Cresting the final hill and marching onto the dirt paths, Aden takes in the sight of the village.
Looks like an old Hokkaido village with heavy European influence. Quaint. I guess it’s about what I would expect from some older cliches, although it’s a bit jarring the mismatch between architectural progress and their clothes.
Celia tilts forward holding her staff behind her back, leaning into Aden’s view. “So whaddya think?”
“Quaint.”
Cedric chimes in from the front without looking, “Would you like a tour? It’s a bit much for today’s time but we can show ya round ‘till dinner”.
Cheeky kid. Village really is an apt description.
“Ah, yes. All 10 minutes of your kingdom. I can see it now… literally all of it.
“Yeah, it's not much. At least we have the church and an adventurers guild post. It's not a fully functional building but we got it.”
“Ugh, we had to pay so much to convince the church”, begroaned Celia
That says quite a lot about it.
“I’ll have to take a look later. To which establishment do we head now?”
Cedric answers first, “We’ve just gotta hand in some grass for a quest at the post.”
Celia, following up, “Then we were gonna go home, but what do you wanna do?”
“I have eternity, I’ll just go where the wind takes me, or in this case, you kids. Home is fine. I do enjoy repositories of information, though.”
“Like a library? We don’t have one of those but Berta runs a small bookstore, not that it’s doing well.”
Cedric fills in more, “She’s that shop with the barely hanging sign near the end of the road. Not many take to reading round here, like sis.”
“That was just to learn some magic, no way I could get mage without it.”
“You should be joyously inquiring knowledge as a mage, lest you stagnate. What goals do you kids have?”
Cedric leans his head back into his hands behind his head, “Aaaa, nah. Nothing like that, we just wanted to get some spare coin and travel a bit.”
“I wanna see the capital. They say the wall is as tall as a mountain.” Celia speaks with childish wonder in her eyes.
“I don’t recall it being quite that high, but then again everything looks small when you are high enough.”
…
“What?”
Cedric speaks with a more neutral tone, “Nothing. We just forgot for a moment…”
Celia tries to finish. “That you were…you know?” She exclaims with her hands, gesturing to all of him.
“Do you kids think I should switch to something less eye-catching? I had no concept of what you wear so I just formed this when I arrived.”
Celia puts a finger to her lips and hums in thought, about to answer.
Cedric goes first, though. “Depends whatcha wanna do. Are you keen on undo attention, wandering eyes, and priests?”
“Very well then.”
As merely an extension of the body, his fake clothing shifts and warps, becoming a thin leather akin to buckskin, with his crown melting into him.
“What would you say of this? Am I normal?”
Celia chimes in immediately, wonder back in her eyes. “That was awesome! How did you do that?! I didn’t even see a spell cast!”
Cedric clears his throat, “That’s about what journeying merchants wear. I’d see you as someone that likes to travel, has the skills to back it, and ain’t greedy.”
Responding to Cedric, then turning to Celia. “Good, good. That sounds fair.”
“Well you see, Celia, there was no magic involved in that. I created it as an extension of my body, much like skin.”
Celia pauses, her hands that were fondling the material now pulling away “Ew! This is skin?!”
“Would it have been better if it was a dead animal’s instead? I understand though.” Aden finishes with a chuckle and messes her hair up as he moves up towards Cedric, leaving Celia to straighten her hair.
Perceiving with his additional senses, It’s just a small room similar in size to a bus stop, and a clerks desk window leading to the attached inventory building…
“Is this the post? It’s rather… small.”
“Yes. It’s just for the work end of things. The building is mostly storage, no pub for us.”
Celia cuts in and pushes ahead. “If we were in Glynden or Dellym then I could have learned fireball from a teacher and skipped the books!”
Ducking through the doorway, Aden sees what adorns the left and right wall. Small wooden plaques etched with quest details hung from nails.
“Hey kids, ya done already?”
A young looking lady in an uncharacteristic blouse stands behind the clerk window.
