Family Ties
Year: 3045 AGD
Month: New Life
Third Eighthday
Serenity Valley
Institute of Learning
Olivia walked hand in hand with Shawnrik as they made their way towards the cluster of small buildings that housed the portals that would lead them back home through their respective obelisks. Shawnrik had asked Verrian how the portals worked, but the usual well of information that was his roommate came up dry on this particular topic. Verrian said that, “If anyone still remembers how the portals work, it is probably only a select group of people.” From the complete lack of information Shawnrik had been able to find, he was inclined to agree with his roommate.
“Have you figured out what you are going to say to him?”
“My grandfather?”
“No, my father when he hears what you’ve been doing to his little girl.” Olivia laughed as Shawnrik missed a step. “Of course I meant your grandfather.”
“I’m still not entirely sure,” Shawnrik sighed. “What do you say to your grandfather when you lived with him for a year without having any idea of who he was?”
“How about something like ‘why didn’t you tell me?’”
“Of course, that’s the obvious one, but there are so many other things I want to know that it seems almost unimportant when put next to things like ‘Did you know my father?’ or ‘What was my mother like?’”
“I can see that,” Olivia replied.
“How long until you head home?”
“We’re supposed to be at building 12D in twenty-five minutes, you?”
“12E in twenty.” Shawnrik tightened the muscles in his arm to keep better control over the large bag he was carrying so that he didn’t hit any of the other people on the walkway.
As the pair approached the dozen small buildings, a curious sight manifested in front of them. Headmistress Blackbriar was accompanied by several small, stout individuals with skin in various shades of green. He had seen the like several times over the last few months, but his schedule had been so busy that the curiosity caused by these strange men and women who looked like a cross between a goblin and a dwarf never eclipsed all of the other things he was trying to learn.
He and Olivia were nearing the group that was amassed in front of building 12A when the doors opened. From inside the building emerged a small figure with olive green skin and light blue eyes. Even though the group seemed to have been expecting the man, the grins and sighs of relief that came from those assembled seemed infectious.
Torva Blackbriar scooped the little man into her massive frame, and for a second Shawnrik worried about the fellow’s safety, but he emerged from the embrace a moment later with a smile of his own.
“Torva, I’ve missed you too!”
“You cannot run off like that Pershanti; when they told me you snuck out this winter, I nearly had a heart attack.”
“Which heart?” Pershanti said. Shawnrik couldn’t tell if the man was kidding or genuinely curious.
In reply, he received a light swat from the massive headmistress, meaning that he had to take several steps to avoid being knocked over.
“I’m sorry about disappearing, but it was most definitely worth it,” the little green man said. The crowd’s jubilation was instantly quenched as he grinned excitedly towards those assembled. “Our predictions were right, and he is so much more than even the most outlandish of theories suggested he might be.”
At this proclamation, the group broke into frenzied whispering. Shawnrik and Olivia had just passed the group and nearly reached building 12C when the statement had been made, and it caused both of them to stop and look back curiously. Torva Blackbriar noticed their looks and held up a finger to her mouth a moment before she began to herd the group in the direction of the main buildings.
“What do you think that was about?” Olivia asked, her face etched with the same curiosity her voice betrayed.
“I’m not sure, but the Headmistress obviously wants us to not talk about it,” Shawnrik replied.
The pair felt like they had only been given moments to contemplate the strange encounter before it was time for Shawnrik to leave for Tranquility Mist. Staring into those brown orbs, Shawnrik contemplated going home with her instead for a moment before his mind reminded him that he wouldn’t get any rest until he spoke to his grandfather.
“It’s only an eightday,” he found himself saying.
“I know,” Olivia replied as she grasped hold of him, her arms not quite managing to encircle his waist. “I just have a strange feeling.”
“I had a feeling like that this morning too, as Verrian and I were leaving our room.” Shawnrik dropped to a knee to look her in the eyes. “It’s probably just anxiety about being away from each other. The last time I left a friend, I didn’t get to see him again.”
“Promise you’ll come back.” Olivia cupped his face in her hands.
“I promise.” Shawnrik was about to say more, but Olivia planted a kiss on him that he was more than willing to return in kind.
“Go talk to your grandfather,” Olivia whispered in his ear. “And then come back to me.”
Shawnrik stood, pulling his pack up over his shoulder. Their hands drifted apart as he stepped towards the building, and moments later, he was stepping into the crisp air of the Blade’s Edge Mountains.
