Sjon sat with the metal in front of him. Moving it through the air, as if he were juggling it. He moved three pieces at once, seemingly with ease. They hopped and danced while he waited for Pilar to come in.

It had been four months since he began training. Over that time, he had practiced for a long time every day, trying to move more and more objects. He even practice at night sometimes, in the recluse of his room, praying that no one was paying attention to when he actually went to bed. Sjon wished that he had larger objects to move, as the pieces of metal weren't difficult at all now.

He tapped his foot impatiently. He wanted to show Pilar something. He was trying to use his summoning powers; she had told him he had them. During the night, he trained, attempting to summon even just the smallest piece of iron.

It was just two nights ago that he succeeded. He had been sitting, calling for a piece of iron from anywhere, as usual. He was having trouble, and nothing was working. However, that night, he just tried imagining a piece of iron appearing in his hand. He had felt a hot line move through him, from his stomach, into his chest, and down his arms. When he opened his eyes, a piece of metal was sitting gently in his cupped hand.

He had been ecstatic. He kept trying the next night, to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and kept succeeding. Now, he waited to show Pilar of his success.

When Pilar opened the door, he couldn't keep in his enthusiasm. He nearly jumped out of his chair, a grin spread across his face. Her face was blank, a little confused at the boy's strange behavior.

"What is it?" she inquired, suspicious at the dark-haired boy's smile.

Sjon walked over to her and grabbed her hands. "Watch this," he smirked, forming her hands into a shallow cup.

He closed his eyes, still holding her hands, and Pilar looked at him, perplexed. She was trying to figure out what she was doing until something started forming in her hands. She gasped. A small piece of iron was building itself in from of her, forming from a small point, and expanding in fractals. It grew until it filled her entire hand, and she stared at Sjon, gaping in amazement.

Sjon smiled at her, pleased at her reaction. "I learned how to do that on my own," he grinned, his eyes lighting up.

Pilar laughed in joy, nearly bouncing up and down. "Amazing Sjon!" she giggled, "You have been learning so quickly!" she smiled.

He nodded, "I can't wait to practice more," he stated, smiling at her, both excited about the small victory.

Pilar's smile fell a little, forming into a countenance almost touched with pity. "Actually," she started, "Cyrus and I have agreed that it's time for you to start learning other things," she spoke, revealing a truth he did not want to hear.

Sjon frowned. "What other things?" he asked.

"Written Kameng," she stated, "along with how to pilot a ship and drive an automobile, and history about the Libran galaxy," she smiled. "Don't worry, it's not that bad, and you've already come so far in doing magic," she comforted, tried to make up for the crushing news.

He sighed, not looking forward to it. Magic was something he was good at, and it made him feel special. Besides, couldn't Cyrus put something in his head that helped him understand written language? Anything seemed possible in the future. Although, he guessed that they would've just done that already if it was possible. Shrugging, he decided to simply look forward to piloting a space ship, which sounded much cooler than history lessons.

▅ ▆ ▇ █ ▇ ▆ ▅

Sjon groaned, not enjoying learning the written language of Kameng. The sounds were all so different from Common, the language he spoke, and the characters for the letters were so much different than the ones he used. He stared at a page of sentences.

He took a while translating them, even though they were very simple sentences. In order, they read: "It went near him", "They (females) see him following her", and "I (male) will go among them". Very simple sentences. He finished it quickly, moving on to something a little more interesting.

When Sjon heard "history" he thought "boring", however, Libran history was anything but.

Libran was one of the first galaxies to be fully colonized, and home to three giant planets. That was way more than other galaxies, according to the video Sjon was attentively watching. In fact, Libran was home to the planet where the race of giants evolved, called Gigantica Oon, with a hard 'G' at the beginning. Additionally, with his new understanding of Kameng, he learned that 'Oon' meant one, so the name of the planet he was on meant 'Delphi One'.

Sjon learned of other races as well, most evolving from humans.

First there were the Seipys, a race filled with super-intelligent albinos, originating from an isolated group of scientists looking to create a hyper-intelligent new race.

Additionally, there were the Elves, tall and agile, with pointy ears that once indicated intelligence, but now were all for looks. They came from a group of humans stranded on a planet with a terrifying predator, and had outstanding night-vision and hearing.

There was also a race of cat-people, called Felins, complete with ears and tails, stemming from a crazy fashionista starting a wild trend. They were a race only officially recognized recently, after children of the altered humans were born with the features as well.

After the Felins were created, a mad scientist attempted to create a new super race, and genetically modified humans with bird DNA in an attempt to create humans with wings. Unfortunately, the wings were just for show, and didn't work. The subjects escaped the lab, and tried to breed out the wings, but the genes were dominant, and didn't disappear easily. They developed hereditary magic to help survive, and after years of genetic mutations, finally managed to fly with their wings. They were recognized as a race, and called themselves Seraphs.

Discovered soon after humans left earth were a race of savage beasts they called Truculens. They were very large in size, and had tough, pale green skin. They had just advanced to the agricultural faze of civilization, but the humans of the time pulled them out of it. The more intelligent ones now work for the government, while the rest are farmers and soldiers.

The most recently discovered race was the Giants, the results from a colony of humans stranded on Gigantica Oon for billions of years. The giant planet forced the humans to grow up to 38 feet tall. Their gigantic stature took a toll on other parts of the body, and resulted in a decreased average intelligence, increased bone density (especially in the lower body), and abnormally long legs in ratio to the rest of the body.

Finally came the dwarves. Short and sturdy, they evolved on a planet outside of the comfortable temperature range, and took to underground tunnels to escape the heat. Cooled by underground oceans and breezes, they survived, but grew much shorter in size, and with much wirier hair.

