Nathan was short and flabby man, his aura weaker than most of his peers, and was simply not intimidating. The man standing in his doorway, on the other hand, seemed to fill the small apartment without even entering it.

“I'm sorry to interrupt but are you Nathaniel Crest? I’m here from the Northwood Bank, you seem to have overdrafted your account.”

“There's no way I spent three thousand teras in a week you gotta be confused.” Nathan said anxiety washing over him. There really was no way he spent his pitiful life savings without knowing it. Even if all his bills had come at once he would have still had at least a grand in the bank.

“Well the medicines you purchased have been found to cause amnesia if you aren't prepared for them” He sneered ”You probably took them thinking you could handle it, but if you really want you can call customer service and file a claim. If it is fraud you’ll get your money back in a month guaranteed.”

“I don’t have a month though! Without that money I can’t pay my bills, my paycheck won't come in for another two weeks” Nathan complained.

“Not my problem, I'm just the messenger. Its company policy to tell you personally if you have a sudden deficit.” He said while turning and sauntering off to a car parked by the street outside Nathan's apartment. As he watched the man drive away Nathan closed the door before solemnly calling the bank. After an hour of pleading and arguing he got the bank worker to file a fraud claim and promise to contact the police. ‘How am I going to pay my bills? I can’t pick up anymore hours at the gas station and if I don’t get enough cash I’m gonna get evicted. Maybe… I could call her but…’ Shaking his head to clear his mind Nathan pulled out his phone and dialed his mother.

Picking himself off the floor after an hour and a half of lecturing about how foolish he was to get his identity stolen Nathan had at least secured his rent for the month. He checked the time before carrying himself to the shower and then bed. No time to get any of the video gaming he wanted to after this debacle, he had work early tomorrow and he had been told off enough for being tired at work.

Waking up early to the blaring sound of his morning alarm Nathan got up and put on his uniform. A grey T-shirt and jeans weren't the worst uniform, but the large badge he had to wear every day had made its job to be the bane of his life. Once he finished his morning preparations he set off to walk to work.’I should probably try getting in shape’ Nathan thought for the umpteenth time on his way to work. After giving it a bit more thought he started a light jog. Bumping past people on the busy sidewalks Nathan ran until his lungs spasmed and he fell to his knees sputtering. A few puffs of his inhaler later he was OK, for a sweaty out of shape man on the ground in the middle of the sidewalk. ‘One day I’ll cure my asthma.’ He had seen several articles about training methods that would help but had never put forth a lot of effort for one. Perhaps it was time for a change.

Arriving at work he noticed a suspicious lack of his manager. Sasha was many things but late had never been one of them. “Hey Sasha you in here?’ Nathan shouted. He glanced around the store but couldn’t find any signs of her. A few moments later she strolled in from the back room.

“Ya I was just talking to the owner about salaries. Got some good news, your getting a raise.” She said giving him a wink and a thumbs up.

“Perfect timing as usual. I really needed the money”

“Mhm get to work before I take it back” She teased before walking back to work at her desk in the back. Nathan got to his post as chief cashier of the lone register. Quickly bored during a bit of down time he searched on his phone for couple training techniques for his lungs. He found an interesting article about the Steel Lung training method. One had to use their essence to coat their lungs while breathing in order to trap unrefined ather in the lungs. The ather would slowly build up to intolerable levels and his soul would be pressured by the lack of fuel coming in. But if he did it right he would release the essence into his lungs, strengthening them and then sending ather to his soul. The key was that some ather would also remain in his lungs and build up, slowly adding to the essence refinement. Nathan re-read the article a few times before attempting it. He calmed his breathing, added the coating of essence and used it to hold the raw energy flowing in from the air. It took several tries but with a little perseverance he managed to get it right. Until he didn’t of course. Then he fell to the ground as the energies in his lungs went haywire, irritating his lungs and generally wreaking havoc in his chest. He got up to a concerned customer at the register. A few moments after she left Nathan gave it another try. And then a few more. By the time he was jogging back home he had managed to hold it for a few seconds. Which considering that he was effectively holding crude and refined soul fuel in his lungs and hoping they didn’t explode was fairly decent for one day. There was no way he wasn't going to try again. He had some modicum of success, which was far more than he had ever had with any other technique designed for lungs. And hope was a thing Nathan was willing to die for.