Chapter 444: 445. Jiroh’s Story – Whirlwind’s Fall

MEMORY FRAGMENT

Whirlwind Citadel, 18 years ago

A ray of energy pierced the cloud surface from below, making the entire citadel shake. Cloud matter moved about chaotically, filling in the hole and trying to keep the structures stable. Despite that, its inhabitants were in a state of disarray. No one expected this to happen. The cloud forts were built to withstand such attacks easily, and this was no mere cloud fort—this was the Whirlwind Citadel, one of the five strongest ones to remain. For millennia, it had withstood all sorts of attacks and remained unsaved and victorious. Now, it was looking like this might be its final battle, not a grand battle in the heart of the enemy empire, but just beyond its border in an ordinary province.

After forming what seemed like a united front, king Alroh had gathered all his troops and attacked with full force. He had been aware that the empire was waiting, he had even prepared for the possibility of some of the fury mercenary kingdoms taking the enemy’s side. However, neither he, not anyone else could have expected devastation to such a level.

Lightning and thunder filled the sky as the citadel retaliated, scorching the ground beneath it. However, it didn’t seem to matter. The war had already been lost.

“Jiroh!” Geroh appeared in front of her room. Despite the danger, the wall moves aside, creating an opening for them to see each other directly. “Come,” the thunder fury reached out to her. “We need to go.”

“I passed the trial,” the child said, as if that had any significance. “I stepped through the gate…”

“Yes.” Geroh grabbed her hand. “You can’t stay here.”

Part of Jiroh was in shock. Strangely enough, it was her grown-up part. The child that had been born in this world had seen bloodshed before, though never to such a degree. Back when she was the daughter of a pair of cloud sculptors, it was common for skirmishes to affect her. The Floran part of her, though, didn’t know how to react. She had never seen anything resembling war. The closest she had come was historical dramas and fantasy novels. All this was too real for her to handle.

Another ray of light broke through, vaporizing an entire structure. It took seconds for the building to be recreated, though not the furies that were inside.

“Jiroh!” the black fury said sharply. “Come along.”

Three more squads of furies flew out of a surviving garrison tower and darted towards the ground. From what Jiroh could gather, they were attempting a suicide attack on the attackers below in order to draw the attacks away from the citadel. Based on their clothes, several of them were awakened.

“Where are we going?” the girl asked, allowing herself to glide as Geroh rushed through streets and buildings.

“You’re getting off the citadel,” the fury explained. “I sent a few people to be ready for you. They weren’t cheap, but they’re supposed to get the job done.”

“You want me to go on ground.” Jiroh suddenly stopped in place, as if an anchor were holding her there. “I don’t want to go down there.”

“There’s no time for games!” the black fury snapped. “The king has already been wounded. Half the war council is gone. Forget attacking, it’s not even sure the citadel will manage to escape.”

The Moons have forsaken us, Jiroh thought. This was supposed to be the battle of the millennium—a fight that would be remembered in generations as the day the furies restored their empire and took their rightful place in the world scene. Instead, it had ended up being their ultimate defeat. It didn’t matter if any of the other fury factions had been destroyed or didn’t bother to show up—the Whirlwind Citadel had failed, showing to all that the race was no longer a threat. Like the gorgons, they were fated to fade into obscurity while the dwarves and humans rose. From this day on, everyone would claim that there were only two races of power in the world.

“The Academy’s taken sides,” Geroh said. “Everyone thought that they would remain neutral or support us, but they ended up joining the emperor.”

There was no possible way they could win at this point. Escape was the only possible option, and yet Jiroh felt that she couldn’t.

“No!” she said adamantly. “I want to talk to the citadel.”

“The citadel?” Geroh blinked. “That’s what this is about?”

“It’s dying, and it needs to talk to me.”

“It’s as good as dead. Most of the seeds are gone. There’s nothing left to prevent the mages from destroying it. The longer you’re stubborn about it, the longer—"

“I want to talk to it!” Jiroh shouted, unleashing a massive storm of lightning in all directions. Their strength was more than impressive for someone her age. The power was enough to be felt even on the ground, causing the human forces to momentarily stop with their attack.

If the king was able to see this, he’d call it magnificent. It was far greater than anything Jiroh had done in the past, far greater than what Geroh could achieve. Knowing this, the black fury took a step back.

“I’ll wait for you here,” he said, himself too stubborn to give up. “Don’t take long.”

The child glared at him for several seconds, then took a deep breath. There were many things she could do, from using logic to unleashing her power on him again. Given his experience, Geroh would probably be able to survive, though he’d be knocked into the sky, possibly even partially dazed. However, what point would that achieve? He knew well enough to acknowledge her powers were superior. It was sad in a way—he had trained his whole life with the goal to get where he was, and in two years Jiroh had already surpassed him in many ways, all thanks to her coming from another world. Limitations that had crippled his development didn’t exist for her, giving her a greater boost than any fury could be born with, and that was not all. What Jiroh hadn’t shared with him, or anyone; the one thing that she couldn’t share was that she had been chosen by the Orange Moon, gaining his favor. While her awakening level was just ten, her attack and carving skills were in their fifties, not to mention that she had been given guard skills not too long ago as well.

