Many theories have been made in regard to the existence of the Champion’s original world relative to Avani. Are they in the same universe? Are they in separate realities altogether? Many lean towards the latter due to the absence of Ether in the Champion’s world, a concept alien to all in Avani. However, I have my doubts. Ether, for as amazing as it is, has its limits. And I highly doubt even the most powerful of Ethereans can punch a hole in the fabric of reality.
-Note by the Archivist
After another day of training between Galen and Tufani, they sat by one another in the cavern, resting. Today’s training had focused on speed, which made Galen recall how he, Tufani, and Aleksi had traveled for most of the way here.
They’d covered the most ground when Aleksi had carried them. Tufani hadn’t liked the idea, which he now knew was due to the physical contact necessary for carrying her, but she’d relented given how long and fast Aleksi could move. The man had run for hours at a steady pace, but as skilled and powerful as he was with Ether, even he’d needed to take several breaks over the course of their travels. Still, the distance they’d covered was ridiculous, and if Galen had been keeping track, then he’d likely be shocke-
“There was a day where you guys traveled over eighty miles,” Redian cheerfully chimed in.
Galen nearly choked on the water he’d been drinking.
He coughed loudly, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Tufani, though she was quick to go back to meditating.
Excuse me?! he thought to the sword.
“You heard me!” Redian snickered, “accept it! Do not run from the truth!”
Galen rolled his eyes, I’m not running. I’m just shocked, is all. Damn, it’s as though we traveled by car with that distance covered.
“Ah, you mean that weird four wheeled contraption I see in your memories?” the sword asked.
He frowned at that, Why are you calling it weird? Wait, don’t tell me the Dominion doesn’t have motor vehicles?
“As far as I can remember, nope.”
Galen blanched at that, You’ve GOT to be joking. How does the Dominion have airships, but not cars?! What they do have seems a heck of a lot more complicated to make than what they don’t have!
Redian gave him a mental shrug, “Well, going off what I see from your memories, the answer is simply that Ether Beasts are faster.”
He paused at that, Elaborate.
“Let’s take that one Ether Beast you fought with the elf girl as an example. How does it compare to another arachnid that couldn’t use Ether?”
Well, for one thing, that scorpion was WAY bigger than any from my world. And that’s not even getting into the fact that that damned thing could breathe FIRE! he answered.
“And it was MUCH stronger and faster than it would be without Ether, right?”
Galen nodded, I see what you’re getting at here. If the Dominion can breed horses with the potential to become Ether Beasts, then those things would be able to cross distances incredibly quickly.
“Righty-O, boss!”
Galen thought about how taming horses had gone for the humans of his world. His mother had explained just how much people had relied on them before the invention of motor vehicles. It used to be that only the rich owned motor vehicles while the common man owned horses. In Galen’s modern world, however, it became flipped.
He had a thought just then, How much would an Ether Beast horse cost compared to a normal one?
“A single Ether Beast horse can cost as much as twenty normal ones. And that’s on the cheap end,”Redian answered.
Galen would have done a spit take had he been drinking water. His jaw dropped, That’s insane!
“Yeah, as you can imagine, only those with lots of moolah can afford them.”
I wonder why! he thought back sarcastically.
“You know,” Tufani suddenly spoke, snapping him out of his mental conversation with Redian.
He turned to her, and, in spite of her stoic expression, swore he saw a hint of amusement in her eyes. The two of them were currently alone if they didn’t count Redian, something he was hyper aware of whenever they trained together.
She continued, “It’s surprisingly entertaining watching you have a mental conversation with that sword of yours.”
Galen flushed, “Is it now?”
She nodded, and gave him a light smile, “The faces you make at random are especially comical.”
His blush deepened. The air between them had become notably friendlier after they’d comforted each other the other day.
He looked away from her, grumbling, “I really need to learn to stop showing my feelings whenever I’m talking to Redian.”
“From what I can tell, you’re not very good at hiding your emotions,” she noted.
Galen sighed, “Yeah, I know. I wish I could be more like you in that regard.”
She blinked in surprise before smiling, “I learned from my mother…”
Her expression fell a bit, as it usually did when she spoke of her mom.
He eyed her, hesitating for a moment before deciding to bite the bullet, “So, how are you holding up?”
“With what?” she asked.
“You know what,” Galen frowned, “regarding what we talked about… you know, yesterday.”
