326 Flight

Michael can't restrain his grin as he levels Arctic Burn, "Huh, I can fly now... Cool." he mutters to himself, feeling somewhat dissatisfied from the rather anticlimatic way he'd acquired something so sought after.

Even people in Elderscrolls struggle to find ways to fly, despite their mastery in magic. The only people he could name off the top of his head were the Dragon Priests. But even then, it was more akin to slowly floating than actual flight.

He shakes his head, even if his ability to fly only lasted a couple seconds, it would still draw a lot of attention. He'd try it in secret later... Before that, he needed to check in on his new Spirit.

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Michael lands face first in the searingly hot sand and groans and he pushes himself up. Brushing himself off, he looks over and heads towards the oasis where Lina should still be. Low and behold, she was still present, sitting with her back against a palm tree with a frown on her face.

Her head darts in his direction, her frown becoming more prominent as her body begins to glow a bright fire orange, her body floating from the ground as fire wreaths her hands. "Who are you! And why have you brought me here!?" she shouts accusingly.

Michael lets out a sigh, he couldn't blame them for always having this reaction, but did they have to be so 'violent' about it... He shuddered to imagine what the godlike beings would do when he met them in the future... He raises his hands and quickly goes into an explanation, eventually calming Lina as he earnestly explains the situation.

"So. I'm trapped here?"

"From what I know, yeah... Not much I can do about it." he says, not yet explaining that he'd been the one to pick her out of many others.

She stops floating and sits cross-legged in the sand, a disgruntled and hopeless expression striking her features. "Well, that's it then, I suppose."

...

"That's it?" he asks, finding it odd that she'd given up so quickly.

Lina hugs and rests her head on her knees, "What did you expect? I'm dead, my lands are dead, everyone I loved is dead... There is nothing left for me."

"The Dead God?" Michael asks, taking a not so wild guess as to the cause of her suffering.

She lets out a low chuckle and nods, "That scum and his unending armies. We didn't stand a chance."

...

"Well, look at the bright side... You're still... You. Which means there's a chance for me to bring you back. Even if it doesn't change what happened to your home." he offers.

"Is that what you say to all the other hopeless souls you've trapped? What will you have me pay for my freedom? My knowledge? You've already taken my power so, my body, then?" she asks, her amber eyes turning a hot orange.

"Your knowledge, of course. I might have some of your power, but I'm like a headless chicken when it comes to actually using them." he replies.

She gives a slow nod, "I'd imagine. Let me think on it, whether I want to exist like this or just end it... I'm sure this prison couldn't stop me from burning my soul." she mutters, waving him off as she stares silently into the water of the oasis.

Michael doesn't argue, leaving her to her own devices so she could decide a course of action. He knew how it felt to be trapped, so, he could sympathise with her.

Lina glances over at where he'd been standing and lets out a tired breath, "Do I even want another chance to die?"

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Hours later, Michael was standing at a hidden spot on the College's roof, attempting to psyche himself up. "Alright, let's do it... Arctic Burn." he whispers, causing a truly huge pair of blue ephemeral dragon wings to sprout from his back. Cold mist exuded from them, and Michael could feel his almost instinctual ability to control them.

He has them flap which releases a freezing cold bout of wind in front of him. He was unaffected by it, and come to think of it, unaffected by the chilly weather as well... As if he were sitting in doors at a neutral temperature.

Next, he sucks in air and blows out hard. Michael felt as if he were superman as his breath extends forwards, freezing the stone floor of the rooftop and everything else it touches, creating small shards of ice in its wake.

The last thing to test now was flight... Yeah, not yet. First, he waits to see how long the wings will last. In the end, it's only around ten seconds. While the wings don't use a massive amount of mana, constant use would leave him exhausted in no time.

With all that confirmed, he casts Arctic Burn one last time and throws himself off of the roof while commanding his wings to flap... It was a bit awkward to do, but fortunately, when combined with his skill [Convection], flying wasn't that difficult to do.

The only real problem was simply how big his wings were... Their size left him rather slow to manoeuvre, and he wasn't sure what would happen if they got struck by a spell mid-flight... Would he just plummet to his doom or...?

Regardless, his tests were a success. Now, if anyone pissed him off, he could just fly over a fortress with Megumin in hand and reign explosions down until the problem didn't exist. Very handy if he did say so himself.

Now he needed to return to the roof, before Illococoo sees him and attempts to join him in her dragon form...