It was 15:32.
In the chronicles of Aeridor, they would later call it: late Mittatra – the hour of action, when the light has already passed its highest course, and the flow of the world begins to wane.
Then it appeared.
The sea before the Emerald Wind swelled, as if something beneath it were breathing. Then a shadow broke through the waves – and became a nightmare of flesh and aether.
The creature was twice the size of the ship.
Yellow stripes ran from its eyes along its flanks down to its hips. Its back was covered in black, spear-like spines. Ruby-red eyes glowed like burning coals. Around its waist coiled attached serpent bodies, whipping hissingly across the waves. Its head resembled that of a half-rotten lion – and the whole thing stood upright on two legs.
A chimera.
"SEA MONSTER! GET TO SAFETY!" roared the captain, his voice breaking in panic.
Alvios clung to the railing.
"What… what is that?"
"A chimera," growled Nouel Wertli, eyes narrowed. "We're screwed."
Victoria had turned pale, yet her hands already rested on the grips of her twin blades.
Alvios took a deep breath, his heart pounding in his throat.
"Victoria. Nouel. If we don't stop it, who will? We're armed, and we're right here. So… let's show the world what we can do!"
Nouel muttered something that sounded like a curse.
"I hate that you're right."
Victoria raised her blades and grinned crookedly.
"Let's go, my prince. Let's deal with this ugly intruder. He just interrupted our wedding plans."
"W–wait, which part of that did I agree to?!"
"LESS TALKING, MORE FIGHTING!" cut in Nouel.
The chimera swung, the sea foamed, the ship lurched.
Nouel was first to reach for his bow.
His bow was made of dark wood, etched with fine lines. Along the limbs glowed three runes faintly in the aether light:
one shaped like a spiral – Ventus, the wind,
one a prismatic engraving – Cristallum, the binding,
and one deep, spiral-shaped rune – Terra, the strength of earth.
His arrows bore the same language: each tip branded with a small symbol – some like hourglasses, others like broken lines, others like tiny circles.
"Stay back," Nouel said simply. "He's mine."
He nocked three arrows at once. The bow strained to its limit.
The first shots flew – three arrows, aimed straight at the chimera's glowing eyes.
They bounced off as if he had thrown stones.
"Not even a scratch…" Alvios ground out.
Nouel's gaze narrowed. The relaxed mask faded, his shoulders sank, his body grew still.
The air changed.
The wind that had just swept wildly over the deck seemed to hold its breath and lean toward him. Waves that had crashed moments before slowed, heavier, denser.
He's channeling his aether, Alvios realized.
This was no longer just a hunter. This was an Aetherara – a mage – in focus.
Nouel drew a single, plain arrow from his quiver and tossed it into the air before him. Before it could fall again, he snapped his fingers.
"Scriptura Ventus – Volantis."
The rune of wind on the shaft glowed. Air condensed around the arrow, forming a gliding, invisible platform of pressure and current.
Nouel stepped onto the arrow as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Then onto the second.
As the chimera took a roaring step toward the ship, Nouel was suddenly no longer on deck but above the waves – standing on his own arrow, carried by a layer of compressed wind.
In the world of Alfaregia, twelve great aether currents are known:
Ignis – Fire.
Aqua – Water.
Terra – Stone and Earth.
Ventus – Wind and Motion.
Cristallum – Crystal and Structure.
Sanitas – Life and Nature.
Noctis – Shadow.
Solis – Light.
Mortis – Decay and Death.
Mentis – Mind and Thought.
Chrona – Time.
Primordia – Origin, the rarest current of all.
Nouel was not one of the legendary aether masters. But within him flowed three currents more than most men would ever be granted: Ventus, Cristallum, Terra.
Alvios's eyes widened.
He boosted his arrow with Ventus, creating an air layer to stand on… But wait – I missed something.
The runes… yes, now it makes sense! To control something, one would need Mentis, or be so deeply attuned to the aether that it obeys instinctively. But then there are runes.
Each rune, whether carved or bound into the material, holds a single ability. With Ventus, he summons the wind – and with Volantis, he commands its flight.
