COMMUNICATION IS NONEXISTENT ♦ exam for Aether

Things seemed to happen so suddenly... time passed in the blink of an eye, and she still felt as if she were left in the dust. Ah, well, no matter. It was time for action. A report of something new, mysterious, was always beyond intriguing to read. A giant dragonoid monster that was terrorizing people in the most random of places... cliche enough, right? Blinking pink orbs as she re-read the description of the beast, Izayuki scanned through the details and finally put the piece of paper down. It seemed like a fun job of sorts, but no official job had been made for it. No bounty, no jewels for this mission... only one hell of an adventure. In any case, that was good enough for her, but there was only one thing...

She was an ace now. The position came so suddenly, that she barely had the time to react. Just what was expected of her? It was hard to tell. All the yokai could do was continue to be herself... only shouldering a lot more menial tasks. Well, then again, this could not be so bad. She was to give an exam to Aether, a member of the guild whom she had only met once, and not under the most fortunate of circumstances. Her ice sword had hit him as he used his weird tentacle ability to attempt to stop her, in her rage, from hurting Suzuran. Izayuki could not help but cringe as she thought back to the scene, which had only succeeded in a special collar of sorts, a necklace, put on her to magically leash her powers. And now she was an ace?
Life certainly was full of surprises- she could say that much.

Giving another sigh, Izayuki reorganized her papers on the table and scanned the room. Aether was likely in some corner, or place where he would not be bothered, reading a book or something. That, or... really, she had no idea. She hardly knew the guy. Because of that, she asked Sophia to find him and tell him to find her near the jobs board in the guildhall. No need for an office- formalities were annoying. Provided he made his way there, she would give him the details for his exam to become a B-rank Mage of Black Rose.

"There you are," Izayuki began, seeing the white-haired boy making his way towards her. It was a bit awkward talking so easily with everything that had gone on in mind... but Aether was an interesting one. Private, reserved, and hard to talk to. What did he really think on what happened? Did he care? Surely, he did...
Shaking the thoughts away, the Ace of Stigma continued. "I'm going to be proctoring your B rank exam... any questions?" she asked, not giving much detail, rhyme, or reason to back up her statement. Yes, he was to be ranking up. She had no reason to say why, what he had done to earn it, or whatever. Certainly he could fill in the blanks on his own with his intuitive mind, right? Having folded the report and the information on the monster into a rather sloppy paper airplane, she aimed to glide it towards Aether. Hopefully he would get the hint to catch it and unfold the lackadaisical 'origami' she had worked on in the time it took Sophie to bring him to her.

"To pass your exam, you must either capture or kill and bring back either a tooth or claw or scale of that monster. I can tag along to watch you, but I can't help you. Got it?" she asked with a smile, all ready to leave. "The beast was last seen near the Black Rose Lacrima Fields. You can start searching there."

Slightly confused at the situation but seeing no point in questioning it, considering that she had sent Sophia to find him he doubted it was for anything other than guild matters, yet for her to be proctoring his B-Rank exam? Kakuma must have some sense of humour in order to arrange this, she was probably snickering to herself at the very thought of it, or chowing down on some of the cooking mages delicious treats. Regardless he didn’t care who was proctoring his exam, as long as he gets the job done it won’t matter who was there to make sure that he was actually the one who completed the job, and not some random factor that came into play. But what interested him now was what this ice mage thought of their relationship, especially after what transpired in their last chance meeting. Aether himself thought very little of it as it was a simple misunderstanding, even though he still hadn’t had a chance to field test the armour back then it seemed to have worked very well against one of her quickly made ice weapons, giving him valuable data in order to spruce it up further before putting it on trial. Hopefully she didn’t feel guilty about harming him slightly, even though she was in no state to make clear and cautious judgements she couldn’t have felt that terribly. Perhaps this was Kakuma’s way of somehow getting her to make up for what she had done to him? Shaking the thought aside he listened intently to what she was saying as he caught the paper plane from the air.

