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Okay, everyone's out. Here we go. Agni gingerly crept out of the campsite and into the forest, just within sighting distance, but hopefully far enough that the others wouldn't notice her. Now, focus... focus... A subtle feeling akin to the pressure around her dropping enveloped Agni as her ears popped and the feeling of being grounded faded. Hey, I'm getting pretty good at this! She returned to the Aether again, sorry Jace.
That pleasant near-floating feeling encompassed her body, and she slightly opened her eyes, hoping she was ready for the onslaught of information. One that never really came. Sure, she was hit with a wave of 'stuff' that her brain went into overdrive to process, but it wasn't nearly as much as before, it was manageable. And as she opened her eyes more and more, Agni realized something further. I can see!
Indeed, vision, or perhaps not. While she could tell where the shapes were, she didn't see them. As she mulled over what she was perceiving she got yet another revelation. Her environment was about the same as the forest she was just in. It seems maybe I'm not going anywhere, or maybe because I'm human I am in between the two places? Ugh, it's so damn confusing but so friggen cool! Even without being able to fully decipher her ability, she was glad nonetheless and returned to further diagnose her 'sight.'
Now then. How to think about this, maybe it's like echolocation? To test that hypothesis Agni inched closer to what she assumed was a tree trunk, and reached out to touch it. Yup, it's there, now... She thought more about what being near it was like, how she could tell it was there, etc., and came up with one working hypothesis. Since I can't see anything, there's not any visible light, but perhaps it's more like a cold-blooded animal seeing infrared. Maybe I'm perceiving whatever wacko b.s. the aether has for photons.
Geez, Agni had to pull that last line from deep in her memory, middle school science to be precise, but it summed up her thoughts pretty clearly. She wasn't seeing light, but rather some type of Aether particle the same way thermal vision works, so instead she saw the absence, abundance, distribution, and such and converted that into objects. Not too shabby.
This train of thought felt like it lasted forever, taking every second to revel in the glory of understanding her ability, but the time came rather quickly for Agni to leave. Almost as if a fog was clouding her vision Agni suddenly lost her 'sight,' accompanied by a feeling of ever-growing and overwhelming heat surrounding her body. However, she wasn't sticking around to get burned, and promptly focused on her gate once more, feeling the pull of the physical plane, and letting it take hold.
As soon as she was back on her feet, greeted with the dull colors of trees barely illuminated by the moonlight Agni sat down, not noticing the thin veil of steam rising from her skin, with a smile plastered on her face. Holy shit! That was amazing!
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Jeez, Alkir wasn't this reckless... Astrinar, you sure have a habit of picking fun ones, don't you... Jace stayed laying down, despite knowing Agni was sneaking out, despite feeling the pressure shift and knowing she was using her ability, and despite her coming back on the verge of Aether Shock, mana overload, not out of disregard, but because he understood, you must let the young flourish through their means, and this was his attempt at doing just that, without abandoning another charge. Just keep them safe. His thoughts drifted once more with the fact that Agni returned, and he let his mind drift through another sleepless night, patiently awaiting the arising sun and the final day of travel before their triumphant return.
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"Shit! Alkir!" The leather-clad figure of Alkir was sent flying in a blur of motion, careening into the woods with a cacophonous crash. Jace's eyes darted as the figure flew, calling out in futility. Gods damn it! They had only been back on the trail for a few hours, batting at the overgrowth and trudging through the forest at a steady pace, but of course, something went wrong. In this case, a creature even Jace wasn't sure he'd seen before. It was large, very large, and seemed to be a mix between a scorpion and an elk, its large tail sported a pretty deadly-looking barb, even more intimidating than Barasov's, whilst at the other end its antlers were branched in such a way that they resembled a rose bush.
Hell! We aren't even that far out! They hadn't even reached the edges of the scouted zone, so a new beast like this was exceedingly rare. If it even is a beast. Gritting his teeth Jace faced the creature again, realizing it wouldn't sit and wait around after the aggressive maneuver it pulled with Alkir. He briefly thought about the position of Nell and Agni, but disregarded those, knowing they were back some distance with Barasov. Hopefully.
It stamped one of its hooves down, kicking up dirt, and promptly charged Jace. His glaive was at the ready, arcing through the air at a diagonal angle, aiming for its front left shoulder, and getting effortlessly bashed aside with a toss of the beast's antlers. The tail whipped forth while the creature was locked with the glaive, aiming for Jace's sternum. Left with no choice he released the weapons, ducked down, and rolled to his left. A searing line of pain racked across his back, but he couldn't afford to lose focus.
Damn damn damn! His burst wouldn't do much now, so soon after being used, so he opted to manifest a small dagger blade, minus the hilt, the shape resembling a long shard of obsidian, clenching it in his hand and drawing blood from his palms. Jace faintly heard the groans of Alkir as the man stirred from his brief unconsciousness, further strengthening his resolve. "Come on!"
Jace sprinted forward, ducked into a low bow, and angled for the beast's chest. It simply lowered its head, blocking off Jace's target with the mass of strong bone, but Jace kept moving. The beast snorted, and once Jace was about three feet from it, it suddenly leaned forward and violently jerked its head up.
Jace grabbed on, the bony thorns stabbing through his hand leaving his anchored in place as he was thrown upward. Got you! Jace used his momentum to land on the beast's back, ripping his hand from the antlers, an effort resulting in some of the worst pain Jace had felt so far alongside some sizable holes in his palm, and driving the black dagger into the beast's kneck.
Or so he had planned.
Jace did land on its back, and he did rip his hand from the antlers, but he didn't thrust the knife downward. Nor did he even come close to harming the creature. What happened in actuality was the beast's tail barb speared his chest from behind, the serrated tip poking out from his ribcage, it sifted around, and then was gone, the barb pulling Jace's body from the beast's rear and hurling him to the dirt. He could hardly feel anything besides the pain. The hole in his chest, maybe, but not the blood leaking down his back and front. He didn't hear the creature's roar of triumph, Alkir's cry of fury, or Barasov's distant echo to the beast's challenge. it all was drowned out, culminating in the fourth time Jace had ever lost consciousness since becoming immortal. At least that was pleasant.