Chapter 73: Consequences

My eyes blinked as I found myself still sitting in the middle of the large lake. A frown made its way onto my face as I tried to open my soul space once again only to fail miserably. The mana that I had accumulated had surprisingly been wiped clean, meaning my soul space was broken as well.

'What the-?' Right as I was about to start gathering more mana to rebuild It, a pain unlike any I have felt before suddenly assaulted me causing me to collapse. It was not a physical one, but It felt like It came directly from my soul. A loud cry unconsciously escaped my mouth causing the water below me to shake, my eyes turned bloodshot as the pain quickly turned unbearable.

I lost all my mobility as my body refused to give move an inch under the pain. I was constantly praying for someone, anyone to make It stop, to my immediate horror, a few of my scales even began to fall off further increasing the pain. My mind was blank as I prayed to lose my conscienceness, all for It to stop. Yet like a cruel joke, no matter how hard prayed, nothing seemed to change.

I remained fully conscious as I felt my insides twist and turn, It felt as If countless sharp knives were stabbed all across my body, with my heart area being the one in the most pain. I was unable to move and simply laid there limply while crying out loud.

I did not know for how long my torment continued before a shadow dropped next to me. My gaze was blurry, yet I still managed to make out Essie's anxious figure. She fidgeted around me, panicking as she did not understand what was happening to me.

Her eyes darted between my collapsed figure and the direction where our floating mountain was situated at. As if finally making up her mind, Essie swiftly moved from behind me, her paws grabbing me by the horns as she flapped her abnormally large wings and took off with me in toe.

I could feel the wind mana surrounding my body as It helped her carry me. Our height and weight differences were very large, yet that did not seem to matter much to her, I was sure the scene of her small figure dragging me by the horns would be considered comical at any other day, yet I had no leisure to think about that.

"Big brother, just wait a little longer I'll take you back to mother and you will be alright! Just wait! I'll definitely save you! Just wait!" She constantly repeated that to me, yet It seemed more as If she was saying It to reassure herself instead.

My screams thundered through the skies as we made our way back home, the pain did not subside and was still unbearable. I had never felt anything like It before. At that moment, I regretted everything that led me here. I regretted playing with mana, I regretted experimenting with soul space, I regretted even trying In the first place.

As soon as we closed in on the mountain, my siblings swiftly appeared by our side. Immy's usually calm demeanor was broken as an anxious expression plagued her face, Sidus was no better he hastily moved to help support Essie who was holding me. Ynos's eyes were wide open in shock and disbelief as he saw my pathetic state, he was unable to move as his mouth hung open.

"What happened?!" Anxiously asked Sidus.

"I-I don't know, I-I just heard big brother scream and found him like this," Answered Essie with a stutter, her paws never quite leaving my horns.

"Let's take him to mother!" Hastily said Immy, before she hit Ynos on the head. "Snap out of it and help!" She said, to which he quickly followed, his eyes still hazy in disbelief. I could feel all of their mana surrounding me as they tried to be as gentle as they could while carrying me.

Mother was standing outside of the cave with a serious expression on her face as she watched us land. "M-Mother! Something is wrong with big brother! Please save him!" Cried out, Essie. Sidus who was right behind her lowered his head to mother, Immy and Ynos did the same.

Seeing that she was being too rash, Essie hastily lowered her head as well. Mother looked at them, and then back at me before she spoke. "Silly child, raise your head." She said, to which Essie gingerly looked up to face mother's gaze.

"It seems like Aether tried to form his soul space. He also succeeded albeit his success was short-lived." Said mother causing all of my siblings' eyes to widen in surprise as they turned to look at me in shock. Mother had already informed them that should they want to apply for their rite of passage, that they had to obtain and master their soul space first. I already knew that from grandfather so I wasn't too surprised.

"If he succeeded how come he is like this mother?" Asked Immy.

"While It is true that he managed to form his soul space, this child did not realize his limits and ended up draining it before It had been able to stabilize, what he is experiencing is the consequences of his rash actions," She said with a sigh.

"B-But mother, you can help him right?" Jumped Essie, in a pleading tone.

To that, mother shook her as another sigh escaped her mouth. "Soul space is a dragon's greatest strength and greatest weakness at the same time. I can not intervene, the only thing Aether can do is wait it out until It passes. Bring him inside the cave." She added, to which my siblings hastily used their mana to bring me inside and gently set me down in a corner.

They all watched over me with worried expressions, Essie was fidgeting as she buried her head under Immy's wing. Sidus walked towards the deeper part of the cave, his figure seemingly merging with the shadows, yet I could still feel his gaze on me.

Ynos had a blank expression of disbelief on his face, he simply stood there watching over me. He was surprisingly calm, his usually over-enthusiastic demeanor was nowhere to be found. I, on the other hand, laid limply on the ground, my voice was hoarse from screaming too much, I had no more energy.

The pain continued for what seemed to be a few hours, I was never quite able to get used to it. Finally, I slowly began to regain control over my limbs, the pain subsided yet I had no power to move anything. Seemingly sensing that, Essie rapidly rushed to my side and licked my face affectionately.

"You are okay big brother, you are okay," She kept repeating that, to which I simply gave a tired forced smile.

Mother who was sitting down near the entrance all this time stood up and walked towards me. Her eye seemed to study my body before she nodded. "Do you know what you did wrong?" She asked, to which I forced myself to shake my head weakly in reply.

Sidus moved towards us to hear what she had to say, as all my siblings seemed to pay close attention to her. Mother then proceeded to explain. "Your mana ran out, leaving only your inner energy behind which caused your soul space to collapse. Your soul space is akin to a world created within you, to sustain this world, you need to constantly provide it with Mana all the while using your inner energy to keep it In check, what you did wrong was being too hasty and making too many changes inside your soul space which consumed all of the mana you had accumulated creating an imbalance, the result of that is as you can see,"

I weakly nodded in understanding, I wanted to ask mother more questions yet all the tiredness suddenly overtook me as my eyelids felt immensely heavy. 'Let's just rest, heavens know I need It,' and with that, I finally drifted into the blissful embrace of sleep.