Simo

 As usual,

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Night covered the land as the various stars cast a gentle glow on the forest below. I lay on a soft patch of grass gazing at the moon and stars. Floating on top of my extended palm, was an orb of water mana. It spun counterclockwise, constantly shrinking and expanding.

My mind was not with the orb, but instead, it was full of various thoughts regarding my earlier experiment. My attempt at wielding lightning magic could be considered somewhat successful. Although I could not fully influence it, with the help of cosmic mana, I could at least direct it wherever I want. 

It was good progress if I say so myself. Still, the part that intrigued me, was none other than the one concerning my cosmic element. For the first time since I acquired it, I was finally able to track it down as it disappeared within the void. 

I didn't know whether it was because of the lightning element, or some other hidden factor, but the fact remained. I was able to 'see' its trajectory as it made its way across the void. It was almost instantaneous, appearing almost as if it was teleportation.

Perhaps it could be considered as such as I lacked the fundamental knowledge on how that worked in the first place. Still, it was quite an interesting sight. I always thought the cosmic element disappears amongst the stars. So whenever I will it to make something go away, I always assumed that it would do so by sending it somewhere outside of the planet. 

I don't know how I came to this conclusion in particular. Perhaps it was from how the element always seemed to descent from within the stars, never from the plane itself, or maybe it came from my shallow knowledge of it, as I instantly assumed cosmic to equal the stars and cosmos. 

Still, my earlier experiment proved to me that there was much more to it than I had thought. The cosmic mana seemed to travel through another plane of existence, something present but not quite there. I wasn't sure myself, but If I had to compare it to something, then I suppose it looked like it traveled across an astral plane? One that seemed to mirror our own. 

Hence why I never managed to track it down before. This astral plane was hidden from normal sight, hell, it was hidden from my spirit vision as well. The only reason I managed to catch a glimpse of it was thanks to the thread that connected me to the lightning element. 

'Was this part of the King's plan? Did he tell me to try acquiring lighting knowing that this would happen?' I thought with a frown. 

"But why? Is this astral plane somewhat special for me? Or perhaps for him?" I mumbled as my frown deepened, the water orb burst and disappeared as if it never existed. 

A long sigh escaped my mouth as I quickly shook my head, 'Am I overthinking everything?' I wondered. Ever since my talk with grandmother, I tried to think more about everything, about my actions, and about possible consequences. 

Perhaps the King didn't have any sort of hidden agenda, then again maybe he does. Overall, nothing truly mattered at the moment since I had no strength to change it. My best bet was to be careful.

Thinking about all of this made me want to drop learning to control lighting altogether. Still, I refrained from doing so, my curiosity getting the better of me. The newly revealed astral plane fascinated me, as I grew interested in it. 

What was it exactly? Was it a parallel plane of sorts? Something similar to the one we currently live in? Or was it completely different? If so, what sort of life would I find over there? Was there any life in the first place? Did it have its own mana stream, or was it connected to ours?

And the final most important question, 'could I make it over there?' I had so many questions, so many things I wanted to try. 'Well, let's take it one step at a time Aether,' I mumbled with a slight chuckle. 

A yawn escaped my mouth as I stretched my limbs. The weather was pleasant, not hot and not cold. The gentle ocean breeze tickled my scales, making me feel comfortable. The forest around me was silent. The only sound was that of my rhythmic breathing. 

I lazily curled under a large tree, with my mind full of various experiments I could try, I slowly drifted into a blissful sleep. That night, I had a dream. Aether the dragon was standing face to face with a human figure, his face was blurred making it hard for me to make his features. 

Deep down, however, I somehow knew. That figure was me, the old me. Both sides stood facing each other, one enormous, the other almost ant-like as it stood in front. No words were spoken as both stared at one another. The surroundings were completely dark, yet I had an unpleasant feeling of being watched. 

###

My eyes blinked open as the sudden sun glare assaulted me. I lazily yawned and studied my surroundings. The strange dream pushed to the back of my mind as I stretched and slowly walked towards th edge of the cliff. 

'Should I get something to eat first?' I thought as I studied the water below. "There," I ordered as an abrupt water pillar rose from the sea, all the way towards me. 

I unhurriedly stretched my arm inside the pillar and hauled out a large bluish crab-like creature. "I don't think I ever tried you before," I said as I studied the creature. The water pillar crashed into the ocean as I walked back towards my soft grass patch, breakfast in hand. 

Soon, a contented burp escaped my mouth as I glanced at the carcass of the crab creature. 'Not bad, but still not the best. I wonder if I can get another fruit from the Gods plane,' I thought to myself, my mouth watering as I recalled my previous visit with grandma. 

"Not good, let's get started shall we," I shook my head as I pushed back the urge to head towards grandma's and ask her for another trip. 

"What should I try today? Maybe water mana?" 

A large water orb suddenly materialized before me as I nodded in satisfaction before I reached out to my cosmic element. The familiar thread extended from within my soul space and summoned an even larger one from beyond the sky as it accurately landed on my water orb. My eyes quickly widened at what happened next.