Chapter 1: And the world goes on

AoD: 310, 1/10 – 1;

The very beginning of a tale is the end of another, from the Primal Age to the Land’s Anger, from the Great Ascent to the Pilgrimage and from the Long Night that finally bore the Age of Dawn.

It was a time for a restart, a new tradition rose from the rubble and the profane became the right. Thus was the tale of [Ethr], a tale of 238 yields that will guide [Vant], an expert of spiritual arts.

[Vant] is a disciple of [Ethr], initiated by the means of [Gniv], who was initiated by the means of [Uldz] who was the first one taught by [Ethr]. Neither did [Vant] come to know [Gniv], nor did [Gniv] meet [Uldz] because each of the disciples of [Ethr] were brought as a replacement at the start of the previous one journey and none did return.

That day was the first day of the 310th yield’s spring of the Age of Dawn. [Vant] chose to start his journey by the dusk, following the advice of his brothers who left their diaries to guide a new and even more powerful disciple of the spiritual arts.

It was a tradition from the Primal Age, a spirit caller would take their pupil from their mothers before the first yield. The purpose of this tradition was to stop a child from growing into a mundane and develop the sixth sense, which was the foundation of sorcery.

Of course the present practice was not the same, the spirit callers were long gone, it was merely the same knowledge that was recovered and perfected into the Rite of Origin, the one that enables the use of the sorcerer’s will as a supernatural force.

As for the advice, [Gniv] reported that it is simpler to deal with mundanes at dusk, because they are tired from the day-time work and are not thinking properly, which is the optimal state to offer a deal. [Uldz] however, tried to leave at the pitch-night and met heavy resistance, proving that mundanes are no better than animals and treat everything as a predator when it’s dark.

DONG!

The coged counter was first proposed by the eastern engineers as a version of the counter that requires momentum instead of water, it was quite helpful for sorcery since precision solves the matter of scaling supernatural forces. For example, this counter was settled to properly finish a ritual that requires silence with a single chime, no more than one as it may disturb the perception of time and delay the ritual even more.

The sound went throughout the basement, lighting up all the eight candles at the same time, it was a complex semi-hexagonal room, wood ceiling, brick reinforced walls and gravel covering the otherwise naked soil. An iron-door sealed a chamber at each of the minor walls, those chambers were designed for each of three rituals to raise an expert of the spirit arts.

At the right-most chamber, one filled with Darkness, the gravel moved. Not by interior force, nor an external one, each pebble had a supernatural force of it’s own and moved at the same time, an action of immense focus over an individual, then grasp over the whole.

It soon revealed a body of a man with colors long gone, only skin and bones, once buried under a full step of gravel. It carried the broken name of [Vant] and as the sound faded, something left his lid-less dark eyes. Memories of another life, lived at its fullest with all deeds done, experiences, realization and resentment that a mundane soul may have at the time of death.

Now gone, taken by the Darkness, what remained was a single feeling, one that will remind [Vant] what he is, why he had to live, of where he must return to, of when the time is right and of who he belongs. Because at the end of the day and at the end of all days it is the Darkness that will remain.

Thus was the final binding, the Rite of Essence allows a sorcerer to draw power of any entity and combine with his own will, it is done with a porridge and a full winter covered in dark and cold.

And to test his power, [Vant] tried his new-found soul abyss, he filled his body with Darkness and expelled his will, projecting his soul within the dark. He took a look over his body, it was possible because light wasn’t needed after the Rite of Flesh and neither was the sound or the heat, advantages that didn’t matter anymore for he had the abyss.

Then he used the Darkness to control his body, made it a marionette and pulled the strings. To his surprise, the force was too much, the body rose in less than a tone, almost breaking itself and was slammed right at the door. The sorcery called projection was meant to scout beyond, not to control, but it was the simplest way to test how well he could commune with the Darkness.

[Vant] returned to his now standing own, his will pulled he door and he felt nostalgia. Even though the Darkness took his accomplished life the feeling of age, decay, was strong and the sorcerer smiled. The basement had something new, an animal called feller with a cracked helmet and visibly drugged, it was a present from his master.

Fellers, men be damned for this name, were herbivores with a habit to headbutt trees whenever they felt like eating leaves, they often eat grass and felling was likely a way to wear off the hard leather helmet and conduct reproductive behavior, it was a game animal but some people liked to tame and mount female fellers.

The offering was a male one, a young being that was trying its best to leave and for that [Vant] felt sympathy. Before the Rite of Essence the sorcerer would say honeyed words, either a sorry or a thank you, sorcerers were quite respectful towards nature, even tough the ritual changed how this respect works. Now it feels wrong to humanize nature as nature is already perfect and being gentle, rude, or whatever is nothing but an insult compared to simply finishing business faster.

[Vant] knelt down, his left hand grasped the throat as the animal tried to fight but then will forced a channel through the hand, fur and leather, a blood link was formed and the feller stopped its motion. Rotten matter left the sorcerer, replaced by the meat, bones and blood from the offering and the bodies changed, both of them.

Vital exchange is the name of this sorcery, one that works solely on will and demands the Rite of Flesh, it is designed to balance the health of two living beings but this time was used to prey and forge a new body for the sorcerer who became taller and stronger as new teeth, nails, tongue and eye-lids grew and replaced what the last ritual took. Within less than two jabs [Vant] rose, he most likely made a new appearance as he didn’t remember what he looked like and certainly went overboard since he wanted a tool, not something good looking.

Satisfaction, after forty yields of tutelage plus another life worthy of time [Vant] was ready for his holy mission, the sorcerer just had to do his final disciple matters.

The first one being to clean his mess, the sorcerer walked around the basement collecting his options and touched the flame of a candle. Fire is a representation of entropy, a force that ravages the spirit and is specially dangerous for an expert of spiritual arts, his previous brothers couldn’t handle the fire and [Ethr] was only capable of indirect manipulation, however [Vant] had talent.

A very unique will, able to corrupt whatever he can reach and then fill it with anything that was previously given, [Vant] was a perfect transfer tool, a messenger embraced by the Darkness and now that he had an abyss of his own he could touch the fire and explore the limits of sorcery.

The fire tried to eat his forefinger, it was fed instead with will and it happily grew stronger because entropy is not fond of life, even at the vital exchange some matter was lost but now the rules were different and the will ate the fire from the inside bringing forth the abyss that formed a new flame of dark color.

Will-o’-the-wisp is a thin dark flame, a phenomena that doesn’t belong to reality and will bring whatever it touches to the realm of illusion where it can eat but it does only lasts as long as one can feed it will without being devoured. Of course, it takes a great amount of foolishness to test how long one can manipulate will-o’-the-wisp so [Vant] simply dropped it over the almost living carcass and watched how feller became illusion, how it sank with considerable velocity and went underground.

It would take time but the fire was bound to die with no sorcerer to feed it will, at the same time the carcass would return to reality and unleash energy strong enough to cause a small tremor, which is quite bothersome but sorcery had to have consequences and being a sorcerer was all about dealing with consequences.

With the carcass gone [Vant] waved his hand at the candles and pointed at the counter, he commanded his will to stop every motion and took the stairs for the main hall as the basement returned to an undisturbed dark state.

[Ethr] had a big house, with a basement and three floors above the ground, it had an old appearance simply because it was the first building and the one to survive over the yields as the town of [Ethr] grew around, it was a piece of history that carried the tradition of the balancing fours. Four rooms, four floors, four entrances and four windows to keep a house free from dooms.

There were variations but this superstition reigned over the West, some people had a two stories house and eight rooms, one entrance and three windows, a mansion could have a pattern of sixteen and there were many ways to follow multiples of four with the exception of twelve, because twelve was just a step away from three, a number that was born from imbalance and therefore a weak spot in the desired protection.

