Dev lay awake in bed, restlessly trying again and again to project his axiom. He had slept poorly, and eventually given up on getting more sleep. He had been pushing and prodding his soul, trying to get the axiom out more than a short distance, but every time, it still felt like the axiom was bouncing off something, leaving him frustrated.

He got up, it was almost time for school anyway, so he might as well get ready. He jumped in the shower for a few minutes, before getting out, drying off, and getting dressed.

Feeling refreshed, he went to the kitchen to make breakfast. Since they had had sweet foods a couple of times recently, he decided to make breakfast burritos, after checking the fridge for ingredients. He idly noticed that the fridge’s enchantments were a bit dimmer than last night, perhaps as an after-effect of the Ascension.

He turned on multiple burners, making eggs in one pan and sausage in the other.

As the sausage sizzled in the pan, his sister wandered out.

“What are you doing up so early?” she asked.

“Making breakfast burritos. You want one?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you want? We’ve got eggs and sausage, and cheese in the fridge. I can slice an onion or some chives for you?”

She looked at him weirdly, before accepting with a nod. He got out the cutting board, and some chives from the refrigerator. He drew a knife from the block and got to work cutting while monitoring the frying pans.

Once the sausage was fully cooked, Dev placed it on a plate, before slicing some up to add to a tortilla with the other burrito ingredients. He wrapped them up and put the burrito in the sausage pan to fry it in the sausage grease real quick, before plating it for his sister.

“Thank you.”

“What’s going on out here?” His mom asked as she emerged into the main room.

“I woke up early, so I decided to make breakfast.”

He nodded to his dad, who had just left his parents’ bedroom.

“Do y’all want burritos as well? It’s build your own right now.”

“Sure,” his dad said with a yawn.

“Are you frying the burritos?” His mom asked, “Where did you learn that?”

“I just felt like doing it. Hopefully, it helps hold them together.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll try that.” his dad said.

His dad came over and assembled a burrito and Dev put it on the pan.

“You want one, mom?”

“No, thanks, sweetie,” his mom said, assembling her own burrito and taking it to the table.

After a couple minutes, he finished his and his dad’s burrito, and took them to the table.

“Mm, these are pretty good.” His dad said after a couple of bites. “It’s nice that you decided to rise with the sun—” he glanced out the window “— not that you can see it now, behind Aurean’s eclipse.”

Something about what he said gave Dev a realization An eclipse!

Dev closed his eyes and connected to his soul, before pulling on it. As before, there seemed to be an invisible barrier blocking things. He tried again, this time from the apparent edge relative to his vision, and… it continued. He opened his eyes, only to see his parents and sister looking at him, astonished.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Sisu.” his mother said.

“What?

“Sisu. It’s the word for that feeling you just unleashed.” she answered in a daze, “Being unfettered, determined. Resilient.”

Now it was his turn to look at her strangely.

“How do you know that, Mom?”

“You aren’t the only person with talent in the family,” she snapped, “I myself have quite the talent for Language.”

She looked ready to continue before his dad interrupted.

“Vella,” his dad said warningly, “Now is not the time to get into family history.”

She looked at him, seemed to have a revelation, then nodded. “Another time.”

“What?” Kaley asked around a mouthful of food. “What’s so important about our family? I didn’t think we had any.”

“Don’t speak with your mouth full, dear. And it doesn’t matter.” His mom seemed flustered at her slip-up. “I’ll tell you when you’re older..”

“Anyways,” his dad said, changing the topic, “Dev, you deserve congratulations for succeeding in manifesting your axiom!”

Accepting the topic change, he responded, “Thanks. But you deserve part of the credit. If you hadn’t mentioned the eclipse, I never would have figured out what it was I was missing.”

“Then I think I deserve a reward! How about an extra burrito?”

Dev smiled, then got up and got him one.

“And I’ll drive you to school this morning, so you don’t have to take the bus.”

“Thanks, Dad,” he said, smiling.

They continued breakfast with some small talk, and all worked together to clean up.

“Okay, go get in the car,” his dad said as he grabbed the stuff he needed for work.

They didn’t speak much over the car ride, due to it’s incredibly short duration, but his dad dropped him off at school with a, “Good luck.”

He went inside and made his way to the theatre, finding Mr. Serenata already there.

“Mr. Serenata?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“I’ve figured out how to manifest my axiom.”

“That’s wonderful,” he said, “Could you demonstrate?”

“Yes,” Dev responded, diving into his soul and triggering his axiom like he had that morning.

Mr. Serenata seemed taken aback at the sensation of resistance and perseverance that washed through the room.

“That’s odd,” he said.

“What?”

“I don’t recognize it. What did you say it was called, again?”

“Sisu. I didn’t know the word for it either until my mom helped.”

His eyes narrowed, then he schooled his expression. “Very well, I will consider you eligible for the opportunity. Do you mind if I ask what the answer was for you? Just in case it helps some of the other students?”

Dev hesitated, then answered, “It was like an eclipse. My soul was like the sun, but the light from it was blocked until I drew it from the edge.”

Serenata laughed.

“Well. That certainly makes sense. I’ll share it with whoever shows up, but I’m not sure how much it will help.”

“What next?” he asked.

“Next you’ll need to go to room S17 to wait with those who discovered aspects, and I’ll be there at around ten once I finish wrapping things up in here.”

Dev glanced at the clock, it was seven thirty right now, so that would be a two and a half hour wait.

“Are you sure that there’s nothing I can do in here?”

“If you want to, you can demonstrate your axiom to those still trying? It might help them to get a second example.”

Dev hesitated again before agreeing, thinking of the possible social ramifications. Then again, he didn’t have that many people whose opinions he cared about outside his family.

“Fine.”

“Okay, then once everyone’s gathered at eight, we’ll do the demonstration.”

The thirty-minute wait was short, and by the end around thirty people were gathered.

“If I can have your attention?” Mr. Serenata said.

After everyone was looking toward him, he continued, “Mr…”

“Cantor,” Dev filled in.

“Mr. Cantor has managed to manifest an aspect. He will be giving a demonstration on what it feels like.”

“Hi,” Dev said, suddenly choked up my stage fright “This is my axiom.”

He dived down to his soul and called on his axiom again. He saw as the other students blinked and stiffened as the sensation washed over them.

“Dev here managed to call on his axiom by envisioning his soul as an eclipse, and drawing the axiom from its edges,” Mr. Serenata said, “I can’t guarantee that any of you will be able to do the same, but I believe it’s worth trying. Please ask me if you need assistance.”

Serenata then turned to Dev and spoke quieter, “You should probably go to the room now. Maybe socialize a little.”

Dev left, making his way to the classroom. He did not try to socialize.