Chapter 2 Metalborn

“The first wish was given to a child from a distant place. He held a legendary ore, not knowing its rarity and asked the Sun in the Bottle for more wishes. He was disappointed, for he forgot to specify to Cintal that the wishes should be given to him. They should thank him, for it is with his mistake that they owe their bounty.”

She didn’t know how long she had walked. She only knew it had been a long time. As the time passed, she began to forget things, her world, her name.

But not her past.

She still remembered why she was here, where she was going, and whose back she marched on.

So she kept walking, in that place that was only the road.

Until she finally reached it.

Her mind, already stripped down as it was, slowly went asleep. She encountered a situation similar to before meeting Quogal Wode, a comfortable darkness. It was slightly wetter, and a good deal warmer, but that was fine. She occasionally let out the small kick, or yelp. Every now and again, she felt something fed to her, a liquid. Almost on instinct, she burned it. Creating a steady warmth within her until it dwindled away to nothing.

This continued until one day she felt her comfortable home contracting. Squeezing her. She was shocked awake. The contractions came again and again, until she was plunged into the cold.

Successful birth confirmed. Welcome to life. Remember, to use me is to excel.

Quogal Wode grants you his blessing, ‘You shall never be lost again.’

Vuld grants all Humans one Characteristic

The Mercuryborn lineage runs through you, you have access to Mercury Pelking

Words flashed before the newly born’s face. Intrusive, blinding. It was far too cold outside, and the girl started crying.

She was vaguely aware that she should be smarter than this. But an infant’s brain could only think so much. She wanted to become smarter, to regain that capacity she held before!

Denied. Vuld’s Characteristic cannot be spent until the minimum mental maturity level has been met in 4:11:29:23:58:36 or unless required to address a significant threat to the user’s life.

What were those words? She felt like she should be able to figure them out, but she couldn’t. A giant had picked her up, one of solid silver skin. Where was she? What was happening? The silver giant’s arms tightly wrapped around her. What was he doing? Was he going to hurt her?

Then the silver giant pushed her into frail arms, and she recognised the embrace. They spoke something, the words were alien to her. But some part of her recognised it, knowing it was the same thing a mantis shrimp had once shown her.

Tenderness.

She was safe.

Name updated, Mira Jashada Oyen

Almost five years later…

Mira drank a vial of mercury.

It was a gift from Krita, her mercuryborn teacher, to celebrate her upcoming fifth birthday. The day when she could finally use the Characteristic Vuld had given her. Focusing on the words, she could see Vuld counting down the seconds, as he had since the day of her birth.

0:0:3:2:46:12

But that was later, right now, Mira had a game of tag to win. She felt the mercury settle inside her stomach, and her body began to refine it. The metal warmed as if burning up, losing a small amount of its mass, but leaving behind a greater, more potent, material. She let it flow out from her stomach into the rest of her body like an ocean splitting into rivers. It drew glowing lines across her entire body, as if her arteries had begun to glow.

“Ready or not, here I come!” Mira yelled out, her voice echoing through the stone hallways.

No one replied, as expected. So she prepared to use her magic. Mira Locked herself upwards, some of the warm mercury burning away to fuel her intentions. Jumping, she began to fall towards the ceiling.

Metalborn each had a different ability based on what metal they were, a mercuryborn, could control the direction of their gravity.

As she fell to the middle, she undid the upwards Lock and Locked herself to the end of the hall. To Mira’s perspective, it was as if she were now falling down the middle of a massive shaft. Her face forward, she sped down until she reached the first open doorway. Quickly she Locked herself to the left, falling into the side room.

It was a richly decorated guest room, like the rest of the castle, it was carved from the mountain itself. Perfectly smooth stone with fancy green rugs. Mira Locked herself to the ceiling once again, smoothly landing on her feet but disturbing the cage of resting light beetles. From above, she searched the floor until…

“Gotcha!” Mira yelled as she Locked herself back towards true down. Crashing into a plush armchair. The figure beneath it darted out, but Mira could literally fly. A quick jump over the chair’s back and she was gliding right towards her target. Her arm outstretched, she leisurely slapped the other girl’s shoulder.

“That’s so unfair!” The copper skinned girl -who judging by the dress was Tarya- skidded to a stop. “No one said we could Pelk!”

“No one said we couldn’t!” Mira laughed. Just before she landed on the wall, she redirected half of the Locking towards the opposite wall. Effectively turning her weightless for just a moment, before she undid it and let herself land softly on the wall.

Mira looked up at Tarya, who from her perspective, was the one on a wall, albeit a carpeted one. “Now tell me where Arya is!” Coppers always knew where their twin was. “I’m going to fly over and tag her too!”

“Nuh-uh!” Tarya pouted. “And you don’t fly, you just fall weirdly, Krita told us!”

