Eli woke up slowly this morning, not all at once like he was used to at home.
The room was already bright enough that he knew he had slept later than usual. Sunlight was beaming through the tall apartment window in pale stripes, shining across the wall and the foot of the bed. Outside, the city was wide awake, he could hear the constant hum of traffic, the occasional blast of a horn, and the far-off rumble of something big moving through the streets. It was a different kind of morning than Port Virel. Much bigger and less forgiving.
He stayed still for a moment, staring up at the ceiling and waiting for his body to catch up to everything that happened the day before.
Not today.
That was the first thing he noticed.
Nothing hurt anymore.
Eli blinked once, then frowned and shifted carefully under the blanket, almost expecting the pain to hit once he moved. His body which was aching just the morning before, seemed to feel completely better now.
He sat up and checked again, more deliberately this time. He rolled one of his shoulders, then the other. He flexed his hands, and drew in a breath letting it back out slowly.
Still nothing.
Two days ago, Tomas had thrown him around hard enough that Eli could barely keep track of which way was up by the end of it. The man moved like gravity did not apply to him the same way it applied to everyone else. Eli had been dragged off balance, flipped around, and knocked back down again more times than he could count. And by the time Brad finally called the session to be over, Eli had felt like every joint in his body had been shaken loose.
Then what happened yesterday.
The cathedral.
The open interior.
Daniel on the floor.
That violent crack through the wall when everything inside Eli had pushed outward all at once.
He remembered the force of it clearly.
What he did not remember was experiencing any type of pain.
Eli shifted a little farther upright, testing his shoulders again. Still nothing.
It was not that the hits had not happened. He remembered the impacts clearly. Getting knocked off his feet. The force behind each one.
But when he thought back on it now, he realized the actual pain had never really came.
Something had been happening to the force before it reached him. Not quite enough to stop it entirely, and definitely not enough to keep him on his feet every time. But just enough that the worst of it never fully landed.
Eli looked down at himself, uneasy now for a different reason.
The silver chain around his neck had shifted during the night. The crow ring rested against the center of his chest, cool and quiet against the fabric of the oversized T-shirt he had slept in.
He reached up and touched it lightly.
The metal felt cold and solid. Ordinary.
That should have made him feel better.
It just made him think harder about yesterday.
He pushed the blanket to the side and swung his legs off the bed and onto the floor.
The apartment was quiet outside the bedroom door, though not completely silent. He could hear a faint clink from the kitchen, then the low steady hum of the coffee maker. Brad must already have been awake, which was not surprising. Brad was always already up when Eli was awake. That seemed to be just how he operated.
Eli stood and walked over to the window.
His phone buzzed in its place on the nightstand.
The sound broke his train of thought immediately. It vibrated again a second later, then once more before he even reached for it.
Eli frowned and picked it up.
Unknown number.
Three messages.
For a second he just stared at the screen. Almost nobody had his new number yet. Marcus did. Brad obviously did. That was about it.
He opened the messages.
The first one read:
Unknown: Hey. Marcus gave me your new number.
Eli frowned slightly at the screen.
Marcus giving out his number narrowed the possibilities, but not by much. Marcus knew half the people Eli talked to back in Port Virel.
Eli typed back.
Eli: Who is this?
The reply came almost immediately.
Unknown: Wow. That's rude.
A second message followed.
Unknown: It's Corrine.
Eli stared at the screen for a second.
Then he let out a quiet breath through his nose.
Of course it was Corrine.
He typed back.
Eli: Sorry. I didn't have the number saved.
The typing bubble appeared almost immediately.
Corinne: Yeah well you also never texted like you said you would.
Eli leaned back slightly against the headboard. He point was fair enough. He did completely forget to text her the night of his birthday, but it wasn't without good reason.
Eli: Things got busy fast. I didn't mean to disappear.
A moment passed.
Then another message appeared.
Corinne: Marcus said you moved to Aurelion.
Eli: Yeah.
The three dots blinked again.
Corinne: You couldn't have mentioned that before leaving town?
Eli rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.
Eli: Sorry, It all happened pretty quick.
That was about as much of the truth as he could give.
Another pause.
Corinne: So what are you doing there?
He answered without thinking much about it.
Eli: Security work. Helping some family contacts out.
Corrine replied a second later.
Corinne: That actually sounds exactly like something you'd end up doing.
He let himself smile a little.
Eli: Yeah, well, it's not as exciting as it sounds.
The three dots appeared again.
Corinne: How's the big capital?
Eli looked toward the window.
Morning traffic was starting to thicken below, people moving down the sidewalks like the day had already been running for hours.
Eli: Big. Way bigger than Port Virel. Some older parts, some newer stuff. Still figuring it out.
Corrine responded a few seconds later.
Corinne: My aunt and uncle live there. I've only visited a couple times.
That caught him off guard.
Eli: Seriously?
Corinne: Yeah. Older part of the city.
Eli nodded to himself.
Eli: That tracks. There's a lot of that here.
The typing bubble appeared again.
Then the next message came through.
Corrine: Have you heard anything about your mom's case?
