Radiant fires grace my surface, tales of destiny whispered in fervent heat,
Stardust trails paint stories, memories woven, bittersweet and incomplete.
-Thoubose
THEO
We were nearing the end of the second month after having to leave our home, for the countless time. We rode in relative silence, as usual until the light of the day began to dim, using this time as always as a time to think. Grandfather was not much of a talker on the usual day, not to mention after being on the road with pretty much just me for so long, there wasn’t a whole lot left to chat about.
“This seems like a good place to setup camp. We’ve got a few more kilometers to ride till we make it to town. Plenty of time for us to review the new backstory again. Memory exercises are always needed when you start messing around with this new life story stuff, I like to think.” Grandfather remarked as he reined in his horse, dismounted, and let out an audible sigh of relief. “It’s always a relief to stretch after a day of riding.” Even with the quiet days, his mood seemed considerably brighter the last two weeks or more.
Having never experienced his riding aches and pains, I nodded in agreement before dismounting my own horse and launching into my customary tasks. While he busied himself preparing a quick trail meal of nuts and dried meats by a hastily crafted fire, I set off to find water for our canteens, both for him and our horses. The prospect of eventually having a roof over our heads and leaving behind these makeshift arrangements was a comforting thought. Grandfather had us maintaining a leisurely pace, ensuring ample time for our network to reestablish its connections. On the bright side, this time has afforded me and my grandfather the chance to mend our relationship, and the remote location has granted me more flexibility than usual in practicing and honing my control, when its safe enough of course.
Breezy quickly located a stream, not far from the adjacent, sparsely traveled mountain trail we were journeying along. It was a quick find once I headed off in the correct direction. It was a relief to save time avoiding the need to navigate through unfamiliar forests. It would be even more of a relief to be back in Sierra, where we were, but that’s no longer an option.
…
TWO MONTHS BEFORE
“I’m tired of all these restrictions. When am I finally going to get to be this savior, I know you dream of?” My voice dripped with frustration as I stormed ahead through the dim, damp corridor.
Grandfather followed hastily, snatching his pickaxe on the way as we reached the mine shaft’s entrance. It was a well-practiced ritual after a grueling day of work in the mines. Grueling being an inner joke amongst us. Our mining profession was a facade, thanks to the convenience of using Grandfather's gem in this secluded location. Pretending to mine was our cover; it offered me time for learning, Grandfather delving into important history, and other various studies. To be honest, some days I would rather be mindlessly mining all day.
“Why does everything have to be a rush with you Theo!” he said as I bound off, running to my place, the place I went when I wanted to be alone. “Fine!” Grandfather said in a defensive tone, before softening. “Please, just think about it Theo. We can work on finding someone to help you, we can work on moving on, I promise. Just not now, the time isn’t right!”
“It’s never now and it will never be anytime!” I said before running faster than I knew he was willing to try.
“I’m sorry Theodore” he paused long before continuing. “I guess I will see you at home. If you need space, please just be safe.” He said with worry thick on his tone, before turning back into the mine, avoiding conflict as he typically tried.
As I realized he wouldn’t follow, my pace slowed. It took me longer than usual to reach my lookout point. Dark rainclouds swept in, soaking the area as I navigated my route. The path, already treacherous, became even more perilous with the slickness and risk of mudslides.
My favorite spot sat atop the highest peak in the valley, offering a sweeping view of Sierra—the town enveloped by a dense forest on nearly all sides. It was named the Black Forest because the denseness of the forestry made being within its canopy almost like being immersed in a barely lit night. A single road snaked away, disappearing into the distance, while cleared sections amidst the tree line harbored tall grasses. These patches were cleared and repurposed as farming plots or grazing fields, owned by shepherds and diligent townsfolk seeking extra income, obtained through extra land rights. In this modest town, mining, farming, hunting, and wool surprisingly, comprised the primary industries worth exporting.
We had a few plots I cleared for grandfather, mainly to pass the time. I took the greatest pride in gazing upon our vast stretch of land from this vantage point. It was the largest, and I had managed the feat without any help from my grandfather, though I may have taken a shortcut or two with the tree stumps. There was just too many and their roots were deep. Regardless of any of those discrepancies, a smile of accomplishment spread across my face as I looked down at the plots.
