A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

“Oh, king! Oh, king of ice! ♫”

“Gather around, gather around. Feel the might of the coldest crown! ♫”

“We sing and dance, in your honor and life. King, oh, king of ice, will you not take the step for heavenly sight? ♫”

… Ehhhh, the nostalgia feels bad.

Whether in the cold wasteland of Frozen Nest, or the warm woods of Saelariel, the fae were the same. They were cheery, easily excitable, and had a rather unhealthy desire to continuously maintain this elation.

In my village, the fairies were always merry, or at least they weren’t drowning themselves in sorrow or fear, like most humanoid would do if they felt anxious. We fairies would just ignore the bad and replace it with celebration, drinking, singing, dancing, and so many more activities in honor of Goddess Zephira and Goddess Aniuqa. We embellish stories to promote that, telling white lies to cover up the sadness or to make a particular fairy adventurer seem more heroic.

When you were outside, flying around or playing with others, the truth didn’t matter. It was a fairytale. If you wanted knowledge and information, you would visit the elves or go to the royal library, personally managed by our royal family to the standards of the elves. The full, unembellished recounting of the entire War for the Faefolk could be gleaned from those books.

I didn’t drift away from the fairytale due to my curiosity, but it sure did help me realize the tragedy of everything. We fairies, even when our youngest princess died right in front of our gardens, would simply not fully mourn her like the humans or elves would. It was better to celebrate in her name to forget the sad—forgive and forget.

Ha, I couldn’t forgive them for doing that. I couldn’t forgive myself. I couldn’t forgive the humans for everything they’ve done to my race.

Yet, I did. I buried the hatchet, as Lady Hestia would say. I forgave all of them and started to act like how I should act as a fairy. Sure, I couldn’t go back to the Tasianna I was five years ago. It was impossible. Princess Schuri’s death was still in my mind, and I had already committed to the fact that I wouldn’t let the same happen to Lady Hestia. Or even my family in Aurora.That was what made me different from other fae. Fairies, lesser fae, elementals; well, maybe not some elementals. Walking as an elf, you wouldn’t be able to tell if I was a fairy or an elf, unless you checked my Profile and realized I was made entirely of mana.

… Yet, my nature was still the same. I still enjoyed celebrations and merrymaking a lot.

Seeing the three nymphs dancing around me while a mole-like elemental brought Vifi and me to a cave entirely filled with elementals after three days of travel, almost similar to that one cave we found Lord Rhekkraxus in as he was being assaulted by a group of gleeful elementals, felt surreal. I enjoyed seeing the elementals before me celebrate my welcome party, but I disliked the fact that I was enjoying it.

After all, these beings were technically our enemies about a week ago, and they were only being welcoming due to the fact that the ice elemental king chose me as its heir. Some of these elementals could have been involved in attacking Lady Hestia or working with the mandril, and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. It was impossible, since elementals could change their forms more freely than [Elvenize]-like skills.

Though… those elementals who insulted Lady Hestia when we saved Lord Rhekkraxus were a different case. I recognized the nymphs due to their voices. I would recognize those who insulted Lady Hestia.

“This feels weird,” Vifi said, her voice barely audible inside this cave as the sound of the elementals’ voices made it hard to focus. “These things are dancing around in complete silence. I only hear the damn cracking of ice.”

“You have it good,” I replied, smiling as the nymphs continued singing into my ear.

The cacophony of sounds was impossible to drown out with my own thoughts, but I was trying to, at least. It made it hard to concentrate, but I had to since we were in unknown territory. I didn’t know what the elementals exactly wanted, even if I knew most of them wouldn’t be able to think further than their closest pleasure, acting like they couldn’t act abnormal would be foolish. After all, I still had to seek a worthy heir to the title of ice elemental king if I wanted to remain with Lady Hestia.

On the back of the mole elemental, it brought us into a wide chamber, large enough to be a nest for a rank A dragon. Elementals of various forms, with many assuming the appearance of drakes, dragons, and wyverns, roared, cheered, and made sounds with their cracking ice bodies to welcome me. Similar to the ice elemental emperor, you could see they were fake due to the fact that their entire body looked crystalline.

Now, the greater elementals could hide this better with their more elaborate bodies. Their dragon forms had more pronounced scales, looking jagged and dangerous, and without a clear core, like golems and the ice elemental king, they could possibly pass as dragonkin with low visibility. If they were more capable with their transformations, I could imagine them passing as proper ones, albeit, without the pheromones a true true dragonkin should possess. Even then, we needed a dragonkin around to even detect it.

