Unfortunately for Michael, in the end, he couldn't outrun the goat girl. He internally sighed as the girl followed him closely beside him, the small Hati nowhere to be seen, disappearing during their little cat-and-mouse chase.
Right now, her attention was on her sketchbook, which she was currently busy drawing while occasionally looking at him, probably for reference.
Don't get him wrong, it was nice having a companion that wasn't trying to run away or capture him, but this was definitely a bit weird. That and she slightly creeped him out by how other Ethereals seemingly didn't care about the girl walking beside him.
Then again, maybe having her as company wasn't a bad thing, but that remains to be seen. He was curious about the staff she was carrying. Her being here also had a side effect of distracting him from the unknown voice whispering in his head that started a few hours ago.
He doesn't know or want to know why, but something in this Hollow is whispering into his ears in unintelligible words. He thought it was just his own internal voice or maybe the Miasma getting to him, but no, this was definitely an entity in the Hollow trying to get his attention, so having the girl beside him definitely helped him distract from it.
Michael still doesn't know her name, though, and if he was honest with himself, he doesn't know how to start a conversation with her to ask.
Aside from not speaking to anyone ever since he got here almost a month ago, there's also the fact that he was an Ethereal and she was not. Ethereals ignoring her aside, he imagined that would be strange as all hell for both of them.
'Eh... Screw it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Besides, she hasn't been hostile towards me.' Michael thought in his head for a second before preparing himself to speak to the goat girl. It took a second for him to find his voice. "Cough, cough. Ahem. Hello."
The girl jumped in shock and almost dropped her sketchbook when Michael greeted her to get her attention.
She recovered fast, standing tall and looking at him while tapping both of her index fingers awkwardly. "Oh! Uhm... Hello there, Mister Ethereal. Sorry if this is a little awkward... I've never heard an Ethereal speak before, but... Nice to meet you, by the way."
"Yeah... Nice to meet you too... uhh..."
"Oh! I'm Lucia, Lucia Elowen. Do you have a name too, Mister Ethereal?" The girl, now known as Lucia, asked.
Michael contemplated whether to give her his actual name for a moment or make up one. If he was planning to exit the Hollow and live like a normal person one day, having someone know his real name would definitely give them good blackmail material.
He looked at her eyes, which were filled with excitement. "If I tell you, can you promise to keep it a secret?" Requested Michael.
She answered immediately with no hesitation. "Yeah. I pinky promise to keep it a secret from anyone, even Granny."
"Alright. My name is..." Michael stopped for a moment when his mind genuinely went blank for a quick second before he recalled his name. "Michael." He answered unsurely. "It's Michael."
"Whoa... Is that your name from before you became an Ethereal? Does that mean you remember your past?" She excitedly asked before suddenly putting her hands on her mouth. "Sorry! I was probably being insensitive."
"No, no, it's fine. To be honest with you, I don't really remember my past. When I woke up as Ethereal in Hollow Zero, I only recalled that my name was Michael." A lie, if one that was not sprinkled with some truth.
Aside from not wanting to tell her that he probably came from another world, he is slowly forgetting his past after all. Already, his childhood memories are mostly gone, with only scraps of vagueness still present. It won't be long before memories of his teenage years go too. While he had accepted it, the questions of what would happen next terrified him.
Would he still keep the personality he has right now? Would he still be the same Michael? Would he lose any and all reason and turn into another monster lurking in the Hollow?
Was he truly the same person he remembered himself to be to begin with, or was he just an Ethereal with Michael's memories?
"Y-yeah. That's all I remembered." Michael quickly spat out, wanting to not dwell on his existential thoughts anymore.
Lucia looked at Michael with sadness in her eyes before speaking to him once again. "I see... Sorry for asking. It must be excruciating to not remember your past at all..."
Michael sighed as he put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Don't be sad about it. I've long since accepted that fact. Actually, since you've asked me a couple of questions, why don't I ask you some?"
"Sure. What do you want to know about me?" Lucia's face brightened up.
"Why are Ethereals indifferent to your presence? They usually become hostile to anything non-Ethereal."
"Oh, that. I actually came from the Nightwatchers Tribe living outside of New Eridu."
"Oh? There are people living outside the city? Isn't that dangerous with the Hollows around?"
