Veil of Aether

The trio woke up to the faint smell of something… burned.

Blinking away the remnants of sleep, Kei Y, Silvie, and Kei M woke up to find a modest breakfast laid out on the table. Inpu stood proudly beside it, wiping his hands on a cloth with a tired but satisfied look. Mia stood next to him, beaming with excitement, practically bouncing on her toes.

“We made breakfast!” she announced cheerfully.

The three God Sparks froze for a second, their instincts kicking in like they were facing a new zone boss. But they smiled—tight, polite, possibly panicked smiles.

Inpu, to his credit, had clearly done most of the heavy lifting. Having lived on his own for some time, he was perfectly capable in the kitchen. He’d prepared a hearty porridge from the grains they’d gathered—a bit plain, but it smelled edible.

Mia, on the other hand… had tried to help.

Kei Y’s leftover bread, which he had personally baked the day before, now sat on the table charred to near-crisps. Clearly an attempt to reheat it had turned into something more akin to cremation. The leftover goat meat had suffered a similar fate—dry, overcooked, and mysteriously tough, like it had been steamed, boiled, and forgotten all at once.

Still, the three sat down with barely a twitch in their expressions.

“This looks great,” Silvie said, her voice only slightly strained.

“Yeah, thank you for making all this,” Kei Y added, giving Inpu a grateful nod and flashing Mia a thumbs-up. “Everything looks... amazing.”

Kei M didn’t trust his mouth to lie convincingly, so he just smiled and nodded emphatically.

Inpu rubbed the back of his neck, clearly aware of the situation. “I… uh, did what I could with the porridge. Mia helped with the meat and bread.”

Both Keis and Silvie immediately shifted gears, praising the meal like it was the best thing they’d ever tasted—especially the parts Mia touched.

“This bread has… depth,” Silvie said carefully.

“I can really taste the, uh… ambition,” Kei M chimed in.

“I like how it... crunches,” Kei Y offered, chewing very, very slowly.

Mia’s entire face lit up. “Really?! I can start cooking more from now on, then!”

Silence.

A faint gust of wind moved through the room. Silvie froze mid-bite. Kei M dropped his spoon. Kei Y’s soul almost left his body.

“Uh—sure!” Kei Y said quickly, sitting straighter, eyes wide. “Actually, I usually handle the cooking for us, so maybe I can show you some of my recipes? We can cook together! You know—bonding time!”

The other two nodded rapidly, backing him up like it was a mission critical operation.

Mia just smiled even brighter, unaware of the silent crisis she had unintentionally triggered.

“Okay!” she said, happy as could be. “That sounds fun!”

Inpu, who had been hiding a laugh behind his bowl the entire time, finally let out a small chuckle.

And with that, breakfast continued in awkward but cheerful peace—the kind of meal that made them grateful not for the food itself, but for the people who tried their best.

After committing themselves—body, mind, and a great deal of willpower—to swallowing and digesting the “breakfast” Inpu and Mia had prepared, the trio gathered around the center of the room and began laying out the equipment they’d earned from the fractured zones.

A decent haul, considering they were only Grade F zones: an upper body plate, a pair of reinforced leggings, a mid-grade sword, a trident, a set of arm guards, and a spear. Not much, but it was something. And every piece counted when your current armor stat was “Hope.”

“We’ll need to split this up properly,” Kei Y said, kneeling as he examined the gear. “Best to coordinate everything based on survival first.”

No one disagreed.

And when it came to survival, Mia was the obvious priority.

She didn’t argue when they handed her everything remotely defensive. First the chest plate. Then the leg armor. Then the arm guards. The moment they finished suiting her up, she resembled a walking siege bunker more than a person. The only part of her still visible were two eyes peeking out from behind a helmet a size too big.

She gave a muffled, “Wthwankf yewf” before falling straight onto her back with a solid clang.

“...Well,” Kei M blinked. “She’s covered.”

“Literally,” Silvie added, deadpan.

“Perfect,” Kei Y said, pulling out the rest of the leftover materials they hadn’t assigned yet. “Alright, Inpu, you take the sword. I’ll handle crafting the rest—with Silvie’s help. Between us, we should be able to put together armor and weapons for the rest of the group.”

Inpu blinked, carefully accepting the sword like it was a ceremonial gift. “I… don’t actually know how to use a sword. But thank you.”

“No problem,” Kei Y said, already thinking through designs in his head. “Now I just need a forge, tools, materials—something to start with. Right now, I’ve got ideas, some horns, a few scraps… and nothing to shape them with.”

