《GemZ: Chronicles of Le'Tayah》 Maps If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. 1.1.1 - Into the Tower A hand lifted up to gently push at the door. It swung open freely, surprising as he was certain the door had not been opened in the last hundred years. He smiled to himself, thinking of what he might find. He stepped into the dark room and a sigh escaped his lips as he was not destroyed in an instant. He could not relax too much though, as the door silently started swinging shut, the only thing alerting him the diminishing light from the doorway. Quickly he wedged his foot in the door to keep it from closing. He wriggled free from his shoe. He may have been able to open it from the outside, but he had no idea if he would be able to repeat it from the inside. Better to be safe than sorry. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. The feeling he got back was old. Everything just felt old, reeked of it. It made him shiver. He walked around, looking at the tables lining the outside wall. All manner of things lay on the tables. Rocks everywhere. Gemstones too, though not the precious kind. Piles of dirt even. Alchemical apparati which appeared to once have some sort of liquid in it, but was now just a sticky brown residue. He ran his hands over the top of the objects, stirring up the dust which caught the small amount of light coming in through the door. He could not value any of the object himself, though he was sure that some would fetch quite the price. He did not feel right taking things from the room though, except for the one thing he had come for. As he made his way around the room he started to feel a strange sensation, as if something was calling to him. He turned and looked at the pillar that was rising from the centre of the room. The tiles on the floor stopped just short of where the earth suddenly spiked up into a steep mound, bits of rock sticking from it, and even grass growing out of some of it even though there was no sunlight or water getting into the tower. From the roof a great metal contraption reached down to touch the top of the mound, all wires and cables and weird designs. It was the first time he had seen anything like it. No amount of Gem Teknology could match what this was trying to do. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. A crystal sat right at the point where the two spikes met, glowing very softly. He could feel it though, the energy being dragged up into the pipes and wires and being sent towards the roof. It was amazing. He gingerly reached towards the crystal, but then slowly pulled back. The energy from the Gem was being funnelled toward the roof, where he knew a beam of light energy shot skyward, holding another even bigger crystal high in the sky. All the commoners thought the big crystal was what gave off the energy, but he knew it was just a conduit, a relay, from a greater power source. While it was big, the one above was basically worthless. He reached forward again, amazed as always how the Gemz, even though they could produce so much energy, could be held by a person without receiving the slightest of tingles. Gently he placed the Gem in the box he had brought especially for it. Inch thick wood would seal away the power from prying eyes. He noticed it then. Or rather, he noticed what he had not noticed before was now gone. The metal contraption on the roof appeared to be shutting down as the energy it was receiving from below slowly started to recede. He made his way quickly to the door, swung it open, slipped his shoe on, and stepped outside into the glaring light. He placed a hand Sunward to shield his eyes from the bright light as he watched the beam of light begin to weaken. It didn¡¯t vanish, it slowly got thinner, the crystal on top descending evenly down to the claw like top of the tower. The beam of light running from the Sunward Crystal to the Darkward Crystal, commonly called the Clock Lines, blinked out of existence as it¡¯s relay moved from it position. He smiled and slipped the box inside his clothes. ¡°Now it has started,¡± he said with a chuckle. 1.1.2 - Falling Hi Megimi stood at the aft deck of the Clock Ship, leaning on the railing as she looked down at the landscape speeding past well below them. It was making her feel a little queasy, so she looked at the horizon again, clearly able to see where the natural light made way for the artificial light. She yawned and turned to go back into her luxurious room. A breeze ruffled her skirt and lifted it slightly. She giggled though, no one was here to see her, not even her father. He would not have approved of the short skirt, tight top, and open jacket she was currently sporting. If he had his way all she would be wearing are long flowing gowns with her hair done in tight buns on top of her head. It was so old fashioned, so¡­ traditional. She hated traditional. Mind you, wearing them every now and again still felt wonderful, and they were awfully expensive. And wearing them made getting out of them and into other clothes so much better. She ran a hand through her hair, knocking the two loose strands down in front of her eyes again. She blew them back on top of her head. I don¡¯t really know why father insists on it so much, she contemplated, surely my hair looks better like this? The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. She had also enjoyed the way the others on the ship had looked at her. The older men, mostly men of station, blushed and looked away, or tutted to themselves. The younger ones could barely take their eyes from her. A few her age had even tried to talk to her. But she wasn¡¯t interested. She moved over to the lounge that was sitting between to the two large doors that led back into her room and flopped down onto it. Looking above she could see the sails strung taught by the flow of the Clock Line through them. The power for the ship was generated through the Clock Line, and that was what kept it sailing through the sky. Suddenly the Clock Line flickered and went out. She stood and looked about. The Clock Line had simply vanished. The sails started to lose energy, and what was holding the ship in the sky was gone. Slowly it began to arc towards the ground, the momentum carrying it forward. Megimi stumbled on the deck. She tried to push herself back up but she could suddenly feel herself being lifted from the deck. Or maybe it was the deck dropping away below her. The ship jerked as weight inside began to shift and suddenly she was thrown against the back railing. Hi Megimi blacked out as the ship brought her plummeting to the ground. 1.1.3 - Voices The darkness surrounded him, it engulfed him, but he did not feel fear. He felt comfortable within that darkness. Around him floated five¡­ things. They had no real form, they probably weren¡¯t even really there, but he could sense them, he knew there was something there, just not what. Have we found him? The voice did not reach his ears, but rather seemed to come directly from inside his mind. He did not know why either, but the voice felt like a cool breeze. It has been too long, I do not even know what it is we are really searching for anymore¡­ This time he could sense a rock, old as time itself. Leaves rustled as the next spoke. It must be who we seek. I think he can sense our presence. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.Without understanding what was happening he suddenly felt a pressure as if five people were pushing against him from all sides, but there was still nothing there. He turned and twisted his head but could still see nothing. He can sense us, this time the voice seemed to singe the back of his neck, See how he tries to find us. Too bad we seem to be running out of time, the breeze spoke again, but we will speak to you again. It is starting now, and you need to wake up. There was a blinding flash behind his eyes and searing pain. Then he opened his eyes just as the wooden staff swung around again and cracked him in the side of the head. And by the pain he felt, that was probably the second swing. 1.1.4 - The Crash Gosha moved quickly as the staff swung around again and was out of its way just in time. He stood up from where he had been resting amidst the corn stalks and grabbed his shovel from where it lay next to him. ¡°Weren¡¯t you supposed to be over with the others helping to turn the soil for the next crop?¡± A grizzled old man stood before him, barely able to hold himself upright anymore, but still strong enough to leave a bump when he swung his staff at you. ¡°Um, sorry Grandpa, yes I was. Won¡¯t happen again. I promise.¡± The old man rapped him in the ankle with his staff now. Boy he was fast, Gosha hadn¡¯t even seen that one coming. ¡°That¡¯s what you said last time, when I caught you napping while watching the sheep. And the time before that when you were supposed to be painting the new silo we built to hold the grain. And the time before that when you were supposed to be picking apples and we found you lounging around on the top branch. And¡­¡± ¡°Enough Grandpa, I get the picture.¡± ¡°You do, do you? You sure about that?¡± ¡°Yes Grandpa.¡± ¡°Then get back to work you lazy sod.¡± The old man turned away and walked off as Gosha got his shovel again and moved over to where the others were turning the soil. Something felt odd though. He closed his eyes and tried to figure out what it was. Something was not right, something was¡­ missing. The world around him was deathly quiet except for the soft sound of earth being moved. That was it. He opened his eyes and looked around in the sky. It was gone. The hum was gone. The hum of power that told you the Clock Line was close. It should have been nearly right above them, but where was it now? He looked at the Tower and could see the crystal descend from its usual high perch. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Grandpa?¡± Gosha called out in a worried tone, hand raised towards the tower. ¡°What is it now?¡± Grandpa Ryoma turned around, ready to scold the young man again, but then looked at where he was pointing. Gosha was the first to spot the falling transport ship. It was arcing off to one side, going to land in the forest not too far away. ¡°What is happening Grandpa?¡± ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t really know¡­¡± Ryoma¡¯s mouth hung open as he watched the scene unfold, seeing the transport crash into the trees. This snapped him out of it though. It wasn¡¯t all that unusual to see a transport go down, and now that took precedence over the missing Clock Line. ¡°Gosha, find that yacht. Run into the forest and find it for us before the bandits get there. I¡¯ll get the men together and we¡¯ll be right behind you. We¡¯ll follow your marks. Just make sure you find it first.¡± ¡°But Grandpa, the Clock Line?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about it boy. The Sun Council will have to deal with it. But if you don¡¯t hurry up and get to the crash there won¡¯t be anything left to scavenge!¡± The old man gave Gosha a push with his staff when he could see the boy hesitate and then watched as he sprinted for the forest, leaping over fences and dodging trees, pausing only briefly as he entered the forest. 1.1.5 - The Forest Gosha''s bare feet flew across the soft ground as he ran towards the forest. The wheat fields gave way to grassy paddocks filled with livestock, which in turn gave way to the forest. It started as bushes and shrubs and slowly built up to towering evergreens. Everything grew so well in this part of Le''Tayah. The ground was rich and fertile due to the closeness of the Tower of Earth, one of the five great Towers. It was why the farms were here, their crops grew quicker and larger. Even the horses and cows seemed to grow better as they ate the grass that grew in front of the forest. The trees in the forest also seemed to grow larger than others of their kind, their limbs intertwining in the canopy to completely block the sun. This meant the floor of the forest was clear of obstacles, but that it was quite dark inside. Gosha stopped. He placed his hands on his knees and breathed deeply. He looked around the forest and tried to get his bearings and reached into the pockets of his trousers. In one hand he withdrew a small clear crystal, it glowed very faintly. In the other he held two objects, a canister as thick as his wrist and about a foot long, as well as a steel piece of tubing about the length and size of his index finger. He took the crystal and placed it on the end of the tube then gave it a twist. With a soft click the two were joined. Gosha knelt of the ground and held the crystal, pointing the tube at the ground. He touched it to the dirt and dragged it along in an arrow shape. A trail of light was emitted by the tube and left on the ground, glowing enough to be seen and pointing in the direction he was heading. The darkness was like a maze, and it didn¡¯t pay to get lost within the forest. "It won¡¯t last long, but they shouldn¡¯t be far behind me," Ho whispered to himself as he twisted the crystal again and put the tube back in his pocket. He then held the canister in front of him and pushed the crystal into one end of it. It started to emit a soft glow from the other end that was soon directed into a beam of light. It didn¡¯t illuminate very far, but it would be enough to stop him running into trees as he tried to find the crash site. He waved the canister around, making the circle of light flitter across the face of the trees. He then held it in front of his face and looked at some figures that played across the side of the canister. "Bugger, only three rays left, this won¡¯t last too long," he pointed it forward again, "And I still need to use it for the chalk too. I better find this crash quick." He started to move deeper into the forest, trying to move from ray of light to ray of light, using his torch as little as possible. But the going was slow and he realised he had been wandering for some time now. He must have been nearly at the site, it hadn¡¯t landed all that far into the forest. He looked back to make sure he could still see his last arrow before continuing on a little further. A glimmer caught his eye at that moment, and he peered ahead. In the distance before him was a large section of sunlight, as if a tree had been brought down. He quickly scribed another arrow before trotting off towards it. He flicked the torch off as he got closer, and popped the canister into his pocket. Slowly he crept up to the edge of the newly created clearing, gazing in wonder at the destruction. The yacht had crashed in through the trees, toppling quite a few before slamming into some giant redwoods and coming to a halt. The redwoods were scarred, but they would recover. It wouldn¡¯t take long for the forest to repair itself, but the amount of destruction was breathtaking. The ground was ripped up and good black soil thrown across the clearing. Pieces of the ship were sitting everywhere. The sails and masts lay in the crater where the ship had first made impact with the ground. The masts were snapped and the sails had been torn to pieces. Most of it would be useless, but maybe a few scraps of the material could be salvaged and sold. Crates lay strewn about, smashed, their contents spewing out onto the ground. There wasn¡¯t much worthwhile he could see in that rubbish. Mainly just some foodstuffs that would be spoiled by their contact with the soil. The body of the yacht had great tears in its side and pieces of the hull had been pushed inwards as well. The limb of one of the redwoods protruded from the side of the ship like a spear. The metal of the ship could be salvaged though, and the villagers would be grateful for that. They could melt it down and forge new farming implements and sell off the rest to weapon forgers. Gosha looked at a section of the ship that had been torn to shreds from the inside, the edges of the steel partially melted and still glowing red hot. Ho grimaced at this. That was most likely where the most prized possession of a shipwreck were stored, the crystals. On impact with the ground they had exploded. If it wasn¡¯t for the metal of the ship, then he would have told the villagers not to bother with the salvage and let the thieves take it. He looked over the site again, his eyes focusing on things he hadn¡¯t seen before. Bodies and body parts were also strewn about the wreckage. Arms and legs that had been torn off during the crash lay amidst the broken crates. Mangled bodies lay in the furrows left by the yacht. His mind took a tally of the death, counting most likely seven passengers. From the clothing he could see they were all crew members except one, but he couldn¡¯t tell what position this last one held. His brow furrowed as he looked at them. He knew he should have been feeling guilt, sadness, sick, anything except nothing. He was only sixteen years old and his uncle had always pointed out to him the sorrow in the wars that were still waged. He said they were useless, that the Council should stop them but didn¡¯t. He knew this should be affecting him, but it wasn¡¯t. His left fist clenched itself tight at his side, and his left eye started twitching. Even the left side of his mouth started to lift itself up in a smile. He tried to control himself, but couldn¡¯t. His right hand then gripped his left shoulder as his legs straightened him up and he started walking into the clearing. He walked towards some of the dead bodies and his left arm reached out, running his fingers over the dead flesh. His head turned from left to right, taking everything in in a new light. Something caught his eyes and they focused on it on the other side of the clearing. