“It is the pleasure of Lord Aelius Everness, Duke of Crestwyn Province and Governor of Everness, to announce the holding of a Grand Selection to begin on Amiel the twenty-third, the first day of summer. All of those who have Awakened and are interested in competing to earn a place among one of our nation’s many esteemed guilds, dynasties, schools, or military are encouraged to ready themselves for this glorious and momentous event! For more information about the Grand Selection process and requirements, all prospective competitors are welcomed to direct their attention towards their local community boards where additional details will be posted.”
—Announcement overheard from Everness Town Crier
So there was going to be a competition.
A competition during which the participating Ascendants would be able to showcase their skills and talent, potentially earning the attention of the dozens of guilds, dynasties, and organizations that called Everness and Avaloria their home.
A competition that could change everything for Vincent. One that could give him everything that he needed to rise back up in the realm, to regain his power, to make powerful allies, to help him discover all of the secrets that he was so desperately seeking answers for.
That is, if he could become an Ascendant before the competition, before the Grand Selection began.
There’s just no other way around it based on the wording here or what I’ve heard so far, Vincent thought as he gazed down at the dimly illuminated sheet of paper he held in his hand, having pulled it from the first billboard he’d seen after leaving the park. It specifically states only those who have Awakened qualify for the Selection. No exceptions, of any kind, even for Fallen, otherwise.
And that was a problem for Vincent, a big problem, especially if he wanted to Awaken his soul properly.
Even with it being a month out, I just don’t know how I can do it. Certainly not without making sacrifices that I might regret, he said to himself as he glanced up at the nigh abandoned street ahead of him, the hour late enough to be considered as straddling the line between evening and true night. As a result, only those coming off exceptionally late from their jobs, or as in Vincent’s case, his training, were found on the street. Which given the additional fact that said streets were in the slums of Everness had all of them moving with purpose to reach their destination. I have no idea how I can get all the Aether mana I need in such a short amount of time.
Of course for someone like Vincent, the act of actually Awakening wasn’t at all the challenge that particularly concerned him, rather instead it was the consequences of not doing it properly. Which in this particular case meant rushing it and using aspected mana to awaken his soul which in turn would all but certainly grant him an affinity. Something that given his current situation of not already being locked into a particular affinity, and thus able to wield every single aspect of mana, he very, very much wanted to avoid.
But can I really do that? Vincent wondered as he considered his options for what had to be dozenth time that day, the loose mental timeline that he’d set for his advancement now thrown completely askew. Given what I could gain from the Selection and how quickly it could propel me forward in the months and years afterwards…well, I could be hard pressed to find a better opportunity any time soon. After all, if what I heard today was true, then it’s been ten years since the last Grand Selection. What could I achieve and discover during that time with someone to back me as opposed to if I didn’t? But then again that’s not to say I wouldn’t be able to find my own way if I didn’t participate in the Selection, nor am I likely to be happy if I was forced to choose an affinity to discover it somehow stunted my potential down the line.
It was that last thought in particular that gave Vincent the most pause in making a meaningful decision as to how he should proceed going forward with regaining his power, and one that boiled down to a single all-consuming question
Where can I find Aether mana? He wondered yet again, coming out of his thoughts just enough to see that he was coming up to the final turn before arriving back at the clinic. So far I’ve only ever sensed it over the reservoir…but sparingly so, and I don’t recall it even listed as available back at the Exchang…
Vincent’s thoughts abruptly trailed off before he could bring them to a finish, his mind going all but blank as his eyes landed on the crowd of people gathered in front of the building, their collective attention focused upwards.
And for good reason too, Vincent discovered half a heartbeat later when his eyes shifted over to take in the grey stone structure, finding it riddled with fresh scorch marks and broken stone.
