"The so-called 'Resistance' or 'Revolution' that plagues our continents promise to create a better society. Truthfully, they are nothing more than terrorists, attacking the core principles of our way of life in a desperate bid for power. They are a danger to the Central Authority and all its citizens, shrouded or not. They must be stopped." From Major General Talanus after the Riots of Greenvale.

"Rise up, my brothers and sisters! Throw down the bonds of oppression laid on us by the Central Authority and the Church of the One Shroud! Cast them down and lay them low! Now is the time! We step into a new day, committed to a world where the unshrouded no longer live in fear and subjugation! No cost is too great, no sacrifice too heavy to free our children and our children's children from bondage! The Revolution marches on!" Words of Damian, The Revolutionary Father during the Riots of Greenvale.

Sharp, modifier aura category 5, invasion pressure of 10, 5th tier control.

Physical Enhancement, modifier infusion category 5, invasion pressure 100, 1st tier control.

Caeden memorized those two lines. These were the criteria the Central Authority used to measure shrouds. He didn't know what most of that meant. Control referred to how well he could manipulate his shroud; he knew that from how hard he had found the exercises the Inspector had him perform. Unlike with Sharp, Caeden had struggled to move his Physical Enhancement sigil from the start.

Everything else was an unknown, and Caeden was desperate for any drop of information. He had no idea how he compared to anyone else or even what the various terms described. What was invasion pressure? Why was his Physical Enhancement shroud ten times higher than Sharp? Was that good or bad? Caeden felt like he was drowning. He had no reference point, nothing to tell him which way was up or down. Everything he did know told him he was heading into a situation more dangerous than anything his relatively comfortable life had prepared him for.

Learning about his shroud had never been something Caeden pursued for a multitude of reasons. He had never expected it to matter. As far as he was concerned, it was a useful tool and nothing more. Now he was dropped into a world where shrouds were all that mattered, and everyone around him knew more and had done more than he could imagine. He was glad he would get to see his uncle before they dragged him to their school.

Caeden stared at the skipper, rubbing the scar tissue on his left hand, where his middle and pointer finger used to be. He hadn't seen his uncle in three years. When he had left, it was to become a successful ethersmith in his own right. Now he was going back to tell the man that had raised him for nearly half his life that his smithy had exploded and the government was shipping him off to join the military. Would he be disappointed? Caeden was. He had never wanted this.

Keeper Anthony had let him know they would be at Earthstrom in a couple hours after his testing was complete, so Caeden had made his way back here to the vehicle bay to wait. They had given him a bunk somewhere. Caeden had no interest in sleeping. Instead, He had been down here, waiting to leave.

"Ready to go, huh?"

"Keeper?" Caeden was surprised to see the only familiar face on the ship.

"Yeah, the Commandant assigned me as your escort. Probably wants to be out from under me for a while." Anthony smirked

"That's nice. I was expecting one of the soldiers to take me." Caeden felt relieved. He wasn't sure how to explain all this to his uncle. Having Anthony there would help.

"Like I said, kid. Keepers get all the shit. That includes babysitting. Lucky me, you're not that much of a pain in the ass."

"I feel like I'm being insulted," Caeden commented lightly, stepping into the skipper.

"Ehh, only a bit. I'd be lying if I said flying a kid to see his family was my version of an ideal afternoon, but it's better than being stuck with the Commandant when he's pissed, and I'm the one that made him that way." Anthony stated frankly.

Caeden flinched. "I'm sorry I put you in that position. I appreciate you speaking up."

Anthony waved him off as the side of the War God opened to let the skipper out with hiss and clang. "That's not your fault. You have no idea how much worse it would be if someone found out I didn't uphold the Code. I'm just stuck between a rock and a hard place. Not your problem."

"I feel a bit responsible."

"Only by existing. Can't really blame you for that, now can I?"

"Some would," Caeden said softly.

{}

They cruised over Earthstrom as Caeden directed Anthony on where to fly the skipper. It was different, seeing the city from above like this. Finding and following landmarks was different. Both more and less complicated. With how fast the skipper could go, they were over his uncle's smithy within minutes.