Okay, now it feels even weirder, I thought as the mole elemental stopped in the middle of the room, in the center of this “dancing hall.” Some elementals kept an eye on us, but the majority were simply dancing and singing away, acting like this was entirely normal and worthy of celebration. Were none of them even curious how I got the king’s core?

“Fill your body with the eternal ice’s man. Become the one to become our god. ♫”

“Rise to the top, oh, cousin of ours! Fairies, fae, elementals; may the reign of the true return to us! ♫”

“Return, oh true gods, Return to them, oh, king! King of ice, reach the peaks for the fate of our race. ♫”

All this singing… Is it even good at this point?

What was I supposed to do in this situation? They kept on singing, and I wasn’t sure if my voice could break through all of this. They were so loud, it felt like I was inside Princess Hestia’s obsidian orchestra, filled to the brim with a cheering audience. Yet, unlike that energetic harmony they could create, I felt weirdly out of place here. The nostalgia was slowly melting away.

“Oh, king, oh, king of ice! May you reach the heights of the primarchs of elements! Bring order back, with your grace and might!” the nymphs kept serenading around my face. It was starting to feel quite annoying with all the sounds causing an information overload in my brain.

“Rule us! Rule us all! Bring us the joy of the past re—”

“QUIET!”

Yaargk! I jerked back when Vifi unleashed her thunderous voice, causing my ears to shake as she jumped into the air, forming red lightning warhammer. Shouting “Voltaic Red: Rumbling Crash,” Vifi slammed her hammer into the ground, causing a massive shock wave that shook the entire room with a deafening roar.

The mole and any other elemental close to the impact area were blown away, forcing the greater elementals to react and protect their weaker brethren with their ice. I did the same for the mole and the nymphs, barely able to protect them in time with [Frost Shield]. It still splintered after everything, but nobody was majorly hurt. As long as we faefolk survive and we could absorb mana from around us, we could survive most injuries.

Most. Sometimes, even mana wouldn’t be enough…

“Villain! Monster!” The room exploded into another cacophony of sounds, but this time, it was out of anger. Ice cracked like a splintering ice lake, the howls of the cold wind made my soul freeze, and the emotional outburst from these elementals made breathing feel harder as their mana turned into a field of oppressive aura.

Stretching her neck, Vifi looked unperturbed with the room turning on her. She shook her mechanical arm, moving it around with a frown, probably noticing some faults with it. It seemed Jadhund didn’t manage to fix all the issues, but since we were able to resupply ourselves with the subspace, we did get a second set of tools for the arm’s maintenance.

“Finally got your attention, huh?” Vifi taunted in the middle of this sound explosion, although for her, everything was probably “silent.” She might not be able to hear their voices, but with the ice-related sounds, she must know the elementals were furious with her.

The greater elementals roared as they readied themselves to attack Vifi. Their icy bodies sharpened in response, forming sharp ice blades. The draconic elementals hissed as their mouths released an icy cloud, readying their breath attack.

[“You may now speak, ‘your highness,’”] Vifi stated as they turned around to walk to me, not even lifting a finger as the elementals roared in anger from being ignored.

You—!

Bringing out my catalyst, I activated the [Aerokinesis] effect the Wind Mother had blessed it with, increasing the volume of my voice similar to how Princess Hestia would do it. Seeing Vifi close her ears, I shouted, “Silence!”

With that single word, all the elementals in the room stopped what they were doing. Hostility died down as if it had never happened, flipping the atmosphere around where I was the one feeling baffled at the authority my voice had summoned. It felt… as if I was Empress Melloxtressa to these elementals.

I continued, “The demonkin is my friend and companion. You will not harm her in any way!”

“She hurt us!” the lesser elementals shouted in a squeaky voice, sounding like a school of children. “Dangerous! Dangerous! King!”

“Invader of another world. Foreigner, birth of the spoiled seed. Wicked mana, anathema to Peolynca!” the normal elementals added, prowling around as if in anticipation to fight. “Despoiler of the world of the primarchs. Ruin soldiers of the great usurpers. Her presence is not needed next to you, oh, king of ice.”

The speech pattern is quite similar to the Elemental King.

The lesser and normal elementals kept speaking, slinging insults at Vifi, while the nymphs and greater elementals kept watching. Well, mostly the latter, as the nymphs did dance around, giggling slightly as they found this situation amusing like a bunch of young girls. At this point, I honestly wished I hadn’t become a faemancer, just so I could tune out the noise.

