Kade couldn’t stop running. It wasn’t the waves of energy and magic that always seemed to be a blink away from catching him, or even the sure knowledge that defeat was inevitable if he stood still for even a moment. Instead, Kade couldn’t stop running because he’d never felt more alive, never felt more like himself than right now. Every moment living a hair’s breadth from destruction was intoxicating, and part of him didn’t even want to win, simply wanted to keep enjoying the thrill for as long as possible.
He felt the lightning a moment before it struck the ground, and without pausing he veered around it, feeling his hair stand up from being so close. Next came an orb of darkness that revolved eerily in front of him. Gravity magic was remarkable, and gave the user an unparalleled ability to control a battlefield, as Kade has seen in his battle against the unnamed Elder so long ago, but this ability paled in comparison to that overwhelming display. Kade knew its range was limited, even though he felt the pull from many strides away, and his opponent wasn’t used to Kade’s new ability yet, allowing him to easily avoid the attack by running directly up the nearby wall.
ABILITY
[Relentless Pursuit]: (Rank 0, 47%)
Growth Rate: (Passive) Increases further when actively pursuing a target.
Cost: (None)
Description: No enemy can escape you, no obstacle can hinder you. The Vanguard will orient their personal gravity automatically to allow them to maintain equilibrium in any environment. The Vanguard’s speed and balance is also increased, and increases further when actively engaged in combat.
It was Kade’s second Vanguard ability, with Drake safely nestled inside his gauntlets and deflecting the occasional attack, still demonstrating the incredible value of his first. But as incredible as the synergies with his new Aspect of Metallurgy were, it just didn’t compare to raw personal power, which Relentless Pursuit provided in droves. As his attacker adjusted to his new location and sent bolts of wild energy his way, Kade smoothly pivoted off the wall onto one of the countless chains that he’d managed to string between the stone walls.
At first he simply sprinted along the chain faster than any human could have run on the best possible terrain, but as the blasts continued Kade began to run in a spiral around the chain. He was changing his orientation continuously as he was alternately above then below the chain, with whatever direction was currently below Kade’s feet always feeling like down to him, regardless of whether that was sky or ground. It was all effortless, and just pushed him to run even faster.
When he’d first unlocked the ability several days after returning from his Trial, he had a hard time making sense of it. Even when he thought he had a grasp of the ability, it still took time and practice before he was able to find creative applications for the skill. The passive speed bonus was incredible all on its own, as he felt like he was always one step ahead of the world around him, but the increase during combat sometimes made the world feel like it was paused. Combining that his ability to effectively stick to any surface, and his unconventional fighting style was truly coming together.
As a blast of wind sent him flying off his chains, however, he was reminded that he was far from done integrating the new ability into the rest of his more practiced moves. His desperation to make clever use of his chains had resulted in endless hours of flinging himself wildly about, like a puppet with too many strings, but that didn’t seem to line up with his ability to simply run extremely fast. It wasn’t that he couldn’t logically see how to take advantage of both techniques, but he found that his mind fell into patterns of just using one or the other during combat.
He did so now, as chains exploded from his waist, anchoring and pulling him away from what would have been a brutal collision with another wall. Unfortunately, his opponent was prepared for this, and he suddenly felt the lightning burning him brutally as the chains that had saved him became a liability. He crashed unceremoniously to the ground a moment later, and watched wisps of smoke rise from his body for a moment before Salarus deL’estat finally walked over and nudged him with his boot.
Kade forced himself to look at the man, standing with hands on his hips and shaking his head in disapproval. “You spent most of that battle looking like you were out for a jog, barely aware that I was here.” Kade winced at how close to true that was. The freedom of his new ability was distracting. “Honestly I’m not sure that sparring with you is giving me much value besides creatively aiming spells; I feel like I’m chasing a pest out of the house, not testing myself in combat.”
