"Mhm, that's right, they're light elementals!"
Meep?
'Really?'
...
Why didn't Visitation know that?! Silly baby! It didn't even know what race it was! Ares chuckled at the cute head-tilting mini ghost on his head and kept talking. "They're light elementals with affiliations for the optical aspect, under the illusion pillar, and the darkness pillar. Light elementals probably shouldn't have an affiliation for the darkness pillar, as its usually a weakness of theirs, but due to One With Universe's involvement it ends up being a bit of a strange mix. The light magic they use is good for illusions whereas the darkness magic is good for attacking people. Put simply, as long as there's light around, of any kind be it natural or manufactured, these light elementals are effectively invincible. They are immune to everything whenever they aren't directly visible and, so long as there's light, they can continually summon illusions to replace their main body and remain hidden and untouchable. This is tricky too because it means the only way to hit a light elemental is to make everything dark... But then you still can't see them because its dark! Attacking a light elemental is a real pain because you need a method to see them in complete darkness and only then can you even damage them. Plus it gets worse because adult light elementals have that black veil ability. As long as that's up and running they're effectively treated as invincible anyway because its manipulation of light. It's not really darkness it's just an illusion of the absence of light, when, in reality, they're shrouded in the stuff. Anyway, I'm guessing they can summon it for about five minutes straight so even if you somehow trap them in darkness they'll still have five minutes, maybe longer or shorter depending on the strength of the light elemental, of guaranteed invulnerability up their sleeve.
They're a powerful race, that's for sure, but being light elementals with a darkness affiliation is what really takes the biscuit. Their stealth measures are off the charts if they want it to be, their presence is basically null, they have access to attack magic whereas they'd usually only have illusory and mental magic, and they can effectively hide their race by misleading people using that veil of 'darkness'. So, in summary, almost complete invincibility anywhere light exits, so nearly impossible to fight during the day, five minutes of mock light source to provide themselves with invincibility anywhere and any time, illusory magic, darkness magic, always immune to physical attacks anyway because they're elementals... Anything else?
Ha, I knew there were other powerful races out there, Dominus mentioned as such, but I never thought I'd come across one so soon. I'm guessing infant light elementals have trouble controlling their invulnerability on demand so they get hunted down at night and captured, unable to resist properly like an adult would. From there, any kind of material that can simulate darkness ought to be able to hold them. That perfume bottle from earlier, the one I found Visitation in, I'm assuming it was made from some kind of tinted glass or something roughly equivalent?
And finally, how Sevorus managed to trap the adult light elemental. I'm sure you want to know right?" Ares was speaking towards the veil of darkness as it slowly dimmed. The time limit for it's veil was up so the form of the light elemental underneath was about to be revealed. Not that it mattered much, elementals could take basically whatever form they wanted. Sure most would have preferences, like earth elementals often looked similar to golems and were frequently confused as such, but it was really up to the individual. "Put simply, runes. Lots and lots of runes. Beyond the walls of that hub room there are runes that simulate darkness, runes that empty mana on demand of anything that touches them, and, most importantly, runes that alert Sevorus to attempted escapes. Light elementals are immune so long as they aren't seen so one of the runes must connect Sevorus' vision, from wherever he is, to that hub room so he can see the elemental whenever it tried to leave. With no mana you can't activate that veil, with no veil the darkness weakens and prevents you from using light to bypass Sevorus' vision, and Sevorus' vision on you means you can't phase through the walls. It's a long and complicated chain but it should all work together to prevent you from leaving if done properly...
Man I'm really jealous... Not of the 'captured by Sevorus' thing, I mean I'm envious of your invulnerability during the day or wherever there's light. It's quite a powerful ability. Definitely one of the stronger types of elementals, due to the prevalence of your affiliated source, I'm guessing? Especially if you can find a planet orbited by two suns. I've heard from Dominus that such places exist and I imagine it must be a light elemental haven. Unless a darkness pillar cultivator, extremely proficient with wide reaching arts, blots out the sun you'd be immortal there basically permanently. Spooky..." Ares shook his head because he was finally seeing what it was like to be before another race that made a mockery of the universe with their innate talents. Was this how other people viewed revenants? Although arguably revenants were worse because, while not invincible, they were completely unkillable. Under the right circumstances a light elemental could be taken down and beaten, this one being captured by Sevorus was proof, but revenants just sort of kept coming back over and over again. It was that difference that put Revenants as one of the top races across the unversed. Still, light elementals must have been up their themselves!
