“Jake, wake up.” Hank said outside the door. Fuck, how long I’ve been asleep! It feels like I`ve been sleeping for ages. “Come, breakfast is ready” Hank added after a short pause, probably ensuring that I was awake. Well, breakfast usually is early in the morning, i thought answering myself. “I’m awake” came my lazy retort, I have a terrible mood by the morning... how can someone leave the bed with a big smile in the face? Shouldn’t be a long sleep if it's breakfast time, It’s been a while since the last time I had such a good night of sleep, although it was interrupted short in the morning.
Sitting in the bed to prepare my mind and body for the long day ahead of me. A valuable lesson learned along years of hearing boring history for days with no end to it. “Just washing in here and I’ll be joining you shortly” If you’re supposed to have a strenuous day with little to no time to oneself, do it before getting up as best as you can. It might be the only time you’ll have to yourself for the whole day. Especially if you’re going to spend it writing the rambles of an old man through it. “Alright, I’ll be waiting” he said as his footsteps could be heard moving away through the corridor.
Staring at the blanket covering the emptiness in my bed, I gave a low sight. One night alone and the grumpy man inside me comes out stronger than ever, nice. Brushing the back of my hand against my eyes in a failed attempt to clean it, I stood up. How come there’s so much eye discharge today. I'll borrow a set of clothes from the closet and head to the bathroom.
As I tread to the bathroom’s direction to do my consecrated morning ablutions, a sound coming from outside the house comes to my attention. The birds sure are doing their job today, don’t know how it had taken old Hank to wake me up with all this noise. Nevertheless a delightful show for the ears, perhaps I was enjoying it in my sleep, a cause for my lack of response in spite of all the noise. I thought, bearing an improved mood as I now headed to the main room of the log house with a clean body and a fresh smile.
While walking through the corridor, the strange aura made me recollect what happened yesterday in that cave. What’s up with that grass emitting green aura from it? He mentioned it had a soothing feeling, maybe it's the same one this house has.
Which brings me to think about that weird dream with the angel children, it was a short walk on the riverbank yet so much sentiment overflowed from Hank. Not only his speech but his posture and something else. Something I can’t quite put into words, you know when there’s something on the tip of your tongue but you can’t put your finger on it.
And most important of all, how come the gods are oblivious of the time described by Hank if humans started to band together and depend less on foraging with the crop discovery roughly two thousand years ago. He lived in a post-crop-revolution era as the field harvesting along with the existence of a settlement suggests.
A nymph was talking to a God. Aren’t they immortals? How come they wouldn’t know about it. Even if they died, two thousand years shouldn't be enough to erase his story from their pool of knowledge.
“Hank?” Looking at a bird flying out off the window above the kitchen sink, I called out for Hank who wasn’t sitting in the chair at the table we chatted last night as I thought he would be.
“Outside” he gave a short reply. An accurate one, no less.
Coming out of the house, he was sitting on a chair, a rocking one, with a stranger on a regular chair over the grass-covered clearing, facing the forest with their back to the house, roughly five meters from its entrance. Birds chirping as they flew about in glee around the duo.
The woman, as I could distinguish after coming around the chairs, wasn’t in the least bit old. A girl in her eighteen at maximum. She exuded an exotic feeling about her, not quite the same as Hank and his heartwarming aura that gives rise to a welcoming feel, but one of freshness, the same one you feel when under a tree. Furthermore, it hides a wilderness, a thrill for adventure behind a thin veil, as if covering something from all to see yet craving it to be shown pridefully.
As I got closer, the feeling didn't intensify but a better view of the stranger could be witnessed. She didn’t have a voluptuous build as the concubines of the nobles usually had, just a captivating beauty bolstered by its wild plainness.
