Ascent of a Dragon

"Leave me to my shame..." "Is it really that bad?" "For a spider, it is the ultimate humiliation to be caught within your own webs... This is simply the consequence of my own hubris... Let me dangle as punishment for my folly..." "If you insist... I left the satchel in the cave in case you guys get hungry. I'll probably be a while. See ya!" Aleph steps away from the dejected arachnid, leaving her to her dangling and approaching the still spinning Goldy. "Do I want to ask?" "Training!" He declares, his features a blur within the vortex of water formed by his... training. "Okay! Enjoy!"

Aleph breaths in, grasping the air with Aether to condense and store it in her enlarged lungs. Leaping off the pillar she dives, submerging herself in the bottomless depths below. The shimmer of the surface ripples above, light streaming down in beams as it gradates to the solid black below. The pillar she dove from continues out of sight, only waning in width the further it goes. Using her new webbed feet and tail fins, she swims over to the pillar, the water pushing strongly against her motions. What's going on? This feels way harder than I feel it should...

Reaching the pillar, she holds on and begins walking herself down. The light steadily fades as she makes her slow descent, the world becoming a uniform dark-blue all around her. Her Aether flares, gripping her surroundings to make up fir the poor sight as it wraps around the enormous pillar, mapping out every groove. Eventually, she reaches a point where the pillar begins to expand, though still comparable in size to the top. Her descent continues, the world swiftly turning pitch black as the depths continue to reach further down.

Man... this goes deep. Reminds me of that life I was an octopus. Though, I had seventy-three legs then, so would that make me a heptacontakaitripus? Shame I never got much Aether in that one. Would be great to know how I was able to go so fast underwater, especially compared to this... Her trek is slow, the endless descent beginning to feel a lot like the hours long drop three floors above. Eventually though, the pillar begins to expand outward, turning into more of a mountain than a cliff as the ground levels out. There's been no wildlife either. How strange...

Aether coats the horizon, a clear signifier of the vivid ecosystem around, yet none approach remotely close to her. Flaring her own Aether she expands her sight, catching a few fish swimming a wide arc around her. Guess I'm noisy? I'd like to figure out what I'm missing here, see what they have that I don't. Let's see... Aleph lays upon the rocky floor, slowing her heart-rate to a crawl and pushing Aether into her tail to emit a strong violet glow. The light attracts sea-life from afar, no longer put off by her rough motions through the water.

Allowing them to gather she pulls in her Aether, focusing on the minute details of each specimen. Small fish circle around, their hydrodynamic bodies slithering through the water, pushing onward with their fins and tails. A few squid pass by, pulling water in and ejecting it to propel forward as they lay a few curious tentacles on the glowing tail. In the distance the dim lights of a cluster of jellyfish approach, seemingly curious about the new similarly violet glow to their own. Cool fish! This doesn't really help though... I have webbing and a tail fin, which should be about as efficient as any other fish, and jet motion will take too long to figure out. What am I missing? Why do they seem to have so much less drag holding them back?

Maybe if I can catch one... She shifts, poising her body to strike as she awaits the perfect opportunity. Aether is narrowed to pinpoint precision on her prospective targets as she details and predicts each motion until... The fish scatter, fleeing in random directions while the squid hide between cracks within the rocks, and her sight loses focus, pain shooting up her tail. Shit! I wasn't paying attention! Her body is tossed and dragged through the water, the light from her tail lost behind the sharp teeth of her attacker. Spreading her Aether out again, she takes in the form of the enemy, a streamlined beast with a wide hole peppered with hooked fangs clamped around her tail. Angled fins circle the cylindrical frame of its body, segments spinning like a rotor as it twists Aleph along with it. A worm... shark?

Gripping her claws into the worm-shark's head, she begins to thrash her tail, sticking the blade into the flesh of the beast until it lets go. They separate, the fish gaining distance before circling back. What's with those scales?! She complains to herself, her paws scratched and bleeding from the rough surface of the shark's hide. How is it so fast with such rough scales? Mine are way smoother, so I should experience way less drag, right? Aleph swims, trying to dodge its next attack but it simply proves too agile for her clumsy motions, slamming into her side and scraping into her thick scales.

Okay, plan A! Brute force! Aether grips her limbs, the water around her condensing into large, violet bubbles and dancing around her as she battles against the resisting force. She's able to dodge the next strike, swimming a straight line perpendicular to the beast, but is too slow to turn away from the one after. Uh, plan B! Instead, she pivots just enough to latch on to its side, sinking her claws into the rough scales once again. The worm-shark thrashes and writhes, spinning wildly to throw off the beast clinging to it. Even attempting to slam her into the rocky floor fails, not able to generate enough force to damage itself, let alone Aleph so long as she's hooked in place like this.

Well, plan B is effective, so that's nice. From here I can start just siphoning off the Aether clinging to it too. It can't kill me, so I see no reason to kill it either. Would be nice if I can figure out how it's so fast though... There has to be something. Aether wraps around the worm-shark, steadily prying off the unattuned Aether clung to it while also observing every inch of its body. The beast eventually calms down, either too tired to writhe more or content in the fact it can't do anything to get rid of the parasitic dragon clinging to it. Hard to tell with these really.

