The Aether God: Chapter 8 - The Void Element
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs:
the deep moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, it is not too late to seek a newer world.
The Caladrius School South District
“How long do we have to keep waiting?”
“Shouldn’t they be here by now?”
“Guys I’m getting tired.”
“The meeting’s today, right?”
“Where the hell is Cedar?”
“Who the hell is Cedar?”
“Shhh the meeting is top-secret guys!”
The Caladrius School's South District had a large forest. Within it was an area that disciples referred to as the ‘Little Grove.’ Nestled among tall, thick bushes, it offered them a quiet retreat. Though unofficial, it was a popular spot for disciples seeking solitude and nature's embrace after lectures. Contrarily, it was desolate on weekends. On this saturday night though, it buzzed with activity. Nearly two hundred disciples had gathered, filling the grove with hushed discussion. Among them were Reed and Cedar, doing their best to keep them all quiet. Soon though, Cerulean arrived, making his way through a couple of bushes. Reed and Cedar came up to him, thankful that he had finally arrived. Upon seeing the group, Cerulean rolled his eyes.
“Did you two seriously not recruit a single girl?”
Cerulean shoved his palm into his forehead and dragged it over his face. As he pulled his eyelids downward it created a funny expression.
Reed and Cedar looked back at the sea of disciples, then scratched their heads embarrassingly.
Cerulean shook his head annoyed, but continued, “Where’s Triton?”
“I thought he was with you?” Cedar replied.
“Didn’t you leave with him this morning?” Reed shrugged his palms, confused.
“I mean yeah, but he had to go and said he’d be here.” Cerulean shrugged his palms, mocking Reed.
A figure came up from the sea of disciples. It was Archer Frostbane.
“Are you going to tell us what’s going on soon? Everybody’s starting to get bored.”
Just then, the bushes around them began to rustle. However, the rustling was far too loud to be just one person though.
“Great. Somebody leaked it.” Cerulean became very annoyed.
“We heard that there was a party here and the girls weren’t invited!”
To Cerulean’s joy, a little over a hundred girls began piling into the Little Grove, all of which were attributeless. They were led by the young girl that had begun chasing Triton earlier. She was practically dragging him by his ear. She shouted loudly as she dragged him forward. As they arrived in front of Cerulean, she released him and folded her arms, turning her head away from Triton.
“So uhh… you see uhh…” Triton began twiddling his thumbs, embarrassed.
“Wonderful work brother!” Cerulean gave him a nod before looking at the girl and mouthing the words, “Thank you.” He turned, “Everybody pile in! We’re ready to start!”
The girls piled into the sea of attributeless disciples, and they all began to sit down near their friends. In front of Cerulean and the three boys were a little over three hundred attributeless disciples. Once everybody had sat down, Cerulean began to speak.
“Before we begin. I am requiring that everybody who stays make a communal pact. First, you will not share or display any information learned with any person who has an attribute, is etherless, or has any loyalty to the Seven Legendary Sects at all besides any who are already present in these categories. The second condition is that you will not share or display anything we speak about with any who are attributeless unless they swear to this same pact. All of these pacts will expire as soon as the Interscholastic Duels begin.”
A wave of confusion spread through the sea of disciples, and they began asking questions. It was a pretty complicated pact and had some specifications to avoid letting any word get out. Luckily, Cerulean had covered all of these bases. They were additionally confused because none of them were planning to attend the duels, and only a very few inner court disciples even went. A few were also members of Legendary Sects, but didn’t mind hiding things, as they didn’t feel too much loyalty toward them - they felt special in a way. After some explaining, they all understood the conditions of the pact, and calmed. Since none had anything to lose, they agreed.
Once everybody had sworn their soul to the conditions, Cerulean secretly casted a barrier over the Little Grove, shielding them from being seen or overheard. Afterward, he spoke loudly for a demonstration.
“Apprentice Abyssal Concealment Technique: Anonymity - Art 1: Diffusion”
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Cerulean became invisible to the eyes of every disciple. Saying that they were astonished would be an understatement. Most of the girls began to let out high pitched screams. Many of them knew of him in that he was an attributeless disciple that slept in class. Cedar and Reed had additionally mentioned while recruiting that they would be the only non-attributeless disciples attending. “Quiet Down!” Cedar shouted.
Cerulean canceled his art and began to speak. “Many of you may believe that an attributeless constitution is weak and useless. However, this is false. Your constitutions are all very powerful, and rival those of other attributes. This is because your constitutions are not attributeless… They are Abyssal! Abyssal constitutions are those of the void element.”
Many of the disciples became confused or excited, but continued to listen. His earlier display had thoroughly caught their attention.
“I would like you all to think of Ether for a moment, not as a form of energy. Think of it rather as a vehicle of will, or intent. Every living being actualizes their will, intent, or instinct through a number of different actions. But as all of you know: sometimes a powerful action can be doing nothing. In order to actualize your will in certain cases, your best choice is to not take action. In this metaphor, other actions would be of the six elements you know. Actions of inaction are of the void element.”
