Chapter 458: Awirren

Chapter 458: Awirren

The Living Forest

The first sign that something was wrong, came when her people closest to the ground started to wobble and then fall into the smoke and the fire below. Then came the screams, coming from the forest where they had fallen.

Immediately, her people started to fly higher, but some would still fall. She saw them start to falter in the air, as if they couldn't quite control their bodies, and then they just fell. One of her Sect Leaders, a ravzor with a true body that gave him wings, flew near her and yelled.

"There is something in the air, Sect Head! A toxin, it is rising with the heat," he told her and Awirren trusted him immediately, he had eyes that could see such things. She reacted a moment later. She blasted through the air, finding one of her warriors, a karura sitting on a cushion of air.

"Toxin rising," she said, "Blow it away."

Her warrior nodded and she felt his Qi moving through his body, and then the world shook as he activated his Ideal.

Call Wind

A surge of wind blew toward him from all around them, as if it was sucked in from afar, and he released his technique. The smoke was blown away along with whatever toxin had gotten her people. It blew back to the ground and into the forest, the flames burning beneath them were fanned and they exploded into wild swathing waves that expanded on all sides.

"Keep watch, don't let the smoke rise to us," she ordered. That should guarantee that the toxins don't reach them either.

She kept watch, looking for any signs of more danger. It was hard to see, a layer of smoke was covering the forest, and the fire was that was burning wasn't spreading as fast as she thought it should be. The wood was burning, but it was obviously powerful, high tiered, it took a lot to get it going. A moment later, she noticed shadows moving in the smoke, she narrowed her eyes and realized what it was a moment before the thousand reaching vines burst from the smoke.

It didn't take her long to realize that the Dome Forest was somehow growing beyond its original size, it was taking over other plants.

Awirren was mad, but she still had eyes. She saw a territory filled with trees, and knew that she couldn't let the Dome expand through it. She wondered why they hadn't cleared the forest around the Dome before now, but no one had mentioned the fact that the Dome monsters could do this.

It didn't matter. She triggered her Evolved Form.

Her body burst apart in a blaze of glorious flame. She grew until her light filled the sky, and the Golden Phoenix stood in the center of her army.

She screeched, a mighty sound that drowned out the noise of fighting. Now all eyes were back on her, as they should be.

Her Soulfire Cloak intensified and Soulfire Qi burned the air itself. She plunged from the sky, straight into the smoke as she charged a technique. She saw the ground, approaching fast, and with a mighty roar she released the {Dawn of Soul Flame}.

Anatalien watched from above, waiting for the right opportunity. Each faction that was assigned to a Dome was given all the information that the researchers, historians, and analysts, got on that specific Dome. It was no different for Awirren's Sect. Except for one small thing, one piece of information that was missing. It was a risk, but one that Anatalien had been willing to take. With a single sentence, Sigmund had made sure that all who had seen that information, forgot it. It had taken a lot out of him, and he hadn't yet fully recovered his willpower. But it was worth it.

Awirren didn't clear the forest around the Dome, and because of it, the Living Forest would have fuel to grow, to consume. She didn't doubt that Awirren would win, in the end. But it would take more out of her. It would leave her weaker for Anatalien's justice.

She watched as her old friend used her Evolved Form, the power that Tali had given her, the form that she had only because of the fact that she had taken Tali's inspiration. It burned her from the inside, that knowledge, that she had given Awirren so much, only to be betrayed in the end. She was mad, and even if the world didn't see it, Tali knew it intimately. Her body and soul had healed, but she still felt the echoes of the pain that had been a daily occurrence for three hundred years.

Ryun had asked her to think carefully about what she was doing, but he didn't understand, he couldn't understand. Some people just didn't deserve to live. Some betrayals were worse than others.

As Awirren fought, Tali kept waiting and keeping herself back. Waiting for the right moment.