Legacy of the M’Zee Chapter 34

***AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

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***AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

The next room was the top of the tower, an open space extending a hundred meters in diameter. Hundreds of dense Inscriptions covered the stone surface, glittering in gold, silver, blue, green, and dozens of other colors as Aether flickered through the metal inlay.

Half the roof, though, wasn’t visible under the mass of full-size Beasts. Sia was easily the most obvious as he held onto one of the parapets with claws half a meter in length. His wings were tucked around him, but when he saw me he unfurled them and screamed a challenge!. I winced a bit at the noise, but marveled at his wingspan reaching ten meters. I grinned at my friend and Bond.

Zimnodlot was next to him, a brilliant white compared to the riotous colors of Sia. He’d grown as well, now around four-and-a-half meters from wingtip to wingtip. Lampart was rubbing into Vaya’s side, and (Name) was getting a belly rub from Bridget, which was pretty funny to look at. It’s not everyday you see a three meter tall pangolin squirming on the ground with their tongue hanging out of their mouth while a cute brunette goes, “Who is a good girl?”

Gunter ran straight forward and headbutt a massive Mountain Goat. Two other Volk had similar Beasts, while another had a Vulture that was about half Sia’s size. Seven of the Topraki had Wind, Water, or Fire Wolves, and they let out a massive group howl that rivaled Sia’s cry. The Ashkhas had as mixed a bag as my team, with no two having the same Bond species. Two large cats, a Lightning Lynx and a Savannah Lion, joined an Earthen Boar and a Jungle Tortoise next to the Ashkhas heir’s team.

I was lost in the menagerie for a few seconds, before Spirit announced, “Now, join your Bonds for those who have them, and then I will guide you to the proper locations on the Tower. Use the pill’s effects as best you can. If you are able to advance, you may. I have moved the exit portal there.” Spirit pointed, and a set of pillars rose from the side of the Tower and flickered with light. The courtyard we’d departed (Name) from was shown, with Librarian Narwan visible sitting cross legged on the ground.

I hurried over to Sia, and then Spirit spoke in my ear, “Go to the red circle three meters to your right. Stand in the middle.” I vaguely felt them speaking to Sia, and while I walked to the indicated spot Sia shrank enough to land on my shoulder. Right after we got there, though, he jumped off and increased in size to just barely fit within the circle.

“Being lazy, huh?” I asked him.

“Why not?” He responded cheekily.

I laughed while we waited for everyone to find their locations. It took a few minutes, but finally everyone was standing where they were told to. Aether flashed into the Inscriptions, built up for a few seconds, then dissipated. “Actually, you and Sia need to move to the square opening behind you,” Spirit said. “That will give us a better resonance.”

Roughly half the people on the roof hurried to new spots. Once we were settled again, Spirit checked the Inscription again. Six groups had to move, including Vaya and Lampart, who ended up going to where Sia and I had started. I winked at her as she jogged over to the circle, and she shook her head at me, smiling all the while.

Finally, Aether surged into the lines of metal surrounding us and kept flowing in. The Aether density around us skyrocketed, quickly reaching stifling levels. “Now, take the pill and gather to the best of your ability!” Spirit shouted. “I will be monitoring you all.”

“Join with me,” Sia said as I held the pill up. His wings reached out to wrap around me, and he connected his chest and skin meridians to my gathering meridians. Our Aether flowed together, following the guidance of our Bond, and then I threw the pill into my mouth.

It seemed to be Aether incarnate. My center filled within seconds, as did Sia’s, and then I crushed it as hard as I could. My Aether resisted for a few seconds, then shifted to a newer density. The leftover space filled again, almost before I finished relaxing from the first crunch.

I could feel Sia’s Aether surging around, with tiny bits settling onto his Core as a new layer after I finished advancing a small level of the Complete Condensation tier. His Aether flowed into my meridians, burning away and making them stronger versus Fire, while mine worked to improve his Affinity with Wood, Water, and Ice. “Faster!” I screamed at Sia, barely able to hold on as more Aether almost exploded out of the pill.

