At Elion’s command, a Praxian menu appeared, hovering in his view.

<< Name: Elion James Walker >>

‎ << House: Starhold >>

‎ << Ascendency: Aurelian Path of Dawn >>

‎ << Level/XP: 0/0 >>

‎ << Abilities (Level): Manifest Armaments (0), Save a Friend (0) >>

‎ << Boons: Translation >>

‎ << Quests: None >>

He remembered the screen from the Altar, when he’d agreed to the oaths and received his power. In a rush to help Kasm, he hadn’t paid much attention to it.

He reviewed the information line by line.

<< Name: Elion James Walker >>

I know my name. That’s not that helpful. Although I wonder how it knows what my name is. If I legally changed it, would Praxis know?

<< House: Starhold >>

Zev had talked about that. Starhold was his Kylian family name.

Weird that Praxis doesn’t include it as part of my name, then. Maybe they don’t use family names the same way here.

It also meant that Elion was in line for the throne.

<< Ascendency: Aurelian Path of Dawn >>

This line opened up a few interesting questions for Elion. Gorman was an Artificer. Was that a different kind of Ascendency? Gorman had distinguished between Aurelia and Artefix.

Is the Path of Dawn the only Aurelian Ascendency? Or are there others?

Elion wondered what the Artefin Ascendency was called. Could someone have more than one Ascendency? Zev had used Artefin power, when making the warp heart, though his other power was Aurelian. So there was a way to use powers from different Sentinels.

<< Level/XP: 0/0 >>

Level Zero? That sucks. I wonder what I have to do to earn XP. Practice?

He could stand over Kasm and keep administering ‘Save a Friend’ over and over. But the skill drew on his strength, leaving him drained and tired afterwards. He didn’t want to pass out and puke again.

<< Abilities (Level): Manifest Armaments (0), Save a Friend (0) >>

Level zero abilities too. Interesting. I really want to try out Manifest Armaments. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself though. When Gorman got back, he’d ask him about it. Maybe there was a quiet place away from the town where he could experiment with it.

<< Boons: Translation >>

Elion was especially grateful for this boon. He had no clue how he’d manage to communicate with out it.

<< Quests: None >>

He’d had a quest before he came to Kylios. ‘Join the Path of Dawn.’

“How do I get more quests?” Elion asked.

<< Quests: Special missions granted to an Ascended by their Sentinel >>

Could be more helpful.

“What are quests?”

No response.

“I’d like a quest please.”

Again, no response.

Fine, time to do some testing.

Elion held his hands out in front of him. It might be a bad idea to try a new skill, but maybe he could learn more about Save a Friend.

“What does Save a Friend do again?”

<< Protection, Preservation. Stabilizes and slows, stopping infections from spreading, wounds from bleeding, and other malicious effects from spreading. >>

Elion looked around for something to try it on. The skill seemed obviously intended to be used on a person, but maybe it could work on an inanimate object? Did it have to be used on a human?

A rusty strip of metal leaned in the corner. Elion picked it up.

Rust is a negative effect on metal. But I guess it’s not malicious.

He looked at the strip of metal, turning it over in his hands.

“Save a Friend,” he commanded.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

The metal remained rusted. No light shone, and no golden threads enveloped it.

Okay, so clearly doesn’t work on rusty metal. It might have to be a human, preserving human flesh from injury or decay. Maybe ‘Save a Friend’ is a clue, and it has to be used on a friend. Or… A terrible thought struck Elion.

He returned to the rubbish bin, where he had discarded the finger. If his ability only worked on human flesh, this was one way to find out. He pulled the finger out of the bin, using a scrap of cloth so that he wouldn’t have to touch it directly.

Rummaging around in the bin, he noticed the some kind of blue apple-like fruit. Someone had taken two bites out of it, then discarded it. The apple was starting to rot.

Elion pulled that out too. He set the finger and the apple on the table.

He took a deep breath and tried again, hovering his hands over the finger.

“Save a Friend.”

Nothing happened. The finger was pretty shriveled and dried out, and it definitely wasn’t Elion’s friend. The finger definitely wasn’t healthy, but it also wasn’t bleeding. He couldn’t tell if it was infected or not, and whatever malicious effects had touched the finger seemed to have stopped. It was already as shriveled as it was going to get. Even if ‘Save a Friend’ did work on it, what would it even do?