“I’m fine,” Tufani was quick to answer, her cheeks flushing.
He gave her a flat look.
She ignored him, her blush still present.
At least I’m not the only one still affected by that, he thought with his own blush.
He sighed, “Fine. We don’t have to talk about that if you don’t want to. However!”
He scooted closer to her. She jumped a bit, not having expected him to suddenly close the distance.
“There’s other stuff we can talk about. I still want to know more about your people and their culture!” Galen grinned, leaning forward.
Tufani leaned back, furrowing her brows, “Why are you so insistent about that?”
“Ah…” he sat upright and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, “it’s just kind of my thing, you see…”
“Your thing? What does THAT mean?”
“Back in my world, I loved learning about history and about different cultures. That stuck with me, even after I was brought to Avani.”
Tufani raised a brow, “What of the Dominion then? Don’t tell me you learned everything there is to know in half a year?”
“Of course not,” he knit his brows, “I WAS excited to learn about the Dominion’s culture too… but, as I came to learn more about it, well… let’s just say I wasn’t a fan. What with the eugenics, and literal human supremacy and enslavement of other races and whatnot.”
She huffed, “A deranged set of values for an equally demented race. Seems fitting.”
Galen raised his brows at her.
“What?” she frowned.
“Nothing, just… I thought you were getting better about the whole… you know… racism against humans thing?”
Tufani gave him a flat look, “Apologies, Daxton, but allow me to enslave YOUR entire race for centuries after pushing a war to the point that the Great Fragmentation was deemed necessary. Then, if you still feel the same way, I’ll retract what I said.”
“I mean, I understand WHY you’d resent humans so much. But I just thought that Aleksi and I had shown you that not all of us are like the slavers you had to deal with.”
She was silent for a long moment before sighing and hugging her knees, “Perhaps. You claim to understand my feelings Daxton-”
“Only to a certain degree of course,” he was quick to clarify.
She nodded, “If that’s the case, then you should understand my feelings will not be so easily changed.”
He gave his own nod at that. He then surprised himself by suddenly asking her, “Then… how do you feel about me?”
His eyes bugged out and he immediately blushed deeply as he realized what he’d just asked. He gulped as Tufani turned her head to look him in the eye, regarding him with a stoic expression that he couldn’t read.
Why did I ask that?! he mentally berated himself.
She asked, “Why do you care how I feel about you?”
He gulped, and decided to just be honest, “Your opinion matters to me.”
“Why?”
“It just does.”
Her brows furrowed, “You know… I’ve been wondering something about you.”
Galen felt suddenly uneasy, “And that is?”
“First, you went out of your way to save me back when we first met,” she began, “then you go out of your way to help me by vouching for my quest with the Rebellion leaders, going as far as promising to join them in exchange for giving me extra aid. You’ve been nothing but kind and helpful to me. And don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for that. But… Why? Why do all that for me when we’ve barely known each other?”
The image of the woman from his dreams flashed in his mind, melding nearly perfectly with the sight of Tufani before him.
“Well?” she pressed.
His heart began to race, and he nervously answered, “I… I told you already, didn’t I? I did all that because it was the right thing to do.”
“And I believe you,” Tufani tilted her head in a manner he found cute, “but I get the feeling that isn’t your only reason.”
“I don’t think you’d believe me even if I told you,” Galen said honestly as he looked away, “particularly not when even I don’t entirely know the answer.”
He could feel Tufani’s intense gaze drilling into him, but he didn’t say anything more.
Perhaps realizing she wasn’t going to be getting anything more out of him on this topic, she sighed, “Fine. You didn’t press me earlier, so I’ll return the favor here.”
He let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.
“You wanted to know about my people, right? What do you want to know?”
He thought about it for a moment. He decided to list off what he knew about the elves so far, “Well, I know you and your people are very particular when it comes to physical contact, and that you refer to others using their surname since using their first name is an indication of closeness.”
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Tufani nodded, “Correct, my people are very reserved, particularly compared to you humes.”
“Right! So I guess that leads into my first question. What kind of clothes do elves normally wear?”
She scowled, “My people are forced to wear revealing, hole riddled, worn out rags.”
“Uh…” Galen flushed, “s-sorry. I should have specified. I meant, outside of the whole… you know… slavery bit. What kind of clothes do your people wear?”
Tufani flushed a bit as well, realizing she’d misunderstood, “Ah… That’s what you meant. My apologies… Well, I wouldn’t know to be honest.”
