I started by raising up four stone walls sloped into a pyramid shape. Adding in a couple vents for the smoke of the fire, and…well, I needed more light. Usually my guardian would carve out a cliff, and that was ok. It was a little basic though. I had practiced with some different forms. I either put windows in the structure…and stuff would fly in…sometimes big stuff, angry stuff…or just the vents.

With the boy here, I didn’t really want to create the impression of a dungeon. I will just have to ask some essence to keep watch…which is pretty much like having a 5 year-old watch your house. It works for a time, but essence really wants a structured support for this type of activity…rune craft or archivist structures. I don’t have knowledge of those…so, maybe the kid will wake up before the sun sets and then I can close a door…I could heal him more.

It is a little easier when I am the only one to decide things. The boy does throw some dams in my river.

I decide on a door, and put some air and rock essences into guard mode. I can feel their excitement now…it won’t last.

Stirring the coals into a nice mound, I stack up some more random logs and sticks. The fire becomes a nice warm radiance. When I concentrate, I can see the fire essence flooding up into the air and circling. It’s so much brighter with essence view.

—————————

(6 Years Ago)

“Listen here! Kid, come on, don’t take it personal, we…were just trying to keep our village safe…there is no need for this.” Six men are laying on the ground with rock encompassing their feet to their knees. My breathing is must harsher than it should be. I can feel my heart pounding against my chest.

“Kid, we don’t need to do this…yes we killed that man. He was a bad man, he was a Strong. We can’t have his kind on the loose. Who knows when they will go crazy and kill everyone. So, we tried to bind him…but…well, it looks like we picked the wrong bind and he escaped. We still wounded him…and he died of those injuries…it’s not our fault he died.” I can see the wounds, but I also heard his cries before they killed him…before they killed his bond.

I don’t think they knew about the bond. They made a mistake. He did kill a couple of them, but did he really go crazy? I don’t know. The essence is silent right now. No whispers. It’s not like they can tell truth and lie though.

I don’t know much about binding. My guardian tells me it’s a high level ethereal Weak skill. The general process is you can take a certain ethereal metal and a bonding agent and infuse it…with something…somehow…and it will take that bonding agents essence type and convert it ethereal. The result is you have an abundance of ethereal essence, but the bonding agent essence is sucked dry. For an essence user, it removes your ability to work with that essence. The catch is, it will only work for once essence at a time. If you have multiple essence affinities, you need multiple binds. I have ethereal essence though. So, no one will ever be able to bind me like that.

I am guessing the Strong was either a multiple essence user, or they picked the wrong affinity…or maybe it was the bond.

“Essence will always flow through he bond.” I can hear the deep voice of my guardian in my mind. He is not here right now. I have been going on exploring trips through the far valley. Walking helps me think…and I have this needling thought that I need to move, need to stretch my legs…need to explore. This helps. I think my guardian knows. I am not very good with my emotions…they still explode at times, but I don’t ripple the essence anymore…never again.

“Kid…hey kid! Are you dumb? Listen, let us go and we leave you alone and head back to the village. This whole thing ends here.” Maybe he can read my face. I don’t know what to do really. Do I kill them…maybe they have families…kids like me. I have killed before…the Seat woman. If I release them, maybe they try to come back and bind me…and then I will have to kill them. Guardian, what do you think?

“This is not my choice. I will protect you, but I will not force your hand. Your decision is your decision. You have to decide on your own, or you will always find regret.”

“Kid! Listen, if we die out here, the whole kingdom is going to come looking for us. We told them about the Strong, they are coming to get him.” His last argument finally pushes through my mental fugue.

“I will release you…and you will not return. The village you speak of is two days away from the mountains…keep to it and we won’t have problems.” With that, I slowly liquify the rock and walk back into the forrest. It should allow me enough time to put distance between them and me.

—————————

(1 Year later)

I can see them. Twenty-two men, split between Influencers and Parities. They are roughly 500m out from my little contemplation hill. Working a little air essence, I try to listen to some of their conversations. It’s a little too far for my skill in air at the moment, but I can still catch the occasional word or phrase.

“…2 weeks…”

“…Nothing”

“…John spent a fortune on those binding collars…”

“…Can’t feel…”

“…he is probably not even here anymore…dead…”

“…not even Weak beasts around here…”

“…quiet”

“…like one of the dead cities…”

I am not sure what they are here for. Nothing enters my valley unless I give it permission. Its not as dramatic as a “king of the valley”, but I don’t let those with unruly minds break my peace…I need my peace…I am getting closer to something…a balance.

