Chapter 3 — A Daring Gamble

In the dark of night, Xyn crouched near Elder Thanle’s estate.

He had locked himself in his room for the rest of the day, skipping dinner with the excuse that he wanted to focus on his training. When sneaking out, he discovered that a covered plate with food had been left outside his door.

That everyone seemed so worried about him only served to make Xyn feel more depressed and determined.

There were two guards at the gate muttering about how it was because of some other disciple that they got stuck with night duty again.

Carefully hiding his aura, Xyn crept closer. These guards were probably the riskiest part of his infiltration, but he had come up with a plan. The specialty of the Path of Dancing Petals was distraction and disorientation—which it was certainly excellent at, but it was poor at restricting the opponent’s ability to react physically. Fortunately, applying his Mist element allowed him to cloud the mind in ways that a Wind Element alone was ill-suited for. This and a desire to be able to incapacitate his target without fighting had led him to experiment with a technique that addressed such a weakness.

Taking a deep breath, Xyn envisioned the properties of the sleepflower plant and imbued them into his breath along with his aura as he exhaled. To his relief, the two inattentive guards slumped against their posts.

Xyn had only ever tested his Breath of Sleep technique on animals. This was the first time trying it on another Kyrren. Using his Floating Petal Step, Xyn slipped into the estate and lightly flickered past the wards that he had mapped out earlier, quickly finding himself inside the training hall.

Again, carefully suppressing his aura, he slinked around the hall. The dim moonlight coming through the high windows barely catching the glimmering depths of his eyes was enough to let him search for the entrance to the hidden basement.

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Elder Thanle watched Kaylie’s disciple from where he had hidden himself in the rafters of the hall, carefully suppressing his presence. His mouth quirked upward in a grin at how quickly young Xyn had made his move. His disciples had done an excellent job pretending not to notice Xyn observing the hall earlier in the day.

To be fair, Xyn’s approach wasn’t particularly unskilled for a youth. Though the youth’s actions and somewhat clumsy attempts to hide his aura-probing showed that Kaylie hadn’t focused on training his skills for espionage and infiltration. Overall, the results were passable enough not to fail him in his trial just yet.

After searching the floor and training mats, Xyn switched to checking the walls and equipment racks, eventually stopping at the clan altar. That he left the altar for last was interesting. Thanle had to suppress a chuckle when the boy methodically checked the altar for moving parts before focusing on the sacrifice bowl with slumped shoulders. That the boy showed the courage and determination to cut his finger on the bowl’s spike was commendable. Though maybe showing more concern for traps would have been prudent…

When enough blood had dripped into the bowl, a hidden snowflake symbol on the altar began to glow, and an illusion showed on a section of floor. Xyn noticed the change quickly and hurried over to the symbol, tracing it with his finger before trying again with his aura.

Elder Thanle did snicker into his hand when Xyn fell through the opening trapdoor.

Some while later, the boy emerged from the hidden basement, purple box in hand. Elder Thanle’s eyes crinkled with amusement to see that Xyn had claimed a technique scroll as well. What youth didn’t want to learn new secret techniques? Surely, a youth that lacked such curiosity and ambition would never achieve greatness.

Some panic showed in Xyn’s mannerisms as he realized that the trapdoor hadn’t closed on its own and the altar was still glowing, and he visibly seemed relieved when wiping up the blood solved both problems. With a quick final look around the training hall, Kaylie’s apprentice disappeared into the night.

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Xyn sat in his room with the purple box on his lap. He set the lockpicking tools aside and took a deep breath before opening the small box, revealing an ordinary silver ring lovingly placed on a velvet cushion.

Letting that breath out, Xyn allowed himself to relax. The box did indeed contain a ring as Grandma Kaylie had said it would. Now, all that remained was to confirm that it really was a Human Ring.

Worry about what he had done mingled with excitement that he had actually succeeded, but he pushed such distractions to the back of his mind. As Xyn reached forward to take hold of the ring, a folded piece of paper tucked inside a pocket in the lid’s velvet padding caught his eye. Curious, Xyn worked the paper free, and what he saw made his blood run cold.