Rain began to cascade harder down my back, as one of the summer storm clouds began moving directly over the summit. Every hair on my body standing on end as I sat down to take in the breathtaking sight. I always enjoyed paying homage to the beautiful scenery Thoubose sculpted after finishing the trek. Watching the storms slowly cascade through the sky at such a vantage was a special treat, especially with the way the light off Krom made the sky a violate shade.
The time it took to get to the top and the ripe clean air clearing my head, always calmed me and kept me from holding a grudge with Grandfather or anyone. It pains me to say that the more time I have to think, the more I can’t fault him for looking out for my best interest and the interests of our friends. The restrictions are just too much at times, when I want to grow the way I think I need to. Slow and steady is not winning any race when people die in the war every day.
I felt breezy tingle as it recognized my change in demeanor. It had stayed close by, but now eased up a bit. Rushing in, to circle around me before rushing out to do its own venturing.
“Your right buddy, no sense in being angry.” I paused to take a look at the hill again before giving in a bit, to temptation. “I have been slowly at this up here for like three years now without any mishaps, I should start to try some harder things and prove I am gaining control!”
Breezy rushed back in with a rapid pulse of reverberating wind, giving me the sign in this case that I was misinterpreting his communication.
“Don’t worry bud.” I said with a wicked smile. My eyes shifting to their vibrant, essence filled neon blue. “What’s just one little try, and we even have the cover of the rain now. Just one, I promise!” I said as I hastily went to work before second guessing myself. I reached deep inside myself to pull out as small of an amount of essence from the ocean inside myself that I could muster to form lightning to travel directly in front of me from the sky above.
I released the essence inside my body to channel the lightning in a quick burst. But it wasn’t just my pure essence that erupted as my control waivered at a miscalculation. From what I could tell in the moment, the enhanced natural essence from the storm merged with the essence I pulled from within me, Breezy, and the raw lightning. The lightning being the binder and funnel. The forces all impacted my body simultaneously. At the core of my chest, a rapid electrically charged cyclone formed from the torrent of pure air and electrical force that channeled directly into my body. Instantly it pushed out through my chest, ripping my shirt clean off and grabbing way more than a small piece of my essence from the ocean within me on its way out. The electrically charged tornado ripped violently down the summit a size four or five times it’s normal if tornados were even normal out here in the dense forest. With a few massive hops, devastation pocked the ground; leaving nothing but felled, instantly burned-out trees and debris in the wake. Where it took me weeks to clear sections of forest, this perfectly did the job in seconds. I could sense Breezy, working furiously to disengage from the core of the discharge as the ball in the middle of the torrent of electrical essence pushed farther from my vantage point.
When it finally dissipated, Breezy finally able to overcome the magnetic bond as it weakened over dispersion, from my vantage I could only feel horror stricken. There were massive craters in the ground starting from the peak of the summit, making its way to some of the open fields in the forest, only decimating ours and two surrounding neighbors, to which I could feel my heart lighten slightly at that revelation. My heart rate quickly increasing again as I weighed the next few moments in my head and traced a perfect path of destruction to this single point, my point, one I was known to linger at from time to time.
…
PRESENT DAY
“Did you get the water Theo?” Grandfather asked, snapping me back to reality.
I brought over a canteen for him then gave water to the horses. “How long do you think we are going to be safe from war in Riverside?” I asked Grandfather as I sat down next to him.
“Well, we are a few hundred kilometers from the Norrænn frontier at this point. They have been stagnant over the dry season to push forward, further inland. At least from the news we could got from the last few towns. They pushed farther into the Leandro kingdom and cut it off from the free nations which is unfortunate. I wish we could have the chance to visit their kingdom. I think we could use their help most of all to unlock your power, as Ventum was said to have formed from the essence type their gem’s use. If we could have had a safe trip up there, we wouldn’t have had to be in Sierra in the first place, and we wouldn’t have had to revive that poor shepherd boy.” He looked at me with a blank stare not answering my question entirely.
“I still don’t know why we had to go on the run in the first place. No one saw me, and the shepherd ended up comatose, from the word we got back. He couldn’t recall anything when he came to, let alone talk of a freak tornado.”
“One could never be too careful. Those that hunt for you will never rest. And a lot of unnecessary trees torn up was already raising an alarm after just a few hours. Sure, we could have maybe gotten away with it, but why risk it? Anomalies in the news is what our enemy spies dream of finding” Grandfather voiced sincerely. “The only chance is distance and trying to have our remanence disappear if things get linked somehow. Those that hunt you are powerful, or their artifacts are in any case. They already killed you once, in a way.”
