Godly Grey Sky

The wooden door of the bedroom door opened.

 Aether sat on the bed, his legs crossed, a little on edge as he wondered what compelled him to look at the door.

In walks a girl, with black hair, with it in a bun, a few strands of hair falling down over her face, she was decently tall for a girl, around 5"7, which at sixteen was quite tall. She had some casual clothes on, a normal white t-shirt, some shorts, and an oxygen synthesizer covering her nose and cheeks.

"I see you're awake" She said, with a little shyness and happiness in her voice. 

"Are you doing ok". She asks, walking over to him.

"Yes, I'm doing very well, thanks to you and your healer, is she around? I'd like to thank her, she's really talented" Aether saids, with enthusiasm and gratitude.

The girl giggles a little, "Why yes, she is actually, and right in front of you too, thanks for the compliment" The girl giggles some more, saying the last part slower.

Aether blushes a little from embarrassment, "Oh I see, well then," Clearing his throat, "I'm very grateful for what you've done, I sadly don't have any money to repay, but I'll pay you back somehow" He saids a little disheartened.

"Oh there's no need really, but you can do something for me" The girl saids, smiling a little and sitting on the bed, next to him.

Aether looks at her, "Sure what do you want?" He says, a little curious.

"What's your name?" She asks.

Aether, surprised that it isn't a difficult task, answers right away.

"Oh it's Aether Torn, sorry for not saying that earlier" He saids, a little embarrassed again.

"Oh no it's fine, Aether Torn huh, that's a nice name" She saids, smiling a bit.

"Thanks so, can I ask your name?" He asks, curiously.

"Why yes, you can, my name is Terra". She said, sweetly.

"Well Terra, thanks for healing me, I really appreciate it"

"There's really no need, but I'd like to ask you some questions, is that ok". She said, with a seriousness in her tone.

Aether nods his head, trying to guess what she will ask as he commits her name to memory. Upon looking at her again, he realized she was quite beautiful.

"What were you doing out there in the Outer World by yourself, why was your part of your side bitten off, and why can I see that you aren't a Rank 0, as you were when I first saw you. Terra rambled, asking all her questions at once, which was truly a bad habit of hers.

Aether, a little overwhelmed by all the questions, and confused how she knew his Rank changed, started answering them one by one, as Terra stared and listened.

"Ohhh, I see, so wait, you hadn't found your task till yesterday?". She said, a little worried about what his Task had been.

"Well yes, but my Task wasn't anything bad or a crime, it was just a little unorthodox" He said, trying to clear up the confusion.

"Oh I see, could I know what it was then?" She said, curiously now.

"Um sorry, I'm not really sure I should, I don't really know what it means yet". He said, not wanting people to know how abnormal his situation was.

"Oh I see now, I think I understand, I can tell you're not a bad person so I trust you".

"How come?" He said.

"Well it's one of my Abilities as a Reader" She said, a little proud of herself.

"Reader?" He thought, "That must be her Position, why's she telling me this?" He thought, pondering on it.

"You must trust me a decent amount, considering you told me one of your Abilities and Position Name".

"Oh I do, so can I ask what your Abilities are" She asked.

"Well I have three, but I'm not sure what they do yet, so I can't really tell you" He saids, feeling bad he hadn't told her anything information about his Position.

"Oh three really! So do I" She said, very proud.

"Oh wow, you too! Your task must have been hard" He said, thinking about what Task she could have had.

"Oh not really, but right now, I'd like to ask you about".

"Sure," He said.

"First though, please follow me" She said getting up from the bed and walking towards the door.

Aether gets up from the bed, following behind her outside the door, wondering what her question is.

He walked into a hallway, it had the same pattern on the ceiling as the bedroom, the hall had dark red carpet and a few chandeliers, with a few tables on the sides with random paraphernalia, with an intricate pattern on the walls.

"I'd like to make you an offer, Aether Torn" She said, sounding as professional as she could.

"And what would that be?" He asked, as they walked into the main room of the house.

It looked like a mini palace, with the same carpet, wall, and ceiling design as the other rooms, with a set of stairs going down to the first floor.

As they walked down the stairs, Terra turned around and looked at Aether and started talking.

"As you can tell, my family is pretty well off"

"That's an understatement" He thought, remembering his "house".

"I have plans to be an owner of a guild, and I'd like you to be the first member" She said with excitement, as if he'd already said yes.

"What?, why me?" He asked, remembering he had done nothing but cause her trouble as of meeting her.

"I can tell your something special, even without my ability. I mean you only found your Task until you were sixteen, so it has to have been a hard one". She exclaimed with excitement.

"So will you please join my guild". She said, bowing slightly.

"What do I get for joining?" He asked, wanting to know the details.

"You'll get my full support in missions as your captain, free housing in the guild, an equal split share when collecting mission rewards, free rain of whenever and wherever you want to go, as long as it's in the Inner World".

Aether was a little stunned of course, well the offer seemed great, amazing even. He had also wanted to move out of that old shack he'd called a house. Terra also seemed very capable, killing that Servent, and healing him. Even an equal split too! One couldn't really ask for more if they tried.

Even so, most things that feel this way are most likely scams. Then again, what can he really be scammed of, he didn't have any money or property. Besides his small knife and ID card, he had nothing.

With all this into consideration, he decided to accept it.

"I accept your offer, I'll join your guild" Aether said, wholeheartedly.

"Oh thank you Aeth" She said, visibly relieved and excited.

"Aeth?" He said, "Really"

"Why don't you like it?" Terra said, with a teasing kind of smile.

He sighed and thought of Suze, and how she used to call him the same thing, back when she wasn't missing, or dead.

Aeth laughed a little then said

"No, I like it"

"Well that's good, I'll call you that from now on" She said, smirking.

"Ok Terra, so first off, what should we do" He asked

"Well first off, we should get you some clothes, so you can get out of that nightwear" She said, laughing a bit.

"Then we should work on our Tasks" She said.

"Oh ok, what Rank even are you by the way?" He said.

Terra stared at him for a moment.

"You didn't know?, I'm Rank X, like you".

Aether stood there, a little dumbstruck and confused.

"Why is she say this as if it's obvious" He thought, " And only a Rank X?!, she killed a Servant, alone at that. Just how strong is she". He thought, looking at her in a new light, making him like his decision to join more and more.

"Ah I see, so another question, this Divinity I have, how do I regenerate it, it's at zero last I checked" He asked, still hiding the fact he had Ethereal instead of Divinity.

"Oh well it's quite simple really, you pray, like everyone does, or you could wait, getting about one point of Divinity per hour, but no one really does that" She said, happy to explain.

"Oh I see" He saids, pulling his right hand to his right then left shoulder, then cupped his hands, and started to pray.

As he did though, he felt a stabbing feeling in his heart, the pain felt excruciating, worse than when he had crawled from the Black Bird.

He fell to his knees.

"Aeth, what happened, are you ok" She exclaimed.

As Aether holds his chest in pain, a voice echoes in his ears.

*You have obtained a Rule*