For a moment I didn’t dare to breathe.

It had worked?

It had really, truly worked?

Trembling, I concentrated on the now no-longer enchantment blank. Slowly, I let my Aetherial Senses poke and prod the device in my hands. During my lesson on Enchantment, Grey’d had me test my senses on spare enchantment discs that he had. His reasoning had been that I needed to be able to tell whenever something had been successfully enchanted.

This…item. This thing in my hands was registering as successfully enchanted to my senses.

I nearly started hyperventilating.

Somehow, I’d done it. I hadn’t intended to, but I had.

In my hands was a device that I thought could break a slave bond.

I chuckled to myself, slightly hysterical. I couldn’t be right, could I? It couldn’t be this simple to free a slave. If I’d actually done it, then the design for breaking a slave bond had already existed. I’d just stripped it down until it wouldn’t be strong enough to kill someone.

As I’d said, the Ward Breaker functioned by being inserted into a ward stone and then flooding that stone with raw Aether from the monster cores in the handle. This Aether was aspected with enchantment intent that carried the idea of ‘deactivation’. What I’d done was strip several features from the Ward Breaker enchantment and massively lower the amount of Aether administered from a press of the activation rune. Normally, a single Ward Breaker only had about two charges to it due to how much Aether it took from the cores, according to Grey. However, this…thing I’d made probably had enough juice for hundreds of uses.

I set it down on the table with shaking hands. I…I didn’t have time for this. I needed to finish the Ward Breaker. Once I was done with that…

Then I guess I’d go downstairs and show it to Grey.

………………………………………

It didn’t take me long to finish the Ward Breaker.

Maybe it was because I was so keyed up from making…the other thing. Maybe it was from the meditation I’d done. Either way, I succeeded in layering the enchantment over the blank on my very next try.

I nearly slumped over at the exhaustion that swept over me. I clutched my pounding head with both hands and let out a low groan. I’d never pushed myself so many times in such a short period of time. Between all the surgery I’d done in the last twenty-four hours and making these two items, it almost felt like something was aching inside me. Fumblingly, I reached for a drawer on my desk. Opening it, I took out a bottle that contained a bright yellow potion.

I eyed it warily.

Grey had given me a number of these weeks ago. He’d called them energy potions, and told me that I could use them to briefly to bolster myself. Kind of like a super-powered energy drink, from what I could tell. However, he’d cautioned me by saying that the boost would only last about ten hours, and then I was out. Apparently, these things had a tendency to knock you out for days afterward.

I took a deep breath. Fuck it, I’d take it with me. If Grey said that my Ward Breaker was functional…

Then I was kicking off everything tonight, and chugging this damn potion.

Bleddyn didn’t have time for me to pussy-foot around.

Grabbing the Ward Breaker, the potion, and my…project, I exited my room and headed downstairs. Coming to Grey’s room, I was surprised to hear low conversation echoing out from it. I think both Grey and Azarus were still up and in there. Good. That saved some time.

I knocked on the door strongly and didn’t wait for an answer before I barged in. Grey and Azarus were sitting at the small corner table, nursing drinks. They’d turned around to face me with surprised looks on their faces at my entrance. Azarus set his down.

“Nate!” He said, standing up halfway from his chair. I waved him back down impatiently, causing him to pause. I hustled over to the table, dumping the three items in my arms on the table for them to see. Azarus slowly lowered back into his chair. “Are ya…all right?” He asked me.

“Fine,” I said shortly. I slid the Ward Breaker that I’d made to rest in front of Grey. “Did I do it right? Is it functional enough?”

Grey blinked down at the large and oddly proportioned fork before his eyes widened. He looked up at me in astonishment. “Nathan, did you finish the Ward Breaker?” I heard an intake of breath from Azarus, but didn’t turn to face him.

“That’s what I’m asking you,” I said impatiently, nearly bouncing on my heels.

Grey picked up the Ward Breaker and narrowed his eyes in concentration. Both Azarus and I held our breaths in anticipation while Grey examined it with his senses. After a moment, a smile stole across his aged face and he looked up at me. “You did it, Nathan. You really did it. This is a fully functional Ward Breaker.”

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“Gods damn,” Azarus breathed out.

“With this,” Grey continued. “We’re-”

I interrupted him. “That’s not all,” I said gravely. I was glad that I’d done the Ward Breaker correctly, but I’d already been pretty sure I had. I slid the other long fork across the table to Grey.

He looked down at it, puzzled. “Did you make a second Breaker, Nathan?” He reached for it.

“No,” I said. “I think…I made something different.” I stepped away from the table, full of nervous energy. I began to pace back and forth in front of the table under the confused stares of Grey and Azarus. “I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. But…but that isn’t a Ward Breaker.” I stopped my pacing and turned to face them. “I think that can break a slave bond.”

Grey and Azarus both froze. In fact, I couldn’t even tell if they were breathing anymore, they were so still. Slowly, I watched their eyes drift down to the item resting in front of Grey. With a shaking hand, Grey slowly reached down to rest a hand on the item. I watched as started concentrating on his arcane senses again, and begin to inspect what I’d made.

