He was a proud old man. With slightly long gray hair, styled back and a full gray beard he was the very picture of an old, wise man. His stern, confident expression coupled with the worn out robe he was wearing over his body would give anyone the impression this man has been through more in his lifetime than a young man could even imagine. Yet he wasn’t relying on a stick to walk. Despite his obvious age the Sage still carried himself like a young, but well trained man; he was strong, fast and precise with every movement.
This dichotomy between his old appearance and his seemingly healthy body, leaves all who meet him with a weird sense of unnaturalness, that for the people of this world can have only one explanation: He is a gifted one. A person with supernatural powers from birth, someone you shouldn’t annoy, else he might just decide to kill you for no good reason.
As such all who meet this wandering sage look upon him with respect, fear and curiosity….
Or perhaps they would if right now he wasn’t slumped over his table, observing the waitress while she is going from table to table, giggling like a young lady in love when her sweetheart is around.
To explain what happened: The wandering sage had entered this tavern just a small while ago, looking for a place to get a drink. When he entered the tavern those who knew he was in town tensed up, but the majority of people were drunk so they didn’t notice the abnormal old man that just walked in, just continuing their merry conversation amongst themselves.
The sage himself was focused not on the drink he was originally here to get however, but instead he tried to find the source of a peculiar smell that wafted through the room. It was the first time he smelled this, it was no drink or food he knew, so he got curious what it was.
He found the source of the smell from the corner of the room. Next to a window there were sitting a few men, who looked to be around 30, wearing casual, but slightly more expensive clothes than most other people. Maybe they are merchants or successful craftspeople? They don’t look like nobility to me. The old man thought to himself.
More importantly however, he looked around the men to identify the source of the smell. They had drinks and food on the table, but neither smelled like the curious scent the sage had noticed when he entered. He looked to the men themselves and finally found it. One of the three men held a small wooden pipe in hand that was still slightly smoking.
Whatever was in there was making the weird smell, he was sure of it. Spurred on by his curiosity he trotted over to the three men.
“Good evening, gentlemen. When I entered I couldn’t help but catch that curious scent from you fellas. Would you be so kind as to tell me what is making that smell?”
The sage spoke to the three men in a polite, yet slightly casual tone. He figured this would probably be best since they didn’t seem like the type to be very high up in the social hierarchy and care about rank or standing, yet he was the one asking for a favor, so he felt it only right to be polite.
Despite thinking so he only got a wary look back form the three. The one with the pipe answered him.
“You are not from around here old man, are you?”
“Mhhh? No, I am not. But why did you ask that?” The sage was somewhat perplexed.
“Oh well I didn’t mean to pry, it’s just that this plant I am smoking here is somewhat of a local speciality. Most people around here would know what it is from just one whiff, especially if they lived here for long, so I was just wondering where you are from.”
“Ahhh. No worries, I don’t mind telling you fellas. I am originally from the Manier Kingdom, but it has been a long, long time since I last went there. I left my home to explore the world and traveled all around. Today my journey found me in this town for the first time. I was looking for a place to find some drink and food when I entered here and got intrigued by the smell.”
“The Manier Kingdom? You are quite a way west then. Say, are you traveling alone, old man?” Another man spoke up, eyeing him with suspicion, clearly trying to say he doesn’t believe this old man is traveling all alone.
“Yes, I am. No worries though, I am quite healthy for my advanced age. Before I forget it, my name is Renius. What may I call you three?”
The three looked around at each other for a second, not quite sure if they should trust this random old man. Something seemed off about him, he was too energetic for how old he looked. Nevertheless they nodded to each other and began giving him their names, starting with the one who held the pipe, then the one who spoke up after and lastly the quiet one.
“My name’s Fred.”
“I’m Hirt."
“Greg.”
“Pleasure making your acquaintances, gentlemen. Now Fred, what is it you are smoking there, if you don’t mind?”
No longer having any questions to ask the overly energetic old man, Fred answered.
