Chapter 58

February 11th, 2011

Three Days Later…

Across the sandy beach, amongst the towering, ripped apart husks of foes long fallen, I faced my mortal foe. She stood confidently, the sorceress girded in black and pink, with one hand on hip and the other pointed directly at me. Around us, toiling away at their eternal work, were my spiritual servants, ghostly sprites and imps the same silvery color as the waxing moon. They wouldn’t disturb our battle, but undying presence was comforting all the same.

This sorceress was my most prized student, after all. I could only hope that the same teachings I’d bequeathed upon her would not end up the cause of my untimely demise.

“Archmage Black,” my student called out across the sands of battle, her voice low and smoky, “Your dastardly deeds have gone on long enough! For the sake of my village- nay, my kingdom, I will vanquish thee and bring peace to Brockton Bay-...er, valia! Brockton Bayvalia!”

“I’ve cultivated your talent since you were but a young, foolish orphan, Sorceress Cassia.” I couldn’t keep the wistfulness out of my voice, no matter how badly I wanted to show coldness to the girl-turned-woman who’d been the one to melt my frozen, undead heart. “‘Tis a shame that it must come to this, but you’ve tried my patience for the last time. Brockton B-Bayvalia will fall by my hands, or I shall die trying!”

The way that her face warped into a grimace, her tearful eyes widening and her cheeks growing puffy with emotion… it was nearly enough to break my domineering facade. Oh, how I have loved this woman for centuries.

Magicka, rich and tasty, began pooling within her body. I could feel it at the tips of my fingers, taste its power on the surface of my tongue.

She was a swift learner, a product of her attenuation to the Mage Stone…

But she wasn’t strong enough.

“Then you will die, Black!” Cassia screamed, scorn and heartbreak forcing her voice to crack with emotion.

I felt the magicka in her body surge forward, crackling bolts of blue energy arcing off of her hands, and that was the only warning I received before a screeching stream of electricity was sent flying my way. Sparks - a Novice tier spell, but one that I’d drilled into her head time after time after time again. That consistency was seen now in the calm way she leveraged the spell, her other hand beginning to glow blue even as she unleashed countless volts of untethered destruction directly at me.

But Cassia had always been an emotional girl, and I was ready for such an overt offensive.

My Steadfast Ward flickered up in a bluish white burst of potent magicka, forming a towering shield of magic that I effortlessly wielded over my left hand. The electricity’s high-pitched screams died down into a muffled warble as the magic was absorbed into my Ward, and in my right hand, I palmed the carnivorous heat of my unquenchable fire.

“Fire Bolt!” I cried to the heavens, stepping forward into Sorceress Cassia’s Sparks and throwing my right hand forward with a flourish. The bolt of fire whistled as it blasted through the air, bigger than a basketball and white-hot with rage. 

The Lesser Ward that Cassia threw forward just in time buckled against the destructive force of my magic, sending a shockwave of magicka flying through the sands. My beautiful protege, and former lover, staggered backwards at the hit, her Sparks spell fizzling out as she worked to reform her Ward. If this had been a simple spar between teacher and student, I would have given her momentary reprieve to reach equilibrium once again, but this was life and death now.

I would give no quarter.

“Fire Bolt! Fire Bolt! FIREEE BOOOLT!”

One, two, and then three - three bolts of blazing fire slammed against my enemy’s defenses, each one stressing the Ward and threatening to break it down into useless motes of disassembled magic. With each bolt, Cassia’s face grew more and more harried, her other hand moving over to join her left in powering the Lesser Ward, until-

“Oh my God- Jason, stop you friggin’ loser! You’re gonna burn meeee!” 

My grin found its way through the stupid roleplay, and I stopped overwhelming Cassie’s Lesser Ward with magical shots of fire. The girl was crouched down in the sand, sweat falling down her forehead and an odd mixture of elation and annoyance on her face as she worked to stabilize her magical shield. This had become a common occurrence over the past couple days - us sparring, with me not using any sort of magic outside of spells originating from The Elder Scrolls.

Surprisingly, the daily training was quickly getting results out of the both of us even though I mainly saw the sparring as a way to familiarize my girlfriend more with magical combat.

For me, bumbling my way through magic from a Novice level felt almost… too easy. It was fun, don’t get me wrong, and I doubted that any amount of natural talent would stop me from enjoying casting motherfucking bolts of lightning from my hands, but whatever becoming Divine did to me… it felt like more than a simple ‘you learn skills better’. Or maybe it was as simple as that, and I was getting the wool pulled from over my eyes because I’d only been average at things in my past life.

