Aether Beasts

I pulled aether from my core as I dodged to the right. A barrage of water droplets shot past me, and as I shot towards him, my layered bark amour formed around. I used aether burst to give myself speed, and I closed the distance between us within seconds.

He swiped at me with his right hand, aiming for my neck, and a crescent blade of water followed the movement. It was an elegant technique formed from an elegant pattern, but not that useful in this case, and all it took was a push with the back of my left hand to move it off course. It covered a large range and would have been perfect if he were faster and for groups of people or for those who moved erratically, but I was only one person, and my movement was anything but erratic. I moved with lethal efficiency, and speed.

His other hand held the same water technique and came up in a swing, but I easily sidestepped the attack and pressed a palm to his chest. Compared to Zirani and the girls, he was simply far too slow.

This fight was over.

"I win."

He froze then blinked. "What?"

"I win," I repeated. "I could have killed you then."

I turned to Xavier who seemed confused. "How exactly could you have killed him?"

I sighed and raised a hand to the sky. I formed the necessary technique and a beam of solar energy burst from my palm.

"That's how."

Hank's look of anger and confusion faded as his face paled. He was no doubt realizing what would have happened if I had hit him with a solar beam point-blank. I didn't think he wanted a hole in his chest.

The fight had lasted for less than ten seconds, not that I had expected it to last as long as Agnar and the disciple fight had been. I had gone in holding nothing back and acted as though he was an enemy I needed to kill as quickly as possible. Xavier had asked for that and I delivered.

"The winner is Aiden," Xavier called, and I saw that the crowd was both impressed and disappointed. I didn't blame them. They had no doubt expected more of a spectacle and a longer fight.

Hank walked over to the other disciples. A few tried to cheer him up and patted him on the back, but it was clear he had lost and hadn't really done much of anything. In fact, I probably could have ended it sooner, if I hadn't waited for him to make the first move. My mind worked things out as Xavier spoke with hank

I could've shot forwards, and I knew my reaction time was fast enough that I could have formed a layered wood shield to block the droplets, and then send a greater impact seed at him to give me an opening in which I would have closed the gap and turned the shield into a sharped wood blade, that I would hold at his neck.

You live and learn, though.

"Good work," Isaac said as he walked over to me. "She trained you well, it seems."

"You have no idea," I replied thinking back to everything, especially the last month which had been hellish, but very effective when it came to helping me improve.

"I thank you for entertaining my request," Xavier said. "Give my regard to you bonded."

"You don't want me to spar with any others?" I asked.

He shook his head. "None of them seem eager, and I have other things I must do."

"Well then till next time." I offered my hand and he shook it with a smile.

"Now that's over with," Isaac said. "Would you mind taking me on a tour of the city? I've never been to the plains before, and even if I don't find anything of much interest I would still like to have the experience."

I shrugged. "Sure, I don't really have much else to do."

The two of us headed away from the center, and past the area he and his bodyguards were saying in before we left the plaza behind. Before we got anywhere, I checked on my bonds with the girls to make sure they were both ok. Sandra was currently with Zirani in the umbrin clan area and she seemed ok for the most part, though I could feel some anger. Misty was also fine, and I couldn't sense anything off, so I felt fine leaving the plaza behind.

"I want to visit the market first," Isaac said. "I want to see the disparity between my lands and yours."

"A good place to start then," I replied. "Though you'll see that everywhere you look if everything I've learned about the lands beyond the scar is true."

The market was as lively as the last time I had been here, though as we began to move through it I suddenly recalled something I had forgotten. I remembered the suite we had booked and thought back to it and if we had left anything there. As far as I could remember we hadn't, but I decided to be sure, so I left Isaac to peruse the market and promised I'd return as soon as possible. I did feel a bit bad since I was leading him after I had said I'd give him a tour but he assure me he was fine, and it wasn't like he couldn't handle himself. He may have been a scholar, but he was also from the lands beyond the scar which meant he could easily defeat any arcanist of the plains.

The receptionist was both surprised and relieved to see me.

"I thought something had happened to you," he said. "I'm afraid your time with the suite is up. You only paid for a week."

"That fines," I said. "Did I leave anything in there?"

He nodded and pulled out a ring. "You left this. I can assure you nothing inside was touched."

I took it and put it on, realizing quickly that it was just a ring we had used for supplies, and if he had, I wouldn't really have cared.

"You know what." I flicked the ring back to him. "Keep it."

He was very shocked, but I just told him it was due to his honesty before I made my way back to Isaac who had garnered quite the crowd. Apparently, people have figured out he was from the expedition and he had decided to entertain the crowd by telling them about his homeland, and the lands beyond the scar.

He was standing on a pedestal, and I decided to let him finish first. The people looked to be enjoying themselves, especially the children who ooed and awed at every single thing. He spent an hour atop the pedestal before he finally finished with a bow, and was applauded by what must have been over a few hundred people.

"That was nice of you."

"I got bored rather fast, viewing the stalls," he said. "I bought a few trinkets and some books which I have never heard off."

After spending another half an hour in the market, I took Isaac around to the other parts of the city, though just as he had said, nothing really interested him, so decided to head back after what must have only been three hours. During the tour, Isaac used his tablet which he said was an enchanted item that he used to write down and store information.

On our way back, however, we ran into some trouble.

"You!"

I kept walking, but when the voice sounded again, closer, I turned and let loose an explosive sigh when I spotted a familiar figure. It was the arcanist from the burning sands sect that I had dealt with a few days ago.

He was alone and looked quite pissed.

"Is this a friend?" Isaac asked.

I snorted. "Does he look like a friend?"

The burning sands arcanist stopped a few feet away, and his eyes turned to Issac. He frowned, and then stumbled back, his eye wide, aching clearly realizing who Isaac was. Issac on his part just stared at the arcanist with a blank look on his face.

"I think there been some mistake, you weren't referring to me now were you?" I asked

He shook his head, quickly turned, and walked away.

"Well that was odd," Isaac said. "Why the fear all of a sudden?"

"You should expect that from everyone to some degree," I said. "Think of it like this, what could the city do if you killed him?"

"Oh," Isaac nodded. "They are scared because of the difference in power and the fact that they cannot enforce their laws on us."

"For the most part," I replied. "I don't think they all see you as murders or anything, just that most don't want to risk it. You can approach them as you did with the crowd, and show you mean no harm, but don't expect any to approach you, at least not without a good reason. I'm sure if you flashed some money then many would be willing to take the risk. Another type of disparity between your lands and the plains."