Caius watched as Adam completed the series of forms he had taught him earlier that morning for what had to be the thousandth time. His resplendent golden and onyx armor eerily quiet as he moved. He had to give it to the guy, he didn’t know what the word quit meant.
He wasn’t sure what the rest of the people of Adam’s Kingdom were like, but if they were anything like Adam then the rest of the universe would be in for some trouble. Hard working, easy to get along with, and eager to learn. If more people in Allaris were like that then they would have finished off the Eldari long ago.
Caius nodded toward Finn and then over at Adam. Finn returned the nod with a wide grin and cracked his knuckles one at a time, his rings shining in the afternoon light. A nervous tic he had picked up during his time at the Academy. For all of his skill and intelligence, he still lacked the self confidence that he had rightfully earned. Becoming a true magic user was hard enough. Doing it in a mixed field of dimensional and elemental magic was unheard of. The kid truly was a generational talent and Caius hoped he would stop selling himself short.
“Adam.” He called. Adam stopped with the series of forms that were meant to instill his body with the correct way to move in battle. A way to keep his balance while being attacked and dodging and how to shift his weight when attacking. “Finn is going to throw some attacks your way. Keep focusing on the forms.”
“You got it boss!” he called back, more enthusiastic than he had ever heard anyone about training. Especially for something as menial as basic stance training. He was used to people believing that because they had abilities, they didn’t need to focus on the basics. They thought they could just expend Primordial Energy to compensate for lack of a good foundation. Especially the children of the high tiered families. Caius couldn’t help but chuckle at the stark contrast in front of him.
“He’s a weird one.” Ava said, sliding next to Caius and looping her arm through his. “I mean honestly, who charges a strange stone creature with no abilities of their own and then gets this excited about training that we have six-year-olds start with?”
He wrapped an arm around her, happy to see she wasn’t still pouting over Ellis not being here. He had known her for years. Loved her for most of it, though their relationship only really started after his exile, and was more than used to dealing with her outbursts. He knew she didn’t mean it, she just liked to cause a scene immediately rather than stew on something and make it worse.
“He may be weird, but you can’t deny we are extremely lucky he’s the one we ended up with. He may not have Ellis’s talent right now, but I have a feeling it won’t be long before he’s impressing even your standards.”
“My standards are what is going to keep us alive. Or was…” Ava said. “And we still don’t really know anything about Adam. This could all be a ploy by another Kingdom.”
“That would be an extremely dangerous stunt to try and pull.” Caius said. “When I found him, he was strapped to the floor with an Eldari breathing over him. Besides, I just have a feeling about him.”
Ava stared at Caius before turning her attention back Adam. “I think you could be right though. He has the right temperament for a frontliner. I still don’t understand why didn’t you tell him how skills are chosen? We know they’re not random, even if we can’t prove it. Your theory that skills can be augmented slightly based on desire and need, not only the accepted belief that they are true expression of who we are at our core mixed with our understanding of Primordial Energy. You could have perhaps nudged him more in the direction of a frontliner ability instead of leaving it to chance.”
Caius grimaced as a gust of wind slammed into Adam’s side just as he was between movements that that sent him careening into a nearby boulder. He popped right up without hesitation and was back into the exercise of trying to dodge Finn’s myriad of elemental attacks.
“Because it is not our place to attempt to influence what kind of skills someone else should get, even if we desperately needed it. If we had told him to try and focus on getting a frontliner ability, who knows what he would have ended up with, or if it would have affected him at all. No. What he needed was support. Not for us to try and influence him for our gain.” Caius continued to watch Adam as he spoke, though he squeezed Ava a little tighter. “Besides, after seeing the way he dove into help with the Stone Sentry, I had an idea about the kind of ability he would get.”
Ava pushed his shoulder. “Yeah, okay whatever you say Mr. - ‘I like to study the inheritance of skill sets and what they say about their users.’ - She smirked at him in a teasing manner then looped her arm back through his.
“Do me a favor and don’t tell him about the theories behind skill acquisition even if he asks. I have a feeling it will only end poorly He strikes me as the type of guy who would make a self-detrimental decision in the moment with good intentions that would only harm him down the line.”
“Kind of like someone else I know.” Ava said. Caius shook his head but kept his eyes trained on Ava. She nodded after a second, then winced as a vine lashed out and tied up Adam’s legs as a fireball came hurtling at him from Finn’s outstretched hand. He managed to raise his shield, dispersing the fire in a cone of flames around him while simultaneously maintaining balance.
