Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 242 - 241 - Aether Body

"Ready?"  A frail girl looked nervously up from a stone bed.  She had been moved once several artifacts had been set up around it and the handsome man said he was ready to begin.  He was kind.  She had heard he was kind but rumors were often false based on her life with her family.

That man, though, was really kind.  The way he treated people was fair and open.  He inspired comfort in his home and he never once looked at her in pity as so many others had, even her own family.

She slowly nodded up at him as his beautiful wives began to turn on the various artifacts and a hum filled the room.

"I warned you, but I will say it again.  This will hurt, more than I can give an accurate image to.  It is important that you hold onto an image of what is sacred to you and never give up.  Never, ever give up."  His dark green eyes were pools of compassion and strength.  His dirty blonde hair was a bit frazzled but she had watched him labor over his herbs and cores trying to help her.

He had worked so hard, harder than any she knew of to help her, so she pictured that.  She pictured a stranger working so hard to preserve life and it warmed her heart.

The glowing vials were a pleasing burnt orange that matched her harmony from what Master Frey told her.  He did not intend it but she took it as a good sign.

"Now, all of you monitor the artifacts as I guide the Qi once the elixir takes effect."  He looked lovingly at the 3 Maidens and demoness around them.  She had come to know all of the people in the mansion and while some were intense in personality, they were all kind.

He moved around the stone bed for a final check before he seemed to take a breath to calm himself.  He looked at the vials near her head and had a very resolved face doing it.  She felt her nerves calm even as her body was becoming more painful.

"I will now begin.  Once I start, I cannot stop.  No matter what you feel or what you believe, hold on.  I promise we will be right next to you."  He smiled down at her and she believed him.  She believed all of them.

He was about to feed the elixir to her but she held up her hand.  He looked confused but she only smiled up at him.

"Sherri.  My name is Sherri, Master Frey.  Thank you, no matter what happens."  He smiled warmly and took her raised hand in his own.

"Pleasure to meet you, and I hope to see you much more in the future if you have a need of my services."  The words were not simple platitudes and she could tell but she smiled wide and nodded as much as she could.

The vial was tipped and she swallowed the elixir.  It coursed through her body until it hit her stomach and warmth began to gather.  She felt her harmony flare but there was no pain, yet she felt something caress her skin like little pinpricks.

The slightly odd sensation then began to rival the pain she had felt so much for the last year.  Master Frey was looming over her before he produced a wooden rod.

"Bite down on this, it will help."  She doubted it but did as he asked.  The wood had a pleasant smell and her mind did become a bit numb to the pain.  She realized it had to be a piece of orpheus wood.  It was grown with some herbs that imbued the trees with an effect to cause drowsiness.  It was also used in pills to make someone unconscious.

Her thoughts were disrupted as her fingers and toes suddenly began to burn like fire.  Pressure was applied across her body by Qi.  The artifacts flared to life and she suddenly truly felt Qi for the first time in her life.

She felt a force in her body guiding the Qi but her flesh was burning and freezing at the same time.  She wanted to scream but the rod seemed to have numbed her jaw so it would not obey her.  She wanted to thrash but the force applied to her did not allow it.

"It begins."  It had not started yet?!  What was the point of all the pain if it had not started?!  She regretted that thought shortly.

If burning and freezing was the description before, now she felt like she was being flayed alive.  Her nails were falling off her fingers, she felt the air brush her raw flesh as if it was thousands of whips hitting her.  Blood flowed like a river but she saw it all floating in some kind of sphere before the world went dark.

Her eyes had burst!

She was blind!

Fear skyrocketed as the feeling of her body faded but pain was still there.  It was a feeling of a furnace rumbling.  She could still hear! Her heart was racing so fast it was hard to tell a difference between beats but her breath was getting difficult as she realized the flaying was continuing.

"This is the worst of it.  I am here, I am with you, Sherri."  Words suddenly blared in her mind and she realized her hearing was much more profound compared to before but it was his voice.  Master Frey was there, he was still with her!

The sudden image of him toiling away without stopping became an anchor.  Her father's worried face when they discovered she had become a Soul Realm made panic rise but in that same image, he swore to never let her go.  He would not let her die.  Her brother and sister she was closest to also promised the same.

They usually seemed so cold but the fear and love in their voices reached her that day.

Her family cherished her.  Master Frey was not giving up, so she would not.

The terror still rose as breathing became impossible and then her heart seized but there was still a faint connection.  She still felt something aside from her mind, but no sounds came anymore.

