Aether's Blessing (Aether's Revival Book 1)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “I’m just curious as to how it works,” Gregory said. “Crafters have always had my utmost respect.”

  “I don’t mind,” one alchemist said as she ground up some leaves in a pestle. “Not much to see with us, though. Mostly manual work until we start combining things.”

  “Ours is all mental imagery,” an enchanter sighed as he set aside the plain brass ring in front of him, rubbing his forehead. “I need to take the mind path, it looks like.”

  “Mind if I come back in a bit to see more?”

  “You’re the one who doesn’t know their magic yet, aren’t you?” the alchemist asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You must be hoping they find out soon. The clans are already asking about people, and they start accepting them after the first tournament. Some are already getting interest from the great clans, I’ve heard.”

  “I’m very hopeful,” Gregory admitted. “I’ll come back. Good luck with your project.”

  Moving over to the two magi who had wind magic, he watched them keep a leaf in the air with short bursts of aether. As he turned to walk away, again he thought he saw small strings of blue aether going from the novices to the air under the leaf, but it vanished the moment he turned back to see them.

  Am I imagining it? Or am I seeing the aether being used by people? Gregory wondered as he moved over to watch the water magi separate pure water from salt water.

  After about five minutes of not seeing anything, he moved to where the single earth magi was making small holes appear in the ground before filling them in again. Again, no blue threads appeared as he watched, so he walked over toward the fire magi, who were lighting and snuffing out candles from a few yards away.

  Shaking his head, he finally turned toward the five magi using physical enhancement. Gregory watched as each struggled to summon aether to coat various parts of their bodies.

  “It is time for you to try to mimic them,” Adept John said, coming up behind Gregory.

  “I’ll start with the wind magi,” Gregory said.

  “Very well. Good luck.”

  Gregory felt his aether start to stir each time he tried to mimic one of the groups, but each time, it settled back in place and nothing happened. When the teacher called an end to class, Gregory was disappointed but not entirely surprised.

  “Maybe tomorrow will be different,” Yukiko tried to cheer him up as they headed for the arenas.

  “Maybe,” Gregory agreed, though he doubted it. “You seemed to be getting better control as class went on.”

  Yukiko smiled, “You think so?”

  “Yes. By the end of the week, you might be able to completely cover yourself.”

  “Thanks, Greg.” The happiness in her voice was joined by a little extra bounce in her step.

  ~*~*~

  When they arrived at the blue arena, they took their seats against one of the walls and started eating their lunch. Gregory finished before Yukiko and settled himself into a lotus position, closing his eyes to meditate.

  “Oh, before I forget, Greg.”

  Opening one eye, he saw Yukiko holding out a ring to him. “Trading off every day.”

  “Oh, okay. I thought we’d trade off in the morning, but this works, too.” Taking the ring of the mind, he slipped it onto his left hand. Closing his eye, he missed Yukiko’s smile.

  Slipping into the right mind frame, Gregory felt his focus pulled to his aether. He stood inside a cavern, the fire before him slightly larger than a campfire and burning brightly. Guess this is how I interpret my aether when meditating, Gregory thought as he looked at the cavern. The light from the fire illuminated the stone walls, and Gregory watched the shadows flicker along them. Too much to ask to have Yukiko step out of those and join me, isn’t it? The flames seemed to flicker like laughter, and Gregory shook his head.

  The shadows dancing on the wall eased his thoughts, except that every once in a while, he thought he saw something odd. After a few minutes, he got up to examine the wall. A thin hole had been dug out of the stone, smaller than his pinkie in diameter. Frowning, he began to walk around the cavern and he found more of them. Weird... I wonder what the holes mean. Maybe I can ask Rafiq tomorrow about spirit caverns.

  “Greg, you awake?” Nick’s voice echoed throughout the cave.

  Blinking, Gregory found himself seated against the wall of the arena with Nick standing a few feet from him. “Huh?”

  “Napping?”

  “In a way. What did you need?”

  “On our next day off, the guys are going into town for some fun. Thought you’d like to join us.” Nick glanced at Yukiko. “It’s guys only.”

  Gregory scratched his chin, feeling the vaguest hints of stubble there. “Tell you tomorrow?”

  Nick rolled his eyes, “Need to check with her first? Come on, man, you can have a day away from her. Neither of you will die.”

  “I just can’t remember if Yuki and I were going to visit the scrivener this coming day off or the following one. I don’t want to cancel a plan already made,” Gregory lied.

  “That’s fair. Tell me tomorrow, then. Might want to wake up, though. Class will start soon.”

  “Got it,” Gregory said, uncrossing his legs.

