Veil of Aether

Mia eventually stirred from her cultivation, eyes fluttering open with a dazed breath. She couldn’t quite explain what had changed—but something had. Her body felt… lighter. Stronger. For the first time in what felt like forever, her joints didn’t ache, her bones didn’t sting, and her limbs didn’t feel like they were made of twigs.

She blinked slowly, adjusting to her surroundings—just in time to hear the faint sound of voices outside her awareness. Muffled, unclear at first. But they grew sharper. Closer.

“…so we drop the big rock on her head, right?” came Kei Y’s voice, far too casual.

“Yeah, should be quick. Clean hit,” Inpu added.

“I’ll aim,” Silvie offered.

Mia’s eyes widened.

Wait—what?

Her breath caught as she heard another voice, one that—mercifully—sounded horrified.

“Are you all insane?!” Kei M barked. “Her bones are brittle! Just drop it anywhere on her and she’s gone in an instant!”

Mia nearly burst into tears.

What in the world was going on?!

She shot up, panic in her chest. “WHAT?!” she screamed, her voice shrill and full of terror.

All heads turned.

“There she is!” Silvie shouted. “Hurry, before she runs!”

Kei Y, Inpu, and Kei M—yes, even the one who had objected seconds ago—were suddenly all holding up the same large rock above their heads.

Mia didn’t wait for further clarification.

With a squeak of pure fear, she turned and bolted out the door, legs moving faster than they ever had in her life. Her feet slapped the ground, heart racing, breath wheezing.

Behind her, the trio lowered the stone slowly, blinking.

Kei M had been the first to speak. “She’s… running?”

They all stared, stunned. The extremely frail girl who once broke a bone just from biting too hard… was now sprinting across the clearing.

“Her bones aren’t breaking?” Silvie added, her voice tinged with disbelief.

None of them moved, frozen as they watched Mia bolt away at full speed, her limbs pumping, her steps steady. Even the overwhelming stench she’d left behind was momentarily forgotten—the sheer absurdity of the sight outshining everything else.

They’d all been briefed. Even Inpu, who had only recently joined them, had been warned about how fragile she was. “She once fractured a rib trying to sit down too fast,” Kei M had said.

And yet, there she was. Sprinting. Not wobbling. Not stumbling. Sprinting.

Fueled by pure terror after overhearing the conversation about dropping a stone on her, Mia had no time to think—only react. Her body moved on instinct, and adrenaline carried her far. She ran until her lungs burned and her legs turned to jelly.

Finally, after nearly two minutes of all-out sprinting, she came to a stumbling stop.

Gasping for air, she threw her hand against the nearest wall to steady herself, slapping it with more force than she realized. “Hah… hah… wait… ow?” she blinked, wincing slightly. “My hand stings—”

Then she froze.

She blinked again, slowly turning her head to stare at her legs, then her arms.

“I ran?” she muttered, eyes wide. “I ran?”

A second of silence passed. Then panic flared in her chest.

“Oh no—my bones!” she gasped, going pale as she flailed her arms in a frenzy, fully expecting to hear something crack or feel something snap.

But nothing happened.

No sharp pain. No stiffness. No splinters of agony running up her limbs. Her breathing slowed as the panic receded.

She stood upright, completely still… and realized something life-changing.

She felt fine.

No discomfort. No pressure. No pain.

For the first time in years, Mia’s body didn’t feel like a glass sculpture teetering on the edge of collapse. She stood tall, breathed deep, and felt whole.

“…I’m okay?” she whispered, a smile creeping onto her face.

Then her smile widened. She spun once in place, half-laughing in disbelief.

“I’m okay!”

The rest of the group finally caught up to her, slightly breathless and clearly panicked—especially Kei M, who scanned her body for any sign of injury.

Mia tensed when she saw them approaching, instinctively taking a small step back. But when she saw no one holding a stone, rope, or any other suspicious tool of murder, her shoulders slowly relaxed.

“You’re okay?” Kei M asked carefully, searching her expression. “Nothing hurts?”

“Uh… yeah,” Mia said, still slightly breathless. She squeezed her hands into fists, rotated her shoulders, bent her knees, and even hopped in place a little—every motion far too reckless for someone who used to break bones from sneezing too hard. “I feel fine!”

