the Caelid wilds

a large glint stone lioness could be seen headed towards a small village atop a hill overlooking beautiful green plains below it. atop it sat a young knight, within his hand floated a small glowing glint stone ball. ' Truly this is quite hard, balancing it in-between my palm with my mana then rotating it constantly as I fill it is quite annoying, yet I can't ignore that it does wonders for my reserves' he thought. ' It will very likely be the best technique you could do at least until you get knighted cub so keep practicing it' Sarabi said as they approached the town. outside it stood a small crowd staring at the two in wonder. " Hello! is this Caelim village?" he asked.

"Oh! oh yes, it is young knight, to what do we owe the visit of your esteemed self?" an old man leaning on his cane asked. " I'm just passing through towards the free city of Caelum, I was wondering if this town held any quests requiring a knight?" he asked as he dismounted Sarabi and approached the elder. " Well yes actually, we sent word with a traveling caravan towards Caelum but if You'd like to undertake it then please I beg of you, young knight" the old man said as some tears dripped down his visage.

" Our village does not produce much which is why we sell ore from the Gael tunnel in exchange for necessities to keep us going but recently a large hole formed in the depths and a large wyrm attacked some of our miners whenever they approached, would you be willing to neutralize it? well pay good coin I assure you young knight" the old man begged. Leonel could see their need; some even looked a little pale likely from the lack of food. thankfully he had arrived before things got too dire and a wyrm would be a great fight. " I'll do it not for coin, instead how about you sell your ore to the lion's den town towards limgrave lake? although it's a bit further from the city you'll get a better rate there as limgrave does not produce much ore" he offered.

it was true, limgrave actually didn't hold many mines which produced much, most of the land was farmsteads which made it the breadbasket of the lands between, but it held naught else of importance. " As the elder of this town I will gladly accept on our behalf if the wyrm is dealt with" the old man practically begged him at that point. " Then I'll be off, I will return later today with its fangs as proof as well" he said as he hopped atop Sarabi again and headed in the direction of the tunnel marked on his map by the elder.

Gael tunnel wasn't far in truth nothing, but a half hour walks at most. Hidden within a cliff face within the caelid outskirts it suited the town greatly with its high yield of a numerous amounts of ore veins. outside of it where several tents with miners hiding from the glaring sun. " Oi noble knight! don't go inside, there's a wyrm waiting for a bite" one of the miners yelled out upon seeing him approaching atop Sarabi. " Fret not, your elder sent me to deal with it, I advise you all to get some distance in case the ground shakes too much from the fight" he said as he entered the large hole on the cliffside.

Inside the cave was plenty of scaffolding and cat walks connecting several different tunnels to one another. iron ore and gold lined some walls with the cave which showed the age of the mine. Leonel dismounted Sarabi and proceeded alone as the tunnels would only get narrower as they progressed. he descended bit by bit following the markings upon the walls and the signs hanging from the ceiling explaining each tunnel until he reached the deepest point. at that point the heat was starting to become annoying although he knew it wasn't due to the depth but what lay before him sleeping. within a large room laid a juvenile magma wyrm curled up resting. he knew that the moment he struck it would bathe the area in lava and he in it.

he kneeled onto the ground and placed his palms onto the hard stone before him before he began to concentrate. bit by bit the large room began to turn crystalline, each stone each piece of ore, it all turned royal blue within minutes. "Glint stone mausoleum" he whispered as the final patch of stone turned into glint stone. he kept pumping mana into it a bit longer before he began to recover his mana to near full. the wyrm finally felt something change, the usual warm air around it began to drop in temperature, not enough for any regular being to feel it but it was a magma wyrm for a reason.

it roared in annoyance, but the sound only reverberated within the room before slamming hard into its eardrums causing it great pain as it flailed around. spikes of glint stone began to form around the walls and ceiling all aiming towards the flailing wyrm. " Crystal maiden" was all the wyrm heard before all it felt was pain as hundreds of crystalline spears pierced it from all angles immobilizing it and piercing several organs. it began to roar intensely in pain which only brought more pain as its eardrums busted but it was all silenced once a spear pierced its head ending the beast. 'Such luck will only come once, had it been in an open field I would have been forced to fight a fearsome foe, yet its cave was its own undoing' he thought as he watched the glint stone slowly recede from the walls as the mana was sucked away and locked within him.

he felt a sudden rush of energy enter him as the spirit of the wyrm joined his own. he reveled in the feeling for a bit before he headed for the maw of the beast and ripped off two fangs. a quick ascension later and he stood before the shaken miners who did not heed his warnings. "it's dead, go and see then head for the village with a souvenir or two, ill head back first and tell your elder" the miners rapidly nodded before heading down to see his handiwork. half an hour later and he stood before an extremely happy elder. " Thank you, o noble knight, your kind deed may have saved us from starvation" the elder said as he held onto his cane in happiness. " No problem elder just remember your part of the deal, the corpse will sell well enough to help your village recover" he said.

