(With Leon and Shula)
Leon followed Shula through the fancy building he'd found himself in. According to his new minder, it was an apartment complex they had built for their mansion's staff who wanted to live near their work.
He… struggled to comprehend how much money they needed to have for something like that to be a thing. Then again, his fellow human had mentioned that Illya hailed from a noble family, so he guessed it made sense.
The place wasn't too different from what he'd seen in those fancy, luxury, inner city apartments on Earth. If you excused the glowing crystals hanging off the wall that lit up the place, the place could pass off as the aforementioned luxury apartment. Between the marble floors, the warm lightning, and the stainless steel-themed amenities, the place certainly didn't come off as the servant's housing.
The image of his blond nightmare flashed to the forefront of his mind.
'Is this her way of declaring that even her servants were better?' He idly thought without too much seriousness.
It didn't seem like the woman planned on enjoying the place though for they quickly made their way outside the revolving doors. Stepping outside, he narrowed his eyes as the light of the moon immediately filled his vision.
"Wait…" Leon muttered disbelievingly. "Didn't the room's clock say it was 3 in the afternoon? Why is the moon already out?"
"Hehe~" Shula giggled, turning her head to regard him with mirth. "Is this your first time outside under your own power?"
"It's my first time outside at all, at least conscious." He drawled.
"Ouch… yeah, when I was in your position, they let me out all the time. My tests needed a lot of air and space." She casually commented.
He looked at her strangely, stunned by her words. "Your… tests?"
"Yeppers. All three of us. Me, the brute, and the simp were all rats on someone's table."
He couldn't form words at her sudden and… lighthearted reveal. She spoke like she was revealing her plans for the weekend's party, lighthearted and without gravitas.
Unaware of his internal turmoil, she continued, "We weren't bound by the mooks you were mind you. No, we were the head honcho's little test subjects, his prized rats." The more she explained, the thicker the 'happy' sarcasm she laced into her voice. "We got the best injections, the comfiest cells, and even some extravagant modifications that many would die for."
He didn't quite know how to respond to that. The dissonance between his expectations and her lighthearted way of explaining everything was dizzying.
By now, they were approaching an open space behind the apartment complex. It was a small patch of land between the complex and the towering castle-like ebony walls. He didn't notice this, of course, too distracted by the revelations.
"T-then, how-"
She interrupted, "Are we so well adjusted?" She dismissively shrugged. "Same as you, over longer. Mind menders did their work over the years, and we stuck together through it all becoming… crutches to each other for lack of a better word. It also helps that we don't remember most of it."
"You don't?"
Shula shook her head. "For different reasons. I… due to the nature of my experiments lost most of my memory. It was because of this that I had, by far, the easiest time recuperating into a functional person. Seeing how it worked for me, the other two were ordered to have the same happen to them to speed up their processes. We were under Illya's family at the time, and they weren't therapists by any means. The procedure you went through, the one that compelled your brain to suppress the memories, was designed for Michael and Illya; it was just reused on you."
"T-that… i-isn't that kind of irresponsible!?" He had trouble putting his feelings of unease into words, but they smoothed out as he spoke. "It doesn't even sound like they had a choice… I didn't have a choice."
Shula paused and gave him an odd look. She didn't say anything at first, before she was reminded of something.
"Oh, yeah… You aren't from here." She shook her head, silently reproaching herself. "You're in Umbra now. Things are different here than you're probably used to. We were wards of house Dracul at the time and, due to Illya being blood related to them, they had full power of attorney over her, especially with her being in the state that she was. She was the only one of us three that had a say since she's of noble blood. At the time, Michael and I were just common mooks, at least in the eyes of the law. Without any personal clout, our lives were dictated to us."
She walked up to him and poked his chest. "Just like yours has been. You don't have rights here; you have privileges that you can earn. And now…" She spread her hands out to display the flat, stone field. "Is where you'll start earning them. Welcome to our little classroom."
Leon could only look back in confusion. His eyes scanned the field, trying to find this 'classroom.' There weren't any special features. The area before them was literally a square about twice the size of a tennis court. He didn't know what he expected but this wasn't it.
Where was the extravagance? The private, super training rooms they showed in anime? There could've at least been some grassy, open fields. With everything pointing to this group having more money than they knew what to do with, he expected something… more.
