The morning sunlight poured through the high windows of Shadewatch Fortress, striking the polished training hall where the seven heirs had gathered. The scars of their near-death battle with Abyss had faded, but the memory remained etched in their muscles and minds.
Sigurd stood at the center, his massive frame calm, yet radiating authority. His hands glowed faintly with shifting threads of energy the hall seemed to hum as if responding to his presence.
Today," he began, voice resonant, "you will begin the true trial of a Savoy heir: combining your aura with your elemental affinity. Power without control is wasted. Technique without purpose is meaningless. We will forge Ether Armaments — the weapons of your soul."
The heirs exchanged glances, awe and apprehension flickering in their eyes.
"You have survived death," Sigurd continued, "but survival alone does not make a warrior. To advance your aura, to unlock your magic fully, you must give it form. Each of you will create an Ether Armament a weapon forged from the fusion of your essence and your element."
He gestured to the center of the hall. Orbs representing their affinities floated gently in the air: wind, fire, water, lightning, earth, nature, and light.
---
The Heirs' Training
Lucien placed his hands on the Wind orb. His aura and magic intertwined as a pair of razor-sharp whips of compressed air manifested, coiling and uncoiling with perfect precision.
"Your goal," Sigurd instructed, "is to channel your speed and focus into these whips. Strike through both aura and physical defenses, and learn to manipulate pressure."
Selina approached the Fire orb, crimson aura surging. Twin flaming daggers erupted from her aura, flickering and snapping with volatile energy.
"Control the burn," Sigurd said. "Your flames must follow your intention. Rage is strength, but focus is power."
Ronan slammed his hands onto the Earth orb, bronze aura coiling around massive gauntlets of stone and magma.
"Your strength is overwhelming," Sigurd nodded, "but it is your choice to shape it — a weapon is not merely force, but extension of your will."
Cira hovered near the Water orb, weaving thin, razor-sharp threads of liquid aura that wrapped her arms like whips.
"Precision," Sigurd said. "Water adapts, flows, and strikes where you decide — it is both shield and blade."
Varen gripped the Lightning orb, violet energy coursing along twin poles of crackling electricity.
"Instability can be a weapon," Sigurd explained, "but only if you can command it. Harness it, or it will consume you."
Aren knelt by the Earth orb, bronze-gold aura anchoring into the stone beneath him. A massive hammer, glowing faintly, took form.
"Weight and patience," Sigurd said. "A weapon grounded in your essence will move mountains — literally."
Kian stepped to the Nature/Adaptive orb, his green aura swirling as tendrils of light and energy coalesced into a bow-like armament, flexible, alive, and responsive.
"Your adaptability is your greatest strength," Sigurd noted. "Your weapon will flow like water, strike like wind, and endure like earth. Learn to harmonize your own aura with your element."
---
Training Hall — Sigurd's Demonstration
The air in the Shadewatch training hall vibrated with restrained energy. The seven heirs stood in a semi-circle, eyes wide, aura flickering with anticipation and residual fatigue from two weeks of recovery. Sigurd's massive frame moved to the center, his presence commanding even the light around him to bend subtly.
He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in rhythm with the hall itself. When he opened them, streams of multicolored aura traced the lines of his body like living armor.
"Observe closely," he said, voice deep and resonant, reverberating through stone and bone alike.
Sigurd extended both hands. A faint hum grew into a roar as strands of ethereal energy wrapped around his arms, twisting and splitting like ribbons of liquid light. They coalesced into a set of twin glaives, each seemingly forged from the air itself yet heavier than any iron. Sparks of shadowed light danced along the edges, slicing the ambient aura like knives through fog.
With a single step forward, he swung one glaive. The strike cut through the training hall's stone floor as though it were air. Dust spiraled in perfect arcs. The other glaive twisted in the opposite direction, forming a web of energy that snared the hall's floating elemental orbs, spinning them in orbit around him.
"Each movement," Sigurd explained, voice calm but layered with power, "is both attack and defense. Every edge, every curve is an extension of intent. My aura does not simply empower the weapon it is the weapon."
He leapt, spinning midair. As he did, twin shields of condensed light erupted, one in front, one behind, intercepting the rebound of his own strikes. The glaives bent around the shields, slicing the rebounding energy without faltering.
