Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 33: Steps and Leaps

The next fighters walked past him to stepped on their assigned platforms. Kletos among them, though the kid did give a bare nod his way as he walked passed the stunned for of Alex standing at the edge of the Arena.

He hadn’t seen the kid since the cruiser ship and the war against the chimera. That mad, violent scramble of a prison break with Symon and Aburi. Back then, Kletos had been just another prisoner, a silent and forlorn looking kid. Now, he stood in the center of a floating platform, aether swirling around him in cold ripples of black and gold.

From what Alex could see, Kletos didn’t use any chants or spell focus for the effect, nor did it appear he was using an aether pattern as Alex did for his spells. The was but a mere tremble in the ambient aether, and suddenly it obeyed some command that Alex couldn’t hear.

Back in the battlefield against the chimera, Alex had been far too busy with the chimera to see how Kletos had fought among the foot soldiers. But now, it looked like the kid was someone he should have been paying attention to.

His opponent sent projectiles of rock at him and Kletos didn’t even move. The rocks neared him, and then the aether in their construction unraveled, as if shrinking up and shriveling under the child’s glare alone.

Again, Alex saw nothing to indicate how Kletos was doing it.

It was like the aether refused to harm him.

A tendril of shadow coiled upward from Kletos’ feet, hardened into a blade, and struck his opponent with the precision of a guillotine, cutting him open from left shoulder to right ribs. The fight was over before most of the crowd realized it had begun. Kletos didn’t even watch his opponent fall. He simply turned, stoic and somber expression unchanged, and walked off the platform as if none of it mattered.

Alex exhaled slowly, unsure of what he had seen. “What the hell happened to you, kid?”

“Impressive, isn’t he?” Lady Xhiu’s voice pulled him back to the arena. He didn’t even notice that she had left the viewing box and had come up behind him. “I managed to have him sponsored by House Penlar, once of the royal families with a legitimate claim to the throne. To them, he is their new favorite pet. A dangerous one, though. The nobles adore his mystery, and the sects love his silent obedience.”

Alex shook his head. “He doesn’t look obedient.”

“No,” she admitted, “he doesn’t.”

Before Alex could say more, a new man stepped out from the arena’s archway, where the fighters were supposed to be waiting. He was dressed plainly with a sharp contrast to the jeweled robes and crest-marked attire of everyone else that he knew to be representative or ambassador to some sect or faction. And he sure as hell didn’t look like a fighter.

His cloak was dark gray, trimmed with black. His face was smooth, with no evidence of facial hair, but his eyes… his eyes were a beady black and stone cold.

“Worldstrider Pierce,” the man said with a polite bow. “My patron has watched your rise with great interest.”

Alex straightened. “That so?”

It was at that moment Kletos was walking by, returning from his fight. Alex wanted to intercept him, to talk with the kid and figure out more of his abilities. But the arrival of Lady Xhiu, and the approach of this new man held him in place. He felt he’d be remiss to just walk away.

Kletos strolled by them silently, ignoring them all.

The man smiled faintly and waited for the kid to walk out of earshot before continuing. “You’ve shown talent as not just a fighter, but as an inventor. Someone who adapts to their situation and finds solutions where others do not.” The man pulled out a dull red potion, showing it to Alex. It was one of the poison resistance removal elixirs that Alex had designed and then sold to the Urhara Empire. “That… isn’t common among Adepts.”

“I try,” Alex said with a forced smile. “Your patron have a name?”

“Not one I’m authorized to share,” the man replied. “But they wished to extend a simple message: Opportunity awaits those who have suffered what you have.”

His eyes narrowed. “What I’ve suffered?”

The man inclined his head, unbothered. “You’ve been displaced. Lost. Forced to navigate a world that is not your own. My patron understands that experience very well. If you ever wish to… speak of it… a message can be sent.”

“If a sponsor wishes to support Mr. Pierce, this is not the way to go about things,” Lady Xhiu spoke up then, agitation heavy in her words. For some reason, she didn’t like this man. Alex could guess it was because she didn’t know who he was, and that pissed her off more than him being someone she hated.

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“Apologies, my lady,” he gave a respectful bow. “I only do as I’m told. No insult is intended. My message is delivered. I will beg your pardon and take my leave. Though I was told to pass on one final thing before that.”

Lady Xhiu hissed between her teeth before finally gesturing for the man to continue.

He nodded and looked Alex in the eyes. “One small step for man. One giant leap, for mankind.”

And then, before he could answer, the man stepped away, dissolving into the air like smoke.

Alex stood, wide eyed and utterly astounded. What the man had said, it was a phrase that he knew, of course. Everyone knew it, it was perhaps one of the most famous phrases in the world.

His old world.

Earth.

***

By the time Alex returned to the villa, the day was nearing it’s end. Orange light bled across the city, casting the volcanic walls in a rich glow.