The smile faded slightly.
Eli stared at the screen for a moment before answering.
Eli: Not really. Still waiting on updates.
A pause.
Then Corrine replied.
Corinne: I'm sorry, Eli.
He read the message twice before responding.
Eli: Thanks.
Another short pause passed before the next message arrived.
Corinne: Text me later when you're not busy.
Eli smiled faintly.
Eli: Will do.
He locked the phone and set it back down on the nightstand.
For a minute he just sat there, letting the quiet of the apartment settle around him again.
Yesterday had been a cathedral wall exploding and something inside him pushing out harder than anything he had ever felt before.
This morning had started with a normal conversation from someone back home.
Eli stood up and stretched his shoulders, and started making his way towards the door.
He stepped out into the hallway and followed the smell of coffee into the kitchen.
Brad was bent over the counter, resting on his elbows, with his mug resting in front of him and holding his phone in both hands. There was a pan beside him cooking something simple in it. Eggs, by the look of it.
He glanced up when Eli walked in.
"You sleep alright?"
Eli gave a small shrug and pulled out one of the stools on the opposite side of the counter.
"Yeah. Better than expected."
Brad nodded once, like that answer confirmed something he had already assumed.
Eli sat down and leaned his elbows on the counter as well.
"I feel… normal."
Brad looked over at him.
"Normal how?"
Eli rotated one shoulder again.
"I mean nothing hurts. At all."
Brad set the phone down on the counter and took a sip of coffee before answering.
"That surprises you?"
"A little," Eli said. "Tomas slammed me around pretty good the other day."
"That was two days ago," Brad replied calmly. "And yesterday you knocked half a cathedral wall loose."
Eli let out a quiet breath.
"Yeah. That too."
Brad turned back to the stove and slid the eggs onto two plates. He set one in front of Eli before going back to his place on the counter with the other.
They ate without talking for a minute.
Eli noticed Brad glance toward the silver chain around his neck. The crow ring rested against the center of his shirt.
"You keep checking that thing," Brad said. "You've touched it like five times since you sat down."
Eli looked down at it again without realizing he was doing it.
"I guess I'm still trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do with it."
"That part takes time," Brad said.
Eli let the ring fall back against his chest and pushed his eggs around the plate a little before speaking again.
"Can I ask something about yesterday?"
Brad looked up from his coffee. "Sure."
"That shade in the cathedral. You said it needed a source," Eli said.
"It did," Brad replied
"I didn't really know what I was doing when I went after Daniel," Eli admitted. "It felt like I was just guessing."
Brad shook his head once.
"No. You were paying attention."
Eli frowned slightly.
"Shades always anchor themselves to something," Brad continued. "A person, a place, sometimes a pattern that repeats long enough for them to attach. When you break that anchor, the rest of it falls apart."
Eli nodded slowly.
"So Daniel was the anchor."
"Yeah."
Eli sat with that for a moment, then looked down at his hands.
"And the wall?"
Brad followed his gaze.
"That wall could've been a person."
The comment was calm, almost casual, but it landed heavier than Eli expected.
"I didn't mean for it to do that," Eli said.
"I know," Brad replied. "Right now most of what you're doing is instinct. Until you learn control, instinct is going to break things."
Brad finished the last of his coffee and stood.
"We're not going back to the gym today."
Eli looked up. "Why?"
"Too small," Brad said. "You need more space than that."
He grabbed his keys from the counter and nodded toward Eli's plate.
"Finish eating. We'll leave in ten."
***
The drive across the city did not take long.
Morning traffic thinned as they moved farther away from the center of Aurelion. The tall glass buildings slowly transitioned to older brick warehouses and long stretches of rail lines running beside the roads.
Brad eventually turned off the road and into a wide concrete lot surrounded by rusted fencing and empty loading docks. Freight cars sat idle on the tracks nearby, the steel wheels creaking faintly whenever the wind shifted.
It made Eli feel a little like home again.
Brad parked near the middle of the open yard and shut off the engine.
"This works," he said.
Eli stepped out of the car and looked around.
The space was enormous compared to the gym. Nothing but cracked pavement, empty warehouses, and open air.
Brad reached into the trunk and came back out holding a tennis ball.
He tossed it lightly in Eli's direction.
The ball bounced off Eli's chest before he even realized Brad had thrown it.
Eli caught it on the rebound and looked up.
"Was that supposed to prove something?"
Brad folded his arms.
"It proved you're not paying attention yet."
Eli tossed the ball back.
"I thought we were easing into this."
Brad caught it without looking and threw it again immediately.
This time Eli managed to get his hands up, but the ball still clipped his shoulder before dropping to the pavement.
Brad walked over, picked it up, and tossed it again.
"Alright," Eli said, catching it on the third attempt. "What exactly am I supposed to be doing here?"
Brad gestured toward the open lot around them.
"Same thing you were doing yesterday. Just without a cathedral wall in the way."
He motioned for Eli to stand a little further back.
"Take about ten steps that way."
Eli backed himself up across the pavement until Brad gave him a thumbs up.
"Good. Now stay there."
Brad tossed the ball again.