Then he paused, and the glaives shattered into streams of raw energy, which he caught and wove into a massive spear of pure aura, taller than himself. He planted it into the floor with a force that made the entire hall shudder. Cracks spiderwebbed across the stone beneath, glowing faintly with residual energy.
"Power without mastery is chaos. Mastery without intent is empty. Your Ether Armaments will not simply be tools they are an extension of who you are. They will bend, flow, and strike according to your will alone. Understand this, or they will betray you in battle."
The heirs exhaled, some on their knees, some frozen in awe. Even Kian's disciplined green aura pulsed faster as he absorbed every detail of the demonstration.
Sigurd's aura dimmed gradually, the weapons dissipating into threads of light that dissolved into the hall. He looked at the heirs, his gaze piercing each one in turn.
"Now," he said softly, "create yours. Feel the fusion of your element and aura. Let it shape your weapon, and let your weapon shape you."
---
Shadewatch Lord Alden's Office
High above, behind the stone glass of his office, Alden Savoy watched the display in silence. The light of seven auras reflected off his eyes proud, but darkened by thought.
Asia stood nearby, her expression distant. The faint scar across her palm still pulsed from the battle two weeks before.
"They're adapting faster than expected," she murmured.
Alden's gaze didn't leave the courtyard. "They had no choice but to grow. The Abyss forced their blood awake."
He turned slowly, voice low and sharp. "What did Vlaud reveal?"
Asia hesitated. "He tried to hold out. I pushed further than I wanted to."
Alden's stare hardened. "Speak plainly."
---
Memory — The Interrogation
The dungeon had been silent save for the drip of water and Vlaud's ragged breathing. His body was beaten, aura shattered, but his eyes those abyssal black eyes still burned with defiance.
Asia stood before him, her blue aura flickering like frostfire.
"You've been given every chance. Speak, or I end you now."
Vlaud laughed weakly. "You think the Abyss fears death?"
"No," Asia said, stepping closer. "But you fear failure."
He spat blood, chuckling even as it stained his teeth. "You Savoys… always so righteous. Do you even know what you fight for anymore?"
She struck him then not with her hand, but with aura, a wave that made the air convulse. Vlaud's chains rattled. The runes on the walls dimmed.
"You attacked children," she hissed. "You will not hide behind riddles."
Vlaud's laughter broke into coughing, blood dripping down his chin. Finally, his voice cracked the first sound of surrender.
"You think this was about vengeance? About strength? Foolish woman… the Savoys were too strong in the past. Too pure. Too proud. And the darker hands of the Ashyn Empire" his lips twisted into a grimace "they never forgave that."
Asia froze. "What do you mean?"
"Your light… it blinded too many. When your family's power faded, balance returned. Now that flicker has reignited…" He looked up, smiling with broken teeth. "It terrifies them."
His aura flared one last time, a spark of black smoke leaking from his lips.
"If your light grows again, Asia Savoy… it will ignite panic. And the Empire itself will strike the match."
Before she could react, Vlaud bit down on his tongue hard enough to sever it and the runes around him flared crimson. A death seal ignited across his chest.
Asia lunged too late. The explosion of corrupted aura snuffed out his life and left a crater of silence in the cell.
---
Back to the Present
Asia's voice faltered as the memory faded. "He killed himself. But his words… they weren't lies. Someone powerful stands behind the Abyss someone with reach inside the Empire."
Alden's knuckles whitened on the edge of his desk. The candlelight flickered, shadows swallowing half his face.
"So it begins again," he whispered. "History's rot clawing back to the surface."
He looked toward the window, the heirs still training below the seven flames of a bloodline too bright for the dark world around them.
"If the Empire fears the Savoys' return…" Alden's voice grew cold, deliberate. "Then let them remember why they feared us in the first place."
---
The Shadows Behind Abyss
Far from Shadewatch, two figures remained cloaked in darkness. Their identities obscured, they observed the whispers of Vlaud's failure.
"The Savoy light still burns," one murmured.
"Yes," the other replied. "And if it grows unchecked, the balance we've maintained for centuries will falter."
The faint glimmer of power radiated from their forms enough to hint at their true strength, yet hidden enough to remain untouchable, a threat looming just beyond sight.