Chapter 483 - Sovereign of Storms

Thanks for waiting. I'm optimistic that I'll be caught up by Tuesday so expect the next chapter then.

The five of them stepped out onto the deck following dinner with the captain and his guests. The night sky was clear, the two moons luminous overhead, stars faintly visible behind their light.

“I didn’t like that priest,” Bud said. “He wouldn’t listen to reason. Worse than that, he didn’t even care to hear what we had to say! What a stubborn old fool.”

Hump stared at Bud, blank faced, trying to figure out if he was intentionally being hypocritical or if he was truly that oblivious. The others followed in silence, Bud’s rant having caused everyone’s attention. Dylan raised an amused brow. Celaine smirked. Even Emilia tried yet failed to hide a grin.

Bud slowed, noticing the change in mood. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Hump clapped a hand on his friend’s shoulder and let out his most sagely sigh. “You’re experiencing a glimpse into my life. I’m just taking in the moment.”

Bud frowned and glared at him, then the others. “Why do I feel like I’m being made fun of? In what way?”

“As in,” Hump gestured vaguely, “It’s difficult to be the voice of reason when surrounded by people who think they’re the reasonable ones. And knowing they won’t change their minds no matter how logical your argument is.”

“I am not like that.”

Hump winced. “Maybe not that bad… most of the time.”

“You can’t expect me not to argue back when you start spouting heresy!”

“I don’t.”

“Then what’s your point?”

“To the priest, you’re the blasphemer.”

“I am a worshipper of Loften just as he is,” Bud said. “We should be allies.”

Hump shrugged. “We’ve shown up, declared we were brought here by Loften from another world and are on a divine quest, I can understand the doubt.”

Bud leaned against the rail, cautiously leaning his head over the edge to look down at the islands passing below.

“I suppose I can too,” he said. “I just hate being beholden to these people. We don’t have time for nonsense like this. We need to get back to Elenvine. We need to know what happened. Emilia’s family. Lorissa. Our friends.”

Hump thought of his promise to Mav to find and rescue his sister from the warlocks. A promise he’d passed onto Marcela before she had gone to attack the stronghold in the Remnant Realm. Now, he could only cross his fingers that it panned out.

“It’s painful now, but so far it’s working for us,” Emilia said. “Once we get to Urandel we’ll be in a better position to decide if this is the most efficient way forward. If not… well, I’m not convinced they would be able to stop us from leaving.”

“Lord Loften did advise us to speak with the high priest,” Dylan said. “Clearly he thinks this will be of help. Also, Karo said he knows people that can help with my arm.”

“Shame we don’t have one of those miracle elixirs left,” Celaine said. “Could grow you a knew one.”

“Used the last on Bud,” Hump said, shaking his head. “That damned knight…”

Bud winced. “Sorry, Dylan.”

“That’s alright. It was the right call. We needed you in the fight. You couldn’t have known anyway.”

“Dylan…” Hump said. “You have an opportunity to make Bud feel guilty here. Why are you wasting it?”

A warm smile lit up Dylan’s face. “I’m just happy all of my friends are alive and with me. The arm doesn’t matter.”

Hump scowled. “That’s a little too earnest for me. I’m out.”

“Training again?” Emilia asked, eyebrow raised, a smirk touching her lips.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Emilia,” Hump said with a disappointed shake of his head.

***

An attack came, but it wasn’t sky bandits. At least, not the variety Hump expected. A voice came through an artifact in all the corridors and rooms, calling all pathfinders and crew to the deck. Hump and the others rushed to assist. Ahead of them, a dark cloud was approaching—a swarm of monsters so thick they blotted out the sun, casting a great shadow over the deck of the skyship. From a distance, Hump made out a few more powerful monsters amid the mass. Wyverns, hypogriffs, griffins, giant birds. For every one of them, there was a hundred smaller beasts, if not more.

Captain Hadbur stood on deck, shouting in altari to direct his crew and pathfinders hired as part of the trip. All across the deck, people stood ready while others were still arriving. Bows with shining runes and glowing arrows. Staffs lit up with essence more powerful than Hump expected of people of such rank, the crystal focuses filling the air with light. Others stood with shields, spears, swords, axes, waiting for the enemy to arrive. Some seemed eager, others nervous about the approaching force.

“What do you think, Celaine?” Emilia asked.

“That’s a lot of monsters,” Celaine said.

“Thanks,” Emilia muttered. “I was hoping for something more practical.”

“Oh. Well, I think we’ll be fine. Just need to shoot enough of them to scare them away.”

Hump spotted Acalin’s party arranging themselves along the rail of the deck. Each of them carried their weapons with a resolve ready to fight, essence already gathered to them.

“Let’s join them,” Hump said. “I don’t want to get in the way by not listening to orders.”

They went to their side.

“Acalin, what can we do?” Hump asked.

“They’re objective is the hull,” Acalin said. “We must kill as many as we can before they reach us.”

“Is there any reason to hold back?” Hump asked.

“Hold back?” Acalin said, looking at Hump with wide eyes. “We are fortunate to be on Captain Hadbur’s ship. A swarm of this side is trouble.”

Hump grinned. “Brilliant.”

“You are a very strange man,” Acalin said. “Do you not fear death?”

“You misunderstand,” Hump said. “Fighting monsters is what we do. It’s not that we fear death, it’s just that we’re used to it. This is the work we signed up for.”

“It’s also a lot safer than what we usually do,” Dylan added.

“Safer?” Mel asked. “What do you usually do?”

