Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 19

The silence after Sionna’s outburst was terrifying. Alex sat still and watched the aether around her tremble with fury. When she finally spoke again, her voice was cold.

“Listen well, Alexander Pierce.” She began pacing slowly around the table. “You follow a path of something that should not be taught anymore. Something that nearly burned this world, and every world connected to it, to ash.”

Alex straightened in his chair. “The [Asura’s Armament]? It’s just a skill I got from my Martial Style.” He insisted, not understanding her outburst. “Sure, the Demon Asura Style is a tough one to use, but it won’t kill me, will it? Or like, possess me with a spirit.”

Sionna stopped in front of him, her gaze was piercing enough that Alex felt it capable of flaying flesh from bone. “Neither. And both.”

She folded her hands behind her back, and her shoulders sagged ever so slightly. Her tone changed when she spoke next, from cold and angry to someone seemingly recalling a tragedy.

“The Asura were not demons by birth. They were a collective of mortal mages just like you and me, a loose brotherhood of mortal cultivators. Ones who existed long before the reign of the current Elemental Deities. Before the Heavenly System even stabilized into its current form. They were the first to bend the aether to their will without the guidance of strict System oversight. In those days, everything was exploration. They had no well-understood paths, no mentors to learn from. They also had no restrictions, growing their power with only pure, unrestrained will.”

Her gaze grew distant, as if peering back through centuries. “They crafted their own cultivation methods, their own custom paths of power, and climbed through the tiers faster than anyone before or since. Each one rose from nothing to rival the stars. Orange Lightning tribulations were simply routine. Blackfire storms were their baptism. And then… then they reached too high.”

She turned back toward Alex.

“It’s said that when the Asura neared the Seventh Tier, the heavens, if you believe the old sect myths, fought against them. Thus, the Asura Wars began. Their power destabilized the entire Aetherios solar system. Planets were shattered, and ley lines inverted. Every realm was drawn into madness.” She exhaled softly, shaking her head. “And then, as suddenly as they appeared, they vanished, erased. Some say the Heavens themselves struck them down. Others say they burned themselves out and died. Regardless, their legacy was sealed away. Their techniques and paths became forbidden for many years. For centuries after, even uttering the name ‘Asura’ in the old empires was once a death sentence.”

Alex leaned back slowly, his mind spinning. There was so much baked into what she had said. Things that confirmed parts of his understanding of history, and parts that just raised more questions.

So the Asura rose after the Dragonkin Wars. He thought to himself.

What he had learned from Amnios was that the arrival of the Dark Heavens was what started the wars against the dragons. The dragons failed, and the Heavens, the System, established itself as the dominating force in Aetherios.

The Asura would have come after. How long after, he didn’t know. It could have been a thousand years, it could have been a century.

But other things Lady Sionnadel said had stood out to him. The confirmation of the orange lightning being a response to the Asura’s Path, being one. The tease of the mythical “Seventh Tier” being another.

Alex didn’t know what ‘Blackfire’ was, he guessed it was another tribulation. And he only had a passing idea of the ‘Elemental Deities’. They were the Gods worshiped by the current denizens he had heard about so far. One Deity for each element.

Yet all of that could wait; right now, he needed to understand exactly what Sylvaris had gifted him.

“So… you’re saying this style—the thing my old teacher gave me—is part of that? Of an entire civilization that fought the Heavens?”

Sionna gave a single sharp nod. “Every Asura’s martial path shared one core truth: corruption as power. They cultivated through fury, pain, greed, lust and rage. The longer they fought, the stronger they became. Their strikes carried the weight of those concepts, their fury feeding into their essence.”

She paused a moment, her finger tapped at her lips as if in deep thought. “But it consumed them. Slowly at first, sure. But irrevocably. By the time of the Asura Rebellion, every last one had gone mad, driven insane by their own cultivation paths. The wrath that empowered them also devoured their minds and twisted their souls. It's hard to know exactly what happened back then, almost all records were destroyed, and only tales of the events survive. But I’d venture to guess...The Asura did not lose the war, Alexander. They were consumed by their own wrath.”

Alex didn’t speak for a long time. His thoughts drifted back to Sylvaris, and how calm the elf had been in offering him the Demon Asura Style. Despite the tale of having killed the last person who used it, his choice had seemed almost casual.

Had Sylvaris been someone who fought in the Asura Rebellion? Could he really be that old, that powerful? Why would he give this to him? A foreigner, a stray human ripped from another universe?

“Maybe he knew,” Alex murmured finally. “Maybe he knew it was dangerous. But also that it was my only shot.”

Sionna’s eyes softened slightly. “Or perhaps he knew you would die, and was using you as an experiment.”