When eye contact was possible, she opened it slowly and fixated it on me. The yellow iris, burning my own slightly darker eyes with fierceness, impelled a sudden stop to my walking. “Hello” she said with a bit of cautiousness but not the least bit timid, on the contrary, the fervor present in her tone was no lesser in intensity than the fierceness from her motion stopping eyes, even when it was said in a low voice, nor the stuffed out chest with her perfectly erect spine while seated in the wooden chair. A regal stance ready to challenge the world.
How couldn't I be overwhelmed by all of it?
How come anyone introduced to me in this house makes me lose my gait.
When the lack of response from my part was evident, she gave me a small grin, and I swear, two fangs as white as ivory could be seen coming out of her thin lips. Followed by a chuckle from Hank “This, young one, is Nevere. A student of mine.” he said trying to mediate the situation “She doesn’t bite, though” he finished after a short pause with a wide grin of his own, a gentle one no less, as if he had read my mind and made an innocent mockery out of me or... was he helping me out of my silence by distracting me?
This strange aura of his is inducing mixed feelings on my already shaken head.
No more than ten minutes from my matinal rituals and it is already paying its dividends. Good job past me, good job. I thought with pride, the last bit of it.
I seriously don’t think my heart can take another encounter like this.
“Hello” I uttered nervously, very different from the ferocious tone Nevere expressed herself, like a sheep bleating to an intruder wolf.
“And this is Jake” Hank finished for me in his chair, pointing his hand in my direction. The old herding dog helping the stray sheep out of tough circumstances.
"Jake, accompany us in our frugal picknick, the table has fresh fruits, juice, and bread." Hank informed me and after a little break, his face did a little twitch and finally, barely containing himself, complementing "If you don't mind a suggestion, the papaya has an excellent taste, the sweetness is just spot on."
Looking at his sparkling eyes while presenting his suggestion, like an old grandpa giving advice to his grandchild, I couldn't help but be heartfelt. "I'll make sure to have a taste of it, Hank. Your recommendation is very welcome."
A laughing snort came from Nevere as I was getting a papaya’s half from the small table. Between chuckles, she muttered " You two spend a night together and becomes best buddies. He's even using the same type of clothes as you." ceasing the laughter and a straighter countenance, she finished her thoughts " I'm glad you're making new friends, though" then she peeled a banana and started to eat it.
“It's always a joyful occasion to make a new friend" Hank said " We've come to know each other for a brief time, that's true. Yet, the sentiment bonding the two of us growing stronger in the inside is undeniable. But who knows what's stored for the next day. Maybe tomorrow we're at each other throats." he said with a dim light in his eyes.
"Don't start with cheap sentimentalism, old man" Nevere intervened. " Yesterday you summoned me here to hear what you have promised me. The histories of the time you were young and refused to talk about it with me till yesterday. And for only god knows why you took this long to do it." she said taking her focus away from the half-eaten banana and looking at my innocent self, pondering over the origin of a new chair at Hank's side, with a papaya and a wooden spoon, one on each hand. He grew an armchair for me on this one at least.
"Right, in light of your complaints, I was going to inform you that we started yesterday night my reminiscence..." Hank was saying when "You.." Nevere tried to cut him but he insisted impassively "...and I have the intention to continue it today, yesterday was just a small talk to get the engine oiled. And it has apparently worked, like you said, we're best buddies now." looking at me with a glint in his eyes as he continued " Nothing that will jeopardize your understanding of future past-events, naturally" he finished and gave me a discrete wink with his left eye, the one Nevere couldn't see.
"True story, Hank. Just some tale of a fearless young man hunting a little deer in the village's backyard forest, just to find a peerless woman and gods. Nothing of worth." giving a little help to the old fella. Who knows how much help he needs with an obvious headstrong student like her.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
" Gods and a woman?... hmpf. Glad I didn't rush here yesterday to hear you two babbling about woman." at least she didn't sound displeased with the hyperbolic way I addressed yesterday events. And damn man, this papaya is so delicious. “Now that scaredy cat is here we can begin, Uncle.” she finished.
