Soren tried his best to keep a calm mind, somehow actually succeeding in that endeavor, but it didn't do much to ease the ramping concern taking hold of him. However, gradually he began to be able to think clearer.
The Aither were comparable to a force of nature within humanity's eye; They were enemy number one, after all. However, after his experience within that void, the Aither didn't really seem all that scary in comparison. That isn't to say he wasn't scared shitless by them, though.
After collecting his thoughts for a moment, Soren yanked his arms up, somehow easily ripping apart the fleshy bindings strapping his arms to the table.
With a quick sweeping gaze of the room, he notices what he assumes to be the exit to this room. He honestly couldn't tell, the entire composition of the room was quite bizarre, and he could only make assumptions for what most of it meant. Walking up to the door, he pushed it a bit, only opening it enough to get a peek outside. What he saw outside was even more nonsensical in construction standards than the room.
Wait, if he was captured by the Aither, didn't that mean he was currently in their ship?! Even if he could somehow find his way around the alien construct, how the hell was he supposed to get down back to Earth?
The panic that he had managed to suppress a bit, began to claw back into his mind, like a parasite taking over its host.
The hallway extended far both left and right, the ends not visible, as was a thin veil of fog that grew thicker the further down he tried to look. Even through his current panicked state, Soren finally gets the thought to check his pockets, finding nothing in them. Actually, now that he got a good look at himself, what the hell was he wearing?! Soren's body was adorned with a skin-tight, dark purple bodysuit. The only reason he hadn't really noticed it until now, was because of how perfectly it fit to his skin. It felt like just another layer of skin, defining his lackluster muscularity. The material looked smooth, at least from a distance. When he raised his arm, and looked a bit closer at it, it looked like more of a mesh composition, but still felt smooth to the touch, yet also incredibly durable.
With a thought, he requested the system to identify the bodysuit;
[You do not meet the minimum requirements to fully identify this item. However, you shall be given a basic summary…]
[Name: {Unknown}
Item Rank: IV
Item Potential: {Unknown}
Item Description: (A suit of armor, procured from the materials of a rare tree by the name of {REDACTED}, that comes from a galaxy many light years away. The {REDACTED} tree is most known for its affinity boosting properties, and natural regenerative ability. Such material is highly sought after in some lesser developed galaxies, while in others it may be extremely common to find.)]
The description was honestly a lot longer than he thought it would be. He couldn't remember if such descriptions were common from items given by the system. He hadn't personally received anything from the system other than his ability, but Saviors seemed to love posting every new piece of equipment they got from raiding dungeons. At some point early on in his life, Soren had realized that some Saviors were simply in it for the money and fame, which honestly still rubbed him the wrong way, even now. But then again, he really couldn't blame them, seeing as it was human nature to find ways to hoard wealth, and even more so for the desire to be seen as a popular figure. Whether that be for infamous reasons or virtuous ones, it honestly didn't matter much in his eyes, as it all boiled down to the same thing. Humanity was never inherently good, nor evil. It all depended on circumstances. Sometimes those circumstances push people to take drastic measures…
That was a strange string of thoughts. Soren wasn't completely sure where that had come from, but he decided to just ignore it for now, seeing as he had other worries.
That being the very audible footsteps growing louder in the hallway as they approached the door.
With quicker movements than he's used to, Soren grabbed the closest thing to him, a long metal like pin shaped object. Not bothering to question it, he quietly, but quickly, runs to the corner behind the door, pressing himself to the wall as best as he can.
Barely even a second later, the door swings open, squishing Soren even further into the wall. The thing that walked in shortly after was… honestly not something Soren could even begin to describe. It had somewhat of a humanoid form, but it didn't look like it tried very hard to blend in. Its skin was oddly lusterless, but also brimming with latent colors, as if it had several layers of mosaic skin.
Before he could look any closer, the oddly formal dressed Aitherian seemed distressed as it noticed the empty medical table.
Taking in a deep breath in through his nose, Soren pushed forward, not allowing himself to hesitate as he gripped the pole with both hands, rearing it behind him and swinging forward with all his meager strength towards its head.
Clank!
'What the hell!? What are these things made of!?' Was the only thing Soren had the time to think, as the Aitherian slowly straightened itself out, turning its now dented head toward Soren.
Suddenly, Soren feels his very soul call out for him to dodge. With complicity rivaling that of a soldier given a command, Soren nearly leaps out of his own skin as he dodges to the right, barely dodging the dark ethereal spike that protrudes forward from the creature's lower abdomen.
