Astris is an unseen yet omnipresent current that binds all things, living or otherwise. It naturally leaks from their forms in varying amounts.

  Yuzuriha recounted what she had been taught by her older sister Marcille and her assistant, Sawatari, who wasn't doing a very good job at being one.

  'I don't know what type of an assistant she's supposed to be, but she was far from it!'

  Her lips twitched into a pout as her fingers tightened around Grace's hand. The dear neighbor was gently leading her up the winding stairs of her apartment. Yuzuriha had no idea where they were going but if it had to do with potion crafting then it had to be some kind of lab or study room.

  But that wasn't the focus right now. She was still grumbling over what an assistant should be.

  'An assistant, by every reasonable, moral, and professional standard is supposed to assist, but Sawatari is the exact opposite of that!'

  Ichiji Hyoma would have never treated her like this. Back when she was a CEO at Ichimonji International in her previous life, the man Ichiji had been the perfect assistant for her. Always one step ahead, calendar in sync, coffee always on her desk by 7 am sharp.

  That man was a machine.

  Yuzuriha will never forget the permanent shadows under his eyes as he read out her schedule for the day. Or the caffeine jitters that made his fingers tremble every time he passed her coffee.

  Or that one time he briefly blacked out during a presentation, face first into her beautifully knitted office rug, only to pop back up and apologize a moment after.

  That's right. Ichiji Hyoma was a real assistant, a terrifyingly efficient one at that. But in hindsight…possibly dying?

  Wait a minute. Now that she thought about it…

  'Huh, maybe something was wrong there'

  Yuzuriha lingered on that for a moment before Grace's voice pulled her out of it and back into the present.

  "Yor, how's your astris training coming along? I heard from your sister that she's been helping you use it to replace your lost sight"

  It was a casual question, one that's easy enough to answer but remember that Yuzuriha only started this training yesterday as opposed to the real Yor who's been doing it for…who knows how long.

  Since no memories were coming in at that question, Yuzuriha just based her response on yesterday's incident.

  "Oh. Uh. It's going…well?"

  She tried to be as vague as possible, praying that Grace would be satisfied with just that. But the silence that followed gnawed at her, forcing her to continue, to which she awkwardly complied.

  "I mean, I saw color yesterday. Like actual color. Intense colors radiating from everything around me. I couldn't get enough time to see it properly since…something happened"

  Of course, she couldn't expose how her own sister tried to kill her. Thankfully, that was enough of a response to satisfy Grace because the next instance, she gasped brightly.

  "Ah, that's incredible! What did it look like? Was it a shape or a mist or a wave of color? Did it move? Some Ascendants describe it like a wave when sensing astris in a blind state, was it the same for you?!"

  Grace had lit up out of nowhere that Yuzuriha was having a hard time keeping up once again. As she asked those questions she was getting uncomfortably close to her, close enough for her to smell the woman's breath.

  It smelled like the tea and cookies they had for breakfast if anyone's curious.

  At any rate, this was a problem now because the questions and words she was bombarding her with were straining her mind, she couldn't even form proper sentences when she tried to respond.

  "It wasn't—I don't know, it was just—!"

  "Right, right. Now then, what shade of color stood out? Crimson? Sapphire? Violet? Was it a glow? Or a shimmer? A pulse? And how did it feel in your chest and eyes. Cold, warm, ticklish?!"

  At this moment, Grace had probably pulled out a small notebook and a pencil to take down any sort of information she could give her since they were no longer holding hands.

  But unfortunately for Grace, Yuzuriha just couldn't keep up with the overload of information invading her mind.

  "I—I don't—It wasn't—Wait—Too fast!"

  As she was fumbling over her words, she didn't realize that she was slowly pulling back from the woman. And then, her pace faltered and she nearly lost her balance halfway up the stairs.

  Before she could fall, Grace caught her immediately and hoisted her off her feet in one smooth motion and tossed her over her back like a sack of rice.

  "Ack! I'm sorry! I didn't mean—!"

  "Oh hush, that was my fault for being careless and pushy. If anything happens to you, Marci wouldn't let me hear the end of it, if she'd let me live. And besides, you're surprisingly lighter than most of my equipment. Are you eating well?"

  Grace asked in a normal voice, all that excitement she had earlier was gone. And the fact she was giving her a piggyback ride made Yuzuriha blush and tried to hide her face as they reached the top of the stairs.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "Yes I am. Leo makes delicious food"

  She grumbled against her shoulder.

  "That boy. He is quite mature and talented for his age. Given the current circumstances, it's only natural. Marci could learn a thing or two from him when it comes to cooking. She tried to make Pease porridge once and it was terrible"

  She gave off a warm laugh, Yuzuriha didn't know why but that brought feelings of warmth and disgust at the same time. As if she could taste that porridge and describe how disgusting it was.

  "...That's not funny"

  Grace only hummed in response, and then her voice drifted toward a softer register as she said.

  "This Sacrament I'm working on…it is currently unstable. Unfit to be wielded by Ascendants, or a better way of phrasing it is it's useless in a combat scenario. But I was hoping it would help with your sense of vision. If it stabilizes, perhaps you'll see those colors again"

  On top of Sacraments, a new word was introduced to her. Ascendants.

  Yuzuriha laid her head on Grace's shoulder, shutting her eyes. She had questions, and asking Grace would be useless. Mostly because they were going to come to her naturally at any second now.

  So…she held her tongue and flipped through the information that was invading her mind.

  While the mystical energy called astris leaked from all things without any sort of special action, actual training was required in order for it to be used at its fullest potential.

  It was unseen by the naked eye, however its effects could still be felt and seen in the form of increased strength, speed, reflexes, durability and supernatural abilities.

