Pale faced, he left the canteen. Well into the day now, Ryke was left with only the scraps. He doubted anything would be left at all, but Lamse reserved some of the remaining meats and lilevas fruit for him. It took half an hour alone for Lamse to convince him he didn’t need anything in return; but he forgot about all that the moment he sat down to eat. It tasted heavenly.
After that, he had grabbed another training glaive from the main hall; returned/limped to the Scripture Wing and looked for anything he could about weapon techniques. Unfortunately for him, they seemed to be stored somewhere else. He spent half an hour resting while reading a random water scripture, and then mustered the energy to return to his room.
Just when he finally sat down on his cot with Fromir across his lap, he felt something strange in his chest. It felt like a weird muscle present in his chest, yet also felt like water flowing across his skin. He could flex it and move it like a muscle, but nothing visible really happened when he did. It created an incongruent feeling of both movement and stillness and it made him rather uncomfortable.
The sensation faded slowly the more he experimented, but not before he sensed something else. Seemingly around the place his heart was meant to be was a feeling of gentle warmth. When Ryke tried to exert pressure over this part of his chest as he did with the rest of the sensation, it suddenly felt like he was seeing double. A tiny golden flame appeared in his vision, both ethereal and solid. Swaying gently, it seemed to be burning around his heart and slowly purifying something; but he couldn’t tell what.
It didn’t take all that much focus to sense it all, but his face paled even further as he felt drained of energy in a single moment. Suddenly falling back in his cot; the boy fell into a sudden sleep as his companion gently curled up on his chest.
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“Imperator Duskfrel, better known to you all as the First Centurion or less formerly Falenval was, as explained, the first. He did however enlighten and teach many in his early years. Some followed him for the rest of their lives, and some continue to do so.
The Knight of Tribulation, also known as the Lightning Praetorian..
The Crucible Knight, the creator of Runic Armaments.
The King of Rot, also known as the Plague Praetorian.
The Matriarch of the Desert, Lilevas.
The Winged Monarch, the Shadowflight Praetorian.
These five made up Imperator Duskfrel’s council during his rise, and helped him unite Cinefra into the alliance of City-states it is today, taking Vaelum as its capital and the councils place of residence, mere kilometers from the Archon Wall.”
Sigmar explained leisurely, leaning against his spear in the lecture hall. Most youths nodded along, bored and listless as this was all long explained to them by their parents. Ryke however eagerly soaked up as much knowledge as he could. The term Runic Armaments especially fascinated him, though he wasn’t sure what it entirely entailed.
Those staying at the dorms were all forced awake at nigh dawn. Ryke forced himself to speed by the rest of his fellow candidates and swallowed down as much food as he could, and then raced to the main hall. They only got a few minutes before Sigmar led them off without knowing why. Finally when they all sat down, the Lanista explained he was going to elaborate further on Centurion culture itself, a topic that fascinated him.
“These five, along with many others, earned the title Praetorian by innovating and expanding the strength of Centurions as a whole. The Lightning Praetorian discovered a rare method of harnessing outside elements for our use, the Crucible Knight discovered the language of runes, the Plague Praetorian cultivated life, the Matriarch created plants and species that thrive in the desert to sustain our population. It is..” Sigmar frowned momentarily, his eyes wandering for a moment.
“We don’t know why the Winged Monarch was declared Praetorian, but the Imperator did so himself, and his strength is proven by the exploits he’s undertaken on both borders.” Many of the boys and girls looked around with some confusion at the older warrior’s last statement, but they all knew better than to ask and risk his ire. Someone did, however, ask something else.
“Why are you telling us all this, then?” Ryke raised his hand with a beaming smile, not even bothering to be called upon. He was practically bouncing in his seat, much to Sigmar’s disdain.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“To motivate you, but also keep you in line. Dozens of Falenval’s original entourage died in battle or in seclusion, attempting to become Praetorians in their own right. It is bold to innovate, it is courageous to follow a new path; but many die trying.”
“At the same time it brings us to our next and one of your last lessons- how to follow the path the Praetorians laid for us. When you awaken your Aurelius Flame, it will begin to purify the vitality in the things you consume. In doing so, it will leave you with the energy meant to refine nine different parts of your body. How you do so and the order is up to you. The eight parts are as such however:
The four organs: Heart, Liver, Lungs, Stomach. Then the five senses: Touch, Smell, Sight, Hearing and even Taste.”
