The fateful day had come. Nestra’s plane was set to depart at 2PM but for some inane reason, the private company in charge of transport insisted that she came at 10, which meant catching the tail end of rush hour. Not only that, but the small airport’s admin staff spent most of the time triple checking that her passport and visa were in order. Maybe it had something to do with last minute calls or maybe it was standard fare. She’d never traveled to Europe before so she couldn’t be sure. That left her with too much time hanging around a lightly populated terminal watching rich Thresholders board reinforced airliners to destinations unknown. Contrary to the old airliners she’d seen in pre-Incursion vids, modern planes were sleeker, faster, and sharper to accommodate exotic platings and countermeasures. The planes were unarmed but they did have tools to survive, the most prominent of which was speed. Watching those majestic beasts take off was an inspiring reminder of mankind’s resilience that awed Nestra for all of five minutes before boredom set in. An early lunch occupied another half an hour and then it was time to reply to texts and doomscroll the latest news. All of her family (except Ulysses) had sent her Discover more novels on NovelHub - your gateway to endless stories. Some of the senior members of the House had also sent their encouragement. She replied to all of them and also to Stibbs and even Doctor Mazingwe with promises that yes she’d set an appointment as soon as she was back. Valerian remained a cause for concern. He was definitely not feeling too chuffed about his family breathing down on his neck, but as he’d said, he wasn’t in any sort of danger so Nestra accepted that it would be something for when she came back. Aunt Claire found her bored to tears at 1:30, not too long before the boarding time would begin. “Where were you? I thought you might miss the flight!” Nestra reproached. “What do you mean, darling? I’m well in advance this time. I could even fly out and grab you new shoes and still make it.” Aunt Claire was wearing a colorful designer dress ensemble that remained sensible yet still caught the gaze, especially with her bare scarred shoulders. By contrast, Nestra was wearing a tank top with thick trousers while her deep green coat was rolled over her cabin luggage. It was much colder in Switzerland at the edge of October. “You have boots?” Claire exclaimed. “Yeah? It might rain in Zurich.” “Oh, sorry. If it looks like I might walk in a puddle I might just… hover. You’re here early darling. Nervous?” The train was another fancy thing Nestra didn’t want to check the price tag of. They even had a pretty decent restaurant for what would be tea time for her. The other passengers wore clothes in a fashion Nestra didn’t recognize. Mostly, they kept to themselves. There were no raiders in the lot either. The trip was fairly short and entirely underground. Nestra emerged from the train craving sunlight. Her internal clock said it should be near late afternoon by now but the sun was high above when they emerged from the Jungfraujoch Station. She was on another planet. Well, not really, but it felt that way overlooking a glacier, a massive peak a short distance. There was only snow around, and she finally got some use out of her heavy coat. Half-buried structures dotted the landscape. “Research labs and army folks used this place shortly after the Incursion,” Aunt Claire explained over the howling wind. “Now it’s great for secluded projects and discerning customers. Over there,” Aunt Claire said. She grabbed Nestra and flew them all the way to a distant building, ignoring the available jetskis. It gave Nestra action vid evil lair vibes she was actually enjoying, a good distraction. It only lasted until they went through a safety gate half-buried in ice. Time to face the music. Nestra walked into the facility with the sort of low stress that came by shutting down your brain before a big exam. She would be terrified if she ever stopped to think for a moment, but she didn’t, and so the stress was running after her, gnawing at her heart yet failing to overwhelm her. The facility was not just clean, it was spotless, all in white colors and sleek lines that were one hundred percent futuristic. She didn’t get the chance to ask Aunt Claire if she’d been part of the design team though, because there was a brown-haired water gleam strutting towards them with a smile. “Mrs. Reid. Welcome.” Nestra missed a step. She knew what her mom and Aunt Claire’s last names were, of course. She was just so unused to hearing them that having Aunt Claire called ‘Mrs Reid’ gave her whiplash. In Threshold the etiquette was to call her just Claire, or Claire of House Palladian, or Claire Palladian for administrative purposes. “Mrs. Liburdi,” Aunt Claire replied without missing a step. “Is everything ready?” “Naturally ma’am. We were just waiting for you. If you would give me the core for processing?” Aunt Claire picked a small black box from her bag, clicking it open with a careful thumb. The core was large and blue, with the occasional yellow arc playing over its surface. It was pretty big as well. Hidden, the Aszhii part of her wanted to eat it. It looked delicious. “Thank you. I will take it from here. Doctor Fehr is waiting for you in the operation theater. Everything is ready.” “Really?” Nestra nervously chuckled as they walked through tastefully decorated corridors that vaguely smelled of jasmine. “No queues?” Seriously, this place was more like a luxury spa than a