The pre-dawn night sky simmered with barely contained light. The sound of the city, already muted by the early hour, vanished entirely beyond the walls of Dovar’s estate.

At least they’re still good for that much, Dovar thought wryly to himself.

A soft breeze rustled the leaves of his mother’s tree, drizzling muted gray ash on the ground. Distantly, he could hear Ranvir and Kasos talking. Ranvir wore his strange talisman, yet their words remained a mystery to his ears. According to Ranvir, it should translate whatever language was spoken into one more comfortable for the listener.

Part of Dovar felt disturbed that his friend had adopted a foreign language that strongly. Rationally, he knew it was habit more than anything. Ranvir hadn’t been brainwashed, nor had the inhabitants tried to turn him from Elusria. It was the simple reinforcement of where he’d made his home.

Dovar shook his head and himself, trying to realign his thoughts. He was supposed to be meditating, readying his spirit and mind. Yet he was waxing philosophical about Ranvir’s time on another plane. If he could only—

And now I’m condemning myself, Dovar realized. His immediate urge was to once more chastise himself before catching it and shaking his head. He returned his focus inward, first through his gate into tether-space, then followed into the spirit in general.

Mentally, he stirred up a wind within the spiritual space. Hard as some exercises Ranvir had made him go through had been, his control had risen remarkably. Reaching into his Fundament and the Concept of the Wind sealed inside, he used it as a guide to calm himself.

He took the chastisement and self-recrimination and fed it to the wind, letting it blow away from himself. Then he took his fears for Ranvir and sent them the same way. Finally, he fed his thoughts and hopes of the future to the wind. It stirred not a whit at each of his donations, caring only for the motion of right now.

Finally, he let go of his fear for and of his sister. The image of Asny nearly undid all of his work, but once the winds had her, she faded as well. Leaving only a dulling ache in his chest.

Wind swirled about his perception of self. A constant push and pulling at him to go along with it, but he focused on his tether-space, returning inside the intricate creation of the Goddess.

Ranvir had claimed he’d meddled with its construction, making it ‘durable,’ but Dovar wasn’t sure he could believe that. It was already too complex and unique for him to even consider such a thing.

His tether spun in a loop, twisting on itself. He’d tried frequently to count the number of threads that made up its whole. He had failed just as often. Until Ranvir’d come along. With his training and guidance, Dovar had learned to control and reorder it. His advancement had left it a jumble. His subsequent mistreatment had only worsened its condition.

Now, its dozens upon dozens of threads twisted on themselves easily, orderly braided until their natural pattern emerged with ease. Even within the tether-space, an echo of his Concept whirled. The same wind that spun through his spirit followed the tether, an off-white borderline gray light illuminating it from within.

Dovar couldn’t sense the imbalance or hitch in the rotation that Ranvir had sometimes talked about, though he believed it truly was there. It had taken years for Es to find it, but the rainbow hidden in his eyes spoke to the truth of its existence.

He would keep looking and eventually he’d find, he was sure.

Dovar spent some time going over the space, letting his calm and relaxation fill out both his spirit and mind. The ability to fall into a calm, meditative state while gazing at the tether was a boon he’d hadn’t realized the strength of when he’d been learning at the academy.

Eventually, it was time and he slowly began the emergence. He blinked languidly, half aware of tether-space, half aware of reality. Not yet embracing his power, but still having it within his hold. The balance was hard, but with the build-up of focus, he managed it.

The sun had risen in the time it took him to get ready. Half the sky-painted a vivid red and orange, the other purple and blue.

“He’s ready,” Ranvir said. Dovar looked in his direction. Ranvir, Kasos, and Ayvir, who had joined them since he began meditating. They walked slowly toward Dovar, Ranvir limping at the back. A complex expression ruled his face, but Dovar didn’t take the time to break it down.

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“Alright, Dovar,” Ayvir said, his voice firm and controlled but with a habitual tone to it. Like he’d done this before, as if it was just another day in the week for him. “Your second-stage advancement lies before you and I will guide you through it. I have gone through it twice and have helped hundreds of tethered through it as well. You’re in safe hands.”

Dovar didn’t acknowledge his statement, simple relaxing on the teetering point. Keeping the passage open, without letting the pressure inside.

“The usual requirements for achieving the second-stage, is the ability to seat your Discipline within your tether-space fully, as well as a certain level of strength. Can you show for me?”