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. There was another body off to the side, he couldn¡¯t see it before because the crates had been piled in his way. It lay there, thrown from the wreck out onto the grass. The body was whole, and aside from bruising and scratches didn¡¯t seem to be any worse for wear, unlike those who had been left in the direct line. It clothes were torn to pieces, and an ample bosom pronounced that it was a female body lying off to the side. Suddenly a leg twitched. Gosha blinked as he was brought back to the reality of the situation. He was in control of his body once again. Laying not too far away was a survivor of this disastrous wreck, a woman lying naked on the ground. A typical damsel in distress if he ever saw one. He rushed over to her and knelt by her side. His first glance told him she was still breathing. She looked not much older than himself, she might even have been younger. Her features were so soft though that it was hard to tell. He pulled his shirt over his head and lay it across her chest, easing the blood which had rushed to his cheeks and slowing his own breathing down. With her bosom covered he went about checking her body for any injuries. It was as he thought before, nothing was broken and the only injuries seemed to be scratches and bruises. He reached for her face and gave her a few light taps on the cheek. Her head lolled to the side. "Oh, not good, not good," he reached down and held her by the shoulders and started gently shaking her, "wake up girl. If you don¡¯t wake up you might die." Suddenly her head lifted and her eyes flicked open. Gosha let her shoulders go and scrambled backwards. She dropped down to the ground with a thump and groaned. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," he rushed back over to her and lifted her head with his hand, "I didn¡¯t mean to do that." She blinked a few times then looked in his eyes. She smiled slightly. She shifted her head so she could look around at the site. Her eyes opened wide at the horror that lay before her, and tears started welling his them. As she looked forward she noticed her breasts were uncovered as the shirt had slid down to her waist as he had shaken her. Her hand flashed in the air as she slapped him on the face, sending him reeling and causing him to drop her again. She scrambled to a sitting position and pulled the cloth lying across her up around her chest and clutched it tightly. She examined herself a little now, realising that her dress had been torn quite a bit. She sighed with relief though when she realised her panty was still intact. Gosha recovered from the slap and sat on the ground a little away from her. "Some thankyou I get," he muttered as the mark on his face started to show up red. "Ahem," the girl said as she realised the cloth she was holding was a shirt. She made a little circular motion with her fingers, "Would you mind turning around so I might get dressed?" Gosha blushed and quickly span in the spot. When she was finished she called him back and he turned to look at her. His shirt was a little large for her as she wasn¡¯t all that tall, and it went halfway down her thighs. At least it was an improvement from the torn dress though. "And who are you?" She asked of him, not even showing a hint of gratitude. Gosha stood up and puffed out his chest. "What would you say if I said I was a daring knight coming to rescue a fair damsel in distress?" "I''d hit you for calling me fair. I am sure you can see I am much more beautiful than that, even with this filth on." "Well then," he frowned slightly as his shirt was called filth, "what if I said I was the welcoming committee from the nearest village, welcoming you into our fair neighbourhood, and that the rest of the village would be hear soon to give you the same greeting?" "Sounds a little more plausible than the last, but I am sure you can do better than that peasant." "Aren¡¯t you miss high and mighty? Here I am, saving your life as you lay there on the doorstep of death, covering your modesty with my very own shirt, and all I keep getting from you are insults." She sighed slightly and slumped. "I am very sorry. I am just a little shocked by what¡¯s happened." She stood and walked over to where Gosha was standing. She grasped his head between her hands and brought it down before kissing his forehead. She then looked him in the eyes. "Thankyou, I am very grateful for what you have done. And now that¡¯s out of the way, won¡¯t you tell me your name?" He let out the air he had been holding in his lungs and his face turned a little red as she changed the way she was speaking to him. "I am Ho Gosha, and you are?" "Hi Megimi, pleasure to meet you. Now, one last try as to why your here." Gosha pulled a bit away from her and took on a dashing pose. "What if I was to say I was the King of the Bandits in this forest and I was going to take you away and ransom you back to whoever will take you, take everything from the crash and sell it, then leave with a tidy profit?" A deep voice sounded from the other side of the clearing where Gosha had come from. "I''d have to say that you¡¯re a stupid, lying village brat who has now bitten off more than he can chew." Gosha and Megimi turned to the new voice and saw a large man with his foot on a broken crate and resting his arm on his knee. On his hip was a sword and hidden by a deep blue cloak was a crossbow. On either side of him were more men, all holding crossbows, and with sinister expressions on their faces. 1.1.6 - Flight from the Bandits Ho looked up at the bandits as they stood blocking the path to the village. He knew the villagers wouldn¡¯t be too far behind, but the bandits could do whatever it was they were doing well before the villagers made it here. He watched in horror as the leader of the bandits smiled. "That was a pretty little speech boy," the bandit leader stepped down from the crates and took a few steps forward, "but, you see, this crash seems worthless when you look at it from one way. There¡¯s not a single piece of salvage to be worth carrying off. Even the Gemz all exploded. So that makes us being here worthless. That is, except for that pretty little girl you''ve found there." Megimi edged behind Gosha until he was between her and the bandits. "I mean, you do know who she is right?" Gosha''s eyebrows furrowed as he tried to figure it out, he looked over his shoulder at Megimi but nothing came to him. He shook his head at the bandit. "Then I wouldn¡¯t want to spoil the fun. Not only will she be worth a pretty penny as a ransom, but that gem around her neck looks like it will be worth a pretty penny too. I wonder how much power it has that she carries it around with her?" The bandit turned to one of his fellows and he hurried forward with a small contraption. He handed it over and the bandit leader took a long look at the dial on its face. He then tapped it a few tips with his index finger. "Dreygo, it¡¯s not broken is it?" The one who had brought the item out lowered his eyebrows as he looked at his leader. "Not at all sir. Was working fine a few minutes ago." The bandit leader turned around and threw the contraption into the ground at the man¡¯s feet, breaking it. "Well, that makes the gem useless then! It didn¡¯t even register a single ray on the Reader. Pick it up and go fix it, or the next one we buy is going out of your share," the bandit leader stopped shouting, brushed himself down, and turned back to Gosha and Megimi, "well, so I was wrong. That gem is nothing more than a precious stone and isn¡¯t worth the trouble. She is though. So if you would be so kind as to hand her over before we shoot you, we''ll make it as painless as possible." "WHAT??!!??" Gosha screamed as he heard the terms given to him, "Not much of a choice is it?" "No, it¡¯s not, you¡¯re right. But it¡¯s the only one you have right now. If you hand her over at least we''ll have no chance of hitting her before we shoot you. No loss to us if we kill her though, we''ll just be back where we started. The choice you¡¯re making is whether she lives or dies. Simple, no?" Gosha shook his head to clear his thoughts. The bandits had said he was going to die, one way or another. A choice between saving Megimi or letting her be killed wasn¡¯t much of a choice though. There was a third choice the bandit hadn¡¯t given him. With the way Megimi was burrowing her face into his shoulder he knew that the third option would be the best one to take. Who knew what these bandits would do to her once they got her. They might even be bluffing about not caring if she dies. The way back to the village was a problem though, they were directly in his path. He turned his head left and right to get a quick look around him. There was a small path leading off one way, a deer trail, no more, but just enough for them to get down. "Don¡¯t even think about it," the bandit leader yelled at Gosha, but he was too late. Gosha twisted and ran, grabbing Megimi''s wrist as he went and dragging her along behind him. The twang of crossbow strings firing sounded as the two of them fled across the clearing, but the bolts missed, striking the soft earth behind them. Soon enough they were into the trees and heading away from the clearing. Running along the deer track though meant Gosha couldn¡¯t figure out where they were and direct himself towards the village. The bushes on either side were getting too thick and he couldn¡¯t do anything to get off the track. The sounds of pursuit were not too far behind. He hoped they would be slower encumbered by their equipment. The sounds didn¡¯t diminish as they ran though, and with Megimi''s injuries she was starting to lag behind slightly. A snap sounded and the two of them ducked. But there was no thud from a crossbow bolt striking. Megimi gasped and halted in her tracks, causing Gosha to jerk slightly because he was holding her wrist. He turned and looked at her to see the colour completely drain from her face as her free groped at her neck. The necklace was gone. Megimi turned to run back to get it but Gosha held firmly to her hand and pulled her back. "You can¡¯t go back, they are right behind us." "I have to. I need that necklace." The footsteps of the pursuing bandits kept getting closer as they argued in hushed tones. "What¡¯s so special about this necklace that you would risk your life for it?" "It is the last thing I have from my grandmother. She handed it to me as she lay dying." "Too clich¨¦, try again," Gosha was getting frustrated now as the bandits were catching up. He could see the necklace hanging on the end of a branch twenty yards back down the path. "She told me that it was a ward against the shadow, and that if I were to lose it bad things would start happening." "They are already happening." "If you''d gone back to get it for me rather than arguing, you''d have it already!" "FINE!" Gosha almost growled out. He thrust Megimi in the direction they had been running. "You keep running, I''ll go get it for you." Gosha took off back down the path as Megimi started following it again. As he drew close to the necklace he could see the bandits rounding a corner. Crossbow bolts flashed out at him, but he dodged sideways just in time. He reached his arm out as he moved and grasped onto the blue gem that made up the pendant of the necklace. As his hand closed around it he could hear a slight rushing sound in his ears. He looked up at where the bandits were reloading their crossbows to take another shot to see that most of them had stopped in their tracks and were looking quizzically at their crossbows. They weren¡¯t being reloaded. The leader had stopped too and was looking around at his men. Gosha was just close enough to hear what was being said, and he stood frozen as he waited on his fate to be decided. "What do you mean it¡¯s stopped?" The bandit leader snapped back at the men holding their crossbows. "The Gemz out of power sir. I coulda swore it was full when I put it in earlier." "You must be daft, how could it have been if your crossbows stopped reloading?" "I told you Captain, we should have gotten manual loading crossbows. I don¡¯t trust the Gemz one bit." "I don¡¯t care what you trust..." A popping sound coming from the back of the pack stopped the leader mid-sentence. More followed in quick succession until eventually the gem in the crossbow of the man arguing with the leader exploded in a puff of glass dust. The Captain''s brow furrowed as he looked at the cloud of glass crystals. "What on Le''Tayah was that? Anyone''s Gemz still intact?" A chorus of No''s sounded from the pack of bandits and the captain threw his arms into the air in frustration. "Fine, fine. Well, we''ve wasted enough time here now haven¡¯t we?" Gosha sighed as he thought the bandits had forgotten about him and were about to leave. But the Captain reached down to his waist and drew a long sword from its scabbard. He then turned and pointed the sword directly at Gosha. "KILL THE BRAT!" he screamed and as one the bandits started running for him. Gosha turned and fled for the second time this day. But before he had gone a few paces his foot snagged on a root and he fell sprawling onto the hard track. He heard the bandits bear down on him, the Captain laughing. "He''s mine now. Get out of the way." Gosha turned his head to look up and saw the bandit Captain swinging his sword above his head, preparing to attack him with it. He twisted his body and pulled his arms in front of his face to try and block the sword. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The rushing sound came again. As Gosha''s arms came around in front of him he saw the gold that made up the necklace he was holding explode and turn into a shower of tiny fragments. Then from his hand started to stretch a blue light, and within this light the crystal started to grow out. It moved fast and started to form something that was looking like a sword. Glowing piece of light played around the blade, giving it an ethereal feel. When the blade had reached its full length the glow suddenly stopped and what appeared to be a wave rushed out from his hand, down the inside of the sword and to the tip. The bandit Captain''s sword struck the katana that Gosha was now holding and he bounced back into the bandits behind him. Gosha stared in awe and slowly he got to his feet. The bandits stepped back away from him. The bandit leader grabbed one guy by the front of the shirt and pulled them face to face. "I thought you said that Gem had no power?" "Actually, Captain, you said that yourself. I just handed you the Reader." "But you said it was working fine! I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a Gem with no power. In my books it looks like a Gem Sword." "I... I..." the man was stuttering with fear, "I don¡¯t think so Captain. I''ve seen a few, and they don¡¯t usually look like that." "Maybe they''ve designed a new one then!" The captain¡¯s words sent spittle into the man¡¯s face as he yelled with rage. Gosha took a few steps backward, the point of the katana lowering until it touched the ground. It wasn¡¯t because it was heavy, in fact he couldn¡¯t even tell if it had any weight. It was just because he wasn¡¯t used to holding a weapon. The bandit Captain, though, looked like he was very familiar with his weapon as he twirled it around in his hand, stepping closer to Gosha. The Captain gave a worried look at the katana before giving a menacing look at Gosha. Gosha flinched as their eyes locked. "Not used it, eh boy? I don¡¯t know what it is you have there, but if you don¡¯t know how to use it then it¡¯s not going to do you any good." Suddenly the bandit rushed him, swinging his sword in arcs. Gosha only barely managed to deflect the swings with the blue crystal katana he had. The bandit¡¯s blade kept getting closer though. Gosha knocked the bandit¡¯s blade aside and made a swipe across his face. The bandit dodged the clumsy swing easily, but Gosha was already hot-footing it away. The katana was still in Gosha''s hand while he was running, but he paid it little thought. He just kept running. It didn¡¯t take him long to catch up to Megimi. That wasn¡¯t because she was slow, or that he was fast. It was because the path came to an abrupt halt at a small clearing. In the centre of which was the tower which had held the Crystal that controlled the Clock Line. Gosha slowed as he entered the clearing and saw Hi sitting on a small boulder beside the tower door. "What took you so long?" She called to him as he started to make his way over to the tower. She looked at the sword in his hand when he reached her. "What¡¯s that? I didn¡¯t know you had a sword! Why didn¡¯t you pull it out earlier and show those bandits a thing or two?" Megimi stood up and moved over to examine the sword as Gosha stood puffing, "Wow, that¡¯s a strange blade. Looks like there¡¯s water inside it. It¡¯s not a usual Gem Sword. Must be worth a fortune." "You''ve