I could feel the dimensions hardening behind me as I left the Heart of the Amazon, shifting and masking itself with the Trees’ massive combined Will. The vanishing path in my wake was not as elusive and confusing to me as the jungle’s rulers might want to think, what with Divination magic able to guide me, but it was a definite sign that I’d been admitted, and was now being prompted out the door.
But there was no attempt whatsoever to touch or influence me, because the entirety of the Amazon was following my progress as I did so. Father Tree probably realized that I could actually return any time I wished if the Amazon desired that I do so, and He would not dare to dispute the claim, nor would their little dimensional labyrinth stop me in the slightest.
In the end, He was only one of the Amazon’s Trees, nothing more, and if He was the only Tree who truly realized what I had touched, well, that was between us, then.
Propelled by a tornado-force Wind condensed down to a trail, I tore through the skies of the Amazon at over six hundred miles an hour physically, while also rippling my own way through the Void to easily triple that speed, soon enough leaving almost all of my escorts behind.
All, except two.
---
I glided to a halt in midair, a Disk flashing up again to take my knee. The two Imperial Avians who had been able to mess with reality enough to keep pace with me closed in effortlessly, hovering in midair as if they were not nearly a hundred and fifty feet tall.
The one on the right was in all the colors of Light and Fire, with golds, reds, oranges, and various metallic and crystalline variations thereof shining upon him. The one on the left was in the whites, pale blues, indigos, lavenders, and pale greens of Ice and Wind. They had tails twice the length of their bodies, with fantastic plumage, crests, and swirling, magical presences that made the Manafield come alive.
“Healer Fae greets Endless Fire Luan Emperor and Eternal Ice Luan Emperor! How may this one be of service to the Emperors?” I Sang back to them.
Not even the Trees would mess with a mated pair of Luans. The prosperity and fecundity their existences brought to the Manafield were of inestimable benefit to the Trees over time, and the consequences for killing them might well be fatal, even to them. All the Imperial Avians of the world, and a great many Emperor Beasts, would turn against the Trees if they dared to do such a deed. That might result in the Amazon being completely cut down, burned down, and otherwise shredded and its gathered power annihilated.
Luans, like Phoenixes, Unicorns, and Ki-Rin, were among the most beloved of all Beast Lineages. Even Dragons would not readily kill any of them, despite getting along like oil and water. Dragons were still happy to steal their territories and chase them off, just another Tribe that had to bow before their might...
This mated pair was the two most powerful of their kind on the planet, on the cusp of being True Emperors. With their combined powers, they were easily capable of defying any True Emperor, even Father Tree, much as Fire and Ice Phoenix together could defy even a High Emperor.
Their Imperial Auras swept out and warned away any other Birds or Beasts who would approach, and even the Plants below withdrew their Awareness. The Winds reached out, caught my wings, and gently lifted me further into the air between the two Luans. We went soaring further up and away effortlessly, my Disk shattering instantly to particles of Mana behind me.
“HEALER FAE HUMAN, YOU HAVE SUCCEEDED IN GAINING OUR ATTENTION,” the chime-like voice of the Ice Luan echoed about me as their wings almost met behind me, heading for the clouds and some privacy... but also heading east, in acknowledgement of my duty.
Once again, my Singing fell to the background as I responded, “As Your Majesties say?” I asked politely, although I had excellent ideas on what they were going to be asking about.
“YOU BEAR UPON YOU THE MARK OF A SEED OF THE LUANS, AND THE FEATHERS OF TWO OF OUR PEOPLE HANG FROM YOUR STAFF, GIVEN FREELY. YET WE DO NOT RECOGNIZE WHO GAVE SUCH GIFTS TO YOU,” the Fire Luan’s deeper, more tonal voice nevertheless swirled about me.
“Replying to His Majesty, this one did serve under Flowing Silver Emperor of the Beast Realm. As a gift for this one’s Healing of their Subjects, and to increase the speed at which this one could Heal their subjects, Shiningwing Emperor and Flowing Silver Emperor did arrange for a mated pair of Luans to render unto this one the Shells of their just-hatched chicks.
“For the honor of their gift, this one did display to the two Luans the power of Fire and Ice interwoven, before the Eggs were used. Perhaps it was of some small use to their enlightenment, as they did display their Tails to this one, and leave behind these Feathers as Tokens of their approval.”
Although I was Astral Warded at V+1 and could certainly have defied their Awareness, I openly displayed the Aura of an Archmage, as it was about at the minimum power an Emperor would acknowledge as worthy of even addressing most of the time, and was enough to give pause to any Commander-rank Beasts, even without the Will of the Emperors showing on the Tokens dangling from Noble.
They were naturally able to tell the Feathers came from Noble Luans, not Imperials, and so it was nothing too special for me to gain such a boon, given my obvious power... except for the fact I was Human, and they didn’t know WHICH Luans had done such a thing.
“YOUR AURA SEEMS TO CARRY THE BLOODLINES OF AN AVIAN WE DO NOT RECOGNIZE,” the gentle voice of Eternal Ice chimed in. Well, the wings were attention-getting, even if they were magical, and definitely not some construct of the Air Element.
“This one has received the blessing of the Void Phoenix, a Celestial Avian of the Heavens. The primary benefit, beyond the celeste and silver motif, is that one’s Mastery of Ice and Fire may be used to Heal instead of to harm. Naturally this dovetails wonderfully with the power of the Luan Seed gifted to this one.”
“A VOID PHOENIX...” Endless Fire Emperor trailed off thoughtfully. The Phoenixes all stood at the very highest levels of Mastery of their Elements. A Phoenix who had Mastered Void... would be impossibly dangerous and powerful!
“DISPLAY FOR US THE MAGIC YOU USED THAT IMPRESSED THE LUANS OF THE BEAST REALM,” Eternal Ice chimed in once more.