The other boys and girls from Tranquility Mist who had decided to go home for the break were hugging family members or heading off into the village to let their family know they were home. A few older giants were standing in the square with looks of disappointment on their faces as they realized that whomever they were waiting for wasn’t coming.
As Shawnrik surveyed the assembled villagers, one face in the back of the mass of people stood out. Pedrial Lightfeather stood near the edge of the Square. The look of surprise and elation when Shawnrik walked out was noticeable, and Shawnrik felt a dozen emotions pass through him in a second at his grandfather’s reaction. He had obviously not been sure if Shawnrik would even come home for the break, but he had taken time from his work to come, just in case.
“I see the Institute didn’t do anything to slow that growth of yours,” Pedrial said as Shawnrik approached.
“No, I suppose not,” Shawnrik said, resisting the urge to yell, or cry. “If anything, I’ve probably been working harder than ever.”
“Knowing you, you probably took half a dozen smithing or combat courses to go along with the basics.” Pedrial grinned and placed a hand on Shawnrik’s shoulder as they turned down the lane towards the giant’s home.
Shawnrik felt the urge to shake loose his grandfather’s grasp, but resisted. Pedrial seemed to sense something a moment later, though, as he let his hand drop to his side.
“I suppose you found out then?”
“Yeah.”
“Can we talk about it at the house?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright.”
Year: 3045 AGD
Month: New Life
Third Eighthday
Siniquity
The guards of the day were a half-orc named Trevor and a Dracani named Seythelis. According to Trevor, he was on the large side for a half-orc. He said his mother was a Blood Orc, and his father was a Stroml’dier. Apparently the Stroml’dier were humans that lived in the northern reaches of Terroval that had Giant blood somewhere in their past. The combination of bloods seemed to work for Trevor, as he had striking features that seemed to complement each other rather than making any one of them stand apart.
Seythelis, on the other hand, seemed to stand apart from the rest of the Dracair Warriors in just about every way. Instead of the variety of solid colors that permeated the Dracani ranks, Seythelis had scales that were a greenish-yellow hue that varied slightly in degree from head to toe. Shade hadn’t been able to get the stoic warrior to open up very much, but he had hope that he would learn more about the strangely colored Dracani that was smaller than his brethren.
As promised, Cyrian had sent these two to take Shade to the lab where the Blood Mage performed most of his research. They were traveling through the busy streets of Siniquity when Shade spotted a familiar face. Having very few memories that included people before the last few months, it was easy for him to remember where he had seen the young man that was stomping through the crowd.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
It was the young blood mage that had come with the new prisoners to the mine. The man named Walkins had called him Temendri. Shade watched with interest as the man neared their path. The rest of the crowd gave the young man space, his blood red robes and demeanor making it clear to the rest of the city that he was above them. Temendri walked with a purpose, head raised, but obviously not paying attention to those around him, as his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
Trevor and Seythelis began to move aside, automatically getting out of the Blood Mage’s path. As Shade began to follow, something bubbled up from within.
Hold, this one is more afraid of us than we should be of him.
I’ve been trying for almost two months to get a response from that thing, and now it decides to get chatty, Stewart Cantel groused.
Shade couldn’t blame him; he had also been trying to get in contact with the entity that lived in the deepest recesses of his mind, without any obvious progress. Stewart had the benefit of being a construct inside of his mind, so it was a little bit easier for the former High Commander to navigate the various pathways, but even he had come up empty in his attempts.
Neither of them was given much time to contemplate the revelation, however, as the young Blood Mage seemed to come out of his own thoughts long enough to realize that someone was not moving out of his path. Shade saw Seythelis begin to reach out, preparing to pull his charge out of the danger that was about to manifest, but the look of sheer terror that crossed Temendri’s face as he recognized the boy in front of him gave the Dracani pause.
To the Blood Mage’s credit, the look lasted only moments before he controlled his features and collected himself. This was the first time that Shade had seen the young man in broad daylight, and as opposed to their first meeting where Temendri had seemed powerful and in control, the man before him seemed tired and haunted.
“I wondered when I would bump into you,” Temendri said, his voice trembling only slightly with the first few syllables.
“Temendri, I wish I could say it was a pleasure,” Shade replied, a small grin taking hold.
“Yes, sadly there are a great many things I wish were true that are not.”
