NOVEL NEXT Sabbatical – Chapter 226: Greet the New Star
Caethya intertwined her fingers and raised them over head, arching her back as she let out a satisfied sigh. Despite having not really felt any tension — or even been uncomfortable — it still felt quite divine.
She glanced at Aperio, her love giving her a bright smile as her wings shifted slightly behind her. Perhaps there had been a touch of actual divinity that had helped with the stretch, as Aperio liked to lend a hand here and there without mentioning it or even showing it was her. Still, Caethya always knew when her love did a bit more than anyone else could.
"What is she going to do if they attack?" Eleanor asked, still frantically looking around.
"Sink a few of their ships," Caethya replied as her trusty sword appeared in her hand. "Maybe stab some mortals that are being a bit silly." She gave her blade a twirl before making it vanish again. "But what I will do will depend on how they attack."
"With more of their missiles," Aperio said, gesturing towards a part of the sky that at first glance looked as empty as ever. "Though they are different than the others. There was also quite a big fight before they were actually shot, something about starting a world war if they use them." Her love shrugged. "After the highest ranking officer told them to shut it, over half of the sailors in that fleet accepted the offer to leave."
"Did you learn Mandarin and Russian in a week?" the mortal mage asked with wide eyes. "When? You were with us the entire time and you certainly didn't get out a book or phone."
Aperio tilted her head at the questions, her hair flowing over her ears and shimmering with a faint blue hue as the sun's light reflected off of it. "I simply looked through all the libraries I could find," her love replied, a little slower than usual as if she wanted to ensure that Eleanor would understand. "It did not take that long to find the proper literature and read it. Then, I simply repeated that process with more and more complex books until I had enough of an understanding to actually understand speech. From that point on it was only a matter of listening to various broadcasts and public conversations to figure out some of the more colloquial language."
"Remember," Caethya interjected, "my dearest works on the scale of everything. Her ability to absorb knowledge is unmatched, I would say. There are quite a few hoops she has to jump through to even talk to us properly." The Demigoddess hesitated for a second, looking at her love. "If she were to allow herself, she would know everything about everyone in existence. She would also take in all of that information before I even finish explaining this. But that is something you have already been told, so the only thing I can add is that you should stop being surprised by Aperio. What is normal for her is usually outside the realm of mortal thinking."
"I am trying to change that," her love replied, folding her arms in front of her chest and wrapping her wings around herself. "It would be nice if mortals were a bit stronger, though. As it stands, just talking is an effort as my unrestrained voice carries more mana than you are used to."
Any further conversation was cut short by a blinding light that caused Caethya to shield her eyes with her hand. Did they throw a sun at us? It was certainly bright enough to be one. Aside from the light, she had felt nothing else; no sound, no gust of air, no disturbance in the ambient mana.
"I see," Aperio said, spreading her wings briefly in what Caethya knew to be annoyance. "They truly wish to hasten their demise. Perhaps they thought the radiation would get through if the explosion did nothing?"
"Does it get through?" Eleanor asked, her voice a shaky whisper.
"Of course not," her love replied and carefully draped a wing over the cowering Human, eliciting a small whimper. "The only thing I allow through is light, though I should perhaps filter out the flash of the explosion next time as even Caethya had to cover her eyes."
"That would be nice," the Demigoddess said. "It's like they threw a star at you. At least, in terms of brightness."
"It is similar enough," Aperio said and looked directly at Caethya, the confusion at Eleanor's fright clear in her eyes."But even if they figured out how to throw their actual star at us, it would change little. If I do not permit it, nothing will harm us."
"Just give her some time," Caethya said in the language of their people, offering her love a smile. "You can't really expect her to use logic to overcome a primal fear. You and I can maybe do that, but she cannot."
"I simply do not know what to do now," Aperio replied as she sat herself down next to Eleanor, making sure her wing was still wrapped around the woman. "I am already protecting her, so what else can I do? Simply waiting feels like it is not enough."
The Demigoddess offered a small shrug, and another smile. "You should know by now that time very much helps," she said. "Just stay with her, while I take care of those who chose to stay with their ships. Trust me, your presence is uniquely reassuring."
"But also unsettling?"
"For me? No. But for most others, yes." Caethya closed the distance that separated the two of them and gave Aperio a kiss before brushing a few errant strands of her love's hair behind her ear. "Just do your best to be a huggable giant and it will be okay."
The All-Mother gave an ethereal sigh in reply, a bit of her magic flowing around Caethya in what she could best describe as a hug. The Demigoddess could also sense some of her love’s magic carefully dance around Eleanor, likely doing something that would calm her down. "I shall do my best."
Caethya gave another smile and a nod, then with a gentle pull of her magic she transported herself outside the protective barrier around the island that Aperio had created. At the same time, she reached into her [Dimensional Storage] to retrieve a long, dark blue robe and a silver mask. Wouldn't want them to see my face that much, now would we?
While Caethya herself could fly, she was nowhere near as fast as her love. But she also did not have to be. Even before she had met Aperio, her magic would have been more than enough to reach them. With her new Class, the act was utterly trivial.