Xyn Cloudstrike

His name was penned on the outside of the folded paper in his grandmother’s graceful handwriting.

The sudden feeling that his grandmother had told him about the ring on purpose was confirmed when he unfolded the paper.

> My dear disciple, congratulations on passing your test and being assigned your first mission from our clan. The human blood within the current generation grows thin and must be renewed. Use this ring and travel the human lands. Your mission is to learn of the human’s ways and to return with new knowledge, techniques, and either a child of human descent that continues our bloodline or a committed mate that will provide such. To get you started on your journey, there is a letter in the box that I'd like you to deliver to a half-elf mage named Arienos currently in the town of Shir`lyn. Good luck! And remember, matters of clan secrets and missions are not to be discussed with those who are not of our clan. I'll leave it to you to come up with a believable reason for your departure.

Committed mate? Child?

His dazed eyes returned to the box, and checking under the cushion that held the ring, Xyn found a sealed letter addressed to Arienos.

The implications and responsibilities of what they were expecting of him… with a human? How was it fair for them to decide his life like that?! And just when he had finally worked himself up to pursuing Aeri, too. Admittedly, the mission didn’t say he couldn’t convince Aeri to become his mate, but… there was no way she would wait for him to return—if he returned. He’d be gone for years and might not survive the mission.

On the other paw, being entrusted with a mission to spy in human lands… an excitement was growing in his heart at the idea. Rather than continuing as a derided scout who failed at the path of the hunter, he would be doing something important for the tribe. And he’d get to see new and exciting places.

The more he thought about his mission and it’s scope, the more his mood lifted at that freedom he was being given. A silly grin pulled back the corners of his mouth. Xyn the Wanderer!

His brow furrowed as his gaze drifted over to the technique scroll he had borrowed. If he had been expected to sneak in and claim the Human Ring, then it would be obvious who took the scroll. Xyn berated himself for his foolishness, but soon shrugged off his self-recriminations as something to worry about later. Now was the time to see if the ring really would provide a means to solve his current problems.

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Claiming the ring from the cushion, he held it up to get a better look. For such an important clan treasure, the ring seemed surprisingly plain and uninteresting—not even a sense of aura to indicate a glamour hiding it’s true nature.

There was only one way to know. Xyn shrugged his shoulders and slipped the ring onto his index finger. He cringed with one eye barely open as he awaited the effect, and… nothing happened. Xyn growled at his stupidity. Had he been pranked? What about the mission and the letter? Was that a test of his naivety as well?

In his frustration, he squeezed the ring hard enough the cut on his finger re-opened, smearing blood on the inert metal band that was supposed to be a Human Ring. He sighed and was about to take off the ring to clean it when the ring suddenly sized itself to fit his finger and absorbed the blood without a trace.

Ah! Blood! Just like the clan shrine!

The ring began to greedily draw in his aura and emit it back into his body in waves. Each wave brought with it a nausea-inducing feeling of muscles tightening and organs shifting. His skin itched fiercely, his eyes throbbed, and his blood burned. Xyn fell to his knees and resisted the overwhelming urge to claw at his face as the discomfort of his body restructuring was replaced with pain—a pain as if someone was digging around inside his bones with knives. A few whimpers escaped as the magic ravaged his body, but fear of his secret being discovered by his family kept him from crying out, and soon the waves of change abated.

Using the back of his paw—er… hand—Xyn wiped the excess liquid from his eyes, revealing his fur had fallen to the floor around him, leaving his skin naked.

Wha-?

His still-furred tail caught his eye, but his relief didn’t last long as a breeze from his window stirred and caused a shiver to pass through him. Xyn hopped to his feet, vigorously rubbing his bare arms in an attempt to ward off the chill, only to come to a horrible realization that something important was very, very wrong—and it wasn’t that the room seemed slightly larger.

