Elira Phasol - Windy Peaks

“After all we’ve been through…”

William stood at the edge of a cliff, red eyes framed by his windswept hair. His clothes billowed as he raised his arms to shield his face from the stinging breeze.

“I can’t believe you would make me do thi — aaaahhhhh!”

Elira, without as much as a bat of an eye or a twitch of her tail, watched as the rock beneath the man’s feet crumbled to dust; it made him stumble and fall towards the edge of the cliff they were standing on.

When she could no longer hear his shrill screams, she turned to the orley with a raised eyebrow.

“Monologue. Waste time. Hurried him along.”

After speaking his mind, Drukvu walked towards the cliff and jumped with no preamble.

Elira sighed as she couldn’t blame him from being impatient, she was about to kick William herself. She gave the surrounding peaks and overcast sky a glance before following the two to the bottom of the crag in the same way.

She started decelerating mid-fall and landed safely on the ground. The jump would have normally been dangerous, even with energy reinforcement, but went smoothly with the help of Azrael and his mastery over gravity.

Elira’s tail twitched at the sight of the man; him sitting in a chair you would normally find in a noble’s house. It reminded her of the first time they met.

“You look comfortable there, did you get the hang of it?” She asked as she walked towards him.

“Controlling landings isn’t that difficult,” Azrael stood up and waved his cloak towards the chair which made it disappear, “William’s landing wasn’t the most graceful though, why did he fall like that?”

“Drukvu got impatient and made him fall.”

They both looked at William who was talking animatedly at the Gley which somehow started a fight. It wasn’t the first fight they had ever since they started training group synergy and tactics and it probably won’t be the last.

Elira didn’t stop them as it’s always done in good humor and seemed to make them familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

After creating their team two weeks ago, she conducted a team building activity to familiarize themselves with each other’s abilities. Building trust and knowing more about her teammates was, of course, also part of the plan.

At first, she was worried about the Orley as she had little to no interaction with one prior to Drukvu. Turned out she worried for nothing as the non-human was a very agreeable companion. He didn’t have much in the way of words but he did what was asked and his control of earth element was top notch.

William bonded the most with Drukvu, his enthusiasm to talk with the Orley was evenly matched by the latter’s unfazed attitude in dealing with the talkative human with non-committal grunts.

Azrael narrowed his eyes at the darkening clouds above, “It’s about to rain, should we stop them?”

“Nah, let them fight in the rain,” she shook her head and started walking back to their camp, “we on the other hand should head back. I don’t want to get my clothes wet.”

The first splatter of water dropped, tapping the leaves and painting the soil to a darker shade. They managed to reach their shelter before the sound of rain covered the music of the forest.

Inside the cave that served as their camp, Elira gathered their reserved wood and prepared to start their campfire. Reaching for one of the pouches strapped to her body, she retrieved a pinch of firestarter powder and threw it towards the bundle of wood; the powder burst into flame with a slight nudge from her energy.

Done with the chore, she noticed Azrael standing at the mouth of the cave; arms stretched to the wall of rain.

“Come to think of it, it’s your first rain in this world.”

Elira walked away from the warmth of the fire and joined the pensive man. “You should go out and let it wash over you.”

“Why would I want to do that?” He replied without moving his gaze from the rain.

“We have a superstition here in Lochley, that the first rain would open up your body to the blessing of the world.”

She tried to recollect the exact quote, “Let rain fall upon your child, for it is the hand of sky caressing the spirit of the land. It’s every drop a blessing, it’s every drop a joy.”

Elira frowned before continuing, “It’s usually applicable to newborns but I guess it applies to world travellers too.”

“We have one too: Beware of rain. Beware of snow. Beware of the opportunity they endow.” A melancholic smile spread across his lips, “It warns us to be careful of enemies hiding beneath the cover of rain.”

Despite the implication of a war-torn world in his statement, Elira could hear Azrael’s longing for his own home.

“Also, the rain here seems... different.”

He withdrew his hand from the pouring water and clarified, “Not just the rain: winds, sea, forests, mountains… every part of this world seems to be brimming with energy.”

“Lochley is rich with elemental energy, we have the Land of Storms to thank for that.” She answered the unasked question in his sentence.

“I seem to remember you mentioning that, along with the Elierd Tragedy or something.”

The wind started to buffet the rain towards them so she motioned him back to the fire. They made themselves comfortable next to it as she started her explanation.

“Land of Storms or Eye of the World is a massive gathering of elemental energy located in the ocean south of Praenth, the continent where most of Orleys currently resides. It produces the Elemental Current running throughout the world, dividing the six continent of Lochley which makes intercontinental travel difficult.”

