Through the eyes of a proud teacher

"You learn so fast! Too fast... Must be my excellent teaching!" "Must be!" "Fuehehehe." Lyla puffs her abdomen, her eight eyes glimmering with a prideful glee. After much convincing, she managed to coax the dragon into sleeping in a better spot than the random twigs they landed on. Now they stand well rested and in the midst of a language lesson while snacking upon a random bee-ish bird that made the critical error of exploring too close to a deadly tail-blade.

"Still though, how can you learn so quick? You're only nineteen days old!" "Nineteen? I thought it was three... And the language is similar to a few I already know. Easy to pick up and figure out the details." "I knew it! Time travel!" "I don't know that word." "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." Lyla shoots a knowing look, alongside her signature eyelid-less wink. "Okay!" The dragon replies in total confusion.

"So what now? Food? Water? Adventure?" "Food!" The dragon stands, stretching and flaring its wings to fill the brambly nook they rest within. "Of course... What should we look for? Any preference?" "Something with a lot of Aether!" "The fuck is an ayy'thur?" "It's complicated." "Fine. Just give me some idea. I'm fine with anything meaty so it's up to you." "Something old!" "..." Lyla stares the dragon down, seriously questioning the bizarre tastes of this prodigal yet deranged infant.

Guess we're looking for something 'old' then. Lyla hops atop her perch and they set off... slowly. I swear there wasn't this much thicket when I was last on this floor... The jungle surrounds them in all directions, including above and below. Giant roots plunge down from above, covered in a claustrophobic web of branches and vines. The ceiling and floor of this layer both escape from view, hidden behind a mass of endless canopy.

Progress is slow as the dragon squeezes and cuts their way through the never-ending array of moss-covered branches. The lack of footing leads to constant stumbling, and the homogeneity of the environment betrays any sense of direction. It takes hours of slow, clumsy ambling to even reach the ground where they can find solid-ish footing on the soft, muddy floor. With decent ground to stand on, their pace picks up. Granted, going from slow to kinda-slow isn't much of an improvement, but it damn well feels like one.

"I haven't seen any monkeys in a while..." Lyla muses, skittering out the way of a branch as it brushes against the dragon's head. "The fluffy brown things? They're here." "You can see them? Where?" The dragon perks up, looking directly at their observers through the dense thicket. "In front and behind. Can't really see them through the trees." Lyla skitters under the dragon's neck to avoid the twigs and branches as the dragon turns. "Then how can you see them? Mana sense?" "I call it ae'othas. I think the closest translation would be Aether perception zone. Maybe Aether sense?" My teaching must be really amazing! They've learned words I haven't even taught! And what is ahrthurr?!

"So this anyutheer-" "Aether." "... Yes. So where exactly does it come from? What does it do?" Lyla skitters back to her perch and helps untangle some of the loose vines clinging to the dragon's horns. "It's everywhere, and does whatever is asked." "So is it just a weird type of Mana?" "No, it's Aether. Mana is... What is your word for something hard to control?" "Uncontrollable? Unruly? Chaotic?" "All of those. Does what it wants. Aether just does what you tell it. Very rigid." The thicket becomes more sparse as they slide into a ditch, following the natural groove beneath the branches.

"Huh. Sounds kinda cool. So you can make it shoot lasers and summon mega swords." "Kinda? Aether is more manual. You can shoot lasers if you tell it to manipulate light into a specific energy, direction, and... is the word colour? Close enough. Mana just finds a way to cheat and do it anyway." Lyla scratches her head, perplexed. "Wait, it just sounds like Mana is the easier to use version of Aether... Why even bother?" The dragon looks up at her, directing an offended squint toward the insensitive arachnid. "Aether is just as good as Mana." They huff.

"Sure..." The thicket slowly grows less dense as the wall of roots and branches turns to a wall of twigs, then a spattering of brush. "So does this mean you can't do any ranged attacks?" "I can. But I would lose Aether if I send it too far from myself. Better to just fight close." "So you don't lose Aether from physical enhancement? Or healing? Or those bubbles?" "Bubbles? Oh, the ae'osa? That's just Aether clinging to air. Still under my control. Aether always sticks to things. Mana just does its own thing after being used."

