I stared up at my ceiling, worrying, readying.
My parents are dead, and have been for seven years, since I was eight. Even when they were alive, they were distant. I mourned them once. There's not much left of that.
They left me alone in this city, and Boss Swansong took me in, set me to work in his mine. He was all smiles then. Still is, though I can now see how it doesn't really reach his eyes. I know he will smile just the same if I turn up dead one day - some rock falls on me or someone slits my throat in a dark alley. It's happened with kids he liked more than me.
The other kids keep their distance from me. I don't laugh at their cruel pranks, I don't join their orgies.
Mage Arnis offered to take me in, said I had a talent that he could use. I don't know what I saw in him, but I would have ran screaming if I thought he wouldn't take offense. Shortly after, it became known that he practiced blood magic, killing people to fuel his spells. There were demands by some that he be executed for it. The lord of the city refused to respond, and Arnis disappeared.
Tannen the Baker saw my isolation and offered me a job, away from the mines. I refused. His assistants tended to mysteriously disappear. About a year ago, the lawmen took him in for cannibalism.
And there's been a couple other times that I've been approached with friendly smiles and I ran away.
What I mean to say is, I'm alone, and I don't know how I'll ever not be alone.
I've been able to hold onto life this long, working in the mines, but it's risky work and I wonder at how much longer I have left of life.
I don't want to die alone.
But more than that, I don't want to live among these people.
If they knew this, I wonder what they'd do to me.
Tonight, I expect another ember of my hope to die.
I wait awhile longer, and my vision shifts. Patterns resembling the constellations in the sky appear, though much denser, more easily understood. This is what they call the Blessing of the Paths. For every person, when they turn fifteen, they will have a vision like this and choose a constellation, gaining that Path. They will be gifted with a power associated with the Path and as they later advance that Path they gain further powers. Each person has a different selection to choose from - some are common, and others are very rare.
My hope is that there is something here to help me. I recognize the constellations of the Craftsman and the Vagrant - they are almost always available. I've seen them on tapestries, I've heard them explained. The Craftsman first gains Imbuement - an ability to collect mana and use it to enhance items. The Vagrant first gains the Capacitor - an ability that also collects mana, which can then be spent to temporarily improved some aspect of one's body, such as strength or healing. The Warrior is absent, which is unusual - it would also start with the Capacitor, though later gains would be different. The absence of the common Farmer is more understandable - I've never grown anything in my life.
Alongside these two is another that takes me longer to recognize - the Summon. Rather rare, widely associated with treachery and not a common subject of conversation. It's first power is called Shadebound. A person with this power forms an almost-real mimicry of himself called a Shade. Apparently there are other worlds out there, different from mine, and on those worlds there is a magical art called Summoning. Those who practice this can summon Shades. Control of this Shade is then partitioned between Summoner and Summon - mostly to the Summoner. Their commands must be followed. The summoning is temporary, and however it ends, it does not harm the Summon.
When I was younger, I had wondered who would ever want such a thing. But now... well, I don't want to be here.
There is a fourth constellation that I don't recognize, though I can sense it has something to do with stone and metal. Regardless, I've made my choice.
I accept the constellation of the Summon, and immediately I feel a power flowing through me, changing me in some way. Then it settles, and I'm left with a sort of ethereal warmth within my chest.
My hope hasn't died yet, but now I need to find a way forward. I don't know how to control when I'm summoned - if I even can - and when I am, I don't know what will happen to my body in this world. I can't risk going down into the mines like this, so I'll have to quit my job. That, however, will be very easy - I just won't show up.
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I doubt anyone will even come looking for me.
Unfortunately, I do still need to live in this world. I have a fair bit of money saved - while I've barely been making any, I've also barely been spending any. Enough for a couple months, I think. As for what I'm going to do beyond that...
I try to think, and I can't come up with anything. Eventually I let my mind drift, I doze, and then-
There's a sharp tug somewhere within me.
- - - - - - - - - -
The first thing I become aware of is wisps of my Summoner's intent. Desperation. Combat.
Shortly after, I feel the wind on my hands and I can see again. In front of me is an odd sight - a pair of big green orcs fighting a wolf and a giant beetle.
