Published at 29th of July 2022 10:00 am

Chapter 164

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Natalia fidgeted in her seat as she glanced from me to Sandra. It was futile for her to try and run but a part of her mind was clearly still thinking of the chances of her escaping. I sort of felt bad for her, not because we were about to hurt her, but of the fear, we were causing. I knew how it felt to be unable to do anything, and even then I had never been in a situation like this. My luck had been good and I usually got out of these situations.

"You work here as a madame correct?" I asked, leaning back in my seat to try and give off a visual and relaxed aura. Imtidmation would work, but I would try a more calm method first, and see how she responded to that.

She nodded. "I do. I organize a group of girls and make sure everything goes well with the patrons."

"Ok, well there is only really one question we have for you, the only one that matters in the end." I met her eyes and hardened my gaze into a promise of pain if she lied. "Are you and the girls here against your will?'

Her reaction was not what I expected at all. She froze, and her eyes widened as a faraway look appeared in them. "I-I… N-no… Aaah!"

Suddenly she screamed and grasped her head as she fell forward. I caught her as she began to shake and continued her screaming. Sandra had rushed from the door and was now kneeling next to the woman, a confused and worried frown on her face.

"What happened?"

I shrugged. "You heard. All I did was ask her a question. Natalia?"

She didn't respond as her screams died down into a quiet mumbling as her body seemed to go limp. I quickly checked her pulse and sighed in relief. It was erratically beating but seemed to be calming down, though there was something else there in her body, a shroud over her mind that was dissipating. It was made up of an aether I wasn't familiar with, a mix of life and something else that wasnt visible like the rest. I could sense it, but there was no color or not normal color at least. I shook my head as a feeling of dizziness hit me.

"Aiden?" Sandra placed a hand on m shoulder.

"I think she's under some sort of mind techniques or something," I said as I stood and placed Natalia back in her seat before taking a deep breath to clear my mind of the odd aether. "It was like it was there but invisible or somewhere else."

"What?"

"The aether that was covering her mind," I explained as I returned to my seat. "I could sense life aether but also something else, like… thoughts, memories and… dreams?"

"I think we need to contact Zirani." Sandra glanced over at Natalia. "After we deal with her."

"And how do we do that?" I questioned. "Whatever was influencing her is gone, and who knows how she might act when she wakes up."

"Then we take her with us," Sandra asked with a shrug.

"They'll notice," I said as an idea came to mind. "Give me a minute."

I leaned back and focused on my bond with Zirani. I was far away, but our bond had grown significantly in the last few months, and when I sent a message it reached her. She had been sleeping but now awoke and turned her attention to me.

"Aiden, what… where are you."

I felt her going through my thoughts before she let out a sigh. "You really should have woken me early. I'm guessing you need some help?'panda novel

I glanced over at Sandra who was looking over at Natalia with uncertainty. "We do. Can you get here?"

"Make a tree and I'll be there, no need for makers. It's our core remember."

I frowned. "Can't you just return to your core?"

"At this range, it's too risky. People are going to notice the essence."

"Alright." I stood and made my way over to a more wide area of the room.

"She's coming then?" Sandra asked having been focused on our bond and seeing what I was doing. The bond really did make things easier and connected us in a very beneficial way. Most would think it invasive, but I loved Sandra, and knowing how she felt and that I could truly trust her, made life easier.

I nodded. "Mhm, I just need to make a tree."

I pulled aether from my core and then focused. I didn't need to make a permanent tree, just one that would last for a minute or so, and was big enough to act as a spatial anchor for Zirani's jump. I pulled the information of a normal oak tree to mind and then began to form its pattern while caching the aether I used. It took a minute since I wasn't just creating a sapling but a grown tree.

Once the technique was ready, I released it and the aether quickly shot forward and began to coalesce and take shape, starting off crude and as just green light in the shape of a tree, but soon bark and branches became clear, followed by leaves and roots which dug into the ground. It was fairly large, as large as myself as six feet, and wouldn't last. Right now all that was keeping it alive was the aether within it, and once that died so would it as there was no soil beneath it and sky overhead for rain and sunlight.

Before I even needed to say anything, I felt Zirani move in my mental sense, going from feeling far away to right next to me which she was, appearing in a flash with no fan fair of any kind. One moment there was nothing and then she was there.

She stretched, and after taking a quick glance around the room, turned her attention to Natalia who was still out cold, and mumbling to herself. Zirani face grew colder and cooler as she walked closer to the madame until it was devoid of emotion as she placed a hand on her head.

"Such crude manipulation." She growled. "You were both right. If the rest are like her then they are all under the influence of mind tampering."

"Is that what that aether is?" I asked.

"It's aether of thought and the mind, that's why it's so different because thought, memories, and dreams have no physical form they're are not things you can touch or view with your eyes, at least not normally. It's an aether that is ever-changing and can often cause the viewer mental pain if there try to look too closely without understanding. It's still aether though no matter how odd and different it is from the others. It is an element of reality just like the rest. It's an ability that manifests in a few different ways, though you have to have a life affinity to even have a chance of getting it and that's not mentioning the risk in some of them. Messing with the mind isn't far off from messing with the soul."

"So someone here has the ability then?" I asked, not liking the idea that we could come under mental attack, though with Zirani, and the lost queen, I doubted anything would really work.

"Unlikely," Zirani said. "It's more so that someone here probably has an item of some sort that can cause this. The aether of thought is odd but just like all other forms of enchantment it can be used and harnessed. Take the enchantments I made for your portable kitchen. All I did was carve a few runes and arrays, and there was fire. It's not as easy, but the same can be done with thought aether, or dream aether as most call it, in different ways. We are in luck however, this mental shroud was very weak and all it took was you asking the right question to break it, though it's trying to rebuild itself. A simple mental trigger and realization, hmm. Let me try and end this."

Zirani focused and then Natalia stopped mumbling. She spasmed as Zirani pushed aether into her like a small string, moving towards the madame's head. Once there, it split into smaller strings which began needles that struck out at the thought aether. I expected some resistance of her power to be ineffective since the mind aether didn't really act like the others, but to my surprise, it easily took the remaining dream aether apart with little challenge.

"Don't be too shocked," Zirani said with a smile. "It's a versatile aether but when it comes to raw power it's the weakest. Its dream aether and relies not on physical changes like the others, but on manipulation of thoughts and memories, of the mind, which some arcane scholars theorize exists in a different place of existence simultaneously, but that's a topic for another time. When she wakes up we can ask her some questions and then."

She turned to regard both of us with a feral smile. "We tear this place down."

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