---
Chapter 7 - Ether
---
Skye floated, dreaming for an unknown amount of time adrift in a sea of sensations.
She had the vague impression of being weightless, what she imagined it'd feel like if her soul wasn't attached to a mortal body. The pain of the Master's mark on her shoulder was gone, as were the slices of agony inflicted on her by the Commander. It left her in a blissful state of thought, and Skye found herself wondering if she'd died on the interrogation table.
I don't feel dead, she thought, trying to get a glimpse of herself, though she lacked vision in the usual meaning. Rather than an image accompanied by her other senses, the five had merged into one to create something like instinct. She knew she was there because she could sense it, but not directly see it.
As she continued her directionless drift, Skye was able to sharpen that sense.
Whatever she was in was a substance thicker than air, yet lighter than liquid. Various shades of purple, green, blue, red and a silvery-white lit the otherwise void of nothing, each one glowing with a different intensity.
Some seemed asleep. Others were acutely aware, retreating as she reached out to touch them. When she tried to touch one of the brighter ones, a thrill of energy ran up her fingers, energizing her. That led to the discovery that the brilliancy of each orb dictated the energy thrill that followed.
And so, when Skye came across a magnificent, silver cloud of energy in that eerie land of lights, she couldn't look away. Burning curiousity pulled her hand towards it, reaching for its centre until it engulfed her completely.
Her eyes flickered open.
Whatever that'd been, Skye was back in reality with the sight she knew.
Murky shadows lurked around her, making her long for the colours and their energies. Though most elves Skye knew would have panicked, it'd comforted her. She didn't need people surrounding her to feel secure.
If it wasn't for that silvery cloud, I'd still be there. A spark of annoyance struck to life. I never should have touched it. What right did it have to pull me into...wherever I am now?
Unsure if it was safe to lift her head, Skye attempted to ascertain shapes in the darkness.
Nothing caught her eye. From what she could tell, the room was empty. She was alone in the darkness, slumped against a wall with only some faint, silvery light coming from somewhere behind, almost around her head to fight back the shadows on the walls. Strangely enough, there seemed to be no windows or doors either. The same smooth, black walls that glinted back at her like they knew something she didn't encased her inside a perfect cube.
Skye went to lift an arm to examine the walls, see if she could break it.
Her hand refused to move.
Alarm welled up in her as the limb continued resting there, completely ignoring her every order. She could feel the muscles, knew the way it was supposed to go, but despite the way she mentally screamed and tried to force it, nothing continued to happen.
She'd had a nightmare like this once. This exact room, although it wouldn't be hard to replicate, but she'd always been free to move. Always. The first time, she'd simply tried to get up before collapsing. The second, she'd managed to stand and slam a fist into a wall so hard the skin had split. The last time she'd had it, there'd been a man standing over her, his face cloaked in darkness with a lilac blade clutched in his hand.
How did I get here?
That had to be the solution. Skye furiously tried to recall the last thing she'd seen--silver knights, bursting into the room. One had tried to take the blade from her hand, but she wasn't about to be tortured again. Four souls, each different, each with their own hidden crevices of memories and one on the brink of dispersing back into the Nether.
I did something to that one.
Skye frowned internally. A surge of emotion had taken her, swept her away on wishful thinking that at least someone should get a second chance to be free.
Then, the light.
After that, the world of coloured orbs of energy and light.
Now, trapped inside a body she couldn't move.
Skye frowned internally. Did the knights free me, only to imprison me once again? A horrifying thought occurred to her. Or did the Master come back with that girl, and wipe them out?
If that were the case, she wasn't safe. Maybe it was the Citadel she was in, the Master's renowned base, paralysed and helpless, simply to await his return. Maybe even now, he skulked the halls outside, waiting for her to awaken.
Skye tried to move again, more insistent this time. Some paralytic poisons could be broken, once conscious, by the sheer force of someone's will especially if they involved demon's blood. Mentally, she prepared herself, when a voice echoed through her head.
Get. Out.
The world-weary voice stopped Skye struggling against her body. It felt like starlight, if the stars were to decide they no longer wanted the mortals to walk the land under their care.
You have no right to control me. Get out. Now.
The voice was openly hostile now. Unsure as to why it was angry, Skye attempted to move yet again with the same amount of success. She was trapped inside some deities cursed room, and this voice seemed to think she had a choice in the matter? She couldn't move, for Lianai's sake!
Yet as the voice continued to swell inside her, Skye realised she didn't have an option. She had to move, now, or it was going to crush her into oblivion, but how? There wasn't anything she could see that would help her. The room was bare, and only the silvery hair that hung over her shoulder gave any kind of--
The train of thought came to a halt as the problem made itself clear.