But now, with Infinite Potential, the Mage Stone’s Blessing, and Divinity working in tandem? I’d already cracked Destruction spells up to the Adept level in only two days of semi-consistent self-study and practice, and I was fairly confident in getting the other schools of magic up to a similar level before the week was out. The only one I was truly lagging behind with was Illusion, and that was because I refused to experiment on my girlfriend’s mental stability with magical spells, even if I knew, realistically, that she’d be okay afterwards. 

Maybe I’d go out and find some criminals to play with, but for now, my current achievements were more than enough for me.

For Cassie, while her progress was going significantly slower than mine, I was still beyond proud that she’d managed to get down the basic Novice spells for each school of magic - even beyond the initial few I’d originally wanted to teach her. Sparks was still her favorite spell to use in a pinch, but the peace of mind that her knowing things like Oakflesh, Lesser Ward, and Healing gave me could not be overstated. 

My girl was a true blue sorceress now, and although her MagiLink was still not close to being done, the process apparently being a lot more complicated than Cassie had originally thought, I knew that she was proud of herself too.

And if she wasn’t, then I’d make her feel proud.

As far as the rest of Invictus went; the process of clearing out the remaining vestiges of ABB and Empire mooks continued. Aisha was still a minor with both a mom and school, so sometimes she wasn’t able to stop by and help - a situation that we had to vigorously reassure her was fine, and that Sherrel, Pod, and Trainwreck could handle things on their own. With 084 acting as their eyes in the sky from the backseat, Cassie was free to focus on her magical training, and I, outside of my own training, was free to focus on clearing out the rest of the Graveyard.

And wasn’t that a fucking timesink? 

Even with a hundred of my little Spirit Attendants working night and day to clear out the loose debris, break down the smaller boats and pier remnants, and getting rid of the few corpses - animals, mostly, although there was an unsettling amount of dumped human bodies - it felt like I hadn’t progressed too much with clearing out the coastline. 

Far off to the side, out of the way of my spiritual workers, stacks on stacks on stacks of pried apart scrap metal loomed ominously over the beach, baking in the afternoon sun. Even with that ridiculous amount pulled out from the sea and the sand, there were still so many ships left corroding in the surf - and that’s not even counting the gigantic container ship half-entrenched further into the ocean like some rusted up metal kaiju.

Maybe I was just being too much of a busybody. There was only one of me and 24 hours in a single day, and it wasn’t like there was some huge deadline. The Boat Graveyard still looked better than it ever had after the Dockworkers decided to shit all over it, the gangs had been all but pushed out of the city or imprisoned at this point going off of Sherrel’s reports, I now had the ticket out of Earth Bet just lurking within in my soul, now, and Amy…

Amy has been doing a lot better.

My head turned, eyes burning past the bright glare of the sun, and I locked eyes with the freckled brunette reclined back on the beach chair not even forty feet away from our sparring circle, a thick book propped open on her lap. The large, floppy black sun-hat on her head did its best to protect her pale skin from the hot rays of sunlight beaming down from on high, but her exposed, freckled shoulders were already turning a bright pink - not that she seemed to mind.

The plain black sundress she was wearing didn’t do much to dissuade the heat, but Cassie had somehow convinced her that ‘all black everything’ was the way to go after I’d taken them both clothes shopping on Sunday - an inevitability, considering the severe lack of actual outfits that Amy had brought in her suitcase.

‘The Goth Aesthetic’ is what Cass had called it, and Amy, eating all of her compliments up, had spent damn near six hundred of my dollars (graciously forced upon her by me) buying a completely new wardrobe. And, to be fair, black did look good on her. Cassie was still trying to get her to commit fully to the lifestyle and buy all sorts of makeups and perfumes and handbags with our ridiculous hoard of cash, but I knew that she was hoping for too much too fast. 

Amy first needed time to become fully comfortable with what she had now.

Even still, I, personally, was all for it. Amy needed change, and to separate herself from the ‘Amy Dallon’ that she’d grown to hate. She craved moving forward and putting her old life behind her, and although the sudden passionate interest in botany, and the goth aesthetic, was an amazing start to her new life… I was just happy that she’d decided to come out to the beach with us in the first place. 

I knew from experience just how badly depression could knock you on your ass.

“What say you, o’ beautiful Specter of Life and Death?” I called out to the sun-singed woman, raising one hand with a flourish and bowing low to the ground. “Should I offer my opponent reprieve, or dost thou bade me kill the infidel?”

“W-woahhh!” Cassie balked, canceling her Lesser Ward and pointing a flame-covered finger at me. “‘Infidel’ is a crazy genre shift! Weren’t we roleplaying ‘Archmage Black and his sexy little student’?! That’s a Medieval Fantasy Romance-Drama, Jason, not ‘Religious Genocidal Snuff Film’!”

Hazard a guess as to who came up with these shitty ass porn scripts.

