ă€ŠThe Gray Mageă€‹


 0001

    "Good morning, Tyler," Ryan spoke after gathering his bearings upon awakening.

    "Good morning, sir," his servant responded.

    Ryan heard his servant rising from the chair the other teen had been sitting on, then the rustling of clothes drawing closer. He sat up and turned to the side so that his legs were hanging over the edge of the bed.

    "How long have you been here?" Ryan asked.

    "I arrived just a few minutes ago," Tyler answered, standing in front of and to the side of Ryan. "You woke early, though I did disable your alarm. Your father asked me to, so that you could rest as long as you wished."

    Ryan snorted. His father always ordered that for Ryan''s birthdays, and the teen always woke before his alarms, which usually resulted in Tyler turning them off before they sounded, anyway.

    "Happy birthday, sir," Tyler told him.

    "Thank you," Ryan stood. "I need to pee."

    He walked into his bathroom and relieved his bladder, then washed his hands, feeling the hot water on his hands. It was scalding, so he turned on the cold a little, just enough to make it manageable. After he finished, he dried his hands. The towel was soft and fluffy, and when Ryan brought it up to his nose, he smelled the light lavender scent the servants used for the towels. There were always fresh, clean towels available for him.

    With his hands dry, Ryan returned to his room.

    "Your outfit for today is on your bed," Tyler informed him. "Would you like to exercise first?"

    "Yes," Ryan began to undress. "What''s the schedule for today?"

    "Your shorts and sleeveless are on your bed as well," Tyler responded as his master undressed. "As today is your birthday, your father has nothing scheduled for you outside the celebration this evening. However, I do believe he will be at each meal."

    "Thank you," Ryan responded as he felt on his bed for the shorts and sleeveless he wore to exercise in. "Will there be an Appraisal?"

    "Most likely," Tyler answered as he helped Ryan begin to stretch. "While it is unlikely you would be able to make anything of the results, it would still be preferable to know, yes?"

    Ryan smiled at Tyler''s comment. He was the only servant not afraid to voice his mind with Ryan. They were introduced when they were ten years old, as Ryan had begun to grow uncomfortable having older people around him during his more exposed times once he hit puberty.

    So his father reached out to the branch families and looked for someone Ryan''s age who could be trusted, and came up with Tyler, a fourth-cousin. The two had become fast friends, even if they held a master-servant relationship when others were around.

    Tyler was a month older than Ryan, which his father had been concerned about, but Ryan''s issue wasn''t that bad. His previous servant had been a woman in her fifties, and that had bothered the growing boy.

    She had been scared to voice her mind or say the truth around Ryan, and he appreciated having a servant who wasn''t. He knew that no matter what his affinities were, what magics he could use if he''d awakened without awareness, would mean nothing. No matter how weak or powerful he might be, no matter how few or many affinities he held, he would never amount to anything as a wizard. He knew that Tyler was likely the only person in his family''s employ who would dare to voice it, and Ryan didn''t mind, as he knew Tyler meant nothing malicious by it. It was simply the truth.

    But everyone was tested for their affinities, starting when they turned sixteen. That was around the time their magics could begin to awaken and when they could be read. The absolute latest would be eighteen, as while it was rare to awaken past that, most had already awakened by then.

    There were ways to force awakenings as well, which were usually used on anyone who was eighteen or nineteen and had yet to awaken. As long as they could afford it or find someone to afford it for them.

    "Perhaps I''ll be a Specialist with mind magics," Ryan joked. "Able to talk with others by thought, not saying a word aloud. I could order breakfast as soon as I woke up!"

    "And then hurry to eat it while it was warm because it arrived before you were ready," Tyler chuckled, helping Ryan with his stretches and exercises. "If you were a specialist, I think you would be perfect as a telekinetic."

    "Imagine my father''s reaction to that," Ryan laughed as he began pushups. "He would probably assign a dozen guards around me at all times, along with an accountant to pay for any bills because of my bad aim."

    Tyler chuckled again, and Ryan once more wondered what his servant''s own affinities were. He had never asked, but knew that his cousin had bloomed late, only discovering that he had awakened on his own eighteenth birthday. Ryan wasn''t nosy enough to poke into his servant''s business, however, and so never bothered asking. No doubt his father knew, but his father also understood Ryan enough to know he wouldn''t ask.

    Ryan finished his morning exercises, then they entered his bathroom once more so he could shower. Tyler dried him off after, then they returned to Ryan''s room, where he dressed as Tyler moved the laundry into a hamper.

    "Do you have a girlfriend?" Ryan asked the usual question, already knowing the response.

    "It is forbidden for servants to have relationships without permission from the head."

    "Which head?" Ryan smirked.

    "The family''s," he could hear the amusement in Tyler''s voice. "We still have time before breakfast, what would you like to do?"

    "A walk into the gardens would be nice," Ryan answered. "I want to smell the flowers and morning air."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded.

    Ryan allowed Tyler to lead him to the gardens, keeping one hand on his servant''s arm as they walked. When they reached the gardens, their pace slowed so that Ryan could enjoy the feel of the crisp autumn morning and the smells which filled it. His father ordered the garden planted when Ryan was only six, and while back then, Ryan wasn''t aware of why, he knew once a few more years had passed the reason for the garden. The excuse given was to put something beautiful there, but it was for Ryan to enjoy the scents of the plants and the sounds of the insects and birds that visited it and the water that flowed through it..The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    When they reached the pond, Ryan sat on the stone bench, feeling its cold hardness beneath him as he thought about love. He could ask his father allow Tyler a relationship, but knew the man would likely turn it down until Ryan pleaded, which wasn''t in the teen''s nature. The very fact that pleading wasn''t in his nature would be the very reason his father allowed it.

    But Ryan also knew that, while grateful, Tyler would likely not pursue a romance. He would need to speak with the head of his branch family, who would then arrange for a marriage with someone else within the family. At least four generations separated, though preferably five. Someone with no more than twelve and a half-percent shared DNA, though preferably someone with less than six, even if the legal side put it at twenty-five or half that in most places, with no second-cousins at all, even if they met the legal genetic difference.

    Ryan himself would likely never marry, even to a fifth, sixth, or seventh cousin. When his father passed, he would take over as the head of the family as others schemed and plotted behind his back. When he would be pushed to name a successor, he would also likely be pushed towards certain members or branches of the family.

    In the end, his decision would ultimately not matter. The family would end with Ryan''s father as the last true head of it, and Ryan''s time as its head would begin the family''s fall.

    He sighed, then inhaled, allowing the smell of the flowers and the bubbling of the small waterfall in the pound calm him down. People were pushing his father to take on another wife, to provide a whole heir.

    To put Ryan aside and give one of their branches a little more influence. That, still, would lead to the downfall of the family, as the other branches would refuse to accept the resulting child as the heir.

    Which still led to the issue of his family''s true power ending with the end of his father''s reign as its head.

    A difference in the sound of the pound caught Ryan''s attention, and he felt himself frowning a little. Listening, he heard the water shift again, a ripple in its sound.

    "Is there anyone else around?" Ryan asked.

    "Just you, myself, and the guards," Tyler answered as Ryan thought over his lack of a response to his master''s frown, which the servant had no doubt noticed.

    There was also a hint of curiosity and amusement in his servant''s voice.

    "Are you playing with the pond?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," he could hear his servant attempting not to laugh as the sound of the water''s different movements ceased. "You seemed depressed, so I thought maybe I could do something to take your mind off whatever it was. I was swirling the water in different directions."

    "You have a water affinity."

    "Tier Six," Tyler answered, and Ryan could tell his servant wasn''t bluffing.

    He knew Tyler well enough to be able to detect that in his servant''s voice.

    "Really?" Ryan was impressed.

    There were twelve Power Tiers to magic. The majority of people were in the first four, known as the Basic Tiers. Tiers Five through Eight were the Advanced Tiers, and Tiers Nine through Twelve were the Ultimate Tiers. Most people could advance up to three Tiers in their life per affinity with dedication and training, but few ever reached the Advanced Tiers in even one affinity. Being a natural Advanced Tier was rare ¨C only one in every thousand people, and there were maybe ten million total Advanced Tiers in the world, out of the seven billion people alive.

    If Tyler were a Tier Six already, that meant he held the potential to reach Tier Nine and become a Master. There were less than one million total Ultimate Tiers in the world, and they each held a title. At Tier Nine, they were a Master, at Tier Ten, they were an Elder, at Tier Eleven, they were an Immortal, and at Tier Twelve, they were a Divine.

    History said that Tier Thirteen was possible, but only a single mage ever held that status, only one had ever earned the title of Transcended: the Gray Mage. When magic first came to the world, it was through disaster. Soon after, the Gray Mage appeared, then halted it.

    Supposedly, the Gray Mage was at least a Master in all magics ¨C even all Specialties, or ''high magics'', that he could bend space and time, play with minds like they were children''s toys, heal lethal injuries without even a touch, and more.

    While Tyler would obviously never reach such a legendary ¨C and probably exaggerated ¨C power level, he was still impressive and held decent potential.

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded to Ryan''s question. "They said it was likely the reason I bloomed late."

    "That is still impressive," Ryan commented. "The family only has four Masters in it, and you have the potential to become one. Do you train in your free time?"

    "I do, sir," Tyler answered.

    "Do you have enough?" Ryan asked. "A talent like yours shouldn''t be wasted. You should explore the boundaries of what you can do and push past those to new heights."

    "I have sufficient time," Tyler answered, though Ryan knew that likely wasn''t true. "Thank you, sir."

    "Nonsense," Ryan said. "With schooling over since several months ago, I have much free time on my hands. You can use some of that to train yourself."

    "Your concern is appreciated," Tyler told him. "But I would not take away from my duties to train."

    "If you are training by me," Ryan said. "You are still able to respond to my needs. I can put time aside to allow you to train. Listening to the sound of your magic at work might be soothing to me."

    Tyler was silent for several seconds, before letting out a soft sigh which Ryan knew he was likely the only who would have noticed, even if others were close by.

    "Thank you, sir," Tyler responded.

    "What do you normally do, when you train?" Ryan asked.

    "I move water around," Tyler answered. "Usually within a bowl. I also practice summoning water and turning it to ice."

    Ryan smiled at his servant''s words. Summoning an element like water was more difficult and required more mana to perform as a result of it being a ''physical'' element rather than ''nonphysical''. Only water and earth magics had that issue, from what he knew. Up until the Advanced Tiers, though, no one could manifest an element by themselves, they had to manipulate that which was already present.

    "In addition to that," Tyler continued. "I also practice performing small gusts."

    "Gusts?" Ryan interrupted in curiosity. "You''re a Line?"

    The term for someone with two elemental affinities. Someone with only one was considered a Circle, then it went Line, Triangle, Square, Pentagon, and Hexagon, and those were even used on official documents and uniforms.

    "Ah, no, sir," Tyler said. "I''m a Square. Tier Six Water, Tier Five Air, Tier Five Light, and Tier Five Energy."

    "I am definitely putting time aside for you to train," Ryan told Tyler. "I know you are likely wanting to do so, and it really would be a waste to not give you even an hour a day. Father would even bring someone to train you, if I asked."

    "Thank you, sir, but that is not necessary," Tyler responded.

    Ryan sighed, knowing his servant was no doubt wanting it. However, he would never admit it, even in private, because if someone found out, they could say he was attempting to manipulate Ryan into doing just that. With others around, it was essentially a requirement for him to reject any comments suggesting it.

    However, Ryan knew he could avoid that hassle, especially with knowing that guards were present for his discovery that Tyler had such high affinities.

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "I am putting aside time each day so that you can train your magics as you wish. I will have Father bring in trainers to teach you what you wish to learn. It would not do for my servant to be unable to come to my defense through magical means when he has the means to do so. You already have time set aside each day for combat training, we can set time aside for magical training. I will speak to my father about this when I see him."

    There was a pause before his servant responded.

    "Thank you, sir."

 0002

    "How did you enjoy your dinner?" Ryan''s father asked.

    "It was excellent," Ryan answered. "The chefs did a good job with it today. I particularly enjoyed the pie we had for dessert, though, and the ice cream which accompanied it."

    "And the singer?" His father asked.

    "Her voice was a little off," Ryan answered. "But other than that, the song was interesting. The musicians were good as well."

    "That is good," his father said.

    Ryan knew he would likely never hear that singer again in-person. Anytime a musician or singer had an off voice to him, his father never hired them again and banned them from the family''s hiring as well. He didn''t mind, though. His father only wanted Ryan to hear the best sounds.

    Others saw it as a weakness, but as Samuel Novar was a Tier Eleven in two different affinities, no one would openly dare challenge him. Few dared do it in secret, too, out of fear of the consequences for such an act. His strength and ability in magic was the only reason no one had attempted to strong-arm him out of the way.

    Most of them saw Ryan as proof that Samuel''s direct line was done as the head of the family, and Samuel''s babying of him as a sign that the main line had grown weak. Ryan considered it strength, and his father did as well.

    After all, if one can ignore the haters who call him weak, then can he not also stand above those who are weaker than him? Above who must resort to looking for weaknesses in everything and not just in that which is truly a weakness?

    "Father," Ryan said. "Will I be undergoing an Appraisal?"

    The moment he asked that, Ryan felt the silence around him as the guests stared in shock. Him, being Appraised? Why would anyone do that when he could never amount to anything as a mage?

    "Indeed," Samuel broke the silence after only a few seconds. "Fetch her, would you?"

    Ryan heard someone leaving the dining room, the sounds of their shoes implying heeled boots. A few minutes later, they returned with a woman. At least, Ryan guessed that based on the footsteps and his father''s instructions. Something was set up in front of Ryan on the table as the person seated beside him stood and moved so that she could work, and he heard her gasp, startled.

    "Everything alright?" Ryan asked.

    "Sorry," she said. "I had been warned that you wereˇ­ I wasn''t expecting you to not react at all to me being right here."

    "It''s even more fun when someone tries to have a staring contest with me," Ryan smiled. "What do I need to do?"

    "When I finish setting this up," she said. "There will be an orb directly in front of you. Place both hands on it, and I will turn the device on. It will generate a small hum, and likely feel like it''s vibrating under your hands with the hum. As it does that, the computer it''s hooked up to will analyze your magical power levels."

    "Will it measure my mana as well?" He asked.

    "No," she answered. "While we can measure levels of magic in regards to the six elements and if you possess the ability to use high magics, we cannot measure mana yet. A century and a half may have passed since the Great Collapse, but that doesn''t necessarily mean we can simply invent the technology needed to keep up with everything. That takes plenty of time and research, and much of magic is still a mystery, even to the greatest of researchers right now. Measuring mana in a person also doesn''t show an indication of one''s Tiers, either, as all mana is the same, while the affinities are different."

    "Okay," Ryan said. "So it''ll only tell you what my affinities are, as long as I''ve awakened my magic."

    "With the old technology, yes," she said. "However, this reader is an updated version, which can read even unawakened magic and let us know if you''re awakened or not. It is more accurate in this way in that it can also read levels which are ordinarily too low to register, so with it, we know if someone is simply a very weak Tier One or if they are simply not yet awakened."

    Ryan hadn''t heard that they were able to do that yet, but knew his father would have vetted her thoroughly and wanted the best. It was entirely possible that the new testing device wasn''t public yet, but it was definitely something that had been verified and tested extensively, or his father wouldn''t allow it.

    "Okay," Ryan said. "So this will tell me how few affinities I have and how low of a Tier each one is, even if I''m not awakened."

    "It will inform us of your affinities and their Tiers," she responded. "Even if you are not awakened."

    Ryan liked her. Most appraisers likely would have taken his bait and simply answered ''yes'' to that question, but she amended her answer to both be correct and not call him weak.

    She finished setting it up, then informed him it was ready. Tyler assisted Ryan in locating the orb and in placing his hands in the correct spot. The orb was cool to the touch, and exceptionally smooth.

    "I''m turning it on," the appraiser informed Ryan as he wondered what it would feel like if it were warm and soft as well as smooth and round.

    He heard her tap a key and click something, then he heard the humming from the orb. It warmed lightly beneath his hands as he felt the physical hum of the device. A full minute passed as the appraiser tapped keys and clicked her mouse, then she informed Ryan he could pull his hands off.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    "What did he register?" Ryan''s father asked.

    "Yet to awaken," she answered. "Though he did register as a Specialist, which naturally means each of the elements are an affinity as well."

    Ryan knew about that. All Specialists were Gems in magical terminology. In addition to being able to use high magics, they also had an affinity for each of the six elements. But giving them a polygonal title made them seem ''lesser'', so most just referred to them as Specialists or Gems rather than the technically-correct ''Heptagon''.

    Even more shared among all Specialists was that their Tiers for the six elemental affinities were always at or above their Specialist Tier. If Specialist went up a Tier, so did all of the other affinities which were at the same Tier as it, to keep the balance. No one knew why that happened or how it did, but it was still something everyone knew was a fundamental part of magic and the affinities.

    "Does your special device," Ryan asked. "Know which high magics I have talent for?"

    "No," he could hear the amusement in her voice. "We have yet to progress magic enough to discern that with technology. However, unlike with elemental affinities, Specialists can, with training, use any type of high magic."

    While elemental affinities were set from birth. Someone without fire could never acquire the fire affinity.

    "Shame," Ryan said. "I wanted to know how easy it would be to learn telekinesis."

    Someone started choking, and Ryan estimated it to be his uncle Fredrick based on both the sound and where they were seated.

    "I am sure that with practice, you can learn it in no time," she informed him.

    "Excellent!" He smiled, knowing that those present were likely doing their best not to groan.

    "What are his affinities?" Samuel asked.

    "Would you like me to state them, or would you prefer a printed list?"

    "Printed would be fine," Samuel answered, and Ryan heard her click something, then the sound of a small, mobile printer running.

    "Can see that?" He held out his hand as she tore the paper off the roll. "Since I''m eighteen, I''m legally entitled to it."

    "Sure," she placed it in his hand as his father groaned.

    "Thanks!" He said. "Oh, I can''t read this. Tyler, could you read to me what my affinities are?"

    "I will do it," Samuel said as the paper was pulled out of Ryan''s hand from across the table, no doubt by his father. "Are you sure you want it said aloud and not kept secret?"

    "It''s not like I''ll be able to do much with my magic," Ryan shrugged. "Other than maybe the telekinesis bit. Do you know if you could find me a trainer for that?"

    "I canˇ­ try," his father answered, and Ryan knew a telekinesis trainer would be ''difficult to find''. "Strange."

    Ryan was curious about that tone, but remembered something he had promised Tyler and had forgotten at breakfast. Belgian waffles with chocolate chips were a weakness of his.

    "Speaking of training," Ryan said. "Father, I am setting some time aside each day for Tyler to train his magic. Could you find someone to teach him that which he desires to learn? It would not do for my servant to be unable to use his magic to my defense, should it be necessary. He is with me more than any other, and he already has time for physical combat training."

    "I can arrange that," his father responded. "Are you certain these are his Tiers?"

    "Yes," the appraiser answered. "I ran the device three times to make sure, and it is fully-calibrated. I can use it on others in here if you wish to verify its accuracy."

    Ryan waited for five more people to be Appraised, his father verifying their results met with the records their family had. He was curious about what his results were. He knew that awakening late usually meant the possibility of a higher Tier, so he guessed the fuss was over him having all of his Tiers as Advanced. That came with having a Specialist, if it were in the Advanced Tiers, though, but the rarity of Specialists probably made them forget that.

    "Soˇ­" Ryan said. "Can I see that? I want to find out what my Tiers are, and you guys are just gawking over it."

    "You can hear them," Samuel said. "According to the device, Ryan, you are a Divine in all seven affinities."

    "Tier Twelve?" Ryan raised an eyebrow, which he knew unsettled a few people, even without seeing them. Tyler had admitted that it did that when he asked a few years prior, after Ryan learned how to raise a single eyebrow rather than both. "On all elements and Specialist?"

    "Yes," his father said.

    "Nice," Ryan said. "That must be some pretty potent telekinesis, then. Do you think I''ll be able to lift up a semi?"

    "Not anytime soon," his father said. "And with no offense intended to you, ma''am, but I will have him tested again by another device."

    "Understandable," she responded. "I''ve not heard of someone placing so high when they aren''t even awakened, so doubt is perfectly logical."

    "Indeed," Ryan''s father said. "Now, you will understand if I place a geass on you, yes?"

    Ryan felt the room go still at that comment. He supposed that was natural, since no one other than him knew his father was a Specialist. A geass was a magical oath or command which could not be broken, and Samuel had placed them on the few people who did know, before they died. It was doubtful they died by accident, even if the results said they did.

    His father specialized in geass spells among the various high magics, which would make it easy for him to bind everyone in the room to prevent them from revealing Ryan''s results or that Samuel was a Specialist.

    Ryan waited as everyone in the room, aside from himself, underwent the process of his father touching them and placing a geass of secrecy upon them. He also forced the appraiser to completely remove any traces of Ryan''s results from her computer and printer. Only once all of that was finished was she allowed to leave.

    "What about a house?" Ryan asked, and his father chuckled.

    "I would be impressed," his father responded. "If those results are true, however, it does explain why you have yet to awaken. Quite an interesting birthday, yes?"

    "Indeed," Ryan smiled. "So how do I go about getting awakened? I want to lift up the Reisnar Bridge."

    "You will awaken naturally," his father answered. "Specialists always awaken, even if it takes them time. That is a guarantee. To find out your Calling, or the high magic you have the highest affinity to, will require it activating naturally or your discovering it while using various high magics. Most often, a Calling is discovered when high magic of the same type as it is used upon the Specialist."

    "I see," Ryan said. "So after I get smacked with telekinesis, I''ll be lifting an island up into the sky. How much effort do you think that would take? Also, don''t blame me if I accidentally drop it on someone, my aim will be quite bad."

    "You will not be getting smacked with telekinesis," his father told him. "And you will not be lifting any islands into the sky, either."

    "How about mountains?" Ryan asked.

    "That would require a lot more than telekinesis."

    "Shame," Ryan mock-pouted, then scooted back his seat and stood. "Well, I am tired, so I am going to retire to my room. If anyone needs me, I will be busy practicing telekinesis, but do not worry, my aim will be perfect and I will not accidentally hit you with anything or use it on you."

    "Good night, Ryan," his father said. "We will retest you tomorrow."

    "Good night," Ryan responded. "Talk to you tomorrow."

 0003

    Ryan listened to the sound of Tyler''s water as his servant trained, listened to the way it rushed and bubbled as he twisted and manipulated it. It was enjoyable to listen to and helped to entertain him. At the same time as he listened to his servant practice, he thought about things.

    After retesting, it was confirmed that he was a Specialist at Tier Twelve in all affinities, which meant absolutely nothing other than were his situation different, he could potentially become another Gray Mage. His father bound everyone present with a geass again, though that time, it just involved three separate appraisers rather than a large room full of family and servants.

    Closing his eyes, Ryan felt the bitter autumn air on his cheeks, the light breeze that brushed him. Without his jacket and the thicker pants he wore, he knew it would bite at the rest of his body as well. What would it be like, to not only be able to feel the wind, but to command it? To become one with it and take control of it?

    With any of the elements?

    His sheer magical power alone could turn him into a force nigh unstoppable. Ryan wasn''t sure what he would use that much force for, just that he would have that much power. There were only two Divine in the world, each only in two affinities, and both were old and had taken decades to reach it from their already-high Tiers.

    Instead, the most he could probably do without any real issues was learn telepathy once he awakened and hoped he had a decent affinity for it.

    Exhaling slowly, Ryan stopped thinking about that and returned his focus to the sound of Tyler training, which ended only moments later, as his servant finished.

    "I wish to go into town," Ryan informed Tyler.

    "Okay, sir," Tyler responded. "May I first shower, sir?"

    "Yes," Ryan responded.

    They returned to their quarters, and Ryan sat on Tyler''s bed as his servant took a shower, then dried and dressed. After that, Tyler led Ryan to the garage and they entered the car. Traveling into town was never an issue for them unless they were already aware of Ryan being needed for something.

    "Where would you like to go?" Tyler asked as he drove into town.

    "How about the mall?" Ryan suggested.

    "Your father would have my hide if I took you there," Tyler responded.

    If they were separated, it could be quite awhile before Tyler found Ryan. It was an issue that had happened a few times in the past. Not with Tyler, as by the time he was old enough to be trusted with Ryan alone out of the complex, the rule was already in place, but with other servants and guards.

    As Ryan naturally could not just wander around in search of Tyler, that meant he had to stop wherever he was, hope he wasn''t in the way of things, and wait.

    "It''s a Tuesday morning," Ryan said. "In the middle of November. There might be some traffic, Tyler, but it won''t be too bad. If we get separated and you can''t see me, just look over in the toy store. Ah, the kids'' one, not the adult one. I''m probably feeling the stuffed animals to see if any have a nice texture."

    "I''m still amazed you managed to find that," Tyler snorted.

    When they were twelve, they were separated at the mall once, and when Tyler and the other servant found Ryan, he was feeling stuffed animals in a toy store, chatting with an associate about the different textures. Ryan himself wasn''t actually sure how he found his way into the toy store, just that he did find himself in there after they were separated.

    "I think was I simply drawn there by the textures," Ryan told his servant. "Like a magnet to another magnet. Or a bear to honey. Or our cousin Eric to money. Let''s go to the mall. I want to smell their food court and just wander around it. If Father complains, I''ll say that I ordered you to."

    "And if we get separated?" Tyler asked. "In seriousness, Ryan?"

    "I''ll locate the nearest bench while asking for someone to get me someone from the mall staff, then tell them that I lost my dog. His name is Tyler, and he has brown fur and blue eyes, and is wearing a cute little vest-"

    "I''m not wearing a vest," Tyler snorted.

    Ryan reached over and felt his servant, then sighed.

    "It''s a coat," he said. "Darn. I can''t even say jacket to this, it''s too heavy for that. I suppose the crinkling noise should have been a sign."

    "Not everyone wears two hoodies like you," Tyler said.

    "They''re comfy," Ryan said. "I''m warm and snug. You should give it a try sometime."

    "I''ll keep that in mind," Tyler said. "And I still feel uncomfortable going to the mall with you, especially with Christmas coming up soon. The crowds will be thick."

    "And I wish to go to the mall."

    Tyler sighed, and Ryan knew his servant was about to give in.

    "I will inform Father that we went by my choice," Ryan told him. "And ensure you are not punished for it, Tyler. It isn''t often I will be around so many sounds."

    The last line pushed Tyler''s decision, and Ryan could tell before his servant even spoke by the way he shifted and the way his breathing hesitated for a moment.

    "Alright," Tyler said. "But stay as close to me as you can."

    "But that might chase off any potential ladies who would be interested in you."

    "Ryan," Tyler''s voice was stern, a tone no other servant ever dared take with him.

    "I know, I know," Ryan sighed. "I''ll stay next to you."Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    A few minutes later, Ryan felt the car come to a stop, then waited for Tyler to exit and walk around to open his door. He exited and grabbed onto Tyler''s sleeve, exhaling lightly as Tyler closed the door and locked the car.

    "Come on," Tyler told him. "Let''s go inside, where it''ll be warmer."

    "You know," Ryan said. "While I might not be able to do much with my magic, I''d be able to warm or cool the air, wouldn''t I?"

    "And if your hot cocoa was too warm or cold, you could adjust that, too," Tyler added. "I hadn''t thought of that. Your father has likely already begun to look into possible spells for you to learn."

    "Probably," Ryan agreed. "Sadly, he''s not found a Specialist who can teach me telekinesis."

    "You and I both know your father isn''t looking for one," Tyler snorted. "And that you''re only saying that to get reactions."

    "That would be fun, wouldn''t it?" Ryan asked as they entered the mall. "Ooh, it''s so warm in here. See any pretty ladies?"

    "Stop that," Tyler quickly responded, his tone informing Ryan there probably was one nearby. "I''ll try to walk around the edges, where there''s a little more space in most places."

    "Alright," Ryan said. "Let''s enter as many shops as possible, especially ones with things for me to feel or smell."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded, grabbing onto Ryan''s sleeve to guide his master.

    Tyler led Ryan into the nearest shop, a clothing store, and Ryan felt the various clothes that were in there. From what he could tell, it was a women''s clothing store, and Tyler was making sure he didn''t touch undergarments. From past experience, Ryan knew they were probably being stared at or given uncomfortable looks, but whatever it was, Tyler didn''t comment.

    "This is," Ryan spoke loudly as he felt a sweater. "By far the most ugly sweater I have ever seen. Do you think your mother would like it?"

    The last line was said in his normal voice, and he felt Tyler shaking next to him as his servant tried not to laugh.

    "That is a dark red sweater," Tyler told him. "Without any decorations."

    "That explains its ugliness!" Ryan declared. "It''s perfect for your mother! She''s plain, it''s plain, it''s a match made by the heavens."

    "My mother also hates dark red," Tyler said.

    "Who are we to question the heavens?" Ryan moved on to the next sweater over.

    They proceeded to move from shop to shop, and Ryan could feel a pair of eyes on them every now and then. Eventually, as they finished in a clothing store for men and teen boys, he decided that Tyler didn''t need to be just a guide.

    "Tyler," he said. "If you want to try on some clothes, go ahead and do so. I can wait in a chair, nothing will happen."

    "I don''t feel comfortable with that," Tyler told him. "Especially as we''ve been followed around the mall so far."

    "You noticed them, too?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Tyler answered. "If something should happen-how did you notice them?"

    "I can feel their gazes every now and then," Ryan answered. "What do they look like?"

    "I haven''t actually seen them," Tyler admitted. "But I know they''re there."

    "Tell you what," Ryan said. "You pick out some clothes and try them on, and I''ll wait to see if they approach me. If they''re friendly, I''ll see if they have a hot female friend for you to date. If they''re hostile, I''ll punch them in the boobs or balls and then set them on fire."

    "You''re not setting anyone on fire," Tyler snorted. "I don''t feel comfortable with leaving you alone, Ryan."

    "Also," Ryan said. "It''s the two ladies who are about twenty feet away."

    Tyler was silent for a few moments, his gaze leaving Ryan, and when the man sensed it back on him again, he grinned.

    "So are they hot?"

    "Your perceptiveness frightens me," Tyler informed his master. "And I recognize them, they were classmates of mine in high school."

    Even though Tyler was Ryan''s servant, he still attended high school like a normal person, while Ryan had private tutors. When Tyler wasn''t at school or doing his homework, he acted as Ryan''s servant, and since he had graduated in June, he had become Ryan''s servant full-time. While Tyler was busy with school and homework, Ryan himself was busy with his own lessons, and so a servant wasn''t as needed.

    "You didn''t answer the question," Ryan grinned. "Are these former classmates of yours hot?"

    "Very," Tyler answered in a hushed voice. "And you know that I won''t be dating, Ryan. My duty is to you."

    "Pick out some clothes and try them on," Ryan told him. "I''ll pay for it. Consider it a late birthday present from me. Or an early Christmas one."

    "Ryan-"

    "Just do it," Ryan said firmly. "I''ll be fine. You know Father likely has some guards hidden around. That''s how he''s going to find out we were here even before he sees the charges."

    A few seconds passed before Tyler sighed, then led Ryan to the seating area outside the fitting rooms.

    "Scream if you need me," Tyler told him.

    "I''ll call if someone hot wants to date you."

    Ryan heard Tyler walk off, then began to wait. As he waited for his servant to finish trying on clothes, he heard the pair of girls moving closer, then they sat beside him.

    "Hi," one of them said as he smelled her perfume.

    It was sweet in scent, but not overused. A lady who knew what an acceptable was amount to use. He thought them to be a rare breed of woman based on how many women he came across who just sprayed a lot of their perfume on. Enough to choke every man, woman, child, and beast around.

    "Hello," he responded.

    "I don''t recognize you from school," she said. "Do you go to college with Tyler?"

    "No," he answered, trying not to smile. She probably thought they were dating. "I''ve known him since we were ten, actually. He lives near me."

    "Oh," she said. "We saw you two walking around."

    "You''ve been following us almost since we arrived."

    "You noticed?" He detected bits of embarrassment in her voice.

    "Yep," he responded. "Tyler thought you were a stalker until I pointed out who it was following us. He told me he knew you from school and that he thought you might have had a thing for him."

    Her friend snorted, and Ryan heard her breathing change as she attempted not to laugh.

    "I-well, I did," she admitted. "I wasn''t aware he was with someone, though."

    "With someone?" Ryan asked. "Oh, you mean me? No, him holding onto me is because he''s like a little kid. If you don''t keep hold of him, he''ll just wander off and disappear. So we have a rule that he has to hold onto whoever he''s walking with, and if he lets go, he gets a spanking. Not the kind where it''s through his pants. He has to bare his ass for it, so that it stings more. It''s quite the hairy ass."

    "My ass is smooth, thank you," Tyler said, and Ryan heard the two ladies jump. "Stop spreading stories like that, Ryan. And I''m not like a little kid."

    "Fine," Ryan said. "He was holding onto me like a little kid because he gets scared that someone''s going to kidnap me. He''s such a caring, loving boyfriend, who-"

    "Stop that!" Tyler exclaimed quietly. "And Ryan, turn your head a little, your eyes are aimed right at some lady''s rear."

    "She wasn''t there when I sat down," Ryan said. "So she put her ass in the path of my eyes. Any perceived perversion is her own doing. By the way, you look stunning in that outfit, but that shirt doesn''t go with those pants, which says something about how you can work anything."

    "Ryan," Tyler sighed. "This is the outfit I came here in."

    "Was it?" Ryan asked. "My bad. Did you get it here?"

    "Wait," the girl beside him asked. "Are you-sorry if it seems insensitive, but are you blind?"

    "Very," Ryan nodded. "Tyler here is my seeing-eye dog. He hasn''t been neutered yet, by the way, and is looking for a mate to hump."

    "Okay," Tyler said. "Ryan, please be appropriate. I''m sorry, he doesn''t get to interact with a lot of people that often, and so tends to do stuff like this."

    "He''s cute," she said. "So are you, Tyler."

    "Want him?" Ryan asked. "I''d be willing to sell him to you."

    "I''m not for sale," Tyler said. "And you know I''m not looking for a girlfriend."

    "Correct," Ryan said. "You''re looking for a wife, and I''m hungry. Did you find an outfit you want to buy?"

    "I''m not looking for a wife, we can go to the food court, and yes, I found an outfit I would like."

    "Excellent!" Ryan clapped his hands. "Let''s go buy it, then eat. Ladies, would you like to join us? Tyler''s looking for two wives."

 0004

    "Ow!" Ryan exclaimed. "Stupid thing. Where did this come from?"

    "Sorry, milord!" A servant rushed over and moved the object out of the way. "Several packages were just delivered, and we were still moving them. Are you injured?"

    "No," Ryan answered. "Though this is what I get for walking around without Tyler."

    His servant was feeling ill enough that he could barely get out of bed, and his family''s healer wasn''t nearby at the time. Rather than allowing another servant to assist him, Ryan had decided to walk about on his own.

    Normally, navigation by itself wasn''t an issue, as the setup of the rooms rarely changed. But then there were times where something was unexpectedly and temporarily in a spot it normally wasn''t, such as the boxes in the foyer.

    Ryan eventually made his way into the gardens, where he spent most of the day. The family healer arrived shortly before dinner and eased Tyler''s illness, so the servant returned to his master''s side in time for the meal.

    At dinner, Ryan noticed as he sat down the presence of several people he didn''t recognize. The only reason he could tell they were there was because they were speaking. There were three, if his estimates were correct. Two males and a female, the latter of whom was seated between the two males. The males were speaking, one sounding older, maybe forty or so, while the other was around his age.

    "Ryan," his father said. "We have a few guests tonight. Richard Veloas and his children, Dylan and Kayla."

    "Welcome," Ryan greeted them, his gaze fixed firmly forward. They no doubt already knew he wouldn''t make any form of intentional eye contact with them. "I hope you enjoy the meal."

    "Thank you," Richard responded. "It''s a pleasure to meet you at last, and I do apologize for not being able to attend your birthday a couple of weeks ago. I was invited, but alas, some issues arose that prevented me from coming."

    "I received your gift," Ryan told him. "And you should always prioritize issues over celebrations when issues can cause problems if delayed."

    Food was served shortly after that, and conversation turned to business. Ryan listened intently, curious why Veloas was present. He had never met the man before, nor most of the other family heads. Usually, his father met with them in private, or traveled to visit them. Rare was the time guests actually ate dinner with Ryan himself, to avoid any unpleasantness or awkwardness that might occur.

    As he listened, he came to an understanding. Richard was looking to create an alliance and merger of the Veloas family and the Novar family. It was a power move that Ryan knew would completely alter the political balance of the world. The Veloas family was second to the Novar family in power and influence among the Families, and had been the top family before Samuel came along.

    The world was largely split between three ''governments'' that ruled alongside each other while occupying the same space. It all came as a result of the Great Collapse, when the governments fell apart during the influx of magic that filled the world a century and a half before.

    The Families, of which there were presently seventeen, were akin to the mafia. They played by their own rules, and had no issues with fighting others for territory or power. Most of the time, their quarrels were only with others of the Families, though they did sometimes conflict with the Guilds and the Orders. The Families ruled the underworld of the world.

    The Guilds were corporations that worked together to keep peace and develop magical technology in addition to regular technology. Their influence and power came through money and tech rather than through power, like the Families.

    Finally, the Orders, which held some resemblance to governments of old, with elected officials as their rulers. They operated through checks and balances rather than alliances, money, technology, and power.

    The three groups ran the world, and existed in a stable balance alongside each other even on the same street. There were alliances between groups within each form of government, but none were so powerful as to sway the balance of power towards any one branch or group too strongly. Even the Novar family had limits that could be kept in check by the others.

    But if the two most powerful Families merged into a single Family, it would tilt the balance of the Families towards their family completely, and the balance of the governments towards the Families. As things stood, the Novar''s allies made up five Families, while the Veloas''s allies made up seven, two of which overlapped with the Novar''s. If they merged, that would create a single Family with ten allies out of the other fifteen remaining Families.

    While some Families might cut off their alliances with the mergers, it was doubtful that it would be more than one or two. The alliances were through honor, shared blood, and genuine friendship. Violating that simply because their ally turned to someone they disliked would earn that family''s ire, and then they would find themselves with a powerful enemy at their backs.

    As for the groups, it would pose a problem if half of the world was suddenly under the influence of a single person. The Guilds and the Orders would no doubt to do everything they could to prevent that. Fabricated reasons to attack Family bases, warehouses, and branches. Assassins to take out key members. Leaking secret information they had acquired to rival Families to cause problems and conflicts within the Families.

    Shady things to ensure that the Families didn''t acquire too much power and influence without leading to themselves, and then the Novar and Veloas Families would take action in response to the provocations. Which would guarantee a war. Again.

    They were in the Third Age of Magic, and to Ryan, it had been obvious the Fourth Age of Magic was about to begin, even if he didn''t know about the plans to merge the two families. The first half-century of magic was the First Age of Magic, the second half-century was the Second Age, and the third so far was the Third Age of Magic.

    There was a pattern there, and it said that the Ages of Magic would only last for half a century, each. With the merger, it became evident the pattern would hold. Ryan knew that was a guarantee, because no one would want such a powerful influence on the world.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    As he listened, Ryan learned that the possible marriages were Kayla to one of his male cousins and Dylan to one of his female cousins. First-cousins of his, nothing further. It saddened Ryan to know he was missing out, but he understood the reasoning behind it. No one would accept him as the head, and no one would accept a child of his as the head. The move by his father was likely to secure a secondary inheritance line, one born of the joining of the two families.

    Which was all the more reason to awaken his magic and acquire telepathy. It would allow him to hear the thoughts of those around him and know who was plotting what without being aware that he was aware of the plotting. If he could learn empathy magics as well, he could also manipulate people into eliminating themselves and their own influence.

    And as people realized that Ryan was doing that, they would fear him more than they feared his father. A Divine telepath was a fearsome being, and one which had been unheard of. While that might paint a bigger target on his back, it would also make people more hesitant to kill him.

    Who would want to attempt an assassination when the target might not only know it''s happening, but be able to stop it with a mere thought? Especially if the assassin might end up spilling the beans on who their employer was before killing themselves?

    Not many.

    Which was why telepathy and empathy were both things Ryan wanted to learn. Those, and compulsion. Manipulating emotions to cause a desired effect was one thing, but being able to compel someone to his desires was something else entirely.

    And illegal, but the Families could ignore that law as they wished, when the head of the family okay''d it. As Ryan would be the head, he would be able to ignore it at will, though he would use it subtly as first. Build up his influence first before revealing he could command anyone he wanted.

    But that would have to wait for his awakening. Since he was Tier Twelve in everything, he knew he''d know as soon as he awakened, or within hours or days. His magic would act up on its own as a sign.

    For the time being, he would wait until his awakening, but also play his own hands. Even after his awakening, it would take time. From what he knew, mind magics weren''t just illegal, but extraordinarily difficult to learn. Even his own father could only use the geass magics so easily because it was his own Calling. Samuel Novar was powerful, but mind magics were still a little beyond his reach outside of his Calling.

    "Father," Ryan spoke up, as while dessert was yet to be served, dinner had begun late and the time was growing late. "I am feeling exhausted. May I be excused?"

    "You may," his father responded.

    "Thank you," Ryan stood. "Would it be alright if Kayla accompanied me back to my quarters? I would invite Dylan to walk with us, but he seems like he is interested in the conversation, with how much feedback he has given. I am sure she could do with the brief break before dessert."

    There was a pause, and Ryan knew his father was looking at Richard in that time to see the other man''s response.

    "That is acceptable," Richard told him. "It can be hard to find quality people your own age to talk with, so I am sure she will enjoy the discussion."

    "It is," Ryan smiled. "Thank you."

    Ryan waited until Tyler signaled that Kayla had joined them, then they left the dining hall.

    "How are you today, Kayla?" Ryan asked.

    "I am well," she answered. "How are you?"

    "I am doing just fine," Ryan answered. "Would you mind answering me honestly how you feel about possibly marrying Jonathan? Have you met him?"

    "I have," she answered. "He seems like a respectable man, though I also know that he has an issue with guests."

    Ryan chuckled. His nineteen-year-old cousin did have an issue with having concubines in his room unexpectedly, and his uncle was constantly making sure there were no consequences from that. From what Ryan knew, Jonathan had resorted to using two new servants who had moved into their complex. He suspected that his cousin knew they had moved in just for him to sleep with rather than paying for the sex.

    "How old are you?" Ryan asked.

    "I am eighteen and a half," she answered. "A little less than five months older than you."

    "Do you prefer older boys or younger?" He asked.

    "You''re quite handsome," she answered, and he felt his face heat up.

    "My question was obvious, wasn''t it?" He asked.

    "It was," he could hear the smile in her voice. "Nothing wrong with that, though. You want to know how you compare to Jonathan."

    "From someone who has seen him and is into guys our age," Ryan confirmed.

    "While the eyes staring off into nothing might bother some people," she told him. "I am sure I could adapt to that. Otherwise, you are quite handsome, Ryan, and I would put you a little above your cousin. His form isn''t as solid as yours."

    "I perform some light exercises most mornings," Ryan informed her. "I do not care about how ''hot'' my body is, but I do wish to at least keep it in shape, as a healthy body lives longer quite often."

    "I agree," she responded. "Your cousin is a little on the scrawny side, and with a little exercising, I am sure he could become even more handsome."

    "As handsome as me?" Ryan asked.

    "Not quite," he heard her smile again.

    "Who is the most handsome person you have ever met?" Ryan asked.

    She was silent for several moments, and he knew she was thinking over her answer. With most, that would be a loaded question, and she did not know him well enough to know if he wanted the actual answer or the sweet lie.

    "You can be honest with me," Ryan said. "I am the one who asked the question, after all. I''m not the sort to ask a question like that and get mad if the answer isn''t me. As I said, I don''t care much about my appearance, I was simply curious."

    "Okay," she said. "Honestly? I think Ethan, a member of one of my branch families, is the most handsome person I have met, when he is dressed up. Without the suit or formal clothes, he goes from handsome to hot. He has quite a nice personality, too. I wouldn''t mind marrying him, though I know that won''t happen. His father already had someone arranged for him, and my marriage into the Novar family is important."

    "Are you averse to the marriage?" Ryan asked.

    "No," she answered, and he stopped walking. "You don''t believe me?"

    "We''re at my room," he told her.

    "Oh!" She laughed. "Okay. I am not averse to your family. I''ve met Jonathan a few times over the last few months, though he''s unaware of the possible marriage between us. He would be a nice husband."

    "Tell me," Ryan said. "In honesty. If I were available, would you marry me? Despite my condition? Even if just for your own gains?"

    "Yes," she answered. "Being married into the main line would be preferable to a branch, even if that branch is still technically a part of the main. Having a handsome husband would only sweeten the deal."

    "So you like power," he stated.

    "I do," she confirmed. "Power and influence are vital, especially with the change that will come with my family merging into yours."

    He noted an off tone in her words, and decided to pry into it further shortly. At the moment, however, he had other plans.

    "Indeed," Ryan said. "Would you care to help me change into my night clothes?"

    "Milord," Tyler spoke up. "As your trusted servant, I must remind you that such an event would be quite inappropriate, and others may think of something untoward happening between the two of you. If a scandal is caused, it could result in the failure of the merger, which would result in both your father and hers being displeased with the two of you. I would advise that you rethink this offer."

    "Nonsense," Ryan said. "Five minutes, at most, would not be enough time for anything unpleasant to happen, and I would much rather take advantage of the one time a beautiful woman might be willing to help me change."

    "You can''t see if I''m beautiful or not," Ryan heard the amusement in Kayla''s voice.

    "Maybe not," he smiled. "But you do have a nice voice. Would you be willing to? I need to relieve my bladder first, but after that?"

    "I would not mind," she told him. "You are my future family head, after all."

 0005

    "Does Tyler really help you change clothes?" Kayla asked as she undid Ryan''s tie.

    "Only certain outfits," he answered. "Such as when I wear a suit to dinner. Most of the time, he just pulls them from the closet and drawers and sets them on my bed, then I change, and he puts the dirty laundry in the hamper."

    "I see," she said. "So you just wanted to speak with me in private, then?"

    "Mostly," he grinned. "I just wanted to check your reaction to the suggestion. But it does feel nice to have a beautiful woman helping me undress rather than Tyler."

    "You still don''t know if I''m beautiful or if it''s just my voice."

    "A beautiful voice is beauty to me," he said. "If they ever find a way to fix my sight, that might change, but for now, that''s how it is."

    "Do you mind if I ask a personal question?" She asked as she unbuttoned his shirt.

    "Only if I can ask them back."

    "While much is known about your family," she said. "The only thing I''ve heard about you is that you''re blind. Were you born this way, or was it an accident, orˇ­ something?"

    "I was born blind," he answered. "Completely and entirely, without a speck of light to be seen by me. I make the most of what I''m dealt, though. It''s also fun sometimes."

    "I''ve also heard about your mischief with that," she smiled. "Jonathan''s mentioned a few times where you would ask to see something others were seeing, then declare it either ugly, beautiful, or something else that could be taken quite sarcastically given the responses of others."

    "That is fun," Ryan grinned as she helped him out of his shirt.

    "You have nice abs," he felt her hand on them. "Toned just right."

    "I did mention I exercise most mornings," he reminded her. "And if you touch me too much, you''ll likely find a boner as well."

    "I already noticed it," he could hear the smile in her voice. "What personal questions did you have for me?"

    "I know about your brother''s affinities and Tiers," Ryan explained. "But I''ve not heard of yours, which means your father must be keeping it a secret."

    "I awakened after my birthday," she answered. "And yes, he''s keeping it a secret. I''m sure yours is as well, whatever your affinities are. So you wish to know them?"

    "I do."

    "I''m a Specialist," she explained. "Tier Eleven, with energy affinity, fire affinity, and earth affinity each at Tier Twelve."

    "Impressive," he responded. "I''m a Specialist as well, though we aren''t sure which high magics I''ll have an easier time learning. I''m yet to be awakened."

    "You used the new devices?" She asked, and he felt her hands on his belt.

    "Yes," he answered as she began to work his belt off of him. "I''d not heard of them before my birthday. I''m hoping to learn telepathy and empathy magics once I awaken, though."

    "I can see how those would be useful for you," she told him. "Mages who can use those are quite rare, even among Specialists. I have, however, heard of a telepath who could see through the eyes of others."

    "I''ve not," Ryan said. "But that does sound like something I could check into. Would be curious to know if I can see when using someone else''s eyes."

    "You probably can," she told him, her hands moving and holding his sides. "You have a nice body, Ryan."

    "You have a nice voice, Kayla," he responded. "Are you helping me all the way?"

    "I am," she answered. "What do you wear when you sleep?"

    "There are pajama pants and shirts in the closet," he informed her. "I typically wear those, with my underwear on underneath."

    "Okay," she said. "Why don''t you sit on your bed?"

    Ryan moved onto his bed, his sides cold where her hands had been.

    "Mind if I ask which high magics you can use?" He asked as he heard her open his closet door. "And if you know your Calling?"

    "I''m able to use some telekinesis," she answered from within his closet, the clacking of his hangers moving reaching his ears. "Some healing, and I''m a chrononmancer as my Calling."

    "Chronomancer?" He asked, unfamiliar with the term.

    "Time magic," she answered.

    "Ah," he said. "That explains your Tier, I''ve heard that the only known time mages were in the Ultimate Tiers."

    "It''s suspected to be a requirement," she told him. "It also takes an immense amount of mana to perform, far more than any other spell I''ve used since I awakened a few months ago."

    Ryan knew of only three time mages, including the grey mage himself. Four, if he included Kayla. From what he knew, all three of the others possessed immense mana reserves as well.

    "So you can slow time and stop it?" He asked.

    "I can''t slow time," she answered, her voice drawing near him. "And chronomancy is more than that, but yes, I can stop time. That''s all I can do with it, but also a bad way of phrasing it. It''s less that time is stopped, and more that I step out of it. It''s essentially the same, though, but with the effect being on me rather than everyone else."

    "So you are what''s changed, rather than everyone else," he said.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    "Correct," she answered, in front of him at that point.

    "What else can chronomancy do?" He asked.

    "There are five known abilities to it," she answered. "The two I''ve mentioned, peering through time, sending your soul back to a previous point in your life, and actually moving through time. The Silver Oracle was a chronomancer who could peer through time, which was how she knew of events before they happened."

    "Not that they saved her."

    "Being psychic doesn''t mean always knowing," Kayla said. "It has to be something we chronomancers actively look for, and we''d only know of the event if we managed to see it. I''ve not even tried to peer through time because I know it''s beyond my current skill level. The other two are even more beyond. My specialty with my Calling is slipping out of time. In fact, I pulled us out of time."

    "You did?" Ryan asked in surprise. He didn''t notice anything different happen, and so couldn''t place when she did that. "When?"

    "When I put my hands on your sides," she answered. "Which means that we can talk as long as we want, and no one would know it."

    "That''s neat," he said. "So how do the other two work? You send your soul back to a previous point in time?"

    "That''s the basic explanation," she told him. "You return to a previous point in your life, retaining all of your memories, knowledge, and power gained up to when you traveled back from. No one really knows how that works, as it should contradict the ability to do that. Alternate universes aren''t made with chronomancy, meaning that you aren''t in a new universe or something. It''sˇ­ honestly confusing. The same thing with actually traveling back. Your physical body moves, and you can interact back then, but it doesn''t affect you."

    "But when you come back," he said. "The world you know is different. Couldn''t you accidentally erase your own birth?"

    "No," she answered. "Because as far as the records show, what''s happened has always happened. Our minds are protected from changes, too."

    "So if I went back in time and killed my mom-"

    "It wouldn''t happen," she interrupted. "As something would prevent that from occurring. Everything you do in the past already happened before you went back in time. It''s only by resetting yourself to a previous point in your own life that you can change events. And what''s more with blatant time travel is that paradoxes exist."

    "Meaning?" He asked.

    "It''s possible to be your own biological parent," she answered. "Which shouldn''t be possible, as you''d need to have existed before you existed in order for you to exist. When it comes to moving through times, things become complicated and confusing, and there are so few chronomancers that no one can really study it too deeply."

    "The rarer the magic, the more difficult the research."

    "Exactly," she said, and he could hear a smile in her voice. "Tell me, Ryan. You''re in a room alone with a woman. If she offered sex to you, would you accept it?"

    "Are you asking if I''d have sex with you?" He asked, and she didn''t answer. "Even though you''re to marry my cousin? Did your father put you up to this? Is that why he allowed you to come with us?"

    "Ha!" She laughed. "My father thinks of you as a worthless cripple, Ryan. He''s glad your father didn''t suggest you as my future husband, because he wouldn''t want to be the grandfather of a cripple''s son. No, this is my own desire. If I got pregnant with your child, then our fathers would be forced to marry us unless mine thought he could cover it up and the abortion he''d likely want."

    "Which would put you as married to the heir of the family."

    "Exactly," she said. "And mother of your heir. While I don''t intend on running things, a lady can hope, can''t she? Besides, a marriage between Jonathan and I wouldn''t happen until at least the summer, and I''d rather not wait until then to have sex."

    Ryan found that the opportunity he was looking for, and decided to clarify what she wanted with the marriage.

    "So you''re doing it for the position you''d have, and not the authority or influence."

    "Correct," she answered, and he heard the rustling of fabric as she set his night clothes on the floor, then knelt in front of him. "So tell me, Ryan: I am taking off your pants, or your pants and underwear?"

    "While the offer is tempting," Ryan began. "The choice is yours. But know this: I had full intentions of sleeping with you tonight for my own reasons. You might be pursuing a status just for the status, but I am pursuing my own plans."

    "I understand," he could hear the smile in her voice. "Then you won''t have any objections to this."

    Ryan felt her hands on his crotch as she unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, then her fingers as they hooked into his waistbands. He lifted his ass up so that she could pull his pants and underwear down, and he felt his boner spring free as she did. Once his pants and underwear were on the ground, she pushed his legs to the sides, and he felt something warm and wet touching his dick.

    It took him a moment to realize that she was licking his erection, one of her hands gingerly holding it as the other gently rolled his balls around. Ryan inhaled sharply at the unexpected sensation and feel of her touch, gripping his blanket tightly as she worked his erection over with her tongue.

    As he felt like he was drawing closer to his climax, she stopped, then he felt her hands and body moving away from him. He listened as he heard more fabric moving, the rustling of her own clothes being removed.

    He heard her move onto his bed, felt the mattress dip more as she move down beside him, then her hands on his arms, guiding him around to her. Not a word was spoken as she guided him him onto her as she lay down, and her intent was clear to him.

    "Mh," Ryan moaned softly as he found his way into her, Kayla echoing him.

    The warmth, moistness, and tightness around him threatened to send him over the edge, but Ryan resisted, holding out as long as he could as he felt her hands on his arms and back. He rested his arms beside her head, not sure what else to do with them as he thrust within her, his breathing short and pleasured. Her body felt warm against his and warming faster, and he noticed, with his head right near hers, the light and sweet scent of whatever she had washed her hair with.

    "Unh!" Ryan thrust one last time, breathing hard as he reached his climax.

    When he came down from his orgasm, Ryan rested on Kayla for a few minutes, careful not to squish her while enjoying the warm tightness around his staff and the warm softness of her boobs against his chest. After savoring the feelings both internal and external, Ryan pulled off of Kayla and moved so that he was sitting on the edge of his bed, his breathing still a little heavy.

    Nothing else was said between them as Kayla helped him into his night clothes and dressed, then he heard her picking up his dirty laundry, then the sound of the hamper in his closet opening, then closing.

    "There''s a spray on my nightstand," Ryan spoke up as he tucked himself into bed. "Would you mind spraying it for me?"

    "To get rid of the smell of our sex?" She asked.

    "That," he responded. "And because I enjoy the smell of it. It helps me relax and fall asleep."

    "I see," she said, and he heard her pick up the canister. "Tropical breeze? Not something I usually hear or see a man using."

    "Why does a smell like the tropics have to be confined to a sex?" He asked. "Seems rather sexist, if you ask me. I can''t stand most of the ''manly'' smells. Something like this, however, is wuite pleasant to my nose."

    "Alright," she said. "How much do I spray?"

    "Just pump it twice," he answered. "Quick pumps, one aimed towards my bathroom, the other aimed towards the hall door. Make sure to shake it first, too."

    He heard the canister being shook, then two quick spritzes of it before it was set back down. Almost immediately, he could begin to smell it, then unexpectedly felt lips against his own.

    "Good night," Kayla told him, and he heard her steps across the carpet to the door.

    It opened and lingered for a moment, then he heard familiar steps across the carpet to him.

    "I see she sprayed it for you," Tyler commented.

    "I asked her to, before she left," Ryan said. "You should go to bed, Tyler. Even if you were cured of whatever had ailed you, your body still needs its rest to finish recovering. A healer can only do so much, you know."

    "I do," Tyler responded. "I''m just making sure everything is taken care of properly before I do."

    "Thank you," Ryan said.

    He listened as Tyler checked his bathroom and closet, then his servant wished him good dreams before leaving. Moments later, Ryan himself had fallen asleep.

 0006

    "Good morning," Ryan said as he woke.

    "Good morning, sir," Tyler responded, his voice hoarse.

    "Are you sick again?" Ryan asked as he sat up, his voice filled with concern. "Did the healer not do a proper job?"

    "What do you mean, sir?" Tyler asked. "This is my first time not feeling well in years."

    "You were sick when I awoke yesterday, too."

    "Maybe you were dreaming?" Tyler cleared his throat, as if it was difficult to speak. "I was quite well yesterday morning, sir."

    Ryan frowned. That was most definitely not a dream. He had most definitely gone through an entire day, and Tyler had most definitely been sick when he woke the day before. Yet Tyler''s voice was genuine. He knew his servant well enough to know that.

    "Tyler, what day is it?" Ryan asked.

    "Thursday, November sixteenth, two thousand one hundred and seventy-three."

    Ryan sighed further. He was reliving the same day, which meant that either he had dreamed the entire day, or he was genuinely reliving it. Either option meant one thing: time magic had been used. Both cases meant he had performed it, too, unless someone else was able to inflict reliving the same day upon someone, in which case, Kayla cast it.

    He would need to determine that after dinner. If he had cast the spell, then he was a chronomancer.

    Or he could figure it out then. If he had sent his soul into the past, he could do so again, could he not?

    "What time is it?" Ryan asked.

    "Seven-eighteen in the morning, sir," Tyler answered with a light cough.

    "Thank you," Ryan focused, feeling inwards.

    Magic was a like a muscle. It needed to be exercised. Until its first use, it was dormant, unused. However, once it was used, it could be used again, flexed when needed, so long as the necessary mana was available. Even if he couldn''t feel the ''muscle'', he could use it if it were available.

    Reaching inwards within himself, Ryan focused on sending himself several minutes back in time. Every few minutes, he asked Tyler what time it was, only to find that time had progressed, even after he found himself back in a laying position, having fallen backwards at some point as he focused. At least, until he received a response which delighted him.

    "Seven-fourteen in the morning, sir," Tyler answered. "Good morning, Ryan. Did you sleep well?"

    "I did," Ryan answered. "Though you sound ill."

    "I will do my best to serve you anyway," Tyler responded.

    "What is today''s date?"

    "Thursday, November sixteenth, two thousand one hundred and seventy-three."

    "Thank you," Ryan sat up. "You should rest, Tyler. I''ll have Father send for the family healer, though he might take the day to arrive."

    "There is no need to concern yourself with me," Tyler responded. "I''m sure a little rest is all that will be needed."

    "Get some rest," Ryan told him. "I can manage without you for a day."

    "Thank you, sir," Tyler said.

    Ryan listened as his servant stood and exited the room, and thought over his options. He would want to play with his chronomancy a little more. After having used it intentionally once, he could feel that magical muscle of his. Not only that, but he had a sense for understanding the spell''s activation and for how far he could push it. A couple of weeks, at most, with its current power. With practice, he could turn that into months or years.

    He''d heard of mages who could ''sense'' their limitations like that. Prodigies, they were called. Gifted among mages, regardless of Tier and affinities.

    A smile formed on his face. If he was a prodigy, then he could use that to his advantage. No one needed to know what he could do. He could even practice magic openly, then return to a previous point in time, and no one would be any wiser, because his practice had only happened for himself, not for anyone else.

    A useful spell, and one which would enable him to pursue his goals without anyone growing suspicious. If they did, he could simply return to a previous point and fix things so that they weren''t.

    Deciding to skip his morning exercise without Tyler around, Ryan entered his closet and dressed, picking out his outfit by feel. It might result in something that didn''t match, but no one would comment. Anyone who mattered wouldn''t care, either, and likely understand it was due to Tyler being ill.

    If they were so petty as to think that a blind person were incapable just because they couldn''t pick a matching outfit, well, screw them and their lives.

    Dressed, Ryan left his room, remembering as he walked about the packages. Deciding to go to the garden instead, he made his way there, navigating carefully until he reached the stone bench at the pond. Sitting upon it, Ryan listened to the sounds of the pond.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    As he relaxed, he felt a light breeze upon his face and hands. Focusing on that, he wondered once again what it would be like to command the wind. What did it look like, as the wind touched the flowers and leaves?

    His mind began to wander, eventually coming to a word: elemental.

    More specifically, the elementals, magical creatures made of an element. Tales of them entranced the blind man when he was a little boy. They had no eyes, so they could not see. Despite that, they navigated with perfect ease, doing as they pleased. The common theory was that rather than a sight, they could ''see'' through their element.

    A wind elemental ''saw'' the air around them and how it diverted to adjust to solid items around them. A water elemental ''saw'' liquids and where they were. Since the air generally had moisture in it, they could tell where items were by how the moisture in the air clung to places but didn''t enter. A fire elemental ''saw'' heat and its absence, granting it the ability to tell where something was by the shifts in temperature. An earth elemental ''saw'' dirt, soil, stones, and metals around it. Since most living things contained minerals, it could sense where those were, and even detect walls ¨C most of the time ¨C by the wires within.

    No one knew this for sure, as elementals generally didn''t speak, but that was the widely-held theory. When he was younger, Ryan had even fantasized about being able to ''see'' in that way.

    What if that were possible? He was a Divine in all six elements, who was to say that he couldn''t adapt to looking at the world through its elements rather than his eyes? Magic sometimes changed the body to adapt to it, which meant that even if the normal human brain wasn''t designed for that kind of input, it was possible his own would adjust to adapt to the magical sight.

    Focusing, Ryan found his eyes closing, something they often did when he thought deeply on things even though he didn''t do it consciously. Feeling the breeze on his body, he reached out with his magic, still new to using it.

    Rather than focusing on time, which he had wanted to play with, Ryan focused on the wind that touched him, on the bitter cold it held. Time slipped away from him as he focused, doing his best to create a sense his body didn''t hold.

    Though he was uncertain how long had passed, Ryan became certain he had succeeded the moment he could feel the wind moving around him. He could feel the way it brushed over the unmoving stone bench beneath him, how it felt as it touched the grass beneath him. He could even feel himself, which amused the teen.

    His range extended only around five feet, but that didn''t bother him. No, Ryan finally had a new sense, a way to see what was around him. And it was incredible, sending a thrill through the mage. He quickly shut it off and began to try it with the other elements.

    Water came next, disorienting him when he succeeded. It was so similar to his wind sense, yet so vastly different at the same time. Rather than simply feeling it brush over the bench, he felt it cling to something, a void within its hold rather than a space it passed around. The plants around him had a bit of it within, and he could feel that moisture being slightly-frozen. He himself stood out, a form filled with water with a light void around much of himself. He and the plants stood out the most because he could sense the water within, giving him a rough form of how they looked from within as well as from the outside.

    Fire was attempted after, and he was just as disoriented with water when he succeeded, but for other reasons. He could sense where warmth was lacking, with the bench beneath him the coldest of anything within his range. He himself radiated as a result of everything else around him being cooler, but what he found fascinating was that he could even sense the wind, in a way. Because he was sensing the heat ¨C or lack of it ¨C he could sense the coldness in the air, which changed with the wind and was inconsistent. That was something he knew he would need to adjust to.

    Earth came fourth, Ryan unable to fully describe how he felt everything in his range. A lot was missing. He could hardly sense the plants, but he could sense how they disturbed the soil beneath him with their roots. He showed up in his own vision, and he could make out his veins because of what he knew was the iron in them. He wasn''t expecting that, though he had when he used water as a sense, as veins were full of liquid. The stone bench, however, came to him with crystal clarity. He could make out every little detail on it, the intricate patterns carved into it during its crafting.

    Canceling that, Ryan gave energy a try, and the area around him lit up with his new sense. Not much actually had it in a high quantity, but there was enough with some that he could examine things. The grass beneath him and flowers behind him were visible through their electricity, and he himself even registered as he realized he was largely seeing his own nervous system.

    Deciding that was neat, Ryan ended it and looked with the sixth and final element. He put it off until last because he was uncertain how it would work for him. Light was a finicky thing, after all, and in technicality, everything someone ''saw'' had light in it. Would he see colors? Or would he see where light passed? How it touched things?

    The answer came when he finally succeeded. He could ''see'' where light was, what it touched and how intense it was. The vision was similar to his wind sense, only for the first time, he could ''see'' colors. The color of the light itself.

    Not that he knew what the colors were, though. Being blind, he had never learned them, only their names. He could make out the outlines of the grass, but not what color it was because the light that touched the grass was the same color as the light which touched him and the stone bench. It was all the same color to him.

    Ryan began to play around with his ''sight'', mixing the various ones to see how they interacted. That all came to an end, however, when he passed out. When the mage came to, he was laying in a bed, several voices overlapping each other as they bickered silently.

    "Father?" Ryan spoke, and the voices stopped. "Where am I?"

    "In your room," his father answered. Based on where the voice came from, Ryan figured his father had moved his chair to the side of the bed. "Are you okay? We just moved you in here, the family healer is on their way over, they aren''t too far out now. You were only out for a few minutes."

    "I''m fine," Ryan answered. "What time is it?"

    "A little after three," his father answered.

    Eight and a half hours. That was how long he had been at work with his magic. Eight and a half hours.

    "That probably explains it," Ryan told his father. "I became focused on my thoughts, didn''t realize how long had passed. I haven''t eaten today."

    He knew it was probably more than that. He had been playing with his magic, an unused muscle, and taking in senses his brain wasn''t meant to handle ¨C yet. He had no doubt overloaded himself, but he didn''t wish to mention he could ''see'' in a way. Not until he could expand his range and find out what else he could do.

    However, he was hungry, and was feeling faint from that.

    "Do you think," Ryan asked as he sat up on his bed. "Someone could send for some food? And has the healer arrived yet? I know Tyler was quite miserable when I spoke with him this morning."

    "Go get Ryan something to eat," his father ordered someone, his voice aimed towards Ryan''s door. "Nothing too heavy, we will be eating dinner in a couple of hours."

    When he spoke after that, his voice was aimed at Ryan once more, the authority and command in it gone, replaced with the usual, loving tone his father used when he spoke with Ryan.

    "Yes, Tyler is doing okay," his father said. "Our healer will take a look at him after he checks on you."

    "Thank you," Ryan said.

 0007

    "Richard," Ryan''s father said as Ryan sat at the table. "Kayla, Dylan, I''d like to introduce you to my son, Ryan."

    "Pleasure to meet you," Ryan heard Richard Veloas speak.

    "Pleasure," Ryan responded. "Father informed me earlier you were coming."

    "I heard you had a fainting spell," Kayla spoke. "Are you doing better?"

    "Yes," he smiled. "I had gotten lost in my thoughts, and the servants nearby didn''t bother informing me about meals, resulting in me not eating while sitting out in frigid temperatures. Tyler here likely would have spoken up the moment it was time for breakfast. I''ve always had a large appetite, so going that long without food has never been good, and the cold only increases caloric consumption. As soon as I was inside, warmed up, and had some food in my belly, I was okay."

    "I''m glad," he could hear the smile in her voice. "Other than that, how are you doing today?"

    "Quite excellent," Ryan answered. "Especially now that Tyler has recovered. It''s boring when I don''t have someone to babysit."

    He heard Tyler snort behind him, a soft, suppressed sound noticed by no doubt only Ryan. Further conversation on the matter of health ended as dinner began and the discussions Ryan had heard in his last run of the day occurred once more. When dinner concluded and people conversed before dessert, he decided to excuse himself once more.

    "Father," Ryan spoke up, and most of the chatter ceased. "Would it be alright if I excused myself for bed? I am still feeling somewhat off after earlier."

    "You may," his father responded. "Rest well, Ryan."

    "Thank you," Ryan stood. "Would it be alright if Kayla accompanied me to my quarters? I would invite Dylan as well, but he seems invested in the conversation, while Kayla has been quite silent. I am sure she could use a brief break before dessert, to stretch her legs."

    There was silence, and Ryan knew once again that his father was probably looking to Richard. His magical ''sight'' was turned off at the moment, so he could only guess at that, but it was the most likely cause of the silence.

    "That is acceptable," Richard told him. "It can be hard to find quality people your own age to talk with."

    "It is," Ryan smiled. "Thank you."

    Another chair pushed back, then Ryan exited the room, hearing two sets of steps following as the others resumed talking.

    "How are you today, Kayla?" Ryan asked as they walked.

    "I am well," she answered. "I hope you sleep well tonight, with everything that has happened."

    "I likely will," he told her. "How do you really feel about marrying Jonathan? Please answer honestly."

    "I am not adverse to it," she responded. "He is handsome, intelligent, and comes from a powerful family."

    "Your only issue," he said. "Is his sexual habits, then?"

    "Not many want to broach such a subject with me," he could hear the smile in her voice.

    "Yes," Ryan said. "Well, why should I care for tact? It is a logical question."

    "Yes," she said. "I do have some issue with that, but am sure he will stop once he has a wife of his own."

    "Tell me honestly," Ryan said. "Would you rather marry him? Or marry me?"

    "You are not available for marriage," she responded. "Though I know my father would not be too happy with the idea of me marrying you. Not offense intended towards you."

    "None taken," he smiled. "I know that I am seen as nothing less than a cripple. But I am not entirely without my own means for things. For example, I know what your affinities and Tiers are, and even your Calling."

    She paused momentarily beside him as they walked, and he guessed she was probably looking at Tyler.

    "How do you know that?" She asked.

    "I''ll tell you if you help me into my nightclothes," he answered. "So that Tyler can go straight to bed, as while a healer can cure illness, the body still needs its rest."

    "Milord," Tyler interjected. "I would recommend against such a thing, and it will only take me a few minutes."

    "Then you can wait outside the door," Ryan said. "Nothing could really happen in that timeframe, yes? You could guarantee by waiting outside that not enough time occurred."

    His servant protested once more, but gave up when Ryan insisted on it.

    "So?" Ryan asked. "Would you care to do that for me, Kayla? It might be the only time I ever have a beautiful girl undress me."

    "How do you know if I''m beautiful or not?" She asked. "For all you know, I might be the ugliest hag you have ever met."

    Ryan pushed outwards with his sense for air and warmth, detecting the form of her body and how she was warmer in certain areas over others. A certain region of her was increasing in warmth, too, and he smiled. He pulled back his senses, his magical sight going dark once more.

    "Your voice is beautiful enough," he responded. "But I am sure you have a beautiful figure as well. Tell me, Tyler ¨C does Kayla have that hourglass figure and nice bust that I have heard is valued in women?"

    His servant didn''t respond, instead choking slightly at Ryan''s inquiry.

    "You can answer without biting yourself in the tongue," Kayla told him.

    "She is beautiful, milord."

    "See?" Ryan stopped walking. "Tyler says you are beautiful, and I trust him. Since your voice is beautiful, that is all that is needed for me. Do you accept my offer?"

    "Then I do," she responded. "A few minutes is enough for a private discussion, and you are correct in that no one can say something happened in such a short time."

    "Allow me to relieve my bladder first," Ryan told her. "Then come in."

    Ryan entered his room and made his way into his bathroom, which he used, before washing his hands and drying them. Finished, he walked to his bedroom door and opened it.

    "I am ready," he spoke.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Ryan listened as Kayla entered his room, his door closing behind him, and he knew she was likely looking around at it. From what he knew, his room was rather bare.

    "How do you know what my Calling is?" She asked as he walked towards his bed.

    "Ah-ah," Ryan smirked. "Only as you undress me, Kayla."

    "Alright!" She laughed, and he heard her approaching him. Her hands gripped the knot on his tie and began to undo it. "How do you know what I am? For that matter, what do you believe me to be, since you think I''m a Specialist?"

    "You''re a healer," he answers. "With some telekinesis. You might keep it under wraps, but Jonathan noticed a few things and mentioned them to me."

    "I see," she finished removing his tie, then began unbuttoning his shirt.

    "I told you how I see you," he said. "How do you view me? My body, anyway."

    "You are handsome," she responded, just as he expected her to. "If you were available for marriage, I would not mind marrying you."

    "More so than Jonathan?"

    "I care about where I am in status," she said. "If I can mother the future head of the family, then I will be happy. I don''t care for leading it, myself. That can be left to those who have more interest in that. But just having that status? That is enough for me. It comes with it a certain authority and respect."

    Essentially the same thing she told him in his last run of the day.

    "And fear," Ryan decided to add.

    "And fear," she echoed.

    Kayla finished unbuttoning his shirt, then let it drop to the ground as she placed her hands on his sides.

    "You have a nice body," she told him.

    "I exercise most mornings," he explained. "I might not care for how my body looks, but I do wish to keep it healthy, as that should help me live longer."

    "Understandable," she said. "Do you always have assistance dressing and undressing?"

    "No," he answered. "Tyler helps me when I have ties to work, or buttons to deal with, but otherwise, he mostly just picks out my clothes for me. I have pajama pants and shirts in the closet, if you want to fetch them."

    "Okay," she responded, then walked to the closet. He sat on his bed and stepped out of his shoes, something he had done before she began undressing him in the last run of that day. "So you really just wished to speak with me, then?"

    "Well," he said. "Sex wouldn''t be unwelcome, either, and I know you were expecting that. Why else would a man destined to be single ask his future cousin-in-law to enter his room alone with him, his cousin standing guard?"

    "I wouldn''t turn sex with you down," she told him as her voice drew nearer. "If you were offering. I''m sure Tyler wouldn''t tell anyone how long you and I were alone together."

    "Naturally," Ryan said as she reentered his new range of awareness. "Considering you stepped out of time when you placed your hands on my hips, pulling me out with you."

    He watched as her body froze in his vision, the heat of her heart increasing rapidly as it beat quickly.

    "Yes," he smiled. "I know you''re a chronomancer, Kayla. That''s your Calling, after all."

    "How do you know that?" She asked, her voice slightly panicked. "No one but my father should know that I have chronomancy and can do that."

    "Don''t worry," his smile widened. "I won''t tell a soulˇ­ unless I want to. I have some questions for you, Kayla, and you''re going to answer them honestly. If you don''t, I will know."

    As he spoke, he reached out with his empathy. He had plenty of time to practice learning that while his father was at his side earlier, and found it just as easy to learn as the other magics. His range with empathy was even greater than his range for magical sight, and he could sense Tyler outside, his mind frozen in worry. Kayla''s mind was full of panic and wariness, a slight fear present as well.

    "What are your goals?" Ryan undid the button and zipper on his pants as he spoke. "Your real goals, Kayla. Why would you prefer me over my cousin?"

    "Because of your status," she answered. "You''re a truth-teller."

    "An empath," he corrected as he began pushing his pants down. "It is my Calling, and if you tell a soul of it, I will make sure everyone knows your own Calling and Tiers, as well as the other high magics you know. Not even Tyler knows this, and he knows more about me than even my father. Am I clear?"

    "Yes."

    "Good," he dropped his pants on the floor. "Why does my status matter?"

    "Because of the status I would hold," she answered. "As your wife. Or your cousins, as I doubt I could marry you unless I became pregnant with your child and my father couldn''t cover up the abortion he would no doubt want."

    "So status is all you really care for," he said, sensing what he hoped was honesty within her mind. "And the authority and fear and respect it would give you. That is it?"

    "Yes."

    "What would you do with that?"

    "Enjoy people''s reactions to my presence," she answered. "That is all I really care about. When I can play with time, what use do I have for actually bossing others around?"

    "Magic," he said. "Can have an effect on people. It can alter their physical bodies to adjust them to it. A fire wizard may become resilient to heat, especially that of their own fires, as an example. Healers often have increased healing rates. Does chronomancy affect their bodies?"

    "Excluding the Grey Mage," she said. "What do the known chronomancers have in common?"

    "They could use chronomancy."

    "Each died unnaturally," she answered. "Each one was killed. And before they reached sixty. Something which isn''t well-known, however, is that chronomancers don''t age, starting with their first use of it. There aren''t many of us, so we aren''t sure if that''s true for all, but that''s true for the three known ones."

    "Except the Grey Mage," Ryan said.

    "Except the Grey Mage," she confirmed. "But it is believed he may not even be from Earth."

    "Oh?" Ryan raised an eyebrow.

    "That''s disconcerting."

    "Which is exactly why I learned how to do it," he grinned at her, then slipped his fingers under the waist of his underwear and pulled them off, lifting his legs to help him. "Why is it believed he may not be from Earth?"

    Ryan did his best not to react at the reaction to her heat patterns and the obvious increasing in her breathing as it disturbed the air. He could tell her head had tilted down to stare at his revealed tool, something she likely would not have done had he possessed sight.

    "Because," she responded. "The Grey Mage was the only known mage as powerful as he was. While it''s possible the stories of how powerful he was were exaggerated, he was the only mage ever known to kill a dragon. The one which came through a few decades ago even killed a Divine and three Immortals who went after it."

    Ryan knew about that, the dragon had came through a dimensional gate and took up residence in East Russia around forty years ago. It was powerful enough, and the legends had it that the dragon had fought the mages who went to put an end to it, killing them in a short fight. Now, it rested where it settled, feeding on the local beasts.

    Humans had traveled away from there when it became the dragon was living there, so far the most part, no one was affected by its presence too much. Flights might be rerouted to avoid its territory, and roads and railways might be abandoned in favor of longer routes, but that was it. The dragon only visited a human settlement maybe once every year or two, for the taste of one or two humans, then it returned home.

    It preferred living as a beast rather than an antagonist, contrary to many stories Earth had of dragons from before dragons actually became known as something real. Despite that, however, they were beasts to be feared, their wrath something to avoid because of the sheer power and destruction they could cause with a single breath.

    Yet the Grey Mage supposedly struck one down in moments. Alone.

    "And so it''s believed he came from another dimension?" Ryan asked. "Because of how powerful he was?"

    "Not just that," Kayla answered. "But because of how short he was here. It seems almost as if the Grey Mage came to this dimension to deal with the issue of magic flooding into the world, then left once it had finished. It may even be that he was responsible for it. These are only theories, though, and the latter one comes from the Guilds. Supposedly, they know what he looked like."

