"Hi, um, it's a pleasure to meet you, Raina," the group's leader, Alissia, according to Rabae, said politely.
"Not that we had much of a choice," the female with an arm of flames, Za'Fia, remarked under her breath as she ran a finger across the wall's surface.
"I do sincerely apologize for that. Rabae informed me he located Viraa. Then, when he reported that instead of finding her, he found several of her offspring and a human, I believe he called you, serving as her host...of course, I had to see you for myself," Raina insisted.
"Yeah, that's me," Alissia responded lightly. "I'm Alissia. This is Tymon, Michael, Za'Fia, and Avarice."
"It's a pleasure," Avarice flashed her a slick smile. From what she gathered, this one loved riches and knowledge. Someone like him would go far if he establishes the right connections throughout the quadrant.
"Greetings," Raina smiled back. "Well, I'm sure you have plenty of questions. Answering them is the least I can do for dragging you all so far from your homes."
"Hmm," Alissia pondered. "Earlier, others mentioned something about us being 'sages', and Rabae said we were part of the Chimera Crest, yet we all have different transformations."
"Ah, sages, of course you'd be confused about that. Klevonians are categorized into four types. There's zero-klevonians – those who possess no eutierric cintracies, thus no elements."
"Like me," Avarice pointed out.
Raina's eyes glowed, but it wasn't from her energy. She had technological contacts on that allowed her to see everyone's bio cards.
"Yes," she agreed after looking at him. "Though you are still rare, being a stockpiler."
"Anyhow," she continued. "Then there are the demi-sages – these are klevonians who possess a eutierric cintracy but have limited control over their element due to it needing to be within their vicinity. They aren't able to produce their element from their spirit energy. Most klevonians who possess a eutierric cintracy fall under this category."
"Beyond that are the more interesting types," Raina commented. "Sages: Klevonian like yourselves. Relatively speaking, they're rare and are often scouted out by Crest Heads and given honorary positions as their bodyguards. On top of having the same abilities as a demi-sage, a sage's eutierric cintracies bond with their spirit energy like a pneumarian's, changing its properties into that of their element. This makes their power, thus their will, itself an extension of their elemental influence, making them greater threats. Similar to a pneumarian, a powerful enough sage klevonian can extend their spiritual reach through the natural element they command."
"Like how Rabae affected all the oceans as he arrived on Earth?" Tymon asked.
"No, if what Rabae reported is true, Earth's atmosphere is much less spiritually dense than most worlds, which is why its waters responded so easily to his presence. Had he chosen to extend his spiritual reach there, water would have flowed from him and into the nearest body of water, allowing his power to spread even further until he eventually submerged the entire planet under water."
"Right, he mentioned he'd done that before," Za'Fia commented.
"So theoretically, I could cover an entire planet in darkness?" Tymon asked next.
"Not with the amount of power you possess. I doubt you'd manage something like that even on Earth," Raina answered. "But if you had power as vast as ours or even the other klevonians with ascension marks, then yes, you could easily achieve that on Earth."
"Hm," Tymon grunted in thought. Raina had noticed this one's alertness since she laid eyes on him. He was likely determining the threat the pneumarians and klevonians of Cindar pose to their group. Or perhaps based on his questions, to Earth as well.
"So, we're sages..." Alissia commented in amazement.
"No, they are," Raina corrected politely. "Your energy isn't one of our elements. It's certainly unique, but not an element. At first, I almost thought you were a zaster, but after closer inspection, I saw that your energy wasn't blended. Oh, zaster klevonians are klevonians born with two eutierric cintracies, so they control two elements. They're like sages and are super rare, but every so often they emerge. There's more to them, but I think I'll hold off on explaining that part. Far better for you to see them for yourselves if you all decide to travel our world," Raina chuckled as she sat at her desk.
"We know someone like that. She can control four elements," Za'Fia stated, nonchalantly, now sitting comfortably in a seat that changed to match her desires.
"Really!? That wasn't in the report." Raina was astonished. Rabae must not have encountered this individual. "Honestly, it's unbelievable. No one's ever controlled that many elements. I'm not even sure how such a thing could happen."
"Well, she's my daughter," Avarice said proudly as he appraised a statue of an unknown mineral.
"Your daughter...? Who's her mother?"
"She was actually born human, then turned into a klevonian...it's a long story," Alissia stepped in.
"One I'd very much like to hear later," Raina assured them. "But for now, your hybrid forms. A common misconception about pneumarians is that we're similar to rukhans, a terrible species born with ever-changing DNA – that it's how we can change our appearance to match species of other worlds if we wish to fit in. Truth is, our transformations don't change our DNA. We pneumarians have only one dominant gene from our creators that's passed down through our race's bloodline and serves as the bloodline's Crest. Klevonians who do receive an ascension mark from a pneumarian gain access to a hybrid form that is derived from that pneumarian's genetic connection to a specific Ancient Beast. Viraa's Crest is of a Chimera which had the unique ability of transforming into other creatures during its time. This is why klevonians under that Crest will have a variety of creatures as their hybrid forms. Some will have the same creature as another Crest. Some will have creatures that no longer exist here."
"Like Tymon, here with the pterolycus as his hybrid form," Raina motioned at him. "Pterolyci were among the several species that died during the battles among the Ancient Beasts."
"Hm? That's interesting and all," Tymon interrupted, "but now I have another question. You just said 'klevonians who do receive an ascension mark,' insinuating there are those who don't. Earlier, Rabae suggested going to a place called Forgeton if we want to learn more about klevonians. At first, I assumed that it was somewhere in Pneuma City, but then, at the Royal Palace, I noticed that all the Crest leaders were pneumarian. Their subordinates are klevonian, and I could tell from some of the looks we were getting that there's a certain level of disdain for klevonians - a visible segregation among pneumarians and klevonians."
"I had a suspicion you noticed that as well," the one in white, Michael, remarked as he scrolled through information regarding the past Ryfi Theos.