Chapter 1: Guide Halus

The mountain breeze rushed past Halus as he took in the sight. He sat with his legs crossed and his chin in his hand, keeping an eye out for anything going wrong. He’d chosen the best spot to watch as this month's aspirants began to arrive at the mountain base. Perched just a few meters above and to the side of where the groups gathered.

A crop of trees blocked the view of his hiding spot from the bottom but he could see through them clearly enough.

Youths of all three of Durama’s races were represented in the hopeful mob.

There were the shifter races, who primarily appeared in their human forms. Their numbers always remained the most plentiful. Once, there had been a time when the shifters had only human forms and their lives were like a blink.

Now their king rules over all.

There were the fae people, whose forms held no true alignment with one another. The Ether has made them malleable and their forms were as they wished. Yet, they claim to be one race.

One did not argue with the fae. It is important to Value your time.

Then there were Halus’ people, the giants. The giant bloodlines typically had members in the height range of ten to thirteen feet, give or take a few outliers. Even having yet to stop growing these aspirants were massive walls of flesh that dominated a space by simply existing, most well above the ten foot mark.

Unlike him, they were real giants. At six foot on a good day Halus was only a giant by blood. He was an extreme outlier.

He felt a small and familiar pang of jealousy when he considered that most of these young giants would take the path of the warrior. He shoved that down the same as he always did when it reared its head, and over the years it's begun to bite less.

Halus had trained for the path of the warrior back home with his clan as a child. All giants did. For him, it was the start of a passion that he never truly got to explore. He’d loved it and actually been great at hand to hand combat. Until his siblings had outgrown him, literally.

It didn’t matter how well he could take a hit when each strike came in hard enough to knock him flying through the air.

Which was why Halus sat on the mountain. As a guide.

Not a bad job.

In fact it was an amazing job. A job very few were qualified to do, and Halus was even considered the best.

His condition had made him different but it hadn’t just made him shorter than most giants. His skin and bones were twice as durable as any other. His body was better at absorbing and infusing minerals than any other giant without his condition. He was also more closely connected to the ether than someone who wasn’t fae should be.

It was that connection that made him the best at being a guide. Well, it helped. It was easy to guide someone when you could feel how the other person was trying to connect and awaken.

Helping beginners take their first step on the path is the most common thing that a guide does and almost every practitioner has to be led by a guide at the start.

“The prince has requested that you take his group up the mountain.” Dulan, a fae guide Halus was familiar with, found him packing his gear.

Dulan was a new guide, freshley promoted from assistant, but his cheerful personality netted him the job of middle man for any bad news the head guide wanted passed down. The man always wore a smile appropriate for the situation.

“The prince has requested I take him up the mountain? I have a group of three already. I've been booked for the last three days.” Halus told the man.

The look Dulan gave him told him that he’d be wasting both of their time if he tried to argue his way out of the assignment. When the royal family made a direct request like this, you did it, even when you were a guide on Mount Hope.

“What of my original group?” He conceded.

“They’re still yours.” Dulan quickly lifted his hand for patience when he saw that Halus was about to interrupt. “The king has deemed that an additional two souls shouldn’t be too much for the best guide on Mount Hope. At least not for the day the journey will take you.”

“Two? That's almost two whole groups at that point.” Halus continues to complain regardless. “And one is the prince. What happens if he can’t take that step? Who takes the blame for that? me or my original group?”

“You’ve never failed to awaken someone.” Dulan said with a confidence born of someone else’s assurances.

“There is always a first. I’ve never taken a group larger than three. I always take three because it’s a good number. It’s my lucky number.”

Dulan glared at Halus, the agreeable fae’s smile had turned to a frown.

Dulan had had a plan on how this conversation would go. The head guide had assured him that Halus would take the job, he had no choice after all. But Halus was making things difficult.

“The head guide has already agreed on your behalf. There is nothing either of us can do to change that.” Dulan huffed. Deciding his job was done, Dulan turned on his toes and left before Halus could say anything else.

