It felt its body as it was torn asunder, its pieces scattered across the cosmos, feeling no pain or pleasure because the shard of itself that felt those were not it. Time seemed like an impossible concept to grasp, and the only thing the soul could even register was that it was not whole. It was broken. In between a million different places.

It felt a faint draw to its other pieces around the area, millions of lightyears away or possibly just a millimeter, but it felt each one and how far away it was. It felt how they were all being brought towards a center. A core. Taking minutes or eons. It did not know.

Suddenly, a being appeared before it. Before all of it, each and every piece getting a representation of the dark figure, each version donning a reapers outfit.

"Finally! I've searched EVERYWHERE. Time and time again, for you, the one I let slip away. Each and every nook and cranny of the galaxy you BELONG in. Imagine my surprise when, after all this hunting, I feel you briefly in a wormhole between two places that have absolutely NOTHING to do with Earth, only to lose track of you again immediately after. I wait a little longer and sure enough, here you are. How did you even get here?"

The soul looked at this entity confused at what he was saying. Surely one piece of itself remembered it, but this was not that piece. It wondered just what this man was here for as the pull towards its other pieces got stronger.

"Who I'm here for, more like it. You is the answer," it responded, now each reaper speaking to different parts of the soul as if holding millions of separate conversations. "If you'll just come with me here," the man said, reaching a hand out and grasping the soul's body, immediately canceling the pull to its other pieces, "I will stop getting yelled at by a certain someone from this reality. I'm quite sick of him bugging me, to be honest. Upsetting his balance, he says. Whatever. It's time to bring you back where you belong Vis-"

The souls all writhed in immense pain a few moments after the contact, each one receiving a sensation from the core that this was something unpleasant. It wasn't disintegrating the soul or destroying it, but the touch had suddenly become like fire.

It sent out a pulse of energy in response, and the Reaper recoiled slightly, unhanding it. After it was free, the pull returned, and the soul pushed itself to its core even faster, as did every other piece of itself, all running to escape the dark figure that had harmed it.

The Reaper stood confused back where it had left him. When it turned to look at the soul, it was already coalescing with its other pieces.

"Wait, no. Don't do th-"

The soul heard no more as it felt itself drawn into its collective self, merging with the other identical pieces and then being sucked from the void it had found itself in entirely.

"-that?" Damien finished asking, recoiling slightly at having his vision robbed.

He immediately lurched forward and prepared himself to vomit like he had every time he'd ever been in teleportation magic, but it never came. In fact, no pain or discomfort of any kind appeared.

Damien glanced around into the blackness of the room he was in and lifted up a hand to create a flame. Lemshire was standing near him, no longer touching him, but looking down and mumbling something to himself.

"Tresil? Have you finally gone senile?" Damien questioned, concerned about the older gents' health.

"What?" the Dean responded, looking up quickly and breaking out of the muttering. "Right, sorry. What did you ask?"

Damien rolled his eyes.

"I was confused. I didn't know you could teleport me without inducing pain," Damien said. "Wait, why didn't you just do this every-"

"Right right right," Lemshire interrupted, moving behind Damien before placing a hand on the back of his shoulder to guide him forward. "Don't worry about the details. Sorry about that though, lad. I was having a bit of trouble getting you put back together and then out of nowhere, BAM! Instantly back. No discomfort experienced though, right?"

Damien looked up to Lemshire and shook his head, allowing himself to be led forward. "What do you mean by 'put back together'?"

The Dean glanced down at Damien briefly before looking forward, lowering the wall before them to reveal a staircase.

"Regular teleportation magic on yourself is easy. You reappear wherever you want when you finally get the hang of it. When you bring someone along, however, if you want them to not experience disorientation and discomfort upon arrival, you have to piece their body back together in limbo."

"What? In limbo? You break me into pieces?" Damien asked incredulously.

