It had been a long time since Wilt had actually been alone. He spent most of his time with someone, whether it was his knights, family, Janette or Stella. Every hour of his life seemed so full, that having this morning completely to himself was weird. Janette and Stella were doing something together. Stella had made it sound like a duel, and he was a bit worried about that. However, he doubted that they would actually hurt the other. For all their anger and frustration, he remembered how desperate Janette had been when Stella had been injured.

His knights had been called in for something, they didn’t tell him the details. He wasn’t worried about them either. They had assigned him some temporary guards as replacements, but they were a lot older than him, so he didn’t really feel like he could talk with them. They stood outside of his room anyway. He didn’t really have anything to work on at the moment either. He had finished with Jannete’s quota for the day and was just playing around with Stella’s device. It was a prototype for the collar that she had been making. The tests had been positive, but they hadn’t been able to test it on anything other than animals. It worked by turning Ein into lightning, and it would somehow cut off a person’s control of their body. Theoretically, it would work on anyone regardless of their physical abilities.

It felt strange in his hand. It wasn’t made of metal as her initial design had been. Now it was made entirely of stone forged by Ein. He had been the biggest contributor to her supplies, but it wasn’t like he minded. He honestly wished he had done more though. She had refused his help saying that he would do more harm than good. She had called his use of Ein brutish, and he knew better than to argue the matter. It was true.

He fundamentally didn’t rely on the fine control that others did. It just didn’t make sense considering the size of his reservoirs. It would be like using a glass to drain a lake. It would work, but there were much better ways to go about it. Even his most delicate usage of Ein would probably amount to a bucket, whereas hers would be like a vial. Both of them were talented, and he knew better than to overstep. So he had been working on a different project, using her own work as inspiration. Her device was meant to work with very little Ein, that way it could be active constantly. He was working on something to compliment that.

After his brush with death, he knew just how powerful the monsters of Larkin were. Lightning was good at slowing down and stunning targets. As such he had been working on wide-area devices that would stun people Currently all he really had to show for his experiments was a pure Ein crystal that was twice the size of his head. It was large, aggressively so, and was jagged like a weapon. It was the only working model he had, but it was far more destructive than he wanted. It would work to stun people far from the object, but those nearby would probably die. He was not looking to make weapons, even if others wanted him to.

He thought that was what Stella was currently arguing about. Janette had caught wind of his experiment, and he had the feeling that Stella was arguing on his behalf. He would need to figure out how to thank her. Janette was someone he couldn’t really argue with. If Stella was there he could side with her, but he didn’t really have the confidence to argue on his own. Plus, his arguments were not for the sake of the war, but so that he could preserve his morals. He never wanted to become like Janette or Pali. It was poor manners to talk badly of the dead, but he couldn’t help but imagine Pali as the cruel soldier. Even after all the time he had spent with the man as a student, he couldn’t remember Pali as the teacher. Every time he thought of the man, he could only remember the fiery death he had summoned, and the unflinching coldness that had been in his eyes.

He shook his head dismissing the images. He set the collar back on the table, the rock bracelet clanging with the metal table. Strangely, Stella had requested that he made the stone resemble metal. Ein couldn’t actually make metal, but he had done a pretty good job. The silvery stone even made a metal sound as it hit the metal table beneath. He looked around the room and finding nothing of interest slumped further into the chair. Now only his head really stuck out over the table.

In the past, he had loved spending time by himself. A quiet space with little more than a book was his dream. Now, he just felt bored and alone. It had only been a few hours since he had last seen someone, but he already wanted it to end. Stella’s argument would last a while, and his family was busy with the reconstruction. His father’s library was being upgraded to an official institute building and would offer a wider range of books to the public. Including offering a service to check someone’s potential for learning Ein. According to Janette, it would be a good idea for him to appear more active in the community itself. His family running a place like that would do a lot to help solidify his position.

Janette was strangely invested in making him into a proper councilor, and he had no idea why. He had already accepted the position and it wasn’t something that people lost easily. The only way he knew was death, and that was hopefully not in his near future. Still, he listened to her advice. So long as it wasn’t related to the war itself, he would trust her on other matters.

