Chapter 23: Aether Hearth
Shadow Realm". Zephyr muttered under his breath, bewildered at the scene, out of the window of the train, the Realm was empty save for the blank sky and the eclipse sun the only thing present was the endless dusk-gold sand. As he gradually recovered from the scene, a memory resurfaced
Zephyr's awe was still lingering when a memory resurfaced.
It's not over after awakening.
Aether was life, but it was also chaos.
Every scion aboard the train and everyone who had access to Arts has awaken their Aether Hearth—an organ that acted like a spiritual furnace. But awakening was only the first step. From the moment a child was born, his body is constantly being filled with Aether, Enhancing him/her, that's why at seven months if a child is not walking and talking, that child is considered a late bloomer.
Aether entered the body through the pores, drawn in naturally. Yet this raw Aether was filled with multiple elemental affinities—fire, water, lightning, metal, wind, even rarer ones like shadow, ice, and light.
Unrefined Aether was dangerous. It wasn't about toxicity, but incompatibility.
That's why so many early Scions stagnated—or worse, suffered body rejection during art casting. If a clan like Demios, known for its black flame arts, had Aether mixed with water or frost affinity, their flame-based Art would be weakened, unstable, or outright fail. Even worse, conflicting affinities could corrode the casting channels in their limbs.