Corvis Eralith
Avicenna, how do I speak with a nephew who is centuries older than me, whom I have never met until this very morning, and who is still grieving his family? I asked the wise Djinn after I left the Nest where Soleil had dressed me into a proper Asclepius.
I tied the Vaultlamp to the sash around my trousers; Soleil had placed a golden ring there, perfectly suited for the purpose, a small detail that spoke of her careful observation.
From watching me all this time, she must have understood this habit of mine: keeping Avicenna at my side rather than buried in my storage ring whenever it was possible.
The Vaultlamp hung against my hip, bright and familiar, a lifeline to a world that had been erased.
'You are speaking of Chul, right, Justiciar?' Avicenna asked, and for the first time, his voice carried a hint of uncertainty. 'This is a field in which I severely lack competence, I fear. Family matters are not my strength.'
I nodded to myself, then withdrew my wand-cane from the storage ring on my finger and threw it to the floor. The wood rang against the stone, and I stepped onto the shaft, using Wind Surfing to glide across the Hearth's tunnels, rushing toward the Portal Chamber.
Yes, I am talking about Chul, I said, then hesitated. But... Avicenna, did you have a family?
The question came suddenly, unbidden. I realized I knew nothing about Avicenna's family. I knew about his Lifeworks, that he was a Sage of the Legal Body of Ramdad, that he had been trapped in his Vaultlamp for millennia.
But the people close to him, a potential wife, potential children, or siblings, his parents... the ones who might have mourned him when the Indraths came before them too dying by their hands, those were mysteries.
'Yes, I did,' Avicenna said, and his voice was regretful, heavy with a sorrow that mirrored the way he spoke of his forsaken Manatech Lifework. 'A son. A wife.'
Did you manage to say goodbye to them? I asked, the thought of being killed so suddenly, without time to tell your family you loved them, sending a cold ache through my chest. Before the Indrath came?
'No, Justiciar.' His admission was soft, almost a whisper. 'I spent my last years in my Awareroom, far from Artira of the Pillars and my family. Busy with my research; my Lifework.'
Is that why you are not proud of it? I pushed gently. Your Manatech Lifework? Because it took you away from your family?
'That is just another of the far too many reasons,' Avicenna replied, his tone a mixture of regret and remorse.
I decided to change the subject. My eyes drifted to the bracelet of jade around my left wrist. It was beautiful, shining under the artificial light of the Hearth, the green color rich with many different shades, from lighter to darker, like the depths of the Elshire Forest itse—herself.
I received a bracelet, I informed Avicenna. It should grant me armor one day, when it is ready.
'Ah, Titan's craftsmanship.' Avicenna's voice warmed slightly. 'I have heard of their "cultivated" equipment.'
Yes, exactly! Avicenna was truly knowledgeable, to also know about Asuran crafts. Perhaps he could even help me fulfill the promise I had made to my sister months ago, bringing Tessia to the moon, but not now. Not yet.
As I glided through the final tunnel before my destination, I heard the noise of Chul struggling with Suncrusher in the Portal Chamber.
The sound was rhythmic and heavy: the crash of Asuran gold against stone, the grunt of effort, the whisper of the Hearth's magic repairing the damage almost as soon as it was made.
Inside the room—now completely restored from the damage Chul had dealt earlier, the portal at its center standing tall and as good as new—Chul swung Suncrusher around like a child might swing a stick.
But there was nothing childlike about the weapon.
It was massive, golden, its spiked head gleaming with an inner light, and every movement Chul made seemed to cost him something.
"Uncle!" Chul greeted me with a grunt, bringing Suncrusher crashing down on the floor. The impact cracked the pristine stone, sending fissures spiderwebbing outward before the room began to repair itself. "You look like Grandfather, but short and little. And with a green eye too."
I stepped off my wand-cane, giving a slight push with my heel and sending it flying back into my storage ring in a flourish of mana.
The motion was practiced, automatic, a small act of normalcy in a place where everything else was strange and unfamiliar.
"Thank you, I suppose," I said, walking closer to him and offering Avicenna's Vaultlamp. "Do you want to speak with Avicenna?"
"No." Chul shook his head and placed the spiked head of Suncrusher on the floor. The weapon stood upright, nearly as tall as he was (which was a lot). "I am not in the mood."
"Understandable." I tucked the Vaultlamp back into my storage ring. "Do you want to talk about what happened earlier?"
I sound like someone thrice my age, I sighed inwardly.
