The Primal was different from the other Divine Archetypes. While those like the Warrior or the Mage represented specific disciplines practiced by humans, the Primal was associated with the natural world itself, and with the elements that comprised it. Because of this, some even theorized that the Primal was, in fact, the first Divine Archetype, with the others simply following in the pattern it had created.

Considering its primeval nature, it was no surprise that the Primal demanded dangerous, even deadly, trials to gain its gifts. The only way to gain command of an element was to face it down and survive its wrath, to prove that the strength of your will was greater than the force you sought to control. Over time, however, as the civilized nature of the Realm increasingly separated most people from the dangers of the wilds, these trials naturally occurred less and less often. The dangers that people had once contended with for survival every day of their lives had been tamed as the Realm grew.

Rather than give up access to the Primal’s potent gifts, the Primal Halls had been established to fill in this gap. There were a few in every bastion city, institutions dedicated to providing the elemental trials needed to gain such a gift. As the Primal required danger in order to recognize a trial, injuries were still common in these institutions, but the Halls managed to keep the death toll relatively low, while keeping the gifts accessible to those without the wherewithal to wander into the wilds in search of power.

Oliver knew all of these facts, but they were a cold comfort as he faced down the trial of wind. He stood alone on a circular platform of marble perhaps five feet across, at the top of a tall pillar of the same material. Below him–ten stories below him, to be precise–the shining city of Elliven stretched in every direction. The center of the city was hewn primarily from the blue veined marble common to the region, with more pedestrian stone, clay, and wood becoming increasingly common the farther a building was from the noble district in the city center. This particular Primal Hall was situated in the middle of the sprawling manors of the high court, so it granted a truly stunning view of the bewildering array of architectural designs on display below.

Decades before, people had come from across the Realm to settle in the newly-founded bastion city, and the varied aesthetics of the noble district and the city at large typified the melting pot that it had become. At midday, with the sunlight caught by a hundred hundred glittering marble surfaces, it was a sight as beautiful as it was unique.

Not that Oliver particularly cared for the view at the moment. His arms and legs already quivered from the long climb up the ladder that was bolted to the side of the marble pillar, the sole way to access the trial of wind, and now he desperately tried to keep his balance as the high winds buffeted him from every side. This high up, the refreshing spring breeze he usually enjoyed had transformed into a terrifying bombardment of powerful gusts and swirling eddies. He had to lean into them to avoid simply being blown off of his little platform, but he couldn’t shift his weight too far to any side, lest he lose his balance when the wind ceased.

Oliver had known that all of the trials of the Primal were dangerous, that they demanded strength of will and absolute dedication, but he still hadn’t expected anything quite like this! All it would take was a single wrong move, an instant of wavering, to send him plummeting to his death. Oliver swallowed and resolutely looked forward instead, towards the edge of Elliven and beyond, to the vast expanse of forest now known as the Arboreal Waste. Already, it was in bloom, bare trees filling in just two days into spring.

The Wastes were a stark reminder of what he had learned from Adeline the day before. Of course, that hadn’t been the first time Oliver had heard of adventurers. They were the constant subject of a thousand stories, myths, and tall tales. But, like everyone else, Oliver had considered them to be little more than that, simple tales of bravery and derring-do with no grounding in reality, childish even. Oliver had considered himself too old for adventurer stories years ago.

But Adeline painted the adventurers in a different light. She claimed that the Argent Order was inspired by those legendary heroes. Rather than committing themselves solely to the fight in the Wastes, as was expected of all noble fighters, the silver knights traveled the land, seeking out and doing battle with dangers others never even knew about. While the aristocracy disdained them as shiftless wanderers, avoiding the duty of the Wastes, Adeline claimed that their work was every bit as important, if not more so, as the skirmishers and sentinels who fought in the Wastes.

Not so long ago, Oliver would’ve dismissed the knight-gallant’s claims as absurd. But Adeline had already opened his eyes in so many ways, and he owed too much to her to simply ignore the truths she had presented because they were uncomfortable. She had warned him, after all, that the knowledge she offered would change how he saw the Realm. And now that he knew how common manifestations were outside of the Wastes, he couldn’t deny the logic in her words. The bastion cities had solved a pressing need. The bastion forces and all the infrastructure the cities provided more or less nullified the danger of the Wastes. Dangerous as they were, they had clear boundaries that could be watched. The same couldn’t be said for the remainder of the Realm.

