Ranvir felt Master Svenar embracing the pressure, though he was gentle about it. When some Master touched their power it felt like stumbling upon a sudden vast chasm of their energy. Svenar felt more like turning the corner and finding a foothill of knives, rocking back and forth slightly.

Even now, at what Ranvir estimated to be close to the peak of Esmund’s power, it was but a bump on the road compared to Svenar. Ranvir felt like he could sense only the outermost layers of the Master’s power. He doubted he could even understand the power beyond if he sensed it.

There was a weight to the power of a Master. Something beyond just raw power. Part of them embodied their element. That embodiment made Svenar’s power base more than Esmund’s. Even if they had been at the same stage, Svenar would still be stronger, by a mile.

As Ranvir examined it closer, he realized Svenar’s power was notably different, even though it took Ranvir a while to realize it.

Esmund’s bump had movement. The weapons were moving in long slicing cuts and slashing. Svenar’s on the other hand had less movement than Esmund’s. They were jerky back and forth movements, like stabbing rather than slashing. His power felt like a bristling ball of sharp points and knife’s edge deadliness. There was more personality to it than Esmund’s slicing ball of power.

If Ranvir had to pick Esmund’s power out from a line of students equally as strong, he wasn’t sure he could do it. After having felt Svenar’s power that closely, he knew he could point to Svenar from across a crowded room. His ability had a maturity that was simply missing in his student.

There was a single flicker of rainbow energy from the massive bristling ball of spikes and the atmosphere of the room changed. Ranvir’s breath caught as he suddenly felt like a knife edge was pressed all over his body and his senses.

Blinking, Ranvir focused his senses on the room and found the others reacting similarly. Svenar had his hands by his side in a tight fist, clearly keeping himself very still. Grevor’s face had gone pale and his stoic mask had slammed closed covering his attitude. Only Master Ayvir was at ease, leaning relaxed against the wall, eying the student and master intently.

Ranvir swallowed, feeling his throat brush against and through the weave of razor air. Nothing happened… Frowning, he turned his attention towards the Master’s expression. It wasn’t a solid warp generation, like he’d seen Esmund do. It was closer to Sansir generating cold rather than creating ice. Ranvir wasn’t sure he was reading whatever Master Svenar was doing right, but to him it felt like he was filling the room with warp energy. Layered warp energy.

What’s that for? Ranvir wondered.

Ranvir turned to Master Ayvir causing the young teacher to look at him. The questions were burning a hole in his tongue, but somehow he managed to keep quiet. Ayvir waved with a hand towards the door, suggesting that they could ask afterwards. Ranvir nodded turning back to Svenar, who was murmuring into Esmund’s ear.

“Imagine a point.” Svenar said, a little louder, his voice more demanding. “Create a point within the center of tether-space.” There was a slight movement in Esmund’s power. “Gather all your power to that point. Focus all the energy that fills your soul into that one point.”

The bump shrunk slightly, but grew denser to Ranvir’s senses. “More.” Svenar demanded, and Esmund complied. “More.” It shrank one final time and Ranvir was certain Esmund could go no further.

“One last time.” Svenar continued. “Every tiny bit you can gather helps.” Sweat was starting to appear on Es’ forehead. Ranvir could barely detect the difference in the bump, but Svenar spoke, “Good. Can you feel how it wants to move? Feel it’s need to do something?”

Esmund hesitantly nodded, more sweat appearing on his forehead. “Take that single point and drive it out through the pressure. Force a new gateway.”

Es’ power lurched and the bump struggled for a moment, before bulging suddenly. Ranvir could feel it straining against something. As it worked away at that membrane, he could sense the power fading away. The power spent itself, leaving the bump with a slight bulge on one side.

“Good.” Master Svenar said. “Bring back the point in the center of your tether-space.”

Ranvir watched as Svenar geared Esmund up for another run. The power slowly winding up until Es’ spent it all against whatever membrane was keeping him contained. Each time the membrane shifted further, bulging out more and more.

After the third time, Sansir and Grev headed for the door, waving for Ranvir and Kirs to join them. Ranvir nodded, but Kirs looked hesitantly at Esmund before turning to Ayvir. The master rolled his eyes and nodded to the door.

