Now that Elmer had been given the go ahead to let loose all the questions he’d had pent up within himself all this while, he found it hard to articulate even one.
Filled with a reluctance to put his wet body on any of Ms. Edna’s seats, he shuffled forward toward where she was seemingly catching her breath and retained his standing position before her.
His mind whirled for a little over a second as he gazed at her countenance softened due to the closing of her eyes, then he decided on the question he wanted to put forth to her first.
It was not the one that had been gracing his mind all this time, but after he’d heard about Ms. Edna’s ability, he now felt it took precedence over all the rest. It was a question about something he had been warned not to seek out.
“Eddie told me trying to find out more about how to ascend the Echelons would cause someone to be tagged as a corrupted one. Do you mind telling me why that is?” Ms. Edna slowly opened her eyes and shifted them to him, her expression still soft and plain. He had been expecting some sort of reaction, but since he’d gotten none, he went on, “He also said Chronos himself decides if an Ascender moves up a rank. His words had been basically cryptic. I wouldn’t mind if you explained better how ascending the Echelons worked.”
She sighed and pulled herself from her leaned back position.
“Why don’t you have a seat?”
“I’m wet,” Elmer answered.
“So am I.” Ms. Edna used both her hands to cup her hair before throwing it back behind her ears and over her shoulders. “You should sit, the explanation you want is going to be somewhat tasking for you to listen to while standing. And I have an inkling that your sub questions will come up at some point too.”
Elmer went quiet for a moment before giving out a long, low exhale. If that was the case, then he had no choice.
He took the seat closest to Ms. Edna, tilting forward as he narrowed his eyebrows and tucked his fingers into each other, while he focused his full attention on whatever she was about to let loose from her lips.
“Firstly, he’s right,” Ms. Edna started with a warning. “Trying to or eventually finding out information on how exactly ascending the Echelons works will cause you to be tagged as a corrupted one by the Church.” Elmer let no reaction onto his face as he was not a stranger to those words. “But that does not mean that we know nothing. You see, when Eddie told you that only Chronos himself decides who ascends, he had not meant it literally.”
Elmer blinked owlishly—now that statement warranted his countenance to shift. “What do you mean?”
“The better question is: What did Eddie mean? Well, it would be easier to just explain it and I’m sure you’ll understand then.” Ms. Edna dropped her left shoulder, putting the weight of her body on the armrest of the couch she was on. “We Ascenders have been let in on the basics of ascending an Echelon. The rule that we’ll be tagged as corrupted ones for such a knowledge only comes about when we try to find other quicker and easier means to ascend, or we try to dig deeper and tweak the method we have been enlightened with to satisfy us.
“When a rank in an Echelon is opened up, whether due to the death of the Ascender, or demotion from that rank, or even them succumbing to insanity, the Church puts out something called a ‘deed’. In layman terms, it’s simply a job put out by Lord Chronos himself, one that in normality would have been easy for any Ascender who was previously in that opened up rank in the Echelon. Carrying out this deed is like a free for all, it’s available to every single Ascender below that rank, but only the first person to complete it will ascend into that rank.”
Elmer fell his gaze down for a moment. “So even a Baseborn can become an Echelon 6 Ascender in one fell swoop by successfully completing a deed?”
“Yes,” Ms. Edna nodded. “A Baseborn who can complete a deed required for that rank obviously has the strength or wits needed for any Ascender to be of such a rank. But… Completing a deed is not all there is to ascending in such a manner.”
Elmer felt his throat dry at those words. He had a slight guess on what she was talking about.
“Yes.” Ms. Edna took notice of his somewhat nervous expression. “As we both know, anything involving the supernatural has its fair share of madness waiting for whoever ventures into it. An Ascender completing a deed only justifies their strength, it in no way proves that they have the willpower to withstand the effects of madness that comes with that rank. That’s why it’s advisable for only those who are at most two ranks away from the open rank to take on the deed, because there is little to no way anyone lower can survive the ascension process.”
Elmer allowed his thumbs the pleasure of rolling about each other. “I see. When Eddie said that Chronos was the one who decides which Ascender gets to move up a rank, he meant it in the sense that surviving the deed or ascension process was determined by the will of Chronos?”
Ms. Edna remained inaudible but nodded in reply, and as she had predicted, Elmer’s sub questions came next.
“You and Eddie,” he started, “is that how you both got into the Lower Echelon, through deeds?”
Ms. Edna plopped backward to rest on the couch. “Yes,” she answered, her voice low.
So the former Ascenders of the rank you and Eddie are in currently are either dead or demoted… It’s also possible that Eddie was the Echelon 10 before moving up to Echelon 9… And if it was not that then did he jump from being a Baseborn to an Echelon 9…? That would be quite the feat…
Elmer was curious as to which was what had happened to them, but he felt that if he asked about that he would miss the opportunity to ask the sub question that he really wanted an answer to. So he pushed the lesser worrying one aside.
