Aria skulked close by on top of a hill as she observed the Ether Beast. The scorpion scuttled about, digging through the hard ground with its front pincers. As she waited for the Champion to make his move, she checked her Capacity.

  Even though it’s been days since she was freed of the Dominion’s accursed slave collar, she was still surprised to find her Capacity remained mostly full. She’d expected it to be at less than half. She smiled, reveling in the empowering feeling she felt at no longer having Ether leaking from her body at a forcefully accelerated rate.

  With Ether to spare, she burned some of the power and sent the energy to her eyes, enhancing her vision and allowing her to see the power in visual form.

  Her eyes traced the supposed Ether Beast. She could neither sense nor see evidence of the scorpion being one. It irked her that, should the creature have the ability to use Ether, it would prove that Aleksi’s Ether sensing abilities were superior to hers.

  She sighed, and turned her eyes around where the Champion said he would be. Her eyes lit up upon noticing a slow build up of Ether in that direction. She studied the flow, noting how it seemed far, far more refined compared to what she’d seen when he’d saved her from being captured by the Dominion.

  No doubt the work of that sword of his, she thought.

  She still wasn’t sure what to make of that day, when he’d defended her from the very people he was supposed to be leading. A part of her still believed that this whole thing was some elaborate ruse to capture her and destroy what little hope she had left.

  A greater part of her chastised her for the foolishness of such thoughts. But knowing that only made her feel all the more conflicted.

  She shook her head, focusing on her own task.

  He should be about done, she thought as she prepared the Ether within her.

  Sure enough, a few moments later and Aria could see a glowing ball of fire steadily growing larger in the distance. Her body tensed, Ether beginning to burn within her and sending the power throughout her body.

  The building fireball stopped growing. Then, a moment later it shot forth, hurtling towards the scorpion.

  BOOM!

  The explosion was louder than she’d expected. Thankfully, she’d closed her eyes right before the Art went off. If she hadn’t, the split second brightness of the erupting flames might have caused spots to flicker in her vision.

  She snapped her eyes open, unsheathed her sword, and took off at an Ether enhanced dash down the hill. As she ran, she began to cast an Art under her breath, “Oh winds! Hear my plea and alter your natural flow. Come together and form a blade to cut down my foes…”

  As she neared the epicenter of the explosion, she saw the scorpion was still alive. It was heavily wounded, with burns covering its carapace and missing a pincer, but still alive. Along with its injuries, she could also now see an orange-yellow aura surrounding it, confirming that it is, in fact, an Ether Beast.

  She narrowed her eyes at the beast as she continued to channel her Art, “…slice them apart and tear them asunder…”

  The creature seemed to finally notice her arrival, as it quickly tried to swipe at her with its remaining pincer.

  Aria met the beast’s attack, slashing with her sword as wind began to swirl powerfully around it.

  “Wind Blade!” Aria finished her Art as she sliced with her wind coated sword.

  She met only the briefest resistance before her sword cut through the beast’s remaining pincer like a hot knife through butter, splitting it into two before the swirling winds cut it off entirely.

  When her blade made the carapace on the creature’s main body, however, a loud “CLANG” was heard, and the creature was sent sliding to the side with a large gash from her strike.

  Her eyes widened, surprised at what had happened.

  The voiding thing focused its enhancement to its main body! Was it a purely instinctive move? Or is this thing more skilled with Ether than we initially believed?

  The scorpion moved quickly, stabbing at her with its stinger. She side stepped the attack, and slashed at the tail with Ether enhanced strength. Her blade made a gash into the carapace, but failed to meet flesh.

  “Tch,” she clicked her tongue before backflipping into the air as the creature swung its tail at her, using it like a club.

  She landed gracefully, and immediately charged back towards the Ether Beast.

  Her eyes widened and her feet slid along the ground as she suddenly stopped her sprint upon noticing a build up of Ether from the scorpion.

  From its mouth, flames began to peek out. It then shot forth in a wave of heat, like a breath of fire, and Aria was forced to jump back as far as she could manage with a quick burst of Ether enhancement. She just barely managed to avoid the attack.

