Aethernea

by Cloe D Frost

  “If you don’t know how to do it, I’ll do it!”

  Dneth gaped like a fish, looking at the young maid on the right in shock. Her ears had already turned red from embarrassment so they could only get redder as young master responded with:

  “I can take care of my personal hygiene just fine on my own, thank you very much!” He seemed to be flustered, not emotion often heard in his voice, which made the entire situation look even more… unique…

  “No need to feel shy, just let me do it!” The girl whined.

  Dneth covered her gaping mouth shut with both of her hands in horror. The shock she was getting made it hard for her to catch her breath.

  “Hands off! I do not want or require your help!” Master Kiel responded annoyed.

  Hands off?!

  That was the last surprise Dneth got that day, and it was more than her old heart could handle. Her eyes rolled back, and she fell towards the second female servant making her stumble back into the third. Their robes tangled and the row of servants fell like dominoes. The noise startled all of them and they quickly scattered, two male servants quickly reacted, grabbing Dneth by her arms and dragging her away from the premises along with the remaining half a dozen servants.

  They made a “just in time” escape because a second later, the door to the master Kiel’s chamber had opened.

  * * *

  ◈ 15 minutes prior ◈

  Even though Kiel had entered the mansion through the back, several servants were already waiting for him. They bowed and greeted Kiel respectfully though none of them could hide their surprise of him bringing an elibu home.

  Kiel briefly wondered whether he should leave Elaru to wait for him in the foyer. He decided not to, he had no idea what trouble she might get herself in without him to keep an eye on her. He didn’t trust her one bit. Sourly, he decided that he had no choice but to take her with him to his bedroom.

  Kiel’s bedroom was large and relatively luxurious, with a large bed and a private bathroom. All of the furniture and decorations were expensive and pleasing to the eye. The room had soft gray and blue colors as the theme, which did nothing to lessen the feeling of emptiness and coldness.

  The room was too clean and tidy, as if no one was living in it. There weren’t any pictures, notes, mementos or any other personal items out in the open.

  Elaru frowned. This wasn’t a home.

  She briefly glanced at Kiel, from the corner of her eyes, but said nothing.

  Isn’t this… too sad? To have such a beautiful home, yet not treat it like home. Kiel’s room felt even less personal than a hotel room. It was glaringly clear how he never considered this place as his home.

  While Kiel was quickly packing, Elaru’s eyes glazed.

  Was it worse to not have a home, or to have one but not feel at home? She spent her whole life traveling from one place to another. She never owned a house or a place she could call her own. No place to call home. Yet, she never felt homeless. She never thought about the significance of having a home.

  Her eyes glanced at Kiel again.

  No. It isn’t that she had no place to call home, it is that she felt as if the whole world was her home. The open sky, the soft grass, the sand dunes, the cold cliffs, the noisy streets - it all felt like home. But if every place feels like home, could it be that she has no idea what a home feels like?

  What is a home? Elaru wondered. A home… is where you feel happy, content, relaxed, safe.

  Elaru’s eyes lit up, the haze that had previously covered them vanished without a trace.

  A home doesn’t need to be a place. A home can also be a person!

  A head full of blonde hair with several black locks flashed in her mind, followed by a head full of unruly red hair, just like her own.

  She unconsciously smiled. That’s right. I do have a home!

  She looked back at Kiel, determination entering her eyes. If he doesn’t have a home, then I’ll be his home!

  It didn’t take Kiel long to finish packing. He didn’t have any items which he held dear, so he packed only the necessities. He filled a large bag with things that he will need to move into the university dorms. He would tell his servants to send him this bag later. The most important of items he put in the little bags on his belt.

  After he was done, he turned around and glanced at Elaru. She was giving him a rather strange look. What is with that look? He didn’t know why, but he felt his hair stand on end. She didn’t get any bizarre ideas, did she?