She lifted her arm, and the ocean churned in response. A wave, spanning more than the width of the island itself, rose up to mirror the motion of her limb. Her fingers closed into a fist, and the mass of water turned to ice, shattering into thousands of hovering isles that were easily twice as long as her love was tall.
The Demigoddess let her arsenal hang in the air for a moment as she watched another missile approach. She unfurled a single finger from her closed hand causing two of her ice spears to fly away, colliding with the approaching missile a mere second later. There was no flash this time; the now-frozen hunk of metal that housed whatever the Humans had used to make their weapon instantly lost all forward momentum and began to fall. Defying the laws of nature was always fun.
Caethya brought her arm down in a sharp motion, the rest of the icicles she had made rushing forward fast enough to cause a barrage of loud bangs to echo across the ocean. Normally, she would have used stone to make her attack, but heaving that up from the bottom of the ocean was a chore she was not willing to undertake when her newfound access to the Domain of creation was so versatile. Before, bending water to her will had always been somewhat of an effort when compared to earth or metal, but now? Now, it was as easy as most anything.
The turrets mounted on the decks of the ship as well as a myriad more — albeit smaller — missile launchers unleashed an assault of projectiles at her in response. Some of them were as large herself, but Caethya was not worried. Should her own defence fail, something she seriously doubted, her love would take care of it. The way reality around her shifted and twisted, Caethya knew that something was being done to it. And the only one that could do that was Aperio.
A wave of her other hand caused the very air to condense in front of her, the wall of lead coming her way simply stopping and falling down as it hit her barrier. Her obliteration of the flotilla could have been instant — they were made from metal, after all — but Caethya thought that a more measured procedure would leave a greater impact and seem in the realm of possibility for Earth. In a few decades, that is.
The first of her icicles reached the fleet, a few of them already diving beneath the surface as the submarines they had would not be spared. Unlike the missiles that tried to intercept her swarm of projectiles, the ships did not simply freeze over. Instead, the icy weapons penetrated whatever armour was in their way and exploded into thousands of tiny shards once inside. Each of the shards would then start to slowly chill anything it touched until it was frozen. Caethya wanted to give the Humans a chance to flee despite them refusing the All-Mother's offer. It still relied on the compassion of the other Humans, but in her mind, it was better than dooming them to certain death.
After the last of her icicles had served their purpose, Caethya let herself fall, a tendril of water rising up from the ocean and turning to ice as soon as it touched her feet. The pillar of ice she had made shifted a little, letting her glide above the waves as it froze the water surrounding it.
A flick of her wrist froze the water around certain ships, holding their leaking forms above water and preventing them from sinking. Caethya stepped onto the sheet of ice that had formed underneath the fleet that had dared to attack them. She kicked her heel into the cold surface, causing the two submarines to surface behind her; both encased in ice and sporting various holes. A few of the sailors inside had died, but more yet lived to make a choice.
Caethya raised an unseen brow at the small bullets that simply ceased to be a hand’s width in front of her. She was certain they would have done no harm to her, but it would seem that her love was taking no risks today. Also gets the point across, I guess. Just for good measure, the Demigoddess let some of the water evaporate, creating a mist that clung to her form and trailed her every move. That should be suitably ghost-like.
She paused for a moment as she saw a man crawl out of the many holes she had gifted the ship in front of her, simply tracking his movements with her head. It took a while for him to notice her, but when he did, he chose not to flee but to pull on the weapon attached to his thigh. He fumbled with it as Caethya took a step forwards, almost dropping it twice before he finally managed to aim in her general direction and shoot.
The bullet was nowhere near close to her, but Caethya still honoured his attempt with a blade fashioned from the ship he had just escaped from. Manipulating ice and water had felt much more intuitive and natural than before, but just as she had thought, using metal was better still. There was no concentration required to bend the steel to her will; all she had to do was grasp it with her mind and put it to use.
The deed done, Caethya held out her hand and her makeshift sword flew towards it, splitting the man she had impaled in two as it left his flesh. Once the metal was back in her grasp, it shifted to better fit her hand. Then she reached out for a few more shards of metal, growing the blade slightly longer as well as forming a guard above her hand. Though it would never be as good as one of her actual swords, it was perfect as a test for her newfound powers. An inferior tool would simply require her to work just a bit harder.
She lifted the blade, holding the flat edge gently against her forehead. Caethya closed her eyes and mumbled a few words in honour of her ancestors. It was a rite as old as the High Elves themselves, and one she would not allow herself to forget. Her ancestors would never hear the words, but it would bless her blade with their guidance all the same.
For a brief moment, her sword shone with a white light and Caethya could hear the faintest of whispers rush past her. She lowered the blade back to her side and looked at the group of mortals that had gathered near one of the holes that had not been overgrown with ice quite yet.
The Demigoddess observed them for a moment longer before she tilted her head, trying her best to imitate the motion her love seemed to be so fond of, and pointed her blade at them. A challenge was issued, and it was on them to accept it.