“Really?” Galen raised a brow.
“Yes. The aforementioned rags were all that the Dominion allowed us to wear. If any of us were to try to wear something different, even if we made it ourselves, we’d be whipped for it. Although, Sana and Onas were slaves in the Second Circle of Ignis. There, the slaves wore better quality clothing, but it was still far more revealing than we’d like,” she explained.
He caught on to that last bit, “So, elves don’t like to show skin?”
“Of course not!” she flushed, “you’re only supposed to show your skin to your beloved!”
Galen stared at her for a moment, then began snickering.
“What?!” Tufani glared.
“Nothing, nothing,” he wiped a tear from his eye, smiling, “it’s just, I see now that your people are very conservative, is all.”
He took a deep breath, “So, while we’re on this topic, let me ask. For an elf woman, what skirt length is acceptable?”
Tufani narrowed her eyes at him, “That’s a strangely specific question.”
“Hey now! I don’t have any impure motives! I’m just curious about something,” he explained, feeling a bit offended that she thought he had perverse intentions.
She raised a brow, but answered anyway, “It should be obvious. A woman’s skirt should reach low enough to cover her ankles.”
He blinked, “So, what would your people think if they saw an elf woman wearing something that exposed their ankles?”
Tufani flushed a bit, though she kept her cool, “I can see some of the older elves calling her a harlot.”
Galen smiled, feeling a bit mischievous, “And what do you think?”
She hesitated, but answered, “I don’t think it’s THAT big of a deal if an elf woman shows her ankles. Though I do think it’s a bit risque, if I’m being honest.”
His smile widened, the urge to tease Tufani overcoming him, “And what if an elf woman decided to wear a dress that, say, only went down to her knees?”
That got the reaction he’d hoped for out of the teen elf.
She flushed deeply, and cried out, “Wha- that’s completely indecent! No elf in their right mind would willingly wear something so… so… lewd!”
Galen laughed at her reaction, causing her to pout and grumble. That only made his smile widen, for he found the sight completely adorable. He had the sudden urge to hug her then, but he held himself back.
He didn’t want to suffer an Ether enhanced punch to the face, after all.
“Why are you laughing?” she grumbled.
“Your reaction was hilarious,” he answered honestly, eliciting a glare from her.
“Sorry, sorry,” he chuckled, “part of the reason I got such a laugh out of it was because, if you found a knee length dress scandalous, then you’d absolutely faint if you saw what some of the women of my world wore.”
Tufani sniffed, “I’m well aware you ashborn don’t care much for decency. No doubt the women you mentioned must wear dresses that go above the knees.”
She actually shuddered at the thought.
Which only made him laugh again, “Oh, you are preciously innocent, Tufani!”
She gave him a wide-eyed stare, looking mortified, “You mean to tell me it gets worse than that?!”
He hesitated to tell her, but his mischievous side won out, “Let me tell you what a lot of the women of my world wore during our hotter seasons.”
He gestured for her to lean in, then whispered the information to her.
He could SEE Tufani’s elf ears turning dark red.
She flinched back with a squeak, “What is WRONG with the women of your world?!”
He just shrugged. To him, it was normal, though the way Tufani was acting reminded him of his mother. Olivia always did think that the majority of modern day women were too immodest.
That brought a smile to his face, albeit a forlorn one.
His mood brightened when he saw Tufani shuddering, hugging herself and looking as though she was suffering second hand embarrassment. Her face was red all the way to her elf ears.
She glowered at him, “You realize what you just told me only reinforces my belief that you humes are a demented race.”
“Uh…”
Well shoot. He hadn’t meant to do that.
“Honestly…” she shook her head, “for the Maker’s sake. The people of your world could learn a thing or two about modesty.”
“You sound like my mom,” Galen chuckled.
She raised a brow at that.
“My mom was the most religious person in my family,” he explained, “modesty was among the virtues that our religion tries to instill in its followers.”
Aria’s remaining brow raised to meet the other. She looked surprised, though Galen didn’t know why.
“You’re religious?” she asked.
He frowned, “No need to sound so surprised… I am! Kinda?”
She gave him a flat look, “Kinda? There is no ‘kinda’ when it comes to being religious.”
He straightened, feeling a bit convicted. “Well,” he deflected, “in that case, what about you? Are YOU religious?”
