《The Great Expedition(Hiatus)》


 Ch. 1 - To the Plaza

    Lleu grabbed his cloak from the wall peg along with a small bundle of packages he had prepared the night before and dashed out into the streets of the city¡¯s lower district.


    As it was still early enough in the morning the light that shone through the clouds above was dim and the streets relatively empty. Lleu knew that very soon this would change as the streets filled with people going about their daily routines. The streets would be bad enough on a normal day making any sort of easy travel next to impossible but it was not a normal day.


    ¡®Damn choosing, they really don''t need to make such a big event out of it.¡¯


    The choosing was both what made the day abnormal and the reason for Lleu¡¯s annoyance. For the majority of the lower district it was a festival day to enjoy but since he was a runner it just meant much more work than usual. He was already internally grimacing at the idea of running back and forth from the large plaza to deliver messages to impatient customers. These would usually be whichever people were awaiting the results of the testing of one of their relatives and bringing bad news, which was the norm for the testing results, was never paid well.


    The testing, if one could afford to undergo it, was one of the only ways for a family to move up and out of the lower district. Although the exact specifics of it were not known to Lleu he knew that it uncovered any magical affinities someone had. If the abilities it uncovered were of an acceptable level it would earn you a spot in one of the groups of warriors, called societies, that took part in the yearly expedition into the mountains far to the north.


    As the only family Lleu had ever known was comprised of his fellow runners he had long abandoned any hope of ever being able to take part, the meager amount of wealth he had saved up during his life was not even close to enough for the entrance. Instead, he had resigned himself to working and rising up the ranks of the runners, if things continued as they had been he might even be able to deliver messages between the lower and middle districts within ten years!


    Even though it was fairly rough around the edges the lower district was not necessarily a bad place to live, compared to the stories of the slums located in the southern cities it could be considered a true paradise. To Lleu however, it felt like a cage he needed to break out of.


    The feeling of being caged was not unheard of among the population as most would live their entire lives without ever leaving the lower district. Leaving was not possible as moving to any of the higher districts had strict requirements and exiting the city entirely was suicide. This was because the lands surrounding the city were covered in a dense mist which would kill anybody excluding those who could wield magic with only a touch.


    Why the mists acted as they did was not something Lleu had ever thought much of as he spent most of his time trying not to be trampled by crowds. It had seemingly only been a minute since he had left but the crowds in the street were already thickening forcing Lleu to slow down greatly.


    Even though the streets had not been built with any sort of organization in mind they still would have been wide enough for everyone to walk comfortably if not for the countless stalls latched onto nearby buildings. These stalls turned every street into a winding maze which currents of people squeezed through. As they were the lifeblood of the lower district the stalls sold anything one could ever need, their owners already busy with trade while keeping an eye out for the greedy hands of urchins weaving their way through the legs of the passersby. What limited space there was between everything contained hawkers who seemed to compete for the loudest voice and occasionally a rare patrol of guards who had long abandoned any hope of being able to bring any sort of order to the chaos that was the street.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Dodging out of the way of a man carrying a mountain of sticks in a basket strapped to his back so he would not be trampled Lleu twisted his way through the throng, his goal a pile of abandoned crates that had lined the wall of the alley he was currently in for as long as he could remember.


    He climbed up onto the crates, out of the mayhem of the street, and onto the peaceful solitude of the rooftops where he could finally move without being jostled from every side. Because of their openness the roofs had always been Lleu¡¯s preferred way of traversing the city even before he had known such a convenient way of accessing them.


    Also since Lleu had always been on the shorter side he had needed them just to be able to move fast as forcing his way through the crown was not something he could realistically do, weaving through people¡¯s legs had also gotten old very quickly. Unfortunately this need had never changed as when his peers all began shooting upwards with growth spurts he had stayed the same. He had ended up a good two heads shorter than everyone else without any expectation of that changing.


    Lleu began to jog across the rooftops and as he headed towards the great plaza which was the center point of the entire lower district he began to note which buildings had the tiny red flags raised which signified a need for a runner.


    ¡°Lleu, you have my pay for this week?¡±


    The question was posed by Obo. He was a lamplighter who each morning would climb onto the roofs to gain access to the countless lanterns that swayed suspended by ropes above the crowded streets below. He would pull these onto the roof and fill them up with fresh lamp oil for the next night. A little before dusk he would make the same rounds and light them all.


    Obo and other lamplighters like him were the result of an effort made by the council governing the lower district to try and reduce the amount of thievery taking place during the night. Of course, since the guards essentially had no real power in the streets, this attempt fell flat and did nothing other than making the nights a little more lively. Since the people liked the atmosphere they brought any attempts to stop would most likely result in riots, the council could only gnash their teeth and keep on paying for the lighting.


    ¡°Sorry Obo, I think the task is still on the board, someone else should grab it sometime later today.¡±


    Lleu ran on with an apologetic wave to the man and leaped over a small opening between streets. He briefly heard some angry shouting from below, most likely one of the few guard patrols had noticed his jump.


    Technically the only people allowed on the rooftops were those like Obo since he was employed directly by the council and needed access to do his job. In reality, however, the rooftops were used by plenty of other people.


    This lawbreaking was not deterred as unwilling to climb up only to see their quarry vanish before they arrived, the guards simply no longer cared enough to do more than simply shout at the offender to get down. The vast majority of these offenders were those who the guards considered undesirables: street urchins, thieves, any anybody else who wished to move around without any regard for the law.


    Other than those the only other noticeable group of people using them were the younger members of the runners who used them for quick delivery of messages. Luckily Lleu had grown up as one of the latter.


    His life could have been much different as his early childhood had been spent living on the streets stealing from distracted vendors. On one of those days a member of the runners had watched him being chased by a baker he had liberated his lunch from and speed away at a very impressive pace.


    Soon after that, he had been offered a place in the runners which he gladly accepted, traded in his street life for consistent meals, a job, and even some education. Education was needed as alongside simply delivering messages as runners were recognized legitimate witnesses for the signing of contracts or even just verbal deals. Due to this all of their members were required to be literate.


    Becoming literate had been both a boon and a curse for Lleu. With this skill, his life quality had risen dramatically as being a witness was an easy payout but he had also learned about everything he was missing. Books told him of the exotic southern lands and of the mysterious ruins which the great expedition investigated yearly, each time bringing back the artifacts the magic users of the city drew much of their power from. One way or another he had to move up in the city so he could experience more, even it if was only through books.

 Ch. 2 - The Seer

    As a loose shingle clattered its way down from Lleu''s last step an odd sound drifted upwards from one of the alleyways below.


    Something about the sound seemed ominous and stopped Lleu in his tracks as he listened. For a moment there was nothing but then the sound came again allowing him to pinpoint its source. It seemed to be coming from a small crevice in a dark corner of the alley he had just passed over. Feeling curious and noting how surprisingly nobody seemed to be around both below and on the roofs Lleu slipped down the side of the building and carefully landed on the ground with a neat roll.


    Immediately all the noises typical of the street were deafened as the cramped walls deafened outside sound. Again the strange sound came, now recognizable as an odd cross between a wheeze and a bubbling groan.Lleu stepped forward to take a look and instead of the clatter of boots on stone his steps made a splashing sound. A quick glance down revealed various puddles of dark liquid.


    The source of this liquid became clear as Lleu entered the crevice and was met with the sight of a man lying crumpled in the farthest corner. A giant wound dominated the side of his neck and the area where his jaw had once been, the occasional gurgling rasp coming forth as he struggled for air. The liquid Lleu had stepped in, obviously blood, flowed in a waning trickle to join the speckling of pools already on the ground.


    ¡®So much blood!¡¯


    As a native of the lower district, Lleu was no stranger to the sight of a heavily injured man bleeding to death in the street but even so, the brutality of the wound disturbed him far more than the usual sight of stabs and slashes ever had. Another feeling of shock shot through him as his eyes finally adjusted to the dim light and enabled him to recognize the man¡¯s clothes.


    A luxurious purple robe with a fine silver lining covered the man covered the man with a richness that spoke of the middle or possibly even the upper district of the city. Although such a high-class citizen bleeding to death in a lower district alleyway was something Lleu had never expected to find this was not what drew his attention. Boldly centered on the chest of the robe there was a sigil taking the form of an eye surrounded by several concentric circles. This was the symbol of seers, one of the highest ranking and most mysterious societies in the entire city!


    Also, of all the societies the seers were by far the most politically powerful, it was said that every decision made by the various leaders or councils of the districts had a seer meddling in the background. Furthermore if one were to take rumor as factual then the seers could even see the future or possibly even change fate!


    Although Lleu highly doubted the validity of those rumors he felt it was clear that this situation was far beyond him and not something he had any business being involved in. As he was about to turn and leave while making sure nobody had seen him a cough sounded from the unfortunate man seer¡¯s as his arm twitched, jolting slightly toward Lleu. Lleu caught the dying man¡¯s gaze and immediately the man''s eyes quickly began jumping between Lleu and his own right hand. Hesitantly, Lleu moved forward and reached towards the man¡¯s hand all the while cursing his own curiosity. The man¡¯s fingers opened from the fist they had been curled up in and a small golden disk fell out along with a bound roll of paper.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Noting the relentless flickering of the seer''s eyes Lleu felt the intent of the gesture was clear, he wanted him to pick up the items. Reaching out Lleu grabbed both pieces and instantly was blinded by a piercing golden light.


    Scrabbling up from the ground where he had fallen in surprise Lleu blinked his protesting eyes as he looked back towards the seer, faintly glowing disk in hand. Where his expression had initially been one of grimness and pain a triumphant smirk now covered the ruined face. Again the seers eyes twitched, this time directing Lleu to a small pouch which had fallen to the ground a pace further toward the mouth of the crevice.


    ¡°What do I do with these?¡± asked Lleu as he snatched up the pouch and prepared to flee, distant shouts had already become audible, it seemed the light had attracted the attention of others.


    ¡°Run¡­¡± the faint whisper left the lips of the dying man and then the building beside them seemed to vanish in a ball of fire.


    The explosion made no sound at all other than the whistling of air as it sped towards the sudden inferno but instead produced a heat that consumed everything and left no traces behind.


    Items and pouch in hand Lleu took off running faster than he had ever run before. He was back up on the roof in a breath and seemingly flew across the rooftops as the shouts seemed to climb up with him.


    With only an increase of heat as a warning, Lleu threw himself down barely evading a blast of black flame as it passed a hair above him. As the rooftops were far too open a place to be Lleu threw himself over the edge to where he thought some canvas covered stalls would probably be. Thankfully they were there and briefly after rolling down the slanted covering Lleu dropped into the street. Since the street was so packed with people Lleu took advantage of his small stature and immediately vanished into the crowd.


    A few minutes later he was sitting underneath an abandoned stall as the searching footsteps of his unknown pursuers clattered by, angry shouts of those they had shoved away in their pursuit ringing after them.


    A burning smell woke him up from his focus and Lleu looked down in shock as the paper the seer had given him smoldered away. It seemed as though the intense heat of the fire his pursuers had thrown had come even closer than he had thought. Although the fire was quickly extinguished with a few pats the damage done was already too severe, whatever the paper had once said was now impossible to read.


    Dropping the ruined remains he opened the pouch the seer had wanted him to have. Inside was nothing other than a small wooden token engraved with the image of a flaming torch. He had thought that nothing could shock him more than what had just happened but Lleu discovered that thought to be wrong as he recognized the symbol and what it represented.


    This token was something Lleu had never thought to have, a pass to be tested in the choosing!


    Leaving the now empty pouch behind and tucking the golden disk deep into a cloak pocket Vax waited a little longer and then carefully went out of his hiding spot. Thankfully the street seemed perfectly normal, the shoppers going on as if nothing at all out of the ordinary had happened.


    Determined to head towards the plaza as quickly as he could Lleu was scaling a wall within moments and then was once again speeding across the rooftops of the city, heading towards the chance of a lifetime.

 Ch. 3 - Queue

    Jumping over the edge of a small courtyard Lleu slid to a halt as he had finally reached the edge of the rooftops surrounding the great plaza. After a quick look to make sure none of the guards were watching, the guards of the plaza were all higher ranks than those of the streets and might actually give chase if they knew he had just been on the rooftops. Noting how he was completely unnoticed he slid over the side and with a quick roll made a safe landing.


    The great plaza was where all the main streets of the lower district intersected with the road that passed through the walls of the middle district and headed towards the northern gate. This intersection caused the plaza to be very different from the rest of the lower district both in wealth and construction. For one, there were no random stalls set up in every corner, instead, semi-permanent large well built stalls being run by merchants from the middle district were set up in orderly rows.


    Since planning had obviously gone into their layout these stalls had enough room between them for carts and pedestrians to comfortably travel. Additionally, each stall had colorful flags displaying their profession waving above them.


    Breaking the consistency of the stalls a tent had been set up in the center of the plaza, although, calling it a tent was a bit misleading. It was more akin to being a canvas fortress covering a larger area than the ground level of the entire runners guild and that was a building that housed a solid thirty people at all times. This tent, of course, was where Lleu was going.


    He made his way through the paths between stalls he took note of some of the goods being sold. This year there seemed to be an abundance of stalls selling trinkets displaying the sign of the lightning guard, one of the military societies that had won great glory in last years expedition. It seemed that the merchants were cashing in their fame.


    As Lleu reached the entrance of the tent Lleu was slightly annoyed to find the presence of a long queue leading in. As he was still somewhat on edge from his recent encounter waiting in the open was nervewracking but he could not let the chance pass. Clutching his pass tightly he waited while trying to look ordinary.