"Neither," Chul continued.
Okay. What do you do in these situations, Corvis? I asked myself. Small talk. Yes.
"What is it that you usually do?" I asked, looking at Suncrusher. "Other than swinging that?"
"I train." Chul's voice was flat, but I saw the way his fingers tightened on the weapon's shaft. "I practice the martial arts of the Asclepius Clan."
Oh. That could also be useful to me, other than a way to make Chul feel more at ease. "Would you like to show me?"
Chul nodded vigorously, his earlier gloom lifting like morning mist. "Yes! With great pleasure!"
He dropped into a stance that seemed less like a fighter preparing for battle and more like a dancer awaiting the first note of music. His feet were light, his arms curved, his whole body poised with an almost theatrical grace.
"You want to dance?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"This is how Phoenixes fight, Uncle!" Chul exclaimed. "I have read all about Asuran martial arts in the Library Lobbies of the Hearth. Many Asuran Clans—not only Phoenixes—blend dance and fighting together, but Phoenixes do it best!"
He paused, and something softened in his expression. "It was also Grandfather's hobby."
"Really?" I was genuinely surprised. "Do you mean dance or fighting?"
"Dance. Fighting. What is the difference?" Chul asked, and I supposed for the Asuras, there was none.
Even for someone like Mordain Asclepius, or a Djinn hybrid like Chul, war was simply too embedded in their souls to separate from art.
"Grandfather was a true artist at it. I have been trying to create my own steps, too, but I am not as good as him."
"I also love my Grandpa," I said, almost subconsciously, touched by the way Chul spoke of Mordain.
It was very different from how he had interacted with the Lord of the Asclepius in the novel—rebellious, defiant, always pushing back. But distance and isolation for so many years had changed him. Grief had a way of reshaping a person that few other emotions had.
"When I was a hatchling, I did not love Grandfather," Chul confessed. "I wanted to get out of the Hearth; I thought Grandfather was a coward. An hypocrite. A tyrant and a traitor even—that was how stupid I was."
"Don't you still want to leave?" I asked.
"Yes! But, now I understand Grandfather's motivations." Chul's voice was quiet, almost reverent. "He just wanted to protect the Clan and his family, doing whatever he could even if it brought to his grandson to hate him."
"That is very mature of you to say," I said, respect in my voice. "And smart."
In the novel, Arthur had described Chul as a simpleton, someone who was battle-hungry, straightforward, almost brutish. But Chul was much more complex than that.
Self-reflection required incredible intelligence, no matter how many years you had lived or how many years of spare time alone with your thoughts you had.
"I am not smart," Chul said, a hint of his earlier gruffness returning. "But I can kick hard!"
To demonstrate, Chul began to dance.
With a swift movement of his arm, he dropped to the ground and started to spin, using his hands masterfully to propel himself while his legs kicked the air in precise, powerful arcs.
He wasn't using any mana—his Asuran body alone, hybrid though it was, gave him enough strength to generate powerful gusts of wind with this particular style of 'breakdance' of his.
"You developed this yourself?" I asked, genuinely impressed.
"Yes! This and Suncrusher are my pride!" Chul exclaimed, spinning on his head with the casual ease of someone who had done this thousands of times, maybe more.
"Did you give this dance a name?"
"Well, Uncle, I am not very good at naming things," Chul admitted. He placed both palms on the ground and gave himself a powerful push upward, rolling mid-air before landing back in front of me.
I clapped my hands. The sound echoed through the Portal Chamber, surprisingly loud. "That was very good."
"You have seen nothing, Uncle!" Chul's face lit up with pride. "I have trained hard to give my dance my own twist on the Samsara!"
"Samsara?" I asked, frowning in recognition. "Now that you mention it, Soleil has spoken of Samsara once or twice."
"Samsara is the name of the mana arts of the Phoenix race." Chul reached for Suncrusher, his fingers wrapping around the shaft with easy familiarity. "I can show you many more things. Grandfather with Suncrusher was a phenomenon. I have trained hard with it, too."
An idea kindled in my mind. "Chul, may I borrow Suncrusher for a moment?"
"Ehm, Uncle..." Chul started, his expression turning apologetic. "I mean no offense, but you are... a bit too small for Suncrusher, I fear. It might crush you."
Behind me, Berna—who had been lounging at the entrance of the Portal Chamber—raised her head, her green eyes sharpening. She was trying to gauge whether she needed to rush to my aid.
"And would you not be there to prevent me from being crushed?" I asked.