“Not so fast Nevere, I’ll only start when Jake finishes his breakfast. He needs to set his pen and papers on a desk beforehand. And you need to demonstrate the spells in the spellbook I asked out of you to practice this month. Don't you go thinking I’ve forgotten about it? Stand up, you can start with Nevasca.” when he said the last word, despite not knowing what it meant, I felt a slight disturbance in the ambient as if it reacted when hearing it, pleading to do his bidding but in the end getting somehow frustrated.
Nevere stood up and materialized a two-meter staff with a rainbow jewel attached to each end of the white shaft. Oh, that ring on her finger must be a spatial ring. I thought in surprise, it was the first time I saw someone draw something out of it from this proximity. They are a scarce resource in the empire, only people with great influence could possibly have it. The last time one came to my sight was when the emperor himself was giving an opening speech to the Closing Year Royal Party, he produced an azure long sword from thin air, but, fortunately, it wasn't the most mind-boggling part of the presentation. As he brandished the sword and pointed it to the heavens, a majestic fire dragon, the same shade of blue as his sword, soared through the skies as his lips moved with a soundless chant, fantastic. At the time, the sword appearing out of nowhere couldn't catch much attention in the middle of the event. You know? an azure fire-dragon doing an aerial show of acrobatics and stuff for all to see. Then, after five minutes of maneuvers, mighty roars and dozens of fire-breaths the dragon went high up in the skies and exploded in a beautiful spectacle of lights.
Yeah, a sword popping out of nowhere doesn't look that exceptional.
Nevere looked at the forest fifty meters from us and pointed the staff in its direction, suddenly bright blue little runes appeared and started to rotate around the forward jewel of the staff. Then the clouds started to blacken and a cold wind rushed against us. Hank was looking at it intently as the clouds were darkening, with his flying dark-brown hair. Until he produced a small grin and waved his hand once. The forming storm soon dissipated before it could shed a single drop of water. “Well done, child. Proceed.” he said as if nothing happened.
Another set of runes, this one green, appeared again around the same jewel of the staff and a gust of wind rushed through the forest, cutting trees for couple hundred meters in a big arc. Holy mother, how can someone so young yield so much destructive power? Another nod and wave of hand from Hank and the forest started, bustling to reconstruct itself, the trees on the ground created wood arms and reattach itself to the ground with the aid of the new limbs, the same way it was before the magical gust of wind had hit it.
“You can improve a little with the rune's cast time. The amount of mana summoned, though, went beyond my expectation for a chantless spell cast at such high speed. Truly great work, child. The last one now.” Hank added.
A brown set of runes appeared this time, and the floor shook as two giant four meters tall hands erupted from the ground ahead of us and started to fight each other in a series of slaps, punches and chops. Every hit that made contact, the ground trembled. Again, Hank waved his hand and the giant hands crumbled to dust. “The cast time was perfect with this spell, lass. The finer control of the magic after its cast, on the other hand, could be smoother. Try to leave a mana link to your magic, this way you will achieve finer control of your spells after you cast it. You’ll need to manipulate your mana to make the thread thinner, that way you’ll use less mana to control it. Got it?” he asked Nevere “ Yes Uncle.” she consented. “I’ll have you practice more spells that require a finer control after its cast. It should further improve your control over the mana thread as you get used to it through practice.” he said to her, and she nodded in agreement. "Youngling, you can resume eating."
"Oh, sorry. It’s not every day you see someone displaying magic of this caliber." I amended in a rush not even trying to conceal my amazement for the display of prowess shown by Nevere. The fresh feeling I felt when we just met intensified and her face was brimming with pride when I said that with such regard. Hank’s face was jubilant too. Who doesn’t want your pupil to succeed in his pursuits, furthermore, when it’s in the pursuit of magical arts, renowned for its difficulty to achieve mastery over. I don’t know much about magic, but I’ve come to know a few magicians from the low city and they can’t even hold a candle when compared to what I have just witnessed, showcasing how amazing she is at such young age. Of course, it wasn't as grand as the emperor's fire dragon. But hey, who's the emperor other than the empire’s ultimate protector. As for Hank?