Halus only spent a moment on his frustration as he watched the other man leave. Rapidly his mind switched to thinking about his next steps. Five really was almost too large a group for him, let alone any of the other guides. He typically spent time in conversation with his charges, getting to know them and learning what path they wished to start on.

He liked to believe it was having his one-on-ones with them that helped aspirants find their path by the time they arrived at the peak of the mountain.

With five aspirants there was no way he would have the time to make his one-on-ones as long as they usually were. Learning about someone took time and the effort to prove you actually cared, and Halus did care.

He made a stop at the contribution center before heading to the gathering hall to meet his aspirants. He’d need the extra help from tools to get the job done right for five.

A box of candles hung on his belt and banged into his side as he made his way down the stone path.

As usual the hall was a hive of activity. Guides lead groups of young men and women through stone doorways absent of the gates that used to bar them shut. A representation of knowledge once guarded now shared.

In front of those doorways, watching the children like hawks as they entered, a legion of the king's men stood in formation. Giants, fae and shifters all draped in the kingdom's colors were arranged to be able to watch all of the surrounding area. They’d seen him at the same time that he saw them and for a second he paused.

A giant he recognized was waving at him with a massive happy smile.

He should have expected them to be there since the prince had arrived. He could have put two and two together. His oldest brother was one of the two captains of the king's guard. There was a 50/50 chance he’d be here to escort the royal family.

Zon was every inch the giant that Halus had hoped to be as a child. At thirteen feet in height the eldest Son stood above even most other giants. His long wild red hair contrasted with his earthen brown skin only a few shades lighter than Halus’ own. His golden armor was polished to perfection and the bronze accents along the edges gave him a warm but dangerous air.

Halus, in his loose tan cloth pants and tunic that all the guides and aspirants wore, looked his brothers opposite. Halus was less than half Zon’s size. The smaller brother was amongst the giants born with no hair, a common enough trait. He wasn’t even the only member of his family born as such. Yet the lack of it just made him seem smaller next to his approaching older brother.

“The king has a mission for you, Halus” Zon started with business as soon as he was close enough to be heard.

“So I have heard.” He smiled at his older brother but knew that now wasn’t the time to greet him properly. “I am to guide the prince up the mountain.”

“The prince AND his guard.” Zon amended with a wry smile.

“So the second person is a guard? Does that mean that the prince already has a pledged?”

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Zon nodded at the question.

“What family has offered up a pledged?” Halus asked with mild curiosity.

Zon barked a hard laugh.

“All of them, little brother. The Prince of Fortune has been said to have more potential than even the current king has. And the king was meant to be the best there ever was.”

“He’s impressive enough to have a nickname like that, huh?” Halus didn’t doubt Zon. Giants weren’t the type to give baseless compliments and accolades. He was more surprised about how out of the loop he could get on the mountain. How had he not heard that their prince had so much talent.

“Let’s head inside. The king has already gathered your group and is waiting in there to meet you.” Zon grabbed Halus by the shoulder.

The older brother’s meaty palm enveloped almost the entire upper part of Halus’ arm as he steered them past the soldiers that still watched. They passed through the unsealed gateway and entered into the temple unchallenged.

Inside the temple guides stood surrounded by aspirants ready to take their first steps on the path. Tonight would be the last time any of them were considered youths, yet they now chased each other like children as they looked for their guides or meeting locations.

They buddied up and took strength in the fact that none of them had been here before. It was a new adventure for all of them. Halus could feel the nervous energy wafting off them permeating the already turbulent ether inside the temple.

The last few days the Ether had been moving strangely and the Guides were told to keep an eye out for anything. Though, no one knew what ‘anything’ was.

Zon didn’t pause while Halus took in the scene. He continued further into the temple and led them to a group surrounded by more of the king's men. When the soldier saw Zon heading in their direction they made a path for them that revealed the king.

The royal family of Kira were shifters, powerful shifters.

The shifter races were, on average, just a little shorter than Halus, but some were his height or taller. Their default human forms varied as much within the individual races as they did without, typically having nothing to do with their shifted form. That was not always true, however, and the Kiran Royal family were living proof of this.

The Kiran Royal family were golden twin tailed tigers.