The thicket clears, leaving a gap between the foliage covered ground, and the canopy. Roots poke down through the leaves, but stop short of reaching the ground, creating the appearance of an inverted forest. The pair shake off the accumulated twigs and leaves as they step into the open air.

"Wait... So if you had enough eetherr to defend against someone's strongest attack, you could just wall them for eternity?" The dragon sets off in a random, open looking direction, already having forgotten what they've even set out for as they simply enjoy their first proper conversation. "Easy. I could stay in death vine room forever now. Could still be suffocated though..." "That's actually kinda insane! And this stuff is just in the air?" "Yes, but barely any. Mostly sticks to old things with strong will, but there's just so little... Have to fight really strong stuff to make progress."

"Is it strong or not?! Make up your mind!" "It's Aether." Lyla waves her pedipalps in defeat, concluding that Aether is just weird. "Fine. But one more question before I forget. Why are you still using my voice?! It's creeping me out!" "It's cute."

Through the eyes of a weird, Aether-fuelled dragon

Aleph ignores the sparkle-eyed spider atop her and takes in her surroundings. Since breaching the thicket, the environment has become small hills of foliage accented by inverted hills of canopy. Occasionally, the foliage meets the hills, blocking off the horizon in each direction, though not as thoroughly as the floors above. Tiny beams of light escape the dense canopy, highlighting the shape of the surrounding and filling the ceiling with star-like speckles, but provide little assistance in navigating, forcing Aleph to rely on her Aether to see.

The canopy rustles with life, their observers keeping a careful distance above the pair. A distant ruffle of leaves approaches them, another of the creatures meeting above them to whisper to one of their observers and then leave from where it came. What are they up to? These... What did she call them again? I keep forgetting, was it gorilla? Monkey? Human? There's so many names for what basically look like the same thing... Thud.

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One of the creatures land before them, resting its weight on thick forearms and bent legs as it stares down the pair. Small rays of light highlight the patches of yellow fur scattered across its brown hide as its tail spirals and flexes behind. Ooh! I love staring contests! Aleph meets its eyes, her own gaze eating away at her opponent. The creature manages but a few moments before averting its gaze, turning around to amble towards a hill. Wehehe, still got it.

The creature halts on a nearby hill, turning back to watch the pair again. Another staring contest? But this time from a distance! "I think it wants us to follow..." "Ah! I see." Ignoring the slight disappointment in not having another staring contest, Aleph trots her way towards the creature. As she approaches, it disappears over the hill, showing up on the next hill as they crest this one. A race! Even more fun!

Aleph picks up the pace, summiting the next hill as the creature reaches the one after. Hill after hill she speeds up, and so does the creature, eventually resorting to swinging across the branches above to keep ahead. Run turns to sprint as they dart across the terrain, cresting hills, leaping across rivers, and diving through thickets. Hands, feet, and tail grasp at branches, flinging acrobatically through the canopy while claws, wings, and scales glide across the terrain.

"Where are we going?!" "Don't know! But it's fun!" "Seriously?" Aleph continues her race. Seriously. Granted, she's not actually trying to overtake the fluffy creature, so it's not really a race. But it's the thought that counts, and clearly her opponent agrees as it swings to the peak of its capabilities to keep up.

Just as Aleph begins to think about the lack of life in this place, she steps on a large, flat reptile plated in moss-green scales and covered in a layer of foliage. As the lizard rears its head to snap its enormous jaws at its assailant, Aleph swipes her bladed tail, severing its spine before it can even voice a complaint. For a moment, she finds herself stuck between the vital task of winning her race and the necessity of not wasting food, but eventually settles on the objectively correct answer. Both.