With a nod, the child sliced through the ground and jumped inside.

Cloud matter shifted as she floated through it, transforming into a river. In that single moment, the war outside had ended. The screams and battle cries, all the noise of destruction had vanished completely. It was tempting to imagine that everything had been one big nightmare and just remain here for a few hours, or even days, but Jiroh kept swimming on. She knew that the beings that supported the citadel didn’t have long to live, and she wanted to talk to them, hoping that there could be a way to change their fate.

“You’ve come, shimmering child,” a deep voice said, surrounding her.

Jiroh looked around. There was nothing but white, but she was certain that the source of the voice floated about her, like a cloud guardian.

“I was hoping I’d get to see you,” another voice said. “So young, and yet so gifted. It’s a pity you weren’t born five thousand years ago.”

“Or even one thousand,” the first voice said.

“So much would have been different. You would have seen us fly in the sky,” the second continued.

“Or fight,” a third one said. “We loved to fight. But even when we lost, we weren’t completely devoured. Hunters changed that.”

“Fury hunters.”

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“Dryad hunters.”

“How do I help you?” Jiroh went directly to the point. There was a lot she couldn’t understand, but she was fully aware that getting sidetracked by distractions wasn’t going to do anyone any good, least of all herself.

“So eager to help,” one of the voices said.

“So eager to leave,” added another. “You can do both, you know, if you just put the effort into it.”

The words seemed to ring in Jiroh’s mind. Going home. The first few months after arriving in this world, she had hoped to find a way to get back to her own world. When it turned out that no one knew a way, she turned to the Moons, praying against hope that they would let her return. Months had passed, then years, and all that time she had found no indication that returning to Flora was even possible.

“She’s happy,” one of the voices said.

“She should be, but also not.” Another sighed. “You’re too weak, child. We can help you return to your world, but not when you’re this weak. You need to get stronger, much stronger.”

“It will take you years, maybe decades, to reach the strength needed, but you’re resourceful.”

“What’s the price?” Jiroh asked. “There always is a price.” That was something she knew even back from her own world. No one offered anything for free, especially if the offer sounded too good to be true.

“You’ll have to free us as well.”

“Yes, you’ll have to kill us.”

The request hit Jiroh like a lightning bolt. This wasn’t what she had expected. Even if she had her doubts about the offer moments ago, sacrificing all the cloud creatures in the cloud was… it wasn’t that she even wanted to consider.

“Don’t be sad.” The head of a cloud dolphin gained form in the whiteness. “It’s what we won’t.”

“You won’t be killing us. We’re nothing but echoes of our former selves. Hearts existing to keep the citadel whole.”

“When there were more like you, we did that willingly, but as the awakened in your race waned, so did the people that could talk to us.”

“You can only hear us because you’re from another world. The restrictions don’t apply to you. For everyone else, we’re nothing but a bunch of hearts.”

“A bunch of dying hearts.”

“No!” Jiroh almost screamed. “There’s a way to save you. There always is.”

“There is no way. Only the Moons can save us.”

“And even if they did, we’d only be alone. Even if all the creatures of all the citadels were freed in the forms we were before, we’d still be alone.”

“This is no longer our time. The skies are different now. We don’t belong in them.”

“You do belong!”

“Goodbye, shimmering child.”

Jiroh felt a force pushing her back up the way she came.

“Don’t forget what we told you.”

“Survive and become stronger. And when you do, find us. We’ll be waiting for as long as we can.”

Like a jet of hot air, Jiroh was propelled through the tunnel clouds. The child fought as hard as she could, but ultimately, it proved useless. As fast as she had improved her trains and skills, she was far from being a match to the entities that had been holding the cloud citadel in the air for millennia.

In mere moments, she was back out on the surface. The sound of thunder ripped the sky—another desperate attempt of the citadel to delay the next attack. Jiroh, however, wasn’t thinking about that. Jaws clenched, she flew towards the ground again and struck it. This time, nothing happened. For a second the child froze, as if trying to come to terms with the fact that her attack had failed. Then, all chaos broke loose. Bursting into a fit of rage, the young fury hit the ground again and again as fast as her body would allow her. Sparks emerged from the end of her fingers. Alas, the result was the same—the hearts within the citadel didn’t want to let her in again.

“Jiroh,” Geroh said a few steps from her. “Jiroh, it’s over. There’s nothing you can do.”

“No!” The child persisted, putting in as much strength as she had.

Her tiny hands moved so fast that they could barely be seen. Suddenly, a pair of hands held her firmly by the arms from both sides. Instinctively, Jiroh struggled in an attempt to break loose, but Geroh’s persistence rivaled her own, not to mention that his strength was still greater.

“Let it go,” he whispered. “There will be other times. The citadel will be waiting for you.”

Jiroh gritted her teeth, angry at the entire world. Then, seeing the futility, burst into tears. Her hands relaxed, combining with sadness and exhaustion. For the first time since she had been in this world, she felt completely powerless, and that hurt her.

“Let’s go.” Geroh lifted her up. “You need to be safe. As long as you’re safe, you’ll be able to return. Do you understand?”

There was no response.

“You’ll understand,” the black fury said, then dashed to the edge of the citadels where a group of mercenaries was waiting.

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