Cale had never gotten up so fast in his life.
The sun had barely cracked over the horizon, but he was ready. Clothes on. Hair brushed — mostly. Boots tied.
He practically skipped down the corridor, barely resisting the urge to hum. This was it. His first day of real training. With a real Veyrathi mentor. In a gothic manor filled with books and sword rooms and magical animal spirits. He was going to be a beast by the end of this.
He arrived at Aleric's door and stood like a soldier on guard, back straight, arms crossed.
He waited.
And waited.
And…
The door opened with a soft click.
Aleric stepped out, looking every bit like he'd walked out of a noble painting: elegant coat, neatly pulled-back hair, unreadable expression.
He blinked once.
"You're already here?"
Cale straightened. "Of course I am! First day. I'm ready."
Aleric glanced at him. "Hm."
Then turned and walked the other way.
Cale followed, steps bouncing.
"So, the training hall, right? Gonna show me those blade moves from yesterday?"
"No."
They turned a corner.
"Wait," Cale said, slowing. "This… isn't the training wing."
"No," Aleric said calmly.
They stopped in front of a door.
Aleric pushed it open.
Cale peeked in.
Books.
~So many books~
Shelves from floor to ceiling. Scrolls. Loose parchments. Index tables. A globe in the corner and what looked like a constellation map above the desk.
He turned slowly toward Aleric.
"…What???"
Aleric stepped inside. "Welcome to your first lesson."
"You're kidding."
"No."
Cale looked around helplessly. "Is this a prank? Am I being hazed?"
From the chair beside the fireplace, Emis sighed dramatically. "I tried to warn you."
On the windowsill, Mira clicked her tongue. "Hope your brain works faster than your feet."
Cale threw his hands up. "Why are you all looking at me like I'm an idiot?! I genuinely don't know what's going on here!"
Aleric walked over to a shelf and pulled down a thin volume.
He handed it to Cale.
The cover read: [Fundamentals of Veyrathi Energetics & Yvelari Bondcraft.]
"You have power," Aleric said simply. "But no discipline. No control. No knowledge. If you'd like to combust at random while casting Clairvoyance, I can fast-track you to the infirmary."
Cale stared at the book.
"…So we're not even touching a sword today?"
Aleric gave a small, unbothered shrug. "You may lift one. For symbolic comfort."
Emis chuckled. "Page four is my favorite. It starts with, 'What is leaking?'"
Cale groaned and dropped into the chair across from the desk.
Mira cackled from her perch.
_______________
Cale slumped in his chair, the book still unopened in his lap.
Across from him, Aleric rested one elbow on the desk, fingers steepled.
"Let's begin with a simple question," Aleric said. "What do you know?"
Cale blinked. "About… the Veyrathi?"
"About any of this."
Cale scratched his cheek. "Not much. I mean, I know Elementalists are a big deal. Nobles test their kids for it. There's fire, water, air, and that rare light one. People say Elementalists shaped half the kingdom."
"Go on."
"…And I've heard stories. About the Veyrathi. Old myths. Divine animals. Sacrifices. Most people think they're just bedtime horror tales."
Aleric nodded slowly. "And now you're living in one."
"Lucky me."
Emis stretched out on the armrest, purring. "The horror story part comes later."
Cale frowned. "What's the difference, then? Between me and someone like… Seren?"
Aleric leaned back slightly. "An Elementalist is a conduit. They shape the world's elements through affinity. They bend what is already there. Fire, wind, stone. Their power is borrowed."
Cale nodded. "Right."
"But the Veyrathi?" Aleric's eyes sharpened. "We don't borrow. We bind."
He let that word linger.
"Your power doesn't come from nature. It comes from a pact. A bond. The Yvelin you've contracted — Emis — is not a tool. He is a being. With his own will. His own mind. His own cost."
Emis licked his paw."A very high-maintenance cost."
Cale side-eyed him. "Yeah, I've noticed."
Aleric stood and walked to a tall scroll shelf. He pulled out a long parchment and unrolled it on the desk between them.
It depicted five overlapping circles — each marked with a Veyrathi line symbol.
"Your bloodline determines your link. But compatibility? That determines how deep you can go. Most people who awaken can barely form a surface connection. You, Cale, formed a pact instinctively. That's… rare."
Cale leaned forward. "So… that's why Emis talks so much?"
"It's why he talks to you."
"Lucky me again."
Mira fluttered from the window to the desk. "You've only scratched the surface. Clairvoyance isn't a spell. It's a state. And if you misuse it… you'll lose time. Or worse."
Cale frowned. "Worse?"
"You've seen what happens when a Veyrathi loses control," Aleric said.
Cale's mind flashed back — the kids in the vision. The red-haired woman. The black flame.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "I have."
"Then let's make sure you don't."
