Grey Aether blades 5

You are blinding yourself by attempting to see aether through the lens of mana, equating one to the other. Only after you understand aether as itself can you begin to understand Fate. Now form your blade. Show me that you understand.”

My dagger formed as I stood up, its edge jagged and lacking substance.

She eyed it with distaste. “Strike me.”

I didn’t hesitate, lunging forward and feinting to the right. When her blade moved to intercept, I conjured a second dagger and thrust up into her ribs from the left.

Her sword came around to deflect both blows, and my aether blades collapsed. I caught her counterattack with my hand, then God Stepped behind her, but she was already rolling forward, her blade sweeping behind her to catch me if I followed after. It was a clean move, and impossibly fast.

She held up a hand before I could attack again. “Focus. You are trying to win, and perhaps you even could, but you should be trying to learn. Why does your weapon collapse whenever you use it?”

“Because I’m not strong enough to maintain such a complicated form,” I answered honestly.

She frowned at me as though I were a foolish child. “Wrong. You are stronger than you should be. Stronger than me—at least, this remnant of me, contained with the memory crystal. And yet…”

A perfectly formed sword appeared in her right hand. Then a second in her left. Then a third, hovering just over her shoulder. And a fourth floating near her hip.

She glowered at me, and all four blades pointed at my face. “It is not power you lack. It is perspective. As a human, you have always been expected to build on what you already know. Crawl, walk, run, yes? To wield aether, you must forget that there are rules to things. Constraining yourself to a system that already exists around you only holds you back. Do not seek to walk or run. Ignore gravity and simply fly.”

I couldn’t help but shoot her an amused smirk. “I already learned how to fly—”