Lots of bedrest, that is my assignment over the next few weeks. And activities were stopped, and training halted for the time being. Cleaning and restoring the field, taking care of the wounded and deceased are on the minds of the mentors for the time being. As everyone was being brought back within the manor, I overheard a few of them speaking. Brogo is going to be sent out, down the tunnel opened by the big beast to see where they came from, why they came here. Then I was told by Akosh that he plans to speak with me before next nightfall. Seemed very serious about the matter, until then, I am to rest.
So here I stare upon the ceiling’s wooden beams, illuminated faintly by the soft clouded sun pouring in through the window like a golden spear striking the floor casting forth all the little imperfections of the wood and dirt nestled between the planks as morning has come. With a sigh my breath is punctuated by the creaking of the wooden door to my room swinging open with force. Instinctively I turn to see the large girl passing through into my space. Her leg wrapped tightly still with heavy looking bandages. The leather chest piece revealing her belly and arms, with them all the smaller scratches and bruises that plague her body.
“No good. You still look like a tomato.” Astra spreads a cheerful smile across her freckled face as she expertly doles out one of her playful quips. Not that she’s wrong, still my skin hurts, like a horrible sun burn despite it having been nightfall when we were fighting.
“Yeah, I know, it hurts too.” I say back to her, no quip involved as I roll over to greet her. I can’t help but thinking in the moment she was amazing when she rushed to fight those things, without a bit of hesitation. Even now how she smiles cutely despite what happened, feels just right to me. The soft smell of sweet soap still lingering as she approaches my bed, her hair freshly tied and braided, though devoid of her usual trappings. I’m glad, that I’ve met someone like her here.
“I’m sure it does! Still that’s no reason to look so sour.” Her grin forms into a smirk while her large but slender hands with their chewed looking nails reach out to my face without warning. Pangs of pain shoot into my cheeks as her fingers dig into them, forcibly drawing my mouth to a smile. “Looks better already.” She says as she chuckles to herself.
“Mauuuh, I’m surprised you don’t ever get tired of being silly.” I say to her cocking an eyebrow towards her as her butt lands against my bed without asking while her fingers release their grip.
“Me too!” She says as she hovers over me, hair dangling down falling over her shoulder like a river of soft red. The look about her face seems one of almost genuine shock at her own condition. “But! This is fun, I’ve never had so much fun since I’ve come here. And I got to kill a monster! Didn’t you see that?” Her eyes beam a radiance like the sun through the night as she stares down at me, looking for me to share her sentiment.
“Yeah, I really most definitely saw that. You were really good at it. But I don’t know so much about fun. All the training, it’s tiring.” I say, allowing my exasperated attitude to flow out as I think back to the obstacle course that threw me to the side like a branch shedding its leaves.
She pulls away a bit, head tilted to the side her eyes roll slightly to peer out the window. “Even then, it’s still fun. At least to me.” As she speaks, without the same enthusiasm she usually carries. Her mind seeming adrift for the moment, somewhere else. “I mean, you’ve had a lot of fun, with me and us together right?” Her head whipping back around to face me, her hair jostling as she does so. The look behind her eyes tells me the answer to this question is important.
“I have, I mean you’re a lot of fun. Everything in general all the training and stuff, just makes my muscles sore. But you always cheer me up.” I give her a soft smile even though it hurts my cheeks to do so.
The smile returns back to her face, eyes closing with certainty as she speaks with contentment, “Good. I’m glad to be friends with you tomato.” Cheerily she slightly rocks herself back and forth against the bed.
“Please, don’t let that be my new nickname from now on.” I retort scoffing at the idea letting a slight huff exit my nose.
“Only until you get better!” She says with an almost stern expression before she turns back to gaze out the window.
Then silence falls. Like a chasm had opened between us and swallowed all the words, I look upon her not knowing what to say. My eyes boring a hole into the back of her head with my stare as if I could extract the knowledge of what she was thinking through a look alone. We sit that way for a while. The warm stuffy air constricting all thought accompanied by the soft lingering of the soap. Tapping. Her feet tap, one after the other against the wooden floor.
“Hey,” I start seeing her turn back to me, eager looking as I am to break the silence “how did you end up coming here anyway?” I ask with genuine curiosity to my voice as I search her face for answers.
A light returns to her eyes as she speaks, “Well! That’s actually quite the story.” She says with a huff as if in her mind she was composing the epic novel of her life into gold leafed pages.
She sat there with me, for the next few hours enthusiastically chattering on about her life. She explained about her parents, how little she remembers of them. They died when she was much younger, even though I would tell her she’s still young now. Or rather, were killed, by individuals from their past. She understood little of it other than her uncle taking her away, starting life anew in Karu-Paswan. Some place that sounds far off that I’ve never heard of. Described in great detail, the homes tall and of clay their red hue and golden etched bands around their exteriors. Circular doors covered in cloths, with a great number of people. It must have dwarfed my village. It lies on the border, between lands. Merchants would come through constantly. Speaking with a sour look on her, she describes how every day her uncle would teach her math and how to run the front of his shop he had purchased there. She turned her nose up at the constant cippon counting. She fled. Ran away, quite far away. Into the woods of the land beyond the border. The land we’re in now. Picking berries and hunting squirrels and rabbits until the wolves drove her from the forests into the countryside villages.