Seeing the boy's mixture of confusion and disappointment, Shula could only stifle a giggle. "How much space do you think we need? You think you're going to be shooting fireballs or something?"
"No…, but I was hoping to see some flashy spells or something. You know, real magic." He replied glumly, awkwardly grabbing his hanging left arm.
Shula shook her head at the boy's unrealistic expectations. "Contrary to what you see on TV, practicing magic isn't something done on a large scale. Wouldn't we have to go super far all the time if that was the case? I mean, can you imagine having big explosions going off in or around the city?"
"Yeah, but… can't you just put up a big shield or something?" he uncertainly asked, shuffling a little at how uncomfortable it was to be looked at with those mirthful eyes.
She was looking at him as if he was a child wanting to manage their parents' money. "I'll answer your question with another question. If you used a barrier to practice these high-power spells, where would the energy go?"
His brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Explosions, an aether storm, a dust bomb…" She whimsically listed, "If the barrier's preventing their energy from dispersing outward, just where is it supposed to go? Back inside, that's where."
Leon's eyes widened as he slumped. The more she explained, the stupider he felt.
"And… well, why don't we start from the beginning? I mean, as funny as it is to explain just how stupid that question was, I think you get it and our day's going to be long enough as it is. Unless you want me to continue? Hmmm?"
"No. No. I'm good." He eagerly replied.
Shula curtly nodded. "Good. I'm glad your onboard." She walked to the center of the boundary square, knelt, and placed her hand on a spell circle engraved there.
It glowed briefly before summoning a transparent barrier that forms a rectangular prism around their small training area.
"Barriers are a thing, in case you were going to ask; they just have limits. Luckily for our purposes, simple training barriers like these will serve you just fine for the foreseeable future." Shula clarified.
She motioned her hand in a circle, creating a trail of floating fire as she went.
Leon found himself unconsciously leaning in to get a better look at the phenomenon.
Once Shula had made a complete circle, she flexed her fingers, pushing the blazing circle out just in front of her. Once it was out a few feet from her, she twisted her hand, causing the circle to spin at an accelerating rate. A pond of 'black water' spread inward from the ring's border, overtaking the entire interior.
The circle expanded to the point where the diameter was as tall as they were.
"This is called a space ring. It's a restricted spell. I'll explain it to you later."
Leon opened his mouth to ask anyway but closed it when she gave him a look. "…got it."
Deciding to keep quiet, he watched in fascination as two bean bags fell out of the ring. The moment the second one fell out, the blazing ring extinguished, leaving the pond of darkness to disperse like a cloud.
Shula grabbed the top beanbag and tossed it at him. "Might as well get comfortable." Then, she plopped down into her own chair, not waiting for the stunned boy to do the same.
"So, what have you learnt about magic so far? I'd rather not go over something you've already been introduced to."
The now sitting Leon shook his head. "Almost nothing. I've never had a chance to ask. I've seen a lot of people using it."
"Really?" Shula could only shake her head in disappointment. "You didn't even consider asking your fellow victims? I'd heard you had friends in captivity; I'd thought you'd have asked them."
"It's not my fault!" He heatedly rose up in his seat. "It wasn't exactly at the top of my mind, alright!"
She calmly raised her hands placatingly. "Chill dude. Illya pieced together the basics while we were locked up and taught the rest of us. You just struck me as a similar type is all."
"Hey! I'm human alright! You can't compare me to freaks like you!" As soon as those words left his mouth, his hands raced for his mouth, silencing himself.
Unfortunately, the words were already said; they couldn't be taken back.
It was fortunate for him that Shula didn't overtly react; she just kept looking at him with that same, irritating mirth.
"Geeze, she was right. You are an ungrateful sack of shit." She casually commented, stabbing him with invisible, seething arrows.
He wanted to, no, needed to refute that, but willed himself to stay silent. The event this crazy chick just saved him from came to mind. His mouth had already gotten him into enough trouble today.
"Meh, I guess I understand. In a foreign world with almost everyone you've met being a piece of shit, it's kind of hard to have a reasonable impression; am I right? Even your saviors were pretty scary, weren't they?" She puzzled her thoughts aloud, all the while keeping her gaze on him.