My grandfather learned through experience early on while he was raising me in hiding, so I decided to switch the subject back to the war. “Hopefully the front remains a stalemate and the other kingdoms can muster up relief.”
“I will say we have years till the war found this little village we are headed towards if they keep advancing at the current rate they have been, but you can never get complacent or foresee these things. We will have to have our next route plotted once we get settled.”
The Norrænn force did not expect to face the resistance they did when they started their invasion, shortly after my birth. Meant to be a quick retribution to the acolytes, it’s turned into a seventeen-year war and climbing. Even with the resistance from other nations, slowly Erik the Cruel is choking out the lands he marches on, gaining kilometers to their war campaign over the blood-soaked trail as the years progress. He didn’t expect open revolt from every town he conquered either, making him spread his forces much thinner than initially anticipated. He can conquer lands but doesn’t have the forces to keep the peasants from uprising if he presses on too rapidly. Fortunately, their internal struggles in that regard have led to their own challenges. The whole thing could have been quelled by now, but the Mountain Kingdom and the ever-quiet Jade Empire remain closed off, waiting or neutral whichever is not fully known. Perhaps they don’t make decisions without divine intervention. Erik has been smart enough to leave them out of his affairs as he has made his advances.
“Quiz time let’s hear it.” Grandfather pressed.
“We are making our way southwest from Tuttle.” I began. “It is a free nation citadel ten days ride east of here, not much larger than a hamlet at this point in terms of population, as it is only a few days from the frontier. Our business there started to dry up because the road running north towards the frontier became less traveled. Because of this, less people needed our services. Our friends in town were in the same position and we all started to collectively fall on hard times. Less wares to sell and buy from nonexistent traders and we all began to worry we might not make it through the dry season if we didn’t head west for better opportunity. Towns along the way have been facing similar situations, we have found, or they have no need for more blacksmiths. So, we just kept heading further from the front, not wanting to be front based smiths.”
“It’s a two-week ride from here in a normal pace.” Grandfather corrected before nodding for me to continue.
“The towns between here and there have had no need for a seasoned blacksmith and his apprentice, so we have been forced to continue our journey till we could find work.” I finished.
“Ok good, now give me more of our story.” He pressed.
“I have been working with you in the forge ever since I could walk. You are my grandfather, easy enough to remember, and I am from the capital city Trine, in the Mountain Empire. Even though we are of Valerian blood, which is an especially sore subject in the mountain empire. Either way, we could provide a sought-after artesian skill and knowledge of it. Our line has been blessed with essence attunement which is why you are more skilled in the ability to move and shape metal and fortunately generations of our family have also been attuned and skilled in the craft, until I was born, which caused my father to leave when I was young and didn’t show any signs of imbuement.” Grandfather hoped having some sore subjects in our story would give us an out when we didn’t want to elaborate. People would be less likely to push if we said we didn’t want to talk about sensitive subjects. Those were absolutely sensitive subjects here on Thoubose amongst every race.
Grandfather pulled out two tools that helped back the story. A set of runic filled hammer and tongs, our ‘family’s heirlooms’, the skill of the runes being passed down from ‘generation to generation’.
“Good, now I just need to quickly charge these up and we should fit the part pretty easily.” Grandfather channeled his gem’s essence through the runes imbedded in the items; they went from their silver coated imbuement color, to dimly lit, until they were brightly glowing with green light. Being earthen based runes allowed for him to use his gem for the quick recharge, otherwise if they were fire based runes or another, he would have had to do it without the aid of a gem, a lengthier process especially when he didn’t practice those classes of internal essence as much. “Probably the last time I should use Käl till we know if anyone can sense gem usage in the town.”
“Keep an eye out little buddy.” He whispered to his gem companion.
Grandfather will have to recharge runes the hard way, or kilometers from town till we were certain of the surroundings. An advanced essence attuned person would take a few hours, maybe a day, to charge the whole lot without a gem’s aid, depending on their skill.