Eli braced for it out of habit.
The now familiar pressure tightened in his chest just before the ball reached him.
It slowed.
Only slightly, but enough that it dropped short and bounced once on the pavement.
Both of them watched it.
Eli looked back up at Brad.
"Did you see that?"
Brad didn't answer right away. He walked over, picked up the ball, and tossed it back again.
"Try it again."
Eli focused on the ball as it left Brad's hand.
The same pressure returned inside his chest, like something tightening inward before releasing.
The ball slowed again.
This time it drifted slightly to the side before dropping.
Eli let out a quiet laugh.
"Okay, that's definitely not normal."
Brad picked the ball back up from the pavement.
"What does it feel like? Try your best to describe what you're feeling."
Eli thought for a second.
"I guess, like something pushing against it before it reaches me. Like there's always pressure in me waiting to burst."
Brad tossed the ball at him again.
Eli watched it carefully this time.
The pressure built up earlier this time, almost anticipating the moment before the ball reached him fully.
The ball slowed again, hovered for a fraction of a second, then slid sideways before falling.
Eli shook his head.
"It's like I'm pushing it away."
Brad raised an eyebrow.
"Only pushing?"
Eli considered that.
"Maybe not," he said. "It also kind of feels like I'm pulling it off course."
Brad nodded slightly.
"Keep going."
The next few throws came faster.
For each toss Eli focused harder on the motion of the ball while it moved toward him. It slowed down one time, then drifted to the right the next. Once it stopped completely mid air before dropping to the ground.
After the sixth throw Eli caught himself smiling.
"Okay," he said, looking down at his hands. "I think I get it now."
Brad walked back to the trunk.
"Maybe, we'll see."
He reached inside and pulled out something heavier.
A short length of steel pipe.
Eli watched him.
"Alright, that seems like a pretty big step up from a tennis ball."
Brad tossed it underhand.
The pipe moved faster and heavier through the air.
The pressure inside Eli's chest surged immediately.
The pipe slowed halfway to him.
Stopped.
Then hung there for a brief moment before gravity finally took it and it clanged loudly against the pavement.
At the same time the crow ring against Eli's chest flared suddenly hot.
Eli felt his hand grab the silver chain instinctively.
"Okay," he said quickly. "That felt different."
Brad walked forward and picked the pipe up.
"What happened?"
"The ring," Eli said. "It got hot all of a sudden."
Brad nodded once.
"That's probably the instrument reacting."
Eli frowned.
"Reacting to what?"
Brad held the pipe loosely at his side.
"The shade sealed inside it is still active," he said. "Higher phase entities don't like being forced into tools. Sometimes they push back when you start channeling power through the instrument."
Eli glanced down at the ring again.
"So that thing in there just decided to wake up?"
"Not exactly," Brad said. "If it actually woke up, you'd know."
He tossed the pipe toward Eli again.
"Your instrument is still a lower phase. That's why it's more stable. But if you push your power too hard, the seal can still react."
Eli focused as the pipe flew toward him again.
The pressure built in his chest.
The pipe slowed.
Stopped.
Then slid gently to the side before falling.
Brad nodded.
"That's better."
Brad stepped forward and picked the pipe up again, but this time he didn't throw it.
Instead he held it loosely at his side while studying Eli for a moment.
"Alright," he said. "That's enough for today."
Eli blinked.
"That's it?"
"For a first real attempt? Yeah," Brad replied. "You stopped the motion and redirected it. Most people can't even do that much when they first start."
Eli let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
The tension in his chest finally faded, leaving him feeling oddly light.
Brad tossed the pipe back into the trunk and shut it.
"You're really starting to get control," he continued. "That's the important part."
Eli looked down at his hands again.
The sensation he'd been feeling during the throws was already fading.
"It really does feel like pushing and pulling," he said.
Brad leaned against the side of the car.
"How so?"
"When something moves toward me," Eli explained, "It feels like I can push it away, or I can just pull it off its path before it hits me."
He gestured loosely in the air as if tracing invisible lines.
"Everything has direction already. I just change where it's going."
Brad watched him for a second without saying anything.
Then he gave a small nod.
"That's a pretty good way to think about it."
Eli smiled slightly.
"So that's my binary then, right?"
Brad didn't answer right away.
He looked out across the empty rail yard instead, watching the wind push a loose sheet of paper across the cracked pavement.
"Maybe," he said after a moment.
Eli didn't catch the hesitation.
He was too busy looking down at the crow ring resting against his chest.
The metal was cool again now, completely still on the silver chain.
For the first time since the cathedral, something actually made sense.
The way the force never quite reached him.
How all the objects slowed down before touching him.
The idea that he could push things away or pull them off course if he focused hard enough.
It all made sense.
Push. Pull. Direction. Momentum.
He thought he finally understood what his power was doing.
Brad opened the car door and glanced back at him.
"Come on," he said. "Let's head back before the rail crews show up and start asking questions."
Eli nodded and walked around to the passenger side.
He slid into the seat and shut the door.
He thought he finally had it figured out.
He was wrong, but he didn't know that yet.