"Yes, of course! Do not even doubt it!" Chul replied, immediately defensive.
"Then let me try."
I reached for Suncrusher's handle and, after using REmould to change into Finn Warend—to which Chul didn't even react too, probably used to the other Phoenixes changing forms—I activated the Acquire Phase of Berna's Beast Will: Massbinding.
The ochre runes of the Kain Clan appeared on the backs of my hands, even on my wooden hand, the marks glowing faintly against the carved surface.
I had been afraid of the opposite, which was why I had not used Massbinding again since Azellio. But it worked. The runes burned softly, responding to my will as they always had.
I gripped Suncrusher and tried to lessen its weight.
Massbinding alone affected a target only in relation to the caster (me) and not in relation to the world unless I used REmould. That meant I could make Suncrusher light to myself without sacrificing its incredible mass.
Ignoring the fact that the weapon was still twice my height, I raised it.
"You... you have a Beast Will of the Kain Clan, Uncle!" Chul exclaimed, his eyes wide.
And then, my muscles aching despite the weapon being a thousand times lighter than it probably was, I dropped Suncrusher.
The Djinn hybrid jumped back, avoiding the powerful shockwave of the weapon as it crashed against the floor.
No. Okay. Still too heavy, I said in my head, breathing heavily.
Fatigue tore at my muscles, my arms trembling from the effort. Massbinding alone, without REmould altering its effects, did not consume much mana, but Suncrusher was not to be underestimated. That weapon was definitely too heavy.
"Is that important?" I asked between deep breaths.
"Of course it is, Uncle." Chul's voice was serious now. "Evascir told me Suncrusher was crafted by the greatest Asuran craftsman in history: Wren Kain the First."
Wren Kain the First; an ancestor of Wren Kain IV? Yes, that must have been it.
"He crafted it for Mordain?" I asked.
Chul shook his head. "Wren Kain the First was an Asura so ancient that he was already a legend when Grandfather was a chick. He is... ancient. Very, very, ancient."
"Perhaps I will ask Evascir more about it another time." I filed the information away for later. "So, are the martial arts of the Asclepius Clan all about dancing?"
"The unarmed ones? Yes. All of them." Chul seemed to consider his words. "It just feels natural. I do not know how to explain it. It's a gut feeling."
Just as it was natural for elves to feel safe and comfortable in the Elshire Forest. For Phoenixes, dancing held a similar truth.
"You should probably prepare yourself to dance if you are truly going to officiate Ran and Palmyra's wedding," Chul said.
"How are marriages conducted in the Asclepius Clan?" I asked.
Chul shook his head. "I have absolutely no idea. The last wedding was between Mother and Father, and I was not yet born. You have not remembered it, have you?"
"I was present?" I asked, surprised.
Chul nodded.
Interesting. So Eralith was older than Chul. I had had my doubts, but this confirmed it.
"I should get moving," I said, glancing toward the tunnel that led back to the rest of the Hearth. "Are you coming?"
"...Fine." Chul's tone was reluctant, but the way his eyes brightened betrayed him. Deep down, he wanted to attend. "But only because of you..."
I suppressed a smile. Should I bring a gift? But I do not even know these people: Ran and Palmyra. I sighed inwardly as we moved out of the Portal Chamber, Chul carrying Suncrusher over his shoulder and Berna rising from her resting spot to follow.
—
"Milord!" Soleil exclaimed, seeing me and Chul approaching the Nexus Garden. "And Chul!"
The Phoenix woman rushed to my side, her hands fluttering over my clothes like a mother hen checking her chicks. She smoothed the collar of my poet's shirt, adjusted the orange cravat, brushed nonexistent dust from my shoulders.
Her golden eyes were bright with barely contained emotion.
"I will go meet with the rest of the Clan," Chul muttered, shuffling past us. His massive shoulders were hunched, his gaze fixed on the ground.
He looked like a man walking to his own execution. I wondered why, he seemed to be wanting to attend the wedding when we were alone.
"Yes, that is a good idea," Soleil said, her head turning to Berna. "Milord, it would be better if Berna went with the rest of the Clan as well."
Berna growled—a low, rumbling sound that vibrated through the stone floor. Through our bond, I felt her resistance, her eternal reluctance to leave my side.
"I will come immediately, girl," I said, ruffling her thick fur. My wooden fingers traced the contours of her ears. "You can go find Lugano. What do you think about that?"
