Walking down the stairs, the sounds of life grew louder. The path came to a thin fence. It was built of wood, several small posts dug into the rock with carved branches stretching between them. At the head of each post, a chip of brilliant blue stone was inset. They caught the light as if they were metal, even though they had the texture of rough earth. Offset to the left, there was a pair of solid wooden panels that had a small metal latch.
Just on the other side of the gate, the town began. The buildings closest to the gate had large open windows facing the road. One had rows upon rows of shoes, while another sold bottles of various viscous liquids. The architecture used dull red bricks and extremely rich wood, with similar blue metallic stone insets along their doorways and windows. The crowds bustled too and fro, most with bags on their back or shoulder.
The reflection opened the gate, and found itself at the centre of far more attention then it liked. No one approached it, but several heads turned to watch it walk further into town. It tried not to pay them any mind, and walked past the first set of shops. Venturing into the town proper. There were homes now, alongside a few bars and a noticeboard.
A board filled with writing did catch its attention, so it walked up. On the board, there were mostly letters and articles that spoke of distant lands, nations and even other species. This town, ‘Vesper Shallows’, was announcing a drop in taxes on flame and blue aether. Some wording on the notice did spring out. ‘Notwithstanding the honourable Warden’s price’, the notice said. It was a clue, though what of, it didn’t know.
More importantly, several of the reports contained names. The local Mayor was a ‘Conri’, while the dwarven embassy was led by ‘Yustritrude’. Neither name spoke out to it, nor did any of the others written here. Dora, Skog and Arnig, among the other dwarven names, felt too stiff for it. Meanwhile, the human names were far too mundane and bland. It had the chance to choose its name, it wasn’t going to settle for something mundane.
It moved on, only to hear someone calling out to it. Or at least, it assumed they meant to catch its attention. Maybe this town had multiple ‘little warden’s’. Nevertheless, it turned to see a tall woman lightly jogging to catch up to it. She wore heavy metal armour, rendering her silhouette as rectangular and boxy. Only her head was spared the indignity, as her cube helm was tied to her side. The helm sat beside her long blade and a leather pouch much like the Reflection’s.
“Thank you, you are the new warden right?” She asked. Her face was expressive, though the exact emotions were unclear. A mix of hope and something more rigid. “Those aren’t just tattoos, right?”
“I did stop for you.” It said, trying to smile ‘properly’. The lady did seem to brighten a touch.
“Great, so are you busy? I’ve got a group together for another dive, but Sionn hasn’t left the tower today.” She looked up at the tower, which from here did loom slightly over the town with its dark grey exterior. The faint shine of silver did pierce through the top floor of it, where it connected to the large silver construct that it had seen from within.
“I’m…” It began, trying to find the right words. “I’ve not learned any of the actually duties of a Warden yet. I’m not sure I can help you, sorry.” It attempted to keep the waver out of its voice, but success escaped it.
“Hey, no harm no foul.” The lady said, waving her arms in a soothing motion. “Look, I’m Etain. When you get up to it, my team are more than willing to work with you if it means extra dives.”
It tilted its head. That definitely sounded like it was supposed to be a positive. Still, it didn’t have any clue what it actually meant. Then it noticed the silence had lingered for a moment long. A breath steadied its mind, then started talking; “Well, I’ll keep that in mind. I’m Tim, it’s nice to meet you. I have no clue when Sionn will have me ready for dives, I’m sorry.”
“Thats fair. Sorry to put you on the spot. I thought you were further along.” Etain did have a consoling air about her, so she probably meant that. “What does Sionn have you doing then?”
“N-” It cut itself off. A better idea occurred to it. It had no idea where anything here was. “I’m to familiarize myself with the town, I’m not from around here you see. Care to join me?”
“Oh, is that so? Where are you from then?” Etain asked. She gestured toward the road leading to the centre of town. It shrugged and followed her.
“A farm a fair bit out. All of this is new to me,” It gestured to the city around them. “What about you?”
“City girl, born and raised I’m afraid. So you’ve never seen the seal before? I can’t imagine.” Etain apparently knew the city well, because she wasn’t looking were she was going. Instead she was maintaining a frankly unsettling amount of eye contact.
“I mean, I’ve seen it now.” It said. “Would be kinda silly if a warden hadn’t. Its like step one.”
“I guess yeah,” Etain let out an amused huff, not quite a laugh. “What is it like, living on a farm?”
