Outside of Adelie’s room, Marn sits on the cold floor in deep concentration in order to focus on her Awakened Path. Each class has a general path that grants them base abilities, after that comes the Ordained Path and finally the Transcendent Path. In her mind, she stands on a blade as wide as the streets of Unam,stretching out into an obscure fog. Her atherspace is simple aside from the ornate blade she treads upon; the sky is a steel gray with white daggers hanging like stars and a blade buried to its red hilt directly in front of her. She approaches the blade and the fog rolls in which each step she takes until even the hilt loses color.
“Still can’t reach it,” Marn says as she backs away from the sword. The fog lifts, allowing her to gaze once more on the weapon. “Figures, I’ve only advanced to Crescent Void not too long ago...I’m still on the 1st form.” She blinks and she’s back on the floor like she never left, but the feeling in her gut bore proof of her time in her atherspace. It was the same feeling she always had ever since Zorya ordained her into the 13 Blades Style. Marn balls her hand into a fist, “Don’t be stupid, that was a long time ago,” she thinks to herself before standing up and knocking once on Adelie’s door. “I’m going for a walk around the place, don’t get out until I get back.”
During the time between discovering this place and finding Adelie, Marn was informed about many things. For one, this place is called The Splinter and is a part of the Night End’s guildhouse. Somehow, the engravers of Night’s End were able to transform the guildhouse into separately functioning spaces. Marn hadn’t contributed much to the conversation surrounding that, only to remark at the tactical advantage that would present. She just stood there as Izia and Zav delved into the inner workings of The Splinter; what kind of ather was being used, the rate of consumption, how it seems to be able to convert raw ather into power. The second bit of information she received pertained more to her interests. From the fifth to tenth floor were training areas. The fifth and sixth floors were large empty rooms that seemed suited for Evokers to practice their incantins. The seventh and eighth had training dummies that could be outfitted with a multitude of weapons, and the final two floors each had a room that could hold only one person at most. Marn spent a few days adjusting to her daggers in the training room on the eighth floor, which was where she is currently headed, and made a discovery of her own.
She steps into the training room, past the stone dummy she had outfitted to resemble Hodin and towards a steel chest to the right of the room. It opens up and a weapon shoots forth; a gray blade with a gnarled, black root for a hilt. It lands on the stone floor with a clatter at Marn’s feet and she picks it up without hesitation. During her first venture into the room, Zav had stopped by to ask if she had gone to the third floor and noticed the chest. When he approached it nothing happened, but when Marn moved closer it opened and produced a dagger with a blade no bigger than a tooth and handle made of blades of grass. The next day when she arrived alone, it produced a curved blade the size of her arm but a handle no bigger than her thumb. The day after was a handle with blades protruding from every angle and then a butcher's knife the length of her body.
“Another weird sword,” Marn thinks to herself as she picks up the blade. The hilt is cold to the touch, but has enough weight to it to hold the blade in place. She tests the blade, cutting the air in front of her in precise strokes. Unlike all the others, this one did not split in half under her power, in fact it seemed to adjust to her movements on the fly as if it were the one guiding her. “It’s getting lighter with each swing.” Marn enters her fighting stance and grips the hilt with both hands before raising it overhead and slashing downwards. Without missing a beat, she spins her body forward and performs an upward slash into a quick thrust. Normally there was a delay between the two moves, nothing that would be concerning if she were fighting a regular swordsmen; she could kill ten of them with just a dagger, but in a battle with another Gladius it would be a different story.
“What’s up with the weird sword,” Adelie says from the doorway. He has on a pair of pants similar to the unit they encountered in the forest, only without the accompanying top or footwear. “Is that...wood?”
“I thought I said to stay in bed.”
“You did, but then I remembered I’m the guildmaster and don’t need permission to leave a room,” Adelie replies. Marn simply grunts and continues her bladework. “Besides,” Adelie says as he works his way towards her, “how can I sleep when you’re pounding me with waves of anxiety. What’s got you so worked up?”