“What deeds did you and Eddie partake in, if you don’t mind me asking? I’m trying to get a vague example of what it’s like.”
True, he was. Although, if that had been the only case, he would have worded the question in a different way and not have specified that he wanted to know about Ms. Edna’s and Eddie’s particular deeds. But alas, that was the main reason he had asked that question.
He wanted to know what exact things they’d done.
“Deed, huh?”
It was barely a second, but Elmer was sure he had not mistaken the cause of why his brows had suddenly pulled in.
Ms. Edna’s face had turned grim. Her always plain and welcoming expression had gone cold. And even though her countenance had returned to how they usually were, Elmer could not shake off the feeling that he had struck a nerve.
What exactly had she done?
Ms. Edna exhaled. “My deed had been to take on an evil spirit haunting a house.”
What…? Elmer could not hide his shock. That sounds just like exorcising Lev’s curse… Yes, it’s possible that the evil spirit was of a higher level, in fact, that was obvious… But since everyone can take on the job at the same time, isn’t that something that would bring countless Ascenders to the spot to fight the evil spirit…? Would that not have been chaotic…? Surely, it could not have been hard to find an evil spirit…
Elmer had said nothing, but as usual, it seemed like Ms. Edna could hear his thoughts. Her reply was what had caused him to think that.
“I know,” she had said. “It’s expected that a deed like that would seem simple, but evil spirits are the hardest things to find, and we had not been given the location of this spirit. Also, I did not have my special ability then because I was still a Baseborn, so all I did was rely on my wits to find out its location. Quite daunting it was, but I found out and exorcised the spirit under a day, putting me ahead of the others.”
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Somehow, Elmer could not find himself surprised. He had done the same thing with Lev’s curse, he had not been expecting anything less from Ms. Edna.
“And Eddie?” Elmer asked.
“I don’t know what deed Eddie had taken on since I was not interested in moving up to the Echelon 9, but for his caliber at the time, it would have been something harder for him.”
Elmer immediately understood. “Eddie went from being a Baseborn to an Echelon 9?”
Ms. Edna nodded. “He was my junior at the Church’s college, and a very ambitious one. If a slot higher than 9 had been opened, he would have taken on the deed for that instead.”
Elmer, somehow, was not surprised too. From the first moment he had caught sight of that man he had known he was that kind of person. Ambitious and willing to take risks. Now that he thought about it clearly, he too would do the same if given the chance. He had denied it the day they’d met, but he and Eddie truly were alike.
“Those white streaks of hair he has,” Ms. Edna called Elmer back to her with those words, “they came as a result of that.” Elmer nudged a brow downward as he released his palms from each other. “He completed his deed, but he almost lost himself during the ascension process. He’s a lucky man, that’s all I can say. Rarely do people just get streaks of white on their head as something like a medal of victory over the madness of the supernatural.”
Elmer took his gaze downward.
Eddie’s quite the man… How am I going to convince them both to let me be alone with the maggot-faced man at this point…?
He closed his eyes and shook his head. It didn’t matter how hard it would be, there was no choice given to him, he had to come up with a way to trick both Ms. Edna and Eddie to leave him be.
“Is that all the questions you have for me?”
Elmer took his eyes up from the rug covered floor to see Ms. Edna staring blankly at the ceiling as though she was lost.
He replied, “No. I have another.”
“Well,” Ms. Edna said, “ask away.”
“Your charms,” Elmer did not hesitate. “How are they made?”
He had an artifact, good and all, but there was no way he would be caught dead losing out on a chance to have the power to freeze things.
That was a fascinating ability.
Who knew, maybe with the charm he could freeze the ocean and walk on it. Imagine that! Every ability he could get his hands on should be in his arsenal, every single one.
“My charms?” Ms. Edna straightened herself on the couch. “You want to learn how to make one?”
“Yes,” Elmer told her, and she sighed.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Elmer, but I’ll be unable to help you out with this one.”
Elmer jerked backward, his shoulders suddenly raised high in tension. “Wait, why?”
“Charm crafting is a four year course in the Church’s college, that’s what I studied. I doubt I’d be able to teach you every single thing I learnt in that amount of time right now.”
Elmer could say nothing. He saw it now, attending the Church’s college had its perks.
“But,” Ms. Edna continued. “I could explain the basics to you, there are a few things you can gain from hearing them.”
Elmer closed his eyes, his facial features sagging for a moment while his postures stooped.
“Alright,” he voiced in a low tone devoid of even a little tinge of excitement. He’d really wanted the ability to freeze things.
“Charms are made by imbuing spirituality essence into vessels.” Elmer listened attentively, still dejected that he would not be able to freeze things though. “These vessels are carved out of the wood of cedar trees, but only the ones from Burkney, the city of the Goddess of Earth.”
“Why is that?” Elmer asked instantly.
Cedar trees could be found in Ur as well, so he wondered why the Church was restricting their obtainability. Although, he knew it had to be one of those ‘supernatural reasons’ again.