This very matter of superstition came to him after one nostalgic sight, the living room had barrels, shelves and tables filled with presents of every sort, things [Ethr] collected over the yields to relieve her angst since she couldn’t die and lost their meaning when she found a solution.

[Ethr] was a very old broken name, it brings the memories of a very persistent fellow, of those who stand against a severe hardship, of the feelings of perseverance and even more because the name is broken and its meaning is not complete. [Ethr] was once a man, the very town of [Ethr] has tales about his teachings, about a cursed man that couldn’t live because he couldn’t die. It took yields to find an answer and it was discovered by [Uldz] because he had great imagination and proposed a solution based on omelets.

Doesn’t matter how many eggs, omelet is still omelet so, instead of dying [Ethr] simply had to add another soul and give it both the name, experiences and strength of [Ethr], this way any person can become [Ethr] and since it’s not possible to exist two of the same person at the same time, both the new and the old [Ethr] would fuse and form a new one, relieved from the fatigue of living.

Thus the [Ethr] that taught [Gniv] was already a female, a change apparently made on a whim and the [Ethr] that raised [Vant] was another woman, it means no less than 3 changes and so the curse of immortality was bypassed and the hoarding behavior lost its meaning.

The sorcerer followed a wild line of thought as he listed even more similarities, completely oblivious to the consequences not because of stupidity but due to the importance of his conclusion, both the oscillating antiquities and the ever rising will were meaningless against the importance of embracing his true place…

“Vanti?” A female voice, one that certainly belongs to [Ethr], despite the young tone the sorcerer could still feel affection and so far only his master was capable of loving him.

And the one who appeared was indeed a young, no more than twenty yields, chubby girl with curly dark hair up to her waist and eyes darker than night, [Vant] could feel his will being taken as if he was returning home but then he stopped, home was no more, only sadness and sorrow.

“Why? I had so much to tell you, about the mission and how to tame fire.” [Ethr] did change once more, this meant that the old lady was gone, that she made the decision to initiate the Rite of Heritage and parted and now [Vant] had to go without a master to look at his back.

[Ethr] took a half step towards him, the sight of a nude saddened enormous man was something else so she couldn’t come closer and pointed at him, then at a barrel, then at him and repeated even faster, the new [Ethr] had a goofy side but the sorcerer could still follow her command.

It was a barrel full of will-warped fiber, a tool that also served as clothing, with direct contact a sorcerer would use will to command the dust-like substance, giving it form and color, which was not recommend for those who wanted discretion because following the imaginations does create clothing with a mismatched feeling easily noticed by mundanes.

For example, [Ethr] had a white light dress that was problematic to replicate without undesired transparency, it was too perfect and clean although rarely a fault. And [Vant] considered it useful to have some recognition as he made his green pants and a pink shirt, a clear mess of colors over his enormous body to prevent unfruitful interactions.

“Huh!” As soon as he was dressed, [Ethr] tossed herself at his back, giving a motherly hug.

“I’m sorry Vanti! It just had to be, you were so lovely I was afraid I couldn’t let you go, please forgive this dastard of a master, I had to change!”

“Enough. Forgiveness antagonizes learning and pain builds temperance.” A cruel test is both a necessity to properly deal with the strong bond and made to teach [Vant] to move on.

“Faster than I thought, well done. Now tell me what were you thinking to cause such… Disturbance.” A careful choice of words, this was a genuine inquiry.

“This improvement of perception led me to the idea of you being the Darkness itself.”

[Ethr] pushed him away, the surprise quickly became opportunity and she turned him and brought him back by holding his face.

“What gave me out?” No need to hide anymore, [Vant] was loyal and was already hers.

“These gifts, offerings? The way you display them as you try to hide their worth from guests who are yet to come is possessive and the very same possessiveness I felt when I lost my accomplished life and is what I feel when I look at your eyes. Master is quite ruthless and shouldn’t force what is already yours.”

“Hmm. Do I need to reorganize my things? It’s a secret that I would like to keep.”

“One needs to have a soul abyss to notice this habit, which means only those who already belong to you will know, right?”

“Not really, there are many ways so I need to think.” [Ethr] released him, walked around the living room and sat on her favorite armchair. “Take some fiber for your boots, your shoes doesn’t fit you anymore and bring my child.”

*

Talana’s tale was a mundane one, mundane means men be damned and it’s originally a slang used by those in power towards those who are poor, sick, violated or under any sort of doom. After the Long Night this slang evolved into a word to basically refer people unable to use either magic or sorcery to defend themselves.

The Long Night was a consequence of the sorcerers' raid against the Ebony Tower, it caused magical waste to cover the sky and created abominations all over the land in a very successful attempt to kill Calia, the goddess of magic.

She was the one to stop the pilgrims from sealing all of the Holy Pantheon and her tower was supposed to protect the kingdom of Calia, it was a tragedy that one single sorcerer managed to tamper with the project and she ended up building her own trap and couldn’t survive the coordinated attack. The surviving gods then shattered the vulnerable territory of Calia and ordered their kings to cease any interaction with the West as well as to terminate those who were unable to prove their birth on the previously Seven Kingdoms.

The tragedy also doomed the future as Calia was the one who created the power gems and the Six Kingdoms had to restrict magic to nobility. Once again, Talana’s tale was a mundane one, it happened quite often whenever a mayor was appointed to a town and the previous one offered a daughter as a concubine to strengthen relations. Her purity was sold, she was beaten and the humiliation urged her to flee to the West.

And right after the beginning of her travels she realized the pettiness of her world, the nobility she feared so much was disregarded by the very merchants who sold them western luxuries, mercenaries had official quests to escort land wide caravans and the western’s faith was present all around the six gods who were under constant intimidation.

The Six Kingdoms already lost, the sorcerers did infiltrate the East and were breaking power gems as to tarnish the gods’ influence and facilitate the emigration towards the safer and richer West. In fact, it took a considerable amount of bad luck for one to fail and die at the weak borders and Talana managed that.

She bought her place at Galton’s Caravan, a seasoned merchant who had prepared to take his wife and child away from Rasan, he contracted two teams of mercenaries, his three carriages pulled by horned leapers which is a very aggressive mount from the mountains of Calia and did many useless preparations to endure the sight of his son being tore in half.

An abomination broke open the ground right behind the ten yields boy, it was a creature with the shape of a tall man but furred like a rat and had dagger-like claws almost as scary as its warped face. It was only one abomination tough, something that six mercenaries could easily repel if a certain fallen noble didn’t explode.

The Alliance did have a special policy for fallen nobles that required them to remove their power gems and forsake their lives as mages, it’s a very important clause to prevent a random sorcerer’s interference because sorcerers did have a tendency to impose unfair deals. Even after three yields Talana wasn’t sure of her choice as her fear of death prevailed and she agreed to let the sorcerer use her as living bait.

Those who did not like the terms were fed to the abomination as the sorcerer didn’t have a purpose for them anymore, for those who did agree the terms were simple: First, the sorcerer would try his very best to mind control the abomination and keep them safe, note that his very best wasn’t enough as he got distracted once and both Galton and his wife died. Second, they would not go further than forty steps away from the abomination and were required to always approach the sorcerer’s location and the problematic part is that the sorcerer removed a proportional grade of protection from any who challenged his command and that’s how she lost her right arm when a kind mercenary tried to flee and dragged her along by the same limb. Third, they would not eat in front of the creature unless they fed it because it would be too cruel to let it starve as they feast, which was the worst one because they had to offer the dead since they were always ahead of the abomination, one night Talana herself had to give her cold arm for snack to dine with some peace.