seen Gem Swords before?" "Yes, quite a few." "And you''ve never seen one like this before?" "No, never. Most of then a just clear crystal. Usually a Gem is placed inside a hilt and the sword grows out from that. But even the hilt appears to be made from the blue crystal." "Um," she looked him over with her eyebrows lowered, "you didn¡¯t get my necklace? What took you so long then? Were you having a great chat with the bandits?" "Of course I..." Gosha trailed off as he noticed Megimi looking over his shoulder. He looked back to see the Bandit Captain come charging out of the trees and straight for him. Gosha dodged and parried the first few blows, but then nicks and scratches started appearing on his body as the bandit¡¯s blade got closer and closer to a proper cut. Gosha was suddenly forced to his knees. The bandit raised the sword and started a straight thrust at Gosha''s heart. His arms felt heavy, and he couldn¡¯t raise the sword in time. Gosha''s vision clouded as liquid darkness seemed to encase his eyes. He heard a chink as the blade going for his heart suddenly ran into trouble. Gosha''s strength came back and he stood. His vision was suddenly clear as whatever it was that had been moving before his face suddenly became still and seemed to snap into place. The bandit¡¯s eyes were opening wide in shock and horror. The other bandits had caught up too, and they stopped at the edge of the clearing. Gosha looked at himself. He raised his hands to his face and saw that his left hand was covered in some sort of black armour, studded with spikes, while his right arm, still holding the blue crystal sword, was covered in armour of pure silver. He grabbed at his face and found a helmet, one side of which held a giant curving horn, the other a feathered wing. His whole body seemed to be encased in some sort of armour which he had not been wearing before. The bandits took another look at him and ran away. When the last of the bandits was out of sight the armour suddenly became like liquid, one side black, the other silver, and seemed to melt away from his front and around to his back. He turned to see where it was going, but there was nothing there. "Everyone knows magic is outlawed!" he yelled as he turned to face Megimi, but her face was also showing shock and horror. "I know Gosha," her whole body was trembling, "and if you know, then why did you use it?" "I don¡¯t have any magic. The Gemteks tested me. It must have been you." "I have done nothing of the sort. But..." she walked over to him and around to his back, "there¡¯s something weird here." She lifted her hand and started tracing it along his back. Her hand felt cold on his back. The pattern she traced was unfamiliar to him, but symmetrical. She spoke softly as she moved her fingers. "There are these strange markings on your back now. Almost like a tattoo, but also similar to a scar. It¡¯s as if it¡¯s part of your body. But I don¡¯t remember seeing it before. I had a good view of your back as we were running, and this definitely wasn¡¯t there. Whatever it is, it seems to be part of you. And it was both beautiful and horrifying at the same time. But that was quiet obvious as one side was beautiful, and the other scary." She walked back around to face him. "The bandits ran in fear, was it really that scary?" "They probably ran because they thought you were a mage. But yes, half of it was scary. It was black, and dotted with spikes, and the helmet looked like a face torn with agony and screaming. The other side though was like an angel, silver, with this beautiful white wing coming from the helmet." Gosha fell to his knees, he eyes filling with tears. "I''m a monster. I was checked for magic! I can¡¯t have magic! They told me I didn¡¯t have any magic. They even told me I couldn¡¯t be a Gemtek, that I didn¡¯t have a strong enough aura for it. Yet here I am freely using a gem too, with no amplifier attached to it." "Using a gem too? Oh, the sword?" He looked her directly in the eyes and slowly the sword vanished back into his hand. He held his closed fist in front of her face. "You say you''ve never seen the sword I was holding? Then why were you carrying it around your neck?" He opened his hand and Megimi gasped as she saw the blue gem that was part of her necklace resting in his palm. 1.1.7 - An Impossible Reading Gai Koukan paced back and forth within the viewing platform in the Gem Control Room. His eyes kept glancing back and forth between the two displays below him. On his right was a massive sphere of light floating between the platform and the ground. The shell of the sphere was an exact replica of the world of Le''Tayah, down to the very last blade of grass. The topography of the sphere was amazing. It was only missing life. No animals or humans showed up on the sphere, and it annoyed Gai. It would have made things a whole lot easier for him. Small lights played across the sphere, and men in white lab coats were bustling around pointing metal tubes at them. The tubes had cables that ran over to Gai''s left. More men in coats were sitting behind screens that showed a variety of images from graphs to simple numbers. The screens were constantly changing and the men were taking notes on clipboards in front of them. One suddenly rose out of his seat and called up to Gai. "There¡¯s another one, Councillor. Two hundred and fifty thousand rays. On rod seventeen again." Gai reached up and pushed his glasses back onto his nose, before turning to look at the sphere. "Where is rod seventeen?" he bellowed down at the patrolling men, "Still in the same position?" "I haven¡¯t moved sir," the voice came back resolute. "Councillor, the reading is registering different to the one from before," the first man called back up, "There seems to be some background noise in that causes variation in the two frequencies. While they are technically the same power level, I can assure you that these came from two different Gemz." "How can that be? Such power has not been seen on these screens since their creation, and you¡¯re telling me that we have two within an hour of each other?" "The Gem Tracking Sphere has only been in working order the past ten years Sir. It¡¯s to be expected, considering we have been utilising Gemz for countless generations now, that there are things even we don¡¯t know." "Well, what about the first energy reading? What happened to it?" You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. "It¡¯s, um," the man tapped a screen before turning to Gai, "It¡¯s just vanished Sir. There¡¯s no sign of it anymore." "Ok, ok, let¡¯s just calm down. Signals like that don¡¯t just vanish." "But the Tower Gem did sir. A whole half a sun of energy just went missing. We can¡¯t find it anywhere." "Are the Gemteks nearly there?" The men around the sphere moved some rods around until a few small points of red light appeared on the surface, some of them moving quite rapidly. "Councillor Gai, the three men sent to investigate the crash have reached the tower it seems..." the three lights winked out in front of him and he blinked, "And now they have vanished. It¡¯s like the Gemz ran out of power." "They vanished too? Are they anywhere near the second spike?" "Right on top of it Sir. The other five men you sent to investigate the first spike will be arriving at that location soon. Should we advise the Gemteks that they need to send more Hunters out to recover these Gemz?" Gai placed his hands on either side of his head. It would do no good to get flustered at a time like this. He just couldn¡¯t believe that of all things, on the day that one of the tower Gemz goes missing, two of those other Gemz would appear. It was like his worst nightmare come true. He needed to relax and look at things in perspective. "No. Go see them, tell them about their losses, all eight of them. Tell them they are not to send any more men to that location." "Eight losses Sir?" "Yes. There is no way that those other five can stand up to such a power. We need to regroup and discuss this in the Council Room. The others might be able to come up with something. I will be leaving now, have all the reports taken to my study. Let no one else read them. I need to show the Council first. We need to deal with this problem fast." Gai turned on his heels and walked quickly out of the room, muttering to himself the whole way. 1.1.8 - Resisting Arrest Gosha threw another stone off into the surrounding trees before turning back to Megimi. She was still holding the Gem in her hand and shaking her head, seeming to have forgotten the plight that Gosha was now in. She mumbled as she looked at it. "It just can¡¯t be. It was checked numerous times. There¡¯s no way it could have any power." "Well, it does." "Are you sure though?" She looked up to see Gosha starting to scowl, "Oh, I don¡¯t mean, it¡¯s not that, I know you have no reason to lie. I mean, I saw the sword you were holding for myself. Kind of plain, but a sword of blue crystal none the less. I just can¡¯t seem to get it to do the same thing." She moved closer to him, as he poised to throw another rock at the foreboding trees. "You¡¯re not hiding a Hilt are you?" Gosha grabbed her hand as it flashed out to check his pockets. He shook his head, then reached into his pant pockets and withdrew what he had in there. He placed the light canister and the marker on the ground, with a cracked Gem for good measure. The other things in his pocket were even more mundane. "That¡¯s all. No matter how much I want a girl rummaging through my pants, this is neither the place nor the time." Megimi blushed and crouched down to have a look at what he had placed on the ground. But none of it seemed like a Hilt. "Sorry, Gosha. I didn¡¯t mean anything," the change that had come over him since the incident with the liquid armour was starting to frighten her, "things just don¡¯t make sense. All Gem-weapons I have seen need some kind of focus to bring out their potential. They pretty much just act as a power source. You put the Gem into the base of the Hilt and a sword blade grows out from the end of it. Or an axe, or whatever it is that it was designed for. But Gemz don¡¯t just do things by themselves." "Well, it did. Your own eyes won¡¯t lie to you." "Did you have to break the necklace though?" "Hey," Gosha raised his hands in apology, "it wasn¡¯t like I meant to. It just shattered when the sword grew. It feels double edged though. Like the old saying, ''A double edged sword''. I mean, aside from the fact it only had one edge. But what I mean is, it did save my life. If it hadn¡¯t have done whatever it did at the right time, like it did, then I would have been run through by that bandit. Along with that is the fact it also brought the monster out of me. I''m no mage, but there¡¯s something weird going on. It gives me a bad feeling. Like a buzzing at the back of my brain." Megimi put a finger to his lips and stopped him talking. Gosha pulled away a bit. "What did you do that for? If I bother you that much just tell me to shut up. I''m no better than a beast now, commands would suit me." Megimi''s eyes started roaming the skies and her finger came to her own lips to mime quiet. "You¡¯re no beast," she whispered, "but that buzzing you feel might not just be a bad feeling, because I can hear it too." Gosha looked up and saw a reflection from the sun bounce off something up high. The reflection started descending. "Not more crap. What now?" Gosha took hold of Megimi''s hand and dragged her to the doorway of the tower as three men descended from the sky and hovered off the ground slightly before landing softly. Gosha looked at them closely, trying to figure out what all the equipment they were carrying was, but he couldn¡¯t make any of it out. Megimi hid behind his shoulder and whispered up into his ear. "This isn¡¯t good. Gemteks." "But aren¡¯t they from the Government?" Gosha whispered back. "If you want to say that. But they are not the good guys by any measure. They don¡¯t stop to think about what¡¯s around them." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "Have you ha d a run in with them before?" "You really don¡¯t know who I am do you? Let¡¯s just say, yes, I''ve had run-ins with them before. Nothing serious though. I would rather they didn¡¯t take me now." Gosha looked over to the three men. They all touched the sides of the strange armour they were wearing, and with a whooshing sound the helmets opens sideways, revealing confused faces. "Are you sure about what you heard over the comm?" one with black hair said. "That was definitely it. But I''m not getting any readings at all here," said another wearing glasses. The one in the middle took a step forward and swept his arm to the side. "Enough," he said with authority, the tattoo on the side of his face giving him a menacing look, "no matter what they said as we came here, the fact of the matter is that we are on the scene of the crime." The three of them looked around and started tapping the side of their helmets. Clicking sounds could be heard. "Well, look what we have here," Tattoo said to the others, "the Tower, Crystal sitting in the claw, no clock line, and two likely suspects standing right in front of it." "Reckon they took the Gem?" said Glasses as he leaned forward, looking directly at Gosha, and tapped his helmet. A light blinded Gosha momentarily. "There¡¯s no readings at all though, you said so yourself before. We should see a beacon on the scanners at the bare minimum. If not having them blow up on us with the sheer power of the Tower Gem." "Cedar Box?" "Where, in the cursed name of the Magi, would they have put the thing?" "Maybe they hid it already." "Maybe they had an accomplice?" cut in Black-Hair. "I don¡¯t even see how they could get into the Tower. As far as I understood, they were impregnable." "Obviously not so." Tattoo started peering at Gosha and Megimi closer. "Well, boys, seems things just got more interesting," Tattoo called back to the others as he started adjusting something on his arm, "seems things have turned into a kidnapping. We might have to subdue the parties¡¯ involved and free The Megimi child from this desperate villain¡¯s grasp. You all saw, he rushed at me with a spoon." Megimi grabbed onto Gosha''s shoulders and whispered, "Duck!" Gosha dropped to the ground as a green blast of energy rolled over the top of him. "And now, that¡¯s resisting arrest. This guy¡¯s going..." Tattoo stopped in his tracks as a couple of leaves fluttered into his face. The wind started to pick up around their feet and move the grass and leaves around. The trees around the clearing were still though. The wind picked up speed and Gosha could feel himself getting moved around by it. A beeping sound started. "I think we found the power spike," Glasses screamed over the roaring wind. All three of them started looking at their wrists and then tapped their helmets to close them. The wind picked up intensity and Gosha felt his feet being lifted from the ground. He started to spin and saw that he was heading for the Tower. Reaching out he grabbed onto to Megimi and dragged her close to his chest. His back struck the wall of the Tower, his body shielding Megimi from the blow, and the wind was knocked out of him. He grunted in pain, then slid down the side of the Tower, striking his head on a rock sitting on the ground. As the blackness started to engulf his eyes the last thing he saw was a bright white pin-point of light surrounding what appeared to be an angel descending from the heavens, wings outspread. 1.1.9 - Guardian Angel? Gosha''s eyes opened with a flutter. The blackness vanished instantly to be replaced by a searing light. He blinked a few times to clear his vision before he noticed someone staring down at him from only about a foot away. The face was upside-down, but slightly mesmerising, with pale blue eyes and wind swept blonde hair standing of its own free will. The face smiled down on him, and he couldn¡¯t be sure if it was a boy or a girl, the features were very delicate and precise. "Good to see your awake now, you were beginning to worry me." The voice was melodious, and Gosha couldn¡¯t help but watch the person''s lips move as they spoke, drawn into their words. A hand rubbed his hair and touched his cheek. It was soft and gentle. "Are you just going to lie there all day?" Megimi''s rich voice struck into his world then and he sat up with a snap. It was at that moment he realised two things. His head had been lying in the persons lap, and the side of it hurt like hell. He slumped forward slightly as the pain overcame his for a moment, but it cleared quite quickly. He put his hand to the side of his head and his fingers came away sticky with blood. "Don¡¯t worry, its stopped bleeding," the person¡¯s voice drew him around to face it. Before him stood a boy of about the same age. His hair was still standing like it was before, sitting out from the back of his head. He wore pale loose fitting clothes, but seemed to move with ease. He was completely unarmed, but had pieces of jewellery hanging from his wrists and ankles and even a necklace. Gosha blinked. The boy smiled, then noticing Gosha''s awkwardness, laughed richly. None of which eased Gosha''s nerves. All that was running through Gosha''s mind now was the sense of passion he had seen within this boys eyes. "I don¡¯t think the two of you should stay around here much longer," the boy looked sunwards into the sky, "there¡¯s more of them coming." "Are you some sort of angel?" Gosha asked, edging towards Megimi. "Oh no, I wouldn¡¯t want to call myself that. I just happened upon you as three Gemteks were leaving. I noticed the blood and thought I would help." "Well, thankyou. But I don¡¯t see why the Gemteks that were attacking us would leave so quickly. "Seemed like they had another place to go." "Whatever you say," Gosha eyed the boy up and down for any sign that he could have defeated the three Gemteks by himself. He shook his head when nothing became evident and just had to believe what the boy told him. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "I know what you have decided. I have been watching you for a little while now. But I didn¡¯t want to get mixed up with the bandits. They are dangerous people and not the kind I want to associate with." "How could you know just from watching?" "Your eyes don¡¯t lie to me." Megimi looked from one boy to the other, trying to figure out what they were talking about. But she got a little lost in looking at their features. She couldn¡¯t decide which one was cuter. Gosha had defined features, dark hair and dark skin from his work outside. And with his shirt off it was easy to his muscle that he had built up with manual labour. But the new boy looked refined, with almost godly features. And he held himself like a cat ready to pounce. Megimi collapsed on the ground from all the heat rushing to her face. They both turned to face her. "You should deal with her first." "Deal with her? What do you mean by that?" Gosha moved over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "Oh," the boy laughed again, "I didn¡¯t mean anything like that. What I meant was you¡¯re not that far from the edge of the forest. If you take her in that," his arm flashed up and he pointed roughly sunwards, "direction you''ll be able to see your village. Leave her at the edge to make her own way to the village. They''ll be able to help her." "And you say you know what I have decided?" "After you say goodbye, come back here." "And what? You''ll kill me like you killed those Gemteks? Are you a mage? Are you the one that did this to me? Made me into this beast?" The boy just shook his head and sighed. "Then what?" "You see yourself as an animal, a beast, worse than human. At least you realise you¡¯re not human. But don¡¯t be so easy to judge yourself. Just come back here. And leave now, the others are arriving. Don¡¯t stop until you¡¯re at the edge of the forest." The boy turned his back on the two of them and Gosha grabbed Megimi by the arm and started leading her away. After a short while they broke into a jog, with Gosha muttering to himself the whole while. Megimi kept quiet, not wanting to attract the rage of this young man. A gap in the trees allowed them a brief look of the Tower. At the distance they were now they could only see the top, but beside it they saw a funnel of wind whipping leaves and branches around. A light shone from the middle of it. "He is a friggin mage!¡± 1.1.10 - Youre Who? It wasn¡¯t too much longer that the forest edge came into sight. In the distance they could see his village, surrounded by the crops and the grazing fields. "This is where we part Megimi." "You¡¯re not coming back?" "To what? I don¡¯t deserve to be around them anymore." "So you¡¯re going back to see what that boy wants?" "I don¡¯t know yet. Probably. What else is there for me?" "And why is he different from the ones in the village." "He knows, and he did nothing. He could have let me die, or helped me along with my bleeding. But instead he helped me. Those in the village burnt three people over the last year for being suspected of using magic. Whether they did or not wasn¡¯t an option." "That sounds foul," her face was aghast, not realising the harsh reality of the small towns. "I helped them tie of one the men up. They needed extra hands because he was strong. If it was anyone else in the village who was like me, I wouldn¡¯t waste time in asking questions, he''d be burnt within the hour. I know what they are like, and I know I was like that. I can¡¯t go back. Find my Grandpa Ryoma, he will help you get back to where you were going. And he should know about what¡¯s going on. Tell him what you will." "Well then, I guess this is goodbye," she held his hand and started to turn away. Then she flew back around and gave me a quick kiss on the lips, just barely brushing them. Gosha''s face flared up red and Megimi laughed, a sound like a thousand bells singing. "Surely my touch is better than the boys was," this only caused Gosha to blush even more, "Goodbye Gosha." Megimi turned then and started skipping towards the village. Gosha called out after her. "At least tell me who you are, everyone else seems to know." Megimi turned around and gave a quick curtsy using the edges of Gosha''s shirt. "It was a pleasure to meet you Ho Gosha. I am Hi Megimi, daughter of the King of the Crescent Kingdom and creator of the gem-swords." The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Gosha''s fell over backwards as Megimi took off for the village again. He lay on the soft dirt for a while before deciding it was time to get head back to the tower. He didn¡¯t know what he expected to find at the Tower, but anything was better than going back to the village. He didn¡¯t know what may happen if he went back. They all knew him. But they had also all know Inu, the man burnt at the stake two months ago. He couldn¡¯t trust them. The clearing around the Tower was in disarray, debris flung everywhere. It looked worse than it had the first time. As Gosha had expected, the boy was nowhere to be found. In fact, the clearing was completely empty, of Gemteks and everything. All he could do was walk over to the Tower, and lean against it. "How did I know he wasn¡¯t going to be here?" "Who wasn¡¯t going to be here Lad?" A gruff metallic voice sounded from the edge of the clearing, the opposite direction that Gosha had just come from. Gosha crouched down as he waited for the person to show themselves, worried bandits might be back. From the edge of the trees a figure came forward. A huge warhorse covered in barding carried a massive man, himself covered in armour from head to foot. His face was covered by a full helmet, and he seemed to be surrounded by weapons. On his back was a great two-handed sword and a longbow. At one hip was a hunting knife and short sword, at the other a long-sword. On the saddle hung a small battle axe, and hanging behind the rider was a quiver filled with arrows. "There¡¯s no need to worry lad. I''m not here to do anything to you." The man stopped a distance away and dismounted with ease. He then pulled his helmet off and sat it on the pommel of the saddle. He had close cropped grey hair and numerous scars covering a weathered face. "My name is Tsu," he bowed to Gosha briefly, "it wasn¡¯t you by chance that defeated the Gemteks was it?" 1.1.11 - Hes not coming back Megimi walked into the village, blushing furiously as she held Gosha''s shirt at the hem to try and get it as low as she could. She didn¡¯t like the idea of people looking at her the way they were. The men that were rushing everywhere just stopped in their work to stare at her. Crates were piled around, and she recognised her father¡¯s emblem emblazoned on the side. There was nothing valuable in them, but her eyes walked over all the boxes as she went by anyway. She turned her head back to look at the crate she just passed and gasped with glee. She let go of the shirt and clapped her hands together as she rushed over to where a number of girls and women were sifting through a pile of clothes. She pushed with her elbows and caused a number of disgruntled curses to follow her as she made her way to the front of the pack. Once there she started grabbing pieces of clothing others were holding. "Give them back! They''re mine!" She shouted as the women fought her for the clothes. "I found this piece first, go find your own!" the woman screeched back at her. "Hey, you, that¡¯s not yours," Megimi reached over and grabbed another piece of clothing someone was trying to get away with. "Let go, bitch," the woman dug her heels into the ground and pulled against Megimi. All Megimi could do was let go of the dresses as her arms were dragged in different directions while she held tight. Falling to her knees she started sobbing. "It¡¯s alright girl," another woman said as she pat Megimi on the shoulder, "there¡¯s plenty of clothes to go around. I just hope I find something that fits." The woman pushed past Megimi, sobbing on the ground, and started rummaging through clothes. Something soft landed on her head. She opened her eyes and noticed the soft yellow colour of one of her favourite dresses. She held it in her hands and just rubbed her fingers together, feeling the silky smooth material. "Why don¡¯t you go into that house there and try it on darling?" The woman who had pat her pointed to a building just next to them, "That¡¯s where the others are trying stuff on. Don¡¯t be shy." Megimi stood mechanically and shuffled into the room where all the women and girls were trying on all of her clothes. It was so degrading to be handed a piece of her own clothing as if she should be privileged to receive it. It was already hers. She pulled Gosha''s shirt off anyway and threw it into a corner. She listened to what the others in the room were muttering about as she pulled on the dress. "Wow, this girl must have been skinny," said one woman that Megimi thought could have been the twin sister of the cow she passed on the way into the village. "It¡¯s a little long, but you will grow into it sweetie," commented another woman to a young girl. The skirt she was trying on was supposed to stop at the knees but it dragged along the ground. "Wow, whoever she was, she must have been rich. These clothes are so expensive," the woman saying this had just dragged the dress through the dirt to be in here, and it was almost ruined from the effort. "The boys didn¡¯t get as lucky," a girl said as she tried on a dress that fit her for length, but was too big around her bust. "You need to grow some breasts honey, to fill that dress out properly." Laughter echoed through the room but Megimi ignored that. Depression crept up on her to see such finery ruined by the women of this village. "Hmmm, that¡¯s a good fit," the voice seemed distant to Megimi. She continued to tie the dress up properly when it spoke again. She realised then that they were talking to her. "I said that¡¯s a good fit honey. Hey girls, we found someone who actually fits the clothes." Megimi looked up as the women in the room all turned to look at her. The girl with the knee length skirt spoke in a high pitch voice between all the ooo''s and aaa''s. "It fits me too." Megimi snapped then. She looked at the girl with eyes full of fire. The tears had stopped, but the streaks were evident where they had run down her face. Suddenly she let out a wail, then started screaming at the women and girls in the room. "NO IT DOESN¡¯T! Can¡¯t you even tell when a skirt is supposed to stop at your knees? Of course these clothes fit me. They are MINE!" "Calm down girl," the woman who had brought all their attention to her spoke softly, "we all get an item. It¡¯s the rules of the salvage. You should know that by now," the woman¡¯s eyebrow raised, "but, I don¡¯t recognise you. You¡¯re from this village right?" "NO YOU DON¡¯T GET ANY! They are MINE! My father had them all order for me from a dressmaker. They were all hand-crafted to fit me by the most skilled artisans of the Sunward City. Don¡¯t even try to patronise me with your words. You don¡¯t know anything here. That boy from before didn¡¯t even know who I was..." Megimi sat down on the floor and rubbed her eyes as the tears started flowing again. "Oh my," said the woman as she picked up the shirt Hi has thrown into the corner, "This is Gosha''s shirt. Where did you get this from girl?" "From Ho Gosha. He gave it to me when he found me at the crash." The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. "You were in the crash? Oh my, then that means this really is... And that makes you... I recognised the emblem, but not you. Not the way you came into town. But, we do have a question. Did Gosha come back with you? The men say he wasn¡¯t at the crash site. A number of the young women are worried about him." Megimi sniffed loudly, "He''s fine. Sort of. He''s not here though. I need... I need to see his Grandpa." "I''ll go get him for you," the woman went to the door and turned around to the others, "Maybe we should put the clothes back, ladies. The owner is here..." "No, keep them. They aren¡¯t any good to me anymore anyway covered in dust the way they are." "Maybe you should come with me Miss Megimi, we''ll go find Gosha''s Grandpa." It didn¡¯t take the two of them long to find Gosha''s Grandpa. He was on the edge of the village watching the forest. Megimi kept her eyes averted from all the scavenging as she walked through the centre of town again. She couldn¡¯t bear to witness what was happening to all her stuff. When they found the old man he was sitting on a fence post. The woman went over to him and whispered in his ear. The old man turned around to face her, then nimbly jumped from the post and came over to hug her. He was shorter than she was and she nearly laughed, but that would be rude to her elders. "So you know what happened to Ho? Please tell me Miss Megimi. I must know," there were tears of love streaming down the old mans wrinkled face. "Gosha is fine good sir. He found me at the crash site and then proceeded to rescue me from bandits which appeared." "Yes yes, that would explain why they couldn¡¯t find him. And why there were so many crossbow bolts." "But sir, he is not coming back." "Then maybe he has discovered he isn¡¯t really related to me and is running away..." "That¡¯s not it sir. He said to tell you that he wouldn¡¯t be..." "He is very noble. Saving the Megimi heir from bandits. Maybe he has run off to try and save another damsel in distress. I hope he doesn¡¯t make a habit off it..." "You not listening are you sir?" "Then what is it Miss Megimi," the old man¡¯s voice was soft and full of desperation. Megimi turned her face away. "I cannot tell you. He thinks you will look at him differently." "I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything that could make me look differently at him, why don¡¯t you tell me." Megimi looked across at the woman who was still standing there and waiting for news of Gosha. She raised her eyebrow slightly and the old man noticed where she was looking. "Let¡¯s talk a short walk then," he let her go and started walking off into a paddock, "Sakako, please go back to the others, I won¡¯t be long." The woman bowed to the old man and then ran back into the village, most likely to try and grab some more clothes before they were all gone. "Now, we are alone. Would you please tell me? There¡¯s nothing he could have done that would make me think of him differently. Even if he killed someone, I could not see it as murder when I see what he was vying to protect," he nudged her ribs with his elbow, "He''s a bit of a looker isn¡¯t he." Megimi blushed deeply, "And a bit cheeky sir. But you¡¯re wrong in your thinking. Gosha didn¡¯t harm a single person. In fact he got hurt a bit during the fight." "He''s shamed by losing a fight?" "No sir," Megimi rubbed her hands together and started to have sweat bead on her forehead, "I find it hard to say." "Oh, don¡¯t tell me he wasn¡¯t interested in you? He isn¡¯t grazing in the wrong paddock is he? That¡¯s not such a problem." "Well, sir, he did seem quite interested in me. But there was this boy when we reached the tower that he seemed a bit taken with. He was quite cute too, but a different cute." "Ah, so that is it then. He''s run off with this boy?" "Maybe, he was going back to the tower to meet him." The old man sighed and shrugged. "But that¡¯s not even the reason. Gosha used some sort of magic." The old man stopped in his tracks as she said the word. "Are you sure?" his voice had taken on a more cautious tone. "I saw it with my own eyes sir. This liquid stretched from his back and..." The old man put a finger to her lips and she stopped. "Not even out here should you so freely talk about such things. Even just to say the word within earshot of most residents of this village would have you tied to a stake. You will never mention this again. Not to anyone, do you understand?" Megimi nodded and the old man removed his finger. "That¡¯s good then. We''ll just tell them he ran off with a boy, at least that''ll keep the girls from my door. Though they might mourn for a while," he laughed at his own joke, "But let¡¯s get back to town before they wonder where we have got to. I''ll organise with the other Elders to get you back to Sunward City." "Thank-you sir." "And thank you, Miss. At least I know what¡¯s happening. The not knowing would have killed me quicker than the worrying about what mischief he''s going to get up to." 1.2.1 - A somewhat explanation Gosha shook his head. He was sitting on a small rock around the Tower of Earth, speaking with the stranger who had appeared and called himself Tsu. ¡°They aren¡¯t dead, I was told they had other places to be.