Shinia has always seen tools and items as their source of protection and strength. It was weapons and armour that helped the Shinians survive and, so, it is no surprise that they gained the ability to create the most powerful weapons, tools, and other items on the continent through their Enchanting.
Excerpt: A History of Magic – Galen Cletus
Ashe watched from the side of the small clearing as Erin and Sammath ‘sparred’, though Ashe thought it was more akin to Erin beating Sammath up as Sammath tried to defend. With the use of his new abilities, which allowed Sammath to not just see Erin’s Motion but also feel it, as well as truly manipulate it, Sammath had managed to force Erin to use her powers in their sparring, using the force of her Bloodline flames to make her attacks faster. That was something else that had changed, too, since both Sammath and Erin had moved to the Viscount Stage in power. Erin’s flames had gotten hotter, and her moonsteel even colder. Now, wisps of icy cold air dripped off of Erin’s armour when she summoned her moonsteel and Erin’s flames were tinged with yellow, heat waves far more apparent whenever she used them. Additionally, Erin’s control with both abilities had increased substantially and she was able to control the flames that she released, making them change directions, and make smaller changes to her armour in the middle of the fight, growing spikes and thickening her armour where Sammath’s attacks were heading.
As Ashe was watching, Sammath used his powers to push Erin to the side lightly and redirect her attack. Erin compensated with a burst of flame from her power, but Sammath suddenly switched the effect he was having on the Motion of Erin’s clothing, sending the glowing, white staff whipping past him, only centimetres away. For someone who could sense, and not just see, the Motion of the staff, though, and know exactly where it was traveling, those scant few centimetres were enough. A small trail of white mist, dripping off Erin’s moonsteel staff, evaporated into the air as it whipped past.
Erin stepped to the side, past Sammath, whirling her staff to block Sammath’s own even as he tried to strike at the back of her head. Somehow, Erin knew exactly where it was going to land, and the force with which she spun her staff knocked Sammath’s out of his hands. Erin’s staff stopped immediately and rose up, taking advantage of Sammath’s sudden lack of weaponry as she aimed for the region between his legs. Panicking, Sammath jumped back with a huge surge of Motion, sending him into the trees, and he flipped to land feet-first on a trunk.
After gaining the ability to properly manipulate Motion, rather than just pushing or pulling, something that Erin had been making Sammath work on was dampening or stopping Motion, rather than just trying to push and pull at it from different directions. As such, Sammath was sticking to the tree as he forced his own Motion into the direction of the tree, countering the pull of gravity. Sammath looked up at Erin, a frown of concentration on his face, “That’s just playing dirty. You can’t just hit a man there unless you want a lifelong enemy.”
Erin smoothly spun around, maintaining the position of her staff, which had stopped just before it would have taken Sammath’s ability to bear children, “Anything’s fair in a fight. But if you’ll take a look, I stopped before I would have crushed your testicles.”
Sammath stood up, well, stood to the side from Ashe’s perspective, raising his hand in indignation, but his concentration broke and he promptly lost his grip on his Motion. Immediately, he began to fall off the tree and he yelled out in surprise. Sammath’s fall began to slow and he righted himself, landing with a solid thump and rolling but catching himself easily enough. Sammath’s staff flew off the ground, from where it had landed when Erin had hit it, and Sammath caught it with a stylish spin.
Sammath levelled his staff at Erin, “Again.” Erin shook her head and flame burst out of her back, arms, and legs. Sammath, startled, tried to raise his arms to block, but his body couldn’t keep up with his mental reactions. Erin’s body, which was substantially enhanced every time she improved her Stage, combined with the acceleration that her flames gave her, was far faster than what Sammath’s body could react to. Lagging behind his perception slightly, Sammath wasn’t able to raise his staff in time and the butt of Erin’s staff stopped millimetres from Sammath’s chest, a wash of air and a bright burst of fire accompanying Erin’s sudden halt.
If Sammath had any hair, Ashe imagined that it would have been charred. As it was, though, Erin’s immaculate control kept Sammath’s clothes from being singed and Erin’s palm slapped away Sammath’s staff as it rose up to block, “No. That’s the end of sparring for today. I need to absorb sunlight, and you need to practice your control some more.”