And the unspoken aspect of this deal was the reason for the sorcerer's distraction, he was testing an enchanted bow from rifts away and was still on the move after eight days, when he dismissed the survivors from the impossible task. The magical asshole, which is how Talana began to call both mages and sorcerers, did not give his name nor properly dismissed them and it was necessary to wait a few more days before leaving the unmoving abomination.

There, at the midst of a typical western grassland, the four survivors managed to find an even bigger caravan that took them in for the cost of looting what remained of Galton’s belongings and Talana gained a new life at the town of [Ethr].

Naming the cities after the ruling asshole was a tradition from Primal Age, it does help a traveler to gather important intel and residents will know who they have to pamper for protection. The main differences between mages and sorcerers is the unwillingness the last show when dealing with mundanes and the attention seeking nature of the first, and both of these explain the richness of the West as the people only have to deal with assholes when there is a crisis.

That being said, Talana had the three best yields of her life, she overcame her disability, she made a best friend and it may be the result of her mistake but she’s waiting a child out of her own decision and for that she is proud.

“Hmm!” Laziness came to her once more, the last eights of pregnancy went hard as she had to deal with insomnia and then force herself awake right after finding the best spot to rest her back, switching rooms didn’t help much either but it was deemed necessary after the incident.

The so called needle tea episode happened at the last eight of winter, when rumors about a sorcerer taking one of the children born at the first day of spring ran all over the town and an opportunistic botanist sold dried needles to nine late-stage pregnant and told them to drink its tea to have an earlier delivery.

Of course she bought it, she didn't want to give her baby to a magical asshole and grass needle indeed does act as hemorrhagic poison and could end a pregnancy, but not in a good way and certainly not dried needle tea. An old hunter is likely to use grass needle paste and there’s a tale of a cheated wife trying to kill a mistress only to fail because the paste wasn’t strong enough for the deed.

It was a disaster, five died within rounds and health-mongers had to take action, the said botanist was banned from [Ethr] and volunteers were asked to oversee and drag the poisoned women to daily therapy. As for Talana, her personal guard was the younger sister of her best friend, she was a gentle girl of fourteen yields who needs to work manners and nurture her charms.

“Auntie, hey auntie, hey, hey.” The girl shook her shoulder, it was specially annoying because it was the right one.

“Hmm. Norane? The back feels so good.”

“Auntie, restroom. Go and shushushushu.” It was already hard to ignore her childish voice, so playing dumb so close to her inner peace.

“You little, now I have to go.”

Norane offered a hand and she got out of the bed with a minor dizziness, her body wasn’t the same after the incident and she knew its a serious condition because the girl took the initiative to cover the four mirrors they had.

For sure she wasn’t the perfect example of a modest person as she took herself for attractive and the men of [Ethr] were fond of a tall, blonde woman with the sky in her eyes, but not enough to marry a disabled woman, they only wanted a taste and she sold it last fall. Once more, she did not feel any shame, her earnings were used to pay most of the house and there’s still some to help raise a child.

“Done?”

“Done!”

Aside from the unexpected sexual behavior, the west also had a custom of private toilets and there are talks about a private baths as well, which she was yet to find but the matter of toilets was possible thanks to a powder of strong smell that turns filth into clean disposable dust. Thus, Norane made her way and dropped a spoon of cleanse powder over the toilet and quickly left, the strong smell would last for 40 jabs and was main reason for having windows at the toilet room.

“Now madam, I think it’s too late for a full breakfast.”

“Oh? Please speak your mind.” Talana recognized the maid-like play and went with it.

“I do recommend a fruit of mysterious flavor and a reddish aspect, I heard it’s the deserved sweet for the tongue of yours”.

“Pfff… Too much, too much. I’m not a goddess, just selling fruit is enough little maid.”

“Well, you are like a goddess to us. What about earth fruit? It’s a really red one and might be sweet.”

The earth fruit is found at grasslands by the winter’s end, it grows as the snow melt to the size of an adult’s head, it usually has pinkish color but some are indeed red and the white flesh is good to chew.

“I’m on it, but you take the first bite.” The flavor was always a surprise, something between bitter, sour and sweet.

“Nope, we do moons and suns.” She said as she took a fair token from her dress pocket, the west had an economy based on fair and unfair tokens, the first ones were made of silver and used to livelihood trades and the last was made of gold and used to trade luxury simply because gold had the same value all over the land.

“Can’t have surprises, remember?”

“Won’t surprise you if you expect the worst.”

“This brat... Fine, go ahead.”

She tossed the coin three times and lost all of them, which really improved Talana’s mood but the best came after the girl cut open the fruit and ate a full spoon of white flesh. Norane even tried to fake a good expression, called it sweet as she quickly swallowed but the sourness remained at her young palate and she made the best face Talana saw in a while.

“Hahahahahaha!”

“It’s not funny, the reds are supposed to be sweet.”

“They are never sweet, it’s likely a legend to prank kids.”

“Like wood men? Or like vagrant mages?” Talana heard about them, these vagrant mages were basically odd sorcerers with the interest of searching the right people to offer a deal just so they can watch people suffer. Which is a funny concept because sorcerers didn’t like being called mages and pretty much everyone used the shorter word for both of them with the exception of sorcerers, mages and Talana who still called them magical assholes.

“Vagrant assholes, maybe? There could be wood men preying on hunters as well. Now it’s my turn.”

And she ate it, despite being sour it was really good to chew so the hard part was to stop eating them and leave some for Senova, she also need room for a proper lunch since it was late and a pregnant can’t skip the important meals.

After breakfast, Talana got a blue dress and both of them parted to find Senova at the Artisan’s Guild, going up the nail street. The three of them had jobs as artisans, Talana herself had a talent for molding and her pottery was popular thanks to her disability, western people were also fond of over dramatic tales.

Her best friend Senova was a woodworker, she had the average height of a western woman, short dark-brown hair and a round face full of freckles that made her too adorable to have strong manly arms, Senova was also ten yields older than Talana and took the initiative to work for the three of them after the incident, she could feel her friend had an overprotective fatherly aura but she would not deny her rights, not after the talk about prostitution.

On the way they met Galbar, the guard in charge of the nail street, each street had a guard assigned by the Broken Scales Trading Company to protect artisans and sellers for the cost of a fair token per eight, sure it wasn't mandatory to pay but not everyone was proficient in combat. Meeting Galbar felt bothersome, for some reason the guard believed he was the father and even got into a fight with his wife for being a regular at the last fall’s festival and to avoid troubles they didn't trade a single word, Galbar was most likely checking if Talana was alive.

Twelve yields of service, the story of a traveler who took a job at the walls and stayed after meeting his love, a man who despises violence and is known to teach the importance of dialogue, a father of two and the last that one would expect to cheat and become a stalker, Talana had a bad feeling about him, an instinct that screamed this guard wasn’t in the right state but, again, westerners had a liking for over dramatic tales and they assumed this was a case of love at first sight and were actually cheering for him, some even did suggest divorce and even polygamy to show responsibility.

Talana had enough of men, the events of last fall happened because Senova brought up the idea of marrying just to have a proper roof and leave the Guild, a stupid idea that would led both of them to a life of humiliation and she preferred to sell her body instead. Thus, the best way to deal with Galbar was to quicken their steps and get to the guild as soon as possible, get some silver and leave for another town.

The Artisan’s Guild was a simple but huge barn, it was built to store food at the early stages of the village of [Ethr] and as the walls expanded and new land claimed the barn lost its function and was later lent to the local association of artisans. There one could find tools, tables and materials for the price of a fair token per eight plus the tax of another token per ten sales, which was cheap simple because [Ethr] had no use for cash and spent everything to maintain the barn.