"Yes, but don't worry, you eventually piece yourself back together no matter what. It just leaves you feeling sick the longer it takes, and when you aren't in control of the magic, it tends to take a longgg while," Lemshire explained, waving forward at the stairwell. "Let's talk about this though."

"Why was it difficult?" Damien questioned further, finding himself more than a bit uncomfortable with his body being broken down unwillingly and the pieces not wanting to come back together in 'Limbo.'

Lemshire sighed. "It just was. I don't know," he said in an exasperated manner. "I've never experienced it. Your pieces wouldn't come with me. It was like they'd stopped moving naturally and then finally decided to come along after a few moments. But anyyyway," he said, taking a moment to draw out the last word, "this before you is what I've wanted to show you for quite some time!"

Damien opened his mouth to ask more in-depth about what the old kook was going on about, when the hand that was on his shoulder smooshed into his face and held it shut. He tried to use his own arms and hands to push it off, but the wrinkled Dean had an iron grip. It didn't hurt, but it wouldn't budge.

Damien's hands fell to his side as he gave up.

He looked forward at the Dean's left hand, flourished out in a showy manner so Damien would look forward. Begrudgingly, he let the topic go for now. Teleportation magic sounded more complicated than he'd originally thought, though. At least maybe his body would get used to it if it was just a matter of certain pieces realigning themselves... Maybe it would get faster the more commonly he entered that state.

Damien shrugged mentally. Add it to the ever-shrinking and expanding, mostly expanding, list.

"... and then, while on a trip out west aboard a ship, it was struck- Are you even listening?" Lemshire asked, turning around to look at Damien as he snapped back to attention part way through an explanation, the man's right hand retracting from his mouth.

"I was, definitely," Damien said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "Definitely."

"Sure," Lemshire stated, rolling his eyes and resting his hand upon the side of the cavernous staircase before them.

Electricity crackled around and down the old man's form, startling Damien. He wasn't used to seeing anyone else use that form of mana for anything else except a last-ditch effort to harm their opponent when in close quarters, and that rarely ever worked.

The energy exited the Deans's body into the wall, the closest source of grounding from where the electricity was being created.

Damien opened his mouth to question Lemshire's motive when the energy began actually crawling along the wall on a determined pathway, slow for an electrical wire, but still fast for following something with your eyes. He watched on in awe as the alteration carried the electricity to the center of the ceiling.

Nothing could prepare him for what he saw next.

"How..." Damien muttered out.

"I knew it," Lemshire whispered. "I knew it I knew you'd know. How though?"

Damien said nothing, barely even registering the man was speaking, as he continued to stare at the first lightbulb he'd seen in the eleven excessively long years he'd been on this planet. He thought he'd never again see that technological advancement unless he himself made it, yet here he was, staring right at it.

Lemshire said a few more things as Damien sent his own electricity into the wall, holding onto it as he overtook the mana Lemshire had let go of and fed what he presumed was an alteration powering the bulb. It didn't rip the mana from his control, but merely guided it like it was a wire to the bulb.

His energy reached just before the bulb and regulated itself to a voltage level that was acceptable before letting it pass through the bulb itself, lighting it with his mana instead.

"Feeling the process is so interesting," Damien murmured, his company no longer speaking and just watching Damien experiment.

Finally, after a minute of playing with it, trying and failing to get his mana through the alteration without his voltage being regulated, Damien got fed up and used Earth magic to dislodge the bulb.

"What are you doing?" Lemshire called out as Damien caught it out of the air. "If you try to light it without the alteration it'll-"

Damien almost chuckled as Lemshire gaped, seeing the bulb light up a little bit brighter and yet not exploding.

"You have to regulate how much of a specific energy you pump into it," Damien explained. "That's what that alteration does, kind of. Did you not make it?"

"I did, but I just used a generic limiting one. Every time I tried before without it, it would explode... I didn't know you could weaken it as it comes out of your own... how do you do that? Come down, I have more to show you," Lemshire replied with an excitable tone, moving further down the staircase as Damien hesitated. "I'm sure you'll know wh- oh come on. I'm not going to kill you or anything."

