Capítulo 75: First Time for Everything
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
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Time Skip: 5 BC:
Athra was a good Elf. She was born just 35 years ago, one of the first new Elves to be born in this world, already free from the bonds that had shackled her ancestors. The daughter of Kultur and Ria, Athra was named after a man: the Sorcerer Mage, Athreos Aetos.
35 years ago, the Elves had lost their former name of House Elves, and gained freedom and independence. The Sorcerer who made it possible had also allowed them complete reign over their Island, the Sanctuary, as long as they don't purposefully harm the Creatures there.
And Athra loved it. She had heard stories about the House Elves, and how they were treated by some of the Mages. Her father, Kultur, had even gone so far as to tell them about his former Masters, an Evil Mage who tried to commit crimes against Magic itself, and convinced him to take part in it.
So yes, Athra was really glad to not be shackled to any Mage.
For the last 35 years, the Elves of Sanctuary had sent Rescue parties to the outer world, to find animals in need of their help. Magic itself had considered it their purpose now, to safeguard animals, both magical and mundane. And so, whenever some animal is in too much unjust danger, Mother Magic herself sends a message to the Elves. She sends them to rescue those animals, and bring them to Sanctuary.
Not many people knew about this, even amongst the Elves. Only Kultur, Ria, and a few more elves knew of it. Kultur had gone so far as to keep this fact from the Sorcerer. He had said, "If Mother Magic wanted the Sorcerer to know about this, then she would have told him and not me."
Alas, not all warnings are given to them on time, and not all dangers are warned about. But when Mother Magic tells you to rescue someone, you do it. She gave the Elves life, and the Elves were not so ungrateful as to turn their back on her.
So, when Kultur, her father, had gotten a sense of urgency to go and rescue someone from the lands outside, he hadn't wasted any time. He was old now, far too old to go on the Rescue quests himself, and so he had sent her.
Athra.
Alongside five other Elves, all of them around her age, Athra had traveled to the lands that her father had told her of. The lands beyond two oceans, the land of the Maya. It took just a few minutes to find the place where she was needed, Magic itself guided her there. But when she reached there, Athra didn't know what they could even do.
There were six men, all of them as big as the biggest men Athra had ever seen. And they were fighting Re'em. Not by using Magic, no. These people were fighting the Re'em with their fists and legs and swords and shields and bows and arrows. These people were wrestling the Re'em, and judging by the one hardly breathing Re'em laying down there, arrows sticking out of its body, they were winning.
The Re'em were large Magical bulls with long horns, with hides tough enough to shrug most man-made weapons off, with strength enough to fight giants one on one, and with Magical resistance to prevent Mages from capturing them easily. And they were losing to these.. men.
What hope did six Elves have?
Athra, however, was anything but a coward, even despite the harsh odds she was faced with. She takes one look at the two more fully grown, 15 hands tall Re'em fighting the men, and then turns to the three young Re'em trying to hide behind them.
Athra turns towards her companions, who look too afraid to even breathe. After using her Magic to make them all less noticeable, and to silence their sounds, she shakes them all out of their shock, and gently whispers, "We should take the babies out of there first. Aeti, Magni, Joy. You three go and take the baby Re'em to Sanctuary. Palo, Tokka, and I will distract the men while you do that. As soon as the babies are taken away, we will leave to get more help."
The other elves are still afraid, but Athra, being the daughter of the Village Head, is good at convincing people. And so it is that they all jump into action.
Athra, Palo, and Tokka let their Magic go, using it to connect to the Nature around them. Trees come to life, as branches start swinging without any visible wind. One of the men is struck by a branch, but surprisingly enough, the hit doesn't do much to him. He just skids back a step, but the branch itself breaks.
Athra then manipulates the stone underneath them, causing a crack to appear in the ground. The crack happens to form underneath one of the men, and he is dropped in, swallowed by the earth. The others, however, get away in time.