It kept its face calm, but internally it felt like screaming. Just like Tim’s soul, which just would not recover fast enough for the amount of socializing it had to do. “A lot of work, and not as much opportunity to really do stuff. Unless you like animals and plants.”
“Ha, and I take it you did not?”
“It wasn’t great. But I’m here now, and I think I will fit in better here.” It lied, carefully sprinting one sentence ahead of its speech to invent the story. “Its a lot less clingy I guess. Up here in Shallows.”
“We don’t really call it ‘Shallows’, we’re ‘Vesper’. Confuses us with Dubros Shallows, out east.”
Heat rushed to the Baleful Reflection’s face. “Ah, I’m sorry. I don’t know much of geology.”
“Did you mean geography? Geology is like rock stuff. Ah, but random scholar stuff asside, we’ve arrived,” Etain paused and cast her hand out. They had stopped one row of buildings short of the Seal, turning into a large cull de sac instead. There was an open front forge, a busy tavern and a leather shop all facing into the same paved area. Tables dotted the centre, and armoured and armed humans were gathering around in small clusters. “Welcome to Green Crescent. Technically thats just the tavern, but since the smith and armourer are siblings with the tavern owner, we call all of this the Green Crescent.”
“Technically?” It asked, the word stuck in its ear like an itch.
“Something about businesses not being allowed to share names, for like taxes. I think the forge is called ‘Just Another Blacksmith’.” Etain shrugged. “Archons like their rules, no matter how silly.”
Their conversation stalled for a moment as the reflection took in the crowded plaza. “It seems very lively, is this were you met your team?”
“Yup, its one of the more popular diver taverns. Stocks healing ointments for a good price, beer for an awful price and quality gear for every occasion.” Etain said, “The food here is the best though, bar none. After a close dive, or even an easy one, nothing can beat a plate of fried dumplings. Something about their sauce here, just divine.”
It nodded along, “I take it the other taverns aren’t as pricy then?”
“Just the beer here is horribly expensive. The food isn’t cheap, but it’s fair.” Etain said, before getting cut off.
“Hey, Etain, what’s with the short guy?” The voice was harsh, and quite unfortunately nasally. A rather average looking man was leaning against a table on the close edge of the tables. He wore thin clothing, and if not for the unnecessary number of knives, daggers and other blades on his person, he would be rather under armed for this group. For a ‘diver’ if it had to assume.
“Tim, this is Catell, and he’s a bastard-”
“Rude!” Catell cried, miming being shot through the chest. Whatever Etain had said was lost to the reflection, masked by the man’s louder voice.
“- wont find a better scout this side of the expanse, but he wont let you forget it.” Etain continued, as if he man said nothing. “Unfortunately, he’s my brother-in-law.”
“Wow, tell him how you really feel.” Catell said. He sat up a little straighter, and gave the reflection a once over. “So what’s up, kidnapping the baby warden?”
“Ah, hi, I’m Tim. It’s nice to meet you.” It said, giving the man a small wave. “Etain is showing me around Vesper.”
“Ah, just kissing some ass.”
“Catell!” Etain hissed, “He’s a child!”
“I’m fifteen,” It was pretty sure Tim was fifteen. For something that minor, it wasn’t going to tear into Tim’s soul. Small details mattered less, when it had so little to work with.
“See, Etain, just a little short.” Catell said. “So Tim, bud, as much as Etain’s sucking up to you is pathetic, I’m not above being pathetic. Do me a favour, and if you find some umbral aether remember to pass it to your bud Catell.”
“Not for free,” It replied, injecting some lightness to its voice. “But if I can rely on you in turn, maybe a friendship could be fun.”
“Ha, I like you kid. When Sionn has you doing dives, you’ll find me here. Unless thats today?” Catell said.
“I’m still a little fresh for that, but one day soon.” It replied.
Catell waved down a waiter. “Well then, what do you drink? Ale or wine?”
“Cat, still a child!”
“Watered down Eta, calm your shit.” Catell rolled his eyes. “Sides what else did you expect bringing him here.”
“Just have him know where divers normally gather. Seems useful for him.” Etain said, crossing arms. They let out a dull clang. “Was also going to visit the deep markets and the Old Hearth.”
“Not the Black Grim?” Catell asked. Meanwhile a waiter came over. Catell quickly asked for a few drinks that it didn’t recognize.
“I hardly think any spellbooks or other junk is going to be better then what Sionn already has?”
