Chapter 13
Xerath noticed her looking and explained, "Titus is a magical wolf. Some people keep magical wolves as pets, but wizards usually turn them into stools. Have you ever had a pet at home?" Worried that Sylas might not understand the word "pet," she added, "Like a magical wolf, snake, bird, cat, and so on."
"No, want one."
"You can touch Titus," they were nearing the bottom floor, on a resting platform. Xerath placed Sylas down and then rubbed Titus's back, watching as Sylas tried to copy her. She smiled and said, "Titus really likes it when people pet her like this."
"Titus is a girl?"
"Yes," Xerath thought to herself with a glimmer of hope that if Sylas got distracted by Titus, she might not try to run outside. However, Sylas attempted to pick up Titus and looked at the narrow window, asking, "Will she come with us outside?"
Xerath nodded a little disappointedly and said, "Okay." She asked Sylas to put down Titus, and then she picked up the little girl again - so that she wouldn't secretly play with elements and blow up the mage tower.
Titus turned back into a desert-colored magic wolf in the entrance hall, and his suddenly enlarged body almost filled up the relatively small space. Sylas stiffened, took a deep breath, and Xerath quickly covered her restless mouth, saying, "Don't be afraid, Titus won't hurt you."
When Sylas saw Titus wagging his tail, she gradually relaxed. Xerath freed her hand and opened the door. The wind suddenly blew the door aside, and she let Titus go out, then closed the door. The fierce wind even penetrated Aimekotes' wind wall, making it impossible to open one's eyes.
In Aimekotes, the strong wind outside always slowly seeped into the inside of the wind wall. Now that the wind was so strong, it's not hard to imagine what it was like outside the wind wall.
Xerath murmured, "Gentle breeze," and the writing in the air on her hand never stopped. The dispersed magic left golden traces in the air, and the gentle breeze surrounded them. The wind that blew on their bodies revealed a huge Earth Child arising from a torn crevice caused by tidal forces. It silently extended a round hand, waiting for Xerath to step on it and walk onto its shoulder.
Earth Childs have small heads, so there were many places to sit on their broad shoulders. She sat down with Sylas in her arms. The Earth Child started walking forward quickly, with the magic wolf Titus following behind. Its huge head was right behind Xerath, and Sylas could easily touch its damp nose with her outstretched hand.
After transforming into its huge form, Titus remained essentially a mischievous little dog. It happily looked at Sylas and made a soft sound from its throat. It even prepared to stick out its tongue and lick the little girl's hand.
"Titus," the archmage said, as if growing eyes on her back, stopping it from getting drool everywhere. They had already reached near the wind wall, on a circular magic circle. As the archmage stepped on it, the surrounding runes lit up one by one. Titus quickly caught up, curling up in the relatively small magic circle for itself. After a wave of fluctuation, they appeared outside the wind wall.
The spell of "entangling roots" fixed the two of them onto the Earth Child. The heavy rocky body ensured that the strong wind could not sweep away this delicate elemental envoy in an instant. Magic wolf Titus instinctively lay down on the ground, protecting its nose with its front paws, and then cautiously tried to stand up, crawling behind the archmage.
The protective power of the small tornado was greatly weakened by the strong wind. The wind blew sand and raindrops, turning these small harmless particles into scary flying knives. Even a cut on the face would hurt. But the smell of the wind mixed with rain was amazing. It filled the heart and made one feel connected with the great nature. It made people couldn't help but worship such a magical phenomenon.
Sylas was extremely happy. She turned around and opened her arms wide, as if she wanted to hug something. After thinking for a moment, Xerath placed her aside, and Titus responsibly came over to support Sylas's feet with the tips of his kisses, so that she wouldn't fall down.
Xerath started reciting a long and complicated spell. The order of the words was similar to an ascending spell. However, it was almost impossible to ascend the wind element in such a wild storm of wind and rain. Magical energy accumulated at her fingertips and emitted a dazzling light in the darkness. The majestic archmage commanded the festive wind and water to obey her request, slow down, and follow her orders, surrounding her to form a quiet barrier. The festive elements rarely agreed to such requests. In the Elemental Gate - which was different from what many people imagined - elemental mages' abilities were often weakened because elements were always in a frenzy and didn't usually obey the commands of the mages.
Only the king of elements could make the unruly elements listen a bit. Sylas keenly noticed this. She cheered loudly, and the elements' "ho..." gradually lowered their voices. They surrounded Xerath, and the wind and rain weakened. Before this, the strong wind that almost blew her hands and the raindrops that hurt her face made her somewhat understand why Xerath didn't allow her to come out.
Even though the elements surrounded Xerath, they still wanted to break free. The shield was sometimes strong and sometimes weak, allowing some gusts of wind to come in, blowing the little girl's hair into a mess.
Under their feet was a gravel ground, but soon, the sand piled up near the wind shield, as if burying something invisible. Soon, the wind shield couldn't support the weight of the sand and it fell inside.
The archmage turned her head and reached out a hand towards Sylas.
The girl was too busy looking around, observing everything. The sky was dark and the elemental children were faintly visible, appearing like pythons entwined with heavy dark clouds. Their bodies occasionally lit up while wriggling.
Their sizes were so enormous that it made people feel as if they didn't exist. Not only Sylas, who was seeing such a scene for the first time, even the archmage couldn't help but gaze at this storm spreading like a disaster.
The lightning seemed to twist above their heads, and the thunder rolled beneath their feet. Even the calmest earth elemental came to life, and the ground trembled along with them.
For the past ten years, the archmage had mostly watched all of this from afar in the tower, protected by rocks and barriers. It was all just scenery for the mage tower. But when they finally faced it all, they were still amazed from deep within their heart.
With a deafening roar, they could clearly hear all the rushing elements shouting loudly:
"ho——"
Their heart pounded as if it was about to burst out of their chest. They couldn't help but raise their hand, wanting to roar along, wanting to join in, wanting to abandon their life and be part of the celebration. A gust of wind passed by them, mischievously lifting the hem of their heavy cloak. The wind was cool, but the archmage hardly noticed anymore.
