Gideon watched the captain with anticipation, unsure of what he was expected to do. Captain Daniels went to his desk and pulled out a piece of parchment. He scribed something on the parchment while Gideon waited with patience. The captain took the completed parchment to the door leading back into the barracks courtyard. A guard came over to meet the captain. The two quietly spoke and the captain passed the parchment to the guard. He shut the door and turned to Gideon. “Show me your ability,” he said without preamble.

He tried to do as he was told, but nothing happened. “Sir, I don’t know how. It just sort of happened before.”

Captain Daniels thought for a moment before responding. “What about the System? You need to focus on labeling the world. Ask a greater power to tell you what everything is. This needs to be done as naturally as breathing. When an awakening occurs for a toddler, it is what the child knows. They grow up using it. You need to train yourself to use it, to learn a new language.”

“Uh, okay. Oh great System, what is this,” Gideon said and pointed to the chair in the room. “Ouch,” Gideon shrieked after Captain Daniels flicked him on the forehead. “What? I was doing what you told me.”

“Don’t be a smart arse boy. You need to think it, train your mind to open the door to see what you are looking for.” Captain Daniels said. “You can do this. You should have seen something before, the System awakening in you, trying to communicate? Reach for that again.”

Gideon thought back to the moment of his awakening, he remembered the System communicating with him. He remembered seeing it in his mind. He focused on that memory. He pulled at it, then pushed it to the forefront of his mind. He was part of the System, the System was part of him, and nothing happened. “Ugh,” he shouted in frustration. A sudden exhaustion seemed to enter his very bones. Then the world went black.

“You awake son? I think you might have strained yourself too far in the wrong direction.” The captain said as he help Gideon sit up. Just then, a knock sounded on the door. “One minute son. I know we can do this, you are strong and maybe this is the answer we are looking for,” the captain said as he walked to the door. The door opened and a large silhouette stood in the threshold. “Ah, good, good. You’re just in time Sir Smith.”

“I thought I told you to stay out of trouble today lad,” Smith Brom said as he walked into the room. He dropped a large satchel on the ground with a loud clang. “I got your letter Captain and did as you asked. I came with haste. Even left me anvil hot, so this best be important. I got a soft spot for the scamp over there, but I got work to do.”

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“Sir Smith, we’ve had a late stage awakening, he’s a scamp no more.” The captain said as he smiled brightly at the smith. He took in the shock on Brom’s face.

“Truly! That be wonderful, but I don’t see what I have to do with it.” Smith Brom said. He looked puzzled at Gideon. “What is it you need of me, and of this,” he said as he kicked the bag.

“I do believe we may have rubbed off on the boy. His awakening seems to have been an armor related ability, or more specifically, maybe a shield related one. It could be similar to mine but more limited, but with your influence as an armorer his ability could be anything. He is having issues finding the power again. I thought maybe some real equipment might help. ” Captain Daniels said. “I hope.”

Smith Brom pulled a shield out of the bag and took it to Gideon who still sat on the floor. He handed it down to Gideon, then offered a hand to pull him to his feet. “Well this be some of the base guard starting gear. The City Guard pays for it either way. If you give it to a guardsman or the boy, the coin is the same. Now boy, hold the shield proper like and show me what you did.”

Gideon Slid his arm into the straps on the backside of the small shield. “Blake called flame to his arm. When he attacked I held my arm up like this and the awakening happened. I suddenly had a shield blocking his attack.” Gideon said as he demonstrated the movement he described. He focused and tried to call the power and nothing happened. He growled, “Nothing. I’m getting nothing. I don’t feel anything. The System isn’t responding to me. What am I doing wrong?”

“That boy Blake is a bad apple. He ain’t here so maybe you need some other kind of motivation,” the smith said. He drew a small ax from the bag and swung it at Gideon. Oh crap! Gideon reflexively held up the shield to block the attack and shut his eyes. The loud clang he expected never came. “Well would you look at that, no fighting instinct at all and…” the smith cut off his retort mid sentence.

Gideon looked up to see an energy around the shield he held. Then he watched in amazement, then horror as the energy broke down the shield into dust. That dust was then absorbed through his pores into his body. The shield was gone, the power was gone. He focused and tried to envision the ability again, this time with an image of what he wanted. A shield of energy sprang to life on his arm. Unlike with Blake, the shield had a defined shaped and felt more real. Then the energy became the leather, steel, and iron of the original shield. “Whoa, I did it,” Gideon said with amazement.

“You certainly did,” the smith and captain said together. They looked at one another and chuckled. Gideon released the power and watched as the shield disappeared, absorbed back into his body.

“Smith Brom, it appears the boy can not only summon void energy to make a shield, but can absorb actual shields. I bet whatever he absorbs gives the ability stability. I wonder if it takes on the properties of the item as well? Fascinating, it is nothing like my armor skill like I had originally thought. I’ve never heard of such an ability.” The captain continued to shake his head in amazement at what he had just witnessed.

“Fancy words Guard Captain, but who said he can only do it with shields.” Smith Brom said as he grab the bag an upended the contents.

Gideon heard none of this. He only saw the System and how the system saw him.