Sorin sat on the stone steps of the amphitheater and waited there for a few minutes expecting whoever the officer was to arrive, but there was nothing. Rather than just sit and waste time he wanted to jump back into discovery that had him feeling pretty excited about. This was essentially the beginning of the game and there were tons of large and simple gains early on in these games so why not see if this is the same.

Sorin closed his eyes and began to feel the heat around him like in the shower. It came much quicker than before. His range was limited to what seemed like 100 feet in every direction. He could see all the bodies around him and oddly each race had a different temperature. He saw the elves, they were cooler than the humans by a few degrees, the dwarves were hotter as there the ogre/orc looking things.

He kept looking at the people near him and noticed some of the people he was looking for didn't show up at all. He opened his eyes and looked back and saw the pale people sitting unconcerned with anything. He zeroed his focus in on them and noticed they were at room temperature and his sense couldn't detect them as they blended seamlessly.

"Perhaps they really were vampires another type of undead he had heard about." Sorin thought to himself.

Sorin couldn't figure out why there was a limit to his sense. It was like it just cut off. He checked AP.

AP: 24/320

It wasn't a lack of aether as he got a warning the last time he got under 10. He tried seeing if he could narrow down where the aether was flowing from within his body. He sensed around his body and saw the heat moving around his body as like everyone then he looked deeper and saw a line coming from his stomach just above his belly button flowing to his eyes and head. He zeroed in further and began to feel the flow of what he assumed was aether.

"Aether....he had heard that word before in some books. He couldn't remember exactly from where. It was on the tip of his tongue.... alchemy! That's right, it was the mystical fifth element of alchemy from the lore books. Water, earth, fire, air, and aether. Sorin refocused on that flow of aether and tried to manipulate it. He tried to first slow it down and it in fact responded to his will and as he began to slow it down his sense began to grow shorter and shorter. He then stopped slowing and reversed it slowly and his range began pushing out further and further. He then reached the original speed but kept going. He felt a strain in his mind and stomach around the source of his aether. His range began expanding he kept pushing and pushing. 120 feet, 140 feet, 150 feet....

Warning!

Aether below 10

AP: 9/320

*bleep*

Sorin saw the notification appear in the corner as the blinking blue light but before he could open it up.

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"On your feet!"

A booming voice filled the entire amphitheater and out of instinct honed over 15 years Sorin shot to the position of attention, and he saw he was among very few.

The voice came again, but this time colder.... much colder.

"I said.... ON YOUR FEET!!"

Others began to stand, not many.

"It would appear many of you need a lesson in instant and willful obedience to orders. Soldiers put them on their faces."

Out of nowhere what seemed like a hundred metal and leather armored men and women straight out of a fantasy book with swords on their hip rushed in and slammed each person still sitting on the floor. Not a single one could resist. The result was teeth went flying and noses popped. Blood began to trickle in places as they were forced downward.

"Now for those of you that are being rather stubborn, we have the means to control you. So now you can choose to do what we tell you or you will face consequences."

He looked around.

"My name is Captain Altivor and as of now you are less than people. You are expendable pieces of flesh. Should you survive training, your lives will then have some worth. That however, you will find extremely challenging. Those who fail to, will be stripped of aether and will work until their pathetic bodies give out."

He looked at the gathering of people and saw faces that still didn't understand that there was no other option.

"I see that many of you still think there are options and that you have a chance to resist. An example then."

Altivor looked around the crowd and chose one of the Ogre looking people that looked at him with a savage hatred.

"Soldier bring that one up here and give him your sword."

The soldier, clearly a woman not even half the ogre's size, ripped the ogre up and threw him forward at the feet of the captain as if he weighed nothing. She then unsheathed her sword and placed it down next to the ogre.

Altivor looked down at the ogre.

"You're one of the Ogrei and therefore known for great strength. Take up that sword and do your absolute best to strike me down. If you succeed you are free."

The ogre grabbed the sword and without hesitating slammed the sword tip first into the man's stomach. Years of training failed Sorin, and he flinched as the sword made contact, but to his surprise the sword stopped. The captain didn't even flinch or block. He took it straight to the stomach. The cloth, Sorin could tell, was cut but the blade stopped on the captain's flesh.

The captain reached down as the ogre looked up at the man's face in shock and horror. Altivor took the sword by the blade and plucked it from the stunned ogres had and faster than anyone could even see as it looked like a digital glitch or flicker a line appeared down the center of the ogre from head to crotch then fell to two halves blood cascading out of the corpse to the floor.

"You are conscripts. Worth nothing because you can do nothing. So weak and untrained in the use of aether. You have no concept of war or survival. You shall learn or you will be stripped of any chance of growth or end up like him." He said as he pointed the still somehow clean sword at the two halves of the corpse on the floor.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the fight leave all the still stubborn members of the audience and they were let up and moved to the same position Sorin was in falling into line. The captain smiled giving the sword back to the soldier who sheathed it and saluted moving away.

Altivor snapped his fingers and soldiers in different styles of armor moved to each of the doors.

"The door you entered is the same door you will leave in." Altivor said.

"A Sergeant will meet you at the door and will be your training officer. You will obey their orders as if they came from my own lips. Any insubordination will be dealt with similarly to what you have seen."

The captain looked at each door then when he saw all were in position.

"Dismissed."

He turned and left the amphitheater.

As soon as he disappeared chaos ensued exactly like a memory from nearly a decade and a half.