“We can get into that after we survive,” Bud said. “Dylan, how are you feeling?”

“I’ll do my best to support. If things get bad, my arm isn’t much of an issue for my Aspect of the Guardian form.”

“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that,” Bud said.

“How much of our power do we reveal?” Emilia asked.

“I don’t want to let anyone die because we held back too much,” Hump said. “This would be a good opportunity for me to try something though.”

“You want to try your storm spells?” Emilia asked.

Hump nodded. “Sovereign of Storms is only Tier 5 but it will be particularly effective here. I shouldn’t appear too unordinary for a silver ranker.”

“Do it,” Bud said. “It will be good to give the altari an idea of what we’re capable of so we can skip past a lot of this distrust.”

“I’m not sure it’ll go as you think, but I’m willing anyway,” Hump said. “Dylan, you think you could hold me up in the air so I don’t risk damaging you the ship?”

Dylan’s face lit up. “You want me to fly you around like a kite while a swarm of monsters descend upon us? Honestly, I’d pay to do that.”

“How much?”

“Hump.” Celaine scowled. “Not the time for jokes. You’ve got about a minute.”

“There’s always—”

Vines wrapped around his waist and lofted him into the air. Hump flailed for a few seconds, trying to catch his balance, when another vine helped to stabilise him. He rose higher into the sky, surprised shouts and awed faces below. Captain Hadbur roared something and focus returned to the enemy. Arrows and magic shot out from below, filling the sky ahead with flashes of light. A few creatures fell, but there were many more in their place.

Hump took out the Book of Infinite Pages and grinned at the first spell on the page. Sovereign of Storms was powerful for a Tier 5 spell, not in its complexity, but in the way it was built upon the spells that came before it.

Hump took a steadying breath, wind rushing past him. The swarm closed in, shrieks and cries growing louder. It began with the simple cantrip, Dew Gatherer. The spell activated instantly, drawing on the essence-rich air around him, moisuture beading in the air, clinging together like mist, warm with the green hue of nature. The humidity thickening.

“Cloud Shaper,” Hump muttered next. With a twist of his staff, he pulled the gathered moisture into formation. Wisps of white vapour spiralled out around him, taking shape in a wide ring. They shifted slowly, light and diffuse, yet filled with intent. Now he gave it energy with Zephyr Call. The winds whipped around his form, catching the clouds in motion. He directed the gusts with his staff, swirling the cloud ring in a vortex above and around him, sweeping up the rest of the power he’d gathered with the previous spells. The beginnings of a storm.

The swarm was closer now. Time was dwindling and he hadn’t even reached the difficult part yet. He hurried through Congregation of Clouds. The instant the Tier 3 spell was cast, the spell felt like it had surpassed what any Tier 3 spell should do. All the intent and essence built up in the previous spells not just adding to its power, but enhancing it, forming the foundation for something far grander. Hump felt a chill as his essence reserves took a hit, but he was far more powerful than he had once been. While he had yet to successfully cast a Tier 7 spell, his soul had advanced to the level of a Rank 6 wizard. He had more than enough essence.

The surrounding vapours compacted, thunderheads forming in moments. Dark, heavy clouds rolled and twisted in a dense storm-mass directly over head, while the rest of the sky all around remained clear. The air thinned. His hair stood on end. The smell of ozone hit him.

“Storms Herald!” Hump barked. Lightning crackled across his skin. Arcs leapt outward in a lattice of electric blue, hissing and sparking in the charged air. The first wyvern got close, and with a thought a tendril of lightning found it. It screamed as the bolt pierced its side, sending its smoking form tumbling from the sky.

The others veered away, yet the mass of the swarm stayed focused, diving for the ship.

Wind roared louder. Essence surged in his veins. His spellbook turned its own page.

Sovereign of Storms

Evocation | Tier 5 | Range: Medium

Description

Call upon the boundless tempest, drawing lightning from the firmament to smite where the caster commands. Let the winds rise in answer, howling with primal force to cast aside all who oppose. Through harmony of will and storm, the caster ascends as its sovereign, channeling the unbridled wrath of sky and thunder, and shaping nature’s fury to their design.

Hump didn’t utter the words. He simply reached into his spellbook, feeling the runes and channels with his essence. The book shone with verdant light, a ghostly trail forming between it and his staff. And then he unleashed it. All around him the clouds exploded with light. Thunder cracked like splitting mountains, echoing across the sky. And with Hump at its heart, a storm was born, sculpted by his will.

Lightning rained like javelins, precise and deadly to his foes. Gales howled, sending smaller beasts tumbling away. Yet Hump remained untouched, Dylan’s vines holding firm, untouched by the wind. Wherever he pointed his staff, lightning was unleashed, chaining through the monsters and slaughtering them. The power flowed through Hump with such ease, needing little essence to keep it going with so much of a foundation already in place. All he had to do was add fuel to it.

Yet despite so much death, the monsters did not flee. They split up, diving lower, throwing their lives away to try and reach the ship. A small group managed to land on the deck, attacking with mindless aggression.

Bud and Emilia rushed into battle, Nishari diving in to fight at their side. While still a youngling, the strength of her was impressive. She tore through monsters Hump considered bronze rank. From what he knew about wolf dragons, she was far stronger than she should be. Something to do with that phoenix essence power no doubt.

As the fighting continued, one thing struck out to Hump—there was something driving this attack. It reminded him of the Red Fog of the Fallen Lands, and the frenzy it pushed monsters to. They would not throw their lives away like this naturally. It went against nature.

Which meant something or someone must have caused this.