    "Really?" Ryan asked in surprise. "Weren''t nearly all records from that time lost during the Great Collapse?"

    For nearly twenty years, technology went haywire, and most shut down completely. It wasn''t until new mages figured out how to make magitech that technology began to work again, with magic assisting its functions in addition to electricity or whatever else it used. As a result, many people died and many records were lost. Fires and corrupted people wishing to start ''fresh'' destroyed a lot more.

    As the Grey Mage had been around for a very, very short time before vanishing, records of his appearance were inconsistent, no one able to agree on his looks.

    "That''s what I thought," she said. "But Father says that the Guilds may actually have a record of his actual appearance."

    "The Guilds are also looking closely at my family," Ryan commented. "While we''re on the topic of them. When they find out that this merger might happen, they may instigate a war between Families."

    "The Guilds are fearful of our power and influence," she said. "We run the criminal underworld, after all."

    "Indeed," Ryan sighed, tired of the conversation. "Kayla, if you want to suck it, go ahead. We can potentially cause a marriage sooner, though that might also kickstart the war sooner."

    At least, if he had sex with her every time he ran through that day.

 0008

    Magic was easy for a magical prodigy. Too easy. Because of that, Ryan only need to spend an hour, maybe two, of focus, and he could figure out a new spell. He ran through the day he met Kayla dozens of times before deciding to reset back to his birthday instead. Running the same day over and over allowed him plenty of time to train without worrying about someone bothering him, as Tyler was ill for most of the day.

    No one bothered him so long as he remembered to take breaks for lunch and to warm back up, but those accidental incidents allowed him to train his empathy further.

    With Tyler sick most of that day, it was quite easy for Ryan to practice without anyone wising up to his actions. His servant, however, would have suspected something was up by lunchtime, were he healthy. Even if Ryan could reset things, he didn''t want to deal with having to cut his training short. As it was, he had to reset to the night before rather than the morning of.

    Otherwise, he would be mentally exhausted, even if physically awake. The spell might return him to the previous state of his body with his current magical power and his memories intact, but a mind still needed its rest. Then there was also the strain on his mind as his body adjusted to his senses.

    From what Ryan was able to figure out, any adapting his body had already done carried back into the resets as well, meaning that it did not mentally tax him to expand three of his magical senses out to their full breadth.

    At least, that was his initial assumption. Further testing had proven that his body began to adjust immediately, but since he always fell asleep right after, since he was physically exhausted enough to pass out within moments of the reset, he wasn''t originally aware that his body adjusted after he came back, but rapidly. With his first few resets, the adjustments were minor, so he had not noticed them.

    So as a result, the pain that flooded him around a minute after the reset washed over him for the first time while he was conscious, and Ryan sat up, groaning as he clutched his head.

    "Ryan!" He heard Tyler jumping up and rushing over to him. "Are you okay?"

    "Yeah," Ryan groaned. "Aw, damn! That hurts!"

    "Let me get the hea-"

    "I''m fine, Tyler," Ryan groaned. "Just give me a minute to adjust, I can feel it finishing."

    He wasn''t just saying that, either. He could feel his body adjusting, and his magical ''sense'' for how his spells worked also appeared to work for the adjustment. While was glad that he was always asleep when it hit, he did begin to wonder as the pain subsided how he didn''t wake up from it in the past.

    "Jeez, that was painful," Ryan rubbed his temples. "I''m better now, Tyler."

    "I really should get the healer," Tyler told him. "What if that comes back?"

    "Physical adjustment of magical ability," Ryan told him. "That''s all that was."

    "You''ve awakened?" Tyler asked. "When?"

    "That''s complicated," Ryan answered. "Can you fetch my father for me? Don''t alert him I''ve awakened. Or anyone."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded, then left the room.

    Ryan lay back on his bed, rubbing his temples and making a note that for the next round, he was going to reset himself to while he was asleep. He had tested that already and found that he would not wake up from it, so assumed the mysterious effect of him not going through that pain would not happen then.

    Which was important, because he planned on resetting a lot. He wanted to build up his power and skills in as little time as possible. In as little real time, not experienced time. Which meant that he would be performing a series of resets to change how events played out for optimal training.

    Since he could ''see'' relatively well by mixing his elemental senses, Ryan felt comfortable beginning his actual magical training. Or at least, the part where he properly learned how to see from masters and naturals. Doing that, however, required traveling to them, which was where the problem would come in.

    He was absolutely sure his father would reject the idea, and so needed to come up with a plan to convince his father into it. One which didn''t spoil things. He would be willing to sacrifice revealing some of the Specialist magics he had learned, however, as those could be explained a little without too much issue.

    A few minutes later, Ryan heard his door open and several people rushed in. Ryan let out a groan as he realized his instructions weren''t clear enough to Tyler and that the family healer had been grabbed as well.

    "I told you I didn''t need the healer, Tyler," Ryan said.

    "I am the one who fetched him," Ryan''s father informed him. "Tyler told me you awoke with pain."

    Ryan sighed, knowing why Tyler was concerned. PAOMA generally took anywhere from several hours to several weeks to finish if it occurred suddenly and with strong pain accompanying it, but Ryan felt fine, other than a lingering after-pain.

    "I promise," Ryan told his father. "I''m fine. I did want to talk with you, though."

    "About what?" Samuel asked.

    "Training," Ryan sat up as he answered. "First, I would like you to teach me how to perform a geass."

    "A geass?" His father asked. "You would need to be a Specialist, Ryan, and beyond that-"

    "I''m aware," Ryan flicked his wrist, and his pillow flew, smacking into someone. "That sounded like Tyler. I suppose I need to work on my aim, it was supposed to hit you. I''m aware that a geass is a form of mind spell, which is a difficult type of magic to use. However, I would much prefer to learn it just for fun. As a birthday gift from you."

    Ryan never asked for gifts for his birthdays, so he knew his father would likely be amenable to teaching it to him, especially as he knew it would be doubtful to most that Ryan could actually do something with a geass spell.

    "I can teach you later," his father responded. "How long have you been awakened?"

    "A few weeks," Ryan answered. "Give or take a little time. Second, I want to visit the Mieria Islands for a few months. It is turning rather cold here, and I hear they have beautiful beaches that might be pleasant to enjoy."Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    Ryan could feel several confused gazes on him.

    "What?" He asked. "I can enjoy the feel of the sun on my skin, or the sand beneath me, right? I would have Tyler there to accompany me, in addition to the other blind mages."

    "What blind mages?" Samuel asked.

    "The elementals," Ryan answered. "Much like me, they lack sight, and much like me, they are mages. Also, I think it would be a good place for Tyler to train in his magics. He prefers water magics, yes? It would make sense for him to learn them among experts."

    "The Mieria Family is not among our allies," Samuel told his son. "It is doubtful they would allow such a visit to occur."

    "I am not talking about an entourage," Ryan stated. "I am talking about only Tyler and myself. They would be more willing to allow me to visit and enjoy the beauty of their beach if only one person came with me. If they ask for the purpose, tell them that I wished it for my birthday. Just a few months'' visit. It isn''t often I can enjoy a beach at all. In fact, I have never left the area since I was little. There is little I could do to steal their secrets or plot against them, and Tyler will be with me at all times."

    Ryan fell silent as he waited for his father to respond to his statement. He wasn''t lying about having never left the area in years, something which was truth due to his father''s protectiveness of him. The moment Ryan was somewhere he was unfamiliar with, he became many times more difficult to take care of and much more high-maintenance than he already was, and the last time Ryan left was a tragedy for both of them.

    He could feel a gaze moving on and off of him, and guessed it was Tyler. After reaching out with his sense of air, he determined it most likely was his servant, and that there were two others in the room as well. When he expanded his empathy out, he felt his father''s conflicted mind.

    The Novar Family Head wanted to grant his son''s request, but at the same time, was scared to do that, especially because the requested location was outside of his family''s control. The Mieria Family remained against the Novar Family, and would likely oppose his presence on the islands. That, or cause a problem or conflict.

    "If the Mieria Family," Ryan spoke up after a minute. "Decided to cause a problem, Father, then we can crush them. It is doubtful they would, however. Everyone knows that you would do anything for me, so bringing me harm or attempting to use me to force you to move would ensure their downfall."

    Ryan waited, still sensing his father''s anxiety. He really wanted to visit this islands, though, because of the elementals. He could change it to another place with elementals, but that would require restarting the day to avoid suspicions. His plan involved studying under different elementals in different locations.

    He theorized that even if communication with them was impossible, he could at least still learn more about sensing with magic and the elements by studying them with his own magic. The reason he chose the islands as his first target was because he could use Tyler as an excuse. Most of the island''s mages specialized in water magics, and Tyler preferred his water magics over all others. In addition to that, the vacation-type nature of the islands also served as an added bonus to the cause.

    As his father''s mind began to show clear signs of coming to the decision not to allow that, even as a birthday present, and to offer something else in return, Ryan made one more attempt to convince his father to try.

    "I am sure Damien would be quite amenable to allowing me to visit without incident," Ryan told his father. "If you suggested that we reveal to the Guilds who was behind the incident in Miami two years ago, along with the evidence we have proving it."

    "How do you know about that?" His father asked in shock as Ryan felt Tyler''s mind grow nervous, the servant himself looking between the father and son.

    "My servant is quite loyal to me," Ryan stated. "Which means it is only natural he would not inform you when I have him take me into our guest house to speak with our guests. I have had him read a few files as well."

    He felt his father''s mind turn to completely shock as the older man looked at Tyler, then back to Ryan.

    "You have interrogated prisoners?" His father asked.

    "I have spoken with a few guests, yes," Ryan responded. "And Tyler has seen the video of the incident in Miami. Damien should have no issues allowing Tyler and me to visit in exchange for us continuing to keep a secret that we have never revealed. A small price to pay, as it is. You have wanted to use the video in the past, but never found a good reason to. Here is a good reason to. Your son wishes to visit their islands."

    He felt his father mulling it over, accepting it then. The Mieria Family would undoubtedly be willing to allow Ryan and Tyler to visit without incident if the alternative was having both the Novar Family and the Guilds coming after them.

    "Very well, then," his father finally said. "I will speak with Damien."

    "Could you do so soon?" Ryan asked. "I would like to go there as quickly as possible."

    "What''s the rush?" His father asked.

    "I have never been to a beach before!" Ryan grinned. "I don''t want to delay much longer, especially since it''s going to be much warmer here!"

    "I will talk with him after breakfast," his father chuckled. "Let the healer check you out, Ryan, to make sure your PAOMA is over. They are quite rare to start with, but I have never heard of a case where it lasted only a few minutes."

    Ryan hadn''t known the adjustment was rare, but he supposed that it didn''t matter. Since he was both powerful and a Specialist, it would make sense that he would have the adjustments.

    As the healer checked Ryan out, the teen stretched out his sense of water in addition to his sense of air, using the two elements for a more accurate sense of how things were than one alone could provide. He could handle two for extended periods of time, or three for around ten minutes. After training for two months of daily resets, he could also extend his range up to ten feet, which covered most of his room.

    It was strange to him, being able to see in a way, but he enjoyed it. He had enjoyed replaying the day over and over as well. The main thing he would miss while in his current time was sleeping with Kayla. She would not be there for several weeks, and when she arrived, he would be hundreds of miles away.

    When the healer, his father, and the third person left, Ryan did his morning exercise, then took a shower. After, as Tyler was drying him off, Ryan noticed his servant''s state. Not a difficult thing to do when sensing the water around him.

    "Do you think about women as you dry me off?" Ryan asked.

    "Pardon?" Tyler paused in his drying.

    "A young man like you and me," Ryan said as he servant resumed his duties. "And you''re drying me off because I can struggle with doing it properly. But you can''t actually enjoy the sight, can you? Do you imagine I''m a beautiful woman that you''re getting to rub down with a towel?"

    "I-yes, sir," Tyler responded, his master noting a bit of hesitation and embarrassment in his mind.

    "No need to be ashamed of that," Ryan told him. "I am sure I would do the same in your position. Naturally, it would not be a beautiful woman, but one with soft, luscious skin. Not too much muscle, but not too much fat, either. Just the right combination to feel the best. A voice beautiful to listen to, soothing to the ears. A gentle, but nice scent-I the two of us have different fantasies. You are probably a more visual one than me.

    "Regardless," Ryan said as Tyler finished drying him off. "If you ever need to take care of yourself after drying me off and fantasizing about whichever woman you fantasize about, just stay behind in the bathroom a few minutes. It doesn''t bother me and we all have needs to take care of. You already put my clothes on my bed, yes?"

    "I did, sir."

    "Then take care of yourself," Ryan told him. "And if you ever want to try dating whoever she is, just let me know. I can ask Father to allow it, and he will."

    "That is not necessary, sir," Tyler told Ryan, who could feel his servant''s reluctance.

    "Nonsense," Ryan said. "Your happiness is important to me, Tyler. You have served me well ever since becoming a servant. I can have Father authorize you to have relationships, and even if she is a classmate from your high school rather than someone in one of the Families, he will allow it. I just ask that you introduce me to her first. I would like to see how beautiful a woman she is for myself."

    "Of course sir," Tyler snorted.

    "Now take care of yourself," Ryan told him. "I''m going to get dressed, then eat breakfast. You should have plenty of time before I''m ready for breakfast to take care of that."

    "Thank you, Ryan," Tyler said.

    "You''re welcome!" Ryan said. "And seriously ¨C introduce me sometime if you want to date her. If her voice is beautiful, I''ll approve her for you!"

 0009

    Ryan left his bathroom and dressed, then waited for Tyler to come out of the bathroom. They made their way down to the dining room, where the start of breakfast awaited them. Fresh fruit on the table, along with pitchers of orange juice, milk, and water.

    The mage wasn''t able to tell a difference between the orange juice and milk through his sense of water yet, but he knew which was which as they always sat in the same spots. He smelled his breakfast just before remembering what they had for his birthday, and a grin spread across his face.

    "Waffles!" He exclaimed as he sat down. "Tyler, make sure to eat plenty, too. If you don''t, I''ll steal them."

    "There is plenty for you," Ryan''s father told him. "Don''t worry, we won''t run out."

    "We never do!" Ryan told him. "Hey, do you mind if I use my telekinesis to-"

    "Please don''t," his father quickly interrupted as Ryan felt several gazes fall upon him. "We will have an Appraiser come by later to determine your Tiers. The intention was to have that done after dinner, but we can move it ahead if you wish."

    "Nah," Ryan said as a servant drew near, the steam from the waffles quite clear to his water sense. "Are those banana-nut waffles? I can''t stand them if so. Now, if they were banana-nut bread, that would be another story. Or muffins."

    "Those are chocolate-chip Belgian waffles," his father told him. "We can serve it with ice cream and chocolate sauce, if you wish."

    "For the second round!" Ryan said. "Also, I already know my Tiers. I''m Divine in all. That''s why my aim with telekinesis is perfect. See?"

    He flicked his wrist, and several apples from the basket in the center of the table flew towards his father. The Novar Family head held up a hand, and the apples froze in place in the air.

    "Ryan, please avoid using telekinesis around fragile things."

    "Got it," Ryan turned his head to his left, where Tyler always sat during meals. "Sorry, Tyler. I''m not allowed to use telekinesis until you''ve trained a bit more. Father doesn''t want me using telekinesis around fragile things."

    "Your father is merely concerned about your aim," Tyler informed Ryan. "You have only recently awakened your magic, so it will take some training to perfect it. Next time, aim a little further up."

    Ryan sensed the blood rushing to Tyler''s cheeks as his servant quickly looked down and away, and the grin returned to the heir''s face.

    "So I was missing his face?" Ryan asked. "Darn! Father, don''t move! Tyler, hand me an apple!"

    "Tyler, don''t," Ryan''s father said in a stern voice. "Ryan, no telekinesis at the breakfast table."

    "Got it!"

    "Or the lunch and dinner tables."

    "Darn!" Ryan mock-pouted, then indicated the plate in front of him. "Ice cream and chocolate syrup sounds delicious! Tyler, if you would be so kind?"

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded.

    Ryan stretched out his empathy again, and noticed his servant''s fear. It was the first time Tyler had ever broken character when they were not in private, and the servant was terrified he would be fired ¨C or worse ¨C for his comment. He needed to alleviate that fear, as his father would not punish Tyler for giving in to Ryan''s provocation. In fact, the older man seemed amused by Tyler''s response, if Ryan guessed at the cause of the emotion correctly.

    "Father," Ryan said as he began to eat. "Tyler is insistent on remaining firm in his duties to me, including following the rule about servants not being permitted any relationships without permission from the family head. That said, I''m aware that he has interest in someone. So I am requesting that Tyler be permitted to have a relationship, as long as I get to meet her and approve of her first. Also, I would prefer it if he picked who it is he romanced and married, with my condition, of course."

    Ryan sensed Tyler turning uncomfortable at that.

    "As long as he was okay with it," Ryan added. "Tyler has been a loyal servant to me since you first assigned him to me, and he is the one person I can genuinely call a friend. I know he is willing to sacrifice his own happiness to care for me, and I do not desire that. I want him to be happy as well."

    He sensed his father mulling over the request. Ryan was honest with his words, as he did genuinely wish for Tyler to find love and be happy, and while they were young, too. There was some selfish reasoning behind it, as he could never truly find love himself. Not only could he not see, but he was the heir to the Novar Family. Two different things which affected his ability to find someone who would honestly love him.

    That didn''t mean he wouldn''t find people to sleep with, to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh with. Kayla was one such goal of his. She came from a powerful line, and not only would a union between them solidify his reign, but a child between them would be unparalleled in power, except to perhaps its father.

    Chronomancers were rare enough, but two of them having a child meant the child would likely be a powerful chronomancer as well. Then add on the fact that Ryan himself was Divine in all elements and as a Specialist, and the child would be exceptionally powerful as well. Almost a guarantee to be in the Ultimate Tier, no doubt. Ryan himself would stand strong as the family head, but his heir would solidify their reign for good.

    Ryan nearly frowned as he thought about his power. Only one mage was ever said to have as much power as him ¨C more, even. But was Ryan really weaker than the Gray Mage? Their devices only went up to Divine, and no one truly knew what it meant to be Transcended.

    Could Ryan himself be as powerful as the Gray Mage? Was it possible that, with enough training, he could be the equal of the Gray Mage?

    Yes. It certainly was. He was only eighteen, after all, and he could rewind time as much as he wanted, keeping all of his training and its rewards. While training his senses, he had realized the potential for his powers. Things he could do which others couldn''t because of limitations to their own senses.

    Before his father answered his question, Ryan had come to a decision: he would become the second Gray Mage. He would ascend past the normal limitations of magical abilities and become someone to whom magic was simply a toy. Even dragons would be mere annoyances to him.

    He would become a god.

    "That sounds good to me," his father spoke as Ryan came to his decision. "I have noticed how you two interact when you think no one is around to notice, and how you do not treat him as your servant at all times. I have also noticed how gloomy you become when he is ill. Someone who can have such a profound effect on my son deserves to be happy. If he wishes to date and marry, he may. I will leave the full decisions of it up to you."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    For a moment, Ryan was confused as to how his father could have noticed their interactions. But as he sensed Tyler''s relief, he realized how. His father was a mind mage, something he had known for years. The old man had likely spied on them through telepathy and empathy.

    That was one hurdle taken care of. Through his various runs, Ryan would also attempt to convince his father to allow him his own lover. Possibly even Kayla, for the aforementioned powerful heir of his own. Doing that would need him to prepare himself better, as he knew it would take a lot of tries to talk his father into it. A lot of tries through a lot of resets. He would need to find the perfect opportunity and wording.

    "Thank you," Ryan smiled, pushing those thoughts away for the time. "Now! Let''s finish eating! After, you can teach me how to use a geass, then Tyler is going to help me work on my telekinetic aim some more."

    They ate breakfast as Ryan sensed his father''s amusement and Tyler''s much lighter unease. After breakfast, Ryan was taken to a room by a servant as his father remained behind. When the family head finally arrived twenty minutes later, it was with another person.

    "A geass," Ryan''s father said as Ryan sensed his father sitting on the other armchair through the way the wind and water shifted. He could hear it, too, with the slight groan the chair gave under his father''s weight. "Is a mind spell. Mind magics are among the most difficult of spells to perform-"

    "It''s high magic," Ryan said. "Most of them are difficult if you aren''t a natural with that aspect. Mind, time, space, healing, psychokinesis, transmutation and more are all difficult. I already know all this, Father."

    "Ryan," his father spoke with a tone of immense patience. "This isn''t something like telekinesis. This is actually interfering with another person''s mind. It is not an easy thing to do, and it can go wrong much, much more easily than any force magic. When attempting to place a geass, it is very easy to destroy the mind of the target. That is why the Guilds and Orders heavily regulate and restrict the use of the geass spell. I will teach you how to use it, but you must promise to pay attention and focus."

    "I will," Ryan told his father. "Being able to focus is something I can do when the circumstances requires it. I''ve proven that to you before."

    He smiled.

    "You should know this," he lifted up his right hand, and the flower vase resting on a small table lifted up several inches. "I''ve shown it to you before."

    He began twitching his fingers, and the flowers within the vase began moving up and down in tune with them.

    "Your throws weren''t misses," his father said in shock. "Wait. How are you doing that, Ryan?"

    "Very carefully," Ryan answered, then let the vase return to its spot. "I knew where the vase was already, as it''s always there. It was just a matter of reaching out with my telekinesis and raising it up. The flowers was for added flavor, and mostly guessing."

    He wanted to avoid alerting his father to the full extent of his ability yet. Only once he had a much greater grasp over his elemental senses would he broach that subject, unless he felt it okay to do so sooner.

    "Okay, then," Ryan''s father responded. "I will have you practice on Sean. Before that, however, you need to learn how to sense the minds of others. A geass is an advance-level mind spell which requires you to be able to do other mind magics first. Empathy or mind-reading is the first step towards it."

    "I can read minds," Ryan told his father. "So long as I am touching the target."

    He didn''t need to touch his targets at all, as he developed his telepathy by reading the minds of the guards and servants he could sense with his empathy, but he didn''t want his father to know that. Keep his true abilities seeming weaker than they were. While he could always reset when things went wrong, he wanted to avoid doing that as long as possible with his next set of training resets.

    "Understood," his father said. "Then let us move on to what a geass is. They are magical oaths placed upon others. Nearly all fall into one of two categories: absolute and conditional. Almost every geass placed is conditional.

    "What that means," his father continued. "Is that it can be broken, but there is a condition for what will happen if it is."

    "Like if someone is bound into keeping a secret," Ryan said. "And they reveal the secret, they lose their voice."

    "Exactly," his father responded. "Though that is an extreme condition, and one that takes a lot of power to place. As for an absolute geass, that means it cannot be broken. To place an absolute geass is difficult, because to truly make it absolute, you must close off all loopholes. That is nearly impossible to do, but not completely. It also involves redundancies upon redundancies.

    "Sean, kneel beside Ryan," Ryan''s father said, and Ryan heard the rustling of clothes as someone moved beside him, then knelt. Based on the form of the person in his senses, Ryan knew it was the other servant who had entered the room. "Ryan, you said you can already perform telepathy. The next thing needed before casting a geass is being able to interact with their mind. Place your hand upon Sean and read his mind. As you do that, do more than simply read his mind, but delve into it. You will need to be able to read his thoughts, his emotions, and search through his knowledge and memories. All of these are required to cast a geass."

    "Understood," Ryan moved his hand, feeling for Sean until his hand was on the back of the servant''s neck.

    He entered the servant''s mind, then snorted.

    "You couldn''t," Ryan said. "Have picked a servant who you regularly practiced on? He''s too busy panicking about what secrets I might glean. It''s become quite easy to discover a few things."

    "His panicked mind," his father said. "Can make it more difficult to delve into it beyond just reading what''s there and picking through information related to it. Try to search deeply for something unrelated to anything he''s thinking. Placing a geass will require something similar."

    "Okay," Ryan said, then began delving into the servant''s mind.

    Most of the secrets Sean panicked about were things Ryan didn''t care about, and knew his father likely wouldn''t, either. It was even likely the family head already knew them all, even. Ryan knew a handful already, though he was quite interested in the servant''s affairs with a young woman from the city.

    Reaching for his power, Ryan pushed through the servant''s mind, focusing on his thoughts of the woman. When he did, he found that it became easy to follow the trail of thoughts, to encourage them, and to find out everything about her as naturally as if he had learned them himself. Within a minute, he knew her better than Sean did.

    He continued delving, not even aware of his full actions as he acted on instinct, pulling out information before shaping a geass into the servant''s mind. When he finished, he pulled his hand away, then took a few moments to process what he had done.

    Despite having never performed such spells before, he knew he had cast them perfectly. It felt as natural to him as breathing, delving into the man''s mind and casting the geass upon him. An absolute geass, even. It would be impossible for Sean to ever touch or handle pink iminil lilies, the favorite flower of the woman he had affairs with, should he ever kiss his secret love again.

    Just like with all magics Ryan tried, they had come naturally to him. This time, however, there were several differences. The first was how quickly he managed to perform the spells. Rather than taking hours, it happened immediately. The main difference, Ryan felt, was that he had let himself act on instinct rather than attempting to actually cast the spells. He let his magic guide the way.

    Ryan wasn''t entirely sure how he did that, but knew that the more he did, the more natural it would become to do so. He also knew that he likely couldn''t do that for everything. There were plenty of times his magic would have guided him if it was a guarantee for everything.

    "Oh," Ryan realized he had lost himself into his thoughts. "I finished, by the way. I also placed a geass on him."

    No response came, and Ryan realized that during the mind delve, he had released his sensing spells and his empathy range. Deciding to just extend the latter back out, he touched upon his father''s mind.

    "You weren''t kidding when you said you were Divine, were you?" His father immediately responded.

    "You can sense that?" Ryan asked in surprise.

    "I noticed it earlier," his father responded. "When were you Appraised?"

    "That''s a secret I won''t share," Ryan smiled. "And one you''d have to pull from my mind to discover. That, I can promise you. You could tell I was Divine by the speed of that?"

    "Yes," his father responded. "Anyone who has reached Divine in a type of magic can learn it quickly and easily. With how soon you were able to perform that, you likely have a Calling for mind magic."

    "No, my Calling is something else," Ryan told his father. "That''s kind of private, though. Mind if I share it some other time?"

    "No," his father responded. "If you wish to train it in secret, then I will not step in your way. I suppose there''s no need to appraise you tonight."

    "Good," Ryan smiled. "Because if you did, you''d have to put a geass on everyone present to keep the result a secret."

    "I''m sure I''ll find out how and when you were Appraised," his father told him. "If you couldn''t cast a geass now."

    "The person who Appraised me," Ryan said. "Doesn''t even know she did, and that was done without even the slightest bit of mind magic. Now, about the other part of my birthday present?"

    "I''ll call," he felt his father''s amusement. "And see what I can arrange."

    "Thank you," Ryan responded.

 0010

    "You are a bundle of energy, aren''t you?" Tyler asked.

    "Sometimes," Ryan grinned in response. "I''ve not been on a plane in ten years, you know. While there won''t be a hot flight attendant for me to ogle, it''s still going to be exhilarating. I''ll also get to smell the ocean for the first time. By the way ¨C am I buckled correctly?"

    "No," his servant responded, then Ryan felt his servant''s hands at the buckle, fixing it in a way that informed Ryan he had tangled it up, as he''d thought. "Here we go."

    As Tyler finished fixing Ryan''s buckle, his phone rang.

    "That''s probably your father," he told Ryan, then Ryan heard the sound of the phone being pulled from a pocket. "Yep. Hello, sir. Ryan was impatient, we are already on the jet. It was that or continue to deal with him tugging on my ear. No, sir, he does that whenever he gets impatient about something and manages to grab my ear. I''m not certain why he does that."

    Ryan did it because it usually meant things were sped up just to stop the pain.

    "Yes, sir, we will see you then," Tyler said, then Ryan heard the phone being returned to a pocket as his servant sighed. "Your father is on his way now, Ryan. I told you we should have waited at the house."

    When they woke, Ryan''s father had been away from the house with a promise to return within a couple of hours. Ryan did his morning exercise and shower, then ate breakfast, then convinced his servant to take him to the airport out of anticipation of the trip and eagerness to get going. His father had managed to arrange Ryan''s trip on his birthday, for the next day. Ryan would be allowed to stay there for three months. From November 4<sup>th</sup> to February 4<sup>th</sup>, he would be allowed on the islands.

    Ryan wasn''t certain how his father managed to convince Damien to allow his presence for that long, and had realistically expected only a month to a few weeks, not most of winter. However, the result pleased him, as it meant he would need to perform fewer resets and he would be able to enjoy the season there.

    At least, until he stopped his resets then and reset back to his birthday for training in another place with different elementals. Ryan wanted to train with each of the six base types of elementals, to study each and perfect his senses of the elements. It would take him time, as elementals did not have a way to communicate and were known to be non-sapient, but he was patient. He would study them as much as possible, learn as much as possible just by observing. Then, once he was ready, he would move on to the next place.

    First, however, he had to wait for his father to arrive, something which occurred half an hour later. Ryan heard the man enter with two others, guessing they were the pilot and copilot. The door to the jet closed, and Ryan felt the air pressure shift with that. Two of the new boarders moved into the pilot''s cabin, the door closing firmly behind them after informing Ryan''s father they would be taking off as soon as they finished their checks.

    "We''ll be going, now," Ryan''s father informed them as he sat near Ryan. If the teen had to guess, his father had sat across from him, which would make sense. The man would want to be able to look at his son directly, even if his son''s gaze would wander. "Are you ready?"

    "I was born ready for this," Ryan told his father. "And once I''ve trained in my magic some more, I''ll simply use it to fly wherever I wish to go. If Tyler is lucky, I''ll fly him with me."

    Ryan heard the clicking of a seatbelt as his father chuckled, and he decided that he could trust his father. Not telling his father everything bothered him, and he wanted to share a little more information with him.

    "Father," Ryan said. "I''m not entirely blind."

    He could feel his father''s uncertainty at that, and Tyler''s confusion as well. Both knew he couldn''t see a thing, which meant his statement had likely thrown them a little.

    "I mean," Ryan said. "I am blind, as I can''t see a thing at all. But after my awakeningˇ­ I developed a new sense. That''s what my PAOMA was about yesterday. Me wanting to come to the islands was partly for selfish reasons related to that."

    "Nothing wrong with being selfish," his father said. "What is this sense?"

    "I can detect water," Ryan answered. "It''s a rough sense right now, but I can sense the water in the air, in people, in drinks, in plants. I can sense the steam rising up from food. I can even sense when Tyler gets an erection over the pretty lady he fantasizes over."

    He sensed his servant''s discomfort at that and he shook his head.

    "It doesn''t bother me, Tyler," Ryan said. "I''d suspected it for awhile, but never actually thought about it until yesterday. Although it does explain why you sometimes linger while drying my chest. You''re probably thinking about fondling her boobs and trying to resist the urge to make the motions."

    His servant''s discomfort rose as embarrassment filled him, and Ryan smiled, then pat him on the back. His servant didn''t actually linger there, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t claim it, make Tyler wonder how long he had been doing it without noticing.

    "It''s okay," Ryan said. "Most guys like to fondle boobs every now and then. Soft, plush boobs, small, firm ones. Large, squishy ones. Boobs of all sizes and types. It would be easy for you to feel hers if you started dating her and moved to that stage. Introduce me sometime."

    "Maybe one day," Tyler''s discomfort grew more as his nerves grew. "But for now, I wish to serve you, Ryan. Having a relationship can interfere with my duties in ensuring you are well. If I were to leave your service, it would require you adjusting to a new servant, or possibly going through several until you finally find another. Before you contest it saying that I wouldn''t leave your service, it is mandatory for anyone who has two children to lose their status as a personal servant. In addition, if I do marry, I would need to spend time with my wife, and more if I had a child. That would result in you needing another servant, anyway. My duty is to the family, and so I will refrain from any relationships."

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "If you ever feel that a family duty pulls you away from your duties to me, we can always move your wife into the house with you. She would see you around, and once I am family head, I will also have plenty of duties which you will be able to take a break from. It is truly no issue for me."

    "The lack of sleep which will come from having a child," Tyler said. "Would interfere with my duties, sir. If I am to enter into a relationship, it will be only after you have a suitable replacement for me. However, I do not wish to leave your service at the moment, as I know you and your needs the best. It would be a failure in me as a servant of the family to abandon you for selfish reasons."

    Ryan sighed. He supposed Tyler had a point. The other teen had been raised to serve the main family, and even after eight years of servitude and friendship, that mindset was firmly set into him. He felt bad for it, though, because he wanted Tyler to be happy. If there was something he could do to ensure that, he would, but Tyler refused all attempts at it.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Resolving to sort the situation out the next time he went through the mall trip where they met the two former classmates of Tyler''s, Ryan dropped the subject for then. He didn''t need empathy to know both of the women were interested in Tyler, and he hoped one of them was the girl Tyler liked. If not, they might be able to provide the answer as to who it was.

    He could search Tyler''s mind for the answer, but felt that would be an invasion of privacy. While he didn''t care about most people, Tyler was his friend, and Ryan never screwed over a friend like that.

    "Ryan," his father spoke after a few moments of silence. "You want to visit the Mieria Islands to watch the elementals, don''t you?"

    His father wasn''t stupid, so the teen wasn''t surprised the man had already figured out the true purpose for the request after having heard about Ryan''s new sense.

    "I do," Ryan answered.

    "You''re aware," his father said. "That they can''t teach you, yes? Elementals are simply embodiments of elements that float around. While they might have some way of telling where things are, and may react to circumstances, they are dumb things."

    "I know," Ryan said. "However, perhaps by observing them with my own sense of water, I''ll be able to tell how they do some of their sensing, which would enable me to adjust my sensing a little. At least, that is the hope. In addition, being around such sources of water would no doubt help me strengthen this sense, so that I can sense more when there is a lot around. I would also be able to study how they do their magics, which might help me with casting water magics without needing eyes to target things."

    "Good luck," his father said. "And remember to be on your best behavior."

    "Does that mean I can''t sass anyone?" Ryan asked. "Because I''m pretty sure I''d die if I didn''t sass at least six people a day."

    "Your best behavior," his father chuckled. "Not the best possible behavior, Ryan. Once we take off, I want to discuss something with you."

    "Okay," Ryan responded. "I''m curious, Father, but how did you convince Damien to allow me to stay for three months? I was expecting a single month, at most. I know I said a few months, but I wasn''t actually expecting that."

    "That''s what I want to talk about once we''re flying," his father responded.

    "Ah."

    They fell silent, waiting for takeoff, and only once they were in the air for a few minutes did Ryan''s father speak again.

    "Ryan," he said. "I was expecting to negotiate awhile with Damien before using the threat. When I initially began, I started with six months, telling him you wanted a long vacation somewhere warm and beautiful, for Tyler. Naturally, he shot that down, but he of course knew I was willing to negotiate.

    "From the start," his father continued. "I noticed something off in his voice. Once we made it down to three months, he agreed. I was further surprised when he agreed to allow me to accompany you for arrival and show up to bring you back home at the end."

    "Surprised and suspicious?" Ryan asked.

    "Exactly," his father responded. "Damien may have some goal with you. Few people know my actual status in magic. You and Tyler are among the handful who do, and you are within my inner circle. If this is a trap, I will ensure our exit. He will not expect me to be able to handle whatever he sends our way."

    "And if it isn''t a trap?" Ryan asked.

    "Then I want you to be on the lookout," his father answered. "Both of you. Especially you, Tyler. Stay with Ryan, no matter what. I know that was intended, but it is even more true now. I am using the video evidence of the Miami incident to threaten Damien for your safety, but there may be other things going on. In addition, I will be examining the minds of both of you upon your return."

    Ryan knew the unspoken reason for that. His father was a powerful mind mage, which meant he would likely find any evidence of tampering or any geass placed without their awareness. The man could also likely remove any of them. The thought of someone touching his mind made Ryan nervous, but at the same time, he knew it wouldn''t matter.

    There was the possibility that the tampering would return with him when he reset, but he would do his best to reset before anyone tampered with his mind. The moment he noticed it happening. If the tampering occurred without his awareness of it or ability to stop it, then he would reset to that morning, have his father remove it, then reset a little further back.

    The goal would be to avoid allowing anyone to tamper with his mind in the first place, and he felt confident in his ability to do that.

    "Understandable," Ryan said. "With only two people aware of my ability to detect some things around me, it shouldn''t be easy for someone to get me. They would need to poison me, probably."

    "Or enter your mind while you''re asleep."

    "Sir," Tyler spoke up. "Pardon the rudeness in asking, but how easy it is to enter someone''s mind without physical contact?"

    "Entering them?" Ryan''s father asked. "Easy. Empathy and telepathy don''t necessarily require touch to perform. For example, I can sense your discomfort anytime Ryan makes a comment about his desire for you to be happy with someone. I can sense anytime Ryan''s mischievous mood increases. I can tell our pilots are bored right now. If I used telepathy on top of my empathy, the latter of which I have active at nearly all times, I would even be able to tell which lady you fantasize about, what Ryan might be planning, and even what the pilots are discussing. And I''m not touching any of you.

    "As for affecting their minds?" The man asked. "That''s another matter entirely. A well-trained telepath can project their thoughts to someone else without physical contact between them, but they would find trouble affecting the target''s mind. Only a truly powerful mind mage can actually affect a mind without touching the person it belongs to. No one knows why this holds true, but it seems to be a rule for it to take an immense amount of power to perform."

    "Sort of like with chronomancy," Ryan said, and he felt his father''s gaze return to him, curiosity and surprise in the older man''s mind.

    "That''s an interesting connection," his father said. "And chronomancy takes much more to perform than a mind-altering mind spell from a distance. Far, far more. There have only been a few chronomancers who I know of, and all of them had monstrous amounts of mana. Why did you come to the connection?"

    "Just thinking about it," Ryan said. "Because Kayla is a chronomancer. Her Calling is being able to slip out of time. She can even slip others out with her, as long as she is touching their bare skin with both hands."

    He felt his servant''s curiosity and his father''s confusion.

    "I have my ways of knowing information," Ryan smiled. "When is the announcement of their engagement?"

    "We were planning on making it on New Year''s," his father answered. "How do you have an information network I missed? And how did you learn about her Calling when I haven''t managed to learn that yet?"

    "You missed the fact that I was speaking with guests."

    "That is an internal thing," his father said. "I don''t have the staff keeping an eye on your internal activities, Ryan."

    "A man has his methods," Ryan told his father with a grin. "Mine are just easier to hide than others."

    After all, the only thing he needed to do to hide his discovery of information was reset to before he learned it. Then, no one would know he knew it, because he had never learned it in that run of time.

    "I see," his father said. "Perhaps when you return, you''ll inform me of how you learned this Calling of hers."

    "Perhaps," Ryan answered.

    It would be quite easy to not, as by the time Ryan finished the runs, his father won''t have known about it. He wanted to see how events played out by revealing her Calling to his father. Only if things turned out positive would he let it remain in his final reset of the events. With that reset, however, he would change how his father learned it. Knowing his father had empathy active at all times meant he could easily cause Kayla or her father to make him aware of it by accident.

    "Tyler," Ryan''s father said, and Ryan felt the man''s gaze lift off of him. "Why were you curious about how easy it would be?"

    "I am a light sleeper, sir," Tyler answered. "If someone enters the room, I will no doubt awaken. They would likely need to gas us while we sleep in order to prevent something."

    "Or poison," Ryan said. "I''m a fan of poisons. They look pretty."

    He felt amusement in the minds of both his father and his servant.

    "That, and they can be quite effective," he added. "But yes, Tyler will likely wake if someone came at us during the night, and he''s more than a servant. He''s a bodyguard. I trust we will make it through without incident."

    And if they didn''t, Ryan could always reset things, as planned. He just hoped nothing came up that he didn''t plan for or couldn''t handle.

 0011

    The rest of the flight passed by with Ryan bouncing in his seat and discussing with his father and servant some of the plans for the trip. When their flight ended, the trio moved into a car, Tyler helping Ryan into it, then loading their luggage as Ryan buckled. Ryan heard his father move into the driver''s seat, which surprised him, as normally, a servant or personal driver would drive his father around.

    Tyler sat in the back seat with Ryan, then the car began moving.

    "Driving instead of having a servant drive?" Ryan asked.

    "It isn''t often I get to drive," his father responded. "Keep in mind there are no paved roads on the islands, Ryan. You and Tyler will be walking everywhere, or taking a boat between them. And keep in mind that you need to pay attention if they don''t do something right away."

    "I understand," Ryan responded. "How far until we reach the docks?"

    "Only a few minutes," his father answered.

    "Okay," Ryan responded, then turned his head to give the appearance of looking out the window. From what he knew, their cars couldn''t be seen inside of, even if its passengers could usually see outside. "Hey, Tyler ¨C doesn''t that man look like your brother?"

    "Who?" Tyler asked, and Ryan laughed. "Ryan!"

    "I''m not the one who looked," Ryan grinned, turning his head in Tyler''s direction. "If only you could see your expression right now."

    "Ryan, stop teasing the poor boy," his father chuckled. "I''m sure you''ll be doing plenty of teasing everyone once you get to the islands."

    "I need to warm up, first," Ryan told his father. "By the way, try not to hit that trashcan, I know how they like to jump out and surprise drivers."

    His father sighed, causing Ryan to chuckle. The next few minutes passed in mostly silence, then the car stopped, and Ryan heard the others exit. He unbuckled and waited for Tyler to open the door beside him and touch his arm. With his servant guiding him, Ryan exited the car and began walking, smelling the salt in the air and listening to the crashing of waves against the shore.

    "Hello, Samuel," a deep voice spoke as Tyler stopped Ryan''s walk. Ryan stretched out his empathy, feeling relief in the other man. A moment later, he felt amusement in his father. "I was not expecting you to come with such a light guard."

    "An agreement was made," Ryan''s father spoke. "It would not look good to disregard that."

    "As if disregarding agreements is not natural," the other man spoke. "This must be Ryan."

    "Pleasure to meet you, sir," Ryan said, then felt a touch of embarrassment in the other man. "I''d shake your hand, but I''m not sure where to aim."

    "Before we board the ship," his father spoke. "I''d like to make something clear, Damien."

    Ryan heard his father pull something from his pocket, then a light tapping sound. A moment later, he felt curiosity in the other man as he looked at whatever it was the Novar Family head was showing him. The video, no doubt. As the video was watched, the teen thought over why the head of the Mieria Family would meet them personally.

    Especially with relief in his mind.

    "By the way," Tyler whispered in his ear as Damien''s mental state shifted to shock. "You''ve aimed your head at your father."

    Ryan extended out his senses for air and water, and discovered that he was, indeed, facing his father. He shifted a little, allowing Tyler to guide him gently into looking at Damien. The other man was looking at something on a rectangular object, which Ryan guessed was his father''s phone. No sound was playing, but he supposed none was needed.

    Especially not with the screams he had heard when Tyler watched the video. Those screams would terrify a normal man, and had even made Ryan waver for a moment.

    "I am in possession," Ryan''s father eventually took the item back from Damien. "Of the sole recording showing who was responsible for that, Damien. If you want to keep it that way, nothing will happen to my son. Am I clear?"

    "Perfectly," Damien responded, and Ryan became confused by the other head''s emotions.

    Relief. Damien was relieved the Novar family was using the video for Ryan''s protection rather than to force them into something. That didn''t mean things wouldn''t change down the line, but it meant for the moment, Damien had nothing to worry about.

    Unless the other head knew they had empathy ¨C which Ryan knew was impossible ¨C his mental state was genuine and not something he was forcing. His father would likely be able to know for sure, but Ryan was confident Damien''s emotions were honest.

    Which raised the question of why he was relieved by that. Why he was willing to allow Ryan to stay for so long. Something strange was going on, and he could tell it made his father confused and curious as well.

    "You''re sensing it, aren''t you?" Ryan heard his father''s thoughts in his head as they began walking. "Damien''s relief."

    I am, Ryan thought.

    "Don''t focus so hard on making sure I can hear you," his father told him. "Anything that crosses your mind, I''m hearing. I''ll help you learn to filter that, once you return. That way, you choose what is heard when a telepath reads your thoughts."

    Okay, Ryan thought back. So does that mean if I think about the soft skin of a beautiful lady-

    "Ryan, I need you to keep an extra ear out," his father interrupted him. "It is strange that Damien ¨C whose family is against ours ¨C would be relieved that I am just worried about your safety. On top of his willingness to let you come here, there is something strange going on, not just suspicious."

    I''ll keep two ears out, Ryan told his father. Plus an open mind and magical senses.

    "Steady now," Tyler said as his grip tightened on Ryan''s arm. "We''re about to cross the bridge to the boat."

    "Okay," Ryan responded, then heard two pairs of feet tapping against what sounded like hollow metal. "Interesting sound."Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    They stepped onto the metal sheet which spanned from the dock onto the boat, Ryan noting how it felt slightly unsteady under his feet. The air there was full of moisture, and he could sense a mass of water beneath him. The ocean.

    On the boat, Ryan found his legs unsteady, and was quickly moved onto a bench, Tyler sitting beside him. He listened as others moved onto the boat as well, carrying their luggage, then the servants left.

    "I will be on the islands for part of your son''s visit," Damien told Ryan''s father as the teen listened in. "I had actually just arrived yesterday morning, and was planning on staying through to the start of the year."

    "While I know the islands are quite nice," Ryan''s father responded, and Ryan removed his jacket. He was quite warm in it, the air there much warmer than at his home. "It isn''t usual for you to stay there for so long during winter. Issues?"

    "Not the sort you need to worry of," Damien responded. "This isn''t public yet, as we''re not certain of the full status of it, but a Heisar opened up on one of the islands two days ago."

    Ryan found himself immediately curious about that. Heisars weren''t all too common, even if they weren''t all too rare, either. They went by many names, but Heisar was the most common, named after the first mage to fully explore the largest one within human ability. The dragon in Russia was said to lord over an even larger one.

    Holes in the ground, they were full of resources that renewed themselves. Most commonly, they were full of magical crystals. The smallest known Heisar produced enough lightning crystals and mana crystals every day to power a small town''s needs. Twenty feet in width and around one hundred deep.

    Magic crystals were essential to using technology ¨C with normal electricity inoperable, it was magical energy that powered things. Magical energy usually found in the form of lightning crystals. Mana crystals could be used as well, and were what powered expensive cars, planes, trains, and other modes of transportation. The boat they were on likely had a mana crystal or two powering it.

    Fire crystals could be used to cook or forge things, among other uses. Earth crystals could be used to make soil more fertile. All crystals had multiple uses, and were exploited largely by the Guilds, who managed to acquire most of the Heisars before other organizations began to crop up, such as the Families.

    Ryan''s family owned a large Heisar, though, and it was part of the source of their strength and power. His great-great-great-great grandfather, the first Novar, had laid claim to it before anyone else could.

    "What''s in it?" Ryan asked, his curiosity piqued.

    "We''ve found a few things already," Damien answered, and Ryan noticed that the man had turned to face him, his father doing the same. Many ignored him or looked to his father before responding, and the teen appreciated those who didn''t. "Mana crystals, as can be found in all Heisars, as well as water crystals, as to be expected of one on an island. We haven''t been able to explore it completely yet, as caution must be held in case of monsters, but we suspect something that might be of even more interest: manalirate."

    Ryan felt the surprise rise in his servant as his father''s suspicion rose. It could be posturing, claiming they might have manalirate to show off, with the ability to say they had only suspected it if someone seized the Heisar and found it wasn''t true.

    A rare plant only found in a single Heisar, its string-like flower could be used to cut magic crystals without destroying them. The only known Heisar to grow them was owned by Raxvar Corporation, the largest Guild in the world, and they used their monopoly of it to charge high prices for anything which used cut or shaved magic crystals.

    Even the Families purchased said products. The wealthy were the only people to have cell phones anymore, because powering them with a simple battery failed. They required using lightning crystals, but cut into slim strips to act as batteries. Only Raxvar Corporation could supply such goods.

    Suddenly, the reason for Damien''s relief and cooperation came to Ryan. If they really did have manalirate, then every major Family in the world would want the Heisar as their own. Only one of two Families would win that fight. In addition to the Families, however, the Mieria Family would also deal with Guilds and Orders wanting to lay claim to the island.

    Befriending one of those two Families ¨C or at least, initially showing friendship towards them after discovering a possible rare and valuable resource ¨C would go a long way to having protection from the squabbles that would break out. It would keep them as squabbles, at least, for a time. Enough time for the Mierias to build up their own power and become a major player.

    Revealing their suspicions of the manalirate that early wasn''t necessarily a smart move, but it wasn''t necessarily a bad move. It meant that Ryan''s father would want to keep an eye on them, but would also make him more suspicious. Why would the Mieria be okay with the Novars knowing that early? Especially with how opposed to the Novars they were?

    Advertising it to the Veloas Family would have made more sense. Even if the two weren''t allies, they at least didn''t have conflicts between them as frequently as the Mierias did with the Novars.

    Ryan came to a conclusion as he thought about it. The Mieria Family needed something the Novar Family had and the Veloas Family did not. Both of the major Families owned a Heisar, and both produced goods using resources obtained from them.

    The Mieria Family was one whose dealings Ryan didn''t actually know. According to his father, much of what they did was unknown. They weren''t a large Family, and most of their strength was devoted to protecting their main estate, a single set of warehouses, and the islands.

    Ryan knew his father suspected that they simply disliked the Guilds and Orders and did their own thing, which would explain why most of their ''crimes'' were usually skirmishes with the Guilds and Orders. They had illegal weapons and dealings, of course, but to the Families, what was the law of outside forces?

    As the boat''s motor started up with a low hum, Ryan decided that unless he knew more information, all he would know was that they wanted something from the Novars. Something beyond just protection.

    His father didn''t ask during the trip, but they did discuss what was known of the Heisar so far. It spanned forty yards in diameter with an unknown depth Like most Heisars, the first twenty feet of depth was a giant openness in the ground. From there, tunnels and drops formed leading lower, giant holes in some places acting as caverns.

    The Mierias would carve out paths to form a connected maze leading to the bottom of the Heisar, mapping it out as they went. Mages with an earth affinity would be useful there, as their powers would enable the tunneling to be performed quicker, in addition to knowing where other tunnels, drops, and caverns were.

    It was a process that could take a few months, however. Even if the tunnels made by mages were artificially-made, they would begin to grow and develop the same resources as the rest of the Heisar. That included any monsters that might develop within the Hesiar. Caution was needed, for safety''s sake.

    The teen found himself tapping his leg as he thought it over. Some resources would only be discovered further down, but could provide substantial items to the Family. The Mieria Family could begin to stand on its own as a powerful Family within a year if they managed to keep the Heisar a secret, especially with it forming in an island.

    His mind wandered back to why they would want to have the Novar''s protection while building up their power. Why they would want something from them, and what they wanted. What could the Novars provide which the Veloases could not? It baffled the teen.

    As the boat began to slow down, however, Ryan realized why the Mieria Family might want to play nice with the Novars, despite their past conflicts. There were two possible reasons for it.

    The first was that ¨C impossibly ¨C the Mieria Family knew about Samuel Novar''s magical might and feared it, wanting to play nice to avoid having it used against them.

    The second ¨C and more reasonable ¨C possibility was that they knew about the upcoming marriage of the two Families.

    If it was the latter case, then it made sense. The Novar Family would effectively rule the Families after the marriage, which meant the Mieria Family would be forced to play nice anyway. His father happened to call them right after a major discovery, and they decided to work with it. They no doubt would have rather talked with the Veloas Family first, but Ryan''s desire to be among the water elementals changed that.

    All of that was a theory, but he knew it was the most likely possibility of what was going on. The Mieria Family realized it needed to play nice with the Novar Family, and so Damien allowed Ryan to visit for a few months.

    That did, however, raise a question in Ryan''s mind.

    From what was known about manalirate, it only grew past two hundred feet beneath the surface. They would not have had enough time already to dig that deep and stay cautious.

    Why did Damien already suspect there was manalirate in the Heisar?

 0012

    "Satisfied?" Tyler asked after Ryan''s fifth trip around the room, closet, and bathroom, getting a feel for the location of everything without using his magical senses.

    "For now," Ryan responded. "Navigating with my elemental sense is still strange, and I can misjudge distances easily. It will take some to adjust to this room, however."

    "I am sure you''ll adjust quickly enough," his servant responded as he took Ryan''s arm. "Come, Damien wishes to have dinner with us before your father leaves, a way of welcoming us fully."

    "Okay," Ryan said.

    They began walking, and Ryan listened as he stretched out his senses of water and air. He planned on working on being able to sustain three at once, mingling them together, while on the islands, but planned on doing that once he was familiar enough with the space to navigate easily without magical senses.

    They exited the guest house, a small building with just the bedroom, bathroom, and closet, and made their way along the path. It was stone, Ryan had noted, but not very wide. Just wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side, which meant that if they passed by someone else, either Tyler or the other person would be forced to step in the sand. Ryan wasn''t intending on moving to the side, which meant the other person would be the one getting sand in their shoes.

    "The air here smells nice," Ryan commented as they walk. "A bit like the sprays we use, but with an added touch of salt, the only part that bothers my nose."

    He wrinkled up his nose as he smelled the salt. The scent wasn''t pleasant to him, but he knew he would adjust. That was a guarantee, with his plans to spend months there, possibly even a year.

    "What the-" Ryan stopped walking and instinctively turned towards what had entered his range from behind, moving towards them.

    "Holy fuck!" Tyler jumped beside him, accidentally yanking on Ryan''s arm. "Sorry, sir!"

    What Ryan sensed was a massive form of water in the air. Unlike what he had thought elementals were, it wasn''t just a mass of water. The water took on the form of streams and balls, moving around in a sort of rotation.

    Not only that, but he could sense a mind with his empathy. No brain for an elemental, but they had minds. How did no one know they had thoughts? He couldn''t be the first mind mage to encounter an elemental.

    As he watched with his elemental senses, moisture in the air drew towards the elemental, then reshaped, forming a series of patterns in random places around the creature before dissipating. Just as randomly as that happened, the elemental shifted directions and moved to the side, out of Ryan''s range.

    "That is a water elemental," a man''s voice came from the direction Ryan and Tyler had been walking, and Ryan turned to face the speaker. He could feel Tyler moving as well, no doubt to face the man, too. "First time seeing one, I take it?"

    "Nah," Ryan responded. "There are around fifty back home. Tyler''s just a scaredy-cat, we see them all the time. I actually play chess with one we nicknamed Chester. Honestly, I can''t even go to the bathroom without nearly walking into an elemental of some sort, and I can''t enjoy the view of my pond without at least two different water elementals duking it out over the water for some reason. That, or they''re mating. I can''t figure it out."

    "Ryan," Tyler muttered. "I think you''d have been a bit more convincing if you weren''t looking past him."

    "Of course I''m going to look past him!" Ryan exclaimed. "That''s where the real beauty is!"

    While the man was outside of Ryan''s elemental senses, he could tell the man had turned to look by the slight jolt Tyler made, a sign he was doing his best not to snort.

    "Okay," the man chuckled, and Ryan grinned. "You got me there, Mr. Novar."

    "You can call me Ryan," Ryan said. "Unless you''re my enemy. Then, you can call me ''Master'', ''Master Novar'', ''Lord Novar'', and ''Please-Don''t-Rip-My-Guts-Out-Again-I''m-Really-Sorry''. Oh, and ''Most Terrifying Badass to Ever Exist'' also works. So does-"

    "Sir," Tyler cleared his throat. "You''re looking at a tree."

    "I was talking to a tree."

    "Pleasure to meet you, Ryan," the man said. "I am Nicholas Demani, I am here to study the elementals."

    Ryan was surprised to hear the name. The Demani Family was another Family independent of the Novars and the Veloases, but they rarely had dealings with the Mieria, too. Nicholas Demani himself was the current heir to the family, a man in his early forties, around the same age as Ryan''s father.

    "If you''re wondering why the Mieria would welcome a Demani," Nicholas said. "I helped Damien out with an issue a few months ago, and when a few water elementals moved into the area near our main estate, I called in the favor he owed."

    One rule shared between all Families was that favors were honored. To reject that and refuse a favor when it was not unreasonable and there was no good reason to would be to disgrace one''s name. Entire Families were known for exiling their own for such an act.

    "I hadn''t heard that water elementals moved into the Demani territory," Ryan said.

    "Only a few of them," Nicholas responded. "And they haven''t caused too much hassle for us. There isn''t much reason for word to spread of their presence."

    "I see," Ryan said. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Nicholas, but Tyler and I need to get going. Tyler has an appointment with his speech therapist, so I need to get him to that."

    He assumed that Nicholas must have made a confused face, as Tyler quickly explained they were on their way to dinner, then they continued moving, Nicholas bidding them a good day. As they passed by him, Ryan noticed Nicholas''s form for the first time. A large man with a bulky build, a touch of amusement and hostility in his mind.

    Someone to be wary of.

    Ryan released his elemental senses and empathy spells, and when they reached their destination, Tyler moved the silverware in front of Ryan around, then tapped his master twice on the arm before taking his own seat.

    "Thank you," Ryan commented, aware that people were probably confused by the servant''s actions, especially as moving the cutlery like that was considered rude. "It''s amusing, isn''t it, Tyler?"

    "Sir?" Tyler asked.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "The irony," Ryan said.

    "What irony?" Tyler asked, though Ryan could tell from his servant''s emotions that the other teen knew exactly what Ryan was referring to.

    "The rudeness of staring at someone over a rudeness committed," Ryan said. "At least, a perceived rudeness. I am a guest here, so I should respect their rules. But as a guest, I should be entitled to certain accommodations, yes? Also, that is a rather nice painting. Is it a Vental?"

    "No, it is a Moolde," came Damien''s response, causing Ryan to chuckle.

    Because Families were wealthy, especially the main family within each one, he knew there had been a high chance of there being a painting in his line of sight. He couldn''t resist asking because of that, and was delighted to know he was correct.

    "Ryan," the teen''s father said. "Please remember that you are a guest here."

    "Right," Ryan nodded. "That means we''re served first, right?"

    "I apologize in advance for the headache Ryan will be," his father said, and Ryan guessed the man was talking to Damien. "He doesn''t interact with people often."

    "Nah," Ryan grinned. "It was all those times you accidentally set me on fire as a baby. Burning like that can do some funky stuff to your brain."

    "You were never set on fire as a baby," his father said.

    "Huh," Ryan said. "I guess I was misremembering it. You were zapping me with lightning, then. Ah, yes! The good ol'' shock treatment! I was crying too much, I think it was."

    "That is quite alright," Damien said, and Ryan sensed that he was being semi-ignored at that point. "It is no trouble at all. And now that we are all here, we can begin dinner."

    Dinner passed mostly in silence, as two parties appraised each other and Ryan focused on eating with minimal issues. Much of what was eaten on the islands were grown or caught there, consisting a lot of tropical fruits and fish, with rice imported from elsewhere.

    Not food he was accustomed to.

    After dinner, Damien asked to speak with Samuel, so Ryan and Tyler took their leave, returning to the guest house they were staying in.

    "Let''s change into our board shorts," Ryan told Tyler. "I want to relax on a beach."

    "Let me grab them from our bags," Tyler told Ryan.

    Ryan expanded his elemental senses of water and air, then navigated to the bed, stumbling a little as he sat on it. His ability to just distance with the senses needed working on, but he knew he would manage in time. Humans spent the first several years of their lives learning how to judge the distance on instinct, he had only a couple of months'' worth of time to learn how to judge distance consciously.

    By the time he finished his training, however, he knew he would probably be as natural at navigating with his elemental senses as most people were with their eyes.

    He undressed as he listened to Tyler unzip their suitcases and rummage through their clothes. It seemed to be taking the servant a few minutes to locate the board shorts, and even without his empathy reaching the other teen, Ryan could sense his frustration. Tyler was within the range of his elemental senses, and while he couldn''t make out facial expressions as well, he could see the jerky movements of his servant and detect the aggravated breaths.

    "Everything alright?" Ryan asked as he marveled at the softness of the blanket against his bare skin. With them being in salty air and on a beach, he had not expected quality of bed clothes as high as what they were receiving. "You seem rather frustrated."

    "Sorry, sir," Tyler''s movements stopped, and Ryan both heard and sensed the deep breaths. "I had anticipated you wanting to go to the beach soon after arrival and placed our board shorts together, at the top of one of the suitcases, but I can''t seem to find them. This is why I hate it when the other servants go through our things."

    Before they had left, Ryan''s father had a servant check their bags to make sure everything they needed was packed. They didn''t have enough time for Tyler to check everything after that because of Ryan''s impatience that morning, causing the teen to feel bad.

    "Sorry, Tyler," Ryan said. "I should have given you time to make sure everything was okay with our luggage."

    "It''s fine, Ryan," Tyler said. "The blame is on the other servants, not you. Everything was packed very specifically, and they should have known not to mess with the order of things. What if you had been the one to pack your stuff, and were going to be going through it?"

    "I''ll inform my father when he says his goodbye," Ryan told Tyler. "You''re right about that."

    They had eight suitcases for the trip, and he knew Tyler had already searched through three of them. Thinking back to what he had listened to that morning as the servants went through things, he tried to figure out which one the shorts had been moved to.

    "There is a medium-sized suitcase," Ryan said. "With a zipper that catches slightly. Did you already go through that one?"

    "A zipper that catches slightly?" Tyler asked. "I haven''t noticed that."

    "When you''re unzipping it," Ryan said. "It catches slightly just before you''re halfway done. I''m assuming it''s medium-sized, as the unzipping takes less time than most of the others."

    "There are four medium-sized ones," Tyler told Ryan.

    "Try opening all four," Ryan told him. "To a little past halfway."

    Tyler did, and Ryan stopped him on the second one.

    "That''s the one that catches," he said. "They''re not in that one. They''re also not in the one which has some toiletries in it, leaving one of the other two medium-sized suitcases."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded, and Ryan sensed him moving to check the other suitcases.

    After locating the one with the toiletries, Tyler checked the first one he had opened, and was halfway through it before he sighed, pulling the board shorts out.

    "Here we are, Ryan," he said, then walked over to Ryan and grabbed one of his master''s hands, placing the board shorts in them. "There are strings in the front of it, so that you know which side is the front."

    "Thank you," Ryan pulled his board shorts on as Tyler began to undress to change into them.

    His servant had just finished stripping naked when someone knocked on the door, starling both of them.

    "Finish pulling them on," Ryan told his servant. "Then answer. It''s likely my father, and he probably doesn''t want to see your naked ass."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded and obeyed. Ryan heard the door open a minute later, as the visitor knocked a third time. "Hello, Mr. Novar. My apologies for the delay, I was changing into board shorts at the time, and Ryan told me to finish as he did not feel I would be comfortable answering the door naked."

    "That is quite alright," Ryan heard his father''s voice as the man entered the building. "What happened to your luggage?"

    "The servant who checked it," Ryan answered as he heard the door click shut. "Before we left moved things around. The board shorts weren''t where Tyler had placed them, and he had to go through several suitcases to find them. Because we were hurrying out the door this morning, Tyler didn''t have time to go through the suitcases and put everything back to how they had been. Could you inform the servants doing checks in the future to not move things around, no matter how much they want it to be sorted that way and how incompetent they might think Tyler is? He put the board shorts where he did to make them easy to grab for us. And if it had been me who packed things, and then went through, I would not know where anything was at all."

    "I will do that," his father responded. "I wanted to let you know that I am heading home now. Damien will be traveling with me to the airport so that we can discuss some things. I heard that Nicholas Demani is here. I want you two to be careful of him. He might be more problematic than the Mieria."

    "We met him earlier," Ryan told his father. "He said he''s here studying water elementals after a few moved into his territory. He also coincidentally was owed a favor by Damien from just recently."

    "Make sure such a thing doesn''t occur with you," his father said.

    "It won''t," Ryan smiled. "I can promise you that, Father. Nicholas will not be able to earn a favor from me."

    "Don''t let your arrogance get in your way," his father said. "This is the first time you might be directly dealing with someone-"

    "This isn''t arrogance, Father," Ryan said. "I have a guaranteed way to ensure no favors are earned from me."

    Ryan wouldn''t honor a favor earned through an event not experienced. If he reset time, the then thing which caused the favor never happened, and thus, the favor never existed.

    "Keep an eye on him," Ryan''s father said, and Ryan noticed his father facing in the direction of Tyler. "I know your friendship with him gives you a bit more leeway with how you treat him than other servants, and I trust you know how to keep him from getting into too much trouble."

    "I will do my best, sir," Tyler responded.

    "Thank you," Ryan''s father said. "Enjoy your evening, boys."

    "You as well, Father," Ryan said, then heard the door open for a moment, then close again. "Come on, Tyler. I want to experience the beach for the first time."

 0013

    Ryan waited for Tyler to pack a few things for the beach, then allowed his servant to take his arm and guide him to the shore, the sounds of the ocean growing louder as they drew nearer. For his first experience on a beach, Ryan wanted to lay on a towel rather than a beach chair, so when they arrived, he waited for Tyler to spread a towel out.

    "You can enjoy the beach," Ryan told Tyler. "I am going to relax here."

    "It would not do for-"

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "Screw what other people think of you enjoying the beach. I''m sure you''ve wanted to do this for awhile. I''m near enough to the shore that you shouldn''t have an issue with being too far away."

    "Sir," Tyler began.

    "Tyler," Ryan spoke firmly. "Practice water magics if you want to feel like you are doing your job. I know it''s night, but you can still enjoy the beach. I want to listen to the sounds of the ocean, and I won''t mind the sounds of you training. Okay? Just relax and enjoy yourself. You''ll be close enough that it won''t be an issue if something happens."

    He heard his servant sigh.

    "Yes, sir," Tyler said.

    "Now go," Ryan lay on the towel. "Enjoy yourself."

    The sound of Tyler walking barefoot on the sand after removing his shoes was an interesting one to Ryan, who then removed his own shoes and moved them next to Tyler''s, before laying back down.

    For several minutes, he listened to the sounds of the waves splashing against the shores of the island, a gull which called out every now and then, and some splashing in the water, which he assumed was his servant''s training. Some new sounds, some old.

    The feel of the sand beneath the towel was a strange one to Ryan. He had never before lay on a surface which shifted so readily to his movements yet wasn''t soft or plush as well. It wasn''t an unpleasant feeling, but not one he thought was pleasant. At the same time, he enjoyed the sensation.

    With his natural curiosity of new things, Ryan soon found himself climbing off the blanket and laying beside it, on the sand directly. The sand was grainy and rubbed at his skin. Not quite comfortable, yet something he enjoyed. A new texture, one unlike the soft, fine sands in the zen garden at the main estate. Ryan wasn''t a fan of the zen garden, and had only felt its sands with his hands before. One of the main reasons a zen garden worked was because of its look and the calmness that rose from changing that look. Something which didn''t work for him.

    The teen''s curiosity growing even more, he began scooping sand up with a hand and dumping it on himself, first on his legs, working until they and his feet were completely covered. He resorted to magic for it, pulling the sand with magic to bring it from further away. At first, he used telekinesis, but that was tedious. Rather than being able to simply grab an item and move it, he had to create a telekinetic scoop, aim it, scoop it, then move it, over and over.

    So he began working on manipulating the sand. He removed his sense of air and added in his sense of earth, allowing him to sense every grain of sand within his ten-foot range. From there, he focused on manipulating the sand, his first attempt at actually using an element beyond for just his senses.

    Doing so took him a few minutes, but once he did, gathering up the sand to pour on himself became easier. Several times, he created a small wave of sand, pulling from as far as he could sense. As he drew near completion of his quest, Ryan manipulated the sand beneath his head to form into a pillow, so that his head was elevated a little. He let his head rest on there, then finished covering himself up through his neck in sand.

    It wasn''t until he finished that he realized Tyler hadn''t made a comment at all during it. Either his servant had noticed and didn''t say anything, or his servant had listened to his commands and was enjoying the beach to the point that he was no longer paying attention to Ryan.

    Either answer pleased him.

    Ryan decided he didn''t quite like the feel of the grains of sand around him, but he did enjoy being entombed in it. It was a strange feeling, to not be able to move much of his body. Breathing had become more difficult, as he needed to force bigger breaths. He began to reshape the sand on torso to create a small space between his tomb and his chest and stomach.

    When he did, he found that the sand just sank back down onto him. That didn''t deter him, however. Ryan was a Novar and a Divine in all elements. If there was a way for him to create that small space, he would succeed.

    So, for the next hour, he worked, playing around with earth magic until he succeeded in his goal. While he came up with several solutions, the one he found most viable was to simply sustain a hold on the sand with his magic, rather than anything else he attempted or thought up. Not only was it the most feasible one for the task which he found, but it would help him train his magic, which was part of the reason he was on the islands.

    Why only focus on water magics simply because that was what he traveled there to train?

    As Ryan waited for his servant to finish whatever the other teen was doing, he noticed something entering the range of his elemental senses a few times. A water elemental, though he couldn''t be certain if it was the same one or not. It would come to around nine feet of him, then drift away. Then come back on another side of him a few seconds later.

    That continued for several minutes, the elemental drawing closer little by little with each return, and then Ryan realized that it was definitely several elementals. They began traveling close to him two at a time.

    Hoping the elementals were just curious, he reached out with his empathy. He had sensed a mind in the one before, but hadn''t paid attention to what it was feeling. If the elementals were hostile, aggravated, angry, or something similar, he wanted to know.

    What he found instead was an emptiness. While he could sense their minds, it couldn''t find a read on their emotions. When he attempted to use telepathy to read their thoughts, that failed as well. The elementals had minds, but there was nothing there.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Or was his failure simply because of other reasons? They had no physical brain ¨C at least, not in the sense that animals did. Was it possible that their minds were simply incompatible with each other?

    The elementals continued to draw nearer and nearer to Ryan, and he finally managed to count six of them. They formed a ring around him and began to spin around, and he noticed them creating small fluctuations in their water as they did.

    Not just on one side, but throughout. Elementals were three-dimensional forces of an element, and the strange changes to their water seemed to occur in groups within an elemental, but all over them. On the outside, on the inside, above and below ¨C all over.

    Something only someone who could sense the element would notice, as they would be the only one able to notice all shifts at once, including the ones hidden within them. The only ones able to see actual patterns, rather than just repeated forms in a spot or two.

    That intrigued him, and he wanted to know the reason for that. It resembled some of what the elemental he first met did. In fact, it almost resembledˇ­

    Language.

    Ryan began to pay attention to all of the elementals, his physical adaptation to his new senses allowing him to process everything going on all around him the same as a human would process what they could see. When he did, he confirmed they were communicating through the shifts in water.

    It took him time, but he began to track the conversation, even if he couldn''t understand it. They were talking simultaneously, but he was able to tell responses by how quickly they formed in an elemental after another did something.

    He knew it was possible he was imagining the conversation, and that the shifts in their water, the formations they created and absorbed back in, could mean absolutely nothing. But he hoped he was right, if for no other reason than being right.

    If the elementals could speak, then he could learn their language. If he could learn their language, then he could learn from them on a level no one else could. He could ask them for guidance, for help.

    He could ask for their help in turning him into a master of the elements in addition to a master of high magics. Another step on his way to becoming the second Gray Mage.

    Eventually, the elementals did what he felt was a strange, yet giddy dance, then left, leaving him baffled. They all performed the same shifts to their waters at the same time before leaving, something which only increased his theory they were communicating. Their movements made him think of laughter, and they did it together.

    "Sir!" Ryan heard Tyler''s panicked voice as footsteps slapped at the sand, drawing closer. "Sir! Are you okay? Did the elementals do this to you?"

    "No," Ryan answered. "I did this to me. That was the most amazing experience I have ever had before, though. Never in my entire life did I think that elementals would do a ritual dance around me. I wonder who they were planning on offering me to. Do they have gods?"

    His servant sighed, and Ryan snorted. He could sense through his sense of water Tyler putting his hand to his forehead even before he heard the light touch.

    "So that is what a facepalm looks like."

    "Yes," Tyler snorted, his hand quickly jerking away from his head. "That is a facepalm, sir. You did this to yourself?"

    "You only now noticed?" Ryan asked. "I thought you were busy keeping an eye on me?"

    "I-sorry," Ryan felt his servant''s embarrassment and shame. "I failed in my duties, Ryan."

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "I effectively put you on break. You didn''t fail in your duties, you weren''t required to perform them at the time. Though I do wonder who they were planning on sacrificing me to. How long before they left did you notice?"

    "Right before," Tyler answered. "I happened to look over, notice you weren''t on the towel, then noticed them. A few seconds later, they left."

    In other words, the elementals did their strange dance at the end once Tyler saw them, then left. If his theory about them was correct, then the elementals were probably laughing at how long it had taken Tyler to notice. Or it could just be coincidence, or they were acting like mischievous kids who got caught and were running away in panic.

    Any number of things, but Ryan favored the idea of them laughing at Tyler taking so long to notice, then running away. It was something he would do, if he could.

    "Are you able to breathe okay?" Tyler asked. "That''s a lot of sand on your chest."

    "Not much," Ryan said. "And I''m supporting it with earth magics. That''s how I managed to coat myself. Want me to do the same to you? It is very strange, Tyler. Rather than sensing a solid block beneath me and around me, I am sensing every last grain of sand."

    "Sand?" Tyler asked as Ryan sensed his servant''s confusion. He watched his servant''s head move around, checking for someone nearby before looking back to Ryan. "Sir, you said your sense was for water. Are you saying you can sense all elements?"

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "I trust you not to share this secret. I do have to actively sustain the spell, however. I can manage two at once for an indefinite period of time. I''ve gone for up to six hours without rest. It does cause a mild headache. I can also manage three at once, but only for around ten minutes, then I need to rest for around twenty before I can do it again. I plan on building up my sensing stamina while we''re here. Are you sure you don''t wish to join me as a sacrifice to the elementals'' gods?"

    "No, sir," Tyler responded. "Thank you for the offer, though."

    "Okay," Ryan said. "Did you enjoy the last couple of hours?"

    "Yes, sir," Tyler answered, and Ryan could sense a slight elevation in his servant''s happiness. "I did a bit of swimming, but mostly practiced my water magics. I suppose I got too into it after awhile, to not noticeˇ­ things."

    "It''s quite alright," Ryan smiled. "You were having fun, which matters to me, Tyler. You don''t get any real breaks often. Much of while we''re here, if I''m just relaxing, you can take a break from your work as well. Expect us to be at the beach a lot. I might call upon you, but you''ll have plenty of time to enjoy yourself. This is as much my treat as it is yours."

    "Thank you, sir," Tyler said, and Ryan yawned. "Should we be heading back?"

    "Let''s," Ryan responded. "Sustaining this spell for so long after such a long day, I''ll probably pass out as soon as I lie down."

    Ryan shifted the sand off of him, then waited for Tyler to grab their things. They walked to an outdoor shower to wash the sand off, then stepped onto the path and walked back to their guest house. The pair decided not to put their shoes back on, and Ryan enjoyed the feel of the cool stone path beneath his feet.

    In their guest house, Ryan took a shower to actually get himself clean from the beach, and after he was dry, pulled on his night clothes, then told Tyler to take a shower. As much as he enjoyed his servant''s presence, he had become quite aware of the smell of the ocean. Of salt, fish, and something strange that he couldn''t quite place.

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded. "I''ll try to hurry, but if I do not make it out before you''re asleep, enjoy your dreams."

    "You as well," Ryan said. "I''m going to dream of something sweet, soft, and supple."

    He felt his servant''s discomfort and grinned, then made his way to the bed, climbed onto it, and laid down, pulling the covers over himself. He released his empathy, then traded his earth sense for air, adding in his sense of fire as well. Stretching the three elemental senses to their limits, Ryan wondered if he would need to reset earlier than planned.

    Despite not wanting to tell people what he could do, he had told his father and his servant. Both were people he trusted, though, so his doubts were quickly dismissed as he focused on pushing his limits even further, passing out moments after the three spells ended, their limits reached.

 0014

    "Tyler," Ryan nudged his servant''s arm. "What are those in the tree to our left and in front? The round things."

    He sensed his servant moving to look in the direction. Ryan had detected strange, roundish objects that were full of free-moving liquid, and wasn''t sure what they were.

    "Those are coconuts," his servant responded, looking at him. "Those are within your range?"

    "Just-barely," Ryan confirmed. "There was coconut juice in the smoothies we had this morning, right?"

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded.

    "I enjoyed those smoothies," Ryan commented, and they continued walking. "Are you enjoying the lessons?"

    Tyler took a few moments to respond, and Ryan could sense his servant''s indecision. They had been there for a week, and had only been on the island they were staying on until a few hours before, when they were taken to another island. At the moment, they were simply walking around, allowing Ryan to enjoy the smells and sounds around him.

    Each day they were there, Tyler spent two hours training with the water mages while Ryan listened in and trained his senses. Twice, he was close enough to observe the lessons and see how the water magics worked, both in the formation of the water and the manipulation of it. He even practiced a little while taking his showers at their guest house.

    "They are different than what I am used to," Tyler finally spoke. "The wizards here are clearly uncertain and wary of us, even if Damien seems amenable to our presence. Also, we''re being followed by a pair of water elementals, around fifteen feet back."

    "A little past my range, then," Ryan said. "They''re just following us?"

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded. "I noticed them when I was looking at the coconuts."

    They weren''t too far from Ryan''s range, which told him that either they knew his range, or they just happened to be that far coincidentally. Either way, he was curious about why they were following him.

    According to Nicholas and other residents, they shouldn''t worry too much about the elementals. They were mindless creatures that did whatever. They would avoid moving into people or objects, but otherwise seemed to move without a purpose. Sometimes, the elementals would gather up around people who were still for a period of time, and sometimes they would follow people, but there was no rhyme or reason, as far as anyone could tell.

    But Ryan knew differently. The elementals were creature with minds, and they seemed to be doing what they did for a reason. If he had to guess, he would say that they were just bored or making fun of people. He''d managed to get at least one water elemental near him each day he was there so far. At least one water elemental close enough for him to sense their patterns.

    He also felt confident that he could say a couple of things in their language. Unfortunately, he didn''t know if they were pleasant or not, as he didn''t actually know what they meant.

    "Is there anyone around?" Ryan asked.

    "No," his servant responded. "This island is uninhabited by people, mostly used for walking around and enjoying the scenery. We have it to ourselves today, so it is just us and the elementals."

    "Okay," Ryan released his sense of air and pushed at the limits of his sense of water, stretching it up to eighteen feet. The strain on his mind was high, but he knew from the last few days that he could sustain that range for around eight minutes. "I''m about to try to talk with them."

    "Whatever you''re doing, please don''t anger the embodiments of water," Tyler said. "I''d rather not drown because one of them became furious."

    "Only one way to find out," Ryan held up a hand and manifested water in twelve spots around him as he turned to face the elementals. "Wish me luck."

