With wide eyes, Kain removed the necklace and heard the voice coming from Luna disappear, only leaving the squeaks she normally produced. He quickly slipped the necklace back on and listened to Luna. “So, does it work?” she asked.

“Yeah, it does.” he replied, nodding. He held in a grin from forming as he slipped one of the necklaces around Luna’s neck. “Does that help any?”

Her response sounded identical to what it was before, being her inner voice playing over her physical voice. “Nothing really changed, to be honest. I can still hear you just fine. Is there anything else these things do?” she muttered. Raising the gem up to her eyes, she studied it with a glare. “What about those books? Do you think that this could help us understand them?”

“Hmm… I’d doubt it, but it’s able to take whatever patterns your squeaking has and turn it into a coherent sentence. Maybe it could. Give me a minute.” he said. He pulled out the first book he could find in his amulet and looked at the cover. Instead of odd symbols, he instead saw a fine printed title that had seemed to be printed over a rubbed out line of symbols. He had no difficulty reading the title of the book, which read Ether Manipulation Essentials: Volume 8. He pulled out another book, which had a red cover whose title read Grakan Battle Automata Development History: The Beginning of the Steel Legion. Seeing these titles, he gave a hearty laugh. “Damn, you’re right! These things do translate books!” he exclaimed.

Curious, Luna climbed aboard her floating skull and floated next to Kain and read the books’ titles and gave a grin. “Looks like we’ll be able to read these books sooner rather than later. Though, it does feel a bit convenient to find a cache of books and the tool needed to read them so close to each other. Especially so when considering the fact that this is the first place we found ourselves in this entire city.” she stated.

He just shrugged. “I’d like to put meaning in it as well, but you really can’t. Think about it, this place is dozens of miles above the forest, and part of a different… island -I’ll use that- that are both separated by maybe miles of open skies.” he said. Pausing for a moment, he groaned. “Thinking about the different islands really shows how I need to change my thinking. For all we know, there could be an infinite number of islands in this place just floating above or below us. But, back on topic, just think about how long this place has been here. Do you remember?” he asked.

She nodded. “If I remember correctly, one day I went to sleep in my burrow and the next, there was a giant island floating above my head. I can’t tell you what happened while I was asleep, but it was all silent. I think it was… a few years ago. Not very long, anyway.” She paused and read the titles of the books. “But, what’s Ether? Is it the energy we use? If it is, then that means that we should start calling it Ether, right?” she mused.

Lifting an eyebrow, Kain looked at Luna, who was floating next to him. “You can read? How does that work?” he asked

“I just kind of know what they say. It’s kind of like trying to fully comprehend an abstract concept, I have to use abstract images as a sort of placeholder. Doing that, I can kind of read in a different way from what you said literature was.” she explained.

Nodding his head, he understood what she was saying. “Well, either way, we should probably continue exploring. At least until we find a good place to rest. I don’t think that I’ll be able to explore something too dangerous for a while.” he said. Nodding, Luna floated over to the glass tube in the middle of the room and looked inside.

“I think we have to go down this thing. Look.” She pointed downward and Kain followed her attention. The tube extended many floors down, and light from other floors flooded into the tube, lighting it up. Although he could see into many floors, he could not see the bottom, as there was either no light, or something was blocking it. He looked up, and saw that there were many fewer floors going upward than going downward. To top it off, there was a sunroof at the top that showed a view of the foggy blue sky above them.

He coughed to get her attention. “I think that we should go up to the top floor, then rest, then go down to the bottom after. You?”

Nodding, she looked for a way to open the door. “That sounds like a good idea, but we should also look into every floor between here and there; maybe we can find more of these necklaces!” she said, pawing at the necklace that was wrapped around her small neck. She pawed at her small cloak-like covering, scratching an itch. “By the way, I was wondering why you made these instead of making them with sleeves. Is there a reason?” She asked.

