ELEANOR LEYWIN
"Brother, this is beginning to sound a little insane. You're some kind of special reincarnate with a soul bound for conquering the world?" I ask.
This whole 'Dynasty' and 'Legacy' stuff feels so crazy. I thought it was just the Legacy, but now there are three of them. Did Agrona not know that him bringing Arthur and that Nico guy could lead to his demise?
"Well, Ellie. I don't fully understand either, but these Djinn are going to help me- or well, us- become strong enough to fend off Agrona and even the asuras of Epheotus. I'll do anything I have to if it means I can keep you and everyone I love safe," Arthur replies.
"Alright. I trust you. Does that mean we're going to stay in this zone for a while?" I ask again.
"Probably, yes. I want to make sure that I've noticeably improved. I know if I would have fought Taci back then on equal terms... I would have lost. He was weakened while I was strengthened; it wasn't a fair fight," he answers.
"Then can we all train? I want to get stronger too," I mutter.
"That's a silly question, El. Of course, you're going to train too. There are five of the Djinn and three of us. Go and speak to one of the Djinn. Maybe they could even manifest your Djinn blood too. We've got the same blood in our veins," he explains.
Could they really? Could I start to do things that Arthur can? Could I become strong like him and use that aether stuff?
"Do you really think that's possible?!" I shout.
"Go and find out. Ask Domon about it then go and meet the others and ask them to train," he suggests.
I nod resolutely and run over to where the Djinn brought us to. That ghost town we found earlier was actually where they live, but when the zone opened, they fled so as to check out who was entering.
I make my way up to one of the sandstone buildings, the one that Domon said he lives in, and knock on the door. I wait for a moment before I hear shuffling on the other side of the door. When it opens, the familiar bald, pale, and tattooed man looks down at me with a questioning glance.
"May I help you, Eleanor?" he asks.
"I think so, yes. Can my Djinn blood manifest like Arthur's did? I want to get strong and help him," I tell him, my posture stiff and expression hopefully showing my determination.
"I didn't realize you two were siblings. I suppose it could manifest. However, you're a only Mid Silver mage," he answers.
"ONLY? I'm two breakthroughs from being one of the most powerful mages in all of Dicathen!" I shout.
His blank expression curves into a frown. His eyes seem almost angry.
"I see. So there are that few White core mages these days. That is very unfortunate," he says, trailing off as he goes. "In that case, I'll attempt to manifest your blood, but you need to break through into White core first. Because of your Djinn heritage, the Relictombs should be quite conducive to your training and amplify your growth rate."
"So is that why I broke through from Light Orange to Mid Silver in two months?" I ask.
The Djinn man's composure completely breaks. His frown fades as his jaw drops, leaving his mouth agape.
"You went through five stages in only two months?!" he asks, essentially screaming.
I recoil at his show of emotion.
"Y-yes, I did. Is it really that hard to believe?" I ask, genuinely curious if my feat is that inconceivable.
"But of course! That's unprecedented even among the Djinn children who were born just before we built the Relictombs. The few that made it into here were very gifted and developed exceedingly fast but you've been breaking through a stage almost every two weeks!" he continues to shout.
"Well I did break through into Mid Silver a little over a month ago, so I've been bottle-necked a little bit," I explain, hoping he'll calm down.
"That's most interesting. Do you need anything in particular? We don't have much, but seeing how your growth has progressed, maybe what little we do have can push you closer to White stage," He asks.
"I mean... Arthur gave me the teeth of two of those massive sand worms. Cecilia said they're mana rich," I reply.
The man's eyes practically pop from his head. His already open jaw nearly hits the floor as his usually expressionless facade is all but a memory.
"T-two of them? How many teeth do you have?" he continues to question.
"I have around 20. We could have gotten 30 but Regis turned one into even less than ash," I answer.
Domon's face falls completely into shock as he squats down and places his hands on the sandy ground.
"We have hope. We can win. The Djinn can be avenged," he murmurs to himself. Looking back up at me, his expressionless face returns as he continues, "Let's begin your training as soon as possible. I'll send for Dania. She'll be able to assist you in absorbing the teeth as well as help train you. What are your affinities?"
