Chapter 8: Being of Aether
I deactivated my godrune, we were safe now.
I could feel the drain it had on my lilac tinted core, the small amount of aether I had absorbed from the spire had been totally drained away.
The ability to phase through matter could indeed prove to be very useful, but the drain may be too much. Or perhaps it's because I didn't have enough aether in my core?
'Seems like this 'godrune' has some side effects.'
'It does' I nodded, noticing the black strands of hair. 'But I don't really care what happens to my looks as long as I get the spell. Of course that excludes changes that make me look hideous.'
'Count yourself lucky this time then.'
"What happened to your hair?" Caera spoke for the first time since we entered the tower, "Wait, before that, what were those purple letters on your face?"
"I honestly don't know what it's called, but when I touched this pillar the knowledge of the spell was literally downloaded in my mind. As for what happened to my hair, it is a side effect from gaining this Godrune." I explained to her the concept behind gaining a godrune, by getting insight on the rune and gaining the rune itself.
"How do you know all this?" She asked, bewildered at my knowledge.
"The information came with the knowledge of the spell." I couldn't possibly tell her that it was knowledge I gained from reading a book with her, and everyone else, as fictional characters.
"Uh huh." Seems like my acting wasn't good enough. "Anyways, how do we get out of here?"
"We need to find the ascension portal," I stated the obvious, "I didn't really see one closeby, it might be even farther away or maybe it's hidden by something."
"Or inside something." Caeras fingers pointed ahead of us, where a dial was embedded into the wall.
Huh, that looks similar.
…
Wait a fucking minute!
I got up and walked over to it, placing my hand over the indentations.
These are runes, spatium runes.
I didn't dare activate it, neither of us needs another big fight right now.
"What is that?" Caera asked from beside me.
"Bad news, and perhaps our way out of here." I pointed out solemnly.
"Why aren't you using it then?"
"You want to face trials right after fighting a horde of monkey monsters?" I deadpanned at her.
"...Good point."
That's when I noticed the stubbles on top of her head, "What's with the, uh...horns?"
Caeras hands instinctively went to her forehead, "Honestly, I don't know. They appeared to grow out of my temple when I used that last spell."
She awakened her Vritra blood it would seem, this is troublesome.
"Caera, listen closely. Once we get out of here, hide your head." I said seriously, staring into her crimson eyes.
"But why?"
"Master Seris will explain the details, but in short you'll be whisked away by the High Sovereign to be experimented on." Calling Agrona 'the High Sovereign' left a bad taste in my mouth, I'd have much rather referred to him as the unhinged asshole he is.
"How do you know that?" She questioned, narrowing her eyes. Understandable, it was suspicious of me to know this much.
"Reasons I can't reveal yet." I said without missing a beat.
She nodded in understanding, thankfully not prying further.
________________________
After resting for a bit, we finally decided to use the spatium rune.
I traced the dial with my index and middle fingers clockwise, the runes glowing purple as my finger passed over them. My other hand grabbed Caeras hand.
Once all the runes lit up, the sudden feeling of weightlessness assaulted me, and my vision spun. And just like that, we were teleported.
We were in an open field, overcast with grey clouds. I could see mountains in the distance, and the sound of flowing water assaulted my ears.
I promptly proceeded to bring out my daggers, scanning for any threats nearby. Fortunately we were alone.
I could feel something tugging at the minuscule amount of aether in my core. It felt powerful, yet at the same time it didn't feel alive. The portal?
"What now?" Caera asked, her sword by her side.
I didn't answer her verbally, instead choosing to walk towards what I assumed to be the portal.
Caera followed me silently, she understood my reasoning.
I kept my eyes and ears open to my surroundings as we walked further, there must be something alive on this level.
As we got closer, the lack of any attacks or trials worried me. The only way to get here was through the dial inside the spire, and to access that one needed the insight and the rune for phasing through objects. It feels like there should be a formidable trial here.
'Move!'
A massive shadow fell over us, getting bigger by the second. From the corner of my eye I saw Caera jump away, glancing upwards I caught sight of the behemoth diving at me.
My eyes glowed with purple light, letters of the same colour emerged from my torso, I held my daggers tighter…and jumped.
The beast cocked its fist back, aiming to hit me mid flight as it smirked victoriously.
"Oh no!" I spoke loud enough for it to hear, phasing through its body, leaving it shocked.
"Anyway," And proceeded to stab it between its shoulder blades, infusing wind mana through my dagger, sending pockets of air in its bloodstream.
I landed skillfully on the ground, crouched with my daggers held out. Always wanted to do a superhero landing.
A black arc whistled through the area, burning right through its body.
I scoffed, "I had that under control."
"You didn't kill it fast enough." She grinned back, spinning her sword like she was Count freaking Dooku.
I shook my head, "Whatever,"
The headless body twitched, its decapitated head rolling towards it.
'It's about to regenerate!'
The blade of my dagger pierced through its skull and embedded itself into the ground, the lavender glow on its edge dissipating. The body stopped moving.
Like hell I'm gonna wait for it to regenerate like every dumbass protagonist.
Black fire wreathed its body as it burned it to ashes.
"I'm not taking any chances."
