After his somewhat ominous words, Taran had Fade and I sit and kneel respectively on the remarkably flat stone facing each other, next to the ‘Silent Eye’. Almost conspiratorially, he directed Aveline over to a nearby tree where a large group of Nyxwings were nesting, their shining silver forms perched on dozens of branches. At some unseen signal, they fluttered down to play with the little girl, alternatively appearing to almost groom her with their thin little beaks and sing for her attention. Aveline seemed to be enjoying all of it, though. The sight was almost akin to something I would have seen in an old cartoon from back home; it was so picturesque.

  Still, I was thankful that Taran had something to keep my charge busy while I was being bound to Fade.

  Taran momentarily loomed over Fade and me on the expanse of stone, casting a critical eye between us. He eventually tsked with his lupine lips, a sound I hadn’t been aware canines were capable of. Before I could even ask him what the problem was, his massive form was suddenly enveloped in a familiar cloud of fog, and in moments, the shadow of Ely’s oldest son shrank. When the fog dissipated, Taran had once more assumed the form of his Human guise, ‘Talfrid’, complete with antlers. “You’re both far too tiny for me to do this in my true form,” He grumbled. “Typical fragile mortals.”

  Man, we’re not tiny. You’re just huge. I met Fade’s eyes to see a long-suffering look in them. Almost simultaneously, we rolled them.

  I think at this point, we were both used to the griping of the elderly around us. I grinned at him a moment later, though, something Fade returned.

  Man, it was good to see him again.

  I don’t think our little moment was missed by Taran, judging by the side-eye the disguised wolf sent us. “Hmph. To business, then. You know…” The older ‘man’ suddenly smirked at us. “You’re lucky to be undergoing this ritual in such a modern age. Why, before the coming of the System, it was a much more dangerous thing to bind another as Familiar. The bindees had to physically exchange hearts in that bygone age, and not just magically. I’m told it was quite a risky and brutal procedure. Lucky you that mortal existences are more flexible with a Status imprinted upon them.”

  I snorted at the old wolf’s taunting, not believing him for a second. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”

  I know for a fact you were born in the years just before the Initialization. If such a thing had ever happened, you had certainly never seen it.

  Taran shook his great antlered head. “Believe what you will,” He said, before focusing back on the two of us, suddenly much more serious. Fade and I straightened up under the regard. “Now, I shall be using this as a lesson for Fade, as well as an important life milestone. Nathaniel, now that we’re here, I shall need a promise from you. As you shall be binding your life to one of the People, you shall without a doubt be witness to many secrets involved in the Eldrydd Path. By command of the Great Spirits, we are not to instruct the mortal races in those practices. However, by simple proximity, you shall no doubt come to understand some parts of it. You must not,” He suddenly leaned down, capturing my gaze. “Speak those secrets to another. The security and safety of all Spirits could potentially be put in question. Our greatest defense is the mystery in which we have cloaked ourselves. A similar vow is being asked of Azarus as well, this very moment.”

  I furrowed my brow at Taran, a suspicion blooming. “Wait…does that mean I could potentially practice the Eldrydd Path as well? Could other mortals?”

  Taran grimaced under the curious gazes of both Fade and I. “…potentially, yes. None up to this point have managed to successfully recreate it for mortal use, but it is not out of the question with a Familiar bond. It is, in essence, simply a different way in which to channel, refine, and execute Mystical effects with Aether. Something more suited to the oftentimes diffuse existence of Spiritual beings. After intense research, it was devised by the Great Spirits as a formal method for the People to keep up with the System gifted.”

  “Okay…” I said slowly. “But if nobody has managed to recreate it, then why the caution?”

  “It has weaknesses,” Taran said bluntly, starting to pace before us. “For all their power, the Great Spirits are not the equals to whoever the architect of the System may have been. If those weaknesses were understood, then mortals, in all their power-hungry ‘glory’,” He said sarcastically, scowling off into the distance. “Could potentially be a threat to the freedom of Spiritkind. After all, you are well aware of how inclined mortals are to clasping chain and shackle around their own kind. What could they do, to mine?”

  I shifted where I sat, uneasy at the reminder of how rampant slavery was on Vereden. Not only in the Principality, but also from how Herztal had fought an actual civil war over whether or not the Sculpted counted as people or property. I took a deep breath and nodded firmly at Taran, placing one hand over my heart. “You have my word. I will never speak a word of any secret I learn about the Eldrydd Path of the Spirits to one who is not already initiated. This I promise, and may God strike me down if I lie.”

  Taran studied me for a moment before returning my nod. “God, hmm? Singular, I notice.” He shook his head. “Your beliefs are your own, Nathan. I thank you for your understanding of the seriousness of the situation. Now!” He suddenly clapped his hands, dispelling the serious atmosphere. “We may begin. Fade, did you manage to store the Chant I taught you?”

  An almost embarrassed look stole over the lupine face of Fade as he shook his head.

  In response, Taran shrugged. “Ah, well. It’s only to be expected. You still managed to learn it, which shall be enough. You may begin the Chanting, and I shall work the rest. Be still, Nathan,” He said to me. “No input from you will be required.”

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  With that, Taran stepped to the edge of the stone and stood there with his hands outstretched into the space between Fade and me. The younger Spirit Wolf exchanged a nod with the disguised elder one and took a deep breath.

  Actually, an almost unnaturally deep one, I noticed. It looked like he was taking in more air than his lungs could possibly hold.

  Wait. Wait a moment…

  I concentrated on my own Aetherial senses, halfway falling into the trance needed to use Aetherial Melding. Once I could halfway see the Aether currents of Vereden, my suspicions were confirmed.