Kade forced himself to his feet, as the training room in the Academy slowly fed healing energy into his aching body. He looked at the tall mage with a smirk, understanding now that the man’s arrogant behavior was something of a front, and usually accompanied good-natured teasing. “I can’t help it. Since the moment my new skill unlocked, I’ve felt like standing still is somehow wrong, and the feeling intensifies in battle.”
“That doesn’t explain the laughter,” Sal said with an exasperated tone.
“What laughter?” Kade responded, and the other man shook his head in disbelief.
“Are you being serious? You laughed–like a maniac I might add–for almost the entire bout. The fact that you didn’t notice only makes it more disturbing.” Kade considered, and realized that it was true.
“I’ll…try to keep it to a minimum,” was the best he could respond with. Somehow the laughter, and the unadulterated joy that came with it felt just as natural to him as his new ability. He was hoping he didn’t appear too crazy, but the look on Sal’s face deflated that notion. The Sorcerer finally just shook his head in resigned acceptance.
“You still won’t be the strangest Keeper, don’t worry. That is, if you finally find yourself another damned weapon. I don’t even know the purpose of sparring with you right now, if you ever could get close to me, what would you even do?” Kade made a scrunched up face at that.
“I always have Drake–man of a thousand spears,” Kade replied, somewhat defensively.
“He’s as much a man of anything as that pile of training swords,” Sal snorted, indicating a large collection of weapons that had spilled over during their practice battle. “But regardless of how effective he is with your Artifact, you can’t rely on an Aspect as your only source of damage.”
“First of all, he has a manly energy and he makes me feel safe,” Kade quipped. “Second of all…you’re actually right. Every time I start to feel great about my first couple of abilities, I think about what I’ve seen people like you accomplish by comparison. You shredded your way through hundreds of monsters with ease, and even took that Karthas clone down. Now that you have access to your magic senses and can control gravity, you’re a walking reminder of everything I’m missing.” Kade didn’t count the mysterious energy blasts he was sometimes capable of, as his new class was still “stabilizing”, and he didn’t feel like he could rely on it. Thinking of the other class made him glance down at his bracer in irritation, as he had been for days.
Attention: [Path to Power] update!
Objective: Embrace an Ancestral Totem!
Path: (1) Reach an Elder of a compatible path! (Complete)
Path: (2) Undergo the Trial of Karthas! (Complete)
Reward: Pending!
The reward had been ‘pending’ since the Trial had completed, and no further quests had been generated. Kade suspected that his ‘Path to Power’ might be unclear until the rest of his abilities revealed themselves, but it was taking an usual amount of time for that. He looked at Sal curiously, “Sal, did your third ability make an appearance yet?” The mage face took on a curious expression.
“It did, actually, last night. I had to speak to the rest of my family about it, but we’re all a bit blind with this one. Gravity was an enormous boon as you’ve seen; it will help me position enemies for my slower, more telegraphed attacks. But my other ability is called Gate, and it’s a complete mystery to all of us. Everything else any Sorcerer I’ve spoken to has managed to acquire was some kind of base element that we’ve witnessed manifest in some other Path, but no one is familiar with any type of Gate magic.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
He looked more curious than disappointed, and Kade felt the tug of it as well. “Maybe it’s something one of the unknown paths is capable of,” Salarus just shrugged. “Well, it’s called ‘gate’, it sounds like it opens something; I’m sure you’ll figure out what.” Sal just nodded absently, likely considering the question right now. Kade decided to shift the topic to something more tangible. “So I’ve been to a few classes here at the Academy now, and the broader grasp of the world I’m getting is helpful, but when do we actually get to go out and do something?” Sal seemed to refocus as the question reached him.
“Hmm? Oh yes, very soon actually. They’re fast-tracking the Keeper exam because of the upcoming excursion everyone is so excited about,” Sal’s disapproval was clear, not because he wasn’t also excited, but more because of the lack of clear information. Sal hated a lack of information. “I’m not worried, of course, but you…” he made a vague gesture at Kade. “I know your bravery and capability better than most, but even I’d fail you right now.”
