I slowly come to with the crackling of a fire in the hearth and my immediate reaction is one of panic. I half sit up, only to fall back down with a groan as the world starts to spin around me.

“Oh, I’m home…” I realize, turning my face slightly, to look at the fire and at the various animal skins on the wall surrounding it.

Though the walls themselves are a dark gray stone –Father never was very fond of wood— no one would accuse our home of being uncomfortable or boring. Various trophies and weapons decorated the walls all around the house, besides the bedrooms. I took the time to stare at the ursine head of an Arthus, its jaws open in a roar, pink and red maw surrounded by jet black fur that was bisected by a vertical white stripe. Its harsh black eyes glared accusingly at me, and I couldn’t bring myself to look anymore.

I turned over on the couch, stared at the ceiling, and thought about the fight. I fought to ignore the throbbing pain in my nose and jaw, turning over everything in a play-by-play. I had fought desperately against a man with enough strength to shatter boulders and smash bones. Had he not already been somewhat tired, and had I not been boosted by the Lightcore, he would have done exactly that to my head. I had done nearly everything right, but I had gotten overconfident and made one mistake. Just one, and that was it. My life was nearly over. Never had things seemed so fragile.

Would he have gotten away with it? Probably not. He would have been punished but not as much as you would hope. The village desperately needed warriors, and life is hard. I am generally seen as Giftless and a failure. They would have made sure that he needed to pay a great deal of tribute, of course. A serious fine. But one that Aurelius could afford. A small price to pay to be rid of a rival. Even if Dad sought a harsher penalty, he was unlikely to be successful.

As I sat there, fuming to myself about my situation and wallowing in the mother of all headaches, I heard the door open. Heavy footfalls, followed by lighter ones indicated my father and someone smaller. I wince, anticipating my sister as well, but it’s Victor following him, instead. They both stand by either side of the fireplace, with Dad closer to my head, bearded face frowning down at me. He held out two bright red berries, Gleanberries, and I took and ate, wincing at the terribly sour taste. The berries did their job, though, and I felt the fog clear from my head as their energies went to work. I slowly sat up and turned to face them both. When I made to stand, Father waved me down. Then, after exchanging glances with Victor, he spoke.

“I heard what happened, thanks to Victor. He, in turn, heard the story from Julia. She’s the reason you are alive. Apparently, she interfered in the match that Hobbs refused to call and managed to pull you away from the Aurelius brat.” His eyes narrowed at that, eyes flashing with pent up fury, before continuing, “I wouldn’t have expected them to go so far so quickly. I should have never allowed Hobbs to be your instructor for the past 6 months, but my influence isn’t what it was.”

That grim statement prompted another pensive silence, with both my father and I grimacing about the situation. Victor, on the other hand, looked more thoughtful than angry.

My father made as if to speak again, but Victor beat him to the punch, “You think that Aurelius will argue for a challenge by combat?” he cut in, inquisitively.

“After this incident, yes.” My father nodded, “He has proof that Samuel can win, and he has been pressuring the Council for years now to get exactly that.”

The village Council was a governing council of five elders that functioned as a co-equal branch of government with the Patriarch in making village decisions. Major decisions required a majority of both the Council and the Patriarch to agree, but successor challenges to the Patriarch were governed by the Council. It would take a majority vote by them to permit a challenge by combat regarding the successor’s position.

“Aurelius has both Westberg and Jackson in his corner, while the only one we can really count in is Old Lady Corona. Hapsburg sometimes listens to her, but he will blow in the wind of public opinion. Ignis is a wildcard, but I could easily see him coming down against us.”

Technically speaking, Elders were appointed to their office by majority rule. Even though it was a lifetime appointment, they were still sensitive to popular opinion.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“To be perfectly candid, you cannot afford to fight the man for the position as you are now.” Victor interjected again, green eyes boring holes into me.

This prompted a glare from Father to which Victor slightly lowered his eyes, conceding to the man’s displeasure. He didn’t seem terribly contrite, though. A part of me agreed with him. Politics weren’t worth killing over, and Samuel had proven himself stronger than me. Again. But…

“Some fights you just can’t run away from!” My father firmly declared, “I have argued to them that Aurelius is unstable and dangerous but if they do fail to take my advice and grant him the right to challenge, then Stephen must fight.”

“Indeed,” Victor nodded grimly, “Which is why we must do everything we can to stop that from happening.”

