Fainyx sat on the edge of his large bed and let out a quiet, deeply irritated sigh that had absolutely nothing to do with the two overpowered men bickering in his room.
He was visibly annoyed, his small brow furrowing in a rare display of genuine displeasure, because the dark and suffocating memories of his past life had suddenly clawed their way to the surface of his mind.
He forcefully pushed the images of the rotting house and the abusive guardian back down into the deepest, most locked-away corner of his consciousness, absolutely refusing to let those ghosts ruin the quiet peace he had managed to build in this new world.
Master Yong, who had just finished dodging another one of Ruth's silent fireballs, noticed the rare frown on his disciple's face and immediately misunderstood the cause.
"Oh, don't look so gloomy, kid," Yong said, brushing a scorch mark off his black coat with a wide, easy grin. "I know being locked in this massive mansion while the rest of the town is celebrating the Harvest Festival is completely boring. So, how about a field trip? Let's sneak out and actually see the festival."
Fainyx blinked away the heavy fog of his memories and gave his master a flat, incredulous look. He quickly grabbed his notebook and charcoal pencil.
[ We will get caught immediately. The maids check this room every hour. ]
"He is right," Ruth said, his deep voice rumbling from the shadows near the wardrobe. "The Duke doubled the patrols again for the festival. It is too risky to simply walk out."
"We won't just walk out," Yong smirked, waving his hand dismissively. "We will use illusions."
"Illusions fade when touched," Ruth countered smoothly, stepping out into the moonlight. "If you truly want to take the boy out to clear his head, we will do it properly."
Ruth raised his large hand, and Fainyx watched in pure fascination as a complex, multi-layered magic circle composed of ancient, glowing runes materialized in the air.
The dense, heavy pressure of Dragon Magic filled the bedroom, and the ambient mana rapidly condensed on the floor.
Within seconds, two perfectly realistic figures molded out of the magic and stood before them an exact replica of Fainyx studying something in a book, and a flawless copy of Yong sitting in the chair beside him, holding out a book.
"This is a high-tier golem creation," Ruth explained, his golden eyes completely calm. "They have physical mass, body heat, and a simulated heartbeat. And, if anyone enters the room, they can interact."
Ruth flicked his finger, and the golem of Yong slowly lowered its book, looking perfectly at the real Yong.
"Yong is a complete idiot," the golem said in a flawless imitation of the history master's voice.
Yong dramatically gasped and placed a hand over his heart, looking incredibly offended. "That hurts my feelings deeply! You used ancient Dragon Magic using my face and voice just to insult me?"
Ruth didn't even crack a smile, entirely ignoring Yong's whining as he looked down at Fainyx.
Fainyx carefully reached out and touched the arm of his own golem. It felt exactly like real skin, warm and soft. But more importantly, because of his bottomless mana core and his heightened senses, Fainyx could feel the exact frequency of the mana running through the copy.
He realized instantly that if he pushed just a tiny thread of his own magic into the golem, he could completely control its movements and speech from a distance.
He quickly pulled his hand back and kept his face perfectly neutral so Ruth wouldn't notice. His mind was already racing, perfectly memorizing the complex patterns of the magic circle Ruth had used.
'When I am inside the Aetherium, I am going to practice this spell until I perfect it,' Fainyx thought, his internal voice echoing with absolute satisfaction.
'This is the ultimate scapegoat. If I can leave a perfect copy of myself here, I can sleep in my dimension all day long.'
"This magic is limited, however," Ruth noted, "It will only last for exactly four hours before the mana dissipates. When you are much older and your body is stronger, I will teach you how to cast it yourself."
Fainyx simply nodded, putting his notebook away.
Ten minutes later, thanks to Yong's flawless concealment magic, the two of them were walking through the brightly lit streets of the capital. The Harvest Festival was a massive, joyous explosion of color, sound, and life.
Thousands of lanterns floated in the night sky, musicians played lively tunes on the street corners, and the air was thick with the delicious scent of roasted meats and sweet pastries.
For the first time all day, the heavy annoyance in Fainyx's chest finally faded. The loud, happy atmosphere of the crowd was a stark and beautiful contrast to the silent, dark house of his past, and he actually found himself relaxing as he looked at the glowing stalls.
"Stay right here in the shadow of this tent," Yong instructed, pointing to a quiet corner near a food stall. "I am going to buy us some of those famous honey-glazed skewers. Do not move an inch."
