The Mick and Hopper had been taking regular trips for months into Beast Territories, running overland, extending lived-lines, connecting them up... and Riding the Lightning away from any attackers. Even a powerful Noble Beast would have trouble catching up to the pair if they were working together, and that was what they were doing now.

Lightning-affinity creatures were often described as some of the physically swiftest around, which was fine... but it didn’t compare to actually using Lightning, Earth, and Void Magic. Hopper had no problems keeping ahead of the Tempest Wolves trying to track them down with The Mick just using Earth Wave to double and triple their overland speed with minor effort. They could also Ride the Lightning or Blink away, but that would disrupt their Lived-Line, so they preferred not to do it.

The Wolves were calling them cowards and weaklings and stuff for fleeing the fight, which was amusing, given a Baron Wolf was leading them and frustrated that it couldn’t catch them. They were also setting up a huge ruckus that was attracting attention, but that was par for the course. No one had said that going to pay homage to Thunderbird was going to be easy!

The Mick ranged out ahead with Earth Magic’s sense of the Land, charting their course and looking for surprises along the way, zipping over the ground as if they’d lived there all their lives, avoiding dead-ends, crevasses, and other cul-de-sacs that might slow them down. It all added to the frustration of the Wolves, who would have been very happy to take some revenge on a landbound Avian, and instead found themselves playing coyote to a roadrunner, never a fun thing to experience.

It got annoying enough at one point for the Baron Blitzen Wolf to actually try hurling Lightning at them and hoping it could stick. The blast of violet Lightning thundered out at them from over a mile away, timed to hit them just as they were cresting another low hill and send them flying.

Instead, Hopper and The Mick turned to face the writhing stream of purple electricity, The Mick raising the Rod he snapped out to full length as Staff and Glaive, and Hopper spreading wings of blue and purple-gold to take the hit head on.

---

Lightning smashed into them, writhing and crackling like a thousand serpents breaking rocks. The Baron Wolf exulted in the foolishness of a mere Commander taking his Lightning, charging forwards to claim his prey.

And then he slowed, because the totally unmoved Thunder Runner and its Human rider were standing there, the faintest of crackling sparks around them, obviously completely unharmed.

The stick the Human held slowly lifted to the brooding skies, as a swirling Nebula of Stars flared and joined around them. The Bird screeched to the skies as a momentous amount of Lightning speared straight up into the grey skies above, and the clouds rumbled and flared with power that started to grow, and grow, and grow...

The Blitzen Wolf Baron was not a fool, and as the first Thunderbolt came crashing down, girt about in blazing flames, he was already fleeing and avoiding it, even as it danced across the stone and landscape and tore it all apart.

Like the beats of colossal wings, or hammers on stone, the Thunderbolts crashed down again, and again, and again, tearing apart the earth and soil, sending shrapnel flying. Only one actually made contact with the Ruling Wolf, blasting him off his feet for a moment, only for him to wildly scrabble and dodge the next one as hostile Lightning of incredible power danced over his blue-grey hide and horns in whirling balls of energy that clung to him with unusual tenacity.

His pack, seeing him racing at them and dodging the hammering doom from above, wisely decided to turn around, scatter, and avoid the same vengeful dance before it could pick on them!

---

The Mick watched the Tempest Wolf Pack scatter and abandon its chase, and with a cluck of his tongue, Hopper folded his wings and turned back around. Together the two of them made for the brooding mountain ahead of them, their dominance displayed in the best manner to the Stormcrown Eagles definitely watching them, and hopefully satisfied at their disdainful scattering of the mere Wolves who had thought to challenge them.

The climb up the mountain would be another challenge, but mere winds and cold weren’t going to deter them at all. After all, Resisting Cold was also an aspect of Earth, not just Ice Magic, and anchoring them to the stone against the wind was going to be nothing. If they needed to, they could run right up a vertical slope if required!

---

The shriek of the Ruling Eagle stopped them both cold, even as the tyrannical Aura of a Noble Stormcrown weighed down on them.

Hopper slid to a halt as the massive Avian over twice his height alighted on the edge of the crevasse ahead of them, looking down at them with the aloof majesty and disdain of his Bloodline. A descendant of The Thunderbird, one of the purest and loftiest Bloodlines in the world, while he was a mere landbound Thunder Runner, and one who dared to come here with a Human riding upon his back, at that?

Under the weight of that crushing Aura, Hopper and the Mick... bowed low and elegantly, the Human hopping off the Bird and both of them spreading limbs that would not fly, lowering heads and extending their legs in perfect tandem to pay respect to a Ruling Avian.

The fact they were not sent to the ground groveling startled the Stormcrown despite itself. It bore down on both of them... and found their Wills as hard and unyielding as the mountain beneath it, possessed of all the arrogant power and domineering strength to be expected of wielders of the Lightning, and certainly higher than any Snowcrown Eagle at their level possessed!

Huffing to itself, the Stormcrown demanded to know why they were here, and Hopper responded proudly that he would be the first Thunder Runner in generations to come to pay his respects to Thunderbird Emperor!

