The air in Elias's room was still and cool. Outside, the night was a black cloak, dotted with the faint, distant lights of the stars in the sky as well as the city in the distance.
A week remained until Aina's birthday, which was a Saturday. He had to act quickly, and his plan had to be flawless lest he got caught.
It was one thing to wish to escape, another entirely to actually do it.
He sat on his bed, a mental map of the manor grounds meticulously laid out in his mind. From a distance, the family estate looked like a peaceful, picturesque slice of the countryside. But Elias knew better. He had spent the last week since making his decision to go to town observing, and what he had found was an invisible fortress, a security system so intricate it was like a second skin over the manor. It was a network of threads, woven by the disciplined and firm hand of Sir Eddie Gable, the head of the household guards.
Wagons that came to the manor, even those delivering something as simple as food, were subjected to more than just a search. It turned out that all the people working in the manor had all their information recorded from a detailed description of their appearance and their home addresses as well as their Traits if any and a whole bunch of other stuff. Elias was shocked to find a whole security room were these files were being kept and at the time he stumbled up on it ,they were being revised. But then again,what stopped a person from assuming the identity of a well established member of the household. In this world of Traits it wasn't that difficult to do so how? It was simple.
The guards used a special Artifact,a special Chalk. This chalk would be used to make marks on the wheels of carriages as well as mark the bodies of whoever came in. If any foreign Flow signature entered the grounds, the chalk would turn red and glow faintly, alerting them to a possible anomaly.
Visitors were catalogued, their purpose scrutinised, and a subtle scan was performed on them and their belongings. The maids and house help weren't exempt; their daily comings and goings were noted, and their bags were checked on their return. Even Miss Gable,the head maid and Sir Eddie's own wife went through the process although he noticed that anytime it was her turn Sir Eddie would personally take that responsibility and they'd do it in a more secluded area She'd always leave with a smile on her face which Elias didn't quite understand.
He was too young to anyway.
The knights' patrols didn't just walk a simple circuit. They moved in a perfectly coordinated grid pattern, their individual Flow signatures overlapping to create a seamless, undetectable 'Web of Vigilance'. This worked by all of them using Flow Perception to keep tabs on their comrades. The slightest change or disappearance of a person's Flow signature,the Slightest fluctuation was met with suspicion.There was not a single point on the perimeter where a person, or their Flow, could slip through without being noted. The system was so well-thought-out, so quiet and effective, that Elias hadn't even noticed it at first.
Unsurprisingly, it t was a system that was thought out and planned by his father, Lord Alaric,most likely at the behest of Sir Eddie.
'Hmmm,Getting out is going to be difficult.' Elias thought.
The first and most immediate problem was Aina. His cousin was impossibly sharp. She would notice his absence almost instantly, and her quiet, intense way of going about things was far more intimidating than his father's direct authority. Elias knew she of all people couldn't be decieved and so he had to create a perfect illusion of his presence to buy himself time to get her a gift.
His eyes drifted to a shelf in the corner of his room, where he had neatly stacked a collection of toys he had received but never really played with. Among them was a small wooden doll, its limbs attached with tiny joints. It was a knight, complete with a sword and a shield and its body had intricate carvings and was painted red. It was a gift he had received from Miss Gable.
'I think I'll get her something as well.' He thought as he walked up to the shelf and, standing on his tippy toes, reached for the doll.
Its joints were surprisingly fluid, and as he absentmindedly began to fidget with it, he thought about the problem of his absence.
Unconsciously, without even thinking about it, he created a network of invisible threads of Flow from his fingertips, attatched them to its limbs and began to move the doll. It spun around and he made it so simple swings with its sword, it even seemed to shrug with a movement of its wooden shoulders.
Elias suddenly looked down at what he had inadvertently created his fingers moving to control it's movements when,a few seconds later after realizing what he had done,an idea struck him.
'A marionette!'
The idea was simple, elegant, and filled him with a brief rush of excitement. He could create a double of himself, a simple puppet that would fool anyone who wasn't paying close attention. But the excitement died as quickly as it had come. As he analysed the idea, the flaws became glaringly obvious.
To begin with, to control the doll, he would need to continuously extend threads of energy from his body. It was an invisible leash, and even though it was subtle, it would drain the energy he was currently capable of accommodating and be difficult to maintain for any length of time.
Aside that,he would need some way to know what was happening around the doll in order to control it accordingly.
Moreover,this method would be a useless deception against the four people he needed to fool the most: his parents,Aina and Sir Eddie Gable. It could become five if Roric made an appearance. He hadn't been to the manor for a while now. He only said he was busy so he'd be off for the week. That was last week and he could appear at any time. Any attempts Elias made it decieve the hunter would be rendered useless as his whole gimmick was sensing the minutest of Flow. These people would not only notice his absence immediately but would also be able to track his energy signature via the threads, defeating the entire purpose of the ruse.
Further, he was a complete amateur at this. It was his first time doing it, and he would need far more time to perfect the art of creating and controlling a simple puppet. There was no guarantee he'd be able to stretch the threads that long anyway and even if he did the precision of his control over the doll might fakter the further he got from it.
He looked down at the wooden doll in his hands, and with a familiar twitch of his fingers, he made it move its head, feigning a sigh and shrug , a gesture of defeat.
But that didn't mean he was without a plan. In fact, the idea had given him a new, much better inspiration.
On Tuesdays, a small group of the house staff would go into the town to buy supplies for the manor. They were all mundane humans, and they would only be accompanied by two or three knights, none of whom were powerful Flow users like Aina or Sir Eddie. If he played his cards right, he could use his Flow Suppression to slip out and join them on his way back, making it seem as though he was never gone.
Now, he had to work on the solution on filling the void of his absence. For that, he wasn't going to create a marionette, but something far, far better.
He would devote his evening sessions to developing the necessary Array for it, so he could leave a self-sustaining illusion of himself behind.
He was going to create a Shadow Clone.