Domrik’s studio struck Kelly as eerily quiet when they entered. Usually they greeted Shara at the front desk, but she was absent. Domrik had let her get a different job temporarily while he restructured his little business of self-defense tutoring.

He had lost almost thirty percent of his students to that fateful attack. She didn’t know how he handled the behind-the-scenes of his business while simultaneously planning a heist. She had almost asked him at several points within the last week, but she didn’t want to add to his burden. Surely, one who preached daily the value of caring for oneself first was making sure to practice what he preached.

She realized, in a half-selfish way, that she was glad Domrik was one who had to deal with the business and not her. He seemed competent enough to make the necessary adjustments. She feared she would have completely collapsed in the same situation.

She felt like she was collapsing even now, just in slow motion. But she constantly reminded herself: Everyone was suffering a temporary collapse. That was inevitable. Their choice lied in whether they recovered.

They found Jase going through his warm-up stretching routine. Their greeting was a simple eye contact.

Kelly was subtly aware of what transpired on a deeper level. The “greeting” was simply the nonverbal acknowledgement of the other’s presence, which was communicated instantaneously through the Aetheric field. Kelly secretly wanted to prove the existence of this field scientifically, though it was difficult to gather the funds or the interest of others to do a respectable study. Personal experience was proof enough for her, but if she had a way to communicate this reality with her patients at the Haven Center, they would recover so much quicker.

Jase stood up from the hamstring stretch. “Any news on Professor Norallis?”

Domrik frowned and shook his head. “The police are expanding their search into the forests and mountains, but it’s doubtful they’ll find him there.”

Jase nodded somberly. “Class resumes in a week. Without him, Aetheric Mechanics will be cancelled.”

“Surely they can find someone with similar knowledge,” Kelly offered.

“The tried, but it wasn’t the same. He’s at the leading edge of his field. It takes years for new science to be integrated into the school system, but he circumvented that by teaching directly. All the other scientists will have to teach using second-hand knowledge. It just isn’t the same.”

“You don’t think it has anything to do with his overactive Vision Ember, does it?” Kelly asked.

“It likely does, actually,” Domrik interjected before Jase could respond. “I’ve seen footage of his Vision Ember in action.”

Kelly narrowed her eyes. “Are you talking about the scan I did? I don’t remember showing anyone else.”

Domrik lifted a hand. “No, he spontaneously stole a pistol from a police officer, then managed a one-in-a-million shot that hit the attacking craft in a weak spot. That’s how the Guard Jets were able to eventually take it out.”

He bowed his head. A dark mood descended upon them for a moment as they all recognized the tragic unspoken part of that last sentence.

“Wow,” Kelly muttered, breaking the mourning silence. “But then he disappeared?”

Domrik shook his finger. “Not of his own doing. You both know the Vision Ember can’t do that, but today, you will both learn what can.”

They both looked at him with anticipation. He lifted his chin and tapped the center of his throat. “The Expression Ember. It dictates how you express yourself in the world, correct? Filter its specific frequency through Aetherite, and you have more control over how the world sees you physically.”

“Unless someone else has an activated Vision Ember,” Kelly added, “where they are able to pierce the lower frequencies of the illusion.”

“Wait,” Jase said, pointing to his chest. “Doesn’t something like that require a cold Unity Ember?”

“Most of the time,” Domrik confirmed. “If it were completely impossible with a warm Unity Ember, I would not be teaching you this. Certainly, it’s easier if the Unity Ember is cold, because it implies that the lower three Embers have much more ‘stuck’ energy for the Expression Ember to utilize. A warm Unity Ember keeps the Expression Ember in check, but that doesn’t mean certain abilities are disabled. They are merely reserved for extreme situations for when those abilities are appropriate.”

Kelly stiffened. “You’re going to teach us another Red Aether method? Won’t this compromise our polarity?”

