World Sphere - 90 - Aether Core Overload

Chapter 90: Aether Core Overload

After Loriel left, I went down to the kitchens to get a meal. I cooked it myself, which helped me think. Cooking was therapeutic. I brought the food to my room: a massive basket of fries with honey ketchup. The two burgers were covered in candied bacon and caramelized onions. I ate slowly while doing my aether core and focus exercises.

I could hear Gareth’s room next to mine, and he was having a loud get-together. It was definitely a mistake to give him the room next to me. On impulse, I pulled my enchanting books from my space and some aether crystals. An hour later, the wall was now a sound sink, and my room was completely quiet.

I was now able to think. I disliked being kept in the dark about what the Bricios were doing. Although I didn’t care about politics, I still felt they might seek retribution for my actions.

My alarm spell went off, and the flash image showed Aelyn was at my door and looked concerned. I let her in, and we sat in the living room. “Gimble is returning to the lowlands after the delve tomorrow. He said his services were no longer required now that I was freed.” I nodded, and Aelyn seemed uncertain about continuing.

“You can go with him,” I spoke softly, “If I were you, I would want to get away from these islands as soon as possible.”

Aelyn seemed to consider for a long time and finally asked, “Do you think there is anything between us.” She inhaled deeply, “A reason for me to stay.”

My mind raced through possibilities. Aelyn was an extraordinary person, at least based on what she had shown me. I believed she was sincere, but perhaps I should be more cautious. She patiently waited for my response. I decided it would be safer for her to stay far away from me with the threat the Bricios posed.

“Aelyn, you should go with him,” I said, seeing her face fall. “I want you to stay, but I want you to be safe. Skyholme isn't a safe place, and being near me isn’t either. I will be leaving Skyholme eventually. If you want to travel with me when I do, find me.”

That all sounded good coming out of my mouth. It sounded romantic, friendly, and protective all in one. She would appreciate my concern, and if she had feelings for me, she would wait in the lowlands for me. Aelyn’s crystal blue eyes clouded, “That is dragon shit, Storme!” She stood and kicked me hard in the shin, and I winced. I hated that people knew I could heal myself.

She looked just as surprised as I was at her action, but then yelled, “I will stay in Skyholme and leave with you, you dumb ogre!” The veins in her neck were bulging as she raged. She threw a few more choice words at me, pointing out my stupidity. My shin was bleeding and hurt like hell, and all I could think was: Note to self, getting a woman angry who knows you can heal yourself is not a good idea. She finished her tirade with, “I am free to make my own decisions, and I have decided to stay!”

To emphasize her point, she flung a scroll at me and stormed out. I looked at the scroll, and it permitted her to reside in Aegis City as a dungeon delver. It was the same document that Gimble had needed when he arrived. I heard her descend the stairs to her room on the second floor. I wasn’t sure if I should follow her or let her cool off. I was just as good at screwing up relationships as Gareth, apparently.

I went to Gimble’s room and told him I was returning to Hen’s Hollow. We decided the team would only run the first floor tomorrow. I thanked him for his service and informed him that Ullmark would be in charge after tomorrow. Fortunately, Ullmark was in his room, and after a quick conversation, he agreed to take the lead on the delves. I told Ullmark I would be returning to Hen’s Hollow tonight and would not be back in Aegis City until my family relocated.

I was hesitant to confront Aelyn. She couldn’t leave Aegis City, so I wouldn’t have to see her for a few days while she calmed down. I liked Aelyn but felt she was still influenced by her time indentured to me. Maybe some distance would improve our relationship. She knew some of my deepest secrets; now, she was free to share them without the mark but I trusted her.

I left the Shiny Platinum and went to the trade district, but I found few shops that were open. Aegis City didn’t match the upper trade district of the capital, where stores were always open for the elite merchants and nobles. I found an enchanter’s shop that was open and went inside. The smell of burnt wood assaulted my senses. The proprietor was an older woman with graying blonde hair. She asked, “How can I assist you?”

I already knew this was not the vendor I wanted. Maybe I could ask instructor Aldon to get what I wanted. I tried anyway, “I am sorry, but I was looking for a paired communication stone set. Tier three,” I told the woman.