He didn’t want to believe that Sylvaris had tricked him. He wanted to think that the elf truly had been a kind soul that was looking to help a human in desperate need. Everything he remembered about the man said he wasn’t trying to push Alex to his death. He had taught him far more than just the Martial Style, and Alex still used and learned from his scroll to that day.

Still, he didn’t know for sure. And he had no way to ask him. Pondering the what-ifs wouldn’t assist him right then, anyway. And he couldn’t just pick up a new Martial Style and start from scratch.

Well he could, but Alex didn’t want to.

“Either way, it’s mine now. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t felt this... corruption before, the wrath when I push too far. Or the hunger in the strikes. But I’ve already made my choice. And I’ve taken steps to offset it already. My Imprints, my enchantments… everything I’ve done has been to offset that descent.”

The Magus stared at him for several long moments. Then she exhaled sharply through her nose and clicked her tongue. “Tsk. Stubborn little adept. Well, it’s not like following the Asura Style is illegal, or even forbidden, not anymore. Just everyone knows it’s insane to do it, so no one tries.”

Alex gave a faint, weary smile. “You wouldn’t be the first to call me that.”

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Sionna’s expression smoothed back into cold professionalism. “Very well, then. If you insist on walking this blade’s edge, we’ll make sure you don’t fall off it.”

She turned away, waving her hand, and the table vanished in a swirl of green aether. “We will alter your training schedule. You’ll still spar and work on your aether control, but we’ll add meditation drills and emotional dampening practices. You will not let your wrath control you, or I’ll have you locked in a suppression field until you calm.”

Alex rose to his feet, nodding once. “Fair enough. I’ll take whatever training you can throw at me.”

Sionna shot him a sidelong glance as she walked toward the exit. “Careful what you ask for, boy. The Asura fell because they thought they were unbreakable.”

Then, over her shoulder, she left him with some final encouragement. “Don’t follow their path all the way to the same end.”

***

The lamps in the team’s quarters were set to dim, casting warm amber light across the carved stone walls. By the time Alex stepped through the door, he could already hear the others inside having quiet conversation, added to by laughter and the sound of boots unlacing and metal clinking as armor was stripped off piece by piece.

He closed the door behind him, letting out a slow breath as he did so. The scent of incense and oil polish hung faintly in the air as the Empire’s attempt at smothering away the undercurrent of sulfur stench from the volcano.

Seeing everyone was alive and in good spirits didn’t change the fact that he was bone-tired. His muscles ached from being tossed around by a woman half his height, and his head hurt even more so from the mangled and twisted history he was trying to unravel in his mind.

Most of the others had beaten him back to the quarters. Devon was sprawled over one of the couches with a notebook full of messy runic sketches. Peter sat in the corner, rubbing his shoulder with a healing salve while muttering to himself. Allie was curled in one of the chairs, eyes closed, and her skin glowing faintly as threads of pale gold and shadowy light twisted over her fingers in alternating rhythm. Garret was upside down on the far couch with his boots kicked up against the wall. Kate stood, as always, well composed with her hair tied back neatly, her posture straight even as fatigue softened her eyes.

Alex grunted, unbuckling his boots and setting them on the floor with a thud. The red flame paint Garret had adorned them with long ago had been scuffed from the sparring. He slipped off his bracers next and dropped them onto the couch beside Garret, stretching out with a sigh.

“Rough day?” Devon asked without looking up from his notebook.

“You have no idea,” Alex muttered. “I think my mentor’s goal is to break me in half rather than teach me.”

Garret laughed, rolling onto his stomach. “Sounds familiar.”

Kate raised an eyebrow. “Let me guess. Your mentor demands strict and quiet responses, and expects perfection?”

“Strict,” Alex said. “Not quiet though. During our spar she swore at me in elvish before throwing me against a wall.”

That got a few laughs, even from Allie, who cracked one eye open.

“Guess we all had a day,” Peter said. “My mentor’s got me pushing deeper into reinforcement arrays. She says I’m ‘sloppy wet nosed child’. Which, fair, but still…”

Kate nodded. “Mine has me practicing temperature control. Apparently my flames ‘lack refinement.’” She gave a faint, mocking sniff.

Garret snorted. “I’d pay to see that lesson.”

Allie leaned back with a groan. “At least you’re not being forced to alternate light and dark aether every three seconds. The two elements don’t exactly get along well when they touch. Do you have any idea how much that hurts after the twentieth cycle? My head still feels like A dozen Chimera pummeled my skull.”

Devon looked up from his notes, pushing up his glasses. “That actually sounds fascinating. The constant internal strain from the opposing aethers must force your channels to balance perfectly.”

Allie pointed at him. “Devon, if you say one more word that makes my pain sound like a lab experiment, I’m throwing you out the window.”

Laughter rippled through the room again.

Garret, still lounging but now kicking his feet back and forth like a preteen girl, added, “My guy just told me to meditate. Then he threw swords at me. For six hours. Said it would ‘build my instincts.’”

