Chapter 74: The Shift In Perspective [End of Vol. 1]

Ten minutes later, Elias found himself in front of the door of his home. According to the Commander, this four-bedroom apartment would always belong to him, but he was going to be living fully in the Stoneward Asylum, where he was to be trained and nurtured as the newest Ascendant Candidate of the Order of the Broken Eye.

He could not refuse this new status that had been given to him; well, he could, but that would be a stupid thing for him to do. This was a world of predators and prey, and despite his talents and potential, Elias knew he was a succulent piece of meat, and if he did not want to find himself on the chopping block of others, then he needed to seek shelter from those who would benefit from his service yet not overly abuse their power over him.

There was a distinction here that could sometimes be hard to miss, as not every place would take your service and give you something worthwhile in return.

Although Elias had always suspected it, the Commander introduced the Order as one of the seven ruling Orders of the Military Forces, but they were partnered with the Royal Houses.

“There would be time for you to learn about politics and the general state of the world, Elias. You still have one more trial before this new day runs out, and it is related to the countdown you can see on your status screen. Take the next ten hours and rest… with your potential, we will be training you to your bones, and you will give all you have to become what I believe you have the potential of becoming.”

The final words of the Commander said to him were still playing on his head as he went down fifteen flights of stairs without even feeling any strain. Even when he was a mortal, fifteen flights of steps were easily crushed with his stamina levels that were greater than any mortal should have any right to have, but he was still strained; however, his body could brush it off.

Now, it was a different case, and Elias could tell that he did not even lose a single point of Stamina during this descent; it was as if his body did not even consider such movements as exercises any longer.

Elias placed a hand on his door, and there was a slight mental imbalance as he tried to reconcile how barely one hour had passed in the real world, when he spent days in the fragment, and when the changes in his body were factored in, then Elias felt as if years had just gone by in a moment.

His eyes could see the top of his doorframe, adding several inches to his height, which made the world become… different. It seems that sometimes, it was always the smallest changes that made the greatest impact.

It was standing here, seeing the same door he had opened for many years of his life, instinctively reaching for the doorknob, and having his hand several inches above where his brain had already assigned this movement, that everything fully sank in.

“I am no longer the same. I am not just a Siphon, but an Angel.”

He looked down to see the work bag that he had dropped barely an hour ago when he was knocked out by Rhys and taken to the Asylum. Elias suddenly felt an itch for combat and could not wait to find Rhys to settle this score.

Smoothly bending down and picking up the bag, while being aware that the weight of it just seemed off. His senses had picked up on the fact that the bag had nothing missing; it was just that his muscle memory was used to a certain weight, and it was gone, as if he was picking up a bag of air and not the thirty-five pounds of weight he was used to placing on his back every day.

Ignoring this uncomfortable sensation, Elias opened his door with the key that was always placed by the side of his work bag, treating the key with care so he did not snap it by mistake.

Locking the door behind him, Elias walked down to the bedroom without looking around him, and, throwing his bag on the small bed on the edge of the room, he went straight to the shower.

The breeches he wore vanished into his skin. First, they seemed to lose cohesion and then transformed into hundreds of tiny purple dots that dug their way into his skin, making Elias feel a slight pinch before they were gone.

However, the poisonous flower remained covered by the swarm and still attached to his hip. After his shower, he would take care of it.

Feeling the chilly water that was so cold there were pieces of ice inside of it, Elias felt his muscles relax. One of the activities he hated was bathing, despite his body that could shrug away the effects of hypothermia; a mortal was not suited for bathing in ice-cold water.

Hot water showers were not a luxury, as most homes in Stormfall had those basic features; however, the Asylum had been built in the past when petty things like comfort were not even considered, and Elias suffered the consequences of that design philosophy for years.

It was a good thing that even as a mortal he hardly broke a sweat, and he could stay for weeks without bathing; however, he had no choice but to bath everyday because he worked with stone, and so it was inevitable that he was covered in dust at the end of the day.

As a craftsman, it should be relatively easy for him to solve this problem. Adding a heater to his plumbing was not difficult, but the pipes that led to his bathroom were made of Profound Iron. Elias could cut the pipes, but it was almost impossible to weld with the tools he had available to him.

He did not know much about the plumbing of the Asylum; he had traced the pipes, but they extended deep into the Asylum, and so he could not find their source, and he had always wondered if those living inside the Asylum proper had hot water in their showers or if the body of a Siphon was so different that cold water or hot water was ultimately meaningless to them.

Well, today he answered one of those questions. The cold was still felt, but its bite was gone; it was almost pleasant, and it aided him in relaxing his tense muscles that he was dimly aware of in the back of his head, but did not acknowledge.

Elias was under the shower for a full hour as he scrubbed his body repeatedly and then remained under the heavy pressure until he felt his eyes becoming heavy.

Now that he was back in his home, all the madness and death seemed so far away, and the tiredness that he had shoved into the depths of his soul began to rise. Almost dying and dying repeatedly took its toll not on his body, but his mind and perhaps something deeper inside him, which he was not yet aware of.

He stumbled away from the shower, his body glistening like marble, and his feet found their way to the tiny cot he kept at the edge of the room. Elias could have a bigger bed, but he needed space for his equipment, and since he did not need much sleep, he saw no need to have a larger bed.

More tired than he had ever been, he wrapped himself with a clean white blanket, and he was out even before his head touched the pillow.

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