EG Book 7 Chapter One

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

Here we go! I’ve gotten 11.6k words written so far, 10.9 of which were in November. So far, rocking NaNoWriMo, though I didn’t write anything on the second (Yay migraines!) Got over 3k written yesterday to make up for it, and 2k today! Here’s chapter one! One of the things I want to do on the second draft is add more detail to descriptions. Gotta work on show, not tell a lot too.

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

I staggered into my room, emotionally and physically exhausted. The sounds of the city-wide celebration filtered in through the silencing Inscriptions, but I’d been partied out. Six hours of dancing, talking, and drinking, I marveled at myself. With some quick motions, I collapsed into bed and stared up at the ceiling. The last few months have been insane. I still can barely believe that I came in second, and might have won the tournament if I hadn’t killed that Illyrian jerk, and the Divine Territory! Wait, I never asked Spirit what it was called! I started laughing, the world spinning around me from several too many toasts, well. It’s amazing what we discovered there. Chaos is being summoned. I sobered up almost immediately. Light, what is going to happen when the Craesti army attacks Illyria? Will an infinite flood of Chaos Beasts await them, or are only some of the Illyrians in league with the enemy?

I took a deep breath, No idea. I’ll have to talk to Librarian Narwan and Sultah Aleahil at some point. I’ve got eight medallions to communicate with people. Gotta give one to Aleks, I grinned at the thought of my princess, and definitely to Gunther the muscle-headed dwarf. Another laugh at the stereotype pulled over from Earth. Probably should make sure (Ashkhas heir) and (Topraki heir) gets one, keep the lines of communication open among the heirs. That still leaves four more medallions, so I could have Aleks give one to King Craesti, and one to each of the other monarchs. I wonder if we can have two conversations at once? Let the heirs and I talk, while the monarchs or their representatives negotiate. An hour limit once a month will hopefully help cut through the b.s. of politicking. I yawned as the results of the last few days hit me again. “Sleep time, deal with the rest later,” I whispered to myself, then plunked my head onto the pillow and fell asleep.

Two hours later, I woke up. “Of course the party is still going on,” I laughed. “The army leaves, uh, today, and it’s not like Condensation soldiers can’t go without sleep for a day or two. Light, I used to pull all-nighters back on Earth.” I debated for a few seconds about going back out, but the siren call coming from my ring was too strong. I sent a tiny filament of Aether into my ring, and the football stadium sized space unfolded in my mind's eye. I looked over the equipment given to me by Spirit, then moved to the carefully set out line of Knowledge Stones.

“Where to start, where to start,” I mumbled to myself. “Gathering, obviously. Start at the beginning.” I summoned the Aether Gathering level technique Knowledge Stone into my hand. The translucent blue crystal was a bit larger than my fist, and glowed in my Aether Sight. I pulled another Knowledge Stone out of my ring, one of my old ones from Azyl Academy, and compared. The stone for my stealth technique was a smoky red color and half the size of the Legacy one. The Aether inside was noticeably thinner, flickering on the verge of being extinguished. Huh, I thought, I wonder if I can figure out how to strengthen it. Make it last longer, since the next usage might break the stone.

Dismissing my thoughts, I stored the stone again, then put the Legacy Knowledge Stone to my forehead and put my Aether into it. This time, instead of a flood of information streaming into my brain, I found myself standing in a hallway. My body was misty and felt similarly to when I was looking internally at my center. “Huh, weird,” I told myself.

I glanced around, and saw a few dozen doorways on either side of the mental construct. The first hallway had writing in the M’Zee language, but after a second it transitioned to Craesti. “Cultivation runes,” I read aloud. “Huh, that might be Core Runes. I wonder what they have here.” I reached out and touched the door. A wave of Aether accompanied a feeling of examination. A few seconds later, the door popped open.

A row of shelves lined the room, each with three layers of displays. White jade tablets the size and shape of an iPad sat just above labels describing what was on them. “Fire runes for low compatibility,” I read the first one, then picked up the tablet. A simple rune of four lines that combined an F and an X traced itself across the surface, and I knew how to make it and when to use it. “Neat. I have no idea how this compares to what’s available in Craesti, but this would be usable by people up to medium Affinity. Way too weak for me, though.”

I browsed down the shelves. Two dozen different runes for low and medium compatibility, which I assumed meant Affinity, for each Element. I grabbed the first one I saw labeled high compatibility, for Lightning. The rune displayed itself, hundreds of lines rotating slowly to show the three-dimensional nature of the rune. “Not quite as good as the one I’ve got now,” I said, “Especially because I get some benefit to Air and Fire from mine. Oh, there,” I put the tablet down and took a few more steps to where I saw a label for True Flame.

“True Flame Rune, a rune for those with extreme compatibility with Fire and at least high compatibility with Lightning and Metal. Uh, Outstanding and High respectively. It will enhance gathering speed and it gives a small improvement to Fire technique strength. Nice,” I exclaimed.

I reached for another, but my hand was rebuffed. I looked closer at the plaque describing it. “Huh, a Core Rune for someone with Excellent Affinity to Fire, Water, Ice and Metal? Is that why I can’t touch it? I don’t meet the requirements. Just barely. My Water and Ice are close to Excellent, and Water might be there, but I still got a ways to go.”

I moved to the end of the room, where a single tablet sat in the most prominent spot, taking up the space of a dozen on the side walls. The label read, “For one who has achieved perfect compatibility with every Element, surround your Core with this to ascend.”

