Suddenly, I’m being carried by a group of people with a blanket. They are bringing me somewhere when I try to get up. A few from the group look at me and gasp. I roll out and start running.
I’m actually in my house. The familiar wood and glass interior bring my back to sanity. Cough! I check my hand and blood litters it. Ahhhhh, that’s right. I was attacked, and I survived. The girl didn’t see me surviving the multiple stabbings, but the truth is I probably wasn’t that close to death.
I look back and see a group of acolytes all crying and walking towards me. My dad is the only one truly shocked by my recovery. He still holds the front of the blanket as the rest of the group approaches me. He stares at me as I hold my hand up to feel it. My hand has already started to regrow the missing fingers.
“Well. I guess you’d find out eventually. The power also makes you heal faster...and...I guess that’s wh-”
My dad barrels into me before I finish. He wraps his arms around my neck and head, and pets me while crying. His chest heaves with the convulsive sobbing as he says, “I...I thought. You’re okay? Oh god...”
My father cared so little about my regeneration it was funny. He really did love me this deeply...I wrap my arms around him and say, “Yeah...I was lucky. She thought those tiny paper cuts would take me down, but luckily I fought her off by throwing my fingers at her. It was a brilliant strategy, you should have seen it!”
“Did you see their face?” my dad says. His eyes are filled with hate and malice. I feel his gentle exterior being hidden by something eerie and ominous.
“I heard their voice...Sorry dad,” I say while staring downwards. I can’t take his eyes…
“You have nothing to be sorry about...But they will. They’ll be sorry they ever stabbed a child like that. I’ll separate their soul from their body one burn, cut, and...Son...I’m sorry you're seeing me like this...I will protect you from now on, okay?” he says.
“I am okay dad. Really. I have a good plan for this in the future,” I lean in forward and whisper, “I’ll just tighten the belt on newcomers a little. I have three new things to show you today as well.”
“Son...This is not a joke. You almost died. I saw you die...Work can wait,” he says while holding my shoulders and taking off my shirt.
The stab to my chest had already closed, and my stomach felt incredibly weird. Pink flesh had regrown over it, but...It felt like things were misplaced while I was...taking a nap. I touched it to make sure and confirmed I’m fine. I look up at him and smile. He looks even more tired, and I say, “We can work today too. If we let this destroy our lives then the goal is accomplished if the assassin fails anyways right?”
He stares at me. His eyes become blank, and I see the fire die down. He hunches slightly before saying, “You better have some good stuff son. It’ll take quite a lot to convince me.”
I smile and leap slightly while heading downstairs. For some reason I am very refreshed despite my near death experience. I keep having thoughts about my last life, and how much I dealt with my own death before it happened. I remember Luke and Angelica…My mom and Kinslee. I wonder what they’d think about what I’m doing right now?
My dad shakes me slightly and I realize I’ve been standing still. “First you want to go downstairs and show me why you’ll be safe. Now you stop mid step and zone out. The really crazy part is I’m going along with it all.”
I turn around and my dad faces me. A group of acolytes all respectfully keep their distance behind us as they follow.
My dad turns around and jumps a little, “Wow! You guys scared me. I don’t know how but by a miracle my son is okay. You can go now.”
“Just awful dad. They already know I have the power. I brought them to the town because....A lot happened. The problem is one of their group….Might have stabbed me,” I say while backing away slightly.
“We would never! The seer’s flesh is more than just holy. It is sacred. To damage it is to die,” a familiar voice says. The old man takes off his hood , and reveals a more grandfatherly aura than last night. Without ordering everybody around, the old man looked more like a kind grandpa. A warm glint hinted devotion behind his eyes, and he wouldn’t break eye contact no matter how hard I tried.
“Well then who was it? They said they wanted to help follow my ‘decrees.’ They were obviously there last night. She was also wearing one of your hoods.” I say while slowly walking up and poking the man’s chest.
“She you say?” he says and I nod. He brings his hand up to scratch his beard, and then says, “I might know who it is...but...I don’t at all know why she would...”
“First off what is your name? I never actually found out,” I say.
“My name is Reak. Reak Salamonsk,” he says.
“So who is it then Reak?” I say.