Actually, by that logic, shadow elementals also probably were too but Ares didn't even know if they existed. Probably, it wouldn't surprise him, but Ares couldn't care less about such an existence if it was truly real. His golden annihilation magic would provide enough light to wipe out a shadow elemental army if need be. In contrast, light elementals were a bit more worrisome because he would have to rely on disintegration to create on-demand darkness and that magic was typically not used by him in large enough quantities to drown something from head to toe. Disintegration required more finesse, usually, so a fight against a light elemental during the day would be a real pain in the neck to work around for Ares. his best bet would be to use Ebon Tide but, even then, the light elemental could just that veil ability and be perfectly fine anyway. These elementals were tough nuts to crack and this was a wake up call to Ares to maybe come up with a suitable measure against them using his Nyxian Prowler. If he ever came across one in the wild then having suitable measures to deal with it would be helpful.
The main thing, though, was that Ares had Omniscience. He needed to still be able to see the light elemental in the absolute darkness otherwise it wouldn't matter. Light elementals' true weakness was having their main body be seen by their attacker as that cancelled out their lack of susceptibility. This probably meant there were some people out there that literally could never beat a light elemental because they were blind or didn't possess a means with which to see in the dark. No night vision meant a permanently invincible opponent... All this to say, light elementals were no joke and having one as a friend was brilliant news for Ares. They were slightly unusual in that they made for excellent assassins... During the day? It was non-standard as can be but whereas a shadow elemental would never be found, a light elemental could basically never be stopped. It was a slight difference but the end result was going to be death most of the time for their victim regardless! According to the adult light elemental, Visitation was a strong kid so Ares had high hopes for him to become an impressive elemental in the future. Maybe there was something special about him? Ares could hope so!
The adult elemental's form was finally revealed, as the veil had faded entirely, and it was like a back-spiked torso, hovering above black and white flames, with a hunched posture. Normal light elementals were probably pure white but the tinge of black streaks found within these lot indicated they were the kind born from a merger involving One With The Universe. The torso didn't really have any definition, there were no muscles or anything, but there were two giant eyes where the pecs would have roughly been. The eyes were white and black spirals that drove any who stared at them to insanity and despair. The spirals were not neat and orderly, they were squiggly and blended in with one another, constantly crossing over each other in the infinite abyss of an optical illusion that kept going deeper the longer you stared at it. The eyes almost appeared to be spinning if one looked at them for a long enough period of time but the truth was they were stationary as can be.
The spikes on the back of the elemental torso were completely natural and part of the body shape, they weren't attached, they grew out of the elemental, so the overall shape sort of resembled a starfish with its arms pulled backward while its centre was pushed forward. The limbs were spike shaped, though, and the bottom two limbs were absent. Six shadowy claws, three black, three white, hovered around the elemental like two brackets, one '(' on the left of the torso and one ')' on the right side, and offered it solid protection as well as offensive capabilities. They were detached and could likely fly freely within a limited range away from the elemental. Ares couldn't tell if this thing was frightening or endearing in its own way. It probably depended on the situation because if one of these crept through the wall next to where you ere sleeping then it would defiantly be the former. In a calm and collected situation like this, however, it looked somewhat friendly. It was almost definitely because of the eyes. They swapped between insanity / crazed horror and goofy / kooky. The general vibe was something the elemental themselves could control with sufficient practice. Basically, in summary, they were a large, floating, spiked head, shaped like a torso, with big eyes and six detached arms. Explaining their properties was not easy but this was the de facto appearance of a light elemental, minus the black streaks as that was unique of this mutated version of the race, so Ares remembered it well because his own little Visitation would maybe end up looking like this one day! Or maybe he'd be a bit more special in some way? Again, according the adult elemental Visitation was a special little meeper so perhaps there would be something that set him apart.
Though Ares was looking at the adult elemental, what he was actually staring at was a mere projection of its form. It existed in that same space as its projection but it was hiding a layer underneath. This current form was an illusion and if he tried to touch it his hand would go straight through, much like what happened when Aejaz tried to pet Visitation a while back. Unless Ares could somehow see the elemental hiding behind that illusion he wouldn't ever be able to damage it but, so long as there was light around, his Omniscience, even, would pass straight through the real elemental. Of course if the elemental wanted to really appear before Ares properly it could do so but 'others' generally didn't do this to avoid humanity understanding what they were. Light elementals were highly regarded as brilliant tools but light elementals with an affinity for the darkness pillar and the extremely dim, if not non-existent, presence of a One With The Universe user? That was recipe for an extremely powerful slave / summon. The strangeness of seeing the tiny infant meeper willing letting Ares touch it freely was part of why the adult elemental froze on the spot after Ares brought Visitation out back in the hub room. It instantly knew something was up and that Ares had earned the young one's trust somehow which was a hard task in and of itself... Though he was still wary regardless because this adult elemental was like a grandpa of sorts who looked after nurseries of baby elementals quite frequently. He was a great teacher and had an eye for promising meepers even if he himself was relatively weak compared to some of the greats of his race!
