AETHER BEASTS

It took over half a day to get the exercises down to near perfect, and even then Zirani had each of us perform the exercise for her to make sure we were ready. We were, but there was one problem concerning Misty and Sandra. Zirani could try and teach them basic transformations but in truth, she had no clue about either of their affinities when it came to aether transformation. Both would have to eventually find teachers in the great scar, not that Zirani wasn't a good teacher, but she was a nature beast, and though she had a ton of knowledge about all affinities, she wasn't a master in all of them.

"Your family will be able to teach you, Sandra," Zirani said as we took a quick break by the road we were on. There was no need for us to take any forest paths. The way to Bullrock was a straight shot from Orton.

Zirani tunred to xonsdier Misty. "You on the other hand will be much more of a problem."

"How so? Misty asked with a frown.

"As I've said before, vampires are not a generous and magnanimous race, not usually at least," Zirani explained. "In vampire society, it's all about power and presenting yourself with as little weakness as possible because every weakness you do show will be used against you, either to kill, drain or enslave you."

I didn't like the idea of Misty being pushed into much of a place, but Zirani clearly had other thoughts as she glanced at me.

"She will have to deal with her own kind sooner or later," Zirani said mentally. "I know you care for them both, but there are their own people, and both wish to grow."

I nodded mentally, knowing her words to be true. I couldn't protect them from such things and them go into danger myself. That would make me look like a hypocrite and despite our close relationship, I didn't own them. It was just the idea of either in pain that got me riled up. I'd never had to deal with things like that before, not at West Vale and even dring the way, neither had ever gotten too injured.

"And I'm guessing I'll be heading with you to the green court?" I asked when the conversation went into a lull.

"Yes." Zirnai smiled. "It's going to be a shock when I reveal that I'm bonded, but I think your bloodline will make the difference. It's mainly my mother we have to be worried about. If she accepts you then it will be smooth sailing for the most part, but if she denies then she's more likely to administer… tests to see your worthiness."

"Tests." The way she'd said it had sounded ominous. "And if I fail these tests?'

She winced. "She'll most likely attempt to rip me from you."

With that unpleasant thought in mind, we continued on, practicing our aether transformation. Zirnai had me scanning plants on the roadside, simply greenery like a blade of grass and flower, and then had me try and replicate certain parts like a petal or the stem, and from there she slowly had me doing more and more. By the time night fell, I was able to create a simple flower and blade of grass, which didn't sound too amazing, but I'd done it with my aether. I'd created life, an existing thing with just my aether alone, and unlike normal techniques, I could tell this plant was just that a plant. Most aether techniques when formed were still discernible as having been formed from aether, but the plants I created had no such discernability. they looked just like normal plants. When I could do more, the possibilities were endless.

The next few days were the same for the most part. We trained, traveled, took the occasional stop, and just chatted about different topics. Zirani was a well of information and all three of us asked her many questions now that we had the time to.

The more she answered the greater the excitement grew for the coming expedition became. It honestly felt that the lands beyond the great scar were an entirely different world, and it also became clear as to why the plains were called the peaceful lands. If I'd thought power reigned here greatly, then beyond the great scar it was all that mattered. Power via knowledge, physical strength, or great numbers. By any means possible, people over there sought to increase power.

"I think we're getting close," I said on the second week of travel. The road had widened a few miles ago and it had branched off, but we'd kept going straight. Now I could see a few people coming towards us from the opposite direction.

Zirani sighed and moved back into her core.

It was a family of farmers leading a small number of odd-looking beasts I'd never seen before. They looked like chickens, but more muscular and walked on four legs. It was an odd sight, and if I hadn't been so strong then I'm sure the owner would have gotten angry that I was staring for so long, but they just kept their heads down. None were above the first core, and all three of us were at the second core.

Misty tried to offer a friendly smile, which made a younger-looking boy blush and whisper to his mother who chuckled. I nodded to the oldest-looking man who seemed nervous but nodded back. It must have been a surprise for them to run into young arcanists at such a high level.

"Where are they're going?" Sandra asked. "I didn't see any farms nearby."

"Then you weren't paying attention," Misty said. "The road forks off into multiple smaller paths a few miles down and there are plenty of tracks."

Misty was right, the ground was covered in footprints, goof prints, and wheel tracks. It meant that civilization was nearby.

"How exactly do we find the city if it's underground?" Sandra asked.

"There's a smaller city above ground on top of the entrance to lower city," Misty explained, once again showing how, besides Zirani, she was the most knowledgeable when it came to such topics. She had always been the best when it came to general knowledge at the academy. "It serves as a first line of defense and well, not everyone is comfortable with living underground. A lot of the traders leave their goods above ground to be ferried below. It's handled by the stone revenant sect. They found the city, and created all the paths that lead to it."

"Found?" I questioned. "Not founded?"

Misty shook her head. "No, apparently it was already there, damaged and partially destroyed, but they rebuilt. I'm sure you've heard of their earth traveling."

The stone revenants all were able to travel easily below ground via a technique only taught to sect disciples. It's why they were called stone reveals, at least thats what I remembered. Professor Luten had always spoken of his time in the city, of the large crystals that provided light and the odd beasts.

Around an hour after seeing the farmers, we started to run into more and more people and after asking a few, we confirmed that Bullrock was only a few hours away, and so we increased our pace. We came across more and more people, some just simple folk while some looked like hunters. Plenty of merchant caravans and wagons traveled the road, but one thing was the same. We never had to move. I hadn't noticed it at first, but everyone seemed to move out of our way. It had only been when a caravan had swerved to the right that I'd noticed as I'd been too busy training which must have caused some worry. It might have looked like I was forming a technique.

I glanced over at Misty who shook her head. I stopped and moved to the side of the road to cause fewer problems, and after a few more hours, we finally came upon the higher city, which to my shock seemed to be built in the shadow of a mountain. Large smooth stone walls rose up high into the air, and a large open gate let people in and out. It didn't look as large as Orton, but then again it was two cities, one above ground, and the other underground, and I had a feeling the one below the earth was larger since that wasn't most people talked about.

As we drew closer to the gate, I noticed it wasn't like a normal set of large doors. Instead, it was raised up and presumably lowered down when it came time to close the gate. Guards wearing grey armor waved most people in, but those with carts or part of a caravan were stopped and questioned before being elt in.

We caused quite a stir in their number. Two guards froze as we passed and one whispered something to another nearby guard who ran off.

"That looks like trouble," I said, my eyes tracking the sprinting man.

"He's probably just informing a higher up that three unknown second-core arcanists have entered the city, not to mention our high-density cores." Misty sighed. "We should have had Zirani hide us. Don't worry though, we'll most likely just get questioned and politely at that. If were any weaker then force would be used."

"If we were any weaker this wouldn't be happening," Sandra muttered as we entered the city.