(A few hours later,)
As the sun rose over the snow-covered lands, the blizzard finally stopped.
Sombra was currently just a small distance away from the empire's crystal walls. If someone was watching, they would have noticed the many small craters in the area.
Sombra, with the look of pure boredom, stared as Jack, shouting at the top of his lungs, crashed once again, leaving another human-shaped crater as he pulled himself out in a comical scene.
"42….. He crashed forty-two times, and the only progress he made was getting better enough to not crash headfirst."
Sombra didn't even bother to show disappointment in Jack anymore, as his stern eyes simply locked onto Jack while he said with a firm tone,
"Try Again…. You may look human, but you are a pegesus now. If you can't fly, we might as well sell you as an oversized chicken."
Jack rolled on his back, taking heavy breaths as he said, "I am starting to think that you were exaggerating about my new powers. I can't even fly straight, and I am supposed to control the weather!.."
"Lying to you is beneath me. You simply need to let your human mindset go…."
Sombra's telekinesis gripped Jack as he brought him to his feet. While Sombra stood a few meters away, the distance did nothing to remove the towering presence of Sombra.
Even with Jack's new height of almost 6.5 feet, he was still way shorter than Sombra's 8 feet height, and there was something about Sombra's eyes that forced Jack to straighten his back.
"I don't want you to forget your past, but there is a difference between forgetting and letting go."
"Our past is what makes us who we are, but it is also what binds us."
"Our past is what places for our limits on our understanding of things."
"Your failures in flying aren't in the lack of ability; it is the lack of conviction…. The moment those wings grew on your back, magical energy started flowing through your veins, and it is what gives you powers."
Sombra moved his gauntlet as dark shadow energy covered it before disappearing.
"Magic is tied to your will in more ways than you imagine…"
"If you don't believe that you can fly, then your magic will believe so as well…. Your human self is shackling the new you… Your old self had limits, but it is time you accept that your limits have been rewritten."
Sombra's firm tone turned slightly colder as he said, "Now…. Try again, but believe that you can this time."
As Jack turned and started to awkwardly prepare himself for another try, he froze as Sombra gave a last piece of advice.
"You don't have to worry about injuries; you are far more resilient now, and no harm shall come to you while I am here. So, fear no fall, no matter the height, and place your heart into it this time."
Jack couldn't hold himself for a small smirk…. "Your highness, you could have just said you are worried, you know?"
All Jack got in return was a narrowed glare, which somehow made Jack's smirk widen a little, before he jumped into the air with a quick wing flap.
Sombra glanced as the figure awkwardly flew. Of course, "flying" was Sombra being generous, since even a dead bird had more grace. Sombra sighed heavily before turning his head back to his work.
Sombra was currently multitasking.
First, he was teaching Jack how to stop being an embarrassment to every being with wings, and hopefully, Jack would teach any other human-turned-pegesus hybrid in the future, which would reduce Sombra's workload.
As for the second reason, Sombra glanced at the small mountain of small crystal shards beside him.
Although Sombra could follow the connection between the crystal heart and his subjects to find any of his subjects if they were taken away, it wasn't the most effective.
After all, it was like a rope that Sombra would have to follow, which could take hours or less depending on where his subjects were taken to.
So, Sombra came with a small fix: teleportation.
Although teleportation without knowing the destination is very troublesome, that doesn't mean there are no ways around it.
For instance, any magical being worth a single penny should be able to recognise their own magical resonance with little to no difficulty.
And Sombra was no difference, so he intended to use those crystals as a lighthouse for himself.
If one of his subjects is away, then a big magical detection spell would easily find his crystals.
And then, he just has to teleport to it and place the fear of god into whatever being thought that harming his subjects was a good idea. Currently, he was debating whether to make it a necklace or maybe something else.
Also, Sombra has detected a small human camp a few miles from here. If he wanted to guess, he would probably bet on them being Jack's supposed friends. They should have arrived already, but it seems that they decided to rest and camp for the day.
But Sombra wasn't worried; according to his guess, they should arrive tomorrow in the early morning, and hopefully, he would get a population increase.
'Lets hope Jack can convince them.'
(Two hours later)
Sombra glanced at Jack laying in a new crater, already fast asleep inside.
Jack was able to glide and actually became decent at it….
But Jack slammed into the empire walls as he was sent to the dream world and fell, forming a small crater.
Sombra simply looked at Jack for a few seconds in a deadpan stare before turning his back to it, simply leaving Jack to have his rest.
Sombra's magic flared slightly as a small barrier formed around Jack, blocking the arctic frozen air.
'I suppose that's an improvement…. or maybe I am expecting too much.'