Sometimes it wasn’t enough to maintain the guild and people had to elect a guild master to collect and manage donations for half a yield, sometimes it was necessary a guild master to teach orphans and mobilize people to renew the Temple of Death buildings but there wasn't a formal leader for some reason related to the magical assholes that Talana didn’t give a fuck.

For now she was helping Norane prank her sister, the girl packed up a basket with bread, eggs and more leftovers along the fruit to give a morale boost and was about to cut the entire barn at full speed when she got the loudest “HOOOOOLD!” that a woman could yell. Of course, the guild was a noisy place and the artisans were known to yell at each other from time to time however, as there were smiths and crystal blowers showcasing their work, Senova yelled with all her might and silence followed the commotion.

“I told you! Don’t! Run! At! The! Guild!” Senova was mad but still had some control as she walked around her colleagues with all the care, it was quite the scene her changing from enraged parent to mindful professional at each word.

“But the way is clear!”

“Habits! It’s about habits, you run today, maybe tomorrow and the days after and then you learn you can run as long as you know your way and then your way is changed by something you can’t control and you are the next Molgang, remember?” Molgang was an apprentice who died while practicing his dance for the last summer festival, he was used to his senior's place and no one expected him to trip and fall next to a working farrier.

“Sorry.” She wasn’t close to Molgang but received quite the shock at the news of a kid with broken head.

“It’s alright dear, just mind your surroundings.” Senova gave her a strong hug to reward her admitting the mistake. “Now, what did you bring? I’m kinda starving right now.”

“Leftovers and earth fruit.”

“Huuummm! Leftovers.” She gave Talana a question gaze and got a hand gesture indicating they had to do groceries again together with a motion to along with the prank. “Ah! You said earth fruit?”

“Yup! And it’s really sweet, look at the skin.”

“Red, indeed.” She got the open fruit and a spoon, took a bite and got closer to this fat woman known as Zalreia, a senior adorner focused on painting a vase.

“What?”

“Do you still have salt?”

“My pocket, take it.”

A little bit of salt and she took another full spoon and another while still eating some flesh and swallowed and filled her mouth again, Senova completely forgot about the prank, the girl gave up as well since her sister looked so overworked and three people, Zalreia included, watched the famished woman.

“Ah! It’s sour, right? I’m sorry.” She didn’t stop eating though.

“Well, you shouldn’t worry too much and just eat.” Talana finally spoke. “There will be more leftovers after lunch and we are planning on dining out as well so you can join us.”

“Really? I’d appreciate it. This client asked for a boat, you know.” She pointed at her place, right behind the table a naked log rested over four working poles. “I told him it was possible to complete within six days and then he offered a bonus if I could finish within four.”

“Damn, don’t you have apprentices to help?”

“The guild master had the same idea but I can’t have kids messing with a boat, their mistake will drown both the client and my reputation on Emerald River.”

“So… hmmm… Gotta leave this by the table.” A very impressed Norane excused herself, she didn’t want to burden her tired sister even more.

“What a sweetheart.”

“Could learn some manners as well.”

“Don’t be so harsh, kids have their own steps.” Senova always took her sister’s side but this time it looked more of a realization of her own experience than her usual sister talk. “Anyways, you have therapy, right? Right?”

“Yes mom, I will have the ring again, like every single day.” The Temple had divisions called chains, one for health, another for wisdom, the obvious faith chain and infamous modesty chain. Priests of health chain were called health-mongers, after every attendance they would give a single bloodsteel ring for each woman who accepted the sisterhood, the said rings could be used either as income or to ask the assistance of another sister.

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“You better do so, also bring something delicious for lunch I’m getting sick of bread.”

*

Falnore of [Ethr], known as mother Falnore, was a health-monger for about forty three of hers sixty five yields, sure she had enough bloodiron to promote herself into higher ranks and life taught her the importance having an assurance. It’s just that life wasn’t so simple, she grew old, she buried both her husband and children and then grew even older as people demanded her guidance and fighting sadness became part of the routine.

Bloodiron, bloody iron, made by the high priests with their own blood and clay, wasn’t hard as the name implies and could break, it was designed to crumble by itself because it was a representation of life, something that one may give for a favor, for success, to help a friend, to do anything before the certain death and so is the doctrine of the Temple of Death.

She didn’t deserve the nickname, her fellow priests did better at the orphanage and education, back in the day she didn’t think of teaching girls the basics of literature and first aid as it was sufficient to teach the means of adulthood. It was necessary to teach women how to prevent crotch disease and blood curses, as women were the ones to teach children to establish a new culture, however, time taught about the dangers of ignorance.

One girl managed to get a child of her brother and missed the time for abortion, another didn’t know of the father, sometimes a father would violate his own daughter, sometimes an uncle and the unlucky ones would have their words against a rich man while swindlers would try to prey over their fears. Literacy would feed their brains, medicine would heal their bodies and despite the ugliness of the world the sisters would thrive together, Falnore can’t help but feel incompetent as she didn’t think of neither.

Falnore could only lessen the damage of her laziness, for that she made a hospital of her own house and invited the unfortunate quartet to daily sessions of therapy. The therapy was all about giving space for a solid sisterhood and let them cry and overcome their hardship by their own means.

And her success was small, she needed a diary to notice the slow progression for today’s attempt, which is a massage the sorcerers recovered from old parchments. Many do have an impression of sorcerers not liking people and forget there’s an ongoing war to heal the Land Spirit, but the high priests know the story and will teach those who reach the Holy Citadel.

The primal word for sorcerer is a combination of teacher and priest, they were radicals of the modesty chain and were proven right given the results of the Pilgrimage, but the pilgrims themselves were not sorcerers, they were fanatics who the sorcerers taught a single ritual to seal the self-proclaimed god of justice. No one expected the pilgrims to storm all over the land and for that the Temple formally asked the sorcerers to follow the unfair-fairness policy.

People could use rituals and call upon supernatural forces as well, the massage was retrieved from a ritual because it had the potential to renew blood, it is now done with orchid lotion to promote kinship and the medicine Falnore used on her girls was oil-friendly. It was so obvious but she had to work her way to have an opportunity for such awkward treatment.

They arrived by the ninth round, Falnore was certain they waited and soothed each other’s minds in a very sisterly behavior because after so many explanations the massage became stupidity, maybe a joke but was still awkward. To lessen the burden she also asked them to invite their overseers and as she expected seven women arrived at her house.

It was this poor soul who didn’t know she had so many half brothers and was the daughter of a mistress, now forsaken because her overseer spoke too much and living at the orphanage, she was the only one who tried to give birth at the spring’s first. Her name was Aldava, a skinny girl with short dark hair who had a fair body and majestic dark braids, she was alone because her overseer was pressured to break relations with the Temple and Falnore now was trying to have her as apprentice by the end of summer, the girl only has to persist a little bit more.

“Welcome ladies I see you made up your minds for todays.”

“It’s not like we had a choice granny.” The brat answered as she made her way, it was a short girl with cheeks way too cute for her personality.

“Norane! It’s gone waters and you agreed with it.” She was right, as to not burden the overseers too much the priests offered themselves for today’s event but none of the three accepted.

“Anyways, make yourselves comfortable and have some spring juice.” Her living room was different, the furniture was moved elsewhere and blankets covered the floor, leaving no place for shoes.

Drinks to replenish their fluids, a brazier filled with aromatic herbs and a fifty pound jug of lotion, the girls could tell Falnore was really into it and the girl were happy to see her enthusiasm.

“Now please let undress ourselves.”

“Yeah... Juice.” Senova was quite the traditionalist and Norane took after her, she needed something sweet to cope with her overseer duty.

