Never before had half a year gone by that quickly in his life. Christmas had come and gone only a month ago. And just like he had promised himself it had been even better than the last, but his life still felt a bit strange to him.

  At the end of the summer he had finally moved in with Jane. Living together with her had made the last six months the best part of his life so far. Every day that he spent by her side felt like a dream come true.

  Most of his time had been spent helping her get the Winters family home into better shape. The walls had been repainted, windows replaced, and with all the new furniture the house seemed somewhat less empty. It had taken months to finish making the place feel like a real home, but it had been worth it in the end.

  "It's the weekend, Al, you can sleep in," Jane mumbled drowsily as he left her embrace and got out of bed.

  "I promised myself I would practice every day and I really can't afford to get rusty," he replied before opening the door and stepping out of the bedroom.

  As he walked out into the backyard he was struck by the cool winter air. Spring was approaching and every passing day was warmer than the last. In only a few weeks the snow would melt and new life would blossom.

  Strewn about all over the backyard he could see the remains of his previous training sessions while he made his way over to the small wooden post in the middle of the yard. He placed a few cans atop it and moved back about thirty paces as the power within him surged.

  His control over his magic had only gotten better with all the training, yet no matter how much progress he made it never felt like it was enough. No new spells dwelled within him and he didn't feel any more powerful than he had before. Nowadays the pain of casting countless spells was but a distant memory. The power within him simply ran out long before the stinging pain could rear its ugly head.

  "Might as well get started I suppose..."

  The cans imploded one after the other as he cast the nihilation over and over. Sometimes he spiced it up after putting up new cans by using the nil to close the distance before casting the nihilation at point blank. His casting was getting scary fast, but for some reason it felt like someone as powerful as Garuda would be able to avoid his spells.

  Once more he reset the targets, but this time he moved about fifty paces back. Without the slightest effort he blew tiny holes in the center of the cans from afar. He had become terrifyingly accurate when he cast the nihilation, but it still didn't feel like it was enough.

  "You're overdoing it," someone said as he moved back to the post to put up new targets.

  He turned around only to realize Alder was waiting for him over by the house, "Shit, I forgot you were coming here today."

  "Well you gave me quite a show, uncle," Alder chuckled before approaching the post to get a better look at his work, "Have you discovered any real limit to that magic of yours yet?"

  "It can't create..."

  "That seems a bit odd?" Alder said as he picked up a can to inspect the clean hole in it more closely, "Magic by its very nature is an act of creation, so I apologize if it sounds a bit rude when I say there's no way your magic can't create things."

  "That's just the thing, Alder, anything generated by it is inherently antithetical in nature and will be annihilated alongside whatever it makes contact with."

  "Well okay you got me there, but let's take that weird teleporting thing you do," Alder said, "You're bending space to create a connection between two points, right?"

  "No I'm just destroying all intervening space, which reduces the distance to zero, hence the name of the spell."

  Alder's eyes went wide wide as he took in what he had just said to him. Few people perceived space as stuff. They just envisioned it as the degree of separation between different objects. But when he used the nil he actually destroyed the space itself rather than altering it. He assumed the reason why the space he destroyed came back was because more space just filled in the void left behind like air rushing in to fill a vacuum.

  "What the hell kind of power are you even using?!"

  "It's nothingness, Alder, and since it's absence by nature it can't truly exist within our reality," he muttered as he picked up the cans littering the yard and threw them into the garbage bin standing over by the house.

  "Al, don't get me wrong it's amazing what you're capable of, but you have to admit that it's a bit insane to go and claim your magic lets you destroy just about anything."

  "If it exists, then it will one day be nothing..."

  He stepped inside the house and took Alder to the living room on the second floor. The moment they got through the door he moved over to the couch and took a seat while Alder took a seat opposite him. Alder's entire reason for being there was informing him of any recent developments and with his training finished for the day now was as good a time as ever.

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  "So to make it short, Morgan is still avoiding any contact with the rest of the clan and Ebony's faction is growing in numbers while the more traditional factions are being suppressed by the overseer sanctions," Alder said as he finished his brief explanation of recent events.

  "How long do you think it will take before Morgan makes a move?" he asked Alder before leaning back in the couch.

  "Hard to say, but considering her hatred for overseer and its leader she will probably direct all her attention towards trying to circumvent overseer authority so that the clan can regain its independence."

  If the Autumn clan could regain their independence it meant they would be free to attack him directly, but until then they could only act in secret or with deniable assets. Morgan's recent instability was most likely an act to lull him into a false sense of security. Mages that old simply didn't make such obvious mistakes.

  "Did you manage to catch what sort of magic Morgan used when she fought my father?"

  "What little I managed to catch while staying beneath their notice was a burning white light," Alder said, "It was as if it could burn away the darkness itself, which makes the fact Pietro even managed to get a hit in so much more impressive."