It wasn't that Jack was a terrible learner; in fact, he was quite good. The only problem was that Sombra was a difficult person to impress. The original Sombra looked down on everyone, believing himself superior in every way, and the human side of him was raised by a grumbling old man who always expected others to be better, which his human self inherited completely.
As Sombra continued manufacturing his crystals, he ignored Jack, who woke up and started to train again.
Sombra simply turned and teleported inside his castle, as with a flash of light, he was near the crystal heart.
Sombra has been thinking about what weapon he required, and he realised that every single one had a certain appeal.
He first thought of using a single-handed axe for his hybrid form and maybe two swords or so for his human form.
But then he realised that he was being a fool…. Magic was meant to make the impossible possible, yet he was in logical means?
Sombra placed a hand on the crystal heart as it started humming slightly beneath his gauntlet, already sensing its master's will.
As Sombra's commands passed through his connection to the heart, the heartbeats' sound intensified, making the whole Crystal empire shake slightly. It was far less aggressive than before, but by no means less powerful.
Magical energy started flowing from the crystal heart as it formed a sphere of countless colours just a few metres above the heart.
The magical energy started to condense on itself as all the colours disappeared, becoming a blinding white.
As the heartbeats calmed down at last, a small ring was floating in space, humming with barely contained magical energy.
Sombra glanced at it as he opened his right hand and, as if possessed, the ring floated and changed in size as it suited his ring finger perfectly above his gauntlet, which surprisingly was not awkward at all.
After a few seconds of inspecting the ring, Sombra nodded to himself.
The ring was a deep black color with the gem in the middle of it glowing with colorful magical energy, changing colors every few seconds.
(Pic)
With a small thought, the ring glowed slightly before changing into a dagger that fitted sombra's grip perfectly.
Another thought as the dagger became a huge single-handed axe.
Sombra gripped it tightly as he swung it in the air a few times.
'It seems the idea has worked… A single weapon without any weaknesses.'
The ring wasn't the best that Sombra could make at the moment, but it was the most cost-effective.
After all, it took nearly 10% of the heart's current energy to make it.
Sombra could have used up to half of the energy to make it an artifact worth remembering, but the heart was too valuable at the moment.
And Sombra could always upgrade it in the future when he has enough people to replenish the heart's reserves.
The ring currently has two affects, maybe three if you count the weaker one.
The first and simplest is the shape-changing spell, which is quite straightforward; as long as Sombra knew the weapon he wanted, the ring could copy it.
The second trait was self-fixing. If the ring is damaged in anyway, then Sombra could simply feed it magic to repair it.
The more damaged, the more it needs, and the only limit is if it is broken beyond a certain point, then he won't be able to fix it.
So, Sombra intended to never let it reach that point.
The Axe disappeared and the ring floated right back to its place to Sombra's waiting palm.
And the last one is the floating: the ring, which will always try to fly back to Sombra. It was weak, and even a human could grip it so that it can't return to Sombra, but Sombra believed it was cool.
The last thing was hardness, which currently is pure steel—not too hard, but not too bad.
Any upgrades beyond it would have been too expensive, but Sombra wasn't worried.
The ring was here, and he could make it terrifyingly strong given time.
'Why do I feel like I have forgotten something important?'
Sombra rolled the thought in his head for a while before realizing that he actually forgot to ask Jack about the world, more accurately if any supernatural beings existed.
'Am I growing senile?'
As Sombra grumbled internally about forgetting such a point, he froze as one of his many traps activated.
It was less of a trap and more of a detection spell he placed hundreds of around the empire a while ago.
If anything passed it, then it would release its magical energy to draw Sombra's attention to it.
It did nothing to hold the intruders, but it was useful.
Sombra's feet hit the ground with a small thud as dark black crystal walls grew and surrounded the crystal heart in a protective layer.
Sombra was slightly panicking—not in fear, but because his trap didn't indicate a simple human passing through.
His magic flared as he teleported to atop the crystal walls surrounding the city.
His eyes locked onto the horizon as he saw four large dots growing larger and larger.
'They don't seem like helicopters… Maybe this world has a different kind of military vehicles?'
'Wait.'
Sombra's eyes gave a quick scan to the area under the walls. There was a few more craters, which were expected, but otherwise no sign of a certain winged man.
Sombra's magic flared again in increased annoyance.
(Jack POV)
Jack, who finally was able to fly although with difficulty, was having the time of his life.
The taste of freedom was addictive.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't pay much attention to where he was going, nor that he actually was quite a bit farther away from the crystal's walls than he expected.
And by the time he started thinking of turning back, he froze in midair as he saw four huge planes come into view.
Given his current amazing experience sheet of one day…. He panicked
(A/N):Hope you liked the chapter and don't forget to check on my other works.