Chapter 24

“There are many milestones up on the Path, each one reflecting a pivotable event or opportunity in one’s growth. The first as we all know is Awakening, the process of intentionally suffusing one’s very soul with enough mana as to empower it and bring it forth from its slumber. Once awake, the soul immediately empowers one’s heart and body, granting the former greatly increased capacity and the latter greatly increased potency. From there we then have the twin stages of Resonance and Attunement of which any Ascendant may breakthrough at either time after Awakening, should they find the inspiration to do so. To achieve Resonance, one must harmonize the energy of the body with the now awakened essence within their spirit, granting it truly unfettered potential. As for Attunement, the secret lies within one’s Heart, to use the bounty that that awakened soul has granted to find one’s Talent, one’s anchor for future growth. It is only one both these two milestones have been conquered that one can progress onwards into Enkindling…”

—The Path of Ascension, Janis Wayne, The Golden Age, 4982

“So, what can we count on ya being able to handle once things start to cook?”

The question came out blunt and direct, unlike those Vincent had ever heard in his new life before today, carrying not so much as drop of the typical hesitance or caution he’d grown accustomed to hearing when others like Theo or Ayre asked him something.

And for good reason too, seeing as Borin wasn’t a Dormant like they were, but rather as Vincent had discovered an Enkindled, the stage of Ascension just below Tempered.

“Whatever you need me to,” Vincent stated, sparing the man a glance as he and all of the other Stonecloaks all strode forward in a group along the abandoned and dark street. Around them were nothing but sprawling and imposing warehouses, the odd shipbuilding yard, and an overlarge marina for boat storage. “I mean so long as it’s not standing up against a Tempered. That…that is still beyond me.”

“It’s beyond all of us,” the magma haired dwarf immediately stated as he returned Vincent’s gaze, the living earth and fire mana that coursed through it making it look as if it were actively molten. “Includin meself.”

Borin went on to shake his head sharply before continuing, “nay, if there’s a Tempered there, then we dip and look to the others to step in. Though I’m not expectin that ta be a problem. Not tonight.”

“And…why is that?” Vincent dared to ask, not needing more context to know that the ‘others’ referred to the various under realm gangs and guilds that made up Everness dark side. Not that he’d been offered any, let alone meaningful insight as to how it all worked. No, in fact it had been the complete opposite, with Borin simply telling Vincent that they were headed to Dockside in search of one of the several Shadowed Hand hideouts they knew about, the district, that as its name suggested, bordered Lake Everness and absolutely nothing else.

“Cause once a ‘sendant reaches a certain point in our realm, they become worth keepin tabs on. Matter of survival ya see,” Borin explained. “And the Hand only had one to their name. Thorn. No other came even close.”

“Also there was no new Tempered with the group that attacked the clinic,” Norin added after a pair of quick snaps caused Vincent’s attention to shift that way. “If they are truly as desperate as they act. They would have been there. They would have had to be.”

“Then that’s one less thing to worry about then,” Vincent said, even if he wasn’t completely sure he believed it. While he had come out tonight prepared for violence, he still very much knew his limits, of what he could and couldn’t do. As it was right now, those limits happened to be rather small. For based on what he’d seen just in passing, Vincent was completely certain that an Enkindled such as Borin was out of his ability to handle. By that point any decent Ascendant had multiple, if not all their soulmelds fully established, which depending on what they had chosen could make their physical prowess literally impossible for Vincent to compete with.

It doesn’t matter how strong my Will or ability to wield mana is if they are strong and fast enough to simply throw a rock through my head before I can even react, Vincent thought as he went on to weigh the virtues and mana that he had at his disposal. Dormants, I’m certain I can handle, and likely the same with an Awakened, that is if they don’t surprise me. But as for Resonants or Attuned…I’m not certain. Maybe the latter, but likely not the former. At least not until I awaken myself. Maybe not even then.

It was train of thought that Vincent promptly let fade away when he saw a shadowed figure appear in the distance ahead of them, its shape rapidly gaining definition until it resolved itself into the familiar form of a dwarf.

