I didn’t go to sleep immediately after retreating to my room.

All the talk of families had brought all kinds of memories rushing back to me. How it had felt to lose Mom, all those years ago. The struggle to care for Dad right afterward, and how I’d had to grow up quickly. How I’d had to learn to take care of myself even after he’d recovered from his injuries, because he was too depressed to even get out of bed some days. The way I’d barely finished high school and had no hope of attending college, if only because I needed to be home to care for Dad.

Life had been rough for me for a while now, even beyond the whole being transported to another planet and enslaved thing. Sometimes I’d felt I had no future. Before my capture, I’d been working a dead-end part-time job just for us to struggle by. No girlfriend, and few friends, I was amazed that I wasn’t as depressed as Dad was. But…

I’d adapted. Just like how I’d adapted to being a slave, I suppose. Still, in my heart of hearts, I didn’t have much hope regarding Dad…

To chase thoughts of the past out of my head, I’d started practicing in my tiny second-story bedroom. Grey had previously given me several of the books that he had on hand about Enchanting and Abjuration. None of the really advanced reference materials that his captors had graciously let him have to facilitate his work, but the more beginner-friendly stuff. Apparently, the people who’d arranged for Grey to even have reference materials had kind of just thrown a bunch of random books on the subjects together and shipped them to Azarus before I’d arrived. Luckily for me, that meant I could get a background in the subjects beyond just Grey’s lectures.

I considered it fairly interesting material, but it wasn’t working very well to keep my mind off of things. I’d been staring at the same page for nearly five minutes now. Fuck it, maybe some practical work would be better. Setting the book down, I picked up a blank enchantment disc that I’d personally forged out on my grill. I hadn’t done any scribing work on it for it to be functional yet, and I didn’t feel like it now. I just wanted something to focus on while I fired up Aetherial Melding.

Closing my eyes, I easily entered the trance required for me to sense the pulse of Vereden’s Aether. Slowly, I started to stir it about. I didn’t even know if I had any kind of enchantment in mind to practice with. Honestly, I was just kind of playing with the Aether. Through previous tries, I’d found that this was incredibly relaxing. Just feeling the pulse of Aether as it washed over me was almost…fun. It was as if I was on the beach, and letting the waves break over me. The surging of the Aether as it crested over me, the indescribable vitality that I could feel flowing all around. It was already doing the job of taking my mind off of things.

On a whim, I redirected the ambient Aether by syncing it with my own. This was typically the first step I needed in order to start enchanting something, but that wasn’t what I intended. Slowly, I tried something I hadn’t yet. I let the Aether start to gradually stream around me until I was surrounded by an ethereal blanket of pure energy. Even without my eyes open though, I knew that none of this would be visible to the naked eye. From what I’d learned, it took vastly more concentrated Aether than this minuscule amount to be observable.

I sank into the warm embrace of the Aether surrounding me, and drifted…

………………………………………

I don’t know how long I sat at that desk in my newfound state of meditation, but gradually I became aware of an almost tickling sensation. It didn’t happen often, but every once in a while it was like a feather would be dragged down my back. Gradually coming back to awareness, I was startled to find that I’d managed to keep the cloak of Aether flowing around my form the entire time I’d been drifting, almost subconsciously. Mentally, I shook that off though. I was curious now where that sensation was coming from, and how I was even feeling it.

Patiently, I waited for the feeling to repeat itself. It wasn’t long before I felt another feather light touch along my back. Briefly opening my eyes, being careful not to lose my hold on the Aether, I looked over my shoulder. Nothing. I waited for it to happen again. This time, I was able to tell that the touch was occurring on the cloak of Aether that surrounded me. I was just so in tune with energy right now that my senses were confusing a touch on it, as a touch on my skin. Cool.

I still hadn’t been able to tell where it came from though, so I concentrated harder. There! This time, I was able to tell where the feather sensation was coming from. I was a little startled by it though.

It was coming from my collar.

As I watched with my Aetherial sense, every few minutes my collar would extend a thin strand of what appeared to be Mana. Languidly, it would sweep that strand of Mana across my shoulder blades before retreating. I guess that the feather-brushing sensation I’d detected was what Mana against Aether felt like.

I was initially puzzled by what exactly the collar was trying to do, before remembering what exactly was on my left shoulder. My false dummy brand. It clicked then, for me. I remembered everything Grey had told me all those weeks ago about how the complete slave binding circuit functioned. First, you were outfitted with a collar, which had the tracking and death enchantment built into it. Only after you were wearing a collar were you then branded, which contained the Status binding enchantment. The brand itself would only work when applied by a specially prepared iron, and even then, it wasn’t activated immediately. That was the function of the all-important third enchantment on the collars. The activation enchantment.

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That was it! That was what I was feeling. That thin strand of Mana that I was feeling sweep across my shoulders must be the Status binding activation enchantment. I’d never received a proper brand, thank God, and thus the collar couldn’t ‘hook’ onto it and block mine. Even after all this time, my collar was still trying to bind my Status. It couldn’t though, and so it was stuck in a kind of loop, eternally trying and always failing. Even if I couldn’t feel it, this must have been happening for months.

