Cael's eys shot open as he woke up and proceeded to quickly jump to his feet. He was on high alert as he looked around him and noticed several disturbing things at once. Cael was no longer in his apartment, in fact he was no longer in the city at all.

All around him for as far as his eyes could see were trees and other vegetation that he could not recognize.

He was still in the clothes he'd been in when he collapsed onto his bed, and as far as he could tell his physical condition remained the same as then. Although he still remained vigilant as he had yet to find the source of the voice he had heard a few seconds before.

'Quite quick to react aren't you? Although I already knew that'

Cael suddenly stopped searching the forest with his eyes as he realized the source of the voice he had heard was in his very own head.

"Who are you, what are you, why are you in my head and why have you brought me here?" Cael immediately started to list his most pressing questions and waited for a response.

'One at a time, one at a time, all will be answered. Firstly, you may address me as Loque, that's the name I use for most of my mortal manifestations. Secondly, I am your father and the Aetherius of Space, I'm capable of creating infinite amounts of space in various forms and manipulating it in whichever way I choose. I am currently projecting part of my consciousness into your mind in order for me to communicate with, explain some things and present a few gifts to you. I've brought you here because this is my idea of entertainment and I was board. That about sum it up?'

"..." Cael was left speechless as he processed this new information. The voice said that it was the Aetherius of Space and his father. This would explain his ability to phase shift, he wondered if he had other abilities over space and if he would be given the freedom to use them.

"I have a few more questions I want answered," Cael stated as he sat down against the trunk of a large tree.

'Fire away.'

"If you really are my father that would make me part Aetherius therefore I should be able to have some level of control over space aswell assuming this is hereditary. I'm able to phase shift but not for very long and it drains a huge amount of my energy. My question is am I able to exert control over other aspects of Space or does it only apply to the one?"

'Yes you are quite right. As a Half-Aetherius you have already shown control over space through your 'phase shifting' as you call it, in reality you were simply slipping into a different layer of reality whilst remaining in the same dimension and realm enabling you slip through objects in the physical counterpart. It's actually supposed to be quite difficult to achieve, so you should be able to easily manipulate space in various other ways.'

This got Cael thinking of different ways in which to use space, he could steal abilities from characters in various sources of fiction that had spacial related powers and make them his own.

The fact that he was in what he assumed was a fantasy world only added to the excitement.

"Were you the one responsible for the monthly payments I received back on earth and for preventing any investigations regarding my missing mother?" Cael asked.

'Yes and sorta yes. During my time on Earth I managed to acquire quite a nice bit of wealth so yeah, I was responsible for periodically sending you money. As for the events regarding your mother, I had Ilyss the Aetherius of Time, erase the time she had spent with others and replace it with another's. Except for you of course, thats why you're able to remember her. As for the deed itself...I have no further comments...'

'But, while we're on the subject of Ilyss, she's taken quite the interest in you and decided to present you with a Contract.'

"What type of contract?" Cael asked with a mix of caution and curiosity.

'An Aspect Contract. It's a contract formed between two Aetherius that entitles both entities to receive a certain amount of control over each other's aspect. Ilyss has decided to gift you an Absolute Contract, this is the highest level of Contract there is and it allows full control over each other's aspects. Of course you'll have to experiment to learn how to use it and it won't come as naturally to you as space but it shouldn't be too hard. Time and Space has a very close relationship after all...'

Cael raised his eyebrows in what was a rare look of surprise on his face. Not only was he able to bend space to his will but he'd soon be able to have control over time as well. Cael grew suspicious as he'd be stupid not to think that there was some sort of catch and so voiced his suspicions to Loque.

'Oh, not to worry there aren't any cons as far as I can see. She's a member of the Absolute Triumvirate and therefore has an Absolute contract with all the members including me so she's defenitly not after your aspect. The reason Ilyss is gifting you this contract is because she probably wants to contribute further to the entertainment I started, plus I guess it's also her way of adopting you since in the future you'll be able to access the Divine Plane and like I said before we have a very close relationship.'

"Alright then, before I start my journey I'd like for you to explain a bit more about this world like any language barriers and the nearest settlement and such."

