Aether Beasts

The plan for today was quite simple, in fact, there really wasn't a plan. I was going to take this day to relax and just let everything sink in. Ever since I'd left West Vale it had been one thing after another and I hadn't had time to process anything before something else happened. I'd had to bottle up the emotions and push away all the thoughts that would have bogged me down and made it harder to survive.

After a large breakfast, I headed back to my tent to let Misty know I'd be exploring the camp, and if she needed anything to come find me. She was looking a lot better, though there were a few more changes, though if you didn't know her then they wouldn't really be noticeable. The first was the fact that her hair was longer, paler, and had a slight glow to it. It was very faint and you had to look for a moment to notice it, but it was there. Her eyes also seemed different in a way. The longer I looked into them the more I seemed drawn in. A quick explanation from Zirani told me that was just a passive charm effect. She was also taller, though not by much.

"I'm definitely going to have to add to that array," Zirani said with a sigh. "I should've remembered her changes would be happening."

"Are you going to add another illusion effect?" I asked. I didn't know much about arrays, but Zirani had explained a little.

"Most likely, though it's going to have to be a basic one for now," Zirani replied.

The camp was alive with the activity of disciples and people going about their day and I took a few hours to just have a look around, explore all the areas, get some food, talk with some people. Everything was set out in such a way that finding one's way was very easy, not to mention everyone was friendly and it was easy to ask for directions.

Sandra found me later on in the day, eating some more food. I didn't know if I was just that hungry or if it was something else, but I must have had double what I normally had.

"What's your plan for today?" She asked, taking a seat beside me, a plate of her food in her hands. It was mostly leaner meats with a few vegetables unlike my own plate which was stacked with mashed potatoes, gravy, steak, fried veggies, and a large roasted chicken leg. Like I said, I was really hungry.

"I'm not planning to do anything today," I replied. "I'm just going to relax. This is probably the only time I'm going to get that opportunity in a while."

"Training?"

I nodded. "Zirani got a lot planned."

"I see," Sandra said. "Well, I actually came to ask if I could speak with Zirani."

I raised an eyebrow at her words. "May I know the reason you want to speak with her?"

"That's between me and her, just ask her please, or is she listening in now?"

"Tell her we can talk tomorrow," Zirani said in my mind.

"Fine," I replied mentally then turned to Sandra. "She said she'll talk with you tomorrow."

"That'll do I suppose. Thank you."

I spent the rest of the day just doing whatever I felt like, not bothering to think much and trying to keep thoughts of the future away. I could feel Zirani's impatience, but also her understanding. She knew as well as I did that I needed this and that soon my life would be training, training, and more training, not that I would have it any other way. I needed to get stronger, much stronger than I already was, not just so I could contribute more to this war, but also so that I could be ready when the time came to cross the great scar.

Speaking of the great scar. Zirani took the time we had to tell a few stories from her time there. Like the first time she'd entered an aether labyrinth and how she'd gotten lost for days before she'd found her way out, or the time where a great beast of blue flame had attacked and how the green court had repeled the beast, sending it to the lands of their enemies. That story reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite put my mind on what.

She also told me a bit about her sisters and her mother. She had once, of course, been a dryad, for three hundred years, before she'd started on the path that had turned her into a Zigan. Most of her first sisters were now elder dryads married to the various green lords of the verdant court, or green court as she referred to it. Her mother, however, was a Zigan like her. She had once been the mother to many dryads, but she'd given her position away, and with no responsibilities, she dedicated herself to something else, which had been combat.

It was interesting to hear about things beyond the great scar, especially the cities. Honestly, with the stuff she talked about, like sky cities, or arcanists that could cleave the mountains in half, I understood why the northern plains seemed so backwards. Many of the arcane machines and enchanted items she spoke of seemed too good to be true, but she'd assure me they existed.

Her stories made me eager to go beyond the great scar, and if all went according to plan, I would, and in less than a year, though I found it hard to believe I'd be at my second core so soon, she promised that she'd not only have me at my second core but also at the fourth level of infusion.

She said it so casually as well.

By the time I met back up with Misty and then headed to sleep, I felt ten times better, and that night I dreamt of greater things. Of me and Zirani, creating an entire forest together, of myself fighting back an entire army with ease.. My dreams were blissful and my sleep was calm.