    The water took the form of small balls, roughly the size of ping-pong balls. Ryan manipulated all twelve of them simultaneously, creating what he knew seemed to be random patterns to his servant. He could feel his servant''s confusion at his actions, but felt a sense of pride when the elementals responded.

    They did the same thing they had done Ryan''s first night there, when Tyler finally noticed them. That confirmed to Ryan they were laughing, and certain other patterns were probably intended on mocking him. He imitated the unfamiliar patterns, and the elementals'' conversation ceased. While they continued to flow and ebb, their currents and balls continuing to shift, the twelve points Ryan had identified as communication points stilled, merging back into the elementals.

    "Ryan," Tyler spoke after a moment. "I''m not entirely certain, but it feels like the elementals are, uh, unhappy."

    "I''m not entirely certain what I just said," Ryan told his servant. "But I repeated what they said back at them. I think they were mocking us."

    Another minute passed, then the elemental on the left moved off to the side, lifting up a rock with one of its streams, before flinging it at Ryan.

    "Sir!" Tyler exclaimed, and Ryan sensed his servant''s magic rising up, a wall of water forming in front of Ryan, stopping the rock.

    "Interesting," Ryan said as the wall of water dropped to the ground, soaking their feet. He picked up the rock and examined it, then manipulated the twelve spots of water around him. "Like this, I think?"

    The elementals did something similar to their previous laughter movements, except the patterns of water shifted differently.

    "Quite interesting," Ryan said, then created a ball of water in front of him the size of a coconut. He made his balls of water repeat the rock action. "I wonderˇ­"

    He felt his servant''s confusion at the same time he sensed one of the elementals making a pattern similar to mocking, the other making a separate pattern altogether. Ryan pointed at the ball of water and repeated the new pattern, and the two elementals repeated their movements similar to their laughter.

    "So that is water," Ryan said, making the pattern again, then switching it to another as he held up the rock. "And this is rock. Or stone."

    "What?" Tyler asked.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "Their language," Ryan said. "The elemental was telling me how to say ''rock'' in their language. Or ''stone''. I think it threw the rock because of my previous comment, whatever that meant."

    Ryan dropped the rock and let the ball of water drop to the ground. His sneakers were already soaked, so he didn''t worry too much about that. He thought for a few moments, then lifted his right hand up and pointed at his eyes and made the patterns for rock and water.

    One of the elementals flew forward, and Ryan felt his servant''s panic, Tyler summoning up shards of ice instinctively. Ryan was impressed by his servant''s quick response. He also decided that his servant learned the lesson of not trying to use water magic against an embodiment of water when the elemental turned the ice to liquid and absorbed it.

    Ryan watched as the elemental shifted its communication spots, moving them to new locations as it surrounded Tyler and began poking and prodding at the servant. The teen did his best to keep up with its changes, grateful for his decent memory.

    Whenever the elemental stopped for a few moments, Ryan would point at part of his own body or outfit as he made a pattern. Either the elemental would mock him as it pointed at the respective part on Tyler and did the correct pattern, or it would do what Ryan decided was a cheer of some sort.

    As the elemental taught Ryan, he pulled in his sense of water back to a manageable range, no longer able to detect the other. He paid attention to the one in front of him, sensing both its water and its blank mind. Those, and his servant''s frustration, annoyance, and fear.

    By the time the elemental seemed content with Ryan''s education, the teen could tell his servant was near the breaking point. The elemental drifted away, moving just a few feet from Ryan, and his servant dropped to his knees, then fell forward, catching himself with his arms as he stared at the ground.

    "Sorry," Ryan knelt beside Tyler and put a hand on his servant''s back. "I didn''t know how to tell it to stop."

    "Whatˇ­ the fuckˇ­ was that?" Tyler gasped.

    "It was teaching me," Ryan asked. "I think they''re excited to have someone who can actually learn their language. Elementals probably don''t have the same issues we do, so it didn''t realize it was bothering you. That, or it didn''t care."

    "It''s still here," Tyler looked up. "They both are."

    "I pulled my sense back in," Ryan said. "So I can''t sense the other one right now. I think it''s done abusing you, though. If you want to wander around the island on your own, take a break, you''re more than welcome to. The only threat to me here is something you can''t handle, and they seem excited, now."

    "I don''t know," Tyler said, and Ryan noticed his servant looking at the elemental, nervousness clear in the other teen''s mind.

    "Tyler, take a break," Ryan ordered as he stood, pulling his servant to his feet. "You need it to calm down. I''ll be fine, I promise. They won''t do anything to me too bad."

    If he caught even the slightest whiff of it, he would reset time.

    He could tell Tyler was hesitant, but his servant gave in and walked off, looking back several times before Ryan could no longer detect him within his senses.

    "So," Ryan looked at the elementals. "What should I try to learn next?"

    As he looked around, he noticed the second elemental entering his range, and turned to face it Once he did, it stopped moving and did a type of wiggle. It took the mage a moment to realize it noticed he wasn''t seeing it and moved forward to see where he could see up to. When he turned to face it, the elemental knew he could see again.

    Which meant they had been out of his range out of coincidence.

    He returned to assessing his surroundings as he noticed the elementals talking, but figured they were conversing with each other, as only one was making communication patterns at a time. Most of the time. A few occasions, one would interrupt the other, their conversation overlapping for a moment.

    The mage found his target and aimed a finger. He could perform the spell with water, but that wouldn''t be enough. Focusing on his magic, he drew on the power of air within him and sliced with his finger, aiming at a coconut. It dropped out of a tree, and he walked over and picked it up, then showed it to the elementals.

    It took them a few seconds, but then he noticed both making the same pattern. A single communication spot, shaped into a sphere with a bit of water inside of it, sloshing around. The shell of a coconut, plus its milk. Ryan made the same pattern, then pointed at the coconut, and the elementals did their cheer-type response.

    "Excellent," he smiled. "I think we can work with this."

    Ryan began walking, picking up various items or pointing at various objects, and the elementals would give him a response. If he made the same pattern and pointed at the item, they would do their cheer. If his pattern didn''t match, they would repeat the pattern in what he quickly learned was an angry response.

    Especially after getting ''boulder'' wrong three times in a row on purpose, then finding himself doused with a high-pressure jet of water from both elementals.

    "I''m not sure what I was expecting," he said to no one in particular as he stood up. "But that wasn''t on the list!"

    As he was soaked through, Ryan pulled off his shirt, sneakers, and socks, then set them on the boulder to collect later. He would need to walk around the island for awhile with Tyler to locate them once more, but at least they would dry out. Since he had elected to wear his board shorts when learning he would be traveling to another island, he left those on.

    Ryan knew he would need to relearn much of what he had learned that day, but that didn''t bother him. He was learning a language that spoke without a voice with fellow mages who didn''t see with eyes. To him, the prospect of a proper conversation with elementals was exciting.

    That, and the idea that if he could learn to communicate with them fully, he may one day be able to properly sense their minds at some point as well. He really wanted to know what went on in their metaphorical heads.

    "Ryan!" The mage heard his servant exclaim, breathless. "Thank goodness!"

    "Is everything alright?" Ryan turned to face the direction he could hear his servant coming from.

    "I found your stuff," Tyler answered as he entered Ryan''s vision, and the mage noticed his shirt and shoes in his servant''s hands, his socks stuffed into the shoes. "And got worried that maybe you''d tried to go for a swim. They were close to the beach. Is everything alright?"

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "I''d gotten quite wet after annoying them once too many times, and so thought I''d strip down to not be walking around soaked."

    "You''re going to burn," Tyler told him. "You aren''t wearing any sunscreen. I have some in my pocket, you should-"

    "I''ll be fine," Ryan told his servant. "The elementals have been kind enough to wet me a bit anytime I start to dry, so I doubt I''ll burn too badly."

    "Sir-"

    "If I burn, it will be an excellent experience," Ryan told his servant. "A new one, which will teach me what it''s like to feel a sunburn. There is always a healer on standby on some of the islands, if the burn is too bad, then I will ask them to fix it when we return."

    His servant sighed, and Ryan noticed the servant turning his head to face the elementals. He couldn''t tell if Tyler''s eyes were on them, but guessed that they were due to that movement.

    "Don''t worry," Ryan told him. "They''re actually quite friendly. While I''ll probably relearn much of this, I''ve enjoyed myself quite a lot. And if Nicholas has any actual interest in studying the elementals, I''ll have reason to make him jealous, too!"

    He sensed his servant''s exasperation and his grin widened.

    "Let''s head back to the main island," Ryan said. "I''m hungry, and we''re well-past lunch."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler said as he took Ryan''s arm. "Let''s head to the dock."

    Ryan allowed himself to be led to the dock as he pulled in his elemental senses. The constant use of water magics in addition to the senses was giving him a headache, and he wanted to give himself some rest.

    They reached the dock after half an hour of walking, where a lone boat rested, the water mage who guided them to the island napping on it.

    "Sir," Tyler woke the mage up after helping Ryan onto the boat and a bench. "We''re ready to return to the main island, now."

    The water mage nodded, then untied the boat and began manipulating the currents to bring them back. Ryan, curious, extended his water sense just a little bit. He had sensed it when they arrived, and wanted to watch it again.

    The way the waves were shifted to move around the boat as more pushed it to guide it interested him. He hadn''t thought of water magic as having such an application, yet it was quite a useful one. Rather than wasting air crystals to move a small boat, they could simply use a water mage instead. Mana was a much more renewable resource than magic crystals, after all.

 0015

    When the boat reached the main island, Ryan pulled on his socks and sneakers, then waited for Tyler to help him out of the boat. They made their way to the main building for lunch, where a meal of sandwiches and fruit had been set out on the table in the dining room.

    Having rested some, Ryan stretched out his senses of air and water as they sat down, surprised to find someone else seated as well. Usually, others either grabbed lunch and left, or sat down and ate alone. It seemed to him that for the most part, lunch was an ''as you can'' ordeal. From what he could tell of their chest and the length of their hair, they were female.

    "Got them!" Ryan exclaimed as he grabbed a few sandwiches. "First try, too!"

    "Let me get the drink," Tyler said, before pouring it for Ryan. "Sandwiches are a bit different."

    "What''s today''s drink?" Ryan asked. "Or are you pouring me water?"

    "It''s a blend of juices from mangoes, oranges, and pineapples," the other diner answered. "You must be Ryan and Tyler."

    "I''m Ryan, this is my pet dog," Ryan said. "But he got cursed and turned into a person. We''re currently working on fixing that, though. And him. He has a habit of humping every woman he sees, so we have to give him the snip."

    "Please don''t make vulgar comments around women," Tyler whispered in Ryan''s ear as Ryan sensed his servant''s discomfort.

    "It''s okay, Tyler," Ryan said. "I''m just warning her not to fall for your devilish wiles. She should fall for my godly ones instead."

    He heard a snort from across the table, and decided to extend his empathy to its full range, noticing the amusement in her mind. Amusement, plus some curiosity.

    "I haven''t met any women here," Ryan said as Tyler sat beside him, serving his own lunch. "Who weren''t a part of the staff, and the staff isn''t allowed to eat at this table."

    "I''m Bethany Mieria," she introduced herself. "Damien is my uncle. After your father contacted his, he contacted my mother ¨C his sister ¨C and asked if I would be willing to come out as well. I only arrived a few hours ago, I had some other plans set up already for the last few days. It is partly to keep you company, partly to guide you around the islands, should you wish it. I grew up here, and would likely be much better company than the servants. They can be quite stiff, and my father wants your experience here to be pleasant."

    "Excellent!" Ryan said. "After lunch, we were going to travel to the island with the Heisar, if they were okay with that. I wanted to check it out and ask a few questions regarding it."

    "I can take you there," she told him. "I''m curious to see it myself, though I was briefed on it during the trip."

    "Then it''s settled!" Ryan declared. "After we give Tyler the snip, we''ll head on over!"

    "Sir," Tyler said, his master sensing the high amount of exasperation in the servant''s mind. "If you give me the snip, then I won''t be able to produce children, as you are so intent on having me do."

    "Right," Ryan said as he felt his servant''s mind turn to horror at having said that both in front of a lady and while not in private. "Then after we eat, we''ll head on over!"

    Ryan began eating, noting his servant taking a moment to start. They were left to their own devices outside of the training enough that Tyler had relaxed more than he normally did. Even the earlier incident didn''t do too much to revert that. While it might be seen as rude by others, no one would comment about it too strongly, not with him being Ryan''s servant.

    They finished their meal, then left, accompanied by Bethany. At the small docks on the back of the island, they boarded a boat, Bethany instructing the waiting mage to take them to Heisar Island.

    "That can''t be its name," Ryan commented as the mage began manipulating the water to propel the boat.

    "It is," she told him. "There are more than fifty islands here, and not all of them had names before. Heisar Island wasn''t used much, so it was just a number before the Heisar formed."

    "I see," Ryan said. "Do you know why they suspect manalirate is in it without knowing for sure? It''s only in one Heisar so far."

    "There is a creature," she explained. "Which is only found in a single Heisar ¨C the one with the manalirate, owned by Raxvar Corporation. At least, it was only found in a single Heisar. Now, it''s in two: the Raxvar Heisar and the Mieria Heisar. Uncle suspects there might be manalirate due to that. He says we''ll only know for sure if we find it, but it would be strange for this Heisar to have something only found in a single other one, and not something else unique to it. The only times creatures or plants are unique to a Heisar, there are several others which are as well."

    Ryan nodded at that explanation. From what he knew, the Novar Heisar had three unique things, including the metal used to make the wedding ring his father wore and the one his mother had worn. Psyron, or ''psychic iron''. It allowed his parents to communicate with each other, no matter the distance, with just a little mana. No need for a mind affinity at all. Any items made from the same piece of ore were connected to each other.

    A very rare metal, even in their own Heisar.

    While he wasn''t sure what the third unique item was, he did know that the second was a mushroom, which was turned into a drug by one of their branch families.

    On a few occasions, a new Heisar was found to have the unique items of another Heisar, and when they did, they contained all of the unique items from the other Heisar. If the Mieria Heisar had a creature unique to the Raxvar Heisar, then it was safe to assume it also contained manalirate.

    "The only way you''ll know for sure," Ryan said. "Is when your workers locate manalirate. That will likely take a couple of months, however, if it''s as deep in this Heisar as in the Raxvar''s."

    "We have the patience for that," she told him. "The only thing I hope for is that we''re able to protect the Heisar and keep it within the Family. While we trust you, your servant, and your father not to share the suspicions, if the Guilds found out we might have our own source of manalirate, they will wage war."Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    "Is that why your uncle accepted mine''s request?" Ryan asked. "He had only learned of it shortly before my father called, from what I hear."

    As soon as he asked that, he knew he could get the answer from her. For a week, he had tried to learn more, but no one was a suitable target. Damien himself mostly oversaw the Heisar, meaning he was on that island most of the time, and nearly everyone else ¨C from the mages teaching Tyler to the servants ¨C didn''t know such information.

    But with his inquiry, he sensed in her mind confusion, surprise, hesitation, and a hint of determination. No resistance, hostility, or anything else he would expect in someone who would not answer the question.

    "That is only part of it," she told him. "He would ordinarily have gone to the Veloas for protection rather than the Novar, and would have kept the Heisar a secret from you and your father, even if he agreed to allow you to visit a few of our islands."

    "So why didn''t he?" Ryan asked. "Why make us aware of it, even tell us about the suspicions?"

    "Because we''re likely nearing the end of the Third Age of Magic," she answered. "We''re in the year of 161 PGC, and each Age before has lasted around fifty years. Unless things remain as they are, the pattern is likely to hold. With the current state of the world, something will happen to shift the power. You simply can''t have three ruling classes lording over the same territory for too long.

    "My uncle knows our Family is weak," she continued. "Nearly all of us are water mages of the Basic Tier, with a few of us standing in the Advanced Tier. I am only Tier 5 in water. Our combat ability isn''t great. If war comes to Earth, then we will be targeted, especially because we have a Heisar ¨C even if it doesn''t have manalirate."

    She stopped there, and Ryan waited a minute for her to continue with her explanation.

    "That doesn''t quite answer the question," he said when she remained silent.

    "Part of it," she said. "Did come from your father contacting my uncle so soon after. Part came from the fact that the Families near our own properties are allied with yours."

    "Yet he still should have gone to the Veloas," Ryan said. "I''m not seeing a strong reason for your uncle to be willing to divulge so much to my father."

    He could sense her contemplation on how to word what was next. It was something sensitive, but not in a secret way. He was sure of that. She wanted to tell him, just didn''t know how to say it. Whatever other reason there was, Ryan knowing it might cause an issue.

    "My family did not always have an issue with yours," Bethany eventually told him. "Your mother, Elise, had been engaged to my uncle. Your father decided he wanted her, and so he took her. As the heir to the Novar Family, he had that authority. She was a fourth cousin of his, and as a member of a branch family, she had to marry him. They were nineteen at the time. It''s been twenty-eight years since then, and my father has hated yours because of that ever since."

    "Memories can be altered with time," Ryan said. "But it always seemed like she genuinely loved him."

    "From what Uncle says, she did," Bethany responded. "He hated that. He hated seeing her love your father rather than him. She had romanced him, and he had romanced her. Then your father took her. He didn''t do anything outright, but Uncle decided then that we wouldn''t do dealings with your family."

    Ryan thought about that. He still had to get his question answered, but he wondered how differently his life would have been had he been born between his mother and Damien rather than his mother and his father. He probably wouldn''t be blind, but he also probably wouldn''t be as powerful. His personality would no doubt be different. Different biology, different education, different growth and settings.

    A different person entirely.

    "And he suddenly decided to put that behind him?" Tyler asked, and Ryan felt his servant''s embarrassment and nerves. "My apologies, that came out before I could stop it."

    "It is fine," Ryan said. "I am wondering the same thing."

    "When my uncle found out you were blind," Bethany told Ryan, and he felt her nervousness increasing. "He was actually relieved. From what I hear, he made a rather unpleasant comment, including how your family is effectively dead. As soon as you became Family Head, the rest of the family ¨C all of its branches ¨C would effectively begin a war to take that spot from you. No child of yours would ever be seen as head."

    "That is true," Ryan said. "It would take something quite potent to change how people view me and any children I have."

    Which was why he wanted to become the second Gray Mage. As a being with that much power, no one would be able to contest him, ever.

    "It also makes it effectively impossible for you to marry within your own Family," she said. "The main reason my uncle hated your father for what he did was because the marriage between my uncle and your mother was supposed to join our families into one. My uncle would have been fine as a branch family up until your father did that."

    "And now he wants to try again?" Ryan asked.

    "Nearly every non-servant cousin of yours around our age," she said. "Is being mentioned as having marriage arrangements made. There isn''t a single rumor of you having one. My uncle says that, while we can''t change the past, we need to look at the future. And right now, the future says the world is going to go to war. The first true worldwide war since before the Great Collapse. Strategically, the best thing for the Families with the coming war would be if the Novar and the Veloas Families united.

    "That means," she continued. "That your family and the Veloas are no doubt going to merge into a single one. A force that controls more than half of Earth''s underworld. My uncle is faced with a decision: try to merge into the Veloas Family, or try to merge into the Novar Family. Remaining independent or as an ally would only invite us to be attacked. We need to be part of something powerful, not just an alliance. Not with our Heisar, and especially not if it has manalirate in it. The first step of the war would be securing every resource possible, and Heisars are resources which renew themselves."

    Ryan pieced everything together then. Damien lost the chance at merging into the Novar Family when he was a teen, having only just begun his time at college, no doubt. With the changing tides, and the suspicion that the two most powerful Families were merging, he wanted to try that again. If not his own heir, then another member of his family.

    Bethany. The reason she was there was an attempt to seduce Ryan, or at least, to loosen him up to the idea of marrying her. Without any actual prospects for marriage, they no doubt suspected the teen would be willing to marry anyone who showed interest in him. If Ryan and Bethany had a child, even if they didn''t take over as head and the child of the Veloas and Novar did, it would still be what Damien had wanted three decades prior.

    Which is why it made sense for Damien to want to let Ryan stay there for a few months. It would give his niece time to seduce him. If that failed, then it was possible that Damien would end up marrying his line into the Veloas, only for it to merge into the Novar later. At that point, however, it wouldn''t truly be a marriage between the Novars and the Mierias.

    The teen didn''t mind that sort of manipulation, and was surprised that Bethany was up-front about it. A moment of thought later, however, and he realized that she didn''t feel comfortable trying to seduce him for that. She would do it anyway, but she at least wanted him aware of the situation.

    He decided he would play along for his time with the Mierias. When he finished his resets of the time period, he would pursue Kayla, because he wanted the powerful child that would result from their union. That would leave Jonathan without a bride, and even if he was only a cousin, he was still a Novar.

    In the final run, Ryan would arrange for Jonathan to marry Bethany. It would add one more Family to the full might of the Novars, it would help Damien overcome his dislike of the Novars and accomplish what he had wanted thirty years prior, and Ryan would get what he wanted.

    "As it''s clear," Ryan said. "That the reason you''re here is to accomplish your uncle''s old goal of merging your bloodline into mine, I''m curious, Bethany. Do you have an issue with being married off politically?"

 0016

    "Only mildly," Bethany answered Ryan''s question almost immediately. "If you weren''t as attractive, maybe a bit."

    "Thanks," Ryan said. "I''m not certain of how I look, but I''ve been told that exercising regularly has given me a toned body that is not unpleasant to look at. Sadly, I cannot say for sure, as any time I look into a mirror, I don''t see my reflection. There are two possibilities there. The first is that I''m so damn good looking, the mirror can''t reflect it properly, and ends up confused and just not reflecting it at all. The second is that I''m so damn ugly, the mirror is too horrified to show me out of fear of what I''d do in response. Wait, no, three. I could be a vampire, as I''ve heard those don''t have reflections, either."

    "You exercise?" Bethany asked, and he felt her embarrassment mixed in with her amusement. "Sorry."

    "It''s fine," he smiled. "I don''t really use equipment. I do some pushups, crunches, planks, and squats, along with a few stretches. From time to time, I also use a pullup bar. Mostly what others would consider ''warm-up exercises''. I try to do it at least four or five mornings a week, when I first wake up. Tyler helps me."

    "Do you mind if I ask how you use the pullup bar?" She asked.

    "Same way you would, probably," he answered. "If you mean how I get on it, I use a stool, then Tyler takes it out from under me. Do you mind if I ask what you think of my looks? In true honesty?"

    "You''re attractive," she told him. "Maybe not as hot as your servant, but definitely above average. I''d say that the only thing off-putting about you is how your eyes tend to wander to a spot, then remain on that unwavering for awhile, but I understand that you can''t exactly control that."

    "I do enjoy how uncomfortable it makes people," he grins. "The atmosphere of a room can tell a lot, too. So Tyler has a hotter body than me?"

    "He does," she told him. "Even with a shirt on, I can tell that he''s got a little more muscle than you, and not to the point where it''s obscene."

    "So if you had to pick," Ryan said. "Between him and me for your husband based off looks alone and nothing else?"

    "I''d pick him," she answered, and Ryan sensed Tyler''s discomfort rising quickly.

    "Sadly," Ryan said. "Tyler is disinterested in having romance, and even the topic of it makes him uncomfortable. He''s too set into his servant''s mindset, even if I see him as a friend more than a servant. But, hey! I''m available and don''t have that issue. And I''m a Novar.

    "To be serious for a moment," he said. "And yes, I know, it''s such a shock for me to be, but to be seriousˇ­ what do you think of being used that way, Bethany? Are you really fine with being married off to meet your uncle''s goals?"

    "I don''t have much choice," she said. "And as I said before, you aren''t unattractive. You have a nice body, and from what I''ve been told, you seem a decent person. At least, for a member of the Families."

    "I''ll take that as a compliment," he smiled. "And the implied statement is true. I''m doing my own planning and plotting, even as we speak. Not even Tyler knows the full extent of said plotting. He can probably guess at some of it, though. Tyler, hazard a guess."

    "It is not my place to do that," Tyler said.

    "You''d have no issue saying it if we were alone," Ryan said. "Come on, hazard a guess. What do you think I''m plotting?"

    "It is not my place to make such a statement," Tyler said, and Ryan felt his servant''s discomfort growing as his servant looked between him and Bethany.

    "If you''re worried about offending her, don''t," Ryan nudged his servant. "Come on, hazard a guess."

    Tyler sighed, and Ryan grinned.

    "You''re probably trying to figure out how to convince her to join you in bed tonight," Tyler finally said. "Because you now know that there''s someone who will sleep with you, even if only for a political union of your families. That is the only thing I can come up with based on what I know of you, sir."

    "He''s right," Ryan told Bethany. "So how about it? When we get back to the main island, want to come to my room with me? I don''t promise to be an expert, but I can promise pleasure."

    "While my uncle," she said. "Would be pleased if I got pregnant with your child, I would prefer to wait to at least see how today goes."

    "And if it goes well?" He asked.

    "Then maybe I will," she told him, and he sensed a moment of hesitation in her mind. "How old are you?"

    "Six thousand, five hundred, and eighty-two."

    "He''s eighteen," Tyler responded.

    "That''s what I said."

    "No, it''s not."

    "Ryan," Bethany said. "Did you just give your age in days?"

    "Perhaps," he smiled a little.

    "How did you even know that?" Tyler asked.

    "I plucked it from the depths of my mind," Ryan answered, uncertain as to how he knew it, himself. He supposed it had to do with being a chronomancer. He could even tell how many minutes he had been alive. And seconds. "What about you, Bethany? How old are you?"

    "I''m nearly nineteen," she answered. "I''ll turn it a little after you leave here, and we''re almost to the island."

    "Shame I''ll miss your birthday," he said. "I''ll make sure to send you a gift, though. If everything works out."If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    He wouldn''t be sending that gift, but he wasn''t going to say that. Ryan knew he had to play the part of someone who wasn''t resetting time again and again. Otherwise, people might get suspicious, and if things went too far, he''d need to reset early.

    "Thank you," she said as the boat began to slow down. "Here we are."

    The boat stopped, and Ryan waited for Tyler to help him off the boat. As they stepped onto the docks, Ryan generated water over the mouth and nose of the mage who had driven the boat. The mage began to struggle against the spell as Ryan stretched, as if unaware of it. He kept the spell running, the mage inhaling water, more replacing it immediately. He could sense the confusion of his servant and of Bethany, as well as the panic of the other mage.

    It didn''t take longer for the mage to collapse onto the boat, and Ryan continued suffocating and drowning him until he no longer sensed the mage''s mind.

    "What the fuck?" Tyler muttered.

    "He heard too much," Ryan said, and both of them turned to face him. "So I killed him to ensure anything sensitive spoken was not to be shared, even if only among the servants. I trust Tyler, and they are Bethany''s family''s secrets."

    "How did you aim that?" Bethany asked. "Your back was to the boat."

    "Magic is magic," Ryan said. "It is flexible, it is bendable, and it obeys my will. When it wants to. Tyler, my arm? Bethany, guide the way?"

    Tyler took Ryan''s arm to help him as Bethany led them through the foliage of the island. Ryan looked through his senses of water and air, uneasy. There was a feel to the air which disturbed him. It had begun on the boat as they drew near the island, but on the island, it became denser and denser.

    He frowned as he thought that. The feeling was getting denser. That meant it wasn''t just an unnerving feeling. There was something tangible he was sensing. At least, as tangible as magic might be. While he wasn''t certain what it was, he knew it had to be magical in nature for him to sense it that strongly.

    Tyler and Bethany didn''t seem nervous or uneasy at all, which told him that whatever it was, he alone could sense it. Ryan pulled in his elemental senses, yet continued to sense whatever it was. He gave a soft sigh, then stretched his senses of air and water back out.

    After twenty minutes of walking, the trio reached an open area, and Ryan saw a water elemental almost immediately, as it decided to drift into his view. It performed a series of patterns he only recognized half of, then drifted away.

    "Bethany!" Ryan heard Damien call out from somewhere to his left and front. "You''ve arrived!"

    "Hello, Uncle Damien," Bethany said as they walked towards him. Ryan could tell that Tyler was looking at something to their right, his head constantly turning over, then back to in front of them, curiosity in the servant''s mind. "Ryan and I met at lunch, and we were both curious about the Heisar. So this is it?"

    "It is," Damien said as Ryan began to detect Damien''s form within his elemental senses. The man was looking at Ryan, and the teen could sense the family head''s curiosity. "I know you''ve never been near your family''s Hesiar, so I suppose this confirms you really don''t have sight. Sorry if that sounds rude, Ryan, but there were a few of us who weren''t sure if it wasn''t just a trick by your family."

    "How close is the Heisar?" Ryan leaned his head towards Tyler, his voice lowered.

    "About fifteen feet to our right," his servant answered.

    Ryan nodded, then stretched his sense of water out as he pulled in his sense of air. After fifteen feet, the ground fell away, but otherwise, the air''s moisture content remained the same.

    "No worries, Damien," Ryan said as he pulled his sense back to the manageable range and extended his sense of air back out. "By the way, I may have broken one of your servants."

    "Broken one of them?" Damien asked, confusion clear in his mind.

    "Yes," Bethany responded. "He overheard some stuff he shouldn''t have. A conversation between Ryan and myself on our way here. I told him why I''m here."

    "I see," Damien said.

    "Don''t worry," Ryan smiled as he sensed worry in the man''s mind. "It doesn''t bother me too much, and I won''t tell Father. At least, not if all goes well here. Now, on to the topic of the Heisar. Something that''s always made me curious, Damien, but what causes Heisars? I''ve never studied them much, and have never had too much reason to. I know Father is going to teach me sometime in the next few years, as I''ll need to know stuff relating to them for when I take over as head, but since I''m here, I figure, why not ask?"

    "Come," Damien said, and Ryan noticed him beckoning, then sensed the man''s embarrassment. He smiled a little, which only increased Damien''s embarrassment. "There are some seats set up over this way."

    Damien led Ryan to the seats, and Ryan sat, Tyler sitting to his left, and Bethany sat to his right. Fruity drinks were brought to them before Damien began to explain, sitting in front of Ryan.

    "A Heisar," Damien said. "As you know, is essentially a giant well of resources. They form randomly, and we only know their width at the start. We can only discover their depths by digging down and exploring them. As we do, we discover resources within them. Most are resources shared by other Heisars, but some Heisars have unique items, or items that only appear in them or maybe one or two others.

    "How those form," Damien said. "Was a mystery at first. Over the last century, however, much studying has been done, and theories have been formed about it. The most credible theory is that a Heisar is a resource sink for Earth itself."

    "A resource sink?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Damien said, and Ryan saw him nod, then a quick flush of embarrassment hit the man''s mind. Ryan gave a small smile, increasing that feeling in the man. "Mages at Tier Five and above can generate resources. You can create fire, water, earth, air, light, and energy. While some of those dissipate naturally, all of it is done through magic. Through mana. An intangible thing. But what about the excess water, earth, and air that''s around?

    "A magic crystal," Damien continued, pulling an object from his pocket. Ryan could only sense its vague dimensions through the way the water in the air formed a void and the way the air brushed against it, but he guessed it was a magic crystal, one around half the size of his fist. "Is a source of an element. Not one which generates it under normal circumstances, but which can bolster it. A water crystal like the one I''m holding can purify an immense amount of water. You can plant it in the ground to increase soil moisture. You can feed it to certain creatures. You can-"

    He cut off as a water elemental entered Ryan''s senses, drifted over to Damien, and extended a tendril of water, pulling the water crystal out of the man''s hand before drifting off.

    "-have it stolen by a water elemental," Damien sighed. "This is the fourth time since this thing formed one''s stolen a water crystal we''ve pulled from it."

    "A water elemental just stole one?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Damien responded. "We aren''t sure why they''re doing it, either. They take it somewhere else and then just drop it. The incident yesterday involved one taking an entire box of them, then plucking the crystals out and throwing them at a tree. We collected them again once it left."

    "Who knows what causes elementals to do what they do?" Ryan asked as he made a mental note to ask the elementals what they were doing once he was capable enough. "So what you were saying, Damien, is that magic crystals is used magic?"

    "That''s one way of wording it," Damien said. "The current theory is that Earth takes any excess elements and condenses them down into these crystals or imbues them into plants and animals, the high levels of ambient magic in the Heisar causing the formations of the creatures and items. It''s the world''s way of minimizing the impact of adding so much to it, even if it has an impact, itself."

    "Just less of a severe one," Ryan said. "And more of a beneficial one."

    "Exactly," Damien said. "Do you have any other questions? I was wondering how you''ve been enjoying your stay so far."

    "Quite well," Ryan answered. "I''m still adjusting to the new environment, but with Tyler''s aid, and now Bethany''s, I''m sure I''ll do just fine. Do you mind if we receive a brief tour of what''s been excavated so far? Tyler''s never been to a Heisar before, and I know he''s been curious at what it looks like inside. After, we''ll be heading back to the main island to rest."

    "Of course," Damien said. "There isn''t much yet, though. Just a few tunnels."

    "That''s alright," Ryan said. "Tyler can be quite eager about even the littlest of things."

 0017

    Damien led Ryan, Tyler, and Bethany to the Heisar, Ryan keeping a check on things with his senses of air and water. He picked up normal readings for the space around him, but the closer they drew to the Heisar, the stronger that strange feeling he had grew.

    As he was led down the steps, relying on Tyler to keep him steady, especially after nearly falling off a step, Ryan realized that he was probably sensing the Heisar itself. Whatever he was sensing, it was extremely thick the moment they moved off the steps and into the Heisar itself.

    "Why are the steps just outside of the Heisar?" Ryan asked as he felt the open space around him, save for the steps and wall behind him. "Rather than inside of it?"

    "Things are less likely to form on them that way," Damien answered. "The steps will wrap around the Heisar, and will descend as far as we have. So anytime we go lower, we''ll add in more steps and a route from them connecting to the tunnels and caverns."

    "Makes sense," Ryan nodded. "It gives you a sort of safe zone. Monsters from the Heisar will still go on the steps, but they and the alterations won''t happen."

    "Not as strongly, anyway," Damien said. "There are still some mutations that will occur outside of it, but they won''t be as strong. Did you notice that your feet had grip on the steps?"

    "Yes," Ryan moved a foot along the ground. "It was something grainy, right? You added that to make them less slip-prone. The ground we''re standing on now isn''t treated with that, and the moisture from the air and the Heisar has made it slightly slick."

    "Indeed," Damien responded. "In other Heisars, doing that tends to make the paths slimy, so we can''t treat it inside the Heisar. We''re using sand for it, as we''ve plenty of that."

    "Lowers suspicions from others if you aren''t calling in resources for that," Ryan nodded.

    "Come," Damien said. "Let''s show you around this level first, then I''ll take you down. We have this area clear, of course, and the level beneath us is carved out. We''re working on the third level, now. On the ''top level'', or first level of the Heisar, the one that forms naturally, mana crystals grow in abundance, this is the norm for them. Ours also has some luminescent moss growing on it. So far, the moss is growing everywhere in the Heisar. If we carve out a tunnel, moss begins to grow along its floor and walls. Not completely blanketing it, but enough to allow us to see by."

    "That''s interesting," Ryan said. "Is that normal?"

    "For some," Damien answered. "In some, there are light crystals that form in the walls regularly. Too small to be of major use, but in enough quantities to light the way. Some Heisars, you have to bring or generate your own light. Would you like to feel some of the moss?"

    They had stopped walking, and Ryan could sense a moisture-filled mass in a few clumps within his range, the air moving over them and telling him they had a softer feel to them than the crystals.

    "Are you cutting off a piece, or am I touching it while it''s still there?" Ryan asked.

    "Either works," Damien answered.

    "Tyler?" Ryan asked. "Could you touch it first, then let me touch it if it''s safe?"

    He knew about luminescent moss, and that it wasn''t harmful, but Ryan wasn''t sure if it would leave a glow on his hands, which he knew would attract attention, especially as he would have no way of knowing his hands were glowing. For that, Tyler would determine it first, so that Ryan would not have to deal with having to scrub his hands to ensure he got all the glow off, if that did happen.

    Ryan watched through his elemental senses as Tyler knelt beside some of the moss and felt it, curiosity and amazement in the servant''s mind. Then Tyler had Ryan crouch and move next to the moss, before taking Ryan''s hand and guiding it. He knew his servant felt stupid for it because of Ryan being able to sense things, but also knew that it was necessary to keep up the act to keep the secret.

    Especially as Ryan did still have a difficult time gauging distance. He had nearly stumbled on the stairs once already, proof that he had a long way to go for being a good judge of things like that. The smaller the thing was, the more difficult it would likely be for him to tell the distance and differences, until he grew used to doing so.

    He marveled at the softness. It was slightly coarse, and not nearly as soft and springy as some of the moss back home, but it wasn''t unpleasant to feel.

    "It''s a nice texture," Ryan said as he stood back up, then held up his hand as if examining it. "No glow detected!"

    His companions chuckled, and he observed as Bethany felt some of the moss as well, before standing up.

    "Let''s move on, shall we?" Damien asked. "There isn''t much else on this level."

    "Sure," Ryan said.

    He was led back to the steps, and noticed Bethany walking closer to him than she had been. He wasn''t fully able to tell what she was thinking, as he was only using empathy, but he could sense some level of amusement in her mind. That, and curiosity about something aside from the Heisar.

    They descended down to the next level, and Ryan turned off his sense of air to look through his sense of earth mixed with his sense of water. His elemental senses weren''t limited by the air around him, as it was simply detecting all of that element in a range around him. This allowed him to look through walls with ease.

    With his senses of water and earth active, the walls of the Heisar turned from air voids with a couple of minuscule pockets, with some water saturation, to solid blocks in his vision with a few slight near-voids, with plenty of water saturation. He could also detect the tunnel to their right, past four feet of stone.

    "Damien?" Ryan asked as their guide continued explaining things to Tyler and Bethany. "Is it possible for there to be small pockets where something forms, in addition to the large ones which are turned into tunnels and caverns?"

    "Yes," Damien answered. "Though more often than not, we find them while clearing a tunnel. When that happens, one of two things occur. Best-case scenario, it''s something valuable and we didn''t clear the section it''s in. That allows us end the tunnel there and divert around it. If it''s not valuable or we didn''t notice it and cleared the spot where its hole is, we lose that spawn point."

    "So if there was something six inches in right here," Ryan tapped the wall. "And you wanted to connect this tunnel to another one, and dug through here, but you just cleared the gap by several feet deep at a time, then you''d no longer be able to mine that resource from that spot. But if, say, you went in six inches, found the hole, and then left it like that, you''d be able to continue to?"Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    "Yes," Damien nodded. "If it''s not a rare or valuable resource, we''d clear right through it to make the connection. So if it were, say, a water crystal? We can lose that, considering how much of it just grows. Not only that, but water crystals grow in the walls of the tunnels already, so we may actually end up with more of it growing in that space just by clearing the tunnel."

    "And if it''s valuable and not common," Ryan said. "You''d want to keep that spawn point to maximize how much you have."

    "Correct," Damien answered. "Our earth mages aren''t talented enough to do precise measurings, so it''s happened twice already where we cleared a spawn point for something small. Thankfully, neither have been rare enough to be a dip in the resource. Once we''re further down, we will slow our progress, to allow for more accurate readings where possible."

    Ryan could feel a hesitation in the man''s mind, and knew what he was wanting to say. The Novars and the Veloases both had earth mages who could perform a more precise detection. Unlike his sense, it was done through vibrations ¨C they would feel the walls, doing their best to determine the distance based on the slight vibrations they detected with every movement and tap of the wall.

    With most of the Mieria Family''s earth mages being lesser ones, their family mostly consisting of water mages, it made sense they wouldn''t have the sort of talent necessary for that. The Mierias were also rushing through the first few levels to make it viable for harvesting resources. The really rare stuff would be lower down.

    Damien wanted an earth mage who could perform such a spell to help, but knew he couldn''t ask for that, especially not from the Novars. Not yet, at any rate. Even if the Novars would be willing to supply it, they weren''t on good enough terms for Damien to ask for something like that and keep his dignity and honor intact. It would come off as begging for a stronger Family''s aid.

    "I can call my father," Ryan told Damien. "And see about having one of our earth mages who helped excavate our own Heisar come out. If you were willing, of course. Bethany told me about why she''s really out here, so I''m sure it won''t be too upsetting for you."

    He felt Bethany turn nervous as Damien''s mind became worried.

    "I''m not upset," Ryan told Damien. "The logic behind it is sound. The Third Age of Magic is about to end, and you know you will end up as part of the most powerful Family in the world. You also suspect that there will be a union of my Family and the Veloas Family. You may not have been able to become a part of the Novar Family and have a child with our blood, but there is an opportunity available to you for that to happen with another member. As long as you manage to succeed before the union and the wars that will inevitably begin, or you may end up only having our blood after several generations. Do not forget, Damien ¨C I am the next head of the Novars. I won''t blame you for planning something I, myself would do."

    "Ryan," Damien said. "Most of us wouldn''t do that. We would, however, punish for plotting."

    "Oh, I intend on that," Ryan smiled. "But not in a way that would really cause problems. Not any real problems, even if they''re a headache or embarrassing. That''s not my style, not for something so simple and harmless."

    No, he planned on informing his father about Damien''s suspicions and desire to merge their lineages directly, and the reason for Damien''s old hatred of their family. He would do that while asking about an earth mage coming out. Knowing his father, the result would be interesting, amusing, or both.

    "Would you like me to call my father and have him send an earth mage out?" Ryan asked. "We''ll require payment for it, naturally, but I''m sure that can be arranged."

    "If your father is willing to be so kind to us," Damien said. "That would be acceptable. I would be willing to negotiate a price for that as well."

    "Excellent," Ryan smiled. "I''ll do that once we''re out of here, then."

    Curiosity suddenly spiked in his servant, and Ryan dismissed it, knowing the reason for it. Tyler was more than likely wondering if Ryan had detected something within the walls of the tunnel. The answer was ''yes'', though the teen wasn''t certain what it was, just that it seemed hard and did register through his earth sense. Based on the rough outline he could manage of it, it was some sort of crystal. That meant it was likely just a water, earth, or mana crystal, but it had still sparked his curiosity anyway. After all, if there was an ordinary crystal in a pocket that was missed, there were doubtlessly more rare things that would be as well.

    "Shall we continue?" Ryan asked. "Bethany mentioned something about a creature that is unique to the Raxvar Corporation''s Heisar with the manalirate?"

    "Yes," Damien said. "It''s in a chamber not far from here, a tortoise whose shell grows mushrooms that can be mixed into potions that will restore some mana when consumed."

    "Mana potions?" Ryan asked as they began walking again. "Ah, the exitaki mushrooms?"

    "Yes," Damien confirmed, and Ryan watched as the man nodded, his servant giving him a curious look. "They''re not quite as rare as manalirate, but they aren''t common, either. As one of only a handful of plants known to be able to restore mana, they''re quite valuable."

    "Our Heisar has verika trees in one of its chambers," Ryan nodded. "The juice of the fruit they grow can be mixed into mana potions as well. Father let me try one when I was younger, just a small sip. It wasn''t exactly pleasant to the taste, but enough to let me know I''d probably only ever drink it in an emergency once my magic had awakened."

    "He let you drink some?" Alarm could be felt in Damien''s mind as confusion filled the minds of Bethany and Tyler.

    He didn''t blame Damien for the panic, mana potions were toxic to anyone who didn''t have awakened magic. Drinking too much of them for someone with awakened magic was also dangerous, though the tolerance level was higher the larger the mana pool the mage possessed. To allow a child to drink a mana potion was illegal under the Guilds and Orders and considered child abuse. Even the Families detested people who willingly allowed children to drink them.

    "Father had a healer on standby," Ryan said. "Just in case of ill effects, and only allowed me a tiny amount. I was eleven at the time, and he and the healer made sure the amount I consumed was only enough to taste the flavor of it, with no more than a stomachache as a side-effect. We were temporarily storing several crates of them in the main house, and I was constantly escaping my servants in an effort to try to taste them. He figured that if he gave me a few drops of one after the twelfth time in three days that they''d caught me attempting to break into the storage room, it would be enough to deter me from trying them on my own. I don''t actually remember why we were storing them, but I do remember that I decided I''d only ever drink one in an emergency. Hopefully, that never arises."

    With how much mana Ryan had, if he needed a mana potion, then there was probably something pretty bad going on.

    "I see," Damien said, his mind relaxing, and Ryan smiled.

    "Yes," Ryan said. "I know it''s not exactly the best thing in most circumstances, but in that one, it was. I remember having the taste stuck in my mouth for a week, too."

    "Yes," Damien chuckled. "It does linger. Would you like to see the tortoise?"

    "Sure," Ryan said. "Though after, I think I''m going to head back up. I''m actually a little more exhausted than I realized, and want to take a nap before dinner."

    Damien led the trio of teens to the chamber, and heard Tyler gasp and sensed both his wonder and Bethany''s, along with their nervousness. Tyler was on guard, which told Ryan that the tortoise was probably not a friendly one. The snapping and groaning he heard shortly after confirmed that.

    "Sounds friendly," he said. "Mind if I give it a pet?"

    "Only if you want to lose your hand," Damien told him. "They''re not the friendliest of creatures, and there are only a few of us here right now who can handle it."

    "Aw," Ryan pouted. "Well, I suppose we should get going, then. Thank you for the tour, Damien."

    "You''re welcome," Damien responded. "I''m going to head down to where they''re excavating now, you have a good day."

    "You as well," Ryan responded. "Bethany? Would you care to take my arm to lead me back up?"

    "Sure," he felt the amusement in her mind.

    "And could you do the driving of the boat, too?" He asked. "Maybe even teach Tyler how? I''m sure he''s dying to know. It''ll help us avoid breaking more servants, too."

    Embarrassment filled Tyler''s mind as the servant briefly tightened his grip on Ryan''s arm, and Ryan chuckled. He was just poking fun at his friend, but didn''t realize that his servant actually did want to learn how to perform the necessary spells for that.

    "I can do that!" Bethany laughed as she moved closer to him, taking his arm as Tyler stepped back. "Let''s go."

 0018

    "We''re almost there," Bethany told Ryan as they walked along the small trail.

    "You said you found this place a few years ago?" Ryan asked, checking to make sure Tyler was still trailing behind them, stretching his elemental senses of air and water out past the ten-foot range he had been keeping it at up to the thirty-foot range he could manage

    The servant was still fifteen feet behind them, quite nervously. Over the past few weeks, Tyler had grown used to allowing Bethany to guide Ryan, so Ryan knew that wasn''t it. The water elemental five feet behind Tyler, on the other hand, no doubt increased the servant''s nerves many times over, even if he had grown used to them talking with Ryan.

    "Yeah," Bethany answered. "I found it when I was twelve. It''s a pretty nice place, and I thought Tyler might enjoy it."

    At breakfast, Bethany informed Ryan and Tyler that she wanted to take them on a small trip to one of the unnamed islands. There, she began to lead them through a path, saying there was a cove she wanted to take them to. A secluded, private area she visited sometimes.

    "I bet you go skinny dipping here, don''t you?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," she chuckled. "It''s a nice place to even out your tan, too. Not that you have an issue with that."

    "I don''t," he chuckled. "You know me. As soon as we arrive and a blanket''s down, I''m losing the board shorts and shoes and just laying free."

    Bethany chuckled a little at that. Ryan had decided he would tan nude whenever he could, mostly because Tyler had briefly complained about his own tan starting to form uneven. If Ryan went nude for it, Tyler had around a fifty percent chance of doing so as well, mostly dependent on how likely someone else was to stumble upon them. Bethany would always strip down as well, regardless.

    "And we''re here," Bethany told Ryan as they entered into an open space he had sensed. "The cove is curved like a crescent, with the thick foliage all around it, completely beach apart from the far side from us. There, there''s a cliff that reaches up to twenty feet at its height, which is perfect for doing cliff-diving from."

    Ryan listened for a few moments, his head turning towards the direction of the cliffs. The sound of water crashing over rocks and into more water filled his ears.

    "I can hear a waterfall, too," he said as Tyler approached, the elemental keeping the same distance behind the servant. "Falling from the cliffs?"

    "A small one about eight feet in width," Bethany told him. "It pours straight off the end, and there''s a small cave behind it, too. It''s rather beautiful."

    "I''m sure," he told her as he wondered just how beautiful it would be.

    With his elemental senses, he could find his own way of seeing beauty, but he wanted to see things the way others did. For that, he needed to develop his magic more, especially his sense of light. He could still only see a single color, and was still uncertain as to which it was. There was no one else to help him with that, after all.

    It was a superior way of seeing, yet some small part of of him still wanted to be able to see with his eyes, just so he could see the same beauties those around him saw, see them the same way others saw them.

    "Well," Ryan said. "I think you and Tyler should start enjoying our day here. I''ll stick around with our elemental friend, and-"

    "How do you do that?" Bethany interrupted him, jumping after having looked behind them. "How is it you always know when there''s an elemental close by?"

    "We are brothers, he and I," Ryan said. "We can always tell when the other is near. Is that pineapple I''m smelling?"

    Ryan sniffed the air. It was definitely pineapples.

    "There are some pineapple plants around twenty feet to our right," Bethany told him, and he could feel her amusement. "Come on, we can get you a spot near us."

    "Enjoy yourself, Tyler," Ryan said. "You''re in break mode once I''m settled onto the towel."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded.

    Bethany led them nearer to where Ryan could hear the waterfalls against the ocean and the waves against the shore. He watched as Tyler spread out a blanket and put their cooler and basket down, then Ryan stripped off his shoes and shorts and lay on the blanket, Bethany helping him down.

    "I''ll be back once I''ve had a bit of fun," she kissed him on the cheek.

    "I look forward to it," he grinned as he sensed Tyler''s discomfort.

    Tyler always seemed okay with them having sex as long as he wasn''t around, but became bothered if he were present for it. Ryan guessed that Tyler was a private person about it, and had made a note to ask Tyler what bothered him and if he''d prefer it if he could leave during it, but had forgotten to do so. He''d see about sending Tyler away once Bethany returned.

    "Enjoy yourselves," Ryan said as he watched the pair of them stripping off their clothes. "Going to cliff jump, Tyler?"

    "Yes," Tyler responded. "I''ve wanted to do this for years."

    "Good luck," Ryan grinned. "I''ll be watching."

    "Sure," Tyler snorted, aware that Ryan''s range, even at triple where it was before, couldn''t actually stretch the full distance necessary. "Thank you."

    "You''re welcome!" Ryan said, then sensed both of the other teens leaving his range.

    "Hello," Ryan spoke through water, manifesting twelve communication points and shifting them around, as was normal when speaking with the elementals. While twelve spots were standard, them being still was not. "How are you?"

    "I am well," the elemental responded. "You are-" Ryan wasn''t too sure on what the elemental called him, but it was the first time one had referred to him with a name that he was sure was elemental in style. "-it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Swift Falls."

    "Hello, Swift Falls," Ryan said as he tried to sort out what he was called. "I don''t actually know those words you used, but the first one seemed similar enough to a certain other one. Did you call me a word that is an alternative for ''without sight''?"

    "You are Blind-" the second word was something Ryan still didn''t understand. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Strong Ocean has told me about you."

    Strong Ocean was the elemental on the main island which took over most of training Ryan. He was strange, and a bit mischievous, like most of the water elementals Ryan had encountered. Or all of them. He wasn''t sure yet. Strong Ocean had plenty of advice for his own sense of water and for using a few spells as well, which Ryan was more interested in.

    "It is a pleasure to meet you as well," Ryan responded. "I take it you knew who I was because of my ability to talk with you?"

    "That is correct," Swift Falls responded. "You are not like the Dry One who visits here."

    The elemental used the term Ryan came to associate with people. He supposed that to an embodiment of water itself, everything was ''dry'' to them. It didn''t bother him much, as they never referred to him as a Dry One.

    "The Dry One?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," the elemental responded. "The suspicious Dry One. He is not of the Dry Ones who normally live around here. All of us are suspicious of him. He pretends to watch us, but watches others instead. We believe him to be mapping the islands."

    It took Ryan a moment to realize who Swift Falls was referring to. Nicholas was supposedly there to study the elementals, and was the only person Ryan knew of who actually watched them.

    "WHOOO!" Ryan heard his servant exclaim, followed by a crashing into water moments later.

    Bethany''s laughter filled the air, then a second crashing into water. Ryan smiled, glad his servant was having fun.

    "He has been watching others and mapping the islands?"

    "We believe so," Swift Falls answered. "He was here yesterday. I did not like him. While I cannot understand the words of humans, his movements made it quite clear he wished me to leave him be. Unlike you, Blind Ocean, he was not friendly."You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    "So I am ''Blind Ocean'', now?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes."

    "What happened to the other name?"

    "We will use it again once you understand it," the elemental told him. "Hostile Puddle is someone we wish to chase off. Will it be problematic if we killed him? Or should we continue to simply harass him?"

    "I''ve been wondering," Bethany spoke as she entered Ryan''s range of detection. "But are you talking with the elementals when you do that?"

    "Elementals are mindless things," Ryan said. "Embodiments of an element. From all the studying and research performed, no one''s ever detected actual life in them. I''m just having fun."

    "You also do that anytime an elemental is nearby," she said as he heard his servant whooping as he jumped off the cliff again. "Or at least, nearly every time. Anytime you stop, they either linger for a few more minutes, or they leave. You''re talking with them, aren''t you?"

    Ryan contemplated his response, then decided he would tell her, but only after placing a geass on her. She wasn''t someone he fully trusted, having only known her a few weeks. But with how often she was around him, it was doubtful he could keep everything a secret.

    "Come here," he beckoned, and she came closer, then knelt beside him. "Give me your hand?"

    "Why?" She asked.

    "I want to feel how soft it is," he answered. "Before I explain things."

    She gave him his hand, though he could feel her confusion. Immediately, he delved into her mind and placed a geass. If she revealed his secrets, she would lose her voice, a way to know if she could be trusted or not. He wouldn''t tell her about the geass.

    "I am talking with them," he pulled her on top of him, feeling himself getting erect at the contact, sensing her light arousal at the feel of his sudden boner. He kissed her on the lips. "When my magic awakened, I became able to sense water around me. When I have this sense active, I can actually detect things up to twenty feet away by the water within it and the water in the air. I wanted to come here because I thought maybe watching the elementals would help me hone that sense and learn how to use water magics through it. I was surprised to find that the elementals communicate with each other."

    He could feel the uncertainty in her mind, as well as the shock and confusion.

    "If you can sense water around you-" she began.

    "-why do I still need help?" He asked. "Because I''m eighteen, and the sense is new to me. You''ve had nearly nineteen years to adjust to your sight. You spent the first few learning how to gauge distance and everything. I''ve had barely any time at all. Even after just a few months, I''m barely able to properly judge steps. I''m used to relying on memory alone, too."

    "That''s why you''re wanting to explore as much as possible," she realized. "So that you aren''t using your memory alone to know where things are, but your water sense."

    "Correct," he kissed her again as he slid his hands down to her hips, sliding her a little. "And if you''re wondering why I still miss sometimes when aiming in, that''s because you''re just a giant mass of water. It''s easier to sense if blood rushes to your cheeks, where there''s little of it and suddenly a lot, or when Tyler gets erect, because that''s extra liquid that''s ''outside'' of him. I am getting better, though."

    "I noticed," she moaned softly as his boner rubbed her in just the right spot. "So the elementals aren''t mindless-oh, stop, Ryan! I''m trying to talk!"

    "I know," he grinned. "And no, they aren''t mindless. The one watching us right now is Swift Falls, and he says that Nicholas was snooping around this island yesterday ¨C and has been doing the same to others."

    "Do you know where Hostile Puddle is now?" Ryan asked through his elemental speech. "The Dry One who is not friendly and acting suspiciously?"

    "He is at the Magic-" the elemental responded, though the second word in the name was lost on Ryan. He knew what it was referring to, though, as the elementals all referred to a certain object with that phrase. "He acts as if he does not notice us following him there."

    "Swift Falls says he''s currently at the Heisar," Ryan said. "Be suspicious of Nicholas, if he''s doing that. The elemental says he pretends to watch them in order to watch others to perform his spying missions."

    "Okay," she said. "I''ll tell Uncle, but word it so that suspicion doesn''t fall on you. Now enough talking, you''re getting me horny."

    He grinned at her as she slid down him, letting his erection rub her torso and between her breasts before she took it into her mouth, pleasuring him with all the skill she had built up over the last few weeks.

    "Mh!" He moaned as he lifted his legs up and let them rest on her back. "Yeah!"

    She brought him near the edge of his orgasm as the elemental moved back a few more feet, then she moved back to on top of him, kissing him on her way.

    "If you flip me over like you did last night," she gave him a kiss on the lips. "You''ll be fucking me on the sand."

    "It''ll wash off in the ocean," he let his legs drop back down, then began to sit up, Bethany doing the same. "Let''s flip so we''re still on the blanket, though."

    As they began to change positions, an idea came to Ryan.

    "Hey, Bethany," he said as she lay down.

    "Yeah?" She asked.

    "Would you have an issue with a three-way?"

    Shock filled her mind, and he was about to retract his question when he felt that shock shift to amusement and agreement.

    "Not at all," she answered. "You think he''d be comfortable with that?"

    Her ready response surprised him, but he supposed that with how willing she was to please her uncle''s goals, it made sense she wouldn''t have an issue with her target''s cousin in a three-way.

    "Maybe," Ryan said. "We won''t know unless we ask, though. Are you sure you''re okay with it?"

    "I am," she answered. "It''ll be a new experience. Not sure if I''ll want it again, but hey, at least I can say I tried, right?"

    "Yeah," he said, then looked in the direction he assumed Tyler was. "Tyler! Come here!"

    About a minute later, his servant entered his range, and he could sense the curiosity and discomfort in him, along with the horny state of the teen.

    "We were wondering," Ryan said. "If you wanted to do a three-way with us. We know you usually shy away from us when we''re having sex, but thought that maybe it was because it made you uncomfortable to be around it rather than a part of it, and thought to offer it to you."

    The discomfort increased, but so did the horniness. Indecision also filled the servant''s mind. He definitely wanted to join them, and Ryan made a guess as to what caused the indecision and discomfort.

    "If you''re bothered," Ryan said. "By the idea of fucking her because she''s your master''s woman, she agreed to it, and most of why she''s sleeping with me is because of her uncle''s political goals and the fact that it''s a damn good time. To me, she''s a good companion for talking and comfort, and good with the sex. There''s no romance or such between us, just sexual desire."

    "He''s right," Bethany added. "And I''d like to try this at least once, just to say I did and can say whether or not I enjoy it."

    "Okay," Tyler said as Ryan sensed a decision being made. "Umˇ­ how would this happen, if there are two of us?"

    "One in the back, one in the front," Ryan said. "I-wait. I''m not entirely sure, I hadn''t thought that far ahead. I was just thinking maybe you were uncomfortable because you wanted to have sex with a woman, too."

    Bethany snorted, then told Tyler to lie on the towel, on his back. Ryan and Bethany moved off for that, then Ryan watched as Bethany lay on Tyler, face-up. She grabbed Tyler''s own erection and moaned as she pushed it into her ass. At least, Ryan assumed that''s where she was pushing it in based on the location.

    "Doesn''t that hurt?" He asked. "I mean, you''re dry back there, and-"

    "It feels good, regardless," she moaned, and he watched her hand move away and assumed she had finished pushing it as far as she could.

    He could feel concentration in his servant, the other man''s mind tense as well. Tyler also hadn''t moaned at all, surprising Ryan. The concentration and tenseness likely explained that ¨C he was doing his best not to.

    "You can moan, you know," Ryan said.

    "I did," she said.

    "He meant me," Tyler exhaled. "This isˇ­ fuck."

    Ryan could sense the servant''s confusion at something, and guessed he hadn''t expected it to be as tight as pleasurable as it was. He grinned in response to that, glad he had succeeded in getting his servant some pleasure. Just one step on the way to convincing Tyler that a relationship was okay.

    "Come on," Bethany said, reaching for Ryan''s hand, and he pulled back. His plan had been to get Tyler sleeping with Bethany if she was okay with it, allowing his servant his own pleasure. He''d intended on backing out immediately so give them time alone. "What?"

    "You two have fun," he told her. "When you finish, you can finish where you left off with me, if you want. If not, I''ll save it for even more pleasure tonight."

    "Oh, just shut up and get in me!" She told him. "I want to feel both of you, even if just this one!"

    "Are you sure?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes!" She told him. "I agreed to it, didn''t I? If you want Tyler and me to fuck without you, we can do that some other time! Now hurry up!"

    "Alright," Ryan said. "How do I do this?"

    "Kneel between our legs," she said as she lifted her own up, adjusting Tyler for a moment before grabbing her legs. "Then push into me and just start thrusting."

    Ryan moved between Tyler''s legs and felt Bethany''s legs for a moment, before grabbing his erection and pushing against her, jumping as he realized he had aimed lower than he had intended.

    "Sorry!" He apologized as shock and panic filled Tyler''s mind. He felt amusement in Bethany''s mind as his face heated up. "I didn''t mean to do that. This is a new position for me, and my aim isn''t perfect."

    As he spoke, he moved his tool up, finding the right hole, and he pushed in, moaning at the warmth, wetness, and tightness. He began to thrust his hips back and forth, taking pleasure in the feeling. The moans of the three filled the air, and Ryan focused on Bethany''s moans and the feel of her legs as he saw her move Tyler''s hands onto her breasts.

    Ryan turned on his sense of fire, having learned over the last few weeks that something about feeling her heat patterns increased his arousal. There was just something about the way he could fully sense her heart beating, sense her blood pumping hard, feel her breaths in the air, sense the warmth not just touching him around that but throughout her, which turned him on.

    He began to thrust harder, doing his best to hold out as long as he could. Ryan spoke a little as well, having learned that Bethany enjoyed being complimented while he pounded her.

    "Oooh!" He moaned as he reached his climax. "Damn, you feel good, Bethany."

    "You feel so nice," she gasped back. "This felt so nice."

    Ryan pulled out of her slowly, before bending forward and kissing her mostly to please her.

    He would continue the farce while running the islands over and over, but once he left, that was it. She was definitely going to Jonathan. He hadn''t actually wanted a three-way, he just wanted Tyler to get to have sex, too, and knew she''d be willing to let him sleep with her. She wasn''t interested in Ryan past the political aspect of it and the sex, and he knew that she''d take Tyler if offered. All that mattered to her was sleeping with a Novar, and one who wasn''t unattractive.

    "I''m going to go enjoy a dip in the ocean," Ryan told them. "You two have some more fun, I know I''m the only one who climaxed."

 0019

    "Will you stop laughing?" Bethany asked, even though Ryan knew she was struggling not to laugh.

    "No," he responded. "I''m not even that loud. And keep your voice down or they''ll hear us."

    Bethany snorted, then clamped her hand over her mouth. Ryan chuckled again, noting that Tyler''s hands were still over his own mouth, his head hanging down, shaking slightly in disbelief and amusement.

    The trio were going for a walk on the island where Ryan first discovered that elementals had their own way of talking, only to hide behind some bushes when they came across something unexpected. A month after Ryan had visited the Heisar, the earth mage from the Novar Family showed up, along with his six-year-old son and twenty-two-year-old daughter.

    As far as the trio had known, the earth mage was helping with the excavation while his daughter watched his son on the island with the main estate. Close enough to have time with their father, but in a place where an eye could be kept on them. Two weeks had passed, and everything seemed to be normal, moving in an ordinary routine.

    What the three of them had not expected was that Ryan and Tyler were not the only members of the Novar Family to be having sex with a Mieria.

    "I didn''t even know he was that type," Bethany whispered.

    "This is just too funny," Ryan said. "Tyler, record it on your phone, I want to have some fun with it."

    "You''re going to show it to your father, aren''t you?"

    "No," Ryan chuckled. "Tyler''s going to. There is no way this is a coincidence, Father definitely knew she was into his type."

    "Yeah," Bethany chuckled. "I don''t think I can look at Uncle the same again."

    "I''m about to start recording," Tyler whispered, and Ryan could hear the strain in the servant''s voice as he tried not to laugh.

    "Sh," Ryan said. "Just record for a bit."

    The three of them did their best to not laugh as Tyler recorded the event. They doubted they would be noticed unless they were too noisy, but they did their best to be as silent as possible anyway. Damien and the Novar woman were noisy enough to drown out their quiet laughter.

    "That''s enough," Ryan whispered, and he sensed Tyler putting his phone away. "Your uncle has a lot of stamina, Bethany."

    "Makes me wonder who''s going to wear out first," she whispered back.

    "Let''s get going," Ryan told her. "We should head to the island with the Heisar. With Abel out here, things are progressing nicely."

    The trio of teens silently left, waiting until they were a safe distance away to explode into laughter, only calming down after boarding the boat and beginning the trip towards Heisar Island. Tyler manipulated the ocean around them to row, something he alternated turns with Bethany for. Ryan did it a couple of times, but after he intentionally started moving in an infinity pattern for the third time, the other two decided to not let him anymore.

    Ryan then decided to take the occasional opportunity to make the waves resist their control from time to time, something which amused him when they realized why the boat wasn''t moving anymore. The day before, they were so engrossed in their conversation they didn''t realize it for twenty minutes.

    "Are you responsible for that?" Bethany asked Ryan once they were a fair distance from the island.

    "Only indirectly," he grinned. "I told my father about the reason Damien was okay with me being out hereˇ­ and the purpose of your presence. And the reason for Damien''s dislike of us for so long. He''s the one who picked them to come out, and they probably had no idea about everything. I am going to have so much fun teasing him, too."

    "I''m sure you will," she responded. "What about you, Tyler?"

    "I''d much prefer to never see that again," Tyler said, his master sensing his servant''s great discomfort. "The whole thing might be funny, but it was also sort of disgusting."

    "And fascinating," Ryan nodded. "I wasn''t aware a man in his forties could have so much stamina. It now makes me curious how soon I''d have a little brother or sister, were my father to marry again."

    "It makes me curious how soon I''m going to have a new cousin," Bethany laughed. "I-what in the world?"

    "What?" Ryan asked. "I''m not sensing anything within my range."

    At least, not with his elemental senses. The minds for both Tyler and Bethany were full of confusion and shock, however, and that only made him curious as to the cause.

    "What in the world are they doing?" Tyler asked.

    "I have no clue," Bethany responded.

    "Uh, guys?" Ryan asked. "I appreciate that you two are able to gaze far and wide, but I''m rather limited in that."

    "There areˇ­" Bethany trailed off.

    "Yeah," Tyler said. "It''s just weird."

    "Guys," Ryan said, his voice stern. "Whatever it is, you two are avoiding it, based on how the boat''s now moving in a different direction than it was."

    "We''re trying to avoid it," Tyler said. "It''s following us."

    "It''s behind us?" Ryan asked. "You''re looking ahead of us."

    "No, it''s definitely ahead of us," Bethany said. "It''s on the shore of Heisasr Island."

    "More specifically," Tyler said. "It''s a bunch of elementals. And they''re following us along the shore as we try to get away from them."

    A phone range, and based on the song playing, Ryan knew it was Bethany''s. Tyler''s phone didn''t play songs, just tunes picked from the list that came with the phone. Bethany, on the other hand, set her phone to play various pop songs depending on who was calling.

    "Hello?" She answered the phone, then snorted. "Are you sure? Okay. Thank you."

    She hung up, and Ryan watched as she faced him.

    "It appears they''ve been doing this all day," she told him. "But they don''t actually do anything if someone lands. Before, I''d have thought they were just being, well, whatever they are. Now that I know they have minds and conscious thoughts, I really want to know what''s up with this. Especially after hearing about their deal with water crystals."If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The week before, Ryan finally decided to ask the elementals why they kept taking water crystals and putting them in random places or throwing them. In response, they informed him that they delighted in harassing people like that, because ''Dry Ones have the funniest reactions, the way they flail about and start attacking in an attempt to chase someone off''.

    It was for their own amusement, and for no other reason. That only raised his impression of the elementals, and if the ones he spoke with were honest, all elementals were like that, which meant he''d have fun when he trained elsewhere as well.

    "I''ll ask," Ryan manifested twelve points of water around him, letting them ebb and flow in a random pattern as they orbited him.

    A few times, he had been asked why he did that, and his response was always that it acted as a form of training, and also alerted him to if he drew too near something. If something came into contact with his magic, then he knew he would likely bump into it as well. So far, no one had become suspicious of it. At least, not while he was around.

    He waited until they were on the shore, Bethany commenting that there were more than twenty water elementals there. Four were in his range, so he decided to ask them what was going on.

    "Why are you tracking boats along the shore?" He asked through the water.

    "It is amusing to watch them attempt to find a place to land," one of them responded. "Only to either give up and leave or decide to brave us. The way they move, it is clear they are in a fight-or-flight mode. How are you, Blind Ocean?"

    "Quite well, thank you," he responded. "And amused. Enjoy your fun."

    "Enjoy yours as well."

    "So?" Bethany asked as they moved past the elementals. "It''s hard to tell if you''re actually talking or not, since you have the water moving at all times, anyway. Did you ask?"

    "They''re amusing themselves with peoples'' responses," he answered.

    "I''m starting to think they just like harassing people," she said.

    "They kind of do," Ryan said. "I don''t blame them, it''s fun to see peoples'' reactions to random stuff like that. Come! Let''s make our way to the Heisar!"

    Bethany snorted, then led Ryan and Tyler to the Heisar, Ryan feeling that powerful sense it emitted growing stronger, just like his previous visit to the occurrence.

    "Lady Bethany, Lord Ryan," a man entered Ryan''s perception as he spoke, calmness and respect in his mind. "Welcome back to the Heisar. Are you here for another tour?"

    "I wished to see how Abel was doing," Ryan responded, sensing realization in the man''s mind. "I have barely seen him, much less been able to speak with him. I wish to make sure he is settling into the job okay and has enough time to be with his children."

    Amusement filled the minds of his friend and Bethany, and he knew they suspected he would make insinuations about what the trio came across to the Novar earth mage.

    "That is understandable," the man responded. "I can lead you there."

    "Thank you," Ryan said, then began following, keeping hold of Bethany''s arm, Tyler following shortly behind them. "Where is he at right now?"

    "On the start of the fourth level," the man responded. "We began excavating it out yesterday afternoon. It won''t be far to reach him, just down the steps and around a bend. Having him here has been a great help. So far, we''ve located several nodes, holes, and a cavern we missed through his aid. His aid is a great help."

    "I''m glad to hear it," Ryan said as they began descending the steps.

    They reached the lowest steps after a couple of minutes, and then entered the Heisar, Ryan noticing mushrooms before they set foot inside.

    "What resources are on this level?" He asked. "Magic crystals, presumably? And more of the moss?"

    "Indeed," their guide responded. "There are also some mushrooms, which we''re passing by now. Nothing too special. These ones are found in several Heisars throughout the world, and are considered a delicacy. You may have a dish with them a few times during your stay here, if you aren''t averse to mushrooms."

    "Only toxic ones," Ryan responded. "Though if they''re a delicacy, then I''ll try them. The mushrooms in that rice dish a few days ago were tasty, though I''m assuming those aren''t these."

    "No," Bethany responded. "Those were imported from the mainland. We have a small mushroom farm at our other estate, and the mushrooms we had a few nights ago came from there."

    "They were good, nonetheless," Ryan told her as they rounded a bend. "Anything else found here so far?"

    He could hear the sounds of people at work, discussing clearing sections and noting down things. Someone with a cart full of dirt passed them by as well, hauling off some of their excavation. He could also hear what sounded like a waterfall crashing into something.

    "A cavern, it seems," the guide responded as he led them to it. "They must have found it after I went up, which explains the lack of carts of stone going by. They''ll look for the best spot or spots to open a new tunnel before excavating more from here."

    "Tyler?" Ryan asked.

    "The cavern is approximately forty feet in width, and fifty in length," his servant answered. "Ovular. There are steps leading down to it, and it appears to be around fifty feet in height. Quite a large cavern, with a small pond in the center. It''s fed by a small river that leads from the wall to our right, which is formed by a waterfall coming out halfway up the wall. They''re currently carving steps up on the wall at our two o''clock, and we''re about to reach the stairs leading down."

    "The water flows into the pond, but not back out?" Ryan asked in surprise.

    "A Heisar is a place of magic," their guide explained. "The water is likely converted into water crystals or transported back to the start. It may have another river underneath us the water drains out of instead."

    "I see," Ryan said. "Let''s descend, the room feels rather large."

    "It is," Bethany chuckled as they began to walk down the steps. "At least, for how wide our Heisar is. It takes up nearly twenty percent of its area for the level, and spans around three levels'' worth of space, when factoring in the thickness of the space between floors."

    From what Ryan knew, they tried to keep at least five to eight feet of thickness between each level of a Heisar, when possible. That was optimal for preventing it from collapsing while allowing for the most space and levels to be carved out. They only needed to worry about reinforcement at thinner than that, with the magic of the Heisar preventing collapse without it past it.

    "Quite large," Ryan nodded. "How rare are these things in a Heisar?"

    "Depends on the size of a Heisar," their guide answered. "Usually, caverns this size aren''t found in Heisars under fifty yards in width."

    "What that means," a man said from below, not far from them. "Is that it''s possible this Heisar will grow another fifteen to twenty yards in width over the next decade. I''m going to speak with Damien about starting to carve out a new set of stairs to accommodate for this. We can connect it into the Heisar, it will just require a little extra walking for anyone wishing to harvest from it. But if the Heisar does expand, as I suspect, then new stairs would be needed, anyway."

    "So around twenty-five yards from the edge, then?" Ryan asked.

    "Correct," the man responded. "Hello, Lord Ryan."

    "Hello, Abel," Ryan responded, stepping off the steps. "I came to check on you, to see how you are faring."

    "I am doing well, thank you," Abel responded.

    "They are not pushing you too hard, are they?" Ryan asked.

    "No, sir," Abel responded. "The workload is around the same as when I helped excavate the new sections of our own Heisar. I''m also helping the earth mages here hone their spells to detect resources. Thank you for your concern, sir."

    "It is only natural to be concerned," Ryan smiled a little. "You are a member of my Family, after all. Remember to take breaks as needed and stay hydrated. There''s plenty of water around, I hear."

    "There is, indeed," Abel chuckled. "Sensing this cavern while working on the floor above had surprised me, due to the size of the Heisar."

    "Speaking of that," Ryan said. "How do you have an estimate of how large it would expand, and the timeframe?"

    "The size of the cavern," Abel answered. "And the Heisar being too small for it to normally have one this large. For every one hundred to one hundred and thirty square feet of space, it expands around one yard if the expansion happens. For a cavern forty to sixty feet in height, the expansion would most likely occur in the next decade. This is based on the public records of Heisars and their discoveries."

    "Ah," Ryan said. "Well, I suppose you should return to work, Abel. You enjoy your day."

    "You as well, sir," Abel responded.

    "We can head back on our own," Ryan informed their guide as Abel walked off. "If you need to return to work. It''s just up the steps and around the bend, then up more steps. Even Bethany couldn''t get lost with that."

    "Hey!" Bethany laughed.

    "Have a good day, sir, ma''am," their guide said.

    "Come on," Ryan began walking back up the stairs. "I want to do something that we just saw a little bit ago."

 0020

    "Son of a fucking bitch! I''m going to fucking kill him!"

    "Sir!" Ryan heard his servant exclaim, and he forced himself to take several deep breaths to calm down. "Is everything alright, sir? What happened? You don''t normally have foul dreams."

    Ryan rubbed his temples, then began moaning from the physical adjustment of magical abilities that washed over him. At the same time, he heard his servant moving closer, then starting to leave.

    "STAY!" He commanded telepathically, startling his servant.

    "Just give me a minute," Ryan said. "It''ll fade soon enough. Fucking asshole. I''m going to fucking make him wish he''d never fucking existed."

    It wasn''t until the PAOMA began to fade that Ryan came to a realization. He was in his room again. His room at the main estate. Without having reset.

    "What''s wrong?" Tyler asked, and Ryan could hear the concern in his servant''s voice. "Ryan, it''s not like you to wake like this. Or swear. What has you so pissed off?"

    What did have him so pissed off?

    "What''s today''s date?" Ryan asked.

    "November third, sir," Tyler answered. "Your birthday."

    "That''s what I thought," Ryan muttered. "Which is interesting. Well, at least I know that happens when someone kills me. I''m so going to fucking kill him."

    "Sir?" Tyler asked, and Ryan could hear the alarm in his servant''s voice.

    "Fetch my father," Ryan told Tyler. "But don''t tell him about what happened, just tell him I wish to speak with him. Tell no one about what happened. Nor the fact that I have telepathy."

    "I never would, Ryan," Tyler said. "Are you sure you''re okay?"

    "Yes," Ryan said. "And I only want my father coming here. Not the healer. I''m fine. That was PAOMA and the after-effect of having a bullet put in my brain. Hurry. I need to speak with Father."

    Tyler left, and Ryan rubbed his temples again. He was shot. And he lived. He didn''t just survive the shot, however. When he died, he reset back to his birthday. Back to the last time he''d reset. An interesting aspect to his power, and one which he didn''t want to explore. Dying was not pleasant, even if it had been painful.

    One relief he had was that Tyler was still alive, too. With the reset, it was as if Tyler had never been shot. As if he had never been shot. And unlike him, his servant wouldn''t have any memories of it. That meant Bethany was also alive, having never been shot. Time had been reset.

    By the time his father had returned, Ryan had already begun to formulate a plan. He trusted his father and servant absolutely, which meant he could reveal to them what he wanted and needed to.

    "What''s wrong?" Ryan heard his father asked, and he stretched out his sense of water and air to their maximum.

    Two people were outside the door, and with his empathy, he could sense the concern of his father, his servant, and one of the other two. The fourth person had a strange calmness to him, which disturbed Ryan. It was likely the same man who had come with his father on the last run of his birthday.

    "Send the healer and the other person away," Ryan said. "I won''t say it with them present, even if they''re outside the room."

    He felt his father''s confusion, then realization, then his father moved to the door. It took Ryan a moment to remember that his father could feel him using empathy, which meant his father suspected he knew about their presences because of that.

    Once the healer and guest were dismissed, his father returned to his side, Tyler closing the door.

    "What''s wrong?" His father asked. "Tyler said you were wishing to see me, and that isn''t normal, not upon waking. He seemed rather concerned, but refused to answer."

    "I ordered him not to," Ryan said. "I woke up with a nasty case of PAOMA. There is an earth mage in a branch family named Abel, yes? Who worked on excavating our Heisar when it suddenly expanded a few years ago?"

    "There is," his father responded. "I wasn''t aware you knew about him."

    "Contact him," Ryan said. "And contact Damien Mieria. Inform him that we will be supplying an earth mage with experience excavating a Heisar and performing the necessary spell to detect things within it. The price for that is my stay out there."

    "Ryan-" his father began, and the teen could feel confusion in the older man''s mind.

