If ever you asked, well everyone in the empire would say Orrin was a humble man. It might not be the first thing out of people's mouths when speaking of him, but it was the most common one on which people seemed so often to land. He had worked his way up in power through determination and a work ethic bordering on insanity. He claimed deeds that were rightfully his, but never bragged or boasted about them, merely acknowledging them. This attitude and general competence had gained him universal respect and admiration from those under him, grudging respect and envy from those around him, and had gained him the attention of the only one truly above him.
This is what had earned him his spot in the pantheon. Not as one of the gods, of course, not even close. But serving directly under his god, in a position of extreme honor and prestige. A position envied by every other mortal in existence, apart from the nine other aides, he supposed. But Orrin truly felt that even they had to envy him his position. Though he was sure they loved, admired, and respected their own deities, his was simply superior. Kind hearted, soft spoken, just, honorable, his lord was the very picture of a divinity.
He looked resplendent in his armor, looking like the shifting sands as he moved, with accents of gold webbing across his shoulders and chest like cracks of the greater sun. His tanned skin contrasted against the shifting armor to show off his squared jaw and piercing yellow eyes. Though he had once had midnight black hair, it was now touched with streaks of gray at the temples, his well kept beard now more salt and pepper than the true black it had once been. His armor was, despite its quality, considered mundane. Plain looking when compared to the intricate works of art many of his peers and soldiers wore, but Orrin took care of it, and had for years, making it an inseparable piece of equipment for him.
He had always been taught, always believed, and always maintained and instilled in his subordinates the idea that you should always maintain your equipment. If you have free time in the evenings, before resting in your bunks, before going out for drinks with your comrades, tend to your arms and armor. Take care of them and they will take care of you.
Perhaps it was the humility, perhaps it was the genuine care he took for those with whom he worked, but his subordinates always knew they could come to him with any issue, any concern, any news good or bad, and be heard by Orrin. Which was why, as he stood on one of the great terraces in the capital city Loterre looking out on the city below, he was unsurprised when one of the captains under his command approached him.
"Good afternoon, Sayrin. Tell me, how is your son recovering?" Asked Orrin, his voice a deep baritone, but touched by genuine curiosity.
"Very well sir, the bone has been completely restored, and the muscles reattached. He still favors his right, but he's slowly returning to normalcy. He should be able to return to active duty in a matter of weeks." replied Sayrin, standing formally at attention as he spoke.
"Sayrin," Orrin chuckled, "I've told you countless times you needn't stand on formalities for me, please, relax."
Smiling in return, Sayrin relaxed his posture somewhat, clasping his hands behind his back and putting his feet shoulder width apart. "Of course, sir, it won't happen again." Both of them knew well that it would, and most likely within the hour.
"Sir" Sayrin said, taking a more serious tone "There was an incident in the crystal chambers early this morning."
"Oh? Which crystal was it that reacted?" asked Orrin, intrigued but not concerned.
"The rose quartz, sir."
At this, Orrin's entire bearing changed from one of routine to one of undisguised shock that showed on his face at the news "The spatial stone? That could spell trouble." He mused for a moment, and then a moment more, until finally he asked, "Any word of collapse from one of the breaks?"
"No sir, we sent out status checks to all of our holdings immediately after and heard nothing out of the ordinary from any of them."
"Hmmm" Orrin said, once again falling into momentary contemplation. "Most likely then, it means a collapse for another nation. We hold quite a few of them, but not all. Send word to our allies first, if they aren't already aware of themselves. Though if we haven't heard anything yet. it's probably not one of theirs."
"Sir, could this also be the appearance of a new break?" Asked Sayrin, excitement on his face at the possibility.
"Absolutely it could" Orrin replied, wanting to foster that excitement rather than shoot it down out of hand. "They are exceedingly rare, but the appearance of a new break would be a century defining occurrence. The last one to appear was before I even gained a class, some... eighty years ago I think? I suppose we are about due for another actually"
Drumming his fingers on the railing of the balcony, Orrin looked at Sayrin, waiting excitedly on the orders for which he held such hope.
"Alright, take your company" He finally said with a laugh. "Go to the library and get the maps on the most likely locations for a new break. I have no concept of the logic behind it, but they somehow found a pattern to their appearances."
Almost giddy with excitement, Sayrin beamed as he said "Absolutely, we'll make preparations today, and make haste in the morning. Thank you sir!"
He saluted, right hand across his chest fist to shoulder, and practically ran to alert his troops.
"Sayrin!"
Pausing at the door to the terrace and turning back, he asked "Yes sir?"
"Start in the south. I can't say why, but something tells me the rose forest is the place to start."
The rose forest was notorious to their nation, and their army in particular. There was a good reason they stayed away despite its low leveled monster population perfect for their newer recruits.
