The darkness overhead looked wrong with only a few stars, and the light from the massive crescent moon only confirmed that no clouds blocked their view. Eli felt almost dizzy from the reality of a barren sky while his mind insisted that there should be a wealth of bright diamonds of shining and blinking colors. It was as if a blanket of infinite blackness, with a depth unfathomable, had been tossed across the heavens to block out the beauty of the normal universe. He swallowed against the hollow sensation growing in his chest.

Startled by a hand touching his forearm, he turned to find Dara still beside him but standing much closer. “What is it?” she asked quietly, fear and concern in her eyes. “Do you sense something?”

“The sky,” he choked out but shook his head for a moment, trying to understand how such a view was possible. Could he be in another galaxy? Another universe? Was this what the night would look like at the end of time when nearly all the stars had burned themselves out? He swallowed but found his voice again to ask, “Does your sky usually look like this?”

“Yes?” Dara drew the word out but looked up to search the heavens as if to confirm her words.

“You normally have about a dozen stars?” he asked, trying to confirm that what his eyes showed him was, in fact, reality.

“Oh, there are more than a dozen,” she replied, a bit of her concern melting away with a tiny smile tugging up her lips. A hand emerged from her blanket to point at a particularly bright twinkling light near the horizon. “There’s the Huntress,” and her finger moved towards a cluster of three faint lights further up in the sky. “And there is her prey, always running from her but never escaping.” She turned and pointed at another behind him, and he followed her gesture towards another grouping of five stars, “The Wreath of the Ancients. It’s said that when we die, our spirits depart for those beacons to be welcomed by our ancestors.”

“How about those ones?” he asked in a more normal voice and pointed at a smattering of lights closer to the glowing smile in the night sky. His thumping heart had quieted at her smiling words, the normalcy of the view for her grounding his racing thoughts and emotions.

“They all have stories, Eli, but what is it? Is your sky so different?” Dara’s words had taken on a slight edge as if there was a hidden meaning in the question.

Pressure in his bladder reminded him of why he’d first gotten up, and he shook his head at the mundane sensation after a piece of his reality had just been knocked over. “Let me use nature’s own bathroom first,” he suggested, trying to inject a little fun into the moment but sounding forced even to his ears. He left at her simple nod but felt her eyes following him towards the copse of stunted trees nearby.

A few minutes later, he returned to their fire to see that Dara had added a couple more logs, which were burning with gusto. She’d wrapped the second blanket around her shoulders, though the evening only felt like a pleasant summer night to him. It was just another difference that added to the weird reality of the moment where he wondered again if this was a dream.

“You were saying?” she asked as he sat nearby on his folded blanket.

“I don’t even know where to start,” he replied with a snort and a shake of his head. He looked up again, thinking of how the night should look while memories flashed across his mind. “But let me tell you about a night like tonight when I was camping with my closest friends. It was years ago when we were all in college,” he continued, his voice warming up at the familiar memory. “We’d finally found some time between our accelerated schedules, and we made it out a little ways from civilization where the light pollution wouldn’t ruin the view. Most of the time, we’d spend quiet nights just talking and watching the stars wheel around in the sky, and sometimes we’d be lucky enough to see a few shooting stars.”

He thought about those fun nights, sitting around with his friends with few cares in the world. The war was behind them, and they had their whole lives to build something after the Fall. Aarav would usually point out the constellations, sharing stories from his country, with Jen sometimes tossing in some odd bit of trivia from the astronomy courses she’d taken. Eli would usually just listen, happy to hear the stories, while Dennis tried different ways to improve on the classic s’more or even create something entirely new.

“What did you see?” Dara asked, her voice pulling him from his thoughts and realizing he’d been quiet for a while, lost in his memories.

“I saw wonder, beauty to take your breath away, and a reminder of just how small we all are in this great and terrible universe of ours.” He paused, thinking of how to describe what he remembered against what he saw overhead. “The place I’m from, my home system and star, is just one of the billions in our galaxy.”

“Billions?” Dara gasped next to him. “You mentioned a similar number with that cataclysm where many of your people died. Is this a number you use to mean ‘many,’ or are there really billions of stars?”