“We had a mysterious newcomer show up to our village about a month ago. We thought it was a child that went missing just a few years ago….She knew about the power, and about our last holy seer. I never would have thought,” he proclaims distraughtly.
“Haha. Yep. Should have seen it all along. Crazy cultists are all totally okay. It’s the random new guy,” I say while nodding at them.
“Do you think I’m stupid? ” my dad says while charging towards them. The same malice from earlier rose to the surface, and my father transformed into somebody else.
“Wow! Calm down dad. I really don’t think it was them. She talked differently, and she had a knife. There village doesn’t have any way to work metal,” I say while grabbing my dad’s shoulder.
“Sorry...I’m just on edge is all. Thank you all for helping him,” my dad says while bowing. They all respond in kind.
Reak asks, “Do you have the power? Or the boy’s mother?”
“Do you think you’re apart of our family? Do you think I know you? Trust you?” my dad says.
“...I’m so sorry sir. I am just curious about what can cause the child to be born with the power,” Reak says.
“So here is what I’m thinking right now. I actually trust these guys right. My dad does not trust you guys by the way. I can prove it to you though dad,” I say and turn towards Reak.
“So I want you to gather all of you guys here in an hour. All of you. If not, I can only say my dad will...remove you all from the town,” I say.
“Of course. If you say so Nox,” Reak responds.
I turn to my father, “Just fantastic. Now let’s go downstairs. Believe it or not. I care for my safety just as much as you do.”
“Okay. Get out of my house,” Klay says while pointing at the acolytes.
They shuffle out of the house, and my father goes upstairs to lock all of the doors in the house. He comes back after a couple of minutes. We walk down to the basement where I have all of my projects stored. I walk to the assembly line of machinery and use both of my hands to form spirit fingers towards it.
My dad looks extremely exhausted and shoos away my performance. I stop awkwardly and get to the point by saying, “Okay. I need about 6 people, and then we can use this to do the impossible. Make machines that can make books. I call it the printing press. Trust me that’s an original.”
“So? What use is that?” he says far less enthusiastically than usual. I frown slightly and say, “It will be useful after we teach everybody to read. Imagine a plague that improves people's life for the better. That is what reading and writing is. I plan on using this to spread it across the land.”
He looks at me skeptically and says, “Have you ever thought that maybe, you decide what’s best for everybody too much?”
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I pause mid sentence with my mouth open. I hold the pose for a few seconds before saying, “No.... I haven’t. We were all eating nothing but youse and chok eggs 5 years ago, we were all living in ruddy little log cabins, and we all died routinely to illnesses and diseases. I think things have definitely gotten better. Even people living in the slums have it better than we did 5 years ago. In 10 years this place will be a utopia for a lot of people. With me leading it, it’ll be the best place on this planet to live,” I say while staring right into my father’s eyes.
“I see your point son. You can just be a little obsessive about things,” he says while looking away and scratching his head.
“Sorry for obsessing over improving living standards. Shame on me. Anyways, let's get onto the next thing. That is the biggest thing I’ve done since I’ve gotten here just so you know,” I say while moving onto a large tarp covering something.
I rip it off to reveal a set of shiny, translucent, and red armor. He instantly changes to a look of wonder as he approaches it and says, “Nox...How did you manage this? I thought it was really hard to mold complex shapes with pariah?”
“It can be yes. But if I use this,” I say while ripping off another tarp from a much larger set of objects, “We can.”
Behind the cover was a large set of molds for armors. They are made with graphite we mined from the blue cave. The gray rock can’t even melt, so I knew it would be able to handle the temperatures needed. The problem so far is the inability to melt the pariah glass into any molds. It melts at a hotter temperature than iron or steel, so we typically used steel lined with rock, Quickly poured it into a mold, then the instant it got into shape, we would slab the mold and glass into water.
“So this will not melt, and feel the inside,” I said while rubbing my finger on the inside of the mold.
“How did you get it so smooth?” he asks while pressing on the mold.
“It is a softer material than most, and you can easily just use cloth or even your hands to smooth it. ” I say while brushing off my shoulders.
“This is...How much of the rock is there?” he asks.
I smile widely and say, “Probably hundreds, or thousands of tons.”