“I will say that he is a fast learner. I just hope we can all stay alive long enough for it to mean something. This is no place for inexperience, and we’ll encounter a team of Eldari before long.” Ava said.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Until then, the rest of us will just have to pick up the slack.” Caius reached a hand in his waist secured dimensional storge pouch, or fanny pack as Adam had called it, and pulled out the skill crystal he had gotten from that first meeting with Adam. He held it out to Ava. “We’re going to need all the healing we can get.”
It was just a Tier 3 crystal. Nothing too special, but they would all have to fill some slots with Tier 3’s. Besides, that was just a general ranking and didn’t actually hold any sway on the power of an ability. Even if the higher Tiers were more notorious for what was considered better abilities, there was plenty of Duke’s whose signature ability came from a Tier 3.
Ava looked down at the crystal, green eyes studying it with clear desire. The small pyramid was opaque with a hint of violet in the center that seemed to twist through the crystal in a mesmerizing maze.
She turned her head up to meet Caius’s eyes and closed his hand over the crystal. “No. I can get by with my [Healing Stream] skill for now. What we need is our most powerful member to take another step forward. You can help me more by killing the things that are trying to kill us quicker. Not by giving me another way to heal you if I just have to do it for longer.” Her tone was sarcastic, but Caius could hear the tenderness hiding behind. The care for him.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
He knew not to argue. “Alright then. Should we gather the others?”
They heard a cracking sound as Adam flexed his arms, the encasing of ice around him shattering. Finn was doubled over laughing as Adam pulled off his helm, face bright red.
“That’s enough for now.” Caius called to them. “You two come over here.” They nodded and ran over to join him and Ava.
Adam grinned from ear to ear as he jogged over and Finn looked like he didn’t want to stop their training either, clearly having a good time with his live target.
“I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.” Adam said. “I mean at least I know I won’t die a horrid death if someone shoots a fireball at me.”
“Just you wait until I’ve had some time to progress to a higher tier. I’ve seen some Viscounts melt stone with a flick of their wrist.” Finn said, cleaning off his glasses with a cloth he pulled from his fanny pack. “The really interesting thing about your armor is that I haven’t been able to spot a single break in its dimensional integrity despite the repeated blows. I would love to…”
“Perhaps another time, Finn.” Caius said cutting him off. He held up the pyramid skill crystal a second later. “For now, I wanted you two to be here as I use the skill crystal. Finn, because I know how much you enjoy seeing the changes in dimensional energy surrounding the process, and Adam so you can see what normally happens when one is used.”
Finn’s eyes glistened with excitement, flashing a deep hue of purple beneath his thick rimmed glasses. Caius had wondered why he wore those glasses. Even Ava’s [Healing Stream] ability was more than enough to cure any vision impairment. He had promptly explained they were specialized glasses that allowed him to better view dimensional forces acting on the physical world in an extremely complicated lecture that left Caius acutely aware of his own lack of knowledge. His passion had been so infectious though that it left Caius wanting the kid on his team. That was his first day at the academy and they had been inseparable since.
“Always the gentleman.” Finn said. “What do we have here? A leg? Body? Arm? I would really love to see a Domain as they cause the most dimensional fluctuation purely based off the general nature of most Domain skills.” The others looked at Finn with furrowed brows. “I know. I know. No Domain skills until we’ve filled all our other slots.
“It’s an Arm skill crystal.” Ava said, shaking her head slightly at Finn. She had never quite understood him, but Caius also knew she had a soft spot for him as well.
Finn shrugged and gestured to Caius to proceed. Caius couldn’t help a small smile from splitting his lips as he took one last deep breath. He brought the crystal to his Right shoulder. He was right-handed, and most people typically filled their dominant arm skill slot first as it was generally their most powerful attack ability with the other arm skill slot being a more control-oriented ability. Caius had theorized that beginning with the control ability would lead to greater damage output on the back end as the second arm ability would have better synergy with the control ability, as opposed to the other way around. That’s why he had filled his first skill slot in his left arm. It had turned out a little different than he had planned, but he was more than thrilled with the results.
The crystal made contact with his shoulder and Caius pushed his Primordial Energy into it, accepting the skill crystal. His body was flooded with a stream of warmth exuding from the crystal. It coursed through his body, filling every cell with a buzzing energy. It was as if he could feel his body drawing more Primordial Energy in through every pore in his body, soaking his cells in more than they had ever held before.
He looked at his arms, the lines extending from his palms to his elbows that most had assumed were tattoos glowed blue. Of course, they weren’t tattoos, but the true inheritance of his family. What had made his father and uncle such forces of natural power. They had been described to him as essentially ley lines for Primordial Energy. Tracks of power unique to the Arconius blood line that to this day the mysteries surrounding them had not been uncovered. What was known was the terrifying displays of power throughout history that those with these marks had left upon the world. Starting with his great grandfather.