  Fade wasn’t just breathing in air. He was breathing in Aether itself. Vast amounts of the raw Mystical energy were flooding into his body every second, in a veritable stream. This went on for several more seconds, until Fade stopped long enough to grimace.

  “The charge…” Taran whispered to me from one side of his mouth. “Now, the conversion.”

  Fade visibly concentrated on something, and I saw his fur start to stand on end. Nothing happened for the next several minutes as my companion focused ferociously, gritting his lupine teeth hard. Eventually, though, a change occurred.

  A slight blue mist escaped Fade’s nostrils, seemingly without his control. Suddenly, he appeared to briefly seize, and the young wolf coughed. With it came a much larger puff of the strange blue fog, enough that it reached me. When it did, I felt a brief, familiar sizzle on my skin from the sensation.

  That was Mana. Somehow, through an internal process, Fade was synthesizing Mana from raw Aether manually. Normally, such a thing was done in an entirely automated process, for Awoken like myself who had broken through the first Breakpoint. But, I suppose, without a System to help shoulder the burden, Spiritkind had to refine the energy unassisted. It was kind of…weak, too, I found. In comparison to my own Mana, the energy density wasn’t quite as intense.

  I wonder…did Spirits who used Ki have to undergo the same process to refine the Aether? Probably, I eventually decided.

  “A slight amount of leakage, but well within tolerances for this Chant,” Taran whispered. “And now…the shaping.”

  Fade opened his mouth once more…

  And began to howl, in a manner different than what I’d ever heard from him in the past. This time…

  There was a musical quality to the howls that escaped Fade’s adolescent throat. All of them were deliberate in their length and pitch, flowing from one to the other. In comparison to what I had expected from something called ‘Chanting’, this sounded more like singing to me. And he was good at it, too. While I could tell that Fade was still young and inexperienced, there was an undeniable beauty to the tones of Fade’s song, earnestness and emotion audible in every warbling note. I found myself smiling to hear it, and I noticed that Aveline and her feathery friends had stopped in their play to watch his performance. From the expression of fascination I could see on her face, I could tell that she was enjoying this just as much as I was.

  Strangely, though, none of the Mana that Fade had refined escaped him with every note. Something was happening, though. I could feel Fade’s internal Mana now that I was concentrating on it, roiling just beneath his skin. Unlike mine, his wasn’t bound up in his soul. No, he was shaping his Mana in his body.

  At some unseen signal, Fade opened his eyes and nodded at Taran tensely, never stopping for a moment in his performance. That must have been all the older wolf needed because suddenly, his apparent Mana exploded from his disguised body. There was no song, no performance from the oldest son of Elys.

  No, his dark blue, nearly black Mana abruptly grew thick enough in the air that it shrouded us completely. The intense power of Taran had been shaped into a kind of shield around the ritual site, cutting off the outside world of his home. I lost sight of not only Aveline, but the Aetherial pulse of Vereden. I was a bit startled, actually. I kind of recognized this almost environmental sterilizing effect.

  This was just like the Isolation Chambers I’d seen used for mine and Sylvia’s Ascension Rituals.

  The notes of Fade’s performance only echoed in this bubble for a few more seconds, because he abruptly looked down and locked eyes with me. The moment my emeralds met his, Fade opened his mouth…

  And from it, something shot directly at me, faster than an arrow in flight. I was so startled that I wasn’t able to track it well with my eyes while it was mid-flight. All I could see was an almost tangled, knotted-looking ball of Mana. To my senses it felt odd, like something similar to a Spell, but not quite. There was something different about it.

  Then it hit me right in the chest over my heart, and I experienced…

  Fade.

  The both of us sucked in an abrupt breath as we felt each other's soul. That was the only way I could describe this…this complete encapsulation of my new Familiar’s existence. I could suddenly sense Fade’s emotions as intensely as I could my own across our new bond, the elation, excitement, and exhaustion of months of practice paying off. I could feel the oddly strange Mana he had refined right in front of me, pumping through his body courtesy of his lupine heart.

  I could feel the shape of his own internal soul space, so different from my own. Where mine was a crystalline tree of many branches, cradling a burning star of crimson and azure Mana, his own was a clearing of some kind. Bright emerald grass grew high enough that it would completely hide Fade’s real body from view, while an oddly mint-colored mist swirled in the open air above it. Standing tall and proud in the center of the clearing was something that nearly reminded me of an enormous totem pole. It was topped by what looked like an equally large wolf’s skull, from which grew antlers whose span was nearly as large as a city bus. The mist was originating from both the mouth of the skull as well as its empty eye sockets, flowing out to curl around the blades of grass.

  It was a bit…different from what I would have expected the soul of such an excitable wolf to look like.

  Still pretty cool, though.

  At the same time, I knew that Fade was feeling out my own existence. I felt him touch on my mind, and grow startled when he felt both of my Rings. I’m not sure I’d ever told him about what Ringed Mind did for me, now that I thought of it. He brushed up against my soul, and I could tell when he saw the tinkling crystalline tree of my existence, and the Skill representations that lurked within, flooded with mingled Mana as it was.

  “It worked!” I heard a young, familiar, excited voice echo in my mind. “It worked, it worked. It! Worked! Nate, can you hear me?! Nate? Nate?!"

  A smile crossed my lips, and I winked at the physical Fade in front of me. At the same time, I tentatively tried to reach out to him in the same way he did to me. “Yeah, bud,” I thought towards my new Familiar. “I can hear you just fine.”

  Fade wasn’t able to restrain his excitement anymore and abruptly lunged for me. I could feel his intentions across the new bond we shared and opened my arms invitingly to catch him. From there, there was only laughter as the young wolf excitedly licked my rough and stubbled cheeks in celebration.

  I fell backward with him in my arms and enjoyed the sensation of Fade neatly slotting into my soul, as well as my life.

  Finally.