What…what in the realm happened here? Vincent thought when he finally had a chance to catch up, his attention immediately snapping back to the assembled crowd of people. Yet as his attention, and by extension his Insight, washed over them, he found nothing indicating that they were the cause of the damage that he saw before him. In fact if anything, they appeared to be just as shocked as him given the obvious worry and fear he saw on their faces. But that brief glance to make sure that they weren’t the ones responsible for the damage was all that Vincent spared them, instinct taking over as his feet sped him across the distance that separated him and the clinic door in a matter of seconds.
Which upon arriving he discovered that there was no longer said door to bar entry into the building.
“Hey, what are you doing in here?” A vaguely familiar voice challenged angrily the instant that Vincent stepped into the place, allowing him to identify it as coming from one of the handful of assistants that helped run the place. “Didn’t you read the sign outside? We’re closed!”
“A sign?” Vincent repeated in a dumbfounded tone, unable to help but be completely caught off guard by the heat that felt coming from the nurse as she rose from a chair that had been facing the door. One that judging from the expression Vincent saw on her face had him quickly realizing that she didn’t recognize him.
Damn it, of course she wouldn’t after everything I did today, Vincent thought with a mental kick as he considered how he now looked, which not only included the loss of his riving, but added a rather extreme haircut as well as a substantial amount of muscle to his frame. Even for people might have known him well, he would be quite literally unrecognizable at first and possibly even second glance.
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“Sorry, it’s…uh, me. Vincent.” He continued quickly when he saw the anger continue to grow on the woman’s face, while simultaneously wishing he’d had a chance to learn her name. Though as that thought passed over him, Vincent remembered the walking stick he still held in his other hand and brought up before him as if it were proof of who he was. “See? I left with this cane this morning.”
Which, to his immense relief worked, though perhaps not exactly in the way that he’d have hoped.
“Ascendant, you’re back,” she whispered, the anger on her face all but instantly shifting to awe as her eyes noticeably leapt from his leg, to his arm, then up towards his face. “And you’ve—”
“Healed myself, yes,” Vincent cut in quickly, deciding that it was better to move the conversation along as fast as possible. Especially given that his Insight had begun to illuminate all the damage inside the clinic, making it appear as blood red scar marks in his vision. “What in the realm happened here? Were…were we attacked?”
“Yes, we were,” the nurse stated, her head already starting to shake the moment that she answered, the motion accompanied by a hand rapidly beckoning him forward as she took a step into the hallway. “But that’s not important right now. You need to come with me…it’s bad.”
It was a statement as ominous as any Vincent could imagine given the context, and only served to fuel his movements as he followed the woman down the hall. As he did, he discovered that all of the damage that the place had suffered continued to run deeper into the place, even going so far as to have destroyed several of the tirage beds and their associated stalls.
What in this gods forsaken realm happened here? Vincent demanded yet again as he took in the disaster, feeling a deep, nigh unbridled rage rise up from within when he recalled that each of the beds had held patients earlier this morning when he’d left. A rage that in turn all but guttered out as if an ocean of water had been poured upon it the instant they arrived at their destination, which was the furthest tirage stall from the entrance and thus the most undamaged.
Within which a badly injured figure lay on a bed, the entirety of their body heavily wrapped in bandages, to the point where they were unrecognizable.
“Oh. Oh no.” Vincent whispered the instant he arrived, needing a second to notice that both Ayre and Norin flanked either side of the bed, the both of them sitting on chairs their heads bowed in contemplation. Or at least they had been until his arrival, Ayre’s attention leaping up to fixate on Vincent followed by the dwarf’s a second later.
“He’s back,” the nurse beside him announced before either of the two men could react, the proclamation immediately causing their eyes to widen. “Vincent’s back, and…look at him.”
And that is exactly what the two of them did as they blankly stared back at Vincent, their eyes doing an all too familiar dance as they scanned over his body.
“Vincent…you’ve…you’re—” Ayre started to say in a hoarse voice, only for Vincent to cut him off as he promptly rushed towards the bed.
“Later, we can talk about that later.” He said without any preamble as he reached out to touch the bandaged figure, already fearing what he would find when his Will rushed into their sleeping body.