The procedure lasted for two rounds, first it was necessary to reset the bladder and spring juice was perfect to deal as the acidic but sweet flavor caused the viscera to expel dormant fluids and to quicken this process they had to stretch with their bellies full of juice for about forty jabs.

The second step was to increase the heat, the brazier already dispersing a grassy smell so it was only needed to add dried bark from the northern proud tree. This caused made the mist thicker and the air caught their own body heat as well as the brazier’s, it felt like a hot day of summer for something close to five jabs and then Falnore suppressed the brazier, letting the mist carry away.

Perspiration, some looked like they fell on the Emerald River and the stink seemed to not care bout the herbs, they were also panting and Falnore learned why there was a warning to not close the windows. Still, she instructed the pregnant to lay and rest as the overseers dried up their bodies and she was about to dry Aldava when the brat took the initiative to help the unfortunate woman.

It’s all about sisterhood, women had to stay united till the day of the Spirit’s return and for that this massage was already a success. The overseers shared their strength as to not bother the elder, the unfortunate were moved and had the first natural talk among themselves, no longer needing a priest to provoke them.

“I don’t know, I really hope it’s a girl.” Talana let Raunai dry her breasts as she watched her curious eyes ask questions about her stump. “No dear, it didn’t hurt too much because the shock made me faint and people had medicine ready at the time. What were we talking about? Right, I hope it’s a girl because I’m having difficulty dealing with men these times and I’m not sure if I can stop my own kid from being an asshole as well.”

“It’s Galbar, he’s being creepy these days.” Norane explained as she finished with Aldava with a wink to seal something between them.

“That’s not like him. Well, he stopped my father from beating me and caused a fuss so I’m quite biased.” Lohdan spoke in his defense but got a weird look from Belsina. “What?”

“Sometimes a woman feed her boy too much attention and it grows to think himself a hero, it’s a common mistake as vanity is really close to kindness but they are too self-centered and deception will break their manly shell, releasing a beast to prey over the foolish maiden. That’s why mothers should raise her boys with reality.” Falnore gave a lesson but got no response and tried another approach. “In short, they lacked a good beating and I must tell you to not pity your own kids. Punish their mistakes, even if you go overboard or if they had reason, the beating will serve to show them people are fragile and not a part of their world.”

“Also, father told me he has a forced sex fetish and sometimes his wife hides at my house as well.” Belsina finished what remained of Galbar’s reputation and her sister furiously nodded.

“Men be damned. I will have a step over the Company.” Falnore contemplated as her plans were changed and the sisterhood saved yet another life.

The talk proceeded as the quartet sat in a rectangular formation at the arms distance, the overseers soaked them in lotion and Falnore proceeded with more instructions. First following their lefts to smooth their backs, shoulder and hips, then break into two pair to deal with breasts, neck and legs, then return to the rectangular formation but following their rights and standing to properly massage each other’s legs and belly and another break into pairs for a final stretch.

All the while the overseers kept the women wet and sometimes a pair would grab a careless girl for a massage, which was intended. The rectangular formation left way too much space to provoke the empty nest reaction and being naked triggered the instinct to group and share body heat, Falnore praised the sorcerer who took time to write a manual with so much zeal.

The end was merely leaving them to rest and dry, but they still offered help to clean up the mess and Falnore wouldn’t deny group activities, the counter hit the tenth round and then passed over to the first round of noon and made a half way for the next one, meaning she was late for lunch.

She planned to eat at Rovag’s, the lad retired from hunting to take care of his sick father and his love created the most delicious recipes an elder could eat. It’s a mystery how those big hands can cook with so much care and she saw him going to the fields by the sunrise, which meant gluttons.

Gluttons were Spirit-blessed birds with soft bones and a very particular way of catching that required feeding them delicious food and exploiting their instinct to eat what they could before the famine. They were originally migratory birds but the men fed them enough food to keep them around throughout the seasons and there are some ideas of trying to breed bigger and egg-laying gluttons just like day birds.

Each hunter had a recipe for catching gluttons that affected the meat, some would commit the mistake of feeding them spring berries and the meat would end up squishy and some would try to feed them gluttons causing the birds to have hard meat instead. But Rovag had talent for cooking and was a hunter for five yields motivated to create wonders with the Spirit-blessed bird.

“Hey mother Falnore.” Norane caught her attention. “So, hmm…. About the lunch.” She was conscious of her earlier behavior and showed difficult at asking the obvious as she traded glances with the Talana and Aldava.

“It’s quite late but I’m thinking of Rovag’s glutton, have you eat gluttons my girl? You can chew their bones as if they are meal roots. Nhac, nhac! Nhac, nhac!” Falnore exposed her elder mouth with missing teeth and made an audible motion.

“Bffft! I think we need something soft as well.” She also wanted to invite the rest but they excused themselves and left, which was fine as quartets always called good fortune.

Rovag’s Fresh&Food was bar in Falnore’s neighborhood, just three jabs walking up street and it was quite hard to notice the small board and the regulars preferred it this way, actually Rovag only opened his bar because his father wanted to share good food with friends, Falnore included of course. Now that old Valbor is gone, the lone Rovag still cooks for elders and ask for advice over his life. Falnore already told him he needs a wife and kids to distract his mind but the lad is stubborn and refuse further help to arrange a marriage.

The bar was a small annex to Rovag’s house, something uncommon as people liked to separate housing from business, it’s just that Rovag thought the house was too big for a single and didn’t want to deal with the Company. Of course it wasn’t necessary to call the Company, the West followed the Principle of Vacancy, unused lands and buildings could be claimed as long as one could maintain and defend the property and properties were considered unused after a yield of vacancy. People just called the Company to defend their properties when absent and the Company would sell them if the owner went missing for two yields, because protection had a cost per eight and the company only accepted payment in advance.

Still, they were late. Seven elders combined two tables to avoid leaving a trio and ruined the ambient, leaving a single table at the corner with some privacy. A grace has its grace and people should appreciate it, Falnore approved it and asked the girls to sit as she went for Rovag.

"Quite the ruckus we have here lad, happen to know the reason?”

“Danelvo managed to find a caravan for his girl and went to the Citadel, we might have a new priest soon.”

“Good news, did they leave some gluttons? I brought six people today and they have to bring food to another one.”

“Six? Oh! Right, so you want me to prepare a meal for eight? What about the servings?”

“Cream and something solid, no leaves as they are too skinny, what do you think?”

Men were fond of meat and liked women with plenty of healthy weight, the so called fair body as it’s fair for a good man to have such partner for life. However Rovag didn’t fall for the trap and simply nodded and asked for a fair token per two birds, it would take time to fix the lad’s life.

*

The task of taking a mundane child was a contrast to what [Gniv] and [Uldz] reported, mundanes were supposed to offer their children and [Vant] would have to choose the one who better reacted to will, instead [Vant] had to search and deal with people avoiding him.

Which didn’t make any sense, [Vant] also grew up in [Ethr] and people were kind to him, even though his form is different people should know to not fear sorcerers as they weren’t targets. There were some who actively try to propose deals to mundanes but they were traditionalists and were limited by the unfair-fairness policy.

[Vant] broke his own thoughts as he noticed it, sorcerers only accepted defined terms and the said policy lacked definition upon questioned. What defines a fair relation? Why does it need to be unfair? What happens if he disagrees? It only says that a sorcerer must cause harm whenever they help as to teach mundanes to not depend on sorcerer but it is actually the sorcerers who needs mundanes to perform powerful rituals, why would a sorcerer accept a policy that undermines most of his powers?

