Zachariah & Beira: Smoke and Soul

Beira remained seated on the cold hard ground of Shinku's Phoenix shrine, her eyes on the dark horizon of the strange planet. Zach had seen what she had seen, and both mages knew the next step, the next place to go. That being said, Beira was quite interested in actually finding out exactly why there was the need for collecting all four stones. For her, that was the only driving force that made her eager to see this mission to the end. Before she had sat down, and Zach had touched the stone, he had mentioned that it was probably best that the power in the stone be watched over by the two mages. Beira hadn't answered then, but she had wondered whether it was indeed true.What gave the two mages the right to be custodians of that power? The fact that they had bested the phoenix of blood and shadows? If that was the case, then it only served to buttress the "might makes right" mentality, which Beira did not believe, though she was quite eager to get as strong as possible. Probably just as much as did everyone else, whether considered to be light or dark mage.

"Concerning what you said about the power of that stone being safe with us, why do you think so?" the God Slayer asked, a quizzical expression on her face. There was no disdain, or contempt or disapproval, just curiosity. "Is it because we are powerful enough to wield it, or because we are virtuous enough to wield it? If the former were the case, I believe there are much more powerful people than us out there. To them the stone should be turned, if power is the deciding factor. And if it is virtue, tell me, Zach of Sabertooth, are you sure you are that upright. Is it morally excellent to go attacking songbirds which, for the most part, existed without troubling most others?"

Following that, in response to Zach's question about getting back to the run-down city they'd come from, Beira shook her head. "As for the matter of returning to where we came from, I do not believe I am aware of who, or what, Hugin and Munin are, but if it involves riding two summons at the same time, I am quite sure I'm not interested in riding them. All the same, I believe they shall be interesting to study, though I sincerely hope they are not as gruesome as your pretty Nuckelavee. At any rate, I believe I have a means to get us to the city, even to the threshold of the Wakusei portals, if need be, as I am not minded to step back into that city again, with all the animosity shown us there. This means of transportation of which I speak isn't something I tend to rely on though, for I am not overly fond of its use, and even much less so, when I have someone with me. Tell me, Zach, have you heard of the Travectio Infinium? In Fiorean, that would be translated along the lines of 'the Infinite Crossroads'."


WC: 519 words
Total: 1043/7500

Beira smiled at Zach's response to her question about why he thought the two should have possession of the phoenix stones. "If there is something that pleases me about you, Zach, it is the fact that you possess a candor absent in others of your ilk," the young woman replied, "those who refer to themselves as 'light mages'." A thought crossed her mind, and she shook her head in a negatory gesture as though attempting to rid her mind of the thought through the action. "Well, let us hope we are strong enough to keep the power in our hands from being abused." There was a pause, before she continued, "if it is any consolation to you, I don't think these phoenixes are alive. Sentient masses of energy, maybe, but not 'flesh-and-blood'. After all, have you ever seen anyone you killed bow to you before expiring? It looks to me that the phoenixes are a test, to determine whether we are worthy to wield the power. And I daresay we did well on our first test."

On the matter of Hugin and Munin, Zach's attempt to mollify Beira did not go on as successfully as he would have hoped. "Two halves of two crows?! And you do not call that an eyesore. I fail to see how the half of a carrion bird would make a prettier sight than a headless horse monstrosity." She paused for a moment, realizing that she might be sounding a bit too hypercritical. "Well, you have seen the crows, and I haven't, so perhaps I speak out of turn. Nevertheless, my interest in your birds would be more to observe and possibly study them, and less of a desire to ride them across the sky."

Things were beginning to make sense to Beira now. Going over her companion's words, she realized why his magic had seemed familiar to her. Wrath of the Nine Realms? So by his magic, Zach was probably connected to her heritage. The feel of his ice was familiar to her, she now realized, because it had its roots in Jotunheimr, the plane on which Utgardr was located. And his shiny form felt somewhat like Utgardian magic, though for the most part, Utgardr's magic tended towards frost. That made his magic source Asgardian. She regarded him with a curious expression.

"In all honesty, Zach," stated the Utgardian maiden, "I am unsure of whether to be alarmed or amused by the fact that the people of Midgardr actually worshiped the Aesir as gods, although the name Odin is not familiar to me. In any case, we have spent a bit of time here, and should be going. The Travectio Infinium is dangerous, I'm sure, but it can be traversed. Just stay close, and you will be kept safe." Beira rose to her feet and held out her left hand, fingers spread out. A rectangle appeared floating in thin air, about four inches above the ground. The image's dimensions were six feet high and four feet wide. The rectangle itself was an odd grey color, and looked like it was made of oil. "Follow me," the ice mage said, before stepping into the rectangle like it was a door.

