Leon glared at the bird, his sword half-brandished, his face hidden behind his helmet. Behind him, Maia was scrambling to her feet after being so suddenly and unexpectedly awoken by Leon’s movement, while magic power surged through Leon’s body. Small arcs of silver-blue lightning coursed over his limbs while element-less magic power encased his brain, forming a protective shell against any potential foreign influence. However, Leon couldn’t sense any magic within his body that wasn’t his own, and even if there was, his silver-blue lightning was already coursing through his body, so there wasn’t any darkness magic affecting his mind…

Throughout all of this, the bird simply stood there, perched on Leon’s desk, staring at him as if he were as interesting as a stain on the carpet. Even as the Thunderbird’s lightning coursed through his body, even as his element-less magic snapped into place around his brain, the bird remained there, visible, and seemingly as solid and real as the small pile of papers that it was slowly crushing in its talons.

What’s going on? Maia blearily asked as a small cloud of water congealed around her and hovered there, ready to be used at a moment’s notice.

Leon pointed at the bird on his desk, his hand moving slowly as if he feared the answer to the question he was going to ask.

“Do you see that?” he asked out loud.

Maia glanced to the desk with both curiosity and a slight sense of caution—not too much though, because the bird still only radiated an aura of about the fourth-tier—and a moment later responded, The bird?

“You can see the bird?” Leon quietly asked, almost unable to believe the words he’d ‘heard’ in his head.

Yes… Maia said as she slid around the wall of the tent to assume a flanking position on the Thunderbird look-a-like.

Breathing deeply, Leon stared at the bird, just as it stared right back at him, nearly motionless save for a twitch now and then and the gentle swaying of its body as it breathed.

“What… what are you?!” Leon asked, his tone unsure and slightly shaky. He didn’t know how to feel about this right now, whether or not he ought to trust his senses. If Maia could now see the bird, and the bird was still there even with his mental defenses raised, then… did that mean the bird was real and not a hallucination? Did this thing just have some kind of innate ability to hide itself from everyone except those it chose to reveal itself to?

Leon wasn’t really expecting any kind of response—it was a bird after all, and though it was clearly intelligent on some level, there was no doubt in Leon’s mind that no human voice could come from that avian beak. What was more, its fourth-tier aura was strong, but not so strong that Leon would’ve automatically assumed it was on-par with the average human. Anzu, after all, was fifth-tier, and while he was smart enough to understand Leon on some level, Leon wouldn’t say that the griffin was on par with even an average human.

And yet, as the bird stared him down, it opened its beak, and a vaguely human voice came out. It was mostly deep and resonant, not gravelly but not silky-smooth, either. It had had a masculine quality that seemed dominant, but there was a strange echoing quality to it where it almost sounded like a feminine voice was muttering the same words only a fraction of a second after the masculine one. It also had a faint accent, but one that wasn’t reminiscent of the Serpentine Islanders; rather it was one that Leon had never heard before and couldn’t place.

“I… am not your… enemy…” the voice said.

Leon took a step back, his eyes wide behind his helmet’s visor.

Xaphan? Nestor? Ancestor? Can any of you tell me what in the hells I’m seeing? Leon shouted into his soul realm.

As he waited for their responses, he addressed the bird, “That doesn’t explain what you are, though. What is your interest in me?”

“I… I am but an eagle…” it said, bringing a skeptical frown to Leon’s face. “I… sensed your aura… and wished to help…”

“To help with what?” Leon asked.

“You came here… seeking the followers… of the Serpent?”

Leon clenched his jaw so tightly he thought he might accidentally crack a tooth.

Well, isn’t that just interesting… Nestor murmured into Leon’s mind.

What is? Leon responded.

Instead of Nestor, it was Xaphan who explained, If what we’re sensing is right, that bird has some innate talents in darkness magic, which would actually explain quite a bit. It would go a long toward explaining why it seems so smart and why it can mask itself from everyone except those it chooses to reveal itself to.

