‘Bullshit. I can circulate it throughout my body, so I’ve clearly got some control over it.’ Nemes told the demon, not falling for its tricks.

‘You’re not controlling the Aether, your controlling your Aether core. It circulates through your body naturally once it’s dispersed from the core.’ Apophis said, and Nemes’ eyes widened. It… made sense, but trusting the demon didn’t.

‘What about my Ether?’ Nemes asked.

‘I think you mean my Ether, hatchling.’

Again, it… made sense. From what he understood, Ether required active control; he couldn’t just force it out of his core. It needed to be pushed out of his body entirely and then actively manipulated in order to be used. Coincidentally, he couldn’t control his- or Apophis’, maybe- Ether whatsoever.

‘Prove it. Use the Aether.’ Nemes challenged, and Apophis snorted in response.

The Aether, already spread throughout his body, suddenly soaked into his body, and a surge of unparalleled power hit him like a truck. The mere twitches of his muscles became faster and more powerful than he expected, and when he tried to stabilize himself, it only resulted in him slamming himself into the ground.

‘Is that proof enough, Nemes?’ The demon asked, and it took Nemes a moment to realize that the demon had used his name.

He had never told the demon his name.

‘Can you… read my mind?’ Nemes asked, and the only response was a faint sense of amusement before Apophis’ corner of his mind disappeared.

…At least the demon wasn’t angry about Nemes’ name- at least, it didn’t seem to be.

***

Nemes’ ears twitched, hearing a faint sliding noise. His eyes snapped open, piercing through the darkness with ease and latching onto the man who had just stepped through a door- presumably; he didn’t see any visible door and just assumed that the wall had slid open and that the human hadn’t phased through the solid metal. Before he could even examine the human, the lights flicked on, making it a bit hard to see for a brief second, until his eyes adjusted.

It was a tall, middle-aged woman with no visible modifications to her body. A nametag hung from her neck, reading ‘Cleo M. Rogers’. She carried a folding chair in her hands and placed it down a few feet in front of him.

‘The implant helps me to read, too; that’s useful.’ Nemes thought to himself as he waited for the human to speak. He didn’t have to wait long, though.

“Hello, Nemes; I arrived a bit earlier than I should’ve, and I apologize for interrupting your sleep.” The woman said, “I’ll be showing up every day so that you can ask questions and make requests, but usually not this early. Be aware that the time you have is limited.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Nemes had a lot of questions, and a night’s sleep had worn down his fear of the humans a fair bit- enough for his desire for answers to outweigh his fear, at least. He asked the very first question that came to mind: “Why would you use me as a weapon when I am so weak?”

“Not as a weapon, but as a shield.” The woman said, but didn’t say anything further. Nemes almost wanted to push, but he had other questions and he didn’t want to make the human leave before he got more answers.

Nemes took a couple seconds to mull the woman’s answer over. That he was not a weapon as Iroh had said but a weapon meant that there was some sort of threat to their kingdom on the horizon; one that needed a dragon to fight off, but he couldn’t think of any such enemy that the human’s couldn’t also deal with.

“What is Aether and Ether?” Nemes asked, wondering if he should tell the humans about Apophis and the fact that he couldn’t manipulate his Aether or Ether.

“That… is a difficult and vague question. Could you be more specific?”

“What does it do? How does it work?”

“The simplest explanation is that Aether is an internal magic that most, if not all, beings can use. It can be used to heal wounds at an accelerated rate and it can be used to strengthen your body. Ether is an external magic that few can use, as it requires intense concentration and skill. The few who can use it often find it not worth the effort- with the same effort that they could use Ether to start a fire, they could, with much more ease, just light a match.

At its highest echelons, however, it is significantly more versatile and powerful than Aether. Moreover, it is incredibly useful to craftsmen, and even more than that, most technologies use Ether. That’s just when humans use it, though; most monsters can use it, and when they do, it’s dangerous.”

Very little of that was important to him when he couldn’t use Aether or Ether to begin with.

“Is it possible to be born without Aether or Ether?” Nemes asked.

“…Yes, although it’s rare. You have no cause to worry, however; we have scanned your body many times over, and you have both an Aether and Ether core.” Cleo said, looking at him oddly. ”Can you still not use it? The stories say that dragons have an instinctive control over their magic, but they’re just stories. Do you need a mentor?”

“…No,” Nemes said after a few seconds. The humans intended to use him for his strength, and if that was the case, then his inability to manipulate neither Aether nor Ether would make him lose his value.

There was a loophole, though… Could Apophis do the magic stuff for him? This thought made his eyes turn into saucers, and it wasn’t in a good way.

“If I were incapacitated, could I use Aether to move my body?” Nemes suddenly blurted out.

Cleo looked at him suspiciously, but answered the question regardless; with a single, simple word- one that struck fear into his heart. “Yes.”

‘I’m never going to use Aether or Ether, then.’ Nemes decided. Apophis had proven only a while ago that the Aether- and, presumably, Ether- within his body did not belong to him, even if Nemes still called it ‘his’.

“Why don’t the bugs have any organs or flesh or bones?” Nemes asked; it wasn’t a particularly important question, but he was still curious- more than that, though, he wanted to move away from questions that would make the human suspicious- at least for a while.

“…The bugs? What bugs are you talking about?” Cleo asked, confusion marring her face.

“The flat and circular metal bugs- they come in here every night and eat-“

Cleo cut him off; “Oh! You’re talking about the cleaning bots. They’re not bugs; they’re not even alive. They just come in and clean the room.”

Nemes’ eyes widened in understanding; he knew of a word similar to that- ‘golems’. He felt a bit stupid for thinking that something without flesh or bones or organs could be alive.

‘It’s just that Apophis’ language made golems sound nothing like the cleaning bugs- er, bugs.’ Nemes justified.

…Cleo’s next words completely removed the sense of stupidity and replaced it with a feeling of dread and fear.

“You’re hiding something.” Cleo stated, absolute certainty on her face, “And it’s related to your Aether and Ether cores.”