The sun had risen just enough for light shining through a slit in the curtains to hit the eyes of a resting boy. The little irritation of bright light slowly awoke the boy from his slumber. ‘Where am I?’, was the first question that popped into his head. The second was, ‘how am I sleeping on a cloud?’.

He could still barely see as the bright light was still shining at him, he had to use some effort. Slowly pushing past the pain he rolled slightly over so the light wouldn’t get in his eyes.

His eyes were slowly getting used to the dark room he was laying in. The only light that had made it into the room past the thick curtains was what had hit his eyes. When he could finally see the rest of the room did he only get more confused.

It was an excessively decorated room, the walls had wallpaper plastered with beautiful multicoloured flowers, there was a dresser with golden edges and a large mirror. Even the candle holders were silver.

The bed he was laying on was a mystery to him, he had never felt something so soft in his whole life. The mattress, the pillows, the covers, all so soft it felt like he would fall through them. He became more and more tired as he was feeling it.

*Yaaawn* As he yawned, taking in the air of the room did he notice a vague aroma, it felt very calming, similar to everything else in the room, it made him want to sleep even more.

However he knew he had to wake up, Aias remembered where he was. This was definitely the castle of Svordie, he had fallen asleep before they arrived.

He was supposed to get Varja marked today, excitement flowed through him just thinking about it. Now wasn’t the time to be sleeping! Aias again pushed through the pain to turn over to the light, letting it hit his eyelids, causing the sleepy feeling he was having from all the luxury around him to dissipate.

Aias couldn’t tell what time it was, but assumed it was quite late, he had been awake past midnight after all. Aias was still alone in the room and couldn’t get up on his own thanks to his crippled body. Until someone came to wake him would he have to stay put.

While waiting Aias started studying the energy in his core. For several month now had Aias been practicing sensing the different energies in his consciousness, O’jghar had been teaching him how to use heavenly energy however Aias wanted to learn all the different energies. O’jghar would indeed teach him how to use the other energies once he had gotten the fundamentals down, so he could just wait, but Aias had been getting impatient while trying to learn energy control and needed to put his mind to something else.

While training to sense the other energies he had also learned what a few of them where, and how to distinguish what type of energy a certain energy is. Aias had asked his teacher how he was supposed to know which energy was which. He got a long lecture on the different energies that can be in a person's body. During this lecture he had also been taught that there are ways to classify energy.

There are four classifications for energy,

Normal: for energies that are very common in people. And if you don’t have an normal energy within you from birth you can simply integrate it into your core without worry as they are never dangerous to humans.

Special: energy in this group is less likely to be found in the majority of people, and unlike common energy you aren’t able to integrate it into your core unless you were born with it.

Mythical: energy of this group isn’t something you can get through a normal birth or a regular life, you have to either be blessed by the gods, or by some other special means. The powers that exist in this group is that of legends.

Unknown: energy that can’t be fully explained. More than calling it an energy, it would be more accurate to call it an ability that some people are born with.

O’jghar also explained what made up the different categories, or at least what he knew,

Normal: Is composed of seven energies, heavenly, curse, mana, nature, ki, chi, and spirit.

Special: From what O’jghar knew where there four, demonic, beast, soul, and blood.

Mythical: O’jghar only knew of one energy that was considered mythical, heroic energy.

Although knowledge on energy was often kept secret by those that knew it. Guilds, kingdoms and other organisations would always lock away everything they knew of energy, making it almost impossible for your average person or even soldiers and adventurers to get information on the power within them.

The children of the institute were lucky to grow up in the orphanage where they had a gathering of great warriors that could teach them, and also plenty of books that detailed the use of energy. All brought together by the headmistress.

Inside Aias core there appeared to be six different energies. O’jghar had taught Aias how the energies he knew of felt and from the results four energies inside Aias were considered “normal” energies, the remaining two being something different. They had confirmed that Aias had, heavenly, curse, mana, and ki.

O’jghar didn’t know how every energy felt while in the core so it was to be expected that they didn’t learn of them all. When Aias learned of the different energies he also got to know more about his teacher. From the start O’jghar had only had four energies, mana, nature, ki, beast. He had gained some knowledge on all energy within the normal category in energy through his travels and had integrated a small part of each of them into his core.

