When we arrived at our little dining area Kara sat down at the table while I went over to the pot on the fire and ladled out two bowls of stew, putting them down in front of Kara and I afterwards when I sat down myself.
We ate our dinner in silence as we always did until we both finished. Only after that, did Kara start speaking.
“Barde, I want to talk and also give you something after we’re done.” Kara started.
“We both know what’s going to happen soon… -No don’t interrupt me. There’s been enough denying it already and what’s going to happen is going to happen. Understood? Just let me say what I’m going to say and accept it, please.”
I had been waiting for this conversation, we both had, and knowing it was today filled my stomach with uneasiness and formed a heavy sadness hovering above it within my chest.
“I’m so grateful to you Barde. If you hadn’t been here I would have died a much sadder and much lonelier old crone who would probably have rotted here, alone, for many days after my…death. I know you’ve made plans to leave this place but you're waiting on me. Thank you for that, so… so very much.” Kara says, her sadness clearly ringing through.
Hearing her speech I can feel a hotness upon my face as tears start to build in my eyes alongside my swelling emotions, but I hold it in so she can say what she needs to say.
“I have three sons and a daughter but they left years ago on their journeys to the new continent, chasing opportunity. I don’t know where they are now but we all said our farewells long ago and I know that I’m never going to see them again. Nevertheless, I’ve written a will that I want you to deliver to the Trade Association that will have them come and claim all my property when I’m gone, sell it if they can, and combine the profits with my savings and divide them amongst my children”
Surprisingly, I didn’t actually know that Kara had any children, but it’s her life and her money. I don’t really need it, and wouldn’t really want it anyway I affirm to myself as I listen to her go on.
“However, don't think I don’t care about you Barde. I’ve actually got something for you which is actually worth more than all the money I’ve ever had, something that I can’t give to my children anyway.”
…Okay?
“I never told you this, but I come from a family of Warriors. My father was an Adherent and all my other brothers and sisters became warriors also… except for me. I didn’t have the talent and so never was inducted into the powers of the Coalition. The best I could do was remain on the edges as an unanointed member of the Scholar Association. But my father… he loved me. In fact to be perfectly honest, I was his favourite, and because of that he did something for me that could have sentenced him, me and the rest of his family to a very terrible end. Now, come with me.”
With that mysterious cut off, Kara got up from her chair and began leading me to her room.
For all the time we had known each other I had actually never been in Kara’s room. Neither has she been in mine, the both of us respecting each other's privacy too much. When we got there and walked inside though I didn’t know what to expect, but found the room actually very plain with a normal bed, closet, desk and few other bits and bobs dotted around the room.
Kara naturally didn’t have my moment of curiosity that caused my eyes to roam around the room however and so straight away made her way to her desk, picked something up, went over and sat down on her bed by the time I came back to her, to see her indicating me to take the chair at her desk and sit across from her.
Sitting down, I could see that what Kara curiously held in her lap, was a book. I met her eyes with a questioning gaze and she then began speaking again where she had left off.
“My father loved me. Too much probably, and was burdened with worry about me for being as weak and powerless as I was. He was already fairly old by the time I came about and I was his last and youngest child, to a lady of the Bordello no less. To my everlasting gratitude, instead of letting me remain there, he claimed me and took me in to raise me all by himself.”
Oh.
Kara’s origins surprised me. Surprised me a lot as a matter of fact, but I had actually read about this phenomenon before.
According to the laws of the Pleasure Association, the father of a child born by a member had the primary right to claim guardianship of the child when it was born. But the reality was that this only ever happened if the child in question was talented enough for the father to deem him or her a benefit to being a part of their family who could in the long run make substantial progress along a Path.
For a father to claim a child that didn’t have potential such as Kara is not only remarkably rare, but practically unheard of in this society where power and mana aptitude is everything. The fact that he did was an unbelievably generous act.
“My father…” Kara continued “was nearing the end of his life and in fact died when I was only twenty. I have never actually met any of my other siblings and I don’t know if they even know about my existence, my father having raised me away from them when he retired himself away to prepare for his journey to the Source. Nevertheless, I grew up happy. Unlike me though, my father went to the grave plagued with worry. And so, before he died, he gave me this.” she said looking down at the book held in her age spotted hands.
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“His own Warriorhood technique.”
“...”
“Wha…?
“WHAT?!
“A WARRIORHOOD TECHNIQUE?!”
Holy shit! That… that shouldn’t be here. It’s forbidden, punishable by death and more often than not familial extinction, for a technique to leave the Corps archives.
It is absolutely unforgivable. All warriors take a sacred vow that they must never disclose their techniques outside of the Coalition when they are first inducted and it is one of their most very strictest laws.
“How do you have that?!” I questioned, the panic in no way hidden in my voice.
“Like I said. My father gave it to me before he died, and I haven’t told another living soul about it until you. Not my husband when he was alive, not my children, nor any other friend or confidant. Only you.” she calmly answered.
Despite her calm response I was still feeling very overwhelmed by what was lying in Kara’s lap.
There is a reason that these techniques don’t leave the Coalition. The main one is to prevent civil discord.
Despite the critical importance of one’s degree of affinity in their mana signature, if someone has no real talent at all, it also means that they can pick up any kind of technique available and still use it despite the lack of potential success.
