Robert talked to Freddy for more than half an hour. He asked about his life at the breeding facility, the Taulusian culture, values, and tales. The more he learned, the more he sympathized with them.

He confirmed most of his assumptions too. They were refugees, an underdog tribe that opportunistically joined the humans to flee their home world and survive. They apparently forged a pact with the group that took them back to Earth to live as pets in exchange for safety. While Robert felt it was a crappy deal for the Taulusian, it could be worse. The Mollusks, for example, had it harder. They were killed and their bodies harvested.

"I'm not part of this covenant your people formed with the other human organization, though," barked Robert as he pointed it out at the end. "What I want is for you to forget that previous pact your people had with the other humans. Which means we need to put another one in place. We humans have this concept of brotherhood without blood bonds. This is what I meant when I said we were lick brothers. No, that's not some tradition. It was just something I came up with on the spot. But it's the sentiment that matters.

"Here. We are family. Think of me as someone who was born in the same litter as you. I will help and protect you to the best of my abilities, and you will do the same. Not as pet and master, but as brothers. Fellow warriors, though I understand if you don't want to fight. You don't need to. I think it's better if you don't fight."

"Agreed," Freddy woofed.

"Let's go, people might be worried about what happened here. Let's go outside, you stay close to me, okay. We need to test your talent."

"Let's go. I want to stretch and run. And yes, I'll be by your heels like they trained me."

Freddy vanished. Robert felt his stomach sink but he had to trust the connection they made. One day, Freddy might go back to his home realm with his kin. One day, they might need to say farewell for good. The Taulusian would not find a place on Earth, of which he was pretty sure. Not with the power-hungry Archhuman organizations out there. He walked to the door and hesitated to open it. But he did. Robert walked out and then waited five seconds before closing it. He went to the lobby. Amanda and Noah were nowhere.

"Hey, are you Robert?" A student asked from a couch. "Your professor took your girlfriend away. They told you to meet them in the library."

Several other students snickered at the mention of a teacher taking a guy's girlfriend. Robert ignored them if not for one issue.

"I'm Miss Samson's bodyguard, not her boyfriend," he said out loud.

"Whatever," the guy shrugged.

Robert ignored the gazes and headed for the dorm exit. But another student blocked his way by standing in the middle of the doorway, a hand on each side of the frame. He stared at the kid, probably nineteen years old.

"What is it?"

"What the hell happened to Pablo?"

"Ask the Academy. I did nothing to him."

"The fuck you didn't. You put him to sleep."

Robert smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Yes. And he should've remained asleep. Regardless, he gave me permission."

"What the hell? Since when a 'whatever' is considered permission?"

"Again. Ask the Academy. I already told them what I knew about both incidents, here and at the cafeteria. Now, are you going to stay planted there fouling the ambient like a demonic tree?"

The guy moved forward and went head-to-head with Robert. "You think you're hot shit?"

"No. I don't think I'm shit. Now, move or be moved."

"Try me." He challenged with a smirk. At least the guy didn't have a bad breath.

Robert decided to refrain from touching the guy. With this much confidence, he probably had a rooting power or some mental resistance. Robert used haste on himself, then ducked underneath the guy's arm. A foot shot out and caught his shin, causing him to trip. He cursed for not using foresight. It seemed he had to keep it active at all times while in the Academy.

The other students laughed at him.

The guy crouched next to Robert but placed a hand on the small of his back. He leaned forward. "You tell us where the unique spirit is, and we leave you alone. The void beckons, motherfucker."

With that, the other student walked out of the building, quickly disappearing around the corner.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

*

*

Robert entered the library. He had no idea if Freddy was there with him but then again nobody would. The talent that Prime granted was really scary. Not even the sense of touch worked on it. The only way to tell Freddy's location was to push against him. The talent didn't make the Taulusian intangible. But as long as Freddy avoided that? Maybe one could sense the air currents he made as he moved around and displaced air. But the latter was a conjecture Robert came up with.

He went to the front desk. "I was told I could find Professor Actus and his pupil here?"

"Are you Robert? You are late for your lecture. Professor Actus told us to send you to the meeting room E-5 on the third floor."

"Thanks a lot. The professor knew I had issues with attending before I could make it. Don't worry."

"Sure. Welcome to the library. Please observe the rules."

Robert nodded and climbed the stairs. He thought it was rude of the library clerk to assume these things about him but the kind of student he interacted with in the dorm lobby might be commonplace.

He had no trouble finding the meeting room. He knocked and entered. Amanda was sitting by the table while Actus scribbled stuff on the whiteboard. It seemed he was helping Amanda plan her tempering techniques. She wasn't happy.

"Hey, missed me?" He asked in jest.

Amanda sighed and nodded. "How did things go with Freddy?"

