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FINALLY getting this uploaded after a month and a half's worth of efforts. Written for the "dining" and "approval" prompts and rated mature for swearing and implications of things best not discussed in the current political climate. (In the Wielders' defense, they treat them more like servants.) I'd love some feedback!

(Also, how do you like the title I gave Book One?)

Heroes of Ryperna: Earth's Rise
Chapter 2: Around the Table

Dinner in the chief's palace that night was awkwardly silent as Wieldless servants brought dishes of rabbit, bison, and the traditional post-Eustrom Festival mimic bird to the four seated at the table. After a while, Sylvia could handle it no longer and spoke up. "Daddy, where's Umbrina?"

"She left," he replied. Sensing she wouldn't be satisfied with that answer, he made sure the servants were out of earshot before adding, "She needs to learn how to control and use her Wielding responsibly, so she's on her way to Caldéara to be instructed by Ignis."

"Oh," Sylvia sighed, crestfallen. Umbrina had been an older sister to her, and now that she was gone, it left a niche in the family unfilled. Pushing her plate of bison away, she grumbled, "I'm not that hungry anymore."

Trevor, meanwhile, was sharing the mimic bird wing with his feral mother, who was confused at the situation. She had fed this child for the past three years, and now these two-legged animals were feeding them instead? Indeed, she had never tasted such fine meat before, having only had mice and feral rats in the canyon with the occasional lizards, birds, and insects. Fruits were a rarity on the steep slopes of the canyon, but they were there seasonally, and she made sure Trevor got some when he came with her on hunts. She had never thought about it before, but there was something different about her child from the other bassarisks she had raised. Indeed, she had been before the pearly gates for a few brief moments before being called back down. The experience had opened her eyes to new pondering and realizations as if she had ascended to something more than what she was before. Was her being called back his doing? She did not know for sure but based on how the others were treating him, she feared the answer was yes.

Seeing Trevor eating with his mom, Sylvia decided to ask him a question. Of course, she didn't expect a coherent answer - he was only about three years old and resembled a feral two-month-old - but she asked anyway, "Trevor, didn't you bring your mother back from the dead?"

"Yeah."

"So doesn't that make her a zombie?" Sylvia asked half-seriously.

He thought for a moment, then replied, "Maybe, but at least she's not a dumb bitch."

Shocked at his language, the jibe flew over her head for a moment before turning back around and striking her in the back. Infuriated, she stood up in her seat and poked her finger at his nose and barely avoided shouting, "Listen you onerous brat! My mother went feral so that you could simply be conceived, let alone born! Show the Primes who came and went before you some respect, or I'll bash that muzzle in!"

"Sylvia, sit down!" Brontus ordered. "He's a Feral-Born; he does not yet know the ways of our society!"

"His vocabulary is awfully advanced for that to be the case," she muttered.

"Doubtless, he picked up some words from the mimic birds as well as caravans passing by above the canyon, but even then, a Feral-born has to mature quickly to survive in the wild should he not be found by the Prime Wielders after the Eustrom Festival. It's the exception rather than the rule that the mothers of Feral-Born keep them by their side as they grow up, instead of sending them off to survive on their own to face the world when their feral counterparts would be able to mate. As you can see for yourself, they are often regarded as the runts of the litter."

Sylvia sighed and pushed her plate over to Trevor, seeing how he had finished his mimic bird and was eyeing the remnants of her bison steak, scant as they were. "Here, Trevor, you can have it. I'm not hungry."

Trevor stared at it for about two seconds before holding it in his hands and eating the rest of it, leaving the bone remarkably clean. He briefly reflected on the fact that this was the most he had eaten in one night in his life before letting out a loud belch. Seeing this, Brontus called into the kitchen, "Anna! Trevor likes how you cooked the steak!"

"Excuse me...?" A bat-eared fox entered the room, her serving apron covered in grease stains and a few burns. "I prepared that for Sylvia; did she not like it?"

