Colthorn and his family stopped in front of the Temple of the Sibling Moons. The temple was a large circular building in the south part of Cresthaven. The Temple had large pillars of marble lining its walls. Between each of the pillars were circular windows of stained glass, each window depicting a scene. There was a scene of a lion beastkin warrior, raising his sword high over what looked like a demon. There was a bird beastkin woman holding a staff that was shining golden light over a crowd of bandage-covered people. There were many more scenes like that in the windows, each vibrant with colors.
Besides the stained glass windows, there were also many different statues standing on ledges above the windows. People, beasts, and monsters of all kinds. Some of the statues were positioned as if they were fighting, but most were looking off into the distance, looking towards the sky, or looking down at the many pedestrians below.
It was New Year's Day after all, and many people were making a visit to the temple to get a blessing and pay respects to the gods. There were other temples of other gods, but in Malroth the gods of the Sibling Moons were the most popular. There was even a little building, really it was more of a tiny shrine, dedicated to the ascended emperors of the First Empire... only one person could be seen visiting.
But the Leokast family wasn't here for the New Year's Blessing...well, they were, but not just for the blessing. They were here for something else.
They were here to heal Colthorn's scars.
After years of training in the forest, and many months of suffering through acids and poisons, Colthorn's body was covered in scars. And now that Colthorn was done training, Jornan could make good on his promise to heal his son. And what better way to start off the new year? "New year, new me." Isn't that how the saying goes?
The large double doors were kept open for ease of traffic, so they just walked right in. It was fairly busy, but not too crowded. The doors opened into a large hall with vaulted ceilings, a few large wooden doors, and large paintings on the walls depicting even more scenes like the stained glass windows. There was a wolf beastkin woman with a bow shooting an arrow through a dragon. There was a cow beastkin man with his arms raised in a calming gesture standing in front of a crowd. There was a fox beastkin woman kneeling on a stone floor, hands pressed against her eyes, blood pouring from between her fingers.
Colthorn stopped in front of the painting of the kneeling woman. Something about the woman seemed familiar. He had seen all of this before during previous new years' visits, but he never really paid any attention and just thought it was a bit creepy that the woman's eyes were bleeding. But now... now he was drawn to this painting and didn't find her creepy at all. He felt sorry for her. He looked around to see if there was some plaque or any other indication of who she was, but there was nothing. He did see a long thin arrow on the ground next to the woman that had bits of red around it.
Was it the arrow that damaged her eyes?... must have been.
He turned to his parents who were walking up beside him and asked, "Who is she? Why does she feel familiar?"
Jornan and Alagossa looked at each other then back at him.
"That is because she is Goddess Atepa," his mom said.
Colthorn frowned. "She can’t be, Goddess Atepa is a moon."
"Ah..." Alagossa scratched the back of her head.
"Pfft..." Jornan turned to the side with a hand to his mouth to contain his laughter.
"I guess we never really talked about it, did we? The gods of the Sibling Moons aren't actually the moons... they were people like us... They're beastkin... but they became gods and they each took control of one of the moons."
Colthorn stared wide-eyed at his mom. “... what?”
“Yeah, all these paintings are the gods,” Alagossa said, waving her hand at the hall around them. “Some of them are famous paladins and clerics of the past, but most are the gods.”
He looked back at the painting of the woman. “So... this is Goddess Atepa?”
“Yes.”
“She lost her eyes?”
“Yes, but she did get them back eventually. In fact, it was because she lost her eyes that she was able to learn how to sense mana and she eventually became the Goddess of the Arcane.”
“Oh...” Colthorn said, pausing for a moment before closing his eyes and clasping his hands under his chin. Goddess Atepa, He thought, I’m sorry that that happened to you. It must have hurt a lot... but thank you again for helping me learn how to sense mana. I even got a Skill called Eyes of the Arcane Moon!
A warm glow filled Colthorn’s chest and he heard a soft giggle. You are welcome... and thank you, Child.
Colthorn grinned and opened his eyes to the sound of a notification.
Follower of the Sibling Moons gained 10 levels. +10 EXP.
“Come on,” his mom said as she ruffled his hair, “Let’s go get the new year’s blessing.”
