When Power Meets Silence

"Me?" Rowan asked, blinking at the lady with silver hair waving in the dusk breeze. 

The king stepped forward once more, now fully blazing his sword with aetheric flame. 

"That is something I simply cannot allow, not unless you state clearly your intentions."

His guards followed suit, each adopting their own variants of weapons ranging from bows and swords to polearms. 

The surrounding air was dense, gripping the air from Rowan's lungs and pulling on it like a weight on the end of a rope.

He would've fell to his knees had he not had a more resilient body, as useless as it was for the Arts of The Way. 

"Oh, but you must--that is, if you wish to survive," she added, jumping down to decrease the distance between them to just twenty feet. 

She was graceful, her descent like a cloud slowly allowing her reconnection to her earthly tether. It was clear that she was a force of nature, outside of control even by the earth--perhaps even the gods. 

"I can tell that you are strong, powerful beyond belief, but that doesn't warrant your sudden marching up to the king and the heroes." 

The one who spoke was a guard, pushing his spear forward with the expectation of attack.

Fwip.

The sound only made by the quick cessation of her movement, she blurred just in front of him, wrapping her hand around its blade.

He could only tremble in disbelief from her speed, trying but failing to grip himself free from her control.

With a resounding 'crrrrkkk', the man's weapon was shattered by the smallest movement from her hand, her face still as nonchalant as it had been since her arrival.

"What..." he muttered, letting go of his weapon to hide behind his companions.

Grimoires jumped from their waists, opening to reveal the familiar purple that made up mostly anything magical in this world. 

"We are the retainers of the vanguard, equally protectors of the king and the heroes, and we will not allow even a single step forward from you," they said in unison, manifestations of a number of spells too distinct to call out forming in their hands.

"Lay down your arcana, I just wish for a moment's respite with the boy. There is important information that he must know--" 

Perhaps without her conscious decision, she stepped forward toward Rowan's direction, prompting a large explosion to boom through the street. 

Simultaneously, she was encased in ice, trapped with black flame, and assailed with streaks of blue and purple shifting space. 

While Rowan couldn't tell what the arcana was, he could only imagine their effects, the air almost crying out from their sheer presence alone.

"Don't worry, king, we have placed a barrier spell so as to not destroy the surrounding town," the same guard who'd broken his spear called out, lifting the king from his legs and carrying him further away from their attacks. 

"--lish..." a voice quietly said, wavering like one's calls underwater. 

Thwam!

With controlled haste, the lady cleanly swiped her hand through the air, dispelling their arcana and leaving them without movement or words for just a moment. It was like glass shattered against a beast's thrashing, space itself moving to make sure it didn't slow her movements. 

"Foolish, to believe you can entrap me with such arcana, although I will add that for this time, you lot are fairly impressive. Saint level arcana, I'd like to say?" 

She was genuinely inquisitive, quiet for a moment while searching for a response. 

Once she felt for the raising of their weapons, her body blurred once more, the image of her stance still visible from where she stood just milliseconds before. 

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

Like they were insects to be swatted, the four guards aiming their attacks for her were sent flying far off into the distance, their velocity failing to stop as each of them crashed against house, after house, after house.

The destruction was immense, a huge dust cloud settling over the group to act as a veil for their location.

"Come then, king and heroes, I must escort you to a safe location--" 

The guard's words didn't even have time to reach their effect, the dust rushing into the air above from the simple flare of the lady's aether. 

Rowan and the other heroes could only stare in disbelief, half-concerned and half-amazed. 

Crack!

The lady stepped into the guard, shattering his armor as if it were made of thin glass and sending him flying far out of sight, each crash against surrounding buildings a loud boom that caused Rowan to flinch. 

"That's out of the way," she said, standing completely still just a few feet from where Rowan stood, "now, if you'll come with me. There's little time to waste." 

She reached her hand out, waiting for Rowan to extend his own, but he was too busy staring into the sky at another figure--approaching. 

And approach, it did, hurtling into the ground at breakneck speed. 

Slam!

Dust rose again from the man's entrance, lingering for just a few moments longer than was comfortable.

Eventually, it settled, revealing the man within.

It was Corien, his stance unbothered by the violent thud. He stood without even moment's hesitation, stepping closer to the silvery woman.

"Ah, to think one as strong as you would show up to this capital--essentially unannounced. Who are you?" 

He reached his hand out, tilting his head down in genuine question.

Her eyebrows twitched ever so slightly, the annoyance tinging her face dying down after she stepped forward to meet his gait.

She didn't respond, though.

"Ah, you needn't respond, that was a dumb question. Regardless of who you are, it won't matter," he continued, stepping forward just a little faster, "because you will die where you stand." 

Thwwoooooooommm!

The blast was gargantuan, the simple swipe of his hand causing a purple cylinder of pure energy to jet out past where the lady stood and all the way into the distance, further than the eye could see. 

"Oooh, you nailed her with that one," Kaia yelled, jumping with her arms in the air out of excitement.

"No, not yet," Lucien added, pointing at the recipient still concealed within the blast.

She was on the ground--fifty feet away from where she stood, seated in a destroyed house while twitching either from the pain or the shock.

"Grrgghhh... you got me good, there..." she struggled, coughing up heaps of blood.

Her body began to light up, causing Corien to cover his eyes. 

"To meet the strongest... here... is rather unfortunate..." her voice turned into a growl as the pain began to show in her expression, "while I didn't get to speak to you, I will provide you this one warning, maste--wordless one. The one without words is the one they'll fear most, especially when your words can bring with them calamity. No matter what, do not trust the angels."

The light enveloping grew to their fullest potential, enshrouding the surroundings before immediately cutting off.

She was gone, the only thing she'd left being the words that struck something within Rowan.