This had a sobering effect on Sayrin, who nodded sharply, then left the balcony to carry out his mission.
Orrin returned his gaze outward, southward in fact. Again, not sure what drew his focus to that region, or why the forest in particular kept taking hold of his thoughts.
A reaction in the spatial gem meant a strong instance of spatial magic had occurred in the world. Most nations had a similar apparatus to warn them of powerful events and allow them time to react. These normally took the form of natural phenomena. A powerful storm triggering the silver stone, an earthquake triggering their own golden one, and so on. But they also reacted to the gods. Each stone was attuned to the power of their respective divine, and if they were ever to use a direct and concerted form of their power, it would trigger a reaction just the same.
So, of course, the most likely explanation of a spatial reaction was the birth or death of a break.
Gazing so far into the horizon, he felt he should be able to see the end of the world, Orrin contemplated the other explanation. The only other explanation.
A new spatial user had been born.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kya woke with a sneeze as the blue sun peeked over the trees. Gazing up with groggy eyes, she looked up at the wondrous effect the little blue sun had on the sunrise. It was creating the most beautiful shades of purple and green she had ever witnessed. Before too long, it was joined by the second sun. Normalizing the sunrise into a familiar burnt orange sky, however it still held onto bands of emerald green streaking out here and there.
It was something so simple, the sun rising in the morning, but the sheer and exultant wrongness of it held Kya's gaze captive. She stared, unmoving, for most of the morning. Simply content to watch as the yellow sun slowly exerted its dominance, transforming the sky to its regular blue.
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Stretching, Kya stood and began to pack up her campsite. She had slept on several of the banners layered one on top of the other to create a simple bed roll. It was a chilly night, but her sweatshirt and the embers of her fire had been more than enough to sleep comfortably.
She left out the banner used on the rat yesterday, now easily identified by the dried blood streaked across its surface. Kya was delighted to find that it hadn't soaked into the surface, and after a gentle shave with her dagger, the dried blood flaked away leaving the banner in pristine condition once more.
At least, pristine for now. But not for long.
It took several minutes of cutting and slashing, but eventually, she managed to overcome the inherent resistance to tear of stripes of cloth. Though they were thin, the fabric had shown, both against the rats, and her own blade, to be incredibly resilient.
Pulling off her wrecked sweatpants, she began wrapping her thighs and calves in what would be a makeshift armor set. Tying it off, she stood and experimentally tried moving and walking. Her knees had been left unwrapped to maintain as much flexibility as possible, but hopefully, this would still provide a formidable layer of protection.
She pulled back on her pants, then her *heavenly* boots, and moved to the next are. Her legs weren't the only areas getting decked out. Her biceps and forearms were now also wrapped in the makeshift armor. It might not do much, but anything was better than nothing. She was also willing to wager these cloth strips would be a far cry better than nothing.
Kya had wanted to make a shirt or cape or something as well, to protect her back, chest, and stomach. But she was worried about putting an intensely tear resistant fabric around her neck. She settled for a simple stomach wrap, almost like a tube top. It left her shoulders exposed, but scroungers can't be choosers.
Putting the leftover scraps of her banner back in her bag, Kya went over and studied her reflection in the still clear water on the surface of the pond.
Twenty-Four hours since her awakening here, and already she felt... different. Oh, the dirty, makeup-less face wasn't anything new. Too many days waking up in far too similar a position while doing field exercises had accustomed her being out in the wilderness. It was more the look on her face. Her shoulder length black hair tied back in a simple tail, her brown eyes alert and focused, she looked... Determined. Like the spark behind her eyes that had always been there had finally ignited.
Her magic bag on her left side, her knife now joining it strapped to her left with a simple loop, Kya took her staff in hand and headed into the woods. She had some monster slaying to be getting on with.
Pulling up the timers of her two active quests, she grimaced at the time wasted sleeping.
- - - - -
Quest: A New Perspective
- Objective: Survive the forest and make it to the town ahead.
- Time Remaining: 5d:22hrs:51min:32sec
- Reward: Class Selection
- - - - -
Quest: Climbing the Ladder
- Objective: Kill 10 Common rarity Monsters above 1-Star.
- Progress: 1/10
- Time Remaining: 37hrs:46min:50sec
- Reward: Gloves of the Spatial Mage - Uncommon
- - - - -
If the Rat was anything to go by, the uncommon variants were forces to be reckoned with. This meant simply charging in wouldn't remotely be a smart move, but she was also certain that each one would take some time to find and kill. She hadn't ventured far from the temple yesterday, but still had only found a single more powerful variant the entire time she looked. If she hoped to find any of the 3-Stars, Kya might spend the rest of her time searching and never even catch a glimpse.