'I'm way ahead of you. That was my next gift I'll be transferring some general knowledge about this world like the topography and currencies and such, but not too much knowledge, as that would destroy the joy of discovery and be quite boring. The common tongue spoken here is in fact English, you can thank Ilyss for that aswell. This will give you slight a headache but bare with it.'

As he said that Cael could feel a gentle throb behind his eye and around his forehead. That throb turned into a pulse as images flashed through his mind. Eventually the pulsing stopped as his mind settled down.

'And now, for the Contract.'

The world turned grey and a falling leaf halted in the air as time seemed to stop. Directly in front of Cael a rip in the fabric of space appeared and widened. A glowing golden scroll with an insignia of a glowing hour glass appeared from the fissure as it closed behind it.

"This seems quite fitting. So how do I sign it," Cael asked as got up and stood before the scroll observing the golden material.

'Simply touch the Contract and pour your animus inside of it.'

Cael stepped forward and placed his open palm in the centre of the scroll. He didn't ask what animus was as he had a vague understanding of it. He also knew that in this world some beings were able to manipulate a weaker, highly diluted form of animus called mana to perform spells and various other magic.

He focused on his body and felt a now slightly familiar tingling sensation in his chest. Cael willed it to travel up his arm and into the intricate glowing hour glass present on the scroll.

Cael witnessed the the insignia change from a bright glowing yellow, into a deep black with a faint purple glow.

The scroll broke up and turned into pure animus that was absorbed by Caels arm in a twisting vortex. Once it was done the world regained it's colour and the leaf continued to fall uniterupted to the ground bellow.

Cael inhaled deeply and held it in for a few seconds before exhaling and refilling his lungs again. A small smile started to play across his features as he said, "I feel fucking amazing."

'Its a nice feeling isn't it? Anyway I've got one more gift to give and then I'll be leaving you to it. Just think of all this as making up for all the birthdays I never attended. Aren't you one lucky bastard to have a pseudo-omnipotent and omniscient greater than godlike being for a father?'

Just as Cael was about to respond he felt his lower arm burn as a sideways 8 appeared on the back of his left hand. After it stopped burning he examined what appeared to be an infinity symbol and noticed that there was a certain empty feeling somewhere in his mind.

"Is this supposed to be some type of dimensional storage?"

'Yep you are correct. It's just a little something to help you on your journey. With your spacial manipulation you would be able to create a smaller version, but that would exhaust quite a bit of your energy and like I said it would be small, where as this one is a constantly expanding empty dimension I created and linked to you. It also has the standard time stasis effect so no need to worry about spoiled milk. My only restriction is no living things are to be stored inside. Oh and the larger an object is, the more animus or mana it takes to store it.'

"Thats quite convenient. Although I have a question, if I create my own separate storage space can I use it store living things?"

'Sure, I dont see why not.'

"Alright, if that's all then I'll be on my way now," Cael said as he got ready to leave.

'Yep, I look forward to-'

'Wait just second now. I've been keeping quiet this whole time while watching that ungreatful fuck get all these awesome gifts that I'm starting to feel a little left out. So I would like to request one gift at the very least, that is if you don't mind'

'Who are you? I should be the only foreign entity present in this mind,' Loque asked with tone that portrayed confusion.

"Just ignore him, he's been quite talkative lately but he stops if you dont talk back," Cael answered with a slight hint of exhaustion.

'How rude! That's no way to talk to your brother Caly. Anyway, the names Rex and you're quite right about being the only foreign entity present, as I was basically here for as long as we both can remember. So how about it dad? Will you honor my request?' There was a slight pause before Rex continued. 'Haha, honor, makes me want to dance in my birthday suit while surfing on the moon listening to Rick Ashley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' every time I say it. Haa~'

Cael's face was a mask of indifference as he proceeded to traverse through the woods in order to find the dirt track that would lead him to nearest town.

'Uhh...Ahem, sure I guess, I didn't expect this, but request away and I'll see if I can present you with what you ask for.'

'Haha. Awesome, awesome. Weeell, I would like... Wait can we speak in private for a bit. I'd like for this to be, sort of a surprise to old brother dearest.'