Not for long, however, as large rocks are thrown towards them, that send them flying backwards even more. The Re'em that were fighting take the opportunity to start their own offensive, but the men were vigilant. Just one of the men gets stabbed in his chest by the 4 hands long horns of the Re'em.
"Over there! There are some tiny creatures attacking us!" One of the men yells, pointing a finger towards where Athra and the two other Elves were.
Athra turns towards the spot where the young Re'em just were, and finding nothing, she yells, "RETREAT!"
Immediately, the three Elves apparate away, leaving the three giant bulls to fight the men once again, with one Re'em already dead by their hands. As she twists in space, however, she sees an arrow speeding towards her, and before she can do more than raise her arm in defense, the arrow stabs her shoulder.
As her eyes close, thanks to the pain, and the exhaustion of controlling Nature itself, she sees Aeti, Magni, Joy, Palo, and Tokka standing over her, with three tiny Re'em in the hands of the first three. She then smiles, feeling the Magic of Sanctuary welcome her home. And then, she loses consciousness.
---
Eagle's Keep, Sanctuary:
Alchemy. A study of Science, Magic, and Philosophy. The first actual branch to ever take shape in the tree of Magic.
It was a precursor to a lot of other subjects. Alchemy was what inspired people to try Transfiguration, Alchemy is what influenced people to try Potions Making, and Alchemy is what turned normal Philosophers into Scientists.
For the last 15 years, I have studied just Alchemy, while staying in my Castle that I called the Eagle's Keep. That's not counting the years and years of Alchemical studies that I've carried during my Room of Knowledge days.
And I can only say this: I am still decades away from being known as an Alchemy Master.
Alchemy is the study of the World around us, and the study of how Magic, as a force of Nature, affects it. Potions, Transfiguration, Enchantment, they all have at least some background in Alchemy.
They all use Alchemy to turn one thing into another. Transfiguration does it by rearranging the matter fundamentally, by using the Magic within the spell, and within the World around us.
Enchantments convert the Magic of the world into the specific Purpose they are designed for.
Potions and Rituals do it by taking the ingredients, using the Magic of the Potion brewer and the world, and converting them all into Purpose.
Alchemy is what allows Potions to actually work for what they are designed for. Why else would Beetle wings, Worms, Acacia leaves, and the juice from Sopophorous beans give a bald man his hair back for a few hours?
Alchemy!
Even the Ritual I had gone through, the Gift Bestowal Ritual, had used Alchemy. Alchemy was what had allowed my body to change fundamentally, allowing me to perfectly copy the Mutations within Victor's genetic material.
The purpose of the Study, I've realized after reading the journals of many Alchemists, is to find OUR purpose in life. And to do that, an Alchemist needs to understand, really understand, how every Transmutation Process feels like.
And they hope to do it by Transmuting as many materials as they can.
Once you have interacted with every Alchemical Process in existence, once you have interacted with every Material in existence, only then will you realize what our Purpose for existing is.
As I said, it also includes Philosophy.
And this Thirst for our Purpose, this thirst for interacting with the World, is what gave rise to the Pinnacle of Alchemy.
The Philosopher's Stone.
When an Alchemist interacts with the world, they ask, "How does this work? And can I manipulate it?"
The Philosopher's Stone makes answering that question easier. It allows an Alchemist to understand anything it touches better, it allows an Alchemist to manipulate the world more easily than an Alchemist without it.
Transmuting Gold is just a benefit, not one that Alchemists are usually interested in. Because Alchemists.. are more curious than greedy. They care not for monetary treasures, but they do care for Knowledge.
As for the Elixir of Life? It was just a lucky coincidence. You can't understand the world if you're limited by your age. The Elixir allows us to freeze our bodies in the age we are currently in, but only if we drink the Elixir every year.
Which.. explains why not many Alchemists exist, and why the Flamels were so old. If the creation of the Stone itself takes almost half a century, and the studies before that decades at least, then no doubt not many Alchemists even live to reach that level.