Her question made him chuckle, but he waved a hand at her narrowing eyes. “I’m not laughing at you, Dara, but where I’m from, there are billions and trillions of stars in the sky.” Her eyes had grown round again at his words, her mouth falling open while likely imagining the sight. “And on a night like tonight, our entire galaxy was like a swath of sparkling jewels painted across the sky.” He mimicked painting the air with a broad brush at the horizon and then turned to her with a smile. “My people call it the ‘Milky Way’ with its thick band of stars taking up much of the heavens, but there are other names like the ‘River of Fire’ or ‘Silver River.’” He shook his head. “Beyond this densely packed beauty are countless more stars and galaxies in any direction you could imagine, all there as if to remind us of how small we are on our little ball of rock.”

“Eli, are you from the Greater Infinite?” Dara asked, the strain returning to her voice.

“I don’t even know what that is,” he replied with a headshake. “We used to think our universe was infinite, but about a century ago, we realized that it is still expanding and that there was probably a beginning in the far distant past.”

She tilted her head to the side as if processing his words, though the tension in her shoulders relaxed, and she finally nodded. “The Greater Infinite is from our oldest stories, before our Shame, before we failed.” She shifted a bit, fiddling with her blankets before they tightened around her again. “It’s not something I studied too closely since I don’t much care for the old myths and legends, but there are stories about how our sky used to be full of lights and stars.” One of her hands emerged to almost copy his earlier gesture like she was painting the heavens. “It was said that the night was never truly dark, that the Greater Infinite always lit our way,” she finished in almost a whisper.

“What happened?” he asked quietly, pulling his knees up to hug them while their fire crackled happily.

“There are different stories, depending on who you ask. In the end, most agree that we fell from our greatest heights,” Dara said sadly, gesturing at the sky. “And the darkness is a reminder of our failure.”

Both of them fell silent as the crescent moon slowly crawled up the nearly empty night sky while the drone and chirp of insects kept them company.

***

Time passed with neither talking. Eli was lost in his thoughts, thinking of how alone he felt at that moment, even though he had a new friend sitting beside him. It was hard to realize that he would probably never see his home again and might even be in an entirely new universe. Not liking the dark direction of his mood, he focused on their earlier conversation again.

“Dara,” his voice sounded almost loud, breaking through the sound of the incessant bugs. “Earlier, you described the different levels in Lurran society, but where’s the line between each group?”

“It comes down to their power and strength,” Dara replied with a slow smile as if welcoming the change in topic. “When people reach a certain strength threshold, they pass beyond their normal human limits, and the change marks their aura. I can feel that mark with you.”

“Then why don’t I feel anything? I don’t feel different to myself.”

“That’s a tough question,” she said, and her eyebrows pinched together in thought. “It’s hard to describe. I have just been taught at a young age to not only recognize it but also control and suppress my own.”

“Wait, so you have this mark and are suppressing it? That’s why I can’t sense it?” he asked, warming up to the topic while shoving away the feeling of the infinite cold darkness overhead.

“Yes, I am a Gifted, like my father. My training allows me to control my strength and ability. Otherwise…well…I’d be like you. Your aura is essentially yelling that you’re there.” Dara waved her hands in the air as if saying hello to the few lonely stars in the night sky. “Animals are surprisingly sensitive to auras, so I think they’ve been staying away. Haven’t you noticed that the trail has gone strangely silent since we left Eld Forest? Back there, the animals ignored us for their own reasons, but they flee here.”

He had noticed it on some level, but he’d thought this new part of the trail was different, and the sounds even now were strangely quiet outside the constant drone of the bugs. Thinking back, the racket that first night had been pretty loud under the Jolly Green Giant, and it had only been worse the next night under the out-of-place weeping willow. The night there had been just as loud as the day, if not louder.

“Oooookay. So I’m radiating a big, ‘go away’ sign?”

She shook her head slightly, looking into Eli’s eyes. “No, you’re radiating that death approaches. Remember when I described how your aura felt to me? Well, no animal that isn’t much stronger than you would stay nearby as they would sense this too. It’s a good thing you have those supplies, as hunting in your condition would be difficult.”

“Well, shitballs. Am I like an off-brand death wraith or something? Maybe I need to invest in a cool dark cloak?”

“Eli, this is serious!”

“What?” He tried for an innocent tone, thinking it was worth a shot.

“I know that tone of voice when you’re playing the fool,” Dara admonished. Her smile was gone, and she was all business now. “Please take your training seriously, as our lives could depend on this.” She held up a hand and started ticking off her points. “I don’t know where my uncle is. I don’t know why he did what he did. I don’t know where the cultists are or their connection to my uncle. Finally, we don’t know if my father is in danger too!”

