Aether Beasts

The storm had completely vanished the next day and along with it went the cold and the rain, which made it slightly easier for us to travel. We moved at a fast pace. We all wanted to get back to the camp as quickly as possible, mainly to get news of our success and Markem\\\\s betrayal back, but also because I could tell we could all use a break before things reached the endpoint in this war. The twin horn were going to launch what sounded like their final assault soon and I wanted to be well-rested and prepared for it.

Zirani couldn't train me properly, but I imagined she could give me a few tips and maybe teach me a technique that could help. When u asked her if she'd participated in wars before she got really quiet for a long moment.

"It depends on what you'd consider a war," she said. "A battle like this would only be considered a skirmish beyond the great scar. An actual war would be much, much larger. The green court for the most part had managed to remain neutral, though there was one conflict which I guess you could say was a war."

"Which was?"

"One of the queens had some of their children kidnapped by members of a wandering Lycan clan," she said with a heavy voice. "They were rescued safely but it didn't end there. She launched an attack on the clan the members were a part of, and well, let's just say from there things escalated. The green court won, but not without losses and leaving themselves exposed to the stronger human sects for a short time, though luckily nothing came of that.."

"Lycan? Are those other hybrids?"

"Yes," she explained. "They're like half men, half beasts. You can become one or be born as one. I'm not entirely aware of how it happens, but I think it's from a bite and then a lunar ritual of some sort."

"And they don't like the green court?"

She chuckled. "Not exactly. The green court doesn't hate all Lycanthropes, just the ones that seem to think that lands of the green court are prime hunting grounds. The court has done an amazing job of wiping a lot of them out and pushing them back but every now and then you have a newly born or made Lycan who thinks he's better than the rest because of some newfound power. It's the same with aether vampires. The younger ones die the most because they get cocky. It's the smart ones and survivors that become the deadliest among them."

At around midday, we reached the halfway point on a trip back and I was surprised yet happy that we'd managed to make such good time, then again we had been moving as fast as we could, rather than at a jogging pace as we had when we'd been heading to Orton, but now we didn't have a message to deliver, we just needed to get back to camp.

"Aiden, are we going to be stopping tonight or moving on?" Sandra asked.

I opened my mouth to reply, but then stopped. Stopping at nightfall seemed like the reasonable and smart thing to do, but at the pace, we were going we could, if we moved at night, reach the camp early morning, but that of course had its own risks. I would have to rely on Sandra and Misty as I didn't have any form of dark sight like them, and it would be harder to be detected, but if we were, it would be easier for someone to sneak up on us, though Misty did neglect that somewhat. From what I could tell her ability to see in the dark was as good as the day if not even better, but if someone came at me, then I'd have a harder time seeing them unless Misty looked back, but as much as I trusted Misty, the idea of my life in some else's hands wasn't something I particularly liked.

"You're going to have to get used to it eventually," Zirani said. "When you enter an aether tower and form a group."

"I know," I admitted. "But it's not going to be easy, especially since I haven't seen Misty fight other than her bestial outbursts."

It was clear the blonde could fight and had advantages neither Sandra nor I had, but she was also quite meek and the person I'd once known seemed to be gone or at least hidden under all the shock and changes she'd endured.

"Then we just need to get her back out," Zirani mused.

"And how do you propose we do that?" I asked.

"I have a few ideas, but let's save this for when we get back to camp and I explain everything to you or would rather be thinking about deeper things now?"

"Fair enough," I conceded.

When it was only an hour away from nightfall I chose to take a risk.

"You sure?' Sandra asked. "I was only asking out of curiosity. If we travel at night you'll be at a disadvantage."

I sighed. "I know, but I trust you two watch out for me, and I think I'm not the only one who really wants to get back to camp."

Both Sandra and Misty seemed slightly taken aback at my proclamation of trust in them, but both seemed to show similar reactions. Sandra blushed as did Misty, though Misty looked away, and tried to hide it, though I managed to catch it.

"Misty, if you could lead the way please?"

I motioned for her to take the lead and she passed, her eyes purposefully not meeting mine and the hint of red more clear on her due to her now paler skin. Was she embarrassed or was it something else?

Sandra followed behind Misty and I followed behind her as we moved, each of us keeping an eye on a different direction, even I, who couldn't really see all that much, but if the twin horn were anything like I thought they were then they'd probably charge at the first sight of us.

The land was a lot creepier in the night, and more dangerous. A few times I heard the call of aether beasts, and the only reason we stayed away from any congratulations was because of Misty who could not only see well in the dark but also very far. Her eyesight was just naturally better in all ways. I did consider using green pulse but once again I quickly realized that would alert all aether beasts close to us and any arcanists. The green pulse moved fast and lower core beasts wouldn't be able to really track where it came from but higher-level arcanists and beasts would. I really couldn't wait until I was strong enough that Zirani could teach me how to camouflage my techniques.

While we were forced to slow down slightly we still kept up a good pace and for a time I actually thought we'd make it to the camp. That was until Misty yelled a warning and a familiar figure burst out from the trees to our right.

It was hard to see him clearly but he was close enough that I could just make out his muscular figure along with his steel-colored hair and dull blue eyes. He was dressed in the robes of the steel heart and if I'd not known the truth I might have slumped in relief, but I knew the truth. Instead of relief, I felt my body stiffen and a wave of revulsion and anger swept through me as I looked down on the traitor.

"Thank goodness, I found you guys," Markem said. "I was worried you guys had been killed by twin horn disciples. Come on, I'll lead you the rest of the way back to camp."

None of us moved, and a look of confusion crossed Markem's face. "Come on time's a wasting."

Markem's body looked relaxed and he had a jovial smile on his face but it was easier to tell that it was fake now that I knew he was a traitor not to mention the fact the path he was suggesting would take us further away from the camp rather than to it.

"That's not the way back to camp," Sandra pointed out. "The way we were going is the right way."

"And how can you be so sure?" Markem said in a tone that made it seem like he thought we were stupid.

"We have a map," I said. "The best map elder Hyphen could give us."

"I see."

We stared at each other for a long moment as our eyes met and as we did his posture slowly changed from relaxed to rigid and I saw the moment he realized why we were so on edge.

"So, you figured it out," He mused in a calm voice. "I'm surprised. How did you do it? Actually, it doesn't matter since none of you will be leaving alive."

He snapped his fingers and I heard the sound of rustling before four figures became somewhat visible and surrounded us from all sides. Four first core twin horn arcanists.

We were trapped.