“I would still like to see it,” It said. So far, only the last syllable of Catell’s name had gotten any interest out of it. It had to meet more people. As many people as it could.
“It’s across the seal from here, big black building. No windows, and the door is made of iron oak.” Catell said. “Not sure if they have anything left this late into the week, but you’ll at least get to meet one of the apprentices.”
“As, nice as it was to see you again, the deep market is closing soon.” Etain said, one of her gauntlets coming to rest on its shoulder. “Wouldn’t want to waste to much time.”
“It was nice to meet you mister Catell. I’ll remember you if I ever need a scout.” It said, giving the man a wide smile. Etain pushed it back out onto the main road, and it obliged.
“Don’t let him take too much off you,” Etain said, quietly. “Make sure you take care of yourself first alright Tim?”
“If I can spare the time, well, I have nothing better to do.” Tim kept an eye on the people arround them. So many small variations in style between them. Even two similar outfits hung differently on different humans. Even more peculiar, there was a tangible shift in how respected people were, based on the way their clothes fit. To the side, a man wearing a fairly normal outfit was ignored, apparently based on the looseness of the fabric.
The two of them were arround the wide plaza with the seal at its centre. This close, the lines of the pattern were clearly forged of woven threads of starlight. The faint light grew strongest where the edge of the greater seal pressed against the world. Arround the plaza, several businesses operated. A few cafes, a carpenter, and a strikingly black building built like a monolith.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Just, remember that you can focus on yourself. At least until youve gotten a handful of good ascensions under your chest.” Etain said, wistful. “Now over here, we have the Old Hearth. Oldest building in Vesper Shallows, and still ran by the first homesteaders of the valley.”
Etain gestured at a building made up of smoothed logs interlocking to form a sturdy building with wide windows. Through those windows, a large firepit burned bright and evidently hot. The smoke streamed up and throught he thatch roof, giving the air inside a misty quality. A handful of elderly humans were milling about, some tending the flame, others brewing something in a cauldron and most others smoking from simple brass pipes. The tables at the back of the visible room were cluttered with objects the reflection could not make out though the haze.
“If you ever get injured, they’re probably the best healers you can find. Nothing battle worthy, but from plague to bones, they can nurse you back to health. You’ll probably have to carry your fair share of idiots out from the seal and back here. Unless you learn healing from Sionn.”
“I’m not sure if I have to, that’s kinda Sionn’s decision.” Tim said. “Who are they?”
“The man tending the fire is Lonan, but you’ll mostly want to talk to his husband. See the fella in the back, the one that seems to be dozing?”
“With the weird hat?” It asked, staring at the wide brimmed hat seemingly woven out of metal.
“That’s the one, he’s Maedoc. Has the [Death’s Foe] soul, saved me a few times. Don’t think he’s lost a patient in years” Etain said.
‘Mae’ was a fun syllable, the reflection liked the sound of it. “That sounds like a powerful soul, how did he get it?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but rumour has it that he brought someone back from the brink of death.” Etain shrugged. “The actual ascension quest is probably literally that, but you would have to ask him which soul it evolved to become [Death’s Foe].”
“Cool, are we going to go in?” It asked.
“Best not to, they’ll chat our ears off,” Etain said, leading the way arround the plaza.
“Oh that’s fine, I don’t mind talking.” It said, turning to enter the cabin. The doorway was open, with a small mat right outside it. It looked over it’s shoulder, and saw that Etain had continued towards the black building. She paused, turned to look at it. It gestured at the Old Hearth. Etain shook her head, with a pleading look. The reflection gestured again. For a moment, she hesitated, before sighing and walking over.
When it entered the smokey room, the first thing it noticed wasn’t the smoke, but the temperature. It was hot, the skin it had stolen from Tim was tightening, releasing sweat almost immediately. Despite that, it was somehow comfortable. Only then did it notice the smoke, curling up its nose and snaking into its lungs. The coughs that wracked its chest caused it to bend down to brace itself against its knees. Laughter broke out from the old humans within the building.
“Better get running son, if just this much is breaking you.” A gravelly voice said. The voice was unlike any it had heard up to this point, closer to a mountain’s collapse then any sound released by mere organs and muscle. It looked up to see a woman striding over from the corner of the room. Her skin was withered, yet still flush with life.
“I-” It coughed again, “it’s nothing, just, different.”
“There is no need to look tough for the ladies dear,” The woman’s voice obviously tried to be comforting, but it didn’t feel any comfort from her.