“Thank you for that, I’m clearly the one with the ego that needs to be kept in check,” Kade replied, dripping with sarcasm. “Is the exam what I think it is? They bring in some monsters for us to fight or something, and grade us on how we do?” Sal shook his head, but it was another voice that answered.
“I still can’t decide whether you’re still playing dumb, or if you’re truly as clueless as you seem.” It was Gwendara Valoro, standing near the entrance to the training hall with two students Kade didn’t recognize.
“It’s a challenging line to walk, but I pull it off,” Kade replied dismissively. “I take it the exam is more complicated than that?” She gave him the suspicious look she used around him more and more frequently, but answered anyway.
“More and less, I suppose. No one is interested in how you’d kill some chained up monster in a controlled setting, and we don’t have time to find out either. All the recruits will be taken on a proper monster clearing exercise, with the senior students helping out the newer students, as well as random idiots riding other people’s coattails.”
“I knew I had a place here,” Kade replied easily. Gwen’s barbs were frequent, but followed a single, tired theme, and he’d realized early that not being bothered by them irritated her more than engaging. “Speaking of riding coattails, I see you have a retinue of your own today,” he nodded to the two standing behind her, comfortable they wouldn’t take his words seriously, as they could only be described as uniquely intimidating.
“Jothus,” the closer one answered, and didn’t speak further. The man was easily half-again as tall as Kade, but unlike Eleonora, he didn’t appear to have any ancestral heritage, he was simply enormous. He stood with arms crossed, with a thick leather vest covering his torso, but leaving the massive, muscled arms bare. His skin was a deep black, and his hair was a collection of tight braids, tied behind his head.
The other didn’t speak, simply walked past them into the room–or glided Kade amended, as the man moved so smoothly that he could barely sense his passing. He almost had an albino-like appearance, with skin pale to the point of appearing nearly translucent, and silver hair. The eyes however, were nearly colorless, and Kade had a hard time telling where the man was looking.
“That’s Ryndal,” Gwen said for him. “Joth, Ryn and I are a team, and we’ll be at the exam as well–though I think we’ll see you before then,” she finished cryptically. Kade noticed that Salarus hadn’t spoken, and nudged him gently in the side.
“Sal, you’re doing the creepy stare again,” Salarus seemed to have forgotten Kade was there.
“What? Oh, sorry. It’s Intuitive Sorcery, every time I see a Core or some magic I don’t recognize, it’s like someone has placed a puzzle in front of me,” he shook his head to clear it. “What are we talking about?”
Gwen just rolled her eyes and pushed past the two, with Jothus following closely after. Impressively, he maneuvered his remarkable bulk around the two with more grace than Gwen, and the three began to discuss their own training routine. Kade and Sal left the room, but not before Kade caught a glimpse of Ryndal becoming transparent as the doors shut behind them.
“That Ryndal guy, did he awaken Smoke?” Kade was already getting lost in thoughts of Nicky.
“No idea, I couldn’t stop staring at Jothus. His Core is very unusual somehow, but I lack the experience to understand why.”
“Well just try to control the staring. People are already either intimidated by you or stuck on the whole Sorcerer thing, we don’t need to add creepy to the list,” Sal glared at the ‘Sorcerer thing’ comment, but acknowledged the point. The two proceeded to wander the halls for a time, knowing there was a lecture soon, but without enough time to do anything productive. As Salarus unrepentantly stared at nearly every person they passed like they owed him money, Kade fell into serious consideration.
He knew he was falling back on jokes because he was even more concerned with his current powerset than Sal was. He didn’t have high hopes for an ability called Challenger’s Might to provide a reliable attack skill, and his combat abilities had stalled considerably with no effective means to counterattack. Even Drake was ill suited as the primary method for dealing damage. Apparently there were Awakened whose Aspects filled that role, but they were essentially support-focused fighters who provided a myriad of buffs to augment their Aspects. Even more, despite Drake’s impressive array of abilities, he still couldn’t compare to a Fire Aspect that could simply cover a battlefield in waves of death.
