Silver Stars, Ch 5: Old Friend (Patreon)

The Void was a brilliant expanse filled with light, stretching into an endless sky above Silverguard as the chaos winds roared around the tower.

The healing enchantment had been pouring energy into the guardian’s life gem for weeks, bolstering its regeneration and intensifying its vitality. 

It was all for this moment. 

The energy had finally reached the peak of the Fifth Evolution and it was more condensed than the guardian’s aura had been before, which should help him recover his strength.

As Sam’s energy surged, silver stars flared in his aura and spread out like a sun above the fortress. Within its depths, an ocean of essence burned.

His domain intensified, turning the Void into a chaos of laws. 

Each of them flowed like a river in his perception. 

Elemental essences collided with dimensional space, principles of the Void, and other concepts that he could see but that were not his own. 

His domain was a way of comprehending those deeper truths, bringing them close enough that he could change them.

To him, everything was runes. 

A universe of enchantment.

His cloak floated in his aura, stretching out behind him as the primal laws in it resonated with the energy. His bracer resonated as well. Runes formed above the surface and glowed as they fell endlessly into its dark surface.

The Fragments of the Primal Void that he’d fused into the artifacts were making themselves known as he condensed energy from the Void, calling more essence than he could hold.

Droplets of astral quintessence began to form in the flames.

He broke the condensed energy apart and fed it into the enchantment around the guardian’s aura, which modified it until it resonated with the right signature.

The guardian’s life gem glowed brilliantly at the center of the formation and the surface began to ripple like it was made of liquid flame.

If the guardian had been human, this would have required healing magic, but the Cer’Aleth was an elemental, and that was easier for Sam to restore.

He focused on regenerating the guardian’s aura as he let the enchantment rebuild his body. 

Lines of silver energy merged with the crystal flame, supporting its growth, and veins of astral quintessence flowed through the crystal, swiftly changing to the same sapphire blue. 

The life gem began to expand. 

Crystalline spikes formed on the surface and grew outward, turning between a liquid and solid structure. Lines of crystalline veins flowed within them, carrying sapphire-hued crystal flame.

As the enchantment thundered, the spikes resolved into the outline of angular arms and a torso, followed by legs and a head. 

Two brilliant eyes formed last, each of them a flare of flame, but they were still closed.

The life gem was at the center of the elemental’s body now, in its proper place as his heart. Its light had dimmed slightly, but it was growing stronger by the moment as the enchantment continued to infuse it. 

He was surrounded by a web of silver energy that was fading away. The contrast between the two colors was pleasant.

Sam gathered the energy around him, condensing more of into the support enchantment, especially astral quintessence.

He could see the effect it had.

As each drop touched the elemental’s body, it fused into him like healing water on dry earth and swiftly turned the same color as his inner crystal flame. A trace of silver astral energy remained, but it rose off of him like a mist, evaporating back into the Void.

It was lucky that Sam had Elemental Mastery as a core ability. Healing the guardian was similar to regenerating a golem, although more complex.

Fortunately, the life gem knew what to do.

The Cer’Aleth were a unique race, one that was born as durable and long-lived. 

If Sam hadn’t been here, the guardian would have recovered, but it would have taken a century or two longer.

Now that the elemental’s body had reformed, the critical point of the healing was finished. It was just a matter of letting the guardian finish restoring himself and then he would wake up.

Time passed as the guardian’s body became more distinct. 

Edges of crystal flame grew outward into distinct patterns along his limbs and head, striations that marked out personal characteristics for his race, similar to hair color and facial features for humans, and he grew taller and broader across the shoulders. 

Eventually, he looked exactly the same as he had the last time Sam saw him.

Compared to Solis, he was taller and gave off a more powerful aura. His body was a darker sapphire blue, and the veins of flame that ran through his limbs were more condensed.

Elemental essences wove together at Sam’s command, twisting into runes that floated in the air. Before long, a full set of equipment was ready for the guardian.

As Sam waited for him to open his eyes, he Analyzed him.

Kerosto’Era’Naratoth. Cer’Aleth. Level 599. Lord of Crystal Spells-Flame of the Seven Wanderers.

Title: Astral Guardian.

His primary class was an impressive Lord-tier one, which was unsurprising given that he was the only watcher over Aster Fall. 

He was the most powerful being Sam had encountered who wasn’t Primordial or Voidborn. 

The memory of giant sapphire spell diagrams forming in the Void above the Vos’Rekan and the hundreds of crystal flame elementals he had summoned were enough to explain some of his abilities.

He was primarily a mage and summoner.

His subclass was one Sam wasn’t familiar with, but it focused on using seven different types of flame to augment his spells, each of them lending a unique effect.

The short middle part of his name, Era, was a sign of status among his people. 

It showed his age. 