“…wait, some essence moved…”

I drop my song, and begin walking back to the mountain. I need to observe from a greater distance.

—————————

(8 months later)

I am currently hunting for more berries…specifically Rondal berries. Its almost winter and I like to have a good Rondal berry bread…well, bread isn’t the right word…berries plus flour…salvaged from some dead miners…and butter…from the same miners. Add water, mix, and cook…and it’s an ok breakfast. It is better than my guardian’s suggestions. I can only eat so much honey.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

As I am working my way through a large section of thicket…Rondal berries seem to like growing within overgrown areas…I can hear the screams. It’s far away…maybe a bit outside of my valley. I can still hear them though…the screams are getting carried on the wind.

I quickly work my way out of the thicket, with only a few bloody scrapes. Ducking under the last of the thorny limbs, I re-orient my heading and start moving towards the screams.

After 15 minutes, I can finally sense them on the essence. Thirty-five essence users…and something else. I can sense the ethereal essence. Dense. Far denser than I have felt it. It’s like a spring…no three…four…five…springs. It’s not natural, the essences are in discord. I can feel the song, it hates this…hates the springs. I stop dead in my tracks. I can’t let things get out of control…I need fix the problem with the essences and then move on. The song is straining in my mind.

Moving forward again, I slowly begin to pull the song into me. I calm it, console it, and embrace it…protecting it from the harm that is occurring ahead.

I am 40m away now, the screaming has slowed to low whimper. I can now smell the alcohol…and unclean humans.

“John, is this the place. As fun as the last couple weeks have been, me and my brothers are getting tired of hauling all this crap into the middle of nowhere.”

“Yeah, this is the place. There is nothing here. We can setup a nice little village…that we own and sell off some Strongs to the King to make money. I took me awhile, but this is the perfect place. After chasing that kid 2 months ago, I realized that chasing Strongs is the wrong approach. We should be breeding them.”

On his last words, I crest the hill and see the small encampment. Five tents are lined up in a row. Five or six men are waiting outside of the tents, while the rest of the group is gathered around an essence built fire pit. Two wagons of barrels…probably alcohol are parked under some trees. Six wagons of various materials a lined up on a newly forged trail leading into the fire pit.

Each tent contains the spring of ethereal essence. It is poisoning the land and air. If it maintains this rate, the remaining essences in the area will retreat, leaving this area barren.

“I have to admit this is nice, but 5 girls are not going to cut it in the long term. We need to get a few more to make this worth it.” I can identify the man speaking now, he has lost and eye. He might be 30 or 40, my fathers age, before he died. This man doesn’t have the honor of my father. The essence around him roils.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry. I have an agreement with the King. He is going to ship his stock out to us. We just need to have a camp to hold and grow them. In five or six years, we will be shoveling gold into our pockets. All we have to do is feed them, and breed them. The King has great plans. He will need them to bolster his army. Who knows, we could end up as Dukes and Earls in a decade.”

This voice I know. I remember the face…and I remember my statement. I am not totally stupid about men and women. My brothers were quite a font of knowledge on that. I can feel it now. The rage. Another king using humans as stock.

“Calm boy. Think.” The mountain rumbles in my mind.

I quickly pop up a tree and retreat into my inner world. I need to be able to control this. I can feel the tears running down my face. I need to listen…listen to the essence and power through the essence…slowly, slowly. Too quickly and I will lose it. I need to bring everything down. Calm. Calm. Move with the essence. Move through the essence.

Slowly the quakes in the essence slow. It’s too late though. They have felt them.

“Did you sense that? The earth essence shuddered like during the shattering.”

“Nah, it was wind.”

“Are you two daft is was water…but also air.”

“John, what is this place? I have never felt anything like that since the shattering. This is the region where it started right?”

“Don’t freak out boys, probably a natural phenomenon…like a volcano or geyser. Let’s settle down and see if we can locate it…Barry, you’re the master tracker, where did you sense that coming from?”

“Here. It was coming from here boss. It was too strong for something natural…or at least something I haven’t encountered before.”

“Hello John.” I step out from the forrest edge. The group turns and stops as a group.