  Kiel shook his head and discarded the thought. He didn’t want to know what strange thoughts were flying around her head. Right now, there was one last thing he wanted to do.

  Shower.

  Elaru looked at him like he grew two heads when he declared that he was taking a shower.

  Kiel raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

  “We don’t have time for you to shower! Why not just cast a Cleansing spell?”

  He glared at her. Firstly, Cleansing was a transmutation spell, and he was an argel - he could never cast transmutation spells, and naturally he had never learned them. Secondly, even if he could have cast it, back then, he didn’t have enough mana.

  Though, both points were invalid right now.

  So the actual reason why he never considered it was because he wasn’t used to that way of thinking – using magic to do everything. And because, well, he didn’t want to admit that he had no idea how to do it.

  Elaru quickly caught on to his underlying reason.

  “If you don’t know how to do it, I’ll do it!” She approached him, grabbing the front of his shirt with her hands.

  “I can take care of my personal hygiene just fine on my own, thank you very much!” Kiel slapped her hands away and stepped back. He disliked people touching him.

  “No need to feel shy, just let me do it!” Elaru grabbed him by his shoulder.

  “Hands off! I do not want or require your help!” He shrugged her hand away.

  Their bickering was interrupted by a thud outside of Kiel’s door. As he approached the door, he could hear the sound of frantic footsteps running away. When he opened the door, no one was there.

  He closed the door, annoyed by the interruption.

  Elaru snickered. “Your servants are funny. Do you bring girls to your bedroom often?”

  Kiel didn’t dignify that with a response. He thought she might make fun of him if she knew the truth. He had never been interested in… relationships.

  It took his mind a second to process what happened outside the door. It was something that Elaru could see because of her Aethernea, but regretfully, he couldn’t.

  When his mind connected the dots, he covered his eyes with his hand, vexed by the stupidity of his servants.

  What the heck did they think Elaru and him were doing?!

  He hated how noisy his servants were, always gossiping and butting in his privacy. He sighed in annoyance. He just hoped that this incident doesn’t reach his grandfather’s ears.

  Suddenly, he didn’t feel like taking a shower. He wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. He couldn’t wait anymore. It was finally the time for him to spread his wings and leave for the big city. It was finally the time for his life to begin. For what he had been living up to now couldn’t really be called a life.

  Kiel hesitated briefly before putting down his Mage Armor.

  Mage Armor wasn’t a spell; it was a layer of dense mana surrounding the mage. Its main purpose was to shield the mage from foreign spells. If another mage wanted to cast a spell on him, they would have to bring their mana inside Kiel’s body. And that task would become very difficult if that mana had to pass through a dense layer of Kiel’s mana. It would be as if a gust of air was trying to reach the bottom of a sea.

  Mage Armor was the difference between a mage and a regular person. A person was considered a mage only when they could hold up their Mage Armor for the majority of the day. Although this distinction seemed insignificant, that wasn’t the ca
se. Most of the basic spells had the capability to mortally wound someone. For example, the simplest Augmentation spell - Accelerate, could be used to make a person slam hard into a stone wall, or raise them high up in the air and drop them to their demise. That simple layer of mana was the difference between life and death.

  “Fine. Make it quick.” Kiel sighed in resignation. He wasn’t worried that Elaru would harm him. She wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of binding her soul to his if she wanted him dead.

  Elaru grinned and walked up to him. She extended her right arm and touched his chest with the tips of her fingers. She seemed to have a habit of touching the things she was casting magic on, even though it would be just as easy to cast it from a distance, without physical contact.

  Suddenly, Kiel felt like he was standing naked in a soft breeze. It was warm yet surprisingly refreshing. He could feel little drops of mana capturing every particle of dirt on his skin and clothes, and then slowly, sliding away from him, taking the grime along. It was a pleasant feeling, like hundreds of little air kisses smothered his skin.