Still, without any knowledge of how these animals worked, or where to find them, all she could do for now was search. She headed directly towards the village ahead, keeping the rising suns to her right. This theoretically meant she was going north, but... who knew if this place even had a north. Or a single north. What if there were two norths?
Such were the thoughts of Kya as she walked through the forest, in search of prey. Fortunately for her and her inner monologue, she didn't have to wait long. Finding another common rabbit scrounging in the underbrush already pausing and looking around, she quickly hunched down and began slowly making her approach.
The rabbits were, as the name suggested, overly aggressive. Although pretty cute with their fluffy fur and round ears, they gained not only about a foot in height, but also retractable talons the size of house keys that extended from their arms and feet, putting her in mind of a certain mutant from her world. This made their quick feet and fast swipes considerably more intimidating than the fluffiness would lead one to believe.
The moment the monster saw her, it stamped its foot several times in quick succession, before launching at her like a rocket. Wanting to test her new makeshift armor against something reasonably tamer than the abomination of an uncommon rat fiend, Kya, who was now also up and running, used her staff to push back on the rabbit. Not repelling it completely, but just enough to stun it for a moment. She then caught the rabbit on one of her arms as it jumped up towards her. Scratching away with both front and rear claws, it furiously racked her arm for a full count of three before detaching and hopping away to reassess.
Though there were noticeable scratches in her wraps, no actual tears. A more powerful or dedicated attacker could probably get through them or use sheer blunt force to break the bones underneath, but Kya was overall quite satisfied with her new slash resistance.
The rabbit, on the other hand, looked confusedly up at her. Clearly, the frenzied scratch method was usually a winner for the little guy. However, as is often the case, confusion was quickly funneled into fuel for the aggression, and the rabbit once more launched an attack.
Fully repelling it now, Kya shot the rabbit into a tree, where it lay momentarily stunned. Then, pulling it back to her, she held out her fang dagger as the rabbit was inevitably impaled upon it.
A smart idea? Kya thought so. Heavily inspired by paddle ball? Of course. Did she regret it, absolutely. The blood of the rabbit so cleverly impaled two inches in front of her... had of course erupted out to cover her arm and most of her torso.
Retching slightly as she got the notification confirming the kill, she felt intense relief when the black shade that claimed the bodies of the monsters also claimed the blood as well. She could swear it was still on her though. It was like when she took a shower after being covered in filth, but needed to take a second one to be confident she was actually clean.
She was happy to find more rabbit meat in her pouch though, along with the usual token, crystal, and vile. She had gotten a chunk of rat meat from one of the lesser rats yesterday... but there was no way she'd eat rat meat when she had rabbit meat. She would if she had to, rats were better than starvation, but there was just something about the idea that made her stomach go a little queasy.
Continuing on, Kya spent most of the day in this fashion. Hunting the monsters she saw, all the while expanding her understanding of the staff, and the powers it granted. Growing frustrated by the lack of suitable prey, she stopped as the suns began their descent in the sky, and made a small fire in a clearing. She had prepared a suitable pile of kindling last night, and stored it in her bag for later use, so after collecting some wood, the process went rather quickly of skewering and roasting some of her aggressive rabbit meat. She sat cross-legged, slowly turning the meat to evenly cook it, when she finally found what she had been searching for. Or rather, it found her.
A small bird flashed by so quickly, it was like one of those flipbook animations she made as a kid. There was nothing... then a bird clutching at her food with outstretched talons... then nothing again, including the frustrating absence of her lunch.
Looking wildly in every direction, Kya finally spotted the bird perched in a tree some distance away, taking rapid darting bites of her rabbit.
- - - - -
*** NEW CREATURE IDENTIFIED ***
- Avian Isela - 1-Star - Uncommon
- The Isela are small scavenger birds. They utilize the wind to allow them additional speed when airborne, letting them get in and get out without suffering much risk. But don't let their size fool you. Though they are small, they can be vicious when provoked.
- - - - -
It was about the size of a Kya's forearm in length, maybe a full foot if it stretched out its neck. It had dark burgundy feathers on the top, and a soft whitish-pink coat of feathers on its underside. It was about halfway through her rabbit when it looked up and noticed Kya staring. It opened its beak and released a shrill, high pitched screech at her, flapping its wings to try and intimidate, Kya guessed.
It kind of worked too, as Kya noticed for the first time, it didn't have two wings, but four. Two major ones that spread out to at least two and a half feet on either side, and two smaller ones further down its body only about a foot in length each. Going from the size of a large tennis shoe to the size of a large T.V. in appearance was a hefty intimidation tactic to be sure, but it mostly just excited Kya. She got to her feet, readied her staff, and drew her dagger.
Finally, she had found a worthy opponent. Their battle would be le-
The bird darted away, taking with it the skewer of meat.
Dumbfounded, Kya stood still for a second, before making haste and sprinting after the isela yelling "Get back here!"