But now that I have the Knowledge of the entire World in my hands, I have come closer to reaching that level than any other Alchemist currently alive.
Gold? I can transmute it within an hour. Silver? 10 minutes. Vibranium? 3 minutes.
And it's all without a Philosopher's stone. I can just use my Magic, and a Runic spell designed specifically for the raw material that I want to turn into Gold, or Silver, or Vibranium. The Stone, I'm guessing (which some journals did confirm for me), just allows for quicker Transmutation.
It is an amplifying agent, as well as a Channel for your Alchemical Prowess. It helps you understand the world better.
But to actually understand the world well enough to change it into precious metals instantly, you actually need to be proficient enough in the subject to do it without the Stone. Even if it takes a long time to do it.
Doesn't matter if it's hours, or years. If you can transmute Gold from at least one other material, you will be able to do it with the Stone instantaneously, no matter the source material.
Which means that even if a normal man has the Philosopher's Stone in his hands, he won't be able to Transmute lead to gold, or create the Elixir of Life. Because he wouldn't have been able to do it without the Stone.
Sighing, I keep the ink pen down, and let the journal page dry. When it dries, I walk towards the shelf, and keep the journal in it. As I walk out of my Castle's Library, I think back on these last 15 years.
I haven't gone out of Sanctuary for these years, as I was busy studying Alchemy. But I know that the world was running even without my interference.
Tatiana was living her own life out there, but now she was getting old. To be fair, she was still pretty spry for a woman of 68. She lived a wonderful life, I have to say, even if I quit looking after her.
Well, excuse me for trying to scry for an old friend every once in a while.
Master Ayesha was still the Sorcerer Supreme, and we had a few conversations in these years. Just casual conversations.
I haven't, however, interfered in the Elf Village, even a bit. I gave them their independence, and they're living it. I know, they sometimes still travel outside to rescue more Elves, or to rescue other Magical Creatures in need of it. But I didn't interfere in their lives any more.
I wasn't going to play a saviour to them, or a god. So, yeah, I leave them alone.
It is why I was so surprised to feel a familiar mind apparating outside my Castle doors. With a simple flex of my intent, I open the doors to let Kultur walk in, and wait for him in the Welcoming room.
As he walks in, and looks at me, he stops, staring in a bit of shock. He whispers, "You're still young?"
And this is why I stayed away. I didn't want too many questions on my immortality.
Nodding, I say, "You've certainly gotten old, Kultur. Nice beard."
And he did get old. He was already around 40 when we first met, when I took him from Herpo's clutches, and it has been almost 50 years since then.
Kultur shakes his head, and says, "I apologize for coming unannounced, Sorcerer Athreos. But.. I need your help."
Huh, this is new.
I teleport us both to the Kitchens, seating Kultur on a chair as we appear, and start preparing the tea. As he watches the tea start preparing itself on the stove, I say, "What can I do for you?"
As I had said so many years ago, I will always help them when they come to me for help. This is my repayment of the work the Elves had done for me.
Kultur turns his head towards me, and says, "My daughter.. Athra.. she came across some men a few minutes ago. They were fighting the Re'em, and winning. The Party I had sent there told me that the men were as strong as Giants themselves."
"What was your daughter doing when she came across them?" I ask, waving my hand. The now prepared tea is poured in two cups, and one lands in front of Kultur, while the other lands in front of me.
Kultur coughs a bit, and says, "I.. apologize, Sorcerer Athreos. I have kept something from you."
I look at him a bit curious, and say, "I am not your Master anymore, Kultur. Your secrets are your own to keep. But please, if you want, tell me."
Kultur says, "A little while after we became free Elves, I received a.. calling. A sense of Urgency filled my being, and I was prompted to Pop over to another place. I wasn't even given time to think it over, since when I appeared there, I saw a few fishermen trying to get a Merman out of their net, to kill it. He had gotten caught by mistake. I immediately rescued him, and sent him to his village to gather his fellow mermen. I then brought them all here, to the seas around the Sanctuary."