“…”
Tufani broke eye contact, and muttered under her breath so quietly he barely heard it, “Kind of…”
“HA!”
“Oh shut it!” she snapped, “I don’t know how I feel about my faith, alright?!”
“Well, I guess that makes two of us,” he said.
She gave him a skeptical look.
“I’m being serious,” he responded, “being summoned to a new world kind of brings with it a whole bunch of theological implications that I haven’t had the nerve to try and tackle just yet.”
“Oh come on. It can’t be that bad.”
“Oh yeah?” he challenged, “riddle me this then. What does me being summoned to a new world mean?”
She tilted her head in confusion.
He clarified, “What I mean is this. Was I summoned to a new reality altogether, one different to my own? If so, then that means there exists potentially an infinite number of realities with infinite possibilities. Or if Avani is a world that exists in the same reality as my own, then doesn’t that confirm that life on other planets, other worlds, exists?”
Tufani simply stared at him, expression stoic and unreadable. Finally she said, “I think you gave me a headache.”
Galen spread his arms theatrically, “Welcome to my theological and philosophical dilemma, Tufani!”
She sighed, “Are you sure you aren’t just making it more complicated than it is?”
He frowned at that suggestion, “How so?!”
She shrugged, “Well, for one, I doubt your first hypothesis is true.”
“On what basis?”
“Ether has its limits,” she answered simply, “what an Etherean can do with it is amazing. But there is a limit to what the power can do and accomplish.”
“Such as?”
“Bring back the dead,” Tufani stated bitterly, “my… my mother explained it to me once. Once a person is dead, there is no bringing them back. Nothing short of a miraculous revival by the Maker Himself can bring the dead back to life.”
Galen fell quiet at that. He’d never considered the limits of what Ether could do, and he certainly hadn’t thought about the possibility of using the power to resurrect someone.
“Another example is the Great Fragmentation,” Tufani continued, “the other races all worked together, channeling the power of Ether in an attempt to isolate and seal the Realms the ashborn controlled. To this day, no one knows what went wrong. Maybe they used too much of the power. Or maybe they simply couldn’t control the unparalleled amount of Ether they had channeled. What we do know, however, is that that event was the single, most immense and powerful use of Ether that the world had ever seen. And yet the Great Fragmentation did only that. Fragment the world.”
She turned to look Galen in the eye, “That’s why I think your first hypothesis is wrong. If that much Ether, gathered from all but two Realms, could only accomplish a separation of the Realms, then… well, I highly doubt the Dominion and Athanasius could have gathered enough Ether to punch a hole in the fabric of reality itself to drag you into Avani from a completely different dimension.”
Galen opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then repeated the action as though he were a fish out of water. Finally, he said, “That’s… those are great points actually…”
She smiled, clearly proud that she’d convinced him.
She then continued, “Now, your second point. If my world and yours are in the same reality, then the only revelation there is that life exists on other worlds…”
She paused, “…and I’ll admit that that is a rather mind numbing one. But I still think you’re over complicating it. I don’t know what your religion is or what it teaches, Daxton. However, the faith of my people preaches that there exists one God, whom we call the Maker, and that He created all things. So, your world and my own are simply part of that vast creation. Simple.”
Galen tilted his head at her, “So… the religion of the elves is a monotheistic one? Your people believe that there is only a single, all powerful God?”
She nodded.
Huh, that’s interesting, he noted.
He took a moment to mentally go over everything Tufani had told him. Given he could now seemingly get rid of the hypothesis that he might be in another reality, that meant he could have been summoned to another planet in the same universe as Earth.
Despite her claims that this possibility was simple, there were still certain questions and implications that he was struggling with. For one, why does Avani have something as fantastical as the power of Ether if it’s in the same universe as Earth? His home world certainly didn’t have any magic or superpowers as far as he knew.
There was also the question of WHERE exactly he was in the universe if he was still in the same reality. That was probably a moot point since the universe was so infinitely vast that he could be quite literally ANYWHERE. He could be in another solar system in the same galaxy, for example. Or he could be in another galaxy altogether! Hell, it could even be as extreme as being in another cluster or supercluster!!!
Tufani had said this explanation was simply, but there was no way she knew about the mind bending vastness of space. The mortal mind simply couldn’t comprehend it. Case in point, his mind began to swim. As what typically happened when one tried to comprehend the infinite vastness of space.