Leaving the youths fairly confused after finishing his explanation, the Lanista made his exit from the Lecture Hall after vaguely telling them to do their own thing for the rest of the day. Only two of the trainees had actually awakened said flame, so the rest mostly talked to each other about their meditation techniques to figure out what worked best. Those who didn’t involve themselves in such things sat down to continue trying their hands at sensing their Aurelius Flame.
Ryke did the same, but was a little ahead. Knowing now that the sensation he felt now was this purified vitality, he tried to move it. Spending the first few minutes just trying to figure out how to move it, people started to leave when he finally figured out how to move the vitality like a muscle. In doing so he tried to move it towards his heart- the nearest organ.
His chest quickly began to burn up, soaking his tunic in sweat. His skin began to redden and his insides felt frozen. The contrast forced him to collapse as his muscles seized, silently screaming. Every scarce breath scorched his throat and lungs while the warm sand and stone against his flesh felt like piercing needles. The pain finally washed away like the tide when this extra vitality ran out, hardly making any progress towards his heart The ambient light of torches and the beams of sunlight hurt his eyes when he could narrowly open them again.
With a wry smile and raspy breaths, he asked Lycus to help him back to the canteen; where he stuffed his face full with more food. Quickly returning to his room, the boy changed out of his sweat soaked clothes, found the Endless Tide Vitus Scripture on the table and took a moment to laugh at himself. It took the endless nudging of his leg by the Taura at his feet to calm him down.
Sigmar had mentioned following the path laid out for them, yet Ryke had immediately forgotten about the book he took out exactly for that reason. He had stopped at the part previously meant as meditation, but now he could move on to the book’s main contents; the Realm of Kindling. He almost wanted to slap himself if it wasn’t for the fact it would do nothing but hurt him. Noting his recklessness briefly, he opened up the book.
Sitting against the wall with Fromir on his lap, he spent the next few hours reading the scripture, making notes, sorting ideas and noting methods he’d like to try. The book revealed the reason for the immense pain he faced- he had to carve, or burn, a path throughout his body that spread out from the Aurelius Flame. Some could choose to simply make pathways through the four organs and five senses, but some could also carve these pathways out through every part of the body. Arms, legs, fingers; in doing so the vitality would spread more evenly; producing a stronger Centurion.
The Endless Tide Scripture went by the idea of taking the purified vitality and forging the pathways with waves. The first wave would move forward slightly, recoil, and then lend its momentum to the second wave. This would continue until Ryke ran out of excess vitality. The book even had its own pathway of which organs and senses to focus on, relieving him greatly.
The boy winced lightly as he felt pressure on his wound, looking down to see Fromir licking at it with a stone tongue. Not to mention the confusion at the sight, he felt odd about the itching, needle-like feeling over the wound. Quickly unwrapped the bandage, he sat stunned at the sight for a moment. Ryke had been injured before, he knew how long cuts and bruises usually took to heal- and he was expecting to take quite a while without practicing because of the injury.
Looking at it now, though, it looked as if he went through a couple days of recovery in mere hours. The skin around it looked healthy and the scab kept its dark red color, not a single sign of damage or infection otherwise. The quiet Taura looked back up at him, before going back to licking at the wound silently.
Taking a few moments to process this, a grin suddenly found itself plastered across his face.
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Ryke lived within the Ludus after that day, and within a week the wound had healed completely with Fromir’s treatment; he spent most of his time idle and forming the vital pathway to his stomach. The only other thing he often did was eat incredible amounts at the canteen, read a few other Water Scriptures, and listen to the daily five minute lectures Sigmar had for the other students yet to sense their flame; some of which had now begun making progress.
Kievra and Lycus had both sensed their flames, something that seemed to awaken some semblance of self-confidence in the merchant’s son. They hadn’t talked a lot since Ryke decided to spend his time healing, but on the day they finally met up he swore he could hear the timid boy’s heartbeat up to a few feet away.
It was only then did he find out the name of Lycus’ pet cat, too. The small caramel furred creature was called an Argent Ash Panther. His best friend clearly took inspiration from this when he named the poor creature Kara. Luckily, the poor thing had no idea.