“Not necessarily, so long as the Expression Ember continues to take its cue from the Unity Ember. One could argue it would be impossible to become fully positively polarized until you give yourself every available option. The more you cut yourself off from that abundance, the more negative you become.”

Kelly nodded slowly, wrestling with an uncertain feeling within her. “I see…”

Domrik held up a hand with three small crystals in his palm, each saturated with the Aetheric glow. They must have been close to full charge. He tossed one to Kelly and another to Jase.

“Hit me,” Domrik said suddenly.

Kelly and Jase looked at each other, confused. Domrik spread his arm wide. “Come on, hit me!”

Jase hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. He aimed a roundhouse kick at Domrik’s chest, but instead of Domrik blocking or dodging, Jase’s foot simply passed right through him.

Kelly stared, not sure she was seeing correctly. Jase chuckled as he regained his balance. She took a step toward Domrik and swung her fist at his face. A disorienting sensation shook her as her fist passed through air. She nearly lost her balance, then stumbled away from the illusion.

“But…” she stammered, looking at Jase. “Can you pierce it? I don’t see anything different.”

Domrik’s curious gaze jumped between the two of them. Jase closed his eyes and took several deep breaths through his nose. When he opened his eyes, he looked at the illusion, then at a spot somewhere behind the illusion.

“Just barely,” he said, folding his arms and scanning Domrik. “It’s a higher vibrational illusion?”

Suddenly, Domrik teleported backward one meter. He wore a look of mock-hurt on his face. “Goodness Kelly, that would have stung. Have I offended you recently?” He ended the question with a joking smile, then addressed Jase. “Yes, most illusions are lower vibrational. Those are much easier to pierce for us. The good news is that while higher vibrational illusions might be difficult to pierce, they are only possible in conjunction with a warm Unity Ember. It’s essentially impossible to create one with bad intentions, because it's the negativity that lowers the vibration.”

“I don’t understand how this is possible,” Kelly said. “Didn’t you teach us that truth warms the Unity Ember and lying cools it? You’re essentially using a warm Unity Ember to lie.”

“What I taught you was true in general, but ultimately its intention that influences the Unity Ember. Most of the time, telling the truth comes with positive intention and lying comes with negative intention, but there can be cases where the reverse is true. What matters is the core emotion behind what you do. Are you telling the truth out of anger, to get back at someone, or are you lying out of compassion and understanding? When a child creates his first drawing and shows it to his parents, would they be telling the truth if they told him that’s the worst piece of art they’ve ever seen? There might be some truth to their opinion, so when they praise the child’s work, they’re technically lying, but their intention is to get the kid to continue to create. Even if the child somehow knew they were lying, he would know that his own intentions were supported. What could be more positive than that?”

Kelly rolled the tiny crystal between her fingers. “If it’s fueled by the Unity Ember, why do we still need these?”

“It’s more technical than anything else, really. The external crystal provides the framework with which your Aetheric body interacts. It’s like an interface between you and light. Maybe it’s possible to create an illusion without Aetherite, but I haven’t succeeded with that. Remember, all Aetheric weapons are technically generating illusions, but they’re so dense that they disrupt physical matter with the heat.”

“Professor Norallis came up with equations describing that process,” Jase said, excited. “The Densification Equations. They describe the ratios between the electrical impulses interacting with Aetherite and the resulting Aetheric output. Different frequency combinations create different densities… Wait a minute. The projections created by our wristpads, why are they always transparent? Aren’t they operating on the same frequency you just did?”

“What is the average frequency used for Aetheric projections?” Domrik asked.

“741 CPS.”

“The frequency of the Expression Ember, you say? Projections are transparent illusions because the machines we have created lack a rich imagination. And the Aetheric body of a wristpad isn’t nearly as complex as a human’s. There are more dimensions to illusions than frequency.”

“Do we have to imagine every single detail for the illusion to be convincing?” Kelly asked.

“Of course!”

“How do we do that?”

“Do you dream?”

