Aella had scoured all of the chests and had gathered all of the magical items she thought she might have a prayer of using. Magic still made her nervous, but she had an idea on how to acquire their magic, without having to learn magic like Bridgette was trying to teach. Picking up the wand of lightning after shoving everything into her magical pouch, she turned to Precious, who was watching her carefully."Why do I think you"re about to do something stupid?" he asked.
"Because I am," she said, scooping him up.
"Why?" he growled, clawing his way to her shoulder.
"I need things to get done, and I don"t have time to wait for this storm to calm down," she sighed. "I"m going to leave you with Bridgette until I"m done, that way if something bad happens, you"ll be okay."
"Wow, that is pretty stupid," he protested.
"Hey, if I thought you could handle what I have planned, I would totally let you come along, but I don"t want to risk you," she growled, teleporting to the library.
"Bridgette," she shouted, trying to pry Precious" claws out of her shoulder.
"What?" gasped Bridgette, rushing around a bookshelf looking panicked.
"I need you to," grunted Aella, "keep Precious for a while."
Finally pulling the kitten off of her shoulder, she immediately teleporting away before he could turn and jump back. The storm raged around her, and she felt the elements within her stir. All around her, the air swirled wildly, with no aim or direction. Debris that had been picked up, spun as well, lost in the madness of the storm.
Pulling out the wand, she could feel fire perk up. Was she going to start a fire storm? It wanted to see a fire tornado!
Air was thrilled she was high in the air and couldn"t wait to see why she was there. Was she going to drift along and let the storm take her like it had before?
Earth thought the rocks should be put back down on the ground, where they belonged, and cautioned patience instead of rash decisions. Aella was intrigued that it was willing to give her such advice, totally different from fire"s hurried moments of intense pa.s.sion. She paused as she contemplated her actions up to that moment, and realized many of them were spontaneous, without much patience at all.
Oh, well, this needed to get done and she was tired of having no control over the storm. Remembering the lightning storm from the fight with the harpies, she prepared to use the wand. A silent voice in her head suddenly spoke up.
"Are you sure you want to do that?"
She looked around, and sighed. There was no one else. The many different voices that had claimed her head were bound to create chaos. Wouldn"t it be fitting for now to be that moment?
"Why wouldn"t I do this?" she called into the storm, as if it was the one talking to her.
"That will cause quite a show," it whispered, hiding being the many other ent.i.ties within her, keeping her from being able to pinpoint exactly who was speaking. Could it be shadow? Too afraid to show itself?
"I am not AFRAID!" it cried, exposing itself in its anger before slipping back into the dark corners of her mind.
"You can see my memories, just like everything else in my head," she insisted. "This has to work!"
"You are so impatient for things to fall into place. What happened to the patient killer who lived in the pits? Have you left her to die now that you have your kingship?" taunted shadow.
"What do you mean?" objected Aella. "I"m still that same girl!"
"No, remember the relief you felt after a fight, when they let you run back to the darkness of your cage? When you finally knew that there were no more fights for the moment, but that there could be more later? Remember the determination to be ready when that moment came? Planning how to kill people, when they changed up your opponents? The practicing to hone your body just right? All of that has ended. This storm will end in three months. Joseph, a G.o.d, has already said it would. Those who were in immediate danger are safe. You have the power to keep them fed for those three months. There will be plenty of work to do, once this storm pa.s.ses, but right now, you need to find yourself. Learn about all of us. Learn who you have become, and what has happened to that lost little killer."
Aella floated in the screaming storm, lost in her own little bubble. The voice was right. She looked down at the wand. If she unleashed the lightning, all of the magic she carried would be absorbed and she would change once again. Earth agreed with the shadow, and strangely, so did the other elements.
The realm had bonded her to Precious, and she had just dumped him off to change who she was, without consulting him. Granted he was a kitten that was mentally only a week old, but still. He had gained something from the bond that made him more, just as she was now more than she had been before.
Teleporting above the library, she looked down through a window to see Precious sitting on a table, looking up at her. He knew she was there, even if she wasn"t in the building. They had a bond, and she had new elements. All of this needed to be investigated. Aella needed to learn who she was again. This storm allowed her that time.
"Precious," she whispered, teleporting to the library and holding out her arm.
He launched himself to her, to the befuddlement of Bridgette, then she teleported to the throne room.
Seifer and Frederik were arguing with the n.o.bles while the advisors watched. She listened for a while, before making herself known. Everyone freaked when she seemed to just step out of nowhere. Being able to be invisible was fantastic! They all calmed immediately, having become used to her teleport ability, but Aella had a benefit over them now. She could arrive and listen in for a moment before making herself known.
"Your Majesty!" cried Seifer, looking very relieved.
"Don"t," she said, holding up a hand as he went to start to bow. "I am here to make a proclamation. This will be binding until the end of the storm, so everyone needs to listen carefully."
She had all of their attention, and waited a moment to let them be prepared to hear what she had to say. Looking around, she was actually surprised to see that the actual n.o.bles were present, instead of just servants. This meeting must have been pretty important to them.
"Until the end of the storm, I am going to be incredibly busy. Even more busy than I already have been. Fate has not been kind in that regard," she said with a shake to her head, thinking of all of the chaos that had happened in the last couple of months. "I am going to make Seifer king of the city. He will have control of all decisions. I will pop in occasionally, to check on things, and if he isn"t able to handle something, I"ll help out."
The room was dead silent, as everyone gaped at her in shock.
"Frederik will remain as the regent, or second in control. Should Seifer have any issues, he can refer to Frederik for aid. The advisors will remain as advisors, but they will have no power to make decisions without approval of the king. I have too much to do, to have to deal with petty issues from the n.o.bility of the city."
"Then who shall rule the other city?" asked Seifer. "Or the surrounding countryside?"
"The storm rules the countryside, don"t you think?" she laughed. "And I have appointed the Hero of Light as the ruler of the other city. Since most of the humans are there, I felt they would be more comfortable being ruled by a human. I don"t feel there will always be humans, due to their small number, so he is merely the ruler of the city, rather than a king. Once the storm subsides and people can return to the countryside, we will decide if this is a good fit."
It was obvious no one was happy with her decision, but Aella didn"t wait for them to make their objections out loud.
"I have been chosen by our realm as the King over the Realm. There are more kingdoms than just ours struggling with this storm. The earth hero is no more. He died in an invasion attempt from another realm. I have taken his powers to ensure they will be used properly and not abused. Soon, I will claim the water hero"s powers, but I will leave the Hero of Light untouched. He will be the sole person capable of going against me, should the need arise..."
"So, you shall still be king, just not of the demons?" asked Varnin.
"I am still a demon, are I not?" she asked, looking around the room. No one spoke up against that, despite her grey skin. "Then I am still the Demon King, just of the realm, instead of the Demon Kingdom."