Fainyx nodded and leaned against the wooden beam of the tent, watching the crowd. However, his heightened senses were always active, and amidst the loud cheering and the music, he felt a very faint, completely unnatural pulse of mana coming from a dark alleyway across the street.
He shifted his gaze and narrowed his violet eyes. Hidden in the deep shadows of the alley was a man wearing a dark cloak, his eyes fixed intensely on a group of the Duke's knights who were patrolling the festival grounds.
The man was holding a small, glowing crystal, clearly recording the patrol routes and numbers to send back to whoever had hired him.
Fainyx's expression remained entirely blank, but his protective instincts flared. He did not make a single sound and he did not raise his hand. He simply tapped into the heavy, violent Dragon Magic he had been practicing in secret with Ruth.
He formed a tiny, invisible thread of condensed wind and shot it low across the street.
The invisible thread wrapped tightly around the spy's ankle. With a sharp, silent mental tug, Fainyx pulled.
The spy let out a muffled gasp as his legs were violently yanked out from under him. He crashed face-first into the cobblestone wall of the alley with a sickening thud, dropping his crystal and instantly falling completely unconscious in the dirt.
A moment later, Yong and Ruth returned, happily carrying four large, smoking skewers of meat. "Here we go! The line was terrible, but it smells amazing. Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"
Fainyx looked at the unconscious spy bleeding in the alleyway, then looked back at his master, and simply shook his head no.
They returned to the mansion just before the four-hour limit expired.
The golems dissolved into harmless motes of light, and after checking Fainyx's pulse one last time, Yong and Ruth slipped back out the window to let him sleep.
But Fainyx did not sleep. The festival had been fun, but the sudden return of his dark memories earlier that evening still left a lingering, heavy weight in his chest that he needed to clear. He pulled the fabric of space apart and stepped into the boundless, peaceful kingdom of his Aetherium.
He wanted to distract himself, so he decided to wander far past his usual orchards and the river, exploring some of the completely new, wildly overgrown terrains that had formed at the edges of his expanding dimension.
As he walked through a dense patch of tall, glowing grass, his ears caught the sudden rustling of leaves from a nearby bush.
Fainyx stopped in his tracks, his violet eyes immediately narrowing with sharp caution. 'Is another being coming into this place?' he thought, his body tensing slightly. 'A monster?'
Up until this very moment, the only living creatures he had ever seen inside the Aetherium were the silver fishes swimming in the river. He silently gathered a thread of magic in his palm, completely prepared to defend his sanctuary.
The bush rustled again, and then a tiny head poked out from the leaves.
It was a small, perfectly white weasel. Its fur looked as soft as newly fallen snow, and it possessed a pair of large, black beady eyes that blinked up at him with pure, unadulterated curiosity.
Fainyx stared at it, the dangerous magic in his hand slowly dissolving.
"Kyu~!" the little white weasel chirped softly.
Without a single ounce of caution or fear, the creature trotted out of the bush and walked right up to Fainyx's boots.
Fainyx looked down at the incredibly tiny, fluffy animal, instantly realizing that it was completely harmless. It was simply a creature born directly from the rich mana of his own dimension.
He knelt down in the soft grass, unable to resist just how cute it was, and gently reached out to touch its tiny front paw. The moment his finger brushed its soft fur, the weasel leaned into his hand and began to purr loudly, vibrating with happiness.
"Kyu!" it chirped again, and before Fainyx could react, the little weasel scrambled quickly up his arm. It climbed all the way to his shoulder and happily burrowed itself into his silver hair, which had grown quite long over the past three years, using it as a cozy, warm nest.
Fainyx blinked in surprise, feeling the soft weight of the creature snuggled against his neck. And then, a sound that he hadn't made in two entire lifetimes finally broke past his lips.
He let out a genuine, soft laugh.
A bright and warm smile broke across his usually blank face.
Here, in this world that belonged only to him, there were no abusive monsters to punish him. He was completely safe, and the heavy chains of his trauma finally loosened their suffocating grip.
Fainyx opened his mouth, and his young, clear voice echoed gently in the quiet forest.
"You are very cute," he said aloud, lifting a hand to gently pat the fluffy white lump hiding in his hair. He realized he needed to give this little fellow a name. He smiled softly, his violet eyes completely clear. "I think I will call you... Lumi."