'As you wish, I've created a separate space in his mind. Follow me. Oh and Cael, as I was saying before I was interrupted, I look forward to your future endeavors. Cheers for now.'

"..."

Cael silently continued his search and started to think of ways to use his spacial and temporal abilities as he inwardly face palmed at Rex's antics.

----------------------------------------

I hummed a merry tune as my horse drawn carriage trudged along. I looked to my side to see my son Dyrk, turned to face a young mercenary I hired giving him tips on how to wield a sword.

These were Iron plate adventurers I hired to guard my carriage and protect my wares. As a moderately successful peddler, I could easily afford to hire a party of 6.

They had done their job and warded off many would be thieves as well as protecting us from the local Barghest packs.

We had been traveling since Aunrise and were still a couple of hours away from our destination, Shadebourne.

Shadebourne was a town located in the Tiren Empire, a nation in which a numerous amount of different races coexisted. We were on our way to sell our wares aswell as acquire some exotic goods from the town and sell them for a higher price back in the predominantly Human Kingdom of Grialith.

I was actually really looking forward to our arrival in Shadebourne. To try out those delicious local delicacies and although exotic I would end up getting some great experiences.

I adjusted my seating position. My arse was starting to ache again, even with padding these long trips were a nightmare.

Oh well. It would be worth it in th-

"Aahk..."

My eyes widened as I looked towards the lead adventurer. She was gurgling blood as an arrow shaft jutted out of her throat. She fell to the ground as more arrows were fired at the other adventurers who now had their shields raised.

I raised the horses reigns in an attempt to snap them but several more arrows were released into the horses that proceeded to collapse, foaming at the mouth.

I heard a loud cry as around six men, in various pieces of mismatched steal and leather armor, swarmed the adventureres who began to meet their confrontation.

"Dyrk, stay back!" I yelled towards my son as he went to help the adventures in the skirmish.

"I can't father! We'll all die if we don't help them!" He yelled back.

"Shit!" I cursed. This was not looking good there were only two adventurers left and although they managed to take down two of the bandits, they were all exhausted and worn down from the battle.

One of the remaining adventurers tried to parry a sword slash but was knocked out by a mace, which hit the side of his helmetted head.

The last adventurer let out a scream and managed to impale one of the bandits just bellow the collar bone, with her spear, before been dispatched by an axe repeatedly hacked at the point where neck meets shoulder.

"Shit...shit...shit...shit..." It was all over. They started to advance on my son next. Taking their time, taunting him, laughing. The bastards.

I wanted to kill them, I wanted to be the one laughing. But I was too scared to do anything. My hands were shaking, my heart was pounding and I was frozen in fear. I couldn't even move to help my son. Pathetic.

The bandit with the mace raised his spear and was about to bring it down, when-

"Alright guys, that's enough."

Out of the woods appeared a young man dressed head to toe in black accentuated by red. His clothes were of superior quality and even in my current state my merchant mind tried to place an estimated value, but thats not what drew my attention.

The young man's most eye catching features were undoubtedly his unusual silver-white hair, handsome and refined facial features and his blood red eyes. Especially the eyes.

I knew immediately that he was vampire of noble birth. Probably of the Vampire Lord bloodline. As an elven merchant I had aquired quite a bit of random knowledge during my travels you see.

"Who the fuck are you?" Asked the bandit with the mace.

I watched him pick up a sword that was laying beside a dead adventure, but dropped it shortly after testing it's weight and replacing it for a sheathed dagger before answering.

"Who I am doesn't really matter. The question you should be asking is, 'what am I doing here?'. And to answer said question in advance...forget it, no need to waste words on a dead man anyway."

"Cocky bastard!" Shouted the mace wielding bandit as he began charging towards the young looking vampire while readying is mace for a downward swing.

I watched as the bandit brought down his mace and thought that it was the end of the white haired vampire, but to my astonishment he quickly evaded and slashed towards the side of the bandits throat with the now unsheathed dagger.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It happened so fast I could barely believe my eyes. Vampires weren't supposed to be able to move that fast in the daylight. If this was his speed during the day, I shudder to think of how fast he'd be during the den of night.

