Early morning sun glittered off floating motes of dust as Alarion woke. He wasn’t sure how long he’d slept, but the soreness of his back and the hunger in his belly suggested that the best answer was ‘too long’.
The healers had fed him something, a bitter alchemical concoction that they’d insisted would help him rest. They hadn’t taken no for an answer, running roughshod over his objections. Magic could only do so much for such a serious condition. Rest was required for him to fully heal, and he would rest whether he wanted to or not.
And he absolutely had not wanted to.
They’d left Alex behind. It was entirely outside of their control, Alarion was honest enough with himself to admit that. But the reality still rankled him all the same. That and the words Lamesh had left him with.
She did not tell you. But don’t worry, she never lied about it.
As if reading his thoughts, a knock came at the door.
“I’m awake.” Alarion said. The knock came again and he spoke more loudly. “I’m awake!”
“I am more concerned with whether you are decent.” Sierra said through the half open door.
“Ah.” She had a point. He’d woken wearing loose fit pants he hadn’t remembered putting on, but he hadn’t bothered throwing anything on over his bare chest as he sat on the edge of his bed watching the ocean outside. “Just a moment.”
It took him longer to find new clothing than it did to dress. His old garb, tattered, torn and bloody had been discarded by the healers and Alarion had never owned a wardrobe to think to look there. Eventually he located new clothing by process of elimination, and answered the door dressed in a white cotton vest with a matching jacket thrown over it.
Sierra looked as though he’d been stealing her sleep. There were bags under her eyes, and a general look of exhaustion within them. She was smiling, though. It was thin and uncertain, ready to take a turn for the worse should the situation demand, but it was a smile.
“You look better.” The girl said after a moment’s examination. “I did not like seeing you in pain.”
Alarion nodded instead of speaking. The two of them had been separated within moments of their arrival, but those moments had been just long enough to build a line of tension between them. Part of him regretted it. The accusatory stares. The demand that they go back, a demand he knew she had no choice but to refuse. He hadn’t been fair with her then, he wasn’t being fair with her now. But those words still bit at the back of his mind.
She never lied about it.
“Did they find him?” Alarion said, after realizing he had been silent for far too long.
Sierra shook her head. “They have not even located the entrance yet. Give it time.”
Those had been the wrong words. Alarion’s hands clenched into fists at his side, his eyes looking anywhere but at her. A dozen arguments for his involvement in the search flitted through his thoughts, each discarded in turn. Instead he simply asked, “Training?”
“If you’re well enough,” She answered. “ZEKE has been chomping at the bit, now that you are on a fixed timeline.”
“Ninety days,” Alarion frowned. Elena had filled him in on her decision the previous evening, while she’d been brow beating him into taking his medicine.
“Eighty-nine,” Sierra clarified. “You slept for most of a day.”
“Mm.” Alarion grunted. That certainly explained the soreness.
The girl stepped aside to let Alarion into the hall as she continued. “ZEKE made sure your breakfast is prepared to travel, but he wants to meet us in the courtyard before we set out.”
“We’re leaving?”
“Just to the Stone Isle.” Sierra caught his wrist as he started down the hall, causing Alarion to flinch away in surprise. He turned on her with a glare, his jaw set to argue when he realized why she’d stopped him. “You will not need this today, but I am tired of carrying it around.”
The Duke’s mace was leaning against the wall on the far side of his bedroom door, though he almost did not recognize it at first. Someone, perhaps Sierra herself, had taken time to detail the weapon, buffing out ancient imperfections and wrapping the hilt in green and violet leather.
Alarion hefted the weapon with one hand. It was still a struggle, though his drastically increased strength would make it practical to use the weapon in regular combat, rather than solely as a desperation move. He shouldered the weapon and inclined his head toward Sierra. “Thank you.”
ZEKE awaited them in the courtyard. With his fixed expression and lack of pupils, most days the Steelborn was difficult to read. This was not one of those days. The machine was impatient, his hands clasped together and fidgeting. He was relieved to see Alarion, though that relief was tempered by the new oversized weapon the boy carried.
