm an archbishop at Slyf's temple, and my wife does not work."

Wind smiled sweetly and laughed. "Dat must pay pre'y well," she said. Speech frowned at her accent and looked as if he was judging her.

"Well, I work for the army myself. Getting deployed to the south next, small uprising."

Song nodded her head and slightly smiled. "That's a respectable job. And you...?"

"Mah name's Wind. Ah work d'rectly unda da king, Ah's Supreme Overseer of da city."

Speech and Song's mouths dropped open. Rink leaned over towards Gust and giggled slightly. "Oh, is that why your friends are scared of her? I bet my parents weren't expecting that, they're very judgemental after all... they probably thought you and your family were poor and not worth talking to."

Wind smirked at their confusion, and Gust blinked. He'd never actually heard his mother's formal title before, but did know what position she worked in. She was not directly in charge of the city, but had power over the lords that were.

"How're ya todeh, Rink?" Wind asked, turning towards her and Gust.

"Actually, I took an after-class examination. I'm officially Ice now."

Gust blinked a few times and smiled at her. "C-congrats!"

Window sat there awkwardly, and Gust's father and mother both congratulated her. Speech smiled and patted Ice's arm, saying "Yes, we're very proud of her, even if she's not focused on Sound School like us..."

Wind rolled her eyes and nodded. "Ah know da feelin', mah own Gust heah, he comes by da oder day an' is all like 'hey Ma, Ah'm gonna go fer Sound todeh' and I'm like 'nah, yer not gunna make it' and then he made it. Now heah we are, all gadered togeda."

Song blinked a few times and nodded, evidently a bit confused. Breeze smiled and watched the waiter approach.

"And what will you fine customers be having today?" he asked. The waiter was tall and lanky, with a moustache that looked like it belonged on a farmer.

"Specialty Goblin all around? Yes? Seven Specialty Goblins please."

Gust shivered a bit. Goblins were amazingly tasty, yet so expensive and hard to kill. They were a favorite pretty much anywhere, though, and lived all over the world.

They waited for their food, nearly silent. Speech looked around and chuckled a bit. "You're not very good at starting conversations, are you?"

Wind giggled a bit and nodded. "Nope. Use'lly Ah just say whad Ah needa den move on, 'nd mah husband don't use'lly talk wit' people who ain't in da army."

Song broke in, nodding. "I usually don't either, since I stay at home and do things there. Though a friend came by and told me about a Supreme moving about nearby. Woman, very young, name of Shadow, if I’m not mistaken. I hear she was forced to be abandoned and is looking for her parents now. I would wish her luck, but you know how Shadow users are, always so rude and direct."

Wind laughed, nodding. "Ah've worked wit' a Shadow before. Nasty person, thought he was better den ev'ryone else. Oder Supremes Ah've seen, doh, ain't like dat. Even da oder Shadow Ah seen."

"Y-you've seen multiple Supremes? And lived?" Song asked, clutching her heart.

"Yep. Dey's nice, 'specially tuh me. Ah's close to Supreme, ya know. Got mosta da spells down pat, just need mental defenses. Ah could go change mah name, nobody'd stop me."

Wind sat there and let the weight of it sink in before cocking her head. "Y'know, Ah think Ah will. Ya can call me Tornado from now on."

Tornado smiled and Ice giggled. "Two Masters and a Supreme all at one table... You know Tornado, perhaps you could get Gust to teach you a bit about mental defenses! He's got an insanely good one."

"Does ya now, Gust?" Tornado asked, reaching into his mind. She flinched and pulled away, but Gust got a small glimpse inside.

Tornado's mind was... well, a tornado of thoughts and feelings, all topped by spell knowledge and private studies. Gust kept his mind to himself, but could suddenly feel the difference in power between one mind and another. His own, his mother's, and Ice's minds all stood out... as well as one other. It was a vast mind, but when Gust glanced around he saw nobody where the mind was.

Suddenly a woman materialized in the center of the room, wearing a long and flowing dress. She was beautiful, blonde hair and green eyes with perfect skin and wonderful proportions. Gust's eyes nearly popped out of his head before he caught himself.

He recognized her from somewhere... but where?

Speech gasped and got up, kneeling from his seat. "Slyf, my Goddess. I-it is an honor to see you."

The room froze and tension rose until it was palpable. Nobody made a sudden move, but Slyf kept looking around until spotting the table with Speech kneeling.

"Ah, an Archbishop of mine. Hello mortal. You do well in the church, I approve of your methods."

Speech flushed and stammered out a thank you, keeping his head bowed. Slyf nodded. "I do love when my archbishops know their place. You may be Head Priest of the temple, next time you're there cut your forearm lengthwise into a goblet of silver and I shall announce your new position to the temple, and none will argue. Now, onto why I am here..."

Slyf walked towards the table and everyone watched her. She stopped in front of Speech, and looked down at him. "You may return to your seat."

Speech did so, and Slyf was quiet for a moment, looking at each person before settling on Gust.

"I wish to know as much as you know about... Her."

Gust blinked and opened his mouth, but Slyf continued. "You know who She is. She seems to share a link with you, and I want to know why. Her power is messing with the structure my brothers and I have worked so hard to establish. I must convene with her, but she fades in and out of this timeline. I cannot access her realm like I can Wtherm's or this one either."

She stared intently at Gust who began sweating subtly. He cleared his throat and smiled weakly, nervously. "I-I don't know much about Her. She's never said her name, never suggested what it may be, and I'm not even sure what rank she'd be."

Slyf raised her hand and Gust fell silent. "Know this and this only, I have seen her and know she has the power to Ascend if she works for it. To cast off her mortal rank and join my brothers and I as a deity."

Gust shivered as he felt the air around him chill, and started to feel a bit lightheaded.

"M-makes sense... S-she wields m-many Masteries effortlessly... I-I know she is bad with temperature though... she... she..."

"Mortal! Pay attention!"

Sun, smiling children...

"She... I-I'm about to see her again..."

Slyf snapped to attention and Gust felt her mind go haywire, searching in all directions farther than he could sense. It seemed to split into many different parts, and Slyf froze, looking at Gust.

"That's interesting, Mortal... you may be as interesting as She is. Know that I, and my brothers, are watching you mortal. I even may reveal myself to you once more."

And with that Slyf and her mind was gone. Simply gone, like as if she used teleportation of some form.

And then smiling children took over.

Chapter 10

She smiled at the young children, who were smiling back. They were on a beach, and she was delaying her assassination.

Someone wanted Rirnk dead. She didn't want to kill him. In fact, she was a big fan. She figured she'd skip this whole "assassination" business and just talk instead.

Which meant she needed a name.

She'd thought of it before, it was true, but it was never too... important. She even used her elongated name when getting married! Well, a shortened version of it. No need to scare everyone. She just chose to stick with "Teleporter" when that happened.

She rolled her eyes and held her breath once more, the kids jumping up and down and giggling to each other. She liked kids.

Then ice-cold water from the north fell onto her, drenching her. The kids laughed and screamed in whatever language this remote place made up.

She smiled and the kids refused to let her pass. Her smile faltered, but she ignored them and teleported to the other side of them.

Name, name, she needed a name...

She wanted something new, something original. Not something like Rirnk's, which was just a play on Rink. Something like Slyf or Wtherm.

She closed her eyes and leaned against a large, smooth rock. It was rather warm from the sun.

She would figure it out this time, she really would.

"A meeting it is, Brother, Sister. We convene," a voice said from everywhere at once. She shuddered, looking around rapidly. She briefly felt a very vast and powerful mind from very far off, in another realm.

A god spoke.

Everyone was shaken and curious. She knew intuitively that it wasn't just here, that voice spoke over all creation.

She didn't let that bother her. She wasn't being addressed.

Now if only she could turn invisible... the kids were still staring at her in awe. Why did Rirnk choose here, of all places, to vacation? He couldn't even get out quickly!

She kept trying to think of a name as she walked slowly along the coast, the kids and some parents following. Trained magicians were not common in remote areas like here, especially not powerful ones like herself.

But what kept interrupting her was the god that spoke. Why the common language? Especially to, who she suspected was the other gods? Did the gods not have their own special language they used when talking to each other, or did they want to be understood?

God... god... that was the right track for her name. The beginning, at least... Geowshk? No, Goesik? No, perhaps it wasn't right after all.

Fosoghd. Fosoghd... that sounded nice. Fos for short... Fosoghd. Fos smiled. She rather liked that name. It was unique.

Her eyes darted from place to place, her crowd ever-growing, wondering who she was or what she was doing. She saw him, relaxing on top of the water a little ways off the coast.

Rirnk. He was sitting on a chair of water and indeed had a crowd of his own. Fos stood off on the beach, pretending to be an admirer too. She was of sorts, of course. She liked Rirnk.

"Rirnk! I wish to talk with you!" she called out, biting her bottom lip. Rirnk looked up lazily and shook his head.

"Was that common? Doll, you've come a long ways to get rejected. Tell me, what's your name to follow me all this way?"

"Fosoghd, Fos for short," she said, more confident. Rirnk stood up and stretched, and Fos raised a hand. Rirnk was teleported next to her and he stumbled in surprise.

"Whoa. Fosoghd, you say? God rank?"

"Indeed."

Rirnk smiled and nodded, holding out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Fosoghd."

She took it and kissed his hand, allowing hers to be kissed as well. An awkward tradition from this region, she assumed. "Were you born or raised here?" she asked, "If you don't mind me asking?"

"Yes, I was. Born, at least. Thought I'd come back and grace them with my presence."

Fos nodded and looked around a bit more. The coast was situated next to a jungle and she sighed. "I never liked jungles."

"Too many trees?"

"No, I love forests. Must be because of where I was raised, but these trees are too colorful, and there are too many untamed animals hiding within."

Rirnk nodded and grinned. "What brings you here? Just wanted to introduce yourself to a fellow god? We're probably the only ones alive, you know."

Fos nodded, sighing. "Yes, I know. That's sort of why. Another part was my job, though I'm refusing to do it."

Rirnk raised an eyebrow and she continued. "I'm an assassin. It pays well, and nobody misses who I kill. I target who I'm paid to, and take requests from all over. Someone requested you to die. I refuse to kill you, though, because I respect you. Always have, even before I realized the true extent of my powers."

Rirnk smiled sweetly and kissed her cheeks. "Well thank you young one. I went public to inspire people, I'm glad it did. It's always nice to meet a fan, but odd to meet a peer. Never before have I had one."

Fos grinned slightly and giggled. "I've met one once, before you."

"Oh?"

"Slyf."

Rirnk blinked and stepped back. "I'm sorry, I thought you said 'peer' and not 'deity'."

"Oh, I did. I'm still figuring out the extent of my power. I... well, I've done some incredible things."

Rirnk grinned, part of the ocean nearby just disappearing. "Oh, with water I can do anything I want..."

The ocean reappeared over their heads, and Fos collapsed under the energy required to shift it back into position. "Y-yeah, I-I see... oh, Mren, do you have a bit of mana I could use?"

Rirnk laughed and pulled out some formless blob from a satchel. "It's warm and not exactly fresh, but here."

Fos gladly ate it, standing up and shuddering. "Oh, is that... ew. Ew, ew ew. I've always hated elvish cooking."

Rirnk laughed hard and deep, clutching his sides. "Most say that. I like it, though."

Fos shuddered and shook her head. "Disgusting. And here I respected you."

Rirnk just laughed more.

"So, tell me Fos, aside from being an assassin, what else do you do?"

Fos shrugged and giggled. "Well, I'm planning on adopting with my wife. I doubt anyone will speak against us, but we're still deciding if we want a boy or girl."

Rirnk choked and looked at Fos. "Wife?"

Fos smirked and nodded. "Got a problem with that?"

"Oh, not at all. I'm just surprised. You're so young, and already you have a wife?"

Fos nodded and looked out into the sea. Rirnk went silent, watching it as well. "The ocean says hello," he said. "It respects you for reuniting it with itself. Water is weird that way."

Fos slowly turned towards Rirnk and raised an eyebrow. "Water talks to you?"

"Of course. Doesn't your focus talk to you?"

Fos sighed and looked back out into the water. "I would tell you if I could find what I was best at. Time is mine to command, as is space... I discovered Mental School, I guess you could say I'm good at that."

"Mental School? Tell me more."

"Your defenses, mental defenses. Those aren't actually part of Mental School. Mental School is the mind itself, which is why nobody has discovered it until now. They all focus on the different defenses. No, the trick is actually within the mind, once you breach the defenses. It's the way to play with the mind, discover how it feels and works for each person. There are no spells, but with it you can learn to slip past weak or specific defenses and track people. It's part of what makes me a good assassin."

Rirnk nodded and smiled. "Well, I certainly know you're my peer then. I didn't understand a word of that."

Fos laughed and went silent.

"We should keep in contact," Fos said. "I like you, and not just because you're a god."

Rirnk grinned and wrapped an arm around Fos. "I agree. Next time though, don't come here and tell me someone wants me dead. It's old news."

Fos laughed and wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh, I thought I was the only one who thought of it that way! Well, I'll leave you to your vacation, Rirnk. My wife probably misses me. I'll pop in to see you next time I'm within distance where I can feel your mind."

Rirnk didn't pretend to know how far that was, nor did Fos try to figure out exactly how far it really was. She teleported away after waving and smiling one last time at Rirnk towards where her pay was located.

For the first time, she would not be collecting. She walked over and produced a note she had made when she found out her contract. It was a refusal to kill Rirnk and a suggestion to not request Rirnk's death lest she find out and kill the person responsible.

She set it on the money, knowing the client would try to recollect soon. They did that most of the time, the absurd amount of money they throw at her to kill someone most realize is far too much, and they try to skim some money off the top. Well, the client would get it all this time.

Oh, her wife wouldn't be happy, but she'd deal with that when it came. Fos sighed. She wanted a new dress. She'd have to wait a bit longer after all, she couldn't afford the material she wanted to use to make it.

She sighed, leaning back against the wall and the world shook.

Chapter 10.5; Mren

"We love you Dad," his daughter, Leaf, said. The healer stood by sadly, shaking his head.

"Nothing more to be done. Let Mren take you peacefully."

Cell, the dying man, sighed happily. "I've lived a good, long life. And I'm about to join my wife. Why would I be sad? Don't be sad with me."

Cell felt himself slipping into the warm blackness, and smiled.

"Leaf... you make me proud. You're the most perfect daughter I could have asked for."

And then the blackness enveloped him.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

A shock of dark blue flitted across his vision, ground materializing beneath him.

"Welcome, Cell."

Mren. Cell looked around and gasped.

Cell was frozen to the ground and scared. Very scared. The darkness was warm and comforting, yet elicited feelings of utter fear.

"Welcome to the afterlife."

Cell broke free with strengthened legs and everything dissipated.

There was sun, and beaches, and everything Cell loved. No wounded, no reason to use magic, just the natural sciences and smiling people enjoying their lives, keeping to themselves.

It was perfect.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Slyf sat next to Mren and sighed. "You deal with mortals so much better than I."

Mren grinned and floated around, his infinitely large body somehow never touching Slyf. "Yes, sister, I created them. They all return to me."

"Except her."

"Quite. She is different, intriguing. Have you felt what Wtherm is going to do?"

Slyf sighed and shook her head. "You know I am the weakest of us."

"Wtherm is going to take a body to speak to her."

Slyf froze. Wtherm never spoke to mortals. They always considered themselves higher than mortals. Which meant that this woman was indeed more powerful than Slyf figured. She was watching the woman, and perhaps her prediction she made to the mortals was true. Perhaps she was a god.

"What shall we do?" Slyf asked.

"If Wtherm does take a body, then we shall conference. Yes, sister, the first time since the creation of mortals."

Slyf staggered and sat upon the emptiness that was Mren's inter-realm. Mren created the mortal realm, and his realm was inside himself. The outer part of Mren, where no mortal could pierce, but before the mortal realm was an empty inter-realm where Mren and Slyf would speak.

"But... Shall I tell Wtherm?" Slyf asked. Slyf was a messenger of sorts. She ran messages between Wtherm, who Mren was unable or unwilling to locate, and Mren. Occasionally she spoke to mortals, always keeping an eye on them. She would be the first to locate potential gods, and warn Mren or Wtherm, as necessary.

"Yes."

Slyf sighed and nodded once. She wondered if she would be the physically smallest of the trio. Mren was infinitely large, and the only one capable of it. Slyf took the form of a mortal, as was her preference, and Wtherm loved power and intimidation. Would they take a larger form than Slyf?

Slyf felt Mren welcome yet another mortal to their ends and sighed. "I hate your treatment of mortals. You may be nice, but that is no way to end their lives."

Mren opened a large eye that formed in front of Slyf and blinked. "Oh? Why, exactly? They feel pleasure and their idea of perfection until they are broken down and their souls reused."

"That's why. You could create mortals, why not create more souls instead? Why wipe them clean of memory, personality, and reuse them?"

Mren was silent for a moment, his eye closed. When it opened again, it had changed color from green to yellow. "My dear sister, I am not Wtherm. I do not have infinite power as I do an infinite body. I sense Wtherm's view of everything is skewed by their power, though."

Slyf stayed silent. Mren continued. "You see mortals as I do not. Mortals were my creation, sister. I cannot see them as you do. Wtherm has more power than us both combined, yet does not realize it. With the power does not come wisdom, however. He does not have the knowledge to create mortals, and I do not have the power to continually create them."

Slyf spoke up, scowling. "Brother, I do not approve. Why not keep them within yourself until you can create more?"

Mren's eye changed color again, to pink. "You have visited the mortal realm. You have seen how fast they reproduce. Soon enough I will not be able to keep up. They are being born faster than I am cleansing them. I am almost out of extra souls."

Slyf gasped. "You're not seriously thinking about causing the apocalypse, brother?"

"I am."

"Her. What of her? What if she has the power to assist?"

"Then I will reconsider."

Slyf searched out for the woman, but could not see her. Only her link, the boy Gust Sound.

"And if she remains hidden? Are you capable of finding her? I tried to feel her out when she was in the timeline, but she somehow denied me access to her thoughts. Even you cannot do that, nor Wtherm."

Mren was silent now.

"Brother... She concerns me. What if she turns against us? What if she turns the mortals against us? Would we survive a mortal uprising?"

Mren chuckled. "Sister, Mortals cannot touch us. Even if they tried, you know their power could not hurt us. I made it so."

"But if they transcend?"

"Then I shall be concerned."

Slyf sighed, walking in circles. "Brother, you do not grasp the situation. I have always been able to locate any entity, any of the most remote creation. Yet she remains elusive. I felt out the boy when I was there, the woman's link. He felt me out too."

Mren stopped, creating a temporary form of a twin to Slyf.

"Sister, do not worry. Absorb this clone, let it's power flow through you. It is the extent of mine, temporarily boosting yours. Locate her, and tell me why I should be worried."

Slyf stepped into the twin, shivering. Her power doubled, and then some. She felt out every demon of Wtherm's, every mortal created, every different minuscule particle, but... no woman.

She appeared in front of Wtherm and spoke to both Wtherm and Mren simultaneously. "We have a problem. The woman. I cannot locate her. She remains hidden, yet I can feel everything else. Brother, Wtherm, I am calling a meeting between the three of us. Not now, but after this woman, the one influencing mortals and taking our power, appears once more."

Wtherm's voice reverberated throughout existence, mortal realm included.

"A meeting it is, Brother, Sister. We convene."

Wtherm cut theirself off from their siblings, and Slyf sighed. "Brother, I must go. I will search out the woman, I will find her and speak. If not, I am sure Wtherm will."

Chapter 11

Fosoghd looked around, instinctively sharpening her mind for a mental assault.

A hole in space ripped open, and a vast... tentacle creature slipped out.

"Mortal."

That voice. That was the voice that spoke over creation. She was talking to a god. She blinked a number of times at... its form and shivered. "It's cold here... Deity."

"Wtherm," it said simply.