His jaw drops. The corners of his mouth start to flicker and then flex. He puts both hands on his sides and says, “I never doubted you son. Now we can make armor! I know you don’t think about it too much, but I’m always worried with all the attention we get...People might try to take what we’ve made.”
“I know it may not seem like it at times father, but what we’ve made makes us almost unassailable. I have never been involved with war, but I know defense is more so about making yourself unassailable as opposed to actually defending. So my plan is to create the products that the rest of the continent will need. There people and nobles will get used to them, and then only be able to get them here. Plus I have a huge weapon development program in the making, but we have plenty of room to grow. I’d rather focus on defense and expansion. If we do that, it won't take long,” I smile widely and snicker.
My dad slumps over and pats me on my head while saying, “I guess you’ve always got a plan...”
I grab the man and hug him. He jumps back slightly in surprise, but slowly comes back to pet my head. “Nox...Why aren’t you more scared of death?”
“...Would you believe me if I told you I’ve died before? The joke is, it is a fond memory,” I say seriously.
“Haha. Well be more afraid for me then. Me and your mother wouldn’t know what to do if you were gone.” he says sullenly.
“I have a plan just in case that happens...It’s in the bottom drawer of the cabinet over there...” I say while leaning more into him.
“Seriously?” he says.
“No, hahaha,” I laugh loudly as I respond.
We spend another ten minutes or so talking before I hear a knock at the door. I rise and my father follows me up the stairs. We go to the front of the house, and hooded figures gather in a large group on the porch and road next to the house. I crack the door open and say, “All of you. The robes have got to go. I can’t handle this, haha.”
They all promptly take off their robes and I see the village elders were really the most hideous of the bunch. Overall the group of a hundred or so people are very normal. I march them inside and hold my hand out to all the youngish woman. I make them stand outside of the house and they all start to blush slowly.
“It’s not whatever you girls are thinking. If you didn’t know, I was stabbed earlier today by a girl wearing a robe. I need to hear your voice before you come in,” I say while standing behind the door. I let in one at a time as my dad stands in between me and the door. Each girl passes and says there name.
About five minutes of this pass and I don’t recognize anybody. “No luck Dad...Or should I say good luck.”
I turn around and call to the group to go downstairs. They all shuffle except for Reak who stays behind. He twiddles his fingers and walks up to me while staring down.
“Do you plan to...Take some of the woman for yourself?” he says.
“No,” I say.
He stares upwards dejectedly, “Why not? We have some beautiful young gir-”
“No. How about I talk to them some and you stop being creepy?” I say.
He brightens at the offer and says, “Of course!”
I slowly turn my head left to right as he walks downstairs. I turn to my dad who is unholy confused. I shrug and we follow the man downstairs. The large group of villagers all stand at attention as I arrive.
“So. You are all moving to Tauss. You will need three things to belong here. A work ethic, a place to live, and a job. For those of you who want to stay here...No. Just no. I don’t trust ANY of you. You will live in the shanty town made of log cabins. I need 22 of your men to stand over here. I need the rest right here. All of the woman over here. Excellent,” I say while dividing them up with my hands.
“You twenty two men will work at the supply factory. You will get an advance paycheck and education. That means you will get money and free schooling before you’ve started working. Tauss’s government will do this to help you move into a decent living quarter. You will all learn to read and write after you work.
I take a breath before continuing, “I am usually a little more accommodating than this, but you guys have no skills. You aren’t used to society, and I will help you change those two facts. Any questions? Just fantastic. Now group one follow me. I am going to take you to the immigrant processing clinic. The rest of you will follow my father. He will show you around town. I will find you and take the other two groups separately,” I say while my dad looks at me in surprise.
The large group shuffles and we head out. The rest of the day I show random groups of acolytes where everything in the city is. The immigrant processing clinic provides a pair of clothes, food for a week, and 1 small piece of silver for each incoming immigrant. I have prepared for a large group of immigrants to come in at any point, so the influx really isn’t a problem.
After about 8 hours, they’ve all found what they need to do, where they will sleep, and they get started working. By the time it is all done I still have plenty of time to work on projects. As much as I want otherwise, I still shift to a lot of self defense projects. I may act tough in front of my dad, but the truth is, a storm is brewing.