Emerging on the other side, Grev let out a huge sigh. “I thought for sure he was attacking us when he changed the air.”

The air seemed to move more easily outside the room. Ranvir let out a long breath himself, feeling a part of him that had been tense since Svenar sent that wave of power out, finally relax a bit. With it came all the emotions that had been squashed under his trepidation.

Brilliant and eye-catchingly curious colors filled him alongside his questions. Trembling green trepidation and worry for his friend. Yellows, reds, and oranges that wanted to step up to protect and help him.

“Did any of it feel weird to you?” Sansir asked, turning to Ranvir. “Is that the right procedure?”

Ranvir bit his lip, thinking over how to answer.

“We don’t know.” Kirs said first. “There’s a distinct lack of detail regarding tethered advancement.”

Ranvir cursed quietly under his breath. “There’s a suspicious lack of detail. I didn’t realize it at first, but even Figir’s book which has procedure and careful notes of all her training between Dagger and Sword lacks any information about her actual advancement.”

Kirs looked at him for a long moment, before nodding. “The only information we could find was in a journal from Harald Stonetooth, referencing a different journal where he detailed all of his advancements in. When we went looking for the book, it was nowhere to be found.

Grev frowned as he looked at them. “So what do we know?”

“I know about dead threads.” Kirs said, her voice a clear challenge to the blond tethered. “Harald referred to them in the journal. Something along the lines of: ‘Most first stage tethered are more scared of their dead threads than properly controlling their powers, which is the first issue when properly educating them.’ Or something like that.”

“Dead threads?” Grev asked, looking taken aback.

“According to some accounts from medical professionals they supposedly only happen when a tethered is exposed to severe trauma and damages their tether. These threads are somehow dying, withering away until they eventually fall off and disappear.”

Sansir frowned. “Will that make you weaker?”

Ranvir shook his head. “Potentially, it might make you stronger. At least, masters with fewer threads tend to be stronger than masters with more. Though, tethered with more threads advance faster.”

“So it might slow you down.”

“Essentially.”

Sansir cleared his throat. “I don’t have as strong senses as you, so I don’t know if you feel similar. But does that method feel wrong to you?”

Ranvir gritted his teeth, stretching his senses into the room next to them. Unlike his human senses, his tethered senses wasn’t affected by walls. Es was winding up for another go at the membrane. “I think it’s less efficient than it could be, definitely. I hesitate to say something more’s wrong, I don’t want to assume that I know better than a four-hundred year old establishment.”

“What about a teacher in his fifties?” Kirs asked.

Ranvir gnawed at his lips. “I can’t believe this is the best path forwards. Something’s just not right.”

Two hours later, Ranvir watched as Esmund’s bulbous mound of power shivered, the stilled completely. Ranvir frowned as he sensed Svenar letting out a little more of the layered warp energy. Then Es’ ball ruptured. Warp energy exploded from him in every direction. Ten thousand knife edge blades hurtling in every direction and Ranvir finally understood why Svenar had expressed all that energy.

Esmund’s energy didn’t so much collide with the Master’s as much as they were cushioned by them. The detonation slowed down and dulled, as it touched them. By the time it reached Ranvir, it felt more like gentle presses from a stick than the cut of a knife.

The pile of knives and blades that was Esmund’s power reformed in an instant growing larger than before. Much larger. From the ruptured mess more blades started appearing, rotating around each other as they gathered into a ball.

The energy Esmund had let out faded as his power base reformed and he could no longer reach it. Svenar got up and hurriedly paced away, towards where the they were standing against one wall. Then Esmund swelled with power.

Ranvir felt the surge from the center of Es’ chest as something extended past it, stretching beyond his crossed legs and the low burning candles, until it touched the wall in front of him.

The power burst.

A rush of multi-colored light emerged from Es, smashing into the wall.

It shattered the stone, sending shards and chips in every direction as the nearly uncontrolled energy ran rampant.

Ranvir flinched ducking down at the unexpected noise, as stone was pulverized. Then one moment it stopped and Esmund fell over. The wall now had a divot that was half a forearm’s length deep with groves that scored twice as deep.

Ranvir finally understood why a master’s presence was truly required when advancing.

“Only two hours.” Master Ayvir said. “That’s gotta be some kind of record.”