The ck of a gently swaying hammock caused Volithur to startle awake. He sat up in a panic, not sure where he was. The only normal beds he had slept in since his abduction had been at the academic competition and when he stayed at the militia infirmary after a beating from Master Dorian. After a moment, his memory returned.
That… was less than helpful. He remembered the Lord General’s departure and glimpsing the deepest secrets of the universe. Then being in a soft bed in the dark.
An arm looped over him, almost causing Volithur to scream. A voice came with it. “Harridan? I mean Volithur. Are you feeling better?”
“Khana! Where am I?”
“This is our new room. You passed unconscious after our ceremony. The doctor says you are physically healthy. She thinks you suffer from a nervous disorder. Were you so relieved to have pleased the Lord General that you lost control of yourself? I promise I won’t think less of you if that is so, but I don’t know if you should enter his retinue in that case.”
Volithur reached out through his externality aperture to touch primordial chaos. After only a moment’s hesitation, he drew it into his soul. The stream of filth colpsed into nourishing cosmic energy at the slightest exertion of his will. He stared up into the darkness of the room. “Khana? I pyed ‘mimic monkey’ when the Lord General left.”
“What! Why? What if he somehow knew what you did? A lord could have actual secret techniques, Volithur! You could get in so much trouble taking risks like that.”
“I saw part of what he did. I know how to do it.”
“You learned how to make giant transit spheres?”
Volithur hesitated a moment. “I don’t think so. This is about chaos and cosmic energy. They’re interchangeable. I can draw power through my externality.”
Her fingers dug into his arm. “Don’t even dare try it. You’ll poison your soul.”
“I’ve already done it, Khana. It’s the purest source of cosmic energy I’ve ever encountered.”
“Volithur!”
“Observe me with your senses.” He drew in another sliver of cosmic energy and let it suffuse him. Then again. And again.
“How are you doing that?”
“Chaos can become cosmic energy. I don’t know how to expin it. After seeing what the Lord General did, I just knew how to do it.”
“A true insight.” Khana’s voice held awe. “A powerful one.”
“I think I could reach level four in a couple of days if I wanted to. I need to finish my body enhancement first, of course. I’m not sure how long that will take.”
“You can finish it tonight with the elixir you received from the Lord General,” Khana said.
The gold psma elixir. Volithur’s hands shot to the pockets of his tunic. He’d been holding it in his hand when the Lord General left. Had someone taken it? Worse yet, had he dropped the vial? If he lost such a valuable item, he would hate himself forever.
“I have both vials in my possession,” Khana said.
The panic abated. “Thank God.”
Khana pressed her forehead against his shoulder. “You had me very worried, husband.”
Her words sent tingles all through his body. “I’m sorry, Khana. I ruined your wedding day. We didn’t even get to enjoy our banquet.”
“That’s just food, Volithur. You gained a true insight. Our future will be a good one. Maybe you won’t need to join the Lord General’s retinue. You could grow strong on your own. We could move to Tian and grow strong.”
Volithur rolled to face his wife. “You know, it’s our wedding night.”
“Is it? Oh, I think I know what’s on your mind. You want to cultivate our gold psma elixirs together. That would indeed be an auspicious start to our marriage.” Her breath sent goosebumps across his exposed skin.
“What’s an elixir?”
“Something people drink.”
“Sounds boring,” he said.
“Perhaps. Can you suggest a more engaging way to spend the night?”
“I think I have an idea.”
“Really?” She slid closer until only the barest sliver of space separated their faces.
“Do you remember when Master Rowan caught us during the competition?”
“He was very rude to interrupt,” Khana said.
“No one is here to stop us now.”
The following morning, Volithur and Khana clinked vials and consumed their elixirs together. Power began to instantly flow through his body. It melded with tissue as if it possessed a mind of its own. In less than ten minutes, Volithur’s entire body had been elevated to the peak of level three and the excess energy poured into his soul.
Another five minutes passed before the elixir’s power dissipated. Volithur’s soul was halfway filled from the overflow. He gnced to the side and saw that Khana had seen significant benefits as well. Her soul had not gained much, but her body showed significant enhancement. She was still ahead of him, being at level four while he was only level three.
That advantage would not st long when he could use chaos as a resource. “Khana, the Casteln promised me a weekly blood boiling elixir.”
“That’s great, Volithur!”
“I won’t need it.”
“Take it anyway. The family hardly deserves it.”
“But you do,” he said.
Khana blushed and flipped her hair forward to hide her face. “Do you remember when you gave me a tea powder elixir?”
“Of course. I thought I was an idiot, but I couldn’t stand to see you so sad.”
“I kept the vial you gave me.” She peeked at him from beneath a curtain of hair. “You cured my bitterness that day, Volithur. I thought my life over and you made me believe I had a future.”
Volithur almost told her the truth about his first meeting with the Lord General. He wanted to be honest with his wife. He held back out of concern. Even though things had worked out, it didn’t speak well to his character that he would let her marry him believing such a deception.
He sought something else to share. Khana had bared a secret and the scales were unbanced between them. There was one thing that came to mind. Something as honest as it was shameful. He had first fallen for Khana when she performed a poem for Ulysses.
Before he could work up the nerve, Khana hopped up from the bed. “Should we get breakfast?”
He hesitated. “Do I take my meals in the pace now?”
“You live here, don’t you?”
“Yes, but… I’m not part of the family.”
“Ward Harridan, you hold the Lord General’s favor. Who is going to deny you?”
The words of his wife proved prescient. In the banquet hall, they were greeted with warm congratutions on their marriage, often from people Volithur had never met. He loaded a pte with goat meat strips, cinnamon-dusted rice, and jam-filled pastries. Khana stared as he shoveled the food into his mouth. “You’re going to choke if you don’t slow down.”
“I don’t want to be te to morning training.”
A few minutes ter, the Marshal sat down next to him. “Ward Harridan! It’s good to see you ambutory once more. Your swooning spell so soon after I was commanded to turn you into a capable warrior did not help my peace of mind.”
“My apologies, Master Marshal. I experienced a revetion and became lost to the world.”
The Marshal raised a brow in skepticism. “So long as the event doesn’t repeat. I see you wasted no time consuming your elixir. Your performance in combat training should be much greater now that your body enhancement is complete up to the third level.”
“I suppose I will know very shortly, Master Marshal.”
“Not for a few days yet, Ward Harridan. I want to evaluate your capabilities myself before you resume normal training. Be forewarned that I will be holding you to a high standard. I expect you to be competent with the spear in a month. In six, I want you integrating your domain into combat.”
A bit of pastry caught in Volithur’s throat. He hadn’t yet done anything more with a spear than practice solo drills. His domain experience hadn’t progressed beyond simply lifting small rocks either. The Marshal’s goals for him were wildly ambitious.
“I can grant you daily cosmic water to help you recover your energy reserves between training sessions,” the Marshal said. “If necessary, we can even get you into the family’s cosmic chamber on occasion.”
Volithur’s mounting panic abated a hair. “I don’t need the cosmic chamber, Master Marshal. I can restore my energy reserves fast enough without it.”
“We’ll see about that. Finish your meal and meet me at the barracks.”
