Chapter 302 (1/2)

Chapter 302

The world shi+fted as I rode the currents of aether to arrive just within the open doorway of the ancient hut, and I immediately stepped into a defensive stance

But it wasn’t necessary

Lying on the floor of the hut was a very, very old Four Fists, undoubtedly the source of the powerful aetheric presence

Itsin on themselves like an empty waterskin, its wiry pelt had faded to a snohite, and its pale skin had wrinkled and shriveledTwo tiny purple eyes turned toward entle

It atte unsuccessfully for a few seconds, it settled back down into the deep indentation its body had s and plants

One shaking araze followed to the spot it indicated: on a shelf in the wall sat a long, thin slab of white stone

Three quick steps later and the portal piece was inthe intricate carvings, a sense of acco withindefenselessly on the groundThe thought of killing hie well of aether that I knew I’d be able to grow stronger if I absorbed its power, just as I had done to the chi withmy fist in aether, I raised it over the old Four Fists’ head, but I couldn’t bring myself to strikePowerful and aether-abundant as this creature was, it wasn’t a mere construct of the Relicto it purely to consu another person

Unclenching my fist, I walked out of the hut and God-Stepped back to the ground where Regis and Caera aiting forup the portal piece in my hand for the two to see

“Good job, Grey,” Caera said with a soft smile as she looked down at the sis pointed out just as Swiftsure landed softly next to me

His javelin-shaped beak dipped down so he could inspect the portal piece, and it was then that I noticed the last few inches of his beak were red with blood

He hadn’t fought with us on the battlefield, and I couldn’t see any sign of a fight on the rest of his clean-feathered body

I grabbed his black beak, startling his and tried to dance away fro him in the eye“Whose blood is this?” I asked, id

I released hi steps away and examined me ide, confused eyes“Four FistsEneaze locked with his as I tried to study our guide’s intent

Caera’s warot e cauests in this tribe,” she said softly

From the Four Fists’ hidden vale, Swiftsure led us back up the e

Regis was back insidehis aether supplies, while Caera and I followed closely behind our guideDespite being able to finallythis zone, neither of us were in the ht of our actions back at the Four Fists tribe’s village settled over us like a dark shroud

Even after finding out that the Four Fists were not only intelligent but actually sapient, I realized that had it not been for the giant gray Four Fists challenging enocide

Despite the brewing emotions that I kept suppressed, I made sure to keep constant tabs on SwiftsureWhile I was still wary of our guide, Caera and I were reluctantly dependent on him to show us the location of the other tribes

In the end, whatever Swiftsure had done, it was only what he’d been taught to do by the harsh world in which he livedIt was barbaric, but these warring tribes of aether beasts hadn’t evolved their cultures beyond the level of barbarism yet

The Four Fists, I was sure, would have done just as bad to the Spear Beaks given the chance

Pushi+ng asideof the journeyThe path ere on took us higher up the edge of the seees that surrounded the caldera where we’d first appearedThe skies stayed bright and cloudless, the te

“How are you holding up?” I asked Caera, alking beside me with a blanket wrapped over her shoulders and arms

“I was able to replenish e Four Fists, so I’m okay,” she answered with a faint s above us, landed ahead of us, his feet never breaking the crusty surface of the snow

He turned to look attwice“Shados” He then held up his wings, holding the just as a flicker of purple flashed right beloiftsure, and the snow in front of us burst upward, showering Caera and I with a cloud of powdery white

Caera instantly clad herself in a shroud of black fire, blanket tossed aside and her sword already in her hand

Swiftsure let out a surprised cry and tried to take to the sky, but his terrified shriek was cut short as a set of violently purple claws ripped through his graceful neck, spraying blood across the ground atcry was cut off in a honking gurgleThe Spear Beak’s wings flapped wildly, sending up a flurry of white feathersOur guide rose a few feet in the air, shockingly red blood raining down into the bright white snow, then his strength gave out and he crashed to the ground, twitched, and was still

~

I was alreadywell before Swiftsure took his last piteous breathsMy aether-clad fist hissed through the frigid air, but just before it should have connected with our attacker’s cat-like face, the creature vanished in another flash of aetheric energy

God Step! I thought in shock, quickly looking around for the attackerBehind me, Caera had her flame-bathed blade ready to block, but before she could do anything else the cat-like beast was behind her, its claws raking down between her shoulder blades

Caera was protected by the shroud of soul fire, but the aether claere able to tear through the h the chain links covering her back

She rolled forward,herself fro cuts ran down her back

I burst forward,in the air as I launched myself at the aether beast—a Shado, I assumed—but it vanished before I could reach it

Caera came up covered in snow and blood, her expression deadly calm, like e had first met in the Relictombs

“Do you knohere it is?” she asked, positioning herself so ere back to back

“There,” I said, pointing soht where the Shado crouched atop a jutting shard of black rock twenty feet high

The Shado had the head and spotted white fur of a snow leopard, but its torso and li, h it was some distance away, it looked small, perhaps five feet tall atas aether flared behindCaera out of the way and throwing a kick directly at the blurry source of aether

My counterattack failed to connect as ed to duck out of the wayIt slashed at the leg planted still on the ground with its aetheric claws before vanishi+ng again

Even though I had concentrated ed to tear through the flesh abovehtly around my body burst out in a palpable force that stunned

It was able to teleport away, but this gave me the time I needed to healin pain as she slowly got up to her feet“This…”

“Sorry,” I said, retracting my aetheric force

The Alacryan noble sucked in a deep breath as her eyes continued to scan our surroundings

My eyes, however, went straight for the two aetheric presences on the dark rocksNow both Shados crouched above us, their glea our e to God Step onto the rocks to confront the two Shados, choosing to remain beside Caera instead

When the aether warped on rabbed a third cat-like aether beast around its throat, squeezing hard enough to choke it but not to kill it instantlyThe creature’s eyes ide in alarh the flesh ofto break its thin neck, but it flashed away like the othersAt the sah the air just belowto the point of rock, I found all three Shados glaring down at us, one rubbing gingerly at its throat where I had grabbed it, a trail of blood running down its furry leg

Caera began to speak but I waved her words awayI watched the three attackers carefully: they were absorbing aether froe up before they can use that teleportation ability again,” I said quietly

“Perfect,” Caera said as she stepped in front ofon the blade of her scarlet sword

The three Shados tensed as the flaulfed her swordShe widened her stance and thrust the sword forward, releasing a violent jet of flame toward the shard of black rock

The Shados burst out with a series of terrified howls as two of they

The third—the creature I had caught in rasp when it attacked us—wasn’t so luckyIt hadn’t had enough tiather the aether required to use its teleportation ability again, and so it was engulfed by Caera’s spell

For an instant the Shadoas highlighted against the dark rock behind it, surrounded in blazing black light, then both the cat-like aether beast and the pointed peak of rock were gone, destroyed entirely

An angry, sorrowful howl fro Shadoere fifty feet away, crouched in the snow and squalling mournfully

I took a step forward instinctively, but theonto its baby for dear life aze flickered to Swiftsure, contorted unnaturally in the bed of red snowHe had risked his life despite barely knowing anything about us, and brought us into his houide, his death wasn’t just