Chapter 352: Birb
Late Morning - Late Summer : The Elder Estate | The New Elder Hall
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*Fwoosh* *Fwoosh* *Fwoosh-Thump* The estate shook slightly as I landed in front of the main gate with a thud, rattling the gate and alerting everyone around of my presence that had remained hidden until that moment.
"Hey!" The ancient by the gate, who was seemingly a guard, immediately took a defensive stance thinking we were intruders, but I was quick to pull out my ID.
"Here," But as I flashed it to him, I noticed a familiar face running up from behind the gate.
"Hey, let them pass!" It was a tall, orange-scaled dragon I recognized in an instant.
"Orion?" It was Orion Cirillo. "It's been so long! I'm surprised you recognized me."
His face was a refreshing sight. "Haha, no one else has such deep black scales. How could I mistake you?" He quickly spoke to the guard through the aura before making him open the gate. "Plus, how could I not recognize Lady Krystallo!" Shooting her a smile, he quickly motioned us through. "I must say I'm quite surprised to see you here though... Your Mother said you were quite busy."
"I am. If I wasn't busy, I wouldn't be here..." -I'd be exploring the moon...- I glanced back at Hera without thinking before looking back toward the estate. "But it's a burden I'd have to take eventually."
"A burden for you?" He immediately became curious. "Surely you exaggerate..." He quickly glanced around before surrounding us in silencing magic. "You have already brought Siratha under your family's wing... What more could burden you?"
-Hah...- I wanted to chuckle hearing him say it was Siratha under our family's wing, but nonchalantly continued. "Well, let's just call it giving Bahamut some long-overdue reforms."
"Hm... Is your visit related to Sir Haris?"
"Sir Haris?" The name didn't ring a bell at all. -Is he that Thunderbird half breed?- Assuming he was, I continued. "What's he here for?"
Orion quickly straightened his posture. "I'm not completely sure, however I do know it's related to reforms somehow... I believe 'reform suggestions' were his words."
-Reform suggestions?- It almost instantly gave me a bad feeling. -Who else has the power to even suggest that and get to meet with Mother and Grandmother...-
Of course, to an extent I was overthinking it, as anyone could meet with those in the Elder Hall for almost any reason if they take the proper course of action.
However, this time, my worries were justified.
As we walked up to the estate's entrance, Ilios lowered his aura onto everyone inside, and almost instantly, the half-breed inside turned his head.
-He didn't seem to respond to either Hera's or my auras... Why would...-
But he didn't give me time to finish that thought.
*FWOOOOSH* In an instant, his elder-sized form grew to just over a hundred meters tall, and he darted straight at us through the walls of the estate, liquifying them before bursting through the front door with his glowing maw.
However, Hera wasn't going to let him use that spell. *tap* Instantly devouring his momentum, she closed his mouth with her aura and shot him an unamused look. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
*flash-CRACKLE-FWOOOSH* The moment she finished speaking, two blazing, bright blue flames erupted from his nostrils as if they were massive blow torches, and his body rumbled, rustling his feather-coated body.
But the look of fury in his eyes didn't fade. He simply stared straight into my eyes with a slightly visible craze.
-What's up with him...- Something seemed off; it looked like he was possessed somehow. -But his soul isn't strong enough to belong to a god...- I just couldn't think of an explanation for such deep seated anger to be aimed at me...
"You fucking monster..." His voice quivered with rage as he started oozing a crazed bloodlust.
"Who are you, dude?" I spoke casually, not seeing him as even a slight threat.
But to him it seemed like a provocation. "You BASTARD!" *VWOOM* Releasing an aura a few times larger than Myles before his sleep, he immediately pried himself out of Hera's clutch and lunged for me.