Oh, Mren, that was bad. She grinned slightly, blushing. "O-oh! Wtherm..."

"You corrupted my demons and sent them to a realm we cannot find. You have impressed me, mortal. I have never been impressed before. Not even after the creation of mortals."

Fos stood as tall as she could and nodded. "I'm glad to have the honor of impressing you. Now, for why you're here..."

Wtherm chuckled, and Fos suddenly realized it didn't have a mouth. "I like you, mortal. Perhaps we can come to terms of an... agreement. You are powerful, undoubtedly, and that more than anything has piqued my interest."

Fos's heart was fluttering, and she was blushing. "This agreement?"

Wtherm moved slowly, intently, gracefully. She was a bit impressed. "A simple alliance. Your power is causing a bit of... tension, between my siblings and I. You may upset the balance of power between us if you become immortal. I've come to speak with you first in the case of that happening. I am content with my power, and do not wish for less."

Fos nodded and let herself appear relaxed. "Well, I d-don't plan on taking power from you or your siblings on purpose, and if I do feel free to come talk to me about it! I'm not anything like you..."

Wtherm chuckled once more before starting to slip back into his own realm. "That is very true Mortal. You do not command respect, yet you stay intriguing... consider an alliance, and we shall speak again."

And with that he was gone with a sickening slurp. Fos shuddered and teleported home.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Gust woke with a gasp, hitting his head on the table. He groaned and moved, sitting back up. Everyone was talking amongst themselves, and Ice helped Gust steady himself. "You missed it. We heard a voice-"

Gust stopped her with a raise of his hand and nodded. "S-she did too. And then met the voice. Wtherm."

The table froze and stared at Gust. "Is this what my Goddess was speaking of?" Speech asked, concerned. Gust simply nodded and stared out into space.

"They're concerned. The true Gods. She's coming into more power. Threatening... threatening to take theirs."

The table was silent, and Ice placed her hand on his. "Let's not worry about it. It doesn't directly affect us yet, so let's put it out of our minds. The meal is delicious."

A couple agreements, and they began eating once more, in tense silence that Speech and Song didn't bother trying to break.

"We had a lovely time," Song said as they finished. "Truly. Just... events my husband will be worried about took place, and you can't have foreseen that. I hope we see you again soon, Gust."

Gust blushed, unable to find the words. Ice giggled and waved, stepping onto a thin piece of ice that somehow held all three of her family. "See you tomorrow Gust!"

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Gust slept poorly, dreams of Wtherm haunting him. He stumbled through part of his Wind Class, half-way through it he headed towards Sound Class, and then went to HoM. All three were boring.

His third class didn't have a teacher, and the disheveled Arch-Mage walked in, glaring.

"Enchanting," he barked, "You're all going to do it."

Ice, who was sitting behind him (and apparently sharing this class with him) gasped. A wave from the Arch-Magus, and quite a few simple iron swords floated in and onto each desk, a few enchanting materials following.

"Begin."

That was it, no instruction. Everyone looked around nervously, and Gust stood up. The Arch-Mage looked at him, and Gust looked at the sword, deciding to try and use a combination of magic on it.

Enchanting was dangerous, very much so. With practice, the enchantments could be more effective than smithing it, but a single, simple mistake could destroy the entire room.

Gust put in Wind to increase swinging speed, and decided to put in Sound to make the holder much quieter while wielding it.

He bit his lip, as did the class, as Gust gently probed it.

Moments later he woke up in the hospital wing, Ice next to him in bandages as well. "Use less Wind next time," she began as she noticed he was awake, "You threw everyone into the walls. One of them broke."

Gust groaned and fell back into bed, having tried to sit up. "Noted. Please don't tell me we have to do that again."

Ice groaned as well, locking eyes with Gust. "We do."

"Oh, Wtherm save me."

Ice laughed and... someone else did as well. Gust looked to his other side, seeing his mother sitting there holding a book.

A completely empty book for that matter. Gust looked confused, and Tornado grinned, pulling out a quill. "Ah've been hired by da Arch-Mage tuh write a book or two 'bout Wind spells. Gunna put in Theory and all."

"Oh, gods, take me early. Not Theory!"

Tornado laughed, and Ice giggled along with her. "W-what exactly happened after I tried enchanting?" Gust asked, purposely staring at the wall away from the book.

Ice sighed and tried to scratch an itch, but apparently failing as she continued to fidget. "Well, the sword exploded into hurricane-level winds. Did you try and put a Master Enchantment on it? Because whatever you did didn't work."

Gust was about to respond when the Arch-Mage walked in. "Back to class you two. Tornado, my dear, you may attend if you wish to see our students in practice."

Tornado grinned and nodded her head. "Wouldn' miss it if Ah had tuh have anuda baby in dere."

Gust blushed and Ice choked, laughing. "M-Ma!"

The Arch-Mage raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Tornado, Gust is your son? I shouldn't be surprised, he is excellent."

Gust sighed and let his mind wander, picking up... only three powerful minds. His own, his mother's, and Ice's. The Arch-Magus seemed... weak.

But on the other hand he was intimidating and made up for it by running the University more efficiently than ever before. So it was all good.

Shuddering, Gust and Ice were both forced up, and Gust bit his lip to avoid a scream. Ice wasn't so lucky, and did let out a small scream.

"Why do this to us?" she asked, shuddering. She got no answer.

They were escorted back to class, where Gust found out only five minutes had passed. Tornado sat confidently in the front of the room, scribbling in the empty book. She closed it, turned it towards her, and titled it.

"Wind School: A book. As Written By Tornado, Tenth Age Year Fifty."

Gust sighed and looked back at his... pile of broken iron fragments. "I'm supposed to enchant this?!"

The Arch-Magus grinned and nodded. Gust sighed, standing up once more. Everyone else moved away.

Gust glared angrily, and decided to put the full force of Mental School into it. Suddenly, to Gust's and everyone else's utter amazement, the sword repaired itself. Gust picked it up, feeling it. It was... changed. Familiar somehow-

Fosoghd's enchanted sword. The one that corrupted demons. That’s where he recognized it. Gust made it.

Gust felt light-headed but managed to glance up at the shocked Arch-Mage. "I'm keeping this sword."

Tornado nodded and laughed, writing a bit more. "Ah'm vouchin'. I want tuh get a better look at dat sword."

The Arch-Magus had the common sense to not argue with a Supreme.

Gust felt a little... well, something brush against his mind. His defenses shot up, and Tornado screamed in pain.

"MREN DAMN YA GUST! PUT DOSE DOWN!"

Gust hastily let them recede and Tornado rubbed her head, ink dripping all over. She glared, sighing.

"Testin', Ah'm testin' dis spell heah," Tornado said, humming slightly. She mentally laughed, repeating it once more in tune with her humming.

"Ah can hear ya Ma. Why test it when Ah'm in class?"

"Well, Ah figured since yer done and all, yer gunna help me with my defenses. Feelin' yers, Ah know theys good."

Gust nodded and sighed, swinging his sword. The Sound Enchantment was faulty as well, probably a product of the sword exploding and repairing itself.

"Well, den, lemme feel yer defenses," Gust said, breaking their mental link.

Then Gust realized he had a mental link with his mother and choked. Well, that was a Supreme spell if he ever saw one, and he was holding a Supreme Enchanted sword...

"Gods help me."

Tornado's mind became hazy, and Gust gently probed at her defenses. Why was he doing this? Well, she was his mother. Still, though, he should be enchanting or something, or at least helping others enchant. But instead he was helping his mother truly achieve Supreme Mastery.

The defenses were strong, yet weak. Gust sighed and blew a small gust of mental wind dead center, and the defenses collapsed.

"Focus on every part, not just the most often attacked," Gust said mind-to-mind once he established a new link.

The class continued with enchantments, luckily with no explosions that actually knocked out students like Gust's had, and Gust continued training with Tornado, and halfway through the lesson, Ice. Once in awhile a rush of magic overcame the three of them as a student botched an enchantment.

"I don't get it!" Ice cried into their minds. "Glacier Mental is too hard!"

Ice had tears in her eyes that she was attempting to hide, though not succeeding very well. Gust sighed, hating to see her so sad.

"Ice," Gust began soothingly, "Try to think of your mind as your element. Imagine it surrounded in a wall of thick glacial ice. Everlasting ice. Use it's strength to ward off attacks."

"I-I already do that Gust! It's just, I just..."

"Shhh, don't worry. Think of it this way, then: Your mind is weak. Weak, very weak, but extremely valuable. What do you do with valuables you can't protect?"

"Hide them..." Ice replied, thoughts turning and rapidly shifting. Her mental ice was already moving to a more defendable position.

"Exactly. Try to create your standard wall of ice... but hide it behind three others. Thicker in completely different places, so nobody knows where to really attack."

She followed his advice, and Gust attacked. Had he not known Mental School and was thus able to see through every layer and already affect her mind, he would not have succeeded. Granted, his access to a defended mind was like that of a child.

"Very good!" Gust accidentally said aloud. One of the students, the one behind Ice, clapped and raised his sword.

"Thank you Gust! Not as good as yours, but it's my best!"

Gust grinned and played it off, walking over and admiring the sword while Ice and Tornado giggled together.

Chapter 12

Tornado walked over to Gust and Ice at the end of their class, walking over to a sword. She stared at it, grabbing a gem for enchanting and grinning.

"Ah was always terble at this."

The class slowly started backing away, and Tornado hummed, throwing a variety of Supreme and Master spells haphazardly onto it. Gust picked up his Mental School sword, Fosoghd's, and looked at it.

Mental School sure made interesting enchantments. There wasn't one specific thing that it did, but rather... well, what Gust needed most. And what he really needed was to find out more about Fosoghd.

So he made her sword.

Was that why he dreamed of her? Was he to become a friend? Sell her a sword?

Gust clutched his side as a twinge of pain hit it. He looked up, shuddering. He was still bleeding in various places, and he stole a glance at Ice. She wasn't bleeding, not anymore. Gust looked around the class, where the other students were either rushing out the missing fourth wall or the door, or huddled in the corner. Tornado's enchantments were interesting, but at the same time very, very scary.

The Arch-Magus was nowhere to be found, but Gust's interest was taken by Tornado, who picked up the sword and grinned. "Ooh, lookie whad Ah made. It works!"

She laughed, swinging the sword, which caused a bunch of people to fly out of the room through the missing wall as a gust of wind hit them.

A few people screamed, sprinting out. Gust sighed and hung his head, while Ice and Tornado both giggled.

"Le's jus' go home."

Tornado chuckled and stared at Gust, grinning more. "Mebye. O' mebye we kin go see yer fada at work. 'Elp 'im out. Ah hear dere's dis clan o' bandits threatenin' tuh attack wit' der trained gremlins."

Ice smirked and nodded. "Let me guess, you want us to deal with it? With us being Masters and all that?"

Tornado shrugged and grinned. "Council wants us tuh do it. Wants tuh see how powful da Mastas are."

"Us?" Gust interected, aghast. Trained gremlins? The horror. "B-but Ah like mah mana," Gust stammered, shuddering. "M-must Ah?"

Tornado laughed, nodding. "Well, ya kin run, bu' Ah'll make sure ya don' git far."

Gust paled and took a deep breath, steadying himself. "Le's git goin'."

Tornado didn't even lift a hand before Gust was thrown violently out with the full force of a Supreme Travel Spell.

The Supreme Travel Spell. Within an instant, Gust fell down next to his father, who jumped. "Gust! What are you doing here?"

Gust opened his mouth before Ice screamed as she hit a (probably soft, to her at least) wall of ice right above the ground, and Tornado gracefully descended without even showing what was up her silver colored robes.

"Oh, OH! Hello dear!" Breeze said, standing straight. "Unit, attend! My wife is here!"

A number of catcalls in a myriad of accents followed, as well as disheveled soldiers. None of them stood at attention, most were slouched and grinning stupidly.

"Oh? You gotta wife? Since when? Didja pay her to marry you? What's your name hot stuff, Whimper?"

Tornado smirked and nodded. "Abslootly, 'nd Ah'm heah tuh destroy da bandits threatenin' mah town. So git out da way."

The man raised an eyebrow, yet didn't move. Breeze smirked. "Bad move, man."

Tornado glared, and the man began to shrink. "Mah. Name. 'S. Tornado."

Gust shivered, backing up a little. His mother's mind expanded and lashed out at the man, a Supreme Wind Mental spell attack smashing through the man's defenses with the skill and sophistication of an avalanche.

The man screamed and clutched his head, and Tornado smirked. The rest of the men shot down to their left knee, their right knee straight up with both their hands on top of it, heads bowed.

"You're finally at attention? Good," Breeze said, nodding. "I'm commander of this failing unit, but even I'm not stupid enough to anger my wife like that. You'll listen to her like you don't listen to me. Both my son and his girlfriend here are Masters, just so you know."

Tornado laughed, motioning towards Gust. "Ya shoul' see wha' Gust enchanted, hon." She flipped her hand and Fos' sword floated beside him.

Everyone could feel the enchantment if they remotely tried to sense for it. Tension rose, and Gust sighed. It was just like his mother to make things easier for herself with a blatant disregard for everyone else. She seemed to take a slightly odd pleasure in bossing them around.

Gust grabbed the blade and wondered how it got there, and where to put it. He walked around for a few minutes, searching for and eventually finding the ever-present blacksmith.

"Oh, whatsa Masta like ya wanna sword fo'?"

Gust showed his simply forged sword to the smith and bit back his accent. "Don't need a sword, I've got one better than you can smith. I just need someplace to keep it with me."

The smith eyed the sword professionally and nodded, heading back to his workplace and producing a very familiar scabbard. The smith grunted. "Da sword's betta den I've eva seen. Ye'll need mah best scabbard, and dis here's it."

Fos' scabbard. So Gust had her scabbard and sword. It made sense.

"I got lucky afta a battle one time, got a Metal tuh enchant it. It'll go untouched through a Supreme battle."

Gust carefully took it and sheathed his sword, attaching it to himself. "What do I owe you for this?"

The smith shook his head, looking Gust in the eyes. Despite his attitude, they were kind. "It's free. Ya need it more than most, and I was neva gonna get ridda it otherwise. Dat and ya mother scares me."

Gust nodded. "T-thank you. And yeah, she scares most of us." After the smith made no move to continue talking, instead heading back to his forge, so Gust walked off.

The camp was shabby and near the recently-cut-down side of town. It was a temporary camp to deal with a singular problem, not there to prepare for a siege. Gust found Ice relaxing on top of a stump, ice trailing around her.

Gust coughed slightly, but Ice didn't turn around or even flinch. "You look bored," Gust said, biting back his urge to flip back into his accent.

Ice sighed and shrugged. "Something bothering you?"

Ice turned around and nodded, smiling ever so slightly. Gust paled, thinking he knew what this was about. He'd seen the move used before on unsuspecting men in the town. "I-it hasn't been a week. P-please don't say you're thinking of..."

Ice giggled slightly and bit her lip. "I'm of age, you're of age, my father won't approve of any less than what he's seen around you, and your mother likes me. I'm just going to tell you now, if you asked to wed me none of them would say no."

Gust opened his mouth in shock before a singular yell was heard from a ways away. Scouts had likely found their position, and they were about to fight trained gremlins.

Ice smiled coyly and jumped up, skating away with a grace and precision that made Gust blush. He didn't need to think too much about it, girls had usually avoided him and now, more than ever, had a reason to avoid him. Those that didn't avoid him met his mother, and promptly never talked to him again. Yet here was Ice: graceful, clever, intelligent, beautiful, and perhaps even in love with him. He knew it didn't take much to fall in love, countless stories and poems the bards recited made sure of that, but it still took him aback to have literally run into it like that.

Yet some part of him was attached to Fosoghd. A god was certainly out of his league, but he felt like he knew her intimately well, and if he ever saw her would be unable to resist himself. If he did marry Ice, he didn't want to cheat on her with Fosoghd.

He shoved the thoughts out of his mind and barricaded the exit, heading towards the yelling. The men under the command of his father were standing at attention, weapons drawn on their knees. It wasn't too impressive a display, after all it was only a handful of men. The smith was not present, but that was to be expected. Ice stood at the front, conversing quietly with Tornado.

Gust approached and saw them, the gremlins. Tiny and ferocious, the gremlins were capable of hiding behind the stumps, just making them more dangerous. Ice began to freeze everything, and Tornado just smirked.

A handful of men, numbering no more than twenty, rushed into view from somewhere. One of them had to be a proficient mage to hide them like that.

Before Gust knew what was happening, he was all alone. Everyone else had charged and were brandishing their weapons, Ice and Tornado at opposite sides of them providing magical cover and attacking any outliers. Gust rushed in as one of his father's men fell, shaking.

One of the gremlins turned deep red, snarling. It's ears grew out to two feet in length from an inch, and it's fat disappeared to reveal little more than it's skeleton. It started moving faster, and blocking blows that should kill it, even eating hostile mana aimed at it.

Gust rushed in, Fos' sword at the ready. He swung the sword with all his strength, feeling it connect with the target. The gremlin, like most, wore no armor and was deeply wounded, but Gust was no swordsman and the gremlin lived. A large cut spanned it's body diagonally, and Gust's eyes widened.

The gremlin latched itself onto Gust's leg, and he screamed with mortal terror. Mana was being stripped from him quicker than he ever felt possible, but...

But what? She was fine, wasn't she?

No, no he wasn't, there was a gremlin and it was gnawing on his leg and he couldn't do anything and-

Fine. She was fine, of course. Her target hadn't seen her. Not yet, at least. Oh, but he would, but by then it would be too late. Far too late.

A gremlin trainer, this man deserved no mercy and no chance to defend himself. Fos brandished a knife, twirling it. She hated knives. Too small, too quick. If she couldn't use swords, a bow, or magic she didn't want to use it. Knives were a necessity, though, especially in government buildings.

Oh, and they were easy to poison. Useful to poison, too. Poisoning a sword wasn't too useful when she only used them in large fights, and she never missed with an arrow so there was no point in poisoning it.

Fos walked confidently through the building, gazing in awe at what she saw. She typically avoided buildings like this, too heavily armed, but sometimes she couldn't help it.

That and she was a god rank. That was helpful.

She turned the corner and bumped into her target, her knife slipping into his arm easily as she pretended to fall. He steadied her as she put the knife away, wincing before checking his purse. Smart man.

"Watch out where you're going, stupid whore. My left foot is more important than you'll ever be."

Oh, screw poison. She took out the dagger and cut off his hand, angrily stomping off. She knew he had no magic, same with the guards. Those outfitted with weapons typically did not use magic, with assassins being an exception.

"Halt! Murderer! You'll be spending the rest of your days in a noose for your insol-"

Gust gasped as he woke up, the battle over. He closed his eyes in shame, sighing.

Fos kept interrupting his life. He would either have to hunt her down, find out what these dreams meant for him, or somehow stop them. He couldn't afford to become attracted to her with Ice around. Or, gods forbid, both of them.

Chapter 13

Gust sat up, holding his head, letting his senses come back to him.

"-worst than useless! Your son, Commander, is a liability that we cannot keep!"

"I'm quite aware, and he will not be joining us, like my wife and his girlfriend, in future missions, nor when we move camp tomorrow. Now stop criticizing him, Slyf Herself has spoken to him. Once you have a Goddess telling you that you're special you can complain."

That shut the man up. Gust glanced over at his father, who was indeed arguing with someone, and groaned. Neither Ice nor his mother were anywhere to be found. A sharp pain went through his leg as he attempted to stand, and his mana faltered, not responding when he tried to steady himself.

He leaned against a stump, moaning to himself out of misery. He looked around, seeing a number of frozen stumps, and people, but no actual Master or Supreme spells were cast. Good thing, too, they were rather close to the town. What was the point of bringing them in, though? The military surely was capable of handling it by themselves!

