Within a wooden shack, three figures sat around a young man lying in a string hammock. One of the figures was a blue-scaled zaurian girl; next to her was a man with long, messy locks. Both looked on in worry as the third figure, a moth-like humanoid, inspected the young man.

  The moth-man was short, with large black eyes, fanlike antennae, and a set of dignified armor. His wings were folded up behind him as he stood atop a stool with his hand over the young man. On his hand was a special tool; it was a ring with a small silver string attached to it. On the other end of the string was a sharp needle, which was inserted into the young man.

  “Is he going to be okay?” Saphina asked, not for the first time.

  “For the last time, yes,” the moth man replied, his deep voice laced with exhaustion. “Granted, he’s got several bone fractures in his legs and some minor internal bleeding, and he probably won’t be able to walk for the next few days, but besides all that, he’ll live.”

  “How is that okay?” Bohdi asked nervously. “It’s been days; shouldn’t he be up by now?”

  “With the amount of damage he’s done to his body, it doesn’t shock me.” The mothman explained. “Not only did he push his stamina far beyond his limits, causing extreme exhaustion, but he also damaged his legs quite a bit by continuously using large bursts of aether. Honestly, who taught him how to do that? He would've needed to build his body attributes more if he wanted to keep using bursts of aether without hurting himself.”

  Bohdi then looked away nervously, doing his best not to be outed as the person who encouraged Lukey to focus on his legs.

  “He’ll recover naturally with time, but if you’d like, I can fix the bone fractures and issue an emergency energy boost… for an extra fee.”

  “Are you serious? What kind of healer are you?” Saphina exclaimed in disbelief. “We took out a tyrant! Shouldn’t the rest of your team from Dragon’s Lance be grateful?”

  “First off, my name is Cyril, and second, we didn’t ask you to do that. Besides, you’re the one who ran all the way to our outpost and begged for help. At the very least I deserve a little compensation for flying all the way out here,” Cyril explained. “Speaking of which, why did you even try to fight that thing? Didn’t you try to run?”

  “I didn’t have [Tyrant Sense] back then. By the time Lukey was able to warn me, the thing was already enraged,” Sabrina explained.

  Cyril patiently listened to the entire story as Saphina regaled about how Lukey kept dodging the tyrant's barrage, all while laying in attacks at every opportunity. She even seemed to exaggerate towards the end when describing how she destroyed it with a single blow. By the end, she was left gasping for breath.

  “Well, you should both count yourselves fortunate considering that you weren’t very well prepared. You especially should feel blessed, because if he wasn’t with you, I guarantee you would’ve been caught.” Cyril chided.

  “Yeah,” Saphina sighed. “Yeah, I suppose I am.”

  …

  Two Days Ago

  Lukey slowly rose up, grabbing his head to calm the throbbing pain. As he did, he looked at his arm, or, rather, what looked like his arm. Instead of his normal golden skin, his arm was entirely composed of strange blue, wavelike lines that sat upon a dark background. It was as if he were a shadow, and these blue lines embodied what was left.

  Lukey gazed in wonder at his disembodied arm, then took in the rest of his body. His entire form was composed of these strange blue lines, all bouncing around inside his shadowy body as if they were ripples on a lake. As he was taking in his features, a voice chimed in from nearby.

  “Admiring your current form?”

  Lukey looked to the side to see something even stranger. It seemed to be a large piece of blue coral, shaped roughly into the form of a person. The statue stood roughly at Lukey's height and had two arms and two legs. Its featureless face contained six lights, arranged in a three-by-two pattern, which sat below a set of coral antlers.

  While he was taking in the statue's features, the creature spoke.

  “If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them.”

  Lukey lost in his disbelief, simply staring at the creature in confusion. It took him a long while before he was able to piece his rationality back together, and even then, he still didn’t understand what was going on. A glimpse of his surroundings didn’t answer any questions either but simply added even more to the pile.

  All around Lukey was what could only be described as a dream: a world comprised of coral and ocean.

  To Lukey’s left was an incredibly large tidepool; its crystal clarity allowed anyone to see every clownfish, anemone, and urchin living inside it. The pool was lit up by a skylight from above, and Lukey’s eyes traced the source to what looked like an enormous hole in the cavern they were in, where an ocean was being held back by some invisible source. To Lukey's right was an enormous wall of blue stone that reached up to the light, and it was decorated with various sizes of blue shelf coral.