The control it would take for me to not shatter those runes isn’t something I have mastered. I also can’t seem to use any essence class outside of air, so I can’t draw from inside myself to manifest different types of essence, regardless of how much practice we have given it and runes I have shattered. Because of this, I have yet to show my attunement is part of the backstory. People were more likely to divulge their secrets when Grandfather showed distain towards my capabilities in ‘secret’. It has been a narrative that often allows us to learn of other essence attuned people within an area, depending how forthcoming people are, to see how careful we needed to be.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
We need to be careful if an essence attuned person is within two hundred meters or so when grandfather’s power is being drawn, they should understand the sense of grandfather drawing power from something external. Another Gemini could sense external power being manifested kilometers away potentially, which is terrifying until we are certain. Luckily, there aren’t many gems in total in the world so chance favors more often than not.
Those that exist, most have a bloody, brutal past around war, conflict, and even betrayal. Some eventually were seized by kings for their ideal of being kept safeguarded, others at the hands of powerful lords, others out of reach in the grasps of tribal nations or other smaller secular kingdoms or factions in places that are too hard to even attempt to delve. Each one has the power to spawn nations to superiority. The power my grandfather possesses with his gem as one of the original five scions’ gifted vassal gems is world shattering. Knowledge of that kind of power was not the kind of attention we needed as they were enhanced by acolytes themselves upon their delivery.
In the era of darkness, each of the five kingdoms were endowed with three vassal gems along with their major gifted gem. All of the gifts proved indispensable when the world teetered on the precipice of corruption. These gems became the linchpin in the battle against the encroaching shadows, cleansing the land of malevolence that came as a result of the birth of all the races and the leftover essence anomalies. Anomalies of massive raw essence storms that took over considerable areas until their power waned and they faded.
The major kingdoms, maintaining their hold on these gifts after all was said and done, secured their stronghold on Thoubose. They saw it as the enduring symbols of hope and power that the gems were given to their nations, and that they were backed by Acolytes. Where anyone not blessed by the acolytes were left to toil, their lands less worthy and forsaken in their minds.
The King of the Valarian nation, Vlad the Valiant, like most of the original scions; armed his supreme officers and most trusted nobles with the gifts Ignis gave his forefathers to sculpt the land. The king’s gems were loaned out from the ancient family treasury as they couldn’t just sit dormmate and expect to help in any way. The kingdom gems bearers could be very ephemeral, either occupied for a brief respite or forfeited when the next in line to serve Vlad's honor guard emerged. The strongest held the power in Valarian tradition. In the passing of the torch, the previous wielder faced a critical choice: to willingly surrender the soul-bound artifact or, in refusing, to sacrifice their life in severing the bond. In either scenario, the passing of command was a solemn and, at times, fatal ritual. The severing bond was said to be just as bad as death for the Gemini, which made sense for their often-bloody conclusions.
The gems’ sentience causes a binding that only works with one person at a given time and it is a painful backlash for someone who relinquishes that bond. The inherent sentience within the gems is the catalyst for a myriad of enhancements bestowed upon their users. From heightened reflexes to sharpened instincts, a comprehensive runic library housing a repository of known spells, and an array of other invaluable traits. The potency of the individual gem determines the extent of the passive enhancements, discreetly empowering the owner without drawing undue attention whenever wielded. However, a crucial caveat emerges. The longer the connection resides in a Gemini’s mind, the more intricate its integration is with its host, and consequently it causes a much more severe backlash upon desynchronization. Gemini’s nervous systems are often unable to handle the sudden shift.
There were many bloody histories to some of those relinquishment encounters. People knowing their time was limited. Power that great can drive even the most loyal men mad. Grandfather has told me a few stories of him having to take a squad of the heaviest armed Gemini of the Valerian kingdom to seize a gem back from a non-cooperative ex-Nobel.
Grandfathers gem itself had an interesting history, being a like trade with the Mountain Empire. It was supposedly a way to better diversify the two kingdoms as the acolytes only gave each of their favored kingdoms their representative gem. Which was great, until the empires all met each other and understood what they were lacking, others had in abundance.
“There will be a lot of feeding the forge in your future.” he smirked at me with contentment as I stumbled out of my thoughts.
I grumbled audibly. Couldn’t he have picked a better profession to switch to when he started his life over, on the run. A shepherd, shopkeeper, anything would be better than hot forges, soot filled sweat, coal smoke and ash. Terrible ventilation was the most important of the list of negatives. I don’t like bad air quality with no breeze, I can feel the wheezing starting already. Smelling that place at a level that far exceeds even the best animals on Thoubose, all day.. This is going to be a long, new life. “Why can’t we just keep to towns where we mine in a secluded place?”