“Because the soil in Burkney is the richest in spirituality in the empire.” And with that Elmer’s intuition was proven correct. “The vessel has to be strong enough to withhold the essence being put into it, if not they would instantly wither. It doesn’t matter what materials they are made of, rock, metal, even diamond, it would wither away. Only the woods from Burkney’s cedar trees are strong enough.”
Elmer understood that perfectly now, but one more thing still bothered him.
“Then how do you obtain these woods for your charms? I can see that the Church would be able to import such things from Burkney for practical lessons when you were in the college, but how do you get them now that you are out of the college?”
He had a feeling that such things would be available at the Black Market, but somehow he could not see Ms. Edna as someone who would venture into that sort of place. So it was either she actually does that, or there was some other way she knew of to get a hold of these items from the Church. He wanted to know which it was.
“Just outside the Church’s grounds, there’s a large shopping complex where these sorts of things are sold. If you’d gone to Church last Sunday you wouldn’t have missed it.”
Elmer’s lips twitched at Ms. Edna’s latter words.
Wait till she found out he had not still had it in his plans to attend worship. Well, now he had two reasons to visit the grounds.
One, to survey the area, and two, to find out if what he was thinking about the purchase of artifacts to be possible in that complex to be true. He had an inkling that it was. But he could not ask Ms. Edna about that since it would give off his ignorance about such things, and raise the question on how he had gotten his own. Mentioning the Black Market in that instance would prove fatal if the Church’s complex actually sold artifacts.
All of a sudden, Elmer was forced out of his thoughts as a dazed look stormed his face when he saw what Ms. Edna had done.
She’d snapped her fingers together, and flame had sprouted above her thumb as though it was a candle.
“The charms are just so that things like this are stronger and can last longer,” Ms. Edna told Elmer while completely ignoring how bamboozled he was as he stared fixedly at the fickle flame dancing atop her thumb. “I’m sure you have seen them.” She turned to look at him then. “Those colors.”
Elmer fell his brows down and thought for a while before he gasped into realization.
“The ones I see whenever I recite the prayers to see spiritual entities?”
“Yes,” said Ms. Edna as she put off the flame. “Those colors are what make up the essence of life and death. Each streak means something. Take red for instance, it means warmth. To create the fire I just put off, I simply took my fingers into the color of red and snapped them together. I’m sure you understand why I did that.”
Elmer nodded. He did. It was just like creating a spark by brushing two flints against each other.
“Charms are created by forcing any of these colors into a vessel, just one for each, while creating a unique prayer for its use. But when doing that, a person has to be careful not to put too much or the vessel will collapse. Oh, and one more thing in case you ever decide to use a charm. Never ever recite a different prayer than the one which was used to imbue the charm with whatever essence it was bestowed with. The result of making such a mistake is instant blindness or madness. Nothing will prevent it.”
Elmer pinched his lips with a sharp inhale before nodding.
Of course, he had already been expecting something like that from Ms. Edna. After all, everything had its pros and cons.
Still, he wished he knew how to craft the vessels, he would have just gone ahead to make some charms for himself.
Well, this was one of the cons of going down the illegal route, there was nothing he could do but bear with it.
Hearing a very audible exhale, Elmer took his wandering eyes to see Ms. Edna slouch into the couch, her body apparently seeking a moment of rest.
Elmer had already asked the major questions he’d wanted answers to, and even though there were obviously more things under the rug of his mind, he decided to give the woman a breather.
This was even a perfect time to start coming up with a plan to separate himself from her and Eddie—taking into consideration the silence of the parlor now. But that was when the distinct, rhythmic taps that represented the knuckles of a person making contact with Ms. Edna’s front door echoed into the room.
Someone was knocking, most likely Eddie.
“He’s here, it seems,” Ms. Edna said as she sat upright. “I want to have a talk with my daughter before we leave. Can you kindly let him in while I do that?” Elmer nodded. “Thank you.” Ms. Edna stood up and escaped into the curtained partition Kate had passed through a while back.
Elmer rose to his feet too and went to the door, pulling it open to allow the patter of raindrops which had been hushed due to the confined space he was in, to transition into an intense harshness followed up by a strong wind, cold and annoying, whooshing onto his skin.
Before him, on the porch, stood a man dressed in a vest and black coat with streaks of white staining his black shoulder-length hair. He had an umbrella point-down in his right hand, and he leaned on it as though it was a walking cane.
“Mmmh…” Eddie rubbed his chin which bore small scrubs of beard. “Answering Edna’s door now, are you, Elmer?” He had his witty tone about him, no surprise there.
“Good evening. Ms. Edna told me to let you in while we wait for her. She’s with Kate,” Elmer told him, and Eddie suddenly smiled.
What for?
“That’s perfect. I was hoping to have a conversation with you.” Eddie’s smile disappeared, causing Elmer to have some sort of uneasiness about what their upcoming discussion would entail. “Step outside a bit, will you?”