The Aether God: Chapter 5 - Exam Day
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed.
Caladrius School East District: Court 12, Lecture Hall 34
As disciples piled into the lecture hall, they were all met with a familiar sight: Cerulean sleeping in the back of the lecture hall. His head was face down on his desk, and his arms were drooping to his sides. Having stayed up all night condensing and refining Ether, he hadn’t slept, so he dragged himself out of his room an hour earlier and trudged to the lecture hall. He knew that if he fell asleep in his dorm, he wouldn’t have been able to wake up for the exam. Luckily, his friends always had a fun time waking him up.
“Look! The Guildmaster of the Elixir Alliance is passing by, and she’s only wearing an Umbrous Shadesilk Nightgown!”
Upon hearing these words, Cerulean snapped to attention as though he had been anticipating instructions for the past hour. As if following said instructions, his gaze immediately darted to the window, sadly to find it vacant, devoid of a voluptuous woman in showy garb. He was, or at least half of him was, still just a boy. At this moment, three other boys broke out into rancorous laughter. They were Cedar Aspen, Reed Emberstorm, and Triton Ashborn. They were all from small families, and quickly became friends on the day of orientation, a few weeks ago.
Cerulean closed his eyes, and smiled embarrassingly. He slowly and repeatedly banged his head face down on his desk: in a joking manner.
The boys moved in close to take their seats around him. Cedar and Reed sat directly to his sides. They were what Cerulean considered the heart of the group. They were both loyal people. Though Reed was the sillier of the two, they didn’t like drama, and simply enjoyed hanging around with each other. They weren’t so invested in the arts or trades, so they enjoyed going to see shows and getting food in the evening as a group. Their chuckles were now fading, and Reed was wiping the tears off of his eyes "Oh buddy, you should have seen the look on your face."
Triton sat in front of them. He was perhaps Cerulean’s friend with the best sense of humor. The group often referred to him as half Cerulean, half Roshi. He twisted his head a few degrees, his cheek balling up to the side. "I think I know what he’s gonna be dreaming about when he falls asleep during the exam." The boys once again started to laugh. As they still had about ten minutes until the exam, they started a conversation.
“Did you guys feel that weird ethereal storm yesterday? The Ruling Assembly’s having an emergency meeting today. They think some ancient ethereal beast may have woken up near the valley or something. The Legendary Sects even dispatched Lord Artists into the forests and caves nearby. Literally nobody knows what’s going on.” Cedar leaned in towards the group.
“Buddy there’s no way beasts that powerful exist. Plus the Ether was literally like swirling, like it was being sucked into something. That’s not even what an aura does. It was probably like a demonic artifact.” Reed leaned backward.
“What do you mean there’s no way beasts like that exist? Have you been to a library? Plus why would a demonic artifact suck in every element?” Triton didn’t even look back at them.
“Does it even work like that though? Don’t they just have Ether in them so they’re stronger and do more damage? I doubt a demonic artifact would be different.” Cedar shrugged his palms.
“How do you think they get the Ether in them you idiot?” Triton turned his head.
“But like they suck in the Ether when they’re first made though right? Wouldn’t that mean there was somebody who just made an artifact that could suck in that much of it?” asked Reed.
“Yeah, unless you, I don’t know, make it so there’s a delay in the Ether sucking.” Triton made a silly face toward Reed.
“But do they even do that though?” Cedar interjected into the funny moment.
The boys continued like this for a few minutes, until Cerulean spoke up.
“Ladies, ladies.” Cerulean patted his hands in front of himself, as if telling somebody to calm down. Two of the boys turned their heads, and Triton turned his whole body around, his elbow hanging over his chair.
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“What is the one kind of technique that makes Ether literally swirl around?” Cerulean.
They all exchanged glances, but only Cedar and Reed simultaneously suggested, "Absorption?" Their synchronized response elicited a wry half-smile from Triton. He was attributeless, and thus the question didn’t strike him in an intuitive way. Despite his outward demeanor, a flicker of disappointment danced in Triton's eyes. He was clearly upset that he wouldn’t be able to be a powerful artist and do ‘cool’ things like fight and cultivate. Cerulean, ever observant, caught this subtle reaction and gave him a quick eyebrow waggle, akin to a wink.