The spike bites into the wall with ease, sinking into it with terrifying efficiency. A fraction of a second later, the ethereal spike poofs into dark mist as the creature turns towards Soren, seemingly indifferent to Soren's distress. "You're fast." A grating voice emanated from the creature, like it hadn't had a need to speak for many years. "Back the hel-" Soren starts, but is quickly cut off by the creature "Silence. You are in the presence of a descendant of Baeldaeg. Speaking within the vicinity of one such as I, is seen as a sign of disrespect." Soren couldn't help but tune out the creature as he racked his brain for a way out of this situation. Fighting his way out didn't seem like a probable solution, seeing as the pole he just used was completely bent out of shape. 'There's gotta be a way outta here.' Looking for anything to help, Soren summons the system interface, scanning over it before he notices something a little odd. What was up with the interface? It looked a little… off? Like some sort of lag or something. Not trying to waste the mental energy, he mentally scrolls down to his ability, hoping to pry his clairvoyance for any inspiration. But, when he gets to it, he notices a blacked out rectangle below the name of his ability. Soren was really taken aback by this because, as far as his knowledge went, nothing like this was seen within anyone else's system interface. With desperation, Soren mentally prodded the black rectangle, and for a second, it felt as if the world grew still, until the system screen glitched, showing a description.
[Atomic Manipulation:
Ability Rank: I
Ability Proficiency: 0.0%
Ability Potential: NA
Ability Description-]
He didn't have the time to read the description, nor did he have the time to question why this was here in the first place.
Closing his eyes, Soren took a deep breath in, trying to dig up any instinctual knowledge the ability might have embedded within his mind. Even with his quick thinking, the Aitherian had finally stopped just standing around. It took a step forward, likely intent on using the same attack as before.
Soren wasn't entirely confident he'd be able to dodge in the same way, seeing as the Aitherian was now aware of Soren's adept instincts. "Fuck it." Soren lets out with a huff as he snaps his eyes open, pointing his palm at the Aitherian and mentally activating the ability, still having no idea what it could actually do.
As mana was slowly being channeled through his body, Soren just went with his instincts, focusing the ethereal flow through his arm. It felt… strange. Strange in that it felt familiar, like he already had the knowledge of how to do it, and he'd only just now done it.
Soren let his body guide him, as he slowly squeezed an invisible object in his hand. He felt the mana flowing through his arm sprout through the palm of his hand, as if shooting forward toward the Aitherian.
Confused at the new development, the Aitherian stopped its advance forward, as it felt a pressure upon its head. It felt as if the very air around it was filled with the intent to crush.
Deciding to no longer play with its prey, it tried to take another step forward, but found itself struggling to push against the pressure building around its head.
Soren, noticing this, decided to push more mana through his arm with sheer brute force, not wanting to waste the opportunity.
His arm spasmed as the pulse of mana bursted throughout it, channeling all of it through his palm, aimed at the Aitherian's head. With all of his might, Soren squeezed against the invisible pressure atop his palm.
Slowly, the invisible pressure began giving way, as the Aitherian's head was slowly collapsing in upon itself.
With one final burst of mana, Soren fully clasped his hand into a fist, the Aitherian's head exploding; Its body falling limp to the floor, like a puppet cut from its strings.
"Ah, damn it… That was exhausting…" Soren nearly fell to his knees as he dropped his arm back down to his side, taking in shaky breaths as he looked at the now dead Aitherian. "Didn't think I'd be able to actually kill it..." An involuntary smirk spread across his face as he looked at his hand.
'Probably shouldn't have put that much mana into it, though.' He thought as he looked further up towards his arm that now twitched oddly every other second.
He hoped it was just a temporary side effect.
Walking forward, Soren stepped over the now lifeless body of the Aitherian, the odd viscera making up its skull splattered across the ground.
It seemed the Aitherian bled a strange black blood, as that was all that was pulsing from its body onto the floor.
Not wanting any more surprises, Soren closed the door, pushing the body of the Aitherian against it, hoping to stall anything else that decided to approach the room.
.....
What? A life signal has switched off? How is that even possible within the ship…?
The Aitherian in charge of monitoring the western hemisphere of the ship sat confused, before it just brushed it off, clicking a series of buttons on the console in front of it, sending a report to a lower ranking officer under its management.
.....
After a while of relaxing, Soren felt his mana be somewhat fully restored.
[Status: Overall, fine
Health: 115/130
Intelligence: 15/40
Mana: 33/45
…]
He had used more than half of his mana pool to kill just one of those things. He couldn't imagine taking on more than that. But, at the same time, the thought kind of… excited him?
It was an odd feeling, but he decided not to question it too much. His current situation didn't exactly warrant internal analysis.
'Now, I guess I should actually check what the hell this ability is…'
"Status…"