He wondered if the rot on the blue apple-fruit would count as a malicious effect. Rot was a part of the natural cycle of things, but it certainly wasn’t desirous on foods you were going to eat. Not that Elion was planning on eating the fruit.

Could the skill only work on alive things? he wondered, looking around for something more alive than an apple core or a disembodied finger. He’d already used the skill on Kasm. He wanted to try it on something else.

Maybe if I was less of an introvert I’d have more friends I could use the skill on, Elion thought. Where has Snickers gotten off to? I bet it would work on him.

Failing to find any other likely candidates, Elion tried using the ability on the fruit.

Again, nothing happened.

Elion groaned. Fine, the skill didn’t work on inanimate objects. He should have guessed that. He swept the trash back into the can, feeling a little embarrassed that he’d even tried. He’d have to see if there were people willing to be his experimentation dummies before he could learn to deal with this power better.

He wandered back over to the window, where he could see the people outside arguing. He noted Kile, the man with the new peg leg. The guy who had glared at him earlier as Gorman escorted him out.

None of these people were friends. Elion wondered what might happen if he tried to use his ability on one of them. Were they too far away? Probably better not to try it on a stranger.

Kasm lay on the table across the room, a few dozen feet away from Elion. Elion raised his hands, pointing them toward the boy.

“Save a Friend,” Elion ordered.

Nothing.

He took a few steps closer and tried again.

Still nothing.

I know this works when I’m right beside him, Elion thought. He halved the distance between him and Kasm, standing only about ten feet away now, and tried again.

He felt a tingle of something at the back of his head, but couldn’t be sure.

He moved closer still, separated from Kasm by only three feet.

<< Save a Friend >>

Elion was immediately lightheaded. Strength rushed out of him, surging like when he’d tried before and fallen to the ground, throwing up.

A mere trickle of golden threads rushed out of his fingertips. His whole body numbed briefly and he had to lean on a nearby shelf until he could recover his breath. His knees shook. He sat down on the ground, and waited for the world to stop spinning around him.

So distance does matter. Don’t try to save a friend unless you’re right beside them.

Elion refused to vomit again. He laid down on the ground.

As he lay there, recovering, he called up his Praxian menu.

“What does Manifest Armaments do again?”

<< Summon divine armaments to your aid in battle >>

The same message he’d gotten before. Not very informative.

Come on, you can’t use the word armaments in the definition!

What were ‘divine armaments’ anyway? What made them ‘divine?’ He really wanted it to be armor, like Zev’s. That would be awesome.

It has to be that. What else could it be? He remembered Zev leaping from his truck, light coalescing around him into golden plate armor.

He was tempted to try it, but given his current, weakened state he decided against it. Gorman’s warning also made him wary. He didn’t want to rock the boat, given the already tenuous situation.

Does that ability have the same energy drain as ‘Save a Friend’? If it does, I’d probably just pass out when I tried it.

He also remembered Gorman’s warning. ‘Don’t show off any of your abilities.’ When Zev’s armor had formed, it had lit up the whole area. Nobody was here in the room right now to see it, but Keyla could come back at anytime. And the mob outside would probably notice.

Don’t get too excited. It might not be armor. It might be something lame. I don’t think I can handle that kind of disappointment right now.

If he was going to experiment with the ability, he should at least wait until he was feeling better.

It took around ten more minutes of laying on the ground for Elion to feel steady enough to stand up.

He climbed to his feet shakily.

I can only really use ‘Save a Friend’ once every couple of hours. Otherwise it seriously drains me. Hopefully that changes as I get more experience.

Elion decided that was enough experimentation for the evening. He still felt weak from his earlier overexertion. What if this was like The Wheel of Time books, where channelers of the One Power could burn themselves out by drawing too much of it? Don’t risk it.

Elion thought about Liora. It was possible that he was the only person left alive that even knew she needed help. If he was going to rescue her from Dorian, he had to be smarter. He’d been pretty reckless lately, but now…

Now he had a path forward. He had access to power. In his current state, he was far too weak to have an impact. But if he could level up his strength and abilities, he might stand a chance.