93. TETHER #2
This time, I watched the Aether go taut before my eyes. We were still connected, and it strained just as much as I did.
Tell me what you feel, it urged.
I can’t feel anything!
The colors pulsed against the darkness, rippling through me.
I want to be able to feel again! Don’t you understand? There is a life I have been deprived of, a female that I—
What was I doing? This entity didn’t care what I longed for.
If it did, it wouldn’t be putting up a fight.
You don’t want to leave, I thought. It was a grim realization that was only solidified by the Aether’s silence.
Why kill the other host who tried to release you?
Why not just stay locked away within them if you were so content?
Finally, it answered. She became boastful and wanted more than she was given. She wanted to relinquish the force, but keep the all-seeing eye that my power offers. Greed taints the heart and soul and mind—it makes the vessel weak. And I refuse to be tethered to such a vessel.
So, it killed her and moved on to the next, waiting to find the one who would bend but not break.
And here I am, ready and willing to relinquish everything, and yet you will not accept?
Perhaps I have found comfort in our bond, it tried to reason.
The statement struck me. It angered me. How can you find comfort in limiting someone’s life? Why take someone’s emotions? Why dampen their memories? What do you have to gain from that?
Emotions make you weak, it answered. Memories are just a key back to the very moments where one feels the greatest, or the worst, or some strange state of in-between. Don’t you see how they are connected? You cannot have one without the other.
So, you think strength comes from someone who does not feel—who has no trauma or triumphs? That is not strength. That is misery.
The tension between us was palpable, unsteady. Whatever was holding us together was beginning to burn inside me as I fought to convey my thoughts while living out the very thing I was complaining against. My eyes stung as I pushed through the pain.
I have not been able to experience a true emotion, or laugh, or cry, or love, or even hate, because of you, and it is killing me!
Silence.
You are killing me, I admitted.
The words were my victory and my defeat all in one.
In the eerie quiet, something deep within me splintered.
Then . . .
I have become . . . a burden?
Could it really not tell? Did it truly not know what it had done to my life?
It seemed to shrink, as if it had a shell it could retreat into, unlike me, who had to leave everything out on a silver platter for the taking. I fought back the urge to say as much, and remembered what the end goal was.
You’ve been tied to a physical plane for so long that you’ve forgotten what it’s like to truly exist on your own—to be free. And so have I.
Something else splintered somewhere inside me.
The Aether was a bit further away now, not in proximity, but in its essence. Like there was the smallest hint of disconnect between us.
Finally, it spoke again. I see why the others think so highly of you, Tether. And I am afraid you are right. I have not known the taste of freedom for thousands of years. But you have never known it. Perhaps it is time that we both step into something new.
Something fissured far deeper this time. Pain lanced through my head, just as the Aether’s words echoed.
Something new . . .
Wait! I cried out in my mind. What do you mean by “new”?
The Aether spun. What do you want it to mean?
Do . . . do I have a choice?
Perhaps.
I want to keep what remains in my mind.
You would not wish for a fresh start?
And lose the life I’d already built? Lose Maeson? Even after everything I’d suffered and missed out on, I would not give that existence up. I would not lose her.
My mind remains the same, I repeated.
So be it.
Another searing pain, then a bright light split the center of my vision. The Aether danced around it, washing over the edges, daring to peek out of the dark.
You have surprised me, Tether, it said. And you have taught me much. Of all of my vessels, you have been the most exceptional.
I could feel the power being pulled out from my body like a string unraveling as the Aether began seeping through the crack in my consciousness.
It was like the anticipated relief of stitches coming undone from the flesh.
In its place, warmth flowed, blood pumped anew, and my very soul sang.
I watched as my Aura untangled itself from my existence, and I listened as it continued to speak.
You weathered my power with the utmost grace, yet you never took advantage of its full potential.
Would you have preferred it if I did?
It paused, considering. No. No, I would not have. I am thankful that you didn’t. And because of your restraint, despite what I caused you to suffer, I shall only take what you have taught me, and leave you untouched.
Untouched.
I almost collapsed with relief. Perhaps I did, but I was still in the midst of enduring the separation to be conscious of my physical body.
Though, I must tell you, whoever is helping you on the other side has taken the brunt of the spell’s effects.
Its effects? What do you mean?
Dark magic is a double-edged sword. It binds and unbinds, and each instance comes at a cost. I have not taken my share from you, and that is my choice, but there must be balance, and to dabble in the darkness, one must always take the mark.
But she was only leading the spell—
It is too late. It is done.
The light was growing brighter, and the Aura’s colors were slipping into the whiteness of the fissure as it spread across my field of vision.
I was worried for Nivelle—for what she was enduring on the other side—but a tingling sensation was taking over as the Aether detached itself from my soul.
Let me go, Tether, it echoed from somewhere beyond. Cut me free.
I did as it said, focusing on the foundation of my essence and severing the last of the threads, one by one.
I release you—all of you, I whispered, willing every stronghold to crumble. I pictured the walls around my heart and mind coming down, and emotion flooding in. With each broken barrier and severed tie, I felt more of my soul coming back to me, breaking free from its once eternally dampened state.
Leave the good untouched, I silently begged the Aether as I watched the last of it slip through the gap of my consciousness. I wasn’t referring to myself this time, but to those around me, to everyone who fought on our side, and the innocent lives that we were fighting for.
All of a sudden, a sensation rose up from beneath me like an earthquake.
It rattled me to my core as it built like fire and ice, all wrapped up in a rush of wind.
The energy pushed against my skin, against my body—which I was now becoming more aware of.
A scream rallied in my throat, tearing through it as the Aether erupted.
My flesh strained as the power surged out of me and into the world, blasting in every direction.
Thousands of voices split the air and plunged through the atmosphere.
The chaos swept forth until there was nothing left in me, not an inkling of the Aura or its essence, nor its power, nor the voices or the madness.
There was a long sigh of relief from the Aether, as the last of our bonds broke apart, and it drifted freely into the distance.
Darkness settled back over me.
The fissure was gone, and so was the Aether.
The curse was broken.
Somewhere, close by, someone was repeating something . . . A single word.
My heart was beating in my ears, and there was a rush alongside it. A rush like fire in my gut and energy in my limbs. Adrenaline. It fueled me into motion, jolting me back into my body.
I opened my eyes to flesh that was whole, not shredded, a form that was my own, a soul that felt reborn, and a pair of bright, green eyes staring back at me.
Blinking, I brought the female’s face into focus. Red hair framed her cheeks, which were smattered with some sort of black substance, and she was saying . . .
A name.
Aremis. Aremis. Aremis.
I blinked again, and everything came rushing back to me.
There was . . . a fluttering in my heart, a thrumming in my chest, and a sudden urge to cry.
Was this what joy felt like? It was. I knew it was. I knew the fae above me. She was the epitome of it.
Hot air filled my lungs as I sucked in a breath.
The Aether had kept its word.
And there was only one word on my lips. The one word I would praise and worship the rest of my days.
“Maeson.”