Even if it was rather short, the talk with the Colonel went well, if I do say so myself.
She was no longer on the verge of dying, something which actually surprised me when I entered her dream.
Her body was ravaged, and her organs were barely holding on from all of that exposure to ether and miasma. I wasn't kidding when I said she would be dead in a year or two, and even then, that timeframe was only applicable if she never stepped a foot into a hollow again. Which, given her occupation as both a soldier and as the head cultist, seemed improbable at best.
So, I did something more drastic than I had initially planned. That thing I did to her arm… it was a simplified version of what I used to have etched on my body when I was still made of flesh and blood.
Though in my case, those lines were not guiding the ether outward, they redirected all of it back into my heart, but I digress.
Essentially, what I did was turn her arm into something like an ether exhaust on steroids. It was needed. I really wanted my cult leader to stay alive. The hand was capable of other things, like using that ether to attack, of course, but those were not that important in the grand scheme of things.
I'll give her a few days to settle down before I contact her again. It's for the best. No reason to stress her out so much in such a short period of time. Though she will be plenty stressed as it is.
With that done for now, it's time to add some of this hollow's more conscious residents to my ranks. Though from what I can feel from here, it's only two. The rest is just mindless fodder, either pumped out by the core, made out of the unlucky residents of the old city, or from fools who got lost in here.
I know that there are other ethereals like those two out there, but reaching them right now might be difficult for now, seeing as the ether concentration inside the other hollows is nowhere near high enough to sustain me. Again, for now.
Luckily, both ethereals are located close to where I chose to set up shop, so reaching them should not take that long.
The question remains if they are "conscious" enough not to attack me outright. They should, even in their primal state, recognize what I am and the futility of fighting me. And if they can't even do that, then they are dumber than wild animals and in no way fit to receive what I offer.
I chose to go after the stronger one first, and depending on how that whole ordeal turns out, I'll see if going after the other one is even worth it. There is a small chance that both could just be duds after all.
"Ah~ there you are, buddy." I whispered after strolling through the ever-changing landscape of the hollow and entering what must have been some kind of plaza in the past. Though on my way there, I did notice that the ordinary ethereals avoided me by a large berth. But then again, I guess it makes sense. They should all possess some kind of base survival instincts after all, and I was by far the largest threat around.
The ethereal I was after right there, right in the middle of the plaza. Just… crouching, I think? It was kinda hard to tell what exactly it was doing, given that its body was not really humanoid-shaped. Only its upper half, and even that was just barely, and if I squinted really hard. It had two arms, a weird pointy head, and a torso ending in a long tail.
Once I breached some kind of illusory line, the ethereal's head snapped up and zeroed in on me.
"^ˇ*/*-*/–;++;;°~" The ethereal made a series of screeching noises vaguely aimed in my direction.
Okay, wow, I was not expecting that. I think it just tried to communicate with me. That thought left me speechless for a moment. Like, sure, I had an inkling that these guys might be more than just your average ethereal, but this? This is amazing.
"Okay, okay. Wait a moment. I'm going to do something. It is not going to hurt you, I swear." I said while slowly approaching it, and I don't know if it understood the words or if it just read my body language, but it just tilted its head to the side and lowered its body even more to the ground.
Now let's just hope it doesn't explode, because as far as I know, what I'm about to do was only ever tested on humans.
Carefully, I started concentrating ether on the tip of my finger, and after about ten seconds, a small and sharp ether crystal formed there. This ether crystal, though, did not resemble the one normally found in the hollows. No, this ether crystal, my ether crystal, was the most vibrant shade of gold the world has ever seen. It contained just enough of what made me, well, me, to do the job.
I grabbed it with my other arm and broke it off. And even though it was still technically a part of my body, it did not hurt at all. But then again, cutting your nails does not hurt either, and this process was more akin to that.
"Come, follow me, and you can absorb this." I held it up to it, and as the crystal gently shimmered in my palm, the ethereal looked like it had gone rabid for a split second. It lunged forward, aiming its misshapen mouth directly at the crystal and subsequently directly at my hand.
"Oof— Bad idea…" I tossed it and instantly moved out of its way. Well, at least I know it likes it. Though maybe a bit too much. I'm better off just throwing these at them in the future.
Then I watched it with fascination as it devoured the crystal. It wasn't eating it per se, even though it did absorb it through its mouth. It was mimicry… the ethereal was mimicking eating. It must have been a human, right? Those ethereals were always very different from the ones the hollow makes.
And a short while later, my crystal was absorbed, and the golden ether started pulsing from its core. Slowly, like a heartbeat, it glowed more and more, almost looking like a giant lightbulb before this step finished.
But that paled in comparison to what happened next.
Dazzling golden ether erupted from the ethereal, completely enveloping its body and causing the concrete debris to float up. Then, in one giant beam of light, the ether tore its way through the sky of the hollow, piercing the shell holding the ether inside.
"Tsk— Somebody is bound to notice that." I muttered. I might have overdone it slightly. Then again, we are so close to the core that even if they send an investigation squad, I highly doubt we are going to be disturbed anytime soon. Because without being able to read the flow of ether, navigating so deep into the hollow was almost impossible.
Soon after, the beam of ether began to diminish, and the once dazzling light started to dim. The transmutation into a different lifeform was slowly nearing its end. But the question of just what exactly was on the other end of it remained, even though I did not know the answer to that.
This was never done to etherials because back then, they did not exist yet. Hell, Ether barely did.
My internal musings about the less-than-pleasant past were interrupted by a low and guttural voice. A voice coming from only one possible direction.
"W–Who are you?... T–The ether– It— it sings about you." The etherial spoke slowly, and carefully… well, technically it's not an etherial, not anymore, but I don't think there is a name for what we actually are yet.
"How do you feel?" I asked as I looked over his new form. He was tall, almost extremely so. Easily towering over me by at least three feet, and I was by no means small. He had to have been at least nine or ten feet tall. He had long, lanky legs and arms that looked like they might reach all the way down to his knees. His tail was barely visible from where I was standing. Both his toes and fingers ended in sharp, pointy nails made out of ether crystals. The same was true about his mouth. That thing was full of pointy and jagged teeth made out of the same crystal.
His core, the thing that kept him alive and moving, was now placed directly where the heart should have been. The last thing worth mentioning was his eyes. They had the same golden color as mine. Probably a side effect of my ether.
All in all, he looked really deadly and dangerous. Still more beastlike than human, but it was close, definitely closer than before, that's for sure.
"I– I feel great… I feel– excuse me… I cannot find words to describe it."
"That's okay. Any pain? Any discomfort?"
"...No pain… My mind… it is clear… after so long. I thank you." He said with a bow. It was an odd thing to see, especially from a person like this.
"Do you remember? What was it like before?" I asked gently. It was honestly just to satisfy my own curiosity.
"There are flashes… brief moments of clarity… especially when I was… hunted." The mention of hunted made me pause. He was being hunted? This guy? The guy who took shelter so close to the core?
"Hunted by what? The other powerful ethereal?"
"Other…? No, not by her… By humans… powerful humans…"
"Hmm… I might have spoken a bit too soon. Well, whatever… Okay. You and I are going to pay a visit to that other ethereal. I want to make her the same offer as I made to you. Then we'll go back to the core, and you can tell me all about those powerful humans. Sounds fair?"
"Very well."