He paused, rubbing his temple. “Where am I even supposed to find a forge out here?”

“I have a place in mind,” Kei M said, speaking up from where he’d been seated.

Everyone looked at him.

“It’s abandoned now. Was an old crafting district used by independent crafters before the local government got involved and took over all public zones.”

Silvie raised an eyebrow. “Sounds convenient.”

“It is,” Kei M replied. “But…”

“Ah,” Kei Y sighed. “There’s always a ‘but.’”

“It’s just gonna be a little dangerous getting there,” Kei M admitted, voice casual—but his eyes said seriously dangerous. “Not because of monsters… but because of who’s squatting in the district now.”

Kei Y rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Let me guess. Hostile cultivators? Rogue factions? A group of fire-aligned shirtless men who scream at anvils?”

Kei M actually laughed. “No, no. Though the second one isn’t far off.”

“Well,” Silvie said, rolling her shoulders. “If we want gear, we’re gonna have to take the risk. Besides, we’ve got four God Sparks and a rising weirdo.”

“Hey,” Inpu said, not sure if he should feel insulted or seen.

“Let’s plan a route after lunch,” Kei Y said, already mentally drawing up blueprints. “But first… someone help Mia back up before she passes out under her own armor.”

Mia wiggled slightly on the ground. “I can’t feel my knees.”

Inpu and Mia continued their Tai Chi training under Silvie’s brutally graceful supervision. Armed with their weapons, the two tried putting their Balance Force into action—emphasis on tried.

“Come on, you two!” Silvie called out, stance rooted, palms open. “You’re aligned with Balance Force, right? Then use it! Tip the scales! Take my luck and shove it into your favor!”

Mia charged in first—too early—and got promptly flipped over by a redirected vine lash, crashing into the ground with a squeak.

Inpu grit his teeth and followed up, hoping to cover her. “I got this—!”

He didn’t even finish the sentence.

With a subtle shift, Silvie flowed forward and struck out with her palm. Aether surged behind the motion.

Crack.

Inpu’s body lifted off the ground, the palm strike launching him clean into the air. He flailed midair for a full second before spinning and crashing back down several meters away with a dusty thud.

Mia winced, peeking over her shoulder. “Sh-she’s scary…”

“Am I… on the ground yet?” Inpu groaned, limbs twitching, eyes spinning like a broken compass.

Mia staggered to her feet, gripping her trident. “I tried to shift her fortune, but her will is too strong. It’s like trying to slap fate and expecting it to say sorry.”

Silvie remained poised, not a hair out of place, Tai Chi stance fluid and unshaken. She barely even looked like she was trying.

“I can try a few rune strokes,” Inpu wheezed. “Maybe tilt the terrain in our favor. Just… buy me a few seconds.”

“I don’t think I can buy time even if I paid in monthly installments,” Mia replied, eyes wide.

“Are you two done planning?” Silvie asked, stretching her arms lazily. “This is training mode, by the way. I’m using training wheels.”

“Training what?” Mia blinked, tilting her head.

Silvie’s eyebrow twitched.

Whoosh—

A second later, Mia was planted into the nearby wall by another palm strike, limbs splayed like a flattened sticker.

“Shuddup,” Silvie muttered, already turning back into her stance.

From the ground, Inpu raised a weak hand. “I think I just shifted my internal balance… into the afterlife…”

And with that, training continued.

As Inpu and Mia lay sprawled on the training ground, deeply reconsidering their life choices, both Keis had already set off toward the old crafting district.

They perched quietly atop a crumbled rooftop a distance away, eyes locked onto the run-down district sprawled below them.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“There it is,” Kei M muttered. “A few of the people down there are upper recruit class—about ready to form their cores. If this were before, I’d handle them even after they formed their cores. But now? Gotta be careful not to overdo it.”

He turned slightly, glancing at Kei Y. “How do you think we should go about it?”

But no one was there.

Kei M blinked. “…Huh?”

He focused, tuning his Sound Force more sharply. At first, all he picked up were footsteps—fast, erratic, darting through the district. But when he switched to echolocation, he picked up something stranger: faint sounds of bodies dropping… vanishing from his senses one by one. And at the center of it all was a blurry figure—hard to pin down, like a ghost slipping through the cracks.

After a few more minutes, Kei Y appeared beside him again, completely casual.

“Hello,” he said simply.

“…What did you do?” he asked, turning to Kei Y suspiciously.

Kei Y just stood there, holding his makeshift brick weapon—now freshly stained with a few drops of blood.

