Lament of the Fallen

”What did you say about this Plane giving us a warmer welcome than certain other planes?!” Nyx demanded with a strained tone of voice. She punctuated her words by shredding another elemental with her powers.

As Dee’s black flames burnt the last elemental in this group, they finally got some peace. “Well, who knows? Maybe this is a warmer welcome than the Plane of Ice or Water. Those two could be worse.”

Moirai sat with her back to the mountaintop, trying to find some shelter from the winds buffeting them relentlessly. She was not going to find any in this place. “I don’t think things could be much worse. The only reason we have this moment of relative peace is because we killed every elemental in the vicinity.”

Moirai’s words were a rather fair observation. They had spent the last two days fighting the elementals, and every elemental within range had attacked them almost immediately after they arrived. The portal had fortunately or unfortunately taken them to a place much closer to the core of the plane than had happened on the Plane of Fire. It would still take them several days to reach the core if they wanted to go there, but it would only be days instead of weeks. This area was rich in elementals, and one of the first ones to attack the trio had been an air elemental spirit that could be considered equal to an immortal. Dee had quickly found out that while the spirit actually had no solid body, it still added a skull to her totem.

The mountain area they were currently at was several kilomels from the ‘ground’, such as it was. During their constant battle, they had drifted closer to the ground and come back up after discovering there was nothing there that would help them. If anything had ever grown on the ground, it had been torn away by the perennial storm winds or fallen victim to the constant barrage of lightning strikes that periodically lanced from the black clouds covering the skies. The only things dotting the stony landscape were these odd metallic obelisks that seemed to draw the vast majority of the lightning to them. The rest was barren. Even the Plane of Fire had more life than this place. That is, unless you counted in the numerous elementals that had inhabited the place before their arrival. Although now even those were gone.

“Well, be that as it may, it might be better if you get to it and do your thing. I’ll keep watch and respond to any further attacks. I’ll notify you if it gets too much for me to handle.” Dee decided. They had talked about this possibility on the way here, and one of the reasons they were now up on this mountain instead of the ground below was that the elemental forces were extremely pure and strong in this place. The two Meilin would benefit from this place greatly, and it was not chosen randomly.

“Are you sure? You don’t feel the need to go towards the core of this place?” Moirai asked in a worried tone. The two knew that Dee had a reason to come to the planes, but didn’t know exactly what it was that she required.

“No. Unlike last time, I don’t feel a pull towards the core. In fact, I’m fairly certain that going there would be a bad idea. While approaching the place would be much easier than the core of the Plane of Fire, the local inhabitants would be significantly less welcoming. I can get my business done while fighting. In fact, I’d argue it makes things easier.” Dee replied with a light tone. The core area was surrounded by an eternal storm that shredded anyone approaching it, but it was still more hospitable than walking into the literal star at the heart of the Plane of Fire.

Dee wasn’t just saying that to placate Moirai either. The constant battle with the elementals stimulated her ability to absorb the elemental energies, and every time she killed one of the elementals and consumed their souls, she gained a portion of their power. It did wonders for her resistances. In fact, her tenth tail had already gotten the color of whitish-blue signifying the element of air, and she hadn’t specifically even tried to get that resistance. It was already as strong as her less develop resistances like earth. Her lightning resistance was already closing towards the limit, which made the fighting quite a bit easier. She didn’t get the time and peace to absorb the power from the souls from the hells that Selvaria had provided, but the souls of the elementals were just as good for her purposes.

Even though Dee didn’t have trouble in reaching her goals rather quickly, Nyx and Moirai took more time to reach theirs. It had taken several months for the duo to absorb the element of fire as part of their bloodline and totem. The work was going faster now that they knew what they were doing. There was also less resistance than last time, as they had already gone through the process once. Still, they were trying to take in two elements at the same time, so it took time and effort. Moirai was once again faster than Nyx thanks to the fact that she had barely begun her totem, so modifying it was much easier. Once she was done she helped Dee fend against the constant attacks that came their way, allowing Dee some much-needed rest.

Dee, on the other hand, spent the first month and a half in almost constant battle. It was actually perfect training for her, as she learned to ration her strength and use only enough power to defeat her enemies and not waste any. She was much more used to making a single decisive attack that would take the enemy out with certainty and enough power left over to do it again. Now that wasn’t an option. As the enemies kept coming and she had to protect her friends, she couldn’t use her favored style of fighting. Instead of being a quick blade that strikes fast and retreats, she had to become the bulwark that stands firm and endures.

