Caleb sat dead still a little ways from the camp. Emilia had told him he needed to channel the energy within him and send it to where it settled when he absorbed the Item. Emilia had two ideas of his power from his description of where he got it.
“Guess one, matter manipulation. The forest around you was altered in ways your senses could perceive, meaning the matter may have been altered,” Emilia explained. “Guess two, illusions. You said everything disappeared once you exited the cave. That could mean the only real thing was the Item. It also could explain the forest being a high form of an illusion that can trick your senses.”
Caleb was trying to remember where the energy had flowed into him when he got the power. It was a blur of pain that coursed through his veins. He recalled it stopping once it hit his head. Focusing, he moved the energy through his body and centered it into his head. Something felt off. Caleb had never felt his energy inside his body like this before. He felt the energy being channeled into a bottle with no bottom. Concentrating on conjuring an object, he thought back to the metal spheres Josh had used to save them and started forming the picture in his mind. As the ball fully developed in his head, he felt the bottle holding the energy flow into the image. Slowly, it filled the image, warping it. Caleb kept reinforcing the image to make it stable. Suddenly, Caleb felt everything snap into place. Opening his eyes, he saw the sphere sitting on the ground.
…
Emilia stood nearby, not saying anything. She watched Caleb sitting still for almost 2 hours and was impressed. Not wanting to break his concentration, she allowed him to continue, knowing it was unlikely for him to crack what his ability may be on the first attempt. That changed, however, when she saw a flicker. Suddenly, a sphere of circuits and a few buttons materialized out of the air and lay on the ground. She watched it, marveling at how fast he’d activated his power. She moved forward to pick up the object when Caleb’s eyes flickered open.
“I did it,” Caleb whispered. “I did it!” He repeated shouting. Emilia jumped back slightly at his outburst and saw the ball wink out of existence. Caleb looked down, realized what had happened, and shook his head. “I’m going to try it again. I don’t know if it was real or an illusion, but it felt right,” he stated.
“Woah, hold on a minute,” Emilia said. “You gotta take a break for a bit. Trying to force it won’t get results and exhaust you faster. You’ve already made incredible progress, so take a break and sit by the fire or something,” she told him.
With a grimace, Caleb got up and walked over to the campfire. The others had heard his shout of joy and congratulated him.
“You made me lose my bet,” Chris grumbled. “Are you sure you’ve never used your ability before meeting us?”
“You're just mad 'cause you lost. Maybe having a little faith would’ve let you keep your money,” Grace responded with a smirk. Grace and Chris locked eyes. Caleb could feel Chris’ anger while Grace looked as happy as ever. Arthur sat to the side, smiling without comment.
“How long does it normally take to use an ability?” Caleb asked.
“It depends on the user’s proficiency in energy manipulation. It can be anywhere from a few hours to weeks before an individual activates their Items power. It is also normally activated where the energy from the item settles into the user,” Arthur explained.
Caleb sat beside Arthur and started asking questions about their prior adventures. He learned that Arthur had been a battle medic in the previous war the Kingdom of Amrion had been in. Chris and Grace shared some of their stories, but having been adventuring for only a handful of years, they didn’t have nearly as many stories as Arthur. As the night wore on, Arthur told tails from his past.
“We had been outside Gneab when we still controlled it,” Arthur said bitterly. “I felt tense that day. We were marching towards Biok to reinforce the city. It was my third deployment, and I had already obtained some good battle experience. We saw a Chimera in a clearing basking in the midday sun. Its fur was golden brown from the heads down to the base of the tail. It had three heads and a large pair of wings. One head was a lion. The second was a goat. The third was an Eagle. Each had a large curved horn embedded in the center of its head. Following army procedure, we moved to neutralize it and move on; however, it was different than anything we had faced prior. When our first soldiers readied their rifles on the beast, it turned its heads in our direction and vanished. That’s when all hell broke loose. The thing was in the center of our formation, tearing everyone apart. I tried to help anywhere I could, but most were dead before I could assist.” He continued explaining how many soldiers were lost and how only a lucky few escaped the beast's carnage. Everyone stayed silent, the story spinning through their mind.
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“Let’s head to bed and prepare for tomorrow, everyone,” Arthur said.
The others got up and made themselves comfortable before turning in for the night. Caleb had visions of the bodies in the streets of Etheria, reliving the nightmare once again.