Originally, he had planned on helping his family with the construction and planning, but his mother had kicked him out. She had basically told him that he had no sense for appearances, and she would not have him ruining it. With all of that, he was left completely alone for the moment. Sighing, he pushed himself up. With how he was slouching in his seat he needed to use the table to right himself. He leaned over to the opposite end of the table and reached for the mug there. He had moved while he was working, and now he couldn’t reach it.

He stretched his fingers trying to wrap around the cup. He pushed the mug a little bit, but in the wrong direction. He thought about getting up to grab it but remembered he could just use his Ein. He began chanting but stopped as he noticed the liquid in the mug move. He didn’t feel anything move though and wondered what had happened.

A split second later the lights went out. His room was pitched almost in pure darkness. The weapon he had made glowed with a faintly blue light, giving him the ability to still look around. How did the lights fail? Janette had some ward that provided Ein to all the small instruments in the building. Unlike the lights that needed to be refilled that most people had, these were constantly supplied Ein by her wards. He pushed his seat back, the noise it made while scrapping against the ground reminded him why he didn’t usually do that. Hopefully, the knights would know what was going on.

He started walking towards it but froze when he heard something from the other side. While he couldn’t be certain, it sounded like someone falling over. The thump was somewhat subdued by the walls. However, the scream that came afterward was loud. It broke as if someone had forced it to end, and he stepped away from the door. He considered ducking under the table to hide but knew it wouldn’t work. These tables had open spaces beneath the tabletops, and the light from his weapon would be enough to reveal him. Seeing the object, he considered using it.

Ultimately, he decided it was too risky, If the knights outside were still alive then his weapon would definitely kill them. Before he could come up with another idea, the door burst open. It literally broke off its hinges and flew into the wall. There was enough force behind that to do shake the whole room itself. He just stared for a second as the door imprinted itself against the back wall. How much force was needed to do something like that? Even as he was still processing what had happened with the door, a person moved into the room.

The man was easily a hand taller than Wilt, but he moved with an impossible speed. He didn’t bother hiding his face, and Wilt thought that the man’s eyes were glowing. They seemed to thrum with some kind of hidden fire and his irises shone a pale orange. Faster than his mind could really comprehend, an object flew towards Wilt. Something on his chest lit up, and the ax crashed into the air in front of him. The very air seemed to crack like glass, but it held against the ax. Visions of the rocks smashing through his barrier passed through his mind. Whatever this thing was, it was weaker than the previous monster.

“Fire explode!”

He raised his right palm towards the monster and spoke his chant as fast as he could. He would let his raw power help improve his control, and just wanted to get the words out. Fire poured out from his palm. It was thick and almost moved like a river as it ran towards the man. He focused on his control, imagining it wrapping around the man and pushing him away. It seemed to respond, but the man jumped to the side. His speed was just incredible, but it didn’t matter. The flames had already filled most of the room, and Wilt focused the heat and the flames entirely on the man. He wanted to end this fight quickly. Images of the previous monster overlapped with the person before him.

Rather than break his concentration, his fear had done the opposite. He felt like he was better able to track the man’s movements. Like he was somehow responding more quickly too. Still, he couldn’t how to keep up with the man. He needed to slow him down somehow. His eye fell onto the collar, and the idea struck him. It pulled him out of his fears, as he imagined what would happen to Stella if he failed here.

The man jumped at Wilt, a hatched raised in what would obviously be a killing blow. Without thinking, he spoke another word.

“Lightning!”

It exploded out of him, a force that he fired without worrying about aim. He imagined the lighting spreading out without actually touching him. It responded in kind though a second too late. The blade of the hatched dug into his shoulder, as the man crashed through the barrier. Even swathed in fire, he didn’t seem at all bothered by the pain.

The lightning came through, and he couldn’t help but feel a little relieved as the blade stopped moving. The man let go of his weapon and crashed to the ground as the power ran through him. Wilt could smell his flesh cooking and was horrified at the sight. It looked like something only a god should be able to do. Then everything went white, his ears and eyes burned with searing pain. The whole world seemed to quake at the power.