Given Karstens hesitance during the registration, Medoly had suggested they find somewhere quiet to spend what little time was left in the day. She led the way to an Inn that wasn’t very popular with travelers due to it's location, yet still held a good standard, and they settled down in a twin room.
She’d decided to stay in the Inn with Karsten, as she was worried the day’s events had been too burdening for him. Karsten had insisted he was fine, but she’d insisted just as much to stay, even saying that if she had just left him alone here, her worry would affect her sleep. There wasn’t really anything Karsten could say to that, so the guide’had her way.
Medoly had been right when she assumed the day had been stressful for him, but he wasn’t tired for the reason she suspected. Karsten removed the brass- and gold-colored pin from his collar and inapected it. It looked like it vould be a fifth graders pride and joy, something they’d want to wear everywhere, forever. The problem with this was that Karsten was, rather obviously, not a fifth grader. He was a twenty-five year old man that was now legally obligated to wear a big, shiny gold star visible on his person at all times.
Karsten understood the reasoning the Guild had for making something like this for a ‘person like him’, though. He’d heard from Medoly that a few years ago, a long protest was held by thousands of people not happy with the treatment of anyone with special needs across the continent. The Guild's response, after long consideration, was to allow people with disabilities to register as Adventurers on the condition that they would have restricted access to quests, they needed to have a 'Guardian' accompany them in all quests, and they needed to wear these easily identifiable ‘tokens’ as identification. Refraining from wearing the token, wearing it in a concealed way, wearing a token that was not your own, stealing the token and so on were all met with a large fine of varying amounts of gold coins depending on severity.
Basically, Karsten was stuck having to wear it proudly on display whether he wanted to or not. Of course, Karsten didn’t have any hatred or ill will towards people with special needs, but that didn’t mean he wanted other people to believe he was something he wasn’t. Additionally, it just didn't sit right with him to pretend to be disabled; It left a bad taste in his mouth.
But he wasn't sure if this was something what could be fixed to easily. If he were to go back ask for a 'second opinion' of sorts, there would likely be tests and, worst of all, background checks. The Guild didn't have to look far before they'd find out Karsten's identity was all a sham.
"Haaaaa..." Karsten massaged his forehead. "Fuck me. Whatever. What's the worst that could happen?"
He shook his head and tried to think about something else. Laying back on his straw-mattrassed bed, he thought about his future Guardian. This person, whomever they were, was astronomically important to his buddign Adventuring carreae. They would essentially be legally bound to Karsten, at least for the duration of the contract, and have to follow him everywhere. If the person was something other than aggreeable, the whole thing would very quickly become a pain in the ass.
Medoly had been very apologetic about not being able to be his guardian. ‘I simply have too much work to do back home - Since we don't employ any maids, we have to take care of our own food, cleaning, repairs and what-not. I simply don’t have the time. I basically had to sneak out to be able to come here with you, and when I get back tomorrow, there’ll probably be a heap of stuff for me to do...’ Had been her response when Karsten had asked.
The Ranger had promised, however, that she would get her brother, the rumored Henry that Karsten had been curious about ever since he was mistakenly identified as the guy, to be his guardian for his first quest… 'somehow'.
As it turned out, Medoly had had such a… passionate reaction when she’d seen who she believed to be her brother because he’d been missing for three days, now four. She had been very hesitant to elaborate much about her brother. From what Karsten had gathered, the siblings had a rather turbulent relationship. But Karsten did notice the underlying worry in Medoly’s voice whenever her brother's name came up, so the bad blood couldn’t be that bad, he figured.
Medoly believed they should be able to find him rather quickly if they went to one of the taverns he frequented, so a guide of the different taverns in the south-eastern part of the city was added to the plan for tomorrow. She also said that when Karsten met him, he would immediately understand why she confused him for her brother at first, so he was somewhat looking forward to that. What Karsten didn’t know however, was whether he’d reminded her of Henry because of his similar stature or the blood on it... It remained to be seen, he supposed.
Laying his head on his pillow, he tried to let go of all the day's happenings and just breathe in the woody air of the room. Slowly, he felt the world melt away for the second time and entered a deep, dreamless sleep.
~-~
Feeling lighter than he ever had since his arrival, Karsten opened his eyes and sat up in the bed, only to immediately retreet when the accursed sun shone rays of what he could only think of as lazarbeams into his eyes. When he sat up again a few minutes later, with much the same hunched-over posture he’d sported the previous morning, the sun rays were at a more appropriate level, lileky due to the ever blessed clouds. Blinking his eyes open blearily, Karsten looked around the room, only to find it empty. The other bed at the far side of the room was neatly made. He made to get up and get dressed, but just as the thought formed in his mind, the door to the room swung open.
