"Oh Lia, you're back! Did you find anything?" Dad popped his head out from the kitchen as he asked.
"Nope, hopefully they add some new books later."
Going upstairs into my room on the left. I sat on my bed, looked at the wooden ceiling and closed my eyes. I steadied my breathing, focusing on my Aether soul. Purple specks slowly started to appear one by one.
I tried to gather them into my Aether soul but it was harder than I expected, it was as if they were just out of reach even though they were a few centimeters away from my visualized body.
Soon even the vibrations that I had acquired with Roy allowed me to sense my own vibrations and others' vibrations while trying to pull in the Aether specks. I didn't know how to evolve my Aether soul, though it'd probably take a while before I could.
"Lia?"
I opened my eyes to see my father at my now opened door.
"Yes?"
"Lunch is done, come down when you're ready."
"Alright."
At that Moment, I had just remembered that my parents also were Aetherians, they must've had a method to increase my soul! Before he could leave, I was able to grab his attention again.
"Dad wait."
"Hm?"
"Do you know how you evolved your Aether soul..?"
"The only way really is from practical experience, continuous practice and the most efficient way is near-death experiences. But it's obviously the most risky. There's also Aether meditation which helps too."
"Is it like Aura meditation?"
"Well, I don't know how Aura meditation works but the way Aether meditation works is by continuously using your Aether soul while meditating. Pretty simple right? It's actually extremely difficult at first but with a teacher it'll be pretty easy to do." He answered, "There are some exceptions like your Mother who could never evolve."
Different? Was it like mine?
"Different? Is there a ring around your Aether soul too?"
"Ring? I don't recall her having anything like that. In her case, she actually had something called an 'Aether Force', having both an Aether soul and Aether force. She always said she couldn't use her Aether soul because she didn't have any affinity that correlated to it."
What? I had never read about an Aether force anywhere, and no one had told me about it either. What intrigued me was that my mother couldn't use her Aether Soul, but why?
"What? An Aether Force?"
"An Aether Force is something specifically created within a special few, this acts as an alternative for usage. Since her ability was actually future sight. She could see the future whenever she wanted however, when her Aether Force ran out, she couldn't tap into her Aether Force."
"How do you know when it runs out? And is there a way to increase this Aether Force?"
"Anyone who has this has a fixed amount, she used her Aether Force until it ran out because she kept using it during our adventures."
"Alright, thanks Dad." In the midst of walking down, I added, "Well, apart from that, I gained a friend."
"That's nice, what's their name?"
"Claudia Helt."
"I feel like I've heard that name before, well specifically their last name.."
"We can meet them tomorrow, since you haven't found a job yet and I actually need to bring you to them to discuss something."
"Discuss what?"
"You'll find out tomorrow."
I gave a bright big smile toward my Dad before finishing my plate of food.
"Wha- wha- what!?!"
I expected it to be big because of her being a noble but my reaction was also the same as my father.
We stood at the gate, doubling our size combined, a garden much larger than we had thought, there were no houses for a couple hundred meters and it was mostly just statues and shops instead. It was like the shops were specifically made for the Helt house.
I wondered how they were going to see us, but the moment I touched the gate a barrier instantly covered the entire property. It was transparent but could be seen because of the sun's light. Immediately after, a butler could be seen from afar exiting the house. It took him minutes before he reached us.
"State your business."
"I'm here to visit Lady Helt." The perk of having a commoner father and a noble mother was that I could switch whenever I wanted.
He grabbed out a scroll from his back pocket which extended all the way to the ground, however that's what it looked like but it wasn't touching the ground at all.
"There doesn't seem to be an appointment scheduled, please leave."
"Do I need an appointment for my friend?"
"Friend?"
"Yes, friend."
"I will go ask my Lady, one Moment."
He pivoted his body right around, walking back to the house.
"Now I remember! The house of Helt is quite famous in the Kingdom! They have the most Divergents in their house! How the hell- how did you even run into her?"
Dad's facial expression changed from one to another within seconds, going from a realization, to excitement, to a perplexing look. I was surprised at how well he was able to switch from one to another so quickly.
"We met at King Lucian's statue in the plaza."
"Which plaza? There's like 21 different plazas."
"The one closest to us, Dad."
"Hmm.. Why would they go there I wonder.." Dad placed his hand on his chin, deep in thought as he murmured something that I couldn't hear.
In the distance, beside the butler was Claudia, her face appeared to light up as she saw me, running toward us as she waved her hand from side to side.
It was hard to tell but she was also shouting something, it was probably my name. It took Claudia a few minutes before she arrived at the gate.
"Come in!" An ecstatic welcome for sure.
The barrier that seemingly split us and the nobles opened up, letting us walk through. I looked around, on the left side, there was an outdoor dining set, consisting of a white chairs and a small table fit for tea gatherings.
Flowers were placed on both sides and had a variety of different colours that seemingly went well next to each other.
On the right side a man who I presumed was that of a butler stood, slowly dancing in the flowery field. His old hair, wrinkles, and his monocle he wore suggested that he was quite old, with my assumption that he was almost at least in his 80's.
I was amazed, and I expected that my family would also have the same reaction, yet, they didn't even acknowledge it. For the old man's age, his technique and moves looked like that of a beautiful swan, his graceful and delicate movement was all that was needed to indicate the vast amounts of experience the man had in his arsenal.
How long was he dancing for? I stopped. It had just struck me, why couldn't I see the flowers, the chairs, tables, the man before the barrier? Did I go into a dream? No.. Maybe the barrier had some sort of illusionary effect?
"Lia?" Dad called out to me, they were already at the door while I was still far behind.
"Oh right, sorry! I'm coming right now!" Yelling while I ran.
I looked to the right again and the man continued to dance without the slightest concern for me or anyone.