She looks just like the kids, blonde with blue. That clothing certainly sets her apart, there must be a disparity in wealth or something.
“You say that every time even though we come back about the same time everyday!”
Banters Celia as she pulls out some leaves from a pouch on her hip.
“Ya can’t just take a greeting and be happy with it? Hmmm, looks good.”
She places the leaves in a tray behind the counter and hands Celia a few small dull copper coins and a shinier one.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Looking through the quests on the wall, Cedric speaks to Aden. “They keep the quests sorta up to date but it’s not like most of ‘em matter since no one round here could dream of doin them.”
“They look like some fun. This quest up here is for dragon subjugation, this one is for collecting slime cores, and here are a few herb gathering quests in some mountains.”
Celia having finished her exchange, “Those aren’t things we can do though. A dragon would just eat us, slime cores have to be completely burned of their flesh and sealed, and those herbs are in the Alds mountains.”
“I gathered that these were difficult for you kids, but what I mean to say is that you have such a grand world. There is much to see in this small place. Do you not see the phenomenal world you live in? Some worlds have no magic at all and even they manage to soar the skies and plumb the depths in search of greater mysteries.”
“No magic? How do they live? That can’t be right.”
“Some don’t even have gods, you kids are lucky to have one so caring, even if the church is odd.”
Cedric, surprised. “Worlds without a god?! Where will their souls go!? How would they get their blessings!?”
“Who knows? There are many worlds with many different rules, much could happen to their souls. Now for blessings, they just do without. If they can go beyond the sky without magic, blessings, or gods, can’t you kids go sightseeing?”
“If you brats are done then ye can go already! Some of us enjoy our peace and quiet!” The clerk yells from down the hall behind the window.
-
-
Now outside meandering the street, Cedric, “It's not that we don’t want to, it's that it’s just that hard to explore these places. We really aren’t that strong.”
“I suppose I don’t know the strengths of your foes to measure you against and my perspective may be too grand, but are you kids so weak? I see a decent amount of energy within you. Perhaps you don’t know how to use it?”
Celia, tickled silly by the comment, “Of Course we don’t know how, that’s what skills are for, silly! Everyone knows that.”
Aden raises a finger up and a small candle of flame bursts from it.
“I do this as just an extension of my body”
Then jams his foot into the ground, kicks a lob of dirt in the air, then smashes it between his hands with intense heat, molding the dirt into a solid ball. Jabbing his finger into it, he expands the space within and allows some fire chi to fill it.
The kids stare intently, now the best of students.
Holding the ball in his hand for them to see, “And now for the finishing touch, these are called runes, I’ll use simpler ones.”
From each of the fingers on his free hands, small claws extend and melt grooves into the dirt ball, moving near independently in concise motions.
“Now just give it a little chi, and the runes are powered. Not this one though, it will power itself once the energy inside once the ball is broken, that's what these lines are for, they make sure the runes stay intact.”
“Whats it do?” They ask in unison
Aden returns to full height, turns to the sky, and brings his arm back like a pitcher. “Just watch the show.”
He looses the force contained in his arm, springing it forward faster than a human could see. The ball goes sky high, almost out of sight.
Celia seeming disappointed, “Does it just make you throw well”?
Cedric, “No no, he said its on once broken.”
Aden scoops another ball of dirt into his hand, melting it to form in the process. Reels back again and gives another toss. The dirt races into the sky to meet its kin.
Cedric, blocking the sun with his hand, giving a whistle, “Ya sure got an arm there, I wish I could throw like that… Can’t even see em anymore-”
KRA-KOWWWWW A ball of light sunders the clear sky, the force of the blast gently washing over everyone below, just noticeable.
The kids stand in bemusement for a moment, taking in what they just saw.
Cedric cracks first, “That was awesome!” Jumping in bemusement, excitedly grabbing his arm and pointing.
