Opening his eyes and finding himself surprisingly refreshed after waking up to depart from Trimble, Ezekiel recalled his thoughts from the day before. With a clear head thanks to a proper night’s sleep, no meditation, or other worrying thoughts, he realized that he had truly been an idiot.
He had allowed his worries and fears to grab hold of him and dictate his choices once again. Had Riley not snapped him out of it last night, he would probably be planning how to leave her behind. Maybe he would’ve even given up on escaping with his family. Tricking himself into believing that they would be better off without him.
Obviously, there were still some doubts in his heart, but he knew he’d need to keep working on having faith in the people precious to him.
His current state of comfort faded away, however, when a soft scratching at his door grabbed his attention and woke up Riley. Whose face turned red for a moment when she realized that she was sharing a bed with Ezekiel.
Given they were both still fully dressed, her embarrassment was unfounded, and her expression returned to normal a moment later.
“Good morning.” Riley softly said. “Feeling any better?”
“Yes. Thank you for snapping me out of it.”
“I only did the same thing you did for me.”
Ezekiel moved in to give her a kiss, the first one he’d given that was more than just a peck in private, turning her face red once more. He broke off a moment later when the scratching at the door grew louder.
Sighing in exasperation, Ezekiel climbed out of bed to open the door. Looking down at his feet to see Reya looking up at him.
Turning her head to look at Riley, the Legendary Obscure Spirit looked back up at Ezekiel. This time with an eyebrow raised. Ezekiel responded by looking over his ruffled clothing that he’d slept in.
“... We’re still dressed, if you hadn’t noticed...” A part of him felt embarrassed at talking to his mother’s Spirit like this. But he knew that Reya would be conveying this sight to his mother later.
A soft slapping sound could be heard, and Ezekiel figured that Riley must’ve covered her face with her hands. A part of him wished he could do the same. But he knew it’d just give his mother more ammunition when they met up downstairs for breakfast.
“We’ll be down in a minute. I think we’re already ready to go?” Ezekiel turned around to look at Riley. She raised her hand and gave him a thumbs up to indicate he was right.
Reya huffed slightly and simply turned around, sinking into her shadow, and darting away instead of walking. Something Ezekiel felt was unnecessary, as walking wouldn’t have cost mana.
Closing the door, Ezekiel moved across the room to grab Shine and his equipment. Since he was already in his enchanted clothing, he only had to put on a few armor pieces over top. Which Riley helped him with, and he, in turn, did the same for her when she pulled her own armor pieces out of her Void Pouch.
Sharing one last look, the two headed out to meet up with the rest of their group. Ezekiel prepared himself for the heckling he was undoubtedly going to receive from his family.
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Blades clashed for a moment as Ezekiel cut through the makeshift armor of a bounty hunter that had come for him. His mother and father worked together not far away to take down an enemy Legendary Hunter that was the leader of this group.
Sighing in exasperation, Ezekiel took a moment to look at the fight between true Legendaries.
‘Behind. Downward diagonal slash to your left shoulder.’ Shine was almost bored as he gave Ezekiel a warning.
Swinging Shine upwards and blocking the sword aimed at his neck, Ezekiel swung his other arm backward. His reinforced fist slammed through the jaw of the Mage that had attacked him. A lower Step Adept that practically moved in slow motion from Ezekiel’s point of view.
‘This is ridiculous.’ Ezekiel grew frustrated as he saw another Adept, this one at a higher Step, shoot toward him. The Mage’s attempt to spear through Ezekiel’s gut with his spear was easily avoided.
But before he could retaliate, a wave of blue fire incinerated the Mage as Ezekiel raised his sword to swing it at the man. Barely able to scream, the charred corpse fell to the ground.
A quick look backward showed Ezekiel that the Mage that took a swing at him prior to the spear user was also a crispy charred mess on the ground.
“Thank you!” Ezekiel called out. He was about to say more, but the sound of a horn echoed through the area.
The group of unlawful bounty hunters began to flee. Their numbers were cut down by roughly half. A dead Legendary among the bodies. The remaining Legendary let out a scream of rage as they turned and fled ahead of their underlings. Warren and Evelyn gave a halfhearted chase to clean up.
