Aethernea

by Cloe D Frost

  In this situation, even with his degrading mental capacity, Kiel could feel it clearer than ever – Elaru Wayvin was not simple-minded at all. No matter how dimwitted, carefree or careless, she seemed, all that immaturity disappeared in an instant when the situation didn’t allow it. As if she switched gears, as if her personality was liquid, molded by the situation.

  After passing 12 km, Elaru had no choice but to sit down and try to catch her breath.

  Covering 12 km was not something that would usually make either one of them tired. But in this scenario, it felt as if they had been running for days without rest. Kiel kept gripping the blanket on the bed tightly. He wanted nothing more than to pluck his heart out of his chest and stop the pain. It was becoming unbearable.

  Kiel felt Elaru’s hard breathing reverberate inside his head. That is when he realized that he too was breathing hard. Their raspy breaths seemed to be in sync. It felt as if their mutual pain was resonating with each other. As if the breathing of their cells started synchronizing, as if their hearts became one and the same.

  His body was urging him to move towards a specific direction. The further away she was, the more clearly he could feel her presence.

  “I don’t understand. The farther away you are, the closer to me you feel.”

  The entire time, their telepathic connection didn’t show any signs of losing power. On the contrary, he could hear her more and more clearly, feel her pain more and more distinctly.

  He wasn’t a sissy, he could take physical pain and discomfort just fine. But this feeling was something else entirely. He would prefer it if he were beaten to a pulp than going through this again.

  It was as if his heart was breaking, as if he was nearing the collapse of his mind.

  It had felt like hours before Elaru reported reaching 13 km mark. But she didn’t even need to report it. He could tell clearly just how far she was. He could tell by how not even a drop of mana was left in his aura, he no longer had an aura. He could tell by the sharp stinging pain enveloping his entire body. His muscles were twitching, screaming in agony. Involuntarily, he let out a hiss. He could feel it by his heart that was trying to leap out of his chest.

  Kiel laid on the bed listlessly, his consciousness clouding over. Is this how mana deficiency feels like? His entire body was sore. He felt weak.

  His mind wandered aimlessly, until it reached the depths of his subconscious, where he found the memory of those gentle, bright blue eyes that he tried not to think about. Is this what you felt your whole life? Your whole body screaming for mana, constantly on the verge of collapse.

  All this time, I kept complaining about being a non-mage. How naïve… how selfish was I? I even had extra mana I could use to cast magic. You… you didn’t even have enough mana to live…

  Elaru’s weak voice brought him out of his daydream. “15 kilometers.”

  He could feel her frowning. “I am having trouble moving away from you. I feel a powerful pull to turn back. I am doing my best, trying to overpower the urge to run back. My mind is drifting, my vision is blurring. I won’t be able to last much longer. Should I turn back?”

  Kiel considered it for a second before gritting his teeth and replying. “No, let’s continue just a bit more.” He wanted to know their exact limit. Just how far they could go, just how long they could last. They might need to know in the future. And even to compare their progress as the bond evolves.

  Another 5 minutes passed when Kiel suddenly felt pain, unlike anything he had ever felt before. It was so heart wrenching that he thought he would die there and then just from the pain. He bit his tongue to stop himself from screaming. He could feel the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

  Every part of him was screaming, he could swear that his soul itself was shrieking.

  A brief cooling feeling dulled the pain as he heard Elaru’s voice. “20 km… I am coming back… If I take another step, I might not make it back at all.”

  As she spoke, he could clearly feel her. She was breathing hard and her limbs were shaking. The sweat was glistening on her skin.

  “Yeah… come back to me… ” He murmured between gasps. He felt feverish, he couldn’t think straight.

  It had felt like an eternity before his mind cleared up enough to think clearly.

  Why didn’t the telepathy show any signs of weakening? Our minds were 15 km away from each other. Could it be that the distance between the Minds is irrelevant? Or does the mark connect our Minds even when they aren’t in proximity to each other? Just like it links to the soul?