    "Father," Ryan interrupted. "He will be amenable to it. A Heisar opened up on one of their islands yesterday, and the majority of their mages are water mages. The few who can perform earth spells aren''t experienced enough to properly excavate a Heisar. His issue with our family is that you took his fiance from him before they could marry. My mother. He knows the Third Age of Magic is likely to end soon, and suspects of the marriage between the Novar and the Veloas Families. He wishes to mix his bloodline with ours before it gets diluted through branches and the Veloas, even if with just one pairing. He''ll call a niece out and hope that she can seduce me, knowing I''d likely be desperate because of my situation."

    "Whoa," his father interrupted. "Ryan, slow down and explain. Why do you think this stuff?"

    "I''m a chronomancer who can reset to a previous point in his life," Ryan stated. "I just had a rather nasty reset, and it was not Damien''s fault."Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    No, it was Nicholas''s fault. Everything had happened suddenly enough that Ryan didn''t have time to react. All he knew was one moment, Nicholas was shooting Tyler and Bethany, then the next, the gun was aimed at him, then he was waking up on his birthday again.

    They came across evidence Nicholas was plotting something foul, were caught, and then executed. Except that somehow, for some reason, Ryan''s reset spell triggered, sending him back to his birthday. The last reset point. All because they had stumbled onto something and weren''t able to vacate quickly enough.

    Whether or not that would happen again was not something he wanted to test. It was possible he had triggered the spell himself. His thoughts were too jumbled and panicked to remember clearly what he was thinking or if he had thought to use the spell. It was the most likely event, however, as he couldn''t think of any other reason he''d find himself back on his birthday.

    "And I''m only telling you this on this reset," Ryan said. "I''ll be doing more. I was training at the islands, and want to pack in as much training as I can. I trust you not to reveal this, and I trust Tyler as well."

    "If what you say is true," his father said. "Then you need to tell me who attacked you?"

    "They won''t succeed again," Ryan growled. "I know their darkness. Their secret. Their truth. And I''m going to rip his fucking guts out of him."

    "Ryan, please think about your situation, and about-"

    Ryan flicked his wrist, and his pillow struck his father square in the face.

    "I may not have sight," Ryan said. "But I''m not weak or useless in a fight. The only reason the reset happened was because I was surprised. Tyler died. Bethany died. I was nearly shot. It happened too fast to react to."

    He felt surprise in his father''s mind. Surprise and a decision. Tyler''s mind, on the other hand, was full of shock and horror, as well as relief.

    "You were shot at?" His father asked.

    "You''re accepting what I said?" Ryan asked.

    "I''m going to verify information," his father said. "Then either you have a spy network I''m unaware of, immense ability with mind magics you''ve kept hidden from me, or it''s true."

    "Go ahead," Ryan said. "Call him now, even."

    He felt his father debate on it, then watched as his father pulled out his phone and dial a number, setting it on his lap. It took Ryan a moment to realize his father had set it on speakerphone.

    "Hello, Samuel," Damien spoke, surprise evident in his voice. "I wasn''t expecting to receive a call from you so early in the morning."

    "Hello, Damien," Ryan''s father spoke. "Actually, I''m sitting with my son, and he''s requesting to come to the Mieria Islands for a few months. It seems the idea of a tropical vacation appeals to him, and he''s asking it as a birthday present."

    "How long were you wondering?" Damien asked.

    "Before that," Ryan''s father responded. "I was wondering if it were true that a Heisar just opened up on one of the islands."

    Silence filled the air, and Ryan could feel the anticipation in the wait. After a few long moments, a response finally came.

    "One did," Damien responded. "We''ve kept it quite secret, even among my own Family. The only person who knows about it right now who has any contact with anyone else not involved is me."

    Ryan smiled as he felt his father''s gaze focusing on him.

    "I have my ways of acquiring information," his father said. "I will make you a deal, Damien. You allow my son to stay as long as he wishes, and I will allow you the assistance of one of the earth mages who helped excavate our own Heisar."

    Something different from the previous run of the day, but Ryan knew that new information meant a new negotiation. It would allow him to potentially stay for longer than three months, as long as he wasn''t forced to reset to before the negotiation again.

    He just hoped he didn''t have to explain too much to his father. The man seemed to accept his status as a chronomancer all too easily.

    "That soundsˇ­ agreeable," Damien responded, surprising Ryan. He''d expected at least a little bit of resistance. "However, I would prefer to have as few outsiders as possible."

    "That is fine," Ryan''s father said. "Ryan and his servant will travel out there, and I will arrange for the earth mage to as well. Depending on who I send, they may have a child or two accompanying them, including an adult child."

    "Understood," Damien said. "That is acceptable, then. I assume you''ll want to see their quarters for their stay?"

    "Of course."

    "I will personally give you that tour, then," Damien said. "When should I expect your arrival?"

    "I need to teach my son some stuff," Ryan''s father said. "And then we will depart. Either tomorrow or the day after will be when we make our way there. I will call you before we leave."

    "Thank you," Damien said. "I will see you then, Samuel."

    "I will see you then as well, Damien," Ryan''s father said, then ended the call and pocketed his phone. "So. You''re a chronomancer."

    "You''re accepting that a lot more easily than I expected," Ryan said.

    "There are three known chronomancers," his father told him. "When excluding the Gray Mage. All three of them have been in our family, even if that''s not well-known and at least one abandoned us. Our blood family, not just through marriages. They were each of Novar blood. While I am surprised to find out you are one, it is something I can easily accept as truth, with a small verification. If Damien is the only person who could communicate with someone else on this, and I trust him on this, then you have some way of knowing such information without contacting people. Either you''re a telepath with an unheard-of range, or you''re a chronomancer of some variety. The other option is that you have an information network I''m unaware of which is able to find information about something new which only a few people know about and is being kept secret."

    "I''m a chronomancer."

    "And an empath," his father said. "Clear proof you''re a Specialist. What''s your Tier?"

    "Divine," Ryan answered.

    "If you''re being honest," his father said. "Then it should be quite easy for you to learn the spells I intend for you to learn before you go."

    "You''re allowing me to go, knowing I was shot at, with just a couple of spells learned?"

    "You''re going to tell me everything," his father told him. "Even if I know you''ll likely reset to before now at some point to prevent me from knowing all of it."

    "I will," Ryan grinned. "But I''ll see how this run plays out, first. Why such a light protection when you know what happened?"

    "The first spell I''m teaching you," his father explained. "Is one you can run even while sleeping. At Divine, it shouldn''t take you long to reach that level of skill with it. It effectively makes you bulletproof. It does put a strain on you mentally if you run it for too long, and you''ll still feel the impacts, but bruising is the most you''ll get. I will trust you to use it wisely."

    "And now I know why you''re trusting me with such light security," Ryan said.

    "Promise me you will use it as soon as you suspect anything," his father said. "And anytime you are around whoever shot you. I will not let you go unless you do."

    "I promise," Ryan said. "I''ve no intention of dying, Father. Mother might have been taken from you, but don''t worry about me being taken from you. My plan has always been to reset as soon as I caught a whiff of true danger, and it seems I managed to do that without even thinking about it too hard. It''s a shame Tyler''s not a Specialist, too, or I''d ask to have him taught the spell."

    "I can sense your rage building up," his father said. "What happened? And I want all of the details."

    "Tyler, Bethany, and I," Ryan said. "Stumbled upon another guest preparing to kill Damien and take over the islands, his plans accelerated because of the arrival of the Heisar. He killed us in response. I plan on exacting vengeance upon him for that. Before he gets a chance to hurt me, I am going to make him beg for mercy."

 0021

    "I''d like to apologize in advance," Damien said as the boat traveled, and Ryan turned his attention to the man. Much of the trip so far had been in silence, different from the last time he had performed the run, despite Abel and his two children present as well. "But please do not be alarmed when we arrive. Yesterday afternoon, all of the elementals on the main island gathered at the docks. When attempting to find somewhere else to land, they moved as if to follow us. If we traveled to another island, the ones there did the same thing.

    "We eventually determined," he continued. "That the elementals were just being the strange creatures they are. They have a habit of doing things for no reason, and it seems this is one of those things. We can land just fine, without any issues, and they''ll ignore us."

    The day before? Ryan concealed his confusion, keeping his face neutral. That wasn''t how the elementals acted like in the previous run, and they shouldn''t have been affected by anything he''d done differently. He was showing up a day later, and the earth mages were coming early with Damien aware they knew, but that was most of the differences. Why would the elementals act differently as well?

    "We''ll get to see elementals?" Luke asked, bouncing a little in his seat, causing it to squeak lightly with every lift and drop. "I saw some earth elementals last year! They were cool!"

    "Where did you see those?" Ryan asked, curious. He wasn''t aware of earth elementals on a Novar property.

    "I took them on vacation to the Srentas estate on the Appalish Mountains last summer," Abel answered. "There are fire and earth elementals living there, and during our stay, a couple of the earth elementals came near the estate as they were traveling somewhere."

    "I see," Ryan made a mental note of the location.

    Fire and earth elementals together. He might be able to use that for training. The Srentas Family was one of their allies, and they had a ski resort they ran. That was probably somewhere other than the place with the fire and earth elementals, though, as Ryan couldn''t see fire elementals living somewhere with a lot of ice and snow.

    "Elementals are generally harmless," Damien assured them. "Most of what they do is just annoying, at least on the islands. Everything can always be recovered after, though it may be a bit wet."

    "They have a tendency to take things?" Ryan asked as he thought about the incidents with them taking water crystals and sticking them in random places or tossing them at things.

    "Sometimes," Damien answered. "We''re arriving now."

    "I can see them!" Lucas exclaimed, and Ryan sensed the form that was the boy jumping off the seat and running to the edge of the boat. "Whoa! There are so many!"

    "There are thirty-four water elementals on the main island," Damien said. "And they''re all there."

    "That''s a lot of water elementals," Ryan''s father spoke.

    "It is," Damien responded. "We have over four hundred total water elementals on all of our islands. We also suspect the presence of an air elemental on one of our unnamed islands, but air elementals aren''t that easy to notice unless they want to be."

    That intrigued Ryan. He hadn''t heard about the possibility of air elementals on the islands during his last run. He also hadn''t asked about them, either, and still had half of the islands to explore. Making a note to find out which island it was and visit to see if he could locate any air elementals with his wind sense, Ryan turned his attention to the docks as the boat slowed down.

    Abel and his children exited first, then Tyler helped Ryan off the boat and onto the creaking wood of the docks. Damien and Ryan''s father followed after, Damien taking the lead. Only a few steps further, and Ryan could detect the shore within his range. Another few steps, and he could sense the elementals.

    They weren''t talking at the time, but he could detect their excitement in the way their water ebbed and flowed. The moment he stepped onto the shore, all of the elementals in his range spoke at once.

    "Welcome back, Blind Ocean."

    Ryan froze.

    They were expecting his return, despite him having never been there before. This went beyond being different than normal. There was no logical reason he could think of for them to know him already ¨C and the fact that they were using the name they had given him in his last run meant it was definitely him they were talking to.

    Somehow, some way, the elementals knew him already.

    He wanted to talk to them, find out how they already knew him and why they knew he''d be coming. Why they thought he''d be coming the day before, the day he had arrived in his previous run. Summoning twelve random points of water around him, however, would raise suspicions and cause confusion, so he needed to wait until he had a few minutes without everyone keeping an eye on him.

    "Everything alright, Ryan?" His father asked, and Ryan became aware that everyone was looking at him.

    "Sorry," Ryan smiled and began walking. "Everything is fine. I could feel the way the sand gave beneath my shoes, and was wondering what it would feel like to walk on it barefoot. I must have gotten lost in my thoughts."

    "Okay," he felt relief in his father''s mind, and Ryan remembered that his father was worried for his safety, especially after hearing about Nicholas''s actions in the past run.

    There was curiosity present as well, and Ryan knew his father was probably wondering what he had really been thinking about. What had really stopped him in his tracks. His father no doubt knew Ryan had walked barefoot on the sand last run, even without the teen having said so.

    While Ryan had told his father and servant about his water sense, he hadn''t told them that he could actually talk with elementals. That was something Tyler would learn soon enough, but he wasn''t comfortable sharing all his secrets with his father, even if he was going to reset to before his father learned any of them.

    Ryan began walking again, and the elementals began to disperse, causing confusion in Damien''s mind. The teen smiled a little, aware that the man was likely attempting to find a reason for their departure.

    The next couple of hours passed relatively quickly for Ryan, his father inspecting the facilities Ryan would be using the most to make sure they were adequate. He also checked the guest house Abel and his children were staying in as well. They might not be his son, but they were still part of the Family.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    After that, everyone ate dinner with Damien, then Samuel left and Ryan returned to his temporary home to change into board shorts. That run, he made sure the servants checking Tyler''s packing were aware that if they did not put things back the way they were, their asses were on the line. Because of that, Tyler easily found their board shorts, then the two changed into them.

    "Let''s head to the beach," Ryan said as Tyler pulled grabbed a couple of towels. "I know it''s night, but I know you''re also dying to play in the water."

    There was reluctance in his servant''s mind, but Ryan had already made sure Tyler knew he would be fine and that the servant could relax and take time off while on the islands unless Ryan obviously needed the help.

    "Thank you, Ryan," Tyler said, and the pair left.

    As they walked down the path, an elemental came up behind them, and Ryan chuckled a little when Tyler jumped to look at it. It was no doubt the same one which had done that the first time, and he chuckled even more when he saw the elemental''s comment.

    "Welcome, you lousy Dry One who knows not the difference between living and truly living. Learn it, before you shrivel up and waste away. Hello again, Blind Ocean."

    The elemental left, leaving Tyler startled and Ryan amused. He guessed the first part was the same thing it had said in the previous run, too.

    "Everything alright?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Tyler responded, turning to face forward again. "Someone''s approaching us."

    Nicholas, no doubt, Ryan thought. Even if it''s the next day. He''d have wanted to see me. I did wonder why he ran into him so quickly last run.

    A moment later, someone entered their range of vision.

    "Greet him," Ryan muttered as they continued walking. "Make conversation like you would with me."

    "Hello," Tyler spoke.

    "Hello," the other man spoke, his voice confirming his identity as Nicholas to Ryan. "Startled by the elemental, were we?"

    "It came up so silently," Tyler said. "I know I faced a lot at the docks, but that still shocked me."

    "The elementals are mysterious creatures," Nicholas said. "I am-"

    "Nicholas Demani," Ryan said. "You''re here to study the elementals, at least officially. Some showed up on your property or something, and you''ve requested a few months of time here on the islands. Well, the official statement is ''requested'', because Damien is too terrified by your threats to reveal you actually threatened your way onto the islands."

    He felt confusion fill the Demani heir''s mind, as well as caution and fury.

    "Don''t worry," Ryan smiled, beckoning his hand, and the other man was pulled towards him, unable to resist. Ryan grabbed the man by the throat. "Forgive me if my gaze isn''t directly on yours, Nicholas, but I''m afraid I have trouble aiming. Unlike you. This might be a little painful. The servant I practiced it on yesterday seemed to be in a little bit of pain."

    Ryan struck the man with a stun spell, then delved into his mind, plucking out information before placing a geass. He adjusted a few memories as well, then released Nicholas and let the man stumble back.

    "Are you okay?" Ryan asked, faking concern in his voice. "You went to shake Tyler''s hand, then stumbled."

    Confusion filled Tyler''s mind, but Ryan ignored it. His servant would quickly figure out what had happened, having been present for the attempt at manipulating memories the day before.

    "I''m fine," Nicholas answered. "I''m terribly sorry about that. It was Ryan, right?"

    "Yes," Ryan said. "And my servant, Tyler. Are you doing okay?"

    "I think so," Nicholas said. "It must be the salt in the air, I''m still adjusting to it. It''s a pleasure to meet the two of you."

    He sensed Nicholas stick out his hand, and nudged Tyler in the arm so that his servant would shake it.

    "Pleasure to meet you as well," Ryan smiled. "You said you were studying the elementals?"

    "I am," Nicholas responded. "Though now that there''s a Heisar here, I''m wishing to study it as well. Alas, I need to study the elementals, so that we can handle them better. They seem to be quite random, though."

    "Perhaps," Ryan said. "Perhaps their randomness is them amusing themselves."

    "Elementals don''t have minds," Nicholas said. "Nor emotions. No mind mage who has ever come into contact with them has ever detected them, and they are simply forces of an element. Samples taken from them yield nothing short of just magical water, or air, or earth, or whatever."

    "Magic is as magic is," Ryan smiled. "Well, Nicholas, it was a pleasure to meet you. I''m sure we''ll see you around, but right now, Tyler and I were heading to the beach. He''s never been to one, and the night means we''ll have it to ourselves."

    "Enjoy your night," Nicholas said. "I''ll be around, should you want to speak with me or ask me anything."

    Ryan dipped his head in acknowledgment, then began walking, Tyler ''guiding'' him to avoid anyone realizing Ryan wasn''t fully without awareness of his surroundings.

    "What did you do to him?" Tyler asked. "You know you''re lucky no one was around to see you do that, right?"

    "I put a geass on him," Ryan said. "A rather nasty one. He''ll figure it out when he crosses a line and suffers the penalty for it."

    "You asked your father to teach you how to manipulate memories yesterday," Tyler said. "I know you wanted that to use against him."

    "Perhaps I changed a few things," Ryan smiled. "But that was mostly so that he wouldn''t remember me pulling him towards me, using the stun spell, and the rest. I needed him to have his threats in his subconscious to place the geass more easily."

    He could tell his servant didn''t fully believe him, but dismissed it. Unless a mind mage actually went into Nicholas''s head, no one could disprove his words.

    They finished their walk to the beach, and Tyler spread out the towel as Ryan removed his sneakers. After making sure his master was okay, Tyler made his way to the ocean. Ryan moved off the towel and began burying himself with sand, happy with his longer range of detection allowing him to pull from further away. He didn''t need to dig as much.

    When he finished, he lay like that, just relaxing. Not long after, several water elementals showed up and began dancing around him in a ring, just like in his last run. He recognized all of them, and chuckled when he realized they were teasing him.

    Ryan manifested twelve points of water around him, letting them ebb and flow and move around as he shifted them to talk.

    "Hello," he told them.

    "Hello, Blind Ocean," they responded in unison.

    "Why do you call me that?" He asked.

    "Because that is your name," Shadowy Falls responded.

    "Why were you expecting my arrival?" He asked.

    "We were hoping that your death would not deter you from returning," Shadowy Falls said, and Ryan frowned.

    "My death?"

    "Yes," Ferocious Stream said. "When Hostile Puddle killed you and your two companions."

    "But I am not dead," Ryan said. "I-"

    He stopped mid-formation as he realized what they were saying. They remembered his previous reset. His previous run of time.

    "We are not bound by the constraints of time," Shadowy Falls told him. "If someone slips out of time or resets it, we are unaffected. Time was reset at the moment of your death, and so, we remember it."

    "Why was time reset when I died?" Ryan asked. "If I died, then I know I could not have caused the reset, but that means I should not have remembered everything that happened after the return point. At all."

    "You performed the reset," Moon Tide told him. "At the moment of your death, you cast the reset spell. We are glad you have returned, Blind Ocean. There is still much for us to teach you. With the rate at which you learn, you will likely be finished by the end of the year. Or maybe a month after."

    "Thank you," Ryan said. "I was wondering, is there an air elemental around here?"

    "No," all six said at once.

    "When you do that, it is obvious you are answering only the stated question," he said. "Is there an air elemental on any of the islands?"

    "Yes," Shadow Falls responded. "Several of the islands rarely visited are home to the Swift Winds. You have not visited them yet."

    "I would like to," Ryan said. "Not tonight, though. Could you tell me which ones they are? I would like to check them out over the next week."

 0022

    "Look at your ten o''clock," Ryan told Tyler. "About ten feet away. What do you see?"

    He waited as Tyler looked, and sensed the confusion in his servant''s mind. With someone else, there would probably be annoyance there, but Tyler was used to Ryan''s random things and knew Ryan was actually searching for something. That resulted in just confusion every time ''nothing'' was pointed out to him.

    "Nothing there, either," Tyler said. "Unless this time, you''re actually sensing something I can''t see. Or you''re talking about the trees again."

    "Not the trees," Ryan manifested twelve points of water around him. "The air currents are concentrated there, rippling in a fashion similar to a water elemental''s water. I''m not detecting any communication points, but Rippling Tide said that speakers of one elemental language can at least understand all of them, and I''m fairly decent with this one, even if I do still miss things from time to time."

    "Hello," Ryan spoke with the language of the water elementals. "How are you today?"

    Immediately, he noticed twelve spots of air shifting, and they formed familiar patterns, even if a couple were slightly different.

    "Hello, Blind-" Ryan didn''t understand the next word spoke. "I am doing just cool today. The air temperature is quite pleasant right now."

    "Is," Ryan imitated the unfamiliar pattern, which slightly resembled a tornado or vortex of some sort. "Meant to convey the term when the winds gather, funnel, and spin in a circle?"

    "Wreaking death and destruction as far as they go," the elemental responded. "As you do. How do you fare today?"

    The water elementals called him Blind Ocean, and an air elemental called him Blind Tornado. He''d also been called something he still hadn''t figured out. Ryan really wanted to meet other types of elementals, to find out what they would call him. Blind something for sure.

    "I am quite well, thank you," Ryan responded. "I wasn''t aware there were air elementals around. Would you be willing to teach me some of your magics, as the water elementals do here?"

    "The Fluid Wills have informed me that you are learning from them," the elemental responded. "I would be willing to teach you some magics. Your friend has studied some of the spells you have performed under the Fluid Wills. In the previous run you made of this time period. Will he be studying with us as well?"

    "He cannot speak this way," Ryan told the elemental. "But he will likely learn a few of the air spells I study, and I will teach him a few as well. Even if it will be lost when I reset again, I would not feel right not allowing him to expand his magics."

    "Very well, then," the elemental said. "I am Calm Sky. Would you like to learn some now? There are a few others around we can work with as well, if you would like them to join us. They may anyway. It is not often a Solid One can communicate with us."

    "You have spoken with Solid Ones before?" Ryan asked, assuming that ''Solid Ones'' were the air elementals'' term for humans.

    "Not this one," Calm Sky responded. "But others have. There is a pair of Solid Ones living near some of the Hard Folk and Ember Bodies on a-" it used a word Ryan wasn''t familiar with. "They are ancient. Born during the time this world was in turmoil after the-" another word Ryan didn''t know. "-broke."

    Ryan played with the first unfamiliar word several times, studying it in an attempt to figure out if there was any context he could use to learn it. He knew the elemental was watching him, probably aware he was attempting to learn the word. The Hard Folk and Ember Bodies were likely earth elementals and fire elementals, respectively.

    And just the day before, he''d heard mention of a place with both. Repeating the pattern with his water, then some air, Ryan realized that in a way, it could resemble a mountain.

    "Is this pattern," he asked. "Meant to represent a great rock which stretches far across the land and high into the sky?"

    A mountain, when put more simply.

    "Yes," Calm Sky responded.

    Ryan began to play around with the second unfamiliar term. It was some sort of ring that shifted into a disk, then back into a ring. Unlike the mountain pattern, which required using four different nodes to create the word, that one seemed to only require one communication point, but had been performed in half of them.

    "Ryan?" Tyler asked, and Ryan turned his head to face his servant, even though he didn''t need to in order to make out his friend''s from. "Sorry, but I was wondering why you kept doing that? You suddenly started making the same pattern over and over, and it actually looks like something."

    "I''m trying to figure out what it means," Ryan explained. "I was about to ask Calm Sky, since I can''t make it out."

    "Okay," Tyler said.

    Ryan could tell his servant was contemplative, but decided not to ask what he was thinking it might be. At least, not of his servant.

    "What does this pattern mean?" Ryan asked in the language of the elementals.

    "That is-" Calm Sky repeated the pattern. "It is when something is not free. When something is placed over or around to prevent passage or entry."

    It continued on, using a few more words and phrases Ryan didn''t understand, but after a minute, Ryan figured out the word.

    "It means ''seal''," he said aloud.

    "What is this seal you mentioned?" He asked the elemental.

    "It sealed the world," the elemental responded. "When the seal broke, turmoil entered, as did magic. The Blessed Ones were born in that time."

    "The Blessed Ones?" Ryan only knew ''blessed'' because of the water elementals discussing how ridiculous humans were for thinking they could actually bless something as mere mortals. "What are those? Are those the two you mentioned who live among the Hard Folk and Ember Bodies?"

    "Yes," Calm Sky responded. "They moved there sometime after the turmoil ended. The Blessed Ones are kind. They are the children of the one who ended the turmoil, as long as the event took."The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Ryan frowned as he thought about that. The turmoil they kept referring to, it had to be the Great Collapse. Calm Sky explicitly stated that magic entered the world after the seal broke. If the Blessed Ones were the children of the one who ended the Great Collapse, then they were the children of the Gray Mage.

    With his desire to become the second Gray Mage, Ryan wanted to meet them. Immediately. If they knew their father, then they might be powerful as well. Master teachers who could potentially train him.

    He became conflicted. On the one hand, he wanted to reset back to his birthday immediately, restart everything and go to where he suspected the Blessed Ones were. He''d only just heard about a mountain with fire elementals and earth elementals, and then an air elementals mentioned one. If there was a connection, that coincidence told him where to go to meet the Blessed Ones.

    They could teach him magic even better than elementals might. By they might also not be friendly.

    On the other hand, resetting then and hurrying would undo everything he put into motion, and he would not be able to see the fruits of his geass in action. He would not see how things played out with his current run. A run where his father and servant knew what he could do, where his trust in them would be tested. Justice would be served, but delayed.

    "You are conflicted about something," Calm Sky said.

    "I am," Ryan responded.

    "Care to explain?" Calm Sky asked. "Perhaps I could help you decide what it is you wish to decide."

    "I wish to meet the Blessed Ones," Ryan said. "See if they will teach me magic. If they are from the turmoil, if they are the children of the one who ended it, then they may be able to teach me how to become just as talented and skilled in magic as their father. At the same time, I do not know if I can trust them, and I have other stuff going on here, now, that I wish to see play out. Events I have set in motion."

    The elemental didn''t respond for several minutes, but Ryan waited patiently.

    "The Blessed Ones are decent folk," it finally spoke. "They will respond positively to your presence, and may teach you things you seek. If not, you will be able to learn under the elementals there, as you have done here. They do not live outside of time as we elementals do, and their powers over time would not prevent you from resetting."

    "There are other ways to disable me," Ryan found himself running his fingers through his hair, a new experience for him. "I have been too open with comments."

    "As long as you are friends with the elementals," Calm Sky told him. "And are near our kind, we will come to assist you."

    "Why?" Ryan asked in confusion.

    "Because you have done nothing to anger us," it answered. "And instead become friends with us. Unless you give cause for us to dislike you, we will aid you if you are in danger and we can react in time. If someone disables you, we will have time. This holds true even if we are friends with the other party. Attacks must be warranted for us to support them."

    Ryan thought it over. Resetting looked better and better. If he could trust Calm Sky''s word, that was. He had another concern as well.

    "What if they killed me, like Nicholas did?" He asked.

    "You are not so easily killed," Calm Sky responded. "Though if you are truly nervous, Blazing Whisper and Silent Boulder can accompany you for the visit. They are the strongest of the Ember Bodies and Hard Folk in that region. The Blessed Ones are not powerful enough to pierce their defenses or stop their attacks. They will protect you from any possible attacks, should they accompany you."

    "I will need to think it over," Ryan responded.

    "That is acceptable," Calm Sky told him. "With your power to reset time, you may take as much time as needed."

    Ryan was about to confirm that when a thought came to him.

    "Calm Sky," he said. "Is it possible for someone to prevent me from resetting? Or preparing something in case I reset?"

    "There are no Solid Ones capable of resetting time on this world," Calm Sky stated. "Nor of traveling through it. Of the four time mages on this world, you are the only one with those powers."

    "Four?" Ryan asked.

    "A woman from the bunny island, not much older than you," Calm Sky explained. "And the two Blessed Ones."

    "The bunny island?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Calm Sky responded. "A large landmass not far north of an even larger one, far to the east of here. Across the ocean."

    "Oh!" Ryan exclaimed out loud. "Britain! Kayla Veloas!"

    "I have met her before," he spoke through the water. "She is to marry myˇ­ the son of the brother of my father."

    "The formation for that is this," Calm Sky showed Ryan the word for ''cousin''. "A child between the two of you would likely result in another time mage Solid One. A Blessed One as well."

    "A Blessed One?" Ryan asked. "What are those? Am I one?"

    "No," the elemental responded. "You are a-" it used the word first used to refer to Ryan by name, the formation he didn''t know. "Children of your kind and ordinary folk are Blessed Ones. It is also why you are much more difficult to kill than you might believe."

    "What do you mean by that?" Ryan asked. "You have mentioned it twice."

    "All of your kind," the elemental responded. "Are capable of resetting time. If you receive an injury which you cannot quickly heal you from, or which persists too long with reinjury, then you will reset to the previous reset point. That is why you reset when you were killed by Hostile One."

    Ryan frowned. If Calm Sky were to be believed, he was immortal. Sort of like-

    "A god," he realized.

    "What about gods?" Ryan jumped at his servant''s voice, having entirely forgotten that he wasn''t alone with the elemental.

    "Sorry," Ryan told his servant. "Calm Sky made me think of something."

    "Calm Sky," Ryan spoke through his water. "Are you saying it is impossible to truly kill me?"

    "You can be killed," the elemental responded. "But only by another of your kind. You are currently the only of your kind on this world. Should another arrive, you will know it."

    "Thank you," Ryan said, though he wasn''t certain he could fully trust the elemental''s word on that, especially as it was saying he was effectively a god. Gods weren''t born of mortal parents, from the stories he''d heard. "On to the lost topic of disabling me or preparing in case of a reset. What can be done to do that?"

    "To disable you," the elemental told him. "To the point in which you are not able to reset would mean keeping you unconscious. If you are unconscious for too long without a valid reason, your magic unable to wake you, you will reset. To prepare in case of a reset, you can always go back to before the discovery you could reset. What are preparations when you can return to before awareness exists?"

    That made sense. It was a relief to know that it wasn''t possible to stop him from resetting, and he hoped that nothing which could kill him came to Earth.

    "What about mana-draining cuffs?" He asked. "Or magic-sealing things?"

    "Only others of your kind can create ones which will affect you," the elemental informed him. "Those made by Solid Ones would fail with swiftness."

    Which meant that, if everything held true, then Ryan only needed to worry should another godlike being arrive on Earth. He really hoped one didn''t show up and think there wasn''t enough room for two beings of that much power.

    Then he wondered why the Gray Mage left. If he was a godlike being, why didn''t he stay on Earth and claim it as his territory? Would his children know? Was he not interested in ruling the world? Did he really only come to deal with the Great Collapse? Him being the cause of it, as some people apparently suspected, made little sense if he didn''t have other plans. Or did something stop him halfway?

    "To inform you of the winds," Calm Sky spoke as Ryan pondered about the Gray Mage. "The Blessed Ones know of your existence, Blind Tornado. Their plans are to approach you on your twenty-first birthday, to teach you. Or if you move in near them, even if only temporarily. They had wished to wait until you were fully-grown first."

    Ryan would need to verify information with water elementals he already knew. As long as he trusted them, he would reset, so that he could meet the Blessed Ones and find out more information. If necessary to continue his training in elemental magics of water and air, he would return to the islands in another reset.

    "Thank you," Ryan said. "You have been quite informative."

    "You are most welcome," Calm Sky responded. "Would you like to learn some air magics while you are here? I can assist you with those as well."

    "That would be appreciated, if you are not bothered by it."

    "Then I will do so," Calm Sky told him.

 0023

    Ryan woke gently, smiling lightly after a few minutes passed without any pain. He had reset back to his birthday, to before he had woken. His experiment worked, and he remained asleep as his physical adjustment of magical ability performed its changes.

    It had only taken him a day to verify with other elementals what Calm Sky had told him, and Ryan knew that unless they were all lying to him, the elemental spoke the truth. Even had it not, the Blessed Ones were near a place he would inevitably end up, and they did have answers he wanted.

    Not wanting to waste time training when he could be receiving that information or more advanced training, he reset immediately, telling the elementals he would return at some point, even if it was many resets later.

    He hated to lose the situation he had created, and his revenge against Nicholas for his death, but he had more important things to do. Playing with events could come later, as could his revenge. The reset would also clear him from his powers being known by anyone but the elementals, which gave him a fresh start as well.

    "Good morning, Tyler," Ryan said.

    "Good morning, Ryan," Tyler responded as Ryan sat up. "And happy birthday, too."

    The mage expanded his senses of water and air, sensing his servant seated on his usual chair across the room. He extended out his empathy as well, and sensed his servant''s boredom, though it was fading quickly as he stood. In its place, determination filled his mind, and Ryan knew it was in case he began his joking early.

    "Thank you," Ryan said. "I am going to do my morning exercises, then take a shower. After that, I wish to speak with my father. Nothing serious, but I have a request as a birthday present."

    "I can send for him while you are in your shower, if you wish," Tyler informed him, curiosity entering his mind. "Or would you prefer to wait until breakfast?"

    "Please send for him while I am in the shower," Ryan told his servant. "I would like to speak with him before breakfast."

    "I will do that, then," Tyler responded as he moved to Ryan''s closet, then pulled out the exercise clothes and returned. "Here you are, sir."

    "Thank you," Ryan changed into his workout clothes, then began his workout, reining in his empathy.

    When he finished, he took a shower, and after he was dried, entered his room to dress, ignoring his father on his way to his bed. His father showed up relatively fast, and there was a form outside the room, another person. Based on the build, Ryan was able to match it to the person with the complacent mind. He became curious about why his father was so close on his birthday and who that person was, but knew he couldn''t simply ask that. The question would come up in an eventual reset, but not that one.

    "Good morning, Father," Ryan said after he finished dressed, turning and sitting on the edge of his bed. "How are you today?"

    "I am well," his father responded. "Happy birthday, Ryan. Are you doing okay? The message from your servant said you wished to speak with me before breakfast."

    "Yes," Ryan said. "It has come to my realization that Tyler has not been able to take a single vacation since he began working as my servant. It would be quite a hassle to have a new servant attempt to adjust to serving me just for him to take even a single day off, much less a full vacation. In addition, I know his worry over my state and how the temporary servant dealt with me would prevent him from fully enjoying it.

    "Therefore," he continued. "I was hoping maybe, as a birthday present to me, you would allow Tyler and I to take a month or two of vacation? The Srentases own a ski resort, I believe? I am sure Tyler would enjoy using its facilities.

    "Now, naturally," Ryan said. "If I am there, he will still need to attend to his duties. But we can compromise on that. While he is performing his vacation activities, I will restrict myself to a set area. A room, or even a seat. That way, he knows exactly where I am at all times and that I am well. As we will be among allies we trust, there will be little need to worry over my safety.

    "That should allow him to enjoy his time," Ryan said. "I am sure you would be insistent on sending a few guards as well, to accompany us and keep an eye on me. We might trust the Srentas Family, but we and they do not know the trust level of every guest. That should also alleviate some of Tyler''s concerns.

    "Before you protest," Ryan continued. "This is also partly my way of giving Tyler a better birthday gift than I have in the past. While I know he''s appreciated them, I also know he''s never been able to take a vacation. He''s an adult now, and he is determined to be my servant for as long as he is able. Because I do not take vacations, he does not, and if I did, he would be in servant mode the entire time. I want him to enjoy himself."

    Tempted though he was to expand his empathy and find out what his father and servant were feeling at the moment, he wanted to avoid doing that. It would make his father aware he was an empath, and he wasn''t sure yet he wanted his father aware of it in that reset.

    "Ryan," his father spoke. "As you and Tyler are aware, I am capable of both telepathy and empathy. When you were speaking, I used both of those to see if you were being honest."

    Ryan stiffened.

    "While I know you were hiding something," his father said. "I also know what you were tempted to do after you finished. Your expression told me. How long have you been awakened?"

    "A few months," Ryan sighed. "Are you still in my head? And how can you do that without me noticing?"

    "How did you know I''d notice?" His father asked, and Ryan realized his sigh gave it away. "And I''m not actually touching your mind, more like brushing around it. Your mind has never been open to me before. I can sense some vague emotions, but that''s it. When you''re sulking or want to be left alone, your mind has always closed off completely, becoming unreadable. I''ve known you were destined to be a mind mage once you awakened because of that."Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    "So the reason I''ve never noticed you touching my mind," Ryan said. "Is because you aren''t?"

    "Correct."

    "What about telepathy?"

    "It''s always failed," his father answered. "Though I can use it on Tyler just fine, which tells me more than enough when you are getting up to your usual mischief."

    Ryan frowned a little. His father had performed telepathy with him before, yet said he couldn''t. After thinking on it a moment, Ryan realized that when that had happened, he had stretched out his empathy and was reading his father''s mind. If that was necessary for telepathic communication with him, then Ryan was pleased. It reduced the chances of someone entering his mind. However, he had other concerns.

    "Are you able to completely hide if you are in someone''s mind?" Ryan asked.

    "Against other mind mages, you mean?" His father asked, and Ryan gave a light nod. "I am. As long as they are weaker than me, I am able to hide my presence entirely. If you wish, I can teach you how to do that, as well as how to detect when someone else is brushing around your mind."

    "Thank you," Ryan let out a sigh of relief. With having empathy stretched out quite often, he needed to know how to tell if someone else was touching his own mind. That would also help him guard against other mind mages. "Before we do that, however, do you think we can do breakfast? I know we still have some time before that, but I am rather hungry after that workout."

    "I can teach you after breakfast," his father chuckled. "As for your request, I can see what can be arranged."

    "Thank you," Ryan said. "I am sure you have other things to do before breakfast, and I wish to speak with Tyler for a minute as well."

    "Enjoy your discussion," his father said, and Ryan waited for the man to leave, exiting his range with the guest.

    Only then did he turn his attention to Tyler, stretching out his empathy to find regret, guilt, hurt, and confusion present.

    "I am a mind mage," Ryan told Tyler, trusting his servant would keep the full extent of what he could do a secret, even from his father. "I am capable of empathy, or sensing the emotions of those around me. It''s rather easy to hide, as Father is the only other Specialist here."

    "That''sˇ­ not what is confusing me, Ryan," Tyler said. "You''ve been awakened for a few months?"

    Ryan realized his servant felt hurt by that knowledge. Tyler was the one person he trusted as closely as he trusted his father, and the servant saw him as a friend. They knew plenty of secrets relating to the other. For Ryan to have kept his awakening a secret from Tyler was a form of betrayal of that trust.

    With that run, he didn''t want to reveal he was a chronomancer at all, and so had to think about what he said next. When he did, he gave a small prayer to whatever godlike being might hear it that Tyler accepted it.

    "With my condition," Ryan said. "There isn''t much I can do with magic. Having empathy seems to be a blessing, as it will give me an edge when it is my time to take the spot as head of the Novars. However, it comes with a stigma of always being in someone''s head. I didn''t want to make you uncomfortable knowing that, at any time, I might be sensing what you''re feeling. That''s why I didn''t inform you. I apologize if that upsets you, but I hope you can understand my reasoning for it."

    He knew Tyler was already accepting it, the hurt fading from his servant''s mind. The confusion lightened as well, though the regret and guilt were still present, even if they had moved to the background during the discussion about Ryan''s empathy. The guilt did flare up a bit more, and Ryan knew his servant and friend was feeling bad for getting upset without knowing the full cause.

    "I didn''t think of that," Tyler told him. "I should have expected you had a reason that would make sense. Sorry."

    "It''s okay," Ryan smiled. "That''s a normal response."

    "Are you sensing my mind right now?" Tyler asked, hesitation in his voice.

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "I realized that you''d likely felt confused, and knew you wouldn''t ask. So I stretched out my empathy to check, and then you asked about me being awakened. Again, I apologize for not informing you, I didn''t want you to constantly worry about me knowing what you''re thinking."

    "I''m sorry for immediately jumping to conclusions," Tyler told him.

    "We''re both sorry," Ryan smiled. "So, Tyler, what is it that''s confusing you?"

    "I know you," his servant said. "Well enough to know you wouldn''t have stopped at just using empathy. You''d want to learn other magics, even if just to mess with people. I''ve never noticed you taking time for that. You''d definitely shoo me away for something, with some excuse. Possibly even just give yourself time alone while I am doing my training. Yet that hasn''t happened."

    Ryan thought it over for a moment, tapping his leg gently as he did. There was only one viable excuse he could come up with. Denying learning other magics would only raise suspicions, and he knew his father probably already suspected it.

    "I spend a brief time after you leave me at night," Ryan informed Tyler. "Using air magics. I would like to try other magics, but the risk of causing damage or leaving behind a trace of it is too high. Water and earth magics would leave behind its remains unless I had some nearby I could use, fire and lightning magic would no doubt damage something or leave a scent, and light magicˇ­ well, that one I could do, but it would be hard for me to know if there''s actual success."

    "Yes," Tyler chuckled. "I can see an issue with that. So you can perform wind magics?"

    "Some," Ryan held up a hand, puffing out a brief blast of air in the direction of his servant, feeling it move through the air and connect to his servant''s chest, creating a brief impression in Tyler''s shirt. "I can also do some telekinesis. Like this."

    He touched his pillow, then lifted his hand up. When he flicked his wrist, the pillow shot at his servant, who caught it, laughing.

    "Of course you''d learn that!" Tyler said.

    "Yeah," Ryan grinned. "The temptation was just too great."

    He quickly turned serious as he pulled in his empathy.

    "Tyler," he said. "I know you are feeling regretful and guilty. You feel responsible for me feeling bad about your situation, don''t you? I''ve pulled in my empathy, so I''m not actively reading your emotions. I could sense it when I first stretched it out."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler told him. "It is my duty to care for you and worry over you, yet you began to feel guilty that my duties prevent me from taking a vacation."

    "I do feel bad for that," Ryan said. "Taking care of me should not mean you are without your own pleasures, Tyler."

    "Ryan," Tyler said. "Sir, I am a servant of the Novars. I am a member of a branch family who has sworn an oath to serve you as long as I am capable. I reaffirmed that oath on my birthday. Unless your father approves of me having a relationship, which I am not going to seek, I am to serve you. That is the life chosen for me, and the life I have chosen to accept."

    Ryan was stunned for a few moments. Tyler had the day off on his own birthday, something Ryan always ensured. He was not made aware his servant had reaffirmed his oath, and he could hear the honesty and will in his friend''s voice.

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "I know that is how you were raised, and what you believe. I know that is how your status is. However, you are my friend as well as my servant. It is only natural for me to care about you as much as you care about me. This vacation is my gift to you, Tyler. For your birthday, for your loyal service, and for your genuine friendship with me. Take it, okay?"

    A few moments passed, and when Ryan noticed Tyler''s head lift up a little, he knew his servant had accepted it.

    "Thank you, Ryan," Tyler said.

    "You''re welcome," Ryan smiled. "Now, let''s head to breakfast. I''m sure Father told the kitchens to be ready sooner, and I''m betting we''re having my favorite."

 0024

    Ryan napped on the way to the Srentas estate on the Appalish Mountains, though he knew Tyler was skimming information related to their trip. It was only a three-hour drive from the Novar Family''s main estate when taking the interstate, so there was no need to fly. By the time all was said and done, they would have likely taken just as much time for a trip with a plane as it would take to drive.

    Sixteen minutes longer to perform the trip with a plane involved than to drive, according to his father.

    There would be a total of ten people on the trip. Ryan and Tyler, then the two guards in the car they were in. There were another four guards, two in the car in front of them, two in the car behind them. An additional two servants would be present as well, to assist Ryan any time Tyler was absent for his vacation activities.

    When Ryan wasn''t napping during the trip, he contemplated informing Tyler about his ability to ''see'' the elements. He had already swapped his water sense for earth. While he wanted to retain that one, air gave him a better visual of the shapes and locations of objects, and would make it easier for him to communicate with the elementals without being noticed.

    No one would notice his air currents unless they moved into them, and those could be easily explained away by the air conditioning, people moving by, the wind around them, and more. Most people might notice if the air was cooler or warmer in a pocket, but they wouldn''t pay much attention past that. Floating spots of water, on the other hand, made it obvious something was going on.

    With how similar the elementals'' languages were, it wouldn''t be too difficult for him to adjust to using wind instead of water. As he thought about telling Tyler of his senses, he was also manipulating air in a few points as practice for the new communication method.

    By the time they arrived at the resort, Ryan decided to not inform Tyler. At least, not for that reset, as long as he could help it. He would see if it became necessary to inform his servant. Chances were that he''d need to at some point, if he began communicating with the elementals regularly, but he would cross that hurdle if it became necessary to.

    "What in the world?" The driver asked.

    "Is everything alright?" Ryan asked as he sensed Tyler looking out the windows at something outside of Ryan''s range.

    The breaths of all three of the others changed, becoming a little more stiff and worried. Ryan was tempted to stretch out his empathy, but decided to wait to see what they said first.

    "We''re slowing down," Ryan said. "What''s going on?"

    "On either side of the road," Tyler answered as the car stopped. "There are elementals. A stone elemental on either side, then a fire elemental, then a stone, then a fire. Eight of them total, almost like a welcoming party."

    Ryan suppressed a groan. Somehow, the elementals at the Mieria Islands had informed the ones at his new destination he would be visiting them. The fact that they were already waiting for him surprised him, though, as it was still his birthday. At least a day before he''d arrived at the islands.

    "Keep going," Ryan instructed. "From what I''ve heard, elementals are strange creatures that do strange things, but are generally harmless. They''re probably sleeping or something, but acknowledge that things pass through here regularly, and so wait off to the sides."

    Grateful for his training in the original reset on the islands, Ryan stretched out his sense of fire, able to sustain three elemental senses for up to forty-three minutes.

    A minute passed before the car began rolling forward again, keeping at a slow speed, and a minute later, the elementals entered his range of detection. The earth elementals first, a collection of floating rocks that shifted and changed form. The fire elementals came next, masses of fire that swirled and changed intensity in places, gaps in others.

    What the elementals said as they passed confirmed to Ryan that they were expecting him.

    "Welcome, Blind Mountain," the earth elementals greeted him.

    "Welcome, Blind Inferno," the fire elementals greeted him.

    "Thank you," Ryan responded with the four air nodes he''d created to practice with.

    Then they were past the elementals, and the car picked up speed, pulling Ryan out of range before he could speak more. An opportunity would no doubt arise at some point, if the elementals were there to greet him.

    "They seemed harmless to me," Ryan commented. "I don''t get why you guys were so nervous about them."

    "Ryan," he could hear the amusement in Tyler''s voice. "They were floating masses of rocks and fire, an ever-shifting embodiment of their element. Trust me when I say that they were frightening. I''ve never seen an elemental before, and thatˇ­ scared me."

    "Just don''t feed them," Ryan told him. "And you should be fine. If you feed them, they''ll probably think you''re a source of food, then follow you around forever. Sort of like a dog, I guess."

    "I will keep that in mind, sir," Tyler responded. "We''re about to pull into the parking lot."

    Ryan waited for the car to be parked, then for Tyler to open his door. He unbuckled himself and exited as the other staff exited, taking luggage out of the cars as well. Tyler led Ryan inside, a pair of guards following them rather than assisting with the luggage.

    The mage pulled in his elemental senses to cover only around seven feet in each direction, mostly because there were more than a few people moving about and he wanted to focus on the arrival and check-in.

    "Welcome to the Srentas Mountain Resort," a woman greeted them.

    Ryan sensed the magnificent desk she sat at, with its smooth edges and high front, allowing guests to sign things without bending over. It wrapped around her, a wall behind her with a couple of small gaps to either side to allow her to enter and exit. She sat on a stool, with a pair of computer monitors in front of her.

    "Hello," Tyler stepped up to the counter. "I''m Tyler Novaranamis, and this is Ryan Novar. We should be expected."If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "Indeed," she said. "If you could wait just a few minutes, Mr. Srentas will be here shortly."

    "Mr. Srentas?" Ryan asked. "Father said Eric wasn''t here right now."

    "My apologies," she said. "I was referring to his son, Michael. He''s currently staying with us while attending college in the nearby town."

    "Michael''s here?" Ryan asked as he sensed his servant relaxing a little. "It''s been awhile since we''ve spoken."

    Michael Srentas was one of the few people outside of his father''s close circle who knew Ryan in-person. He was a few months older than Ryan, and had visited with his father during a meeting their fathers were having when they were seven.

    They originally weren''t supposed to meet, but Ryan had slipped away from his mother in curiosity of the meeting. After getting lost trying to find it, he''d stumbled across Michael. Being seven, the other child didn''t take long to adjust to a blind person after being told Ryan couldn''t see, and led Ryan to where the meeting was taking place, having been on his way as well.

    While they didn''t meet in-person often due to Michael''s own duties and life, they did talk at least every few months, Michael visiting when his father did. Ryan did know that Michael was attending college, but hadn''t been aware of where it was.

    "Ryan!" The deep voice of his semi-friend called out. "Welcome! When I heard you were coming, I had to ask Father if he was sure he''d not gone senile!"

    They weren''t exactly friends, with how rarely they spoke, and Ryan didn''t know him well enough to trust him, but he did appreciate having someone who acted friendly and genuinely had no issue with his situation.

    "Hello, Michael," Ryan smiled, turning to face the direction of his acquaintance. "I wanted to gift my servant something for his birthday and his loyalty. Plus, I wanted to get out of the estate, and this gives me an excuse to. I think my father realized that, which might be why he hastened it."

    "Happy birthday," Michael told him. "And I can see you wanting to get out for an extended period of time. Being stuck in the same house every day must be killer."

    "It is," Ryan said as Michael entered his range.

    Michael had a bulky build, unlike his own or Tyler''s leaner forms. He remembered upon noticing the man''s muscles that Michael worked out regularly, but hadn''t realized just the effect they had. It wasn''t something he''d thought about before, but it did remind him of his guards'' builds. There for strength, despite magic being quite useful.

    His guards'' builds were meant to intimidate, which worked despite all of those they were there to intimidate being capable of magic as well. Something left over from the old ways of humanity, before magic came to the world.

    "Come," Michael approached the counter and took a couple of thin cards from the receptionist. "I''ll take you up to your room. You have one of our exclusive suites, your father stayed in it last time he visited us. Your guards have the rooms near you, they can get their keys from the desk."

    Michael began walking, and Tyler guided Ryan as they walked. The room was on the third floor of the lodge, but Michael said Ryan''s father had assured them that wasn''t a problem.

    "It isn''t," Ryan said. "I can handle stairs okay, and Father said you have an elevator. He''d mentioned this to me before calling, to make sure I would have a decent room if I were okay with it."

    "That''s good, then," Michael said. "We''ll take the elevator."

    They entered the elevator, where a man stood a little inside.

    "Third floor," Michael said, and the man touched something on the wall of the elevator beside the door.

    To Ryan, it seemed like a small impression of an unknown material set into the metal, but he was able to quickly guess it was a button based on the metal wiring behind it and the fact that the elevator began to move once the doors closed. When the elevator stopped, they exited, and Michael led them to their suite.

    "It has two bedrooms," Michael informed them as he gave them a tour. "In addition to the shared bathroom and the small kitchen. There''s a closet in each room as well as the main room. There''s a list of places which deliver here, along with their phone numbers. Menus for them can be found in the table by the door. If you need room service for anything ¨C towels, meals, new menus, service men or women, sheets, blankets, pillows, anything, just use the phone on the table by the door. You may not be part of our Family, but the Novars are still family to us."

    "Thank you," Ryan said. "How are your studies going?"

    "They are going well," Michael answered as Ryan decided the bedroom they were in would be his for the stay.

    "My stuff can go in here once it''s brought up," Ryan told Tyler as he began walking around the room. "What are you studying?"

    "I''m looking at a degree in arts," Michael answered. "As you know, I''ve enjoyed painting since I was little."

    "I''ve enjoyed gazing upon those beauties you''ve made," Ryan nodded, eliciting laughter from the other man. "I-oof!"

    He had misjudged his steps and walked into the chest at the foot of the large bed, banging his knee against it.

    "Ow, that hurts," he said.

    "Are you okay?" Tyler was at his side in an instant.

    "I''m fine," Ryan answered. "You didn''t tell me the room came with furniture that jumped out at you, Michael."

    "That''s complimentary," Michael responded. "Are you alright?"

    "I''ll be fine," Ryan felt the chest with one hand as he held his knee with his other, then sat on the offending piece of furniture. "Just need to take the weight off for a minute. I remember hearing you had a painting in a gallery?"

    "Yes," Michael said. "I''ve been doing paintings of the elementals lately, and my father contacted a gallery we''re friendly with. He had a few words with them, and they accepted one of my pieces. The gallery makes it sound like it''s doing better than it is, but that''s to be expected. They''re a little scared of us."

    "How''s it actually doing?" Ryan asked.

    "Not bad," Michael answered as Ryan stretched his leg out, wincing a little. "Do you need an ice pack or something?"

    "No," Ryan answered. "I''ll be fine in just a minute, it''s not the first time I''ve banged into something. Tyler wanted to guide me to make sure I didn''t walk into anything, but I told him before we left to let me do that for at least the rooms we''re staying in. The bruise will be my badge of shame. Or pain of shame."

    "Alright," Michael said, and Ryan noticed him turning to face Tyler. "Want me to show you where the first-aid kit is in here? It has those fancy ice packs that work by breaking a small thing inside, then shaking them a little."

    "Thank you," Tyler said, and the two left the room.

    Ryan expanded his range out and followed their movements, amused by how quickly he was ignored. He understood it, though. They were both worried because he''d hurt himself trying to be independent. It was just further proof to him that he needed to work on figuring out distances with his senses, especially when using one he wasn''t used to running.

    While they were out there, Ryan''s other staff brought their luggage up, and Tyler moved those into their rooms as Michael rejoined Ryan.

    "Where do you paint at?" Ryan asked. "When painting the elementals?"

    "Various places," Michael answered. "I was hoping to get a painting of the eight who were at the road, but they''ll probably depart before I get down there. It''s not common for them to stay still like that for so long."

    "How long were they doing it for?" Ryan asked.

    "Around six hours," Michael answered. "I was doing other stuff up until a few minutes before you arrived."

    "That stinks," Ryan said. "You''re right, they probably won''t be there much longer."

    If they were still there ¨C chances were high that the elementals left after greeting Ryan.

    "Yeah," Michael answered. "I paint them around the resort and outside of it. There are around twenty total elementals, I think. I''m not entirely sure, since they seem to be the same to me, but that''s my best estimate."

    "I''m not asking for your next trip," Ryan said. "As I want Tyler to enjoy his vacation, but perhaps sometime while we''re here, you could take us with you for one of the sessions? It might bore Tyler, but I''m curious. If it''s not a bother for you to take us, and possibly explain things from time to time. It would be the first time I''ve gotten to be around someone while they''re painting."

    "I can do that," Michael told him, then scoffed. "Where are my manners? I"m a terrible host. You must be hungry after your trip. Do you want food?"

    "Some food would be wonderful, thanks," Ryan said. "Then I think I''m going to sleep."

 0025

    For the first time in his life, Ryan felt himself genuinely, truly annoyed by Tyler, and his servant didn''t have to do anything at all. In fact, Ryan made sure to not make Tyler aware of his annoyance, as his friend did not hold any responsibility for annoying Ryan, despite being the source of it.

    Or rather, the source of the source of the annoyance.

    "He''s been your servant since you were ten?"

    When at the main estate, Ryan never had to deal with this. When at the Mieria Islands, he never dealt with it. While both Kayla and Bethany did mention it, as full members of their respective Families, they went with the greater prize.

    Unlike the nuisances Ryan had been forced to deal with for the last week, ever since arriving at the Srentas Ski Resort. There was the one time, on his first run, where the event occurred where someone was more into Tyler than him. The first time he had lived that day, there were two of them.

    "Was he as silent and firm then as he is now? Or did he change over time?"

    Ryan sighed. There were three women sitting around him. An hour ago, there had been four others. While some were vaguely aware Ryan was an important member of his family, they were more interested in Tyler. And since Tyler was busy on the ski slopes, they were entertaining Ryan to keep him company.

    Their way of trying to look good to Tyler. Of earning his approval. Half of them were locals who had seen Tyler either while skiing themselves, or on a trip he had made into town on the second day of their trip.

    He knew he should have expected that. Tyler was the one with the hotter body, according to everyone he heard talking about the two of them, verbally or mentally. Without even stretching out his empathy or telepathy, he could tell their feelings regarding them, and he had used his telepathy, more than a few times.

    Some of them were bothered by his blindness, but for the most part, everyone was willing to look past it for Tyler. Ryan wished Michael were around to talk with, except that when his pseudo-friend wasn''t at university or dealing with family business, much of his time was spent either painting or assisting Tyler in enjoying the resort.

    The Novar Heir didn''t resent him for that, nor did he find the Srentas man guilty of a slight. Were someone to ask him, Ryan would admit he was relived Michael was doing that. The point of the trip was to reward Tyler for his help and loyalty, and Michael guiding him and giving him tours meant Michael understood the focus of the trip was Tyler, not Ryan.

    "Is everything okay?"

    It was then that Ryan remembered that people were talking to him.

    "My apologies," he smiled. "I was just thinking that Tyler must be doing a few more runs than he did yesterday. To answer your questions, yes, he''s been my servant since we were ten, and he was actually stiffer back then. He was scared of upsetting me to the point that he made many mistakes while trying not to. I had to knock the stiffness out of him."

    Ryan knew he had to be polite in response. Those who wished him and his father ill were everywhere. Even with the guards present, standing only a few feet away from him, Ryan was aware that anyone around them could be a spy for someone who wanted to take down his father. If he acted in any way which was inappropriate, it could be used against his father.

    Used to disinherit Ryan.

    It didn''t bother him too much as he would eventually reset, but he wanted to make sure he performed every run as if it were his last. According to the elementals, he could be killed by another of his kind, by another godlike being. They also insisted he would know the moment another such being arrived on their world, but he wasn''t certain how that would happen, and they refused to elaborate on the matter.

    The part which had bothered Ryan the most, outside of the women trying to impress Tyler, was that he had been there a week, yet not had a chance to communicate with the elementals. Most of the trip, he was confined to the resort''s main building, which included its lodgings. He did go for a walk around the property every morning before breakfast and evening before bed, just in case, but none of the elementals drew too close.

    According to what he''d heard, they rarely came within one hundred yards of it, which frustrated him. One bright spot was that Michael promised to take him and Tyler out for a painting session soon, and that the fire elementals had a forty percent chance of coming within twenty feet during those sessions.

    Ryan smiled a little as he remembered Michael talking about how terrified he had been the first time that happened, and the Novar Heir assumed it was the elementals just amusing themselves. They didn''t destroy his stuff, but they probably enjoyed his tense reactions and the way his body temperature would spike as his heart started pumping.

    "Is everything okay?" One of the women asked Ryan. "You seem rather distant today."

    Her tone held less sincerity than he would expect of someone who actually cared, and Ryan thought for a moment she sounded familiar.

    "My apologies," he responded, turning his head in her direction, aware that she was probably unnerved by that. He stretched out his empathy, confirming that. "It''s difficult for me to draw close on my own, so if I''m distant, you''ll have to come closer."

    Two minds filled with slight amusement at his comment, though the one who had addressed him seemed unamused. She seemed rather annoyed by Ryan''s comment, in fact. It took him a moment, but then he remembered that she usually seemed annoyed by his comments.

    "You do realize," Ryan said. "That Tyler can see past superficial beauty and personalities, don''t you? He''s fully aware you''re only trying to befriend me in the hopes of impressing him. He''s also too kind to inform you that he''s not allowed to date or have a relationship without my permission, which means you''d need to impress me as well. It was obvious by your tone that you didn''t care at all."

    "I-" she began.

    "You are here in an attempt to impress my hot servant, I''m aware," Ryan said. "But you have apparently not realized who I am, or that he is a servant. You are in the Srentas Ski Resort, yes?"

    "You do not look like a Srentas," she said. "My apologies."

    "He''s not a Srentas," a female voice Ryan strongly recognized said with a Russian accent, and Ryan watched as the woman came into his senses. She had a slender figure with a modest chest, her long hair tied back in a ponytail. He supposed that with her profession, she didn''t want it loose while working, and likely kept it tied up just in case the inspiration struck. "Not by any relation at all."The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    "Hello, Meredith," Ryan said. "It has been some time since we last met."

    "A few months," she responded, approaching Ryan. "How do you fare today, Ryan?"

    "Quite well," Ryan said. "Though from time to time, some pests arrive to annoy me. Unfortunately, Tyler is not here, and my aim with the flyswatter is not the best."

    "I see," he could sense the smile in her voice. "Why don''t I assist you with that? Your father decided that you being in such a beautiful place was a rare event, and asked that I come out and do a portrait of you."

    "Outside?" Ryan asked.

    "Indeed," she responded. "It''s doubtful the flies would follow you out there."

    Ryan suppressed a laugh as he sensed the realization in the three younger women at what the pests were.

    "Do you mean for now?" Ryan asked. "Or in a short while?"

    "We can go now," she answered. "I already have a station set up, with a couple of guards to protect it."

    "Thank you," Ryan stood. "Guards, you are officially on a rest for now, Meredith and her guards will be sufficient protection for me for the duration of the painting."

    "Yes, sir," his guards responded.

    While they would normally protest such an order, everyone who was anyone knew Meredith Lacklar. While she wasn''t a Divine, she was an Immortal in four different elements, in addition to being a Specialist. One of the most powerful known Jewels in the world, the Russian painter held enough power to erase the lives of everyone in the resort in a matter of minutes.

    Despite his own training with combat, Ryan knew he might not be a match for the forty-two-year-old Jewel yet. There were some theoretical things he could do to kill someone like her, but he had yet to put them into practice through his training sessions yet.

    Not just manifesting or controlling the elements around him, but controlling the ones within someone as well. Generally, most mages needed a true awareness of an element in order to control it. A true perception of it. That meant they could not manipulate water or air they knew existed, but could not actively perceive, such as someone''s blood or the air within their lungs.

    Ryan, on the other hand, could sense it all due to the magical senses he possessed. That gave him a greater range for what he could perform, but he didn''t have any good test subjects for it yet. He hoped an opportunity for that came soon.

    For the time being, however, he would continue as things were, and that meant having his portrait painted.

    "Lead the way, Meredith," Ryan held out his arm, and she approached him and slipped hers through it.

    "Do you need your coat?" She asked as they began to walk.

    "No," Ryan answered in Russian, aware his grasp of the language was still only at a beginner''s level. He would not pass up the opportunity to practice it, though. "While I might not be able to see, there are a few spells I can perform. I haven''t told Tyler about this yet. One such spell is the ability to warm or cool the air directly touching me, therefore negating the effects of the cold or heat."

    "Impressive," she said. "Last time we spoke, you weren''t yet awakened, yes?"

    "Perhaps," he smiled a little. "I know you''re a mind mage, Meredith, and so was curious if you''ve ever attempted to enter my mind.

    "While I have been tempted," she responded as they exited the resort''s main lodge, and Ryan turned on his warmth spell, which the air elementals taught him before he reset in the previous run. "Just to find out what goes through your head, without any visuals to see, I decided to quell my curiosity by finding another without sight to do that to. Your Family is one I do not wish to upset."

    "Really?" Ryan asked. "You are more powerful than anything we could muster."

    "Perhaps," he sensed her smile. "But I am perhaps one of the few people aware of your father''s true might, Ryan. A secret third Divine, and a mind mage to boot. Even if he were not powerful enough to simply snuff me out of existence, Ryan, I don''t desire war with your family. Your father has never done anything to upset me, and I''ve enjoyed painting for the Novars."

    "I see," Ryan said.

    He knew, naturally, that she had never succeeded. It seemed his mind was a closed book to any of the rare mind mages who might have attempted to enter it, unless he touched them with his own mind magic. Even then, he still needed to let them in directly, and that seemed to have been a rule since even before he''d awakened.

    "Here we are," Meredith said once they reached a car. "It will take us a few minutes to reach the spot."

    Ryan waited for a guard to open the door, then he slid into the seat and buckled up. One guard was already in the front passenger seat. The guard outside closed Ryan''s door and walked around with Meredith. He opened the door for her, and she slid in. The guard closed the door and entered the driver''s seat as Meredith buckled up, then he buckled up and began driving.

    "Are you doing just the one portrait?" Ryan asked. "Or will you do several?"

    "I will do one portrait today," she told him. "While we are there. I will also take several pictures of you, to create more portraits later. Your father has commissioned ten portraits in total."

    "Ten?" Ryan was surprised by that amount. "He rarely asks for more than three."

    "As I said," she told him. "We are in a rather beautiful setting, and a rare one for you to be in. Normally, I do a portrait of you at the main estate. This is a rare opportunity."

    "I see," Ryan said. "All of your guards have a geas used on them, yes?"

    "For secrecy, of course," she answered. "To ensure that any secrets of mine or my clients are not revealed. Should someone attempt to pry them out of their heads, the geas will kill them."

    Ryan knew about that condition of the gess placed on her guards, as it was his father who had created them, part of the payment he made to Meredith for her services.

    "Excellent," he said. "If you see elementals approaching us, do not panic, they are likely there to talk with me. This is one of my secrets, so please ensure your guards are aware."

    "You can speak with elementals?" She asked.

    "Yes," he answered. "I''ve not made my father aware of it. They seem to enjoy my presence."

    "I will relay this to my guards," she informed him. "So that they will not share it with others. Our location is secluded as well, so we do not need to worry about others stumbling upon us."

    "Thank you," Ryan said.

    "How do you communicate with them?" She asked. "Elementals do not seem to have any minds or form of language."

    Ryan could sense that she was not fully done with that, and so waited for her to continue. It was likely she already figured it out herself, and he wanted to see if she did.

    "Unless," she said. "They aren''t the mindless creatures they are believed to be and they do communicate, but using their elements. For someone who is seeing with their elements, that would make it easy for the elementals to communicate without us being able to properly track it. They see even the slightest changes to the elements of the others, which we can notice, but not understand or piece together."

    Ryan watched as she pointed at him with her right hand.

    "And if you have developed a similar method of sensing to them," she said. "Then it would likely be easy for you to pick out this communication method they use and learn how to use it yourself."

    Ryan smiled, then turned his head to face her and lifted up both of his hands, grabbing the one she had pointed at him with them. He opened her hand and placed his right into it, then dropped his left hand, shaking hers.

    "Congratulations," he said as he dropped his right hand, moving both of his back onto his lap. "You have learned another secret of mine, and I''m aware you had Father place the geas of secrecy on you as well."

    Had his father not, Ryan would never have given her the information she needed to draw that conclusion. It was not something he did on a whim, either, as he had a purpose in allowing her to learn one of his major secrets.

    "I know you steered this conversation to that," Meredith told him. "You knew I would realize this."

    "You are wise and knowledgeable," he said. "So it was only natural you would piece it together with such little information. Most people would not have come to that conclusion and simply assumed I was joking around."

    "Such is your nature," she said. "You joke around quite often, and such a comment would not be out of character for you."

    "Indeed," his smiled widened. "And now that you''re aware of this, Meredith, I have a request for you. I want you to help me with something dealing with my ability to sense the elements around me."

 0026

    "What do you want help with?" Meredith asked.

    "I am able," Ryan explained. "To sense each of the six elements in a manner similar to the elementals. This means I am absolutely aware of the chosen elements within my range. It is not limited by a direct line, but rather, it''s simply everything within my range. That would be something akin to three-dimensional viewing of everything, regardless of obstructions. At least, that''s the best explanation I could come up with when thinking about it.

    "However," he continued. "There are some downsides to it, particularly with the element of light. I''m aware I''m seeing color, but it''s always the same color, and its intensity changes based on how much light is passing through. For instance, if I were to turn on my sense of light right now, I would ''see'' outside more clearly than inside your car, as I know it''s windows are tinted."

    He didn''t need to use his sense of light to know that, as tinted windows were a standard for important people such as Meredith and members of his own Family.

    "Are you saying," she said. "That outside, where the sun is shining, is simply one big wash of a color for you?"

    "Essentially," Ryan nodded. "I can adjust the sense of light so that I can only see what it''s touching, which leaves a blank spot, an emptiness or void where light does not touch, as well as the space it passes through unhindered."

    "You want me," she said. "To try and help you figure out how to view colors."

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "I plan on going to a place with light elementals eventually, but I''m not sure how much use they might be for this."

    "I see," she said. "I can try to help you, Ryan, but there is no guarantee for this."

    "I''m aware of this," he responded. "This may be the most difficult sense to pull apart and train for me, which is why I''m doubtful the elementals will be too useful with learning specific colors."

    "I can do my best," she told him.

    The rest of their ride was made in silence, and once the car stopped and the pair had exited, Meredith led Ryan up a mountain. He assumed it was the mountain, as they had been ascending for the ride, and the walk was uphill. It took them a further eight minutes to reach their destination, and Ryan noticed what he assumed to be a stool through his senses of air and fire.

    He sat upon it, then waited for Meredith to finish adjusting his position. For the first time, he was able to see what he knew was her easel and canvas, along with her supplies, which a guard had pulled out of the trunk of their car.

    "You said," Meredith said as she began fixing up her palette, which involved squeezing out a thick liquid from several tubes into several spots on it. Ryan found that interesting, before remembering she was putting paint on it, which only mildly decreased his fascination with it. "That you can adjust the sense of light so that you only see what it touches, not where it passes?"

    "Yes," Ryan answered.

    "Are you running it right now?" She asked. "The way you said it made it sound as if you turn them on and off."

    "I have my senses of fire and air on right now," he told her. "I can turn on my sense of light as well. I can sustain three senses for a period of time dependent on the range I have open. For twenty feet of space, I can sustain it for over an hour."

    "Do each of these twelve spots look the same to you?" She asked, indicating the palette. "Erm. Can you-"

    "I can sense it by the shifts in air and warmth," he told her. "Do you mean with the color of light I can see?"

    "Yes," she answered, and he noticed her pause for a moment, then looked at her guards. "What we are discussing is one of his secrets. Everything related to this session that is not a normal course of events is part of his secret. In addition, there may be some elementals approaching. Do not panic, they are either here to watch us or to speak with Ryan, another of his secrets."

    She turned her attention back to Ryan.

    "With your sense of light," she indicated one of the spots. "Does this look the same color as the other spots?"

    "It does," he answered.

    Ryan waited as Meredith thought for a few moments.

    "Ryan," she said. "Are you able to focus your sense of light into a narrow limit?"

    "I''ve never tried that before," he answered. "But perhaps."

    "Try it with this one," she pointed at the same one she had before. "And this one," she pointed at the next one after it. "Turn off your other senses to filter out everything but the light here."

    He did as instructed, curious of why she wanted him to do that. Just in case, he stretched out his empathy to sense all minds near him. Nothing hostile, so he waited for the next part.

    "Do they still look the same?" She asked.

    "Yes," he answered.

    "The light looks the exact same?" She asked. "The same intensity for both?"

    "Yes," he answered.

    "Okay," she said. "Are you able to limit your sight to only the two spots? That is, without seeing any light other than for those two items?"

    "I''ve never attempted that before," Ryan frowned. "Why?"

    "Just a theory I have," she answers. "It may help us, if you''re able to."

    "Give me a few minutes," he told her. "Your paint won''t freeze, will it?"

    "It will not," she answered.

    "Okay," he said.

    Ryan began to focus on the first spot she had indicated, focusing on adjusting his sense of light so that he only saw the spot of paint, and not anything between him and it.

    "I''m going to set this down," she told him, and he heard the sound of the palette being set on what was probably another stool, set out by her guards. "So that you can take your time without it moving so much. I''ll begin doing the painting. Don''t move too much from your current position."If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    "Understood," Ryan said, then continued focusing on the paint.

    He wasn''t sure how long it took him to adjust his sense of light, but when he succeeded in isolating only the light of the paint, he allowed himself a small smile.

    "Stop the smile," Meredith said.

    "Sorry," he quickly corrected his face. "I succeeded."

    "That''s good," she said. "Try doing it for each spot of paint you can, I''m sure you''re only managing it for one right now."

    Ryan snorted, then resumed focusing on that single spot of paint. Seeing only its light, he noticed a difference in it from the normal color he saw. The teen thought back to what he knew about colors and light. Colors were the result of the reflection of light upon a surface.

    It was then he realized what Meredith had thought. Because he was seeing light itself, he wasn''t seeing just the reflected light, but all light that passed through that space. Narrowing down his sense of light to a single object, however, meant he was only seeing the light reflected.

    At least, in theory. It was also possible he was seeing the light which wasn''t reflected. Or he was still seeing everything, but the change in his focus caused it to look differently.

    Deciding to continue adjusting his sense of light, Ryan expanded it to the next blob of paint, and he compared the differences between them. Time passed, and Meredith did not attempt to speak with him again, so he let her continue her work undisturbed. She had likely forgotten his lesson, and so he let her be. It gave him more time to play with and adjust his sense of light.

    Minutes turned into hours, and Ryan continued to make adjustments to his sense of light. It gave him a mild headache, but he knew he''d be fine within half an hour of when he stopped adjusting his magical sense, as it happened when he adjusted the others, too.

    By the time Meredith finished, Ryan had opened up his sense of light to a forty-foot radius and could see her painting of him. She had captured him in his current position, leaning slightly forward with his head facing a little to the right and down, as if looking at something. The mountain rose up in the background, snow blanketing everything but him.

    There was also a trio of fire elementals thirty feet behind Ryan, which he was communicating with through air, having turned back on his senses of air and fire. As fascinated as he was by the changes in temperature of the fire elementals, he was even more amazed by the changes to their colors, even if he didn''t know what they were.

    "My apologies," Meredith told Ryan. "I forgot about our lesson."

    "No worries," he smiled. "You seemed quite into the painting, so I left you be. The elementals and I were discussing the probability of Tyler having sex while I''m out here with you."

    The elementals were insistent the probability was high, while Ryan knew his servant well enough to know that Tyler wouldn''t do that. He was too loyal to the job and to Ryan to risk termination, which meant he wouldn''t have sex without Ryan''s permission. The situation with Bethany was one of the rare cases where Tyler would, and Ryan was trying to explain that to the elementals when Meredith had finished.

    He wasn''t sure why the elementals brought the subject up, and wasn''t sure he wanted to ask, knowing how elementals were. He had also tried to end the conversation several times, but the elementals continued to push it until he gave his response to the questions.

    "Were you able," Meredith said. "To isolate the two blobs of paint?"

    "Actually," Ryan answered. "I think I can see the colors now, as long as I limit myself to just my sense of light. I spent most of the time you were painting adjusting my sense of light based on a conclusion I came to from your instructions. It will still need some work and adjusting, but I can deal with that as time goes on."

    Ryan turned off his sense of light, then dipped his head slightly.

    "Thank you for the help, Meredith," he told her. "I likely would have taken much longer to realize what I did if it hadn''t been for your attempt at helping me."

    "You''re welcome," Meredith said. "Let''s get those pictures taken."

    Ryan moved into the positions Meredith guided him into, which included moving to different spots and facing different locations, to give different backdrops. When they finished, she packed up her things, and the elementals spoke to Ryan once more.

    "Blind Inferno," one of the fire elementals said. "Will you be back again? You mentioned you wished to learn magic from us."

    "Yes," Ryan responded through his air. "Though it will not be as easy to train with you as I did with the elementals on the islands."

    "We are patient," it responded. "It is you who sets deadlines for yourself. You are an unaging immortal, Blind Inferno. Take your time."

    Nearly immortal, Ryan thought.

    There was always the possibility that someone like him arrived and took issue with him, then killed him. For that, he wanted to train up stronger, and fast. That would require him revealing to Tyler about his senses, however, and he wanted to wait on that in the current reset.

    "I will return when I can," Ryan told them, then turned his attention back to Meredith, speaking aloud once more. "Let us return to the lodge."

    Meredith let her guards pack up her stuff as they returned to the car, and the ride back to the lodge was made in silence as Ryan napped lightly. There, Ryan was immediately approached by a figure he quickly recognized as Tyler.

    "Are you okay?" Tyler asked. "I know you were with Lady Meredith, but-"

    "I''m fine," Ryan smiled. "How were things here? How did your ski trips go?"

    "They went well," Ryan sensed his servant''s happiness as his servant led him to a table in the nearby dining hall, where two girls were seated, plates of food and glasses of liquid in front of them. Ryan sat at the empty spot to his servant''s right. "Michael and I did five runs in total, then there was a snowball fight with some of his younger cousins that we got dragged into. One of the guards informed me before that about the commission, or I would not have participated."

    "I''m glad you''re enjoying yourself," Ryan told him. "You seem to be hitting it off with Michael pretty well. You used to be so stiff with him, anytime he''s visited."

    "I was in my role as your servant then," Tyler told Ryan. "When Michael and I are hanging out, I''m simply a guest from the Family that he''s entertaining. It might have taken me a few days to really grasp that, but it''s easier to relax if I remind myself that you want me to enjoy this and not worry about you when I''m not in my role as servant."

    "That''s good," Ryan said. "Who are our guests?"

    "How did you know?" Tyler asked, confusion in his mind.

    "They put their silverware down when we sat down," Ryan said. "And one of them has taken a drink for their glass. I heard all of that."

    "Right," Tyler said as a servant approached and put a glass in front of Ryan. Immediately, Tyler moved it and grabbed one of Ryan''s hands, moving it to the glass. "They were here when Michael and I returned, and we started talking while I was waiting for you. They had only just arrived, and were relaxing in the general space of the lodge out of boredom, due to the hour."

    "Oh?" Ryan picked up the glass and took a drink, then set it back down. Water, as he''d suspected. "You''ve been hit on by at least a dozen women since we arrived, Tyler, and you decide to hang out the first time you meet these two?"

    "It''s not actually the first time we''ve met," Tyler informed Ryan. "We were classmates in high school. The lady on your right is Amy, and the one on my left is Nadia. Is everything alright?"

    Ryan realized he had frowned a little, but it wasn''t without reason. He knew those names, because it wasn''t the first time he had met them, either, even if they had never met him. There was little chance it was coincidence that they shared names with other former classmates of Tyler''s Ryan had met, especially as they were met in a pair.

    The two girls there were the same two former classmates of Tyler''s they had met at the mall on the first time he lived that day. If they had arrived a few hours before dinner, then they arrived at the same time they were still with Ryan and Tyler in the first run of the day.

    An encounter where they showed no sense of urgency, where they had made no mention of planning on visiting the Srentas resort.

    They showed up at the mall when Ryan and Tyler were there. They showed up at the ski lodge when Ryan and Tyler were there. Both public places where anyone could visit, even if the latter required money.

    He was willing to hazard a guess that had it been possible, they would have shown up at the Mieria Islands, too. There was no possible way they could have been at both places on the same day in two different runs unless they were exempt like elementalsˇ­ or if they were following him.

