"I was quite surprised you know, to see Lightning let you live." Thunder commented as my tired eyes looked out at the world beyond our cave. I had no idea if it was day or night, frankly. All this lightning above reflecting off of the gold made it bright and moody regardless.
"Let me live?" I asked with a snort, "I live because I was strong enough to do so."
"I am positive that you are strong, very strong. But, Lightning is far beyond anything you have ever or will face, Brewbrt." Thunder remarked as he moved out closer to the exit. However, I did not have that luxury when Einervaene had fallen asleep against my side. There were my injuries too, though.
And maybe a gold-encrusted foot trapped in armour as well...
"What's far beyond me is how you think you can convince me of anything you have said."
"I have shown that there was a path. I have proven that I know the way. And everything I warned about occurred with you two." he shrugged.
"You know what I mean with your claims of age and all this other stuff! The storm lashed out at me because it seeks magic! Notice how it doesn't reach out for the magicless soil beyond the very edge!?" I snap at him before I huff out some more of my frustration.
"Then I don't know how to explain it to you."
"Give it a rest, you're a knowledgeable man but you are no millennia-old being." I tell him before I roll my eyes. Then, I looked down at Einervaene to make sure her slumber had not been disturbed by my voice.
"I am not your enemy." he then told me as he came back into the cave.
"I am aware." I tell him as I made a point to make sure my gaze did not head in his direction.
"But despite my knowledge being proven true, you still struggle to trust me."
"My introduction to you was watching your runaway power nearly get the one I am supposed to be protecting killed!"
"You are not her father?"
"No, not that has anything to do with the current moment."
"You'll have to forgive me for the divulsion, then. I am just curious as to how someone like you comes to care about her so much."
"What in the name of all the annoying gods up in the sky does that mean!?"
"Do not get angry, please. I do not mean to offend."
"Just shut up, then. Keep to yourself." I tell him before I bring my attention back to Einervaene.
And, watching her the way I did put my mind along the same tracks as his. I just risked ending my life for a girl I barely knew. But, I suppose it was never for her at all. Everything I have done since those first letters came to me was for the sake of Eratheen.
A dear friend of mine that I have done much with over the course of my life. One who I met in rather awkward circumstances a long time ago. But, that did not matter much in the long run it seems. Then we parted ways because she had duties elsewhere.
I missed her... I missed all of those I travelled with. That mechanical know-it-all we found deep underground. The old coot who galloped about far before any of us got up and so many others.
In some ways, I suppose. I wanted to keep Einervaene safe so, when she headed back, I could come back with her. Having that excuse I needed to go and see her in terms that would work for her. And, as we walked into their estate, Eratheen would be smiling and happy.
Unlike if I had failed earlier...
So being struck by such a storm mattered little. Having this foot of mine forever stuck in gold didn't matter. I needed to keep Eratheen's smile alive. Just like I idly promised her so long ago.
But with time, that once half-serious promise had turned into something quite else. With great reluctance I let Einervaene head out with Nin and now I feel like I made the wrong choice. Or, maybe, the right one as she came back to me for help... Foul a thought as it was.
"I wonder how your mother would've caught a lightning bolt in a bottle anyhow." I let out quietly as I tried to distract myself from my more selfish desires.
"I could show you." Thunder commented, clearly having heard it.
"What did I say..." I began to utter as I curled up a fist.
"And to prove I can, here are the first few of those bottles that ever came to be." Thunder went on to say, having ignored my words so he could open up a hand-carved shelf.
"Well, I'll be..." I let out with some awe as I saw the finely crafted bottles arrayed across the shelf. Each one had a strand of lightning that desperately fought to escape. Of course, it was all in vain.
"Here, for your eyes." Thunder said as he passed one down to me.
"Waionr..." I read aloud before I looked up at him.
"Who it is for."
"I don't think the God of War needs a good luck charm." I sneer before I lean back slightly.
"I know that he does... Maybe not now, but I have seen times where he has needed it and many others."
"Alright, I'll bite you damn crackling annoyance, what is one of these moments?"
"You wish to know?"
"Why else would I ask?" gesturing as I said that.
"Very well, rest her head gently and come with me."
"Where...?" I let out as I did the first half of what was asked of me. Before I then looked outside, cautious of what he might suggest.
"Deeper into the cave." Thunder revealed as stone shifted and revealed a dimly lit path.
"Your cave is surrounded by a moat of molten metal and a precisely spiteful lightning storm. I don't think you need to have secret passages."
"It wasn't secret." Thunder said to me as he looked back with a confused expression.
"Just move."
"And, here is where I can show you." he tells me once I finish hobbling into a vast cave segment with a large clear pool of water. There was a bright light deep within but it was only enough to make the ceiling pattern-covered.
"So there's an Ibenorrocon here?" I asked as there would've been no way otherwise for him to interact with the water. He clearly had his blood full of the same kind of magic as Einervaene back there.
"There is no one from the Deserts of the Mobile Pillar here."
"Strange nickname." I remark before he started to do something with the water. So, at the very least I was quick to judge his abilities.
