AETHER BEASTS

"What do we do?" Sandra asked aloud as the largest of the bird beasts stepped into the light fully. Now that I could see it more clearly I could tell it was at least twice as big as the others, and instead of wings, it had a pair of long arms tipped with long curved talons. Its beak was straight and narrow instead of curved and its feather were mainly red with only bits of white here and there.

"We fight," I replied, knowing that there was no point in running. If the necklace was pointing in their direction then we would need to get past them and I did not feel like having to run from them when we could deal with them here and now.

"Is that wise?" Misty questioned.

"We're not as weak as we once were," I said in a firm tone. "We can take them."

I formed four impact seeds rapidly as the alpha beast sighted on me, and charged letting out a loud screech that the others echoed before they charged towards Misty and Sandra.

It had been a while since I'd fought with my glaive, but it still felt natural when I pulled it from my storage ring and spun it once, getting into a fighting stance as the alpha closed in on me. I met its gaze which seemed to infuriate it as it let out another screech and swiped at me when it was close enough. I nimbly ducked and countered with a low sweep, scoring a shallow gash on its side. I frowned, glancing at my weapon. That blow hadn't been weak and had definitely connected fully, which meant this beast had thick skin and good defenses. Its three cores also blazed brightly and I knew that it most likely had one or two innate techniques.

I leapt forward and brought my glaive around it overarching blow, which the beast dodged much to my surprise, before lashing out with its talons and landing a strike at my chest. My bark armor took the brunt of the strike, but the sound of cracking told me it wouldn't last for long under continuous blows.

I purposefully fell backward as it lashed out with its talons, and kicked up at its chest using aether burst to increase my strength. It staggered back and I used the opportunity to send an impact seed into its face at near point-blank range. It didn't do much damage but the beast did look dazed, allowing me to jump back to my feet and land a deep slash across its chest. It attempted to blindly attack me, but I ducked and hit its legs, which proved to be far weaker defense-wise.

The beast finally snapped out of its daze and before I could react opened its mouth and sent a powerful burst of condensed wind at me, which sent me into the air, spinning twice before landing on my back with a crack, that worried me until I realized it had been my armor and not a bone-breaking.

I quickly got back to my feet and just in time to dodge another wind attack that hit the nearby ground, sending cracks spiderwebbing around the impact area.

It screeched and dashed forwards while I reoriented myself and prepared to end this. Its long neck was smiler in color and size to its legs which had been far weaker than any other part of its body. It was time to take a risk.

I pulled aether from my core and formed a thorn vine in my left hand while I spun my glaive with the right. The sound of the vine craking the air was loud as I sent it to warp around the beasts leg. Its momentum was too great for it to stop and even as it screeched in pain it continued to close the distance.

I waited and just when it was a few feet away, I pulled, using aether burst to increase my strength. It stumbled forward and I dodged to the left as it fell with a pained shriek. The glaive that had been spinning and gathering speed came down upon its neck. It took two strikes to decapitate the beast as even its neck, while weaker than the rest of it, was still strong.

I sighed and looked over to the others who seemed to be doing fine with their opponents. Misty was a blur as she slashed apart beast after beast, and a literal tornado of shadow tendrils moved around Sandra, denying any of the beasts access to her.

As for Zirani, well her beasts lay dead around her, white foam pouring from their mouths. I watched as a beast screeched and charged at her only to fall over the moment it got within a few feet. I watched in morbid curiosity as it convulsed wildly before it began to choke as white foam poured from its beak.

Zirani only spared it a single glance before she yawned then smiled when she caught my gaze. "Done?"

I nodded. "Mhm, it was more challenging than I expected."

"Good," She replied. "Its challenging fights and acts that will help you grow and learn. Training is good and integral but so is experience."

We'd learned something smiler in the academy from professor Luten. He'd always been the sort to get us out of the building and actually doing things and trying to get us first-hand experience. My aunt was the same way. She'd had me help her at the clinic multiple times to learn first aid and what to do if I ever received a similar injury.

I waited beside Zirani as the others killed the last of the beasts.

"That was tiring." Sandra yawned. "I think I used too much of my bloodline."

"You kept it in control though." Zirani smiled. "That progress and you should be proud, and don't think I didn't see what you were doing Misty, trying to tame the beast."

Misty blushed. "And what did you think?"

Zirani smiled. "You did well, all three of us. Now, let's grab their cores and continue on."

It was tedious work, collecting the cores, but we got it done in a few minutes and then Misty led the way once again. It must have been another hour of walking through the cavern before we came across something of note.

We stopped as Misty leaned down to inspect a torn piece of fabric. It was a bright blue and covered with red stains that were clearly dried blood.

"You think it's her's?" I asked.

"We've been down here for less than a day," Misty replied, not needing clarification as to who I was talking about. "Then again most people don't have trackers to use. There were dozens of turns we could have taken."

She sighed. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I can say one thing for certain though, its human blood and a woman', over eighteen years of age."

"How can you tell?" Sandra asked.

Misty shot her an obvious look then gestured to herself. "Vampire remember. I can smell blood from far away, and once I have the scent I can tell a lot from it."

"Well, either way, we should keep moving," Zirani said.

Misty placed the bandage in her own storage rind before we continued on. Two hours later just as I was starting to get sick and tired of the cavern we came across a wooden door that looked far too normal. It was a bright green with a knob lock and an odd symbol at its upper center. It was a swirl with a single link cutting diagonally through it.

"It's leading me through the door," Misty said when I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Can you sense anything?" I turned to Zirani who shook her head. "Nothing, not even ambient aether which means this door is blocking my senses, though not through any arcane method."

"Let's just open it." Sandra walked forward but Misty held a hand out to stop her. "Let's do it from a distance, just in case something pops out or it's booby-trapped."

Sandra agreed and stepped back as I sent a lashing vine to wrap around the door handle. I twisted and then snapped the cine out at the door to push it. It creaked open on what must have been rusty hinges.

"It's just a room?" Sandra questioned in a confused tone.

"Seems so," I replied as I peered in at the cozy space beyond the door. Firelight lit up the room and its aesthetic was old-fashioned, to say the least. A single rocking chair moved back and forth eerily as wind chimes blew in an invisible breeze. I could also see a few shelves, and further back an attached kitchen.

"Is that snow?" Misty questioned.

I frowned and tried to see where she was looking but realized that my angel was different from hers so I moved over to where she was standing and followed her gaze to see a window and a field of white through its clear glass.

"Welcome, travelers.. It's been long since I've had company."