“Yes.”

“How detailed are your dreams, visually? As detailed as physical reality?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Kelly took a moment to reflect. “Yes.”

He gestured to her. “There you go. The only difference between dreams and your waking imagination is that dreams aren’t competing for your attention with your physical senses. You only need to imagine that the illusion is detailed and that it looks the same as you. Unless you want to appear as someone else.”

Suddenly, Brandon was standing where Domrik had stood. Jase rose his eyebrows. When the Brandon illusion spoke, it was Brandon’s voice. “We can work on audio illusions later, but it’s not too different. Just another combination of frequencies.” Domrik reappeared again, smirking at Jase.

Kelly looked down at the crystal in her palm. “So we simply visualize what we want others to see.”

“That’s one criterion, but it must be paired with the intent to deceive, which as I explained earlier, is not necessarily negative. It’s similar to creating an Aether bolt or shield, but the energy flow is more subtle. Beginning Aether mages naturally use their lower three embers to wield Aether. That’s why I don’t mention the Ember system until level six. But here, it’s relevant.”

She closed her eyes, then closed her hand around the crystal and imagined what she looked like as she stood there. Blonde hair in a ponytail, cream-colored shirt, and grey pants. Then she imagined that they saw what she saw. She was slightly startled when a subtle Aetheric current ran through her, like a tingly blanket crossing her skin. She stepped to the side and opened her eyes.

They were both looking at where she had just stood, but also occasionally glanced to where she really stood. She almost jumped away when she saw her identical clone standing a foot away. Then she lost focus. The tingly feeling in her body dissipated and the illusion faded.

Her heart lifted when Domrik smiled. He looked incredulously at Jase, then back at her. “A successful illusion on your first try? Are you just pulling my leg? You haven’t done this before?”

“That was my first time,” Kelly insisted. “But you both pierced it, didn’t you? It wasn’t a higher vibrational illusion.”

“Yes, we pierced it,” Domrik admitted. He put a hand on her shoulder. “But it was still higher than most.”

Kelly scoffed, folding her arms. “I’m not some child you need to lie to.”

“He’s not lying, Kelly,” Jase said. “It was almost completely opaque.”

“If you want honest feedback, your illusion was a statue. You need to include the natural motions associated with standing, namely breathing and other subtle bodily adjustments. You also forgot to include the intention to hide your true location,” Domrik added, putting his hands behind his back. “Like this.”

There was no indicating noise or motion. He simply disappeared. This time, neither Kelly nor Jase reacted much. Domrik reappeared after a few moments. “Cloaking yourself is the easiest application of illusion. You’ll find it takes less energy than sustaining a visible illusion. Jase? You’re the only one left.”

Jase nodded and stared intently at the crystal in his palm. After a few moments, he stepped back. He looked at Kelly and Domrik, frowning. “I don’t think that worked.”

Domrik’s mouth twitched on the verge of laughter. “No, no it did not.”

“You didn’t feel the Aether in your body?” Kelly asked, pride rising in her chest. It was rare that she was better than Jase at something.

“You did?” Jase responded. “I thought I had a clear picture in my mind.”

“But you need to intend to deceive us, Jase,” Domrik said.

“I did that too!”

“Let me define intent, then. It includes the aspect of relationship with others. We three might be able to detect our connectedness through the Aetheric field, but you must emphasize in your mind that we are still separate on the surface. That’s easy for someone with a cold Unity Ember, as you might imagine. You don’t just imagine that you are projecting an image, you need to imagine that there are those aware of the image and not aware of you. Let me demonstrate.” He stood straight and closed his eyes. Then he became invisible. “Kelly, can you see me?”

“No.”

Jase tilted his head at Kelly, his expression saying: Really?

She shook her head. Domrik spoke. “Jase can you see me?”

“Yes.”

Now it was Kelly’s turn to look perplexed. Domrik appeared. “Kelly, can you see me?”