“I believe that,” Shade found himself saying. “Perhaps one day things will change for the better.”
Temendri stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Hope is a commodity that is in short supply around here, in case you hadn’t noticed. In Siniquity, it is better to bet on what is likely to happen and figure out the best way to survive.”
Shade heard himself replying in a voice that matched the timbre the Blood Mage had used. “The boy will come for your master; best you are ready to make some decisions when that day arrives.”
Shade and Temendri both took a step back, neither prepared for the words that had just been spoken.
Well, that was interesting, Stewart Cantel said.
That’s one way to phrase it, Shade replied, disconcerted that he had lost control of his body so easily to the creature.
The message has been delivered. The choice is now his.
Right, whatever that means, Cantel replied.
“It has been nice catching up with you,” Temendri said in a voice that was meant to be heard on the crowded street. “Tell Master Dreadmeir that Master Yandarian sends his regards.”
“Thank you.” Shade sent a silent probe to the former High Commander for a reply and received one a moment later. “I hope that you will also convey the same to your Master.”
“Of course, if you will now excuse me.” Temendri brushed past as the murmur of the crowd began to grow.
“Alright, whatever that was, I think it is best if we get a move on,” Trevor said as he took his station behind Shade.
“Yes, there has been enough excitement for these poor fools for one day,” Seythelis agreed.
Shade noted a hint of intrigue in the gaze of his Dracani protector that hadn’t been there earlier. He hoped that he could use this later to get a little more information from the enigmatic Dracair.
“Right you are, gentlemen; lead the way.”
“Not much to lead to,” Trevor replied. “That’s the place right over there.”
Trevor pointed to a massive structure across the market, one of the large stone buildings that seemed much older to Shade than the rest of the city. On his other trips through the city, he had stopped near several buildings such as this and received feelings of age and power from each. His hand seemed to come up of its own accord as they neared the stone edifice, and as soon as it made contact, he could feel that same sense of ancient power. He stood there for a moment and something else began to coalesce inside his mind…
“Coming, kid?” Trevor stood in the now open doorway, his fingers tapping in a staccato rhythm.
“Yeah,” Shade replied as he took his hand away from the wall, severing whatever tenuous connection he had established. The large entranceway had been modified, sometime in the past, to accommodate much smaller denizens than whoever the original builders had been. The entrance opened up into a large foyer where the railings of three levels could be seen, small walkways connecting them together in various places.
“Ah, Shade, welcome to my workshop.” Cyrian stood on the second floor. He had been talking to a group of younger men and women who all were now staring down at the new specimen. The Blood Mage was not in his normal robed attire; he wore some kind of light coat over a simple shirt and pants. He motioned Shade and his guards up, and Trevor headed east towards a flight of stairs.
“I’ll wait here.” Seythelis took up watch next to the door.
“Still can’t stand to go back in, huh?”
Shade knew Trevor was teasing the Dracani in some way, but the sad smile on the Half-Orc’s face said that he also understood. A small shake of his head was Seythelis’s only reply.
“Is there a story there?” Shade asked Trevor as they ascended.
“Yeah, but it’s not mine to tell, kid.”
Cyrian came into sight as they rounded a corner, the cadre of young people that had been with him nowhere to be seen.
“I’m glad you came,” Cyrian said. “There are so many things that I can teach you in our time together, and this is a great place to start.”
“What do you do here?” Shade looked around the inside of the massive structure. Each floor seemed to be divided into several clusters of rooms, and that was only what he could see; he knew from the outside of the building that there was much more of the structure to explore.
“Expand our knowledge.” Cyrian gestured with both arms. “If it lives, breathes, grows, or dies, we have more than likely studied it here. I want you to feel free to ask as many questions as you can of me and my staff while you are here. They have all been instructed to be patient and thorough in their explanations. You may of course have to learn some of the basics before you understand much of what we do here, but I have faith that you will be a quick study.”
“I’ll give it my best,” Shade replied, not sure what it was exactly that he was signing up for.
“That’s all I ask.” Cyrian grinned. “Now, come this way, I was just informed that we have the corpse of a rather large Tiridarum to dissect; it should be fascinating.”
Oh, I don’t want to see that, Stewart Cantel said.
Close your eyes, then.
Funny, lad, but you’re going to feel the same way when you see that tentacled monstrosity laid out.
