The Storm King

“Hey, Nestor!” Leon called out as he walked into the dead man’s workshop. Immediately, he realized that Nestor hadn’t been slacking at all in his experiments, as not only were there several dozen golem frames scattered around the workshop wherever his kinsman could store them without getting in his way, but the man himself had rebuilt his body once again. His ‘face’ remained completely featureless with the vague silhouette of a head the only recognizable feature above the neck. Everything else was sleek and metallic, built in the idealized shape of an athlete, muscles and all. The golem-man had also seen fit to increase his height just a little bit, leaving him standing at about ten feet tall.

“Leon,” Nestor said without any inflection. “I thought you were leaving to deal with the sun bitch or something.”

Leon blinked, surprised yet unsurprised at Nestor’s statement. “I did,” he said. “I just got back. I’ve been gone almost two months.”

“Funny. I didn’t even notice.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. So what have you been working on down here? Looks like good things…”

Nestor angled his head a few times and clenched his dexterous fingers as he pushed himself away from his workbench. Leon took the opportunity to check out what the man was doing, immediately realizing that it was an advanced application of light magic.

“I’ve been… I’ve been working,” Nestor simply said.

“Has it been going well?” Leon repeated. “You’ve built a bunch of golem bodies… so… yeah? Good? No? Bad? Come on, give me something!”

“Worthless,” Nestor growled as his head turned to survey the golems he’d built. “Every single one of them is worthless. I have two wisps to experiment with, and they’re from poor-quality labor golems. What I’ve built is far beyond their capabilities.”

“What about the other wisps we’ve found?” Leon asked.

“Idiot,” Nestor murmured. “I won’t risk wisps built for arks on my personal projects. Those are far too valuable to ever risk. Without good wisps, my ability to continue my research is…” Nestor collapsed into a nearby chair, the gesture almost surprisingly human given Nestor’s current physical form, though Leon took it to mean his ancient kinsman was just that tired. “I can’t do it,” Nestor admitted, sounding almost on the verge of tears. “I can’t do it. I have no ability to create wisps. My research has stalled.”

Leon wasn’t quite sure what to say in that moment—or rather, he knew what he wanted to say, but he felt holding off on mentioning that for the moment would be better.

‘Wait until he’s feeling just a little bit better,’ Leon thought.

Instead, Leon turned his attention to the light enchantment Nestor had been working on.

“It looks like you were working on something over here,” he said as he went over to the bench to give it a closer look. The bench’s surface was black mirror-like glass almost like an enchantment’s control console. This one, however, was designed to help with inscribing enchantments, using light magic to allow a mage to easily ‘write’ an enchantment by projecting the runes onto the glassy surface. Nestor had built one for Leon before they’d left Occulara, but this one was not only larger but also more advanced.

The enchantment Nestor had been working on was startlingly advanced as far as Leon could tell. Its overall shape looked rather human with thousands of tiny runes curving around one another to form arms, legs, a torso, and a head. But as Leon continued to examine the enchantment, he realized that even what he was seeing wasn’t everything.

He pressed a control rune on the screen and the enchantment as a whole gained depth, as if the screen had become a window into a dark space illuminated only by the glowing runes of this enchantment that Leon realized was significantly more complex than he’d initially realized.

Now that it was ‘three dimensional’, though still projected onto the screen, Leon realized that the enchantment was designed to emulate the form of a human, though rather androgynous in shape, and whereas he’d initially estimated it to be made up of thousands of runes, now he could see that it was probably closer to hundreds of thousands. He could also see pockets of lightning runes running through the ‘body’ of the enchantment like blood vessels.

“Nestor, what the fuck is this?” Leon asked in fascination, awe, and a bit of concern.

“The results of… I don’t know how many frantic nights,” Nestor admitted. “When I realized that I would never advance in my golem projects without wisps, I began to think over how I could get some more. You’re not strong enough even at tenth-tier to help, and I don’t know how long it will be until you can create wisps of your own. I can’t use other people’s wisps as their magic likely won’t be compatible with my golems. I need wisps created with our Honored Ancestor’s power.

“So I was left with only one option… I need a human body.”

Leon froze in surprise and slowly turned to stare at his ‘dead’ kinsman in astonishment and growing concern.

“I need a soul realm,” Nestor continued. “Yours is obviously off-limits, so don’t worry about that… and other people’s won’t work since they lack our bloodline. That doesn’t leave many options, does it?”

His immediate fears somewhat mollified, Leon turned back to the enchantment. Trying and failing to sound merely academic, Leon said, “I think I can see what you were going for, here. These minor enchantments around most of the joints and organs are variations on regeneration enchantments, aren’t they? Similar to what’s used in conjunction with alchemy to regrow limbs?”

“Yes,” Nestor said. “It if worked, I was going to ask you for a few blood and tissue samples. Hardly anything you’d miss, but enough to ‘grow’ a new body to my specifications.”

“Is that even possible?” Leon wondered aloud.

