The Aether God: Chapter 22 - Instinct and Stupidity

Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day, and make me travel forth without my cloak,

To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way, hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke?

The South Haven

After Cerulean informed Nora and the Elson Twins of the situation, he began traveling towards the Willow Woods within the South Haven. His primary intention was to train by slaying beasts. Unlike the Frost Troll though, he did not think the beasts of the Willow Woods would be reasonable beings.

“Based on Boreas’s knowledge, they ought to be primarily mongrels. They’re all said to be venerables, or weaker, even the adults… Furthermore, any beasts with a tongue and heritage wouldn’t willingly confine themselves to this valley… Most likely, at least. The Legendary Sects deal with any which are reported to be masters, and those primarily come from outside of the valley.”

Mongrels, colloquially referred to as Savages, were Ethereal Beasts which were incapable of using their minds or speaking. They acted only upon instinct: hunting and breeding. While there were a great number of unreasonable beasts that could think, Cerulean wasn’t as keen on hunting them as a form of training.

Cerulean had passed by a great number of sect establishments over the course of an hour. The largest and wealthiest sects lived furthest north within the South Haven. This afforded them expeditious access to the districts and their market stalls

He wasn’t sure if it happened slowly or suddenly during his travels, but now, a great number of memories were flooding his mind. They were of his adoptive parents and childhood.

“I wonder how everything will be when I return…”

At the moment, he didn’t have plans to return home until after the Caladrius School Duels, so he continued on.

……………………

Before he even arrived, Cerulean could see his destination from a distance.

In front of him, thousands of trees stood sentinel on the horizon. Their amalgamated form appeared at first as a line, and then as an umbrella. Soon, he could trace out dark lines through the foliage - branches that began reaching out like gnarled fingers toward the sky.

As he arrived, the dense canopy loomed over his head like a dark curtain.

“Let’s hope there aren’t any Frost Trolls in here.”

……………………

The Willow Woods

CLANG!

A metallic clash echoed in the grove as Cerulean punched the creature's razor-sharp claws to the side with a reinforced fist.

Apprentice Umbrous Reinforcement Technique: Umbrous Shin - Art 5: Gerudo

Before the beast could recoil from the pain of its claws being shattered, Cerulean already had a kick arcing towards its side. As his Shin collided with the beast, it seemed to easily pass through its flesh.

……………………

~GRAAARRRR!

A thunderous roar echoed through the forest as a massive beast charged horn-first towards Cerulean on all fours. With a hastened sidestep, Cerulean narrowly avoided the charge, feeling the rush of wind as it passed just a couple inches from his robes. Before he had time to throw out his own attack, the beast had turned, and its horns had already begun to glow.

Apprentice Azurean Barrier Technique: Rialto Ripples - Art 3: Absorb

Conjuring a shimmering barrier of Ether, Cerulean erected a protective shield around himself. Nearly the moment he finished doing so, an infernal beam shot forth from the horn, spiraling into his barrier. It seemed to travel through the barrier, but not into Cerulean. Rather, once it had closed, it was as if the beam had traveled into an alternate dimension.

Apprentice Azurean Barrier Technique: Rialto Ripples - Art 4: Expel

Another barrier opened, and out from it flew a blue orb. As it flew towards the beast, it began glowing, and exploded on impact.

…………………………

~WOOOOSH!

Cerulean evaded the wide swing, sidestepping the beast’s razor-sharp claws with a twist of his body. As he continued to twist, his mind was moving.

Apprentice Terrestrial Reinforcement Technique: Pinpoint - Art 1: Pierce

By the time Cerulean had completed his spin, the tip of his aligned fingers had already started glowing a deep green hue. Bringing with it the momentum of his spin and a thrust, his hand pierced into the side of the beast, and exited through its chest.

As blood streamed down his arm, Cerulean wiggled the corpse until it fell from his wrist to the ground. He then raised his hand and swept it downward in an arc, cleansing it of blood as a samurai would a katana.

“While I still have to get used to quickly cycling between arts, I can at least keep up with apprentices. There really is quite an experiential learning curve… If I didn’t know so many techniques I’d be toast… Moving on.”

Cerulean continued his stroll through the forest.

“There’s quite a bit less to do here than I expected. It really is just a ton of Mongrels… I ought to start subjugating more beasts once I get the chance…”

Cerulean continued his strolling and slaying for another hour. Once the sky darkened, he decided to head back. For the first time though, Cerulean stopped in his tracks.

“...Something feels off… Is this Ethereal Instinct?”