Oliver had been taught that the wardens and hunters were the ones who handled the minimal threats that plagued the remainder of the Realm. The wardens patrolled the high roads and trade routes, protecting the thoroughfares of the Realm, while the hunters protected the villages scattered throughout the land. It seemed simple enough. But that system ignored the wild places– the hinterlands, the places too dangerous or too barren to be worth settling, the fringe wilderness that the Realm had never managed to force its way into, a thousand different ruins and abandoned towns from earlier ages. Those lost places played host to innumerable threats, and the knights of the Argent Order were all that stood between them and the Realm.

Without their work, the frontier and the heartlands would likely have fallen years ago, destroyed by monsters that had built up without being attended to. Even if the trade cities were built up to the same scale as the bastion cities, there was no way they could hold the full population of the Realm–and without the farms in the heartlands, the bastion cities couldn’t survive anyways. The Argent Order was a quiet necessity, just as crucial to the survival of the Realm as any of the other orders–and they did it all in the face of disdain and even hatred from the noble population.

Oliver couldn’t think of anything more heroic.

A gust suddenly blasted Oliver in the face, and without even thinking about it, his weight shifted onto his forward leg, so that his balance barely wobbled.

Oliver blinked in surprise. He had gotten so lost in considering the things Adeline had revealed to him that he had stopped thinking about ever-changing winds. His body simply started shifting and adapting to them without conscious thought. Even as he came to that realization, he felt his entire being flutter, as if that last gust had blown through his soul as much as his body.

You have proven your resilience in the face of the wind. The Primal has offered you the [Gift of Wind].

Do you accept?

Yes / No

Once accepted, gifts can never be relinquished.

Novice gifts: 1/2

Oliver smiled widely at the notification. He knew there was no need to verbalize his acceptance, but he did anyways, just as he had done when he had received his first gift. “Yes,” he said out loud.

The boy gasped as his soul embraced the power the Primal had offered him. There was a moment of frisson over his body, a feeling like shivers and exhaustion and adrenaline and satisfaction all at once, as his new gift enhanced his attributes. The winds seemed to gust even harder, but he didn’t even consider them anymore. There was no need.

“Attributes,” he said to the open air.

Oliver Argent

Level: Novice

Gifts:

[Gift of the Vanguard]: +2 to strength, resilience, and stamina

[Gift of Wind]: +3 to coordination and speed

Attributes:

Strength: 7 (5 + 2)

Resilience: 8 (6 + 2)

Stamina: 8 (6 + 2)

Coordination: 8 (5 + 3)

Speed: 7 (4 + 3)

Will: 5

Knowledge: 7

Focus: 5

Awareness: 4

Charm: 3

Quintessence Pool: 10

The sight of his new attribute boons only made Oliver smile wider. In the months leading up to his trial duel, Oliver had thoroughly searched out every scrap of information he could find on the Mage and the Primal for gifts that would pair well with the gifts of the Warrior. The freedom of the wind had caught his eye immediately–but as its boosts overlapped with those of the gift of the fencer, they would’ve gone to waste. Instead, he had reluctantly settled on the gift of fire, the raw power of which would complement the agile pinpoint fighting style of fencing.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Receiving the gift of the vanguard had changed things. Its smaller but more spread out boons had improved the attributes he had most raised himself. Strength, stamina, and resilience had always come naturally to Oliver, with his height and his powerful build. By comparison, the gift of wind only benefited two attributes, but it gave stronger boosts to each of them, and his speed and coordination had always been the attributes he had the most difficult time improving through training. Paired, the two gifts boosted all of his physical attributes. Oliver knew from his research that such a combination was rare, and it would give his abilities an uncommon breadth.

His mental attributes were a different story, but Oliver was perfectly happy with his own mental acuity. Already, his will had even gone up a point from the day before. That must’ve been from all of the introspection that had followed after Adeline had forced him to consider and recognize the lies and unconscious biases he had grown up with. He wondered if she could help him with some exercises to improve his focus and awareness, too.

Oliver dismissed his attributes, then laughed breathlessly when he felt another vicious squall slam his awkward perch. He had no difficulty keeping his balance this time. Coordination was the attribute associated with manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and balance, while speed, especially at the lower levels, was associated with reflexes and reaction time. The boosts he had received made holding his place in the face of the gusting winds simple, his body automatically adjusting his stance to accommodate the ever-swirling winds.

So, despite his dangerous position, Oliver was more than comfortable enough to take a moment to examine his new gift before he began the long climb down the pillar.

“Gift of wind,” he said aloud, calling up the message that explained his new gift.

[Gift of Wind]

Level: Novice

Experience: 0%

Push your limits to grow closer to the wind

Abilities:

[Gust Blast] - Active, Attack - Manifest a gust of wind straight in front of you. Inflicts little direct damage, but can disorient or physically move enemies. Moderate quintessence cost.