“Correct! A gold star for each of you! Now…” Cerulean’s tone hushed, and his face became extremely serious. “If you guys promise to keep it a secret, I’ll tell you what the ethereal storm was.”
The three boys became excited. They knew for a fact that this was going to have a hilarious punchline, probably regarding flatulence or one of their mothers, and thus agreed. Cerulean placed his hand down on the desk.
“Each of you, put your hands down next to mine” he said. Though they were a bit confused, they did so anyway. A moment later all of their jaws dropped.
“A-A-APPRENTICE?!?!” They all shouted in unison. The disciples toward the front of the lecture hall turned their heads.
“Shut the hell up!” Cerulean whispered. They all sat there in lockjaw, and after a moment the other disciples looked away, and they weren’t drawing any more attention
“So basically I figured out the attributeless constitution is actually super powerful, and I kind of caused that ethereal storm. I also sort of ignored the danger of quickly increasing your rank, so I almost exploded my core by accident in the few seconds I used the technique. Sooo I’m not going to be able to absorb for a while. But it was enough for me to reach the Apprentice Rank!”
Cerulean spoke nonchalantly, but they likely heard none of it.
“Is everything going to constantly astound the crap out of everybody now?” he thought to himself. He had the feeling he was going to be seeing a lot of this from now until he left the valley, perhaps even until he ascended to a higher plane. But then he once again remembered that just yesterday his souls converged and he was resurrected… He didn’t quite have the right to continue being perturbed.
“Hello?” Cerulean asked. Cedar and Reed looked at him like one would a bizarre painting. Triton though, was excited, and the first to come out of his trance.
“Cerulean,” Triton put his hand on Cerulean’s shoulder. “you know how we’re best buddies an…”
“Yes Triton, you can cultivate too and I’ll show you how.” Cerulean said in a monotonous tone. Upon hearing this, Triton wasn’t sure whether he should be screaming for joy, or crying. Even though he maintained a funny and light disposition, he had struggled so much emotionally. He’d spent so long trying to just resign himself to his pseudo-etherless state. He thought if he just gave up, he wouldn’t have to look at artists as something he was too-close but too-far from. However, he had never fully given hope… Now, he would never need to attempt to do so again.
“Furthermore, I’m also going to be showing you two how to cultivate properly.” Cerulean pointed a finger from each of his hands at Cedar and Reed. “Your terrestrial and infernal bodies are tired of your mistreatment.” He waved his extended fingers at all three of them “All three of you ladies will be following Daddy Cerulean to the Gilded Gardens after the exam. We’re going to actually say hello to the guildmaster of the Elixir Alliance.” Cerulean double waggled his eyebrows at the three boys. They didn’t have any words, but nodded, as if to their elder. Skyrocketing from nothing to the apprentice rank in a few hours was enough for them to bow.
Just as they were finishing up, The last of the disciples, as well as Elder Roshi piled into the lecture hall. He poured a bottle of Welkinean Sand into the chalice on his desk.
“Welcome disciples, take your seats! Welkinean Sand is dissipating! I have an urgent meeting soon that I cannot be late for! I won’t be passing out the exams until you all sit down!” Elder Roshi was not quite in his usual playful mood. All of the disciples knew this must have had something to do with the ethereal storm. They soon sat down, and Elder Roshi began to pass out the exams from the front of the pile he had in his hands. Once he arrived at the back row he, unbeknownst to Cerulean, pulled an exam from the back of the pile.
“Commence!”
The disciples all began to read and write, answering foundational questions regarding Ether. Cerulean practically set his brain to autopilot. He had slept through most of the lectures, but knew well from his other life the answers to the exam. For the Introduction to Alchemy portion, he stopped to check if any of the problems were strange, but every question regarded R4 and lower ranked elixirs. He knew they existed within the Great Valley, so he answered all of them in moments. He finished his exam within a few minutes, so he decided to catch up on sleep, resting his head on top of the exam.
Seeing this, Elder Roshi thought to himself, “A fluke?”
The rest of the disciples, at one point or another during the exam, looked at Cerulean and laughed internally.
Once the chalice began to ring, all of the disciples walked their exams to the front of the lecture hall and placed them face-down on Elder Roshi’s desk.
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