“How?” My father and I asked together, both of us now looking intently at the slightly disheveled scholar.

He smiled slightly and continued:

“I surmise that Aurelius will call for a Council vote on this matter after the Hunt is over. Samuel will parade around whatever successes that he has on the most recent Hunt and use this as further proof that he is worthy. We could try to cross our fingers and hope that he does poorly but that is idiotic, even against an incompetent foe. Trying to sabotage him during the Hunt would be difficult to cover up. Not to mention that being the type of criminal activity I’d assume neither of you would be willing to indulge in.”

He paused after seeing us nod in confirmation, smiling further and nodding back:

“So, the only option we really have is to outdo Samuel significantly in achievements during the Hunt. That will give us more ammunition to push back, despite Steve’s reputation as Giftless.”

“He will need to outperform Samuel to a remarkable degree to change the minds of the elders, especially after all these years. Stephen has gotten stronger but without a total failure on Samuel’s part, how could he do that? We can’t rule out the possibility of foul play on Samuel’s part as well.”

“That is where you are wrong, my friend.” Victor said, his emerald eyes gleaming and his grin turning from a happy smile to a scheming smirk. “Not only can Stephen do both of those things, but he can do both of them at once!”

My father and I shared a skeptical look before turning back to Victor, practically threatening him with a beating unless he quit beating around the bush. His smirk only widened at our impatience:

“I advise that you journey towards the north for this particular Hunt.”

This only earned him stiffer glares before he put up his hands defensively:

“Relax, relax. I have a plan.”

East of Brynn lived our ancient enemies, the Manicheas, so we rarely journeyed eastward unless there was some compelling reason to pick a fight with them. Going there with only my team would be suicide. West of us were barren yet tranquil grasslands where many of our weaker fighters and children would go to gather lesser resources with lesser danger. South was where the real resources of Corynth could be found but it was also crawling with predators and Manicheas who knew the same thing. North, however, was a notoriously barren wasteland that was both cold and filled with predators.

He raised his hand with two fingers raised:

“As mentioned, we have two objectives. One is to ensure that Aurelius and his lackies can’t interfere with Steve’s Hunt, a problem solved simply by virtue of the fact that northward is sure to be the exact opposite direction that anyone who could hurt him would go. The other objective, of course, is to get Steve to bring back the types of resources that would amaze the village elders, and hopefully everyone else too.”

“A task made impossible by going north in the first place.” Father interrupted with a grimace.

“Not so!” Victor said, lifting his hand dramatically, “A discovery recently made by yours truly will solve that problem as well, beyond your wildest imaginations.” He paused, then looked at us conspiratorially, “Have either of you ever heard of Glasrock?”

I hadn’t, and looked at my father for signs of recognition but he seemed just as stumped. But Victor continued before either of us answered,

“Glasrock is a crystal that, when mined, is simply a dark blue rock but when it is exposed to the Mist it glows with a brilliant bright blue light. And when it glows like that, it is said to be capable of dispelling the Mist around it. I’ve even heard that it can repel predators like the Paeric. Not sure about the Neidyr and Arthus, though.”

This revelation prompted a shared gasp of surprise from my father and me. The primary reason the village needed to wait for the Mist to recede before going down into Corynth was that running around in the Mist was an easy path to suicide. That was thanks to the various predators which, apparently, could see just fine through the Mist. The same could not be said for people, of course.

“Why haven’t I heard about this before? This could better the whole village!” My father blurted out.

Victor shrugged, “It has mostly been considered the domain of legend, or perhaps theory, before now. But I have been digging through some of our oldest historical records on the subject. I think I have pieced together the location of the only Glasrock mine ever discovered. The documents are practically riddled with opaque phrases and I’m not sure how the location was lost to us in the first place, but I think I know where to find it. It’s in the north, as you have hopefully guessed by now.”

He focused intently on me again, before saying, “It’s a gamble, and failure would be disastrous, but if this works…”

“It could change everything.” I mused, looking away and staring thoughtfully into the fire. It was a significant gamble. But even if I tried to do the “safe” thing and go south with the adults, and even if I matched or slightly exceeded Samuel while doing that, it wouldn’t be enough to stave off a challenge. I needed to surpass expectations entirely. I needed Glasrock.

Victor smiled at me as he watched my face. He knew my answer already.

“Okay, now here’s what you are going to do…”