Chapter 12: Chapter 11. Source of trouble

Chapter 11: Source of trouble

The 1st Barrier.

She finally crossed it. Aria's knees went soft with the weight of her relief.

Rewinding time a bit.

Aria was beside herself with worry when Ms. Greenvine hurriedly told her what Rhea was doing. She'd thrown the book she was reading somewhere in the room, and ran in a panic to the door.

The outside was a chaotic mess. The ground was totally destroyed by the roots that tried to reach Rhea, said roots lay frozen in a heart rending grasping position. Aria had never felt so much desperation from something that was so 'alien' as roots.

She looked around, immediately spotting Rhea's figure in the distance. As her hair moved and flowed violently, Aria crouched and jumped onto a nearby root. She could see Rhea, hand plunged into a gauntlet full of twisted Aether. Aria cursed ran at top speed on top of the weeping root.

She was still some ways away when she ran out of root to run on, so she took a huge leap into the air. Her hair, her Focus, glowed, caught the Aether in the air and slowed down her fall.

 Aria landed gently before her daughter, her hair instinctively went around the child, as if to protect her, but in fact, she could only support her. The feelings of anxiety, frustration, and trust swirling in her heart were driving her mad.

This girl! Aria wanted to yell and pull Rhea's hand out of there and give her a stern talking to and hug her and, and, and! She still wanted to do so much more. Aria was reminded of her nature, the trait that truly pushed her out of the Human Lands and led her into this dead place. More, more, she wanted more! Ever and ever more.

She didn't want a life of misery and servitude, she wanted happiness and freedom. She didn't want to lose someone she loved, she wanted infinitely more, she wanted endless time, unending happiness, limitless freedom.

But Aria couldn't bring herself to move to touch Rhea at this moment, even though that was all she wanted. She understood instinctively that Rhea was putting her trust in her, she felt it for the first time years ago, and the feeling didn't wane to this day and to this instant.

Aria was lost only in mind, but in her heart, and heart and heart, she was as steady and strong as a thousand year tree. Aria sat down right in front of Rhea, observing her daughter's every feature with fanatical intensity. It seemed to her at that time that Rhea's figure was more striking than usual.

Everything about the girl seemed to come sharper into her mind and every detail was carefully engraved into her mind and soul to never be forgotten.

Was this a human's reaction to death, separation? Aria hated it.

When her thoughts went along those disastrous circles, and her tension had risen to a strange amount, there was finally a change. Rhea's body began glowing, a dark light was seeping out of her body.

"Rhea," she whispered. Her heart was beating in tune to some song. Aria's whole body was strung like a string, her palms were sweaty, and her limbs numb.

The dark light finally engulfed Rhea completely, forming a strange kind of cocoon. Aria braced herself for anything, she knew Rhea was a special girl, and that she couldn't possibly fall for something as stupid as corrupted Aether, but it was a mother's job to worry.

"Guys!" Ms. Greenvine shouted. She had appeared just metres away from her longest root. She arrived by Aria's side in a few seconds, gasping for air. "Sorry, I suddenly ran out of Aether, and got knocked out."

Aria smiled, guilt settling in her heart. She was so preoccupied with Rhea just now that she didn't even notice Ms. Greenvine was missing. She tenderly grasped the little thing's hand, which was almost as clear as glass.

"..." Aria tried to ask if she was alright, but the words wouldn't come. Maybe because Ms. Greenvine noticed her unease, when she sat down by her side, she sure lean against her. Aria chuckled, she was so small and she was doing her best to comfort her.

"It'll be alright," she said, "that idiot is stubborn. Look, it's just like a normal Awakening, right?"

Aria nodded. That's right. It looked like a normal Awakening. It's just that the burst of intense light was replaced with forbidding darkness.

In that way, they silently sat there for a few minutes observing the rolling waves of corrupted Aether wafting off of the black cocoon.

Then, after a time, there was a change. The cocoon cracked with an ominous sound, and black light escaped from the fissures. Aria took Ms. G in her arms like a doll, and put a bit of distance. She retracted the ethereal hair that had been surrounding the cocoon to wrap them around them instead.

The cocoon finally broke completely, scattering darkness everywhere. Though, it looked overbearing and menacing, the darkness didn't deal any damage. On the contrary, Aria felt a gentle warmth enveloping her whole body. It was Rhea, her aura didn't change.