Okay… yeah, maybe Tufani has a point. Maybe I am over-complicating this… he thought, regardless of where in the universe I’m at, the ultimate point is that I was able to be summoned to Avani, so I should theoretically be able to be taken back to Earth… I hope…
Satisfied with that for now, he shelved the mind numbing cosmic stuff aside and mentally went over what Tufani had told him of the elves. There was so much more he wanted to learn, but just then, Aleksi of all people came to check on them.
Well poo… he thought, feeling a bit annoyed, not that the man had returned, but that he’d chosen this moment to do so.
He frowned as noted, “Ah, you’re back.”
Aleksi nodded, “Came to check on you two. I returned a while ago, but decided to get some sleep in. I’ve had a few sleepless nights after all.”
“How long did you sleep?” Galen asked, concerned.
“About three hours, lad.”
“Uh, what?!” he frowned, “are you sure you don’t want to sleep some more?!”
His mentor popped his neck, “No, I’m good, lad. One handy thing about being an Etherean is that you need much less sleep than normal people. You’d be surprised at just how much more you can get done with the extra hours.”
The man eyed him and Tufani, and asked with a mischievous glint, “I wouldn’t happen to be interrupting anything between you two now, would I?”
Tufani began, “No, not particular-”
“Damn right you are!” Galen interrupted, “I had finally gotten the chance to ask Tufani about the elves, and we’d barely gotten into the discussion when you decided to wake up!”
Aleksi raised a brow, a playful smirk on his lips, “You can still do that, lad. I don’t see why my being here would prevent that from happening. I certainly have no qualms about it.”
“Nah,” Galen leaned back where he sat, hands behind his head, “not as much of a point to it if you’re awake.”
“Why’s that? Because you can’t talk to her alone in that case?” Aleksi jabbed.
Galen flushed, feeling like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Tufani frowned, shooting him a look, “Why does that matter?”
He sat back up, “It’s nothing… Don’t worry about it.”
“Sure,” Aleksi shook his head, chuckling as he did, “ah to be young again.”
***
Zareb couldn’t help but smile as he, Galen, and Tufani return from today’s training.
He bid them farewell as he went with his wonderful wife to spend some rare time together.
Lusha noticed his gaze towards the two youngsters, and giggled.
“You won’t believe it, love,” Zareb chuckled, “those two are actually starting to get along.”
Lusha laughed as she rested her head on his shoulder, “Get along? By the Maker’s grace dear, is that all you see?”
Zareb grinned, “No, no I can tell they’re growing closer. Faster than I expected as well, especially considering what Tufani was like when we met.”
“I doubted you at first,” Lusha admitted, “when you said that Galen would be able to change her views towards humans. But now I’m starting to believe you.”
His smile widened, both from his wife’s words as well as seeing the amusingly awkward air between Galen and Tufani.
Something had certainly happened between them, and he was immensely curious to learn what. However, that would be for either of them to tell him.
“Not to spoil the mood, love,” Lusha whispered, tone growing somber, “but have you updated either of them on the situation outside? Regarding the elf slaves?”
Zareb’s smile faded, “No. Not yet.”
Lusha took her head off from his shoulder and gave him a questioning look, “You’re not going to be able to keep the truth hidden from them for much longer.”
“I know, my love. I know. Void, Tufani is at the edge of losing her patience. I can only imagine it was by the Maker’s grace that she’s lasted this long without demanding an update.”
“Then will you-”
“Tomorrow,” Zareb interrupted, “I will inform them tomorrow. For this one last day, let’s let them rest. They might not have another chance to relax otherwise.”
Lusha nodded in understanding, but made sure to add, “I’ll hold you to it, love. If you don’t tell them tomorrow, I will.”
He could accept that. He had no doubt that Galen would keep calm. He had a good head on his shoulders for one so young. Aria Tufani, on the other hand…
There was darkness within her. Zareb could tell. He could see it in that intense gaze of hers. She was normally stoic, but underneath that mask was a fury that has been building for many years.
He only hoped that she wouldn’t let that rage overcome her when he broke the news to her.
That the Dominion was currently enacting a genocide against her people.
A huge thank you and special shoutout to my Myth Keeper tier Patron, Voltrus, and my Lore Master tier Patrons, Mountain Knight, Conman2731, ThoMiCroN, and MCE 2 Munchen 2. Your support is sincerely and greatly appreciated.