Morbidly interested despite myself, I waited until the enchantment sent out another strand of Mana and cautiously grabbed it with Aetherial Melding. I kept a very light touch on it though, because I didn’t want to accidentally set off the fucking bomb enchantment set into my collar. The Mana was interesting to my senses, though. Carefully, I let my senses rest on it. Beyond the raw energy part of the strand, I was able to sense something pulsing up and down it. Recalling my studies, I recognized it as what Enchanters called Intent. One part of Grey’s lectures had taught me that Intent was what gave an individual enchantment direction. This Intent I was feeling must have been the actual activation signal. Interesting.

Slowly, I let go of the strand of Mana. Mentally, I let out a sigh of relief when it retreated back into the collar with no issues. Even I recognized that playing with part of my collar's enchantments was reckless. It was probably too dangerous to mess with. I decided not to tell Grey that I had nearly killed myself by screwing with my collar.

I was hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion once I’d finished. All that messing about with Aether had tired me out where my studying hadn’t. Getting out of my desk chair, I stumbled my way over to my bed and fell face-first into it.

I was out like a light almost immediately.

………………………………………

I actually slept surprisingly well. Despite being up working far past my usual bedtime, I felt surprisingly refreshed when I woke up. Not only that, but I woke up earlier too. Judging by the lack of light outside, I think it may have even been before sunrise. Who knows, maybe it was the Aether meditation that gave me some fantastic sleep.

In a remarkably good mood, I made myself a quick breakfast and a cup of steaming hot tea. On a whim, I took a chair along with my meal outside to wait for and watch the sunrise. Before long, the sun began to peek over the horizon, bathing Azarus’s backyard in that same green light I’d seen back in Rhoscara. You know, now that I thought of it, I’d never asked Grey about this.

Speaking of…

Behind me, I heard the sound of wheels entering the kitchen through the kitchen window. Standing up and setting my plate on my chair, I looked inside to find Grey peering blearily around. I waved my free hand to catch his attention before motioning him outside. Before I sat down, I saw him begin wheeling in my direction. Shortly thereafter, the backdoor opened to my right and Grey poked his head out.

“Nathan?” He said in surprise. “My word, what are you doing out here at this hour?”

I took a sip of my tea and shrugged at him. “Dunno. I just…felt like it, I suppose. I slept better than I expected and came out here to watch the sunrise. Speaking of, I have a question for you. C’mon out, will you?”

With a bemused smile, Grey did as I bid him and fully wheeled outside to sit next to me. “What question would that be?”

With the hand holding my mug, I gestured out before us. “What’s with all the green?”

“You’ll have to be more specific than that, I’m afraid,” Grey said with a smile, nodding towards the copse of trees across from us.

“I’m talking about the sunrise. Why exactly is it green for a bit? Where does it even come from? That sure as hell doesn’t happen back home.”

“Oh, is that so?” Grey said, interested. “Well, you’re in luck. I happen to have some personal interest in Aetherological Astronomy. The brief period of green light you’re referring to is known to occur because of an interaction between the Aether of Vereden, and the Aether of our sun and moon. As the sun rises, the comparatively stronger Aether of our sun suppresses the Aether of our moon. The waning of the Elysian Aether, combined with the waxing of the Tarusian Aether causes the Aether of Vereden to flare and briefly color the sunrise. An entirely harmless, and quite striking phenomenon.”

I hummed, interested. I knew he’d know the answer. “Elysian? Tarusian?”

Grey chuckled and shook his head. “The names of our moon and sun. Elys is our moon, and Tarus our sun.”

I nodded to myself, satisfied. Slowly, I continued eating my breakfast and sipping at my tea. In the meanwhile, Grey and I watched the sun continue to rise over the horizon. By the time the green period of it had finished, so was I. Grey spoke up again around then.

“Nathan, I’d like to apologize for my tactlessness last night.” He said, turning to face me. “I’m afraid the alcohol suppressed my social graces, and I touched upon a sore subject. At the same time, I’d like to apologize for never inquiring about your own personal familial situation. It was quite thoughtless of me, and I apologize for my lack of empathy.”

I shook my head, surprisingly at peace. “It’s fine, really. I never brought it up either, you know? I just…don’t like to think about it often, for obvious reasons. Water under the bridge, as far as I’m concerned. Whatever happened to Dad…” I paused for a moment, suppressing a pang of emotion. It faded, though. “I don’t know if I’ll ever find out, and I just need to deal with that.”

“As you say,” Grey said, still audibly concerned. “I…did have another idea I wished to bring up with you.”

I latched onto the change of subject, desperate to change the awkward subject. “Oh yeah, what was that?”

“Well, the thought occurred to me, that in order for our plan to succeed, you need some training in stealth and infiltration. Originally, I was going to instruct you myself, but isn’t there a much more capable specialist in the subject currently camping just outside the walls?” Grey said with a smile.

Oh.

Hmm…

I leaned forward closer to Grey in interest. “Tell me more.”