Hurried footsteps rang through the marble walls of the high tribunal. The floors were covered by thousands of workers as they all scrambled to get their work done. The highest court in the land had not convened in decades, and the reclusive justices have been seen only a handful of times since. The most common theory was that they were all in secluded places, meditating on the secrets of the world. The fact that they would remove themselves from their studies indicates how impossible the current situation was.
Contrary to the majority of people, Almis was not in a hurry to get to his destination. With slow, measured steps, the Altum man walked through the hallowed halls. Despite his modest stature, though, a path was always laid bare before him, the busy people in the crowd quickly moving to get out of his way. He wasn’t well known throughout the halls, but the constant aura of power and control he gave off indicated to others that he held the title of Master.
Rounding a corner slowly, the man continued his relaxed pace, considering his reason for coming to such an important location during a volatile time. Almis was a Master from the old guard and was generally inactive besides the occasional assignment to maintain his position. His job was unsavory, and generally unnecessary during this era of peace. Nonetheless, he had been called here to do a job, and he execute it to the best of his abilities.
Despite his leisurely gait, the older Altum had his senses checking every person who passed near him. “Old habits die hard,” he thought as he inspected another passerby for suspicious behavior. Almis might’ve been old, but he wasn’t senile. He knew better than to assume the best in strangers, especially when events were as lively as they had been the past two weeks.
Almis inspected another stranger carrying a large roll of metal, which likely held important documents inside. Instead of evading as expected, the younger Altum man continued on a course leading directly towards the veteran Master. Almis didn’t consider moving out of the way for a second as he continued on his trajectory to meet the stranger head on.
A dull thud spread throughout the room as two bodies struck each other. One stood tall and proud while the other fell hard to the floor, the sound of metal clattering against the stone floor. The nearest witnesses all gasped in horror upon seeing the events unfold before stepping back to avoid any involvement. This created a bubble of peace within the roiling crowd as only the two individuals remained in the area.
The space only appeared peaceful on the surface, however, as everyone felt a sympathetic pang in the back of their minds as they predicted how events would unfold. The youth, to his credit, did not immediately spring to his feet and run off. Instead, he remained on the ground while transferring his awkward fall into a low bow. Almis watched the boy prostrate himself across the ground, a hint of amusement creeping into his wrinkled brow.
Breaking the silence first, the young Altum cried out, “Emis-Ve, please forgive this lowly Common for his disrespectful behavior! I had no intention of imposing on your personal domain!” Almis smiled wryly. He was a living fossil, sure, but he was never a huge fan of the archaic phrases people used when speaking with him. It was as if they believed he was unable to digest the various changes in a language over the course of decades.
Still, he would be lying if he said he didn’t feel happy about the title he was offered. “Emis-Ve, huh? It seems like this one believes I am much more important than I am.” Almis considered downgrading Emis-Ve to Preth-Ve, but decided it wasn’t a large enough issue to pursue.
Out loud, the old Altum responded, “Truly, your actions have derailed my afternoon, and for that you must be punished.” Almis wasn’t a fan of harsh punishments, but he had a reputation to uphold, after all.
Upon looking at the young man, Almis’s face softened slightly. “He’s just a boy, barely a man at all.” The youth reminded the senior man of his younger days, which were full of simple mistakes like this one. Instead of the brutish methods used on him, Almis decided on a different approach.
Almis continued speaking. “Before I begin with my punishment, I have a few questions to ask: First, how could you have avoided running into me?”
The young man was clearly flabbergasted at the question, as he flinched upon hearing it. Still, as he was conditioned to do so quickly, he answered promptly, “Emis-Ve, I… I should have been looking out for such an esteemed guest! It was truly unforgivable of me to have missed your noble presence!”
Almis sighed, “He’s not getting it,” After a pause to think, he spoke again, “This is true, but what about your cargo?” Almis gestured at the metal roll lying on the floor. “It is large enough to obscure your eyesight. How could you have known to avoid me without be able to see me?” Almis hoped the boy would understand the point he was making.
Thankfully, the young man was bright enough to pick up on what the Master was saying. “I should have observed the energies you were emitting, Emis-Ve. You were alerting other of your position to avoid an unsightly incident such as this.”
Without taking another breath, the youth added, “Which makes it even more unforgivable that I neglected to heed your warnings! I am truly sorry for my incompetence.”
