AETHER BEASTS

My assumption that the entrance was a portal was correct as the moment it fully engulfed me and the others, a feeling of weightlessness overtook me, only for a brief moment before the darkness faded, and I found myself standing in a long stone corridor, lit only by faint specs of light which seemed to clump together on the ceiling.

"Everyone ok?" I asked, looking at the others to make sure we had all made it.

"We're all here," Sandra answered, taking a look around at our surroundings. "Wherever here is. I expected something more… shocking?"

"Well don't," Misty said. "Most of the labyrinth will be like this if our guide and what we've learned is to be believed."

"Which way do we go?" I asked since Misty was still wearing the tracker necklace.

She focused for a second before turning to the right. "This way."

"Well then, let's begin." I formed my bark armor around myself. "Let's be cautious. Remembered what Zirani said, all it takes is a bit of bad luck or one wrong mistepp and we'll stumble across something we can't beat."

Sandra cloak appeared as I spoke as did Misty's aether claws then we began our first delve into an aether labyrinth. For the first few hours, it was nothing but corridor after corridor with the occasional odd scattering of stones or dirt. It was very underwhelming, and nothing like what I'd heard about labyrinths, at least not like the stories I'd heard.

One of the negative aspects of the labyrinth was the fact that there was no way to tell how much time had passed, or so I thought. When I complained about it, Misty asked me to hand over the storage ring, and then proceed to pull out a watch.

"Didn't you check the ring?" She asked with a sigh.

"My bad." I took the watch and spent the next hour staring down at it.

"I think I might go crazy." Sandra sighed. "These corridors are getting old real fast. Are you sure we're going the right way?"

Misty shrugged. "I'm just following where the tracker is leading me, besides that, I've no clue. I mean it's not like we expected any differently, right?"

"No," I said. "But this is tedious."

"Not everything is excitement," Zirani said with a chuckle. She'd left her core the moment we'd arrived since the chances of running into other arcanists was very low. "You three have gotten so used to the constant action and training you're put through, that things like this feel even more boring than usual. Something similar happened to me when I returned to the green court after my time with my aunt's people."

"How did you deal with it?" Sandra asked.

"I didn't," Zirani said and smiled at Sandra's reaction. "I don't have special methods to fix everything. I just adapted over time, and got used to being able to switch lifestyles."

"I can do that," I said, remembering how my time with my aunt had felt. "It's just that this type of stuff isn't relaxing, or exciting."

"Well you ca-"

Zirani's reply was cut off as an odd chirping noise came from in front of the current corridor we were traveling down.

"Is that a bird?" Sandra questioned.

"Or a beast,'' I added. As far as i knew they weren't normal animals down in the labyrinth, just different kinds of aether beasts.

"Whatever it is, is getting closer," Misty announced, getting into a fighting stance, her claws at the ready.

The rest of us followed her lead as the sound grew closer until a large bipedal beast appeared from the darkness. Although the specs of light lit up the corridors, for some odd reason, it was impossible to see far down any of them.

The beast looked like a large chicken around the size of a man, but with a curved blade-like beak and talon on its feet which looked like they could cut through flesh like butter. Its feathers were a mix of red and white, which gave it a disturbing look as though it was covered in blood. Its eyes locked onto us as it made another chirping sound.

"Two cores, wind affinity" I said. "You wanna deal with this one Misty?"

She nodded with a danged smile. "I haven't had beast blood in a while since you spoil me with yours so often."

The bird either understood us or had already been about to attack as it leapt at the blonde who casually dodged to the side, bringing her claws up and tearing one of its wings which were tiny in comparison to the rest of it. It let out a shriek this time that might have caused more damage if we were at a lower level, but Misty ignored it and followed up her first attack with two more that quickly ended the beast's life. As she dug into her meal, I tried to listen to see if anymore were approaching.

"A giant chicken." Sandra shook her head. "I think I've seen it all now."

"Not even close," Zirani said as she leaned down to pick up one of its feathers. "Not a bad material, though a bit too weak for us."

"We could sell it?" Sandra suggested.

"For what?" I questioned. "We have plenty of crystals, not to mention the crystals we do have will be worth little if anything beyond the great scar. That's why we asked for cores."

After Misty finished her drink we continued down the corridor and around a minute later, I stopped in place, and held a hand out to the others. "Do you feel that?"

Everyone paused before a smile split Sandra's pretty face. "A breeze. Oh, we're finally going to leave this endless maze of corridors."

We did leave the maze and entered into a large cavern, however unlike the corridors we were forced to create some artificial arcane light orbs to follow around us. It took Zirani only a few minutes to teach us how to make them with our affinities, and I smiled as we each easily formed orbs, each a different color matching our affinities. Mine was a vivid green while Sandra's gave off a purplish light and Misty was a mix of red, blue, white, and black.

Zirani rolled her eyes, and snapped her finger, sending three bursts of aether to destroy our orbs before forming three sunlight orbs around her. "Keep it simple."

"I think it looked good," Misty grumbled but kept quiet as we moved deeper into the cavern. "It's this way."

She led us towards the right once again, and we all took care, not to trip on anything as we moved. The cavern was only somewhat flat as spikes of rock stuck up from the ground, though I was the only one who ever hit them. They hadn't said it, but we all knew the light was just for me. Zirani, Sandra and Misty would see fine in the dark, and while I could see better than I had before, it wasn't really something to risk my life on.

"You need to teach me that dark sight technique soon," I said to Zirani metnally.

"I will," She promised. "How have your exercises been coming along?"

"Quite good," I replied with a smile. "I think I could pull off a simple poison technique, simple mind you. I know your definition can differ from time to time."

She chuckled. "Simple it is."

"Ermm, guys."

Sandra's worried voice snapped me away from my conversation with Zirani and I turned to see her looking at the ground with wide eyes. "I don't want to alarm anyone, but look down."

I followed her gaze and almost tripped as I spotted the bones littering the ground. "What the hell!"

"These haven't been here the whole time have they?" Misty asked.

Sandra shook her head. "No, the ground was just rock before, I only spotted this by accident when my foot crunched on something. You think these are dead arcanists?"

I leaned down and picked up one of the bones, examining it. At first, I thought it might have been a human but after a few moments, I realized it was far too thick. Thanks to my Aunt I knew quite a bit about the human body, including how things should be. These were certainly not human bones, but as I looked around, I came to the conclusion that they weren't similar though.

"Not human, but human-like," I said. "Look at the cracks, I think this is the bird's layer or where it eats."

"You mean the bird Misty killed?" Sandra asked. "You can tell that from the bones?"

I shrugged. "My aunt's a healer and these look like they could have been made using that thing's beak, although it's just a guess. I could be wrong."

"I don't think you are," Zirani said slowly.

"Why?"

That's when I sensed it or should I say them.

"Well, that's not good." I backed away slightly as the dozens of glowing red eyes stared at us, the bipedal bird-like shapes clear thanks to our light. There must have been at least a dozen of them if not more, and that didn't count the large one at their center.. It seemed I was right and we'd entered into a beast nest.