“We are stuck with our planned contingency. Plus, no one looks too closely at dirty blacksmiths. As for back there.” He gestured towards the way we came, with a long sarcastic stare. “Think of this as some penance. Learn to master your essence at the smallest level possible Theo. A few months of manual labor should help your control get on track, if not just your concentration.” Grandfather lightly scolded.
I knew this conversation would come back around sooner or later. I rolled my eyes, which was not the response Grandfather was looking for.
“You're not yet in command of your basic abilities. Attempting to manipulate a torrent when you haven’t grasped the fundamentals is akin to attempting a symphony without knowing the notes,” his words carried the weight of repetition, a similar speech I’ve encountered at least six times during our journey, each iteration with a slightly different cadence but always resonating with the same undertone. “While it’s imperative that we assist you in mastering your powers, we must exercise caution and wait for the opportune moments. I understand your eagerness to learn and enhance your control, but these circumstances are unique. The individuals pursuing you won't cease their pursuit; they can effortlessly drain and incapacitate you, a sight I’ve unfortunately witnessed. Until you attain a level of control that allows you to dissipate into the air, we must keep a low profile, leaving no trail for anyone to follow. Patience is key, and your readiness to face these adversaries hinges on achieving the kind of control that enables you to vanish at will. You still struggle with simple gusts, as we know.”
“I didn’t think pulling down a little air essence during a storm would cause a tornado. I was practicing my control well out of the way of notice like I’m supposed to, but the thing kept going down the valley.” I said in a pleading tone, internally grimacing again at the thought of those in the path that were unfortunate enough to be in the foothills while I had the malfunction. Us finding out about all the devastation the next day during the town commotion that started investigating the downed trees as a mob.
“It isn’t like we can get advice for this Theo; this is new. I wish I could teach an immortal how to fully understand their potential, but it keeps proving to be dangerous and I don’t know enough of your affinity. We could end this war if you could be like the stories, but we must get there somehow Theo, if it is even possible in my lifetime.” His face briefly shown with the glint of hope he always tried to hide from me. “If history is correct, the Acolytes had millennia to grow and learn. They couldn’t create humanity till way after their adolescences, and all together at that – with each of their essences needed in just the perfect way. For now, just try to fit in.” He got up from his position and walked off towards his makeshift bunk, those last words slightly jabbing at my heart.
I knew this meant he had nothing left to say. Mastering control seemed a lot easier to someone who relied on a pebble for their power, not a foundational core of the world. I hastily finished cleaning the area as he headed to sleep. The nights could often be long and lonely for me. Fatigue is not something I understand. I can’t remember ever feeling drained or exhausted personally, nothing that doesn’t pass in a few minutes at the very least. Maybe it’s just an insane recovery rate?
I walked off into the forest, as to get as far away as I could, to train in peace. Beginning with a light sprint, I headed directly south. There is something peaceful about being totally alone at night with nothing but the light of stars, especially after all of that. As I went, I made sure to keep a good eye on the various landmarks to make sure I could make my way back to Grandfather before dawn, not that Breezy wouldn’t help me if I asked.
Tonight, was one of the exceedingly rare nights, one of less than a dozen happening throughout the year. The light of our star shown bright at the top of the sky, a full sunny night. Even with our distance from its celestial radiance, in the center of the solar system, it was still enough to caste a relatively light shade on the night sky. It was one of the great wonders we had on Thoubose. The light would only last until Krom blocked its path as it naturally orbited the star, a few hours of lightened night at the max, but it was a spectacle to behold.
Getting far enough away from Grandfather was essential, regardless of the level of darkness. This had become my routine throughout our journey, ensuring he wouldn't sense my access to air essence. It wasn’t a crime to him per say, but I didn’t like grandfather grumbling or joining my practice when it would slow down the next day substantially. All I needed was ample distance to perform a quick air ping, sensing the creatures nearby. This signal usually informed me whether it was safe to practice without fearing that I might awaken him, or if other people were within the area I needed to avoid. The first of the two usually resulting in a heavy rebuke, the other being something I hadn’t experienced. I didn't seek distance because I feared his disapproval; rather, I aimed to sidestep any potential displeasure caused by expending more essence than he deemed necessary for practice—an occurrence that happened pretty much every time I delved into the use of essence around him.