    ¡°Next!¡± The shout came from inside and prompted the line to slightly move forward. A moment later a depressed looking youth in the fine clothes of a merchants son was lead out of the tent by a guard. His hopes of having a magical talent had obviously been disappointed.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    The line continued to move in that fashion, a call for the next one followed shortly by one of those who had just entered to be escorted out looking disappointed. After what seemed to be an eternity Lleu had finally reached the front of the queue.


    ¡°Next¡±


    Lleu entered and was greeted by a bored looking guard who after taking his token pushed him towards a small table with two chairs inside the tent.


    Throughout the room were similar setups every few paces. Each one of these had a scholarly looking man or woman occupying one seat and an obvious native of the lower district in the other. These were obviously the testers and those being tested.


    Sitting down in the open chair he had been ushered to Lleu looked across the table and met the bespectacled gaze of a gray-haired woman with a stern expression wearing the armour of one of the boomers.


    The nickname boomer was given to those soldiers who were part of the Dragon¡¯s Flame society which boasted to be the greatest long distance combat society in the entire city. The origin of the name was simply that their members made everything they focused their wrath at go ¡°boom¡±.


    ¡°Are you sure you are of age?¡± asked the boomer as she first observed Lleu.


    ¡°I¡¯m eighteen and a half actually, just stopped growing at some point¡±


    ¡°I see¡­ what''s your name then?¡±asked the boomer as she picked up a pen made seemingly made entirely of silver with complicated looking engravings spiraling from end to end. She still looked a little doubtful but seemed to accept his statement without further issue.


    ¡°Lleu De¡¯Danu, I''m part of the runners¡± he replied. Lleu brushed back the wild hair that was covering his ear and displayed his runners token. In the lower district earrings with tokens attached that identified your profession had at some point become popular.


    "A runner? You were scouted then and given a pass. You can write as well correct?¡±


    ¡°My hand isn''t the cleanest but it''s not bad¡±


    ¡°One of our scribes wandered off somewhere, not sure where he went, but we could use someone to help document all those being tested. If things don''t turn out as you hope I''d have some work for you.¡°


    ¡°Thanks for the offer but I hope to pass!¡±


    Smiling at how Lleu''sconfidence the boomer put away the paper she had been writing on and said.


    ¡°Let us get started then, place your hands on the crystal spheres before you and do not take them off until I say so.¡±


    She gestured at a pair of perfectly round balls of crystal standing on the table before Lleu. The two spheres were connected by a complex looking series of metallic wires which were wound around several hourglass shaped crystals. The entire contraption looked extremely fragile but the boomer stuck her hands without any regard and began fiddling. Lleu placed his hands on the sphere and the world went white.

 Ch. 4 - Exploding Equipment

    Lleu opened his eyes to a scene of infinite white. All around him was only nothingness except for a dimly glowing star hovering slightly apart from a set of crystals connected by phantom wires all identical in appearance to those in the testing device. The crystals were lazily rotating and other than occasionally letting loose a brief sparkle they seemed docile. An oddity in their rotation was that their spinning seemed to have no regard for the wires that held them up and instead of colliding they passed through them unhindered.


    For a little while, nothing seemed to happen but then, with a stuttering flicker, the star bloomed into an array of colors. They shot out in every direction and quickly the white world became a chaotic mess. Seemingly in response to the vibrant light, the crystals began to increase the speed of their rotation and soon were only visible as a blur.


    From their centers, colorful specs radiated out and joined the star in brilliance. In awe, Lleu watched as the specs began clumping together to form various shapes. The chaos exponentially increased and soon it became difficult to keep track of what was where.


    Lleu¡¯s head hurt, his eyes hurt, there was just too much light, and just the black of unconsciousness began creeping into his vision the spinning stopped and the star extinguished.The colorful specs dispersed and vanished as reality came back.


    A whining sound brought Lleu¡¯s mind back into focus. He looked at the crystals before him, each one faintly glowing a different color and vibrating violently. Together they illuminated the utterly shocked look of the boomer who could not seem to decide whether to look at the crystals or at Lleu.


    ¡°Listen closely and follow my instructions¡± muttered the boomer, seeming to have finally have composed herself.


    ¡°When I say so I want you to take your right hand off of the crystal as fast as you can move it.¡±


    She began expertly adjusting the wires and soon after the hourglasses seemed to have stabilized somewhat.


    ¡°Ready?¡±. Sheasked


    ¡°Ready¡± replied Lleu with a nod.


    ¡°Now¡± commanded the boomer as she twisted a strand of wire. Lleu pulled his right hand back with the haste of one retracting their hand from the jaws of a beast about to snap its maw shut. The crystals flashed almost blinding Lleu in their brilliance. Blinking away the afterimages he looked down to see several of the hourglasses still while the rest were still active.


    ¡°Very good, now do the same with your left on my mark.¡± said the Boomer as she continued working with the wires.


    ¡°Sorry!¡± a voice from behind said. Lleu felt his chair jolt as someone bumped into him, his left hand being slightly shifted off of the center of the sphere as the result of the unexpected shove.


    BOOM


    The crystal contraption in front of Lleu annihilated itself in a flash of multicolored light. For a moment he could see the bones through his hand and then a shockwave blasted him backward and caused all the papers on the table to fly into every direction.


    Eyes clearing from the sudden brightness Lleu once again regained his sight and looked around to see that the entire room was filled with shocked expressions that were all pointed down at him. Although he was a little shaken Lleu picked himself up right away and sat back on his bench, looking back towards to Boomer who seemed halfway between a grin and annoyance at the mess.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Getting up she began moving towards an opening in the side of the tent motioning for Lleu to follow.


    They entered into another room which although still being a part of the same tent was much smaller than the one they had just been in. Instead of being filled with people its only contents were several shelves and other assorted furniture scattered around.


    ¡°My name is Lania Iginos but you can just call me Lania.¡± she said, beckoning him to take a seat in one of the chairs standing near the center of the room.


    ¡°I think I can safely assume you are aware that you passed and that you do in fact have a magical affinity. But¡­ I think I am making an understatement when I say your testing was beyond unusual. I have participated in the testing of youthslooking to join the societies yearly for the past two decades but you are the first I have heard of or seen who managed to cause a testing device to tear itself to shreds. Any guesses as to why it did that?¡±


    ¡°Because I was knocked down?¡±


    ¡°Well yes, that''s what triggered it but it isn''t the cause. I honestly cannot say for sure but I think I can make a solid guess. You have multiple affinities, at least two, but considering how many shades of light the tester was giving off I wouldn''t be surprised if you had more than that.¡±


    After a brief pause in which Lania got up and began looking through some of the shelves lining the wall she continued,


    ¡°Having multiple affinities in itself isn''t special, have two is a base requirement for any high-ranking society and three is the minimum the Royals in the upper district are born with. However, when you have opposing affinities as I believe you do, itshould cause major instabilities in the testing device which could lead to what we just witnessed.¡±


    ¡°Which opposing affinities caused it?¡± asked Lleu


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, usually I would determine that by looking at the colors of the crystals but for you there was too much blending to do that. I will, however, do some investigating on the pieces of the tester, should be able to figure out some of them.¡±


    Lania picked up a small leather bag from a table and began choosing items on the shelf before her to place inside. The shelf''s contents included some scattered books along with a collection of what looked like random junk.


    Looking a little closer, the junk seemed to be mainly comprised of a variety of carved wood and stone, feathers, shells, bones, or even what appeared to be glass vials full of water.


    ¡°Since you have at least one magical affinity you have a spot ina society and the expedition they will be shortly setting out on, I know that''s what you came here looking for and that I can promise. What role you will play and what society will be taking you in... that I cannot say. Normally new recruits are brought into the middle district where one of the less powerful societies will offer them a place but I think that would not be the best course of action.¡± said Lania as she picked out several pieces of junk alongside a worn looking book and placed them each in the bag.


    Handing the bag it to Lleu and motioned for him to follow and they walked out another opening in the tent. Instead of leading back into the main room it connected to the back of the tent where there were a handful of guards and several carriages.


    ¡°Alright Lleu, the expedition will leave for the north in 5 days from the plaza at noon, I will be waiting for you there. Hopefully, I will have figured out your affinities by then and will have found you a suitable mentor from one of the higher ranking societies I can hand you off to. Until then study the book I gave you, it should cover all the general knowledge you will be expected to have. The other items in the bag are replica totems, try to make them do something but don''t worry if you can''t.¡±


    Without even a goodbye Lania vanished back inside the tent leaving Lleu outside. Noting how the guards were glaring at him, most likely believing he had done something to anger Lania, he decided to go.

 Ch. 5 - Analysis

    As the boy''s footsteps faded, becoming distant from the opening in the canvas, Lania adopted her typical mask of sternness and marched back into the central room. A pudgy looking man with eyes filled with guilt immediately waddled up to her stuttering apologies but she just brushed passed him and began collecting the shards of the broken Reveles. It would be costly to replace, the vault keeper would probably throw a fit when he found out but that was a confrontation which needed to wait. The magical essence the crystals absorbed from the boy would not keep long and she needed to analyze them before too much decay occurred.


    With her pouch clinking musically Lania strode out of the tent causing the guards waiting by the carriages to eye her warily.


    "Headquarters" she barked as she entered a carriage painted with the image of a dragon-shaped flame, the symbol of her society.


    Cracking his whip the previously waiting driver drove the enquian, great shaggy hoofed beasts connected to the carriage, forward and towards the middle district gate. Although there were far more people on the streets than usual the drive to her societies headquarters went reasonably fast. Still, it felt painfully slow as every second spent meant further decay of the remaining power in the crystals.


    After several frustrating minutes, the carriage passed through the gates marking the beginning of her headquarters, a gigantic black building that radiated an aura of dominance and age. As they pulled up to the massive double doors Lania stepped from the still moving carriage and strode inside heading directly towards her quarters.


    Others called her rooms unsuitable of someone with her rank as they resembled a storage closet far more than they did a place to live. With the exception of a small corner in which her bed lay the rest of her rooms were filled from floor to ceiling with papers, books, trinkets from her travels, and miscellaneous devices. She moved a few stacks of papers from a massive iron-bound chest and after a moment of digging through it quickly found what she had been looking for.


    The Skopia had been the tool of choice for analysis of new totems they brought back from the ruins although it had become obsolete a decade ago. The new version that replaced it worked on slightly different principles and was therefore much cheaper to build and simpler to use, however, it was ill-suited for analyzing anything containing mixed essences.


    With haste, Lania began stacking the crystal fragments in orderly rows beneath the gaze of the Skopia which began spluttering, jumping to life as it began feeding on the trapped power. Wheels turned and the device produced a shrieking whistling sound, it must have been lying in the chest unused for a little too long, while various runes littering the side of the device began flickering.


    Lania watched intensely and made sure to note each rune that successfully lit up and remained glowing. Soon the device was bright with half a dozen glowing marks, each carefully written down for later analysis. What she could already judge without consulting the massive tomes that had records of the combination meanings, far too many to memorize, was that the boy had an extremely high affinity for both the shadow and wind elements. Additionally, there were quite a number of runes designating lightning revealing that the boy had a high affinity forthat element as well albeit slightly less than then the other two.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    High affinities for three different elements were already something that had no business appearing anywhere other than in one of the royal lines but to Lania''s surprise the crystal fragments, still glowing, obviously still had some elements remaining inside them. Why someone like him had been walking around the lower district apparently working as a runner she could not guess, the Royals did not mingle with those lower in status and would never allow one of their own to grow up in the slums of the lower district. Perhaps a child had been lost in some political game? If that was the case at the very least there would be a record of the birth.


    After considering whether or not she was sticking her neck into something lifespan reducing Lania banished her worries and decided that it seemed time to visit the archives. As they were one of the oldest societies the Dragon¡¯s Flame had long implemented an extensive system of record keeping and archives, these were all located far beneath the ground in one of the numerous vaults built into the bedrock and required a high rank in the society to access without supervision. Thankfully she had that rank so she could wave away the archivist, an ancient man who deeply resembled a root, and head directly towards the books containing records of the most recent noble lineages.


    Approximately three hours later Lania gazed down at her notes unsatisfied. From looking through the various births and deaths of children in the various noble families over the past twenty years she had quickly built a short list of possible candidates who Lleu could actually be. As she approximately knew his age all that was needed was to figure out which noble children born in that time range were unaccounted for. This list only had six children listed on it, two of which could be disqualified instantly as they had been girls. What had caused her dissatisfaction was that the parents of the remaining four were all well known to be powerful in either earth or water, elements incompatible with the affinities she had analyzed. There was simply no way Lleu could be descended from any of them which only left the possibility of him being undocumented or not a part of any noble line.


    Although the first possibility would be troublesome the second was deeply worrying as the royals and nobles of the upper district had long based their right to rule on the might of their bloodline. The existence of someone with so many high affinities would be a direct challenge to their rule.


    After returning all of the books she had studied to their proper place Lania moved over to one of the massive tomes containing the meanings of the different rune combinations and began to work through the list she had copied down earlier.


    Much later Lania finally stumbled back into her quarters exhausted. The list of combinations she observed had turned out to be much more complicated than she had thought possible, half the rune combinations implied the existence of others and that had sent her down a track of guesses and assumptions. Her conclusion, much to her annoyance, was that there had been too much essence decay to determine anything other than the wind, shadow, and lightning elements.


    Just as she was about to lay down and close her eyes Lania noticed a faint whirring sound.


