Sky watched the ether around the bracelet on his bed. He was alone in his room and had been for hours. He was trying to find a way to remove the bracelet without damaging it. But no matter how much he concentrated, he couldn't figure it out. He could see strong ether lines connecting the bracelet to his wrist, and when he tried to move it, it felt like it clawed into his skin. If moving it physically wasn't an option, he would try to manipulate the ambient ether. He started by carefully observing the bracelet and the ether lines connecting it to his wrist. After a while, he was able to see a slight pattern in the way the ether flowed. He plucked one of the etherlines like a guitar string and felt a shock run through his body. The bracelet tightened around his wrist, and he yelped in pain. He quickly released the etherline, and it returned to its normal state.
"Don't pull on the etherlines... got it," he mumbled.
Rather than pulling the strings, he then thought to weaken them instead. He focused on the etherlines surrounding him and started guiding the ether from the bracelet to the surrounding etherlines. The bracelet started to loosen, and he smiled in triumph. But before he could remove it, the bracelet tightened again, painfully squeezing his wrist. He yelped in pain and quickly released the etherlines. The bracelet loosened but didn't come off.
"What the hell?" he muttered.
He tried a few more times but with the same result. The bracelet would loosen, but it wouldn't come off. One thought kept screaming at him from the back of his mind. 'Use the darkness.'. Although he was no longer affected by the darkness attribute due to the nature attribute, he had no control over it. He could envelop his hands in the darkness attribute, but that was as far as his manipulation abilities went. The gap between his skin and the bracelet was too tight to stick his finger between and corrupt the ether. Even just the thought was sickening to him. He was thankful for ether; he felt a firm connection to it, so why would he want to harm it?
Without much thought, he left to his soul space and began practising his darkness manipulation. He had one goal, and that was to remove the bracelet or at least remove the restraints. Why not destroy it? He needed answers, and by eliminating constraints from the bracelet, he would do the same to the other servants and ask all his questions. Once he was strong enough to escape or fight back, then he would. He knew it was naive, but he needed to motivate himself somehow. He still had hope.
His practice consisted of releasing the darkness from his hands and manipulating the delicate wisps into a razor edge on his fingertips. This was only the beginning, and unsurprisingly he failed miserably. The darkness would disperse as soon as he tried to focus it. When he could 'manipulate' it, the razor edge was like a tsunami of dark energy releasing from his fingertips. During this time, he was only in his soul space for thirty minutes, but it felt like hours of exercise. Dealing with the darkness attribute wasn't something he was used to; it was mentally and physically draining. He left his soul space feeling exhausted but more determined than ever. When he opened his eyes, he found Vincent sitting on his desk chair, staring at him.
"Do you know why I'm here?" Vincent asked.
"No," Sky replied honestly.
"Sir Nightbride had something interesting to say. He felt the connection to you weaken for only a second, but that second was enough for him to order me here. Do you know what I'm supposed to do?"
Sky sat in a meditative position on his bed. He was calm, emotionless, and entirely in control. He was tired and mentally drained from using the darkness attribute, but his body didn't show that. He sat there a moment before saying, "I don't."
"I'm here to kill you. Well, that would've been the case if you released yourself from the binding. But, do you know what's interesting?" Sky remained quiet. "No one in this household, let alone anyone in this kingdom, is capable of forcefully removing one of those bracelets. Well, apart from the higher-standing Neenies. So, how did a weak slave such as yourself weaken the binding?"
Sky knew the closest he got to removing the bracelet was by pulling the ether through the ambient etherlines. But he couldn't say that. If he wanted to survive, he had to hide his abilities from Vincent and the rest of the house. The bracelet was still on his wrist, and he needed time to figure out how to remove it without damaging it. Furthermore, he knows that Sir Nightbride can sense when one's binding is weak, which makes things far more complicated. He couldn't remove it, or it would alert his master, so he would have to find a way to cancel the effects instead.
"I tried to pull it off," he said innocently.
"Interesting," Vincent said as he stood up. "I'll be sure to let Sir Nightbride know of your little... attempt." Vincent paused by the door and turned his head back, "Oh, and if I find out you're lying. Of course, killing you would be the least of your worries."
With that, Vincent left Sky's room, leaving him to his thoughts. Sky felt like there was something wrong with him. He wasn't surprised by Vincent in his room, nor was he nervous or emotional. Instead, he felt cold and calculating, almost like he was a different person. He decided to focus on the more serious matters at hand. He looked at the bracelet again and analysed the etherlines between his wrist and the bracelet. There are twelve lines in total linking him to the bracelet. He knew plucking the etherlines caused the bracelet to shock him and tighten around his wrist. If that was the case, he wondered if the other lines did something different. He focused on the first line and saw it was a thin, barely visible line. He tugged on it gently and felt a light tingling in his wrist. He pulled harder, and the tingling turned into a burning sensation. He quickly released the line and inspected his wrist. There was a small, red mark where he had been tugging on the line. The first line he plucked shocked him, and this one burnt him. This confirmed they all had different effects. Sky plucked another string and felt and suddenly felt his mouth clamp shut. No matter how hard he tried to open it, his mouth wouldn't budge. After a moment, the effects wore off.
Sky smiled to himself.
"So, that's how it is," he mumbled.
He plucked another line and felt his body go limp. He tried to move, but he couldn't. 'I think I'll take my time with this,' he thought while staring at the ceiling.
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