An Owl's Rise-Chapter 471 The Aethersphere’s Consciousness

Evelyn stared blankly at the glowing purple ball of light. Stunned by its sudden appearance

She had figured that things would go relatively the same as the last time she had appeared in her broken inner world. Yet a glowing light coming off of the representation of the Aethersphere had been far outside of her expectations.

To further shock her, Evelyn felt some sort of presence reaching into her mind.

She did not receive discernable words exactly. It was more like abstract concepts that were close to feelings but lacked any emotion behind them. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It felt similar to whenever the Aethersphere would disseminate information directly into her mind. Though this time there was no knowledge held within the transmission. What Evelyn was receiving hit her like a wall of complaints and grievances.

"I see. You’re upset that I pushed both of us beyond our limits. After finally starting to repair yourself, you’re now in worse shape than ever and I’m on the brink of death which will spell the end of you as well. But I never knew you had this level of consciousness of your own. Why didn’t you reach out to me earlier?"

Evelyn had already known that the Aethersphere had some level of will, but she figured that was just whatever its damaged magically programming amounted to. It had never truly seemed to have any high level of intelligence behind it.

Now though, while not in words, it was lodging a protest against Evelyn’s recent reckless actions that had left both of them worse for wear.

While she had allowed her rage to consume her in the moment and had not worried about the damage she was doing to herself, the Aethersphere had some amount of self-preservation and was letting her know that it was not appreciative of her self-destructive tendencies.

This was not the first time that she had drawn out more of its power than it could handle in its current state and caused disruptions to its attempts to repair itself.

"Is there anyway that you can be clearer? You seem to understand the words that I’m saying. So can’t you talk to me in a more coherent manner?" Evelyn asked, wanting to make more sense of the divine item’s intentions and abilities.

Ever since it had been implanted into her body and fused with her very being, she had found more questions for every small bit of information she learned about the powerful magic device far beyond the realm that she currently found herself in.

Unfortunately, whether due to the Aethersphere’s’ currently impaired state, or perhaps because it never had the function in the first place, it proved unable to answer Evelyn’s questions.

Still, other than its dissatisfaction towards Evelyn, it also started trying to help in its own way.

Images of the past flashed through Evelyn’s mind.

First it showed her back when Melisandre had sealed her in a capsule filled with dark blue liquid.

Evelyn got the impression that it was asking if it was possible for her to use the same type of treatment again.

Back then she had used the energy of the miracle bath as Melisandre had called it to restore a majority of the damage done to her soul and cores.

To fully fix herself back then though, she had needed to evolve. Something that would be impossible for her now since she had only just recently become a tyrant rank beast.

"No, it won’t be possible to use that potion again. My connection to the Roost has been cutoff and even if it wasn’t, Melisandre wouldn’t have the materials necessary to create the connection." Evelyn replied shaking her head.

Bylur was providing some external assistance with his life magic, but that was not enough for her to recover. It was merely slowing her deterioration to a crawl and keeping her condition from rapidly worsening. Far more powerful magic would be necessary for Evelyn to fully recover.

"External help is going to take a while if it comes at all. I know that you’ve been collecting and storing magical energy to repair yourself. Do you think that we could use that to fix ourselves? I remember one time I envisioned myself putting broken parts back together and that repaired some function within you. Perhaps I could try that now?"

However, Evelyn’s suggestion was met with a clear sense of disapproval from the Aethersphere.

It did not explain itself, but it was trying to sway her away from taking this action.

"Is it because you don’t think it will be effective in anyway, or maybe your hoping to hide something from me?" Evelyn said, wearing a look of suspicion.

There was no response from the Aethersphere this time. Neither confirming nor denying what Evelyn had said.

’I’ve never truly understood what its purpose was or what intentions that it might have. For all I know, it’s something meant to fully take its host over at some point and just has not been able to do so because of its damaged state.’

Yet, even as Evelyn considered the worst possible scenarios, something inside of her kept her from truly distrusting the Aethersphere.

Though it was the cause of much of her grief, it had also saved her life time and time again.

The immense power and knowledge it had given her had been necessary parts of her growth since coming to this world after all.

"Well, since waiting for external help is the only other option, I’m going to see what I can do. I already know that I’m the one that’s in charge here. This is my internal world. You’re just something that’s attached itself to me." Evelyn said, turning away from the ball of light and heading towards the unstable moon that represented the Aethersphere.

Except, before she got far, the small purple sphere of energy got in her way.

This time it transmitted to her a feeling of danger and was clearly trying to warn her. It wanted her to know that what she was trying to do would put them both at great risk.