"A splendid battle," From afar came a voice carried by the breeze, "Followers of Veru, Kin of the Crimson Wolves, Children of the land. I, Lirik Khan, welcome you to the deepest breathes of the Fairy Ring, the Innermost Ring."
Suddenly, the trees creaked and cracked revealing a path which at the very end had a massive mountain peeking into the clouds, yet, from afar it could not be seen.
Fairy Magic.
"Thank you for your warm welcome, Fairy Chief." Agashi said lightly.
He did not respond, only a warm breeze falling through the tree's, brushing past them.
The group moved through the opened path.
It did not take long for them to arrive at the mountain.
Every step they took felt as though the earth was moving them closer at rapid speeds.
As many say, the Durlivanian mountains are neither big nor small.
They don't reach the clouds and the range is not so incredibly massive that none can compare, the secret lies in this, Fairy Magic.
As a center of magic for the Fairies, the sparse mountain forests are easily manipulated to make people wander for eternity if the fairies wish, or to be incomparably simple to traverse and pass over.
Such is the power of a fairy in it's natural element.
And the central power of the entire Durlivanian Mountain Range, the place where the greatest powers are concentrated.
The Innermost Ring.
Agashi brushed past great winds of fairy magic which threatened to send them all flying, his mantel fluttering violently alongside his hair.
Shion supported him forward and together they forged a path past the scratching magical winds which tore past them cutting into the void as if touching reality itself.
'An illusion,' Agashi thought calmly as he grit his teeth watching space bend before him, '...hopefully...'
Releasing his strength, he calmly progressed forward with Shion aiding him.
Like a bulkhead with Shion as the powerful oars, they proceeded.
Time felt strange and yet, as time passed, it seemed to quicken and slow until there was a short 'pop' and the violent magical winds were dispersed away into nothingness leaving only a dark fog underneath a clear sky.
"Welcome, welcome," A low, manic voice filled the fog like an ancient and dying god, "The Innermost Ring. Our, Nay. My Inner Sanctum."
Agashi swiveled his head yet could find no face to the voice.
There was a short laugh, "You are already within me. I am that which envelops this realm, my power spreads to all corners of these rings. I am the Blood Fog, Lirik Khan."
"Ah," Agashi felt a cold sweat run down his back, "Well."
Shion glanced at him and took over eloquently, "Fairy Chieftan, The Blood Fog Khan. We have come in search of Yu, my husband's bonded fairy. She means a lot to us and we were hoping you may know of her whereabouts?"
"The Dual Elemental... she is a strong one, like her master. Awakening the attributes of death and curse in the same body is a very powerful thing capable of immeasurable destruction in the mortal plane. In return for saving the Scarlet Demon, she has become my disciple and is under my hand in training," The fog stirred revealing a projection of Yu floating above a crystal pond, "Her attributes are strong but in chaos. As one who has suffered a similar fate, I will help her take care of it and raise her well."
"How long?" Agashi frowned and stepped forward, his eyes fierce.
'You want to take advantage of her and force your burdens onto her, don't you?' He thought aggressively as his hand curled around the handle of his saber.
"No. I don't intend to throw my burdens onto one so weak as her who has yet to even manifest her realm. I simply wish to avoid a disaster like my own to befall her," The fog swirled revealing a human with wings on it's back it's old decrepit form in a bed completely still, "Even now, my body is fading away into the fog. My own powers too strong for my body, I will soon pass completely to the fog becoming a part of the forest itself. Do you wish for this, for her?"
Agashi's eyes narrowed and he spoke calmly, "How long."
"Until she can control it. My attributes are different from hers, so I can't give perfect guidance, as such, it's up to her own talent," The fog changed back to darkness, "If you wish to help, then solve the problem of the forest. Death energy piling up beneath the surface to such an extent that even now I can feel the forces of death gathering far in the north like a storm."
"What do you mean?" Shion's brows furrowed.
"Hubris will lead to the fall of great kingdoms. Fighting fire with fire will simply burn the whole forest down. Gods will awaken to the screams of the people and may once again bear arms upon the mortal plane." Lirik Khan's voice grew faint, "War is coming."