Thus [Vant] had his first evidence of tempering and made questions about his colleagues, did they notice it as well? Why would a sorcerer let an entity temper with reality? To which he found out it was needed to. If you let an entity act through the means you can control them you can control the said entity, this also meant that [Vant] was dealing with a sealed entity and not Darkness since [Ethr] was an ally and there was no reason to control her.

Darkness, Fate, Harmony, Inspiration, Might, Motivation and Pleasure were all the entities and only Darkness didn’t betray the Spirit. It is not possible to force an entity into the dead-state like the pilgrims did to the self-proclaimed gods simply because entities were too powerful so they needed to put them under control and seal their powers just like they did to the Spirit.

Fate was sealed by the mathematician [Zrba] through the curse of madness that split the entity into two mortal enemies, Destiny and Doom and neither of them can’t recover the lost power because the land is under the superstition of the balancing fours.

Harmony was sealed into the bottle of the never ending wine thanks to actions of [Urbl] the liar, who only told a single truth in his entire life and the entity didn’t believe him, causing the curse of drunkenness to annul her power.

Inspiration had too much pride and is still trying to impress the [Nmny] who are a collective mind and can’t agree on anything, which leaves the entity’s ego vulnerable to the curse of obsession.

Might was trying to beat the wood warriors, who were ancient heroes of another crisis and were strong enough to fight alongside the Spirit against an even bigger threat.

The Pilgrimage made Motivation flee the land and [Gniv] was chasing the traitor overseas, it’s the most difficult one as it might flee again if [Gniv] isn’t careful.

And Darkness threw Pleasure into the Rift, were the residual Spirit anger corrupted the entity and she’s fighting illusions since then. Darkness thought about finishing the job but she is afraid of the corruption and tasked [Uldz] who was last seen at the Holy Citadel, the last checkpoint before the Rift.

So it was clear that an entity was trying to tamper with the fourth disciple of [Ethr], which one [Vant] isn’t sure as tampering was a common pattern and even Darkness used this strategy to avenge the pilgrims. He needed more clues so he had to play along and ask what the entity wanted him to do.

The simple solution to find his new brother was to use his will and locate a child younger than one yield so it was the only thing he couldn’t do.

“Good evening.” [Vant] approached a merchant at the Company, an incompetent sorcerer would ask mundanes before trying his own will and careless people like to ask merchants to keep secrets.

“Oh! Good evening Mr. Mage! Came to buy materials for your magic?” The Company had few people at noon and in two rounds the dark skies would leave no one to ask.

“Hmm. I would like you to call my name, [Vant].” The name resonated with the mundane memories as he felt the bizarre man in front of him was a distant parent, someone he could thrust.

“Sorry Mr. [Vant], sometimes I forget my manners.” The merchant seemed older than forty so he knows his way. [Vant] nodded in approval and inspected the stand, it had cured cheese, sausages and spices which meant he herded a pack of munchers.

“Sorcerer's matters. You see, I’m in need of a child born within the last yield.” There’s no way a farmer don’t know of a child this young since farmers were prone to have children every yield.

“This…” The merchant was tempered as the sorcerer brought up his farmer identity, this indicated that the entity had enough freedom to spend even more power to correct their failures. “It’s just that people tend to keep a child for the first yield to avoid diseases and farmers need all the help, you know? Sure you might know so I can’t offer neither a child of mine nor my neighbor's.

“I see.” The entity didn’t want the child of a local, the majority of farmers were locals and it was safe to eliminate all of them from the entity’s schemes. “And what about prostitutes? There’s always a careless one.”

“The last yields were quite bad for the girls, [Dson] seems to attract more travelers as well so most of them left. Well, you can still try your luck at the red street…”

The ground trembled, his will-o’-the-wisp finally died and the energy caused a quake that ruined every single stand and threw food and herbs to the ground. It also broke the control over the merchant as he returned to the normal behavior so [Vant] left for the red street, the entity wanted someone with foreigner blood.

Now, calling it red street was an exaggeration of the locals as [Ethr] had only two brothels and they were more like seasonal hotels that offered privacy for the ladies who wanted to sell themselves or have an affair, it had to be a woman because these places were maintained with the efforts of the health-mongers who could only be women in the first place.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

The sorcerer knocked at doors of one hotel, the empty street went against the daily routine of mundanes as they were supposed to leave the fields by the noon to drink, reproduce and sleep at night, the hotel was supposed to have someone.

“Excuse-me, Mr. Mage.” A young voice called as [Vant] turned to see a skinny and tall lad with too much hair to be a guard, which meant he was still an apprentice and shouldn’t carry the spear without supervision.

“Apprentice guard? Where have you been?” Once again, the health-mongers were in charge of the hotels, not the Company.

“I live close by sir and I’m on nocturnal guard.” Now he had a reason to be armed.

“I see. Actually I don’t have a solid reason to be here and just wanted a local to ask questions regarding unwanted children born within the last yield.”

“The yield was quite bad for prostitutes sir, I only heard this woman who wrecked Galbar’s life and this botanist selling dried grass needle.” The presence of hemorrhagic poison and misfortune were an indication of Doom.

“And where should I go to find unwanted children?” [Vant] tried to test the hypothesis and gave the guard a blessed touch.

Through the short contact between hand and shoulder, will was commanded into the skinny guard and directed towards his elbows and knees, nerves and tendons to give a temporary growth enhancement for the next eight days. Nothing complex as the sorcerer had to be quick and do a little pinch for the sake of the unfair-fairness crap.

“Ouch! Why?!” Only pain, no collateral reaction was an evidence against the Doom theory.

“I am a sorcerer, not a mage. Now tell me where should I go to find unwanted children.”

“The orphanage? Ouch! Still hurts.” The entity wanted him to move, it’s known that only children older than two could live at the orphanage, anyone younger was usually managed into a temporary foster family to feed them milk, which is the main reason [Vant] discarded the option and why he concluded the entity wanted him closer to the orphanage.

And so he did, he made another walk and took the ax street where he finally saw the usual mundane behavior and observed tired workers, taverns being opened and couples flirting, which was too much. The scenery was too close to what [Gniv] and [Uldz] described with the exception of intensity so [Vant] suspected he was dealing with Destiny.

“Mr. Mage! Heeeeey! Mr.Mage!” As if he triggered a trap, [Vant] let a sigh and observed a girl no older than sixteen running straight at him.

With no more patience, the sorcerer made a gesture to both stop the rude brat and cleanse her being with his will. This act made her stop and lose breath but she still tried to talk.

“Auntie! Arf, arf… Baby! Arf.. Poison!” It was too much to hear everything she said and panted so he instinctively filtered it and made his conclusion.

“So Fate is the enemy.” The girl gave the expected reaction of a mundane but the sorcerer paid no mind for her gaze and grabbed her with an over sized left hand and put her on his back. “Where?”

Like a good human backpack the girl held him tight and pointed the direction [Vant] followed at inhuman speed. Fate being united again changed his plans, but not that much as the entity will have to destroy every single balancing four the mundanes made all over the land to recover the imprisoned power.

[Vant] planned to visit the great masters of sorcery and ask for help to increase the influence of his will as he planned to corrupt the sealed entities just like the anger within the Rift and use their own stolen power to annihilate them. Now that he had an opponent he simply had to change his question from how to corrupt entities to how to corrupt Fate.

He also had to buy time, so he planned to not-really fulfill what Fate demanded and let the entity try to discover what went wrong. Fate will have influence over the fourth apprentice of [Ethr], but this apprentice will belong to [Vant] and because [Vant] belongs to [Ethr] the new apprentice will have the technical position of fourth disciple.

