Chapter 162: Chapter 162

Delph promptly launched into a detailed explanation of his technique. It took him nearly an hour to explain everything, and he paused every few minutes to make sure Damien was keeping up with him. The process itself was really quite simple. As the professor had implied, one simply had to ask the Ether to do something and then it would.

Of course, actually doing that was significantly harder. Damien had to essentially establish a permanent connection with the Ether, using his thoughts to form runes within his mind.

Instead of drawing the Ether into his core, he would have to form something that was almost akin to a new companion contract. That wasn’t exactly the case, since the Ether wasn’t living nor were there any actual rules enforced, but that was the best way the professor could explain it.

The good news was, despite the complexity of the task, Delph already had the runes to do it. All Damien had to do was memorize them and then establish a connection. Actually learning to communicate to the Ether would take significantly longer, but the starting steps had already been laid out for him.

Damien stared at the slip of paper Delph had handed him. It was covered with another sheet. He could vaguely make out a rune circle on the back sheet, enough to determine that the runes on it were miniscule, but not enough to actually make out any of this out.

“I need to memorize this perfectly?”

“Not just that,” Delph said. “You’ll be racing to memorize them within an hour. The moment those runes are in your mind, the connection will begin to establish. If you do it wrong…”

He didn’t need to finish that statement. Damien swallowed.

“I can see why this isn’t taught to people often. I’m confident I can memorize this, but in an hour, without even a single error? That’s pushing it.”

“So you don’t want to do it?” Delph asked, raising an eyebrow. “I guess I could go back to the kiddie section of the library and find a nice, safe technique for you to learn. You’d fit in with all the other Year Two children.”

“Enough with the manipulation tactics,” Damien said with a wave of his hand. “And you wonder why Mel hates you.”

“Hey! Low blow,” Delph complained. “What does she have to do with this?”

Damien just shook his head. He looked at the paper for a few more moments, then let out a slow breath. “Is there a reason why I can’t have Henry just help me? I’m pretty sure he’s got a borderline photographic memory.”

“Yes,” Delph said. “It’s very important that you’re the one that establishes the connection, not him. If he sees the runes, the Ether will connect with him instead of you. Once the connection has been established, this pattern will no longer function for anyone else and it won’t matter what he sees.”

“Hold on,” Damien said, lowering the paper. “This is personalized?”

“I’ve only got one,” Delph said with a bitter smile. “Trust me, I would have ignored what my teacher said and shared this a dozen other powerful mages if I thought I could get away with it. No, there’s only one shot.”

“Right then,” Damien said. He sat back down on the couch end calmed his nerves. “I can hardly pass the opportunity up, then. Anything else I need to know?”

“If you die, try to get off my couch first,” Delph said after a moment of deliberation. “It was expensive.”

“Screw you too,” Damien said, flipping the top paper back and revealing the runes. If Delph responded, he didn’t hear. The runes on the page were smaller and more complex than anything he’d ever seen.

Even more worrying – he didn’t recognize the vast majority of them. They weren’t even close to the runes he knew, and Damien knew a lot. Instead of scrambling to memorize the runes immediately, he spent a few minutes studying the circle as a whole.

It had a vaguely spiraling pattern, with faint wavelike ripples going through it. In the center was what appeared to be an eye, staring back at him from out of the page. It was made of runes, but still somehow managed to look a little too realistic for Damien’s tastes.

After he’d gotten a good general understanding of the circle’s shape, Damien started at the edge and started memorizing the runes. His scalp prickled and motes of faint golden light started to form around him.

They spun, turning into a halo. Damien ignored them, putting all his focus on the complex pattern before him. He went one rune at a time, burning it into his mind by trying to associate it with something he already knew.

Some runes resembled ones he already knew, while others resembled several cats stacked on top of each other. Regardless of what they were, he found some form of relation and committed it to memory before moving on.

Time ticked by as Damien sat frozen on the couch, staring at the paper. The rest of the world turned to a dull drone in his ears as his vision tunneled in. One by one, runes burned themselves into his mind and soul like brands. He had no idea exactly how many minutes had passed, but Delph hadn’t pushed him off the couch yet. That was probably a good thing.

He reached the center and most complex part of the pattern – the eye. It swam on the page before him, seemingly blinking and staring right back up at him. Damien didn’t have time to wonder if it was an optical illusion or if he were simply going insane. He simply focused on committing the runes to memory.

Darkness started to creep in at the edges of his vison. His sweat ran cold, but Damien didn’t allow his concentration to break. He squinted, continuing at the same steady pace. Memorizing a rune incorrectly would do just as much damage as failing to finish on time.

With every rune he memorized, the shadows crept further into his sight. Soon, all he could make out was the eye. Then it was just a tiny area around the size of his thumbnail. Next, it was a single rune. And finally, it was nothing.

A harsh wind blew past Damien, brushing through his hair and bringing an ocean of goosebumps up on his skin. He blinked, hugging himself for warmth as he realized that the bottom of his pants were wet.

Damien sat on a large mound of snow, atop a towering mountain. It stretched out far below him before vanishing in a sea of dark gray clouds far below. His hands were empty and Delph was nowhere to be seen.

“Hello?” Damien called, slowly getting to his feet and looking around. The mountain’s peak was only a few paces long. One false step would send him tumbling down the side.

His hair suddenly all stood on end. A line of dark energy carved itself through the air before Damien and a cloaked figure emerged from within it. They were slightly taller than him and wore what he quickly realized was likely mage armor.

It resembled his own but was tattered and made of black material. The person also had a torn white scarf wrapped around their face. It rippled and snapped behind them in the wind like twin snakes, concealing everything aside from the top half of their head.