Cerulean was one who coagulated his thought in a manner that was easily expressible and understandable. He was extremely eloquent as well, in many ways due to the amount of argumentative writing, and explaining he did in his other life. Because of this, many of the young disciples caught on to what he was saying.
“The primary reason that nobody in the Great Valley knows of the void element is because abyssal manuscripts, sigils, and elixirs are composed of Ether that can only be sensed and utilized by those who perceive the void element. They would otherwise appear as an etherless liquid, an empty scroll, or an ordinary sword or other item - not as an artifact. none would bother to sit for many hours staring at it with their ethereal eyes and comprehend its nothingness.”
Many of the disciples were in disbelief, but because of his display they had become extremely excited. This was potentially the best news they’d heard in their lives.
“Abyssal Techniques are similar. If I attacked you with one, it would look like I waved my hand or pretended to conjure up something without actually doing so. You’d also have no idea what you were struck by. Even if you were all Lord-Ranks, you would appear to others as a one-star novice. This is because the nature of the other elements is to ‘make themselves known’ while the void element ‘hides.’ The reason you can sense my aura even now is because I know how to show it to you.”
Cerulean threw in a little lie. The reason they could sense his aura was because he had an Aetherial Constitution. It was very much the opposite of the abyssal constitution in that it was composed of ‘everythingness,’ which included ‘nothingness.’ He was likely the only Aetherial Artist within the planes though.
“You all know that each element has certain techniques that are more powerful than similar techniques of the other elements. For example, lumenous healing arts are much more powerful than the practically useless infernal healing arts. In a similar way, abyssal cancellation, restriction, concealment, and some other techniques are more powerful than those of the other elements. Just as you must bring nothingness into being, you will be amazing at techniques which bring being into nothingness. Because nobody in the Great Valley can sense Abyssal Ether, even novice concealment techniques will make you appear more invisible than lord techniques of any other element! However, I will not be teaching you those, as I know many of you would use them for nothing but mischief.”
Many disciples sighed in disappointment.
“To get you all started, I will be giving all of you two blank scrolls. They contain novice abyssal absorption and condensation techniques. Once you all circulate your spark of ether, begin trying to comprehend the patterns upon them. I know that they’re the opposite of intuitive, but I think you will all be able to see them in under two hours. You will find additionally that once you imprint it upon your mind, the scroll will disappear, like all manuscripts do. Circulate your Ether through your veins in the patterns you learn, and you will begin to absorb Ambient Ether. Afterward, try to condense it.”
Out of nowhere, in Cerulean’s hands appeared a large stack of scrolls, and he began to hand them out. Many disciples were amazed by this.
What most of the natives of the Great Valley did not know was that each attribute also had techniques with totally unique effects which could not be resembled by those of other attributes. These were known as “Proprietary Techniques.” Although lumenous healing arts were most powerful, there were also healing arts of other attributes. Contrarily, resurrection techniques were proprietary, and thus could only be used by a Lumenous Artist - an extremely powerful one. Although most proprietary techniques could only be utilized once an artist had ascended past the liquid stages of cultivation, there were many liquid-stage proprietary techniques that emulated the more powerful ones on smaller scales, such as vault techniques, which created a space for storage ‘within the void.’ Cerulean’s apprentice vault technique could only create an Abyssal Vault big enough to store a few scrolls, but since he knew a number of such techniques, he could create many of them. Although he knew transcendent arts that could swallow up entire kingdoms, he would not be able to use such a powerful version until he was far more powerful, because the only techniques of higher ranks that could be used by lower rank artists were those of absorption, condensation, refinement, mutation, and transmutation - cultivation techniques. Only techniques of the same or lower stage could be used though. Using one of these higher rank techniques was dangerous though, as one risked damaging or exploding their core if they failed to utilize proper control.
After he passed out the scrolls, he went back to the front of the group and sat down. They all began to stare at the scrolls, trying to perceive the ‘nothingness’ which Cerulean had described. Triton had already done this day before, so he and the other boys just began to absorb and condense more Ether.
After about ten minutes, a disciple shouted in excitement. The first to see the patterns on the scrolls was Archer Frostbane. Soon afterward, he began absorbing Ether.
“To have comprehended the void element in only ten minutes… He is extremely talented. I’ll have to keep my eye on him. He may particularly come in handy regarding the Legendary Sects.”
A few minutes later, the young girl who had been chasing after Triton did the same. More and more disciples began to see the patterns, and silently cultivate.
“Sooo… who’s the lady friend?” Cedar looked over at Triton as they waited.
“Her name’s Louisa Maria… She’s umm… my fiancé… our families are close…” Triton was embarrassed.
After speaking, Cedar and Reed began to grin at each other.
“You have a girlfriend, man? I’m so happy for you! She even saw the patterns on the scroll way faster than you, so she must be super smart! Congrats!” Cedar put his hand on Triton’s shoulder while nodding.
“I’m also happy for you brother! Now you’ll have somebody to teach you abyssal techniques when Cerulean’s busy!” Reed put his hand on Triton’s opposite shoulder and nodded.
The two boys started laughing as Triton put his face in his palms.
Once two hours had passed and all of the manuscripts had disappeared, Cerulean stood up.
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