It is readily apparent why this place was doggedly hailed as one of Karan’s, or rather, the world’s greatest wonders in the world. The Staff that seeks the celestial stars mystery—Erick once told him that this was the spire’s other name.
At one part it almost looked like an observatory or watch tower, with its protruding section shaped to a narrow point. Quite high above the rows of facilities, it’s exquisite workmanship and polished surface made for a splendid sight below.
At another part, it was embraced by clouds. The clouds spiraled around the tower descending from the skies. If he were to go up on one of the facilities rooves here, he could probably touch it.
‘So that’s why it’s called Aethercloud Spire.’ Mister Hartold didn’t seem to mind his reaction and just walked along the street.
Nobody seems to be recognizing them. That was due to the spell the wizard put on himself at the start of their journey—an anti-recognition spell. Scientists, security personnel, engineers, mechanics, people with varying uniforms populated each building. The scientists wore a white overcoat and some protective equipment on their persons. The engineers and mechanics wore thick coveralls, and the security personnel wore protective jackets, vests, thick trousers and combat boots. Their color scheme being cyan, orange and purple.
‘Their clothes are so different…’ Compared to the usual peasant clothes, these ones are entirely new to him. From what he’d read, these type of clothes were made by a revolutionary fashion artist, one of the founders of Verdellia Evernation some hundreds of cycles ago. There weren’t just humans either, there were other races as well.
There were the elves—Mettel saw them quite a few times. There were also the dwarves, whom he laid his eyes upon too. But there were beastkins and treefolk that he never set his eyes upon. Humanoid animals and people with animalistic features wearing a formal uniform is a surreal experience but not so much as literal trees moving about with a large white overcoat. Some looked like humanoid plants, as well.
“If you don’t stop staring at those people, the anti-recognition spell is going to break on yourself.” Hartold said suddenly.
“Ah, yes.” In any case, Mettel didn’t know much about the world, so he was intensely curious about everything. Hartold took the liberty to explain a bit of the Aethercloud’s facility compound.
“Over there, this is a sector for processing raw materials received from outside the compound. It’s just initial processing to be sent up the tower.“ Pointing to the left side of the polished black road, Hartold spoke.
“The other sector are for the finishing touches for the initial processing. Some are made into low-tier artifacts to be sold to travelers.” Then he pointed to the right side.
“There is another sector; the testing grounds. The largest of the three just behind the spire. As you might imagine, it’s where most of the hazardous experiments are conducted. We have this for experiments required to be connected to the planet’s soil or the aether nodes.” Mettel took mind of it all. On one occasion, he swear he could hear a distant muffled explosion from the testing grounds section.
After that, the two entered the spire through the sliding double doors that automatically opened for them in a disappearing transparence. The reception floor, as he’d imagine it, was a circular hall with a resplendent dome ceiling. Artificial light crystals encapsulated onto the ceiling glass themselves. Blended with the star-like array pattern of the tiles, the whole space was sublime. The furniture was even more opulent than Mayor Gathos estate. There was even a relic-like machine that was pouring out some boiling brown liquid when pushing a button.
“Uhh… what are those things? Are they relics?”
“No, they are called vending machines. They are also created by the same people who invented the refrigerator, from the Mechanum Noxus Guild.” Mettel had only an inkling about that organization. It was basically a guild for inventors and scientists. But other than that, he’s ignorant.
Aside from these, the normal wizardy members responsible for mundane tasks walking around like the ones that greeted them back at the teleport destination.
“Come on boy, there’s no time to dally—you’d soon live here until you get sick of the dizzying sight. Seriously, there’s too much things going on here. I really have to talk with Janus about this. The furniture is the only tasteful thing.“ Mister Hartold shook his head. None of the members seemed to look at them.
When Mister Hartold stood in front of a male wizard member and called him out to use a teleport cubicle, the member jolted in shock.
