Aether Beasts

The tower came into view around two hours into our journey, and I couldn't help but marvel at the sheer size of the thing. I'd been taught about them, and seen pictures, but they didn't do it justice. This particular tower looked to a solid grey with streaks of other colors running through it. It rose like a spear into the sky and looked to be over three hundred feet tall, though not that wide. I knew from what I'd been taught that the size of the tower on the outside had nothing to do with what was inside. The entrance to the tower led into an extra-dimensional space and each tower had multiple floors and areas. The floors could vary from simple forests to rolling hills, deserts, and even small oceans, which was a shocking thing to think about. We'd been taught at the academy that the larger areas sometimes took months or years to fully map out and that some of the largest were just too large and the landscape seemed to keep going. Apparently, some thought that some towers generated more land as arcanists moved through it, creating infinite worlds, though this hadn't been fully proven yet.

I couldn't help but wonder what we'd find in this tower, and despite the danger and everything else we had to do, I was excited and full of anticipation. Misty and Sandra were no different. Sandra had whistled loudly when we'd first caught sight of it, and Misty couldn't take her eyes off the tower.

"It'll be a multi-type," Zirani said. "I've seen towers like this one before."

"Multi-type as in?"

"A wide array of different landscapes," She explained. "Expect to go from a forest sight into a land of molten stone. Things like that. This is even better than I could have hoped for. Towers like this are valued quite highly even beyond the great scar, though I'm assuming the grey color is due to the lack of aether."

"It isn't meant to be grey?" Misty asked.

"No, it should just be a mix of different colors," She replied with a shake of her head. "It's probably grey because of the poor quality of aether in the plains. It's also not as tall as those I've seen. Although at least it's fully anchored."

"Ermm what?" Sandra asked. "I got a bit of what you said, but what do mean anchored?"

Zirani sighed. "An explanation for another time. It would take a while and we're almost there anyway."

She was right, the tower was only a few minutes away, and we increased our pace, eager to get there as quickly as possible.

The area around the tower was barren of any life, although tents and structures that I assumed had belonged to the twin horn were scattered around haphazardly. It looked like a ghost town or ghost camp in this case, and there was an eerie feeling to the place.

"Seems they left in a hurry," Sandra noted as she kicked over a fallen rack of weapons. "And left quite a bit, should we look around?"

"Every minute we spend out here is an hour in there," I said pointing to the tower. "We have plenty of rations in our rings and other necessities, not to mention we can get more in the tower but, a quick check of any storage devices wouldn't be bad if there's any left."

"There are," Misty called out, and I looked over to see her crouched down next to a toppled storage device that was in the shape of a cylinder. It was on its side like someone had tried to roll it but then had given up halfway.

"Go check that out, and I'll see if I can find anymore," I said to Misty who nodded and went off to Misty.

Zirani and I searched the area as quickly as we could and ended up finding two more storage devices. One was completely empty while the other was full of food. Mostly dried meats and other easily storable foods. I took as much of it as my ring could hold then we headed back to Misty and Sandra.

"I got food," I said. "How about you?"

"Food, plates, cups, and a few blankets," she replied. "Oh and a few bandages and healing pills."

"Not bad," Zirani commented. "Now let's get in there. They've had enough time already."

We moved over to the entrance of the tower, which was a large rectangular opening, except nothing could be seen on the other side. It was just a pitch-black void. A darkness deeper than any I'd ever seen.

"Well, that doesn't look ominous," Sandra said sarcastically. "I'm pretty sure it's not meant to be like that."

"It isn't," Zirani growled as her eyes narrowed for a second and I thought I saw a hint of recognition in her gaze, but it was gone too quick for me to be sure. "But we can't turn back now. The elder said a scout made it in safely and back out so we should be fine."

I picked up a rock and launched it through the door. The moment it passed the threshold it vanished. There was no flash of light or any sound. It just disappeared in an instant.

"Well that didn't help," Misty noted. "What were you trying to do?"

I shrugged. "I just wanted to see what would happen."

"If you two are done, can we get in there?" Sandra suggested.

"We can, but we do this together," Zirani said. "Remember a minute out here is an hour in there, so if we go in separately then the one who goes in first might be waiting inside for longer than need be, so clasp hands and on three."

I took a deep breath and then clasped Sandra's hand in my right and Zirani's in my left, while Misty clasped Sandra's right. We took one last look at each other before I began the count.

"Three, two, one!"

We dove through the portal together, and into the aether tower.

The first thing I noticed when my vision became clear and we arrived in the tower was the towering trees that surrounded us on all sides. They looked up reach up far into the sky, and their branches looked wide enough to easily hold a few people. What was the oddest thing though was the odd colored leaves. They were green but had streaks of white running through them, and well they were also quite large.

"Oh wow," Misty said with clear awe in her voice. She was looking around with wide eyes.

"That wasn't at bad as I thought it would be," Sandra noted as she let go of my hand and had a quick look around. "Where the hell are we?"

"I don't know," Zirani said With a frown. "I've never seen an area like this."

The jungle queen leaned down and brushed a hand against the ground, and that's when I noticed it. The ground was stone, not earth. There was also a lack of any greenery or plants beside's the trees.

"Hold on." I tilted my head to the side then jumped. It wasn't easy to detect, but there was a definite slant to the land. "Are we on a mountain?"

"A mountain?" Sandra raised an eyebrow. "But there are giant trees."

"A mountain can have trees," Misty replied. "Although I've never seen any like these."

"Aiden, can you get to the top of one of those trees?" Zirani suggested. "We can't use green pulse and we need to get a scope of the landscape."

I moved closer to one of the trees and looked up. The branches started quite low and there looked to be plenty of them, so it would definitely be possible, although dropping from that high wouldn't be fun, then again I could catch myself with a vine if that happened.

"I'll do it," I said with a sigh. "I don't want to, but your right. We need to get a look at where we are. Honestly, I expected a forest, or something simpler."

"As did I," Zirani said. "Somethings not right."

"You think it has to do with the twin horn?" Misty asked.

"How could they do this," Sandra replied as she waved a hand to our surroundings. "It seems a bit beyond them."

"Whatever happened, this isn't normal." Zirani shook her head. "First the entrance and now this. Could it be…"

"Could it be what?" I asked as I prepared to form two lashing vines.

"I heard about something like this a few years back," Zirani replied. "I thought it was just a story as did most people. The arcanist who'd spoken about it had told of a void that led into a strange land, unlike anything he'd seen before, but to be honest I hope it's not that."

"Why?" Sandra questioned.

"Because he also said they ran into unnatural abominations, and well, he was the only one who made it out alive," Zirani explained. "And he was part of a large group."

"Oh." Sandra suddenly looked a lot more nervous and she moved over to stand closer to Misty and Zirani. "You don't think that's what this is, do you?"

Zirani shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Whatever it is, we need more information, Aiden if you would?"

I nodded and pulled aether from my core, and formed two lashing vines, one on each hand. I also formed bark shoes on my feet and created small spikes on their soles so that they would stick into the wood.

"Here I go," I said as I sent one of my lashing vines to wrap around the closet branch.

One by one I sent my vines to wrap around a branch and then pulled myself up. It took about ten minutes to reach the top as I was taking care and not moving too fast. Perhaps I could catch myself if I fell, but I'd rather not put it to the test.

When I finally made it to the highest branch and broke through the large leaves, I felt my body freeze as my jaw fell open and my eyes widened.

"What the fuck?"