Leon, his family, and his retinue gathered in his training hall, all save for Anshu.  Helen alone looked rather calm and serene, her sixth-tier aura balanced and still.  Leon knew that training wasn’t her thing, but the power boost of a Hesperidic Apple wasn’t something even she could turn down.  Gaius, Alix, Marcus, Alcander, Elise, Talal, and Anzu gathered around Tikos, all of them looking radiant with their seventh-tier auras flickering and writhing in varying states of excitement.  Valeria, Anna, and Red, meanwhile, stood apart, calmer even than Helen, their eighth-tier auras solid and almost unmoving.  Anna’s war beasts, however, were not participating.  As far as Leon was concerned, they were growing powerful enough without eating one of his precious apples.

For his part, Leon could barely contain his excitement.  The next apple he ate would push him up to the ninth-tier, something he’d been working towards now for more than fifteen years.  A level of power unthinkable to just about anyone in the Bull Kingdom, a degree of power held by less than a thousand people on the entire plane.

One of those people, of course, stood next to him, her bronze skin shining, her light brown hair lustrous, her gentle smile brilliant.  [Ready?] she whispered into his mind, their connection stronger than it had ever been before.

Leon turned to Maia, smiled, and nodded.

“Tikos!  Let’s get it moving!”

“Working!” the tree sprite called back as it conjured all the requisite Hesperidic Apples from its soul realm and started passing them out in order of weakest to strongest.

Helen received hers without so much as a sound, but Alix loudly sighed as Tikos placed the apple in her hand.  She’d been the most recent of Leon’s retainers to reach the seventh-tier, having just done so following the last harvest.

“It’s going to be weird eating these again without getting fucked up,” she quietly observed.

“There’s one thing to miss about being sixth-tier,” Alcander wistfully added.

“I, for one, can do without having all of my worst failures thrown back in my face,” Gaius protested.

For obvious reasons, Leon had no personal experience with how the apples affected one in the lower tiers.  As far as he knew, the specific effect was different for every person.  However, from what he’d seen over the past few years, eating a Hesperidic Apple while in the sixth-tier induced intense dreams and vivid hallucinations.  He’d had to corral his people on multiple occasions after eating the apples since their minds would often practically leave their bodies.  Once, Alcander’s magic body even left his physical body and almost floated out of the training room, putting him in immense danger.  It had been a nerve-wracking few hours trying to get the man back into his physical body, especially since he hadn’t been visible at the time, Leon only knowing where he was through use of his magic senses.

So, the apples were somewhat drug-like in effect, but fortunately, they induced no physical addiction—or so Helen and Elise determined after Leon insisted on medical examinations after their first harvest, when Valeria, Anna, and Anshu, who’d actually been present following the first harvest, all essentially passed out after eating their apples.  Other than the ‘visions’, the apples had no undue side effects.  Indeed, while the visions were apparently different for every person, they greatly aided those who ate the apples in understanding themselves, enough so that they were more easily able to construct their Mind Palaces, assert much greater control over their soul realms, and rise to the seventh-tier.

Fortunately, only Helen was weak enough to experience those visions, and Anna was more than ready to watch over her sister until she came back down, so Leon didn’t have to worry about herding a bunch of stoned high-tier mages.

Leon was the last to receive his apple, Tikos passing him the golden fruit as everyone else watched, their apples in hand.

“No need to wait for me,” Leon said with a smile, despite knowing they probably wanted to see his ascension first.  Maia’s hadn’t been particularly extraordinary, but he couldn’t exactly say it would be the same for him.  Most of his ascensions had come during battle or some other cataclysmic event.  The battle with Jormun, the storm at the Cradle, the fight against Hakon Fire-Beard, the apparently massive storm kicked up by the awakening of his Inherited Bloodline.

His ascension to sixth and seventh-tiers came without much fanfare, though, so he was able to keep his own expectations low.