There was something terribly wrong with his male parts! Why was it dangling free? How was he supposed to even walk with it like that—much less fight! He pulled the waist of his now looser than usual breeches out to see what was going on and was further horrified. His spines were gone! How was he supposed to make a girl howl without his spines?!

Xyn’s despair was interrupted by a snicker-snort, and he froze in place. Kerra was peeking around the door, a paw covering her mouth and her shoulders trembling with the effort not to laugh out loud.

Ack! She saw me checking myself out! No, wait! That’s not the most important problem here!

“Congratulations are in order—I think,” Kerra chuckled out, stepping into the room and quietly closing the door behind her. “You succeeded at grandmother’s technique.”

After blinking a few times before realizing her misunderstanding, Xyn nodded.

“Still… is this really an illusion?” she wondered, poking at his now rubbery arm and passing her gaze over the fur clumped about the floor. “You sure made a mess. Are you okay, Xyn?”

He was going to nod again but shrugged his shoulders instead. “I guess.”

His voice came out higher-pitched than expected, and he clamped his hands over his mouth, which caused his litter-sister to start giggling. Touching his face, he realized that his nose was like Grandma Kaylie’s and his jaw had changed.

“You look cute. Like a cat-kin,” Kerra said and ruffled his newly-grown hair and still-furred ears. “Can you change back?”

Could he? Grandma Kaylie never said whether the change was permanent… but if it was, Grandma Kaylie wouldn’t need to keep her ring.

“I think so…”

“So, it’s a forbidden technique, huh,” Kerra commented, motioning toward the scroll laying out on his desk. “Elder Thanle’s, I’m guessing, by the way you were staking out his place earlier. You’re a bit old to be stealing scrolls, you know.”

“I know.”

“Still, it’s quite the achievement.” Kerra gave him an appraising look. “I can’t think you went to all this trouble without a goal of some kind.”

Xyn hesitated then nodded.

His sister sat down and patted the space next to her. “Let’s talk about it.”

A growl escaped his chest as he suppressed a flash of irritation. Even Kerra was treating him like a younger sibling. Her raised eyebrow told him that he wasn’t going to be rid of her easily, and at this point, if she went to their parents about the scroll and the ring was discovered… why hadn’t she noticed the ring?

With a huff, Xyn sat—further away than the spot Kerra had indicated. His changed legs almost caused him to trip, but sitting was just intentional falling… mostly.

Kerra stayed silent and patiently waited.

“Uhm…” How was he going to get out of this? Maybe this was a chance… “I decided to leave Severing Downs.” Xyn looked down at his human-like hands. “To the human lands. My Path… I don’t think I can find it here, and I want to get out from under Quen’s shadow…”

Xyn clenched his fists as he accepted the truth of his declaration. The relieved sigh that came from beside him, caused him to look up sharply in surprise.

“I’m surprised it took you this long,” Kerra revealed. “You know, we’ve all been worried for you. I noticed that you were still awake and that you had eaten the dinner Mom had left for you, so I decided to see if you wanted to talk about what was bothering you, and I’m glad I did.” Kerra turned to face him more directly. “Are you leaving tonight? I can help. Do you want me to tell Mom and Dad anything?”

He could only stare at her, surprise warring with insecurity and resentment that no one was treating him as an adult. That she was on his side was a shock, but… how should he feel about her asking to help him pack…? Shouldn’t she be more upset about her brother sneaking away in the middle of the night to possibly never return? It was a complicated feeling.

“Well?” she prompted him.

In a way, he was fortunate that his sister had peeked in on him rather than his mom or dad. This was an opportunity that he needed to make use of for his mission, regardless of how he felt.

“Thanks, Kerra,” Xyn accepted. “It would be a big help.”

“You can count on me,” Kerra affirmed with an eager grin and smacked at his shoulder in encouragement. “So, what’s the plan?”

Xyn took a deep breath to gather his thoughts. Everything was suddenly moving so quickly. “I’m heading to Shir`lyn first. I’ll need snacks and camping supplies for a week’s journey through Mirewood. I can resupply there.”

