> Many records have been lost to time, and just as many have been destroyed by fire or blade. The unfortunate fact is that many of the demigods have no interest in keeping detailed records of history, and subsequently doubt the validity of the ones that do claim to do so.
>
> - From the foreword of, “A History of Histories, an incomplete record of incomplete records.”
“Block!”
I grab at the floor, snatching my own shadow and pulling it free. It was similar to taking down a wanted poster that had been glued to the wall. Whenever I removed a shadow from a surface, it lit up, as if there were no obstacles blocking light from reaching it.
From my crouching position, I brought the shadow above and across my chest, covering the largest portion of my body in the shortest amount of time. When I pulled a shadow up from whatever surface it was on, it acted like cloth. To be more specific, the shadow mimics the physical properties of burlap or canvas, though it lets no light through, nor does it take on the texture. When one of my shadows is cut, ripped, or otherwise damaged enough, it breaks apart and vanishes before returning to the surface it was taken from.
The aforementioned motion caused the cloth-like shadow to billow out in front of me.
If I pushed some of my Anima, what Wolfram calls non-essential soul energy, into the shadow, I can lock in its shape, making it as hard as iron. And that is exactly what I do; I lock in its shape and hold it up as a shield. The moment I finished imbuing the shadow with Anima, a process that takes only half a second, a significant improvement from the ten seconds or so when I first began practicing, I felt something hit the shield and bounce off, followed by the sound of metal clattering on stone.
“Excellent, Lloyd. You’re picking this up much faster than I did,” Wolfram said.
Since I had first woken up in this world, after having watched my partner murdered right before my eyes, I encountered so many strange new things. Being in the business of thievery, the ability to adapt to any situation with grace and without hesitation can mean the difference between earning your next meal and getting beat black and blue in some damp alley because your bad acting got you caught. This was why Von and I had been so accepting of the situation. If it clearly wasn’t a dream, nor a hallucination, then it had to be reality, and we’d just have to accept that as fact. Even the crazy powers stuff, it sure surprised me, but it was able to accept it once I viewed it as a tool, one with a set of rules and limitations it had to follow.
Von and I have been spending the past few days training our powers, as well as our bodies; studying the history, politics, and geography of the world; and hanging out with the Vagabonds. Currently, Von and I are training in a large, underground room beneath the streets of Lowestoft. I was getting some basic advice and instruction from Wolfram regarding shadow manipulation, while Von was on the other end of the room practicing with his illusions. I would see him playing with various shapes of all sizes and colors when I glanced over at him between drills.
Cadius had called these abilities Blessings, as they are technically bestowed by the demigods. As a side note, a demigod’s own ability is referred to as an Edict. My blessing is called Umbra, and Von’s is Mirage.
When I asked Von why he didn’t seek Cadius’s help, he said he wanted to figure it out on his own. It was a very Von thing of him, going with his gut and diving straight into something without planning ahead. The most frustrating, and simultaneously amazing, thing is that he almost always picks the best course of action, when it counts, anyway.
The immediate goal of Wolfram’s training exercises was to teach me simple yet extremely effective ways to use my blessing and have me practice until it becomes reactionary. Being able to block projectiles on instinct was an essential skill for staying alive. If I had to think about what I was trying to do, it would slow down my reaction time, a potentially fatal delay.
The other goal of these exercises was to acclimate myself more quickly to using Umbra. Molding shadows into specific shapes was one of the basic, and it was difficult to get the hang of. The first day of practice, I wasn’t able to manipulate the shadow at all, other than grabbing it and locking its shape. Now, a few days later, I was able to push and pull parts of it, but not much else than that. It was as if I was trying to mold a block of clay while blindfolded and wearing a pair of thick, baggy gloves.
“Lloyd, is everything all right?” Wolfram asked me.
Still holding the shadow-shield up in front of me, I had gotten lost in thought. “Ah, I was just doing some thinking.” I took back the Anima I had imbued the shadow with, then siphoned what I could from the shadow itself. There were actually two separate steps involving Anima when creating a shadow shield. The first was using Anima to grab the shadow. This process used only a touch of Anima, but the amount required grew with the size and illumination of the shadow. The second use was locking the shape of an object. The Anima cost grew not with size or illumination, but with how durable one desires the shadow to be.
The current issue I had on my mind was the extremely limited Anima capacity Von and I had. Cadius had informed us that this was due to our being Dusts. He was researching them in his spare time but would soon be too busy to continue doing so. Our disappointment was short lived, though, because Cadius informed us that we would be, in his words, “retrieving a source of information on Dusts,” in one month’s time. This was dependent on us fixing a few problems, mainly our lack of reliable combat capabilities and common knowledge of this realm.
Cadius told us to spend the next month preparing in whatever way we saw fit. Cadius hadn’t given us any other instructions, so we had assumed that we were expected to gather information, supplies, and personnel on our own initiative. At least, that was Von’s assessment. Thus, I created a schedule for Von and I. Each day, we would spend the morning exercising our bodies and training the use of our blessings; meet with suppliers, crafters, and merchants all across the city in preparation for our expedition, or fellow Vagabonds in our headquarters to build a rapport, during midday; and end the day with reading and studying. This would cover our lack of knowledge, capabilities, connections, and source of supplies and equipment.
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“How’s your environmental awareness?” asked Wolfram.
By environmental awareness, Wolfram was referring to how attentive I was to the location and size of every nearby shadow. He had repeatedly pressed upon me the importance of always maintaining an awareness of shadows, the reason being similar to the previously mentioned practice drills, eliminating yet another delay preventing me from acting in a combat situation. “I’m still working on it. To be honest, it’s even more difficult than mastering the blessing itself.” This wasn’t something that I could take shortcuts with. Wolfram had said that mastering this ability required many years of constant practice.
