The WindGod

Three days went by before Ronan could leave the bed and function normally.

The first thing he did after partially recovering was to call the Council meeting.

Celestia was quite annoyed with how she was forced to cut short the time she spent with her lord.

She had called back Elder Snowfang and Elder Silvershade who were on a quest to bust the drug racket. The matter of dealing with Eldric Greenwood and his Puppet Makers took precedence over anything else and thus, she had decided to put the matters related to 'Rave Spirit' aside for a while.

As soon as all the Elders gathered at the meeting hall, Ronan frowned. He was yet to be made aware of Elder Barhawk's death.

"Where is Elder Barhawk?" He asked the gathered Elders.

"He is dead," Celestia said as a matter of factly.

"What!? Why was I not aware of this?" Ronan felt his ire rising as the rest of the Elders averted their eyes and didn't answer him. Only Celestia was staring at him defiantly.

"Cough!" Ronan coughed to hide his embarrassment. He was bedridden and unable to move without help, how could they inform him about anything when he was in such a sorry state?

As the thought of his current condition entered his mind, Ronan's face turned serious and he promptly pushed Elder Barhawk's death to the back of his mind.

"On a serious note, we have a dangerous enemy in our home," Ronan stated, his eyes flickering towards Elder Greenwood for a second.

His old friend was from the same clan as that of Elder Greenwood. While he trusted Elder Greenwood, the same couldn't be said about his clansmen.

'I need to talk with Celestia and arrange for someone to watch their clan.'

"Eldric Greenwood is back!"

"WHAT?" Elder Greenwood stood up abruptly, his face deathly pale as he shook his head to deny hearing those words. "No, he is not!"

His clan was put under so much scrutiny after what that bastard had done to Elder Ronan's family, it was a pure miracle that the clan survived till this date.

He had worked hard and built up his clan's reputation from the ground. Now it seemed like everything was going to be for nothing. Elder Ronan would surely put pressure on the clan so that none of them defected to Edlric's side.

"Elder Greenwood, even I want to deny this," Ronan spoke as he clearly understood what was going through Elder Greenwood's mind. "But look at me, I am in this state because of him."

"What does he want, Ronan?" Celestia rubbed her head in frustration. "Why is he creating Puppet Makers? What is he planning?"

"My Lady, you will have to believe me when I say this, he wants to turn the World Tree into one of his puppets!"

Ronan's statement was met with a deafening silence and Elders stared at him as if he had grown a second head on his shoulders.

"Pfft-puhahaha!"

Celestia cackled like a mad woman, completely forgetting that she was in the meeting hall. It couldn't be helped, the news she heard was just that absurd.

It was unbelievable.

"Ronan, are you sure about that?" Celestia asked, suppressing her laughter.

"Yes, My Lady, I would've laughed at him too if I hadn't seen what he is capable of." Ronan started to recount his encounter with Eldric and how he had seen Phantom Shifter in action.

By the time he was done, no one was laughing.

"I think… there is some truth to his words." Elder Snowfang finally spoke after a long silence. "My Lady, can you use your powers to find his location? The sooner we catch him the better."

Celestia's face fell at Elder Snowfang's suggestion. How could she say that she had offended her mother and was banned from using her connection for the time being?

Maybe, if she begged for forgiveness and explained the situation, her mother would allow her to use her connection to find Eldric.

However, Celestia wasn't completely sure of it. "Ahem! I will try, Elder, but the connection always doesn't work the way I desire. It is like gambling, there is always a chance of losing." Celestia lied through her teeth.

"In any case, it is best if we search the forest manually for him. I will try my best to look for him through the connection."

"Of course, My Lady, we will start searching for him immediately." Elder Snowfang replied and nodded at Elder Silvershade in understanding.

"Do not leak this news to our people. Make sure your clansmen do not venture outside during this period. Elder Silvershade, arrange for our troops to patrol all the outlying villages."

"Yes, First Lady." Elder Silvershade nodded.

~~~

Raymond was able to take sixty steps by the afternoon of the next day and could move freely without losing control for half an hour by the time he concluded the second day of training.

He had started circulating his mana through three nodes by the third day of training and was slowly making some progress.

It was now the seventh day and Raymond was going to try and run while circulating his mana. Just as he began running, he felt a change in the air.

[Tsk, tsk…]

"Dammit!" Raymond let out a sigh of frustration as his control over his mana slipped. Someone or something was nudging his mind. He had looked everywhere inside the chamber to find the source of that nudge.

At first, it wasn't clear. He could vaguely feel someone trying to whisper something in the wind, like a soft cotton brushing against his psyche.

Raymond had ignored the nudgings since he didn't want to waste his time doing something other than training.

If someone was playing pranks with him they would get bored soon enough if he didn't respond to their antics.

However, this time it was clear. Someone was clicking their tongue at him in disapproval.

"Who's there?" Raymond's eyes fell on the corner of the expanded chamber. He had let Celestia out on the account of Vivian. Since her grandfather was in the Inner Sanctum, Vivian had assured him that no one would dare to find trouble with his wives for the moment.

The old man's presence had that much deterrence on the common populace.

So, Raymond was alone in the Sacred Chamber, minding his own business.

His head whipped around as he found the source of that voice.

"Huh? Isn't that the statue Vivian talked about?" Raymond walked towards the corner and found the stone statue quietly standing.

Raymond eyed the statue suspiciously and started circling it, seemingly looking for something.

Was Vivian being serious when she said she could hear a voice from the statue?

If it was true, then this statue was the one to blame for Vivian's banishment from the Inner Sanctum.

Raymond became furious at the thought. This statue had set up Vivian and she had foolishly walked into its trap.

"Die!" Raymond shouted as he clenched his hand and sent a punch flying at the statue.

[Wait…!]

"What the…?" Raymond's hand stilled, just an inch away from the statue. "What are you?" He asked.

[That's something I want to ask you, young man. What are you? I've never seen someone like you!]

Raymond could directly hear the voice inside his head now.

[To think there is someone like you in this world. Tsk, I died too early. There are so many wonders of the world I have yet to see… such a pity…]

Raymond's lips twitched. Was this the so-called 'WindGod'?

"Oi, stop pitying yourself and answer my question. Are you the WindGod?"

[Ahh, yes. Consider yourself blessed. You're in the presence of Galanor, the God of Wind… well, former, anyway, a god is still a god even if he is dead.]

[And I assume you're that crazy priestess' object of worship?]

Raymond instantly found the 'WindGod' to be distasteful. There was arrogance dipping through every one of his words.

However, he couldn't help but frown after hearing about Celestia.

"What about the crazy priestess? Are you talking about Celestia?"

[Ahh, I don't have time to talk about something that you can figure out for yourself. So, let's get to the important topic.]

"What is it?" Raymond could feel the urgency in his voice.

[Young man, let's trade. Release me from this statue and I shall magnanimously assist you in your mana manipulation.]