Seraphina bundled through the golden archway of the imperial palace, beads of sweat trickling down her face. She dashed toward the chamber and prostrated herself to an empty throne. One of the guards noticed her immediately and left the hall to go and inform the emperor.
The emperor took a seat on his throne and without hesitation, cut to the chase, "How is the mortal who holds the lightning attribute doing", he said with a victorious smirk on his face.
That smirk was soon wiped clean when Seraphina broke shocking news, "Emperor, I regret to have to tell you this but the mortal with lightning has died, the cause of his death seems to be internal overload".
The emperor broke into a cold sweat, "Are you telling me he couldn't handle the power? I can hardly believe that otherwise the crystal wouldn't have chosen him!".
Seraphina stood, "That is what his trainer told me, his trainer didn't take the news well and was fidgety and drinking heavily, it appears to be the truth".
The emperor slumped and sighed in defeat "No way, but the Oracle …".
Seraphina averted her gaze from the emperor, "Sir, do you wish for me to return and inspect the grounds surrounding the hut?".
The emperor did not respond. Instead, he wiped away sweat and frantically scratched away at his neck, "No … it doesn't make any sense, how is it possible? How is it possible?".
ZACH PEMBER POV
Finally, I was back on my feet. Azz didn't seem to be making a move, it wasn't long though until he started walking towards me. I instinctively took a step back. Azz threw up his hands, "Relax boy don't be so jumpy, you need to learn to manifest a weapon". Azz seemed sincere enough, so I dropped my guard.
Before I could even get a word out, a bright red flame bow appeared in Azz's hands, along with a line of fire which I could only assume was the string, where five arrows of blue flame shimmered to life. Azz turned and released the bow string into the air, the arrows kept appearing, constantly firing into the night sky. The only word I could think of was awe-inspiring. In the span of ten seconds, he'd managed to fire nearly a hundred arrows all of which exploded like fireworks. It was an unbelievable sight, and unbelievably powerful.
Mouth agape, I turned to him, all Azz did was chuckle before stammering back to his chair, waving his hand, "focus on manifesting one weapon to begin with, but once you get the hang of it, you can create an entire arsenal".
As I was turning away from him, Azz shouted again "Also, don't forget your attribute is lightning. To begin with, I'd suggest a simple weapon say a sword or daggers".
Sitting down, my face turned red, "Master I don't know how", I stuttered out trying to hide my embarrassment.
Azz's eyes widened before he burst out laughing again, going as far as slapping his knee, "Zach, just focus on your hand to begin with, draw on the astrum to create your weapon".
Taking a deep breath, I focused on my hand, suddenly I heard a crackle and there was a ripple in the air above my palm. Releasing more of my astrum, the shape of a sword appeared, then faltered. Trying again, I'd realised just how good my focus had gotten.
After six hours of trial and error it finally happened, an incredible yellow sword made purely of lightning was vibrating above my palm. Grabbing hold of the hilt I swung the weapon, when swung it crackled just like lightning and the edge where the blade would typically be vibrated sending tendrils of pure lightning everywhere. Scratching my head, I wondered if this thing could even cut? Of course, with Azz around, that was quickly put to the test.
"Heads up brat", out of nowhere, Azz launched a tree branch at me.
Focusing so the sword wouldn't disappear, I swung into a downward arc, the blade looked like it had warped space as the air shimmered around the swords passing arc. Meeting the branch, it cut through the wood with no effort at all, both sides of the stick caught fire instantly and vanished before even hitting the ground, nothing, not even ash remained. I looked down in shock, then remembered that when lightning hits anything it starts a fire because it's so hot.
'Common sense prevails once more!'
Looking back up, Azz was smiling again staring at the lightning sword, "Well done brat, that sword of yours might burn hotter than my blue flame. Let's give it a test shall we".
Again, before I even had the chance to object, seemingly a common theme with Azz, he'd drawn his bow and fired three fire arrows one after another in my direction. Taking up whatever stance I could think of, I cut through the first arrow effortlessly, the second arrow made the blade shimmer and the third shattered it.
"Huh, what happened?", I mumbled, twisting my now empty grip.
Looking across at Azz, his eyes shone, "It's just your control that's lacking kid. You did good for your first try, however it takes a lot of practice. You need to use your internal astrum, draw on external astrum and maintain the weapons shape all at the same time".
Excited, I sat down and began practicing making a new blade, repeatedly I failed at maintaining it. I was ecstatic about one idea; with this I can match Azz! And with lightning, more weapons like spears could be possible. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face even if I wanted to.
Taking another try, I allowed the blade to shimmer to life in my hand. The act of manifesting the weapon had become as easy as breathing to me now, the hard part was keeping it stable. It was something I could've never imagined being so challenging.
