The official looked down at Caeden, complete apathy in his eyes. “I am Commandant Johnathan Havenhelm. As a student of Central Academy, you will address me as Commandant. Only speak when spoken to."

Havenhelm then looked back to Angelica, once again dismissing Caeden entirely. "We will immediately proceed to testing and move out within an hour. The Central Authority values the Dromar family's contributions. The reporting reward will be delivered to the main family home in Lightholm within three weeks."

Angelica curtsied, "Thank you, Commandant. I will make sure the appropriate house members are informed. Is there anything else the Arcturus branch of the Dromar house can do for you at this time?"

"No, though your hospitality is appreciated, we have a schedule to keep."

"Very well. May the Authority hold eternal." Angelica curtsied once again.

"May the Authority hold eternal," Havenhelm replied formally before turning to address Caeden. "Student, follow."

Caeden sighed. It seemed like this was happening now, no matter what he said. "Can I at least see if there's anything left in my house? I'm wearing borrowed clothing. I'd also like to tell my uncle since I probably won't see him for a while."

Havenhelm's stoic, almost bored expression shifted into a frown. "Of course not. There's no time for meaningless sentimentality. This War God is scheduled back at its berth in three weeks. We are close to being late as it is. Now-"

"Sir," The other man who had been driving the small ethership spoke up.

Havenhelm turned his attention from Caeden immediately. "Yes?"

"Under the Central Code section 7 subsection 12, all students are allowed to retrieve any belongings up to 300 pounds in total weight. They are also afforded the right to notify next of kin of their enrollment."

Havenhelm paled slightly. "Is that so? Well done, Keeper. The Code must be upheld, after all. Student," He turned back to Caeden, his face neutral one more, "You are permitted to return to your dwelling to retrieve any items up to a total weight of 300 pounds and to notify your next of kin."

Caeden shook his head. "My uncle lives in Earthstrom."

The Commandant frowned. "A course change will be required. Unfortunate. Keeper, you are to escort the student to his residence. I will need to notify the helmsman and navigator of this course change."

"Sir, yes sir!" The Keeper clapped the open palm of his right hand over the center of his chest.

"Student, do not delay my ship for too long. The Code must be upheld, but my patience has limits." The Commandant warned before a pinkish-red cloud surrounded him, and he shot into the air toward the massive ship floating overhead.

The Keeper sighed. "Alright, kid. Let's get a move on. You need to be quick. Having a War God's Commandant angry with you is a bad way to start your military career."

"Ok?" Caeden wasn't sure what had just happened.

"Yeah, I remember how confusing all this was for me. Look, I'm Anthony. I'm from the continents, just like you, so I get it. Yes, this sucks. You're going to have to come anyway, don't try to run. It never ends well."

Caeden stared the man down for a long moment. He was middle-aged and had the typical blond hair and blue eyes for those from the really cold continents. His face held both remorse and pity, with an edge of wistfulness. Caeden was willing to believe him. For now.

"I wasn't going to run. There's no way I could get out of the range of that behemoth." He pointed at the War God, blotting out the light from the Pillar overhead. "I'd get taken down in an instant."

Anthony nodded. "Yeah, you would. And then the Commandant would be pissed and probably make your life a living hell. Let's get moving. Along the way, I'll do my best to answer any questions you have."

Caeden nodded and started the walk back home, for probably the last time in his life. "I would love some answers."

"Not that way, kid." Anthony gestured toward the small ethership. "Commandant left the skipper with us for a reason."

"Oh," Caeden smiled. He had never flown in an ethership before. "That makes more sense."

Quickly following the surprisingly helpful man through the small gate built into the skipper's side, Caeden marveled at the magical craft. The whole thing was bare-bones, built for speed and little else. The hull was razor thin with a series of struts reinforcing it. Built into the aft was the flight apparatus. Caeden's knowledge of ethercraft didn't extend past how to smith the stuff into metal, so the series of pipes and valves around a central cylinder was completely unfamiliar to him. The whole thing sat upright, and Caeden was confident that the fight ether crystal sticking out the bottom of the craft led directly into that cylinder.