“Did we have any losses?” Ezekiel asked as he moved with Riley to speak with the Morse family guard captain. The man shook his head and said there were only a few serious injuries, and a few lightly wounded Mages. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed before camp was set up that evening.
Walking away from the guard captain, Ezekiel and Riley went to the front of the caravan. Where Ellen and Wendy were sitting inside the wagon they had been riding with Warren and Evelyn.
Their heads were peeking out so they could observe the battles as they occurred. Rather than wait until later to hear about what happened from their parents.
Both held their Spirits, Kare and Tina, in their arms, so the little birds could also watch.
“You know, mom and dad won’t be happy that you decided to watch like that.” Ezekiel raised an eyebrow as he looked at the four guards from the Alkena family that had been asked to watch over the twins. Both sheepishly looked away in shame.
“You went through worse when you were younger than us. So, I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal about it.” Ellen was somewhat petulant in her response.
“Oh? So, you’re saying you want to be just like me in five years?” Ezekiel was doubtful that that was the case. A belief that was supported by Ellen and Wendy’s wince at the thought.
Beside him, Riley gently nudged Ezekiel with her elbow. He assumed that she didn’t like the fact that he was being so self-deprecating.
Ezekiel just sighed and let the matter drop. But did appreciate that Riley wasn’t letting him continue hating himself.
“Did you learn anything new?” Ezekiel asked.
His sisters both looked confused, and their Spirits tilted their heads at the same time.
“If you’re going to go against our parents, you might as well get something from it. So, what did you learn?”
The twins began listing off what they witnessed during the fight. For most things, they sounded unsure of themselves as they tried to explain the reasoning behind the actions of what they saw.
Ezekiel clarified a few things here and there. Helping them understand the reasoning behind certain guard’s actions. How the different Mages and Hunters formed teams to help each other. As well as gave advice as to how the twins might act in such situations.
It was somewhat amusing to see how attentive they were. Same as their Spirits. But Ezekiel was mostly just happy that they seemed to be over being upset at him. His parents must’ve talked to them over the last few days. Though it was clear that not everything was good.
There had been almost no heckling over the course of the day, and it was now late in the afternoon. Since there was no possible way that Reya wouldn’t have reported what she saw to Ezekiel’s mother, and in turn, the twins, there must’ve been some heavy discussions the night before on their end.
The uneasy looks filled with sadness as the twins looked at the happy and celebratory guards implied a number of things. None of which Ezekiel found too surprising. But enough so that he was worried for them.
“What about you? Did you notice anything of note?” Ezekiel turned to the top of the wagon, where a poofy shrunken Invera was seated.
When the attack had happened, there was some expectation that the Mythical bird would step in. But it had been explained to the guards that doing so would start even more rumors.
These ones being big enough to warrant the interference of an Imperial Exalt. Something that nobody who lived in the Empire wanted to have happening to them.
He also knew that the Mythical Spirit had spoken to his parents the night before. Whatever had been discussed hadn’t been brought up with him, but he knew that his parents would tell him if it was immediately relevant or important to him. He’d find out before they got back to Tollren.
For now, however, from her place atop the wagon, Invera just ruffled her feathers and shrugged. Ezekiel figured that she did this more out of disinterest, rather than not noticing anything he hadn’t covered. There was no way that a Spirit as old and as powerful as Invera would miss something in a battle amongst mostly Adepts and Apprentices.
“Well, you heard the lady. That should be enough for now. It also seems like mom and dad are back.” Ezekiel waved in the direction his parents had flown off in.
They appeared none the worse for wear and weren’t being followed. So, Ezekiel assumed that either the bounty hunters were faster than expected, or dead.
Either way, it didn’t matter too much, since he knew that, after today, it was unlikely that any forces besides the cult itself were unified enough to aim for Ezekiel’s head. Not with the current circumstances. Their moving further and further into lawful Empire territory would also help with matters.
‘Chirp’
Ezekiel turned toward Invera once more. The Mythic calling out to him, specifically.
How he knew that when the Spirit wasn’t using words at this time was a mystery to him. But he knew that she must’ve done something with magic to grab only his attention.
‘She wants to talk to us in private later. Something about a lesson. She’s not explaining any further though.’ Shine explained to Ezekiel.
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‘Well, I’m not about to turn down a magic lesson from a significantly more powerful being for any reason at all. So let her know that we’ll be wherever she needs us to be.’
