His second moment of waking with magic proved to be much gentler than his first. He still awoke to the shock of feeling the strange presence inside of him, but it was much less impactful and, even in his drowsy state, he was quicker to recognize it for what it was. Also, the fact that there weren’t any headache inducing threads baying at his consciousness probably had a lot to do with him having a better first moment of the day.

He groaned while getting up, remembering that he had yet another workout ahead of him. And the last one not even twelve hours ago. After rushing to finish his morning obligations, he found himself with a couple of minutes to spare after meditating, so he turned his mind towards practicing gathering. Which, outwardly, looked the same as meditating, but inwardly lacked pretty much all that made meditation what it was. He supposed that at some point, he could become so used to the process that it will feel like meditating. Or maybe not. Who knows just how complex the advanced (or hell, just basic) gathering techniques were?

A few minutes later, he was dressed and ready to partake in the destruction of his body yet again. Making sure to take his bag and headphones with him today, he met Sarah downstairs, and they began making their way towards the same gym from two days ago. “How are you feeling?” Sarah asked.

Sam stifled a yawn. “Pretty good, all things considered. Had a go at gathering for a bit. Didn’t go as easy as I hoped it would. Like it went the last time yesterday.”

“That’s to be expected. You’re trying your hand at something completely new. It’s going to take some time before you get comfortable doing it first thing in the morning.”

“Thanks, but surprisingly, I wasn’t all that worried while doing that. Guess that even constant anxiety must take a break.”

“You know that reminding yourself over and over how you have anxiety is only helping your anxiety stay a constant presence in you. Don’t miss the opportunity to reinvent yourself, you’ve got a new body, a new brain—”

“Wow. Thanks for reminding me of that. It’s not like I already had a dozen imaginary debates about the Ship of Theseus in the last couple of days.

“Point is, you don’t need to relegate yourself to feeling the same way that you used to. You have to hope that things are going to be better.”

“You don’t have to convince me of that. I’m a constant optimist I am. What? Seriously! Ask any one of my therapists. I always told them how I believed that I was going to feel better and be better eventually. And hey, it might just be the mind-altering magic, but I do feel better.”

“It’s not that. Just you watch. In a couple of months, even after your mind gets used to magic, you’re going to find yourself feeling just as good as you feel now.”

“Hopefully.” Sam sighed. He was obviously far from comfortable speaking about the possible change in his neurochemical state at this point in his new life. He still had to spend some more time with his new body and brain, and he still wasn’t sure what was the new him and what was just the temporary effects of getting used to magic. Just as long as I remain some version of myself at the end of the journey.

He and Sarah made it to the gym, this time before Felix and Yvessa, but it was barely a minute later that they were joined by the two. “I meant to ask,” Sam said, “but where exactly are the two of you sleeping? Did you guys make sure that this gym and the usual mess hall are really the most efficient for us to meet at? Distance and time wise?”

“It is,” Felix said. “I made sure of it.” He then took out his phone and show Sam his and Yvessa’s dorm buildings, and then proceeded to eliminate any other possible meeting location besides their usual.

“Nicely done.” Sam was impressed.

Yvessa rolled her eyes. “Yes, what we would we do without the extra five minutes that we gain by meeting at the optimal spot?”

“Hey!” Felix said. “That’s an extra five minutes every day. It adds up.”

“And how do you use your extra five minutes, then?”

“That changes from day to day. Whatever I happen to need to do that particular day.”

“Oh? So you don’t use it to just browse the internet for memes?”

“Of course not!” He leaned close to Sam. “I also use it for porn.”

“Right on brother.” Sam made a fist.

“But think about it, Yvessa. If I didn’t have those five extra minutes, then I would have had to take them from some place else. Potentially cutting into my training time.”

“Or you could just try and live without them,” she said. “Hey, that’s a novel idea.”

“Without porn? I might be an amazing human being, but I’m still a human being, you know? Besides, aren’t you the one that skipped on cardio two days ago to go and talk with your family and friends? That’s way more than two minutes.”

“Are you seriously equating talking with the people I love to you watching porn?”

“Now hold on a minute,” Sam said. “He could be watching porn of the people he loves.”

“Ew…”

Sarah groaned. “C’mon Sam.”

“What? It’s not like I said, your loved ones. They’re Felix’s. Why do you care whether you see his siblings naked?”

