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Chapter 327: A Long Talk III

“Our clan began with my birth, eons ago in the Primal Age…” the Thunderbird began with a tone of absolute pride and confidence, the impression that she was trying to give Leon only slightly mitigated by the fact that she was physically dead. Still, she got a bit theatrical, waving her tanned arms in the air and letting her wavy brown hair blow in the wind.

“… I was just a normal eagle back then, though perhaps significantly more beautiful, intelligent, and powerful.”

“Uh-huh. Beautiful and intelligent and powerful. Gotcha,” Leon said as he fought the urge to roll his eyes.

“I only speak the truth,” the Thunderbird boastfully stated, her smile proud to the point of arrogance. She waved her hands and began to project a new image, that of a much smaller version of her bird form.

The deep brown feathers of her projected form were significantly less groomed, being tangled and matted, and lacking the golden spots that were peppered throughout the feathers of her current bird form. There wasn’t a single spark of lightning coursing through her feathers, either.

‘Just looks like a regular brown eagle to me…’ Leon thought to himself, but he kept silent for the Thunderbird to continue uninterrupted.

“I clawed and fought my way to the top,” the Thunderbird said, manipulating the projected image to show herself fighting various creatures, from things Leon could recognize like wolves and hawks, to stranger things that looked kind of like bears but weren’t, to monsters that looked nothing like anything Leon had seen before. Notably, the Thunderbird only showed herself using wind magic rather than the lightning that Leon expected. “When I reached the eighth-tier, I finally reached the point of true sentience and I learned how to change into my human form.”

“How did you learn that?” Leon asked.

The Thunderbird paused for a moment before saying, “I just knew. There was nothing else about it, I just felt like my body was malleable, like clay, and that I could change its shape into that of a human.”

“Can you change into anything else?”

“No.”

“You’re sure? Sounds like you should be able to if-“

“I know, I tried!”

“That’s a shame… Would’ve been cool if you could…”

“I agree, that would’ve been great. It worked out in the end, though, nothing else I would’ve chosen to transform into would’ve had opposable thumbs and so many fingers. Makes life so much easier when I can manipulate tools with the fine motor skills of a human, I never would’ve managed if I had transformed into a dragon or something of that nature.”

“Transforming into a dragon would be pretty damn amazing, though,” Leon stated with an almost longing look in his eyes.

“Indeed, they’re powerful beasts, and perhaps the only kind of beast possessed of intelligence from the start of its existence without being Divine. Or at least, I’m fairly certain they were. I believe they were hunted to extinction millions of years ago. As far as I’m aware, only the human descendants of their most powerful kin, the Great Dragons, still live.”

“That’s a shame,” Leon said with genuine remorse. He was all for hunting down dangerous creatures, but actually wiping out a species of animal didn’t sit well with him, especially not something as conceptually incredible as a dragon. “At least wyverns still exist.”

“Do they?” the Thunderbird curiously inquired.

“Apparently they sometimes come as far north as the Southern Territories in this Kingdom,” Leon said. “Or so I’ve been told, they haven’t done so in recent times, but they’re still supposedly plentiful closer to the center of Aeterna. Several different species of wyvern, too.”

The Thunderbird nodded but then decided to turn back to her story. Unfortunately for her, she only lasted for a brief moment before coming to another tangent she had to go on.

“I was strong, and nothing could challenge me. All that tried were defeated. But I wasn’t anything remotely close to Divine, and it wasn’t until I acquired the Storm Diamond that I even thought I was capable of achieving Apotheosis.” The projected image then changed, the Thunderbird’s form vanishing and being replaced with a dark diamond that seemed to have storm clouds swirling just beneath the surface, within which occasionally flashed a bolt of golden lightning.

“The Storm Diamond?” Leon asked with mild disdain at the lack of originality in the name. “What kind of diamond could help you acquire power enough to be considered divine and how can I get one?”