So, watched by everyone else, Leon brought the golden fruit to his lips and took a big bite.  The fruit was delicious, putting just about everything else that Leon had ever eaten to shame.  Sweet, refreshing, juicy, these words took on a whole new meaning when the food they were attached to was practically magic power in physical form.

As was usual, once the flavor hit his tongue, Leon devoured the fruit in barely more than a minute.  Despite how it felt when he trained his magic senses on it, the insides were fairly standard for apples, but as the fruit settled into his stomach, he felt his body start to heat up.

Without much delay, he sat down and cast his gaze inward, taking in all that was happening.

It started relatively slowly, with power spreading throughout his body like heat, his stomach the source.  But it quickly ramped up as the eaten apple became inundated with his body’s magic power.  Soon, before Leon had even managed to get entirely comfortable, he felt a sudden rush of power flood his body like a dam broke.  However, instead of power surging through his body like a wild river through a burst dam destroying all in its way, this power was almost paradoxically soft and light, and rapidly changed to become indistinguishable from the power his body had naturally generated within his bone marrow.

Still, this was too much power for his body to hold all at once, so the pathway to his soul realm within his heart opened wider just by instinct, and the titanic power contained within the apple began rushing through the opening like water down a drain.  A gargantuan amount of power flowed into Leon’s soul realm, and he could feel it settling into him, pushing the power he’d already stored out further, pushing on the boundaries of his soul realm in turn and expanding it out into the Mists of Chaos.

His soul realm grew rapidly, but unlike the last time it had done so without the apples, it didn’t feel uncontrolled, the result of an over-tuned enchantment designed to be used on someone else with a completely different Inherited Bloodline.  There wasn’t any intelligence behind the Hesperidic Apples, but if there had been, Leon couldn’t have been that surprised, for the power the apple flooded him with was practically designed to get his soul realm to grow about as fast as it could without pushing it over the limit into more dangerous territory.

In less than ten minutes, Leon’s soul realm grew twenty miles, and he cast himself down into it, his magic body taking off into the air even before he’d opened his eyes.  In a flash of lightning and boom of thunder, he appeared at the edge of his soul realm and watched as the boundaries of his domain forced back the dangerous Mists of Chaos, until finally, after so many years, his soul realm exceeded one thousand miles in radius.

Leon felt the change resonate through the entire space.  His soul realm shuddered, then suddenly expanded another twenty miles in much the same way someone might take off their belt after a feast and let their belly spill out.  He felt the subtle currents of magic power within his soul realm shift, and he knew that his aura would change in response to reflect his greater power.  His power was now, strangely, both more potent and tamer, more in control.  The change from eighth to ninth-tier, power wise, wasn’t that great, but it was still a significant step on his magical journey.

Leon watched as his soul realm continued to expand all the way until it reached a thousand and one hundred miles.  It was a larger jump than he got from the last apple he ate, but he supposed the jump from reaching the ninth-tier was a big part of the reason for that.  He’d been warned that the efficacy of the Hesperidic Apples would diminish as he grew in strength; never quite becoming worthless, but not remaining quite as useful if he ever achieved Apotheosis.  He estimated, based on what how much he’d grown after eating the previous apples, that eating another one would grow his soul realm by another forty miles or so, instead of the fifty-ish that he was more used to at the eighth-tier.  Three and half years since the first harvest, and he’d reached the ninth-tier.  It would take at least another ten to reach the tenth, if his estimation was correct.

A staggering rate, to be sure, but he couldn’t help but shiver slightly.  Ten years, while not much in the grand scheme of things—especially to the lifespan of an immortal, post-Apotheosis mage—was still more than enough time for a lot to happen.

Thunderclouds appeared in the distance as he was contemplating the dangers that the future may hold.  Knowing exactly what those clouds heralded, he sped back to his Mind Palace.  He arrived just before the Thunderbird did, though she landed with much more aplomb.  He touched down rather gently given his euphoria, but she hit the ground like a meteor, swapping to her human form just before she touched earth.  Then, as dust filled the interior of Leon’s Mind Palace, she sprinted forward, caught him in her iron grip, pulled him off his feet, and spun around, giving him quite possibly the biggest and most intense hug he’d ever received.