Ignoring my blabbering soulmate, I watched as Amy’s soft lips pulled up into a small, precious little smile. Although her skin was pale from a severe lack of sunlight, a testament to her spending almost 72 hours in the Sanctum, that one simple upturn of her resting frown seemed to brighten up her entire face.

“This Specter,” she began ‘imperiously’, raising her voice higher to be heard over the working Spirit Attendants, “Believes that you two, as cute as this is, are crazy for playing around with actual destructive magic. Is this what you wanted to show me? Because I have my hands full with my current powers.”

Despite the succinctness of her words, Amy didn’t sound ungrateful or annoyed. Instead, she sounded regretful.

Who wouldn’t? It was motherfucking magic.

But, even then, she wasn’t wrong. After years of treating her abilities like the bogeyman and only using them for healing the sick and wounded, the girl had only just started to explore the endless potential of the power she freely held at her fingertips. Just like the Graveyard, there was no rush. I was no longer on some strict timetable like I had been with taking out Coil and Kaiser. 

I had to remember that everyone else didn’t adapt and adjust to change the same way I did. The way that I had to.

We could actually breathe now. 

Though that wasn’t the only thing I brought her here for…

“If you’re not ready for magic, then I’ll just wait ‘till you are; it’s no big deal, Ames.” I calmly reassured the girl, even as I reached out for Cassie and magically pulled her up to her feet with an idle crook of my hand. “But I wanted you and Cass here before I did something really badass but potentially stupid. Your presence prolly won’t stop me from doing it, but I draw power from voyeurism. Glaze me.”

“Ohhhh. Great.” She blinked slowly, the look of regret bleeding into weary bemusement. Her head lolled to the side as she gazed helplessly over at Cassie. “Should we be backing away and going into hiding now, or…?”

“Probably. He can’t go a frickin’ day without blowing something up, I swear to God,” the newbie sorceress sighed, brushing clumps of sand off of her spandex shorts. “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ass wizards. I would’ve won if you hadn’t cheated!”

My left eye twitched. “Don’t hate the player, sweetheart, hate the game. And bite off your fuckin’ tongue, too - there’s ain’t shit ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’ about my magic. I’m definitely more Emperor Palpatine.”

Her responding raspberry was as cute as it was immature. I snorted, rolling my eyes, and glanced back over to an amused looking Amy.

“What’re you grinnin’ at? Spamming Fire Bolt isn’t cheating - it’s playing to my strengths. Which is being able to spam Fire Bolts. Unlimited Powah, right?”

“Mhm, right - that’s super fair. Should we be fleeing from the big, scary ‘Emperor-Archmage-Tarnished Hero Black’ before he casts his newest spell? You didn’t really deny the ‘blowing shit up’ allegations.” She smirked, dog-earing the page she was on and snapping her book shut. 

“Ehhh… It’ll probably be fine. Maybe. Hopefully.” 

A furrowed expression passed over my face, and I  turned around to look up at the large cliffside overlooking the Graveyard. It was nothing but craggy beige rock and dry, unhealthy dirt that climbed up towards the skyline, leveling off into a jagged edge that casted shadows over the sand. Up at the very top, I knew that there was a grassy plain that led down into a back trail - the very same trail that Cassie and I followed to get up there in the first place.

It was a nicely sized hill, but for the vision I had in mind… I’d need it bigger. More lush. We were a long way from Colorado, but that didn’t mean I couldn't turn this molehill into a mountain. 

I would just need to put a lil’ bit more elbow grease into it.

‘Guess we’ll see how much the Winds favor me.’

“Jay?” Cassie ducked into my line of sight, forcibly pulling my attention away from the cliff’s edge. When I blinked my eyes and gave her my attention, she took one look at my expression before letting out a scandalized gasp. “… Oh shit. No way.”

Amy, her book held beneath one arm as she collapsed the beach chair, glanced up quickly at the muttered exclamation. “What?”

“Yeah, babe,” I tilted my head, arching an eyebrow. “What?”

“You’re going to blow up the cliff,” Cassie breathed, pointing at me, and then the cliffside behind her. “I saw the look on your face, buster. You can’t hide that magical glow! … Hehehe, can I help?”

What magical glow?

And when the hell did I apparently become some sort of wizard terrorist?

“That’s what it means when his eyes start to glow like that?” Amy squinted at me, her arms crossed beneath her large, freckle-covered cleavage. The accentuation, and sight, of such magnificently adorable breasts distracted me just enough for me to miss her next statement. Sweat dripped down the slope of her neck, curving between the dimpled flesh of her bust and disappearing down the soft black fabric of her sundress.

I probably shouldn’t have been ogling her like this, but it was so worth it. God bless Cassie for convincing her to wear more fashionable clothing.

“-the PRT, Jay.”

