High Artificer, Ch 26: Revelation

“You…who are you?” Teron’s attention was sharp as he looked at the portal and then at Sam. 

“Your power, this portal…. You mean to tell me that you have the ability to instantly travel to Aster Fall? That should not be possible.”

He looked again at the portal beside Sam, his wings rustling as he considered  it for a long moment. 

“I thought you were one of the High Nine in disguise,” he said slowly, “an ally who had come here to aid me and right the wrong of the past decade and to support the integrity of the High Council, but this is beyond them. Far beyond.”

His tone was grave, but there was a wariness in his eyes as he looked at Sam, as well as disbelief. 

If Sam had been threatening, Teron probably would have flown away at that instant, following the wariness of his instincts, but they were in his home and Sam had already helped him. 

Teron shook his head, but he held his ground, his eyes flickering back and forth as he studied Sam and then Alora. His determination was clear as he stepped forward.

“Who are you to offer assistance with the Sixth Evolution?” he asked directly. “You hold out the dream of my ancestors that so many failed to achieve like it is something common, a fruit to trade?”

The words were building one after another as he stared at Sam.

“And you handle a Level 570 assassin like he is a toy?” Teron glanced at Arthane in the dimensional lock and then back again. 

“I should have known something was strange then, but I thought it was just that you were a Sixth Evolution being in disguise. I don’t think there is anyone in the current galaxy who can do that. Kill him, yes, but with more difficulty, more outward signs of power. You trapped him like it was nothing. The only ones with that power…”

His words were coming faster now as his eyes widened, the insight spurred on by the recent discussion of Aster Fall. 

Then he froze, staring at Sam as the idea filled his mind.

Sam could see the name hanging on Teron’s tongue, but the Winged Fury was too cautious to say it. He was held back by a single layer of doubt, one that would only be removed if Sam said it himself.

Sam was amused as he stood up.

“Perhaps it is time to show you.” He said as he offered his hand to Alora, which she took with an amused look. 

“It’s easier to believe something once you see it. Follow me. I’ll set you on the path to changing things here. And then you will know who I am.”

He let the portal dissipate as he walked out of the room and into the courtyard beyond, which was open to the sky.

It was time to stop this civil war before it could begin.

He’d come to Council for a vacation, and at the rate things were going, unless he did something big, there were going to be too many headaches.

He was tired of being subtle.

It was night now and he stood there as he looked up at the stars and the rising moon.

Aster Fall could wait for a few moments while he handled things on Bright Sky. 

Teron followed him out, but he was clearly unbalanced, still on the verge of disbelief as he watched Sam.

Sam patted Alora on the shoulder as he released her hand. Then he twisted the Void around her, creating a nearly impenetrable dimensional barrier to protect her, like an invisible shield. 

It would move with her around Bright Sky, but he didn’t expect anything to threaten her. It was just a backup in case something showed up.

He looked back at Teron and gave him a slight grin. Then golden light gathered around him as his height began to increase. 

In an instant, he was taller than the buildings, and he stepped into the sky. 

His size continued to grow as he walked upward toward the stars, making it seem as if he was unchanging even as he grew more distant.

“First, let’s deal with this world,” he said as his voice returned to its usual strength and spread across the area like heat from a sun. “I’ll help you settle things. Then we’ll take a trip to Aster Fall.”

There was a choice in front of him of whether to proceed quietly with destroying this plot or to make himself known and crush it with overwhelming force. He’d decided on the latter.

It was time for a Titan to appear at Bright Sky. 

If he took the quiet route, it would take time, and the current problems would continue until they were slowly repressed, but if he drove the point home with a show of force, many of those problems would solve themselves. 

It meant revealing himself, but he had been planning to do that eventually and now he was running out of patience.

He had research to do, including building his dimensional realm to travel the galaxy, studying the Nexus, some teaching if he stayed at the academy, and creating the new human domain. 

This war was a distraction from all of that. He was unwilling to take the slower route.

So he decided to make it dramatic.