“Mirewood… is that because you’re short on coin? I’ve saved up a lot from selling poultices and blood-thickening potions and could share some. Wouldn’t going north through the Beastlands and then traveling with a caravan be safer?” Kerra asked in concern as she leaned over, picking up the fancy purple box, and reached for the note from Grandma Kaylie.

“Ah-!” Xyn scooped up the note and the letter before Kerra could get a good look at them, hopefully. “Grandma Kaylie, gave me a letter to deliver to some mage guy in Shir`lyn. So…” Telling her that much should be okay, and any excuse he made at this point would just be suspicious.

“Oh?” Kerra raised an eyebrow. “So, that’s why the sudden rush, huh. Isn’t Grandma Kaylie going to be worried when you don’t come back?”

Xyn hesitated then admitted, “It was Grandma’s idea…”

Kerra observed him for a moment before nodding and getting up to place the box on the desk next to the scroll. “Okay. I can see that. Guess I should be happy that… no, nevermind. Let’s get you on your way before the others wake up and start asking annoying questions.”

“Ah, right.”

“Should Mom and Dad know about Grandma Kaylie’s task?”

Xyn glanced worriedly at the scroll but shook his head. “No, just tell them I got into some trouble and left to find my Path. It’s true enough.”

“Alright. I can do that.” Kerra watched him with an amused smirk as she scooped up the scroll. “I’ve always wondered what the inside of a forbidden technique scroll looks like.”

Xyn stiffened up as she moved to open the scroll. “Hey!”

Kerra laughed and put the scroll back on the desk, leaning toward him with interest. “So, what’s it like?“

“It’s written with aura in a way demonstrating the essence of the technique. It’s completely different from the usual way to learn techniques…” Xyn described.

He was still awed by the nuances in the aura contained in the scroll. The forbidden technique was complex in ways he had found completely unexpected, and the method the scroll used to teach the technique was even more surprising. He wished he dared to take more time going through the scrolls, but this one had felt like the best fit for his path even if he had yet to come to terms with what the technique actually did. There was no use being greedy and taking more than one scroll. As it was, learning this one technique would likely take months, maybe longer.

Kerra raised an eyebrow. “So, it’s like that… cool. I can’t wait until I get my chance. Guess I gotta call you Master Xyn now, huh.” She chuckled at his grimace.

The preparations went all too quickly, and Xyn was soon faced with the reality of his departure—from here his life would change and he might never see his family or home town ever again.

As they stood at the base of the tree that housed their family home, Kerra handed him a clinking sack, which he gratefully placed in a belt pouch.

“Anything you’re going to miss from this place?” Kerra made a motion with her paw to indicate the sleeping town that surrounded them, bathed in cloud-obscured moonlight.

Actually, there was one… “Umm, Kerra, Aeri… do you think she might wait for me?”

Kerra’s face made a surprised ‘o’ that twisted into a wry smile before schooling itself into an expression that suggested she was trying to phrase her reply in a way that wouldn’t be hurtful.

Xyn’s heart sank. He had been stupid to one-sidedly get his hopes up.

“You know, Xyn. You and Aeri have known each other since you were little. I’m sorry I didn’t realize your interest, or I would have helped out. Her parents have already arranged a partner for her, and she seems happy with the arrangement. Mom and Dad could probably intervene with Aeri’s parents if you’re really serious and want to issue a challenge, but you would likely be required to win a duel… and the result might create bad feelings between our families…”

“Ah, no, it’s fine.” Xyn shook his head and raised his hands to apologetically distance himself from the idea. “I should have spoken up sooner, but with my Awakening results, I didn’t have the… courage. Besides, with me leaving, it wouldn’t be fair to Aeri.”

Kerra gave her brother a sympathetic hug, then held him at arms-length. “You’d better get going.”

“Yeah. Thanks, sis. I’ll write.”

Shifting his travel pack and pulling his cloak close to hide his bare arms, Xyn set off into the night.