The four Shie sat obediently in front of him, silently licking at their scaled paws while their rabbit ears perked up around them, leaving Ryke to sit in a stunned silence. Had they been sitting in his bag since they left? Why?
“.. Stay here. Fromir, watch them.”
The stone fox lay quietly in front of the Shie as it stared at them lazily, though Ryke couldn’t tell if it was simply asleep. Either way, he stood up to leave his tent and find the others. Receiving confirmation that no one else’s bag had hidden a whole group of Shie in them, he smiled wryly. Everyone swarmed his tent to see the stowaways that were still just cutely sitting there, as if awaiting permission to move.
A twitch of the head with every movement, the Shie stared intensely at him even whilst his party picked them up and played with them like dolls. The resulting strange looks forced a feeling of embarrassment to rise up in him, as he wasn’t really sure what was happening either. Feeling the need to defend himself, he spoke quietly. “They’re allowed to move..”
Immediately, the creatures wiggled out of everyone's hands and darted to Ryke, their claws latching onto anything they could as they climbed up the boy and onto his shoulders, fighting over which of them got to be the ‘scarf’. Startled, he fell to the ground and did his best to stop their fighting; mostly because their claws sometimes got him too.
“Ow, ow, fuck, stop it!”
The only help he received was laughter.
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“You really didn’t do anything?”
“For the last time, no!”
“You didn’t stuff them in that bag and lie because they were cute, right?”
“No!”
Ryke tossed another piece of stonewood in the fire, doing his best not to agitate the Shie sleeping on his legs. The four little critters seemed attached to him by the hip, doing everything he said and refusing to leave his side unless explicitly told to stay. Not even Fromir was so obedient, though he wouldn’t be too happy if the Taura was. He’s already grown to see the stone beast more like a companion than a pet.
“So, why are they so obsessed with you then?” Lycus spoke up, prompting Ryke to realise the boy had yet to stutter at all recently, let alone appear very meek around anyone except Sigmar. He smiled whilst thinking about it, before responding quietly. “I don’t know. Affinity, maybe?”
Lycus had a Thunder Affinity, Ofrir had a Metal Affinity and Maximus had an Earth affinity, though Ryke had the feeling that his Earth Affinity was ‘different’ somehow. Everyone else had a fire affinity- a consequence of living in the Cinefra Desert. His own Water Affinity was different, yes, but he didn’t see why it would prompt any change in treatment from animals living underground.
Neither did his friends.
“Even if we wanted to go the whole ‘water is nurturing’ route, a phenomenon like that would have been recorded before. I doubt Sigmar would leave it out..”
“So we just don’t know?”
Silence hung over them briefly whilst Ryke distracted himself by scratching one of the Shie behind the ears, causing it to kick its foot back. He felt it weirdly similar to the way Fromir wagged their tail. Eventually he just shrugged.
“Does it matter?”
“Doesn’t seem like the Fera care, so I doubt we need to.”
“When do we head back out then?” Caius shoved a piece of meat into his mouth with little restraint. “The only two uninjured as of now are Ryke and Maximus, but everyone else would be in fighting shape in just a day.”
“I’m of the mind that we recover for a day, then go back into the mist for the next two.” Ryke stated, eliciting a few nods from everyone else. “I’ll keep watch in the meantime.”
“I’ll help. Da always told me to do my fair share.” Maximus beamed, slapping Ryke on the shoulder in a way that threatened to snap the golden eyed boy’s spine. “I’m no weaker than you, either!” Ryke could only watch as the larger boy stomped his way over to the cave entrance and sat down. He really made him wonder sometimes.
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“Leghan personally admitted him to the Ludus for his innate strength. If it wasn’t for his father wanting to stay in the Outer Wall, they’d have moved to the Oasis Area.” Caius spoke up again, as if hearing Ryke’s inner thoughts.. “Though I think he just didn’t want to leave his friends behind.”
“Including you?”
“Aye. Neighbours. My father took me with him to his family workshop whenever the house needed repairs. Stone Mason. Guess the hammer runs in the family.” Caius laughed while everyone else smiled. Another pair of two who knew each other well before this group. Ryke looked over to make sure Kievra and Ofrir didn’t seem too excluded and put his mind at ease when he saw neither particularly cared.