“I’m the oldest of four, mate.” Felix said. “And the oldest beside me is still four years younger than me.”

“Hey, I’m not the one looking at porn right after I wake up.”

“Neither am I. I save those five minutes for a use after a shower, shave them off from my before bed cultivation session because I spent five more minutes cultivating in the morning.”

“No, you don’t,” Yvessa said.

“Yeah, well… At the end of the day it’s five extra minutes that I can use for whatever I need. Be it for fun or training. The four of us are better off thanks to me figuring out exactly where the best spot for us to meet is.”

Sam nodded. “I’m with Felix. Minimizing wastage of time is, as I’m sure you remember, one of the few moral edicts that I’m a willing to wholeheartedly define as objectively true.”

“Why thank you, Sam. It’s nice to finally be appreciated.”

They properly started their workout after that point, which passed mostly uneventfully. Sarah sticking close to Sam, once again spending the time that she should have been dedicating to her own improvement on him. He eventually managed to extricate himself from her, and get her to go back to focusing on her own barely half done training by noting that he could do the last few sets required next to Felix and Yvessa as they were more than qualified to watch and correct his form.

“She’s riding you hard, huh?” Felix smiled once Sam rejoined them.

“Hardly,” Yvessa said. “She’s still taking it easy on him.”

“C’mon Yvessa, I really am giving it my best, you know?” Sam said.

“Of course you are. I’m not arguing against that. Rather that you could still be doing your best, and completing the assigned workout, even were it harder. But as long as Sarah isn’t pushing you as far as you can go, you’ll never know your limits.”

“Am I really not trying hard enough?” Sam’s face flushed, which was pretty impressive considering he was already plenty warm from the exertion.

“Nah, don’t listen to her, mate. You’re doing fine. Someone seems to be having trouble differentiating between the two Thread-Weavers she knows. You do remember that until a week ago, Sam was in the hospital with no legs, right? If he wanted to go to the beach every day for a week and just drink cocktails, I’d still say, ‘Hey, nice effort.’”

“Ridiculous. He is slated to be a future Ruler at the very least, and that was before Farris decided to take him under his wings. If Sam starts taking it easy, then it’s just going to instill bad habits in him that will hurt him in the long run.”

“So you do admit that he isn’t currently taking it easy, then?”

“I already said that he wasn’t. He isn’t wasting his time on the beach drinking cocktails. But he can still push himself a bit more. I believe in him.”

“I don’t,” Sam said.

She waved him off. “You are just a total worrywart. Believe me, you’ll be just fine.”

“I don’t think I’m feeling comfortable with the amount of people that say they believe in me lately, much less how much they believe in me. You guys don’t know me.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” Felix said. “I think that you are just one bad hair day away from having a complete meltdown.”

“Now I know you’re joking because I only have bad hair days.”

“Nah, it’s not so bad. Sure, it could do with a little bit of upkeep, but that’s true for most guys.”

“So to sum things up, I have you guys’s confirmation that I’m putting in enough effort, right?”

“You have my approval, at least. I don’t think that Yvessa here will let anything besides gaining one level every week meet hers.”

“Enough! I said that he’s doing fine, didn’t I? But that doesn’t mean that he still can’t put in more effort. The more effort he puts in now, the easier it’ll be on him in the long run. It’s all about creating a healthy and nurturing habit.”

“I don’t think that comparing yourself to Erianna Ninae is a particularly healthy and nurturing habit.” Yvessa huffed in response. “What you need to do, Sam, is listen to your old pal Felix here. As long as there isn’t a chance that you’ll become better than me at something, I’m sure to lead you straight.”

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“Thank you Felix.” Sam said. “And by the way, can I just say how nice it is to be referenced as an old chum when we’ve just met for the first time forty-eight hours ago?”

“That’s the power of the military! It makes you find lifelong friends by virtue of forcing you into a foreign, competitive, and even somewhat hostile environment.”

“Don’t forget about having to fight back to back with the people you meet,” Yvessa said.

“Some of the people we meet. Let’s not forget the three of us are bona-fide talents that are sure to make it to Ruler.”

“So you’ve pivoted back to being sure that we’ll making to Ruler?”

“Yep. Pretty sure.”