He held up both hands, “Okay, sorry about that. I warned you when we met that my humor is famously bad. But I’ll focus now. Please, continue.”

Dara took a couple of deep breaths but then paused and did a little bow at the waist toward him. “I also apologize. After talking about the stars, sky, and Greater Infinite, my emotions feel raw, but I shouldn’t snap at you.” She took another breath and squared her shoulders under the blankets while turning to face him. “We should reach Herria tomorrow, and there are many unknowns. There will certainly be other Gifted; the temple might even have a Blessed in residence. Also, my uncle or his people might be in town, though I don’t know how likely that is. We just don’t know. If we walk in there with your big aura proclaiming your power, people may react in ways we might not like.”

“Like what?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but I could imagine all sorts of things like trying to capture us, attack us, or just send word to the cultists. Maybe send an assassin? I know my uncle has at least one man that does such work. My father tried to keep such knowledge from me, but I can see the patterns in the tapestry.” Dara shook her head as her eyes seemed to stare without seeing. “There are so many ways it could go wrong.”

“Right, that makes sense. Do you think you can show me enough to stop broadcasting?”

“This is what we’ll try,” she said. “You seem to have an incredible talent to understand abilities, so it is at least worth trying. But if this doesn’t work, we might have to go around Herria. In fact, that might be the best option.”

“Oh damn, got it. Well, I’d like to see an actual town so how about you try to teach me and if I can’t figure it out, we just go around. Is this called aura control?”

“It isn’t an ability I’m teaching you but is simply learning about relaxing and being mindful of your aura. Aura discipline would be more fitting if you really must put a name on it.” Then she mumbled something under her voice.

“What was that?”

“I said, ‘lucky I’m your tutor.’ I asked my teacher almost the same thing years ago, and Gifted Slana was not as patient with me.”

“If I haven’t said it enough, Dara, thank you. I don’t know where I’d be if you were not here to help me.”

“Of course, Eli. It is an honor. May you find strength along your path.” Then, with the air of a ritual, she bowed slightly forward, dipping her head and gesturing with her right hand in a sweeping gesture from her forehead to the side. “Instead of describing aura discipline,” she continued, “Let me demonstrate. I will relax my control, and you can sit there and just focus on the feeling. Hopefully, this will help you recognize the feeling as my aura reaches out to you.”

“Sounds like a plan!” He sat straight and closed his eyes, trying to sense the changes she was talking about. A pressure suddenly pushed against his body, but different from when the time-dilation happened. Instead, he felt naked and exposed – as if there were unseen eyes staring at him. Unsettled, he nonetheless tried to focus on his various senses until the sensation finally disappeared.

“Did you feel my aura?” Dara asked, her dark eyebrows perking up at the question.

“I felt something, but it's hard to describe,” he replied, opening his eyes. Pausing in thought, he considered the sensation again. “It was like someone was looking at me and trying to see inside me, but I’m not sure. Would you mind if I used one of my abilities, the glowing eyes, to see how you’re doing it?”

“Like when you watched me use Firestarter the first night?” She nodded. “Yes, that is acceptable, though I should warn you against using that where other people may see it. There are stories about beings with glowing eyes.”

“Good or bad?” he asked with a bit of humor.

“Well, Boruta is famous for his glowing crimson eyes.”

“Ah, then bad,” he said, a bit of the wind taken out of his sails.

“Not all bad, Eli. I’d just recommend you be careful with those you trust with your abilities. It isn’t normal for people to flaunt them anyway, and most don’t ever disclose all that they can do except with their most trusted companions.”

“You’re the local expert, so I’ll trust your words,” he said with a nod, thinking back to how she’d acted when they first met. She hadn’t trusted him with nearly as much information then either, and even now, he wondered what she kept hidden. Not that he blamed her; she’d been through a lot, and they’d only known each other for a few days.

Keeping his eyes open, he toggled on Manasight, and the world brightened around them with the same tiny lights. He looked around, a bit surprised by how much more of the colored clouds were in the air here. In Eld Forest or the Blood Boulders, the clusters had been smaller and more sparse, but now there had to be at least two or three times as much floating through the grass and trees nearby. He’d definitely have to look into that, but his theories could wait for later.

“Observe, feel, and experience,” Dara said, sitting up straight with her shoulders back.