"I don't have any. I manipulate pure mana into arrows. As of now, my arrows, can track enemies, explode, shatter into shrapnel, grow mid-air, and enhance my bond. I can also change their course while they fly," I explain.
"That shouldn't be an issue. Are you proficient in melee combat?" he asks.
"I've never really tried. I don't carry a melee weapon except for the knife in my boot." I answer.
"Then let's also have Dania teach you that. Go tell the Dynasty that you'll be training until you all leave this zone. You likely won't see him very often," he states.
I nod in compliance and make my way over to Arthur. He seems to be fiddling around with a small black stone.
I should prank him.
I pull my bow from my back and notch three arrows along the bowstring. Each of them should burst into pure mana before they even hit him. Pulling back, I bring my hand to my cheek and release at Arthur's scrunched face.
His eyes open wide as they approach as a purple panel completely blocks my arrows.
"Do that again, Ellie!" He says before continuing to stare intently at the palm-sized black stone.
He wants me to shoot at him again?
ARTHUR LEYWIN
I don't know exactly what it is that Ellie did, but just before my instincts pulled me out of the keystone, I saw a ripple in the endless void of black. It was as if three claws raked against a cloth without tearing through.
There they are again!
Three small motes of something start to cause slight ripples in the void of nothingness. My instincts pull me back out of the keystone, as I now stare at Ellie through a purple-tinted panel.
"Ellie, what are you doing?" I ask.
Her face gets embarrassed before she finally speaks up, "I was trying out a prank. I was going to basically shower you in pure mana particles after I shot a few arrows at you."
"So you were just creating arrows?" I ask again.
"Yeah, I shot them at you, and then that purple panel showed up and blocked my arrows," she explains.
"So that purple panel just popped up?" I continue to question.
"Yeah, why? Didn't you do that?" she asks.
"No... I didn't," I mumble.
So whenever she was conjuring mana arrows, I was noticing ripples in the void. Does this keystone have something to do with mana? Also what the hell are these purple panels?
'I think aether is protecting you, princess. Those arrows were potentially dangerous, but that panel blocked them from hitting. You weren't even conscious of the arrows, but they shattered without you even trying,' Regis proposes.
That's insane. Is the aether glad to be manipulated by me? What the fuck did these tattoos do to me? The aether is just molding itself to my defense...
"Ellie, keep doing it. You can shoot them at me or don't. In fact, do a little bit of both. Don't worry about hurting me. I'll be okay. Try all of your arrow types," I tell her before pushing my consciousness back into the keystone.
Just as before, I see a collection of ripples develop within the void. Some of them come reeling toward me but others go wide. I watch as before one would hit me, it explodes into a huge ripple, colored particles exploding from it like a firework. To my right and left, a ripple grows larger than a tree trunk while it whizzes by, essentially tearing a hole through the fabric of this void. On the other side, I see the desert, littered with colored particles.
I'm forced from the keystone as a searing pain emerges just below the nape of my neck, right along my spine.
My brain fills with a collection of understanding that isn't mine. It's completely foreign, or so I think.
'Is this what I think it is?' Regis asks excitedly.
I think it is.
Realmheart.
My eyes shoot open as I stare at Ellie. I squint my eyes as I push aether into the nape of my neck. As the aether flows into the godrune, thousands if not millions of red, blue, yellow, and green particles begin to dance among the ambient aether.
My eyes begin to become blurry as the memories of using Realmheart flood in- memories of Sylvia and Sylvie, the reasons I could use the ability in the first place. My vision becomes a myriad of colored blobs as the tears start to stream from my face. I pull the aether from my godrune and simply let the emotions flow.
"Brother! What happened?" she asks while running over to me with worry practically written on her face.
"I... I can use Realmheart again," I tell her while leaning into her now open arms.
I pull the rainbow-colored stone from my dimension rune and observe its sparkly surface. Once again, my vision blurs in a myriad of colors from the egg.
I'll save you, Sylvie. Just a little longer.
'You're doing good, princess. We should go and tell Domon and everyone about this," Regis suggests.
Good idea, Regis.
I pull myself from Ellie's embrace and wipe the tears from my eyes.
"Are you okay now, brother?" she asks.
"Yeah, El. Thank you. I'm going to go and tell Domon about this," I tell her before starting to walk off.