"Can we just get to why you brought me here?" He pleaded without thinking, giving voice to the building frustration at having been raked at the coals.
"Sure!" Shula happily replied, as if she hadn't just been raking him over the coals. "I don't have a problem with that."
*Groan* He had to massage his temples to relieve the oncoming headache. 'Is this how my life's going to be? Dealing with crazy people?'
"Where to begin…?" Shula pondered. "Ah, yes. Aether, the foundation of everything mystical."
She stretched her hands in front of her and cupped them together. Whisps of ember-colored light glowed around her, becoming brighter as they slowly gathered into her cupped palms.
Leon could only stare with sparkling eyes at the beautiful phenomenon in front of him. From where he sat, he felt the gentle heat reminiscent of a campfire's warmth. In addition, he faintly heard a soft hum emanating from each whisp. It was a spectacle to his senses in all respects.
He lacked words to adequately describe the feelings that came to him. It was nothing like what he'd seen from his captor or even Illya. An image of his fellow human came to mind; that beautiful light whose impression was seared deeply into his memories. It was everything he wanted and, looking at what Shula was showing him now, had him practically panting in anticipation.
"Aether is an omnipresent energy field that co-exists with the fabric of reality. Another name that it's been called in the past is dream nectar. It's a complex subject, one much too advanced for this class. All you have to remember is that it's the resource for anything you want to do that violate the laws of physics."
"So… like mana in an MMO?"
Shula shrugged. "Don't let Mike hear you say that; but yeah, you can think of it like that."
As she said that, the fiery light gathering in her cupped palms sunk into them. "I'm consciously making this visible for you by gathering a lot at a time, but aether usually isn't visible outside of spell construction; you know, like the space ring I just cast. Sure, your other senses will still perceive it, but your eyes generally won't unless the other person is outputting stupid amounts of it."
He nodded though his eyes were mostly focused on her arms, whose blood vessels were visibly moving underneath her skin. It was subtle, only noticeable since he was paying close attention. It also helped that they emanated a slight fiery glow reminiscent of the whisps that'd entered them.
Instantly, the memory of a terrifying woman leaped to the top of his mind, bringing with it vestiges of the terror he'd experienced. He clasped his hands together on his lap, using the squeeze of his vice grip to restrain the trembling that'd taken hold.
Whether she noticed it or not, Shula gave no indication. She just continued her lesson with the same lackadaisical ease.
"And as you can see, Aether can be transformed into ichor by mixing it with blood. It's not something humans can do all that well, but for badasses like me, who're most certainly not human, it's a cake walk. Whereas aether is fantasy given form, to create ichor within yourself is to briefly break the world's shackles on you. In exchange for the ability to freely manipulate during while its present, magic can be cast through the body much easier."
"Why?" He snappily questioned with a slightly nervous look, the speed of his words a lot quicker than any of his previous. "Aether looked much cooler."
Even he didn't buy the word coming out of his mouth as his feelings, and by the knowing look on her face, she didn't either.
She crossed her arms and looked boredly at the ceiling. "I get why you would think that. Aether's much flashier and it is far more versatile." She explained, ignoring the core issue.
Her lips pursed into a small frown. "That said… it's also much harder to control, costs more stamina on average, and magic founded in it can't be freely channeled through the body. We'll cover the topic once we get into spells, but you have to consider interference from the aether not under your control. The world's aether always seeks to return to its natural state; it costs stamina and aether to keep the tiny fraction you seize from it under your control. Ichor isn't like that. It, at its core, is your blood adopting the properties of aether. There's a lot of downsides to that approach too, but there's barely any interference.
"Think of it this way, with aether, you cast spells, while ichor transforms you into the spell. You understand?"
Leon gave a brief nod, though his focus was clearly still on his thoughts, trying to rationalize everything.
"So, I'm guessing Michael was using aether, while Miss Illya was using Ichor then?"
Shula happily nodded, glad he was getting it. "That's right!"
"But wait." Leon quickly interjected. "Wasn't she controlling blood and that pushing spell? Looked like she cast some spells to me?"
"Oh, she did?" Shula asked with a raised brow, eliciting a nod. She shrugged. "Well, first of all, no one said the two couldn't be used at the same time. It's just really, really hard is all. That said, phantasmal species like us have domains where we're stronger. Rules are a little more… flexible in those areas. Let's just say, ichor works a little differently for vampires when it comes blood. For Illya, these… looser rules apply to blood and well, hmm… other areas too. Yeah, let's go with that."