“Gettin almost there,” the woman said as she fell in alongside them, her voice pitched just above a whisper. “Eyes spotted them at their lakeside warehouse at the end of the way.”

“Hrm, lakeside, eh?” Borin mused, an unhappy click of the tongue leaving his mouth a second later. “I’m not liking the sound of that.”

Nor did the rest of the Stonecloaks sound happy either as several muttered curses echoed out at the news, everyone’s pace then picking up with a notable amount of urgency.

“Shroud us please, Teta,” Borin commanded as they moved, his words barely leaving his mouth before a veil of shadow fell over them, causing what dim light there was from the surrounding city to darken even further.

Something that caused a surge of knowledge to shake itself loose from somewhere with Vincent’s mind.

Oh, I remember how to do this now, he realized suddenly while looking up at the thin, almost invisible layer of shadow mana flowing above him, which combined with ambient darkness around them he knew would make them almost impossible to see from the outside. At least to basic, mundane methods of detection. Just fold the mana like that, and then wrap it around me…

Quickly assimilating the newfound spell, it served to distract Vincent long enough for them to arrive at their destination, which was punctuated by the sound of several collective curses.

“Feckers are ditching the city,” he heard one of the dwarves announce in a particularly spiteful tone, the source of which he didn’t need to search particularly hard to discover.

Having traveled with speed and purpose in their short jaunt with the shroud over them, they had all followed the dockside street to its end, which culminated in a large, sprawling warehouse that dominated the cul-de-sac, bordered by the lake on every side. But it wasn’t the warehouse itself that set off the dwarves, rather it was the bobbing mast of a ship visible from behind it.

“Looks like,” Borin growled as they all came to a stop directly in between two other buildings that bordered the street, the shadows they cast making it a perfect place to observe from.

And, as they soon discovered, there was certainly plenty to observe.

Filled with the distant sounds of moving people and the light to aid in their work, it was clear at a just a glance that the warehouse was occupied despite the exceptionally late hour. However while the activity could potentially be explained away by virtue of an urgent late night contract, what couldn’t be were the several lookouts that Vincent soon picked out watching the street, his Insight painting them a crimson red in his vision.

“I see four sentries,” Vincent announced softly. “Two half hidden on the scaffolding on the left side watching the street and another pair walking a patrol, one going towards the back, another crossing the front. Can’t tell if any of them are using light mana to pierce through the dark, but given that none of them are running straight at us, I doubt it.”

The assessment immediately caused the lingering muttering amongst the dwarfs to stop, with all of them turning to look in Vincent’s direction, faint notes of surprise on each of their faces.

“Well.” Borin said after a short pause, his golden eyes blinking twice as he looked at Vincent. “I suppose that lays the land right out for us, don’t it?”

A murmured grumble of ascent sounded out from the dwarves, which included a faint grunt from Norin.

“Cutter in the waters is gonna have ta be our first strike,” Borin continued as his attention shifted back towards the warehouse. “Can’t risk it castin off and them making a break. Though…that’ll likely be needing almost all of us.”

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He turned back to look at Vincent as he said that, the implication clear as to what he meant.

“Gonna need ya to cover the warehouse in case any try to make a break from there,” he stated. “That and to warn us if there’s somethin waitin in there we can’t handle.”

“I’ll go with him,” Norin quickly signed before Vincent could say anything in response. “Deep waters and me don’t agree anymore. I’d be best helping with ground under my feet.”

“Fine with me,” Borin replied, his attention shifting over to Norin then back towards Vincent, eyebrow raised inquisitively. “Sound like a plan?”

“It does,” Vincent agreed, whatever hesitation he might have had up until now fading away instantly with the words. He’d come out here for a reason this night, the first being to rescue Theo, needing only to close his eyes to imagine the young mender’s body as burnt and bruised as Tenisa’s was. As for the second, it was the chance to get a lead on what was stolen from him, the opportunity to hopefully find out something, anything about what had happened to him.

Assuming that there was anything left to find in the first place.

“Good, then there’s no time ta waste,” Borin continued glancing between Vincent and Norin as he spoke. “Get close as ya can, but wait til we make our move. If things look bad and a fade is needed, you’ll hear a shrill seabird cry tellin ya so. Think ya can do the same?”