When Zach entered it, the portal would disappear, leaving the empty Shinku wastes once more devoid of life. What Zach would enter would feel like water, and yet not so, and he would be in the midst of a gigantic library, between two aisles of books towering as high as he could look, though the books would seem inaccessible. Very soon, Beira would lead him to the end of the aisle, which also appeared to be the end of the library, as the ground suddenly terminated into a sheer endless drop a few inches away, and a strange stone path led off into the void, with strange forms far in the distance, and a panoramic cosmic display all around. If Zach looked back once on the stone path, he would see the rows of bookshelves, hanging in empty space. "We enter the Travectio Infinium proper, Zach. Stay close."


WC: 683 words
Total: 1751/7500

Beira smiled bemusedly at Zach's statement about corpses bowing to him after their living forms had been vanquished by the light mage. Sounded like something a necromancer would be comfortable with. Sounded like something she should be comfortable with, but she wasn't. Those who knew a little about her knew that she was an ice mage, but what made her ice imbued with darker qualities was its connection to the elemental plane of Death, from which necromantic energies were believed to be harvested. Well, there was no reason for Zach, or anyone else in the meantime, to know.

Zach seemed to be as amused as Beira at the Aesir being worshipped, and proceeded to talk of some names unknown to her, but this Loki fellow did seem interesting. If indeed he was Aesir, Beira could only wonder just what exactly his wife would look like, if she was giving birth to wolves and world encircling snakes. But the mere fact that Beira didn't know of the names being mentioned would probably have to mean that these people were not around as at the time Utgardr thrived, because from time to time, the Utgardians received news of what was going on in Asgardr, thanks to spies who could cross the dimension-splitting Ifingr River.

As expected, the entering into the Librarium Obscuri left Zach with many questions. "Ask," Beira answered, as she walked among the bookshelves. She laughed in response to his question. "Everything is... or perhaps, almost everything has its own way of being dangerous," she replied. "Actually, I cannot tell if it is truly dangerous. Anytime I enter though, I feel like I should not remain here for too long. But I do not think this place can harm me... at least. As for others, I am not so sure."

At the edge of the Librarium Obscuri, Zach mentioned the void ahead of them, and Beira nodded. "I know," she replied, stepping casually on the stones which floated in the middle of nothing, the stones surprisingly remaining immobile. "The realm over which I have some degree of power, the Librarium Obscuri, or the one with so many books, leads into this infinite place, which somehow connects space, even across dimensions, I think, defying time as it does so. My connection to the Librarium Obscuri allows me to traverse the Travectio Infinium safely as far as I know, so I couldn't even drop unless I wished to." Beira attempted to step off the path, but a stone appeared beneath her feet as she did so. "See? You, however, I cannot say. You may fall, and to where, I do not know. Which is why I ask you to take heed."

As she walked, the space above and ahead of them began shimmering, and soon a portal similar to the one through which they had entered this strange plane formed ahead of them. If Zach looked at the portal, he would see the interplanetary travel gateways that connected Shinku to the other planets, just beyond. The stone path in the midst of the void curved slightly upward, so that as the mages walked, they were now ascending up stairs of sorts leading to the doorway out of the Travectio infinium. Beira exited the dimension, and saw two or three fellows at the Wakusei Portals of Shinku watching her with surprise and suspicion. She ignored them and waited for Zach to come out, with the portal closing behind him as he did so, with nothing to indicate that such a thing had existed just moments ago.

"Well, here we are."


WC: 597 words
Total: 3016/7500

The questions Zach asked were amusing, at least to Beira. "Well, there's all sorts of things in these books," Beira replied, "although many of them are written in language scripts I have never seen before. I suspect a good deal of them is pure gibberish, and practically useless to anyone. Some, however, might be extremely dangerous, due to the fact that they might be collections of forbidden knowledge. As for any of these volumes containing the secrets of the universe, I suppose you'll have to read through all those volumes to find out, though I would very much like to know who would write such a thing and put it here. And on the subject of your death, it could be. Who knows?"

Beira had always suspected that the books in the Librarium Obscuri were created by the mind of whoever controlled the realm, being additions to whatever had ruled over this realm before. Just as she had supplanted the previous owner of this place, Beira was sure that the mindflayer god, Uaggool, had supplanted someone or something else to own the library. In any case, she was sure that whatever, or whoever had created this place had long ago ceased to use it. The Utgardian wondered if any such being was keeping watch over this portion of the Travectio Infinium, and more importantly, whether she was actually in control of the library, or was simply made to think that she was, and something else held sway here.