Leaning over his shoulder, and attempting not to topple him over with her massive weight, Anima glanced at the monster that they were to bring in. “A Gold Rathian? Now there’s a rare one.” She stated, pushing off of his back to stand beside Aether with her hands on her hips. “Pretty dangerous too.” Turning her head to face Aether with a grin on her lips and nodding. “Nothing we can’t handle though.” Clapping her hands together she walked towards the door of the guild, fist raised up in excitement of their latest job.

Following behind Anima Aether put his hands into his pockets, keeping his eyes focused on Anima’s footsteps whilst thinking up multiple battle strategies that he could use when taking on a creature much larger than himself and clearly more powerful both defensively and offensively. He would have to rely on Anima for direct confrontation with a combination of using his daggers to constantly chip away at its scales and pull off as many synchronized attacks with Anima as he could. Before he knew it they were at the area the large golden wyvern was spotted last, a nest it had made within the lacrima field nearby a few large rock spires and clusters. And before he could even take in his surroundings he heard a roar from high above him as the wind swept up around him, a glimmering shape flying in from high above them, no doubt the wyvern they were to hunt and bring back to the guild, its scales shone as though the sun itself was flying across the sky as it flew over their heads, turning around to perch itself on a nearby cluster of rocks.

With little time to accurately assess the situation Aether unclipped his baggy jacket and dug his hands into the clothing, accessing his pocket dimension and pulling out roughly a hundred daggers which, using his abilities as the bone god slayer, he launched towards the golden rathian in a shotgun-spread as fast as he could fling them, and watching them harmlessly bounce off its scales and the webbing of its wings. “More speed.” Aether whispered to himself as he let one of his tendrils flow from his back and pulled another dagger from his pocket dimension to hold it within the tendrils grasp. Just as he was about to throw the dagger the Wyvern let out a startling roar, spreading its wings and flapping them suddenly, causing a large gust of wind to pick up from under him and carry him in the air slightly due his baggy clothing as the Wyvern took off directly up into the sky and into the clouds, going out of Aether’s sight and range of his daggers, only to return a few moments later with a large amount of speed from the horizon to go directly into a somersault tail strike directly on Aether, giving him little to no warning as the strike sent him directly into the rock cluster it was perched on earlier.

Eyes widening at the sight of Aether being flung by a direct hit from the wyvern’s tail and smacking directly into a large rock cluster, Anima entered a state of rage, her hair, eyes, and clothes glowing green as a network of green lines connected from her torso to her gauntlets and eyes. The sudden burst of magical power flowing through her causing all dust in a 5 meter radius to spread out in a pulse of power, drawing the golden rathian’s attention away from her wounded partner. In her state of anger, she crouched down and dug her claws into the ground before launching herself in a double heel strike directly into the wyvern’s head, knocking it back and causing it to tumble far away from her. Just as she landed she kicked off again, spiralling through the air before going for a crushing blow to the creatures back. However unable to crack the beasts armor she ended up being caught in the creatures mouth whilst she was still in the air after delivering the attack. The golden queen crunched up and dented her large arms and torso before flinging her off with a fireball in Aether’s general direction, landing very closely to where he lay and grinding to a sudden halt as she too slammed into the rock cluster.

With her last ounce of strength and reason, she searched for Aether as the creature, a mere kilometre away, made its way to them. Neither of them was going to make it if this kept up, and so she came to a decision just as she found her best friend’s body, his consciousness on the verge of leaving him. Placing one crushed hand on his head gently, and the other on his chest. “I’m sorry Aether, you’ve done so much for me.” She spoke, with her palms glowing as the green lines on her body began to fade. “You gave me a second chance at life, and I’ve wasted it. And if one of us is going to make it out of here, it’s going to be you.” She could feel her grip on the world beginning to loosen as she spoke. “I know how you brought me back, so I return to you this life you have given.” The outpouring of magical power she emitted earlier was nothing compared to what she was producing now. The shackles that bound her soul to the golem now were being removed, and placed over her partner instead. Her eyes flaring up with a pure green light as she began to speak in a more powerful tone as she poured the last of all her magical power and will into Aether’s body.