Breeze helped Gust back to camp, where he found Ice talking animatedly with the smith, interested in how the iron was forged. Gust blushed slightly and Breeze took notice.

"Fancy her, eh? I remember meeting your mother's mother, your grandmother, for the first time. She's quite like your mother is, just not nearly as powerful. It's very intimidating to have to gain a mother's approval, rather than a father's. You should count yourself lucky to have found her."

Gust sighed and leaned against his father, still out of earshot of Ice. "She hinted that she wants to marry. We haven't known each other long at all."

Breeze laughed and wrapped Gust in a hug. "Your mother will be urging it soon, if not accepting for you. In the past, she would keep taking my breath away with a spell and not letting me breathe until I asked for her to marry me. It was only our second date, too."

Gust let out a disbelieving laugh, and Breeze nodded. "Your mother is a firm believer in the old ways when it comes to marriage. Hey, maybe Slyf will even be at your wedding to bless you!"

Gust froze and went slack at the prospect. Would she? He never even considered it. It was a vital part of life, marriage. When two individuals shed themselves and reemerged anew, true adults and not just "of age".

Gust shuddered, thinking. He would have to go out and find a location to settle with his wife, a nice house. He had an idea already, an abandoned location that would be easy to restore to living standards, but...

Actually, Gust could think of no sound reason to delay. He stiffened like a child before the power of an inferno, and shuddered. No logical reason existed for his delay, he needed man up before another asked.

Gust shook his head to himself, his father leaving him alone. While approaching a Master was difficult, many would work up the courage just to marry her, if only to leave her alone and heartbroken. To marry a Master was quite the accomplishment, even if one was a Master themselves.

No, he couldn't allow it. It was common practice to ask the right one quickly, slower and they would inevitably leave each other for others.

Ice was off in the distance and Gust shook himself, taking a step forward. Really? Did he want to do this? Want to? No. But he had to. For her, for his future, for her protection, and for adulthood.

He walked over before his courage failed and spun Ice around, who blushed at his determined face. "Ice, I've thought a bit about it. If your father deems it acceptable, would you marry me?"

Ice smiled widely and ran the remaining few inches straight into a hug, choking Gust. "If your mother allows, absolutely!"

Ice took no time at all to leave, blushing sheepishly and mumbling something incoherent. Gust gathered she was about to go ask permission from his mother, and he groaned.

Time for him to tell Speech about his proposal.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

There were few people in the church, but there were people nonetheless, which surprised Gust. Usually the church was barren except for holy days, but Slyf approaching within the Floating Goblin stirred up people's religious beliefs, and now the church was oftentimes occupied by one group or another.

Speech was at the head of the temple, reading aloud from a text.

"And thus Slyf left the man! But Man was ascended! Man arose with power! The power to shape, to change! MAN AROSE WITH MAGIC!"

Speech's preaching went up in volume and energy, and Gust felt a Sound Spell silently used to augment it, sending it evenly throughout the church. Fifteen minutes more passed before a short break, whereupon Speech approached Gust.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, my child? My apologies, I meant my Prophet."

Oh, gods, Gust hated that. Whenever a deity spoke directly to someone, all three times in history Slyf did it now, they were referred to as "my Prophet" by priests and nobles who knew about their unique relation to Slyf.

"Y-you don't need to call me that, Head Priest Speech."

Speech smiled slightly and nodded. "And you don't need to call me 'Head Priest' either. Now, not that I mind, but why are you here? You and your family don't usually attend."

Gust shook his head and choked out a laugh. "N-no, we're not very religious. I-I'm actually here for you. W-would y-you m-m-mind if I m-m-m-marr-"

"Yes yes, yes! Oh, I was hoping you would ask! It is an honor, Gust Sound, and you absolutely may marry my daughter. I expect a reply from your, whom, mother?, within a fortnight."

Gust blushed deeply, possibly deeper than ever before, and stammered even more, unable to get out a response. Speech laughed, turning Gust around and patting him on the back. "Now, now, my child, I remember the feeling all too well. Go, before you make a fool of yourself as you did when leaving my house. Go."

Gust did.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Ice was sitting next to Tornado, who was fooling with the wind and pretending to have not heard her request for marriage.

"Excuse me? Tornado? Uh, are you there?"

Tornado smirked, evidently having fun. She sat away from where they had fought, hidden, so Ice needed to search a bit before finding her.

"Ah don' think dat Gust is redy fo' marriage."

Ice couldn't help herself, and laughed aloud. "S-sorry, but I don't either. He'll need a wife's support."

Tornado laughed aloud too, nodding. "Ya know what ya's gunna face, den?" Ice blushed and shrugged in response, and Tornado continued. "Well, ya really don't. Bu', knowin' Gust, yer gunna have a control ova him dat ye'll neva imagine befo', 'nd ye'll find dat Gust is da right one fo' ya. Ya have mah blessing."

Ice blushed and gave Tornado a hug, beaming at her. Tornado laughed and coughed, ridding herself of (well, most of) her accent temporarily. "Now, now. I hate speaking like dis, and Ah can't keep it up. Ice, you formally have mah blessing for marriage. As Supreme Overseer of da city, under the direct authority of da King Himself, you may marry my son."

Tornado massaged her throat, shuddering. "Oh, Ah hate doin' dat mo' den talks wit da thrice-damned king."

Ice's mouth dropped open and Tornado smirked. "Well, 'e is. 'Is wife damned 'im, 'is daughta damned 'im, and Mren's church damned 'im."

Ice laughed and blushed even more, wiping a tear from her eyes. "I'm honored to have joined your family Tornado. I shall do my best to be the best mother I can, knowing I have you to question along with my own parents."

Tornado ran her hand along Ice's collarbones, a Supreme Wind spell going completely through her. "Ya have mah blessin', no more need fo' flattery. Bu' ya kin keep it up. Now go, 'nd let dis protection spell hold ya safe 'til marriage."

Ice bowed, standing up and skating off.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Gust arrived at home rather late. He had left for the library, taking out a book on time and a book on space. He wanted to know more about Fosoghd. What, exactly, detailed her power? What could she do?

Chapter 14

Fos sighed, shivering. She hated arctic countries. Too cold, far too cold. She glanced around and shook her head.

No, they wouldn't be here. Not here.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Gust awoke with a start, shuddering. He was... cold. The window was open, and it was still nighttime. That explained it.

There was a light breeze going through his room, and he glanced around. Books were strewn about haphazardly, and Gust sighed. He picked them up and stacked them, aware he wouldn't manage to fall back asleep anytime soon.

He opened the book on Time, sighing and wishing he could produce a magical light. It would be so helpful, but he couldn't. Light School was not his specialty.

He manually lit a candle, and sat with his back to it. He stretched a bit, settling into a comfortable position, with a light, and warm, breeze aimed at himself so that it didn't interfere with the books.

Time

A book.

Time is a difficult Magical School to learn. Very, very difficult, and many die attempting to learn it.

You see, DO NOT try to learn Time if you are not good at magic.

My name is Time History, and I am proficient at magic. One thing you, my dear reader, must understand is this:

Time Magic has only two forms. Mastery, and Supreme Mastery.

Yes, that's right. Time, in and of itself, is not like a plebe like you would expect. It is not linear. It does not begin, it does not end. There are no set points, even in history, much to my disappointment.

A Supreme Master of Time, the name of which I do not know, is capable of travelling backwards or forwards in time longer than a day, which is the limitations on a Master. This is because of how time itself acts.

You cannot define time. It simply is. You can try to comprehend, but unless you try it yourself I cannot fully explain. I shall do my best, but bear in mind what I tell you is very little compared to what is, solely because time is impossible to put into words.

Imagine a line. A perfectly straight line. That is many people's perception of time. Now, see that line changing a bit, with peaks and valleys, going back on itself and circling around as it feels like. Imagine it becoming increasingly hard to decipher, until it just becomes impossible to see where you enter and leave, and what goes on.

That last part is time. Not a day goes by where someone in the world doesn't mess with time at least a little bit.

I proceed to the simplest of spells, half of teleportation. The stopping of time.

Gust blinked a bit and stopped reading, rubbing his head. Trying to comprehend time was just not possible for him, and he groaned. Whatever Fos did, it was beyond him. Far, far beyond him. Maybe, just maybe, Mole might be able to begin to understand and try it himself, but he doubted it.

And Fos made it seem like it was conjuring a breeze to a natural Wind user.

He set down the book on time, bewildered, and picked up the book on Space School. He opened it, but groaned. It wasn't even in Human. How did he not catch that at the library? And why was the title in Human?

He set it down and sighed, standing and... and...

And what? She felt it. They were around. Finally! But now was not the time. She couldn't even think of what it was, not out of lack of remembering, but because if she thought about it then they'd be able to know. She couldn't have that. Not yet.

She walked around the small town, sighing. She didn't like small towns, she didn't like big towns, she didn't like being alone in the wilderness... there was nowhere she truly enjoyed being. Her wife's company, perhaps, so she settled with wherever her wife wanted her to be.

She walked around in the forest, humming softly to herself. She heard a rustle of branches and put her hands in the air, showing her sword in its sheath.

"Leiauo."

Gods, she hated elvish. It was harder to pronounce than Mren was to comprehend. But, the elves had one thing going for them. It was so much easier to get your point across. She turned slowly, deliberately, and showed no inclination of reaching for her sword. In fact, her face showed that she was bored.

"Groiuyt bewertyse bhycqi," the male elf responded. She cocked an eyebrow and shook her head, speaking in her normal tongue.

"My apologies, Master Elf, but I know little of your language. I find it hard to understand when you are not born into it."

The elf lowered his bow and put the arrow back in his quiver. "What is your business here, Human? We've had enough of your kind chopping our trees."

Fos laughed and shook her head. "If I needed wood you wouldn't have seen the trees disappear. No, I walk to walk, and for no other purpose than to think."

She knew the elves were a bit similar to herself, but the arrogance... Elves had a completely different view of magic, and thus a completely different way of casting and understanding that she couldn't begin to understand. It combined Schools in ways she didn't think possible, but every creature understood power levels, and if she wanted she could shock the elf into submission.

"What is your name, O Master Elf? If you do not mind, but I do not wish to call you 'Master Elf' as long as I remain here."

"You could not pronounce it. You may settle with Wood, as your names would likely call me. And yours?"

Fos smiled. This elf was nice. He wasn't like the others, he actually cared for humans, though he didn't seem like it. Most elves would have tried to shoot her for asking such a personal question.

"Fosoghd. Fos for short."

The elf cocked an eyebrow and adjusted his bow, leaning against a tree. "I've not heard of any Magical School that would involve that."

Fos smiled sweetly and laughed. "No, no. I am beyond such simple naming."

"Explain."

There, Fos noted, was the typical elven temper. To them all humans were so stupid and ignorant that they couldn't stand to be in their presence, much less listen to them speak or even learn their language.

"With power like mine, we leave normal names behind for unique ones. You may have heard of Rirnk, the one who talks with water. They call him a mini-god. He is not. He is just a powerful magician.

"I, however, have talked directly to Wtherm. He spoke to me, and-"

The elf nocked an arrow and fired at Fos before she could finish, and Fos teleported behind him, grabbing the bow and freezing it in time. "Let me finish, Elf."

The elf froze and she continued. "I am no necromancer. I am no summoner. He spoke to me because he, and his siblings, worry over my power. I may join their ranks."

The elf let go of the bow, spinning around faster than Fos could keep track of, and leveled a dagger at her. "And what is stopping me from performing ifewnkios?"

"Nothing. But, if you attempted, I would be forced to destroy you. I have nothing but respect for all elvenkind, and I have no wish to become an elf-killer."

The elf lowered his dagger and glared at her. "You spoke to the demon-god. Explain."

Fos laughed. "He wanted to ally with me. He wanted to ensure I didn't take over aspects he controls now. I stole some of his creatures, they are frozen in a realm by themselves, with no way out. Wtherm cannot find them. He's impressed."

The elf sheathed his dagger and motioned towards his bow. Fos raised a hand, and the bow began to drop as it unfroze. The elf caught it and motioned, to which Fos followed.

They arrived in a small, hidden city. Well, city was generous. Elves were nomadic, but this was obviously a place of worship, as so many elves were about. "Fionskoeyjwlisieownlsybqyze!"

The elves froze and stared at Fos, who looked bored. It was purposeful. She recognized the word.

The word was used very rarely. It signified direct interaction from the gods. As she heard it, some god talked with the elves. However, they never gave a name so nobody believed them, and ignored their claims. Fos believed it, as elves rarely, if ever, lied.

The elves all stood as tall as possible, and one of them growled. Fos flicked a wrist, and one of Wtherm's creatures tumbled out. The elves all jumped away, and the creature was sucked back into it's realm.

The forest rumbled and Wtherm's voice came from above. "Mortal, I demand you return my property."

Fos crossed her arms and cocked her head. "Wtherm. I have thought about your last proposition. I accept."

There was silence. One minute. Two. Three. Five. Finally, "Very good. Fosoghd, I hereby claim you as an ally. Please warn me if you attempt to do large scale magic, as I do not want power taken from me."

The voice faded and Fos nodded. "Of course."

The elves froze. All of them just froze. There was no other word for it. None of them even breathed.

She was referred to by name, not as "Mortal".

Wtherm saw Fos as an equal.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"Gust! Ah wanchya up!" Tornado screamed into his ear, causing Gust yell out. He was drenched in sweat and sprawled out on the ground, and Tornado smirked.

"Dreamin' of Ice, dere? Ya were mumblin' in yer sleep."

Gust shook his head and groaned. "Fosoghd. Her. She... she's done it. Wtherm considers her as... as.... an equal."

Tornado nodded and laughed. "Yep, makes sense. Afta all, she sounds pow'ful."

Gust sighed disappointed, thinking that the news would have shocked her, but got up anyhow. "Let's go eat, I'm hungry. Been up since... been up a while."

Tornado was singing atrociously, and woke up Breeze and Window. They stumbled into the kitchen when there was a knock at the door.

Tornado froze and wind blew it open. "Tornado?" a soft, feminine voice called.

"In heah. Wha' is it, 'n' who're ya?"

A woman, no, a teenager walked in. She was small but cute, Gust had to admit. If he wasn't engaged to Ice he would have been flustered. Her hair was pitch black and her eyes were red, and she smiled sweetly. She wore loose fitting clothes, but not a robe. So not a magician, obviously. Then how did she get up the jetstream?

"My name is Shadow Fire, and I'm here to ask you to join the Supreme's Underground."

Chapter 15

"No," Tornado replied without the slightest bit of hesitation. "Da Supreme's Underground ain't for me, 'n Ah dunt have no need for it. Why's a little girl like you in da SU anyhows?"

Shadow Fire shook her head and sat down in an extra chair at the table. Window glanced around, extremely confused, while Gust watched Shadow Fire cautiously.

"Where else would I go? I've got natural talent, but that's about it. I could control darkness, and learned fire, but... that's it. I can't build, I'm no politician, I can't grow a crop for the life of me, and I can't sell a glass of water to a desert dweller! The SU are the only ones who cared about me, even my parents gave me up."

Shadow Fire had tears in her eyes, but quickly stood and wiped them away. "SU expected this response, but we'll still wait for another. I'll be around the area, when you're ready to join I'll be there to welcome you, and if you never do... you'll have to face the darkness."

Tornado stood up, wind picking up within the house, knocking over and breaking a few cups. "Get out of my house, Shadow Fire, or face the wrath of an angry Wind User."

Gust backed away, as did Window and Breeze. Shadow Fire stared at Tornado, but quickly paled and backed away. Gust felt her mind shrink back in, and he gasped. He hadn't even felt it expand! Shadow Fire nodded and stopped at the doorway. "If you do join, Tornado, talk about getting the stupid name Shadow changed. I hate it, and they won't listen to me. Shadow... seems like a beginning name."

She walked out and fell down the jetstream, and something smelled of smoke. Gust turned around and froze at the raging fire near the oven. Tornado huffed and waved a hand lazily, wind extinguishing the fire and blowing even more cups over and breaking them. "Ah dunno why, but she makes me angry. Must be dat darkness she pretty much leaks," Tornado said, glaring at the door Shadow Fire walked out of. "Doesn't seem natch-you-rall," she said, quoting someone and drawing it out. Gust walked out of the cramped kitchen and into the even more cramped living room, where he hadn't been recently.

Not much had changed since a week or two ago when he last visited the room; things were still strewn about randomly and there was evidence of people sleeping there, instead of their beds, and eating mana there. Gust looked around in disgust and walked out.

The hallway was small and led to the bedrooms, living room, and kitchen. There was nowhere else in the house, which explained why everywhere had miscellaneous stuff scattered about. From remains of books that had been destroyed in one of Tornado's fits to things that belonged in rooms, scattered due to Tornado's fits.

Food. He needed food. Gust sighed and resigned himself to wait until lunch for food. He walked out into the jetstream and quickly broke free, letting wings of air carry him towards the University.

"Boo!" screamed Smoke, whipping around in his travelling smoke form. "Ha! Look at you jump, you- Hey!"

Gust grinned and spun around rapidly, trapping Smoke within his current and spinning him around as fast as possible. Smoke made unintelligible sounds, disorientated, as Gust began to correct himself. He was glad there weren't all that many wind users, as the air wasn't as policed like he heard it was in the Capitol. He slowed himself, and Smoke, down and landed right in front of the University, dusting himself off and grinning. Smoke popped back into his human form and groaned. "Why do you do that?"

"Says the idiot who can throw off my balance."

"You're nearly a Master, I'm pretty sure you can handle some simple travelling! Even your brother can!"

"No, no he really can't," Gust said, laughing. "He's so bad at magic, I bet he's gonna be a farmer."

Mole appeared virtually out of nowhere and rested his arms on Smoke's shoulders. "I'm so tired. Walk me through my day," he slurred, closing his eyes. He shot up and coughed, dusted himself off as Ice strutted over, throwing her arms around Gust and jumping into his arms. Gust threw his arms out and caught her, wincing and biting his bottom lip as he struggled to hold her.

"I- I'm... gah... I'm not an athlete!" he gasped, panting slightly. She kissed him and let herself fall, landing on her knees and smiling coyly, lifting her hand up for him to pull her back to her feet. He complied, blushing slightly.

"Aww, what a sweet man you are!" she said, winking at him. Smoke and Mole stood, flabbergasted.

"What happened between you two?" Smoke asked, flames dancing around him. "I mean, really?"

"Uh..." Gust began, blushing, "I sorta... well, we're engaged."

Mole clapped and Smoke laughed, pulling Gust into a hug and patting him on the back. "Two Masters, marrying each other. How predictable."

Gust rolled his eyes and smiled, blushing as Ice leaned into him and fluttered her eyes. "Oh, I can't wait. I hope your mother gets to my father soon, and we can arrange the wedding."

Gust blushed deeper, opening and closing his mouth soundlessly. "You're just too fun to tease," Ice said, skating off and waving.

"Are you sure you want to marry her? I'm single," Smoke said, winking and laughing. Gust shook his head and glared.

"I'm heading to... Mren, where do I head again? Sound or Wind class..?"

Gust sighed and shrugged. "Wind it is."

He lifted off the ground and flew off without another word, leaving Smoke and Mole alone.

He quickly hit a wall of solid air and fell forty feet, breaking an ankle. "AGGH!" he screeched, clutching at his ankle as things... changed.

Ankle? Why would she...

No, not now. He stood shakily before remembering his ankle was indeed broken.

What? No it wasn't. She looked down at her ankle, which was certainly fine.

"No!" Gust screamed collapsing.

Mren that hurt! Fos picked herself up and looked down at her dress in disgust. The cloth it took to make it was expensive, and now she had a tear! Not to mention it was time consuming to make the dress by hand. She was not looking forward to fixing it.

"It was so perfect..." she mumbled to herself, glancing around. There was commotion off towards the west, and she smiled.

"Oh! Hey, I've not seen you around before. I would talk with you," Mole said, talking like scholar. Fos froze and memories clashed. She smiled sweetly, turning.

