Fen continued walking through Oakannu Forest, the seasonal transition from Pisces to Aries taking place in the background as he focused on his destination.

  Had Ophiuchus started wielding aether? His chest tightened. The townspeople insisted Ophiuchus did, that only aether magic could corrupt elemental magic. Yet there had never been any sign of aether magic anywhere except for Fen. Until now.

  What was going on? Ophiuchus just burrowed in his tar-like pit on the first day of the week. No other activity. He shouldn’t have enough strength to even assume a snake form, let alone pose an actual threat.

  Fen breathed deep to focus on probabilities. Facts: Pisces magic was fading fast, and Aries magic was still too fresh. Therefore, Ophiuchus hadn’t had enough time to corrupt elemental magic for his own strength. Another fact: Aether magic was present. Whatever the cause, the mere presence of aether magic emanating from Ophiuchus’ lair alarmed Fen.

  Fen should send a spell to notify the rest of the gorge protection guild. His natural independence held him back. Whoever came would want him to put on his glasses, which would handicap him and push him to the sidelines. He loved his friends, so he had to strike a careful balance to keep resentment at bay. Still, Fen seriously considered how dangerous Ophiuchus might be.

  He took a shortcut through the lonely, abandoned farm to hurry to the forum ruins where Ophiuchus lived, thinking through the situation.

  After a little more internal debate, Fen resolved to send a spell to the protection guild only if Ophiuchus was threatening. Fen would check things out on his own first. Hopefully the aether magic had some benign explanation.

  Soon he was through the abandoned farm and on the last path to Ophiuchus’ lair, which was dead of magic. He had taken the background Pisces swirls and Aries flames for granted, and now he missed them. Dread crept up his back.

  A childhood dare had brought him and his friends into the forum. A friend stuck her arm into the tar-like pit; the damage to her meridians had been intense. She never regained the use of magic in that hand and arm. Their future dares were safer, like jumping off Mount Jacicle’s cliffs. Now, that same reckless adrenaline sharpened his focus.

  The forum entrance was an archway. Beyond it, dank miasma hid what used to be a magnificent forum showcasing an immense reflecting pool. He could glimpse that pool now, the water corrupted into a tar-like pit for Ophiuchus to hide in safety. These ruins had served as Ophiuchus’ lair for decades, as far back as Fen remembered.

  Fen flared a small Zephyr Survey ball in his hand, partly for comfort and partly to confirm magic was present. The survey revealed aether magic layered on top of Pisces magic to the left of the pool, as well as faint traces of corrupted magic emanating from the tar-like pit.

  Fen’s childhood fear reared up, as it did every time he paced by during his routine wanderings. Stepping inside was foolish, but better than alerting the protection guild just yet.

  “It’s the first of Aries. He’s not that dangerous. I can defend myself,” Fen whispered. He took a few breaths to steady himself.

  He squared his shoulders, popped his favorite Celestial Whirlwind spell into his hand, which blew a breeze across his face, and crossed a magical threshold into the forum.

  The enchanted miasma, a black musty fog, was immediately attracted to Fen’s presence, encompassing him as he slowly stepped forward, as if his silence would be enough to escape Ophiuchus’ notice. Fen held up his palm so that his little whirlwind breeze would keep the miasma from falling onto his skin. The silver-white light refracted off the miasma. His heart pounded in his ears.

  What was the aether coming from?

  He looked to the left of the tar pit for the different signature colors of aether: perfect white when stable; iridescent teal when entangled with Pisces magic; or warped space, like a heat haze, when unstable. He could see nothing. The thick miasma rendered his regular nighttime sight useless. He activated his Zephyr Survey spell in his free hand and took one step forward.

  Smoke-like tendrils erupted from the pit, forming into snake heads the size of his fist with arm-thick bodies that slithered through the air toward Fen.

  Fen threw his Celestial Whirlwind spell at the snakes.

  The wind easily dissipated the snakes and rustled the dead vines.

  His Zephyr Survey spell gave him a finely tuned direction, still to the left, the magic inactive but a small iridescent teal swirl. He could just make out some weeds through the miasma.

  Just as Fen was about to step towards the weeds, another snake suddenly appeared from the pit, its head as big as Fen’s.

  Fen froze, his internal indecisiveness stuttering his thoughts. Should I run? Should I fight back? No to both, but what else?

  “Celestial Whirlwind,” Fen whispered, amplifying the spell until the whirlwind was as tall as himself. The snake darted for Fen, but the whirlwind intercepted it. Even though Fen’s spell was stronger, the snake was too. The spell took longer to tear the snake apart.

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  Fen knew he ought to leave, but this defense was working, and these little snakes weren’t Ophiuchus’ full form, so he stayed. His heart pounded as he moved deeper into the forum, sliding his feet on the vine-strewn ground to the left.

  Another gigantic snake slithered through the air from the pit towards Fen. His Celestial Whirlwind spell was still active.

  Fen prepared to go more on the offense. He cast an aether spell, one that entangled aether magic into the air magic of his whirlwind, a spell his friends considered reckless. Good thing they aren’t here.

  This new spell ripped through the snake, the whirlwind manifesting crackling sharp edges with an iridescent glow that drowned out the snake before cutting it to pieces.

  Fen kept the aether and air spell active.

  Ozone permeated the air as the whirlwind continued absorbing the aether. Static lifted the hairs on Fen’s arms.