Medoly waltzed in, this time carrying two plates instead of one. Noticing Karsten was up, she greeted him. “Good morning! sweet-cirn-root and fried bangal wings today!”
Karsten nodded back a “‘Morning,” before turning his attention to what was on the plates. Steaming, orange cubes that he assumed was the sweet-cirn-root took up half the plate, and the remaining half was covered by a single, gigantic slab of fried chicken. Or 'bangal wings', as it were. Medoly laid the plates down on the small, round table between the beds and gestured for Karsten to sit in the opposing chair as she lowered herself into her own.
After they were done eating the excrutiatingly delicious fried bangals, Medoly left the table to rummage through her rucksack, and came back with the three quest sheets they’d been given at the Adventurer’s office. She sat back into her chair and laid the three sheets of paper out on the table, facing Karsten. “Here are the quests we got from the receptionist.”
Karsten pushed his plate to the side and picked up the leftmost sheet.
QUEST
Aid in the transportation of goods from Hivelon Warehouse to Gilmarmen’s Goods.
Quest giver: Gilmarmen Fuebec
Estimated time: 6 hours
Reward: 13 silver coins
The quest looked simple enough, Karsten reckoned. He turned to the middle one.
QUEST
Retrieve a bag of goods from Derk Pillan’s warehouse in Gestran and deliver them to Derk’s Wares For the Distinguished Patron.
Quest giver: Derk Pillan
Estimated time: 2 hours
Reward: 1 gold coin
‘A gold coin… sounds like a large sum for such a simple quest...’ He turned to the last one.
QUEST
Deliver a package from Melissa Berkman to Gestrandt Berkingham.
Quest giver: Melissa Berkman
Estimated time: 12 hours
Reward: 8 silver
“Eight silver? Isn’t that way too low for a 12 hour quest?” Karsten asked after skimming through the paper. Medoly nodded. “It really is. Melissa's famous for always try to pay less than the minimum reward set by the guild for the Adventurers’ work. Luckily, the Guild doesn’t allow anyone, no matter how influential they are, to bend the rules. Well... not when it comes to this, anyway.” “Is Melissa a noble or something?” “No, she’s the heiress of the largest warehouse in the city.”
Karsten frowned. “Only a warehouse? And ‘heiress’, not owner? What a nepo.” "Exactly!" Medoly huffed. “She doesn’t even own the place yet, yet she acts like she owns the whole damned city!”
“Haa, anyway. I think the first quest sounds straightforward enough, you just need to help carry stuff from one part of town to another. " "Right. The second quest is both the easiest and highest paying of the three, but the discrepancy between the difficulty and reward makes me a bit suspicious.” Medoly waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, that’s nothing to worry about. Derk is known to reward people generously. He’s even a good tipper,” she winked. “Huh. So I should choose that quest, then?” Karsten asked, holding up Pillans quest sheet. “It’s the one I would choose if I had a choice” Medoly shrugged. “But the choice is yours. What do you want to do?”
Karsten shrugged. "Guess I'll make a move on Derk."
Medoly chuckled, then pushed her empty plate away, “On the topic of choice. I know you’re excited to finally get your thumb taken care of," she said, gesturing to Karsten's still unheald left thumb, "but before we head out and buy healing potions, I’d like to apologize for something. I know we agreed to have you select a class before we head to the Guild office to get a quest, but in retrospect, I believe I was being impatient when I suggested it. Selecting your class, a class that can never be changed upon choosing it, is a serious matter that requires an extended period of real consideration. I’m sorry for being so pushy. In hindsight, I didn’t even really ask you whether you even wanted to become an Adventurer or not… Damn...” She cupped her face in her hands in embarrassment, but looked up when she heard Karsten laugh at her. “What’s so funny?”
Karsten looked at her, then smirked. “Well, it’s the first time I’ve seen a person save someone's life, give them free lodging and a job, then claim to feel embarrassed at how badly they’d treated them, all while about to help that someone get superpowers.”