“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it’s a duck!” Mira walked towards the floor and Locked herself back to normal gravity. Slapping her arm around Tarya, she yelled, “Onwards!”

“What’s a duck…” Tanya grumbled, but followed her anyway. They left the room, back into the hallway. Further forward, it split into a T-section.

Mira fell up again, “You go left, I go right!”

She didn’t wait for Tarya’s response. Rushing ahead, she quickly left her behind. It was rich of Tarya to complain about Pelking when they were the ones who did it the most! Mira had lost so many games of tag because one of the twins let themselves be caught early.

Best to ditch her!

Mira was on her game right now. She almost never had mercury to play with. Their playground was on the eleventh floor, carved straight from the mountain. She didn’t search for long before she spotted her second target.

Bado didn’t hide, he was an older boy and a goldborn. Casually chewing a bar of gold as Mira flew through the hallway. She quickly redirected herself. Mercury flight needed no motions, no turns or flapping like a bird did. She simply thought of a direction and burned mercury.

Mira reached out with her hand. “Come here shiny head!”

Bado raised an eyebrow, finishing the gold ingot. He didn’t glow. Mercuryborn were unique in that regard, the rest had metallic flesh which covered up the glow. Bado reared back, and spat out a glob of refined gold.

Midair, the gold exploded into a massive tarp that stuck to the walls. Mira yelped as she fell right into it. Other than its color, the transmuted gold was indistinguishable from actual cloth.

“You can’t stop me with that!” Mira touched the gold cloth, and Locked it to another form. She wasn’t as trained in the forms of gold, so could change it to only one other material. The gold tarp collapsed as it was turned to a liquid. But Bado was expecting that. His hand touched the collapsing gold liquid and turned it to a sled. Hopping onto it just as Mira flew over head.

“You have to be better than that!” Bado laughed.

Mira Locked herself to the opposite wall, chasing after him. Bado had transmuted the bottom of the sled into something extremely slippery. He was using his hands to propel himself forward. Fast enough that Mira could barely keep up. She chased him through the floor, but he was always just out of reach. When they reached a turn Bado simply Locked some gold into the shape of a rod to turn the sled. Even then she couldn’t touch him.

Mira’s maximum speed with one Lock was only how fast something fell. Which, weirdly, didn't change no matter how heavy she got. It did however change when Mira did something else.

Mira focused on the Locking towards the end of the hallway. And she created another Locking. Her speed instantly doubled as twice the force of gravity pulled her. Bado looked back to see her catching up to him. She made a swipe at Bado’s face. He instantly Locked his own form, moving his head to his left shoulder, dodging the hand.

But Mira was close now. She kept the first Locking, but moved the second towards Bado. The two forces made her fly at an angle. She made a grab at him, but the older boy simply Locked his upper body into a crescent shape. Making Mira completely miss him as she flew closer to the wall.

She undid her Lock towards the wall. Moving it to face forward as she fell behind. She tried again to grab him, but again Bado Locked his body into a shape that made her just miss him.

“Stop changing!” she yelled in frustration.

“You’re doing it!” he shot back.

Ahead, the hallway broke into a T-intersection, with an open window in the middle.

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Bado threw some more gold which turned into a massive tarp, it stuck to the walls. Mira fell into it. The gold fabric softly broke her fall before she burned her own metal to turn it to liquid.

When she got it off, both Bado and his sled were gone.

She stopped, hovering at the intersection. Undoing both Lockings and instead making a new one halfway split between true up and down. She couldn’t see Bado to the left hallway, or the right. She knew where she was, she always did. Right led to the area where Tarya was tagging people.

Complaining that Bado should’ve just her tag him, she flew back to the gold. Gathering some up into the empty mercury vial. Before she went to the left.

The next person she found wasn’t Bado, but Lebgin. He was a bit younger than her, and an ironborn. She quickly tagged him, yelling out, “Tarya’s been tagged!” Before moving on to find someone else.

She did a whole circuit of her side, occasionally passing Lebgin as they both tried to catch someone. Lebgin managed to catch his brother Jebgin, a slightly older ironborn. And after some discussion all three of them moved towards Tarya’s side.

Apparently Tarya went to town. She had caught five other kids, who together sweeped the floor.

“So who’s the last person left?” Mira asked.

There was a dramatic cough, as suddenly Bado leapt in from the open window, “I believe that would be me.”

Mira looked at him, and quickly considered the layout of the floor. She had searched everywhere.

Everywhere but outside. Why would she? It was a sheer cliff, nothing but the small carved windows dotted the smooth stone.

“You went outside!” She pointed at him. “That’s cheating!”

“No one said we couldn’t go outside.” Bado smirked. “You would, you could after all.”

“But I didn’t!”

