Rotten Æther

//Author Note: I would strongly urge you to read Bloody Æther | Scribble Hub alongside this story. Shared world and setting, with crossovers coming!//

 

“Your job went well, Theo?” One of the guards calls out as we approach the gates. He leans on his spear, the butt of it sunk into the dirt road, worn down more from the heavy leaning than from actual use.

“It went well,” Theo nods to the man. “Fewer bandits out there now than there were a month ago.”

“If only the rest of them would go and get themselves eaten or something,” the guard says, spitting to the side. “Glad to have your company here cleaning ‘em out. See you in the bar tonight?”

“Yeah, we’ll be there,” Theo says, leading us through into the town’s tall wooden walls.

Civilisation, people, roads, buildings. There are so many things here crammed close together, and not a single tree to be seen. It’s strange, silly, and alien.

How do this many people even live together? Where does the food come from? Doesn’t it feel crowded?

A blast of warm air cuts down my thoughts, the stench of it thick enough to make me recoil from the full-on attack. I can taste it in the air, and it settles on my tongue. It smells just like the eggs that I stole from an old bird’s nest, sour and disgusting.

Theo sniffs it in like I do when leaning over the cooking pot.

Why? Is his nose broken or something?

No one else seems to notice or care, is it my nose that’s broken?

I try to ignore it as we push on through the streets. I can’t be a bother and complain about something as simple as a bad smell. I need to be strong; I can’t seem weak and I can’t look stupid either.

Looking around, there are so many different types of people living here, the shorter more rotund dwarfs, humans with their rounded ears, the cat-eared northern people, and a few other, stranger sorts. They seem familiar with each other like they’re all part of the same large pack. Does that mean that I’ll be welcome here, too?

“Before we get to the guild, do you have any other special skills you might want to mention?” Theo asks me as we pass by many strangers all in their own conversations.

“Syr can hunt animals.”

“Track them too?” He asks.

I nod. “And kill bandits.”

“Well, that goes without saying,” he continues, “How are you with reading and writing?”

“Not good,” I say. Mother taught me the basics of written words and all my letters, but I never really had the chance to learn properly and it’s been a long time.

How old was I when I left? How old am I now? I’m not sure, but I’m still shorter than most full-grown adults. They don’t treat me like a kid, but they don’t treat me like they do each other either, and I’ve noticed how everyone in their little merc group looks down on me. I don’t have any shifts on watch, I’m not expected to fight when we cross paths with a monster, and I don’t do any cooking, cleaning, or anything. When I try to do something, they always stop me.

“Your social skills aren’t anything good, either,” he continues, “We’ll have to work on that.”

“Why do I need social skills?”

“Well, the guild won’t turn you away if all you want to do is wack things with a sword, some companies would rather take in people like that, but if you want to live a long life you’ll want to raise your guild rank and get in one of the better companies. That means getting jobs like guarding trade convoys and doing investigation work, sometimes we’re even hired to help the reeves. There is plenty of high paying work in the guild for mercenaries who can get along well with people.”

“Syr can learn,” I tell him. “Investigations, and guard duties, and all sorts of things.”

“You’ve still got plenty of time.” He smiles as we approach a building larger than any I’ve ever seen.

“What about healing magic?” He asks.

“A little,” I tell him, “Syr once got bitten really bad on the leg by a streaky bear, my whole foot nearly came off.” I point to my calf where not a mark remains, “It walked a little funny for a while, but it healed.”

“That’s pretty high-level,” he mumbles, Adeleya’s hand tightens around mine as she listens in on my story. “In any case, before we go in, I just want to remind you not to talk about your, ah, specialty,” He whispers to me. “You especially don’t want any reeves hearing about it, but it’ll be bad should anyone hear of it.”

I nod, “Syr doesn’t know any strange magics. But… what are reeves?”

“Ah, reeves are those whose job it is to enforce the law. If you kill someone or steal something, the reeves will find you and punish you. So, don’t do anything bad.”

There isn’t anything like that in the wild. Kill someone in the wild and their pack will get back at you, or if they’re weak nothing much happens other than you eating them.

Or maybe this is the same, it’s just like a really, really big pack, and these reeves are the dangerous ones who’ll get revenge on you.

Inside the thick wooden doors of the guild building is a small world of its own. Smelly people are yelling at each other angrily, but they slap each other about with smiles on their faces. Some drink, some eat, and some just go around chatting with each other.

There are people of all sorts of races, men and women, young and old, but they’re the same. They all wear armour and carry weapons, unlike the people in the street outside, and there’s a warm familiarity between them. They accept Theo and his team into their family with warm looks and loud shouts.

There are no strangers here, except for me

Can I be a part of this? It seems violent but warm and happy.

“Alice,” Theo calls out to a pretty, human woman behind a wooden bench. “Have you got some time?”

“Oh, you’re back. No injuries?”

“No, no, we all made it out fine.” He walks up to the table as the rest of the party drop their excess bags by the bench, people are waiting nearby to take all of the ‘loot’ that we’ve acquired from the bandits. I add mine to the pile but unhook my sword and carry it in my arms.

“Theo and Alice will help you with the guild business. Be sure to properly treat them with respect and listen to what they say, okay?” Adeleya tells me, as she gives me a little smile and squeezes my shoulder. “I have to do a few things, but you can shout for me if you need something. Will you be okay?”

“Syr will be okay.” I bite my tongue, I’m nervous around all these people and falling back into old habits again.