The bandit had a look of shock on his face and tried to raise his mace again for a second strike, but fell to the ground as he clutched his rapidly bleeding neck.

The other bandits barely had time to react as he appeared in front of another after a rush of movement. The vamp in black struck with his dagger but it was blocked by the bandit's shield.

The dark elf bandit right next to him slashed with his sword, cutting a gash in the vampire's left arm. The vampire continued to display an indifferent expression, as he once again moved even faster and stabbed the dagger through the sword wielding bandits arm.

The dark elf bandit dropped his sword and jerked back, but the silver haired vampire had already removed his dagger and once again moved faster than the dark elf could react, slashing open the dark elf's throat before quickly dodging the swing of an axe.

I watched on as he moved at an astounding speed finishing off the third bandit and then promptly taking out the fourth and final, who was engaged in battle with my son.

Everything suddenly became quiet as the battle came to an end, save for the heavy breathing from both my son and our savior.

My son seemed to be in good shape with the exception of a few shallow cuts and bruises, I was glad he was still alright. I looked towards the vampire who's left arm hung limply at his side, blood trickling down.

I was about to assist him by giving him one of my minor healing potions but, to my complete astonishment his wound began to close before my very own eyes. I thought I saw faint traces of a golden light, but it couldn't have been healing magic as vampires weren't compatible with it.

I knew vampires were also known for their incredibly fast healing rate, but this was a bit too fast. A large gash completely closed up in a matter of seconds, with no traces of blood being spilt. Not to mention he was standing in direct sunlight and yet he was still this strong.

I decided to take the initiative to speak to avoid insulting our savior.

"Th-Thank you very much for saving us your lordship, w-we are extremely grateful and we owe you our lives."

I proceeded to jump down from my cart seat and bowed slightly to the man in front of me.

My son did the same, although his mood looked to be slightly void, probably after seeing the adventures die, though he none the less was still thankful.

"Please raise your heads, I simply stumbled along here and decided to take advantage of the situation," The vampire who looked to be around 80 or 90 elven years spoke.

Ignoring the last part of his rather peculiar statement I raised my head and found my self staring at his blood eyes. I couldn't help but avert my gaze as he continued.

"There actually is something that I need though."

"And what would that be-"

I started to say but an intense fire began spreading from a single point through my stomach. I let loose a loud scream at what felt like molten metal burning my insides.

I looked down and saw what appeared to be a dagger's hilt sticking out of my belly. I collapsed on the ground still screaming and noticed my son lying besides me, his throat slashed open trying scream while he drowned in his own blood.

Tears ran down his face as he stopped looking around frantically, but his body still twitched. I cried out, my voice filled with anguish, both from my pain and my dead son.

"Aaaagkh!" I let out a wail as a pool of blood formed around me.

I looked up, as a shadow appeared over me, to see the face of the vampire who was our savior. His indifferent expression had been replaced by a slight smile, that seemed to convey genuine happiness as his crimson eyes glowed with malice. It was the most hidious thing I'd ever seen.

That was the last image I saw before the world faded to black.

----------------------------------------

Cael looked at the looked at the dead and bloody elf before him. He was in a great mood today, the best he'd been in for a long while.

He had discovered and been granted great power. Without the responsibility. He had also got to do something he had not done in a long while, and although he wished it wasn't over so quickly he wasn't particularly complaining. Besides his prefrences laid most with the opposite sex.

After travelling through the woods for some time, practicing his aspects every few minutes or so, he had come across a group of people, who he assumed were bandits of some sort judging from their actions and the way they spoke, waiting in ambush for an oncoming cart.

He stood by and waited until both parties numbers began to reduce before wading into battle. He had made use of his control over time and used it to slightly slow down the world around him. It was just enough for him to dodge most of their attacks and strike easily due to their delayed reactions.

He had slipped up a bit with his control near the end, earning him a gash on his arm but he later used his control over time to reverse the damage by a few seconds.

It was still incredibly draining, but not as much as phase shifting twice in one day. Cael was quite pleased with himself and proceeded to repair his torn sleeve with his temporal manipulation.

He stumbled a bit, due to the slight light headedness he felt, as he made his way to the merchants cart.

