There are only two powers that maintain religious beliefs today; Atra Oblor, whose religion has a stranglehold on the powerful people that emerge from the country and who believe that their powers are given by the grace of their divinity, and Ethana, whose softer beliefs rooted in animism are so thoroughly aligned with their powers that it begs the question of which came first.
Excerpt: Histories of Athin, Xeros Vanta
It took only a matter of minutes to ensure that the guards at the front of the sect, and those of the inner sect, would inform their replacements about Ashe and Sammath coming back in. With that done, Erin returned to the courtyard outside the house that the elder had given to them. Before experimenting with her power, though, Erin needed to figure out what she wanted to do and calm her mind. If she just went into her experimentation without any idea of what she wanted to do, Erin would likely end up hurting herself and doing damage to the area around herself. With that in mind, Erin went into the house and channelled her Bloodline to make moonsteel carpentry tools. Over the next thirty minutes or so, Erin cut into one of the auxiliary support beams in the house and hollowed a very small section of it out, barely even half of the beam, to create a small, hidden place where she could put her valuable storage items; Erin didn’t want to risk damaging them and destroying everything inside, even if she likely didn’t have the power to do so, and she didn’t want to rely on the storage that the sects’ builders will have installed, thinking that other sect members might know about it.
Out of one of her storages, Erin pulled a short rope that was identical in appearance to her storage item rope but significantly cheaper and less useful. Erin tied up her hair and slipped the piece of wood in the beam back into place, over the top of her storage items. Erin slipped out of the house, soft shoes treading on the rough wood of the floor. Erin removed her shoes as she left the house, a little ironically, as she didn’t want to potentially destroy them with her experimentation. Erin’s clothes were fine as they were just simple cloth you could replace relatively easily but nice shoes, even as simple as they were, could be difficult to replace. Especially if you had to walk to the shoemaker without any shoes on.
Erin folded her legs beneath her, letting herself sink down to the ground, and felt the cool cobbles beneath her. Erin closed her eyes and sunk inside herself, letting the world fade around her and bringing her the loops and swirls of her Bloodline into focus. Glowing, white light, tangled and twined around itself but never actually knotting or touching its own loop. Sunlight and moonlight flowed through Erin’s Bloodline, combining to form that white glow that surrounded Erin’s Bloodline and, while she couldn’t actually separate the two visually, she could do so easily just by feeling them. Erin let her consciousness just take in her Bloodline and get a feel for it. A few small blemishes in the surface of Erin’s Bloodline, not so small that she couldn’t actually see them but small enough that she hadn’t yet purged them, were a mild source of irritation to the Arikaran but she had to ignore them for the time being; she wasn’t trying to push herself to advance right then, she was trying to use her Bloodline in a new way.
Erin let her awareness come back to her body and she pulled the moonlight out of her Bloodline, feeling the cold of the moonlight as it formed into the armour that it naturally made. Erin dismissed the armour and then summoned it again. Over and over, Erin did this, each time just feeling how the moonlight moved and coalesced into the armour that she had in mind. Like always, it swirled out of her Bloodline and slipped into place, filling the model that Erin constantly maintained in her mind. Finally, after nearly twenty minutes of summoning and dispelling her armour, Erin felt she was ready. This time, instead of drawing on the cold of her moonlight, Erin reached for the heat of her sunlight. Like always, it tried to burst out of Erin’s body in a spout of heat and fire, but she reigned in the temperamental flame and pulled it into the armour model that sat inside her mind.
Fire burst from Erin’s body, tongues of flame licking greedily at the air around Erin, before slowly diminishing as the sunlight bled out of them. Despite Erin’s attempts at rigidly controlling the flame, it refused to funnel into the mould that Erin had in mind and simply burst from her body. Fortunately for Erin, she maintained a constant coating of fireproof, alchemical gel on her clothing so that it wouldn’t combust when she used her Bloodline; a necessity for Dawnblaze family members if they didn’t want to be left naked every time they used their Bloodlines. Erin sighed, ‘What went wrong, there?’ To begin with, where the moonlight was calm and placid, the sunlight is unruly and wild. The sunlight wanted to burst from her in powerful gouts and, while you could typically control when and where you release it, it was difficult to actually control how it released. On the other hand, the moonlight liked, for lack of a better term, the rigidity and structure of the Sarin Bloodline. It liked conforming and maintaining the mould.