The Ranger hid her face. “When you word it like that, it certainly sounds like I’m some kind of saint, but even though I may have helped you out a little, the truth is that I’ve basically pushed you into this. I feel… a sense of responsibility to help you get settled in this city. Really, I’ve just been dragging around a helpless person... and-”
Karsten raised his hand and stopped her. “I am not helpless. While I admit I might come off as a bit odd, and I’ll even admit, rather block headed at times, I am not some helpless calf that can’t live without its mother. I am, as you’ve stated yourself, fully capable of independent though, so if I wanted to do something differently, I simply would have. Well, I'd rather not have this 'special star'," He said, pointing his thumb at his collar, "But what can you do. Shit happens, I guess. You have been a tremendous help to me since I stumbled into your garden in the middle of the night, so please - give yourself some credit.”
Medoly smiled sheepishly, but nodded. “Yeah... I guess you’re right. And I realize I’ve probably been underestimating your intelligence a bit…” Karsten chuckled. “Yeah. Well, I mean, I am from a whole other world, so me not making sence makes sense.”
"Haha... Yeah."
“So!" Karsten said, clapping his hands together, "Classes! Please teach me about classes. Do you have a list I could read through, like an encyclopedia or something? Do you guys have encyclo- Oh, what am I saying, of course you have encyclopedias."
“Right… Well, I don't exactly have a list with me. But you do.”
“I do?” Karsten asked, pointing to himself.
“Yup! You do. All people are able to see an overview of their own condition, attributes and skills and stuff on their Personal Information Sheet - though most people don't actually call it that. Some call it their ‘Overview’, ‘Status’, ‘P.I,’ as in ‘Personal Information’, and I even heard someone call it 'The Master Scroll' once, so you can really get creative with it. My advice is to just pick the one that sounds the best to you. Personally, I just call mine my ‘Overview'."
Karsten started mumbling as he paced.
"It'd be easiest to just call it 'Status'... but that's honestly really boring. I mean, I've read too many novels where they use it to call it that. But if I call it Status, then I'll be like one of the characters of the novels, and that would actually be really cool... No, no, it needs to be something with pizazz, something with some soul to it, ya know? Right?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, right."
"Right! It's gotta be something creative... Is it possible to call it something from a game? Or is that against the rules, or something?"
"Well, I don't know what game you're talking about, but yeah, you can basically call it whatever you want, as long as you tie the name's meaning to the Overview."
“‘Right. Well, then I think I'll call mine 'Elder Scroll’, then, and 'Scroll' for short! Or maybe Elder? Like I'm calling my Elder, or something.” Karsten resumed pacing.
Medoly chukled. "That's a great name. Sounds very official."
"I know, right? The E.S nerd within wouldn't let me call it anything else. It's better than 'Magic Emperor Scroll of Legendary Power', anyway."
"How demure of you. Alright then, let's get to it. To bring up your Overvie- sorry, your Elder Scroll, we’ll need to do what is commonly known as the ‘Initiation Meditation’. The first time bringing it out requires deep focus and some time. Give it some time, and you’ll just have to think ‘Scroll’ and it'll pop up. To do the meditation, we should first block out as much light and sound as possible, basically just make sure there are as few obstacles to falling into the meditation as possible.”
They used the blankets from their beds to block out the light of the sun by hooking them on the nails that slightly protruded from the top of the windowsill. There wasn’t much they could do to soundproof the room, so they just left it as it was.
After all was done, they sat down cross-legged on the floor with around a meter between them.
“The meditation is quite straightforward," Medoly started, "but it will take some time to get into if you’re not used to meditating. Have you meditated before?”
“No, not really. I tried it once when I was coerced by my sister to join her in a mindfulness Yoga class, but it was boring so I just started mentally going through all the songs I know.”
Medoly wanted to ask about this ‘Yoga class’, but quickly decided against it. “Playing songs in your head?” She asked instead.
“Yeah, it’s a skill I picked up in school. I wasn’t allowed to bring my phone- uh, my music instrument into the classroom, so I just imagined listening to my favorite songs. Do that for a couple years, and you get pretty good at it! Apparently it’s called escapism…”
“You went to school?”
Karsten snorted.
Medoly slapped her hand to her mouth. “Ah! Sorry, that was really mean… I-I didn’t mean that. What I meant was, that sounds like a really cool skill! Escapism sounds like a really powerful Spell!”
Karsten chuckled, "That's what I'm saying! Anyway, no, I have basically no experience with it. I'm somewhat familiar with some breathing exercises, though.”
Medoly nodded. "That's fine. The point of the meditation is primarily to get you into a calm state of mind. Just look at it as manually calming down. Then, when you're calm, you sink deep into yourself and simply chant your chosen word repeatedly in your mind until it just kind of pops up.”