Seeing Sylvia's guilty expression, she realized with a smug grin, "Or did she not have enough of an appetite? Either way, I'm glad Trevor enjoyed it. I'll have to experiment with recipes combining mimic bird and bison; after all, the Prime Wielder of Earth needs to grow big and strong!"

Brontus held his rabbit up to his mouth for a brief moment before accidentally dropping it on the floor in shock. "How...how did you know? Just about every Wieldless servant was out of earshot when Terra entered into Feralhood, save for the guards! Unless..." Pausing for a moment, he ordered, "Anna, move your bangs away from your forehead."

Following his orders, she brushed her bronzed headfur back. What was revealed had him whispering in awe and anger, "A third eye...a mark of a Psionics Wielder. Why did you hide this from us all this time? What did you hope to accomplish? You're 21, for yiff's sake! Why did you not tell us?!"

"My name, the name the Eustrom gave me, is Annona," she began. "The reason I did not tell you was because of Sylvia. Her mother had died recently on my last chance to receive power, and so I decided to hide the mutation so that I could help keep her sane, to help her move forward. I ate her nightmares, leaving only the good dreams, and helped her with moving forward from her loss. Forgive me for my secrecy, Brontus. I only wished to help."

"So all those nights I didn't dream, it was because I would have had nightmares?" Sylvia realized, glancing in her direction before turning to her father. "Daddy, please let her stay. You know Trevor will need her help as well, especially with how he triggered upon finding his mother had drowned. I've heard it said that such an event can leave a Rypernan... traumatized."

Brontus sighed. He knew his daughter was right, and in his shocked state, he had forgotten she was there. The first thing I'll need Annona to do is remove the memory of that swear word, he thought to himself regretfully. "You may stay, Annona, but remember to not mess with people's minds to the point they can't mature. Nightmares are just as much a part of growing up as good dreams, and more so as children grow older."

"I understand, Brontus," the bat-eared fox said as she let her bangs fall back over her third eye. "And just so you know, I will not remove their memory of your swearing with children in earshot. You must watch your tongue when your ire grows," she added with a wink.

For the first time in his life since Terra was diminished to a feral, Brontus felt humbled as a blush grew on his cheeks beneath his feathers. "Understood. Sylvia, Trevor... Just forget you heard me say that."

The young thunderyote and ringtail looked at each other before turning back to the thunderbird, replying in sync, "Yiff, no!"

The shattering of the plate as Brontus fainted face-forward into it, shattering it with his beak, was audible throughout the kitchen, and Annona heard clapping coming through the door in sardonic approval. Meanwhile, Trevor's mother ran over and filched the chief's rabbit, now fair game since it was on the floor. Maybe I'll stay here, she thought. After all, this place is bound to have plenty of mice.

As Trevor noticed where his mother was going, he called after her, "Mother, what are you doing?"

Heading into the kitchen, she turned her head and chittered back, "Earning my keep around here," eliciting a bunch of squees from the staff who couldn't understand her. Sniffing around, she found some mouse droppings in front of one of the sacks of grain. Following the scent trail, she tracked it until she was right on top of its nest. Pouncing, she brought her head out of the hole with a clutch of mice in her jaws, earning herself applause from the servants who handled the grain.

"Cute and effective!" a Wieldless hyena laughed. "What's your name, little...what are you, anyway?"

"She's a ringtail, Hayley, and her name is Margit," answered Annona as she came in through the doors. "And my secret, the secret all of us have kept, is out."

Gasps echoed throughout the kitchen as the news sank in. Hayley asked her, "He's... not going to make you leave, is he?"

"Worse," she answered sardonically. "I'm going to be their nanny to fill Terra's motherly niche."

"Looks like you'll have your hands full, then. Mind if you share your bison recipe?"

"Not at all, so long as you don't mess up the mimic bird dishes. That stuff is as dangerous as the fugu from the Mermayans if not cooked well enough to evaporate the Void energy."

"No need to worry. You know I am a good chef."

"The best of us. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare the children's chambers for the night and put them to bed. Margit, come along." The ringtail chittered angrily. "Okay, fine, you can stay here and hunt for mice. Just don't eat all the fruit."

