Two Hundred And Twenty-Five

Two Hundred And Twenty-Five

“So, just what-what are we going to do here?” Shaeula looked down at the putrid lake, her expression sour, wrinkling her nose at the smell. It wasn’t so noticeable when we were battling for our lives, but now it was a pungent stink of rot, sludge, and decay.

“Well, when it comes to physically purifying water, we can use several methods together.” I said, and Ixitt nodded, producing boxes full of various powders, as well as a large clear tarpaulin, which he unfolded until it was the size of the diminished lake. “But in addition to that, we can also use aether and spiritual methods too. Firstly, help me set up this tarp.” It had rings along the edges, and a further set in the centre, and we had some strong, thin cables too, so it didn’t take much effort for us to attach it into the walls, hanging above the despoiled lake like a tent, allowing condensation to drain to the lowest points and be collected easily.

“Right, the first stage is boiling and distilling the water. That should kill the biological material and leave most of the impure elements behind. Still, this is moonlight spirit water, no way that’ll be good enough. That’s where the filtration comes in.” I gestured to the large filter vat Ixitt had prepared for me, full of various powders such as charcoal, ceramic powder and even some bluesteel powder to remove foreign elemental energies. “Once we’ve collected the boiled water that will condense on the tarp and run down to the containers at the sides and filtered it through the vat, we should have removed most of the impurities. That’s when the final method comes in. Light sterilisation.” We all looked up, seeing the moonlight cascading down from above. “I suspect a lot of the purity of the Spring comes from the moonlight as well. First we need to clean the entire hill and the mirrored monoliths above, so that the moonlight is pure again. We can then strengthen it with aether, so that the light purges any long-lasting Myconid pathogens that survived the distillation and escaped the filtration. We’ll then do one last pass with aether, removing any final impurities. Our Eyes should hopefully help us there.”

We’ll also need to clean the Spring when the water is removed, otherwise it’ll just spread the filth again. Damn, we are a cleaning company in another world now. My sis would laugh at me, I never really enjoyed cleaning at home.

“So, how will we do this-this?” Shaeula asked again, and I grinned, ruffling her hair. Behind us Velna touched her own head at the sight, before realising what she was doing and lowering her hand, chagrined. “It sounds quite the effort.”

“Yeah, well, firstly... we have a heat source.” I poured out most of my fiery energy into a series of blazing citrine pillars of Foehn, positioned carefully within the lake to give maximum coverage. “Foehn doesn’t go out when surrounded by water, so we can use it for the boiling process, and it’ll also be perfect for purging the detritus that will be left behind. We can use it as a final disinfectant for the whole Spring.”

“That is quite-quite the task.” Shaeula muttered, her amber eyes reflecting the yellow glow.

“Yeah, but at least we can keep the fires burning with our wind and flame energies.” The lake was already starting to bubble, wisps of steam rising towards the tarpaulin. “But now we have to clean the walls of their filth.” I used some of my earth energy to create several walled depressions in the ground around the lake that we would use to burn away the muck with Foehn, long thin chimneys soaring upwards to direct it away from the walls. Foehn was kindled with the remains of my flame energy, and we had ourselves some makeshift incinerators.

“Hyacinth would rather enjoy this, I suspect. I am a princess, I do not-not approve of such menial tasks.” Shaeula sighed, but even so, she started to work, the silvery glow of aether around her as she began to focus her efforts on pulling the dirt from the once-gleaming walls, directing it into the flames. White stone flecked with veins of gemstones became visible as she worked, and at a glance from her I smiled wryly and started working too, aether dispersing into the walls. Yeah, cleaning this whole hill is going to be awful. But the sooner we start, the sooner we finish...

********

“It’s pretty nice up here. Shame about the view though. I bet it would have been beautiful before the Myconids came.” I observed, looking out over the surrounding lower hills and the barren, dead plains that once were lush forests. Overhead the moon hung like a single massive eye, unblinking and bright, and we were bathed in the shimmer of the reflected moonlight as it bounced off the polished monoliths that crowned the hollow hill, the purple and blue ambience soothing.

“Indeed. I am too young to have seen the Spring, so this is quite-quite fresh for me.” Shaeula was leaning against me, exhaustion writ deep on her face, her eyes blinking wearily, long amber hair blowing in the gentle breeze that seemed to pervade this part of the lower Astral, so unlike the still Boundary. “The stones, they are-are quite beautiful.”

“Well, I’d rather say the moon is beautiful.” At my words, Shaeula blushed, looking away shyly.

“I know-know you love me.” She snuggled into my shoulder. “Indeed, who could-could love me more? After all, you reclaimed this Spring for me.” Her smile turned wry then. “Though the cleaning, that was quite-quite the hassle.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” We had been at it for near enough two solid days without rest within the lower Astral. Only our impressive statistics enabled us to keep going. Still, it had been a useful experience in many ways. Shaeula’s control of aether had increased doing the difficult work of purging the vileness from the Spring, leaving behind shining walls, and I had learnt a few tricks too. Like this. My control of Foehn had grown significantly better, and I could feel it wasn’t far from Ranking up. Several small balls of it were bobbing in the air, burning away seemingly without fuel, and I could now reshape it with a little aether. Still, using it to polish the monoliths was a daring idea. If I’d screwed up I might have damaged the effects of the Spring. Still, I wasn’t stupid enough to try it without testing it first...

There were several similar standing stones on the lower hills, and I had wrapped them in a fine sheet of Foehn, using all the calculative abilities my Intellect and Alacrity could offer. Using wind energy to channel away the excessive heat, after only a few experiments I had refined the difficult technique, and the crown of the hill at the Spring had blazed brilliantly as I polished the stones back to a mirror sheen.

“Ulfuric was quite-quite surprised.” Shaeula read my thoughts once more from my expression as I glanced at the Foehn that danced in the air around us. “He worried it was another enemy attack.”

Indeed, he had dispatched weaselkin to the Spring, only to find us working away like a troupe of professional industrial cleaners. He was rather surprised. I let out a dry chuckle, enjoying this brief moment of calm. Still, we were on a tight timescale, so I regretfully gave her one last hug, before dismissing the glittering stars of Foehn, reclaiming the energy.

“If it was not-not for that meeting with this Miyu female, we would not-not have to hurry so.” Shaeula pouted, and I stroked her hair, soothing her.

“Yeah, I know. But this is good for Hinata. We don’t want to let her down, right?”

Shaeula shook her head. “No, I find Hinata a good female, and she will have value to you-you. I like her as well. Even so, the Spring is important too.” She sighed. “Even with the faster flow of time here, we never have enough, do we?”

No kidding. No matter how much stronger I get, there’s only one of me. That might be the only thing I envy Myrcolaxriath for. I have to juggle the Territory, real-world commitments, romance and more... it sure would be nice to have a ton of bodies. Oh well, no point wishing for what I don’t have. “Yeah, so we had better get back to work. Come on.” Taking my hand, we descended the hill together, and once inside again, we took stock of the situation.

“I can not-not believe we cleaned the entire dome.” Shaeula said, puffing her chest out proudly, though she still looked fatigued. “The former glory of the Spring of Clear Reflections will definitely return.”

“Yeah. It’s like a cathedral.” I agreed, admiring the now-pristine walls. Initially the cleansing had been slow going, but as we mastered the imaging and aether control needed, as well as worked out the best way to apply Foehn gently over a wide area, we had accelerated, and this was the result. Grulgor had used his Stone Absorption to merge with the walls and floor, allowing them to share his regeneration and earth energies, healing the many cracks and craters our battle and the occupation had left. Damn, Ixitt rhapsodised over that one, claiming it was ingenious and a perfect example of mortal cunning. He does get worked up over these things... Even remembering made me flush a little in embarrassment. It was a good idea, sure, but hardly that special.

Beams of light were bouncing down from above, now shining with a brilliant purity, the colours deeper and without the darker tint the Myconid corruption had imparted, and they were reflecting off the tarp as it did its work, drops of water bubbling with orange and indigo energies falling into the containers set up in the corners, where Grulgor would then heft the full jars and take them to the filtration vat, emptying the contents in.

“We have not-not collected much water.” Shaeula observed sadly. “Most of the lake was poison, it seems.”

“Yeah, it’s nasty stuff.” What remained as we drained the water was a thick crust of brackish sludge, baked into a hardened layer of dirty sediment. Ninety percent of the lake was empty now, and only a single small barrel of pure moonlight spirit water had been extracted, though we had also managed to purify a dozen barrels of ordinary clean water as well, though compared to the size of the even-depleted lake, it was a disappointment. The last dark dregs were being boiled by Foehn, and beneath the black puddle bubbles of orange energy were rising, the spring fitfully trying to break free and start spraying water once more.

“It shouldn’t be much longer now. I think we can start destroying the muck.” I observed. “This time we’ll not be able to use chimneys to direct the smoke. Shaeula, sorry to ask, but can you use wind to send it out without dirtying the walls again?”

“It would be foolish not-not to see this to the end.” She turned to Velna, who had been going back and forth over the past few days, bringing us food and drink. She looked quite exhausted too, which made sense as a twenty-mile trek each way was ludicrous, and she wasn’t much stronger than an average mortal. “I now understand the suffering of servants much-much more clearly. You work hard, Velna.”

The weaselkin maid curtsied, looking happy. “Please, think nothing-nothing of it, princess. I have been a poor maid, now I just wish to make amends.” She handed a damp towel to Shaeula, who wiped herself down gratefully. She then took a refreshing drink. Velna handed one to me too, before serving Ixitt and Grulgor. “The Spring, it is looking quite-quite beautiful again.” she wrinkled her nose. “Though that smell...”

“Yes, just the last stretch now.” Shaeula muttered. We had removed the pieces of Myrcolaxriath, carefully wrapped in cloth soaked with barrier cream, and had them taken back to my Territory. I would need to expand the Warehouse to store them, which wasn’t a problem. Still, despite my Eye saying that they could be used in pharmaceutical and alchemical recipes, it still feels pretty bad using chunks of an enemy like him as materials...

As the last of the water evaporated, leaving behind a faint, gentle seeping that was working its way through the numerous layers of muck that was crusted many feet deep, we pulled down the tarpaulin, allowing the moonlight from above to flow through unimpeded, striking the dry lake, sending steam rising where the purity of the moonlight met contamination.Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com

“Shaeula, are you ready?” I asked, and she nodded, a rising, gentle twister of wind forming around the entire lake. As she did that, I gathered my Foehn, and it exploded outwards, forming a brilliant, shining cauldron of golden-yellow fire, the entire dry lakebed burning. Flame energy rushed from my solar plexus and lunar chakras, and Shaeula added her own flame energies, fanning the greedy fires. The brilliant glow was reflected from the walls, causing the inlaid veins of gemstones to shine in a prismatic hue of colours. Behind me, Velna gasped in wonder, and I had to agree.

“Damn, why don’t we have anything to record this with?” I marvelled at the wonderful sight, only spoiled by the columns of black smoke that rose, trapped by Shaeula’s winds. Luckily that kept the putrid smell in as well, and prevented any of the toxic waste gasses from causing issues for the others. “My sis, Eri, the girls ... I feel bad they can’t see this. It’s incredible.”

Your affinity to light element has increased dramatically.

“You have succeeded!” I felt Shaeula pulling me into a hug as my mind reeled with all the information. I felt a surge of power flooding through me as my body stabilised, the elemental energies settling in place. “Four-four elements, one from the Spring itself! Such a feat! Truly, only you could-could ever be my husband, Akio!” As she continued to crow, Ixitt was looking on with interest, trying to gather the flecks of dirty material that were being expelled by my body. Grulgor looked impressed and jealous, and Velna... well, oddly enough, she looked genuinely happy. I guess I won her over?

“Yeah, I’m pretty pleased myself.” I said, understating my joy. Looking down at the Spring, the amount of water energy had diminished, but there was still around half left. Seeing my gaze, Shaeula fidgeted nervously, toying with her long hair. “So, did you see how I did it?” I asked, and she nodded, still looking abashed.

“Yes, you used the other-other three elements to balance the fourth, as they then formed an interlocking whole. I would not-not be able to manage such though, for I possess no earth energies.”

“Normally I’d agree, but you know what, I have a very decent level of Chirurgery now, and earth energy I don’t lack.”

“I... I see.” Shaeula said nervously. “You make a good point, but...”

“Are you scared? I’m not going to make you do this.” I reassured her, enfolding her tightly, returning her hug. “I value you too much to risk you carelessly. But with Ether Healing, our bonds, your strength... I think it’s worth a shot. A double-mutated element seems to be really powerful. We might as well drain the Spring dry for now.”

“I... I do envy you. besides, I need to retain my advantage over Eri and Aiko. I can not-not assume they will remain below me forever. After all, you have shown me mortals can be tenacious and grow rapidly.” She bit her lip nervously. “And if I was to master that, I would certainly be strong enough for none-none to criticise me for being weak.”

“You’re strong enough already for that.” I assured her, but it was Grulgor who spoke next.

“Princess should grasp this chance. Grul would if he was smart enough to understand how. Grul realises intelligence is important too, not just power. You trust him, Grul says, do you not?”

“I do.” She squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them again, I could see resolve in her shining amber gaze. “I watched and saw everything. You did-did struggle to tame the moonlight within the water, but what Fae would I be if I could not-not make the moon serve me? Following your triumph, I can-can do this!”

“Right. This is also a good experiment, as it’d be really useful if we could help people learn elements too. Not just humans, but other Fae who support us. After all... we don’t know what’s coming, but I know we need strength. As much of it as we can muster. So, are you ready?”

“I am. Hold me tight-tight and do not-not let me go!” Her words were imploring and nervous, so I clutched her to my chest. She gazed at the remaining waters and began drawing them in. As she did so, I released my earth element, controlling it painstakingly, trickling it into her sacral chakra. Her body reacted violently to it, her nature as a Wind Fae originally perhaps causing a strong rejection, but I isolated it from the rest of her body and the sacral chakra itself, pooling it around it, but not allowing it to circulate within her. The effort was causing me a stabbing headache, but I held firm, unwilling to compromise on Shaeula’s chances of gaining strength.

“This-this is unpleasant!” She hissed. As the high moonlight spirit water started pooling, the elements began warring within her, and since her body was far more intertwined with them than even my Fae-like body was, she immediately started sweating, orange tinged with indigo, golden-yellow, and jade and emerald droplets seeping from her skin. “I feel... like my body-body will fly apart.”

“Relax. As the yellow energies began to twist and turn in disarray, I trickled out the ruby earth energies I was pushing into her, still keeping them isolated. The chaotic flow of citrine flame stopped, becoming more ordered, while Shaeula concentrated on her wind energy. She had the most control over that, and it had increased after the battle with the Bakaneko, so she quickly managed to absorb the turbulent overspill of the spirit water into her wind, feeding the ejected wind into the now placid flames, which rippled and tried to burst free of her control, but she ruthlessly suppressed it, having seen how mine reacted, and having excellent Chirurgery skills herself.

“So... close.” Her lunar node was drinking in the moonlight from the water, growing stronger. Hey, are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is her hair a bit longer now? And the ends are glowing purple. “But the water is unstable, the spring is running dry-dry...” It was true, the remaining high moonlight spirit water was rapidly being sucked into Shaeula, and her sacral chakra had not set.

Your Skill, Aetheric Chirurgery has advanced from Rank 5 to Rank 6. You now have finer control over elemental essences and energies, and are better able to manipulate these within the bodies of others, as well as assist in stabilising clashes between energies.

I don’t need that message, I know what I have to do. I’m already doing it! Indeed, I blinked away the amber words and the fierce pain wracking my skull, as I sent earth energy into her sacral chakra, carefully feeding it into the diminishing pool of water energy, as it was fed into the wind at the heart of her existence. Steady, steady! Several times I had to adjust the flow as it was too strong or too weak, and I was soaked with sweat as well, more frightened now than when I underwent this trial myself, fearing for Shaeula’s wellbeing. Still, her eyes were locked on mine, and despite the discomfort and pain she was smiling.

