Aethear Theory 101

Altha stirred awake to the amber embrace of dusk, its light pooling across the bedsheets like molten gold. Outside, the forest blurred into a watercolour of burnt orange and violet, the sun sinking low enough to set the horizon ablaze.

Shadows stretched long and skeletal across the walls, and for a heartbeat, he forgot where—or when—he was. Then he heard the rustle of fabric, the soft inhale of breath beside him.

Cassilyth sat perched at the foot of his bed, her silhouette haloed by the dying light, her gaze fixed on the sky's slow unravelling.

"I like the sunset too," he murmured, his voice hoarse.

She turned, her smile softening the sharp angles of her face. "You're awake." Her voice low and melodic, reaching out her hand brushed his arm, a fleeting warmth. "How are you feeling?" she asked turning her body to face him.

She wore a delicate, two-piece loungewear set made from a soft ribbed fabric that clung to her contours, accentuating her hourglass figure. The fabric was white and adorned with small, scattered cherry prints in soft pink and red hues. She wore a tank top with spaghetti straps that rested lightly on smooth, sun-kissed shoulders.

Mirroring her top she wore high-waisted shorts. The shorts sat just above her hips and accentuated her slender waist before flaring over toned thighs. Trying to avoid staring, Altha looked up at the ceiling.

"How am I feeling...?" He paused, cataloguing the dull ache in his ribs, the phantom sting of serum in his veins. "Tired?"

"That's a good sign," She shifted closer, her eyes scanning him like a physician assessing a wound. "No pain?"

"None I can name," he said, uncertain.

"That's great," She took to her feet, "I'll fetch you some food and drink, you sound like you could use some water. Then we'll go meet Cecily."

Altha sat up, the blanket sliding to his waist. "What happened? I remember sparring with Solace, then… nothing. Where is everyone?"

The shorts she wore—high-waisted, hugging the curve of her hips—flared as she turned, catching the light.

She pressed a hand to his chest, gentle but insistent, urging him back. "They're scouting a village nearby. Only Cecily and myself stayed. Solace insisted he should be here when you woke up, but the cohort would have been worse off without him." Her tone brooked no argument.

"And it wouldn't have without you?" He asked freely.

She shook her head, "It's not that. I had something more important to attend to." She stated.

"And that was...?" He asked.

Smiling, she gently pushed on his chest, laying him down, "Rest. I'll be back in a few."

Coming back minutes after leaving, she opened the door to his room, and in came a warm radiance spilling across his bed. The stew she brought steamed with herbs and root vegetables, its aroma earthy and medicinal. Altha ate slowly, each spoonful a negotiation with his body's protests. Cassilyth watched, her palm glowing silver against his shoulder—a soothing, liquid light that seeped into his marrow, unravelling knots of fatigue. The light seemed like metal trying to take on the formless nature of fire.

When the last of the stew vanished, she led him downstairs, her hand lingering on the small of his back. The garage door groaned open, revealing Cecily bent over a workbench.

The room thrummed with arcane energy: tools levitated in midair, etching glowing runes into a skeletal bracelet, while tools and crystalline shards orbited her like planets around a star.

"Ah. The patient lives," Cecily said, not glancing up. Her quill scratched across a tome filled with diagrams that seemed to shift under the light.

Altha stepped closer. The bracelet on the bench was no mere trinket—it pulsed with a faint, bioluminescent glow, its surface a lattice of interlocking metals and what looked like a network of metal veins.

"Is that alive?" He asked pointing at the bracelet.

Cecily finally looked up, her eyes sharp behind smudged goggles.

Cassilyth answered for her, "Alive? No. Sentient? Debatable." She tapped the bracelet, and it emitted a low, whale-song hum.

"It's merely a prototype for now, but in a day or two, we should have the final product," Cecily stated.

Altha arched a brow. "We?"

Cassilyth smirked, walking over to Cecily's side. "She means me and her. And maybe Seth, if he should ever feel so inclined."

A chair rolled toward him, nudged by an unseen force. Cecily gestured. "Sit."

He complied, watching as they exchanged notes filled with intricate diagrams and calculations. Evening melted into night, the air humming with the murmur of work. Breaking that static equilibrium, Cassilyth asked:

"Hey, Altha, I know we've only known each other for a few days but I have to ask—Were you this wuiet before or after being stranded in the Outer?"

Altha spoke, "Uhh… No I was always considered a quiet child."

"Huh, why do you think that is?" Cassilyth asked.

He shrugged "I don't know. I just prefer keeping to myself. Staying out of the spotlight."

Cecily smirked. "Ah, The shadowy type, huh? I like that."

Cassilyth chuckled, adjusting a component on the bracelet's exoskeleton. "Yeah, me too."

Silence settled, comfortable yet expectant. Then Cecily set her tools down and turned to him, her expression unreadable.

"Well, since we're already talking, I think it's time you knew something about your Somniate Trial."

Altha straightened, attention sharpening.

"See, when people usually do their Somniate Trial, it's of their own volition, so they have as much time as they want to prepare," Cecily stated.

Adding to her comment, Cassilyth said, "By that, she means they can gather weapons, serums, charms, trinkets, and all that jazz. But..." She turned her gaze to Cecily.

Continuing from where she left off, Cecily stated, "But you're a different case. Since you don't have any Ether or Cogni, and our Remembrances require it to activate their... Traits. That means we can't really provide you with much support in that field."

"Today you almost died even," Cassilyth stated.

"Well, yeah, but you guys had healing serums, so I couldn't have been that close to dying," Altha murmured

The two women looked at each other briefly before turning their sites back to Altha.