The power in his body reached a crescendo as he felt every hair on his body stand on end, the ground around him beginning to tremble. Caius gripped his swords, feeling the Primordial Energy in his veins rushing into them through the markings on his palms. Crackling burst of blue electricity arced over his body and down his arms. They funneled their way down through the swords, arcs of lighting jumping between the two.
Skill Obtained: [Lightning Strikes, Thunder Follows]: Where lightning goes, thunder follows.
With every strike of your weapon, a small amount of kinetic energy is stored in the blade. This energy can be discharged at a later time of your choosing, delivering the punishment in a thunderous attack. Cost of attack increases with amount of energy stored.
A smile spread across Caius’s face as he studied his arms. The others had all stepped far away and were now peeking at him from behind the stone barn. Except for Adam who had put on his helm again and was standing as close as he dared.
Caius looked toward Adam, feeling the instinctive knowledge of his new skill flood his mind. He walked toward him, a maniacal grin spreading on his face. Adam lifted his shield, clearly thinking the same thing as him, and happy to oblige. He was their frontliner after all.
Caius circulated the Primordial Energy through his body and into the new skill as he slashed at the ground in front of him with his swords. He took slow steps toward Adam, feeling the power of the skill grow with each sword strike on the ground. The ley lines in his arms growing brighter with each passing second. He felt a fire burning in his veins, like he was being overcharged and needed an outlet for the power. It just so happened that he had a willing subject in front of him.
“Adam, I don’t know if you have lightning in your Kingdom, but you should know that metal conducts electricity.” Finn called from behind.
Ava started up her [Healing Stream] ability and a second later a green sheen enveloped Adam.
Caius burst forward, propelled by the pent up power that begged to be released. He struck at Adam’s proffered shield, and an explosion of lightning erupting from the point of impact followed by an ear shattering boom. Adam was flung back fifty feet in the air and then slid another fifty before coming to a stop against the stone barn.
Small arcs of blue lightning arced over his armor as he tried to stand. “Ohhh shiiii. Thhiiis huuurtsss.” Adam said, his voice cracking as his muscled seized. He tried to stand, but his arms and legs kept locking up before he could make it to his feet.
Caius let his swords disappear as smirked to himself. He knew there was a lot more he could do with the skill. Ways he could manipulate it especially if he pushed it to its limits. But that was part of the fun of testing one’s abilities. The synergy with his [Armament of the First King] ability was exactly what he was hoping for. The Royal Advisors had called him a petulant child for arguing with them in regards to skill selection. Well, he would show them someday.
Ava and Finn joined Adam and him a few seconds later. There was smoke rising from the inside of Adam’s armor as he lifted his helm, his hair sticking straight up. Ava sent a more concentrated stream of healing his way and he nodded in thanks.
“I’m happy I wasn’t the only one here when you used that crystal.” Finn said. He clapped Adam on the back with a sympathetic nod.
“I’d hate to see how you test out abilities when you don’t have someone in a full suit of armor to experiment on.” Adam said.
Caius waved his hand with a dismissive gesture. “Ehh, I knew you could take it. Besides, I didn’t give it everything.”
“So does this mean I’m going to be the test dummy for everyone’s new ability?” Adam asked. Horror clear on his face as the realization of the precedent he just set sunk in.
Ava walked by him and patted him on the shoulder. “Just think of it as endurance training. After all, you barely know how to properly use that armor of yours.”
Adam groaned as the others laughed at him.
“So?” Ava said. “What are we working with? Don’t leave me waiting too long or I might just decide I need to go on a run in a minute.”
Caius snapped his head toward her mouth agape. “You wouldn’t.” She gave him a smirk as if challenging him.
“Umm. What is going on?” Adam asked.
Finn was rubbing his face with his hand. “What’s going on is me and you are going to need to find a place far from here for the next thirty minutes.”
Caius could feel his skin heating. Lingering lightning returning over his forearms as little streams of it arced off his body.
“When someone uses a skill crystal, their hormones and emotions go into overdrive. Every aspect of their being is hyper charged.” Ava said, smirking while she stared at Caius, one brow raised as if in challenge. “In Caius’s case perhaps a little more literally than others.”
“It means that because his girlfriend is here, certain emotions end up getting a little more amplified than others. Your adrenaline and curiosity were amplified which is most likely the reason you turned into a child opening a birthday present who had to go play with it for an hour irrationally. For those two…”
“It’s called : [Lightning Strikes, Thunder Follows]. It allows me to store kinetic energy from prior attacks in my swords that can be delivered as a much more powerful attack later.” Caius said in a spew of words as he walked toward Ava. He picked her up, looping one hand under her knees and one behind her shoulders and took off toward the barn. “Don’t die.” He called without turning back, leaving Adam and Finn standing alone in the odd corn field.