“Well, I’m holding my fingers for you guys,” Sam said. “It would suck if after all the effort I put into cultivating our relationship it’ll all go to waste and I’m gonna have to learn some other people’s names once I become a Ruler.”

“You’re going to have to do that anyway,” Yvessa said.

“Nuh uh. You can’t have that many active characters in a story, silly. The audience is going to lose track of all of them.”

“So you’re back on the life is a story train now that Sarah is out of earshot?” Felix laughed.

“Only for comedic effects. Like, for example, how do I know that Felix is sure to make it to Ruler, you ask? Cause he’s gay, and he’s the only gay guy that I’ve met, meaning that he can’t die unless a cooler, better gay character is introduced.”

“I’m not the only gay guy you’ve met. That medic Javi, that healed you? He’s also gay.”

“How do you know that?” Yvessa asked.

“Well…” Felix smiled crookedly. “You know how.”

“Ew. How old is he?”

“Please Yvessa!” Sam cried. “It’s the 6th century. You can’t say that about gay sex anymore. No matter how disgusting it may truly be.”

“That’s not what I criticizing.”

“Well, it should’ve been,” Felix said. “It was pretty disgusting, if you know what I mean.”

“A neutered cat would know what you mean. That’s not what my point was. Isn’t he thirty or something?”

“What? No. He only graduated a year and a half ago. After his year of Military Training, he was posted back to New Terra because he wanted to do research.”

“Look who know’s all about Javi the Medic all of a sudden.” Sam would’ve whistled if he could. “And where was all that knowledge before? You trying to hide your boyfriend from us? Or from Maurice maybe?”

“Heh, no way. He isn’t my boyfriend. I don’t do boyfriends.” The fact that Yvessa used both her hand and mouth to mimic Felix must have meant that she heard that line plenty of times before. “We only met once, had some beers, went back to his place, you know the deal. Him graduating and being posted back here are literally the only two things that I know about him.”

“Was the sex at least disgusting? Or did you also lie about that?”

“It was gay sex. Of course it was disgusting.”

“Very nice.” Sam gave him a thumbs up. “But I think it would have been funnier if you took out the ‘gay’ part. Just, ‘sex is disgusting.’”

“You know, I thought about that. But I figured that with how much of a disgusting bigot you are, you would better appreciate my joke if it also offended a minority group.”

“That’s mighty nice of you, thank you very much. Here’s hoping that in an alternative universe where non-asexuals are a marginalized group, the version of you is saying the funnier line.”

“Amen.”

“You two are just like peas in a pod, aren’t you?” Yvessa rolled her eyes.

“A gay pod.”

“There it is,” Sam said. “In other news… Do you guys think that I tend to sidetrack the conversation sometimes?”

“Not at all. And besides, is it really sidetracking if you bring the dialogue to a much better place?”

“You’re right. How stupid of me to worry.”

“Do you two want me to leave you alone so you could carry this stupid conversation by yourselves?” Yvessa asked.

“Yvessa please. Two men, in a gym, speaking only to each other? That’s gay.”

“He’s right.” Felix nodded. “Unless they’re talking about women, of course. Then that’s just guy talk. It’s like that test for checking if a book is sexist, only for gayness. What’s the real thing called?”

“The Bechdel test.”

“Right, it’s like the Bechdel test. If two guys are talking with each other in a book and it’s not about woman, then they’re gay.”

“Which is why I’ve ended all my one-on-one conversations with guys since coming here by asking them what do they think about Thatcher. Because if there’s one thing everyone knows, is that gay guys can’t talk about Thatcher. And speaking of powerful women who, perhaps, could’ve done more to combat institutionalized sexism.” Sam turned to Yvessa. “I’ll also need you to speak with Sarah alone at one point. And make sure not to talk about me or any other man. We need to pass Bechdel in order to sell the book to the progressive crowd.”

“Isn’t having a gay character enough?” Felix asked.

“That’s a good question. Yvessa, thoughts?”

“Right now, I’m thinking that I’ll tell Sarah that you’ve been really stretching your breaks between sets.”

“That won’t work,” said Felix, as Sam was prevented from speaking due to going back to the weights. “You’ll fail the test. You can’t speak about men.” Sam grunted in agreement.

“What if it’s a book about lesbians but it’s written by a man in order to fulfill his twisted sexual fantasies? Does that still pass your test?”