From there she had seen the plight of the people answered by the heroes holding the branded insignia of Aetheria. When she had seen the posts of parchment declaring that Aetheria was looking for young recruits, well it wasn’t long before she decided that was her calling. Finding one of them, to getting cippons shipped to her uncle. All of that was little to tell. Long cart rides out to here, deep into the unforgiving countryside.
“So,” she says with softly parted lips, enthusiasm for telling her tale still plastered on her face. “I’ve actually never really had a close friend before. Or much of any friend really.” Her look drops slightly, though the enthusiasm doesn’t fade. Her look to me shows a hint of trepidation as if she had just admitted to thievery.
I smile back to her as I sit up, “Well, I’m actually really glad. I was really worried when I came here.” I say to her frankly and openly, I continue on to tell her about how I was brought to the training grounds.
“Really?” She her eyes dart about, in confounded thought. “I didn’t know! I thought you must have come here because you wanted to. Like me!” She says as she pivots around, tossing her leg onto the bed to confront me closer. “You’re my best friend, and I’m here for you now, okay!” She says with gumption like invoking a new mantra as her mission statement in life.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
I chuckle softly, “From now on? Then what were you doing before?” I rib playfully with my words.
“You know what I mean.” She retaliates by extending her tongue towards me.
Our meandering conversation however quickly becomes interrupted as a soft rapping of knuckles against the wood of my door. Astra hops of the bed, her feet landing with a resounding thud as she stomps her way over to the door as she does, opening it for me.
Akosh stands in the frame, his casual clothing draped over by that same red leather vest he seems so very attached to. He gives a little smirk between his beard stubble looking at Astra and I.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything important kids.” He blurts out without hesitating to push his way inside. “I know it’s a little early, but I wanted to get around to talking to ya as early as I could.” He locks his eyes onto me for a moment.
“Okay,” Astra says with a stern sound as she moves to close the door behind her “is it about the thing that happened yesterday?” she asks bluntly like a hammer to a nail.
“It is, but really,” he coughs a bit as he gives her a slightly annoyed look in contrast to his usual smile. “I need to talk to Cain alone about it, okay?” he lowers himself slightly to look more onto her level as he speaks with her.
“C’mon can’t I stay?” She says in a pleading manner looking over to me, obvious hesitancy. Just when our talking was growing close, it seems like she really isn’t ready to leave.
“You can come back in a few hours.” Akosh spouts sternly as he opens the door for her to leave. To which she does so, reluctantly.
“Hey, I’ll see you in a bit,” she grins widely at me. “Okay?” with a nod punctuating her words she cracks her back as she walks out.
He turns to me restoring his faint grin. “Congratulations kid,” he continues to walk in, dropping a bag he carried across his shoulder. “You’re a resonant.” He pauses his speech, as if waiting for some applause that doesn’t come.
“I don’t know what that is.” I put blunt and frankly as I toss my legs over the side of the bed to face him more properly.
He begins his explanation in great detail. Explaining how artifacts are type of magical object, there are more magical objects than just artifacts, however. Artifacts, are just special. From where do they come? No one seems to know. If they were from ancient peoples, or perhaps were always within our world, or even maybe from some underworld. Whatever the case. One thing can be said for certain is they typically contain quite a lot of power. And for the most part, most people can’t make use of them. Somehow, they choose a user. At least he says, that’s how it seems on the surface. That is what Robin is to her staff. Soulbound. She can use it, but no one else can.
“Except for me?” I look at him questioningly.
“I was getting to that point,” he huffs as he shifts his legs and leans back slightly. “Like I said, you’re a resonant. Like me.” He adds his typical smile to accentuate his words.
“You’re one too?” I say with a bit of surprise, though I still don’t entirely understand what he’s talking about.
“I am. So, a Resonant can say,” he shifts his eyes in thought for a moment. “Communicate. Just as you did. You can communicate with any artifact you want.” He gives a nod to himself seemingly satisfied with his own choice of words. “As you noticed out there, even ones soulbound to other people.” His expression turns a bit more stern as he begins that topic. “So, when she touched it as well, you felt her too, didn’t you?” he peers at me, expecting my answer.
“Auh, I did, yes.” I say almost stuttering out. As the experience itself was very surreal. I almost wasn’t even sure if that is what I would have called it. It was almost like a dream. But with him saying this it certainly confirms that that’s the case. When she gripped the staff, I felt her very soul mingling with mine. For some reason I feel my cheeks grow slightly flushed hot and red at that thought.