The fog fell away beneath the earth revealing a great tree, not a mountain as the illusion had shown, but a great oak that towered like a mountain, it's canopy filled with darkness as now no fairies dared touch its leaves.
Agashi's pupils shrank as he felt the intense Death Qi gathered within the great oak, like a black hole in the center of it's being, it was sucking away the life force of the entire forest as though the heart of the mountains was being devoured.
From his necklace came a disgruntled growl followed by the appearance of a small furred figure walking through the air.
"A seed," Dratan growled with barely hidden disgust.
Agashi's eyes widened as he saw Dratan, though not because of the disgust in his voice, but the barely discerned shaking running through his body.
"A seed?" Warren asked strangely, "What is it growing?"
"Death," Dratan replied coldly.
Precisely at that moment, there came a horrifying pulse of energy which cracked open the earth, waves of sharp, chilling death qi shot in all directions beneath the earth and in response there came a great nature qi to battle it back into place.
Dratan glanced back at Agashi and spoke, "You can't deal with it as you are. The Blood Fog is dealing with it using all of his power holding it in it's seed form and using the Wizened Oak to hold it in place. From that wave of energy, it's clear. This thing is ready to hatch."
There was a long silence as everyone thought of the implications of what Dratan had just said, and of Lirik Khan's words.
It was a terribly long silence.
Agashi shifted slightly, his expression dark.
"Dratan... tell me the truth," His voice was low, "How weak am I?"
Dratan looked at him for a few moments before sighing in a way only an old person could where it both embodies sympathy for the other and self-pity.
"In my prime, I could have killed you with a look, this thing could have killed me with a glance," Dratan slowly explained like an old man telling a war story, "In human terms, you are an Adept, the second level of strength. Neophyte, Adept, Master. Once a human reaches master they are capable of creating their own Domain whilst those supernatural beings may create a realm. A place where their attributes manifest the only difference being that a humans domain manifests from within to without, whilst a realm manifests from without to within."
Agashi slowly nodded as he was reminded of the death elemental at the Thousand Wing Gulf which could create those sludge beasts from the ground around it.
"Scarlet Qi has the attribute of fire and destruction. It's sudden, explosive and has no room for slack. If not for that and your own tenacious battle sense, you would be dead, and it won't be enough to simply battle to reach Master Class or beyond that into Grand Master where the line for true greats begins."
"Grand Master is the strongest in the entire continent, isn't it?" Warren suddenly asked, "My dad told me that the great men of the Empires are all Grand Masters who have Elementals at their sides and that they are the real reason their empires can stay together."
Dratan glanced down and smiled toothily.
Warren shivered.
"Shishi...?" Everyone turned to Shion who arrived beside Agashi who stood silently.
She looked up at him worried that it had been too great a blow to his confidence.
Agashi looked to Shion and smiled.
Dratan slowly spoke, "I know what you want to know."
Agashi looked up at him with a calm gaze like tranquil waters, though far within they hide a coming storm.
"To reach Master Class, you must first master your Qi. Become one with it, and it will naturally be able to form a domain which will manifest based on your connection with it such that even if it is taken away from you, unless exterminated will always recognize you and try to return at all costs." Dratan's body slowly came alight and his Qi flowed around him in happy spirals.
Agashi was reminded of how fiercely that Qi had fought to return to Dratan that day beneath the throne room and how easily it had come back under Dratan.
He slowly felt his own Qi flowing in his veins calmly making it's revolutions around his body and recovering its strength.
"In order to reach the extremes of Adept Class, you must submerge yourself in your element such that your almost devoured, and then overcome it." Dratan said off-handedly, "I can't say more. The journey must be passed by you, and you alone."
He glanced at Shion and then smiled, "But, with a spouse who is connected in both soul and body, training may go faster as one invigorates the other and by extension is invigorated. Fighting fire with fire will burn down the forest, however, for a fire, it is of no concern whether the forest burns, only that itself continues to burn."
Shion smiled.
She looked up at Dratan and smiled, "Thank you for the advice."
Dratan nodded, "For some with enough power. Breaking through can be a matter of breaking past the limits put to themselves."
Shion nodded gracefully.