“Huh.” I blinked again, silver eyes roaming back up to meet Amy’s fond, yet annoyed honey glare.

“I said,” she repeated, her cheeks growing red, “You may want to hold off on blowing things up right now because of the PRT. I don’t know if you’ve been visited by anyone while you’ve been working here, but people have taken pics and put them on PHO - I’ve seen the threads. They know Avalon - or, at least, someone who looks and acts like Avalon - is cleaning out the Boat Graveyard.”

“Ooh, true! Here, babe - read ‘em and weep. You’ve got faaans.” Cassie leaned in from my left, raising her phone up so I could see the screen. She was on the Brockton Bay subforum, and the thread titles that I saw as she slowly scrolled down was… eye-opening, in a weird, distantly parasocial way.

Invictus: Small, but Powerful! When Will They Recruit?!

Why Avalon is the Hottest Male Cape: a 🧵

Iris x Avalon x Panacea??

Sightings of Avalon @ Boat Graveyard #RISE

Trainwreck saved my cat from a tree!!!

Ghosts on the beach?? WTF

#RISE Avalon did it. He killed Kaiser. Proof:

How do I join Invictus

Video of Avalon and Iris on the beach

Where is Panacea???

Why is Avalon at the Boat Graveyard??

Avalon’s Height: a 🧵 with specs 🔎

Of course, threads about me weren’t the only thing on the BB subforum. There were the usual conspiracy theories, appreciation posts for the Protectorate and other heroes, and other more mundane threads talking about the general state of the city, but it would be fake humbleness to say that the majority wasn’t about either me or my hero team. As she scrolled and scrolled, I saw more and more topics, with talk about Kaiser, Lung, and Coil’s death some of the more prevalent subjects of interest.

And there, on the side, Avalon and Invictus were trending.

“Is this what it’s like to be a niche internet microcelebrity?” I murmured, tilting my head in vague amusement. “‘Cause it’s kinda weird. Homies don’t have other shit to do?”

Amy scoffed, shaking her head, and Cassie gave me a pout that practically screamed, ‘Are you daft, woman?!’

“You are, quite literally, the most popular hero on the East Coast right now. It hasn’t been that long, so nobodies throwing parades or anything-” 

“Yet.” Amy snorted.

“But yes, Jay, you’re a ‘niche internet microcelebrity’ - weird phrase, but whatever. All of Invictus are sorta on the ‘rise’ in popularity now, heh.” She pocketed her phone and lightly elbowed me in the side, slim eyebrows wriggling. 

I traded deadpanned glances with Amy.

“Oh come on, it was cheap but it wasn’t the worst pun I could’ve made!”

“Regardless of my popularity, I’m still going to do what I came here to do. And no, it has nothing to do with blowing shit up.” I chuckled, reaching down and pulling the folded up beach chair into my Dimensional Inventory. Amy shifted away from the rift of blue magic, but otherwise didn’t react - a good sign that she was slowly adjusting to my particular brand of madness.

A lack of adaptability was a death sentence when it came to magic.

“So what’s the plan?” The brunette questioned, her eyes turning back up to the cliffside.

“Simple,” I grinned crookedly, cracking my neck to the side. Sand stirred, rustling into the air as I slowly hovered up off of the ground. “I’m gonna do like a whiny bitch and make a mountain out of a molehill.”

Out here amongst the water, as far away from the hustle and bustle of the city as we could be, I felt closer to the Lore of Life than I had since gaining the ability to feel the Winds of Magic. It mingled with the necrotic tang of Shyish, still lingering amongst the rotten scented remains of dead ships, but the air was practically suffused with Ghyran. Despite the fact that I’d never really honed my grasp on the Green Wind, establishing a tentative connection with its Aethyric energy was as easy as it had been to direct the wills of Aqshy, or Hysh - a natural sort of ease that made my blood sing with familiarity.

My heart beat in my chest, slowing and speeding up with the thrum of Mother Nature. Even without Second Sight’s magical vision, my senses had never been clearer. I didn’t need to see the Winds in order to feel them, and feel them I did.

So I began guiding the Green towards the hill.

There was a lot.

“On second thought,” I breathed, rising higher and higher into the air, drifting along that earthy scent of the Lore of Life, “Stay back, girls - let’s say abouuut a hundred feet. Matter of fact, go all the way to the edge. Things may get a lil’… seismic.”

“You’re such a freaking spazz. Stay safe, Jay; we’ll be close by! C’mon Amy.” 

“Alright. If you screw up and hurt yourself, Jason, I’ll be super pissed. So… please don’t.”

I didn’t need to turn my head to know that they properly heeded my words, their footsteps retreating back until I could barely hear the sound of their breathing along the breeze. The fact that they both seemed confident in me made my lips quirk up a bit. I was confident in myself, but that extra little bit of serotonin from a beautiful woman’s unquestionable faith wasn’t anything to sneeze at.

