Chapter 27 A Step Forwards

[Name: Aoif(can be evolved)]

[Territory tier/level 8/9]

[Personal strength: Tier 9/1]

[Skills: None]

[Talent: Sight*]

[Sight: A tier 3 talent which allows the user to see the world in order of potential]

[Evolve:Confirm/Deny]

"Ready?"

"Yes"

"Remember, I can't guarantee you your sight but from what I've found and somewhat experienced you can not die but mental injuries still remain…"

"Please be safe…"

"I will"

A sly smile lit up Aoif's face and before I could react Aoif pulled me in and gave me a chaste kiss.

Ending the kiss Alif hugs me then whispers in my ear.

"No matter what you'll always be mine and I yours"

Finishing with that possessive comment she jerked my hand forcing me to press the evolve option.

Disappearing in motes of purple light, I was still stunned by the bold actions.

It wasn't that I didn't like it.

It was just that our relationship had evolved much faster than I could have ever imagined.

Touching my lips I couldn't help but feel that I wanted more.

…

Once Darwin had chosen to evolve me I was transported somewhere.

Even with my talent of sight I still couldn't see anything, not even the monochrome shapes of the world.

It was all darkness just as it had always been.

The darkness never receded.

I tried and tried desperately to somehow see something.

But nothing was working.

It was like my talent of sight had been completely removed.

I couldn't feel anything either, when I reached out my hand to feel something, I couldn't even feel the push of the wind.

I could not see, I could not feel, I couldn't even hear my own voice.

It was like a sensory deprivation chamber.

The only thing keeping me from panicking was that I could feel my aether and whatever the aether had touched.

Calming down I decided to test if I could do anything about my lack of touch.

I quickly circulated my aether to my fingertips being careful not to push it out of my skin.

Finally regaining feeling in my fingertips I brush them around.

I feel the cold walls of a rough surface.

…

I had been feeling for what felt like years that it became instinct.

At any point I could use my aether to feel around everywhere and I took splice in that fact.

Though the sensory deprivation was getting to me.

No matter how much I felt I still couldn't hear.

So my next step would be to channel aether into my ears.

I don't have open pathways in my head so I need to figure out how to do that.

'That's how'

I start to channel aether into my fingertips but this time instead of letting it circulate around I push it out.

I bring up my fingertips to my ear then push the aether into my ear canals.

I could hear again.

It was only out of one ear but after that success I hurried to push aether through my other ear.

As soon as I did that I heard a ding.

[you have advanced to Tier/Level 8/1]

…

When I appeared back it was to the sight of a still stunned Darwin.

Taking advantage of that I lunged at him.

Tackling him and I to the ground.

I finally had my sense of touch and hearing back.

Just feeling my skin on his was so satisfying.

I just started petting him.

After a while of me taking advantage of Darwin he finally snapped out of his stunned state.

…

"Aoif…?"

"What are you doing?"

"Hugging you" she succinctly answered snuggling closer and petting my hair all the while.

Whatever she had gone through in her evolution must have affected her greatly, so I do nothing, I just let her do whatever she wants.

"My Lor…" Tama interrupts before seeing the situation I am in.

A small reading smile appears on her face but she doesn't say anything, just keeps that smile all the while explaining.

"The Gaul's have started to get more aggressive."

Instead of gesturing or asking for her to continue I just nod my head.

"We have detected a large horde of them heading in our general direction, would you like me or Delta to intercept.?"

"Yes, have Delta stay here though."

"Yes, have Delta stay here, I wouldn't want to overtake you in points." Aoif intejects, pulling her head away from the crook of my neck to speak.

…

Intercepting the Gaul's was an easy affair.

No matter where they go they leave destruction in their wake.

They have no respect for nature, the fires they leave behind are not extinguished resulting in charred trees.

The trees are cut down to serve as benches for their temporary camps and left to rot dead.

It was easy to follow their obvious trails.

It hadn't even been an hour before I had caught up to them.

They were just getting ready to leave. The queens were corralling the workers from their slumber.

It was the perfect time to attack.

Dropping down from the tree I was observing them from I cast an illusion making me completely invisible to all their senses.

If this was the last me it would have been a great strain to do this but now it barely took a trickle of aether to control their senses.

I conjured a solid illusion in the shape of a sword.

One by one the queens died to my blade. At no point did any one of them even realize that they were being killed.

Once the queens were killed it only left the mindless workers.

Although it didn't take much effort to kill the queens, that was because of the low number of them. There were only 30 queens but each of those were commanding a legion of 200.

How they got those numbers in the short time we had left them to their devices, I don't know but still that was over 6,000 worker Gauls, each having the combat power of a tier/level 9/5.

Of course it wouldn't be a problem to kill them all but for me to do that alone would take hours.

Instead I went with something more efficient.

I had never tried this before, but now was as good as ever to try.

Instead of them not seeing anything I made an illusion of them killing themselves then imposed that reality on the realm.

I'm just a moment all of my aether was gone.

I fell to the floor gasping for breath.

However I never looked away and what I saw gave me a smile.

Every single worker Gaul in their vast army was stabbing themselves through the eye and into their brain killing themselves.

…

[The invasion of the Gaul species has ended. Their main force has been annihilated. Congratulations on surviving your first invasion. The veil protecting this realm will disappear in a month's time. Prepare and good luck]