_____________
The training hall was cooler now, the stone floors humming faintly with unseen energy. Cale stood at the center of the room, his arms slightly apart, the spiral on his wrist faintly glowing.
Aleric paced a short arc around him, hands behind his back.
"The first step is containment," he said. "You've made the pact. You've awakened the link. But your aura is still leaking."
Cale frowned. "You keep saying that. What does it mean, exactly?"
"Imagine your spirit as a vessel," Aleric said. "When the Yvelari bond ignites, your vessel begins to fill. But your body wasn't designed to hold that kind of energy — not yet. It spills out. That's leakage."
"Spills where?"
"Everywhere. Anyone with sensitivity can feel you coming. You'll be detected. Hunted. Worse, your emotions become unstable. Your visions trigger at random. That's what happened back in the facility."
Cale winced. "Yeah. That tracks."
Emis lounged lazily near a pillar. "Basically, you're dripping divine juice all over the floor."
"Thank you, Emis," Aleric said flatly.
Mira, perched on a high beam, clicked her beak. "If he can't stabilize it, he'll never progress."
"Wait," Cale said, suddenly more anxious. "What happens if I can't stop it?"
Aleric turned toward him.
"Then your body burns out."
"Oh."
"Eventually."
"Oh great."
"You won't let it happen," Aleric said simply. "I won't let it happen."
He stepped closer.
"Now. Focus on the spiral."
Cale looked down. The faint glow pulsed once, in time with his heartbeat.
"Feel where the power is thickest. It's not just energy. It's intention. The bond responds to your mind, your emotions. You must will it to stay in."
Cale closed his eyes.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
He reached for the spiral with his thoughts, trying to imagine it as a floodgate.
But it felt more like a crackling furnace.
Emis tilted his head. "You're overthinking. Don't choke the flame. Shape it."
"How do I—" Cale started.
The glow flared.
And in the same instant — the pressure hit him.
Like a wave inside his chest. His knees buckled. He gasped and clutched his wrist, suddenly cold and hot all at once.
Aleric was there in a flash, one hand at Cale's shoulder, grounding him.
"Don't panic. Feel it. Hold it. Don't let it own you."
Cale gritted his teeth.
"I'm trying—"
"Try less. Will more."
Cale forced his mind to imagine a box. A spiral locking into itself. The heat pushed harder — then, with a pulse, it tightened.
The glow dimmed.
The pressure eased.
Cale opened his eyes.
"I did it?"
"For now," Aleric said. "You'll have to do it again tomorrow. And the day after."
Cale sank to the floor, breath shaking.
Emis strolled over, tail flicking.
"Congratulations," he purred. "You're now 0.7% less likely to explode."
_________________
Two days passed in quiet repetition.
Cale spent hours alone in the training hall — sometimes with Aleric watching, sometimes not. He practiced breathing, visualizing, anchoring the spiraling warmth of his mark until it settled under his skin like a quiet ember instead of roaring fire.
It was slow. Frustrating. But by the end of the second day, he no longer staggered when it flared. His pulse stayed steady. His fingers didn't tremble.
So on the third morning, Aleric stood across from him, arms folded.
"You're ready for the next step," he said.
Cale raised an eyebrow. "More glowing wrist stuff?"
Aleric shook his head once. "You've learned containment. Now, you learn channeling."
He gestured toward the center of the room.
"Stand still. Focus on the mark. Now… imagine the power not as something to hold, but something to guide."
Cale narrowed his eyes. "Like… into my arms?"
"Into everything," Aleric said. "Let it flow through your limbs. Your chest. Your spine. Not like a burst — but a stream. That stream is called the Divine Flow. Every Veyrathi must master it."
Cale nodded slowly and closed his eyes.
He reached for the mark.
Felt it pulse.
Then — let go.
And the power moved.
All at once.
It was like being hit by a tsunami from the inside out. He gasped, nearly choking on the sensation — like liquid lightning crashing through his ribs, roaring into his arms, his throat, his mind.
His knees buckled.
"I—can't—"
"Steady," Aleric's voice said, low but firm. "It wants to drown you. You must show it the path."
Cale gritted his teeth.
Path. A stream, not a flood.
He focused — not on stopping it, but shaping it.
He imagined channels — rivers running along his veins, up his spine, behind his eyes.
The pressure slowed.
Shifted.
Stream.
Not chaos. Not a flood.
He opened his eyes — and the spiral on his wrist glowed faintly blue, like moonlight through water.
Aleric nodded.
"You felt it."
Cale exhaled, knees shaking. "Yeah."
Mira, perched above, tilted her head. "Not bad. You didn't bleed this time."
Emis grinned from the windowsill. "You'll be usable in battle yet."
Cale wiped sweat from his brow and straightened.
"Divine Flow, huh?"
He flexed his fingers.
"It's like standing in a river and being the river."
Aleric smiled — just slightly.
"That's the idea."