“What I found was a fluke,” the Thunderbird said. “It was buried in the heart of a mountain that I happened to shatter during a fight with a particularly determined enemy… It’s appearance and titanic aura attracted all sorts of other things to the site of our battle, but once I’d fought and killed everyone else, once I’d bathed that region in the blood of thousands of beings who thought themselves great enough to kill me, I found the Storm Diamond buried in the rubble of the mountain. I didn’t know it at the time, but what I had found was a Universe Fragment.”

“Sounds intense,” Leon muttered.

“Objects and artifacts that are powerful enough to be considered Universe Fragments are, indeed, intense,” the Thunderbird said. “They are things that, for one reason or another, generate stupendous, incalculable amounts of magical power, so much so that even the Primal Gods and Devils would wade through a sea of blood if they so much as heard a rumor of one’s existence. They were powerful enough that they could cause lesser gods to explode if they tried to seize one without the proper preparations. It takes a great deal to impress a Universe Fragment enough for it to submit to you, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be stolen. They have a will of their own, but no intelligence, at least not as we understand the concept. They are not sentient, but they choose their own wielders.

“Possession of a Universe Fragment meant that one was one of the most powerful people alive, and in the history of this universe, I only ever heard of one or two hundred that were found throughout the millions upon millions of planes in existence, though I’m sure a few more have been found since my death. They can take many forms, but they’re almost always something that can only be found in nature, so a sliver of iron, a gemstone, a leaf that never wilts, that sort of thing.”

“You found one of these things and you didn’t explode? You impressed it and it submitted itself to you?”

“Clearly I did.”

‘Doesn’t sound so cataclysmically powerful to me…’ Leon thought, but he wasn’t going to argue, at least not until the Thunderbird’s story was finished.

Sensing Leon’s doubt, the Thunderbird said, “Do not underestimate the power of a Universe Fragment, the Primal beings did not give these artifacts such an illustrious name without cause. I learned to control the weather through the power that the Storm Diamond conveyed, and in the other Universe Fragment I acquired, the Iron Needle, I had the most potent weapon in all the cosmos.

“Universe Fragments contain cataclysmic power, and if one submits itself to you, you can unlock that power in time. It usually limits itself to its wielder, though, since it’s even possible that a mortal can impress a Universe Fragment. They do not discriminate based on power, and they always hold back enough of their power to keep their hosts from killing themselves, but they do not submit themselves to just anyone. And they’re generally loyal, I’ve found. They do not often betray their masters.”

The Thunderbird changed her projection once more, the dark smoky diamond being joined by a sliver of shiny grey iron, about the same shape as a sewing needle, and unremarkable save for the silver-blue lightning that constantly flickered along its length.

“Honestly, the only thing I heard just now was that it was the Storm Diamond that let you control the weather,” Leon said with a sarcastic smile.

The Thunderbird wasn’t amused. “Be careful, boy,” she said in a dangerous tone, her eyes narrowing into a merciless glare. “I am willing to indulge your insubordination because you’re the last member of my clan, but my patience has limits.”

“Got it,” Leon replied, not that he intended to suddenly be more respectful given all the information she was now dumping on him. He felt like he was beneath a waterfall, trying to catch as much water in his cupped as he could, but only managing to hold onto a few scant drops.

At the very least, if he forgot anything, he figured he could at least ask the Thunderbird to repeat herself later.

“With the Storm Diamond in hand,” the Thunderbird continued, “I ascended past the tenth-tier and achieved Apotheosis. I stormed the Nexus and claimed my place among the Divine Beasts, eventually becoming one of the most powerful beings within that center of power. All but the Great Black Dragon and the Kings of the Primal Gods and Devils had to walk softly around me, especially after my acquisition of the Iron Needle.

“I started a family, taking ten thousand husbands and bringing three children into this world.”

“Only three?” Leon asked with an eyebrow cocked in curiosity.

“We can transform into humans enough to reproduce with them,” the Thunderbird said in reference to Ascended Beasts, “but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. That, combined with the drop in fertility—especially among women—that comes with vastly increased lifespans, meant few children for me. I had three sons, though, and they each had hundreds of children. My clan—our clan—numbered in the thousands by the third generation.

