Nothing except a brightly glowing pair of sickly green eyes slowly opening through the cloud of dust.
"M-My lord!" Nevesh exclaimed, immediately dropping to a knee and lowering her head. "Ah, sweet release. I must thank you, Nevesh. You have truly been instrumental in the dawn of this new age," he said, immediately dispelling the dust around him with a single swipe of his hand.
She couldn't help but look up at him in pure awe as her eyes rested on his form. His cheeks were no longer sunken, nor were there dark circles beneath his eyes. Instead, his form had seemingly regained its former strength, though there were countless scars riddling his exposed, muscular torso and arms.
Black robes hung loosely at his waist as if the top half had been tattered and torn like a beggar's. "Well, that won't do, will it?" he asked no one in particular as he looked down at his form momentarily.
With a single swipe of his hand, the once-tattered cloth seemingly repaired itself and wrapped around his torso and shoulders like an embrace from an old friend.
"There, much better," he said with a satisfactory huff. "M-My lord, you are magnificent. It is an honor to be in your unrestrained presence after all this time," Nevesh said, dropping her head once more. After a moment of silence, she suddenly felt the cold tip of a talon gently lift her chin.
"Hold your head high, my sweet. You have done splendidly," Mideia said, giving her an almost warm smile that was heavily contrasted by the wild look in his eyes.
He pulled his talon away from her chin and arrested the mana flowing in his hand to return it to a more human appearance, holding it out for her to take. "Tell me, have you heard any news of Thoma?" he asked calmly.
"According to reports, both he and his brother have thwarted our attack on the hegraphenes, though exactly what methods were used to do so are still unclear," she said, slightly averting her gaze. "So you've grown more powerful, have you?" Mideia asked no one in particular with a mutter under his breath. "You've done well, Nevesh. Thank you for your hard work," he continued, putting a hand softly on her cheek.
Needless to say, she did her best to hide how flustered she was.
"Now, then. What to do with you?" Mideia asked, prompting the Jera to lower its head further. "I know you and your kind despise me, but in exchange for your freedom, I would have you perform one final task for me," he continued, staring down at the creature imperiously, causing it to nod silently.
"I know that you will not speak without good reason, so I will be direct with my final request for you. Once you have completed your task, you have my Word that you will be free to go wherever you please in the Twilight Sea," Mideia said, taking a pair of steps toward it and gesturing for it to rise, prompting it to look up at him from beneath a scaly brow.
The Jera rose to its feet, meeting Mideia's eyes with its own that were as dark as night, yet nearly overflowing with Tyrant mana. "There is one named Thoma Fayren that I would like you to find for me. I must admit, he has grown more powerful since our last encounter, so be sure to use caution when engaging him," Mideia said, beginning to pace back and forth, while the Jera's eyes followed each step.
Eventually, he paused his pacing just in front of the creature and put a hand on its chest. "To ensure you are successful, I will give you back some of the power of your clan. As it stands, I do not believe that he will have a way to defend against it, but I also do not believe he is powerful enough for you to use this against him," Mideia said, slowly raising his other free hand.
A surge of power flooded the room as Mideia mouthed a handful of silent Words, while the ground beneath the Jera's feet began to crack under the sheer might of the power flowing through him. The creature's eyes grew wide and began to glow with tendrils of Lech mana now mixed into the storm of Tyrant mana within them.
A final burst of power marked the end of the transfer, one that rippled out across the chamber and down the halls, nearly causing Nevesh to stagger in its wake.
Is this the true power of the Jera? She wondered, marveled even, at the sheer weight of it as she struggled to maintain her balance.
Once it was over, the dust it had kicked up began to settle, but the only sound that thrummed within the chamber was coming from the Jera, and not Mideia. "I am grateful for your benevolence, my lord," the Jera said in a deep, gravelly voice that didn't belong to it.
"You do not need to thank me, but with this gift, I will be expecting you to carry out my orders. Find and subdue Thoma Fayren, using whatever means you deem necessary. Once you have done that, I will handle the rest," Mideia said, raising a hand, then looked at him seriously. "Consider it done," the Jera said, putting a hand to its chest and bowing its head.
"But my lord, if Thoma has already rejected your offer before, how do you intend to bring him to our side?" Nevesh asked with a hint of worry, but her question only elicited a chuckle from him, furthering her confusion. "Oh, I am not worried about that, my dear," he began with a dismissive wave, prompting her eyes to widen slightly.
"After all, the best way to ensure someone submits to your will is to break theirs first," he said with a wicked grin as he began to open a score of portals, allowing the countless creatures of Aen Silar through them as one.