  No. It’s not that telepathy didn’t weaken, it did the opposite. Its effects increased.

  The further they were, the more clearly he could feel her. The further away they were, the closer he felt to her. Each time she talked to him, he felt her every emotion. He felt her every twitch and shake. Was it because it became harder to control what to send and what not to send through telepathy? Was that why more and more feelings passed through?

  Or was this… resonance?

  * * *

  Coming up in the next episode:

  “Kiel, are you actually… shy?” She asked him with a devious grin.

  “You are acting like a shy girl that had her butt pinched… ”

  Noticing his next weapon, Elaru didn’t panic at all. “You might want to Accelerate the next thing you throw if you really want to hit me.”

  Was this book… her diary?

  After several minutes, he couldn’t hold it in anymore and couldn’t help but ask: “What are you doing?”

  Episode 20 – Distance Test – Aftermath

  Episode 20 – Distance Test – Aftermath

  Previously:

  Kiel and Elaru test out the distance they can be apart. After reaching 20 km, Elaru couldn’t proceed any further and she started to return. Kiel noticed how telepathy doesn’t degrade with distance, but instead, he could feel more emotions passing through. He hypothesized that their emotions were resonating.

  * * *

  Or was this… resonance? Their emotions were combining into something with a much higher intensity than the original emotion. Was it because their emotions were the same, because they were going through the same experience? Was this resonance through empathy?

  If the mark acted like a wormhole between their Minds, it would be like a portal connecting two different places in space. No matter how far apart those two places were, they would always be right next to each other because of the portal. That would explain why the physical distance between them didn’t make their telepathy weaker. Their Minds were always right next to each other.

  But the distance did have an effect, it improved their telepathy. The only explanation Kiel could think of was resonance. It wasn’t that the distance affected their telepathy, it is that the situation they were in affected it.

  And how come each time he heard her voice, he felt better? Could it be that the negative effects of physical distance could be countered by mental closeness?

  Kiel’s pain gradually lessened, and his aura started appearing again. Elaru was getting closer. With each step she took towards him, he felt more excited and exhilarated. As if every fiber of his being couldn’t wait to reunite with her again.

  His fatigue slowly evaporated, replaced with a newfound energy.

  This feeling, it was just like getting out of mortal peril intact. His heart was beating a hundred km per hour. His entire body was in overdrive, bursting with power, shaking with vigor.

  With trembling hands, Kiel wrote down the conclusion into his notebook. “Distance limitation confirmed. Optimal distance: less than 5 km. Maximum distance: 20 km.”

  He stroked his chin. Five kilometers was a manageable distance for the time being. And the allowed distance would increase with the evolution of the bond. But how could they make it evolve? What did they need to do?

  Elaru imparted her (unclear) opinion on the matter: “Papa said that an emotional closeness between mates positively affects the bond. He sai
d that as long as the mates spend enough time with each other, the bond would naturally evolve. Should we try this experiment again in a few months’ time?”

  Kiel thought about it. He didn’t feel keen on experiencing this horror again. It was truly unpleasant. But he was curious as to whether the time would increase the maximum tolerable distance.

  “It depends. We’ll think about it then.”

  “Understood.”

  Kiel’s legs itched for some action, so he got up from the bed. He felt restless and fidgety. Elaru was almost back. He could feel it deep down, inside of him.

  As if on cue, Elaru burst through the door, she looked at him like a wild lupax seeing a piece of meat. Kiel froze, startled by the look.

  She gave him no time to think before she leaped across the room and latched onto him. Kiel’s surprise turned into shock.

  Her hands clasped tightly around his torso, her head was nestling under his neck. Her two mounds went splat against his chest.

  She rubbed her cheek around, left and right, like she was trying to rub his scent in. Like he was a healing tonic. Like, she was burning, and he was the water. She let out a sigh of relief. “Ahh… this feels much better. Yes! Yes! I can feel my power coming back!”