So… this thing is actually real? Leon asked. To all his senses, it did seem real, but he was cautious about trusting it too much too fast.

I would say that you could reach out and touch it, Xaphan concluded. It’s solid. Real, though? I suppose that depends on your definition, but right now, I would say yes.

I’d agree with that, Nestor added.

Unfortunately, the Thunderbird was clearly not in his soul realm at the moment, so Leon would have to continue without her input.

Turning his attention back to the bird, Leon hesitantly said, “If by the ‘followers of the Serpent’, you mean Jormun’s pirates, the monsters who crucified all of those people on the previous island, then yes, I’m after them.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Maia giving him a searching look, and he gave her a quick wave, telling her through their connection to stand down, but to keep her guard up, just in case. This bird didn’t seem strong enough to hurt either of them, but after underestimating so much on this expedition, Leon wanted to treat this talking bird with darkness magic with the seriousness it demanded.

Although, he had to stifle a slight chuckle when he thought about just how ridiculous the current situation was.

“I will… I wish… to help you…” the bird replied, its voice sounding soothing and amiable despite how alien it was.

Leon was tempted to agree immediately, but it wasn’t too hard to stamp down on that temptation.

“Nothing is free,” he stated as Maia started to relax and move again to his side, though the drops of water hanging in the air around her didn’t go away and remained present as a silent threat if this bird did anything untoward.

“Some things are,” the bird countered. “These… people… threaten my world… they threaten everything… I will help you… hunt them… for the sake of all of us…”

Leon’s eyes narrowed in suspicion and incredulity. “An… admirable motivation, I suppose,” he said, unsure of exactly how he was supposed to follow up on that. After a moment of silence, he decided to just be honest with it. “If you were a human, I’d probably call you a liar, or at least not believe what you just said. Everyone wants something, what do you get out of this?”

The bird cocked its head for a moment as it regarded Leon, its cold yellow eyes boring into him, not breaking eye contact even to blink. Even with his mental defenses active, Leon felt kind of like everything that he was, all of his thoughts and intentions, was being laid bare before this bird. It was not a particularly pleasant feeling, and he instinctually took a couple of steps back, pressing his calves against the small bed that he and Maia had been relaxing in only a few minutes before.

“I… can understand… your reticence, young human,” the bird said. “I have… seen many of my kin… hunted by these… pirates. To indulge in baser… instincts like vengeance… is not for me… but perhaps, by aiding you… those who have killed my kind… may see justice.”

Leon nodded. He couldn’t read the bird’s body language, and the voice was quite even throughout, so he couldn’t point at anything definitive and say that it was proof the bird was lying, but its words still didn’t feel quite right.

“You do not trust… me,” the bird said.

“I do not,” Leon replied.

Into his mind, he heard Maia mutter, A talking bird. Who would trust anything it says?

I think you might be surprised by that answer, Leon replied as he playfully bumped his elbow into her arm, though he kept his face neutral and stoic. Honestly, I kind of want to trust it. It led us through the previous island to that ritual site, and then it showed me that map…

I’ll follow your lead, but be careful, Maia replied.

Leon took a deep breath. The bird hadn’t responded to his admission; it almost seemed to be giving them time to speak with each other, which was a disconcerting notion to Leon. He didn’t think mental communication could be eavesdropped on, but the things that he didn’t know about magic were overwhelmingly endless. Even the powerful and experienced beings living in his soul realm didn’t have all the answers and could only give him possibilities and hypotheticals when he asked them most questions.

“Why me?” Leon asked. He almost though the bird had chosen to appear to him because of his power, but it was only fourth-tier, it couldn’t possibly know how strong he was. Besides, if it were only power it wanted to pursue, then it would’ve appeared first to Maia. “Of all the people in this task force, why me? I’m not the smartest, I’m not the best leader, I’m not… well, not really anything other than good as putting sharp bits of metal into people. Is that what you’re after? Just someone who can deal enough death to satisfy you?”