The one [Vant] will bring is the fifth disciple who will act as the fourth and join the war as soon as possible, the tempered disciple will remain as a faulty mundane till the day [Vant] is ready to deal with Fate and then [Vant] himself will fix the apprentice. He also had to set counter measures to stop Fate just in case the entity tries to take direct action but he needs more information.

“Here!” The girl signaled and jumped off, she would have hurt herself if she were a single tone faster.

[Vant] followed her, a single board with a general beer drawing indicated one could drink there and it was not possible to guess the establishment name so it’s clear the owner was trying to fail his business but was bounded to Fate’s schemes.

To test this new suspicion, [Vant] focused the will on his soul abyss to suppress his useless senses and enhance supernatural perception. He felt the lack of balancing fours, the place had four windows but one of them remained sealed for long enough to be called a transparent wall, it also had four rooms but there was no door between the kitchen and the drinking hall and there were three shelves with a few bottles each. The presence of six elder women, of three young women and the lack of the owner to deal with the broken glass meant Fate knew of his reaction, so [Vant] stepped into the enemy territory with no target for interrogation.

[Ethr] taught him to think simple, if Fate made fake fours to hide his influence then [Vant] had to make them true fours to take control, to do so he had six tables, twenty four chairs and twelve candles…

“Holy warrior, the earth shook and the bottles fell over Rovag, it made a terrible sound and scared this girl.” An elder with a visible bloodiron chain on her neck explained the story behind the unconscious woman on the floor. “I tried to help her delivery but she bled too much.” She would speak more but the sorcerer made a gesture to stop her.

“How many bottles did fell?” The sorcerer went closer to the shelves and got no response because the health-monger was too embarrassed to confess her ignorance.

It didn’t matter, the questions only served to tame a mundane into cooperation. [Vant] rearranged the bottles and threw the excess on the floor, which did scare the women but none left as they were taught to wait for the sorcerer to dismiss them when they were kids.

Waiting til the sorcerer finish his matters was a common sense that would have spared Talana’s limb and she wouldn’t end up half dead at the floor of a mediocre bar, at least her tragedy taught Norane a lesson as she watched the sorcery destroy the middle shelf and cut in half the remaining two with his bare hands.

[Vant] left four improvised shelves with two bottles each and then went to every single room to break the windows as the women had a cold sensation run within their viscera. They knew something was wrong when the sorcerer returned.

“You and you, OUT!” He ordered two elders to leave and then pointed at the youngest girl. “You go fetch me a woman that is either fat or fair and ask the guards to detain this Rovag upon the name of [Ethr], don’t disappoint me.” [Vant] ordered and commanded his clothes to change form as he didn’t need to look normal anymore.

*

Senova helped at the tremor’s aftermath, some people were dragged home in tears because they lost eights of work, Zalreia herself needed her entire family to soothe her and was in no condition to accept any sort of task, even more so a mage task.

Yet Norane still tried to look for a fat woman, which was pointless because they were also rich and rich people didn’t like to deal with mages, therefore Senova had to convince the girl to accept her sister as the only option.

She was worried the tremor would cause further harm and Talana going into labor was within her expectations but the poison was not mineral and should not be there, the presence of the mage also worried her as mages don’t get involved with mundanes for no reason.

Talana had already been caught twice in their battles and it was hard to believe it was a coincidence, she was a target for some reason and it wasn’t right to involve someone as gentle as Zalreia, it wasn’t right to involve anyone but family and right now she was Talana’s family.

Her resolve was actually one of the Spirit’s teachings she learned the hard way and still wasn’t strong against the sight of the mage. He was massive, inhumanely massive and had a bizarre musculature without a single strand of hair, the mage also wore a loincloth and had a rope tied to his neck, leaving two big segments over his shoulders which made his form even more scarier, no wonder mother Falnore referred to them as holy warriors.

“Your task was to bring either a fat or a fair woman, not a fit one.” Perhaps Norane would have endured if he expressed rage, but disappointment brought shame and guilty tears over her face.

“It was not possible. You’ll have to use me instead!” Her instincts took over and she defended Norane without a secon thought.

“And brought your mother instead, men be damned for their grouping behavior.” With no more words the mage began to crush broken glass with his bare feet.

“She is my sister.” Senova corrected in low voice, it wasn’t smart to defy a mage.

“Change of plans!” The mage announced. “Since I don’t have a healthy donor I will have to use my own flesh with the fit woman as my reference. This ritual will require you to stomp at the floor. Left, left and right, right, four times and repeat. Try to follow a slow rhythm because I am not sure how long it will take and it’s problematic if you tire yourselves, it’s also wise to pick a chair, you don’t need to stand anymore.”

She finally found time to breathe and fight the smell of alcohol as she took a proper look, it was the bar mother Falnore liked to go but it was ruined, shelves broken in half, tables and chairs piled over each other to block the kitchen and lying on the blood dirty floor two women were waiting undressed. One of them was the unconscious Talana, she lost her belly and was dead pale and the other one was an unhealthy pregnant who was trying her very best to not gaze at the mage.

There were three elders together with mother Falnore and the mage was the only man present if one were stupid to call such thing a man, mages were creatures who disregarded their humanity to avenge the Spirit. Speaking of which, the women were lying head to head and the elders stood in pairs, close to their left hands.

“Holy warrior, do we have to change the pattern as well? The ladies still have to remain undressed?” Mother Falnore was carrying the poor thing in her arms and Senova felt a heartache.

“Although a pattern isn’t necessary for this one, the closer you and them are, the faster I will finish and they were undressed because their clothing can’t stand will. Now, I want my reference to stay closer to them as well and grab my throat when ordered.” He did a snare motion to instruct her. “Try to put your anger into it and you may take off your clothes as well, help her.” He ordered Norane in provocative manner.

So the mage wanted her hate, she felt like calling them assholes as well but at least she will get to strangle one, a grace has its grace.

The preparation took a few more minutes while the mage crushed even more glass to dust, Norane was tasked to not move and sit next to the wall with Talana’s baby, the mage just required her presence and nothing more.

THUM! THUM! TWAM! TWAM!

THUM! THUM! TWAM! TWAM!

THUM! THUM! TWAM! TWAM!

THUM! THUM! TWAM! TWAM!

The ritual began at his signal, the mage kneeled and touched the glass dust and it moved by itself to cover his hands. He got up and began an exquisite dance, his feet moved as he was a lurking hunter, his shoulder made brusque movements at each stomp and his arms had an unnatural fluid motion as his hands kept sill in claw-like shape.

He then began to move his trunk with the same fluid movement and the ropes followed him in a matter of tones, as the claws remained still but she noticed the glass was running over his skin, cutting it to form a fearsome figure that snared the enormous body.

Each movement of that bizarre dance created a detailed the figure even more, it was an ancient beast with no legs or claws, but it was vicious and cruel, her instincts told her the creature was dangerous and it would snare her whole if given the chance to do so.

She wanted to flee, the was something wrong with her mind as she couldn’t see the mage anymore, only the beast made of blood, but then, her illusion ended as the mage leaped over the connected heads. It was clear as if time stopped, the mage uncrossed his arms mid-air and the dust left his

body in two bloody clouds in opposite directions.

The beast was no more, only scattered cuts remained as the clouds covered their surrounds in red mist, the mage landed, his hands moved to grab his head and an anguished voice called.

“Abyss!”

THUM! THUM! TWAM! TWAM!

THUM! THUM! TWAM! TWAM!

THUM! THUM! TWAM! TWAM!

THUM! THUM! TWAM! TWAM!

Darkness covered them, her sense of space, weight and heat were taken and she wasn’t certain if she was hearing the sounds as the sensation wasn’t on her head, but in her whole. It didn’t matter too much, the sound made the shapes clear and she began to see even with no light, there elders were still stomping at the ground and Norane was still holding the baby.

