Azure_Fog Early release :D

Chapter 21 — A Display of Magic

Editors: PROCRASTINATOR & GREETER

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

It’s festival time! My first one… ever…… That’s not important. Point is, festival. (P/N Sad, Ei had a boring life, but now she can try again?) (A/N: New side chapter??? hmmmm…)

 

“LUNA! WAKEY WAKEY!! YOU TOO KURUI!!” (Ei)

 

“Someone’s excited.” (Luna)

 

“Six more centuries…” (Kurui)

 

“Kurui, you were asleep for 15,000 years!!! It’s festival time, get up!!” (Ei)

 

“Fine, fine. I’m just pullin ya leg anyways.” (Kurui)

 

I jumped out the window. I already scouted a bunch of stalls during the night, so we’ve got plenty of places to go!

 

“Hurry up, slowpokes!” (Ei)

 

I walked in circles for a few minutes before Kurui and Luna finally came down from our room. We began walking to our first destination: one of those games where you have to hit a thing to launch a thing to hit a bell. Classic carnival stuff.

 

“Hey! You three over there! Wanna give our game a whack? It costs five small copper to play, and you get one copper if you can make the bell ring! (Limited to one win per person)” (Whack)

 

“Sure!” (Ei)

 

Kurui cracks their knuckles. 

 

“This’ll be easy!” (Kurui)

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure guys…” (Luna)

 

“C’mon, ya can handle it. I’ll go first.” (Kurui)

 

Kurui somehow manages to produce five small copper coins out of thin air. 

 

“Here ya go!” (Kurui)

 

*BONG*

 

“See?” (Kurui)

 

“Well done. Here’s your reward.” (Whack)

 

“I’m next!” (Ei)

 

“Don’t break it please…” (Luna)

 

“I’ll try. Here’s the payment.” (Ei)

 

Foolish mortal. I slammed the pedal you’re supposed to hit with my fist. Who needs a hammer anyways?

 

*BONG*

 

Ha. Louder than Kurui. Take that.

 

“...” (Whack)

 

“*sigh*” (Luna)

 

“Well… here’s the reward.” (Whack)

 

“Go on, Luna. You can do this.” (Ei)

 

Luna walks up to the stand, picks up the hammer, and starts glowing. Hey, isn’t that overkill?

 

***BONG***

 

… I was beat. I’ll just have to win the next one then.

 

“Well done. Here’s the reward.” (Whack)

 

He looks slightly troubled. I wonder why?

 

“Hey, Jeff, how’s the profits?” (???)

 

“Uhm… uhh… we’re a small silver coin in the red…” (Whack/Jeff)

 

“You useless brother!!” (???)

 

“Hey! I said it was too easy!”

 

Let’s just leave before the arguing gets too intense. 

 

“Luna! I challenge you to a duel at that dart throwing stand!” (Ei)

 

“Eh? Okay?” (Luna)

 

“Ohohoho! Competition already? Well, well, well, why don’t I increase the stakes for you two, hm? How about whoever loses has to pay for both players, hmm? It’s only four small copper a person! Prizes are on the wall.” (Dart)

 

My eyes drift to the wall, which indeed, has several prizes. There are some flowery looking hats and a few masks. There’s also a few plushies… Oooo there’s a phoenix plushie. I want that one.

 

I pay for the three of us and we get to throwing darts. There are five rows with several targets. In the last one you would somehow need to curve the darts in order to hit the target. Unfortunately, I have to hit three of those targets… and I have three shots.

 

“Alright… here goes nothing.” (Ei)

 

I throw my first dart at an angle and it barely hits one of the back targets. Nice. The second flies through the air and almost misses, but I corrected the trajectory with [Gale Burst]. Nobody said we couldn’t use magic, and they have no proof. The final dart I missed… if I had corrected it it would have been too obvious.

 

“Alright Luna, beat that.” (Ei)

 

“I’ll try…”

 

Luna missed all three of her shots.

 

“Not again!!!” (Luna)

 

Hmmm… seems I touched upon a sore spot.

 

“Ha, you losers are about to be blown out of the water.” (Kurui) 

 

Kurui throws a dart directly at the first target, even though there’s a wall in the way. It hits.

 

““Eh?”” (Ei + Luna)

 

“What? Did you think I couldn’t hit the target just because there was a wall in the way?” (Kurui)

 

Kurui is using their entity powers! That’s worse than me! Bending reality is cheating!