  When Nick walked away, Gregory reached out and tapped Yukiko’s knee. “Yuki, class should start soon.”

  “Understood,” Yukiko replied.

  “Need to talk to you after class about next day off.”

  “Something happen?”

  “After class,” Gregory murmured, his eyes going to Nick and friends.

  “Very well.”

  Magus Paul Erichson strode out onto the sands of the arena floor as the thirteenth bell chimed. Seeing the novices already lined up, he nodded, “Good, do that every day. Before we get to the real fun, we’ll start with stretching and running.” Before he could say anything more, the novices spread out like he had them doing for the last few weeks. He grinned momentarily when they moved into position without command. “We’ll start with…”

  The next hour was dedicated to stretching and running, leaving some in the class panting and drained. Paul shook his head, “I see that some of you still need to work on the basics. Too bad for you we’re moving past that. Now fall in.”

  The handful of novices who were all but dead managed to pull themselves up and into ranks. A couple of others helped them, lessening the time it would have taken otherwise.

  “Now, how many of you have had some training?” Paul asked. Half the class raised their hands, Gregory among them. “You novices move behind me. The rest of you, fall in.”

  Those who did not have any training in combat formed new ranks before him, while the others formed ranks behind him. Gregory noted that the ones still standing in front of Paul were the novices who did the worst on conditioning.

  Paul turned to the novices who had been behind him. “Pair off. You’re to spread out and spar to your best ability. My assistants will be around to help give you pointers.” Dismissing them, he spun back to the other group, “Okay, you sorry sacks; first, we get to work on falling.”

  Gregory and Yukiko stepped away from the others, automatically pairing off with each other. Taking a spot near where they had meditated, Gregory noted that Nick and the others were the ones closest to them. A handful of magi in emerald kimonos began to walk among the pairs, watching as the fights began.

  “Glad we’ve done this before,” Gregory said as he settled into a defensive posture.

  “Now we get serious,” Yukiko said as she settled into a similar stance. “This is our best chance to learn and grow for the tournament. I hope you forgive me.”

  Gregory was about to reply when she rushed him, her steps light and balanced. Not used to her being so aggressive, Gregory was forced onto his back foot as he deflected her initial attack. Yukiko capitalized on that, going down to sweep him, before springing onto him and striking his chest right below his neck.

  “Point, and ably done,” a clear resonate voice
said. “Break and square again. What is your name, Novice?”

  “Warlin, Adept.”

  “You have good speed, and you outclass your opponent.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Novice, just because she is a woman doesn’t mean you can go easy,” the adept told Gregory. “Defend and attack as if your life depends on it. It will later.”

  “Yes, sir,” Gregory replied as he got to his feet.

  “Carry on,” the adept said, turning to watch another group.

  Settling into the same defensive stance, Gregory could see the worry in Yukiko’s eyes. He gave her a small shake of the head and extended one hand slightly, beckoning her with a smile. “Can’t learn without failure.”

  The worry vanished, suddenly replaced with happiness, and Yukiko settled into her own stance. “Here I come.”

  For the next hour, Gregory lost every single match against Yukiko. His body was battered and his ego deflated. Seeing the looks of pity from the others did not help his mood any, either. Yukiko walked with him, but stayed silent as they headed for the baths.

  Leaving the bath after getting clean, Gregory leaned against the wall, going over every loss to Yukiko in his mind. When she left the building, she looked for him, worried he had left without her.

  “I’m right here, Yuki,” he said softly, pushing off the wall to step next to her.

  “I thought—”

  “That I left you? Not going to happen that easily,” Gregory said evenly. “My pride is in tatters, and my body is bruised, but I’m learning. Partners learn from each other.”

  Mouth opening, Yukiko started to say something before closing her mouth and shaking her head. Taking a deep breath, she started again, “You are a great partner, Greg. Dinner?”

  “That’s why I was waiting,” he smiled. “On our fourth match, you snagged my sleeve and used that as the contact to pivot me into a clinch before throwing me. Can you show me that throw later?”

  “Of course. What did you want to talk about earlier?”

  “Nick said that he’s getting the guys together next day off and wants me to go with. I told him we were going to the scrivener either this day off or next, and I had to ask which it was. I didn’t want to lose the day of training with you, but also think it might be educational to go with them.”

  “That would explain why Michelle asked me about next day off,” Yukiko nodded. “I can’t tell if they are serious in being friends, trying to recruit us, or trying to drive a wedge between us.”

  “Go with them this time and find out?”

  “Okay, but we keep the morning schedule and then study more after dinner.”

  “Deal, Yuki.”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  The week flew by for Gregory— he only briefly saw the thin blue lines once more during aether introduction. Once again, it was only obliquely, so he was still wondering if he was actually seeing the lines or just imagining them.