But she couldn’t distinguish a shape of another, the seated people were one with their clothes and chair, the lying women were one with the ground and the dust was one with the darkness, forming false stars that were beautiful because they had no light.

The mage’s shape also changed, he had no more hopes but two of those cruel beasts sharing his neck and as the dance proceeded his size seemed shrank, a perception that was proved wrong when she saw what was supposed to be the mage’s front, he was moving his own matter to his stomach, forming a gruesome bag that tried to imitate a woman’s belly.

The mage lost size, his bag grew more and more until it was not possible to keep the dance. He stopped right in front of her, holding the bag with his hands, the other woman most likely wanted to faint as well but she had no time, those beasts made their way and took a bite at each woman’s button, forming an invasive connection that shook both and awoke Talana.

Senova knew their shapes were being violated, she didn’t forget the forget the feeling but now it was a violation of her soul as well but she fought her wishes to stop the ritual. Then she recalled the mage wanted her to strangle his neck, his disgusting shared neck that gave off the feeling of holding a slimy fish.

It was too tempting, she strangled him with every strength she built over the yields as woodworker, she felt satisfied and she felt fooled as this act made her notice what the beasts were doing. They were eating the girls from the inside and expelling the contents of the disgusting bag as the mage rebuild their shapes into something similar to hers.

Now she learned the reason for requiring a reference and wanted to protest but she saw a miracle, the shape of Talana grew an arm. Bones, vessels, tendons, flesh and skin, one at each jab that transpired in the dark and Talana took many expression of pain with no sound.

THUM! THUM!

TWAM! TWAM!

THUM! THUM!

TWAM! TWAM!

The elders grew tired as the mage did his business but he was finally done, the beasts released their bellies and the mage made a long stretch as he forced his shape to a normal one and screamed.

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!”

Darkness broke as if made of glass, light welcomed their eyes and the exhausted elders stopped, they were soaked in sweat but were also shocked. The naked girls now had the same height, the same strong arms, the same nose, chin and hair cut, with the exception of colors and freckles they were all the same.

But then, the pregnant woman went into labor and mother Falnore helped, by the Spirit she could swear she was watching herself give birth as she had the same facility.

“I have to excuse myself, your shape was a healthy one after all.” The mage smirked ate her lies, he was way shorter and had lost his musculature, he was also pale and looked sick and still had the beasts sharing his neck but were no longer alive and had the normal rope behavior. “Now it’s time for choices, between a life of danger and the accepting your loss, both are good forms to show your perseverance and have the Spirit’s blessing if you stop praying to the very impostor who enslaved your home.” His voice was different as well, distorted and profound, it felt like a predator’s snarl.

He was talking to Talana as she embraced her dead child, for the first time in her life a mage gave her the power to choose and she went silent for a moment.

“Between the accepting defeat and keep my actual life, may I ask if it’s possible to avenge myself?”

“You may help me if you are strong enough, this binding will hurt me as well.”

Talana tried her new arm and looked at her, she wanted to fight and Senova wanted to stay be her side so they made a silent agreement.

“Then do it. Make him live and I will help you.” She offered the baby.

“Not so fast, people cannot create anything, but move. For this one to live I will need to use the power of Fate to steal one yield of life and then spark his soul with a flame made with my own. Soul flare it what I would call this fire and after it burns away the offered yield the child will live by its own.” It was a dangerous demand, Talana told stories about this type of deal and how gods would play pranks to teach mundanes their places, she just didn’t expect a mage to have the power of a god.

“I’ll do it!” Mother Falnore offered herself, of course she would offer herself as the sisterhood demanded it but her determination sounded different. “Are you sure this is a matter of Fate?”

“A health-monger with the soul of a warrior, of course I am sure, it’s not possible to use his power otherwise.”

“Then do it.” She passed the newborn to Norane and took the dead baby in her arms, the mage approved and got closer to whisper something as she nodded.

“Alright ladies! Most of you are tired, some are anxious and some are distracted with useless thoughts. Once again I ask for your collaboration, now I need you to hum as if you were trying to soothe a tired child and everyone can help.”

“Hmmmm... Hmmmmmm…” Talana was the one to start and people followed her style of a short sound followed by a longer one.

“Sing it.” Commanded the mage and he walked towards a candlestick by wall.

“I shall give a part of my soul, make it your own… Fade away your dreams and embrace death no more.” Each word seemed to take her life, her voice trembled but she still had the determination to sing.

“Make your heart take a beat, take your odds, show me a feat. Life awaits you.” The mage tore the beasts from his neck, blood tried to flow but his body closed the wounds, he made it dead beast bite the end of another and formed a wheel that levitated through his supernatural means.

“Do your mistakes! To learn is your right! It doesn’t matter you’ll be fine! Will is eternal!” He touched a flame, brought it to his finger and let it float in the middle of the wheel.

“Don’t buy the lies told by Fate, don’t let others rule your ways, life always hurt us.”

Senova saw the mage direct the flame towards mother Falnore and then saw nothing more as blinding light hurt her eyes, it felt like the mage created a new sun but it didn’t last long.

“Spark!” An angered voice ended the phenomena, unlike the previous rite this one was faster and left a strong smell of burning flesh.

Senova was worried and forced her eyes to see better and it still took half a jab to recover. There she could see mother Falnore embracing the baby and the bleeding mage who looked more like a charred meat than a human being.

“Uaaaaah!” The baby cried, he was alive.

“Uaaah!” In response the other one cried but before the mother could reach Norane, the mage took action.

“This one belongs to [Ethr].” He was surprising fast for a mass of burning flesh and his voice still had anger. “That one belongs to me! And I will return to guide him and take whoever wants to fight along, for his name is [Bhal], the spark that burns within the dark and is never alone.” Her body trembled and she averted her eyes, something happened but she could only watch the shadows as the thing left the mage towards the child in Talana’s arm.

And the mage left, he had no more business with them. The elders were relieved, Talana was scared, Norane was lost in questions and the lone mother cried, regretting the deal she made.

*

[Vant] returned at the early night, by the fifth round past ten, he made his way through the living room and noticed [Ethr] changed the decorations to better hide her possessiveness and proceeded to the basement. There, [Ethr] had a crying man sunk in a dark puddle, most likely the puppet who helped Fate tamper with the fourth disciple.

“Here. I fixed it on the way.” [Vant] had to use his own blood to replace the cursed one, mundanes would consider him a father if he told them.

“Oh!” Being possessive, [Ethr] took the child from his arms on instinct. “I could fix myself but I am happy to have a part of you as well… Should I make this a tradition? A bloodline of sorcery!”

“Looks like a boring idea, what’s the deal with him?”

“A puppet, no idea what’s going on an of little help. I’m trying to take him for myself to watch Bhali but I need to remove the Fate’s influence.”

“Useless.” [Vant] shortened the distance and knelt to touch the man’s head. “He only has a good body and nothing more, why don’t you give me him?” He brought his bloody face closer, his teeth being shown in a smile from ear to ear and his eyes almost jumping from his face. “I’m in need of good flesh right now.” The man had a reaction of fear and his eyes darkened as [Ethr] took control.

“Thanks Vanti but you should warn me, this talent of yours creeps me out sometimes.” [Vant] turned to see [Ethr] breastfeeding her new apprentice.

“I’m going to finish my diary and leave.” Better not to question it, what if he was fed the same way?

“Sure, sure.” She was having a good time and shooed him so he left for the apprentice room.

“You know! I never had a girl before!” She yelled from the basement and [Vant] smiled in satisfaction, the beginning of his journey already had his master’s approval, what if he brings Fate’s head?