 

“Alright, last two will be a piece of cake.” (Kurui)

 

Kurui throws both of their darts at the same time… and they land perfectly on the same target… 

 

“I’ll be taking the phoenix.” (Kurui)

 

“Here you go.” (Dart)

 

“Kurui… give me the phoenix….” (Ei)

 

“No.” (Kurui)

 

“Give it! Mine!” (Ei)

“No.” (Kurui)

 

“You used my money for that!!!” (Ei)

 

“I created it. It’s not yours.” (Kurui)

 

“HRRHRRHRHRHGG!!!” (Ei)

 

I try to grab the plushie out of their hands but they keep teleporting!!! And Luna is just laughing while watching! Give me the phoenix!

 

 

I gave up after a while and we went to our next location: a magic showcase. I want to see how powerful my magic is, since according to Luna it’s ridiculous. I mean, hers is too, probably.

 

“Welcome everyone, to the annual display of magic, brought to you by Grand Mage Shia von Aquarius!!” (Announcer)

 

“The Aquarius bloodline? That’s new.” (Kurui)

 

“They’re a ducal house, generally considered the best at magic in this kingdom.” (Luna)

 

“Interesting… Well this will be a good comparison.” (Ei)

 

Grand Mage Aquarius walks up to the center of the stage. Hmm… Grand Mage Aquarius is a pain to say… let’s just go with Shia.

 

“Good day everyone. To begin with the day’s performance, the apprentices of the Aquarius School of Magic.”

 

Hm… This will be fun. 15 students walk out of some gates on the side of the stage… Wait, isn't this just a battle arena? Shia disappears in a puff of smoke, and the students begin to cast their magic.

 

“[Fire Snake]!” (S1)

 

A snake of fire a few feet long begins to dance above the students, curving in intricate motions.

 

“[Water Snake]!” (S2)

 

Following the flaming serpent, a blob of water materializes and forms into another snake. The two begin dancing above the audience in a faux battle of sorts. 

 

“A long time ago, in a kingdom far, far away… There were two horrible snakes. One made of fire, another of water.” (S3)

 

The students are creating ground on which the two snakes are dueling. It’s floating above the students, except the one narrating. He’s flying. Impressive.

 

“They fought day and night, razing the land around them in the process.” (S3)

 

For added effect, the fire snake slammed the water snake into a “mountain” causing it to explode. Dust and debris began flying at the audience, but it redirected and disappeared beneath the floating island.

 

“The humans of times long past were in peril due to these events. Until, a lone traveller appeared in the town.” (S3)

 

Some small houses appeared on the island, and so did a cloaked traveller riding a bear.

 

“‘Fear not, for I have arrived to save you!’ said the traveller. Riding upon their twin bears of black and white, they rode towards the serpents.” (S3)

 

I feel like I heard something similar to this before…

 

“Sensing the danger, the serpents cease their fighting. From the lands below and the skies above, two more serpents moved to confront the hero.” (S3)

 

A snake of earth and a snake of air appear. This really reminds me of a certain story about a bear. What’s next? A fox?

 

“The hero fought valiantly, but to no avail. The snakes were simply too strong for them and their bears. In seemingly their last moment, another individual appeared. A kitsune with nine nine tails.” (S3)

 

… This retelling is worse than the original.

 

“She blocked the attack and said to the hero, ‘Fear not, young one. I will help you with this endeavor,’ transforming into a massive golden fox.” (S3)

 

A fox of golden fire, with nine tails, appears. The fox then attacks the snakes of air and earth, and they disappear. The hero takes down the other two. The fox then fades away… disappearing into the wind.

 

“The hero returned victorious, but nobody knew what happened to the kitsune. Did she live? Did she die? Nobody knows… not even to this day.” (S3) 

 

The entire scene then fades away. Applause fills the stadium and all the students take their bows. I like the original more while Kurui is laughing their head off.

 

“I remember that! ARCANE accidently created some snakes and they went on a rampage. ARCANE and I had to step in to take care of them. Hahaha! There was no “hero”! Well, it was probably ARCANE. They took inspiration from some books ENTITY brought from other worlds.” (Kurui)

 

“...” (Luna)

 

“That’s funny.” (Ei)

 

Shia appears once more in another puff of smoke.

 

“Well, as you can see, we have some promising students for the future. Now, it is time for our guest speaker from afar, Scientist Francis von Enolc!” (Shia)

 

A man walks out. He has short, pale blue hair, a light blue coat, and a fur slung over his left arm. The other side has a bit of the fur, but it’s mostly just a gas mask holding the fur together.

