Universe's End

"Rory, thanks for the blood sample a few days ago. It's been a major boon toward my research and- what am I looking at?" Mariah stopped herself as she walked down the bottom stairs leading to Rory's dungeon lab.

"Not sure what you're talking about," Rory said nonchalantly before looking down at the girl nearby. "Do you have any idea?"

"None," Roxy said with a grin before looking at Astra. "What about you?"

"None!" Astra chirped cheerily.

"By the way, are you dad's girlfriend?" Roxy asked innocently.

"Roxy, I already told you to stop asking every woman you see that."

"But the last one just barged in as well!"

"Irene is my boss, sort of," Rory said with a shrug. "Plus, she was dropping some stuff off."

Mariah continued to take in the odd sight before her. Several scourge mites were spinning in the air like they were being juggled in slow motion, occasionally pulled from their orbit around Rory's head to instead haphazardly spin around Astra, only to be pushed over to the strange little girl, only a single mite wobbling around her head before returning to Rory's orbit.

"Mind explaining?" Mariah finally huffed out, not sure where to start.

"Oh, sure. Pneuma control exercises," Rory said easily. "I'm having them work on their finer control. Well, in Astra's case, that is. In Roxy's case, I'm just trying to work on awakening some control."

"And the spinning monsters?"

"Oh, it's harder with living creatures, so I figured it would be like resistance training," Rory answered.

"I like Jeff!" Roxy pointed at one of the spinning mites who seemed to be relishing the prospect of the sweet release of death as it was spun around like a carnival game.

"Hmm, they're beneath having names," Astra huffed, the mites as large as she was. With a wave of her finger, they once more began to orbit her in their drunken path.

"Okayyyyy," Mariah said, frowning. "Next question. Strange girl, and did she call you dad?"

"Dad is dad," Roxy confirmed. "And I'm Roxy."

"That's Roxy," Rory added, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Right, smart ass."

"Language," Rory hissed.

"Oooo, strange lady said a bad word!" Roxy chimed in, eyes wide as if she'd heard something scandalous.

"Where did you pick up a daughter that-" She waved at Roxy, leaving certain things unsaid.

"Oh, you know, at the Kid Market," Rory said easily.

"Daddddd," Roxy said, rolling her eyes at Rory.

"Longish story. The condensed version is she was trapped in suspended animation."

"And she calls you dad because…?"

"Because dad is dad," Roxy repeated as if it were obvious.

"Right," Mariah said. "Are you ever going to stop tormenting those poor things?"

"Oh, they love it," Rory said as the mites flailed about, clearly doing anything but loving the experience.

"Uh-huh, well, all of this aside, I brought you something."

Walking over to Rory, she handed him a rolled-up scroll. Unrolling it with a flick of his wrist, his eyes scanned the parchment before a slight frown appeared on his face.

"If what you're saying here is even close to true… Dam- dang, that is some serious requirements."

"Daddy almost swore,"

"Did not," Rory said, sticking his tongue out at the giggling girl. It genuinely shocked Rory how naturally he had put on the father hat, a role he slipped into with almost freakish ease.

"You were saying?" Mariah asked, bringing Rory back to the topic at hand.

"Well, based on your speculative conceptual weights between both the scourge mites currently, and the attempt at making a brew to force an evolution into a renewal mite, we'll be looking at some rather exotic ingredients. I doubt generic herbs you find growing around the place will be enough."

"So we've hit a dead end?"

"Not exactly," Rory said with a frown. "I might have some stuff available. I've got this little seed from my travels called a Hungry Seed. Originally, I intended to use it for… something, but I think it should have the sort of conceptual weight we need. As far as conceptual alignment goes, at the surface level, they seem like a close enough match for what we're aiming for; the entire premise of renewal is essentially the cycle of death and rebirth after all."

Rory began pacing, and in the background, Roxy watched for several seconds before she too began pacing.

"Do you want to gamble on being wrong, though?"

"Not really," Rory said before winking at Mariah. "Thus, my trusty accomplice. I want you to begin working on making lesser versions of the brew."

"Lesser Renewal Affinity brews? What would that even look like?"

"Well, you're an alchemist as well. I'm sure you can come up with some ideas."

"Sounds like you're offloading work while messing around,"

"Not really." Rory shrugged. "I've been working on something."

"And that is?"