"What do you want to know, kid?" Caeden's attention snapped back to Anthony as the man sat next to the cylinder and grabbed hold of the control stick attached to the side of it.

"How exactly do you fly this thing? How does the flight crystal maintain an energy field without rupturing or overloading? How does the field account for the material resistance of the hull? What's-"

"Hey, hey!" Anthony cut in with a laugh. "This is neither the time nor the place for a lesson on etherships. Plus, I'm not the guy to ask. I know how to fly one, not build one. Questions about your situation what to expect at school. Stuff like that.",

"Right, sorry. I'm an ethersmith by profession, so all this," He gestured to the flight apparatus, "Is all really interesting to me." Caeden refocused his thoughts. "I guess, first of all, what just happened? The Commandant wasn't going to let me go home or see my uncle. Then he did. What was that about?"

"Ah, that's easy enough. I'm a Code Keeper." Anthony gestured to an insignia on his robes, right over his heart. To Caeden, it looked like an open book with a stylized eye on one page and a five-pointed star with an 'A' in the center, the symbol of the Central Authority, on the other page. "It's my job to memorize the Central Code, so people like the Commandant don't have to. The CA doesn't appreciate their senior officers disobeying the Code."

"That sounds like you have a lot of power," Caeden said appreciatively.

"Ha! Not really. The whole military hates the Code Keepers. No one likes the guy whose job is to tell you that you can't do yours." Anthony shook his head. "I get the worst of anything the ship has to offer. Smallest bunk, last in line for meals. It's not all it's cracked up to be."

"Why'd you do it then?"

"No choice," His face fell, "Kid, if one of the families offers you a deal to work for them when you get to school and trust me, they will; don't take it. It's never, ever worth it. If you listen to a single word I say, listen to that. They'll make your life at school hard, but that's five years, and after that, you'll be in the military, and the families won't be able to touch you as much. Whatever you do, don't take a deal. No matter how bad it is."

Caeden was thrown by the sincere emotion on the Keeper's face. "Ok, I won't."

"I mean it. They'll promise you amazing things. It's all lies or half-truths, and the cost is never worth it. Taking that deal is the single biggest regret of my entire life. Just don't."

"I'm not sure I fully understand, but I believe you." Caeden did. He couldn't help but believe the sorrow and regret in this man's eyes.

"Good. I'm glad I can spare you my pain. Now, is this the spot?" Anthony's relief was obvious.

He looked over the side of the skipper. "Oh." He sighed. "Yeah, this is it."

{}

Caeden stared at the scorched pile of rubble that had been his home for the last three years. He could tell where the epicenter of the explosion had been. He had placed the rendering barrel up against the wall where the smithy connected to his living quarters. When it blew, it took the entire house with it.

Caeden had hoped that the thick walls of the smithy might have absorbed enough of the force to save some of his home. That obviously hadn't happened. Hoping to be surprised, he felt through the rubble with his shroud, not expecting much.

What he encountered surprised him. There was a mass under all that stone, right in the middle. It resonated with his shroud in a way that Caeden had never felt before. It wasn't anything he had in his home before the explosion. There was no reason for anything to be down there, either. It would have to have been in his house before the explosion to be buried under there.

"That makes no sense." He murmured.

"What is it?"

"Ah!" Caeden nearly jumped out of his skin. He had forgotten Anthony was there.

The older man was standing behind him with a sympathetic expression. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. What happened?"

"Some asshole chucked a Molotov through my window. I tried to block it with my shroud, and it cut the thing. The burning alcohol landed in a rendering barrel." Caeden explained.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Thing is, I can feel something under there. Not sure what it is. I think I'm going to try and get it out."

"Ok, but be quick."

Caeden nodded. He rapidly began cutting into the pile of rubble with his shroud. The lines of red energy cut deep into the wood and stone, turning large chunks into smaller, more manageable bits. Then, with a bit more effort and some manual labor, he had cleared his way down to the object he had felt with his shroud.

It turned out to be a lumpen mass of unrecognizable metal. It was slightly flat and round, with various bulges and sharp edges. The whole thing was colored in red, purple, and gold haphazardly. Looking it over for a minute, Caeden recognized some of the various lumps.

