I struggled to not roll my eyes at the thickness that she was laying it on to sooth his ego. Apparently, she was also very well versed in spouting nonsense and empty platitudes in such a way as to be convincing.
Startled out of his initial reaction to the current situation, Joel caught onto the fact that Lynette had successfully assimilated her second element. At that point, he was now gung-ho about taking the fire affinity potion to see if he could repeat what his cousin did with the water potion.
Victoria had to patiently explain to him that unfortunately, fire would be unable to provide the same healing effect as the water did. She warned him of the expected full body burns which would likely be far worse than the sun burn he had just experienced, only moments ago.
Seeing his shoulders slump and a pout form on his face, she then went on to expound upon the greatness and destructive power that the fire affinity held. Which he should be able to achieve tomorrow with the healing aid of the Travelers Pillar. She did caution him against utilizing it too soon lest he fail the assimilation.
Her cautioning appeared to do little in terms of quenching his thirst for power. I watched his eyes light up with a fervor at her many descriptions of various fire attuned spells.
Hearing of the many convenient and potent spells with the fire element, I couldn’t help but feel a little disgruntled at my own shortcomings. I knew I had received a far greater than average physical enhancement from my torturous assimilations. However, here and now while in front of me, I was seeing two newly arrived Travelers playing around with the light magic like a bright and shiny new toy.
I know I shouldn’t be jealous as everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, yet it was always a dream of mine to wield the elements outside of my body. I had spent a lifetime feeling what I could inside, while being unable to see any visible manifestation or affect anything outside of the confines of my skin. It simply hurt to see others have what I could not.
Other than body reinforcement and cognitive enhancement, all that I had to show for my suffering was my spatial and emotional awareness. As amazing and useful as it was, it was unable to be ‘shown’ to another. The only thing that I could affect outside of my body was my ability to call my staff to me if it was close by. I wasn’t even sure that the summoning of my staff was related to my many assimilations, or if that was due to the weapon compatibility thing Monroe had spoken with me about before.
Gripping the cool rod tightly in reflex at my disappointment, I felt a light rush of elemental tones pass between the heavy staff and my core. An echo of an image in my mind replayed itself from my time suspended in the element of shadow and darkness.
The miniature world which had granted light within that deeply dark domain, promised something far more powerful to come. . . Yet it still hurt to see myself lacking.
Mentally berating myself as an idiot for being jealous of others and feeling sorry for not being the best at everything, I focused back on the current situation.
Lynette appeared well enough to return the blanket to my master and both she and Joel voiced their readiness to head out. I had promised to take them to the outskirts of the city to try their hand at “fighting monsters.” I was almost certain that the most they would find would be a stray bird, lizard, or rabbit which would prove far too quick to fall to Joel’s daggers.
Giving an internal and self-suffering huff, I thanked my master for her aid and led to cousins out of the shop to hail a carriage for the three of us. There was no way I was going to spend the half hour walk to the city wall while dealing with whatever shenanigans might arise from a certain disgruntled male travel companion.
My hope was to get out there, give Joel an opportunity to blow off some steam, offer Lynette some helpful advice, and return with them both intact for tomorrow’s separation.
Once Joel was carted off to the war front early the next morning, my master and I would have far more freedom in aiding the poor girl with her personal development, free from her cousin’s interference.
“Oh! Look at that lizard man trying to pull that heavy cart.” Drawing me away from my mental musings with his loud voice, Joel pointed out a struggling beastman. We were just now traveling past a line of farmers going the opposite direction, towards the market with their day’s harvest.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Why doesn’t he just use some horses or something?” This was said as we were no more than a couple meters distant from the overburdened beast kin. He did appear to be struggling against the weight of his load, yet other than a brief glare in our direction, he pointedly ignored our group as we plodded past him in our carriage.
I mentally wished frequent miserable deaths to Lynette’s cousin on the warfront as I suffered his near continuous boasting and unwelcomed commentary during the ride to the wall.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Disembarking from the carriage, I tipped the driver an extra two copper and murmured an apology for putting up with the added annoyance of Joel. I found in this city that it was rare to tip, but in this case, I could feel the waves of disgruntlement coming off the poor man as Joel had obviously made a bad impression of himself.
I mean, what did the guy expect in a realistic fantasy setting? Crystalline spires, swooping dragons, and beautiful maidens swooning at your feet as their savior?
This kid or man-child had a massive chip on his shoulder and appeared to feel that he was owed everything! It was all I could do to not let the grimace that I felt inside spill over to my face; That or slug him in his annoying mouth. I wasn’t someone prone to violence in the early stages of provocation, but he was certainly pushing my tolerance with the subsequent buildup of slights and ill behavior.