"Would you now? Unfortunately I have things to do..."

"Oh, that's fine. I don't need to talk now, but after Univeristy I plan on taking you out on a date," Mole said confidently. Smoke raised an eyebrow at Mole but didn't speak. Fos hoped her smile didn't look too fake.

"My name is sorta embarrassing," she said, eyes darting to the ground. She needed a name that wasn't Fosoghd... ah.

"Embarrassing how? I'm Mole, and you are..?"

"It's... well, it's Window," she lied, blushing. She glanced up but Mole was smiling. Mren, that wasn't good.

"Window? Not a magician, yet you're here at University... Ah! You must be a theorist!"

Fos grinned and clapped her hands. "Very good! I am indeed! Ever think abstractly about time? What if time wasn't just an object, a line, but a place? Why, if it were a place, wouldn't teleportation make sense? It's simply traveling to two different places, yet the mana pulls one way during the act, but another when on the ground! And can you imagine how that must feel? Stressful is what I hear. And History School is just incredible! Did you know-"

"Ah, uh, no, I didn't!" Mole interrupted, looking flustered. "Actually, uh, my class is about to start so I need to get going," he mentioned, motioning in the completely wrong direction. He grabbed Smoke and ran, leaving Fos alone and grinning.

"Nobody likes theory," she mumbled, laughing quietly. She approached the main building and strutted in, glancing around and walking aimlessly until the Arch-Mage's office came into view. She put on a professional look and waltzed in, fingering the dagger she kept tied to her leg through the fabric of her now-torn dress.

"What? Who's there? I'm not expecting visitors, nor do I care to have any!" the Arch-Mage grumbled. Fos smiled sweetly and batted her eyes, the Arch-Mage growing red. Wow, men were easy to manipulate.

"I'm your new theorist."

The Arch-Mage blinked in surprise, but nodded. "Then tell me the theory of the gods."

Fos closed her eyes and shook her head. "Theorizing on the gods is pointless. With a glance, the world will end and the gods' powers will have morphed." The best part about being a theorist? You don't need to know anything. You could make it all up on the spot and nobody would be any wiser. Fos did not like theory, but she needed to be here.

She had to.

Her plans would fail without it, and then cataclysm would strike them all to Mren.

Chapter 15.5; Discovery

"Son of a goblin!" his brother screamed. His sister and mother staring at him in disgust, and he knew his father would have too if he weren't at war.

"Monster!"

"Elf-lover!" his sister screeched, pointing at him. "Begone! I never want to see you again!"

People were hurling insults at him faster than he could process. He just... he just ate something he found because it looked good, and then things started happening. His body was stronger, and he found he could... well, understand it better. Like he could speak it's language.

Someone threw a cob of corn at him, and he ducked. It hit him, but didn't even leave a mark. He looked down at his own hands in disgust and knelt. "I am unclean! Purge me, O Mother!"

The air shimmered and a woman stepped out looking around before glancing down and smiling. "Look at you, coming along so nicely. Stand up, child, stand before your Goddess."

The insults stopped. People were scared, he could almost feel it. Nobody wanted to move, nobody wanted to talk. He stood up shakily, eyeing the Goddess and blushing.

"Good job mortal. What you have eaten I placed before you, as the time has come. A new age will advance, as I gift to all humankind magic. Feel it coursing through you? Of course you do. Now, Mortal, lead your family, your friends, to where you found the mana I placed for you. You shall find more there, cultivate it, grow more. Eat and gain magic. It is my gift to your race."

Slyf smiled as the man took it in. She glanced around. The form humans had was... pleasing. Elves were too strict, other sentient races were too untamed, but humans? Humans adapted to anything. They even passed her test. "My name is Slyf. Remember it, remember me."

She let herself sink back into her own realm before sighing and smiling. She chose a form! The first, really, of her brothers to do so, unless you counted Mren. Speaking of, she needed to speak with him. She turned and waved her hand, disrupting the space between their dimensions and sending her to him.

"Brother," she said, smiling.

"Sister. You chose a form," Mren said, opening one eye. "And one of my creations? Interesting."

"The mortals are interesting. I enjoy them. So I gave them a gift."

Mren's eye closed as he hummed deeply. "So I sense. Magic. Wtherm is going to love corrupting humans now. It was a shame, they would have made such excellent prey once the elves discovered how they tasted."

Slyf shook her head and motioned to her new form. "No, they are too pretty to be prey."

Mren chuckled a deep laugh and his dimension rumbled along with it. "Your tastes are quite intriguing sister. You almost sound like a mortal now that you have their form."

"I met with one. Their minds are very... odd. A mix between organized and disorganized. When focused, their minds are so easy to access and look through, but when confused? It all becomes so much fun."

Mren subtly began pushing Slyf back to her own realm, two eyes opening. "I must meditate now, Sister; Wtherm corrupted an elvish priest and I must deal with a hundred souls. Meeting the mortals... such a foolish decision, yet you seem to have improved. Your mood is very perky. Go, Sister, I officially task you Watcher of the Mortals. Ensure their survival."

Slyf smiled widely and nodded slowly. "I shall assume this position with pleasure, Brother. Until next time."

"Sister."

Slyf looked out into the mortal realm, at the man she spoke to. He was staring in glee and surprise at all the mana she had placed, and two cautious people were eating it. In the distance, Wtherm made a purring sound in happiness.

Chapter 16

Gust awoke suddenly, gasping for air. His ankle hurt so badly, but that wasn't what was worrying him. Fosoghd was in the same University as him.

"What class?" Gust mumbled, standing. The nurse glanced at him and looked at a paper.

"Third."

"Mren, no. I don't know what I'm s'posed to go to," Gust said and groaned. "Is it on that paper?"

"Yep. It's about to start, Theory class."

The nurse left and Gust walked out, hobbling a little. His ankle was painful, very much so. "Thanks!" he called out. The nurse didn't bother to respond, and Gust limped out into the next room, where Theory would be taking place.

The teacher was not there yet, but Ice, Smoke, and Mole were. Gust sat down near all three and let his face fall straight onto the wooden desk. "Theory can go to Mren," he mumbled.

Ice moved over and wrapped her arm around him, scooting him halfway off the chair and taking up the other half herself. "But theory is so nice!"

Another student, a rival of Gust's also named Gust, walked in like he owned the place. "Gust Sound," he said with a smirk. "Gettin' inta more 'nd more trouble."

"Oh, shut it Gust," he said, Ice leaning into him. "What have you even done recently?"

"Gust? Ha! My name is Wind. Ya woulda known had you been to Wind class."

Gust froze, cocking his head back. His rival had beat him to Mastery. Well, Wind Mastery. "Welcome to the club, fool."

Wind lifted a hand and a ball of air flew into his hand. "See this? You'll never be able to do this. This is the advanced magic you can't begin to comprehend, and-"

"Class, silent," a woman's voice said, interrupting Wind. The class turned and Gust blanched, staring.

Fosoghd.

Fos walked in and sat on top of the desk. "You may call me Window, and this is Theory class. You, there, guy who isn't sitting. You look ready to explain the fundamentals of the universe. Tell me, Wind magic, why doesn't it affect everything?"

Wind smirked and looked confident. "Well, things like water and ice are simply too hard to move for Wind magicians-"

"Ah, but there are also certain air-substances that don't follow commands. I know myself, I've felt them out."

Wind's mouth opened in retort before his vision went slack. "Uh.... I..."

"This is because the different airs have different properties. If a flame specialist were to walk up and use fire to those substances, the entire air would ignite. But Wind users can't even move it! Isn't it interesting? Now sit down or let Slyf strike you down."

Wind sat down where he stood and Fos shook her head. Fos walked around, tapping random people on the shoulders. "Each of you I tapped, stand. One of you should be able to tell me the theory of the gods."

Ice was tapped, nodding and answering without hesitation. "There is none."

Fos smiled and turned towards Ice. "And that is because..?"

"They're gods. They can do anything whenever they want. We exist at their whims. Why make a theory when they can change everything if they feel like it?"

"Very good!" Fos said, impressed. "And now... everyone's favorite. Magic."

The class whispered amongst themselves, a number of students looking pale. "M-magic?" someone whispered. Everyone knew magic was difficult to understand, especially when people weren't as proficient in it as others.

"Yes, Magic. You there, who answered my last question. Explain, what is magic?"

"Magic is the power to reshape the world," Ice began, closing her eyes. Wisps of ice began to swirl around, and her mind expanded to touch them, to look at their properties. She was using a Master spell as well, attempting to look through the eyes of her ice to see the world. "The power to reshape the world through a variety of modes. I use Ice, others use other modes. But at the basis are... uh... what were they called? Oh! Neodes. The neodes are the base of magic, and of creation." Ice's eyes were shut in deep concentration, and Gust could feel her mind whipping around at incredible speeds that he couldn't honestly keep up with. He detected her mind when it stopped for split seconds, before moving on.

"Neodes are how magic changes? I think. It's what it feels like at least. They... they change into a given form based on, on mana? Yes, on mana. If somebody is out of mana, they can't influence neodes. Wait, does that mean... does that mean we don't need mana to survive? But, but I thought we did!"

Fos clapped once, smiling. "You're almost right! Some of us don't need mana to survive. Look at the population charts though, and you'll notice that some do. Mana rich countries, such as ours, have a lot more powerful magicians, because if you observe your core in a serene, unaffected environment, you will notice that there's a difference between people. Specialists and above all need mana to survive."

Half of the room gasped, while another, single person cheered. "Yes! No more mana!"

Fos laughed quietly and looked around the room, a very, very light spell sending wind that could barely blow strands of hair throughout the room.

Gust closed his eyes and held his breath as Fos passed, but she stopped in front of his desk. "You there, why don't you go ahead and explain why Masters need mana to survive."

Gust let out a strangled sound and steadied himself. "U-uh... they..." Gust stammered. He was intimidated, undoubtly, because Fos was watching him. There was this twinkle in her eye, she knew that he knew who she really was. He glanced over at Ice, who had moved back over to her spot, and copied her actions. He scanned himself, feeling out his own body. Why did he need mana to survive? Oh, Mren, that was why. "Because... there's a lot of concentrated neodes in the body," Gust said, fixated on a particularly vibrant clump of neodes in his heart. "They... they make the body work."

Fos sat down and glared at the door, trying to make it open. "Yes, that's exactly right. We think. We're pretty sure, at least. Now all of you get out, I'm done with you," she said, flipping her brown hair around and staring at the wall.

People got up, confused, and slowly filtered out. Ice, Smoke, and Mole stood and looked at Gust, confused, as everyone else left. Class had barely started, were they already done? It certainly seemed so.

"Gust, you coming?" Ice said. Gust stared, mortified, at Fos. Now that they were alone, she seemed even more intimidating. If she knew that he knew... did Ice, Smoke, and Mole really matter to her? She could take on two Supremes and walk out on top, what would a Master and two Specialists do to her?

"Fosoghd," he said.

His three friends snapped around and stared at Fos with a new appreciation and look of fear in their faces. She raised a hand lazily, the dagger beneath her violet dress floating out and spinning menacingly. What type of magic was that? Gust didn't feel any wind, nor did her mind react in the least.

"Gust, Smoke, Mole, Ice. Nice to finally see you in person. I've been searching all over history for you four."

Fos toyed with the floating dagger, her mind expanding, in a way. It didn't touch any of theirs, but was always right next to them, nor did it leave the room. Gust spoke first, as he felt like he knew her. A blush emerged on his cheek as he looked her over.

"Why.... why are you here?" he asked. Fos was lounging on the teacher's desk, the tear in her dress seductively showing more of her leg. Gust forced his eyes off it, but they stopped on their own at her cleavage. It was deeper than he'd ever seen on a woman. He somehow continued upwards, and Fos' eyes were looking both wise and playful.

"Me? Oh, nothing important. Or maybe it was important. Who knows? You certainly don't, and none of you need to for a while. I won't hurt you. If you really want to know, don't reveal who I am either."

Ice stumbled over to Gust and looked at him. Her eyes were sparkling, but tarnished by the look of sheer terror she was experiencing. "T-this her? Fosoghd?"

Gust nodded and Fos stood, curtsying. "Indeed, for those who don't know or tried to hit on me, I am Fosoghd. Bask in my presence."

She waved towards the door, smiling. "Now you can go, all of you. Well, not you Gust. I would have words with you."

Ice, Smoke, and Mole hesitantly left, but hovered right outside the door. Smoke tried to get back in, but the door seemed frozen, as if Ice was panicking.

"W-what is it?"

Fos simply smiled and stood, planting a kiss on his forehead. "Now you may go."

Gust was ushered out and his friends looked at him hesitantly. "She... she..." She kissed me, he thought, but couldn't bring himself to say. He could still feel it. Her touch was so tender, gently holding his shoulder as her soft lips graced his forehead. She smelled of what he assumed was the sea, and she looked angelic. Her pale skin shone with light from a window, and when she pulled away she was smiling softly.

Ice was looking at him funny, though, so he blushed and walked away.

Chapter 17

She kissed me.

Gust was laying in bed, staring at the wooden ceiling. Ice came home with Gust, and was currently talking with his mother about something or another. His brother was sleeping, and his father was off with his troops to talk with the elves. Why they figured it was a good idea, Gust didn't know. Elves didn't like being bothered, much less so by sharp, pointy metal clanking around and threatening them.

Gust heard a rustling sound and someone got into bed with him. He turned over and saw Ice laying next to him, smiling coyly and looking at him. "Your mother talked to my father today. We're getting married! Which means you're all mine," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close to her. He could feel her breath on his forehead and he blushed, stirring slightly in a particular location.

"When shall we have the wedding?" Ice asked, closing her eyes. "I want it on a beautiful day. Maybe in the forest if the elves will let us. Under one of those orange-leafed trees, those are pretty. Have you found a place for us to live? I'm not sleeping here with you every day, you know..."

Gust shivered slightly as Ice nuzzled into him. He'd have to get used to the feeling. Well, he certainly didn't mind, but already marriage seemed far away. "Y-yeah. It's not livable now, but it shouldn't take much work to make it livable."

"Good," she mumbled before becoming quiet. Gust let himself drift to sleep in her warm embrace.

There was a light breeze. Gust looked around, confused, and saw Ice doing the same. "Weren't we just at your house?" she asked.

"Yeah, we were," he replied. They looked around, confused. There was a lot of sounds coming from all around, but they couldn't really see much. The sounds of torture came from nearby, and Gust held Ice close. "I don't like this feeling," he mumbled.

"Oh? What's this?"

Gust paled when he heard that voice. He knew that voice. "Wtherm," Gust said meekly. "Wtherm."

There was a chuckling sound, and the creature that was Wtherm slid over to them. "Indeed."

Ice let out a shriek and bowed, but Gust couldn't move at all. His body simply wouldn't let him. "I've seen you before, t-through her eyes."

"Oh? Who's eyes, exactly?" Wtherm asked, sliding over closer. A tentacle reached around Gust's neck and began to tighten. "You'll make an excellent puppet."

"Your ally's eyes," Gust wheezed.

The tentacle loosened significantly as Wtherm stopped. "So, you're the one my sister spoke about. The... link."

Gust nodded and fell to his knees in front of Wtherm as the tentacle let go of his neck completely. Wtherm made a sound not unlike snorting. "You deserve to be down there, weak human. Well, you seem important, but this one doesn't."

Wtherm lifted Ice with a tentacle and stabbed through her leg. She screamed, a violent, high-pitched scream that hurt Gust's ears. That was... that was his wife screaming. She was in bed next to him, sleeping with him...

Gust retreated into Mental School and launched an attack at the infinity that was Wtherm. He entered the "head" of the deity and immediately fell.

So many memories. So easy to just-

Where was that torture doll? There. Good, just where it was left. The doll lifted up and squirmed ever so slightly, wonderfully, just as it was supposed to. Four mortal years ago it was a respected noble, but then it made a deal with the Great Wtherm and was paying the price.

Wtherm always got what they wanted.

The memory vanished into another. It was Wtherm meeting Fosoghd for the first time. She looked so weak, yet felt so strong. She composed herself like an ant waiting to be crushed, but it felt like if she was crushed, everything would be crushed with her. Like she was a trap waiting to be sprung, and that was the only reason Wtherm didn't destroy her like the foolish mortal she was.

Perhaps she could help them with their plans. More power was appealing, after all.

Gust was thrown out of Wtherm's memories violently, landing in the arms of waiting demons. Ice was next to him, bleeding heavily on the ground. "What. Did. You. Just. Do."

Gust looked at Wtherm with unfocused eyes, not really seeing anything. His mind was reeling, and sluggish. The plan was so obvious! Why didn't he see it before? All mortals were pointless and died so quickly. Why not help them die and take their power?

But... wasn't Gust a mortal? He couldn't remember.

A tentacle slithered over him, and Wtherm made an unidentifiable sound. "Perhaps I underestimated you mortals. Such foolishness. Was it bravery that caused you to attack me? Perhaps you care for this... weak creature? Or are you simply stupid?"

Gust could barely comprehend the meaning behind Wtherm's words. Everything was just so fuzzy and blurry. "We will speak more, mortal. You attacked me, and shall not go unpunished."

Everything got extremely bright and a sensation that felt oddly close to falling enveloped Gust. Moments later, he saw Tornado standing over both of them, looking frantic. Gust was covered in a warm liquid, and when he looked over he saw Ice bleeding heavily. His mind, still groggy, couldn't process what he was seeing so he simply hugged her.

He brushed against her mind and felt it in excruciating pain. He felt the pain, but couldn't understand what it was coming from. His hand brushed against a hole in her leg, though, and he knew that shouldn't be there. As if in a trance, Gust sat up and moved the blanket, tying it around her leg and smiling.

"There. Now the mortal won't die. That's good, right? That's what I'm supposed to be doing? Or was it ending mortal's lives?" he asked himself.

"Oh gods, what's been done tuh ya, Gust?" his mother mumbled, moving over and treating Ice as best as possible. Gust sneered at Tornado, turning away.

"Dirty mortal."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Gust awoke in an air current, travelling. He was covered from neck to toe in bindings preventing him from moving, and his mana felt far away. He looked up, and saw an unconscious Ice floating beside him. An unspeakable wrath filled him and he sneered at the mortal.

Tornado was also visible, once Gust turned his head. He snarled at her viciously, and she glanced up. "So, you's 'wake. Good. Ya feelin' betta?"

"I'll crush your puny form mortal!" he screamed. Tornado simply looked back down and pulled out the book she was working on a few days ago.

"Nope. Well, go back tah sleep, den. Ah'll be here."

She ignored his further screams and threats. Growling quietly, Gust settled into thrashing about and attempting to break his bindings, but they wouldn't budge. He could feel the enchantment on them, and knew that Tornado had made it.

He began to spin and quickly lost track of all sense of direction. When he stopped, his head was pounding and spinning, but both Tornado and Ice hadn't moved. Gust's mouth wasn't coordinated enough after the spinning to form coherent words, and the sounds he attempted to make were lost in the wind.

Gust eventually stopped struggling and set about attempting to reach for his mana. He would be able to break the travel spell and force them all to fall to their deaths like all mortals should if he could only reach it. The enchantment on his bindings must have prevented it, however, as he couldn't reach it no matter how hard he tried.

"I SHALL DESTROY YOU ALL!" he screamed once more.

Tornado sighed and floated over, producing a dagger from her person and smacking him in the temple with the handle.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Someone was standing over him in priestly robes, muttering words he couldn't comprehend as Gust regained consciousness. His head felt like it was on fire, and his mind felt like it was waging war on itself.

"I banish you, evil forces!" the priest called. Gust groaned and sat up, looking around, disorientated even more than previously.

"W-what's... what?"

He felt someone hugging him and tried to get a look at who. All he could make out was a blurry brownish shape. Was it hair? It certainly felt like it. "Are you alright?"