In a normal situation, Dee didn’t actually require rest, she simply enjoyed sleep. That was even truer the stronger she became. She could also quickly consume food between battles to keep her from becoming hungry or thirsty, so while it was not an ideal situation, she could manage. The problem was that the fatigue from constant battles kept accumulating. She wasn’t an endurance fighter normally. In the past, her excessive use of power had also put extra strain on her body, forcing her to exhaustion even more quickly.

Now that she was stronger, she was able to use more power without putting excess strain on herself. She could also use some holy spells to wipe away some the exhaustion that accumulated, but those spells had their limits. They would do nothing against the bone-deep exhaustion that came from expending most of her power in few very powerful attacks. But they were good against the small exhaustion that came from repeated small battles against weaker foes. She had to find a balance, and this was good training, helping her hone the necessary skills in that area.

A normal person would have also run into issues with running out of power, but Dee didn’t have that problem. Ever since the first time she came into this world and was told that she could pay for things with power, she had discovered that her ability to regenerate power quickly was extraordinary. It was just that she never got the chance to really utilize that ability because her physical and mental exhaustion had been too much of an impediment. It didn’t matter if you had power if you were too exhausted to use that power. Now that was changing, and the ability to regenerate power quickly became relevant again.

Despite all that, by the time Moirai had finished her own process a month and a half after starting, Dee was exhausted beyond belief. She had managed to take small breaks, but not nearly enough. Especially the few times extremely powerful elementals had attacked them had left Dee spent and without the opportunity to recover fully. Now Moirai could take over for a while, and Dee spent the next three days in a deep sleep without reacting to the gale winds or the constant sounds of thunder and battle.

Luckily for all of them, none of the really strong elementals had attacked while Dee was for all intents and purposes passed out. Moirai could have called Nyx for help if that had happened, but that would have broken Nyx’s concentration and forced them to stay here even longer. Now, instead of spending weeks completing her own process, Nyx was finished by the time Dee woke up again. Dee also woke up at the perfect time, because they had finally drawn the wrong kind of attention.

Until now, they had only been attacked by the local elementals. Granted, the elementals were fairly strong this close to the core, but they had not drawn the attention of the true rulers of the plane. The last powerful enemy Dee had fought before collapsing was a high ranking prince of the air elementals, which was one of the reasons she had been so exhausted. The other elementals had seen the black flames that consumed the prince, and they knew the prince would not be back. As a result, those elementals had taken a word to the rulers of the Plane.

The King of the Air and the Queen of Lightning were less than pleased at having such violent visitors in their territory. The two were not aware that it had been the elementals that attacked first, and no one bothered to mention that minor detail. Not that it would have mattered once the prince had died. There were no familial relations between the elementals despite their titles, but it was a matter of prestige. They had to do something just to maintain their own legitimacy or the high ranking princes might challenge their position. The two monarchs decided to take matters into their own hands.

It didn’t take Dee’s special eyes to see the power suddenly gathering above the trio. Unlike the other two though, Dee could see exactly what was coming and reacted quickly. The Queen of Lightning was the true ruler of the plane, so she didn’t need to be present to strike at her foes. She didn’t bother to move towards the enemy and instead struck at them from her throne at the core. The full power of a rank twelve immortal elemental was put on display as a bolt of lightning as thick as the mountain the trio had been standing on lashed down from the skies.

Dee had sensed the attack coming and knew the other two could not withstand it despite their new powers. Besides, this was the purest lightning energy in the entire plane. This is just what she needed to finish her own resistance to the element. The armor of light surrounded her form that had quickly turned to that of a dragon to enhance her own resistance. As the strike landed, the holy power inside her was quickly being consumed, as she used the armor to dissipate about half of the power in the attack, and allowed the rest to hit her body directly. The power of the attack had reduced greatly, and she was extremely resistant to the element. Despite this, Dee bellowed from pain as the power coursed through her body.

“Bloody. Fucking. Hells! That hurt!” Dee cursed as the attack finally stopped. She could feel the damage inside her regenerating quickly. She still felt a little crispy.

‘I’m glad to inform you that it was worth the pain.’ Croestia silently messaged her. ‘That completed the resistance in one shot. You can take the next one directly. It might still sting a bit, but it won’t truly harm you. Uh, that thing might though.’