Then, without warning, she bolted toward Kei M and threw her arms around him in the tightest hug she could manage.

“I’M FINE!” she shouted with joy, squeezing him like she was trying to wring water from a towel.

Kei M panicked, stiffening like he’d just stepped on a landmine. “M-Mia?! Be careful! Your—” He paused mid-sentence when he realized… nothing was happening. No sudden wince. No crack. No need for emergency treatment.

She was actually fine.

“…Well, that’s something,” Kei Y muttered.

They all stared at her for a moment longer, their expressions a mix of disbelief and quiet happiness. No more delicate treatments. No more flinching every time she moved. Just a normal girl, laughing and spinning around like she’d been given a second chance at life.

It was… a good moment.

But it didn’t last.

Mia’s nose twitched. Her expression twisted.

“Ewww—Kei, you stink!” she gagged, jumping back and dramatically pinching her nose.

Kei M immediately pointed a finger. “That’s not me—it’s you! It’s from you and that black sludge you were sitting in!”

She paused and gave herself a sniff. One sniff.

“—OH MY GOD,” she choked, recoiling like she’d just been slapped in the face with a rotten boot. “I smell like the inside of an unwashed ogre!”

Without hesitation, Silvie sighed and raised her hand. A gentle swirl of Water Force formed around her palm before it expanded into a wave, washing over both Mia and Kei M in a surprisingly warm burst. It soaked them both completely, before drawing away most of the filth—and definitely dulling the stench.

“That should help a bit,” Silvie said dryly, as Kei M wrung out his shirt and Mia shook her dripping hair like a soaked puppy.

They both nodded in agreement, looking slightly less like rotting corpses now.

Mia grinned sheepishly. “Thanks… I’ll take being drenched over smelling like demon butt any day.”

Back at the house, Silvie took charge once more. With a fluid motion of her hand, she summoned a wave of Water Force, sweeping it through the interior of the house. The lingering filth, that horrid, soul-wrenching stench that had assaulted them earlier, was washed away in moments.

Not one to stop at clean, she followed it up with Nature Force. Vines briefly coiled around her fingers before unraveling into the air, releasing a sweet, gentle floral fragrance—like blooming petals on a spring breeze. The scent clung to the walls and floor, replacing the nightmare odor with something soft, relaxing… alive.

Kei Y, now with greater access to his Breeze Force thanks to the aether restoration in his body and the environment, amplified the effect. With a flick of his fingers, he summoned a powerful gust that swept through the house, spreading the floral scent and properly airing out the space.

Only once the house was clean—physically and spiritually—did everyone settle in, sitting cross-legged or slouched against furniture. Their minds, however, were racing.

“We need to figure out what happened to Mia,” Kei Y said, looking around.

“She broke through,” Silvie confirmed. “That much is obvious. But the way she did it… it’s not normal.”

“Could it be the runes?” Kei M offered. “Or maybe the pure aether she was absorbing? The stuff we used to stabilize the area?”

They tossed around ideas—impurities purged by cleansing techniques, breakthrough timing aligning with environment shifts, internal Force synchronization—but none of the theories really stuck.

Then Inpu raised a hand slowly. “Ever since we came back inside after our training session… I’ve been sensing something strange coming from her,” he said carefully. “It’s Balance Force—but it’s... potent. Heavier. More mature than anything I’ve felt from her before.”

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“You think she absorbed it?” Kei M asked, leaning forward. “You always talk about Balance like it’s a scale. Maybe your view of Balance Force somehow influenced how she processed her body’s condition?”

Inpu nodded slowly. “If there was a major imbalance—her brittle body, constant weakness—then for it to be corrected… something massive would’ve had to shift in response. The kind of shift that needs a very strong balancing force.”

His eyes turned toward Kei Y and Silvie, then toward Kei M. The implication didn’t need to be said aloud.

They had powered his runes.

They had acted as catalysts.

While the group continued theorizing, Mia quietly sat in the center of the room, calmly breathing. Her body, now free of impurities, was a conduit for aether—each inhale and exhale bringing in more of it naturally, effortlessly. It was only now, truly now, that she realized just how different her body felt.