  She narrowed her eyes at the creature. Its two stumps where its arms had been were bleeding profusely. She figured it wouldn’t take long for the Ether Beast to bleed to death.

  Aria detected another build up of Ether from the scorpion, and prepared herself to dodge another Art. She was shocked when the creature unleashed the Art on itself.

  Flames coated its body, and it seemed to writhe in momentary pain as the fire cauterized its bleeding stumps, halting the flow of blood.

  “This voiding thing is even smarter than I thought,” she muttered with wide eyes.

  She noted how the flames continued to coat its body, but seemed to do no more harm to it.

  A defensive Art, then? One that had the added benefit of stopping its blood loss. No matter, she thought as she charged back towards the beast.

  She slid under another stabbing attempt by the scorpion, and managed to stab at its body. She failed to pierce the carapace once again. Her arms shook uncomfortably from the recoil of the impact.

  The flames surrounding the Ether Beast’s body suddenly burst forth. She hissed as she jumped back, suffering minor burns.

  The scorpion, in a burst of speed, closed the distance she’d created and tried once more to stab her through with its stinger. She managed to parry the attempt, but it was quick to recover and began swinging its tail around in a mix between a club and a sword.

  She dodged and parried as best she could under the assault. On one fortunate hand, she’d avoided getting cut or pierced by the venomous stinger. On the other, less fortunate hand, the flames surrounding it managed to lick at her and inflict some burns. She also noted how her sword was feeling hotter and hotter with each exchange.

  “Voiding beast!” she hissed as she jumped over an attack.

  She spun in the air and managed to slash at one of its eye clusters as she passed. It writhed in pain as she hit the ground and rolled, using the momentum to spring herself back onto her feet.

  The scorpion quickly recovered, and regarded her more cautiously.

  She brandished her sword, though she too was being wary.

  Just as the Ether Beast had decided to charge, a wave of fire collided with it. The Art forced the scorpion back, and Aria could see through the creature’s own flames that fresh burns had been inflicted on it.

  “Aria!” she heard a familiar voice say.

  She didn’t take her eyes off the scorpion, but saw out of the corner of her eyes that the Champion had joined her.

  “Phew!” he wiped the sweat from his brow, “glad Flame Slash managed to land.”

  She frowned, “What are you doing here? You can’t use Ether on your own.”

  “While that’s true,” he glanced to her, “I’m not helpless.”

  “We’ll see,” was all she said to him as they both regarded the injured Ether Beast.

  It didn’t seem all that pleased about the Champion’s sneak attack. The creature visibly tensed, and Aria saw a build up of Ether.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but the hume beat her to it.

  “It’s about to use an Art!” he yelled as he got in front of her.

  Her eyes widened, “What are you-”

  He stabbed his sword into the ground, and at that same moment, the scorpion shot forth a massive fireball. In the next instant, a wall of flames erupted in front of them, shielding them from the attack.

  Both the wall of flames and the fireball erupted when they made contact, fire rising alarmingly high into the air.

  Aria shielded her face from the burst of heat with her arms. When the flames died, smoke and dust obscured their vision. Her eyes darted about, trying to use both vision and her Ether Sense to locate the creature’s Ether signature.

  She sensed it behind her.

  “Aria!” the Champion yelled out a warning.

  She was already ahead of him, ducking as the scorpion’s tail swiped across where her head was a moment ago. She felt the rushing air from the force of the swing, and figured her head would have been ripped clean from her body had the blow connected.

  Moving quickly, she turned and stabbed at the beast in front of her. It took the hit, knowing she couldn’t pierce its carapace, though the force of the attack caused it and her to slide from each other.

  Her arms shook painfully from the recoil, and she hissed with frustration.

  “Champion!” she yelled out, “use another Art when you see an opening. I’ll keep it distracted. If you can, try for that first Art you used to start the battle.”

  “I don’t have enough Ether for that one!” she heard him call back, “but I got a few more of the other one in me. I’ll do my best!”

  “That’ll have to do,” Aria muttered as she glared at the scorpion.