It was busy, as always. Earthstrom was a big city, home to tens of thousands. There was a lot more work to do here than in the little village Caeden had set up in. He could hear the sound of hammering and the roaring of the etherforges. It sounded like home.

Once they had landed next to the shop, to the awe of several people on the street, Caeden walked up and pulled the rope next to the smithy door three times. His uncle wouldn't stop in the middle of his work for anything less. He could hear the gong sounding from inside the forge, loud enough to cut through all the other sounds.

The hammering stopped, followed by heavy footsteps heading for the door.

"Alright, what's so important that you'd have to pull me from my forge- eh?" The words came through the door in a deep baritone, until it was pulled open.

Caeden stared up at his uncle. He was a beast of a man. Almost a full foot taller than Caeden, with a mass of wild black hair covering every inch of his face. The only bit not covered by hair were his piercing dark eyes. Under his smithing apron was a build much the same as Caeden's, built from long hours forging. He cut an intimidating figure.

"Hey, Unc. I didn't mean to supri- hurk!" Caewden was cut off by his uncle, physically picking him up and squeezing him near to death.

"Haha! Caeden, my boy! What are you doing here, you scoundrel? It's been too long. Come visit your old uncle more often, why don't you? I get lonely with the forge to myself!" Unc nearly crushed Caeden in the mother of all bear hugs. After a few moments trying to breathe, he gave up, like always, and decided to try and crush his uncle back.

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A long moment later he was allowed to breathe as Unc dropped him back to the ground. "Sorry, Unc. I ended up busy enough. Three weeks is a long trip."

Unc gave him an exaggerated hurt expression that Caeden could only read through all that hair after years of practice. "Too long to see your favorite uncle?"

"Ha! You're my only uncle."

Unc drew himself up, "Hmph, that makes me your favorite by default."

Caeden couldn't keep a big goofy smile off his face. "Yeah. Yeah, it does. It's really good to see you, Unc."

A massive hand dropped onto his shoulder, giving him a firm pat. "It's good to see you too, my boy. Now, did you come by just to see me, or you here in Earthstrom for something else? How have you been?"

"Ahh." Caeden's face carried a wild riot of emotions. "That's… there's a lot to explain. Can we come in? This'll take a minute."

"We?" For the first time, Unc seemed to notice the robed officer and ethership outside his smithy. "What's going on, Caeden?"

The concern in his voice made Caeden deflate. "This is Keeper Anthony. Let's go inside. I have a lot to tell you."

{}

"That's pretty much everything." Caeden let out a sigh. His uncle had sat through the whole telling of Caeden's last few days without a word. His beard had barely even twitched.

It was several long moments before he spoke. "...How are you doing?"

"What?"

"You lost your forge. I know what that does to a smith. How are you holding up?"

Caeden let out another massive sigh. "I'm not sure yet. Honestly, it hasn't really registered. I just wish I could have salvaged some of my tools. All I have left is that lump of metal. Not that it matters. I doubt I'll be able to do any forging once I get to this school. Then I'll be in the military."

Unc grimaced. "I'm sorry about that, my boy. If I had known, I would have warned you."

"I never would have expected you to know. Maybe Mom would have, but that's kinda a moot point."

"Ahh, speaking of your parents." Unc hopped up from where he was leaning against the anvil and walked over to the wall by the door leading into his home. He pulled a necklace off a hook there, where it was hanging next to another, similar necklace. "I know you left this with me for safekeeping, but you shouldn't leave family behind."

Caeden took the necklace when it was handed to him. It was a silvery grey metal chain with two small cylinders, each no bigger than his pinky, hanging from it. Inside those two cylinders, forged into the metal itself, was a small part of his parent's ashes. The whole thing was forged from Lifenum, practically indestructible.

He threw the necklace on and gripped the remembrance chambers. Some of the tension in his body faded. "Yeah, I shouldn't have left it here. I missed them."