    "No," Ryan smiled. "I just realized that I hadn''t eaten lunch, and I''m not certain how long it will be before dinner arrives, as they make it fresh. Fifteen to twenty minutes, no doubt."

 0027

    "We have a basket of rolls," Tyler informed Ryan. "Want me to butter one up for you?"

    "Yes, please," Ryan responded, and his servant got to work. "So, ladies, what brings you out to the resort? Here to ski, too?"

    "We might do that," Amy responded, and Ryan noticed the guardedness in their minds. Judging by her voice, she was the friendly one from the mall, while the other had been mostly silent when Ryan was a part of the conversation. "We mostly came out here for the hot springs, spas, saunas, and for the museums in town."

    "I see," Ryan said. "What a coincidence that you came here while an old friend of yours was here."

    "Yes," she smiled, and Ryan noticed suspicion rising in their minds. "Tyler told us a few minutes ago that his cousin was treating him to a birthday trip, even if a bit late."

    "A mixed trip, for both of our birthdays," Ryan smiled as Tyler finished buttering up the roll, then took one of Ryan''s hands and placed the roll in it. "It''s not often he gets to relax and enjoy himself, so I thought I''d force it onto him."

    "Normally, people don''t enjoy ''fun'' that''s forced on them," Tyler muttered.

    "You seem to be enjoying yourself," Ryan responded with a smile, then took a bite of the roll.

    "We weren''t aware Tyler was a servant," Amy said. "He explained to us aboutˇ­ you. I hope that doesn''t bother you."

    "It doesn''t," Ryan smiled. "Tyler''s a good friend, he''d have not said something if it were an issue to. How long are you staying for?"

    The moment he asked that, he noticed both of their minds panic for a moment. It wasn''t a question they had been expected to be asked. Amy''s suspicion raised a little higher, and Ryan noticed a touch of hostility in Nadia''s.

    "We aren''t sure yet," Amy answered. "We''re taking a year off before attending college, so we have plenty of time. Maybe two weeks, to give us enough time to enjoy the attractions around here. Maybe longer, depending on if we want to redo things. What about you?"

    "Indefinite," Ryan answered as she reached for her glass of water. "We may stay for a few months."

    "That seems rather long for a vacation," Amy responded.

    "It might be," Ryan said. "As I said, we aren''t sure. Tyler seems to be enjoying himself, and he seems to have made a friend in Michael. We''ll at least stay through the end of the year, probably visit some of the galleries you''ve mentioned. Honestly, we could use the change of scenery, and there''s plenty to do in this area."

    Ryan let Tyler return to his previous discussion with the ladies, and the teen monitored their minds. He noticed some suspicion in Tyler''s mind, especially whenever Nadia spoke. While she displayed some interest in him, it was less genuine than Amy''s interest.

    There were a few times he read their minds as well, but if the ladies had an ulterior motive, they were keeping it out of their minds. That didn''t mean they didn''t show a few other suspicious signs, which he noticed Tyler noticing as well.

    Both Amy and Nadia noted that Ryan ate slightly messily, a side-effect of not being able to actually see his food. They also noticed anytime Tyler had to assist Ryan with something, and that he didn''t react at all to someone moving by unless they made a noticeable noise.

    Both also made observations of Tyler as well, and Ryan noticed Amy''s thoughts about how loyal Tyler had seemed at school.

    On and on it went, which only increased how suspicious Ryan was of the pair. After dinner, he tapped Tyler on the arm.

    "I''ll be returning to our suite," Ryan informed his servant. "You can enjoy the rest of your evening with these ladies, I''m sure you three have plenty to talk about."

    "Thank you, sir," Tyler said.

    Ryan nodded, then had one of his guards escort him back to his room. As soon as he was alone in there, he appraised the guard.

    "Call my father and hand me your phone," Ryan ordered the guard.

    A few moments later, the phone was pressed into his hand, and Ryan put it to his ear as the guard exited the room. It rang only once before his father answered, as he knew would happen. Either Ryan was calling, or there was an emergency, and both were reasons for his father to answer swiftly.

    "Hello?" Ryan''s father spoke, caution in his tone.

    "Hello, Father," Ryan said.

    "Hello, Ryan," his father said. "I meant to call you earlier, to see if Meredith had arrived yet, but was busy with something. I was intending on calling Tyler in a few minutes, as I thought you''d be finished with dinner by then."

    "I just finished dinner," Ryan told his father. "Tyler''s still down there, though. A couple of his former classmates are here, they seem to be pretty friendly, though I think this is his first time actually talking with them."

    "So a change from the ladies who''ve been attempting to flirt with him, then?" His father asked.

    "Yeah," Ryan sat on the sofa. "Actually, Father, I''m having a feeling that they aren''t who they seem to be."

    "What do you mean?" His father asked.

    "I''m not certain," Ryan answered. "Just a feeling I have. Would you be able to look into them, though, just in case?"

    "I can do that," his father answered. "Do you know their names?"

    "Their first names," Ryan answered. "Amy and Nadia."

    He hadn''t thought about their last names, but that wasn''t important. His father would likely know soon enough.

    "They went to school with Tyler?"

    "Yes, sir," Ryan answered. "Graduated with him back in May."

    "That should be enough," his father told him. "I''ll have someone investigate them, then I''ll get back to you when it''s finished."

    "Thanks," Ryan said.

    "You''re welcome," his father said. "Now, onto something less serious, how is your vacation going?"

    "Pretty nicely," Ryan answered. "Other than the issue I mentioned to you before."Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    His father had already talked with him twice, and Ryan had mentioned the annoyance he felt to the man on both occasions.

    "It happened again today?" His father asked.

    "Every day so far," Ryan sighed. "Why can''t they be interested in me? You know that Tyler seems to have no interest in women at all, and me? Argh!"

    His father laughed in response to Ryan''s frustration, and the teen sighed again, then turned so he was laying on the sofa. He slipped off each shoe using his other foot and let them drop to the ground, his feet hanging over the arm of the sofa.

    "That''s probably for the better," his father told him. "If you get someone pregnant, Ryan, it could cause major problems for our family."

    As Ryan would be resetting to before he slept with whoever he slept with, there would not truly be any long-term issues stemming from the encounter. He wasn''t going to say that to his father, however, as it would mean revealing in that reset he was a chronomancer, which wasn''t something he wished to do.

    "If I happen to get someone pregnant," Ryan said. "We can detect it early enough to marry her to some random member of the family and make a claim that he was the one who impregnated her. We can use your mind magics to alter their memories to make them think that''s what happened, too."

    "Ryanˇ­" his father began in an attempt to portray sternness, though the teen could hear the restrained chuckle.

    "I know, I know," Ryan said. "I need to be careful because someone might claim that me sleeping around is further proof I am not worthy of acting as the Novar Family Head when it''s time. I''m already suspicious of a couple of people, and I''m pretty sure at least one is sent by someone from one of our branch families. Tyler already told me that he recognized one of his cousins here."

    "It''s likely there are some people watching you," his father said. "Considering you''re in a place that doesn''t have the sort of restricted access which would make it impossible for a spy to get in and watch. Be careful, would you?"

    "I know," Ryan sighed. "I''ve been keeping what I say to at least my usual stuff, with some goofiness mixed in. That last part, I can''t help. It just sneaks up on me."

    "As usual," his father chuckled.

    "Oh, right," Ryan realized something. "By the way, with Meredith''s paintings, I won''t be wearing a coat in them. That''s not her fault, I didn''t put one on."

    "Why not?" His father asked, concern clear in his voice. "If you were outside, then you should-"

    "I''m fine, I promise," Ryan interrupted his father. "I, ah, know a spell which warms the air touching me. It allows me to go outside in the cold and not feel cold in the slightest."

    His father was silent for a few minutes.

    "Ryan, it took me six months to be able to use that spell with any proficiency over my entire body."

    "That hot air you''re full of probably interfered with the spell."

    His father laughed in response, and Ryan smiled a little.

    "I seem to learn spells easily," Ryan said. "You saw that when you taught me a few on my birthday. I''d gotten the idea to try and warm the air around me to ward off the cold, and figured out the spell. It did take me a few hours, but a thin layer of warmth is all it takes, and I just realized that I might be able to use that to dry myself off after a shower. I''m going to go test that theory."

    "Enjoy!" His father laughed, then hung up.

    Ryan grabbed the phone and returned it to the guard, then made his way to the bathroom attached to his bedroom. He stripped out of his clothes and entered the shower, shutting off his magical senses. As he scrubbed himself, his mind wandered to a place he was unwilling to think about it.

    The last time he was in any form of hotel, showering without someone close by. There was someone in one of the other bedrooms of the suite during that incident, but not in the shower, and not in the bedroom he had been using.

    So far on their trip, Tyler was always close by when Ryan took a shower, mostly because his servant prepared his clothes for him, then waited outside the shower to ensure Ryan was properly dried.

    His curiosity at the use of a spell put him in a situation he had not been in for ten years. Ryan''s breathing increased as he remembered that night, when his mother had helped him into the shower, then went to her room to do something, likely to change into pajamas for a snuggle as she read him a book.

    Ryan had enjoyed listening to his mother tell stories, and they were often what put him to sleep when he was little. She would change her voice for each character, adding in the emotions portrayed by the stories. She always had a tropical smell about her, a result of her favorite perfume.

    He never heard her voice again after she left him in the shower. As he took his sweet time scrubbing himself, taking the usual half-hour he spent feeling the water hit him when he was younger, someone murdered his mother in the other bedroom.

    Eight-year-old Ryan heard nothing of what happened, only knowing something was wrong because his mother didn''t return to dry him off. He''d initially assumed she''d needed to do something else, so he did his best to dry himself off and dress in the clothes she''d set out on the bed in the room he was staying in within the suite.

    Whoever the assassin was, they left him alone, and Ryan fell asleep waiting for his mother to come read him a story goodnight. His father found her body when he returned a few hours later, and then immediately checked Ryan. He''d initially thought the boy was dead, too, but quickly realized he was only sleeping.

    Ryan never went near his mother''s body, and he didn''t know what his father''s expression was upon realizing his son was, in fact, alive. All he knew was that the assassin went after his mother and not him.

    Sighing, Ryan slammed the side of his fist into the shower. He had not wanted to return to that night, but his mind had traveled there anyway. He missed his mother probably as much as his father did, and did his best to not think about the night someone murdered her. A knife through the heart, his father had told him.

    The teen finished his shower, then turned it off and heated the air touching him while sensing only the water and air within a few inches of him. It took only a few seconds for him to be completely dry, and he realized too late that by speed-drying his hair while it was still a little spiky from being washed, his hair was still spiky after.

    "Is everything okay?" A voice asked, and Ryan jumped, then slipped on the wet floor of the tub.

    "Whoa!" He exclaimed as he fell, quickly expanding his sense of air and manipulating the air around him to cushion his head as it smacked the wall of the shower on his way down. "Oof!"

    The shower door was pushed open, and Ryan sensed his servant within his range. He didn''t need to use his empathy to know his servant was concerned at the fall.

    "I''m fine," Ryan rubbed his arm, which he''d bumped on his way down. "Though my ass isn''t. I didn''t hear you come in."

    "I arrived a few minutes before the end of your shower," Tyler answered, helping Ryan up and out of the shower. "I heard you pound the wall, then you were pretty still after, so I was worried. I suppose my worry caused you to hurt yourself, sorry."

    "It''s alright," Ryan smiled at him. "I was thinking about the nightˇ­ the night Mother was killed. I guess if you''d been in the other bedroom, and I knew about it, I''d have probably gone into a panic attack or something. It''s not pleasant, revisiting that night."

    "I''m sure," his servant began to hold out the towel, then frowned. "You''re already mostly dry. That''s weird."

    "Oh, right," Ryan chuckled. "I was holding still because I was trying out a spell."

    He heated up the air touching him again, drying himself from the water that got on him from his fall.

    "There we go," Ryan smiled, stretching out his empathy just to know his servant''s response. "Now you don''t have to towel me off anymore! Perfect! instant-drying!"

    Relief entered Tyler''s mind, confirming to Ryan that his servant wasn''t comfortable with that part of his duty. Even if they were friends, Tyler wouldn''t have stopped performing his duties or mentioned how uncomfortable they made him.

    "I''m going to get dressed," Ryan told Tyler. "Then relax until bedtime, alright?"

    "Alright," Tyler said. "Your pajamas are already on your bed."

    "Thank you," Ryan said, then exited the bathroom and entered his room.

    Tyler remained long enough to ensure Ryan dressed without issue, then left, and Ryan sat on the edge of the bed, putting his head into his hands. It took him awhile to recover from revisiting that night in his memories, and once he did, he made a decision that from then on, in that and all future resets where he was in a hotel-type accommodation, he was not going to put himself into that situation ever again. The islands did not bring him back because he was staying in a studio-style house, but it was clear that staying in any form of hotel would likely do it if he were in that type of situation once more.

    "Resets," Ryan muttered, then frowned.

    If he could reset, then could he not return to the night his mother was killed? Could he not grow powerful enough to stop her death in the first place? His resets completely erased anything which occurred after the point he returned to, which meant things would be vastly different. Only he would know what happened.

    And if he became powerful enough, then he could stop it with ease, no matter who killed his mother.

    Laying back on the bed, Ryan admitted to himself that his goal of becoming the next Gray Mage was likely the excuse his subconsciousness came up with to grow more powerful. Powerful enough to rest back to when he was eight years oldˇ­ and kill the one who killed his mother.

    Before the bastard succeeded in his goal.

 0028

    "This place smells wonderful," Ryan whispered to Tyler, though Amy and Nadia clearly heard it judging by the laughter he heard as his servant chuckled.

    "That''s one of the reasons why we came here," Tyler informed Ryan. "You''ve been focusing on ensuring I enjoy myself during this vacation, to the point where you''ve been alone for most of the time, usually having to deal with one person or another trying to keep you company in order to flirt with me."

    "They have a weird idea of flirting," Ryan frowned. "I didn''t tell you, but while you and Michael were playing pool last night, I had one lady literally walk up and ask me what she needed to do in order to get into bed with you. I don''t think she believed me when I said you were a eunuch."

    "That''s not flirting," Tyler sighed. "And that''s not something someone would just believe."

    "Do you want to be a-"

    "No," Tyler answered as Amy and Nadia chuckled. "Come on, the smell of the place will change depending on where we are."

    "I assumed as much," Ryan grinned. "When we''re back home, we''ll go to the local one. I forgot that exists."

    The quartet of teens began walking around, Ryan inhaling the various smells. That morning, Tyler had surprised Ryan after the workout and shower by announcement he''d found a place Ryan might enjoy. It wasn''t until they had arrived and were inside, Ryan smelling the various flowers, that his friend and servant mentioned they were at a botanical garden.

    The place boasted more than four hundred different types of flowers during each season of the year, as well as a butterfly house. As they walked around, Tyler, Amy, and Nadia informed Ryan of the plants they were around.

    Ryan himself, meanwhile, kept his empathy stretched as far as he could, along with his senses of water, fire, and air, monitoring everything that went on around him. His father had yet to return to him about the girls, even after two weeks. Whenever he asked, Ryan was simply told that there was no result yet.

    Which only made them more suspicious, before considering that he''d noticing Nadia carrying weapons hidden on her at all times. If the Novar Family could not find information on someone within a few days, there was something suspicious. If it took two weeks or more, their history and truth were intentionally hidden from view. If they carried weapons on them, they were some sort of agent.

    Despite knowing that at least one of them was an agent of some form, Ryan didn''t make a move. First, he wanted to know exactly what their purpose for following him and Tyler was, especially with how much they preferred to hang out with and talk with Tyler over him.

    So he kept his own guard up, pretended to fill his usual role, and monitored everything. The moment either of the girls acted, he would respond as well. He''d already alerted Michael to something suspicious, out of paranoia something might happen to Tyler while he wasn''t around. Michael had promised to keep an eye on things while he was hanging out with Tyler without Ryan, and that he wouldn''t let Tyler know about it.

    As they continued to tour the gardens, Ryan thought about Tyler''s relationship with Michael. It had gotten to the point where the two were hanging out at almost every chance they had, and the heir knew it was more than just his request to Michael. They had become actual friends, much like he and Tyler were. For the first time, he noticed laughter in Tyler''s voice when it was someone other than Ryan doing something.

    It made him realize that his servant, for all his statements and actions, craved having other friends, craved having someone else he could hang out with.

    By the time Ryan was finished with everything, Tyler would be able to. He made that promise to himself. When he reset back to eight years old, he''d have not met Tyler yet. Despite that, he''d ensure his current servant became his servant again, for the purpose of setting him free.

    If Tyler didn''t become Ryan''s servant, he''d still be a servant to the Family, but he''d likely never earn the right to freedom, and that wouldn''t do in Ryan''s mind. Tyler had proven himself loyal beyond a mere oath, and deserved the right to have his own life, even if it would be set in motion for actions he''d never performed.

    Ryan''s nose twitched, and he realized they were walking near the food center of the botanical gardens.

    "I''m a little thirsty," Ryan told the group. "Can we get something to drink?"

    "Sure," Nadia answered. "I''ll get them so you don''t have to deal with the crowd, the food center looks pretty busy. Do you want anything to eat?"

    "No, thank you," Ryan answered. "I would like either lemonade or fruit punch, please."

    "Tea," Tyler requested. "No sweetening, please."

    "Fruit punch," Amy said.

    "Give me a few minutes," Nadia said, and Ryan watched as she walked off.

    Amy and Tyler led Ryan to a nearby bench, and the trio sat down, Tyler to the left of Ryan, Amy to the left of Tyler.

    "This place is quite enjoyable," Ryan said, watching Nadia through his senses.

    She had her hands in her pocket, one touching the money in it, the other touching a small pouch of powder she always carried around on her. He''d assumed it was some sort of supplement, but never saw her using it.

    "I''m glad you''re enjoying it," Tyler told Ryan. "You''ve been rather quiet since we arrived, I was staring to wonder if you weren''t liking all the smells."

    "I am," Ryan smiled. "Some of them weren''t pleasant, but for the most part, this place has been enjoyable. Is the food court really that busy? It''s been so silent here, I''d thought the place was empty."

    "It''s not packed with people," Amy responded. "But it does have a few in there."

    "The gardens are rather empty right now," Tyler told Ryan. "Most people are probably at school or work right now, and it''s winter, too, so fewer people would come here than in the summer because of the cold."

    "And the butterfly house?" Ryan asked as Nadia paid for their drinks and accepted the cups.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    "It''s closed for the winter," Tyler answered.

    Ryan noticed Nadia fidgeting with the pouch again on her way to the drinks machine.

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "If you were suddenly freed from servitude, what would you do?"

    "What do you mean?" Tyler asked.

    "Say, for instance," Ryan said. "I no longer needed a servant and decided to lift you from your oath of servitude during the dismissal of services, allowing you to become a full member of the Family. What would you do?"

    He sensed the unease in his servant''s mind and the curiosity in Amy''s. At the same time, he noticed Nadia fidgeting with the pouch again, before ultimately deciding not to use it as she poured their drinks.

    "Sir," Tyler said, then cleared his throat. "Ryan, forgive my bluntness, but unless you regained your sight, you would not have the potential for never needing a servant again. Even if that occurred, however, you would likely still need an aide for your duties to the Family as its Heir, and in the future as its Head. Even if you release me from my oaths and service, my duty is to you, my life is yours. I swore that oath, and reaffirmed my servitude to you on my birthday. It is the life I have chosen to accept."

    "I know," Ryan sighed. "But at the same time, you''ve missed out. Based on how ladies are reacting here, I''m sure girls fawned over you during high school. Were you not a servant of the Family, would you have dated?"

    Upon asking that, he sensed discomfort in his servant''s mind and curiosity in Amy''s.

    "Perhaps," Tyler muttered. "Perhaps not."

    "Would you have had friends?" Ryan asked. "People to hang out with? I''ve noticed how you''ve taken to Michael, and how you are with Amy and Nadia. It''s clear you''re starving for the social life you missed out on."

    Guilt immediately enter his servant''s mind, and Ryan felt guilty upon sensing that. Telepathy wasn''t necessary to know the cause of it. Because Ryan was showing concern for Tyler, his servant was feeling guilty for causing it.

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "This is something I''ve thought about for awhile. You''re more than a servant to me, you''re my one friend, and one of only two people I''d trust with all my life. However, you''ve been deprived of a lot just for your service to me. I don''t want that anymore. When we leave here, I know you''re going to do your best to put the friendships you made here behind you to focus on your job. I also know it''s going to hurt you. That''s why I''m wondering this."

    Nadia approached with their drinks, and instead of answering Ryan, Tyler accepted their drinks, and placed Ryan''s into his master''s left hand. Ryan sensed a determination, the iron will his servant had strengthening with whatever his decision was.

    "Even if you released me from my oath of servitude," Tyler said. "And allowed me to become a full member of the Family, I will stay by you, no matter what you do, Ryan. You''re right about us being more than a master and servant, Ryan. You are my friend. My first friend, and the first master I liked. If you cut my service, I will remain with you, no matter what you do, because you will need someone."

    There was a pause for a moment.

    "But," Tyler said. "I might use some of the extra time I have from not being your servant toˇ­ enjoy myself a bit more."

    "Okay," Ryan smiled. "I can live with that. Does that mean you''d get yourself a girlfriend and start yourself a family after a bit?"

    Amy chuckled as Tyler groaned, and Ryan detected the smile on Nadia''s lips, a smile which wasn''t reflected in her emotions. Before Tyler could respond to Ryan''s question, his phone rang.

    "Hello, sir," Tyler answered it as Ryan waited, assuming it was his father by the response.

    A moment passed, and Ryan sensed confusion and surprise in his servant''s mind, before his servant grabbed his right hand and placed the phone into it.

    "It''s your father," Tyler informed him. "He wants to speak with you."

    At last, Ryan thought. He must have finally found the information.

    "Hello, Father," Ryan said after placing the phone to his ear.

    "Hello, son," his father spoke in Novaran, a Secret Tongue.

    Every Family and major Guild or Order possessed one unique to them. Only its highest-ranked, core members were allowed to learn it, and it was used only between them, and only for events of great importance. By its use, Ryan knew that whatever it was his father had to say, it was major. Tyler knew the language, being Ryan''s trusted servant, and the surprise he had felt likely came from being spoken to in it, a way of the Novar Head informing him of its urgency.

    "Results were finally yielded," his father told him. "Ryan, their names which Tyler knows, Amy West and Nadia Fuld, are false, and their real identities were hidden quite well. Their actual names are Amy Shrall and Nadia Keln. The Kelns, you know of already."

    "Assassins for a certain corporation."

    Which meant the pouch of powder likely wasn''t a supplement at all. It was poison of some sort, and she had likely been contemplating on using it against either Ryan or Tyler. With it being Raxvar Corporation who employed the Kelns, that meant Ryan was the likely target, but with their friendliness towards Tyler, he couldn''t be too certain of that.

    "As for the other?" Ryan asked.

    "They were much harder to find information on," his father answered. "However, we finally confirmed what we did find this morning. The Shralls are a secret intelligence unit of Raxvar Corporation. So secret, I likely never would have learned of them if it weren''t for your suspicions of Amy."

    One to gather intelligence, one to kill.

    "Father-" Ryan began.

    "If our suspicions are correct, son," his father said. "Then they may not know about the other''s mission. While they both might know the other from their families working for Raxvar, it''s possible neither is aware the other is an agent as well."

    "One might," Ryan said.

    "Indeed," his father responded. "As an intelligence agent, she may have figured out what her friend is. Son, I will be sending additional guards out there to-"

    "What in the world?" Ryan muttered.

    "What?" His father asked.

    "Nothing," Ryan muttered. "Something only I''d have noticed."

    Something such as a wind elemental drifting across the flowers, making comments about both the flowers and the people around. He''d not heard of any reports about wind elementals, which meant it was likely no one knew about it. That, or it had gone out of its way to be there while Ryan was. Either way, it had surprised the teen.

    "Additional guards won''t be necessary," Ryan told his father. "Let intelligence seek information on me, they won''t find much they don''t likely already know."

    "I''m more concerned about the assassin," his father said. "Either I send out more guards, or I have Tyler bring you home immediately, back to where it is safe. I can''t lose you as well, son."

    Ryan contemplated his response. Even if he revealed his true nature as a Divine Specialist, his senses of the elements, and his abilities to his father, it was doubtful he would be believed. Not from that distance, not without proof of some sort. His father would believe it was simply him trying to get away with a lighter guard and watch.

    "Very well, then," Ryan responded. "I suppose these guards will be under orders to not allow me to be without protection at any time?"

    "Correct," his father responded. "And they will not listen to you if what you say compromises this."

    They would also keep an eye and ear out for anything suspicious from the two ladies, but there was no need for that to be said between them, as father knew son would already know they would also be there to interfere before plans were put into action.

    "Understood," Ryan said. "I will keep that in mind."

    "Thank you," his father said. "I need to go now, enjoy the rest of your day."

    "I will," Ryan responded, then the call ended. He held out the phone. "Tyler?"

    Tyler took the phone back, and Ryan sensed curiosity in the minds of the two girls with them.

    "Is everything alright?" Amy asked. "I couldn''t understand that, but it sounded serious."

    "Nothing serious," Ryan smiled.

    He couldn''t create an opening with guards present, which meant he needed to reset to before the girls arrived. Deciding not to delay and to enjoy the trip to the gardens when Tyler decided to bring him there in the next reset, Ryan immediately reset to the morning they arrived, to before Meredith arrived.

    To a point in time where his father was not set on a path to preventing an opening being created, and to before Meredith and her guards found out about Ryan''s abilities. To Ryan, it was the perfect point of reset.

    The perfect point to set up the scenario he wanted.

 0029

    For more than a month, Ryan waited. He put up with the women who continued to persist, even after noticing Amy and Nadia having Tyler''s attention. He continued to plot and plan. He even created a regular opportunity for something to happen. Halfway through December was when the event he wished for came, and it delighted him once it did.

    Nadia made her move, showing that Amy genuinely did not know her orders. Ryan reset before he could be killed, though he had been caught off-guard by it, despite having hoped it would happen. The reset was to ensure that even if she did succeed in her kill in a future run, he would not need to run more than that day to return to it.

    Now, Ryan was on his fifty-sixth run of the day, having altered the scenario in minor ways each time. At the moment, he was floating in the middle of the common room of his suite, butt-naked for no reason other than it was comfortable.

    Water swirled around him, turning into blades of ice before returning to a liquid state, the wind around him shifting into blades and whips. After Nadia and Amy arrived in that larger reset, Ryan had created a pattern for himself, which involved being left alone in his suite for at least two hours three times a week.

    During that time, he would train his combat magics in the suite, though he did speak with elementals from time to time while hanging out with Michael and Tyler on the mountain as the former painted.

    As he trained during the current session, Ryan kept his elemental senses and empathy limited to only reaching out into the hall. He''d made the mistake a few times of stretching his elemental senses into the suite across the hall during that particular training session.

    He wasn''t interested in two men having sex, and he didn''t want to know who it was across the hall doing it. Otherwise, he''d ensure they were elsewhere, doing something else, while he trained during that session. Being friendly with the heir to the family which owned the place ensured he could do that.

    Unless he reset back to before he created that opening, however, he couldn''t escape the event by changing his location. It would ruin the opening and create suspicion. So he put up with not being able to train his range for his senses for the one dayˇ­ fifty-six times.

    The elementals were initially confused by his constant resets and had sent an earth elemental to speak with him. At the same time that Ryan was practicing his water and air magics inside, he was also practicing his earth magics outside. The earth elemental was hovering outside, not far from the wall, and would create something out of earth from the soil below. Then, Ryan would do his best to imitate it as quickly as possible.

    Due to where he was floating, his senses stretched further outside than they did into the hall, giving him more range to do it in. Despite being on the third floor, his suite only appeared to be on the second floor to someone approaching the lodge from the back, due to it being built into the side of the mountain.

    Despite the path which stretch around the building, Ryan didn''t sense anyone traveling close by. Chances were, everyone was avoiding the elemental and assumed it was the creature creating both sets of items.

    He hoped he could hear rumors of it once the run ended, as he was planning on that being his final reset for that specific set of events. As long as everything went as he planned, it would be.

    Right on time, Ryan sensed Amy and Nadia approaching, and he ceased his practice, sending the water back into the pitcher resting on the table or dispersed back into the air as he sat on the sofa. Then, he waited until they reached his door and knocked as he informed the elemental that it was time to play the events again.

    "It''s us," Amy spoke through the door. "Are you in there, Ryan?"

    "I am," Ryan called. "You can enter."

    He watched as the guard stationed outside slipped a keycard into the lock, then opened the door. The two women entered, and he sensed their immediate discomfort at his nude state, though there was a mild interest which Amy held. Nadia, on the other hand, pushed back her feelings, a great annoyance presence.

    "We know you''re alone for a couple of hours while Tyler and Michael are off enjoying the slopes," Amy told Ryan. "So we thought we''d come hang out with you to keep you entertained."

    "Are you aware you''re naked?" Nadia blurted out.

    Ryan wasn''t certain of why Nadia did that, but she did so in each of the thirty-eight resets where he''d decided to be naked while training. She did seem to have an issue with him, which Ryan decided was probably the reason behind her outburst.

    "Hard not to be," Ryan said. "There''s a breeze down there that''s not present when I have even just underwear on."

    "Relax, Nadia," Amy said, amusement in her mind. "We came to his suite unexpectedly. Considering he can''t see, it''s doubtful he did this intentionally for our expressions and reactions."

    "But still," Nadia said. "He could have had us wait a minute while he put something on."

    "Maybe," Ryan shrugged. "My clothes are actually all being washed right now, I have to wait until Tyler returns to have something to put on. There''s probably a towel in the bathroom, if you want to get it. I can use that if it really makes you uncomfortable."

    "It''s fine," Amy said.

    "No, it''s not," Nadia began to move forward.

    "By the way," Ryan held up a finger. "I know you''re planning on manifesting a knife of stone, stabbing Amy with it, then killing me. A surprise attack to take out your ''friend'', then you can take your time killing the blind man."

    He felt confusion in Amy''s mind, and confusion mixed with hatred in Nadia''s.

    "Yes," Ryan smiled. "I know everything, Nadia. You''re under orders to kill the Novar Family Heir, and that if Amy is with you when it occurs, to kill her, too, in order to ensure that her secret, one you don''t know, is destroyed as well. Untraceable.

    "Sadly for you," Ryan said. "I am not a pathetic little blind man. You see, despite not being able to see with my eyesˇ­ I see far more than you could ever hope to see. I know about the poison you keep in your pocket, the contemplated thought you had about poisoning all three of us at the botanical gardens, I know you actually hate Amy. I know you find members of my Family despicable, and that you want us all dead."

    "He''s making this up," Nadia shook her head, then looked at Amy. "He''s-"

    "Thing is," Ryan said. "Now, you can''t just kill Amy. She''s aware of your intent, and will defend herself. You''ve lost the element of surprise. The ruckus will draw the attention of my guard in the hall, who will then enter here and subdue you."The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    "Amy," Nadia said. "I think he''s trying to screw with us."

    "Am I?" Ryan asked, and a knife of ice formed in the air in front of Nadia, soaring towards her heart.

    Immediately, she manifested a knife of stone to deflect it, along with the four others Ryan created and sent at her.

    "Strange," Ryan said. "Now why would someone with your supposed background know how to use a knife so expertly? Or be able to perfectly manifest one made of stone, complete with details in the hilt? Amy, I''m sure you''re aware of her real name. You are a Shrall, after all."

    He felt Nadia''s mind fill with confusion as Amy became impressed, amazed, and confused.

    "So," Amy said. "You know who we are."

    A statement of realization, not a question.

    "I''m a mind mage," Ryan responded. "I''ve known who you were since we met, actually. I delved into your minds and plucked out your juicy little secrets. I could have had you both arrested and interrogated, but decided to see how things played out."

    "Fuck this," Nadia said.

    "Stay," Ryan commanded, enforcing his words with silkspeech, a spell he''d taught himself over the last forty resets and honed to a fine point. The power to command others with his willpower and desire. "You might be a talented assassin, Nadia, but you''re no match for me. Do you want to know the secret to how I''m able to aim at you so precisely?"

    Another blade of ice formed in the air.

    "Because I can sense your mind," he told her. "So all I have to do is aim there. And you are going to let this one strike you."

    He sent the blade at her, and it cut through her skull.

    "Just like that," he smiled as he felt fear enter into Amy''s mind as Nadia dropped to the ground. "Don''t worry, Amy, I''m not going to kill you. You aren''t an assassin, just an intelligence agent. You don''t have any weapons on you at all."

    "What are you going to do with me?" She asked.

    "What am I going to do with you?" Ryan asked, then shrugged. "That depends on you, really. Your water affinity is Tier 6, and you can make blades out of ice, a basic water technique you learned when your powers awakened last year, and the only offensive spell you know."

    It was something she revealed in a previous reset, when he made Amy aware of Nadia''s intentions without defending himself or her. Nadia still killed her in that reset, before attempting to kill Ryan, only to be taken out by his guard, but Amy had manifested the knives in an attempt at defending herself.

    He watched as Amy noticed the blades of ice on the ground. They were shaped exactly the way she shaped hers, something Ryan made sure to do, having memorized the form of her spell when he saw it.

    "You really are a mind mage," she said. "Aren''t you?"

    "I am," Ryan answered. "I also know your original mission was to find out information about both Tyler and myself, but mainly Tyler."

    Over the resets, Ryan discovered that Raxvar Corporation wanted Tyler on their side, and so was doing their best to find out information regarding his stance towards the Novar Family and his master specifically. He also found that Amy had determined that Tyler''s loyalty was to Ryan, not the Family, which meant they would need to convince Ryan to join them in order to bring Tyler to their side.

    Amy didn''t know why they wanted Tyler on their side, however, which frustrated Ryan. Why did Raxvar want his servant?

    Ryan knew he''d likely have to play an entirely different set of events to find out. That meant returning to his birthday, but he wasn''t quite ready for that yet. He wanted to speak with the Blessed Ones, first.

    "What are your plans for me?" Amy asked once more.

    "You want to pull me to your side," Ryan said. "To convince me to join Raxvar Corporation, so that they can finally have Tyler on their side. There is only one thing which would convince me to join Raxvar Corporation and abandon my Family."

    "Let me guess," she said. "I have to figure it out myself?"

    "No," Ryan answered. "It''s to find a way to grant me sight with my eyes."

    "Find a way to grant you sight?" She asked. "There have been cases of people who are born blind being able to be fixed with healing magic by a Specialist. With your persistent case of it, we''ve assumed it''s more severe than what they can change."

    "It is," Ryan smiled. "I''m sure you''ve noticed that my pupils don''t constrict when bright light hits them."

    "They do," she commented. "Nadia and I thought that was strange."

    "That''s because I''m missing my optic nerves," Ryan told her. "I was born without them, and they control the light reflex. According to my Family''s top healer, who is one of the best in the world, it''s pretty much impossible to grant me sight because of that. We''ve had several check me for that. So if Raxvar Corporation can find a way to fix this issue of mine, then I''d be willing to join them. Naturally, I''d only make that alliance after I''m fixed, and I''d want to know why, exactly, they want Tyler. If it''s for something ill, then my Family will instead raze Raxvar Corporation to the ground. I don''t like people holding ill intent towards my friends."

    "I''ll inform my father," Amy told him, and he noticed her looking at Nadia once more. "She was really going to kill me?"

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "To conceal your secret of being an intelligence agent, though she wasn''t aware of that little detail about you."

    He felt her confusion, as well as the touch of betrayal in her. She''d always known that she might one day be assassinated by her employers to prevent a secret from being released, but it still hurt her to know an assassin was sent after her.

    "What do you think of Tyler?" Ryan asked.

    "What do you mean?" She asked.

    "I''ve noticed the way you interact with him," Ryan said. "You actually like him, don''t you?"

    "I was falling in love with him before he was ever a mission," she answered, something Ryan already knew from past resets.

    "How would you compare him to me?" He already knew the answer to the question, but he still wanted to ask.

    "In what way?"

    "Looks and personality."

    "He''s a little bit more attractive than you," she answered. "If I''m being completely honest."

    "That doesn''t bother me," Ryan lied. "It''s been evident with how everyone else has been towards him since we arrived. Everyone who doesn''t know who we are, that is."

    "As for personality," she said. "That''s a tough comparison to make. You two are vastly different."

    He watched as she looked at her former friend''s corpse, then back to him.

    "Vastly different," she said.

    "Tyler''s isn''t that much different from me," Ryan told her. "The main differences is that he suppresses much of what he feels or wants when he''s working and that he won''t act on his romantic or lustful feelings. I, on the other hand, do what I want and act on those feelings.

    "Speaking of that," Ryan smiled. "While you are technically my enemy, you''re also one of the few girls I''d be willing to have sex withˇ­ if you were willing."

    He grinned at the shock in Amy''s mind, but before she could respond to his remark, something different happened from the other resets, something not caused by his change in actions.

    The door to the suite opened. Ryan had pulled his senses out of the hall once Amy and Nadia arrived, so he hadn''t noticed them arriving.

    "Ryan," Michael said, and Ryan noticed him and Tyler stopping just after entering the room. "Uhˇ­ what happened here?"

    "Nadia turned out to be an assassin," Ryan stated. "She attempted to kill Amy and me, but Amy managed to kill her. It was a rather shocking thing to hear. What''s going on?"

    He was especially interested to hear that specifically because of the change in events. Whatever it was, the elementals were responsible for it. That was the only explanation Ryan could come up with, unless there was someone else exempt from time, much like the elementals.

    "There are a couple of guests here," Michael informed him. "Who are wanting to speak with you."

    "A couple of guests?" Ryan frowned.

    "Yeah," Michael responded. "Tyler and I were talking about my plans for the future, and reception called me. They said that a young couple arrived and wished to speak with you."

    "We went down and talked with them," Tyler said. "And they insisted on speaking with ''the blind mage''. They said you were expecting them, but-"

    "I am," Ryan realized who they were upon hearing their term for him. "I didn''t expect them to arrive today, though. Amy, we can continue that discussion later. Can we have someone clean up this mess? And Tyler, can you get me some clothes? Once everything is cleared up, they can be shown up here."

    "I''ll get on it," Michael said. "Who are they? I''ve never met them before, but they look like Novars."

    "They do?" Ryan asked in surprise.

    "You''re expecting people you don''t know?" Tyler asked as he walked towards Ryan''s room.

    "It''s complicated," Ryan responded. "But yes, I was expecting people I''ve never met before. Once they''re in here, I want us left alone. Completely."

    It wouldn''t matter if others were around, because Ryan doubted his guards could take them on. They were the children of the Gray Mage, after all.

    The Blessed Ones had finally arrived.

 0030

    Ryan could sense something similar to what he sensed at the Haisar when the Blessed Ones arrived. A feeling of something thick in the air, only he knew it was contained within the Blessed Ones rather than simply flowing out of them. Judging by their forms, one was male and the other was female, which matched up with what Tyler and Michael told him while the mess of the attempted assassination was being cleaned up.

    Both looked to be in their late teens according to his friend, but Ryan knew they were much older than that. The Blessed Ones were more than a century and a half in age, being the children of the Gray Mage.

    He waited as they sat down and everyone else left, even if reluctantly.

    "Hello," the male said. "If you are wondering why today turned out differently, the elementals informed us this morning you were running this day repeatedly, and that you were also here with a partial intent of meeting us."

    "That is true," Ryan told him. "Though I hadn''t expected you to arrive so soon."

    "We didn''t interrupt your plans, did we?" The female asked.

    "No," Ryan answered. "I was seeing if someone would have sex with me, other events having already ended, but I''m sure the answer will be ''no'' to that. She''s more interested in Tyler than me."

    "Tyler is your servant?" The female asked.

    "Yes," Ryan answered.

    "He is interesting," the male responded. "Forgive our rudeness, sir, we didn''t introduce ourselves. I am Colin, and this is Emily."

    "Sir?" Ryan raised an eyebrow. "You two are the children of the Gray Mage, I am only intending on becoming the next Gray Mage. I''m sure the elementals told you that much."

    "They did," the male said. "However, that does not change the hierarchy."

    "A hierarchy which puts me above you?" Ryan asked. "Tyler and Michael mentioned you two look like Novars, which is strange for the children of the Gray Mage."

    "Actually," Colin said. "It''s not strange at all. I was the first Novar. You are my great-great-great-great grandson. Emily here sired the Veloas lineage, though their blood has less of her in it than yours has of me, which is why there is a difference in appearances."

    "Not that I''d notice," Ryan said. "I tend to miss things like that."

    "I''m sure," Colin smiled.

    "So," Ryan said. "Would that not put you above me in the hierarchy, as you''re not just my four-greats grandfather, but the first Novar Head?"

    "Would you put a mortal above a god?" Emily asked.

    "I don''t see how that''s relevant," Ryan said. "Well, I don''t see at all, but that''s not relevant, either."

    "Ryan," Colin said. "The elementals can explain some things, but that doesn''t mean they do a good job at it."

    "They seemed like they explained things perfectly fine."

    "I''m quite sure they didn''t inform you," Colin said. "That you are a god."

    Ryan frowned.

    "Godlike," he corrected. "Gods are not born from mortals. What makes me godlike is my status as a Divine in all types of magic and the reset upon death I receive automatically, unless someone else like me kills me."

    "Correction," Colin said. "Unless someone like you kills you if you aren''t on Earth. As I suspected, the elementals didn''t explain things clearly. Not all gods are born of gods."

    "How did the first gods form?" Emily asked.

    "They came into being," Ryan said. "Through worship or some other cosmic event."

    "Incorrect," Colin gestured with one hand, and the pitcher of water lifted up, then poured water into a glass, which then floated to the Blessed One as the pitcher set itself back down. He took a drink, then tapped the glass with a finger once. "The first gods were born to mortals. Perhaps the universe or some force outside it decided that to be the way, but that''s how it is. You are one such god. You''re more than that, though."

    "Oh?" Ryan asked. "And why should I believe you?"

    "First," Colin said. "Our magics don''t work on you. We''re also unable to kill you. As demigods ¨C what the elementals call ''Blessed Ones'', we cannot kill a world''s Natural God. The Natural God is a god born of mortals on that world in a time where no god rules it. This automatically makes them a godking or godqueen, the ruling god of the world, until such a time as they either die while off of it or abandon it as their home.

    "You cannot be killed here," Colin told him. "Not as long as you are its godking, Ryan. You will also be able to sense the exact location of any god present on this world. At the same time, any god present on Earth will find their powers suppressed to a thousandth of what they truly are, with that missing power granted to you."

    If what he said was true, then that meant the more gods who served in a pantheon, the more powerful the god who ruled it became. Ryan wasn''t sure how much he could trust that, however, as he did just meet the pair of Blessed Ones.

    "And if I leave this world," Ryan said. "I become vulnerable?"

    "Yes," Colin told him. "All of the gods here will still find themselves suppressed, but you won''t be drawing on that suppressed power. In addition, you lose the divine protection you have which prevents other gods from killing you. Only if a god kills you will you not reset. They will also absorb any and all magical power and mana you have. Likewise, if you kill a god, you will absorb any and all of their magical power and mana, which incentivizes most gods to stay on their own worlds."

    "What keeps gods within a pantheon from killing each other, then?" Ryan decided to play along with the Blessed Ones until he was more sure of them. "Then becoming powerful enough to kill a visiting godking or godqueen, or claiming their own world after?"

    "Gods cannot be killed," Colin said. "On the world ruled by their pantheon, except by their ruling god. It''s some sort of fail-safe designed to prevent such things."

    "I see," Ryan decided to change the subject. "The elementals said you two wanted to teach me."If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "Is there anything you''d like to learn?" Emily asked.

    "We can and will teach you any magics you wish to learn," Colin told him.

    "Why?" Ryan asked.

    "You are this world''s godking," Colin told him. "Its Natural God. It is only natural we''d serve you."

    "You are not gods," Ryan said. "Which means your powers aren''t suppressed, assuming what you say is true. Wouldn''t that mean you could rule the world on your own? Even find a way to suppress me that doesn''t trigger a reset?"

    "We already rule the world!" Colin laughed. "We''ve been manipulating the Families, Guilds, and Orders for a century and a half, Ryan. Everyone dances in the palm of our hands, all in preparation for the Fourth Age of Magic. For the day you take your rightful place as godking and rule over this world. For the First Age of the Gods."

    "You''re telling me," Ryan said. "You''re manipulating the world? You''re already controlling it?"

    "We are," Colin answered.

    "And you''d give that up for me?"

    "We have no choice," Colin told him. "By nature, we are more than ten thousand times as powerful as a mortal, with ten thousand times as much mana. A god? Is ten thousand times us. There is nothing we can do to truly suppress you.

    "Besides," he added. "Even if we did try to keep you from taking your place, the other two would come and kick our asses."

    "The other two?" Ryan asked.

    "You say you wish to be the next Gray Mage," Emily began. "But were you aware the Gray Mage wasn''t a single entity?"

    Ryan frowned. He''d never heard of any rumor which said the Gray Mage wasn''t a single person. A single mage, who arrived at the dawn of the Great Collapse, then swiftly ended it, before disappearing just as suddenly as he arrived.

    "Yes," Colin said. "The Gray Mage wasn''t a single person, sir. It was three. Gods, specifically."

    "The elementals told me," Ryan said. "The world was once bound by a seal, which prevented any magic from coming here so long as there wasn''t any magic."

    "And that is true," Colin said.

    "So these gods were able to ignore it?" He asked.

    "No," Colin answered. "Well, sort of. It was a paradox seal, and a pretty potent one. We aren''t sure how it was created, but we do know that the first Gray Mage was the one who broke it. When the seal broke, a dragon came through shortly after, and he slayed it. Then the other two came through. The first god then disappeared, back to where he''d come from. It was those two who actually helped the world recover from the Great Collapse, which took a span of around twenty years."

    "I''m assuming those are the ''other two'' you were referring to?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Colin answered. "Our father was the first god who arrived on Earth. We were sired sometime around the start of the Great Collapse. Then, the other two raised us to adulthood. They finished up their work helping this world when we were around twenty, then left."

    "It sounded like," Ryan said. "Your father won''t be returning, yet they will?"

    "They told us," Colin told him. "That one day, when the world''s godking was fully-fledged, they''d return to assist him."

    "Ever been intimidated before?" Emily asked.

    "We weren''t quite intimidated," Colin said. "But they made it clear that once you were ready to take on your true role as this world''s ruling god, they''d be back. And that would only increase your power further, and each would be more powerful than either of us could hope to become."

    Which meant that, as long as the Blessed Ones were being honest, they genuinely could not act against Ryan. If they did, a pair of gods would come after them. A trio of gods, even. He had many questions for them, but he wasn''t sure how much of what they said could be trusted.

    He wasn''t willing to risk entering their minds to find out the truth, either. As powerful as they were, it was possible they might be able to breach his mind''s natural defenses. Colin''s words did explain a few things to Ryan, such as what the elementals initially called him. ''Blind God''.

    That was both insulting and amusing to the teen.

    "Let''s say I believe you," Ryan told the Blessed Ones. "You would really teach me any spell I wanted to learn?"

    "Yes," Colin answered.

    "Is there anything in particular which comes to mind?" Emily asked.

    "Quite a few," Ryan frowned. "I''ve noticed that you only ask questions, Emily. Is that normal?"

    "She was, ah, cursed by one of the gods," Colin explained. "A geas which forces her to only ask questions. She cannot even just say something in a questioning way to get around it, she can only ask questions."

    Ryan immediately loved whoever set the geas.

    "What did she do to deserve that?" Ryan chuckled and reached for a glass.

    He filled the glass with water, then took a drink as Colin answered.

    "She refused to ask any questions," Colin told him. "For two years straight. It was pure stubbornness on her side. So the god cursed her so that she can only ever ask questions."

    "Have you ever wondered who is thinking about you?" Emily asked.

    "Doesn''t everyone?" Ryan asked. "That was totally random."

    "That''s actually an excellent way," Colin said, ignoring Ryan''s comment about the randomness of the topic change. "To prove our honesty to you, Ryan. Your expression has told us that you''re not quite believing our words."

    "Well, they are fantastical," Ryan said. "What do you mean, a way to prove your honesty?"

    "Every god," Colin explained. "Can sense every person who is thinking about them. They can also sense anyone who worships them and how strongly they worship them, as well as any children they have. They can also detect any prayers offered up to them and act upon them if they wish to, even from a distance. It''s a form of divine magic unique to gods. As demigods, we can sense those who are worshiping our father. Keep in mind, we cannot do this for those who are not on the same world we are."

    "Because your father is ¨C was ¨C one of the Gray Mages," Ryan said. "Does that mean you can sense anyone who participates in those ''secret'' cults of Gray Mage worshipers?"

    "Yes," Colin answered. "Though the sense is weakened with them because of the Gray Mage actually being three gods rather than one. Outside of that, we''re completely unable to sense anyone who worships our father."

    "Teach me how to do this," Ryan told him. "If it works, then I will believe youˇ­ maybe."

    "Focus inside yourself," Colin told him. "Draw upon the core of your power. As you do, infuse your desire to know those thinking of you into it."

    Ryan did his best to follow the instructions as Colin continued instructing him on how to perform the spell. According to the Blessed One, most of it came from an innate knowledge Ryan held, but Ryan first needed to access that knowledge.

    It took him time, but after nearly an hour of trying, Ryan was ready to quit and declare the Blessed Ones liars. Just as he came to that decision, however, he felt a sudden rush of power accompanied by a complete awareness of many people across the globe.

    He could sense Tyler pacing in the hall, full of worry for Ryan being left alone. He could sense Amy and Michael downstairs, both wondering who the guests were and why Ryan was expecting them. He could sense the Blessed Ones and the genuine desire they held towards helping him turn into the god he truly was.

    Ryan could sense the worry in his father''s mind from more than one hundred and fifty miles away, of the concern in the man''s mind for his son and the fear of something happening to him. He could also sense his father''s desire to send more guards there to protect Ryan, just in case something like what happened to his wife occurred once more.

    There were the thoughts of those plotted against him, those who had a momentary thought about him, and even those who held a mild interest in him. Those who wanted to use him or kill him. The elementals who were thinking of him, no matter where they were in the world.

    That last part stunned Ryan. He could sense the thoughts of any elementals thinking of him at the time, confirming they had actual thoughts running through their strange minds.

    The god played around with his newfound sense, narrowing it down to only those who worshiped him as a joke, instinctively knowing how. He became surprised when he actually sensed people who did because there were a few who did.

    It took him a few moments to realize that someone didn''t need to be known to be a god to be worshiped. Several of the guards for his family worshiped Ryan for one reason or another, as did several servants, Tyler included.

    The revelation that Tyler not only worshiped him, but did so more strongly than anyone else, shocked Ryan even more than the revelation about the elementals. He couldn''t sense the cause of the worship, but knew he would eventually learn it.

    "Okay," Ryan said as he finished playing with his newest sense ability. "That confirms it to me. That doesn''t mean I trust you, but it means I might learn some stuff from you, beyond just what I wanted to know about the Gray Mage."

    "You wanted to know what it took to be the next Gray Mage," Colin said. "Now you do."

    "Yeah," Ryan said. "I do."

    He needed to come into his full power as a god.

 0031

    Ryan stopped walking and turned to face the direction an item would be, if there was one. Then, he expanded his sense of air, feeling the smooth vase resting on a pedestal. He knew it was likely wooden, as Tyler and Amy had already commented that most items resting on a stand had a wooden pedestal or table. As the stand was completely enclosed on all four sides and squarish on the narrow part, he knew it was a pedestal instead of a table.

    That finished, he pulled back his sense of air. They were at a museum a week after Nadia attempted to kill Ryan and Amy, and Ryan had successfully kept his father from finding out about the attempt so far, as he realized only after the fact that his father would likely want to end his time there over the attempt, resulting in another reset.

    Because they were in a crowded place, Ryan kept his elemental senses off. Tyler was not yet aware of his ability to sense the elements yet, and Ryan didn''t want that to happen until he was preparing to reset. That meant continuing to not see others around, resulting in a few bumps and stumbles. Throughout the trip, Tyler kept a firm grip on Ryan''s arm.

    The young god would have preferred Amy to do that, but understood his servant''s insistence on it. There was a strong chance they would become separated from whoever was not touching Ryan, and Tyler needed to ensure that he was present at all times for his master, in case of an issue.

    Not wanting to inconvenience others, Ryan had not requested the museum to just their party. It was quite crowded, which prevented his guards from being able to keep track of him at all times. Even if his servant knew about Ryan''s pair of mysterious teachers, he was not aware of Ryan''s own combat capabilities. That meant it was his duty to ensure the two were not separated, in case something happened and Ryan needed defending.

    So Ryan put up with it. It only bothered him because Amy was with them, and he knew that if it was just him and Tyler, he wouldn''t have had any issue at all.

    "This," Ryan said to his companions after checking the item with his senses. "Is by far the best one we have come across so far. Just look at those details, the amount of time which must have been put into creating it. A masterpiece."

    "That vase," a man said, and by where his voice came from, Ryan judged him to be only a couple of feet on the other side of Tyler. "Was crafted around fifty years ago. Were it not for our need to fill out a vase quota for this room of local works, it would not be displayed at the moment. We are hoping for a quality piece to replace it to come in tonight, and in the meantime, we ask that patrons do not mock the lower-quality works."

    At the moment, the trio were in a hall which displayed artwork created by locals. They were on their way to look at the painting Michael had displayed there, but Ryan was insistent that Tyler and Amy at least admire other things before seeing it.

    Due to a low amount of local artists of talent, the chamber held many pieces of lower quality than would ordinarily be viewed by someone of Ryan''s status. He knew that based on his stance, Tyler''s stance, and the fact that guards were following them, when possible, the staff had already picked them out as wealthier people, and probably considered them snobbish.

    While the employee might have felt justified in his comment, as they likely dealt with several wealthier people making rude or sarcastic marks about some of the lesser pieces, Ryan was slightly bothered by the assumption.

    "Mocking?" Ryan asked. "I''m not mocking it. Just look at those curves to it, and the way the top flares. Even if made by someone of only mediocre talent, the time and effort put into this is quite obvious. Why, I bet even a blind man could see that!"

    "If you don''t-"

    "Sir," Tyler interrupted the man. "He is blind, and hadn''t made a comment that suggested he knew what it actually was until after you said it was a vase. Ryan, stop harassing the poor staff."

    "Yes," Ryan said. "The poor staff. Specifically, the one who made an assumption about me. I was mocking his inability to see what I can see."

    "Let''s go look at Michael''s painting," Tyler told Ryan, leading his master away before a full-fledged argument could break out.

    The trio of teens continued examining items, Ryan occasionally using his sense of light to view the coloration of the works displayed. He wasn''t too impressed with them, however. No, Ryan had discovered something even more beautiful than artificially-created works of art.

    Such as eyes. The eyes of people were not a single color. He knew that eyes were classified as ''brown'', ''blue'', ''green'', and ''gray'' at their base, but when he used his ability to sense light on Amy''s eyes during sex a few nights before, he''d discovered that they were not, in fact, a single color, but a multitude of them, patterned out.

    Other ''natural beauties'' which entranced him through their coloration included flowers as well, for the same reason of them not being an even color, but a variety of them which patterned to form the appearance others took for granted.

    So when they reached Michael''s painting, Ryan chose not to use his sense of light on it. He wanted it to remain a mystery, as he did not want to make a judgment about his pseudo-friend''s art, due to the possibility of it not being to his tastes.

    "It''s rather good," Tyler commented. "The kind of art I would expect to see somewhere like a private gallery."

    "I agree," Amy said. "And not just because you two are friends with him. You said he''s self-taught?"

    "Yeah," Tyler answered. "He says his father had offered to hire a tutor for him when they discovered his desire to learn to paint and draw, but Michael was stubborn and wanted to try to learn without first. Within a few months, they had discovered he had a natural talent for art. He prefers to do natural scenes like this one, but he does some with people in them, too. He hates doing buildings, though."

    "Has he done any with either of you?" Amy asked.

    "No," Ryan answered.

    "Yes," Tyler answered.

    "He did?" Ryan asked. "When?"

    "While we were preparing to go skiing yesterday," Tyler explained. "We were talking, and Michael asked if he could paint me. You weren''t expecting us back for a few hours, so we went to Michael''s suite."

    "Why did he want to paint you?" Ryan asked. "Did one of the ladies who keep flirting with you or attempting to impress me ask him for a painting of you?"This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Servants weren''t supposed to have such things done, so Ryan hadn''t expected Tyler to ask for it, even if he wasn''t acting as a servant at the time.

    "No," Tyler cleared his throat. "I had mentioned to him while we were talking that I wished I could get a painting made of me. We were talking about you and him both having paintings made of you every year, being heirs, and I''d let that slip. He''d forgotten I was just a servant because of how casually you and I talk and how much freedom I have here. So he made that offer to me."

    "If you want it and he''s willing to give it to you," Ryan said. "I''ll make sure you''re allowed to."

    As a servant, Tyler wasn''t supposed to have much in the way of decorations for his room. It was supposed to be kept plain, and everything he ''owned'' belonged to the Family and his master.

    "That''sˇ­ fine, sir," Tyler said. "I hadn''t even thought of that, and had just assumed Michael was going to do something with it. Since I''m a servant, it can''t exactly be displayed."

    Ryan made a mental note to broach the subject again at a later time. It was clear by Tyler''s voice that the servant was embarrassed over having the painting made, which meant that having it purchased and brought to their main estate without too much issue would require warming Tyler up to the idea.

    His servant was likely terrified of what would happen if Ryan''s father found out about the painting, because of the rules and such. When he brought it up again, Ryan would mention that Tyler was asked to model for a painting by a Family Heir, and his own master, another Family Heir, did not take issue with it. Those two details meant the painting itself was not a violation of his restrictions, even if the fact that he had prompted it might count.

    But no one needed to know that detail.

    "Was there anything else you wanted to look at here?" Ryan asked.

    "A few things," Tyler answered. "Let''s move on, shall we?"

    The trio of teens continued touring the museum, then left. Ryan sat in the middle of the back seat of the car, with Tyler on his left and Amy on his right, a pair of guards in the front seats. After a few moments, Ryan frowned.

    "Where are we going?" He asked. "This isn''t the route back to the lodge."

    "We''re going out to dinner," Tyler informed him.

    "Out?" Ryan asked. "Tyler, you know I don''t eat at restaurants. Eating in the dining hall of the lodge pushes it."

    "Especially with attempts that may be made on your life," Tyler answered. "I know. The restaurant is owned by a branch family of the Srentases, who would not be stupid enough to try something. It''s the same as eating in the dining hall, except with less people."

    "If it''s a restaurant owned by one of the Families-"

    "Michael had the reservations listed for now cleared," Tyler stated. "We''ll have a four-hour period where it''s us, the staff, and the pianist, plus your guards, who will stare intimidatingly at the chefs and servers."

    "Okay," Ryan sighed. "Is Father aware of this trip?"

    "Yes," Tyler answered. "He was the one who suggested I ask Michael if there was any way to reserve a table for it. I wouldn''t have known it existed, otherwise."

    "Did you tell him about-"

    "No," Tyler interrupted. "I did not. You''ve put a ban on mentioning that to him, and I''m not going to violate that ban."

    "Thank you," Ryan said. "So you asked Michael, and he cleared the restaurant?"

    "Yes," Tyler answered. "I asked him while we were on the ski lift earlier, and he made the arrangements before we reached the top."

    Ryan made a mental note to thank Michael when they returned for the help.

    The rest of the ride was made in silence, though Ryan had his senses of water, fire, and earth stretched out to forty feet, observing everything he could as they quickly passed by them, his empathy reached out as well.

    The guards were bored, while Tyler had some nervousness in him, coupled with a light happiness. Amy''s mind held a touch of amusement, a touch of boredom, and a little frustration as she thought about something.

    When Ryan placed a hand on her thigh, the frustration eased, replaced by lust as her amusement increased.

    They reached the restaurant a few minutes later, and Ryan waited for the others to exit, then allowed Tyler to help him out of the car. The group entered the restaurant and were led to a table, speaking little during their meal.

    After, they returned to the lodge, where Michael greeted them at the door.

    "How was your experience at the restaurant?" Michael asked.

    "The food was pleasant," Ryan answered as they began walking to the elevator. "Both aromatic and flavorful, with textures that matched and weren''t unpleasant."

    "I''m glad you enjoyed it," Michael told him. "Did you enjoy the music?"

    "I did," Ryan answered. "Is it normally a pianist? Not a string band?"

    "Yes," Michael answered as they entered the elevator, the attendant pressing the button for the third floor. "We may expand on that later, but for now, we''re keeping it just to a piano, and our customers seem to enjoy it."

    "We enjoyed the museum as well," Ryan said. "Tyler and Amy were both impressed with your painting. Personally, I thought the colors were a bit off, but otherwise, it was fine."

    "You couldn''t possibly say that in honesty," Michael chuckled. "Unless you could actually see the colors, Ryan."

    "Quite right," Ryan nodded. "We were talking after looking at your painting, and Tyler mentioned you paint people?"

    Ryan noticed Michael looking at Tyler, discomfort in both minds.

    "I''m not upset about the painting," Ryan said. "It''s within your rights to ask Tyler to model if you wish. From Heir to Heir, I''ve given permission. That said, I was actually hoping that, were Amy willing, you would do a nude painting of her? I don''t know if you do nude or not, but thought I''d ask."

    "I''ve only done a nude painting once," Michael answered as they exited the elevator, then began walking to the suite. His mind and Tyler''s both relaxed, while Amy''s tensed up, which amused Ryan. "But if Amy is willing, then I can try. I don''t feel I''m all that talented with painting people, though. The painting with Tyler basically counted as practice for me."

    "What do you say, Amy?" Ryan asked. "Want to give it a try?"

    "I''ve had a few photos taken before," Amy answered. "But never a painting."

    "Nude ones?" Ryan asked, surprised.

    "Yes," she admitted. "My father wasn''t all that happy about it, but I wanted it. If Michael is willing and comfortable with this, then I''ll accept the proposal, on the condition that I get the painting."

    "I can do that," Michael answered. "Though it will need to wait a week after I finish it."

    "That is fine," she told him. "When and where?"

    "We can do it in the suite across the hall from Ryan''s," Michael said as they stopped in front of Ryan''s suite, and the god noticed the artist indicate the other suite.

    His mind immediately went to the day of the assassination attempt, when he''d noticed two guys having sex in the suite. He''d not asked his guards who they were, as his mind had become distracted by other things, but the fact that Michael was willing to use it suggested that it wasn''t a normal suite.

    "Michael," Ryan said. "Is someone staying in that suite?"

    "No," Michael answered. "It was renovated a few months ago, and after that, I decided to use it to store some of my art supplies and do a few paintings in. It''s a second studio for me. One of my cousins uses it from time to time, usually for some alone time, away from the pressure of the family."

    That explained why Ryan had not sensed anyone in that suite any night since then ¨C it was probably Michael''s cousin using it.

    "I see," Ryan said. "So it''s mostly for you and your cousin to use."

    "Yeah," Michael answered. "Amy, I have university tomorrow, but can do the painting after, at around, say, four? Just be here around then, and we can get started."

    "That will give," Ryan said. "Time for Tyler and me to do our own thing, too. I''m quite tired, so I''ll be turning in now. Tyler, you can stay and chat with them if you want, I can take care of myself tonight."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded, and Ryan sensed him turning his head to face Michael. "I''ll just make sure no furniture jumps out at him again, then meet you guys in the lounge."

    "I haven''t bumped into anything in a few days," Ryan muttered as he felt his cheeks heat up in his embarrassment over that.

    He could mostly navigate the room without issue, but did need some more adjustment to it, both with and without his elemental senses.

    "We''ll see you there, then," Michael told Tyler, then led Amy away as Tyler and Ryan entered the suite to prepare for bed.

 0032

    "Hello," Ryan greeted Colin and Emily as they entered the suite.

    "Hello," Colin responded.

    "How are you today?" Emily asked.

    "A little hungry," Ryan answered. "Lunch wasn''t quite filling."

    "Tyler''s not outside your door," Colin commented as they sat across from Ryan on the floor, his sister setting a duffel bag between them and Ryan. "Did he decide to not act like a guard today?"

    "The university canceled its classes because of the snowstorm this morning," Ryan explained. "So I managed to convince him to hang out with Michael."

    Which was not an easy thing to do. Tyler wanted to stay near Ryan just in case, even though he''d been made aware of the power of the pair of Blessed Ones. An instinct the servant and bodyguard possessed drove him to that insistence, which made convincing him to do something else nothing less than a pain in Ryan''s ass.

    "That must have been a feat," Colin commented, and Ryan watched as the Blessed One pulled a small block of of some sort out of a bag. "This is a wooden board two inches thick, four inches wide, and four inches long. Now, that''s the size before the treatment it received at the factory, so it''s actually around half an inch shorter than that on all but the length, as I cut it to four inches from a longer board."

    The Blessed One held out the board, and Ryan accepted it, measuring it with his senses. He knew that wasn''t the reason he was being handed the block of wood, but was grateful that Colin understood his desire to learn how to properly measure distances through his senses.

    "Okay," Ryan said once he finished assessing the block. "Why do I have a block of wood?"

    "For today''s training," Colin answered. "So far, we''ve taught you plenty of things in areas of magic you already know. Today, we''ll be teaching you an entirely new branch of non-elemental magic: shaping."

    "Shaping?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Colin responded. "Shaping. As a god, you have an innate understanding of magic. When you try to cast a spell, you tap into that innate understanding. The more basic the spell is, the quicker that understanding is accessed. When you''ve already cast similar spells before, it becomes easier and easier to access that innate understanding.

    "With shaping," Colin continued. "You''ve not cast any form of it before. Sure, you have shaped your magic and shaped the elements, but the magic of shaping is different."

    Colin pulled out another block of wood from the bag, and it immediately began to reshape, restructuring itself until it resembled a perfect cube, taking only a few seconds to complete.

    "As you witnessed," the Blessed One told Ryan. "The art of shaping is reshaping an item. This is not transmutation, where you turn it from one thing into something else, such as lead into gold. You change its form, not its makeup. Try shaping an image into the block, such as a circle."

    Ryan had never heard of shaping before, but found it interesting. Not as interesting as transmutation, which he''d only heard of as myths spread by a few Jewels who wanted to make a name for themselves, but interesting, nonetheless.

    So he began focusing on the block as he drew upon his power in an effort to shape a circle into its surface. The Blessed Ones watched, giving occasional advice, until finally, a crude circle formed on the surface of the block.

    "My art skills aren''t that good," Ryan said when he accomplished the task. "But I think I did it."

    "Good job," Colin said. "As your experience with the spell grows, you''ll be able to create the images more accurately, and more quickly as well. Why don''t you try fixing your circle?"

    Ryan promptly began reshaping the wood until his circle met an acceptable standard. Colin reshaped the block back to its original state, and Ryan tried again. For the next hour, Ryan made circles, stars, squares, triangles, and other shapes in the wood, before focusing on rounding its edges and shaping the surface into a smooth state.

    After succeeding in that a few times, Ryan decided to attempt to shape the block in half, only to discover he could not. The most he could manage was shaping it into two parts connected by a thin piece of wood.

    "It won''t shape into two pieces," Ryan commented after his fifth failed attempt as splitting the block into two pieces.

    "Shaping doesn''t allow that," Colin said, and Ryan sensed him shaking his head. "You can alter its current form with shaping, but you cannot add to or remove from it."

    "Ah."

    "Try this," Colin took the block of wood and handed Ryan a short metal rod from the bag, which he returned the block to.

    Ryan accepted it, then began reshaping the rod, first turning it into a sphere, before reverting it back to a rod. From there, he reshaped the rod into twists, spirals, and curves, until an idea came to him. After a few minutes of thought and a few moments of shaping, he held in his hand a crude knife.

    "Did you just make a weapon?" Emily asked.

    "Yep!" Ryan grinned, then began reshaping it back into a rod. "It wasn''t as sharp as it could have been, but it was my first try, so I give myself full points."

    "Of course you do," Colin chuckled. "Try it a few more times."

    Ryan did, then when he reverted it again, handed it back to Colin.

    "I believe our time is up," he told the Blessed Ones. "Tyler has returned."

    "Indeed, it is," Colin said, then packed the items back into his bag and stood, his sister rising as well. "Before we go, I was curious if you have ever been in a combat situation, other than the time you stopped Nadia''s assassination attempt."

    "Yes and no," Ryan stood. "I sparred against a few of the water elementals on the Mieria Islands, mostly as a way of testing my skills and increasing my reaction time, but no true combat situations."

    "You sparred with water elementals?" Emily asked, and Ryan could sense shock and amazement in the Blessed Ones'' minds.

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "Why do you both seem so surprised?"

    "The elementals don''t hold back when sparring," Colin explained. "For anyone, especially not a god. How badly were you injured?"If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "Just a few scrapes and bruises," Ryan answered. "I learned a little bit of healing magic to mend those, but that''s the extent of my practice there."

    He sensed amazement in the minds of both Blessed Ones.

    "Is it really that amazing?" Ryan asked.

    "Ryan," Colin said. "The elementals don''t hold back. Even if they did, they wouldn''t have for their first sparring match against you just to amuse themselves."

    "I assumed as much when you said they don''t hold back," Ryan said. "I''ve worked with enough of them for long enough to figure out that much about their personalities. Why is that a big deal?"

    "Because," Colin told him. "Elementals are masters of their elements. If you were able to keep up with one and only get away with a few cuts and bruisesˇ­"

    The Blessed One sighed, and Ryan sensed a light depression in his mind.

    "This is the difference between a demigod and a god," Colin said. "It took Emily and me almost thirty years to be able to spar against a single elemental as equals individually. Twenty just to do it as a pair. The learning curve for gods is truly something else."

    "You didn''t know that?" Ryan frowned. "But you said-"

    "We knew gods learned quickly," Colin interrupted. "We didn''t realize they learned that quickly. The gods who raised us were already fully-developed before they came to Earth."

    "Ah," Ryan said, then grinned. "Well, even if it took you thirty years longer than me, you two still did it much faster than a human! I bet even my father would not be able to fight an elemental as an equal in his entire life."

    "I wouldn''t say that much," Colin chuckled. "He might if he trained hard and lived to be around ninety to one hundred. Your father is rather skilled and talented for a human."

    "Speaking of that," Ryan frowned. "You two are the children of the first of the three gods who came to Earth. My father is a normal human, but we''re descended of you two and your godly father."

    "You are wondering if there is a connection between that and you being born a god?" Emily asked.

    "Yeah," Ryan answered.

    "We don''t know," Colin answered. "The gods we were raised by said that the births of gods from mortals is random, but that every world''s Natural God is born of two mortals. They told us they didn''t know what caused those births. Perhaps there''s a connection, perhaps not.

    "Either way," Colin put a hand on Ryan''s shoulder. "You were born to rule this world as its god. We hope we can help you prepare for that as best we can for when you decide to take that throne."

    "That''s another thing which confuses me," Ryan decided to broach the topic again. "You two have said that you want to help me come into my godhood and to rule this world, and part of it is out of fear of what would happen if you attempted to interfere, both on my part and the part of the other two gods, for when they return. Why not just leave me be, or leave this world?"

    "We would probably incur their wrath for that," Colin chuckled, then removed his hand. "We should leave now, Ryan. Enjoy the rest of your day."

    The pair of Blessed Ones left, and Ryan sighed as his servant reentered the room.

    "Everything alright?" Tyler asked.

    "Yeah," Ryan answered.

    The Blessed One gave the same response every time, and every time, there was a hint of fear and worry in the minds of both Blessed Ones as they gave a response. Even as a fledgling god, he was ten thousand times as powerful as they were, yet they showed no fear of him.

    That made him wonder just how powerful the other two gods were. Not only were they fully-fledged, but more than a century and a half had passed since their departure, meaning they had likely only grown more powerful.

    He wanted to test himself against them, when they returned just to see the difference.

    At that thought, Ryan frowned. He wouldn''t be able to if what the Blessed Ones had said was true. If it was, they would be reduced to only a thousandth of their power, while his own power would be greatly increased.

    "Everything alright?" Tyler asked, reminding Ryan he wasn''t alone with just his thoughts to focus on.

    "Yeah," Ryan smiled. "I was just thinking about some stuff. What did you do while I was training?"

    "Stress," Tyler answered as Ryan sat on the couch, his servant beginning to prepare food in the suite''s kitchen. "They didn''t try anything while you were with them, did they?"

    "I told you," Ryan said. "They aren''t here maliciously. They''re just here to teach me magic."

    While he was still not completely sure about their motives, Ryan was confident they were not exempt from time. Twice, he spent the same day training with them, including the previous day, which he replayed more than sixty times. On both occasions, their differences in actions were within an acceptable amount, where it was based on a slight change to Ryan''s own actions. He had made sure to only reset to just before the pair of Blessed Ones arrived, which meant the elementals were not within range to speak to them.

    At least, not unless the Blessed Ones had elemental senses active and stretched past what Ryan could detect. Ryan doubted that, though, especially as neither of the pair asked him why he was resetting it several times. Had they, he would have answered that he was simply wanting to make the most of his time and get the spells down.

    Thinking of his elemental senses reminded Ryan of something.

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "I think Michael''s cousin is gay."

    Immediately, he felt worry, confusion, and fear in his servant''s mind.

    "Why do you think that?" Tyler''s voice shook a little, something Ryan had never heard in his friend''s voice before.

    "I don''t think you have to worry about him coming on to you," Ryan said. "It seems he has his own hookup. Both the day Nadia and Amy came here and Nadia tried to attack me, and today, there were a couple of guys having sex across the hall. They were the same people both times, though I don''t know who they were. But since only Michael and his cousin use that room, that''s the natural conclusion."

    "Oh," Tyler said, and his master felt the relief in his mind. "That''sˇ­ good, I suppose."

    "Yeah," Ryan nodded, smelling the pizza his servant was preparing. "So that is what the dough you made this morning was for!"

    "Yeah," Tyler answered. "I was thinking of preparing cinnamon rolls for you tomorrow. Michael said university is canceled again tomorrow as well, we could invite him and Amy over for that, too, if you''re okay with that."

    "Go ahead," Ryan said. "It would be nice to have a quieter breakfast than normal. Anyway, about the thing across the hall-"

    He noticed his servant''s mind tensing up as his friend''s breathing caught for a moment, and the young god sighed.

    "I was just curious if you''d met Michael''s cousin," Ryan told him. "Don''t be so tense. He hasn''t done anything to me, either. We haven''t met."

    "Sorry," Tyler said, and Ryan felt him relaxing again. "No, I haven''t met them. I won''t tell Michael. I''d be surprised if his cousin wanted him to know, considering how a lot of the Families can be. The Guilds and Orders might have accepted it, but within our culture? It''s not seen as something that''s allowed."

    "Yeah," Ryan said. "The Families are built on blood ties and relations. Full members who do not help to further the line and reach of the Families aren''t liked very well. Personally, I don''t care either way. Did you know that our cousin Alexandra is a lesbian?"

    "She is?" Tyler asked, and his master felt the relief in his mind.

    "Yes," Ryan answered as he realized something.

    "How did you find out?" Tyler asked. "I''m with you almost all the time, except for here."

    "From the ''almost''," Ryan answered. "She was at the main estate one day while you were at school in the spring, and I happened to overhear her while she was on a phone with her girlfriend. She hadn''t noticed me and thought she was alone."

    "I see," Tyler said.

    "Yeah," Ryan said. "So what did you do, other than stress, while I was in my lesson?"

    "Michael, Amy, and I were playing pool in the lounge for awhile," Tyler said. "Then Amy had to leave for something, and Michael and I decided to take a break and just talk for a bit. He''s planning on traveling to Florida next month to learn how to surf during his break from uni."

    "Sounds fun," Ryan said. "Magic-augmented surfing, or regular?"

    "He said he wants to do both," Tyler answered, and Ryan sensed the realization in his mind. "Wait, Ryan ¨C how the hell did you know people were having sex across the hall?"

    "Hm?" Ryan asked, then remembered that as far as his servant knew, he wouldn''t have had a way to know that. "Oh, the Blessed Ones told me. They commented about it happening."

    As his servant wasn''t around for the training session, he would have to either accept what Ryan said or become suspicious, and Ryan noted that his servant went with the former.

    "Sometimes," Tyler said. "I get the feeling you may be some sort of psychic, the way you know things going on here."

    "Nah," Ryan said. "I just happen to have ways of receiving information that probably makes no sense to anyone else. You stopped chopping the onion, by the way."

    "Oh, right!" Tyler laughed, then returned to work preparing their dinner.

 0033

    "And who might you two be?"

    Ryan expanded his range at his father''s cold tone, sensing the Blessed Ones arriving. He had done his best to delay his father finding out about the assassination attempt, but once Michael informed his own father of it, it was only a matter of time before the Novar Family Head learned of the incident.

    One thing the developing god was glad for was that it took two weeks for his father to learn of the event, which gave him two weeks of learning under the pair of Blessed Ones. In that time, his powers had grown tremendously, especially with Emily''s ability to expand space, allowing for more extensive combat training in the suite, even if they did only spend a few days doing that particular form of training.

    "That''s Colin and Emily," Tyler answered the inquiry. "Ryan seemed to have been expecting them when they first showed up, and they''ve been teaching him magic."

    At the moment, Ryan, Tyler, Michael, and Samuel were sitting at a table in the dining hall, at Ryan''s insistence. His father, as powerful as the man was, knew that it was unlikely for harm to come to Ryan while he was around, and so had agreed to lunch in there instead of the suite, where he wanted it.

    "Magic?" Ryan''s father asked.

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "Magic. They came early today."

    "The elementals informed us your father was present," Colin answered as they drew close. "And likely to bring you home. This is regarding the attempt on your life the young assassin made?"

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "I''m attempting to convince him everything is okay."

    It wasn''t going well, and Ryan was contemplating an early reset. Before he made his decision, he needed to figure out what he would do. In order to avoid his father pulling him away from the Blessed Ones and the elementals, giving him more time to train, Ryan would have to prevent the attempt on his own life.

    "Everything is not okay," his father said. "While I know she saved your life, I examined Amy''s mind."

    "So you know?" Ryan asked.

    Not that Ryan was the actual assassin, as he had altered Amy''s memories to match his story. However, there was other stuff in her mind which he knew would displease his father.

    "Yes," his father answered. "First, there''s the little thing you told her. Then, there''s the fact that you have been having sex with her-"

    "What?" Tyler asked in shock.

    "While you and Michael are off doing your things," Ryan told his servant. "And Amy is keeping me company. She feels quite nice, and smells nice, too."

    "Are you really willing to leave-" his father began.

    "No," Ryan snorted. "I just told her that to amuse myself. I know it''s impossible. According to Colin, it would quite literally take a god to grant me eyesight."

