Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Book 4: Chapter 13: The Dark Heavens

Chapter 13

“This is… unexpected…”

The rumble of the beast’s voice shook the ground at Alex’s feet as it spoke, small rocks vibrating on the floor with every syllable. Its size alone was enough to create sound waves powerful enough to batter Alex’s body.

But that wasn’t what tightened the deathly grasp of fear around Alex’s heart. It was what he saw in his [Aether Sight] that did that.

Immensity, power, capability beyond what he ever thought possible, that was what shone in his vision as he looked at the Hydra directly. Alex didn’t know exactly what a fourth-tier being might look like, what kind of power a Sage might have, but he had seen Lady Xhiu’s power as a Magus, and the creature in front of him was beyond that.

Maybe even more, the fifth tier, a Supreme Aegis. He thought to himself.

Again, he couldn’t be sure. He had no frame of reference to compare to, all he knew was how to compare himself to what he saw, and his own aether presence was a tiny candle standing in front of a blazing star. Insignificant and unnoticeable by comparison. He shut off his [Aether Sight] to avoid looking further.

“Two descendants… Intriguing,” the beast spoke again.

He could see the mouth of one head open and close in time with the words, but he doubted that was the actual head speaking to him. It almost seemed like it created the sound through its will alone.

Neither Kate nor Alex moved a muscle; each was locked still as a statue. Kate didn’t have Alex’s ability, so she couldn’t see its power as he could, but she could certainly feel it. They both were silent as they waited.

Two of the heads looked at each other as if communicating between themselves. After a second or two, a third head lowered itself down in front of the two of them. Its size was enough that it could swallow them both in one bite if it tried, and leave even more room for desert on top of them.

Nostrils flared in front of Alex, a rush of air buffeting his robes and hair as the thing sniffed at him, then Kate in turn. Whatever it was smelling for, it seemed satisfied when it pulled its head back, a rumbling, almost purring noise sounding from its chest.

“We see.. We see, one of you is an initiated voice in the legion of our chorus. But the other… you are a hatch-ling, just starting on its journey.” Two of the heads nodded slightly, while a fourth, previously unmoving head, rocked side to side and flashed its eyes as if surprised. It was hard to tell, Alex didn’t know reptilian facial expressions well, going only by what he knew from Tom-Tom and the other Kobolds he had interacted with.

The other heads looked to each other yet again and Alex began to think that this Hydra wasn’t just one sentient thing, that each head was its own “person” and they spoke to the others through a kind of telepathy.

“Normally, only one would come to us for guidance and training. This changes things, especially with one of you being wyvern-blooded.”

Kate’s eyes shot to Alex, and he read the confusion and worry that sat behind her gaze. He merely gave the barest of shrugs. He didn’t know what was happening either, so he didn’t have an answer to her unspoken question.

“We are Amniosokyrthrusakia, Elder of the Chorus, and guardian of the knowledge of kin,” The closest head, the one that had smelled them seconds before, settled onto the ground in front of them. “If the Chorus has sent you here, it must be to learn from us in preparing you to help in the waging war of the dark heavens.”

Alex frowned at this. Kate looked over at him once more, her brows raised in the universal question of What do we say?

It seemed to him that this Hydra was assuming certain things about their reasons for showing up. Possibly something built into the Dungeon by the System. He was hesitant in thinking of piercing that illusion, as it might be popping a bubble of protection that stopped the thing from killing them outright.

Obby?

“The creations inside dungeons only know information the System gives them, or what they might have known when they were first locked away. This could very well be a beast that was once real in the outside world that got trapped. Or, it's entirely made from the System itself. Finding out which would be difficult.” The rock responded to his query.

That wasn’t assuring to Alex in the slightest. But it seemed like the Hydra was still waiting for them to answer.

“Amniosy.. Amniosyka-ath… ummm…”

The head in front of them almost looked to roll its eyes as he fumbled with its name, snorting in a way one might sigh at having to correct a person for the thousandth time on the same thing.

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“Just call us, Amnios,” it said.

“Amnios,” Alex went on, “I have to admit that we don’t exactly know what this war is.”

“Impossible.” The other heads shook, displeased. “All kin, even those converted from the low-races are initiated with the knowledge of the dark heavens and our struggle against them. It is what has bonded our kin together for the past one thousand years.”

“Apologies, Amnios, but I think there is a misunderstanding happening here. We are not converted kin,” Kate now spoke up. “We only gained our power recently, and I have only attained it from this Dungeon, today.”

“Dungeon?!” The cavern rattled around them as the Hydra nearly shouted the word, a wave of pressure came with it, suffocating Alex instantly as his body, lungs and all tightened. “You call the temple of the Flame-Chorus by the name of the enemy?”

Oh, fuck.

It looked like they had, indeed, messed up.

