It was late, the sun had already set. Dek had just picked up a new book about ether residing within quins. He sat down at a table in the library. He placed his small lantern next to him, and opened the lid. The small quartz inside illuminated the surrounding area. He picked up his new book and began to read. A few minutes later Alice walked by.

“Good evening, Dek.”

“Hello.” Dek looked up from his book in surprise. Shen stood behind Alice.

He nodded in acknowledgement. Dek reluctantly nodded back.

“Do you mind if we sit?” Alice asked politely.

“S-sure.”

Alice pulled up a chair next to Dek. Shen sat across from him. Dek went back to reading in the hopes of them leaving him be. Though normally he was okay with Alice’s occasional company and even liked it; he didn’t like Shen, or any noble for that matter. He thought Alice shared the same opinion on the matter, but it seemed he was wrong.

“So, what was up with you yesterday?” Shen asked.

And there it was. One of the several reasons he disliked the nobility. They were always wanting to know everything, even if it wasn’t their business.

Dek sighed, “About what?”

“What do you mean? About you breaking the school record by a long shot.”

“Oh, yeah…”

“So, how did you do it?” Shen pressed.

“Yeah, actually I’m a bit curious myself.” Alice admitted.

“I tried my best.” Dek went back to his book.

“Do you have a trainer?” Alice asked.

“Nope.”

“Was it some kind of drug?”

“Shen!”

“What? I’m just saying. It’s kind of strange, how someone as skinny as you, beat everyone else’s record is all. No offense.”

Dek wasn’t sure how to respond. He knew that his quin nature would strengthen his body. What he didn’t realize was just by how much it’d affect him. He had ended up running faster than everyone and had garnered the attention from the entire school. Wherever he went on campus people would look at him and whisper. Many had just come up to him and asked how he had done it, beating out both John Jade and Shen Stone. He ended up running away from those people and secluded himself in the library. He had spent the afternoon looking for books that dealt with ether and how it affected the body of a quintessential user. And now when he finally had what he was looking for he was interrupted by these two.

“Dek, ignore Shen. He’s just mad that you beat him is all.”

“No, I’m not.”

Alice ignored him, “What are you reading?”

“Oh, just something to pass the time.” Dek evaded the question, he didn’t want anyone to start suspecting him, which might have already happened. It’d only take one smart person to start putting the dots together with his speed and the books he read. He had to move the focus off of him. “So, are you guys, dating or something?”

“What does it matter to you?” Shen said defensively.

“Not at all.” Alice replied without even a start.

Shen felt a small stab of pain. He knew they weren’t together but he hadn’t expected her to respond so quickly to the question. A part of Shen was angry at how easily Alice had begun to affect him. While another part of him just wanted to stay close to her, to see her smile again. The same smile that she so easily gave to this Dek person. Shen had asked Jack about him, but even Jack didn’t know much about Dek. Except that he was in the same class with John and Emily, was a loner, and had scored the highest in every exam of ever 2nd year student. Oh, and that he was the only other friend Alice had in this school. Shen couldn’t forget that.

“So, what are you guys doing here then?” Dek asked.

“I tutor Shen most days of the week. History mainly though I’ve been helping him a bit with math.”

“Yeah, she may not boast, but Alice is one of the most knowledgeable people I know.” Shen smiled.

“Thanks, but there is still a lot I don’t know. I mean take this lantern for example. I know the quartz works with ether to create light but I don’t know how.”

“Well, that’s simple actually.” Shen began to explain, glad to be the one teaching this time. “Ether is the fifth element, which naturally only exists in the air, right? So, there are certain factories that have large steam powered machines, which absorb the ether in the air and then through some long process infuse it into a gem like the quartz in that lantern, and voilà you have light.”

“Huh, I always wondered how they were made.” Alice pulled out her own gem lantern and looked within to see a small quartz glowing bright. “It really is beautiful. Thanks for telling me.” Alice smiled.

“You’re welcome.” Shen was happy, this was the second time he had gotten her to smile, he had been worried she was still angry with him because of yesterday.

“Actually,” Dek put his book down, “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“Oh? How so?” Alice gave him her full attention.

“Though it’s true that when ether is fused into a gem it glows, they don’t all glow with the same amount of light. In fact, most are quite dim. Quartz is an exception, which is why it is used in lanterns. We are fortunate however that quartz is such an abundant stone, else gem lanterns would be far rarer and more expensive.” Dek normally didn’t talk this much, but it was over a topic he loved and was eager to discuss with someone.

“So, I guess we really are lucky the best kind of gem is pretty common.” Alice concluded.

“Well, it’s not necessarily the best. There are several different factors to take into account,” explained Dek. “There are four facets when it comes to infusing ether into a gem.”

“Such as?”

“Well, the first would be storage. The larger a gem is the more ether it can contain, though different kinds of gems have different storage levels. But the more ether infused within a gem the more fragile it becomes, and too much ether will cause it to shatter. The second would be diffusion. No matter what you do, ether will slowly leak out of the gem, until there is none left. Some gems leak ether faster than others. Quartz has a high storage amount and a low diffusion rate, which makes it very useful for lanterns.”