    As he spoke, Ryan realized that he could sense confusion in his father''s mind. His father recognized Colin. He also sensed the discomfort in the pair of Blessed Ones. They had no reason to be afraid of his father, as they were vastly more powerful than him, yet he still made them uneasy.

    "You said your name was Colin?" Ryan''s father asked, looking at the male Blessed One.

    "Yes," Colin answered. "Emily and I live further up the mountain."

    "Is that because you haven''t aged a day in the last three Ages of Magic?"

    Confusion filled the minds of Tyler and Michael, and the comment made Ryan realize that his father knew exactly who Colin was. At least, in relation to their family.

    "I thought I got rid of all records of my appearance?" Colin asked, and Ryan could sense the confusion in his mind as well.

    "So it is you," Samuel said. "Colin Novar, the first of our line. There was always a theory that you weren''t killed in that attack, leaving behind your infants and toddlers to disappear."

    "Wait, plural?" Ryan asked. "I''ve never heard this story before, I thought the first of our line only had one kid?"

    "Yes," Colin sat at the table and Emily pulled a chair from another table to theirs so she could sit with them as well. "When I was twenty-two, there was an, ah, attack on me. Raxvar Corporation was responsible for that. I decided to play dead."

    "I was asking about the plural," Ryan said.

    "I had five children," Colin explained. "A set of triplet boys and a set of twins, a boy and a girl. The eldest son is the one you''re descended of, while the twin boy is the one Tyler is descended of. Emily, on the other hand, only had the one son, then retreated, leaving him with his father as the next head of the Veloas Family. After this many generations, the blood relation between the two is pretty much nonexistent, though I do believe the young Kayla possesses chronomancy, a legacy from our lineage."

    "Kayla is a chronomancer?" Ryan''s father asked. "I knew you were, and it''s common among our family, but she''s both rather distant and from a lineage that hasn''t shown any signs of it before."

    "She can slip out of time temporarily," Ryan nodded. "She has to have both hands touching the target if she wants to slip someone else out of time. She''s also mostly interested in just having a child with the most powerful Novar she can, which means that she''d actually be willing to have a child with me, despite my situation. It''s not the power she wants, but the status of being married to the power."

    Ryan immediately became aware of his father''s gaze upon him and the intensity behind it.

    "Father," Ryan said. "I''m studying under the two oldest, most powerful mages on Earth. I''ve learned a few things."

    "Including how to perfectly eat dinner without making even the slightest bit of mess, which is completely unlike you?" His father asked, and Ryan realized he''d made a mistake.

    He''d continued eating while distracted and with his elemental senses open. As a result of that, he was eating without any of the usual issues which stemmed from that. There wasn''t the slightest bit of mess made, as if he could perfectly see everything and aim his food properly.

    "Erm," Ryan said. "Well, the thing with that actually came before I met them, and requires me to actively use the spell for it."If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    That made up his decision to reset. He''d learned plenty under the Blessed Ones, and could go somewhere else, such as back to the islands to play around with Nicholas a little more. His current attempt at things was ruined already, and his father and servant knowing he could ''see'' in some way further screwed over his plans.

    "Before you reset," Colin said. "And yes, I can tell by your expression that''s your plan, Ryan, the elementals wanted me to pass on a message, since you aren''t expanded out far enough to see them. There are some lightning elementals dealing with an issue in Volnal, which is owned by the Novars. They said that if you deal with it in just one reset, then can handle it in all future resets. And no, the resets aren''t the cause of it. That''s all they would tell me."

    "Resets?" His father asked.

    "Yes," Ryan answered, then decided to just ask a question he was confident he already knew the answer to. "Resets. Colin, are you and Emily-"

    "Exempt, like the elementals?" Colin asked. "No, we are not, so we won''t be aware we''ve met once you do it. We''re also not capable of them, though we can do a few other time magics."

    "Okay," Ryan said. "I might return in a future reset to learn a little more from you. Should I just tell the elementals to summon you here?"

    "If that is your wish," Colin answered.

    "Then I''ll see you again eventually," Ryan said.

    "What are you-" his father began, but the words disappeared as Ryan found himself waking up on his bed once more.

    "Good morning, Tyler," Ryan sat up.

    "Good morning, sir," Tyler responded. "Happy birthday."

    "Thank you," Ryan responded with a smile as he sat up. "I''m going to do my morning exercise, then take my shower. I won''t need assistance drying off anymore. Please inform my father that I am heading to Volnal. Ensure the arrangements are made, we will be there for an unknown period of time."

    "Um, Ryan," Tyler said. "I know you like to get out of the estate every now and then, but suddenly visiting Volnal? Your father''s going to protest it pretty hard. And why do you seem so serious?"

    Being honest, Ryan knew he was in a bad mood after having yet another reset cut short over something outside of his control. He could have controlled the situation by playing with memories, but he didn''t want to do that to his father or to Tyler.

    "Give me a minute to get through the POAMA," Ryan told his servant.

    "Why would you-" Tyler began, but cut off as Ryan began groaning and clutching his head.

    Ryan thought the pain was worse that time, and that it lasted longer than before, but he pushed through it, waiting for it to end. He was glad he''d noticed it coming on, as he had forgotten he would suffer from it after going back to his younger self, which had not already had the adjustments occur naturally over time.

    Once it passed, he rolled his shoulders.

    "I''m a bit stiff," Ryan said. "Could you get my exercise clothes, Tyler? I''d like to get started. Inform my father of my trip while I''m in the shower, please."

    "He''s not going to be happy, Ryan-"

    "And I''m not exactly happy, either," Ryan said. "I want to deal with something, then get back to what I was doing."

    "What?" Tyler asked, confusion clear in his voice.

    Ryan sighed as he realized he had started to snap at his friend.

    "Something has pissed me off," Ryan explained. "I''m actually getting rather frustrated by it, especially by what happened. My plans keep getting interrupted for one reason or another, as if some force outside my power has decided to screw with me."

    "I-what?" Tyler asked. "You''re not making any sense."

    At that word, Ryan remembered to stretch out his senses of air, fire, and water and did so.

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "It''s a rather complicated situation, and I''d really rather be going on my way to Volnal so I can deal with this situation. I have no clue what it is, just that my assistance has been requested. And once I''ve dealt with it, I''m returning to what I was doing before."

    Ryan stood up off his bed and approached his servant, making sure to turn his head down, even if he couldn''t see.

    "While I trust you," Ryan said. "And have come to view you as a friend, please just do this without questioning too much, Tyler. I''m not in a good mood at the moment, and I really don''t want to snap at you or get into an argument with you."

    "Understood," Tyler said. "By the wayˇ­ how did you approach me exactly? You''ve never done that before. You''re usually off-center a little bit."

    "I can see through the elements," Ryan returned to his bed and sat on it. "My exercise clothes?"

    "You can do what?" Tyler asked as Ryan watched him walk to the closet through his senses of air, fire, and water.

    "I can sense the elements within a diameter around me," Ryan answered. "I''m also capable of communicating with elementals."

    "Since when?"

    "That''s complicated," Ryan responded. "But there''s an air elemental who lives in one of the gardens here, it drifts around a bit."

    He only learned about the air elemental because of one of the flame elementals at the Srentases'' resort informed him of it, but he wasn''t going to mention that, for a variety of reasons.

    Tyler returned, and Ryan changed into his workout clothes, then performed his morning exercises. Their discussion ended then, and immediately after his workout, Ryan took a shower, making sure his servant knew he no longer required assistance drying off. He used his new trick to dry himself off, then entered his room and walked straight to his bed. His father and servant were in the room, and the same blank mind he kept sensing was in the hall.

    "Are my clothes on my bed?" He asked on the way.

    "Yes," Tyler answered.

    Ryan dressed, then sat on the bed.

    "Happy birthday, Ryan," his father said.

    "Thank you."

    "Tyler says you wish to go to Volnal," his father said.

    "There''s no ''wish'' in that," Ryan stated. "I''m going there."

    "Tyler said," his father said. "Several things that are concerning, Ryan."

    "Think of me like Colin Novar," Ryan stated, pulling on what he''d heard less than two hours before. Two waking hours, at least. "Due to that, I have some business in Volnal before I can return to what I was doing."

    He nearly prayed to a god that it went swiftly and no one interrupted it and caused him to reset again, but chuckled for a moment.

    "Father," Ryan said. "Tyler, answer me this: when a god hopes for something, who do they pray to?"

    "A god wouldn''t pray," his father answered. "They''d simply make it happen."

    "That''s easier said than done," Ryan said. "Would that not mean the god was all-powerful in the first place? Capable of making any miracle occur and controlling events and free will with ease?"

    "Perhaps," his father responded. "But we can never be too sure of such things, especially as gods are mere myths."

    "Perhaps," Ryan said. "Or perhaps they''re just as real as we are. Anyway, I need to get to Volnal, so I can deal with this crap, then I''m returning to what I''m doing."

    "First," his father said. "It''s your birthday, Ryan. We have celebrations. And how do you even know about Colin Novar? Records of him are scarce enough as it is."

    Ryan noticed his father looking at Tyler, who opened his mouth to respond, his heart racing. Ryan could also sense the spike in temperature his friend had due to his sudden anxiety, and the shortness of breath as well.

    "He doesn''t even know who Colin is," Ryan said. "I did tell you to think of me like him, Father."

    He stretched out his empathy to sense what his father was thinking, and caught the moment of realization. While he didn''t know if his father realized he could use resets, it was clear his father had realized he could manipulate time.

    "Ah," his father said. "I see. And this ''business'' in Volnal?"

    "I have not a clue," Ryan answered. "All I know is that my assistance is requested. I want all non-residents of Volnal evicted while I''m present, and no one outside the Family allowed in. In fact, I don''t want anyone who doesn''t live there present unless they''re vital to the place."

    It would both decrease chances of someone causing an issue which interfered with his business there, and prevent the assassin from arriving there as well.

    "I''ll see what I can arrange," his father told him. "Ryan, at least celebrate a bit with us, please? It is your birthday."

    Ryan sensed his anxiety in his father''s mind, as well as the worry in Tyler''s, and sighed.

    "Alright," he said. "Sorry, I''m just in a bad mood right now. You''re right, though, we should enjoy today."

    He smiled as he said the last part. Once he finished his business in Volnal, he would either return to the Appalish mountains to enjoy the ski resort some more and play around with events while training more, or return to the islands for more training with the wind and water elementals.

    But first, he had to let his father pamper him for his birthday and treat him to plenty of food and entertainment. With the way he had woken up and reacted with his bad mood, it would be problematic if he didn''t allow the rest of his birthday to flow the way his father had hoped and planned.

 0034

    "Welcome to Volnal, sir," a woman greeted Ryan, and he judged her to be around his father''s age.

    "Kendra Novarax?" Ryan guessed.

    "Indeed," she responded. "It is an honor to have you here today."

    "We''ll see about that," Ryan scoffed.

    The Novarax was a branch of the family consisting of anyone who was essentially exiled for one reason or another, and they were the branch of the Family most willing to see the Family destroyed. That was why Ryan''s grandfather had established a rule that all of the Novarx lived in Volnal. They were easy to monitor there, as there were only two ways in or out, and it was easy to cut their communication with the outside world.

    Volnal rested inside of a valley that had formed during the Great Collapse. Originally a high mountain peak, the valley was at sea-level, with a small lake on one side and hard stone making up most of its land.

    The Valley of Lightning, it was home to seven lightning elementals, the highest population of them in a single location anywhere in the world. Storms also frequented the valley, and Ryan had heard that the number of days with a break in the clouds in a year could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

    One of many magical effects leftover from the Great Collapse.

    To make a phone call out of it required used a land line, all of which were monitored, or a powerful cell phone, which only trusted people were permitted. Anyone entering or exiting was searched, and restrictions on it were heavier then than they were a decade ago, searches more thorough.

    The last part was due to a Novarax slipping out, only to join Raxvar Corporation. Another uncle of Ryan''s, he had been exiled after foul comments made in regards to Ryan''s mother after her death. A year later, he left, supposedly to meet with Ryan''s father, only to never arrive.

    Six months later, he was spotted working for Raxvar Corporation, and still did nine years later.

    Because of the stigma that came with being a Novarax, even the children were looked at distastefully by the rest of the family, and Ryan didn''t blame others for that view. They were born to trash, and held the same views as the rest of the Novarax did.

    It was his personal opinions that the exiled should be killed and disposed of like in the old days, but needs were needs. Volnal was owned by the Novars, and it developed a Heisar fifty years prior, when his grandfather was still a youth. The exiled and disgraced were then sentenced to working the Heisar and producing goods while enduring the unpleasant land.

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "Take me to my wing."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler took his arm, then led Ryan into the mansion.

    It saw little use, but he knew the Novarax were ordered to have it cleaned and ready for a visit from the main family. They weren''t made aware of who was coming, only that they came from the main family.

    Because of that, the Novar Heir expected the place to be up to normal standards. Even the slightest issue could be seen as an attack on the Family, and there were worse fates than being sentenced to serving as a Novarax.

    He knew that they were likely both disappointed and disgusted it was the Heir rather than the Head. His presence could be taken as a slight to the Novarax, telling them that they were worth only the time of a cripple and not anyone important.

    Something which could stir up even more anger at the Family.

    Ryan didn''t care, he had other things to worry about and knew that nothing the Novarax did would affect him long-term.

    As it was his first time at the mansion, he spent a few hours adjusting to it and learning its layout, then ate lunch, prepared by a chef who traveled there with him. There were several guards present as well, in addition to Tyler.

    Just in case someone did try something. While his father had been made aware Ryan could handle himself, a chance was still not being taken.

    "Take me to the elementals," Ryan told Tyler once lunch concluded.

    "Uhˇ­ I think that would count as ''something which your father said was not to happen'', sir," Tyler said, though Ryan could sense the amusement mixed in with the confusion.

    "I''m here for the elementals," Ryan stated. "And the bitch is outside again."

    "Who?" Tyler asked.

    "Kendra," Ryan answered. "She''s outside the mansion. She arrived while we were eating."

    Being cautious, Ryan had his senses of air and energy at their maximum for when he only had two elemental senses. At the moment, he could stretch them up to three hundred feet without issue for an indefinite period of time, much further than his dual range or usual range. He also kept his empathy stretched as much as possible, something made much more manageable by the fewer minds around.

    "She is likely here in an attempt and learning more about you," Tyler told Ryan. "With the intent of buttering you up with the hopes of earning full membership to the Family."

    "Probably," Ryan said. "Let''s go to the Lightning Fields. The elementals will come once they notice me, they''re expecting my presence."

    "I''m still trying to wrap my head around what you said," Tyler told Ryan as he led his master towards the front of the mansion.

    Before leaving, Ryan had informed his father and his servant about his senses and that the elementals could communicate across vast distances. All he told them was that the elementals here had spoken to elementals nearby and informed him they needed his help with something. That much was enough to confuse and amaze the pair, and Ryan didn''t bother going into further details.

    His father was already dealing with the knowledge that his son was a time mage when that came up, so it felt to the young god that going further at the moment would have caused a momentary shutdown in the mind of the Novar Family Head.

    Ryan knew that there was a chance that before everything was said and done in that reset, he would need to tell his father more, but expected it would take plenty of time ¨C at least enough time for him to conclude his business and reset again.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    He exited the house with his servant, only to be greeted once more by Kendra.

    "Hello, sir," she said. "If you would like a look around-"

    "I''m not interested in a tour at the moment," Ryan interrupted her. "But if you have a map which Tyler can use to take me to the nearest place lightning elementals go, that would be wonderful."

    "Lightning elementals?" She asked.

    "Yes," Ryan said. "Not the light elementals which also live here, the lightning elementals. Embodiments of lightning which sometimes amuse themselves by shutting down the power to a building, then watching as everyone panics."

    "They-what?" Kendra asked.

    "Oh, you didn''t know that?" Ryan asked. "That only further proves how stupid the Novarax are, then. Mary, you knew this, didn''t you?"

    He could sense in the guard''s mind that she was not, in fact, aware of it beforehand, but even a mere guard was placed higher than the Novarax. Even the servants were. And they would not pass up an opportunity to insult them or play a trick on them.

    "Yes, sir," Mary responded. "It is well-known that elementals enjoy playing tricks and pranking others for their own amusement."

    "You knew this, too, didn''t you, Tyler?" Ryan asked.

    "Of course, sir," Tyler answered. "We have that wind elemental at the main estate which likes to make pockets of cold air, which often causes people to feel uneasy, as if a ghost were present. The only explanation for such a thing would be that they found some sort of enjoyment to it, even as mindless embodiments of an element."

    Ryan knew that within an hour or two, every servant and guard who came with Ryan would be aware of the tale given about elementals, in order to ensure the ''fabrication'' was continued.

    "Quite right," Ryan nodded. "As you can see, Kendra, this is simply a well-known fact. You have to deal with them doing this, yet you seem quite ignorant of it. Now, where is the nearest location we can find them regularly?"

    "There''s one just outside of the settlement," she answered, and he could sense the annoyance in her mind. "You need only take the main road out to the western side and journey maybe a minute or two further to reach it."

    "Let''s go, then," Ryan entered his car, sitting in the middle of the back seat. Tyler sat in the front passenger seat, while Mary took the driver''s seat and two other guards sat beside him. "To the destination, please."

    It took only ten minutes to reach their destination, and Ryan exited, his guards with him. He could tell that only Tyler understood what was going on, the three guards accompanying them uncertain. They would know soon enough, so Ryan let it be, instead manifesting twelve orbs of water around him as he extended his sense of water and pulled his other senses in, giving himself a range of only eighty feet.

    "Uhˇ­" Tyler said as everyone looked at them.

    "I can do it with water the best," Ryan explained.

    "I see," Tyler said as Ryan watched him look around. "I can seeˇ­ seven coming this way. It seems they''re all coming."

    "Stand easy," Ryan said as he noticed the three guards tensing up. Tyler did as well, but not as much as they had. "They won''t hurt us."

    He hoped.

    After a few minutes, the seven elementals were present and floating in a circle around the group, and Ryan shifted his water. The lightning elementals interested him, as all elementals did. Masses of electricity and lightning which sparked around, stronger in some areas and weaker in others, unbound by the normal laws of physics.

    "Greetings," he spoke to the elementals.

    "Greetings, Blind Storm," one of the elementals responded. "I am Grand Storm. I lead the Sparky Sparks-" Ryan snorted at the name for the lightning elementals. "In this region. I am eternally grateful Silent Boulder delivered the message to the Blessed Ones, and they delivered it to you."

    "They said there was an issue you needed handling?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," the elemental responded. "During the night of the second dark moon from now, we deal with a situation. Every time you reset from after it to before it, we do startle the Slow Ones who cause the issue, but are able to escape. Unfortunately, leaving the Valley of Storms is no easy feat. There are no ley lines present for us to travel through, and electricity does not leave this place so easily. This situation has left us weakened, resulting in difficult times for us. We may no longer be able to escape them during the resets if it occurs once or twice more."

    Ryan thought that over. It was likely the escapes which weakened them, though he wasn''t sure why they were unable to recover from it with the natural lightning around them. The water elementals had told him that elementals recovered power more quickly by absorbing any of their own element which was around them, and the Valley of Lightning had plenty of lightning.

    The next new moon was three nights from then, which meant he had around a month before the next, the date Grand Storm had given him. That gave him a month to deal with the situation, if it wasn''t something he could handle then.

    "What happens?" Ryan asked.

    "First," Grand Storm said. "We are trapped within an energy cage. We have yet to determine how they manage that, as we ensure we are in a different location each time. In addition, they abandon their base of operations when we suddenly appear within it every time you have reset."

    Elementals were exempt from time, which meant they remained where they were when a reset occurred in addition to retaining all memories of what had occurred in the previous run of that time. If they were taken to a base after their capture, they would still be there at the reset. To the kidnappers, it would appear as if the elementals simply appeared. As they wouldn''t be prepared for it, it made sense the guilty party would move locations. The sudden appearance would tell them their location was compromised and their plans ruined as long as they stayed there.

    To Ryan, that was information that the guilty party had money. They could easily move locations within a month. To contain a lightning elemental would mean most of their resources were already made or easily replaced, despite the cost it would take.

    "Do you know," he asked. "If it is any of the Slow Ones in the settlement?"

    "It is not," Grand Storm answered. "I am aware of the energy signatures of each Slow One who lives there, and the thieves are none of them."

    Which meant a foreigner, someone from outside the Novarax and the few others who lived there. If Ryan''s instructions had been followed, then whoever they were had been evicted. He would have to wait until the specified new moon to know for sure, however.

    After all, there was always the possibility someone managed to sneak into the valley and build an entire base there.

    "You can tell the differences between people by their energy signature?" Ryan realized what the elemental had said.

    "Yes."

    "Can you teach me later?" Ryan asked.

    "I will be more than willing to teach you how to distinguish the differences between the Slow Ones by their energy signatures, Blind Storm."

    "Thank you," Ryan said. "Is there anything you can tell me about the Slow Ones doing this or their bases?"

    "Their base of operations reads the same to us every time," Grand Storm said. "Regardless of its location, which is the same at the start of each reset, but different when we are captured. The layout of its energy is identical each time. Its natural energy does read strangely to us, however."

    Ryan frowned at that. He wasn''t sure if that helped him or not, especially as his experience with reading energy was the least out of the six elements. There was also the oddity of the elementals remaining in the same place even when it moved. By logic, they should not be within the facility at the start of a reset, but wherever it had been at the end of the previous.

    "Understood," he said. "Can you show me where you escaped this time?"

    "Yes," the elemental responded. "You will need to travel by foot, as there is no path for the vehicles to travel by. Is that acceptable?"

    "That is acceptable," Ryan responded, then addressed Tyler and the guards with his voice. "Grand Storm is going to lead us somewhere. It may take awhile to reach, and may take awhile to return from."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded. "And sir? May I say something?"

    "Yes," Ryan responded.

    "I know you told me you could talk with them," his servant said. "But seeing you move the water around for a few minutes, then suddenly having that announced, was quite strange. I didn''t see anything different with the elementals."

    Something Tyler had told Ryan before, back on the islands.

    "That," Ryan said. "Is because they are masses of the element. Even if it shifts and changes, it has stronger and weaker points and areas that are not connected to the others. As a result, it''s more difficult to tell what they are saying, as you cannot simply see their communication points. But they''re there. Let''s get going."

 0035

    Ryan shifted his water to inform the elementals they were ready, then began following as Grand Storm led the way. They spent an hour walking through the valley, which consisted of nothing but hard dirt, nearly stone. Then, they walked up the mountain for nearly half an hour. Through the trip, Ryan both spoke with the elementals and explained to the others what he had been informed, as well as his sensing spells and how they worked.

    "The strange part," Grand Storm told Ryan after they stopped. "Is that the location simply disappears after."

    "It does?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Grand Storm answered. "We are now in the location where we exited it, yet as you can sense, the base of operations exists no more. When we succeed in exiting it, we lose our ability to sense it, and it is as if it were never here."

    Ryan frowned and he examined everything within the eighty feet of his current range. No signs a building had ever been there, just the hard land of the mountain. Despite that, the air felt off to him, and it took him a moment to realize why.

    There was something he was sensing there, something he had sensed not that long before. Every time Emily manipulated space to expand the suite''s common room, he sensed it. The Blessed Ones had told him he was sensing the spatial magic at work.

    Even if he needed to actively use his elemental senses, there were a few things he would always be able to sense. No mortal could ever trick a god''s senses for space, and any time he entered a place where it was distorted or manipulated, he would know immediately. He would even be able to tell the extent of the manipulation and how it worked.

    Despite that particular ability of his, he found it did not work on the residual feeling left behind by the spatial spell. His knowledge of spatial magics was limited as well, as users of it were nearly as rare as chronomancers. He didn''t know if his father could use them, but doubted it due to having never heard even the slightest rumor of it.

    Actually, Ryan thought. That makes it likely he can use spatial magics.

    After all, his father was rumored to be powerful, even if very few knew he was a Specialist. But many would still make speculations, especially among those who knew his father was a Jewel as powerful as he was, yet not once did Ryan ever hear a single rumor.

    Which meant it was possible his father had concealed all traces of that ability of his, possibly through the manipulation of memories and use of a geas to prevent people from even jokingly suggesting the possibility.

    "You''re frowning," Tyler said. "There''s no building here, are we taking a break?"

    "The building was here," Ryan answered. "But the guilty party is using some sort of spatial spell. It seems that once they found their place compromised by the sudden appearance of elementals, they cut off whatever connection they had to here. How would such a spell not be noticed? Or a building? I''m sure the Novarax would have noticed something like that."

    "If I may, sir," Mary said.

    "Go ahead," Ryan said.

    "There is a spell some Jewels can perform," she said. "Called ''reality marble''."

    "Reality marble?" Ryan asked. "What is that?"

    "It''s when they create," she explained. "A separate space or dimension from our own, linked to ours. Your great-great-great grandmother, Helena Novar, could create ones large enough to fit the main estate inside."

    "The Silver Oracle?" Ryan asked. "Rumors have it that she died performing some sort of experiment when she was only twenty-three. I imagine it would not have been easy to learn how to create a space that large. How did it function?"

    "They would anchor it," Mary explained. "To a location somewhere in the world. Then, they would create a gate to it that linked the inside with somewhere outside. It could be a doorway, an archway, just a hole ¨C anything you can pass through or pass something through. Only through the gate could someone enter it, but they could create multiple gates."

    "Which meant," Ryan said. "They could have placed a gate here, then when the elementals broke out, removed the gate and moved it somewhere else."

    If that was the case, there would be signs of the gate somewhere. That also explained why the elementals were taken to one area, but then exited through another ¨C the spot they were at was the original gate location, then they removed it and put it somewhere else after the location was compromised.

    Ryan turned on his sense of earth as well and pulled his elemental senses down to only fifty feet in range.

    "Grand Storm," he spoke through through his water. "Where, exactly, did you exit at?"

    "Right where I am hovering."

    Ryan examined the soil there with his senses. At first, he noticed nothing, but something felt off to him. It was when he realized that several large rocks in the area formed a ring that he began to pay closer attention to things.

    The rocks sat in what appeared to be a natural way, with many others around, smaller and larger. He could make any number of rings with them, from rocks of similar sizes to rocks of vastly different sizes. Despite that, the six rocks which caught his attention were unique in two ways. The first was that each was the size of a large grapefruit and completely flat on the side resting on the ground. The second was that the flat side had some sort of runes etched into them.

    One of the six rocks sat away from the others, though Ryan could figure out where it had originally rested, before it was cracked on the underside to break the runes.

    As soon as he took note of them, Ryan lifted the six stones and flipped them over, pulling the anomaly back to its original spot.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    "The crack," Ryan said indicated the damaged rock. "Was probably to avoid anyone noticing a broken rock. They could simply crack the underside and cancel the spell. The damage conveniently removed some of the runes, though I doubt we''d be able to fix it. I''m sure only the mage who created the reality marble could actually open a gate there."

    "So the elementals," Tyler said. "Came out through some sort of gate created by a ring of stones?"

    "Possibly," Ryan said. "Thoughts, Mary? Since you seem to have some knowledge of this sort of thing."

    He could tell she noticed the suspicion in his voice by the way her mind reacted to it.

    "I am a Jewel," she informed him. "Of minor magical power. I''m only in the Advanced Tiers. However, I can perform a minor spatial spell, so I''ve done a little research in order to find out what else I could do, with training."

    There was sincerity in her mind, and Ryan could tell she was telling the truth by her thoughts, having touched into his telepathy for a few moments.

    "What do you know?" Ryan asked.

    "It''s possible," she said. "That they created two spells here. The first is a portal, which would be enough to act as a gate. Then, they linked the portal into the reality marble, thus creating a gate into it."

    "Alright," Ryan said, then relayed the information to the lightning elementals as he released his sense of earth and expanded his others back out.

    "I will ask the Bright Spots to assist us," Grand Storm told him. "In locating another location such as this. What you have said now makes sense. It has been many cycles since I was last in a reality marble, I had forgotten what they were like. Now that I ponder upon it, I can confirm that we were within one after our capture."

    "You didn''t notice yourself entering it?" Ryan asked.

    "We were incapacitated," the elemental responded. "There was no way for me to distinguish between the cage and elsewhere."

    "Do you have signal?" Ryan asked Tyler, then watched as his servant pulled out one of the phones Ryan''s entourage had been given prior to his arrival.

    "Yes, sir," Tyler answered after a check, and Ryan sensed his servant''s unease. "They''re not going toˇ­ zap the phones, are they?"

    "Please don''t interfere with the technology my staff has," Ryan told the elementals.

    "We will not," Grand Storm responded. "We can amuse ourselves with the other Slow Ones."

    "Thank you," Ryan responded, then switch back to his voice. "They will not."

    "Understood."

    "Call my father," Ryan instructed. "Then hand me the phone."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler obeyed, and Ryan put the phone to his ear and listened.

    "Hello," his father answered after the first ring.

    "Hello, Father," Ryan said. "Can you make up a list of every Jewel who is known to have spatial magics, publicly or not?"

    "Does this have to do with your business with the elementals?" His father asked.

    "Yes," Ryan responded. "I specifically need a list of any Jewels who can create reality marbles, but a list of any who can perform spatial magic will be enough to start with. Once we have that, we''ll need to compare it to the log of anyone who has entered Volnal in the last few months. There''s always the chance they took the hard way to enter, but I still want to do this as well, as it might make things easier."

    "I''ll have someone work up that list," his father said. "You''re looking into reality marbles?"

    "Yeah," Ryan answered. "Someone made a gate around ten feet in diameter linked into a reality marble."

    He manipulated one of the stones with the runes into the air, then into his hand, turning it over. The closer it was to him, the more of the residual spatial magic he could sense, which told him they were the cause of the feeling.

    "They did a sloppy cleanup," he said, then explained to his father what was going on.

    For the current reset, he didn''t care about his father knowing everything, as it would make things easier to deal with things and require less restraint and less careful wording on his part.

    "That sounds difficult," his father told him. "I''ll also investigate the list of those who can use spatial magic to see who has the means to enter there or create what''s necessary to restrain a lightning elemental. It would be a resource-intensive task, so that should narrow the list down further."

    "Thank you," Ryan said. "We have until the new moon after this one to stop them. If not, I can always stop them during it, but I''d rather deal with it before then."

    "And how would you deal with it during that?" His father asked.

    "I''d kill them," Ryan answered. "Simple as that. It wouldn''t be the first time I''ve killed, so I won''t sleep badly for it. Plus, I''m sure my interrogations were more affecting of a psyche than killing would be."

    "You and I are going to have a discussion about those interrogations in the future."

    "Probably," Ryan shrugged, knowing it would happen even through resets. "Thanks, Father."

    "You''re welcome, Ryan," his father responded. "Did you settle into the mansion first, or did you go straight to investigating?"

    "We stopped at the mansion first," Ryan answered. "I learned its layout, then ate lunch before coming here. We''ll head back to it soon, and I''ll check out the Heisar tomorrow."

    "I''d rather you didn''t."

    "Father," Ryan said. "I can snuff out someone''s life in a moment. All it takes is stopping the bloodflow in them, inserting air into their brain or heart, and probably a few other things. I can take a few moments longer and suffocate or drown someone, too. I can raise their body temperature to the point where they cook themselves, even at a distance. If I want to kill someone, I don''t need to send a spell towards them, only to be blocked. I can simply create it in or on them.

    "Because of that," Ryan continued, aware of the sudden unease all four of his companions felt at his words. "I can do the same thing to any creatures we might find in the Heisar. It''s really no trouble for me. With my empathy and elemental senses, I would notice anything coming before it did. Honestly, Father, I''ll be safe. And I''ll take Tyler and a few other guards with me as well, just in case."

    "I''m still going to worry," his father said. "I''d rather you not go into the Heisar without me present. I was planning on inspecting it soon, anyway, just to make sure it hasn''t expanded without us being alerted. If you can wait a couple of weeks, I can guide you through it."

    "Maybe," Ryan said. "But neither Tyler nor my guards know what''s supposed to be in it. I do, because of the meetings I''ve sat in on. They''ll have no idea I''d be aware of any differences, and it would be more fun if you showed up already knowing things were wrong, wouldn''t it? They''d not expect my guards or servant to know there''s something wrong, as they wouldn''t normally be in on such a discussion."

    He could hear his father sigh at the suggestion, and knew his father had agreed. There was amusement in the sigh.

    "Alright," his father said. "There''s the chance they''d expect it to be an official inspection, but by Tyler or the guards rather than you. Keep your mind open to that."

    "Will do!" Ryan grinned. "But if they don''t expect that, it''ll be even more fun for you! Well, and me, once you arrive and reveal you know everything that''s different, but still. Or I can ditch the guards for it, saying that my visit to it is just a trust exercise between me and them. Kendra was already trying to win my trust right after my arrival. Since Tyler''s my servant and will act it with them around, they won''t expect him to know anything ¨C or to say something, if something is different from what he''s aware of."

    "Please be safe," his father responded. "And think rationally."

    "I will," Ryan said. "Goodbye, Father."

    "Goodbye, Ryan," his father responded, and Ryan ended the call.

    "Just me and you tomorrow?" Tyler asked as he accepted his phone back.

    "Yep!" Ryan responded. "I''m a lot more powerful than they''d expect me to be, and what I said is true. They might suspect a guard, but not a servant. Come on, let''s head back down. Call the mansion and let them know to have something ready for us to eat when we return, too. I''m going to be hungry."

 0036

    Ryan observed the five forms approaching him. Three were male, one was Kendra, and one was another woman. Judging by what he could tell of her water, heat, and the form defined by the air, she was younger, possibly around his age.

    All five held dislike towards him in their minds, something which he assumed showed on their faces by how uncomfortable Tyler became. The only thing present which made Ryan uncomfortable was the feeling of the Heisar. It was at least twenty percent more intense than the one on the Mieria Islands, if his estimation of the sensation was accurate.

    If it were the last reset, before what he''d realized about Tyler, then he''d also be uncomfortable about how the second woman seemed to have an attraction towards the servant immediately. Instead, it merely amused him. After all, Tyler would never reciprocate such feelings, even were the woman not a Novarax.

    "Lord Novar," Kendra said. "They informed us you wished to visit the Heisar?"

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "They emit strange feelings to me, and I wanted to feel the one yours gave out. I''m sure it has a few interesting smells and sounds to enjoy as well."

    He could feel Tyler''s confusion, as his servant knew Ryan had never been to a Heisar before. At least his servant believed that, which was what was important.

    "Harvesting resources from it is not a safe task," she told him. "Only the first four or five levels would I recommend for you, and only with the proper equipment and guards. My niece, Emma, and her cousin, Robert, can act as guards for you, if you so choose."

    "Proper equipment?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Kendra responded. "The Volnal Heisar is known for sudden static storms. Everyone within it needs to use special equipment made with lightning crystals and lightning thread in order to ward it off."

    Ryan activated his sense of lightning, willing to sacrifice range for a fourth sense. The four Novarax with Kendra all wore clothes that had several threads and crystals which responded to the new sense, and it took the young god only a few seconds to understand how they worked and what they did. Two of the men held an additional set of clothes each, one for Ryan and one for Tyler.

    "No worries," Ryan said. "My servant can wear the equipment. I''m sure you''ll need to spare what you can. It cannot be easy to make these."

    "It would be best if you were to wear them as well," Kendra told him. "I am sure your father would have us all if you did not wear them, as they are-"

    "There," Ryan said. "To protect us from any sudden static discharges or lightning effects which might occur. Because the lightning crystals and lightning threads are harvested from this specific Heisar, they will counter it, tuned to the same frequency the lightning here is. The threads and their pattern are what does it, while the lightning crystals are used to ensure they continue to work."

    He created a thin layer of lightning around him to match the same frequency as the threads.

    "I might not be able to see," he said. "But I do excel in spells which touch or cloak me, and I can sense the frequency the lightning in their outfits perform at. That makes it quite trivial for me to create my own version of the guard. Save the gear, I know it can''t be cheap for you to make."

    He sensed suspicion in the five Novarax, but dismissed it. They could be as suspicious as they wanted. There was also the amazement in Tyler''s mind, which Ryan expected as well.

    "Understood, sir," she said.

    Ryan waited for Tyler to pull on the outfit over the shorts and tee he had worn there, knowing they would be asked to put on a set of protective clothes, which consisted of a jacket, pants, beanie, and pair of boots. Once his servant was finished, the four Novarax guiding them led them down the stairs of the Heisar and into the first level.

    "I hear four of you," Ryan said. "Yet Kendra only commented about Emma and Robert."

    "Richard and Mark," Emma said. "Are accompanying us as well. Like me, they''re harvesters, we work collecting reagents. They''re with us in case you wish to travel deeper than it is safe."

    "I will want to," Ryan told her. "I want to experience all of the smells and sounds of the Heisar. I wasn''t allowed in the other one I was near, so it''s going to be a unique experience to me."

    He found it strange they weren''t introduced before, but decided not to push asking about that. Instead, he allowed the quartet to lead them through the Heisar. Though Emma informed them of the various things they passed or found, what was harvested where and some of the frequencies they were, in addition to the uses found for some of the things, Ryan noticed other things.

    Things she didn''t mention. Resources they passed that might seem insignificant, but which he could tell she was making an effort not to bring any attention to. Tyler noticed a few, but Ryan noticed his servant playing the part of a mere servant and not someone who had any influence or speech permissions. At least once every twenty minutes, the escorts had to fight off one monster or another which moved in to their path or was blocking it when they arrived, and Ryan noticed how quickly the group of four could kill everything.

    Several times as they traveled through and deeper into the Heisar, the group came across rivers, ponds, and a few streams, even a waterfall at one point, where they took lunch at. By that point, they were nearing the two hundred-foot-depth of the Heisar, and Ryan could sense the group of escorts growing more nervous as they drew closer.

    Something was deeper down which they didn''t want Ryan to notice, and Emma seemed quite afraid of what would happen if he did. If they were worried about a blind man noticing it, then it was something which would be quite obvious. Either a scent or a sound. Ryan had a suspicion as to what it was, however, due to something else they had encountered already.

    "Further below," Emma said as they finished lunch. "Are some rather dangerous monsters. It would be best if we did not take you further down without your own personal guards, Lord Novar."Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    "We can continue traveling," Ryan said as he felt a sudden buzz in the air.

    Based on the minds of the other five, they could feel it too.

    "What is that?" He asked.

    "A static charge," Emma answered. "I''m surprised we hadn''t come across one already, a group this large usually attracts them every forty minutes or so. It will just wash over us with our gear, so there is nothing to worry about."

    A few moments passed, and Ryan felt his sense of lightning fill with static for a moment, the static washing over the six of them. The static charge lasted for a full minute before it faded, Ryan''s senses returning to normal.

    "That tingled," he commented. "Let''s head further down, shall we?"

    "Yes, sir," Emma responded, and Ryan could feel the reluctance in everyone''s minds.

    The group continued their descent, and it took only a few minutes of walking in the next level for Ryan to smell the sweet scent of strawberries mixed in with oranges and a slight hint of peaches, a perfect harmony between the three scents he had smelled once before, but remembered even years later.

    Manalirate.

    Only once had he smelled it, when a member of Raxvar Corporation had brought some to Ryan''s father for some extra money when Ryan was six. It wasn''t much, and it was all Samuel Novar was able to acquire, but it eased their ability to work on a project Ryan never actually found out the details of. He did know the employee of Raxvar Corporation who sold it to the Novars was ''killed in a mugging'' only a few days later, though.

    Emma continued their tour, mentioning several items around them, including various plants, crystals, and creatures they came across. Ryan noticed Tyler''s confusion at one of the plants, which he assumed was the manalirate.

    Each one had four large leaves around the center, which consisted of layers of thick strings looped over and around each other. He knew that if he used his sense of light, he would be able to identify a few colors, the green of the bottom, the purple-red of the edges of each leaf, the blue-green of the leaves themselves, and the white of the strings. He couldn''t identify the colors immediately, but had heard before that was their patterning.

    For another two hours, Emma led them further down, and Ryan watched as the group took longer to kill monsters. During a particularly difficult fight against something which seemed to be a bear with a turtle''s shell that stood over twelve feet in height, Ryan decided to help.

    With a thought, he gripped the bear''s heart with his mind and cut off all flow of blood to it. The beast ceased moving immediately as it began to die, and the group of Novarax stared as it struggled, them stumbled, then eventually fell, dying.

    "What happened?" Ryan asked after the thud of the beast hitting the ground.

    "I''ve never seen that happen before," Emma said. "It was as if it had a heart attack."

    "Close enough," Ryan said, and he felt four gazes turn to him as Tyler continued to assess the bear. "It was in one location long enough I was able to stop its bloodflow. Even now, I''m ensuring it doesn''t simply revive."

    "You can kill from a distance?" Emma asked.

    "It''s not easy," Ryan lied. "The target needs to remain in one spot for long enough. Or at least, close to it. I made a guess on where its heart was and stopped the flow of water there. If you cut it open, you''ll likely find a high volume of blood around its heart. There was a possibility I took out one of you instead, but what is a Novarax''s life?"

    "Worth only to serve here," the four Novarax answered, anger and hatred rising in their minds.

    "Indeed," Ryan said. "Now, we shouldn''t waste resources, and it will take time to return. If the bear is valuable, begin transporting it. We need to go."

    The group began their ascent, the Novarax bringing the bear with them. Ryan didn''t mind angering them because he had been sensing their dislike of him from the start. If they wanted to try something with him, they were more than welcome to, but anything they did would inevitably fail.

    He reset every morning of the trip, only a few moments after waking up. A precaution, to lose less than he would if something like the incident on the Mieria Islands happened. In case someone killed him suddenly and unexpectedly.

    When they left the Hesiar, Ryan noticed a pair of lightning elementals floating nearby, so he began shifting twelve points of air. Unnoticeable to others, yet clear as day to the elementals, despite their form.

    "Hello," he greeted them.

    "Hello," they responded as Tyler began stripping off the protective gear. "How are you, Blind Storm?"

    "I am well," Ryan answered. "I take it you wish to teach me how to identify people based on their energy signatures?"

    "Yes," one responded. "It is something which comes naturally to us, so we have thought hard over this. Eventually, we decided on a method which should work. Using only your sense of energy, look at the area around you."

    "Study the signatures of each Slow One around you," the other continued. "Notice the differences in them when compared to the others. Eventually, this should allow you to immediately pick out differences between the Slow Ones uses this technique."

    "It will also," the first added. "Allow you to learn the signatures of Slow Ones around you regularly."

    "So a basic idea, then," Ryan said. "I hadn''t expected that, nor had I thought of it. Thank you, I will see what I can do with this."

    "You are most welcome, Blind Storm," the first one responded. "Sun Dancer wishes to know if you will visit and learn from the Bright Spots as well."

    "I am merely waiting for things to happen," Ryan responded. "For us to find out what is going on and who is doing this, so that I may put an end to it for you. I will have time to learn from them as well. I take it Sun Dancer is the leader of the light elementals in this region?"

    "Indeed, Blind Storm," the lightning elemental responded. "By the way, your subordinate seems to be waiting for you."

    "I noticed," Ryan said. "Where should I go, when I am ready to learn from the light elementals?"

    "Simply leave the settlement," the lightning elemental responded. "A Sparky Spark or Bright Spot will greet you within a few minutes. You need only request teaching, and it will occur."

    "Thank you," Ryan said. "I should be going now. Enjoy the rest of your day."

    "We will," the pair of lightning elementals responded. "Enjoy yours as well."

    "Come," Ryan told Tyler. "Let us return to the mansion. I am quite hungry, and I smell after being in the Heisar."

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded.

    Ryan, Tyler, and Ryan''s guards left, taking a car back to the village. As soon as they arrived at the mansion, Ryan made his way to his room for a shower, instructing Tyler to do the same before bothering to find clothes for Ryan. He knew his servant wished to attend his duties first, but a simple mention of Tyler''s own smell from the Heisar convinced him.

    If he handled Ryan''s clothes while smelling of the Heisar, there was a risk the scent would travel to him as well. To deal with the dirty clothes, Tyler waited for Ryan to strip, then took the clothes and left as Ryan entered the shower.

    When his shower finished, Ryan dried himself off, then entered his room and made his way to his bed, sitting on it as he thought over what he would do. Tyler arrived only a minute later to pick out Ryan''s outfit, and once the young god was dressed, he requested a phone call to his father.

    "Yes, sir," Tyler responded, pulling out his phone. "Would you like to go outside for the call? A little fresh air before dinner? I know the Heisar''s air was not exactly fresh."

    Ryan smiled a little. His servant was worried there were bugs in the room for eavesdropping on anything that might be said in there.

    "No, thanks," Ryan said. "They didn''t bug the room, probably out of fear of what would happen if it was caught."

    "You can check that?" Tyler asked.

    "They would use electricity," Ryan said. "Which I would be able to detect, even if only slightly. The guards also keep an eye on it while we are gone, and would have noticed if someone entered."

    "I see," Tyler said, then made the call and handed his phone to his master. "Here you go, Ryan."

    "Thank you," Ryan put it to his ear.

 0037

    "Hello?" Ryan''s father answered the call nearly immediately.

    "Hello," Ryan responded. "I just wanted to inform you about my trip into the Heisar."

    "How did it go?" His father asked.

    "There are three Heisars in the world with manalirate," Ryan said. "The Volnal Heisar is one of them."

    "Three?"

    "Mieria Islands has a Heisar which opened up in the last few days," Ryan said. "It''s only speculated to have manalirate right now, but the smell of the resource? That''s not something I can ever forget, and I definitely smelled it in this Heisar. Tyler?"

    "It looked like the images of manalirate I have seen before," Tyler responded.

    "Tyler says it looks like the images of it he''s seen," Ryan told his father. "So the Heisar has manalirate, and they were obviously trying to keep us from discovering it, under the excuse that we were getting into pretty dangerous territory due to the creatures which made the Heisar their home. The Heisar actually has at least twenty-seven different things in it which aren''t in our official listings, but the manalirate is one of the biggest ones."

    If they were harvesting it as well ¨C which the Novarax were more than likely doing ¨C then they were using it or selling it somewhere. Any goods exiting the valley were inspected, which meant if they were being sold to someone, they were leaving the difficult way.

    The most likely thing then was that the Novarax were using the manalirate to create something, and something large. Quite possibly, in an attempt to free themselves from those they had earned the ire of.

    "I can look into what they are doing," Ryan told his father. "They''d not even suspect anything of it."

    "Be careful with what you do," his father told him. "I''ll be out there before the deadline, try not to cause any major issues before then."

    "I''ll do them after!" Ryan grinned at Tyler, who rolled his eyes. "Anyway, just wanted to let you know they''re definitely up to something. I don''t know if it''s connected to the issue the elementals are having or not, but can find out with some more research."

    "Be careful," his father told him. "Would you be able to ask the elementals to look into it? Or is that not within their abilities."

    "Their senses can range up to several miles, from what I know," Ryan said. "But they-wait."

    Ryan talked to most elementals using water or air, regardless of what their actual element was, and they could all understand him without issue. In addition, all elementals could communicate with each other.

    "I need to ask them something," Ryan said. "Bye, Father."

    Ryan hung up as his father began to ask something ¨C likely how he knew about the manalirate suspicion and Heisar of the Mieria Island ¨C and handed the phone to Tyler, before locating fresh socks and his.

    "Are we going out?" Tyler asked as Ryan pulled on his footwear.

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "We''re going out."

    Tyler grabbed their jackets and helped Ryan into his before pulling on his own, then led Ryan out, summoning Mary and the other two guards who were to escort them nearly everywhere. Ryan had them take him a fair distance out of the town, then he exited the car and manifested twelve orbs of water.

    It took only a few minutes before a light elemental accompanied by a storm elemental approached. Ryan used his senses of water, light, and energy to sense around him and ensure he could understand the elementals.

    "Hello, Blind Sun," the light elemental greeted him. "I am Shining Spear."

    "Hello, Blind Storm," the lightning elemental greeted him. "I am Zap Bolt."

    "Hello, Shining Spear, Zap Bolt," Ryan failed to keep a straight face at the lightning elemental''s name, but knew it likely didn''t matter, anyway. "I have realized that no matter which element I speak in, all elementals are able to understand me ¨C and that all elementals can understand each other. This is despite being made up of a single element."

    "You are wondering," Shining Spear said. "Why we can sense all elements if we are a single element."

    "Yes."

    Shining Spear shifted its colors, though Ryan didn''t understand if there was a purpose behind it or not. He didn''t know the differences anyway, even if he could sense them.

    "Our senses," Shining Spear explained. "Function in two ways. The first way is that we sense the elements. The second way is that we focus on only our element. You perform a variation of the latter ability, using a spell to sense each element. You also use these spells simultaneously."

    "How that varies from our natural sense," Zap Bolt continued the explanation. "Is that our natural sense is all elements at once."

    "I can sense all elements at once," Ryan said.

    "You are sensing all elements at the same time," Zap Bolt said. "When you do that, but you are not sensing them all at once. The senses remain separate. When you sense a drop of water through your sense of fire and your sense of air, you sense its temperature and its water as two separate things, even if in the same space. When we sense it, we sense its water and its temperature as a single thing. We sense the impurities of the earth within it and the way light bends through it as well. Any energy and electricity that may be charged into it. All of this is a single sense for us. It provides for us a perfect view of everything around us."If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Ryan added in his sense of fire to his active senses and created an orb of water in front of him, still and unshifting, which he then examined with his senses. It took him a few moments, but he began to understand what the elementals were saying.

    To him, the four senses read the orb of water separately, even if they layered together to create a form for him. Each one was a separate input to him, much like his hearing, sense of touch, and sense of taste were separate.

    What the elementals sensed, however, was a single input. Ryan could easily look at each sense individually even while all four were active ¨C the elementals could not. They had to turn off that senses and turn on their sense of the element in order to look at something with less than full.

    "I understand what you are saying," Ryan told the elementals. "It makes sense, now that I am actually paying attention. Do you know how I might merge all six senses into a single one? Sustaining them at a single time overloads me and causes me to fall unconscious each time."

    "Magic is a muscle," Zap Bolt told him. "It is something you must use repeatedly to truly gain a feel for and improve. Yes, you can be talented with some things immediately, but there is always room for improvement."

    "Sometimes," Shining Spear said. "You must tear a muscle so that it may heal stronger."

    "You are saying," Ryan said. "That if I want to quickly expand my ability to sustain all senses, I need to use them all at once, at my limit, to the point it knocks me unconscious?"

    "Yes," both elementals responded in harmony.

    "Only then," Zap Bolt said. "Can you begin to merge the six elements into a single sense."

    "Would you mind staying here?" Ryan dropped the extra orb of water. "As I attempt this?"

    "We have no issue with it," Shining Spear responded. "You are more than welcome to ask us, should you have any questions. We are here to teach you, Blind Sun."

    "Thank you," Ryan responded, then spoke with his mouth. "Tyler, Mary, others, please be advised that I may pass out several times. I shouldn''t remain unconscious more than a few minutes each time. I am doing something with my elemental senses."

    "Understood, sir," Tyler responded.

    Ryan pulled in the four active senses and turned off his sense of fire, then turned on his sense of earth. With that active, he reached into the ground below with his magic and pulled up, carving out a chair of stone. Its form was rough, but it was his first time attempting such a spell, though he had considered it several times while on the islands.

    The young god sat on the chair, then turn on his senses of fire and air, pushing all six elemental senses to their absolute limits, which stretched only a foot and a half at his level of ability. For a few moments, pain began to push into his mind, then Ryan passed out.

    When he woke, his senses were off, so Ryan turned them back on, repeating the process several times. Other than the pounding headache that came from straining his mind, Ryan felt little effects from over-exerting his senses, though he knew that he still had a limit.

    It took the young god nearly an hour to reach the point at which he could not manage the headache any further. At that point, Ryan could stretch all six senses out to just-over two feet in diameter.

    Ryan switched his senses back to just water, light, and lightning, then rubbed his temples.

    "That was painful," he told the elementals.

    "I will not lie and say I understand your suffering," Zap Bolt told him. "But I will say that it will fade away. You are a god, no damage is ever permanent, your innate healing abilities will take care of it."

    "Once the pain fades," Shining Spear added. "You will likely find your distance increased."

    "Maybe a little," Ryan responded.

    It was not a technique which he could use infinitely, either. There would be diminishing returns, and much worse lashback, the further he stretched it. That mattered little, as long as he gave himself a big enough range that he could manage all six at once for a short time for only one or two feet. Once he reached that point, he would begin to merge the senses together.

    Ryan relaxed on his chair and talked with the elementals, turning back on his sense of earth so that he could play around with the form of his chair as he did. He fixed the unevenness of the seat and smoothed out its legs, seat, and back,

    As they spoke, the elementals informed Ryan about their investigation into the incidents after their conversation the day before, as well as more in-depth information regarding the weather of the Valley of Storms.

    "Speaking of that," Ryan said. "I just remembered, but I meant to ask yesterday, Zap Bolt, but why are you not able to recover by drawing on the energy around you? If you are all weakened heavily by the escape, that is."

    "It is not the escape alone," Zap Bolt told him. "But the escape and the method of confinement. As to why we are not able to recharge using the natural storms which occur here, that is another matter entirely.

    "With most elementals," it continued. "They live in an area with a high amount of their element. With us Sparky Sparks, we live in a symbiotic relationship with it. It thrives on us just as much as we thrive on it. There is a reason this is the one place in the world where such storms and effects are prominent ¨C and is also the one place in the world with more than three Sparky Sparks there for more than a few days every few months."

    "The storms are because of you," Ryan said with the elements as he realized the point, much as an ordinary person would speak aloud without realizing they were doing so upon a realization. "They draw upon your own energy as well."

    "Indeed," Zap Bolt responded. "Should we draw upon the lightning of the storms to restore ourselves, we could cause a cataclysmic effect on the environment."

    Ryan would ordinarily tell the elementals to just do it and screw the consequences, as he cared none for those living there. However, he cared about the resources in the Heisar and didn''t want to lose those, even if it was only for that run of the time.

    "Then," Zap Bolt continued. "There is the issue that it is insufficient for us."

    "Insufficient?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," Zap Bolt answered. "Sparky Sparks are the only one whose draw is limited. We may be just as quick as it, yet it is more fleeting than heat. The amount of energy we would receive from a bolt of lightning is equivalent to the amount of electricity contained in a spark that dances from one finger to the next. While they are held together."

    "Not much," Ryan said.

    "Exactly," Zap Bolt confirmed. "We have the most difficult time of all elementals restoring our power through absorbing the element. Because of that, we must bide our time to restore our power, much in the same way humans must do so as well."

    "But not gods?" Ryan asked.

    "Gods must bide their time as well," Zap Bolt responded. "But most gods can restore their magic quickly."

    "Ryan," Tyler said suddenly. "Did you just carve a fist with the middle finger up on the back of the chair?"

    "Did I?" Ryan asked. "That was supposed to be the index finger. Let me fix that."

    He could feel the amusement in the guards and servant, the four aware that he did it intentionally. Ryan fixed that as he resumed discussing various things with the elementals, continuing his carving task as he did.

    Eventually, he asked the question his father had brought up.

    "Zap Bolt," Ryan said. "Shining Spear, my father was curious if the Bright Spots or Sparky Sparks would be willing to look at things the native Slow Ones are doing and report to me about it."

    "Of course," both elementals responded.

    "We would be more than willing to give you full reports," Shining Spear told him. "Anything for you, Blind Sun."

    "Thank you," Ryan stood, then sank his chair back into the ground. "Have a good rest of your day. I will likely come out here regularly for magic training."

    "We will see you again," the elementals responded.

    Ryan and his guards and servant returned to their car, then back to the mansion, where Ryan made straight for the dining room. More than anything, he was hungry, having forgotten about dinner due to the phone call and resulting discussion with the elementals.

 0038

    "Excuse me, sir," one of the guards approached Ryan, and the young god sensed his servant turning to face the guard as he continued eating. "There are a couple of Novarax here who wishes to speak with you."

    Ryan swallowed his mouthful of steak, then picked up his napkin and dabbed the juice off his lips. He set the napkin down, then spoke.

    "Is it Emma again?"

    For the week following the trip into the Heisar, Emma Novarax had approached Ryan several times, and he was beginning to grow annoyed. She had an issue with the way he was treating the Novarax, and she had no issues making it clear to the Family Heir.

    In her mind, there was nothing worse than she already suffered, so it mattered little if Ryan decided to exact a punishment upon her for harassing him. She wanted him to view the Novarax as people rather than tools.

    Then there was Kendra, who wished to earn the favor of the Family Heir in an effort to escape her life as a Novarax and be instated back into the family, even if as a servant for a branch family. She knew how dangerous Emma''s actions were for all of the Novarax, and so had taken to accompanying Emma to apologize for her and to keep the younger woman''s words in check.

    "No, sir," the guard responded. "It is a young woman named Alexa and her younger brother, Tristan. They are eighteen and ten, born into the Novarax. According to Alexa, her brother, Tristan has been begging to meet you."

    Ryan''s lips curved downward for a moment as he wondered why any Novarax child would beg to meet him. Chances were high she was lying and her brother did not wish to meet him, but instead was dragged there by Alexa, who did want to meet him, likely for the same reason as either Emma or Kendra.

    Deciding to check first, Ryan stretched out his empathy and sensed into the minds of all those around, pushing his radius far enough to read the minds in front of the mansion. The pair of Novarax had been made to wait outside for a response, to avoid them entering the mansion only to leave again if he declined to meet them.

    In the older mind, who he took to be Alexa based both on it being older and it being female, Ryan sensed both trepidation and agitation. There was a small hint of hope as well. In the younger mind, who he took to be Tristan based on it being beside Alexa, younger, and male, Ryan sensed eagerness and excitement.

    Over the past week, Ryan had subjected several random Novarax to surprise invasions of the mind without physical contact, and he knew he could access their thoughts without revealing his presence or making it obvious someone was rummaging through. Delving deeper required more thought and focus, so he kept to just reading the thoughts of the pair of Novarax outside.

    Alexa was hoping her brother would calm down and that they would not be punished for the request. There was also a touch of hope that one of his guards or servants would find her desirable and somehow found a way to whisk her and her brother out of Volnal with her as their lover. He wanted to push further, but knew that even without being a Jewel, she''d notice him looking at the reason behind that.

    Tristan, on the other hand, was as excited in his thoughts as he was in his emotions. The boy wanted to meet the Novar Family Heir simply because he was important and supposedly powerful. The child wanted to know if Ryan could teach him how he killed the turtle-bear beast in the lower levels of the Heisar.

    Ryan found himself frowning again. The way Tristan thought it was genuine ¨C the boy wanted to learn how to do a spell. That made little sense to Ryan, until he realized that it was possible Tristan had awakened at a young age.

    While rare, it was not unheard of. The chances were less than one in a million to awaken younger than fifteen, and nearly everyone awakened at sixteen to eighteen with some at nineteen.

    "Let them in," Ryan instructed his guard, and he felt the confusion in the minds of the nearby servants and guards. "It seems we have an interesting case here. They''re not here for hostile reasons."

    "Yes, sir," the guard responded, then left, and Ryan pulled his empathy back to a comfortable range.

    Ryan resumed eating, watching through the elements as the guard returned to the siblings, then brought them to him in the dining room. The boy was buzzing with excitement, bouncing nonstop, and Alexa was attempting to keep him calm without saying anything.

    "Sit," Ryan said, and the guard led the siblings to the other side of the table. "I was told you wanted to see me."

    "Alexa says it''s rude not to look at someone when you''re talking to them," the boy admonished.

    "Tristan!" Alexa hastily whispered, panic in both her mind and voice. "Don''t be rude to Ryan!"

    "Tristan, right?" Ryan asked, raising a hand so that Alexa would know to stop.

    "Yes!" Tristan answered. "I''m Tristan."

    "Ordinarily," Ryan said. "It would be rude to not look at someone while you''re talking to them. Unfortunately, it is not possible for me to look at someone, as I lack sight entirely."

    "You can''t see?" Tristan asked.

    "I cannot," Ryan answered. "I was born without something necessary to sight, and only a god could grant it to me."

    "A god?" Tristan asked. "Oh! I was told that if I met you, I''d get to meet a god."

    "Really?" Ryan was surprised by that news. "Who told you that?"

    "The voices."

    "What voices?"

    "Sorry," Alexa said as Ryan watched her cover her brother''s mouth. "He tends to talk a lot. The voices aren''t quite real. I had been expecting you to turn us away, or for the guards to not even give us a thought and send us away. He''s been pestering me ever since hearing about the Heisar, which is when he found out you''d be here. I''m so sorry, sir, we''re wasting your time."

    "Let him speak," Ryan commanded. "I asked him a question, Alexa, and it is rude to prevent him from answering."

    He felt the unease and fear flood her mind, and sensed Tristan shrink back a little. His sister pulled her hand away from his mouth, and Ryan cut into his steak once more, then lifted the piece to his mouth.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    "What voices?" He asked, then bit the piece of steak off his fork.

    "They''ve been in my head," Tristan answered quietly as Ryan chewed. "A few weeks ago, I got all these pains in my head, and it hurt really badly. Now, I hear these voices in my head. Sometimes they''re stronger, sometimes they''re quiet, sometimes they aren''t there. Then about a week ago, they said that the message was delivered and the Blind God would be coming soon, and that if I met the descendant of the Blessed Ones, I''d get to meet him. Then after the turtle-bear was killed, they talked about the killer and something about the Blind God."

    Ryan finished chewing and swallowed, frowning. Only one group of beings he knew of called him that.

    "What," he said. "Did they say exactly?"

    "Um," Tristan answered, and Ryan sensed the boy''s effort at recalling the exact words. "They saidˇ­ they saidˇ­ umˇ­ well, I only got bits of it. But they said ''the Blind God received our message and will be here soon''. And then after the beast, they said ''killed the bear'' and something about ''meeting with the Blind God''. I''m sorry, the voices weren''t very clear."

    "So you assumed," Ryan said. "That if you met me, you''d get to meet the Blind God because of these voices?"

    "Yes," Tristan answered, and Ryan could feel the fear in his mind that he had screwed up, after actually thinking about the words. "Sorry."

    "Don''t worry about it," Ryan said. "You didn''t tell your sister you awakened your magic, did you?"

    He felt surprise in Alexa''s mind and in Tristan''s, though different veins of it. Surprise that her brother had awakened magic in Alexa''s, and surprise that Ryan knew in Tristan''s.

    "No," Tristan answered quietly, and Ryan noticed his eyes move, as if looking at his sister.

    With how much effort he put into learning and mastering his sense of water, Ryan was growing more able to tell such differences in a person''s body, making it easier to tell where they are looking. He assumed based on that movement and the boy''s emotions that Tristan was scared of both Ryan and his sister in that moment.

    "You are a Specialist," Ryan told Tristan. "A Jewel, specifically. That''s special. What''s more, it seems you have a telepathy ability."

    "Telepathy?" Tristan asked in confusion. "But I''m not reading minds."

    "You are," Ryan said. "What I''m about to say next is classified information, which means you are not allowed to tell anyone. If you''ve seen me needing Tyler to guide me, that''s an act we''ve been putting on for the Novarax. I still can''t see, but I can tell where objects are, allowing me to avoid walking into them. If I reduce the scale of the spell downˇ­"

    He cut into the steak once more and stabbed into it with his fork.

    "I can eat without assistance," he said. "Or without making a mess. Because of this navigational ability, the elementals call me ''Blind God'' as a joke. What you are hearing are not random voices, but the thoughts of the elementals. I know you''ve heard that they are mindless masses of elements, but that''s not true. They''re actually mischievous creatures."

    "Soˇ­ there''s no god?" Tristan asked.

    "Correct," Ryan smiled. "There''s no god, just me."

    He put the piece of steak in his mouth and started chewing.

    "How did you kill the beast?" Tristan asked. "They said that you justˇ­ killed it. If you can''t see, how did you do that? I saw it, you didn''t hurt it."

    "I did hurt it," Ryan said after swallowing. "However, I didn''t need to see it. Even before I acquired the spell to know where objects are, I learned to know where people and beasts were by sound. I determined the location of the beast, guessed where its heart was, and used water magic to stop its heart. It''s not something I can teach you, sorry."

    He was interested in Tristan, though. The boy could hear the thoughts of elementals, and it sounded like he had undergone a POAMA session before that started. It was something Ryan was still attempting to learn how to do. The boy acted as confirmation it was possible, and so he wanted to get to know him.

    The young god turned his focus to Alexa.

    "Alex," he said. "While you are scared of the Novar main family because of your status as the inferior Novarax, you still desire to leave here. You even have a desire to hope that one of my staff will take an interest in you while you are here right now, then does their best to somehow manipulate the rules so that they may take you with them when we leave. You and your brother. Why?"

    He felt shock and fear in her mind, something which delighted him, even as her brother''s mind filled with confusion.

    "I-I''m sorry, sir," she began.

    "I''d rather you answered my question than apologize," he stated. "Tristan is a Jewel, so there is a chance already my father will want to take him out of here, especially as he is only a child."

    In the final run of things, Ryan would ensure that Tristan was removed from Volnal after the boy awakened his magic. He would ensure it was no later than the end of the year for the arrangement to occur. The boy was valuable to the Family, and it would be a shame to waste him as a Novarax.

    When Ryan told Alexa that her brother would likely be removed from the valley, he felt the relief in her mind. She wanted him out of the Novarax more than herself, but still wished to leave as well. Without delving further, he couldn''t determine the exact reason, but he could still tell that her reason was not as self-serving as Kendra''s.

    "Why do you want to leave?" Ryan asked, and he felt both hesitation and fear rise in her mind. "You should answer me, Novarax."

    At his tone, she flinched, and Ryan noticed her brother growing scared again.

    "The Novarax are planning on freeing themselves from the Novar," Alexa told him. "They''ve been working on several projects in secret, using resources harvested from the Heisar that the Family is unaware it began producing a few years ago. Once they free themselves, they are planning on taking down the Family. I''d rather not be here when that happens, I''ve heard stories of what happens when the main Family is enraged. Your father, your grandfather, your great-grandfatherˇ­ there is a reason the Novars are among the most powerful beings in the world. I''d rather be serving the Novars somewhere than being a Novarax here when it goes down, and I want to make sure Tristan is safe."

    "Their plans will fail," Ryan said. "They might be using manalirate and other such materials to create weapons and explosives, but it isn''t as if we Novars are unaware. We know about the warehouse meant for storing emergency rations has more than one hundred guns, two hundred crates of bullets, and more than fifty grenade launchers. We know about the apartment complex that is being used to create the weapons, and the bombs hidden in a bank vault. We know about the tech facility''s secret tech projects meant to be used during the attack on the Novar Family."

    He smiled at the fear in her mind over knowing what he knew.

    "Your brother hears the thoughts of the elementals," Ryan told her. "But I speak with them. Anyone here who thinks my visit was not, in fact, to assess the situation is an idiot. The elementals themselves are the ones who summoned me. My visit to the Heisar was an inspection. I might not be able to see, but Tyler knew everything which was supposed to be in it and its supposed layout and made copious mental notes on what was different."

    The last part was a lie, but what he said about the plans were true ¨C the elementals had described the items to him, and the Family Heir recognized the meaning immediately. Over the past week, the light elementals, and occasionally the lightning elementals, passed through the town, looking at everything in order to know what was wrong or strange and relay it back to Ryan.

    "Now," he told her, turning his expression strict once more. "Your brother has use to the Family as a Jewel, so when my Father arrives shortly, I''ll inform him of this. You, on the other hand, are a Novarax without this status. If you had it, you''d have already made that clear. Therefore, you are worth nothing but being a Novarax. Your fear of our wrath is greater than your disgust for us, but you are, in the end, a Novarax. I know you do not like the rest of the Family because of your status from birth."

    He had sensed it in her mind when she said she would be willing to serve the Family ¨C the disgust and hated had read plain as day, only overruled by the fear towards their wrath. It wasn''t something she could hide, and his father would notice it as well.

    "And thinking one of my staff would fall for you?" He scoffed. "You are a Novarax, Alexa. As if any of us would ever fall for you."

    He smiled as he sensed a vehicle pulling up outside, the forms within familiar. A stretch of his empathy confirmed to him that it was exactly who he thought it was.

    "Now," he said. "If you don''t mind, my father has arrived, even if an hour earlier than I had expected. Please move to a different seat so that he may take it. He''ll be very interested to know about the plans of the Novarax, and he''ll be the one to decide your fate."

 0039

    Ryan waited for his father to enter the mansion, an entourage of servants and guards accompanying him. The Novar Family Head made straight for the dining hall as the staff began moving his luggage and theirs to their quarters.

    "Hello, Father," Ryan said once his father had entered the dining room. "This is Alexa and her brother Tristan. He''s awakened already, has been for a few weeks, and can hear the thoughts of elementals. An interesting spell, in my opinion. Meanwhile, she is hoping to escape being a Novarax and seduce her way into the branch families because she''s fearful of what will happen to her, even if she''s not a part of the plots of the Novarax."

    Ryan sensed the amusement in his father''s mind as the older man snorted, as well as the utter fear that filled Alexa''s mind. His father took a seat at the head of the table, and was immediately served food.

    "Ah," Ryan said. "I knew I''d been smelling more food being prepared, though I''d assumed the chef was making his own steak or something. You informed them you were arriving early?"

    "Indeed," his father answered. "I thought I''d have dinner with my son tonight. Has there been any update on the information you''ve acquired since we spoke this morning?"

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "The Novarax have been attempting to create phones which can reach out of Volnal. They''ve failed, of course, but they''re trying anyway. According to my own eavesdropping, they wish to reestablish communications with Raxvar, now that Volnal is on lock-down."

    He felt the surprise in Alexa''s mind at the mention of Raxvar. Judging by how it felt to him, Ryan guessed she knew they were attempting to work with Raxvar, but didn''t approve of it.

    "They''re working with Raxvar?" His father asked.

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "However, the fact that Raxvar did not, in fact, leave a method for communication outside means they had an agent or several agents present in Volnal, but they were cleared out with the purge for my stay."

    "So Raxvar knows about the manalirate?" His father asked.

    "I''m not sure," Ryan shrugged. "I can give you a list of people who are heading the project, though."

    It took Ryan a few days to be able to come up with that. The elementals were able to identify them, but Ryan then had to convince the elementals to show him which people they were, as things such as "Slow Mover" were not descriptive enough to tell him which people they were.

    "Please do so," his father responded. "I want to begin interrogating them as quickly as possible."

    "Can I join?" Ryan asked.

    "No," his father answered.

    "It''s not like I haven''t interrogated people before," Ryan said. "And it will give me a chance to practice some of my spells."

    Ryan watched as his father''s gaze turned to the pair of Novarax in the room, his father seemingly deciding to table the discussion for the time being.

    "Seducing your way out of the Novarax isn''t as easy as you might think, Alexa," Ryan''s father said. "There isn''t a single person among our staff who would fall for that. You have no worth to us. Your brother, on the other hand, is a Jewel, and I do like to polish those."

    Ryan could feel the disappointment and annoyance in Alexa''s mind, and he snorted.

    "Don''t be so surprised by that, Alexa," Ryan said. "It takes something truly monumental to cast behind the status of a Novarax the moment it''s placed upon you, even for those born to it."

    As she sulked, Ryan, his father, and his servant ate, the Family Head inquiring to Tristan about his life and hobbies. The boy didn''t enjoy school much, but did like playing in the mud after a storm. He loudly declared he wished to be a master at mud magic, causing both Ryan and his father to chuckle.

    After dinner concluded, Ryan''s father placed a geas on both of the Novarax, then dismissed them and took Ryan and Tyler to a private room. Tyler retrieved the list Ryan had him write down of those involved at the head of the attempted attack on the way, rejoining them in the room after having done so.

    "So," his father said. "Which spells were you interested in practicing? When I interrogate someone, I first check to see if their mind has a geas, then I proceed from there. Most of my interrogations are performed through mind magic. Once I begin, it''s rather easy. It''s the other interrogators in the Family who use more physical means."

    "I was hoping to practice some mind magics," Ryan responded. "And some healing magics."

    He had also decided already to reveal something to his father, knowing it would be impossible for his father to truly do anything in regards to it.

    "Do you ever," Ryan said. "Come across someone who has a geas which will kill them if they reveal information? A geas you cannot remove?"

    "I have," his father responded. "They''ve been placed by the same person both times, and that person has not been within Volnal, so I will say there''s a good chance I can interrogate everyone here without issue."

    "Okay," Ryan said. "Theoretically, what happens if you come across that?"

    "They become useless to me," his father said. "So I extract what little useful information I can, then kill them."

    "Okay," Ryan said. "If, somehow, such a geas was placed on someone here, would you mind allowing me to try removing it?"

    "You will fail," his father said, and Ryan grinned. "What''s that grin for?"

    "I might fail," Ryan said. "But remember when I said I was like Colin Novar?"

    "I do," his father said. "It wasn''t that long ago."

    "Indeed," Ryan''s grin grew further. "See, he could stop time, but that nearly it. I can do more than that, Father. I can reset time. It''s a spell not even he could use. It allows me to return to a previous point in time. My memories and powers are intact, but everything else is reset back to that point.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    "In other words," Ryan leaned forward. "I can try, fail, then reset to before I tried and try again. I can keep doing that until they don''t die. Infinite tries. The actual delivery of the message from the elementals requesting my assistance came to me later than now, while I was at the Srentas Ski Resot. This isn''t my first time running today, Father. I am doing everything I can to grow as powerful as possible."

    "Why?" His father asked, though Ryan could feel the shock in the minds of his father and his servant.

    "I have two reasons," Ryan answered. "The first is that I wish to become the next Gray Mage. In technicality, I am already there, but we can ignore that. The second is that once I am powerful enough, once I have enough grasp over my magics, I am going to perform a reset bigger than just a few months. I am going to reset a full decade."

    Confusion filled his servant''s mind, but Ryan felt realization and even greater shock fill his father''s mind.

    "You''re going to save your mother," his father said.

    "Indeed," Ryan answered. "Because the timeline is erased back to when I reset, if I reset to before her death, then she has never died, and I alone will be aware that she had. I know when she died, and where. Once I am ready, I will stop that death. I will stop the assassin himself. I could do it from the shower, even. The moment he enters the range of my elemental senses, I can end his life. Air bubble to the brain, stopping of the heart, removal of air from the lungs, a drowning, overheating, or any number of other methods. Right now, I''m also working on entering into people''s minds and ripping information out of their head. It''s easiest if I have physical contact with them, and when I do, I can slip in, pull out anything I want, and exit, and they aren''t even aware I''d entered."

    "Forgiveˇ­ the inquiry," Tyler said, though Ryan knew it would likely come up as they were preparing for bed if his servant didn''t bring it up then. "But why try to grow more powerful with your spells if you can already do that?"

    Ryan realized he''d never considered that before. Ever since deciding to rescue his mother, he wanted to become even more powerful, not just to become the next Gray Mage, but to rescue his mother as well. There was no reason for it ¨C he was not only a god, but at his current level, he was truly godly.

    The assassin would be forced to bend to his will, unable to stop Ryan from entering his mind and ripping out every last piece of information about why he was there. He would be unable to stop Ryan from killing him.

    Because of that, there was no reason at all for Ryan to actually need to continue training. He could, right then, return to the past and rescue his mother. As he thought it over, however, he realized there was a reason to continue growing stronger.

    "Someone targets Mother once," Ryan said. "And the attack succeeds. But if I stop that attack, who is to say that the attacks do not continue, with more might every time? Until it is made clear to those who wish her dead that it is not happening, the attacks will grow worse. I need to be as powerful as possible for that, to ensure that they fail every time ¨C even if not the first time that attempt occurs for me.

    "One of the most important aspects to this," Ryan said. "Is strengthening my elemental senses and my ability to read through them. The more I can read with them, the better I will be able to act when it is necessary. My elemental senses are actually the reason I suffered POAMA after I woke up on my birthday ¨C my body was adjusting to them, even if they weren''t active."

    "In other words," his father said. "You''re making extra-sure you can do what is necessary to save her until saving her is no longer necessary."

    "Correct," Ryan nodded. "And if I''m being completely honest, I''m also doing a little bit of intelligence gathering. I''m sure I''ll remember most of this stuff when I reach eighteen again."

    "Intelligence gathering," his father snorted. "And resets. That explains why you said the Mierias had an Heisar, then. I only managed to convince Damien to be honest with me by offering the services of one of our excavators even if for a price."

    "Yeah," Ryan said. "When I was actually visiting the island, he flat-out admitted it to us because it would be inevitable for us to find out. He wants to forge a connection between our Families ¨C to merge the Mierias into the Novar before the Novar and Veloas Families marry."

    "I''m not surprised you know that," his father sighed. "But how does he know?"

    "He''s suspecting it," Ryan answered. "Raxvar Corporation is as well ¨C that''s why they have an assassin aimed at me. That assassin is actually the main reason I wanted this place cleared ¨C it prevents her from being able to reach me while I''m doing this thing for the elementals. I wanted as little interference as possible, though now I know it''s something that takes longer than I''d expected."

    Ryan sighed.

    "Her companion, who wasn''t an assassin, was rather nice to play with."

    "Play with?" His father asked.

    "Yes," Ryan grinned. "She was actually interested in Tyler, but since he''s got not feelings of romance or sex for her, she decided she might as well sleep with me since I was interested. I was mostly just wanting someone to have sex with regularly. Kind of selfish, but hey, who cares? It''s not like there will be long-term consequences of it once I reset, considering it never happened."

    His father sighed, causing Ryan to snicker.

    "That explains," his father said. "Why you asked me if I could bring a girl your age who ''had a nice voice and a nice body'' to have sex with. You do know women exist for more than sex, don''t you?"

    "Of course I know that," Ryan scoffed. "Trust me, Father, I know that. In my last run, I had dozens of girls trying to get with Tyler. I could have taken my pick of any of them if I really wanted. I''ve only slept with three across the runs. The first is Jonathan''s future wife, who wants to have a child with the most powerful person she can when it comes to status. The second was Bethany, Damien''s niece, who was there specifically for the purpose of sleeping with me in an effort to merge our Families by blood before a dilution through the Veloas occurred. The third was Amy, a former classmate of Tyler''s who''s also an intelligence agent of Raxvar Corporation, and she agreed to it partly because it was something for both of us. We were both horny, and she hoped it might help turn me to Raxvar. I might have suggested that."

    His father snorted at the comment, then sighed.

    "And these hordes of women?"

    "They really wanted in Tyler''s pants," Ryan sighed. "I didn''t realize just how much more attractive he was than me until we were at the resort. I''m not going to lie, I wanted to throttle Tyler for being so attractive that women were bothering me in an effort to gain his attention.

    "So," he said. "Did you bring someone? Because there are only Novarax here, and I will never sleep with one of those."

    "I did," his father said, and Ryan noticed the exasperation in the man''s mind. "Just in case you had an actual reason for why you should be allowed to sleep with her before your wedding."