Marn snaps around towards Adelie, her blade stopping inches from his neck. “Anxiety? Did you do that thing again?”
“Spiritdiving? No I didn’t need to.” Adelie places the tip of his finger against the blade and lowers it. “Ever since that fight with Lavius, my spiritcrafting feels sharper. I can tell you’re anxious because you’re making my stomach do flips and my pulse is quickening!”
The controlling of one’s body is paramount to a Gladius, so much so that a large portion of their foundational training is rooted in near total mastery of bodily operations. Marn can suppress all of her physiological responses in order to continue fighting. Her further training as a practitioner of the 13 Blades Style only deepened that conditioning; she could discard any response that would prove detrimental to combat.
“Well? You're gonna tell me or do I have to drag it out of you?”
Marn takes a sudden step back and enters her stance. “On a scale of 1-10, how much of your strength have you recovered?”
Adelie pauses for a moment, and then a grin creeps across his face. “For this? It doesn’t matter. I could be negative and still beat you.” He unwraps the bandages from his body and reveals his fully healed skin.
Marn doesn’t respond, at least not with words. She lets her ather pour from her body and into the blade. As her power creeps in, the hilt of the sword changes. The twisted root unfurls and straightens before swallowing the rest of the blade in its roots.
Adelie drops out of Irin stance. “The hell is that? A club?”
The roots continue to multiply until Marn drops the weapon to the ground. It plants itself firmly in the stone floor and takes root. In a matter of moments, the once odd-looking blade was now an odd stump with a singular, closed red flower on top. Marn takes in the strange sight, paying special attention to the budding flower. “I knew something was off when I could pull anything from it, but to think it would take my ather...its like it..” Marn ducks as Adelie’s fist hits the air above.
“Don’t think you’re gonna get away with not talking just because your sword became a tree!” Adelie aims a strike down towards Marn and she rolls out of the way.
“I forgot how persistent you can be,” Marn says as she pulls a dagger from her boot. She quickly gets to her feet and levels the dagger in front of her.”
“You know that’s not gonna cut it,” Adelie says as he scans the room. “Go get an actual sword. There’s a whole stack of them in that corner of there.”
“So you want to do this for real then?” Marn didn’t get a verbal response, but she didn’t need to. The look in his eye, it was the same look he had when they had met during the Naka Hunt. “Yeah, ok give me a minute then.” She walks over to the pile of weapons to the left of her and reaches for a sword. Compared to what she previously held in her hands, this was nothing special but it would do. Her power flows into it and the knowledge and experiences of the previous owners flow into her. None of its previous wielders were of any note, they hadn’t embedded any bladecraft but that was ok; it made it easier for Marn to make the weapon her own. Marn turns to Adelie, blade in hand and falls into her battle stance.
“Ok,” Adelie says between breaths, “that Crescent Void thing is scary. It’s like the air around your blade travels where you want it to go.”
“Thanks, but it looks like you’ve gotten even better at augmenting,” a sweat drenched Marn replies. “There’s barely a scratch on you.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“I wouldn’t call this a scratch,” Adelie says as he points to the rips in his pants, “it took me forever to find something that didn’t have their logo on it, now I’ll have to look again.”
“I’m surprised that doesn’t happen more often with you. Your pants and robe were always so big and loose. Lyzian never took you to get it sized properly?”
“What about you? Do you take time to cut up the cloth before you put it on, or do you hang up during the Highfalls and let nature handle it for you?” The two stare at each other in stone cold silence until Adelie breaks into laughter. Marn tries to maintain her composure but can’t help but to let a tiny smile creep across her face. “You gotta stop doing that, I can’t have you dressed like a Scarlet Reaver.”
“A what?” Marn says, still smiling, “what’s a Scarlet Reaver?”
“You know, that small guild that was at the Naka Hunt. They came to my Reverie, well tried to. I didn’t let them in. Anyways, they wore all red and had tattered cloaks and armor.” Adelie sits on the ground for a moment, before sighing and laying flat on his back. “That feels like such a long time ago now.”