Sammath looked at Erin, his eyes wide, “How’d you manage to move that quickly? I could see you move and process it, but I just couldn’t react.”
Erin met Sammath’s eyes, “Most of the powers in the world, though not all, are inherently balanced, with someone’s skill and effort being the determining factor in how strong someone is. As you grow stronger, your powers will almost always enhance your ability to process and react to things, but your body may not always keep up. My Bloodline powers enhance my body significantly every time I increase in stage but yours, so far, have only enhanced your body very minimally. Despite that, though, you do have something that will allow you to keep up with me.”
“My ability to manipulate Motion.” Sammath suddenly realised, and Erin nodded. “I can control my own Motion and speed my body up and react properly.”
“Well done. Now, go practice with your Motion. There’s still a lot of work for you to do, and not much time.” Almost in a daze as he rushed off, Sammath bounded from the ground to the trees, jumping between them as he rushed off to find a place to practice. Erin looked over to Ashe, who rose to his feet.
“My turn?”
“Your turn.” Erin nodded. Ashe walked out to the centre of the clearing, and Erin began his training by having him perform everything she’d been teaching him, punches, kicks, blocks and more. Erin made sure to help Ashe by making small corrections to each of his movements when she spotted something wrong. After half an hour, Erin moved on to stringing everything together, and having Ashe move through patterns of moves that flowed from one movement to another. Finally, they began to spar somewhat earnestly. Erin was obviously taking it easy on Ashe, who would stand no chance against her combat expertise even if they were the same Stage, but she was still pushing Ashe to his limit as he frantically blocked Erin’s attacks and retaliated with a few of his own. Erin on the other hand, while moving faster than Ashe, looked positively relaxed as they sparred and she soon stopped the training as Ashe was left panting and sweaty.
“Well done. We’ll pick up again in a few hours. Go and practice your Runework.” Ashe nodded, too winded to respond properly, as he caught his breath. Erin moved off with a burst of fire and wind that pulled at Ashe’s clothing. Catching his breath, Ashe sat down in the dirt and began to trace out the Runes that he wanted to practice in his mind. So far, Erin had made sure that he practiced a number of combat-applicable Runes, including but not limited to ‘explosion’, ‘wind’, ‘push’, ‘shock’, and the inversion of the ‘balance’ Rune, which unbalanced people. Ashe made sure to practice these Runes, which were quite simple, by clearing the area around him of detritus like leaves and sticks and then drawing them in the loosely packed dirt of the forest floor. Sweeping his hand back over the Rune would erase it, allowing Ashe to draw the Runes again. When he was confident that he wouldn’t be wasting any Ink and was drawing each Rune smoothly and methodically, Ashe drew the first Rune in the air.
Now that he didn’t have to constantly worry about being discovered and take care of himself, which he couldn’t do if he was exhausted from using too much Ink, Ashe’s Runework had improved in leaps and bounds. In short order, the glowing Rune for wind was carved into reality and hovered above the ground. A breeze pushed through the clearing, air tugging at Ashe’s clothing, and ruffling his hair. Ashe continued channelling Ink into the Rune and, as he increased the amount of Ink he pushed into it, the wind grew stronger. Something that Ashe had recently learnt from both Erin and Cab were that Runes used as much Ink as they could expend, while still remaining active.
As Ashe’s wind Rune was constantly active and affecting the world, it absorbed the energy of the world and channelled it through the Rune to affect the world. Because it was channelling the energy of the world, as well as the fact that it was carved into reality which constantly tried to fix the area the Rune occupied, Ashe’s Rune was constantly expending Ink to remain stable and active. As stability was more important to a Rune, for reasons unknown to Ashe, it prioritised spending Ink to replenish the Rune and prevent reality from breaking the Rune. This meant that Ashe’s Runes had very little Ink to spare in order to affect the world. On the other hand, the amount of Ink that the Runes needed to maintain their position in reality was constant so, as soon as Ashe started increasing the amount of Ink he channelled to them, the effects rapidly increased in potency.
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Ashe began to push his Ink into the Rune as hard as he could, emptying nearly his entire Inkwell in just seconds. Immediately, the wind picked up and nearly pushed Ashe over. While this was far from effective or efficient, the inversion of the balance Rune being far cheaper and more effective at knocking people off balance, the wind Rune had combat applications beyond just unbalancing an opponent. With the wind Rune, Ashe could push people back, he could ensure weapons were too far away for an opponent to grab, and he could use the Rune to aid his own movement.