“For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee.”

Everything fell silent in the moments to come, as fire obscured her vision and causing her body to crack apart combust. In her final moments all she could see was a slender, black figure rising in the flames as a smile drew across her lips and with the last of her strength she mustered one word.

“Live.”

Aether barely had enough energy to move his body after he had collapsed to the ground, barely capable of moving any of his limbs as he tried to crawl his way back to Anima, slipping in and out of consciousness as he watched her take on the large beast, he just had to do something to help her, if he didn’t do anything she would die. But he couldn’t make it there fast enough as he witnessed her being caught and crushed, nearly being severed in half with the strength of the Wyvern’s bite and it was at that point he knew that he couldn’t save her, not the same way he saved her last time. Feeling the last of his strength leave him he just lay on the floor, slipping in and out of consciousness as he too would be unable to be saved.

Then he felt it, a cold yet gentle touch upon his forehead and chest as energy began to fill his body rapidly, releasing his mind and soul from his mortal reigns and could only look around at awe at what was happening. His body had died but he still lived, a mere spirit trapped in the mortal realm and unable to pass on. But then he saw his body, along with Anima whispering and mumbling to herself as the magic power around her grew to insane levels as he could see the green of the spiritual shackles he created to anchor her soul to the golem float off and away from her. “No…” Aether spoke, but no noise came. “No…Anima no!” he reached for her just as the shackles turned a bright red and headed straight for him, wrapping around his spiritual limbs, chest and neck as they dragged him down into his dead body. Then suddenly, fire swept across Anima and his body, turning all that was flesh to ash and leaving only the bone, the lacrima that was implanted in him, and the kakuhou that created his tendrils. Anima… he thought as he saw her body crack and crumble just as he was reunited with his old body.

Rising from the ashes of his corpse Aether gasped, pulling his arm up to touch his face yet he could feel nothing, his sense of touch had been incinerated along with his flesh, no doubt along with his sense of smell and taste. Panicked he looked around, searching for whatever remained of Anima and the golem. His search was cut short by the whisper of a single word which seemingly whispered in his ear, touching at his very soul.

“Live.”

Stopping suddenly at the word, jaw hanging loosely from his skull, he turned slowly to gaze upon what was once the Golem’s head, split in two by the sheer heat from the fire with only one eye, half the nose and the mouth remaining, a small smile spread across its lips. Closing his jaw shut he reached for the head, only managing to tap it softly before it crumbled into dust. Clenching his fist he smashed it into the ground and looked up into the sky which waved with the intense heat of the fire all around him. “Anima…” he mumbled, casting his head back down to the ground as he rose to stand on both feet, taking in what he could from his now limited amount of senses. He spotted the lacrima which was now half white and half black, the same as it was when he first received it and reached out for it, placing a hand on its surface and causing the entire lacrima to turn a pure white.

Picking it up he held it to his forehead, tapping into its power and the spirit he became so fond of within as the lacrima became a sort of fluid, covering Aether’s bones and being absorbed into them to allow him access the power of the bone demon slayer as well as reversing the impurity of his skeleton, returning it to a pure white colouration. “You’re really cutting it close there space weaver, if it weren’t for your golem you’d be nothing but ashes now.” Nathir spoke, a vision of his figure that he had only seen once before when accessing God Force seemingly forming within the flames. “Do you wish for the power to avenge her?” the figure drew closer, fading through the flames as it asked the question. “Or do you wish to honour her final words?” The figure stopped in front of him, a skeleton as white as snow and as black as soot cloaked in an aura of equal purity and impurity that masked all but the old demon god’s skull.