As Annona watched the female bassarisk's eyes light up, she realized she was going to regret mentioning that as the servants ran to catch the ringtail making a beeline for the mason jars.

Hayley scruffed Margit by the neck just before she got her paws on one and was promptly met with a scream and a spray to her chest. "Okay, lesson learned: Don't manhandle the ringtail," she huffed indignantly as she surveyed the fresh stain on her clothes.

"Do you need tomato juice?" one of the junior cooks, a goat by the name of Georgia, asked.

"No, Georgia. Instead, get me some baking soda, dish soap, and hydrogen peroxide," she replied, writing down the amounts on a slip of paper.

"That much dish soap and hydrogen peroxide will be expensive. You know we can only get that stuff from the Tauren across the ice."

"All the more reason not to startle the one who is Trevor's mother," Hayley grumbled.

"You make a good point," the goat said as she ran off to fetch the ingredients.

Seeing the stain the spray had made on her apron, the hyena sighed, "How am I ever going to get this out?"

*****

As Georgia returned with the ingredients, Hayley retreated to the servant's washroom. Preparing a bath for herself, she first soaked her shirt in the mixture to get the scent out before leaving it out for further washing. Placing the bowl by the tub, she lathered herself with the frothy mixture before washing herself off. As she toweled herself off, she heard the chittering of Margit outside. Peeking through the door, she saw the black-and-white banded tail before shutting the bath stall door, breathing heavily. She knew she couldn't risk being sprayed again: she had used a lot of the dish soap that the Tauren gave them in exchange for mimic bird meat and other delicacies to bring back to their part of the continent via strange metallic craft that flew without flapping their wings. Worse, they wouldn't have an opportunity to get more until harvest time around the fall equinox, and that was about three months away. Fervently, she prayed to Pawd, If only I knew how the Tauren made the dish soap if only I could make some myself... Then I wouldn't need to worry about running our supplies thin, about trading our crops for a liquid that they doubtless have in vast quantities across the ice cap at the top of our world... Suddenly, there was a flash of silver light, and everything went black as Hayley fell to the floor, the water still running as Margit ran for help lest the hyena drown.

Hayley found herself in the silvery grayscale realm of the Eustrom, the plane where the Elements take on physical form to test the ones that enter during the Eustrom Festival. Around her, she could see the elements surrounding her, all but one present in the crowd surrounding her. Out of the midst of them came the Eustromium Entity, a being of liquid Eustromium, the substance of Wielder's gear, that could take on whatever form it chose. This time, it was in the form of a coyote, and in its hands was the Serpent Staff that had been displayed above the throne of the Mesartisan Chief-in-Standing, Brontus. As she watched, its form shimmered until it became an asp, whereupon the Entity dropped it and let it slither away as the Entity returned to an amorphous form.

"You shouldn't have come," the entity rumbled, having consumed the essence that Terra had left in the weapon. "Thrice you entered, thrice you were weighed, thrice you were measured, and thrice you were found wanting. But Pawd has brought you into my realm a fourth time as I came to collect the Serpent Staff to prepare it for the young Prime Wielder's test of coming-of-age, and Pawd does not do things without reasons of redemption behind them. I will give you one last chance to prove yourself worthy. Should you fail this time, you will be trapped here forever, feralized, and destined to be the tool of a future Wielder. This is your last chance to leave, but will you?"

"No, I will not," answered Hayley. "Not until I have what I seek for the betterment of my people."

"So be it," sighed the Entity. Turning his attention to the crowd, he declared, "Now begins the testing of Hayley Mawwed'an. Whoever has a claim on her, step forward now."

For a few seconds, it seemed nobody would step forward. This was the worst way to fail, for if no elemental laid claim on a candidate, then it meant that one would be all but doomed from the start to be Wieldless for life. Finally, a stirring arose amidst the Elementals as one made its way to the clearing around the hyena in the center of the group. The reason for such a commotion became clear as a white lioness revealed herself. "I, Archeta, Elemental of Creation, place my claim on this woman. Should anyone else wish to claim her, step forward as well."

