What! I can’t feel or see anything! 

Casimir’s mind ordered his hands to remove the blindfold from his eyes, but paralyzing darkness firmly gripped him in a numb prison.

Those bastards probably drugged me. How long was I out?

The inside of his nostrils burned and Casimir lamented that he could not block the stinging stench. A guttural groan that passed from his lip. That smell! It reeks of blood and industrial cleaner! They must have brought me to one of their labs… Blast it, all I can do is wait for an opening. 

“Looks like he is coming around, Master.”

“Having a specimen with a high level of drug resistance has its pros, it seems.”

That’s Jett and …

Casimir’s heart pounded against his ribcage as someone gently removed his blindfold.

He forced his eyes open and immediately regretted it. Bright incandescent lights flooded into his vision and Sageman’s mad gaze came into focus. 

“Ah, welcome back, Casimir. A whole new world is now open to you.” Sageman’s eyes formed into slits that made his skin crawl, before continuing to embed Casimir’s right lower abdomen with wired sensors.

Jett acknowledged him with a patronizing smirk.  

Move! Move! Move, damn you! 

Casimir strained himself to break away, but his body lay heavy like a lead block, secured by metal restraints. Then, he froze and started trembling when he saw what the wire sensors were attached to. 

 Sageman radiated with mirth when he witnessed Casimir’s reaction to his handwork. “Only the best from me.”

Casimir’s exposed right lower abdomen was splayed open to his inners and twitching in the middle of it was a fist-size muscular ball. Its glossy, translucent tissue radiated a soft glow which extended out to the fibrous mesh that wrapped around it like a web securing a spider’s prey. 

What, what! No! An Aether heart!  

“Sorry, for waking you, but this is the best way to make sure it works properly,” Sageman said while sticking Casimir’s arm with a needle, “I’ll let you go back to sleep when I’m done.” 

Whatever concoction Sageman gave him made Casimir sweat and feel like ants were scurrying around his veins.

He flashed a murderous glare at them that Sageman returned with an amused smile and  caused Jett to laugh.

 Eagerly Jett’s hand hovered over a knob of a bulky rectangular machine next to Casimir’s left. He looked to Sageman for further instructions.

Waving his hand, Sageman ordered, “Medium, he should be able to manage.” 

Jett turned the knob and pressed a button on the panel causing the machine to hum to life and launch an overwhelming current of energy into Casimir. 

His Aether heart jolted from a quiet pulse to a violent palpitation that spanned to every inch of his body and warmed him with an unnatural heat. Casimir bit down on a scream and part of his lip, drawing blood. What the hell is this!    

Jett laughed. “That is a nice face. How does it feel experiencing your first awakening? It is amazing, right?” 

 Stop this! I’m..  Casimir’s breathing became uneven as his lungs could not keep up, next came the dizziness.

“Shh,” Sageman said, wiping away a dribble of blood from Casimir’s lips. “Close your eyes and focus on the beat of your Aether heart. Float with the Aetherian current. Don’t fight against it.”

 Casimir shut his eyes. Float with the current. What does that supposed to mean?! 

His Aether heart beat erratically in response to the flow of Aether, like a tiny boat being thrashed around a turbulent sea. He feared that it was going to tear apart with every passing second. 

Then, he felt someone gently hold and rub the sides of his head. As a response, Casimir cracked his eyes open and saw Jett looking down at him with a peaceful expression that was unnerving to see on the face of a murderer.  

“Match your Aether heart to the rhythm,” Jett said and began to hum.

Casimir closed his eyes again and tried to zone out Jett’s humming. I have grown to hate that song as much as the bastard humming it. 

Float with the current, no!

Match the beat, hell no! I refuse!

 Casimir focused on his Aether heart and the current flowing through it. If only it would just…stop! 

Inwardly he took hold of the current and threw it back. He heard a static charge and metal pop to his left.

“What the hell!” Jett shouted.

Casimir opened his eyes and saw Jett rush over to the machine and frantically jabbed the buttons on the control panel.

Finally, Casimir sighed from the relief that he could no longer feel his Aether heart anymore and forced himself to stay awake despite fatigue creeping in.

“Jett, leave it. It’s done,” said Sageman before removing the sensor from Casimir’s Aether heart.    

Jett hissed and Casimir took comfort in that he pissed him off, but a chuckle from Sageman put him on edge again. 

“I just need to get more durable equipment when dealing with your new junior,” Sageman gave Casimir an intrigued smile. “You can go back to sleep. You need to recover for our big move. ” 

Casimir’s eyes were taken over by fear.

 Sageman leaned in close and whispered, “I’m taking you home to Sagelands. There your training will start.”

Sagelands. He is going to smuggle me out of the country to his!   

Casimir put all of his effort into shaking his head. No! I want to see my family again!

 “Tsk! He is so ungrateful, Master,” Jett huffed.

“Now, now,” Sageman weaved a pattern that caused his hand to glow. “This is all a new experience for him. We should expect some push back.”

He placed his hand on Casimir’s forehead. “Go to sleep.”

No!  Sageman’s Aether seeped into his mind and dampened it like candle snuffer to a flame. 

I can’t!

He tried to resist the same way he stopped the machine but only succeeded in giving himself a pounding headache. His eyelids grew heavy and darkness slowly eclipsed his vision. 

 “Hmph,” Sageman gave out a disappointed sigh.

“What is the matter, Master?” Jett asked.

“It appears that an old friend found her way here.” He removed his hand from Casimir’s head. “Iris just could not take my no for an answer.”

“Can’t we fight her off?”

Sageman began closing Casimir up. “I can, but she brought a team of Inquis and my precious godson along, which could become troublesome.”

He looked at Casimir like a hawk forced to abandon its prey. “I’ll come back for you later. Don’t die before then. It would be a waste.”

The last thing Casimir saw was Sageman and Jett teleporting away before he drifted off to sleep.