Aurelius watched as Cade and Solomon sparred outside. Cade's style enraptured him. She'd always been agile, but her roughness was gone. Watching her was like watching the fjords. How they flowed so seamlessly. She changed attack, position, and footing on a whim. It would've been wrong if anyone else had been doing it.

  A month had passed by since Aurelius rediscovered essence. Her hair was back to being pitch-black. Cade had decided to help again for some reason. His eyes were baggy no more, and his skin had grown less pale. He ate well; he slept well. Everything was great. Well, almost everything.

  "Rey, wanna have at it?" Cade asked, finishing up with Solomon.

  "I don't know," Aurelius said, scratching his head.

  "Come on." Cade waved a hand.

  "I've got to focus on this right now."

  "Still?" Cade asked, walking over and crouching by his side. "Well, show me."

  Aurelius pursed his lips. "Fine, sit down."

  He then took her hand into his and closed his eyes. Cade chuckled, but he ignored it. His focus traveled through his arm to his palm and there to the point where their skin came into contact. He breathed, drinking essence into his pathways. He took a hold of the essence and routed it towards his hand. Power rushed through his forearm as energy without form. When it came to his palms and entered the tips of his fingers, he pushed it out. There was an instinctual resistance on Cade's part, but Aurelius got past it with a push.

  The essence went streaming into Cade's body. She gasped before laughing. "Wow, this is different from last time."

  Aurelius still had one surprise for her. Having kept track of the essence he sent into her system, he took hold of it. He separated the essence into bits that traveled all over her pathways. Then he expanded them and blocked her pathways.

  He opened his eyes and tried his best to maintain it. All so that he could watch Cade struggle. She looked down at her body in shock. "Hey, this wasn't the deal!"

  "What deal?" Aurelius laughed. "Amplification and restriction go hand in hand. You should've expected it."

  Cade pushed with her essence against his, and he lost control of it.

  "Impressive," Solomon commented over his shoulder.

  Aurelius screamed. "Do you have to do that?"

  Cade chuckled at him as Solomon massaged his shoulders so hard he had to reinforce. "I see you've been working hard, my disciple?"

  Aurelius tried shaking him off with no success. "Still nowhere near Gadreel." It was odd being able to say the name without much trouble anymore.

  "You really think he had some other way of restriction?" Solomon asked, even though he'd been the one not wanting to continue the argument earlier.

  "He must have. There's no way he did it with your technique. It's more like he sucked others' essence out of their bodies."

  "That's impossible."

  "You keep saying that, but the true nature of essence is freedom. Anything's possible," Aurelius said. Restriction had also been Gadreel's specialty, or so it seemed, so an original technique was to be expected from someone like him. He wondered if he'd ever develop a technique of his own one day.

  Solomon scoffed and ruffled his hair. "Alright, disciple. Keep it in your pants," he grumbled as he walked away.

  Aurelius shook his head and began styling his hair all over. Cade laughed and came closer to style it for him. She swept it to the side as she liked it. Her liking it was all that mattered.

  She noticed him looking at her and laughed, mimicking his mindless eyes. She pinched his cheek. "You're so cute."

  Uzbec's words returned to Aurelius' mind, but he pushed them out.

  "Your face is so much softer now," Cade said, caressing his cheek. He felt it too. "I like it this way. A year ago, when I saw you, I thought your chin could cut metal. Just don't get too soft."

  She laughed, but Aurelius' mind wandered to his father's return to Zalfari. His face had grown softer as well. It seemed just like a coincidence. Something merely appearance-related in his genes, but he found himself searching for a deeper meaning. Even if he'd found one, he wasn't sure he would like it.

  ***

  The next day, Aurelius went on through the mountains and stumbled upon the same village he'd found a month earlier.

  He went closer, walking along the borders of the village to catch a glimpse of what the good people of Calipeidos' Metal Water were up to during the afternoon. He watched from afar as children hurled snowballs at each other's heads before their mothers called them inside to eat. They lived in huts made of dark wood. Their chimney's smoked all day long.

  Aurelius saw fishers float along the fjord and a father carry a deer from the evergreen forest. The girl waved to Aurelius as he was walking towards the forest. He waved back faintly and saw the father give him a suspicious look. He was wearing the hood of his cloak, but his height and stature must've set him apart. People didn't like strangers around these parts, Aurelius assumed.

  Once he made it to the forest, Aurelius caught speed and began running through it. A smile grew on his lips as he reminisced about the Thropes. It was a wonder how simple things like trees blurring in his sight made him happy.

  He skidded to a stop clumsily at the sudden appearance of a cottage in the woods. It was a rather large building with two huts on its sides. The place smelled of raw meat. For some reason the door was ajar. Aurelius listened in.

  "—regret it." It was common. Or close enough to it for Aurelius to understand.

  "I don't think you heard me. We're taking it. If your father has something to say about it, he knows where to find me."

  Aurelius snuck closer and peeked inside.

  There was a round-faced teenage girl with reddish hair there. She stood at the back of the room, wearing a green northern garb. At the table in the middle of the room, there was a young man with a short, scraggly beard. He wore a black and gray pelt on his back like the four men around him.

  "I'll pay you back, but you can't have it." The girl's voice wavered, on the verge of breaking. "You can't!"

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  The scraggly-bearded fellow slammed his hands on the table, but before he could yell, Aurelius opened the door with a creak and entered.

  "Fath—" the girl was saying but cut herself off.