“Should I even ask what you did with the bodies?” Kei M said warily.

“Don’t worry about it,” Kei Y answered cheerfully, giving him a thumbs up.

“…You make me worry,” Kei M muttered, deadpan.

Kei M stared at him. “I didn’t even hear you leave. How the hell did you do that?”

“Oh, really?” Kei Y replied, surprised. “Just used Phantom Breeze. Snuck around and knocked out a few people. Honestly, I’m shocked it’s subtle enough that even Sound Force barely picks it up.”

He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Too bad I still haven’t fully restored it yet, but I’ve got a few more ideas now—thanks to you, actually.”

Kei M stared blankly at him. “Sure,” he said, already feeling the headache coming on.

“But what about the ones deeper inside?” he asked, voice more serious. “They’re much stronger.”

“Don’t worry about it. Leave it to me,” Kei Y replied without hesitation, that same infuriating grin spreading across his face. “Been working on it for the past few minutes now.”

Kei M frowned, tuning his senses again. He focused deeper this time—and noticed something strange.

Everyone in the crafting district had a faint, hollow breath pattern. Slowed. Shallow. As if they were barely conscious… or teetering on the edge of unconsciousness.

They waited a few more minutes, crouched silently above the district.

Then it started.

Bodies began dropping one after another—no signs of battle, no shouts, just silent collapses across the old crafting district.

At first, Kei M thought they were being picked off by some unseen force.

The first few bodies collapsed without warning—no signs of conflict, no cries of alarm, no visible attack. They simply crumpled where they stood, slumping over like puppets with their strings cut.

What disturbed Kei M more wasn’t just the sudden falls—it was the reaction. Or lack thereof.

The others still standing didn’t flinch. Didn’t even look. They just swayed on their feet, eyes dazed, barely aware of their surroundings. It was like they were in some kind of trance… struggling just to stay upright.

And then more fell.

One by one, left and right, bodies hit the ground. Some face-first, some slumping over whatever crates or benches were nearby. By the time the two Keis finally descended into the district, the area looked like a battlefield after a silent war—people scattered all across the space, unconscious without a single scream.

Only a handful remained upright—clearly stronger than the rest—but even they looked like they were on the verge of tipping over. Their breathing was shallow, their balance shaky.

Kei M was about to say something, when one of them took a sharp blow to the side of the head and dropped instantly.

He turned, eyes narrowing.

Kei Y stood over the now-unconscious body, his signature brick weapon casually resting on his shoulder.

“Really?” Kei M said.

Kei Y didn’t respond—he was already moving to the next one.

Another faint thud.

And another.

By the time he was done, the entire district was quiet.

Kei M opened his mouth to speak—but then noticed something else.

The others—those who had collapsed earlier, the ones who had clearly been unconscious before they even got there—had also been whacked. Bruises. Head bumps. Even boot marks.

And all of them… had been looted.

Weapons, armor, gear—gone.

Piled up neatly in a corner.

“Wait… did you hit all of them?” Kei M asked slowly, his voice tight with disbelief.

Kei Y didn’t even pause. “Yup.”

“They were already unconscious.”

“Still are,” Kei Y said cheerfully, tossing a blade into the loot pile.

“You looted them after knocking them out?”

“Nope. Looted them, then knocked them out. Gotta stay efficient.”

Kei M stared at him, jaw slack. “That’s not efficiency. That’s… that’s spite.”

Kei Y shrugged, completely unbothered. “Better safe than sorry. What if they woke up mid-loot?”

“They didn’t!”

Kei Y just patted his brick. “Now they definitely won’t.”

Kei M dragged a hand down his face. “God Sparks are supposed to be divine.”

“And I’m divinely thorough.”

“Just how did you manage to make them drop like that?” Kei M finally asked, glancing around at the unconscious bodies. “Before hitting them with a brick, of course.”

Kei Y finished tucking the last piece of gear into his inventory before answering with a casual shrug. “Simple, really. I slowly drew the air out of their lungs—gradually, so they didn’t even notice. Just a bit at a time, until, you know…” He made a faint collapsing gesture with his hand. “Worked like a charm. I think I’m getting better at it.”

Kei M blinked. “That’s… alarmingly efficient.” Then his brow furrowed. “Wait—you’ve done this before?”

“Second time,” Kei Y said, as if that made it less concerning.

Kei M dragged a hand down his face. “You realize how insane that sounds, right?”

“Insane? Sure,” Kei Y grinned. “But effective.”