The boy shrugged, “Now, I think I’m the winner-”

Bado’s voice trailed off as he counted the heads. “Where’s Arya?”

Tarya leapt at Bado.

Bado was faster though, both older and a goldborn. He quickly changed his legs into a shape better suited for running, as suddenly all the kids turned to chase him.

Mira outstripped them quickly. Up ahead was a dead end, the railings that led towards an open hall. But Bado quickly jumped over them. Falling to the floor beneath, where a ball was being held.

Bado turned himself into a massive blanket, parachuting his fall. Mira was onto him in a moment. Tackling him just as he resumed normal shape. Her own gravity dragged them towards the opposite wall. “Gotcha!” she yelled. She split her Locking to break their fall, letting her land softly onto the wall, still clutching Bado. “I caught you! I caught you!” she laughed in a sing-song voice.

Bado grumbled, Locking himself into an almost liquidy shape that quickly escaped her grapple. He landed softly onto the ground.

The other kids soon made it to the railing. Jebgin was first. Mira heard he used his Characteristic on Physique, so he was generally more fit than other people.

“Mira, what are you doing?”

And Mira finally noticed the ball goers, a lot of older people, and a few metalborn. Her dad included.

“We’re playing tag!” She pointed at Bado. “He cheated.”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did totally!”

Kenthad smiled as he shrugged to a man beside him. “That’s my daughter. Can you come down?”

“Ok!” Mira yelled. She walked to the ground and tried to Lock herself back to normal gravity.

Then she realized she had run out of mercury.

The warmth and glow had completely subsided. She had burnt through all the mercury Krita gave her. The metal was needed to change the direction of gravity, but wasn’t needed to maintain it.

“I’m out of mercury,” she told her dad honestly.

Bado laughed before going back to join the others.

Kenthad sighed, “You know this stuff is expensive right?” He fished out a vial of mercury, a full vial! And handed it to her. “Use only enough to get to the ground, Pelk out the rest.”

“Awww! Can’t I keep it?”

“Not without good behavior young lady,” Kenthad answered in his strict dad voice.

“Aww,” she grumbled as she took the vial. Drinking it. There was a lag time, a moment where her body refined the metal. Only when it was fully refined could she burn it to Lock herself back to the ground.

Mira, the picture of obedience and innocence, brought the empty vial to her mouth, and Pelked out the remaining mercury. The warmth disappeared from her body.

Her dad took it, looking at the mercury in the vial, before handing it back to her.

“All of it.”

“Aww.”

Mira Pelked out the remainder.

“All of it.”

Mira Pelked out some more.

“Mira I can see you still glowing.”

And Mira finally Pelked out the last of it.

Kenthad took the vial, satisfied as he ruffled her hair. The man beside her dad had a fascinated look at the vial of metal. He looked important, he was wearing one of those shiny gold crowns.

With a flourish, her dad presented the vial of mercury to the man. “As you can see, King Esi, any metalborn, child or otherwise can Pelk their respective metal.”

Kenthad took out and ate a small bit of silver. A moment later, he Locked the vial of mercury to begin to float slightly upwards. “The metal will have new and unique properties once refined by our bodies, and any metalborn, regardless of their metal, can activate or deactivate their properties. So long as they have sufficient metal in their system. We can even set an activation Key. I just set this mercury to fall up when tapped three times.”

“Fascinating,” the king replied, taking the vial and feeling it pull itself slightly up. He tapped the vial three times, which deactivated its slight upwards pull. Then tapped it thrice again, making it float upwards again. “Pelking is truly a great gift that Old Vuld has given us.”

Mira always thought Pelking sounded strangely like belching. Probably because every metalborn kept puking. “Isn’t it Cintal that gave us Pelking?

“We are all pieces of God, for They split themselves to experience all there could be, but enough about religion,” King Esi gently told her. Turning to her dad, “I accept the proposal to join the Alloyed Kingdoms. Minister, send word back to your royalty. I am too old to remarry but my son Disi shall soon turn of age.”

Kenthad nodded, “Of course good king. Many of the royal families will gladly offer their daughters or sons to marry.”

King Esi waved his hand, “Let young people be young. No need for old men to meddle.”

“A wise sentiment.”

Kenthad held Mira’s hand as together they walked with the king. He explained all the benefits of joining the Alloyed Kingdoms and the boons Metal Pelking would provide to even ordinary peasants.

Most of it went in one of Mira’s ears and went straight out the other. She always thought that puking out the metal was a waste for her. Afterall, all she could do was make mercury that fell the wrong way. She had to constantly change its Locking in order to make it move in any way resembling flight. Might as well just fly.

They walked for a bit, King Esi soon politely bid them farewell. He had other guests to attend to. Kenthad bowed, Mira quickly mirroring him. As they separated, Kenthad’s face changed from the charismatic diplomat, to back to her dad.