Aias also found out that beast energy is something very common within the Klenod race, it isn’t like ki where everyone is born with it, however far more common than with other races.

As Aias had discussed with his teacher about the six energies he had kept one thing out, he did still have a seventh energy that wasn’t apart of the core. The energy he found while playing with the fox. That energy was an oddity to Aias, it was far larger than all the energies in his core combined and unlike the other energies he couldn’t enter into it. It was like a giant bolder, he could roll it around all he wanted in his consciousness, but there was nothing he could do to get into it.

Aias had to leave the energy alone until he knew more about energy in general. Or if he could maybe learn something while in the capital, they did have high ranking researchers for energy there after all. Until then he would have to train the energies he had access to.

Aias had decided to try to learn how to use Ki next, Ki was after all the fundamental energy for humans or humanoids. His teacher had told him he could learn it on his free time if he wanted however he wouldn’t teach him any of it until Aias had learned all the fundamentals of energy. He had however given Aias a very important clue. “The formations for using Ki are very similar to many of the formations for heavenly energy, once you find the difference you should be able to almost copy the formations from one to the other.”

Aias had for the past two month been studying the formations of heavenly energy he currently had and had so far deciphered which parts were necessary for the formations to do their purpose. However in all of them there were some parts that were of no use to this purpose, which meant either of two things. Either they were completely useless and only took up space, or they were there to hold together the specific energy.

For a while Aias had been trying to come up with a way to recreate these parts for use in Ki, however had no luck with it. Aias knew that the problem was his understanding of the energies and knew he needed to know more about the differences of the two powers. He had decided that the best course was to delve deeper into his core, finding and sensing the two energies on a deeper level.

As he waited for someone to come get him he let himself sink deeper into his consciousness, every time he tried to get deeper into the energy he could only feel like its depth was infinite and he wasn’t going anywhere. However today it felt different, he didn’t know how long he had laid there meditating when suddenly the energy he was submerged in started to change. It was still the same old heavenly energy however there was a different feeling to it, another layer of energy.

Aias understood the importance in the difference of energy. This deeper layer was going to be important to understanding how to create formations. If a formation was compared to a building then this deeper layer would be clay it was built from. And it was very possible that there could be another layer deeper than this. The understanding of this deeper layer would definitely be reflected in the quality of the formation created.

……...

Aias didn’t know how many hours he had spent focusing on trying to understand the deeper layer of energy when suddenly someone knocked on the door.

Though Aias had been in deep meditation he could still hear the knocks and quickly ended his meditation, “I’m awake, you can come in!” Aias answered the knocks.

An older man’s voice answered him, “I will come in then.” The door slowly opened and in stepped the old man, though he didn’t look all that old. At least not by skin and build, he wasn’t wrinkly, and his body wasn’t slouching, he reminded Aias somewhat of uncle Laue. The only part of him that made him seem old was his hoarse voice and grey, almost white hair.

The man was clad in a dark suit with some kind of white shirt underneath. It looked incredibly clean and beautiful, was he a noble in the castle, or was this Georgio the guardian of Svordie. The answer came as the man introduced himself, “Hello master Aias, I am Podrick! I will be your attendee during your stay at Svordie castle, I am a butler for master Georgio!”

Aias had heard of butlers, they were essentially servants for nobles, however sing Podrick up close made Aias see it in a different light. This man had far more honor and pride in his work than a simple servant, and by looking into his eyes Aias could confirm that he was definitely well trained, probably stronger than most of the guards.

“Um- what do you mean you will be my attendee, mister Podrick?” Aias wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to interpret the meaning behind an attendee, so he asked.

Podrick answered while giving a short bow, “While you are staying in Svordie I have been assigned to take care of your basic needs, and desires. If you need something, I will see if we can acquire it. If you want to go somewhere, I will take you there.” He shortly paused, he had picked up on the confusion Aias was feeling and continued, “If you are wondering why I’m here and not master O’jghar, well it is because he and master Georgio are going to be discussing several important matter for a while and won’t have much time to spend with you! During that while I will help you get around the castle.”

He once again paused now standing ready to be ordered by Aias. Aias wasn’t really sure what to do. He had never been in a position of control or authority. His word in the class during his time in the orphanage had always meant something however that was different. These were commands that he could issue.

