Godly Grey Sky

Aether riled in pain as he held his chest. It was as if a thousand termites were eating into him, as if it was wood. He had never felt such excruciating pain before, yet after a few seconds it was completely gone. As if it was never there in the first place.

He sat up a little, still on the floor. He was very concerned about the Rule, already figuring out what it was.

He gave a mental command. 

Atlas open my Status.

*Of course Aether Torn*

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System: Atlas

Name: Aether Torn

Position: Outcast

Ethereal: [0/20]

Abilities: [Spark] [Windbound] [Six Sense]

Tools: [Small Knife] [ID Card]

Rules: [Godless] 

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There it was, his Rule, plain as day.

Fuck He thought. This is horrible, how can I be so unlucky, I couldn't even go a day as a Position without a Rule, and even after struggling so much too, god damnit.

[Godless] huh, I wonder if that has anything to do with my Position, maybe I was even an Outcast to the Gods? Then again, I got it by praying, so maybe not.

Aether then opened the description of [Godless]

[Godless]

[You have courted death, so much so, that even the Gods couldn't stop you, yet you try to pray]

[The Gods are angry, praying does nothing but cause you pain]

So I can't pray huh he thought. Well it isn't the worst thing, I don't even know if praying would even work with me, since I have Ethereal. still a little scared by the pain of his Rule, trying to look at the positive.

It's not like I can't regenerate Ethereal, I should get some every hour, just by breathing in the filtered air He thought. Even so, that courting death part is pretty ominous, I guess I shouldn't do anything related to the Gods for a bit, or ever.

All in all, it's a little cribbing, but not so much so.

"You ok, what happened?" Terra asked, concerned about what was happening with him, sitting down next to him.

"Oh, I had just gotten one of my Rules" He said, a little sad.

"All in all, it's not to horrible"

"Well what is it" She asked, concerned, and a little curious.

"Well, the Gods are a bit angry at me, so I'm not able to pray" He said, maybe a little too calmly.

Terra stood there in shock, thinking about how to respond.

"That's the worst Rule I'd ever heard of" Visible shock on her face.

Aether, of course, was a little worried about his Rule. If he was without Ethereal, he would of course be a lot more scared about his future. 

Speaking of which, what even was Ethereal.

 It seems to be a substitute or replacement for Divinity, I can only assume that it works as Divinity for now until I can figure out [Windbound], so I can try to use it.

"It'll be fine, I can still regenerate it from just waiting, also I only have one active ability, so I wouldn't have even used a lot anyways" He said, more cheerful this time, as to not worry her.

"Well, you seem to have it figured out, so I'll trust you'll be ok" She said, still worried about the implications of his Rule.

You're so trusting of me, even though I've told you practically nothing, you shouldn't be so naive Terra.

"Now then, what did you say about our plans?" Aether asked.

"We should buy you a weapon and some clothes, I'll pay for it, since you don't seem to have any money, think of it as a loan"

A loan? I guess you weren't as naive as I thought.

"Sure, where should we go for all of that,?" He asked, just realizing he didn't know what district he was in, or where he was in general.

"I know a good shop that sells quality equipment, if you'd like" She smiled

"Oh yeah, I'd like that thanks"

They walked out the main entrance of the building, which turned out to be the guild building. It was massive, at least for Aether's standards, 

It had a very similar style to the inside, the building was white, was round and had a beautiful dome like roof, had some big, sparkly, stained glass windows, and a training ground out in the front yard, with a fence surrounding the building by about thirty feet in all directions.

Aether thought it was a little overkill with just two people, but guessed that Terra had planned for more members soon, and wondered why he had been the first to join.

As they walked down the street, Aether noticed that a lot of people were staring at them.

Well to be specific, they were looking at Aether.

Now Aether was no stranger to this, since with this almost impossibly weird Task and not being able to find it, people had assumed his Task was a criminal act.

But Aether had his Task now, so that wasn't the reason he was getting stares.

The reason was, cause like a psychotic man that had just escaped this ward.

He was out in public with his pj's on.

"Hey Terra, we're going to a clothing store first, right?" He asked, very clearly embarrassed by walking around like this.

Terra giggled at his embarrassment 

"Yes Aeth we are, don't worry" She said, covering her mouth, and trying to hold in her laugh.

Damn the Gods

On the way Terra told him about the part of the Inner world they were in.

They were in the Meadow District, just north of the Marsh District where Aether used to live.

It was home for the medium to higher class. These people had rare Positions Ability, like Spatial, Ice, Forging, and Tailoring. These were in decent demand because of the rarity and usefulness of their Abilities.

This District is truly way nicer

They arrived at a clothing store called Wear & Wonder

It was a small store, tucked away in a small shopping center of Sorat, it was decently big, with a pretty nice exterior, well, as nice as things could work with the grey sky. It had big windows in the front, displaying some very beautiful clothing.