Then she raised her hand and gently called upon Balance Force.

The shift in the room was immediate.

A ripple echoed through the air, subtle but powerful. Aether coalesced around her, the strands of energy dancing with visible joy, flowing toward her like moths to flame. The flow wasn’t just responsive—it was eager, the aether practically celebrating her presence.

“Woah,” Inpu breathed, his face pale with disbelief. “That’s... that’s more Balance Force than I’ve ever been able to summon…”

But the others weren’t looking at the force.

They were looking at theaether.

It shimmered around her—playful, light, emotionally expressive in a way that defied logic. They had seen it before.

All three of them said it at once, voices overlapping in stunned realization.

“God Spark!”

Mia blinked, startled by the shout. “H-Huh? What?”

Inpu turned to them, confused. “God… Spark? What’s that?”

But Kei Y and Silvie weren’t paying attention anymore. They were both staring at Kei M, who looked just as shocked as they were.

And that’s when it happened.

“Huh?!” they both said in perfect unison, pointing accusing fingers at him. “How did YOU know?!”

Kei M stared back at them, eyes wide, still caught in the same disbelief as they were.

“…Wait,” he muttered, slowly putting the pieces together. “You’re God Sparks too?”

“What did you mean too?” Kei Y and Silvie asked in perfect unison, voices rising with shared disbelief. Their expressions tensed as they continued, again in unison, “Are you saying… you’re one as well?”

The weight of the realization hit both of them, but especially Silvie.

She had grown up being told she was a once-in-a-generation anomaly—an impossibility born of nature’s favor. God Sparks weren’t just rare… they were the rarest, existing outside even the system’s ability to predict. And yet, not only had she met one—Kei Y—who was from the same world, but now there was a third... and he wasn't even from her timeline. There were two more from her planet’s past.

Even for someone like her, that was too much.

Meanwhile, Inpu—visibly confused by the sudden rise in tension—tilted his head. “Uh… what’s a God Spark? And why are you all freaking out?” he asked honestly.

Silvie turned to him and repeated the same explanation she’d once given to Kei Y, keeping her tone level but informative.

“So… you’re all God Sparks too?” Inpu asked quietly, eyes flicking between the group in disbelief.

“Nature,” Silvie said, calmly raising her hand and causing tendrils of vines to pulse through the floor beneath her feet.

“Wind,” Kei Y added, stirring a localized cyclone in the palm of his hand.

They both turned toward Kei M. After a beat, he lifted his hand. “Sound,” he said, his voice resonating twice, as if echoing through dimensions, the ripple of power humming in the air.

Still blinking in disbelief, Mia spoke up. “Is that what this title in my status screen means?” she asked innocently. “It says God Spark, and my force alignment says Reciprocal Equilibrium. Does that mean I’m like you guys too?”

There was a softness in her voice. Genuine curiosity. She didn’t realize just how insane her words were.

The others exchanged a glance. Four. Four God Sparks. That wasn't just rare—that was world-altering.

And yet… Mia was looking at them like she still didn’t fully grasp what that meant.

Inpu, meanwhile, sat silently. He rubbed his arm awkwardly, his posture shrinking slightly. “Wow… you guys are all amazing,” he muttered, his voice quieter than before. “I guess… my Scale Force alignment is second fiddle to yours, huh, Mia?”

He tried to laugh it off.

But no one missed the self-deprecating edge in his tone.

“You don’t need to feel bad, Inpu,” Silvie said gently, sensing the dip in his mood. “This kind of thing isn’t supposed to happen. Even in universes with trillions of lives, generations pass without one God Spark appearing. For four of us to be in the same place at the same time? That’s not just rare—it’s practically an anomaly.”

“And don’t think being a God Spark means being the best,” Kei M added. “God Sparks have been killed before. In fact, some of the best users of a force weren’t God Sparks. It just means we have an easier path than most. You could still surpass Mia one day.”

Inpu blinked in surprise.

Kei Y stepped in next, giving Inpu a light tap on the shoulder. “Look at what you did,” he said. “Without you, she might’ve never been revealed as a God Spark in the first place. You tipped the scale so hard, it pulled the veil right off her meager misfortune.”

Mia puffed her cheeks out at that. “Hey! You calling me meager, you meanie?!”