Shen had heard about some of this before but he was curious as to how knowledgeable Dek was, so he stayed quiet and continued to listen to his explanation.

“Then there is transferring ether. Though it’s true that large factories infuse gems with ether straight from the atmosphere, it’s not the only way to infuse gems. It’s possible to transfer ether from one gem into another, though most of the ether is lost as energy during the transfer, which is why few people transfer ether between gems. Azurite, however, loses very little energy while transferring ether, as such it is often used as a power bank. Now probably the most important aspect of a gem would be its ability.”

“Ability?” Alice asked, her interest now piqued.

“Ether scientists discovered that by using special circuits one can ‘ignite’ the ether residing within a gem, which causes the ether to burn and burst out of the gem. But unlike in diffusion, where the ether is simply released out into the air, when ignited, ether takes on a new form depending on the lattice of the gem in which it was infused with.”

“What’s quartz’s ability?”

“Well, honestly it’s not that special. It simply releases ether in the form of a blinding light for a few seconds when ignited.”

“Wow, looks like there is a lot more to gems than I thought. Just as I expected from the gems expert,” Alice smiled at Dek.

“You’re welcome.” Dek nodded, a small grin on his face. Suddenly, remembering himself Dek turned his head down and went back to his book. “Sorry, I spoke too much.”

“No, not at all. I found it very educational. We commoners don’t really have access to gemstones, so it was nice to learn about them.” Alice said.

But Dek stayed quiet nonetheless and kept reading.

Alice sighed. She began to tap her fingers on the table. “So Dek, what do you think is the most powerful gem?”

“I don’t know, maybe amethysts.” He considered.

“I’d say jadeite,” said Shen.

“I haven’t heard of it,” said Alice.

“It’s commonly called jade. When ignited jade creates a bright green acid. Elite soldiers are equipped with muskets that run off jade rounds, instead of the ordinary steam muskets. The acid is very useful since it burns through almost anything, though it evaporates very quickly. A shot of jade can’t go farther than about a hundred feet. Still every army in the world would love to equip all their soldiers with jade if they could. But it’s expensive. Though there is one family in the Asteri empire that has the largest reservoir of jade in the whole world by far.”

“The Jade family.” Dek guessed.

Shen nodded, “John’s family is very rich thanks their jade mines, it’s also thanks to the mines that they have risen to control an entire dukedom.”

“I can understand why jade muskets would be more expensive, but why would every army want one? I mean obviously they have better ammunition but what about the practicality of it all. In a long range battle the steam musket-however inaccurate they may be-would win out.”

“Because quins,” Shen said.

“Quins?” Alice tilted her head.

“Quintessential users. Human beings born with the ability to store ether within their own bodies and ignite it, just like gems. Steam musket balls can’t pierce a quin’s bones, they’re too dense. Muskets will almost never kill a quin.”

“What? Are you kidding me. I once saw a musket ball blow half a man’s head off, and you’re telling me that these quins aren’t hurt by them?” Alice spoke with skepticism.

Shen shook his head, “You don’t understand. The ether changes them, makes them more durable, stronger,” Shen paused and glanced at Dek, “faster.”

This was bad, Dek knew, he packed his book away and stood up. He grabbed his lantern, “It’s quite late. I better go get some sleep. Don’t want to be too tired for the history exam.”

“Yeah, of course. Well, we better get going too.” Alice got up.

“Good night,” Dek left quickly.

“Good night.”

“Yeah, good night.” Shen’s eyes didn’t leave Dek’s retreating form until it was out of view.

******

Dek woke up ready for the exam. Though he was still tired he felt better, his research had been going well and he felt he’d soon arrive at a breakthrough for the quanta lock. He would have to stay away from Shen though, the man was as suspicious as a blood hound. Thinking about it, he may even have to stay away from Alice, since she seemed to hang out with Shen a lot.

As he walked into the kitchen he saw Erica drinking coffee while reading the newspaper.

“Good morning, Erica.”

“Morning. You heading out already?”

“Yeah, I’m just going to grab some breakfast, at the café at school.”

“Alright. Oh, by the way, be careful with the public water around here. Turns out there was some kind of water system leak, the water is possibly contaminated. We’ll have to use a purifier now. *Sigh* I knew coming here was a terrible idea.” Erica closed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose.

Dek remembered the golden pool under the town. “Well that sucks. Sorry, Erica. I’ll keep that in mind.” He said as he left.

Though the water contamination was a shame, Dek was still in a good mood as he jogged all the way to school. Throughout the past few weeks he had been gaining endurance, which he attributed to his quintessence nature. As he arrived in class he sat down and pulled out his newest book about ether and its interactions with quins.

“Alright class, as you all know today I will be handing out the history exam.” Professor Guila announced.

The majority of the class was nervous, Guila was known for giving very difficult exams. But Dek didn’t mind, this was just an exam, which he knew he’d ace. Something like wasn’t a problem for him. He heard a faint whiz, the room suddenly turned a pale red. Dek glanced at the window as a bright crimson ball of fire hurled towards them. The world exploded in a blast of blood red.