Twin tailed tigers are some of the most vicious hunters in the forests of Durama. The golden variant that the royal bloodline took after was said to be faster than their more common cousin, capable of moving at speeds quicker than possible to track.

The king and prince, obvious by his resemblance to the king, were both blonde and tall for humans. Where the father was hard bulging muscle the son was lean. Where the father had long flowing hair the prince kept his short. The Prince’s slightly pointed ears were on proud display. Seeing them Halus was reminded that the queen was of Fae birth.

Though, the thing that really set them both apart from regular humans were the sharp bestial fangs they revealed as they smiled at Halus. Most shifters didn’t have a visual queue that hinted at what kind of shifter they were. Only the strongest bloodlines manifested like that and the royal family was arguably one of the strongest.

“Halus Bundr, I presume.” The king asked and before Halus could even think to respond Zon was already introducing him.

“Yes, My lord. This is my youngest brother, Halus the Guide. He who always succeeds.” He said the last part like a promise. A promise that Halus would be responsible to keep. As always.

“It is a pleasure to meet you my lord, Halus bowed out of respect. The king was a man worthy of as much, not just because he ran a country but because he was one of the rare people off the mountain who had been able to pass the third Gate. He even managed to do it with no help from the first gate on. This man infront of Halus was a talented and powerful entity.

“Your name comes up in my circles quite often as of late, Halus.” The king shared plainly. At the look of surprise on Halus’ face he smoothly added, “More than a few of the most recent additions to my men seem to have gone through their steps to awaken on their path with you as their guide.”

Halus, taking that as a prompt to actually look at the king's men, suddenly realized that all of the soldiers surrounding him were familiar faces. They waved awkwardly at him and he let out a self deprecating chuckle at how blind he’d been to miss that.

“I hadn’t realized so many of them had gone on to do such big things.” He waved back to his old charges with a small smile. They were soldiers now and wouldn’t lose focus on keeping watch just to talk to him but it was good seeing so many of them had done so well for themselves.

“Seems like you have the magic touch.” The king said.

“I just showed them a few tips and tricks on using their ether. Nothing too hard to figure out.”

The king smiled at Halus’ humility, but the royal knew the truth. Halus Bundr was a genius. The oldest of the soldiers in this room was only a year younger than Halus’ twenty-eight years and yet he had already been in a position to become a guide only a year after his own first trip up the mountain. The guides didn’t take just anyone, at minimum an adherent would have to have crossed the second gate to even be considered. After that they had to have an almost supreme mastery of self. Halus Bundr managed it at nineteen. The youngest ever to do it.

“Well, it is those tips and tricks that I am hoping you can teach Edgar, the prince. I worry that the Ether situation might be a problem for the aspirants and I want Edgar to have the best chances I can provide.” At this the prince stepped forward to introduce himself.

“Greetings Guide Halus. I have been promised by a lot of people that I’ll be in good hands taking my steps onto the path with you.” The prince’s tone was formal yet personable in a way that spoke to years of training.

“I'm getting that impression.” Halus said with a smile before offering the prince a bow, one deep enough to be respectful but not to the level that he had greeted the king. “It is an honor to meet you, Prince Edgar.”

When Halus rose again he spent the next few moments assuring the king that the prince would come down from the mountain a fully fledged adherent. It was an easy promise to make when he could feel that the prince was one of the aspirants in the room who had already found the beginnings of their path.

“Guide Halus, I have been lucky enough to receive a pledged. She is a proud warrior from your own tribe and she was excited to be led to the path alongside me by you.” Prince Edgar told Halus with a big smile that was immediately mirrored by Halus’ own. He had never had the chance to guide a family member and he immediately started to look around for a giant he recognized.

He knew all of the giant faces around him, but none were blood. It wasn’t until his brother pointed to a shorter figure that he recognized familiar features. A six foot tall brown skinned red headed young woman was smiling at him awkwardly.

Halus froze. He wasn’t the first member of the clan to develop his condition. Several ancestors had been forced to deal with this same thing in the past. Logically, he knew he wouldn’t be the last to suffer it. He just hadn’t realized he’d been so distant from the family as of late that he hadn’t known someone else had developed the same problem.