¡± Tsu raised an eyebrow. ¡°And you believed that? Seriously?¡± ¡°I was knocked out just after the three of them arrived. They shot at me and the Princess and then something strange happened.¡± ¡°Woah¡­¡± Tsu motioned for Gosha to halt in an exaggerated way, ¡°just hold on a minute. Princess? There was a Princess here?¡± ¡°Um, yeah, called herself Hi Megimi. I had no idea who she was, but at the end she said she was the daughter of the King of Crescent. That makes her a Princess doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yes, yes it does. And what was a Princess doing in the woods?¡± ¡°She was on the ship that crashed down when the Clock Line vanished.¡± ¡°Oh, she was? And she survived?¡± ¡°She was the only survivor from what I could tell. Quite amazing if you ask me¡­¡± ¡°Ok, we have that sorted. But how did you end up at the Tower?¡± ¡°Some bandits showed up at the crash site and we ran.¡± ¡°Makes sense. A lot has happened to you today hasn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know the half of it yet,¡± Gosha looked a little depressed after that, ¡°some strange things have been going on.¡± ¡°Right¡­ So the ship crashed, you found the Princess, bandits showed up, you fled, and arrived here. How am I doing? Am I keeping up so far?¡± ¡°Yeah, we are getting there. The bandits chased us here, then they fled, then the Gemteks showed up. There were three of them. They seemed to be looking for something. They were talking about a reading vanishing but that it should have been here. I don¡¯t know what they were on about. And then suddenly they shot at me, after saying something about a spoon. I think they had a screw or two loose.¡± ¡°Yes, you need to if you want to work there. Sane people don¡¯t join the ranks of the Gemteks. They shot at you and then?¡± ¡°Well, the wind started to pick up speed, then stuff was getting thrown around, then a blacked out. When I awoke the Gemteks were gone, and my head was resting in a boys lap. He must have been about the same age as me. I don¡¯t know where he came from, he wasn¡¯t there when I got knocked out. He must have been walking by. And then after that I took the Princess to the edge of the forest and returned here. That¡¯s pretty much how it went.¡± Tsu nodded slowly, keeping a close eye on Gosha. ¡°Your story feels like it was cut into pieces, had bits removed, and then was strung back together.¡± ¡°Why does everyone I meet today think I am making things up?¡± Gosha said, remembering Megimi¡¯s reactions when he first met her. ¡°I didn¡¯t say you were lying boy, just omitting certain truths. There are a few facts that I know that you might not. For instance, there were a total of eight Gemteks that arrived in this area, and all eight of them met their ends here.¡± Gosha¡¯s eyes widened in a mix of surprise and fear. ¡°But that¡¯s not all. I am a Gem Hunter, and one of the tools trade is a Gem Reader. I know that some extremely powerful Gem bursts were registered on my reader, but they did not stay for long. Lucky for you, I actually know what these are. And since you mentioned a boy here, I can take a guess at who was here and what actually happened.¡± ¡°The boy told me to come back here. But you were here instead of him.¡± ¡°He knew I was coming. He wanted you to come back so I would find you. He wouldn¡¯t normally do something like this, we don¡¯t usually see eye to eye. Something about you interested him¡­¡± Gosha turned his eyes away and Tsu could see him start to fidget. ¡°I think I know what it might be,¡± Gosha said in a quiet voice, ¡°he probably wants you to kill me for being a mage. Remember when I said the bandits fled. Well, that¡¯s only part of it. The reason the bandits turned tail and ran is because I conjured some armour around myself and they thought I was a mage and ran.¡± Tsu was visibly taken aback. ¡°Here I was going to say that you made a strange Gem weapon appear, but, wham, you sock me in the face with this magic stuff,¡± Tsu stood, walked in a circle and sat back down, ¡°now, explain it to me properly, people don¡¯t generally start using specific magic like that without training. Usually it starts out as bursts of non-specific energy, random stuff happening. What happened to you was very specific.¡± ¡°Well, there was the weapon too¡­¡± ¡°WHAT? This day just keeps getting strange and stranger. I feel every time I ask a question you say something that make another five questions pop into existence. Let us start with the armour, run me through what was happening step by step.¡± Gosha took a deep breathe before he started. He knew everything was strange, and here he was just talking about it all nonchalantly with some stranger he had just met. But at least Tsu was listening, and he had not made any threatening moves yet. Maybe he wouldn¡¯t try and try Gosha to a stake. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°The bandits were chasing after me. I was fighting with the leader with the sword. I was getting cut everywhere, then I fell. I could barely move. The bandit was thrusting his sword towards me, and then suddenly I was covered in armour. The bandits ran and the armour vanished.¡± ¡°So, the armour appeared at just the right time to protect you, hmmm. Can you elaborate a little more on how the armour came to be and what happened when it vanished?¡± ¡°Yeah. Um, how to explain it¡­ It was like I was getting dunked in water head first, but then it solidified and was armour. Then when it vanished it liquefied again and seemed to pull around into my back. And that reminds me,¡± he turned to face his back towards Tsu, ¡°the Princess said some weird markings appeared on my back. Can you see them?¡± Tsu reached a hand forward, stopping just short of Gosha¡¯s back. He could clearly see the marking on his back. He felt a tear welling in his eye, and quickly wiped it away. ¡°Yeah boy, I can see them. And I have seen the same before. It¡¯s not magic. Well, not exactly.¡± Gosha turned back around to listen. Something seemed strange now in Tsu¡¯s voice. It had lost its gruff edge and was softer now. ¡°It is part of you, and extension of yourself. Obviously, at this stage, you can¡¯t control it. But it appeared to save you, like a reflex. Like when you put your hands in front of you when he fall down. It is something you need to train, but there is no one that can teach you. You are a Gen¡¯Ral. A race of people created in the Shadow War, that could sprout armour from their backs. ¡°There are none about now, the lineage has been watered down too much. There are rumours of them popping up here and there. There are also rumours about their powers. Supposedly they can pick up any weapon and know how to use it after only spending a short time with it, and can master it in a matter of months, as opposed to the years it takes normal people. They are stronger, faster, and have more endurance than regular people. And their armour cannot be pierced except by magic or Gem weapons with extremely high power outputs. Maybe you¡¯ll see some changes soon, as your bloodline kicks in. The marks on your back are weak, but they will probably grow stronger as you age and learn how to control it. ¡°But, you must never show anyone. You need to keep it a secret. Otherwise people will try and kill you because of it. First you should learn to control it and stop it from appearing as a reflex. I do know a place where you can train for that kind of thing.¡± ¡°So,¡± Gosha started, stopped, and then started again, ¡°You think I am one of these general things?¡± ¡°Gen¡­ Ral. Gen¡¯Ral.¡± ¡°Ok, Gen¡¯Ral things.¡± ¡°Yes, most definitely. It is a lot to take in though. Now, on to the next matter. You were saying something about a strange weapon.¡± ¡°Oh yes,¡± Gosha shook his head to clear it quickly, ¡°The Princess had this necklace. The bandits said it didn¡¯t register on the reader they had. She dropped it, so I went back to get it. But when I grabbed it suddenly this sword appeared in my hand.¡± ¡°So you are saying that you made a Gem sword appear without the use of a Hilt?¡± ¡°Hey, that¡¯s what the Princess was saying. She said normally there was a hilt which you inserted the Gem into to form the weapon. But this one just formed with the Gem itself.¡± ¡°And where is the Gem now.¡± ¡°I gave it back to the Princess.¡± Tsu hit the rock with his fist. ¡°Um, should I have not done that? It was hers.¡± ¡°When she held it, nothing happened right?¡± Tsu watched as Gosha nodded, ¡°So it reacted to you and you alone. Then you are one of the chosen, and you need training!¡± ¡°The chosen? Training?¡± Gosha was confused now. Everything today had accumulated into a mess in his head and it was spinning now. The head wound he took earlier wasn¡¯t helping anything either. And his cuts were stinging. What a day he was having. It appeared to be ending now as darkness closed around his eyes. Tsu swore quietly as Gosha collapsed. But there was nothing he could do about it, the boy had been through a lot and things were definitely going to get worse. He moved over, grabbed Gosha, and flung him over his horse¡¯s rear end, just behind the saddle. Gosha didn¡¯t even stir. Scratching his head Tsu thought for a moment, then grabbed a section of rope from his packs and tied Gosha down. Wouldn¡¯t pay to have him fall off on the way. Tsu then quickly swung himself into his saddle and started his horse walking. He would need to go to Crossing first, a bustling merchant town on the edge of the lake. 1.2.2 - Shutting Down Operations Gai Koukan looked firmly from face to face as everyone in the room was staring intently at him. He had been expecting it. Something of this magnitude was going to reach the Council sooner rather than later. ¡°I can¡¯t believe something like this would happen,¡± the representative from the Federation of Inundail, Meister Jorgun Linduvian, broke the silence, ¡°thankfully this won¡¯t have a negative impact on trade, but there could be other, more far reaching consequences. Something like this has just never happened.¡± Meister Jorgun was much like any diplomat from the Federation. He was of a medium height, and built like a snowman the kids make when they visit the Darkward end of Le¡¯Tayah. A snowman with legs. It was a wonder they supported his weight. His bald head just added to the appearance, and he was constantly wiping his brow of sweat with the large kerchief he kept tucked inside his robes of office. ¡°That is only one of the problems we currently face,¡± the current representative of the Freeholdings of Silda was the next to contribute, a one Sir Reginald. He was the champion of one of the feudal lords who populated Silda, and took turns in sending a representative to the Sun Council. Though this time the man had his wits about him, he was indeed a fine knight, and looked every bit the part with his blonde hair, dashing smile, and scarred face. Koukan thought he could handle those two pretty well though. Reginald was a hard military man, but he didn¡¯t know much about politics, and Jorgun didn¡¯t care as long as he or his country profited. It was the others he was wary of. Two more men faced him in the chamber. Hi Shinji, youngest brother of the King of Crescent, was the most dangerous. He would not be manipulated easily, and could prove to be the tipping point. The others seemed to look up to him more than they did Koukan. He was a tall man, with an athletic build, impeccably groomed at all times, and friendly, everything that made you want to be his friend. He also, to Koukan¡¯s dismay, liked to play things by the book, and seemed to be keeping everyone¡¯s interests at hand when he made a decision. And the last was representative from Anticus, where everyone lived within the mountains. He kept to himself, rarely speaking, just sitting in his chair in his dark grey clothing and with a large wide brimmed hat which made it difficult to see his face, even when he was talking to you. He even wore it inside, to protect himself from the harsh light which he was not used to even after all his time spent in the City of Light. His name was Yun Jinda Spark. Usually he had no input in general matters, but whenever he had stuck his hand in things had always seemed to go against Koukan. ¡°Ah yes,¡± Koukan started, ¡°We are currently facing a few problems, but I believe attempting to deal with the issue involving the Clocklines should take precedence. They are integral to the trade between here and Darkward side, and this disruption could cause major issues further down the track.¡± Shinji cleared his throat. ¡°Koukan, there are many things to consider. While I do concede that the missing clockline it an important matter, what about the loss of eight lives today? The fast response unit of the Gemteks has been halved in their numbers. This will put a huge strain on their resources. Not to mention their equipment. Anything to say on this?¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Of course. Their families have already been notified and are currently being looked after. We are looking into filling the positions quickly as the fast response unit is one of the busiest around¡­¡± Shinji cut him off abruptly, cutting the air with his hand to call a halt. He stood and glowered at Koukan. ¡°That is all well and good, Gai, but what about the cause? Eight members of an elite force have been killed. Do you know the cause?¡± ¡°We have a suspect, and have posted wanted posters in all the major towns and villages within the region,¡± Koukan remained calm, it would do no good to get flustered here. Just bear with it. Surely Shinji didn¡¯t know everything. ¡°A suspect? Is that all? What about the abnormal power readings in the area? Were there not at least two spikes in the readings that are unaccounted for? Stronger readings than we have seen for many years?¡± Koukan tried to contain his happiness, keeping a neutral outward appearance. He had kept the readings out of his report, but he knew that Shinji would have the resources to find out before the meeting. He had been waiting for this to be brought up. The interest of the others seemed to have been piqued. ¡°They were an anomaly. They did not last for long, and have not been found since. We are still looking into it. While the readings were, technically, the same value, they had slight variations in them that we have not seen from other gemz.¡± ¡°What are you trying to say? That there is a new kind of gem going around?¡± ¡°Oh, no, not at all, Minister Shinji. We believe the anomaly will more likely be from a flaw within the instruments that take the readings. We have been working on the belief that they were perfect, but obviously not.¡± Mister Spark suddenly spoke. His voice had a sharp edge to it. ¡°I call for the shut down of the facilities. And a full diagnostics to be run on it to find the anomaly. Until the anomaly can be found we should rely on more mundane ways of completing our work.¡± ¡°But, Mister Spark, that is not possible,¡± Koukan was smiling inwardly, things could not have been going much smoother, ¡°the Gemteks use those facilities to do everything, and to run diagnostics on the whole system will take months and manpower to achieve.¡± ¡°Even so, it must be done.¡± ¡°I second the motion,¡± chimed in Meister Jorgun in a high pitched squeal. ¡°But sirs¡­¡± ¡°I will put my name to it as well,¡± said Minister Shinji, ¡°the niece was involved in this incident, so I feel it would do the Gemteks good to go and look at themselves more closely.¡± Koukan could hear Jorgun muttering about there being less Gemteks around to meddle in his countries affairs but pretended not to hear it. ¡°Three votes means it will be implemented,¡± said Shinji in his most authoritative tone, ¡°The Gemteks will close their facility with the City of Light and begin running diagnostics. An internal investigation will be started into the incident and how the Princess of the Kingdom of Crescent could be put in danger and the loss of eight lives to an unknown cause. At the same time two units will be dispatched, one to look for the suspect, and the other to look into what has happened to the Clockline. Monthly reports will be supplied.¡± Everyone nodded their agreement. 1.2.3 - Crossing Tsu heard a groan from behind him as Gosha started to wake up. The boy moved around a bit where he had been tied to the horse. ¡°Hey, what the?¡± Gosha tried to spurt out some words but Tsu made his horse sidestep and disrupted him, ¡°Stop it! Why am I tied up back here.