Somewhere in the back of his mind, Arawn was certain that the word had meaning, but he couldn"t locate it anywhere in his memory. His mind was a constant flow of energy, too fast to catch anything in it."Stop!" the voice hollered again, this time straight into his soul.
He shuddered. It was so much easier to remain in the stream of energy, to just not think. It filled him with power, with certainty that he was unmatched.
As he thought that, the ether coursing through him trembled. It slowed. The stream became a trickle, and Arawn was forced back into himself. He opened his eyes as if after a long sleep and was met face to face with a furious Corwal.
The man"s hair and clothes had risen and were flapping without wind. Light radiated from within him, pa.s.sing through his skin, giving it a translucent glow. His hands were making gestures which Arawn couldn"t understand, but he had a feeling they weren"t anything good.
Magic, or well ether, was flooding into Corwal from Arawn in a violent current. It was as thick as a man"s arm, but the real problem lay in how fast it was moving. The ether charged into Corwal like a crazed beast, making him more and more translucent. His eyes were no different from glowing orbs of pure white light.
"Close yourself!" Corwal shouted again. "Stop taking in more ether!"
Finally realizing what was happening, Arawn cut off his connection with the magic. The last bits of it swirled within him, begging him to use them, but Corwal soon pulled them out as well. It was an uncomfortable feeling, like someone was pulling out his hair, but Arawn could only marvel that such a thing was even possible.
Didn"t that mean that he could really learn to control the magic one day? There seemed to be so much he didn"t know about it!
His excitement dimmed a little when he saw the thunderous expression on Corwal"s face. The moment the light around him went out, he dropped on one knee, breathing hard. His shoulders rose up and down, followed by a ragged cough.
After resting for a moment, he looked up at Arawn. "Was there any particular reason you tried to kill me and Eliot?"
"Kill you?" Arawn"s mouth went o-shaped. "But I just tried to use—"
"Self-destruction," Corwal said. "A lovely spell, I know." He shook his head and pulled himself up. He tried to look nonchalant, but sweat had stuck hair to his face, and he was still shaking a little. "You could have just left me in the cell, so why now?"
A part of Arawn was angry at the accusation, but an even bigger part of him was horrified to hear what he"d done. Had he really endangered his only friend?
Well, it made sense with him being a monster and all that, but hadn"t he tried to act self-conscious and not do anything crazy? He had only used magic when Corwal had asked it of him.
With his head lowered, but eyes raised up to watch Corwal"s expression, he asked, "I use magic— ether in the wrong way?"
"Now that"s an understatement," the man muttered and went to sit on the benches. His face muscles relaxed for a moment, but then tensed back up when he looked at Arawn. "You want to tell me that you didn"t plan to self-destruct?"
"Why would I do that?" Arawn asked, genuinely puzzled. Magic was scary. Even if he knew how to self-destruct, he wouldn"t do that knowing how much devastation it"d bring.
Something flashed past Corwal"s face, but it was too fast to recognize. "Right. So do tell me what you planned to do by opening yourself to the ether like that?"
"I… That"s not how you use it?" Arawn scratched his head. He really didn"t know how to explain that it was what he"d felt happening when his magic acted on its own, and so he"d copied it in hopes that it was how it worked. "I thought that"s what you do…"
"No," Eliot said, having finally ran over. He stared at Arawn like he was a mythical creature. "How did you do that? It looked awesome! You two were like men made of light!"
There was excitement in his voice, but Corwal swiftly shut him up. "Enough. This is not something to play around with." He sighed then and motioned for Eliot to sit down by him. "What he did was allow ether into himself. It can increase one"s personal power on certain occasions, but it"s the same as inviting a snake into your home and later wondering why the chickens have disappeared.
"Human bodies aren"t meant to house ether. Before long, one will fill up like a soap bubble and burst apart at the merest touch. The large devastation it causes can be useful in battle, but there"s no surviving it. When a person bursts, not a single tissue of them is left—the ether is thorough in tearing them up."
Eliot"s mouth dropped, and he turned to stare at Arawn in open horror. "So he really wanted to kill us?" he asked in a low voice.