  Kiel had heard that Cleansing could feel grating in cases of an inexperienced caster, leaving skin raw and red. He had expected Elaru to pull something like that on him and call him a ‘wuss’ if he complained. But instead, her spell was perfectly gentle and very effective.

  She must have done it countless times to have such an exceptional degree of control of a level 5 spell such as Cleansing.

  He doubted that she was taking extra care to be gentle with him.

  Kiel liked being showered by her mana. It was such a pleasant and uplifting feeling. He would never admit it to her, but he didn’t want to learn that spell so he’d have an excuse to make her do it. It wasn’t just that the spell itself felt pleasant, the large part of the pleasant feeling came from the direct contact with her mana. Since it was very warm and comforting, it made Kiel feel content.

  It was already afternoon. They needed to hurry before the exam entries closed.

  “Are you ready to leave?” Elaru asked him to confirm it.

  Kiel nodded and extended his hand.

  He needed to be in physical contact with her to be brought along when she used the Beacon. And both of them needed to be in the air. Otherwise, the spell would attempt to take the ground along with them.

  She looked at his hand like she saw a strange, wondrous creature. Then she looked back up to him.

  “What is it?” He asked annoyed.

  “Is that how you people teleport? By holding hands?”

  “And how else would we teleport!?” He growled. She took every opportunity to annoy him!

  “Why don’t you just grab onto the beacon?”

  Kiel was speechless.

  The thought had not occurred to him.

  He stood there like a statue, his hand in the air, his mind trying to come up with an appropriate response.

  Elaru laughed a lovely musical laugh and took his hand in hers.

  “I guess I’ll do it your way then. It doesn’t really matter.”

  Her hand was soft and warm.

  Before he could respond, she Accelerated upwards from the balcony, taking him with her. As soon as his feet left the ground, she twirled the beacon in her hand. It activated when her mana entered it and blinded them with a quick and bright purple flash.

  * * *

  Author’s Note:

  Dum dum dum! Finally! The adventure has begun. And it only took 11 episodes… Damn, that was long. Did you guys feel like this 11 episode long intro was too long? What kept you reading?

  What are you looking forward to the most? The exams? Adventure into the big city? Meeting new people? Getting to learn more about the world? Finding out Nelaira’s secret? The bickering of the two ‘lovebirds’? :D

  Are there any things that you found unclear and would like me to elaborate/explain?

  Coming up in the next episode:

  Ashar University of Magic. Kiel’s eyes glittered. That was his destination. That was his future home.

  Elaru laughed, dismissing his unvoiced concerns easily. “Kiel, you worry too much!”

  Kiel’s soft glare turned into a real one. “As if I would catch you! You can go and die for all I care! That would free me from this mess.”

  “Let go of me, woman!” Kiel frowned in displeasure.

  “I can tell you are lying! Is our impending demise a joke to you?”

  Episode 12 – Sign-ups

  Episode 12 – Sign-ups

  Previously:

  The servants of the Rroda mansion were shocked that Kiel brought a girl home and misunderstood their relationship. Kiel finishes packing. Elaru casts a Cleansing spell on him to avoid him having to take a shower. She Accelerates into the air and activates the Eternal Beacon to teleport them to Ashar.

  * * *

  A moment later, Kiel and Elaru landed on the ground gracefully. However, the ground they landed back on was not the same land from which they jumped.

  They were standing on a large circular podium made out of black jade. Countless symbols were carved on the podium, and filled with a glowing ink.

  The podium was large enough to fit several houses. It made one feel insignificant.

  From the edges of the podium, spread a sea of purple crystals. Layers upon layers of crystal formations grew around the podium.

  It was a gorgeous sight, full of flickering and reflecting lights. Each time someone new appeared out of thin air, the magical carvings on the floor would light up briefly as if welcoming the travelers back home.

  Elaru was quick to put her beacon back into her bag before she tugged on Kiel’s hand and led him towards a large gateway. Although no one would be brazen enough to try robbing her in the presence of Peacekeepers, letting people see her Eternal Beacon would be asking for future trouble.

