A week of travel passed and with each day came a new problem to solve. From more lessons with Matilda to a run in with some wild kerberos. Each day held something new for this band of travelers.
“Are we ready to stop yet, I hear Damien wanted to learn more about the wildlife and I’m pretty sure some Ursa’s are in stasis around here!” whined Matilda tiredly. The journey was starting to weigh more and more on her, as a woman of affluence, she was not used to this kind of travel.
Damien shuddered, Krista guessed he’s heard of what that type of bear can do already. Raven, however, was quick to shut her down, “No time for stops right now, if we continue for a few hours longer, we’ll make it to Comet by midday tomorrow.”
Raven had acted as the groups defacto navigator, land surveyor, and whatever else anyone needed to for long distance travel. Really overshadowed Dante in the whole leadership role. In response to his words, Matilda slunk forward onto her horse and tried falling asleep.
“Come on Raven, it’ll be fine if we take an extra day, plus I’ve been enjoying Matilda’s lessons. Why don’t we stop here for the night, and continue traveling tomorrow?” Raven turned around looking furious, but Dante smiled back.
Raven groaned and looked ahead once again, “We continue on for an hour longer, I can see a clearing in the distance. We’ll stop there.”
They continued to press on until we finally reached the clearing Raven had talked about. Considering they would have gone more than 30 miles from that original point, Krista and Damien concluded that Raven had some good eyes.
With camp setup, Krista got ready to follow Raven into the nearby woods while the rest set up a space for Matilda to give her daily lessons. Being the two untethered folk, they nonverbally, or maybe Raven just tolerated her presence, agreed their time would best be served to further survey the area. Making sure no hostile creatures, or persons, were in the area. Plus, it made good training for Krista, Raven never waited for her and just keeping up always worked up a sweat.
This time, however, Dante had something to say to her, “You should join us for this lesson, you might find it somewhat interesting. Your husband’s glares are also starting to hurt. With you there, I think they may soften.”
This wasn’t the first time Dante had asked her to attend a lesson, even though he was aware she was untethered, “There’s no point, there’s nothing for me to even learn, or at least nothing I can use. I like to spend my time being productive.”
“I beg to disagree, there is always something to learn, from anywhere, even if you’re untethered. Give it a chance, I’ll personally show you!”
Krista wasn’t altogether against the over-the-top way Dante spoke, as if he was putting all of his energy into every single one of his actions, it made her smile, “Fine, plus Raven is already gone, and I don’t think I’ll be able to catch him, but if I don’t learn anything new, you owe me a ruby chip.”
“Deal.”
Dante brought her to a clearing where the rest were and sat down next to him and Cleo. In front of them was Amelia spinning around in circles, and Damien was tied upside down to a tree. Somehow this was exactly what she had thought these lessons would be like.
“Amelia, you keep that up for the whole lesson, and Damien you cycle through augmentation, elemental, and life every five minutes. The dizziness and blood rushing to your head will help with the process.”
“When I get down from here, I’m going to steal something from you,” Damien said with a wrathful glare, “I don’t know what, but it will be something small, something you wouldn’t usually think about, but something you need. You’ll think to yourself, am I missing something, and you’ll know that yes, you are, but you won’t remember what that thing is until you really, really, need it.”
“You go ahead and do just that,” Matilda said not really listening to Damien’s threat, “We’ve gone over most of the basics of wattiez over these last two weeks, so I’d thought we’d get into learning about branching and the anomalous wattiez type. Pray tell, does anyone know what exactly an affinity is?”
Amelia was immediate on her answer, “It is the physiological changes that occur in the huma body such as the appearance of aura and changing of eye color.”
Matilda ripped off some of the tree’s bark, “Correct! People are born with an affinity for a type a wattiez. Most people are born with only one affinity, but it is not uncommon for people to be born with more.”
“Right, hey Darius, don’t you have three affinities, what’s that like?” interjected Dante.
Damien didn’t answer as Matilda eyed him closely, also wanting to hear his response. Disappointed she continued, “Affinities are important because they dictate what kinds of wattiez you can use, and whether or not you can develop a synthesis with a specific type of wattiez.”