Then again, seeing the greater elementals so quiet, showing a clear sign of analytical intelligence with the way their eyes gazed down on me, might be more terrifying. Unable to hear these fae’s thoughts made me feel more nervous. At least, the childlike lesser and nymphs, and the more emotional, simple normal elementals made them more predictable to a degree.

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Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down and envisioned myself in Princess Hestia’s shoes. I assumed the attitude she would take whenever she had to speak to an enraged crowd. “Once again, SILENCE!”

My voice, emboldened by Vifi standing next to me, shocked the elementals once again into silence. They stared at me in bafflement, proving to me that the fact they called me their “king” meant something. It was more than just a title the ice elemental king had imposed on me. Somehow, I had gained an inkling of authority over these elementals due to the transfer of power.

I placed my hand on the elemental core the ice elemental king left me, causing me to feel the surging ice mana inside to stream into my body. I was naturally absorbing it, like a dry sponge unable to stop water from entering it. True ice mana, far stronger than my own, but weaker than Empress Melloxtressa, flowed through my entire body as I rapidly lost body heat.

As the ice elemental king explained to me, absorbing the mana while at the peaks of the glaciers was the “trigger” to ascend to the title of “ice elemental king.” Absorbing it now wouldn’t do anything outside of replenishing my mana and training my body to better adapt to true ice.

As Empress Melloxtressa had stated, exposing one’s mana to a pure form of an element would one day cause my mana to turn into that element. This was exactly what she suggested to me to become stronger, but this method was… far more efficient than absorbing the mana in the air. Far better than training inside our mountain’s subterranean level.

Yet, this core wouldn’t lend its mana to anyone by the one chosen by the last ice elemental king. I had asked Vifi and the nymphs to test it, but neither was able to absorb any of the mana. It felt like a mana contract, in a way, with how only I could use this core. Subsequently, it also meant whoever I deemed worthy to be the king would gain this power over me, leaving me unable to absorb its mana if I handed it over.

Strangely, it’s not pure… I thought, remembering the testing I did after three days of traveling on this mole elemental. Inside this core wasn’t just true ice mana, but also water and wind. Almost as pure as the true ice, the torrent and storm entering my body felt like it was rejecting me. It was like a papercut, slicing at me for a moment of pain, before it disappeared and returned to the core. From what I learned about the glaciers, I concluded it made sense for the ice elemental king to have absorbed some pure wind and water mana over its long life, as the ice element was the composite element of wind and water.

Yet, although I understood this made sense, I felt a bit weirded out by it since I’ve never read of a multi-element elemental before. They were elementals because they were the manifestation of a single element. The ones wielding the purest forms of that element were the ice elemental king and emperors.

However, those thoughts had to rest. For now, I had to establish some authority before these elementals.

[“My name is Tasianna. From what I can see, you were notified of me before I arrived. I suspect the nymphs here had informed you prior?”] I stated, using [Telepathy] now to also translate for Vifi.

[“Yes. Oh, future king of ice. Heir of us ice elementals and the ruler of the frozen glaciers, we welcome you to our domain, oh, king!”] The greater elementals replied in a myriad of voices, both male- and female-toned, prompting the younger elementals to cheer for me.

[“I have traveled here for three days, brought here by these nymphs and this elemental. My companion, Vifi, and I are exhausted after days of moving through the cold, hiding from the dragon, Yothmla—”]

“Monster! Betrayer! Deceiver of our king! Fiend of our friendship!” the lesser and normal elementals exploded, while the bodies’ of the greater started to crack, almost to show their anger at that name.

[“… Let’s be careful with that,”] Vifi stated and I nodded.

I continued, [“We are tired. Neither of us expected to be welcomed as such, and you certainly didn’t allow us a moment as you kept on celebrating.”]

[“I apologize for that,”] Vifi added, bowing slightly as a gesture of respect. Her diplomatic side really had improved while around the dragonewt, and this show was enough—

“Apology accepted!”

… Instantaneously, the mood of all the fae outside of the greaters changed, switching back to jolly as they cheered and sang, dancing with childish desire, although we had complained about this very fact. The hatred from before couldn’t be seen at all, and all hostility was washed away in their minds.