"Her," Rory pointed at Roxy, who waved at them from several feet away. "I realized she's too young to be properly tiered, so I've been 'acclimating' her to go from true un-tiered, to just, sort-of un-tiered, the same way other kids are. That's actually what I had Irene drop off: some documents relating to the information they have on low tiers, such as children and the like. I don't have the largest sample size."

"Oh…. And how is that going?"

"Surprisingly well," Rory said. "Due to the uhh, thing she went through, she doesn't have the inborn traits of other children. If I can get her acclimated with her ability to utilize pneuma, she can regulate herself against the otherwise corrosive effects the world would have on her."

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Plus, when she eventually does reach the age of properly reaching tier one, her body should have naturally begun to adapt to this universe and begun to incorporate itself into it, so it shouldn't be nearly the pain I went through.

Making a point not to explain those thoughts out loud, Rory left the conversation as it was, instead turning to Astra. "As for Astra, well, I just wanted to let her stretch her legs out a bit and meet Roxy."

"She's a good girl," Astra said, puffing her chest out like the proud older sister.

"I'm surprised, Astra, don't you normally try to eat people?"

"No," Astra said, sounding offended even as her eyes shifted back and forth. "Besides, I wouldn't eat Roxy."

"Alright, well if you say so," Mariah said before giving the scene one final once-over. "Well, I'm going to leave now. I just wanted to drop that off for you to see."

"Uh-huh, sounds good," Rory said without ever glancing back in her direction.

Shrugging, the woman left without another word as Rory continued to keep his focus on Astra and Roxy.

"I think she liked you," Roxy said after Mariah left.

"Well, that's unfortunate because not a chance," Rory laughed, every ounce of his conviction in his words.

"She's still scary," Astra muttered, floating to land on Rory's shoulder.

"Oh, it's just her hands and nails. It's not a big deal." Rory said.

"Dad?" Roxy asked.

"Yeah?" Rory responded. He'd already given up on even bothering to push back, a losing battle from what he could see.

"I think I figured it out."

"Figured what out- what the?"

Roxy, who had been struggling even to warble the path of even one of the mites, was suddenly spinning them overhead like a sideways Ferris wheel. There was still some unevenness in the movement, but to go from struggling to competency in a matter of only a few days was rather astounding.

"How?" Rory asked, genuinely baffled.

"My horns started to itch," Roxy said as if that was all that needed to explain the sudden change.

"Your horns started to…. Huh?" Curious, Rory extended his senses, maximizing his ocular release as he investigated her horns.

The ram horns framing the side of her head were inert, but the antelope horns atop her head felt different. It was as if they'd been slowly tuning themselves and had finally achieved resonance.

Is that something all sensen could do?

"That's not fair," Astra pouted, stamping her foot mid-air. "You're not even tier one!"

"Oh, nothing has ever stopped un-tiered from using pneuma. Violet was able to use pneuma even before she was tier one after all."

Still, to jump from where she was to this in three days is…

"Alright, Roxy, I'm going to try something. I'm going to remove my aura shrouding you. I want you to try to regulate the energies pressing down on you. If it hurts, just let me know, okay?"

Roxy said nothing, instead nodding her head and lightly biting her lip.

Here goes nothing.

Retracting the thin layer of aura that had been shrouding the girl, Rory held his breath as he watched her. For a moment, she flinched, the face he'd expect after stubbing your toe.

Rory watched for several moments longer as Roxy clenched her hands, until at last she let out a ragged breath, her own thin 'aura' if one could even call such a flimsy thing an aura, shattering a moment after. Shrouding her in his aura once more, Rory gave her a quick pat on her shoulder.

"Sorry," Roxy apologized. "I couldn't go any longer."

"No, that was already impressive," Rory said, and he entirely meant it. He'd initially intended to get her to regulate the external pneuma pressing down upon herself. Yet, here she was attempting to project an aura, something that wasn't generally achievable until tier five. "We'll keep practicing. But, before then, how about we make a trip back to Astra's home?"

Yeah, yeah, no getting around it.

Roxy was a prodigy.

It was either she was a prodigy, or the sensen themselves were extraordinary. Within Astra's room, Rory had given the girl a bar of basic enriched iron, a more easily manageable hammer, and some basic instructions. Sure, for the time, each strike was clumsy, but there was something there, an intent that spoke promise.

"Can I turn back?" Astra asked, the talking star pulsating as she spoke.

"That depends. Roxy, how are you feeling?"

"I couldn't do it," Roxy sighed after a moment.

"Do what?"

"What you did when you made two into one!"

True Folding. She was trying to True Fold the bar.