“Can I learn that! I need to learn that!” Begs celia in the same manner.
“That was so strong!” Cedric, now stammering off in turns.
“I could feel it from here!”
“Such a small thing made of dirt!”
“It was all kaaaaa-boooom!”
“Can we really do that?!”
Giving a chuckle and trying to pat the kids calm “Yes yes, it's just some runes, annnnd a little extra juice from me and some spatial manipulation on the inside but you should be able to make some weaker ones. Do they not have runes here? These are some rather simple ones just given extra power and drawn well.”
“No, none at all- Wait, maybe! I think the words in the priest's books might be? They glowed during my awakening ceremony!” Recalls Celia
Cedric, with his hand on his chin, looking down in thought, “This is such a game changing thing, why wouldn't everyone learn this?”
A slow passerby stops upon hearing this, “Is that you, children? Just come back from another adventure”?
An aged, hairless man dressed in white. His eyes blocked by a well oversized beret, drooping on all sides, and something between a parka and a haori dragging down on him. His inner clothes a series of obi sashes with a plain thin robe.
Now that I think of it, there were hardly any passersby so far, and now we have this… specimen…
The kids strike a bead of sweat, nervous. Cedric almost flinches, nearly stammering his words out as he fakes confidence. “We-well hello there Georgos, we were just making our way back home. What brings you outside?”
“You know, It's normally so quiet these days, I had nearly fallen from my ladder while dusting the high windows when a great noise occurred and I was met with a light push. Simply the most peculiar of events. You would not happen to know of what occurred, would you?”
Cedric side glances Aden discreetly, “Not a clue. There was a bright light in the sky and then a pressure. All I know” He finishes, shrugging.
Through his hat, Aden can see Georgos narrowing his eyes as he brings his hand to his chin, “Hmmmmm, is that so?.. Well, there is nothing we can do about that. So, who is this new friend of yours?”
Ah, how am I supposed to pull off a disguise when I can’t speak their language. Blasting intent into his mind ain’t exactly subtle nor does it say “normal traveler, nothing to see here”.
“Ah- he, this is-”
“I’m just a visitor from afar, exploring the world.”
This seems to have caught Georgos off guard, his face losing its tension and drooping, going a little pale.
“Just a traveler with some experience. The world is full of mysteries. You wouldn’t believe what’s out there.”
Celia remains quiet, letting her brother take care of things, “Y-yes, he’s seen so many cool things. He was just telling us about a place with people that flew without magic!”
Georgos flinches at that but stops it part way, “Hm, yes. How fascinating. Well, you three have a blessed evening. I must return to cleaning, tis not as if the temple cleans itself.”
The old man turns, his face now out of sight, Aden sees through ulterior means his face go sour.
With Georgos walking away, Celia finally speaks back up “Take care, Minister Merdegraf. Do be careful on that ladder.”
Turning back with a smile while continuing to walk, “Yes yes, you take care too, children..”
Returning forward, Aden sees his face return to a serious scowl.
“What's got you so down, Minister? Did something I say give you that frown?”
Goergos halts immediately, like a child caught in the act. The kids look sharply to Aden.
And to think I was going to try being chill this time. I really need to think ahead more.
Turning back around, a fake smile plastered on his face.
“W-why whatever do you mean sir traveler? Tis noth-”
“Don’t play with me, I can see you from every direction. Your eyes too.”
As the priest’s face relaxes back into a scowl, Aden crosses the gap between them faster than the man could blink. Shifting his clothing back to shimmering scales and growing his shimmering horned crown, freeing his wings along with his 3rd and 4th arms.
With the man clearly interrupted by this sudden approach, Aden stares into his eyes while lighting his eyes with a blazing radiance of lightning, fire, and life chi, spilling out in a spectral wave, dissipating softly into the air.
“So quick to drop pretenses and turn hostile, but you are too predictable. I would knock you out, but it's hard not to kill an ant. So, what issue did you take with me?”