An Aether circuit or ability circuit something that all ability users had to have one of as it was quite literally how to learn an ability. It dictates the way the aether in a human body was mobilized. Aether circuits had to be inscribed into the person's own flow of aether in order to use the ability. Abilities varied from levels one to nine and were ranked the same as beasts. Abilities were classified into six different types. The first class of abilities granted control over the elements albeit with different variatios of the elemental control .
For example someone could look up "fire ability" and would find at least a dozen different variations like fire immunity or fireball.People who used these abilities were called elementals .
Next was the Evolutionist class of ability users. These were ability users whose possessed the ability to access the powers of beasts and could transform into beast forms as well as those of mythical creatures. like beasts these ability users had to continuously evolve their power to increase their strength with each rank of ability determining the limit of their evolution.
Next came the psionic ability users called psions.
Psions were a class of ability user whose powers were closely linked to their mind. An example this was Celia who had decided to keep exactly what her ability was a secret.
Next up was enforcer class. This classes skill set was actually more mainstream than the others. Simply they were physical enhancements a person. Some examples might be super speed, super strength or enhanced durability, and just like all the others there was an unknown amount of variations in the world.
The fourth classification of abilities is the unique. In a layman's terms these abilities were simply the ones that were unable to be classified into the previous four classes and as such were given the name "unique"
The fifth class was somewhat.... special.
Most aether circuits or ability circuits(it really just depended on what you decided to call it) originated from the originals as in the original ability circuits. The originals were discovered after the infusion of aether and all ability circuits today were simply imitations or knockoffs made from the originals. Others were developed by talented humans themselves after the discovery of aether . Each ability had an original circuit which was the root source of all the variations of that ability. Although the very way in which the originals came to be was unknown,due to the places in which each was found it was suspected that due to the extreme conditions of the earth in the early stages of the fusion,a few random vessels somehow "downloaded" or perhaps "programmed" the essence of the powers into themselves" for instance the first fire ability original circuit that was discovered was a volcanic rock found close to the heart of an active volcano. Aether circuits whether original or not could actually come in multiple forms, and when they were used to obtain an ability from whatever vessel it was in, the person would become the new vessel and hold the ability's program. As such the common name for ability users was vessel.
After a while of pondering zen quickly discarded the idea of the medallion being an Aether circuit because even if it was it wasn't going to help him. Thinking of that a flurry of unpleasant memories suddenly entered his mind as he recalled all the times he had tried to awaken . An image suddenly entered his mind of a young boy with his head down listening to the scornful words of people around him
(Flashback)
"Useless"
"Cursed child"
"Why aren't you dead yet?"
"Just die, it's all you could be good for, at least there'll be another spot open for the rest of us"
After a while the boy went home feeling down. As he came in Freya quickly rushed towards him and asked worriedly
"How did it go?"
The boy kept his head down for a long time but eventually raised his head to speak and as he did she could see tears in his eyes
"Freya, what's wrong with me? Why am I not dead yet even after all this time?" . Freya looked at him, it pained her greatly to see who was basically her son this way.
"You're not dead because you're special " she said gently trying to calm him but he wouldn't accept it
"Don't tell me that. When someone below the age of fifteen uses an Aether awakening array the chance of death is slim to one hundred percent. And even if they survive they'll be crippled forever. I'm nine years old but that doesn't mean I'm stupid. I've gone through the array exactly 162 times but I'm completely fine, and I never awakened.... And it's not only that". As he spoke the emotions in him intensified and it seemed like he would burst out crying any minute now however he continued.
"Why is it that whenever I try to use an ability circuit it immediately gets destroyed, you've wasted over fifty ability circuits on me and each and every one of them turned to dust the moment i attempted to use them... Maybe..... maybe I should be dead " at this point the boy's arms fell weakly to his side and his eyes were filled with hopelessness. Freya couldn't take it anymore and put her hand on his face trying to comfort him as she spoke. She at first wanted to call him zen but decided to call his real first name
"Ze..... Azrael, listen to me, you're still alive because you're special, much more special than anyone here knows. You're very powerful, much more than we know now but trust me soon enough, everyone will know it . You have a gift, you just need to find out how to use it , now come i have something for you. " She quickly got up and skillfully lifted up his nine year old body and hugged him in her arms as she carried him to her room.
"What is it?" Asked Azrael who at this point had calmed down. Freya didn't reply, she was took him to her room and dropped him on her large bed before going to her wardrobe to look for something. She quickly found what she was looking for and kept it in her hands before quickly spinning around and saying
"Surprise! Happy birthday Azrael " as she presented to Zen a Yin medallion necklace with a smile.