Staring down the old demon god Aether’s glowing eyes spoke every word he needed, causing Nathir to reel back slightly with a bony grin. “Very well space weaver. Today you are neither alive nor dead, and that shall continue till the day your soul expires.” Spreading its arms wide the cloaking aura surrounding the old demon god turned completely white “But you have a daunting task ahead of you, one you cannot hope to complete without my help, and so in order for you to live on I bestow upon you the title of Undead Lord and grant you some of my lesser abilities.” The cloak then spread out and covered Aether’s entire body, disregarding his skull as the figure of Nathir too faded to white and joined the rest of the aura. “The energy you received from your friend, adding my own shall allow you to reach new heights and exceed your limits.” The bone demon god spoke in his mind. “Now you must honour your dearly departed.” Aether, upon hearing those words reached outwards and swept his hand from left to right, releasing a large amount of magic power that would cause the flames that had surrounded him for so long to extinguish as if a large gust of wind had suddenly been thrust upon them to reveal his new form, the next stage of his life, the step into a more holy domain, the beginning of his life as a bone demon slayer.

“Live.”

This naturally attracted the attention of the Wyvern which was just about to take off, assuming that both of the assailants which attacked it had died but had been drawn in by the sudden increase in magical power which only increased as time held on. Aether stood there in the embers of the blaze, a cloak of pure holy aura surrounding his body as his skeleton adjusted to the sudden increase in magic power, growing larger and jagged with the sudden increase in energy and calcium, his skull distorting to that of some kind of deer/ram monster. The Wyvern, unfazed by the sudden increase in power continued its assault, flying in towards Aether at a near blinding speed, clearly Anima had done enough damage to it to the point where it wasn’t as fast as when it first struck Aether.

Holding a now skeletal hand out towards the wyvern he let his power flow and so created a singular bone, a tooth similar to that of a dragons, and let it drop and sink into the ground. “Bone Demon’s Hallow Knight.” As he spoke bone shot out of the ground from where he dropped the tooth, quickly forming a very large skeleton covered in a thinner layer of equally dense bone to give it a rotten corpse look, white bone continued to grow over it until it covered the undead creature in a thick shell before shattering and reforming into armour, a cape, jagged sword, and a tower shield. “I live to serve you, my lord.” The knight uttered, just as it dug its shield into the ground to protect him from an attack and stop the wyvern right in its path, pulling the shield out of the ground before pushing off the wyvern as though it was like any other small lizard creature, causing it to topple and loose its balance for a sloppy landing. “For I am the shield to protect thee, oh dear lord of bone.” The knight spoke, raisings its blade to the sky before pulling it back, clanging it against its shield and slamming its shield into the ground between Aether and the Wyvern. “As your shield, no harm shall come to thee.” The knight repeated, just as a jet of flames came spewing towards them, only to be parted by the knights shield as it was launched overhead and around them, similar to how Aether managed to survive his mentor’s own wave of flame in his training to learn the god slayer magic.

Raising its shield from the charred ground the knight charged towards the wyvern, shield raised and sword poised to strike as soon as it came within range as the flames once again assaulted it only to be brushed off by the knight’s shield. As it came closer and closer to the beast it began to counterattack, knocking its jaw closed with the large tower shield before swinging into a vertical slash from its chest to its maw, cutting through the creature’s scales like an axe through wood, cutting halfway through before following up with a downwards slash in the same direction, cutting straight through to its softer parts before being battered away with a backflip swing of its barbed tail repeatedly, sending it back with enough force to crash lightly into the rock cluster.

As the knight was fighting the gold rathian Aether had picked up the organ that had caused him a large amount of both strife and comfort, simply holding it in his palm caused it to glow ever so slightly as the organ was dyed white by the pure aura that surrounded him. He couldn’t use its tendrils, but he could still tap into its power to open portals and weave the fabric of space itself. Walking up to the creature slowly became a jog before a full on sprint, just as the knight was flung back towards the rock cluster. Jumping to the side he dug his pointed, claw-like fingers into the ground to stabilize himself and pull of as he continued his way towards the overgrown lizard, going faster with each step as he reached where the knight had cut deep into the creatures scales, thrusting his free hand in with relative ease, causing the wyvern to roar out in pain as Aether spread his palm within him as he cast the final blow on the creature. “Blast.” He shouted, raising the hand which held the organ up towards the Wyverns face as a portal formed in each of his palms, however the raw energy without form caused each portal to rupture and explode. The dragon’s scales around its face flew off, landing around him as the creatures legs gave out. The portal that had exploded within the Wyvern had destroyed most of its organs, including its heart, giving it a fast, painless death with the blow to the head numbing it to the pain it felt when its innards were turned to mush.