There was one aspect I refrained from attempting regardless of any external confinement,—flying. I had made promises to myself and Grandfather after losing control on multiple occasions, soaring off course and nearly being spotted as I inadvertently veered above tree lines or other obstacles. A grimace crept over my face as I shook off memories of those instances: careening uncontrollably through trees, buildings, canyons, and the like. Taking off was a breeze, but landing? That was an entirely different story. And my attempts to slow down or alter direction often resulted in an unfixable blast in whatever direction I concentrated on to counteract my movements to begin with.
I paused, hoping I was far enough at this point and opened my essence flow. I could tell the glow from my eyes lit up the entire clearing, the lightened night sky not making much of a difference in cover, which is why I tried to be as quick as possible. I pinged in all direction for pulses of heartbeats, similar to I guess how bats hunt. Trusty Breezy was never out of pinging distance from me and typically assisted in the search.
I barely had a chance to totally register the feedback loops before I heard a twig snap.
“Yous must be lost to be off galivantin alone in the forest in this ye hour boy.” an unnaturally amplified deep, gruffy voice called from the shadows as my blood turned into ice.
I froze up as I thought of how I could explain this type of misfortune to grandfather, if bad enough it could warrant another month or more on the road which is not something I wanted one bit.
“Don’t be turnin around now, don’t try nothin’ funny” an out of place giggle came from the shadow which turned into a large guttural laugh in the odd mechanical voice before the effect was cut off. “Yous just about pooped yourself there master Theo!”
“GERALD! What the Krom bud! You know you can’t do that! I dang near blasted you to…. well... KROM!” My heartbeat beginning to lessen from almost beating out of my chest as I turned to give the gruff, small stout statured, old Valarian scout a hug.
“Oh, learned me good, that last time, not to do nothin’ like grabbin yous from behind or keep it goin too long. I’m a much better actor than that there, don’t be fooled” he laughed audibly. “I thought you’d be out and about. And, since we’ve been going at a turtle gallop, I’ve been able to catch up on my sleep during the day. Our breeze thingy came and helped me find yous.”
“We didn’t expect to see you for a few days. Figured you would be off scouting Riverside. I can’t tell if we are going at the pace purposely for punishment, or if we are really trying to lose all trace of any type of people hearing odd news or goings on. These goat hills are a bit extreme, even for Grandfather.”
“Aye, not the first time we made the long about. But… won’t be the last I am bettin. He wants to settle nice and safe for a while if we can, thought we had a place there too, with all of us assimilatin perfectly.” Gerald looked at me with a toothy grin barely visible between the gap in his overgrown facial hair. His smile was missing a few crucial front teeth, with others that were discolored, sideways and the like. “Roman’s gettin a bit paranoid in his old age, that Shepard ain’t goin to be talkin right for weeks to let them know, and when he is would they really believe him if he remembered? Or even thinkin the boy could see you from that distance.”
I blushed in shame at that thought, an ever-cringing moment that will last forever in perfect clarity for me. We all have those moments, I am sure, this memory stings and makes my cheeks flush in embarrassment at even the brief reminder of it.
“Oh, don’t yous be worryin boy” he said in a reassuring tone. “We all make mistakes. Let’s head back to me camp. Found a good ol’ spot with a cave. Entrance small ‘nough we can have a proper fire I tell yous! I figured I didn’t need to scout much farther ahead as I think I found a good place to setup shop for trainin when we are in Riverside.”
We headed in silence for a few minutes, until Gerald led me through some brush, to a hidden cave entrance. “Scout tricks can be some handy help” he said as he saw my amazement at his find. “Ruin of the den finder” he replied to me as he pointed to one of the partially glowing marks on his earthen marble bracer, one of Grandfather designs. “Comes in handy when yous don’t wanna rough it and wake up to catch a bear sniffing your backside. Though I did need to exterminate a bear to claim ownership, so hopefully he had no friends.” He gestured towards a carcass that had been carved near to the bone, cuts of meat hanging to dry in much of the available areas.
He grabbed a seat on a corner of the den and started to fiddle with his bracers. “I need to channel a bunch back into these before I do much else. I feel naked with how many I used to sneak up on yous back there, but it was darn worth it, I tell yous.” he said with a chuckle.
“It’s no wonder breezy didn’t come to my rescue, you had me good back there. You two double crossing weasels.” I smiled curtly as he snorted in satisfaction, a breeze sifting through the cave in what can be assumed as a similar expression.
