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The being that stood before me was a prominent figure of water with arms and legs that shrunk into a tall, muscular, humanoid male form with blue skin. He was barefoot and wore brown, loose-fitting pants and brass braces around his wrists. He had long, ruff, brown hair with a brass crown on top and a beard that fell to his stomach to match. He radiated energy that felt like a calm, vast sea as he peered down at me with a soft intensity, his eyes glowed blue, except they didn't glow like everyone else's. It was a lot like the way my eyes glowed in my evolved form, the entirety of the eye glowing instead of the irises. I remembered asking Viraa about it once. She said some pneumarians' omnivision displayed that way, but there was no particular reasoning behind it. It was more of a trait.
The team and I jumped back, sweating anxiously despite being in our transformations, surprised by his sudden appearance.
That wasn't speed, Michael stated telepathically.
I agree. Whatever it was, we'll need to be careful, I replied.
That's not our biggest issue. Tymon spoke as he, Michael, and Damien placed themselves slightly ahead of the rest of us. This guy's energy eclipses Alissia's and Avarice's combined several times.
The boys seemed ready to jump first to face the mysterious invader. Likely so that we could see what he was capable of. As if I'd let them do that. Immortal or not, I wasn't about to use any of my friends as pawns. If we faced a threat, it'd be together. I removed Trik's memory nodes from around my neck in preparation for battle, then placed them into my spatial bag where they'd be safe.
Do not engage him, Viraa warned abruptly, stopping us in our tracks. Do not do anything that could antagonize him.
Tymon, dear, she called out specifically, even your Last Breath will be useless against someone like him. Pneumarians are beings comprised entirely of energy. You cannot age energy.
Then what are we supposed to do here? Tymon asked in frustration.
The pneumarian started to speak again. At first, we heard a bunch of incomprehensible gibberish, but we quickly began to understand them.
"What's this? Your power is a far cry from what it once was, Viraa," the pneumarian stated. "What's happened to you here?"
How can we understand him? I questioned.
He is speaking in the universal common language, a language shared and taught among most worlds. Your brains are wired to understand and translate many different languages. It's a byproduct of cindarian DNA, Viraa explained before directing her next question at the others. Have any of you studied any of the languages you know?
No. I guess I never thought about it, Za'Fia answered.
I always assumed all humans spoke the same language, but I guess it only seemed that way to us, Naomi added.
I activated Heart's Eye and tried to gauge the pneumarian's intentions. Oddly enough, I could only sense greyness from him, making it difficult to discern whether or not I could trust him.
The imposing pneumarian took another step forward, causing us to tense and step back. He watched us closely before speaking again.
"Ah, you all must be conversing telepathically," he concluded as his gaze landed on me. "Such strange looking klevonians...and I see I was mistaken: you are not Viraa, though your energy is somewhat similar. When I sensed that familiar energy, I immediately came to its source."
"Must've been when you transformed against Avarice last year," Tymon said.
Remember not to antagonize him, Viraa reiterated cautiously. It would be unwise to fight a pneumarian.
"Yeah, I'd like to avoid that, considering how outclassed we are," I began as we each flexed our power. "Thing is, the moment he figured out I wasn't you, his aura became a lot more aggressive. Doesn't seem like he wants to be amiable."
Suddenly, the tides on the beach began to rise to his presence.
"Then we shouldn't let him take the initiative," Tymon declared as the sky darkened with clouds, and he rushed forward.
The pneumarian released the tides of water toward us, causing us to fly above and spread out.
"Oh?" The pneumarian responded in shock as he veered up at us. "You each can fly? And without physical gimmicks. Impressive. Most pneumarians can fly from our innate understanding of energy, but the same can't be said for klevonians. Typically, only a few elite klevonians are skilled enough to use their energy to defy gravity. To think you all can exercise such fine control."
Flying is difficult for most klevonians? I pondered.
Many can fly through the use of physical appendages, such as wings, from their hybrid forms, but as you are aware, that form of flight is significantly limited in comparison. Some others find creative ways to temporarily move quickly through the air for short distances, Viraa responded.
The gimmicks he mentioned..., Arne input.
Precisely. You all should be proud. That fine control of your energy will undoubtedly take you far, Viraa said warmly.
"Not if this guy kills us first," I remarked as I rushed forward. The pneumarian vanished from my line of sight and appeared before me again. I instinctively activated Temporal Sight to avoid him as he used quick movements in an attempt to grab me.
"Oh ho?! You have Viraa's Temporal Sight," the pneumarian stated with a pleasantly surprised look. He then generated a mass of water before him that was charged with his energy. The water suddenly burst in a continuous barrage of water droplets that were fired at me.
At first, I managed to dodge them, but their movements began to accelerate rapidly, forcing me to raise my arms in defense as I activated a stasis field. Thankfully, my stasis field held up, but the pneumarian did something no one had ever done before.
He simply raked his fingers across my shield, causing it to shatter. Then he floated before me and casually extended a hand that pushed me back, instantly overpowering me. I tried to resist the force, but the difference in our strength was as vast as the space between heaven and Earth.
His speed and strength are on another level, I shared with the others. I couldn't resist it at all.
That bad, huh? Tymon voiced. We glanced at the damage some of the water droplets that got past me left behind. Each one had destroyed whatever piece of the Earth they'd encountered, leaving holes in trees large enough to withstand the impact and digging chasms at least six feet deep through solid rock.
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