PreCursive

  I didn’t go to sleep immediately after retreating to my room.

  All the talk of families had brought all kinds of memories rushing bae. How it had felt to lose Mom, all those years ago. The struggle to care for Dad right afterward, and how I’d had to grow up quickly. How I’d had to learn to take care of myself even after he’d recovered from his injuries, because he was too depressed to eve out of bed some days. The way I’d barely finished high school and had no hope of attending college, if only because I o be home to care for Dad.

  Life had been rough for me for a while now, even beyond the whole being transported to another p and ehing. Sometimes I’d felt I had no future. Before my capture, I’d been w a dead-end part-time job just for us tle by. No girlfriend, and few friends, I was amazed that I wasn’t as depressed as Dad was. But…

  I’d adapted. Just like how I’d adapted to being a sve, I suppose. Still, in my heart of hearts, I didn’t have much harding Dad…

  To chase thoughts of the past out of my head, I’d started practig in my tiny sed-story bedroom. Grey had previously given me several of the books that he had on hand about Enting and Abjuration. None of the really advanced refereerials that his captors had graciously let him have to facilitate his work, but the more beginner-friendly stuff. Apparently, the people who’d arranged frey to even have refereerials had kind of just thrown a bunch of random books on the subjects together and shipped them to Azarus before I’d arrived. Luckily for me, that meant I could get a background in the subjects beyond just Grey’s lectures.

  I sidered it fairly iing material, but it wasn’t w very well to keep my mind off of things. I’d been staring at the same page for nearly five minutes now. Fuck it, maybe some practical work would be better. Setting the book down, I picked up a bnk entment disc that I’d personally fed out on my grill. I hadn’t done any scribing work on it for it to be funal yet, and I didn’t feel like it now. I just wanted something to focus on while I fired up Aetherial Melding.

  Closing my eyes, I easily ehe trance required for me to sehe pulse of Vereden’s Aether. Slowly, I started to stir it about. I didn’t even know if I had any kind of entment in mind to practice with. Holy, I was just kind of pying with the Aether. Through previous tries, I’d found that this was incredibly rexing. Just feeling the pulse of Aether as it washed over me was almost…fun. It was as if I was on the beach, aing the waves break over me. The surging of the Aether as it crested over me, the indescribable vitality that I could feel flowing all around. It was already doing the job of taking my mind off of things.

  On a whim, I redirected the ambieher by syng it with my own. This was typically the first step I needed in order to start enting something, but that wasn’t what I intended. Slowly, I tried something I hadn’t yet. I let the Aether start to gradually stream arouil I was surrounded by ahereal b of pure energy. Even without my eyes open though, I khat none of this would be visible to the naked eye. From what I’d learned, it took vastly more trated Aether than this minuscule amount to be observable.

  I sank into the warm embrace of the Aether surrounding me, and drifted…

  ………………………………………

  I don’t know how long I sat at that desk in my newfound state of meditation, but gradually I became aware of an almost tig sensation. It didn’t happen often, but every on a while it was like a feather would be dragged down my back. Gradually ing back to awareness, I was startled to find that I’d mao keep the cloak of Aether flowing around my form the eime I’d been drifting, almost subsciously. Mentally, I shook that off though. I was curious now where that sensation was ing from, and how I was even feeling it.

  Patiently, I waited for the feeling to repeat itself. It wasn’t long before I felt another feather light touch along my back. Briefly opening my eyes, being careful not to lose my hold oher, I looked over my shoulder. Nothing. I waited for it to happen again. This time, I was able to tell that the touch was on the cloak of Aether that surrounded me. I was just so in tuh energy right now that my senses were fusing a tou it, as a touy skin. Cool.

  I still hadn’t been able to tell where it came from though, so I trated harder. There! This time, I was able to tell where the feather sensation was ing from. I was a little startled by it though.

  It was ing from my colr.

  As I watched with my Aetherial sense, every few minutes my colr would extend a thin strand of peared to be Mana. Languidly, it would sweep that strand of Mana ay shoulder bdes before retreating. I guess that the feather-brushiion I’d detected was what Mana against Aether felt like.

  I was initially puzzled by what exactly the colr was trying to do, before remembering what exactly was on my left shoulder. My false dummy brand. It clicked then, for me. I remembered everything Grey had told me all those weeks ago about how the plete sve binding circuit funed. First, you were outfitted with a colr, which had the trag ah entment built into it. Only after you were wearing a colr were you then branded, which taihe Status binding entment. The brand itself would only work when applied by a specially prepared iron, and even then, it wasn’t activated immediately. That was the fun of the all-important third entment on the colrs. The activation entment.

  That was it! That was what I was feeling. That thin strand of Mana that I was feeling sweep ay shoulders must be the Status binding activation entment. I’d never received a proper brand, thank God, and thus the colr couldn’t ‘hook’ onto it and block mine. Even after all this time, my colr was still trying to bind my Status. It couldn’t though, and so it was stu a kind of loop, eternally trying and always failing. Even if I couldn’t feel it, this must have been happening for months.