She checked if her conversation partner is following before continuing, “Records state that the presence of the current makes Lochley a cut above other worlds in terms of natural energy and is one of the determining factors for people choosing to migrate here during the previous Age of Unities.”

“How many Age of Unities did this world had?”

“I remember telling you about it before but I didn’t explain what it was right?”

“You did mention it, we have the same term in our world,” He cleared his throat before explaining, “The phenomenon when several worlds in the Wesh becomes connected and the Wesh Roots becomes active. Normally, it would take a lot of energy to transfer one person but during Age of Unity, you can transfer an army or even a whole nation.”

Azrael recited in monologue, as if mocking whoever taught him the information.

“It’s the same here, and we had three...” she fed more wood to the fire and added offhandedly, “with every single one followed by war and disaster.”

“I’m surprised Lochley endured three Unities, we only had one but we are still at war because of it.”

Afraid that the man would go back to his pensive mood, Elira decided to change the subject.

“What do you think of our teammates?”

“...”

She wasn’t disturbed by his silence as she could see that he had his thinking expression on. He answered after half a minute.

“Who should I start with?” And with nervous glance at her, “should I include you?”

“I’m your teammate aren’t I?” Elira chuckled at his question, “Why don’t you start with our newest addition, Drukvu.”

“The most ‘noticeable’ thing is how he uses energy, it barely disturbs the surrounding elemental energy which makes it difficult to predict.”

She was surprised as well at how seamless the Orley in combining his own energy to the energy of Lochley. The rate at which he absorbed elemental energy and convert it for his own use was ahead of William, which she thought was already talented in human standards.

“I wonder if all Orleys have the same aptitude as Drukvu.”

Azrael voiced his thought aloud with a frown on his face. Elira wonders how the man keeps wrinkles away; with the number of times he saw the man curl his lips downwards, he should have a few already.

“And what about his personality?” She asked.

“What is there to say?” He smiled at that, “he rarely talks but when he does, it’ll be something so frank that it’s borderline rude. William never takes it to heart though, sometimes I admire him for it.”

Elira narrowed her eyes at him but with a teasing smile on her lips, “Should I be worried then?”

“Eh?” He was confused at first but then got it after a few seconds, “You mean --, What? No way! He’s too flighty to be my type.”

“Oh ho, so you like the serious type then. You’re keeping in touch with Serath right?”

“...”

Azrael refused to answer but the red tinge on his cheeks and the way he avoided eye contact was a dead giveaway.

She conjectured that the man was in contact with The Barrier Master when William asked her about the group chat that he helped Azrael setup. Fallen was the only group that had close contact with him aside from the Wesh Enthusiast but Elira doubts that Azrael would willingly join a group concerning them.

“I’m don’t plan on starting another relationship,” He answered after a while and tried for nonchalance but his prickly attitude shined through.

“My previous lover made such an achievement by breaking something that’s already broken...”

He murmured, almost in a whisper, that Elira almost missed it if not for the onslaught of raw emotion his soul started to emit. Anger and pain but encompassed by such sadness that it made her own heart ache.

Regret and determination came right after but the switch on emotions jarred her that she couldn’t help but take a closer look at it. The latter feelings felt like it didn’t come from his own soul but outside of it. It was… weird.

Elira was surprised at how fast she was able to read Azrael’s soul. Normally, it takes a very long time of interaction before she could accurately read someone.

“So you like William then?”

The change of topic wasn’t that subtle but Elira decided to stop inspecting the man.

“Yes I do,” her honesty shocked the man but the following statement made his jaws drop, “and he knows I like him.”

“Why aren’t you two together then?”

“Who said we aren’t --” she thought about it before correcting herself, “or should I say weren’t?”

“You two aren’t together anymore? He still clearly likes you and you say you like him too.”

“It’s…” she gave a deep sigh, “complicated.”

Azrael inquired further by raising his brow.

“We’re in a tiff,” she continued after giving another sigh, “he asked me something I’m not willing to do as it’s against something I stand for but he was being adamant about it and wouldn’t back down even with the threat of abstinence from sex.”

She didn’t know it was possible but Azrael’s brow raised even further.

“That’s all I’m gonna say on the matter,” Elira decided to bring their discussion back to track, “so what do you think of William?”

“He’s… enthusiastic enough,” Azrael stared at the sheet of rain in the cave’s entrance before continuing, “he radiates positivity, or is it cluelessness?”

She laughed at that, “With him, it’s difficult to tell.”

“He’s also curious about almost everything. I guess that’s why he knows a bunch combat skills, even those that are obviously unsuited for him. It’s almost as if he’s…”

“Desperate?”

He nodded, unperturbed by her interruption.