He felt relieved nobody commented on the time he took. Honestly, it was a short amount if you considered how distressed Freddy was this morning. But maybe the Taulusians weren't as prone to mental breakdowns as humans were. Who knew how alien minds worked? Not him, for sure.

"Freddy? Are you there?" Robert asked in the Taulusian language.

"Yes," Freddy yipped without breaking his stealth.

"You speak his language now?" Noah asked.

"Yes. Spent six days and my entire essence pool learning it from the vestige. I'm pretty spent."

"Six days," Noah repeated. "That's what? One hour..."

"Twenty-six minutes, and twenty-four seconds in real life," Robert completed. He had memorized several conversions beforehand. "It takes me fourteen minutes and twenty-four seconds to get a whole day in there."

"That's a lot of time to study. Amanda told me you borrowed hundreds of books each day from the arcology library."

"I hope it helps me blast through the exams," Robert said with a laugh.

"Except you will have no written exam this semester," Actus replied with a laugh of his own. "It will be all practical scores and how much you can grow your abilities. I would say you needed to hit two stars by the end of it but with your circumstances, that would be imprudent of me."

Robert took a seat. "Well, don't hold the lecture because of me."

Noah and Amanda continued to discuss the tempering techniques. Robert found Freddy sitting on the floor next to his leg. At the end of the lecture, Noah asked.

"Robert, what is the best quality healing you can give someone else?"

"On a good day, normal. I have a spell to heal myself that can reach supernatural."

"We need to work on that. As a one-star Life Arch, your goal is to deliver consistent normal-quality healing. It's okay to have a first-aid or minimal secondary spell for emergencies and to save essence but you need to get better at healing. Among your other three affinities."

"I'll keep it in mind."

"Do you have any spell for the Void affinity?"

That refreshed Robert's mind. He raised a hand. "I found a student that might be related to this void cult that infiltrated the Academy."

"Really? What did he do or say?"

Robert told them. He kept the part about the unique spirit to himself now. He was pretty sure the cultists wanted Mickey and he wasn't about to betray the mouse spirit.

"Do you know who this student is?"

"No, unfortunately." As Robert said that, the student appeared on the opposite side of the table, in the same position as when he blocked the door. He wasn't moving so it was probably one of Freddy's illusions. "On second thought, he looked exactly like that."

Noah raised an eyebrow. Amanda clapped. "is it you who's creating the illusion, Freddy? Good bo—"

"Amanda!" Robert called out.

The girl clapped her mouth shut, then sighed. "Sorry, Freddy."

"No offense taken," Freddy barked. He canceled his stealth and put his front paws on the table. Freddy reached five feet if he stood up on only two legs but it was awkward with his digitigrade legs.

"Now we only need to match the face to a name. Do you recognize him, Amanda?" Noah asked.

"No. But he might be a new student that arrived this semester. I need to ask around."

Actus took a contraption and pressed a button. "I took a picture of his face. I'll check it with the administration later on. I think you two should go back to your dorms and take the rest of the day off. It was a very stressful day for you, I'm sure."

Robert smiled. For him, these incidents were weeks ago.

Amanda yawned and stretched. "Okay, then."

"You should start with the tempering techniques tomorrow morning. I'll book a gathering room for the two of you. Keep Robert close by so he can heal you if anything goes wrong."

"Okay, teacherman," Robert said. It felt right to call Noah that.

*

*

He escorted Amanda to the female dorm, on the other side of a classroom building. The sun was almost setting when Robert made it back to the male dorm. He tried to see if any of the students in the lobby were there back when he was harassed but found no familiar faces. He went to his apartment and held the door open for a few seconds so Freddy could make it inside. He threw himself on the couch.

"Freddy, are you there?" He asked.

Freddy appeared in front of him. "Here!"

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes. But we have no food," Freddy replied.

"Wait, what?"

Robert stood up and went to the kitchen to check the fridge. His venison and hamburgers had vanished. Feeling a premonition, he went to the cabinet and looked inside. The extra bag of Freddy's food was also missing.

He turned and looked at Freddy. "Weren't all those dogs illusions?"

Freddy tilted his head. "Not at the beginning. Biscuit brought them here to celebrate my awakening."

"Who's Biscuit?"

"The corgi with purple tentacles. He taught me how to create illusions," Freddy said as he made an illusion of the eldritch corgi.

Robert's jaw dropped. "They were real?"

"Yes. Biscuit is the absolute of my world."

"What's an absolute? The strongest? You are saying to me this Biscuit is also a Taulusian?"

"We don't know. He arrived centuries ago and started to help us. I always thought he was a legend until he showed up."

A corgi that can teleport between dimensions? Robert shivered. At least it sounded friendly, even if he called Robert an (asshole).