Panting and sweating, Ashe couldn’t help himself from grinning. While he was only at the Dusk Stage and, as such, far less powerful than Erin and Sammath who were both at the Viscount Stage, Ashe had become significantly more powerful since meeting the two of them and he took a moment to revel in the sensation of progress; of having pushed beyond his previous limitations; and he realised how much he loved it.
Ashe straightened up, wiping the sweat off his brow. While Ashe couldn’t do any more practice with actually enchanting Runes until he had Ink to use, he could practice writing the Runes with clean, smooth efficiency or he could try and accelerate the process of absorbing the world’s energy and converting it to Ink. Erin had said it was possible, but he hadn’t managed to actually grasp the ability yet and it would be very useful to have.
It had been five days since arriving at the camp, and the three of them had gathered together to eat dinner, like they’d been doing since they’d begun their journey. Unfortunately limited to cold rations as the smoke and light from a fire would attract unwanted attention from the camp. It was the same reason why Ashe wasn’t allowed to practice with the explosion Rune and, while he could understand the reasoning behind the restriction, Ashe wasn’t happy with having to eat the relatively tasteless cold food.
Finishing up his food with a mildly disappointed sigh, Sammath leant back against a tree, “You know, Erin. I’ve been thinking. You never did tell me that last thing on the boat. The last revelation you had about my powers. I’m not complaining, since I was unconscious at the time and I had a debilitating headache after the first two, but I’m just saying you should tell me now. I think we could use any advantage we could get, going into this fight.”
Erin looked at Sammath, “Are you sure about this? It will mean that you’ll definitely be unable to practice tomorrow. You’re going to wake up with an extremely strong headache, too.”
Sammath’s brows raised up, “If it’s that powerful, then I think I have to take it. It’ll be far more effective than spending the day training.”
“Sammath, a power that you’ve barely touched upon is unreliable in battle and can often be more harm to your allies than your enemies. Coming to grips with your current levels of power is a much more effective use of your time than trying to gain a new power that you won’t be able to handle. I don’t even know if you’ll be able to use it until you’ve reached a higher Stage.”
Sammath hesitated, then, and Cab spoke up in Ashe’s head, I have to agree with Dawnblaze here. Gaining a new power the day before a battle is a surefire way to get yourself killed. Or at least chopped into thousands of pieces if you’re a demon.
Ashe shook his head, It doesn’t matter. It’s not our choice to make, it’s Sammath’s. If he wants to do it, then he has the right to.
Cab growled in Ashe’s head, No. You three are a team, are you not? If he does this, he is just being selfish and stupid by putting his teammates in danger. Yet another reason to prefer the girl over this foolish boy.
Ashe snorted lightly, I thought we were a team. It doesn’t really feel like that anymore, though. I think that, once we’re done with this, Erin’s leaving. Sammath might stay, but he’ll leave eventually, too. Either that or try to kill me once he sees you taking over and killing people near constantly.
Cab withdrew slightly, but Ashe could still feel him watching. He knew that that was intentional, as Cab could completely hide his presence from Ashe, even inside Ashe’s own head. Ashe brought his attention back to the conversation between Erin and Sammath just as Sammath finally managed to convince Erin to tell him the third expansion of Motion.
“Alright, fine, Sammath. But if it gets you killed tomorrow, that’s your fault. I know I’m not going to die, and Ashe has Cab to keep him safe, so just know that it’s your own fault when you hurt yourself.”
“Yes, ma’am. I can do that.” Sammath saluted with a grin, and Erin glowered at him.
“But I’m not going to just tell you the answer. I’ll give you enough to figure it out, though.”
“Deal.” Sammath stuck out his hand for Erin to shake, but she knocked it aside.
“I’m not going to shake your hand, Sammath. Not when this might kill you.”
Sammath looked at Erin, who was sitting across from him, and smiled, “Awwww. You do care.”
“About preventing needless deaths? Yes.”
Ashe raised his hand hesitantly, “Can I say something.”
Erin gestured for him to go ahead, “We’re not in school, Ashe. Feel free to join in whenever you have something to say.”
