“THERE IS LITTLE HUMANS DO WITHOUT THOUGHT OF BENEFIT FOR THEMSELVES. WHAT DO YOU SEEK TO GAIN FROM THIS, HEALER FAE? EVEN FLOWING SILVER KNEW THAT YOU SERVED SO WELL BECAUSE YOU WERE A FOE OF THE DARK MANA.”
“This one hopes that His Imperial Majesty will allow Human Mages to come and Behold Him, and be Inspired onto the path of the Archmage, as was once done in the past! You will know them by the Marks they bear upon them!”
The Marks upon Reynard (on his shoulder), Turk (on his chest), and me (inside my Nasal Cavity) glowed, and the Thunderbird actually leaned forward to stare at them.
“YOU ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THAT HAG...” His words rumbled over us.
I blinked, and promptly /heard Sama laugh loudly from across the continent. That bitch had met Thunderbird and not told me! The Mick hadn’t flared the Marks for him and Hopper, and they had not been obvious under feathers and inside the skull...
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty,” I confirmed blandly.
“THE LITTLE GOLDEN ANT DID COME AND SING TO ME THE SONGS ONCE RAISED BY THE TRIBES OF HUMANS LONG AGO. THEY HAD FORGOTTEN MUCH OF THE PROPER WORDS, AND I HAD TO CORRECT HER ON THEM MANY TIMES.
“NOW THE TRIBES SING THEM PROPERLY ONCE AGAIN, WHEN THEY CHOOSE TO SING.”
Well, shit. That totally sounded like some impulsive thing Sama would do on a bloody lark. “The Refractory Towers that make the Heavy Lightning Mana are of her design, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“YOUR MINION AND HIS COMPANION CAME HERE AND SHOWED ME NEW HUMAN MAGIC, WAYS OF WIELDING MAGIC I DID NOT KNOW OR HAD SEEN BEFORE. EVEN FLOWING SILVER DESCRIBED SUCH AS NEW AND INTERESTING.” His head drew back to its full imperious height two hundred feet above me. “SHOW ME THE MAGIC THAT IMPRESSED FLOWING SILVER!”
“When magic has no Element but those one chooses to give it, many different things become possible, Your Imperial Majesty.” I slowly got to my feet, flexing my fingers. “This one asks Thunderbird, does His Imperial Majesty have old spiritual wounds that need be healed, or does one of His Stormcrowns?”
He paused, and turned His head slightly, looking over His attendants, before turning back to me. “WE HAVE ALL SUFFERED SPIRITUAL WOUNDS AT THE WILLS OF THE EMPERORS OF THE DEEP,” He stated calmly, as if it was only to be expected.
My lips thinned. Oh, big surprise there, probably a very ancient rivalry, and the Aquatic bastards knew Psychic Magic. “Oh, well, then, this one shall attend to you all together, then. Let this one kill two fish with one claw and make up a proper Formation, then Bring Down the Moon and Stars on you all at once.” I looked around the area. “This one will need a space where His Imperial Majesty can stand, and His Attendants around Him. Is it alright to use that space over there?”
Thunderbird turned His head to regard a chewed-up, broken stretch of ground strewn with rubble, boulders, and random chunks of trees. “YES?” He permitted me, and I flexed.
“Let this one get right to that, then.”
---
Shape Stone overpowered with Earth Mana could affect a large area. I needed an area about two hundred yards across. Flowing stone shifted and flattened out with great speed as I worked, and then the whole flat area began to ripple and redefine itself in the Pattern I was making.
Big Rune Circle in the middle for the Emperor, eight smaller ones for His servants, all within a greater Rune Circle.
“If the Thunderbird and His Servants could take their places, and fill the circles with Mana, we may begin.”
Curious about this, the seven mighty Eagles, Thunderbird towering far over the rest, hopped off their perches and glided to circular ridges in the ground they could grasp comfortably with their great talons. Lightning crackled and began to pour into the formation, which instantly puffed to vivic life as it did so, the Mana circling through the Formation and losing all characteristics as it did so.
I sat down beneath Thunderbird, in the very center of the formation, His cabin-sized talons to either side of me, and I began to bring up the Mana.
ALL of the Mana. Every single type.
It was pulled in from miles around, up and down. First came the waves of Dark Mana, from seven Elements thereof... two of which the startled Eagles had never felt or seen before. These were thick and viscous, rippling with the power of the Underworld... and they hit the vivus and ignited into blazing, burning sheets, thick with unleashed power that poured into the Formation as the wary Eagles watched it detonate in shock and amazement.
Then came the normal Elements, and around them the Dimensional ones.
Dimensional Void Magic from far beyond and Ice Magic from eternal solidity came together. Summoning and Earth Magic wove and rippled humming in the air, and joined the dance of the Typeless. Temporal and Water Magic, which absolutely stunned Thunderbird to see, faded into the White. Thunder and Air Magic followed, and then the dance of Chaos and Fire empowered everything and wove it all together, and the Force Aspect of Void Magic danced with Lightning and lashed everywhere with building power, reaching up to the storms and the sky above.
Which, even wrought by an Emperor, parted to let the Light shine through.
Sunlight opened up, the blue sky swirled to night, and The Light, of many Lights, came down from Above.
Despite themselves, the Eagles with the heads of feathers silver and crystal bowed them, and then spread their great wings as The Light began to fall from the Heavens and dance upon their souls.