Zach's reluctance to follow Beira on the steps that led off from the library into the Travectio Infinium proper was noted, and considered wise, by the God Slayer. It wasn't safe to easily put one's trust in things which had not been completely tested, and their reliability verified. Of course, once on more stable ground, there was no need to use the orange colored flying board thing. Why had he decided that they both use the Nuckelavee as transport back then, when he had more comely means of transportation? But thinking about it, the macabre equestrian had its merits. After all, the Starlight Surfer didn't have a spear.

Beira allowed Zach to enter the portal first before following him. To her, the question of being ready was rhetoric. She felt the usual tingle she always felt when passing between dimensional media, but she wasn't much bothered by it. Her traversals through the Librarium Obscuri made her more acclimatized to such things than most others. The feeling, when she exited the portal, however, was unexpected. The rush of energy into her body was quite invigorating, and the blonde gasped in surprise at the sensation. "Well, this is... different..." she managed to say, as she looked around her at the beauty of this world. Definitely she preferred it to Shinku by a long margin. Recalling the vision she had had on the ominous planet, Beira immediately set off towards the location of the next shrine.

"I don't think we're going to need a ride this time, or at least not on your macabre horse."


WC: 510 words
Total: 4138/7500

"Yes," Beira said in answer to Zach's opinion about a nice, peaceful walk, "that would be rather welcoming." Despite the fact that Beira suspected that Kyoka might not be so much less dangerous than Shinku, this current planet was a lot more beautiful to perceive than the planet of blood and shadows. Beira still felt that an orange sky was not the best in terms of hues. She didn't know about other people, but she felt that looking too long at the sky might give her a headache or some such thing. Fortunately, she didn't feel compelled to keep her gaze fixed on the arched vault above.

Only issue was, the life that seemed native to Kyoka didn't seem so friendly. Like Zach, Beira had seen the feline creatures in the distance, and she knew they weren't just hanging around in the hopes of saying hello. While pretending as though she wasn't interested in taking notice of them, the Utgardian made sure from time to time that she was aware of their numbers and locations. Still, she had to pay attention to her immediate environment. A strange frog-like creature, about four feet in height, having uncharacteristically sharp teeth, seemed more interested than the cats in being more forward in its approach to the two mages, hopping towards them and making a rumbling sound in its throat. It had hopped onto a strangely colored patch of grass, when a strange, giant, pod-like structure attached to a large tree-like organism nearby snapped onto the toad, and dragged its limp body into the thick tangle of branches of the 'tree'.

While Beira was making mental notes to keep an eye out for colored patches of grass, the two mages got to a pass between two mountains, and Beira was sure it was the shrine ahead, beyond the pass. But before she could say anything, the mountain seemed to be uncoiling, and a serpentine creature revealed itself, slashing at the mages with its claws. Zach leaped in front of Beira, shielding him from the creature's attacks, which sent him flying. The Utgardian immediately went after her companion, in case the drakon wanted to attack Zach while he was down, which it seemed eager to do as it took in a deep breath. But he struggled to his feet, as he cast a spell, and Beira heard what sounded like a warhorn. A new sensation of power flooded through her, as she placed herself between the drakon and Zach, stamping her foot as the creature roared.

A towering wall of ice sprang out of the ground, shielding the two mages from the gust of wind. "That is how you defend against a mountain lizard snake," Beira said, before leaping onto the wall. The drakon was already charging, and was foolish enough to strike the wall, as it was frozen in place momentarily. Summoning a giant spear of ice, Beira drove it through the creature's head and into the ground, ending its life. Stylishly, she flipped off the wall to land beside Zach. "You look like a frost giant," she said, some disdain evident in her voice. But then her expression softened, as she smiled gently at him. "Thank you for defending me against that lizard snake thing's attack, unwise as that was, seeing as I'm not a helpless maiden." The smile faded into a look of concern. "Are you hurt, Zach?"


WC: 566 words
Total: 5334/7500

Beira looked at the shallow scratches on Zach's frost-covered arm with a good deal of relief, as he was mostly unarmed. "You should not have to apologize for having good intentions," she replied gently. "Your inclination to keep your colleagues safe is... commendable." And in the God Slayer's opinion, it truly was commendable. She just wasn't too used to coming across people who had such selfless motivations. Most people she knew were primarily self-serving. And not too surprising. Such a behavior seemed to be grossly ingrained into human nature. Well, if one looked at it, altruism was actually almost unique to humans as well, as most natural forces simply worked towards self-preservation, which essentially was the basis of selfish behavior. The ability of humans to incline towards great feats of good or evil was intriguing. Idly, she wondered whether creatures of other races had their morality set in stone. Demons were almost always evil, and angels were mostly good. Was humanity's ability to choose a blessing or a curse?

