Battle of Miracles

While the King watched, the staff expanded continuously thicker and taller, sprouting branches and needles until it grew into a massive evergreen tree, breaking through the ceiling and penetrating high into the skies. The shadow it cast darkened the whole throne room, the skies bright once more since the outer wall enchantment had been repaired.

King Gel-ad's mouth stood agape, his mind lost in doubt and confusion. The Anak he knew had no magical or mystical power whatsoever. This situation was completely inexplicable. Finally as he regained some composure he accepted what he saw. 'He must've picked up some enchanting tricks in the months he was away.' King Gel-ad grinned mockingly, leaning back in his throne as he spoke. "So you learned a bit of enchanting. Is that supposed to frighten me into submission?"

"Uh... My King?" From the side, the finely dressed young man the king was speaking to when Anak entered called for Gel-ad's attention. "That isn't enchanting."

Turning to the youth, Gel-ad curiously replied, "So, what then? I thought he became something like you." The young man he was speaking to was an officer under Urmu by the name of Kiriu. With Urmu being constantly preoccupied with the gods, especially Lisma, Kiriu often served as the go-between for he and the king. Kiriu also happened to be branded with unique enchantments related to growth and plants. He was part of a new wave of experiments in which un-gifted enchanters would have high-level enchantments grafted onto them for their use, where they might otherwise be unable to employ it. Much like in the same way warriors with no enchanting ability whatsoever could use enchantments to boost their physical prowess. Kiriu wasn't unintelligent, he simply lacked the innate talent for enchanting. However, with his brand at his back, he could draw on it's power combined with his own knowledge to make a powerful enchanter.

Kiriu, however, shook his head at the king's inquiry. "Not at all. There's no sigilwork here. He didn't even use an incantation like the magic of the gods. My King ... this is beyond us."

Anak stood tall behind the shade of the tree, hair blowing in the breeze which entered through the broken ceiling. He smirked at the King of Ischuros and the Haskud Kingdom, daring him to deny the source of his strength, to deny that he was supported in his cause by the Most High.

Gel-ad glowered at the enchanter. "Are you telling me you can't even grow a tree?"

"Well of course I can make a tree grow with enchanting." Kiriu scoffed at the question, forgetting, in his fervor for the craft, to whom he spoke. "That isn't-"

"If you can achieve the same result, what does it matter then?" The king cut him off sternly.

"Well, that's hardly the issue. The vitality of the wood, the variety in size and shape-" Kiriu tried to explain the difficulties one would have in perfectly replicating Anak's feat using known methods, but was cut off by his king once more.

"I am not an enchanter, nor do I aim to become one. Stop trying to teach me and be clear." King Gel-ad narrowed his glare further as his tone became slightly guttural. "Can you achieve the same result?" Seeing Kiriu's silent nod, Gel-ad commanded. "Then do so."

Kiriu's shoulders slumped at the order, but given no choice he proceeded to draw his fine enchanter's staff from beneath his robes. Giving the staff a mournful look, he too slammed it into the floor, where it penetrated the marble with a sharp crack, sticking in firmly. He glanced once more at the king, before quickly averting his gaze. He raised his palm facing flatly towards the staff. A scar that led from the center of his palm, up his arm, and under his sleeve in intricate lines began shimmering with a soft yellow glow, the sigils on the staff responding in kind with a green radiance. The staff began to expand and split apart, slowly taking the form of a thick oak tree, the wood from which the staff was carved. As it grew more and more like its parent tree, the sigils carved on its surface began to warp and crack, while Kiriu braced his increasingly radiant palm with his other arm, under intense strain. Finally, with an exhausted gasp, Kiriu released the enchantment, leaving a thick, squat oak tree about 9 feet tall digging its roots in the cracked marble floor.

Neither Anak, nor King Gel-ad possessed the knowledge to understand the magnitude of his achievement. He had turned dead and petrified wood into living, growing tree-flesh once more, with an solid approximation of a decent sized tree. Its branches were various, and coated in the greenery of oak leaves. It was Kiriu and Kiriu alone in all of Ischuros that could make this feat happen merely through enchanting.