…
Caleb woke up to the sound of rustling leaves and cracked an eye open. The others were up and alert, but it was still the middle of the night. Chris wielded his hammer with both hands while Grace, Arthur, and Emilia stood ready and alert.
“What’s goi--” Before Caleb could continue, Emilia had dashed and clamped her hand over his mouth. She signed to him to stay quiet and looked around. Caleb hadn’t noticed anything being off when he heard a leaf crunch nearby. He turned towards the sound and saw a goblin mid-jump with a simple metal sword. Before it could stab him, Emilia spun and kicked the goblin in the head. Blood dripped from her boots as the goblin hit the ground dead. That's when a flurry of activity happened. Goblins jumped out of the bushes and trees, trying to swarm the group. Emilia was zipping through the field at a blistering pace, stabbing and kicking every goblin in her path. Chris swung his hammer in a circle faster than any ordinary man could ever accomplish, hitting five goblins with a single swing. Meanwhile, Grace stuck near Arthur, keeping him safe, letting loose arrows towards any goblin that got too close.
Caleb had scrambled to his feet and tried using his ability as a distraction. He pictured stone walls and let his energy flow through his head. A stone wall popped into existence. For a moment, Caleb didn’t know if the wall was real or an illusion, but a goblin tripped through the illusion, falling flat on its face. Caleb stared at it and proceeded to kick it square in the face. The goblin shrieked and tried grabbing him, but he jumped back, avoiding it. It got up and stared at Caleb with a furious gaze. Caleb’s mind started racing, and his heart started pounding in his chest harder and harder. He wished he had a real weapon to fight with when he felt a connection to his heart. Energy flowed towards his heart and began responding to his wish. He felt another bottomless container fill up as he pictured an energy rifle as best he could. Caleb blinked, and a rifle was in his hand. The gun felt light, but the metal was smooth to the touch. The goblin, seeing the weapon appear, lunged at Caleb, trying to catch him off guard. Caleb rolled to the side, letting the goblin miss, and tried shooting it with the rifle. The creature raised its claws to block the coming attack, but it never came. Caleb looked at the gun and tried firing again with no results.
The goblin looked back at him and lunged. Caleb gripped the rifle and slammed it into the goblin's side. It was sent flying and crashed on its side. Caleb followed up with a barrage of kicks and stomps until the goblin stopped moving. Caleb stood over the creature as it lay still on its side. The energy rifle looked very similar to the one Josh gave him in the basement, the only exception being the black lines etched along the gun. Focusing, he felt the rifle linked to his energy and could feel the energy flowing from him to the weapon. Cutting the connection, the gun turned to mist in front of him. The wall to his side also evaporated without a hint of its presence being left behind.
Looking around, Caleb saw that most goblins had been dealt with. A small handful were running away into the forest, and Emilia was chasing them to finish them off. Arthur glanced at the dying goblin on the ground near Caleb.
“You should never leave a monster alive, no matter how wounded. I’ve seen many soldiers killed by a monster they thought neutralized because it was injured.” Arthur stated. Caleb nodded and stomped down on the monster.
Caleb sighed in relief, glad to have survived the encounter. He saw Chris picking up the bodies and moving them into a pile while Grace went through harvesting parts. Caleb sat down and began going through the events of the fight in his head. Remembering the gun, he tried resummoning it and felt more energy flow towards his heart. He guided it slowly, feeling the process as he visualized the weapon. The rifle materialized back into his palm, the same as before. He did this a few times until Chris approached him.
“So, what did you think of the fight?” Chris asked. “Pretty scary if you're not used to it, I’d say. Those buggers are ferocious.”
“After everything I’ve seen the past few days, I’m beyond being scared by something like this,” Caleb responded. “I felt something during that fight, though. It felt like I funneled energy through my heart, and my conjurations became real.” He resummoned the rifle and tried handing it to Chris. However, once he let go, the gun vanished. He blinked, confused at what happened. He tried a few more times with the same result.
Eventually, Caleb ran out of energy and had to stop. As he rested, he saw Grace had finished looting. The others came around the campfire to talk and reached a decision.
“We will head out and try to get to Citrine as soon as possible. If we push hard, we can get there within two days,” Grace explained. She turned to Caleb and said, “You’ll still have to wear the blindfold. We can’t afford you learning our secrets until we can trust you.” Caleb nodded in agreement and proceeded to don the blindfold. Once he had his blindfold in place, he felt something pick him up again, and they were gone. The only thing left behind were goblin corpses.