Aether Beasts

"Poisons?" I asked in confusion. "Not much if I'm being honest."

"That's unfortunate," Zirani replied. "Although didn't you spend time working with your aunt? She's a healer, isn't she? You didn't get any lessons on poisons?"

I shrugged. "I know the basics. A lot of poisons are naturally occurring in nature and are very deadly. They can have a wide range of effects."

"Better than nothing." Zirani sighed. "Well the technique I'm going to teach you is a simple paralytic poison. It's going to be a lot harder to use since you won't be immune to it. You're still only at the first level of infusion and your body is still normal. Honestly, if we weren't at war I wouldn't be teaching you this, but against large groups and low-level arcanists it's very useful."

"How exactly am I going to be able to use it if it's going to affect me?" I asked. "Won't I just get paralyzed the moment the technique is formed?"

Zirani shook her head. "Not if you do it right. There are many poison-based techniques I know and if I could I'd teach you one of the touch-based techniques or even one of the techniques that start as a seed or solid object then burst to release to poison or something along those lines, but once again we must go back to the fact that your foundation is incomplete and your aether manipulation and understanding is severely lacking so we must stick to this for now. It's not as dangerous as you think. As long as you use it at the right time and follow my teachings exactly you should be fine, though if you do learn it, only use it if you need it"

I nodded and took a few steps back as she readied herself to use the techniques. I was a bit skeptical if I was being honest, and I would have rather not been learning a poison technique, especially one that could affect me, but we were at war, and if it could help then I'd use it.

Zirani spread her legs slightly and took a deep breath. What happened next completely flew over my head. The way she moved and manipulated her aether was unlike anything I'd ever seen. I wasn't starting to understand what she meant by an incomplete foundation. While I could use all my techniques, I didn't truly understand them or fully get the steps I was doing. It was more mimicking on my part. Zirani wasn't just moving the aether into a pattern, but she seemed to be changing the aether itself in a way I'd never seen before.

After a few seconds, she blew out, and a yellowish-green smoke flew from her mouth to form a gaseous cloud a few feet in front of her. For a moment I thought it would be blown away, but to my surprise it stayed there in a large clump, swirling.

"I'll be honest, I don't think I'm going to be able to do that?"

Zirani turned to me and curled an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Zirani, I have no clue what you did with your aether," I explained. "I understood the patterns and the movements, but I have no idea what you did to your aether, or how I would even mimic that. It's hard enough with the regular techniques you teach me."

She opened her mouth to say something then she closed it and sighed. She looked both annoyed at herself and the situation. "I was hoping it might come to you naturally, but it seems not."

"What do you mean?"

"For some people, certain aspects of the arcane arts come to them faster," She explained. "They understand easier and grasp its meaning quicker. The speed at which you learn is already astonishing. I guess it was too much to ask for this as well, then again perhaps I just need to teach you the basics and then you'll get it."

"I'm good at understanding, but I need a basis to start from," I said.

"That's what it's seeming like," She replied. "Well, let's move on to something else then."

Zirani's anger at the situation faded quickly as we moved on to the next technique, which wasn't a new technique, but an improvement to my bark armor. Instead of just forming it around my legs and hands, she taught me a method and pattern that allowed me to create armor around my torso, tights, and the rest of my arms. My joints were still exposed and the armor didn't make me impervious to damage, but it was far better than nothing. She also taught me a quick trick to make manipulating my bark armor easier so that forming spikes and other smaller things didn't take as long.

The armor was decently thick and since it wasn't normal wood, I knew it would take a lot more damage. I tested it, by taking the glaive from my ring and seeing how deep it could cut with a swing. The blade only managed a half-inch before it stopped and what was even better was that I could close up the gap around the blade, essentially trapping it in the armor. It would be a neat little trick I could use to disarm someone, though I'd have to be careful when using it. My glaive was as basic as they came, and some of my enemies may have enchanted weapons. The last thing I wanted was to be skewered by a flaming spear or have a leg taken by an axe because I was stupid enough to think I could take it. The armor would help, but the idea was to not get hit in the first place.

After she was done teaching me what I needed to work on my bark armor show moved back to Misty and Sandra and this time I did take a peek to see what was going on.

Sandra was in a meditative position, and at first, it seemed like nothing was happening, but after a few seconds of looking, I noticed the faint hints of that smoky darkness I'd seen coming off of her when she'd been fighting the moss troll. Was she meditating to get better control of her bloodline?

As for Misty, well Zirani had gotten to her and from what I could hear, which wasn't much, I thought she was talking about aether vampires. I turned my attention away before Zirani caught me watching them and focused back on my own training.

Around two hours later I was confident in my ability to use my new and improved bark armor soI turned back to the impact seed technique, but instead of just practicing that technique, I decided to train two things at once. While I practiced forming three impact seeds, I also attempted to change part of my bark armor. I only tried simple changes like spikes, or trying to make small shapes and images in the wood. Even so, it was very difficult trying to do two things with my aether at once. Zirani made it look easy, but when I tried, either both techniques dispersed or one dispersed and the other came out half-formed or hit me with backlash.

The day quickly passed by as I practiced and practiced and before I knew it the sun was almost down and the forest shadows had lengthened as dark began to set in. The cool air had turned into a chill and the beautiful scenery looked far less beautiful and far eerier. It didn't help that the sky was cloudy and blocked out the moon and any stars that could potentially light up the night.

"All right, I think it best if we finish off here for the day," Zirani said. "You've all managed to accomplish something and you, Sandra and Maity, I've set the standard I expect. I know it's hard and I can be harsh at times, but this is for your own good, and if you wish you can leave at any time."

Both Sandra and Misty shook their heads.

"I'll admit I wasn't expecting this," Sandra mused. "But hell if I'm going to leave. I've learned more today than I have in the past few years."

"Me too," Misty added. "I want to learn how to control what I am. I don't want to be a… monster."

Zirani sighed. "You're not a monster, and I'm starting to get sick and tired of telling you that. Now, let's get back to camp before night truly falls."

"So what do you think of your first day of training?' I asked Sandra as we walked back to camp.

A sad smile crossed her face. "She reminds me of my older sister."

"Oh, I'm—"

She interrupted me with a chuckle. "Don't be sorry, that isn't a bad thing. It's a lot harder than I expected, but I was never expecting it to be easy in the first place. If I have to go through months of this to get a chance to return home then I will. How about you, is this par the course?"

"For the most part," I replied. "Although at least I didn't get my ass handed to me this time."

"Now that's a story I need to hear.." Sandra laughed.