"What is it?" Anthony called. He had stayed by the skipper.

"I've no idea. It looks like all my tools fuzed together around the plowhead I was working on. All my hammers and ether tools, along with the anvil." Caeden pulled on it. "Yeah, must be. This thing weighs a ton."

"I hope not literally. You only get 300 pounds. That is if you want to bring it at all."

"Yeah, I think I do. It should be under the limit, if just barely." Caeden wasn't sure of the weight of every piece of his equipment, but his anvil was a lighter one, only 150 pounds.

"Bring it over here; I'll check."

With a combination of his shroud and physical effort, Caeden managed to pull the hunk of metal out of the rubble. While he worked, he noticed his shroud flowing into the metal, like it belonged there. While this happened, he felt the lump become slightly lighter.

Placing it in front of Anthony with a huff, Caeden leaned on his knees. "There, how are you going to check the weight, though?"

Anthony let out a whistle. "Damn, I think that's a shrouded weapon. Or at least, it's trying to be one."

"I have no idea what that is." Caeden watched as white light sprinkled with bronze motes surrounded and lifted the metal.

"289 pounds, 7 ounces. Cutting it close." Anthony said after a moment. "A shrouded weapon has been linked to a specific shroud, or in this case, shrouds. They act as amplifiers for a shroud, making them easier and more efficient to use."

"Is that a common thing? Also, what do you mean shrouds?" Anthony was getting back onto the skipper, so Caeden hefted his hunk of scrap and followed. "That's to do with the dual shroud thing, right? I only have one shroud."

"Firstly, no. Shrouded weapons are for families only. Continental's like us will get one if we manage to graduate from the Academy, but that rarely happens."

"I thought you graduated?"

"No, I dropped out in the third year. Didn't pass my qualification test. Now, you said you only have one shroud?"

Caeden nodded.

"Yeah, that hunk right there says the opposite. That red is the shroud you've been using. The purple and gold? That's something else. Use your aura. You'll feel it."

"Aura?"

Anthony sighed. "You're going to get eaten alive. Your shroud, use it like you did to feel that under the rubble."

Caeden did as he was told, reaching out with his shroud, line of red crawling over the hunk of metal. After a moment, he felt it. Along with his shroud, there was another sensation inside the metal. Caeden could feel it pulling on something inside him. Something that felt like…

"Oh shit."

"You felt it? Good, because you're about to be tested, and they'll expect you to pull on both your shrouds. So you better get used to it real quick."

Caeden looked up to see them rapidly approaching the floating hulk of the War God, still flying over the Dromar household.

"Oh, shit."

{}

True to his word, the second they landed inside the War God's docking bay, Caeden was whisked away by another robed military member to be tested. After a few minutes of walking through cramped metal hallways, Caeden and his escort arrived at a room, where he was told to sit at a table before his escort left without another word. After a few minutes, another man entered.

Caeden had been uncomfortable ever since entering the War God. Not just because of how imposing the vessel itself was or because they were essentially kidnapping him. No, he was uncomfortable because of all the shrouds. He could feel them all around him, a pressure over every inch of his body. Pressing in, sometimes softer, sometimes harder. It was making him feel twitchy, like an exposed nerve.

As soon as the new man entered, he pressed a small button next to the door. There was a click, then a thunk, and the pressure vanished. It was amazing. Caeden went from feeling dozens, hundreds of shrouds to only one.

"There," The man turned to face him. He was unassuming, with a plain face and average build. He wore a soft smile like everything was slightly amusing to him. "Now, I'm Inspector Morse. You are Caeden, yes?"

Seeing a nod from Caeden, he continued in a friendly tone while setting a case on the table and pulling various instruments and sheets of paper out. "Excellent. Now, I've been told you have very little knowledge of how shrouds actually work. Unfortunately, I will not be rectifying that lack of knowledge. You will be taught by proper teachers once you arrive at the Academy, so I would appreciate it if you kept any questions to a minimum. The questions I will be asking and exercises I will have you perform do not require you to understand why you are doing what you are doing.

To begin with, I would like you to manifest one of your shrouds, whichever one is fine. Please do so in the manner that is most natural and comfortable to you."