I allowed that burst of happiness to ground me, even as I began rising even higher into the air. 

Fifty feet, and then one hundred. Two hundred. Two-fifty.

I don’t know when I’d started speaking in Anoqeyan. It could have been back down on the beach when I had only just started flying upwards, or it could’ve been after I reached my eagle-eyed position in the sky, but either way - the language of the High Elves spilled, unbidden, from my mouth, and I was too preoccupied with infusing the Winds of Magic with my will to even try to live-translate what I was saying.

Something told me to close my eyes, and so I did-

And in the darkness of my lack of vision, I saw the colors.

There were the greens of Ghyran, falling from the clouds above in swirling, iridescent drops and vortexes of water-like energy. It fell across the beach, forming puddles and streams of magic all along the sand, but the majority of the magic seemed submissive to my will, soaking down deep into the hill. It was there that the green shone the brightest, suffusing the grass and dirt that made up the plain at the peak, and swirling between the gaps of rock and sediment that made up the cliff-face.

But that wasn’t all.

There was a gruffness to my voice as I guided the amber-tinted winds of Ghur down into the hill, the Lore of Beasts struggling for only a moment beneath my spiritual grasp before it snuffled and joined the greens of Ghyran. I could hear seagulls squawking in the air above me, attracted by the feeling of wild, primal magic - only to scatter and scream as lightning shot overhead, and the Lore of Heavens reached down from the clouds and offered me its hazy, blue-tinted hand. 

I was familiar with its magic, more so than the other two, and it was as easy as reaching out and guiding its cool breeze and distorted blue winds down over the top of the hill.  Its presence spoke to me less of lightning or weather, and more of a celestial significance - a stabilizer that ensured that my home would come to a safe fruition. 

At this point I was going off of instinct more than actual knowledge now, allowing myself to sink into the role of conductor as the Winds of Magic danced to my tune. I was freestyling in a way, I guess, but nothing had blown up yet so I took that as a good sign. 

The Burning Winds of Aqshy came next, its red glow moving in hot and fast from the direction of the city. It surged through my body, coaxing forth the feelings of excitement and determination that I’d been feeling about this venture. Making my mark on Brockton Bay, and establishing a home for all of Invictus - it had been something I’d wanted since I made the decision to create this hero team, and now, with all of this magic at my fingertips, I actually had the opportunity to make something special.

Something that would last.

I felt the huge grin split my lips as the Red Wind, satisfied with my drive and passion, flew through my body and down into the hill. It seeped within the foundation, turning the craggy rocks scarlet with heat and intent. 

And finally, there came Chamon - the first Wind that I’d ever touched.

‘Oh yeah,’ I thought, distantly in the back of my mind, as my right hand - holding something long and cool - rose to point towards the sky. ‘It’s a fucking party, now.’

When did I summon my spear?

That didn’t matter- I had five winds permeating my target, only just playing nicely with each other, and some innate instinct burbling to the surface somewhere deep in my soul was telling me that leaving them alone to ruminate together was a recipe for cataclysmic ruin…

So I acted.

The taste of iron was thick and metallic in my mouth as I willed the dense Yellow Wind down into my melting pot of Aethyric excellence, molding it to the shape of the hill and pushing it deep into the stone and dirt. 

Chamon was the magic of Transmutancy, but it was also the magic of Logic and Order. If it was supposed to be the cause of my hill’s transformation into a beautiful mountain, then Ghyran was the gasoline that kickstarted the growth of nature and life that was paramount to the vision I held in my head. 

Chamon was the foundation that started the change, Ghyran took that shift and ran with it until the fucking cows came home. Aqshy - rather than burning it all down, was additional fuel for the growth, softening the ugly, sedimentary rock with its heat and stoking the flames of growth within Ghyran. Azyr watched over the rest of the Winds, a guiding force that picked up the slack and filled in the gaps that I missed. And Ghur… Ghur was the wild and untamed younger brother to Ghyran, ready to supplement the Lore of Life with the call of nature. 

In my mind’s eye, as I aimed my spear - no, my magical focus - down towards the hill, the Winds began to mix together. Brown with green, gold with red, and blue as the final drop of color in an iridescent amalgamation of power. It wasn’t all eight of the Winds, but I didn’t need all eight for this spell I was concocting. My mind was thirsty, absorbing these minute instincts and realizations and channeling them into a burgeoning understanding in real time as I coaxed and threaded these magics together.

Now this was Qhaysh.

My heart beat in my chest, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum. I went to lick my lips in between my incantations, but my mouth was too dry for saliva to build along my tongue. The colors became too bright for me to directly look at with my eyes closed, so I opened them-

But the Winds of Magic were just as bright in real life as they were in my head.