“Hi, Uncle Halus. It’s been a long time.” Shae, his niece, greeted him.

“Hey, you’re all grown up.” Halus offered with a weak smile.

“As grown up as I’m going to get, it seems.” She returned with an equally weak smile. The fact that there was a noticeable lack of bitterness in her caught him off guard.

“We’ll have to catch up during the journey to the top.”

The king and his men, like the families of the rest of the students, would have to leave the mountain before the sun set. The king took some time to say goodbye to his son and Zon goodbye to his daughter. There would be a meal everyone shared before the guides took their assigned groups along their chosen paths.

As they did their goodbyes Halus took the time to meet his other three. Their parents were absent, which was the usual not an exception. Most families saw the journey as a personal first step into adulthood. Thus, they preferred to say their goodbyes in the privacy of their homes.

The first of the three was a woodland fae girl by the name of Hecate. Hecate had pale green skin and hair a green so dark it was almost black. Her eyes were deep black teardrops that seemed to catch everything. Her people were nocturnal and Nate could tell by how much she was yawning that she had spent the time she usually had to sleep for travel instead.

The next two were a pair of twins, shifters but an odd breed. Halus hadn’t known there were goat shifters on the mountains to the east, but apparently Bab and Berra’s parents were merchants and they happened to be closer to Mount Hope then back home when the twins had come of age. Bab was a bulky young man with white curly hair and pale skin. His sister Berra was also white haired but her skin was a deep brown that was the exact opposite of her brothers. Their bloodline was uncommonly strong, being evident in the shape of their square pupils.

When the king and his men finally left Halus gathered his group together for a quick strategy meeting.

“I know that, for the most part, we don’t know each other. This can be a boon if you let it. The path is one of reflection. I can show you the path but you can’t take that step through the gate without being open to it. And the key to that first step is vulnerability.” He reached into the bag at his side and gave each of the five their own unlit candle. “These are special candles that burn with what we call truth flames.”

They looked at their candles with differing emotions. The prince and Shae both seemed to recognize the candles but the other three looked on with confusion.

“I hadn’t known there was such a thing as truth fire.” Berra said from slightly behind her brother.

“That’s ‘cause there’s not.” Shae said with a knowing smile. “The wicks are made from opal flower fibers.”

“Correct.” Halus agreed quickly. “Opal flowers are sensitive to hitches in the ether flow around them. The wax around the wicks are made to conduct small amounts of your ether into the wick. As long as the flow remains steady the flame will burn, when you lie it will cause your ether to hitch and the candle will sputter or go out.

“I’ve heard of these. Some of the nobles like to use things like this in their games. I’ve been told they are just party tricks.” Prince Edgar said. It was clear to Halus that he was trying to hide his confusion and disappointment.

“True, but they are perfect for our purposes.” He began to lite the wicks for each of his hopefuls. “The thing about that hitch in your mana when you lie? Well, it happens whenever we lie. Including when we lie to ourselves.”

As if on queue Hecate’s flame sputtered out. They all stared at the wick in confusion and Halus regarded the young woman with a raised eyebrow.

“I was just testing it.” As she said it the group found that the fae’s skin went a deeper green when she got embarrassed.

“Well your first task is to keep these candles lit during dinner. While you eat I want you to really consider who you’ve been so far and if that is the person you want to be as you take your first steps on your own path. If yes, then I want you to ask why you feel drawn to that path. If not, then I want you to ask yourself: is it you or the path that needs to change.”

“What do you mean by us or the path?” Bab asked in a deep voice you could feel in your own chest.

“That is a good question Bab.” Halus acknowledged. “I’ll explain that a bit more as we make our climb. For now we should make our way to the dining hall.”

The temple had all but emptied at this point. Only the most persistent parents had yet to leave but even as Halus watched they were being forced out.

He led his group from the temple to a windy path that threaded through the trees that grew along the mountain. The path was hard to find in the dark but Halus had years of experience and his charges were able to follow along easily enough.