“'Pops up'? Like how?”
Medoly shrugged. "You'll see. Start with taking a deep breath, breathing in for five counts,” Medoly started tapping on the floor gently with her index finger in a slow, even rhythm.
Karsten closed his eyes and straightened his posture, lifting his chin slightly as he slowly breathed in through his nose. He felt the air fill his lungs with the stale and dusty air of the Inn. “Hold the breath for four counts.” As he reached the fifth count of the inhale, his body stilled, holding the air in his lungs. “And then exhale for six counts.” Karsten slowly let the air in his lungs go in an even exhale through his mouth, almost coughing a little due to the dust.
Medoly spoke in an increasingly slow and deliberate way, and the rythm of her taps became more drawn out. It was like a hypnotizing hymn, and Karstens mind stilled more and more as he slipped further and further out of the room and into his own being. Every passing second felt like an eternity in this space, but Karsten was the eternity. He felt at peace, as one with the world around him. The soul-deep relief he felt in that moment was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. If he'd known this was what meditation was like, he almost wanted to chastize himself for not doing it earlier. He simply enjoyed the feeling of peace as he breathed, then after a time, Medoly's voice pierced the veil of his thoughts.
"Now, you can start thinking about opening your Overview."
Karsten nodded, at least he thought he did. He couldn't be sure, as the world within his mind and the outside world became unintelligably mixed.
“Elder Scroll.”
The words spread like ripples through his mind space.
“Elder Scroll.”
He chanted again, feeling somthing grow within himself. Following his what his gut feeling was telling him, he directed his words towards it.
“Elder Scroll.”
The world around him turned luminous and a loud 'popping' sensation reverberated throughought his body, as if something trapped had become free.
His consciousness centered itself back into the room on it's own and he opened his eyes - Only to see a foot-long, beige scroll popping into existence directly in front of his face.
“WHOA-” Karsten jerked backwards and smacked the back of his head on the floor. “OW! Bloody hell…” He cursed as he clutched his head and lifted himself off the floor. He looked back at the scroll, and his jaw grew slack.
In front of him was an open scroll suspended in the air. The beige parchment looked inexplicably old, as if it was, well, as if it was an Elder Scroll. And the dowel was made of a rich mahogany, and it was inlaid with what looked like gold. The wooden stoppers on each end of the dowel were carved pieces of that same gold-inlaid mahogany, but with added details. The red string that hung from the middle-top of the scroll hung elegantly in a way that defied gravity. Well, the rest of the scroll evidently held no regard for gravity either, but the way it swayed though the air as if it was alive was mesmerizing. The whole thing looked like something out of myth.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
On the long page there was a long list written in a neat font:
NAME: Karsten Myhr
RACE AND SUBRACE: Human, Otherworlder
CLASS AND LEVEL: Bard // Level 1
HEALTH: 46/50
MAGICA: 25/25
STAMINA: 45/45
EXPERIENCE POINTS: 0/50
ABILITIES
STRENGTH: 13
DEXTERITY: 14
CONSTITUTION: 13
INTELLIGENCE: 9
WISDOM: 10
CHARISMA: 17
PERCEPTION: 10
ABILITY POINTS REMAINING: 0
UNIQUE TRAITS: Otherworlder. You can speak, read and write every language. You have your own personal dimensional subspace.
PROFICIENCIES: Musical instruments (advanced novice), light armor (advanced novice), simple weapons (advanced novice), hand crossbows (advanced novice), longswords (advanced novice), rapiers (advanced novice), shortswords (advanced novice).
SKILLS: Bardic inspiration
SPELLS:
0/4 [See available spells]
CANTRIPS:
0/2 [See available cantrips]
“Holy shit. Wait, it says here I’m an 'Otherworlder', what does that mean?"
Medoly brows furrowed, but before she could say anything, Karsten spoke again. "Oh, right, sorry, that was a stupid question. It's obviously 'cause I'm from another world." He shook his head wistfully, then resumed reading. When his eyes reached the next line on the list, though, his body froze.
"Uh... Medoly? Why does it say I'm a 'Bard'?"
"A Bard? Not gonna lie, that sounds like the perfect Class for you."
"Sure... But the problem is: I didn't choose it."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Just that. I didn't choose it. I haven't even opened my Scroll before, so how could I have chosen a class already?"
"Well... That's weird. I haven't heard of that happening before, so I don't know... Are you sure you haven't just forgotten?"