"Not really. As long as you know what you're doing, it's pretty safe all around." Lucia then continued. "Anyways, from the legend told in the tribe, long ago, our ancestors battled a very powerful Ethereal that lasted four days. Before it fell, it is said to have released a final surge of power. Ever since then, it has haunted our dreams."
"Haunted your dreams? Like literally, physically, or metaphorically?"
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you. Our tribe actually stays awake during the night and sleeps during the day." Lucia then explained the reason. "Sometimes, when our people sleep at night, they dream of the Night Horror before beginning to sleepwalk into the Hollows, seemingly drawn to the Night Horror's call."
"Just before Ether Corruption consumed them, before they became Ethereals, they regain clarity for a fleeting moment. It's not all bad, though; in exchange for that, we Nightwatchers were blessed with the ability to be perceived as one of them." Lucia finishes, a solemn tone in her voice, and her ears drooped.
Michael could only look at her in silence, not knowing how to react to her tribe's tragic past. It did explain why she was not scared or hostile and was even friendly towards him if Ethereals usually ignored her. Still, one thing stood out to him. "Wait. You said that a powerful Ethereal gave you that curse?" He asked.
Lucia nodded. "Yeah. We called it the Night Horror. It was said that its appearance was stunningly beautiful, and almost divine."
Michael was surprised by the reverence given to this 'Night Horror' by Lucia, considering the curse inflicted on her tribe by it. It did give him an opportunity to lighten up the mood a bit. "Really? Do I fit that description?" He then pointed to himself.
Lucia laughed at him. "Haha, no, not really. You do look rather awesome though; I almost thought you were the Night Horror's minion or something."
"Jeez, way to break my ego." Michael put his hand on his chest, faking being hurt by her answer. "Anyways, why don't we continue our chat while walking?"
"Sure! Is there any specific place you want to go?"
"Not really. I just arrived in Lemnian Hollow from Hollow Zero a couple of days ago, so I really am just exploring the abandoned area for now."
"What a coincidence, me too! Cmon, let's go explore Lemnian Hollow!" Just as she was about to start walking, she turned around. "Umm... I actually wanted to request something from you. Would you like to be my friend?" She then poked her index fingers again in nervousness.
Michael didn't need to think long and hard about his response, nodding and extending his hands towards her. Maybe he was jumping the gun a bit, but from their interaction so far, there's no harm in being her friend. That and maybe he just longed for friendship after all this time.
Not only that, considering the way the Ethereals ignored the members of her tribe, Michael could probably make an educated guess that people outside of the tribe looked at her people with either suspicion at best or disgust at worst.
Lucia's face brightened up as she shook Michael's hand, solidifying the start of a weird friendship.
.....
While walking together, Michael took the opportunity to ask Lucia all kinds of questions about New Eridu, which wasn't much considering her and her tribes lives outside of it, but the bits and pieces that she did know were definitely helpful.
In turn, he would tell her almost all the things he had done when he woke up as an Ethereal. Not all the things, though, as he did omit quite a bit in his story, particularly the embarrassing ones.
Lucia even told him of her staff's abilities. Apparently, she could use the surrounding Ether to mimic Ethereal's attack that she usually layered with illusions of Ethereals to make it seem like she actually summoned an Ethereal.
She even went as far as to demonstrate it to him as he watched her manipulate the surrounding Ether to project an illusion of a Dullahan swiping with its massive sword.
Watching her ability gave Michael an idea in his head. If he could project Ether into a concentrated point and shape it like her illusion, he wondered if he could make weapons for himself.
It was honestly very refreshing for him to finally have someone trustworthy to talk to after such a long time of not socializing.
Until she said something that had him slightly concerned.
"Void Hunters?" It sounded important, which was surprising considering that Michael hadn't encountered any information on them in Hollow Zero. Then again, that place was wrecked to hell and back, and most information he could find was either scraps or long since Corrupted. Those reasons, along with him staying away from places with frequent traffic, definitely hindered his ability to gather information, especially ones that are up to date.
Lucia looked at Michael in confusion. "Oh? You don't know? The Void Hunters are the titles awarded by the mayor of the city to outstanding individuals who performed great feats, stretching back since its founding."