They gathered around us, crowding around the mole elemental as they began to praise Vifi for her power, expressing the raw power of her lightning mana. This didn’t last for too long as they quickly turned to me, expressing how my ability to absorb the true ice mana was impressive even though I wasn’t an elemental. I might be more aligned to ice, unlike most fairies who had neutral mana like most living beings, but to them, seeing a non-elemental fae so adapted was, honestly, a one-time wonder. They were even comparing me to dragons.

… Sometimes I really forget that I am an anomaly amongst my own.

Unfortunately for us, this cheering continued without an ending, prompting Vifi to almost blow up again, but instead of that, the greater elementals suddenly moved. Over half of those who were here began to dance and cheer like their younger brethren, slyly leading them away. Slowly but surely, the chamber was emptied of all celebration, leaving only a few greater elementals behind with our group… And by group, I meant only Vifi and me. The mole elemental and the nymphs were swept away by all the fun like kids.

I eyed them with suspicion. [“All of you seem quite wise, or at least, you seem to act differently compared to the younger elementals.”]

[“Different how?”] One of them replied, leaving me no idea who amongst them was actually talking to me. [“We elementals who are all worthy of rising above in pursuit of divine governance are here. We are the greater ice elementals. Beings in pursuit of only one thing—divinity. To achieve apotheosis and to correct the failure of our previous primarchs.”]

[“That is our pleasure and ambition, young fairy. How are we different from our more joyful days, displayed by the other elementals,”] another continued. [“If you consider us wise, then it is because we are gazing before our new ice elemental king. We are ‘wise’ to slow down and witness the heir chosen by our ice elemental king, but you saw what our kin just did to accommodate you, oh, king. As you wished, we silenced the noise for you to rest.”]

You’re only making this more weirder for me. You are definitely not like the other elementals!

[“In our opinion, you are the outlier, fairy,”] yet again, another elemental spoke. The telepathic messages gave me no clue which of the six greater elementals still here was speaking. [“You saw our inquisitiveness, didn’t you? You and the demonkin are using diplomacy like the ones with flesh and blood. You do not act like us fae. Your behavior is… subdued. Lacking in joy and feelings, instead, you used ‘authority’ and intimidation to gain our respect.”]

[“Did you not see what happened when a single apology was dropped?”] Another asked, prompting us to nod as we couldn’t forget how the elementals flipped their attitude towards Vifi. [“Young fairy—Tasianna. Once again, we welcome you to our world, oh, future king of ice. From here on, you may accept our aid. Our journey to the peak may start as soon as you have recovered.”]

I looked at Vifi as she shrugged, telling me to continue speaking with them. To gain more information.

[“Then, tell me, if you seek divinity, then why has none of you seemed interested in this core?”] I touched the core once again, letting the mana flow into me before releasing myself from it. [“The source of becoming king is here before you, yet none of you had spoken about it. You simply accepted me as your ‘king.’ Will you not ask where I found your previous king? How he was so close to you, but not close enough?”]

[“It is not in our interest.”] A new voice once again appeared. [“The king, in their last order to us before it vanquished the betrayer, Yothmlak, was that we should not find them. The rise of a new ice elemental king shall happen when they deem they have found a worthy heir. When that day came, we should welcome the heir to their rightful home. So they may assume the title of ice elemental king.”]

[“Instead, we deemed another action more appropriate!”] The second elemental during this discussion spoke again. [“Eliminate the betrayer! Yothmlak and his kin! The dragonkin who live inside our home, destroying our king and beasts with wanton destruction! We were warned that this day would come, but we did not act! Oh, king, your words rang hollow when it mattered the most! We, who only sought divinity, doomed the one to rule us!”]

Warned? Did the ice elemental king know about Yothmlak? Hold on, what is with this whole betraying thing, anyway?

[“The king spoke about a betrayal by a friend. Naming both Yothmlak and Thalaxurus. They didn’t elaborate on it, so would it be possible for you to tell me?”] I asked.

The elementals turned to each other. Their various forms made to look like a dragon, a drake, an ice worm, an elk, an amalgamation of a non distinct artwork made from ice, and, lastly, a giant bear, looked at each other with this lack of emotion on their faces that it made it hard to anticipate anything. Why were they holding a personal telepathic discussion from us?

[“We shall reveal this on the road. It is a long way, young fairy. Our ruler you will be, but not tomorrow, nor the day after. You are right. We must avoid the wrath and greed of Yothmlak under all circumstances, lest he snap at us and take away that core. He seeks to obtain power beyond his rank, and even if he cannot become a being similar to the elemental emperors, he can still achieve great power,”] a new voice once again spoke, finally totalling six voices for the six greater elemental here.