She felt Ms. G's body relaxing in her arms, it seemed she felt it too. Aria put her on the ground, and parted her wall of hair so she could see how Rhea was doing.

"As expected," Ms. G said with bulging cheeks and a cute glare. "she became a bigger idiot than before."

"What," Rhea said as she opened her eyes and stood up, "are you talking about?"

Hmm, she's taller, was what first came to Aria's mind, then she gasped. Rhea's eyes were overflowing with white flames, and as she stood up, her hair unravelled and flowed along an unseen wind. However, unlike Aria's, hers weren't like glowing, liquid light, but more like rolling darkness.

"Can you move it," Aria wondered out loud, eyes stuck on the ethereal hair.

Rhea's lips opened and closed, then she frowned. After a while, she sighed and shook her head. "I can't. I think it's some kind of vestigial mutation."

"So," Ms. G interrupted, "it's just for looks?"

Rhea pursed her lips. Aria secretly smiled when she saw it, eyes half-closed. "Well," she said, "it looks good on you."

Rhea immediately smiled, and threw a glance at Ms. Greenvine, whom sent a fierce stare back. Aria couldn't help it this time and snorted openly. "You two!" Aria grabbed them two into a group hug. Someone groaned, but Aria was sure it was her imagination. "It seems you got closer without my knowing!"

Aria laughed, after a while, Ms. Greenvine laughed along with her, her bell like voice was endearing. Rhea didn't laugh, she never did; in fact, she only ever smiled, but Aria could always feel her mirth.

They separated a while later, and Aria carefully looked Rhea over, all while grasping her shoulders. Ms. Greenvine laughed. "Why are you so worried about this guy? Isn't she fine?"

Aria saw the both of them looking up at her, one curious, the other as calm as ever. "Right," Aria said, "right. She's fine. You're fine, aren't you?"

"Of course," Rhea said, "it was even easier than I thought."

Aria didn't need to hear anymore, because Rhea never lied. To her. Or Ms. Greenvine. Aria was sure she wouldn't hesitate if she absolutely had to, but she was so proud maybe she wouldn't bend even then.

"And you?" Rhea asked Ms. G suddenly when Aria was caught in her thoughts, "are you complete yet?"

"No," Ms. G replied, "I thought I'd ask your permission this time."

"You have it," Rhea replied instantly.

Aria was left confused, but not for long. Ms. G approached Rhea, looked up at her with a twisted expression, as if many emotions struggled to show on her childish face. Then, she placed her palm against Rhea's bare belly (that's as high as she could possibly reach, anyway), and stayed still.

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"Make it quick."

Not long after, the fire in Rhea's eyes grew in size, then ominous black flames seeped out of them and poured into Ms. Greenvine's chest like a river. From there, the Aether accumulated and was sent to the closest root metres away.

Ms. Greenvine's body had become less and less see through as she absorbed Rhea's energy, and when the flux finally stopped just a minute later, she didn't look any different from a normal person.

Apart from her height, which increased a bit, and her hair, which turned into a deep, glowy green and, yes, it was also ethereal.

"It's definitely your genes," Rhea muttered next to her, "one time is coincidence, two is pushing it, but three times..."

Aria wanted to cringe, but plastered a 'motherly' smile on her face instead. "Well, you two look cute like this," she said cheerfully, "so I don't care."

Rhea didn't answer, she didn't scrutinise her either, the girl only seemed to look at Ms. Greenvine, but Aria had the impression she understood everything. Talking with Rhea could only be described as hair raising, she always gave an aura that said everything was within the palm of her hand.

It could be disturbing and uncomfortable.

Well, Aria could only guess based on her experience in the Human Lands. For her, Rhea almost always felt full of warmth, mirth, and love.

"Alright!" Ms. Greenvine shouted, her arms raised high in the air, a giant smile on her face, "it's done!"

"Congratulations," Aria said. At this point,  she would be an idiot if she didn't understand the situation. "So you were transparent because you didn't have enough energy?"

Ms. Greenvine bounced back and forth on her feet, giant smile firmly in place. "Yep!"