The Stormcrown’s reply was dismissive. He was a mere Commander, an ant in the eyes of The Thunderbird! Why would the Emperor deign to see them? They could pay their respects here, to him, also something none of his Bloodline had done, and that would be enough!

Hopper and the Mick promptly rose against the Aura surging down on them, and took up positions formally opposite one another. The startled Stormcrown Eagle let the pressure fall, watching them curiously as they began to dance together.

With every step, sparks rose from the ground around the two of them. Lightning Mana swirled in the air, calling to the skies above, and thunder popped and crackled with every step. Soon a false Thunder Runner of pure Lightning was formed around the Human, leaping and prancing with energy and power, spreading wings woven of purple lightning, and beads and balls of Lightning sparked and gathered in a mesmerizing dance and play of voltage and power. It pulled and teased at the Manafield, and the power rising from below was thrumming through the ground, every bit as mighty as the power leashed in the blowing winds and churning clouds of the Heavens about them.

It whirled and expanded into a vortex of strength and dancing delight, a show of control and skill and power, and yet exultation and joy in the power of the prancing Lightning, joining the earth and sky as only Lightning could, and even the Stormcrown Eagle was lost in the celebration of the storm like this...

The dance died down and concluded, and even the Stormcrown Eagle had to admit it was a worthy tribute. It had never beheld quite the like, especially from a pair of mere...

It looked around in shock, for the flightless things were not there!

It spread out its Awareness in amazement, and found that the two petitioners had already entered the great crater itself, and were inside the very home of Thunderbird!

Shrieking in fury at being tricked so roundly, the Stormcrown Eagle exploded after the petitioners, determined to punish them severely for such effrontery! Daring to defy a Noble of his stature with their measly power!...

He cut through the eternal storm with the flesh-shredding Winds and bolts of Lightning that would shred anything below a Noble Lightning Beast in seconds, swooping down over the rim of the crater and into the Nest of the Thunderbird.

It wasn’t hard to see either of the two, as they were on a leveled area by the lip, near where Thunderbird Emperor often perched on the clearer days, looming over the mountain and staring into the distance, lost in thoughts a mere Stormcrown Eagle could not fathom, try as he might.

That was not where Thunderbird was now, of course. His massive form, over two hundred feet high when standing, was in His nest, a thing wrought of entire trees as birds might use twigs, adorned with the skulls and bones of those Dragons who had challenged Him piled high, and replete with the power of the unending storm which circled about this, His Nest and the Eye of the entire storm bound to His lands.

And Thunderbird Emperor was watching them!

The Stormcrown’s plummeting flight arrested itself promptly, any thoughts of disturbing Thunderbird Emperor’s curiosity immediately quenched without question. He discreetly landed to the side on one of the spurs worn down by generations of Stormcrowns attending upon their lord, and said nothing, letting his ire at being tricked drain away as he studied what the two flightless creatures were doing.

There was Lightning, Earth, and Void Mana being used together in ways he had never seen, and could not understand. Even the simple effects being shown in their Tribute Dance seemed to have layers of complexity to them the Stormcrown Eagle had not seen before. Even if they were being shown at minor levels of power, they were extremely complex tricks... that could rapidly grow into much more powerful complex tricks!

The leap from minor, almost instinctive spells to powers worthy of Warrior Beasts was smooth and yet sudden, the Dance taking on greater meanings and effects as Runner and Human danced around, occasionally zipping back and forth instantaneously in a manner the Eagle had never seen Lightning used for, while the Mana they gathered swirled and fed them in new ways.

Was... the Earth Mana controlling the Lightning Mana? The Stormcrown Eagle was stunned at the sight, even squawking, disbelieving what he was seeing.

He had never seen Lightning Magic used in so many ways, and the next tier of magic went up, starting off by the pair leaping into the clouds along a bolt of Lightning and exploding away clear to the horizon far beyond his eyes and Awareness, only to come thundering back to resume the Dance a moment later. The Stormcrown Eagle realized they could have skipped right past him with no effort at all...

It was only a flightless Commander Bird!...

---

The Mick and Hopper finished their Tribute Dance, both of them leaning back, the Ball Lightning around them swirling and seething, and they let it go to the skies.

Lightning crackled and thundered and danced, silencing the wind as it did so, and curtains of multi-colored Lightnings came crashing down in all directions as the Mana of every single Element was caught up in the dance, falling from the sky in joy and celebration to The Thunderbird.

Thunderbird Emperor watched it all fall. He slowly spread his dark wings wide, a thousand feet and more of wingspan looming over all as He raised his golden beak, and Lightning brighter than the sun flared about His crystalline-white crown.

The magic was instantly raised tenfold, a hundredfold, and more. The very clouds dissolved before the rising power of Thunderbird Emperor, the stars in the skies above seemed to wheel and feed the Lightning as they became part of the Dance.

The multi-colored storm of Lightning that swept away the clouds stretched clear to the horizon. Every Lightning Beast in the lands of the Thunderbird raised their heads to stare at the tableau, to look upon the power of the Thunderbird... and to drink in the falling motes from the sky, the purest essence of Lightning they had ever felt, despite every single drop bearing hints of the other Elements...