Dovar nodded, letting the pressure wash in. Power rushed through his tether and spun faster. His Disciplines came into complete focus, but he turned his attention towards his first and the one he’d been working on the longest. The Body Discipline inhabited its namesake. Even when casually withdrawn, it lingered within his physique. Drawing it fully into himself, Dovar sensed the pressure built as the Discipline folded into the space.

Finally, when it felt like he was about to burst, Ayvir nodded. “Well done. You have chosen to advance Flesh into Lungs. Take a moment to prepare yourself as needed.”

Dovar did, reinforcing his hold on the Discipline. As he’d done many times before, his spirit adapted to the effort of holding it within. Tether-space didn’t stretch or change to fit. It was more like he’d warmed up and could keep on the pressure up.

“Squeeze it down. Push it against the walls of your tether-space. Either the Discipline compresses or the walls break.”

The idea had been mildly amusing to Dovar. That the Discipline could possibly shatter his tether-space. They were simply not enough. The more he understood of anima and the material making up the space, the more realized how preposterous the idea was. But if the idea of danger was needed to get it to work…

So he shoved at the Discipline, squeezing with all of his spiritual might. And unsurprisingly, nothing much happened. The Discipline slowly began compressing, caught between his focused will and the indomitable walls of tether-space.

Moment by moment, the Discipline grew smaller, more compact. It drew together in small patches. The tether stuttered each time as the pressure within the space grew. Yet, without Dovar’s will directed against the border of his tether-space, it would never yield to the Discipline.

Compacting once again, it had a sudden qualitative change. Something was pressed together and drawn out by the situation. A force unlike any Dovar’d ever felt before ripped free of the Discipline, shearing through the limits of tether-space. The structure fell apart, tearing into chunks and getting caught in the wind.

His tether, suddenly without a limit and funneling directly through, tore as much power as it could from the Goddess. He heard the others curse as the wind ripped at his clothes. Literally, he felt the stitches on his jacket tear and a sleeve fell loose.

The Discipline ballooned with his soul, expanding and transforming. Dovar imposed his will on his tether and forced it to slow down. The mana dwindled, and the wind died down moments after it began.

Gasping and straining, Dovar half-collapsed as his spine went soft as jelly and his muscles slackened. He fought the tether until eventually it stilled on its own. Mentally and spiritually exhausted, it pulled out of his grip and Dovar let himself collapse onto the ground.

The pressure slipped, and he quickly passed through his spirit and back into his own body. He could hear the others cursing and swearing, but he couldn’t bear to look at them. He’d failed. His tether-space had ripped, torn apart. He must’ve done something wrong, made a mistake in his training. Perhaps if he’d been paying closer attention to Ranvir’s lessons, he wouldn’t have erred in this way.

“How are you holding up?” Ayvir asked. Dovar opened his eyes to look up at the man. He was kneeling next to him, his one arm offered out to him.

“I fai—“

“Congratulations!” Ranvir yelled. The excitement sounded a bit forced to Dovar, but the purple-eyed bird-man grabbed him by the shoulders and ripped him off the ground and into an embrace. “You did it!”

Dovar frowned at him. “N- no, I tore my tether-space—“

“Of course you did,” Ranvir said. “But what happened to your Discipline?”

Dovar blinked, then closed his eyes. Returning to tether-space took more effort than it had since he’d first started training. But it was still there. His tether had thinned into an emaciated line stretching across the much larger space. At some places, he could sense the border rippling and settling. It was turning solid before his eyes.

The tether spun slowly, something dripping from it, like a wrung out dishrag. Each droplet landing in a pool that slipped out of his spirit and into his body.

“Your tether is creating a new Discipline of Body for you as we speak,” Ranvir said, his spirit a gentle pry bar pulling Dovar out.

“Flesh turned into my new tether-space?” Dovar asked. Ranvir nodded.

“That training of yours is incredible,” Ayvir said, admiration clear in his voice. There was a fire in his eyes Dovar hadn’t seen since he was a teenager. “Dovar, you’re the first tethered, that I know of, who actually knows what happened. That actually had the strength to see it, to return before the process finished.”

Dovar blinked and touched his own chest. “Then how did you know?”

“What to do? Centuries of trial and error,” Ayvir said with a shrug. “That’s why we’re still struggling with Master. No one actually knows what happens when the advancement triggers. If we knew, there’d be a lot more Masters, I think.”

Dovar nodded, feeling a little stunned. He hadn’t failed after all.