593 Unavoidable War
Together, the Warlord’s personal guard and the elental scouts traveled the last stretch to To’Han, the Elental’s ho planet. A short ti that inevitably saw them interact with one another, satisfy their curiosities, and study each other’s intentions.
The closer to the destinations the convoy were, the more they would interact, seeing the short ti they had left as the last opportunity left before their two leaders would decide whether the groups they led would end up sharing this universe, or face each other as enemies.
One of these interactions saw Nihala and Kyle approach the group composed of several wind and fire elentals, who, as opposed to the elentals of water, capable of maintaining their solid shape in space by turning themselves into statues of ice, or earth elentals, capable of turning themselves into stone, were struggling to face the vacuum of space.
Seeing the elentals of wind and fire struggle, Kyle turned towards the spatial elental, and imdiately realized that, aside from providing a flat surface on which his peers could stand on, the spatial elental did not appear to be interested in providing any form of help. This detail lodged itself in the back of his mind, as he casually created a spatial do around the platform the elentals were riding.
Now separated from the void, the wind elental instinctively produced a mixture of gasses, which in turn fed into the fire elental’s flas. Once they found a balance, the two quietly turned towards Kyle and Nihala, who had quietly approached their platform, and bowed slightly, “Unnecessary, but appeaciated, cultivators.” The wind elental said.
“Not a problem.” Nihala responded with a bright smile, revealing a set of light blue pointy teeth. “I am Nihala, of the Warlord’s Personal Guard. This is Kyle.. and you are..?”
The fire and wind elentals looked at one another for a brief mont. They already expected that, at so point, they would be approached. After all, this was the only opportunity the cultivators had to obtain information about their opposition before actually seeing it in person. What caused them to be taken aback, however, was the question.
To respond was the fire elental. A flaming humanoid creature which, before being given gasses to consu, appeared as a human-shaped glass container filled to the brim with pure lava. The fire that covered the elental’s body began to flicker, and change in color, as he said, “Our kind doesn’t use nas. We identify one another through our abilities to exercise our control, and in the way we represent our nature.”.ᴄᴏᴍ
“Oh” Nihala responded in short-lived surprise.
Both her and Kyle had never encountered perfect elentals. Only newly born ones, incapable of thought and only able to display the most basic forms of elent. Creatures that in their eyes appeared identical, similar to how two candle flas were alike, two ice cubes, or two rocks.
As an elental grew, however, concepts of the elents would be added to their existence.. Allowing them to display an increasingly higher array of combinations of concepts, making them as unique as the combination of a human’s voice, personality, physical appearance and na was.
Unfortunately, most of these unique high level elentals would usually be wiped out early on by the sentient races that inhabited their planets of origin, allowing for only the most primitive and least valuable elentals to survive. As Nihala looked at Kyle, she too understood how difficult it would have been for her to distinguish between one human and another, had a more powerful race wiped every primate down to their most primitive mbers.
Confused by Nihala’s oddly compassionate stare, Kyle shook his head for a mont, then turned back towards the two elentals. “The.. Warning you sent us, it ca as a surprise. As you can see from my companion, we are not used to seeing such developed mbers of your kind. How did you find this universe?” Any human could have noticed the hint of anger in the way Kyle pronounced the word ‘warning’, yet, that small detail was wasted on the elentals, who failed to pick up on it.
“How do you know we found it, and have not ‘developed’ here instead?” The wind elental inquired as sharp gusts of wind began to fill the do. A reaction that, better than Kyle’s tone, displayed the way the elental had perceived the question.
“The lack of native cultivators occupying the interdinsional portal is the main reason.” Kyle responded. “When a new universe opens, the native powers always try to control the portal’s traffic.. You didn’t, so it is safe to assu you ca here yourself, and are not bothering to defend the portal because you are aware of Horror’s campaign heading this way.”
“We ca to ask you to leave.” The fire elental retorted.
Kyle’s and Nihala’s brows narrowed. “Ask? That is quite the peculiar way of putting it.” the forr said with a palpable hostility which soured the peaceful mood between the two groups, causing them to stop interacting with one another, and continue their journey in silence.
—–
Just hours after this last interaction was concluded, the convoy ca upon a planetary system composed of an imnsely large orange star around which orbited only a handful of small planets. Before entering the star’s gravitational pull, however, the convoy ca to a halt.
The spatial elental turned around, facing the following Warlord and group of cultivators, and with an aloof tone said, “We have reached our destination.”
The Warlord’s attention, otherwise focused on his ditation, had been picked. With an attentive expression he opened his eyes, and began to observe his surroundings. His sense did not reveal any hidden creature other than the elentals that had accompanied him and the cultivators that followed him.
As his mind began to wander, however, the spatial elental approached his position while surrounded by the other elentals. “Leader of invaders, bringer of death and destruction. I know why you ca here.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ ꪶ
The Warlord nodded his head faintly, then muttered, “Let us join you then, enlighten us.” These were the first few words the Warlord had ever muttered, yet they ca with the full weight of his power and position. The invitation, in the elental’s ears, sounded more like an order.. One which he had no right to refuse.