    "Our wedding?" Ryan asked. "What do you mean by that? You''ve given me no indication of such a thing happening in any previous run."

    Ryan felt his father''s indecision, then final decision to say whatever it was.

    "Yes," his father said. "I have been in talks with a certain person for a few years now about having you marry once you turned eighteen. We agreed on the wedding taking place this coming summer. It is even more secret than the merging of the Veloas to our Family. Like you, she is a Jewel, and an Ultimate Jewel at that."

    "How old is she?" Ryan asked.

    "Eighteen," his father answered. "Her birthday is in the summer, so she is only a few months older than you. The plan for the union between her and you to occur after the Veloas union into our Family was to ensure we would have the might and resources necessary to defend against anyone who attempted to get in our way."

    "Why?" Ryan asked. "With the Novar and the Veloas, our Family will effectively rule the world."

    He didn''t include that they technically already did through Colin and Emily, his father didn''t need to know about that.

    "Because," his father said. "She is Kacy Raxvar, sole daughter of the owner of Raxvar Corporation."

 0040

    For several moments, the room was silent. Then, Ryan found his voice.

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" He held up his hands. "Back the hell up, Father. Kacy Raxvar? Daughter of Henry Raxvar, owner of Raxvar Corporation? Please tell me you are joking!"

    "I am not," his father told him. "Henry approached us when you were little. Some of the healing mages who looked at you about your sight were Raxvar mages, including Henry himself."

    "This doesn''t make any sense!" Ryan exclaimed. "Raxvar has both sent an assassin after me and is attempting to bring my servant to them! They can''t want us to marry!"

    "I''m sure," his father told him. "That in the run of time you played out where I knew about the assassin, I had already investigated this. If I did not tell you anything, then Henry himself was not behind the attempt."

    "This doesn''t make any sense," Ryan muttered, then sensed someone approaching. "Is that Kacy?"

    "The woman approaching us?" His father asked, and Ryan nodded. "Yes, that is her. How far can you ''see'' with the senses?"

    "It depends," Ryan answered. "A single element? Around three hundred yards or so. With all six elements? Around five feet."

    Most of the credit on his single-element range came from training all six elements, as every time he fully recovered from overworking that, he found that his range for all had increased.

    "I see," his father said. "That seems like a rather useful spell, though I''m not sure if it''s one which can be learned easily. You already perceive the world differently from us."

    "Maybe," Ryan shrugged as there was a knock on the door.

    A moment later, the door opened, and in walked the young woman he had sensed approaching them. He felt surprise in her mind when she saw him, and she moved to sit on the armchair to the right of the couch he was seated on.

    "Hello, Kacy," Ryan said.

    "Hello, Ryan," she responded, and he noticed a slight wariness to her voice. "Hello, Samuel."

    "Hello, Kacy," Ryan''s father responded. "Ryan is finding it difficult to believe that you are to marry him."

    "It''s purely political," Kacy said, and Ryan realized that she was eyeing Tyler, if he judged her eyes through his sense of water correctly. "Though I do have to say he''s not as ugly as I''d expected him to be."

    "You''re right," Ryan grinned. "Tyler took all the ugly from me."

    Ryan''s father snorted as Kacy''s mind filled with confusion, and Ryan himself chuckled.

    "If only you could see your expression right now," he said. "It''s quite amusing."

    "As if you could know that," his father chuckled. "Kacy, would you mind explaining to Ryan why your father wishes to join with the Novar Family, despite us having hostilities for so long? I know some of it, but not the full details."

    "Sure," she responded, and Ryan felt her gaze upon him. "Before she died, the Silver Oracle came to Raxvar Corporation''s board of executives. She gave them a prophecy."

    "The Raxvar Prophecy," Ryan nodded. "Everyone knows about it, even if we don''t know what it is."

    "We''ve done a good job at keeping it a secret," Kacy told him. "But the Raxvar Prophecy was quite major. According to the Silver Oracle, the blind heir will rule the world."

    Ryan started as his father''s mind filled with confusion. The man hadn''t known all of the details, he said, and it seemed that his own ancestor''s words about Ryan were not made clear to him.

    "My father," Kacy continued. "Told your father that with the coming of the Fourth Age of Magic, it would be impossible to stop the Families from taking over the world if the prophecy were true, and he would rather not have Raxvar Corporation destroyed for opposing them.

    "It wasn''t until you were little," she said. "And he had personally examined you that my father realized the Silver Oracle was talking about you. Initially, they''d thought she had meant someone blind in the mind, not the eyes."

    "He didn''t tell me," Ryan''s father said. "That the prophecy said he''d rule the world."

    "You didn''t know that?" Ryan asked. "I''ve known for awhile I was destined to rule the world."

    He felt the incredulous stare of his father''s and chuckled.

    "I''ve talked with Colin and Emily," Ryan said. "They told me."

    "The first Novar and Veloas?" Kacy asked, and Ryan could feel the shock in her mind just as strongly as he could hear it in her voice. "The children of the first Gray Mage?"

    "The first?" Ryan''s father asked.

    "Yeah," Ryan said. "There were actually three of them. The first one is the one who caused the influx of magic to the world, while the second and third were actually the ones who healed the world from that."

    "Strange," Kacy said. "I thought only a handful of people knew about that, all in Raxvar Corporation."

    "I did just say I''ve talked with the children of one of them," Ryan said. "They told me what happened, including that the Great Collapse actually lasted around twenty years. They also told me that I''m destined to rule the world with my harem of five hundred hot women."

    Tyler groaned beside Ryan, who chuckled as his servant let his head drop into the palm of his right hand.

    "It''s okay," Ryan put a hand on Tyler''s back. "There will always be room in my castle for my best friend. The harem will sleep elsewhere."

    "I know you well enough," Tyler said. "To know that you won''t be having a harem, Ry-sir."

    "You''re right," Ryan said. "Five hundred women sounds like a lot to juggle. If I only slept with one each day, it would take me more than a year to sleep with all of them. Then there''s the fact that they''d probably war over each other for my affection, start killing each other, and so on. You''re right, a harem isn''t a good idea. I''ll just take on a god as my wife."

    Tyler and Ryan''s father sighed, and Ryan sensed Kacy realizing just what kind of man she was ''going'' to marry. He had no intention of actually marrying her. He might impregnate her, create more Blessed Ones as he planned on doing with Kayla, but he was a god. Mortal lives would be fleeting things to him. Why marry someone he could outlive?

    "Okay," Kacy said. "As I was saying, my father believes in the prophecy ¨C the Silver Oracle had never been wrong before, so it''s unlikely she was wrong with this. If Raxvar is not allied with the Families when the Third Age of Magic comes to an end and your reign begins, it will be forced into war with the Families as the Families begin to take over the world under you. Joining into the Families is the only logical choice if we wish to preserve it."

    "Then why the assassin?" Ryan asked. "Or the person who wishes to take Tyler into the Guild?"

    He sensed the confusion in her mind at that news.

    "Or the people here, working with Raxvar."If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Surprise filled her mind, the kind which told Ryan she was unaware of that issue as well.

    "That''s not authorized," she told him. "I''ve been dealing with the Guild''s inner dealings since I was eleven. If any of that was authorized ¨C and it would need to go through the executives and my father to be ¨C I''d know about it. My father is a firm believer of the Silver Oracle''s prophecy, which explicitly states there is no way to stop your reign from occurring ¨C that death itself will not prevent it, as strange as that sounds."

    It would sound strange, Ryan knew. After all, ordinary people like her and her family would not know that Ryan was a god, and that as long as he was on Earth, death would only mean resetting back to a certain point in time.

    "Any attempt on my life," Ryan told her. "Is bound to fail. I am far more knowledgeable and talented than I have let on. Even Father and Tyler do not know the full extent of my abilities. If you stay here long enough, however, you will hear whispers of a certain event. An event where I killed a monster in the Heisar without any sight to go by, my spell directly inside of the beast rather than projected from me. That is only a small bit of what I can really do."

    He felt Kacy''s mix of emotions as she tried to figure out if he was exaggerating or serious, and Ryan let the moments pass. His father and servant waited as well, both seeming to wish to see her reaction by what he could tell of their minds.

    "I see," Kacy finally said. "I can contact Father and have him investigate the events, if you give me more information."

    "I can do that," Ryan smiled. "So even though we aren''t supposed to marry until summer, you came here to sleep with me?"

    "As little as I wanted to," she sighed. "Father told me that yours had contacted him saying that you seemed to be quite horny and wanting to sleep with someone. I only agreed to the marriage because it meant protecting the Guild."

    "Even if joining the Novars might destroy the Guild?"

    "From the inside?" She asked, and he nodded. "There''s always that possibility. We''ll likely lose a few branches, but the executives and my father are on-board with the move, so the majority of the Guild will go with it."

    "Okay," Ryan said. "Father, how come you never told me you were planning on having me marry someone? Especially as it being the heiress of the most powerful Guild could cause issues for our Family?"

    "The Veloas," his father said. "Are already aware of this. At least, those who matter. We might lose a few branches from this, a few allies, but we are gaining far more. A necessary sacrifice. As for you marrying her, it was not just a political move, but a move to find someone whom you might actually find pleasure with. Finding someone who would marry you is not an easy thing, Ryan. You are aware just how much many want to see us end because of your blindness. By refusing to grant you a possibility of an heir, they hope to close that door."

    "While Raxvar Corporation," Ryan said. "Knows that I will rule the world, no matter what they do."

    "Exactly," Kacy said. "And we''d rather preserve ourselves, even if it means lowering ourselves to marrying into a Family."

    "What would you have done," Ryan said. "Had I refuse to marry her, Father?"

    "First," his father responded. "I would ask you why."

    "Because Kayla Veloas," Ryan said. "Is a chronomancer, like me. I wanna make a powerful little chrono-baby."

    "Please don''t ever say that again!" His father''s exasperation was clear in both voice and mind as his servant groaned and Kacy''s mind filled with confusion. "I know you already told me about her, Ryan, but you are aware that you just told Kacy both about her and you?"

    "Yes," Ryan said. "If she''s to sleep with me, she should at least know that I can play with time. So let''s say that, in my final run of events, I refuse to marry her. What will you do?"

    "Final run of events?" Kacy asked.

    "Novars are talking, hush."

    "Be nice," his father said as Ryan sensed agitation in Kacy''s mind. "I would say that I would marry her in your place if you refused to marry her. I want you to be happy and would never force you into a marriage you didn''t want. I''d expected you to be happy marrying her due to her both being powerful and coming from a powerful family, even if not a Family."

    "Except that you can''t marry her in my place," Ryan stuck his tongue out.

    "Correct," his father said. "Since you''re going to prevent your mother''s death. That means I will be a different person in your final run than I am now, Ryan. I cannot say how things will turn out differently. No one can, no matter how many times you play out events. A single change can completely alter everything."

    "Saving your mother?" Kacy asked. "Time travel doesn''t affect the past, anyone who travels to the past plays out incidents that have already occurred. This is a fact known to anyone who has researched time magics."

    "Maybe," Ryan said. "They aren''t researching the right time magics. I have a spell which allows me to reset to a previous point in time. My soul and magic are moved back to that point, and everything which occurred after it is erased. The point I reset to becomes the present, rather than being the past. This is the time magic used to actually change the past."

    "Are you sure you should have told her?" His father asked.

    "Why not?" Ryan asked. "I can just place a geas on her to prevent her from revealing it to anyone. I''m sure you''ve already scanned her mind to make sure everything''s clean."

    His father sighed, and Ryan gave a small smile at that.

    "So, Kacy," Ryan said. "Want to head to my room? I''m sure you''re glad I''m at least not ugly, even if my servant is more attractive than me."

    He sensed the blood rushing to her cheeks as his servant became uncomfortable, his father amused, and his supposed future wife embarrassed.

    "Don''t worry," Ryan stood. "I''m used to women thinking he''s more attractive than me. It''s annoying, but it''s apparently a fact of life."

    Ryan sensed her apprehension, then the decision to sleep with him then. She stood, and Ryan bid his father a good evening, then left with Kacy.

    "It bothers you, doesn''t it?" He asked as they walked towards his room, her arm linked in his. "Being betrothed to a blind man?"

    "A little," she admitted. "I''m more annoyed by being married into a Family. That time spellˇ­ is that really something you can do?"

    "Yes," he answered. "And I''ve already placed a geas in your mind."

    "You did?" She asked, and he could sense her confusion. "When?"

    "The moment our hands touched," he answered. "I''m quite adept at mind magics when there''s physical contact involved."

    "If you''re only going to reset time," she said. "Then this is just to get you off, isn''t it?"

    "It is," he answered, and felt her start too pull away. He kept a firm grip on her arm. "Even knowing this is going to never happen again, Kacy, do you really want to stop? Enjoy the time you have right now. Treat it as if this is the actual line of events. I know you have a hard time comprehending it, after all."

    She sighed as she stopped attempting to pull him away.

    "Besides," he said. "Who knows? Maybe I''ll take you on as a wife in my final run. How you are now could affect that, and since I''m ruling the world in the future, well, I can have as many wives as I want, can''t I?"

    "I don''t think I like you," she told him, and he sensed the complete honesty in that statement.

    "You don''t have to like me," he said as they reached his room. "You just have to not displease me."

    "Excuse me?" She asked.

    "You heard me," he said as they entered his room. "In the final run of things, I will put together all knowledge I have. Whether Raxvar Corporation exists or not when I take over the world currently hinges on several things. Why someone wants to kill me, why someone wants to steal my servant, why someone is stealing my slaves, and how its heir acts. Our relationship is not of lovers, Kacy. It''s to help determine Raxvar''s state in my final run. If I decide its heir is someone I cannot get along with or that the company is better off destroyed, it will not exist after I take over the world."

    "You can''t-"

    "I can do whatever I want," he told her. "Your family decided to get into bed with a Family, Kacy. We aren''t heroes. We''d be more of villains or anti-heroes. So keep that in mind."

    Ryan walked towards his bed, undressing as he went.

    "Trust me," Ryan told her. "You might be resistant to sleeping with me, but we don''t have to treat each other as lovers."

    "So I''m just your bitch, then?" She asked.

    "No," he smiled, turning to face her after stripping off his underwear, leaving him naked. "I always make sure that the person I''m sleeping with gets off as well. If you were my bitch, I wouldn''t do that. You are a person, after all."

    She folded her arms across her chest, and he could feel her annoyance.

    "You''re an asshole," she told him as he sat on his bed, letting her see him in all his naked glory. "You are really threatening Raxvar Corporation over if I sleep with you or not? I''d rather die than sleep with someone like that."

    "No," he grinned. "Actually, whether or not Raxvar Corporation is destroyed depends on the other answers: why I''m targeted for assassination, why Tyler is targeted for conversion, and why they are having the Novarax stage an attack. Honestly, I couldn''t actually care less about whether or not you slept with me, Kacy. I''ve never forced someone to before, and I''m not going to start now."

    "But you-"

    "You''re a Raxvar!" He laughed as he stood again. "I couldn''t resist screwing with you. If you don''t want to sleep with me, don''t sleep with me. Oh, but could you put my clothes in the hamper? It''s in the closet. I''m actually going to go to the bathroom. If you''d rather sleep with Tyler, go ahead and return to them and tell Father and Tyler that."

    "What?" She asked in confusion.

    "If only you could sense the mixture of emotions in your mind right now," Ryan chuckled as he walked towards the bathroom. "You''d probably be as amused as me. I''m a Family Heir, Kacy, not a rapist. Forcing you to sleep with me so I don''t destroy your company is essentially raping you."

    He stopped at the door to the bathroom, then turned to face her.

    "This is where someone would probably say ''sorry''," he told her. "But I''m not, really. Do you know how difficult it is to enjoy myself here? There''s not as many staff members to screw with, and then I have to deal with the annoying Novarax. I couldn''t resist this."

    "You have a twisted sense of humor," she told him, anger clear in her voice as he sensed her heating up.

    "Maybe," he shrugged. "Anyway, I really have to pee."

    Ryan hurried into his bathroom.

 0041

    "Every time you transmute something," Tristan commented. "It turns out gray."

    "Hm?" Ryan asked as he examined the cube with his senses.

    "Yeah," Tristan told him. "Everything you transmute has a tendency to turn gray."

    "Not everything," Ryan''s father said. "Just things where color doesn''t actually matter."

    For the last several days, the Novar Family Head had been teaching his son and the Novarax Jewel how to transmute items, something which few Jewels could perform. Ryan knew his father had started that just to try and trip Ryan up with a spell, only to become exasperated as both son and Novarax learned it quickly.

    Transmutation was not an easy spell to learn, as it required understanding the property of both what the caster was transmuting and of what they were transmuting it into. Tristan lapped up the scientific knowledge with ease, while Ryan was able to pull on his godly abilities to learn and understand what was necessary.

    That had surprised him. The first time he attempted to cast a transmutation spell with just knowing what his father had told him of the two materials, he instinctively began to know even more than that. It took him a few hours to realize that it was a god thing.

    Realizing that promptly led to him tracking down his father and giving the man as smug a look as he could manage.

    "Do I really?" Ryan asked.

    "Yes," his father answered.

    Ryan accessed his sense of light to examine the cube. He had changed it from white oak to polystyrene, and with his sense of light, he realized that it was the same color he saw by default, before he had adjusted his sense of light enough to make out different colors.

    "So this is the color gray?" Ryan held up the cube.

    "It is," his father answered. "Tristan''s is white, the normal color he would see it as."

    "Interesting," Ryan said, then transmuted the block into pure gold. "Is this gray?"

    "It is not," his father sighed. "Ryan, I asked you to stop transmuting valuable metals."

    "I was just asking," Ryan said, then transmuted it to iron. "How about this?"

    "You''re transmuting them into their natural colors," his father told him. "The gray occurs when the color is variable. If you''re doing a pure metal, it''s going to be the color of the pure metal."

    "Ah," Ryan said. "Catch."

    He tossed the cube to his father, who caught it, and Ryan picked up the plastic sphere sitting on the tray in front of him. After examining it with his senses for a moment, he shaped it into a triangular prism as he transmuted it into glass.

    Ryan had a habit of shaping whatever he was transmuting out of boredom, though he made sure he kept it appropriate while Tristan was around.

    "What''s that?" Tristan asked. "Why''d you make a prism?"

    "You''ve already learned this?" Ryan asked.

    "Yeah," Tristan nodded, moving closer to inspect the prism. "Alexa taught me about prisms."

    "Tyler had some brought in," Ryan answered. "This matches one of them."

    His servant had asked the Novar Family Head, before the man arrived, to bring some as well, to help train Ryan''s sense of light. With the refraction, Ryan was able to fine-tune his senses for picking out specific colors, and over the past couple of weeks, had been focusing on identifying more specific colors than just ''red'', ''orange'', ''yellow'', and so on. He was particularly fond of the colors green and blue.

    "Oh," Tristan said. "Why?"

    "Because of this," Ryan held the prism on the palm of his right hand, then pointed at it with his left index finger.

    The pointing wasn''t necessary for him, but the teen wanted to show off for the boy. As he pointed, a beam of white light emitted from his fingertip straight into the prism, the light refracting inside. The effect wasn''t as great as it would be were the room dark, but the young god still felt the amazement in the boy''s head.

    "Whoa!" Tristan exclaimed. "That''s so awesome! Alexa never told me you could do that with a prism!"

    "Because she''s not that smart," Ryan told Tristan. "Unlike you. Do you want it?"

    He held out the prism as he felt the uncertainty in the boy''s mind. Even if the boy were excited to get to leave Volnal with the Novars and continue learning magics under them, the mental conditioning he''d grown up with still ruled at times. Because of that, even accepting a gift from the Novars made him worry.

    In the end, however, the boy had grown to trust Ryan and his father over the past two weeks, so the uncertainty was quickly dismissed and he accepted the prism.

    "Thanks!"

    "You''re welcome," Ryan said.

    For some reason, he found himself enjoying the presence of the boy. There was a certain joy, he discovered, in having someone admire him and look up to him, in addition to being able to teach someone who would lap up everything there was to learn.

    Because of that, Ryan decided that even without a harem of five hundred hot women, he would have plenty of children. Though it might cause a problem if too many Blessed Ones appeared, but he felt confident everything would sort out properly in the end.

    Not all of his children would admire him or look up to him, but he''d at least have children, and some of them would. Who wouldn''t look up to their father, the god who ruled the world? Idiots, that was who.

    "I believe," Ryan put a hand on Tristan''s head and ruffled the boy''s hair. "That it''s time you went back to your own thing, Tristan. Father and I have some other stuff we need to be doing."

    "Okay!" Tristan exclaimed, and Ryan pulled his hand away as the boy left the room, carrying the prism with him.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    "Time for more interrogation," Ryan stood.

    "Indeed," his father stood as well, and the pair made their way to the wing of the mansion used for holding the prisoners.

    Not many were left, and they had already gleaned out all of the information they needed. That didn''t matter to either of them, as Ryan was using them more for practice than for actually receiving information.

    Ryan and his father entered one of the rooms, where a man was strapped to a chair. The young god noted with his senses the man had been stripped to his underwear, which were clean, as evidenced by the lack of traces through his water sense and lack of a smell in the air. Someone had changed it, as everyone soiled themselves during an interrogation. As Ryan himself was the one who caused the man to soil it from his pain, he knew there should have been marks.

    He sat on a chair facing the man, his father moving to sit on one off to the side.

    "So," Ryan said. "We begin again today. Remember that I already know everything, and this is for me to practice my spells. The more you resist, the more practice I receive."

    He felt the anger and hostility in the man''s mind. The traitor wanted him dead, even if he felt helpless against the teen.

    "Today," Ryan told the Novarax. "We are going to talk about your favorite date. To you, what is the perfect date? Let''s start with the setting. Where would you go, on a perfect date?"

    With steel determination in his mind, the man simply glared at Ryan. In turn, Ryan observed the changes with his elemental senses, tuning them even further.

    "Hm," he said after a minute of silence. "I believe I asked you a question, Novarax. When a Novar asks a question, scum like you is required to answer."

    With his power over the air, Ryan split the man''s right forearm from wrist to elbow. Having utilized many resets, he managed to learn the best way to do that without causing fatal blood loss.

    The man grit his teeth, though Ryan was pleased to note a slight groan, a barely-observable change to the air exiting the man''s lungs. He smiled, then healed the injury.

    "So," Ryan said. "On a perfect date, where would you go?"

    For half an hour, he worked on the man, using his air to create fine, detailed cuts, stopping blood flow to certain regions to create a numbing effect, raised the temperature of a specific spot to burn the man, zapped him with electricity to cause spasms, and more. Still, the man refused to answer, and Ryan was forced to use air magics to push the scent of feces and urine away as the man''s body released its hold from the pain.

    "You have a high tolerance for pain," Ryan said as he moved his chair forward, until he was within touching distance of the man. "I interrogated you last night with similar results. But you see, the elements aren''t my only weapon. I broke a man tougher than you without magic, so I can definitely break you with it."

    He heard his father mutter something about that explaining why one of their prisoners suddenly began answering questions during the spring.

    "Yes," Ryan laughed. "That was probably me. I did tell you I''ve interrogated people before. Now, it''s time to show you some of what I''ve learned, Novarax. While Father was busy dealing with the mess you and your cohorts have attempted to create, I played around a little with some of the other prisoners. This is something which might make the guts of a Novarax churn. As for a Novar? Well, we''re not heroes in any sense of the word."

    Ryan touched the man''s right index finger with his left index finger, and then reshaped it, twisting the bones without touching the nerves with his magic. The man howled in pain as his finger became pointed in the wrong direction. With a lack of any breaks, it would be nearly impossible for anyone to heal. A shaper and healing mage would be needed to open his finger up, expose the bones, then reshape them back to how they should be.

    At least, if Ryan left it like that. With his ability to sense the bone directly, he had no need to open up the body to see the bones within.

    "So," Ryan said. "Are you going to answer my questions now? Or will I continue to wreak havoc upon your body?"

    He could feel the man starting to break with his mind, but the traitor still refused to answer, so Ryan began reshaping other bones. By the time he reached the man''s little finger, he knew he''d succeeded, and the man began answering his questions when the pain allowed him to.

    "Hmph!" Ryan grunted when the man answered everything without fail. "That''s no fun. You answered my questions too easily, I didn''t get much practice in."

    He sighed, then stood, his chair scooting back from the movement.

    "I''m going to go do something to relieve my frustration," Ryan told his father. "He answered the questions without resistance at this point, so there''s no point in continuing."

    Even if he had no issues with torturing someone, he wouldn''t keep doing it after they broke just to continue training himself. There was always the possibility of using resets to continue that, but Ryan wanted to cool off a little before doing that, or his frustration at the man breaking in less than an hour would affect how rough he was.

    So he made his way outside, to the gardens behind the mansion. He knew Kacy was there, though she wasn''t the reason he was visiting the gardens. Ryan sat on a bench near the pond and pulled in his senses, listening to the sounds of the water rippling in the breeze, inhaling the scents of the flowers around him.

    It took a feat of earth magic to ensure the flowers grew there because of the environment, but the Novarax did it anyway. It was one of their orders ¨C keep the grounds looking nice for the chance the Novars visited. Even with the coming rebellion, they wanted to maintain appearances until it was no longer possible to. Failure to do that would result in the Novars suspecting them and beginning a thorough investigation.

    Not that it mattered anymore. Everyone responsible for the rebellion within the Novarax had been found and the information ripped out of their heads with only minimal torture needed.

    As he relaxed, Ryan listened as his servant subtly played with the water in the pond, the only source of practice Tyler received lately due to the various things going on. After a few minutes, Ryan heard someone else approaching, and guessed it was Kacy without checking through his senses or empathy, though he did make sure they were active once she sat.

    "Hello," Ryan said as they sat beside him.

    "Hello," Kacy said. "My father hasn''t finished investigating things yet."

    "Okay."

    He hoped she left soon. While he was quite horny, he wasn''t going to sleep with someone who actually did hold distaste towards him, and he wasn''t going to suggest it again. Kacy only cared about protecting her family''s company. She would do what was necessary for that and nothing further.

    "Are you really experimenting on the Novarax?" She asked.

    "The ones who meant to betray us further," he answered. "The Novarax live because we let them. They live for the sole purpose of working for us here. The moment they betray that, they have no purpose. Now, they have one: allowing me to train my magics. It''s as simple as that."

    Disgust filled her mind again, and he sighed.

    "If you really hate me that much," he said. "Then you should find somewhere else to stay ¨C or just leave entirely. Your own family employs torturers, you know."

    "They don''t experiment on their victims!"

    "Are you sure about that?" Ryan asked. "How do they improve their methods? How do they know what does and doesn''t work best? That takes experimentation with different methods."

    "You-"

    "Am the heir to a Family," Ryan interrupted. "Torture is in my blood, it''s in my veins. And I don''t care for the lives of scum, anyway. In fact, I only care about three lives: my father''s, my mother''s and Tyler''s. That''s it, and one of them is already dead, even if I intend on saving them."

    He felt the frustration rising in her mind, then heard her stand and stomp off.

    "Bitch," he muttered under his breath.

    "Sir," Tyler said. "I do not believe that was appropriate."

    "Really?" Ryan asked in slight annoyance. "Then what would you have said?"

    "Ignorant bitch," his servant responded. "Naive. Stupid. Arrogant."

    "I''m arrogant, too," Ryan chuckled.

    "You have a different form of arrogance," Tyler told him. "One which comes from your own power. Her arrogance comes solely from her upbringing. She''s proven herself to be nowhere near as powerful as you, yet views herself as superior simply because she comes from a Guild and you are of a Family. I take it the marriage will not happen in the final run?"

    "Correct," Ryan answered. "She hates me, so I won''t sleep with her. Could you arrange for something warm to drink? It''s pretty chilly out here, and I think I''ll be out here awhile."

    He had a lot to think about regarding his run when he reset back to his mother''s death. His father had made him realize that much of what he knew of the time would likely need checking in that run. A single change could cause drastic differences, and the wife of the head of the most powerful Family wasn''t a small change.

    Which meant he needed to decide on if he was going to continue to manipulate events or not over several resets before he returned to the night of his mother''s death.

 0042

    "My father finally got back to me," Kacy approached Ryan. "Regarding the three issues you wanted information on."

    "That''s good," Ryan said. "Considering today''s the deadline for when I needed that information."

    "It is?" She gave him a stunned look. "You haven''t mentioned anything about a deadline."

    "Of course there''s a deadline," he scoffed. "As if I''d let it go forever. No, I''m doing something tonight, and that''s when what I''m here for is over."

    After dealing with the rebellion, all that was left was for Ryan to deal with the situation he traveled to Volnal for. The elementals had been unable to find the new location for the reality marble''s gate, but that didn''t bother Ryan. He wasn''t going to let them be captured again.

    So he was grateful that Kacy managed to obtain that information before he reset again, as it would be his last night there.

    "What did your father say?" Ryan asked.

    "Regarding Nadia," Kacy responded, sitting across from him. "She was employed by one of the executives, who believes that the prophecy from the Silver Oracle can be diverted, and that you can be killed.

    "Regarding Amy," Kacy paused for a moment. "Actually, their goal is getting you to ally with Raxvar Corporation. It''s an executive who believes that if we can convert you to Raxvar''s side, you''ll act in favor of Raxvar Corporation rather than the Novar Family when you conquer the world."

    "Not going to happen," Ryan said. "But why go after Tyler, then?"

    "Because," she said. "He''s an easier target than you, and it''s known that he is one of the only two people in the world you trust. If they could convince him to join us, then he could convince you to join us. His word holds a lot of sway in you."

    "So the attempt on him is actually for me," Ryan said, and she nodded. "And the issue with the Novarax?"

    "Not an executive this time," she told him. "But rather, someone who found out because of the second executive that Raxvar Corporation may be joining with the Novars. The director of one of our locations, who''s decided to prevent the merger by having the Novarax stage a rebellion before summer."

    "Useless failures," Ryan muttered. "It wouldn''t have succeeded, even if they did try and we didn''t become aware of it ahead of time."

    "What makes you so sure of that?" She asked. "Their weapons-"

    "The valley isn''t easy to enter or exit," Ryan explained. "And we have contact with agents in the area and tunnels at all times. The moment we lose contact with one of them, we contact all of them. Collapsing the tunnels is only a matter of minutes from there. If our guards in the hidden facilities became aware through their monitoring that the Novarax were escaping, they would collapse the tunnels.

    "Let''s say someone did get out," Ryan said. "Even a group of them, what then? There are less than two hundred Novarax, most of whom were from branch families without actual Novar blood or with weakened Novar blood. They''re weak. They''d be going up against the most powerful Family in the world, which numbers thousands after factoring in the branches and employees.

    "Truthfully," Ryan said. "The goal was probably to get rid of the Novarax. With them out of the way, it wouldn''t be difficult for someone to fight their way through the storms and claim the Volnal Heisar before we could bring forces back in to secure it, especially if our tunnels were collapsed and they were prepared ahead of time."

    Ryan felt his eyes widen as he realized what was going on with the elementals. He knew the attack was intended to occur at the end of the year, even if Kacy said by summer. It was something everyone in charge had agreed on during their interrogations.

    The elementals were the cause of the storms. By forcibly removing them, that would weaken the natural barrier protecting the valley, making it easier to enter.

    The initial thought had been the elementals were being used as a power source. That might be true, but if so, it was a side-effect of weakening the barrier protecting Volnal. Whether it was Raxvar Corporation''s rebel sect doing it or a group who found out about the attempt and wanted to help ¨C or make a claim for it themselves ¨C wasn''t clear, but he was confident that was what was happening.

    "Thank you," Ryan stood. "You''ve given me all of the information I need to make a decision."

    "Which is?" She asked.

    "That Raxvar Corporation is no different than a Family," he answered. "And needs to get its ducks in a row before the Novars will merge with it. If you don''t mind, I was actually preparing to head out, which is why Tyler isn''t here. He was having the car brought around."

    Ryan walked past her and out of the room, then down to the front of the house. Outside, he approached the car and entered. Mary was at the wheel, with another guard already in the back seat. Tyler entered the front seat as the third guard entered and sat on Ryan''s other side, then Mary began driving.

    "Where are we going?" Mary asked.

    "To the spot the elementals showed us last week," Ryan answered. "They said that they''re always captured, even when split apart, so they''ll be together this time to make it easier for me."

    "Understood," she said.

    "Is your father not coming?" Tyler asked.

    "No," Ryan answered. "I convinced him to stay behind, though you can bet he''s probably watching from afar."

    "Okay," Tyler said.

    They fell silent, and thirty minutes later, they arrived at their destination. Ryan ordered the guards to stay behind as he and Tyler exited, then he wrapped the pair of them in an illusion to hide their presences. He wove together an illusion of light and heat, on the off-chance the enemies were using a heat-reading technology to scan the area as well.

    The pair of them walked a mile, then waited. The seven lightning elementals had already gathered, and Ryan chatted with them through nodes of light from fifty feet away.

    At the time the elementals had given Ryan, the young god felt a fluctuation in space, followed by several cages of metal and lightning forming around the elementals, with no more than two elementals captured per cage. As soon as the cages appeared, the elementals began to move much more slowly and Ryan sensed the speed of their lightning and electricity drop sharply.

    "That explains why they''re always captured," he muttered under his breath, then noticed his servant giving him a confused look. "Spatial magic was used to put the cage there. Let''s wait."

    They waited only five minutes before four trucks with trailers attached to them arrived sped into their location along with several vans. People poured out of the vehicles, mages moving toward the cages as if to move them.

    "I wouldn''t, if I were you," Ryan spoke as he undid his cloaking spells. "You don''t know what will happen if you capture them."Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    "Who are you?" One of the men asked, and Ryan realized that the lighting probably wasn''t the best for them to see from that distance and he couldn''t sense goggles of any form, despite the expenses put into the attack.

    "Me?" Ryan asked. "Just your local god, infuriated by mere humans coming after beings such as elementals. You''re going to answer a few questions, such as who you are, who you work for, and why you''re doing this. Then, I am going to kill you."

    "A god?" The man laughed as a few people chuckled. "I recognize your voice now, Novar. You''ll be a nice prize for us, too. We can move the elementals in a minute, subdue him and his servant."

    Ryan crushed the hearts of the six agents who began to move towards them, and the six mages fell to the ground. He manipulated the air to suffocate four more, then burned another four from the inside.

    "Oh?" Ryan asked as he began to casually walk forward. "Subdue me? Are you sure that''s even possible? You pathetic mortals."

    He could feel his servant''s unease at his tone, but dismissed it. Things wouldn''t matter anymore after that night, and he was mostly posturing out of boredom.

    "Kneel," Ryan commanded, putting authority and silkspeech into his voice, then watched as everyone except for Tyler knelt. "Stay as you are."

    Ryan approached each of the remaining agents and placed a hand on them, slipping into their minds and pulling out the information he needed. After checking each one, he killed them. When he finished, he began undoing the cages, the elementals floating out and towards him, moving lethargically.

    "Ryan," Tyler said with a shaky voice, having crossed much of the distance to him during the mental interrogation. "What did you just do?"

    "I wasn''t lying when I said I''m a god," Ryan told his servant. "If I want to, I can bend mortals to my will. It''s the same reason my mind is untouchable even for my father ¨C my mind is far too different for his to comprehend or access. Far too superior. That is why I am unkillable.

    "In fact," Ryan turned so that he was facing his servant. "That is why I am destined to rule the world. By rights, this world is mine. I am the god who will rule it as the king of all the gods who ever come to it. The Silver Oracle likely knew this and wished to warn my enemies ahead of time not to do anything foolish."

    The young god found himself surprised at the reaction in Tyler''s mind. No fear, no awe, no envy, no worry, or any other such emotions filled the man''s mind. Instead, only acceptance and realization, in addition to understanding. His servant had no issues with Ryan being a god, and realized that his master''s godhood explained much of the man''s mindset and attitude.

    "Let me talk with the elementals for a minute," Ryan said. "Then I''m going to reset back to when Mother was killed."

    "Ryan," Tyler said, and Ryan noticed the hesitation in his mind. "I''ve been wondering something."

    "Yeah?" Ryan asked.

    "Wouldn''t you resetting back to her death mean they could prepare for this?" Tyler asked, and Ryan froze up.

    He hadn''t considered that. It would give the elementals ten years to prepare for it, and they had told him that they had a way to deal with it once they recovered. As the elementals would reset, their forms moving to the location where they were when the reset occurred rather than their minds moving to their forms, they would be able to put that preparation in place long before the event ever happened.

    "Yes," Ryan sighed, and felt his servant''s amusement at his lack of thought on the matter. "That''sˇ­ okay, that''s a good point. And I''m willing to bet the elementals knew this, considering I''ve told them my plans."

    Tyler laughed and approached Ryan, who just shook his head as the seven elementals finished forming a ring around him.

    "So," Tyler said. "You feel you''re ready to save her life?"

    "No," Ryan answered. "But I realized that I''m going to keep delaying it. It''s time to just do it. A good point was brought up ¨C information I''ve gathered here and now might not be relevant anymore. I know the important bits, such as the Mieria Heisar and the possibility of a rebellion by the Novarax, and that the Volnal Heisar starts producing more rare reagents, and when. That''s enough. I can play around with time in the future."

    He didn''t have his true elemental sense yet, but could work on that growing up. Something told him it would be easier for him to develop it as he went through puberty than once he was fully-grown.

    "Other than that," Ryan gestured to the forms all around him. "What else is there left for me to do? I''m pretty powerful. I can fight an elemental as an equal, and that''s with not much training at all. I can kill someone with a thought, bend them to my will with a command. If someone kills me, I simply return to my most recent reset point, which just means I can prevent my death while knowing what I need to do."

    "Alright," Tyler sighed, and Ryan smiled a little.

    "Tyler," Ryan said. "You''re worried that you won''t get to be my servant again, even though you know that it won''t matter, because this ''you'' gets erased."

    "It''s irrational," Tyler shrugged. "But I know that''s how it''s going to be. Your mother will likely take control of your care and who serves you, so the chances of us meeting again will be slim. It bothers me, even if there won''t be anything to bother me once you do the reset. After all, I won''t have known our friendship."

    "Yeah," Ryan said. "Before I do the reset, Tyler, I have to ask something."

    "What?" Tyler asked, curiosity filling his mind, and Ryan felt almost guilty at that because of what he''d say next.

    "Are you gay?" Ryan asked, and felt his servant''s mind fill with terror, noticed his servant''s eyes shift towards as his head turned down as well.

    "What gave it away?" Tyler asked.

    "Hrm," Ryan thought for a moment. "Honestly? It was a bunch of things, which could be explained as other things. I figured it out towards the end of my last reset. You were spending a lot of private time with Michael Srentas. Then I put it together with knowing you got hard with toweling me off, and that when we were in the island runs, you''d sleep with Bethany, but only if I was having sex with her at the same time."

    "That''s why you use the spell to dry off," Tyler said. "Because-"

    "Because it''s faster and easier," Ryan said. "And guarantees being dry. I figured out the spell before I realized about you, Tyler. And I know that it might be difficult for you as a normal servant. You''ve never actually hinted to me about yourself, and you never made any sort of inappropriate action against me, Tyler. Were it not for my elemental senses and empathy, I would have lacked the necessary clues. You''ve put your servitude to me above your feelings. That''s actually rather admirable."

    He felt his servant''s confusion rise again.

    "Before I reset," Ryan said. "I just wanted to make something clear: you are my friend, Tyler. You have served me beyond what your station required. Even if you won''t know that, I will. I''m going to remember your service to me, how much of a friend you''ve been. You can bet that you''ll be my servant again, because I''ll ensure it. And once we''re olderˇ­ well, I hear there''s a certain Srentas Heir who likes guys, who takes quite the liking to a certain guy from a Novar branch family."

    Tyler snorted, and Ryan smiled.

    "You''re my friend," Ryan told him. "And you''re like a brother to me. I''d hate to lose that. I know that me saying all of this doesn''t really matter, but it feels better to me to do so than to just reset without it."

    "Okay," Tyler said. "Well, I guess I''ll see you againˇ­ in a couple of years."

    "Yeah!" Ryan grinned, then switched to talking through orbs of water, so that the elementals could receive a message. "You bastards neglected to inform me that resetting back to my mother''s death would give you plenty of time to prepare for this."

    "It is not our place to correct a god," the elementals said in unison, and Ryan sighed.

    "I will see you all again," he told them.

    As he prepared the reset spell, he focused on returning to the night of his mother''s death. His goal to become the next Gray Mage could wait until after he saved her and matured to adulthood again. After all, for him, time was abundant.

    He''d get to meet two of the Gray Mages eventually anyway, and he counted that as a win even if he didn''t get to meet the first Gray Mage.

    The spell activated, and Ryan knew immediately he had screwed up. He could sense the spell acting differently from normal, before he felt the shifting of space and time around him. A pain shot through his head, and he dropped to his knees, finding himself kneeling in grass.

    The air lacked the moisture of Volnal, and his clothes had vanished. He could feel the a lack of something in the air. To him, the air felt eerie, empty, as if something important was missing.

    "Gah!" Ryan groaned as he heard someone moving towards him after several minutes of the pain piercing through his mind and body.

    Whatever he was suffering, it wasn''t PAOMA, he could tell that much by the way it affected him. He was still an adult as well, his body the same as before. Something had gone wrong with his time spell.

    Someone spoke to him, their voice that of a young woman, and Ryan realized that he couldn''t understand them. The words seemed similar, yet still foreign to him. Almost as if it were an older version of English.

    The pain passed, and Ryan finally recovered enough to activate his senses of fire, air, water, and earth, stretching them out as far as he could. He seemed to be right in front of a house, a woman watching him warily. His empathy confirmed her wariness, but also her concern. He supposed a naked person seemingly in pain would be cause for concern to some people.

    As the pain faded, Ryan began to wonder what happened, only for knowledge to fill him. When performing the reset, his change in thought to the Gray Mage had caused him to change spells, to one far more complex, one which used up far more mana than any spell he''d ever cast before.

    He had accidentally time-traveled back to the start of the Great Collapse.

 0043

    Ryan shifted so that he was on his hands and knees, gasping as he recovered from having traversed time and space to appear more than a century and a half in the past. As he did, he noticed the woman''s concern rise more, her wariness steady.

    She approached him as he managed to begin breathing properly once more, and she placed a hand on his shoulder, her touch gentle and concerned as she asked him something again. The moment she made physical contact with him, Ryan delved into her mind, pulling out the knowledge of the older form of English.

    She was asking if he was okay.

    "Will be," he answered, aware his accent was likely strong.

    More than a dozen decades had passed since that form of the language was spoken, and it had evolved in that time, largely thanks to the Great Collapse shutting down what had slowed down the evolution of language.

    "Where did you come from?" She asked, the wariness still in her mind, even if her voice was full of concern. "Where are your clothes?"

    "Heh," Ryan chuckled. "It seems they didn''t come with me. I wasn''t expecting this."

    "Huh?"

    The young god turned on his sense of light and determined it was most likely night before shutting it off again.

    "I need," he said. "Something to wear, I suppose. Don''t call the authorities."

    "A strange guy shows up, butt-naked, and tells me not to call the authorities," the concern in her voice disappeared in an instant as her hand pulled away and she took a step back. "Do you really expect me to not call them, now?"

    "Well," Ryan said. "You could call them, but it wouldn''t do you any good. I''d rather cause as few complications as possible while I''m here, and dealing with the police would cause some major complications."

    He wasn''t planning on attempting to return to his own time just yet. The reason for that was because if he had returned to the past, then one thing was quite clear: something would prevent him from returning to his own time. He could feel his magic, just as strong as ever, so he knew it would not be that.

    The reason he knew this was because everything which had occurred in the past had already occurred in the past. Anything he did then, he had already done then before he traveled to the past. That was one of the absolute rules of time travel, something the Blessed Ones had assured him of, stating that the second and third Gray Mage had told them that.

    His appearance in the past meant one thing, and Ryan was no idiot on the matter.

    He was the first Gray Mage. That was why the Gray Mage disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared: he''d returned to his own time.

    Ryan himself was the paradox which broke the seal preventing magic on Earth. He knew he would likely never receive the answer to how the paradox began, but that didn''t matter to him. What mattered to him was figuring out what to do.

    "What do you mean, some major complications?" She asked.

    "First," Ryan said as he stood. "There''d be a record of the call, but no memory of them encountering me. If I remember my history correctly, authorities tend to have cameras, so they''d also have those recordings. However, the recordings would show them talking to me, then letting me leave. They''d have no memories relating to the event."

    "You''re delusional," she said.

    "No," he said. "I''m Ryan, a god. I''m not actually from here, and ended up here by accident. It will take some time for me to return home, unfortunately."

    He had a mess to initiate the cleanup on. A mess of his own creation. Mostly, he was curious about meeting the other two gods, the ones who raised his children.

    The young god''s lips curled down as he thought about the Blessed Ones. He was a paradox in more than one way. He caused magic to arrive on Earth, which was the only reason he existed in the first place. At the same time, he was his own great-great-great-great-great grandfather.

    Knowing that he ended up having children didn''t mean he''d be able to avoid it. As he knew, everything he''d already done, he''d end up doing because he had already done it. There was no avoiding that. Plus, he was quite horny, and while he''d managed to resist for a month, he knew that he would inevitably end up having sex in the past, thus creating his own lineage.

    "You are very delusional," she said.

    "Is anyone watching?" He asked.

    "The neighbors," she answered, though he could tell that was a lie.

    "I don''t like being lied to," Ryan said as he manifested twelve points of water around him, then converted half of them into flames.

    He watched with his senses as her eyes widened in shock as she stepped back in fear and shock.

    "I am a god," he told her. "My mortal name is Ryan, as I said. You and I did not speak the same language before you touched me. When you made physical contact, I pulled the information of it out of your head. I actually found other information while doing so. I know that you recently broke up with your boyfriend, your favorite color is blue, you secretly fantasize about having ten children even if you''d never admit it aloud, your favorite food is vanilla yogurtˇ­ hrm. We don''t have yogurt. At least, if we do, I''ve never had it."

    As he spoke, Ryan played around with the water and fire while simultaneously sorting out what knowledge he needed for another spell. When he finished figuring it out, Ryan used his transmutation magic to weave together pants and a shirt from the air, already around his body. Some slight shaping was required in order to convince the pants to form properly and contain his erection at the same time, but other than that, everything went smoothly.

    "There we go," he released the flames, which vanished, and the water, which dropped to the grass. "That took me a minute to figure out, I''ve never actually transmuted the air before."

    He could sense the confusion and fear in her mind, and held up a hand in response to that.

    "I''m not going to hurt you," Ryan said. "I really did end up here by accident, and it really will take me awhile to return home. Due toˇ­ certain factors, something will interfere with my return until after I do other things."

    "How did you just do that?" She asked him.

    "Magic," he answered. "For a god, it''s rather easy. For normal magesˇ­ it would be rather difficult."

    Discussing magic caused the young god to realize why the air felt empty: there was no magic in it. In his own time, the world was full of magic, including the air. In the past, none of that was there, which cause the empty feeling. Only another moment of thought caused him to realize that magic was what he had sensed in the Blessed Ones and the Heisars, forces which overflowed with magic.Stolen novel; please report.

    "Anyway," Ryan said. "I''m not here to hurt you. Howeverˇ­ I don''t now how long I''ll need to be here for, and what I need to do hasn''t come to pass yet. Until then, I''ll need a place to stay and someone to help me adjust to your society."

    Confusion filled her mind, and Ryan laughed.

    "What?" He asked. "Even a god might want to lay low for a little bit. Plus, I''m more than a little curious about your society. I''ve heard a lot about it, but most knowledge of it isn''t actually clear due to certain, ah, factors."

    He wasn''t exactly going to reveal that he was from her future. At least, not yet, if he ever did.

    "This is a lot to take in," she told him. "You just used magic and are claiming to be a god."

    "Not just claiming," he told her. "I am a god. An immortal entity of vast power beyond what any mortal mage can wield. As a god, I am ten thousand times as powerful, at minimum, than a Bl-than a demigod could ever be. Demigods are ten thousand times as powerful, at minimum, than a mortal could ever be. That''s the difference in power between gods and mortals."

    Confusion was still present in her mind, as well as wariness, but Ryan could tell that she was also believing him, even if she found it difficult to believe. He did use magic, so she at least accepted he was a magician of some sort.

    "If you help me," Ryan pulled with his earth magics, drawing a clump of soil up from the ground. "I will help you back."

    He transmuted the clump of dirt, which was smaller than his fist, into pure gold. Even if most of the knowledge of the era before the Great Collapse was lost, some things were obvious to the young god. Precious metals were valuable in both eras, and many pieces of jewelry predating the Great Collapse still existed. His mother had owned a large collection of it, including some of what was called Victorian jewelry, which fetched one of the highest prices for a single piece in the world.

    Ryan could feel the young woman''s gaze on the gold, the uncertainty in her eyes.

    "It doesn''t have to be gold," he told her, transmuting it into silver. "Or even metal," he reshaped it as he transmuted it into a ruby. "I am more than willing to help you out for helping me out. I wish to call as little attention to my existence as possible until what I need to do comes to pass, and I don''t know how long that will be."

    "And," she swallowed hard. "And if I refuse?"

    "Then I erase your memories of this encounter," Ryan told her. "And find someone else to help me. There is a large difference between pulling information out of someone''s head and being taught it, after all."

    "Come-come inside," she told him.

    Ryan followed her into the house, which smelled strange to him. Not bad, just different than he was used to. There was a fruity scent to the air, which he quickly identified the source of ¨C a liquid resting in a small dish over a hot bulb. With his sense of lightning, Ryan was able to determine that electricity of that era felt quite different.

    Electricity felt horrible to him, so he quickly shut that sense off.

    "How does this work?" Ryan immediately walked over to the device and knelt down, examining it as he plucked the ruby out of the air.

    In that era, no one knew he was blind, so he would portray the image of someone who could see.

    "That''s a wax warmer," she answered, her voice somewhat hesitant and dull. "It melts the wax with a lightbulb underneath, and the heat causes the scent to drift out of the wax as well, or something like that."

    "I see," Ryan said. "Hm. We have a version of this which uses liquids, but there''s usually a plain candle underneath. Or we just light a candle."

    "Some people don''t want to have a flame," she told him. "So we do this. What''s it like, um, where you''re from?"

    "You don''t have to be so scared," he stood and faced her, smiling a little. "You aren''t my enemy, so I''m not going to hurt you."

    "It''s just," she hesitated for a moment. "In the myths, gods weren''t exactly as personable and friendly as you''re being. There was always the risk of something foul happening."

    "Oh, that risk exists with me, too," Ryan laughed. "I actually came here after slaughtering a group of people."

    Immediately, he realized that was probably the wrong thing to say, as fear filled her mind to the level he was surprised she wasn''t literally radiating fear.

    "Sorry," he snorted. "That probably didn''t reassure you. Where I''m from, that''s not something that''s talked about behind closed doors. They were kidnapping friends of mine for nefarious purposes. They were attempting to weaken a natural barrier so that when a certain other event happened, they could lay claim to a sort of mine that belonged to me, a mine which contained some pretty rare resources. Don''t worry about offending me with your words. I''ll know if it''s intentional or not, and that makes a difference in how I react."

    "O-okay," she said. "So youˇ­ are a wealthy god?"

    "A wealthy god?" Ryan asked, then laughed. "I''m a godking. I rule an entire world."

    Well, he didn''t actually rule the world yet, but he would eventually. She didn''t need to know that, however, as it was a rather minor detail in his opinion.

    "You rule a world?" She asked.

    "Yep!" He grinned. "So I''d say I''m fairly wealthy."

    "I see," she said slowly. "You said you have a mortal name?"

    "Yes," he responded. "A name I go by when I live among mortals, my identity hidden. ''Ryan'' is that name."

    "Mine is Kyra," she told him.

    "Pleasure to meet you, Kyra Sol," he dipped his head to her, then laughed at her confusion. "I was already in your head, remember?"

    Ryan turned his head, as if looking around. He could already sense everything within the house ¨C and everything in the neighboring houses, too ¨C but wanted to give the appearance of him having habits of people with eyes which could see.

    "Are you alone here?" He looked at her. "I don''t detect anyone else present but us."

    "I am right now," she told him. "My brother is at his girlfriend''s house, and our parents are on a vacation. They''ll be gone all summer, leaving us the house."

    Ryan felt a slight pang at that. Growing up, he''d never been given free reign as she and her brother apparently had, and he didn''t have any siblings to enjoy the presence of. Or argue with. Tyler had told him several times about arguments and fights his servant had with siblings before being assigned to the heir. He did see Tyler as a brother in some ways, but the servant''s status and actions as a result of it created a small distance between them.

    "That''s nice," he said, and noticed sudden concern in her voice.

    "Did Iˇ­ upset you?"

    "No," he smiled. "Just made me remember something. You have a brother?"

    "A twin," she answered. "Older by about twelve minutes. It''s a running joke in our family about twins."

    "A running joke?" He asked.

    "Yes," she chuckled a little. "Mom comes from a family where it''s common to have girl twins, and Dad comes from a family where it''s common to have boy twins. Both of them were identical twins, even. So when they found out that they were having twins, they weren''t surprised, and found it amusing that we weren''t identical, but male and female. We turned eighteen in the spring, and Nick got his girlfriend pregnant the same night."

    "Birthday sex?" Ryan asked as he noticed a small bit of depression in her.

    "Yeah," she answered. "After our party here, Nick went back to her house, and a few weeks later, she found out she was pregnant. She didn''t start to show until last week, though, so no one at school actually found out, since we only just graduated a couple of weeks ago."

    "Congratulations," Ryan said. "I take it the depression I''m sensing is from breaking up with your boyfriend?"

    "We dated since we were thirteen," she told him. "When we found out that Nick was pregnantˇ­ he made some rather unpleasant comments about Nick and his girlfriend, about them getting pregnant before marriage and how they were damned to hell for it."

    She scoffed.

    "I''d never seen an ugly side of him before," she told Ryan. "Even though we were together for almost five years. I guess he''d manage to keep it hidden, but I''m not going to put up with someone bad-talking my brother and his girlfriend like that."

    "Good for you," Ryan told her. "You seem rather trusting, you know, letting a strange man into your house during the night while you''re alone."

    "Not to be rude," she laughed nervously. "But you can use magic. I can''t. I highly doubt I could actually stop you, if you wanted to do something."

    "Right," Ryan laughed. "I forgot about that. Where I''m from, everyone can use magic, even if only slightly, so a show like I did wouldn''t intimidate someone unless they were pretty weak."

    "Even though you''re a god?" She asked.

    "Can you feel my divinity?" Ryan asked, then watched as she realized that she couldn''t. "I didn''t actually prove I was a god, so a normal person wouldn''t believe it, where I''m from."

    "And turning dirt into stuff like that?" She indicated the ruby in his hand. "That''s normal?"

    "No," he answered. "Transmutation is actually an extremely rare thing among magicians, and most can''t do it on the level I can. I only just started learning how to do it, too. It would tell them I''m powerful and talented, but that''s it. As for proving I''m a god, that''s much more difficult."

    "Either way," she sighed. "You''ve proven you''re capable of feats I can''t."

    "Exactly!" He grinned.

 0044

    "Anyway," Ryan said. "While I don''t know what time it is, it was rather late where I''m from, so I''m pretty tired, especially after the accidental mishap. The spell I was intending to use doesn''t leave me exhausted at all."

    Just in a lot of pain, if it had been too long since the previous use, due to his physical adjustment of magical ability taking effect so that he could utilize his magical senses properly at the point which they had developed to.

    "Oh," Kyra responded. "That makes sense. It''s late here, too, I was just staying up having some ice cream and watching a movie. Being a stereotypical girl who just broke up with her boyfriend."

    "I have no idea what that means," Ryan said. "But I''m taking it the ice cream you''re referring to is the one on the table over there?"

    He indicated the coffee table of the living room, on which was a bowl with a substance he knew to be ice cream, along with some other things in it, including a thicker liquid and small, hard things sprinkled all over it.

    "Yes," she answered. "You don''t know ice cream?"

    "I do," Ryan told her. "I just don''t know the other stuff on it."

    "Chocolate syrup and some sprinkles," she told him.

    "Okay," he said. "What do you mean by ''stereotypical girl who just broke up with her boyfriend''?"

    "Um," he felt slight embarrassment in her mind at his question. "It''s a stereotype among my culture that girls who break up with their boyfriend or get dumped eat ice cream and chocolate while watching romance movies and crying their hearts out. I''m not to the crying point, but I was eating chocolate ice cream while watching a romance movie."

    "Ah," he said. "There may be such a culture where I''m from, but if so, I''m unaware of it."

    "You''re a godking who rules a world, but don''t know such a thing?" She asked in disbelief.

    "Yes?" Ryan answered uncertainly. "If you were a god who ruled over an entire world, would you really pay attention to mortal customs which don''t actually affect you?"

    The actual truth was that Ryan never had to deal with such things, and he never did learn much of the culture around his people on the finer points. What people did after a breakup never mattered to him, and with only Tyler as a friend, he never did learn many of the social points others would have. Since he was portraying himself as the god he really was, however, he wasn''t going to admit that to her.

    He was, however, curious about the movie. He''d listened to some before, and had registered with his senses what their storage devices looked like. Even before then, he had known and felt them, aware that they were orbs only slightly larger than a marble.

    Yet he could not sense them in any way. When he turned on his sense of light, he found her television was a rectangular object only an inch thick and mounted on a stand full of strange, flat items shaped like circles stored inside rectangular storage cases. Nothing that would hint at a video storage orb, or recosphere.

    "Where are your movies?" He looked around with his eyes as he observed with his sense of light that the movie she was watching was paused on a scene of a man holding a guitar in front of himself to hide his genitals, as if naked. "I don''t see them anywhere."

    "Do you have movies where you''re from?" She asked as she walked over to the storage cabinet the television stood on.

    "We do," Ryan answered, fixing his physical gaze on her as best he could. "I don''t understand how yours is playing."

    She pulled out one of the cases and opened it, holding up one of the circular items within it.

    "This is a DVD," she told him. "It''s how we play our movies. You use something different?"

    Now that Ryan was aware of that, he realized that the device beneath the television, which held one of the DVDs in it, was likely how the movie was playing.

    "Yes," he answered. "We use a different type of storage device, with a different setup to play the recording."

    Ryan shut off his sense of fire temporarily to access his sense of lightning without blacking out, then read the signatures of the television and DVD player, noting how it varied from a recosphere''s setup. Looking at one of those was one of the first things he did after fine-tuning his elemental sense over the past few weeks, out of simple curiosity of how their electricity changed while they were in use.

    "What kind of movies do you watch?" She asked as he finished observing and switched his senses back.

    "I don''t," he answered. "Though my servant is a fan of comedies."

    "Your servant?" She asked.

    "A mortal," he answered. "Who has sworn his life to me. I trust him more than any other. So you are acting a stereotype? Is that your preference, or are you doing it for some sort of amusement?"

    "Coincidence," she answered. "We had ice cream, and I was craving it. As for the movie, I picked one at random, this one just happened to be the one that my finger landed on."

    "Okay," he said. "While I might be tired, watching the movie with you can help me see what passes for a romance movie among your people. That may be useful."

    He could sense the confusion filling her mind, and smiled a little at the bewildered expression on her face.

    "Only teasing," he told her. "Though I am curious about the movie. If you do not mind, I will watch it with you."

    "Do youˇ­ want me to restart it?" She asked, and he could sense her uncertainty and fear.

    "No," he answered. "I am sure I can glean enough just from where it is at the moment. And there is no reason to be afraid, Kyra, I am just curious about this. Remember what I said: just because I am a god, that does not mean I am like the gods of your myths. My wrath is something to fear, but you don''t need to tread quite carefully over your words to avoid offending me. I will know if it''s intentional or not."

    "R-right," she said.

    "Let''s watch the movie."

    Ryan sat on the middle of the couch, and noted that when Kyra sat, she sat as close to the arm of the couch as she could while doing her best to avoid appearing like she did. Nervousness radiated off of her, which bothered Ryan some. It wasn''t something he blamed her for, though.

    A strange, naked man appeared in her front yard in the middle of the night, then claimed to be a god while displaying magic ¨C something that didn''t exist there. It would be natural for a normal person to fear him in that case, even if he showed himself to be quite calm and friendly.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    So he pretended to not notice her actions as he watched the movie, using his sense of light to allow him to view it. He wasn''t entirely sure what was going on in it, but guessed that missing the start of it would have explained some of it.

    While watching the movie, he also observed everything else around him. Kyra beside him ate her ice cream while thinking about the supposed god beside her, her neighbors slept peacefully, though the teen son of the one to the right of her house when facing it from the street was awake and on the computer, watching something that Ryan wasn''t too sure about it. Their dog was outside, peeing on the flowers growing out of the lawn, while the cat of the neighbors across the street from Kyra was pooping in a shoe.

    "I don''t understand the ending," Ryan told Kyra once the movie finished, though he was also watching an owl trying to decide on if it would go after the fish in a pond in the back yard of the house two doors down. "So after their party, they started dancing with people who were there for a wedding?"

    "Yes," Kyra told him.

    "But they were there because of hating love?"

    "That''sˇ­ sort of what happened?" She responded uncertainly, and he knew he was missing something important with the ending. "Don''t think too hard on it, Ryan, it''s just the way movies are, and there was a lot that happened before you arrived."

    "Right," he said. "Thank you for enlightening me on this, though. Watching things was a bit interesting."

    "Watching things?" She asked. "We only watched the one thing."

    "Hm?" He asked. "Oh, I''m watching other things as well. It decided to."

    "It decided to?" She asked.

    "Yes," he responded. "I was watching a hungry owl."

    "A hungry-" she started to question, then sighed. "The Johnsons'' fish. An owl just ate one."

    "Yep!"

    "You can see that from here?"

    "I can."

    "But-how?" She asked, confusion in her mind and eyebrows furrowed as a light frown touched her lips.

    "Who needs eyes to see?" He asked with a smile. "I am a god, Kyra. Do not think of my vision as limited by what yours is."

    "Are you omniscient?" She asked.

    It took Ryan to pull up the knowledge of the word from what he had gleaned from her, and when he did, he snorted. While it did fit him in one way, it still wasn''t truly accurate.

    "No," he answered. "I don''t know everything. I see much more than a human would, though, unrestricted by physical obstacles."

    She thought for a moment, and he knew she had a question she wanted to ask him, likely as a result of his statement.

    "Do you know if my neighbor''s son is awake?" She asked. "They''re confident he''s sneaking onto the computer at night, but can''t find anything in his history, and he''s managed to get around their locks and trackers."

    "That would be," he said. "The teen who is currently watching a video of stuff being destroyed?"

    "Of what?" She asked.

    "Stuff being destroyed," he answered. "Explosions, mostly. Buildings being collapsed, walls being demolished, stuff like that. At the moment, he''s watching a bridge being destroyed."

    "That''sˇ­ not what they were thinking," she said. "But I suppose that''s him. You can see that from here?"

    "I saw an owl steal a fish from two houses away," he said. "He''s on the close side of the house next to us. Yes, I can see him."

    "Your tone alone reminded me that was a stupid question," she said.

    "Not really," he responded. "You have only just met a god who sees much more than you, unhindered by physical things. It may take time for you to adjust."

    Involuntarily, Ryan let out a yawn, startling himself. Yawning wasn''t something he generally did in his eighteen years of life, plus however many times he had reset. As he recovered from his shock that he had grown tired enough to yawn, he noticed that Kyra was doing her best not to laugh. It didn''t take much for him to know that she was amused by his startled reaction to the yawn.

    "I guess I''m a lot more tired than I expected," he told her. "I''m amazed I didn''t pass out during the movie, actually. Your couch was quite comfortable."

    "Not to sleep on," she told him, and he sensed her nervousness again. "You can borrow my brother''s bed, if you''d like something more comfortable to sleep on."

    "Aw," he mock-pouted. "And here I was, hoping the beautiful lady would let me share her bed tonight. Well, since that''s not happening, do you mind if I take a shower before I crash? It''ll be easier to clean up the mess."

    "The mess?" She asked, then he sensed her slight embarrassment as her face heated up, blood rushing to her cheeks as she realized what he was saying. "No, you can take a shower. Before you go, can I ask you a question?"

    "Sure," he answered. "You''ve asked plenty of them already."

    He felt her embarrassment grow as she realized that she had asked a lot of questions, then asked if she could ask one.

    "In our myths," she said. "The gods had a hard time keeping it in their pants, and your comment just suggested you-well-"

    "Have a hard time keeping it in my pants?" He asked, then laughed. "Nah, I can hold it. I''ve slept with exactly three women, and I''ve met plenty more than that. First was Kayla, then Bethany, then Amy. It''s been a few weeks since my last time, and I really could have taken advantage of two different women during that time to fulfill my needs. I didn''t like either of them, though, so I declined."

    He realized as he spoke the reason for Kyra''s inquiry after his comment. When he first arrived, she liked what she saw, and after watching him as they watched the movie, she did think he was attractive. Without Tyler there to detract from his own looks, her attention and attraction had gone to him.

    "Didn''t you just break up with your boyfriend?" He asked. "I mean, I wouldn''t have an issue with what you''re thinking, Kyra, but might it be too soon?"

    "What?" Her face flushed again as she realized her intentions had been clear to the young god. "I didn''t mean to suggest, I mean-"

    "It''s okay," he held up a hand, cutting her off. "It''s perfectly natural to be attracted to me. I am a god, after all. It comes with the territory."

    A complete lie, based on his experiences, but he wasn''t going to admit that to her.

    "As I said," Ryan continued. "It''s not something I''d have an issue with. In fact, I''d be more than willing to do it with you right now if you wanted, as long as you know and accept that if we continued past tonight, it would be a temporary arrangement. I''m well-aware you''re thinking of getting fucked by someone as a way to ''relieve'' your own desires and deal with your breakup."

    There were other things there as well, though Ryan had a hard time sorting them out. Her emotional state was too complicated for him to want to bother dealing with. All he knew was that she was lonely, she wanted sex, and he was available, even if he might have come across as being a bit beyond her station.

    "I can tell you''re hesitant," he told her. "So let''s make a deal. You agree to what I said, then take me to your room. Decide against it, and show me your brother''s and the bathroom. This way, you don''t need to think too hard and speak too much. Just lead me to what you want."

    Kyra gave it a few moments of thought, then led Ryan upstairs. She led him straight into a bedroom and closed the door, though he could feel her nerves increasing. While she wanted to do it, she was starting to have second thoughts.

    After a few more moments of her thinking, Kyra reached for Ryan''s shirt and helped him out of it. He grinned, then helped her undress. She was wearing just a shirt, shorts, and panties, and all of that was on the floor in seconds, Ryan himself naked as well, observing her with all five active elemental senses as he carried her to the bed.

    The young god pressed his lips against hers, wasting no time in spearing himself into her as his lust began to take him over. He used some manipulation of her blood and temperature to increase the pleasure she felt as he thrust himself back and forth inside of her, savoring the tightness of the young woman beneath him.

    Ryan took pleasure in how quiet she was, even if her hands moving across him and her mouth and lips against his told him how much she was enjoying it, even before he felt her emotions. He made sure to use his hands against her as well, rubbing her soft skin all over, fondling her breasts and gently squeezing her nipples, the latter eliciting soft moans from the mortal.

    Due to the buildup of the last several weeks of using only his hand, Ryan reached his climax quickly. When he did, he thrust as far into her as he could, releasing his load inside. Upon finishing, he pulled out of Kyra and had her change positions so that she was on all-fours, then he thrust back inside her, rubbing her back and breasts with his hands as he began to pleasure her once more.

    After several minutes of just the sounds of their breathing and flesh slapping flesh, Ryan felt her clenching against him as she climaxed, her breathing turning into soft moans. As soon as she finished, Ryan continued until he reached his second orgasm, then pulled out of her and collapsed onto the bed, breathing hard.

    He wanted more, and it was taking every ounce of his willpower not to continue. With his empathy, he could sense that Kyra wanted more, too, but he wasn''t going to just keep going. If she wanted more, he wanted her to start the next round. Otherwise, he would feel as if he were taking advantage of her.

 0045

    As Ryan awoke, he sensed the warmth of Kyra sleeping beside him, pressed against him from in front. While he didn''t remember beginning to spoon her, he did remember how many rounds they went for. He finished off at six orgasms, while she had eight.

    The young god noticed after taking in Kyra''s form that there was a young man around their age in the house, preparing a meal in the kitchen. Ryan extracted himself from Kyra and stretched, then made his way downstairs.

    "You slept pretty late, Kyra," the other teen said as he poured himself a glass of milk, then began to turn to face Ryan. "It''s not like you to do-who the hell are you?"

    "My name is Ryan," Ryan introduced himself. "She might be asleep for awhile still. And maybe a bit sore after waking up."

    Ryan himself suffered no ill effects from having climaxed six times during the night, even if he knew it was normal for a guy to. Bethany had mentioned it to him after their first long night, and he had since determined that being a god came with a few perks.

    He watched as Nick assessed him, taking in his naked form and what was no doubt recognized as dried fluids from Ryan''s encounter with Kyra during the night on the young god''s erection. Nick quickly moved his gaze up to Ryan''s.

    "Not what you think," Nick said in response to Ryan''s smirk. "So you''re her rebound, then? I wasn''t expecting her to go all the way."

    "More like two folks just enjoying the pleasure of each other''s bodies," Ryan said, and Nick frowned. "What?"

    "I''ve heard a fair few accents," Nick told him. "And I''ve never heard one like yours before."

    "Oh, that?" Ryan grinned. "That''s because I''m neither human nor from here."

    "And she found a delusional guy," Nick muttered. "Well, better than her last boyfriend."

    "Delusional?" Ryan laughed. "Nah, not delusional."

    With a thought, he generated water to clean himself of the fluids from sex with Kyra, then sent it to the sink, before transmuting the air into a set of clothes, making sure they were pure-white rather than the gray he had unintentionally turned his clothes to the previous night. To ensure the pants fit him properly, he used water magic to move the blood out of his erection, allowing his pants to form properly without additional magic on them.

    "Not even close," he smiled at Nick. "I ended up here by accident and won''t be able to return home until I''ve done something, but it''s going to be awhile. Your sister has kindly offered to help me understand and adjust to your society until then, as I don''t know how long it will take."

    He knew that he could have kept it a secret from Nick, but felt that with the man being around a lot, it would probably be best if Nick knew as well. On his way down the stairs, he had already checked Nick''s mind and knew he could be trusted as much as Kyra.

    "Congratulations, by the way," Ryan said. "On getting to be a father. Kyra mentioned you''re having twins, so congratulations!"

    Confusion was prominent in the human''s mind, which only amused the young god further.

    "Oh," he said. "But don''t go spreading around I''m a god, okay? People might give you funny looks."

    He chuckled at Nick''s mix of emotions and the bewildered expression on the other man''s face. Not for the first time, Ryan was glad he fine-tuned his senses of water and air enough during his time in Volnal to make out expressions.

    "By the way," he said. "Did you happen to move the giant ruby that was sitting on the coffee table? It''s on the kitchen counter, now. That was my down payment to your sister for her assistance."

    Nick blinked several times as he attempted to process what Ryan said, causing the god to laugh again.

    "Oh, your expression," Ryan smiled as he walked over to the ruby, plucking it off the counter and tossing it up and down several times. "Isn''t it amusing, Kyra?"

    "What are you doing to my brother?" She asked from the entrance to the kitchen, startling her brother.

    "Befuddling him," Ryan grinned, then tossed her the ruby, watching as she fumbled before managing to catch it. "Would you mind taking me out? I wish to explore your society."

    His stomach rumbled a little, and Ryan snorted.

    "Though I suppose food is in order, first?"

    "I can take you to a restaurant," she told him, then looked at her brother. "Nick, he''s probably your shoe size, can you grab a pair of your shoes?"

    "I''m still trying to figure out what''s going on."

    "I already told you what''s going on," Ryan told him. "I''m a god who ended up here by accident, and won''t be able to leave until I''ve done a certain thing, though I don''t know how long it will be. I only even know your language because I pulled the knowledge from your sister''s mind. She''s agreed to help me learn about your society and stay here until I need to go."

    "I''m going to goˇ­ think about things," Nick told them, then left, and Ryan shrugged, then looked at Kyra.

    "So a restaurant?"

    "You''ll need shoes first," she told him. "I''ll be right back."

    Kyra went upstairs, and Ryan watched as she returned to her room and set the ruby on her desk before she changed into new clothes, before grabbing a few things to put in her pockets. Then, she went to her brother''s room and grabbed a pair of socks from his dresser before grabbing a pair of shoes and returning downstairs. Ryan pulled them on, then frowned.

    "I don''t know how to tie shoes."This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Ryan''s shoes never used ties if he were putting them on, only straps, because they were more difficult for him to mess up. As a result, he never learned how to tie shoes.

    "Okay," Kyra held back a laugh as she knelt in front of Ryan. "This is how you do it."

    She tied the shoes, showing Ryan how to do it with both shoes, then stood and nodded.

    "Let''s go."

    She left, and he followed her into her car. As she drove, he frowned, thinking over the car''s functions. It was noisier than any car he had ever heard, and it smelled foul to him.

    As Kyra drove, Ryan thought about time travel. He knew the spell to return to his own time by instinct. All he had to do was thinking about trying to cast the spell, and the knowledge would come forth. Despite that, he did not try it.

    If everything said about time travel was real, and he was the first of the Gray Mages, as he expected, then there was stuff for him to do there. Because of that, something would prevent him from returning to his own time.

    Because the spell was purely mental in its casting, that meant the ''something'' would no doubt be an extreme measure on the universe''s part to keep time consistent. If he wasn''t meant to be there, he''d have not shown up ¨C or been launched back to his own time.

    While he knew some would say that no one could be entirely sure of the rules of time travel, Ryan himself was sure of it. Some instinct in him told him the rules were true. Everything he did then, he had done in his past already. He was not doing something new, but rather, he was playing out the past.

    Which once more brought up the question of how the paradox of his existence began. None of his godly knowledge could tell him that, and the Blessed Ones had told him that even they did not know how a paradox could begin, only that it was possible for them to exist.

    A question to ask the pair of gods who would show up after the Great Collapse began. Ryan knew it might take a long time, as he could already feel the magic beginning to fill the air. It was faint, but if he focused enough, he could sense it leaking in from somewhere nearby.

    At a guess, the location where he appeared with his time travel spell. That made the most logical sense to the young god, as it was where he had appeared, which meant it was the most likely candidate for the damage to the seal to begin.

    He wasn''t too sure how the seal worked, but guessed that even with magic present, it would take a bit for the seal to break. The elementals and Blessed Ones did tell him that the paradox seal didn''t shatter immediately.

    The most likely answer to that was the seal itself not being a single contingency, that the paradox required was only part of it, even if the only known part. The seal likely required a certain amount of magic to be present on Earth to fully break, even if it could be worn-down and start letting magic leak in.

    A rule likely set to avoid the Great Collapse from occurring. Whoever created the seal likely knew it would break and did not want magic to simply flood into the world, destroying it and causing chaos everywhere, instead allowing magic to leak in and influence things over time rather than all at once.

    As Ryan was the only magician there, he knew that unless he did something extreme, he would not be the full reason it broke. Instead, the most likely answer was that his presence there and the magic he used would cause it to weaken enough that forces outside of Earth would shatter it, causing the Great Collapse.

    From what he knew of the history lessons he had received, those born before the Great Collapse could not use magic ¨C only those conceived after it began. His own children would probably possess magic as well, regardless of when they were born, as their father would be a magician.

    Because of that, Ryan decided his theory was the most likely result. Without other magicians around, it would be impossible for the seal to break with how much magic he would use unless he spent a long time there. Most of the spells he would use would not be high-scale, and even if there were high-scale spells being used, he doubted something as powerful as a paradox seal would break from them, only weaken.

    His time travel had only barely weakened it in a single spot, after all, and that was a spell which drained more than a tenth of his mana ¨C the most powerful and costly spell he had cast so far.

    "Ryan," Kyra pulled Ryan out of his thoughts. "What is it like, where you''re from?"

    "Where I''m from?" He mused over what to say. "Where I''m from, there are three major factions, each split up into varying parts. Most of those parts want to see me without power, but they''ll never achieve that. As the godking of this world, I am immortal."

    That did bring up a question in his mind, though. What would happen if he was killed in the past? When would he reset to? He was a god, so he would reset, but if he reset, then he would move forward in time, to return to his previous reset point?

    There was likely some contingency to prevent that, such as returning to when he arrived, but he decided he did not want to find out.

    "What were you trying to do, when you ended up here?" She asked.

    "Just a traveling spell," he grinned. "It went wrong because I started thinking about the wrong thing and then cast the wrong spell by accident."

    "Based on everything we know," she said. "There''s no magic here. I''m sure if there is, the government is hiding it, but-"

    "But you''re wondering if it''s true or not," he said, and she nodded as he noticed her cheeks flushing and mind filling with slight embarrassment. "A natural curiosity, and I''m glad you''ve found your voice, even if the nerves are still there. A night of sex works wonders, it seems."

    He chuckled at her increased embarrassment.

    "No," he told her. "There''s no magic here. Technically, I shouldn''t have been able to make the trip to Earth. There''s actually a powerful seal protecting the world from magic coming to it, and there was no magic here until I arrived."

    Ryan scratched the back of his head as he thought over what to say.

    "Actually," he said. "My arrival here has caused damage to the seal. It''s going to result in the seal breaking. That''s why I''m not returning to where I''m from. I want to be here when it breaks, so I can at least do some damage control before the other gods who will take care of things arrive."

    He felt her confusion rise as she forced her attention to remain on the road rather than turn to him.

    "You''re wondering how I know other gods will arrive," he said. "And why they will. As far as my awareness goes, there will be a pair of gods who arrive, and they''ll clean up the mess of the seal breaking. No, humans will not suddenly acquire magic, only those conceived in a world of magic or born to magic can wield it. Based on what I know, the seal breaking fully will also be something everyone is aware of, that it will be obvious to all."

    "So you showing up is going to cause a lot of problems?" She asked.

    "Indeed," he answered. "And my arrival was purely accidental. I was not trying to end up here. That''s what happens when my mind wanders even a tiny bit when trying to perform a spell to travel like that."

    Ryan realized then what he had told her about why he was staying. To him, that was an actual reason to stay beyond worrying about the potential block that would occur when he tried. Even if he couldn''t fix everything, he could at least do some work to help with things. The weakest spot in the seal would be wherever he did the most magic, and since he would be casting magic nearly all the time to maintain his vision, that would be the town he was in.

    He didn''t need to stay for that, but he did feel somewhat responsible, as he was the paradox which broke the seal.

    "Anyway," he said. "It means I''ll be here until they arrive, then I''ll head off to do what I was trying to do when I ended up here."

    "Okay," she said, and Ryan noticed her pulling into a parking lot. "We''re here, by the way. Aaaand crap."