[“… I see,”] I frowned. [“Then so be. I shall leave it as such. Although, I have to ask, what is your name?”]

[“Name?”] The elemental gave me a quizzical look. [“How simple. Yet, it cannot be helped, correct, young fairy? No, we elementals do not bear any names, nor do we need to address each other as such. We sense one’s individuality by their mana. After all, every living being experiences life differently, absorbing mana with different elemental purity, making them unique to all those who are truly in tune with mana.”]

[“It is to be expected,”] another replied. [“The fairies are beings created after the advent of the elves. The world began with beasts and the lesser fae, where names were not needed. One understood each other’s uniqueness through their mana; the purest form of acknowledgement. Then we, elementals, came into existence as Peolynca required beings to manage our world’s elements, where the birth of the primarchs happened. The strongest elementals of fire, water, wind, earth, light, and dark emerged and allowed our world to progress as such.”]

[“And that was when the elves were born,”] a third continued. [“With beasts gaining intelligence, and the elementals gaining leaders to lead them forward, another creation of our world rose to prominence. The humanoids who are the most attuned to mana—the elves. The jealousy of us faefolk as we saw the beauty these beings possessed, led to the birth of the fairies. That is why you are so out of tune, young fairy. To your own kind and what mana can truly achieve! You need not call us by name, merely, remember our mana.”]

[“You will have enough time, young fairy—Tasianna Marina Silverpond,”] a fourth said before the elementals slowly started to leave the room. The only one who didn’t was the dragon, and the one who just talked to us. [“Demonkin. If you must remain with us, then make sure you do not accidentally unleash your mana like that once again. That demonic mana of yours is unwelcome to those who lost their god to the Origin Gods. The invaders of our world.”]

Telling us to find a spot inside the cave to rest at, the greater elementals left us quite quickly, although that also meant the rest of the elementals finally had the chance to enter the chamber to meet us. Like before, they danced and sang around us, bringing nothing really of value. They were just enjoying our presence, at this point.

Therefore, Vifi and I retreated to our telepathic link. Not surprisingly, both of us seemed to have shared the same thought.

[“They are hiding something.”]

Both of us knew this. After all, these greater elementals certainly felt smarter than what the ice elemental king tried to sell on us, to the point it didn’t feel weird to simply grant one of these elementals the core. Yet, at the same time, I had a bad feeling about it.

[“At the very least, we can infer that they attacked the dragons willingly. Although, they didn’t mention anything about the mandril, and what or who exactly warned them of Yothmlak,”] Vifi said.

[“I thought they were talking about the king,”] I responded, to Vifi disapproving look.

[“Maybe. You did translate everything for me, so it really depends on how you did it, but in my opinion, some things aren’t really coming together. I mean, didn’t you hear it for yourself? They said that the king didn’t want anybody to find them, and that they should wait for their announcement, but what happened? A pack of ice worms appeared directly where we were with Yothmlak, in such a manner to disguise our escape.”]

[“Couldn’t it have been a coincidence? I mean, yes, the king did mention that the ice burrowers were commanded by the elementals, but maybe that was a stroke of luck?”]

[“… Timing is the important part, Tasianna. I don’t like it when things seem to flow pretty ‘well.’ Honestly, we should be careful here, otherwise, the king might have intentionally dragged us into some plan they had. I mean, come on, don’t you think it weird that he announces you heir for ‘randomly’ appearing before them? No matter how special you are compared to other fairies, why exactly must you be the heir?”]

I squinted, noticing the flaw. [“… When these greater elementals disprove the king’s opinion on his race. Maybe something else happened.”]

[“Maybe is the kindest word here, honestly. Marsven’s shadow, we are still in enemy territory. Don’t forget, they did admit that they might have the elementals around who attacked Rhekkraxus, and that meant the ones who insulted Donut,”] Vifi stated with an unnerving stare. She looked so on guard, it was starting to affect me. [“Regardless of what the truth is, let’s not expose the subspace and anything of such to them, all right? Like with Yothmlak, keep our secrets. We got most of our tools, again, though…”]

[“Our fur coats,”] I said, feeling bad about the pelts that were still in the making inside our subspace, or even finished. We wouldn’t be able to acquire them anytime soon.

Nevertheless, our adventure had to continue. To the peaks we go, although now, with new… “allies.”