She nodded. “For tier three, your only option in Aegis would be Cullhorn’s. He is closed currently, though, but he would open if I woke him,” she said without hesitation.

I immediately placed a gold coin on her counter, “I would appreciate that. Is there a good place for aether and health restorative potions?”

“Cullhorn’s has some lesser potions. Otherwise, you would have to wait till Pyior Elixirs and Droughts opens,” she added.

“Sounds good. Led the way,” I confirmed. The woman closed her shop, walked me two streets over, and banged on a door till a haggard old man answered.

“Damn it, Fystra! If you have a customer, just knock like regular folk. You know I alarm my front door!” The man bellowed, and the old woman just smiled.

“If I didn’t knock loudly, you would ignore me, Greyson,” she replied, and they both laughed at a private joke. “Got a good one here for you. Tier three communication stones and maybe some potions,” she said. The old man looked me up and down and nodded.

“Ok, follow me,” he said, coming out in his sleepwear and walking a short distance his store. There was no sign on the door.

“I have never heard of Cullhorn’s before,” I asked, following him inside. The woman, Fystra, had left to return to her shop.

“I am more of an acquisition specialist for delve teams these days. Mostly retired. I was an enchanter in the capital a few years back, working for the Miadens. Now I just do custom orders and acquire some specialty items,” he answered. As we entered, the shop had shelves filled with knick-knacks. “Don’t touch anything. Follow me.”

He went down an aisle, pulled a pair of golfball-sized black stones off a shelf in a white oak box, and handed them to me. He described the merchandise, “Carved from a single demon bone horn, enchanted with tier three aether crystals and gold wire runes. Range is about 120 miles, give or take a mile. Two hundred and four gold. Should last two or three lifetimes.” I touched the black bone spheres and felt the rune work embedded in them. I nodded and pulled two platinum from my dimensional space with four gold coins. The man inspected them briefly and nodded before pocketing the shiny coins.

“Not many people are looking for tier three stones anymore. Delving a large dungeon?” He asked as he moved to a different area of the shop. Tier one stones had a range of about a mile. Tier two had a range of ten miles, and tier three reached a hundred miles.

“Just want to make sure I can remain in contact with a friend as he travels Titan’s Shield,” I said as I sent the stones to my space. These stones were for Bleiz and me so I could keep in touch while I was in Aegis City and he was in Hen’s Hollow. I thought about getting another pair for Gareth and me, but decided against it. The man looked me over again for a moment before accepting my explanation with a short nod.

“I have just a few lesser aether restoration potions, and most are close to expiration,” he started searching through a rack of test tube-shaped vials. Found a bundle of six, “These six have about a month of shelf life left. Maybe ten relative aether each, but I wouldn’t suggest using more than two in a day unless you want the runs,” he chuckled. “Also you look a bit young. You know the dangers?”

“I do. My aether core is still maturing as well, but these are for a friend,” I said. He gave me a dubious look but didn’t comment on my assertion.

“Two gold for the lot. I have a rack that was not picked up by a delve team of healing potions. They are over a month overdue to pay, so I will sell them to you.” He went to a rack of six potions. “Six gold for these. They have about six months of life left in them and were brewed by Yarvin.” My face was blank, so he added, “Yarvin is one of the better alchemists in the capital. A friend of mine. Well, do you need anything else? You have been a good customer.” He smiled, revealing perfect teeth.

“Do you sell spell books? You said you were an enchanter. Do you have any books on enchanting? I dabble and would have made the communication stone myself, but I don’t have the runic patterns,” I asked hopefully.

“The runes are up here,” he tapped his head. “Communication stones are complicated being on such a small area. Only rings are more difficult. I mostly worked on golems for the Miadens before they were outlawed. Damn Bricios,” he spat. “The Inquisition destroyed my entire book collection. I do have a few spell books. Mostly from barter with the adventuring teams. This way.”

I followed him around to the back of the store. He had a shelf with about one hundred spellbooks. This was more than a few. It was an modest collection of mostly tier 1 and tier 2 spells. I guessed many awakened delvers sold their spellbooks after imprinting their spells. I eagerly went through the spellbooks and started pulling a few out. 