    "What?"

    "I just noticed the car of his ''rebound''," she told him. "Which means he''s probably here, too."

    "The guy you dumped?" He asked with a grin.

    "Yeah," she said. "Let''s-"

    "Go inside," he cut her off before she could suggest leaving. "Why avoid this place just because he''s there with his rebound? You''ll be there with a god who screwed you for almost seven hours straight, teaching him what breakfast at a restaurant is like here. Who has the better deal?"

    "You have a point," she sighed, then parked. "Alright, let''s go in."

 0046

    Ryan and Kyra exited the car and made their way inside, where they were greeted by a hostess who seated them immediately. The restaurant was packed, which surprised Ryan, even if it was nearly lunchtime. In his own time, restaurants were more of a luxury than it seemed to have been in the past, a place for the wealthy to spend some of their extra money on food prepared by a chef other than their own.

    "Ryan," Kyra said with a quiet voice once they were seated and examining the menus, the young god not making an effort to actually examine it with his magic. He wasn''t sure how to read with his senses yet. "You can see without looking with your eyes, right?"

    "Yes," he responded.

    "They''re two tables behind you," she told him. "The guy and girl on the side with their backs to you are my ex and his rebound, while the guy and girl across are friends of ours. The table across the aisle from them has three more friends of mine or theirs."

    Ryan expanded his empathy far enough to touch upon their minds, a light grin forming upon his face the moment he brushed them. Deciding the mixture of emotions was too good to pass up knowing the causes for, he turned on his telepathy and read their minds.

    "Hello," a young man approached them as Ryan learned the secrets of the other teens. "My name is Sean, and I''ll be your server today. May I take your drink orders?"

    "Can I get your tropical twister?" Kyra asked, and the waiter wrote it down, then turned to Ryan.

    "And you, sir?" He asked.

    "Hm," Ryan looked at Kyra. "I can''t read your language."

    He set the menu down and slid it towards her.

    "You pick my drink."

    She sighed in exasperation, then looked at the waiter.

    "Give him the same."

    "Oh!" Ryan said. "But nothing fizzy."

    "Or just an orange juice," Kyra snorted. "Don''t worry about refill cost, I''ll pay for them."

    "Alright," the waiter wrote the order down. "Do you want to place your orders now? Or wait a few minutes?"

    "Can you give us a few minutes to decide?" She asked.

    "Sure thing," he said, then left.

    "He thinks you''re hot, and is jealous that you''re with me, or he''d give you his number with your check."

    "What?" Kyra asked in confusion. "How could you possibly know that?"

    "I can read minds," he grinned. "Such as with your friends. They saw us come in, by the way. Your ex-boyfriend got with her in an attempt to make you jealous, and is hoping to a ''God'' ¨C as the name ¨C that I''m not a rebound, but a cousin or something he never knew about. His new girlfriend? She got with him to get with one of the two guys sitting across the aisle, your ex''s best friend. It was the only way she could think of to get a reason to be near him.

    "As for that guy," Ryan continued. "He actually wants to get with the girl sitting across from her, who is sleeping with the guy sitting next to her, even if they don''t want anyone to know. And the two other guys sitting at the other table? Totally gay."

    "I''m pretty sure they''re both straight," Kyra said. "They both have girlfriends, even."

    "I''m pretty sure that the one with his back to us is thinking," Ryan said. "About having taken the guy across from him up the ass all last night, and how he''s sore from it. Meanwhile, the guy across from him is doing his best not to stare at him lovingly. They''re also grateful their girlfriends cover for them so they can meet up without their families suspecting, so I''m going to say their girlfriends know and are faking it so that others don''t find out. Also, the two women sitting at the table behind that guy are lesbians, and are currently debating on how to come out to their families, as they wish to get married. They''re what, thirty? They need to just get over it and tell their families ''we''re in love with each other and we''re getting married, so screw the hell off''. What is ''God''? Judging by the thoughts, it seems to be some form of god?"

    "It''sˇ­" Kyra began, then stopped, and Ryan noticed her attempting to think over how to explain it.

    "Give me your hand," he held a hand out, and she touched it. Ryan quickly picked out the necessary information, then pulled his hand back. "I see. Our drinks are here."

    Sean arrived with their drinks a moment later, setting them in front of the pair. Ryan took a drink of his orange juice, then involuntarily made a face at it.

    "Is something wrong with it?" Sean asked. "I can replace it if so."

    "This is orange juice?" Ryan asked.

    "It is," Sean responded.

    "Interesting," Ryan examined the drink with his senses. Its appearance to his sense of water was slightly different from the orange juice he knew. "I wasn''t expecting that flavor."

    He sensed the confusion in the server''s mind, but the man remained professional instead of commenting on Ryan''s comment.

    "Would you like to order now?" Sean asked. "Or would you like a few more minutes?"

    "We can order now," Kyra told him. "We''d both like the strawberry-banana pancakes, full stack, with sausage links on the side."

    "Alright," Sean said. "Two full stack strawberry-bananas with links. Anything else?"

    "No, thank you," Kyra said, and Sean left. "Do you not like the orange juice?"

    "It tastes different from the orange juice I''m used to," Ryan took another sip. "So the flavor was a bit of a shock at first."

    "You have oranges where you''re from?" Kyra asked, her surprise clear in her voice and mind to the young god.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    "We do, indeed," Ryan answered. "Though it seems they are somewhat different from oranges here. Interesting."

    Ryan had forgotten that much had changed due to the Great Collapse, and even basic things would be different. In a world infused with magic, why would things which grew be the same as things from before magic came?

    "Okay," Kyra said, then decided to press the other thing they were discussing. "So about God, you pulled that information from my mind?"

    "I did," Ryan said. "By the way, the two gay boys have taken notice of me and are now discussing whether or not I''m your rebound while thinking about a three-way. That''sˇ­ kind of disturbing. I prefer sleeping with women, and one-on-one. I am pulling my mind back."

    He did just that. While he didn''t have issues with fantasizing about women, he had issues reading the minds of people who were fantasizing about him. The less he knew of the fantasies of people he was not sleeping with, the better, in the young god''s opinion.

    "So," Kyra snorted softly. "Back to God, Ryan. Does He exist?"

    "If God exists," Ryan hummed for a moment. "I''ve never heard of Him before. It''s possible that the creation story you know is real. You have the Ten Commandments saying it''s possible ¨C it says that you will worship no other gods before Him. That suggests that there are other gods, but lesser ones. So it''s possible that God create the universe, then left things to their own devices."

    "Even withˇ­ the seal you told me about?" She asked.

    "I mean," Ryan shrugged. "If this God exists, then based on what I know from your own knowledge, then He might not be limited by such things. The paradox seal binds against magic, but does what He do count as magic? So the stories you know may have happened.

    "However," Ryan said. "I cannot say for sure whether or not He exists. I''ve never heard of God before, only the gods. So it''s possible He does, possible He doesn''t. I cannot sense the worship or thought for other gods, only for myself."

    On a whim, Ryan checked that sense of his own, just to see what was being thought of him so far. He knew he''d sensed the two guys'' thoughts, but decided to risk it anyway just to find out what others did, including Nick.

    Several things surprised him. The first was that Nick was talking about Ryan with his girlfriend, who was at Nick''s and Kyra''s house. He supposed that it made sense Nick would tell his girlfriend about his sister''s rebound, even if he left out the rebound was quite possibly a real god.

    The second thing which surprised him ¨C which surprised Ryan far, far more than anything else ¨C was that there were people thinking about ''the Blind God''. Because of the way his sense worked, Ryan knew they were thinking about him specifically. He would not have picked up on their thoughts without that.

    The young god sighed after skimming the thoughts and worships of those groups of people.

    "Is everything alright?" Kyra asked. "You went silent for a few moments."

    "God things," Ryan smiled. "Have you heard of the Order of the Gray Staff?"

    "I have not," she answered. "Are they your followers?"

    "Yes."

    Which was strange, because they were there on Earth, a world without magic. The only way for them to have known about him well enough to register in a sense for his worshipers was for magic to have existed.

    As Ryan searched through their worships and thoughts of him, he came to a conclusion that Earth did once have magic. The seal was created around ten thousand years prior, if the timeline of the Order of the Gray Staff was correct on when they received the prophecy.

    According to them, the Blind God would arrive and herald in an age when magic returned to Earth, and man and beast lived together once more in a vicious cycle of life and death. To them, their purpose was less to worship him and more to prevent his arrival or to chase him away once he arrived.

    However, they also possessed a secret, inner sect called the Order of the Silver Staff. That sect believed that the Blind God was there to save the world, and that magic needed to return to it.

    Ryan wanted nothing to do with either part of the order. He knew there was likely much more than he was able to glean from looking at their thoughts of worship or dislike, but didn''t care. All he cared about was dealing with things until the other two Gray Mages arrived.

    "Hello?" Kyra asked, and Ryan realized she was talking to him. "Did they follow you here?"

    "No," he answered. "I was just curious if you had ever heard of them. Earth wasn''t always without magic, though I''m not sure how it was fully purged from here, nor why it was. Anyway, our food is here, and I''m rather hungry."

    Sean returned with their food, and the pair of teens began devouring it, ordering second plates of their breakfast as they finished their first. As they finished their meal, the group of teens Kyra knew got up and made their way towards them, and Ryan noticed Kyra''s unease and tensing up.

    "Hello, Kyra," her ex said, arm linked with his new girlfriend''s. He looked at Ryan. "I don''t recognize you, where did you go to school?"

    "I was schooled by private tutors," Ryan answered. "You, on the other hand, were schooled by assholes."

    "Excuse me?"

    "Forcing your beliefs upon her?" He scoffed. "What decent person would do that?"

    It might be slightly hypocritical of him to say that, but he didn''t care. To his god''s mind, the ex''s comments were out-of-line regardless of if the general statement he himself said contradicted things.

    "Just who do you think you are?" The ex asked.

    "Someone who went nearly seven hours with her last night," Ryan smiled. "And who knows all the dirty little secrets of your group. Would you like me to tell your father what you did three nights ago? At two-sixteen in the morning?"

    He felt the ex tense up in fear, the anger rising in the man''s mind.

    "What are you-"

    "I''m going to have to ask you to leave us alone," Ryan told him. "Failure to comply will result in something unpleasant happening."

    "Just who do you think you are?" The ex asked.

    Ryan felt the baffled and amused states rise in the minds of all of the other teens present. It took him only a moment of telepathy to determine that they all thought the teen was being absurd and clich¨¦, and Ryan supposed he was, based on some of the stories his mother and servant had read or told him over the years as he grew up.

    "Ryan," Ryan held out a hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

    The ex-boyfriend of Kyra''s stared at the hand.

    "Not going to shake it?" Ryan asked. "How rude of you. I can see why Kyra dumped you."

    The ex-boyfriend growled, but took Ryan''s hand and shook it, squeezing firmly. Ryan enhanced his strength and squeezed back, delighting in the crack as a bone broke. That wasn''t his only spell, however, as he dived into the man''s mind. While there, he placed a geas which would cause the man to feel a strong urge to have sex with a woman anytime he got aroused by something. From then on, masturbation would not sate the man''s arousal to an acceptable level.

    A little revenge for the comment made about Nick and his girlfriend. Ryan knew such a geas was in bad taste, as he had twisted the condition for triggering to achieve the result, but he didn''t care. The full condition was that the man was not allowed to become mentally aroused by something. If he did, then his punishment was a drastically increased urge to perform reproductive actions.

    Only a mind mage as talented as Ryan''s father, at the minimum, could create such a geas.

    He also made a few other adjustments, mostly in the memory department. Finished, Ryan began a mental countdown for how long it would be before the ex-boyfriend was also imprisoned for law violations.

    The young god released the ex-boyfriend''s hand with a smile.

    "Enjoy the rest of your day," Ryan told him. "Now please leave. I believe there''s a law against harassing people?"

    The group of teens with the ex-boyfriend snickered, but dragged him out, and Kyra gave Ryan a curious look.

    "What did you do?" She asked.

    "What do you mean?" He asked with as much innocence as he could.

    "You broke his hand."

    "I did?" Ryan feigned surprise. "Oops, I did not realize humans were so fragile."

    "And that malicious look in your eyes when you shook his hand," she said. "What did you do?"

    "Turned him into a future criminal," Ryan grinned. "I think it''s time to pay so we can leave? Want to head back and go for another round or five?"

    "I''m still sore from last night," she told him.

    "Don''t worry about it," he waved a hand dismissively. "I can fix that with ease."

    Healing magic was a useful thing, and as Kyra flagged down their waiter, Ryan wondered how many Jewels with healing magics abused it for greater pleasure.

 0047

    "Do you have banks, where you''re from?" Kyra asked Ryan as they entered the bank.

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "But I''ve never actually been inside one before."

    While it was the first time he had been in a bank, it wasn''t the first time he had heard of them. More recently, he had heard of Kyra''s ex-boyfriend acting exactly as Ryan had intended and robbing one just two days before. In his own time, he knew of banks as something commoners often went to so they could extract money they had put inside.

    "Right," Kyra said. "You''ve probably never had need of actually spending money."

    "Indeed," he lied.

    While money was spent on him, it had never mattered to the Novar Heir. With a wealth rivaling the largest of Guilds, the Novars could afford virtually anything they wanted, and the heir himself was allowed anything.

    But he wasn''t going to tell Kyra that. For the past week, she had helped him learn some of the finer details of her society, and Ryan felt the seal''s weakness growing slowly, but it was akin to a drop of a leaky faucet being fed by an ocean into another ocean: insignificant. As far as she knew, he was a god, worshiped and revered where he came from.

    So he kept the truth a secret while portraying himself as the deity he really was. The young god also kept tabs on the Order of the Gray Staff as well, just in case they proved problematic. There was a branch of them nearby, so he wanted to be sure in case they caused an issue. As far as he could tell, they weren''t actually noteworthy, once he put his attention to them.

    Other than that, things were progressing nicely for him. In just a week, he had adjusted to living in a smellier world with an annoying lack of magic permeating everything. At least, that was what he told himself, even if he knew it wasn''t one hundred percent true.

    "So what are we at the bank for?" He inquired.

    "I like having some cash on-hand," Kyra explained. "And prefer getting it from the tellers directly than using the ATM."

    "The ATM," Ryan said as they stepped into line. "That''s the machine you told me is for withdrawing cash in twenties?"

    "Yes," she answered, and Ryan noticed her becoming aware of the people near them, who were giving them odd looks. "I like having ones, fives, and tens, in addition to twenties, so I prefer going through the tellers so I can get those."

    "I see," Ryan said. "If you were standing in line and noticed someone with an accent asking about a feature of your society, how would you react?"

    The patrons who had begun looking at them quickly turned their attention away, and Ryan smiled.

    "I would probably wonder where he came from," Kyra told him. "Some staring is to be expected, Ryan. You do draw attention with that accent and some of the things you ask."

    Ryan frowned a little as he noticed something with his senses, then turned his head to imitate actually seeing it with his eyes, for the benefit of others around.

    "Kyra," he said. "Is it normal for a woman to bare her breast in public like that? We are not at a beach."

    Kyra turned to look where Ryan was looking, spotting a woman breastfeeding an infant in the area where patrons waited to be seen by a manager of some sort for something the tellers could not handle. The woman was looking around at everyone, as if searching for something, rather than paying attention to her infant or something else.

    Though she was feeding her infant with her right breast, she had bared her left breast as well. With his empathy, Ryan already knew the woman was attempting to cause a scene before his focus had even turned his telepathy on to check. He also knew she was growing frustrated due to everyone not looking at her.

    It was the first time Ryan had seen a woman breastfeeding her infant, and he wasn''t sure what to make of it. The subject wasn''t discussed much where he was from, but he thought it strange she was trying to cause a scene.

    He also doubted that was normal, and that most women who breastfed their babies in public didn''t attempt to cause scenes. With a local guide, he could ask for more information. He was also curious on the rules regarding bare breasts, as Kyra had told him that was usually not something done in public. Ryan, himself, didn''t care, as long as the purpose wasn''t to cause a scene, and he didn''t understand why it would be taboo for the public.

    "There''s a lot of debate on whether or not it should be allowed," Kyra told the young god. "There are several issues with the debate. The first is that while saying it should be allowed because breasts are not sexual, many of those same women become angered when men stare at said breasts for the very reason that breasts are sexualized."

    "A conflicting point," Ryan said.

    "Yes," Kyra said. "In general, it''s considered to be in good taste to only bare one nip, and some women will cover the infant and breast while feeding them, usually with a light blanket. That was how my mother did me and Nick, and how Sabrina is going to do their kids, though it''s not really a mandatory thing."

    Sabrina was Nick''s girlfriend, and Ryan had taken a liking to her. She was confident in herself and never let anyone talk down to her, much like Kyra.

    Ryan wasn''t sure about having the baby covered while feeding, he found infants adorable and didn''t understand why someone would want to cover them up.

    "To reveal the unused nip for no reason," Kyra continued. "Is considered to be in poor taste, and is just asking for someone to look so that the woman can scream perversion, sexual harassment, and other things."

    "Would you?" Ryan asked as he felt the anger rising in the mind of the woman feeding her infant at Kyra''s words.

    "Bare both breasts?"

    "Do that, if you did and some guy looked?"

    "No," Kyra answered as they moved forward with the line. "If I bared both breasts in public, then I''d accept that some guys would probably ogle them. It would be the same as a guy baring his dick in public. It''s not a purely sexual thing, considering you also pee out of it."

    "So if a guy did that," Ryan said. "You''d probably ogle it?"

    "Of course I would," Kyra told him. "I''d probably also mentally compare it to yours if it were erect. It''s a two-way street, and the ogling goes both ways. If I did something that I knew would draw stares and looks, I''d not get pissed off about the ogling. Only a lesser person would. I opened the door, so I''d accept what happened, just as I''d expect a guy to do the same. After all, if boobs shouldn''t count as sexual objects, then why is it okay for us to stare at a man''s bare chest, but not them to stare at ours?"

    "You''re repeating yourself."

    "I am," Kyra admitted. "Because it''s clear that Miss Double-Revealer is getting annoyed. You looked for barely a second before turning your gaze away, and the other guys here are making a point of not looking at her. She''s trying to cause a problem, so I see no issue in pointing out as many times as possible that she''s being a bitch. If you intentionally open a door you know people will walk through, don''t get mad at them for doing just that."

    Ryan supposed she had a point. He decided that for breastfeeding, he didn''t care if the baby was covered or not, but didn''t see a reason to bare both breasts. Kyra had a point about it being similar to exposing the dick, in his opinion. If he let it out, then he was opening it up to being stared at.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    "Are you curious how you compare to her?" Ryan asked.

    "I already know," Kyra told him. "And people don''t verbally compare in public."

    "Okay."

    "So," she said as they moved forward with the line again. "What about where you''re from? Do women breastfeed in public?"

    "Yes," he answered. "But as you said is what''s generally considered proper custom here, they only bare the breast the baby is feeding from. I don''t know if they cover up while feeding, though. I think the only time I was around a beastfeeding woman was when I was an infant and my own mama was feeding me, but that was never in public, and she probably didn''t cover it up. I''m not sure if she''d have covered up or not if she was in public."

    "You were born?" Kyra blurted out, and Ryan laughed as her face heated up with the blood rushing to it, her mind filling with embarrassment. "I-"

    "That was funny," he told her as they moved forward with the line once more. "Yes, I was born, just like other people."

    It was then that Kyra realized that their new line of discussion would draw even more attention from those who could hear it.

    "Let''s table this discussion for now," she told Ryan.

    "Okay," he shrugged. "That lady is still glaring at us."

    "Well, we did call her out on her attempt at causing a scene," Kyra said. "Now, she can''t cause a scene and try to claim the victim. I do have to wonder how often she attempts this, though."

    "Do you know her?" Ryan asked.

    "No," Kyra answered. "But if she goes to a bank and bares both nipples to feed her baby, who says she doesn''t do this elsewhere, too?"

    "She''s in here every week," the man in front of them said. "On this day, at this time, doing it. As far as I know, no one''s taken her bait yet, and management won''t say something to her out of fear of some of the things your friend mentioned."

    Screaming sexism and discrimination. Ryan knew there was no reason for her to bare both breasts for it. The woman had practically removed her shirt for it when as far as he knew, such a thing wasn''t necessary. For her, it truly was an attempt at attention, something he knew for a fact because of her mind and the desire within it to cause a scene.

    People who sought attention for the sake of attention was one thing Ryan despised. He made jokes and played pranks, but never went of his way to do so at the level where it could be considered attention seeking. For the most part, he would just take opportunities he found, not go out of his schedule in order to create the opportunities. He never did for attention, either, but for his own amusement and fun.

    Never would he do something like the mother would, going out of the way to create an opportunity to create negative attention. To scold and berate someone for an issue she intentionally created. Even with the Novarax, Ryan felt he had always treated them as the Novarax should be, and that anything he had done was a result of either their actions or a moment of opportunity, though he knew there might be some people who would argue him on that point.

    Because of that, the young god decided to play with her. A storm had been brewing all day, and even if it hadn''t peaked yet, he could still start things a little early. He shut off all senses except for his sense of lightning, which he stretched as far as he possibly could.

    At the edge of the sphere of sensing and a little off to the side so that the building would not be targeted, Ryan manipulated the energy to cause a bolt of lightning to draw from the skies. He watched as it struck and the next phase of it, at which point, thunder boomed out, rattling the glass of the doors of the bank and shaking the air.

    Nearly everyone jumped and the infant began crying. Kyra gave Ryan a questioning look.

    "You know," Ryan spoke loudly enough for the woman to hear again. "I would say that if some form of god existed, they had issue with the obvious attention-seeking. Feed the baby, don''t look for a scene."

    "Good thing I''m an atheist," the woman glared at him as she tried to stop her infant from crying.

    Ryan fixed his attention on her as he returned his senses back to what had become the norm, then manipulated time, slipping out of it with her at the same time. Unlike Kayla, he had no need to touch his target directly.

    "What the-" the woman began as she noticed her infant and everyone else frozen.

    "As I said," Ryan turned his tone darker as he turned his body to face her. "A god has taken issue with your obvious attention-seeking. I have come to this world to judge it. I have seen some good, and I have seen some evil. If I ever learn of you doing such an obvious attempt at causing a fuss for attention ever again, you will regret it.

    "The issue here," he said. "Isn''t you breastfeeding in public. The issue is you exposing your other breast with the clear intent to find someone watching and cause a scene. You need to pick a viewpoint: are breasts sexual, or are they not? If you consider them sexual, then keep them covered. If you consider them not, then bare them, but don''t try to find a scene. And before you say ''I wasn''t'', you are talking to a god. Your mind is clear for me to read. You want to advocate rights for women, but at the same time, you are doing it in a toxic way. Cover up the second breast and just keep breastfeeding. It''s doubtful someone would say something about that. And if they do, you will be polite about it. Showing hostility over a simple matter only escalates the issue and paints you in a bad light as well. Be the better person. Don''t use your infant to try to cause a scene. Otherwise, I will come for you again."

    He slipped them back into time and turned back to Kyra. He could tell that he had frightened the woman, and hoped that she would see some sense. The fact that she brought her baby into her attention-seeking had annoyed him more than had she not.

    "So what are our plans for after we leave here?" He asked.

    "You weren''t faced away from me a moment ago," she frowned slightly.

    "I move quickly," he smiled.

    "We''ll head to the mall," she told him, and the young god sensed her deciding not to push inquiring about why he looked away. "Hopefully, we don''t get too wet outside. If there''s lightning, the rain is sure to start, too."

    "Indeed," Ryan said as thunder boomed again. "Your turn is next."

    They waited for a teller to finish with their patron, then Kyra and Ryan moved forward to the counter. Kyra withdrew her funds and checked her balance, then the two of them made their way back to her car.

    "So," Kyra said as she began driving. "You were born? Gods don''t form?"

    "I don''t know if some gods do or not," Ryan shrugged. "But I was born to a pair of mortals, actually."

    "So you ascended into goodhood?" She asked. "How old are you, anyway? Did you change your appearance to-"

    "No," he laughed. "I stopped aging at eighteen. I was born a god. It''s one of the many mysteries of gods. As far as I know, we''re either born to mortals or born to gods. If a mortal''s child is a god seems to be a completely random event."

    "So your mother was mortal?" Kyra asked.

    "Very," Ryan turned his head away from her.

    "Your expression," she said softly. "Something happened to her, didn''t it? You had a similar expression when you mentioned her breastfeeding."

    "She was killed when I was eight."

    "ˇ­Oh."

    "Yeah," Ryan said. "I found a way to save her, though, even if the time has already passed. I''m a god, after all ¨C what is time to me?"

    Kyra sighed, and Ryan knew that she realized what he had done.

    "You froze time and said something to that woman, didn''t you?"

    "No."

    "Then how-"

    "I slipped us out of it," Ryan answered. "That''s much easier than freezing an entire universe."

    As he said that, he realized that if freezing the universe was difficult, then a reset would be even more complicated. He wasn''t just freezing it ¨C he was erasing time itself. All time, not just a localized area''s.

    Another mystery of how time magic worked, and of how gods were different from mortals.

    "I''mˇ­ not even going to bother asking more about that," Kyra sighed again. "So you were born to mortals?"

    "I was," Ryan nodded. "My father was still alive when I came here, and my best friend was mortal, too."

    "Your best friend?" She asked. "A mortal, not a god?"

    "Yeah," Ryan snorted. "If he were here, you''d probably have fawned over him instead of me. I might be a god and have godly looks, but Tyler? He''s hotter than me to the point it''s annoying."

    "So your name," she said. "You said that''s your mortal name ¨C that''s what your parents named you?"

    "It is," Ryan nodded.

    It had taken Ryan until he was fourteen to find out why that was his name. He had asked his father many times over the years, and his father eventually revealed that his mother had named him after her dead brother. Her brother had been born early and grew up weak. Even though she was younger than him, she was his big, strong sister.

    His uncle had relied on her for a lot, but was strong in his own way as well. According to his father, before his namesake had succumbed to his weak body in his teens, he had proven himself smarter than nearly everyone in the Family, reading, memorizing, and understanding every book he could get his hands on.

    Before he''d died, Ryan''s uncle had progressed several pieces of technology. Though a teen, he was a genius beyond geniuses. Cell phones which allowed them to call out of Volnal were among the advancements he had made, as was a newer design of vault, allowing for more secure storage of Family secrets and treasures.

    "My mother picked it," Ryan sighed, and felt the tears wanting to come out as he thought about her. "I wish I could leave now, so that I could save her."

    He could feel Kyra''s uncertainty, her conflict on what to say to him, if anything at all. It didn''t bother him as much as he would have expected such a thing to do. Were he in her place, he knew he''d likely not know what to say, either.

    He hoped everything came to happen soon, so that he could get on with his business.

    "Tell me," Ryan said. "If a god wants to pray, who do they pray to?"

    "I don''t know," Kyra answered. "Wouldn''t praying to a god as a god be some sort of self-condescension?"

    "Who knows?"

 0048

    The rest of the ride to the mall was made in silence as Ryan thought over his circumstances. He wanted to try returning to his own time so that he could save his mother. At the same time, he feared what would happen to force him to remain until the paradox seal shattered, if he was right about being the first Gray Mage.

    When they arrived at the mall, Ryan followed Kyra inside, observing everything he could to see how it compared to the mall in his own time. As far as he could tell, the differences were minimal. It was a place for shops and restaurants, where people gathered.

    "Malls are a dying thing," Kyra said as Ryan frowned a little. "A lot of people are moving to online ordering now rather than dealing with stores, so-what''s wrong?"

    "Nothing," Ryan corrected his frown into a light smile. "Just thinking about stuff."

    He shut off his senses and navigated with Kyra, confirming after several shops what he had noticed. The fact that the mall remained nearly two centuries later amazed Ryan, as was finding out he was in his own hometown, just more than a century and a half prior to his own time.

    Until then, he had thought he was transported to where the first Gray Mage made their appearance. With the mall''s layout being identical to the one in his own time, which he visited with Tyler on several occasions, he learned he had only traveled home.

    "We''re by mountains, yes?" Ryan asked.

    "Yeah," Kyra answered. "We''re on the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains."

    Ryan snorted when he heard the name of the mountains. It had changed over the past two centuries. Or next, if one looked at it from the point of view of someone in the time he was currently in.

    "Okay," he said, then expanded his senses back out, continuing his wandering of the mall with her.

    As they walked, he felt a sudden, but slight, increase in magic in the air. At the same time, he felt a shudder through the seal, his first time properly sensing it.

    So, he thought. I was right. Someone is trying to force their way in, now that the seal is weakening.

    He wasn''t sure he knew why someone wanted to force their way onto Earth, but felt confident in his ability to handle them if they came after him. Whatever force they were, they were no god, and he was Earth''s godking. It would be a vast difference in power, and even if they didn''t come after him, Ryan knew he would lay down the law on them if they intended on taking over the world.

    However, he also knew he had to wait until the seal broke to find out why someone or several someones would want to enter Earth. Without being able to speak with them, there was nothing he could actually learn about the situation.

    "Tell me, Kyra," Ryan said as they entered the food court, the human teen leading him to a sandwich restaurant. "Your people have stories of the end, do they not? The apocalypse, and all that?"

    "We do," she answered. "You''re thinking of what''s to come?"

    "Naturally," he answered. "It''s rather near, after all."

    "Kids," the man in front of them in line snorted, then looked at them. "You''re really going to believe the word of whatever organization is claiming the end this time?"

    "Organization?" Ryan frowned. "No, I''m not. Actually, I''m the one who''s stated the end is coming. Well, a form of it. The end of this era, and the beginning of the next. When it comes, the world will be changed. For the better or for the worse, who can say? It''s the era after that when things will get truly interesting."

    The Age of Gods, Ryan''s personal age. He intended to have as much fun as he could during it, until he eventually grew bored and changed things up again.

    "What makes you think that will happen?" The man scoffed, and Ryan realized that he was speaking to someone of the Order of the Gray Staff.

    "Oh, dear," Ryan sighed. "You''re one of those people. I was hoping to avoid you."

    "Excuse me?" The man turned around fully. "One of ''those people''? Are you being condescending?"

    "To someone who thinks they can scare off a god?" Ryan scoffed. "It''s in my nature to think that''s a foolish course of action. The Order of the Gray Staff is a bunch of idiots, except for those in the Order of the Silver Staff. At least those mortals acknowledge that fighting a god is pointless."

    The man narrowed his gaze at Ryan, and the young god simply stared back. At least, he hoped he was staring back, as he couldn''t be too sure if his eyes were actually fixed on the man''s.

    "You are wishing to scare off," Ryan said. "A being of immense power. A being who could end your lives with a snap."

    As he said the last word, he snapped with his right hand, and the man jumped slightly.

    "The Order of the Gray Staff is the group living the fantasy," Ryan said. "Not someone who knows for a fact the end of this era is nigh."

    "Who are you?" The man asked.

    "My name is Ryan," Ryan smiled as he slipped into the man''s mind. "I am a mere observer to that which is occurring. I do not believe it is within a mortal''s ability to stop a god. In fact, would it not be logical that if gods did exist, as you so believe, attempting to chase one off might end badly for humanity as a whole?"

    "You-"

    "Was having a discussion," Ryan said. "With my friend with benefits. And then, because of my words and your own personal belief in the foolish thought that mortals could do something to a god, you decided to enter."

    "You-"

    "I am aware," Ryan said. "Of many of the mythologies your people hold regarding the gods. It seems to me that if a real god had even a fraction of their power, the Order of the Gray Staff would do well to leave it alone, James."

    "How do you know my name?" The man asked.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    "I''m an observer," Ryan said. "I already mentioned that."

    "You have your credit card out," Kyra interjected. "He got your name off of it."

    The man looked in his hand, where his credit card was out, his first name visible.

    "The god who comes will bring a wave of destruction," James told Ryan. "It is our duty as the keepers of this knowledge to ensure he does not stay when he comes, to preserve this world."

    "This world?" Ryan laughed. "Oh, you foolish man. The world changes all the time. Let''s say this prophecy your organization believes is true. Why do you cling to the stupid thought that you could do something to a god?"

    Ryan looked at Kyra.

    "You know," he said. "I think I''d rather try to appease the god than chase him away, if such an event were true. I''d also not butt into a theoretical conversation between a couple of teens over the apocalypse just because I want to prevent it. Only an idiot would do that, and only an idiot would believe they could stop the apocalypse."

    He watched as James''s anger rose, then as the man stormed away, and Ryan laughed, then moved forward in line.

    "There we go!" He said. "Now we don''t have to wait as long for our food!"

    Kyra groaned beside him, and Ryan knew she was wondering why he decided to challenge the man''s belief before it was even brought up.

    "That stupid order has been getting on my nerves lately," he yawned. "Have you ever listened in on one of those meetings? ''We must prevent the god from staying for too long, or he shall bring about destruction''. The thing is, they''ve never actually come up with a viable way to chase off a god. James is one of the leaders of the local branch of it, so I guess being challenged on that really hit home."

    "When did you sit in on one of their meetings?" Kyra asked.

    "I overheard it," Ryan shrugged.

    As he hadn''t told her he could sense anyone thinking about him, he couldn''t explain it beyond that. At least not in public, for those around were paying attention to them, even if just because of the altercation.

    "They''re a bunch of morons," Ryan told her. "And actually, we went to school with his daughter. She complained about it a lot. Unlike him, she''s not a believer. From what she said, she believes her father and the entire Order of the Gray Staff are idiots."

    "And you?" Kyra asked.

    "Well," Ryan said. "Let''s say their belief is true. If a god really comes and brings destruction with him, would mortals really be able to stop him? Gods are beings which can only be killed by other gods, and they possess power on a cataclysmic scale. A nuke would likely only annoy one. How would they convince him to leave? If what they believe is true, then this world is currently godless. Wouldn''t a god want to leap at the opportunity to claim it for their own?"

    "You have a point there," she gave him a look which asked him if that was his plan.

    "Let''s get back to what I was asking before he interrupted," Ryan told her. "The end of an age is coming. For better or worse, society is advancing rapidly. That can be considered one form of apocalypse. When society shifts so much so fast, what else could you call it?"

    "I suppose you have a point," she said.

    "Now," Ryan said. "That kind of apocalypse? There''s probably no issue with not preparing for. What about the sort of apocalypse the Order of the Gray Staff believes in? What would you do, if that came to pass?"

    "If a god came to this world, then brought a wave of destruction?" She asked.

    "Let''s say," Ryan said. "All technology stopped working, its electricity no longer a viable means of powering it, even through the backup generators and such. No phones, no cars, no sewers, or anything. Would you be prepared for that?"

    "Permanently?" She asked.

    "Nah," he said. "Let''s sayˇ­ two decades?"

    "I think most of the world would die off," she told him. "If we lost all power for two decades."

    "Perhaps you would," he shrugged.

    Less than one billion people survived the Great Collapse, so Ryan knew it was true.

    "So what would you do?" He asked.

    "I''d try to survive as best I could," she answered. "It''s our turn to order."

    They placed their orders, then Kyra paid for their sandwiches and drinks and the pair made their way to a table to eat. Ryan could feel Kyra''s concern, and knew what she was thinking.

    "I have it on good authority," Ryan told her. "That you''re probably going to survive at least nine more months, and the calamity will begin before then."

    "Why do you say nine more months?" She asked.

    "Just a thing," he shrugged. "It''s complicated to explain."

    By that, he meant he wasn''t going to tell her he''d met her children, nor that he was seven generations beneath her. At that point, there was no tangible biological relation between them, so it didn''t matter.

    "How soon will it happen?" She asked. "You said you know it will happen soon."

    "Yeah," he took a bite from his sandwich and began chewing, comparing it with sandwiches he had in his own time. "Sandwiches where I''m from are tastier. There''s somethingˇ­ off about everything here."

    "Different worlds, different cultures," she told him. "Your taste buds are adapted for the food of where you''re from, not the food of here."

    "Yeah," he shrugged. "Anyway, I can feel the seal''s state, sort of. Something is ramming it. Now that it''s weakened due to my arrival and use of magic, there''s potential for it to be broken, and an outside force is trying to break it the rest of the way. At the rate it was fading passively, it would be decades before it actually broke, even with my current rate of magic usage."

    "How often are you using magic?" She asked.

    "At all times," he answered. "I''m blind."

    She stared at him as he felt her disbelief rise, and the young god laughed.

    "Your expression is quite amusing," he told her. "I''m actually ''seeing'' through the elements. It''s taken me a few months to work on getting my eyes to move to match other peoples'' eye movements, and a lot of effort to be able to tell the finer points of expressions."

    "You can''t actually see?" She asked.

    "Not with my eyes," he answered. "I was born without optic nerves. I do a good job at imitating sight, though, don''t I?"

    Kyra chuckled a little at Ryan''s question and slight smile.

    "Come on," he said. "Let''s finish eating lunch. I want to check out the shop for stuffed animals."

    They finished eating, then made their way to the store Ryan had detected. There, he began feeling the stuffed animals, comparing their fur to the fur of the ones from his time. Some were soft and plush others were scratchy. By the time he finished feeling the toys, Ryan had decided that not much had changed in a century and a half in regards to stuffed animal production. The same was true for clothes as well, as most clothes he found felt similar to clothes from his own time.

    The pair of teens finished walking around the mall and checking things out, then Ryan and Kyra returned to Kyra''s home, where Nick and Sabrina were watching a movie, cuddling on the couch.

    "Hey, Kyra," Sabrina said. "Tracy Wells called me a little bit ago. She says her father came across you and Ryan at the mall, and you two started harassing him?"

    "Wait," Kyra looked at Ryan. "I did go to school with his daughter?"

    "Hm?" Ryan asked, then remembered the incident. "Oh, yeah. Tracy. I plucked that information out of his mind."

    Sabrina knew Ryan was a magician, though she hadn''t been told he was a god. It bothered her a little to know her future sister-in-law was dealing with a being like him, but she put up with it as Ryan seemed mostly benevolent and there for his own amusement. He could tell she was bothered a little more after hearing he could pull information out of minds.

    "What happened?" Nick asked. "Tracy was in tears with her laughter, so it was hard to understand."

    "Ryan pointed out the foolishness of thinking mortals could challenge gods," Kyra answered as she and Ryan moved to the love seat. "Her father''s part of an organization called the Order of the Gray Staff, and they want to prevent a god from staying on this world and bringing chaos to it. According to Ryan, their attempt at chasing him off isn''t something which is even plausible."

    "They think a god would do that?" Sabrina asked.

    "More like," Ryan said. "They were told a god would come, and chaos would follow, something like ten thousand years ago. Anyway, when I realized who the guy was, I couldn''t resist poking at him. He ran off in anger, and then we had lunch."

    "Sometimes," Sabrina told him. "I can''t help but wonder if you''re not a sadist."

    "Oh," he grinned. "I''m quite sadistic. It just doesn''t come out unless I''m annoyed or around someone I don''t like. Or who I think is stupid."

    "Everyone shush," Kyra said as she snuggled against Ryan. "Let''s watch the movie."

 0049

    Ryan relaxed on the couch, an arm draped across Kyra''s shoulders as they watched a movie. He had been in the past for nearly a month, and other than the incident at the bank and the one at the mall, not much had occurred.

    For the most part, he simply relaxed and enjoyed the days as they passed, learning more about the past and its history. To him, the idea of a government which chose its leaders was strange, and that feeling was reinforced by both the Orders and the past''s democratic governments.

    "How long until the seal breaks?" Kyra asked Ryan, a question which had become more frequent over the past two weeks.

    "Very soon," he answered. "I can feel it about to shatter, actually."

    "And you''re leaving once it does?" She asked.

    "Indeed," he answered. "Though not immediately. I have to wait for the pair of gods who''ll clean things up to arrive first. I don''t know how long that will take, but I doubt it''ll take very long."

    "Okay," she said, then extracted herself from him and stretched. "I suppose we should have a barbecue, then."

    "A barbecue?" He asked, unfamiliar with the term.

    "Yeah," she smiled at him. "A barbecue. We haven''t done it yet, though I''ve thought about it. I had Nick buy some brats and chicken breasts."

    "Are you talking about the breasts you have marinating?" Ryan asked. "I''m still not sure what the purpose of that is."

    He''d never heard of marination before, though guessed that it might still exist in his time. Cooking wasn''t one of his interests, so he never bothered learning much about it.

    "It infuses the meat with the flavor," she told him.

    "I know that," he said. "I just don''t understand how it does it."

    He stood and stretched as well.

    "Well, it doesn''t matter," he said. "It was just a bit of curiosity on my part. I''m more curious about what this barbecue is."

    "Come on," she led him outside, then started charcoal on the grill, Ryan using his fire magics to start it after she soaked the briquettes in lighter fluid.

    Once the coals were hot, Kyra began grilling the brats and breasts, her brother and his girlfriend showing up as she did. Nick prepared lemonade and iced tea, and once the food was finished, they ate at the table on the back patio, with chips and salad on the side.

    "I can''t decide which I liked more," Ryan said after finishing eating a breast and a brat. "The breast had a nice flavor to it, though I feel there was a little too much of the charcoal flavor to it from the coals. Meanwhile, the brats were juicy, and had a firm exterior, giving just the right texture to their bite. The flavor was decent, but not as good as the chicken''s."

    "Do you always analyze everything you eat?" Nick asked. "I''ve heard you do that for most things."

    "I do," Ryan told him. "It''s been a habit of mine ever since I was little. Since I can''t see, I rely on my other senses more, so I focus on them more. Paying attention to the way things taste, feel, hear, and smell makes up for the lack of sight."

    "I still can''t get over that," Kyra told him. "Using magic to see everything instead of your eyes."

    Ryan shrugged in response to that. He didn''t expect them to properly register everything. The young god looked up at the sky.

    "This was a nice meal," he told them. "I thank you for it, Kyra. And for helping me blend in to your society during this time here."

    "Butˇ­?" She asked.

    "But," he said. "There have been shudders in the seal every few minutes for the last day and a half. This is probably the last meal I''ll have with you, which means last night was probably the last we''ll sleep together. I actually do like you, you''re a pretty decent person."

    "When you said it''s breaking soon," she said. "You meant-"

    "In about thirty seconds, if my estimate of when the next attack on the seal is accurate."

    Everyone stared at Ryan, who shrugged.

    "It''s not like you can be more prepared than you already are," he said. "So I didn''t feel it necessary to warn you that it''s about to happen."

    He could feel the anxiety in them rising, the humans suddenly aware their world was literally about to change forever. If he were in their place, he knew he might have felt the same.

    Only a few seconds after he made his statement did the seal break. When it did, Ryan felt magic flooding into the world, and the three humans with him gasped at the sudden force while clutching their ears at the sound of a crystal shattering.

    Not any ordinary crystal, but a divine crystal whose shattering resonated in their minds and souls. It was the sound of the seal breaking, and it disturbed Ryan as well. For nearly four minutes, the effect lasted, then everything lessened.

    The young god could tell the mortals were still affected by the flood of magic''s presence, but it wasn''t something which would cripple them. Once they adjusted to it, they would be fine.

    "I didn''t know it would do that," Ryan told them. "I''ve never encountered such a thing before."

    An immense pressure touched upon his senses as Ryan welcomed the feel of magic in the air once more, then he heard a thunderous roar.

    "That''s interesting," Ryan said. "I thought the dragon showed up later."

    "The dragon?" The three mortals exclaimed.

    "Hm?" Ryan asked. "Oh, yeah. According to the history books, the dragon showed up after a bit, not right at the start. Then again, the history books also said it wasn''t all that long of an incident, but it actually ends up lasting twenty years."

    "BLIND GOD!" A deep voice roared, shaking the air.

    "Huh," Ryan said. "It even speaks English already! I suppose it did the same thing I did and plucked it from someone''s mind upon arrival. Probably didn''t need to touch them like I did. I am just a fledgling god, after all."

    He stretched out his senses to their limits. The dragon sounded a fair distance away, even if its voice made the air rumble and glass shake.

    "Well," Ryan looked at the mortals. "I suppose it''s time to say farewell. Things seem to be a lot faster than I expected them to be. I was hoping I wouldn''t have to deal with the dragon for at least a month! Farewell!"A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    He used his air magics to fly up into the air and towards the source of the deep voice.

    "THERE YOU ARE!" The dragon roared. "PREPARE YOURSE-"

    Ryan didn''t let the dragon finish, as it had entered into his range of senses. With a thought, he incinerated the portion of its brain within his range. With the dragon slain, Ryan watched as it fell to the ground, crushing dozens below. Its form was large enough that he couldn''t fit the entire beast within his senses. When he drew closer, he estimated it to be at least a thousand feet in length.

    "Huh," he said. "Being a god is truly awesome, if I can kill a dragon so easily."

    The words were barely out of his mouth before his powers surged and a new sense awakened within him, informing him of two beings nearby.

    "There he is!" A woman called out. Even though they were not speaking English, Ryan seemed to understand their words anyway, an instinctive knowledge informing him it was the language of the gods. "And-he''s dead."

    "I''m going to say," a man said. "That it was the god who''s draining our powers. They wasted no time establishing themselves as ruler."

    "It''s probably him," the woman said as they came into Ryan''s view, and he sensed the immense magical powers within them, even in their suppressed state. "Whoa."

    "Yeah," the male god said. "I''m with you on that, Selar. He is hot."

    "Sorry," Ryan held up a hand as he turned his body to face the pair of gods. "But I prefer the company of women. You two showed up a lot sooner than I expected."

    Things were moving quickly with the breaking of the seal, which pleased Ryan. The faster things moved, the sooner he was returning to his own time, which meant the sooner he could save his mother, even if the saving would occur at the same time regardless of how long he took.

    The young god assessed the pair of gods before him, both of whom looked as human to him as he did.

    "You expected us to arrive?" The female god, Selar, asked.

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "I''m actually the paradox which caused the seal to weaken. You were chasing the dragon?''

    "Yes," she answered. "You''re a paradox?"

    "I was born more than a century and a half from now," Ryan answered. "Yet am the reason the seal broke due to a time spell mishap. In a world without magic, I arrived, full of it. Yet I couldn''t exist without the seal already having been broken. Quite the paradox, isn''t it?"

    "Yep," she answered. "I''m not sensing a trace of deceit in your words. As you''re the godking of this world, I can''t read your mind, either. Your story has some signs of truth, though. How else could you have established yourself as godking so quickly, if you weren''t born into it?"

    "I''m returning to my own time shortly," Ryan told them. "So I''m curious, what will keep you from attempting to prevent me from rising to power? It didn''t happen in my past ¨C your future ¨C so I''m a bit curious on that."

    "I''m Selar," she introduced herself. "And this is my friend, Kylnar. We have no interest in ruling a world ourselves, even if we''re gods."

    "Nah," Kylnar said. "We''re actually looking for a certain god. This dumb dragon was our lead to it, but I guess this world''s godking is rather powerful. How did you kill it? I''m not sensing any signs of damage."

    "I incinerated its brain."

    "You did what?" Kylnar and Selar asked in unison, and Ryan could sense the shock in their minds and read it on their expressions.

    "How?" Kylnar gestured to the dragon. "There''s no traces of damage to the exterior, and that would be needed in order to do what you claimed! It''s not like you''re an elemental!"

    "Hm," Ryan said. "No, I''m not an elemental. If you''re referring to the way they ''see'' through the elements, allowing them to manipulate any they can sense, then you''re wrong. I''m blind, and I learned to see the same way the elementals do. I simply directly affected the dragon''s brain with fire magic, as it was within my range of sensory-you''re both staring at me with shock."

    "You''re blind?" Selar asked.

    "I am," Ryan answered. "The only reason I can navigate is because I''m using four elements to sense around me right now."

    The pair of gods looked at each other, then at Ryan.

    "Well, we found you!" Selar told him. "We''ve actually been looking for ''the blind god''. Supposedly, he''s my soul mate, and this dumb dragon has been trying to find him to kill him. He''s actually the one who broke the seal, but I guess it wouldn''t have been possible without your paradox weakening it."

    "I''m your soul mate?" Ryan asked, slightly confused.

    "It''s complicated," she said. "But we met a phoenix some time ago who told me that the blind god would be my soul mate. I wanted to see if there was any actual attraction towards him. I''m nearly three hundred years old, and have yet to truly feel for someone."

    "I''m eighteen," Ryan said. "And I like having sexˇ­ though I guess I know what you mean. I don''t know what you mean about soul mates, but hey ¨C in a century and a half or so, if you return, I''d be more than happy to have you in my harem and we can see about whether or not we actually get along."

    "You know," Kylnar laughed. "I think we might like him, Selar. Any other god, we''d know they were serious. That expression? He''s obviously joking about the harem."

    Ryan grinned at them. He wasn''t interested in a harem, though was curious to know how well he would get along with Selar, if she were supposedly his soul mate. He wasn''t sure he believed in such things, but would still give a relationship with her a try if she returned in his own time and showed interest still.

    "I''m going to have a harem of five hundred hot women," he told them, then turned his gaze to Kylnar. "Sorry, but you''re a guy. Women only. You can be a servant or something."

    "I can see what you mean," Selar laughed. "So you are not born for another century and a half of this world''s time, Blind God?"

    "Correct," Ryan answered. "I''m still curious why you won''t simply try to claim a world."

    "We''re wanderers," she told him. "Ruling a world hasn''t appealed to us. We abandoned the one we were born on before we were even thirty because we wanted to explore the universe, then we met the phoenix, and now have just been curious about this supposed soul mate. Finding a blind god was thought to be impossible, due to our natural healing abilities and perfect states. The fact that you are blind truly is an anomaly."

    "You said you are returning to your natural time," Kylnar said. "We''ll return when you''re ready for us, and we will see how things progress. We might stay a few days, or a few centuries. The most likely result with be only a few months. We prefer to linger on worlds without gods for a short time, then move on."

    "I see," Ryan said. "So does that mean you''ll stay behind here?"

    "Yes," Selar answered, then indicated the dragon. "The state of the world and what''s going to happen to it is his fault, and we were sort-of chasing him, so we''ll take the blame and perform the cleanup."

    "Okay," Ryan said. "My family name is ''Novar'', and my ancestors are in the belly of a woman named Kyra who lives nearby right now. Please protect her and help her and my children flourish. You said you''ll return when I''m ready, Kylnar. How would you know that?"

    "What lineage are you born into?" Kylnar answered. "I''ll arrange a simulacrum to live among them. You''ll know it by the presence of a mind with nothing there, yet for all other appearances, it''s human. To signal to us that you''re ready, send it a telepathic message. It''ll count as a psychic attack, which will alert me. I''ll set it up so that only godly magic can work on it, and it''ll be used as a servant to the head of the family until then."

    "Okay," Ryan knew exactly where the simulacrum was based on that description ¨C his father had someone with him on both of his past birthdays who met that description. "I''ll do that. I don''t fully trust you, but since everything which has happened in the past already has, I know you''re sincere. At least, partially."

    "Plus," Kylnar said. "You''re draining away most of our power, and you''re immortal as long as you''re here. We really do have no intention of ruling, though it might be interesting to be at the side of a young god who''s just begun his journey as a godking."

    "Alright," Ryan said. "Well, I''ll be going now. I''ll see you again in nearly two centuries of this world''s time. You''ll be able to find her if you go straight in that direction, she''s with her brother and his pregnant girlfriend."

    Ryan indicated the direction in which Kyra and Nick lived, then lowered his arm once they looked in that direction.

    "Farewell," the pair of gods told him as they turned their gazes back to him.

    Ryan knew things would work out based on his history, so he returned himself to his own time, feeling his mana drain away. For a moment, he was disoriented, having reappeared back beside Tyler in Volnal, at the moment of his departure.

    Just like when he arrived in the past, Ryan found himself naked, though he noticed his clothes dropping to the ground in front of him, as if they had been pushed out of the way for his return.

    "Everything alright?" Tyler asked, averting his gaze from his master''s nude form.

    "Yes," Ryan answered. "I accidentally went back in time instead of reset time. Things were slow at first, then everything seemed to happen all at once, and now I''m back."

    He took a deep breath to collect himself after the sudden repeated shifts in situation. He had not expected the dragon nor the gods to show up that fast after the seal broke, and it had thrown him off some. However, he was pleased with how fast things seemed to progress, and felt glad history had been wrong in how long everything had supposedly taken.

    Once he finished collecting himself, Ryan prepared for a reset, then initiated it, making extra-sure that the reset was the only thing on his mind when he cast it. He did not want anything else to hamper his journey to saving his mother.

 0050

    Upon finding himself in a much smaller form, Ryan stumbled slightly due to the difference in movement ability, then began promptly applying healing magic to himself to lighten the pain from his physical adjustment of magical ability.

    "Is everything okay, Ry?" A voice asked, and Ryan froze for a moment, having momentarily forgotten when he had reset to and what he was doing.

    Against his will, tears began to well in his eyes as he registered his mother''s gentle voice and the soft, concerned touch on his arm as she helped him steady himself.

    "Y-yeah," Ryan responded, amused by his younger, softer voice than the one he was used to. "I''m fine, Mom."

    "That''s good," she wrapped him up in a hug, squeezing him tight.

    "Moooom!" He complained, as he knew he would have as a kid, though he still would have as an adult. "Lemme go!"

    "Okay!" She released him, and he fell onto the ground. "I let you go!"

    "Mooom!" He complained again, and the two of them began laughing.

    "Wipe those tears away," she said, and he felt her pushing something soft against his eyes to dry his tears. "Did you hurt yourself? I know you like to hide it when you bump into something."

    "No, Mom," he told her. "I''m fine. Just really happy."

    "That''s good," she told him. "Your father won''t be back until late. Why don''t we get you in the shower now, then I''ll read you however many stories you want me to read you?"

    "Yes, please!" Ryan eagerly responded.

    He didn''t need to be a child in his mind to leap at that opportunity. There was nothing he wanted more than to hear his mother tell him a story again, for her to make it through the night.

    "Okay," she placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair. "Let''s go to the bathroom."

    Ryan allowed his mother to pick him up and carry him to the bathroom, a common occurrence when he was younger and they were traveling. It was easier early in the trips than simply guiding him, as Ryan would inevitably walk into something on his own anyway.

    She set him on the toilet, then left to fetch clothes, and Ryan extended out his senses, witnessing his mother''s form for the first time. Based on what he knew, she would be considered extremely pretty, and he could see why his father had fallen for her when he looked at her objectively. He watched as she picked out his pajamas, then returned to the bathroom.

    "I''m going to change into pajamas while you''re taking your time," she ruffled his hair after setting his pajamas on the edge of the sink, grabbing his hand to put it on the clothes so that he would know they were there. "Holler if you finish and I haven''t come back in, okay sweetie?"

    "Okay!" Ryan told her. "Mom, I was hoping you could get me a snack."

    "A snack?" She asked, and he grinned.

    "Father''s not going to be back until way late," he told her, doing his best to speak how he would have as a kid, based on what he remembered. "And you know you wanna get me a pizza from that place down the road."

    He put a finger to his lips, which were turned upward in a sly grin.

    "And I won''t tell Father if you do."

    "Alright," she ruffled his hair again. "Let''s get you undressed, then. I''ll call in an order. They don''t deliver this late at night, but I can drive down and pick it up. Shouldn''t take me more than fifteen or twenty minutes, okay, sweetie?"

    "Okay!" He said. "No fruit on my pizza! I''m not you!"

    "I won''t!" She laughed. "I''ll get my own pizza for that."

    That meant she would be out of the hotel room and the hotel when the assassin came. If she didn''t return, Ryan would reset to right before he asked and adjust his plans, taking as many times as necessary in order to save her.

    "Yes!" He exclaimed.

    Ryan let his mother help him undress, as he would have as a child. Once he was undressed, she grabbed him under the armpits and lifted him up, moved him into the bath, then turned on the water. Then, his mother moved his hands so he could feel the knobs and adjust the temperature until he was comfortable.

    "I''ll be back soon," she kissed him on the forehead while Ryan waited for the water to heat up. "Do you remember where the button is?"

    Ryan moved his hand to the wall of the shower, then slid it slightly until he felt a button.

    "This one, right?" He asked.

    "Yes," she answered. "If you fall and get hurt, press that button, and a guard will come and help you, okay?"

    "Okay!" He told her. "Now hurry, Mom! I''m huuuungry!"

    "I will, I will!" She laughed. "Even if I know you''ll still be in the shower twenty minutes after I return!"

    He grinned, and she left after checking to make sure he was okay one last time. Once she was gone, Ryan stopped his bigger smile, though a lighter one was still upon his face. He was genuinely happy, as his spell had succeeded that time. He could save his mother without further delay.

    If he failed this attempt and the assassin caught her leaving and killed her away, he''d simply reset. He would reset as many times as necessary until he saved her for good.

    Ryan wasted no time with his shower once his mother left. With his senses expanded out to their maximum, he kept an eye on everything going on in the hotel. Only his sense of light was off, allowing him a decent range.

    As he finished his short shower, Ryan noticed a shift in the electricity running through the hotel''s security system, which alerted him to the presence of the assassin. They didn''t know about the change and likely expected it to be the normal routine. It was known to some that Ryan stayed up later and took his showers later when his father wasn''t around to put him to bed early.

    Because of that, Ryan narrowed the assassin down to someone within his Family, and he wanted to find out who they were. Their network wasn''t good enough to know his mother had left, so they weren''t higher in the Family. A servant, possibly.

    Ryan used his fire magics to dry himself, then stepped out of the tub, ensuring his feet were dry before touching the ground. He still had some mobility issues, as he had just returned to his child''s form and need to adjust it, so stepping out of the tub was chancy for him. His first step wasn''t an issue, but his second step resulted in his foot slamming into the tub, and he cried out in pain for a moment.

    Gritting his teeth, the young god applied healing magic to his foot, then shook his head and picked up his clothes, dressing. When he finished, he groaned. He had buttoned his pajama shirt one-off, so he unbuttoned it, then buttoned it again, making sure to go from the top to the bottom, to ensure it was even when he finished.

    "This is what happens when you spend eighteen years of others buttoning your shirts," he muttered to himself as he watched someone enter the hotel and start making their way to an elevator. "You don''t have the skill to button it on your own. Stupid Ryan. You know Tyler always buttoned from the top down."This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    After he finished buttoning his shirt and berating himself, Ryan made his way to the living room of the hotel suite and plopped himself onto the center of the couch facing the door to the hotel hall. He kicked his feet up onto the coffee table and crossed his ankles, then folded his hands on his lap and waited.

    It took only a couple of minutes for the assassin to reach his room, and he noticed them using lightning magic to override the hotel''s lock on the door before they entered. That they were able to make it past the guards at each entrance to the floor meant he had a higher standing in the Family, but still not enough influence to know when plan changes occurred. That narrowed it down to even fewer suspects.

    When the man entered, Ryan delighted in the startled expression on his face and in his mind. The boy wasn''t using his telepathy, but he did have his empathy active.

    Having used it nearly constantly for months, Ryan felt naked without his empathy active, as with at least two elemental senses.

    "Ryan," the man said, and Ryan tried to place the man''s voice. It was familiar to him, but he couldn''t remember from where. It wasn''t someone on his list, but he knew he might have overlooked someone. "I was hoping to speak with your mother, do you know where she is?"

    "Hm," Ryan said. "Who are you?"

    "Your Uncle Steven," the man answered. "We just saw each other a few days ago."

    "Oh, right!" Ryan formed his right hand into a fist and dropped it into his left palm. "The traitor!"

    He felt the confusion and panic rise in his uncle''s mind, and the young god grinned.

    "I know you''re here to kill Mom," Ryan told him. "That''s why I sent her out."

    "Kill your mom?" His uncle asked. "I don''t know where you''re getting that from, but-"

    "So who in Raxvar asked you to?" Ryan asked. "Since I know you''re planning on slipping away from Volnal Valley after being exiled there, only to start working for Raxvar. It''s clear you''ve sold yourself out to them."

    Another thought came to Ryan.

    "You''re a Jewel, aren''t you?" He asked. "One who can use spatial magics, if I remember correctly. You know, they never did know who the person who made those was. I suppose you being exiled to Volnal was part of the plan. After being exiled there, you set down the foundation for the theft. Then, you join Raxvar, only to put things into motion later. Oh, don''t give me that surprised look, Uncle Steven, your mind tells me everything I need to know. To be honest, I don''t really care."

    He gave his uncle the most malicious smile he could, knowing that it would no doubt be even more disturbing coming from a child.

    "Because you''re going to die," Ryan initiated a heart attack in his uncle. "And that''s going to erase several issues that would come to pass otherwise."

    After his uncle died, the forced heart attack severe enough to kill him quickly, Ryan waited for his mother to return by laying on the couch and pretending to nap. When she arrived, he pretended to wake up, rubbing his eyes as if to rub the sleep out. Even if he were blind, he did do that at times.

    "Smells good," he told his mom.

    "Yes, it does," she told him, a smile in her voice, and he saw it on her face, even if he detected the confusion and annoyance in her mind after seeing her brother-in-law. "Tell you what, Ryan, let''s do something even more secret from your father? Let''s eat the pizza in your room!"

    "Okay!" He grinned at her. "Father will be sooo mad if he finds out!"

    "Yes, he will," she said as she approached him. "Come on, I''ll help you in there, then I''ll get us some drinks and napkins."

    "Okay!"

    Ryan let his mother guide him to the room, and she put the pizzas on the bed before lifting him up onto it.

    "I''ll go get those and a book," she told him. "Give me just a minute."

    "Alright!" Ryan told her, then watched as she left.

    His mother, instead of fetching the drinks and napkins, went outside into the hall, down to the elevator, and spoke with the guards stationed outside of it. Guards were stationed at every entrance to the floor, rather than at the suite Ryan and his parents were staying in, as they had the entire floor to themselves.

    Wanting to hear the discussion, Ryan shut off his other elemental senses and used his sense of air to listen in to them, able to detect their words by paying attention to the vibrations in the air.

    "I know you said Steven came in," she said. "But he doesn''t have a keycard in his hands that I noticed, and it seems he died after entering the room. I''ve moved Ryan to his room, please remove Steven''s body. It''s doubtful he''s still alive, but if he is, get an ambulance out here."

    "Yes, ma''am," the guard told her. "He seemed quite healthy when he said he wanted to play with Ryan."

    "Perhaps he sensed karma coming after him," his mother said. "I was investigating a connection between him and a certain part of Raxvar, and those who betray our family deserve fates worse than death. I''d say karma went nice on him."

    Ryan frowned at that, then grinned. He knew why his mother was killed, then. It was the faction who wanted to prevent Ryan from taking over the world. They might not have been sure it was Ryan yet, but they found out his mother was looking into things. If she exposed them, it would have caused a war.

    So they had Steven murder her. If he were a Jewel, it was possible Ryan''s uncle had trained some form of mind magic in order to ensure the guards did not realize it was him. It wouldn''t have been easy for the man to do that, but Ryan had since learned his Family was special when it came to magic.

    "Ensure his body is gone in the next half-hour," Ryan''s mother told the guards. "Ryan will need to pee around then, if his habits of drinking late at night are anything to go by."

    Ryan frowned again, then chuckled as he remembered how much water he would drink as a kid if he got to stay up late. A tactic he used as an excuse to stay up even later ¨C he''d need to pee soon after.

    "Yes, ma''am," the guards responded.

    Ryan turned his other senses on as his mother returned to the suite, then to the room, and she went to her room and quickly changed. Once dressed in her own pajamas, Ryan''s mother exited her room and grabbed napkins and drinks, then a book, then walked to Ryan''s room.

    "I''m back," she told him as she climbed onto his bed, setting the tray with the pitcher of water on the nightstand, before pulling him against her in a hug. "Alright, munchkin. I''ve got a new book to read to you tonight."

    "What took you so long?" Ryan asked, knowing that if he didn''t ask, she''d be suspicious.

    Kid-Ryan always asked why if she took more than a few minutes for something that should have taken only a few minutes.

    "I was changing into my pajamas," she told him. "And had to go to the bathroom, too."

    "Oh, okay!" Ryan said. "You got two pizza boxes, and I can smell that nasty fruit."

    "You don''t have to eat it," she ruffled his hair. "Come on, let''s enjoy our evening."

    "And not tell Father!" Ryan grinned, snuggling into his mother.

    As they ate and she read to him, Ryan did his best not to cry again. His child''s body and brain wanted to, even if his adult mind wanted to resist it and act more mature. His mother was alive, and he was snuggled up against her once more. Nothing else mattered to him anymore.

    It was well-past midnight when his mother started to pull herself away from Ryan so that he could sleep, and he clung to her.

    "Mom?" He asked softly. "Can you stay with me tonight?"

    "Of course, honey," she ruffled his hair. "And I''m sure that when you wake, your father''s going to be snuggled up with us, too."

    "Alright," he chuckled. "Oh, I had a question."

    "Another?" She asked. "This late?"

    "Yeah," he covered his mouth as he yawned, then continued. "It''s always me and you and father, and sometimes the servants. I want a friend."

    "A friend?" She asked.

    "Yeah," he told her. "I think I heard about another Novar my age? Umˇ­ Tyler Novaramisanima-uhˇ­ I probably got that wrong."

    Even as an adult, Ryan always had an issue with the longer names in the branch families.

    "Tyler Novaranamis?" She asked with a chuckle.

    "Yeah, that!" He said, then pulled back in shock. "Wait, you know him?"

    "I know his name," she told him. "How did you find out about him?"

    "I heard Father doing a census a few months ago," Ryan answered. "You were in the bathroom. The guy he was talking with said Tyler was eight, too."

    "Well," she ruffled his hair. "The Novaranamis are a servant branch, but I can see about arranging him to act as your own servant. He''ll need some better training, though. He''s only eight, after all. But we can introduce you two, it''s not a bad idea to have you socialize with someone your age. Are you sure you don''t want your cousin Jonathan-"

    "Ew," Ryan made a face. "Not Jonathan. I''d rather be friends with a servant than a full member. Then, I can boss them around and they can''t do anything about it!"

    "Try not to boss him around too much," she chuckled, ruffling his hair again, and Ryan began to remember just how much his mother loved to do that. It had annoyed him when he was little, but he found that it no longer bothered him, even if he were older in his mind than in his body. "If you treat servants too harshly, it might cause resentment, which means they might look for a reason to hurt you."

    "I won''t," Ryan grinned. "But I''m sure it''ll be fun!"

    "It might be," she poked him in the side. "But it''s time for you to go to bed. I''ll talk with your father about the Novaranamis."

    "Thanks!" He hugged her, then slipped under the blankets.

    "I''m going to take care of the pizza," she kissed him on the forehead. "Then I''ll be right back."

    "Okay," he yawned again.

    Ryan waited as his mother took care of the leftover pizza and their napkins, then she returned and climbed onto the bed and under the covers, snuggling him against her. He inhaled the tropical scent of the remnants of her perfume from earlier that day, and felt himself relax.

    He had succeeded, and had done so on the first try. The young god was beyond excited for his mother''s survival, and made her a silent promise to protect her from further attempts on her life. Then, he let himself drift to sleep to the sound of his mother''s light humming.

 0051 (Epilogue)

    Ryan walked down the hall, Tyler following close by. Over the years, the role of the latter had become a mix of friend and servant, though Ryan saw him as a brother. Even with a new set of events occurring, Ryan''s feelings towards his servant were the same as they were before, their friendship forged anew.

    Unlike in his initial run of time, Ryan did not ''awaken'' after his birthday. When he was fourteen, he began dropping hints that he had his magic awakened, mostly by way of navigating with perfect ease, even in a new location. He would eat with perfect aim, making far less mess than he had before. Until then, he kept up appearances by using his elemental senses minimally.

    It was only a few days before his fifteenth birthday that someone finally realized something was strange with the Novar Heir, and that someone was Tyler. Ryan knew his servant had noticed some oddness before, but it was during a meeting where Ryan had grabbed a glass of water without having been shown it and poured his own drink that his servant connected the dots.

    From there, Ryan kept the full extent of his abilities a secret, but had developed a reputation for himself. He arranged for Damien Mieria to marry a Novar younger than the older man from a branch family, born of the Novar blood, a marriage which occurred just that past summer, only a few months before his own eighteenth birthday. As Ryan expected, there was already a baby on the way.

    The young heir displayed foreknowledge of events, Damien confessing to Samuel Novar just that morning that he suspected Ryan knew the Heisar would appear. It was only natural for that, after all, because of his reputation. It was Ryan''s word that stopped Nadia and Amy from drawing close to Tyler, and his which caused Henry Raxvar to begin purging members of his corporation.

    The day before the Volnal Heisar expanded, Ryan suggested to his father to visit the Heisar the next day.

    Even for things that Ryan hadn''t discovered in his original run, the heir ''knew'' about in advance. For those things, he reset time after they occurred to later speak of the events when he felt it would be optimal to reveal it.

    Because of the Novar Heir displaying a level of foresight which rivaled the Silver Oracle''s, the Novar Family thrived even more than it had in his original run of things. For that, he was glad. The people who plotted against him originally feared him instead.

    That had become even worse when an assassination attempt resulting in the assassin being fused into a wall, his intestines used as a noose. Ryan had to admit to himself on that one that he was more than a little annoyed. The attempt damaged his favorite shirt at the time. The material was soft and smooth, and he''d not found another shirt in any store which matched it.

    With his growing powers, Ryan easily mended the shirt after, reversing the time of the shirt itself to undo the damage, making it as if it had never happened. He still wanted to send a message, though, so the nasty punishment was delivered anyway.

    Finally, Ryan had reached his eighteenth birthday once more. The marriage between the Veloas Family and the Novar Family was arranged and to be announced, and Ryan himself was known as the most dangerous person in the world. The Fourth Age of Magic was there.

    Ryan reached the dining room as he mused over things, and moved to take the seat at the head of the table. His mother insisted on him always sitting there on his birthdays, and his father sat two seats to his right, his mother sitting between them. Tyler took his seat to Ryan''s left, and Ryan assessed the room. It was a mixture of the various Families which had just merged together or would soon merge together. Veloas, Mieria, and Novar were the main ones. Meredith was present as well, though as a guest invited by Ryan''s mother for a birthday portrait performed a few hours before, a quick sketch of it and a picture taken, to be completed later.

    In addition to them, Tristan Novarax was present, newly renamed to Tristan Novaranax. Until he turned eighteen, that would remain his name, but it showed that he was earning his way out of being a Novarax. Ryan had insisted the boy be moved into the main estate rather than one of their neighborhoods, and the Family Heir personally saw to teaching him magic, finding his joy in it once more.

    "Hello, everyone," Ryan said as he noted the simulacrum by the door.

    He hadn''t sent the message yet, and had come to a decision to allow the Fourth Age of Magic to last around fifty or sixty years, as with all previous Ages of Magic. Then he would summon Selar and Kylnar to Earth and see how things worked out.

    "Hello, Ryan," several of the guests responded to his greeting, and Ryan''s mother reached over and squeezed his hand.

    "Thank you for coming here today," he smiled. "For those of you who hadn''t heard, the Mieria Islands have a Heisar now, freshly opened. We''ve already sent several excavators to it, and based on the presence of a certain beast, it''s suspected that we now have a second Heisar with manalirate within it. The power of the Families grows once more."

    "Ryan," his father chuckled. "You''re talking with the elementals again."

    "I am," Ryan responded, remembering only then that he was quite deep into a conversation with the elementals, a detail made obvious by twelve spots of water shifting around him. His father had learned to tell when Ryan was simply practicing and when Ryan was actually communicating, even if he could not understand the messages. "We were discussing the weather, actually. Quite a mundane topic, but something which greatly interests the elementals."

    "I''m sure," his father chuckled, then stood. "Everyone, thank you for coming to celebrate with us Ryan''s eighteenth birthday. A new Age of Magic begins with the unities and alliances of our Families, as we now control the majority of the world while forming a force more powerful than the collective might of the Guilds and Orders.

    "With the changing of the ages," his father told everyone. "There should be a change in leadership. For the last few years, Ryan has run the Novars as much as I have, and he has proven himself to be more than competent. His foreknowledge has caused our Family to flourish and is the main reason the Fourth Age of Magic begins, and he is more than worthy to lead the Family.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    "And so," his father continued. "I now name Ryan as the new Head of the Novar Family."

    His father lifted up his glass of wine.

    "To Ryan."

    "To Ryan," everyone else lifted their glasses of wine, and Ryan lifted his.

    "To the Novars," he said. "And the Fourth Age of Magic."

    Everyone drank their wine, then the food was served. Ryan made small talk with the majority of the people present, glad that Michael Srentas had accepted the offer to visit. It looked to the heir that his two friends were hitting it off, just as they had the first time they met in his own past.

    That was another change Ryan had made. He made sure to become closer friends with Michael than simply pseudo-friends, as he genuinely did like the man. It also gave him more time to judge just how well Michael would get along with Tyler beyond a quickly formed romance that might fizzle out after a few months.

    "Don''t tell me that wasn''t intentional," Ryan''s mother leaned close as she whispered.

    "What?" He feigned innocence.

    "Those two," she said. "You had me seat them beside each other intentionally, Ryan. Don''t think I haven''t noticed you giving them time alone together whenever Michael visits the last few months."

    "Mother," Ryan said. "I think you''re connecting pieces to a puzzle which doesn''t exist. Every instance Michael has visited where he and Tyler have ended up alone, I was busy with something and didn''t need Tyler."

    "And your sudden instance on having him visit regularly a few years ago?" She asked. "You''ve known, haven''t you?"

    "Known what?" He asked.

    "Ryanˇ­"

    "Perhaps," he smiled as he took a sip of his wine.

    "You seem to like playing matchmaker," she told him. "You paired Kayla with your cousin, Damien with Jessica, Tyler with Michaelˇ­ and many more pairings. Are you planning on making your own match?"

    "Maybe one day," Ryan told her. "But finding someone worthy of marrying me? That''s something beyond normal people. Sure, I''ll likely find a lover or two, but I have all the time I need."

    "Yes, you do," she gave him a knowing look, and he raised an eyebrow. "Don''t tell me you thought your father and I didn''t know, Ryan."

    "Know what?" He asked, genuinely curious.

    "Your foresight," she told him. "Even if it''s said to be different from the Silver Oracle''s foresight in how it works and how accurate it is, it''s still foresight. That tells us quite clearly what type of mage you are."

    Ryan laughed, having not even considered that his parents would have realized he was a chronomancer.

    "I am, indeed," he told her. "I suppose having several in our ancestral tree made it a little more obvious, huh?"

    "It did," she laughed. "And it told us that you truly do have as much time as you wish, so long as you don''t bear the same curse the others did."

    "Dying in their twenties?" He asked, and he noticed her hesitation. "I can assure you, Mother, that my particular flavor of magic enables me to convince Death to find other targets."

    "Alright," she said. "Don''t be overconfident in your powers, though."

    "Maybe I will be," he winked, then resumed eating.

    After he finished eating his dinner, Ryan excused himself from the table.

    "Dessert will be shortly," he told everyone as he stood. "And I shall return before it. Mingle and entertain yourselves, I have something I wish to do before dessert."

    Ryan left the dining room, then made his way to one of their gardens, sitting on a bench. Three air elementals drifted lazily there, along with a lightning elemental that moved in when Ryan was fourteen. It claimed it was there to keep an eye on him, but Ryan knew it was actually there to harass people for its own amusement.

    Having reset ten years, all of the elementals had plenty of time to prepare for him and how he did things, and the main estate became home to more than twenty elementals between the six elements, all there to either amuse themselves or converse with the young god about random things.

    A few minutes after Ryan sat down, a pair of figures appeared, brimming with magic. He stood and smiled at them.

    "Hello, Colin and Emily," Ryan said. "The elementals told me you had accepted my offer."

    "We did," Colin said, and Ryan could feel his curiosity. "We were wondering, though."

    "How did you know about us?" Emily asked.

    "The elementals refused to answer," Colin told him. "And we know they know."

    "This isn''t our first time meeting," Ryan answered with a bigger smile. "And I know you two are aware of who your father really is. Pictures were taken, after all."

    Colin laughed in response to that.

    "So you have already been back in time, then?" Emily asked.

    "I have," Ryan nodded. "I have met Selar and Kylnar as well. They''ll return once I''m ready, but we can discuss that later. Come! We are celebrating in the dining hall. Dessert should be served soon."

    "Lead the way, " Colin said.

    Ryan led his ancestors and children to the dining hall, drawing startled reactions from everyone who saw them, though he knew none recognized them. They were more confused by who the two young adults were more than anything.

    "Hello, everyone," Ryan said. "These are Colin Novar and Emily Veloas, the first of our lines and children of the Gray Mage. I had the elementals extend an invitation to them."

    Ryan could feel the shock and confusion in everyone''s minds. No one was sure if Ryan was serious or not, as he was still the mischievous goofball he''d always been, so such a prank wasn''t out of the norm. Part of the reason he had extended an invitation to them was to mess with people, but his true intent rested in having them assist him in how to lead the world properly.

    They had spent more than a century and a half ruling it already, so he felt confident they would be able to assist him in his own reign of it.

    "Colin, Emily," Ryan said. "Now you''re finally getting to meet your family again. Someone bring in a couple of extra chairs and glasses for them."

    "If they really are Colin and Emily," Samuel said as Ryan returned to his seat. "Then they look quite young for beings more than a century and a half in age."

    "Of course they do," Ryan said. "They''re both chronomancers, and as those who matter know, a quirk of chronomancers is that they stop aging once they first use time magic. Isn''t that right, Kayla?"

    "It is," she answered, and he felt her realizing he knew about her abilities.

    "Naturally," Ryan said. "Chronomancers tend to be born of those with the blood for it. It''s why all but one chronomancer has been a Novar, and the other has been Kayla. They faked their deaths to avoid assassination attempts on them, as they knew people would come after them to attempt to prevent them from ruling the world with their unaging bodies. They may not age, but they can still die, after all.

    "Now!" He clapped his hands together. "I believe it is time for dessert to be served! But first, let us make a second toast!"

    He waited for the servants to refill the glasses with wine, then he picked up his own and lifted it.

    "To the Fourth Age of Magic, and the reign of the Families!"

 Sequel Story

    The sequel to The Gray Mage is up! https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31297/the-gray-god</a>

    <hr>

    Three centuries after the god Rynovar claimed Earth as his own domain, ending the Fourth Age of Magic, he ruled the worled from a floating continent. Deciding to allow humans a chance at having a wished granted or a question answered, Rynovar created a quest fifty years into his reign, upon completing which they would be granted an au dience with him and permission to make a single request or question. However, two and a half centuries after he issued the quest, none had succeeded, and it was believed impossible, several stages of it having never before been completed.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    When nineteen-year-old Cyrus met Lyda at a restaurant, he broke the norm of his life cleaning up his brothers'' messes and keeping them behaving to avoid causing issues for the public. Upon hearing her desire to earn enough money to attempt Rynovar''s quest, Cyrus chose to help her complete what was believed to be one of the quests'' impossible stages, revealing that he himself had a question for the god he wanted answered...