  Lukey and the coral person were currently standing on a cliff that overlooked the massive tide pool, with pathways leading forwards and back, presumably to other caverns and other tide pools. The pathway was lined with various trees composed entirely of coral, with bendy trunks that branched out into many pink, blue, or orange branches.

  Lukey didn’t know whether it was because he was in a dream or because of the light from above, but everything just sparkled.

  “Am I dead?” was Lukey’s first question.

  “No, but from what I could tell, you did pass out from exhaustion. I imagine you’ll be forced to stay here until your real body recovers.”

  “That’s good,” Lukey replied, still wide-eyed. “So… where am I?”

  The coral creature then raised his arms in a grandiose pose, welcoming Lukey with open arms to this strange world.

  “Welcome to the Mystic Reef, traveler!” The coral creature announced. “Consider this a… brief respite from the real world during your recovery.”

  “Um… Thanks.” Lukey replied. “Uh, how exactly did you know I was passed out?”

  “It’s written all over you… literally.” Then the coral person pointed to Lukey. “Your current form is that of the aether within your body, or rather, a representation of it. Looking closely, I can read every detail about your life, including the fact that you recently took down a tyrant, far from a simple feat.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “You can read this?” Lukey gawked in amazement. “And, if you don’t mind me asking, who are you?”

  The coral person walked a bit closer, then took a short bow as he began his introduction.

  “You can call me Blustag,” the coral person introduced himself. “And of course I can read it.”

  Lukey stared at Blustag, desiring to ask even more questions. More questions wouldn’t help his situation, however, so he quickly went over everything that had been said up until now.

  My body here is entirely made of aether, just like this person and everything here. This is strange, but it’s nice to know I’m not dead, at the very least. He said that I’m stuck here, so at the very least I should make the most of my time here.

  Lukey wasn’t entirely sure if he should trust this creature, but at least for now he seemed harmless.

  “Well, Blustag, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you being so friendly?” Lukey asked. “Sorry if I seem a bit apprehensive, but everything here is just so… strange.”

  “That’s understandable…” Blustag nodded. “You see, we don’t often get visitors from the island, so it’s always nice when somebody new shows up.”

  I see, so I’m not the only person to come here. Maybe there are certain qualifications? If everybody on the island came here, then someone would’ve already told me about it.

  “I can’t believe someplace like this exists on the island,” Lukey exclaimed, looking around the reef-covered cavern with awe. “Is there someplace we can sit down and talk?”

  “Of course,” Blustag said, then motioned for Lukey to follow behind as he walked down the cliff trail. “Although, it would be more accurate to say this place exists within your island, rather than on it.”

  Lukey let that comment go as he walked behind Blustag, continuing to take in the surroundings. He listened intently as his guide described the area in detail, alongside the various types of coral that could be found here. Apparently the tide pool they were at is known as Staghorn Pool, named after the many staghorn trees around the area.

  They walked down the trail until they entered a tunnel, and Lukey was amazed once more as another tide pool was revealed. This was Elkhorn Pool, named after the Elkhorn coral trees and their flat, wide branches that spread out and provided comfort. Along the way, Lukey could see many other coral people. Many were just off enjoying themselves, but there were also a few who were escorting people around the reef, like Blustag.

  The duo walked until they reached a coral table that was set up in front of the Elkhorn Pool. Together, Lukey and Blustag each took a seat on one of the stone stools. A moment of silence was shared shortly after, allowing Lukey to take in the breadth of the clear, illuminated pool and get lost within its depths.

  It was a long time before Blustag chose to interrupt him.

  “Ahem… I believe you said you wanted to talk?”

  “Huh? Oh yeah, right!” Lukey affirmed. Then he slowly got his thoughts together as he prepared to ask the question that had been on his mind since he got his class. “Blustag, you seem like an expert. So, tell me, what exactly is aether?”

  Blustag then fell deep into thought and began tumbling his head back and forth as he tried to think of an answer.

  “That’s what you wish to know?” He spoke. “Well, explaining that will either be very easy or very difficult, depending on your understanding of the world.”

  “Please, if I’m going to be stuck here for the time being, at least help me further my understanding so I can better continue making progress with my class.” Lukey pleaded.

  “Hmmm, very well.” Blustag confirmed. “I’ll try to simplify it as best I can.”

  “Put simply, aether is a type of energy that exists in two forms. The first is the formless type of energy, where aether is used to empower people and objects and do certain things. You’re probably most familiar with this type of energy since you use it regularly in day-to-day life.”

  “Yeah, I am,” Lukey confirmed. “That’s what I was originally taught aether was.”