Hopefully my girls were looking away before they became blind.

“Annulë aulairin an, athil yaorë tura enis, tulir anírë: Orthairë!”

My words held meaning, these ones I was able to catch before my mind was pulled back into the wrangling of ancient magics. ‘By the power of the Gods, and the Winds of Magic that has shaped this reality into being, I bid thee: Rise!’ 

I didn’t believe in any Gods, and I was fairly certain that Earth Bet was not shaped into being by the Winds, but who was I to argue with myself?

The Winds pulsed at my words, a final thrum of power that I felt even from the considerable distance I stood above the hill. There was a tug on my stomach, like someone pulling on my lower intestines with a fishing hook, and then-

Warning bells.

What felt like an earthquake shook the entire beach as the quaint, decently-sized hill overlooking the Boat Graveyard suddenly swelled beneath the swirling vortex of Qhaysh. The beach shuddered, a deep, reverberating hum echoing upwards from underneath the sand and dirt as if the earth itself was yawning, waking up from an age-long slumber for the first time in who knew how long.

And up above it all, guiding the Winds with my spear as if it was a wizard’s staff, I stood calmly on top of thin air, ready to welcome Invictus’ new home into the world.

Slowly at first, but getting faster and faster as seconds passed, stone and soil shifted, rising upward from the earth and overlapping with the hill that had been standing there for centuries. Thick, lush green grass and flowers clung snugly to the expanding slopes, their roots stretching and entwining to anchor themselves amidst the sudden growth, and the ugly, sedimented rock that once made up the cliffside transformed before my very eyes, melting down into healthy, strong gray stone and rich, packed dirt. 

The air grew thick with the scent of moist loam and blossoming flora, mingling with the salty tang of the sea breeze.

As the hill grew larger and larger, it also began to transform. Both smooth and jagged rocks erupted from the stone and dirt, forming rugged outcrops and craggy ledges that gave the entire formation a natural, mountainous feel. A cascade of loose pebbles and rocks tumbled down the newly formed cliffs, but were caught by wildflowers and tall green grass midway to the ground. Down below, my spiritual attendants awkwardly shifted closer to the water as what was once a moderate hill quickly became a small mountain in its own right, eating up space that had once belonged to the sandy beach.

All along this new landscape, saplings shuddered and grew, becoming tall, healthy trees that covered the mountain in cool shade. Moss and vines extended out from between smooth gray stone, draping over rock, and flowers bloomed all along the new greenery. Birds flocked down from the sky, making roost in their new home - and not just seagulls, either. It was like they’d been lured by Ghur, and had been waiting patiently to move in.

Just as I’d envisioned it, there was wide, empty space on the grass - more than enough for the Mystical Dojo. That particular perk was a bit of a weird one, too. Like with my Armament, brushing against it within my soul allowed me a sort of intuitive grasp on what, exactly, it would bring into this world, and like my Armament, I was given a choice. Not nearly as much as ‘what do you want to be your magical weapon’, but I got the feeling that it wanted me to choose an ‘aesthetic’ for it to follow - like choosing a ‘style’ for a build in the Sims 4.

The only problem with that was it didn’t give me a list of options; it only hinted that the appearance of my Mystical Dojo hinged on whatever I chose.

I pointed my empty left hand at the gorgeous grass plains of my new mountain, and prodded the stubborn mote of light.

“Style, style, style… Fuck it, then - I choose you, Invictus!”

…

Nothing happened.

I swallowed air, because I damn sure didn’t have any saliva left. 

“Bratty bitch, aren’t you? Fine. Invictus is Latin, yeah? So go with a Latin aesthetic.”

Zilch. My cheek twitched.

“Rome.”

Bzzzt.

“Roman Catholic.”

Nada.

“Fucking hell- Ancient Rome!”

Oh hell yeah, that did it. My soul quivered excitedly, and a sensation not unlike that of popping a particularly fat pimple shot through my body. I grimaced, shuddering, but it only lasted for the tiniest of seconds before - with a loud crack of a bunch of air displacing at once - my Mystic Dojo popped into existence.

If you could even call it a ‘dojo’.

It seemed more like a fucking palace than anything, and the way that it melded to its surroundings hinted that there was definitely some sort of magical reality-warp shenanigans at play. Burbling, fresh, crystal blue water acted as an outdoor pool that took up the majority of the exterior ground, with what seemed like etched, smoothly carved limestone creating steps and platforms that led to and from the main entrance. 

Down the side of the mountain, a similarly designed staircase descended into what seemed like some sort of snacking nook, and nearby, a waterfall crashed into yet another glimmering pool of crisp-looking water.