"Are they powerful?" Michael asked.
Lucia nodded. "They are. From what I heard, the youngest member of the current generation of Void Hunters, Hoshimi Miyabi, destroyed the Argos Hollow by slaying a powerful Ethereal named Lerna by herself."
"Destroyed an entire Hollow by herself?" Michael repeated in disbelief. No way a single person managed to do what even an entire army would have trouble doing, right?
"Still having trouble believing? Here, let me show you instead." Lucia then took out her phone. Judging by how she clumsily used it, it was safe to say that she wasn't tech-savvy or even tech-literate, if Michael was honest with himself.
Eventually, Lucia managed to navigate her phone, opening up the video app and showing it to Michael. "It's footage I managed to download of a rescue mission Miss Miyabi conducted a couple of months ago when a Companion Hollow suddenly appeared. Obviously this is just the footage from a survivor who managed to capture it."
Michael looked closely at the video thumbnail. At the center of it was a fox-woman with comically long ears and a very stoic expression on her face.
In her hands, she wielded a katana with blue flames emanating from it and ominous eyes just floating above her. Lucia then tapped the screen, playing the video.
The footage started with the survivors being surrounded by a horde of Ethereals. The situation looked dire, with cries of children being heard in the background before, in a flash, a couple of slashing sounds were heard and over half of the Ethereals in front of the survivors, particularly the weaker ones, just... fell over dead.
After that, the person responsible for it appeared in front of the survivors, the very same person in the thumbnail.
She glanced at the survivors for a second before focusing her attention on the remaining Ethereal, her hands at the hilt of her katana.
For some reason, in his mind, she really reminded him of another stoic swordsman wielding a katana sitting on a white plastic chair. 'Huh... What's his name again?'
For the next thirty seconds, even with the shaky camerawork, Michael watched as the Ethereals were slaughtered en masse on what he could only describe as a one-sided massacre before the recording abruptly ended.
During all of this, a single thought kept repeating in his mind. 'This is not real.'
On the one hand, Michael was glad that New Eridu had someone powerful on their side; on the other hand, that Tyrfing usually had, he was absolutely terrified of just the thought of encountering the woman.
He looked at Lucia, who was oblivious to his inner turmoil. "Lucia. What exactly do Void Hunters do?"
"Just what you expect. Protecting the city and repelling Hollows by slaying powerful... Ethereals..." Lucia seemed to realise what she had done, chuckling and rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry?"
Michael sighed in exasperation. "Let's just pray I don't encounter any of them."
Moving past the topic of Void Hunters, Lucia had one more video to show him.
Lucia, however, still had one more video to show Michael before they moved on, one with a thumbnail of an Ethereal that had just exited a fissure. "Michael, look here. Is this you?"
The video played, and Michael internally groaned, already knowing what it was all about. The embarrassing encounter with the Defense Force on his second day being here. He should've known better than to assume that there would be no footage of it, but alas.
"No. I don't know this Ethereal." Michael answered quickly as he quickened his pace to avoid the topic any longer.
Lucia didn't let up. "Aww, come on. Don't be embarrassed. I paid a pretty Denny for this footage, you know? Don't worry, I won't upload it online."
After more teasing, the topic then changed to Ethereals, with both sharing what they knew and their weaknesses, which was definitely useful for Michael.
During this, Michael also learned many of the names of the Ethereals that he had encountered and even some that he did not. It also reinforced one thing about Lucia: her obsession with Ethereals.
"Nineveh?" Asked Michael as he looked at the drawing of the Ethereal in question, which had managed to catch his eye.The Ethereal looked like a very beautiful red flower; around it, a bunch of other smaller bug-like Ethereals.
His eyes, however, were drawn to two massive things that were on the Ethereal. Its massive chests. 'Goddamn, why does this Ethereal have boobs?'
"Wow! You were in Hollow Zero for weeks, and somehow you didn't encounter her? From what I know, she is one extremely powerful and big Ethereal. I really wish I could meet her in person."
"Yeah... Powerful and... big." Was all Michael muttered out.
"SOMEBODY HELP US!"
Before Michael could ask any more information regarding Nineveh, a cry for help echoed out.