They walked down the large hall, both Alagossa and Jornan were pointing at the paintings and were naming who they were. By the time they got to the end of the hall, Colthorn gained another two levels in the Follower of the Sibling Moons Skill. The hall didn’t end in another door, instead it opened up into a very large circular chamber with no ceiling. The marble floor gleamed in the noon-day sun. There were three other entry-ways going into other large halls, four hallways going off in the cardinal directions. Along the walls were statues of figures each about ten feet tall, thirteen in total. Each statue was one of the beastkin people in the paintings and each was holding different things.
Each statue was standing on a block of marble that was five feet tall and at the base of each block, there was an altar and a cleric. There were lines at each altar, some lines were longer than the others. It all depended on what kind of blessing you wanted. Colthorn and his mom always went to the same statue... which Colthorn now knows to be the statue of Resia, the Goddess of the Hunt and Poison. He had never really thought about who they were, but it was obvious in hindsight that they were statues of the gods.
This time, Colthorn didn’t visit Resia’s statue, but he joined the line for Borilli, the Warrior Moon, God of Fighting and Wood. He was the god that adventurers venerated the most, Resia was second. Colthorn was joining the Adventurer Guild’s academy in a couple days and would be learning swordsmanship, so it would be good to get a small blessing to help with that. His mom still got in line for Resia’s altar, while Jornan went and got in line for Licno’s altar.
His parents’ lines went faster than his did and they joined him in his line. When it was finally his turn, he stepped up to the altar. The altar was an ornately carved block of dark wood with a perfectly smooth surface on top. The cleric on the opposite side of the altar was a grizzled human man with deep scars across his face. The man looked as bored as could be while still maintaining a smile. He was dressed like any other man, with pants and a buttoned shirt, with a longsword buckled on his belt, but he did wear a fancy looking cape over the left shoulder and had a necklace with thirteen circles going from a large circle in the middle and getting smaller as it went out. Each circle was one of the colors of the moons.
"New Year's Blessing?" The cleric asked.
"Yes, please. I'm going to start learning how to use a longsword this year," Colthorn said.
"Borilli gresar fiatan dalta mo tomman," the cleric said, waving a closed fist in a circle facing Colthorn. "There you go, kid. Happy New Year."
He was about to walk away to join his parents, but Colthorn stopped and asked, “Um, Sir? Why do you still have so many scars? I’m going to get the scars I got from training healed today.” He pulled one of his sleeves back to the mottled scars covering his forearms. “Does Borilli not want us to heal the scars we get?”
The cleric looked surprised. “Kid, how did you get those scars?”
“Acid and Poison Resistance training.”
“Ah, yeah, that’ll do it. I remember when I first trained my resistances... nasty business. You’re a brave boy, Kid, going through that. Trying to get a good class are you?”
“I’m trying to get my mom’s class. She’s awesome!”
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“She must be pretty strong to require those resistances. Anyways, to answer your questions, no, Borilli doesn’t care if we heal our scars or not. I wanted to keep these scars. I got each one of them from fights that I want to remember. Some are from victories, some from failures, but each one a lesson. Of course, I also removed the scars I got from my training, so don’t worry about healing yours, kid.”
“Thanks!” Colthorn grinned and left the line, and as he did he got another notification that he promptly dismissed.
Follower of the Sibling Moons gained 1 level. +1 EXP.
His parents were waiting for him in the center of the room with another cleric. This cleric was a cat beastkin woman, wearing a simple brown dress. She also wore a white cape, but over both shoulders, and the necklace with thirteen circles.
“Little Coal,” his mother said, waving towards the cleric woman. “This is Cleric Liliana, she’ll be the one helping us today.”
Liliana stepped in front of Colthorn and squatted down to be eye-level with him.
“Hello, Colthorn. From what your parents have told me, you trained really hard! But no need to worry, when we’re done here you won’t have any scars you don’t want.” Her voice was cheerful and her smile brighter than the marble floor.
“Uh... thanks?”
Liliana nodded and stood up. “Let’s go find a more private room. Follow me, please.”
She guided them down the west hall, it was another hall with vaulted ceilings and many paintings, and went through a door between some paintings. The door opened into another hallway, though this one wasn’t as decorated. It was still marble and expensive looking, but there were only two paintings and had a lot more doors. Liliana walked past a couple doors before stopping to open a door on the right.