Cassilyth spoke, moving her seat closer to his, "Altha, you didn't get healed by a serum. I healed you."

"Huh, why?" He asked.

"Sumi frantically ran into our room and woke me up. Then I rushed outside and you were on the ground coughing up blood." She stated.

"You see Altha, the healing serums are designed to interact with a person's Ether Network so that they can replicate your specific kind of Athar Type." Cecily Stated.

"Athar Type?" He asked.

Stretching, Cecily got up and rolled a large whiteboard over on its wheels. "Well, I wasn't planning on doing it this way, but I guess now is about as good a time as any. Your first lesson on Aethear Theory starts now." Rummaging through multiple shelves she recovered a multitude of different coloured markers.

Petting Altha on the shoulder and shooting him a warm smile, Cassilyth stood up and stood beside her.

"Interpretation 1: Aethear is the Soul of all creation." She worded as she wrote on the board, "By this, we mean all energy, including matter, light, heat, etc... Were created from this. And if you wonder what 'this' is, it's a field that overlaps and is found through every nook and cranny in the Living Multiverse or at least, from what we can tell so far."

Altha nodded. Beneath that initial statement, Cassilyth wrote:

Conclusion 1: "Athar, Ether, and Cogni are all connected. However, Cogni and Ether are inversely related for the purposes of one's Internal Energy Ratio."

Conclusion 2: "One's Internal Energy Ratio determines their Athar Type. There are four known Athar Types, those being A, E, AE, and C of which are further differentiated into groups 'Positive/Negative'."

"Are you keeping up so far?" Cassilyth asked.

Nodding Altha said, "They remind me of Blood Types like A, B, AB, and O."

Giving him a fistbump, Cassilyth said:

"Very good analogy there, Altha. And like Blood Types, your Athar Type can be..." She gestured for him to finish her sentence.

"They can be hereditary?"

"Indeed, however sometimes your Athar Type can change depending on circumstances like exposure to different Arcane Phenomenons, Arcane Energies, and Certain Entities, or Viruses, etc..."

As Cassilyth spoke, Cecily bent over to write underneath her statements, her form vaguely hinted at by the white fabric of her lab coat; feigning ignorance, Altha turned his sights to Cassilyth.

Cecily wrote:

Key Term: "Athar"

She tapped at the board with her marker and asked, "Do you know what Athar is?"

"Not really." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

She sighed, "Well at least you're honest. I'm just gonna assume you know nothing and explain three out of the six." Below key term, she wrote:

Athar: "Physical Energy that gives form and matter to all things in creation with only a few exceptions to that rule. Forms the physical building blocks of reality."

Ether: "Metaphysical/Physical Energy emerging from the soul. Often thought to give one's will, physical form in tangible reality. Alters reality to fit one's Will"

Cogni: "Metaphysical/Conceptual Energy brought about by conscious thought. An energy that Alters reality to fit one's Thoughts."

As she wrote that Cassilyth was on the right doing the same, "Now that you have some baseline foundation of 'Aethear Theory', let's dive into an important principle of 'Arcana-Mathematica'", she wrote:

Conversion Principle: All six energies are aligned and can break down to form each other or be broken down to adapt to one another. For a Mage, Arcanist, Sorcerer, Augmenter, etc... The most important skill to learn and work on is the breakdown process of these six energies.

Underlining the principle, she bumped fists with Cecily as she asked Altha, "Now, with all this in mind, what do you think is the reason for the H-Serum not working on you?"

He looked between them for a moment, then stood up from his chair, gesturing for a marker. He felt short in the presence of the two women as they both seemed to tower above him by an extra 5 inches of height.

Giving him their markers they both sat down and listened. He wrote:

"If your Energy Type affects your Athar Type, then to heal someone, you must have an Ether or Cogni type that supports their Athar Type. Meaning the H-Serum, once ingested, facilitates the breakdown of your Ether or Cogni into a more useful form of Athar..." He scratched his head, trying to gauge their reactions, and they seemed rather intent on listening, so he continued, "Once formed, that Athar heals any wounds present at that moment. But because I have no Ether or Cogni to speak of, I can't be healed through that using the H-Serum. Is that right?"

The two women looked at each other and shot him their warmest smiles before applauding.

"A quick study. Dangerous." Cassilyth teased.

Cecily smirked, erasing the board with a wave. "Dangerous indeed." Standing up, she rummaged around the lab a bit looking for something, while Cassilyth approached Altha.

"Good work there. You picked that up pretty quickly. It takes time for most people to wrap their heads around the concept of Aethear Theory." Cassilyth said confidently.

Blushing at the compliment, Altha looked down and murmured, "Uhh no, I- I still don't really fully get it."

She let out a quiet chuckle and said, "No need to be humble, you've done great so far. You might not know all the mathematical terms and units of it but knowing some of the basic concepts deserves a celebration in itself."

Pulling a chair closer, she asked him to sit, to which Altha complied. Placing a hand on his shoulder, metallic radiance oozed into him like liquid metal, easing the fatigue.

Letting out a heavy sigh Altha asked, "If the H-Serum doesn't work to heal me. Then how come you can?"

"Serums are crude tools," she said, her voice edged with disdain. "They force the body to obey. This—" The light flared, sudden and bright, "—is a conversation."

Sensing something in the distance Altha's intuition guided his sight to the horizon as a storm front rolled over a part of the forest. Brilliant energy crackling around the roiling gray and black clouds, while thunderous booms and the sound of raging wind assaulted the surroundings and intermingled with lightning flames that danced within their depths.