‘She says we need to go with her alone.’
Ezekiel frowned at that.
Riley had been clingier lately, which he wasn’t opposed to at this point. They had mostly been keeping each other in check and watching each other's backs. So, it wasn’t too uncomfortable.
“Ezekiel! C’mon, we need to get moving. We’ve still got a little while to go before we start setting up camp for the night.” Warren called out.
Ezekiel saw that his parents had since landed, and his mother had climbed into the wagon to berate the twins. He just caught an unhappy glare sent his way. Likely because his sisters told her what he had been teaching them.
“Right. I’ll get back to my wagon with Riley.” Ezekiel decided that a swift retreat would be the best course of action.
His father gave him a knowing look via an amused grin.
Turning away, he and Riley headed back to the rear of the caravan, where they climbed on top of their wagon and allowed themselves to enjoy the ride.
Though, Ezekiel was somewhat antsy as he and Riley kept on the lookout. He was really looking forward to whatever it was that Invera wanted to teach him.
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Hours later, when the rest of the caravan had gone to sleep, barring the guards that were on watch duty, Ezekiel left his tent, waving at his father, who was also on watch. He held up a finger to indicate that Warren should be quiet, while pointing a finger up at the sky, where Invera was slowly circling.
Warren nodded his head and allowed Ezekiel to head out without any fuss. He had also talked with Riley earlier, and she had pouted for a bit at being left out, but didn’t have any worries, since she knew that Invera was the most powerful being around for thousands of kilometers.
The group was currently camped out on the edge of a forest that spanned a fair distance between Trimble and a couple of the nearby towns.
Given their current travel speed, it was unlikely that they would be stopping in any towns or villages for a couple more days. Passing through them instead, in order to return as fast as possible.
‘That way. About a dozen or so kilometers in.’ Shine directed Ezekiel towards the center of the forest. Well beyond most of his party’s view.
Moving as fast and as silently as he could without overtly using his mana, Ezekiel crossed the distance indicated within a couple minutes.
He frowned at the time it took to reach his destination. He knew that he could move faster than that, but since he was saving mana, he needed to take his time to be more cautious, in order to not make any disturbances.
“You are here. At a prompt time as well. Good.” Invera quietly spoke from the top of a tree she had perched on. “I have done some scouting, and carefully taken out the group that was most likely to ambush you within the next few hours or so. We should have plenty of time before anyone else comes for you.”
Ezekiel almost asked what she did to the Hunters she had come across but stopped before saying anything. He didn’t really care, and the less he knew, the less he could answer if questioned later.
“Thank you. May I ask what this meeting is for? Shine mentioned something about a lesson?” Ezekiel knew better to demand anything of a Mythical being. Even if it was one that he was relatively acquainted with.
“Indeed. Two lessons. The first has to do with your reconnected Spirit Paths. The second, regarding your methods of Enchanting,” Invera explained. “Which would you like first?”
Hearing that Invera wanted to speak about his Spirit Pathways, Ezekiel decided that this lesson was a priority. So, as much as he wanted to learn about Enchanting methods, he knew that he would have to put that on hold for the moment.
“Spirit Paths. If there’s something wrong, then I need to know as soon as possible.”
Invera nodded her head in what Ezekiel assumed was approval.
“Good. Simply put, if you succeed in reconnecting all your Spirit Paths, you will most likely die.” Invera got right to the point. Much to Ezekiel’s shock.
He stood there for a moment. Unable to process what he had just been told. Shine was much the same, but Ezekiel could feel a sense of despair alongside the shock and confusion that already plagued him. This was something neither of them expected.
“No! That can’t be true!” Shine’s voice called out verbally. “Are you saying that everything we’ve done was for nothing? His Spirit Paths are reconnecting. That means that he’s getting better!”
It had been roughly a year since Ezekiel was crippled in the Desolate Lands. For much of that time, he had been unable to cast any spells at all.
When he had managed to reconnect his Spirit Paths, and begin casting low level Spells once more, both he and Shine had been overjoyed. It was like a heavy blanket had been removed from his head, and the world was open to him again.
“Why will I die?” Unlike Shine, Ezekiel knew that Invera wouldn't lie to them. His shock made him cold, and his mana voided his emotions so that he could think things through more clearly.