That voice was familiar. But from where? It was soft, feminine... Ice!

"I-Ice?" Gust asked, his vision beginning to clear. The form nodded and Gust weakly held her.

"Do you remember what happened? Because everything's blurry for me. All I remember is some place dark, and cold."

"Wtherm," Gust said. "We were in Wtherm's realm. He started to torture you, and I attacked him. He... gods, his mind is so... gods. Where are we now?"

"Your mother brought you here to the Holy Church of Mother Slyf here in-"

"Da Capitol," Tornado interrupted, glaring at Gust. "Ya made me come tah da Capitol witcha 'nd Ice. 'Nd now Ah need tah see da King 'cuz o' ya. Ah do believe dat you's comin' wit me."

Gust's mouth dropped open, and Ice seemed to refuse to let go of him. "Then I'm coming too. Hurry up and get better Gust, I'll be able to rest once you're alright."

Chapter 18

Gust was physically fine, but mentally? Not so much. He could separate his memories from few he saw of Wtherm's, and no longer wanted to kill all mortals, which he deemed good enough to see the King.

Ice helped him up and smiled, kissing his cheek and leaning against him. Gust glanced down and stifled a gasp. "You... you're..." Bleeding.

"Alive and here, because of you."

Gust blushed and supported her as they walked behind Tornado. They were led down an elegant hallway, and Gust took a moment to look around.

Were they in the palace itself? The golden threads in the carpets and drapes, showing the King's personal symbol on the amethyst colored background, indicated they were. There were no expenses withheld, and the hallway was as opulent as Gust's entire hometown.

The windows were stained glass, each glass showing a scene of a victorious battle in the conquest to overthrow the previous kingdom. Ice was looking at each glass intently, but Gust looked away. The stone of the palace, or wherever they were, looked tough to break, something like marble perhaps. The hallway continued in a similar manner until they reached a large metal door.

Tornado used a spell to blow the door open and audibly sighed. The King sat on his throne, but when he saw Tornado he raised his arms and stood. "Tornado, my dear! Congrats on becoming a Supreme! You didn't join the Underground, did you? Because I'd have to kill you if you did."

"No, Ah didn't."

The King chuckled and walked over to them. "My little voice of dissent. Have you considered marrying me yet? Your husband is so bland. Or is he finally dead?"

"No, Ah'm not marryin' ya just 'cuz I dun't like ya."

The King rolled his eyes with a smile. "You're the only one I like, y'know, Tornado. Ever since my wife died you're the only one who's been interesting! And I know little Windy likes you, even chose his Specialty after yours!"

Tornado blushed and shook her head. "Ah'm still married, 'nd I dun't want tuh raise mah childr'n roundja."

"Ah, shame. What brings you here though, my dear?"

Gust took a long look at the King. He was wearing long robes that trailed behind him, the color amethyst matching the carpets and drapes, with a large crown of gold and precious gems sitting lazily atop his head. The King himself looked very young, a beard covering his jaw. His hair was brown and short, and his eyes were brown as well. He could have fit in anywhere he wanted, had he bothered to try.

"Ah'll let Gust answa dat."

Gust blushed and looked the King, who was looking at him expectantly. "We... m-my fiancé and I... we uh... were hurt. Badly."

The King raised an eyebrow and looked at Tornado. "So you brought them all the way here to save their lives. How noble of you! I insist you stay for dinner," he said, smiling kindly.

"T-that's not all. It's... it's who hurt us that's important."

The King sighed and shook his head. "I knew it. Give me three guesses. I'll guess an assassin, a rival Supreme Overseer of a city, or someone trying to spark a war. Am I right?"

"N-no," Gust answered. "It was... Wtherm Himself."

The King's jaw dropped and Ice giggled quietly. "Your Majesty, I wouldn't have believed him either if I hadn't been there."

"Wtherm," the King mumbled, walking over to a window and staring out it. "Wtherm."

The King shook his head and motioned for the three to follow him. They obeyed, and soon found themselves in an elegant dining room, a long table filled with silver utensils and ceramic plates, a few steel pots scattered about.

"Mren, that must cost a lot," Gust said, staring at the plates. On them was all manners of meats and exotic vegetables, from gremlin to goblin to even what Gust suspected was ogre. Just as well, there was so much mana Gust could feel it from a little ways away.

"Hm? Oh, yes, it does. Only the best for my lovely SO," the King said. Gust blushed and nodded complacently.

"Oh, and.. uh... Your Majesty?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"What exactly is your name?"

The King laughed and smiled, sitting down. Ice and Tornado followed suit, and it was a moment before Gust realized he was supposed to sit as well. Despite the table being able to sit nearly seventy people, they only occupied the head of the table and the three seats next to it.

"You don't know? My name is King."

Gust opened his mouth, but closed it rapidly, blushing deeply. "O-oh, m-my apologies."

King smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Eat, eat, and then we'll talk."

Minutes later, with full plates King spoke up, saying "I don't like it. What did you do to Wtherm? And how did you escape?"

Gust sighed and Ice shuddered. "We... we both just woke up there. It was dark, and cold, and there were screams all around. And then... He approached. He was confused, and-"

"What did he look like?" King asked. "Sorry, but this is important. Many priests will ask that question to me."

"He was a mass of tentacles. I... I can't explain more. He... he restrained Ice and attacked her, so I... I attacked his mind."

Tornado glared at him and huffed. "Really, is that why you were threatening to destroy me?"

King looked at him, confused. "Destroy?"

Gust blushed. "Uh... Wtherm doesn't like mortals. At all."

King leaned back in his chair, sighing. "Wtherm. I can't believe it. He... spoke. To mortals. It looks like you're now going to be known as "my Prophet" won't you?"

Gust shook his head and laughed slightly. "Slyf already made sure of that."

King's eyes widened and leaned forward. "Tornado, really. I would love to have a son like this, marry me?"

"No. 'Nd stop askin'."

"Aw, Mren. One day you'll say yes. One day..."

King fell into silence and Gust closed his eyes. A powerful mind appeared nearby, he could feel it. He closed his eyes and went back to eating a bit of mana. The King smiled and laughed once more. "You know, I just realized all of us are Masters or Supremes."

Ice giggled and nodded. "We are! We're all good at magic." Ice giggled once more, but nervously. Gust had the feeling she forgot what she was going to say.

"Something's wrong," Gust said. "Is there anyone important besides you in the palace right now?"

The King cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. "The High Priest of the Holy Church of Mother Slyf, why?"

"They're about to die."

The King shot up and motioned for Gust to as well. "Show me where, then. I'll put a stop to it."

Gust bit his lip and stood. "You can try, but we have to hurry."

King followed Gust as he walked out, eyes closed and mind searching all around. The powerful mind seemed familiar, yet distant. Not distant as in distance, it was rather close, but rather familiar yet unfamiliar.

Breaking into a run, Gust "navigated" the palace, running into four doors before ending in a large hallway. He opened his eyes and saw the High Priest standing in the hall, and his head shot up at their arrival.

"My King! What brings you here?" he asked.

King motioned at Gust and said "Our Prophet here says you're in danger. I'm here to dissuade any-"

Fosoghd fell from the roof, a smile on her face and a long, thin blade aimed towards the priest. She landed, breaking the neck of the Priest and stabbing him through the heart. She got up, glanced at the two of them without recognition for Gust in her eyes, and disappeared.

"Teleporter," the King spat out. "Teleporter! Mren damn you!"

Gust leaned against the wall. Fos didn't feel the same there. It wasn't... it wasn't the same Fosoghd. Was that Fos from a different time period?

"We have a meeting we need to get to, my Prophet," King said. "Follow."

Gust didn't bother asking questions and followed, confused. Where were they going? He was sorely tempted to ask, but never did. They wound their way through corridor after corridor until they ended up in a large, circular, open room. A statue of a woman stood in the center, pews upon pews circling around it. There were no walls, only large stained glass windows showing the discovery of mana in a dome shape surrounding them.

"Welcome to the Holy Church of Mother Slyf, my Prophet." King's words cut through the silence and drew the attention of a number of priests who were kneeling behind the pews.

"Your Majesty," a priest said, bowing. "What do we owe this pleasure to?"

"This is no pleasure. This is merely a candidate I give you for new Head Priest."

Gust's jaw dropped in shock. "W-wait-"

"Head Priest? What's wrong with-"

"Dead. Main hall. Teleporter killed him."

"Mren. Prophet?" the priest asked, taking charge. He stood tall and looked over at Gust, eyeing him. His robes were torn in many places, and he smelled as if he'd never touched water.

"Both Slyf and Wtherm."

The priest, upon hearing Wtherm's name, knelt. "Thou art the most holy of any mortal in history, and our church shall praise your name for centuries, Head Priest...?"

Gust opened his mouth and closed it silently once more. He closed his eyes and bowed his head. "Gust Sound. But I'm still... I'm still in University, and-"

"Say no more. We shall split your duties until you are fit to return and assume them for yourself at your leisure. Welcome to the church, Head Priest."

"I-I'm not fit to-" he argued, but the King silenced him. He began once more, anyways. "I'm not fit to lead the church! I've never even been to an entire service!"

The priest stood and laughed rather quietly. "You, you have seen Slyf, and you have even seen Wtherm! You know better than all what Slyf would want."

Gust's eyes closed and he sighed. "I... see. I see... thank you for the position."

"My Prophet."

Chapter 19

King was taking Gust back to the dining hall, and Gust was being silent. "I knew you were perfect for the position," King said.

"I don't feel like it."

"You still are. Think about it! Now you can be just as respected as me! I'll make sure to get your priestly robes and your special spell for you at-"

"Wait, special spell?"

The King stopped and looked at Gust quizzically. "Yes, of course. Did you think that the Head Priest of the entire church was just the highest rank? No, you get your own special spell too. I don't know it, only a few are allowed to know it in order to pass it on. I'll get that person to find you."

Gust nodded and went silent, taking it all in. He was not ready to be a priest, nor did he even want to be one! Just because Slyf talked to him meant nothing! Nothing at all!

The room was quiet when King and Gust both returned. Ice looked up, worry across her face, and Tornado looked bored. "Wha' hap'n'd?" she asked.

"The Head Priest died, so our Prophet is now the new Head Priest of the entire Holy Church of Mother Slyf."

Ice gasped and blushed, and Tornado groaned. "Look at whatcha did! Ya went 'nd made yerself a priest!"

"I'm marrying the Head Priest!"

King laughed and sat down, notably after Gust. Gust blushed and lowered his head to his plate, slowly eating more. "Rest well my Prophet, tomorrow shall be filled with learning."

Gust sighed and shook his head. "I knew it. I knew I'd never get a vacation from schooling."

Ice giggled quietly and they ate in silence. A servant came by and showed them to two separate rooms, Ice falling asleep in Gust's arms.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

She awoke with a start, looking around. Where was she? She didn't recognize the room. Fos stood and looked out the window, recognition finally dawning in her eyes.

She found him. That was right. She did it.

"Mortal," a voice behind her said. She felt a large mind enter the realm, and turned towards Wtherm. "That boy. The one you are linked to somehow. Explain."

Fos looked at Wtherm and crossed her arms, leaning back against the window. She was silently amazed at the glass, even her modest house didn't have it, but this random, cheap place did.

"Why? What's so important about him?"

"He and his wife were in my realm. I attacked and tortured her, and he attacked with his mind. It was my knowledge that you were the only one capable of that."

Fos' eyes widened, and she gasped almost inaudibly. "Unbelievable! I'll look into it. I had no idea he was so far along..."

Wtherm growled and slid towards her. "What are you hiding from me, mortal?"

Fos blinked slowly and lowered her eyebrows into a glare. "Does it matter? We are allies, are we not? Or are you retracting from our alliance? I suppose I could go hunt down Slyf and speak with her..."

"You wouldn't dare!" he screamed, his voice coming from all around. Fos stood her ground and Wtherm growled more, also from all around her. "Yet you don't move. Mortal, you may be brave but do not be foolish. Do not cross me."

"I'll cross whoever I damn well please. You don't scare me, Wtherm. If you attempt to break our pact, I shall turn on you."

Wtherm let out a noise that blinded Fos with pain. She clutched her head as everything began to spin. She let her mind go wild, and it hit Wtherm.

The noise stopped, so her mental assault stopped as well. Wtherm took in her presence silently, then disappeared. Forcing herself to breathe normally, she tried to relax. Confrontations with Wtherm were always so stressful.

Perhaps she'd visit the elves today. She liked the elves.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Gust awoke with a scream, startling Ice and causing her to scream as well. She grabbed and shook Gust, who stopped screaming.

"H-H-H-Hiiiiimmm. Wtherm! S-she... Fos saw him! In our home town!"

Ice stopped. She shivered almost imperceptibly, but as Gust was holding her tight he felt it. It seemed as though she was almost incapable of speaking. He didn't honestly doubt it, he had no idea how the primitive torture felt to her, or what it did to her mind.

"W-w-what... was he doing t-there?"

"He... spoke. Of us. He was... concerned about what I did to him. It's worrying me. He... he cares about what I did. He worries about it."

"We need to go home today," Gust said. "We really do. I'm... gonna learn this spell, and then we're going home. I'll show you the place I've got picked out in my mind."

"That..." she began. She closed her eyes and flopped down onto the bed they were sharing, sighing. Gust thought he could see the beginnings of tears. "That sounds nice. Go learn that spell, I don't want to be here."

Gust nodded and Ice hugged herself. He got out of bed, hid in the bathroom and changed. Ice and him weren't quite married yet, she didn't need to see him naked after all.

Ice was pouting as he reentered the room, and she blinked at him while cocking her head. "Why not just change in here?"

"We're not married yet!"

"So?"

Gust blushed and left the room, calling out that he would return after he learned the spell. He glanced to the left and instantly bumped into a priest. "My Prophet!" the priest said, bowing. "I'm here to teach you the Spell of Slyf."

Gust breathed in deeply and held it for a moment, his eyes flicking closed. He opened his eyes a moment later, nodding. "Let's go then."

He followed the priest into the church area, which itself took a few minutes, before they stopped in the center. The priest raised his arms and a beam of light struck them, forcing Gust to shield his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, Gust wasn't in the same room. They were in a bland room with no furniture and no visible way out. In fact, the room was sealed tight, and no light could get out. A ghostly light illuminated everything in the room perfectly, no shadows or anything.

"This room was a gift from The Goddess. A place to practice her spell safely. We are in Her realm, where Her spells are easier to cast. Yet Her Spell is the most difficult, and most versatile."

Gust waited patiently for the priest to continue, but he was in no rush. He sat cross-legged and smiled.

"Well? What is it?"

The priest laughed and shook his head. "It's not that simple. The Spell of spells is not taught. It is not given. It is learned the hard way. Time is slow in this realm, but it still passes. Good luck. All you have to do... knock me down."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"Oh, Ah hate dis. A priest! A priest! Mah son's a priest!"

"Aww, but he's the Highest Priest within the whole church! Normal rules don't apply to him! What do you have against the church anyhow?"

"Da church is ter'ble."

"That... doesn't explain anything. So what Gust is a priest? What's it matter?"

"Ah dun't like da church."

Ice sighed and shook her head. "I can tell. But... why? It makes no sense! Do you just... not have respect for the gods?"

"Oh, Ah do. Ah just hate da way da church does things. 'Nd ya know who runs dose things? Priests! Mah son's a blasphemer!"

Ice opened her mouth to say something, but let the topic drop. She glanced out the window again and sighed. "I miss home. The capital is nice, but... it's so big. And there are so many buildings. Where are the trees?"

"Dere ain't any. Da trees come frum da north, dis place was an empty grassland b'fore da kingdom rose."

"No trees? Is that why everything is made of stone?"

"Yep. 'S easia tuh get stone den to import trees. Cheapa too."

"How odd."

Ice looked out into the city, all of it stone of some type or another, and sighed. She wished Gust was with her. Something about him just clicked with her, and she didn't want to be far from him. "Miss 'im dat much? Ya look lovestruck."

"I do. I even know he's in the palace, but... it's hard, you know? I worry about him. Especially now with the murder, and Fosoghd tracking him down... it just seems wrong."

Chapter 20

"Should be easy enough, yes? Knock me down."

The priest was sitting, staring intently at Gust. Gust walked calmly over and tried to push the priest to the ground, but a force pushed him away and into the wall. He let out an "oomph" and fell, clutching his stomach.

"Wha-what in Mren was that?!"

"Knock me down."

Gust groaned and slumped over, gathering his energy back before letting his mind shoot out. It stopped, unable to go much further than an arm's reach outside his body. Something was blocking it.

Slyf stepped into the room and clapped. "So you're my new High Priest! What a coincidence, I've been looking for you!"

The priest sitting down just stared in shock. Gust got down and knelt before Slyf, who laughed.

"You're my High Priest now, no need for such formality. I can see myself talking with you in the future. Now, about... Her."

"I saw her."

"I know," Slyf said, turning around and crossing her arms behind her back. She seemed to glitter in the ethereal light of the room, and looked her best. She turned, a few strands of hair in front of her eyes. Gust felt his breath be taken away as he looked at her.

Like when Fosoghd kissed him, he couldn't focus on anything. Slyf was absolutely, literally, breathtaking. Her eyes had golden, sparkling pupils matching her golden hair. She was tall but not overbearingly so, and her bosom was noticeably sticking out. Gust blushed and looked down. Her hips were wide and eye-catching, and her legs were incredible.

"You... look very nice. Can you change your appearance?" Gust asked. Slyf smiled slightly, the corners of her mouth turning upwards. Her hair shimmered, lightening, then it darkened, before going back to golden.

"A little. I must stay similar to this form, though. I've changed my appearance to hide amongst mortals before. Funny, no Head Priest has noticed before. Was it my eyes?"

Gust blushed deeply and coughed, nodding. "It was. that, and, well, I've been more in touch with the gods than most."

"Indeed. Fosoghd, why did she stop near you? Her link? Are you two connected in some way?"

"Uh... yes, I think. She won't tell me yet," Gust replied, shaking away his blush. "I get the feeling she may inform me soon."

Slyf nodded once and turned back towards the wall. "Good, I want to avoid confrontation. Did you hear that, Brother?"

The realm rumbled, and a deep voice came through the wall. "Indeed. Bring the boy to me, I desire to speak with him."

Slyf nodded once and waved a hand, taking Gust with her through a portal. Gust found himself in an extremely dark realm, darker than the pitch black of Wtherm's realm.

"Where are we?" Gust asked, looking around and gasping. The air felt... stale, almost fake. Slyf didn't respond, but instead... bowed?

"Brother."

"Sister."

That voice wasn't Slyf's, nor was it Wtherm's. Gust paled and looked around. "W-where?"

Slyf smacked Gust down onto his knees. "Get down, boy. Brother is in front of us."

Gust shot around and looked around. "I-I don't see anything! W-where-"

A large green eye opened up in front of them, seemingly from nowhere, and blinked. "You are the boy causing so much fuss. Ahh, yes. I recognize that soul. The fourteen hundredth soul I created."

"Mren."

The eye blinked slowly, calculated. Gust shook slightly and tried to grasp what he was seeing, but it wasn't working well. All he could see was... was...

"You only see him, boy. Mren is larger than anything else," Slyf said, standing. "You may stand. Congratulations, you are now the first mortal to have ever met all three Gods, Her included."

Gust bowed his head, shaking. He was nervous, exceedingly so. Meeting Slyf wasn't bad, as she looked human, and when he met Wtherm all he could think of was fighting, but Mren? A primal sense of fear overtook him and he couldn't think. Slyf looked at him and nodded.

"I finally see what you mean, Brother. Mortals cannot hurt you. Not us, you. Wtherm was attacked by this boy, and I cannot sense his mind but know he can sense mine. Yet he stands here, quaking, and cannot attack. Intriguing, intriguing..."

Gust was growing more and more confused before Mren simply... disappeared. He formed once more, a twin to Slyf. "Would this be better?" he asked, his voice as deep as ever. Gust felt his mind clearing and he weakly nodded.