“It’s not my test. It’s Bechdel’s… I’m assuming. Who I’m also assuming was a woman, right Sam?” A grunt for yes. “And… I’ll be honest, that a good question. I’m going to have to let Bechdel take that one.”

Yvessa sighed. “One more Sam.” He relented with yet another grunt. He had to pay for her suffering through their jokes somehow.

“Guys…” he said, sitting up. “The Bechdel test… It isn’t magic. It’s not as though if you pass it, then your book isn’t sexist and if you don’t, then it is. It’s just a tongue-in-cheek test designed to point out how so many stories don’t even pass this basic milestone of portraying female agency. That being said, I’m all for calling the shitty yaoi fanfics written by horny sixteen-year-old girls, sexist.”

“And just like that, I went from thinking that you made sense back to wondering just what the hell are you talking about.”

“It makes sense if you’re inside here.” Sam pointed to his temple. “At least that’s what I try and tell myself… What were we talking about?”

“You not putting enough effort in. And I think the fact that you’ve spent most of the last couple of minutes just talking goes to prove that I was right.”

“Or maybe, it goes to show that women and the gays are a corrupting influence on good, honest young men.”

“Both could be true,” Felix said. But the fact that Sam finished the rest of his workout with relatively little conversation and no breaks longer than necessary proved that it wasn’t. The women and the gays were off the hook. For now. Once he was done stretching, all per Sarah’s instructions, and under Felix’s and Yvessa’s watchful eyes, he excused himself to go refill his bottle.

Which was when that happened.

A person, a guy that Sam had never met, maybe had never even seen before in his life, approached him with a bright smile and a hand put forth. “You’re Sam, right? Sam Anders? The new Taken?” Sam just mutely nodded his head. “I knew I recognized you, besides why else would you be working out with the Twins, right?” Sam narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t mean anything bad by it, just that it makes sense that they want talents like you guys to be working together. Anyway, me: I’m Carl, Carl Pines, third year. Didn’t mean to put you on the spot or anything, but I just wanted to say how sorry I am for what that you went through, are going through I should say, and how awesome it is that you still manage to come here and exercise despite of that. So just that. And that I’m sure you’re going to do great in the future. We’re all looking forward to your future growth.” Sam was forced to comply with the man’s request for a handshake by the power of his earnest and radiating smile. Carl Pines seemed satisfied by that, and bid Sam goodbye.

Suffice to say, Sam was shaken when he came back to the Twi—to Yvessa and Felix.

“You look like you just seen a ghost,” Felix commented.

“Even worse… Ghosts aren’t real, right?”

“No.”

“Thank god. I don’t want to see a ghost, you know? It might just be the sight that I fear most.”

“Really? Ghosts out of every—”

“Rather have a piece of toast if one’s available. Then watch the evening news if they’re on.”

“OK, I’m lost.”

“What else is new?” Yvessa asked.

“That doesn’t matter.” Sam shook his head and waved his hands in front of it in order to clean the errant thoughts from his ping-pong brain. “Now isn’t the time for me to explain my stupid references. A complete stranger just talked to me! The guy just came out of nowhere!”

“Oh no.” Felix’s voice was bereft of any worry. “Was he hot?”

“Now isn’t the time for you to be your regular horny self, Felix,” Yvessa said. “Sam just went through a harrowing experience.”

“Ha ha, make all the jokes that you want,” Sam said. “But that guy just ambushed me, right as I was filling my water bottle. Asking me if I was who I am. And telling me stuff about how he’s rooting for me or some shit like that. I mean, who does that?”

“I don’t know… Nice people maybe,” Felix ventured. “People that aren’t freaked out by talking to strangers? People that aren’t Sam?”

“It’s not about that. Well, it’s mostly about that. But it’s also about having some dude that I’ve never met before in my life walking up to me knowing who I am. That never happened to me if we don’t count the women my mother was friends with and who I didn’t see since I was three years old. And they only ‘recognized’ me because I was with my mom.”

“So you’re famous. Big deal. We already told you that you are. You just got to get used to people walking up to you out of nowhere. At least this guy was nice. The next guy could be a total asshole. Happened to both of us plenty of times in our life.”

“Well, he did call you guys the ‘Twins.’”

“Unfortunately”—Yvessa’s mouth curved downwards—“that’s not a good enough indicator for whether someone is an asshole.”