A fear that was entirely justified, though not at all in the way that he expected.
“Wait…this…this isn’t Theo,” Vincent said as his senses washed over the prone patient, telling him that it was in fact a woman beneath the bandages.
“No…no it isn’t,” Ayre replied, sounding defeated at the admission, his voice barely audible. “They…they took him.”
The statement practically caused Vincent’s heart to stop the instant he heard it, his blood going completely cold.
“W-what? Who?” He demanded as Ayre’s tear stained face turned to look up at him, his eyes completely blank. “Who did this?”
But despite the heat behind Vincent’s words, Ayre didn’t react with so much as a flinch in response, his dark hued eyes simply staring at him for several seconds before finally speaking.
“I…I did everything I could for her,” he said, his voice again barely audible. “We came back…just time. Any later and…well…but even so it still wasn’t…isn’t enough…”
The man trailed off with a shake of his head and fell silent, a desperate spark of something appearing in his eyes as he stared up imploringly at Vincent, one that was impossible for Vincent to misinterpret.
“I can heal her the rest of the way,” Vincent stated as he quickly got a sense as to the overall state of the woman as well as Ayre who was very much clearly in shock from whatever had happened.
While their applications were not easily visible to those not familiar with the art of healing, Ayre’s Shadow and Death mana had done an adequate job in stabilizing the woman from what were truly incredible injuries. In the case of the former, Vincent could sense gentle clumps of shadow woven on top of her burns, cooling the burning heat she no doubt felt as well as blocking it from any further infection. Not that Vincent sensed any risk of such happening, thanks to the latter aspect that Ayre had at his disposal. Much like life mana was used for the application of mending and regrowth of flesh, death mana was used to ensure that any life mana suffused into a wound or body didn’t accidentally empower any diseases or infections that might have taken root. The last thing any healer wanted was to accelerate the growth of an unseen germ or parasite while attempting to mend their patient, accidentally killing them in the process.
Good, no hostile virtues inside the body and everything looks sterile and ready enough for healing. That said, the burns look bad, really, really bad. There’s no chance she’d pull through on her own, Vincent thought as he completed his inspection, not wasting so much as a second before beginning to draw what life mana he still had at his disposal along with the virtue of Tenacity that he had purchased earlier. One of restoration virtues he had earlier in the day would have been far better for his needs right now, but he’d already used all of them.
Quickly finishing readying himself, Vincent then began to weave his spell together, merging the life mana he had taken along with the virtue until they were blended into an nigh indiscernible mass in his mind. Once it was ready, he then sent it forth into wounded woman’s body all at once, his Will guiding it to the worst of her burns whereupon he began to work. Drastically different than the more subtle method of recovery that he’d employed upon himself throughout the day, the spell Vincent cast was as brute force as healing magic could ever be, reknitting flesh, muscle, and cracked bone in the span of seconds. Judging from what Vincent saw in the aftermath, he could tell that the woman would need to pay a price for such explosive mending, namely in the form of rest and food, meat specifically, to replace what he’d taken from the body, but she would be fine.
“There, it’s finished. She’ll need rest and food, but will recover fully,” Vincent announced as the active portion of his spell came to an end, the remaining mana and the virtue bound to it diffusing all throughout her body. Together they would help stabilize and mend the lesser injuries that the flash healing hadn’t touched while ensuring that her condition stayed stable for as a long as they both lasted. “Now tell me what happened. Please.”
But instead of receiving a quick response to his question, Vincent was greeted by another long silence, one that after a long enough pause as to be considered awkward was interrupted by a pointed grunt and snap of a finger from Norin.
“Erm, oh,” Ayre instantly replied, his voice sounding hesitant and meek as he spoke from Vincent’s side, having turned to grab, and hold the woman’s hand during his mending. A hesitance that Vincent saw was reflected upon his face when he turned to look at him. “It was them that did all of this…that attacked the place…attacked her…and took Theo.
“It was the Shadowed Hand.”