Her hair wasn't silver. It was a dark brown with teal streaks. Sometimes it gleamed lighter in the sun's light, but it definitely wasn't this iridescent silver.
I warned you. My mind is the one place you shall never breach with your foul touch.
Her body rose to a stand, completely against Skye's wishes. Both arms raised, the fingers pressed to her temples, and the faint glow intensified. Skye found it hard to believe she wasn't dreaming again, but the voice's presence felt real, even if it didn't make sense. It wanted her to leave, despite Skye herself wanting to leave.
Begone!
A tidal wave of power hit her.
Any part of herself she'd convinced was dreaming shattered. Skye's head felt like it was caught between the sharpened point of a battering ram and the ground while it rammed against her skull. It pushed against her thoughts, threatening to break them into a million different pieces.
Still unable to move, Skye couldn't even shy at the pain. She had no release, no way to scream or flinch or remove herself from this presence that wanted her gone, only stand there and take as much of it as she could before being crushed.
The Commander's torture had been nothing compared to this. Nothing. That she'd resisted for weeks. This voice would break her in seconds.
The excruciating barrage didn't show mercy. As Skye's vision began to blur, the vague link she had to her body drifted away and she fled down, deep into the place of the light she'd found at the interrogation table, the place the soul blade had scratched and scraped at but never pierced.
Emerald light engulfed her, golden specks weaving through the silky, mist-like texture with a similar consistency to the air-liquid from before. It'd saved the silver knight, but could it save her? Skye hid in a daze of agony, praying to the deities that the voice couldn't find her.
Seconds later, the voice rushed up to meet her now the same, silver cloud that'd dragged her into this nightmare upon touching it.
Skye braced herself. The cloud shaped into slender daggers, hurtling towards her. Not seeing, instead somehow back in that combined senses state, was worse than anything before, and Skye found herself hoping she could slip back into the dream and leave this interluding nightmare behind.
The impact never came. Daring to extend her sense beyond her cocoon of green and golden light, Skye found the silver dagger-light drifting outside. It seemed hesitant, unsure as to how it should proceed. It spread itself out, dispersing back into a soft cloud of silvery specks around Skye's hiding place.
You are not a Sentinel of shadow? the voice inquired, clearly confused. When Skye remained silent it sounded again, strangely similar to a crystal bell. Think your answers, I will hear them.
Skye scraped together a coherent sentence despite the echoes of agony in the back of her head. Shadow? Is that why you tried to kill me? You thought I was corrupted?
The voice ignored her. But you're a Sentinel?
Uh, no, said Skye. Last I checked, there was only one of those left and it definitely wasn't me.
I think you will find yourself sorely incorrect, said the voice. As you appear to have the capabilities of one.
Skye speculated how far up the insanity metre she was at this point before replying. Uh huh. And I also have six legs and a tail and can sprout feathers at will.
The voice persisted. A Sentinel is one, elf or human, that has the ability to wield one of the five elements--fire, water, celestial, nature, or shadow-- in its purest form as magic. I take your disbelief to mean this was a recent development, and that my hopes you may be here to free me are unfounded.
Free you? asked Skye, letting the Sentinel thing drop. I'm the one trapped in this room, not you.
Ah, said the voice. So fresh. What you are seeing here is my body, but you are not physically here. Your soul has taken temporary residence inside my body rather unexpectedly, which is why I attacked you. It did not occur to me that a Linaye had been established. I thought someone was attempting to invade my mind.
I didn't exactly want to possess you, said Skye. That silver light wanted me to touch it, and I'm not sure why I didn't resist now that I think about it.
The voice conceded her point. It is not something either of us have control over. When a new Sentinel awakens, they drift in a state of dreaming through the ether of the Nether until the deities link their soul to that of another Sentinel in a bond known as the Linaye. From there, the elder Sentinel will guide the younger, teach them the ways of magic and mentor them through the start of their greatly extended life.
So why did it pair me with you? asked Skye.
The voice appeared to muse for a moment. Skye decided it was definitely feminine, which matched the body she saw.
I am not sure. It is odd to have Sentinels outside a single element paired together. I suspect there are no...capable nature Sentinels left to bond to you. But do not fret, I will be able to complete your training, at least in part, despite my captive state within the Citadel.
They drifted around each other in silence. Skye took to observing the mist, trying to work out exactly what it was. Was it the woman's soul, or some other form of magic? Which raised another question.
If you're a Sentinel, why can't you just escape? asked Skye. If you can do this, shouldn't you have the energy to fight?