“…I hate that I can’t argue with you,” Kei M muttered, pulling open his own inventory to help pack away the rest of the loot. Between them, every weapon, scrap, and resource was neatly stored away.

Once the area was cleared, Kei Y glanced around at the sea of unconscious cultivators sprawled across the district. “What do we do about them? They’ll wake up eventually.”

Kei M straightened, eyes narrowing. “Leave them to me. I have a message to send. Their bodies will be perfect for delivering it.”

Kei Y paused, staring at him.

There was something about the way Kei M said it—too calm, too certain.

“…You’re way too mysterious for someone with a goofy rope rock,” Kei Y muttered, half joking.

But even as he said it, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d just peeled back another layer of whatever secret Kei M had buried under that casual smile.

And whatever it was?

It definitely wasn’t simple.

Soon, Kei Y stood before an old, dust-covered crafting station—clearly aged, but still functional. The forge’s structure had seen better days, but the moment Kei ignited the furnace, it roared back to life like it had just been waiting for someone to use it again.

With a sharp breath and focused motion, Kei Y traced a rune stroke near the furnace’s mouth—a modified fire rune he’d personally adapted to work alongside Wind-based aether. Instead of channeling raw fire, the rune incorporated directional airflow, feeding oxygen into the flames and amplifying their intensity with surgical precision. It burned hotter than the basic cooking runes he’d used before—dangerously so.

But that’s what he wanted.

The forge glowed with a vibrant orange hue, the wind-fueled flames licking the metal with eager hunger.

Kei Y rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He laid out the gear they’d looted, sorting through each item and breaking down any usable metal. He melted down the blades, spearheads, and fractured guards, extracting their essence. Anything too damaged to repurpose was set aside for future refining.

In a corner of the station, he found a patch of dried crafting clay. Without hesitation, he grabbed it and began shaping molds by hand, refining them with a crucible he had hammered into form earlier.

Before they left, Silvie had lent a hand—imbuing the planks of wood Kei had scavenged with Nature Force. What would’ve been brittle scraps were now dense and flexible, strengthened to rival treated ironwood. She’d done the same to a coil of rope he’d found, reinforcing its fibers until it could withstand almost any strain.

Now, surrounded by raw materials, reclaimed gear, and magically enhanced wood, Kei Y moved like a machine. Each action flowed into the next—measured, efficient, instinctive. He lined up the molds, prepped the tools, and pulled out the ores they’d brought back from the fractured zones.

As he placed the ores into the furnace, the flames flared higher, reacting to the purity of the aether-rich minerals.

And then, he began to hammer.

Each strike echoed through the district, sharp and rhythmic—like a heartbeat for the forge itself. Sparks danced in the air with every impact as molten metal met shape and purpose.

Kei M stood nearby, arms crossed, quietly watching it all unfold.

He didn’t say anything—not yet.

But there was something in his eyes.

Curiosity.

And maybe… a little respect.

After several rounds of hammering, Kei Y exhaled hard, sweat dripping from his brow as his muscles screamed in protest. The purification process had pushed him to the edge—his hands blistered, his arms trembling slightly from fatigue.

“Alright… I think it’s ready,” he muttered, wiping his forehead with the back of his arm.

He turned toward Kei M, who was still standing nearby, arms crossed but eyes focused.

“I need your help,” Kei Y said, panting. “Pour your aether into the mix—channel your Sound Force into it. Help me tune this thing right.”

Kei M nodded, stepping forward. “About time I got involved in this.”

With practiced ease, he extended his hand over the molten ore and metal mix. Aether pulsed from his fingers, gentle yet resonant, like a hum only the material could hear. The molten blend shimmered, reacting to the force signature as Kei Y stirred it, aligning its structure to better resonate with Sound Force.

A few minutes later, Kei Y grinned.

“You ready for that weapon I promised you?” he asked, a childlike spark of excitement dancing in his eyes.

Kei M smirked, stepping back. “Let’s see what you can do, wind boy.”

Kei Y poured the glowing mixture into the prepared molds, steam hissing from the contact. While the metal cooled, he set to work twisting reinforced rope—thinning and wrapping the fibers together, infusing them with his own Breeze-tuned aether. The result was a flexible cord far more durable than anything mundane.

Once the metal cooled enough to handle, he removed the components from the molds and quickly assembled them. A few connecting parts clicked into place, and with a practiced motion, he wrapped and tied the rope through the core and middle rings, tightening everything into a compact, solid build.

When it was done, he turned with pride and held it out to Kei M.