Ashe looked at Sammath, “I think Erin’s right, Sammath. I mean, look at me. I’ve had my abilities for a few years, now, and I’m still only scratching the surface of what I can do. I don’t think getting a new power is a good idea. For what it’s worth, Cab agrees. I’d say you should consider how it’s going to affect us in the fight, but as Erin said, both her and I will probably be fine.”
Sammath frowned, and his mouth hardened, “I’m doing it, Ashe. No matter what you say. I need to be as strong as I can be, and this will make me stronger.”
Ashe met Sammath’s eyes, and he could feel his own eyes were resigned. He would almost say sad, but he knew what Sammath would say, even before he’d spoken up. When Ashe spoke, his voice was soft and he gave Sammath a wan smile, “Alright, Sam. Just do what you feel like you need to.”
Sammath’s angry gaze flicked away from Ashe’s, and he looked to Erin, “What is it?”
“The thing that’s an expansion of your Concept constantly moves forward. It doesn’t stop and it waits for no one.”
Sammath frowned, “Really, Erin. That’s not very helpful. Aren’t you going to tell me anything else?”
Erin shook her head, and Sammath’s frown deepened, “Then arguing about this was just a big waste…” Sammath’s sentence slowed down as he realised exactly what Erin was talking about, “of…”
Of what? Ashe thought to Cab, and the demon chuckled.
Time. Sammath’s head tilted back, and he clawed at it in pain as his eyes shot open. Sammath’s curled fingers raked at the side of his head before he went rigid and his body began floating, Oh, that’s quite the revelation. The world began to whip into Motion, air and leaves swirling around him and buffeting Ashe and Erin. Thankfully, Sammath’s eyes didn’t glow and there wasn’t any sound beyond that of the swirling wind and rustling tree branches. Leaves whipped at Ashe’s cheeks, leaving small lines as they smacked him hard, and small sticks poked into him as everything swirled around Sammath. Erin’s hair, which she’d let loose and tied the rope around her wrist, whipped around her head.
All of a sudden, the Motion that had been animating and controlling everything just stopped. The air stilled, sticks and small detritus were sent flying off into the forest, and the leaves slowly fell towards the ground. Sammath collapsed, his body folding like a puppet without strings. Erin caught him easily and met Ashe’s eyes, “We need to go. Now.”
Ashe nodded; the commotion will have caught the attention of the camp’s guards, even the least attentive ones, with how close they were to the camp. Immediately, Ashe collected their belongings and handed them to Erin, who put them away in her storage space. Ashe still didn’t know exactly where it was, but she placed her hand on everything and it disappeared, so he assumed it was in a ring.
Immediately, Ashe and Erin began running away from the camp, on a roughly circular path, with Erin following behind Ashe and trying to mask their passage through the brush. In the distance, Ashe could hear guards tramping through the forest in the twilight, their passage loud and quite easy to follow. After at least thirty minutes of running, which had left Ashe panting but nowhere near as badly as it would have even a few weeks ago. Ashe glanced at Erin, who had a sombre look on her face, “We’ll need to attack tomorrow, won’t we?”
“And now they’ll be expecting trouble.” Erin’s face was grim, and her eyes focussed.
Ashe’s mouth pulled into a tight grimace, “We couldn’t have stopped him, you know? If we hadn’t told him, he would have done something stupid.”
Sighing Erin nodded, “I know, but I still could have made up something rather than telling him that time was a part of his Concept. I’m honestly surprised he never figured it out before, considering he can see the future movement of things, but it doesn’t change anything. I’ll come up with a plan tonight, but we need to move tomorrow morning. We can’t move before dawn now, either. The guards will be alert and looking for trouble. We’ll have to attack in the middle of the day, when the slaves are at the mines, and take out the guards and overseer that remain.”
Ashe nodded, “Alright. I’ll take first watch, then. Both of us know that Sammath won’t be any help with it the watch tonight.”
Erin didn’t bother to argue, unceremoniously dumping Sammath on the ground and lying down, herself. Ashe climbed up a tree, taking up a comfortable enough vantage point, from where he could watch the forest around the camp. In the darkness, there was no issue with guards from the camp, and Ashe woke Erin up after the moon was high in the sky. Rolling over, Ashe was tired enough from the day that he fell asleep near-instantly.