Ayanda stared at the young man, who went as far as to puff out his cheeks to show his dissatisfaction towards recent events. On the lady's face there might have been a smug grin, but nobody could tell as long as she wore her helmet. Nayavu wanted to ask about that helmet many times, as he had only seen that design in Fjordheim, yet before he could open his mouth, the energetic woman spoke again.
"No way, did you really think you could win against the thunderbird? Hahahaha!"
Her blunt and loud way of speaking shut Nayavu up quick, and instead, the boy tried to shift the blame.
"Well, who's at fault for bringing the thunderbird here unannounced? How do you think I feel after being pushed into your twisted training out of nowhere? Not only did you let me think the bird was dead, but now you two are all friendly after fighting for days?"
"Slow down there, champ!" Ayanda said, taking off her helmet and throwing a peculiar fruit at the flustered boy. "Don't you think you should be thanking her instead?"
Nayavu caught the fruit and bit into it, completely disregarding the fact that neither the taste nor the shape were like anything he knew.
"Her?" he repeated, looking at the giant blue bird that stood calm next to the woman who should have been her rival.
The thunderbird stood still and stared back at the Inyankaran, serene yet frightful energy leaking from its body as if to defy the simplest laws of the world that said energy cannot be produced out of nothing.
Whether the bird was smiling or was sad was completely unclear to Nayavu, and since one option doesn't exclude the other, the boy smiled back out of politeness.
Next, Nayavu touched the buck that stood next to him. From its fur, electric arcs sprouted with every touch and jumped around on the animal. The same thing happened between the boy's fingers.
It was not 'his' first time controlling electricity, but 'he' didn't usually care for such a complicated skill to master. Moving this form of energy around was one of the more complicated feats a mage could learn, as it required focus on the movement of particles as small as electrons. It wasn't that hard to conduct the electricity once you had it at hand, but such an element was rare to stumble across, so it was essential that mages also learn to create it through friction—something that produced too little energy and took too long.
The other way to generate electricity was even more complicated.
"Transmutation…" Nayavu whispered. "But how could an animal—"
"Is that what bothers you? Shouldn't you ask about yourself first?" Ayanda interrupted the boy's thoughts.
"I mean… In my case—"
"Ah, I get it. You're just that strong that it isn't even weird to learn something new. Right?" she cut him off again, her arrogant smile bothering Nayavu's tired heart.
"But that's what happens when you get struck by an elemental beast," she continued. "It's way easier to understand the element if you feel it from the source. So I'll say it again, you should really thank her."
Still not fully convinced that what happened was normal, Nayavu first looked his trusty pal in the eyes. In return, Tahu stared blankly and blinked slowly. It was hard to tell what went through an animal's head even for an Inyankara, but it was clear to Nayavu that Tahu was in approval.
Aware that the stag was even more restless than Nayavu after being made a pioneer on a path no animal was used to, the boy patted his pertner, and they both shifted their gaze towards the giant bird.
"Thank you," Nayavu said with a soft smile as Tahu bowed his head.
In response, the bird shook her feathers, letting energy run wild around the group as if to let them know their training was far from over.
"Now…" Nayavu continued. "Don't you think it's about time you tell us why the thunderbird is fighting by your side?"
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"I guess I could," Ayanda answered, holding her helmet tight to her chest.
"It's not that she's fighting by my side. It's more that her role in this world is over, and she chose to spend what little time she has left with the only person she knows."
Nayavu received Ayanda's words with a confused blink, yet he let the woman continue.
"That's the most basic rule of every world. The strong survive while the weak perish. That's all the more true for us, as I'm the one slowly killing her."
"In what way are you killing her?" Nayavu asked with heavy words, yet with a soft voice that tried not to shake up the atmosphere that turned gloomy.
Ayanda made a short pause, reached her hand towards the bird, and caressed her gently. Nayavu didn't expect such a spontaneous woman to have this soft, calm side. His view on the representatives was that they were forces of nature—monsters that lacked human traits of normal beings. Yet the one next to him was proving the boy wrong.
