Chapter 3 Old Vuld

“The second wish was given to a king bearing a heavy golden circlet. Their people sat on barren land laden with rivers of gold, they thought nothing of the metal, save that it was shiny and pretty. Decorative but useless. Nothing that can fill a belly or forge a farmer’s tool. So he asked for prosperity and wealth for his people, and was satisfied with what Cintal gave.”

Mira woke up in her bed.

Of all the magic and miracles she had experienced, this was both the most benign and the most wondrous. She fell asleep somewhere else, and awoke in her bed. It was proof of something, proof that someone cared.

She curled into her bed, throwing the blanket over herself like a tent. Reaching into her shirt, she found the small vial of gold she had taken from Bado the day prior. Smiling mischievously, she swished the golden liquid. Refined gold could be Locked into any material if the Pelker was skilled enough. Though it always retained the color of gold and couldn’t mimic the magical properties of other refined metals. Mira cared only about one material though. She unbottled the vial and drank the whole thing. Feeling the gold-mercury burning up within her body.

It took a bit longer, gold turned into another metal always took longer to refine. At the end, she tugged a muscle only metalborn had, and spat the liquid back into the vial. No spittle or puke accompanied it, Pelking was always a clean process. What remained was silver colored refined mercury. The color change showed it no longer had the properties of refined gold.

Mira hid the vial away. She couldn’t keep the metal actually in her. Not even mentioning the glow, her body would eventually just digest the metal. As surely as it would a slice of bread or piece of fruit. Dad told her metalborn that didn’t eat enough of their metal would eventually lose their powers.

As she flopped out of her bed, she called upon the words of Vuld.

Mira Jashada Oyen

Characteristics:

Quogal Wode’s Blessing

Mercuryborn Lineage

Available Characteristic: 1

* 0:0:2:12:14:23 left until minimum mental maturity level met.

Only two more days!

Mira was light on her feet. Yesterday’s Locking that halved her weight was still in effect. It would remain so until Mira burned mercury to remove it.

She rushed out of her room. Mum was sitting by the windows, eating a meal a servant had brought.

“Good morning!” Mira rushed to the table, eating her prepared breakfast.

“Good morning,” mum replied. She raised an eyebrow. “Mira, you are still in your sleep clothes.”

Mira, her mouth stuffed completely full like a chipmunk, asked, “Hrmph?”

Mum chuckled, handing her a glass of water, “Swallow before you speak.”

She drank the water. Mum brought a napkin to her face, gently cleaning off some crumbs that stuck to her cheek. “Have you washed your face yet?”

Mira shook her head.

“I’ll help you wash after breakfast.”

She was about to agree, but something stopped her. Her mum’s hands shook. Every part of her was slightly weakened. No one told Mira how her mum had become like that. She didn’t think anyone would ever tell her. But even five year olds noticed things.

“No need!” Mira cheerfully told her, stuffing her mouth quickly with food before running back to her room.

She found her clothes neatly folded beside her bed. Mira began putting them on, buttoning the shirt.

Mum stepped into the room. “Let me help.”

She didn’t wait for an answer. Her gait was slightly unsteady as she kneeled down beside Mira.

“Mummm!” Mira complained. “I’m almost five! I can do this myself!”

Mum just patted her head, “You’ll always be a baby to me.”

Despite her complaining, Mira let her. Mum’s fingers shook, they had difficulty doing the buttons. In fact Mira doing it herself would’ve certainly been faster.

“Mum?”

“Mmm?”

“Your hands shake. No one else’s hands shake.”

“It does,” she said.

“Does it hurt?” Mira asked.

“Of course it does,” mum answered frankly. Much to Mira’s surprise. “I can barely feel my fingers at the best of times, at the worst of times it feels like I’m being constantly stabbed by needles.”

“Then… why don’t you just rest?” Mira asked.

Mum finished buttoning her shirt. “And miss this? Not for the world.”

Mum grinned, “Now turn around, let me do your hair.”

Mira hugged her mother’s thigh. They walked through the halls of the castle. Despite only coming recently, they had ingratiated themselves with the staff. Often stopping to greet or chat with a passing servant before separating as they went back to their duties.