" yes! yes of course we'll remember this great deed, please stay for the night, although we don't have much thanks to the wyrm we have more than enough to arrange a feast in your honor" he pleaded. the adults and children around him joined in as well until he eventually cracked and agreed. what followed was a night of great fun, the towns folk who all but lost hope the day before now sat around bonfires eating and drinking happily. the children ran around and played with wild Abaddon as they enjoyed the only festivity in months. Leonel set before a large crowd as he told tales of his quests, the kids kept requesting more and the adults where much too happy to hear of the world outside their small village and he was glad to tell them about his home of liurnia.

many a flirtatious glances where sent towards the sixteen year old looking boy but he all but ignored them much to the women's annoyance. the star less sky soon came in strongly as the party died down, he laid atop Sarabi as she headed in the direction of Caelum pondering the day's events. ' you know cub, your mana is now enough to create another lion body' Sarabi suddenly said. 'really? alright then, guide me through and well make another' he said as he excitedly got off her and onto his knees. ' the first time you created me it was in a trance so you likely did not remember so listen closely so we get this on the first try' she said.

' First you have to dive deep within your soul and find the right soul for this moment, you must envision them clearly, grasp at every detail on their form then let your mana flow as it will do the rest' she said. he nodded and followed her directions as he dived deep into the space within him only to see a picturesque landscape of glint stone. large mountains and deep valley's, all made of different colors of glint stone but what blew him away was not what was on the ground but what lay upon the sky within his soul. a large amount of glittering lights shinned brightly upon his sky, he knew what it was, the long-lost stars, his long-lost stars.

what took his attention the most where the brightest of them all, two called out to him, one a bright shining red which seemed to grow bigger, yet it never did get closer. the other a dim silver star which barely let out any light almost fading from his view if he did not focus on it. ' Sarabi, what if two of them call out to me?' he asked the shining blue ball of light floating next to him. 'Then it means you will be able to create two tonight, the red shining one is Apollo, the leader of our pack from before we came to you' she said.

' The dim one is Vitani, she is my twin sister, she was our scout and the best we had in terms of stealth, both will be invaluable to you, focus on their forms and bring them to life, it's been some time since we've been together...' she said as she awaited the moment of their reunion. he did as instructed as mana flowed out from him and latched onto the two distant lights bringing them closer to him. bit by bit they reached him and the closer they got the freer he felt, as if chains where uncoiling from around him. the red one entered his chest and the moment he did so he felt a chain within him snap as a large surge of power filled him. outside of his soul his body grew in size slightly but his developing muscles gained the most as they filled out with strong compact muscles.

again, two illusory lion ears alongside a tail appeared on his form yet their form only strengthened before disappearing after flickering for bit. within his soul the dim silvery light entered him as he yet again felt a chain snap. his body underwent yet another change as his ligaments and joints strengthened to an insane point allowing for crazy levels of mobility. his nervous system strengthened even further as it greedily devoured his two forms of energies within him allowing for faster signals to reach his brain increasing reaction speed. the illusory form of the ears and tails came forth once again but instead of flickering out and disappearing this time they stayed strong and remained.

he subconsciously placed both his hands on the ground as mana left him and rushed before him as it created two statues of powerful glint stone. to his left a giant red lion slowly took form. its form rippling with glistening muscles packing some serious physical power. its flowing crystal mane took form as its facial features came to be showing off a prideful yet strong visage of the pride's leader.

on his right a lioness took form, arguably the smallest of the three lions yet she held a deadly energy about her. slowly but surely a pale mist began to form at her feet as her form intensified. her body held plenty of musculature yet if one noticed it was more for speed and agility rather than raw power. pale flames took form around her as her sharp long claws grew in. her sharp pale eyes were the last to form yet their sharpness only grew as time passed. both of the statues suddenly moved ever so slightly as two souls almost polar opposites entered the two.

the three crystalline lions raised their heads and released powerful roars towards the sky, atop them the veil placed upon the sky by the star scourge shook roughly allowing those who witnessed such an event a glimpse at the glorious stars before the hole closed again. within a grand castle a large man shook awake as he stood up from his large bed. "Who? how?" he asked himself as he saw the sky tear a bit then close. the distinct roars reached his ears as his eyes narrowed. that night the red mane castle bustled with activity. the red lion proclaimed his hunt for those who dared to Challange him.