That brought on another round of laughter.

Alex leaned back with a smile. They were all beat to hell, and yet for the first time in days, it felt normal. Like old times back on Earth at the base during off time, just trading stories, licking wounds, pretending everything was fine.

Eventually, the rest of the team filtered in as well, Holly among them. Her hair was messy, her expression tired but brightening when she spotted Alex. Without a word, she crossed the room, climbed right into his lap, and made herself comfortable.

The others groaned in unison.

“Seriously?” Garret complained. “You two are disgusting.”

“Envy looks bad on you,” Holly said sweetly, nuzzling into Alex’s chest.

Kate rolled her eyes. “You’re both insufferable.”

Alex chuckled, resting a hand around Holly’s waist.

For a while the room filled with the comfortable buzz of conversation again. Everyone talked about their plans, lessons, small jokes about their mentors. But it was Zach who finally broke the cheery air and brought everyone back to reality.

“We need to earn more merit,” he said simply.

The laughter died down and heads turned.

Zach was standing near the door with his arms crossed and his dark eyes focused. “Training’s good and all. But without merit, we’re not getting anywhere near the Inheritance Gate. We’re just preparing for nothing if we don’t even earn slots for the Dungeon. The basic mission requests were good for us to learn how everything works at first. But, they just won’t keep us ahead of the competition, the rewards are too low.”

Alex nodded slowly. “He’s right.”

Kate sighed. “So what’s the plan, then?”

Alex rubbed his jaw, thinking. “There’s the arena. They award merit for beast fights. The stronger the beast, the more points. It’s not glorious, even if it’s the Arena. Really it’s more like grunt work.”

Garret groaned. “Of course you’d suggest that.”

Devon smirked. “Yeah, only Alex would call fighting Arcane Beasts grunt work.”

“Hey,” Alex said with a shrug. “It’s efficient.”

“Efficiently suicidal,” Allie muttered.

Devon tapped his pen against the notebook. “Crafting might be they way to go. They give merit for enchantments and artificed gear, too. Though I bet the Empire tracks every bit of data from what we make. Materials, runes, attunement types—”

“—and where our skill levels are, and when they evolve,” Alex finished, grimacing. “Yeah. That’s what worries me. Every slate we hand over to the Empire is another peek into our status screens. They’re collecting information, that’s a given. And materials and resources from such things will cost more than were currently have.”

Peter frowned. “What else is new? It’s an Empire of greedy and selfish mages.”

Kate leaned back, thinking aloud. “We could take another dungeon contract, but most of the ones nearby the capital are sealed or restricted to Magus tier mages. Anything decent’s a weeks travel away.”

Tom-Tom eventually raised a his small clawed hand and everyone turned to him. “Can Alex not just demand resources and merit? He is Dragon, it is his right to build riches for his hoard, yes? No one can deny Dragon a payment.”

“Uh…” Alex stammered as everyone else laughed.

The kobold seemed be confused by their reaction, his lips peeling back in a nervous smile as his tail twitched about wildly. “Yes, see, very simple. Funny we did not think of this sooner.”

“No, no, Tom-Tom,” Alex shook his head. “First of all, again, I’m not a dragon. Not even close. Not according to Amnios anyway. Secondly, no one pays tithe to dragons anymore, especially not ones that look like me.”

The kobold shrank at that, and chattered softly.

“It’s okay buddy.” Cole patted his shoulder. “It was a good idea. Just wouldn’t work right now.”

Garret sighed dramatically. “So basically, we’re out of luck unless we want to risk death, waste time in long travel, have Alex grow wings and a tail, or dive into bankruptcy.”

“That’s the general theme,” Alex said dryly.

Ideas kept bouncing back and forth, escort missions, artifact hunts, teaching lessons for a fee, until the room started to feel heavy with fatigue again. The excitement of their chatter dulled into tired murmurs.

Finally, Alex stood, lifting Holly gently from his lap into his arms. “Alright. Enough strategizing. I need sleep before I can even think about fighting anything.”

Garret made a mock salute. “Sweet dreams, dragon boy.”

“Don’t snore too loud,” Kate added without looking up from the book she’d started flipping through.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Alex said, smirking faintly.

He carried Holly out of the room, her head resting against his shoulder as the door closed behind them and leaving the others’ quiet murmurs fading into the dim light of the living quarters.

While he did, indeed, want to get some sorely missing sleep, Alex wasn’t actually unsure about what he was going to do for merit. He had already said what his plan was. And while the others might tease him for being a battle maniac, he knew there was very little opportunity to gain merit, train his skills and improve himself all at the same time.

Except one.

He would go fight monsters in the arena. He would spill blood and earn his spot in the Inheritance Dungeon.

Or die trying.