Welcome to The Flow. A nineteen story revealed weekly.
Chapter 1 – Research
The sun rose above the horizon and its light traveled across the land, slipped through the forest, and rested on Eonis’ face. Every weekend he drove over a hundred miles just to wake up in his remote cabin. Eonis opened his eyes and smiled. “You came…” he murmured, stretching slowly.
This routine, the overcrowded town during the week, the escape to the cabin on weekends, began a few years ago. After almost a year of sporadic sleep and chaotic meals, fascinated and drained by the research he was leading, he realized his mind had become cluttered and noisy, while his body had entered a slow decay. He understood why he had done it. It was the project he had dreamed of since university: mapping the quantum flow of every energy. It started as a dream, felt utopic, but the more he learned about the universe, the more that dream became less of a dream and more of an untapped potential.
The irony wasn’t lost on him. He wanted to map the flow of everything, yet the closer he came to success, the stronger the sensation that something was still missing. Not from the equations. Not from the design. From the journey itself.
He knew exactly what this project meant if successful. A few would see it as revolutionary. Most would see their power undermined — a commodity suddenly uncontainable, an open source of independence.
So he worked alone for a while. Until Alaeyira appeared in his life — and somehow, he could never shake her off. Not for lack of trying, but because anything he tried only brought her closer. Infuriating. And attractive. His mind could embrace the first part just to fight the second, and that was exhausting.
He needed components for the quantum specter‑gauge — a part not fully approved by the scientific community because it contained an energy‑matter focus core, forged outside traditional science. After passing through some unconventional hoops, he managed to get an invitation to a famous underground guild, one of the four most powerful guilds leading The Law of the Old movement.
Inside, he spent hours studying artifacts, tools, equipment, old scrolls. The energy that had lit his face and fueled his hope began to fade. Alaeyira’s stand was one of the least flashy ones — fewer items, almost invisible compared to everything else. Eonis had passed by it countless times without a single glance, and he was about to do it again… if Alaeyira hadn’t spoken.
“What you seek is not what you are looking for. Your mind is seeking it while your heart is looking for it. You’re too eager to make the two work together. Don’t you think?” she said softly — almost whispered — yet somehow echoing inside his mind.
He froze in place. And finally saw Alaeyira’s stand.
She was looking straight at him, her smile soft and slightly crooked, carrying that quiet wickedness that made it impossible to pretend he hadn’t noticed her. For a heartbeat he felt the entire guild dissolve… the noise, the people, the artifacts… until only the two of them remained, suspended in a star‑speckled ocean. The sensation startled him enough to blink, to shake his head lightly, grounding himself before stepping toward her stand. His movements were calm, almost drawn forward by something he couldn’t name.
“You… like what you see, or are you searching for something?” she whispered. Her voice didn’t travel far, yet it reached him with uncanny clarity. They were only a few steps apart, but he felt as if the space between them had thinned, like her presence brushed against his awareness.
“Well…” Eonis began, and immediately felt his vocabulary scatter like startled birds. His eyes met hers, steady and bright, and in the next moment he looked down, trying to gather himself. His gaze slipped… unintentionally, embarrassingly across her generous cleavage, hovering a moment longer than he meant to before he snapped his eyes back up.
“So you do like what you see,” Alaeyira said, a soft giggle threading through her voice. “It’s alright. That part is free. But if you buy something… I might charge you for it.”
“No… I mean… you…” He inhaled deeply, cleared his throat, and tried again. “I need something with… no … from you. Sorry, miss…”
“For you? Alaeyira, for now,” she replied, her smile widening just a little. She had clearly heard his slip, savored it even, but chose to let it drift past. For now.
He started walking slowly, carefully around her, looking at the displayed artefacts, trying to show genuine interest. And it worked for a while — far too little. Not because the artefacts weren’t strange enough to capture his attention, but because he knew exactly what he was looking for. His will to find the energy‑matter focus core overshadowed anything else on display.
Soon, acting was no longer needed, as the hope of finding what he needed drained his expectations close to zero. He finished circling around the stand and stopped at the last artefact, staring through it blankly, almost lost. His shoulders dropped a little and, as he turned to leave, his mind drifted into evaluating whether there was any stand he might have missed.
Alaeyira watched him as if expecting some sort of reaction.
“Eonis…” she said softly, making him stop in surprise.
“How did you…”
“You told me, didn’t you?” she said calmly, watching him turn around with bright surprise in his eyes.
“I did not…” he said, rewinding the events in his mind from the beginning. He was sure he had never told her his name — sure enough to look her straight in the eyes, even frowning a bit. After so many attempts to either steal or ruin his project, a bit of paranoia had taken residence in his mind.
“Are you… sure?” she said softly. “Are you the type who considers politeness a waste? You do know my name, don’t you? So me knowing yours is simply normal, don’t you think?” she added, twitching a smile.
“Did I?” he asked himself, breaking his stare. “Right… thanks…” he said, and started turning away.
“But you came to me for something, didn’t you? Something you need. For a while now. I guess you don’t really need it, considering how easily you give up.”
“I didn’t give up!” he said, almost shouting. “You — or anyone else here — don’t!”
“Okay. Easy. You convinced me. Take a deep breath then and follow me. Do not exhale until I tell you. You can… but you’re not going to like it.”
A quick electric‑blue flicker appeared in her eyes, mirrored for an instant on the doorframe, and whispered itself into a perfect dark: “Remember. Do not exhale.” Eonis walked slowly toward the door when a spark on his right hand made him flinch. “Damn… static?” If he could only see the electric light surrounding the door, would he still be convinced it was just static?