  For Kiel, this was the first time he saw the famous gate of Ashar. He was dazed, looking around with interest. He didn’t even question Elaru’s usage of Acceleration before they teleported, nor did he notice that they were still holding hands.

  Kiel looked at the few dozen Peacekeepers guarding the Gate. They were spread around the gate in a circle, standing watch like statues. Their uniforms were white with golden embroidery. They wore a few pieces of light armor, coated in gold, which seemed to be more decorative than practical.

  Kiel looked up at the clear sky. He could clearly feel an invisible, restrictive barrier enveloping the Gate like a dome. It prevented the people from exiting or entering the Gate as they pleased. Everyone needed to follow a set path when entering or exiting so that they could be inspected and charged fees.

  Kiel looked back at the gateway in front of them. The white marble gate, 10 m in circumference, was the only way in and out of the barrier. As Kiel looked out of the gate, he noticed the world beyond the gates was a bit blurry, and it glittered. His mana sense told him that there was a dense layer of mana in between the gates, but that shouldn’t have caused his vision to blur.

  No one stopped them as they made their exit. Only those who wished to enter needed to pay the fee.

  As they passed through the gateway, Kiel felt a strange sensation, like he passed through the surface of a soap bubble. What was that?

  Kiel was confused. These gateways were the only places where there were holes in the restrictive barrier, so what he felt wasn’t the barrier. Even if the restrictive barrier didn’t have holes, he wouldn’t have physically felt it unless it repelled him.

  Kiel turned his head back to look at the gate.

  “They spread a thin veil between the gates, made out of mana wyrm tail silk. Because of its ethereal nature, we can pass right through it.” Elaru noticed his interest and explained.

  Ah! So that’s why the world he saw through the gates flickered and felt blurry. He was viewing it through a veil.

  “Mana wyrm silk is very sensitive to Ink, so the Purge use them to test whether someone is Tainted.”

  Suddenly, everything fell into place, and
Kiel understood. Anyone at any point could teleport to this gate if they had an appropriate Beacon. That meant that even people outside, in the dangerous forbidden zone, could also come back inside the Shield of Aegis. However, who is to say that they weren’t carrying a deadly plague back with them – the Ink?

  If they had been Tainted by the Ink, then they would have to be quarantined immediately and not allowed to spread it. That’s why everyone needed to pass through the Ink detecting veil when exiting the gate.

  The clear view of rows upon rows of light yellow houses greeted them as soon as they passed through the gate.

  Elaru tugged on Kiel’s hand harder, telling him to walk faster. “Come on. No time to sightsee! We have to hurry.”

  She pulled him down the street. She seemed to know exactly where she was and where she needed to go.

  The streets were bustling with people, murmurs of voices created a pleasant background melody. Kiel thought that she was going towards a large “Rent-a-dragon” wooden sign ahead of them. But before reaching it, she suddenly stopped and Accelerated upwards, pulling him along.

  They landed on the roof of a building, their landing scaring a flock of yellow tiwi resting on the roof, making them fly away in a sudden buzz of their wings.

  Tiwi were small round birds that looked like cotton balls. They had small sharp beaks, beady eyes and short wings that create a soft buzzing sound when they flap them. They also have a few tail feathers that are several times larger than their entire body sticking out of their behind.

  The skies were clear, with no clouds in sight. The only things that could be seen in the sky were flocks of gugoo and silhouettes of flying dragons and men. The sun was blazing down brightly, but it didn’t feel hot.

  Kiel looked at the horizon. Countless rows of houses of all shapes and sizes greeted him, as far as the eye could see. Their walls in all shades of yellow, personalized by different engravings, murals, and drawings. Although most houses were made of similar materials in a similar style, each one seemed to have a different personality. It showed through many different things: the engravings on the walls, drapes, and carpets hanging from the roofs and types of flowers and plants decorating the houses.