"Halt, Malefactor! You are to be judged by the Grant Elders!"
Kai nervously sweats and holds up his arms, "Not again......."
Several guards quickly surrounded Kai. One of them was a woman with feline features. Her Ember manifested cuffs that tied Kai's arms behind his back. He was distracted by the technique and curious if he could replicate it. While they brought him in a cage into the courthouse from the entrance of the village, he was preoccupied with his own thoughts.
“Elder Eyfos, as the Guard captain, I have to insist we judge him right now for his reckless endangerment of the village!”
“Greyson, he is currently held in bondage, there is time to listen to what he has to say, doesn't everyone have that right?
“Katja, I understand your sense of justice, but he is an outsider! We need to protect ourselves! He might be a scout and the attacking party isn't far behind?
A guard rattled the cage and woke Kai from being drowned in his own thoughts, “Answer the elder when you are asked!”
“Oh, I'm sorry, I was just wondering how to copy and make these cuffs.”
“Surely you jest! Katja's Spark isn't something anyone can merely replicate. Her Spark is as durable as a million mountains!”
“Spark? Is that what manifesting Ember is called? It's a cool name. I'll agree it's kinda hard to copy, the flow changes way too much. The very reason why I disagree about its durability.”
His arms Sparked green flames and instantly broke the cuffs, turning it into dust. Everyone in the court was surprised and wary as he continued breaking free and destroying the cage. The murmurs of the people inside the court grew louder and deafening.
The insulting guard brandished his sabre towards kai, “Stop where you stand, mongrel, or I will cut you down.”
“ Look, this is all a misunderstanding. I'm not an intruder, I was sent here by sir Retsu Hayashi , he gave me a crest to give to the Guildmaster in Halcyon city, he told me your people could guide me there. I tried to replicate his movement technique to get here faster. You can check along the trees outside the village, you'll see my face marks all over them.”
“Silence mongrel, don't spout lies and stain sir Hayashi's name with your mouth! Its probably a fake anyway.”
“Guard Greyson, cease your insults! We shall let him prove his words, show us the crest.”
Shock was expressed on the guard's face. He felt a clear disdain for Kai but couldn't talk back towards the elder he respects.
He grabbed the crest from his pocket and gave it to the Elder.
“Hmm, it is an authentic provisional crest from the high council. He has proven himself innocent. What is your name, young proxy?
“Kaiser.”
“ Katja, Release Kaiser from bondage and prepare lodging for our guest.”
“Yes, Elder Eyfos.” She went towards her underlings to relay the order. “Rast, Qwen, prepare a safehouse for our guest and be discreet. Follow me, Kaiser. Unless you want to stay with Greyson instead?”
He walks alongside Katja, going out from the courthouse and heading towards the plaza.
“So how can I make those cuffs like you did?”
“You can't. From what I saw, you're a Driver type while I'm a Visionary.”
“And Drivers can't do what Visionary does?”
“If it makes you feel better, its the same the other way around. Each type has its uniqueness to them. Drivers increase their physicality, Linkers can affect the people around them, Shifters play with the elements and Visionaries can conjure up anything they want, the limit is their imagination.” She conjured knives from her smokey white Spark and made them fly and danced around.
Reaching the plaza, Kai saw a peaceful village full of children and species of various races. The scene felt so warm and welcoming. It reminded him of home.
“There's so many diverse people here. How is everything so harmonious?
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Diverse? What do you mean?
“I mean like that lizardman over there by the fountain, he walks so proudly and tall and no one is bullying him or calling him names.”
“Why would we bully our own kin? We are of the same species.”
Kai looks at Katja's feline features and compares them against the lizardman, “now I'm confused.”
“We are all the same species, we are Grants. Unlike other people who are born from a womb, we Grants are born from the imagination of our owners, a byproduct of Visionaries.”
He looked down and thought back to the earlier incident. He was lucky that he didn't cause the old woman to break into dust. He understands why the guards were on alert and why Greyson hated him.
