As I wake up, a harsh light falls on me. I am dazzled for an instant, but it doesn’t last long, and I am left facing an elemental bigger than he should be. Considering how long I slept, it should not have such a presence yet. It seems that it used my mana to grow faster, draining me of what it would consider an immense amount, but not enough for me to feel disturbed.

As I direct my attention in its direction, I notice that it stares at me back. For all that it has grown physically, it seems that it did not mature enough, as I do not see the spark of sentience in its eyes yet.

Briefly, I consider letting it come with me. We could have a symbiotic relationship, as I would be giving away my mana, and by draining it, the elemental would allow me to loosen a bit the restraints I place on myself. However, I quickly abandon this idea. If I were to leave for another phase, it would not be able to come with me, and the quantity of energy it would need to sustain himself at this point might be big enough to drain this one dry. No, I better leave it be for now. It should be able to survive by draining the aether of this place anyway, but until this phase matures, it will probably be stuck in this place. Still, it seems like an acceptable fate for him, so I cut the flow of my mana and I shoo him away.

An instant later, the consequences of this act are apparent: the lush forest we were in is drained of its aether, and I can already see the young shoots around me wither. All of it flows towards the elemental, who struggles to maintain its existence.

I face away and I take to the skies once again. I fly over what is left of the forest. Most of the trees lost their leaves, and I can guess that this place will become a desert soon.

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It seems that the beings that made this forest their home have felt the depletion, and most of them are running away from its source. I can see some of them staying their ground, though. They will most likely try to stay and live on this land void of aether. An interesting development, as species that adapt to such environments become able to survive aether deprivation for far longer than most other lifeforms. However, I see no such potential here. They will most likely go extinct by the time this the trees of this land turn to dust.

I fly up, higher and higher, until I am stopped by an invisible barrier. It seems that the Veil is as impenetrable as always. I hoped that it would not be consolidated yet, but it seems that the age of the phase has no influence on its strength. I feel disappointed, as it seems that once again, I will not be able to see what lies beyond the skies.

Movements on the ground catch my attention. I dive closer to take a look, and I can see a flock of quadrupedal animals running away from a group made of the bipedal creatures that woke me up previously. They seem to use sharpened branches to increase their offensive capabilities, and they are launching them with surprising speed for such small creatures.

However, after watching them for a bit more, I end up disappointed: for all that they seem like sentient beings, they have yet to master the art of weaving mana and aether. They may learn with time, but for now, they don’t interest me.

I decide to land, which scares all nearby creatures. The ones closest to me die off, but the others look like they may survive. Interesting, it seems that the ambient aether has indeed grown thicker during my sleep, for them to survive being so close to me.

Be that as it may, I did not land to scare them but rather to stretch my legs a little. I choose to go south, and I go on my way, leaving them behind.