"Oh." He succinctly nodded, not really wanting to talk too much on the woman that still terrified him. "That makes sense, I guess. Are you guys weak to garlic too? Maybe wood?"
"More like allergic. It's not universal and different people react differently, but that's about the gist of it. Thankfully, those are allergies Illya and I've fortunately been rid of. Getting cut up's good for something, I guess." she succinctly replied.
"…So, how do I control aether like you?" He asked, not touching that landmine. She didn't seem to be having a pity party and neither would he. At least this way, he could save regain some face.
"Normally, it takes at least a month's worth of practice. You'd be fed trickles of foreign aether until you felt it." Her smile curved gleefully at the cramped expression that crept on his face when she mentioned the 'time' component. "Then, with your new awareness of the world's aether, you'd work to control bits at a time until you have enough to craft a spell. Throughout this process, the stress you would be under would make your body more capable of doing this easier. Basically, like a muscle, your body would strengthen itself in a way to better use aether."
She paused, giving him a moment to collect himself.
After a few moments, he quietly and some-what desperately asked, "…normally?"
"Well, what I explained doesn't quite apply to you, now does it?"
"What—" He muttered as his thoughts spun on trying to figure out what she meant. "Wait, you mean the experiments? You mean, my body's already built for that?"
She gave him a round of applause. "Bravo~ You got it in one. You may not remember, but according to Illya, your captors seized control of your faculties to ensure obedience, which worked especially well towards the beginning of your tenure there. Not even discussing how they modified your physique through their rituals, in order to run the tests they needed, they would've needed you to try performing the magics you were meant to cast.
What I'm hoping for my sanity's sake is to trigger those repressed memories and bring them to the surface." She cheerfully explained.
"And I'll be able to use magic like you with no problems?" He asked hopefully, only to slump when she shook her head.
"Not quite. Those memories aren't truly yours. They're vestiges of an artificial persona they installed in you and eventually ripped out at some point. You ever wonder how they got any value out of you in your super inebriated state? That's how. The big dude didn't do that to us, of course. Only the mooks and their little side experiments had that as an option. He liked to take a more… personal approach…" She shook her head, trying to re-focus on the task at hand.
As for those vestiges, by bringing them to the surface, I'm hoping that you can assimilate enough to get you going with these first steps. That way you won't be so use— I mean helpless."
He politely ignored the jab she almost took. Even though it burned his pride, the soreness he still felt from his earlier encounter kept him in check. He doubted she was any weaker than that guy. If she hangs out around Illya, the freak of nature, she's gotta be something.
"So, when can we start?" he asked, deciding that it was best to just get this out of the way. If she continued to stall and educate him on this, that, and the other, it would only make him nervous.
"Right now, actually." She pulled out her smart phone and started doing… something.
"Uhh… you calling someone, or…"
"Hmm?" She gazed up at him confused. "Oh, yeah. Well, Illya had another feature installed in that body of yours." Her face twisted into a devious smile. "Can you guess what it is?"
A sinking feeling weighed in his gut.
'Oh, no…' He realized, something that must've shown on his face if her broadening smile was any indication.
"Very perceptive my young trainee. It's a mind-jack terminal. All three of us have remote controls to help you manage your new situation in that body of yours. It's VERY comprehensive with what it can have you do. Like, for example, searching your repressed memories for every time your body used aether, separating them from linked memories, and forcing them to the surface."
He felt his blood run cold at the explanation. "Aren't I just a slave at that point…" he whispered so quietly as to almost be inaudible.
Almost.
"Hmm??" Technically, I guess. For the first month, at least; that's how long it's programmed to stay on for. As nasty as it sounds though, this feature's incredibly important when educating nobles in magic. Artificial personalities can be installed in the puppet bodies that can do lots of crazy stuff. Then, this feature can be used to teach the snobs those skills. Kinda dangerous, a little stupid, and highly unethical, but… it gets results, so it's pretty popular.
"So, while this would effectively render you as slave, we have no intention of using it like that. It's just to make what we're about to do much easier starting… now." She pressed a button and he immediately blacked out.