As Damien made eye contact with the figure, his breath froze in his throat. Two pitch black orbs filled with the splendor of an entire galaxy stared back at him. A sense of unfathomable weight fell on his shoulders.

With a ragged gasp, Damien fell to his knees. Even still, he couldn’t look away from the being. Beyond the incredible destructive power that those incomprehensible eyes contained, there was beauty. It was not the beauty of a flower or beautiful river. It was the beauty of a life well lived. It was a death well spent. It was simultaneously awe and horror.

“Who are you?” Damien managed to ask through his chilled lips. He tried to call upon his Ether, but his magic didn’t respond. It was like it wasn’t even there.

“I have been called many names,” the figure replied with a voice that was decidedly male. He blinked and the pressure on Damien vanished. “But you may refer to me as Moon.”

Damien decided it was probably best not to ask Moon about his name. Instead, he rose to his feet, not taking his eyes off the man. If Moon hadn’t killed him yet, the man probably had something to say or wanted something from him.

“Did you bring me here?”

“You brought yourself here,” Moon said. “I see Delph taught you the technique.”

Damien swallowed as realization struck him like a hammer. “You’re Delph’s teacher?”

“Teacher, student. The same in many ways, if you think about it,” Moon said. “To teach another is to learn from them. But, yes, I did teach him this particular technique.”

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“He didn’t tell me I would get teleported somewhere,” Damien said, glancing around the mountain. “Does that mean I messed up?”

“No. You achieved the desired result,” Moon said.

“Then why am I here?”

“The Ether is currently establishing a connection with you,” Moon said. “It will take some time. However, during this time, your soul was set free to wander the cosmos. I simply brought you here to wait until the process is done.”

“I see,” Damien said. He wasn’t entirely sure he should trust the strange man yet, but Moon certainly seemed to know what he’d been doing. “Why?”

“To give advice,” Moon said. “You’ve done well getting this far, Damien. Both the Corruption and the Void have made large moves early on this Cycle.”

Damien didn’t let any emotions show on his face. It was possible that Delph had told the man about them, but somehow he doubted it.

“And do you happen to represent one of them?” Damien asked.

“No,” Moon replied. “I represent my own goals. The Corruption’s path will cause too much destruction, while the Void seeks to ignore the wrongs it does until they become too great to bear. Both will bring destruction to the Mortal Plane.”

“The way you say that makes me think you’re suggesting there’s another option,” Damien said slowly.

“There is,” Moon said. “And you are already on the path to find it. I have seen it.”

“Seen? Like… you can see the future?”

“In a manner,” Moon said, chuckling. “No future is set in stone. And yet, I have seen it play out more times than I can count.”

“Let me guess,” Damien said with a biter smile. “You can’t tell me anything about it?”

“On the contrary,” Moon said in a tone that made Damien suspect the man was grinning. “I’m here to tell you exactly what to do – not that it’ll change your course in the slightest. You’ll do it, regardless of what I say.”

“Please continue,” Damien said, crossing his arms to put his hands into his armpits in a desperate attempt to stay warm.

“It is simple. Continue building on your relationships with those that call you friend. Sylph. Mark. Nolan. Delph. Dredd. And others – those yet to come. I do not know which ones you will interact with this Cycle. Perhaps many more, or perhaps none. You will need their strength up until the end.”

“That’s it?” Damien asked. “Make friends?”

“No,” Moon said. “Don’t just make them. Keep them. The Corruption and the Void alike will seek to stop you when you grow strong enough to become a threat to both. If you face them alone, you will die.”

“Well, that’s reassuring. Anything else?”

“The intramural tournament has more importance than your teachers could believe,” Moon said. “There is a treasure within the battlegrounds that the tournament takes place within. This artifact is a key to a powerful weapon that both the Corruption and the Void seek. You must claim it for yourself.”

“I don’t suppose it’ll just drop into my lap?”

Moon chuckled again. “No, it will not. It is well protected, but I will open the way when the time comes. You will recognize my presence. Simply follow it, and I will lead you to the key.”

“I see,” Damien said, his teeth chattering. He examined Moon for a short while. “And, with all due respect, why don’t you just get it yourself?”

“Impossible. The key can only be used by one within the Cycle.”

“Wait, are you not?” Damien asked, narrowing his eyes. “I thought everything was within the Cycle.”

“I was at one point,” Moon said. “But no longer. There are ways to leave it, though none are pleasant. The Corruption exists outside of the Cycle, as does the Void.”

“Anyone else?”

“There is one more,” Moon said, his voice softening. “She is on our side, but she was otherwise occupied today.”

“Right,” Damien said. “So there’s the forces of the Void, the Corruption, and then… two random people?”

“Yes.”

Damien couldn’t keep the laugh from slipping out of his throat. “Well, you haven’t tried to kill me yet, which puts you ahead of both the Void and the Corruption. I suppose that’s a point in your favor.”

“Ah,” Moon said, grimacing. “I wouldn’t quite use that as the reason to listen to me.”

Damien eyed the man. “Seriously? Have you tried to kill me?”

“No, no,” Moon said. “Not yet.”

“…are you going to try to kill me?”

“Not exactly. And not today,” Moon offered, which didn’t exactly instill confidence in Damien.

“Better than nothing, I guess,” Damien said. He felt a small tug on the back of his head. A glance showed him that nothing was there.

“Our time is coming to an end,” Moon observed. “Do not forget my words, Damien.”

“Can you at least give me a warning before you try to kill me?” Damien asked. “It would only be fair.”

Moon chuckled, then inclined his head slightly. Damien wasn’t sure if that was an agreement or not, and he didn’t have the chance to ask. A powerful force ripped him off the mountain and, after falling for what felt like minutes, the world went black.

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