After the unknown messenger, he remained perplexed for the rest of the day. His thoughts were still a jumble even then, as he tried to figure out what, and who. The why and the how of it all.

It was clear someone with knowledge of Earth was reaching out to him. But he had no idea of who they might be, or what their intentions were. Worldstriders were rare, but not impossibly so. The idea someone in Aetherios had ran into one before was easily plausible. That was even hinted at by a few nobles in Terraxum, even if Alex or the others were ever able to confirm it.

But that phrase meant someone was, or knew, a worldstrider from Earth. Or at least somehow knew enough to pretend as much.

He didn’t have a lot of information, and he didn’t want to jump to conclusions. But still…

“There was tattoo guy,” Obby reminded him.

That was also true. Alex had definitely seen a man with a tattoo that looked to have been from Earth. It was possible, even likely, that ‘Tattoo Guy’ and the man the messenger worked for, were the same person.

But I don’t know for sure. He thought.

“No, but it’s pretty damn likely. What are the chances two random people with connections or knowledge from Earth are here?”

Again, Obby was right. It was crazy to think it was two separate people. But that still left him with the questions of who, how, and why.

Having nothing else to go on, and no idea what to do about this, Alex decided not to tell the others about it quite yet. He didn’t want to give them some strange sense of false hope. Nor to have them distracted during their fights.

Until he knew more, he’d keep it to himself.

With all the fights concluded for the day, they all ended up at the villa to rest until tomorrow. The healers had taken care of their bodies, even Alex’s wounds had been seen to, but that didn’t remove mental fatigue. They all needed a bit to relax.

When Alex walked out of his room and back into the shared living quarters, everyone looked up. Some with faces affixed with happy achievement, some with exhaustion.

“So,” Kate said, finally breaking the silence. “How many offers did you get, oh ‘rising star, the Enigma Adept’?”

Alex gave a faint smirk. “So few enough that I’m thinking I should be scared of all the offers you guys received.”

“That’s the right reaction,” Zach muttered darkly.

Alex ignored the strange jab, and moved to the table, setting down his storage bracelet. “In seriousness, I know everyone’s got sponsors circling and offers being thrown at them. Nobles, sects, even merchants. I’m not gonna tell you who to trust, just… remember what the end game is.”

Holly frowned. “The inheritance.”

“Exactly,” Alex said. “That’s why we accepted Lady Xhiu’s help and what we came to this city for. That’s how we win this stupid System Trial. Whatever deals you make, whatever promises you take, I don’t care. just make sure you are walking into that dungeon when it opens.”

Selka looked up from her seat. “That’s for your worldstriders. We know the bind the System has you all in, and what you are shooting for. So if you all make it… and you pass this Trial, then you are all good. But after that?”

Alex hesitated a moment as he thought. He took a breath. “After that, we use what we earned to get everyone home. A teleportation mage, a spatial gate, whatever it is. We finish this System’s trial… and then we leave this place behind.”

No one spoke for a long time.

Then Garret shifted uneasily on the couch. “You really think that’s possible?”

Alex looked around the room.

“Yeah,” he said. “I have to.”

***

The matches the following day didn’t start out great for them.

As it turned out, Tom-Tom was the first to lose his match. Since they were still in single elimination, that meant he was out of the tournament completely, which dealt a huge blow to the team’s morale.

And it didn’t stop there.

Myrae was the next to lose her fight and thus the next to be eliminated from the standings.

It wasn’t all hopeless, though. Tom-Tom was the weakest among them, even if the little kobold had twice the passion and drive as everyone else, he just didn’t cut it in terms of sheer combat power. Meanwhile, Myrae was mostly a dedicated healer and support. Against offensive combatants, it was only a matter of time before she got matched with someone who would overpower her. That just happened to be that day.

And neither Tom-Tom nor Myrae were worldstriders. Them being eliminated didn’t mean they would have an even larger chance of the System killing them outright. It sucked, though it wasn’t a huge loss.

But, it wasn’t only Myrae that ended up getting a bad match up.

Lance also was taken out in his fight. But it was to be expected once his opponent was named. Delg Glanhig, the dwarven fighter from the Adamant Empire and number five in the merit rankings, top ten in the assessed power rankings.

It wasn’t a fair fight, the dwarf had far better control of aether than Lance did, and his equipment was much better. Size be damned, the small fighter absolutely handed Lance his ass.

The high feeling of having been on a winning streak was now gone.

Reality settled in. The worldstriders were coming to terms with the fact that they were not actually the powerhouses they wished they were. Things could go wrong. Opponents could have powers or tricks they couldn’t even dream of.

And with their lives on the line here. For some of them, losing might even be a death sentence once the System Trial timer hit zero.

Holly’s hand found Alex’s, and she gave a soft squeeze.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

Alex looked around at their team, then met her eyes with a shaky smile.

“I’m thinking we aren’t making it home,” he said.

“I’m thinking… we all just might die here.”