  Guardians and constellations could bind pure cosmic magic to elements properly; Fen’s ability to layer aether magic over his air magic was a weak, unstable version. Using aether magic made Fen’s temples ache and his meridians burn.

  Fen hurried to look for the unknown source of aether magic. The weeds grew around a rank moat belonging to the ruins of the Pisces temple. His Zephyr Survey spell still revealed the glowing iridescent teal. The source of the aether was nearby! Was the Pisces temple nereid up to something? But hadn’t all the spirits abandoned the forum? Something rustled in the weeds. This wouldn’t be a nereid. What was there?

  Before he got too close, a thundering sound filled the air.

  Fen turned away from the Pisces temple.

  Ophiuchus broke from the pit, his snake form several times bigger than Fen, and coming straight at him.

  Is my strengthened Celestial Whirlwind strong enough against Ophiuchus? Should I try something else?

  Fen had two moments to decide. His heart raced, unsure of the right response as Ophiuchus barreled for him.

  During the first moment, a tiny growl came from the weeds. A little brown kitten jumped out and faced Ophiuchus. A crackly, tiny roar came from its little body.

  Ophiuchus stopped. He had noticed the kitten too.

  During the second moment, Fen sent his whirlwind to protect the kitten.

  The whirlwind was too far away. It wouldn’t reach the kitten on time.

  Ophiuchus leaped to devour the kitten, with hissing and fangs outstretched.

  The kitten roared again, stronger, and tiny spirals of aether frost came out of its mouth.

  Ophiuchus flinched. The kitten couldn’t possibly have enough power to hurt Ophiuchus, just surprise him. But this minor distraction might give Fen’s whirlwind time to catch up.

  Ophiuchus regrouped. At the third moment, he sprang for the kitten, mouth wide with smoky fangs bigger than the kitten. Six inches from the kitten, the aether-filled Celestial Whirlwind slammed into the snake, shoving it off to the side. The aether and air magic dug into the snake, the ozone smell thickening. Ophiuchus fought free and slithered through the air back to his pit.

  As Ophiuchus fled, possibly only regrouping, Fen picked up the kitten, put it inside his robe, and ran out of the forum.

  Once they were safely outside the forum, Fen used a healing spell to quickly examine the kitten. She was fine. Her eyes confirmed she had aether magic, as the irises rippled silver, jolting him. Fen had seen similar magical effects on only one other person: himself whenever he looked in the mirror. Was this how people felt when they saw his eyes? It was an alien feeling, full of instinctive danger. No wonder his friends encouraged him to wear his glasses around other people.

  His suspicion frustrated him. He didn’t want to automatically distrust the kitten just because she possessed aether magic, and yet….

  The kitten hiccupped and burped a little cloud of aether, which hit Fen’s chest like a cold frost.

  “Ouch. Careful,” Fen whispered, rubbing the frost off.

  The kitten was too tired to hiss or scratch, and cuddled next to the warmth of Fen’s body. Using aether magic had exhausted her meridians. She resonated with Pisces magic, so she’d been born last week.

  Fen was definitely taking this kitten with him.

  She yawned and blinked at him. The rippling silver of her eyes jolted him again. Her retinas glowed in a normal cat’s eye way.

  “Can you see during the day? Does sunlight hurt your eyes?” Fen asked.

  The kitten meowed assertively; she had no fear or concern over the mention of sunlight.

  “You can see fine in the day,” Fen confirmed.

  The kitten yawned.

  While the kitten’s irises were silver like his, the silver rippled instead of his own fractals, and she didn’t have scars. Fen’s own retinas glowed unnaturally, though that usually wasn’t visible. His problems with sight were due to Scorpio monster damage combined with his aether magic. If Niqs had gifted aether magic to the kitten, it had been for a different trauma.

  “I’ll prove you’re harmless, as far as a cat can be harmless. You’ve got quite the attitude if you thought you could face up to that monster.” Fen rubbed at the fur on her thin belly. The brown color was dirt. Her cream-colored fur had no stripes or spots. “How did you get into the forum? Where did your aether magic come from?”

  Fen didn’t really expect a response, but the kitten opened her eyes wide and meowed.

  “You understand me? So you do have a full Guardian blessing.”

  The kitten meowed more, though he only understood that she had been terrified and despairing over whatever had happened.

  Guardian gave animals blessings only on rare occasions. The blessings always included human-like sentience and access to elemental magic. Yet this kitten didn’t have only elemental magic but also aether magic. Fen knew of only one Guardian, Niqs, who could give that blessing.

  “What am I supposed to do with you?”

  The kitten was falling asleep, the tiniest bit of frost leaving her nose with each exhale. Truly a daughter of Pisces, one with a heavy story. Fen scratched her forehead with one finger as she yawned and batted sleepily at him.

  “I’ll keep you safe, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll name you Shuilong.”

  Fen stood there quietly waiting, and then waiting some more.

  What am I even waiting for? Fen asked himself. Right. The System should have given him experience points for landing a hit on Ophiuchus, possibly given him a reward for rescuing the kitten. But no message or announcement had loaded. He double checked his System. A message finally loaded:

  1,500 Combat skill points REMOVED.

  Unsanctioned entry of Cascadance Forum.

  Fen scoffed. This was the Guardians’ way of voicing their disapproval for him entering the ruined forum. They probably would have dinged him more points except that he did do something right by rescuing the kitten. He shrugged and walked home with Shuilong sleeping. He’d prove himself to the Guardians as well as the rest of Cascadance if necessary.