It was an Imperial Command, of course. “This one shall begin with what she displayed to the Noble Luans. This one’s understanding has progressed since then, although her Luan Seed is now out of balance. This one has been exposed to the Fires of Fire Phoenix Emperor, but has not been exposed to similar Ice. This one apologizes for the disharmony, and will refrain from using the power of the Seeds.”
And so I began to weave my Shards into being, starting with what they’d been like way back then, going off at a Base Twelve or something, wound about with Primal and Divine power, as well as Holy Metas, vivus, and Baneflame to the Undead... and the whole line of Snowcasting and Silver Pyromancy Metas.
I had their instant attention when the rainbow and more of Shards spiraled into being, my base Caster Level now defaulting to 40+ with the Sublime Chord going, and so displaying a tightness and skill in weaving the spell that was just alien to this world, and even the Emperors here. There was so much fine detail and just perfection of intent and purpose in drawing the magic together that the Luan Emperors automatically glided in closer for a better look at them, Eternal Ice below and Endless Fire above in perfect synchronicity, cocking their heads as their Awareness focused on the magic I was wielding... and the way Fire and Ice mixed and fed one another.
I didn’t have a target, but the touch attack variant allowed me to guide them as I sent off a score of Shards in all styles and hues, trailing a half-dozen not-Fires, girt in the same number of other energies, many of which the Luan Emperors were not familiar with.
I Repeated the Volleys, scaling the spell up as I did so, expanding the number of Shards as I did so. Pairing them, Admixing them, Echoing them, layering on other Metas as I filled the sky before us with whirling, deadly streaks of magic, only getting harder and stronger as they were Repeated. Ever more magic resonated about them and gathered, harder, stronger, more penetrating, and they were perfectly capable of seeing that my Shards would have no difficulty harming a Beast Emperor, although how much damage they could do was another matter, given how rapidly I was spinning them.
Of course, then I started adding 49 points of Tier-Six Mana to them, Mage-level Mana, and both of them actually flinched as they abruptly realized I hadn’t actually been using any true Magery at all, so caught up in the fancy details they’d missed the fact completely!
Now it was a Mage-tier Spell winding about eighty-plus Shards at a time, like wrapping a bullet with a burning javelin and letting it fly. Swirls of Elemental and non-Elemental fire and ice exploded out ahead of me with hungry intent, and if they didn’t have the horizon-clearing range that true Sage spells and even some Archmagery could accomplish, they didn’t do too bad.
Ice feeding Fire, Fire drawing from Ice, making each more potent, as well as layers of magic of kinds they’d never seen before. It was a good display, and definitely fascinated the pair of them.
When I finally left off the combinations, I could tell I had their unadulterated interest.
“YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF FIRE AND ICE RIVALS THAT OF ANY HUMAN SAGE WE HAVE EVER WITNESSED,” Endless Fire informed me in His ringing voice. “WE HAVE NOT HEARD OF A HUMAN SO SKILLED IN FIRE AND ICE MAGIC...”
“Your Majesties, this one prefers not to use her Magic against the Great Beasts if possible, although this one has done so in the Littoral Zones against the Aquatics if need be. This one’s opponents tend to be creatures of Dark Magic, otherwise. This one has shown her Magic to Thunderbird and Fire Phoenix Emperors, and has not wielded Her current power against any Great Beast.” Which naturally meant they weren’t going to be gossiping about me, especially an Archmage tossing around Sage-worthy spells.
I could feel them talking around me on subsonics, and carefully did not listen in as they did so.
“THIS MANNER OF INTERWEAVING FIRE AND ICE. SHOW US HOW YOU DO SO,” Eternal Ice chimed softly, but that did not make it any less a command.
“If Your Majesties will extend their Domains? It... may take a moment for this one to adjust to them...”
It went without saying that my Seed would react to their Domains.
There was no hesitation as their power rose up around me in a carefully-controlled field of absolute control of the Manafield: true Domains, nearly as potent as Thunderbird and Fire Phoenix. I was sandwiched between them as they met and expanded into one another perfectly, obviously in perfect harmony: the acclaimed matched power of a mated pair of Luans, a power shared by the Phoenixes.
What it meant for me was an instant bath in Heavenly-Tier Elemental Ice power, of a type particularly resonant with my Seed. While technically it wasn’t of equal caliber to Fire Phoenix Emperor’s flames, the fact it was matched to my Seed made it equal in influence, especially when the Imperial Luan Flame was also right here to balance it.
Fire and Ice exploded out of me, especially upon my Wings, sending my thoughts topsy-turvy as they did so. Ice crystallized in my blood, harmonic Fires ignited in my heart, and the heavily-tilted imbalance in my Firefrost Seed and Matrix began to come back into alignment as the power of the Luans flowed through me and showed the Seed the way.
The perfectly-matched Heavenly Fire and Heavenly Ice did their things while I just had Noble and Zeben take care of the auto-piloting, no way I could possibly concentrate while I was undergoing this.
Circulate everything, keep it in motion, one feeding the other, offsetting the other, magical and elemental and thermodynamic harmony...
Being immune to the effects of cold and heat from the Druidic Ritual and Ceremony only went so far when dealing with Primal Energies like this. Happily, the Seed itself also gave me a terrifying resistance to Fire and Ice, and the combination of the two made sure I didn’t freeze solid and burn to ash at the same time I was undergoing this.
Instead, the rather distracting imbalance within my Luan Seed slowly straightened out as the power of the Luans fed into it and brought the cold side of the equation back to true. Even the Fire Side helped out, making the progress smooth and quick, as any resistance was quashed by the nature of the sources. Soon enough my Firefrost Seed was thrumming and brimming with new and balanced power!