"No! I just didn"t know!" Arawn said, shaking his head violently.
n.o.body had ever told him that ether was dangerous to humans because of what it was and not because of what it could do. He"d been certain it was a monster within him, but if that wasn"t the case, it should"ve been harmless. Yet now he was being told that even that wasn"t the full truth.
It was harmless until they allowed it inside themselves.But if that was so, how exactly were they supposed to use it?
As if sensing his question, Corwal once more raised his hand, palm up, and materialized a ball of light. It hovered in silence, looking as innocent as the moon in the night sky.
"See it as a sword. You wouldn"t plunge it into your own heart when you wanted to use it, would you? So don"t allow ether into your body either. Call it to your hands and shape it there; just above your palm."
"Your metaphors are all over the place," Arawn complained under his breath while trying to imagine the ether as a sharp blade this time. It sounded simple, but he was so used to it forcing its way inside him whenever he was in danger that he had no idea how to use it outside himself.
Corwal scoffed. "Excuse me? Even babies notice that ether is dangerous and doesn"t allow it inside them. You have to teach kids that ether is more than just a piece of metal you can wield, but an intrinsic part of them, like their arms and legs."
After a moment, he asked, "How did you kill that man? You said you just flung the ether at him and he was dead."
The question gave Arawn an idea, and he took in a deep breath. Maybe he did know how to use ether outside of him; it"s just that he had never paid attention to it. The amount of times he"d used it half-consciously could be counted on one hand"s fingers, but he had done it.
Walking to the middle of the empty field, he focused his eyes on the ether floating in the air and resting in the ground without a care. He didn"t need to say anything, just think it, and the white dust particles flocked to his hand like a band of starved dogs.
When they were about to push through his skin, he raised his hand and swung it away from himself with a command for the ether to materialize. He had no idea why it would listen to him, but it was a fact that it would—ether followed his commands as effortlessly as his hands and legs.
The next moment, dust rose in the air a couple strides ahead of him. He ran over and saw a slash in the ground the length of his arm. It was a finger wide, but almost a hand deep.
"That"s how it"s done, right?" He ran back to Corwal, beaming with joy.
The mage nodded, and Arawn raised his hands as if he was punching the sky. "I did it! I used ether outside my body!"
"Congratulations," Corwal said with laugh. "Now you"re at the level of three year olds."
That didn"t sound like great praise, but Arawn didn"t care. He ran back to the middle of the field and began throwing ether like his life goal was to use it all up. At first, the slashes were infrequent, since he needed time to slowly call the ether and command it to materialize, but he soon got into the rhythm.
It was nowhere near as hard as he"d imagined, and he threw one slash with the right hand and another with his left in another direction. For the first time, he felt in control of his powers, and it was an exhilarating feeling. He got drunk on it, forgetting everything around him.
In his mind, there was only him and the ether, two ancient foes, but now he"d finally subdued it. Throw it to the left, throw it to the right, and if feeling adventurous, swipe with the leg as well, sending a burst of light in another direction.
On the side, Corwal looked at the light show before him, then glanced back at the starstruck Eliot beside him. "Do you think I should tell him that using ether like that is a waste? Or should I wait till he finishes?"
"Wait," Eliot said without even shifting his gaze away from the young man in front of them.
The pale youth was dancing in the field like he was the only person in the world and throwing ether like it was going out of style. His moves were crude and uncalculated, but the strength he revealed could have struck even Lord Archmage dumb. No normal person could sustain such a careless use of ether for more than a minute.
"I guess that"s why he was locked up and hidden in the depths of the Gutter. I wonder what kind of monster have I brought to my side?"
Before he could dwell on that more, hoofbeats reached his ears. He turned his head and saw a dust cloud in the distance. Some five riders were coming at a gallop, their forms hidden by the dust they raised.
"Our friends have finally decided to show up," Corwal thought and smiled to himself. The show was about to start.
That thought attracted his gaze back to the field, and he grimaced. Why were his companions always so troublesome? It wasn"t bad if Arawn showed off a bit, but wasn"t this going too far? Most people would run away without caring for having a conversation after seeing such a display.
"And I"m exhausted after his trick earlier. The ether doesn"t even look my way now."
He focused a dead stare on Arawn. Helping people was nothing but trouble; he should"ve learned his lesson. With a shake of his head, he stood up to face the incoming riders.