The video covered a few wars, the civil war against the Elven Federation being one of them. It only finished up 200 years ago, resulting in a slight separation between Elves and the other races inhabiting Libran. It also mentioned other races hailing from distant parts of the galaxy, but also made sure to note that the viewer would probably never get to see them.

As it started to delve on deeper subjects, such as the creation of time and travel into the past and future, Sjon shut it off, not wanting to overload his mind.

He called for Cyrus using a keypad on the wall, having learned that it connected the house with every occupant. Sjon wanted to learn how to pilot a plane, and was ecstatic to do so.

It only took Cyrus a few minutes to reach where Sjon was waiting with a happily expectant face. The elderly man sighed, prepared for a rough ride.

Cyrus led Sjon throughout the house and into the garage. Located in there were two small space ships, round and sleek, made with a shiny metal that gave off a weird color. It seemed light gray at first glance, but then when Sjon moved around, it seemed to have blue undertones.

Cyrus smiled at Sjon's curiosity. "This junker over here is the one we will be taking," he told Sjon, pointing to the vehicle behind the one he was admiring.

The young boy's smile fell a little. It was still amazing, but much older, and looked as if it would fall apart at any second. "Are you sure this is safe?" he questioned Cyrus with a nervous glance.

He laughed at the notion. "We'll be fine, besides, there is not anything to crash into," he claimed.

He and Cyrus both climbed into the small ship, which had around the same amount of space as a car. Cyrus got into the driver's seat to show Sjon before he even let him touch the controls.

"Before we go anywhere off the planet we have to request it, and besides, this car does not have the ability to do so," he explained. "They're both made with milium, the same metal you have been practicing with, so they can both warp, but it's very expensive," he mentioned. "We will first cruise around the property," he stated simply, smiling at Sjon as they both buckled in.

Cyrus pulled some switches and buttons, and the ship hummed, coming to life. Glowing lights lit up the cabin, and Sjon could only stare in awe. The clanking machine lifted into the air, and flew out of the garage.

A beautiful landscape lied outside the building. Cyrus had explained previously that Delphi Oon had no atmosphere, so the stars were visible any time of day. The horizon had subtle hills, just gently rolling over the surface of the planet. Littering the surface were vacuum plants, designed to live without any air. They were shaped like large blades of grass, or perhaps seaweed, but stood as tall as a tree. The plants were a pure white color, affected by the radiation of this system's sun.

Sjon looked longingly out the window, gaping at the exquisiteness that he saw before him. Cyrus smiled, looking at the innocent boy, but gently tapped his shoulder to show him how he flew the ship.

After a few hours, Sjon was more enlightened about the mechanics of the machine, but Cyrus refused to let him fly it. Obviously Cyrus didn't have faith in Sjon's ability.

Sjon pointed to a switch under the main console, "what does this do?" he said.

Cyrus shrugged. "I do not know, I bought this second-hand so Pilar could learn to drive, and did not look at the manual in-depth," he explained, "So, we should probably not touch it," he said, looking at Sjon as if he had already done something wrong.

Sjon sighed, and looked ahead. They had been driving for a long time, and he really wanted to drive. It was within his nature to long to excel at everything he tried, and he wanted to prove to Cyrus just how talented he could be.

"Cyrus, please, can I try?" Sjon nearly begged him.

The old man stared ahead, holding the steering wheel tight. "I'll land it, you can try--" he was interrupted by an excited yelp, "But no higher than 50 meters!" he exclaimed, much to Sjon's dismay.

Cyrus started their descent. The clanker was rocky, and didn't make for the smoothest landing. Halfway through the process, Cyrus' face grew concerned.

"What's wrong?" asked Sjon, worried. Cyrus always seemed to look apathetic or joyful, not like this.

Cyrus exhaled. "I don't know. The air brakes stopped working, we're f-falling too quickly," he stammered, engrossed in the devices of the ship.

Sjon looked around for something he could do to help, but Cyrus was scarily silent. Sjon ran his hand through his short hair, nervous. He tried to feel the edges of the ship, thinking of everything Cyrus had told him.

"Could we pull up?" he asked.

"Engines are failing," he barked.

"We could warp--"

"Don't have a portable drive," he said, cutting off Sjon.

Sjon thought back. His heart jumping around in his chest, his stomach flying up near his throat. The ship couldn't go into space. They couldn't warp, they couldn't pull up. Sjon was immortal, but not enough to survive a crash from this height. The ship. It had four gears, the seats were leather, the hull was made of milium, it didn't have a portable drive, the engines—

His train of thought stopped. Milium. The ship was made of milium.

Sjon closed his eyes, concentrating. He felt the metal surrounding him, falling. He imagined the metal would float up. He opened his eyes, heart pounding, only to find that it didn't work.

He tried again, closing his eyes, imagining the movement. He strained, his head hurting from thinking so hard. He thought of how Cyrus would react, and how his face would look. He imagined the landscape, the change in breeze, the feeling in his stomach. He concentrated until his eyes hurt so much, he had to open them.

Cyrus' face was just how he imagined it. Amazed. Staring at him. Sjon smiled, trying not to break concentration. He manipulated the ship, straining his mind just to move it slowly. He saw the house in the distance, square and white, but too far away. He was already sweating, his face completely wet. He briefly looked down at himself, his clothing littered with red dots. Quickly he concentrated on the descent. Slowly and smoothly. Sjon's heart was banging against his chest, screaming to get out. He felt the intense rhythm in his head, pounding and bashing. He started to hyperventilate, his breathing becoming quick and short. The ground was so close, just inches away.

When the ship hit the planet floor, Sjon smiled at Cyrus, without words. They were safe. His heart started to slow, his breath started to return. Then, suddenly, everything went black.

tyle='text-indbV''6