If this happens then that would mean that not just a handful but theoretically whole populations could elevate themselves to Initiates. If that were to happen, the Coalition would find itself with a much more difficult to control lower class who would also be desperate to grow stronger and may very well unify and rally together to fight for their own share of the already capped amount of mana rich resources.
They would ultimately fail of course, but the stability of society would plummet. But what the Coalition would be really worried about is the possibility of an unknown talent getting a hold of a suitable technique. With it, they could pave the way for their rise to the level of Master, or even Grandmaster, outside of the confines of the Coalition, though this scenario is very unlikely. Nevertheless, the magical kingdoms are already too much of an insult and so even the slightest chance of a rogue Grandmaster emerging has to be eliminated at any cost.
But the other and more serious reason they don’t want these techniques leaking is the possibility of them landing into the hands of the magical kingdoms.
The magical kingdoms have their own very powerful Supremes, but they by no means have anywhere near the numbers and strength of the Coalition.
This is naturally because Sorcery is, in of itself, a more restrictive path, and the number of those that practice it are likewise limited in number. The average magical kingdom would only have around a half million sorcerers they can utilise and can by no means match the Coalition armies numbering in the billions. Ergo, to have any serious power they need more fighters, and the only other option available to them are Warriors that they can develop themselves.
But with all their resources and development going into their Sorcery and magics, they of course can’t afford the efforts and resources to create their own Warriorhood techniques. Even if they somehow did, they would also by no means match the ones the Coalition have developed after thousands upon thousands of years of refinement.
Hence, the only way to bolster their forces is to either buy, or somehow steal, the Warriorhood techniques from the Coalition.
Buying has been done… but at astronomically large prices. Every magical kingdom has either two or three warriorhood techniques that they own currently, all in line with their own affinities, that have almost bankrupted them with each purchase and brought a very pleasant amount of wealth to the Coalition.
There have of course been attempts at stealing techniques, but none I have read about have come anywhere near to actually succeeded.
The Corps only lets Warriors read those books and only at the stage where they are at, and each archive is in a Martial Association branch which is always filled to the brim with Warriors. Plus, almost all Warriors emerge from within the framework of the Coalition and those that don’t and come from the general populace are background checked before being accepted. Not to mention that all the borders around the magical kingdoms are watched closely and no child which hasn’t stepped onto the Path is allowed through. And even if the magical kingdoms tried to smuggle such children through to hopefully infiltrate a Corps branch, they would not survive the level of fire power that would be unleashed by the dedicated warriors stationed at these borders who would kill them at any cost.
All in all, the Coalition isn’t fucking around about keeping their techniques to themselves.
“This technique has helped me very much.” Kara started again after my momentary mental turmoil. “I’m actually an Initiate but I haven’t worked to improve myself ever since my baptism. Despite that, the mana within me has kept me strong and healthy all my life, and I’m almost certain that it has even added over a decade to my lifespan.”
“I can’t give this to my children and I wouldn’t want to. It’s too dangerous to even know about. But I can’t just leave it around to be found after my death also and the materials it’s made of would require mana wielding to destroy. If anyone found out about it, despite my being dead, they would kill all of my children, their children and even my siblings and their children whom I’ve never even met to set an example.”
“But I want you to have it, Barde. This is priceless and if you practice it it will keep you healthy and let you live a long life, so please take it.”
With that, she held the book out to me. Without really thinking I took it from her and held the book in my own hands now, massaging my fingers against the smooth brown leather beneath them.
After her words to me we talked a little bit longer about her arrangements and she also gave me a couple of letters she wanted me to deliver to the Bank and Institute respectively detailing her wishes and circumstances.
Afterwards, I bid her good night and went back to the kitchen to clean up and collect my other books that I’d left there before heading upstairs to my own room for the night.
Sitting down at my desk, I stared at the book Kara had given me as I contemplated my mixed feelings.
What Kara had given me was dangerous, but also priceless. But what it really was was ultimately…ultimately pointless.
I have no mana.
Also, what she wanted me to use this book for was to live healthier and longer.
But I don’t really need to do that as I’m eternally stuck at the age I am, as healthy as I am, forever, as far as I know. As long as nothing bad happens to me.
In spite of this however, I’m tempted. The Wizard had said I had no mana but maybe, maybe this can change something for me.
With no real reason not to and very curious about what might happen, I’m resolved to give it a try.
I opened the book and read through the opening baptism. The baptism isn’t really a part of the Warriorhood technique itself, but the set of movements and exercises that pushes the body to the point of exertion where, to relieve its physical strain, the body takes in a portion of mana, kicking off the Warriorhood process.
So, with the light still around from the long summer day, I start going through the motions illustrated.
The baptism is actually like a set of moves involved in a martial art, sort of like tai chi but more intensive. I try my best to follow the instructions written down and follow the diagrams in the book and without me realising it happening, I fall into a trance.
So focused I am on what I’m doing that I don’t see the sky darkening outside my window as I keep going though the movements, improving them as I go along, making them smoother and finer.
And I repeat them.
And I repeat them. Again, and again, and again until finally, against all the odds it seems…
I feel it.
A flicker.