The sun shone in the gloomy room of Auriel, waking up the owner of the room.
He rubbed his eyes subconsciously to prevent the light from coming to his eyes and yawned loudly. He got a good and long sleep, hence he was in good condition right now. Sleeping about 12 to 15 hours was very much needed for him.
Normally as an Awakened, he didn't need to sleep more than 4 hours to get the rest his body needed. Though it can't be said the same thing for the mind as Auriel was very much tired mentally because of his fight against the Devolved Shapeshifter and his experiment with controlling a Shapeshifter fiend.
Auriel overexerted himself when fighting with the fiends and when he controlled that Shapeshifter. Controlling humans was easy for him as all he needed was just a thought and they would move according to his wishes. But, for some reason, he couldn't control that fiend like how he does to humans, and this gave him a huge mental strain.
Every Awakened were using their mental strength to use their powers as their power wasn't limitless like mundane humans thought. Though there were some special cases like Auriel, the strings inside of him were his ability and he needed mental strength to use them, hence even if he had the mental strength he needed while he didn't have any black string, all he could do was wait for his body to create more. Which in return his body needed time and energy to create more.
Anyway, Auriel got up from his bed slowly and stretched his limbs, then he was about to take a step forward to the bathroom, his feet touched something.
He lowered his head and there he saw Elise, who was sleeping on the floor with just a tightly closed bathrobe and blindfold over her eyes.
Her arms were under her head and her hair was slightly wet. She was sweating, and flinching occasionally. It was apparent that she was having a nightmare.
Auriel just clicked his tongue at this sight as he didn't like the fact that this girl was sleeping right under his feet.
"Did she not find the couch? Probably she couldn't. Anyway, she is clean and that is all that matters." Auriel thought while going to the bathroom and did what he needed there.
Then he lifted Elise to air via the strings he injected into her back and gently put her on his bed. Next, he leisurely wore his exercise clothes and got out of his room.
Fortunately for him, he encountered Daisy, right in front of his room.
"Good Morning, Daisy. Do you have any time to help me?" Auriel asked calmly as he thought that Daisy might have a crucial job given by his father, brother, or adopted sister.
"Yes, young master Auriel. What can I do for you?" Daisy asked with a soft smile, finally, she got used to Auriel and wasn't scared of him anymore.
Auriel also smiled lightly and leaned into Daisy's ear and whispered a few sets of instructions that made Daisy's eyes widen slightly.
After that Auriel turned his back and left Daisy alone in the corridor with only her curiosity.
She slowly opened Auriel's door and entered inside. The direct scent of blood and acid reached her nose, making her frown in displeasure but when she turned her head, she saw an angel-like being in a bathrobe sleeping on Auriel's bed, only a single thought appeared in her mind.
'Blasphemy!'
Seeing a beautiful teenage girl sleeping in a bed with blood scent and bathrobe easily confused Daisy about this teenage girl. She immediately thought of Auriel as a sinner, who touched a divine being.
***
"Achoo!"
As for Auriel who didn't know what was going on in Daisy's little brain, he just sneezed and continued his exercise.
After running for a few hours like every day he does, he sat on the dirt ground and took out a metal dagger.
Then he plucked one of the thick strings inside of his body and inserted it into the dagger.
Normally, a single ethereal thread isn't even durable enough to be injected into thick metal strings. However, Auriel learned that by using a combined ethereal string, similar to what he used in humans, it could work a little better on larger items such as a dagger or even a sword if he used multiple ethereal strings to combine them.
The dagger's shiny metal turned darker and connected one of the fingers of Auriel.
Auriel decided to connect weapons to himself because he thought that controlling living creatures might carry certain risks. Such as losing his whole being. He wasn't sure if he could lose himself but there were still other risks, like being killed by his puppets when he dropped his guard and slept peacefully.
Hence, he decided to not make a complete living puppet but to use his strings as a threat to their life and scare them enough to do his bidding. A string into the neck was enough to kill someone of equal rank after all.
The black dagger floated into the air and swiftly hovered over Auriel's head. Then with a quick and direct movement, it shot through one of the trees in the distance and broke a long branch.
Then the black dagger penetrated the branch and dragged to the ground to Auriel.
When the dagger and the branch came onto Auriel's hands, he nodded with satisfaction.
'Yep, controlling non-living things is easier and costs less mental strength.' Auriel thought and stabbed the branch to the ground and began to carve it by controlling the dagger.
[Hello, my dear reader! I was ill and couldn't even get up from my bed, hence I couldn't write and publish for the past 2 days. Sorry for the sudden break] (Hey you! Gimme that power stones)