“We reigned supreme among the other Ascended Beasts! No other being could fly through the firmament and not fear me! The sky was mine!”

By now, the Thunderbird had raised her arms and let lightning course through her. The Mists of Chaos around the island began to grow dark, and Leon felt a few drops of rain land on his head.

Leon didn’t say a word, but he pointedly put his hand on his head to feel the water and looked upward at the gathering storm clouds with his face darkening in annoyance. The Thunderbird, even in her prideful, boastful mood, took the hint and quickly calmed herself down.

“Excuse me,” she said with enough politeness that Xaphan below, remembering how she treated him previously, couldn’t believe his ears.

“If you were so powerful, how did you get reduced to such a state?” Leon asked, giving voice to one of the biggest questions that had been rattling around his and Xaphan’s heads for a while.

“The war between the Gods and Devils broke out,” the Thunderbird said. “I and several of my friends were killed after the Great Black Dragon and his brothers, leaving all the Divine and Ascended Beasts vulnerable. And to make it worse, it wasn’t even a Primal being that killed me, it was-“

Here, the Thunderbird stopped with a look of such hate and fury and intense aura of killing intent that even Leon, who had been raised practically from birth by Artorias to be willing to kill and to be comfortable with death, who was now a veteran warrior of two wars, flinched.

“Never mind,” the Thunderbird said as she quickly recomposed herself. “My clan lived on without me, thriving in the new paradigm. From what I could glean from my descendant’s soul realms—keeping an eye on them through their bloodline connection to me—in the wake of the war, seven new titular positions were created, the seven Kings of the Elements.”

“Sounds like the demonic Princes,” Leon observed.

“It’s a natural desire for the most powerful beings around to declare themselves the masters of their chosen element,” the Thunderbird explained. “However, the demonic title of ‘Prince’ comes with actual political power and authority. The Elemental Kings are titular titles, seized by already powerful people as a way to increase their own prestige, the titles themselves convey no political power. My clan ruled as the Storm Kings from the moment the title was created until the death of the last Storm King eighty thousand years ago on this plane.”

Leon nodded in understanding. These ‘Elemental Kings’ were essentially the opposite of the demonic Princes. Becoming a Prince gave a demon great power, while it was only through great power that a human would be able to seize an elemental kingship. One gave power, the other was the result of power already possessed.

“If the clan was so powerful, then why did they come here?” Leon asked. “Wasn’t this place supposed to be a taboo? And if there was nothing to gain by pillaging the graves of the dead Gods and Devils, then why come here at all?”

“I’m not entirely sure about that,” the Thunderbird admitted. “All of my original children and grandchild are long dead due to war or other harshness realities of life, so I only occasionally check in on you, I don’t watch every moment of your waking life. I treated my clansmen at that time the same since none of my direct children were yet living, I left them to explore the Mists of Chaos when they were still in the Nexus and only returned when I felt Jason—the last Storm King—die. I saw the death of his children and the most powerful members of the clan. I did not see the reason for their invasion. Apparently, that was kept secret, and the only people who knew were those who were killed in this plane.

“The battle killed so many people that those who were left had no real leadership. They fought amongst themselves, weakening everyone to the point that the natives of this plane were able to kill them and reassert themselves upon this plane.”

“My family survived,” Leon said.

“Not all of Jason Keraunos’ sons were killed after their father, two managed to survive: Demetrios, the youngest and weakest, who would eventually rename himself ‘Raime’ to hide his identity, and Nestor.”

‘So I am a descendant of the Storm King…’ Leon thought to himself in wonder, thinking first of Demetrios and his change of name. It took a couple seconds for the pin of the second name to drop in Leon’s head.

“Nestor survived?!” Leon cried out in surprise.

“You’ve heard of him?” the Thunderbird asked in shock.

“I’ve encountered a number of his golems, and I found a place hidden in the mountains that he seemed to use to train.”