Karsten rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I haven't just 'forgotten'. My life until now has been magic-free, so I'm pretty sure getting to choose my own set of superpowers would've been pretty memorable. Haaa.... I'm sorry, I shouldn't be letting my frustration out on you. I know it's not your fault, but I just really wouldn't have chosen Bard if I could. So yeah, it is really weird. Could someone have chosen the Class for me, or something? Is that even possible?"
"... It's not."
"It's possible to change it, right?"
"Erm..."
"... Right?"
"Sorry Karsten; Once it's chosen, it can't be changed."
Karsten dragged his hands over his face and groaned. "Ugh. My life."
Medoly placed a hand on his shoulder. "You alright?"
Karsten sighed, then shook his hands as if he was shaking out the dissapointment. "Yeah. Just struck a sore spot. But I'm fine." He took a deep breath and kept reading down the list.
"It also says I can speak and read any language and that I have something called a ‘personal dimensional subspace’, whatever that means. Sounds rare. Is it like an inventory? I swear, this feels like a started pack."
"Wait, personal subspace? That can't be right - and by that I mean, actually impossible."
"How so?"
"All kinds of Magic Casters have been trying to create a permanent plane forever, but no-one's ever succeeded. Even the planes that already exist ebb and flow, so it's not like they're nescessarily permanent either." As she watched Karsten's confused face as he mulled over his Scroll, she felt a pang in her chest. It was pretty obvious the man had been through a lot, judging by the scars on his temples and hands. He even had a missing fingernail. And those were only the scars that were visible... She sighed and looked at his temples. It looked like someone had shoved a pole straight through his head, and it gave her an iffy feeling every time she looked at them.
‘Poor…. poor man. It’s really just depressing at this point. I mean, dementia? On top of everything else? Ballux, give the man a break…’
She scratched the back of her neck. “...Do you remember anything like what you did before? Or where you were? Before we met, I mean.”
"Hm? Oh, uh," Karsten thought about it for a good minute. Though his memories from a few days ago were spotty because of his zombie-like tredge through that God-forsaken forest, he did remember most of what had happened. First, he’d fallen. Hard. Then, he’d looked around a bit before starting to walk in a random direction while singing through his ‘Guilty Pleasure’ playlist.
"Wait…"
"What is it? Do you remember something?"
“Well, yes and no, I guess? I remember singing really well - like, surprisingly well - when I hiked though the woods. Christ, was the Bard Class just automatically chosen because of that? No, even before that - it would've sounded like incoherent ramblings if it wasn't..." The exasperated new Bard did the only thing he could think of. He covered his face with his hands and moped.
"Curse you Blackpink! Why do you make such catchy songs..."
Medoly sighed and patted him on his back. "It's not the worst that could've happened, Karsten. You could have gotten the Curseblade Class!"
"But that one sounds awesome as shit..."
The Ranger shook her head. "Sure, it sounds cool, but it's actually one of the most annoying Classes to have. It's not illegal, most places, anyway, but you'd have a lot of restrictions! Isn't the Bard much better? Hm?"
"..."
"Ans as a Bard, you can eventually use Spells from other Classes. And it's not like you can't be a bladesman even as a Bard. There are really a lot of possibilities for you, you know. The Bard Class is the most flexible class."
Karsten raised his head from his hands and looked at her. "I'll be flexible?"
Medoly snorted. "No, idiot, you'll be versatile. You can be anything you want - and never underestimate the power of a Bard! In basically any situation that isn't combat, they are the most powerful Class." Karsten narrowed his eyes at her, but she didn't double down. "Seriously. I'm not lying. Go to any court ever, and there'll be a Bard there, likely with the most powerful position. There are even some Adventurers you wouldn't ever guess was a Bard based on their power set - that's how versatile the Class is. You just gotta get creative with it!"
Karsten shrugged. "I guess."
Medoly smiled brightly and did what Karsten imagined was meant to be a comforting slap on the shoulder, but was, in actuality, a brutal punch to his still aching back. "There's the spirit! Now, is there anything else on the Scroll you'd like to ask about?"
Karsten looked over the list again. "Well, yeah. Is it fine if I do a rapid-fire?"
Medoly nodded once. "Go for it!"
"Alright. So... It looks pretty straight-forward, but I think asking would be safest either way. What are 'Abilities'?