He vocalizes a small confirmation of mhm, as he pats the top of my head. “So, I don’t know exactly what happened all in here,” he gives a tap to my chest. “When all that happened. But, a couple things.” Another huff escapes his lips, pulling from his bag a small canteen from which he takes a deep sip before continuing. “First, she needs to develop on her own. I’m sure from what I saw you two were pretty compatible and could help each other focus with that thing.” He puts on his mentor face, one that shows me he’s serious about this explanation. “It’s okay to rely on each other sometimes, but never all the time. Okay?” again his eyes strike at me with their piercing gaze, awaiting my answer.
“Okay.” I eek out. Though I don’t really know what he’s talking about. We did help each other, and we took those monsters down. We helped save people. But, I don’t think I was planning on doing that all the time. I don’t want to tell him, but that thing whatever power dwelled within it, frightened me. It was more comforting with her there though.
“Good,” he takes another thirsty sip. “Another thing is people like us, we’re good with other people. Even if you aren’t now. You will be.” He says such a thing in a very blunt matter of fact way. “Whatever makes us good at connecting with those artifacts. You can resonate with the souls of others in a way, people are drawn to us.” An even more serious look permeates his face. “Some bad guys like us, really take advantage of that.” Hand drifting to his face as he speaks, picking slightly at his stubble. “So you have to promise me you’re not going to do that. Okay?” Eyes gaining in intensity as he continues, I feel as though the pressure coming off from his expression alone could crush me.
“Okay, I promise.” I say, just wanting the look on his face to fade. Again, even if I wanted to do something like that, I don’t know how. Not that I would plan on doing it, even if I did. But his look. It tells me that surely, he must have had a bad experience. There’s no way he would be so heavy on this if he hadn’t. Though I decide it’s best not to press him on that.
“Good,” He leans back his expression fading as I’d hoped. “I’m serious about that stuff.” Yet another swig passes his lips. “You may not realize it now, but once you work with artifacts, you’ll find yourself connecting with people easier.” Another nod to his own satisfaction, hand slightly waving as he explains it.
“Okay,” I spout out my words while sitting forward with intent. “But how did I become this? What does that even mean exactly? Are my parents too?” I try to ask my question precisely, but I feel as though I’ve gotten too eager and blurted too much out as I stare upon him for his reaction.
“Simple truth Cain,” He gazes back, his lips press together in a look that says he’s going to let me down. “We don’t know really.” A shrug accentuates his words as he speaks. “There’s theories, that we’ve got some ancient blood or something like that. But, it’s just a guess.” He pats my head again slightly. “Doubt your parents can. Mine couldn’t, most that can never even had an ancestor they knew that could do it.” He takes a deep breath as he begins to stand. “Bright side is. If you really want to know so bad, maybe you can grow up to be the one who solves that mystery. If that’s what you want to do.” His hands toss open the bag to reveal his blade and an odd set of silvery metal clasps. They look wide and heavy as if they are some sort of manacles you would use to bind a prisoner with. Despite that, they have some gracefully carved ridges that accentuate the reflective silver surface that certainly separates it from any common prisoners bindings. “These things are artifacts, I bet you saw me use this earlier.” Hands gesture towards the blade. He dangles it slightly before securing it within his belt. “These, are what you’re going to use from now on.”
I look at him for a moment as he hands out the bangles for me to grab. I hesitate. I remember what happened when I grabbed the staff. It felt intense. Dangerous. Really it strikes a bit of fear into me to think of doing that again. Swallowing my saliva into a hard gulp that I feel nearly catch in my throat, my hands usher themselves towards the bangles.
“Don’t worry,” His face goes back to the same familiar smirk. “Nothing bad will happen. These are much less dangerous than her staff, to be frank with you.”
He seems genuine as I take them in hand. Similarly as when the staff graced my palm. I can feel almost that same inner world. Whatever it could be called. Yet within these is no infinite mountain, no endless sea. More like a large calming lake. For some reason these feel much more surmountable. Perhaps they could be reasoned with. As opposed to the staff that immediately threatened to swallow me whole. As if ripples through the lake. I fell my own, I feel its. Cascading out until they align with one another, I clasp one. Then the other. The inside made of soft leather and fur. Even then sticking out about an inch off my arms these things feel too bulky.
“Learn to live with them,” he continues with a finality in his voice. “They’ll make you stronger. Physically I mean. So learn to resonate with them.” He snaps his bag shut with its little leather buttons before tossing it over his shoulder. “People like us, we can learn to handle more than one artifact at a time. And that, is going to be your strength, to do what you need to do. So, take good care of those. We’ll be training together again soon.”
He creaks the door open with his palm. Taking one final glance back towards me before the door shuts after him. I look down at what he’s given me. Another artifact. I close my eyes to look inward. To visualize the lake in which our waves crash against one another, melding into one. Beneath that inner world I can feel it. As I focus on our waves aligning, I feel stronger. As if it’s a powerful rush of adrenaline.