Chapter 134: Above it all

Grandma slowly nodded with a gentle smile before her body morphed back to her original dragon form. She was quite small, even smaller than me, but hidden behind that small body was an explosive strength enough to humble even my father.

She flapped her wings and rose to the sky without making so much as a sound, her gaze then turned towards me as I felt her mana surround my body and gently carry me off the ground. I didn't need to fly or do anything and simply allowed myself to get carried away.

"Grandma, where are we going?" I curiously asked, to which she simply smiled and calmly replied.

"A place where you can see the entire picture,"

Before I had any time to ask her what she meant, our speed instantly picked up as we turned into two flashes of light that streaked through the sky leaving a blazing trail behind. Even so, I still did not need to do anything and simply allowed her mana to drag me along.

I watched as we gradually rose higher from the ground, our destination seemingly outer space. My heart thumped loudly in my chest as we kept rising higher and higher, grandma having no intentions of slowing down.

The wind the was supposed to assault me was blocked by her mana, encompassing me within an invisible barrier of sorts. "Grandma?" I called out hesitantly. Her usual gentle smile still hung on her face, as we continued flying without any disturbances whatsoever.

We moved unhurriedly, almost as if we were simply going for a stroll. Seeing how grandmother had no intentions of explaining things any further, I turned my attention back to the land below and watched as everything grew smaller and smaller.

It was my first time reaching this height, and all I could see below was our continent. I couldn't even catch a glimpse of the sea whatsoever, instead, I managed to find the abnormally large lake situated near our floating mountain.

'Damn it's huge,' I inwardly mumbled as I scanned the land.

Soon, however, everything became nothing but a small dot, I subconsciously raised my head only to pause in surprise and awe. The sky appeared as if it was divided in half, the lower part was the familiar blue color while above it was the abyssal black color of space.

For a second I wasn't able to move my gaze from the scene as I watched the world change while we stepped out of our planet's atmosphere. Not long after, even the blue disappeared below me, as an abnormally large planet was left behind.

Yet grandmother still didn't stop. Instead, she picked up her speed causing us to move away from the blue planet at a faster rate. Soon, its entire shape was visible before me, grandmother then finally slowed down before she drew closer to me.

My eyes were still glued to the blue pearl we had just left before I unconsciously moved my head to scan our surroundings. Behind us, the sun shone brightly, while the moon floated on the other side. A frown quickly made its way to my mind as I realized something.

I was still okay, I didn't feel any discomfort being here, I didn't feel any temperature change, I didn't even the heat of the sun rays from behind me. Quite the opposite, everything was pleasant as if I was still on the planet.

'This must be grandmother's doing,' I inwardly noted as I glanced at the mana shield that surprisingly 'still' surrounded me even after we left the planet.

This brought me to another point I had completely lost contact with all the other elements, the only thing I could sense stronger than ever was the cosmic element. As for the water element, earth, element, the ones that remained were those 'tamed' within my soul space, which gave me a vague sense that I could only use those in here, still, I wasn't quite sure about the level of impact any attack would have in here.

I could very vaguely sense the darkness element as well, though since my affinity to it was almost negligible, I could barely feel it. 'So this is outer space,' I mumbled still in awe. Very faint stars were spread in all directions, their light extremely dull, almost insignificant in the dark space.

Grandmother remained silent as she watched over the blue planet below us. For a while, nobody spoke, I was still immersed in the new scenery, everything was completely different from this point of view. Everything looked so small and insignificant, the planet, the moon, the sun...us...

After a while, grandmother broke the silence. Her voice reverberated directly in my mind. "You see that little planet below, that's your home little Aether," I slowly nodded.

A small part of me couldn't help but think back to a similar blue-looking planet, one that I also once called home. Grandma then calmly continued speaking, "In the grand scheme of things, we are all quite trivial," She said with a sigh, "This is what some of us sometimes forget. Confidence and pride are good, blind arrogance and overconfidence on the other hand will only lead you to an early grave, remember that little Aether, remember that and remember the scene before you, see how small you truly are in the grand scale of everything,"

I slowly nodded to indicate my understanding, for some reason, grandmother at this time looked quite lonely standing there. A sad smile hung on her face as she overlooked everything. I wanted to say something, but the moment my mouth opened, no words came out, I didn't know what to say.

"You asked me about the difference between us and the Shades," She continued, "To put it in simple terms, the Shades sever the connection of the elements and corrupt it, turning the elements into things that should not be,"

Her body then morphed back into that of a human, as she continued her explanation almost as if nothing happened. "Us on the other hand can be considered a part of everything, a part of the stream, and a part of the mana. When you build your soul space and fill it up with elements, you don't completely erase that connection they have with the stream, no, you can consider it like the elements changing owners while still remaining under the same roof,"

"Do you understand?" She asked with a gentle smile as she turned her head towards me.

"Somewhat," I answered.

"Don't worry too much little Aether, there are still many things you don't know, and many more you'll eventually learn with due time, you just have to be patient and take your time with everything, don't try to jump stages, while I admit you are talented, you still lack a direction, a goal, you are merely going with the flow. First, find something you want to do, figure that out first, to do that, you need to understand yourself," Saying that, her eyes seemed to look right through me as she asked.

"Do you know yourself, Aether?"