They knew the gentle Healing Magic, the subtle caress of Psychic Magic, the vitality of Plant Magic, and even knew the reinforcement and encouraging Aura of Blessing Magic.
The sharp edges of Silver Magic looking for traces of alien energy to cut away, and the ethereal sifting of the Divination Magic finding every flaw and scar and trace left on their minds and souls by the Psychic Magic of the enemy, not so much.
It was Moonlight and Starlight in the middle of the day, falling to Earth from the depths of Heaven, and it spattered and sparkled against their feathers and the souls beneath them as the Eagles trembled at a gentle Healing touch that threaded its way past all their defenses, their resistances, and their scars, and dealt with them all.
The remnants of the powers used to assault them, tough traces that great power and decades, even centuries of time had not been able to dislodge, were cut free and dripped away from them, bursting into vivus and joining the White Mana Zone in place here. Two dozen Elements danced and writhed in a greater whole around the Zone, and drew down the Moon and Stars to heal an Emperor and his Kingly Nobles.
---------
They crouched there for hours, unwilling to leave the shower of Moonbeams and Starlight, which meant I blew through fourteen thousand points of Mana keeping it up for them.
When at last I sighed and dropped the spell, unable to keep sustaining it, I could feel the Eagles all shudder in relief and wonder, even as the hole up in the sky closed and the Formation slowly exhausted itself of energy, dissipating harmlessly as the temporary White Mana Zone was swiftly invaded by the prevalent Air, Earth, Lightning, and Thunder Mana once more.
Everything winked out. My Stars were emptier than they’d been for a very long time, as I didn’t practice depletion training.
A Twenty-four Element spell was something only a Typeless Caster could pull off. Even a Sage would be floundering to do the same.
Thunderbird slowly straightened on His impromptu perch, His thousand-foot wingspan that had carefully shaded none of His servants withdrawn at the same time.
“Are His Imperial Majesty and His servants’ injuries better?” I asked with Voice, although they were all masters of Thunder and would have no problem hearing me from the horizon, let alone this close.
“THAT IS THE GENTLEST AND MOST POWERFUL HEALING OF THE SPIRIT I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED,” Thunderbird murmured, and the other Eagles softly chirped assent, shuffling and dancing in place. I could feel an ethereal improvement in the quality and sharpness of their Auras, as if cracks and weaknesses had been cleaned away, leaving only a stronger edge behind. “YOU EVEN MADE USE OF THE DARK MAGIC, HEALER FAE.”
“It is a power source, and it deserves to be Burned if they are willing to cough it up as fuel, Your Imperial Majesty,” I sniffed. “So Burn it this one does!”
“THIS MAGIC HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE BY A GREAT BEAST,” He stated with no uncertainty. “IT WOULD HAVE BEEN KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD IF IT WAS.”
“Babe the Blue Ox has seen it, and was the first to experience it,” I corrected him. “But King Babe does not gossip much, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“AND YET, YOU ARE NOT YET A SAGE, NOR EVEN AN ARCHMAGE OF HUMANS,” He noted.
“A corded rope is stronger than a straight cable, Your Imperial Majesty. Weave enough of them together, and they can equal the strength of a larger vine.”
His head, the size of a decent house, slowly came down to look at me. “YOU EMPLOYED ELEMENTS I HAVE NEVER SEEN USED BEFORE...” His words rumbled over me.
“Probably, Your Imperial Majesty?” I hazarded. “Certainly it does not feel like anyone is using them when this one touches upon them.”
“DISPLAY THESE ELEMENTS TO ME.”
Well, it wasn’t a request. “As His Majesty wills!” I swept my hands out and in patterns, and brought up twenty-six Elements in four circles: Seven Classic, seven Dark, Five (Six) Dimensional, and six White Magic.
His eye was as tall as I was as He stared at them without blinking, His power probing them, trying to see how they fit into the Manafield, what they were, and where they came from.
“NAME THESE.” Just a flutter of His Will, and the ones familiar to him were snuffed like candles.
“His Imperial Majesty would know this one as the Blood Magic of the Blood Tribes, but its power is somewhat broader than they employ, trying not to delve into the depths of Dark Mana and threaten their very souls,” I pointed to a sanguine cluster of Dark Magic, before waving it away. “This one is Demon Magic, the Magic of burning your soul for power and enhancing your physical form. It is rarely seen because it tends to burn out and destroy those who gain it, unable to handle the power or pay the cost it demands.” That black and red swirl of Dark energy also dissipated. “This is the Blightfire, the necroic flame that burns souls and annihilates them from the depths of the Underworld. It is probably not used here because it would consume the souls of those employing it, even as it annihilates their enemies, and such self-destructiveness defeats the purpose of the Dark Lords of the Underworld.”
“AND YOU CAN WIELD ALL OF THESE?” Thunderbird asked archly.
“This one can Burn all of them with vivus, Your Imperial Majesty.”
He paused and considered that. “CONTINUE,” He finally said.
“These two are the aspects of Void Magic, as it is commonly known here. They should properly be divided into Force Magic and Space Magic, but have somehow become admixed into a greater whole.” I moved them together, and this time He blinked as the folded, watery ripples and crystalline silver flowed into the black and silver motes of Void Magic, at which He was very adept!