As the dawn broke, I was already standing within a small training field behind the tower before Lady Silvia.
Many apprentices and even Magi were watching from afar at the 'spectacle', which they seemed to be expecting, that was soon to come. Various players could also be seen.
"The Aether, is the origin element." Lady Silvia spoke. "It is formed from the unity of all elements yet it does not contain any of the properties of any other element."
Lady Silvia lifted her hands as four small orbs of different color appeared before her. "A small amount of Aether element can be created by seamlessly fusing the four major elements, not many have achieved this due to the inherent nature of the elements repelling each other."
The small orbs turned into four wisps as they condensed onto a single point, creating a tiny grey orb.
"The procedure is extremely inefficient and requires an immense amount of focus, a magus would require tremendous amount of dense and pure mana to even create a small orb you see before you." Lady Silvia continued. "Of course, as a dragon, the Aether really isn't much special to me. It's much less intriguing than the Time or the Space element but it does have its merits."
Many apprentices and magi could be seen recording the words said by Lady Silvia.
"What are the properties it has then? You said it has none of the properties of the elements it is condensed from?" I asked in confusion.
"To understand the Aether, it is easier to say it fills what the Space and Time elements lack. Space element users can easily condense, expand or collapse a certain area of space. The size of the space and distance from the caster is dependent on the strength of the Magus". Lady Silvia lifted her other hand and then clenched it tightly.
Crunch!
A nearby tree suddenly seemed to warp and distort upon itself as it condensed into a small wooden ball.
"The Time element, which I cannot show you the example of, controls the time to a certain extent. As the nature of time, it cannot ever flow backwards or completely stop. But isolating a specific area to speed up or slow down the time is very possible. It's extent is relative to how strong the magus is of course." Lady Silvia picked up the small wooden ball and then threw it upon a boulder nearby.
BOOM! The wooden ball smashed apart the boulder as a crack formed upon it as well.
"The condensed wooden ball you saw maintains all the mass of the original tree, it is simply condensed to an extreme point. I could expand something as well but that creates a much more unstable form of matter so I'll skip it." Lady Silvia spoke against the shock of the crowd.
"As for the Aether...". A short silence followed before Lady Silvia continued. "It's properties are within the creation and destruction of matter and energy."
The small grey orb that she had been maintaining all this time was split into two.
"The first property, creation, is closer to transformation. Transforming the nature of an element to one of its fundamental elements by deconstructing, converting and then re transforming. Here's an example." Lady Silvia spoke as she condensed a small blob of lava before the first grey orb.
"This is from the Lava element. It is the fusion of an energy tree element, preferably fire, and either the earth or metal element. " She then sent in the first grey orb into the blob of lava as a spectacular scene occurred.
The lava slowly split into numerous red and brown particles before slowly turning grey as well. "The Aether, as long as the mana contained is of higher quality than the target example of an element, has the power to convert them all into itself. If the mana is not enough, only a part will be converted."
Then the grey particles gathered onto a single point, creating a larger grey orb than before but still much less than the amount of lava that had been converted. "Of course this is also a very inefficient conversion process and much of the mana is wasted into the atmosphere, but it is the price you pay for such power." Lady Silvia spun the new, bigger orb around as she spoke.
"The second step of this process is transformation." The orb suddenly expanded to around twice the size, though one could detect a much less amount of mana contained within the larger orb than before, and started to become more and more transparent until eventually it turned into water. "This is also an inefficient process, as you can tell from the amount of mana contained within."
She then lifted up a ball of dirt from the ground and fused it with the ball of water. "But the Aether element can turn into any of its four component elements which can then be fused with other component element and then be turned into a more complex element such as mud."
She maintained the chunk of mud in the air as she looked at me and spoke. "This is why we say the Aether is an element that is the fusion of all yet it is not like anything else. Outside the two other origin elements, there are no elements an Aether Magi cannot recreate given enough proficiency in their own element and the target element of creation."
[Property 1 recorded, research will now begin]
'Good, record the next one too please.'
[Understood.]
I had a brief talk with A.I as I made sure I remembered all this information.
"As for the second property of Aether, destruction...". Lady Silvia focused onto the second orb that she had created before as it started to 'vibrate' in a rough manner. "If you agitate the mana within a condensed form of Aether, a strange phenomenon occurs where it will forcibly destroy whatever element it has contact with by using its own mana. The remnent mana is then dispersed into the atmosphwere."
Lady Silvia pushed the 'vibrating' grey orb into the glop of mud. Then, the mud started to visibly vibrate and slowly release brown particles as its size shrunk until there was nothing left except a much, much smaller grey orb of Aether.
"This process does not stop until the mana within the condensation of Aether element is all used up, leaving behind any excess if it hasn't all been used." Lady Silvia continued as she dispersed the tiny grey orb into nothing.
"These." Lady Silvia, looking visibly more tired than before, turned to stare at me again. "Are the basics, an introduction to the Aether element one would say. And with this new information, I have a small 'assignment' that I request you to complete within a month."
"An assignment? Already?" I woke up from my stupor from the information bomb and enlightening I had just been shown and told as I asked in shock.
"Simply master the basics of the entire first property. Though it takes many years for a normal peak Magi who has access to the Aether element to master. This is your own element and should not take too long. For your information, a normal apprentice masters the basics of their element in around a month as well. You just need to master half of it." A pair of silver wings appeared before Lady Silvia as she turned around.
"Once you can proficiently perform the act, you may request to come into my room. I'll have a reward for you waiting. If you cannot master it in that time period, your disciple status will be revoked until you master it so." Lady Silvia then shot up towards the top of the water, leaving behind a crowd awing at the sight of a dragon's flight and a very worried boy.
'A month... Is that even enough time?'
[Calculations depict it will take at least 3 weeks if research of said 'first property' is carried on at a daily rate. If the simulations during sleep are added, it is possible to reduce the time by anywhere from 3 to 7 days depending on your performance.]
'2 weeks. I'm going to master 'creation' in 2 weeks.' I clenched my fists as a tiny flame appeared within my eyes. For some reason, I felt a need to prove myself to somebody else. As for the reason?
I don't know. Maybe I'll remember it once I fully recover my memories...
As for now, this fascinating 'Aether' element had completely taken over my current interests.
I stormed back into the tower as the surrounding crowd made way as they started to mumble and whisper between themselves.