Theo was still blushing like tomato by the time Oren led him to a hall on the upper levels of the mountain. Just like in the rest of the temple, carvings covered the walls, these ones depicting stylized stars and constellations. Otherwise, the hall was ascetic as Theo expected from the sages, with pallets lined up neatly on the floor and divided from one another by hanging curtains.
"It's not much…," Oren said sheepishly when they reached the bed at the very end of the hall. "Dedicates get more spacious quarters."
"No, it's great," Theo said. After all, it wasn't any more cramped than his quarters aboard the Blue Sky. "Thanks so much. Um, so where are you gonna sleep?"
"Gonna crash with a friend," Oren chirped. "Guess we should get ready for the baths!"
He plopped down onto the pallet and reached for the small chest at its head. Popping it open, he pulled out a rather worn-out rag, spat on it, and began rubbing at his forehead.
Mystified, Theo stared at him. Was it his imagination, or was something dark rubbing off onto the rag?
Sure enough, when Oren pulled the rag away the diamond on his forehead had disappeared. Theo blinked. And blinked.
"It...came off?"
"Huh?" Oren frowned as he stuffed the rag back into the chest. "Why wouldn't it?"
"Oh, I, uh, I thought it was a tattoo…."
"It will be when I become a Dedicate," Oren declared. "Man, I can't wait! Till then I have to draw this thing on every morning, what a pain."
When he reached for the front of his robes, Theo jolted. "Wait a minute – "
"What's the matter?" Oren said in angelic confusion. "We're both guys, aren't we?"
Well, Theo supposed he couldn't argue with that, but still…
All thought was wiped from his head when he felt a surge of Levia. The next thing he knew, silvery light swallowed Oren's robes before swirling and gathering in the palm of his hand. When the light faded away, it revealed a simple clear crystal, like a shard of quartz.
And Oren no longer wore his robes. Thankfully, he had on something under it – a tunic and trousers just like the sparring sages earlier – but of course that wasn't what astonished Theo the most.
"What?" Oren raised his bushy brows. "Oh wait, you've never seen a guise crystal before? Sorry, I keep forgetting you're from Earth."
"Uh, so what's a guise crystal?"
"This!" Oren held out the crystal in his hand. Theo leaned closer to get a better look, but as far as he could tell it seemed like an ordinary quartz, if not rather scratched and scuffed.
Wait. If he paid careful attention, he could feel something soft fluttering within it. A whisper of Levia.
"It's a crystal that changes your appearance. All our sage robes are guises. Not like we could get the cloth to make such fancy duds ourselves, right?" Oren gave the crystal an idle toss. "It's a pretty normal thing to do if you've got enough Levia. I bet some of your friends are using guises themselves."
Really? Come to think about it...just where did Darian's flashy prince outfits come from? Making them out of Levia sounded right up her alley.
"It's the first thing a Novice learns, how to create their own guise," Oren went on talking as as he set the crystal aside. "You should see my first attempts, they're all ragged messes. Don't know why I bother keeping them around…."
A sudden idea struck Theo. "Hey, do you think I could try one?"
When Oren gave him a sharp look, Theo burned. Yeah, he should not have run his mouth like that.
So it startled him when Oren rummaged through the chest again and pulled out another crystal. This one was smaller and lumpier, its facets dull and cloudy. "I don't see why you'd wanna, but be my guest."
"So I just infuse it with my Levia?" Theo asked.
"Yeah." Oren shrugged. "You've gotta have enough Levia to activate it in the first place, but since you're a wizard that shouldn't be a problem."
As he spoke, Theo was already reaching for the crystal with his dawn light. The Levia within the crystal stirred in response. It was wispy and silvery, like all the sage Levia he'd sensed so far, easily giving way beneath his power.
Pink light flooded the crystal, causing it to thrum with heat. Before he could react, the light was already flowing out of the crystal and spreading across his arm, then his torso, then the rest of his body.
In the brilliant glow, Theo could count every one of the sweat droplets on Oren's wide-eyed face. He felt a pleasant prickling sensation wherever the light touched, but it didn't last long. Just as quickly as it had burst out, his Levia retreated back into his veins.
A faint sense of loss wrenched through his heart, but it was easy enough to ignore. Not when he couldn't take his eyes off the clothes that had appeared on his body.
They were black robes just like Oren's, except much more ragged. Theo experimentally lifted his arm, flapping the tattered sleeve.
"Man, it's worse than I thought," Oren groaned, covering his eyes. "You satisfied now?"
"What are you talking about?" A huge grin spread across Theo's face. "This is perfect!"
"Huh?" Oren dropped his hands, looking very much like he'd been kicked in the nuts.
"Can I keep this?" Theo asked, too excited to hold back. All these robes needed were a couple more rips here and there. Well, some safety pins and a spiked collar might complete the look, but good luck finding any of that on Tielos. Maybe he should learn how to make a guise of his own?
"Uh…." Oren's brows contorted like two caterpillars doing the tango. "Sure, I mean, if you want to…."
"Thanks! And oh, could I borrow some of whatever you use to paint on your sage symbol? I guess not right now since we're going to take a bath, but maybe tomorrow – "
He was babbling, but he didn't care. All sorts of amazing new possibilities lay before him. These practical clothes were fine and all, but he just hadn't felt like himself in ages. Aside from the hair and piercings, he might as well have not been Theo Hua at all.
"You sure are strange." Oren squatted down, resting his chin in his hands. "But you're Sir Zenith's wizard, so you've gotta be strong. And I can tell – when you activated the guise, that was some Levia. Never sensed anything like it before."
"Really?" Just like that, Theo found himself blushing again.
"For sure. With Levia like that, you'd make a great sage!"
"How – um, how does someone become a sage, anyway?" Theo asked.
"Well, you're definitely too old." Oren waved a dismissive hand. "Usually kids start training when we're ten, eleven, twelve abouts. I was twelve when I came here."
"So it's something you wanted to do?" Theo couldn't imagine making such a huge decision at that age.
"I guess?" Oren scratched his head. "When you're born with a lot of Levia, it's kind of...well, you can't stick around home forever, right? It'd be a waste. Some folks travel around, trying to come into their power and join a Fortress. But I…."
The hand on his head scratched harder, while he traced absent patterns on the floor with the other. "I just...my folks, my little sisters, they've got no choice but to scrape by. Grow what they can, hope the monsters don't attack. But since I have all this Levia...I wanna use it to help them, you know?"
He looked back up at Theo, his eyes glittering. "I thought it'd be selfish if I didn't. One day I want to be strong enough to fight for them, for everyone else like them. I can't just run off by myself."
He pumped his fist, only to suddenly turn red and clap a hand over his mouth. "Oh, I'm not saying traveling in a skycraft's running away or anything like that. Sorry. It's a totally valid choice!"
"It's okay," Theo said quickly. For some reason, his heart just wouldn't stop pounding. There was a lot more to Oren than just an excitable knight fanboy, wasn't there? He had his own conviction, his own reasons for fighting.
If he stood before the Star core, would it accept him? Something painful clenched in Theo's chest. Though this boy had no idea it even existed, not the slightest inkling of Theo's quest, he still….
"Hey!" When Oren's fist tapped his chest, Theo jumped. "C'mon, take that off. It's bath time!"
"R-right." Closing his eyes, Theo called his Levia and it came rushing back into his veins. Sparks of pink light drifted around him as the guise transformed into a crystal once more.
Even with the guise gone, he still felt the Levia coursing through his body. So much stronger than Oren's.
So what did he want to use it for?