Azarus and I waited with bated breath. This time, Grey seemed to take much longer to feel out the device. Several minutes went by as he scrutinized it. At last, he stopped and looked up at me with a furrowed brow. “I…believe I can see what you mean, Nathan,” He said cautiously, hopefully. “I can see the changes you made to the base Ward Breaker enchantment, but I don’t know how. I’ve never seen enchantment editing done in such a way.”

I reached out and pulled out the third chair resting at the table. With a thump, I sat in it. “We’ve talked about how I can weave and layer enchantments over items before. We’ve even talked about how I can perceive them during a Meld. I…lately I’ve just been finding it easier to try and match an enchantment to its runes before I apply it.” I explained the rest of my process to Grey as he sat there, enraptured. I even told him about what I’d noticed about the endlessly repeating activation enchantment on my collar.

When I was done, we sat in silence for a moment. Azarus hadn’t said a word in some time, merely watching our discussion with wide eyes, as if he couldn’t believe what was happening.

Abruptly, Grey picked up the item and handed it to me. In the same instant, he wheeled his chair away from the table. “There’s only one way to know for certain if it works,” He said gravely, meeting my eyes. “You don’t have a bond to test it on. But I do, Nathan.”

Unexpectedly, Azarus stood up from the table and interrupted us. “Ya can’t be serious,” He said disbelievingly. “Even if this thing works, and I’m not saying it won’t, mind,” He said to me before continuing. “You’re not who it should be tested on! I don’t know much about enchantment, but I do know that your bond is bigger, stronger, and more complex than most! Even beyond that, we don’t know what this thing could do to ya if it fails! Hell, it could trigger your collar and then that’s it! You're dead!”

Grey took a deep breath before nodding. He didn’t turn to face Azarus though, he just kept staring at me. “You’re correct, Azarus,” He said evenly. “But everything that I understand about the principles of Enchanting and Abjuration is telling me this will work. My bond may be somewhat stronger than the average one, but not so much that this couldn’t possibly work. Nathan…” He started to undo the bindings of his plain white tunic, so similar to my own. When he was done, he turned around and lowered it to expose the brand on his left shoulder blade, so much larger and complex than any other I'd seen. “Do it.”

Hesitantly, I approached him with the fork-shaped device clutched in my right hand. I stopped though, when Grey spoke again. “I believe that this might work best,” He said calmly. “If the tongs break the skin. The ritual act of bloodletting, even if only slight, might boost the success rate. You’ll need your skill for that, though. We already know it’s capable of breaking my skin.”

With a deep breath, I did as he said.

The Scintillant Blade.

The long fork in my hand erupted into rainbow-colored fire. The light of my skill overpowered the weak candlelight that was flickering in the dim room, casting multi-colored shadows across its darkened corners. Slowly, I raised the device to hover point first over the large, dense, and complex brand that dominated Grey’s left shoulder. I paused before continuing. “Grey…,” I trailed off. “Thank you.” I tried hard to convey the depths of my emotion in those two words. How grateful I was that he and Azarus had rescued me, all those months ago. How grateful I was for his tutelage. How much I just appreciated his advice and his company, on long nights.

Grey must have understood. “No, Nathan,” He said with a smile in his voice, without turning to face me. “Thank you.”

Forcefully, I stabbed the fork down at the brand, leaning on it with my full weight. Even then, I only managed to slightly pierce his skin, leading to two small drops of blood starting to drip down his back. At the same time, I pressed down on the activation rune.

The results were immediate.

The brand on Grey’s shoulder began to light up rapidly in a dazzling combination of light. I didn’t get a chance to see much more though, as with a bang I was blasted off of my feet and went flying. “Nate!” I heard behind me, over the rapid crescendo of light and noise that was beginning to fill the room. Before I could hit the wall, I was grabbed by Azarus. I wasn’t paying attention to that though.

I was watching Grey.

From where I was leaning against Azarus, I could see the brand on Grey’s back begin to shine ever brighter. It grew so bright, in fact, that I was sure the light was leaking through the curtains and lighting up the clearing outside the window. Gradually, I could see the brand begin to break down and dissolve on Grey’s back from the intensity of the power assaulting it. I didn’t think it was from the device at that point. I think that was Grey’s power fighting back against the brand, now that a weakness had formed in it.

At the same time, all light in the room began to dim. The shadows grew longer and darker, and the light that still existed in the room from the weak candles began to dim. Slowly, it…somehow began to reach for Grey, independently of the flame that was producing it. What was left was a still-burning flame that produced no light at all. Softly, Grey himself began to glow with an ethereal silver light.

Wordlessly, Grey raised his right arm and made a sweeping gesture, from his position facing the covered window. The drapes flew open at his command.

The room exploded into light once more. I cried out, covering my eyes at the brightness, aware of Azarus crying out behind me as well. Slowly, I tried to open them to see what was making the light. I felt my heart stutter in my chest at what I found.

It was the moon.

Looming full and heavy just over the trees outside the window, it was shining brighter than I’d ever seen it on either Vereden or Earth. Somehow, I could physically feel the attention that it was directing onto Grey. It was as if the heavenly body was personally guiding its full radiance onto one person. Slowly, he wheeled up to the window and laid a longing hand onto it, as if he could reach up into the sky and pluck the luminous moon from the heavens.

“Elys, my love,” Grey said softly, lovingly. “Let us never be parted again…”