There was a crowd when Isin arrived, some of them worried, others somewhere between terror and awe. Isin's heart thundered in his chest as he pushed his way through. He heard some people whisper his name as a path slowly formed to get to the cause of the commotion. His mask already had a lock on the situation, he had seen it through security feeds in the building the moment it happened.
They were in the magecrafter training facility, an expansion on Martian earlier school. Human magecraft had become far more successful than anyone imagined in the early days nearly a decade prior. As it had turned out humans were excellent at gaining aether they just needed a patron. That was when it was decided that Isin would become that patron as he had a connection to the Chorus because of his heritage.
The council was against it of course. It would give him too much power and too much control that other members in the council wanted for themselves. In the end they allowed it but Isin would have to step back from his position and be under the control of the council, not a member of it. Otherwise he would have too much sway.
Isin pushed all of that to the back of his mind as he reached the edge of the crowd. The last of the onlookers parting for him to pass. Martin was chanting an incantation which sealed the space of a dueling arena. White gold glyphs circled the wall of aether keeping the power contained.
"Warning: aetheric entity detected." Ulie, Helmforað's site Aetheric Program stated coldly. "Lockdown procedure in effect."
That is my daughter, not a damn angel.
Another of Martin's students was being looked over by a medical team. She looked like she would pull through but her arm was going to be lost. Isin didn't ask any questions because he already knew what had happened. Mihr lost control during a duel. The aether responded to her angelic nature and she couldn't contain it.
Before anyone could stop him, especially Martin, probably the only person that could, he dived into the swirling aetheric energy. The power scorched any exposed skin but only for a moment before his own aura boosted by his Angel Core flared around him. His control over aether was more instinctual than taught and not as potent as Mihr's uncontrolled power. He could feel the edges of his aura being slowly eroded.
He wouldn't last long as things were going but if he unleashed more power to overwhelm her it could end up hurting her and he was not willing to take that risk not with his daughter. He pushed through the blinding burning light. Each step felt like he was being crushed by flaming gravity. His breath short and pained as he grit his teeth.
Then he saw her floating a few feet from the ground. Well with his normal eyes he wouldn't have been able to see but with his mask could identify her with its systems through the noise of the aether boiling around them. She was stuck as if in mid scream as power flowed from her in torrents.
A halo of light formed around her head. Its edges spiked as if it were a crown of thorns. Isin reached out his hand and as soon as he touched her a lance of agony shot through him. All of his protections, magical or mundane, failed at that same moment. But he didn't care. He roared through the pain as he focused his power. His mind followed the streams of power into her core.
There he saw her connection to the aether as it flooded her body as if it were trying to call the entirety of the Chorus into her. Every cell in her body was being forged into something else or killed in the attempt.
It wasn't an accident. It was directed. It was an attack by her mother and Isin realised it right as he heard her voice curl around his mind.
"I am coming," she breathed, bright and terrible, as if whispering against the shell of his ear. "I hope you enjoy my little gift."
She was going to detonate Mihr unless Isin did something. There was no time to think. So he did the only thing he could. With Nuriel's cackle echoing in his skull, he poured every ounce of his power into Mihr's core and collapsed the raging channel.
The result was instantaneous. All at once the pain, the fire, the energy stopped. Mihr fell, and he caught her before she hit the ground. Isin cradled her against him, his breath finally catching up to his heart. She wouldn't ever be able to use aether again but at least she was alive.
***
It took a moment for Tanisha to put together what they were being directed to do. The large corridor they were in looked like the terminals for the sky boxes they had seen all over Helmforað. There were many different platforms but only one had a 'shuttle' if that is what it was called. Tanisha preferred skybox although it wasn't suspended in the air like the ones in the city so maybe… landbox.
"I guess that is how we leave." Aurelius snapped her out of her ruminations. "Let's get going."
They didn't trust the shuttle immediately of course. Tanisha and Aurelius both probed it with their aura and magical senses to make sure it wasn't actually some type of hidden enemy. They think they had an idea of what all of the S series combat units looked like but that didn't mean there weren't any nonstandard units.
