Mosh woke to the cock crow. He revelled in it; in the utter peace and safety it implied. The chances of any monster getting close to the farm were minimal. The outer patrols would get it long before it threatened the farm, and even if through some dire twist of fate one did get through, it would be so far down the totem pole of power that Silky would most likely dine on it before anyone even knew of its existence! Thinking of Silky he glanced over to the pile of blankets and cushions his mother had laid down for him refusing to believe he would sleep comfortably on the floor. Silky had not objected and had promptly burrowed into the pile, falling asleep with just the tip of his tail showing. Mosh looked for the tail and his heart quailed to see it missing.
Swiftly getting dressed, he bounded out of the house towards the hen houses and where the pens for the goats and other animals were. He could hear the lowing of cows from the fields, and his enhanced hearing picked up the snuffling of his father’s prize bull. He looked for any sign of Silky, knowing that if he did not want to be found, even Mosh would struggle to see him through his sneaking abilities. But it turned out his panic was for nothing. He found Silky lying peacefully by the pond, lapping at the water, with Clumsy snuggled into him. He stopped and stared. He didn’t know how that one worked, he could only put it down to some universal parenting instinct, but Silky did not seem to be bothered by the puppy, instead, he appeared to be protective and kept glancing down to make sure he remained nearby, nuzzling him back when he felt he had strayed too far.
The peace was disturbed by the frantic cries of Simo looking for his missing puppy, he came shooting from the house wearing only his sleep shorts, trying to find the pup that should have been warming his feet. He skidded to a stop as he saw the sight of Clumsy and Silky and turned to Mosh, wide-eyed. “Moshi, do you think Silky will let me pat him?” He sidled up to Mosh, tentatively taking his hand. Mosh saw him look at their combined hands, turning his hand over so Mosh’s would would be facing him so he could inspect it more closely. “Will you show me your claws, Moshi?”
Mish laughed. “Of course, I will,” he smiled and raised his other hand, extending the claws on his hand. Simo looked at them in wonder, reaching up to carefully touch one, then drew his finger back sharply as a bead of blood showed where he had pressed too hard against the claw’s point.
“Wow!” Simo was unperturbed by the blood, sucking his finger to remove it, “That’s sharp! Bet you killed lots with those.”
Mosh smiled and picked him up, all his claws retracted. “Come, let's go help mom with breakfast! I have missed those.” Mosh walked back, calling Silky to his side, who was closely followed by Clumsy. He could hear the unpacking of cooking utensils and the chatter of his parents from the kitchen. They peered out towards the door when they heard it opening.
“You’re up early! Planning on putting in a day’s work in the fields?” His father looked at him, and at the content Simo in his arms, resting his head on Mosh’s shoulder.
Mosh smiled back at his dad. “Breakfast, then let me know what needs doing! After the Game, spending time living my old life is a dream!”
It did not take long, and soon the family was cycling in and out of the kitchen, eating breakfast and going their various ways. Before the school bus arrived, a group picture was organized, no way were his siblings going to miss out on this chance to boast!
Office of Arbiter Zak
Zak was not happy with the scan team he had sent. He cursed their arrogance and complete lack of tact. The whole interaction had been recorded, and the pure incompetence of the team leader was nauseating! He fired off a request for a full performance review and for an investigation to be launched as to how he had gotten to be a senior scanner given his complete lack of skill! Perhaps if his ability had been great enough to compensate it would have made up for his obvious social ineptitude, but even that was lacking. He reviewed the so-called “highlights” of the scan report.
Target Mosh Barmenash scans as having undergone his initial Class Evolution and as being at least Tier 3 of Evolution. His class scans as Combat Scout, an advanced class evolution with superior stealth and combat skills. Energy signatures for Chi, Mana, Psi and Soul detected. No Aether signature was recorded. Skill and enhancement records were blocked by Mana Records.
A completely useless report. The "senior scanner" hadn’t even determined the current tiers of the target's indexes and was unable to determine enhancements or skills! He sighed, he would have loved to have tried again, but after this fiasco, he doubted that the Earth Mileu would allow anyone from the Galactic Mileu near the boy unless they could force the issue, and that would be hard considering he was already the subject of a broken mana contract.
Another factor of the encounter bothered him; how quickly the Earth Mileu, or at least the human Polity, had been to not just implement its Merchant license, but to use it to bolster its defences. The drones he had seen would not scratch him, but who knew what other surprises they had? Another request was filed and sent to those working in his office. Dig, and by using any means necessary, find what transactions the Earth Mileu, and in particular the Human Polity, had undertaken and what they were currently negotiating. The current unity and lack of conflict between the various human groups went against all of human history, they needed to know what was drawing them together and what their plans were.
