AETHER BEASTS

We didn't have an hour to waste on me cooking some fried chicken so we settled with rations as we packed up everything into our storage devices. Hayden's ring was an expensive object because it held nearly three times the storage space my own ring held. His parents must have been rich indeed. As for the dagger, I placed it in my ring, though I doubted I'd ever use it. I had my glaive and my techniques.

"We should build a place like this if we ever settle down," Sandra said, a sad look in her eyes, and left the treehouse behind. I understood how she felt. Despite not having been here for long, it had felt like home, not just to me, but to all of us. It was simple, to say the least, but cozy and safe.

"If we do, I don't think it will be in the plains," I replied. After this whole debacle with the tower was over, we would most likely finish our training then take some time off before we headed over to the border cities to await the expedition, which was our ticket out of the plains.

"I never thought I'd ever cross it," Misty said, a far-away look in her eyes. "I always thought I'd follow in my father's footsteps. The great scar always seemed like more of a fantasy."

Her eyes lowered and I walked over to place a hand on her shoulder. "Your father may be gone, but we're here for you, as cliche as that sounds."

Just as my bond with Sandra and Zirnai had grown, so had my relationship with Misty. We'd been through a lot together, and rekindled an old friendship that had quickly turned into love, or the beginnings of love at least.

"He's right." Sandra. "You got us now blondy, for better and for worse."

Some of the sadness in Misty's eyes faded as she smirked at the dark-haired arcanist. "I'm assuming your worse and he's better?"

"Haha," Sandra replied dryly. "Let's get going, we need to find the entrance to the next floor."

Which was most likely near the center of the floor, which we hadn't really found when we'd scouted the place out, though I had a vague idea of where it was, mostly thanks to the glowing moss on the ceiling.

"I'll take the lead on this," I said. "I've got an idea of where it is."

During my time here, I'd noticed that the light above got brighter and brighter when in certain areas, and at first I'd hadn't paid much attention to it, but I had the sneaking suspicions, the closer you got to the center the brighter it was, the more glowing moss there was.

"Remember there's probably going to be strong beasts around the entrance, so stay alert," I reminded.

I was confident in our ability to deal with any problem we came across, but due to our time constraints and task, I would prefer if we avoided fights and not wasted any time.

I lead the three of us through the floor, using the moss overhead as a guide, and after two hours of sprinting, which didn't leave me feeling tired thanks to my enhancements, we came across our first beast in the form of a large wood giant, or at least that's what it seemed like. It was vaguely shaped like a man with tree trunks for legs, and branches sprouted all over its body. The same glowing bliss moss that lit the land also covered parts of the wood giant. It was around fifteen feet tall, but its size wasn't what worried me. Atop its branches were smaller beasts with beaks that looked like thin, razors sharp blades. There were at least two dozen on the giant, which was stronger than the bear Misty had fought. Its cores blazed, and it had an aether aura around it, which only beasts and arcanists above a certain threshold could have.

"We're not fighting that are we?" Sandra asked. "Those birds look like trouble, not to mention the ent."

"Ent?" I asked. "Is that what it's called.

"Yeah, I heard some are peaceful." Sandra frowned. "Though, I don't know if that's true or not."

"I think it's best we don't fight," Misty suggested. "If those birds swarm us at the same time the ent attack it will be trouble. I think we'd win, but not without some injury."

We took the safe option and snuck around the ent, taking care to be as quiet as possible until we were well away from it, however, just when we thought we were safe, a beast or pack of beasts shot out from around us. At first, I thought they were just Murwogs, but on closer inspection, I realized these were bigger and had blotches of brown spot on their dark green skin along with tiny blunt horns, that looked more comical than intimidating.

"Should we run?" Sandra asked, her cloak forming around her, as dark smoke began to waft from her body, followed a moment later by shadowy tendrils. That must have cost a decent amount of aether, but then I remembered that she'd moved up a density stage, so she probably had far more aether to work with.

"No, we fight."

If these things were faster than the Murwoigs, then only Sandra and Misty would be able to outrun them since they both had movement techniques, unlike me. Damn the twin horn for interrupting our training.

Misty's death claws form before she shouted a warning. "Cover your eyes."

I barely managed to form two pieces of wood over my ears before Misty opened her mouth, and let out her sonic screech, which I heard even through the wood, though it was dulled enough that it caused no pain or discomfort. Sandra had her hands over her ears and was shooting a slight glare at the blonde, her teeth gritted.

"Give us more time to get ready," Sandra said. "I barely covered my ears in time."

Misty shot Sandra an apologetic shrug before she dashed at the stunned Murwogs. I sprung into motion a moment behind her, and two bark spikes formed on my gauntlets as I neared two of the greater Murwogs, at least that's what I guessed they were. Their skin proved thicker than their weaker counterparts but nowhere near strong enough to stop an aether-formed bark spike. Both murwogs fell to the ground as I tore my weapons-free, sprays of blood panting he nearby by ground.