Despite this odd effect, the spatial elental did not get flustered. Instead, he maintained his composure as he began to explain. “Not ntioning the attack revealed that you are already aware that we were only ordered to warn you, not harm you. Furthermore, your numbers are not enough to mount an attack.. aning that you are not here for revenge, but to speak with the Lord.”
“I cannot allow that to happen.”
“Why did you attack us? We an you no harm, we sought to use this universe for the sa reason as you did. There is more than enough space for all of us to coexist!” Kyle blurted out, unable to keep these questions to himself any longer.
The glass-like surface of the spatial elental began to change. Once solid and crystalline, it now curved, as if starting to lt, then solidified revealing sharp edges. Whatever emotions were causing such a change in the creature’s appearance, they were in no way weaker than Kyle’s feelings.
“In MY experience, the sweeter a cultivator’s words, the sharper their knives.” The elental responded before finally regaining his composure. “Our kind’s lost potential.. The potential to live as our ancestors if given enough ti. Because that is the problem.. Ti. It is all a matter of ti.”
“With ti, your leader will die. With ti, your views will change. With ti, we will stop being the possible allies you look at us as, and you’ll succumb to your greed.” While his voice maintained the aloofness characteristic of the spatial elentals, the longer he spoke, the less stable his appearance beca. “We will only have ti, if we cut yours short, and that is what we will do. No matter the sacrifices we will have to make.”
The mont he finished speaking, the spatial elental turned towards the flaming figure Nihala and Kyle had interacted with a few hours earlier. As his transparent eyes landed on him, the fla was dozed off. The silhouette, once that of a human, had begun to collapse in itself, squeezed by invisible walls from which there was no escape.
The fire elental was dying, but before he could the walls stopped.
Surprised by the sudden loss of control, the spatial elental turned towards the Warlord, whom he had found standing a few feet away. “I also know what you want to do.” The Warlord muttered before grabbing the glass-like silhouette by the throat. “Kill your own, escape, then put their deaths on us.. The invaders who ca to slaughter you all. I too, cannot allow that to happen.”
After listening to the Warlord’s words, the appearance of the spatial elental began to vibrate, so violently that the forr started to believe the creature would shatter under in between his fingers. That, however, was not what was happening. The spatial elental, once aloof and indifferent, sounded almost amused as he responded, “Well, you only got it half right.”
“I was never ant to escape.. And I never needed to kill them myself.” He said with a matter-of-fact tone before turning towards the other elentals. “Show them your resolve!” He then exclaid.
These few words seed to ignite sothing within the remaining elentals, who imdiately stepped out of the spatial do Kyle had made for them. What ca out of it, however, weren’t the struggling silhouettes they had seen before, but sothing else.
Clusters of gasses that imdiately dissipated, droplets of water that boiled into nothing, flas that burned out of existence. The elentals walked to their death on their own accord, and with no hesitation.
As the Warlord witnessed this, he softened the grip around the spatial elental’ neck. He had finally gotten the full picture.
“Oh yes. Throughout the countless years our species have lived together, we too learned sothing from you. Viciousness.” The spatial elental added as the Warlord finally turned to look back at him.
“And if I were to kill you here, and deny any of this happening..?” the Warlord asked in a faint tone, implying that the spatial elental already knew how to reply.
The silhouette vibrated once more, “It’s too late.. One of our people already alerted the Lord. They already know.” As he finished speaking, the spatial cultivator began struggling, but only faintly. His goal was not to break free, but for his head to turn enough to allow him to see the Elental’s ho planet.
As he caught a glimpse of it, he imdiately stopped. His body stopped vibrating, and once again stabilized, displaying an odd sense of calmness. The usual aloofness had returned to his voice as he spoke what the Warlord knew to be this ancient being’s last words, “I don’t care about my ancestor’s ambitions.. Nor who will lead my kind. I am proud my life was given in exchange for a chance for my people to.. Finally, find peace..”
The last few words resounded through the surroundings like an echo, a sound that bounced on the spatial elental’s body as it finally shattered, drifting lifelessly away into pieces, yet leaving behind a transparent bead charged with the comprehension of spatial essence. Of this ancient being, only a small treasure remained.
For a few monts, this small bead floated around within the Warlord’s grip, as he began thinking. He could not bla the elentals for their actions. He himself could not have promised that, after his death, his people would not go back on any agreent, and decide to repeat what their kind had done countless tis in the past.. Hence why he could not deny any of the elental’s words.
Of all the enemies he had faced in the past, this was the type he liked the least. An enemy that fought for the good of their people. The idea of facing sothing like that, he hated.. for it would always make him question his actions. Chip at his desire for victory.
What woke him up, was thinking of those who, contrary to the ones who had just given up their lives here, were acting out of greed. The sheer idea of these entities tainting these beings’ noble goals brought up a feeling of anger in him. An anger that filled his ears with a piercing buzz, a murderous intent that deafened him to the words that his followers kept repeating.
“-have to go!” Nihala exclaid, as millions of creatures left Xia’s planets and took to space before heading in their direction.
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