No one dared to move to stand beside her. Granting Hayley the power of Creation alone would make the hyena one of the most powerful Deuterons out there. Only the Prime Wielders were more powerful, as Wielders of Creation could extend the middle claw to the Tauren notion that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. So hushed were the Elementals that they could hear the minute rumblings from beneath their feet. Scattering, the Elementals barely avoided the explosion as an old friend, but a friend no more, arose from the depths of the Draconan Abyss beneath their feet: a black rhino, radiating with destructive power. "My sister Archeta, I, Engenís, Elemental of Destruction, challenge you for the claiming of this hyena."

Everyone was shocked, especially Hayley. She had heard the legends of how only Prime Wielders could wield the elements of Darkness, Death, Destruction, and Time without becoming Corrû Wielders, and even then they needed to train for years in self-control before doing so with mastery. The hyena was about to reject the one who had betrayed his sister Creation back in the beginning, but held her tongue as she saw the Eustronium Entity shake its head, or what could be called one, in her direction as it nodded toward the lioness.

Archeta rebuked him, saying, "You were banished for a reason, traitor, and lost the right to call me sister long ago! I reject your challenge."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter, for I am already here. The dread dragon Nox, the one of Darkness, has already claimed a young cougar as his vessel. Even should Ignis Illumina help her gain control, it is only a matter of time before she is forced to use her abilities to the point that Umbrina is not only a mere shadow but Night incarnate. And it is only a matter of time before Death claims the one he has tormented for her entire life, forcing her away from the ones who could help her escape, and before the serpent of the Void Mawwed, whose claimed lineage rules Mesartis even now, separates Chronos and his sister Univér and we have Time on our side, thanks to Annona and this young bitch's poor cooking. And then we shall truly escape the confines of our volcanic prison, and be incarnate in Ryperna once more. Now, DIE!" the black rhino roared as he vaulted himself over the lioness before kicking her into the pit.

While he was monologuing, a memory resurfaced in Hayley's mind, one that she hoped she never would have to remember again. When she had failed the third time to become a Wielder, she had snuck aboard a Tauren craft and exiled herself to their capital city of Multiston. There, she had run into someone not like the others, who had given her something that she had made use of since she had returned home. Even then, a memory of a conversation they had echoed in her mind.

Sitting on an abandoned Tunnel platform, she asked the deposed Prime Wielder of Stone, Mass, Matter, and Gravity, "Paul, am I...insignificant?"

The donkeytaur laughed, then told her, "Hayley, have you forgotten what I have taught you? The four main elements of life and the four most common elements in the universe are the same."

"Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen," she rotely recited. "But what does that have to do with significance?"

"Don't you see? Even the most seemingly unimportant denizen of Ryperna or Taura is significant in the grand scheme of things. We are all made of star stuff, and every star shines its brightest before it dies. Though your shining moment may not be as morbid, it will no doubt come in time. Even if it only affects a few people around you, it will in time lead to something that changes everything, just as a butterfly disturbing a few motes of dust in the air leads to a hurricane thousands of migrans away."

He opened his satchel, then handed her two containers. "Here, I prepared these for you for your return home in a few days."

Reading the labels, she almost scoffed. "Baking soda and vinegar? How will that help? These containers only hold a few ounces apiece; they'll run out in no time."

The donkey tapped his muzzle with a cloven finger knowingly as he spoke into her mind. Ah, I thought you knew what I could do by now. They each hold a near-infinite amount of the stuff, and, when put together, they produce quite the fizzy reaction, almost like a volcano. Returning to vocalizations, he added, "Pour the baking soda and follow it up with vinegar, and you'll find it quite useful for cleaning up grime."