    ¡®How can it still be active? It should have run out of power hours ago.¡¯ She thought heading over to the Skopia which was somehow still chugging along. A single rune remained alight on its surface although its light had already become dim. Lania recognized this rune as she had never seen it alight before, it certainly had not shown any life when she had begun the analysis hours earlier.


    Even though she had never seen it light up before she knew exactly what it signified and why she had not found any trace of the boy in the archives. Sighing Lania prepared to leave once again, she would need to visit an old rival of hers. She had never liked the man but he had lived through the same events she had all those years ago. He would understand the what sort of chance they had been presented with, he would help.

 Ch. 6 - Proclamation

    ¡°Lleu! Where have you been?¡±


    As he entered the building which the runners of the lower district called home Lleu was instantly bombarded by a worried shout from a red-haired girl one year younger than him. After his dismissal from Lania Lleu had decided not to head directly home but instead had scoured the meager supply of books every well to do merchant or person he was friendly with looking for information on the expedition. Unfortunately, it turned out that specifics of what the different societies actually did when they headed north into the ruins past the mountains were very hard to find. He had come up with next to nothing so finally when the sky had alreadybegun to darken Lleu began moving through the city towards home. By the time he arrived the sky had transformed itself into an inky blue approaching true black.


    ¡°Chezand I covered for you so Aelia won''t know, you owe us big time.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Chalia, I got caught up in something.¡± Replied Lleu. As he was fairly confident that nobody would believe him if he said he had participated in the choosingLleu had decided to just to keep it a secret. Since there might still be people looking around for whoever had been with the dying seer during his last moments Lleu felt not standing out was a good idea anyway.


    ¡°You got caught up in something? I swear if you were gambling on testing results¡­ you didn''t win anything did you?¡±


    Interrupting Chalia¡¯s last word Lleu continued, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you about it later, thanks for covering.¡±


    Leaving her standing Lleu began climbing the slightly slanted winding staircase located in the corner of the building and headed to the top floor where he had a small room. Lleu was lucky enough to have his own room instead of sharing it with one to two others as his room was small and was adjacent to the slanted roof. Nobody else had been willing to live there but as the inconveniences had never bothered him Lleu had been glad to move in.


    The first thinghe did once the door was shut was move to the farthest corner of the room. As this corner was intersectedby the slant of the roof it was even slightly difficult for him to reach but that just made it a perfect hiding spot. A single floorboard in that corner was loose and possible to take out using a knife. This was where Lleu had long stored all his valuables not that he had many, mostly the contents were assorted coins that comprised most of his savings and some jewelry he had found or been paid with.


    A knock sounded on the door just as Lleu began moving the items Lania had given him into his hiding spot. He slammed the floorboard back in place and had righted himself just as the door opened and a breathless looking junior of his looked through the door.


    ¡°There''s someone looking for you downstairs!¡± he said excitedly, ¡°He looks important!¡±


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.¡®It cant be the people who chased me can it?¡¯Lleu thought as he slowly began heading down the stairs. There really was nothing to do other than see who it was.


    As he reached the bottom of the stairs Lleu was met by the master of the runners, an old woman named Aelia who grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the large hall in which each morning the runners both ate together and picked tasks from the task board.


    Inside the hall a handful of those runners were eating an evening meal while occasionally throwing a glance backward to look at a man wearing a bright red tabard. As he recognized the symbol of the boomers embroidered on the chest Lleu relaxed, it seemed the person looking for him was sent by Lania, not the day¡¯s pursuers.


    ¡°Lleu De¡¯Danu?¡± questioned the man to which Lleu nodded.


    ¡°I don''t know what he did to offend, but¡­¡± began Aelia but was interrupted as the man climbed onto a nearby table and announced.


    ¡°Having being tested and chosen as worthy the Dragon¡¯s Flame Society is here to invite Lleu De¡¯Danu to participate in this year''s expedition.¡±


    Stepping off the table the man turned back towards Lleu and handed him a carved tokenmade of fine ivory.


    ¡°This is your entrance token, present it to the guards at the edge of the plaza the day of departure and they will let you in. If there isare any issues look forthose of us wearing this tabard and we will help. Good night.¡±


    As sudden as his proclamation had been the man swept out the door leaving the hall in a dead silence. A moment later the crash of Aelia falling backward in a faint woke everyone from the spell.


    Cheers and congratulations flew at Lleu from every side while a few of his peers tried to wake the unconscious woman using a combination of salts and foul cheeses.


    The rest of that evening went in a blur as the hall jumped from celebrating Lleu¡¯s good fortune oneminute to interrogating him the next. Although they asked about everything Lleu managed to keep most of the specifics, such as the exact events leading up to him entering the tent, back. After he had responded his story was passed around and eventually all the runners firmly believed that Lleu had met a member of the Boomers who had scouted him and insisted he come to the choosing.


    Far later in the night than he was used to being awake, Lleu finally excused himself from the dwindling festivities and began the climb up towards his room. Opening the door he was met with the unexpected sight of a pillow hurtling towards his face.


    ¡°Wha¡­¡± the interrupting pillow collided with his face and fell down an angry yet exited looking Chalia.


    ¡°Why didn''t you tell me you were being tested? And how did you get them to let you in?¡±


    ¡°It''s like I told everyone downstairs, I met someone and he gave me an entrance pass. I guess I got scouted.¡±


    This explanation was not accepted and the exited portion of her expression faded.


    ¡°If you don''t want to tell me that''s fine¡­ you still should have introduced me to whoever got you in though...¡±


    ¡°I really didn''t know until this morning, I can introduce you to the person who tested me though, next year y..¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine Lleu.¡± Chalia stopped him mid promise, ¡±If you managed it by yourself I can too. Anyway, It''s late and I need to sleep.¡±


    As Chalia left Lleu could only scratch his head, he really wasn''t sure what she had wanted from him.


    Turning to the corner in which he had hidden Lania¡¯s items Lleu felt the itch of curiosity take hold as he moved over to pry up the floorboard.

 Ch. 7 - Special Talent?

    Prying up the floorboard excitement rose as Lleu removed the book and the handful of replica totems Lania had supplied him with earlier that day. Spreading them out before him he finally had a good chance to look at what they were. The book seemed plain enough although the frayed edges and damaged spine spoke of a lengthy history of use. Far more interesting were the replicas of which there were four in total, each entirely different from the rest. The collection included a bead of glass, a feather that seemed to be entirely made of metal, a well polished blue pebble, and a dull black rock carved with spirals.


    Wondering what exactly he was supposed to do with them Lleu picked up the book hoping it contained the needed instructions and began to read.


    Pages flew by as Lleuincreasingly became more certain that the book contained nothing much of use, simply covering everything any normal person living in the city would consider common knowledge. An extensive introduction spoke of the importance of totems to those wielding magic. Totems were a required tool needed to be able to wield magic as far north as they, magic used without them became suppressed in power the closer one got to the mountains. Also, as they were the cities only real export that pulled high demand as the nations far to the south used the artifacts to power the magical devices they built, the cities economy was dependent on their procurement. Magical devices such as the ones produced in the south also existed in the city, one example was the massive array of air totems that formed the net keeping the mist outside the walls.


    Because of all these things the city sent out yearly expeditions in which they fought through the monstrous denizens lurking in the mountains. Without the Totems the city would die so every attempt was made to try and procure as many, especially powerful ones, as possible.


    Later on, the book finally began having some information of value as it began giving some details on totem classification. There were three different classes of totems excluding the replicas, each containing a large range of tiers that determined available power along with affinity requirement. They were known as totems, master totems, and origin totems. The first of these class contained all the tiers of the standard magic boosting totem which allowed users to wield their magic. The second, in use, were mainly just more powerful versions of the first although they were often the symbols of a society as it was possible to make copies of them that functioned as normal totems. Doing those same processes to normal totems would result in the imperfect replicas which each only lasted a few days before losing power and becoming useless. This sort of creation was apparently fairly easy to produce and therefore considered cheap and so was what new recruits in the societies were often given to practice with. Origin totems, being the rarest of the bunch, were not necessarily the most powerful but had unique abilities which could not be reproduced otherwise. Also, creating replicas of them had been attempted countless times throughout the years but had never seen success.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Next, the book began listing the different societies along with important members therein. Instantly the book declared itself ancient and outdated as half of the societies listed no longer existed and the other half had names written below them that were all known to have died or retired years ago. Passing over that the section Lleu was disappointed when he reached the last page. The book had not contained any information of how to actually use the artifacts or replicas, possibly it was so obvious the author had not thought it worth adding in?


    Carefully putting the book down Lleu reached for the closest of the replicas, the bead of glass. Looking at it closely Lleu concluded it looked... entirely like an ordinary glass bead, there were no special features, nothing that screamed of it being magical. For just a moment Lleu could have sworn there was a slight glow coming from the center of the bead but then the entire thing began falling apart and turning to dust.


    Unsure if that was what Lania had meant with "make them do something" Lleu watched the small pile of dust hoping it something else would happen. Nothing did so Lleu could do nothing but shrug and move on to the replica. As his second trial, he chose the polished blue pebble as he really liked the look of it. Picking it up Lleu was met with a surprise; instead of feeling the perfect smoothness he was expecting the stone had the texture of oily slime. The pebble, just like the bead, fell apart and turned to dust leaving Lleu to stare at his hand which although looking perfectly clean felt as if it had been trawled through the filthiest alleyway in all of the lower district. Just what exactly the purpose of making something like that was, possibly a prank, he could not say. Whatever it was Lleu began to doubt that the replicas were meant to break mere moments after contact as they would make very poor practice tools if that was the case. Again he could do nothing but move on to the next replica.


    A coin flip determined that the metallic feather would be the next probably victim so Lleu picked it up and waited for the self-destruction. The feather did not disappoint him as after a brief bit of quiveringit popped, exploding into a cloud of dust.


    ''At least it broke a little differently than the others'' thought Lleu feeling a little bit cursed. He thought he might have a special talent for breaking things he touched, what had happened to that testing device definitely supported that idea and would explain why the boomer had looked as excited as she had, they were known to appreciate explosions. After briefly deciding whether or not to try out the final replica totem Lleu decided he might as well finish the bunch and very slowly reached out and poked the black rock.


    Instantly a fountain of roiling black smoke gushed from the stone and quickly filled up the entire room. Immersed in the cloud Lleu could not see anything and was left fumbling in the darkness. A few moments later the cloud began dispersing and it vanished entirely only a few seconds later. On the ground where the totem had just been lay the expected dust pile.


    All in all, Lleu was fairly satisfied as with the final replica there had been a proper display of magic. What purpose the others had he probably would never know unless he asked Lani but at least he knew one. Making sure to remember exactly what had happened so he could give an accurate recount Lleu finally collapsed on his bed and fell asleep.

 Ch. 8 - Departure

    5 days later


    ¡°You have my pay?¡± shouted Obo as Lleu ran past.


    ¡°Yeah¡±he replied tossing a small pouch of coins at the lamplighter without so much as a pause. The last few days had passed in a blur as they had been filled with Lleu trying his best to repay any debts he owed and fill any promises he still needed to keep. He had not wanted to leave things incomplete and had even managed to complete a large part of this goal.


    Sliding down the last building Lleu dropped down onto the plaza in which all of the stalls had been dismantled and moved away. The tent was gone as well and where canvas had stood the day before now were a collection of pack animals, guards, and members of countless societies. The entire area swarmed in organized chaos while a lively crowd watched from the sidelines yelling well wishes for success and good luck.


    After briefly showing his token to enter, Lleu made his way into the tumult; destination a group of red-robed people close to the center. The red robe had thankfully been easy to see from far off through the crowd and one of them had been waving at him. It took only a moment for him to spot and recognize Lania as he dodged his way past a few carts piled high with miscellaneous sacks.


    ¡°Well on time, did you try out the replicas I gave you? Did they do anything?¡± shequestioned as he reached her.


    ¡°I did¡± he replied. ¡°And if falling apart is considered doing something¡­ then yes, they did do something¡±


    ¡°I can''t say I¡¯m very surprised about them breaking considering what happened to the Reveles, that''s the device I used in your testing if you don''t know the name. But about the replicas, did any of them do anything other than breaking?¡±


    ¡°The black stone did, maybe the feather as well but I''m not too sure about that one. The stone made a whole bunch of black fog when I touched it and the feather sort of exploded in a dust cloud when it broke.¡±


    ¡°Good, that backs up my findings. I took a bit of time but I was able to confirm that you have a very high affinity for both darkness and wind, a lightning one is there as well but it is a little overshadowed by the other two. The stone and feather doing what they did is just extra proof. Now as we are short on time, the expedition is leaving soon, let me introduce you to an acquaintance of mine. Aelan, this is the one!¡±


    The last phrase was said in a shout and caused a nearby man to glance up and move over. Instead of wearing the red robes of the Boomers he was wearing the grey and white leathers of the pathfinders, the society who focused their efforts on moving unseen far ahead of the main force of the expedition. They were the scouts who searched for the large conquests the main force wouldassault and identify possible dangers before they needed to be dealt with.


    ¡°Glad to meet you, my name is Aelan Decian, I¡¯m one of the Pathfinders¡±


    ¡°Lleu¡±


    A quick handshake sealed the introduction and Aelan continued,


    ¡°Lania told me of what happened and I have to say I am very curious. Usually, when something goes wrong with one of theReveles the worst that happens is a bad headache. This is the first time I heard of someone making the thing blow up, I¡¯m half surprised Lania didn''t just up and claim you then and there for her society. They are quite fond of explosions as you might know.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    ¡°We prefer our explosions to be farther away.¡± Replied Lania with a frosty tone as she continued.