Speechless for a moment, Rory shook his head as quiet laughter pealed out.

"That wasn't something you were meant to be recreating yourself."

"Oh," Roxy said, looking disappointed.

"But maybe one day," Rory amended. "That aside, how would you like to try a few other things?"

"Is it stuff you do?" Roxy asked, perking up.

"Sure is."

"Then yes!"

In the end, it wasn't just pneuma manipulation or forging. Alchemy, Inscription, woodworking, and nearly everything he had her attempt; she showed a remarkable aptitude for them. It wasn't just a matter of simple talent either. Without some level of demonstration, she was hardly any better than what he expected from a ten-year-old child.

No, what seemed to stick out to Rory was that she was some kind of empath. Not in the touchy-feely way, but it was as if her horns could parse intent. Most people either learned from doing or watching, or even a mix of the two. For Roxy, it was as if she had a third dimension involved, the ability to glimpse understanding from the intent behind an action itself.

Rory had confirmed it, or as much as anything could be confirmed, when his sample size was just Roxy. Whenever he attempted to 'shield' his thoughts, actively closing them off into well-isolated mental threads, the harder it was for Roxy to 'resonate' with whatever he was doing.

It was all quite interesting, but there was one other element that Rory found really interesting. The effect seemed stronger with him, but it wasn't limited to just him. For two weeks since she'd first managed a sputtering attempt at projecting her aura, the two of them had been bustling about, moving from craft to craft and working on all sorts of random projects, anything for Rory to examine how Roxy took to it.

There had only been a single issue in that time, when some of his 'church' had attempted to come worship outside of a woodworking workshop while they were there. How they'd found out, Rory had no idea, but just knowing that the crowd was gathering outside where they could potentially bother Roxy irritated him something fierce.

Having excused himself momentarily, he'd gone out and promptly chased them off, blasting his aura until it was too much for them to withstand.

Two weeks and a few days spent with Roxy, Rory was feeling more confident in the girl and her ability to handle herself. While the girl was extremely inquisitive and rather attached to him, she was far from mentally stunted or immature; in fact, Rory would say she was probably ahead of the curve.

All of that combined so that as Rory sat at a table with Roxy next to him, a woman he'd never met before in front of them, he felt some confidence in his decision.

"Are you sure? I won't push back against the wishes of the Lord Founder,"

"I am. Roxy is a bright young girl."

"But most children don't start this level of enrollment until they're at least fourteen. The lessons are intended for those who've completed their secondary education. That means mathematics, pneuma theory, basic vocational education, and a few other areas. She could be overwhelmed."

"I'm confident in Roxy," Rory said. The woman was the dean of Ehkorrus's school system. Ages six through ten underwent what was essentially regular education, replacing history with classes on pneuma theory and incorporating some hands-on learning to help students focus on what they found appealing in potential vocations. Secondary education was essentially the same, but at a more advanced level, intended for students aged ten through fourteen.

The problem was that Rory felt quite confident that Roxy would grow extremely bored in those classes, as they were below her abilities. Or, they would be below her skill level in a matter of weeks, if not days, if she could learn as fast as he was witnessing.

Instead, he wanted to enroll her in tertiary-level education. It was intended for ages fourteen through eighteen, or until one earned a proper tier, in which case they could opt to transfer into a skills program. Most importantly, it assumed a level of basic pneuma manipulation and education that could be difficult for a ten-year-old girl to replicate.

Assuming that the ten-year-old girl wasn't Roxy.

It had been Apostolos's idea in the end. Having put his own kids through an education with an earlier version of the system, he'd suggested it to Rory and told him he could arrange a meeting on short notice.

Thus, the present moment.

"Well, if you insist," The woman was clearly nervous around Rory, given his status, but the fact that he was pushing a ten-year-old, alien-looking girl into a higher level of courses didn't help either.

"Great," Rory said, beaming at the woman as he stood up, offering his hand to shake. Rather than take it, the woman instead gave him a stiff bow and that same odd salute he still hadn't asked about.

One day.

Roxy, meanwhile, was paying little attention. Every few seconds, it was like he could feel an exceptionally weak aura flare out before crumpling.

"And Roxy? What about your feelings?" Rory asked after a moment.

"If dad thinks I can do it, I can do it." She said as if that were obvious before returning to her task of attempting to project her aura before tier one.

"Then, it sounds like we have ourselves a plan," Rory said proudly, all while the woman's eye twitched ever so slightly.

Surely this can't have any negative consequences whatsoever.