  Taking off his hood, Aurelius looked around. The cottage was a cozy place with pelts, candles, and wooden furniture. Aurelius didn't appreciate the stuffed animal heads, though.

  "Who are you?" the scraggly-bearded man asked. Aurelius looked at the girl. He had an idea what this was about but couldn't be sure. "Hey. Hey!"

  He was waiting to see what kinds of people these were. Then one of the pelt-wearing men walked at him and threw a punch. He leaned out of the way while keeping his eyes on the girl. For a second, he saw a hint of worry, and when he dodged, there was relief. He knew enough to know she was an honest person.

  The man attacking him didn't stop at the first miss. He growled and swung wildly, an essence user for sure, though not a very good one. Aurelius kept his hands down and dodged the hooking blows. Then he quit moving and caught one. The man froze at his strength. "Had enough?"

  The large man looked insulted more than anything. Then he went for one last strike. At that moment, Aurelius inhaled and sent essence flowing into the man with the intention to try restriction. He closed his eyes, taking in the enormous amount of essence and pushing it out. Before he could try restriction, the man fell.

  Aurelius opened his eyes and saw the girl and the group of men staring at him. He looked down and saw his assailant staring at him as well, his eyes glassy.

  Aurelius' mind blanked. He crouched slowly and reached out to try the man's pulse. It was there. He exhaled in relief, standing up like nothing had happened.

  'What was that?' In all his jabbering, Solomon had mentioned nothing of the sort.

  Did the man go into shock from essence overload?

  "What did you do to him?"

  Aurelius waved a hand. "None of your concern."

  "None of my concern?" The scraggly-bearded man looked all around him. "You just killed one of my men!"

  "It's temporary," Aurelius assured, hoping it to be true.

  "His death?!"

  "No." Aurelius rubbed his temples, too busy with his own thoughts to be having a conversation. "He's not dead."

  Surely a little essence wouldn't just kill the man. Though people like him did die from taking an enhancer. But beast blood was poisonous otherwise as well. How weak was that guy? Could he do it to others as well? What exactly made it happen, and what were the effects? He hadn't just fainted; his eyes were open!

  "Um, excuse me..." the girl said. "Who are you?"

  "Just a passerby," Aurelius responded quickly, snapping out of his thoughts. "It seemed like these men were bothering you."

  "Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about!" the man yelled.

  "I heard that this is about a debt," Aurelius said. "Would you like to explain?" he asked the girl. "Please do not lie."

  "My father got ill. Nobody in the village would lend me enough, so I borrowed from him to pay for the medication. Now he wants my mother's necklace. That wasn't our deal!"

  "And what was your deal?"

  "40 squirrel hides in a year. It's been half a year."

  Aurelius looked at the man, fuming in his seat. "Why?"

  "I have needs too. She owes me. I have a right to—"

  "Why are you so greedy?" Aurelius walked towards the man, his face twitching. "You've got enough to lend to others, so why extort people?"

  When he got close enough, the scraggly-bearded commanded his men to attack him. The foremost man glanced at his comrade. Aurelius gave him a look, telling him not to do it, but he came anyway. Aure?ius dodged and sunk a fist in his gut. The other he took by the collar. Mindful of not damaging the property, he threw the man outside with a forceful push out the distant door.

  "Don't." He put up a finger at the last one behind their leader.

  The fellow was about to step up when Aurelius grabbed him by the throat. He kicked and screamed.

  Aurelius talked with a low voice. "I can't bear people like you." He dropped the man back on the chair, and he heaved for air. Aurelius stared him down. "You have to die."

  "Please, please..." the man cowered, pulling his knees up to his chest. The pelt-wearing man backed away. "Please!"

  "All the harm you do... For what?" Aurelius said.

  "I'm sorry."

  "You weren't sorry ten minutes ago. What changed?"

  "You! You changed me."

  "I'm sorry," Aurelius said, raising his hand, "I don't have that kind of effect."

  The man whimpered but seemed too afraid to move from the chair. Streaks of essence flickered at Aurelius' fingers. Then he heard a dribbling sound. He looked down to see a pool under the man's crotch. He scrunched his nose. He really did go too far with the intimidation.

  "Hmm, I've changed my mind. You can go."

  The man looked up, his eyes almost glittering. Aurleius looked at the man behind the leader.

  He raised his arms. "I'm an idiot for following him. I swear I'll never talk to him again."

  Aurelius stared at him, noticing only then how young he was, then gave the slightest raise of his brows. "Go home." When the two were almost at the door, he stopped them. "Hey." He pointed at the two men on the floor behind him. "Take those two with you."

  The one he'd paralyzed was conscious again and had gained some mobility back. Aurelius was relieved, but more than that, he was excited at the discovery. If he was able to figure out how what he did worked, he could refine it into a real technique. His own mythical technique.

  When the pelt-men had left, he turned to the girl. "Your father doesn't know you borrowed from those guys, does he?"

  The girl shook her head. Aurelius nodded and turned to leave.

  "Wait!" the girl called out to him, "What's your name?"

  "Aurelius."

  "Son of?"

  Aurelius was quiet for a while, then gave a toothy grin. "Son of Ares."

  The girl's mouth opened wide, but Aurelius shushed her.

  "I see," she said, and bowed. "Thank you, Aurelius, son of Ares."

  "No trouble at all." He pulled up his hood. "You're a good daughter. May your father live long."