Alex tried to speak again, but his throat was in a vice grip, and he couldn’t release breath even if he wanted to. The blood in his body had even stopped moving, his heart just beating the barest of pulses. At his side, Kate had fallen to her hands and knees, her mouth was open in a gasp, but no air seemed to pass.

“Who are you?” The nearest head inched forward, its impossible large fangs barred, wet with sickly green saliva.

“Eugh." Only a small groan came out, but Alex kept trying. His blood started to churn in response to the Hydra’s pressure, and he felt the same tingle as he had before against the fire-drakes.

Thud-thud.

His Wyrm-Heart responded to the challenge in front of him, and it sent a jolt of draconic energy through his being. The purple energy fought against the Hydra’s and quickly pushed it back, releasing its hold.

Breath rushed into his lungs, filling him with desperately needed oxygen. His heart beat strongly in his chest, sending a flood of purple energy-laced blood across his being. Still, the Wyrm-Heart beat, extending his protective aura out further until it eventually touched back against the Hydra’s snout.

The large beast recoiled at the touch, a hiss escaping its many mouths. All seven of its thick necks reared back, its heads glaring down at him in a way that made Alex think it might strike at him then and there. Even with his Wyrm-Heart, he had no doubt about whether he could survive any of its attacks.

He would be dead. Kate and him both, simple as that.

But it didn’t strike at him. Instead, the heads appeared to waver back and forth, cocking from one side to the other as though they were studying a perplexing insect.

“You are not wyvern-blooded at all, at least not only that. We hear it now, the Wyrm-Heart that beats inside you. But it is not within your chest, it is… somewhere else. Where is—“

The presence of the Hydra brushed against his own energy again, trickling through his Wyrm-Heart’s aura, which had luckily surrounded Kate by then. It guarded her, freeing her from the terrifying paralysis and letting her breathe just as he could.

“No… No, this cannot be,” the beast turned its attention to Kate then, carefully searching her through its aura, too. “Both of you are tainted by the energy of the dark heavens. But that is impossible, the Primal Wyrms would never give their heart to an agent of the enemy.”

What the hell is it talking about?

“Remember when you first got your constitution, Alex? What the notification said about the Dragons?” Obby asked.

He thought back, doing his best to recall what it had told him. He had learned to mostly ignore the System’s messages and flavor text, as it was still being a bit of an asshole to him. But occasionally it told him some use things, and thinking back now, he realized his constitution notification was one of the useful ones.

The Dragons fought the System when it arrived. He recalled. And they failed.

“Bingo. One Obby point to you. That takes you two three points!”

Obby, not right now.

“Sorry, right. So, it looks like this Hydra still thinks it is back in that time, the dragons and their kin banding together to fight the System, the dark heavens. Also, it seems that it has figured out you both use aether, the energy that the System stole and harnessed. We talked about this before, too”

He remembered that too, the conversation when Obby was explaining the golden energy and what it was. Things all started to come together for him then, pieces clicking into place.

“Amnios,” Alex said hesitantly. The hydra’s many heads snapped to look at him, and he shivered slightly, even with his Wyrm-Heart still beating inside him. “The war against the dark heavens, is long over. The dragons, are gone from the world, at least they were when we first arrived here from our own world.”

“The Kin have lost? No, the war was still raging when we took up the guardianship of the temple. That was only… only…” Its many eyes seemed to list, their light fading ever so slightly as they seemed to think.

Okay, in for a penny, in for a pound.

“Thousands of years ago. It was thousands of years ago. This place is not the Temple of the Flame-Chorus, not anymore. It was taken over by the dark heavens and turned into a Dungeon. We only arrived to this world ourselves a few months ago, from somewhere else. The dark heavens is against us as well, threatening destruction if we displease it.” Alex looked over at Kate, looking for support.

“He tells the truth!” She shouted up at the beast. “The world and magic outside has changed since then. The war is long gone, simply myths and legends in the history that we know.”

Alex nodded to her. He doubted that this beast would believe them, even with two voices shouting the truth at it. What lion believed the words of a mouse? But it was the only chance that they had. They wouldn’t be able to fight it, or outrun it, he didn’t even know if they could run. There was no visible way out from what he could see.

They were putting all their eggs in the ‘Realize-the-truth-and-dont-freak-out’ basket.

A few long, tense moment passed by in the cavern as the many heads looked between each other. Whatever mental communication they used, going on, possibly deliberating whither to kill Kate and himself, or something else.

At last one of the heads move back down in front of them, its eyes boring into each of them in turn as if it could read their lies just by looking at their faces.

The head finally snorted loudly, then opened its mouth into a gaping wide snarl. He saw its pointed tooth maw that had a churning pool of draconic energy swirling in its throat. Before Alex could even blink his eyes, the purple energy shot forward, flooding him and Kate both.