“Ah Aetherion! I apologize for not recognizing you sooner!“
“Yes yes, I applied an anti-recognition on myself and the boy I’m with. I just want to show him around using the teleport cubicle.“ The member, only then, could see the boy. Though he didn’t know who Mettel was, the member didn’t show his ignorance and simply let them through the area’s partition. It was some sort of latching, rotating mechanism, acting as a mini-gate and fence.
Inside had these cubicles similar in appearance in guilds and bathrooms. These cubicles were also drawn with a similar teleport runic circle but on a smaller scale. There were 6 on each side, enough to hold 10 people it seems.
“Let’s see. I guess we should test your aptitude first.“ Hartold pressed on the letter ‘A’, on a rectangular panel containing numbers, letters and symbols near the door.
The teleportation sparks flickered out of existence. It was another round chamber, at the center of which is an erected podium holding a mysterious crystal ball. It reminded the boy of the fortune tellers used to hold in their palms.
“What is this?” Mettel asked as they stood before it.
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“This hall is for measuring a person’s aptitude. Usually you would need to get a clearance, recommendation, or the accompaniment of a level 2 wizard for any young blood, but what do you know, I am level 10.” Hartold then stood next to the crystal ball podium.
“And this right here is called the Tezhe measurement device, it determines what pathway of Tezhe you have. You touch the crystal ball and channel your aether essence just like I taught you. When it glows in red, it means you have a Spirit Pathway Tezhe, when it glows in green, you have a Mind Pathway Tezhe, and when it glows in blue, you have a Body Pathway Tezhe. The invisible force domain is in the Spirit Pathway but who knows? You could hold some surprises. Go on, touch it.”
Mettel tentatively placed his hand on the crystal ball. As he channeled his aether, it lit up first in a soft radiance of red. Yet before long, the color became brown.
“Oh. If it’s initially red then brown, it means you also have a mind pathway Tezhe. Two Tezhes at once! That’s rare, about a 1 to 100 Tezhe-holders.” 1 to 100 may not seem much but when put to comparison the ratio of 1 Tezhe holder to 1000 normal people, it becomes something akin to one out of a hundred thousand. Suffice to say, not every Tezhe is guaranteed to be anything useful outside daily lives. Then just as Hartold was about to activate another mechanism for the specifics, the crystal ball shone white. A pure blinding white like the color of his snow-white hair.
“…. This. You have another one. A Body Pathway Tezhe. You have three.” Mister Hartold suddenly spoke with a solemn voice.
“Hmm.”
“Uh, what does that mean? Doesn’t that mean I am more special then?” Mettel hadn’t heard nor read anything about this in his books. Surely having more Tezhe abilities is great?
“Special yes, but not necessarily positive.” Hartold then chanted while pushing a section of the podium that caved in, glowing with the flow of aether.
“Show the potential hidden within,
Let it see the light of day,
My understanding is none but vague
Unfold the tapestry held at bay.”
Then the podium shone in a glitter, an array of prism rays spreading throughout. When the light faded out, there was a slip of paper held in Mister Hartold’s gloved palm. When he read it slowly, he exhaled.
“Mettel,” The old man turned to the boy, “You must come to know the specifics first: you survived because of what you call genes. Genes are let’s say, building blocks of a person. They’re like the bricks, wooden beams, and foundational structure to make up a house—which is you. Every living sapient race have their own unique genetics, their own building blocks. And even on the individual level within a species, the specific bricks are significantly different from the others. This results in different people being themselves. They’re also deeply connected to our Aether life root and our aether channels, do you understand?” Mettel wasn’t sure what this all meant but he nodded anyway.
“Your genes, which should have the characteristics of a human’s, has transformed from the White Void’s breath.” Mister Hartold then rose his finger and drew an illustration of a double lines wound around each other with connecting lines between them, like a helix. Alongside the helix was another twisting line, this one distinct and above the helix. All of them had the color blue.
“These are your genes and the line above are your aether roots. That dragon’s breath has special properties that changed your genes. Usually, any living creature will experience a deterioration of this genetics. But yours adapted and accommodated it, fundamentally changing not only your body but also your aether life root.” Mister Hartold replaced some of the segments of the genes and the color of the aether roots to color red.