He took a deep breath and stepped through the pitch‑dark with his eyes wide open, afraid to miss anything.
The darkness swallowed his sight for a second, then a dim light filled his eyes. He entered a room far too large to fit behind the tiny stand they had been in moments ago. Inside were wooden shelves — at first glance too fragile and rotten to stand — yet filled with artefacts of kinds he could not recognize.
Eonis started walking, almost hypnotized, passing by Alaeyira as if she were just another exhibit.
“Take your time. If you truly feel what you seek, this room will provide it,” she said, smiling as she sat in the corner armchair, picked up a steaming cup, and sipped while following him with her eyes.
Eonis didn’t answer. It wasn’t impoliteness — she knew that. His fascination was too strong for him to hear anything beyond his own thoughts. His eyes and attention were captured every few seconds, jumping from one exhibit to another, looking closely, passionately, but never daring to touch anything. It had nothing to do with respect, permission, or even fear of what might happen to him if he touched something without asking. He knew how magic‑born humans protected their goods. Or maybe he feared that even a small touch would ruin the fragile balance of those shelves, enough to make everything fall.
A couple of hours passed without him feeling it. Alaeyira never rushed him, never tried to help him. She simply watched him calmly, as if she were trying to unravel a magic lock that looked simple on the surface but unclear underneath. And that was enough to capture her attention. Enough for now.
Eonis was studying the artefacts one by one along the last wall, each sidestep bringing him closer to Alaeyira. She watched him with the same attention as hours before, and just before taking another sip of whatever she had been drinking for so long, she whispered, “It’s just… normal after all. Intriguing…”
Finally, he finished inspecting everything and stopped in front of Alaeyira, looking at her as if she were just another artefact — or as if it was the first time he truly saw her.
“We need to talk,” he said, flustered as he realized he had been staring longer than he should have.
“Oh?…”
“Well… this collection is… I don’t know how to describe it. Maybe one day you…” He cleared his throat, putting his hands together to steady their erratic movements. “…you can tell me the story of these. But first things first. Negotiation.”
Alaeyira’s eyes widened slightly. Is he… she thought, containing a smile.
“I see… And what do you offer?” she said with the same disarming calm, gesturing for him to sit. She poured a drink into the empty cup from her hand and slowly extended her arm to place it in front of him. Eonis sat and simply took the cup from her hand before it even touched the table, and took a big gulp.
“Careful, it’s—”
“Damn, damn…” Eonis said quickly, dropping the cup on the table and leaning back with his tongue out.
“…hot,” finished Alaeyira, and started laughing. The crystalline sound of her laughter froze Eonis in place, watching her with a strange smile while half his tongue was still out. A second glance at him triggered a second wave of laughter from Alaeyira.
“Apologies…” Eonis said as soon as her giggles gave him a window.
“This was… unexpected, at least. But funny enough to make me remember real laughter. And that… that is not as easy as it seems…” she said, and with each word she slipped back into her slow, calm, mesmerizing tone. “Negotiation, you said… Do I sense that you found what you seek? If so… you are surprising. I was expecting shouts of joy from you. Maybe even a ‘Eureka’. Unexpected… but interesting.”
“Yes… I did. Exactly as you said.”
“Oh?…”
“I started seeking. No expectation, no predefined idea of what to expect. And then… there it was — the part I was looking for.”
“I see…” she said, barely containing her surprise and a slight relief. As if she too had been seeking something, and just realized she now needed to validate that what he found was exactly what she was looking for.
“I do not know how you name it. For what I need it I call it “energy‑matter focus core”, which I doubt it tells you anything…”
“The crystal focus array… An obsolete tool used once by magic apprentices to help their magic flow. Discontinued for about hundreds of years now. And you… found it… Are you sure?”
“I am, yes. There is no doubt about it. I have a feeling that you are either not happy I did or that there is something wrong that I did. And this Miss Alaeyira, it makes me a bit nervous … that you might say is not for sale.”
“Everything here is for sale…” she said, straightening the cup on the table, pouring the drink, and taking a sip. Eonis realized it was the cup he had used and lifted his hand slightly, thinking about stopping her — but he stopped instead. This surprised him; he knew that’s what he should have done, what he wanted to do, and yet… his actions were the opposite.
“I have…” He put his hand inside his jacket and focused for a moment. “…80… no… 82 crowns. I guess federation currency is of no use to you. Would that be enough?” he said, and without noticing, he stopped breathing.
“Indeed… federation money has no value for me. But…” She paused as she saw his face darken, the color shifting. “You know, breathing is not optional for anyone…” she continued, showing a half‑smile and signaling him with a circular motion of her hand that it was time to breathe again.
Eonis snapped out of it and started breathing faster, forcing an awkward smile and nodding.
“So…” he said hopefully, as soon as natural color began returning to his face.
“So… I need no crowns either.”
Panic overwhelmed him, stiffening his body, the tissue in his hand hovering above the table. Sweat began to appear on his forehead and neck, making him think one tissue was far too little.
“What… do… you… need then?” he finally said, squeezing the tissue in his hand, now hidden inside his jacket.
She took her time replying. Torturing him wasn’t her intention, even though he could easily think so. She was waiting for a sign — a confirmation that what she needed was true. Because she knew her answer would change everything. Enough that she couldn’t afford to be wrong.
In the end, she slowly nodded as her thoughts aligned, and said: “You.”
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