Berna looked away, her green eyes fixed on some distant point in the tunnel. Through our bond, I felt her uncertainty warring with something else: curiosity? Interest? Love, even? Only time could tell.
After a long moment, she yielded, deciding to go. She liked Lugano enough to separate from me. The only other person who had that effect was Mom.
I watched her pad away, her massive form disappearing into out of the tunnel.
"Soleil," I said, turning back to the Phoenix. "Do you realize I have absolutely no idea how Phoenixes conduct marriages?"
I paused, then blinked. "Actually, I do not even know how my own people conduct marriages."
I knew much about elvenkind: from my personal studies and from the lessons imparted by my royal tutors. But marriage conventions, ceremonies, and traditions of that kind were not among that knowledge.
I was not planning to marry anytime soon, so I had never cared to learn. Now I was standing in the heart of an Asuran sanctuary, dressed in clothes I did not fully know the meaning of, about to officiate a union between two beings who had been alive since before my great-great-grandparents were born.
"It is very simple, milord." Soleil's smile was warm, reassuring. "Just follow your heart. We have everything ready; you are the only thing missing."
Soleil made to lift me up by the armpits, but I shook her off.
"I can go down there myself," I said, walking toward the edge of the balcony. The tunnel ended abruptly, opening into a vast space that stole the breath from my lungs.
The Nexus Garden sprawled below me like a bucolic dream made manifest. It was an enormous chamber, so vast that the far walls were lost into an artificial horizon.
Trees and plants of every kind filled the space—familiar species from the Elshire Forest and others I had never seen before, their leaves shimmering with an inner light.
Everything was bathed in a soft, amber glow. Someone, Evascir, probably, must have changed the illumination of the Nexus Garden to a twilight time for this occasion.
Just as the novel had described it, the Nexus Garden was many times larger than any royal garden in Dicathen. Even the grand gardens of the Royal Palace in Zestier could not compare to this. It was a pocket of Epheotus, a fragment of heaven hidden beneath the Beast Glades of my home continent.
At the center of the vast chamber stood a gazebo—delicate, elegant, its pillars entwined with living vines and blooming flowers.
Beneath its canopy, a group of Phoenixes waited, all of them in their humanoid forms. Fourteen of them, plus Chul, Evascir, Lugano, and Berna. They stood in clusters, talking in low voices, their eyes occasionally drifting toward the balcony where I stood.
"I find it difficult for you to reach it," Soleil said behind me.
I looked down at the drop below the balcony. Even with wind magic, it would be difficult to slow my fall. This chamber was far too high. How I wished I were a white core mage right now.
"I do not want their first impression of me to be that of a child being carried there," I said.
I passed my left hand over my face. REmould answered, reshaping my features, and I became Finn Warend. The change was instantaneous—brown eyes, rounded ears, dusky skin.
"Milord, you will ruin your clothes!" Soleil complained.
"You are just upset you cannot carry me like Alea did," I teased, and the Phoenix crossed her arms with a huff.
I took many steps back, giving myself room to run. Then I sprinted toward the edge of the balcony and jumped.
The air rushed past me as I fell, cold and sharp. I activated Massbinding immediately, altering the effects of gravity on my body and giving me a push forward.
The trees of the Nexus Garden became my handholds in this unconventional flight—I reached out, touched a branch, and the gears on my hands turned so that I could change direction, pulling me toward the next tree, and the next.
A few meters above the gazebo, I let myself go. I slowed my descent with wind magic, the currents cushioning my fall, and returned to Eralith Asclepius as I landed softly behind the ceremony platform.
A thunderstorm of applause welcomed me.
I stood frozen for a moment, stunned by the sound. Fourteen unknown Phoenixes and the aforementioned familiar faces with the addition of Soleil turned toward me, their eyes filled with wonder and hope.
The younger Phoenixes gazed at the Vaultlamp at my side with amazement. They looked at my clothes, my eyes, my wooden hand, everything about me, and they smiled.
"Eralith!" A Phoenix boy standing on the ceremony platform greeted me. The platform looked more like a performance stage than a marriage altar, draped in flowers and fabrics of gold and crimson. "I am Ran! D-do you remember me?"
Ran looked like a youth of perhaps seventeen by the standards I was used to. He had hazelnut hair with bright yellow bangs, styled in an intricate wave that framed his face. He wore a formal suit of brilliant red, cut in a swallowtail design, with a yellow shirt beneath.
His eyes were the color of honey, warm and hopeful.