As the Cer’Aleth grew older, they shortened some parts of their name, finding uniqueness in being the only one to have it. 

They wouldn’t take a name like that until their own ancestors had passed on, and as long as they lived, it would be their unique family name. 

Their descendants would take a longer version of it, like Erata or Erakasi, as the last part of their name.

Sam wasn’t sure how old he actually was, but he had watched over Aster Fall for almost 10,000 years, since he replaced the last guardian. 

In that time, 2.1 million years had passed in the settled galaxy.

He was probably over 100,000 years old on his own, perhaps even a million, not counting the expanded time elsewhere.

There were only a few beings around more powerful than him, and they were all at the Sixth Evolution. If he had to, he could probably put up a good fight against some of them. 

It made Sam consider his own age, but after a moment he pushed the thought away. 

It was already getting hard to tell. 

Time was passing more quickly for some of his avatars, especially the one in the Deep Void who had already reached a point where time was a hundred times faster. 

To that part of his mind, years had passed since he sent him out. 

It gave him a lot of time to practice with runes, crafting, and his domain, which was useful.

Perhaps one day he would keep track of time by the rise and fall of stars, and ask the Will of the Path whenever he wanted to know smaller amounts, but that would be a long time from now.

After a few more minutes, the guardian’s aura shifted, becoming sharper as his awareness returned. The fiery veins throughout his limbs flowed more quickly.

Then he opened his eyes.

They were like sapphire sparks as he looked at Sam. 

“Sam Hastern…” he said slowly as he took in everything around them. “I am glad you survived the devourer. I was right to place my faith in you.” 

He rotated his shoulders as he adjusted to his new body. A wave of crystal flame gathered at his feet and rolled over him. When it passed, his crystal skin was polished and gleaming. 

He looked like his old self.

“Did Aster Fall survive?” he asked immediately. “Did the beast flee? Tell me what has happened since then. I can sense you are much more powerful now. Has it been centuries?”

“Only a few months.” Sam shook his head as he began to fill in the guardian on everything that had happened.

He started with the Vos’Rekan’s flight, then the construction of Silverguard, meeting the Avatar of Blood in the World Seal, and the arrival of the reinforcements, quickly summarizing it all.

As he spoke, the guardian’s eyes widened, something that was rare for the ancient elemental. 

“Only months?” His shock was apparent as he looked at the tower around him, including the enchantment Sam had built to reconstruct his body. 

“I would not have thought that was possible...but you are an Astral Titan. Your people have always been mysterious.”

He looked more closely at Sam.

“You have changed. You feel like you are on the edge of the Sixth Evolution in pure power now, similar to me, but your domain is different. It is powerful, but it feels new and old at the same time, as if it has always been a part of things. You have some deep comprehension of the Void.”

“My domain allows me to see the runes that make up the Void,” Sam agreed, confiding to an extent in the one being he trusted almost as much as his family. 

He could sense the guardian’s domain as well. He’d felt it before, but now that the Cer’Aleth was awake, the energy around him had changed.

Sapphire blue runes were rising up from him and spreading outward, making the area burn hot and cold at once. They formed into miniature spell diagrams and then faded away, but their force remained.

It looked like his domain was part of how he had made such large spell formations during battle. It supported them, making it easier for him to create spells and sustain them. 

“I also have other things to show you. I have not been idle in preparing for the hunt.”

He turned, waving his hand at Silverguard below them. From their position on the tower, the island fortress stretched out like a shining city in the night of the stars.

“This is Silverguard. It is forged from the stone of the Vos’Rekan we fought, so that we will never face such a disadvantage again. I created it to guard Aster Fall from beyond.”

With a flicker of will, he sent a thought to Silverguard. 

“Report.”

Or, more specifically, to the artifact spirit that was the fortress’s heart.

Awaiting orders. The voice of the artifact spirit rang out around them. It was clear and bright like a silver chime, and it held a great force inside. 

Enchantments are active. 

Core energy is at 100%. 

Astral scanning is at 100%. 

Defensive arrays are at 98%. 

Offensive arrays are at 62%. 

Golem Creation is at 42%.

More areas followed as Silverguard reported on every enchantment and all of the fortress’s substructures. Eventually, it concluded.

Overall battle readiness is at 79.6%.

Wards lit up across the fortress as the spirit spoke, radiating with strength that swept outward like an ocean into the Void.

It was as strong as Sam could make it. With the vast size of the island, the sheer amount of energy it was able to contain was staggering. It might not be at the Sixth Evolution in quality, but it made up for it with quantity.

Then Sam turned, pointing at the walls and courtyards across the island. 

Assault golems were perched there like hawks sitting on the fortress, shining with a bright silver light. Even though the golem chamber was new, his avatars had also been working to make them.