Cael proceeded to go around the back and pushed aside the cloth covering the cart. He peaked inside and saw an assortment of cloths, leathers, necklaces and a small arrangement of various other goods.

Stepping inside Cael found a chest with a keyhole. He tried opening it but unsurprisingly it was locked. Cael went back to the elven merchant's body and after some searching, found a key in one of his pockets.

With the key in hand he used it to open the chest and found the items he was looking for. Inside the chest were several pouches of different size. Two contained a large amount of copper coins, while another a little bit smaller contained some silver coins and finally the last one contained three gold coins.

Cael knew that the currency in this world went as follows, 100 coppers equals 1 silver, 100 silver equals 1 gold and 100 gold equals 1 platinum. Cael had acquired 220 coppers, 35 silvers and 3 gold coins in total. Add that to the other goods he planned to sell and the future was looking bright.

Cael waved his hand over the pouches pouring mana into the mark on his left hand as he did so. The coins disappeared and entered his infinite storage. He did the same for the other items in the cart and decided to take a 10 minute break, snacking on some jerky and drinking from a waterskin he found.

After his short break he went back to the bodies to retrieve some weapons. He decided to store two daggers and a bastard sword which appeared to be in good quality. After taking what he wanted he began to walk in the direction the carriage was going.

After about a couple of hours of walking he could finally see the outer walls of a large town in the distance. The walls were around 40 feet high, and looked to be made out of some type of black stone. There were guards situated on top of wall and at the large gates which had several people and a cart lined up outside of it.

Cael pulled up his hood as he got closer and noticed an assortment of odd looking people. The two at the front had skin that was a dark grey in colour, black hair and a set of long pointed ears similar to the elves he killed earlier. Behind them was a humanoid cat with braided hair and a large green man with tusks pointing up from his bottom lip. The two on the carriage appeared to be human.

It was obvious to Cael what they were even without the knowledge he acquired from Loque. One of his favorite games of all time had races exactly like the ones he was currently observing. Although he knew that in this world they were probably called Dark Elves, Beastkin and Orcs respectively instead of Dunmer, Kajiit and Orsimer.

He waited for a bit until he was the last one left outside the gates, he then approached the entrance and waited for the Orcish guard to speak in a monotonous tone.

"Welcome to Shadebourne Ire, one of the larger towns of the Tiren Empire. Please produce an adventurers/mercenary plate if you have one. Otherwise the entrance fee is 10 coppers."

Cael stuck his hand inside his pocket and summoned the exact amount, handing it to the guard in front of him.

"Thank you very much, enjoy your stay."

Cael entered the city as the guard turned to attend to a man on a cart, who had just arrived, frantically telling the guards about a bandit attack further down the road.

Inside the town, Cael was met with a sight many would expect when thinking of a medieval fantasy town. There was a large road running though the centre of the town, with shops lining the sides, it was wide enough for two carts to ride past each other with little struggle. The road came upon a plaza surrounded by market stalls and merchant carriages selling their wares.

Surrounding the plaza were three other roads heading to different parts of the town, the furthest of which, led to a large mansion that sat utop a hill.

The only thing slightly unusual was the lack of humans. Everyone else was some other type of humanoid race. The only humans Cael could see were either selling wares at a merchant stall, walking about with plaques strung around their necks much like some of the bodies he saw from earlier, or wearing rags and bearing a thick metal collar.

The thought of owning slaves slightly piqued his interest, he'd make sure to do some research at a later date.

As Cael walked around, he noticed some people give him a few sidelong glances. He was used to being stared at and could tell that it was probably because of his clothing which must have appeared top quality in a world like this.

He would make sure to buy a cloak tommorow but for now he needed find some kind of inn as it was getting quite late and he wanted a place where he could rest for the night.

Cael found what he was looking for, on the side of the main road was a triple story building with a wooden sign that read, 'Sleeping Witch Inn'. He entered through the large wooden door and made his way over to a bench that had some people waiting patiently on it.

He sat down and waited for a bit before he was called over to the desk.

"Firssst floor rooms are 20 copperss a night, ssecond floor is 25 copperss with the top floor being 35, meal pricesss are included and served at the Desperate Oyster tavern just across the road." Said the Lizardman inn keeper behind the desk. "Pricess are higher due to being close to the commercial district and main entrance, if you want ssomething cheaper there'ss another inn about a half a mile to the left of the town ccentre."