Kiriu looked to the king, who nodded his approval, and smiled with relief. He had nearly failed when the first sigils began to tear, but with the support of the sigil on his back, he poured more power into the ones on his palm to compensate for the loss. The process was naturally more intricate than can be described, requiring precise knowledge and control, and Kiriu used his brilliant mind to make it work. 'The brands really do compensate for a lot.' He thought in wonder, but then he remembered. 'Oh no! My beautiful, expensive staff! It's ruined now.' He bemoaned the great loss in his own mind, too fearful of the king to dare complain aloud. He doubted anybody would reimburse him either.

"Well?" King Gel-ad smiled his cocky smile in Anak's direction. "It seems like your Lord, this Most High," He spat out the words with disdain, "can do about as much as my enchanters. Am I to still entertain your rebellion?" Gel-ad raised his arm in preparation to command his guards to capture or kill Anak, whichever came first.

Anak shrugged lightly, then placed his palm on the trunk of the tall fir tree that he had caused to sprout by channeling the power of the Most High through his natural authority. In a flash, the massive evergreen shrank and morphed back into its original shape, a seemingly plain wooden staff capped on both ends by simple iron. "You think so?" Anak returned the King's smile with his own cocky grin, then shifted his gaze to Kiriu, who was now seeping in cold sweat.

Kiriu felt his heart gripped with a chilling panic, and he could feel the expectant gaze of the King freezing him further. He had absolutely no way to return his staff to its former shape, especially now when he had used everything he had in that first feat. "My- My King." He began stuttering helplessly in an effort to at least buy time. It was enough, for before he could even start his rambling, a loud bang erupted from the entrance and the doors swung open violently.

Urmu strode through the doorway he'd forcefully kicked apart, Lisma trailing behind him with a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face. "My King, let I, your commander of the enchanted special regiment and first inheritor of the divine magicks be your champion. I will show the might of our own gods." Urmu announced grandly his intentions before the king, then turned to face Anak.

"So, you're back." Urmu flatly spoke to Anak's back. Anak didn't turn away from the king, even when the doors blew open. His eyes were locked onto Gel-ad like a tiger eyeing prey; he wouldn't let him out of his sight. "Won't you at least greet your old friend?"

"I might." Anak still didn't deign to face him, keeping perfectly still. "Will you at last stand with me for the freedom of slaves?"

Urmu sighed and his head dipped slightly. "You know I can't do that." He muttered in discontent.

"Can't you?" Finally, Anak turned to meet Urmu's eyes with his own, hoping to find some glimmer of compassion or trust in them. What he saw were drooped eyes surrounded by dark circles. Even in all his fine attire and radiating strength, Urmu looked exhausted.

Urmu's brow narrowed in vexation, "I have sworn oaths of fealty, and have great responsibilities. I am in line for War Master, did you know? I have too much to lose."

"Then you're a coward." Anak sighed, turning his head once more to meet the King's gaze.

Urmu felt a burning rage erupt in his heart at the insult, and he marched silently to the oak tree sitting before the throne. "Indil." He barked, and the tree expanded to three times the size, growing almost to the point of breaking the roof, but no further. "Lidil enkir." Urmu barked again, and the tree shrank into the original shape of Kiriu's enchanting staff, sigils and all.

Seeing this Kiriu's eyes sprang up in fountains of joyous tears. Unable to help himself, Kiriu rushed forward to grasp his staff. "My beautiful baby! You've returned to me!" He cried out in joy. His arms were stretched out before him as he closed in on his staff.

"Ricsa." Urmu spoke once more, his voice much softer this time around, though his eyes still radiated ferocity. Before the poor Kiriu's eyes his staff transmuted to ash and was carried aloft on the breeze through the hole in the roof.

"Noo! Why?!" Kiriu mourned aloud for his lost, returned, and lost again staff of considerable value.

"Shut up." Urmu spat, and smacked the frantic subordinate on his forehead, sending him on is rear. "Get ahold of yourself. You really think we'd let an asset like you go without his necessary tools?" Urmu huffed through his nose, then turned to Anak, "Now, where were we."