They would regard Mira’s habit of hugging Jasha’s thigh as nothing more than a curiosity. A sign of a slightly shy child. However, despite the outside appearance of a perfect family. Kenthad and Jasha had one major disagreement.

Whether Jasha should use a walking cane.

Her legs didn’t quite work like they used to, so Kenthad kept arguing for Jasha to have a walking aid. If not a wheelchair, then at least a cane. The argument came from a place of care, but it frustrated Jasha. Since giving birth, everyone had been treating her as if she were a fragile and fleeting chick, fallen from her nest. She could walk just fine. Slower than another person, she would admit, but she can walk. Yet it was like everyone expected her to randomly collapse. To one day faint and fall to the ground.

Kenthad did it, despite knowing first hand how strong she was. Mira did it, but when Jasha saw her tightly holding her leg, steadying her gait. She could not bring it to herself to ask her to let go.

So it was a game they played. Mira pretended she was old enough to put on her clothes, yet at the same time pretended she was still the little baby clutching her mother’s thigh.

They soon made it to the courtyard, where a bleary eyed guard stood at attention. Krita had been roused from his bed before daybreak on a ‘special’ training exercise. Practicing midair acrobatics in preparation for an aerial display for the Sulvuldians. Only stopping when Kenthad had kindly asked him to finish his lessons for Mira.

She could feel Mira getting excited. She wanted to run towards Krita, to figure out what they’ll learn today. But she was still stuck to her leg. Jasha couldn’t help but smile as she led herself to a seat. Mira was gone in a moment, leaving Jasha with a slight feeling of regret.

She watched her daughter casually lie as she told Krita she had no mercury left. Not revealing the vial of Worked gold she had squirreled away somewhere. How could Jasha not have known about it? She was the one who dressed her in sleep clothes when she was asleep.

“We’re going to set a Key on you today,” Krita told her, handing her a vial of mercury.

Mira nodded as she drank the mercury. It had already been refined, so it spread through her system easily. Once upon a time that might’ve weirded her out, to know the metal had already been through someone else. It was something she had learned to ignore, like how all water had passed through a dinosaur before making it to her.

Krita paced around her. “Having a Key is more important for gold and mercuryborn than any other metal. As you should be perfectly aware. Being unable to change yourself back to normal gravity can be extremely dangerous when flying out in the clouds.”

That was something Mira had yet to do. All her flights had been restricted inside, or with Krita nearby. The man had stressed to her the dangers of mercury flight. Tales of mercuryborn who fell upwards until they reached a height too cold for others to follow or sideways until they hit a mountain. If a mercuryborn ran out of mercury, they wouldn’t fall to the ground. They would keep falling in the direction they last Locked themselves into. Even after they died.

“A Key will be needed for an emergency activation of your powers, however, a person can only have a single Key on them. Same goes for any one piece of refined metal.”

Mira raised her hand.

“Yes?”

“Do you have a Key Krita?”

“Of course I do.” Krita pulled up his upper lip. “My Key is tapping my upper gum twice, giving me a little under a half Locking upwards. So that I’ll be almost weightless but still fall towards the ground.”

“Now,” he gestured to her empty vial. “Focus on creating a Key. I recommend an action that is difficult to accidentally activate in your normal day to day. Locked to around four tenths upwards but not over half. Half will leave you completely weightless. Four tenths will leave you with only two tenths of your weight.”

“I know my numbers Krita,” Mira pouted. She closed her eyes, feeling the mercury burn. It was the same motion as when she set a Key on refined metal.

“Use a repetitive action. It’s actually somewhat important.” Krita continued in the background. “I got my mouth punched at a bar once which activated the Locking. That’s why I use two taps now.”

“What if you get punched in the mouth twice?”

“Then I set it to three times, are you not listening?” Krita replied with a chuckle. She had the feeling there was an inside joke she wasn’t getting.