“Laying it on a little thick, don’t you think? This generation is really something else, “ Almis thought as he looked down on the kneeling man. Still, the boy was smart, as was evident by his job in the main hall of the tribunal. The brown-nosing was a little annoying, but Almis was pleased to see that he had understood his mistake and would hopefully not repeat it.
Regardless of whether or not the boy accidentally hit Almis, the fact remained that he did, and it was avoidable. By all customs of Altum culture, the old Master was obligated to dish out an appropriate punishment.
Stepping forward, Almis raised a hand over the young man’s head. “I hope that you learn from your mistakes, or else you will be doomed to repeat them.” Quietly, the old man added, “I would advise that you continue training so as to not waste your talents.”
The boy flinched slightly but said nothing in response. Sighing, Almis reached out with his Hait, his Will, and grabbed onto the boy’s nascent soul. With a simple flex of his Will, a pressure flooded the boy’s internal space, causing mild internal damage inside of his body. It would leave no wounds, but the pain would be immense and would spread along with the flow of Nor and travel throughout his entire body. The boy winced in pain, but stayed silent as he endured the agony within his body.
After a few more seconds, Almis removed his influence from the boy, causing him to release his breath in a low groan. Without missing a beat, the young man shouted between breaths, “Thank you for your teachings, Emis-Ve!” His voice was strained and raspy, his breathing guttural.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Almis responded casually, “Carry my teachings with you forever, young one.” With that, the young man bowed even deeper than before as he waited for Almis to leave. The youth could not leave his position without further offending his senior. Almis released the boy from his duties by walking away in the same unhurried gait as before. He groaned internally as he considered the massive loss in time.
Once the Master was gone, the young man scrambled to pick up the metal roll. Sitting on his knees, still out of breath, the man unscrewed the brass roll to reveal the scroll within. After a quick visual inspection to confirm it was unharmed, he sighed in relief before putting it back inside the case. At this point, the crowd had dispersed, as a senior disciplining a junior was rather mundane to most people.
Without the bystanders to redirect the flow of people, a wave of travelers begun to spill into the area where the young man was sitting. With as much speed as he could, the young man shot to his feet and into the crowd, avoiding the tidal wave of people encroaching on his position with practiced ease. Within seconds he was travelling again, the large metal tube obscuring his vision once again.
This time, however, he made sure he was paying extra attention to his surroundings. Despite being punished for his lack of attentiveness, the youth, named Cruet, always tried his best to look out for others. He was quite aware of his lack of sight, so he relied on his abilities to perceive Nor to guide him.
The only problem with travelling by these means was that, to put it bluntly, Cruet was terrible at it. Sure, he had a basic proficiency at perceiving the primal energies, but he was never able to get a clear reading on specific sources. Hell, he couldn’t even see them without focusing on his eyes, let alone do it passively while navigating a dense crowd of people. Still, he would try and get better, especially since his senior had shown faith in his potential.
“I must improve and show the previous generation that the Altum race should be proud of its youth,” he thought, a determined expression forming on his face.
///
“This next generation is useless,” Gareth shouted after looking through a fresh bundle of documents. “This information is useless and barely organized! How are we expected to meet with the Justiciar when none of our information is up to date?”
The furious Altum slammed his hands into the slab of marble that acted as his desk. Over the past few days, his departments work quality had been slipping. Whether the long hours or stressful upcoming events were to blame, he didn’t know. What he did know was that he would not be made a fool in front of the most influential people on the planet.
Gareth stopped when a small stone lit up near his door, letting out a high-pitched hum. To untrained ears, the hum was pleasant as the light gently illuminated the doorway. To Gareth, though, it was an ominous portent of idiotic interns or pissed off supervisors coming to add more work to his already enormous schedule.
Today, though, the Altum had enough. He slammed the papers on the tabletop and marched over to the door. He sent a furious torrent of energy towards the door’s opening mechanism, which was only designed to handle a trickle. Miraculously, the door opened anyway, sliding into the wall seamlessly. Gareth opened his mouth to scream obscenities at the newcomer, infuriated at their presence.
With burning rage, he shouted out, “What is it now? What else could you possibly-“ Like a fire doused with cold water, the man’s anger dissipated within an instant. He stopped speaking immediately and dropped his head into a low bow, hoping it wasn’t too late to right his initial impression.