"The way I see it, an elemental god needs two things to govern their element—an immense source of power and the ability to control it flawlessly. I've gotten the control part down, and now, through my victory, I'm gaining the source of energy needed."
"That's to say…"
"I'm absorbing her, Nayavu. With each passing moment, power from the thunderbird is being transferred to me."
Nayavu's eyes widened in an instant. He looked for any sign, any connection to prove Ayanda's words true, but he saw nothing.
"Does that mean that the thunderbird is—"
"Slowly fading away. That's the truth of this world. To the victor go the spoils. Were you to have fought against her before, your training would have taken a much darker turn."
The boy's gaze shifted from the woman to the bird. The bird did the same and looked at him. Staring deep into the eyes of the blue animal, Nayavu didn't feel any regret from her. It was almost as if she expected this to happen—like this was the natural way of things.
A rock shattered from Nayavu's grip. The more he learned about the world, the more unfair it became. The thunderbird was a being the Inyankarans viewed as a god, yet their god was but a pawn in another game. He felt bad for the bird, but more so he felt frustrated. He was frustrated at a world that toyed with everyone.
If only I could change something… he thought, but it was a silly thought. His goal was to live a fulfilling life for once and go out peacefully, not to bother with gods and higher beings.
"Well, since you can't even notice the power transfer, it seems there's a lot of training to do. Come on! What's with that long face?" Ayanda spoke, changing her stoic gaze to a confident, powerful smile. However, she still held tight to the helmet in her hand. It wasn't clear to Nayavu what that helmet meant to the thunder representative, but it was obvious to him that she would hold it in her more vulnerable moments.
"Fine," Nayavu answered as he and Tahu got up from the grass.
"Oh? I thought you would fight back a bit more~"
"What use is there in refusing power?" the boy asked in a playful tone. "Didn't you say that power rules this world?"
"Haha! I love that spirit of yours. Come! I'll make you the next thunder representative in no time!"
That's when Nayavu's brave heart faltered, and the boy's smile turned into a worried grin.
"The… what?"
*****
Still on Inyankaran lands, but far from Nayavu's training grounds, a man threw boulders around all alone. No, he wasn't alone, but the girl tailing him did her best to stay hidden.
"If I don't know where you are, I might throw those stones your way, Tiva."
"Hya!" shouted the young lady with unusually white hair as she lunged at the giant man named Tatanka-Ska. Her strike was swift, but the man had no trouble catching her fist with his big hand.
"Let's see how you deal with this one!" Tiva spoke as she lifted stones from the ground and threw them at the man. In response, Tatanka used his newly learned magic to lift a giant boulder buried in the ground and stopped any attack from reaching him.
"Wow!" said the lady. "You've really been at it with your training! It's never too late to learn stone magic for the mighty Tatanka-Ska!"
The giant man let out a whispered laugh. During his younger days, he had struggled to learn the way of the stone for many years, yet no matter how much he tried, his skills were less than impressive. After years of training, he was barely average in his ability to move stones around, yet for the one called Tatanka-Ska, "average" didn't cut it.
"Yeah…" he spoke. "Although strengthening magic has always been easier for me to learn."
As he looked at his fist turning red, Tatanka thought about those days when he felt hopeless and weak. Back then, discovering his talent for enhancing his body got him out of the slump he had fallen into. It was a skill he only needed months to learn, and he soon became the most trustworthy man in the village.
A problem that he felt was a lake he could never cross had been solved through perseverance and a bit of luck.
"So who's to say I can't cross an ocean all the same?" the man said, balling his fist. Those long-gone days of struggle now seemed like child's play for him. The challenge of rebuilding and defending was now what stood before Tatanka, and he was ready to do everything he could to make out of it a painful yet precious memory of success.
"How about you, Tiva? What have you been up to? Any progress on your training? Are you busy with keeping the kids happy?"
Tiva answered with a smug smile and a "hehe!"
"It's a secret," she said and winked at Tatanka.
"Just don't be too amazed when the title of 'the strongest' is passed on to me!"
"Yeah…" Tatanka said in a soft voice, uncharacteristic for his stature. "I look forward to that…"
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