“Ah, Rathnat,” Etain muttered from the doorway. She lingered just outside the cabin.
“Eta, finally coming back to visit,” The elderly lady, Rathnat apparently, said. She smiled, but it was a tight expression. “You look good, the armour suits you.”
“Thank you,” Etain said. There was a long moment of silence between the two women, and it slowly tried to sidestep away from them. Maybe if it moved slowly enough they wouldn’t notice it. Yet apparently age hadn’t dulled Rathnat’s eyes.
“Ah yes, you are Sionn’s new apprentice yes?” Rathnat asked. “You wear the marks well.”
“Thank you?” It looked back at Etain, but the armoured woman’s face was stony and inexpressive. “You are one of the original settlers of Vesper?”
“I am, did you have a question about our city?” Rathnat asked, her face visibly softening.
“Its really my first time in a big city,” It reached up and scratched behind its head. “Is it normally this crowded?”
“This isn’t crowded,” It looked backwards, out the window. In the plaza at least a dozen people were mingling around the edge of the seal, while more were walking around the edge towards various buildings. Rathnat laughed, pulling its attention back to her. “Son, you’ll have to get used to bigger crowds as a warden. Now someone has forgotten to introduce himself, hm?”
“Oh, I’m Tim,” It felt a little gross at using that name. “Sorry.”
“Nice to meet you Tim. What did Eta tell you about our Old Hearth?” Rathnat asked. Her hand moved to guide it by the shoulder towards one of the tables towards the back of the cabin. The smoke gave it a dark atmosphere, hiding the details of the tables and cabinets lining the room.
“Well that you have a really good healer that works here.” It said. Rathnat waited for a moment, slowly rising an eyebrow.
“She didn’t tell you that we help kids like yourself find good ascensions? Not to mention teaching what else we’ve managed to learn over the years.”
“Because you aren’t supposed to do that. The Guilds will get upset with you.” Etain said. She was following behind the two of them with obvious chagrin.
“You mean get more upset.” Rathnat said, “but they can’t do anything about it. So they can shove off and wait for us to die the old fashioned way.”
“Why would helping people upset the guilds?” It asked, trying to keep up with the conversation.
“The bastards want to hide the ascension quests they discovered behind membership and loyalty to their organization.” Rathnat said, “To make sure those who have powerful souls are kept under their thumb.”
“That sounds ridiculous.” It said.
“It is, because that’s not what’s happening.” Etain cut in. “Rathnat is intentionally pissing them off.”
“They’re the ones who moved into our home, not the other way around. Asking us to keep secrets, hide things.” Rathnat grumbled. “Made everything more complicated, just so they could profit.”
“You just tell people about ascension quests? Is that your job here?” It asked, throwing a look at Etain.
“We do it because it’s the right thing to do Tim, not because we get paid. The guilds can take our city from us, but not our hearts.” Rathnat patted it on the shoulder. “Now why don’t you tell me what you are looking for and we’ll see what I can do?”
“I just wanted to meet people,” it said, “but I do have a [Crystal Spec] I need to figure out how to ascend.”
“Still a spec, at your age? Say, where were you from?” Rathnat asked, furrowing her brow.
“Oh, just a farm out that way,” It said, trying to keep its speech measured and even. Scraps of ideas forged together into lies, into stories about ‘himself’. The reflection hoped they would survive scrutiny. “But until now, I didn’t really touch it? Just warden stuff means I can’t do what I was planning for my first soul, so I’m, like, improvising.”
Rathnat stared at it, closely inspecting it. “You are still young, you shouldn’t be wasting all your time on your first soul. A well rounded set of souls is better then a single ‘perfect’ one.” Etain coughed, but Rathnat didn’t dignify her with a response. “But you’re still a ways off from twenty, so you have time. What did you want to do with your crystal soul?”
“I don’t even know what crystal can do.” It said, a bit pitifully.
“Well, specs can always be realigned to a different affinity if you want-”
Etain cut in, “Rathnat, no. Alignment is a desperate gamble.”
“No matter the chances of a poor suiting soul, its still always possible.” Rathnat said, turning her head up to look at Etain. They stared at each other for a moment, before Etain huffed and looked away. Rathnat returned her eyes to the Reflection, who during all this had been wide eyed and trying to keep track of everything. “However, Eta, as much of a pain as it is to admit, isn’t completely wrong. Using aether to force an ascension isn’t something the young should bother with. Not while your ascensions are still easy.”