"Ahem, Abilities are numbers that correspond to your personal abilities. So Constitution, for example, relates to the max amount of Health you have and your sturdiness. Strength also plays into sturdiness, because obviously, muscles play a part in your body's natural 'armour', if you will. You'll find that they all play into one another in different ways. A piece of advice I wish someone would've given me back in the day is to never place all your points into just one Ability..."
"Really? What'd you do?"
"I put all my points into strength..."
Karsten rubbed his back. "No shit."
"Haha, yeah... Anyway - My perseption, and basically everything else other than Strength, is severely lacking in comparison to other Rangers, even just other Adventurers in general."
"So you're like a normal person, but with super strength?"
"Ah, well, not exactly. I'm still level 4, so the other ones are naturally buffed as you get a slight increase in all of them with every level. Not so much as to add an entire point, but you know, a little."
"Alright, pretty straight-forward. What about 'Unique Traits', then?"
Medoly frowned and looked at the ceiling as she thought. "Mmm, I don't really thnk I can help you much with that. Unique traits are super rare - like, extremely, extremely rare, so it's a wonder why you even have one. What did it say again?"
Karsten read over what it said again. "That I can 'read and write every language'."
"Right... Well, that sounds bogus to me, but I guess if that's what it says, it must be true. Could you try?"
"Speaking another language? What should I speak?"
Medoly shrugged. "I don't know. Anything really. Just try."
"Alright... Ahem..."
Karsten straightened his posture and concentrated. He thought of what he should try to speak, but he didn't even know what any of the languages were called, so he just opened his mouth and intending to simply say “My name is Karsten.” in some random language, but all that came out was a noise that sent a soul-deep shiver through Medoly's body, ad made her hairs stand on end. It truly sounded like the man in front of her was trying to regurgitate his breakfast, but musically.
"⍓⍦ ☊⍲⍓ℇ ⟟⎎ ⏧⍲☈⎎⍑ℇ☊"
"..."
"..."
Silence filled the room.
Karsten dug his face into his hands and fell off the chair. He didn't try to get up. It had been a long time since he'd wanted to die this bad.
Medoly’s eyes were intense, her whole body shaking. She really wanted to laugh, but she knew that would be awful of her when Karsten had tried his best, so she bit her lip and coughed.
“Well, how about I clean up our plates and we can get going to the supplies shop.” She picked up the plates and walked over to the room's door. “After that, we can see about trying to find that gormless brother of mine, hm?"
Karsten laughed airily from the floor, still covering his face. “Yeah…”
Karsten sighed. ‘What have I become…?’
Once on the other side of the door, Medoly leaned against it and slid down to the floor. She laid the plates down on the floor and clutched her chest. Her breath was shaky, but she didn't stop manually pushing air into and out of her lungs. Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes, but she quickly dried them with her sleeve before they had the chance to fall.
"How... How does he know that language?"
~-~
Left alone in the room, Karsten turned back to the still hovering scroll in front of him. He swore that snare was alive. Still blushing from embarrasment, he read through the thing again, but still could make two ends of it - So, he decided to try something practical.
Sitting up straight again, he took moments of silence for whatever was left of his dignity, then he started to focus on finding a way to access his dimensional subspace.
As he'd never had an inventory before, Karsten didn't really know where to start. He tried feeling for a connection to the space within him, but didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. He pondered for a while before speaking aloud - this time in the common tongue -
“Dimensional subspace!”
Nothing happened.
“Inventory. Subspace. Dimensional inventory.”
Again, nothing happened.
Feeling at a loss, he jammed his hand out into the air to see if that would do something, and his hand disappeared. Karsten jerked back and stumbled onto the floor yet again. He quickly brought his hand back and up to his face, examining it. It was still there, perfectly intact.
He tried reaching out into the air again, but slower this time. Gradually, his hand started to disappear, from the tips of his fingers to his wrist - his hand simply dissapeared. He continued pushing his hand forward like this until his hand suddenly bumped into something. Reeling back all the way to the wall opposing wall this time, he looked wide-eyed at the space his hand had just been.
"What in the name of the Ballux was that?!?"
He rubbed his hand and checked it again, but still, it was totally fine.
Frankly, Karsten wasn't too keen on trying again, but seeing as nothing was coming out of the invisible hole to destroy the world or eat him, or something, he took a calming breath and reached out his hand into the air yet another time. It disappeared, as expected, and he felt his fingertips touch the cold, solid thing again. He slid his fingertips over it and realized it was a solid, cold wall made of what felt like glass. He proceeded to boldly wave his hand around and found there were four other walls just like it. It was a tiny room, like a cube, and only big enough for him to barely wave his hand around without touching the other walls. He estimated it was about the same size as a basketball.
