Waves pounded against the artificial peninsula, foaming around the half-submerged boulders with a constant background hiss. Jase took in the salty sea aroma, gazing out over the eternally restless Traspian Ocean from the sidewalk overlooking the beach. The rising sun painted the undulations with shades of red and orange. Only a single boat perched on the horizon.

He allowed the view to mold itself into a piece of art in his mind, and found it ironic that the museum he was waiting to enter was almost out of frame to the right. There, in that enormous complex, was housed artifacts and art for which people would sell their fortunes. But, spread out behind the museum was an ever-changing work of art that would never be repeated twice. Artificial captures would never be able to recreate it in all its glory. If value was measured by the fleetingness, every moment on this beach had infinite value. One would never see the same patterns of waves in the same position again. Jase wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yet, the beauty before him did not fully quench the heaviness within him. He’d done his best to support others through this tragic time, but the more he supported others, the more he felt drained by their nourishment. He didn’t know how Domrik did it, staying visibly positive and energetic while surrounded by so much misery. He knew it wasn’t a mask, because he could feel enough of Domrik’s energy to discern his mood. Jase thought he’d be able to do the same. He’d had a few years of contemplation by now, and there had been glimpses of what lay behind the veil of the material world, but it was still mostly intellectual belief. That didn’t hold up well against raw, unfiltered experience, the essence of which called for something deeper than the thinking mind. Direct experience was always the final test: Do you really believe what you think you believe?

It had been a humbling experience, seeing the ways in which his mind and emotions were mutilated by the torrent of events. He was happy that he had enough presence of mind to be able to perform a handful of healings. He wasn’t sure if they were life-saving, but he was sure he’d never find out. Only one person clued in to what he was doing, and all he could hope was that she’d follow his plea to never speak of the healing to anyone. They always argued when they heard that, and it always pained him to keep the whole explanation from them. He’d heard Domrik’s cautionary tale, and he didn’t want to make the same mistake.

Jase adjusted his jacket collar and started toward the entrance of the thin path leading to the artificial island. He had volunteered to go first in the morning, as there would be far fewer people, and he was already familiar with the layout of the museum. Domrik would need to spend a bit more time to show Kelly around. They would all come up with entry and exit plans while the replica was being created.

He let his hand glide along the metal railing, allowing the biting cold to seep into his skin. A few years ago, he would have flinched and yanked his hand away, but now he found value in occasionally testing the limits of his pain tolerance. He wasn’t experienced enough to attempt Domrik’s candle exercise, but he found that regular breathwork and ice baths accelerated his training faster than he thought possible.

Just before halfway to the Ancient Traspian Museum, he felt a strange wave of anxiety and anger. It was subtle, but just enough to knock him out of his reverie for a moment. He looked around. Nobody else was here, except for the few museum employees up ahead preparing for opening time. He wrote it off as simply residual emotion from the last few days.

The museum was triangular viewed from the top, with one edge facing the shoreline and the opposing tip pointing seaward. It rose two stories high, and each edge was designed asymmetrically with water-like curves. The roof was also designed to look like an ocean frozen in place.

Jase had been brought here on field trips in elementary school, and it had changed little since then. The structure was designed to last, even in the strongest of hurricanes. The building itself could be considered an exhibit of human engineering. The seaward point of the triangle helped reduce the damage done by tidal waves, if they ever managed to wear out the Aetheric shielding.

He purchased a day-long pass in the lobby, then ventured into the complex, reliving those younger days as an innocent child. The scent of clean stone brought back memories of his first field trip here. He had gotten in trouble after running off and shouting down the hallway, amazed at the echoing effect of the high ceiling and long hallways. Each exhibit was surrounded in a glass case and embedded in its own shallow alcove cut out of the white stone.

He strolled down most of the hallways on the first floor, pausing at an exhibit every so often to give the impression that he was just another patron. In a sense, he was, and he would be doing nothing illegal today, but it was best to avoid as much suspicion as possible. He even took pictures with his wristpad a couple times, so that security footage would find nothing out of the ordinary.

The real target was on the second floor, and it was right where Jase remembered it to be. The Augmentor Bow rested within its own special glass casing that extended from the floor to the ceiling, and rather than occupy its own alcove, it was the center of a circular room that housed more exhibits along its perimeter.

It was an odd sight for the first-time viewer. The milk-white limbs snaked out elegantly from a grip of the same color. The tips ended in dull points that housed both ends of the silvery bowstring. It rested at an angle in the two supporting forks that rose out of a plain white platform. The plaque read: “Sacred Bow – The original creator is unknown, though legends say it was discovered in one of the many sea caves lining the Traspian coast. Many Traspian cultures prized the bow as a source of good luck and prosperity, which paradoxically often made it the object of strife and conflict. The Ancient Traspian Museum acquired the bow for a high price after an unknown individual, rumored to be the latest in a family line protecting the bow, offered it in the year 2786.”