"I am Palmyra!" The Phoenix girl at Ran's side exclaimed, her hand pressed dramatically over her heart.
She wore a pink wedding dress that looked like the feathers of a flamingo arranged in the presentation of a peacock—ostentatious and extravagant, but utterly beautiful.
Her orange curls were combed into an elaborate hairstyle, intertwined with golden threads and tiny white flowers. She looked the same age as Ran, and her eyes sparkled with barely contained excitement.
I waved at them, giving them my best smile. I cannot believe this is happening, I thought. There is a war out there, and I am here playing... what? A priest? Sanctifying a marriage?
They need this, Corvis, I told myself. Do this for them.
"I am happy to be with you all," I said, my voice steady despite the pounding of my heart. "I know it is superfluous, but still, I would like to introduce myself. I am Corvis Eralith. An elf. But I am also the Eralith Asclepius you all know." I paused, letting the words settle. "I do not remember my past life, but I will try my best to be the... leader you need."
The artificial twilight of the Hearth bathed the scene in warm colors, amber and gold, rose and soft violet. I felt the agitation and anticipation of the Phoenixes pressing against me like a wave.
A quick glance at Evascir and Soleil told me I was doing well.
Follow your heart, Corvis, I echoed in my head. It is not very different from when you played your part at the Gem Banquet in front of Dawsid Greysunders, or when you spoke with Windsom. This time, you do not even need to lie.
"And a party like this is truly the perfect place to begin a new era for our Clan," I said, my voice growing stronger. Move their hearts, Corvis. Make them feel hope. "And it is the perfect opportunity for me to get to know you all once more. Because even if I do not recover my past memories, I will be able to say that I have forged new ones. Better ones."
Palmyra and Ran looked at each other, their eyes shining. They did not seem like strangers to my soul, even if they were strangers to my eyes.
"Palmyra and Ran Asclepius," I said, and REtrocurrent flooded my mind with the correct terminology. "I declare you Nesthalves. You may perform your First Soaring."
I noticed Evascir and Soleil's honest surprise at my correct use of words—a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Then Ran and Palmyra turned.
They shifted into their Real Physiques.
The transformation was breathtaking. In a single moment Ran and Palmyra were something else entirely: majestic, terrible, beautiful beyond words.
Their wings unfurled, vast banners of living flame, their feathers blazing with colors I had no names for.
Ran's plumage burned gold and crimson, like a sunset over a battlefield. Palmyra's shimmered rose and pearl, like the first light of dawn on a calm sea.
They launched themselves into the air, leaving trails of embers behind them like scattered falling stars.
We all watched as the two Phoenixes soared upward, their wings beating in perfect synchrony, their bodies entwined in a dance as old as their race.
They flew higher and higher, toward the artificial sky of the Nexus Garden, and then they began to dance.
It was a pyrotechnic spectacle unlike anything I had ever seen. On Earth, in this world, or any other.
Orange flames, yellow, blue, white, red—their fire took every color imaginable as they blended together in a supreme declaration of love.
A rainbow of Phoenix fire lit the artificial dusk that was slowly descending on the Nexus Garden, painting the leaves of the ancient trees in hues of gold and crimson and violet.
Some of the younger Phoenixes cried. Others clapped their hands, cheered, ate from the banquet that had been prepared. All rejoiced. All celebrated.
For one brief, shining moment, there was no grief, no loss, no fear. Only the warmth of family.
But as I felt the warmth and love of my flock—this family that belonged to a me who had lived many centuries ago—I felt the river stir.
The river that ran beneath reality was moving toward me.
But I was not dying! Why? Why now? Please do not take me now, I begged silently, desperately.
Reclaim me later. I will do anything. Just—just later!
Then, drowning my panic, suddenly and violently, a wave of Insight crashed against the banks of my mind.
It flooded me with dread, cold, absolute and inescapable. Fate itself carried the news through REtrocurrent, slamming into my consciousness like a hammer blow.
After ages since its last coming, the Legacy was descending upon this world.
Vol 2. [RE: The Folk of Calm Currents] END.
A/N:
With this the second volume of RE: Corvis Eralith come to an end. This chapter also marks the conclusion of the first "saga" of the story: "Peace," it could be called.
The next Volume titled RE: And Corvis Came to Arms is going to finally start the core and central part of the plot (both of RE: Corvis Eralith and TBATE), war.
I don't know when I will start to post it, but until then thank you for reading this far and for all your support (as always it means more than words can convey)!