“Really, and what type of affinity might you have Ms. Matilda?” asked Dmitri.
“However…” She closed her eyes, and her aura disappeared. When her eyes opened, they were yellow. Matilda jabbed her fingers in the dirt getting them very messy. She then snapped her fingers, and all the dirt came off. “That’s very useful when cleaning off archeological objects.”
“Impressive!” remarked Amelia.
Damien raised his hand, or rather squirmed an arm free and let it fall, as if we were in an actual classroom. “Darius, I’ve already told you that if you have a question, just ask it.”
Force of habit,” he responded, “I couldn’t see any aura around you when you used your elemental affinity, only the change in eye color. Why is that?”
“Didn’t already tell you I only had one affinity?” Matilda said leaning in far too close to Damien’s own face.
“Personal space,” he said while pushing her away, “Then how did you use elemental wattiez? Your eyes are still yellow, so did you subdue your aura?”
“I was never good at that, so no,” Matilda explained, “It’s not for everyone, but those skilled enough may be able to use wattiez from an affinity they do not share. This is the first step to branching.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Of course, it is,” responded Damien finally getting the naming scheme of a lot of the actions related to wattiez.
“Yes, and unfortunately for people like you, it’s best used by those with less affinities, as the negative effects of branching are multiplied when you have multiple affinities,” retorted Matilda.
“So, branching is more suited to people like me?” asked Amelia.
“People like us,” Matilda responded, “This is done by taking in wattiez and tricking the body into believing the affinity you want to use, is the one you have. With enough practice, those of us without many affinities, like Damien, can branch out and use the others.
“I’m familiar with the phenomena but aren’t there some considerable drawbacks?” asked Dmitri.
“Yes, there is,” Matilda answered, “Based on Hexical adjacence, wattiez consumption is variable, where increased consumption occurs as distance from original affinity increase, and effectiveness decreases in the same conditions. Due to being unable to synthesize with the fake affinity, you will be unable to produce an aura, and by proxy will be unable to output much wattiez. Of course, those with less affinities are inversely affected by those same increased consumptions.”
While Amelia and Dmitri understood exactly what she had said, the others were much slower on the uptake, so Damien asked for clarity, “Could you explain that in a way an idiot like me could understand?”
“There is an increase of wattiez consumption, based on placement of the Hex. As you attempt to use an affinity further to your actual affinity, the adjacence, the more energy it will consume and the less effective using that affinity will be. However, the less affinities you have, the lower the energy consumption increase is.” offered Amelia.
“You should be a teacher,” responded Matilda suddenly.
The sudden job appraisal surprised Amelia who stuttered, “Me, at teacher. No, I mean I couldn’t. No.”
Matilda smiled, “Of course you can, I’m pretty sure the teacher Darius mentioned a while back was you, am I right?”
Amelia didn’t really know what to say, “I mean… that’s true, but- I mean it was fun, but- I mean I’m so…so I don’t know just listen to me, I can’t even speak right. How could I be a teacher?”
Matilda went to rustle her hair, but Amelia moved out of the way. A look of utter disgust on her face, “Right, won’t do that again. Point is, you’re well suited for it. You’re clear and concise, and you even have some experience with it. Maybe give it a try someday, that’s all I’m saying.”
Amelia sat back down next to Dmitri and began fiddling with her thumbs. Kristina wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought she heard Dmitri say, “I agree, you really do have a gift.”
“With enough practice, and a bit of talent, anyone should be able to branch affinities, that is except for those with the anomalous affinity,” Matilda said with dramatic flair, “Many professors don’t actually even bother teaching about this wattiez even though its actually rarer to be untethered, pardon me Krisha.”
“No offense taken teach, I’ve been called worse,” she quickly replied.
“Represented by the color black, and there hasn’t really been much research on it due to its rarity,” Matilda continued, “The first Empress of Falling Starlight was the first recorded Anomalous Wattiez user, and what makes them so special is that they don’t necessarily abide by the same rules of wattiez that the others have to. Along with the fact that there’s no way to know if someone has this affinity until they’ve use it.”