“Finally!” she roared.  “Finally!  Finally!”

Leon couldn’t help but burst out laughing, himself, and he returned her embrace as tightly as he could.  At the same time, she stopped spinning, and a moment later, let him back down.  She didn’t let him go, though; instead, bringing her hands up to cup his face.

“It’s been a long time since any of my descendants have reached your level of power, Leon,” she said.  “You’re making fantastic progress.  Not the kind of progress that I most want to see, but still progress worth taking great pride in.  You are my descendant, a trueborn heir of my Clan.”

Leon burned with intense embarrassment and even more intense pride.  He didn’t know what to say—

“You don’t have to say anything,” the Thunderbird declared as if she could hear the thoughts in his head.  “Just know that I’m proud of you.”

“I’ll give you reason to be even prouder,” Leon, in turn, declared.  “Just a couple decades more, I think.  Jason Keraunos was the last Storm King, and I will be the next, sure enough.”

“That’s the spirit!” the Thunderbird bellowed.  “Take what’s been left behind!  Make it your own!  Show the bastards who hoped to capitalize on my Clan’s downfall the error of their ways!  Incinerate them in a storm of lightning!  Crush them until nothing remains but a warning to all who might covet our power!”

As the Thunderbird continued her tirade, the storm clouds above grew more powerful, and by the time she finished, it had started to rain within Leon’s soul realm—a rare occurrence, indeed, unless it was Leon’s will.  In this case, he allowed it to continue, finding great comfort in the change in weather.

“We mustn’t get lazy, though!” the Thunderbird continued as she glared at Leon, her yellow eyes practically glowing with mania.  “Now that you have greatly increased your power, I will expect much more from you!  You must make the sky your own!  You must make the weather itself bend to your will!  When we’re done, the mortals of this plane will worship you as a god, if they know what’s good for them!”

“Let’s not get carried away, now,” Leon countered.  “I don’t care if they even know my name.  It’s the Nexus where my attention lies.  The Nexus, and the Sky Devil’s Hell.”

“Mmm, yes, them,” the Thunderbird crowed, drawing out the syllables as she glared out into the distance.  “A good subjugation always lifted my spirits.  You’ll learn the same pleasures, I think, in time.”

“Don’t count on it,” Leon playfully countered before his countenance grew more serious.  “The Great Black Dragon.  Will my ascension draw his attention?”

It had been five years since Leon had, if not mastered, then at least acquired conscious control over his black fire.  His biggest fear in that regard was the Great Black Dragon himself taking umbrage with that fact, but in the past five years, he’d seen neither hide nor hair of the arrogant beast.  The Thunderbird, whenever he brought it up during their training, remained rather dismissive of the giant reptile, so Leon had let it be.  However, his anxiety over it had slowly but steadily grown over the years.  He couldn’t help but worry that the Great Black Dragon’s silence didn’t represent tacit approval, or even silent disregard, but a mounting furious pressure that would result in an explosion that would make the eruption of a volcano look tame in comparison.

“You don’t need to worry about him,” the Thunderbird said dismissively.  “He’s glanced your way several times in the past few years and done nothing but seethe in irrelevant darkness, where he belongs.  With every aetos of power you gain, the less power he holds over you.  So if you’re worried about him, despite my protection and assurances, then there is only one thing to do: get stronger.  Gain the kind of power that he can’t deny, and he won’t be able to exert any power over you.”

Leon bitterly nodded as he snapped his fingers and conjured a black flame no bigger than a candle over his thumb.  But even though it was the size of a candle fire, it crackled and waved with barely-contained violence, eager beyond words to burn anything and everything.

“I’ll get right to it, then,” Leon said.  “Let’s start tomorrow.  Right now, I have some retainers to check in with.”