  “Here’s where things get complicated. Rather than a formless mass of energy, aether can also be distilled into… how should I put it? A set of rules. Condensed threads of aether can define what something is and how it should operate. People, plants, monsters, even rocks and dirt contain threads of aether, and the more complex something is, the more threads it has.”

  Slowly, various pieces fell into place as Blustag spoke. Arts, titles, and labyrinths—in the end they were all nothing more than sets of rules constructed from threads of aether. Finally, his understanding had opened to the point where he didn’t feel like an idiot whenever somebody talked about creation using aether, however, there were still a few things that didn’t make sense.

  “How can a formless mass of energy condense itself into a set of rules? And for that matter, where does aether come from originally?” Lukey questioned. There was clearly more than Blustag was letting on and Lukey would still need these answers in one day.

  Blustag looked like he wanted to say something but turned away at the last second.

  “I’m sorry, but that’s a much deeper discussion into the workings of aether. That answer is something I think you should come to understand yourself, instead of relying on others.” Blustag asserted.

  Lukey gave a look of irritation but eventually decided to let it go. Blustag was already nice enough to give him a very insightful explanation; he didn’t want to be disrespectful by pushing the matter any further. Instead, Lukey settled himself in his chair and turned to gaze at the tide pool.

  “Alright, then, I appreciate the explanation regardless.” Lukey relented. “Now what exactly do you do here to kill time?”

  …

  “Um, I’m not sure about this…” Lukey protested.

  “C’mon, you’re the one who mentioned surfing. Well now’s your chance!”

  After the mention of Lukey wanting to learn to surf, Blustag had decided to take him to what was colloquially known as Charybdis Pool. It was a massive tidepool, like the ones seen before, but unlike those calm, relaxing pools, this one contained a giant whirlpool that continuously sucked water down to the bottom.

  High above the pool, water continued to pour in from the ocean above them, streaming down in giant waterfalls. Meanwhile, the cliff that stood above the tide pool had a staircase this time, which led down to the surface of the water and into it, allowing people to climb back up after sinking to the bottom.

  Lukey and Blustag were on the cliff, alongside some twenty other coral people who were each taking turns jumping in. Lukey had already been given a surfboard carved from what looked like elkhorn coral, but now he was beginning to have second thoughts.

  “Honestly, how do you expect to get through life if you refuse to take chances?” Blustag said.

  “Well, I usually try to think things through before I do them,” Lukey replied nervously. “I don’t usually take risks unless I absolutely have to.”

  “What a terrible way to go through life,” Blustag lamented. "Listen, Lukey, there are some things in this world we can’t assess with our minds. Sometimes, all you can do is follow your heart and hope everything turns out alright. If you keep overthinking everything, you’ll just end up afraid of the world.”

  It was clear Blustag was trying to impart some kind of knowledge to him, but Lukey couldn’t be bothered to learn it when he was facing what he thought was certain death.

  “But I…”

  “JUST JUMP!”

  Lukey didn’t even get to finish his sentence before he was kicked off the cliff and sent plummeting down into the whirlpool along with his board. He hit the water with a splash, then immediately began flailing as he did his best to correct himself. He fortunately managed to keep a solid grip on the board as he rose up to the surface of the water.

  Alright, I can do this. Just have to have some confidence!

  First, Lukey leveled the surfboard with the water, then turned it opposite the direction of the current's flow. After that, he got up on top and began paddling to build up speed.

  Moment of truth…

  Lukey quickly grabbed both sides of the board and began pushing himself up. This was his first time doing this, so his arms were unsteady as he tried to prop himself up. Eventually, however, he managed to lift himself to the point where he could put one foot on the shaky board.

  Almost…

  Lukey pushed himself up further, then finally managed to plant his other foot. After taking a deep breath, he let go of the sides and rose to his full height. Once that was done, he shifted his feet until they were side by side and crouched to keep his balance.

  “I’m… I’m doing it!” Lukey breathed.

  Lukey had finally managed to stand on the board, the very first step, and something he was unable to accomplish in his first attempts many years ago. Now that he could manage this, he felt like he could do anything. Lukey remembered Bohdi’s advice, then attempted to pivot the board right to escape the whirlpool.

  This movement immediately caused the board to crash and submerge, dunking Lukey into the whirlpool and down to the bottom of the tide pool.

  “Oof, you almost got it, kid! Try again!” Blustag called out from above.

  Lukey slowly sank to the bottom of the pool, and as he looked up at the swirling waters above, he only had a single thought.

  So close… yet so far.