It was then that the two realised that they had somehow reached near the Porcelume production area, where a lot of Porcelumex employees could normally be seen going in and out using the cable car. Thankfully, it was late at night, and there was no one in sight.
Scratch that, it was way too empty. There would usually be people coming to and fro Failume Heights to here, yet there was no one. Weirdest still, one of the cabins was missing, leaving only the cable that held it in its place.
Using his Ether Vision, Michael followed the cable of the cable car all the way to where it would normally exit the Hollow, since the Hollow itself is stable enough that it was possible in the first place.
"There's a fissure." Michael then pointed to where he found a fissure that had somehow opened up in the way of the cable car. It was gradually disappearing, but the way the fissure was positioned, it looked as if someone had intentionally placed it there.
Lucia's gaze followed to where Michael had pointed, also finding the fissure there. It was at the right size for the car and anyone in it to be caught in.
"The employees..." Lucia whispered to herself.
Coming to the same conclusion, the two of them looked at each other before nodding, quickly going to find the source of the scream, going from building to building.
They soon came upon a large group of Porcelumex's employees trapped by Ethereals at one of the still-active mining sites; the cable car that they boarded tipped over behind them, confirming their fears.
"Damn... There's a lot of people." Michael remarked as he carefully observed the situation from behind the walls of an abandoned facility. He saw some with wounds on them and some that already showed signs of Corruption. "That's gotta be at least over twenty people."
"Michael, we gotta help them!" Lucia cried out as she watched the people there hopelessly try to fend off the encroaching Ethereals with their mining equipment.
Michael weighed helping them for a moment but quickly dismissed the thought. 'No, there's no room for contemplation. I can't just let them all die because I don't want to be known.'
There is a question regarding Lucia, however. It is clear that after this, his existence would no longer be known to just a few people. There are just too many people, and he knew some of them would be filming him. He will be widely known either through the news or the internet, and he does not want Lucia to get caught up in the fallout.
And even if he just let Lucia take care of it by herself, which he would not even think about doing, he's not naive enough to think that no one would take advantage of her and her tribe after seeing her abilities.
Maybe it was a bit foolish and reckless of him to stick his neck out for someone he had just met today, and maybe it was because Lucia was his first ever friend in this world, but it would just feel wrong to abandon her and the survivors.
"Lucia."
Lucia tore her gaze from the survivors to look at Michael. "What is it? We are saving those people, right?"
"No. I will be saving them. You stay right here, you got that?"
"What?! Why?!"
"Because I don't want you or your tribe to be caught in the mess that would result after this event. Do you understand?" Michael firmly clarified as he looked at Lucia's eyes.
Lucia hesitated for a moment, her mouth moving but no words coming out before she replied with resignation in her voice. "I-I do."
Michael nodded. "Thank you. I'd rather not drag you to an unnecessary mess." He then handed Lucia his slingbag. "Here. Hold this for me."
Lucia nodded, taking the bag from Michael's hand and holding it tightly, leaving him the single Porcelume he had on him. "I will. Good luck."
Michael gave her one last nod before making the run for it towards the survivor, gripping his fully loaded shotgun tightly.
'Eight shots. That's all I get before I have to use my fists.' Michael reminded himself. 'Although, maybe I can...'
.....
"Get away from us, you monster!" A brave miner yelled out as he and his fellow miners attempted to intimidate the approaching Ethereals with their pickaxes to no avail.
Behind them were the rest of the people trapped in the Hollows when a fissure suddenly appeared in the way of their cable car, transporting them here.
"It's hopeless... Rescues are probably going to be late." A manager of Porcelumex lamented, tucking his knees close to his body, his face a look of resignation.
A coworker beside him put her hand on his shoulder, uttering words of comfort. "Hey, don't lose hope yet. I'm sure help is coming fast."
An on-site doctor, meanwhile, was busy treating the wounded, exhaustion clearly on her face as she tried to maintain her professionalism while under pressure.
"Doc, do you have any more anti-corruption meds?" A miner beside her asked, in front of him lying rows of people suffering varying degrees of Ether Corruption, with some muttering nonsense, delirious from the effect of Miasma.
The doctor could only solemnly shake her head no, causing the miner to sit on the ground with a look of sadness as he watched his fellow co-workers and friends slowly succumb to Corruption.