They walk in the store, great by the smell of fabric and an older, shorter gentleman.

"Hello, and what can I help you with today?" The old man asked with a smile and a cheery type of voice.

"We'll just be buying some outfits for my friend here" She says, justering to Aether.

"Yes, as she said" Aether said, still looking ridiculous with his pajamas on.

The Old Man stared at Aether

"Yes I can see, he has no sense of style"

Terra giggles, as Aether walks off to look at the clothes for sale, very embarrassed.

It took about an hour, but by the end Aether settled for six sets of casual clothes and two sets of shoes.

He had changed into one set after buying them, to save what little dignity he had left.

He had on some black shorts that went a little above his knees, a white T-shirt, and some normal, black shoes.

The set of clothes was rather simple, but to him, it was amazing not having holes or blood stains on his shirt, which of course was sad, but what was sadder was being poor.

All this costed ten silivers, which was more than I'd ever had

Money in the Inner world was quite simple, one sliver was a hundred coppers, and a hundred silvers was one gold.

I only ever had about twenty coppers at a time, Terra is very well off to afford such random expensives

"So all I need is a weapon and a little armor and I'll be good to start hunting tomorrow" Aether said, already thinking about starting his arduous Task and making money to pay Terra back.

"Yes, you can whenever you'd like starting tomorrow, but let's get you a sword now" Terra saids, already walking towards the forging shop she knew well.

They arrived at the shop after a few minutes.

The forging shop was called Zach's Forgings.

Not a very exciting name, or creative at that

"Zach you here" Terra yelled as they walked in.

The shop was decently big, then again, Aether had never been in a forging building before, it had a large counter in the back of the store, with tons of weapon racks with many different weapons on them. He could hear hammering coming from the back of the store.

"Yes, yes, I'll be right out" A loud voice shouting from the back of the store.

The door in the back burst open, as a taller, darker toned man came out.

He had pitch dark hair, orange eyes, a dark tone on his body and some burns, wore a white oxygen synthesizer, he was sweating, and without a shirt.

"Oh hello Terra, what a nice surprise, and who's the boy?" Zach asked, curious as he'd never seen him before.

"This is Aether, the first member of my guild, he's in need of some battle ready clothes and a sword"

Zach stared at him for a moment.

"Ah I see, it's a pleasure to meet you Aether" He said as he held out his hand.

"Pleasures all mine Zach" Aether said as he shook Zach's hand.

"So you'd like a sword and armor, I think I have a set of armor your size, and I have tons of swords here, so pick whichever one you like as I get the armor" He said, going back through the door.

He's nice, and straight to business too. I wondered how he knew my size, an Ability maybe?

Aether then walked around the store, looking around at the many different swords on the racks

Then as his eyes looked over at a white blade, his brain surged, as if his senses were telling him to pick it up.

He walk over and picked up the blade.

It was pure white, it was curved, with a single edge and a triangle shaped guard.

I think they call this a katana.

He felt the weight of it, it was decently lightweight, and felt good in his hands.

"Are you getting that one?" Terra asked curiously.

"Yes, it's a very nice looking blade" He said smiling, admiring the weapon and confirming his choice.

As he kept admiring it, he heard a voice behind him.

"Oh I see you made a decision, I have your armor". Zach said, coming out of the back again.

Aether and Terra walked up to the corner, as Zach placed the armor on it.

"Oh a nice pick, one of my favorites I've forged I'd say, you must have good eyes".

You're not gonna raise the price are you.

"Really now, does it have a name?".

"Well yes it does, it's name is Starborn, it also has durability and wind enhancement".

A very beautiful name for such a beautiful blade, maybe he is creative after all, and a wind enhancement, that'll go great with [Windbound], if I can figure out how to use it.

"Very beautiful, and what about the armor?" He asked.

The armor was black, well it looked more like a trench coat, with some pockets, and a set of belts going around the torso.

"Its name is Shadow's Curse, it has a durability enhancement and has slight spatial attack defense". Zach said, proud of these two items.

It looks like something a criminal would wear, and the naming wasn't too great, I much prefer Starborn, then again it would blend in with the Outer World's grey and rocky terrain.

"Yes, I'll take them both" Aether said.

"40 silvers," Zach said happily.

Aether was a little distraught from the price.

Isn't that a way too high, you villian, what type of business are you running.

"Here" He said, a little disheartened about spending that much, gave him the money.

"Thank you, now, hold out your palm," He said, pulling out a stamper.

Aether holds out his palm as Zach stamps the sword and armor, then Aether's hand.

As he does, Aether hears a voice in his ear.

*Weapon [Starborn] has been added to Tools*

*Armor [Shadow's Curse] has been add to Tools*

Finally, Aether could start work on his new Task.