As he stood for a moment, his expression slowly turned grave. He immediately casted a number of hastening arts, and frantically darted north, back towards the other district.

“If there is one thing I know, it’s to listen to my gut feeling in these matters…”

Cerulean continued his speeding until he had almost reached the edge of the forest. He almost felt relieved.

“Hah! To experience it for myself… What an interesting thing.”

As Cerulean shot out of the forest, shooting forth with him a great number of leaves, he once again found himself on the great plain of the South Haven. He continued his frantic dash to the north for a number of minutes, before slowly relaxing and canceling many of them after looking around. A shuttle once again appeared under his figure, and he laid down.

“That’s so strange… Was I just imagining it? No… Something had to have been there. It doesn’t lie.”

Subjugated Ether had a strange property which scholars most often referred to as an ‘instinct.’ It was as if Ether itself knew whether there was a threat or harmful intent nearby, and would notify its artist. It was a phenomenon that was very well documented, although not fully quantified. In his other life, Cerulean always instructed his students to obey their Ethereal Instincts above all else. His first experience with it wasn’t as telling as he had hoped though, as he couldn’t confirm whether there was a threat.

“It must have been a strong beast of some sort nearby… I wish I could have gotten such a treatment in the Frostbane Mountain Range… Interesting.”

…………………

Caladrius School South District

“I ought to train regularly for a few weeks. By the Interscholastic Duels, I’ll need to be able to perhaps survive against a Spirit Artist. I’ll figure out something after I rest for the night.”

As Cerulean leisurely approached his dorm, he once again slowed down. This time though, his expression was terribly grave.

“Again, on the school grounds?! What the hell!” Cerulean immediately casted an abyssal concealment technique, hastening himself away from his dorm room. This time though, he was in immediate danger. With lightning-fast reflexes, he halted his mad dash, slamming his heels an inch deep into the cobbled road. Right in front of his legs, a shadow the shape of a dagger flew into the ground before dissipating. Within the blink of an eye, he shifted his stance, left foot crossing over right, summoning flames beneath his step. The fire erupted as he propelled himself to the side with a burst of controlled movement.

“Who in the hell?!?! Why can they see me?? I’ve been sold out!”

As Cerulean continued his sprint, he dodged a number of the hidden assailant’s casting arts. Many were ethereal daggers, or purple-glowing needles. These were clearly assassination arts.

“Everything is done… I’m screwed if somebody sold me out! Whoever did so is the most idiotic child I’ve had the displeasure of knowing!”

As his escape continued, Cerulean’s mind began racing. This was almost absolute evidence that the cat was out of the bag… unless the assailant was a Peer of the Abyss. However, they were clearly using Venerable Umbrous Arts! Unless Cerulean had totally missed something, somebody had broken a heavenly pact, revealing his identity.

“Were they with me in the forest? Why did they not strike then? I have no time to worry about this bullshit. Luckily, I’ve only wasted a week of my life… I ought to just escape somewhere for a while now and tell everybody that my plans failed.”

Cerulean had no time to even think about the situation. He suspected that he was sold out because the assailant was but to capture, not kill, him. This implied that not only was the assailant likely a human, but it had some variety of complicated motive toward him. Furthermore, of all the Venerables who knew of him, none were Umbrous Artists.

“Based on the grade of the arts, it’s a large sect. I don’t know which of the peers it could have been, but then again, they’ve been recruiting for five days now… I guess I didn’t cover every possible base that I could’ve. No, I thought it over many times, right?”

For the first time, Cerulean was able to battle in the state of autopilot. Dodging the attacks was beginning to feel more second-nature than first.

“Knowing about me is one thing…”

After a number of minutes, the onslaught had finally stopped. Cerulean continued running through the Training District for a good while, and soon began hiding behind a library they a far end of the district. As he bent over, catching his breath, he sighed. He wasn’t really that dejected, as he hadn’t been working too long on the matters within the valley. While they took a good bit of effort, he wasn’t so prideful that such a failure would destroy him. After thinking for multiple minutes and retracing all of his recent actions in his mind, he laughed.

“Why is it that of all the things I assessed, human stupidity was the only one that I underestimated?”

Before Cerulean could finish laughing though, he felt something. He looked downward, and saw that a very thin needle had pierced his calf.

“You’ve gah… to buh… ki muh…”

Before he could even really finish his thought, Cerulean passed out.

 

Copyright © 2024 Ritchie Charles Fiction.

All Rights Reserved.

Patreon: patreon.com/RitchieCharlesFiction