"I-I couldn't think. Truly, you are amazing," Gust said. He felt a sharp pain in his leg and felt Slyf's hand within it. He screamed and fell, clutching his leg. The floor was cold, and felt like nothing yet everything at the same time.

"You insult the Goddess you are closest to? Am I not impressive, yet Mren is?"

Gust couldn't honestly get out a reply, so sent a tentative touch to Slyf's mind. He expected the worst, but it never came. Slyf seemed... trained, in a way, and made Wtherm's mind seem so cruel. He could only see what she permitted, as was no doubt the same for her. "You are impressive in a different way," he said, "I can... feel the differences between You, Mren, and Wtherm. Wtherm is powerful, Mren is indescribable, while you are perfect."

Slyf retracted her hand with a huff, apparently pleased with the comment. In his eyes she was perfect, there was nothing at all wrong with her. No matter how hard he tried, he could think of nothing bad about her.

Gust tore a bit of the shirt he wore to bandage the wound. It was better than nothing. Mren chuckled slightly, watching him. "Mortals behave so preditably. Please the Gods, stay alive."

Slyf nodded and sighed. "I brought him here because he is a valuable tool. Tell us, what is the relationship exactly between Her and Wtherm?"

Gust steadied himself and leaned on his right leg, closing his eyes. "Partners, almost equals. She... she can threaten Wtherm, and Wtherm doesn't try to murder and torture her. They both have power over each other, and if it comes down to it, Wtherm and her would try to gain the most power out of you three Gods."

Slyf turned towards Mren and nodded. "As I thought. She is a problem for us, but not for Wtherm. In our conference, no doubt he will keep that in mind. Brother... Brother, I vote we use the boy in our favor."

Mren was silent, looking at Slyf and then at Gust. His (her?) eyes seemed to penetrate into Gust's soul, and he shiverred. "Agreed. Gust Sound, as creator of all mortals I hereby grant you power and assistance, if you will take it. Join myself and my sister."

Gust knelt down and winced as pressure was put onto his leg, but ignored it. "I-I would be honored."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Tornado looked out into the city and sighed. When she was last there she got into a fight with a Supreme and had barely made it out alive. It wasn't something she spoke about.

"Pretty, isn't it? I've always liked the colors. And all the darkness! It's wonderful."

Tornado slowly, methodically turned towards Shadow Fire, who was standing next to her. "You again." She was forcing her accent away, glaring daggers at Shadow Fire and preparing to blow down the entire city if need be. She would take Ice and Gust and escape, destroying anything in her path if it came down to it.

"Have you reconsidered?" she asked, cocking her head. She was wearing red and black on her top, with pants made out of ogre hide. They were stained grayish-blue and covering her shoes, the ends covered in dirt as she was walking on them. It looked like a miracle she hadn't fallen.

"No. Ah'm not joining."

Shadow sighed and leaned against the wall. She seemed oddly... kind. She was capable of causing mass destruction, but never even showed her power. "I understand. It's not for everyone. But we're going to have to keep an eye on you, then."

Tornado smiled and turned on her. "Ya can't. If ya do, Ah kin gitcha excommunicated from da church. Mah son's High Priest."

Shadow Fire raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Most of us aren't religious."

Tornado laughed and waved her away. "Dat mean ya wanna fight da church?"

Shadow Fire closed her eyes and sighed, shaking her head. "Doesn't seem like a good idea. I don't really want to fight at all, really. I just have to. They make me do all this, but I don't have anywhere else to go."

Tornado coughed awkwardly and looked out into the city. "Stop sayin' things like dat. Ah don't want tuh pity ya."

"I don't need your pity," she said, standing. "I'm sure we'll meet again, Tornado. I kind of like you, but we're so different. You said your son is the new High Priest? What happened to the old one?"

"Dead. Ova dere, actually. Somebody fell from da roof 'n' killed 'im."

"Aww, that's a shame. I liked him, he was always kind to the poor. Isn't your son too young to be Head Priest?"

Tornado snorted slightly in place of a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Dey chose 'im just 'cuz he spoke to Slyf. 'Nd Wtherm."

Shadow Fire's eyes widened and she took a step away from Tornado. "W-we didn't realize that..."

Tornado laughed and leaned back, more confident. "Mo' scared now?"

Shadow Fire smiled nervously and waved. "I-I have to get going now, the Underground needs to hear this n-new development."

She raised her hands in front of her face and wisps of pure darkness whipped around them. She lowered her hands, the wisps covering her protectively. Tornado readied a spell of her own, but Shadow Fire disappeared, as streak of pure black leading out of the castle and into town.

"Mren damn you Shadow spells," Tornado cursed, letting her own spell fade.

Chapter 20.5; Byul

"What're ya, sum weak magic usa? Git!" the man screamed, throwing a rock at Beel. Beel ducked and moved on, shaking his head.

"'Ey man! 'Ow kin Ah be a magic usa 'f Ah cain't 'ford mana!"

The man glared and threw another rock. "Kill 'em! 'E's a magic usa!"

Beel sprinted away and glanced to his left, a man in robes beckoning him. He ducked into the alleyway with the hooded man, who threw him into a building and shut the door. "'E's ova dere!" the man screamed, throwing the pursuers off his trail.

A minute later, the man hobbled into the room, sitting down. "Yer not a witch, aye?"

"Nay."

"Good. Ah'd have hated tuh kill a young'un like ya. Whatsa name?"

"Beel. Yerself?"

"Weky. Da Huntas be gettin' mo' antsy."

"Ah noticed. Dis is da sixth time dis week Ah've been chased. 'Ow do dey keep targettin' me?"

"Ya walk too confident. Ya look like yer 'bout to burn us all tuh death."

"Ah do? But Ah don't even know what mana tastes like! Ah've neva even seen it!"

"Don't go lookin', kid," Weky said. He took off his hood, and Beel saw his face for the first time. It was wrinkly and gray, with dark spots all over. He had no hair, and looked as if he was about to fall over and die.

"Ah won't. Magicians deserve tuh all burn demselves tuh death."

"Dey should, yeh. Ah've been tuh da Magic Country b'fore."

Beel narrowed his eyes at Weky, who chuckled. "Ah hated it. E'ryone looked at me funny when Ah said mah name. 'S scary dere too, ya walk 'round 'n' kin see fi'ty people flyin' through da sky."

Beel shuddered and Weky smiled. "Da Huntas listen tuh mah word."

Beel stood and stretched, sighing. "Ah needa be gettin' outta here. Parents be waitin'."

Weky nodded and opened the door. "Go 'head. Ah'll be here if ya ever wanna talk."

He motioned outwards, and Beel walked out, nodding and thanking him. "Ah'll prolly be back, den." He glanced both ways, looking for Magic Hunters before walking less confidently around. He saw a few members of MH but they didn't bother him.

He arrived at home to find a guest. It was a woman, with brown hair and green eyes, sitting in a relaxed position. Her head was leaning against the wall, the two front legs of the chair she was sitting on were not on the ground, as the back of the chair was leaning against the wall with her head.

"Oh, he's home. Hurrah, let's all pray to Slyf for his safe return," she said sarcastically.

Beel blinked at the accent. It was formal, and from the Magic Country. It made sense, she seemed arrogant. "Huntas will be afta ya, dey went afta me, 'nd Ah'm not even a magician."

The woman chuckled and sat all four legs down on the floor, leaning forward in her chair. "Observant! I like you. Took your parents quite some time to figure out I could use magic. They tried to kill me, it was hilarious. I'm not just a magician," she said, "I'm a Supreme Master of magic."

Beel choked and stumbled back into the door. The woman stood calmly and walked over to him, putting her hand on his mouth. "Now, now, no screaming. We can't have me destroying the entire town because you wouldn't talk with me!"

"Brute," he said after she removed her hand. "You can't just kill without thought-"

"I can and do. I'm an assassin. I'm just resting here since my target's going to come. Turns out someone around here doesn't like the tax collector. Who would have thought?" she said, laughing.

They sat in an awkward silence for a number of minutes, the nameless woman humming to herself in a tune from Magic Country, Beel guessed. As the sun set, a knock rang out from the door. "Tax collection! Open up!"

Beel stood shakily and opened, a man in an official uniform standing at the door and shoving him aside as he walked in.

"Ah see ya have a guest. Whatchu doin' here? Ya don't belong."

"Oh? Me? I'm here to kill you. With my magic you stupid fool."

The tax collector stood tall and pulled a short sword from his tunic, lunging at the woman. She smiled and disappeared, reappearing behind the man. "Oops. Did I mention I control time? Watch me slow it-"

Everything felt the same, but the woman was moving much, much faster. Beel could barely keep track of her, yet he got the feeling she was moving slowly. "Or speed it up."

She moved incredibly slowly, yet never got hit with the sword. Then everything stopped moving, except for the woman. "Or stop it completely! Oh, wait, your eyes are moving? Huh, that's new."

She leaned in closer to the tax collector and blew in his face. Beel couldn't see his reaction, but knew he reacted. "Ooh, that's even more fun! Let me just... reach around here... someplace... there!"

She reached into a hole in space and pulled out a demonic-looking sword. She grinned and plunged it straight into the tax collector's chest. She smiled, pulled it out, and disappeared.

The tax collector fell onto his knees, shoving a strange symbol into Beel's hands. "Show dis... tuh da guards... Mren damn 'er..."

He fell face forward onto the ground, his eyes going dull and face going blank. Beel stared at him in shock.

Damn the magic users.

Chapter 21

Gust felt himself being pulled away from the gods and found everything becoming lighter. "I shall speak with you again soon, Gust Sound. Stay safe or I shall hunt you down."

As Slyf's voice faded out, everything else faded in. He was no longer cold, and he could see more than just Slyf. He was in... the room he was staying in, it looked like. There was nobody else in the immediate vicinity, and Gust sighed, falling face first onto the bed.

First Slyf, then Wtherm, and now Mren. He met all the gods. It was inconceivable, even after seeing them Gust was still shocked. Nobody would believe him.

Gust only moved when he could breathe no longer. He flipped over and forced himself off the bed, unexplainably tired. Maybe a Mind School user enchanted it to make people feel more tired.

Gust walked out of the room and shook himself, trying to wake himself fully. When it didn't work, he looked into his own mind to see if it was changed.

It was. Odd, Gust noticed. Mind School seemed shockingly similar to Mental, but missing some things. Mind School couldn't sense minds, and Mental School couldn't manipulate senses. Mind School, admittedly, seemed like the step right before Mental School, as if they were on the verge of discovering it all this time. Well, then "discovering it" didn't make much sense, so much as "unlocking it's full potential."

Gust's stomach growled, and he made his way to where King and his family had dinner the previous day. He had to ask a servant for directions, but made his way there in good time. Once the large doors were opened for him, he saw that Tornado was laughing with King, and Ice was sitting in silence. They glanced over at him, and Ice smiled.

Then they got a good look at him, and Ice hurried up and over to him. "What happened?! You're all pale!"

"I... I saw...-"

The priest that was training Gust crashed through the door opposite Gust, panting. "My King!" he said, kneeling and staring at the floor. "The High Priest is gone, Slyf Herself took him someplace."

"Brother Light, if you would look up you would realize the Prophet is in front of you."

The priest, Brother Light, looked up and saw Gust, exhaling in relief. "W-what did the Goddess want with you?"

"S-she... spoke with me. And took me to Mren."

King's, and the priest's, mouths dropped open. Ice hugged Gust, and Tornado clapped. "Dat make's all o' dem, dunnit?"

"Y-yes."

"Well, you's da first, den."

"I... I know. Let's just go home. I don't like being here..." Gust said meekly, rubbing his arm. Seeing Mren humbled him, no doubt about it. He was just so... small. Everyone was.

"But, you still haven't learned your spell!" the priest exclaimed. Gust looked up at him and shook his head.

"I don't need to. Slyf and Mren promised they would help out, because Wtherm is planning something bad," Gust replied, blushing. Ice loosened her grip and looked him in the eyes.

Slyf had sparkling, radiant, golden eyes. Fosoghd had brilliant blue eyes. Yet it was Ice's emerald green eyes that captivated him the most. It may have been the concerned or caring look that was constantly in them, or maybe he just liked the color green, but her eyes always seemed the most beautiful things Gust had ever seen.

Gust leaned in and kissed her, drowning out the rest of the world. He tightened their embrace and hugged her, determination filling him. "Let's go home," he repeated, more confidently. "If you don't join me, I'm going alone."

Tornado smiled and stretched. "Ah dun care tuh be heah any longa, da King keeps hittin' on me."

Ice smiled and removed herself from their embrace, but clutched Gust's hand. "I miss home as well, and I have no doubts my parents are worried. Thank you King for your hospitality!" she said, nodding at King. King smiled back and waved.

"Come back or I'll have to visit you at your home!" he said. Gust really couldn't tell if he was serious or joking, but he knew that it was possible now that Gust was High Priest of the Holy Church of Mother Slyf, so he could go under the guise of religious enlightenment.

Tornado smiled and cocked her head, wind breaking a window and throwing them through it all at high speeds. Ice screamed, adjusting herself so that her underwear wasn't showing, as she was wearing robes.

Tornado yawned and straightened herself, pulling the book she was writing out of someplace hidden and scribbling in it with charcoal or something Gust couldn't identify. "Go 'head 'nd sleep if ya want. We'll be home soon 'nuff."

Ice clutched him and took her advice, and Gust sighed and shrugged. Might as well, he figured.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

He woke up when he started to fall. Tornado was sound asleep, but they were at their village. Albeit, they were so high up that it was cold, but they were at their village.

Ice awoke screaming, and Gust was forced to take them all into a jet stream he created. Their fall began to slow ever so slightly, but he couldn't take control.

"Already?" a voice asked. "You're so boring."

Slyf stopped them from falling, shaking her head. "Maybe I should have let you complete your training before taking you to Brother. My power would have been immensely helpful here. I suppose I must gift it to you, then. Stretch out your arms and allow the power to enter you."

Ice reluctantly let go of Gust as he stretched his arms out before a golden light blinded him. His head shot back and he felt his mouth open by itself, golden light spilling out of the sky and entering his body from every angle. "Good, good."

The entire sky shook as Gust lit up in a golden star. Somehow he could almost... feel the people beneath them, but not quite. It was as if he knew they were watching him, but didn't know who he was, nor could he really feel their minds.

The light began to fade, but Gust's power did not. He conjured a breeze to take them all safely down, and it did. Gravity was no longer a problem for them.

Slyf was gone when they touched the ground, and Tornado was up and stretching. "It's 'bout time ya did dat."

Gust stared at his mother in shock as she grinned. "Now git goin' tuh school, Ah gotta go speak wit' da uhda leadas of da city."

She began to walk away and Gust shook his head. "I'm not going to University today. Why don't I show you the place I have picked out?" Gust asked Ice, who smiled and nodded eagerly in response. She was white as a ghost, however, and Gust didn't blame her.

They walked along towards the edge of the forest. The elf that originally confronted Fos was standing there, waiting. He nodded and motioned for them to follow, merely saying "Fionskoeyjwlisieownlsybqyze."

Gust blushed and smiled the best he could. "Just like Her. The one who visited you not too long ago."

The elf cocked his head and looked at them, stopping. "Go your way, Humans. I now have too much to speak of, and I do not have the knowledge of the words in this language to express myself. We shall speak another time."

Gust bowed and grabbed Ice, escorting her out of the land of the elves. "They scare me," she mentioned, blushing.

"Me too. They're too smart for their own good."

"And the way they use magic!"

Gust nodded and hurried along the edge of the forest, on the human side. They reached the river and passed through a thicket of trees, revealing a small, run-down house. Ice gasped and looked at it in awe, smiling.

"Nobody lives here?"

"Nope. Nobody even knows it's here."

Ice ran over to the house and tapped on the window, eyes widening. "Glass!"

Gust laughed and nodded. "I was surprised too. Must have been a noble's house long ago."

They walked in together, the floor creaking. The house was made completely out of wood of the nearby trees, yet the inside was in remarkable condition. There was little dust, though it was apparent nobody had been in recently, and there was no furniture. The door opened directly into a hallway, which turned left or right; the left led into a bedroom while the right opened into an empty room with an indoor bathroom attached to it, and a kitchen. There were stairs at the end of the room, leading upstairs towards a large, completely empty room taking up the rest of the house.

"We can put anything we want in here," Gust said. "What do you think?"

"It's perfect. It's not too big, and not too small, and we're near the river! Amazing."

Gust smiled and kissed her, blushing. "And the wedding?"

"I think my parents are going to urge us to rush into it soon. My father is beginning to believe the world is going to end, and wants me to be married and have children before it does."

Gust laughed and Ice blushed, snuggling into him. "I don't mind. Whether the world ends or not, the more time with you the better..."

Gust blushed and kissed her forehead. "It does sound nice."

"I've got to get home. Once we're married, we can move in here! Soon, so soon... I'll see you soon!" she said, blushing and fluttering her eyes, letting a ramp of ice form under her and carry her out.

Gust laughed and smiled at her as she left, sighing in contentment.

Chapter 22

Ice smiled as she reached home, her mother running in and hugging her. "Where were you!?" she demanded. Ice blushed and bit her lip, seeing her father come in from the background.

"Did you see? That was the star of the Head Priest of the entire church!" he said.

Ice laughed slightly and nodded. "I know, isn't Gust amazing? Slyf was there, too, which is why the star was there..."

Her parents fell silent and Ice removed herself from the embrace her mother was giving her, walking to the kitchen and sitting down.

Her mother cooked as she explained the whole story from visiting Wtherm and being tortured to watching Gust be blessed by Slyf herself. "Amazing," her father muttered. "Simply amazing."

"I want the wedding to be soon, though," Ice said, her own smile fading. She was recounting the times she got to sleep in Gust's arms, but the way the gods were all speaking to him... and Fosoghd joining Wtherm's side, it was all so worrying.

Why would the gods ally themselves with mortals? It made no sense!

"Next week. I can do it next week," her father said. Her mother nodded in assent, and Ice blushed and clapped loudly, exactly one time.

"Yay! I'll tell Gust tomorrow at University! I'm near the end of my studies, and don't need to attend longer, and if Gust is going to be trained by the gods themselves..."

Ice's father walked over and tilted her head up to look into his eyes. "My daughter, all grown up now. Take care of your husband-to-be, or I'll hunt you down and use your mother against you."

Ice smiled and shook her head. "Even if you did, neither of you could catch us. Gust is a Wind user. And if worst comes to worst, also the Head Priest!"

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"Notice. From da King. Gods damn 'im," Tornado said. "A notice! Ah can't b'leev it!"

Breeze nodded and took a bite of his mana. "I know. Why did we get it, though? Far as I can tell, we were the only ones."

"Ah dunno! 'Nd tuh think... ah. Dat's why. Ah forgot tuh put in mah taxes."

"WHAT?!" Breeze screamed, standing up and blowing his chair into the wall, breaking it with a loud snap. "YOU DON'T JUST FORGET TO PUT IN YOUR TAXES!"

"Ah was wit' da King 'imself! Ah wasn't e'en in da city!"

Breeze clenched his fist and shook it at Tornado. "If you weren't a Supreme..."

"But Ah am. Now, stop scaring da kids."

Breeze sat down, completely ignoring the fact that he destroyed his chair. His head barely reached the top of the table, but he huffed and kept on like he was in a chair like the rest of them. Nobody mentioned it.

"How was the capital, Ma?" Window asked shyly. Tornado smiled and laughed.

"Ter'ble. Da King's annoyin' as Mren 'imself."

Gust laughed and shook his head. "Mren is worse. At least you can think around the King."

Tornado looked at Gust and nodded, turning back to Window. "Ter'ble. Da King's almos' as annoyin' as Mren 'imself."

The table fell silent as they continued to eat. When the silence became too awkward, Breeze shook his head. "I can't believe my son's a priest."