“The Reverie or the Hunt?” Marn plants the blade into the stone and sits in front of it, her back pressed against the dull side.
“Both I guess.”
Another bout of silence fills the room but this time it’s broken by Marn. “Do you think we’ve gotten better since then?”
Adelie sits up. “Better? Oh so this is what’s eating you. Yeah, I’d say we’re much stronger now.”
Marn knew this of course, there’s no way that both her skills and Adelie’s hadn’t improved over the years. She could barely manage to use Hollow Edge once, now she could perform successive Crescent Voids without severely depleting her ather. “Hodin is also a user of the 13 Blades Style, but he’s further along than me, he’s a 2nd blade.”
“And you don’t think you’re strong enough to beat him?”
“There’s a gap between each of the 13 blades in terms of the power they possess,” Marn says. “Each level reforms the body and allows the user to draw in and expel more ather.”
“Well, how much stronger is a 2nd blade compared to a 1st?”
“It depends on the overall skill and ather capacity of the user, but the power doubles as you go up a blade.”
“WHAT?” Adelie clears his throat after his outburst, “then that means he’s twice as strong as you?”
“At minimum,” Marn replies in a neutral tone. “I didn’t realize it at first when I first fought him, but during the second time I could tell he was toying with me. If we were to fight to the death, he’d win.”
“If it’s a fight to the death, then the only one losing is Hodin.” Marn gives Adelie a surprised look but he continues. “You said he’s twice as strong as you, but you’re twice as strong as you think! I don’t know why, but there’s something blocking you from realizing that.”
“Is this you trying to lift me up or?”
“No, I’m being serious. I told you, my spiritcrafting has been sharpening my senses. I don’t know what it all means exactly, but something in my gut tells me that you have more power in you. Maybe because you’re a Gladius I can’t tell you exactly what, but there’s something definitely blocking you.”
Marn thinks for a moment about the fog she encountered in her atherspace. “Well, what about you? Is there something you need to figure out for you to beat Lavius?” Marn sees something flash across Adelie’s face before he opens his mouth, but before he can speak they’re interrupted.
“There you two are. I went to the room and couldn’t find anyone.” Izia crosses the threshold of the doorway and strides into the room. “Zav contacted me a few minutes ago, he and his friend are returning but aren’t going to teleport in so it should take another hour or so...why are you two covered in sweat and cuts?”
Adelie turns around, “Oh, Izia! We were just discussing some Devil’s Wish stuff, what’s up?”
Izia looks down at Adelie before quickly shift her gaze towards Marn and then at the ceiling. “Do your discussions often require you to end up shirtless and covered in sweat?” She says to Adelie. “Wait a minute, why are you out of bed?”
“He heals fast.”
“I heal fast.”
Izia blinks, trying to either comprehend the simultaneous statement she just heard or the fact that Adelie and Marn were both clearly engaged in combat. “Even if you did recover, that doesn’t mean you should be training the second you’re able to.”
“It’s fine,” Adelie says, “like I said it was just a discussion. Speaking of which…” He points to a spot on the floor in between himself and Marn. Izia waits for a moment but soon complies and sits, completing the human triangle. “Since all of this started, we haven’t really had a chance to catch our breaths and lay things out. I think it would be good for us if we’re all operating from the same information.”
“I agree, which is why when Zav-”
“No, not about that. Zav…” Adelie grimaces before continuing, “ Zav is going to fill us in on what’s happening now, but he won’t have all the information either. He doesn’t know what we know.”
“What we know?”
“About the Nyl,” Adelie says, “how they can talk and live inside of people, like Lavius or you. Anyways I-”
“She has Nyl inside of her?” Marn, still seated, grabs the hilt of her blade but a look from Adelie causes her to stay her hand.