"What is stranger for you will lie within the water." he tells me as he suddenly grabs the back of my head to send a powerful shock down my spine.
"GAH!" I let out before he suddenly slammed me into the water. However, when he did so, I found myself suddenly flipping out onto a solid surface somehow.
"And over there, you will see why I have made such a charm." Thunder pointed out as I followed where his arm pointed.
"That's... Grim..." was all I could think to say as I gazed out at the hovering corpses and the black void they did so in. Beneath us, some kind of incomplete metal construct and further below was a planet. Ours...?
"That is your home yes, as is this mine." Thunder commented as he tapped his foot on the metal construct.
"So this is the Orbital-Halo..." I muttered before I returned my gaze towards where he pointed.
"And out there, is the Fourteen-Headed Beast." he pointed out with a trembling voice. A clear mixture of remorse, anger and severity.
"And the other one?" I asked as I barely followed the exceptional fighter that desperately fought off the thirteen snake-like heads lashing out at him.
"My younger brother, Waionr." Thunder answered with a voice that rumbled like his namesake before a bright flash from beyond the curvature caught my eyes. A mass of lightning had appeared out of nowhere and it was shooting out for the beast.
"And when Mesofunderod shattered, Creation spilled out in directed vengeance..." I recalled as a loud and clean snap reverberated throughout the empty space I found myself in. Shortly thereafter, a gold-armoured figure came to be and it struggled to keep a violent bolt of lightning secure.
Yet, with one mighty throw, it seemingly destroyed the beast!
"AH! WHAT THE!?" I let out before I started to violently cough as water dripped down my face.
"Mighty as we be, few can contend with Might itself." Thunder cryptically told me as he tenderly picked up the bottle once again.
"Wait... Back in that... Illusion..." I start to say before using a brief blast of magic to dry my face, "You mentioned something..."
"You ask about my family?"
"What does a claim like that mean...? Waionr is your brother?"
"It is exactly as the claim means." was all he seemingly had to say before he went back out towards the cave we had been in prior.
"Thurnmourer...?" I asked myself as I recall how Thunder disappeared the moment that mass of lightning appeared. But, I just shook my head and clicked my tongue. An illusionary pool of water was just that, an illusion.
"Now, to show you how to do it." Thunder mumbled as he began to bring out various tools.
"No empty bottles about?" I asked him while staring at just that.
"I need a freshly made one, and, a bit of thunder-gold." he explains before he suddenly cracks off a chunk of the gold on my foot.
"Couldn't have taken it all off?" I remark as I return to sitting down. His little snatch and grab had set my injuries off once again. I could tolerate the sensitivity of walking, but to be struck by an object like that tickled me in the worst way.
"Now, who do you wish for this bottle to be dedicated to?" Thunder asked me with a clear degree of urgency.
"Era..." I started to say before I looked back at the girl who suddenly whimpered, "Einervane."
"Very well." Thunder acknowledged as he began to chisel out a name onto the fragile glass. His skill at crafting clear as the lightning bolts in the sky behind us. Despite working with thin glass, he masterfully used heavy tools to do his work. Then, with a gentle, slam, he placed it upon a stone surface.
"Now what?"
"You must go out there and catch a strand." he told me as he picked up the bottle once more to then give to me.
"Never trust the crazy man at the edge of a molten sea..." I mutter before I dismiss my worries. If Eratheen once thought she could do this, then I would probably be able to do it. Yet, as if the storm heard my thoughts, it lashed out very close to the cave entrance.
"Now is your chance! He offers himself to you!" Thunder urged excitedly.
"I repeat myself." I sigh as I slowly make my way out into the open air near where a seemingly endless lightning bolt surged. But, in doing so, I felt too worried to get any closer. In this suit of armour... With this gold on my foot.
It would cook me alive!
"Hurry!" Thunder urged once again as he seemingly took up position to deny me reentry into the cave.
"You better not stop me..." I tell him as some of my fear came up to my face. I have been directly hit by this these things and have fought against them! I knew how lethal they were unlike him! He's probably gotten too used to that path of his...
Yet, for the sake of Einervaene, even if this might've been worthless. I moved forward until I reached the lightning bolt, now resembling more of a tree than anything. And slowly, oh so very slowly... I brought the bottle opening towards a branch and held it there.
Flinching when I suddenly felt an instinctive need to jerk the bottle down. Yet, to my surprise, a strand of the storm had snapped off and rattled about the bottle. And in that same moment, Thunder ran up to me and slammed a lid on the bottle before he yanked me inside.
"Appreciated..." I let out with a nervous shiver as that once, somewhat peaceful bolt began to violently lash out before vanishing.
"It is now ready for her when you feel the need to give it to her."
"A present for when she wakes up." I say with a smile as I looked down at the fragile glass and its mysterious contents. If this would help keep her safe, then I would gladly give it to her. And even if it didn't actually do anything, I would give it to her still. Because it once meant a lot to Eratheen, and I bet it meant a lot to her as well.
Yet, I also found myself guilty of breaking a promise...
"At least I can prove it is real, my friend." I say to myself, hoping it would be enough to ease my conscience.