Thank you, Mom… thank you for burning that knowledge into me. Finally, it pays off.
Meanwhile, on the island of Auenfeld.
"Achoo!" Renalia wiped her nose.
"Darling, you all right?" asked Ralph.
"Yes, probably just a cold." She smiled faintly. "I wonder how our boy is doing, Ralph?"
"Oh, he's fine," he said with a grin. "Probably having the time of his life."
Back at the sea, Nouel drew his bow again – this time in midair, facing the monster eye-to-eye.
With Cristallum, he pulled invisible minerals and particles from the depths, crystallizing them at the arrowhead. With Terra, he compressed them, layering mass and hardness until a monstrous projectile of greenish-brown, light-shimmering stone formed from a simple arrow.
The arrow was now nearly as large as the chimera's head.
On the deck, Victoria stared, open-mouthed.
"How… how is he doing that?"
Alvios couldn't look away.
He recognized the glowing runes, the faint vibration of aether.
He's using Ventus to fly… Cristallum to shape the form… and Terra to reinforce everything.
This isn't random. This is a technique.
Nouel's breathing grew heavier. Sweat ran down his forehead despite the cool air.
Damn…
Stage two…
In Aeridor, the aether scholars taught four rough stages of overheating:
First stage – heat in the veins. Headache, shallow breath.
Second stage – twitching muscles, burning lungs, the feeling your blood is boiling.
Third stage – internal ruptures, bleeding, flickering consciousness.
Fourth stage – ash. Nothing remains.
Nouel had danced on the edge of the second stage often enough to know the difference. This time, he was deep within it.
If I hit the third, I'm done, he thought. Not even Sanitas can save me then. And the fourth… the fourth is only legend. And bone dust.
He clenched his teeth.
Doesn't matter. One shot. All or nothing.
The chimera straightened to its full height. A wave shattered against its legs. Glinting water dripped from the serpents coiled around its waist.
For a moment, they simply faced each other.
Hunter and beast.
Arrow and flesh.
The world grew still.
Every falling droplet seemed to move slower.
The wind held its breath.
"Yuno Icris…!" shouted Nouel and released the arrow at the chimera.
The massive arrow shot forward.
The air screamed as the projectile tore through the distance and crashed into the chimera's body with raw force.
A shrieking roar.
The beast's left arm was completely torn apart, flesh and bone ripped away, aether sparks spraying from the wound as if currents had ignited.
"He… he did it!" gasped Victoria.
"Not yet," murmured Alvios.
The chimera staggered but didn't fall. Instead, it raised its remaining arm and struck at the tiny figure in the air – at Nouel.
"Ventus Volantis!"
Nouel steered the wind, let the arrow dip sideways, curving wildly upward, then skimmed close past the chimera's shoulder. It struck empty air, roaring in fury.
As he flew past, Nouel fired smaller, Terra-reinforced arrows into its flanks, its knees, its neck. Each tip left deep wounds, yet the monster remained standing.
Too tough…
The serpents coiled around its waist had only hissed until now. Now they began to glow.
Bluish energy gathered in their mouths. Aether lightning danced between their teeth, crackling over the water.
Nouel's eyes widened.
"Not good."
The chimera spread its arms, the snakes lashed forward – and a swarm of lightning bolts shot through the air like spears.
One hit.
The wind beneath Nouel's arrow tore apart, the aether stream collapsed. Shock flashed across his face – then the full force struck him.
"NOUEL!" screamed Victoria.
He fell.
His body slammed hard onto the Emerald Wind's deck, wood splintering, his bow clattering aside. Blood ran from a wound at his side, spreading in fine lines across the wood like a broken river.
Nouel tried to rise. His arms trembled. Nothing obeyed him anymore.
it… it's over…
Stage three…
Damn….it
Alvios was in shock and disbelief. "Hang in there, don't die you fool!"
Above him, the chimera's shadow loomed over the ship. It braced its remaining arm high, the serpents hissed, eyes burning with cold hatred.
With one single, devastating strike, it raised its claw –
to crush Nouel.
The shadow of its claw fell upon him.
And at that very moment, before the blow descended, something moved at the edge of the deck.