“It’s called Wind Plain Grass. It’s a sort of plant that grows around here. When you dry and smoke it, it causes euphoric feelings, so since long ago people in this region liked to use it.”
“ ‘Wind Plain’? Wasn’t that the name of this region?”
“Well, yeah. That’s where it got its name from, after all. It only grows around here as far as I know.”
“Makes sense…” The old man answered with a pondering visage.
“What you thinking about, old man?” Hirt, the second man, interjected from the sides while he was thinking.
“Oh well, I was just wondering if I should get some of that grass. I’d like to try out that ‘euphoric’ feeling.” The old man spoke curiously.
The men looked at each other once more and then slightly laughed.
“Is something the matter?” The old man asked politely.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
This time Fred answered again. “No, no, nothing. It’s just odd to see an old man like you so innocently wonder about this. Like a young boy curious to try his first drink. Quite the mismatch.”
“Haha, I get that a lot. No matter how old I get, I don’t seem to lose that sense of wonder I felt as a young lad. Not that I mind that, it keeps life interesting as far as I am concerned. There is so much to explore in this world after all. “
“Can’t say I relate, old man, I’ve been living my whole life here on the Plains, but you know what, I like you. You can have my Wind Plain grass. Here."
Fred offered the old man his wooden pipe. The grass had since stopped smoking, but there was still quite some green matter in the head. The old man looked slightly taken aback at the sudden offer, but nonetheless accepted it.
"Thank you, young man.” Renius said after a slight pause, shocked at the stranger's kindness. “How much would this cost me?”
“Ah, don’t worry about paying me back. I grew that stuff myself anyhow.”
Renius eyed his newly obtained item with great interest. He put it close to his nose to smell it, observed it from close up and even spun the pipe around a few times, maybe looking for patterns on the wood.
Before bringing it to his lips however, he once again asked the three men something.
“I know you were just smoking it openly, but just in case I want to ask. I am not going to get myself into trouble by smoking this here, am I? I had enough run-ins with guards in my time.”
Fred, amused by the Sages' exhausted tone when speaking about his past, answered laughingly.
“No. This whole region, from as far west as the Wind Plains to as far east as the Manier Kingdom is ruled by a Gifted One that goes by ‘Venom’. This “kingdom”, if you can call it that, has long since been led by whoever kills the former ruler and as you might imagine a Gifted One that rules by force doesn’t exactly care about narcotics and the like. If anything, that guy imports them himself….”
Fred looked like he had something more to say, but held his tongue. It wasn’t a smart idea to so openly criticize their flippant lord.
After stopping himself, he started again, this time on a different topic.
“Anyway, around here no one would look at you weird for it to begin with. It’s been part of our culture for who knows how many hundreds of years here on the Wind Plains. So go ahead and try it out, but be careful. It might not look it since I am used to it, but that stuff is quite strong.”
“Thanks for the warning, young man, I’ll be sure to enjoy it in moderation.” Renius thanked the young man. After which he didn’t waste much time in putting the pipe to his mouth.
“Ah I don’t think it’s burning anymore, old ma-” Fred interjected, but suddenly went quiet.
Before their very eyes Renius hadn’t wasted a single second to bring his index finger on his left hand up to the head of the pipe and produce a small light from his finger. He wasn’t carrying any tool to light a fire on him, neither was this a trick. The young men all saw it. A fire appeared from the old man’s finger, lighting the grass on fire, smoke being sucked into the pipe by the old man’s mouth.
All three stopped. Eyes wide, they all stopped moving, sitting still as can be. The shock on their faces was visible and their minds went blank. Fred was the first to regain his composure and he recalled. The unease he felt from the man when he first walked in. Now it all made sense to him, this old man was a Gifted One. A person who could probably kill everyone in this tavern without batting an eye if he felt like it. A person who, if you believed the stories about Gifted Ones, was turned insane by his powers and would lash out at anything that annoyed him. An existence that meant nothing but fear and uncertainty for common men like Fred and his friends.