But before his brain could even register it, my aura slammed down onto him, stripping several feathers and scales off his back and driving his body into the solid stone pathway we stood on as if it was made of brittle sandstone. *VWOOOOM-WHAAMMM* It was so much force even the current Myles would struggle to resist it. -Let alone some angry brat...-
His form, in the ballpark of 100 meters tall, would normally tower over me, but while his face was embedded in the ground, I looked down at him with a mix of irritation and pity. "What the hell is your problem, kid." His body indicated that he was quite old, but neither his voice nor demeanor reflected that. "We have never met."
Tears slowly welled in his eyes as he helplessly tried to force his way out from beneath my aura. "You killed my grandfather, and you killed my Mother, you fucking dog..."
I had no clue who he was referring to. -But...- "If I killed them, they must have opposed me." The only thing I could immediately think of was the Academy. -But that was credited to the Ancient Fenrir... How did he connect it to me?-
But Hera chimed in before I could ask anything. "Who was your grandfather?"
"Hræsvelgr." He responded in an instant.
It was a name I didn't recognize, but it made Hera's eyes light up. "THE Hræsvelgr?" She paused before speaking to me through her aura. "He was the god of the Thunderbirds during the Great War. A god who lagged only just behind Bahamut in terms of strength."
-So Nott or Dagr must have killed him before the final battle...- Although it was faint, there was a hint of familiarity in my mind as I thought about it. -But for someone from the great war to only be his grandfather...- "Who are your parents?"
"He is a descendant of one of Sir Neossós's concubines."
Hearing Mother's irritated voice, I looked up to see her walking through the molten tunnel bored through the estate with a look of pure annoyance. -Sir Neossós?- He was the current head of the Neossós family, one of the big three that fought alongside Bahamut, standing next to the Ragnarok's and Chalastís families.
Although I had heard quite a lot about that eccentric family over the years, I had never met any of them. -And I guess that remains true since this guy isn't actually one of their descendants either...-
But from what I could tell, Mother didn't seem to know that his father wasn't Sir Neossós. "He's here mediating a discussion between us and an ancient thunderbird who is supposedly a demigod."
-That must be his actual father...- "Is that so? What's the conversation about?"
Her expression quickly turned troubled. "Haah.. we'll talk about it in a second... For now, let's just move to a better place..." Giving Haris an annoyed look, she quickly used her aura to tell people they were moving to the Elder Hall and took to the air, motioning me along with her as Grandmother and Pluto exited the estate and followed after her.
Giving Haris a quick glance as I turned away, I eased my aura off him. "If you attack me again, I'll go slam your father's face into the ground instead of yours, got it?"
He gave me a stare of defiance before eventually nodding, letting me take to the air and quickly follow after Mother.
The flight wasn't more than a couple minutes, but while we flew, Mother and Krystallo had a moment to catch up with one another, and while Pluto and Haris were clearly curious about who Hera and I were, we remained mostly silent, only silently discussing between ourselves some of the Thunderbirds traditional traits, like being cocky and rash. "I certainly got that impression already..."
But after chatting for a moment, we eventually started coming up on a colossal stone structure I understood to be the new Elder Hall, but it seemed quite old compared to what I expected.
"Is this not a newly constructed building? Why does it look so aged?" At first I thought it was just a repurposed building, but it only took a moment to get corrected.
"There are always multiple backup halls spread around Bahamut for cases like this, where we need to relocate quickly." Grandmother spoke up with a softened tone. "In the early days of the Elder Hall, when Bahamut was trying to rebound, they made it a tradition to create a new hall with every generation following each coming-of-age ceremony, but once about thirty were built, they stopped. Unfortunately, now, that means they're all extremely old buildings, but who knows.. maybe we'll pick up the tradition again after what's happened..."
-That wouldn't be a bad idea actually...-
Continuing down to the Hall, we all landed and quickly made our way inside without getting questioned, before coming into a huge central colosseum that completely dwarfed the last hall. "This place looks like it was made for ancients..."
"Thats because it was." Pluto's deep but smooth voice immediately echoed. "This was only the second or third hall ever built. Back then, the Elder Hall still allowed ancients in the cabinet."