“I know yous ain’t tired boy, get to cleanin those fish I caught while I get to this. They been sittin in a bucket for a few hours now.” Gerald pointed over to the fish he was preserving near the fire.
“How much food do you need Ger?” I laughed as he shot me an inquisitive look.
“I can find the storage for it. I won’t let it go to waste.”
I grabbed a seat by the basket and thoughtlessly skinned and gutting a fish as I watched him slowly make a single rune on the bracer brighter by channeling earthen essence into it. The scout-based runes tended to be earth oriented, blending in with the surroundings and using nature to stalk prey. This was a much slower pace than grandfather had done earlier, but it was interesting to watch the light strengthen.
I watched for a bit, while mindlessly doing Gerald’s chore. I thought it was always fascinating to watch people runecraft. I guess it’s one of those things that when you can’t do something, you want to really do it that much more. It was always mesmerizing to me sensing the energy entering and leaving people’s various cores depending on the essence being used and them slowly channeling that into the various runes, like Gerald right now.
Recharging runes did not typically deplete a user’s natural reserves, which were pretty limited alone. A properly trained person charging a rune opens their various essence cores up as a conduit to the natural essence that flows on Thoubose. Some places are more dense and quicker to charge with certain essence types than others. The cores that allow for access of essence exist in all attuned people, within their meridians, and are used to store and circulate the various energies. Through focus, internal meditation, and time, a person could naturally guide and mold each of the types of essence. An essence attuned person is not limited to only one type of essence to channel, they just need to learn the discipline to channel each and the rate they can push essence into an object depends on the advancement of their mastery in each essence type.
Gerald seemed to catch on to my staring, let out a gruff grumble. “Aye, yous makin’ me uncomfortable boy. I’m just chargin them. I’m not like yous Grandda, able to mold runes into these granite bracers just by thinkin about it.” He showed off the rune packed bracer with barely any free space available. “Go be useful and scout the wind, practice that small energy stuff. I need to focus more than the others to channel essence into these dang things.” He wiped sweat off his brow. “Nothin’ within kilometers and he can’t feel ya from here. I won’t be tellin him nothin about using lots of power, like usual. Go get to yous nightly tasks boy.”
“Fine, you don’t have to tell me twice!” I said in excitement, throwing down the fish I was working on and trying to wipe the residue off as best I could, something that was probably going to need a river if I didn’t want to stink. I walked towards the entrance of the small cave and once outside I gathered my essence, leaping to the top of the cave we were sitting in, my eyes quickly flashing in the pitch dark of night. I wish I could say it was a cool landing, but I slammed face first into a briar bush right at the top of the ridge I didn’t see. “Ahhhhh” I let out a gasp that was not heroic one bit.
I heard a chuckle coming from inside the cave. “Two to nothin!” He yelled out.
“How does that count for you, and when did a game start?” I called out in defiance.
“Counts it does. That’s that. Messing up me focus boy!” He yelled as I made my way further from his camp.
Gerald was old fashioned; he is one of the few people in the world I can truly trust, a second grandfather just about. Gerald, my grandfather, and three others make up an order that swore an oath to protect me, the budding baby acolyte, knowing it may be the only hope to end the Ozouf’s and free the remaining acolytes, once the plot was revealed. They swore their oaths to Thoubose itself, and Thoubose answered with a small boon, which is a rarity that hadn’t been given by the world spirit to anyone in at least Grandfathers lifetime if not longer.
An example of the boon being, Gerald didn’t have a gem, but he could channel more energy than the normal essence attuned person. He was actually good to instantly caste two to three smaller combat spells with his internal essence reserves, which is remarkable. Many can’t muster up a simple magic cantrip like lighting a pipe with their internal reserves, for those that find themselves able to access internal essences at all. Essence manipulation to a transformative extent often requires a gem or considerable time to accumulate and charge enough runes. For those not blessed with Gemini status but still attuned, which constitutes the portion of the population after the essence-less are factored out, runes become an integral part of every life.
I crashed into another group of trees before stumbling to find a proper place to work. I swear even at the distance I moved from Gerald; I heard a chuff of amusement as the trees around me fell. Sorry little guys! I thought before moving on. Hopeful as always that eventually our group will help repair my folly before Grandfather comes across it. I better avoid doing that too much.