Grey Aether Core 4

‘Uhh, the exit is right there,’ my companion sent, his concerned voice echoing in my head.

“I…know,” I said through gritted teeth as I stopped in my tracks.

Rather than panicking at the sensation of aether escaping from my very grasp, I used every ounce of concentration into narrowing the aether from my entire arm to my hand, then to the center of my palm until I could feel the aether about to burst.

That’s when I felt like something had changed inside me. As if my aether passages dispersed and rose to the surface of my skin. A layer of purple clung tightly to my right palm while rune-like marks extended out to my fingers like a glove made of aether.

Suddenly, my hand began to burn.

‘Arthur! You’re going to destroy your hand at this rate!’ Regis cried, panicking. ‘Hold on! I’ll absorb some of your aether!’

“No, don’t!” I groaned. I let whatever anomaly was happening within this platform help me drain the aether coalescing in the center of my palm. Better yet, I let it help guide my channels.

Letting out a roar to overcome the pain gnawing away at my hand, I pushed out.

A deep thrum resounded, followed by a devastating torrent of violet flames erupting from the center of my palm.

I gripped my right arm with my left hand to help stabilize and keep my arm from ripping out of its socket.

The sound of my own voice was washed away from the deafening blast as I struggled to stay conscious.

My ears rang and most of the red platform that had seemed indestructible up until now had been obliterated.

I fell to my knees and I cradled my right arm. All of my fingers had been broken and bent out of place from the impact and my entire right arm had fractures. And without a shred of aether left in my body, I could already feel my body turning against me.

“—thur! Arthur!”

I saw a blurry Regis shouting my name before shooting into my chest. Almost immediately, I could feel Regis injecting his own aether into my core, supplying me with most of what he had accumulated since manifesting.

Strength flowing through me once more, I staggered off the red platform and climbed the stairs using my hand and feet.

“Regis, are you okay?” I asked, worry laced in my voice.

Regis remained inside me, and I could feel he was still alive but he remained quiet.

Finally, my companion stirred and let out a groan.

‘You really are a fucking masochist,’ he grumbled weakly.

....

Letting out a sigh, I stepped onto the platform. Almost immediately, I felt the sensation of aether being sucked out of me while the glowing red platform stretched out in length.

“I’m not even surprised,” I muttered, trudging forward.

I coalesced aether from my left hand this time, limiting the rate at which aether left my body as I neared the staircase.

‘Easy,’ Regis scoffed.

I stopped a few steps short of the staircase.

‘Wait, no. Please don’t tell me…’

“Where else am I going to find another environment that naturally pulls aether out of me?” I asked before smirking. “Besides, didn’t you just say it was easy?”

Despite having experience launching a destructive blast of aether from the palm of my hand, the second time wasn’t any easier. In fact, because I had become more accustomed to coalescing aether in my right hand, I had an even harder time with my left.

Needless to say, I walked up the staircase to the next platform with a shattered left hand, a near-empty aether core… and a smile on my face.