Putting more weight into his arm, he tried to push the wall, but it didn’t budge in the slightest.
Curious to see what his arm looked like at the point where his hand used to be, he leaned forward and looked at the stump. Then his face twisted in absolute horror.
It looked as if someone had cleanly cut his hand off. Karsten could see the small veins in his arm pulsing slightly to the beat of his heart, the bone in his forearm, marrow and all. Karsten first wondered how there wasn’t any blood trickling to the ground, but then face-palmed when he remembered that his hand wasn’t actually gone, it was just technically not there at the moment. He moved his fingers around and scowled at the sight of the muscles on the inside of his arm squirming.
‘Better be careful where I use that in the future…’
Hearing footsteps approach the room, Karsten quickly removed his hand and stood up, subconsciously hiding his hand behind his back.
“Aright! Should we get going?” Medoly said cheerfully as she swung open the door - only to see Karsten just standing there looking like a puppy that had was hiding something. Then she saw he was hiding his hand behind his back.
“Did, Did something happen while I was gone?”
“Hm? Oh, no, of course not.” Karsten replied dumbly as he clumsily showed her his hand, as if to say that nothing was wrong.
“U-huh… Well. Let’s get going then.” She held the door open, and they both left the Inn.
~-~
“Alright,” she said as they entered the street. “The best place to get affordable healing potions would be at Kimmalich’s Wares. It is in the north-western part of the city and close to the plaza, so it isn’t a long walk. We should also be able to find fairly decent beginner gear there as well.”
They set off in the direction of the supplies store, talking as they walked.
“So what are Spells and Cantrips?” Karsten asked to fill the silence.
Seeming equally as eager to fill the silence, Medoly started explaining. “Spells are the results of a Magic Caster manipulating the raw magical essence of the world in a specific way to create a small, limited result. That is what we’re taught in school, anyway. Don’t be fooled by the description of 'small', though, 'cause there are thousands of spells in the world you wouldn’t even begin to believe the description of. There's one that can literally create a miniature exploding sun. Oh, and that's in comparison to the suns we have, so calling it small would be like calling me weak, haha!”
“Really?" Karsten chuckled. "What’s the most powerful spell?”
“Oh, that would easily be-”
She was about to answer when a disheveled man staggered drunkenly into view, emerging from an alleyway up ahead. There were holes in the young man's clothing, and obvious stains of food on his shirt and pants. He was the same height as Karsten, and they had an unmistakably similar build.
“Poor guy," Karsten muttered, but he was met with silence. He pulled his eyes away from the stranger and turned to look at Medoly, only now noticing she wasn’t standing beside him. He was about to turn around to look back, when a smoldering -
“HENRY!?”
- came bellowing from behind him.
"Henry? Isn’t that your-"
Medoly stormed past him and grabbed the poor man by the collar, dragging him right back into the alley.
“Uh...”
Karsten stood there dumbly, not sure what to do. He could hear Medoly flaming the guy in the alley as if he’d stolen her pretzel.
*SLAP* “OW - What was that for…”
Karsten said a quick prayer for the stranger and sat down on a nearby bench, treating the sound of their argument as background music as he observed the people passing by, breathing out of his nose whenever a passer-by looked worriedly towards the alley.
Fifteen minutes later, a brightly smiling Medoly and an even more disheveled man with a subdued frown on his face emerged from the alley.
“Sorry about that! I just had to catch up with my darling brother here! It’s been five days after all!” Her unchanging smile sent shivers down Karstens spine. “Henry! This is Karsten, the man I told you about, and the guy you will be helping!”
Medoly looked intently at her brother with her arm out, gesturing to Karsten.
Seeing Henry hesitate, Karsten took the initiative. He walked over to the man, Henry, and reached his hand out. Seeing Henry hesitate yet again, Karsten frowned. ‘Are handshakes not a thing here? If not, this probably looks pretty weird…’ Karsten was about to pull his hand away when a glare from Medoly spurred Henry into action. He reached his own hand out, and shook Karsten's.
“Henry Kerdan,” he said in a low, raspy voice.
“Karsten Kerdan,” Karsten replied with a smirk.