¡± Tsu just continued riding, ignoring the writhing behind him and stream of protests coming from the boy. ¡°Just hold on a bit longer Gosha, I¡¯ll let you down in a moment,¡± he said trying to console the lad, ¡°I had to do something with you, and I needed to move. We couldn¡¯t wait around there any longer, never know what might have happened. As I said, I plan on taking you to a place where you can train. But to get you there we need to do a bit of travelling. I don¡¯t really want to be babysitting a snot nosed brat like yourself for too long, so I moved. Besides, more of those Gemteks might show up, and I don¡¯t want to have to deal with yet. We have a stop to make, and we¡¯re nearly there. There¡¯s a rise coming up, and once we get on top I¡¯ll let you down. From there we will walk to the town. You¡¯ve been passed out for a while, so I made some good time. Sorry if any parts are bruised though, I couldn¡¯t really help it. Horses aren¡¯t exactly the best mode of transport when you aren¡¯t sitting on them. Even then it becomes questionable¡­¡± Tsu just let his words trail off as he continued to move his horse at a steady canter, even as Gosha grunted and complained. The boy would be bruised when he got off the horse, but that was his fault for falling unconscious. Slowly they climbed the rise in the road and Tsu pulled his horse to the side and dismounted. Untying the rope he grabbed onto Gosha and lifted him off the horse and placed him on his feet. Suddenly Gosha gasped as the pain from the ride went to overwhelm him again. He leant forward and grabbed onto Tsu¡¯s armoured shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine,¡± he said when he noticed Tsu¡¯s concerned look, ¡°but on top of everything else that happened today I think I¡¯ve now got broken ribs and bruised thighs.¡± ¡°Yesterday.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been out for about half a day, if not more. We¡¯re now quite a ways from your home town. You¡¯ve been asleep the whole time.¡± ¡°I suppose that does explain why my body feels broken and my legs refuse to work.¡± ¡°Probably a good thing we are walking to town then. Let¡¯s get a move on, shouldn¡¯t take us too long to get down there.¡± The two of them led the horse along the road again as the landscape before them started to open out. The plains flowed everywhere from the small hill, and the dirt road snaked down between various crops and grazing land as it made its way towards the city in the distance. Gosha was amazed, he had never seen a city this big. He had barely left the town, and they had only ever gone as far as the trading point to drop off the crops they had harvested. And most times the buyers came to them. But this city was many times bigger than his home town, or even the trading point. At the end of the road a wall rose up, surrounding the city that sprawled along the edge of the lake that Gosha was beginning to notice. The city was divided up into sections that were easy to tell apart even from the distance he was seeing it at. The first section where the road led too looked like his town, only bigger and more tightly packed, roads everywhere and wooden buildings the norm. The mouth of a river split this part from the next part, which was much more¡­ white. The buildings seemed to be spaced further apart and bits of green could be seen between the buildings, alluding to gardens. Overall that part looked much cleaner than the first. The final section of the city, if it even was part of the city, was what appeared to be a number of boats of all sizes linked together by bridges and platforms. People were rushing around everywhere on it and appeared to be little more than ants, a scurrying mass. Tsu saw where Gosha was looking. ¡°Ah, yes. That¡¯s like a floating city in itself. It is part of the main city and not at the same time. But the same could be said for the other parts. They all view themselves as being a separate community. But the ships have come from all over. They are made to work the rivers and come from Silda, even Cesyga. I think maybe even the desert nation of Yssingar has a boat or two in there, that they raised up the cliffs and put onto the rivers. Would have been an amazing thing to see.¡± People were gathered along the road and the throng seemed to increase as they got closer to the gates. Everyone was still moving though, just congesting a bit as people were trying to get in and out of the gates at the same time. It didn¡¯t stop flowing though, just slowed. The two of them eventually passed under the gates and moved the horse to a little bit of space off to the side so they could stop for a minute. ¡°Well Gosha,¡± Tsu said waving his hands around himself dramatically, ¡°welcome to the city of Crossing. Melting pot of cultures and trade, most likely the biggest trading city in Inundail. Only the Kingdom of Crescent rivals it in trade, but their whole country is built on trade, and their whole country is a single city, so it¡¯s to be expected. But don¡¯t get too comfortable. We won¡¯t be here for long. We¡¯ll stay for a bit and let you recover a little. I¡¯ll grab you a few things to make life easier, and then we¡¯ll be on our way. Probably take another day or two to get to the place we¡¯re headed.¡± ¡°And where¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Oh no, not telling you that yet. Don¡¯t need you running away from me. If I have to track you down you won¡¯t be going there in style¡­¡± Tsu looked at Gosha¡¯s face as it got darker, ¡°Kidding little man, kidding. The place is nice¡­ enough. Nice enough. Just stick with me and you¡¯ll be fine.¡± Tsu started to lead his horse through the town again, not giving Gosha a chance to have a good look around except for the fact that most of the buildings were made of wood. Suddenly Gosha saw Tsu pause for a moment, then swear, then start off in another direction, taking smaller side roads this time and moving much quicker.Stolen story; please report. ¡°Is there a problem Tsu?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ No¡­ I don¡¯t know,¡± he said in a hurried breath, ¡°Just keep follow me and keep your head down a bit more. Don¡¯t get lost.¡± They continued through the winding streets and it didn¡¯t take long for Gosha to completely lose himself. He knew there was no way he would be able to find his way back now. He just kept walking, keeping his head down and holding onto the side of the saddle so he didn¡¯t lose where the horse was going. Suddenly the horse stopped though and Gosha nearly tripped over. He raised his head and saw that they had reached a stable of some sort. Tsu was flipping a coin over to a sleepy stable hand that was just emerging from a stall. The coin was grabbed with deft skill and pocketed quickly. ¡°Let me just take your horse off you good sir,¡± he said as he came to grab the reigns, then led her off into a stall towards the back. Tsu watched for a while and nodded with a glum smile as he saw his steed getting a good brush down. Tsu grabbed Gosha around the shoulders and led him inside the doors of the inn. Gosha saw the sign just before he was ushered inside, a picture of a fire place with a bright red fire in it proclaiming this inn to be the Raging Hearth. Gosha got chills for a moment. Tsu directed him to a table out of the way of the small number of patrons that were in the inn and took himself off to to speak with the owner. He reached his hand out and gave the big burly man who was behind the bar a warriors handshake, grasping each other¡¯s forearm. ¡°How goes the travels Tsu?¡± The man seemed to boom as he cleaned glasses. ¡°I can¡¯t really complain, Fernor, how goes the innkeeping business?¡± ¡°Ah, much the same, much the same. Things just ebb and flow around here. Been a bit of a stir these past few cycles though, what with all the trouble at the tower,¡± Fernor raised an eyebrow and glanced at Gosha sitting silently at the table. Both of them lowered their voices. ¡°Yeah, I saw the posters on the way in. I didn¡¯t realise they would act that quickly.¡± ¡°A beehive has been kicked, and kicked hard. What happened?¡± ¡°Fernor, you don¡¯t really want to know. You¡¯ve probably heard a little though. What are they saying? I didn¡¯t get time to stop and look at the poster.¡± ¡°They say that a child has broken into a Tower and destroyed the crystal. You and I know that is impossible, I don¡¯t know what they are playing at with that. But they went on to say that when the Gemteks went to investigate they were attacked and killed, they don¡¯t say the boy did it, but they do say he is a wanted witness as to what actually happened. They say he may be dangerous.¡± Tsu let out a guffaw that he barely covered with his hand. ¡°Before things go too far Fernor, since you and I are friends, I want you to know some things. Firstly, yes, the boy was there, but no, he didn¡¯t do anything to the guards. He¡¯s fainted any number of times so far, there¡¯s no way he could have done anything to Gemteks. Secondly though, from what he tells me, Koji was there.¡± Fernor reached forward and grabbed Tsu¡¯s hand tightly and put a finger to his lips to quieten him. ¡°No, no. That¡¯s bad. That¡¯s never good. Enough of that for now, get to your room. Take the boy and keep him up there,¡± Fernor dropped a key in front of Tsu quickly and ushered him over to the stairs, grabbing a surprised Gosha on the way. Once inside the room Tsu motioned for Gosha to sit again. ¡°Fernor, we¡¯ll just be staying a short while. I just need to grab some stuff from the markets for him, and then we¡¯ll be on our way. He¡¯s a little bruised and battered though, so I¡¯ll let him rest here for now.¡± ¡°Oh boy Tsu. If Koji is involved with this then nothing good will come of it. Why did Koji spare the boy if he was there too?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not really sure, but I think Koji might be interested in him for some reason. In fact, I think I know the reason, but I don¡¯t want to talk about it. Better that you don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°What are you going to do with him?¡± Gosha just stared back and forth between them as the conversation continued. ¡°I¡¯m going to take him to the Knights. They¡¯ll be able to protect him for a while.¡± ¡°Oh, Tsu, that is a good idea. The Knight¡¯s stronghold is quite secure, and he¡¯ll be able to learn some skills. I just hope they don¡¯t cause him any problems like they caused you¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯ll be fine, and I¡¯ll get him away from there before it can become an issue.¡± ¡°You must be off to the market then. Make it quick,¡± Fernor turned to Gosha and looked him over, ¡°bruised and battered, you obviously need a rest, but is there anything else I can get for you?¡± Gosha looked at him blankly, not really understanding what was going on around him. ¡°Maybe some answers would be nice?¡± ¡°Food it is then, I¡¯ll be back with a meal for you,¡± Fernor ignored the request and quickly moved off out of the room to get Gosha a light meal while Tsu unceremoniously dumped his pack on the bed. ¡°Gosha, stay here for now. It seems the Gemteks have posted wanted posters around town, and I can¡¯t have people finding out who you are. I do hope you didn¡¯t get noticed by anyone on the way here. But anyway, I need to get some stuff, you¡¯ve got nothing. I¡¯ll be back shortly.¡± Tsu walked out the door and quickly exited the inn. He knew where the markets were and it didn¡¯t take him too long to get there, but the cycles were moving around through the towers. He couldn¡¯t take too long, because the longer he waited the more likely there were to be issues. Quickly he went through the market, grabbing bits and pieces as he went. Clothes here, shoes there, a cloak. He stopped for a while in front of a weapons stall. The man behind the stall certainly wasn¡¯t a blacksmith, and the wares certainly weren¡¯t of good quality, but they were cheap. Gosha didn¡¯t need a good weapon, but any weapon would help him start to learn to protect himself. Tsu reached for a shortsword and picked it up. The weight wasn¡¯t bad, Gosha might not be used to using one but his blood would let him pick it up quickly. He handed across a few coins and then looked at the time. It was wasting away. He left the markets as quickly as he could and made his way back to the inn. Upon walking through the door an unsettling feeling fell across him. The taproom was empty except for Fernor standing behind the bar, head in hands. "We¡¯re shut,¡± he called out without looking up. Tsu moved inside quietly and made his way to the bar. He gingerly placed a small bag of coins beside Fernor arm and whispered to him. ¡°Did they come for the boy?¡± ¡°Oh, Tsu,¡± he looked up, worry creasing his face, ¡°No, no. Worse than that. Your friend is here¡­¡± Tsu dropped another small bag of coins on the bar. ¡°I hope this will cover the damages.¡± Slinging the items he had acquired from the market over his shoulder he silently headed up the stairs to the door, where he proceeded to kick it in. It flew off its hinges and smashed into the wall opposite, sliding down to reveal a now broken window behind it. Gosha was tied to a chair on one side of the room, well out of the way of where the door came through. He has gagged too and was trying to make muffled sounds of warning. Opposite him were sitting two people, making themselves at home on the bed, a mug of drink in hand and picking at the food that had been brought for Gosha. The older one was instantly recognisable by Tsu. He was a tall man, well built, flowing brown hair, and a smile that made your skin crawl. Tsu and he were old acquaintances, from the Knights. The two of them didn¡¯t get on well, especially since Tsu had left the Knight¡¯s but he hadn¡¯t. He was always trying to get Tsu to rejoin. ¡°Hello Ralphas,¡± Tsu said to the man with venom in his voice. Ralphas took another swig of his drink. ¡°You took your time Tsu. Fernor said you wouldn¡¯t be long. I¡¯m already on my second tankard though.¡± ¡°I take it this isn¡¯t a friendly visit?¡± ¡°Is it ever? But I was just planning on waiting up here for you, when I spied you coming through the gates earlier, and was surprised to find you with a wanted fugitive. The Gemteks say they will pay a pretty penny for that boy over there,¡± he motioned towards Gosha with his tankard. ¡°Don¡¯t touch him, Ralph, I¡¯m taking him to the Knights.¡± ¡°Oh? Oh! Well, just so happens I¡¯m headed that way too. Found them a new promising pupil,¡± Ralphas nodded towards a slender boy who was sitting next to him, the boy never moved an inch, his eyes, deep in their sockets, focused on Gosha. It was a little unnerving. ¡°His name is Densin. I found him on the Darkward end of Inundail. He¡¯s a fire element like myself, but if trained properly I think he¡¯ll be much stronger than me some day, he shows promise,¡± he motioned at the chair with Gosha again, ¡°What about him? Do you know what his element is? Nature like yours?¡± Tsu slowly moved into the room, edging closer to the bed where his sword lay and closer to where Gosha was tied. ¡°No, Ralph, I do not know. I haven¡¯t checked him.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re planning on taking him to the Knight¡¯s anyway? You can¡¯t be serious there Tsu,¡± he stood, placed his tankard down, and rolled his shoulder with an audible crack, ¡°But you see, I kind of don¡¯t want you to take him there anyway. Densin will get there, but this boy wont. Then they¡¯ll start thinking higher of me, bringing them such a promising new student. And I¡¯ll take the boy in for the reward. They won¡¯t keep talking about you then, they¡¯ll have to stop.¡± Slowly Tsu reached for his longsword at the same time as Ralphas was calmly drawing his. Densin still had not moved from his spot, a watchful eye on Gosha only, not even seeming to notice the tension in the air around him. Gosha struggled in the chair weakly, but there was little he could do now. ¡°I¡¯m sick of them always talking about the prodigy Tsu. Tsu the great, Tsu the good. Best swordsman they have ever seen grace their walls. I am sick of hearing about you. I am sick of it, and I will end it now!¡± Ralphas spat out the last words as he readied himself with his sword. ¡°Fine then,¡± Tsu said calmly, taking his own stance, ¡°I just hope I gave Fernor enough coins to cover this¡­¡± 1.2.4 - Burning Down the Inn Their swords clashed as Ralphas quickly lunged at Tsu. Tsu¡¯s blade swung in a half crescent and deflected the piercing blade slightly off to the side. Ralphas was unperturbed though and quickly followed it out with another strike. Tsu had a dislike for his style of fighting, people attuned to the fire element like Ralphas always tended to be hot headed and aggressive. The rain of blows continued and it was taking all Tsu¡¯s effort just to keep the sword from connecting with his skin. The two of them weren¡¯t very compatible, with Tsu being attuned towards the nature element, his fighting style being a lot slower to take hold in a fight. A swift kick to the ribs of Ralph put a little bit of distance between the two of them. The brief respite didn¡¯t give him a chance to take in much about what was going on. Densin was still sitting on the bed, paying the fighters no mind at all, staring intently at Gosha. He had cocked his head to one side though. Gosha was still struggling in his bindings, but Ralphas knew what he was doing and there was no way the boy could get himself out of them. Ralphas was back in his face again though, swinging left and right and barely giving Tsu a chance to get his sword up to block. Tsu was thinking of other things and couldn¡¯t focus his whole attention on the fight. He needed to do something about Gosha, get him away from Ralphas, give himself some space to be able to fight properly. After a quick block Tsu took his chance and swung quickly towards the ropes binding the boy. He managed to slice a few, enough so that they loosened for Gosha to struggle out of the bonds and grab the gag from his mouth. Tsu took the tip of Ralph¡¯s blade across his shoulder as he couldn¡¯t dodge quick enough. ¡°Tsu, it¡¯s not worth it,¡± Gosha pleaded, ¡°I¡¯m not worth it, let him take me in, you don¡¯t need to get hurt!