Kei Y just waved her off, clearly enjoying himself.

Inpu, though still a bit overwhelmed, found himself smiling again.

Whatever was coming next, at least now… he didn’t feel like the odd one out.

“At least I don’t feel so weak now,” Inpu said, beaming with a rare spark of confidence. “I can actually cultivate much easier now. Maybe one day, I can even form my core and become a real cultivator—join the ranks properly.”

The others glanced at him, a quiet warmth passing between them. For once, he didn’t sound like the odd one out in their strange little group. He sounded like someone who believed he belonged.

Just as the moment settled, Silvie turned her gaze toward Mia, arms crossed.

“Well,” she said, “since your body’s no longer brittle glass, and you are apparently a God Spark too… it’s time for training.”

Mia blinked, caught off guard. “Wait—me?”

Silvie nodded. “Since your force alignment is a minor branch under Balance Force, I’ll be teaching you Tai Chi as well. Don’t think you get special treatment.”

Mia took a step back. “I-I just broke through like… ten minutes ago!”

“No better time to start,” Silvie said flatly.

Mia gave her the most betrayed look she could muster, but Silvie had already turned away, stretching her arms as if preparing for a full lesson.

“You’re not serious—are you serious?!”

“Very.”

Mia let out a long groan, but a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She didn’t say it aloud, but deep down, it felt nice. Like she was really part of something.

Right then, several stomachs growled at once.

“Time to hunt rock hens,” Kei Y announced, patting his stomach. “Let’s go, Kei, Inpu—and since you don’t feel too weak anymore, you can take charge.”

“Wait—me?” Inpu blinked, caught off guard.

“You’ll be fine,” Kei Y grinned, already walking toward the gate. “Lead the way, commander.”

Kei M clapped Inpu on the back. “No pressure. You just need to not get us killed.”

The three boys set out, leaving Mia and Silvie behind at the house. Mia watched them go with a conflicted expression—torn between wanting to rest and wanting to see what hunting was actually like. But Silvie just nudged her back toward their training area, already preparing a new Tai Chi lesson.

Meanwhile, the boys reached the outskirts of the craggy field where the Rock Hens were known to nest. The terrain was uneven and dotted with stone ridges, ideal camouflage for creatures made of feathers hardened like shale.

Kei Y and Kei M exchanged glances.

“…You ever seen him fight before?” Kei M asked under his breath.

Kei Y shook his head. “Not once.”

Inpu, overhearing them, just smiled and pulled a thin, sleek object from his satchel—his force quill. “You guys act like I’ve been carving runes all day for decoration.”

Before they could press him further, a sharp clack echoed through the field.

A Rock Hen—larger than Inpu and easily twice his weight—stepped into view, jagged feathers bristling. Its eyes locked onto the group. It let out a deep, clucking hiss and then—attacked.

With a violent screech, it launched several of its stone-like feathers, shooting them like shrapnel in a wide spread.

Both Kei Y and Kei M reacted instantly, twisting out of the way with fluid movements. Their bodies moved as if rehearsed, dodging with ease. Inpu, however, stood firm.

With a flick of his wrist, the force quill began to glow.

He drew in the air—his strokes crisp, practiced, and deliberate. Aether clung to the ink as if guided by fate itself. Three swift strokes curved in sequence, forming a compact rune just before him.

The moment the rune locked into place, the air warped slightly.

The incoming feathers curved unnaturally mid-flight—redirected, not stopped. They spun off course and embedded into the ground harmlessly beside him.

Both Keis turned to look at him, eyes wide.

“What the—did he just redirect the attack?” Kei M muttered.

Kei Y’s eyes narrowed, lips curling upward. “He tuned the force flow midair… using a trajectory rune.”

Inpu didn’t say anything. He simply twirled the quill in his fingers and stepped forward toward the Rock Hen. The tip of his quill shimmered with forming strokes.

“Let’s see what else I can pull off,” he said, voice low and focused.

Inpu drew a few Balance strokes mid-air, and the moment they activated, the effect was subtle—but powerful. Like a scale tipping from one side to another, the misfortune between man and beast shifted.

