“I cannot fathom your sorrow,” Hahen said. “If there is anything I can do...”
Niddhogg said nothing. His presence at my side, tail coiled around my back, was all the silent comfort he could offer as the darkness ran its course through my soul.
I gave myself to the count of one hundred to wallow in the sorrow and pain of my clan’s presumed defeat. Then I vowed I wouldn’t shed another tear until I’d found out the truth. Until then, I’d bury myself in research for the quest and focus on advancing my core to meet the challenges ahead. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe the pain would go away soon, but I was strong enough that I didn’t need it to. Pain wasn’t always bad. In this case, it would fuel me.
And so would my anger.
When I raised my head out of my hands, my vision of the future was clear. I’d devote my every waking minute to making myself stronger and wiser for the quest ahead. Starting right that second.
“Hahen,” I said. “Let’s work on the Sleepless technique.”
“Jace,” the rat spirit began, “take a day, maybe two. You must come to terms—”
“No,” I said. “This is how I’ll deal with it. Please. Help me master this technique. It will give me more time to work on advancement. I need those extra hours.”
Hahen and Niddhogg exchanged worried glances. My mentor bowed his head and crossed his arms over his chest. I thought he’d deny me his help until he was satisfied I’d grieved. Then, at last, he raised his head to meet my eyes and gave me a sharp nod.
“You’re in luck. I’d planned to work on this today.” Hahen motioned toward the floor and waited for me to drop into a lotus meditation position in the center of the room. He lowered himself onto the carpet in front of me and mirrored my pose.
“In your truest form, mortals are a core of jinsei surrounded by a cage of flesh and bone. Your aura is an extension of your will, clear and empty until you learn to fill it,” Hahen lectured me. “Just as aspects taint the jinsei found in nature, they also corrupt your aura. The Sleepless technique hardens you against exhaustion aspects that force weaker artists to sleep.”
I’d heard all this before. The theory was simple enough for even a first-year student to understand. The problem was that exhaustion aspects clogged up your aura in a big hurry. For one thing, they were very hard to see. By the time you noticed how many had lodged themselves in your aura, there might be dozens of them. For another, once you had more than ten or so in your aura, they multiplied at an alarming rate. Even with my special abilities, it was impossible to keep my aura clear of exhaustion for more than an hour or two after they invaded.
“As we’ve discussed,” Hahen continued after I nodded, “the Sleepless technique is not merely purifying your aura after exhaustion has set in. When perfected, this technique prevents the exhaustion from ever taking root. Or, at least, the aspects take far longer to invade.”
Before I could interrupt, the rat spirit produced a thin metal vial from within his robes. He tapped it with one claw, and it rang with a high, pure note. “This contains jinsei polluted with exhaustion aspects. It’s a sedative often used by physicians who are also sacred energy masters. I want you to take a small sip to bring a handful of exhaustion aspects into your aura.”
The vial was a trick we hadn’t tried yet. I was skeptical that the medicine would do anything but knock me out for the rest of the day, but if my mentor thought it could help, I owed it to us both to try the medicine. I put all negative thoughts aside and accepted the cold cylinder from him. I removed the cork and took a quick sniff from the cloud of vapor that formed above the vial’s mouth. There were hints of antiseptic and alcohol mixed in with a whiff of crushed berries. I took just enough of a drink to wet the tip of my tongue, corked the vial, and handed it back to the rat spirit.
Just in time, too. My arm felt weak and a bone-deep weariness settled into me. Cycling my breath purged some exhaustion aspects I’d just invited into my aura, but it was already a losing battle. Dozens of them surrounded me, and my eyelids tried to drift closed.
“No sleeping!” Hahen punctuated his shout by jabbing one pointed finger into my ribs. “Study the aspects. Find what allows them to cling to your aura.”
The invading exhaustion aspects made me sluggish. It was hard to stay awake, much less figure out how they were different from all the other kinds of aspects. Their effect made it difficult to concentrate. Frustrated, I thought back to what I knew about aspects from my time in the laboratory with Hahen.
Exhaustion aspects weren’t like the other types, because they multiplied without an external source. They were attracted to mortals, and the more of them already around someone, the more of them would appear. I also couldn’t cycle them out of my aura, and the Thief’s Shield didn’t seem to affect them, either.
Second, Hahen had once explained to me that exhaustion aspects didn’t appear until a mortal tired from physical activity or lack of sleep. Once they arrived, though, they latched on tight and wouldn’t dissipate until hours after their target had fallen asleep. Some scholars believed the exhaustion aspects feasted on dreams and wouldn’t leave until they were sated. Others