Dee suddenly saw a relatively small dragon seemingly made of what looked pure glass flying towards them with extreme speed. She could sense the enormous power of air contained inside the being, and knew this being had not launched the previous attack. Not that it was any less dangerous. “Be careful, we have incoming!” Dee warned Nyx and Moirai.

One of the main strengths of the King of Air was his speed. He was very confident in that aspect. He decided that the dragon that had blocked the attack from the Queen of Lightning was the main threat, an impression enhanced by the power of fire that he felt radiating from the dragon, but the being must also be wounded. After all, the queen was much stronger than him, as he was new to his position. The king decided to take out the two smaller being first. He was certain that the wounded dragon wound not be able to do anything to stop him thanks to his speed.

Imagine his surprise as a flash of light seemed to ram into his side as he passed the wounded dragon. What had hit him? There’s no way the dragon would have been able to react in time! His thoughts were betrayed as the form of the wounded dragon wound around him, trapping him in place. “Well then. Would you like to try that again? We can try which is faster, the wind or light.”

The king could sense the slightest bit of the light element in the air and frowned. Apparently, speed would not be the unbeatable edge he was hoping for in this fight. The black form of the serpentine dragon started squeezing the king, alerting him that his strength did not lie in his sturdiness and the serpentine dragon had more than enough strength to do great harm. He was not of the earth after all. Leave it to those lumbering beings to focus on defense. He hadn’t become the king just due to his speed though.

Dee was just about to use her fires to deliver a fatal blow as the weird glass dragon seemed to vanish and appeared a small distance away in an instant. “That’s a neat trick.” Dee growled. The dragon had turned into nothing but the wind to escape her grasp. And the wind was omnipresent in this place. That meant the glass dragon could appear and disappear anywhere.

Suddenly the glass dragon waved its claws and Dee barely had time to react as several blades of something hit her hastily erected armor of light. The power drain from blocking the attack was atrocious. It was almost as bad as the drain from the lightning earlier, and this had been a casual wave of the dragon’s claws. ‘What was that?’ Dee sent a hasty mental message to Nyx and Moirai.

‘That was somewhat similar to the attacks I use, though also a little different.’ Moirai sent a back a thought colored with sudden realizations. ‘The sharpness of the attack rent space around it, hence the extreme damage. I used entirely different methods to achieve similar results, but the end result is the same. I recommend not taking any more of those as I doubt your scales will be able to block them. It did give me ideas though.’

The same applied to Nyx, as the mother and daughter pair had rather similar abilities. Both had some skill in bending space, and the use of the air element to cause the same effect was a wholly new avenue for them, especially since they only now had the power of air at their command. They were bursting with ideas. ‘Try to hold it still for a moment. I think we can do something similar to retaliate.’ Nyx messaged.

“Easier said than done.” Dee grumbled. If she could hold the damn thing in place, then she could also do something. That was the whole problem. ‘Maybe we should flip this around. Maybe you should hold him in place instead.’ She suggested.

The glass dragon had not remained idle, as several similar attacks had flashed towards Dee, but this time she was prepared. She knew what to expect and could use her speed to avoid the attacks. This continued for a dozen attacks before the glass dragon suddenly laughed. He had realized Dee’s weakness. “I’ve got you now.” It declared and sent a larger volume of attacks this time. What made the king so confident was that if Dee dodged those attacks, they would hit Nyx and Moirai instead. While Dee was fast enough to dodge, the two others were not. The two new elements they had absorbed increased their speed, but Dee and the king of Air were still in a separate category.

“I should be the one to say that.” Dee suddenly said, whispering to the ear of now frozen glass dragon. While the two Meilin were not as fast, they were far from helpless. The slashes the glass dragon used were sharp but they were also fragile. A storm of psionic energy met them before reaching their goal, and the storm came out the victor.

“That’s what you get when fighting three psions, two of which are strong in the mental side of things.” Nyx crowed in victory. While none of them were strong enough to break the King of Air’s mental defenses by themselves without alerting him, together it was much easier. Moirai and Nyx had provided the path for Dee, who in turn froze the glass dragon in place.

While he was frozen in place, Dee suddenly pushed him into the correct position, right below another powerful lightning strike sent by the Queen of Lightning. She had struck in order to help, but it took a bit of time to unleash strikes like this. And once the strike was unleashed, it was impossible to pull back. The bolt of lightning aimed at Dee as the most dangerous enemy, but now Dee was entangled with the King of Air. One of the two was resistant to the damage, and that wasn’t the King of Air. The glass dragon roared in pain while Dee cackled as her plan came to fruition.