She looked at Jase briefly, wondering what he saw. “Yes.”

Jase nodded a few times with sudden comprehension. “And you’re invisible to me.”

“Correct,” Domrik replied. “And now I’m not. See, if you get specific with your intention, you can determine who experiences your illusion and who doesn’t.”

“Wait,” Jase said, holding up a finger. “I want to try something. Can you go invisible for me again?”

“Uh… sure.” Domrik disappeared again.

Jase walked up to Kelly and stood next to her. “You can still see him, right?”

She shook her head. Domrik reappeared. “Oh, for you only. Got it.”

“Okay, now I see him,” she said, curious. “What are you doing?”

“Give me a moment,” he said, moving to stand directly between her and Domrik. “What about now?”

“Well, you’re in my way.”

He waved a hand at her. “No, that’s not what I mean. Can you still see him over my shoulder?”

“Yes.” She was only a few centimeters shorter than Jase.

Jase rubbed his chin. “Interesting. He’s still invisible to me. Here, stand in front of me.”

They switched places. Domrik stood there with his arms folded, amused.

“Can you still see him?” Jase asked from behind her.

“Yes?” she answered, letting some irritation into her voice. “What’s your point?”

He stepped to the side. “Sorry, it’s just that the physicist in me wanted to see what was actually happening. He never appeared for me and never disappeared for you.” His gaze refocused on Domrik, who had apparently dropped the illusion. “How do you manipulate the photons like that?”

Domrik shrugged. “I don’t, it’s the Aetheric field that figures all that out. It’s intelligent in a way we mere humans can’t hope to comprehend. Do you know exactly what to do in order to contract your bicep?”

“I see your point.”

“How do you know all this?” Kelly demanded. “Nothing like this ever shows up in our readings.”

“It’s complicated,” Domrik said, nodding in understanding. “It took me a few years to understand it myself. It was mostly an intuitive process, just experimenting on my own.”

It sounded like a reasonable answer on the surface, but Kelly felt like there was something missing. “That’s it? You just stumbled across this ability?”

“Everyone has this ability, Kelly. I simply found myself experimenting with Aetheric shapes, and eventually discovered everything you just learned. And it wasn’t random. I have had to use illusions in the past, and if I hadn’t known at the time how to use them, things would be worse now. Much worse.”

“You’d be dead?”

“Probably not,” he said, avoiding her gaze. “But other people might be.”

She wanted to inquire further, but felt that she’d be overstepping his boundaries. She was actually surprised he answered her in the first place. He usually kept the lessons about the topic, free of personal details.

They practiced for the next hour. They played several games to test specific skills, and Kelly found that she was proficient at most of them. She beat Jase at hide-and-seek most of the time, even though he pierced her illusions eventually. Jase managed a higher vibrational illusion only a handful of times, while the rest of the time there was no illusion for Kelly to pierce. At certain points it was fun to fool Jase, but she was startled by how good she felt when she did manage to fool him. She even giggled once, which shook her out of her concentration. Maybe it was just her, but it seemed like her illusions were becoming more pierceable as they went on. Was her vibration lowering, or was Jase getting more experienced? Was it both?

Domrik taught them how to create audible illusions, which including talking with someone else’s voice and silencing one’s footsteps. They tried to fool each other with the apparent source of their voice being different than the real one. Piercing an audible illusion meant it was quieter, if one was trying to create a sound, or muffled, if one was trying to mute one’s own voice.

Jase continued his experimentation, discovering that the farther away the illusion was from himself, the more energy it drained from the crystal, just like with all other Aetheric effects. He was, however, further confounded by the audible illusions, pondering how it was possible to mute one’s own voice for one person, but not another. He insisted that there was no way that was possible, since sound waves travelled radially. Domrik gave him the same answer he gave before, invoking the intelligence of the Aetheric field.