"I know your 10th birthday isn't today but what's a couple weeks huh? . Take it it's yours ". Azrael slowly took the medallion from her and asked feeling a strange sense of familiarity with it
"Have i seen this before?" . Freya hearing that he recognized it was overjoyed and sat next to him on the bed and said
"Yes you have". Azrael quickly realized something and said "won't Riley and Rio be upset you did this without them?" But Freya waved off the question and said "my sister and I were already planning to give this to you so It's no big deal, plus I'll explain to her and she'll understand. As for Rio I'll just give her a cookie and she'll be fine ".
Zen nodded not too sure how to react but Freya wasn't done talking
" We found that medallion with you, we don't know much about it but we know It's not your average piece of jewelry". Zen nodded, not knowing what to say regarding the new information and just stared at the medallion. He turned to look at the back and noticed something. Although the medallion was completely black except for the dot of white near the center there was a certain area where the color seemed lighter and that area seemed to be some sort of symbol although he couldn't see it clearly. Deciding to think about it later he put it on and felt slightly better as he turned hug Freya who was next to him and said"thank you". Freya gently hugged back and they stayed like that until Freya remembered something and said
"Hey,don't you have target practice?".
Azrael hearing this quickly let go of Freya and ran out the door towards his room. A few minutes later he returned with what could only be called futuristic guns and with a utility belt filled with unknown items. Azrael suddenly yelled "heads up" and quickly pulled the trigger and fired a bullet towards Freya. Freya calmly smiled and as it neared her she simply used her thumb and index finger to hold the bullet and immediately stop its momentum. Upon closer observation it could be seen that her fingers hadn't even touched the bullet and it was only her nails that had stopped the bullet. Smiling, Freya teased him
"Yawn,is that really your best?,talk about disappointing".
Azrael simply pouted and replied
"Well yeah it's only a regular steel alloy bullet so of course you stopped it" .
Freya smiled and was about to keep teasing him when a voice suddenly rang out behind Azrael
"You know, I'm starting to think giving you Aether gear beast guns and bullets wasn't such a good idea for your last birthday present" . Recognizing the voice as Riley's, young Azrael quickly turned around and jumped into her arms. Riley who was the same age as Freya quickly spreading her arms to accept Azrael who had jumped in for a hug
"Hey there little guy, how are..... Where did you get this?" She said as she saw the medallion on his neck. Riley looked at her sister who was still seated and with an akward expression on her face.
"Boom!!!"
Before anything else could happen, what sounded like a large explosion sounded from outside the house ,however everyone in the house was calm, everyone except for Azrael who excitedly said
"That's Rio" and ran out of the room to go play.
Riley who saw this suddenly asked Freya a question to which she could only shrug
" Sis,Are we bad parents?
(End of flashback)
Zen suddenly realized that time had gone while he was reminiscing and it was already dark. However he suddenly realized that day when he had gotten the medallion was the last time he ever shed tears and he simply shook his head seeing this fact as useless.
Zen eventually decided to go to the bathroom . As he entered he noticed a mirror directly above the sink and sighed as he went towards it. He slowly took off his gloves and placed them to the side revealing the ink black symbol on the back of his right hand. The symbol could be described as two pairs of wings. On the top were angelic wings with feathers and slightly above the middle of the wings was a halo .below was a pair of demonic or draconic wings which were upside down and similarly slightly above or in this case beneath them was a pair of horns. Both pairs of wings were attached to a sword making it look like the sword had wings and at the very bottom of the sword instead of a hilt was what looked to be a video game controller. The symbol looked to have been expertly inked or tattooed onto his hand as every symbol was immaculate.
The moment the mirror caught zen's reflection what appeared in it was a face filled with rage and anger. Zen looked at the reflection expressionlessly and turned on the sink ignoring it
The mirror image started slamming its fist on the mirror almost as if trying to get out
"You can't hold me forever zen!" Yelled the enraged voice of the reflection not from the mirror but from inside zen's mindhowever Zen was used to his antics and simply kept washing his face not paying any attention to him. The reflection smiled wickedly with untold rage as it spoke
"Seems you really have gone soft Zen". Zen however paid him no mind but suddenly said
"Is she still around?"
"Why don't you find out" replied his reflection.
Deciding to do just that Zen looked into the mirror and looked to the edge and saw "her" as she smiled eerily at him. As Zen's gaze locked with her's for that brief second a strange emotion penetrated his mind, it seemed close to fear yet not exactly fear.
Zen quickly finished up and put on his gloves as he began to leave, ignoring the enraged sounds of his reflection " .
Zen immediately went to bed being strangely exhausted despite not doing much, he felt like something was sapping his strength. As he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep his medallion which he had slept with on his neck as he had done since he had gotten it suddenly began to glow brightly.