A hand grabs at my wrist, forcing me to turn around.
"Speaking of Domon, Arthur. I spoke to him and he said it's possible for my blood to manifest, but beyond that, he told me to tell you that I'll be training with a woman named Dania. Apparently, I'll be with her the whole time we're here, so I won't see you much," Ellie explains.
"Oh... I see. Are you okay with that?" I ask.
"I don't want to be kept from you, but I think that we should take advantage of this opportunity. We have 10 weeks to become strong enough to force Agrona to bend the knee. I think that we have a good chance of that," she answers
"We don't have to take it to Agrona immediately. I have a meeting in the outside world with Scythe Seris anyway. She apparently has someone that I need to speak to lined up for whenever we leave here," I explain.
"Oh, so we don't need to rush. Got it. I've been thinking it was all going to go down immediately. It's good to know we may have more time," she tells me.
"We'll be okay. When am I ever wrong?" I ask jokingly. I tousle at Ellie's hair and wave her to follow me back to the small town of sandstone houses.
Whenever we get back, all five of the Djinn are standing outside, presumably waiting for us.
"Welcome back, Leywins. We have work to do. I presume little Eleanor has informed you of her training, Dynasty?" Domon asks.
"She has. Which one of you is Dania? Who is going to be training her?" I ask.
One of the Djinn raises their hand. Similar in appearance to the rest of them, bald head, painfully white skin despite the desert sun, and runic tattoos along her body.
"That would be me. I'll be supervising her training. Thanks to those teeth you extracted from the sand worms, we should be able to push her into White core so that her blood can be manifested safely," Dania says deadpan.
"Take good care of her. I'm watching," I reply, also deadpan.
She nods and begins to walk away, beckoning for Ellie to follow. Before she leaves, Ellie wraps a hug around my waist. I reciprocate by grabbing her by the arms and pulling her into a bigger hug. As she dangles from my neck, her radiant smile shines brighter than the sun above us.
Whenever I let her down, she scampers off to follow Dania.
"So, Domon, I have a development. I've attained an ability akin to Realmheart from the Indrath clan. I can see ambient mana now, unlike before. I don't know if it allows me to use the ability as proficiently as a dragon would, though I do have the insight on how to do that," I explain.
Domon's expression curves into a curious gaze. His eyes seem to bore through my head as what seems like rage begins to flare up in his eyes.
"I see. How would you know how to use Realmheart?" he asks threateningly.
"I'm bonded to a Dragon. The granddaughter of Kezess Indrath himself. I also have the beast will of his only daughter, Sylvia Indrath. With that, I was able to gain the Realmheart physique. I even trained under Myre Indrath to become proficient enough in the ability to cancel spells. Lastly, my body is now mostly dragon. I'm surprised you haven't noticed by now," I finish.
"I'm upset to see my race's blood contaminated by asuran filth. I'm glad you admitted it, but know that I do not approve of this at all," he replies, keeping up his threatening tone.
"With all due respect, Domon. I don't give a fuck what you think. Sylvie and Sylvia may be the only asuras who ever cared about the mortal races on Alacrya and Dicathen. She is the one who openly admitted her father's atrocities that even the asuras of Epheotus don't know. Sylvie has been with me since she was a child. She and her mother died for me. I won't allow you to slander their names," I tell the Djinn. My deadpan expression bores through his skull as he is trying to do to me.
His expression becomes troubled. It's as if he's pissed at being wrong. The attempted threatening demeanor fades as he lets out a sigh.
"Fine, Dynasty. I do not wish to fight with you. If what you say is true, I apologize for my prior statement," Domon admits. "Now, shall we begin your tutelage?"
"Only if you keep that kind of talk to a minimum. You've already insulted my grandmother and daughter once. Don't let it happen again. This Dynasty title is great and all, but I won't hesitate to finish the job the Indrath clan set out on," I answer.
"Very well. I will not mention them again. Your threat is successfully received, Dynasty. Now, let me introduce you to your trainers. I will be directing my two companions here, Domir and Girvalli to help you. We three will mold you into a monster that even that Lord of Dragons can't ignore," he finishes.
'You hear that, you big stinky lizard?! The Dynasty is coming for your ass!' Regis shouts internally.
"Lead the way, Domon"