Arcane Missile, Tier 2, Aether Sphere
Dimensional Box, Tier 2, Space Sphere
Privacy, Tier 1, Illusion Sphere
Mend Flesh, Tier 1, Healing Sphere
Arcane Lock, Tier 1, Aether Sphere
Wind Shield, Tier 2, Air Sphere

The only rare spell in the bunch was the arcane missile which was a dungeon reward copy. The remainder were copied spells. Greyson looked through the books, “Ten gold for each of the tier one spells. Fifty gold for the wind shield and the dimensional spell. Two hundred for arcane missle. Three hundred and thirty if you want the lot.”

These were all for Bleiz. With his aether affinity, the arcane missle was a perfect match. The privacy was a cheap spell after a few evolutions, and it would allow me not to loan out my own copy. Same with the arcane lock spell. The dimensional box would give him about a cubic yard of storage before any spell evolutions. Bleiz only had 11 slots for imprinting spells. If he utilized all these books and the cleanliness book that would amount to 9 slots filled. I would leave it up to him what spells he wished to imprint after the cleanliness but would suggest the dimensional box.

I paid Greyson for all the spell books, and then asked for a tour of his shop. It was not really a shop, as he explained, he just artificed small objects when it fancied him and worked with vendors in the capital as a middleman for three independent delve teams. I hadn’t studied the intricacies of delving like Gareth. But Greyson did convince me to purchase a camping kit. It was a heavy canvas four-person tent with a ground tarp, four bedrolls, and a full kitchen kit. Normally in the lowlands, you had to trek into some dungeon locations and camp. I didn’t know if I would ever need it, but I picked it up at 80 silver and moved it to my dimensional space.

Most of his other items pertained to monster harvesting and non-magical first aid. I had my array of spells, so I was not interested. Grayson was old but fun to talk with, and he referred me to the other delve teams he supplied. According to Grayson, they worked both dungeons in Aegis City and had decent character.

I left the shop and had to hire a skyship to take me to Hen’s Hollow rather than wait two hours. When I arrived, I went straight to the barracks to rest. I didn’t sleep well. I felt guilty about my strained relationship with Aelyn and worried about the Bricios. I had a nightmare about Abaddon Bricio landing his Harbinger skyship in Hen’s Hollow and abducting Freya. I woke up in a cold sweat.

It was early morning, and I planned to meet Bleiz out at Callem’s farm today. Gareth and the delve team would be heading to the dungeon right about now for the delve.

I lay in my bed and pulled out the two dungeon essences, one in each hand. I looked at both, weighing my options, and finally broke the seal on one and drank it. A warm feeling spread through my body, quickly turning into intense abdominal pain. This was definitely not the euphoric sensation Gareth had described. My healing spells had no effect as I curled into a ball and moaned, feeling like my insides were being ground up.

I couldn’t even move as my muscles contracted, forcing me into a ball. I began to think Pomare had tricked me, and whatever had been in the vial was not what the runic labeling had indicated. I retreated into my focus exercises to gain some control. Detaching myself from the pain, I could focus and was aware as time passed.

My absolute time spell said I was incapacitated for almost an hour. Trapped in my own body before my clenched muscles slowly relaxed. I immediately cast my healing spells, and eventually, I was able to sit up and lean against the bed from the floor.

I understood enough about aether and cores to understand something hadn’t gone right. It felt like I was trying to squeeze something into myself, and there just was not enough room. Could that be it? When I cheated on selecting my abilities, I maxed out my points. Had I reached my limit? It took time to get a sense of myself, but I eventually identified the core of my exchange ability. I had successfully incorporated it, but it felt like I had eaten three dinners in a row and was ready to burst.

I looked at the other essence and pushed it into my dimensional space. I needed to consult an essence master, as Wynna had advised. I cast my cleanliness spell, but I still didn’t feel clean. A few more castings, and I still felt wrong…no, it was more like I was digesting the new ability. Getting acclimated to my core being stretched. I thought it best to hold off on trying the ability or casting spells until the feeling settled.

I walked unevenly to Callem’s farm. It was close to midday now, and it took twice as long as usual to reach the farm. I walked into the main house and called, “Bleiz! Are you here?”

Bleiz appeared leaning against the kitchen counter, holding a large drumstick. “Thought you were delving today?” He took a large bite.