Someone shouts something behind me. I don't know the words, but I feel the intent and know it is that of my Summoner - to kill the orcs. I move forward before I can even think to do so.
The wolf has it's mouth around an orc forearm, but the orc grits through the pain and disembowels it with his sword. The other orc swings an his axe at the beetle, but it skids off the shell.
I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm apparently rushing at the orc fighting the beetle and grabbing his axe hand.
He throws me off.
This is not surprising. I am a particularly short fifteen-year-old. Even if I have more than a little brawn from my work, I'm not big. Why was I even summoned? Wouldn't another wolf be better?
I hit the ground and roll, then charge the orc again. The beetle has gotten it's mandibles around the orc's abdomen and is squeezing. The orc raises his axe again and I grab it, trying to hold it back. He swings it at the beetle, but fails to penetrate again.
Then the other orc stabs the beetle in it's head and I get thrown off again. I dodge the axe swing and get run through with the sword. There's pain, but it doesn't bother me as much as I'd expect.
The command of my Summoner pushes me to keep fighting. While I'm struggling to get back on my feet, the axe comes down on my head.
- - - - - - - - - -
I startle awake, covered in not half as much sweat as I was expecting.
In my vision, there are once again constellations. A Path advancement already? I know that improving in the direction of my chosen Path gives further powers, but it usually takes a while. I suppose my very first summoning is a full step on this Path.
I don't recognize any of the constellations. I wouldn't recognize any constellation that isn't the beginning of a Path because I never learned of them. But I do get impressions of what they do.
The first is better understanding what people say, even if I don't know the words. How well, I don't know.
The second is some sort of stasis - a cessation of bodily needs and function. Presumably while I'm summoned?
The third is mind expansion. An ability to function in this world while I am summoned.
The fourth is mana crystallization! To capture and crystallize mana. Mana Crystals are valuable for a variety of purposes and easily shaped. They're typically formed into coins and used as currency for the most expensive trades. A single such coin could sustain me for months.
No indication of how quickly I'd be able to form coins though.
I suppose I'll have to go for the crystallization, since I don't know when I'll get another advancement. As nice as the rest of them are, they won't feed me. If I can make my living while not dealing with any of these people, I will.
The constellations react to my intent, fading away, and something new forms inside me. I prod at it as best I can, trying to figure out how it works, but I can't find a way to interact with it.
On that thought, I turn my attention to the first power I gained. I had felt something when I was summoned. With some concentration, I find something there that I can move. With some effort, I feel it close, though I can't close it completely. With another effort, I instead open it as wide as I can-
And feel something get tugged out of it.
- - - - - - - - - -
Again, the first thing I'm aware of is intent. Light labor.
My Summoner says something next to me and points to a pile of boxes. I need to move them. I pick up a couple - more bulky than heavy - and he directs me to follow him. We walk through a door and some hallways and I get a good look at him.
He's human, and actually not that much taller than me. Maybe five and a half feet? Or a little less. Orange hair, including a rather large moustache and sideburns. Dark blue robe and a very round hat.
The structure around me is made of large stone blocks and must be very large, since I've been walking through hallways for a while.
Eventually we reach a sparsely-furnished room - a table off to the side covered with what might be alchemy ingredients and a couple boxes already moved here. My Summoner directs me again and his intent is clear even though his words are not - I need to move all the boxes here.
I spend the next half hour, maybe, moving boxes. It's uneventful, but I'm able to observe a bit while I do so, and I notice something - I don't see it, exactly, but I sense a thread, a trickle of something, moving from my Summoner to me. Some of it then dissipates, going where I do not know. But the rest trickles into my Crystallizer. So that's how that works? Losing mana to my Crystallizer seems like the sort of thing a Summoner would complain about. Maybe it doesn't increase the drain of summoning? Or just increases it by a miniscule amount?
Questions I can only guess at, and soon enough I've moved all the boxes and my summoning ends.
- - - - - - - - - -
I awake with a smile this time. Maybe he was yet another bastard, but if so I didn't feel it, and I like helping people. Maybe I'll like this life.
Although... I felt a bit of muscle strain at the end of my summoning, and I feel none now. Seems like any work I put in on the other side won't keep me in shape.