“As I said… I wish not for vengeance… but justice,” the bird insisted, its eyes narrowing slightly in clear disapproval.

“There are other, better options of people for you to choose to appear to,” Leon said. “People with better connections and more authority to do as you want…”

In his heart, Leon felt like maybe the bird had sensed his connection to the Thunderbird, or just sensed his power in general. It had to be that. There was never any other reason for an entity such as this, one so disconnected from politics and the powers-that-be in the world, to make the first move and take an interest in him. It was like that for the stone giants, and it was like that for the Talfar vampire.

‘It always comes back to that, doesn’t it?’ Leon thought, his face slightly curling up in bitterness.

He was thus terribly surprised when the bird replied, “You looked like… someone who knew loss. You… know my pain… It is a pain… that you continue to feel…”

Leon blinked about a dozen times in only a couple seconds, his mind sent reeling by the bird’s words.

“Pain?” he said. He tried his best to control the disrespectful disbelief in his voice, but he failed. He stole a quick glance at Maia, something that kind of resembled a sly grin on his face as if he were silently asking what this bird was on about, but found her staring back at him with an odd look on her face.

Leon cleared his throat and turned back toward the bird, any traces of levity, disbelief, and incredulity vanishing in that moment.

“I’m not entirely sure what you’re talking about,” he said.

“Maybe… it’s not something you’re entirely… conscious of,” the bird said. “Maybe it’s not something… that you even know… But there’s a hole in you… something that claws at your mind… something that caused pain… And I can sense… it…”

Leon nodded as his expression slid into one of confusion and uncertainty. He had no idea what the bird could be referring to, he didn’t think he was in any kind of pain.

“And this… pain,” Leon slow said, his voice tinged with suspicion and incredulity, “is what… leads you to come to me instead of anyone else?”

The bird gave a surprisingly human nod. “You would… understand…”

Leon nodded again as he thought over the issue a little bit more. He supposed the bird was referring to his father, but how it knew… well, he didn’t have to wonder too hard, the bird probably picked up on it from his mind with its darkness magic. That Leon had desired vengeance and justice for his father was, at least as far as he could tell, what the bird was trying to invoke to get him to empathize with it.

But such a thing wasn’t easy. Leon felt some twinges of sympathy, but the bird was an unknown, and those it had lost were even more so. Empathy wasn’t coming easily.

“Perhaps…” the bird said as its head suddenly started to swivel about on its shoulders as it looked around, its eyes seemingly peering past the walls of the tent and perceiving what was outside. “Perhaps… you would trust me… more if I gave… you some help. There is going… to be an attack upon your people… tonight. The followers of the Serpent… are already getting ready out there…”

Leon frowned as he projected his magic senses again. He hadn’t seen any large movements of people out there in the hours he’d spent watching, but magic senses weren’t perfect, especially not over such an immense distance as the jungle. He couldn’t now see anything that might indicated the camp was about to come under attack, but he didn’t argue.

Simply stating a fact, Leon said, “I can’t see anything.”

“They’re… out there,” the bird replied, extending a wing and ‘pointing’ roughly southwest toward some of the lower and denser parts of the jungle.

Leon directed his magic senses in that direction, projecting them slowly and doing his best to thoroughly examine the area.

And, about half a mile out from the furthest of his scouts, he saw a dark moving figure. It was definitely humanoid, and carried a fifth-tier aura. Behind that thing was another, and then another, and then another, until Leon could see hundreds, perhaps even a few thousand of these figures slowly making their way through the jungle, many of them fifth-tier or stronger. One he even noticed was seventh-tier, a woman with wild, frizzy red hair and a look of anticipation plastered all over her face.

Leon cut off his magic senses. He’d seen enough, Jormun’s people were about a mile away from them. He needed to respond, and he didn’t want to let them know that they had been seen by saturating them in his magic senses.

Pausing for just a moment, Leon said to the bird, “I think we might be able to talk later, but right now, I have to deal with this.”