“Sierra told me that you’d picked up a number of trophies.” ZEKE said without preamble and only a tinge of sarcasm. “I will admit, I was not expecting something so… big.”
“I have smaller ones.” Alarion replied, turning his wrist to present the blackstone bracer on the back of his wrist.
“So I’ve been told. Sierra provided her notebook, so I’m familiar with your items. We’ll be setting out shortly, but before we leave, I’d like to go over your status.”
Alarion nodded his assent, and after a short casting of [Display Status] a series of semi-transparent windows floated in the air before them.
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> General Information
>
> Name - Alarion
> Species - Human
> Sex - Male
> Age – Fifteen Years
> HP – 800/800
> MP – 376/376
> Stamina – 433/433
> Aptitude - 238%
> UCL – 58
>
> Attributes
>
> STR – 228
> AGI - 178
> VIT – 203
> INT – 120
> PER – 195
> WIL – 136
> LUK – 918
>
> Classes Known
>
> Orphan - Level 12 - Progress – 6%
> Survivor - Level 1 - Progress - MAX
> Stubborn Swordsman – Level 22 – Progress - 42%
>
> General Skills Known
>
> Stealth - Level 3 - Progress – 92%
> Detection - Level 4 - Progress - 19%
> Thrown Weapon Mastery - Level 9 - Progress – 42%
> Oversized Weapon Mastery – Level 2 – Progress 21%
> Lockpicking - Level 3 - Progress 91%
>
> Class Skills Known
>
> Survivor’s Endurance – Level 7 – Progress 17%
> Self-Motivated – Level 5 – Progress - 39%
> Pig-Headed Resilience - Level 4 - Progress 13%
> The Best Offence is a Good Offense - Level 1 - Progress 69%
> [Not Yet Selected] - Orphan 10
> Fight Through the Pain - Level 1 - Progress 0%
>
> Traits and Feats of Strength
>
> Avian Bane - Rank I
> Soulless Bane - Rank I
>
> Flaws
>
> Unknown – Major
> Unknown – Moderate
> Single-Minded– Minor (Focus: None)
“When we sent you to that island, I expected you to gain a combat class, not come back halfway through to rank II,” ZEKE said after a thorough read of the base details.
“Sorry.”
ZEKE gave Alarion a look. “It was an observation, not a complaint. Your class on the other hand… was this really the best choice?”
“Better rarity, more suited to him,” Sierra interposed herself in the conversation. “My notes reference the alternative. It was fairly generic. Novice Swordsman of Ambrosia.”
“I’ve read your notes.” ZEKE said dryly. “I was asking him.”
Alarion did not respond as the Steelborn looked his way. Their eyes met, and Alarion held his ground until the machine chuckled.
“I do not recommend unknown classes as a typical rule, but everything about your education has been far from typical.” ZEKE shook his head ruefully as he reviewed Alarion’s skills. It was, as he said, information that he already knew, but there was a virtue in reviewing before discussing. “The skill names are interesting. Pig-Headed. Offence. This is your most recent one? An uncommon?”
“We were concerned we might have to fight the revenant while I was in an injured state.” Alarion confirmed.
As ZEKE’s shoulders slumped, Sierra quickly added. “But it was also the best of the bunch presented. He’d leveled up too quickly, I think. Not enough feats for the system to offer something better.”
> Fight Through the Pain [Uncommon]
>
> Description: Pain and injury have become core companions on your journey. This familiarity allows you to rise to the occasion and fight through while others might collapse under the burden of their injuries.
>
> Requirements: Suffer from at least one condition.
>
> Type: Passive
>
> Effects: Reduce the severity of all ongoing conditions by one grade while in combat. Ie. [Bleeding – Minor] will become [Bleeding – Slight] while in combat and for 30 seconds afterwards.