“No, they had enough members and I pissed off Aelyn.” I wasn’t sure why I had told him about Aelyn but maybe I wanted someone to talk to about it. Gareth wasn’t an option. “I picked up a few things for you. And it looks like Wynna came through already,” I said. Bleiz was wearing some soft leather armor and fine black clothes underneath.

He smiled with his sharp teeth, “Yes. She dropped them off last night and asked what else I wanted. I had decided to forgo boots for now.”

He didn’t ask about Aelyn, but he didn’t know her, so I didn’t press. “How did watching my family go?” I asked as I sat at the kitchen table because my energy was waning.

He frowned deeply. “You were right. That guardian beast is a hellion. He spotted me twice yesterday, even under the cover of the necklace. He even peed on my new clothes!” I started laughing and couldn’t stop for a good minute. Bleiz didn’t laugh but grinned at his own misfortune, which made me consider that he was not as uptight as he presented himself.

I pulled the spellbooks out of my dimensional space with some effort. It’s like getting punched in the gut every time I materialized a book, “These are all for you. After you imprint the cleanliness spell, I suggest you learn the dimensional box spell. After that—you can decide what spells you want to learn. If there is a spell you want, let me know and I will get it for you.”

Bleiz ignored the spell books. He sniffed the air. “Are you ok? You look pale and smell funny,” Bleiz said, coming closer.

I was sweating again. “I will be fine. Just had a little too much of a good thing.” At least, I hoped I would be fine. I wouldn’t be able to function if I had to deal with this every time I pulled aether from my core.

Bleiz sat at the table and paged through the spell books. He started doing the math I in his head. “This would be nine places on my core,” he announced.

“Like I said, just the cleanliness spell and then the dimensional box spell. That is three units. After that, the arcane missile will only take one slot. If you don’t like any of these, just let me know what you want, and I will get it for you,” I said, feeling myself recovering.

I had intended to spend some time training with Bleiz today, but that won't happen given my current condition. Bleiz appeared to consider this and then said, “The weapons you provided me are exceptional. Who enchanted the short swords?”

I grinned, not minding the praise, “They were my own work. Do you like them?”

He nodded as he leaned back in his chair and suddenly looked out the window. I looked too, but didn’t see anything. Bleiz replied, “A fox is in the fields. It caught a rabbit I was watching earlier today.” He turned his gaze to me and looked sad briefly.

He drew one of the blades. “Yes, they are just as good, if not better, than the ones the Blackguard captains carry. Do you want the longsword back?”

I had forgotten about Baladon’s longsword. “Sure, I can store it for now.” He retrieved it, and I painfully put it into my space. “I think I am going fishing. Do you want to come along?”

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at Twin Rocks. Bleiz immediately noticed the heavy traffic and footprints from Gareth, the instructors, and myself. When I explained that we trained out here, he was eager to test them all, but I needed him to watch my family during the evenings.

I pulled out the communication stone and my potions belt. “Here is a belt and some potions for aether restoration and healing. This communication stone is linked to the one I will carry with me. If you need help or see something, use it.” Pulling things out of my space was getting easier, so maybe this indigestion was fading.

He rolled the black ball in his hands, studying it, and I felt the other ball twinge in my dimensional space. That was unexpected. I focused on the ball in my space and tried to use it—but it did not work. At least I could leave it in my dimensional space and be aware when someone was trying to reach me.

I pulled a chair out of my space—too soon for something this large, almost making me vomit. I grabbed my fishing pole, sat down, and started fishing. Since I only had one pole, I showed Bleiz how to fish. We spent hours at Twin Rocks, and Bleiz even spotted a giant black eagle in the sky. I nearly wished it would come down and attack us — revenge would have been satisfying. However, the eagle seemed to sense we were the top predators that day and never got close.

We parted as evening neared. Bleiz was going to change at the farmhouse before going on watch, and I headed back to the barracks. Gareth and the twins weren’t there, but Mia had returned from Aeigs City. She told me the others would arrive in the morning. She also mentioned what I already knew—Aelyn couldn’t leave the city, so there was no need to rush back for conditioning.

I made both of us dinner as we talked. Braised pork with a honey-ginger glaze. Mia was enjoying her duties, and when I told her we would be expanding the guards by fourfold, she got excited. I retired to my room, hoping a good night’s rest would alleviate my aether core’s discomfort.

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