“Seraph?” The other elementals exclaimed. “How are you here?” The undine asked, a tone of genuine puzzlement. “Your form… what happened to you?” She continued, composing herself. “You aren’t actually the Seraph are you?” She asked, examining his form intently.

“On the nose like always Rune.” The person chuckled. “I’m a constructed simulacrum of his soul. Figured if he could split aether to create you, it just needed a little tweaking so he could replicate the effects of a Animus mage.” He frowned a little. “Isn’t perfect though, have to have a template of the soul you’re creating, and uh, you’ll probably notice I’m made of more aether than he was. On the upside I know all that you know.” He said, pointing to the undine. Explains his knowledge of the language…

I cocked my head. “So what is your purpose exactly? Are you here to guide, counsel, make sure I’m not a megalomaniac bent on world domination?” The man chuckled a little, turning to survey the grove for a moment. He gave a long sigh.

“I’m here to see what’s happened while I, he was gone. Also to make sure you use the thing responsibly and don’t kill yourself while creating more elementals.” His eyes grew a little pained. “They will be instrumental to slowing down the advance of the Edratchi.”

“Slowing down?” I asked. “The alliance slowed down the Edratchi, the dragons slowed down the Edratchi, even the alliance of races ultimately only slows down the Edratchi. This whole damn war has been a long delay of the inevitable, is there actually any way to win?” I snarled, exasperated. “What the hell are the Edratchi?”

He paused for a moment. “Looks like we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Could you four leave us be for a bit?” He said to the elementals. They seemed surprised and somewhat taken aback, but acquiesced all the same. He watched them leave, then turned to me. “That’d be a very good question if I didn’t know for a fact that a Seraph would have been briefed on it. Who are you exactly?” He asked, his eyes narrowed. “If you lie, I’ll… Huh… No soul?” He stared at me. “What are you?”

Oh, here we go again. I sighed. “I’m beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that I’m not just from another plane but another bloody reality. Then again that was pretty much what Oroc said.” I muttered under my breath. “I’m from a different world, I came here by… accident?” Insofar as being randomly transported counts as an accident. “Most of the others just assume that I’m the Seraph, and nothing I do disabuses them of the notion.” I grumbled. “Doesn’t help that I can’t actually tell if we’re different, never met one before.”

“I… guess I can forgive that.” The man said, then sighed. “Can’t say it’s the most realistic tale I’ve heard, but honestly, it fits, and I’ll just give you benefit of the doubt for now. That means that the actual Seraph hasn’t arrived yet, this could be bad.” He muttered. “Very bad.”

“Okay, so would it be remiss for me to receive an explanation of what’s going on?” I asked, fixing him with a firm hard stare. He smiled a small smile, inclining his head and snorting gently.

“Alright… alright.” The image spoke, raising his hands in appeasement. “The full story would take too long, and we honestly don’t know it all, it’s a work in progress. Palaeontology is hard work, and we don’t really come down here either, but I can tell you about the broad strokes, as I knew then.”

“The world is separated into about… three planes, far as we know anyway.” He grinned. “This one is the Midworld, we and the Edratchi reside closer to the Materia and Magica respectively. Our plane is one of weaker, tamed magic. We don’t have the strength to cast as they do on this plane, on the other hand, it means that our souls, small as they are, are easy to control and difficult to harm.”

“We have an innate magical finesse, which we integrate into technology beyond that of what is on Midworld. Add to that the relative stability of the Materia, and we advance fairly quickly, though he’d admit we could use a swift kick once in a while.” He laughed at that. “Complacency is our vice in a way. It’s a bit of a conundrum.”

“On the other hand, Magica. A plane of roiling elemental magic, forget aether as a medium, down there you’re looking at six shades of magic and four shades of utter chaos. The only real constant in that world is the fact that life is always changing.” He drew his brows together in a frown. “In Magica they have strong souls, powerful souls in a different way than ours, their magic is unpredictable, flowing down arbitrary bloodlines, even changing based on an individual epiphany.”

“Up here it solidifies a bit, takes on orderly aspects, but it’s still hellishly stronger, the only thing is that their tech is little to non-existent.” He smirked. “Saving grace that, or even we’d be overrun before long.” He turned to me. “The gist of it is…” He laughed at the flat look on my face. “The Edratchi want to get the hell out of Magica. The elementals are an offshoot of what happened when my creator started using our tech on this plane, it interacts very differently.”

“Then… the Seraph?” I prodded, the history of the war was all well and good, even with that bit on their Materia and Magica, but who was the Seraph, and what did it matter that they weren’t here? He nodded gravely.

“The Seraph is our representative. The one who is sent to scout out how we can help, to prepare the way. They’re our best, the diplomat and the tactician first, a warrior distant second.” He ran his hands through his hair. “When I… the creator was working, we feared bureaucracy would prevent us from getting here in time to do what had to be done. I think… his fear came true.” He sighed, then called out. “I know you came back! May as well show yourselves.”

