Adventure in Ayremus

Chapter Two: Ethereal Exploration

I felt the softness and warmth of a bed below me. My eyes opened wide as I looked around, startled at my new location. As if sensing my worry, a girl immediately walked into the room and reverently gave me a slight bow. I stared straight at her, my mouth moving as I tried to say something, but just decided to give up and lay back down on the bed. "Don't worry about asking me things, I have a lot to ask from you as well." She giggled and sat down at the foot of my bed. I looked up at her, listening to the soft and gentle tone of her voice. I felt the warmth of her soft and flowing black hair instantly, contrasted by her gleaming red eyes that seemed to pierce my soul. Her clothes reminded me of an avid adventurer, it was lightly toned and was loosely worn to give her freedom of movement. She swept her hair backwards and continued to gaze at me with a hint of admiration.

"What happened?" I asked sheepishly, awkwardly catching her intent gaze.

She giggled again, lightening the mood. "I found you kneeling atop a hill, I thought you were doing something important. However when I checked on you again, you were laying face down on the grass, so I brought you to my little house in the woods. You were gone for a very long time... a lot have changed since you left."

Memories of the shrine I woke up in flooded back into my mind, so I asked my second question. "Who am I? I don't understand."

She looked at me in surprise, tilting her head sideways questioningly as she went to the bookcase at the corner of the room and sifted through the neatly stacked books. Satisfied with the choice, she took a leather-bound book and waved it in front of me. "You wrote this book about a power you had... You should read it if you really have forgotten about what happened before." She turned to leave. "Oh and don't go out just yet, I'll take care of you while you recover."

The next few days was spent slipping in and out of consciousness, my fatigue giving in periodically. I grasped the leather book with my feeble and shaky hands, reading through chapter after chapter of handwritten text. The ink looked very genuine, and the handwriting extremely familiar. Maybe I did write this book after all. Everyday without fail, Ruby, as I came to know her as, would come into the room and tell me about the ether, slowly explaining what I wrote in the book to me. It felt intimidating at first, as the student taught the teacher his own craft. However, it was calming to know that someone had put so much effort to read and understand the vague book I had written.

Slowly, I learnt how to control my sight. I sat staring out the window everyday, mesmerized by what I could see. The air seemed to come alive even more when the sun was shining brightly, I used this to my advantage and compared the flows I saw, to the flows illustrated and detailed in the book. A couple of days was all it took me to learn and remaster my sight. In no time, I was predicting the day's weather with absolute accuracy just by looking at the motions of the ether. I would also wave my hand around in it, moving the invisible force around. Ruby quickly took notice of that, and started teaching me about it. Wave my hand in this manner, and the ether outside the window bent and split. Wave it the other way, and a gust of invisible wind blew across, picking up leaves and swishing them around. I amused myself by splitting the ether a little bit and watching birds fly through that empty space. They would soar up high, and suddenly drop down the etherless split I had created before catching the updraft again, squawking in fright and shock. I would also blow fallen leaves around the trees until they all lay in a nice big heap in the middle of the trees.

With Ruby at my side, she slowly taught me all the different ways I could move my hand to control the wondrous ether flowing around me. I spun and twirled my hands gracefully as I watched the ether shift objects around my room. Ruby kept telling me to practice the harder way to make things float. So I did, raising a steady hand, I slowly moved it from side to side and twisted it before making a powerful sweep that split the ether above the gnarled branch laying on my table. I slowly displaced the ether until an etherless bubble encompassed the branch in a rugged blob, then with a practiced swoop, I pushed the ether below the table upwards, lifting the blob of emptiness up high, carrying the branch with it. I grinned, making the branch sway from side to side.

A week passed and I had developed a tiny urge to leave. I could not stay. I felt trapped.

I placed the book softly on the table, passing my hand over the title, "The world no one sees", quietly embracing the writing within. Maybe I could sneak away under the shadow of the night, shrouded in a veil of darkness. The floor creaked softly under my weight and as I picked up my blade from where it had been lying the past week, I heard a sound behind me. I spun around to see Ruby giggling in the doorway behind me. "Sorry if I startled you, but you have to know that I can see you even through the walls. Your power is so strong and influencing that the ether around you bends away slightly." She let out a long sigh, "I want to follow you on your adventures, I feel I have trained well enough to help. If you wish to leave, please take me with you." She gazed longingly at me and my mind raced to find an answer. She had been so helpful and so passionate about taking care and teaching me. I struggled to say yes, however a greater struggle was to say no.

Ruby twisted her hand fluently and the door unlocked, another motion of her hand pushed the door completely open. "Its okay if you don't..." She said abruptly.