Chapter 20 : An Unauthorized Lesson
Aerys managed a few hours of uninterrupted rest before dawn—until a presence slipped into his room without warning.
The air shifted first.
Then came the scent of cold metal and faint ozone, layered beneath the unmistakable residue of alcohol.
Aerys' eyes snapped open.
A tall silhouette stood beside his bed.
"…Proctor Kael?"
The man tilted his head, pale eyes glinting in the dim light.
"Is that how you address someone who comes before sunrise?"
Aerys pushed himself upright despite the lingering ache in his limbs.
"Good morning, sir."
"Better." Kael's gaze swept over him, precise and invasive. "Did you study what I gave you?"
Aerys blinked. His thoughts were still sluggish.
"You mean… The essence training scriptures to awaken the Nexus?"
"Yes." A pause. "I told you to memorize it before I returned."
Aerys hesitated.
By all logic, he should still have been unconscious. Without ODI stabilizing his body, he would not even have gone to the selection. The Proctor should have known that.
He's impatient, Aerys realized.
And he's testing me.
"…I did," he said at last. "Every sequence."
It was true—though not in the way Kael imagined.
ODI had already mapped the entire pattern, engraving it deeper than memory, beyond recall.
Kael's brow rose slightly.
"You learned it… in this condition?"
Silence stretched.
Then a low chuckle escaped him.
"Hm. Interesting."
He pulled a chair closer and sat.
"I don't have much time."
"Why?" Aerys asked.
"I cannot approach you often. The Academy's surveillance is… thorough."
Aerys nodded. He already knew the rule: no instruction outside assigned channels. What Kael was doing was forbidden.
"So I come before dawn," the Proctor continued. "When even the guards grow careless."
Aerys inclined his head.
"Thank you… for this."
"Save your gratitude." Kael stood. "Sit on the floor."
"…Now?"
"You heard me."
Aerys slid off the bed and lowered himself onto the cold stone. Kael positioned himself behind him, placing a palm squarely between Aerys' shoulders—directly over the Nexus.
"Good. You memorized the theory," Kael said. "Now I will force your Essence to obey it."
Aerys stiffened.
"Force it?"
"We don't have time for gradual progress. I will imprint the circulation directly."
"That sounds—"
"Painful?" Kael smiled thinly. "Yes."
Before Aerys could protest, a surge of Essence slammed into his body.
It was nothing like drawing ambient Essence.
This was invasion.
Aerys closed his eyes and turned his concentration inwards. Soon, essence began flowing into his body through kael's hands. The essence leaped across the points where his hand was connected and then scattered into numerous branches within his's body.
His body shouldn't had taken in any essence before. However, Aerys's body seemed to be able to absorb essence 'well,' to an almost unbelievable extent. This fact surprised kael .
kael muttered to himself, 'He's a genius…. No, this is….'
Aerys breath shattered as hot pressure tore through his internal channels, flooding pathways only recently stabilized by ODI. His vision blurred.
"NGH—!"
"Do not resist," Kael snapped. "If you close your Nexus now, you'll die."
He was going to teach Eugene how to breathe in essence, . kael led Aerys into becoming conscious of the essence that was in the air he breathed in and then helped him memorize how to flow this essence through his body according to a set pattern, thus forming the essence breathing cycle.
igoring the pain Aerys concentrated on feeling how the essence was flowing within his body. As the it spread throughout his body, it surge at his nexus. The essence converged around his nexus and then settled into the blood vessels connected to it.
The Essence moved with ruthless precision—carving routes, forcing convergence, amplification, domination.
ODI reacted.
Not defensively.
Silently, it adjusted.
Aerys noticed none of it. Only the pain. Only the sensation of something vast and alien forcing its way inside him.
And somewhere beneath the agony, a certainty took root:
Power was never given.
It was imposed.
Kael's expression shifted.
He had expected resistance—blockages, impurities choking the Nexus, as they always did in unrefined youth.
But there was nothing.
Aerys' internal structure was unnervingly clean.
No scarred channels.
No stagnant Essence.
No residue of premature circulation.
Too clean.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
…Did the Emperor intervene?
There were only a handful of explanations for a body this receptive, this prepared—and none of them were common. If the Emperor had taken an interest, if some form of preparation had been granted…
Then this boy was far more than an accident.
Kael withdrew his hand slowly, breathing harder than before. The Essence he had forced into Aerys had met no resistance at all.
He wiped the sweat from his brow with a sharp exhale.
"…Hah. Tell me," he said quietly. "Did you register the flow?"
Aerys straightened with effort, fists clenched, every muscle trembling.
"Yes," he said. "I did."
It was not bravado.
ODI had not merely allowed the circulation—it had recorded it, stripped it of inefficiencies, and engraved it into the Nexus with merciless precision.
Kael studied him for a long moment.
This method—brutal, invasive—had been how Kael himself was trained. It broke most initiates. It only worked on those with nothing inside them yet.
And Aerys had taken it.
"That pain you felt," Kael said finally, "was unavoidable. It's the fastest way to imprint Essence into someone with no established circulation."
He paused, then added more quietly:
"Most fail."
Aerys said nothing.
"The objective is simple," Kael continued. "Seven days. By then, your Nexus must absorb and sustain Essence on its own. No assistance."
The timeline bordered on insanity.
Even noble heirs took months.
Within his chest, ODI remained perfectly still—anchored, sovereign.
Seven days is enough.
"If that's what it takes," Aerys said evenly, "I'll endure it."
Kael's lips curved into a thin, predatory smile.
"Good," he said. "Then today ends here. Next time, we find the element you resonate with."
He turned and walked toward the exit, his footsteps echoing against the marble.
At the threshold, he stopped without looking back.
"…Interesting," he muttered.
The doors sealed behind him.
Aerys exhaled slowly and let his body sag.
Within his Nexus, ODI remained awake.
The lesson had been accepted.
And preparation had already begun.