Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Book 2: Chapter 18: Out of Time

A healing potion crossed his lips the moment Holly appeared next to him. He knew it was Holly because her hair had fallen over her face, the loose strands brought with them an aroma that tickled his nose. It smelled like lavender and thyme, she always smelled like that. He really liked that about her.

The jarring cracks and pops that followed the potion caused Alex to groan loudly. His voice was still hoarse, his lung still stitching itself closed under the guidance of the healing intent of the liquid.

“Dying sometimes seems like it would be a nice change for once,” he managed to speak once his rib shifted back into place. For the most part at least.

She placed a hand gently on his shoulder. “Stay still, let your body do it’s thing.”

“Dude... That. Was. Awesome!” Garret loomed over him, yelling down at him. “What was that? It’s like you entered a Dragon Hero form or something.”

“I’m not... entirely… sure… ,” he spoke between hitched breaths and rolled over onto his back to see everyone else pressed in close at this point. “New thing… a constitution ability.”

“Constitution?” Eric asked.

“Got it from… an item.”

Tom-Tom snaked his way underfoot of the group until he managed to crawl his way on to of Alex’s stomach, eliciting a series of gasps and groans. He peered down at Alex with wide, snake slitted eyes. “Tom-Tom say you are Dragon-Blood-One. He say. He knew.”

“Yeah, yeah, get.. off,” he shifted, throwing the small lizardman away with his weight. He was able to sit up at this point. Bones reset and joints back in their proper places. The cuts, bruises and sheer exhaustion was still there though.

He looked inward, diving into his soulspace to see what had happened to the Wyrm-heart floating in the realm. Everything first appeared as it should be. The mists had returned, obscuring the edges of the soulspace and giving the illusion of infinity. The veins and threads of aether now gone. The bond he had with Obby he could still feel anchored off to his right somewhere.

But his attention was above the remnants of his core.

It’s different.

The heart, once blue-purple veins, muscles and scales, beating slowly but strongly, had now diminished somewhat. It was still there, and still the same size. Beating every few seconds. There was something about it that was off to Alex though. He remembered a vibrancy to the organ, a feeling of strength and inevitability.

Now, it was, less.

“It needs time to regain energy.” Obby’s freaky cyclops body appeared over his shoulder, making him jump slightly.

What do you mean?

“Remember when you were cultivating? When it was siphoning some of your aether? It used it all. Now it needs to recharge, regain its strength. That’s what I can get from the data anyway.”

He nodded to himself, taking in Obby’s words. It made sense to him. If the thing needed aether, it would siphon it from him during his cultivation, and then use it for… whatever it did.

What can you see about this thing now? Do you know what it actually does now?

The lanky figure floated out close tot he heart. One long arm reached out, slender finger-like appendages tapping along the scales and muscle. “I still can’t see much, but I can get more than I had before. Obviously, it provides a huge augmentor effect to your body. It looks like there are restrictions on when it activates though. One, you have to be critically injured. Two, you have to be fighting something stronger than you.”

Alright, but stronger in what way? A higher strength stat? Someone at a higher Tier?

“That I can’t figure out. It seems to… decide on its own? There a latent will attached to this thing. Not sentient, certainly not conscious, but it seems to be making the rules.”

Fuck, that’s not good. I don’t want to be going serpent-mode randomly while sparring with someone.

“You don’t have to worry about that for now. Not for awhile actually. It’s recovering, and still needs to replenish its energy, as I said.” Obby floated back down to hover by his shoulder. “You should get back to the real world, your meat friends are probably worried you’re brain dead.”

“Slap him, that usually helps,” Garret said.

“No, that might worsen a brain injury, you idiot. Obviously that has happened too many times to you already.” Allie said.

Alex shook his head, and began standing up. “I’m fine, was just feeling around to see what happened to my body.”

He felt a hand under his right armpit, helping him upright. He looked to find it was Peter. He flashed a smile at Alex and let go once he had his feet fully under him.

A mental nudge brought a system screen up into his vision.