“Animals being able to use these powers just like enlightened beings never ceases to fascinate me. As does how they can grow to eventually become enlightened themselves given enough time. For my next experiment, I’ll be taking care of and observing an Ether Beast kitten. To make myself more attached and develop a Bond between us, I named him Whiskers… I hope he doesn’t mind the name once his powers make him intelligent enough to grasp the concept of names.. It should be fine… right?”

  -Note by The Archivist

  Galen Daxton never thought the woman from his dream would want to kill him.

  Well, he didn’t know for certain Aria was, in fact, the young woman from his strangely surreal and recurring dream.

  Neither did he know for certain that she wanted to end his life. At least, she hadn’t voiced the desire to…

  Yet.

  Why was he having such thoughts, one might ask?

  What else was he supposed to believe when he’d met her gaze and been greeted with a glare overflowing with animosity?

  He and Aria were currently resting in a natural cave they’d found amid the hot plains of Axis Mundi.

  It had been a few days since he and the young elf girl had taken Aleksi’s offer to go with him to meet the Rebellion. The existence of which he was still kicking himself for not having so much as suspected.

  Of course there would be a rebellion of some kind, he chided himself, there’s no way something as authoritarian and tyrannical as the Dominion could exist without there being a resistance.

  His mind had yet to cease being a chaotic mess, swirling with thoughts that all vied for his attention. He’d bet the winds of a tornado would be green with envy if they could see how violently his thoughts flew about in his head.

  He glanced to Aria again, who sat against the wall opposite of him hugging her knees, in an attempt to distract himself.

  He’d been meaning to talk with her, but every time he tried, that glare of hers he was inevitably met with killed any courage he’d managed to muster up.

  He shuddered as he was met with that same glare in this most recent attempt to sneak a glance at her. So intense… he thought with a drop of sweat, if the term “looks could kill” were a person, she’d be the picture.

  The two were currently alone while Aleksi did a quick patrol around the area to make sure they hadn’t been followed. Galen figured it was as good a chance as any to try to talk with Aria, but he was having trouble mustering up the nerve to initiate.

  Eventually, it was Aria herself who’d started the conversation. Only she began with a long, annoyed exhale before shooting him another intense glare. “Just what,” she began, “do you find so fascinating about me, ashborn?”

  “Huh?” he squeaked out.

  Greeeeaaaat. What a fantastic way to start the conversation, you moron! he reprimanded himself.

  “Don’t play dumb with me,” she scoffed, “though, being a hume, I’m sure you don’t require much effort to act.”

  Did she just call me stupid? Galen thought, feeling offended.

  “You know what, boss? I think she did!” Redian, his sentient sword snickered in his mind.

  You hush! he thought back to the sword.

  To Aria, he responded, “Umm… have I… done anything to offend you?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him.

  He gulped, “I mean… you’ve been rather hostile since we set out with Aleksi. Did I do something wrong or...?”

  “You’re a hume,” Aria responded as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

  Silence followed. Tense silence.

  Galen knit his brows in confusion as the lull in the conversation dragged on. Finally, hesitantly, he asked, “Was… was that supposed to be an answer? Because I don’t get it.”

  Aria furrowed her brow, “Are you serious?”

  “Very,” Galen returned her frown, “and why do you keep calling me that. Hume, I mean? What’s that supposed to mean? You also called me an ashborn?”

  She’d been calling him those ever since they’d met. Not once had she referred to him by name, despite the fact that he was certain she remembered it.

  “They are ways to refer to you humans,” Aria explained, looking surprised she even needed to explain it, “it’s usually used to refer to the more despicable of your kind.”

  Your kind? Galen raised a brow at that before pointing out aloud, “As few people as we’ve interacted with so far, you’ve referred to every single human as a ‘hume’ or ‘ashborn’…”

  “I’m aware,” Aria responded curtly.

  Though she didn’t voice it, Galen could have sworn she left out at the end, “That’s the point, you idiot.”

  Didn’t think I’d be dealing with racism of all things in this world… he thought.

  Earth, or at least the United States, had been lacking in that. At least, blatant and in your face racism.

  Oh, it existed alright, but unlike in more Asian countries, where it was more pronounced, the vast majority of the US didn’t really care what race you were, with discrimination being pretty frowned upon.

  As proof, if one were to use a derogatory term against someone of another ethnicity in public, they would be judged rather harshly by their peers and society at large. Heck, there were even laws discouraging such behavior in many areas. An example being, crimes being committed against someone for racial motivations. Such an act would be designated as a hate crime. And heaven forbid if social media so much as suspected you to be guilty of racism.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Given all this, Galen had been rather sheltered from being racially discriminated against. The thought that it would ever happen to him never even crossed his mind. So it felt extremely weird that he was currently being judged by another, not even for the color of his skin, but for being a human of all things.

  Other worlds are weird… he thought.

  “So,” he summarized aloud, “the words ‘hume’ and ‘ashborn’ are derogatory terms used to discriminate against humans in this world. Got it.”

  Aria snorted, “Please, you act as though you humes don’t use similarly demeaning terms for us elves.”

  He blinked, “They do?”

  She was incredulous, “Yes! You ashborn call us elves ‘tree huggers’, ‘knife ears’, and ‘sap drinkers’ for Maker’s sake.”

  It was then that Galen remembered a certain heavy, despicable noble he’d come across. Back when he first learned that slavery within the Dominion existed. And then all the times his former “guards” had used such terminology to refer to elves.

  Aria must have seen the remembrance on his face, “See? You remember now, don’t you?”

  “I do,” he responded, feeling disgusted, “and I think that’s equally distasteful to do. People shouldn’t judge one another for simply being what they are. That doesn’t sit well with me.”