“Good,” the Thunderbird said approvingly.  “A good leader sees to his subordinates before himself—in most situations, at least.  Take care of them and they’ll take care of you.”

“That’s the plan,” Leon said as he just about skipped back to his throne.  As he sat back down, he gave the Thunderbird one last smile, then his eyes turned in Xaphan’s direction.  Since the demon’s recovery of his ninth-tier powers, his fires now burned even hotter, turning to a dull yellow-orange.  His eyes, however, now burned a bright yellow-white.  Leon had noticed that he’d been silently watching ever since Leon took his first bite of the Hesperidic Apple, and as they made eye contact, the demon nodded once in approval and congratulations.

Leon returned the respectful nod, and then sat down, moments later opening his eyes in the physical world.

He’d rather expected the rest of his family and retainers to have been clustered around him, eager to hear of his ascension.  However, instead of hearing respectful silence as he opened his eyes, or joyful cheers, he heard confused and painful squawking, and the sounds of his retainers shouting in panic.

It took him but a moment to see why: Anzu was curled up and shrieking as his wings furiously beat, keeping everyone else far away from him.

“It’s OK!” Alix tried to shout over Anzu’s pained squawks.  “We’re here!  Everything’s going to be all right!”

In less than a second, Leon was on his feet and sprinting for his griffin.  He didn’t know what was going on, but his little buddy was in pain, and he couldn’t let that stand.

Anzu had been, up until a few minutes ago, a seventh-tier griffin.  Now, Leon could feel his aura changing to something on par with a human’s eighth-tier, and he thought that might be why he was in such pain.

Sure enough, as he pulled up, he was halted when Red laid a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s learning to take human form,” she said aloud.  “Give him some time.”

Leon gritted his teeth, deeply frowned, but stopped.  His heart raced with anxiety and fear for his best friend in all of existence, worried that he couldn’t do anything for him, but he trusted in Red’s analysis of the situation, knowing that she was more of an expert here than he was, despite his own ability to transform.

‘Though, my own first transformation was brutal,’ he noted.  He’d initially chalked it up to his two Bloodlines warring within him for dominance since his subsequent transformations into his pure Thunderbird form always went much smoother, but it seemed the first time transforming might just always be painful.

As he stood there watching with a frustrating sense of impotence, Elise came over and took his arm.  Valeria did likewise on his other side, while Maia hugged him from behind.  The rest of his retainers took their lead from him and stood back, though Alix still called out encouragements to Anzu.  Leon added his voice to hers, though he kept it silent, speaking to Anzu with darkness magic.

It seemed that he got through, as the griffin relaxed a little bit and turned his head in Leon’s direction.  He went quiet a moment later, his blood red eyes narrowing in fatigue.

And then he began to shrink.  His snow-white feathers retracted into his body, revealing equally-white skin.  Bones broke and bent with toe-curling crunches and cracks, his body rippled as flesh reorganized itself, and his wings shrank and retracted back into his shoulders.

It took a couple of minutes, but Anzu’s griffin body quickly gave way to a human one.  He was lithe, but still well-built, which was made all the more obvious by his lack of clothing.  His skin was as pure white as to be expected given his albinism, as was his platinum blond locks, which erupted from his skull and fell down his back like a silver waterfall, eventually ending just above his hips.  His face, however, was boyishly handsome and free of any facial hair.  In fact, he was devoid of any body hair at all.

“… Wow…” Alix muttered, and Leon made the mistake of glancing at her for a moment and realized that her eyes were locked squarely on the eye-catchingly large weapon Anzu now carried between his legs.

Without a word, Leon conjured some clothes and a couple towels, using them to cover Anzu as best as he could.  The griffin was out cold, but Leon wasn’t going to let him lay there like that.

However, within, he was proud and kind of afraid in equal measure.  In all their years together, Anzu had never once spoken to him silently, as he knew many powerful beasts could.  Now, though, it seemed that Anzu was finally going to be able to give voice to his thoughts.

He just had to wake up, first.

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