"Needa kin Ah."

"I've got University tomorrow, I should be sleeping..." Window said meekly, slipping off his chair and out of the room. Gust followed suit, waving. He thought he caught sight of his mother passionately kissing his father, but purposely made his way out because of it.

Window was staring out the window, fittingly enough. "I don't like Wind School," he said as Gust approached. "You got Ma to let you learn Sound School, didn't you? Can you teach me?"

"I don't know how," Gust admitted. "I just... well, what I want to happen just... just happens."

"Oh."

Window sighed and leaned out the window, his arms on the railings. "Gust... why? Why do we do this? You're so great, and everything is going your way..."

"No, it's not. Window, it really-"

"You even know a goddess. And Mren. And Wtherm. You... you're so perfect..." he said, tears on his face as he turned. "How am I supposed to live in this world if everyone is gonna judge me to you?"

"Nobody is going to judge you-"

"What do you know!? Huh? You don't know anything!" he said in a hushed whisper, tears streaming freely down his face. "All you see is perfectness. Even your friends have been feeling it, women are all over them now. People expect me to be a prodigy, they expect me to become-"

"Take this," Gust said, producing a small gem from his pocket. "This is... it was from the Arch-Mage at University. Take it. You won't be leaking mana anymore, because it helps you absorb more from the world."

Window shook his head and looked at him with red, puffy eyes. "No. He... he even gave you a gift. Because you're so special, you're so perfect... I don't deserve to be your brother!" he screamed, leaning back as far as he could. His small form slipped out the window and plummeted straight downwards.

"No!"

Gust leaped after him, wings of wind attaching to his back before being replaced by solid gold energy, leaving a faint golden streak behind as he caught up to Window in an instant. Gust grabbed onto his brother, though he was crying and thrashing at him.

"Let me go! Let me die! You can go be perfect with your new wife, and all your friends, and your gods!"

"Do you really think... I wanted any of this?" Gust asked, holding Window close. They slowed to a stop at the ground, the silence around deafening.

"W-what?"

"Because I didn't. I don't want to be noticed. I didn't want to run into a girl, and I didn't expect her to like me. I didn't want to be popular. I didn't want to be anyone special. I didn't want to meet the king, and I certainly didn't want to meet the gods before my time came.

"Window, my brother, I didn't want any of this. I just wanted to live a normal life, but now... now I can't, now I have to do the best I can with what I have. Ice is nice to be around, but I've been around her so much that I've been growing away from my friends. Do you understand now? I may seem popular, but I only ever talk to Ice and Ma."

Window sobbed quietly, his hands covering his eyes. Gust picked him up and flew up, back to his house with regular wind wings. It was a weak spell, and could barely hold them. A Vent spell, to be precise.

They landed in Window's room, rather clumsily. Window ended up on his bed, and Gust ended up with his face on the floor, and the rest of him on the bed. "You... promise you didn't want this?"

"I promise," Gust said, sitting up. "I promise."

Window hung his head in shame and slipped under the covers of his bed. "Then... please close my window on the way out... and Gust?"

"Yeah?"

"If... if I change my M-Mastery... w-will you help?"

"Any way I can."

Window closed his eyes and nodded. "Thank you," he mumbled turning over, away from the window. Gust walked over and closed it, cutting off the light breeze that was feeding him mana. He walked to his own room, and found Slyf waiting for him, sitting on his bed.

"M-my Goddess," Gust said, kneeling.

"God," Mren said simply. Gust's eyes widened and his kneeling turned into sprawling across the ground at his feet. "Perhaps I should have considered a different form? Too late, I suppose. I do not like the forms mortals have, and am only in this one because it is that of my Sister."

Gust was silent, and Mren stood. "Stand," he commanded. Gust hastily obeyed, blushing and avoiding Mren's eyes. "We are allies now, Gust Sound. While I am greater than you, for the time being I must lower myself to this in order to deal with this problem. Do you know of the apocalypse?" he asked, gently taking Gust's head and making him look into his eyes.

"Y-yes, the end of the world."

"Indeed. Only two of us can truly cause it: Wtherm and myself. I will cause it with purpose when the time is right, but Wtherm will try to cause it whenever he can."

"W-wait, you're going to cause the apocalypse?"

"Only when it is time. When the souls of humans run out and I can no longer support them, their lives must be wiped out in order to renew the race."

Gust choked on the words he was about to say, gasping for air and falling onto his bed behind Mren. Mren simply turned slowly, gracefully, and picked him up. "Do not worry mortal, this... Fosoghd may help, if she were to join our side. If not, even so, the apocalypse would not happen for another two hundred years and forty seven days."

"O-only a few generations..." Gust muttered, hyperventilating. "So soon... why?"

"Because if not, humans cannot be born. Nor can elves. Nor any other race. I will be out of souls. You Humans continue to breed too quickly, and I had to resort to altering souls to fit your bodies."

"N-no, it can't happen... it just can't," Gust pleaded, looking into Mren's eyes. HIs eyes showed wisdom and knowledge beyond Gust's comprehension, a knowing look in them that reassured him. Mren's left eye was brown, and his right eye was a light purple color.

"Take a portion of my power, Gust Sound, and get Fosoghd to assist us, and mortals may yet survive."

Gust nodded quickly, standing to his full height. Mren placed a hand on his chest, and everything went black.

Chapter 23

Shadow Fire walked around University glumly. She remembered her days there. Everyone bullied her constantly, until she erupted into black tentacles and accidentally strangled four students. She cringed at the memory, the first of the students filtering in. A man whipped out of a bit of smoke, sighing and panting. He looked around, bumping into Shadow as he retreated a few steps. The bump was innocent, but it hit her hard and she fell fast.

"Agh! Hey!" she called out, falling and hitting the ground. Her head hit the ground and things got bright briefly, but when the light faded she was dizzy and everything was oddly blurry. The man was saying something to her, but she couldn't quite understand. Something warm and wet was running down her face, and the back of her head, and into her ears...

Nothing hurt, everything was so peaceful.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"I'm gonna slit your throat in your sleep like the monster you are!" the man screamed, thrashing about. Fosoghd yawned and tightened the rope binding his limbs as a crowd began to amass around them.

"Shut up."

"Kill this magician dog! Murder the daughter-of-a-goblin like the gremlin she is!"

"Shut up, I said!" Fos demanded, kicking him in the face. He went slack as something in his neck cracked, and Fos winced. This was why she hated capture missions, especially in magician-hating countries like this.

There was a familiar boy in the crowd, next to an old man. He was looking fearful, and Fos checked her hostage's pulse at the neck. "He's alive!" she called out. "He's fine. Now why don't you all listen to me? Why do you kill magicians? Just accept magic, embrace it! Just like Slyf wanted you to!"

"Don't pretend to know me," a voice called out from behind her. Fos whipped around and saw her standing there, dressed in a golden dress, her hair whipping about in the wind that wasn't there moments before.

"Ah, Slyf. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Stay away from my Brother. We don't need your interference."

"No."

Slyf glared and people backed away. Fos clenched her sword, which was hidden underneath her extra layer of clothing, and motioned at the man. "With a hostage? Weren't you the one who cared about mortals?" she asked. Slyf's face contorted into a sneer, her eyes never leaving Fos.

Fos sent out a small portion of her mind to Wtherm's realm, which entered peacefully and located him instantly. I'm about to attack Slyf in the mortal plane, she said. Things may get ugly.

Slyf threw her hand into the air, golden energy spilling out of the sky and crashing down in front of her. The energy rebounded off the ground and whipped past her, circling her like an aura of gold, awaiting her command. Fos ripped through her tunic, revealing her own, purple dress. "Let's not fight, Slyf. Not right now at least. My wife made me this dress."

"I'll send your wife to Mren early."

"Aren't you usually so composed? Why are you so impatient today?"

"You are why."

"Yet so confident? You're hiding something, I can feel it. Doesn't matter, does it?"

The people had vacated the area, and Fos threw her hostage into a nearby building using a Vent spell. She panted a bit, her head lolling forward. "So tired already?" Slyf asked, her eyes cold and dead looking.

"Hey, would you do me a favor? Damn Wind School spells for me. I hate them."

"Never."

Fos shook her head and chuckled, entering a battle stance. Her right foot was forward and her sword was raised, her hands on the pommel, the blade diagonally cutting across her body, waiting for an attack to come. Slyf reached towards her side, a golden spear of pure light materializing in her hands. She rushed forward, but Fos grinned and eliminated the space between them entirely, leaving behind an explosion from the compression that threw Slyf back into the nearest building, which collapsed under the sudden force.

"Really? In a village without magic-proofing buildings? These shoddy things can barely stand the doors closing in them, why do you think-"

The spear of golden light was thrown and hit Fos in the stomach. She cried out as it glowed brighter, turning red as her blood fed into it. She tried ripping it out, but it burnt her hands. Slyf raised an open hand, and the spear shot back into it. Fos collapsed onto her knees, freezing time and destroying the space Slyf occupied all at once.

A large amount of sheer energy ripped through where Slyf was standing, and the world shook. "Holy Mren I hit her."

Slyf stepped back in, a ripple in space briefly revealing her own realm. Fos dropped her sword as her right hand went upwards and left, her left hand shooting downwards and right, enlarging the ripple in space and revealing her realm. It seemed to be an empty room, and Fos grinned.

Emptiness was the best. Fos could do this to it.

A hole made of pure blackness popped into existence, drawing in light and neodes alike as her realm shuddered. Fos had created a hole of pure inexistence the likes of which Mren could only hope to match, and it was quickly drawing in everything else. Fos sealed the exit and stared at Slyf, who suddenly shuddered and went pale as her realm began to collapse in on itself.

Slyf cried out in pain as Fos felt her entire world light up in bright colors, golden highlighted among them. She looked down to see an enraged Slyf stabbing her repeatedly, but none of that mattered.

She could see it all now. From her position to the edges of existence. She raised both hands equally and held them parallel to each other, her left hand moving back and her right moving forwards. Slyf rolled backwards, her dress torn in several locations, exposing her breasts. Fos' hands switched positions and space began to break itself down as the mortal realm shuddered under the force of her attack.

A spark similar to lighting flickered to life as space coalesced into a weapon, into a short sword which compressed into a dagger. Fos grabbed it with her right hand, spinning it so the blade faced the ground, her thumb up in the air and pointing at Slyf. Fos bit her lip and snapped her thumb down to her hand, a wave of blue-grey energy washing over Slyf and tearing up the land around them.

Slyf screamed in pain and Fos coughed up blood. She wiped it off with the back of her left hand, panting and lunging forward with her dagger. A shockwave came off of it, causing the space between her and Slyf to expand exponentially until Slyf's mind was completely gone.

Fos fell backwards, finding herself face-to-face with Wtherm. "What. Was. That." Wtherm demanded, a faint growling noise coming from him.

"Shut.... up," she managed to gasp, forcing herself to stand and waving her dagger threateningly. "I... can see... it all."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Shadow Fire awoke with a start, breathing quickly and looking around. She didn't like passing out like this. "Hey! Don't move so quickly! Sorry for hitting you earlier! My name is Smoke. What's yours?"

"Wh-what? Where am I?"

"The local University. What's your name? Can you remember?"

Remember, she had to remember. But remember what? Something... her name? Yeah, that seemed right. But... what exactly was it? She couldn't quite put her finger on it. "Uh... Fire? I think?"

"Fire. Amazing! Did you just move here? Or did I hit you too hard? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you. But you fell, and then when you hit the ground you... your head just... I'm sorry! It hit the ground even harder. There was blood all over the place, and I thought you had died..."

"I'm... I'm fine. I think. I was... looking for someone?"

"Well, I'll help you then! C'mon, class is about to start. I'll show you around, 'kay?"

"O-okay."

Chapter 24

"Here he is," Fos said, dropping off the hostage. She was in a terrible mood and bleeding heavily.

"Mren, did he put up a fight? Why are you bleeding, I thought you were good! I'm cutting your pay in half!" the masked man said. Fos glared.

"When you fight Slyf, you come out unharmed? Hm? No? Well then I deserve double, or I'll send you straight to Wtherm to torture."

"W-what?"

"You heard me. I had a fight with Slyf. This guy can vouch, if you bothered to remove the rope from his mouth," Fos said, motioning at the fiercely nodding captive. The man nodded and groaned, walking into his house. Moments later he returned with a rather large and heavy-looking pile of gold.

"All yours. I thank you, Assassin, for assisting me."

"Don't call for me again."

She disappeared without a sound.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"And here we are!" Smoke announced, smiling. "Welcome to Fire Mastery class. Hey, Teach! You have a rival now!"

Shadow... that didn't seem right, she didn't even know any Darkness Spells, Fire smiled meekly and hung her head.

"Oh, that so?" the teacher said. The teacher was an old, bald man with wrinkles and sunspots all over him. He was leaning heavily against a crooked wooden pole, and eyed Fire suspiciously. "Lemme see whatcha can do."

Fire shakily raised her hands, a little bit of flame spewing out before flickering out of existence. She eeped, trying again. Crying as she failed, she furiously threw a random punch, a gigantic fireball coming out of her fist and lighting the roof on fire.

"Oh my! Good at attacking, but not anything else... interesting! Haven't seen one of you since the war."

"What? Which war?" Fire asked. She couldn't help but ask, she was honestly curious. There was a war? When?

"Aye, must have been hundreds of moons ago. Ever seen a magic war? Terrible, terrible place to be. Hundreds of us on either side of the battlefield, afraid to go forward, not knowing what was going to hit us. Fire? Ice? Water? Wind? Earth? Which of the enemies was a Metal user, and who's armor was going to jump off a dead comrade and strangle us? And then, every once in a while, a Supreme would walk into the fight and treat every single soldier as pawns, as slaves to be sent to their deaths. And with disobedience came the deaths of hundreds, and no defense was enough to stop it."

Fire paled and shook her head, crying slightly, imagining it. "That must have been horrible..."

"It was. But that was years and years ago, nothing but horrifying nightmares are left. Come, we have young ones to teach Fire Spells to, and I think you could use a bit of training in them yourself."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

He was very, very late for class. Gust was running around outside, huffing with exhaustion and exceedingly confused. His Wind... wasn't responding. It simply wasn't.

Sound was, though, so it wasn't a fundamental problem. And he could feel the very edge of Slyf's energy running through him, waiting for his call. He just didn't want to use it. So why was his Wind, and only Wind, acting up? Never before had this happened!

Nobody bothered to wake him. He wondered why, usually his mother was inconsiderate and would wake him up without a second thought. Even his brother didn't wake him up!

He arrived at the iron gates of the school and leaned into them, trying to rest and push them at the same time. They didn't budge, and a voice called out. "What are you doing out there?" the Arch-Mage asked, staring at Gust with crossed arms. "Come in!"

The doors slid into the ground, causing Gust to tumble backwards into the Arch-Mage's feet. "I hear you're getting married three days from now. Have fun," he said, walking off. Gust closed his eyes and stood, sighing and realizing there was no way he was getting to the Wind Hall for his first class. He settled with Sound Class and trained all class.

History he managed to sleep through.

His third class involved mathematics, which he also managed to sleep through.

Ice caught him on his way out, looking confused. "Where were you? I was watching the sky all morning!"

"Slept late," Gust muttered, "And my Wind wasn't responding. Still isn't. I don't know why."

"Hm... sounds like a problem. Is it just Wind?"

"Yeah."

"Uh oh. Well, I don't know then. Ask Slyf?"

"That... seems like too small of a problem for a busy Goddess. Besides, she's hurt."

"She's what?" Ice asked, incredulous.

"Hurt. Fos fought her... and won."

"Mren save us."

Gust closed his eyes and nodded, leaning against Ice. "I know. We need it right now. Wedding is in three days, now?"

Ice shook her head and smiled. "No. All this talk of gods interfering... it means the end is near. Very near. We... let's get married. The church. Tonight."

"TONIGHT!?"

"Tonight. Meet me there, my love." Ice said, kissing Gust and silencing his protests. She smiled coyly and skated off, licking her lips and giggling.

"Unbelievable."

Gust went to go look for Mole and Smoke, but Mole was busy studying and Smoke was, oddly, with some girl. He didn't get a good look at who, but didn't bother to check. Smoke probably would inform him at some point.

An earthquake shook the whole University, no, the whole village, and Gust hit the ground. Many others were doing the same, whether it was from their own free will or not, and Gust shuddered. Something about the earthquake felt off.

A vast mind appeared aside him, and Gust looked over at it. "I'm out," Mren said simply. "I overestimated how many souls I had left, as I forgot to take into account the other creatures who use humanoid souls. I am out of extra souls. Prepare yourself, as the apocalypse will be upon you soon. While I prepare it, I must cause others to die. The earthquake was my doing, and more disasters will ravage this world until none are left. My apologies, Gust Sound, but it must be this way."

Gust stood, speechless. Other students had heard and were panicked, whispering among themselves frantically. "I am alerting every priest, no matter who they worship, of the situation. if you are going to fix things, it must be very soon."

Gust closed his eyes and nodded, and when he opened them Mren was looking sad. "I do not wish to do this. Humanity was my finest creation, aside from the elves."

Gust held his hand over his heart and stared straight into Mren's different colored eyes. "I will find a way to help you. I will not let the apocalypse happen."

"Then hurry."

Mren faded out, his mind leaving with his appearance, and Gust steeled himself. He had to find a way. He had to.

But now... what if he couldn't? What if they were all doomed to die? He was nothing, a mere teenager who had accomplished nothing of importance aside from meeting the gods, and he was a teenager who couldn't even cast Wind spells anymore at that. Maybe he should just go through with the marriage and spend his last moments with her.

Ice. Even if she couldn't help, he wanted to be with her. He cared about her too much. He didn't know when he became so attached, or exactly why, but it was important.

Ice was going to be his wife by the evening. He stood still, letting that sink in. He would be married, by the evening. No longer alone, and finally an adult.

Incredible.

Regardless of his situation, Gust ran over and spun Smoke around, grinning. "Wedding, tonight. The church. Be there!"

Gust laughed and ran off, head aiming towards the sky. He only lowered his head to search for Mole, informing him of the wedding as well.

After he did, he stopped running around like a madman and sighed. They... were his only friends. Maybe Ice would invite more.

"Why does the wedding date keep moving?" Breeze asked. Gust let a smile break through once more on his face and spun around, facing him.

"Ice is... worried. And I am too. The apocalypse is upon us, so we want to spend the last of our time together."

"The apocalypse?" Breeze asked, blanching. Gust nodded and Breeze stumbled a bit.

"But... it's okay. It's okay, because I may be able to help! All I have to do is the impossible," Gust said, smiling. He averted his eyes, knowing they'd show his real mood.

"Well, let's get going home. I've got a feast prepared-"

"Don't tell me you cooked it!"

"I did."

"Oh thank Mren."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"Were you aware of the apocalypse, honey?"

"'Course Ah was. Who d'ya take me tuh be?"

"I just.... it's so sudden!"

Gust sighed, glancing out of the window. Since the initial earthquake, nothing had happened. It was eerie, yet Gust couldn't take his mind off the impending wedding. "So? It's da apocalypse. Ah'm sure we'll be fine."

"What!? We're all going to die, and you're just-"

"Gust talked wit' Mren. Ah'm sure we'll be fine."

Gust was eating the finest roasted troll with a side of spiced mana. Well, eating was going a bit too far. Window was eating, Gust was just poking at it, too nervous to really eat. He had known the wedding was going to happen, but he really hadn't thought about it much more than that. What if he messed it up? Ice's last moments would be her remembering how he destroyed everything...

"Now hush 'nd c'mon. Or else yer gunna miss da weddin'."

Chapter 25

Tornado transported them all to the front of the church, which was lit up in many magical lights. News of the apocalypse had become commonplace, as Gust could overhear people whispering about it wherever they went, and it seemed the entire village was out to enjoy one last wedding before they all perished in a fiery, agonizingly slow, painful death. Still, it was so sudden. Gods weren't allowed to make mistakes!