It was pitch black in the room until Liliana said, “lights,” and four stone spheres on tall stands started glowing in the corners. The room was bare except for a couple wooden chairs along the walls.
“Mr. and Mrs. Leokast, please take a seat. Colthorn, you can stand in the center here. Now, before we begin I need to ask a couple questions. I assure you that I am only asking because it is mandatory whenever I heal a child and I am not suggesting or implying anything,” she said, looking over at Alagossa and Jornan before looking back to Colthorn. Her eyes started softly glowing white. “Is it true that you got your scars from training?”
Colthorn was confused because that was the reason they came. “Yes.”
“Are there any scars that you have that you didn’t get from training?”
“Well, yeah,” he said, “I got some from falling out of a tree once... Oh! And one time I was trying to skin a rabbit once, but I accidently cut my finger right here.” He pointed at a little scar on his left index finger. “Let’s see... I can’t think of any other scars...”
“That’s ok. Are your parents, or anyone else, forcing you to train in Skills that you don’t want to train?”
He paused for a second before saying, “No.”
Liliana frowned. “Really? You shouldn’t lie to me, Colthorn. Tell me, it’s alright. You won’t get into trouble.”
Colthorn blushed, glanced at his dad, then sighed, “Fine... I don’t want to train my Mathematics Skill, but Dad says I should work on it even if I hate it. I’ve been working on it for two years now and it’s still only level ten!”
Liliana breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled, “Yeah, I hated math too. Any other Skills that you didn’t want to train?”
“No, just math... I wanted to train all my other Skills.”
“Good! Then let’s get started. I will need to touch your scars, is that alright with you?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, then you will need to take off your clothes.”
“Ah...” He looked over to his mom, who nodded. “... ok.”
Colthorn was wearing his new cloak, a red long-sleeved button-up shirt, black pants, a belted-on knife, and boots. All of which was taken off and set to the side. He stood there in his underwear, shivering slightly in the cool air.
Liliana gasped, “Acid? You trained him in Acid Resistance!?”
Jornan just nodded, looking down at the ground, biting his lip. Alagossa rubbed his back, saying, “He wanted to get the same class as mine, and Acid Resistance is required for it...”
Colthorn looked at his parents, then at Liliana who was glaring at them, then back at his parents. “Hey, I’m the one that wanted to train my resistances, you can’t get mad at them for that! Especially at Dad! He always cried after resistance training.”
The glare faded from Liliana’s face and she took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, you’re right, I shouldn’t have gotten mad. It is just that people normally wait until they are in Tier 1 before training in any resistance, so I was surprised when I saw your scars.”
“Hmph,” Colthorn huffed, “It’s alright.”
Liliana knelt down in front of Colthorn. “Let’s get started,” she said as her right hand glowed with golden light. She lightly started placing her hand against each of his scars. After a couple seconds, she would move her hand to a different area of scars, leaving behind clear and scarless skin. The healing process was a bit longer than Colthorn thought it would be, but it was still pretty quick. Liliana spent the most time on his back, making sure to clear every inch. She even made sure there were no scars on his legs and feet or any on his head, hidden by his hair. But soon enough, she was done and he was scarless.
“Alright,” Liliana said, standing up. “We’re do-”
She didn’t even get to finish before Jornan was on his knees hugging Colthorn. He didn’t say anything. He just held Colthorn tightly. Colthorn could feel his dad trembling, so he just returned the hug.
“It’s ok, Dad,” he said, patting Jornan on his back. After a few seconds passed his dad was still hugging him. "Uhhh, Dad? Can I get dressed now?"
"Oh, right, of course," Jornan said, letting Colthorn go and backing away while wiping at his eyes.
He quickly got dressed again and belted his knife back on while his dad was speaking with Liliana. Jornan was trying to hand Liliana a pouch that was clinking.
“Here, have something extra as our thanks.”
“Sir, you’ve already paid for my services, I can’t accept anything more than that,” Liliana said, not taking the pouch.
“Please, I insist. Think of it as a gift.”
“I really can’t accept it,” she sighed, “but if you want to give money away, there is a donation box near any of the entrances.”