Shine seemed surprised that Ezekiel had just accepted Invera’s words. But after a moment of silence, a sense of resignation filled with despair filled him as the Void Spirit allowed their emotions to flow into Ezekiel.
“Simply put, now that I have reached Tier five, my own mana sensitivity has increased. I wasn’t certain of it before, but the few connections you have made since I have been following you has made it clear.” Invera glided down to land on a toppled tree that laid next to Ezekiel. “Simply put, each broken Path is like a puzzle piece. Each one has its place, but you’ve put them together in a jumbled mess.”
Ezekiel paled at the picture that Invera was painting for him. But he was still confused. If what she was saying was the case, then why hadn’t he noticed any effects?
“It’s only the fact that they haven’t all been connected, and therefore the mana within is somewhat stagnant, that has allowed you to continue breathing,” Invera continued to say. “The moment your paths are fully connected once more, the mana within your body will begin trying to flow by instinct in the same way it did before your Paths were broken. Which will rip them apart once more, since those paths are not connected like how they used to be.”
Invera’s words forced Ezekiel’s mind to begin running at rapid speeds. What Invera was saying made a lot of sense. While he hadn’t really noticed it before, since he hadn’t been having trouble with his spells so far, the mana did flow in different ways when he was casting spells.
Not enough for him to care about the difference, but he knew that his mana was also much slower to respond if he got emotional. Outbursts were much weaker or caused him to feel a burning pain that he had related to the still broken Paths in his soul.
What if that burning sensation was actually the feeling of his mana grinding against his Spirit Paths? His instinctive and emotional manipulation forced the mana to initially flow as it should, rather than as he was doing now. Only to correct itself to flow in the new, unnatural way, that he was making it flow with his newly forged connections.
He immediately sat down and entered a state of meditation. Observing his mana, Ezekiel allowed himself to feel his emotions once more, and tried to flare his mana.
There was an instantaneous feeling of searing heat emanating from the inside of his soul, and he saw as his mana tried to push itself into Pathways that weren’t there. Rubbing against the different sections that were connected until the mana began to flow through the connections he had made manually.
Stopping the flow of mana, Ezekiel allowed the pain to subside, before this time channeling his mana as if to make a Void Pane.
This time, the mana moved solely according to his will, and directly traveled through his artificial Pathways. No pain at all. But now that he was looking at it, Ezekiel could tell that his mana was moving according to his ‘Will’. Something that wouldn’t always be there to direct the mana in a safe and stable manner.
“Shit!” Ezekiel and Shine screamed as he abruptly stood up. Shine’s voice overlapped his own as they rattled in their sheath. “How could I have missed this!”
Ezekiel felt the burn return to his soul as his mana instinctively moved in accordance to his emotional state. His enhanced strength let him topple trees and shatter rocks as he vented his anger on the forest around him.
All the while, Invera looked on. A glance in her direction let Ezekiel know that she was keeping calm, even amid his outburst.
Several minutes later, when there was now a torn up clearing where there were once several dozens of trees and boulders, Ezekiel was gasping for breath as he rested on one knee. His energy was spent after he had let out all the frustration at the fact that months of work and hope were for nothing.
“I’m sorry you had to see that... Thank you for saving my life.” Ezekiel was much quieter this time as he turned back to Invera. Ezekiel wasn’t sure how, but he could just tell that the shrunken bird was looking at him with pity.
“Your outburst is actually one of the tamer ones that I have witnessed. Regardless, that is not the only thing I had to say about your Spirit Paths.” Invera said. Much to Ezekiel and Shine’s confusion. They weren’t sure what else needed to be said at this point.
“Your situation... It is one that the tribe I protect might have a way of fixing.”
Doubt and elation filled the two Void users’ hearts after hearing Invera. Given they had no way of telling which pieces of his Spirit Paths went where, Ezekiel had basically given up hope of regaining his true strength before the cult finally managed to kill him.
“I believe you are familiar with the pool of Ancient Glacier Water? Well, that pool, having seen your soul directly, should now have a record of the Paths within your soul, from prior to their breaking.” Invera further explained. “With this map, and a slight alteration on my and the other Guardian’s part, we should be able to imprint this map onto your soul directly. At which point, it will simply be a matter of breaking and re-placing the pieces in their correct position. This will be much faster than your own attempt so far.”
