To say Galen was excited would be an understatement. Today, he’d finally learn about the mysterious power that existed in this world.

  He had yet to see that power in action, and everyone he’d asked about it had been evasive. Galen had even been denied any books or other such documents that involved the subject of Ether. He’d tried asking Aleksi, but the man would also dodge the subject whenever it was brought up.

  To his mentor’s credit, however, he never looked happy doing it. Which left him the impression that Aleksi’s superiors were the ones restricting him. It somewhat diminished his trust in the Dominion.

  Perhaps having sensed his building frustration, Aleksi had assured him that they would eventually teach him about Ether. They kinda had to at some point. It was a no brainer given what they wanted him to do as their Champion. And now, four months since he had been summoned to Avani, it was finally time.

  Better late than never I guess, Galen thought as he waited in his room.

  It was currently early in the morning. He’d insisted on starting as soon as possible.

  He heard a knock on his door, and it took him all but two seconds to spring up and swing the door open.

  Only it wasn’t who Galen had been hoping it would be.

  “You sure are energetic this morning, Champion,” Milton the scribe, the young man who had served as his guide during his first trip into Ignis, greeted him with an amused smile.

  “Oh, it’s you,” Galen winced at how that sounded, “sorry, that came out a lot more rudely than I meant it to.”

  Milton chuckled and waved away any concern that he had been offended, “Oh, it’s quite alright Champion. I know you’re quite eager to start learning about Ether. I too would have been disappointed in your place.”

  “Sooo…. What are you doing here?”

  Milton’s eyes seemed to sparkle, “I came by to give you this!”

  The nerdy scribe handed Galen a thick, leather-bound tome. He inspected it out of curiosity…

  And felt his stomach drop when he noticed the Eye of Athanasius, the symbol of the Athurai religion, on the front cover of the thick book.

  Is this… Galen thought, nervous to ask the question aloud.

  Milton answered the question he didn’t want to ask, seemingly unaware of his discomfort, “That is a copy of the holy book of the Athuraian faith. It is our holy scriptures, originally written and given to us by the holy lord, Athanasius Durai himself!”

  “I see…” was all Galen could bring himself to say.

  “Please, give it a read when you have time! As our new Champion, it’s only right you be given the chance to convert to the true faith! It simply wouldn’t do for our chosen one to not be a believer!”

  Galen tried not to let his hesitation or discomfort show, “Thanks… I’ll be sure to give it a shot later.”

  Milton beamed, bowed, and left with a bounce in his step.

  He made sure the scribe was gone before he closed the door, locked it, and carefully placed the Athuraian book on his desk, as if it were a bomb that was in danger of going off.

  He’d been worried that this would eventually happen. Given how fervently the people of the Dominion believed in their god emperor, he knew it was only a matter of time until they would try to convert him.

  Unfortunately for you all, I already believe in a God, and He sure ain’t Athanasius, he thought.

  Even if Galen was still struggling with the theological implications of being in another world, there was no way he was about to convert to another religion. He especially wasn’t about to worship the man who had been behind the summoning that tore him away from everything and everyone he had ever known and loved.

  Another knock on the door sounded, and this time, Galen was careful to peek through the peephole to make sure it wasn’t Milton or another Athuraian trying to convert him again.

  He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that, this time, it was Aleksi.

  He opened the door, “Hey…”

  Aleksi’s smile faded a bit, and even Galen winced at how halfhearted his greeting sounded.

  “Is something wrong, lad? You had seemed so excited yesterday for today’s training. Did something happen?”

  Galen had an internal struggle as to whether he should confide in his tutor. Of all the people he’d met in this world, if he had to choose who he trusted the most so far, it was Aleksi. There was no competition there.

  Everyone else was too reverent towards him for his liking. Galen knew it wasn’t him they looked and spoke to with honor and respect. It was his position as the new Champion of the Dominion.

  None of them looked at Galen himself when they saw him. They only saw the Champion they wanted to see.

  Aleksi was different.

  His tutor didn’t speak with that reverence. He talked to Galen normally, and even joked with him. He treated him almost like he would treat a close nephew or even a son. He’d even helped partially with his guilt over Serenity’s death, reminding him of what he still had waiting for him on Earth.

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  Did that mean Galen could trust him?

  Well, it wasn’t like he could trust anyone else. And he supposed he could use this opportunity to test Aleksi.

  Galen sincerely hoped to God that Aleksi would prove trustworthy.

  “Well,” he swallowed nervously and took the plunge, “I guess you could say something did…”

  Aleksi frowned with concern. He looked down both sides of the hallway before he asked, “Do you want to talk about it, lad?”

  Galen had also looked down the hallway to confirm for himself no one else was close by. Seeing they were alone, he motioned his tutor to come into his room. Once inside, Galen shut the door, and pointed at the Athuraian scripture book on his desk.

  Amazingly, Aleksi seemed to understand what Galen had meant by the gesture. For the briefest of instances, he thought he saw his tutor pale with a look of visible worry. But when he blinked, the look was gone, replaced with an impassive mask.

  Had he imagined it?

  “I see…” Aleksi glanced around the room.

  Galen didn’t know why he did that. They were alone as far as he knew.