He looked around the glass tube and soon found the door. There was a button next to it, which he pressed. “At first, it was because sewing sleeves into it would have been, in my opinion, wasted effort. We’re just using these until we can get to Earth, so there’s no reason to make an entire arsenal, is there? After I figured out the whole shield design, I found that using these as a last line of defense would only be possible if we can throw it out at a moment’s notice.” As he finished his sentence, a small glass pod with brown caps slid up the tube. Unlike the almost pristine room they were standing in, the brown material was coated in various colors, ranging from bluish-purple to pure black. As well as that, the windows were mostly cracked and chipped, with one area completely shattered. He slowly stepped in, testing the weight with his foot before fully entering. On one of the walls next to the door, there was a panel covered in buttons, each having a number covering a murky line of symbols which he couldn’t make out. The button with the number 18 was glowing, and there were 23 numbered buttons with 2 more that seemed to imply a basement to the structure. After Luna flew in with her weapons, he pressed the 19 button. “And beyond all that, if I change it now, it may ruin the energy constructs. Well, I guess Ether constructs would be appropriate now. So that’s why I can’t change it in good conscience, it may get us killed. If it means anything, I could make something new if you don’t like that.” he offered. Luna just shook her head.

The elevator-like pod climbed slowly, lurching upward every few seconds, seemingly threatening to plummet down to the ground. Despite the poor state of the elevator, they were able to make it to the 19th floor. The room was almost exactly the same as the 18th floor, with even the tables being arranged at the same places. There were 30 doors as well, each having the same set of furniture and the same red gemmed necklace. The floor also had 2 bathrooms. They continued on their way, going up to the 20th floor and finding more of the same. They moved to the 21st floor and the 22nd floor, finding them to be the same as the previous floors. Once they reached the 23rd floor, however, there was a difference. Instead of a large common room with tables and benches strewn about, there was a small corridor surrounding the elevator with only two other doors.

“Well this is different.” Kain exclaimed.

“Let’s just go. I’m tired and I want a rest.” Luna complained. Kain nodded and opened the first door. Inside, there was a large room furnished like a luxury apartment. There was a kitchen set up, a dining area, an area with a circular couch surrounding a small table in the center, and 4 rooms. Checking them, they found bedrooms with the same furniture and another amulet on their desks. Of course, one of the rooms was a bathroom. For the sake of safety, they checked the other door they had ignored after leaving the elevator, finding an entirely identical room behind it.

Once the two had finished exploring, they sat on the couch and closed their eyes for a while. Before too long, however, Kain pulled out a book. The title read Ether Manipulation Essentials: Volume 1. “I’m going to start reading this. You want me to read to you while you rest?” He asked.

“That’d be nice. Thanks. I’ll try to stay awake for as long as possible.” She muttered, giving a smile.

He smiled back and opened the front cover. “Alright, here we go. ‘Chapter 1. As you are well aware, Ether exists everywhere in the world. While there may be areas of higher concentration, there are no areas that fall below a certain threshold of Ether density. Due to its pervasiveness, every complex animal, monster, Duvalid, Duvalad, Giant, and Titan possesses the ability to use it and manipulate it. Despite the universality of Ether, different creatures use it differently. Animals and monsters use what is known as instinct casting. They manipulate Ether, give it some vague meaning, then launch it at their foes. It is similar to having a piece of Ethersteel and, instead of shaping it to suit your needs, bashing your enemies to death with it. While it is simple, easy to use, and the only thing possible for most animals, it is inefficient and crude. Giants and Titans, on the other hand, use what is known as sigil casting. Sigil casting is the process of making a system of Ether in the air to cause some sort of effect. It is known for its versatility and effectiveness, but is incredibly Ether intense, requiring the caster to replenish their bodily Ether supply. Last but not least, us Duvalid and the Duvalad use what is known as imbedding casting. Imbedding casting is what allows us to fight against the Titans and their savage Giant hordes. It allows us to create systems of Ether and to imbed them into a material. This not only gives us the ability to create war machines like the Steel Legion, but also to enhance our everyday tools more so than Giants or Titans, as they can only fill a tool or metal with Ether to strengthen naturally.’ Hey Luna, we were right, Ether actually strengthens things naturally.” he said enthusiastically. He heard no reply from her and looked over. He found her cuddling with her black deer skull and sleeping. Seeing her like that caused him to quietly yawn, and the fatigue from the day snuck up on him all at once. He chuckled and put the book away. He did not need to put a bookmark in as he had not even gotten past the first page. Throwing the book into the amulet, he laid down with Luna next to his head and used his cloak as a blanket. “Good night, little sister.” he muttered in amusement, soon falling asleep.