“Of course,” Vincent replied, having just heard of the birds earlier in the day during his runs through the park, it would easy for him to mimic its call thanks to his insight’s perfect recall.

“Then that leaves one last thing, captives. We’ll need a few to piece the story together so the rest of the underrealm can breathe easy. But not at the risk of life. Tonight is more about sendin a message to the Hand and finding Theo than anythin else.”

“I understand,” Vincent said, meeting Borin’s golden eyes as he spoke and giving him a sharp, confident nod in return.

Then just like that, they were off, whatever other pleasantries or prebattle rituals that Vincent might have otherwise expected being reduced to a series of grunts between the dwarves before they departed, leaving him standing in the shadows with Norin.

“So, got a plan, or do you need me to run this?” Norin asked as they retreated deeper into the alleyway between the two buildings, needing the thicker shadows for cover now that the shroud that had concealed them had left.

“I’ve got a plan,” Vincent whispered back, a part of him feeling surprised to admit that it was not only actually true, but that he felt particularly confident in it. “We’ll circle around to the right and enter through the side stairs leading to the second floor. If we need to, we’ll take the walking patrol out on the way in under a shroud.”

“Sounds simple enough to me,” Norin said with a nod of approval before canting his head in the direction of the warehouse. “But we need to get close enough to do that first. Not enough shadows on the streets between here and there for even a perfect shroud to get us into the yard unseen.”

“That’s why we’re going to go up first,” Vincent said, motioning for the dwarf to follow him deeper into the alleyway where he had spotted an access ladder leading up to one of the building’s rooftop at its furthest end. Climbing it quickly, the two of them found themselves on top of the warehouse in short order, whereupon Vincent then began to pull out a stream of shadow mana out from his Soul Well, shaping it into a thick cloud around him. While miles away from true invisibility, the Shroud of Shadow as his memories told him the spell was called was one that made any surrounding darkness all the deeper while simultaneously masking telltale signs of movement from within that would otherwise attract a watching eye.

Movement such as both Vincent and Norin rushing across the next three of roof tops while carefully leaping the gaps that separated them, using the gentle curve of the cul-de-sac and the tightly packed buildings to approach the hideout from the side, rather than directly.

“Time to go back down,” Vincent signed to Norin once they’d reached the final building in their journey which happened to overlook the yard surrounding the Shadowed Hand warehouse, only a flimsy privacy fence separating the pair. But no sooner did Vincent finish his message did a crimson hued silhouette appear just below him, revealing the sole patrol he’d seen earlier as they made their round surrounding the building.

Realizing that he only had a split moment to take advantage of the situation that their timing had given them, Vincent then promptly leapt off from the building, surprising himself as he did it. However, while he was initially shocked at his actions, it only lasted for an instant before instinct took over, his Will reaching into his Soul Well to draw out a stream of Air Mana and wrapping it around himself. As it did, he felt his descent become immediately more controlled, turning what would have otherwise been a hard fifteen foot fall into a gentle and near silent landing directly behind the red silhouette.

Upon whom he immediately placed his open hand, a surge of Will racing through it a heartbeat later.

Oh, he didn’t even have a Heart formed, Vincent noted as the man, young boy really now that he could see him better, collapsed soundlessly a second later, as if he’d been a puppet with his strings cut. Why…why is he even here then?

Cursing inwardly at whatever fate had put the boy in this position, Vincent wasted no time in grabbing his arms and started to drag him away from his patrol route, towards where a pile of nets lay.

“That was fast,” Norin stated, arriving as Vincent finished burying the boy under said nets, the dwarf having somehow made his way down from the adjoining rooftop.

“Not about to take risks if I can help it,” Vincent explained through rapid, if clumsy feeling signs, his hands very much unused to their motions, even if his mind remembered them perfectly. “Come on. We need to keep moving.”

Wasting no time as he finished signing, Vincent restored the shroud of shadow around them and began to move once more, mindful of how quickly he was burning through his reserves of shadow mana.