Visitation had been down in the dumps somewhat, after that humiliating failed discussion in which it couldn't take part, but it was feeling much better now that it had learned how powerful it was and would one day become! The only question that still remained was how exactly it was supposed to grow up. Thankfully the adult meeper spoke up and clarified a few things.
Grrrr (First of all, my name is 'Old Light'... The kids used to call me Ol' Lightey but I don't really much care about names so whatever floats your boast is fine with me as long as it isn't absurdly ridiculous. The kids liked to prank me and come up with silly names as they grew older but they're children so I allow that.)
Grrrrrrrrrr (Secondly, though I can only hold that veil for a few minutes at most, there are light elementals who were legendary in their own right and could hold it for days straight. They might still be out there somewhere but I think this little one, Visitation, will join their ranks so that was where my hesitancy in leaving him by the side of a human came from. I still don't entirely trust you but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt because I think, if nothing else, you'll be good for Visitation's growth. As for why...)
Gr ggggggggrgrrrrrrrrrrrr (Third and finally, light elementals are powerful. Light elementals born from One With The Universe mana come with an extra affiliation for the darkness pillar and thus they are even more powerful. Last but not least, there is Visitation, he's a little different. He was born from a merge between the universe and sentientOne With The Universe mana. Though he can't speak, he has an unusual amount of intelligence despite still being a baby. He's talkative and very aware of his surroundings. You may have thought that was typical of our race but it is most certainly not. The sentience of the One With The Universe mana has granted Visitation much cleverness but also great potential and so he is a tier above other regular elementals by default. I've seen this before and, put simply, he can be fed other types of mana to help him grow. Normal light elementals will grow when exposed to light, and we sort of just keep growing forever, even occasionally becoming 'suns' if we're dormant in one spot for long enough and people forget, but that changes when sentient mana gets involved.
Our natural instinct as elementals, and the way our body works, is that we reject other forms of mana whether we want to or not during our infancy. We can usually only accept light mana or, in my case, darkness mana because of the One With The Universe's mana. Sentient magic, however, does not have that restriction. Visitation can freely pick and choose what mana it wants, in addition to light and darkness, within reason, to gorge on and grow from. Its body will not reject other forms of mana because it is sentient and knows better, knows that there is a world of opportunity if it plays its card right. It is a hard and arduous process but it is very doable if practiced consistently while the light elemental is young. The normal restriction is gone and that's where some of the truly legendary light elementals come in to play. They'll often be confused for what humanity dubs 'omni-elementals' with multiple different affiliations but the truth is they're just elementals with the ability, in their infancy, to take on other types of specialties.
Technically other elementals can also wind up like this, depending on the mana that forged them and whether the mana was sentient or not, but light elementals are commonly seen as the most powerful elementals of all. When we become omni-elementals it's a much bigger deal. Of course we require One With The Universe Mana to even be born from a merger with the universe, and then for it be sentient on top of that is extremely rare. There really aren't many of us and I imagine that's why that madman Sevorus went to extreme lengths to get his hands on us... Put as simply as can be, Sentient mana light elementals > non-sentient mana light elementals > normal light elementals. Visitation is at the peak of that hierarchy and will grow to be fierce if tutored correctly and taught how. As I'm in the same boat, I understand implicitly how to improve him. I may not be the strongest light elemental ever, and I'm somewhat weak actually, but that was because I devoted almost my entire life to protecting my race instead of building up my foundation so I squandered my limited window to improve drastically. Arguably a massive mistake, as I could have protected my kind considerably better if I was stronger, but I don't regret the lives I've saved and so there's no point discussing it. Anyway, given the 'mistakes' I've made, there is no one more fitted to drawing out as much power from this little elemental as I possibly can because I know exactly what not to do. However, you, are also relevant.) The elementals' claws all pointed to face Ares.