“M-Master Almis! I did not expect you to visit personally, and so soon!” As his head was facing the floor, he felt the imposing presence of the dignified Master flooding the room. The noble presence flowed around the man, suppressing his own presence with frightening ease. In silence, the Master walked into the room, taking a few steps before facing a wall opposite the marble desk. He then stood there for a moment, admiring the awards and accolades lining the office interior.
After an uncomfortable length of time, the old Altum broke the silence with an unexpected question. “Is your door broken, Suni-Kes?” The informal honorific and odd question took the once-furious Altum off guard.
“Uhm, no, Preth-Ve. Why do you ask?” Gareth was especially nervous, since he had berated the Justiciar within the first moments of them meeting.
Gareth swore he saw a slight smile cross his visitor’s face, but thought he was probably imagining it. After a moment of silence, Almis added, “I just noticed you were a bit… heavy-handed with the lock is all.”
Gareth’s face fell as he thought of a way to explain his careless actions. Fortunately for him, there was no need, as the older Altum resumed speaking once again.
“Please, this is your office, take a seat while we talk. I’ve been walking around all morning, and I’m not getting any younger.” Gareth did as told, taking a seat as Almis did the same. The old Altum sat down slowly in the chair, letting his hands run along the seams and ornamentation of the plush seat. Throughout all of this, Gareth waited in anticipation for this meeting.
“Out of all of those people wandering the halls, none of them thought to inform me that the Justiciar was heading my way,” he thought as he prepared what little information they had gathered in the past few days.
Once again, Almis decided to break the silence. “Suni-Kes, I have heard your group has compiled information regarding the deal made between Altus and Earth.” After Gareth nodded, the wizened Master continued, “Please, let me see it.”
Gareth hesitated for a moment before grabbing a scattered assortment of papers strewn about his desk. He noticed some of them had been crumpled slightly in his anger earlier, so he tried as subtly as he could to smooth the bumps out before handing them over.
Right before Almis grabbed them, Gareth spoke up quickly, adding, “I have to be honest with you, Preth-Ve. This information has not yet been compiled and verified into an official report. What I have here is little more than the rumors and whispers spreading around the Earth relations committee.”
As he finished speaking, he looked the old Altum in the eyes. After seeing his relaxed expression, Gareth let the tension fall from his shoulders slightly. He hesitated for only another moment before letting Almis grab the paper.
After straightening them in his hands, Almis began to flip through the pages one-by-one, getting the general idea of the information and how it was structured. With a hum of approval, the papers were coated with a wave of purple energy before they appeared to disintegrate in his hands. Gareth knew they weren’t destroyed, only transferred somewhere else. Still, seeing the culmination of a week’s worth of grueling work disappear was unsettling to watch.
Almis smiled, the creases near his lips stretching taught. “Please, give you and your team some more credit, you’ve got some real up and coming talent here.”
Gareth cringed slightly upon hearing talent used in the same sentence as “his team”, but smiled, nonetheless. “I’ll be sure to tell them, Master Almis, they’ll be ecstatic to hear such praise from someone like you.” He then leaned back in his chair slightly, content with how the transaction had gone.
Before the old Altum could leave, however, Gareth sat up straight and cleared his throat. “Actually, Preth-Ve, if you do not mind, would you be willing to entertain a quick question I have?”
Almis stopped his standing before looking back at the comparatively younger man. He then looked back into Gareth’s eyes for a moment, as if searching for something within them. After another moment’s pause, he closed his eyes and sat back down.
“I will answer only one question,” the respected Justiciar said in response. “As I’m sure you’re aware, this is an unprecedented event in our history. With such big events occurring, there are very extreme opinions from both the orthodox and unorthodox groups. As I am, on paper, an impartial person, my opinions on this matter are confidential.”
Gareth nodded as he understood the implications of what the old Master was saying. As Justiciar, Master Almis would be presenting the information to the judiciary. Any indication of bias in the man could ruin his credibility within the court.
After acknowledging their mutual understanding, Almis let out a deeply held sigh. “It’s really quite simple. Since they are still considered children and still have the protections associated, they should be transported safely to their maturation ceremony location.” He paused and seemed to consider his next words.
Almis continued, his natural kind face shifting into a flat look of indifference, “After they officially come of age, though, I suggest we get rid of this stain on the record of our people.”