Need to get inside fast, Vincent noted as they closed in on the building, the sounds of the nearby water and movement of the Shadowed Hand loading the ship masking any noise that he and Norin made otherwise. I’ve only enough Shadow left to shroud for another minute, perhaps two, then we’ll be exposed. Can’t have that with the patrol still around.

Fortunately with the Shadowed Hand being as distracted as they otherwise were, that proved to be an easy thing for the pair to do, especially given that they had approached the building from the opposite side where most of them had gathered. A move that in turn allowed both Vincent and Norin to not only close with building, but quietly ascend the flight of narrow stairs he’d seen built into its side, its use no doubt intended as a fire escape from the second floor of the warehouse. Reaching its peak unseen, the two of them were then met by the presence of a momentarily locked door, which Vincent promptly opened after a disjointed memory told him how to fill the mechanism with a concentrated blast of air, thereby setting all of the tumblers at once.

A moment later, the two of them were inside the building, the door leading them into what Vincent quickly recognized as an office of some sort. One that until recently likely had catered to the more official comings and goings of the warehouse and its purpose. Presently however, the place looked like a windstorm had it hit it and scattered countless papers every which way, many of whom a quick glance told him held simple shipping or other logistical minutia.

Which is probably another good sign as any that they’re ready to leave the city for good, Vincent thought as he dropped the sheet of paper he’d picked up and resumed crossing the office towards another door that Norin had pressed himself up against.

“Movement and noise past here,” he signed quickly before inclining his head. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Vincent replied with a nod that prompted the dwarf to gently open the door, which mercifully did so silently.

Not that squeaking hinges would have been heard over the shout that immediately split the air the second the door opened.

“Mender! What in the Scorn-damned hells is taking you so long?”

Vincent froze at the shout, his eyes going wide as he stared at Norin who in turn looked back at him with an equally surprised expression.

“Hey, can you hear me?” The shouting voice demanded after a long pause. “I asked you a question! What the hell is taking so long for to mend them?”

“The fact that they can’t be,” a second, this time familiar, voice answered in a meek tone. A voice that Vincent had no trouble identifying.

“Theo.” His whisper earning an urgent nod from Norin as the dwarf then turned to continue pulling the door open, a move which in turn prompted a thick aroma of blood and rot to waft over them as it revealed the warehouse interior.

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing more I can do for them,” Vincent heard Theo continue amid his instantly watering eyes as he and Norin wasted no time in stalking forward under his still active shroud, quickly discovering that they were on the upper catwalk of a mezzanine that overlooked the ground floor below them. “They’re…they’re all gone.”

Mind going into over drive from the moment that they stepped out of the upper floor office, Vincent needed only a handful of seconds to take in the sights before him, his Insight wasting no time to take in and process what he saw. Beginning first with Theo himself, Vincent’s soulmeld spotted the teenager below and across the room from his current position on the upper pathway, illuminating him with a gentle green aura. A heartbeat later, Vincent’s perception then expanded to include the apprentice mender’s immediate surroundings, a sight that immediately explained the profound stench of blood and death that filled the warehouse. For all around Theo was a veritable abattoir of deceased men and women set upon a collection of litters, each of them bearing wounds so dreadful that even from this distance Vincent didn’t need to have his Insight tell him that they were bound to be fatal.

This…this is why they took him, he realized, the sheer scope of the violence that they would have all endured more than enough to stop his mind in its tracks. And it would have, had it not been for the sharp, painful, presence that he abruptly felt yank on his spirit a second later.

A presence that he instantly recognized as being him.

W-what? Vincent exclaimed with a mental gasp as the sheer agony behind the spiritual tug nearly sent him to his knees, or rather would have if he hadn’t grabbed hold of the guard rail separating the cat walk and open air beyond it. Where…where did that—

Yet before he could finish that thought, he saw. He saw where the tug had come from. From where he had felt a living fragment of his soul reach out to touch him, its distant presence standing out as if it were a beacon of light in an infinite dark. One that emanated from a caged white serpent that was staring up at him with bright glowing eyes, completely piercing through the shroud that obscured him.

And his mind too, Vincent soon discovered when an alien voice flooded into it.