Aether's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

The next training day, Aether landed on the arena floor with the white pegasus folding its wings behind him. Sophia was already on the sand with her tablet. Apollo leaned against a column, arms crossed. Aether unbuckled the gold reins and let the pegasus walk to the shaded end. He held up his hands. The gauntlets caught the morning light. "I need to know what's happening inside me when I surge," he said. "Last time I held eleven seconds. I don't know how close I came to breaking. If I go in front of him again blind, I'll cross the line and not feel it." Sophia tapped her screen. "The gauntlets already read you. I built sensors into the palm plates and the wrist bands. I just never showed you the numbers." She swiped, and thin gold lines lit along the carvings on both gauntlets. "Green is safe. Amber is your ceiling. Red means stop or you tear something. I can push the readout to the inside of your forearm so only you see it." Aether flexed his fingers. Faint numbers bloomed on the inner cuff, cool against his skin. Apollo pushed off the column. "Start low. Don't chase the eleven. Chase the line where amber starts." Sophia nodded. "Ramp in one-second steps. Call the color out loud. I log it." He raised his right hand. A thread of lightning coiled between his fingers. "Green," he said. He pushed harder. The cuff shifted. "Green. Green. Amber." He stopped at four seconds and let the charge die. He tried again, and again. On the sixth run he held amber for two full seconds before the numbers spiked. The cuff went red. He clamped his fist shut. Thunder cracked once inside the arena and stopped. He was breathing hard, but he was standing, and nothing around him was on fire. Sophia looked up from the tablet. "You cut it at red. First time you've ever cut yourself off from the inside." Apollo whistled low. "That's the whole thing, Conner. Not how big. When to stop." Aether stared at the fading numbers on his cuff. For the first time, the power felt like a dial instead of a flood. He could feel where safe ended. He could feel where he ended. He flew back to the palace at dusk with the pegasus climbing easy under him. Zeus stood on the wide steps, waiting. Aether landed and held up the gauntlets, cuffs still glowing faint green. "I can read myself now," he said. "I know when to stop." Zeus studied the readout a long moment. "Good," he said. "Then next session, you show me the ceiling. In front of me. If the number lies, I will know before you do." Aether bowed his head. The dial was his. The test had just moved.