[Mantle of Wind] - Active, Utility - Conjure a small cloak of swirling wind around yourself. Reduces fall speed. One minute duration. Minor quintessence cost.

[Master of Wind] - Boon - Moderate boost to coordination and speed.

Augments:

[Wind Slash] - Wind, Vanguard - Active, Attack - Use a bladed weapon to make a ranged attack delivered through hardened air. Damage and quintessence cost depend on the weapon used to make the attack.

Oliver’s smile widened as he read his new abilities. They were straightforward, as most gifts tended to be at low levels, but they would add some useful versatility to the special attacks his vanguard gift had already given him. He wasn’t sure what a quintessence pool was though. The term was vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t recall anything specific about it. He thought for another moment, trying to remember, before he finally sighed and shrugged. Maybe he really did need to pay more attention to his mental attributes.

For the moment, however, he was ready to test out his new abilities. He hadn’t been looking forward to climbing back down the long ladder that had brought him to this platform anyways. What better way was there to test his new gift?

His grin widened as he made the small effort of will to activate his new Mantle of Wind–then he simply stepped off the side of the pillar.

#

Adeline paced restlessly in front of the Primal Hall. She was wearing a much more functional outfit than she had the day before, a soft white tabard and a pair of quilted silk trousers in a dark gray. Of course, her top was dyed the bright white the Argent Order was associated with. She always tried to wear the order’s colors when she was in a city, so she had added a pair of white leather boots that went up her calves and short riding cloak made of a light gray fabric that glittered in the sun. She had spent the time she was waiting for Oliver to pass his test binding her golden blonde hair into a neat braid.

She didn’t notice Oliver’s descent until he was halfway down, when passerby began pointing upwards. Of course, the aristocracy had to keep up their pretense of being unimpressed by any display of gifts, so their surprise was kept to a low murmur. Adeline felt no need to project such a jaded air. She had seen many amazing feats from gift bearers in her life, but she never lost her wonder when she saw something new.

And watching her sixteen year old charge fall from ten stories up, screaming in exhilaration, only for his plummet to suddenly turn into the gentle drift of a feather ten feet above the polished stone of the street, was certainly a new one.

By the time he had reached street level, Adeline had her arms crossed and an eyebrow arched in amusement at Oliver’s pose. While he had tried to maintain a controlled fall, he had little practice at falling over a hundred feet, and by the time he was halfway down from his precarious perch, his mantle had vanished, its duration spent. In his panic, it had taken him precious seconds to manifest the cloak again, and he managed it only just in time to softly float down the last few feet.

Adeline’s boots clicked on the marble stones of the street as she approached him until she appeared in his field of vision, looking down with an amused look, only barely managing to contain her laughter at his expense. “Well. I take it you passed your trial,” more bubbling laughter danced in her voice as she continued, “and your excitement inspired you into that spontaneous act of idiocy?”

Oliver flashed her a petulant look, then saw a notification press at his attention.

[Gift of Wind] experienced gained

Experience: 8%

His pout turned into a grin. “Worth it,” He claimed breathlessly, before letting out a breath and sprawling comfortably on the sun warmed street.

Adeline narrowed her eyes suspiciously at his dopey grin. “Did you… Did you just get experience for that?”

“Maybe.”

She exhaled a huff of breath somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “Stand up before you get run over, dumbass.”

Oliver chuckled and pushed himself into a sitting position, then gave Adeline a suspicious look of his own. “What are you doing out here anyways?”

The blonde knight rolled her eyes. “Your little trick there must be common for those who succeed in the trial of wind. The officials told me I was better off waiting out here for you.”

Oliver huffed another little chuckle as he climbed to his feet. “I mean, are you telling me that if you had the choice between climbing that damned ladder or just jumping down, you’d take the ladder?”

Adeline pursed her lips thoughtfully, then looked up at the towering pillar far overhead. Reluctantly, she admitted, “That actually might be a good point.” She turned back to him, arching an eyebrow. “Did the gift of wind give you a charm bonus?”

Oliver smiled back. “Nope, still an eight!” he said proudly. “That one was all me!”

“Maybe don’t act so proud of that,” Adeline advised. “Now come on, we should get going. Your sister and brother will be waiting for us by now.”

The reminder of the lunch with his family, and his mother’s unsurprising absence, served to deflate Oliver’s excitement, and his smile quickly faded. “Right.” He kept his voice as neutral as he could, trying to suppress the anxiety abruptly chewing away at his guts. “Let’s go then.”

#

Adeline and Oliver chatted about Oliver’s new gifts as they walked back to the cafe Adeline had taken him to the day before.