"Ugh!" Their attention was then focused back onto their approaching doom when a miner was struck by one, launching him across the ground, blood leaking out where he was hit.
The rest, seeing one of their own easily beaten, routed, some ditching their weapon to run away faster. Some tried to find an opening only to be met with more Ethereals blocking their way while others resigned to their fate.
Another miner was struck, falling to the ground as the Ethereal stood tall in front of him, its blade raised, ready to deal the finishing blow.
Boom!
Just before the blade reached its target, the Ethereal's Core exploded into a colorful mess, its body limping shortly after.
The miner, along with the rest of the survivors, looked to where the shot had rang out from, extremely relieved that rescue had managed to arrive just in the nick of time.
"Hey! Over here!" The manager who had lost hope yelled out to the person who was still shrouded in the shadows. "You've arriv...ed..." Only for him and the rest to be equally speechless as the silhouette slowly revealed itself to be an Ethereal sporting a pair of wings which were spread open, which made it look all the more intimidating as more of it came to view with a shotgun in hand.
The Ethereals, which had them surrounded moments ago, now had their attention turned to the newcomers as they growled in apparent hostility at one of their own.
The Winged Ethereal stood for a moment before it tensed up its body, pumping the shotgun before rushing in headfirst.
The Ethereals reacted the same, rushing the betrayer with the intent to kill, all the while leaving the survivors to witness something that would change New Eridu in ways that they couldn't even comprehend, with some having their phones out, already recording the event.
.....
Boom!
'Six shots left.' Michael counted in his head as he then let out another shot at a leaping low-level Ethereal point blank. It was a bit of a waste as he would've liked to conserve his ammo for the much more long-ranged Ethereal before he had to resort to hand-to-hand combat, but getting bogged down was also not ideal.
Shoving another Ethereal away, he reached the backline where he proceeded to get up close and personal to the Alpecas and two Arlaunes harassing him. He was able to dispatch all of them, with the Arlaunes taking a bit more persuasion with his fist to go down. It also left him with no ammo left.
Tossing his gun aside, he assessed the situation. There were about a dozen and a half low-threat Ethereal, a mix of Tyrfing, Blastcrawlers, and a few Hoplitais as well. Those he wasn't worried about.
What was most worrying was the very round and red Ethereal, or as he had known from Lucia, the Avarus. That one will be tricky to deal with. From what Lucia had told him, the rotund Ethereal, while sluggish-looking, can roll around like a ball with surprising speed. Small mercy that there was no other high-threat Ethereal around.
For now, he focused on the smaller threats first, dispatching the Hoplitais to weaken their overall defense capabilities. It took a bit of effort and some Ether enhancement to his hands and feet to take them out, but once their shield-like arms were no more, they were easy to deal with.
Any Blastcrawlers that got too close to him were promptly crushed underneath his enhanced feet before they had a chance to explode. A feeling of having done the same but in a video game and to similar enemies well up in him but was promptly ignored.
The rest of the Tryfings tried to overwhelm him, but by this point, he had long been used to dealing with them, so it was no problem dispatching them too.
With all other Ethereals defeated, Michael turned his attention to the Avarus only to be alarmed when the large Ethereal, already having its Miasmic Shield active, began to roll around, circling him like a shark.
Just like Lucia had said, it was fast for its size.
Too fast as it leaped into the air and, in one single move, launched its body into him.
He barely had time to react, putting his arms in front of his body, before it slammed into him.
He managed to stand his ground, the rolling body constantly grinding against his arms. Desperately for more power, he absorbed more and more Ether in the area to fight back, but it was not enough.
The next moment, Michael found himself being launched across the site, his back slamming hard against a concrete wall.
Dazed yet still alive, he stood back up and regained his focus, ready to face the Ethereal again even in his weakened state... Only to be horrified when the Ethereal once again threw itself into the air; instead of aiming at him, its target was the group of survivors who hadn't left where they were trapped.
'Move, goddamn it!' Michael internally yelled at himself before stumbling forward as the Avarus launched towards the survivors.
"Need more Ether..." Michael whispered. Ignoring any and all safety, he hastily gathered a large amount of Ether, Miasma or otherwise, into his body.
There he felt it, the incredible boost in power back during the mall, during his first ever experiment manipulating Ether. This time, however, he made sure not to let it get out of control.
