The Aether God: Chapter 9 - The Peers of The Abyss
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, and see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
The Caladrius School South District
“We will be meeting here weekly at the same time until the Season of Intemperance when you go home for break. Remember, none of you are to enter any duels, and you can only speak of these meetings with other attributeless disciples who have already made a pact of secrecy. Once they have, tell them to come to the upcoming Midweek Tournament. Triton and I will give a little demonstration. Afterward I’m sure they’ll start coming to our meetings. I will give them the manuscripts I’ve given you, as well as various other manuscripts to those who demonstrate control of Ether. If you practice a discipline, I have techniques for you as well.”
The disciples all began to shout and cheer, praising Cerulean. They were truly excited and grateful, and in many ways wanted to know how he had figured all of this out. They didn’t care much about why he was doing all of this, as they were much more focused on the impact this would have on their own lives.
“A couple more things! Now, when you go home, I want you all to have the attributeless members of your families and sects in the South Haven make the same pact and show them a couple of techniques. During the seasons of frost, these meetings will be outside of the school, and they will all be invited. By the end of the year, I expect you all to be venerable artists, or stronger. I further ask that many of you attend the Interscholastic duels. We will crush the Zapthrax and Phoenix Schools.”
Many boys began to shout, excited that they were going to crush the other schools, and jokingly flex their muscles. They were extremely loud, and many of the girls covered their ears. The idea of finally being able to battle against other ethereal artists was new to everyone present, and the boys were more immediately enthused.
Louisa, though, raised her hand.
“How will we be able to participate in the Interscholastic Duels? Don’t we need to rank within the top one-hundred of the Caladrius School Duels first? Wouldn’t that also require breaking the pact?”
All of the boys who were shouting and flexing their muscles dejectedly sighed and became sullen.
“Very keen I see. Triton you idiot, she’s even pretty… Get your stuff together.” Cerulean smiled
“Good question! Because of this dilemma, during the Season of Great Warmth I will be selecting the most promising of you to participate. Those that I select must be proficient in one of the disciplines. I will have each of you swear to a similar pact that simultaneously dissolves the current one. It will allow you to duel in specific ways I will share that appear as simple swordsmanship or another discipline, but actually utilize your techniques.”
As soon as he spoke, the boys who had quieted resumed their shouts and chants, as well as gloriously flexing their muscles in excitement.
“For probably the next two weeks I am going to be extremely busy. However, I will be attending classes as usual. If you see me, feel free to say hello, but this is an extremely top-secret matter. Only speak about this at all amongst yourselves, or with me, in absolute privacy. Do not let anyone see you come here each saturday. Remember that you have all made a pact. I don’t want to see any lightning bolts strike you down during class. Lastly, I casted a barrier around all of us before we started, and in about an hour I’ll raise it. I know that it’s very late, but use this chance to chat amongst yourselves, and familiarize yourself with each other, as you are all members of our little secret society now. I’m naming this group the ‘Peers of the Abyss.’ For now, only come up to me with very important questions. I know that I’m basically going to be your elder and instructor for the next year, but I don’t have time for everyone to introduce themselves to me. I want you all to treat me as a normal disciple. I also want to be friends with you all, but save that for future meetings while we all train together, or when you see me outside of these meetings! If anybody asks how I know everything that I’ve shared, tell them you don’t know!”
The sea of disciples all began shouting aloud and talking with one another. They had already fully accepted Cerulean to be their instructor, and thus obediently followed his orders, despite wanting to collectively know more about him and why he was doing this. After all, he had just given them an entirely new future. Their voices blended into an animated symphony of chatter and excitement. Groups clustered together and engaged in lively conversations, while individuals weaved through the crowd, exchanging greetings. They had, as soon as he said it, began to respect one another as a ‘peer’ of the abyss. Laughter and excitement punctuated the air, and they were all genuinely joyous.
As Cerulean sat and chatted with the three boys, a group of seven figures appeared from the crowd. There were three boys and four girls. Led by them was Archer Frostbane. They came up to him respectfully.
“Hey Cerulean… sorry about how I mocked you in class all those times…” Archer scratched the back of his head apologetically.
“No worries brother. You’ve done no true wrong. All is good!” Cerulean smiled.
Archer smiled. He regretted the few weeks he spent not trying to get to know Cerulean as the other three boys had. Not just because Cerulean was apparently knowledgeable and powerful, but also simply a kind person. That kindness, though, made him all the more mysterious. Just what kind of person would go out of their way to share hundreds of precious manuscripts? The information shared in the meeting was extraordinary, and could have been sold for a vast fortune.
“Now, we’re from the legendary sects… one of us is from each sect… was that also planned? That means that we’ll be the only abyssal artist from each, here… right?”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“No way! That’s insanely unlikely! What the hell do I do?” Cerulean thought to himself before beginning to stroke his chin. He took on a semblance similar to that of Elder Roshi.
“Indeed… You see I did a bit of research, and each of you has a very important role to play in this. You were the best candidates from each sect…”
As soon as he spoke, the seven of them raised their eyebrows. Not only was Cerulean extremely knowledgeable and mysterious, but even more meticulous and diligent than he had let on. Perhaps all of that time he spent sleeping in class was him masterminding his grand plans. They also in a way felt lucky to simply be a part of all of this.
“Uhhh… Uhhh…” He thought.
“You see…” Cerulean paused for a moment, feigning wisdom. But within his mind, a wise idea soon formed.