There were too many people, "friends" of Ice and her family, for the wedding to take place in the church. Instead, it would take place next to it, in a large, open section reserved for occasions such as an overfilled wedding.

Gust fidgeted, adjusting his finest dress robes. They were black, and rather itchy. Gust sighed and looked around, honestly a bit confused. Who married the High Priest of the Holy Church of Mother Slyf? Usually it was a priest, but that was for normal weddings. Gust vaguely remembered hearing something about bishops marrying priests, and Head Priests marrying bishops.

Then who would marry him? Probably Ice's father. But then why was he sitting?

There were chairs set up next to tables in a circle around where Gust was standing, except for directly behind him, where a statue of Slyf stood. At least, the best imitation of her they could come up with. The weather was nice, no cloud was visible in the sky, and the sun was about to set. It still provided enough light to see without the magical lights, but by the time the wedding ended it wouldn't be that bright, hence the lights.

A single, low-pitched note rang out, silencing everyone. It gradually increased in pitch as it was joined by more musicians, until it reached a high pitch and flowers erupted from the entrance to the clearing, Ice walking through them.

Ice was wearing a dress made completely out of ice, just barely opaque enough to not see her skin underneath it. She was wearing high heels, the first time Gust had ever seen her in them. Obviously it wasn't the first time she was in them, either that or they were also made of ice. She was blushing and carrying a bouquet of flowers, which she held close to her head, underneath her chin. Her posture was as straight as could be, and there was no error or hesitation in her steps. It only took a moment, but it felt like forever before she arrived next to Gust.

Space folded in upon itself as three familiar figures stepped out. Wtherm, a writhing mass of tentacles near the back, growled quietly and took up an almost unwilling position. He appeared as if he was uncomfortable, and it showed that he didn't want to be there. Slyf was looking battered and bruised, bleeding in a few places and looking oddly humble. There was also a man, standing royally a ways back before he found a seat and sat with the utmost grace and poise. He didn't quite look familiar, but felt like he was. Adorning him was a black jacket and white, formal shirt with a black tie, and dress pants to match the jacket.

Slyf opened her mouth, but doubled over and winced. "I can't do it. Damn that woman. Brother, take over for me," she said, changing places. She sat and winced, and everyone stared in surprise or shock.

The man cleared his throat and looked about. "Mortals. I come here to support an ally of my own before the apocalypse comes with the Holiest of vows: Marriage. Today, Gust Sound and Ice, daughter of Song, shall be united as one in wedlock by myself."

Gust bowed his head slightly and raised it once more, Ice copying him. "I thank you, Mren, for coming. I thank you, Slyf, for coming. And I thank you as well, Wtherm, for coming."

There was not so much as a sound from the audience before Mren inclined his head slightly. "I come only at my sister's insistence, as she was recently wounded. That you are my ally, or that Wtherm has spoken with you holds no influence on my decision. Do not expect this to be common," he said, raising his arms. A heavy concentration of neodes left him and swirled around the couple. "Now, embrace. Embrace and hear my word as law."

Ice hugged Gust and looked into his eyes, while Gust hugged her and met her eyes. Mren's voice broke the silence as he continued.

"All mortals have a right to be blessed into adulthood. All mortals have a right to share a bond with another, to love and protect, to shelter and expose the other when necessary, and to know when the other is hurt."

Gust's eyes widened, and he almost broke his gaze with Ice to look at Mren in confusion. He'd never heard that part before.

"It is through the bonds of matrimony mortals discover their true selves. I stand here today, before the world ends, to bless one last couple. As the world cowers in fear, these two stand proudly. Gust Sound, look at me."

Gust looked at Mren and paled, blinking rapidly and clutching his head, letting go of Ice momentarily. Mren's presence was expanding rapidly to it's infinite form, yet taking up no space in the mortal plane. "I bless thee. Ice, daughter of Song, look at me."

She obeyed, paling as well. It was simply impossible to attempt to take in all of Mren. "I bless thee.

"Know that with these words, and with this magic, your bond shall be complete. Gust Sound, do you accept the bond?"

"On my life."

"And Ice, daughter of Song, do you accept this bond?"

"And in my heart."

Mren lowered his head, Slyf following suit. A golden streak of light shot towards Mren, who captured it with his own greenish-purple light. The lights combined as Mren raised his hand, pointing at Gust and Ice. "It shall be done."

The light hit Gust in the face, and all he could see was a swirl of gold, green, and purple. The colors hurt his head, yet had a calming effect on him. As his sense of sight died down, he could intimately feel Ice's grasp on him, and his on her.

Gradually his sense of sight faded back in, and not blurry like he expected. Gust stood with Ice, and everyone clapped. Gust blushed deeply, looking into Ice's eyes. He could feel the echoes of other emotions, love and devotion the most prominent, weighing in on his mind.

Ice's emotions. The bond was complete.

Mren sat and Slyf stood, walking over to Ice. "My Head Priest. I cannot currently give you a gift as congratulations on completing the bond, nor do I know if I shall be able to give it to you before the apocalypse. So I offer you the best I can. I shall protect yours, and your wife's, souls after the apocalypse. In essence, you shall both become immortal."

Ice gasped and looked towards Gust, who closed his eyes. "This... this is too sudden. We need time to think about it first, if we may have it. Immortality..."

"You may."

"Then I will try to contact you after we have made our decision. We thank you, Mother Slyf."

Slyf nodded and immersed herself in golden energy, a number of the larger wounds healing themselves. "It is no problem, my children. I must go, I have a realm to recreate. Brothers, follow."

Slyf stepped into a ripple in space, Wtherm and Mren following suit within their own ripples. The crowd stayed silent, and Gust held Ice closer to himself, feeling the vague sense of contentment radiating from her.

"Now I've seen all three gods too! We're even now!"

Gust chuckled and kissed Ice passionately, to which she reciprocated, melting into his embrace. Gust let himself wash away within the feelings of kissing his loved one.

"Ah've ne'er saw a bond like dat one b'fore," Tornado muttered, breaking the stark silence and ending their kiss after what seemed like an eternity and a half. "Must be stronger den mah own wit mah husband."

Ice smiled and nodded, staring into Gust's eyes. "I... can feel his emotions! It's so wonderful!"

Tornado stood, clearing her throat. She was wearing a nearly translucent dress that was blowing around, yet the swirls drew the eyes up to her face. "As da motha of da groom, 'nd as Supreme, Ah shall be da first tuh warn you of da bond."

Ice sucked in her breath and nodded. "As the bride, I accept. Your warning?"

"If one of ya dies, the otha will prolly die as well, or be driven tuh suicide. Yer bond looks stronga too, 'f ya kin feel da oda's feelings up close, pain will be worse for ya. Ah pity whoever dun't die first."

Ice had a somber expression on her face, and Gust couldn't meet her eyes. He glanced around and gasped, seeing Smoke and Shadow Fire sitting together and holding hands. Shadow Fire looked confused, almost lost. Though everyone seemed to be dressed in colors that matched their type of specialty, Shadow Fire wore red, matching with Smoke.

Mole was dressed in brown robes, next to them. He seemed to be sitting alone.

Ice shook herself and smiled, leaning into Gust. "Shall we go home? And does anyone have a bed we can have?"

Gust blushed and smiled, glancing at Ice. She was looking at him playfully, and the sunlight was just playing at the edges of her hair, lanterns taking over the majority of the light.

Chapter 26

Gust woke up around the same time as Ice. Both were under a thin blanket, and both were still naked from the night before. Ice was smiling, while Gust was blushing. "Good morning," she said. "It feels so nice to wake up with you without seeing Wtherm."

"That it does," Gust replied, "That it does."

They laid in each other's arms silently for a number of minutes, Gust intensely aware of the feeling of Ice's naked body on his own, her breasts touching his chest, her legs rubbing against his...

"Again?" Ice said, giggling. "Fine with me..."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

There was a knock at their door, waking up Gust and Ice. Ice blushed deeply, her eyes and feelings transmitting panic to him. Gust smiled slightly, taking the blanket with him as he stood up. Ice let out a shriek, running out of the room and into another.

Gust wrapped the blanket around himself, rubbing a bit of sleep out of his eyes with his left arm. He struggled to find the door in the new, dusty old house, but after a moment he managed to arrive and opened the door.

Fosoghd grinned at him.

"Oh, hello," he said, blinking a few times, taken aback.

"Have a fun night? I bet you did," she said, laughing and winking. Gust stood in awkward silence, during which Fos idly played with the hem of her dress, smiling and fluttering her eyes every once in awhile.

"Fosoghd?" Ice asked, walking in fully dressed. "What are you doing here?"

Fos smiled slightly, nodding to Ice. "I'm very sorry for this, but it's time."

"Time? For what?"

She placed a hand on Gust's forehead, smiling. "It was nice."

Her hand seemed to ripple, like water, and merged into Gust's head as pins and needles vigorously attacked him from within, a fire breaking out in his chest. He let out a scream, and Ice did as well as she collapsed from phantom pain.

The only thing holding Gust up was magical energy as Fosoghd forced herself into Gust. The fire within seemed to expand, until it finally felt like his body was eating itself, shuddering and reforming violently.

Gust couldn't breathe. His lungs simply were not working. Everything was painful, and now he was suffocating to death.

Yet things refused to go black as his consciousness stayed awake. Things began to feel off in his body outside of the pain, but he couldn't tell one sensation from another.

The blinding pain blurred together the time, until it finally began to die down. Long brown hair fell into Gust's eyes as he took his first breath in hours, the sun high up in the sky. A high-pitched scream shocked Ice to wakefulness, and Gust's mind reeled at a myriad of unfamiliar sensations.

"G-G-Gust?" Ice asked, standing shakily. "P-please tell me that's you... b-but it has to be, since I feel your discomfort..."

Gust stood, but promptly fell forward... onto his breasts.

He let out a scream that sounded oddly like... like...

"Y-you look like Fosoghd."

His mind shot out in seven different directions, searching for Slyf. He found her, doing his best to imprint a sense of urgency within his mind as his mind brushed against hers.

More unbelievable pain shot through his mind as Slyf materialized. "You."

"S-Slyf... p-p-plea-"

"Quiet."

Gust lifted himself with Slyf's energy, golden wings keeping him standing as his legs went limp. "Y-y-you wouldn't scorn your High Priest, w-would you?"

Slyf's eyes widened and she gasped. "Gust Sound? But... you... Fosoghd..."

Gust nodded and refused to look down, not believing what the sensations within his body, and his link with Ice, was communicating to him.

Slyf closed her eyes and lowered her head, before springing back up with wide eyes. "You feel like Fosoghd."

"I-I don't want to-"

"Which means," she interrupted. "You can help my Brother. You can help create more souls."

Gust felt himself go slack in realization. It... it was true. Now that he... he was Fosoghd... he could do it.

"N-no more apocalypse?"

"Correct. Brother! Come!"

The world rumbled and Mren stepped down, sneering at Fosoghd. "Do not believe your senses, Brother. Inside the power and appearance is our ally, not Wtherm's."

Mren inhaled sharply, staring into Gust's eyes. "I see. His soul remains in power, yet her power is not bound. I assume you call because that power may be used."

"Indeed."

"Gust Sound, in the body of Fosoghd, do you wish to stop the apocalypse, even if it means total destruction?"

"But, with her power, it wouldn't be total destruction-"

Mren silenced Gust with a raise of his hand, shaking his head. "Not to the world. To you."

Ice gasped and shook her head, tears coming out ever so slowly. "What? No, there has to be a way. No, no, no..."

"I am sorry, Child," Slyf said. "If my Brother says there is not, then there is not. It is He Who Knows All that speaks."

The atmosphere was tense, and Ice latched onto Gust. "I'll... I'll be fine..." she said, through tears. Love and despair radiated through their bond. "Please... save us all. I'll... I'll make sure the world knows what you've done... Even if I have to kill King and take the throne for myself to do it. Even if I have to attack Slyf and die, I shall do it," she promised, jumping up and into Gust's arms, her arms locking behind his neck as she kissed him passionately. "We were only married one night," she said as she pulled away, tears falling onto Gust's cheeks. "But that one night was enough for me. Now go, go before you hurt me too much for me to bear."

"Ice..."

"Go."

Ice let herself slip off him, landing on her back. Pain shot through their link, and Gust winced. The feeling of despair died down slightly, though. "Go."

Gust grabbed Slyf's hand, and they disappeared, rapidly arriving in Mren's realm.

"I can still feel her touch," Gust said, crying. The odd sensation of holding a woman as a woman was fresh in his... her?... mind.

"It is a noble man to sacrifice himself to save others," Slyf said. "Though it is many a man who are willing to do so, but never receive the opportunity."

Gust fell silent, and Mren grasped his... her shoulder. "Do not worry. Do not despair. Your soul shall live on, in a way. In a moment, I will tear it away from you and use it's power to create a new method for soul creation, one I shall be able to continue with no extra power. Gust Sound, I shall make sure my Sister remembers your sacrifice forever."

Gust lowered his head and got on his knees, one knee standing straight up as he placed his hands on it.

"Then I am ready."

Mren's mortal form seemed to disintegrate like sand within a strong breeze, minuscule particles floating away from Gust before ultimately vanishing. Slyf stepped away, fading into the darkness, her presence leaving.

"I do not show my work to any others. Not even my siblings. Gust Sound, prepare yourself."

Gust took a deep breath, then felt pain that made transforming seem like mild hunger as his soul was forcibly ripped from his body.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Ice stood in where she would make the kitchen. Tears streamed freely down her face, and she made no attempt to wipe them away. She could no longer feel Gust through their link. He was gone. Or maybe just too far away?

No, gone. He was gone.

And then her link brightened, becoming all encompassing. But he wasn't there... instead it felt like it was pulling her out of her skin, and she screamed until her voice broke once more. Still she tried to scream as the link... it didn't dim so much as suddenly became empty.

Yet not completely empty. Gust was not... not gone. Not completely. She could barely, ever so slightly feel him alive, or at least himself. Where he was, she did not know. If he would return, she did not know. If he was human, she did not know.

There was an aching, a longing within her that opened and grew and grew until all she could think about was Gust.

Gust. Gone. As all gusts are eventually as they die down and the air grows still. It was so with her bond.

Little bits of blood escaped her mouth, and she sat up, no tears falling. The bond was still ever so slightly there, as if Gust was barely present within existence. Mren's voice spoke over creation, and Ice barely mustered the attention to listen.

"Mortals. The boy, Gust Sound, Head Priest of the Holy Church of Mother Slyf, my Sister, has given his life completely, in a way no mortal ever has, to save you all from the apocalypse. Write down his name. Remember him. I demand it. Slyf demands it."

As his voice faded, so did Ice’s world.

Epilogue

A woman in red sat next to a man named Smoke. The woman, who knew herself as Fire, felt like a new person. She had just been baptized under the Holy Church of Mother Slyf, and felt so free.

Up next was her close friend Ice, whose husband gave his life to protect all of them. A mere day after they were wed, too. Ice wore a dress made out of ice, as per usual. In her hands lay her sleeping son, and at the altar stood her father.

"No, I shall do this," came a woman's voice. A golden-haired woman stepped into the building, raising a hand and throwing Ice's father to the side with golden energy. "I do this as a favor to my last High Priest, who died an honorable death. His son shall be blessed as he was blessed."

Ice nodded once, handing her child over to Slyf. Ice had taken a vow of silence upon her husband's death, communicating with hand gestures and occasional notes written onto slabs of ice if she couldn't get her point across. Fire liked to hang out with her, even if they were opposites in terms of magic.

Yet Ice was always reserved around her, and occasionally she would catch Ice staring at her curiously. Fire always shrugged off the instances, as nobody could really tell how sane Ice was. She had taken it upon herself to live alone, now with her son, and support herself. Every so often, an elf was seen around her house as well, raising suspicion about how much she was actually doing for herself, and if she was cheating on her deceased husband.

Nobody's loyalty seemed stronger than Ice's, though. Nobody could deny it. Fire blew out a ring of smoke before looking back at the Goddess blessing the unnamed child.

It was almost a common sight in the city to see Slyf protecting Ice, despite her saying she wouldn't. Nobody could fathom what was going on in Slyf's head, but pilgrims from all over the world, afraid of magic or not, would flock to the town for a glimpse of the Golden Goddess.

There was even a single report of Slyf eating with Ice, and talking with her. If Ice would ever respond, people might have seen them as close friends. Fire certainly felt like she was Ice's best friend, though.

Eleven long months after her memory became fuzzy, Fire had grown closer and closer to Smoke. She couldn't help but feel like she was falling in love with him. She had nobody else to turn to, yet Smoke accepted her as she was, no matter what she did. Break a plate? He was there to reassure her. Lose a friend? He was a shoulder to cry on. Get hurt during a magical experiment? He would never leave her side.

For a Master, her life must have seemed exceedingly dull. Especially compared to her company. Ice would "talk" with a Goddess, Earth Wood was a full-time teacher and friend to her since he was still just Mole, and Smoke was always out helping the poor when not helping Fire.

Golden energy enveloped the baby, and Ice picked him back up, smiling forlornly at Slyf. Slyf sighed and patted Ice's back. "I apologize I cannot help you more," she said, disappearing.

Indeed, her life was boring. But that was okay. She could share in the warmth of friends, and hear their troubles and try to help. She was there to be a friend to them all, and perhaps in the distant future, a wife to Smoke. They would have little baby flames and live in a volcano happily ever after, and she never could get the image out of her head.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

A woman going by the name of Fosoghd twirled a dagger aimlessly, sighing with a tear dripping down her cheek. Her wife was there, as was Slyf blessing their child. Yet she couldn't interact. By all rights, she didn't even exist.

As her soul was ripped out, Fos finally saw the truth. While she was still Gust, the other Fosoghd had been subtly preparing for the moment of the apocalypse, in an effort to disrupt it. She went around different times and established a presence, went around different tangents of alternate mortal planes, and stayed briefly. And in the end, the universe simply would not let her disappear completely.

Her next bit of genius involved fusing with Gust. The act was impossible without god-level magic, which is where the key factor of not being formed within Mren came into play. She was known as an Outcast by those who knew how souls were formed, as she was formed by the same mysterious force that formed the three gods.

She was no sister to them though.

Her fusing with Gust was important because the fusion hadn't fully settled before Mren ripped Gust's soul out, so it left fragments of both hers and Gust's souls that were spread too thin for even Mren to notice. Yet Fos could feel it. And she was gradually growing in strength.

She hovered between realms in the inter-space, out of view from prying minds. Slyf monitored the realms carefully, but there were breaches in even the god's defenses. Mren was focused on creating as many souls as possible, and Wtherm was still having fun with his torture dolls. Fos existed in the sense that she could affect everything, but nobody knew who she was, where she was from, or indeed if she was truly alive. So far, at least.

The only one capable of it would be Ice, who, if she was listening, would be able to "hear" her bond with Fos getting stronger and stronger. Eventually she would return, and on a subconscious level she was confident Ice knew that as well.

A son. She had a son. Fos smiled, slipping out of the inter-space and into a freezing environment, snow falling all around. "Perfect day for a murder, is it not?" her target asked the man he was about to stab.

"Indeed it is," she whispered behind him, slipping the dagger into his spine.

She was no longer completely Gust, but she was not completely Fosoghd either. And she could feel what School "talked" to her, as water did with Rirnk. A conglomeration of Space, Time, and the mysterious fabric of reality bent to her will more easily than it did to the three established gods.

The dagger slipped out of her target's spine, and the man on the ground stared in shock. "Don't you love magic? It just saved you. Now get on out of here before you freeze to death."

Fos disappeared, slipping into the inter-realm. Even with her activity, Slyf was never suspicious of the assassin who kept teleporting around. After all, Fosoghd and Gust were dead.

To everyone else.