Deep beneath the grand mansion, in the cold and dimly lit underground cells of the estate, the atmosphere was thick with a heavy and terrifying tension.
The Duke sat in a rigid wooden chair, his face cast in sharp, intimidating shadows by the flickering torchlight, while the captain of the guard stood at his side. Across from them, securely bound to a heavy iron chair, was the dark-cloaked spy who had been caught in the alleyway during the Harvest Festival.
The man was trembling violently, a large purple bruise blooming across his forehead where his face had met the cobblestones, and his eyes darted around the room in absolute panic.
"I have already told you everything!" the spy cried out, his voice cracking with sheer terror as he looked at the cold, unyielding face of the Duke. "I was only hired to record the patrol routes! I swear on my life, I did not even get the chance to transmit the crystal before I was attacked!"
"Attacked by whom?" the Duke demanded, his voice low and dangerous, rumbling through the small cell like an approaching storm. "My knights were fifty paces away and did not notice your presence. Who exactly incapacitated you?"
"I don't know!" the spy yelled, pulling desperately at his bindings. "I was just standing in the shadows, and then an invisible, overwhelming force wrapped entirely around my legs! There was no chant, no light, no warning at all! It felt like a hurricane had grabbed me, and it ripped my legs out from under me so fast I couldn't even breathe!"
The Duke leaned back in his chair, his brow furrowing in deep thought. He dismissed the guards with a wave of his hand, leaving only his captain in the room.
"What do you make of this, Your Grace?" the captain asked in a quiet, serious tone. "Who could possess the kind of monstrous, silent power required to completely conceal their mana while throwing a grown man across an alleyway without a single trace?"
"I do not know," the Duke replied immediately, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the unconscious spy who had just passed out from sheer exhaustion. "But it seems some other party intervened and incapacitated this rat before he could send his report."
"An ally?" the captain asked cautiously.
"Or simply someone with their own motives who happened to find him in their way," the Duke answered, his voice completely pragmatic. "We do not know who this third party is or why they helped us tonight. Keep this quiet, Captain. If there is an unknown force operating in our territory, I will not draw their attention until we fully understand their purpose."
While the Duke was busy trying to calculate the political motives of a mysterious third party, the true culprit was currently sitting in the bright, artificial sunlight of the Aetherium, completely ignoring the politics of the outside world.
Fainyx sat cross-legged on the soft, glowing grass near his massive apple orchard, holding a small slice of a freshly picked Aetherium apple in the palm of his hand. Lumi, the tiny white weasel, was perched happily on his knee, its little pink nose twitching as it sniffed the fruit.
"Go ahead," Fainyx said aloud, his voice soft and clear in the peaceful dimension.
"Kyu~!" Lumi chirped excitedly. The weasel took a bite of the apple, and its black beady eyes widened in pure delight. Because Lumi was a creature born directly from the rich mana of the dimension, the highly saturated, magical fruit was the perfect food for it.
The little creature devoured the slice in seconds, licking its tiny paws clean before purring loudly and nuzzling its soft head against Fainyx's fingers.
Fainyx smiled warmly, gently petting the weasel's fluffy back. He felt entirely relaxed here, far away from the heavy expectations of the mansion.
He had been having bad dreams these days. Even just taking a nap he still can get nightmares. When he can't sleep he goes here on his free afternoon time of himself.
But he had a project to complete. He stood up, and Lumi scrambled up his arm, taking its favorite position nestled comfortably in Fainyx's long silver green gradient hair.
Fainyx walked over to a clear patch of grass and closed his eyes, tapping into his bottomless mana core.
He perfectly recalled the complex, ancient runes of the Dragon Magic circle that Ruth had used the night before. Without drawing a single line on the ground, Fainyx channeled the dense, violent mana required for the spell, filtering it seamlessly through his own core so it wouldn't tear his frail body apart.
The air in the Aetherium vibrated, and a brilliant, multi-layered magic circle flared to life beneath his feet. The ambient mana rushed into the center, molding and solidifying in a matter of seconds.
When the light faded, Fainyx opened his eyes and looked at his creation.
Lying on the grass in front of him was a flawless, physical golem of himself, entirely asleep. The chest rose and fell with a simulated breath, and the skin radiated a soft, natural body heat. It was a perfect prototype.
"Kyu!"