    ¡°I asked Aelan to train you since he is one of the best shadow users I have ever known. His abilities in wind are fairly good as well so he is a good fit. Just try not to lose yourself in the traditional pathfinder weirdness.¡±


    ¡°That rude, everyone else considers us perfectly normal.¡± said the hurt Aelan although a grin on his face slightly undermined his words.


    Turning back to Lleu he began in a more serious voice, ¡°Anyway, I agreed to be your mentor for this expedition and that means a few things. First I will be training you to use magic for which I will be supplying the totems you will be using, try not to lose them. Next, you will be accompanying me on missions which means that we will be scouting ahead of the main force so prepare to learn quickly. Finally, I am not expecting you to do everything I say all of the time like some mentors would...¡±


    The last was said with a glance at Lania.


    ¡°...however, when we are scouting ahead I need you to agree to do whatever I say. If I say hide, you hide. Run, you run. Understood.¡±


    Lleu nodded, noting how serious the expression of the Pathfinder had become and replied ¡°I swear it¡±


    ¡°Good¡± grinned Aelan, ¡°I have your enquian and supplies next to mine, they are a bit closer to the gate, ever been outside before?¡±


    ¡°Never¡±


    As he had never known before whether or not he had any magical affinities braving the deadly mists was not something Lleu had ever considered doing. The effects of the curse of the mists were something every child who lived in the city knew well as every few years some fool, unable to afford the choosing, would plunge themselves into it to prove that they had some power. Because of this, it was common knowledge that anybody without magical talent would fall screaming to the ground and be dead within moments at the smallest touch. As the land was perpetually covered, day or night, it truly was a curse to the normal citizens of the city.


    A bell rang.


    ¡°Looks like it''s time to get ready to move out, let¡¯s go¡± announce Aelan to Lleu in response to the sound.


    The two quickly moved through the various groups until they reached a collection of white and grey clad people, all already mounted or in the process of doing so. Aelan lead them to two enquian which were currently being held by a guard wearing a black tabard decorated with the image of a white pawprint. He pointed at the smaller of the two enquian.


    ¡°That one is yours, change into the leathers that are in the largest pouch.¡±


    ¡°Thanks¡± replied Lleu as he dug into the largest bag tied to the saddle. Inside was a set of leather armour and cloak almost identical to the one Aelan wore, the only difference being itssize and a thick band of very fine fur lining the hood of the cloak.


    He quickly changed into the gear, it fit like a second skin but did not impede Lleu¡¯s movements in any way. Mobility seemed to have been prioritized over powerful protection by whoever had designed the leathers.


    ¡°It fits well¡± observed Aelan ¡°It used to belong to my sister but she grew out of it when she finally began to look like a woman,¡± he said with a grin. ¡°Lania said you were the same height as she was back then. Actually, just so you know, a short and slim stature is an incredible advantage for pathfinders since we usually want to move unnoticed whenever possible.¡±


    Shrugging aside Aelan¡¯s slight teasing Lleu climbed onto the enquian. He had never ridden before but wasn''t too worried. The expedition always started out the gate slowly anyway, how hard could it be?


    Lleu¡¯s optimism faltered as he watched another youth, an obvious recruit from the lower district just as he was, only a few paces from himself try to make his enquian move. Instead of doing as its rider wished the animal simply reared up causing the unfortunate rider to fall out backward.


    ¡°They train their mounts to buck you know, it''s a joke they play on new recruits,¡± said Aelan noting Lleu¡¯s observation of the tumbling boy. ¡°Don''t worry about Fiella, that''s your enquian by the way, she is actually quite tame.¡±


    The bell rang again and shouts rang across the plaza. The expedition was beginning.

 Ch. 9 - Formation

    - Scouting -


    It turned out that riding Fiella was just as easy as Aelan had just promised, she happily moved alongside Aelan¡¯s enquian and reacted smoothly to Lleu¡¯s nudges which made learning the basics of riding simple. In unison with the rest of the Pathfinders, Lleu and Aelan made their way into and then through the gate.


    Contrasting the rest of the city walls which were built out of a dark grey stone the bricks that formed the gate were a much lighter grey that slightly approached white. In addition, there were complex looking sets of spirals and patterns carved into the sides of the gate that converged into a single line separating the city from the outside. Faintly, a green glow could be seen rising up from that line and was reflected by the perfectly straight wall of mist that rose on the other side of it. This wall was tall enough to reach the same height as Lleu¡¯s saddle and would completely submerge Fiella¡¯s head once they entered.


    Before he could ask how all the enquian could see the ground and find their footing through the dense clouds they plodded straight into them. Strangely, the mist did not move at all as they passed through it, instead, it continued the mesmerizing slow swirling it had been doing before contact.


    The end of the tunnel containing the gate quickly grew and a moment later they had fully crossed the border from the city to the wilderness surrounding them. Lleu had seen what the lands surrounding the city looked like several times when he climbed to the peak of an especially tall building but it was a completely different experience being there in person. All around was nothing other than the massive ocean of clouds which constantly churned and both seemed in eternal motion yet never truly moved. Occasionally, thin tendrils of mist would break this status quo and rose up from the mass only to dissipate a moment after. As they rode, one of these tendrils materialized and reached towards Lleu making contact with his skin. A stab of pain shot through Lleu¡¯s mind and for a moment he thought an alien presence was trying to force its way into his thoughts, however, that sensation vanished only a breath later.


    As not a single one of the other pathfinders had any reaction when making contact with the tendrils Lleu kept a straight face, trying to give the others a good first impression. He also knew that he had not imagined the feeling as several surprised yelps rose behind him as other youths made contact with the mist for the first time.


    Quickly, the expedition began rearranging itself to form an orderly procession. Groups of two to five riders kept side by side and were followed by the next group which stayed a few paces behind. Also, additional space was left between each society creating clear separations.


    The pathfinders too had taken their place in the formation and formed four rows in total. These four rows were distributed in a two, five, five, four pattern with Lleu and Aelan at the right-hand side of the group of five farthest in the back.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Although this amount of people sent on the expedition was not completely out of the norm for the high-ranking societies it was still on the lower end. This was not due to a stinginess but instead was because societies such as the Pathfinders had far too few members to send out large forces. Instead, they prided themselves on having a smaller group of elites who could do what large weaker groups could not. The reason for the low amount of people was difficulty in recruitment as specialized societies required moderate to high affinities in very specific elements, for the Pathfinders shadow what the element they could not go without. Eligible people were rare and could generally only be found within the families of already existing members.


    ¡°Let''s go¡± shouted one of the pathfinders in the frontmost row and all four of their groups suddenly split apart from the rest of the procession. They then further divided so riders were either on their own or with one partner. With sudden bursts of speed, they all took off in different directions, sounds of hooves disappearing into the fog.


    As Lleu had not been expecting this he had to work hard to both keep his balance while still trying to keep what little sense of direction he had left.


    ¡°I thought you said she was tame!¡± shouted Lleu as the two enquian sped forward side by side, each trying to outstrip the other.


    ¡°She is! It''s just that after being cooped up in the city for so long they just need to run a wild for a bit.¡±


    ¡°A warning would have been nice¡± Lleu¡¯s last complaint was laughed away by Aelan as they sped through the mist, accelerating until the mounts finally got the excess energy out of their system.


    As they traveled farther from both the main group in the expedition and the city Lleu had never set foot out of before that day he for the first time knew what the world could look like without any stone walls in view. All around him there were only two colors: white and grey. As these colors perfectly matched those of his leathers and cloak Lleu looked and felt almost like an extension of the clouds flowing around him. The world seemed to extend infinitely in every direction around him and suddenly Lleu felt the success he had been longing for all of his life. He had done what he had not dared to hope for, leave the city and his old restricting life behind!


    The crunching of snow was heard from enquians hooves as they plodded along, now much slower as they had gradually declined is speed until they found a comfortable pace. All around them snowflakes slowly danced their way from the overcast sky, which had the same color as the mist surrounding them, and fell out of sight to presumably join whatever snowy layer covered the ground.


    This sort of weather was very normal as far in the north as they were during the summer which had begun only a few weeks prior. During that season it only snowed a little every now and then instead of the harsh blizzards they had during most of the remaining year. Thankfully blizzards were no issue for the city since a large combination of fire totems along with the wind totem array prevented extreme weather from affecting its inhabitants to any great extent. Food production was also not affected as the city was supplied by an extensive network of underground farms maintained by the citizens of the lower district.


    Slowly another sort of anomaly began breaking the monotony of the endless mist and grey sky. It took a moment of fixed observation but Lleu was able to determine that the interrupting shapes were actually twisted looking trees with faded leaves and bark. Looking as they had been drained of life and dried up long ago or possibly even that they had always been dead Lleu began feeling slightly nervous, wondering what else could be hidden out of sight.

 Ch. 10 - Travel

    ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡± Lleu¡¯s question seemed to surprise Aelan who had lost been deep in thought, focusing on the land around them. He paused briefly before answering,


    ¡°We are heading to Marclix¡¯s Pass. It''s one of the passes the expedition sometimes goes through to enter the mountains.¡± He pointed northward towards where the mountains would be and continued. ¡°There are quite of few others like it but we don''t know which ones are open this year. The spring storms either snow them shut or blow them back open, it''s one of the jobs of us Pathfinders to figure out which passes are open and which are not, once we know the expedition decides what pass to take depending on time and possible dangers.¡±


    ¡°Is that what the other pathfinders are doing as well?¡± inquired Lleu.


    ¡±They are, we all have our assigned passes to which we will be riding. The one we will be heading to is one of the farthest ones away so we have no others assigned to us, should take a little over a week of riding if we keep the pace we are at right now.¡±


    ¡°And the rest of the expedition, what are they going to be doing?¡±


    ¡°They will be traveling to the outpost, it''s our designated meeting spot as it''s the best place to camp that''s still in a good position to access the majority of the passes.¡±


    Conversation died and the pair continued to ride, now in silence, through the mists. Out of the corner of his eye, Lleu occasionally thought he saw the mist shiver in the distance but each time when he turned to look the phenomenon was gone. Also, it only seemed to appear just when he stopped thinking about it and let his mind wander.


    Slowly the terrain began to change, where it had initially been very flat it had slowly transitioned into rolling hills which often had large boulders sticking out of them. The sparse trees which had been separated by large distances of open space near the city had also grown more common until they eventually became dense enough so that Lleu and Aelan had to slow down and find paths to travel on. The combination of all these made the landscape look like densely forested islands floating in a sea of clouds.


    Distantly, a massive mountain chain had also begun dominating the horizon.


    ¡°That''s where we are going.¡± mentioned as Aelan as he pointed towards the eastern section of the mountains. Following the path of his finger Lleu noticed a slight interruption between two monoliths, this he assumed was the pass. Hours of travel through the winding paths later Aelan changed direction and headed towards an especially forested hill. They rode up and he led the way into the thick clump of withered looking trees as a thin tunnel appeared leading them through the jumble. Inside was a clearing and to Lleu¡¯s surprise, the mist which had been covering everything up to that point was entirely missing.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°I found this spot a couple of years ago, pretty nice isn''t it?¡± asked Aelan


    ¡°Yeah, but why isn''t there any mist here? It covered everything else,¡± questioned Lleu.


    With a shrug, Aelan responded, ¡°The hill and trees are probably the reason, I¡¯m not really sure¡­ Anyway, I think it''s time for some training!¡±


    Aelan moved over to his enquian and untied a large bundle that was tied to it. Unwrapping it he revealed five short spears, a small buckler, and a leather bow case painted in the typical white and grey of the pathfinders.


    ¡°Before we start looking into whipping your magic into shape I want to cover things a little more mundane but do not worry, practice in one will make learning the other much smoother. We will start with the bow, you have a wind affinity so this should feel natural to you.¡±


    He handed Lleu the case which when opened revealed a finely made bow with a matching set of arrows.


    ¡°Try and hit that mark,¡± Aelan said as he pointed towards a gash in the trunk of a particularly thick tree.


    Lleu pulled and released, the arrow flying from his bow and burrowing itself into the tree with a solid thunk. It had not gone directly into gash he had been aiming for but wasn''t that far off either, a good first attempt.


    ¡°Not bad, try it again.¡±


    Aelan''s commands to shoot was repeated over and over again as Lleu lost himself in practice. To his surprise shooting really did feel natural and his arrows kept creeping closer to his intended targets. Using proper weapons was another thing that Lleu had never done before as citizens of the lower district were prohibited from carrying anything more dangerous than a meat cleaver. Although this prohibition existed and was successfully enforced it had never done much to curb violence as fists and short daggers were easily available and the weapons of choice for the countless toughs and thieves that kept the city guards overworked.


    Aelan¡¯s hand stayed the shot he was about to loose as he said, ¡°That''s enough for now, I still want to start with the spear while we still have some light.¡±


    Taking spear and buckler Lleu was soon plowing through sets of forms and exercises after Aelan demonstrated each one. Contrary to the bow, the spear turned out to be far more difficult to use, partly because of Lleu¡¯s limited height, and soon the light had already begun to face causing Aelan to end the session and promise that they would continue the following evening.


    ¡°Come here,¡± said Aelan as he once again began rummaging through his saddlebags. Eventually, he removed a small leather sack which he handed to Lleu.