  "Do you think that was her own magic or just something she picked along the way?"

  "No that was her innate purview alright, the way she wielded it was far too natural for it to have been a learned magic."

  So Morgan could call upon a burning white light, and it was most likely a manifestation of her own magic if Alder was to be believed. Just like his own nothingness, her burning light seemed to be the magic that had manifested within her back when she emerged in the distant past.

  His gaze grew cold as he locked eyes with Alder, "Be honest, do you think my magic is superior to hers?"

  "Al, your magic is something far beyond anything I've seen before," Alder said as he swallowed heavily, "Within only a few years you'll most likely be powerful enough to challenge her and have a very real chance of winning."

  "A chance isn't acceptable, Alder, I will settle for nothing less than a decisive victory," he said coldly.

  "You really sound just like him when you're like this, Al."

  "I've been told that before..."

  With their current business taken care of he lead Alder to the door. It was only a matter of time before the Autumn clan would strike and he knew it, but Alder remained convinced that no such attack would come for a very long time.

  The most likely explanation for the relative silence was that someone other than Morgan had become aware of his connection to Ebony and was feeding her faction false information. How they had figured out his ties to Ebony and Morgan he was unsure of, but his leading theory was that someone other than Alder had witnessed the aftermath of her battle with Pietro.

  As the day went on he went through his usual routine. He prepared breakfast in the kitchen so that it was ready when Jane got out of bed, he watched her as she studied her family's magic in the hall, and when she was finished with her studies they went out grocery shopping just like they did every saturday. It was a boring routine and he liked it that way.

  No longer did he feel the aching emptiness within him for it had been replaced with love. The all consuming obsession had stopped being his driving force. Instead it was his determination to make the ones he cared about happy that kept him moving.

  "How about we make pasta for dinner?" Jane said as they walked through the store.

  "Are you just saying that because I'm half italian?"

  "But you're so good at making it!" she exclaimed.

  "Because I'm half italian?" he chuckled as she groaned in frustration.

  "You're so mean whenever we go shopping."

  "Let me guess," he said with a big grin on his face, "It's because I'm half italian, isn't it?"

  She wrapped her arms around him and looked up at him before planting a quick kiss on his chin.

  "You think you're so funny," she giggled as she pushed her lips against his.

  "Pasta it is then," he said quickly.

  Once they were done shopping they headed back to the car. The drive back ended up being mostly unremarkable, but cooking dinner on other hand was anything but. Half the kitchen had ended up covered in flour when Jane accidentally bumped her elbow into the bag standing on the edge of the counter.

  He channeled a bit of power and cast his second spell without even looking up from his work, "Nihil."

  In moments the nothingness had devoured all the flour she had spilled on the floor leaving the kitchen even cleaner than it had been when they had first started cooking. Even if his magic was destructive by nature it still had some use in everyday life.

  "Why didn't you direct the spell at me!"

  Jane was covered from head to toe in flour. While it was incredibly funny to let her throw a fit over it he did have a good reason for not directing the spell towards her. The nihil was just a tool and if he just told it to devour everything he deemed to be trash it might end up removing things he didn't want it to, so he had settled for just cleaning the floor.

  "The spell might have eaten your clothes seeing as they're completely covered in flour, but I guess I'll be a bit more indiscriminate with my cleaning next time," he chuckled as he kneaded the pasta dough in front of him.

  "Well I guess I'll be taking a shower," she muttered, "And the food better be ready when I get back or I'll be a very disappointed girlfriend!"

  "Don't worry, the dinner will be ready the moment you're back."

  He continued preparing dinner with nothing but the music blaring in his headphones to distract him. Jane would probably end up taking her sweet time with the shower, which meant he would have plenty of time making a perfect date night dinner.

  "That looks good..."

  The table was set and the food was plated. Everything was just right and all that was left was lighting the candle. He heard the footsteps as Jane stepped out of the shower and began walking towards the dining room. When she stepped into the room the first thing he laid eyes on was beautiful black dress she wore.

  "The dinner looks amazing!" she exclaimed as she took a seat.

  "You look amazing."

  Once they were done eating they ended up watching old movies in the living room. Every date night was different, but each became one of his many irreplaceable memories with her. They spent their time together didn't matter because he enjoyed every second of it either way.

  "I'm sleepy," she said pleadingly as she cuddled up against him.

  "Guess I'll just have to carry you to bed then," he said as he hoisted her up and began carrying her towards the bedroom.

  "Thank you," she said as she closed her eyes.

  It was a perfect little life they had made for themselves. And when the world came knocking he would be ready. Nothing would ever be allowed to get in the way of his dream. It didn't matter if it was the Autumn clan, Morgan, or even the world itself.

  Anything that got in his way would face annihilation.