She decided her Key was going to be at the top of her mouth. Right near the back where her tongue could barely reach. Mira fully reset her current Locking. Creating a new one, trying to get that sweet spot between four tenths and five tenths. It became more difficult the more specific the fraction, but she managed it. A Locking at forty-five hundredths. She leapt up, testing her new weight. With a yelp, she felt herself jump so high up that Krita had to look up at her.

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He watched her slowly float down. Almost like a leaf. “What’s your weight now?”

“One-tenths!” she proudly announced.

Krita smirked. “That’s pretty good, though mine is one-hundredths.”

Mira briefly did the math in her head. Holding up her fingers to count. “Forty-nine point five?”

Krita floated up to catch her. “That’s right.”

“I can do that as well!” She began focusing on the mercury within her.

“Woah slow down.” Krita brought her down back to the ground. “One-tenths weight works fine for you right now. Change it as you get bigger and heavier. No need to rush with this.”

Mira pouted.

Krita smiled, holding his hands up as if dealing with a particularly angry kitten.

Instead, he changed the subject. “Kenthad got permission from the king, so we can practice flying here.” Krita launched into the air. Mira followed shortly behind.

Her braids flapped in the wind. There was a certain freedom to open air. No walls separating you. Nothing holding you down.

It was an old game they played. Krita pulled out containers of refined mercury. He Locked one to fall in a certain direction, and Mira pivoted to chase. Catching the flying vial in midair. Krita released another. She moved to catch it. Neither were static. Flying through the air with greater grace and mobility than any bird. For a bird needed to flap their wings and turn their bodies. A mercury born need only pick their direction.

When Krita gestured that he was out of vials. They flew back to each other. Hovering in midair. They had gathered a small crowd. Mira could see her mom looking proud as she gazed upon the gawking audience.

Krita gave a wave and a bow, and the audience clapped.

“You’re a natural at this,” Krita said.

Mira preened at the compliment.

“I’m gonna run out of things to teach you at this rate,” he sighed. “Multiple Lockings at this age? It’s almost unheard of.”

“Aww,” Mira floated up and booped his nose. “Are you sad you don’t get to teach me?”

“Your dad pays really well,” he stressed.

Mira put herself in a sitting position. Tucking her hands under her legs. “What about Characteristics?” she asked. “What should I get from Vuld? Can I make my Pelking better?”

“That’s the dream. Though the words that allow Vuld to power magic are not well known.”

“Really?” Mira asked.

“Really. You can ask your mother about the Ulf’Chant. There’s also the snail eaters, but I don’t know much about them.” Krita also moved to a lying position, cushioning his head with his arms. “You can get a good number of Characteristics that indirectly benefit Pelking however. Satiety is a good one. You can increase your stomach capacity and hold more metal. You don’t need to spend your free Characteristic on that. It’s relatively simple to get.”

“How do you get it?” Mira asked, fully upside down to Krita.

“I had to eat so much food I wanted to puke. Hold it in, and eat some more.” He looked faintly disturbed by the memory. “It only gets harder. Vuld only rewards those who excel. And once you have the Characteristic, the level you need to surpass is greater than before.”

She knew about this. A person could naturally become as strong as a Strength Characteristic through training, but muscles weakened without training. A skill can become dull without use. Characteristics didn’t. You earned them once, and you held that mastery of something until the day you died. To earn another Strength, a person must then surpass the limits of their natural strength and Strength.

“What did you spend yours on?”

“Resistance to sudden impact,” Krita said. “I become tougher the faster something hits me.”

“Because you’re afraid of falling?” As soon as she asked, she mentally refuted it. How could Krita of all people be afraid of falling?

“Part of it. I’m a soldier, Mira.” He patted his uniform. Some chainmail peeking underneath his clothing. “The job ain’t just for show. I can block a hammer or bludgeon, even an arrow would only scratch me. Not to mention I can do multiple Lockings. I can throw myself at high speeds and weight. The Characteristic is what allows me to survive hitting something with multiple times my normal gravity.”

“Should I take that then?” Mira asked.

Krita snorted. “Only if you wish to fight for a living. And having to clean off some beasts’ blood and hide off yourself isn’t as fun as it sounds.”

She spun in the air. “Then what should I do? Choosing a Characteristic is the first big thing I have to do.”