    ¡°Inside are a handful of replicas for you to work with.¡±


    ¡°Won''t they just break justlike the first set I had did?¡±


    ¡°Some probably will, they tend to do that if someone tries pulling far too much power out of them and that brings me to your task. Tomorrow when we are once again traveling I want you to experiment with them and try to make them do nothing. Even better would be producing an effect without their destruction but I would be satisfied with the first result.¡±


    Taking the bag Lleu glanced inside to see it full of black carved stones similar to the one he had used previously.


    ¡°Get some sleep, we will have a long day of travel tomorrow¡±


    Lleu wrapped himself in his thick cloak and dropped down on a fairly rootless patch of ground. He briefly checked one of the deep pouches for the seer¡¯s golden disk which he had stashed there and upon finding it in place began to fall asleep.

 Ch. 11 - Encounter

    Wiping the sleep from his eyes Lleu slightly ducked the low branch of a tree that passed overhead. They had been back on the enquian and traveling since daybreak, only having taken a moment to make sure the mounts were well fed and happy.


    ¡°Take a look over there,¡± said Aelan as he pointed towards one of the larger valleys recognizable through the fog covered terrain. Standing up in his saddle Lleu took a look and marveled at the sight. A large scar carved its way through the floor of the valley into which a river of mist constant flowed.


    ¡°What is it?¡± inquired Lleu.


    ¡°Just a small canyon, they get more frequent the closer we get to the mountains. Nothing to worry about unless we ride into them blindly, just something interesting to look at otherwise.¡±


    Sliding back down into his seat Lleu decided it was now time to take out the sack of replicas Aelan had given him the night before and see if he could complete the given task of making them not do anything.


    He pulled out the first one and everything around him briefly went dark as black fog billowed from the stone. It only lasted a moment though since the replica quickly disintegrated into dust just as the previous ones had. Sighing, Lleu took out another and made a second attempt, hoping that he would figure out the trick to it.


    A little later Lleu was brushing the dust of the third replica off of his legs and reached for the fourth. In that moment the sounds of cracking twigs made themselves audible a little off in the distance. Immediately Aelan signaled a change in direction and they turned and headed towards the closest hill.


    ¡°There is an aberration closing in on us, stay behind me when it appears,¡± Aelan commanded as they sped up a steep slope. Reaching the crest of the hill Aelan jumped from his saddle just in time to block the clawed spike of the monster leaping from the tangled trees.


    The creature, an aberration as Aelan had called it, truly looked like something from another world with its ridiculous number of legs and thickly armoured purple body. Almost faster than Lleu could follow it sent out several strikes, each of which was cleanly dodged by Aelan, and screamed in pain as a spear embedded itself into its body. Several more of these spears were currently floating in a revolving circle above Aelan and began launching themselves towards the creature at waves of his handThis book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Uncasing his bow and knocking an arrow Lleu prepared a shot but hesitated as a slight rustling to the right caught his attention. Turning, he saw a second one of the monsters trying its best to approach the fight without being noticed. He turned, lined up his shot, and let the arrow fly. With a thud, it found its mark inside of a large eye on the creature''s side which writhed in agony at the injury.


    Turning from his freshly slain foe Aelan jumped towards the second enemy and impaled it with the remainder of his levitating spears.


    ¡°Good shot,¡± he said, ¡°You can come out of your shroud now.¡±


    For the first time, Lleu noticed that he had still been holding onto the replica and that he was covered in the black fog from head to toe. With a loud crack, the stone shattered leaving the surprised Lleu behind. It seemed that he had been able to use the object without destroying it while he had been distracted.


    ¡®My focus on it was the problem!¡¯ he thought, the solution now becoming clear to him. When he had been focused on the stone it had not been able to survive whatever stress he had put it under however when he had been using it without realizing, the stress had been less and it had been able to properly function!


    Quickly he reached for another one of the stones inside the half-empty bag and intentionally began thinking of the fight they had just been in. Although it quivered slightly the replica stayed intact, he had figured out the trick!


    ¡°We should keep on moving,¡± said Aelan having gathered and cleaned his weapons, ¡°there aren''t many of them out here but their blood will attract whatever others are lurking around, best to leave and avoid them.¡±


    The two remounted and with Aelan in the lead sped back down the way they had come from. They kept a high pace for a time but soon slowed down as Aelan relaxed and mentioned they should be in the clear. On they traveled and with the mountains now slightly closer and easier to recognize. Squinting at them, Lleu finally asked a question that had been bothering him for some time, ¡°How come they look so jagged?¡± He was, of course, referring to the fact that the mountains were all straight lines and sharp corners.


    ¡°We think they were made by someone or something. I visited the south a few years back and their mountains don''t look anything like ours do. Additionally, the mountain chain forms a perfect half moon shape. It is a clean separation of the lands we go searching into those we come from. Anyway, we should be at our campsite for the night soon.¡±


    Up ahead a circle of large boulders crowned the top of another hill and soon they rode between the rocks. A small clearing similar to the one they had been in the night before spread out ahead of them and they quickly began setting up their sparse camp.


    Just as he had the previous day Lleu began the training routine. He had to work through it quickly asAelan wanted to leave before daybreak the next day. Not much later night fell and the exhausted Lleu wrapped himself in his cloak and fell asleep next to his mount.

 Ch. 12 - Blockage

    ¡ª¡ª


    A huge statue loomed overhead. Lleu was not sure what it depicted as everything around him was blurred and distorted as if he was looking through some poorly made glass. Briefly, he wondered how had he gotten there and where this was but then his attention was quickly drawn back to the statue.


    A few blinks cleared the distortion in his vision somewhat, colors sharpened and the room became more illuminated. With this new illumination, the statue was revealed to be a titanic figure wrapped in a majestic cloak standing in a ruined temple. Surprisingly, its head seemed to be missing leaving only a pitch black hole where the neck ended.


    The air around him twitched, ripples passed through the air and causing cascading rainbow patterns in the mist covered floor. He watched completely fascinated as the ripples continued. The air twitching again and again and constantly increasing in frequency until they suddenly halted as something moved in the opening where the statues head should have been.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Light fell on the camp and opening his eyes Lleu looked about. Aelan still seemed to be dozing even though an occasional eye opened and after briefly scanning the surroundings closed again. Lleu stretched tiredly, feeling as if he hadn''t slept at all during the night and began the new day. As he stretched he was surprised to see the golden disk in the palm of his hand which promptly crumbled into dust and floated away on a light breeze.


    Unsure how to feel about the loss of the mysterious disk Lleu decided to put it out of his mind and focus on the day''s tasks of which a meal was the first.


    Dried meats, fruits, and a hard sort of cracker was the food of the morning. It was not exactly good but wasn''t bad either and Lleu had eaten far worse in his life. He guessed the choice of food was so because the expedition had no wish for any spoilage to cause the illness of its pathfinders.


    Aelan, eating the same, got up from his vigil and began prepping. The camp was quickly cleaned and moments later the pair was ready to go.


    The next several days passed without great event, no more of the monsters attacked and Lleu spent his evenings working through the sets of exercises provided by his mentor. Each day, the mountains had grown with their increased proximity until they towered above, impossible to climb or traverse.


    It was about midday when they finally reached a point on the slopes where they could no longer gain any altitude and so they began riding alongside them. Up ahead, Lleu could recognize the mountain shapes Aelan had pointed out days before which marked the position of the pass they would be investigating.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Abruptly, the rocks beside them fell away as a break in the mountain chain came into view. Long and dark, a winding corridor located at the center of this break twisted its way into the depths of the rocks only to disappear out of sight. They had reached the pass.


    ¡°There is just enough light left in the day to scout the pass fully. We will camp out here after we come back.¡± Said Aelan as he tied his enquian to a lone tree.


    ¡°Leave Fiella here, enquian refuse to go into the mountains, they¡¯ll be safe here though.¡±


    Lleu did as instructed and together the pair entered the corridor and began to walk.


    Footsteps echoed and the few outside sounds became more muted the farther they proceeded.


    ¡°No wind, it seems this will not take too long,¡± Aelan said, raised finger in the air as he tested for a breeze.


    ¡°What does no wind mean?¡± Lleu asked


    ¡°No wind means that the pass is most likely blocked. Usually, no pass is closed for more than two years in a row except those that are shut permanently. If we do find a blockage this will be the fifth year in a row and we will consider this pass dead.¡±


    As if called, a gigantic heap of rubble made of ice and rocks came into view as they turned the next corner.


    ¡°Looks like I was right,¡± Aelan said unhappily, ¡°let''s go back.¡±


    Not much later, as they exited Aelan began to lead the way to an overhang he knew where they would camp for the night. When they reached it he said,


    ¡°This spot will do for tonight. Tomorrow though, we will be heading straight to the gathering point.¡±


    ¡°Is it far from here?¡±asked Lleu.


    ¡°The gathering point? No, it''s barely half a day away and actually still on the road coming out of our city. The ride there should be fairly quick. Actually, we should be one of the first to get there.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn''t the main force get there first if it''s on the road? They''ve been traveling it this entire time haven''t they?¡±


    ¡°Nope, they are slow, drives us nuts with how long they can take to cross a little ground.¡±


    Joking about the slowness of others the two trained for a time after setting up their camp. As the sun was setting and the two were preparing to sleep Lleu looked out to the sea of fog that spread out below and noticed the same twitching in the mist that he had seen on the first day of travel. Finally, certain of its existence, he asked the question.


    ¡°Is it twitching?¡±


    ¡°Is what twitching?¡±


    ¡°The Mist. I keep on seeing it do that out of the corner of my eye.¡±


    ¡°Yeah it does that, doesn''t mean anything though. We¡¯ve tried finding a pattern when it starts and connect it aberration appearances and so on. Would have been pretty useful but we never could find any connection. I wouldn''t worry about it.¡±


    Something about the twitching seemed familiar in a way it had not been before, feeling almost as if it was part of a far-off dream. Unsure of where he had seen something like it before or what caused it to move that way Lleu drifted to sleep feeling wary of the land.

 Ch. 13 - Manix and Ria

    In the midst of a meal while riding consisting of the same dried meat and crackers from the days before, the sounds made by their mounts hooves suddenly changed. Where it had been the crunching of snow on dirt it suddenly changed to the clopping of hooves on paved stone.


    ¡°Were back on the road, nearly there now!¡± announced Aelan.


    Nearly there turned out to be just enough time to finish eating a cracker. From out of the mist stone buildings suddenly made their appearances as they popped into existence from the haze. It turned out that the meeting point was an abandoned village or at least some sort of man-made fortification.


    ¡°What is this place?¡± asked Lleu.


    ¡°It was an outpost, used to be permanent but eventually the nobles in charge of funding decided that it was too expensive to maintain. They stripped it of anything useful a few decades ago, it''s been nothing but a convenient stop for the expedition ever since.¡±


    Riding through the remnants of a once mighty gate and into the streets of the outpost Lleu looked around and observed theplace. The streets were fairly large as they had obviously been built with military situations in mind and the buildings were all built out of solid stone bricks in a blocky style. Only a few turns later, they were still fairly close to the edge of the outpost, the pair reached a building on which the white paw print of the Pathfinders had been sloppily painted. To their surprise, a pair of enquian were tied to a long post close to the entrance of the building.


    ¡°Looks like Ria and Manix beat us back.¡±


    Opening an old and scarred door Aelan and Lleu entered the buildingto be greeted by the smell of a fresh stew simmering on a small fire built in a pit positioned in the center of the room. Sitting nearby and tending the stew were two pathfinders that Lleu recognized from departure, one man and one woman. Clearly partners, both had a slightly wild and scruffy look to them although their eyes seemed very friendly.


    Looking up, the woman whom Lleu assumed to be Ria, asked, ¡°I¡¯m guessing you being here this early means it''s closed again?¡±


    ¡°Fifth time in a row now, it''s a dead pass.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°Not good, that one was in a great spot too and was safe as well. Our list of good passes we can still use is getting a little short for my tastes.¡±


    Turning to Lleu her expression changed from the worried frown it had taken at Aelan''s new to a happy grin.


    ¡°I take it you are Lleu? Jestix, that''s the leader of us Pathfinders if you don''t know, told us we finally had someone new again.¡±


    Nodding he confirmed her query.


    ¡°Glad to have you, we haven''t had any new recruits for a couple years now. Shadow Affinity is just too necessary for our work to be ignored and too damn rare to easy recruit from out of house.¡±


    ¡°Didn''t Thalia have a student last year?¡± asked her partner, presumably Manix.


    ¡°Doesn''t count, he got scared and joined some earth society a day into training. Not a great loss though, we were really scraping the bottom of the barrel when we dredged him up. You aren''t going to run off like he did are you Lleu?¡±


    ¡°I don''t think so,¡± Lleu replied who was then quickly followed by a comment from Aelan.


    ¡°I would be very surprised if he did, we already fought a pair of aberrations and he stood and fought, even managed to take one of them down!¡±


    ¡°I only shot it with one arrow, you dealt the blows that killed it.¡±


    ¡°If you downed it a part of the credit is still yours.¡± Interjected Manix as he stirred the pot. ¡°Try not to rely too much on mundane weapons though, magic is what wins fights! You have had success using totems I take it?¡±


    ¡°Some¡± replied Lleu pulling out the final replica which prompted a surprised and questioning expression on both of Manix and Ria.


    ¡°Aelan, are you trying to deprive us of a well-practiced recruit?¡± Ria asked.


    ¡°This one managed to turn a testing device into a flashing firecracker and turned all replicas save that one into smoke signals. I thought it would be best to wait to give him anything until he learned a little more control and we were somewhere where we can make some noise.¡± replied the grinning Aelan.