There were hundreds of them.

He didn’t plan to lose his nagas in the next battle.

“When we find the Vos’Rekan,” he promised, “this time it will be different.”

The guardian looked at everything and his eyes burned brighter as his aura turned fierce. The scene was enough to move him.

“I did not expect you to change so much in such a short time,” he said. “Every time a Vos’Rekan has come before, the most we could do was drive it away. But with this...perhaps this time it will indeed be different.”

“I will not allow the beast to escape again.”  Sam’s words were a promise.

With the fortress and his own advancements, especially in terms of his domain and the Void, he was confident in facing the Vos’Rekan. 

If he were relying on just his essence pool, he wasn’t as strong as the beast yet, but that was why he had artifacts and allies. 

Astral Titans had learned to craft for exactly this reason.

This time, he would kill the beast and the nagas could turn its head into a bowl. Given the size of it, it might make for a good arena.

Astral energy surged through him in expectation. 

“How do you feel?” he asked, redirecting the topic to the guardian’s return. “As strong as before?”

“It will take me a day or two to adapt to my new body,” the guardian said as he scanned himself, “but it won’t be long. Whatever you did to help me regenerate, I feel no sense of weakness. That is incredible. 

“When I developed this method, I was prepared for it to take centuries to recover, and I expected that my energy would be reduced for a while, perhaps even below the Fifth Evolution, but I feel as strong as ever...perhaps more so.”

The guardian looked thoughtfully at the faint aura of silver light flowing across his skin. It was faint now, since most of it had been converted to his own crystal flame.

“Then I did it the right way,” Sam said with a nod. “The last part of that aura will fade away shortly.”

He’d added a number of strengthening and reinforcement spells into his enchantments, with the intention of making the guardian more durable than he’d been before.

“What is this energy you used to restore me?” the guardian asked. “Some of it is still present. I’ve never felt anything like it, but it feels like some type of flame...starlight.”

“Astral energy,” Sam explained, “and there was a large amount of astral quintessence as well, which is a type of condensed elemental material. I used both to rebuild your body and then I let your life gem draw on them to restore itself. You provided the concept. I added the strength.”

“Astral Titan energy...” the guardian said thoughtfully. “I am astonished that it worked.”

“It is lucky that I use elemental abilities,” Sam said. “Without that, it might not have.”

“The Void is always full of mysteries.” The elemental nodded. “Perhaps this one falls in our favor. But something is different as well. I feel a sense of potential that wasn’t there before. I will have to explore it.”

“Astral quintessence holds a lot of natural potential,” Sam said. He wasn’t surprised by the idea. 

He’d infused all of his effort into healing the guardian, more than it would take to create a thousand golems. It was almost enough to build Silverguard’s core all over again.

Hopefully it did something.

“By the way...what should I call you?” he asked. “You never told me your name.”

He could see the elemental’s name from Analyze, but it was poor manners to use it from that.

His words pulled the guardian’s attention away from the astral energy.

“I never told you?” the guardian asked as he looked up and gave a short laugh. “Forgive me for that. I apparently forgot my manners in the rush before. 

“I am Kerosto’Era’Naratoth, but most call me Kerosto. A few friends call me Keros, and my descendants call me Era. You should call me Keros. There is nothing like fighting together to forge a friendship.”

“Keros then,” Sam said with a smile. “Are you ready to finish the hunt?”

“Indeed. With your new strength and this fortress...we should have a better chance at killing the beast this time, if we can find it,” Keros agreed. “They usually manage to escape. We have to track it if we can. Perhaps it has not gone too far.”

“I already know where it is,” Sam said as his expression turned hard. He could sense it through the connection that had formed when they’d devoured each other’s essence. “I’ve only been waiting for you to wake up.”

He pointed to the equipment he’d created, which was floating off to the side, and drew Keros’s attention to them. 

“I created these for you. Hopefully they serve you well.”

The elemental picked them up one after the other and studied them, before putting them on. They were designed to bolster spells and augment mana, as well as to provide defensive barriers in a pinch, something that would be useful for any casting class. 

That set, in particular, was designed to defend against the Vos’Rekan’s voidfire and to help break its dimensional abilities.

When Keros was done equipping them, he nodded at Sam.

“Thank you,” he said. “I will not say more, since I know the challenges before us. It sounds like we must hurry to find the beast before it can return, but first, I should speak with the reinforcements and give them instructions. From your words, they are too young to know what to do. After that...” 

He looked into the distance, toward where the battle with the Vos’Rekan had been. 

“It is said that in the early years, we followed the Astral Titans into battle. It will be an honor to do so again.” His words were grim and focused.

Sam gave him a nod. 

“It is time to finish what we began.”

Below them, Silverguard burned with light as the golems turned their heads as one and stared into the distance.