The rocky terrain beneath the Rock Hen crumbled slightly, catching its heavy talons off-guard. It lost its footing and stumbled, squawking in irritation. At the same time, Inpu felt a jolt—an unexpected surge of strength coursing through his limbs, like the scale had tilted in his favor.

Without hesitation, he set off, launching into motion with a focused breath. Silvie’s Tai Chi instructions echoed in his mind. Rooted stance. Flow with force. Redirect, don’t resist.

The Rock Hen had just begun to steady itself when Inpu closed the distance and struck out with a palm. Aether surged into his hand on instinct, and the force of the strike slammed into the side of the creature’s body. It staggered again, feathers rippling from the impact.

Infuriated, the beast spun with a screech and swept its thick, jagged-feathered tail at him. The motion was fast, wild, and brutal.

Inpu didn’t panic.

He moved with the tail instead of against it—sliding into the sweep, following its curve, letting its momentum guide him in a full-bodied pivot. It was an awkward motion, not clean, not elegant—but it worked. Tai Chi wasn’t about force. It was about flow.

And somehow… it felt natural.

Like that, the frail boy who’d barely stood up to laborers was now locked in a fight against a furious boulder-bird from hell. Man and chicken. Martial arts and primal instinct. They clashed in a whirlwind of blows and swipes, rune strokes and flapping feathers.

Inpu drew on every rune stroke he could remember. Defense, redirection, simple enhancements—all cobbled together on instinct. He was pecked and slashed, feathers cutting across his arms and shoulders, bruises forming along his ribs.

But the longer the fight went on, the more the Keis were stunned.

“He’s holding his own,” Kei Y muttered, watching Inpu shift around the battlefield like an awkward monk.

“It's a good thing he isn’t the God Spark of Balance,” Kei M added, eyes narrowing as another Balance rune evened the scale between him and the creature. “If he was… he’d be in a league of his own.”

“Seriously,” Kei Y said. “How is it fair that he gets an upgrade just for being weaker than his enemy? He could fight things way above his level and just… rebalance the outcome.”

At that moment, the Rock Hen fired another volley of feathers, one slicing along Inpu’s leg, causing him to stumble. His breaths were shallow now. His body, even enhanced, couldn’t handle much more.

“Should we help him?” Kei Y asked, watching Inpu draw another set of strokes with trembling fingers.

“Not yet. Let’s see what he does,” Kei M replied.

Inpu ground his teeth and traced another sequence—this time mixing Balance strokes with a few jagged Earth strokes he'd been experimenting with. The result was immediate. The earth beneath the Rock Hen surged upward into crude, sharp spikes, impaling its legs and locking it in place.

The Hen shrieked and thrashed, wings flapping madly.

Inpu glanced at his status screen and felt dread pool in his chest.

[Aether: 3 / 10]

“Guys?” he croaked. “Any help would be… appreciated!”

Blood ran down his forehead, and his legs shook. He was seconds from collapse.

“On it!” Kei M finally said, uncoiling his rope rock.

“Careful with the meat!” Kei Y called out.

Kei M whipped the weapon forward. A pulsing echo erupted from the strike, and the moment it made contact with the Rock Hen’s head, Sound Force detonated like a tuning fork in overdrive. Vibrations rang out with destructive frequency, drilling into the creature’s skull.

Blood burst from its eyes.

The Rock Hen dropped dead instantly.

Kei Y gave a satisfied nod. “Well. How was your first fight? Still feel weak?”

Inpu collapsed onto his back, gasping. “That was… amazing…”

With their prize secured, the trio carried the massive Rock Hen back to the house. Kei Y took the lead in prepping the meat, his fingers working quickly as Silvie assisted, using her Nature Force to infuse nutrients and purify the meat as it cooked.

As the smell of freshly grilled Rock Hen filled the house, Silvie glanced up, her expression distant.

“Two more God Sparks,” she murmured. “Our planet really is something else… We’ve got a strange road ahead of us in this dungeon of the past.”

They finished cooking, the meal quiet but filled with warmth. Everyone ate heartily—especially Inpu, who practically inhaled his food with a grin still stuck to his face.

Their future was uncertain. Their identities still forming. But tonight, for the first time in a long while, they all felt stronger than they had the day before.

And that… was enough.