Aria smiled at her enthusiasm. On the other hand, Rhea was pensively looking at her hands. "This is the 1st Rank." Aria heard her mutter.

"Oh, yeah. What type are you, guys?" Ms. Greenvine suddenly asked. "I'm a Channeller, you already know my Focus."

"I guess I'm a Channeller too," Aria said, her hair bellowed. "My Focus is obvious."

They turned to Rhea, she had just Awakened so she should need some time and more introspection to have an answer, but this was Rhea, the self-proclaimed 'Mother of All Mortals', she may surprise them.

"I'm a Channeller as well," she said calmly. As expected, Aria wanted to say. Rhea looked somewhere to the side, Aria followed her line of sight to see a little gray lizard lazing on a rock a few ways away. When she was wondering what Rhea was looking at, the lizard stopped moving all of a sudden. Then, a beam of black light scorched it until nothing remained.

Aria was surprised, she had felt the powerful Aether emanating from Rhea from start to finish, but it was still a bit of a shock. "Wow," she said, overlapping with Ms. G' s mutter of 'show off', "that was incredible! You already know how to do that?"

Rhea simply nodded before she looked at her and Ms. G with a smile. "Now that all of us can use Aether," she said, "we can begin preparing for possible future battles."

Aria had both expected and dreaded that sentence. After all, this was Rhea. She said the same when she discovered Heat, or was it Prana now?

"Humph!" Ms. Greenvine snorted. "Come at me if you dare!"

"I'll go easy on you."

Aria sighed. What cute, innocent children. Aria felt Rhea's tension rise, and inwardly wondered if they had enough ingredients stored away to make a few dozen recovery pills.

○◇○

A few days after Rhea's Awakening, five days before Babelroth's Ascension.

A servant in clean and fancy white robes ran through the corridors of a wooden mansion.

The ceiling was high and decorated with glowing blue crystals, the floorboards the man was running on was so pristine it glistened. It was even rumoured the Lady of the house made her maids eat on the same floorboards they scrubbed to make sure they did their job properly.

It was an absurd rumour, a rumour that was weirdly popular among nobles and commoners alike. Even if the Lady had a very high status and a sharp sense of cleanliness, would you believe she would go out of her way to add 'keeping track of the maids' in her workload?

However, no matter how ridiculous it was, it stemmed from a grain of truth.

"Your Excellency?" the servant called out as he arrived before an imposing ice blue, wooden door. He couldn't help the trembling in his voice. "I, ah, bring news from the, huh, from the, the L-line Archives?"

The servant was in cold sweat, but still a bit relieved that his ordeal was maybe over. But when he realised there was no response for more than a minute, his body began trembling.

He wanted to call out again, but the temperature suddenly and unnaturally dropped. He fell on his butt in terror, his instincts were telling him that he would die right this instant if he didn't do something.

Before he could act, though, the massive door opened. Standing there was a woman in ornate, blue dress. It reached until just below her knees, and showed a fair amount of cleavage. It was a simple dress, but it did its job in attracting people's eyes to her natural beauty.

And indeed the Lady was well-known in the Lands, since most nobles were so ugly from inbreeding even Orcs screeched when seeing them.

However, no matter how pretty she was, the servant couldn't appreciate it. Her presence was loud and oppressive, her blue eyes were sharp, and stabbed into whoever they looked at, her voice was so cold he could believe it ordered maids to eat on the floor.

"Name," she suddenly said, "age, type, location. Quick." The servant stilled, his brain was frozen, but his meagre training made it so he didn't need to think much before acting.

He hastily stood up, and bowed. "Ariadne," he said, and the air grew colder and infinitely heavier. His teeth clattered, and his vision was darkening, but he continued, "fifty two, c-channeller, Eternal Wound."

There was silence for a few seconds. When the Lady didn't say anything, he dared to look up to see expression, only to be faced with that same cold face. The only clue that she was anything but calm was her hair of ice, which was violently flowing every which way.

"Y-your Excellency," he said quickly, he wanted to get this over with already. "There are t-two more blank entries indexed under that one."

The Lady's face finally showed an expression, her eyes widening and lips half opening. She quickly schooled it into place, though.

"Good," she said, "good. You can go. And bring that particular archive to me later."

Then, as if it never happened, the Lady was gone, and along with her went the pressure and the cold.

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