He knew it was a problem he needed to solve in a hurry, but he still wanted to unlock his other abilities before just giving up and buying an ax. He figured in the worst case scenario, following Edwin’s lead would be a safe alternative–no one could deny the ax-wielder’s effectiveness. He was still lost in this train of thought when he realized that Sal had led them to the lecture hall, as it was time for their next lesson.
The auditorium was large, and several hundred students had already managed to find seats. He and Sal sat near the midpoint, with the mage not bothering to look for any friends or acquaintances to sit near. Kade had realized that the man had very few, as his dedication to Sorcery was all-encompassing. Thankfully the man had seemed to take it as a given that he and Kade would be partners going forward. Kade wasn’t sure if it was an extension of the promise the man had made, or a result of the camaraderie they’d developed during the Trial, but he was grateful for it. The powerful man didn’t seem to need Kade–or anyone for that matter–but having an enormously gifted and influential friend was hugely beneficial to a new and largely unsupported Awakened.
As the students finally settled down, Kade realized he wasn’t feeling well. Not sick, exactly–he wasn’t sure if an Ascended could even get sick–but there was definitely an unusual tug deep inside him that was vaguely familiar. The feeling didn’t abate, and Kade was almost growing used to it after a few minutes, but he was unsettled by the strange sensations. Finally he was distracted as the lecturer entered the hall from a side corridor, and the whole room came to an immediate hush.
Lothros, Abbot of Karthas stood before the amassed students, once more looking disturbingly perfect and precise in his appearance. His pale blue eyes swept the crowd, and he smiled in welcome, “Keepers, and Keeper-candidates, welcome. Thank you all for attending today’s lecture, and allowing me to visit this remarkable, and indispensable institution.” His gaze swept out over the crowd, and Kade had to admit the man was a charismatic presence, with every set of eyes locked onto him. Kade noticed with amusement that Salarus’ gaze was once more evaluating, not willing to waste a chance to examine someone of such power.
“I was asked to speak to you today about a topic that should interest us all: emergence.” Kade suddenly felt the sensations inside him intensify. For a moment it felt like his Soul Core was swelling, then energy seemed to break free from it, and he realized where he’d encountered similar sensations before. But where a damn had burst in the past, this was more or a valve opening, and cool, refreshing power filled him pleasantly. As the sensation subsided, Kade realized that breathing felt strange, but he didn’t seem to be losing his breath.
As if on queue, a quiet beep–sounding suspiciously like an oven timer–came from his bracer. Kade eagerly looked down, thinking he knew what to expect. Salarus was close enough to hear the beep, and looked at his friend, seeing Kade’s face screwed up in confusion as he stared at the bracer. “What is it?” he asked, then Kade noticed Sal’s intense gaze seeming to look through him, his Intuitive Sorcerer clearly spotting something unusual.
Kade looked up, and whispered back, “Have you ever heard of an…Energist?” Sal sat back and considered a moment. Kade knew he’d done extensive studies on different Paths, even had family members visit other major cities to study any exotic Paths that might differ from those common to Karthas. At last Salarus spoke.
“Actually, I believe I have, though only in passing. My great uncle spoke of meeting someone he’d first thought was some kind of Elementalist Variant, but he couldn’t quite understand the woman’s abilities. He spoke with her as he’d actually hoped to have discovered another Sorcerous Path, but she referred to herself as an ‘Energist’.” Kade listened with interest, but also some reticence.
“Her abilities were unusual as they resembled a Fire Elementalist in the way the energy was projected, but it lacked any element. I’m afraid he only made a note of it as a curiosity when he learned she wasn’t following a Path my family is interested in.” He finished then looked back at Kade curiously. “Is that what you’ve unlocked? Are you an Energist?”
Kade nodded slowly, grateful that Sal had provided him with a way to hopefully explain what the bracer was telling him to others. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he continued to stare down at the display.
Congratulations! You are now walking the Path of the Chaos Energist!