“This is true. I asked because you might have made progress similar to your rapid grasp of shadow manipulation.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not the case. But I’m nothing if not diligent, unlike Von over there,” I said, jerking a thumb over towards the idiot who was treating his supernatural powers like a toy. He was sitting against the wall, poking and pulling at a grey cube, trying to shape it like clay.
“He really does remind of lord Cadius.”
“Really? If so, then I’m starting to feel bad for you. I can’t imagine having to manage a Von that has that level of authority and responsibility,” I said jokingly.
“It is quite the headache, but that is also why I find it so rewarding.” Wolfram chuckled.
We returned to doing drills, this time working on shaping and strengthening shadows. Wolfram had me create a blade sharp enough and tough enough to be used in combat. I had been making rapid progress, but the best I could manage was something approximating a dagger. It was bent and curved at odd angles, and the edge no sharper than a table knife. But it was progress.
The last aspect of my blessing, what Wolfram called shadow movement, was the ability to ‘dive’ into shadows and enter a sort of sub-space where I could then exit from other shadows. I was advised not to use this ability until I had increased my Anima capacity, as entering and exiting both required Anima. If I ended up stuck in the shadow space, I would have to wait for my Anima to regenerate, which could take up to half a day with my low capacity.
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The next day, during practice, I asked Wolfram how I could make better use of my limited Anima. He declined, saying that despite having the same blessing, its capabilities diverged as it grew. Beyond the absolute basics, his knowledge and techniques were not at all applicable to me. For example, Wolfram was skilled at creating weapons out of shadows, and they could take on additional properties or effects, something that only he could do. He had already had a natural inclination for bladework, so he developed his blessing to support that. The best course of action would be to let me develop mine in a way that suits me specifically.
I had a few ideas, but nothing definitive at the moment. What I did want was something flexible, useful in any situation or applicable to any task. I should probably get Von’s input on this. I was sure he’d come up with some absurd idea that ended up being exactly what I needed.
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“Ah, today was brutal. I hope I never have to scramble across the entire city like that ever again.”
We had just returned to our residence, Von complaining on our way in. “We’ve only so much time left, so suck it up. Besides, this’ll give us more free time later. Probably,” I said.
By the time I had finished instructing our chef to prepare dinner and our retainer Ramona to fetch some paper, ink, the notes I made last night, along with the atlas I had been reading and Von’s stack of Vagabond resumes he had been combing, Von had already changed out of his thief gear and into more comfortable clothing and was laying on the sofa, messing around with his illusions again.
I normally would have sighed at his indolence, but I couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that he had been working so hard lately, yet still was just as chipper as ever. Where does he get that energy from? No matter, I did need that strange but brilliant mind of his tonight.
“Von, can I get your opinion on something?”
“Of course. Let me guess, you can’t tell if Wolfram and Cadius are a pair?”
“What? No! I mean- ugh!” Von had this special power that let him know exactly what to say to catch me off guard. Even when I was expecting him to say something ridiculous, he nonetheless manages to exceed my expectations.
“Well, they aren’t, I’m pretty sure at least.”
“Really? I – Wait! Stop changing the subject!”
Von snickered at me. Really, he just loved teasing me. But… I can’t say I hated it. He was able to do stuff like that because he paid that much attention to me, he was always thinking about me. That was why I tolerated it.
But… I couldn’t resist returning the favor. With a smile, I grabbed a hold of the large shadow under the table, yanking it out, then draped it across a confused Von like a blanket. I then leaned over him as if to hug him, grabbed the edge of the shadow-blanket nearest his head, then quickly pulled it over his head and then locked it in place.
It took Von a few moments to realize what I had done. He had probably never expected me to try getting back at him, let alone something like this. He began struggling, but his cries for help were clearly not meant to be serious.
With the way he was flailing about, it was obvious that he really was stuck, but his concern was just an act. He was playing along with my prank without scaring me. I couldn’t help but laugh. He really did know me too well.
I released my captive from his shadowy prison, a triumphant grin on my face. “Maybe now you'll think twice before messing with me again.”
“Nope! If means you start being a bit more impulsive like just now, then I’ll never stop. Hehe.”
Damn it. “Well, anyways, I really did want to ask for your help. I need to figure out how I’m going to develop my blessing. I want something I can use in any situation; I want you to be able to rely on me for anything,” I admitted. I wasn’t afraid of being a burden on Von or anything like that, but I did want to be there for him when he needs it.
“Hmm…” Von looked deep in thought. That is to say, he was still laying across the sofa, eyes closed, like he was asleep. “Well, why not keep it simple? Just get it to do exactly what you want.”
I sighed. “Can you elaborate?” It sounded like he’d just reworded the question as an answer. I knew he had something more specific in mind, but I always had to ask for clarification.
“So, uh… For example, if you need a shield, have it change into a shield. If you need to tie someone up, have it turn into a rope, launch towards the guy, then wrap him up. Or, if you want to give it instructions, you can do so. Maybe you won’t have it shooting lightning or slicing people to ribbons, but it’ll do just about anything you want it to and in the exact way you tell it to do so.”
Brilliant as always. Here I was, thinking that I needed some kind of complex creation or something highly specialized but applicable to a number of scenarios. But really, the answer was just to allow my shadows to be manipulated at will, and even program them to carry out instructions.
I smiled. “Thanks, Von.”
“It’s no big deal,” Von waved dismissively. He was smiling though.