With a forward spin, she wraps her tail around the lizard, holding it to her back, and slams her feet into the ground to continue her sprint all in one fluid motion. Aether flows into her limbs, making up for the added weight and reduced balance. "Found food!" "What?! When? How? Is that why we stumbled just now?" Lyly stares behind, confused by the sudden appearance of a giant dead moss lizard on the dragon's back. "Does it have a lot of Aether?" "Nope!" "You sound almost happy about that..." "Having fun!" "So I see." The creature ahead looks back with an inscrutable expression at the violet and black dragon now running with its tail wrapped around a dead lizard, and almost smacks its head into a root as stares dumbfounded.

The terrain shifts, rising up to nearly meet the canopy, before abruptly cutting off. Aleph skids to a stop, peering into the crater before her. Walls of packed mud surround a flat ring of hardened stone, overshadowed by the canopy, which has been trimmed away into a dome. In contrast to the dim forest before, this region is bathed in light by four orbs held in place by black rope. An arena? Her race partner descends a rope in the arena's centre, eying the pair as if waiting for them to approach.

So wait... Did I win the race? Imma say I did. Aleph slides down the steep decline, settling at the base and walking to the middle of the arena.

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Ter-is Alli-at-r

Appear-n-e:

A truly ---arkab-e specim-n with a flat body and long s----. sno-t Grey scale- a-orn the creature's body, tho-gh ----a--y normally covered in layers o- moss giv--g them a green a--earan--. a--e-rance On -heir backs lay a thick la-er of plants a-- moss actually -rowing into them, prov--ing a near-perfect --mouflage as they --e in wait within the foli---- foli-ge.

Be-avi----

--- --- ---- ----- This o-e was jus- - juice st-in. I can't ---ember e-actly what i- said. they remain dormant and hidden wit-in the brush of the lower forest layers. W--n a-y larg- --ough Wh-- any la-ge eno-gh cre-ture approaches too close, they will sn-p, lunging at their prey and c--mping down with tre-endous jaw strength.

Most fascinating about this creature, is the sound they occasionally create. At certain regular intervals, they appear to sing in unison with o--ers of their kind in the distance, creating a fascinating harmony acr-ss the entire forest, before shifting positions to a new hiding spot. This appears to be some method of co---nica----, comnumita connun comn Fuck it. I apartly can'- spell today. -erhaps to determine the best places to hide? Though time is difficult to tell down here, I believe --ese intervals to be roughly three -ays apart, though whether this varies over time I do not know.

-th-- ---es:

--ey t-ste a lot like the many eagles commonly found two floors above. Even their scales are surprisingly sweet! I su-pect -h-y may be densely packed with -a-a, Mana though this is where my lack of ability to detect it once again ails me. Regardless, they taste fine indeed. I find they're best prepared in a stew, along with the si-ver --shrooms and heavy peaches found on these floors. Thou-h wi-hout a constituti-- like mine, one would unfo----atel- -nfor-una--ly be likely struggle with the poi-on in the mushrooms.

Adden-um:

---- -- -y note- -ppear to -- ---ra--ng a- I -esc-nd. -- e--lie- ---es -e-m to -- --ne, -o wha-e--r -- ------- ---s on-y seems -o -ff-c- --e Man- in my i-k, ----ent--g -t --om --tt--n- pr-perly. Given h-- --e crea-ur-s i- th-s- deep-- -loor- --ly l--- -- ---a, --d mor- o- r-w stre--th, - beli-v- t-is -- b- c--sed -y t-e ---sum----- ----er-ie- of D-m---- ----gy. I wi-- c---ect -h-t - ---- --- ----- --- ----i-- ---ra--t--- t- -y in- I d-u-- i- wil- help m---. I--l ---e t- u-e m- ---urn tok-n -o w--p t--s- -- -he s-rf-c- -o - c-- p--vent f-rth-- --ma-e. - wil- -- re---ting th-s m-ss-ge -n multi--- pa-es, -n hope- -f some ----ing -- -----

-Excerpt from secti-n 5- ---pter 16 of the Lost Hero's Journal