Huh, I did wonder where the Mermen came from, but I had assumed they came by themselves, pulled here by the Magic of the Sanctuary.
"Then, again and again, I was sent these urgings. I was sent to place after place, where beings needed my help. But when it became too much for me, I began sending others in my stead. We were being asked by Mother Magic, repeatedly, to help rescue her creatures. And we did. Athra.. was on a similar rescue quest herself. She managed to rescue the baby Re'em, but as her group told me, there were still three adult Re'em living, fighting the men."
Kultur tears up, as he leans forward, and says, "Please.. Master.. please save the Re'em. We have already failed one of them, I can't.. I can't fail Mother Magic once again."
I immediately appear in front of Kultur, and place a calming hand on his head. I hush softly, and say, "Hey, Kultur. I said it 35 years ago, and I say it now again. You need help, I will always help you. And again, I am not your Master. You have no Master. Take me where the Re'em are, and I will deal with it. Don't worry."
Kultur.. he's too shaken up by this, and it is probably because his daughter was just injured while fulfilling a mission that he sent her on.
Huh, Mother Magic. I don't know which one of the two Elder Goddesses this is, but someone is using the Elves to protect the Magical Creatures. While I appreciate that some Goddess is trying to save the creatures, I don't appreciate them using the Elves. They don't have Masters, they are free. And some Goddess out there is rejecting this fact.
But what can I even fucking do? I can't tell Kultur to stop sending people out there, he will not listen. He wants to repay Magic that gave him his freedom, his Sentience. And I can't even force these Goddesses to stop doing this, because I'm literally an ant in front of them.
For now, all I can do is rescue the Re'em and bring them here. To safety.
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When Kultur apparates us to the place where he had sent Athra, his daughter, I immediately narrow my eyes and clench my fists in anger. There laid in front of me, were the corpses of three Re'em, all of them with cuts and stab wounds plainly visible on their bodies.
Trees had fallen all around them, showing me that they gave a good fight, but it wasn't enough. I hear a few thuds from a short distance away, as the ground under us shakes, and I say, "Kultur. Go home and take care of your daughter. I will deal with this."
Kultur immediately pops back home, making me a bit relieved. At least he won't be harmed in this battle. After saying a small prayer for these fallen Re'em, who were just parents trying to protect their young ones, I store their corpses in Nowhere and apparate towards where I can feel the battle happening.
As I apparate in, I see the fourth and last Re'em, a female from the looks of it, drop down on the ground, a sword having stabbed into her front legs each. I see one of the three men there jump up, his sword raised above his head to stab the Re'em in her head, and I make my move.
Jumping up, I spin myself to gather momentum, and land a kick on the jumping man's face, sending him crashing back down, and use the force of the kick to land back on a tree, in between the three men and the Re'em.
Oh, shit. That kick fucking hurt me! Not too much, but it did!
Turning back, I see the relieved look on the Re'em's face turn suspicious, as she looks at me. With a simple wave of my hand, I create a portal underneath her body to send her to Sanctuary. Kultur will help her, I'm sure.
I then lean away and snap my hand up, catching an arrow that I almost didn't see coming. Turning towards the man who sent the arrow, I ask, "Will you apologize for killing three of my protectorates, or should I just kill you as is?"
"You dare, mortal?!" The man yells, knocking another arrow and setting it loose at me.
As I use the arrow in my hand to slap it away, I frown, the word bothering me. I'm far from mortal. I am unaging, with the fire of the Kasha burning through my Magic. I might not be completely immortal, but I'm definitely not a normal mortal.
"Let's stab a sword through both of our hearts, and see which of us is mortal, eh?" I say, as I jump down from the tree I had perched myself on.
The arrow guy stays behind, as the two other men, both holding swords, start walking towards me. The one I had kicked says, "You made a mistake in interfering in our vacation, mortal. These creatures already cost us three of our brothers in arms, we won't lose any more."
