Chương 12: Chapter 1-11 – The Court of the Moon Owl King

I had no doubt the Eagles could see me riding on his back, too, which was probably the biggest reason for their curiosity. If I was riding him, I obviously wasn't prey, or even a captive, and I had no doubt they would recognize a Human. Us mostly-hairless apes wearing clothes, of all things, were pretty identifiable and alien to this place... Well, I'd get there when I got there.

I continued with my rep counts, firing off Spell Slots in rounds of fifty, recharging them with Wrath pouring constantly into the Stars, continuing along. Normally it took a thousand reps to reduce a Meta down in cost, but my Incarnation benefit cut it in half. I knew exactly what to do, I just had to adjust things around to this new Manafield. I reflected that I might have to do the same thing again if I ever left here for the Mortal Plane. That would probably be annoying.

Darts hissed out into the sky in series, pausing every fifty for me to recharge my Stars, ten Valences effectively per minute, and in five minutes I shot off fifty more. Sanctified Spell was my first choice, of course. Making all my spells Good for free gave them a +2 to Spell Potency vs. Evil, the number needed to Save against them, from Good Spell Focus, and +2 Spell Penetration for overcoming any Resistance they had, and with Zealotry/1, it applied to Neutrals, too.

When I took Good Domain Focus, that would be another +1 Caster Level boost. Snowcaster was the Mastery I was currently working on, for the same kind of Spell Power boost. My Ceremony of the Frozen Soul's affinity for Cold Magic meant I didn't need to come up with the ice or snow material component, and there would be ways I could lower the temperature to get the increased +2 Spell Power effect.

Frozen Focus, +1 or +2 to Spell Potency; Cold Specialist, +1 or +2 to damage/die; Penetrating Cold, half of Cold damage was Primal, +50% to Cold Vuln creatures; and Prodigy of the Fell, +2 (4) to Casting Stat, were the rest of the Cold Magic Masteries. I had confirmed that I was getting a +2 Caster Level boost off those three Human Levels. Base Three from Warlock, +2 Shardcaster, +1 Vivic, +2 Good, +1 Snowcaster, and +2 Human was a nice Caster Level of 11, which was netting me base 5+1 Shards with every Casting.

I was going to have to take Delimit Spell if I wanted to stay up with my Caster Level, because I was only going to accrue more bonuses, not fewer. I would be able to manifest 6+1 base Shards right now, 7+1 of the touch-attack variant, if I did so...

I'm sure the Owl was paying attention to my ceaseless practice, but since it didn't do anything to him or his mastery of Aeromancy, he basically just ignored it as I sent Shards paid for by Stars out, the +I Meta attached paid out of the Slot as it needed to be, and I got more rep counts in...

The trees here didn't pay much attention to where the snow line should be, the forest expanding up the slopes of this mountain well past where it should only be ice and snow, the forest giants all reaching hundreds, if not a thousand or more, feet into the air. The atmosphere was heavy with Wind Magic, even the Plants exuding it, which probably explained how they were able to defy physics, brush off the cold, and get enough moisture to endure like they were.

I noted the ground floor was a twisted mass of roots that was probably dozens of feet deep, a nightmare for someone my size to traverse. It effectively encompassed the whole mountain in a root network from the trees, over which another entire ecosystem of smaller brush and flowering plants held their own places in the niches between them. I rapidly became aware that the entire mountain was full of Auras of strength higher than my ride's.

He seemed slightly nervous of the fact, but continued on up the slopes until he reached a great Tree with many holes in it, well over a thousand feet tall and with branches extending out for a hundred yards in every direction. It wasn't even close to the tallest on the mountain, but the curious heads poking out when he announced himself very politely and swooped in to land at a specific point on the branches were ALL a higher Tier than he was, about equal with the Great Stag, with a couple even stronger.

Another Owl, his crescent feather-horns gleaming like icy crystals over his massive eyes, fluttered over curiously, wondering what would bring a lower-ranked Owl over here, and he blinked pointedly as I dropped off the Owl and waited next to his taloned foot without fear.

"A Human? Here?" he hooted in amazement, and blinked again when I bowed to him.

"Speak. Why is this Human here?"

"Elder, this Human wields a unique magic effective against the Darkness. The Golden Hart named Sun of Thorns believed this Human's magic would be of great interest to the Silver Emperor. I have seen it myself, and watched a Corrupted Night Hunter reduced to white dust and mist before it. Where he died, strange flowers grew at the sunrise."

"How did a Human come to be here?" the Crystal Moon Owl demanded, still surprised.

"They are forbidden from the Beast Realm by the Realm Master himself!" Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. My ride had no answer for that, his bowed head turning to me.

"I fell out of the sky two days ago, Elder," I explained helpfully.

"Through no power of my own, I can promise you." My reply caused its own further surprise, and he leaned forward toward me.

"You can understand us, Human?" he asked, very interested.

"That is a rare gift for your kind."

"I can indeed understand you, Elder, and furthermore, I can allow you to understand me back!" I replied, and he blinked again as he realized that was indeed the case.