    ¡°Now that you mention it though, it should be a good time as any.¡±


    ¡°I heard about someone almost blowing up Lania during the testing, I would have loved to see that. Anyway, we should probably finish up here before Lleu tries anything, just in case.¡± Ria said twirling her finger towards the simmering pot.The stew was ladled out and compared to what they had been eating in the days prior it was a very nice change of pace. Actually, it was a solid step up from anything Lleu had been used to eating while still working as part of the runners. The quality of the food was a solid ranking above what one would expect to find in mostof the lower district.


    Aelan, having finished with his meal before any of the others pulled a pouch out of the bag he had brought inside and removed the contents.

 Ch. 14 - Finally Totems!

    Laying out the contents of his bag on the ground Aelan began,


    ¡°These are the three totems I brought for you to try out, hopefully, you can at least make two of them work.¡± He said while rearranging the three into a line.


    The first totem was a razor-thin disk of black stone about the size of Lleu¡¯s palm with the same spiraling carving that had been on all of the cloud producing replicas. Obviously, this was the actual totem equivalent of what he had been practicing with.


    The second was actually a pair of matching jade bracers decorated with a complex pattern of runes and knotted lines. As the bracers still had traces of dust on them from where they had been stored Lleu was sure that Aelan had chosen them because they had been unable to find anyone who could use it in a long time. Noting how the bracers were fairly slim the reason might just have been that they could not find many people who could wear the things.


    The third and final object in the line was a small wooden box, finely carved, that had the stained look wood could only gain from extreme age.


    ¡°I want you to try this one first¡±, Aelan said as he handed Lleu the black disk.


    ¡°We call these Shroud-Disks, every Pathfinder has one of these and they are what lets us go ahead of the expedition and come back safely. The replicas you have been practicing with are based on them so it should be relatively easy for you to use.¡±


    ¡°Should we¡­ hide?¡± joked Ria as Lleu reached towards the black disk. The moment his hand made contact with it the room went black as dark clouds billowed from the point of contact.


    ¡°Well we know he is a natural at using shadow magic,¡± said Manix¡¯s voice from out of the darkness. ¡°I can''t see a thing.¡±


    The darkness around Lleu seemed to wobble as a minor headache began creeping in, then, it abruptly collapsed revealing three grinning faces looking at Lleu.


    ¡°It''s pretty rare someone manages to use a Shroud-Disk to fill an entire room on their first try, you even managed to keep it up for a couple seconds¡±, praised Ria, ¡°You found a good one Aelan¡±


    ¡°Lania found him not I¡± came the retort although it was easy to see that Aelan was already happy with the results.


    ¡°So what exactly am I supposed to do with this, in practice I mean?¡±


    In response to the question, Aelan pulled out an identical disk that unlike Lleu¡¯s was connected to a necklace from under his shirt and held it up. From its center, black clouds began billowing and quickly covered every part of Aelan except for his eyes.


    "Camouflage. When we use the shadow magic we pull from the totem we can create shadows and darkness wherever we wish. When we are shrouded like I am right now the creatures beyond the mountains will be unable to notice us unless they are especially smart. We can also use it to blind anything we fight if we make a cloud large enough, stops us from seeing anything as well but it can still be a useful thing to do in some situations.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°How come they are unable to see someone shrouded? Won''t they notice a blob of black walking around?¡±


    ¡°You are forgetting the blobs are made of magic and therefore the intent matters, we make the shrouds to be able to move about unseen and therefore that is what happens,¡± said Manix quickly followed by Aelan who continued the explanation,


    "Mental images and purpose are everything when channeling magic, the totems themselves matter little for the actual casting as they are not much more than a power source of a specific element."


    "I see," Lleu said, digesting this new information. "So what are the limitations?"


    "As long as you have the requisite power available the only true limitation is what images you can come up with and your mental fortitude, the more complex what you are trying to do is the more mental strain it puts you under. The only part in which the totem matters is whether or not it can supply as much power as is needed."


    Intending to experiment Lleu pictured a coat made of the shadowy fog and picked up the Shroud-Disk. The same room-filling clouds burst forth but did not even get close to what Lleu had wanted.


    "It takes some practice to get the hang of, most of us have been using these so long we do it mostly by instinct."


    ¡°Before you try again with the disk and make yourself tired you should try the next others¡± interjected Ria, ¡°those bracers have been sitting in the storehouse for, well, I don''t know how long but it''s been a long time. Nobody who could actually put them on was ever able to make use of them.¡±


    "What am I supposed to make them do?" Lleu asked


    "Make some wind probably, their element is air which is kind of given away by their green color. Most air users have their own unique styles and methods of using the power, just do whatever feels natural, assuming you can actually use them that is." Ria ended with a shrug


    ¡°Try and forget the last bit,¡± said Aelan with a slightly sour glance in her direction, ¡°If you begin expecting no results chances are that is exactly what will happen, try and stay curious.¡±


    Noting that Aelan had avoided promising that they would work Lleu picked up the bracers.


    He waited a moment, nothing happened.


    ¡°You actually have to put them on I think¡± mention Manix as he mimed putting them on, ¡°Equipment type totems such as those generally require a bit more than simple contact to activate¡±


    Slipping the first bracer over his wrist Lleu immediately noticed a prickling sensation as it slid into place. The urge to scratch underneath was immense but Lleu resisted and slipped on the second one.


    The prickling stopped and the urge to scratch vanished. Lleu looked at his arms each of which now had a light green bracer from wrist to elbow. The pair fit perfectly as if his arms hard been sculpted with them in mind. Looking around he asked, ¡°Is anything happening?¡±


    Aelan looked around and then began inspecting them, eventually ending up poking and prodding them without result.


    ¡°They don''t seem to be, guess that means they go back on the shelf.¡±


    Lleu tried to take them off but to his surprise, they did not budge. Frowning Ria came to help but had no more luck than Lleu did.


    ¡°I think they are active¡±, she slowly stated, ¡°totems don''t like being separated from their user while being used.¡±


    ¡°Come over here, I think I know what those are for,¡± said Manix suddenly.


    ¡°You do?¡±, asked Ria disbelieving, ¡°You can barely tell apart your shirt from your shoes.¡±


    Lleu walked over to the annoyed expression of Manix who himself got up and motioned for Lleu to follow.


    They, closely followed by Aelan and Ria, passed through a set of doorways and found themselves at the foot of a wooden ladder. They climbed up and out of the building ending up on the stone rooftop.


    ¡°I want you to focus on the ground,¡± said Manix pointing down. Lleu looked down, the ground was a bit further down than he was used to. He judged that even if he performed a perfect roll he would still be hurt if he fell.


    As if that thought was prophecy he felt a palm connect to his back and with a push, Lleu was removed from the roof, left to tumble through the air towards the rapidly approaching ground.

 Ch. 15 - Wind and Thunder

    A comfortable warmth began vibrating through Lleu¡¯s arms and he felt something appear in his hands as he tumbled through the air. By instinct, he grabbed onto whatever it was as to slow his fall. The sensation of a quickly stiffening thick sludge covered his fingers as they found perches to grasp.


    Lleu looked down, his feet were still dangling a good pace above the ground but he was thankfully no longer moving. Instead, he was hanging by his hands, swinging slightly as if holding onto a ledge.


    Looking up he saw the strange material he had caught, it was absolutely nothing. His hands seemed to be firmly gripping the air which glowed with a faint green tint around his fingers.


    As sudden as his realization that he, in fact, had nothing to hang on to his grip vanished and he dropped down the final stretch. Looking up angrily from the crouch he had landed in Lleu said,


    ¡°You could have explained before throwing me off!¡±


    The laughing face of Manix looking over the edge next to Ria¡¯s and Aelan¡¯s and replied,


    ¡°I could have been wrong, didn''t want to get your hopes up.¡±


    Lleu thought to himself that there must be something a little wrong with Manix¡¯s head, possibly he had been dropped as well?


    The three pathfinders above withdrew themselves, heading back down the ladder, as Lleu walked past the indignant looking enquianwho must not have enjoyed being startled by a falling trainee and reentered the building.


    ¡°Just like shadow, air is another one of the affinities that is fairly rare, although it isn''t quite are rare as shadow is. One of the common ways of using it is making areas of air that act as if it were solid, this lets you create invisible shapes to interact with.¡± Aelan stated with an ecstatic expression.


    ¡°I was hoping you would be able to use them, these bracers have a very high affinity requirement so they also provide you with an abundance of power to work with. I don''t even know if I could use the things, even if I could squeeze my arms into them.¡± He explained while showing how his forearms were much too thick to have the slightest chance at equipping the totem set.


    ¡°Well this has been damn successful so far¡±, Ria happily said, ¡°Now the last one, let''s see what Aelan brought out.¡±


    Aelan reached over and picked up the box that remained. With a slight click, it opened to reveal a pair dried up talons connected to small rings. Curious, Lleu reached in and picked them up. A feeling of rushing warmth spread from where the talons contacted his skin and rushed up his arm. Lleu could feel his hair begin standing up, each strand trying to keep away from the others at all cost.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    The three pathfinders burst into laughter.


    ¡°He looks ridiculous.¡± laughed Ria


    ¡°Like an angry kitten, all puffed up¡± followed Manix who was rolling around on the floor in laughter.


    Lleu dropped the talons.


    Aelan, also laughing, began to explain


    ¡°That totem pair used to belong to my own mentor while he still lived. They are lightning type totems, usually used to make barricades or projectiles to fry aberrations at a distance.¡±


    ¡°Did they also make his hair stand up?¡±


    ¡°Only when he took them off or put them back on, not that he did that much, they are meant to be worn permanently as earrings.¡±


    Hoping that if he was quick enough he wouldn''t repeat the silliness Lleu quickly put the rings in each ear. During the process, the same raising of hair occurred but once both of the earrings were in, the rushing warm feeling they brought abruptly vanished and all hair standing ceased. Instead, a brand new sensation popped up in the back of Lleu¡¯s mind. It was as if a tiny vibrating ball of light was sitting in the back of his skull, there were no physical changes but it felt truly real.


    Lleu tried mentally prodding the ball and in response, he felt energy surge into himself and coalesce in his arms. Strands of lightning immediately began appearing and coiled into towards his hands where they quickly merged into a growing ball.


    BOOM


    Manix¡¯s eyebrows were gone, the pot that had once had stew in it was turned over, and snowflakes lazily drifted through a brand new hole in the ceiling that had not been there a minute ago.


    Once again the laughter started. The three pathfinders had run for cover as soon as Lleu had begun forming the lightning ball. Now with the danger passed they came out of their hiding places and seemed to find the entire thing, especially considering Lleu¡¯s tendency to cause break things or cause explosions, extremely funny. The laugher simply increased once they noticed the lack of eyebrows on Manix who must not have been fast enough in his leap for safety.


    Catching his breath Aelan laughed,


    ¡°Well I did tell you that he blew up Lania, looks like he has a talent for it.¡±


    Hours passed with the three experienced pathfinders showering Lleu with advice on how to use his totem. What each one said seemed completely different from the next. In the end, Lleu ended up with a solid idea of the styles the three used during combat at least one of which he should try to adopt.


    Aelan''s style was filled with quick movements and focused heavily on dodging while his levitated spears constantly attacked.


    Ria seemed to favor sneak attacks and confusion as her only affinity of any significant strength was shadow, however, she was extremely powerful in it. Her method of choice employed dozens of clones made of the shadowy clouds to surround and disorient her targets while she pelted them with a barrage of arrows from her short bow.


    Manix was an anomaly compared to the other two. He preferred to launch himself at enemies using bursts of flame, his main affinity was fire which was very unusual for one in the pathfinders, and then would try to beat them to a pulp using a massive war hammer.


    Just as their explanations had come to a close the sounds of hooves could be heard from outside the building. It seemed others had arrived.

 Ch. 16 - Jestix

    Banging open the door a group of four more pathfinders entered the building. Lleu recognized all of them from the frontmost groups back when they had still been together in the large column.


    ¡°Hey Jestix, is the west open?¡± asked Ria, waving at the leading newcomer. He was the oldest pathfinder Lleu had yet seen. Well scarred with a head of pure white the old man sat down with a straight back before the fire pit and replied,


    ¡°One of the passes is, the other two were closed. How''s the east?¡±


    ¡°Mine and Manix¡¯s were both shut, Aelan¡¯s too¡±


    ¡°So the entire east is closed this year. This is becoming far too frequent.¡±


    Jestix really did seem worried so Lleu bent over to Aelan and whispered the question,


    ¡°Is it really that bad?¡±


    ¡°Each year more and more of the passes have been closed, this is the second year now that either the west or east have been entirely closed. A few generations ago there would only be one or two passes and we had much more live passes back then.¡±


    ¡°What happens if they all close?¡±


    ¡°Something bad probably. The seers might know but we know they only tell us what they choose to.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, why wouldn''t they tell?¡± asked Lleu carefully.


    ¡°Apologies, I forgot you were lower district born. The behavior of the seers is in a way the worst kept secret the city has. You might have heard that their magic allows them to predict the future in some limited ways but that doesn''t mean they decide we need to know their predictions.¡±


    Jestix who had apparently been listening interrupted,


    ¡°Chances are that if you ever meet one of their lot he is only there to pull you into some hair-brained scheme meant to increase his power. Ignore everything most everything they say and you will live longer.¡±


    Aelan took Jestix¡¯s brief pause to continue,


    ¡°We pathfinders don''t really have much love lost for the seers, they have a bad habit sending us into danger without bothering to give warning. Apparently, they told Jestix when he accused them of needlessly sending his men into danger that events had to unfold in the proper way for the correct result.¡±


    ¡°And when the proper path of events includes the death of my comrades...¡± Jestix finished angrily shaking his head.