Thankfully he kept quiet as I greeted the two guards at the gate. Maybe it was because they resembled the guards at the identification table next to the Travelers pillar who threatened him. I couldn’t help but smirk inside at the likelihood and the momentary recollection of seeing him put in his place.
After exchanging respectful words with the two guards, our group moved past them to venture into the wilds outside the city.
Once no one was in front of me to see it, a cruel smile briefly appeared on my lips which I quickly smoothed out into a neutral expression. Recalling the incident which I had with the Paladin and the wolves, I purposely led the duo down the same path I had taken when undergoing my master’s qualification test. I could only hope that we might come across those same wolves for a round two.
I knew as I was now, that I could easily fend them off or even subdue them. Of course, if they happened to first maul a certain someone before being fully neutralized, I would be immensely grateful to their departed souls. Obviously, I would act the part of protecting the fair maiden and keeping her safe while allowing the other man to heroically suffer for her, willingly or not. With that unlikely daydream to distract me, together we set off through the thick vegetation.
As we progressed, I took the lead at a pace only slow enough to not lose Lynette. Both cousins struggled to keep up with me, and I experienced a thrill of vicious schadenfreude each time Joel got tripped up on various vegetation. If I were not concerned for his cousin’s wellbeing, I would have continued at my current pace while enjoying the suffering he was enduring. It was only when I saw that Lynette was also floundering a bit that I began to slow my pace and allow them both to catch up.
Seeing Joel puffing and red with exertion at keeping the pace from before, I felt like a lot of the bluster had gone out of his sails. Even his emotions were significantly more muted, with weariness being the dominant sensation.
I continued the now slower trek until we were about 10 minutes out from the barrier of the city wall. It was nowhere near how far I had traveled before encountering the Paladin alone and hearing the cries of the wolves. However, by a stroke of luck if you could call it such, the path I had chosen had no other Travelers nearby us. Additionally, I found a nice bunch of edible mushrooms hidden within the underbrush of a thicket.
“Alright!” I called out. “This appears to be a good enough spot to begin exploring as the wildlife may not have been scared away by the other Travelers.” Passing my gaze over both Joel and Lynette, I encouraged them. “Go out and explore as much as you like. I can keep myself busy with harvesting the local herbs.”
I received little response as both cousins appeared thirsty from our hike and were taking a moment to rehydrate themselves from their water flasks.
Pretty soon though, Joel appeared to have recovered a portion of his strength and took to stabbing the trunks of nearby trees as well as chucking the occasional rock he found amidst the ground, into the underbrush. I assumed he was trying to scare out some wild animal or monster to fight.
Lynette remained where she was at and was staring fixedly at her hand. Peering more closely, I could see that she was playing with some of her drinking water as she made it go against the forces of gravity while it crawled along her skin.
I chuckled lightly, seeing her amazement at this small miracle. I was surprised that the expected sense of jealousy within me didn’t appear this time. Maybe it was because in my opinion, she seemed more deserving of having such powers? Continuing to watch as the droplets of water flowed up and down her dainty fingers, guided by her will and deep connection with the element, my mind wandered as I thought more on it.
I felt that in this situation, when it was someone who I held positive feelings toward, that it was easier to feel vicarious satisfaction for their achievement rather than jealousy. Child-like delight and wonder sparkled forth from her as her emotions enveloped me. Having struggled to block off the poisonous and raw emotions of her cousin, this shared sensation was like a balm to my soul.
It was for moments like this that I was grateful for the burden of my new gift. Although my capacity to bear the emotional turbulence from amidst the crowded public had become more bearable with time and exposure, it was still a notable weight which burdened my psyche when there was not enough rest and time alone. I couldn’t help but feel a smile form on own my lips. This was as I struggled to not allow much more to show, in reflection to the vicarious emotions. I was happy for her brief happiness which appeared all too rare given her circumstances.
I believe it was primarily when I had antagonistic feelings towards another, that the sensation of my jealousy of their achievements would more easily raise its grim head. The injustice of observing something good happening to someone of ill repute did not sit well with me. However, I rarely knew someone well enough in life to feel such enmity towards them.
*Sigh* If only I had my empathic ability to use in real life. Then I could know for sure the intents and emotional thoughts of those around me.
A small part of me knew this ability to be highly invasive and likely unethical to the minds of others. However, as a newly budding empath who had to suffer the consequences of harmful emotions, I felt it was only fair to be able to feel the entire expanse of the emotional spectrum.