Fred spoke weakly, his voice audibly shaky: “Ol- Sir Renius, I didn’t know you were a Gifted One. I hope we haven’t offended you in any way.”
Renius only sighed. He seemed to have been through this sort of interaction many, many times.
“I guess I am, yeah. No need to be on edge though, friends. I am just an old man asking you for a favor. I was not planning on harming anyone, even if you refused me.”
“Is- is that so?” Fred gulped. It was so loud and obvious that Renius couldn’t help but sigh once more. “Then may I ask what you came here for, sir Renius?”
“Like I said, I am just traveling through. I will not hurt anyone and I won’t destroy anything, you really don’t have to be so on edge around me, young man.”
Renius tried his best to assure the three that he would not be a danger to anyone, to little avail. Fred was visibly shocked and cold sweat was forming on his forehead, but he was at least still talking. The other two looked a lot worse than him.
Sighing one last sigh, Renius spoke up: “Alright then, I’ll give this back and leave you fellas alone. Just please don’t make a scene about me, I am not in the mood to deal with that and I am planning to leave soon anyhow.”
Renius tried to offer back the smoking pipe, but Fred merely shook his head.
“No, no you can keep that. We wouldn’t wanna ruin your mood, now would we? Boys, let’s go home, I bet our families are waiting for us to come home, r-right?”
“Hmm.
“Y-yeah.”
Before Renius had the chance to interject, the other two, Hilt and Greg, gave answers. All three stood up, left the pay on the counter and immediately left the building, leaving Renius alone with their pipe and Wind Plain grass.
I have dealt with this more times than I can count now, but it still gets me down somewhat. I wonder what kind of experiences the people here have made with Gifted Ones for them to react like that…
Renius thought to himself.
Well, no need to fret over it. As long as they don't tell the guards it should be fine. And now for this here
Renius brought his attention back to the pipe in his hand. He sat down at an empty table and started smoking the grass, anxious when it would finally show its effect.
But Renius had completely forgotten the young man’s warning over the sudden turn in mood and smoked the whole rest of it in quick succession, thus bringing us back to the present.
Renius had majorly underestimated the effects of this grass and was now slumped over the table, barely able to follow the waitress’s movements with his eyes, giggling like a little girl.
He couldn’t really hold a conscious thought for too long and felt nothing but that euphoric feeling that was promised to him. Quite frankly it was pretty pleasant, but he realized he had overdone it. Every time he realized he was hungry he internally swore to order food and drink from the waitress when she walked by him, yet every time it actually came to that he merely giggled and forgot to speak up.
By now he was getting weird stares from the people in the tavern, but he was way too out of his mind to realize that. And so another hour had passed.
Renius’ mind was starting to clear up a bit and he finally managed to actually place his order, roasted cow and a salad. For his drink he got a weak ale, he didn’t feel like getting drunk on top of the high he was already experiencing.
He eagerly ate his meal and drank his ale, to finish barely in time for a bunch of armored men to walk in. They looked like guards and were all carrying a spear. Renius, even in his befuddled state, immediately understood what was going on. Fred and his friends had told the guard and they decided to confront this stray Gifted One. It happened to him all too many times in the past. Recently his experiences with being a Gifted One had become somewhat more pleasant overall as more and more places started accepting them, but this place still seemed awfully afraid of them.
He quietly and quickly activated an ability that erased him from other people’s perception and made his way to the back exit, as the guards were searching the room and making a ruckus, screaming about ‘where the Gifted One’ went.
Man, what a way to kill my mood. Guess this place is a no-go for me, huh? I wonder what happened to the people here to make them so afraid of us. Guess I’ll try to figure that out next. In which case I should probably head to the capital, right? After that I could continue east and visit my home again. How much has the Manier kingdom changed since I last lived there? I am getting excited! Oh, but before I forget it, I have to get myself some of that Wind Plain grass before I leave this place, that stuff was great!
Renius thought to himself as he made his way outside, once again resuming his travels.