“Um- well I guess first I would like to take a look around the castle”, Aias after a few seconds responded. “Certainly sir!” Was Podrick’s response as he began getting everything ready for Aias to leave the room.

It seemed that a neat pair of clothes had been prepared for Aias while he slept. As Aias could barely move Podrick helped him get himself dressed. Currently Aias body had been doing much better than only two month prior. All because of the cute little fox, healing his nerv system meant he could use his muscles again, of course only to a minor extent as they were still severely damaged. Minor movements he could do, like rolling over, scratching himself, even going to the bathroom. Well not so much the ‘going’ part as he can’t walk, that takes far too much pressure on his body.

After getting dressed Aias was put in a chair, the chair however was somewhat different, it had wheels. Not like a wheelbarrow, this one had two tiny wheels in the front and two very large ones in the middle of its sides. It seemed to be made so if Aias had strength in his arms he could push the larger wheels himself to make the chair move forward. Behind the chair there also seemed to be a place for someone else to hold onto and push it.

Aias wondered if he could keep this when they left. Sure he liked being carried around by Varja, however that was only outside. When inside he would need O’jghar to carry him around, which had begun feeling very awkward.

Podrick drove Aias through several look corridors filled with doors and paintings, until finally they took a turn and where out in a large garden. The garden wasn’t very large however had a few trees and a fountain in the middle.

On the fountain there sat another child, she looked a bit younger than Aias, around four or five. Next to her in a wheelchair similar to Aias there sat a lady. She was very thin, sickly so, most her bones were clearly defined under her skin. However her posture, and just the air about her felt refined, like royalty. The difference between her posture and Podricks was noticeable even to Aias.

Podrick brought Aias closer to the pair, “Pardon lady Permont, this is Aias, he came together with master O’jghar!” Podrick’s every word was filled with respect, whoever this lady was she was definitely of importance.

When she looked up Aias could see her eyes, they were clean and beautiful. She looked to him and gave him a smile, “So you are Aias, I heard of you from O’jghar last night. So you grew up in the orphanage did you. How is it there now?” Her voice was weak but clear. Aias became confused, her wording made it seem as if she was displeased, but by the way she spoke them she sounded more concerned.

“Um- well sorry, it’s been almost two years since I left the institute and started studying under O’jghar. So I really don’t know much of what’s been happening recently, miss Permont.” Aias wasn’t really sure how to deal with nobility or royalty, he had heard there were those that would kill whoever insulted them. And Aias knew better than to put his neck out for possible trouble.

Lady Permont immediately noticed how nervous Aias was, “You don’t have to pay so much respecting to me, I’m just the wife of Georgio, nothing more. And call me Sera!” Her words sounded genuine, she even seemed somewhat saddened by them. “You see I’m a bit close to the headmistress of the orphanage, so I just wanted to know what’s been happening. I know she’s still resting up her body from restoring yours, and I hoped to know when she might be getting finished.”

“Ah- from what I hear the headmistress will be getting out of her focused meditation after the winter. She has gotten better but apparently after healing me she felt close to reaching a new level in her energy. She should come out stronger than ever.” Aias was happy to be able to answer her, he hadn’t had many to talk to and getting some contacts around could be helpful during his stay.

Miss Sera smiled when hearing the news of the headmistress, it seems they were quite close.

“Ah of course, here is my daughter Sophia, she is six, I hope you two can get along.” She gestured towards the little girl sitting on the fountain's edge, she was currently playing with some kind of toy. Aias had never seen this type of toy before, it was like a throwing star, except the edges were able to spin around the center on their own. And it was neither sharp or made of metal.

When the girl looked up to see Aias she got a little scared and ran behind her mother’s chair. Aias could get why, like the girl's mother he too was very thin. Not to the point of looking sickly but he still looked somewhat like a ghost or skeleton. Being inside all day did terrible things to his skin.

The girl slowly mustered the courage to walk out from behind her mother. “H-h- Hello, my name is Sophia Permont! I- I’m delighted to make your acquaintance!” She stood next to her mother, grasping her skirt, looking very embarrassed.

Her mother and Podrick both looked very proud of her, her introductions seemed like one thought to be used towards other nobles. All she needed was a formal pose to go with it and it would be complete.