Perched in the tree he studied the land below him, brush encroached on the edge of the water granting some cover to the various animals. Slowly as I scanned the shoreline I saw a spark of light moving through the woods. I couldn’t believe my luck, if it was what I thought I might get my shard after all. It would be risky but maybe my luck had changed. As it grew closer I could make out it’s shape, it was a spark stag. Animals became beats when they absorbed a shard, at least that’s what I had been told. If I could take the animal and the shard was intact I could absorb it.

I waited watching it approach, slowly notching an arrow and drawing the heavy short bow back. I preferred the big horn short bow to the long bows, easier to use in tight spaces. The heavier draw didn’t bother me the way it did others because of my strength. Waiting with the glitching tickling my ear, I watched the spark stag approach the water. I still couldn’t believe my luck finding a magical beast on my night of majority was enough to make my mind whirl. The stag stepped forward to the edge and I sighted down at it, as soon as my eyes focused on its haunch I looked the arrow.

Its flight was true and fast, but the stag twitched it must have caught the soft twang of the bows release. A hit but not a kill shot, the stag lept away and I moved in pursuit, I couldn’t let it get away. I set off moving fast through the tree tops following it deeper into the woods. The pace was reckless but I had to catch that stag, branches tore at me as I moved through the trees trying to keep it in sight. I could feel nights air growing sense with the gathering of power, it wouldn’t be long now and I had to get that shard.

There was a break in the trees ahead but I couldn’t stop, my eyes scanned the clearing it was only twenty feet across I should be able to clear it. I sped up trying to get enough momentum to clear the gap in trees. Just as I was about to launching myself into the air my back foot turned, stealing just enough momentum that I wouldn’t make it. It was to late, for just a second I hung in the air than gravity reacted to my presence and I plummeted toward the ground below. Just to torment me I caught a flicker of movement as the stag spring across below me disappearing into the darkness. My last glimpse made me curse, it didn’t have an arrow in it. I had missed.

I was only twenty feet up so this wasn’t life threatening but the stag would get away. Then just as I prepared to impact the ground I could see the crescent sky start, flaring light fell across the sky in a brilliant display of light. There was the brief flash of intense stabbing pain than I passed through the ground. I was falling into darkness even as my eyes saw the illusion of the ground close back above me. The impact on the ground made me wonder for just a second if I was seeing things. Were those sparks in the sky from the pain or was that the crescent shower? The thought flashed through my mind just before darkness took me.

Much to my surprise I woke up, by that I mean I really didn’t think I would. That last second had convinced me I had fallen into a hunters trap. The sharp pain in my back must have been put spikes right? Evidently I was wrong in that assumption. What’s more I can see the cave around me, which shouldn’t be possible. This wasn’t my normal vision or even my low light, it was a world of greys and odd tones. I’m n a guess this was like the dark vision of the dwarves but that made no sense.

First the body check, it all worked thankfully. Hurt like hellfire but everything moved and nothing felt broken. The pain was….not what I would have expected from a fall. It felt like my body was on fire, like something burned through me but that didn’t make sense. The only thing that should feel like this would be a shard burning the channels for magic into my body. Even that shouldn’t feel like this though, that should be simple and more localized. This was all over, from the top of my head to my toes. Worse it was increasing, I fell back onto the cool ground trying not to scream as the sensation increased. The cool darkness took me back into its embrace.

When I woke back up the pain had faded, but my entire body felt different. Everything was alive around me and I could feel it all. By everything I mean everything, the ground, the plants, even the bugs climbing around the cave. It was strong, not overwhelming but like it was all there at my call which made no sense. Even if the shard I had fallen on was an earth shard it shouldn’t be this strong, not even close.

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When I was in school they had said you could check you share by focusing inside. There had been drawings and different visual things to help you prepare for what you saw when you did. I slowly sat up into a cross legged meditation position, calming my mind and focusing my vision inside myself toward my magical center. What I saw there shocked me so badly it jolted me out of mediation and I fell back into the ground again my vision spinning.

It didn’t look like any of the shards I had seen in school, but it did look like what had been described in legends I had read. It was a complete star, but that couldn’t be. There was no way that could be real. I collected myself and got back into my seated position and dove inside myself again. There it was, a perfect star hung in a vortex of light. The light was so bright even my internal vision had to blink at the light.

Disbelief filled me as I stared, this couldn’t be. There was no way it could have happened. It wasn’t just finding five perfect shards but it meant that my enternal magics had to have accepted them all without detonating. That didn’t just happen, well at least according to the books I had read. You had to prepare your body, it required body tempering that costs thousands of gold. Coin I had never seen, not even one gold had graced my palms. A vague memory scratched at the back of my mind, there was another way. If your bloodline was clean enough you could absorb them, but I would have known that. Wouldn’t I?

What did I know about perfect bloodlines? Maybe my increased strength and agility weren’t because of my heritage. I hadn’t ever gotten sick really and I couldn’t remember ever taking long to heal from wounds. Had I had a perfect bloodline all along? Was that my sixth sense? Voices above me pulled me out of my thoughts.

“They have be around here captain, it’s the only place that makes sense.” The voice was male but sounded hallow.

“If they fell here in the wilds then they are truly lost. Beats now wield the princes shards.” This man’s voice was heavy with command. “Karas you said you sensed them not long ago?”

“Aye captain, felt them clear as day then they just disappeared when the crescent sky started.” Female this time, elegant and smooth with a surety to it.

“That’s when the beats would have been drawn to them. Can you track anything around us?” The captain again, there was a tension in his voice a hint of fear maybe.

“All over, my tracking doesn’t specify those shards, sorry sir.” Karas again, a tracker evidently. Some Shard wielders specialized in specific magics.

“Damned Beasts!” The captain cursed.

“What do we do sir?” A different male voice, it sounded like he was right above me.

“Nothing to do but report it to the king.” There was a finality in his voice.

“Captain there is a faint magical trace here, so fine I almost missed it.” Karas again, she must be feeling the illusion. I was in no state for a fight but what else could I do?

“What is it?” The captain snapped with just a thin trace of hope in it.

“I don’t know sir.” She admitted. “Something cast, not shards.”

“That doesn’t do any good, no spell could mask the shards no matter what! That’s probably just some local practicing or hunting.” He sighed heavily before he finished his thoughts. “Wrap it up, nothing we can do.”

I felt them move off to the west, it was odd just by focusing on them I could track them for miles before the fell away from my awareness. A wave of exhaustion washed over me when I relaxed, I had pushed my new core to far. That tracking must have used energy. I needed to understand that more, I knew the overview I had but it wasn’t enough. I knew you built up strength by using it and at first that reservoir of energy was small, but like a muscle it would build up strength. This would take time, time I evidently had laying in this cave. Well maybe I should probably look around my cave and find out what I had to work with.