"No it's quite alright, I'd like a room on the third floor please." Cael said in response to the inn keeper. He wasn't too worried about money as from his copper alone he could afford to stay her for six days, not to mention his gold and silver and all the other items in his storage he could sell.

The inn keeper let out a smile, which looked strange on his reptilian snout.

"How many nightsss will you be s-sstaying with us ssir?"

"Two will do for now" Cael said and brought out a pouch containing 70 copper coins.

"Thank you for your patronage, here'ss the key to your room and please allow my assssisstant to show you where it iss. A wash bucket will be brought every night and the waste bucket replaced at the same time." The inn keeper said as a smaller female Lizardman started leading him up a flight of stairs and showing him to his room on the third floor.

He thanked her and entered his room. It was smaller than his apartments room back on Earth but it felt cozy and was furnished modestly with a bed that looked warm and comfortable with an end table holding a lantern beside it and a small wooden table with 4 chairs above a warm looking rug. There was also a wardrobe with an oval shaped mirror and a window with shutters overlooking some of the town and the street bellow.

Several candle holders holding candles lined each wall of the room and a small metal bucket, probably for waste sat in the far corner.

Cael locked the door behind him and went over to the window, only to close the shutters and drop the latch. He sat on the bed and took a quick breath. It was time to focus on the two of the things he'd been practicing ever since he arrived on this world.

He had been working on two different variations of spatial transportation. The first being the shortening of distance between two points connected by a portal.

It was actually quite simple when placed into practice. Cael opened up a window in space directly in front of him. It was ovular in shape and about 26cm in length. He then created an identical window 3 metres away on the table, just in front of a wooden fruit bowl that rested utop it.

He imagined the two windows connecting and coming closer together without actually moving, and just like that the windows in space became a gateway or portal.

Cael summoned a large piece of dried meat from his storage and tossed it through the portal hovering in front of him. It appeared with a soft pat in the fruit bowl, and upon closer inspection it seemed to be in the same state it was before he tossed it into the portal.

Cael went back to the first portal and stuck his hand through. It appeared out of the second portal and retrieved the jerky before retreating and placing it back into storage.

He was satisfied with his portals, they didn't beset him with exhaustion like the phase shifting and it only took about 3 seconds to create and connect two of them.

Of course there were some downside like, the current maximum distance seemed to be 3 metres and the length was shorter than your average ruler, plus the fact that he wouldn't be able to concentrate on summoning and connecting them in close combat, but he was sure that with practice and familiarity all these creases would be smoothed over.

The second variation he'd been working on was naturally, teleportation, instant transportation from one point in space to another. He called forth that familiar sensation of animus, and instead of allowing it to encompass his being like the phase shifting, he focused on the other end of the room several meters away.

Now this was the part where he had to be careful. Earlier, when he was practising in the forest, he managed to successfully teleport himself several meters in front of him. The only problem was that when he teleported, he left an empty space in his original position which had caused a massive suction effect and an incredibly loud banging noise.

To counteract the creation of a vacuum and smoothly teleport, not only did he have move his position in space, he also had to replace the vacuum he left behind with particles from the point he teleported to.

Continuing his focus on transporting himself, Cael imagined the space he wanted to teleport to switch with the space he currently occupied.

He had tried this a couple of times before and was feeling quite confident for the third try and therefore was not worried about startling the others. Besides if anybody made a fuss he'd just say he was practising some type of magic and pay for any damages as a result of the spell.

Without further adieu Cael promptly disappeared and reappeared with a slight pop in his desired location.

He smiled slightly at his achievement, sure there was still some empty space left behind as evident by the pop, but it was a massive improvement from before and like with all other types of self improvement, it could only get better through practice and time.

With that thought in mind Cael plonked himself on the bed in preperation for a 2 hour power nap. He wasn't done with the day just yet and still wanted to explore the town's nightlife.

After all how often do get the opportunity to get transported to some fantasy with filled with exotic and old charm as the son of a pseudo-omnipotent being?