hospital. “This is a high end therapy place for gleams, Nestra dear. And I own it. Of course we won’t wait.” After knocking, they entered a spacious room with a secluded changing spot and an array of testing machines. A tall white gleam waited in impeccable white scrubs. A heavy visor hung from his neck, so heavy that it had to be the equivalent of an aug suite. He also had a black sleeve which she recognized as a tactile interface. His eyes were the same pale blue as Camille’s. She could feel he was C-class but it took her so long to detect his mana that she thought there might be an issue. His control was amazing for someone who was clearly not a raider. He was also kind of ugly with a forehead so prominent it felt like it was over half of his head. The thin layer of brown hair at the top like grass growing at the summit of a hill didn’t help with the evil genius vibes he had going. “Doctor Fehr,” Claire greeted with familiarity. “Director Reid. Welcome.” His voice was cold and polite, though there was a respect in the way he inclined his head that really changed how Nestra thought about Claire. “Director…” she repeated, testing the word against a lifetime of preconceived ideas. “Your aunt owns this facility at a ratio of 83%, to be precise, thanks to a repeated wave of investments,” Doctor Fehr explained. “Cost me a fortune but I’ve never been really good with money,” Aunt Claire joked. Doctor Fehr smiled thinly. Again, it felt genuine and respectful. “Despite your aunt’s self-deprecating humor, I can assure you that the facility is doing very well. We are four operations away from recouping all of our costs.” “Wow,” Nestra said. “Isn’t it like… several million credits?” she asked. Aunt Claire made ‘no’ gestures but her apparent minion didn’t comply. “What is 1.5 million francs when it saves twenty years of painful recovery? Most B-rank raiders generate that wealth in six months or less, even without pushing themselves. I must credit your aunt for trusting in me, after all, and also for coming up with the air-based isolation process necessary to safely transfer the liquified essence to the core. We have named the spell after her.” “Oh, stop it you. Now I’m sounding respectable.” “Damn, Clecle, I owe you big time,” Nestra admitted again. “You do. Now enough flattery!” "Natürlich, Direktor. Young Palladian, please come here for the last test. Just a formality.” Nestra placed her hands on two panels of a nearby machine. She received a mana jolt and heard a beep. A screen appeared, revealing very low values. Everything was close to zero. “Not at all. This machine is calibrated for B-rank raiders, yet it is also quite precise. I am merely confirming what Doctor Mazingwe measured back in your home city with our own equipment. Everything happens to be in order. Now, please get changed over there. Leave your underwear behind as well, if you please.” There was a small bed and a white pajama and short slip in the secluded spot. Nestra wriggled into those as fast as she could. It made her feel vulnerable. Outside, the gleams waited patiently. Aunt Claire had folded arms, which was an unusual sign of nervousness. Next, Doctor Fehr had Nestra stand in a sort of tube linked to a bulbous robot that made her feel like she was about to be microwaved. “I can confirm damage and scarring in the spot where your core ought to be.” “Was she attacked?” Aunt Claire asked, suddenly concerned. “I am unable to say, but it must have happened a very long time ago. Now, if you would proceed to the surgery room?” That was it. Nestra was left to step into a mostly empty room under a bright light. A large white bed occupied the center. The walls were gray and high. Meanwhile, the entire ceiling was taken by a large machine split in several parts. It was whirring when she arrived. Mana flooded it, coming from above. Doctor Fehr’s voice came from a microphone. He and Aunt Claire were looking down from a window from a sort of control room. It gave Nestra intense high school flashbacks. The setting was disturbingly like the one where she’d learned she was missing a core. Her heartbeat accelerated. Panic filled her chest. “You’re doing fine, sweetie,” Aunt Claire said. “I apologize for the dry setup Miss Palladian. Unfortunately, this is still an experimental treatment and we do not understand everything yet, thus the seeming overabundance of precautions. We will remain here so as to not interfere with the mana transfer.” The doors closed. Nestra took a deep breath. Then several more deep breaths. “If you could comfortably lie down on the bed, I believe the team… Yes, they are almost done. We are about to begin. Now, when I tell you, I would like you to reach for your mind palace as you were trained to do. If you cannot do so quickly, do not be alarmed. There is no rush. A robot will inject you with a drug that will assist you in this endeavor.” Nestra didn't react when a robotic arm lowered itself, then jabbed a needle in her arm. It was very quick and precise and she barely felt a sting. A deep sensation of dissociation suddenly overcame her, like she was looking at herself from afar and not really recognizing her own body. “You may enter your mind palace at your convenience.” It was incredibly easy to do so, even more so than when she was dreaming. The palace was the same as always, an empty hall around a pedestal where the core should be, then a door to the left leading to the planetarium of skills and two to the right leading the the resistances and false core rooms, respectively. “Immersion confirmed. That