With an incredible burst of speed, he arrived in front of the survivors just in time to parry the Avarus' spinning attack. Yet, even with the power he has now, it was not enough.
Little by little, the large Ethereal was slowly but surely overpowering him as its body ground against his Ether-enhanced skin.
When all hope seemed lost, a whisper was heard in his head, urging him to draw more Ether.
With no other options, he obliged, drawing in more and more Ether.
When that wasn't enough to push back against the Avarus' relentless onslaught, he drew more, much more. So much more that he began to feel something on his back. Another pair of wings.
Michael felt them growing in size exponentially in tandem with his Ether accumulation before stopping at roughly the size of his other wings.
And then it finally happened: he began pushing back.
'One. Final. Push...' With all the might he could muster, he pulled back his right fist before slamming it to the still spinning Avarus.
Thump!
The sheer impact force was enough to stop the Avarus' movement and shatter its Miasmic Shield, dazing it onto the ground, exposing its Core nestled deep in its pot belly.
Not letting the Avarus recover, Michael dashed over to it, holding its belly on the ground with his left foot and using his left hand to lift the upper belly, exposing its Core even more.
With his right fist, he repeatedly punched its Core over and over and over again. Even with it roaring and desperately trying to get itself free, he continued to punch its Core.
Its Core held strong, however, and with the Avarus beginning to recover, Michael decided to execute one last idea he had.
Grabbing the piece of Porcelume, Michael pumped it full of Ether and watched as it began glowing as it quickly exceeded its tolerance limit, with Ether beginning to leak out of a small crack that had formed.
With one last forceful injection of Ether, Michael then shoved the Porcelume deep into the Avarus' belly before slamming it shut.
He jumped off its body just in time to watch as its insides began to release a large amount of Ether particles.
Roarrr!!
Boom!
With one final roar, it, along with any nearby object, exploded, sending a large amount of dust and Ether into the air.
When the dust settled, all that remained of the Avarus was a small amount of its upper torso that began to dissipate.
Getting up, he then turned around to face the survivors, all of whom took a step back in silent fear.
He gave them no heed, however, as he made his way through, all of them parting to give way.
Reaching the slowly Corrupting survivors lying on the ground, the doctor tending to them bravely trying to block him, he raised his right hand.
Slowly, Michael began the purge of the Corruption in their body, the crystalline growth slowly receding as the Ether Corruption was pulled away into his own.
Perhaps he should have started with a single person, but something in the back of his mind, along with his new power, told him that he could do it all in one go, especially if he took into account that none of them were that Corrupted compared to the little boy a few days ago.
It took three minutes, and by the time he was done, the unconscious started to wake up or come to their senses, only to panic when the first thing they saw was an Ethereal staring at them, which was predictable.
Michael didn't let their fear and panic get to him, instead retreating back to the front of the group before gesturing to them to follow him.
Some followed willingly, probably thinking that they had no choice, while others took a bit of convincing by the others, and a few others had to be carried by their co-worker due to their injuries.
The journey was silent. It was suffocating, yet Michael understood why and didn't blame them in the slightest. He was just glad everyone made it out without dying or turning into an Ethereal.
Of course, there were also those with their phones out, recording the entire event as expected.
He wondered how New Eridu's citizens would react to him. No doubt the news would be plastered with his face and many discussions would be had, whether good or bad.
Shaking out of his thoughts, he stopped upon reaching his destination. A fissure that should transport the survivors to the production area, where there should be rescuers, or at least, with the fissure that caused this whole incident gone, another usable cable car.
Michael pointed at the fissure to the survivors. One by one, they stepped in. A few of them even stepped in hastily to get away from him faster.
With the last of the survivors gone, Michael fell to the ground in exhaustion, only for a pair of slender hands to catch him mid-fall.
Michael looked back to see a concerned Lucia as she gently set him down on the ground.
"So, how did I do?"
.....
"This just in: we have received reports that twenty-three workers of the Porcelume mining and refining company, Porcelumex, are currently trapped inside Lemnian Hollow!" The reporter for the News Eridu News said. "I am currently reporting live from Failume Heights right next to the cable car station that transported the workers earlier in the day."