Damien shook his head in response with a bit of a smile.

"Tactful, aren't you?" he asked, eliciting a shrug out of Lemshire. "I know you won't... fine. I'll come, but I'm not speaking."

"Fine fine," Lemshire said with a shrug as he led Damien further underground.

The pair eventually reached the end of their pathway, the Dean speaking more words under his breath, more stone sliding out of the way, and entered an underground home of sorts. The walls, floor, and ceiling were lined with different color marble and desks, chairs, boards for writing, and many other things you'd find in a classroom were in the first room.

Lemshire moved past Damien and led the way to the far side of the room and through another door. Going through the doorway, Damien noticed a new person already in there. Or, an old person he'd not seen for a couple of weeks for training.

"Hello Luna! Damien is here, say hi," Lemshire yelled out, obviously excited to drill Damien with questions.

Damien looked at the Elf with long golden hair and smiled, waving as she looked up from the sole desk in the room. It was covered in a dark residue and had beakers all over it, some full of the substance and some full of others. She was currently holding one over a flame and dropping small amounts of it onto the open flame, allowing them to burn before adding more.

She looked up from her experiments with an angry expression rather quickly, causing Damien to cringe as the full test tube of black residue tipped and its innards fell toward the fire. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a huge burst of flame exploded upward and nearly caught the woman's hair ablaze.

"Gunpowder," Damien whispered.

"Dammit Tresil!" Ms. Moonrose screamed at the same time. "I took so long to get just that much of this stuff! I've told you not to fuc- Damien!" the woman shrieked, stopping mid-sentence as he stared at her with a bit of shock.

The woman was always so sweet in his presence. The brief interaction between her and the Headmaster had entirely taken Damien by surprise.

"I am truly so sorry you had to hear that! That man just gets to me. I do apologize, it is a pleasure to see you."

'I suppose he is a bit like that for everyone,' Damien inwardly sympathized.

Damien opened his mouth to speak but Lemshire clamped a hand down over it and responded in his place.

"Damien is unwilling to speak right now. He isn't sure it's wise to even talk to me while in the presence of my lightning inventions, or at all while down here touring. Afraid I'll kill him or worse, coax information out."

"He knows about your little lightning torch?" she asked, turning her glare from Lemshire into a smile for Damien before returning to her work. "Silly little invention, isn't it?"

"It is not... yes, he..." Lemshire exclaimed, trailing off at the end before taking his hand off Damien's mouth and dragging him out of the room and into a new one. "No vision..."

The new room was unoccupied, but there were an extreme number of papers scattered about. It looked like someone had taken a book and ripped the pages out cleanly before throwing them all around the room.

"Belinda's study. So understandable from her personality," Lemshire sighed out as they moved to the only door on the other side of the area.

Once they got up to it, the man had to whisper a few things under his breath before a crystal fixed on it glowed green and allowed them in. Damien gasped at what he saw inside.

"My study," Lemshire said with a flourish and large grin.

Light bulbs of all colors, sizes, and shapes lined the ceiling and were constantly on, supplied by what looked like a mana stone that had an alteration carved into it to output electricity. In another corner, the Dean had a wheel hooked up to a contraption that constantly rotated it, powered by a mana stone and alteration again, but having nothing to do with electricity.

There were variations of both of these tools with other alterations powering them, but it was pretty simple and explanatory. Everything was at the most rudimentary level of electrical sciences that Damien could see; used for light, to heat things, or simply to electrocute others. The other innovations throughout the room impressed him, but it was clear some had nothing to do with electricity, though Damien could think of many ways they could. The only object to give Damien pause, causing him to tilt his head and cock his eyebrow, was the sword hooked up to an electrical battery in the corner of the room.

It was a bit comical looking.