"Fast, uncle. Summon a table for Jake" Nevere said when she confirmed that the last bite of papaya went down my throat. Finished the magic demonstration, she stood beside the small table until I finished the papaya with her right hand holding her staff on her shoulders and her left foot pushed the towel over the small table and rested on it. Her left arm was resting on her elevated leg, which supported her arched body.
"Wait a sec-" just as I was going to explain that my feather and papers were at my bedroom, a tree started to grow near us, startling me out of my speech. Its branches stretching and thickening until we were bathed by its shade, the singing birds who had fled when the bustling tree came upward, now lodged themselves in its branches. Providing they don’t shit while above us, all is fine. Suddenly, four sticks grew at my feet. Elongating as they took the form of an elaborated desk, this one a bit more rustic than the one inside the house, with leaves coming out of its leg and flowers blossoming in the table top corners as well as a cushion? What is this on the right side for?
Hank, who was at the chair by my side, stretched his hand in my direction, with an untainted white feather, a transparent gem was attached between the tip and its body, in his grip. "Use this magical feather. Guess you'd lose some years of your life if you took your time to fetch the one in your bedroom right now." He said utterly unfazed.
Still a little dazed I said "Oh! Thanks". Well, suspect that, at this point, what Hank does here can't be considered magic anymore. "But I still need to get the papers in there." I continued after a couple of seconds. Just to be greeted by a small chuckle. Not even sparing me a glance, as he took attention of Nevere leaving the table side to her chair's direction, he said:"look at your desk, Lad." and I did, leaving my sight of her. Only to see papers neatly stacked over it.
When I turned over again, Nevere was pulling her chair to face our direction, right beside my desk. The table with food had vanished alongside my papaya peel and spoon. When she noticed we were looking at her, she said: “What? I don’t like looking to the side when hearing someone, right? Don’t we have to look at each other face when talking?” her lost regal posture resurfaced mid-sentence. Her intentions clear: am I right or am I very right? Scrubs. She turned her chair to face our direction. Finished it by pushing the other side till the right armchair bumped at the side of my table, then she hopped over the chair and looked expectant toward Hank.
"Alright, lass." Hank said sounding defeated. "You ready with the pen, Jake?" he said turning his gaze at me with an invigorated excitement in his eyes. His aura as if on cue shifted to a livelier mood.
"I don't have ink." I responded. Hank chuckled and said: “just think there’s already ink on the tip.” Looking at hank as if he was nuts, I did as he asked me to. And at this point, I confess, don’t know if I’ll be surprised if it works or if it doesn't. Dipping the tip of the feather over the paper, it did indeed scratch it’s surface with a black tincture, as a misty cloud started to pass through the gem attached to the quill.
This shit sure is magical.
This quill would be a very welcome acquisition for me. The ink in the streets are worthless, the sellers water it to increase profits, thus the ink loses severely in quality. And the good ones are prohibitively expensive. My income as a writer isn't enough to support these luxuries. The only option available is to manufacture my own ink, monotonous long hours grinding plant dyes. To top it off, the ink from this pen is thicker than normal and it has something that makes the letters glow in a multicolored way, giving an extravagant feel to it.
"Uncle, is it powered by a mana crystal?" Nevere said propped over my desk over the estrange cushion and looking at the ink flowing out of the pen into the paper. Ha! The cushion is for you! How does Hank new she would do that? She came so near to the desk just to look at what I'm writing, little twerp! And when did she get in there?
Hank didn't immediately reply as he was looking at the ink with a slight frown. After a brief moment of contemplation, he struck a short "No" to which Nevere brows jumped up in surprise. " Ho..." She started but lost her words as she spoke.
Guess I'm not the only one surprised here. But something tells me they are thoroughly surprised, different from my ‘yet not so surprise’ " That's a good question, child. One that I, unfortunately, do not have an answer to." he said with his frown still on the face " The how is a puzzle I can't solve yet. However, the what, that... that's different. Having chromatic mana and still be magic unawakened at such an age... terrible lack of foresight by the empire." Here he started to mumble.