    ¡®If they know the future how could one of them get hurt like that?¡¯ wondered Lleu remembering the wounds on the dying seer he had met, although, he did not dare ask Jestix and the others as he still did not know who had been chasing him that day.


    ¡°So how has Aelan¡¯s mentoring been, made any progress with your magics?¡± Jestix seemed to have woken from his anger and his eyes questioned Lleu.


    ¡°He is, and yes¡±


    ¡°And he has given you a totem, yes?¡±


    ¡°He gave me three,¡± Lleu responded as he displayed each of the totems in turn


    ¡°Aelan, are you trying to rob the society blind? You gave him two high tier totems!¡± Jestix¡¯s anger seemed to have been woken as quickly as it had faded before however this time it was focused at Aelan.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ¡°Only one of them is from the storeroom, the other is from my personal collection.¡±


    Anger fading again Jestix asked, ¡°And they all worked for him?¡±


    Lleu nodded in reply and Jestix, rubbing his hands together looking happy said, ¡°Show me!¡±


    Unsure if it was a good idea Lleu looked towards Aelan who nodded.


    Taking the Shroud-Disk in hand Lleu was now aware of another presence in the back of his mind, one of those presences had appeared for each of his totems as he had practiced with them and he was not sure how he could have missed them when he had first begun considering the strength of their presence. He squeezed what he knew to represent thetotem as carefully as he could, all the while imagining himself being cloaked in darkness.


    Out of the disk, a black fog blew and quickly surrounded him. In only a moment he was covered from head to toe, leaving nothing uncovered except for his eyes mimicking Aelan¡¯s demonstration from earlier.


    ¡°Excellent, I recommend covering a larger area while actually scouting so the shadow does not have a human shape. It is slightly more taxing to hold but helps fool those rare Aberrations which can recognize a human shape. Nevertheless, you have made an excellent start!¡±


    Next, Lleu mentally shifted to using the lightning totem. Seizing the power which seemed to have been waiting for him as gently as he could, lightning began wreathing around his right arm just as it had earlier. He let it dance for a moment and adjusted his mental image of what he desired to reshape the lightning. After a few seconds of manipulation, his entire right upper arm ended up being coated in crackling lightning which came together at his had to form a set of long claws.


    ¡°Excellent again, these are an inheritance from your old mentor I presume?¡±


    The question was asked towards Aelan who nodded in response.


    Lleu pulled back his will and recalled all the lightning which went peacefully back into the source they had come from. Shifting his focus, he touched the final power source and began pulling in the power it provided. On the outside, nothing happened but Lleu was suddenly flooded with vivid sensations from all around him.


    This feeling had only begun late into his practice and it was as if he could feel with the surrounding air a solid pace in every direction. With the extra sensation, the heat from the fire was as noticeable as if he was pressing his face into the hot coals. Even though that was a little disconcerting the part of the ground that intersected his senses was even more so.


    From Lleu¡¯s perspective, it was as if he should be able to feel what was happening below the ground but there was something blocking him, this was an extremely uncomfortable feeling that was oddly similar to knowing someone was behind you but being unable to turn around to check who.


    Seeing that Jestix was still looking at him, obviously waiting for him to do something, Lleu decided to experiment in a way he had not before. Instead of simply feeling the air around him and trying to solidify small areas he tried imagining a feeling. ¡®A hard surface below me¡¯, the thought sprang into reality and Lleu felt the ground beneath him change. Instead of the rough stone he had been sitting on for some time he was now on a perfectly flat surface. Looking down Lleu could not see any change in the ground although the air around where he was sitting seemed to be an extremely faint shade of green.


    Next, Lleu pulled out a memory of himself jumping across rooftops and tried applying it to the surface he had created. It was as if the ground had fallen away from underneath him. Lleu shot straight upwards and promptly collided with the ceiling. His head spun slightly from the collision but Lleu maintained his focus and toned down his attempts somewhat. He fell like a rock. This time his collision was much nicer since Manix and Ria had quickly moved to catch him. As they set him down he was suddenly embraced by the crushing hug of a laughing Jestix.


    "Great talent in three different affinities!¡± He happily said. ¡°What family are you from?¡±


    Jestix must have assumed that Lleu was part of one of the more famous magical families that occupied the upper and middle districts.


    Although the people of the upper and middle district had much better chances at having an affinity as there were many families with the talent the unfortunate truth was that most of them only had one which was usually earth.


    For those people and families joining a specialized society was next to impossible, their only choice relating to the expedition was membership in one of the societies that served in the main force. These societies had the weakest influence and while they still were able to take their share of the loot they would rarely have a chance to obtain the best of what was found.


    ¡°No family, I''m from the lower district¡±


    Jestix ended his hug and looked at Lleu with a surprised expression which quickly sprung back towards joy.


    ¡°Even better, no nonsensical family politics to get involved in for you then!¡±


    Lleu concluded that this was the most enthusiastic man he had ever met.

 Ch. 17 - Division

    Over the next day, the rest of the pathfinders slowly trickled into the outpost bringing the results of their scouting with them. Not long after the last pair had arrived and spoken with Jestix gathered everyone together for an announcement.


    ¡°It looks like the only passes open are one in the west and the two large ones directly north of us.¡±


    This immediately began a chorus of worried mutters around the room but Jestix kept on and raised his voice.


    ¡°I will be discussing this with the other society leaders when they arrive. If you have any points you want made tell me before then.¡±


    Instantly a handful of the pathfinders approached Jestix and moved into an adjacent room from which an intense discussion faintly could be heard through the walls. Aelan, Manix had moved to a private corner in which their own argument was proceeding.


    ¡°What are they discussing in there, and what''s the difference between all of the passes?¡± Lleu asked Ria.


    ¡°The differences between the passes is that the one in the west is fairly small but safe and the ones north are large and dangerous. As to what they are discussing, when Jestix will be talking with the other society leaders later he will try to convince them to take the western pass which they will, of course, be unwilling to do so we need to prepare good reasons to convince them. ¡°


    ¡°Why wouldn''t they want to take the western pass if its safer?¡±


    ¡°Mostly impatience and a disregard for others.¡±


    Manix and Aelan appearing to have finished their conversation moved over to join Lleu and Ria.


    ¡°Something you need to understand about the other high ranking societies, they are much bigger than us and generally have more members than they do high tier totems. Because of this, a few casualties means absolutely nothing to them, the core of their strength will be protected in the center of the expedition. The only thing the choice of passage means to them is how long they have to spend traveling.¡± Said Manix softly.


    Aelan interjected, ¡°It is very different for us, instead of being protected in the center we travel ahead looking for danger which we will be guaranteed to find in the northern passes.¡±


    ¡°It just increases the chances of some of us being injured or even killed. We can barely scrape together enough members to keep our scouting lines intact, half of the society''s rooms have been empty for generations now as we can''t find enough recruits to replace those we have lost over the years, that''s why we want to avoid chances we don''t need to take.¡± This last was added by a worried looking Manix.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡°I guess you can say that our priorities and worries are the opposite of most of the other societies.¡±


    The rest of that night went by in a flash, between intense discussion centered around Jestix most of the pathfinders made sure to take some time to drop by Lleu and dump all the worldly knowledge they felt he should have to survive and thrive as a pathfinder.


    Of course what one half said seemed to contradict what the rest said and any question he asked would give rise to an argumentative discussion that usually resulted in an answer that had absolutely no relation to the original question.


    One norm he had noticed in the society was that most of the pathfinders seemed to have some oddities in behavior and lived and breathed chaos yet moved, talked, and argued together like a big close family. Each pathfinder could say something when they wished to and have it be heard. He felt that even though they seemed to disagree on pretty much everything they all knew what their peers were doing at all times and how they approached things and therefore could work together smoothly.


    Three days passed quickly with Lleu receiving intense training from Aelan, Ria, Manix, and the rest of the pathfinders in everything from tracking and scouting to combat utilizing magical or mundane methods. In addition, Jestix had him practice a set of movements that seemed almost like a dance which was designed help increase mental fortitude.


    Practice with his totems was another thing he did constantly although this was not really something anybody seemed to be able to really help him with.


    It was a little after midday and Lleu wa in the middle of his training routine when the expedition finally approached the outpost. He knew this even though he could not see the first of the approaching column. Instead, his knowledge of their position came from the clatter of hooves, banging of gear, and shouting voices that announced them a good hour before they came into sight.


    After spending several days in relative quiet this assault of sound shocked him.


    Into the abandoned outpost they rode and then like a flood spread in every direction. Just as the pathfinders had their building of choice all of the other societies seemed to have their own preselected building or buildings. Soon invisible lines had formed all across the outpost as if territories had been marked.


    ¡°You noticed the divide?¡± Aelan asked Lleu while looking out at the sea of motion disapprovingly.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ but I thought we were all part of the same expedition?¡±


    ¡°Oh we are all part of it but between all the grudges from one group to the next and politicking that goes on behind the scenes this happens every year.¡±


    Two hands landed on Lleu¡¯s shoulders and Jestix approached from behind.


    ¡°Make sure to ignore it son,¡± he said with the same disapproving expression that Aelan had


    ¡°We have a policy of ignoring all of this¡­ nonsense. Just treat everywhere you go as if it was your own home. Especially if it is filled by some society who thinks they are something better than everyone else.¡±


    Aelan quickly followed Jestix¡¯s instructions with the answer to a question Lleu was about to ask.


    ¡°We do have our own grudges and take share in the politics but we try to leave those inside the walls. Out here too many depend on us for warning when aberrations are approaching to let such simple things get in the way of our work. In short, we have better things to do than squabble with everyone else, so just ignore it.¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll take a look around then.¡±


    Lleu, after making sure to note where the pathfinders building was in relation to everything else, set off into the bustling outpost.

 Ch. 18 - A pair of Slingers

    As Lleu made his way through the vast camp he saw a different banner in front of each building. He recognized some of those banners as being those from famous societies but the majority were unfamiliar to him. Among the ones he did recognize were the Boomers, Breachers, and Lightning Guard.


    These three societies each were in charge of a core function within the expeditions formation. The boomers were the center of any ranged attacks, the Breachers were at the front of any charge, and the lightning guard took care of the main defense.


    Lleu hoped to one day see a charge by the Breachers, supposedly it was an awesome sight to see the heavily armoured warriors smash their way through obstacles.


    As for the rest, they would be the societies who participated in the main force and there competed with another for glory and recognition. Unfortunately, most of them would be forgotten as the specialized societies would get most of the fame and spoils.


    It was then that Lleu saw the conflict between societies to be worse than he had initially thought. Where he had first only seen invisible lines between the groups he could now see members of rival societies staring each other down or even trespassing on each others ¡®territory¡¯, likely with the sole purpose of angering them.


    Lleu decided to take Aelan¡¯s advice to heart and ignored everything related to the conflicts. He walked across each and every invisible line he detected and happily greeted the members who had puffed themselves up, visibly making themselves ready for conflict.


    Looking at everything new, and to him most everything was new, he left behind a series of confused faces. It was then Lleu realized that he really could trespass anywhere and nobody would touch him. As much as they seemed to posture, the people seemed not to want to start any new conflicts, especially not with someone who was only looking around.


    A while later Lleu had wandered into a small clearing marked with an unfamiliar banner. The area was empty save for a pair who were practicing with their totems. Lleu noticed that they seemed younger than him which was surprising as everyone else he had seen either was older or about the same age. Most likely they had been in their society since birth.


    Watching, Lleu observed the first of them, a very light skinned girl with brown hair tied in a bun. She was clutching what looked to be a clay rod in her hand while waving it in a set of fluid motions. As she did so a pebble lifted off the ground and shot forwards in the direction of her final wave. With a sharp crack, it exploded on the side of the building, sending dust and shrapnel everywhere.


    ¡°That was awesome!¡± shouted the other youth. He had the same light skin and brown hair as the girl but was clearly at least a year her junior.


    Her motions confused Lleu a little. He recognized some of the things she had done to be variations of the steps Jestix had him practice but wasn''t sure why she was using them in casting. When he had practiced his magic he had done so without any fancy movements with no issue.


    Sitting down Lleu continued watching as each of the pair passed the rod to the other who then practiced shooting pebbles. Showing her seniority, the girl often gave tips to the boy who had much less success than she did although he did not seem disappointed. Only a little while after Lleu''s arrival the girl looked up, noticed him, and grabbing the rod from the other levitated a stone in obvious aggression.


    ¡°Who are you? Don''t you know this place belongs to the Slingers?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Lleu!¡± he replied, ¡°I¡¯m a pathfinder, the whole territory thing doesn''t apply to us since we need to go everywhere!¡±


    A little confused at his upbeat tone and friendliness in response to her challenge she began whispering with the boy while keeping an eye on Lleu. It seemed that she had no idea if Lleu was telling the truth.


    Since the pathfinders, fortunately, had the reputation of being a little odd, Lleu had noticed the truth of this in the days prior, the girl eventually decided that he was not a threat and replaced her scowl with a friendly smile.


    ¡°I¡¯m Bresia, this is my brother Ranit.¡±, she said with an outstretched hand and a nod towards the younger of the two. Lleu took the hand and shook,


    ¡°Glad to meet you,¡± he said and after a brief pause continued, ¡°I couldn''t help but notice you practicing and I was wondering¡­ why are you doing all those extra movements?¡±


    A little taken aback at the question she looked at her brother briefly in confusion and then answered, ¡°We are practicing the Slinger arts. Surely you pathfinders have your own set of arts to control your magic.¡±


    ¡°Not really, everyone just kinda does their own stuff.¡±


    Lleu¡¯s reply brought about two pairs of raised eyebrows and disbelief on the siblings'' faces. Thinking back Lleu realized he had seen other societies members doing similar things all over the outpost, maybe they were more than just exercises for one''s mind.


