Tartaglia X Aether Novels & Stories

above, echoing like a clock counting down.“I don’t like this,” Hale muttered. “It’s too quiet.”“It’s a tunnel,” I said. “It’s supposed to be quiet.”“No,” Sora said. “He’s right.”She knelt suddenly, fingers brushing the stone. A frown creased her brow.“The air’s changed,” she said. “Something’s breathing down here.”I unsheathed my blade in one fluid motion. “Living?”Her eyes glowed faintly. “No.”We kept moving, faster now. Purpose overtook fear. Every step deeper meant fewer steps back—but none of us would stop.Then we saw it.The Aether Cradle.It glowed with a sick, shifting light—veins of power pulsing beneath the stone like a dying heart. Runes etched into the walls long before any kingdom

The very air distorted around her, warping under the weight of her power. "Alpha of Nightshades," she crooned, extending a clawed hand. "How kind of you to deliver yourself to me." Alaric didn't waste words. He lunged. Agatha flicked her wrist. The ground beneath him erupted in a spiral of black thorns. They coiled around his legs, tearing through fur and flesh alike. Alaric roared, but didn't stop— couldn't stop— not with Aurora's scent threading through the carnage.

The fate of their packs, the Blood Moon and the Shadow Fang, hung in the balance between them, a fragile peace shattered by a single, undeniable truth. They shared a fated mate. Aethyra stood between them, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. She was human, a fact that should have made her fragile, but the power thrumming through her veins was anything but. It was a latent force, a key waiting to turn in a lock. She could feel it responding to them, a searing heat answering Xyrex’s fire, a cool, deep resonance harmonizing with Zhilax’s ice. Their combined gazes felt like physical touches, one hot, one cold, stripping her bare.

"They aren't even looking at us." "They aren't real, Kaelor. They’re loops. Pre-recorded ghosts." Aradaa pressed his palm against a nearby terminal. The screen flickered, then died in a hiss of violet sparks. His static aura had curdled into something denser—a void-field that swallowed data whole. "The Aether is trying to get in my head. It feels like... like needles made of ice." "Hold it together, Scholar. We’re close. I can smell the ozone and... baby powder?" Kaelor kicked open a pair of massive, translucent doors.

The guards shifted nervously. Luke’s jaw tightened. “Answer the question.” The gray eyes returned to Lily. “I am what remains when heaven and hell exhaust themselves.” Silence stretched. The city beyond the courtyard held its breath. “You may call me Aether,” the figure finally said. Not a name. A designation. A function. The word struck something deep inside her chest. Aether. The space between. The unseen medium through which light traveled. Not light itself. Not darkness. The field that allowed both to exist.

"Inside the lattice of the light, I found echoes. Not just energy signatures, but neural patterns. The Jade Isles aren't 'distilling' the sun, Elora. They are siphoning the collective consciousness of a race of beings made of light—the Aetherials. They trap them, compress them into cores, and burn their essence for fuel." A cold rage, sharper than any frost I had ever summoned, settled in my chest. "They are burning souls to stay warm." "And the Aether-Born children like Lyra?" Thane asked, his voice a low thunder as he joined us. "Are they connected to these beings?"

And rage. “You’re losing your grip, Umbraeth,” Zethra said coldly. “And they want vengeance.” Umbraeth’s body twitched violently, portions of it disintegrating into black smoke. “You... you cannot destroy what was made to consume you.” Saelari stepped forward. Her voice layered with the voice of every spirit now behind her. “You are not our end. We are yours.” She raised her hand, fire swirling in a perfect spiral—phoenix-born, spirit-forged, ancient as time.

"Fuck you, Langit!" Alvaro Zeinial Alexander, the younger brother of Keira and the same person as the man who claimed to be Cherry's lover. From that moment on, he chose to wipe out those who were responsible for his sister's death.

She flew her hands around me and face Neneuis and her friends. "What's with the transfer students ploy, Nene?" Tiffany saved me. I heaved a sigh and my shoulders relaxed. "We need help!" Neneuis replied. I noticed the other boy was plucking daffodils and other wildflowers in the garden. He stoop low and the other girl in pigtails with a strand of silver hair gave him a little basket. "Aether is lost again. Finding his daughter!" My ears rang and my eyes widened at Neneuis. My unsolvable problem appeared right in front of me. Tiffany caressed my shoulder.

I offered, the words leaving my lips before I could stop them. A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "No, no. You are a guest. Please, rest. It has been a long while since I have had company." Her fingers found two ceramic cups, a slight fumble betraying her as she set them on the counter. "I am Seraphiel Aethel," she said, turning to face us, a cup held in her delicate hands. "And you are?" "Thalia Cevrean," I answered. She started towards us, but my eyes darted to Cassius. His voice was a low, unnerving calm. "I am Cassius Glimoak."