The brightest morning in a while.
Strange winds swirled in the room. His brain was done assessing them—body movements, which became as fluid in a way as they weren't before the void. He was left unfulfilled. Scared of everything that he was not. What was he without himself? He realized the reasons behind Aurelion's choices.
His breathing was much more controlled.
His movements felt more true to himself, but who was that himself now?
It felt as if he were in the body of a stranger with only recent memories.
He tried to convince himself that it was fine, better than before, but he couldn't suppress the feeling of not knowing about himself.
The tears flew away with the winds as he moved past the windows.
The room had turned gloomy. The walls lost their shine from being newly painted.
Something different opened the door to the hall.
Aurelion sat at a table inside the kitchen with coffee in his hands; he slipped one toward Kaelen.
Kaelen sat down and tried to chug it all in a single gulp. The pain was there, but he didn't react to it like usual; he curled his tongue and started rubbing it on the corners of his mouth.
Kaelen couldn't quite remember the words for it: "Too, uhhh—"
"Bitter?"
"Maybe too bitter for my taste."
Aurelion pulled out a cooking manual from his pocket and slid it to Kaelen; already opened, scrambled eggs was the recipe it showed. "Try making this; I prepared everything you will need."
Kaelen turned toward the stove and followed the manual; he kept drinking the coffee. The feeling he got from it made it easier to trace back his memories.
Aurelion kept watching Kaelen even after he was done drinking coffee.
After a while Kaelen didn't need the manual; he didn't realize it till he was done cooking.
Kaelen served a plate to Aurelion, and as Kaelen placed his own plate, he asked, "Can I hunt the miracle sect?"
"I do think you hated them, but I can't let someone who just learned how to walk go killing psychopaths. Psychopaths with supernatural powers."
Kaelen replied in an instant. "So I can once I learn how to fight?"
Aurelion took a bite and said, "If I don't have any work for you."
Kaelen replied in an instant again. "Will you give me work when I just learned how to walk?"
Aurelion took another bite. "I will when I feel like it."
Kaelen finally took a taste of the eggs. "Were you always like this?"
Aurelion looked at Kaelen, analyzing something Kaelen couldn't identify. "Yeah, I have always been annoying for you."
Kaelen looked at his plate. The eggs were good. He hadn't expected them to be good.
He didn't say anything else.
After they were done eating, Aurelion warned Kaelen, "Don't do anything before you recover."
Kaelen stood up, shaking the table. "I can defeat gods, but I can't take care of humans."
"Just rest for a few days."
Caeran came downstairs.
"Caeran, do what I told you to do."
"What before breakfast?"
Aurelion didn't say anything.
"Ok, fine, I will. Kaelen, come upstairs, same room."
The room was the same as last time.
Caeran pointed towards a chair and said, "Sit on that chair."
The moment Kaelen sat on it, Caeran pulled a lever.
His head was covered with a metal helmet, his limbs were attached to a chair with metal ropes, and his whole body and the chair were wrapped in some thick, stretchable sheet.
His voice couldn't reach his own ears.
Caeran moved around the chair without hurry, checking each restraint with two fingers—not tightening, just confirming. He pulled out a small device from the wall and pressed it against the metal helmet once.
The room responded with a low hum; it felt more in the chest than with ears. The thick sheet around Kaelen's body began to change—not tightening, not loosening, just becoming aware and adjusting.
Caeran watched a panel on the wall. Numbers Kaelen couldn't read from his position. They kept changing.
He looked at the panel for a long moment. Then at Kaelen. Then back at the panel.
He pulled back the lever that lifted the helmet, the sheet relaxed, and the metal ropes released.
Kaelen rolled his neck once. "Well?"
Caeran pulled a chair in front of Kaelen and sat down.
"You developed a rhythm you always work in and the incredible instinct you have for shaping energy around you; you developed an ability. I couldn't figure out each shape it took." Caeran handed Kaelen a watch. "So I made this clock for you; you set a condition on it. If the condition is completed, a wish that you made while setting the condition will be completed, but the time you have to do it in is defined by the difficulty of the wish and condition."
Kaelen stared at him. "What is the limit?"
"It's impossible to say. I don't think there is one; it will just lower or increase the time based on difficulty." Caeran stood up. "It could possibly change reality itself, but as long as the condition or wish is nothing insane, you should be fine."
"So if I set a timer and I sacrifice myself, can't I take down a few gods with me?"
"You most probably can; if you can, then you have more potential than that alive, so it's not a good idea to ever do that. If you can't do much at that moment, then sacrificing won't give much, and the timer will be so short that you won't be able to sacrifice yourself."
Kaelen went downstairs and lay against the wall listening to Caeran explaining the watch's ability to Aurelion and others. Once Caeran was done, Kaelen joined them in the kitchen, picked out the watch from his pocket, and turned its face towards Aurelion.
"I have set up a condition: if I don't kill a miracle sect member in 4 hours, I will die."