>
> Growths: VIT +6
“You’ve certainly laid a foundation.” ZEKE said, after reviewing the skills. “If a curious one. You’ve chosen perhaps the most overtly destructive and powerful weapon in the arsenal, but your skills are all primarily defensive in nature. You’ve a sort of pseudo skill-circuit between your Survivor’s Endurance and Fight Through the Pain, the first can reduce the severity of conditions as you gain them, and the latter reducing the effect they have while you have them. For your level I’d say you’re one of the more durable Awakened I’ve ever seen.”
Alarion’s face lit up only to be quickly dashed as ZEKE continued.
“It isn’t a bad strategy, but you need striking power. Having the biggest sword will only get you so far as you advance in ranks. If you can’t make yourself an adequate threat, then opponents will ignore you in group fights, and you’ll struggle to contribute. In direct combat, they’ll chip away at you.”
“I have another skill,” Alarion said, gesturing to the status window.
ZEKE cocked his head to the side, then noticed the small indicator next to Alarion’s Orphan class. “Ah, so you do. I would have thought you’d have already selected it.”
“He was ready to do so if it came to violence.” Sierra explained.
“Yet you delayed?”
Alarion shrugged slightly and met ZEKE’s eyes once more. “I- We, couldn’t decide. I wanted your opinion. This one seemed more important.”
The words clearly struck something in ZEKE. The machine man leaned back on his heels, arms crossing over his abdomen as he looked to Alarion’s status without a word. The menus flickered, and four options came into view:
> Solitary [Exceptional]
>
> Description: Self-Reliance has been the key to your survival. Why change what has obviously been working?
>
> Requirements: None
>
> Type: Passive
>
> Effects: Gain a moderate increase to XP gain for the Orphan Class. Gain a slight boost to all attributes while alone for more than 24 hours. This bonus increases to minor if you have been alone for more than 7 days.
>
> Growths: STR +4. AGI +4. VIT +4. INT +4. PER +4. WIL +4.
>
> Note: Taking this skill will severely impact future class selection options on Rank Up.
—
> Found Family [Exceptional]
>
> Description: You’ve spent years alone, but you no longer have to. You have allies, friends, possibly even a new sort of family. Trusting in them will allow you to grow, but with this family comes new obligations, and a path you cannot walk alone.
>
> Requirements: None
>
> Type: Passive
>
> Effects: Designate one individual whom you trust. You are able to gain Orphan Class XP while in their presence. Gain a slight bonus to all stats while fighting alongside them and only them.
>
> Growths: STR +4. AGI +4. VIT +4. INT +4. PER +4. WIL +4.
>
> Note: Taking this skill will severely impact future class selection options on Rank Up.
—
> Lucky Strike [Rare]
>
> Description: Survival as an Orphan is more luck than skill. To thrive as one requires learning how to skillfully utilize that luck and to learn the precise moment to strike.
>
> Requirements: None
>
> Type: Active.
>
> Activation Time: 1 second.
>
> Duration: 2 seconds.
>
> Cooldown: 60 seconds.
>
> Effects: Channel a slight amount of MP and stamina for one second. Your next physical attack launched within two seconds gains a bonus to STR or AGI (whichever is appropriate for the attack) equal to your current LUK.
>
> Growths: LUK +30.
—
> Lucky Barrage [Rare]
>
> Description: Survival as an Orphan is more luck than skill. To thrive as one requires learning how to skillfully utilize that luck and to learn that sometimes quantity has a quality all its own.
>
> Requirements: None
>
> Type: Active
>
> Activation Time: 5 seconds.
>
> Duration: 20 seconds.
>
> Cooldown: 60 seconds.
>
> Effects: Channel a slight amount of HP, MP and stamina for five seconds. All physical attacks for the next 20 seconds gain a bonus to STR or AGI (whichever is appropriate for the attack) equal to 20% of your current luck.
>
> Growths: LUK +30.
“My this is quite the choice.” ZEKE said, as he finished reviewing the options. “I can see why you wanted my opinion.”