Master Of None

With everything seemingly a little clearer to the relationship the party and the elemental kings with the true sages should have, Walker had everyone take a traveling stance. While the true fire sage would somewhat guide everyone, he was not going to be able to simply stay with them the entire time.

As they did leave the new fire elemental plane, the fire golem became more defined and solid. It was a clear show of connection to the greater fire elemental planes that the true fire sage possessed with the overall fire elemental planes.

There was a small change though, Walker noticed the slight shift in the fire elemental plane from the location they had come from before. While the area did not seem that different, it was enough so that Walker understood a little better now too.

”The smaller elemental planes being added in to the greater elemental planes don’t shift in the same way because their space mana and other manas aren’t properly acclimated to the overall elemental planes. Meaning that they cause even more issues by not moving the same way or even interrupting the space mana as a whole.”

This was another reason that the elemental planes struggled with these additions. ”There are many waves that are created from these additions. When they interfere with one another, it grows more troublesome.” The true fire sage stopped and the golem began to degrade. ’Here is where the one I have called to guide you will arrive.”

Before the full golem had even dissipated, everyone noticed it. Something that they did not expect had a fire affinity counterpart.

’True flame gryphon

This is a monster that could be called an intelligent race. Unfortunately, the true flame gryphon is a species so small in number and very rare through the fire elemental planes that it is currently impossible. Their long lifespans can be attributed to the eternal flame within their hearts that they feed with various forms of fire mana.

They are able to utilize their feathers as weapons by shooting them from their wings and adding potent fire manas to them. They also have vicious talons and a powerful beak which they can both bolster with fire mana at will. The vibrant red feathers are a sign that they are always ready to release that fire mana within, they only lose the vibrant red color when they are extremely ill or weakened.

Their attitude is very high and mighty leaving them to even fight some weaker dragons, or if they are old enough, fully grown adult dragons. Often times, they have a territory that they cultivate giving weaker monsters and races a place to live safely for a price. Otherwise, it has been found that they serve directly under the true fire sage within the fire elemental planes…’

Walker didn’t bother sharing much of the information, he entirely slipped the parts about how its body could be used to forge or craft. Gil didn’t ask about the feathers either, it seemed that they all understood this was a much older monster than what they expected. Just the atmosphere around it radiated more heat and a slight majesty that came with being up on high for so long.

”You are truly not of flame as I was told. You are of other things I can not touch but I can feel.” The voice was similar to a flame trying to escape a log burning, the flaring breathy tone was odd but fitting. It was not using normal speech but fire mana to communicate, although that made sense with the strength of the fire mana it possessed.

”We are from a world where all manas are balanced and united. They mix, they break, they clash, but that is balanced. They are not like the outside of the elemental planes where manas run wild and chaotic.” The true flame gryphon looked carefully at Walker who had just spoken to it, its fierce red eyes sparkling with interest in meeting something that it couldn’t explain or comprehend with what it had seen within the greater fire elemental planes.

”I will take you to the child of this area’s guardian. That whelp is trying to gain more control of their flames. It should be enough for you to be happy with.” There seemed to be some information about them that the true fire sage had shared. But the true flame gryphon still seemed a little curious but unwilling to sully its reputation and pride by asking many questions.

Walker didn’t have the chance to respond as the true flame gryphon stepped forward and flames burst around it pushing it further ahead. The entire party didn’t think, Alice had already started a song to enhance their agility. They were moving just as fast if not able to move faster than the true flame gryphon if they weren’t holding back to follow where it was going.

Seeing this, the true flame gryphon almost appeared insulted that there was someone, let alone multiple people, who could keep up with it.

Utilizing fire mana to propel itself faster was just a basic skill. Flying was a natural ability for the true flame gryphon, but where it took domination over other monsters was adding flames into the mix. Its speed and maneuverability were second to none.

If it were to hear anything about the wind or light gryphons, it would be enraged instantly that other gryphon species could even attempt to compete. It’s believe that flames were its core strength and that it was the highest any of its species could reach would always ring through. Instead of a dragon’s pride, this was pure arrogance.

Midnight noticed the true flame gryphons’ thoughts and decided to have a little fun. No one in the party stopped her as she spread her wings out and utilized her full abilities to fly as a dragon.

The moment she rose above the true flame gryphon, the shock in its flight became clear to all of them. It had never imagined that some small dragon that clearly appeared to be younger than even the one they were going to meet had caught up to it.

Worse off yet, Midnight pulled fire mana around her body igniting around her scales. The vibrant flames were a show of control over mana. Walker knew that Midnight had experimented with flame wrapping, wind wrapping, and earth wrapping skills. She still struggled with light wrapping but just as shadow wrapping helped her hide, flame wrapping allowed her to do similar things as the true flame gryphon did to propel itself faster in the air.

As she kept pace and showed her strength in flight, the true flame gryphon struggled internally with realizing that something like Midnight came out of nowhere to outdo it. Not just in flight but also mimicking its ability to propel itself with fire mana. Normally it exceeded over almost every other monster within the fire elemental planes.

The sudden rush of fire mana the true flame gryphon pulled in made Midnight grin, showing her teeth. She was excited to race around and see how fast she could go.

What neither of them realized was that they had already entered another territory.

The sudden roar shook the fire mana and sent tidal waves of fire toward them. The true flame gryphon flapped its wings and fire emanated from its feathers stopping the waves. Midnight simply flew straight through them, her natural resistance was more than enough even without her tough dragon scales and fire affinity to help.

Before Any other of the sorry could say or do anything, Midnight took a deep breath and roared out as well. This time the tidal waves of flame heading toward everyone were completely whipped out. Some were even pushed backwards!

The true flame gryphon landed next to the party who were watching Midnight head toward the distant larger shape. ”That’s the whelp I spoke of. It’s unwise to antagonize a young dragon like that.”

”Don’t worry, Midnight is just trying to play and make a new friend. She hasn’t had the chance to really meet dragons living so far from home so this is a good chance for her to learn a little and enjoy our adventure here.” Walker was so casual. The entire party was so casual and smiling.

The true flame gryphon seemed to believe that the true fire sage had sent it to meet insane people. If all the beings within the world were like this, how could anyone or anything counter them? It was just too impossible.

Midnight found herself looking at a red scaled dragon covered in yellow flames glaring at her. It was triple her size but clearly noticed she had much greater strength than it. ”Let’s fight!” Midnight’s gleeful challenge reverberated through the fire mana. All she could think about was testing fire mana related skills against a dragon born, raised, and still growing in the fire elemental plane. It was too much fun!

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