“His eyes boss, his eyes. That’s not natural boss, that’s not something normal…a devil or evil spirit…”. The man begins to sprint away only to find his feet, legs, and then torso encased in stone.

“I told you to leave me alone. And here you are again, for a second time.”

This time men begin to break away in groups sprinting for the forrest. None make it.

“What’s all the commotion out here. I can’t hardly enjoy myself if you bunch of twats are screaming up a storm.” A fully naked man crawls out of the nearest tent, only to stop and look at the encased men surrounding the fire pit…a fire rising within to the heights of 4 men. He makes it two more steps before he is fully encased in stone, and pulled into the ground.

“Now wait Kid, I didn’t know. I didn’t know this was your forrest. We can leave. It’s all good. Our deal is all good.” John has finally spoken up. The quick death of one of his men enough to shock him back to reality.

“You said that before John. You said you were part of the village. You said you were protecting your people. You said Strongs must die.” I am not actually thinking right now…well, I am…and I am not. I am “with” the song. The actions are something like my subconscious working the essence. Its power. I am connected to the essence like I have never been before.

With that thought, all the men in the camp are encased and pulled underground. They will die slowly and feed the essence. I can feel them trying to work it, work the essence. The essence doesn’t want to listen. Doesn’t want to work with them. Their songs are weak and broken.

As I walk up to the tents, I can feel the binds…and the women…well, women and girls. They are each Strongs, and whatever the events that had occurred has broken most of them. I don’t know what to do.

“You cannot save the broken. Their song will tell you…will tell you if they can be saved. Listen closely. Listen and then sing.” My guardian is right. I can feel those beyond hope. If I release them now, the power they wield will explode and destroy this land.

I kill three. Its quick.

Two remain and I sing. I call to the essence and urge it to calm and joy. Butterflies in a field of flowers moving from one to another. There is a lot of crying…the wind picks up, but I work it back slowly, calmly. I tree to feel the joy of a bird on the wind…riding the thermals and looking over the land.

I sing for two days. My guardian has come. His presence bolsters my waning body and mind. He sings along, our strength calming the essence in the area.

Soon, two girls leave the tents. Each is wrapped in a blanket, bruised and bloody…but alive. The oldest is maybe my sister’s age, the youngest…younger than me. I can feel the rage again, but my guardian envelopes my rage and tempers it.

I can then hear him call…call to the wind. Two wolf pups dart out of the forrest. They are fast, really fast…pushed by the wind…wind Strongs.

They sniff around each girl and then pause…each looking at the other…and then they split up and sit before each girl.

“Go. This is an important lesson. Strongs need a bond…need it and crave it. These pups lost their pack to the dead men. You have settled their price and they will help these girls survive.”

I slowly stand up and approach the girls. I can see fear and awe…and something vacant…an expression I saw in myself after I escaped my father’s death.

“Kneel and complete your bond.” The words echo…they are not mine, but the voice of the wind, of the air. It thunders through the valley.

The girls, however, show no fear, and kneel…placing their heads to the heads of their bonds.

In that instant…that enumerable about of time, the wind stopped.

My guardian comes up behind me and drops an old pack on the ground. It’s one from wagons.

“Leave them. They have the resources they need, but they need to start making their own decisions. We did all we could.”

With that, I turn around and begin to take a few steps before my body falls.

“You did well. Channelling that much essence takes its toll. You will need time.”

—————————

(Present day)

I am not sure what made me think of that time. I suppose it was the last time I bonded a human to a beast. I know they are living in that valley. The oldest did have a child...a girl…an influencer. I make sure they have what they need, but I stay away.

It took me two weeks to recover from that much essence use. My guardian told me later that I had rippled the essence for hundreds of kilometers. He then scolded me for the ripple and channeling essence I didn't need...and this...and that...etc. They were good lessons. I am sorry that it happened and glad that it happened. I need to move on.

I open a large window on one side of the pyramid. As I look to the boy across from me, I call to the wind essence around me.

A form glides out of the darken sky, into my makeshift pyramid, and settles on my shoulder. It’s larger than most owls, and for a Strong, it has impressive control.

The boy stirs and looks to me. It’s the same eyes. The same pain, fear, and vacant, hopeless expression.

“Kneel and complete your bond.” It’s the same voice, but I can feel it more. The solidity of will. The joy of the song. The finding of hope.

—————————

(Present day - Home)

“Markel, can you hear it?” He is close.