I wish I did, little one, said the voice. But these black walls are forged of corruption-stained Naclictite and bound with enough enchantments to hold a Sentinel far beyond my calibre. I have fought against them many times, but they offer no chance of escape unless he wills it.
You mean the Master?
Yes. He is the current rallying point of the shadow and the corruption that entangles it, the second highest peak of its influence in the mortal realm. It is him the corruption uses to strengthen its hold on the Nether realm. With every mortal soul that falls in this realm the corruption grows stronger in the Nether. Eventually it will see the day the other deities can no longer withstand its might, and that will be the day their war will end.
The way the voice spoke about the deities seemed like she went beyond simple belief and knew them to be real. Skye, as the other elves did, honoured the deities in various ways but they'd always been something completely ethereal, beyond mortal reach for her. They were there, but at the same time, they weren't. They were just a part of life she'd never bothered questioning, and it left her feeling confused.
The voice seemed to pick up Skye's thoughts.
The deities are real, little one, and as a Sentinel, you must come to terms with this. The magical energy of each element derives directly from its deity through ether. It powers our realm whether we know it or not, encouraging growth and life to flourish. With the war in the Nether realm against the corruption and shadow, much of that is diverted. Therefore, Sentinel numbers have dropped, as the deities cannot afford to expend more energy upon us, lest the corruption take them.
You say that like the corruption isn't part of the deity, Skye noted.
It is not. We do not know where it came from, only that it rose up at various places in history to try and claim its place. It was only three hundred years ago that it somehow managed to infect the shadow deity, which gave it an edge the others did not know how to deal with. Something has changed, however. I am not sure what, but it is causing the deities to reach out into the mortal realm for help, and it worries me. That the nature deity has now established another Sentinel in this world through you, this confirms my suspicion.
Care to enlighten me? asked Skye hopefully.
I will explain later, when I have had a chance to gather my thoughts. Several years in stasis has addled my brain, I fear, else I would have noticed the element of your soul much sooner and saved you the pain.
It continued. All you need to know for now, from what I have pieced together, there are only three active Sentinels. Myself, the Master, she said, laying disgust on the word, and now you. Whatever happens, you must not let yourself fall into the Master's grip. You must not become corrupted, or this realm is lost.
The image of the Master's mark, burned into her skin flashed across Skye's mind. Sensing the voice's attention, she quickly diverted it to a question.
Can I ask your name? asked Skye, squashing the shame deep down to where she could deal with it later.
During our lessons, you will call me... She deliberated for a moment. Teacher, since Master has been defaced by the shadow. At all other times, you may call me Kiarae. What is the name of my student?
Skye.
Kiarae seemed pleased. The cloud of silver dust Skye was starting to suspect was a soul hung lazily in the air-liquid, or ether as Kiarae was quick to correct her. A pleasurable hum emnated from the cloud, drawing Skye out of her own soul to investigate Kiarae's magic, see if it felt like the cloud she'd touched initially.
Almost immediately, the space around them darkened, and Kiarae's hum froze.
Oh deities, forgive me.
The cheer was replaced with recognisable fear at the source of the darkness. Quickly, the silver cloud doubled in size and morphed into a thin layer, completely covering Skye's green orb with a shell of silver.
With a shock, Skye realised Kiarae's fear wasn't for herself, but for her newfound student.
An all too familiar voice sounded back in the physical world. "And what, pray tell, gives you the right to be so happy on this particularly infuriating day?"
Peering through Kiarae's eyes, Skye saw the unmistakable black-booted figure enter the room through a slide-back panel of wall. The Master's fists were closed, his shoulders slightly hunched in a barely suppressed fury, a complete turn around from the controlled, patient stance he'd maintained at Darni.
"The lack of seeing you is always a simple pleasure of mine, Master," said Kiarae. She spat the last word like poison on her lips. "Of course, you always liked to deny it to me."
The Master's eyes flicked upwards, locking their gazes together. "Too bad for you. I had a rather interesting prisoner ready for conversation earlier, only to be dragged back here by Ebony because you, my dear, had finally awakened. I finally recover enough after the shadow-step to see you, only to learn that, in my absence, the Silverborn have swept in and taken the prisoner with them. It all seems rather convenient, really."
"Stepping outside the cycle?" Kiarae tutted. "Rather reckless of you, really. You know the consequences."
"I can't help but feel you know something about the Silverborn, Kiarae," said the Master.
Kiarae stared back at him with a will of iron. "I would love to tell you, really I would, but it is a little hard to keep up with the outside world when you lock me away from it all."