“Can I meet the lady that I ran into?”
The worry on Kaiser's face left an impression on Katja. She understood what he wanted to do and that very nature of his soul. They walked to where the elderly lady were and approached her. Her demeanor seemed calm and undisturbed as she continued to drink her cup of tea in front of the tea shop.
He bowed, “Hello, my name is Kaiser. I'm sorry for what I did earlier today. I'm not used to my new powers yet and i didnt know how much damage i could have caused. I'll accept any punishment you wish to give me, madam.”
“Oh dear me. Come, sit down and have tea with me. Simian, be a dear and grab two more cups for the youngsters.” The shop worker nodded and did just what the lady asked.
“Good afternoon, Lady Eleanor.”
Good afternoon to you as well, Katja. Is your owner doing well these days?”
“She is…..a fighter. She wants to thank you for the gift basket, she especially likes the Equitart and the Karchag Pie.”
“How lovely, hopefully the foraging squad comes back with a fresh batch of Karchag then. Now as for you, young man. You dont need to beat yourself up over what's happened. As you see, I am fine, just a minor wound on my ankle. And you didn't cause any trouble with the guards. In my eyes, you are a gentleman that takes responsibility. Please give yourself more credit.”
He knelt down and looked at Lady Eleanor's ankle. There was a scraped cut from falling. Her wound leaked blue fluid. Kai suspected that it was her Ember leaking out. He clenched his hand as hard as he could until it bled. His assumptions were right. The blood he used to have is now changed to Green, the color of his Ember.
He held her ankle in his hands. There was a loud thump coming from Kaiser's very core. As he held in his tears, he continuously wished he could make things better.
The thump grows louder.
Kaiser's Spark began to flare, the green flames streamed toward his palm and flashed blindingly bright. When it stopped, Kaiser lifted up his hands. The wound on Lady Eleanor's ankle was gone and healed. While everyone started crowding them die to the amazing scene, Kai thought, “Thank god…” and suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the floor.
“Kai-”
[Thump]
.
.
.
Hours later….
Kai woke up in a room and bed, still feeling tired and confused. The last thing her remembered was meeting Lady Eleanor and looking at her wound. He rose up in panic
“The wound!”
Katja hit his head and forced him to lay back on the bad.
“Shut up and rest. That was stupid of you!”
“But i….i healed her wound.”
“And you almost went into ‘Zero State’ because of it! Don't you know that your soul will disappear if you do that!? Your soul wont be able to go into the soulstream, you'll disappear and become nothing. Don't you ever do something so stupid and reckless again! Do you hear me!?”
“I hear you, but why are you mad?”
“Promise me! Promise you won't do it ever again!”
“I…. I promise, Katja.”
“Good, I'm going to get Lady Eleanor, she's been worried for you too. Just rest and gather some Ember.”
Katja walks out of the room and closes the door. She walks away crying, tears drenching her face. Kaiser didn't know the reason for Katja's outburst. Yet for every Grant living with their owner, each one of them knew the pain. The existence of the Grants themselves is a curse to their owners. The connection turns parasitic by nature and drains their owners Ember until they reach Zero State. The only way for them to live is to kill their Grants. Most if not all owners won't do it and they'll even stop the ir Grants from killing themselves. And so, the Grants live a life of suffering as they watch their owner die slowly, unable to do anything. Katja was especially triggered by the scene because she has to accept it sooner or later, her owner is nearly reaching Zero State.
Meanwhile, the Foraging squad was at the village gate unloading their harvest. A tall figure stepped out of the carriage. His skin was red as wine with a horn as sharp as blade, silver white hair and golden eyes that glowed radiantly in the night.
“Brother Salazar, I, Greyson, welcome you back and give thanks for the harvest.”
The demon-like man however was preoccupied with something else, “There seems to be less people crowding the carriage than usual. Did something happen while we were gone?”
Greyson explained to Salazar what has transpired while Kaiser goes back to sleep to gather his strength. Little did he know that he would need every bit of it.