230: Interlude: Banawa
After Trevor left the house, Sylverith dismissed her illusion. She’d need to alter it for the encounter with Banawa. Alira was still in the tree, preparing for the encounter to come.
Both Lily and Huling asked to come along, but this was far too dangerous, even for them. She hadn’t gone into much detail about this encounter, but she knew turning Banawa away wasn’t a sure thing, and wouldn’t be easy. He was a creature that made the very land these kingdoms sat on look young.
A true ancient.
And if she were being honest, one of the only beings in this world she was afraid of. If she failed in her task, it wouldn’t just be the destruction of the capital as she mentioned. It would easily be the destruction of the continent, and she couldn’t afford that, not when she was so close to reviving her species.
Forming her new illusion, rather than a humanoid, she went with her true form. It took a lot of mana, and she’d need a few years to recover, but it was a small price to pay to protect the seed.
Meeting up with Alira, they left the capital, both heading across the open sea. Sylverith could already sense the mana coming from Banawa as he moved beneath the water, even from a day’s flight away.
“So, what’s the plan?” Alira asked.
“We’ll need to convince him that there is no source of mana on the continent somehow,” Sylverith responded. Truthfully, she didn’t know exactly how she’d convince him to turn around.
“Well, this should be fun then!” Alira said happily.
The flight was long, but they could both feel he was ahead; the darkness in the water turning it from deep blue to black.
“Stop here,” Sylverith said, as they both halted above the water.
Sylverith rarely felt small ever in her life, but right now, as she looked down at the shadow beneath the waves that seemed to go on for as long as she could see, she felt small.
Sylverith attempted to reach out, to communicate somehow with the beast. She was sure it could talk, but whether it would was a completely different matter.
“Banawa, I wish to speak,” Sylverith conveyed as far as possible.
Nothing. The shadow continued to get closer, nearly directly below them.
She reached out again. “Banawa, the source of mana is gone now.”
Alira looked on with significant concern on her face now. She didn’t fear death, but she was at a loss for how she’d stop this being. Not only was it a being with water affinity, but it was clearly substantially larger and stronger.
The shadow came to a stop directly below them.
Sylverith hoped that was a good sign, but they were both not prepared when the voice came.
Deep, like the ocean itself was speaking, the voice came, the waves below them turning violent and chaotic.
“Pity,” the voice said.
“It was Oris accepting a offering that caused the pulse,” Sylverith explained.
She was happy it was willing to speak. She sensed the worry from Alira on how they would fight this, and she agreed. It wouldn’t be possible. All they’d be able to do is evacuate those who mattered.
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The voice came again. “I’ll take you two then.” That was all it said.
Both Sylverith and Alira didn’t react in time as the ocean below them exploded upwards, encasing both of them between two jaws. Sylverith only saw the teeth for a second.
She opened her eyes, back in the forest, the illusion having been destroyed.
“Frustrating,” she muttered.
She couldn’t do another illusion of her true form. It would leave her too weak, so she made the bare minimum for a humanoid illusion and started to walk her way out of the forest. She tried pushing her senses to see if she could feel Banawa still coming closer.
But she suspected after the drain of mana, she’d need to find that man, Morlin.
***
The house was finally quiet now that the lord had left.
Well, that’s what Archie wanted to say. The truth of the matter is the exact opposite.
It took nearly a day before the phoenix left. In that time, a massive crowd had gathered out the front of the residence, and it made completing chores very difficult. That, in addition to the fact that while she was in the tree, the other house staff were unable to work at that end of the house.
In the end, he gave them all a day off. They could stay in the staff house or yard and relax.
Micca and the two boys didn’t end up returning to the house either, due to the crowd, instead choosing to sleep at the cafe in the stockrooms there.
This left Archie with a lot of time and a very empty house. He felt like he’d actually miss Trevor while he was gone.
It was late in the day when the phoenix left the tree, doing so in such a fashion that there would be no one in the capital who didn’t know she was gone.
Archie watched as she flew into the air, opening her wings, which he felt covered at least half the city, as sparks gently rained down below them, none of which made it to the ground.
He hoped this would mean the crowd would start to leave. If there were no phoenix to glimpse, then there would be no reason to stay, no reason to constantly pester him with requests to visit despite telling all the noble houses the Lord was not available.
The next morning, order returned to the house. He gave his orders at breakfast, and actually managed to get gate guards back out front, especially after the King sent the royal guard to clear off stragglers who still waited on the streets.
He expected Micca and the boys would return today. He’d not seen Sylverith either, even when he went to clean the library.
The day went as he had expected. He quietly did his chores, prepared dinner for the staff and for Micca, George and Darren.
It was while he was on his evening stroll around the property, finally managing to go over all the skill evolutions and levels he'd managed to acquire properly, when things started to get strange.
The first sign was the air grew cold, unnaturally so for the capital. Confused, Archie went to the front, where he saw the second concerning sign.
The tree that had not once stopped burning, Crisplet’s sculpture, was completely dark. There wasn’t even a dull red glow.
Something was wrong.
He rushed inside, making his way to the kitchen where he knew the oven was lit, and sure enough, his suspicion was confirmed. That flame was out as well, and stranger yet, the coals felt cold.
As if it had not been lit at all.
In a panic, he rushed back outside. He needed to pull the guards off the gate and bring them back inside. Something was wrong, very wrong.
He had only made it halfway down the stairs when he was blown backwards, landing hard on the stairs, hot air pushing past him in a gale. It roared in his ears. He looked up and stared in horror as the tree that had been completely dark a moment ago was completely engulfed in fire.
It didn’t stop there. The fire grew, becoming a giant column in the sky.
The entire capital would have been able to see it, maybe even neighbouring towns!
It didn’t stop. The fire grew. The entire tree was encompassed in the pillar of flame.
Archie scrambled back up the stairs, worried the house would catch fire.
The flames didn't stop. Archie dared not take his eyes off it, and watched it for what felt like hours, even having the guards and staff who could with stand the aura to prepare any fire prevention they could manage.
But it didn’t touch the house in the end; it didn’t spread, the surrounding air still felt cool, as if the heat was being sucked into the column.
As he stared at it, he swore he could see a form in the middle of it. A bird?