“Alright... I guess that works too,” Jornan grumbled, tucking the money pouch away.
With that, they all made their way out of the room, down the small hallway, and into the west grand hallway. Since the western entrance was just right there, the Leokast family made their way outside through there. On their way out, Jornan upended his money pouch over the donation box. Golden chips, silver rounds, silver plates, silver chips, and some copper rounds all spilled through the wooden slabs and into the box below. The loud clatter of coins caught several people’s attention and they just gaped at the large donation. Jornan didn’t pay them any mind and just left.
When they got home, they quickly started making a simple stew made from leftover boar meat from last night’s feast. The boar was big enough that all three of the families got leftovers. Colthorn and his dad cut all the veggies together and Alagossa cut up the meat into bite sized chunks. When all the prep work was done the one with the highest Cooking Skill, Alagossa, dumped all the veggies and meat into a pot of boiling water and seasoned it with salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Easy.
As the stew cooked, they all sat around the table. It was quiet for a few seconds, as everyone was lost in thought about their temple trip, until Colthorn suddenly started giggling. His giggles were contagious and his parents started giggling as well.
“Little Coal,” his mom said, “What gave you the giggles?”
“No reason,” he giggled, “I just really love you both.”
“Well, that’s a pretty good reason to giggle,” his dad chuckled, “Oh! While we’re all together...” Jornan got up and ran to his bedroom and came back with a small stack of papers. “While we’re all here, the Headmaster of the academy gave me all these papers to fill out and there’s also a list of classes available to Tier 0 students. Let’s choose which classes you’ll take, Little Coal.”
Colthorn took the list of classes from his dad and looked it over. There were about thirty or so classes.
“Well, obviously the Basic Swordsmanship class... let’s see. Oh, there’s a Wilderness Herbology class, should I take that?”
“Pfft, no,” Alagossa said, “I already taught you everything that class will cover and more.”
“Oh, ok... then I guess that also means Basic Geology is off the table?” Seeing their nods, Colthorn continued looking over the list. “Are each of these classes just teaching a single Skill?”
“Most of them, yeah, but there should be classes that aren’t about getting Skills, but about how to use them. Take a look at those... also, if there are any other Skills that seem interesting, feel free to take that class,” his mom said, while his dad just nodded along.
“Nothing really seems that interesting... Maybe Adventuring 101?”
“Yeah, that’s a good class. Basically helps you get hands-on adventuring experience without too much danger.”
“Isn’t that what I do with you already?”
“Kinda, but also kinda not. We mostly go out for specific plants that your dad needs for potions, and hunt on the side. Adventuring does sometimes include that, gathering plants for people, but it also includes clearing out monster Lairs, protecting merchants or nobles, diving the Dungeon, bounty hunting, bandit clearing, and other kinds of tasks. Take that class, it’s a good one.”
“Ok,” Colthorn said, and Jornan marked down the class on a form. “What is Meditation 101?”
“Oh, I can answer that one!” His dad said, “There are many forms of Meditation, but the basic version, which is what will be covered in that class, is how most people recover their Health, Stamina, and Mana faster when resting. Not everyone has a Potioneer as a father, so they can’t just down a potion when they’re low.”
“Huh?... but wouldn’t that take them, like, a week or two to recover all that?”
“Well, most people are Tier 1, so they would regenerate faster than you would right now, and Meditation would help them regenerate faster... but yes, most people don’t go out into the wild every single day. They go out once, maybe twice, a week.”
“Oh... I’ll take that class then.”
“What!? Why?” Jornan cried, “I’m an awesome Potioneer! You’ll have as many potions as you’ll need!”
Alagossa slapped the back of Jornan’s head. “I think it’s a great idea! You may need it in the future, so it’s good to be prepared.”
Jornan grumbled and marked the class down. “Anything else?” He asked.
“No... none of these other classes seem interesting and it looks like a lot of these classes are about Skills Mom already taught me,” Colthorn said, handing the paper back to his dad.
“Alright, that takes care of that. Basic Swordsmanship, Adventuring 101, and Meditation 101. Classes start on the fourth, so be ready for that,” his dad said, “Now, it smells like lunch is ready, let’s eat!”