Slowly, an itch began somewhere below her sense of self.  The itch grew before thunder crashed across her senses.  It took her a few moments to realize it was her heart.  Her heart was beating!

The pain then returned like a storm of hell.  It was far worse as she felt like she was being stretched over coals and blades.  Breath flooded her new lungs but it was not pleasant, it was as if she forgot how to breathe, but more sensation was returning.

Intense pain assaulted her mind from either side before she realized sound had returned.  It was so much clearer than before!

"--old on!  Hold on, Sherri, it is working!"  Master Frey's voice gave her something to focus on but the pins and needles were a fond memory now.  She now felt like she was being pierced and stretched by swords in her flesh.  She felt like her skin was being pulled in all directions.

The fire at the center of her dantian began to dance and suddenly the world of light returned in a flash.  Her eyes burned and tears flowed but she slowly had shapes return as saw Master Frey sweating profusely.

As if her mind was desperate, it began to pick apart the scene around her and noticed the sun had set as stars sparkled in the sky where it had been blue before.  She saw a half moon hanging low as well so the night was nearly over as well.

How long was she in that darkness of pain and terror?

The artifacts were bright spots of light as they used Qi in ways she did not understand, but the prettiness was welcome after the long darkness.  She suddenly felt jolts of pain coming from her arms and legs.

She realized she had only stumps before as the robe flickered until popping sounds came from it.  She became aware of her fingers and toes once more as fierce pain came from the tips of each.

Her nails returned and the feeling of her skin itching skyrocketed until she understood it was hair.  Her hair was growing back out.  The wooden rod was missing but she knew it was because her mouth had come apart like the rest.

The air was full of the stench of blood and sweat but she saw the fine manipulation of Qi where she could not before.  She also felt like she could reach out and touch it but she did not know how.

She suddenly realized the pain was fading from her body and it was actually feeling much better!  The pressure holding her down vanished as the artifacts dimmed.  Master Frey nearly fell until the younger Maiden rushed forward to catch him.

"I have you, Big Brother."  The Fierce Fairy was much kinder than her title but Sherri had watched her train so there was some truth to it.  Looking at her now though, she was reminded of her older siblings.

She loved them.

Tears began to flow and her hands moved naturally before she realized it.  Her body felt so much lighter and freer than before.  Further, she could see the sparkle of Qi in the air around her.  She could not see it in the cultivators around her, but the sense of pressure was far more acute.

"T-there is no pain.  I don't feel any pain!"  Master Frey smiled at her and nodded but a body blurred in front of her and her father's arms encircled her.  She instinctively grasped the dark blue robes that smelled of spice and smoke she associated with her father.

"You are alive!  You are cured!"  She was unsure how he knew but she looked over his shoulder and saw Master Frey smiling.  He then downed a crimson and bluish elixir both.  She instantly saw a storm of light enter his body almost in joy.

She could not explain it, but the Qi seemed to dance around him happily unlike anyone else she could see.

"Sherri, please allow me to guide you for a moment."  She nodded as her father pulled back.  She felt the connection to Master Frey as the Qi in her body flowed down her freshly rebuilt meridians.  There was no pain or tearing as all 6 elements flowed into her cores.

Her burnt orange harmony seemed to be in happiness as it flickered in her dantian.  She could see it all so clearly compared to just trying to sense it before.

"Repeat what I showed you."  The connection from him faded but she concentrated and easily guided the Qi from the air into her meridians to her cores.  The cores then fed into the flame and she felt relief fill her at how easily it was.

"Excellent.  You can now cultivate safely.  In fact, you seem inclined to cultivate far better than others.  Since we rebuilt your body completely, shall we call it the Aether Body?"  Sherri smiled as she held out her hands and Qi collected visibly to all.

Only Master Frey did not seem surprised as the rest were full of shock.

"I can see it and touch it now.  I can feel that it is so happy I am better, does that make sense?"  Lind nodded as his own hand filled with Qi similar to her.  She understood.  She had the same talent as Master Frey!

"You have awakened Soul Eyes and Soul Touch.  As to the feeling, that is unique to you.  I will teach you how to control your Innate Cultivator talent as that seems to still be working as well.  It will be a hard road ahead, but you can safely cultivate, I promise."  Master Frey smiled down at her and she felt joy.

Her father and siblings were crying as they rushed forward and hugged her tight.  She would not be left behind, she could stay with her family longer now.  Tears of freedom fell down her cheeks as joy filled her heart.

Sherri was reborn and the first Aether Body was a success.