"What did I tell you? Keep family close." Unc nodded sagely. "I should have never let you leave without it."

"I hate to interrupt, but we should get going," Anthony said apologetically.

"You can take your schedule and shove it, yah fuckin-" Unc's anger flared rapidly.

"Unc!" Caeden stopped him before his uncle tried to punch a military officer and got himself killed. "He's been helpful and understanding. He's the only reason they let me come see you at all. The Commandant has a stick shoved where the Pillar doesn't shine and he'll make life hard for both of us if we don't leave soon."

Unc deflated. "I was hoping you could at least stay for a meal. Tell me about what you've been up to that doesn't involve all this mess. Meet a girl yet?" He added suddenly, excitement rolling off him.

"No, Unc. People out in the boonies are just as weird about shrouded as they are here, just differently. There were a few who treated me normally, but most acted like I was a saint or something. Anyone my age was even weirder." Caeden rolled his eyes. His uncle had tried to set up Caeden on dates with the daughters of a few drinking buddies after he hit his majority before he left. He was worse than a mom, talking about wanting to be a granduncle.

"Relationships between shrouded and unshrouded rarely work out well. The difference in life expectancy is too much for most." Anthony added.

"Life expectancy?"

"You didn't know? Shrouded live longer than unshrouded by a factor of ten. If you manage to get your Embodiment, you'll be completely immortal, even."

"Embodiment?"

"Immortal?" Caeden and his uncle looked at each other before turning back to the Keeper.

Anthony sighed. "We don't have time for this. I'm sorry, I would love to give you a crash course, but we just don't have time. You'll learn at the Academy."

Caeden groaned. "I can't count the number of times I've heard that. I had no idea there was so much to learn about shrouds."

Anthony shook his head. "You have no idea."

They made their way back outside. Caden gripped the remembrance chambers tightly. He wished he had more time to talk with his uncle. He had no idea how much he had needed to see the man until he had been standing in front of him.

The two turned to face each other, the sad look in Unc's eyes matching the feelings roiling in Caeden's stomach.

"Well, you take care. Don't you go getting hurt on me. I expect to see you back here as soon as you can. I don't…" Unc choked up.

"Students visit with family once a year for about a month depending on travel time," Anthony added helpfully.

"See, Unc?" Caeden felt a little choked up himself. These couple of days had been an emotional nightmare. "You'll see me again before you know it. Won't be nearly as long as last time."

Unc clapped a hand on his shoulder before pulling him into an embrace and trying to snap his spine again. "Good."

Suddenly, Caeden's vision and hearing shifted. He felt like all his senses became disjointed from reality. He felt Physical Enhancement rising up unbidden, running through his whole body "Wha-"

There was fire and light, and the earth shook under his feet. Once it passed, Caeden found he was fine. His uncle was not.

"No no no no no NO! Not again!" Caeden knelt over his uncle's form. His own body had been in between the larger man and the source of the explosion, so he had blocked some of it, but both his uncle's arms, part of one of his legs, and a portion of his face was now charred and cracked bleeding flesh. His hands, just wrapped around Caeden, were barely recognizable.

Caeden knelt over his only family, breath barely coming to him. He felt a crushing pressure on his chest, and his thoughts refused to connect to reality. He was awash in fear and confusion.

"Caeden! Caeden! Get your shit together, kid! He's still alive." Anthony's shouting, along with a white light with bits of blue and green glitter throughout covering his uncle's burnt and scarred body, snapped Caeden part of the way out of his stupor.

"What? How did- I-I don't-" Caeden stammered, his mind trying to process what just happened.

"Never mind that. They blew up the skipper. I'm going to get us the ship, but I need you to not resist my shroud. Can you do that?" Caeden nodded numbly, unsure what he was supposed to do but willing to try. He felt Anthony's shroud press around him, and he tamped down on a desire that welled up in him to push back with his shrouds.

A second later, they shot into the air much faster than the skipper had traveled, heading straight for the War God hanging over Earthstrom. Caeden prayed they could save his uncle. He had lost enough family for a lifetime.