Just like the first field trip, Jase’s attention was magnetically drawn to it. The pull seemed slightly stronger than before, but it wasn’t a threatening pull. It was more like a candle burning in the dark. It was simply easier to notice, at least for Jase. The chaperones of the field trip hadn’t taken a particular interest in the Bow like he had, but back then he hadn’t known why it was so alluring to him. All his young mind could think of then was “Where are the arrows?”

Even now, a bow without arrows made little sense to him, but he was excited now that Domrik was planning to steal it. Jase had been surprised with how quickly he’d agreed to this mission. The sense of Domrik’s purity of intention helped, but there was something else that excited him. Perhaps it was the Aetheric Mechanics class that fueled his interest in how the Aether actually worked. If the Augmentor Bow was indeed Aetheric, it could give insight into a new understanding of the Aether. It had to be Aetheric, otherwise why would Domrik take this risk for a relatively mundane object?

There was a third factor that was more visceral. As he approached the object, there was a subtle increase in the sense of presence, similar to what he’d sense if another person were nearby, but here there were no thoughts or emotions. He didn’t usually sense people’s thoughts or emotions either, unless he did several rounds of intense breathwork. At best, he could get an overall sense of their state of being, but specifics were beyond him. Domrik could see a bit more of the specifics, but he had been training for much longer than Jase.

He circled the exhibit casually, making sure to spend time inspecting the other exhibits. Over the course of a couple minutes, he got several pictures of the Bow from as many angles as he dared. Some were obvious, where he made a show of raising his wristpad to get a proper shot, while the rest were covert, taken while looking at the other objects. He would spend time afterward constructing a 3D model out of all the different pictures.

He took his time to exit the complex, enjoying the other exhibits of historical significance. The ocean wind ruffled his hair. More people were starting to flow to the museum. He was about halfway across the walkway when he felt a wave of emotion again. It was just like before, except stronger. He glanced around. Nobody had passed him at the moment he felt it.

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He went to the railing and scanned the beach. Some people were taking a stroll a few kilometers away. Nobody was in the ocean. At this time of year, the water was too cold for comfort for most. He was about to resume walking when he caught a red glint reflecting off a wave passing by the half-submerged boulders a few meters below where he stood.

He watched the water intently, thinking he might have imagined it, but a few seconds later, there was another reflection on the crest of a wave. Now that he got a more direct view of it, he knew it must be the light from an Aetherite crystal. The longer he looked, the more reflections he caught coming from the ripples-within-ripples on the surface.

He walked as casually as he could to his car parked at the museum parking lot. He left his jacket, shirt, and shoes in the car, then took a walk on the beach. When there were only a few people in sight, he waded into the breaking waves. His feet recovered from the cold shock quickly, though his body instantly got goosebumps.

Before he could second-guess himself, he dove into a wave just as it was curling to break. He let the instinctual panic from the cold rush through his body, and it dissipated as quickly as it came. Through his cold plunge training, his body quickly recognized the new environment and adapted. He was almost at the point where there was no longer a gasp reflex to the cold.

He swam parallel to the rocks, looking for the one he had mentally marked earlier as being roughly in the vicinity of the hidden crystal. Eventually, he perceived a subtle red cloud in the water due to the suspended sand particulates. He tried to stand as he neared the source of the glow, but the water was barely too deep to keep his head above the surface. He took a deep breath and went down to search.

The crystal lay wedged between two boulders in a narrow vertical crevasse. It was the length of his index finger and about twice as thick. He gazed at it for a moment as another wave of unexpected emotion washed over him. It was an undefined trepidation, stronger than before now that he was much closer. Rather than deterring him, however, it stoked his curiosity further.

He reached down the gap and grabbed it between his thumb and middle finger. Despite the temperature of the water, it was warm to the touch. He had to rotate it back and forth to pry it free, but the moment he did so, terror surged through his chest. The world became barren, and everything around him dangerous.

Jase reflexively kicked off the nearest boulder, narrowly avoiding death. At least, that’s what it felt like. He surfaced immediately, gasping for breath as the panic receded again. He felt a strong pulse in his thumb and finger where he still gripped the crystal. He brought his hand above water as he started paddling back to shore. The red light of the crystal highlighted the blood flowing from the new puncture wounds. He shoved the crystal into his pants pocket before anything else could happen.

He received some curious looks from a couple on the walkway as he exited the ocean. His pants clung to his legs, making the walk back to his car awkward and uncomfortable.

The car unlocked with his fingerprint, and he collapsed into the driver’s seat. He took several deep breaths, allowing the mental flashbacks of the experience to subside. His injured fingers tingled with each inbreath. The healing was already under way. The pulsing pain became sharper for a few moments, then disappeared as the healing finished.

