The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 49

Part 9

"It's strange. I never felt anything that was invisible before." Valentia commented.

"It's weird all right." Helemia observed as she ran her hands back and forth on it. "Perfectly smooth, with no temperature. I mean, we're not really touching anything. It's just Force, to keep anything from touching the real inside of the time-bubble."

"From the angle of it, it must be over six kilometers high over the middle of Hiliani." Mark guessed. "Assuming that it's an even dome, like a flattened bubble, though that's just a guess too." "This is really proof of it all." Reggie quietly marveled. "The time-bubble, The Just Alliance, how important you are, the gods and the demons and everything. It's still hard to believe."

"I know how you feel, son." Mark chuckled. "It all still boggles my mind every time I think about it. I never even saw any real magic until two years ago, not even once. Then the destruction of Shinosa Valley, then six months on my own, then the incredible six weeks after I met Yazadril. Then back to a mostly normal life here. I tell you, those six weeks were so mind-boggling, I might've lost the ability to believe they ever really happened if I wasn't surrounded by elves and dragons and unicorns all the time."

Conversation paused as they felt the barrier and contemplated what had been said, then Reggie suddenly flew over to Mark and buried his face in the hollow of Mark's shoulder. "I so wish the demons weren't coming, Father. It seems like everything in the world is finally almost perfect, and now we have to risk it all in a war. I love my life, but I sure wish we didn't have to spend all our time thinking about the war and getting ready for it."

"I feel the same, Son." Mark said as he hugged and consoled him. "But most of the recent improvements in the world were triggered by the fact that the demons are coming. That caused Zarkog to take over Serminak and start the insidious conspiracy, which caused the formation of The Just Alliance, which led to all the big improvements. It's almost certain that if it weren't for the demons, I would never even have met Talia or Alilia, and none of you would be here. So far, the coming of the demons has led to a lot of good things happening, and we have to do our best to make sure that things keep going the same way." "So the world will be a better place after the nexus." Helemia said as she hugged Talia, sharing her brother's somber mood.

"That's right." Talia nodded as she returned the hug. "We just have to stay strong, do our best to be ready, and enjoy every second of our lives as much as we possibly can."

"Will you make us be gods, Father?" Valentia playfully asked as she flew over to Alilia's back and hung on like she was getting a piggy-back ride, and they started descending.

"If I can possibly do it, I will." Mark nodded. "It's the only thing I can think of that would make us safer than we already are. I wish I didn't have to though. I'd much rather we could all enjoy a few thousand years of mortal life first. But I've got to count my blessings. I'd rather be a god than have to die before I'm eighty, like most humans have for millions of years, and like I expected I would for most of my life." "What will it be like to be a god?" Helemia asked.

"I don't know." Mark shrugged. "One god told me it was easy to just ignore it and feel normal if you wanted to. Another told me there was as much difference between a mortal and a god as there was between me and a pine tree. And they're all different anyway. We'll just have to wait and see."

"We're halfway down to the ground, this would be a good place to make huge explosions." Valentia snickered with a nasty grin as she hopped off Alilia's back and came to a halt in mid-air.

"First make sure that anyone who could be injured is sufficiently Shielded." Alilia instructed as she cast Battle Shield on herself, and the rest followed her example. "Cast it far enough from us that we'd be safe even if we weren't Shielded. And cast it with the sun at your back, to get the best visual contrast against the sky."

"Yes Mother." Valentia said as she gathered herself and brought her arms back over her head. She made a sudden motion like she was throwing a large rock with both hands and gave a short, barking scream as she cast.

Then she, Reggie, and Helemia all screamed and covered their ears against the shattering report of the explosion. It lit up a quarter of the sky before fading away with an ominous rumble.

"Guess who didn't Shield against dangerous noises?" Talia rhetorically asked as she cast a quick diagnostic on the children, but they were already Healing from minor ear damage. "Are you okay?" "Yes, I'll be all right." Valentia said as she rubbed her ears. "I won't forget that again!"

"That was interesting, like a Concussion and a Fireball being cast on the same place at the same time." Mark commented. "I'm sure it'd be very effective in battle. "

"Thank you Father." Valentia smiled.

"You should also keep in mind that in a dark place, the light from that spell would hurt your eyes, so you'd have to Shield your eyes against that too." Mark pointed out. "If you cast anything brighter than that, you'll have to block the light even if you're casting in bright sunlight.

"If you cast a good compound defensive spell-set, like this one; The Wards of The Nine Valleys, it includes all of that and a lot more besides.

"Oooh, that's nice!" Valentia told him enthusiastically. "And if you turned it inside out so that the attacking parts attacked stuff inside the Shield instead of what's outside, you could cast it on someone and it'd hold them inside it while it blasted them with all the attacks!"

"Hey, that's very creative thinking!" he told her proudly, and reached over to give her a rub on her back. "Not a very efficient use of power compared to most magic attacks, but very creative!"

"Thanks Father." Valentia smiled.

"Cast another one of those explosions, Valentia!" Helemia urged. "It'll be a lot more fun now that we're ready for it!"

"Okay!" Valentia agreed, and cast it again.

It was even larger this time; a gigantic reddish-yellow fireball that expanded and dissipated at super-speed.

"Excellent! Can you do a pink one?" Helemia asked as she clapped in spontaneous enthusiasm.

"A pink one? I'm not sure..." Valentia responded as she thought about it.

"Remember that when it comes to energy, color is usually dependent on temperature." Talia told them. "Red is the coolest and violet is the hottest, in the order of the colors in a rainbow. The colors in the rainbow are pure colors, but other colors, including pink, can only be made by mixing two pure colors. To be honest, I'm not sure what two pure colors you'd need to mix to make pink, nor do I know what temperatures you'd need to produce a given pure color. So you'd need to experiment a bit to get a pink explosion."

"Okay." Valentia nodded. "But I don't know how to make it hotter or colder."

"Try making a bigger one with the same power to make it colder and redder, and smaller with the same power to make it hotter and bluer." Reggie suggested. "If our mothers and Father will let us use enough o their power to keep up with you, we'll try making the second pure color."

"Sure." Mark chuckled, giving the twins access to more power. Talia and Alilia did the same, and they spent over an hour watching their children making multi-colored explosions a kilometer in the air. As the sur began to set and the sky to the east darkened, they looked even more beautiful.

Suddenly Povon, Kragorram, and Karzog arrived in the air beside them.

"May we join you?" Povon asked. "We couldn't help but notice your fine display, even from home."

"Certainly you may join us." Alilia told them.

Karzog asked the children what they were doing, and they explained it.

"I hope we're not disturbing everyone back there?" Talia inquired.

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