"That old fart don't take care of the realm in a long time. While he stays locked up in the Palace, doing only God knows what, those two old foxes from the council who can't see two fingers further from their arses are colluding with merchants to pocket extra cash. Dad has been out for more than ten years now. Sleazy bastards, the day I redress this situation has yet to come, and they are the first on my reckoning list." She said losing herself in rage as she talked.
"Is she really talking that way about The Great Sage?" Muttering to no one in particular as I tried to digest the casualty in the way she was addressing the old Emperor. Then it came to me. Nevere isn't her name, it's short for Guinevere. "Who else would I be talking about?" She unexpectedly answered in a foul mood to my musings. But she is at least ten year older than me, how can this be possible?
"Are you Guinevere? From the imperial family of Ignatius?" I blurted out. " Took you a while to figure it out, hmm" she retorted. "But your eyes, they are no..." I tried to ask. "Oh! that's a myth. It's not all Ignatius that has a crimson iris, but that's not important" she interrupted my line of thought and gazed at Hank " Old man. The pen, how is it possible?".
Hank stopped the mumbling and looked at me. " Perhaps... his mana pool is big enough to support the travel through his body?" he said pensively. "But... me not feeling his mana is one thing, now, you not feeling it?" she said in disbelief. "I, actually, can feel his mana. It's just that I've never seen a mana reservoir so deeply attached to the soul. When I quickly measured him up yesterday, I didn't notice his larger than usual amount of mana, as I had yet to come across such an unusual phenomenon, making it slip my perception." The art of saying without saying, come on Babbler Geezer "They look like they're merged, usually, the mana has a connection to the soul, but his. It's like they're overlapped. A boundaryless state. Curious." for each sentence, he would give a little break time in his musings, turning the already unbearable long explanation harder to keep up the attention.
And what the fuck are they talking about? It's like I'm not even here as they focused intently at my confused self. "Hey!" I said with a little louder voice than normal, trying to grab their attention. Sure that I had it from them "what's so weird about this pen?"I finally mustered. Could I keep it as a souvenir? I thought, coveting the gorgeous little pen.
"The pen isn't the problem, it's you" at least he didn't say it was him. That would be batshit crazy "Basically, you have a mana reservoir bigger than many full-fledged mages with your magic power still asleep. Which means, in the worst case scenario, it would be thousands of times bigger than now if you had awakened your magical capabilities at the right time." hmm, so I'm fucking awesome? but suck at it. However " What is that magic awakening thing?" I finally asked what was troubling me.
This time, less distracted, Hank explained: " You must know it as 'Nature gift', 'Godly blessing' or something of the kind. And it's not totally wrong, it’s just the term usually used is a little faulty. A better term would be a 'contract' or ‘pact’. Not with celestial beings, but with the very elements. When a person awakens their magical ability, they create a sort of bond with it. This way, you acquire the capacity to cooperate directly with the elements you have an affinity, and they lend their powers when summoned. We do it by studying the ancient language and its runes as well as it's nuances and peculiarities."
He stopped and gave a small frown, then continued "But I digress, the point here is the pace they harness resources from the outside. When the bound is forged, the rate is increased by this deeper and stronger affinity, which grants an increased mana pool growth as they are better nourished by the elements when compared to a slumbered one. Especially if they do it while the soul is still been molded by the new body " Hank finally finished his monologue with "What I'm saying is that you would have a mana pool hundred of times Nevere's, in this case. "
Sometimes I'm not ready to take in the answers to my own questions. Play it cool, nothing is wrong. "Is that much? And the chromatic mana you mentioned before?".
"Let's get back to the history, lad. Your doubts will be answered as we go through it. As much of it will be explained as we tread this shady path." he said looking at the birds in the treetop, as he slowly rocked his chair.