He focused on the energy core inside her. The small bright blue pebble lit up with Dara’s power that swirled slowly inside her for a few moments as she took deep breaths. The core energy deepened in color to a darker blue as it appeared to condense before slowly moving out into the small channels leading to her head and limbs. A thin, ghostly blue shell pulsed into existence around her body in a momentary flash, and a moment later, he felt the same sensation again.

Is there something invisible? Maybe I do not see the aura so much as the power she’s feeding it? I wonder what drives that power as it seems to be intention again.

“Did that help this time?” Dara asked after a few minutes.

“It did, but I’m still confused. I’ll just try to do what I saw you do and see if it works the way I’m guessing.”

He focused on his own core and what he’d just witnessed. He’d never seen a shell around him, but there was a lot he didn’t know. Maybe there was a limitation on seeing your own aura? Of course, it was also possible that he couldn’t see it because he lacked that kind of ability.

It doesn’t matter since I only need to replicate it like her fire.

His glowing core was bright, shining, and steady. He thought of how he’d seen Dara’s energy move from her core outwards and focused on what he wanted – to take his energy and imagine his shell, his aura. He’d take the power from inside, move it to his aura, and direct it towards Dara. Holding what he wanted in his mind and envisioning it, he felt a thump in his chest. The white color pulsed in time with the sensation, and the energy expanded outwards toward where he felt his body end and the rest of the universe began. There was an instant where his whole body felt full of energy, held in only by his thin skin. Just as the strain started to build across his entire body, there was a flash of light. His eyes lifted away from his core to watch for her reaction.

Oh no.

Dara’s face turned pale, her eyes shot wide, and she suddenly rolled away from him, tossing her blankets off into the nearby grass. She dropped into a fighter’s stance with both legs bent and ready. Her belt dagger had appeared in one hand, and her lips pulled back in a snarl while her core lit up as if preparing to do something.

“Sorry!” he said, toggling off his abilities and holding up both hands in apology. “Sorry, sorry! I don’t know what happened. I just did what I thought you did.”

Staring with a fixed intensity for a few moments more, Dara finally uncoiled from her stance. Hissing, she stalked back to her blankets while throwing a ‘look’ Eli’s way. She picked them up, cracking them a few times with some extra energy before wrapping them around herself a moment later.

Trying to move past the awkward moment, he dropped his hands and continued. “So…any idea what happened, Dara? I mean, I thought I was following your directions.”

His words slowed her stalking stride, and Dara stood beside her spot atop the tarp but with a distant gaze. After a few moments of staring at seemingly nothing, she sat again on one of the folded blankets and finally looked over at him, her frown deepening. “I don’t know, Eli. Describe what you think you did?”

“Well, I imagined my aura as an invisible shell around my body since I noticed some sort of thin shell around you just before you used your aura on me. So with that idea, I focused on putting energy into my own shell and directed it toward you. Does that sound right?”

Dara’s eyebrows popped up at the end of his explanation. “You didn’t just release your aura in every direction but directed it at me?” She slowly nodded. “That might explain it. But how did you do that? Could you actually – no, how could that be possible?” Her eyes had gone distant again as she looked through him and muttered quietly to herself.

“Hey, hello there. Care to explain?” He asked with a smile at her distracted air.

Dara’s eyes focused on him again, her eyebrows scrunched up as she bit her lip. “I think you skipped a few steps, somehow,” Dara said with a sigh. “It’s partially my fault as I underestimated you again. I thought you’d do what other beginners do when learning aura discipline and just energize and release your power – consciously directing your aura is an advanced method. I can barely do that myself, and I’ve been training for almost ten years.”

His eyebrows shot up. “So that’s a good thing, right? Having advanced control?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “But that means we need to work hard on your control. The power in your aura is intense. It could cause problems if you released that into a city. Once we make it to my home, I’ll see if Gifted Slana can give you some lessons,” she finished, her crooked, mischievous smile appearing.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, but with humor to match hers.

“I’m just imagining what Slana will make of you,” Dara replied, the grin blooming into a broad smile to join her sparkling eyes. “I can’t wait to see how she reacts to your ideas on humor.”

“Uh oh,” he replied with mock horror, but then both chuckled while a bit of the heavy air evaporated between them.

Dara then gave him a crash course in aura discipline, but with smaller steps. She walked him through how to feel his aura and how he’d feel other auras around him, but she could only describe the feeling as they only had the two of them as examples. She assured him that he’d get much better with practice. It was a good thing they’d stopped early, as hours passed before Dara judged him ready.