 

“Thank you, Shia. Observe, lowly peasants, the future of the guards. Human error will be no more.” (Francis) (A/N: Imagine him talking like The Doctor)

 

Out of the side of the wall, ten iron golems file in. They look a lot more dangerous than the ones we fought though…

 

“Now, observe, as they tear a normal iron golem to bits.” (Francis)

 

A normal iron golem appears through the other side. It doesn’t stand a chance, does it?

 

Immediately, it is hot with a massive beam of light from the eye of Francis’ Golem. It jumps and slams the iron golem, then rips it in half before stomping on it.

 

“Your human guards are useless now. My creation follows orders perfectly. It even accounts for failures in your pitiful judgment. I will take my leave now, goodbye.” (Francis)

 

He then walks away… (P/N He’s… yea)

 

“What an odd guy.” (Ei)

 

“Indeed.” (Luna)

 

Kurui is just staring at the guy… odd. They don’t get surprised very easily.

 

“Now then…” (Shia)

 

The sky darkens. Yet another snake of fire appears, though this time it is several yards long. 

 

“It is time for the main event.” (Shia)

 

“OOOOO did you see that?” “Chantless magic! Wow!” “She’s as impressive as always…”

 

… But chantless magic is easy? Hmm… maybe I should be more careful of using chantless magic.

 

Well, the show’s starting. Let’s pay attention.

 

The snake flies over the audience, then into the sky. It releases an inaudible screech and explodes, filling the darkened sky with dancing flames of various colors. Following that, a single bird formed out of a white mist, walking before Shia.

 

“When the first wisp of wind brushed across the world, birds that yearned for the sky had wings, yet no way to fly…” (Shia)

 

Several more birds formed and began to walk around on the ground. Slowly, they turned and walked towards Shia.

 

“They came to the God of the Sky, asking: ‘How can we reach the heavens?’” (Shia)

 

A few of the birds jumped up and flapped their wings, but to no avail.

 

“The God of Sky replied: ‘You have not found that which is most important.’” (Shia)

 

Pink crystalline petals formed on the ground around Shia. A wind blows through the audience and the “petals” begin to fly off, along with a hat or two.

 

“As he spoke, the wind thrust petals fallen from a tree high into the sky. The birds thrust out their wings, but the breeze was all too mild, leaving them to stumble across Andromeda.” (Shia)

 

The scene changed. Shia floated into the air and the ground rose up forming a cliff. Around the cliff was water, with savage waves throughout it.

 

“So they went to Tantoku, where the wind clashed with the sea, forming waves the height of a giant.” (Shia)

 

The birds began to climb the cliff. The winds are howling, even for the audience.

 

“They threw themselves off the cliff and flapped their wings amongst the howling winds…” (Shia)

 

The birds were now struggling to fly. Some were being blown back into the audience, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

 

“Until…” (Shia)

 

The wind stops.

 

“They were able to fly freely in the sky.” (Shia)

 

The birds fly in circles around Shia and a copy of herself forms out of water.

 

“To the God of Sky they returned. ‘We understand now! All we needed was a stronger wind to fly!’ But they found two, the God of Sky and the God of Ocean, smiling at them.”

 

The water Shia begins to speak.

 

“What you lacked was not wind, but courage.” (Water Shia)

 

“It is courage that has allowed you to become the first flying birds of this world.” (Shia)

 

The birds and water Shia turn to a mist and blow away in the wind. The light fades, and an applause erupts again. It’s a lot stronger than before. 

 

A few moments later, the light returns, and Shia takes a bow, then leaves the stage.

 

“See? This is why OCEAN insists this is how birds learn to fly. The legend includes them!!” (Kurui)

 

I’ve heard that story too… *sigh* How much of this world was influenced by mine?! (A/N: lots ;) 75 references already…) 

 

 

We got some food after that. It was some knockoff Japanese food. Worse than Earth, in my opinion.

 

Oh? What’s this?

 

“Sky Dwarf Tech Exhibit? That sounds interesting.” (Ei)

 

“Then let’s go there. The sky dwarves are real interestin! Although, I don’t know that much about ‘em, too recent of an appearance.” (Kurui)

 

“Huh…”

 

Azure_Fog In order to prevent the chapter from running too long, we cut it here! The main event of this arc will start moving pretty soon. Only one, maybe two, more chapters before something happens. Maybe next chapter if I don’t write that much.. (P/N writing battle is more fun) Maybe for you… I mean it’s fun but hard to make last. I could just end it instantly, but that wouldn’t be fun.

Please leave feedback, any misspellings/typos, and impressions in the comments :)