Over and over again, I condensed the Aether, cycled it to Sia, and him back to me. I scooted back into him, using my skin meridians and output meridians in my arms to form additional connections to his. Even with the massive size of my meridians, they were still getting strained. I could feel my Core Runes groaning under the stress of the Aether gushing through them, with the weakest of them vibrating ominously. Need to upgrade all of my Core Runes, I thought while forcibly shifting some Aether away from the Ice Core Rune.

Sia’s Bond Rune, though, was glowing brighter every second, Aether flooding into it and him. Sia’s gathering level was quickly approaching the peak of Condensation, bringing him to the edge of advancing back to level six, or Truth Seeking as (Name), the Gryphon Primordial Beast we met in the (Name) Forest. I really want to know what Truth Seeking is about? No, concentrate Aiden, I thought.

I crushed the Aether in my center again. My willpower was thrown against the Aether, which wanted to remain as it was and not get denser. It was already as thick as maple syrup, and I knew I had three or four more reductions before I would hit my limit. The denser I can make the Aether before attempting to create, or modify, my Core, the better, I thought as I strained against the resistance. The pill helped, adding more and more Aether to my already sore center. The pressure it added helped me, and I shivered as I moved yet again up the gathering ladder.

“Make sure you are spreading the Aether throughout your whole body,” Sia told me. “If you do not ensure your Affinity gains are even, you could cause yourself damage.”

“Got it. You too,” I told him back. I redirected a stream of Aether from Sia to go throughout my blood vessel meridians, reaching nearly every point on my body. Another went into my skin, and I sent a third to loop throughout my bone meridians. The sheer volume of Aether, redoubled yet again as more Aether was sent to Sia and then back to me from the pill, made me feel like I was on fire. I was being tempered, burned, and healed all at once. Of course, Sia was being frozen, grown through, and washed away all at the same time, so I wasn’t going to complain.

Diverting my Aether in this way gave me a few minutes of relief, at least from using my willpower to forcibly condense my Aether. Each attempt, each advancement, left my brain feeling duller, as if I couldn’t focus correctly. The burning used a different mental muscle to resist, so it didn’t push me beyond my ability to function.

I opened my eyes and saw a glimmering shield enveloping every one of us. Vaya was leaning against Lampart’s side, a look of concentration on her face. To her left, one of the Topraki was slumped against the floor, and a beam of Aether covered them. I could see tiny tentacles extending off the beam, draining tiny amounts of Aether from them to keep their center from being overloaded. Well, that’s good to know, I thought, Spirit’s still watching out for us. I’m sure that it reduces the effectiveness, though, so no giving up!

Shortly thereafter, I was full yet again. My center roiled, the tiny locations I had left slightly uneven creating minor turbulence in the flow of Aether in it. I mentally reached in and ground those places down, working to fix any of the tiny imperfections in my foundation that I could. It hurt, a lot, and took way more Aether to fix than it would have had I noticed the mistake before I had advanced.

My meridians had similar tiny places where I had not quite expanded them the same, which only became obvious when they were flooded with Aether. Again, I used the massive quantity provided by the Chosen pills to forcefully expand those locations to match. I wrapped Aether around the minuscule sections and gripped down, forcing it like bending a steel wire. That was a new level of pain, for me, as my meridians bent and twisted each time.

I vaguely heard myself whimpering. Sia shuddered as well as he did something similar, finding every place in his Aether system that wasn’t perfect and fixing it as best he could. Two perfectionist peas in a pod, I laughed, trying to push the pain to the back of my mind.

Even with the distractions and side uses of Aether, my center filled up again far too quickly. I’d been channeling the pill’s effects for only thirty minutes when I was on my fourth compression, leaving me with only two left. Each one was harder, though, and took more Aether. Of course, the miraculous pill given to all of us was more than sufficient at providing the Aether.