Aleph takes in every detail, the tooth-like scales adorned with sharp grooves and the stretchy flesh beneath, winding and unwinding by several full rotations with each motion as the fins rotate to accommodate. I don't get it... This thing is bigger than me and it moves with less force, but it seems as if it has no friction with the water. It barely slows down. This isn't a Mana thing is it? Is it doing something to the water? Refocusing her view, she watches the motions of the water around the shark's body, the way a thin layer of water seems to cling to the scales, creating a near frictionless surface for the surrounding fluid to brush against. Is that what it is?

Unlatching her claws from its hide, Aleph lets it swim away, clearly done with the freaky back clinger it tried to eat. Let's try... Gripping the water with Aether, she forms a large bubble around her body. And now I swim! And now she fails to swim. Her legs simply passing through the stationary water within the bubble. This might be more tricky than I thought...

Through the eyes of a dejected spider

All I wanted was to make a pretty web sculpture... How did it come to this? I am the shame of all spider kind... To be caught in my own web... I am no spider... No divine beast Lyla... I am simply a failure... Is that a butterfly? "Have you come to watch me wallow little one? Observe, for this is the form of a broken being. The shell of a former titan of grandeur." Ah... It left... Just like my pride...

Through the eyes of a spinning monkey

Hmm... This too is a failure. Gol Dhee thinks to himself, once again spinning out of control atop the water surface. My essence seems to refuse my attempts to form a cowl of substance. I simply cannot grasp all of the water in such a way as to adequately coat myself. It always ends with me losing control. I had thought water would be easier given the ability to see it flow, though perhaps air might prove less unruly. Stepping out of the waters and climbing back to the platform he instead tries grasping the air, pulling it around himself in a controlled tempest. The winds remain tame until he tries to grasp more, at which point they lose control and throw him into the air.

Thud! He lands, laying still upon his back. This was even more unruly. What am I missing? The beast of white fur bares the same essence as I, yet it wields a coat of wind with ease, through naught but instinct. Perhaps my perspective is wrong? I wonder... Would the bright one have insight into this? Sitting up, he looks at the bright one, still dangling in shame above him. "Ho'mah." "Hmm?" She responds apathetically. "You can wield the elements yes? You formed that spear of hard water before." Perking up a little, she cuts herself free, dropping to the ground in front of him. "Yes! I'm an master at casting I'll have you know! This body just isn't very efficient with external stuff..." "I seek advice. How do you go about performing your... casting was it?"

All semblance of the bright one's former mood vanishes as she promptly enters teacher mode, eager to impart her knowledge to the young. "Well! Step one is always visualisation. You need to know what you're casting before you cast it, and the more specific you want to be, the better you need to understand it. Step two is to grasp whatever your trying to manipulate. You seem to take that step literally, but it's enough to just grasp with your Mana alone. Or if you want to form something from scratch like I did yesterday you kinda just... grasp your Mana itself in a way." To grasp with my essence instead of my body? How strange... Perhaps this is what I am missing.

"And finally, the third step, which many struggle with because it's awkward and finicky, is to instil your intent, usually with Aura, and allow your Mana to just... pour into the spell." "In still intent... into the substance?" "Uh, yea. A bit in the Mana too, but you're trying to make an object do a thing, so it's the object you tell to do the thing. Lemme demonstrate." The bright one raises her tiny limbs, pointing them to a rock. "Step one! I wanna melt the rock, so I imagine that happening." You can melt rock? "Step two, I grip it." Essence pours from her whole body, running across her limbs and wrapping around the rock. "And step three, intent." The rock trembles, then glows, then loses its form, glowing a bright red as it splodges onto the floor. "Hoh!"

"Was that helpful?" She asks with what he can only guess is a hopeful or proud look for spiders. "Indeed! I shall resume my training!" "Fuehehehe, go forth my student! Show the world how amazing my teaching is!" Sploosh! Thud! "Oh, the dragon's back." "Greetings Hinya. How goes your search?" Gol Dhee asks the emissary as she steps forward, coated in a thin layer of water. Perhaps I should have asked the emissary instead? "I made it to the base of the pillar then ran out of air. It's pretty deep, but I figured out how to swim so I should be fine to try again." "I assume you're just wording that weirdly to mess with us?" "Ah, you figured me out!" "Fuehehe, I'm privy to your tricks now, fool!"

"Well, if everything is good here I'm going to go try again." "Ah, wait!" "I have a question!" "Me t-" Sploosh! "..." "Could she not hear us with that water over her ears?" "She responded to your words though." "I wouldn't put it past her to somehow lipread, even though I have no lips." "Impressive?"

"Father. Lyla has returned to the floor of islands. She seems to have companions this time." "Ah, is that so? Oh, do tell me about these companions!" "Yes mother. One of the apes native to the central jungles of the sun-coated layers with a full coat of gold. And another divine beast, a black and violet dragon." "Ah I remember that one. A curious little soul, no? Quite fast as well, a record breaker even. What is the current date, child?" "The cycle is 1840. We are within the first quart, the first day of the sixth eightday." "Fast indeed, it hasn't even been a quart since it hatched. The reverence festival happens at this cycle's end, do they still hold it?" "I don't know. My eyes still only reach as far as the islands." "We can just ask Lamla then. Keep an eye on those three, I have a hunch about their success." "Yes father."