Henry narrowed his eyes and turned to Medoly. Medoly gave him one, in a subdued voice. “From today onwards, Karsten here is our cousin. Our third cousin, to be exact. He got bored with his carpentry job up in Golpuse and decided to move here to try his luck as an Adventurer. Karsten, this is my brother Henry. He is also an Adventurer, but he hasn’t done any quests yet. Because of course he hasn't. Still, he knows the area outside of town better than I do, so he'll be a better Guardian for you than I'd be. Now, how about we get going to that shop, hm?”
The men both nodded and obediently followed after her.
~-~
The supplies store was everything that Karsten had hoped for, and more. Hundreds of colorful items were spread out in an amazing display of poor organizing skills.
The trio made their way to the counter, and Medoly tapped the table-top to get the clerk’s attention. The store clerk, a young, frail looking man with curly, brown hair, turned his attention away from a large statue he was cleaning and walked over to meet them. “Hello, patrons. What might I have to help you people with today?” He spoke without even the smallest emotional fluctuation or intonation. He sounded entirely too old for his apparent age. The voice reminded Karsten heavily of Snape from Harry Potter, and the sunken-in face of the young man really strengthened that impression.
“We’re looking for a few different things," Medoly said. "A healing potion, two pairs of pants in size medium, same for a couple shirts…” As Medoly bartered with Snape, Karsten turned to the nearest array of goods and looked over the items that were on display. The first thing that caught his attention was a bright, turquoise coat with a pattern that looked like a water-mosaic. A few places there was a subdued yellow that highlighted the blue shapes, a yellow that just so happened to match the colour of his hair.
He reached out to touch the fabric, when he heard the oung Snape call out - “Anything you break, you buy.” Karsten stifled a laugh at the disapproving tone and assured the store owner that he’d be careful.
Picking the coat up and rubbing the fabric between his fingers, he was surprised at just how comfortable it felt to the touch. Smiling at the disapproving grunt of the clerk, he swung the coat over his shoulders. It fit like a glove. Or a well-fitting coat.
Looking over the sleeves of the garment, Karsten walked over to the counter and stood next to Medoly.
“How much for the coat?” He asked the clerk.
Snape looked at the coat. “3 silver,” He stated flatly.
Karsten winced.
When they’d first left the Kerdan family home, Medoly had given him 1 silver and 13 copper so he at least would have some money to buy the things he needed. Turning around to put the coat back on the rack, he paused when he saw Medoly’s contemplative eyes look it over. “Suits you. I can buy it for you, if you want. Every Adventurer should have at least one deacent piece of clothing. Especially if they're a Bard.”
Karsten reached his hand out and was about to protest when Medoly waved her hand to silence him. "It's fine. You can just pay me back with vast riches when yoy become an Adventurer."
Karsten chuckled. “Thank you.”
After all had been paid for and packed in a small rucksack (and practically thrown at Henry to carry), they left the store. Karsten had immediately downed the Minor Healing Potion, and marveled at the refreshing feeling he felt as the liquid traveled thought his body quicker than he felt was possible, smoothing over all his scabs and scars. It did nothing to the scars on his temples though, but for some reason, Karsten felt those were not scars that could be healed.But aches he didn’t even know he had disappeared like they’d never existed, so he was happy.
Feeling a bit giddy, Karsten looked at his brand new nail. It looked… Well, it looked like any other nail, but to Karsten it might as well have had a mini halo.
Finally, he’d gotten his accursed thumb healed. It had been a minor inconvenience to him this whole time. Every time he’d accidentally brushed the bare flesh on something, it had sent a shiver down his spine, and he had gotten really, really tired of it.
“Alright!” Medoly said. “Now that that’s taken care of, I'll have to get going. Dad’s probably smoking at the ears from annoyance that I left so abruptly, so I’d better get back to the house. I had a great time hanging out with you Karsten, and Henry, consider what I said, alright? I think it'd be good for you. If nothing else, you can look at it as doing me a tremendous favor. And who knows, maybe the Guild will pay you.”
"Sure." Was all the man said.
Karsten turned to Medoly. “You deserve a thousand thanks for everything you’ve done to help me. Seriously. I’d probably be on the streets right now if it weren’t for you. Actually, if I’m being honest, I wouldn't even have gotten that far... So thank you.” He offered his hand to her.
Medoly wanted to protest at the last part, but found herself unable to. She still vividly remembered the state she’d found him in. Battered and trembling from over exhaustion. Covered from head to toe in dry mud mixed with an alarming amount of his own blood.
She smiled compassionately at Karsten and only hesitated slightly before she took his hand and shook it. There was a slight tremor in it, but Karsten figured she was just tired.
“You’re welcome!”