“Not to my knowledge,” Nestor replied. “But I’m grasping at straws. Don’t pay much attention to that enchantment, Leon; it wouldn’t work. My only option… will be to wait until you can create wisps that I can borrow.”

“Yeah…” Leon whispered as he stared at the enchantment. “Yeah…”

Neither of them said anything more, but Leon continued staring at the intricate enchantment while Nestor continued moping where he’d collapsed. Even if it didn’t work, Leon was fascinated by the work Nestor had done. Enchantments could be three-dimensional by their very nature of being inscribed upon three-dimensional objects, but an enchantment like this that was wholly made in three dimensions was such an advanced art that Leon had yet to truly even attempt it, let alone become skilled in it.

And yet, he found it rather easy to follow the lines of the enchantment now before him. The enchantment started, as far as he could tell, in the chest where the heart would be. Since that’s where a mage’s soul realm was located, that made sense. From there, it flowed outward in hundreds of independent lines, all forming the shape of a human, though aside from the lightning magic acting as blood vessels, he couldn’t identify any organs, bones, muscles, or any other facsimile of organic material.

He was honestly fascinated, even if had nothing to add to the enchantment.

“Nestor…” Leon said after an unknown amount of time spent examining the enchantment, “I… this is inspired work. Even if you don’t think it would ever work… Are you sure it’s impossible?”

Nestor groaned in depressed thought. “I’m sure it’s possible. It’s just beyond the capabilities of mankind.”

Leon clicked his tongue in displeasure. “I reject that idea entirely,” he said. “Nestor, we have the blood of the Thunderbird! I have the blood of the Great Black Dragon! My soul realm was invaded by a Primal God, and it fucking died within me! Because of its work, and the work of our Ancestor, I can now transform into a Thunderbird myself! Nothing’s impossible! We can make this work!”

He spoke louder and faster as he went, his excitement growing. This could be his next great project now that he’d finally finished Iron Pride. Perhaps it might not be finished soon, or even within the next few millennia, but just from the excitement he was feeling just from thinking about this, he knew he had to at least try.

“Where are your references?” Leon asked as he looked around the room for any books or papers that Nestor might’ve consulted during his time creating the failed enchantment.

Nestor simply tapped his head.

Leon blinked in surprise and asked, “You… weren’t using any references? You were trying something that had never been done before based solely off your own limited knowledge of light magic?”

“My knowledge is quite a bit less limited than your own, boy,” Nestor grumpily said.

“Yet limited it is,” Leon responded through clenched teeth. “I’ll tell you what: I’ll put some people on this. I’ll rope in Valentina, too; she’s been working on blood magic for a while and probably knows our bloodline better than we do by now. I’ll even bring this up with our Ancestor. We’ll get this done. We’ll find a way.”

There was a short pause as Leon lost himself in mentally putting a team together from all the researchers he knew in the Raven Tribe and Heaven’s Eye who could possibly help with this project. However, he was pulled out of his thoughts when Nestor rather bluntly asked, “Why?”

“Hmm?” Leon hummed in confusion.

“Why do you want to help me with this?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Leon responded. “You’ve sworn yourself to me, Nestor, and you’ve proven yourself on multiple occasions. Plus, I also want to try this just because I want to try it. I need no other reason than because it’s a problem to be solved. I don’t have to worry about war or other time-wasting efforts like that, so why shouldn’t I devote my free time to this?”

Nestor snorted. “Fine. Fine.” He turned his head toward the largest cluster of inert golem bodies stacked in the corner by his large cat’s bed. “It’s better than nothing, I suppose.”

“That’s better,” Leon said. “Now if you could only work up just a little more motivation, we’d be golden!”

“Bring me something tangible and maybe I’ll consider the possibility of potentially getting motivated,” Nestor replied. “I was motivated a month ago. I was motivated a week ago. I was motivated yesterday. My motivation has left me now. And it was right when you came back; what do you know…”

“If it’s motivation you’re looking for,” Leon responded, “how about we talk about potential replacements for wisps that might work for your experiments in the meantime?”

“Heh. You think anything other than a wisp made by a bearer of our bloodline would work with my golems?”

“There just happens to be a supply of just such beings that we might ask for help,” Leon said with a smug smile.

Nestor stared at him for a long moment, then simply said, “I don’t care. If you want to ask them, do so. I won’t help with it.”

“Really? I’m sure they’d love you. Worship you like a god and all that.”

Nestor dismissively waved his hand. “Malfunctioning wisps are hardly what I’d consider ‘good’ research material.”

“Even if they are ‘failed’,” Leon said, “I’d still consider that worth studying. How and why are they failures are questions I’d want conclusive, non-philosophical answered.”

“Do as you please, I don’t care,” Nestor repeated.

“I think I will, then,” Leon said. “Prepare to meet some stone giants soon, Nestor. I’m sure they’ll be quite happy to meet you…”

---

As Leon pushed himself off his throne in his soul realm, he found only Xaphan there, and the demon was hardly waiting for him. Instead, Xaphan was busy using his enchantment to pull in the Mists of Chaos so that he could absorb them and regain his previous level of power. Judging by his aura, Leon guessed that he was getting fairly close to reaching tenth-tier equivalent.