After this last compression, though, my Aether didn’t surge upward. Instead, a burst of Geist entered my system. I tried to direct it, but it had a mind of its own. My life meridian was forcibly emptied of Aether, and filled with Geist. My focus went from slightly fuzzy to razor sharp when the Geist hit my brain. Every single synapse was burned out and replenished a dozen times. The meridians in my brain were strengthened and better attached to the gray matter that made me me. It did something else, a feeling of completeness, connection, and robustness filled my consciousness, but I had no idea what it meant or why it occurred. I just knew that I was better, more than I had been just a few minutes ago.

Sia crowed out, and I felt our connection deepen yet again. The Aether he was sending me no longer burned, though it did have a slight tingle, letting me know I hadn’t quite made it to his Affinity level. I was close, though, bringing my Affinity to levels very rarely seen in people. Sia’s Affinities had also jumped upwards, moving to match mine at a similar level, further enhancing his status as an Elemental Zarorzel. His Bond to me had already proven extremely beneficial for the sapient Beast, while also providing me power. Our Bond was still one of the best things to happen to me on Zemia, and I looked forward to deepening it still more.

My center filled again a few minutes later, and I reached to condense the Aether. It moved at least ten times easier than before the tempering with Geist, and I was able to crush it inward with no problem. The pill was starting to flag, but it was able to fill my center up again over the next ten minutes. My Aether was now the density of molasses, though its viscosity had not changed at all. With a grunt of effort, I squeezed my center, and my Aether surged inward one last time.

Something clicked in my soul, and I knew that I would advance on the next compression. The Chosen of the World Hold It High pill was putting out the last drugs of its Aether, but it was enough. I was more than full. I had to actively hold the Aether apart to prevent my Core, gained from the Dungeon so long ago, from absorbing it all and triggering my advancement to Seed Core. “You cannot advance here,” Spirit said, startling me.

“Why?” I asked.

“Look!” They said, pointing upwards. Massive thunderclouds had formed, covering the sky of the pocket realm we were in. “Your advancement is different, probably due to the Dungeon Core you hold within you. You will trigger a Tribulation when you advance, and doing so here will destroy this realm. All of you will be consigned to oblivion if that happens. You must leave, now.”

With that final word, a massive hand of Aether appeared and gripped Sia and I, picking us up and throwing us through the portal. I landed in a roll, the stone not hard enough to seriously hurt my Aether hardened body. “Aiden! Siarcystcy!” Librarian Narwan exclaimed, appearing at my side without appearing to move. “You are back. What happened?”

“About to advance,” I said quickly. “Can’t hold it back much longer. Tribulation incoming. Not in city.”

“No, not in the city,” he answered “Hold for one minute.” Librarian Narwan vanished, the air exploding around us with a sonic boom as he broke the sound barrier. Not thirty seconds later, another sonic boom shook me as Librarian Narwan reappeared. “Come.” A platform of Air formed, and I stumbled onto it. Sia landed on me, shrinking to fit on my shoulder unconsciously. Our surroundings blurred, and then I recognized the Hunter’s Lodge as we slowed to enter the building. We reached a teleport pad in less than ten seconds, and it glowed as the Ashkhas manning it nodded at us.

With a lurch, we were in the forest. I recognized the clearing I’d fought the Chaos Beasts in, revealing the traitor in the Ashkhas ranks. Not that I doubted there were traitors back in Craesti still, even after their failed uprising.

My center quivered, a pulse of Aether shooting out from me and stirring all of the Aether in my surroundings up. “Not yet,” Librarian Narwan said. The platform rocketed through the trees. Over the next minute, we streaked far beyond the distance my team had trecked during our expedition, and then we reached a new clearing. It was fifty meters in diameter, and a stone platform twenty meters square sat in the center.

The platform had dozens of Inscriptions on it. I recognized only a few of the runes, specifically those for Lightning, Damage, and Movement. There were seven others that looked kind of like the other Elements, but there were minor changes that confused me.

