Recovering one's aether was incredibly boring, Aric soon found out. At first it was an interesting exercise of focus and determination. His overall understanding of the process was fairly basic, if a caster pushed their mind beyond themselves, they should be able to sense the world's energy. Figuring out the exact means to do this was the hard part, kind of. Aric first tried visualizing energy all around him, roiling in thin clouds and then slowly moving through his skin and into the thin channels spreading throughout his body.

When that failed to yield results, he shifted his focus onto his near-empty core, paying special attention to what the aether felt like as it flickered throughout his core-space. Once he had firmly cemented that feeling in his mind, Aric once more shifted his focus outward. Rather than attempting any kind of visualization, he pressed his focus into searching for that feeling beyond himself.

Soon enough, he began to feel the light traces of aether passing around and into him.

Finally, Aric thought, although his senses felt limited in this state, constrained.

Huh, so that's why I've always been full of aether, even after my failed manifestations Aric thought, as another small stream of the misty substance slipped into his core.

With something beyond himself to focus on, Aric pressed his will outwards to all the energy surrounding him and pulled. A small smile spread across his face as he felt the shift in surroundings as the nearby space quickly drained into him.

His smile fell away after he checked his core and saw how little had changed within. The levels had barely shifted. By the time his focus shifted back to his surroundings, there was once again aether flowing around him.

This is going to take forever Aric thought to himself after the third wave of aether had seeped into him.

Of course it is, as large as your core is? Not to mention that horribly ineffective method you're using. Amy's rolling presence filled his mind, as her voice echoed through his skull. Cryptically she continued, While you've got the right idea, using the feel of aether within to find it without, there's yet more useful ways to use what you have within you. After all, you may find it to have more pull than you expect.

What does that even mean? Aric thought back, as he wracked his brain for clues.

You'll have to figure it out for yourself, my dear. But perhaps, if you succeed, I'll reward you with another visit. Her mental tone becoming sultry as she finished, presence receding from his mind.

So, Amy's implying that my internal energy can affect the environmental aether? Aric wondered to himself. Well, if that's the case then the easiest thing to do would be to try and create some force that would produce an artificial draw.

Turning his focus once more to his core, he began pushing and pulling on the edges of it. Slowly he felt the wisps of energy circling, growing faster and faster until it formed a miniature whirlpool within him. The effect slowly seeped beyond his core, sending tendrils of aether whipping through his channels, following the motion of his core.

Once again splitting his focus, keeping one part of his mind turned to maintaining the spinning motion, the other turned to the outside world. As he began siphoning aether into himself again, he noticed that the environment was depleting less than it had before. No, that wasn't right, free-floating magic around him just seemed to be filling back in faster than before.

Alright, that's a little better, at least I won't have to wait between drawing attempts. Aric thought with mild satisfaction. He felt the aether swirling throughout the environment now, but something tugged at the edge of his consciousness -- a feeling of warning that this little experiment could backfire.

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He lost track of time as he continued to work on refilling his core, lost in the trance of drawing energy into himself. Aric became so lost in the act, that he failed to notice the intensity of the whirlpool within him growing as more and more aether was added to the mix. Nor did he realize that his rate of regeneration seemed to be increasing in conjuction with the whirlpool's ferocity.

"I'm back! And I brought dinner!" Elara called as she reentered the room. The unexpected intrusion broke Aric's concentration on drawing.

"Oh gods, is this your doing Aric?" She asked with concern. Her voice sounded faint in his ears as he struggled to regain control of the energy roiling through him so violently that it was causing not just mental strain, but physical pain.

Sensing what was happening, Elara set down the tray she had entered with and rushed to his side. Her hand coming to a rest on his back as she spoke gently, "You must breathe Aric. You have to bring your aether under control, the damage it will cause to you if you don't is more than I am capable of dealing with."

He felt his face twist into a grimace, as he first tried to simply stop the movement of the energy. When that failed, he began to try and regain control of the spin. That, as it turned out, was the far easier option.

As the energy once more fell into a controlled spin, he began slowly adding friction to the spin, gradually bringing the level of force down as he did.

After several agonizing minutes, Aric finally had his aether under control again.

"Fuck that hurt," was the first thing out of his mouth as he peeled his eyes open.

"She told you to do that, didn't she?" Elara asked, the look of concerning slowly fading away as she realized that he was ok.

"No, Amy merely mentioned that my aether had more pull on the outside world than I thought." Letting out a slow exhale as some of the pain began to fade from his body, "I'm the one who forced it into motion, and it was working far more efficiently than simply waiting for the aether to flow back into the environment."

After pausing again to check his core, he finished "I mean, my core is almost full again, that's good right?"

With an exasperated sigh, Elara spoke, "Yes, Aric. It is good you've recovered; especially given the news I've received from the villagers. But you must be more cautious in the future." Briefly massaging her temples, she continued "What you experienced when I came in was likely a form of aether backlash. Had you failed to get it under control, it would have likely done permanent harm to your core."

A sad look crossed her Elara's face as she looked away from him, "Though some of the blame lies with me. I felt the draw on aether even before I entered the room. I should have guessed what you were in the process of doing rather than just barging in."

Aric set his hand on her shoulder, "I'm alright though, so no harm done in my book. Better that it happened here than in the wilds," he reassured her.

Elara smiled slightly, "You're right, this was a valuable learning experience for both of us." She retrieved the tray from where she had set it by the door, "Now eat, I have much to tell you."

As Aric ate the hearty meal of rice, meats and vegetables, Elara explained what the villagers had told her. The aberrational caster marched in the middle of the pack of Shadowbeasts that invaded the town. It appeared to have them enthralled, guiding their movements as they spread throughout town. Which only served to confirm Elara's interpretation of the events they had witnessed.

"We need to report back to the guild, they must know what we have witnessed here." Elara said as she finished retelling the villagers' stories of the assault.

Nodding his head, "I agree, if what you say is true and this is the first time anyone has witnessed a caster class of those damned horrors, then we must hurry. I can't shake the feeling that this is a sign of escalation in whatever events seem to be plaguing this realm."

"We leave at dawn, the sooner we get back, the better." Aric finished; the matter being settled in his mind.

Retrieving the whetstone that Elara had purchased for him, Aric took great care in honing his sword. Once he'd finished his methodical inspection of the blade's edge, he moved on to his rifle, clearing the chamber of his one remaining bullet before beginning the process of stripping and cleaning his rifle.

Elara, not having any weapons to maintain, simply let herself sink into meditation. Allowing her to recover her energy, and ensure her mind was centered.

As dawn broke over the village, the pair made to leave. The few villagers awake at this hour walked with them to the edge of town, heaping praise and various knick-knacks and travel necessities on the pair.

Finally breaking away from the thankful villagers, Aric and Elara began their journey back to the city. They had business to attend to.