    He would have to take Aelan aside later on and have him explain how the other societies did things. Apparently, the pathfinder method of throwing totems at a new recruit and letting them fumble around until something happened was not common.


    ¡°Sis is a genius you know¡± piped in Ranit, ¡°We¡¯ve only been training in the arts since last year and she already managed to throw a stone fast enough to shatter!¡±


    The boy Ranit was obviously excited to share his sister¡¯s achievements but Lleu was shocked. A year of training and being able to throw a pebble slightly was considered good?


    Suddenly Lania¡¯s efforts to find him a suitable mentor, Aelan¡¯s generosity, and the enthusiasm of all the pathfinders made a whole lot more sense. He had been a little curious as to why he had been getting such good treatment. Deciding the talk with Aelan needed to include standard progression rates of totem users Lleu continued, trying for some more information.


    ¡°I see, and you both share that totem?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we are only still only in training so we have to share the Slingrod between the two of us, one we get better each of us will have one.¡±


    ¡°You want to take a look?¡± she asked holding out the Slingrod.


    Lleu looked closer and noticed fine lines traced in a complex web all over the rod. He reached out with a hand to trace the lines but the moment his finger touched the rod a presence, akin to that of his own totems, blossomed in the back of his mind.


    This presence, however, felt absolutely revolting. Lleu¡¯s best description was that a rag covered with an oily filth had appeared in his mind and he was briefly reminded of the blue stone replica he had used prior.


    He retracted his hand feeling absolutely disgusted, thankfully the filth vanished the moment he lost contact with the rod.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Bresia asked, a hint of worry in her voice. It seemed that something of Lleu¡¯s experience had shown on his face.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine¡± he replied.


    ¡°That''s good, for a second you looked like you were going to be sick,¡± she said still looking slightly worried.


    ¡°Do you have a totem yet?¡± asked Ranit interrupting.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Lleu said pulling out his shadow disk which was now attached to a string around his neck.


    Reaching out with his mind he activated the disk. Darkness flooded from the hand in which he was clutching the totem and within a breath covered him from head to toe. Keeping with the advice he had received earlier he kept the form of his creating without defined shape, suddenly a thought came to him.


    Since the purpose of the disk was mainly stealth how was creating a black fog to hide in practical while the mist that covered everything was white? Experimenting, Lleu tried to shape both the color of his fog and not just the shape. It instantly went white.


    All of this had happened in a blink and Lleu could hear astounded gasps from both of the siblings.


    ¡°Are you still there?¡± asked Bresia, slightly hesitant.


    ¡°Yep!¡± replied Lleu while letting the fog go at the same time. From the sibling''s perspective, Lleu had melted into the surrounding mists and a moment later reappeared in a slightly different location.


    ¡°That was awesome!¡± Ranit seemed to have found a new target for what appeared to be bottomless enthusiasm. ¡°Is a pathfinder art?¡±


    ¡°I guess s...¡± Lleu was interrupted by the shouting of a woman inside of the closest building.


    Bresia and Ranit looked at each other briefly,


    ¡°That''s our mentor calling, we need to go, was nice meeting you Mr. Pathfinder¡± Bresia called all the while moving towards the door, Ranit waving alongside her.


    ¡®I guess I¡¯ll go interrogate Aelan then¡¯ decide Lleu.


    For his way back he decided to take the most direct route, all the while practicing with his totems. His control over the color of the fog that surrounded him grew quickly letting him blend into the mist, Lleu doubted that many of those around him even noticed him passing.

 Ch. 19 - Questions

    Lleu wove his way through the broken remains of a building currently being used as storage by one of the societies. He was heading back to the building he had been staying in alongside the others as he had finished his exploration of the camp for the time being. It was fast progress as when he came to walls or buildings that barred his way Lleu lifted himself with windand leaped over them without ever breaking stride.


    Recently, his technique for lifting himself had changed from how he had done it initially. Instead of creating a platform to stand or sit on Lleu now created a very thing suit of condensed wind around himself that he could mentally raise without interfering with any of his normal movements.


    Possibly due to the practice meant to bolster his mental fortitude, the height he could lift himself had also increased although trying to hover for more than a few seconds would cause Lleu to come crashing down with a headache. Thankfully, the short bursts needed for traversing terrain were no issue at all.


    After hopping over a few more walls Lleu reached the pathfinders building but did not slow down. Instead, he propelled himself onto the roof and dropped through the hatch that stood open for him. As he dropped inside he made sure to let go of the shroud that surrounded him as he felt no need to sneak.


    Inside everything was just as he had left it. The air was slightly smoky due to the constantly burning fire in the room''s center and a quick look around showed a number of Pathfinders doing simple things such as napping, eating, or just socializing. Aelan, Ria, and Manix were together as was normal and were currently in the midst of a card game of some sort. Judging by how Aelan was running his hands through his mane of black hair he was losing badly.


    ¡°You¡¯re back. We didn''t see you come in.¡± Aelan stated with a raised eyebrow as Lleu hopped over to him and the others.


    ¡°I went through the roof¡± replied Lleu pointing upwards.


    ¡°Of course you did, how was your walk outside? Any trouble?¡±


    ¡°No trouble, people are usually friendly enough once they know you aren''t trying to steal their land or whatever it is they are guarding against. I do have a couple questions about some things I noticed though.¡±


    Not letting Aelan interrupt Lleu asked his first question. "Throughout the camp, I saw lots of people practicing their magic but they did it differently than we do. They were always using what looked to be something similar to Jestix''s mental exercises while casting, why do they do that?


    The three pathfinders looked at each other briefly and Manix was the first one to answer, ¡°What you saw were arts.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Ria followed up on Manix¡¯s lack of description, "Every society has its own set of magical arts they developed over the years. They are a set of physical motions that enable casting without the need to form a proper mental image of what you want the magic to do. Initially, arts were just a tool that let weaker members use magic beyond their normal capabilities but that changed as they became more developed and widespread over generations. Now, almost every society uses them exclusively, only we and two or three other societies stick with the traditional way of using images."


    "It has to do with flexibility," said Aelan, "Arts make people very effective and powerful at doing specific things but it also greatly limits the variety of things they can do. We need to improvise often which is why we stick with the traditional method even if it is harder."


    "So if they want to shoot a rock they need to learn the specific art for that? And its the same for everything else they want to do? "


    "Exactly. It does have its benefits though, a well-practiced art will generally overpower magic made with an image, but since what we require is speed and versatility arts have no real benefit for us."


    ¡°I see... and what about how fast people usually learn to use magic?¡±


    ¡°Now that is a difficult question, it really has to do with both talent and affinity,¡± Aelan said. "As you could probably guess a high affinity means a master rate of mastery but it really is different for everyone. Your progress is among the fastest I have ever seen, not really surprising though considering how much power you can draw on"


    "The reason I was asking is that I met someone who had been training for much longer than I but was proud to just be able to throw a rock pretty fast."


    ¡°Well, that sounds like a someone with a middle to low rated earth affinity. It actually is fairly impressive if they were able to do that within a year of training as earth is typically slow to learn but still nothing much compared to anyone with a high affinity.¡±


    ¡°Sorry to interrupt but since we are talking about training speeds I have something I think needs to be brought up,¡± said a slightly uncomfortable looking Ria ¡±It would be best if you don''t show your skills too openly or at the very least don''t mention how long you have been training. It would be best to let others assume that you are just a prodigy we have been keeping hidden up until now,¡±


    ¡°That''s for political reasons, the royals in the upper district might not like hearing about you too much. Since they base their right to rule from being the most powerful totem users around anyone with notable talent will be drawn into their games if they aren''t careful.¡± Aelan bluntly said.


    ¡°You shouldn''t have to worry about all that though¡± chuckled Manix, ¡°One advantage of being part of us is that we are very good at not being noticed and operate mostly alone. Anyway, the expedition will be moving on tomorrow so you should finish up any evening training quickly and get some rest for the journey.¡±


    Taking that advice Lleu intensively worked through his routine as the rest of the pathfinders slowly trickled in. Soon, most everyone was present and the room fell into a silent slumber.


    Lying next to his mentors and new friends Lleu went to sleep while deep in thought. He had decided to take not being noticed to heart since being sucked into the political games of the upper district was the last thing he was interested in.

 Ch. 20 - Entering the Pass

    Well before the sun rose the sounds of preparation for the next bit of travel filled the outpost. Lleu and the others were already up andin the process of arguing how to best scout the pass they would be taking. Hours earlier, Jestix had returned from a gathering of society leaders and brought the news that they had been sadly been expecting to hear. The powerful societies had been impossible to persuade about using a safe route and the decision to usethe larger of the northern passesbeen made.


    Thankfully the anticipation of truly beginning the expedition hadprevented the various societiesfrom dawdling so in under an hour the entire outpost was mounted and forming the column.As they would be leaving the enquian behind once they reached the pass the mounted column was very much a temporary thing. Lleu had been told that the animals refused to fully enter the lands behind the mountains and would become uncontrollable if forced there. Instead,they would put them into the care of whichever group would be waiting at the pass''s entrance for their return.


    Although they were moving constantly, it was much slower than when Lleu had been traveling alone with Aelan. This gave him plenty of time to play around with his lightning magic and try to make it more practical in use. The desire to do this had begun when he tried to reach for something earlier and failed. As the lightning claws he could materialize were a very close range weapon they would only be useful if he was directly next to whatever he was fighting. Therefor, his goal was to learn to reshape them and extend them at will.


    It took several hours of practice but finally Lleu successfully turned the claws into spear-like extensions that were as long as he was tall and even mostly stable. His success had even brought up a bit of a discussion among the others as Lightning magic was typically used as either along ranged weapon or for static defenses. Making the magic wearable was not something common or evencommonly considered useful.


    The rest of the day passed fairly quickly and although they still had at least two hours of daylight left the expedition called a halt and made camp.


    In the same fashion as it had been in the outpost the land was quickly divided between the groups with their more conceited members posturing at the borders.


    ¡°Are they really going to keep this up all the time?¡± Lleu, already annoyed, questioned Aelan who chuckled in response.


    ¡°Oh, they will. This doesn''t really stop until the expedition begins sieging something.¡±


    His annoyance faded as Aelan seemed to decide it was a prime opportunity for some intense practice and he forgot about the tensions in the sweat of constant repetitive exercises. They kept going until close to dark at which time Lleu collapsed into his cloak. Unlike the rest of the expedition, they had no tents, instead choosing a minimalist approach that freed them from the burden of carrying anything large.


    The next day came quickly and the anticipation of the people could be felt in the air, they would be traversing the pass that day!. The anticipation was especially stone since the mountains were already very close and it was already possible to see the disruption in the chain marking the pass they were taking.


    Only an hour later the expedition had both departed their campsite and reached the foot of one of those mountains causing a mass dismounting of enquianto begin. Supplies were shifted from beast to man and some unfortunate initiates even ended up bearing oversized tents on their backs.


    Now on foot, the expedition was far more bunched up and at a shout from someone in the center began to move up and into the pass.


    The Pathfinders, with Jestix in the lead, made their way to the front of the procession while two of their number, a married couple named Gilia and Minux, ran ahead into the depths of the pass. They would be completing a part of the scouting plan they had decided on back in the outpost.


    Other than them the front of the expedition contained all the Breachers and many members from several lesser known societies, most high-status ones were staying farther back towards the center.


    They had not been inside long but the gigantic walls had already isolated them entirely from the outside.


    ¡°Hey Lleu!¡±


    Lleu turned around at the shout and saw Bresia, Ranit, and one other he did not recognize run up to him.


    ¡°Hey Bresia, Ranit, and...¡±


    ¡°This is Ketta¡± Bresia introduced him to their companion. She was a fairly tall girl with curly brown hair who looked about the same age as Bresia. Her features gave the impression that she was a hawk looking for something to hunt but a warm smile somewhat broke that as she stuck her hand out in greeting.


    ¡°Glad to meet you, I¡¯m part of the menders by the way and we wanted to know if...¡±


    The rest of her sentence was cut off as a loud shriek interrupted her and a large shape from above flung itself down onto a heavily burdened recruit.


    Blood spurted through the air as the unexpected creature ripped through him.


    The creature was unlike anything Lleu had ever seen, even very different from the aberration he had faced when first starting out.


    Six limbs and a tail decorated a body of black scales, each tipped with a long sharp claw. Its head was along snake-likething ending in a large mouth filled to the brim with fangs.


    A cry of alarm was raised and instantly followed by several society members leaping forward to impale the creature with whatever weapons they were carrying. As they did so more shrieks could beheard from above as the ground became dotted with numerous shadows.


    Looking up, Lleu was greeted with the view of dozens of similar creatures falling from the heights towards them. As they fell bursts of flame or rocks were flung at them, some of which even connected to great effect which added a rain of black blood to the chaos. Arrows also quickly filled the sky and although they turned several of the beasts into pincushions, most of them survived unharmed.


    The monsters landed as screams pierced the air, several men and women around Lleu impaled by the falling beasts'' claws. Not dawdling on their dead victims, the creatures rapidly detached themselves and leaped towards whoever was nearby.


    With the moment of surprise gone resistance now met them as the defenders began fighting back.