I raise my hand, and ask, "A question before we begin our battle? How did your holiday lead six of you to fighting with four Re'em? And while they were guarding their young ones, no less."
The one I had hit turns back towards the arrow guy, and asks, "Is he mocking us?" The arrow guy just shrugs, the blood flowing from his shoulder apparently not bothering him, which causes the first guy to turn back to me and say, "We were hunting it of course. A mighty group like us needs a mighty hunt. We just didn't expect the hunt to be so deadly. And those tiny witches just caught us off guard."
I smile, although it is anything but reassuring, and say, "Great. This makes the decision making easier then."
And then, I summon my swords, Orthris to my hands.
"You took our hunt away from us, you took our chance at vengeance away from us. We would have killed the beast, eaten it, and gone on with our lives, but it seems we will have to appease our hunger with your own death, mortal." The second sword guy says, as he starts walking towards me. As his walk turns into a run, he yells, "FOR ASGARD!"
"FOR ASGARD!" The other two yell, making me suddenly realize that I'm actually fighting Asgardians.
Well, first time for everything.
I raise my sword and slash it upwards, cutting the arrow that had been shot at me into two, symmetrically. I then jump forward and block the second swordsman's sword with my own.
Gods this is getting confusing, let's call him Ed, the first swordsman Edd, and the archer Eddy.
Ed slashes at my head, and I duck down to stab his stomach. However, a small dagger appears in the way of my sword, diverting the hit. He then tries to stab my neck with the same dagger, but I block the hit with my left hand holding on to his wrist.
Dropping my right sword too, I punch his face, and as he raises the sword to attack me, kick his chest with full force. The kick sends him flying into Edd, who was trying to sneak behind Ed, sending them both crashing down.
Summoning my swords back to my hands, I slash them both in front of me, sideways, slapping the two arrows Eddy had sent at me away. Jumping up, I apparate right in front of Eddy, and slash my sword downwards.
He raises his bow to defend from the hit, but unfortunately for him, my sword is made of the most dangerous alloy on Earth. My Uru+Asgardian Steel+Magic Silver sword cuts through the bone made bow of Eddy, and slashes through his chest, creating another wound on his body.
As I prepare to stab him, however, I stop, realizing something. I can't kill them, not unless I want a war with an entire Kingdom of Gods, which even I can't win.
Incapacitation it is then.
Blitzing forward, I slam my palm on top of his wound, causing him to yell in pain, and bind his body with thick chains that form all around him, originating from my palm. His wound will have to stay that way. Knowing Asgardians as I do, they have a minor healing factor. If left as is, they will heal.
By then, Ed and Edd had stood up from their unfortunate crash into each other, and were now running towards me. Both of them, against one of me.
Really unfair… for them.
I raise my left sword, and use Ed's sword to block the downwards swipe made by Edd. Getting close, I slam the pommel of my sword into Ed's wrist, causing him to drop his sword, and then kick the falling sword flying into Edf's foot.
"AAARGH! YOU BASTARD!" Edd yells, as the Asgardian Steel sword goes through his foot and into the Earth.
Jumping up, I cover my knee with the Prati Kavach, and slam it into Ed's chin, sending him flying upwards, unconscious before he's even dropped down. And then, I cover my fist with the Prati Kavach, and punch Edd on the side of his forehead, knocking him out too. And then, with the same spell I used on Eddy, I bind the two swordsmen in thick chains made of iron.
Asgardians.. they're slower than I expected. These three soldiers were all around as strong as Logan, I'd say. But if there ever was a fight to the death, James will win.
They're strong, have a manner of battle instinct, but they're not fast enough to always act on that. It hardly took me a minute to take care of all three of them. I doubt, however, that I will be able to fight the actual Gods though. Fuck Odin, I might not even be able to fight Loki on an even footing as I am now.