  She could see that flames continued to surround its body, and along with that, she could see the Ether Beast’s aura of Ether slowly shrinking and diminishing.

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  She smiled.

  An Art of the Enchantment variety, like the one the scorpion was using, was the kind that required a constant burning of Ether to maintain. The creature would soon either run out, or be forced to cease its Art. Either way, this battle was drawing near its end.

  She charged.

  The scorpion stayed in place, waiting for her to draw close. It swiped at her with its tail. She slid on her knees and bent backwards, watching as the tail passed above her face.

  She sprung back onto her feet, and slashed as she sprinted past the creature. Only this time, she targeted one of the thing’s many legs. Her blade met carapace, only it was not as thick as the one on the main body, so she managed to cut through it with a burst of Ether enhanced strength behind the swing.

  She hadn’t managed to cut off the limb, but she’d crippled it. The Ether Beast buckled slightly, but managed to right itself faster than she expected and turned with alarming speed.

  Instinct saved Aria as she brought her blade down, the palm of her other hand behind the flat of the blade, to shield herself from the tail swipe that would have nailed her on the side.

  She was sent flying through the air from the force of the blow. She hit the ground roughly, and rolled along it.

  Aria hissed through the pain and sprang herself back onto her feet, arms shaking from blocking such a heavy attack with her sword. She noticed the Ether Beast was charging to her.

  A crescent wave of fire collided against it, halting its charge and forcing it back.

  It whirled to meet the Champion, who smiled at having landed another Art. Aria saw a build up of Ether from the scorpion, and yelled out, “Watch out!”

  The Champion, however, was already ahead of her. He stabbed his blade into the ground again, and used the same defensive flame Art he had before. A wave of flames collided with the wall of fire, though this time there was no explosion. The wave of fire failed to penetrate the wall, though the Ether Beast continued to funnel Ether into its Art to keep it going, trying to break through.

  Aria noticed an opportunity. She could only hope the Champion could hold out long enough.

  She took a deep breath, and began her Wind Blade anew, “Oh winds! Hear my plea and alter your natural flow. Come together and form a blade to cut down my foes. Slice them apart and tear them asunder…”

  She spoke the familiar words quickly, and ran her hand along her sword to better channel the Art into her blade, resulting in a sharper and more potent version compared to her previous attempt, “Wind Blade!”

  Winds erupted and swirled around her sword, condensing and focusing on the blade. She grinned, and sprinted forward in a burst of Ether enhanced speed.

  The Ether Beast seemed to sense her approach, or perhaps it sensed the Ether from her Art, as it stopped its own fire breath and whirled to face her. As she neared it, the beast actually jumped back, leaping surprisingly far as if sensing danger from her it hadn’t before.

  Aria couldn’t afford to participate in a game of keep away. Her Art would soon disperse, as she didn’t have the skill to maintain it for long. One thing she did have the skill for, however, was expanding the range of her Art. A result of her training with her mother.

  Doing so would weaken the attack compared to if she had directly cut the beast in point blank range, and it was absolutely paltry compared to what she’d seen her mother do in her battle against Arawn. But against this creature?

  It would do.

  She slashed horizontally at the scorpion while it was still in the air, and a blade made of winds tinged green shot forth. It struck true at the base of the creature’s tail, and she could see a burst of blood erupt from where the Art impacted.

  Unfortunately, it hadn’t managed to cut off the limb.

  The creature retaliated with a fireball Art, and Aria had been caught off guard due to her focus having shifted to extending Wind Blade’s range. She flared her Ether to enhance her body as she crossed her arms in front of her face to shield herself as best she could.

  However, the fireball never hit her.

  Instead, it was cut into two just as a figure landed in front of her, the Art dispersing into harmless embers.

  Aria stared with widened eyes at the back of the older hume, Aleksi.

  “Phew,” he let out a breath in relief, “that was close, eh lass?”

  She frowned, “What are you doing?”

  “Saving you, obviously,” he turned to smile at her, “I told you, lass. I’m not trying to get either of you two seriously injured or killed. I believe I mentioned that if things got hairy, I’d step in and end it.”