“Here you go,” Kei Y said, grinning from ear to ear.

Kei M took the object, turning it over in his hands. It looked vaguely familiar—like a cross between his rope rock and something more refined. He flicked the rope, noting the weight and balance.

“…What is this thing?” he finally asked.

Kei Y’s grin widened.

“It’s called a yo-yo,” he said, as if unveiling a treasured relic. “It’s a toy from my home. You throw it down and pull it back just before it fully drops, looping it continuously. Remind you of anything?”

Kei M blinked once. “My rope rocks.”

“Exactly,” Kei Y said. “Only now, you’ve got a version tuned with Sound Force, made with enhanced alloy, reinforced cord, and better balance control. You can still swing it like a rope rock—but if you figure out the rhythm…”

He mimed a circular motion. “You’ll have a weapon that flows in sync with your force. Movement, momentum, vibration—all linked.”

Kei M gave the yo-yo an experimental flick, watching it shoot out and snap back with a clean zip of movement. The hum it gave off as it returned was sharp, musical… resonant.

“…I like it,” he admitted, already planning how to weaponize it. “Not bad, wind boy.”

Kei Y raised an eyebrow. “You gonna keep calling me that forever?”

“Depends. You gonna keep showing off?”

Kei Y just smirked.

While Kei and Silvie remained deep inside the temporal zone, time on the outside ticked forward at its usual, unbothered pace.

Owen, Talia, Reese, and Kai had finally gathered enough strength to make their way back to Kei’s clearing. For them, it had only been a little over two hours since the Ironsworn Ravager had been defeated. But that brief window included Kei reforging equipment, taking on an Exalted Dungeon, and disappearing into another fractured reality.

For them, it had been two hours. For Kei… days.

And yet, when they arrived, Kei himself wasn’t there.

Instead, they were greeted by his companions.

Wooloo lay on his back in the sun, fluff lazily pulsing with calming waves of aether. Zeph perched nearby, tail flicking, gaze locked toward the dormant dungeon entrance. Hachi sat beside him, quietly staring with his ever-watchful eyes.

“He finally went in, huh?” Kai said, folding his arms. “No wonder he was so eager to kill the Ravager.”

The others nodded in agreement, gazing at the dormant dungeon with quiet understanding. It tracked with Kei’s behavior—silent, driven, always a few steps ahead without ever telling anyone why. Ever since he vanished with that little girl and showed up again like nothing happened, they’d stopped questioning the hows and whys.

They just waited, knowing he’d return when he was ready.

That’s when they heard footsteps behind them.

“Oh! I wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here,” a voice chimed.

The group turned to see Lisa approaching from the treeline, giving them a slightly awkward wave. Her usual calm expression was tinged with surprise as she glanced around.

“Um… is Kei here?” she asked.

Before anyone could answer her—

“He’s probably off doing something that’ll get himself killed,” another voice cut in dryly.

The group blinked as a second figure stepped into view.

Reese straightened slightly, watching her approach. The others gave her cautious looks, still recovering and not entirely ready for another surprise. Talia didn’t even flinch—she was too exhausted to care at this point.

Still, none of them moved. They’d seen these two in action during the Ravager fight, and that was enough for now. The girl with the Sound Force had been stronger than expected. And the other one?

If Jin had been the biggest contributor in that fight… then she was easily the second.

“Oh, hey Jenny,” Lisa said, casually waving her over. Her eyes drifted to the neatly folded white hoodie and bright orange sweatpants in Jenny’s arms. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Yeah, well… we’ve been in this place long enough,” Jenny said, rolling her shoulders as she stopped beside her. “I figured it’s about time I reunite with my boss."

She lifted the folded clothes slightly. “Brought his things. I’m sure Kei has had enough time to get everything sorted out. I’m ready to resume my duties.”

There was a clear shift in her tone—no trace of her usual laziness. Her back was straight, her eyes focused, her energy sharp.

“...Boss?” Kai asked, confused.

But before anyone could push the point—

Jenny yawned. Stretched. Then dramatically dropped onto the grass like her legs had simply given up.

“But since he’s not here,” she said, already lying down, “I’m gonna nap.”

And just like that, Lazy Jenny returned.

“What is happening?” Reese muttered aloud, looking completely lost.

Kai just sighed. “I’ve stopped trying to understand.”

Talia, without lifting her head from where she was lying, gave a faint thumbs-up. “Same.”

As the group sat in confused silence, two things became clear: Kei had some explaining to do when he returned.

And apparently… he had subordinates now.