  “Well, I’m sure you have a lot of questions for today, lad. Come, walk with me. We’ll talk as we head to one of the training courtyards,” Aleksi said.

  Before Galen could say a word, his tutor had sharply turned and left the room. He followed quickly behind. Once he caught up, he began to say something to Aleksi, but he had cut him off by suddenly saying, “It’s been about four months since you’ve been summoned, yes? You must be rather homesick.”

  Galen blinked, confused as to why Aleksi was suddenly bringing this up, “Yeah… I miss my world. A lot.”

  “Well, it may not be much in the way of alleviating that feeling, but how about we converse for a bit in your language?” Aleksi proposed as he turned to look Galen in the eye.

  His tutor was smiling, but his eyes were seemingly saying, “play along.”

  Galen reluctantly nodded, “Sure… We can try it.”

  Immediately his tutor switched to English, speaking with a Durainese accent, “Sorry about all that, lad. This is just an extra measure of protection to make sure any would be eavesdroppers won’t easily understand us.”

  Galen almost felt sick as he asked in English, “Are we in danger?”

  “No, I don’t believe so…” Aleksi answered.

  Though he didn’t say it, Galen could have sworn he heard what went unspoken, “not yet…”

  “Then what’s all this about?” he asked nervously.

  “Calm yourself, lad. Try to look casual, as if we’re just talking about mundane matters.”

  Galen inhaled deeply, then sighed, as though his tutor had just said something rather annoying… which he had.

  He made sure he relaxed his body as he asked, “So why go through this sort of trouble? Why did seeing the Athuraian book make you think this was necessary?”

  Aleksi took his time responding, “Because, lad. Them giving you that book is a bad sign. I’m guessing they all but pushed it on you without asking?”

  “Yeah… Milton was the one who shoved the damn thing onto me.”

  Aleksi almost froze at that news, but managed to keep walking, “So he was the first one to try to convert you, huh?”

  “Yeah…” Galen swallowed nervously, “he said that it wouldn’t do for the new Champion to not be of the true faith. Or something like that.”

  Aleksi mulled that over for a moment, “I wonder if they’ve grown bold enough or have just become impatient enough to pull that stunt on you.”

  “You almost sound upset they tried to convert me.”

  Aleksi didn’t respond to that.

  Galen sighed, “Look, Aleksi. I’m sorry to ask such a serious question, but…”

  He trailed off, almost too scared to say it aloud. His tutor sensed his hesitation, “You can go ahead and ask, lad. I give you my word I won’t take offense.”

  Galen somehow mustered up the courage, “Can I trust you, Aleksi?”

  Thankfully, he was true to his word and neither looked nor sounded upset, “That’s a perfectly reasonable question to ask given your situation, lad. I don’t know if you’ll believe me on my word alone, but yes. You can trust me. It may be hard to believe me, but I have your best interests in mind. Especially now that I’ve come to know you on a more personal level.”

  He wanted to believe Aleksi. He wanted to trust him so badly it almost hurt. But a small part of him, the suspicious, bitter side of him that had remained since he was summoned against his will, forced him to ask, “How can I know for sure I can trust you?”

  They entered the courtyard that they had trained in yesterday.

  “You can keep testing me if you wish. I’ll do my best to prove myself worthy of your trust, lad. Though since you confided in me about the Dominion’s attempt to convert you to their religion, I will confide in you a secret of my own. One so serious that should it be made known, it may result in my execution.”

  Aleksi stopped and turned to look Galen in the eye with the most serious and sincere expression he had ever seen on the man. He gulped as his tutor revealed, “I’m not an Athuraian. I do not worship the Emperor as my god. I worship the Maker, and no one else.”

  Galen froze.

  From his studies, he knew that the Dominion worshiped Athanasius Durai as their god, and that his worship was the official religion of the empire. To follow any other religion was not only discouraged, but forbidden. Breaking that law was punishable by death. Given he'd grown up in the US with freedom of religion, it was a law he didn't much care for.

  So Galen knew that his tutor had just taken a massive risk in admitting what he did just now. Even if the admission had been in English.

  His jaw dropped, I thought that everyone in the Dominion worshiped Athanasius…

  Galen immediately felt stupid for having that thought. Of course not everyone would follow the state mandated religion. Even back on Earth, just because every religion besides the official one was banned, didn’t mean that everyone would go along with that decree. No doubt there were many like Aleksi who secretly followed other beliefs, regardless of what the Dominion and Athanasius thought.

  “I believe you,” he found himself saying.

  And he did. A declaration like that, even if it was a lie, carried a lot of danger. Just as his tutor had warned, simply saying what he had could get him killed as punishment.

  Aleksi seemed relieved, “Good. I’m glad you do. And I’m honored you’d be willing to trust me despite your circumstances, lad. I’ll do my best to live up to that.”

  He switched back to Durainese, “Now, I hope our conversation in your language was able to relieve a bit of that homesickness.”

  Galen nodded, as he too switched back, “Yeah, it helped a lot more than I thought it would. Thanks, Aleksi.”

  “Not a problem, lad. Now, let’s get some sparring in for the day. Then we can finally sate your curiosity and teach you about Ether.”