Tentacles? Shade replied, his curiosity piqued.
Year: 3045 AGD
Month: New Life
Third Eighthday
Tranquility Mist
The walk back to Pedrial’s home was a quiet one. Several times it seemed that Shawnrik or his grandfather might say something, but only air passed their lips. When they reached his house, it was still some time before a word was spoken. Pedrial put a pot of tea on the stove and then set about reorganizing his smith’s tools.
Shawnrik was lost in his own thoughts as the tea pot began to whistle. Seeing that Pedrial was not quite finished with his task, he went over to the stove and removed the kettle from the heat. Reaching into a cupboard, he found a set of hand-crafted stone cups and placed two of them on the table. The rattle of smith’s tools from the work area stopped as he began to pour each of them a cup of tea.
“She loved you, you know?” Pedrial said.
Shawnrik turned around and saw his grandfather staring down at something clasped in his hand. Moisture filled the old Giant’s eyes as he brought the item even with his heart.
“Besides Aerick, you were the greatest thing to ever happen to her.” He stepped towards the table and placed a small figurine made of quartz on the table. “She had always been too stuck inside her own head for her own good. Aerick helped her realize there was more to life than learning, and you helped her learn that there were wonders to be found outside of that library she loved so much.”
Reaching out towards the figure, Shawnrik gingerly picked it up and looked at it. It was a simple yet elegant carving of some sort of bird in flight.
“She had a way with the stone.” Pedrial’s gaze was at some far-off point as he took a sip of his tea, reliving some memory only he could see. “She Shaped that when she was around your age. By the time she became pregnant with you she was making things like those bracers you have there.”
“Mom made these?” Shawnrik looked at the bracers that he had been wearing for several months now in a new light. “Is living stone hard to work with?”
“I’d only heard of it in legends when Lilly told me she had managed to acquire some for testing. Apparently, you can only work with the stuff for short periods of time without it becoming dependent on your will.” Pedrial sighed and set his cup down. “She started working on those shortly after she met Aerick. I always thought she was making them as a gift for him, but that day they ran off together, she gave them to me and promised me that when she sent her child to me I would give them over.”
Shawnrik set the quartz figure down and picked up his cup of tea, its bitter taste giving his mind something else to focus on while he collected his thoughts.
“I thought it would be like she said. One day, when she and Aerick were older, she would send her child here for the summer, or so that they could go to the Institute if they decided that’s what they wanted to do.” Pedrial sighed. “It didn’t work out that way, though. I had no way of knowing that would be the last time I saw my daughter.” Pedrial was gripping his cup so tightly that Shawnrik thought it would shatter, but whoever had made the vessels had made them strong, and even the smith’s mighty grasp didn’t crack it. “I think she knew though. She knew they wouldn’t just let them walk away. Aerick must have told her some of what he found out inside that mountain.”
“The Heartstone trials?” Shawnrik looked up at his grandfather and realized that he had never seen the man so worn out. He realized in that moment exactly why Pedrial had never talked to him about his mother and father. It was the most difficult thing the man had ever had to deal with, and it still hounded him to this day.
“Aye, the Heartstone trials. Whatever it is that those barbarians know, they seem to think that the information is better kept to a small number of closely-monitored individuals.” Taking the remaining liquid in his cup in one large gulp, Pedrial gently set it down on the table before his eyes found Shawnrik’s. “I don’t want to lose you to some mad quest for revenge.”
“I have only recently found all of this out. Besides an angry Stroml’dier that seems to have a grudge against my father, or just life itself, I haven’t really had much time to process any of this.” Shawnrik tried to follow his grandfather’s example, taking a large gulp of the bitter liquid, but found that his throat wasn’t quite as conditioned as Pedrial’s and ended up coughing up some of the acrid liquid. As his coughing fit finally ended, he looked up to see Pedrial smiling at him.
“Lilly could never stand the stuff either.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do when this school year is finished, or where I’m going to end up, but for now I just want to know all that I can about them.” Shawnrik felt his throat constrict as he reached the end of his statement.
“Alright, that’s fair.” Pedrial stood, and he grabbed the teapot to refill their cups. “How about this: you and I finish up the remaining work here, and then we go into the mountains for a few days. I’ll show you all of Lilly’s favorite places and tell you everything I can remember.”
“Fair enough.” Shawnrik managed a smile a moment before the salty taste of a teardrop hit his lips.