The Night Rider

Chapter 28 - Nivara

"Yeah, right? One of the seven Core Traits? That's an old Laia's tale!"

Charmer's laughter echoed loudly around the mist filled arena, its density blocking the Flarestorm phoenix from view. Nivara completely expected such a response from the young Glass Traited but The Mist Maiden remained impassive as Charmer's cackling became hollow and her uncertainty slowly caused her voice to falter and eventually drift away.

"You truly think so?" Nivara asked, her voice was calm but defiant, as if daring her to prove otherwise.

Nivara could feel the discord in the air as her mist clung between her palms. Silencing all who doubted her she clasped her fingers together in a cage of Trait. Nivara's hands shook slightly but still she unleashed the storm in a powerful display of undeniable proof. The rumbles of thunder echoed in her ears started to give way to the flash of lightning which could put even Kamikaze's Trait to shame.

No mere Water Traited could do what she could do. They had lost that ability long ago when they extinguished the possibility of having fellow Storm Traited to unite beside. Still, the fear of the unknown of her Trait rose from the surface of her turmoil, mist chilling into ice and back into a tempest far stronger than the paltry trick she had used outside the throne room so long ago.

Things had changed. She had to do the same.

The lightning erupted as her arms spread wide, forging a chain of unrelenting power as it moulded into a cobalt grimoire not created through anger or deception but resilience and justice. For too long it had been bathed in a haze of false indigo, a constant reminder of who she was and what she was striving for. Nivara never really changed her Trait, only hid its capabilities to survive a little longer for a Traited who was too strong, too different to be seen as anything but...Abnormal.

"This is my real grimoire. Retribution."

Nivara's chaotic Trait and grimoire summoning sent a jolt of fear and awe through the young girl. Charmer's wide eyed expression gave way to fear and then confusion, horrified at the destruction curling in the palm of a Regents hand. It was almost impossible to look away, luring Charmer closer in a daze of power longing to reach out and grab it. The Mist Maiden, closed her palm and snuffed out the storm instantly. It left no traces of Trait left to linger like mist in the wind. It was like it never existed.

But the grimoire in front of her however was unmistakable: a deep, endless blue giving way to a vortex of grey, purple and sparks of yellow within. It only took a moment for Charmer to realise, her awe turning to disgust at the realisation.

"You're a necromancer. You're a bloody fiend from Shuriken just like-"

"No, I am not."

Nivara's command was absolute, shutting the Traited down once again. Charmer couldn't stop her hands from shaking, hiding them behind her back as the aforementioned Storm Traited seethed beneath her cloak. Nivara could feel the pull of the Timekeepers Trait searing through her, the connection of their conflicting Traits of Storm and Fire sending her head reeling and her mist wall swaying in trepidation.

"Just because I possess an Abnormal grimoire does not mean I come from Shuriken. I am still the last Mist Maiden of Caldor and I intend to keep it that way."

Nivara grit her teeth, her grimoire now tugged snug under the crook of her arm, teeming with primal energy bound by a single coil of chain continuously sending Fire Trait ebbing and flowing around her peripheral vision. Hells teeth it hurt but it was necessary to hold her ground and undo what had been foretold. It was why she was the Stormkeeper, why she had fought so hard to get here, to this very moment. She had to make these ten minutes count.