Suddenly a dozen spatial slashes rent the already suffering glass dragon’s body as Nyx and Moirai copied the attack he had used earlier. They were not as effective, hardly a surprise for a first attempt, but they were more than enough to wound the glass dragon that was not focused on defense. The two Meilin tore into the poor dragon while Dee’s flames consumed what was left.

“Well, that was more effective than I thought.” Nyx grinned as the power flowed into her and the two others. They had killed a being more powerful than them together, so they also shared in the spoils. Most of the power went to Moirai and Nyx, while the pure energy of air finished Dee’s resistance to the element. Consuming the soul of the king of the element had its advantages.

Another bolt of lightning flashed down on them as the Queen of Lightning showed her fury at the events, but Dee almost happily received the attack once again, protecting the other two. “You’re welcome to come here and share his fate.” Dee growled at the air, showing how little the attack had done this time. Silence pervaded the area. “That’s what I thought.”

“Now, that said, I think our business here is concluded.” Nyx argued. Killing one powerful being was one thing, but fighting against the entire plane was another. They had just slain an elemental monarch and the elementals might not take that kindly. It was likely that the princes of the air elementals thought that anyone capable of slaying the trio would also gain the position of the next king.

“Agreed. Time to go. We have other planes awaiting us.” Moirai also gave her vote. Dee didn’t disagree, so she created a portal out of the plane. The return trip might be a bit longer, even with their increased familiarity with the element.

“So what plane are we going to next?” She asked.

----------

“Stop laughing!” Nyx demanded as they returned back to Pantheon. They had spent years touring the elemental planes and were finally returning home.

“I can’t help it.” Dee managed to say between bursts of laughter. “You’re rainbow squirrels now!”

Moirai could only sigh in slight depression. With all the elements they had absorbed, it was inevitable there would be physical changes like what had happened with the fire element. The two Meilin now had streaks of color running through their hair and tails. Calling it a rainbow was not doing it justice since they had absorbed almost a dozen elements, and all of those elements were represented. That didn’t stop Dee from mocking them at every chance. “I wouldn’t say too much considering your own tails.” She stated a little feebly.

“What about my tails?” Dee asked while still grinning wildly. All eleven tails behind her were pure white, though they briefly flashed in different colors. She knew the twelfth tail was just about to appear and only needed a small push. One thing that could give that push was the fact that her totem was also close to finishing.

Before this trip, she had been worried about finding enough immortal skulls to finish her totem, but some of the elemental planes provided her with plenty of volunteers. The immortal elementals were more numerous but also easier for her to kill thanks to her resistances. She was still missing some, but only about a dozen or so. She had actually been sure she could finish the totem on this trip, but the last four planes they visited had been light, darkness, time and death. Those planes matched with the blessings she had. The blessings made travel to those planes easy and the inhabitants didn’t bother them.

“Still, that Plane of Death was creepy. I have to admit I was worried before we got there. Who knew the whole place would be the most peaceful out of the whole bunch.” Nyx commented. The Plane of Death was the last one they visited. They had left that one for the last in order for all of them to grow in strength as much as possible. A precaution that had turned out unnecessary.

“I was more worried about the Plane of Time personally.” Moirai stated. “If we got unlucky, we have no idea how much time passed in Pantheon while we were caught in some time bubble.” In fact, the opposite had happened. It seemed only hours had passed on Pantheon while they had spent two months on that plane. A fact that Ashur had confirmed as they had used his volcano as a home base during all of this. Razark had provided them with news and fresh supplies on occasion as well, though he was never present while they returned. They had also visited the Night city a few times when they needed something and wanted to avoid drawing attention. Mostly that something was food for the resident glutton in their group.

Razark had not appeared for a year now though, so they were eager to get back. A lot could happen in a year and the lack of news was slightly disconcerting. At least they now had enough power to return. Thanks to all the elemental power they had absorbed, Moirai had reached rank eleven and Nyx had reached rank twelve in addition to their new abilities. Something they had tested while in the Night city. Dee might be a rank eleven if they only considered her tails, but they all knew she could kick Nyx’s ass in actual battle without much trouble. Her tails only considered the raw amount of power and not her actual battle ability.

“Great that you’re back.” Ashur rushed to them as the portal closed behind them. “I just got word. The Five Winds has gathered several other communities and is marching against the Spider Cult. I have no idea on the details as I got the news third hand, but I’m pretty sure they need you back. It seems they’re fine for now, but I don’t know if that will be true after the battle.”