¡± With a rough hand he shoved Gosha onto the door he had kicked in before. ¡°This is my decision boy,¡± Tsu managed to get out between trading blows with Ralph, ¡°And I¡¯m taking you to the Knights. Just wait here a minute¡­¡± Tsu grabbed the edge of the bed and flipped it up, throwing the sheets, pillows and mattress at Ralph. They were quickly torn to shreds but this gave enough time for Tsu to duck and weave around the sword and get out of the room. He motioned back to Gosha to stay put and bounded down the stairs in two quick steps. He skid to a halt in the taproom as he could hear the frustrated roars coming from the room above. ¡°Densin, watch the boy. Tsu is mine!¡± was roared as the man stormed out of the room and followed the way Tsu had gone. Fernor was still behind the bar, head in hands, shaking them. The coin purses were gone though. Tsu rushed over and gave him a nudge. ¡°Get out of here Fernor, you don¡¯t need to get caught up in this! Glad you never embraced using GemZ inside like other did, but I am so sorry for this.¡± Tsu pushed Fernor towards the back door just as Ralphas reached the bottom of the steps, dragging his sword down each one with a thunk-thunk. He was blind with rage now, as Tsu knew he would be, but he was still a swordsman. ¡°Turn around Tsu, fight me face to face!¡± ¡°No!¡± Tsu yelled back as he grabbed a few bottles of various alcohol¡¯s from behind the bar. He flung one over his shoulder and heard a smash as Ralph slashed at it with his sword. He turned around now and started flinging the rest towards his combatant. They were either slashed at or completely avoided, breaking against the wall and the stairs behind him. Tsu few as many as he could before the man was too close. He dived out of the way of the first slash and sprawled across a nearby table. Spinning around onto his back he quickly brought his sword up to block. Another swing came down and he rolled to the side, the sword lodging itself into the wooden table. Ralphas let out a roar of frustration.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Tsu moved over near the front door, where two lanterns were blazing away on either side. He quickly slashed at one, sending the oil and sparks onto the wooden frame around the door where they instantly started to flare up. He grabbed the other lantern from its hook and turned to see Ralph lifting the whole table up and smashing it on the ground to free his sword. ¡°Just fight me fair and square Tsu.¡± ¡°Another time Ralph, I have things to do now.¡± ¡°You always do this! Always dodging around and not taking me seriously. Why won¡¯t you fight me?¡± ¡°Because I once thought of you as a friend, Ralphas, and I don¡¯t hurt my friends¡­¡± ¡°Not good enough, Tsu. You¡¯ve never once fought me seriously!¡± As they conversed the flames slowly started to eat at the doorway and screams could be heard coming from outside, shouts of ¡°FIRE!¡± trying to attract someone to help put it out, or maybe just to warn everyone so they could run away. Tsu threw a chair at Ralphas and made his way back up the stairs. When he was at the top he looked down to see Ralphas at the bottom. ¡°No, no, don¡¯t do it,¡± Ralphas seemed to plead with Tsu as his hand reached up and then down, dashing the lantern against the alcohol soaked stairway. Instantly the flames shot up all along the stairs. They took much faster than the doorway had, thanks to the flammable nature of alcohol. Ralphas reeled back, an arm rising to shield his face from the fire, a sharp hiss escaping his lips. ¡°Damn you Tsu! Damn you! When will you fight me?¡± Ralphas screamed up the stairs over the sound of the fire. ¡°Maybe once I¡¯ve finished my business I¡¯ll fight you properly, Ralph!¡± Tsu turned he body away from the flames as they were heating up even further, starting to engulf the whole the entire hallway. He moved to the doorway of the room and saw that Densin still had not taken his eyes from Gosha, and Gosha was now standing near the window looking a little bit more than uncomfortable. Running in Tsu bundled Gosha into his arms, grabbed his pack from the bed, and then flung himself out of the window, twisting in the air so that his back landed on the top of the stables roof, smashing through it and dropping the two of them onto the compact dirt floor of the stable. Tsu let out a grunt as he was winded. Gosha moved first, rolling from atop Tsu so that the big man could get up. Looking through the hole in the roof he saw Densin standing in the window, looking down at where they were, uncaring. The boy disturbed Gosha, they seemed to be about the same age, but everything about him was unnerving. A call from deeper within the stable broke his concentration. ¡°Can you ride boy?¡± yelled the innkeeper. ¡°Um, yeah, sure.¡± ¡°Good, help Tsu up. The flames won¡¯t hold Ralphas for long. He¡¯s not really strongly attuned with fire, but enough that he¡¯ll be able to get out of the inn without a scratch. You need to hurry.¡± The innkeeper led Tsu¡¯s horse and another one out, fully saddled and ready to ride. Tsu clambered up and threw all the stuff he was carrying to Fernor, who quickly attached them to both the horses. He then motioned for Gosha to get on the horse. Once the two of them were mounted they moved out of the stable, and Fernor grabbed a lantern that was hanging just inside the door. He tossed it into the hay. ¡°I¡¯m sure gonna miss this inn, Tsu. I think I might need to go back to wandering.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t, you were a good innkeep. Sorry for the trouble.¡± ¡°Trouble follows you everywhere, Tsu, you seem to handle it mostly by causes problems for others and hoping it will distract those chasing you for long enough.¡± ¡°Good bye, Fernor, again, sorry¡­¡± The two of them spurred their horses forward, getting them up to speed quickly. A quick glance back showed that the boy Densin was still watching them from the window. The swung around a corner and bounded past the inn. The door crashed open behind them and Ralphas sprawled into the road, shouting obscenities at them and waving his sword. ¡°Next time Tsu!¡± was the only legible thing that Gosha could hear. The streets nearby were fairly quiet as the people had moved away for fear of the fire that had started to grow bigger and bigger. The fire was not stopping, but the throng of people started again as the two of them reached bigger streets. Tsu slowed down to a walk, looking back over his shoulder to make sure that Ralphas wasn¡¯t following them. Happy they were alone again he quickly grabbed the cloak he had bought and threw it over Gosha¡¯s shoulders, helping him hide his face as the two of them wound their way through various streets, heading clockward to the other side of the city, where they slowly walked their horses out of the brilliant white gateway and onto the road, a sign proclaiming they were heading towards the Freeholdings of Silda. ¡°We¡¯ll make camp near the border, inside the treeline. Ralphas knows where we are heading, so I¡¯d like to take a different route there,¡± Tsu proclaimed calmly to Gosha, who just nodded. ¡°What was that about? Why didn¡¯t you just let them take me?¡± ¡°Ralphas and I trained together. We used to be friends. But I left the Knights, so Ralphas views it as his responsibility to hunt me down and bring me to justice. The head of the Knights disapproves though. I¡¯m a bit of a grey area within the Knights.¡± ¡°You keep saying the Knights, but I don¡¯t know what you mean¡­¡± ¡°Surely you¡¯ve heard the stories, Gosha, of the valiant Knights of the Wilted Rose. I¡¯ll take you to their monastery and you¡¯ll be able to get trained there. One of the best schools of combat you¡¯ll find anywhere in Le¡¯Tayah. And I said I will get you there, so I will, come hell, highwater, or Ralphas. But, Ralphas did have a point. I haven¡¯t checked how you are attuned. Most people from your area are attuned to the earth, even if ever so slightly, but it helps a bit with the crops and such. I have a strange feeling about you though¡­ Anyway, I¡¯ll check when we make camp. No more questions for now, we need to focus on losing Ralph.¡± Gosha just nodded glumly and continued to follow Tsu. It was only a short while ago that he had been avoiding working in the fields with Grandpa, and now he had been fighting bandits, and Gemteks, and tied to a chair, involved in the burning down of an inn, and whatever else had happened that he could not remember. He sighed. 1.2.5 - Discovering Goshas Element With significant distance placed between themselves and Crossing they started looking for a place to rest. After heading Clockwise out of Crossing they had eventually found themselves at the edge of a wooded area, the forest seeming to stretch forever away from them. Tsu dismounted after checking their back trail and gave his horse a rub down. ¡°We¡¯ve reached the edge of the Freeholdings,¡± Tsu stated in a matter of fact way. ¡°And that means nothing to me,¡± Gosha rebutted, not having ever gone this far from his home town before, ¡°They didn¡¯t really teach us much about the world in the town, we learnt numbers and letters and that was about it.¡± ¡°Sorry, Gosha, I didn¡¯t consider that you would not have had proper schooling,¡± Tsu was clearly sincere in his tone, ¡°Bigger places like Crossing and the country capitals have full schooling for everyone under the age of twelve. But, smaller places like where you grew up, only do the basics. It¡¯s a problem I think needs fixing, but is neither of the here, or the now. ¡°The Freeholdings, or more specifically the Freeholdings of Silda, is the country neighbouring the Inundail Federation on the clockward edge. Most of the country is taken up by this forest,¡± Tsu moved forward to lay a hand on the large trees that formed a boundary between the forest and the farmlands of Inundail, ¡°The forest has many names, depending on who you talk with. But the most common name is the Forest of Beasts, as within this place many a formidable creature exists. ¡°The Tower of Nature resides close to the heart of the forest, and the closer you get to it the more dangerous the forest becomes. But we do not need to venture there. From where we are we¡¯ll head further into the forest, then we¡¯ll skirt around a smaller lake. We¡¯ll find a place to cross the river that comes down from the mountains, and then make our way to the Monastery.¡± Gosha just nodded contently, not really understanding where he was or where he was going. But this Monastery had been mentioned a few times now. Tsu had spoken about some Knights who resided there, but he had not elaborated. ¡°About this Monaste¡­¡± he started before being cut off by Tsu. ¡°Let¡¯s head inside the forest and see if we can¡¯t find a small clearing. I don¡¯t like resting out in the open here with Ralph on our tail. Never know when he might appear again. No doubt we¡¯ll see him again at the Monastery. Just be patient until then.¡± Leading the horses the two walked into the forest quietly. The questions nagged at Gosha now, but he followed Tsu calmly, not wanting to get lost out in the middle of nowhere. He had no idea how to get back to his home town, let alone Crossing. And this Ralph person did not seem to like his or Tsu much, and he did not want to run into him again by accident. It was much safer just staying with Tsu for the time being. This Monastery he keeps mentioning might even be a decent place to stay. It didn¡¯t take long and a clearing was found. Camp was set up quickly and precisely, since they had both spent their fair share of time outdoors. Soon enough they were sitting around a camp fire. Tsu had given Gosha all the equipment he had bought earlier that clock, but most of it was not needed anymore. They were useful when he was trying to hide Gosha and take his time, but now they were in a rush and stealth didn¡¯t matter as much. Gosha turned the sword over in his hands a few times as he admired the craftsmanship in the weapon. He was not a blacksmith, but he could tell that the weapon had been crafted by someone of greater skill than whoever crafted most of the tools they used from day to day. ¡°They are made to not break as easily,¡± Tsu said as he saw Gosha staring at the sword, ¡°unlike what they give the farmers in the small towns. Cheap blacksmiths make their money by having people come back to them for repairs. Good swordsmiths make their money by having their weapons used and their name grown from that use. More warriors will buy a sword if someone else can show them how good it is, but if the swords keep breaking they¡¯ll stop buying from there.¡± ¡°That actually makes complete sense to me. For a change. One of the few things that has since the transport crashed. I wish more things would start making sense,¡± Gosha turned the sword over again, ¡°But¡­ why? Why did you get me a sword? Surely they are expensive?¡± ¡°That one was actually one of the cheaper ones. You need something for protection though. I was going to start teaching you at the Inn, but things didn¡¯t go as planned. Now we¡¯ll learn out here at camp.¡± ¡°Why do I need protecting?¡± Tsu let out a guffaw. ¡°Seriously? You were tied to a chair not that long ago and you wonder why you need protection? Are you thick headed or something? I know a lot has happened, but obviously you need to keep yourself quick witted. When I first met you I thought you were smarter than this.¡± Tsu stood up from the fire and went over to his where his belongings rested beside a tree. He searched through them for a few moments and then drew a sword from the pile that was similar to the one Gosha was holding. ¡°Up you get boy,¡± Tsu motioned with the sword for Gosha to move away from the fire, ¡°With the sword¡­¡± Gosha grabbed the sword and then moved over to where Tsu was now standing. He hefted the smaller sword in his hand and noted the differences between it and the gem sword he had used at the Tower of Earth. This one was much shorter, and straight, while the gem sword had had a slight curve on it. This one also had some weight to it. Not too much, but the gem sword had felt like nothing.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. He swung the sword a couple of time, clumsily. ¡°Now, Gosha, don¡¯t go hurting yourself. This is your first time holding a real sword?¡± ¡°Well, there was the Gem Sword,¡± Gosha shrugged. ¡°Let¡¯s not count that. I don¡¯t know what type of sword that was, but I do know that using one is nothing like using a real steel sword. So, the basics of the basics¡­¡± Tsu started to gesture at the sword as he spoke, ¡°you hold the non-sharp end, and try and stick the sharp end in your opponent.¡± Tsu looked at Gosha and gave a smile, knowing full well that what he was saying was annoying his new student. ¡°Now, this sword has two edges and a point. There are many different kinds of swords around, and this is just a simple one. It isn¡¯t very long, but that makes the pointed end easier to use if you need to. Now, because you are a Gen¡¯Ral I expect that you¡¯ll end up picking up the basics of blocking and attacking rather quickly. Enough to get you by, so we¡¯ll just start.¡± Tsu moved off to the side and limbered his muscles while Gosha took another few swings before coming to stand in front of Tsu. Gosha took what he thought was a decent stance, holding the blade upright in front of him in two hands. ¡°Tsu, you mentioned something about ¡®how I was attuned¡¯ when we left Crossing. I don¡¯t really understand that.¡± ¡°Good point. Let me explain something quickly before we start, and then I¡¯ll talk more as we practice. But the simplest way to put it is that everyone is attuned to one of the five elements, the same five that the Towers are named after. While some people might only be slightly attuned and others are more greatly attuned it is still there. ¡°Some people use strange methods to find out what you are attuned to. Charlatans on the streets of the cities they are. But, in everyday life, what you are attuned to doesn¡¯t really matter. It may affect the way you act slightly, or how you deal with people. But the most distinct way of a person¡¯s element showing is through a fight. ¡°When you fight, you need to think much more intuitively, and this ends up with you taking on characteristics of the element you are attuned with. Now, some elements are more commonly found than others, earth being one of the most common ones, but they all have their little tells. ¡°So, what I am going to do is fight with you, using my own style, and see how you react. So you know, mine is Nature. Ralphas is Fire. We didn¡¯t really stack up well against each other, but I¡¯m just a much better swordsman that he had no chance of winning. ¡°Now, just go with the FLOW!