Aerin was going to make a crash landing, certainly. Something in this place had greatly disturbed the mana field of his ship, and it was something quite intricate enough to where he could not immediately get it back to a state of floating. He was no mechanic; however, he found it easy to condense the cloud underneath to lower it slowly, the ship rocking and trembling under his feet as he set it down slowly, ground appearing beneath him, given away by dispersing and rolling sheets of cloud and fog. Piercing through the layer of cirrus, the environment was strange.
The grass had sort of a strange essence to it. A peculiar color that he could feel; certainly, it must look different, as well. It did not feel like normal grass, either; its soul energy was off. Who had tampered with it, he didnât know, but Aerin supposed he would have to cleanse it afterwards.
The ship slowly was set down on the ground with a hard bump that sent him stumbling slightly. How he would get it back to flying, he did not know, those he supposed he could just fly quite easily himself⌠it wasnât too difficult, after all, but he supposed it was nice to not have to concentrate all the time. The sky was so beautiful, even if he couldnât see; reaching out with the soul was much more than any other sense could provide. There was energy and matter all around to peek at and admire. He supposed he could take a look âround.
Scanning the area, there was nothing peculiar. That, in of itself, was quite peculiar, he observed, scoffing for a second⌠there was nothing here. It was simply a flat floating island. How had he deemed this a worthy area to raise from the sky during the Calamity? He thought sadly of the event⌠he was still without a way to reverse it, and was running out of time.
Hatred would break free from their noose, soon. It was almost certain to happen. And how long would Lenore keep themselves contained like that? It was quite awful, Aerin supposed, but better than nothing. She knew exactly what she had inside her, and intended to keep it shut down through self-sacrifice. It was really pathetic, though, and Aerin sometimes wished he didnât always keep an eye on her. Nevertheless, it was his job to keep the remains of Calamity supervised.
Alicia, as always, was fine, but Aerin was sometimes concerned someone would hurt her or her family, or she would get found out. She really had just found a way to hide and integrate, and after waiting such a long time, as well, it must have felt to her like she could finally live as a normal person again. The past wasnât something to be taken lightly, but being able to shoo it off after hundreds of years might be an essential tool in oneâs sanity and the livelihood of their family, especially. After such a long life of bloody violence, seeing Alicia start a family like this and really doing what she wanted made her a much stronger character in his eyes.
Regardless, he wasnât quite sure what to do with this tiny flatland. How lucky had he been to land on this? There was barely anything else around, save for a large mesa to the left, judging by the shape of the terrain; it was similarly barren. Strange, yet again. He would certainly find out whoever was behind this⌠once he got his airship out of here. Was someone who mutated a random splotch of grass mildly a dangerous enigma he should be spending his time chasing? No. Did he feel like it? Yes.
Before he could think, though, he heard the soft whirring of a mana drawing, a soft whirring behind his head. How peculiar. What was this person doing, and how had he not noticed him? He had nearly drawn his blades from sheer surprise and retracted his soul tendrils. Where had any of this come from? Was this supposed to be some sort of arena, or a trap? But there was nothing else here, nowhere where this person could have come from.
Aerin immediately reached out and shifted the components of the circle, turning it into one of light production; the original circle had been a sort of mana laser, fed with a surplus of soul energy. His attacker seemed to be some sort of mildly apt mage. He could hear a piercing yell, fading into the blank, whirling air, as the circle erupted into rushing, brilliant rays. The man stumbled and fell, landing on the grass with a pathetic sound.
After snatching the mana from the circle, then spinning a few mana webs rapidly in case any more stronger attackers would spontaneously appear, Aerin reached out further to the manâs soul. Though he retracted his tendrils, he was immediately analyzed with futile resistance against Aerinâs obscene soul energy.
In truth, he was nothing special. He wondered how this man had approached him so easily. There was no way to hide his soul from Aerin that easily; his tendrils at such a long range could never be blocked or manipulated like that. He proposed, internally, that he could have been teleported by a Reaper. The Nexus left no signature of teleportation, and therefore might be the method of ambush that was used. He wondered if he could find the Reaper, if that was the case⌠he still had great use for them yet.
He noticed that the man, clearly shocked and recoiling from the effortless look at his currently defensive soul, began to eject his own soul, as a soft wind blew. Aerin was certainly confused. Did they know who he was? How loyal was this individual to attempt suicide promptly after his instantaneous failure? To a Reaper, perhaps, it would be possible⌠after all, humans would be in their hands one way or another.
He wondered if it had something to do with Violet, in particular. She would not be much different than she was now as a Reaper, which she apparently was at one point. What sort of tricks had Order played using her, and how destructive was she while unchecked?
Strung up on that tree, now, she was harmless, but perhaps he would return to her⌠extending his soul at this distance might be slightly risky if she was free.
Either way, she would have been terrifying enough to make this man do such a thing. Aerin would not allow him, though, as he still would like to check his memories before they fractured in the dissonance he was inducting. He snapped one of his tendrils inside the attackerâs soul as his body began to seize up, rendering him unconscious instantly. His memories were easy to access, and held little of importance, surprisingly. Had they been removed from him? What was going on?
He supposed that there was nothing he could do to save this man if he decided to end it as soon as possible after waking up. Nothing he could feasibly do would really make a difference, in any case. This had all been very interesting. Perhaps his skyship really would have to wait.
He gathered back his mana webs after a last scan and analyzed the fallen craft⌠at least he could get something done with the limited shipwright knowledge he had retained over the past few thousand years. But that would be later, when he had time to fix its internal mana webs, which had been fractured, and its storage core, the coolant of which was leaking dangerously. For now, though it must be a quick endeavor, he would find out what was happening here.
He picked himself up and flew off, water vapor peeling off his face as he accelerated through the old, blue sky, his hair, cloak, and skirt fluttering and trailing audibly as he climbed.
