Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 16] Ch.6 Era Ended

            Stygia understood the meaning and eagerly dashed outside. With her hands she seized the magic in the air through magic circles as if she were gripping the reins on a wild horse. Soon the world began to shiver as clump after clump of earth was separated from its surface.

For many people magic is seen as a graceful thing, but Stygia did not gain her strength by being graceful... or ignorant. Whips of wild magic swung around her as she crafted her spell from instinct and sheer force of will. She stood in the storm like a lunatic drunk on power as the magic itself slashed her clothes and threatened to carry her into oblivion.

Never before had she attempted such a spell on such a scale, but her determination was set in stone. She remembered the sorrowful look on the face of the beautiful spirit and how lonesome he was. She regretted how she had failed to greet him and had so cowardly fled when he had simply smiled at him.

How lovely and innocent that smile was... how calm and sacred that moment had been. She wanted to see it again. She craved it, she wanted to greedily secure it as her own so that she may gaze upon that smile for many moments to come, for many years yet unrealized.

It drove her. Like an addict with a new drug, she wouldn't let go of this euphoric feeling even as it threatened to be the end of her.

Slowly but surely the mountains ascended into the sky, higher than any being had ever dared to fly. Soon the new moon took shape and grew as she enchanted it with growth magic until it was the size of the Justice spirits.

Suddenly, as it grew, there was a backdraft of magic that began to fill her. It not only replenished her spent power it also swelled inside her taking her to new heights of power. To the point where it threatened to overtake her.

It was at this point that the gravity of the situation settled in as she understood the magnitude of her creation. It was both a blessing and a curse if she faltered for one moment it would come crashing down and destroy all life. If it were to collide with Justice's it may make the destruction of the world even greater.

So for seven days she fine-tuned the spell and acclimated to the new surge of power and magic she received from it.

What she didn't know was that in her attempt to chase after Justice she had inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that would make the distance between her and Justice ever greater.

*

In the spirit kingdom Justice was elated to imagine a peer had come out of nowhere.

On the other hand, his friend the king grew cold and sober. "My brother. I leave it to you to find out who has done this." he said looking at the second moon taking shape. "If it be a spirit we shall graciously welcome them into our ranks. But..." he turned and met his friend's eyes. "If they be an immortal then war cannot be avoided."

"Must a war come from this moment?" Justice asked when he realized he was alone in his elation.

"Unfortunately, it may have already begun. You underestimate how delicate the situation is. The mortals are fat with power and the spirits barely keep them in line as it is. They do not fear the monsters outside our gates as they used to and seek to quarrel with one another." the spirit king sighed. "They are itching for any reason to go to war and now they have one. They may even have the Spirit's blessings. By the Greatest spirit, if it is one of Queen Greed's they may even have my blessing depending on what mountain they used."

The spirit king grabbed his coat and rushed to the door. "My friend, I will hold the spirits ire and maintain the mortals in their pastures, I pray for all our sakes that you find a spirit at the end of that spell."