  She didn’t stop with the rubbing. With each rub, Kiel’s temper rose higher and higher. His eyebrow started twitching, one could see his veins popping out on his neck.

  Too damn close! Does she have any sense of personal space?! Though it did feel quite pleasant. His body responded quite positively to hers. Warm tingles everywhere. No, no, no!

  He tried to push her away. He asserted more strength than should have been necessary, but her grip on him was too tight. She didn’t move an inch. Her face still looked blissful, as if she didn’t even notice his revolt.

  Soon, he was trying to peel her away from him with all his strength. She didn’t budge, clinging onto him like a python. “Fates, you’re strong!” Kiel cussed under his breath. How the heck is your slim female body stronger than mine?! Freak!

  Elaru suddenly noticed steam coming out of Kiel’s ears and she figured out that he disliked the closeness between them. She frowned and gave him a look that clearly stated “Geez, childish much? I am just curing the damage caused by the experiment. What’s the big deal?”

  Kiel glared at her venomously and gritted his teeth, trying to find the right words to make her let go of him. Though, before he could say anything, she suddenly let go on her own. Which caused him to lose his balance and he stumbled back, falling over the footboard onto the bed.

  Elaru sniggered at his glare. “Kiel, are you actually… shy?” She asked with a devious grin.

  “I am not shy!” Kiel spat out, grabbed the nearest object he could find and threw it at her. Unfortunately, that object turned out to be a pillow. Luck had abandoned him ever since he had crossed paths with the tricky woman. “I just don’t like people invading my personal space!!”

  Elaru caught it in reflex, her grin only widening. “What personal space? I’m already inside your head, it doesn’t get closer than that.” She teased him.

  “Boundaries! We need some boundaries. You can’t go around touching everything you like!” This time, he threw his notebook. It wasn’t a big upgrade from the pillow…

  “You are acting like a shy girl who had her butt pinched. It was just a hug.” She caught the notebook flawlessly too, her grin never wavering.

  “Not shy! I just don’t enjoy physical contact with people I don’t like. Which includes you, and everyone else I know.” Kiel grabbed the porcelain pechuh that was decorating the night table. Finally, a good weapon!

  Elaru didn’t panic at all. “You might want to Accelerate the next thing you throw if you really want to hit me.”

  Blatant provocation! Kiel’s eyes glowed dangerously as he Accelerated the ornament at her. He didn’t use all of his mage prowess, he didn’t want to cause any major damage. Alas, his attempts were in vain. Elaru had no trouble catching his throws. And more of them she caught, the more annoyed Kiel got.

  Once the “fight” started, it was hard to stop.

  In only a few minutes, their tidy room was trashed.

  Well, they didn’t break anything, they just turned it into a mess. Although it wasn’t out of Kiel’s lack of trying, but because Elaru found it more fun to attempt to save all thrown objects from doom than to avoid them.

  She had fun teasing Kiel. He was actually quite easy to rile up. He had many years’ worth of pent-up frustration inside him, and Elaru took it upon herself to give him excuses to let it out. Kiel didn’t over analyze her behavior. He was too busy trying to understand his own. He used to be a calm and collected person. Yet this redhead could rile him up with such ease, it was embarrassing.

  He didn’t even try to bury it all down and plaster on his mask. With Elaru, he didn’t need to hide behind his false persona. She seemed to like his true face much more.

  She was such an unusual girl. She preferred fighting to peaceful times.

  Kiel would never admit it, but he enjoyed their fights too, in a weird way. Even though he growled, glared and cursed her, deep down, he was having fun.

  It was such a bizarre relationship.

  Yet, at that moment, neither one of them minded it.

  And as the two were preoccupied with their mini-war, neither one of them noticed a change happening on Kiel’s right arm. Like a seed sprouting, the black mark spread slightly, slowly, up his arm.