“So what can I do with it?” It said, “become as strong as stone?”
“Oh you can get fair bit better then stone,” Rathnat said immediately, “but yes body enhancement is one of the better parts of an earth alignment.”
“Crystal isn’t earth Rathnat,” one of the older men said. The reflection startled and turned to look at the firepit in the centre of the room. A thin man was walking over, with a visible limp. He wore a necklace and pants and little else. Ribs protruded out of his torso, enouch so to easily count them even from across a hazy room. Yet something about him didn’t scream vulnerable to the primal parts of its brain. “Its far better.” He staggered into a chair. seeming to have difficulty walking from the fire in the front of the room.
“Come off it Riacan,” Rathnat said. “Might as well say storm isn’t lightning.”
“That’s also true,” Riacan said.
“Gives speed just the same, just like crystal gives fortitude.” Rathnat fired back, “Now if you’re going to interrupt me, you’ll be helping young Tim with his crystal soul.”
“Gladly, too few keep crystal.” Riacan said. He plopped himself across the table from then and rough shoved the pile of clothing to the side. “Now crystal can become earth, or even stone, Tim. So you gotta be careful to prevent those drifts. Keep away from any ascension that merely implies stone is involved.”
“Is Crystal that much better?”
“No,” said Rathnat and Etain.
“Of course it is,” Riacan said, glaring at the two women. “It got me this far, and I haven’t regretted it a single time. Now you’ll probably get a few chances to improve it to something like ‘cystaline soldier’ or ‘quarts bastion’. Those certainly aren’t a dead-end, but don’t give in to those temptations. Trust me, they aren’t worth it. They wont give you a manipulation worth a damn.”
“I’m still just a spec, sir” It said, blinking quickly. It tried to memorize the veritable tide of information.
“Still worth repeating. Getting a manipulation skill is required to get one of the prism skills, which will let you convert between energies. Gives you more mana to attack or more vitae to heal. Works with basically everything, and is strong enough to reach the far shore without issue. To head in that direction, you’ll want to shift towards mystic or even raw casting souls. If you’re good with just a sensory skill with your first ascension, [Anima Dowsing] is very flexible and easy. Just find a wellspring of anima, one that you didn’t know was there.”
“Its not your only option,” Etain said, cutting off the elderly man. “Just focus on doing what you want to do, you become what you do.” Both elders groaned at that. “It’s how I found my ascension to [Steel Scaled].”
“What if I want something more useful?” It asked. It pulled some concepts that stuck out to it, and stuck them together, “Avoid a dead-end soul.”
“What kind of useful? Smashing heads in, making tools or general quality of life?” Riacan asked. “Any of those will want more fuel to work with. Meaning you still want a prism-”
“Ask Sionn.” Etain said. She was giving Riacan a mean look. “Only he would know what a warden soul gives you. Then choose what else you’ll want to do. Now we were going to visit the deep markets, so we should go.”
It gathered that Etain wasn’t asking. For a moment it considered letting Etain leave and staying with the old homesteaders. However it had already found some fun syllables here, and it didn’t actually want advice on how to ascend. It just seemed like people expected it to ask, so it had. So after a moment, it nodded to Etain and gave the two elders a smile.
“Thanks for the help, Riacan. And it was nice meeting you two. I’ll come by later.” It said. The homesteaders waved it off and gave some half hearted goodbyes. Rathnat said something about a grandchild Unfortunately it didn’t catch it and it would be ackward to ask her to repeat herself. Etain was already outside, so the reflection wandered out the front door. She stood a fair bit from the doorway, brushing dust off her armour.
“They mean well,” it said, unable to keep the words in. Not that it knew exactly why it was defending the homesteaders, or what from.
“Just never pleasant to get talked at,” Etain said. She let out a deep breathe then seemed to calm. Some invisible weight seemed to slide off her shoulders, one not entirely physical. “I think I’m rather exhausted, we can do the markets another day.”
“Yeah sure, you need to keep your energy up for Sionn.” It said, burying the emotions that tried to flare up.
“Thanks, and maybe next time, we can skip the Old Hearth.” Etain gave it a brittle smile and walked back towards the Green Crescent. It stood watching her go for a moment, before turning to walk away from her. Going back home felt too much like giving up. Too much like admitting it had failed. Surely Etain was just tired, not merely using an excuse to get away from it. To distance herself and leave it stranded alone in a space it barely understood.