In response to his question about whether she was injured or not, Beira answered, "Not a single scratch, thanks to you." As the two mages resumed their trek towards the Phoenix shrine, Zach proceeded to tell her a thing or two about the magic he was using. Beira was familiar with the name Ymir. She had heard it come up a lot once questions about creation were asked, or such stuff. She listened to her partner recount the apparently strange things that found their source from this primordial being. "Oh yes," she continued when he paused, "his hair made the trees, his skull ended up as the sky, and don't ask, Midgardr somehow came from his eyebrows. I always found that part funny." She giggled at Zach's lack of faith in his translator. "I don't think your translator didn't know his job," the ice mage replied, "yet stories such as that are mostly not to be taken literally. It's a creation parable of sorts, although I must admit, to my shame, that I've forgotten much of the more hidden meanings of the story."

Once more, Zach asked if Beira needed healing, just before the duo got into the perimeter of the shrine. "As I said before, I'm all good, but don't worry, I'll scream if I get so much as a scratch," the blonde replied with a lopsided smile, as the shrine came into view, along with the floating stone which both mages had seen in their visions. "There's the prize." A ghostly shimmer formed on the ground between the mages and the stone, and began to rise, taking the form of a spectral flame, which coalesced into the phoenix. "Let's look alive!" Beira yelled, as she clapped her hands together. Almost instantly, the temperature dropped considerably, and what had been a clear weather had suddenly metamorphosed into a blizzard, the winds buffeting the phoenix, blinding and damaging it, as well as making flying difficult, due to the effects of the Winter God Chaos. With Zach's frost giant form, Beira was sure that the drop in temperature would not bother him, and the cold damage and blindness were for the phoenix alone.


WC: 531 words
Total: 6510/7500

Zach sounded his warhorn, and Beira felt the familiar sense of invigoration, even as she perceived the power of her storm intensify. The phoenix, for its part, was not too pleased to be at the receiving end of such aggression, and responded with the release of a good number of clone phoenixes made from spirit essence. The miniatures began diving at the two mages, and Zach defended himself with his frozen arms. Beira, for her part, suddenly got an idea. It would be dangerous, but hopefully, she could pull it off. The birds dove with murderous velocity, and smashed into where she had been standing with a force that cracked the earth.

That attack would have been severe, if Beira had remained where she was. One moment, she had been there, but in the next, she was gone, as wisps of inky smoke and faintly glowing runes faded out of existence. The Utgardian reappeared, directly over the phoenix, this time, coating herself in her Winter God Curse, even as she formed a great axe of nether rime. As she dropped onto the back of the bird, the Winter God Curse took effect, freezing the phoenix temporarily, as she hacked away at it, swinging her giant weapon as easily as she would an empty wicker basket. The phoenix shrieked as it crashed into the earth, and the sky began glowing ominously. Without so much as glancing at the sky, Beira kept smashing her axe on the back of the phoenix. While standing on the creature's back, it would be unable to turn its head to blast her with its breath attack, and it couldn't use its wind attack. Still, it could reuse its mini minion summon attack, or its rain ability, the latter of which it had chosen to do. Fortunately for Beira, she had thought of this when she made her attack.

Simultaneously slamming her axe between the shoulders of the phoenix, Beira tapped into the mystic powers of the Librarium Obscuri, summoning two walls, made of black, writhing hands, one close to herself, and the other for Zach. The walls bent to form a shade to protect from the falling missiles of fiery spirit energy, while grasping at any miniature phoenix that came too close. With the methodological persistence that a lumberjack swung his axe to fell a tree, Beira continued her assault on the bird. At a loss for further ways with which to deliver itself from its blonde assailant, the phoenix turned its head downward, and fired a blast of spirit energy into the earth beneath it, causing a miniature explosion as it cratered the area. The blast sent Beira sailing off the bird, to crash painfully some meters away. The phoenix rose from the earth, just as Beira sat up, mustered all her strength, and flung the axe straight into the bird's head. It seemed to shake off the attack unfazed, as it positioned itself so that it was facing the two mages. Then it bowed and dissolved into brightly colored smoke. As the smoke cleared away, Beira saw the stone floating above the pedestal, and rose shakily to her feet.

"Well, that worked... somehow," she said with a chuckle as she held the glowing object. A familiar vision flashed through her head, as she fell to her knees. She could heal herself, but she remembered her partner's offer to heal her, and decided she didn't want to appear scornful of his offer, especially as he seemed to merely be looking out for her well-being."Zach? I think I'm screaming now...."


WC: 594 words
Total: 7656/7500