"Don't worry about that," Lemshire stated, moving in front of Damien to block his line of sight. "Failed experiment."

"Were you trying to copy my sw-" Damien started before his voice failed him, Lemshire's hand flicking slightly before that happening.

"Damien? Everything alright? Oh well as I was saying," he continued, ignoring Damien's glares, "This is my study. There are rooms on the other side of the compound for my other instructors who are privy to our dabbling down here. Not everyone can be trusted, you know?"

Damien nodded and strolled around the room, glancing at the knick-knacks and different contraptions all being powered off a simple motor made from mana and an alteration. It didn't seem like the Dean knew much of what he was doing and was simply using alteration to fill in the gaps, but it was a start. It was definitely a start.

The man continued the tour and showed him how a few of the things worked, sending a toy spinning through the air while continuously rotating itself further and further upward, a stick that ejected electricity like a taser... there was even something that looked like a primitive version of a flashlight, utilizing one of the large bulbs and attaching it directly to the mana stone.

Damien toured the room, smiling and even laughing when the tip of the flashlight fell off and shattered. The entire place was reminiscent of home, his real home. He wondered what his family was up to for a moment before shaking his head slightly to refocus.

"I appreciate you showing me all of this. It... it's a bit nostalgic, if I'm honest," Damien finally said, moving to a desk and picking up one of the impromptu tasers.

He waved it around and the thing nearly fell apart, not exactly tied together well. The mana stone was so exposed it was more like a prototype.

"I appreciate it, but the same time, what do you expect from me for this show of faith?" he queried. "Showing me all your... dabblings. What if I hadn't known what some of these were already? I could take these ideas out into the world. What do you..." Damien trailed off, turning back to the Dean while questioning him.

"Not too much, ju-"

"Don't give me the runaround. Something is off about all of this," Damien interrupted. "Why haven't I seen this type of stuff anywhere else except here? Why is this country so much more advanced in terms of cleanliness and just inventions in general? Why are you hiding this stuff down here? I don't understand what you're trying to achieve, keeping all of this hidden. I don't like that."

Lemshire looked him up and down, as if contemplating how best to lie to him. Damien stayed in place and looked away from the older man, down into a flashlight that was sitting on a nearby desk. The filament burned bright orange as Damien wondered what element the Dean had used for it.

"Impressive is it not," Lemshire said in a soft tone, stopping his tour voice as Damien looked back to him. "I worked years on this. It is all excellent. Wonderful. New. But no matter what I do, no matter what I craft, I don't feel my understanding getting stronger. I can do all of this, something no one else can, yet I can't understand it," the man said, picking up one of the bulbs. "I can't understand any of it!" he said, raising his voice as he shattered the bulb into fragments in his palm. "Imagine how frustrating that must be, working for years on something but never improving slightly," he said, reconstructing the bulb using the same pieces a moment later as he spun an open hand around the room. "I've spent years on all these projects, Damien. Many, many years. I haven't had a breakthrough in a long time, and just when I get to thinking I should just go ahead and try to commune, you come along. You are my key to understanding all of this; that's why I want you along for the ride."

Lemshire stopped speaking, turning back around to face Damien, who stared back contemplatively. He didn't need to explain what Damien would get from his aggreance; that was obvious.

Anything the King could offer.

Damien looked back down to the flashlight.

Lemshire was the King of the richest country on the continent. Wealth, power, information, safety... he could provide Damien with it all. It wouldn't be a bad way to live the rest of his years, either. Luxury.

Hell, even if they got bored, Lemshire would almost certainly send someone with them to explore the world. Someone who wouldn't interfere with their plans or even introduce himself, like he wasn't even there. They could travel in safety, accept contracts and adventure like in all of the books he'd read as a kid growing up... all without a worry.

Alexa, Kastra... they'd be safer. Could be happy. He would certainly be happy anywhere, so long as they were with him. He could move his family in...

It all sounded perfect on paper.

"Damien?"

