Sky casually walked through the forest, watching how the etherlines play with the world around him. He found his mind wandering with only a fraction of his awareness focussing on his surroundings. Although he is in dangerous territory, he can't help be see the world in a new light.
The sound of a bird caw on the tree branch caught his attention. He could see faint etherlines emanate from it. He found it strange. Why did the etherlines become more faint depending on the creature? If he looks at himself, he can clearly see deep purple lines intersecting his very being, but this bird only had soft white lines for some reason. 'Becoming one with ether...' Sky thought. 'I think it's safe to assume the closer you are to ether, the more influence you have over it. Like a leader and their followers. The leader has a clear vision, and the followers help to make that vision a reality.'
He came to a clearing in the forest and stopped. In front of him was a large tree whose trunk was as thick as Sky was tall. The leaves rustled in the wind, and Sky could see etherlines stemming from it. These lines were much broader than Sky's and were a deep purple. He could feel the power emanating from the tree, and for some reason, he felt intimidated by the tree.
He turned around and started to walk back the way he came when he heard a branch snap. He turned around to see a large creature standing before him. The beast had green scaly skin and was twice the size of Sky. Its giant teeth were bared, and its eyes were red with hunger.
Sky's heart started racing, and he knew he was in trouble. He slowly backed away from the creature, but it kept coming closer. There was no way he could outrun it, and he didn't have any weapons to fight it. The ether-lines around the creature were a light pink, which showed Sky's were much more integrated with ether than this beasts. At least, that is what he assumed.
Sky circulated the ether around him, and the air around his body distorted slightly as the ether flowed. The creature was getting closer and closer, and Sky knew he had to act fast. He guided all of his ether into his hands and feet, launching himself towards the fearsome beast, and released his punch on the beast's head. As his fist impacted the scaly head of the strange beast, he could see the ether flow through the beast using etherlines. The beast immediately slumped to the ground as if a wave of vertigo struck it.
Sky stood there, panting from the exertion. He had never fought something like that before, and he didn't know if he could do it again. He looked down at his hand and saw that the ether was gone. 'It seems I need to guide ether through etherlines rather than force ether into a direction and riping the lines in the process.'. Although he figured out crucial information, one thing occurred to him. He felt weaker somehow but didn't have time to figure out why.
The creature tried to move its four legs but was too dizzy to do anything. So it just lay there, trying to recover. Sky slowly approached the beast with a handout, reaching for its head. He wanted to understand what this thing was. He placed his hand on its head and could feel the creature's consciousness struggling to fight against the vertigo. Sky felt a pull when his hand made contact with the beast's head. Curious, he accepted the pulling sensation and saw images from the beast's perspective. The images showed himself crawling through the forest. It paused and watched Sky from a distance. It stalked him, waiting to pounce. Then, it changed its mind when it felt Sky's presence. 'This is a worthy opponent', it thought.
Sky flinched as more images flooded through his mind. He tried to pull his hand away, but the ether flowing between him and the beast kept his hand from moving. The images kept flashing through his mind. One by one, each imprint displays a slither of another image. A forest, similar to the one he is in, but this one was dying. Then, another showed a mirky river, and another showed eight black pillars with runes etched into the sides of each post.
Sky fell to his knees, panting. Finally, he could remove his hand from the now sleeping beast. He looked at his right hand, which was now trembling. Ether was no longer circling around it, and he felt drained. He had never encountered something like this beast. Now that he closely looked at it, he could see that it mostly resembled something like an alligator. He felt a bond with this creature and knew that he had to find out what these images meant. First, he decided to do something bold.
"Hey~, scary little bud... It's time to wake up and leave for your home."
He hoped that this new connection between him and the beast wasn't just a one-sided experience. Waking it up, so it wasn't ambushed by another beast was the least Sky could do. Before he knew it, the creature's eyes shot open, and it hissed at him.
"Didn't your mom ever tell you it's not polite to hiss at people? Besides, I'm not going to harm you... anymore."
The creature acted sceptically but, for the most part, seemed to back away slowly.
"Very good. I hope we meet again during better circumstances-"
The beast interrupted Sky's one-sided conversation when it saw an opportunity. It launched its huge body, head first into his stomach, winding him in the process.
"You sonova-" Sky said as he gasped for air.
The creature had already taken off into the forest before Sky could muster up enough ether to give chase.
"Just wait til I find you." He groaned.
Avis was floating around the forest, looking for anything that could be of use. This included things like plants touched by ether, which is a crucial resource for anyone in the overworld. It wasn't until he found Sky huddled on the ground, groaning.
"You alright there, Sky? You got a stomach bug or something?" Avis said somewhat excitedly.
Avis floated to Sky and eyed him and the ground, which had remnants of the fight between him and the strange alligator-like beast.
"I fought a big lizard thing... I saw its memories for some reason." Sky muttered between breaths.
"What are you talking about?"
"I fought this strange beast which looked like a massive lizard. It became extremely dizzy when I guided ether through its head with my fist. I didn't want to fight it, so I wanted to show it that I meant no harm. So when I rested my hand on its head, the ether between me and it did something weird. I could see its memories. It was like I was the one who experienced them."
"That's impossible. Ether doesn't work like that-"
Sky interrupted him and continued to explain what the memories showed him.
"I saw a black forest, similar to the one we are in, but more lifeless as if it's lacking something. Within that forest was a mirky river, and around the source of that river were eight black pillars with runes. I think… we should visit this place."
Avis looked deep in thought before saying, "From what you've said, you just described a section of this forest not too far from here. It was dubbed 'The Devil's Domain'. The infection of death spread to a certain degree around the forest. Now it is contained within a section of the forest. If you go in there, you're as good as dead."
"Ding!"
"Oh no..." Avis mumbled.
"Quest: Save the forest!
"The forest is under the threat of darkness engulfing it. Find the source of this dark power and put a stop to it!
"Rewards: Calculating...
"Reward will be determined after completion.
"> Yes
"> Yes"
Both Avis and Sky stared at the messages that appeared before them.
"Isn't this too dangerous?!" Avis exclaimed.
Another system message appeared in front of Avis, "Failure: Heavenly judgement.".
"You're not even a heavenly-" before Avis could finish his sentence, a sudden force of electricity coursed through his body, knocking him unconscious.
Sky found himself staring at Avis's flailing bobble of a body and made up his mind at that moment.
"I think I'll do the quest..."