By the end of the training session, Kelly was both hungry and disturbed, while Jase was simply bewildered. The three hugged each other individually, then Kelly went home. She had some things to sort out for herself.

***

Jase watched Kelly leave the studio, feeling a pang of sympathy. She tried hard and she did well, yet he could feel the doubt weighing on her. He had tried to distract her by getting more interested in his mini-experiments, but nothing seemed to pull her out of it.

“Is there something else?” Domrik asked, snapping Jase out of his own reverie.

“Yes,” Jase said, gesturing to the wooden double library doors at the back of the studio. “It’s best we talk in there. I think you’ll want to see this.”

The crystal was still where Jase left it when he arrived at the studio before Domrik. He pointed to the crystal as they approached Domrik’s desk at the back of the library. “Tell me what you make of this.”

Domrik circled the table and sat in the old creaky chair, transfixed by the crystal. He reached to it with a hand, but stopped just before he made contact, frowning in concentration. Jase sat in the chair opposite Domrik as he waiting for an answer.

Domrik’s splayed hand curled into a fist with his index finger extended. He let his index finger fall onto the crystal. Jase didn’t see anything happen, but Domrik looked at him with raised eyebrows. He was genuinely curious. “Where did you get this?”

“Next to the walkway to the museum entrance,” Jase stated.

“Today?”

Jase nodded, gazing at the mysterious crystal. He could still sense a very faint haze of fear emanating from it. “It was in the water hidden in the boulders.”

“And you sensed it before you saw it?”

“Yes, on my way in and on my way out.”

Domrik gazed at the crystal for a few moments. “Did anyone see you take it?”

“Only a few strangers. I tried to be covert about it. What do you think about it? Do you sense the emotion inside it, or am I just crazy?”

“No, you’re not crazy. In fact…” He looked at Jase intently. “There might be more than just emotion in here.”

“What else?” Jase asked, leaning forward.

“A memory.”

Jase closed his eyes, then opened them. “A memory.”

“A remnant of a mindscape, likely,” Domrik added.

Jase pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Please tell me this isn’t something you kept from us too.”

“I promise, Jase, this is as new to me as it is to you.” Domrik rotated the crystal on the table, watching how the red glow played off the wooden surface. “Which means I don’t know what to make of this.”

“Can you see the memory? What’s it about?”

Domrik stopped rotating the crystal, then shook his head. “I can see only vague details. There was a chase. That’s all I can tell. The Vision Ember needs to be a raging fire to see into other’s mindscapes at a granular level of detail.” He pushed the crystal toward Jase. “Now is not the time for me to get into this. I need to focus on other things. The studio is at risk for closing if I can’t find a way to sustain it or myself. Plus… I’m often needed elsewhere these days.”

Jase nodded. “Right, understood. Although, after what you just said, I think I have an idea about what I can do.”

“Which would be what?”

Jase silently glanced toward the bookshelf on Domrik’s right. Domrik’s gaze shifted toward the direction of Jase’s but didn’t follow it completely. “Are you sure? You don’t know what will happen.”

“I have to investigate this, Dom. What are the chances we find this when we’re so close to the heist? We can’t ignore this synchronicity.”

Domrik stood and removed a handful of old books from the bookshelf on his right. He pulled a small box out from the back of the shelf and returned to his chair. “That is the only reason I’m letting you do this.”

He removed the top from the box and picked out a small black capsule, laying it on the table between them. “Please don’t be an idiot this time.”

Jase raised his hands. “I’m in my own apartment now. Nobody will have any reason to find me. I’ll even lock the door.”

Domrik sat there for a few moments, then nodded slowly. Jase scooped up the blasphia capsule and the crystal. “Thank you, Dom. I owe you one.”

When he turned to leave, Domrik spoke up. “Just promise me one thing as payment.”

Jase looked at him. “Yes?”

“No matter what you find, no matter what you experience, I want to know about it. May your Embers burn bright.”

Jase bowed to him.

“May your Embers burn bright.”