The camera then panned out to the view of Lemnian Hollow, zooming in on the part where the steel wire cable entered the Hollow.
"As you can see, the cable car operator has decided to cease operation for the time being in fear of trapping even more people inside." The reporter explained.
The camera then focused on the large gathering of residents of Failume Heights.
Some were begging the operator of the cable car to send them inside the Hollow to search for their family member or co-workers, while others attempted to barge in themself, only being stopped by Porcelumex's private security personnel and a few Public Security officers.
"The residents of Failume Heights have understandably begun to panic, fearing for their loved ones trapped inside."
The reporter then went on to interview one of the residents, a middle-aged woman, about what exactly happened.
"I don't know exactly when it happened, but I was waiting for my husband at the bench near the cable car when he was nearing the end of his shift like I always do."
"And then, what happened next?"
"The next was a blur. I remembered that only the cable that was supposed to be holding the cabin was there, but not the cabin itself." The woman then took a deep breath to somewhat calm herself. "And then, when the cable disappeared into the Hollow, the operator suddenly stopped the whole thing."
"I understand. Thank you for the information. As you can see, the situation is still developing. Currently, since the cause of the incident is as of yet still unknown, the rescue operation may take some time to commence as the Hollow Investigative Association along with Public Security continue to assess the situatio..."
"LOOK!" One of the residents yelled out when the cable car suddenly began operating again.
"What the...? Isn't cable car operation supposed to be shut down?" The reporter asked the cable car operator in charge.
"It should be. Unless the access was overwritten from the other end in case of emergency." The operator answered as he tried to make sense of the whole thing. "Wait. Does that mean...?
The news feed then focused on a cable car exiting out of the Hollow and making its way to the station, everyone including the news reporter holding their breath.
When it stopped, its doors opened, revealing the survivors, which then caused the people gathering to rush in to check after them, with Porcelumex's security and Pubsec Officer having no chance of stopping them.
"This -this is incredible! A miracle had just occurred!" The reporter yelled out as the camera zoomed in on the people hugging their loved ones while a few had to be rushed out to a nearby hospital due to their injuries.
During all of the feel-good moments, the reporter took an opportunity to interview one of the survivors, a miner who had managed to escape relatively unscathed and was sitting in one of the benches being unusually quiet.
"Hello there, good sir, may I conduct an interview?"
The miner nodded his head. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead."
"Thank you. Kevin! Point the camera over here!"
Before beginning the recording, the reporter asked a single question. "Good sir, may I know what exactly occurred while you were trapped inside?"
The miner gave a chuckle before it escalated into a full-blown hysterical laugh. It took a while for the miner to calm down, leaving the reporter and cameraman confused. "Hehe. Y-you would not believe it if I told you."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Here." The miner then took out his phone and unlocked it. "You can connect this phone to the camera, right? I'll send you a video I managed to record." The reporter nodded, still confused. "Good."
It took only a few moments for the footage to transfer over to the camera feed, and by the time it was finished, the reporter and cameraman suddenly had a sense of trepidation.
"Umm... Do you want to review the footage first before we air it, sir?"
"Sure. Let's just make sure."
The reporter then got behind the camera along with the cameraman. With a shaky hand, he pressed play on the footage.
A few moments later, three words escaped the reporter's mouth. "What the fuck?"
.....
"Hey, Belle, have you seen the news yet?" Wise asked his sister, who had just gotten out of bed after completing a late-night commission.
"News?" Belle asked, confused as to what video her brother was referring to.
"Yeah. I haven't seen it myself, but apparently, an incident occurred in Lemnian Hollow. Apparently, the workers of the porcelume mining company, Porcelumex, were trapped in the Hollow for a while."
"Oh, are they okay?"
"They all made it out safely, although that's not what made it go viral. It had something to do with a video the news reporter showed at the end of it that had people on the streets and on the internet talking." Wise explained. "I haven't watched it myself, so hop on the HDD; we'll watch it together."
Belle sat on the chair as her brother prepped the recording that apparently went viral.
Wise grabbed a nearby chair and sat next to her before opening a video website showing the footage.
From the get-go, it was already weird, with the video thumbnail being a picture of a mysterious person shrouded in darkness.
"And... play."