So how could Erin get the sunlight to maintain its shape while still allowing it to retain its properties? Well, if the sunlight wanted to move, perhaps Erin should just… let it. Erin sunk down into her Bloodline and pulled at the sunlight that she had stored up, letting it burst out of her and into the armour mould that she held in her mind. Rather than making it settle down and sit still like the moonlight, though, Erin let it swirl around inside of the armour mould and periodically let small tongues burst out from it to prevent the pressure from just building. Erin stood up, the fire surrounding her form and focussed on moving about slowly while maintaining the power. Unfortunately, the bleed off of the sunlight was far more substantial than that of Erin’s moonlight and she was burning through her stores of sunlight at a prodigious pace, one that she hadn’t had to worry about in years.
Erin let go of the insubstantial fire armour and sat back down as she truly took in just what this meant. Kayden was right and now, because of that, she was forced to change her perspective of her power. The limits of what was possible had just expanded to frankly ridiculous degrees and the skill that she would need to wield her power was now, frankly, unprecedented. It would take Erin months of dedicated, consistent practice for hours each day to even begin to make proper use of her new, expanded abilities but, while others might dread the prospect, Erin found herself excited by the idea.
Erin let her mind wander, thinking up potential applications and combinations between the Sarin and Dawnblaze Bloodline powers, for a few minutes and found herself growing more and more excited for what she may be able to do in the future. After about ten minutes of this, Erin reigned her thoughts in a cleared her mind, smoothing out her emotions with measured patience. Erin took in calm, repetitive breaths to reset her mind. Nearly half an hour of meditation later, Erin opened her eyes once again and focussed her thoughts.
This time, Erin began thinking about how she could make the fire into sunsteel; it seemed like it would be possible but she genuinely didn’t know how she would do it. The fire was remarkably resistant to shaping, unlike Erin’s moonlight, and she didn’t know how she could calm it down; or even if she wanted to calm it down. Doing that could mean that the sunlight loses its potency and that was the very opposite of what Erin wanted. There were two things that could affect the state of matter of a substance; pressure and temperature. Erin couldn’t lower the temperature, and thus suppress the potency, of her flames but she could, potentially, increase the pressure that the fire was exposed to in order to solidify them.
But how could she do that? Erin decided not to push the matter for now, feeling like she’d made good progress with expanding her power’s capabilities and, and stood up. Now, she would begin to push her advancement once again. Erin looked around, trying to find the best place to absorb sunlight, but nearly everywhere she looked was sheltered and underneath the shade of a tree. Erin shrugged, figuring that she’d just have to climb to the top of a tree to absorb the sunlight. Erin made her way to the nearest tree and, limbs moving in perfect synchronicity, practically flowed up the trunk. As she reached the top branches, Erin began to slow down. Each branch bent under her weight, pointing towards the ground, and Erin eventually stopped just beneath the tree’s very tip. While there were still a few branches waving their shadows over Erin’s form and the light was blocked by the few leaves on said branches, Erin wasn’t willing to risk climbing higher for what would, ultimately, be a marginal increase in sunlight absorption efficiency. Additionally, while she could have found a better place to absorb sunlight, it likely wouldn’t be nearly as private and Erin didn’t want to reveal any more of her capabilities to anyone in the sect than she had to. Folding her legs underneath her, Erin positioned herself over two branches and closed her eyes, sitting up as straight as she could.
With a deep breath, Erin began to pull in the sunlight around her, filling her stores. While it was slower than Erin was used to, Erin having become accustomed to absorbing sunlight while out in direct view of the sun, it was still enough that Erin could probably fill her stores of sunlight up completely and potentially use some to purge some of the impurities from her Bloodline. Hours passed as Erin pulled at the sunlight. At some point, she heard Sammath and Ashe return to the sect but she didn’t pay attention to it beyond noting that it happened. Eventually, though, when the sky began to darken and the sunlight coming into Erin’s Bloodline began to wane, Erin unfolded herself from her position on the tree and began to climb down to the ground. Erin’s stomach was grumbling, telling her it was beyond time to eat, and she had to agree.
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When Erin’s feet touched down on the cobbled courtyard, she yelled out to Sammath and Ashe who seemed to be inside the house. Sammath, feet bare, came to the door and yelped in pain, “Damned splinters!” He yelled.
Ashe laughed from inside the house, his voice coming closer as he spoke, “That’s your fault for not wearing shoes.”