Misty had already taken out two and was facing off against another while Sandra was weaving through a trio while her tendrils sliced them into bloody ribbons. Before her recent power increases she would never have been able to maintain her dark tendrils and cloak at the same time for this long while using other techniques, but now she could and with her increased speed and strength, the murwogs stood no chance, even though they were quite fast.

Before long, the last of them fell.

"Do we take their cores?" Misty asked. "They could come in handy."

I thought it over for a moment. "Five minutes, five minutes to get as many s we can then we leave."

The process of getting a core wasn't as easy as it sounded, due to the fact one had to be careful not to break it, and of course tear through a body, which wasn't pleasant at all, especially not for beasts of a larger size like these greater murwogs, not to mention the stench. I hadn't thought they could smell any worse, but I was proven wrong as I had to form a wooden peg for my nose as I worked.

In the end, we managed to get them all, mostly thanks to Misty's death claws which rotted away flesh at a rapid pace. We would most likely either sell the cors or keep them for other things like the enchantments Zirnai had made for our tubs. There was also the fact that Zirnai was a fountain of knowledge and with her alchemic abilities we could become the richest people in the plains, and that was just with her alchemy. Things like the sky boat, well those would sell for a lot.

"How much longer?" Sandra asked impatiently. "We've been going this way for four hours."

"Nothing, we're here," I replied with a smile as we broke out of the forested area, and a wide-open circle of blowing grass, which at its center, held the gate to the next floor. I had for a moment been afraid that I'd been wrong about my guess, but then I'd spotted a large mass of glowing moss in the distance shining, which I could now see was shining down upon the gate and the open area around it, as though a beacon.

"This is it," I started to say, but was interrupted.

"Indeed it is," A calm voice sounded as a middle-aged man in an ornate twin horn robe stepped out from behind the gate, his two cores surging with aether.

The twin horn elder smiled. "Aiden Hawke, we finally meet."

"Oh fuck."

This was not good, not in the slightest, especially since Zirani was still out and none of us had ever faced someone with two cores, let alone at the fourth stage of infusion as this elder was.

"I'm glad I managed to catch you before you crossed the gate." The elder smiled. "I must say it's rather impressive just how far you've come in such a short amount of time."

I blinked in surprise unsure of what he meant. It sounded like he was talking about our power growth, but how would he know about that, unless he'd heard about me before entering the tower.

"Though with the jungle queen in your hold, it's not surprising." His orange eyes, which looked distinctly unnatural flashed with greed. "A prize, a great prize indeed."

I tried to suppress my shock, but some of it must have shown as the elder's smile grew. Knowing about me beforehand I could understand, but Zirani? I hadn't told anyone but Misty and Sandra about her, that I was certain of, so how exactly did he know? Had he been watching us? I hadn't noticed him or his cores until he'd revelaed himself, which meant he had a way of masking his power so he could very well have been watching us.

He sighed as he read my confused gaze. "If you must know, my master informed me of your unique gifts and abilities."

"Your great master?" Sandra questioned, only a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"So you've heard of him," The elder replied. "From the disciple you took hostage, I assume. A foolish thing to think that we did not keep trackers on them, nor to think that a being as powerful as our master could not see his servants."

So Zirani had been right then, the mastermind behind the twin horn was this great master, and he must have been powerful indeed if he could do such things without even having a body.

I calmed my racing heart, and steadied myself, preparing to pull aether from my core as I sent a message to Misty and a burst of emotion to Sandra. A simple message for Misty to get ready, and a burst of anticipation for Sandra. I didn't know what our chances against this elder would be, but there was no way this wasn't going to end up in a fight. We sure as hell weren't going to be running or surrendering.

"Must you." The elder shook his head. "If you come quietly, I will make sure the melding process is painless."

I didn't reply, instead, forming bark armor around myself, along with three impact seeds on both hands. I saw from the corner of my eyes, Misty death claws from as did Sandra's cloak and tendrils.

The elder face's screwed up in annoyance. "Very well then. I was told to bring you three in alive, but I suppose half-alive will so."

"You ready?" I asked my two friends, feeling a surge of adrenaline shoot through me as the fire aether began to surge around the elder.

Misty nodded, while Sandra tried to grin confidently.

The world seemed to quiet as I locked eyes with the elder, my violet orbs matching his fiery eyes. This was unlike anything I'd ever faced, even against the moss troll or the army, I hadn't felt like this. This wasn't a beast or something we could best with simple brute force. This was a twin horn elder, and one that was close to this great master, which had most likely afforded more knowledge and power than others. That much was obvious from everything he knew and the way his aether was forming around him. It was unlike the crude use I'd seen in the other twin horn members and was greater than any of the steel heart elders.

I launched my seeds at the elder as the three of us burst forwards, Misty taking the lead with her enhanced speed.

This was going to be the fight of our lives, a true test of just how far we'd grown, and I was determined to see us as the victories.