The bird said nothing, merely bowing its head slightly as Leon and Maia gave it one last look before rushing out into the tent’s main room where the rest of the squad was sleeping. Leon began to rouse them, and after taking a minute or two to clear their heads of sleep and get them up to speed, he exited the tent to start rousing everyone else who wasn’t on watch and getting them ready for the imminent attack.

—

Leon took a deep breath as he finally settled into position in the jungle. All of the marines in the camp who’d been sleeping had been woken up, and he’d taken the Quick Response Force—a company of marines whose entire job was to be awake and ready to respond to sudden attacks—out into the jungle to try and intercept the pirates. The rest of the marines were left in the camp to watch their rear and hold their position.

There was no way the pirates didn’t see this happening, Leon knew that. He also saw the moment when the red-haired seventh-tier mage realized it, for she started to madly smile in his direction and shout at her people to pick up the pace.

Even with himself and Maia, Leon didn’t think he’d be able to hold his ground against this oncoming assault, not with only a hundred marines. But he didn’t think he had to. They’d posted up on a ridge that overlooked the slope the pirates would have to take to reach his camp in a perfect position to rain arrows down upon the approaching pirates. There was still a ton of jungle trees and plants in the way, however, so Leon wasn’t expecting the tactic to be as effective as it might’ve otherwise been—at least, not without a little bit of intervention from him—but he wasn’t trying to win here, just slow them down and make them bleed before moving back to the better defenses of the camp.

“There’s still some time before they come into range,” he said to his squad. “I’ll be right back, don’t hesitate to open up on them as soon as you can even if I’m not back.”

“What are you…?” Alix began as Leon’s ring flashed green and light began to bend around him until he vanished from sight. He heard her swear under her breath as he stared to creep down to the slope as he pulled explosive spells from his soul realm.

At the same he was doing this, he felt Maia coming after him, her own ring of invisibility activated. He couldn’t help but smile, knowing that with her power and the way that the pirates were being forced into a thin line by the jungle, they were about to hit a magical wall. They might not even have to fall back to—

Leon cut that line of thought right off. Thinking that they were invincible and couldn’t possibly lose was the same kind of thinking that had led the Legion to approach Kraterok with so little caution, and why the Fleet Legates were now underestimating Jormun’s capabilities. Leon couldn’t do the same.

Maia, using their connection to know where he was, shadowed him along the slope as he hid a number of explosive mines in the best places that the pirates would be able to use for cover. Behind trees, rocks, and slights pits and rolls in the land, he placed at least thirty mines along the slope before the pirates finally got too close for comfort, and he and Maia fell back to the ridge.

They made it back to Leon’s original position with barely a minute to spare.

When they seemingly stepped out of thin air, many of the nearby marines and Leon’s own squad just about jumped out of their own skin, but they relaxed as Leon joined them again.

“How about telling us you’re going to do something like that, next time?” Alix whispered as Leon took his position and drew his bow. “We almost went out to find you!”

Leon gave her a searching look before glancing at Marcus, Alcander, and Gaius. The latter two were focused entirely on the oncoming pirates, a pair of rather cheap and only very lightly enchanted bows loaned to them by Leon in their hands. Marcus, however, returned Leon’s look and shrugged.

“We don’t want you out there without support,” he simply stated as he raised his own loaned bow.

Leon sighed, knowing their concerns were valid. “There wasn’t much time, sorry about that,” he said. “But those pirates are going to be in for a whole world of pain if they don’t turn around soon…”

Leon projected as much confidence as he could for everyone else’s sake, but a moment later, he was readying himself for whatever might come. Jormun himself didn’t appear to be present, and that was making him nervous, so he quickly projected his magic senses back toward the Earl’s city. As far as his swift scan could reveal, there wasn’t anything going on back there, but he couldn’t get in a better look, for only a moment later, the first of the pirates stepped into range, and the marines began to open fire.