“He’s dead now and had no children, so it hardly matters if he survived the battle with the Planar Lord or not.”

Leon’s eyebrow perked up at the mention of a Planar Lord, but he let it slide for now; they were talking about his family, and that took priority.

“Anyway,” the Thunderbird continued, “a few other cadet families of the clan survived alongside the Raime family, but none were so powerful. By the time ten thousand years had passed, they had all been hunted down and killed, or stopped awakening their blood and letting it dilute until they were no longer of my blood.

“Jason Keraunos led his most powerful clan members to the Divine Graveyard during a period of Reconstitution for the Nexus. When the Nexus finally managed to reform itself several hundred years later and the weaker clan members who had gone to other planes to wait out the Reconstitution returned, they found nothing but old enemies waiting for them. Still, they fought hard and brutally, and they managed to survive, though they were no longer the Storm Kings, the Elemental Kings of lightning. In fact, as far as I can tell, that title has sat vacant ever since Jason Keraunos’ death.

“So, for seventy-five thousand years, my clan managed to limp on, but constantly attacked from all sides, constantly being worn down until they were all killed or had lost the ability to awaken their blood. This leads me to you, the last of my descendants who possess my blood, the only one yet living eighty thousand years after Jason Keraunos’ foolish invasion of this plane. Even the oldest and wisest, the ageless men and women of my clan died. All are gone, save for you.”

“Can no one else trace their families back to you?” Leon asked in curiosity, his asking of why they invaded momentarily forgotten.

“In the millions of years that my clan has existed, vast swathes of humans have been born that can trace their lines back to me if they go back far enough, including essentially every person living on this plane. Every Ascended Beast, Divine Beast, God, and Devil that left behind bloodlines can say the same, but these descendants, separated by so much space and time and lack the ability to awaken their blood, are not family. They don’t have my blood, my power, so they don’t count. A gap of three or four generations can prevent someone from being considered family, let alone hundreds or thousands of generations.”

“I see…” Leon muttered. If he were honest, he felt the same; he felt a kinship with Kyros and Alexander Raime, his grandfather and uncle who were killed years ago, respectively, but he felt nothing for the Raime branch families that were still alive. Those people were separated from Leon’s immediate family by half a dozen generations or more, and so had long since lost the ability to awaken the Thunderbird’s power within them, and as such, they were nothing more than ordinary people to Leon and the Thunderbird, completely unrelated to them.

“As I said, it’s just you left, no one else can restore this clan to its former glory,” the Thunderbird said, her deep yellow avian eyes fixed on Leon and her tone both demanding and challenging. She demanded he ascend to the Nexus, she was challenging him to take back everything that the clan had lost.

“You think I can do that?” Leon asked as he smiled at the challenge.

“I do,” the Thunderbird said. “Honestly, I thought both you and your father would have been the ones, but in the end, all I have to work with is you.”

“You could’ve revealed yourself sooner, surely you could’ve done something to help,” Leon said.

“I could’ve,” the Thunderbird agreed. “But I didn’t. I got used to ignoring my descendants, and it was easiest to just stay the course and not reveal myself.”

“So the clan died because you were lazy?” Leon asked, anger creeping into his voice. “My father died because you were lazy?”

“I… That isn’t inaccurate to say,” the Thunderbird admitted, once more shocking the listening Xaphan. “I told myself that I would reveal myself to your father one day when he became strong enough, but in the end, I never did. He was never strong enough for me to feel it was time. Regardless, I’ve learned from that mistake; I’m here now, and we have a lot of work to do.”

Leon frowned. The Thunderbird had let the entire clan save for him die without doing anything. Still, he couldn’t deny that he could use her help, and getting angry now would be counter-productive. For the sake of the future, he reluctantly decided not to focus on the past.

But he wasn’t going to forget this. The Thunderbird, through inaction, destroyed her own clan, though the people who did the deed deserved far more blame. They were the ones who deserved Leon’s wrath far more than the Thunderbird right now.

“Very well,” he said. “Let’s get started right now.”