The group wasted the night away with food, conversation and then recovery- leaving only Maximus and Ryke awake by midnight. The former remained firmly planted at the cave’s entrance even when someone came to replace him, so Ryke could only helplessly return to his tent to meditate, accompanied by the Shie and his Taura companion. He couldn’t help but laugh at the small trail of creatures following him around wherever he went.
Sitting down and smoothing out his clothes, he gathered the vitality building up beneath the Aurelius Flame and sent it flowing through his body like a raging current. Tearing through flesh in waves, it once again began circulating through his hands in an attempt to break through the imaginary barrier beneath his skin.
With the first wave, little more progress was made. The second was no different. Soon though Ryke noticed the sheer quantity of vitality was slowly growing with each wave, unknown amounts being pulled from the cycle his body had naturally formed. The flow would add to the momentum, and each wave surged in power. It would slam against the barrier and then recede, only to come back stronger. Even then, the barrier felt like it would hold on.
Doing his best to control the vitality in its entirety, he gathered it all up in one current and pulled it back, gathering it high and wide. The current sped up and slammed against the barrier, a tsunami consisting of all the vitality he had saved up, one last time. The formless barrier shattered like glass whilst exhaustion suddenly overcame him.
Yet he had broken through. What little vitality he had left after the tsunami shattered against the barrier was slowly coalescing over his skin, filmed over by a thin azure light. He could feel the stagnant air pressed against his skin. He could feel clearly the hidden, minor imperfections in the handle of his glaive. The unseen marks on the stone beneath him. Then, the blue light slowly spread across the entirety of his body from his hands. Everywhere it passed his skin felt different, as if exposed to a whole new world of sensations, things he didn’t even know how to explain.
A brief smile spread across his face, knowing his progress had returned to the speed it was at the beginning of the year. Then, he promptly passed out.
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Angicor weren’t even Fera, and their bites lacked the poison that often proved snakes fatal. The biggest concern was Ravi’s bruises, but his armour prevented any real internal damage. The lacking severity of everyone's wounds combined with the ability to redirect vitality, it didn’t take long for anything to heal. It made Ryke wonder how their one Instructor died to a Devil when a Centurion’s body was already so resilient this early on.
It only took a day for most of the minor wounds to recover, a second for their combat capabilities to return, and the third for Ryke’s vitality reserves to be completely restored. Instead of the usual meditation, like during his injury, he simply practised the exercises Sigmar taught him. His pallid expression at first made his party worry, but when they heard it was simply the result of another breakthrough, they wanted to strangle him instead. Instead they all resigned themselves to knowing he got lucky. The moment they returned, they’d be replacing their scriptures.
On the fourth day Ryke finally led the group back out into the Talerca Mists in search of more Ignar Peonies, sticking to their original schedule of three days of searching. The pairings remained the same, and whilst most now knew enough to avoid injury, no one but Maximus could tell exactly where the Angicor was hiding before it leapt from the earth. As such most of them often got stuck in protracted battles or accidentally damaged the herbs.
Not only that, but the Ignar Peonies weren’t exactly abundant. Only halfway through the second day, Ryke had to delve deeper into the Mists to find more herbs. The toxic gas got stronger, and so too did their serpent guardians. He almost lost an arm to one particular Angicor that had nearly become a Fera and caught him off guard- saved only by the overbearing swing of his partner’s steel warhammer. In his paranoia, he wasn’t sure if his party would be okay. Sol’s death wasn’t preventable, and neither were the deaths of the other First Years on the day of the descent. But if his friends died here, it would be his fault. The consequence of his decisions.
He was filled with relief when everyone met up at the end of the second day, completely fine. A few scratches here and there, evidence of a few tumbles to the ground. He could see their own relief, doing their best to accept that this might be their life now and for a long time to come. The fear in some. His own.
Ryke kept his own fear at bay. Accepted what needed to be done. He was still enamoured by the legends of Centurions, their duty to help the people. The guiding flames of the Cinefra desert that led their people out of the dark. Saviors. Past heroes whose tales acted as kindling for his own ambition, a fire desperate to make its way through the dark. But the death, the fear, the blood, it was slowly drowning that flame.
They were only kids.