"Show me this magic a Golden Hart would claim is so unique," he huffed warily, bending down even further toward me. I flicked my wrist and brought up a flight of my Shards, with the silvery Force wedges now bearing both swirls of Fire and Ice on them, overlaid by the crimson of Banefire, the unwhite of vivus, and the electrum glory of Holy flames. The dinner-plate golden eyes narrowed in surprise, clearly not able to accurately identify three of the six energies visible, and uncertain of the Force Magic.

He watched them revolve in front of him for a good minute, the ROYGBIV of the rainbow tinting them in series, turning his head at sharp angles abruptly now and then, as if that would give him a better view. Then his inspection turned to me, his Awareness rapidly penetrating me, just like the Golden Hart's had, and finding that I was indeed on the lower rungs of my species.

"The Spatial magic," he judged slowly, but seemed uncertain, probably because that was only a fraction of what was going on with my shards. Arcane power had it all, baby!

"And some strange new energies..."

"The odd-white fire is the one which burned away the Corrupted," my ride reaffirmed pointedly.

"I do not know the effects of the other two."

"Doom magic, using abuse of temporal instability to inflict damage at all the weakest points on a target, and a magic to do additional harm against those with Darkness in their souls," I explained at the Elder's glance.

"The purpose of vivus, the mistfire, is merely to cleanse and purify. It is the least dangerous as a weapon, but against Corruption and Taint, is the most useful overall." I looked directly into massive eyes as large as my face.

"I believe the reason I am here is to bring vivus into the hands of the Lords of this Realm, so that they may fight against the Corruption and win, Elder."

"And why would you do this, Human? This is not your realm!" the Owl asked suspiciously.

"Begging the Elder's pardon, but I wasn't the one who brought me here, and I doubt I would have been brought here if I was not willing to do this." The Owl snapped back up to his full height, blinking down on me and ruminating on the logic of that for a full minute.

"It is clear that you do not have the power to defy the restrictions of the Realm Lord," he agreed after a full minute.

"That means He must have allowed you in..."

"And I literally have nothing other to offer you of any importance, but the vivic fire," I agreed with him.

"And yet, the vivic fire is probably the thing that will allow you to throw out the Darkness forever." A tremor shook the Bird, doubtless realizing he was now involved in a matter above his pay scale.

"I will take you to Cloud Moon, Human. Come with me!" he ordered, pausing as he lifted one foot, belatedly remembering how I had arrived. I hopped up on that extended talon, reached up to the steely edge of his wing, flipped over it, walked on the rigid length he supported effortlessly, and sat down, nearly buried in the incredible fluff of his feathers.

"As the elder wills!" I replied politely, extending my Mask of Clarity over his eyes. Without another word from my ride, this big Owl vaulted into the air, even quieter and more weightless than my escort here, who went winging off towards the lower caves to find a dark place to wait out the daylight. The Crystal Moon Owl was still spinning his head back and forth as he felt my Mask of Clarity upon his eyes.

"This... is very strange magic," he hooted.

"Subtle and powerful. The colors... are so bright, and yet they do not hurt my eyes..."

"I figured you should enjoy the colors while you can, Elder. I know the sun is not your time, but there is great beauty in the day, as well as in the night." With a silent flicker of wings, and absolutely no wind blowing past me, he was out from under the trees, and swiveled his head to look up at the sun above, staring at it unblinkingly even as we wafted along at well over 200 mph. If I hadn't seen the stuff zipping past us, I would have assumed we were gliding or floating along.

"This is a fine gift," he hooted back at me.

"Thank you, Human."

"You're welcome, Elder. Thank you for the ride. Trying to get to where I need to go overland would have taken a very long time." He hooted at me in a merry yet lofty manner, in a good mood.

"If you could have survived the trip! It might have taken you more than your Human lifetime!" I smiled despite myself. Once I reached Nine and could Linejump, the distance I could travel in a day would be in all sorts of appended zeroes.

"As the Elder says," I agreed without complaint. His head swiveling back and forth through a full 180 degrees to right and left, he looked at everything in the blinding light of day as we swept up the mountain, and the trees seemed to get even taller as we did so.

The King of the Owls lived in a giant crystal Oak Tree a good two thousand feet tall, its upper branches wound about and woven with pseudo-metallic vines into what could only be called a tree palace for incredibly powerful beings. The Aura of magic in the place was definitely very close to Twenty in quality, but there was more of it than any Human Twenty could possibly control. Ice and Wind magic mostly, both of terrifying potency and skill. King Cloud Moon definitely had some power behind him.

Still, my Crystal Moon ride had enough clout to request an audience and get it without much problem. The King Owl was perched on a twig of the Tree that looked to be made of golden bark, probably exuded just for him to do so, as I pretty sure the Tree itself was self-aware, given the feeling of magic around. He was fifty feet tall, absolutely looming over the ten meters of the Crystal Moon Owl, who bowed low in reverent homage to his King.

I naturally did the same, not straightening until I heard his quiet command to rise to the Crystal Moon Owl. The King didn't have to speak, he just broadcast his thoughts and I understood him just fine. He was a bit startled when he heard me reply in his own language, however.

"-and that's why I think I'm here, Your Majesty," I finished my reply as his power swirled around me, poking at the strange fires on my Shards.

"Your power is not great, but your skill is fascinatingly complex," he commented, keying off the fact my Caster Level was definitely a step or three above my internal energy reserves.