“Maaan…” Sam sighed while taking a sit next to her. “I don’t want to be famous.”

She gently patted him on the shoulder. “It’s just one of the things that you’re going to have to get used to.”

“Really?” Felix asked. “You don’t want to be famous? I can’t wait to be famous.”

“Some people can’t see beyond the allures of fame into the pitfalls that lay beyond,” she said.

“You grew up famous, and knowing famous people. Of course you’re gonna be weary of it. But for us normal people, fame is a goal to aspire for.”

“What the hell do you mean ‘didn’t grow up famous?’ Excuse me, but who were all those news articles proclaiming the Great Terran Hope when he was sixteen?”

“Sixteen is already grown up.”

“No it isn’t,” Sam said. “You’re still a dumb kid until you reach eighteen, then you become a dumb adult until you reach twenty-one. Only then can we begin to separate the wheat from the dumbasses. Plus, isn’t calling someone the Great Terran Hope pretty racist?”

“No!”

“Yeah, a little bit.” Yvessa said. “But it’s more of in the context that we have this hope of fielding our own Chosen and being equal to all the other races.”

“Besides the dwarves, you mean,” Sam said. “Those guys always seem to get the short straw.”

“C’mon dude.” Felix shook his head. “We’ve already got tired of making those sorts of jokes back in elementary school. Plus, you just called something out for being racist.”

“So what? That just makes a great setup for the good old anti-racist, racist joke. And in reality, it’s actually you who are being a bigot. You know why? Because I didn’t claim that the dwarves’ short stature holds any moral, aesthetical, or any other word suffixed with ‘al’ value. I was just making a joke based on the fact that dwarves are, on average, shorter than the other races. If a dwarf made a joke about me saying I was a tall piece of grass, it wouldn’t be racist now, would it? That’s right, you, Felix, are a heightist.”

“For shame, Felix,” Yvessa said. “For shame. You probably never even met a dwarf in real life.”

“Of course I haven’t. Have you?”

“I did, in fact. There was the dwarven ambassador to the court, there was the dwarven agency for the affairs of the east, there was even a dwarven inquisitor that came to visit one time. Asked my mom about the Order of Sorrow’s chances of getting a following among the Terra populace.”

“The Order of what?” Sam asked. “And what the hell, the dwarves have inquisitors?”

“Not the dwarves. Most of them aren’t part of the order. That’s what made meeting a dwarven inquisitor so novel.”

“OK, but why are explaining stuff to me like I’m not a complete ignoramus that has no idea what you’re talking about? Do you know what this order is?” he asked Felix.

“Sam, please… I’m not completely clueless. The Empire has an official religion whose official name I forgot, but it’s led by the Order of Sorrows, and the inquisitors are the order’s armed forces.”

“Is he right?”

“Of course I am!”

“Pretty much,” confirmed Yvessa. “You’ll also learn this stuff for yourself next year, so I wouldn’t worry about not knowing it. It’s not like you’re going to meet an inquisitor any time soon. Even Imperials are not that common to find in the republic.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.” Sam nodded and reclined back, waiting for the other two to finish their workout. “Anyway, back to me not wanting to be famous. Someone got us sidetracked. I actually agree with both of you. There is a part of me that, like Felix, wants fame and fortune and everything that goes along with it. But the other part of me knows that it’s not going to be a bed of roses, or a pleasure cruise, that there’s bad along with the good.

“But what really grinds my gear is that I don’t feel like I’ve done anything to deserve fame, you know? I mean, it would have been a whole other story if I made it to a Ruler really fast and the guy came to me to ask for an autograph and say how I’m a great inspiration to him or something. But he pretty much just came to applaud me for existing. It’s not like I’m here because of something I did.”

“Sure,” Felix said, “that’s one way to look at it. Another way is that you could have also been at the beach right now, sipping margaritas. Instead, you’re here sweating it out. That’s something to be proud of.”

“You keep speaking as though I really want to go to the beach. Do I look to you guys as someone who likes going to the beach?”

“Now what’s wrong with the beach? The sun, the sea, the hot guys, the hot girls, the hot sand. Is it the sand that’s the problem? You don’t like sand?”

“Nope. I’m not going to go along with such a simple setup. Try again next time.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s more than fair.”