Aether Beasts

Elder Kaylin was directing groups of arcanists when we found him. Unlike the previous times I'd seen him, he actually looked tired, though not in the physical sense. It was his eyes that spoke of weariness, which wasn't a surprise, to be honest. With the current situation and just how hopeless things looked he probably had a ton of work on his plate, not to mention the sting of betrayal probably hadn't faded since it had only been around a week.

We walked up beside him, but he didn't acknowledge us until he finished organizing the group he was speaking to. When that group walked off with their orders he finally turned to us with a sigh.

"It's good to see you three," he said. "I take it Kara had informed you that you'll be under my command."

We nodded.

"Good." He turned to Kara. "Head over to Micheal, he's to the south with the rest of the group."

"What will our job be?" Sandra asked, unable to hold back her curiosity.

"That will be explained soon," Kaylin Replied. "But first I've got a few more groups to get organized. We weren't expecting things to come to a head this soon and everyone running around in a panic. I'll meet you over there when I'm done."

Kara nodded then lead us through the camp, or whatever it was. I didn't really know what to call it. As we walked I could see arcanists with an earth core erecting defenses and other fortifications while weapons were handed out. Aracnsits moved in every direction, some not hiding their fear or panic. I really hoped things didn't break down before the twin horn arrived. We would need to be united and ready so that we could at least put up some sort of a fight.

When we finally arrived at the area where Kaylin's group was, I took in everything. I immediately recognized a few people that had been with us from the supply raid we'd done when we'd first arrived at the old camp along with a few new faces, old and young. In total there were around thirty people, including us.

"Ah, Kara."

A short, and bulky-looking man with black hair walked over to Kara with a relieved smile on his face.

"Hello Micheal," Kara greeted kindly, though I could detect a hint of something else in her voice. Nervousness? Distaste?

"I see you've brought the final members of our group," Micheal noted as he walked over and reached out a hand to me. "I'm Micheal."

I shook his hand and was surprised by his firm grip. He didn't look it, but I could sense that he was just an edge away from breaking into the third level of infusion and forming his second core.

"Nice to meet you too," I said. "Is this everyone?"

He nodded. "Mhmm, Kaylin's always preferred quality over quantity. Elder Hyphen likes to form a legion under him, but Kayling prefers a more tight-knit group. Even this much is usually more than he has in his groups, but well, desperate times call for expectations."

"Makes sense," Misty said. "And what exactly will we be doing?"

Micheal turned to look at Misty and his eyes widened as he took her in, and unconsciously I let out a low growl as his eyes started to roam down her body. Micheal must have noticed because he snapped his eyes to mine, and winced with a sheepish look in his eyes.

"Oh, erm, I, we haven't been introduced have we," he began, but Misty cut him off.

"I've been standing here this whole time," Misty said. "I know who you are. As for myself, I'm Misty."

"Are you a new disciple?" He asked, keeping his eyes firmly locked onto her face, but even just that seemed to make an emotion I'd never felt rise in my mind. Jealousy.

"No, I'm just close friends with Sandra and Aiden."

"I see," Micheal said, glancing over at me.

My eyes narrowed as our eyes met, and I was shocked at the way I was acting. I'd never acted like this before, then again neither had I ever really felt jealousy. Not like this at least.

Kara must have noticed the tension that was forming in the air, as she quickly steered the conversation to another topic. "Has Elder Kaylin spoken to you about what we'll be doing?"

Micheal shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Though I don't think it will be like his usual stealth forays. If you take a look around. Well, everybody here is the best of the best. We've all proven that we can handle ourselves and that we're a cut above the rest."

"But the three of us are only first core," Sandra remarked.

"And yet, you've done things that some second cores couldn't," Micheal replied. "Apart from you Sandra, You two have only been in the sect for what, a month? Less? And look a what you've accomplished. You've already proven you can handle what most can't. I mean taking down a two-core moss troll? That's something even I would have trouble with. I could do it, but I wouldn't come out uninjured or without considerable damage ad that would be with another arcanist with me.."

"He's right," Kara added. "You three have made quite the impact and deserve to be just as much as the rest of us."

"Speaking of the rest of us," Another voice commented. "You wanna introduce yourselves."

We all turned to see a short-looking girl smiling down at us, from what looked like a makeshift chair that was comically tall. She had small eyes, and a pert nose with eyes that held the same sort of mischief I saw in Sandra from time to time. Her ginger hair was styled into two pigtails that were wrapped and tied by two intricate and cute-looking green bands.

"You're kidding me," Kara said with a sour look on her face. "He let you into the group."

The short girl adopted a false look of hurt and wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. "I'm hurt Kara, I thought we were friends."

"Tell that to all the times you've pranked me," she replied with a scowl.

"Who's this?" I asked curiously.

Before Micheal or Kara could answer, the girl in question stood and bowed regally. "Lily, no last name, at your service."

She looked down at us expectantly then sighed and began to make crowd and clapping noises with her mouth and hands. "What a lively crowd."

"This isn't the time to be joking," Kara said in annoyance.

"Oh I beg to differ," Lily replied. "I think it's the perfect time to be joking. The end may be near, but we shouldn't let down get us down. If I'm to fall then I will fall with a smile on my face and laughter as my last remark."

I found myself smiling at her words and she must have noticed because her eyes turned to me and she hopped down from her tall seat before sauntering up to me. "And you must be the handsome genius I've been hearing all about."

She raised her hand to my face and for a second I was confused before I remembered an old-world tradition, and hesitantly grabbed her hand and brought it to my lips. I placed a gentle kiss upon it before letting go.

She seemed shocked for a second, but then she smiled. "You're the first to actually get what I was trying to do."

There was a loud cough and I turned to see Sandra and Misty staring at me with an emotion I couldn't identify.

"Ooops, I think I may have disturbed the lion's den or lionesses den in this case." Lily giggled.

Sandra scowled, and shot Lily a glare, but the short girl seemed unaffected. "It's good to see you too, Sandra, how's your back?"

Lily held a hand against her mouth to stifle a laugh, and Sandra's face grew dark. I quickly intervened before things could get out of hand.

"Well," I said and was about to change the topic when I noticed Edler Kaylin walking up to us. "Oh would you look at that, Elder Kaylin's here."

The thirty-odd people all stood and turned to the Elder as he arrived. "It seems you're all here. Well, that makes things easier. Micheal, did you bring what I asked?"

Micheal nodded, and suddenly a number of small boxes appeared in front of him, from what I assumed must have been a spatial storage device of some sort, although it was probably a necklace since I couldn't spot a ring on any of his fingers.

"What are these?" Kara asked, leaning down to pick one up.

I did the same and tilted my hand at the odd design. The box was just small enough to fit into the palm of my hand but didn't have any obvious openings or locks. It took me a second to notice the smoke keyhole at the bottom of the box. It was small enough that you'd have little chance of seeing it at the distance even if it was pointed out to you.

The Elder smiled darkly at Kara's question.. "The key to striking hard at the twin horn."