He grabbed his shirt and used it as a glove to retrieve the crystal from his pocket. He didn’t want to risk triggering another episode, though he felt as though the crystal had been discharged of the emotional energy somewhat.

He stared at the glowing object, confounded. Something was different about this crystal. Domrik had never mentioned that emotions could emanate from Aetherite, nor had Jase ever felt anything like it before. How long had it been there, and who had put it there? And for what purpose? Was it just a coincidence that he found it at this location at this time, while planning a heist?

He shook his head and started the car. Domrik had to know about this, though Jase knew what he would say.

There was no such thing as a coincidence.

***

“It’s made of stone and metal,” Kelly stated, standing next to Domrik at the Sacred Bow exhibit. She looked at him skeptically. “What makes it so special?”

“I don’t know,” Domrik admitted with a wry smile. “But if you pay close attention, you can sense something… different about it.”

He closed his eyes. She did the same. They stood there for several seconds, during Kelly noticed nothing out of the ordinary. She was about to open her eyes and say something when Domrik whispered, “Let yourself adjust.”

Another half-minute passed by. It was difficult for her to tell at first, since she could sense Domrik’s presence far more easily, but there seemed to be a third presence somewhere in front of them. Was it the Bow, or was it her imagination?

She sensed movement from Domrik to her right and opened her eyes. He was moving to one of the other exhibits embedded in the walls of the circular room. She followed him, realizing there were others behind her wanting to read the plaque which she had been obscuring. They stopped in front of a wooden spear, supposedly belonging to the man who discovered the Sacred Bow thousands of years ago.

“Have you seen the news of Humrett?” Kelly asked.

“The attempted invasion?” Domrik replied. “That’s not the start. Trellendek doesn’t have the resources to sustain a siege for long.”

Kelly frowned. “But did we have to strike back so viciously? They were running, yet the Guard Jets fired until they ran out of charge.”

“We didn’t have to do anything. Humrett has enough mages to disable most of their non-Aetheric weapons. The raiders could have been sent back alive yet demoralized. But Eredore can’t allow any transgressions. Everything it does has to be a statement of dominance.” He looked at her. “Do you know why Trasp was renamed to Eredore?”

She thought back briefly to her high school history classes, then shook her head.

He leaned toward her slightly. “It happened during the Great Emigration, in order to attract more people. They needed workers, you see? ‘Ered’ is an old-Trellen word meaning plentiful. The word ‘Ore’ was, and still is, Traspian. Before all our magical crystals got the more scientific name of Aetherite, it was simply called ‘Ore’, as in the ore that everyone knew about without needing specifics. ‘Eredore’ means, literally, plentiful ore.” He smiled, raising his eyebrows. “They knew how to market back then, didn’t they?”

Kelly bit her lip, suppressing a giggle as she assimilated the new information. “So you’re telling me that the name of the language we speak now actually means ‘plentiful’ in a different language?”

Domrik nodded. “So when others got to know you, and heard you spoke plentiful, that automatically put you on higher ground. Quite effective when money was literally the main source of heat and light.”

“Not much has changed,” Kelly said.

“That would explain current events. Those who seek to prevent change will be the first to crumble.”

“But didn’t people know then what we know now?”

Domrik looked at her quizzically. “We meaning you, me, and Jase?”

“Yes.”

“There had to have been a few knowledgeable about the Blue, but that doesn’t mean they caught the other’s attention. I would bet they hid much like we do now, and for similar reasons.”

“But they could have prevented this endless tension between countries!” Kelly whispered, glancing behind them to make sure they weren’t drawing attention.

“Maybe, but maybe not. Why would those in the illusion of power allow those who spread an inconvenient truth to continue on? Neither of us knows what the precise political conditions were back then. Time warps events like Aether melts plastic.”

“But then why are we…” Kelly muttered, stopping herself before mentioning anything about their plan to steal the object sitting less than five meters behind them.

“It’s like what I said earlier,” Domrik said, walking slowly to the next exhibit. “Except the opposite. Those who embrace change are more likely to thrive. Hiding might have been appropriate in the past, but that won’t be possible for much longer.”

“How do you know that?” Kelly demanded.

“I’m not absolutely certain, if that’s what you’re asking, but there’s a change in the current of events. Things are speeding up. More drama. More innovation. More movement. Everything is becoming more connected, making it easier to be discovered. When we are discovered, we need to give others as many reasons as possible to think twice before striking. Every being has a right to self-defense.” He smiled in his usual charming way. “But I teach Kenshlin. I’m biased.”

Kelly failed to conceal her smile. Her face flushed. “You’re not doing this just to show off your superior skills to everyone?”

He laughed. “Oh, of course I am! But don’t worry, I won’t be superior for long.”

Kelly blinked as he walked faster down the corridor. What was that supposed to mean?

He motioned for her to follow. “We’re done here. We’re going back to the studio. It’s time to see how you handle illusion magic.”