He went to the archived footage of Mosh in the game, checking it for any hints he may have missed. He weighed what he saw, comparing it to what he knew. He especially examined the fight against the guardian, paying attention to the stealth technique. His eyes found it hard to focus on Mosh as he approached the guardian and his blood felt like ice. He knew the stealth skills of scouts, they bent light, manipulated shadows or enabled the user to blend into their surroundings through camouflage. This was none of those, but it did remind him of a battle against the progenitors in the days after he had exited the Crucible.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He cast his mind back, to his appointment into the elite forces. He had left the Crucible just after achieving his hundredth evolution tier, rejoicing in the chance to become an Arbiter. Then the conflict against the Progenitors, which had been a cold war for millennia, flared up and atrocity after atrocity was reported. He had just left the world of Gripial, a world renowned for its resources and large population of subterranean dwellers whose extensive tunnelling had exposed many of their mineral riches when he heard the news. On the heels of his leaving, the Progenitors had triggered a mana cataclysm, collapsing its star. The entire solar system was wiped out, planets evaporated, and a blank spot on the map where before there had been life. The next day he signed up, joining the Greater Mileu Army.
He had no command experience, but he had survived one hundred evolutions in The Crucible, and thus few had or could match his lethality. He was sent forward, deep behind the Progenitor’s lines, to track, and kill, the one known as “Yaktol”. He had found him and laid what he thought was the perfect ambush. He watched him, and as with the boy now, he saw the shimmering, the way his body seemed out of focus. He hadn’t thought much of it then, but he shivered as he remembered. One moment Yaktol was out beyond him, and Zak was getting ready to fire, his weapon primed and flooded with mana and psi, the next Yaktol was floating above him, a blade that was not wholly there swinging down, cutting into his back, severing his wings, and leaving something behind, some residue, no healer, no matter how powerful could remove.
Zak looked at the boy. How he appeared out of focus, his movements not in tune with reality. He looked, and he knew despite the lack of evidence. The boy was using Aether, and whatever class he had, the Mana Records were displaying fiction. It wasn’t unknown, even with energies other than Aether some classes were hidden as to reveal them would be to prevent their usage and render them useless. Zak shivered, Yaktol had been one such hidden class aether user, what secrets was this boy hiding? He stared into the screen, at the paused picture of the boy appearing as his spear stabbed for the first time, and realised it wasn’t just the boy’s body that was using Aether, it seemed to be permeating his spear as well.
Without thinking, Zak rubbed at the nubs of his amputated wings, taken off with an Aether-infused blade, a blade that had stolen his ability to return to his true form. Hate filled his eyes as he watched the boy. He could not act, not yet, not so soon after the broken mana contract; he would watch, he would gather his evidence, and when he had it, he would gain permission to eradicate the Aether user from existence and history and to make it as he had never existed.
Myrdinn
The boy's battle against the guardian was anticlimactic. The child’s tactics were superb, and his decisions were well made. Even though it was obvious he was low on energy, he showed astute resource management skills and did not even need to await the arrival of his bound companion to survive and win. Myrdinn watched the battle again, and then a third time, each time trying to identify the various elements and energies at work. He thought he had identified all the skills and enhancements used, all but one. The Stealth skill defied his analysis.
He watched it again, the approach to the Chimeric man, the way the skill seemed to remove the child from perception, defying the senses of his foe. He couldn’t see the details of his movements, bad camera work blurring the image. He froze, remembering a long-ago meeting and an offer to help them escape the Greater Mileu. He remembered the grey-skinned alien with overly large eyes that did not walk toward him but seemed to shimmer for a moment and was then by his side. He remembered the words he had listened to, words that later became his greatest regret, “All we want is for you to allow our bloodline onto your world. No more than one family and we will help you escape from the Greater Mileu.” And he, in his naivete and hubris, even while not believing them had taken the deal he thought would ensure success and his enemies would fall at his feet. He was wrong, and he found out that this unknown energy form was not just a stealth technique but seemed to affect reality to help its wielder. He did not know its exact properties, only those who had it knew, and they did not talk.
Myrdinn leaned back, his memories running rampant. The seemingly benign request had led to a cascade of issues. He remembered the one that gave them the ultimate weapon, the plan to finally free themselves. The plan for the mana deprivation was a joint plan, not just Earth’s, but that of the faction the strange grey-skinned alien represented. He could still easily summon the picture of the smirk on the being’s face as the mana dampeners came online. The machines they had laid across the Ley nodes and junctions, hair triggers that would go off as soon as their conditions were met. He remembered the alien’s visage as he activated the last shard to complete the assembly of the item and start the activation conditions.
The final memory that assailed Myrdinn was him standing over the activated machine, frenetically waving his arms. He had screamed and banged on the floor looking for a way into the mists before them. He remembered his panic as the mana levels rose, as people feared mana poisoning across the world, even as the mana-bound races revelled in spikes of growth and power. Panic spread and people feared more deaths, but the machine would not be quelled. Then as a critical junction was reached, the explosions manifested themselves and a strange emptiness followed. He tried, he pushed, but nothing he did would move a single atom of energy, the entirety of the world’s mana had expired in a single moment. He had stepped back, into the gifted preservation chamber, sustained by the energies wielded by the alien. Darkness had engulfed him, oblivion arrived, as the Isle sank and he was covered by the waves.
He pulled himself from his self-destructive memory cycle and returned to watching the boy. He watched the shimmer as it manifested around the boy and knew it was the same energy being used in the boy’s stealth technique and that of the energy that blocked mana and brought about the mana deprivation and punishment of man. He remembered the cold feeling of the one with whom he had bargained, the unknown energy he had wielded, the unknown energy of the preservation chamber. He wondered what it was and how they could harness it to destroy their enemies.