While the thought of having to purposefully break and replace the Paths within his soul sounded terrifying, the only thing Ezekiel cared about was the fact that he would have a way forward once more.
The only problem was the fact that he would be living with the tribe for an unknown amount of time while he recovered. He didn’t want to be away from his family for too long. Riley included, as he knew that he had just resolved himself to never leave her behind again.
“Worry not. I have already spoken to your family regarding this situation. You have all been made welcome at the Feathered Peaks for the purpose of granting you all sanctuary. At least until you have truly recovered.”
That was something of a relief for Ezekiel. But he was still curious as to how long it would take for him to heal properly.
“If all goes well, and you can handle the pain of your Paths re-breaking, you should be able to recover within a month of entering the pool once more.”
The sheer speed of his possible recovery was almost too hard for him to believe. Sure, he had gotten faster at repairing his Paths thanks to the increase in mana available to him. But he hadn’t expected that all his efforts would pale in the face of Invera’s new method.
“How can you be sure?” Ezekiel just had to know.
“Well, for one thing, it is far easier to trace a series of lines, than to blindly try to draw them from scratch while there are obstacles in your way, and you can’t see the start and end points.” Invera’s words made Ezekiel flinch at how bad his actions sounded in that comparison. “For another, you will be aided by a Relic that was directly created by one of the Ancients. Beings that, even now, are leagues of power greater than myself. One who stands at the current peaks of power in this world.”
When put into that kind of context, Ezekiel realized that his doubts seemed a little silly in hindsight. He knew exactly how powerful the Ancients were. After all, the Ancient Void had shown him their might in his dreams, even before he had known they were real.
“Now, since that lesson is over, onto the second one.” Invera redirected the conversation.
With his worries now put to the side, Ezekiel focused on the Mythical bird once more.
As interesting as their previous topic had been, that was more of an emotional storm of despair and hope. This was a much more interesting topic, and one that Ezekiel was looking forward to far more so than the other one.
“I noticed that all of your enchanting relies on Runes. The pathways through which mana flows, as dictated by the Ancient’s understanding of mana and its flow.”
Ezekiel hadn’t heard it explained in that way before. But after thinking about it, he realized that it wasn’t an incorrect explanation.
“For we Spirits, Runes are not the means by which we enchant things. Instead, we impose our ‘Will’ to imbue our ‘Understanding’.” Invera held out a wing, tapping a rock that lay next to her. “The Spirits don’t have need for written words in the wild, after all. Yet we also have no need for magical objects formed by our own claws.”
Ezekiel watched as Lightning flickered into the rock. Pieces of it melted as Invera’s mana began heating it up with raw plasma, but also shaping it as it shifted in shape.
Slowly, Ezekiel felt pressure settle down him as Invera began shaping her mana in a specific way. Similar to the Runes that were etched in a Mage’s Enchanted objects. But there was something more. Something that wasn’t tied to the Runes, and instead seemed to be tied to the rock itself.
Almost like a sponge soaking up water, but not quite. There was now a weight to the rock that hadn’t been there before. Spiritual in nature, as Ezekiel didn’t think the rock was any heavier in a physical sense.
“There.” Invera declared as she took her wing away from the rock. It was now shaped like a small stone kite-shield. “Both of you, work together to try and damage this rock.”
Looking uncertain of what they were about to do, Ezekiel and Shine still channeled their mana, swinging as hard as they could at the now enchanted rock.
The moment Shine made contact with it, the was a “zap” followed by a burst of Lightning that shot up and through Shine and into Ezekiel. The two then flew back and apart from one another, before convulsing and clattering on the ground as the Lightning ran its course through their bodies.
“... Oops... I guess I forgot to take into account my increased power. I’ve used that demonstration so many times that I’m just so used to using the same amount of mana to do it.” Invera looked incredibly sheepish as she took control of the Lightning and did her best to ease the discomfort that Ezekiel still felt.
But regardless of the pain he had felt at getting zapped, Ezekiel was more in awe than anything else.
Even now, he could sense that the rock was still Enchanted. No Runes, no engravings, no anything, beyond the ‘Understanding’ of magic that Invera had imbued in it.
His instincts screamed at him again. This time in excitement and joy.
This was something that he needed to know.