It was something she wasn’t used to. Living day to day has been her priority since… She suppressed the memory again, but that didn’t change reality. Mira had been anticipating the question, but not actually answering it.

“Sit on it for a few years. Wait until you realize what you want to do in life.”

“But I’m getting the Characteristic in two…” She paused, calling Vuld.

0:0:2:10:59:32

“...days, ten hours and fifty nine minutes!”

“And it’ll still be there until you grow old.” Krita righted himself. “Not everyone spends it immediately, some wait until they hit a ceiling in another Characteristic, and use theirs to raise it one more level. I heard that’s what your dad did.”

“Now then.” He dusted his clothing. “Use your Key. We’ll practice falling.”

Mira nodded, pulling her tongue back to push on the top of her mouth. Two strong taps, and her gravity was changed. She began floating down slowly.

They practiced falling. Everytime Mira landed on the ground, Krita would have her fly up and fall down again. He had her do that for the entire hour. At such a low weight, wind became a much greater factor than Mira thought. Often it wasn’t the falling that Mira had a problem with, but the wind pushing her away from her desired landing spot.

By the end Jasha waved them to come down.

“Unfortunately we have another appointment soon,” Jasha patted Mira’s shoulder. “Say thank you to Krita.”

“Thank you!”

“Ain’t work with you fine ladies,” Krita bowed.

Jasha smiled, “Thank you kindly. How has Yohen been?”

The man suddenly looked crestfallen. “Yohen broke up with me before the trip.”

“Was it because you dropped her?” Jasha asked as they walked.

“It was because I dropped her,” Krita sighed. “Mira when you find love make sure you tie them to you. Especially when flying.”

He straightened his back, trying to look professional as they passed by a pair of Sulvuldian guards. He whispered to Jasha as they passed, “Are we being too casual? This is a diplomatic mission isn’t it?”

Jasha smiled, “We’re basically already allies with Sulvuld, King Esi and Kenthad simply need to wrangle some of the more stubborn members of the court.”

“And the blatant use of Pelking?” he asked.

“His majesty requested it. Said a few displays would convince them.”

Krita raised an eyebrow. “Hear that Mira? We’re being used as threats.”

Mira raised her short arms. “I make a great threat, rawr!”

“That’s why he brought you and Mira along this time?”

Jasha rubbed Mira’s head, “Part of it, but really Kenthad wanted to spend more time with Mira. He barely sees her nowadays.”

Something felt warm in Mira’s chest. Joy, she realized. It was something she was not used to feeling.

They reached their quarters, Krita silently taking guard by the door. It was soon after that a knock resounded.

“You may come in.”

An elderly man carrying a bag was let in. He bowed, “Greetings Lady Jasha.”

“Greetings, Master Ri I presume?”

“Indeed, I must thank you for traveling to my home. My old bones aren’t so suited to travel.”

“Please sit,” Jasha gestured to a seat. “I know something about old bones myself.”

The old man gratefully took a seat. Mira piped up, “Who are you mister?”

“Just a watchmaker,” he replied with a smile. From his bag he took out a bundle of cloth. Unraveling it to reveal pieces of a pocket watch orderly laid out.

Mira admired the small but intricate pieces. The metallic gears polished to a gleam. “Are the metals refined?”

“Yes, there are pieces that are Worked, though not all of them are,” the old man responded. A quirk of the differing dialects meant that metalborn simply referred to their metals as refined. While the rest of the continent called it ‘Worked’.

“You’re buying a clock mum?”

“It’s for you,” Jasha replied.

Mira’s eyes widened.

“It is an old tradition to give a child a timekeeping device once they near their Choosing Day,” the old man kindly explained. “Afterall, how would you keep time once Old Vuld ceases their count?”

Mira shook her head, “I don’t know.”

“Now,” Master Ri said, taking out his tools along with another pocket watch. “Please relay to me the exact time Vuld gives you. I will need it to calibrate the watch, to ensure it is fully perfect.”