Teron needed to see something impressive in order to believe him, and then he could take charge of his people’s future, which would save a lot of time, since Sam wasn’t planning to stay here to guide the Winged Furies. 

Afterwards, they could talk about Aster Fall and the Sixth Evolution. He was sure the man would jump at the chance once things were clear.

As he walked toward the stars, he reached back into the room they’d left with a thread of his aura and grabbed the dimensional bubble holding Arthane, pulling it along with him. 

His movements were slow, giving people around the city a chance to look into the sky and see him as a glowing golden figure that was slowly rising upward. At the same time, he shrouded his status, displaying it only in a limited way.

Astral Titan. Level Unknown. Evolution Unknown. 

Anyone looking up could identify him as a Titan, but that was all they would see, no matter the extent of their skill. 

Every other part of his status that they might try to look at would also register as Unknown. 

He would be an enigma, the return of a legend.

That was for the best.

With nothing else that they could discover, rumors and speculation would explode.

A flick of his hand created half a dozen silver crystals across the world’s horizon and in the Void above to record what was about to happen.

If people weren’t quick enough to get recordings of him above Bright Sky, he would have to send out some of his own to make sure they were released.

At the same time, he made certain that a glow of astral energy slightly obscured his features, making it difficult for them to see more than an outline. 

For now, he was only showing himself as a Titan, not as Sam Hastern. 

If rumors started about an Astral Titan appearing at Bright Sky, that would be helpful to him, but his name would have no direct connection to it.

The rumors should disturb the High Nine, and when he finally showed up there to take the high seat, they would be ready to believe it. Meanwhile, he could still try to keep his position at the academy separate.

Golden light glowed around him. He had been about seven feet, but within moments his shoulders were brushing the clouds.

Everyone across the city and from neighboring lands could see him, standing tall above the capital city and the mountain range, like he was standing in judgment above the world.

“Winged Furies, heed my words.” 

His voice rang out across the land on a wave of astral energy, reaching every land and hidden corner in the world, from the deepest layers of the ocean to the heights of the peaks, and then it went beyond as well, touching the nearby moons.

He made sure that everyone could hear him. 

They didn’t know who he was, but whispers of fright and wonder sprang up at once. 

Some of the Winged Furies took to the sky, trying to fly closer to him or just to get a different vantage point, but any who came too close were pushed back by a burning presence that sent them falling toward the ground, like they had tried to fly into the sun.

His aura blazed around him, radiating with the Flame of the First Age as the entire sky turned to fire. Dawn came to the night sky as light blazed in every direction, and golden flames spiraled around him like the flares of a sun.

“Ages ago, my people found yours. You were one of the first races we encountered among the stars. We saw in you something miraculous, the potential to build a greater galaxy and so we offered you our hand and raised you up. 

“We refined your innate abilities, taught you the system of Classes and Evolutions, built paths for you to walk across the stars and meet with others like yourselves, and then we gave you the keys to the future, making you part of the High Council.

“Thousands of your generations have been part of the High Nine and an example to the younger races. You were honorable and bright.

“But today I walked through the streets of your world in the guise of a human, and I heard the words you spoke about foreigners and those without wings. Many of you believe you are better than them.

“I learned of your Night Wings, who think of themselves as hunters but prey on the weak. They go abroad as assassins and import foreigners to hunt them for sport on your own world.

“I saw some of those Night Wings ambush a professor of Archaios Academy on Council. They tried to assassinate him in the dark, fourteen to one. They believed they were stronger. 

“Imagine their surprise when he destroyed them. That is your fate if you continue to follow this path. Those younger and brighter will replace you. 

“I was content to leave things at that, but then I learned of your alliance with the Wind Wraiths, who seek to leave the High Council and start a civil war among the galaxy, and how your Yaivon Highwing was bought by them, becoming their pawn as he helped them to overthrow your old ruler. He is your leader and represents you.

“Is that who you are?”

Sam folded his arms in the sky, the movement sending flares of light across the horizon.

“Some of you have already recognized me, so I will confirm your words. The Astral Titans have never left. We only sleep in the silver halls.