With the way that the main entrance of this dojo palace led deeper into the mountain, I was certain that the majority of the amenities promised, like the training ground, armory, bedrooms, and libraries, were deeper inside. It was built into the side of the mountain, which was the exact reason I decided to try creating a spell that could turn a small, unimpressive hill into… this. 

‘And holy shit. May every fictional God out there rip my heart out if I didn’t do a good fucking job.’

I wasn’t ashamed of the way that my eyes sparkled as I stared down at my new base. It was… beautiful. Everything was beautiful.

I don’t know how long it took me, from beginning to end. When the earth stopped yawning, and the blinding glow of Qhaysh faded away, all I knew was that my arms were sore. My throat felt dryer than the Sahara, my tongue felt swollen, and I probably would’ve killed somebody for a fucking double bacon cheeseburger. It wasn’t dark out yet, but the sun was lower in the sky than it had been when I’d started.

An hour, then. Maybe two? I wanted nothing more than to fly inside and explore this beautiful new place, but it didn’t feel right to do it without my team. I just had to call Sherrel and Trainwreck, and see if I could pull Aisha out of school - just for a day. And my girls, they were-

My heart dropped, and I dematerialized my Armament.

‘Shit, Cass and Amy!’

I whipped around, tired, bloodshot eyes wide as they scoured the much smaller beach for both my girlfriend and my almost-girlfriend. The magic hadn’t moved past the mountain, and I know I would’ve snapped out of the magical fugue if either of them had made any sort of distressed noise, so where-

My eyes locked onto a shaded visor, a bushy black goatee quivering right beneath it.

Armsmaster, watching me from the far right of the beach, near that dirty little trail you had to drive on to get here from the Market.

Accompanying him, flanking on both sides, were Miss Militia and Velocity. The woman with the American Flag bandana had her hands calmly and placatingly by her sides, palms facing out, while Velocity, anxiously biting his lips, jogged in place. Behind them, I could see the rest of the Brockton Bay Protectorate - Assault and Battery, muttering quietly to each other as they leaned against the only PRT van in the area, while Triumph and Dauntless stood like bright, stoic action figures off to the right side.

It only took me a second to glance over their entire team and dismiss them as threats. 

I was searching for more important people.

“BAAAABE!”

My blood warmed again, my hammering heart easing to a more calm tempo, as I caught sight of a wide-eyed Cassie hanging out the passenger side of Sherrel’s War Machine. They were near the Protectorate team, so why didn’t I see them on my first scan-

Sherrel’s vehicle can turn invisible.

Right. Thanks, Hidden Intuition.

It only took four heartbeats and four steps for me to clear the distance between where I’d been standing in the sky and Sherrel’s truck. I completely ignored the way that the heroes were staring holes into the side of my head - my heart and mind was purely on making sure that my people were okay, and if that bothered the PRT then they could, quite literally, suck my dick. Or, at least Miss Militia could. 

I really wasn’t into dudes.

“You can’t spook me like that,” I grinned as I leaned in through the passenger window, skin tingling and warming where Cassie placed loud, feathery-soft kisses along my jawline. “I thought the PRT grabbed y’all while I was doin’ my magic. I was gonna blow up the fucking Rig.”

“They can probably hear ya, y’know,” Sherrel deadpanned, leaning back in the driver’s seat and kicking her heeled boots up on the steering wheel. “Not that it matters. We came as soon as kitkat here texted the GC and said you were the one causin’ that earthquake. Caught the last lil’ bit of whatever the fuck you were doin’.”

She chewed her gum loudly for a second, her pretty green eyes searching my face. “You okay? That was- … wheeew, big guy, I ain’t even see everything but the bit I saw was some crazy shit.” The quiver in her gruff voice betrayed her nerves, and so did the obnoxious gum chewing. 

Sherrel is overwhelmed.

Idly, I ran my hand through Cassie’s hair, knotting my fingers in her short, silky black locks. She purred in response. “It probably did look pretty insane from an outside point of view, didn’t it? I’m good, though - a lil’ tired, but I’m fucking pumped to check everything out with you guys.”

“‘Pretty insane’, huh?” Sherrel chuckled wryly, shaking her head in disbelief. “You are a fuckin’ monster - in a good way. In every single good way. I'm - holy fuck, I'm takin' a picture of this!”

Amy leaned forward from the backseat, her wide brown eyes practically shining with curiosity and blank, naked amazement. “Do you remember what I said earlier, about not wanting to learn magic yet? Because of my powers?”

My brow arched upwards in interest. “Yeah.”

Her gaze was intense - more intense than anything that I’d seen from her so far, and her fingertips creased the leather where she grabbed onto Cassie’s seat. “I changed my mind the second you pulled a mountain out of your ass. I-... I don’t really care about lightning bolts or fireballs, but the, um, nature magic you did here-”

“Ghyran,” I gently corrected her, and she nodded her head so fast that her bones creaked.