Grgrgr (Growing a light elemental is like mixing a drink. The more of one flavour you add, the stronger it will be in the end compared to anything else you put in. There is a limit to how much mana a light elemental can absorb from other types other than light and darkness, and there is a time limit to get it done, but it's all fairly lenient so long as you get started early enough. You can load up Visitation with one kind of mana, to make it extremely adept at using it and nothing else, or you can spread its talents far and wide to give it different options but make it less talented at each of them individually. This process cannot be undone as they may only grow like this when they are young. I would recommend maybe two different mana types, three at most. Anything more than that and the drop off in quality of mana mastery is noticeable. The reason I'm interested in you is because of your unique mana type and whatever 'fundamental' magic is. A light elemental who can gorge on a unique pillar's mana will become something that has never existed before and I think that's a fascinating experiment that will result in something astounding. Though your magic did not hit me in that last fight I could still tell jsut how powerful it was objectively speaking. That golden exploding magic can be a substitute for 'light' and that black burning magic can be a substitute for 'darkness'. Visitation will effectively grow up to wield golden light magic and ruinous darkness magic in tangent in addition to its already guaranteed light elemental abilities. In other words, it will become an elemental that takes after you and your magic if you feed it enough.)
Ares let his vision drift upwards to the sleepy meepy who'd dozed off atop his bed of hair after giving in to its tiredness. It probably wanted to follow the conversation but gave up at some point as it was overwhelmed with the urge to go to sleep... "You're going to be a real menace when you grow up, you know that?" Ares was the only person with out and out outright access to destruction mana on demand. Aejaz could steal it temporarily but that was an extremely unusual case and, even then, there were requirements and inefficiency that limited it... If this light elemental, Visitation, was allowed to feast on destruction mana freely, however, there would effectively be a destruction elemental roaming around in a few years! That was no joke! Granted it would be a part of the Redhome family, so actually that was pretty cool, like a kind of affiliated mascot of death that was to be feared and respected, but it was still a major development! A destruction-oriented being other than Ares!
Ares was really tempted to do this and saw no good reason not to! Unless Visitation betrayed him, which was never going to happen, he was dead certain of that given the relationship they had, he could create a destruction offspring of sorts. It wouldn't be as powerful as Ares was with destruction, he was the origin and thus irreplaceable, but it would be able to fling around destruction much better than Aejaz could at least. Throw in its usual invulnerability and illusory manipulation and this thing was a true menace! It could float unimpeded into an enemy base in broad daylight, disintegrating their defensive walls while remaining untouchable, and cast Armillary in the centre of the foe's heartland without being stopped! This elemental was going to be DISGUSTINGLYpowerful!
Now the real question was which mana types to put into Visitation ? Ares had three options: disintegration, nothingness, and annihilation. Annihilation and disintegration were a cinch, because of how well they synergised with light and darkness magic to begin with, but was nothingness really necessary? Visitation would already be able to float through walls and use darkness magic to reposition itself... Sure nothingness would be useful but if it meant lowering the effectiveness of disintegration and annihilation, and came at the cost of proficiency all around, them maybe it wasn't worth it in the end? Nothingness was always more of an auxiliary tool, and Ares was still experimenting with it, so perhaps it was better not to overload his meeper with something that didn't need to be there... It would be a destruction oriented being but that didn't mean it's affiliation for the destruction pillar was as perfect as Ares' affiliation was. There was bound to be something that had to be worse and it seemed a lack of nothingness might very well be it. That and slightly less magical output than Ares but it was still better than any other option Ares could give it. Why be a fire elemental when you could make everything explode? There was no way in hell Ares was giving Visitation anything other than destruction mana, that would be a colossal waste!
Ares would give this all due consideration in the future but he wasn't going to train the tiny meeper, and feed it, until he returned to Red Sun where he could focus on it in peace. At the very least, he wouldn't worry about learning the process until he was done with Sheryashka. Still, this was all very good to know and made Ares very excited for the future. This was an extraordinarily impressive ally he'd stumbled upon and received so not 'eating' it, like Wormy tried to, was undeniably the correct choice... Even if it was made for the wrong reasons... Visitation was simply too adorable to kill! Anyway, his discussion was finally wrapped up and answers to everything had been discussed in full. If there was anything else that needed mentioning then Old Light would bring it up in the future. Right now it was time for some actual ass kicking! Ares was still itching for a fight and the Anubis were next on his list! They weren't getting off easy because Ares had some grudges stored up inside of him and he was looking for punching bags. No mater how strong they were Ares was going to outclass them and pummel some respect into them! No more Mr Nice Ares!