Suddenly, Lumi jumped down from Fainyx's shoulder. The little white weasel puffed up its fluffy tail, clearly perceiving this strange, identical copy of its master as an absolute threat.
Lumi let out a tiny, high-pitched growl and bravely lunged forward, sinking its little teeth gently but firmly into the sleeping golem's boot.
Fainyx blinked in surprise and quickly crouched down.
"Lumi, stop," Fainyx laughed out loud, his voice echoing with genuine amusement.
"That is just me. Do not eat my shoe."
Lumi let go, looking completely confused between the real Fainyx and the sleeping copy, before deciding the real Fainyx was the one who gave out apples, and promptly climbed back up his arm.
Three days later that evening, the grand mansion finally settled into a quiet lull as the Harvest Festival officially concluded.
Fainyx, still inside his dimension playing with his new companion and practicing his magic, knew that his father and brothers would be returning at any moment.
He didn't want to leave the peaceful Aetherium just yet, so he decided it was the perfect time to put his prototype to the ultimate test.
Standing near the invisible boundary of his portal, Fainyx carefully slipped the golem out into the real world, placing it perfectly under the heavy blankets of his large bed.
He closed the portal almost entirely, leaving just a microscopic crack, a tiny thread of connection so he could remotely monitor and maintain the golem's internal temperature and simulated heartbeat.
'This is perfect,' Fainyx thought, sitting on the grass in his dimension with a satisfied nod. 'I can stay here, and they will think I am resting.'
Ten minutes later, the heavy oak door of the bedroom slowly creaked open.
Through his magical connection to the golem, Fainyx felt the Duke, Adam, and Liam enter the room.
They moved with quiet, exhausted footsteps, their bodies worn out from a full day of managing the festival crowds and overseeing the knights.
"He is already asleep," Adam whispered, his voice thick with fatigue as they approached the side of the bed.
The Duke let out a long, heavy sigh of relief, looking down at the perfectly peaceful face of the golem. "Good. The noise from the town was loud today. I am glad it did not disturb him."
Inside the Aetherium, Fainyx watched through the golem's closed eyelids and felt a wave of absolute triumph. The Dragon Magic was holding flawlessly.
And then, Liam moved.
"I missed him today," Liam whispered, rubbing his tired eyes.
Before the Duke or Adam could stop him, the seven-year-old climbed onto the edge of the mattress, slipped under the edge of the blanket, and wrapped his arms tightly around the "sleeping Fainyx" in a firm, affectionate hug.
Inside the Aetherium, Fainyx's eyes shot wide open.
The physical pressure of Liam's arms wrapping around the golem instantly disrupted the delicate magical matrix holding the illusion together. The golem's simulated body temperature began to drop rapidly, and the structural integrity of the magic circle threatened to shatter completely.
If the spell broke now, the golem would dissolve into thin air right in Liam's arms, and the ensuing panic would probably destroy the entire mansion.
'No, no, no!' Fainyx panicked internally.
He closed his eyes and forced an immense, hyper-concentrated stream of his own mana through the tiny crack in the portal, directly into the golem.
Sweat beaded on Fainyx's forehead as he strained to manually keep the golem's body warm against Liam's chest, simultaneously regulating the simulated heartbeat so that Liam wouldn't notice he was hugging a hollow magical construct.
"He feels a bit cold, Father," Liam murmured sleepily, burying his face into the golem's shoulder.
'I am trying my best!' Fainyx screamed in his head, doubling his mana output and forcing the golem's temperature to rise to a perfect, cozy warmth.
"He is fine, Liam," the Duke said gently, resting a large, calloused hand on top of the golem's silver hair. "Let him sleep. We should all get some rest."
It took another agonizing five minutes before the Duke finally picked up the half-asleep Liam and carried him out of the room, with Adam quietly following behind and shutting the heavy oak door.
Inside the Aetherium, Fainyx collapsed backward onto the glowing grass, completely breathless and exhausted from the sheer mental strain of maintaining a high-tier Dragon Magic spell under direct physical pressure.
Lumi trotted over and licked his cheek in concern.
Fainyx let out a long, dry sigh as he looked up at the artificial sky of his dimension, realizing with absolute certainty that his brilliant plan for a peaceful life had just turned into the most stressful covert operation he had ever attempted.