I nodded in appreciation, walking over to retrieve my dagger.
That was quick…and underwhelming.
"Interesting." A voice echoed around us, alerting both of us, "You were able to take care of the guardian without even giving him a chance to fight, why is that?"
"I'm neither battle crazy nor masochistic enough to do that." I yelled back, "Who the hell are you anyway?"
So that thing's called a guardian huh, what was it guarding?
"I'm only a humble remnant of a race long gone."
My eyes widened significantly, a djinn remnant, what's it doing her-
'Relictombs adjust depending on the ascender, you told me that once.'
Oh…that makes sense.
"Where are you?" I demanded, looking around. All I saw was the grass filled field we were in, there was a forest nearby.
"Close enough."
In the forest? I began walking towards it.
"Not in the forest."
"Where then? Show your-" My voice died down when the very sky began disintegrating like we were in a simulation. The mountains and the forest suffered the same fate.
A lone figure began descending from the sky, as I stared curiously at the djinn. He looked similar to the one Arthur encountered, a being of amethyst with runes all over his body. The only thing that differed was his eyes. They were like miniature clocks, with a thin second hand, a thicker minute hand and a short hour hand. Clearly he focuses on the aevum branch of aether.
"Hello there young lad!" He greeted rather cheerfully.
"You know, I expected you to be a bit more bitter, considering what Keze-"
"I'd prefer if you didn't say his name, thank you." His smile grew broader, but he couldn't hide the resentment in his voice.
"Very well," I inclined my head, "Why did you choose to reveal yourself then?"
"How could I not reveal myself to another godrune bearer?"
"What about Caera?" I glanced behind, panicking when I didn't see her.
But that panic was soon replaced with nonchalance, "Where is she?"
He rolled his eyes, "She's safe, relax. I figured she didn't need to know what we would discuss."
"Discuss what?" I narrowed my eyes, gripping my daggers tighter.
"I know who you are, 'Erebus'"
I stumbled back in surprise, how did he even- aevum! He foresaw this!
"Am I to assume that you glanced into the future?" I tried to look as unfazed as I could.
"Glance is an understatement," He grinned widely, "I saw all of it!"
"That must have put a lot of burden on your body, is that how you died?" I inclined my head in genuine curiosity.
He nodded, "Almost, I survived the ordeal."
"Let me guess, you decided to leave a remnant for Arthur or me to find and prevent the future you saw?" I withheld rolling my eyes.
"Not at all! That would take away the fun of it, instead I have this." A black bracer materialized in his hand, golden runes ran along its sides.
"That's not going to give you a godrune, but it will prove to be useful in the future." He threw the accessory at me, "Don't let anyone know about it."
"You do realize that we are checked for relics when we leave the relictombs right?" I pointed out, slipping my arm into the bracelet.
"No need to worry about that." He grinned innocently.
I yelped in pain when I fell thousands of needles digging into my forearm, "What the hell?!"
I clutched my arm, trying in vain to alleviate the pain. My arm started becoming stiffer by the second, the feeling reaching my shoulder and eventually my torso. The bracer was literally fusing with my body, spreading throughout my body making it virtually undetectable.
The pain numbed down after a bit, enough for me to stand.
"The fuck was that?!" I yelled, but only an empty floor greeted me.
"Where the hell did he run off to?"
"Unlike others, you are not bound by the rules of this world. Use that to your advantage, bring an end to the age of gods, set in motion the age of chaos." His voice faded away as the last vestiges of his memory dissipated into the void.
Before I could process what he said, I was thrown out of the plane, back into the spire.
"Ugh, what happened?" Caera groaned, getting up from the ground.
"No idea," I lied, she didn't need to know of my conversation with the djinn remnant, or the bracer.
"Is that…" She pointed in front of us.
'This seems vaguely familiar.'
I glanced at the arch, a translucent purple portal contained within, "The portal? Yes."
"How are you not surprised?" She deadpanned.
I only shrugged, I don't think anything is going to surprise me today.
________________________
The relic detector wasn't able to find the bracelet in my body, neither did they ask why Caera had her head covered, and we made it out without a hitch.
Now we were on our way to return to Master Seris' Domain, and I was faced with a new dilemma.
Caera will tell Master Seris about my godrune, she would know I am capable of harnessing aether. That might be both a blessing and a curse, on one hand she could alter my training to be more inclined towards using my aetheric art, but she could also pry about my knowledge of the stuff.
I knew she wouldn't be as easily fooled as Caera, if she was fooled at all, and I was reluctant to reveal the real reason behind my knowledge. I needed to make something up.
'Stick to your original explanation, there aren't many better than that.'
Seris might see through that lie, hell even Caera is suspicious of it.
'What other choice do you have?'
I could tell her it was something I learned from an old tome in Dicathen.
'Then she would try to look for this nonexistent tome.'
"We have arrived, Lord Vritra." Our carriage came to a halt.
I gave the driver a subtle nod, and jumped down, walking towards the double door of the mansion.
Well, time to face the music.
I inhaled deeply, opening the doors as my gaze fixated on the lavender haired woman sitting on the sofa.
— New chapter is coming soon — Write a review
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone