The Etra Anthology

130th of Gnielm, 336 EA

Citadel of the Athalial League, Athal

Svaljna had been pulled out of the world into eternal fog, endless expanse, the aether, and she was there in the clutches of a predator. She could not see it through the mists, she could only feel the grip of it’s scabby claws and hear all around the chittering of it’s madness. “Who are you, who are you, who are you!”

It drug her, deeper and deeper still into the aether, the walls and doors and all the material implements of Rhovos Archall blending into each other until they were all the same fade of colors washed through one another. The deeper it pulled her the less that either her or it or anything else were a singular whole. Rather, she could sense this monster blending itself into her, using the inconcrete nature of the aether to invade her very being. It raked through her with a scouring fervor.

There was another sense here as well, overwhelming in its capacity. Her connection to the aether itself burgeoned, threatened, demanded of her that she wield it.

The fog and the monster each worked to their own ends in dismantle her, the former to peel away all that had been put on her and the latter in a ravenous hunger after who she really was. There was a time when she was Svaljna of the Aeris, child of Dultha, when she had pride and shame, and then there was a moment when that was stripped of her and she simply was.

It was not until that moment, being devoured from the inside out, that she could allow herself to give in to the Sveida that pulsed within her.

“Augi’r Psalre Enveim Dy’tiisy”, She spoke the words that had come to her in the willful dreams of another life, and with the spell cast she suddenly remembered what it was like at her birth, to open her eyes for the first time. She saw a life lead in pain, the life of a man. 

She saw a mirror shattered in youthful scorn, dread filled hearts casting out one of their own. She saw all the many ways in which chronic pain can wrack a body, with nobody around to soothe. She saw many lifetimes of travel, followed by flashes of rain through lightning over the Citadel of the Athalial League, this figure stumbling through a portal. She saw the aetherline through the lens of fastidious curiosity, trailing along past and through. She saw the moment of a sunset falling behind the aetherline, holding the hand of a secret beau, and then she felt that lover leave with all the wracking sorrow of death. She saw the Archall, candles of red wax and dusty tombs, a ritual centered on knowledge of why this world was shaped the way that it was, with all the chaos and the pain. She saw some great seizing of opportunity lead astray in its very intent, she saw an implosion and then the burst of an impossible levee. She saw the mutation of man into monster, having been forced into the depths of the aether right at the point of an arcane confluence, but before that she saw a name written many times over. She saw Donatos Hechejo.

It was as though a chord had been struck, a brand singed into flesh, as the name passed through her mind. The creature recoiled from wringing her, shrieking with all the agony of one reminded of what once was, of what had been lost.

It was in that moment, disentangled, that a new call rang out and the aether parted.

“Ahtr’ul Vhelk” The words came from a voice that was not recognized. It was clear and direct, and as it’s spell took effect Svaljna was once again a person, with all that that entailed. 

She dropped her own prophetic charm reflexively, like it was poison to her soul, letting it wash out into the aether that was rapidly leaving her like rain on a river. Her first hope was that nobody had seen her do it, that nobody would know.

When she was fully out of the aether, she was surrounded by her friends.

“Sval!” Xochit hugged her. 

Snekde’de was crying, “We thought you were a goner.”

Bronemir was to the side, wringing his hands and looking guilt-ridden.

There was another figure there, too, someone new. She was of a height with Svalnja, slightly hunched at the shoulders, her hair long and dark and woven through with red and pale grey blossoms. She wore tight-fitting clothes, dye-red leathers and blue cloth, with a grey jacket embroidered at it’s edges with the sleeves bunched up in a loose roll. She had flat features, eyes half-lidded even as they were open. It was a far-away look, staring back into the aether as the magic she had cast over it subsided gradually. One of her hands was still clasped to the back of Svalnja’s cloak from dragging her out of the clutches of certain doom, and in the other she carried a simple solid wooden quarterstaff.

“Your friend is right,” She said, “hours in the aether could have killed you on their own, not even beginning to touch on having that thing there with you.”

Motioning to the crackling cage behind which stood the aether, Svalnja could see clearly now what it was that had assailed her. 

It was a crooked, bent creature, almost humanoid but off in the way it’s proportions hung. Spindly-thin and covered by grey, sunken flesh that stretches tautly over its bones, a rictus look that was neither fully scowl nor grin pulled at its jaws. Stone-like scabs and spines jutted from its back, creaking like bones. Dominating what would be its face, a single eye irised in glowing green swam with aether fog.

It stalked back and forth behind the holding runes, it’s entire form wisping away at the edges even in the most shallow of aether’s edges. It lunged for the line, and was knocked back rebuffed from the aetheric net.

“Let’s all back away from the nothic, alright?” The woman took steps back herself, “The runes should hold a little while longer, but it’s been feeding and I don’t want to chance its strength right now.”

They all followed, tracking back through the arcing hall, and just as Svalnja looked back over her shoulder she caught the creature slinking back into the deeper fog itself. 

“Now,” The woman clapped her hands to draw the group’s focus back to herself, “I think introductions are in order. My name is Mepka Tahlam, I’m with the Commission of Exploration. I just saved your life. Who in the muddy fuck are you and what are you doing here?”