“Yeah, she’s definitely got one. I saw it when we were in the room but it seems to be gone now..probably sleeping.” Adelie focuses back onto Izia, “I don’t know why but you haven’t tried to hurt me or Marn the entire time but that has to mean you have some kind of control right? A level of understanding we don’t have? If we know more, then maybe that’ll help me beat Lavius.”
Izia stays quiet, rooted to the floor like the black stump across from her.
“I know it’s a lot to ask and you probably have a lot of questions yourself about me and my whole deal, so I’ll go first.”
“You’re really going to tell her that?”
Adelie looks at Marn, “It’s only fair, I mean I basically just told her secret so I might as well get mine out too.” Marn lets go of the blade and slides back to her original position. “I’m not supposed to tell people this, but I’m an Auger. It’s a rare class of Awakened that apparently hasn’t existed in hundreds of years. I can use ather to augment the physical capabilities of myself and others and probably more but I haven’t really figured that out yet; I’m still only General Path.”
“An...Auger?” Izia goes silent again for a moment. “ Manipulating ather to enhance yourself isn’t uncommon, Gladius do that everytime they wield a bladed weapon.”
“Oh, yeah… I don’t need a weapon, bladed or not,” Adelie says smiling, “because I’m the weapon.”
Izia springs to life. “So you’re able to channel ather into your own body without needing a grimoire or a blade? You must have an incredible physical constitution to be able to withstand repeated exposure to raw ather. Oh, is that why you’re able to see Nyl?” At that, the light in Izia dims a bit and she goes quiet once more.
“No, well I don’t think so at least. I can also do a thing called spiritcrafting and I know even less about that.”
“Spiritcrafting? I’ve never heard of that kind of craft before, is it local to your village?”
Adelie tells Izia about the first time he used spiritcrafting, the Ith, spiritdiving and his run in with Mogun. At first Izia was horrified to realize just how much Adelie knew of what happened at Zet, but as he went on her feelings shifted towards a familiar one. “Why are you being so nice to me? You’ve seen what I’ve done, what I’m capable of. You and Marn would be well within your rights to run that blade through me.” Though Izia didn’t cry, the agony in her voice made her words all too real. “If not death, then the least you should do is leave me to my own devices.”
“You done?”
Izia, noticing she was looking at the ground, lifts her gaze towards Adelie. He stares at her expectantly before repeating himself. “Done?”
“Ya,” Adelie says, “with your speech. Honestly, it wasn’t bad and if I was a different kind of man, I’d probably take you up on that. Everything has been touched by Kishr from the start of this all the way until now. There’s a Forge somewhere on these islands, Night’s End is back and being led by a dead guy, and now the Nyl are possibly back. That sounds about right?” Adelie says to Marn.
“Just about,” Marn says, “don’t forget Zav and his friend...they’re probably going to add onto this.”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure it’ll be more awful news too.” Adelie turns back to Izia and continues. “I’ve put myself through hell these last 5 years in order to start my guild. I’d be an idiot to walk away just because the situation has changed. I made a promise to you, don’t you remember?”
“Beat Lavius and then…”
“You join my guild. You do remember.” Adelie puts on a half smile before shifting to a colder expression. “I swore on my friend’s grave that I’d avenge him. If I”m going to do that, then I need to know how Nyl possession works. Lavius had three Nyl inside of him, is that normal?”
“Three of them? One is already a rare feat due to compatibility. If the host’s ather and the Nyl’s presence are even a tiny bit out of sync, it could lead to the destruction of the host body or the eradication of one of the personas. To have three would be impossible for a….no…”
“Speak,” Marn says, “and be clear with your words, Evoker.”
“You said a dead man was leading Night’s End...you’re positive that you saw Lavius die?”
“Yeah,” says Adelie, “I was there when it happened.”
“Tell me exactly what happened, and don’t leave a single detail out, it’s important.”
“Um, ok I’ll tell you what I know,” Adelie says before hunching over so that his forearms lay flat against the floor. “It was 3 years ago at the Naka Hunt.”