She gives a little nod, turning around and joining the loud conversations filling the room. The strangers here welcome her as one of their own without any hesitation or introduction. They’re talking about the job, and the fight with the ants, avoiding mention of my special magic.

“Things went well then? It’s a shame you didn’t at least break an arm or something.” Alice smiles brightly, “I’m still waiting for you to finally retire and take me up on my offer.”

Theo gives the lade a sly smile, “Quite the opposite to retiring, we’ve taken on an apprentice.”

Alice’s eyes narrow before glancing down at me, “How old are you?” She asks, glancing at the giant sword in my hands.

“Twenty-something… probably.”

“So, for an elf, you’re barely in your teens.” That’s not true at all, but I get the feeling it would be stupid to say anything.

“That sword, who’s is it?”

“Mine.”

She must be a little slow.

“Is this a joke?” She asks Theo, “It’s not a very funny one.”

“I wish that it were,” he leans forward gesturing Alice close enough to whisper. I flood my ears with æther and try to listen in, but I still haven’t gotten the magic to work as I want it to.

“Her family is dead.”

“Not an uncommon story,” Alice interrupts dryly. “She’s an elf, they always take their own in.”

“She’s been surviving out in the wild, on her own, for around a decade,” He continues, and Alice tightens her lips. “To tell you the truth, the bandits were dead when we got there. She’s the one who did them in.”

Alice startles and she looks down at me with wide eyes.

That’s right. I’m awesome, now bow your head in wonder.

“We estimated over 30 members in their band, I was worried even sending you out to scout them,” Alice whispers.

“We couldn’t count bodies, but we think she got them all.”

“You couldn’t count the bodies…?”

“Well… this part is… difficult. I’m hoping you can help her out with it,” Theo’s voice is low but heavy.

“I’ll do what I can, so spill.”

“She’s a natural necromancer, and a damn powerful one at that.” He turns about to make sure that no one else is listening, giving me a light pat on the head when he notices me. “When we got there, she was unconscious, and surrounded by half a dozen bodies. We accidentally got her thinking that we were bandits. I saw her raise at least eight in a moment.”

“Necromancy? Eight undead? All at once?” She asks in shock. “There’s a reason that magic was made to be forgotten. Power like that…”

I nod and smile.

Yes. That was me.

“They were all capable of fighting, too. Not shambling puppets, it wasn’t the mindless sort you usually come across in old dungeons. More like the damn wolven if anything, heck I’d swear she’s got wolven blood in her or something, but that’s not all. She was coming at me herself with that sword of hers, she’s got potential.”

Alice is slow to respond, her brow scrunched in thought. What is it? So amazed by my abilities that you’re struck wordless?

“How is she with the sword?”

“Not bad, but she’s got a long way to go. She fights with body strengthening and heavy weapons, focused on agility and accented with hand-to-hand techniques. I’ve heard of big game hunters out west experimenting with similar techniques, but it is something to see from a girl her size. With some experience, she’d be quite the monster.”

“Rude,” Alice murmurs. “You want her tested to pass as an apprentice?”

“I can’t think of anything else we can do for the girl. Even if the elves take her in… I don’t think she’d fit in with them.”

“And, just to be clear.” Alice narrows her eyes more than before, “You’ve considered the risks? Necromancy is meant to be gone. If she becomes the start of a new generation…”

“I know,” he replies simply but meets her gaze without turning away. “She’s innocent. I’m not killing her, and I’m not going to hand her over to someone that would.”

Alice lets out a deep sigh, “Come with me.”

Theo pushes me forwards by the shoulder up and up the stairs after the woman, but he doesn’t follow.

“You can trust her,” Theo says, leaving me to see this challenge through on my own. A test to see if I can belong in this pack. To see if I’m worthy of joining them.

I will show this Alice just how awesome I am, and she’ll give me one of those shiny badges and I’ll be accepted here. I’ll have a home here.

The room she brings me to smells musty, likely owing to the long shelves filled with books that stretch along both walls. There are many more books than I’m willing to count, each with slightly different coloured spines covered in all sorts of vaguely familiar markings.

I sit on one of the padded chairs that are scattered around the room, the long one, and rest my sword on my lap. It’s far more comfortable than any of the ‘beds’ that I’ve slept on in my short life, but not quite as fluffy as the furs that I used to have.

The small room is bright owing to a window overlooking the street below, but the hazy diamond glass keeps out the sound and blurs the outside world.

“Here it is,” Alice mumbles quietly as she pulls a peculiar book from the drawers of a cabinet beside the shelves. It’s obvious at first glance that it isn’t like the other books, the polished stone orb stuck through its spine proves as much.

“I’ll want you to be holding this orb as we read. It’ll give us some idea of your abilities.” Alice says as she brings the aged book over to my long seat, she sits beside me and presses the book onto my lap.

I do as I’m told, touching the stone sphere and holding the book up to look at the open pages. Alice flicks the pages back to the first few, but I can’t read any of the words.

My æther is tugged out of me by something inside the stone. It’s slightly uncomfortable, but it doesn’t hurt, and I know that this is a test so I don’t complain about it.

She is important to Theo and the others; I can’t offend her or make her think less of me.

“Don’t mind the strange feeling of it. That’s just how it works,” Alice says as she looks down at the open pages.

As I watch, new ink takes shape inside the book forming new words and numbers where there was nothing before. Alice mumbles quietly to herself as she reads over my shoulder.

“What does it say? What does it say?” I ask, squirming around and looking at her.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

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