Everything, the ground I stand on, my breathing and even the direction the wind was blowing, had an effect on how stable the weapon was. This was thanks to the astrum currents, the small particles that flowed endlessly throughout the atmosphere were just simply being tossed around by a light breeze.
Since I had learned how to conjure a weapon, I had been wanting to try out a new technique if you will. The blade that currently rested in my hand wasn't exactly weightless, which in itself was weird as it wasn't made from steel, but it wasn't even heavy in the slightest.
I forced more astrum out from my core, injecting it into my blade. Almost immediately, a change in the lightning was visible. The settled streaks, now flared as they shot out from the tip of the blade. The air surrounding me grew heavy and dense with astrum as the bolts struck the earth, then the weapon faded from existence.
I glanced down at my open palm, a small, burnt line appearing painlessly, "How interesting".
It seemed that the strength of a weapon wasn't determined by the individuals strength, rather it was by the astrum potency.
It was an arduous task of figuring out the correct balance of astrum, but after some internal deliberation, I finally settled on what I thought was the correct course of action. I allowed the astrum to steadily flow from my core, being careful not to release too much, but also releasing just enough.
When it finally hit my palm, I forced it out. The astrum glistened, floating seamlessly over my open palm. First, I focused on constructing the hilt of the blade. I imagined what a typical katana would look like and reconstructed it around that idea. It came out perfectly.
Then I moved onto the back of the blade, I didn't want it to be a duel sided blade, but I also didn't want it to be too flat either. Instead, I made a blunt edge, that with just enough force, was more than enough to shatter a skull if it should be needed. For a little extra style, I added a dragon stretching the entire length of 3 feet along the dull sides edge.
After that was the part I was most excited about, the actual blade. This part was the section I needed to get absolutely perfect. This was going to be my trusted partner for … well, however long I would use it for. I couldn't decide which area to begin, so first I straightened out the tip, then moulded it into a point.
After prodding it with my finger, and accidently drawing blood without any real effort, I was confident enough to shift my focus to the blade. The transition between the two was seamless, I created a solid edge but coupled with the tendrils of lightning constantly shooting throughout, the illusion that it was vibrating was created.
I placed it across my bicep but stalled my movement. Reaching down, I picked up a small log and tossed it into the air. As it was falling, I flipped the sword over so that the blades edge was pointing up. I didn't move it an inch and just allowed the log to drop on top of it.
The cut, dare I say, was absolute perfection. I don't think I could've made it cleaner if I swung at it with all my might. I couldn't take my eyes off my prized creation. I did this, it was all me. I glanced from the corner of my eye, noticing Azz watching me, or more accurately, keeping a close eye on my sword.
I turned away from him. I wasn't confident in its abilities just yet, well, at least not enough to challenge that damn monster to a fight. I fell into a pattern of strikes, stabbing and slashing at the air surrounding me. The sword made a zipping sound as it tore through the air, shaking up the currents and distorting the wind.
But even with all of this, I began to notice an issue. The blade was still really lightweight, in fact, it was so light that it felt like if I didn't have an iron grip, it would just fly from my hand. It became clear as to why my control seemed so lacking before.
I wasn't using enough astrum to properly stabilise the sword. Realising this fact made my task simpler, all I did to counteract it was adding more astrum to the sword. It became heavier instantly, so much so that my wrist visibly flicked and I was forced to suddenly tense my arm to prevent it from falling from my grasp.
Finally, it settled down. I swung downward, sparks of lightning ripped through the ground beneath me, creating a small divot. I smiled whilst looking at it, "Nice one! It's finally complete".
I twisted the hilt around in my hand. I pressed my lips to the side, "What do I call this thing, I don't want anything corny".
"Ah! That'll do", I flipped it around, the back placed against my forearm, "My masterpiece".
Azz clapped from behind me, the shuffling of his feet through the overgrown grass almost masking him, "Nice sword kid, now are you ready to begin again?".
I rolled my eyes and whimpered, "Do I really have to? can't you just let me swing this around for a bit".
He shook his head, "No can do, I'm here to train you and that's exactly what I intend to do".
I rolled my shoulders back and shuffled a few paces, "Train me for what though, it's not like I'm being forced into a war".
He licked the tip of his thumb and held it in the air, his eyes narrowed as a breeze washed over us, "Hell if know".
I clicked my tongue and flashed towards him, "Watch your step old geezer, otherwise you're dead". I swung downward against his back, his body lurched forward, a muffled "hmph", escaping from his lip.
I rubbed the side of my head, "Ah shit! I didn't really mean to kill him!".
My eyes widened in horror as the air in front of me morphed, Azz's body, or at least what I thought was his body, vanished into the air.
"An afterimage!?".
"Yup", he called from behind me, slapping the back of my head sending me hurtling face first into the dirt.
"Screw you old geezer", I seethed through muddied teeth.