The other elemental spirits manifested, trailing in from the edges of the forest. “I told you he’d be able to tell, he’s still a part of the Seraph.” The Undine’s voice carried, soft mumblings that just barely bordered on audible. “And next is probably going to be the punishment…” She groused.

“Damn right it is.” The man said, his voice imperious and stern. “When I ask for private time that means private time. When did you people learn to break the rules just because you wouldn’t be caught huh?” They hung their heads, a little ashamed. He turned to me. “The fragments will bring you to where you need to go. Take the hilt, it’s not much use as a two hander or a ranged weapon now, but it can still make elementals. This fragment.” He held out his palm, and a small bright white person shaped like him appeared in his palm. “Will explain the process to you, should be easy enough even for you.”

I smirked tiredly at his words. “I guess, what will you do?”

“I’m going to whip them into shape and guide them into battle.” He said with a fierce grin. The others seemed taken aback, their heads shooting up to look at him. “You’ll hopefully be able to help us bolster the ranks, they share a connection, so it doesn’t matter where they’re made, they’ll find us easily. Just try to send them in fully formed groups of four eh? It’ll help them reach here safely.”

As I left I could hear a ringing cheer that came from the elementals, guess he was very well received amongst them, though that wasn’t particularly surprising considering who he was.

The tiny soul copy pointed the way, seemingly unable to speak or do much else, it didn’t respond to my questions, not any of my words. A reduced copy. I supposed, watching as it stood on my palm, a single finger outstretched to lead the way. Kind of cute actually, like a human compass…

[It isn’t human however, but a facsimile.] Page said. The voice caught me by surprise. Does this mean you’re going to stop being sulky? I thought back, arching my eyebrow. [Only if you admit that some of my feelings are warranted.] I sighed. Perhaps they are…

The dragon awaited us at the edge, it stared at the little soul in my palm. “What is that?” It inquired. “It doesn’t look like a normal elemental.” It said, curious.

“More like a manifested soul I guess…” I answered Toras. “The elementals gave their word that they would help make the Edratchi’s invasion more difficult for them, but they cannot face them head on in battle.” I showed him the Aerathi hilt that I had been given. “They also gave me this. Should be useful.” I said, refraining myself from elucidating their actual purpose.

“I see.” Toras answered. “We should return post haste, dawn is arriving. And if they see you it would defeat the purpose of this.”

“You mean to preserve the idea that I’m anywhere near normal?” I asked with a sardonic smirk. “I suppose it would be nice not to be thought of as an Aerathi by everyone.” Though I have to wonder what people actually think of them. What’s the common consensus? I sigh in frustration.

[You recall what Ram spoke of, they were considered to be powerful beings. I would assume that they would have been considered benevolent by the masses considering the circumstances.]

True, but you know what they say about ‘assume’… I thought back. We really need to start making lists of data to research. I rubbed at my temples. Thought this is really more a tangent than anything else.

I stalked my way back to the mattress, curling up and trying to sleep the last few hours I would have before dawn came. I was shaken awake a bit later, I wasn’t sure if I had caught any sleep at all honestly. I stared up with slight annoyance at Saindall. “Do I need to get up?” I asked tiredly.

She raised her eyebrows. “You look even more tired than when you went to sleep. Bad dreams?” She asked, concerned.

“I just want to sleep and never wake up…” I answered in my half asleep state. “Can I get back to it now?” She chuckled, and pulled me up. I sighed. “Ugh, I’m guessing the elders have made their decision?” I rubbed at my eyes, feeling a headache slowly creeping onto me. Kind of like when I used to stay awake for my studies… I thought to myself. Only my mistakes in this state cost limbs…

I stood behind the others, leaning up against the wall as I watched the elders speak to the others. I had not learned much of the language, hardly enough time for me, and I had no wish to intrude. All I caught was the word for acceptance. I let out a little sigh of relief.

[Did you ever truly believe they would do otherwise?] Page whispered into my mind. Not really, but there’s always a chance. Politics is often idiotic.

As the others thanked the elders, the Kithar woman I’d fought before placed a hand on my shoulder. “I want a duel before you leave.” She said, voice determined. “A proper fight, your wounds seem healed enough if you went into the woods.” I arched an eyebrow. “I saw you go in with a stranger, and come back before dawn. You can fight already can’t you? Face me.”

I snorted. “You’d like that wouldn’t you? I’m not fully healed, but there were things that had to be done, and so I did them even in my state.” My headache was growing from a dull buzz.

“It’s good enough.” She insisted. “Everyone says that you could beat me easily, that I’m not strong enough to face you at all. I’m as good a fighter as any, I can hold my own against anyone, even you.” She said with a steadfast conviction. “Let me prove it. Please.”