“That’s because he is,” She said in a bitter tone, “in a world where your potential is determined mostly by who sired you, he scrambles for something that could help him even the odds.”

Elira rested her head in her knees and closed her eyes.

“He looks and he looks, he tries and he tries, and if he finds something… I’m scared at what he’ll do if it comes with a price he can’t pay.” She opened her eyes and stared at the fire, “but I’m more afraid that he’ll find nothing at all.”

“The Wesh is never and always fair.” he whispered at the rain.

“The Wesh is never and always fair.” she repeated at the fire.

“It seems you don’t just ‘like’ him…” Azrael probed and she smiled at his cautiousness.

“My first impression of him wasn’t that great, I even disliked him for a time.” She answered vaguely, “Did you know? A soul is one of the most honest thing in the Wesh, and his soul screams of recognition but whispers for affection.”

“How about my soul?”

“You want me to read yours?” She already did but he didn’t have to know that, it was by accident anyway, “Usually, when people learn that I can look into their soul they immediately run away in the opposite direction.”

“It’s just reading,” Azrael wasn’t intimidated though, “I know that to affect another soul has a lot of prerequisites, not to mention the required energy.”

“Well, you’re more educated than most people in Lochley then.” Elira reached her hand out to him, “I’m just beginning to familiarize myself to your soul so I’d need direct contact.”

She read his soul before without contact only because of his agitation. She also wanted to take a close look at the weird feeling she got from his soul earlier. Azrael repositioned himself closer and held her hands.

Elira closed her eyes and started to probe for his soul which was unusually quiet. Judging by her experience earlier, she should be able to detect it by now. Frowning, she continued to look for it deeper but her hairs started to raise as she felt a chill from her own soul.

She darted away from Azrael, accidentally pushing the man away from the suddenness of her action. Heart beating fast, she glanced at his reaction but only saw surprise and confusion on his face. He even looked offended.

“Wh- Wh- what’s wrong?”

Elira closed her eyes and tried to collected herself. Breathing deeply, she looked back at the experience, “Now that I think about it, I overreacted. It was definitely a warning of some kind, and the reason I couldn’t detect his soul is that it is protected.”

She walked back closer to Azrael who was now looking warily at her, “Sorry about that, you didn’t tell me your soul has some sort of no entry sign on it.”

She clearly felt his soul before but between the short time, it suddenly got some sort of protection and an intricate one at that. It gave her a warning despite being able to lash out immediately and she wasn’t sure if she could fend it off.

Azrael wasn’t the kind of person who would play a tasteless joke like that on her, so the only conclusion she arrived at is that the previous agitation on his soul activated the protection.

“Eh? You mean my soul has some sort of defense mechanism?”

“You didn’t know?” she mused, “do you know anyone that could have placed it?”

Azrael started to shake his head but stopped midway.

“Serath?”

“Did he?”

“He offered all sorts of barriers before, but I refused. I would have known if he placed any on me.”

Elira’s eye twitched at that, people would pay premium for Serath’s formations but the man in front of her casually refused it.

“I’m stumped then, guess I can’t read your soul.”

“Oh…”

They were silent again after that, the crackling of fire and thrumming of rain accompanying their own thoughts. It wasn’t long before the companionable silence was disturbed by rhythmic footsteps in the rain, Elira knew who it was before she heard his familiar voice.

“Hey guys! We’re back!” William bounded inside the cave with his usual enthusiasm, hands closed together as if he was hiding something, with Drukvu arriving shortly after.

“Both of you sure took your time, was the fight that fun?” Elira inquired but she couldn’t see any injuries on them.

“Ha! We didn’t fight for long,” William sat between her and Azrael and huddled closer to the fire, “Drukvu stopped after it rain and started to meditate instead.”

“I asked --”

“Pestered.”

“-- Drukvu what he was doing and he happily --”

“Reluctantly.”

“-- explained to me about that particular rain being blessed by Lochley so he wanted to ‘accept the gift of the world’ and he looked like he wanted --”

“Not.”

“-- company so I meditated as well. I must say, I feel refreshed and have a better understanding of water element --”

“Doubtful.”

“-- and look!”

William opened his hand and a yellow flower with violet undertones was cradled in it. Sun in dawn, a very rare flower that grows in the windy peaks.

“Where did you get that?!” Elira’s eyes widened at the flower dotted by raindrops.

“I found it right after meditating. I can feel it, our luck is turning for the better!” William was all smiles as he caressed the flower.

“You might be right.”

Everyone looked at Azrael who was now holding his connector; looking at it intently as if trying to confirm if what he read was right.

“Our application got approved by the guild and they already assigned a guide to us.”

Elira and William answered in chorus.

“Who?!”

“Thirteens.”

End of Chapter 16