¡± Tsu shouted this last word as he launched a sudden barrage of attacks at Gosha. ¡°Make sure you try and keep your armour thingy in check,¡± Tsu spat out as he rained blows down on Gosha, making sure as to not put him in any significant danger. At first it took all he could to just block the blows that came in. But soon Gosha adapted to what was going on and he was deflecting swings, causing Tsu¡¯s blade to glance off his, and dodging some of the wilder swings. Suddenly Tsu pulled back. ¡°Right, so you¡¯re not attuned with Earth,¡± Tsu said as he looked at Gosha¡¯s feet, ¡°I thought because of where you lived this might be the most obvious. But you move around too much. Earth fighters are more stoic and will put up a protective wall using their weapon in front of them. They¡¯d rather stay in the one spot than jump around as much as you did. But you did well to not get hit too many times. Now, I¡¯ll need you to try and attack me and we¡¯ll figure out what you are¡­¡± Tsu stepped back and took a deep breath. He nodded to Gosha when he was ready. Not really knowing what he was doing Gosha launched a range of attacked at Tsu. He sent in high shots and low shots, but nothing seemed to be working. ¡°Keep going,¡± Tsu said, ¡°You¡¯re not Fire element. They attack and attack and barely even think about what they are doing.¡± Gosha launched an attack again. Slowly, over the time he was using the sword, he was beginning to understand how it worked more. Somewhere along the way he had stopped using two hands and now was just holding the sword in his right, dashing in and striking before moving back. ¡°Not Wind,¡± Tsu called out, ¡°You haven¡¯t got the speed.¡± Back into it Gosha went. Soon his vision began to get blurry. Blurry? Gosha stopped for a moment and looked around. No, not blurry. His vision was perfectly fine. He jumped back into the fray again and realised what his vision was doing now. Colours had started appearing around Tsu. Opaque colours, so he could still see what Tsu was doing, but the colours themselves were obvious. There were two main colours. Red and blue swirled over the top of his image of Tsu and moved as their bodies moved. He swung at a spot that was obviously red. Tsu caught his blade and then counter attacked, causing a small cut on Gosha¡¯s arm. It was just one of many. He changed tactics and swung at a blue spot. This time Tsu blocked the swing but didn¡¯t make a counter attack. Gosha kept swinging at the blue locations, and all Tsu did was block the blade. He didn¡¯t move though. The colours kept swirling and less blue spots were appearing. Green had started to become more prevalent, so he took a swing at them. He could see that Tsu was trying to talk to him, but he was too focused on what he was doing right now and couldn¡¯t hear a word that was being said. He struck the green spot and Tsu blocked it again, but this time he also took a step back. Gosha swung at the green spots more and watched as Tsu took a few more steps back. It was working. Whatever he was doing was giving him an edge over Tsu. To see if he was right about what was happening he started striking at different spots in different orders, just to make sure he was right. The red colours caused a counterattack. Every time he struck one the sword was caught and a return blow struck. Blue seemed to just be spots where the sword would be blocked though, and nothing else. Green was more interesting, when he struck these Tsu moved backwards, away from the blow. This made Gosha feel good. There were also areas devoid of colour. Gosha has swung at these a few times but Tsu had just avoided the blow, and sometimes struck back and sometimes not. Gosha figured these were spots where his attack would be dodged. He kept attacking Tsu, trying to figure out how to best use these colours to his advantage, when a glint showed amongst the other colours. A very small dot of gold had appeared. It vanished and reappeared somewhere else. It kept jumping around. Suddenly it was right in his eyesight and Gosha thrust the sword at where the spot was. His aim was off though and he buried the point of his sword into Tsu¡¯s shoulder. Gosha blinked, realising what he had done as suddenly Tsu tacked him to the ground. Rolling off him he quickly drew the sword from his flesh and threw it off to the side. He smiled at Gosha though. ¡°Boy, that was amazing. You picked up sword for your first time and just skewered me with it. If you¡¯d only been an¡­¡± ¡°Inch or so left,¡± Gosha inserted into the conversation, ¡°And I would have struck the gold point.¡± ¡°The what?¡± Tsu was confused, ¡°I was going to say that an inch or so to your left and you would have struck between the bone and likely dislocated my shoulder. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to use my arm them. But¡­ What did you mean by gold point?¡± Tsu was intrigued and came to sit down beside Gosha who was now sitting up and breathing heavily. ¡°While we were sparring, boy, I noticed your eyes seem to glaze over. After that you really improved in leaps and bounds. Now, I know you¡¯re not Fire, you weren¡¯t persistent enough with the attacks to be attuned to it. And you don¡¯t seem quick enough to be Wind¡­ but I¡¯m not sure. Explain away.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Gosha looked over at Tsu and then down at his hands, ¡°during the, um, you called it sparring? During the sparring I started to see some colours. At first it was mostly blue and reds, swirling around you, changing. So I tried hitting them. And when I hit the different colours you reacted differently. ¡°Then green started to appear and when I started attacking these spots I noticed you stepping back. But eventually this golden point appeared. It moved around fast and was hard to pin down. But eventually it was in the right spot, so I stabbed at it. I was a little off though and ended up stabbing you in the shoulder about an inch from where the colour was. ¡°Man, I¡¯d think I sounded crazy except for the fact that I had liquid armour appear from out of my back recently.¡± ¡°No, boy, no, you don¡¯t sound crazy at all,¡± Tsu clapped him of the shoulder with his good arm, ¡°I¡¯ve only read about what you described. But that is clearly Water element. Finding the cracks in the defence, the weak point, that one spot where you can bring the whole wall crumbling down. That¡¯s what you were doing. And it worked. ¡°Water is rare. I personally only know of one Master of it, and he tries to stay secluded. It¡¯ll be hard to get him to teach you. But you¡¯ll still learn a bit at the Monastery, and you should find some books to get you by on the how¡¯s and why¡¯s of what you do. ¡°Gosha, you are special. Firstly, you can wield a special Gem, one of a kind, which the Princess currently has. Secondly, you are a Gen¡¯Ral, one of the last of a once proud race of people who fought in the Shadow War. Thirdly, you are attuned to the rare Water element, which gives you an advantage when fighting people as they won¡¯t know how to fight back against you. You will be a force to be reckoned with in Le¡¯Tayah, Gosha, and I hope to be around when you make your presence known. ¡°Now, let¡¯s get some grub and some rest.¡± 1.2.6 - Reaching the Monastery The forest seemed to continue on and on as Tsu led Gosha to the Monastery. The one near his home town was nowhere near this big, seeming more like just a bunch of trees rather than an actual forest, now that he had been traversing one. They paused every now and again to make sure they were not followed. Tsu said everything was clear each time, but Gosha still couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that someone like Ralphas could jump out at them any minute. Tsu didn¡¯t speak more on any of the subjects he had brought up before their rest. Just implying ¡°You¡¯ll know in good time,¡± as if not knowing something ever actually helped anyone. Gosha was just left to mull about everything on his own. He wondered how Meg was doing, how his grand-father was doing, and the rest of the village. He hoped trouble had not landed on their lap after he had fled. Surely news had passed on that he was spotted in Crossing and his village was safe from the wrath of the Gemteks. Tsu halted his horse and moved into a deeper path of trees. ¡°Boy,¡± he said as he glanced around to make sure no one was near, ¡°This is as far I go. ¡°I dare not show my face near the Monastery. As Ralphas pointed out, they are after me. And they won¡¯t hesitate to try and capture me. Now, they won¡¯t do anything to you, lad, even if you mention me. Even if Ralphas brings up the fact that you, yourself, are a wanted criminal at the moment. They won¡¯t raise a hand. ¡°You just need to remember a few things. ¡°Firstly, you make sure they know that Tsu has delivered you, and believes you have potential. That will get one foot in the door as they close it. Even if they want to capture me, they still trust my judgement, and if I recommend someone to them, they won¡¯t be taking it lightly. ¡°Secondly, tell them you¡¯ve been tested and are attuned to Water. Since Water is rare they will leap at the chance to have you come along. They won¡¯t be all that much help in training you to begin with, but that doesn¡¯t matter. They can still help with regular things, like swordsmanship. But eventually you¡¯ll have to find someone who knows Water moves, to teach you. ¡°Lastly, but just as important as the others. Do not, under any circumstances, make them aware you are a Gen¡¯ral. They will take even more advantage of you if they know this, than they would in any other circumstances. You need to try and get it under control. Somehow you need to find a way to practice, but even I am not help in that.¡± Tsu sighed and laid a gauntleted hand on Gosha¡¯s shoulder. Gosha nodded back at him. ¡°Thank you, Tsu,¡± he mumbled, ¡°You were a stranger to me back at the Tower. But I am alone in the world now, and I was prepared to take no part in it anymore. But, you, you have pulled me back from the brink. You have given me worth again, and for that I am truly grateful. ¡°As my way of saying how much this means, I will do what I can in the Monastery to make you proud,¡± he smiled weakly at Tsu. Tsu was trying to hold back a few tears of joy he felt, since in recent times people had not spoken to him in such a way. ¡°I will keep in touch,¡± Tsu managed to say, ¡°but just keep following this trail, and you¡¯ll come to the Monastery. Just don¡¯t take no for an answer.¡± With a final clap on the back Tsu gave Gosha¡¯s horse a small kick and sent it on it¡¯s way. Gosha grabbed on tightly, still not too used to riding, as the horse round the trail itself and carried him along. He looked over his shoulder by Tsu was now out of sight. The trees suddenly broke and they entered a large clearing near the edge of a small lake. All around the lake the trees stopped short and bare ground led up to the waters edge. A number of animals were drinking, but as soon as Gosha came from the trees they took off at top speed into their hiding places. He scanned the shoreline and found what Tsu had wanted him to find. Halfway around the lake rose a walled off compound, several buildings rising from within. They were varied, one with a spire, another a domed top. The gate was facing the area he was, and the walls continued out into the water, a pier visible behind them. The gate currently stood open and several people were waiting out front. Within the gate itself stood five figures, four of them shining brightly with their polished armour while the last was covered in a heavy white cloak. Just outside the gate two other figures stood, their horses a little way off, as they approached the gate.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Gosha gave his horse a little kick, trying to get closer to the gate. As he neared the other horses one of armoured men raised a hand towards him and everyone turned to face him. He was close enough now to see that the two figures approaching the gate were Ralphas and Densin. A sneer shot across Ralphas¡¯ face as he saw who it was and he turned back to the figures in the gate, waving a dismissive hand his way. Gosha dismounted and left his horse with the others and also approached the gate, but he kept a wide berth around Ralphas. The guards within the gate were more impressive now that he could see them clearly, their armour resplendent with a white tabard showing the symbol of a rose wilting over and looking rather depressing. Looking at the person who was standing in the middle Gosha could now tell it was a woman, and that the heavy cloak was covering her armour. The wilting rose was clearly shown in the middle of the cloak too. They all looked closely at him, except for Ralphas who was refusing to look his way. The woman stepped forward and embraced Ralphas, breaking the tension that had been building since he had arrived. ¡°It is good to see you Ralphas,¡± her voice sounded like that of a mother talking to her son, ¡°It is good to see you again. Though you do look a little worse for wear.¡± She grabbed his cheeks between her hands and twisted his face around to have a look at a few marks that were showing. ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± he snapped back, ¡°Lady Terse, please restrain yourself.¡± He pulled himself away from her grip and moved over to Densin. Standing behind him he rested his hands on Densin¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Lady Terse, I have come to bring you a new student.¡± ¡°Oh, Ralphas, you¡¯ve been fighting again haven¡¯t you? Who was it this time?¡± ¡°A new student, Lady. I brought a new student.¡± ¡°And who are these two lively chaps?¡± she said indicating both Densin and Gosha. ¡°That,¡± Ralphas thrust a hand towards Gosha, ¡°I have nothing to do with that! I bring before you a new student, right here.¡± ¡°You should take better care of yourself, dear Ralphas. We wouldn¡¯t want any harm to befall you,¡± Gosha noticed that she let a sly wink out his way as he could see the anger in Ralphas start to well up from the bottom of his neck to the top of his head like a wave of red. ¡°FINE!¡± He shouted, ¡°Tsu trapped me in a burning building! While he was trying to help a criminal no less!¡± Laughter sounded from behind her as the four guards we now holding onto each other and slapping their knees in fits of hysterical laughter. One of them moved over to the edge of the gate to hold himself up, as he was close to toppling. ¡°How many times has he one upped you now, Ralph?¡± One of them called out. ¡°Who is keeping count? Certainly not I!¡± he said with a flourish in an attempt to diminish his embarrassment. In a serious tone Lady Terse replied, ¡°That¡¯s at least the fifteenth time you have returned her after losing a fight with Tsu. It is unbecoming of a Knight to face so many defeats. Next time, bring him here,¡± her eyes had lost their laughter and a piercing gaze was now stabbing into Ralphas. He gulped and nodded, ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Anyway,¡± she shifted her demeanour back to the more jovial persona, ¡°Who are these two?¡± ¡°As I was saying before, Lady, this is a new student I have brought to you. His name is Densin and he is rather skilled in the use of the Fire arts. His weapon use is not up to scratch, but that is why they train.¡± Densin stepped forward from Ralphas¡¯ grasp, glanced over at Gosha, and then gave an extremely deep and formal bow to the woman before him. Gosha now heard him speak for the first time. ¡°It is such a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Terse,¡± his speech was as formal and fluid as his bow was, ¡°Sir Ralphas has been telling me so much about you and the Knights, and I am eagerly awaiting instruction. I hope I can do my Sir proud and become a Knight myself.¡± Lady Terse signalled for him to rise and then looked over at Gosha. ¡°And you boy? You come to our door step of your own will?¡± ¡°Um¡­ no¡­ um¡­ sorry. Sorry, I¡¯m new to this,¡± Gosha watched as Ralphas sneered as he stumbled over his words. He puffed out his chest and continued, ¡°Tsu brought me here. Said I needed to make it clear her was recommending me.¡± Ralphas rolled his eyes and Lady Terse looked back at him with a stern finger, ¡°You¡¯re fight with Tsu was about this?¡± ¡°In a way,¡± he muttered as he looked at the ground, avoiding her gaze, ¡°But the boy is a wanted criminal. The Gemteks have wanted posters for him everywhere.¡± ¡°You know that matters not one wit here. I do not care your background, as long as you have a recommendation and can prove your worth you will be allowed to stay.¡± ¡°Um, there was more,¡± Gosha said, hoping he had not interrupted her. She swung back to him with a smile, ¡°Yes, deary?¡± ¡°He tested my element a few Clocks ago, and he decided I was attuned to water.¡± A string of expletives left Ralphas¡¯ mouth as Lady Terse¡¯s smile grew to stretch from either side of her face. ¡°Is that so? That is indeed interesting¡­. Uh?¡± She motioned with a hand for him to say something. ¡°Gosha, ma¡¯am,¡± he then attempted to give a bow much as Densin had but looked awkward doing to. Lady Terse now moved between the two young men and took each of them by a shoulder and began leading them into the Monastery. ¡°Welcome, my new Squires, Densin and Gosha. I am more than happy for both of you to enter our school and learn how to be a Knight.¡± ¡°Fine then,¡± Ralphas seemed a little dejected now that the focus was off him, ¡°I¡¯ll just try and find Tsu and bring him back then?¡± Lady Terse looked over her shoulder. ¡°You do that, and don¡¯t return without him.¡± The two boys were led into the compound, and the gates closed behind them.