Sonnet: The Cities of Steam, Brass, and Aether

Chapter Fifteen

Lance stood in the mouth of a cave, wet droplets from the rain pattered against his skin relentlessly. It wasn't a cold rain, he was beginning to learn that none of these storms ever were.

He still hasn't figured out what was causing them, or the connection they had to affecting living things

What caused a creature inside of these storms to be affected in the ways they were? Was it only creatures that get caught within the eye of the storms that are mutated?

"What are you doing?" He heard the small, scratchy voice that he knew was Henry.

"What are you doing?" He shot back at him, wondering if this kid ever slept.

He turned towards the boy just as he pulled his hands away from his eyes. Just a moment after, a large yawn came from the small figure, receiving a chuckle from Lance. So he does get tired, he just tries damned hard to hide it.

"Well. I am watching these storms, my scouts and I have been here for nearly half a year now. We are still no closer to discovering what they are, or what is causing them. Let alone figuring out any idea on how to stop them!" He turned back towards the storm and crossed his arms while he spoke.

"The only thing we do know about them, is to stay directly out of them unless we want to be horribly disfigured. Well that and they are popping up all over the world, not just right here. They just happen to be most frequent and intense here."

The storm was a deep purple color, with a maelstrom of other colors streaking through it; one color stood out above the rest, a brilliant and flashy hue of gold sparkled across the dark skies.

"You mean aetherstorms?"

"The... the what? Aetherstorms? What exactly is an aetherstorm? Or what causes an aetherstorm?"

"Well... I don't really know why they form. But they teach about the dangers of aetherstorms at a very young age in Sonnet. Like you said yourself, they plague the inner cities and even bring ruin to the outer ones."

"Okay. But what exactly are they? You have mentioned this aether stuff before. Care to tell me more about it?"

"Well I have pretty much told you everything I know about the stuff... they don't really teach peasants this kinda stuff you know. Hells, Blair didn't even know much about it, she is practically royalty!"

"Okay fair enough, can you tell me anything else about the storms then?"

"Mhm? Let me think... only that they contain the energy of the gods; their magic courses through the storms sporadically. If they are to touch a living creature, it is almost always horribly mutated by magic. Some creatures or even humans that are touched by more than one magic while trapped inside of the storm usually turn into a total abomination. Being caught in an aetherstorm without shelter is basically a death sentence inside of Sonnet."

"Wouldn't them being affected by magic more likely mean they were chosen by the gods, as champions for them? If it truly was the magic of gods I mean. So do humans also worship the draconic deities? Or do you worship the elementals? I doubt any of you worship any minor faye deities."

"Wait, you really believe in all of those gods? We have a pantheon of thirteen gods that we worship. Although a couple of them aren't really worshiped at all, those ones are considered nuisance gods by the church; therefore, they are usually shunned by everybody else."

"Wow. This is all so fascinating, I wonder if there is a connection between this religion of yours and the storms. Do you know the names of these gods, Henry?"

"No, definitely not. Also this isn't my religion. I follow my big brother, The Fathomless; or did you forget about that?" Henry slowly began to wrap himself in a cloak of darkness, as if to emphasize his point.