  * * *

  After the peaceful resolution of the war (Kiel ran out of things to throw), they decided to find a secluded place on the outskirts of Ashar where they could practice magic. They traveled to the west, where a dense deciduous forest spread as far as the eye could see.

  The day was sunny and warm, the bright rays of sunlight made everything they touched glitter. Though only occasional sunrays managed to pass through the bright green leaves of the deciduous tall trees towering over them.

  Even though it was technically still summer, the temperature was lowering every day with the approaching autumn. Currently, both the temperature and the humidity felt just right. If Kiel wasn’t in a rush to increase his power, he would have enjoyed taking a stroll.

  Instead of strolling around, Elaru used her eyes to scan the surroundings until she found a secluded clearing near a small waterfall. The clear droplets of water created a small and beautiful rainbow as they fell down.

  The clearing seemed very peaceful, not much could be heard besides the sound of the waterfall and soft singing of the birds. However, Kiel wondered how long it would stay peaceful. They might run into quest seeker parties, hunters or beasts living around the water source. The forest around Ashar was bursting with wildlife, and it was a popular hunting ground for all sorts of creatures. Even herbalists often spent their time searching the forest for various herbs.

  Elaru claimed that this place was too close to Ashar. All the good stuff was deeper in the forest, therefore herbalists and hunters wouldn’t stick around here. The only people who would dwell on the outskirts would be mages using the forest as their practice ground, just like them. However, the forest was large, so the chance of them stumbling onto the same clearing was slim.

  Kiel stretched and thought about what he should practice first. Elaru sat down against a tree, making herself comfortable. She took off her backpack and pulled out a red book with leather covers. The cover had no letters, marks or anything else that could give away the contents. However, Kiel could instantly tell that the book was anything but ordinary. It was enchanted by a long, obscure spell that Kiel didn’t recognize.

  Elaru performed a quick trigger spell that was so fast that the only thing that Kiel managed to catch was a pulse of magic power. As soon as she opened the cover, the easygoing expression on Elaru’s face vanished. It was replaced by deep concentration. She was completely absorbed in the book, her face blank, showing no other emotions.

  Kiel had gotten used to seeing her mischief and serenity all
this time, this seriousness felt unnatural. And yet, there was a certain charm to it. People were said to be the most attractive when they were working hard. Kiel could finally understand why.

  Elaru kept flicking her fingers, poking the book and tracing various patterns with her fingers.

  Kiel concentrated his mana sense on the book and realized that the pages were coated with a thin layer of crystalline ink. It was an invisible liquid that had a special property – the crystalline structure of the liquid was easily changed by magic. And changing the crystalline structure of the ink resulted in changing the color of the ink. That transparent ink had the possibility to turn into any kind of color. After its initial discovery in ancient times, it had started a revolution in art and literature.

  The spell to change the color of the ink was one of the first spells that they were taught in school. Of course, the spells differed between argel and elibu since the two had different principles behind their magic. But nevertheless, it was an important spell that Kiel could recognize instantly, and that was exactly the reason why Kiel deduced that the book was coated with crystalline ink – he felt Elaru casting the ink altering spell over and over on the pages of the book.

  Was this book… her diary?

  It was none of his business. He had no right to take a look inside. It was embarrassing how curious he felt, he – a person that never used to care about other people. His pride didn’t allow him to ask about it though, so instead he took several sneak peeks at it, from the corner of his eyes.

  His skill in taking nonchalant sneak peeks was quite formidable.

  He was startled to find that the pages of the book were completely blank.

  Was Elaru actually… changing the transparent ink into the same color of the paper? Could her Aethernea of Sight see the writing even if it couldn’t be seen with normal eyes? Or was the book enchanted with some kind of spell that would prevent him from being able to see what was written in it?

  Elaru had a treasure-trove of fascinating artifacts. At this point, he shouldn’t be surprised by it. Therefore, surprise wasn’t one of the annoying emotions he was currently feeling.