He then sat and stared expectantly at Caeden, waiting. Deciding to just roll with it, Caeden summoned up a ball of red lines over his left palm. "Like this?"

"Yes, exactly. Please hold that as is." Inspector Morse proceeded to make a variety of notes. "Alright. Now, do you know how to manifest your shroud sigil?"

"I don't know what that is," Caeden admitted.

"That's fine. This is simple enough. Attempt to force your shroud in on itself. You should feel it begin to collapse into a single point. Once it does, Go with that motion and keep pushing."

Not sure what he was doing, Caeden attempted to pull the ball tighter, hoping that would get the result the Inspector was looking for. To his surprise, The ball of crimson lines shrank in on itself easily, going from the size of his head to the size of his fist. Then, Caeden felt the moment Morse had mentioned, and his ball was sucked into a single point. Instantly, a vision appeared in its place.

Floating above his hand was a large dagger with blood running down its edge, dripping down onto his palm, only to disappear before it reached.

"Good. Quite easy, see? Now, look at the sigil and tell me the first thing that comes to mind."

Caeden stared in awe. He had never even guessed that something like this was possible. It wasn't anything like how his shroud normally acted, and the Inspector treated it as mundane. The islands were on another level entirely.

"Come on now, don't think about it. Just say the very first thing that pops into your head." Morse encouraged.

"Sharp." The second he said it, Caeden felt how right that was. His shroud was Sharp.

"Excellent. Now hover the sigil over here." Morse tapped a plate-shaped device with several slivers of ether in it. Doing as he was instructed, Caeden saw the colors of various shards change as his sigil floated just above the plate.

"Now, I'm going to instruct you to move the sigil in various ways. Please follow along to the best of your ability." And for the next few minutes, the Inspector told Caeden to move the sigil in every way he could think of. Spinning it, moving it side to side as fast as he could, wiggling it. Caeden found the exercises easy to begin with, but as time passed, they became harder and harder to follow until the motions asked of him were just too complex and refined.

"That completes our assessment for your first shroud. Let's see here." Morse looked down at the sheet in his hands. "Sharp, modifier aura category 5, with an invasion pressure of 10, but control in the 5th tier. Not bad for someone with so little knowledge. Now onto your other shroud."

"About that," Caeden awkwardly ran the back of his head. "I didn't know I had a second shroud. I'm not sure how to use it."

"Hmm," Inspector Morse frowned for the first time since he entered the room. "I have not encountered many dual-shrouded and those that I have had access to both immediately. My immediate suggestion would be to draw on your first shroud, then use that sensation to search within yourself for the second. The feelings should theoretically be similar."

With nothing else to go on, Caeden pulled on Sharp from within himself. It felt the same as ever, a heady rush of power from inside and far beyond. Focusing on that sensation, that feeling of drawing out his shroud, Caeden looked into himself. He felt it then, at the edge of his awareness. Another source of power.

Another shroud.

Instantly, he pulled on it. It was exactly as the Inspector said. The sensation was the same as when he pulled on Sharp. Feeling his right hand grow warm, Caeden opened his eyes. His hand had transformed. From the tips of his fingers to his wrist, his hand was now a metallic gold with accents of soft purple. The colors followed the natural contours of his hand, with the gold covering most of his skin, the purple showing primarily at the joints where his hand and fingers would need to bend.

"Woah."

"Good, good. Now, manifest your soul sigil. Come on now." Inspector Morse ushered him along, completely killing the overwhelming sense of awe Caeden had been immersed in. He had no idea why the Inspector was in such a hurry.

Still, he complied, doing the same inward push that he had before. This felt different. If Caeden were to describe it, it was like moving his first shroud was pouring water. Moving his new one was like pouring molasses. It was slow and didn't want to move at all. Still, after a moment, the same collapse happened, and on the back of his hand, another vision appeared. A golden throne, padded in purple velvet, ornately carved with images of men fighting monsters and beasts, striking them down with bare fists.

"Physical Enhancement." Caeden breathed. He could feel it. This shroud was all about taking something and just making it better.

"Well, that's a new one."