Letting the creature collapse before he pulled his skeletal hand out from the corpse Aether stood back to look at what had just happened, with the knight rising to its feet near the rock cluster and himself, one arm covered in the blood of a wyvern and the remainder of his skeletal body surrounded in a thick white aura. Then it hit him, Anima. Anima had sacrificed herself for him, she cast off the shackles he placed on her to give to him, knowing that his skeleton was capable of surviving even this creature’s wrath. With that realization, Aether fell to his kneecaps, hunched over towards the wyvern corpse with his hands on the ground. She was gone, and this time there was no way of bringing her back.

He wanted to cry, but he couldn’t. He wanted to shout to the heavens, but he couldn’t. He wanted nothing more than to bring her back, but he couldn’t. Instead he lay there, racked with guilt at being unable to save her again and yet he was still here. He had defeated the wyvern and succeeded in taking his power to the next level, but at what cost? He was now no more human than when he first came into this world, the only proof of him once being alive was the skeleton his soul was inhabiting, and the second death of his best friend. Before he knew it the knight was crouched down beside him, its hand on Aether’s spine. “It is unfit of you to be like this my lord. There are always casualties in battle.” Its head turned from facing him back to the creature they had slain. “I have been through death many times, and of them I never got to choose how I would go out. But if I could choose, it would be to go out protecting the one I hold most dear to me. Your companion gave you her life and power so that you may triumph. You must have given her one hell of a life in order for her to do something like that.” Raising from his crouch it approached the wyvern, raising its sword before cleanly slicing through the neck and severing its head. “She would not wish for you to waste this second chance at life grieving over hers. She would want you to live, to love, to prosper.” It tossed the head gently towards him, letting it roll to a stop in front of him. “Do not let her efforts go to waste, my lord.”

Steeling himself, Aether rose from the ground and, lifting the organ over the wyverns head, opened a portal to his pocket dimension in the dirt underneath it and causing it to fall in. The knight stood tall with what could be its best attempt at a grin as it witnessed Aether’s resolve to finish his exam. Looking around Aether attempted to spot the proctor of the exam and upon spotting Izayuki would wave at her to signal that his task was completed, even at the loss of the one that was dearest to him he wouldn’t let that hold him back. He would live in her name, and to protect that which they both called home.

"Don't even think about it. It's not your fight."

Who said that? She could not identify the voice, but it was familiar. The wording, however, was something that ran through her mind over and over again. Who would say such a thing? It sounded like something someone she know had perhaps said at least once before. Was it Elyx? Or maybe Jin or Magna? What about Kakuma, Irina, or even Marschal or Lexa? Or any one of her guildmates? They could have said it, but the voice in her mind was nobody from Black Rose. Was it a ghost from the past? It sounded very much like a phrase Naugrem, Felicia, or even that evil goddess, Yukionna, or Skadi, would have taught her. All were mentor figures in her life. But the voice rang without their recognizable tones.

"Wha-? You can't tell it was--"

"Even that voice of reason is trying to tell you. Don't do it, Izayuki. You know better than that."

That warm, silky, nostalgic tone from before, followed by the obvious speech of Alice, the Daemon who had given her the power of Wonderland. Both that light of hope and that bringer of despair were agreeing on something- it was not her place. For once, she had to refuse her duty as an Ace, the Ace of Stigma, to protect her guildmate. And it was beyond hard. Why was she being forced to do such a thing? It was a simple exam- nothing more. If the beast proved to be too much, why pit her guildmate against it? Anima died, and somehow or other gave her life to Aether. Or at least that much was perceived. However, the figure left behind was none other than a dark, obsidian-hued skeleton who later changed his form to one of pure white, and slightly more animalian. Just what was going on?

The battle was finished as quickly as it started.
And life refused to be fair.
But, perhaps death made its point? Was death fair?

It seemed that way, so far.
"Aether...?"