  She hadn’t expected that response. Her mouth opened to reply, but no sound came out. Instead, she slowly closed her mouth and looked away from him.

  “Also,” Galen added, “I don’t think it’s exactly fair for you to be calling me those things. For one, not every human is so despicable. Two, I’m not from this world at all. So on what basis do you think I'd be so terrible?”

  Aria met his eyes, and responded simply, “Your predecessor.”

  His voice died in his throat as he remembered the First Champion. Someone just like him, who’d been summoned from Earth to become the Champion of the humans of Avani. He’d eventually grown to lead the armies of the humans against the elves. Not only pushing back their invasion of the human Realm, but going as far as to conquer Axis Mundi. Which was then followed by the Great Fragmentation, separating all the Realms from each other and leading Avani to its current state.

  Redian spoke in his mind, “Wow, you just gonna take what she said lying down, boss?!”

  Galen ignored the sword, as he rebutted, “You're forgetting something very important.”

  “Oh? And that is?” Aria challenged.

  “I am not he.”

  She frowned at that, “Please. That’s your rebuttal? You ashborn are all the same-”

  “I saved you, didn’t I?” he reminded her, making her freeze, “in spite of knowing what it would cost me.”

  Aria began to look conflicted, before growling and hissing, “Enough! You have yet to answer my initial question. Just what do you find so fascinating about me? And don’t deny it! I’ve see you sneaking glances my way when you think I’m not looking.”

  Galen flushed, a reaction that was apparently contrary to what she’d been expecting given her befuddlement.

  He pushed his embarrassment aside, and asked, “This is going to sound stupid. I mean REALLY stupid. Like, RIDICULOUSLY so. But please, just humor me. Have we… have we ever met before? Like, before that day when I saved you in that alleyway.”

  Aria raised her brows at him, completely incredulous.

  Perhaps seeing the sincerity in his eyes, she answered without ridicule, “No. I’m sure I would have remembered meeting the Dominion’s Champion of all people.”

  Scratch that. Without much ridicule...

  “Right,” Galen leaned his head back against the hard rock wall, “of course. I just… I wanted to make sure.”

  Another moment of silence passed between them.

  He turned back to Aria, only to find her studying him curiously, head tilted in a manner he found oddly endearing.

  “Do I remind you of someone?” she suddenly asked.

  Galen nearly choked on his spit. He sputtered out in between coughs, “W-what?!”

  “That’s it, isn’t it? I remind you of someone. That’s why you keep glancing in my direction,” Aria nodded, having decided with finality that that was the reason, “so, who is it? Who do I remind you of?”

  “It-it’s not important right now!” he cried out, cheeks flushing.

  She raised a brow, “Not important? After you’ve bugged me so, I believe I deserve an answer.”

  Galen exhaled, “Look, you wouldn’t believe me even if I told you. Let’s just leave it at that for now, alright?!”

  She locked eyes with him, her gaze as intense as ever.

  One moment passed.

  Then another.

  And just when Galen thought she’d refuse to let the matter drop, she grunted, “Fine.”

  He sighed with relief, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes, trying to ignore the sensation of her staring holes into him.

  ***

  Aria Tufani gazed at the ashborn, Galen Daxton, with conflicting emotions.

  He confused her. No, he downright baffled her.

  This hume was supposed to have been the Champion of the Dominion. She’d expected him to be the living incarnation of all of humankind’s vices. Bloodthirsty, warmongering, greedy, prideful, selfish…

  But from what she’d seen of him thus far, he’d been none of that.

  And because of that, it had made her feel a tad guilty for insinuating that he was slow of wit.

  SHE’D felt guilty toward a HUME. A hume!

  Her eyes narrowed as she continued to stare at him. She did so partly to pay him back for all the times he’d snuck glances her way. She was being petty, she knew, but she couldn’t help it. She was irritable from lack of sleep. It’d been difficult for her to fall into blissful unconsciousness the past few nights because every time she’d managed to, she’d had a nightmare.

  And every time, that nightmare had been of her mother’s death.

  She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, and blinked hard to keep the tears from spilling out. She pressed her lips into a thin, tight line, and finally looked away from the ashborn, Daxton. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and get her mind away from thoughts of her mother.

  To do so, she tried to enter Ether Meditation.

  It was something her mother had once described to her. The memory made her chest ache, but she forced herself to bear with it as she recalled Anila’s instructions and explanations.

  “Ether Meditation,” Anila had lectured, “is a training exercise meant to help you hone your sense and control of the power. First you cut off your other senses as best you can.”

  Aria did so, closing her eyes and covering her ears with her hands.

  “Next,” Anila’s voice in her mind continued, “you breathe in the Ether as you would normally. Only you focus your mental energy as much as you can on only the power you take in. Focus on it, down to the most minute detail. Feel how it courses throughout your body. Look internally and study how it flows within your Capacity.”

  Aria did.

  With her keen sight cut off and her sharp hearing dampened by her hands, she could almost see a picture in her mind. The Ether, as it was in Axis Mundi, was naturally of the Fire Affinity. She could sense how, as it entered her body, the Affinity bled away, as though being purified, until it became a colorless, clear essence within her Capacity.

  That was Ether in its most natural form.

  She studied how it flowed and swirled in her Capacity, noting how its movements seemed to be… agitated?

  No doubt that was caused by her grief from thinking of her mother. She continued to focus on the power as she breathed it in. Calming it. Studying it.

  With her heightened focus on it, she could feel a cooling sensation from the Ether. It was a pleasant one. Almost like being hit with a refreshing, cool breeze or drinking something cold on a hot day.

  She sighed contentedly, almost feeling at peace…

  Then, unexpectedly, she fell asleep.

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