“That augment is good. Typical of vanguard gifts, just a nice, straightforward attack. Some range will go a long way for your skillset.”

Oliver glowed at the comment. He had felt the same when he saw the description of Wind Edge, and with the relative scarcity of the gift of wind–many chose more showy gifts like earth or fire–it should prove a valuable surprise in no small number of fights. That was, after all, the real power of augments. While the abilities each gift gave at each level were the same for everyone with that gift, to the point that many were fully cataloged through at least Adept, the augment powers formed by the combinations of gifts were far more unique. Offhand, Oliver had never heard of anyone with the vanguard and wind combination, which would prove a powerful advantage if he found himself in any duels.

“You seem to know a lot about the vanguard gift,” Oliver commented off-handedly. Oliver had spent a while considering what gifts his new mentor had, but hadn’t figured out a polite way to ask.

“Noticed that, did you?” Adeline asked cheekily, having clearly seen through him. One hand reached up to grasp her own upper arm–the same place Oliver had noticed the upraised sword design of the vanguard brand on his own skin the night before. “I do have the vanguard gift, after all. It's a common gift among adventurers, actually–we prize versatility over the kind of specialization the bastion forces prefer.”

That put a little skip in Oliver’s step. He had heard a lot of derisive comments about the vanguard gift from his noble peers and trainers growing up. It wasn’t as strong as the brawler, nor as defensive as the guardian, nor as fast as the skirmisher or the fencer. It was a jack of all trades, which his desperate display in his duel against Allid had apparently matched him to. But, like many of the biases he had accepted over the years, he was increasingly realizing that the nobles of Elliven were wrong to ignore the simple, straightforward techniques the vanguard gift granted.

[Gift of the Vanguard]

Level: Novice

Experience: 0%

Defeat foes to grow your skill in the face of danger

Abilities:

[Reckless Strike] - Active, Attack - Make a special attack with potency increased by two tiers. Major stamina cost.

[Reinforced Defense] - Triggered, Defense - When blocking an attack, your equipment is treated as one tier of potency higher. Each time this is triggered, there is a minor focus cost.

[Battlefield’s Blessing] - Boon - Lesser boost to your strength, stamina, and resilience.

“Oh! That reminds me!” Oliver said suddenly. “My wind powers all reference a quintessence pool. Do you know what that is?”

Adeline grimaced, and lifted a hand that she wiggled back and forth in a so-so gesture. “Sort of. I don’t have a Primal gift, so I only know the basics.”

“That’s still more than I know,” Oliver admitted. “I know I heard the term somewhere, but I can’t place it.”

“Think of it as a resource.” Adeline said. “It’s unique to the Primal gifts. It’s supposed to represent the magic your gift has absorbed, that you use for your elemental abilities, something like that.”

Oliver nodded thoughtfully. Abilities always had some kind of limit to them. Some had a cooldown that limited how often they could be used, while others used attributes, most often stamina and focus, as a cost to be activated the way his vanguard abilities did. So the quintessence pool, he reasoned, was used in a similar fashion, but it wouldn’t leave him exhausted the way overusing his stamina would. That helped him to remember where he had heard the term before.

“That must be it,” he told Adeline. “My sister has a Primal gift too. Earth. She must’ve mentioned quintessence at some point.”

Adeline winced at the words, and she cleared her throat awkwardly. “Uhm, Oliver… I don’t know how culture in Elliven is, but as you travel, you should know, it’s considered impolite to reveal someone else’s gifts without their permission.”

Oliver flushed in embarrassment. He hadn’t known that. “Really?”

Adeline nodded uncomfortably. “Most people tend to be pretty open about their own gifts–or at least, their Novice gifts–but it’s generally seen as very rude to go talking about someone else's, even your own family’s.”

Still flushed, Oliver directed his eyes at the ground. His reply was distinctly ashamed and subdued when he told Adeline, “Yes ma’am. Apologies, I didn’t know.”

Adeline rolled her eyes and made an exasperated noise. “By the Warrior, calm down Oli. I know you didn’t know, that’s why I told you!”

Oliver looked up, so startled at her tone that his steps froze for a moment. Only then did he realize he had slipped instinctively into responding to her the way he had to chastising tutors or his father. “I- uhm, I only, I mean…”

Adeline shook her head, her expression melting into a smile. “You’re fine, Oliver. I’m not your father. I don’t expect you to know everything on day two, or to be perfect… ever, really. Artist knows I’m not. Okay?”

Oliver flushed again, for very different reasons this time, and he ducked his head. “Y-yes ma’am. Adeline. Sorry.”

Adeline sighed. “We really need to work on loosening you up at some point.”