“Come,” said the dress wearing elf, once the blade shaped craft had docked. John followed her down the ramp and through the broad doors and corridors of the spaceship. Every elf he passed gazed at him with curiosity, some exclaiming in astonishment. He felt quite a few hostile gazes on him as well.

They walked through many doors and brightly lit corridors. John had never truly understood how big a spaceship was until this moment. They must have passed thousands of people. The two walked on for half a mile until they reached a room filled with strange looking machines. Some were golden inverted pyramids, some were beds with a cube the size of a full grown elf hanging above them. Cylindrical tanks filled with blue liquid were placed near the walls.

The elf woman talked to the people within the room for some time and then gestured for John to come forward.

“Strip and lie on the bed,” she said.

John obliged, taking off his dirty deerskin clothes still stained with the blood of the monster. The cube above the bed slowly lowered until it lightly pressed John’s head and body. The people in the room fiddled with holographic displays before saying something to the elf woman.

The elf nodded and said to John, “You’re healthy. Since you have not yet formed your aura shield you are susceptible to infections. The machine will now inject some medicine into your body to prevent this.”

John knew what infections were. He had once fallen sick in the cave with a fever. It had been a tough few days. Unable to hunt, he’d eaten grass during that horrible period of time.

John felt a slight pain in the muscles all over his body and a tingling in his head. The machine then washed John with blue light. The light penetrated John’s skin, showing his capillaries and his skeleton. The doctors said something to the elf.

“You’re only eight years old,” the elf woman said with some surprise. “So young. Come, follow me to my chambers.” The cube ascended and John jumped off the bed. He quickly walked to catch up to the dress wearing elf.

“What’s your name, ma’am?” he asked her. His words were slow. He was unused to talking with people.

“You may call me realm mistress or Sor Al,” she replied. “What is your name?” she asked. “Did the Bright One christen you?”

“My name is John. The Astari man didn’t name me. I had this name from before.”

“Jehun. That is an unusual name. It is not a word in the First Tongue. What does it mean?”

“It’s John, not Jehun. I don’t know what it means. I just felt a resonance with this name ever since I could remember.” After a few minutes John asked, unwilling to let the long silence stir again, “Sor Al, what is a realm mistress?”

“A realm mistress is a woman who has achieved great proficiency in the way of weaving the elements. A realm is a spatial dimension that the realm mistress fully controls. It could be a space a few cubic feet big or even the size of an entire planet depending on the power of the realm mistress.”

“What does weaving the elements mean?” He could understand her words but not their full meaning.

“It is an archaic term from the dawn of our civilization, when we were still planet bound. The name came back into fashion a few centuries ago. Weavers are also known as spellcasters. The Bright Ones called us wizards.”

“Can I learn to be a wizard?” asked John with hope and excitement. A wizard! He was a fan of wizards. They were so powerful that they would have been able to hunt the masters of his planet with a single finger.

“Of course, but we must first make you decent.” Sor Al scrunched up her nose, “Bathed first, I think. I shall ask my servant to stitch some clothes for you. While you are with me you will have much to learn. I hope you work hard.”

“Yes,” said John. “I will not disappoint you.” He was too excited to think for a moment.

Sor Al eventually led John to a room, “This will be your living quarters from now on.” She showed John how to use the bathroom and toilet, and then left. A living quarters! It was so different from his cave. Everything smelt so clean and was placed so neatly. There was a bed in the corner and a window looking out on space. There were cupboards on the walls. This was all very new to him.

John removed his deerskin clothing and placed it on the floor. He locked himself in the bathing cubicle and operated the holographic display as Sor Al had demonstrated. A blue cloud rose from the floor, eventually engulfing John’s entire body. He closed his eyes as he felt it clean his head, his long matted hair bleached from the sun turning smooth and shiny, his skin exuding minty freshness from every pore. John had never felt so relaxed in his life. He lay on the ground and chuckled as he thought of how his circumstances had changed. The bed was too soft to be slept on. He rested properly for the first time in two days. The soreness of his muscles gradually gave way to a pleasant numbness.

A few hours later Sor Al entered the room carrying a plain white robe. “Put this on,” she tossed John the robe, “and then come to the chamber diagonally opposite this one.”

John did as she asked. Another woman greeted John at the door and gestured for him to come in. Sor Al’s room was a duplex. John followed the woman to the floor above where he saw a room filled with potted flowering plants of various shades. There was a pleasant scent in the air. A flowery smell of some kind.

“Welcome,” said Sor Al, sitting on a chair. She gestured for John to take the seat next to hers. With a wave of her fingers the tint of the windows disappeared and John saw a vast ocean of azure and purple. “This is the aether. We entered it a few minutes ago. How do you find it?”

“It’s beautiful,” said John, awestruck. What was the aether? Sor Al spoke of it as though it was very important.

“It’s monotonous but also deadly. The aether is home to monsters and demons. We are the interlopers here. Each journey through the aether is filled with peril. Don’t let this peaceful view fool you. Now tell me Jehun,” Sor Al turned her attention away from the window, “how did you learn to manipulate your aura. Did the Bright One teach you that as well before he perished?”

“In a way he did,” John answered. “He left a holographic cube in the cave I lived in. The cube taught me many things of the Astari.” He’d forgotten all about his cube in his excitement to leave the planet.

“A cube of the Bright Ones,” Sor Al’s eyes gleamed. She snapped her fingers and an image of the leader appeared before them. The leader was dressed in a simple robe of green, much like John’s own in design. She looked like a very different person when not dressed in her golden armor, mild mannered and filled with inner peace. Sor Al talked to her in Elvish, growing ever angrier as the conversation progressed. With a second snap of her fingers she dismissed the hologram.

“The star dancer refuses to return for the holographic cube. It is a priceless artifact, but she fails to see reason,” Sor Al said with a sniff. His cube was priceless? He’d taken it for granted all these years. He was grateful to it for teaching him things but it was just a machine. He wanted to reward the elves for saving him. The holocube would have been perfect.

“Why don’t you go to Astar and ask the Bright Ones for another one.” Was his mind too simple to comprehend the situation?

Sor Al sighed, “The Bright Ones ascended more than thirty millennia ago. Only the ruins of their civilization and their broken artifacts are left. You were lucky to chance upon one who refused to ascend with the rest of his people.”

“He was an exile,” said John as his memories of the old man grew clearer. He also remembered something about a banana peel, but the memory was too hazy. It somewhat terrified him. He’d never seen a banana before but the image was embedded in his mind. A yellow object filled with deadly peril.

“Let us forget about this matter of the cube,” muttered Sor Al. “There’s no point in thinking about it any longer. Instead, let me teach you the basics of weaving. From this moment on, Jehun, you shall be my apprentice. If anyone dares give you trouble come and find me.”