"Ah, is that so?" -That makes me wonder why that's against the rules nowadays though...-
But before I had the chance to ask, everyone hopped up into seats looking over the entrance and the arena-like area at the center, where Haris and I stood. -I guess Ill hop up too...- *Hyup-tap*
I immediately got a weird look from Pluto and Haris, but after noticing that Grandmother didn't even pay me a glance, they didn't inquire.
"Now, let's get back to the subject at hand, shall we?" Grandmother quickly split up the stack of papers she had been carrying before re-sorting them. "Haris, please start over for our guest."
He gave me a quick glare before continuing. "I'm here to propose giving Bahamut a figure to rally under, like when Bahamut or Monachalkos ruled us or like how Siratha is now. To keep things short, my suggestion is that we gather under Lord Pouli, a demigod thunderbird from the times of the Great War."
-So they had a similar idea to us from a few years ago... But they want to suggest a non-dragon figure...-
Pluto was quick to interject. "It's something worth considering, but I can't say I favor it..." He looked like he really wasn't a fan of it. "If he cannot even meet us in person, I don't believe he is worth trusting."
"I agree."
"I as well." Grandmother and Mother immediately agreed.
But he didn't shy away from it. "Then what if I were to call him here?"
Everyone immediately shot him an odd look. "We will reconsider... How long will it take?"
His confidence was boosted in an instant. "Give it a week-"
But I quickly cut him off. "He's already here."
Everyone turned to me in a flash.
"Hera, take Krystallo and the piotita. Go protect my family for a second."
Sensing exactly what I did, she quickly nodded before hopping off my back and running toward Grandmother and Mother.
Pluto, who was on the other side of the Hall, just gave me a look like I was crazy.
But he didn't have the opportunity to speak. "Well, it's unfortunate, but it looks like you guys might be moving to a new Elder Hall soon. I'm starting to get the idea that thunderbirds have some anger issues."
"NOTT!" A draconic-mimicked voice instantly boomed, being easily audible through the thick stone between us and the sky. "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SON!"
"Haah..." I let out a heavy sigh before changing to my fenririan form and glancing to my right. "Pluto, if you say a word about who I am, I'll treat you like I'm about to treat this guy."
"Huh?" His face was so warped with shock that his normal, domineering demeanor was reduced to pure confusion.
But as I got ready to yank the colossal bird out of the air over us, Hera whispered to me. "Keep him alive."
"Hm?" Glancing over at her, I saw her wearing a wide smile.
"If he really was born before the end of the war, he'll be one of, if not the oldest thunderbird alive... Wouldn't it be better to take such a figure in as a slave? Plus.. I have some ideas for him..."
The next thing I knew, a smile came to my face as well. "I guess you're right."
Looking up through the ceiling, I saw the figure of a massive hawk, hovering over the hall with its freakishly huge wings.
"You said thunderbirds are supposed to be much faster than dragons of the same age, right?" Seeing her nod with a satisfied smile, I looked toward the hall's main entrance. -That would be a handy trait to nurture... Maybe I can use them like carrier pigeons while I figure out quantum tethering...- "That makes me wonder how fast they are though." *poof*
I instantly vanished from my seat in the hall before the ground shattered, and a column of sunlight abruptly lit up where I once was.
Before anyone could recognize what happened, I was several kilometers in the air, gripping my claws into the neck of a colossal white hawk that easily dwarfed me and staring into its eye. "I had hoped you would have at least reacted, you know."
His eyes shot open and pupils dilated as his brain finally caught up.
"I'm not sure if you're even worth being my carrier pigeon now."
"WHAT THE?!" Reaching up his claw as fast as he could, he gripped my long tail and opened his beak revealing an intense blue glow brighter than the sun.
-Huh?- I was instantly taken aback. -Radiation?!-
The next thing I knew, a shiver passed down my spine.
It wasn't radiation from any normal source.
It was radiation that I knew to only result from impure antimatter reactions.
-THIS STUPID PIGEON!-
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