“Ghyran.” Amy tasted the word on her tongue, and smirked. “You’re such a fucking nerd. It sounds weird, but I kinda like it. Maybe later, once you’re done talking with the Protectorate, you could sho-”

The sand behind me shifted.

“Avalon, can we speak with you over at the PRT van, please?” Armsmaster’s annoyed voice cut through the conversation like a sharp knife through butter. 

Instinctively, Amy leaned away, locking eyes with me one more time to offer a small, fleeting smile before her usual impassive frown took its place. I could’ve elbowed the annoying bastard in the nose for interrupting what I’d found to be an uncommon occurrence - that is, Amy asking anyone for literally anything - but that would’ve started a fight with the entirety of the Protectorate. They would’ve lost, of course, but it also would’ve ruined everything that I’d spent the last month working on…

Plus I was just hangry, and it was kind of an asshole move for me to ignore them in the first place. Who knew channeling magic for a hundred odd minutes could make you so hungry?

“‘Ight, sure. Let’s do it,” I sighed, pushing myself off of War Machine and untangling my hand from Cassie’s hair.

She pouted. “If they try to arrest you for eco-terrorism, just tell them you plead the fifth. Works like a frickin’ charm in those crazy body-cam cop videos.”

“Fuck the police!” Trainwreck’s loud, raspy growl reverberated from the back of the truck.

Armsmaster scowled, his Armsbeard quivering in a way that suggested he did not, in fact, enjoy being called the ‘police’. He raised his hand as if to put it on my shoulder, but as my eyes glanced down at the offending appendage and then slowly glided up to his visor, he seemed to think better of it. 

The sound of him swallowing down his fear was like music to my ears. Was it petty? Maybe. But I hadn’t forgotten his behavior back during the Empire ambush. The guy was a grade A asshole.

“If you would come with me, Avalon, we’d all appreciate it. You are not under arrest for… eco-terrorism. As far as we know, you haven’t hurt or threatened anyone. The city, the Protectorate, and the PRT at large are just concerned about your intentions this close to the city, the earthquake that originated here, and also- that.”

The hero gestured up at the literal mountainside palace that I’d grown from a simple hill. From down here, at this distance, it genuinely looked like something pulled directly from ancient Greek mythology. Or Roman - the perk was oddly particular about the specifics there.

“I’m willing to hear y’all out,” I shrugged, sliding my hands into the pockets of my gray sweatpants. “But if the mayor has an issue with what I did here, I’d rather speak directly to the big guy in charge and handle things that way. You feel me?”

Armsmaster sighed, and I could almost hear the amount of stress contained in that one breath of air. “I’ll take that into consideration. Please follow me.”

Armsmaster is annoyed. Armsmaster is frustrated. Armsmaster is jealous.

“Ha. What’s new, Scooby-Doo?”

He stiffened. “What was that?”

“Nothing, Beardmeister. I’m right behind ya.”

I could hear his teeth grinding. Oh, he fucking hated me.

I gave one last wave to the others, stealing one last cheeky little kiss from Cassie - or did she steal one from me? - before I followed after a stiff-legged Armsmaster. His fists were clenched at his sides, his shoulders bowed and his head ramrod straight, but I didn’t get the vibe that he was going to try and fight or force me to do anything. This was probably just something they had to do because I, well… created a Greco-Roman palace inside of a mountain that I also created. I would’ve been more concerned for the future safety of the Bay if they hadn’t checked up on me.

And if Invictus wasn’t a thing.

So, I decided to play ball. Smile, act all kind and cool, and wave the superpowered bailiffs away so that I could explore the new digs.

I’d probably have to pay the mayor a queen’s ransom to own this side of the city or something, but with the money I’d gained from Coil and my dealings with Cauldron, I was almost looking for a way to get rid of some of my ridiculous wealth.

And honestly… owning land sounded pretty cool. Felt right.

‘Heh… maybe this whole ‘Brockton Bay King’ shit ain’t all that bad.’

__________________________________________________

A/N:

Told ya it wouldn't be long 'till the next chapter!

Some good progress was made here. For one, we get a bit of progress on Cassie and Jason's magical training. Two, a look into how Amy's doing. And three! Jason dropped the base down.

Dun Dun Dunnnn!

Writing him wrangling all of the Winds together to create his first Qhaysh spell was extremely fun. It's also unnamed - I didn't forget it, he did - so we'll have fun coming up with a name for that later.

I hope you like the look of Invictus' new base. I loved the idea of keeping to a 'sanctuary inside of a mountain' vibe of the Kamar-Taj, so that's how the idea of doing this came to mind. We'll get the proper reactions of the group next chapter as they get a better look, but time was limited at the end there.

See y'all next time!