As she snapped back to reality, she saw Artecha holding onto the edge of the pit for dear life. Sneaking behind the Elemental of Destruction - she dared not even think his name - she inconspicuously poured the vinegar into the hole as the rhino sneered, "Sayanora, sister," breaking her fingers and making her lose her grip. Quickly, Hayley switched to the baking soda, watching as it touched the vinegar stream and created a foaming cleanser that would hopefully cleanse her of wrongdoing in the Elementals' eyes. As Destruction itself laughed in presumed triumph, she laughed as well: not with him, but at him, for even now a foaming mass was lifting the Elemental of Creation out of the pit, erupting over the black rhino's head and flushing him back down into the abyss.

As Archeta sealed the breach, she marveled, "Fascinating. The Prime Wielder of Stone was right: your shining moment has come." Placing a paw on Hayley's shoulder, she declared, "I hereby name you Ekima, Deuter-"

A voice no one had ever heard speak up suddenly broke in, "Mother! I lay claim to her as well!" Everyone looked in the direction of the voice as a walking tree-like being - a willowy dryad - emerged from the back of the gathering.

Even the lioness was surprised. "Botana, are you sure about this? You have never claimed anyone to bear your powers that had proved themselves worthy, and thus Hayley will not only be a Deuteron of Creation, but a Primal of Jungle - an untapped well of potential no one will ever match again."

"I am as sure of my decision as spring is to follow winter, no matter how long. The fallen Elementals are indeed rising, and soon both the Eustrom and Ryperna will be in the midst of a war crossing realms. No doubt my father Destruction and his sons Chaos and Control will try to lay claim to her again, and one cannot play the same tactic twice against those of an engineering mind. Thus, I grant her my power and my name as the first Wielder of Jungle, so that they can feel the fury of the daughter they scorned which not even Dracona can match."

Archeta nodded, satisfied with her daughter's answer. Placing their paws and branches on Hayley's shoulder and head, they declared, "Hayley, we hereby name you Ekima Botana, Deuteron of Creation and Primal of Jungle. Receive our power."

Hayley at once felt herself being transformed as the wings of a giant dove shot out of her back and her tail transformed into a vine, lashing to and fro in anticipation of things to come. Closing her eyes, she embraced the pain of the change until it was done. As the two Elementals stepped back, Artecha asked, "Daughter, do you think we overdid it?"

"No, Mother. She is now truly what she is on the inside: a tigress of the Jungle, ready to spring on her foes."

Ekima opened her eyes and, looking at herself, realized what they meant. Though she could not see it in its full color, she knew that she had a lustrous coat of orange fur, crossed with green stripes that resembled the vines of the rainforests of the Eustromian Mountains. For the first time in her life, she felt confident in her abilities. With this power, she could create the things that the Rypernans depended on the Tauren for. With this power, she could fix her mistakes, for Creation supplants the Void. With this power, she was at last free of the name she was forced to bear as a servant of the chief of Mesartis.

Before she could utter so much as a "Thank you," a silver-hued macaw came flying out of the metallic mist obscuring the landscape of the Eustrom. The bird's eyes held more intelligence than an average parrot - who were already some of the most intelligent Ferals in Ryperna - and Ekima knew at once that this was a Wieldless that had failed his fourth chance, reduced to the substance of the Eustrom to be wielded by someone else. "Digi," tutted Botana. "You failed my test long ago, so it is only natural that you be wielded by the one who earned my approval."

As Digi perched himself on the tiger's outstretched hand, she watched in shock as his head became thinner, his beak forming an ax's blade while his feathered crest became a spear-like point on the tip. At the same time, his body flattened out until it was non-existent, his wings pressing together into a katana-like blade with a handle for the ax in the middle of the blade, the ax and katana's blades meeting so that the grip between was guarded in cutlass-like fashion. As the parrot seemed to cease to exist, the katanaxe grew in size until Ekima could swing the blade like an extension of her arm. She did so slowly and reverently, knowing how easily such a fate could have befallen her were it not for her quick actions in saving the Elemental of Creation from the pits of Dracona.

As she turned to leave through the portal that would no doubt lead to the Eustromian Crater so far from home, it occurred to her that she would not be recognized by anyone she knew, but the sorrow at the realization quickly turned to joy, for she had been born anew by the grace of Pawd.