Librarian Narwan’s Aether deposited me in the center of the stone platform. Sia was set down about halfway to the edge, in a circle Inscribed in the rocky surface. “Advance!” Librarian Narwan shouted. He was at the edge of the clearing, clearly hesitant to move closer. “The Inscriptions will help to protect you.”

I nodded, then reached inward and flexed my willpower. My Aether surged inward, creating a new crystal layer on the Core I’d gained from the Dungeon. Aether churned around me, and then a bolt of pure Lightning reached down from the clouds that had rolled in to connect me to the ground. The force of it lifted me above the stone surface, and I floated as a line of energy wrote itself through me.

“You must fight it!” Sia screamed at me. “Force the Tribulation to accept you. Make it acknowledge you, or you will die!”

I nodded, a jerky motion as the Lightning burning through me tried to rob me of my motor control. I pressed my willpower, my desperate desire to live, to advance, to protect the world and those I loved, and forced the Lightning, the beam of Aether that somehow encompassed every single Element, every possible combination of Elements, and make it flow through my life meridian, into my center, and to my Core.

The tiny Dungeon Seed, the piece of Dungeon Core I’d absorbed that had assisted and directed my advancement from that moment on, grew to more than twice its previous side as it absorbed the Tribulation Lightning. My skin was steaming. I felt charbroiled, but I grinned as the last remnants of the Lightning soaked into my Core. I looked up and laughed, only to see the clouds remained. A bolt of brilliant Red blasted downward, and I was under assault by Elemental Fire.

I screamed, collapsing to my back and writhing in pain. Sia’s presence held back some of it, and I was able to recover my wits. I looked upward, then bellowed, “You will not defeat me! I will survive and thrive through your punishment!” I grabbed the Fire and forced it to my Core. I shrieked in agony and determination, gripping every drop of the Fire and making it strengthen me.

The Fire dwindled, then a column of Air swirled around me, slicing my skin apart. After Air, Metal pierced through me, leaving me a bleeding wreck on the stone surface. Earth swallowed me, crushing both my legs before I got control. Wood caused my injured body parts to grow too quickly, leaving me with legs thrice the size they should be and covered in tumors before I was able to rip the offending pieces away.

I drowned for nearly two minutes, Water filling my lungs and every pocket of air in my body before I forced it out. I froze afterwards, every dollop of heat removed from me until I could engage my own personal Fire Aether to reheat myself. I stared up at the sky, panting while laying on the ground, then yelled out, “Is that the best you can do?! Attack me with Aether that I’ve already tempered against!” I grinned up at the clouds. “I can already tell that you made me stronger, not weaker. I survived your test, now back off!”

The world rumbled, thunder coming from all around me, and one last bolt, the final challenge, sundered down on me. It was pitch black, feeling like it was absorbing both the light and the hope from my surroundings. I screamed, forcing every bit of Aether I could into my fist as I punched at the bolt. My hand, coated in a rolling maelstrom of Aether, slammed into the final Tribulation lightning, and an explosion of Aether ripped through me.

Despair and Agony, types of Aether I’d never wanted to contemplate, poured into my mind, and I bellowed in pain as they tried to drown me. In desperation, I created Joy Aether, thinking of Jamila, Vaya, Aleks, Ma and Pa, Librarian Narwan, Headmaster Glav, and everyone else who made my presence on this planet, on Zemia, worthwhile.

I WILL NOT FAIL THEM! I WILL NOT PERISH WHEN THEY NEED ME. I REFUSE TO SUBMIT. I REFUSE TO BACK DOWN. I WILL ADVANCE! I WILL SUCCEED! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME! I REFUSE! My thoughts thundered through the sky, and the black lightning dispersed. My Core absorbed every bit, and a new layer formed. Tiny flickers of Plasma played along it, and the different layers sealed together.

I lay panting on the ground, Aether and energy flowing through me at a rate thousands of times greater than only an hour ago. I looked over at Sia, seeing the magnificent Elemental Zarorzel also scorched by Lightning but standing strong.

Sia nodded at me, and I grinned back, before collapsing to the ground, exhausted.