  Those who had achieved that and stepped beyond the limitations of mortal flesh were called Ascendants.

  'Ascendants…'

  Yuzuriha repeated that word in her mind. To simplify the term, they were basically humans with magical powers. Ascendants could actively concentrate, manipulate, and refine this force, unlocking increasingly potent physical, mental, and metaphysical powers.

  They are the primary weapons of humanity's fight against Chaos, a corrupted manifestation of astris that spawns Chaos Creatures in warped zones known as Chaos Regions.

  'Where thought becomes terrain. Where emotions sculpt the sky. Where concept itself corrodes reality'

  'Huh, what does that mean?'

  What she said in her mind just then was a quote from a book Leo was reading out to her, it wasn't too recent nor too far enough for her to forget it all.

  From what she could recall, a Chaos Region was a spatial distortion where a fundamental concept had been corrupted to such a degree that reality within the area no longer obeyed physical, mental, or moral laws.

  From within such regions dwelled the manifestation of corrupted thought referred to as Chaos Creatures, they came in all shapes and sizes according to the concept of the Chaos Region so keeping notes on one was utterly useless.

  The ones who were capable of fighting these monsters were Ascendants themselves, and the survival rate was very low. Knowing that, Yuzuriha sighed and shook her head.

  'Evil monsters roaming around and maniacs defending humanity. It's a world where magic exists, what did I expect?'

  From her first initial thought, Ascendants sounded pretty cool and interesting. In actuality anyone could become one, even herself!

  The thought of having superpowers sounded amazing and quite the experience, but gaining such came at the risk of being forced to fight monsters and potentially die.

  'No sensible and logical government would allow superhumans to roam around unchecked. Especially considering the threat they are facing. If I were to become an Ascendant, I'd definitely be forced into those death zones'

  It was surprising because despite Yor's lack of knowledge about Astris, she was well informed of Ascendants and a bit about Chaos. At least according to what Yuzuriha could tell.

  'This could be common knowledge for all I know but still, it makes me wonder if Marcille is a good teacher or not. Other than astris practice, nothing else about the supernatural comes up from her'

  Straying from that thought, her attention was brought back to her present situation

  "We're here, dear"

  Grace said as Yuzuriha raised her head and opened her eyes expecting to see something. But a vein popped in her forehead after the realization she was still blind. Whether she opened her eyes or not made little difference.

  It was a habit she hadn't quite shaken off yet, and the world reminded her every time with formless darkness.

  Yuzuriha heard the creak of a door opening, and from it, a strong bitter odor invaded her nostrils. It smelled like burnt herbs, iron, chalky minerals and who knows what.

  She couldn't handle it but the inhale and exhale coming from Grace made her think she was overreacting. Instead of covering her nostrils, Yuzuriha decided to bear with it and power through!

  If the dear neighbor could handle it, then why couldn't she?!

  "I can never get tired of that. Lovely isn't, Yor?"

  Struggling to form a smile, Yuzuriha grumbled through her response.

  "Y-yes, I-it's really amazing"

  In the next instance, she felt Grace's arms loosen around her as the woman carefully set her down on the solid ground.

  "I'm glad to hear that because I, Grace Windsor, welcome you to my husband's little workshop!"

  Grace declared proudly, there was a lot of wind pressure passing by so she must have been making gestures.

  Apart from visual presentation, Yuzuriha's enhanced senses were working overtime to draw a picture of what the room looks like.

  From the enclosed atmosphere she could tell that this wasn't a spacious area, it felt compact. The warmth and faint bubbling from one corner suggested that something was being distilled or brewed. Also there were small clinks of glasses tapping against glasses, probably jars stacked up on shelves.

  "Wow"

  Yuzuriha marveled at it, this was the first time she had been in a room like this. But she could tell it had the same aesthetic as a lab.

  "He insists on calling it our workshop, even though I've told him plenty of times that I'm retired. I have moved on. I am a history teacher now who loves her students very much! But you know Benedict. He refuses to accept that I've traded my life for something else"

  She laughed for a bit before guiding Yuzuriha through the room. And she thought, this place really was compact since she kept bumping her body on furniture, a shelf or stool, she couldn't really tell.

  "This place feels amazing aunty Grace"

  "Take it all in because this is the first and last time I'm bringing you here. It isn't safe to let children in, Benedict would be livid if he found out I broke that rule.

  Still, I come here sometimes when I want to escape grading papers or avoid another pointless staff meeting. Immersing myself in this place always brings me at peace. Old habits, I guess. Can't entirely run from your roots, huh?"

  Grace's voice had a nostalgic tone to it. She couldn't tell whether she was hearing things or not, but it almost sounded sorrowful. Yuzuriha related to that as well, on the last part of words.

  "Yes, I understand that completely. Perhaps it's because the things we try to escape are the very things that remind us we're alive"

  The second after she had blurted out those words, Yuzuriha's shoulders stiffened and she held her breath.

  'Crap. That's not something a 13 year old would say!'

  Grace let out a surprised hum and her steps paused.

  "Wow, that is an interesting way of putting it. Where did you learn that? You sounded grown just then, like a person who has been through it all"

  Crap.

  "I-I mean, it's just something I heard someone say once! Leo! Yeah! It was him! It just…sounded profound, so I copied it. I-I don't even know what I'm talking about, really—"

  "Alright, alright! Settle down. I understand, it only makes sense coming from Leo. I won't pry. You can stop panicking now"

  Yuzuriha let out a relieved breath and internally apologized to Leo for lying in his good name. Still that was close.

  'Way too close. I should really watch how I talk to people going forward or else it could lead to complications if they find out who I am. Other than that, I'm really curious about the Sacrament Grace wants to show me'