  She scowled, “I could have taken the hit.”

  “Perhaps,” he agreed, “but why risk it? Especially since I’ve learned what I needed to.”

  Aria crossed her arms and huffed, “You’ll be ending this now, I take it?”

  He chuckled, “I would, but it doesn’t seem I need to.”

  She raised a brow, and he gestured towards the Ether Beast.

  It had remained in place, obviously wary and hesitant due to Aleksi’s arrival. Aria’s eyes widened as she saw the Champion sneaking up on the scorpion from behind. He raised his sword, pausing just for a moment as the blade began to glow white hot. The creature didn’t seem to notice.

  The hume slashed his heated blade, hitting right at the spot where Aria’s Wind Blade had nearly cut through. His sword cut the rest of the way through, and the Ether Beast’s tail was severed.

  It jumped away from him, and landed clumsily due to its lightened weight from the lack of a tail. It turned to face the Champion, without pincers and tailless. Though it could still use Arts.

  Just then, its Ether ran out, the flames shielding its body going out like a snuffed candle. The scorpion stumbled, and the Champion seized his opportunity. He charged forth, and stabbed his still heated blade hilt deep into the scorpion’s face, or whatever counted as a face for it.

  The Ether Beast went limp, its legs twitching here and there before slowly going still.

  It was over.

  Aria raised her brows, admittedly impressed, The Ether Beast had been too reliant on its Ether senses. The Champion used his own lack of Ether usage to his advantage to sneak up on it…

  She knit her brows, Did he know the scorpion was about to run out of Ether? Or had that been dumb luck?

  She saw Aleski grin widely, as he called out, “Good finish, lad!”

  He gestured for Aria to follow him.

  They reached the Champion, who was staring at the Ether Beast’s corpse with a disturbed look on his face.

  “What’s the matter, lad?” the older hume asked him.

  “Nothing, its just,” the Champion hesitated, “I realized this is the first thing I’ve killed since I’ve been summoned to this world.”

  Aria frowned, not having expected such a sentiment from him.

  The older hume patted him on the back, “You’ll get used to it, lad. I’m afraid worse will come in the future. You realize that, right?”

  The Champion’s expression darkened, though he slowly nodded.

  Aria was befuddled. “You… you’ve never killed before?”

  “What?” the Champion looked startled, “of course not! I mean, I’ve hunted a few animals with my grandfather in the past… but humans? Other people? No!”

  “Winds,” she gasped, “you’re telling the truth… aren’t you?”

  That only made him incredulous, “Yes! Why does that surprise you so much?!”

  She didn’t answer him.

  Aleksi looked amused, “She’d been expecting you to be a bloodthirsty monster, lad. And the fact you’re anything but confounds her. Oh don’t look at me like that, lass! It’s obvious to anyone by the way you look and speak with him.”

  He was quick to add, “I’m not blaming you, by the way. Looking at things from your perspective, it’s easy to understand why you’d think the way you do. But I’m confident you’ll find much of what you thought was true is not. Or, at least, not true in the way you believed it to be.”

  He took a quick look at the Ether Beast’s corpse, “Right then. Allow me to dispose of the creature’s body. Can’t leave much evidence behind that we were here, right?”

  With that, the older hume raised his hand, a look of concentration on his face. It took but a moment for fire, one far, far hotter than what either the Champion or the scorpion could make, to shoot from his hands and envelop the Ether Beast’s corpse.

  White hot flames quickly ate at and burned away the scorpion’s body. Within minutes, it would be reduced to ash. Perhaps even less time than that.

  The Champion whistled as he waved a hand in front of his face, “Damn, those flames are intense.”

  “Why, thank you,” Aleksi smiled before giving a light bow.

  The Champion rolled his eyes, “Alright, now that this is done, are we actually going to make our way to the Rebellion’s hideout, now?”

  “Why, we’ve been heading that way, lad,” Aleksi answered, “the Ether Beast just so happened to be on our path to getting there.”