It was only after both of them were sure that it wasn't going to suddenly attack them and Aurelius came up with at least two escape strategies if it turned out to be a trap that they felt comfortable stepping into the strange metal vehicle. The inside was brightly lit chairs along the walls facing each other with wide rows and poles and rails for people to hold onto. They loaded in and Tanisha carefully set Bjorn on the floor.
Aurelius had been princess carrying Fuyumi and set her down on one of the seats. She was as weak as a normal human at the moment. Bjorn was somewhere between shock and unconsciousness. He would flinch at sudden movements from pain but as far as she could tell despite the damage to him, he wasn't in a life threatening condition.
One of his heads was missing the other beside it barely attached save for some muscle and skin. He wasn't bleeding anymore which was a good sign but his magic was working to stabilize his core and not heal his body beyond what was necessary to keep him alive.
"Should you give him a healing potion?" Aurelius asked.
"No. That could make things worse." Tanisha said with a defeated sigh as she sat on the floor beside him. "Potions draw on the person's own rejuvenation and his healing is also magical. If I give him a potion it would try to take some of his body's limited resources to focus on his physical state. Those resources are currently working on his core. If his magic is pulled away… his core could rupture."
The doors to the landbox, she refused to call it a shuttle, closed and they started moving. Slowly at first then faster and faster to the point she started sliding backwards. Outside was dark but thanks to her slow evolution her eyes could now see in the dark. The tunnel was moving by in a blur of motion.
"This thing is faster than you." Tanisha said.
"No, faster than you maybe." Aurelius said. "But it is definitely the fastest vehicle I have ever been in."
"I wonder how far this will take us?" Fuyumi questioned.
The group fell into silence only the occasional rumble of the shuttle between them. Tanisha turned her attention back to Bjorn. His breath quivered with pain but was steady and deep. Anasuya nudged him with her snout hissing quietly. Tanisha scooped her into her arms, the small creature resisting for a moment but giving in as Tanisha pet her softly.
"He is going to be okay, Ana." Tanisha said.
"Two Divines." Fuyumi said quietly but grew louder as she talked. "Well actually four divines with Bjorn and Anasuya. Two sages. The mythical city that was the cradle of humankind. Ancient war machines, magic and a connection to the Chorus."
"What are you getting at?" Aurelius asked.
"We didn't lose." Fuyumi said proudly. "Yes, we are leaving but we survived something impossible. We were the only people that could have done what we did. There's more to come, sure, but think about it. We actually survived a clash of Divines, met myths made flesh and each of us are stronger for it. This is the kind of stuff that Yuki write stories about. Things of myth and legend. Two Sages in the same group that is unheard of. Meeting one divine, forget four, is something that most people would dream of. And we survived one that was trying to destroy the continent!"
"Yeah you're right!" Tanisha said. "Why are we all being so grey? We did it! One victory that took us years is still a victory! We aren't going to let that True snake put a damper on us! We did it we stop the facility from being destroyed two years ago. We beat that place and I have faith in my friend that they will finish what we started."
"I am glad one person agrees." Fuyumi said.
Aurelius nodded his head, "Right, yeah one victory at a time."
The team fell back into a silence but this time it was far less heavy than before.
"So, I guess I will be the one to ask," Tanisha said, clearing her throat. "Not that I am complaining about this but Fuyumi… how are you okay? We were told that you wouldn't be able to leave Helmforað."
"Ah, yes about that." Fuyumi said, looking between her and Bjorn. "It would appear your, uh True? You call Divines Trues right? He is now also my True. He's my patron for aether. If what Ivoi and Laxy said is correct then I am now the first Yuki in a long time to have the correct power coursing through me."
"How do you feel?" Aurelius asked.
"Honestly, terrible." Fuyumi said with a chuckle. "Like I had my mana core ripped out of me and replaced with something that is both healing me and tearing me apart." She looked herself over. "But I also feel more solid. More present in the now. It will take time to adjust. I don't think I will be fighting ready for a while. Sorry."
"I wasn't asking to see if you could fight." Tanisha said.
"I know. But wherever this thing is taking us there is bound to be another fight waiting for us." Fuyumi said.
"Well, that still leaves Tanisha and I and both of us are strong enough to get us to safety." Aurelius said. "In fact, let's go ahead and make a plan. We don't want to get there and be swarmed by enemies unprepared."