“I will give you one warning. My people raised you up, so too can we throw you down. Just like this man.”

He projected an image across the sky, so that no one could fail to see what he was showing them. 

Then he held up Arthane, displaying the Wind Wraith to the world. The dimensional bonds around him looked like silver bands, but his features were clear.

“This is Aylo Arthane, a commander of the Wind Wraiths at Level 570 and an assassin who was sent here to suppress Teron Whitewing and his clan. For ten years, you allowed an enemy to live among you and harm one of your highest clans. 

“When I came to investigate, he tried to kill one dear to me. For that, his time has come to an end. Let him be an example to you all. 

“Watch and witness.”

He drew his hand back and then sent Arthane hurtling into the distance, so fast he was barely a streak of light. 

He adjusted the image in the sky to show the Wind Wraith flying across the Void and then the pillar of dust as he struck an empty world far in the distance that hung around their sun.

The Winged Furies called the world Desert, since it was little more than a sphere of yellow stone that marked its passage around the sun, but its size was almost the same as Bright Sky. 

For untold years, the two worlds had orbited this star together, turning around and around in an endless dance. Every Winged Fury was familiar with it from birth, its presence hanging like a yellow light high in the sky as it changed with the seasons.

Arthane slammed into the ground on that plain and the astral bonds around him prevented him from turning into a splatter. Instead, they held him in place, even as his body still crackled with the explosive lightning he’d summoned.

Sam raised his hand and ripples of dark and silver light surged out of the stars in the distant Void, turning into a thousand streams that flew toward him. 

The streams merged together as they approached, condensing into a raging flood of power around him. They spiraled around his hand, growing smaller and smaller like concentric rings as their energy turned into something bright and dangerous.

Then he pointed toward the world.

A bolt of silver and black light flared from his hand. It was so intense that it looked like the Void had been torn open. Dimensional energy roared away from it, tearing spatial distortions open in the sky and leaving black lines that twisted into spidery cracks across the horizon.

The Force of the Stars covered the distance in an instant as it struck dead center on Arthane. The bolt was so powerful that his body simply disintegrated into nothingness as it passed. 

Then it split through the world behind him.

At first it just looked like a dark hole, but then the world shuddered. A massive black and silver gash opened up through the center of the world, revealing a molten bright core that was severed in the middle like a blade had passed through it.

The surface of the world shook as a dark light from the center began to flow outward, disintegrating everything as it passed. The continents shook as they fell away from one another and massive eruptions of magma shot toward the sky.

Then a ring of silver light sprang outward from the core, surging through the dark layer as it expanded in an instant. It hung there for a moment, like a star spreading its rays, as it seemed to freeze in place.

Then the world behind it exploded. 

Earth and magma turned to dust as they merged into an expanding ring of debris that shot away from the world, surging toward the empty Void. 

The explosion of power was followed by absolute silence on Bright Sky as everyone stared at the heavens. 

Where Desert had been, there was no longer anything but dust. 

There was no trace of the sound that must have accompanied that destruction, but it was easy to imagine the intensity of the explosion.

Arthane’s presence had been wiped away as easily as the rest of the world.

Sam lowered his hand as he turned to look at the world and the people on it. His voice was heard by everyone.

“You are not cowards who prey on the weak and call yourselves hunters. You are the winged warriors of the sky, bright and noble. Do not forget who you are. 

“Correct your flaws, or I will correct them for you.

With that, a flare of silver light passed across the sky and Sam walked away, heading into the distance. 

Within moments, he was gone.

No one saw him as he reappeared in the courtyard next to Alora, once again standing at his regular human height.

Teron was as pale as a sheet, his hand clenched around the sword at his waist, and as soon as he saw Sam, he began to backpedal, trying to put distance between them.

“You already know who I am,” Sam told him. He ignored the man’s terror as he held out his hand. “Take a few days to arrange your affairs here. Appoint some lieutenants to set things straight and speak to your people. Then if you want to take me up on my offer, we’ll head to Aster Fall.”