Sammath turned around, presumably making a face at the incoming Shinian, before turning back to Erin, “It’s time for food?” Erin nodded.
“Great.” Sammath clapped, “I’m famished.”
“Put away anything you need to. We’ll leave in five minutes or whenever you’re both ready.”
Sammath shrugged, looking to Ashe, “I’m ready now. Ashe?”
“I’m also good to go.”
“Then I suppose we’ll leave.” Erin turned around, already knowing that the hungry boys would follow her, and began heading to the main courtyard in the outer sect. While she didn’t know exactly where there would be food, she knew that there was typically some sort of food hall near to the main courtyards. Of course, that was just one courtyard of multiple; the sect was truly too large to provide for all of its disciples with only one such meeting area; but it was the closest one nearby. Standing underneath the arching trees, shadows rippling across her body, within minutes, Erin surveyed the area. A trickle of Cultivators were leaving a building across the courtyard, hidden underneath the arching boughs of trees, and Erin couldn’t actually see far enough through the foliage to judge the building’s bulk. Deciding that would be a good place to start, she headed over and the two boys followed behind.
Stepping to the side of the entrance just in case any Cultivators were leaving, Erin peeked inside the open doorway of the building. Long, low tables lined the entirety of the hall. Hundreds of Cultivators, kneeling before the tables on small, thin cushions, nimbly used chopsticks to bring their food to their mouth. In between mouthfuls, most of the Cultivators talked to one another, creating a constant low drone that was loud enough to inhibit hearing but not so loud that you’d have to shout to be heard.
“Looks like we found where to eat.” Sammath’s voice came from over Erin’s shoulder, “Should we go inside or are we just going to stand around out here and do nothing for the next few minutes. I’m good with either.”
Erin held up a hand, halting Sammath in his tracks as he went to go inside. Erin wanted to study the dynamics of the interactions for at least a minute or so before she entered. Erin didn’t know how the people in there interacted; who was friends with who, who was important or talented enough for others to try and suck up to, and who was considered the lowest in the sect. But, of course, Sammath and Ashe chose that moment to push through Erin’s hand and go inside. Erin growled, a low, barely audible sound, and followed after the two idiots.
People looked over as the three of them entered the dining hall. One person frowned and stood up, clearly unwilling to just let three strangers; two of who were obviously not from any sect; just walk into their dining hall but Erin released her hold on the pressure that her Bloodline emitted. Immediately, the Cultivators felt Erin’s second Stage Bloodline, though many of them probably confused it for a third Stage Bloodline, and the Cultivator sat down; he knew that he wasn’t Erin’s match.
“Really, Sammath?” Erin spoke in Volkarian so that none of the Cultivators would understand her, “What made you think it was a good idea to just walk inside?”
Sammath glanced back, “I’m hungry. There’s food here. If the Cultivators try anything, they have to answer to that old man. What’s there to worry about?”
Erin let out a large sigh, plastering a scowl on her face, and decided not to respond. Sammath was just going to make her angrier if she tried to continue reasoning with him. Instead, Erin decided that they’d just have to worry about any consequences later. Sammath walked up to the bench with steaming food on it, grabbing a bowl and some chopsticks. Erin and Ashe both did the same. Erin grabbed the wooden spoon from the bowl of steaming rice, scooping some into her bowl, and spooned some vegetables and meat into the bowl. Erin guessed it was some sort of red meat, probably some variation of cow, and the vegetables ranged from more Arikaran, the kingdom’s food still somewhat present on the edge of the Order, like carrots and cabbage to more of the Order’s native vegetables like spring onions and bok choy.
Erin just grabbed whatever looked good and looked for the nearest empty space at the tables. Taking a place near the entrance of the room, in an empty corner, Erin was joined by Ashe and Sammath and she put her head down to eat quickly. Sammath and Ashe didn’t seem to have those plans, though, and began talking as soon as they sat down, chatting about nothing of consequence. Erin groaned internally as she deftly fed herself with the chopsticks and, when Sammath tried and failed to mimic her hand positions on the chopsticks and couldn’t even grab hold of a piece of meat. Looking slightly bashful, the Volkarian turned to Erin, “So, uhhh. How do you use these?”
Erin had to resist groaning as she leant over and began showing Sammath how to use chopsticks.