“Mind telling us a few of those rules they break Matilda?” yelled Dante.
“Well, for example, all known anomalous wattiez users never needed a staff in order to use their abilities, maybe they have a closer connection to wattiez than the others do. Their abilities are also the most diverse among all wattiez types. Their abilities usually manifest from things they experience as a child. All having natural synthesis so far.”
“Why is so little known about anomalous wattiez users, anyway?” asked Krista.
“Most likely because there have been a little less than 100 anomalous wattiez users in the last 300 years since the first one was discovered. What doesn’t help, is that most of them have been from Falling Starlight, and they’re not very keen on divulging more information about them with New Dawn or Soaring Sun. Furthermore, most of them lived an extended portion of their lives believing that they were untethered, usually only discovering that they aren’t by circumstance towards the end of their lives.”
Krista felt Dante nudge her shoulder and was met with his smiling face when she faced him. Really made her want to wipe it off his face, “What are you smiling at, I’m bored out of my mind here. It looks like somebody is about to owe me a ruby chip.”
“Is that so?” He responded menacingly, “When Matilda brought up that she was going to teach about anomalous wattiez, I just had to have you hear it. I just knew it would sound so much like someone I know.”
Krista could only barely hide her surprise. Was he suggesting that she was an anomalous wattiez user, or did he just happen to know someone, whatever the miniscule chance. Even worse, could it be that he somehow knows that Damien was one?
“Hey,” Dante continued as he pointed to Damien. “Mind telling me what’s up with all those scars on his back?”
“Sure, he got those when he was a kid. Some kind of accident on a big tree at his home. Happened when he got dizzy on it and fell.”
“Huh, is that right?”
“If any of you ever meet an anomalous wattiez user you should contact me, I would be ecstatic to get my hands on- to meet one,” Matilda said behind a fake grin, “That should be it for today. No, actually I think I’d like to leave you two with an assignment.”
“Oh yes, our first assignment, how exciting Darius,” Amelia said as she let herself fall onto the ground.”
“You are the only person- no, I feel like Dmitri there would act the same as you,” retorted Damien.
“Guilty, are you okay?” he said after releasing Damien from his binding and rushing to Amelia’s side.
“Don’t worry, my assignments aren’t some boring affair,” Matilda countered, “No, a disinterested student is not one who will learn.”
“Alright, Matilda, let’s say you’ve captured my interest, what’s the assignment?” asked Damien.
“For Amelia, I’d like you to successfully branch to both elemental and wave wattiez, I’m giving you a week, so there is no time to waste.”
“A week!” she shouted while quickly rising up, nearly fainting back down from lightheadedness had it not been for Dmitri.
“I must agree with Amelia, branching is a fairly complex action, normally you’d give a normal student several months if not a year,” argued Dmitri.
“It’s fine, I’ll be here every step of the way for her, and I truly believe she can do it,” Matilda shot back, “Plus, if she or Damien fails their task, I will return, along with Amelia, lest she lose her place at the University.”
“What?!” shouted Damien and Krista in unison.
“Oh, yes I almost forgot to give Darius his assignment,” Matilda said absentmindedly, “Since, you have multiple affinities, you will instead develop a synthesis for any of your affinities. Amelia already has one, which means unless you do too, you’ll just be lagging behind.”
“You’re only giving him a week to develop a synthesis?!” cried Amelia.
“Vitnova no, how long will our stay be in Comet?” asked Matilda.
“If all has gone well with Jikan, we should only be there for one, maybe two days,” responded Cleo.
“Right, adding in the two days until we reach Comet, you will have maybe four days to develop a synthesis. Have it done by the time we leave,” said Matilda without a hint of humor.
“You can’t be serious? Damien asked, “Even I know what you’re saying is ridiculous.”
“Well, you better do it or else you’ll be losing Amelia, Good Night!” finished Matilda as she returned to her tent.
“You absolute bi-”