0:0:2:10:13:45

She relayed the time, giving second by second updates as Master Ri worked deftly on assembling the watch. By the end, he presented to her a watch that was accurate to the second. Jasha invited Master Ri to stay for tea, which he regretfully declined, as he had another client. Leaving Mira to admire her new watch. It was a normal twelve hour clock that ticked forward, which she had difficulty getting used to. Having spent her life up till now with Vuld’s countdown. She devoured every detail, its ornate carvings, the penmanship of the numbers. As if it were the singular most interesting thing in the world. Which to a five year old, it most certainly was.

Mira leapt into her mother’s chest. Activating her new Key to ensure she hit her softly as she hugged her, “Thank you, thank you, thankyou mum!”

Jasha hugged her back. “Don’t worry about it. It’s tradition after all.”

“Do you have one?” she asked.

Her mother shook her head, “We had different traditions where I came from. Your dad should have a watch though.”

“I’ll show it to him!” Mira babbled excitedly. She sat by the door, fidgeting with the watch as the day fell.

When Kenthad finally returned, Mira leapt up and tackle-hugged him. An advanced technique only mercuryborn had. Excitedly showing him her new pocket watch.

Kenthad took out his own. Much older and very well worn. “Keep yours safe as well.” He patted her. “I also have a present prepared for you.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a secret,” he winked. “You’ll learn soon.”

Mira mustered up the energy only a hyperactive five year old that only rarely needed to obey the laws of gravity could have. Determined to keep asking until she got her answer.

And Kenthad indulged her. On that day and the next. Staying with them as they toured the palace grounds with the other metalborn families. Not once breaking.

Until it was the third day and Mira was officially five.

In the morning, Mira was practically vibrating with excitement as Kenthad and Jasha led her to a carriage. As it left the castle, Kenthad took out a makeup kit. “We’ll be disguising ourselves today,” he said with a conspiratorial smile.

Kenthad did her face, adding makeup to make her look haler and tanner, a far cry from the pallid skin of being a mercuryborn. Jasha, having been informed beforehand changed out her dress. While Kenthad simply took a bite from a silver ingot. Reversing his coat, he revealed that it was inlined with silver threads. As he burned silver, the color of the coat changed to something more local. His skin also changed, going to a tanned light brown, his hair turning raven black. In a matter of moments, they turned from a family of foreign metalborn to the appearance of a local merchant family.

Dropping out of the carriage, which continued on without them, they merged into the crowds. Kenthad locked arms with Jasha as he sat Mira on his shoulders. “Shall we?”

They toured the city, sampling both the sights and the street food. Before Kenthad led them to a certain place in the city.

“This is the local university,” he explained as they passed by some students. “Built by King Esi himself- see his statue over there.” Kenthad pointed at the large marble sculpture carrying a scroll and book.

They continued straight towards a large, central building. “Predating the university is the Kalvuld Archive. In Jura, there are no libraries that can match it in accumulated knowledge.”

At the entrance was a counter with an attendant. “The fee is three cloudchips, would you like to reserve a reading room?”

“Yes, we would,” Kenthad replied as he reached into his pouch.

Instead of money however, he pulled out a letter with a red seal. The attendant paused, she didn’t take the letter. Instead she examined them. “Friends of Good King Esi?”

Kenthad chuckled, “Yes indeed.”

“Ah, the young one’s choosing day,” she smiled at Mira, rummaging behind her desk to take out a tag. “Show this to Briar at the Vuld section.”

Kenthad took the tag, nodding as they went. “Thank you very much.”

Mira couldn’t hold it in any longer. As soon as they passed the attendant, she asked, “What are we here for?”

“Your choosing day,” Kenthad smiled as they walked through the quiet library. “The Kalvuld Archives has the greatest collection of known Characteristics in the world. Its records are the treasure of Sulvuld.”

Mira had to pause as she processed this.

“This… that’s why we’re here?” She realized, “That’s why you’re here.”

“Indeed. Don’t tell anyone,” he conspiratorially whispered, “but I was thinking of you when I drafted the agreements. I made sure to include a clause stating shared scholarship and knowledge.”

Kenthad let her down, “You’ll be the first Alloyian to study in these halls. Happy fifth birthday.”