"Enough," growled the Master. "I've put up with your games long enough, woman. Nigh on a hundred and seventy years I've dealt with you like this, and you shall not pretend now that your deity has been neglecting the Silverborn! So where in the Nether is she!"
The outburst made Kiarae retreat a step, where her back was pressed against the wall.
"She?" said Kiarae. Her voice was quieter now, the sarcastic note dropped from the words in an attempt to calm him. "Who are you talking about?"
"The elf girl," said the Master. Skye felt the pieces click into place in Kiarae's mind. "The one that has now disappeared into the woods with the Silverborn, who are acting completely out of character. Funnily enough, it's around the same time that you happened to wake up out of your several year nap, Kia. Care to explain why my key to finding the elves has suddenly disappeared?"
Kiarae remained silent. A purple flame appeared in the Master's hand.
He tilted his head, a slow smile creeping across his face. "She was particularly interesting to me, too. Her aura was something I was curious to investigate. Perhaps you just need some encouragement to start talking?"
As he spoke, Kiarae's voice rang through Skye's mind.
You need to leave. Now. Before he figures out you're in here and I can't protect you. She paused to say something back to the Master. When you wake, stay with the Silverborn. Get to Alguarde. It is the one place still truly safe from the corruption's reach.
I don't know how to leave! Kiarae's fear was infectious, circulating around Skye's mind with every beat of a heart.
Damn it Skye, he'll kill you to get the information back, and deities help you if he discovers you're a Sentinel.
Won't he kill you? asked Skye, desperate. You've been here for--
A hundred and sixty three years. I am different. The one person that stands a chance of surviving the Master's wrath. He will not break me, I know him too well. Even now, he is reluctant to use force against me, but he will have no such hesitation for you and I will not see my student succumb to the corruption so easily. Now, go!
Kiarae attempted to give her a push, but Skye clung to the light. Through her eyes, the Master's smile broke out into a grin.
"I see. Kiarae, dear, you never were good at shielding the presence of others from your mind. Since I don't wish anyone else to witness this, I'm afraid we'll have to remove them."
The grin twisted into a smirk. The lilac flame in his hand drooped and churned in on itself as he started straight past Kiarae's eyes and at Skye herself, though she still had no idea where she was herself.
"Whoever you are, this is a private matter. Die."
The dark core of the churning magic in his hand radiated evil as it extended tendrils. Skye barely heard Kiarae's cry of despair as the Master pinned the celestial's neck to the wall and thrust the tendrils deep inside somewhere behind Kiarae that Skye couldn't see.
Kiarae continued to sputter and rake her nails against his skin to no avail. The tendrils found the place where their souls mingled and swept aside the silver casing with the greatest of ease. It left Skye's soul completely open, vulnerable to any attacks she couldn't defend herself from, yet the tendrils couldn't piece her soul.
Each time they tried, the golden sparks would converge and repel them. The emerald light turned lighter with each attack that passed, catalysing a reaction that only brought more of the gold flecks to the surface of her soul. Assuming it was Kiarae's doing, Skye cheered her on in silence, hoping her teacher could hear her.
The Master frowned, clearly not expecting any significant resistance. The tendrils hung around her soul, snaking through the ether. Watching. Waiting for an order.
The black fury of the Master reared its ugly head again, resonating from the soft voice.
"If I cannot kill you directly, I will employ another technique." Kiarae's struggles grew. "Fear is a weapon, an emotion that can drive one's enemies to kill themselves. Did you know this, Kiarae?" He didn't pause for an answer. "Of course not. So let me demonstrate with your new friend here, shall I?" He turned back to Skye. "All you have to do is find what scares them the most."
This time when the tendrils moved, they didn't strike. Instead, they wrapped themselves around her soul, completely shutting off Skye's soul from the world around it and encasing it in the unnatural darkness. The Commander had tried something similar in one interrogation, but it was nothing to what the Master was doing to her now.
Skye lashed out. Animalistic instinct drove her to thrash in any direction her limbs could move--a space that grew smaller and tighter and thinner with every squeeze of the tendrils. She knew it wasn't real, she knew it was another illusion of the shadow, but every sense screamed at her otherwise and she listened to it.
This darkness was evil, consuming, constricting, and as Skye could no longer uncurl her legs she lost control. Her heartrate spiralled into vibrations. Her throat closed up, and she was drowning.
Skye could feel a desperate Kiarae pushing her away but didn't pinpoint the exact moment she managed to seperate their two consciousnesses, thrusting Skye back into her own body even as she continued to thrash around in blinded panic.
*+*+*+*