“That is the reason why you’re special. What this implies to your Tezhe could mean a unique manifestation—and indeed what I saw confirmed that implication. While two pathway users are rare, three-pathway users only numbers around a dozen in today’s era.”
What the old man said was sinking in his mind. Mettel didn’t care about the significance of the three-pathway user, no, he cared about something else—that the reason he was like this is because of the thing that killed so many people.
“Then… I am not a normal human. I am a…” Monster. Didn’t this prove what the others said back then? They’d said he was a monster. And they were right.
“Mettel, what are you thinking about?” Master Hartold was perplexed but after a moment or two, he’d realized the cause.
“You’re disturbed. It seems I was too tactless.” Mister Hartold shook their head as he put a heavy hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“Tell me, Mettel. What do you think is the very first and most important step to having great power?” This question… It was the same question he once asked after that incident three years ago. Mettel gazed at him.
“Taking on burdens. To bear one’s burdens. And smile because you bear it.”
“Indeed. Smile because you bear it, because it weighs upon you. What is your burden, what do you think?”
“I… My burden is my past. My burden is my grudge. My burden is the memory of fire burning me and the deaths of everyone I loved then.”
“Wrong. Your burden is something else. Friends. Loved ones. And yourself, too. Do you have anyone you wish to protect? Anyone come to mind if they were to come to danger and you feel anger the same way you felt, witnessing the old man back at the market?” Mettel thought of a few. Erick, Litney, Sister Jess. Maybe that old lady that gave him some flowers. Maybe some of the guys at Harvest Day Company. Then, Raynel and Cavien, too. Lastly, Mister Hartold himself—though only his subconscious echoed that sentiment since it was impossible for the former to get into danger.
“You’re a good soul, I know this. Those are what tethers us to our humanity. That is your burden. Focus on that to become powerful. Powerful enough so that you don’t have to lose anyone again. That is true power. That is what you seek yourself against unfair tragedies. Look at me—do I look like a normal human to you? Have you ever thought what I look like under my hood?” Mettel nodded.
“I did. Many times. But I know it’s your secret.”
“Let me tell you it caused me no small amount of grief nor pain. But it’s a part of who I am, a part of why I am Hartold the old man of the Spire. Your white hair, then, and your unique genes, they’re all you.” The boy wanted to ask if he could see Mister Hartold’s face but he refrained.
"I will keep it in mind." The boy said. While what Hartold said might not fully erase his trauma, Hartold believed it would work its way through gradually over time. Even when he might not be there.
“Ahem. Let’s get back to the point at hand—this three-pathway Tezhes of yours is marvelous. It has unfathomable potential. But like all three-pathway users and some two-pathway users, it will take up more of your aether life root’s reserves and therefore restrict your aether spell repertoire. There’s also the issue of aether mana capacity. Hmmm you have a lot to work on.”
“Ah, does that paper hold the description? Can I see it?” Mettel pointed at the paper slip.
“Here you go.” The boy laid his eyes upon it and squinted his eyes. The language was the same aether rune language Mister Hartold told him. It took a while to decipher and he’d understood it as:
[ Result of User’s Tezhe Pathway Details
Name: Mettel
Age: 11
Aether Domain: Entity – Physical Pathway / Energy Force – Will Pathway / Soul – Concept Pathway
Aether Affinities: Restoration / Telekinesis / Soul Link
Affinities Description:
Restoration – Ability to restore living and non-living things back to their previous state. Type: Wounds/Damages. Specification: Equivalent Exchange. Connotation: Low Minor
Telekinesis – Ability to move objects at a distance. Type: Modifier. Specification: Mental Capability. Connotation: High Minor
Soul Link – Ability to link one’s soul to other entities. Type: Binding Vow. Specification: Strong Bonds. Connotation: Low Minor
Aether Life Root Attributes: Neutral.
]