  Morbidly ied despite myself, I waited until the entme out arand of Mana and cautiously grabbed it with Aetherial Melding. I kept a very light tou it though, because I didn’t want to actally set off the fug bomb entme into my colr. The Mana was iing to my sehough. Carefully, I let my senses rest on it. Beyond the raw energy part of the strand, I was able to sense something pulsing up and down it. Recalling my studies, I reized it as what Enters called I. One part of Grey’s lectures had taught me that I was what gave an individual entment dire. This I I was feeling must have beeual activation signal. Iing.

  Slowly, I let go of the strand of Mana. Mentally, I let out a sigh of relief when it retreated bato the colr with no issues. Even I reized that pying with part of my colr's entments was reckless. It robably too dangerous to mess with. I decided not to tell Grey that I had nearly killed myself by screwing with my colr.

  I was hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion once I’d finished. All that messing about with Aether had tired me out where my studying hadn’t. Getting out of my desk chair, I stumbled my way over to my bed and fell face-first into it.

  I was out like a light almost immediately.

  ………………………………………

  I actually slept surprisingly well. Despite being up w far past my usual bedtime, I felt surprisingly refreshed when I woke up. Not only that, but I woke up earlier too. Judging by the ck of light outside, I think it may have even been before sunrise. Who knows, maybe it was the Aether meditation that gave me some fantastic sleep.

  In a remarkably good mood, I made myself a quick breakfast and a cup of steaming hot tea. On a whim, I took a chair along with my meal outside to wait for and watch the sunrise. Before long, the sun began to peek over the horizon, bathing Azarus’s backyard in that same green light I’d seen ba Rhoscara. You know, now that I thought of it, I’d never asked Grey about this.

  Speaking of…

  Behind me, I heard the sound of wheels entering the kit through the kit window. Standing up aing my pte on my chair, I looked io find Grey peering blearily around. I waved my free hand to catch his attention before motioning him outside. Before I sat down, I saw him begin wheeling in my dire. Shortly thereafter, the backdoor opeo my right and Grey poked his head out.

  “Nathan?” He said in surprise. “My word, what are you doing out here at this hour?”

  I took a sip of my tea and shrugged at him. “Dunno. I just…felt like it, I suppose. I slept better than I expected and came out here to watch the sunrise. Speaking of, I have a question for you. out, will you?”

  With a bemused smile, Grey did as I bid him and fully wheeled outside to sit o me. “What question would that be?”

  With the hand holding my mug, I gestured out before us. “What’s with all the green?”

  “You’ll have to be more specific than that, I’m afraid,” Grey said with a smile, nodding towards the copse of trees across from us.

  “I’m talking about the sunrise. Why exactly is it green for a bit? Where does it even e from? That sure as hell doesn’t happen bae.”

  “Oh, is that so?” Grey said, ied. “Well, you’re in luck. I happen to have some personal i iherological Astronomy. The brief period of green light you’re referring to is known to occur because of an iioweeher of Vereden, and the Aether of our sun and moon. As the sun rises, the paratively stronger Aether of our sun suppresses the Aether of our moon. The waning of the Elysiaher, bined with the waxing of the Tarusiaher causes the Aether of Vereden to fre and briefly color the sunrise. Airely harmless, and quite striking phenomenon.”

  I hummed, ied. I knew he’d know the answer. “Elysian? Tarusian?”

  Grey chuckled and shook his head. “The names of our moon and sun. Elys is our moon, and Tarus our sun.”

  I o myself, satisfied. Slowly, I tinued eating my breakfast and sipping at my tea. In the meanwhile, Grey and I watched the sun tio rise over the horizon. By the time the green period of it had finished, so was I. Grey spoke up again around then.

  “Nathan, I’d like to apologize for my tactlessness st night.” He said, turning to face me. “I’m afraid the alcohol suppressed my social graces, and I touched upon a sore subject. At the same time, I’d like to apologize for never inquiring about your own personal familial situation. It was quite thoughtless of me, and I apologize for my pathy.”

  I shook my head, surprisingly at peace. “It’s fine, really. I never brought it up either, you know? I just…don’t like to think about it often, for obvious reasons. Water uhe bridge, as far as I’m ed. Whatever happeo Dad…” I paused for a moment, suppressing a pang of emotion. It faded, though. “I don’t know if I’ll ever find out, and I just o deal with that.”

  “As you say,” Grey said, still audibly ed. “I…did have another idea I wished t up with you.”

  I tched onto the ge of subject, desperate to ge the awkward subject. “Oh yeah, what was that?”

  “Well, the thought occurred to me, that in order for our pn to succeed, you need some training ih and infiltration. inally, I was going to instruyself, but isn’t there a much more capable specialist in the subject currently camping just outside the walls?” Grey said with a smile.

  Oh.

  Hmm…

  I leaned forward closer to Grey in i. “Tell me more.”