  “Uh huh,” the Champion muttered, clearly not believing him.

  Aria shot the older hume a flat look, letting him know with her eyes that she didn’t believe him either.

  This actually seemed to offend the ashborn, “I’m telling the truth!”

  “Sure, Aleksi. Sure,” the Champion placed his hands behind his head, “you can prove that to us by leading the way.”

  The older hume shook his head, muttering under his breath, “Youngsters these days… So distrustful.”

  He gestured for them to follow.

  Aria winced as she trailed behind them both. The adrenaline from battle faded, and she felt the full pain of her burns.

  The Champion was quick to notice, and turned with a look of concern on his face, “You alright, Aria?”

  The casual use of her given name made her bristle, “Don’t act so familiar with me, hume!”

  He blinked, a bit taken aback and offended by her reaction, “Uh, sorry for showing concern for you?”

  Her glare remained.

  Aleksi raised a brow at her, “That was harsh. I know he breached elven etiquette, but I assure you he did it in ignorance. Let him off easy, alright lass?”

  She shifted her glare towards him.

  “Wait, did I really?!” the Champion asked with alarm.

  Aleksi nodded, “Elves are rather particular about some things, lad. One of those is how they address others. They typically use surnames when speaking to people. They only use first names with those they’re close with. If an elf calls you by your first name, that’s a rather good sign that they think positively of you.”

  Aria frowned, “How do you know that?”

  “I told you didn’t I?” Aleksi regarded her, “there are elves in the Rebellion. And as hard as it may be for you to believe, I’m good friends with some of them. They were the ones who taught me a thing or two about your culture, lass.”

  He looked her in the eye, “Including why they sometimes use the term ‘hume’ or ‘ashborn’ to refer to a human.”

  She met his gaze, determined not to wilt. The man had a paternal air about him, however, so he managed to elicit a stab of shame from her.

  She stubbornly shook her head to rid herself of the feeling.

  “I’m not asking you to change your views on humans overnight, lass,” Aleksi began, “but I will ask you to not lump us all in the same group. We’re not all as bad as you think. Some are, yes. Perhaps even worse. But wickedness is inherent in us all, regardless of race.”

  Aria winced, That’s not fair…

  Those words at the end were the very same ones her mother had told her before. It made a fresh burst of grief stab at her chest, as well as a deep shame for having neglected to remember her mother’s words.

  She didn’t answer Aleksi, but perhaps he sensed that she’d gotten the message, for he did not press her further. The older human began to lead again, with the Champion and Aria following behind.

  The Champion matched her pace so that he was beside her, “I’m sorry.”

  Aria blinked, “You’re sorry?”

  He nodded, “I… I didn’t know about how your people use names. Honestly. I’ll try to do better, Tufani.”

  She stared at him, unable to believe her ears.

  “I…” she found herself saying, “I… apologize as well. For snapping at you as I did…”

  He smiled, “Apology accepted.”

  An amused expression suddenly burst from him, “It’s funny. Your people remind me a bit of the Japanese with how you use names.”

  She blinked in confusion, “What’s a ‘japuhknees’?”

  Galen chuckled, “I’ll explain later if you’re really interested. For now, I’ll just say that it’s something from Earth, my original world.”

  He then regarded her with the same concern he had earlier, “Now, you never answered my earlier question. Are you okay?”

  She took a deep breath, “I will be in a moment.”

  He frowned in confusion.

  Rather than explain, she began to cast an Art, “Oh winds. Take the power within me and use it to restore that which was harmed. Healing Breeze.”

  She let out a sigh of relief as a comforting breeze blew across her burns, focusing on them and healing them. The feeling was akin to a cool wind ridding her of excess heat.

  Aria was pleased to find it took only one healing Art to mend her burns. Had she still had her slave collar on, it might have taken several.

  Galen whistled, “Wow. You can use healing Arts?!”

  She nodded.

  He grinned, “That’s so cool.”

  She didn’t know how to respond to that so she simply nodded.

  They continued to walk in silence, but it wasn’t nearly so bad as Aria thought it would be.

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