  He was frustrated that he continued losing to Yukiko during conditioning. He knew he was getting better over the course of the week because she had to work to get him down, but he had not managed a single score on her. The adepts came by and gave him pointers that helped him along with Yukiko’s advice, but he felt that he was not learning fast enough.

  Their time in the archive before class and in the open period they created helped the two of them get a better feel for the clans over the course of the week. The five great clans did great things for the empire, but also seemed to care more for themselves than anything else over all. The smaller clans had all started off as satellites of the five great clans, but slowly found their own ideals.

  Gregory was struggling in economics class, but he discovered that he was not the only one. Only Yukiko and Samuel, the son of a well-known blacksmith, were able to understand everything Magus Marcia threw at them. Gregory was getting a handle on it after classes, as he and Yukiko would review the material for a half hour before bed.

  They had breakfast together as normal on the morning of their day off before they went to the archive. Gregory had not yet read about a single clan he would have liked to join, and he had finished two books on them. Yukiko said she had not found the clan for her yet either.

  Entering the archive, they were surprised to see Rafiq there. “I thought today was your day off?” Gregory greeted the eurtik.

  “Someone fell ill,” Rafiq shrugged. “I’m only filling in for a few hours. Did you need new books today?”

  “Yes…” Gregory said slowly, wondering how to phrase his request. “I meditated the other day and found myself in a cavern with a flame. Is there anything that will help me understand it more?”

  “Spirit path,” Rafiq said, looking surprised. “I’ll pull a scroll for you.”

  “Oh, I was wondering about that,” Yukiko said. “I saw that place yesterday.”

  “Both of you are following the spirit path? Hmm, I shall bring a collection of scrolls for you to look through. If you are just seeing the cavern of aether, you still have time to choose another path. Keep that in mind.”

  Gregory tried not to smile, “Understood. We’d like to know more about the cavern.”

  “Very well. The scrolls will be delivered shortly.”

  The friends had barely taken their seats when an archivist brought them a pair of scrolls. Gregory thanked the mouse-eared eurtik and opened the scroll that had been handed to him.

  If you are reading this, you are one of the few who have embarked on the path of spirit. It is the least celebrated path in the empire, and roundly criticized by the great houses as inferior to body or mind. They have a single point correct— it is slower than the other paths. They have managed to marginalize it over the last few centuries, which is a pity.

  You are reading this for advice, though, not to listen to an old man ramble on about the follies of youth. The archivists would only have given you this scroll if you’ve seen the cavern of aether we all have inside of us. Only those who tread the spirit path see the cavern and can understand the majesty of it.

  Let’s start at the beginning: meditation is the key to the spirit path.

  Gregory was lost in the scroll when a hand touched his shoulder and broke him out of the moment. “Huh?”

  “Seventh bell,” Yukiko told him. “We have a little over two hours to get the physical training in before you’re supposed to meet up with Nick at the eleventh bell.”

  “Right,” Gregory replied, rolling the scroll closed.

  Rafiq was not at the front when they left, and both were quiet as they began the walk to the training hall. The morning sun was just starting to cast light when Gregory broached the subject of the scrolls.

  “What did yours say?”

  “The scroll I read seems to have been written a couple hundred years ago,” Yukiko sighed. “Some of the phrasing is difficult to parse. The bit I could make out talked about the cavern only being seen by those who are on the spirit path.”

  “Mine said the same thing.”

  “The fire inside the cavern is directly tied to your aether. As you expand your aether, the fire grows, but slowly. The spirit path is dedicated to having your flame as dense as it can be.”

  “The scroll I was reading mentioned channels in the walls. Did yours mention them?”

  “No.”

  “The author seems to have been between spirit and body paths when they wrote it. He hypothesized that the channels were made by the body path, making it easier for the flame to travel to different parts of the body. As the writer worked on the body path, the channels grew a little deeper and wider, but the cavern became harder to connect with.”

  “I think I saw them,” Yukiko said, excitement coloring her tone. “They weren’t big and barely indented into the walls, but there were clear, obvious indentions about as deep and wide as my pinkie’s last knuckle.”

  “I saw similar ones,” Gregory agreed. “What if it helps create the channels for aether to flow through the body easier? That could
explain why body path followers can use less aether to get the same effects as other paths when it comes to fighting.”

  Yukiko considered the implication as they walked. “If the body path does create channels for the aether, and the spirit path lets you contemplate your aether and how it works, what does the mind path do?”

  “Maybe that’ll be in one of the next scrolls we read?”

  “Perhaps,” Yukiko agreed. “Ready for training?”