“Xaphan,” Leon drawled as he walked over. “How’s life?”

The fire demon snorted, the fire covering his body snapping and crackling as he did. “Leon,” he replied. “Is there a reason you’re disturbing me?”

“None at all,” Leon responded. “Actually, yes: I’m in a good mood and felt like talking. I’ll be training with the Thunderbird soon, but she’s not here and I’ve some time to kill.”

“If only time could be so easily killed,” Xaphan sighed. “Is there any topic in particular that occupies your meager human thoughts?”

“Wisps,” Leon replied. “I have to learn how to make them.”

“You’ve been learning for years. What more do you want me to say that I haven’t already?”

Leon let black fire spill from his fingers, willing it to form into a small bird shape. “Just wondering if there’s any new wisdom you might share with me regarding the creation of wisps.”

“Don’t think too hard about it,” Xaphan cautioned him. “When you condense an origin spark, you’ll gain the power to make them quite easily. It seems hard now, but even for a tiny, skinny human like yourself, it won’t be once you achieve Apotheosis.”

“You have quite a high opinion of me if you’re using words like ‘when’.”

“Fine. ‘If’ you achieve Apotheosis, you pedantic fuckboy, you little shit, you speck of ash floating on the breeze.”

Leon laughed. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re way too easy to set off?”

“I have,” the Thunderbird said from behind Leon. “Multiple times, in fact.”

Leon turned to find his Ancestor standing just behind him in human form. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Ha,” the Thunderbird softly chuckled. “You’re getting too reliant on your magic senses, Leon. Bad form.”

“Expect nothing from humanity,” Xaphan responded, “and you’ll never be disappointed. Except fucking failing at being even half as spectacular as a good and proper demon of flame.”

“Expect a demon to offer nothing but insults despite promising magic lessons,” Leon shot back, “and you’ll never be disappointed.” To the Thunderbird, he asked, “Should we get started?”

“My, my,” she said with a smile, “someone’s eager.”

“Wisps and Apotheosis,” Leon replied. “I’m ready to start trying for both.”

“Maybe trying for children would be a better use of your time?” the Thunderbird pointedly stated. “Our Clan won’t propagate itself, you know.”

“I do know, and I’m glad you brought that up because I have something I’d like to talk to you about.”

Leon quickly brought Xaphan and the Thunderbird up to speed on everything he and Nestor had discussed only a few minutes before.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Xaphan said as Leon finished and before the Thunderbird had a chance to give her thoughts, “don’t tell me you’re actually thinking of doing that?! For the dead man? Giving him your blood and all that shit? Fuck no, what’s wrong with you?”

“Takes pressure off me to propagate the Clan,” Leon responded with a pointed look at the Thunderbird. “Also rewards someone who’s proven his loyalty. Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because he’s an untrustworthy, lying, duplicitous sack of bodiless shit!” Xaphan cried out. “This place has been so serene and peaceful since he left! Why reward him?!”

“Were it possible,” the Thunderbird interjected, “I wouldn’t specifically support it, but neither would I argue against it.”

“You’re asking for a knife in the back, or a claw across the throat,” Xaphan grumbled. “Idiots, the both of you—” He barely managed to finish his statement before the Thunderbird focused her aura upon him and quite neatly flattened the demon.

“Let’s go somewhere we can speak more,” the Thunderbird said as she took to the sky above Leon’s Mind Palace.

Leon gave his demonic partner one parting look of sympathy before following his Ancestor.

Once they landed upon their usual training mountain, the Thunderbird said, “After some thought, I have to agree with Nestor, and with you: it’s not impossible, strictly speaking, but it’s currently impractical.”

“We have the transformation enchantment,” Leon insisted. “It’s proof that the power we wield can be used to alter the body. Hells, Cassandra already uses light magic to change the color of her hair! And it’s not even an illusion; her hair actually changes color!”

“Yes, yes, Leon,” the Thunderbird said soothingly as he got himself worked up into a frenzy of excitement. “It’s possible. Just not practical. So focus on what is practical. Focus on what you can do now. And to solve his problem, what can you do now?”

Leon took a deep breath. He trusted the Thunderbird’s word, but he fully intended to consult with his branch of Heaven’s Eye and the Raven Tribe later. But for now… he could drop the idea.

“Bringing the stone giants south,” Leon said. “Achieving Apotheosis. Making babies. In no particular order.”

“Make that last one your first priority,” the Thunderbird imperiously commanded. “Now. Shall we begin?”

She raised a hand and let lightning dance around her fingertips, each bolt turning into a bird that flew independently. Not a true wisp since she couldn’t use origin power, but something close.

Leon smiled, and under the Thunderbird’s exacting gaze, began laying the groundwork for creating wisps just as soon as he could achieve Apotheosis.