Aether Beasts

The next day began similarly to the last, although with the added act of meditation if this form of torture could be called meditation. It wasn't all bad though, it did help to wake me up and get rid of any lingering tiredness, and I had been tired, especially after the hour-long session of fun Zirani and I had yesterday.

"Do we have to take baths?" Sandra asked as she bit into a strip of dry meat for breakfast. "It hurts like hell."

"I've said this to Aiden, and I'll say it to you." Zirani shot the dark-haired arcanist a firm look. "If you want to grow strong enough, then you need to do as I say and utilize all the resources I give you, no complaining."

"I don't think it was that bad," Misty added.

"That's probably because you're an aether vampire," Zirani replied. "Your constitution is far greater than theirs, now get done with your breakfast, take your baths and then meet me outside, today is where I'm going to go over my plans for each of you."

Despite not wanting to, I did prepare myself another one of the body strengthening baths. It hurt just as bad as it had yesterday and it was made worse by the fact I knew I wasn't going to get to rest or relax afterward, instead I had the training to do.

Zirani was waiting for us close by to the treehouse and asked me and Sandra to practice our meditation while she began with Misty. An hour later she was done with the blonde and moved on to Sandra then finally on to me.

"Save the best till last?" I joked which earned me a small smile that quickly faded as her look of seriousness replaced it.

"It's finally time for us to actually truly start your foundation and finish it," Zirani said. "So far everything I've taught you has basically just been simple techniques or at least techniques I thought you'd be able to mimic. If I told you to explain to me the pattern of any of your techniques, could you?'

I shook my head. "No, I couldn't."

I was talented and a fast learner, but I didn't understand the techniques or the patterns Zirani had taught me, in fact, most people in the plains didn't. It was usually techniques that had been found or accidentally discovered. Perhaps there were a few closer to the border cities, but definitely not deeper into the plains.

"That's another one of the big differences between the plains and where I come from. I was taught not just techniques, but how the techniques worked, why creating a pattern from some aether would create a vine or a layer of wood. With this knowledge, arcanists are able to change and even invent techniques of their own, though most tend to find a technique they like and then change it to suit themselves. For your foundation, I want to teach you these basics and a few of the more advanced principles, and after that, you can put my teachings into practice when I start teaching you other techniques and when we get to the spatial aspect."

"So you are going to teach me that?" I asked. She had said so, but I wanted to be sure.

"Yes, I've not figured it all out, but I understand the basics," Zirani replied. "Now this is going to be a lot of complicated things, and you might not understand, so don't be afraid to ask for help or clarification."

The next few hours up until the time to go was spent with Zirani teaching me what she referred to as the arcane foundation, which made more and more sense as he went. I really didn't know how blind I was until she started explaining this.

She started with aether itself and went on about things I'd never even known from the fact that aether was made out of two parts, the shell, and ki. The shell was what contained the power while the ki was what allowed for all the wondrous effects aether could perform. I'd never heard the word ki before, but apparently, it was very prevalent below the great scar since ki was power at its purest, creation and destruction, however, no arcanist below the seventh level of infusion could wield ki without the shell. The shell was there as a sort of limiter or container, it was also what made ki into aether. The shell was the outer layer around every atom of aether, not that I really knew what an atom was but apparently, that was a conversation for another time.

"A Lot of the knowledge from the old was recovered beyond the great scar," Zirani said by way of explanation.

Next and the main topic was the patterns, and why exactly these simple formations of aether allowed one to create fire or water, or heal. Zirani explained it as a reaction, and that every single thing and action had a pattern, a pattern that is created the moment that object comes into existence. A grain of sand or a puff of smoke, all have their own patterns. The pattern for vine whip is a combination of many different patterns, pieces taken out of them, and then combined to create this effect. The pattern for fluid movement, the vine itself, and the pattern for control, growth, and others. Pieces are taken out and put together to create this pattern, a pattern then when formed by an arcanist using aether would create an effect.

It wasn't that simple though, not that any of her explanations were simple. Most patterns all had a few things in common, or at least most of the conventional types did. Things like a timer or a detection aspect, things that made it so a pattern didn't form immediately, or other things like adding a timer to the pattern so that the moment it was made a timer would begin and the pattern would come to life when the timer ended. Zirani described it like the inner working of a plant or machine or any living thing. Parts working together. Some patterns did not work for those without the necessary aether. Zirani and I couldn't create fire and so trying to make a pattern like that would either simply not work or backfire, or we could accidentally discover a technique, which did happen, although it's a very rare thing. The people beyond the great scar did not put things up to luck, or say I guessed.

She wanted to teach me all of these things, not that she expected me to get it right away, but as long as I was constantly thinking about it and putting what i learned into action and use, then eventually I would come to understand it as well as she did. She was also teaching the same to both Sandra and Misty, though for them they would need to seek guidance once we made it over the scar. Zirani could only take them so far. Since my first core was nature it was easier to teach me.

When the time came to end our training and head back in, I was full of questions and different ideas. Just knowing that made me want to test out a few things, especially since she had taught me a few of what were called origin patterns, it was pieces of these patterns that were taken when creating a technique or just a pattern for use in the arcane.

After another bath and an hour of tortuous meditation, I finally made my way to bed. My body wasn't that physically tired, but my mind faintly was, and before my head fully hit my pillow, I was out.

I had more strange dreams that night, this time of pale creature sat upon a throne, of a gorgeous woman bathing in a pool of blood while other figures looked on in awe, jealousy, and envy. I saw darkness in the shape of a woman, where its eyes should have been lay two emerald gems that shone will brilliance, though they began to crack and I felt panic for some reason. What was oddest of all, was that throughout all of it, that pale creature, so human-looking, yet not, watched me atop its throne of writhing flesh.

"A lost child so eager to find your way home." The voice sounded smooth though it seemed to grate on my ears like nails on chalk. "Why don't you step into my embrace, I can take you home, I can…"

"Aiden!"

I shot up from bed with a gasp and frantically glanced around myself as my heart pounded in my chest like a drum.

"Aiden wants wrong?" Zirani asked worriedly. "You were tossing and turning."

"Dreams," I muttered, though they were already fading. I tried to focus, but the dreams had already faded, leaving nothing in their wake.

"Dreams again?" Zirani sounded worried. "I should be able to see your dreams, what happened?"

"I… I don't remember, they always fade so quickly."

There was a long moment of silence before Zirni spoke again. "Get some sleep, Aiden, we can speak of this tomorrow."