The five familiars present all turned their gaze toward me at once. The weight of their attention, even diminished, was palpable. I suddenly felt tiny, transparent, uncomfortable under this crossfire from primordial entities.
"Young man. Your ether capacity is phenomenal for your age. Truly impressive." The compliment from Number 1 almost made me smile. "However, compared to the Master's, it is nothing but a grain of dust lost in an endless desert. An atom against a galaxy. A drop of water in a cosmic ocean. A matchstick before a supernova. A mosquito in a dimensional storm. A—"
I raised both hands.
"Yes, yes, I get it. Thank you, really. It's clear you've had centuries to polish your humiliating metaphors. It was only to illustrate…"
"It's illustrated, framed, and hung on the wall. Let's move on to the solution before my ego melts into a puddle."