Dad ruffled her hair. “Where did you get the mercury?”

“Krita gave it to me.” Mira immediately deflected blame to her teacher.

Her dad sighed, “Of course he did.”

“Don't worry,” Mira said, “I’m good with Pelking, even Krita thinks so.”

“I can’t help but worry.”

“I said don’t worry.” With a cheeky smile, Mira jumped up, high enough to reach up and ruffle his hair.

Dad caught her by her armpits. “You kept mercury hidden from me.”

“Only enough for a quarter-lock.” It was barely a sliver of the metal after she had Pelked the rest.

“Three-quarters weight?” He did a few test lifts.

“No, only half.”

Dad put her on his shoulders, letting her sit. “Half? That doesn’t make sense.”

The piggyback drew stares, but dad didn’t care.

“What was the old man talking about Vuld?”

Dad raised an eyebrow. “The old man is the king of Sulvuld.”

“He said it himself, he’s old!”

He chuckled, “I’ll give you that.”

They strolled for a bit- well, dad strolled, Mira was just along for the ride. After some time, he finished mustering his thoughts.

Dad began using his teacher's voice. “Vuldism is the main religion of Sulvuld. They believe that Vuld was once an almighty god, infinitely powerful, but infinitely stupid. So he split himself into every person that exists, so that each of them can experience and learn some tiny chunk of existence. That’s why Vuld grants us each one Characteristic, and asks us to excel. To master all we each could, and grow wise.”

Mira focused on the words again, the words of Vuld.

Mira Jashada Oyen

Characteristics:

Quogal Wode’s Blessing

Mercuryborn Lineage

Available Characteristic: 1

* 0:0:2:21:32:49 left until minimum mental maturity level met.

In those words she remembered the name of the first person who was kind to her. And the pain. The suffering. Her hands tightened on dad’s shoulders. Unconsciously so.

“Then is it ok for people to suffer then? To fight and hurt? For some to live worse lives while others live better ones?”

Dad paused.

He stopped for a very long time.

“I don’t know,” dad answered truthfully. “I honestly don’t know Mira. I can only tell you what Vuldism says about it.”

“What do they say?”

“They say that because we are all part of something infinitely foolish, we will always do stupid things like hurt each other, or cause suffering. That to be different is inevitable.”

Mira’s hands tightened a bit more.

“But they say for Vuld to grow wise we must learn to not hurt each other, because they think to hurt each other is to hurt themselves, because we’re all the same person. So basically they’re saying we all gotta figure out how to stop punching ourselves in the face.”

Dad said the last bit with a chuckle. It wasn’t funny, but Mira laughed anyway. She rested her head on dad’s. The silver hair felt oddly soft despite its material, it smelled like dad. “That sounds so weird.”

“People are weird,” he answered.

Quieter, he whispered. “Things will be bad, but they will always be good again.”

“That’s right…” Mira agreed.

Kenthad felt her head rest on his, her breath soon coming in soft, sleepy breaths. Even quieter, he murmured. “Everyone seems to believe that.”

Making his way to the guest rooms, he entered theirs. Sitting inside, reading a book by a few light beetles, was Jasha.

Despite the fact Vuld had granted Jasha Fortitude and Resistance to Metal Poisoning, her hands still shook slightly as she put her book down. There was a pause as she struggled to get up, her legs not quite working as it always had.

And yet, she was as beautiful as the day he first met her. Where did he begin? Her wheat gold hair, her unbroken pose, her determination, unbeaten by even the worst poisons?

“How was the party?” Jasha asked.

“Mira got stuck to a wall again,” he shook his head, smiling slightly. “I don’t understand how mercuryborn do it.”

“Probably helps that they can fly as well.” She rose to embrace him.

“I worry.” He embraced her back. “She asked me something that… scared me.”

“Really?”

“Vuldism was brought up… I thought she would’ve asked me if it was true, or something about the Bottled Sun.” Kenthad’s face looked haggard. “But she asked me if Vuldism justified suffering. I didn’t know how to answer her.”

“So what did you tell her?” she asked, leading him to a seat. Kenthad settled his daughter into his lap.

“I gave her the stock Vuldist answer. Things will be bad, but they will always get better,” he shook his head. “To think I would have to grift my own daughter. Selling rust I didn’t even believe in.”

“What are you talking about?” Jasha asked, resting her head on his shoulder. “There’s proof of it sleeping on your lap.”

Kenthad looked down, his hand gently caressing his daughter’s hair. She was so small, how could anything so important be so small? Important things were big, massive crowds, loud speeches, nations, and wars.

Why did that all pale in comparison to something so small?

“I guess you’re right…” he murmured quietly.

Quietly and tenderly, they stayed there until the sun fell down.