Maybe I should find a way to increase my strength, now that I am here, in the past.
Shaking my head at the disappointing fight, I wonder what to do. I am angry at them, so angry. They hunted Re'em for food, and they would have eaten them, no doubt. They didn't even care for the baby Re'em there!
These Asgardians caused the deaths of three Re'em, and the injuries of one other. They also injured Kultur's daughter, Athra, who.. I assume is named after me.
But despite my anger at them, I can't just kill them. Killing these downed men is equal to declaring War on Asgard, and I have no idea what the situation is up there. Or even who the King is currently.
The last King of Asgard to come on Earth was Bor, who apparently came to an agreement with the then Sorcerer Supreme or something. Asgard will Protect Midgard from otherworldly threats, but in return, Midgard will be known as a planet under Asgard's rule, at least in space.
On Earth, however, the situation is a delicate one. Not a single Pantheon can lay claim to the planet, because if they do, the other Pantheons will all declare War on that one. I don't know much else about the situation, since not many books exist about Gods.
A small correction, not many factual books agree about Gods.
Well, what can I do then?
Three of the Re'em died, and three of the Asgardians died. But despite the equal number of deaths, it was the Asgardians that attacked the Re'em, and not the other way around. So.. a punishment is owed.
But I still can't kill them.
Well, nothing says I can't claim their belongings as reparations. I did it to the Wakandans, didn't I?
Waving my hand, I summon my trusty staff to my hands, and slam it only once on the ground. A total of four swords, seven daggers, an axe, and over 20 arrows fly towards me, all made out of Asgardian Steel, with the pommels and arrows made out of some type of wood. Even the bow I had cut in two now floats in front of me, waiting for me to claim them.
But.. this is not enough. I tap the staff on the ground once more, and three sets of Asgardian armour, all of them damaged in places flash in front of me, leaving the bound Ed, Edd, and Eddy now naked.
I wasn't going to take the armour from the dead Asgardians, no way.
Shaking my head, I send my new conquests to Nowhere, and lean down on the ground, touching my hand to the grass. As per Kultur's stories, one of the Asgardians had fallen in a crack that Athra had created, which had closed up immediately after.
I could let him stay there, buried, but I did somehow get his weapon, a sword. I'll leave him here to be taken to Asgard with the rest of the dead.
As I lay the three dead Asgardians on the ground a minute later, however, I suddenly stop, feeling something happening. A lot of Magic was at work here, it was as if the Magic within this place had just multiplied exponentially.
And then, I am forced to jump back, the Magic too unstable to apparate away, as a bright beam of light falls on top of the six Asgardians. I squint my eyes, unable to see through the light of what I recognise as the Bifrost, but just as fast as it had appeared, the light disappears, with the three unconscious and three dead Asgardians nowhere to be seen.
Instead, in their place, now stood ten more Asgardians. Seven of them wore dark brown armour, and held intricate staffs in their hands. Two of them, both women, were pointing bows and arrows at me, already pulled back. And in front of all of them, was someone that made me nervous.
It was a woman that stood leisurely, as if she had come for a walk in the park, not minding the weapons pointed over her shoulder towards me.
She wore a dark black, skin tight body armour, with shades of green in between, the same shade as her eyes. There was a simple black sword held in her left hand, while her right hand rested on her hip. I gulp, her relaxed position not at all reassuring me of the fact that she's a dangerous being.
The dark haired, fair skinned woman smirks, seeing me gulp, and says, "Now now, mortal. The time to be afraid of me is yet to come."
Hela Odinsdottir. The most dangerous woman in the Universe.
---
A/N: This is the last arc before Mason returns to his own time. There might be more that happens in his life, but it will only appear as flashbacks.
Answer me honestly. Has something changed in the quality of my chapters recently? At least, in the last 3-4 chapters or something. I won't mind, I'll at least try to fix those mistakes, so please tell me if there is something.
Thank you for your support! Tata!
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