Damien looked back up from the bulb he'd been wondering into, up at the Dean's expression. He saw hope, curiousity, a bit of a fervent twitch, but that was to be expected when what you e been striving for is dangling just before you.

Lemshire had been extremely helpful ever since Damien had arrived here, if a bit mischievous. It was what made him likable, though. Down to Earth... trustworthy to an extent. He had a motive and was true to it, never pretending like he held no interest in Damien or his family.

But...

"What is the catch?" Damien asked, looking up at Lemshire while disconnecting the lightbulb from its place on the flashlight.

"No catch really, just-"

"Don't lie now of all times. I know there is something you aren't explaining. Why haven't you taken this question and posed it to the whole country? Surely someone could help, there are many intelligent minds in the world," Damien asserted, pausing for a moment before continuing. "What is the catch? If I say yes, if I help you with all of this, what do I lose?"

Lemshire stared back into Damien's eyes before smiling.

"I like you, Damien. You're intelligent. You pay attention. I wish I could tell you, but I can't. Not until you swear an oath to myself and the country. Not restricting in any way of course, except information. We have to do it to stay on top, you see, so I can't tell you why. I can, however, promise you safety and resources to do whatever you want. Whatever you need. For your family and yourself, for life. Your father could free Alter whatever he wishes, your mother safe to hunt and explore wherever she pleased. I don't know what else to offer that could possibly be more alluring than that."

He finished talking and continued to look at Damien, waiting for a response.

Damien looked back down to the lightbulb in his hand, once again considering everything.

'Resources would be nice... Time. Freedom to do... anything. Mom and dad allowed to do whatever they wanted, part of this almost perfect country. It would be wonderful to work with electricity again like an actual job... I'd be an idiot not to accept... the world is dangerous.'

Damien set the flashlight down on the desk and looked up at the older man, a determined look set on his brow as he opened his mouth to respond.

"So, did we get anything new out of him yet, Terrel?"

"Yes, actually," Ezra responded, turning around and looking at the man who had just walked into the dark room. "His mind is getting more and more frayed the deeper I pick into it, though. We might have to actually dispose of him sooner than anticipated."

Ezra looked down at the figure sitting strapped to the chair before him. No pity for the creature was shown as it sobbed incoherently and mumbled, forced to lean forward so that he wouldn't drown in his own mucus.

"What did we learn?" the man asked him.

"It wasn't his idea to strike at the boy. It was the Shades," Ezra explained.

"We knew that already. What is new?"

"The Shade wasn't trying to kill the boy," Ezra explained quickly, "It was trying to profile him. It wanted to escape knowing what the boy could do. It may very well have if he'd not been so loud with fighting back."

"Then this just confirmed all of what we already guessed. Why would it, why would they want Damien alive, though?" the man asked, confused. "Damien poses a direct threat to the stability."

"It never said," Ezra responded. "But kill was never once used in its vocabulary. Nor was assassinate, end, destroy, eradicate... or any other words similar for that matter," he finished. "A pity, really. The Tearen boy is insufferable."

"Well, better for me," the man responded while moving past Ezra and toward the smaller child before him that was strapped to the chair.

Ezra turned to watch the older gentleman move toward the tortured boy. Damien was a smart kid, and when it came to making logical decisions, he was certainly more mature than his age should suggest, but he was soft-hearted. He'd never understand the necessity of doing this. He'd call it an abomination. That much was obvious from just the few months Ezra himself had spent teaching Damien Advanced Manipulation. It was the attitude of someone who couldn't commit to a cause.

It was irritating.

"You know, if the boy knew about this he'd never accept your proposal. Even if he did, he'd try to find a way to back out of it," Ezra explained as the man stood before the Celestial finally, staring blankly at the whimpering form.

"We'll just have to make sure he doesn't ever find out then," Lemshire replied. "Now then, let's get the last of what we need out of your memories, shall we Cedar? I have a flashlight to build."