“I think... no, I know-know I see it! The spirit nourishes my very existence, and the moonlight is a part of me, as it is all-all the Fae. Water I can control. I know it well, as you do, Akio. Ice, steam, a cold glass of water on a hot-hot day. A bath. The air contains water, does it not-not? This is no different! I am wind, I can contain water too!” Her control increased, and she quickly balanced the flows. We continued for a while, until the core around her sacral chakra stabilised.

“Now-now, withdraw the earth element. But carefully.” She panted, spent. “I have not-not the strength to face it now. My body and spirit ache fiercely.” Indeed, black flakes were coming from her body as well, drops of dark liquid leaking from her eyes and ears.

“No problem, I have this.” Slowly, ever so slowly, I eased the earth energy out of her body. The flame and water energies became imbalanced without the fourth corner of the quartet, but as the chakras had settled they soon formed a new equilibrium. As the last earth energies were withdrawn and scattered away, Shaeula let out a long sigh. “I... I did it! I am a Fae of Wind, Flame and Water!”

“Impressive!” Ixitt applauded. “I must research such matters. I would rather like an element myself. Or maybe two.”

Grulgor also rumbled his approval, respect in his eyes for her bravery and victory, envy for her new strength, while Velna rushed to us, handing us some cold drinks, while trying frantically to mop up the mess that was around us.

“That is quite-quite refreshing.” Shaeula thanked Velna. “And I am pleased you did not-not forget my Akio.”

As Velna looked down, embarrassed. Shaeula and I kissed once more, celebrating, before she pulled away, regretful. “Alas, you must-must return to the Material, must you not-not? We should not-not disappoint Hinata, or cause her to lose the respect of this Miyu female.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “I should have plenty of time, but I’d like to rest up and get my mental state in order. I have a feeling it’s going to be a pain. When I’m done, I’ll come back and we can go over all our new abilities and how we can use them. For now...” We have scoured the forest for Etherites, and if we missed a few that isn’t a big deal. We’ve maximised our gains as much as we can, now we just need to see about restoring Shaeula's honour, and hopefully being appointed caretaker of the Spring. I definitely want the girls to learn a mutated element from here if possible, so we need to control who gets access to the bounty we’ve recovered. “That gives me an idea. Why not send a message to Selensha?”

“Sister-in-law? Why?” Shaeula cocked her head cutely, though the effect was a bit spoiled by the dark matter dripping from her ears and nose.

“Well, she’s a water element master, right? Maybe she can teach you a few tricks. Besides, getting her onside helps keep your brother in line, and we need all the political capital we can get right now. Speaking of...” I looked at Grulgor, and he nodded. “Fine. Grul will speak to Duke Formor if he must. But first, can Grul go fight and crush some foes? Grul wants to be stronger, needs to be smarter!”

“I think that is wise.” Shaeula agreed. “I shall contact Selensha, and my father through Shaeraggo. We can-can allow him to do so, though due to the Price he would only be able to report what we wish-wish him to say. That benefits us.”

“Yeah. In that case, liaise with Ulfuric and our other leaders. When Hyacinth has her levels, she’ll be back too. I’m going to catch some sleep, we’ve really worked hard. Epic battles, days of hard cleaning, now this. Damn, we need a vacation.”

“When this matter is settled, we should take-take a trip. Eri and Aiko should come too, perhaps the other girls. We can have much fun, drinking under the moonlight somewhere.”

“Sure, that sounds great.” And with one final display of affection I returned to the Material, satisfied at the vast gains we had accrued. Damn, it’s almost enough to make me wish we knew where more Unseelie Dukes were...

********

Opening my eyes I looked at the clock. Shaeula’s still and silent Material body was in bed beside me, and I admired her doll-like features before yawning, tiredness catching up with me despite my incredible stats. Ten pm huh? Training might still be going on, but... nah, I’m too tired. I’ll catch some sleep, then I’ll be ready for the meeting with Hinata’s senpai tomorrow... wait, what? My whole body shuddered, and suddenly I found my consciousness spiralling downwards, everything going dark, as my body suddenly started gushing out a torrent of stinking black filth, every pore on my body belching foul-smelling slime...