“The Seven Sects right now are problematic. They each hoard their power and are letting millions of residents die down below which could be avoided by sharing their knowledge… I’m sure you’re all aware of this…”
While none of them were actually cognisant of this, it made sense after a moment. While they didn’t hate their sects, they had all been cast aside. Because of this, all of them had become much more sensible than the average twelve-year-old, and they were more able to quickly comprehend the cause and effect of such actions. Additionally, Cerulean had now already done more for them than even their parents… Power was the only true law of life within the sects.
“After the Interscholastic Duels, the other families and sects will hopefully have enough combined power to rival that of your sects. I want you to know though, that I don’t plan on obliterating your sects… I just want to bring everybody else up a notch. But because everything is going to be so secretive, it’s going to be really complicated… I have more than a million things to do before then…” Cerulean paused and reformulated some thoughts.
“Each of you knows how your sects are, and as such, I’m afraid that they will respond very negatively toward the empowerment of those within the valley. I’m not saying this as a fact, I’m just sort of speculating. If they take to it kindly, I may just let it go, and let them all remain as normal. But, if they take action… I don’t know. If it is the case that they show an unwillingness to cooperate and reject operating in a just manner, I may have to in some ways bring them down a notch. I know that this may be very different for each sect. For those that show obstinance, I will assert control over them, then appoint one of you as the respective sectmaster. I hope you all forgive me in advance if martial action is required.”
Although Cerulean was now their esteemed benefactor, this was a little absurd. They were all no older than twelve! They had no idea how old the youngest sectmaster ever was, but it was probably in the hundreds! Furthermore, imagining their fellow disciple taking martial action against their sectmaster in one year?! They had seldom heard such absurdity in their entire lives. This was even more absurd than hearing of an abyssal constitution. Cerulean was practically playing a joke at this point.
“I know that even the Legendary Sects have good people within their ranks, such as yourselves. If you successfully consolidate so much power again, at least it won’t be while people are dying in the valley. Your leadership may prevent a future bloodbath for good people… And no, none of this is a joke. I think you will realize it quickly.” Cerulean smiled, and in his hands appeared a number of abyssal manuscripts which he had already prepared earlier in the day. He hadn’t been planning to hand them out so soon, but now he had decided to possibly prop them up as figureheads of the legendary sects. He would need to help them become strong lord artists at the very least.
They each accepted them with something of a guilty gleam in their expressions. They felt bad for doubting Cerulean, but couldn’t help doing so.
“Exercise great caution with the higher rank absorption techniques. If you let them get out of control, your core will become damaged. This is known as the bends, and you will need to wait a while until cultivating again. It also creates a number of other unpleasant effects. I’m even going through them at the moment. In worse cases, your core can explode, and you will become etherless. I’m only giving you some novice martial manuscripts for now, but I will share more with you once you become apprentices. I hope you will each do so soon. Also, I would love to see each of you participate in the duels. If you haven’t picked up a discipline yet, I encourage you to do so. You don’t need to be amazing at it, just good enough to look like you know what you’re doing…” He paused for a moment
“Lastly, I know that all of you have been mistreated. While none of your sects will likely attend the Caladrius School Duels, I know they will all be attending the Interscholastic Duels. It will be your chance to show them your true worth. If you intend on doubting my words further, know that it will only be doubting yourselves. ”
They each looked at Cerulean with complicated expressions. His words struck close to home. The boy in front of them was preaching to the choir. If there were anybody within the Legendary Sects who truly had a motivation to prove others wrong, it would be them. They were scorned as the weakest of the weak, and cast aside. Within each of their eyes flickered a strange light. They thanked Cerulean, even bowing, and walked away. Each of them were holding the manuscripts he gave them close to their chests.
“Hey Cedar…” Cerulean whispered.
“What’s up?” Cedar raised his eyebrows.
“Could you uhh… get me a list of their names, besides Archer, and make a drawing for each? Before Monday?” Cerulean scratched his head.
“...Did you make… all… of that up just now?” Cedar was amazed, and Cerulean laughed.
By the time the seven disciples had walked away, a very long line had formed, consisting of every disciple present
“I thought I told them not to introduce themselves for now… oh well.” Cerulean spent the remainder of the hour greeting the disciples as friends. Many of them bowed, and many even cried while they held his hand, and thanked him for giving them a new life. Others invited him to get togethers with their friend groups, or asked how they could help him and get more involved. Some of the girls even invited him to meet their families, and asked if he was willing to take them as his fiancé.
“There’s so much good within these people… Once I get to the higher planes it’s going to be almost nothing but politics, infighting, and battle… I’m assuming that within a few weeks, once more of my plans have begun to stir the pot, even the legendary sects will be showing their true faces… Maybe they’ll be surprisingly kind? No… If your true colors are as vile as I suspect… How long will it be before you notice me? I’m glad I’ll just be one out of a hundred at the Caladrius Duels. I won’t have that luxury at the Interscholastic Duels.”
Time quickly passed, and Cerulean lifted the barrier. Nearly every last disciple was not just excited… They were happy - truly happy. They had very few responsibilities in life, and these new events were not only what they had dreamed of, but they were also extremely fun. The secretive aspects of the situation made them all feel unique, and special. They had nothing to worry about. Furthermore, there was no hostility between any of them, and those who did have any immediately put it aside. They were all the same force now - Peers of the Abyss.
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