Dinner passed far too slowly for Erin’s… well… Erin’s tastes. First, Sammath had to be taught how to use chopsticks, then he and Ashe both spent far too long talking to eat their meal in a timely manner and then they went back for seconds. By the time Erin left the dining hall, the two boys in tow, over an hour had passed and Erin was mad. She’d never seen anyone waste so much time doing something so utterly useless. The only reason she hadn’t left the two of them in the dining hall was that she feared they’d end up in trouble or getting challenged if she left them alone. As soon as they reached their house, though, Erin practically flew up the tree to be able to just sit down, absorb some moonlight, freeze some more blemishes off her Bloodline, and just calm her roiling anger.
Nearly thirty minutes of cathartic progression later, Erin was feeling much better and was feeling like she had the right mindset to attempt to use her moonlight as flames. Erin felt like this one should be much easier than trying to corral the sunlight into sunsteel but that could just be some sort of mental belief to make herself feel better. If it came down to it, though, Erin knew of some Cultivators who used cold fire that she could probably ask for help. There would be a price that Erin would need to pay, of course, but that was to be expected.
Erin dropped back down to the ground, taking a seat on the cold, cobbled floor. To begin with, Erin sat down and began to repeat the same exercise that she’d done with her moonlight armour, summoning her fiery flames and then releasing them, over and over again. Each time Erin did so, she felt just a tiny bit closer to the action and, when she felt like she might be able to do it with the moonlight, she tried. Pulling at the moonlight, rather than the sunlight, at pushing it out of her body in a burst of powerful flame. As it turns out, it did practically nothing. Too solid and cold, the moonlight basically just extended from Erin’s body in a rough hunk of moonsteel and plunked to the ground. Erin sighed; perhaps she needed to try a different approach. Clearly she didn’t have the right mindset or method to use her sunlight with her Sarin abilities and her moonlight with her Dawnblaze abilities despite technically having the ability.
So, instead of just standing there and banging her head against the wall like a stubborn bull, Erin needed to do something else productive. Either she could push to perfect her Bloodline a little more or she could try something entirely new. Erin wanted to do something new. Erin let her mind drift and closed her eyes. Erin blocked out the sensations of the night; the creaking crickets, the trills of the night birds, rustling in the undergrowth, the susurrations of leaves in the light breeze, and the gentle caress of wind against her skin. Even the light, ever-present touch of Erin’s clothes was blocked out until the only thing she could feel was the moonlight hitting her body. While it hasn’t ever been proven, there are theories that Arikarans, like the Cultivators, like the Mages, and like so many other powers had some sort of extra sense ability because of how they could feel things that no one should be able to feel. Hence Erin being able to feel the soft waves of moonlight that pulsed over her body, like cool water just slowly rocking back and forth over Erin like she was submerged in shallow, watery depths.
But Erin didn’t want to feel the moonlight this time. She didn’t want to absorb it. She wanted to ignore it. So, Erin just let the soft, cool, sensation of the moonlight hitting her skin fade away. As she did so, Erin noticed a faint prickling sensation all over her skin. There were dozens of them, each with a slightly different… flavour. Almost like watered down versions of the sun, whose rays tended to hit with hot force, like a constant deluge of water pounding on Erin’s back, pinpricks of… not pain but something adjacent… as though Erin were standing beneath an extremely powerful shower. These prickles, though, were weaker than the sun and each of them was slightly different. Where the sun felt strong and powerful, with flames of hot fire that could melt through nearly anything given enough time, the stars had other traits. One of the stars seemed almost… poisonous, another seemed flavoured with death and others seemed flavoured with life. Some stars seemed to burn with different types of flame and those that were part of constellations seemed almost affected by the constellation. Some flames seemed… sharp, like claws, and as though they’d be less affected by leather defences. Others seemed almost like they’d travel through steel armour like a hammer.
Each star was slightly different and Erin was nearly overwhelmed by just how many different variations of starlight she could absorb. After a few seconds of exposure to the starlight, Erin’s concentration lapsed and the sensation of moonlight washing over her returned. Slowly, Erin managed to block out the feel of the moonlight once more and just focussed on letting the starlight prickle at her skin. After that first time, Erin managed to last progressively longer each time she focussed on the starlight until she managed to last nearly ten minutes. By this point, though, the moon had reached its apex and was beginning to descend so Erin decided to head inside and get some sleep; her progress was slow but it had been progress and, well, she didn’t mind spending the time to become stronger and more versatile. No one ever said perfection and strength came easily or freely.