Immediately, it was off to an unusual start as the video began with the news reporter barely holding it together as he rapidly spoke.
"Be-breaking news... Huff huff." It was then that the reporter took a deep breath and steadied himself. "One of the survivors of tonight's incident has just come forward with an incredible piece of footage while inside the Hollow. I... I must show it to you all tonight. Kevin! Play it!"
The news footage abruptly cuts to the footage in question, beginning as a group of survivors, with some being Corrupted, was barely fending off the encroaching Ethereal.
Just as it looked like one of them was about to be killed, a shot rang out. Both of them had thought it was a rescue team or even a group of Hollow Raiders lending aid, but to utter shock, a winged Ethereal revealed itself to them instead, holding a still-smoking shotgun in its hand.
What came next was even more astonishing as the Ethereal in question began to kill Ethereals, starting with the long-ranged ones.
The footage was remarkably stable given the situation, giving a full view of the fight. Although judging from the almost manic chuckle of the person recording along with the others, they were probably barely holding it together as well.
When the small fry was dealt with, they watched as the big, round, Ethereal rolled in circles around the winged Ethereal before launching its devastating attack, sending the winged one flying towards a wall.
The big guy's attention was then turned to the survivor as it charged up its attack once again.
And once again, just as they had thought they were about to watch a group of people killed, the winged Ethereal came back just in time to block its attack, with its body constantly absorbing, or at least that's what they thought it was, Ether into itself.
They then watched as a spectacular transformation took place, the Ethereal growing another pair of majestic wings behind its back and finally being able to overpower its attacker.
With a single powerful punch, the winged one was able to put its much bigger kin into a daze.
What came next was brutal as the winged one forcefully opened the bigger one's belly and repeatedly bashed its Core with its fist, although it was ultimately not able to break it.
Just as the big Ethereal was recovering from its dazed state, the winged Ethereal pulled some kind of metal out, which was then clogged full of Ether, causing it to fizzle in its hand.
Before anything happened, the winged Ethereal jammed it inside the bigger one's belly and then jumped off it.
Boom!
A few seconds later, whatever was forcefully inserted into that Ethereal's belly exploded, causing the camera to briefly go static.
Coming into view once again, the big guy, aside from its upper torso, was nowhere to be seen.
The winged Ethereal then focused its attention on the survivor, slowly walking towards them with its wings wide open, giving it an intimidating look.
It brushed past the still-standing survivor, instead going for the one undergoing Corruption. It then raised its hands and gave Belle and Wise, and probably anyone watching, another thing to be shocked at as the Ethereal then began to cure... no, purge the Corruption from the survivors.
They watched in real-time as the visible symptoms of Corruption faded away from their bodies, and by the end of it, it looked as if they hadn't even been in a Hollow at all.
The next moment was a blur as the Ethereal signaled the group to follow it, where it showed the survivors a fissure which then took them to the cable car before the footage ended there.
Belle and Wise didn't pay attention to what the news reporter was saying; their brains were too busy comprehending what they had just watched. The whole thing looked straight out of a horror movie, only, instead of everyone dying, the monster saved everyone. It puts everything they had known about Ethereal into question.
"Umm... Wise... What did we just watch?"
Wise gave Belle a stare. "I... I don't know."
.....
"Lindverne, there you are." Dracanae Sunbringer called out as she approached the edge of the dock in Vyrium where there was no one else in sight.
"Dracie, you called to meet me here, remember?" Lindverne sighed, already knowing why Dracanae wanted to meet up with her.
"I'm sure you've heard the news, right?"
"Of course, all of the department is talking about it, even in hushed whispers. The most surprising thing was that the news even reached here at all. Then again, given the context..."
"So, do you think the Ethereal might be similar to the ori..." Lindverne raised her hand up, shutting up Dracanae from speaking further.
"I don't know, Dracie. Maybe or maybe it's different." Lindverne answered the unasked question. "Eldreda said anything?"
Dracanae shook her head. "No. Just the usual."
"Oh well. Hey, Dracie, wanna hang around here a little while? The sea breeze is soothing."
Dracanae obliged as she and Lindverne then spent the hours gazing at the sea.
With the news of the strange Ethereal, whatever the future holds, the three Sunbringers at least had each other to share their burdens.