was very fast. Well done. Now we will slowly inject the liquid essence. You should feel a presence or intrusion. What I need you to do is to accept and guide it to the spot where you believe your core must be. Can you do this for me?” “Core processed. Beginning phase 3. Miss Palladian, you should feel it… now.” And she did. There was something pulsing, pushing above her. It was a lance of pure energy that could destroy her, but it was also perfectly contained. Like lightning in a bottle. She felt that dangerous mix fall over her, but it was searching blindly as well. She felt like she could draw it in. She hesitantly reached for the tip. “Response detected. You’re doing fantastic, young Palladian. Now guide it… that’s right.” The tip lowered towards her until she could see it inside of the mind palace. Again, Nestra felt there was no way she could touch this without exploding and yet it somehow obeyed her command. Finally, she could see it. It was blue and yellow and moving incredibly fast inside the tightly controlled shape of an arrow. A last look around confirmed that all the doors to her Aszhii self were shut tight. Satisfied, she pushed it down. On the bed, she felt her body spasm. “What’s going on?” Aunt Claire demanded. “Slight overload since the base core value is zero. This is expected,” Doctor Fehr said. “Look, the transfer is beginning.” And it was. Where her core was to be, the arrow was now undoing itself, spreading in the spherical space like a hose suddenly opened. The tip was gone now, but a wily tube connected the core spot to the outside. It was jumping around with little control. Nestra tried to grab it to keep it calm but it was difficult, again, as if she were trying to hold something several times her size. She felt something strange in her chest at the same time, like a warmth, like a phantom pain disappearing she’d never even known was there to begin with. She took deep breaths. It was an amazing sensation. Moreover, the mana actually stayed in the right spot instead of leaking towards the planetarium. It was working! “Transfer in progress… you are doing fantastic young Palladian. Keep doing what you are doing. You absolutely must not stop.” Nestra wouldn’t have stopped if Riel had returned from the beyond to beg her with teary eyes. It felt absolutely amazing. The energy kept coming in. She wanted more. Before it felt like too much but now it was too little, too slow. She needed more. “Can go faster,” she mumbled, brain addled by the sensation. “Let us play it nice and slow, young Palladian. I assure you that you will get more than you can handle. Careful, mana precipitation imminent. Young Palladian, you might feel a sort of contraction…” The mana in her core pulsed and collapsed on itself in a way that made her panic to death for one brief moment, but instead of an explosion, there was now a quickly rotating sphere where her core ought to be. It was blue and yellow and one of the most beautiful things she’d ever beheld. It was still so fragile though, so she resisted the urge to pull on it. It kept moving on itself while the mana still dispersed around it. Nestra guided more of it until an accretion disk formed over the slowly growing center. Her core was drinking the mana at intense speed. “Precipitation… confirmed. Beginning phase four. Miss Palladian, we will now attempt to regrow your core to what it should have been at awakening.” Nestra barely listened. She was too busy pushing more energy in. She already had a core. Now she was using a trick to safely regrow it not just to basic awakening but to match years of worth of adult level growth. It just kept drinking greedily so she just kept going. The core was as large as a basketball compared to her at first, a sign it was really underfed, but then it was a yoga ball. It kept growing more and more slowly but still, it was growing. “Can keep going,” she said. “Go on sweetie. There’s no way you use all of the core essence anyway. Just take as much as you can,” Claire said. She sounded so happy. Nestra just kept pushing, again, and again, and again. As time went by though, the draw on the energy arrow faltered. It was going out of control. Her core simply wasn’t drawing that much energy anymore. it wasn’t that hungry. That pissed Nestra off. “We’re going to slow down the intake now, young Palladian. Keep going as best you can,” Doctor Fehr continued. Nestra pulled more but she was losing control. She could feel that the space her core could occupy was almost filled now, and it was rotating at a sluggish pace. The tube of power feeding into it was as lively as it had always been but there was simply no space for it to pour into, and it had decreased in size as well. Soon, there was merely a thin line Nestra did her best to keep attached. “Incremental progress now. You can keep going, young Palladian.” But Nestra failed. The thread slipped between her fingers, disappearing up in a spark of unspent mana. Her core was here. It was a human core, intimate yet so foreign and surprising. A comforting warmth spread through her chest and then, her entire circuit. Everywhere there had been dull pain and then numbness, now there was plenitude. She felt intensely complete. Whole. For a moment, she basked in the scene of the quiet core revolving in the now illuminated room. It was D-class for sure, though far too big for someone who had just awakened. And it was hers. It was her essence, revived at last. Nestra opened her eyes. She sat down while the voice of Doctor Fehr quietly concluded from above.