“Wow,” I gaped at it. “Perfect compatibility, Outstanding Affinity, to every Element? Is that even possible? Well, now I want it.” I poked at the shield preventing me from accessing the tablet, then punched it. I tried to channel Aether into my fist, but it wouldn’t come. “Oh yeah, in the mind. I guess I’ll have to check out the others.” I sulked for a minute before going back down the line.

After a few minutes, I found a Fire Core Rune that excited me. “Smithing Rune of Fiery Growth. Requires Outstanding Fire, Excellent Metal, and Excellent Earth. Enhances gathering speed, improves Fire and Metal technique strength, and allows for easier creation of Lava, Ore, and Enhancing Aether,” I read from the plaque. “I want. Lava!” I grabbed for it, then gasped at the complexity of the rune,

Hundreds of lines made a picture that somehow seemed to evoke a miner collecting ore in a volcano’s tunnel, then using that same volcano to smith the ore into a flame that grew into the sky. Except it was just a series of runes twined together. “It’s like my Lightning rune, enhancing everything I do,” I laughed, then I grimaced. “Oh, this is going to suck to draw. Sooo much.” I looked at it critically, “Do I really wanna?”

I took a deep breath, then pulled myself out of the Legacy stone. I glared at it. “Fine, this will enhance my strength and improve my gathering speed. I definitely need to get stronger, faster. Everything seems to be coming to a head, but I know there’s still a long road ahead. Heh,” I laughed, then dove into my center.

I looked at the Fire Core Rune I had, still the same campfire I’d started with so long ago. “Sorry,” I told it, laughing at the human tendency to personalize (not right word) objects, then with a grunt of pain I wiped it away.

My spirit felt seared, and I had to spend a few minutes just breathing before the pain dropped to the point that I could continue. I called to mind the new runic pattern, and realized that the knowledge was more strongly imprinted on my mind than from a normal Knowledge Stone. “Well, that’s useful,” I told myself, my inner monologue coming out as speech while I was a mental construct floating in my core.

“Okay, try one,” I said, then started to draw. My Aether flowed around me, burning and carving the rune in the air. I felt around, and realized that I was carving into my spirit, which was separate from my soul. “I’m so confused.” I shook my head, and that moment of distraction made me screw up a line. I tried yet again to erase just the bad spot, but it wiped away all of what I’d drawn.

I found myself pushed out of my center, and barely staggered to the bathroom before throwing up as the spinning pain of my spirit overwhelmed my senses. Healing powder, I thought, then summoned one from my ring. I grinned at the awesome treasure I’d won, then poured the powder into my mouth. The sickly sweet flavor overpowered the vomit, at least, and I felt my headache fade away.

I moved back into the bedroom and sat down before going back into my center. This time, I focused on pulling Aether out of my Core to soothe the area around my focus where I wanted to draw the new Core Rune. Tiny amounts of Wood, Fire, and Air Aether vanished and the minute ache that rolled from my center decreased significantly.

I grabbed a tiny piece of Essence of the few dozen drops of Essence I had received since I’d burned every bit to facilitate my advancement to Seed Core. Ever since my advancement, I figured the range I could grab Essence from had increased significantly, and while the normal animals slaughtered for food did not provide much, in a city of millions there were hundreds dying in my aura. Every once in a while, I noticed a larger input, and felt sad that someone had just died, but again, in a city of millions, there were people dying all the time, even with the massive increases in lifespan that gathering provided.

The Essence burned, especially when I tried to force it into my spirit, but the pain vanished as soon as I successfully merged the Essence with the spot I’d tried to draw the rune. My brain felt off for a second, but the painful soreness of my center disappearing helped me focus. “Okay, try number two,” I said, then grimaced. “I do wish that growing stronger didn’t hurt so much. Oh well, suck it up buttercup.”

I drew the rune again, carefully measuring and moving slowly, but still ended up making a small mistake in the angle of the rune piece that meant pickaxe, hammer, or right arm, depending on the angle you looked at it from. “Darkness hide it,” I grumbled as I wiped away what I’d created. Again, nausea filled me, but this time I resisted tossing my cookies. A few minutes of Aether treatment and another drop of Essence fixed the damage, and I started again.

Sixteen times. It took me sixteen attempts to successfully create the Smithing Rune of Fiery Growth. I was covered in sweat, my face pale from holding in the groans of pain each wipe tried to drag from me. My center felt bruised and tender, sore from the repeated abuse I’d just thrown at it. The last two failures especially hurt, as I’d been just about done with the complex assemblage of lines that was the final piece of the rune.

I pushed myself up off the floor, then staggered towards the bathroom. I quickly doffed my pajamas, grimacing at the tiny black flakes embedded in the clothing, then sighed as the hot water of the shower hit my back. “I’m so, so, so glad that the hotel has hot showers,” I moaned in pleasure as the water, most likely just shy of boiling, soothed away the tension in my muscles.

After a few minutes, I felt more human again. I looked over at my pajamas, then sighed, “I liked those. Why did putting a new rune into my center push out impurities from my body? I didn’t temper anything or work towards advancement? Maybe the staff will be able to wash them out?” I groaned and scrubbed my hair aggressively to get out the frustration of losing another set of clothing.

Finally, I’d gotten all of the gross black flecks out of my hair and scrubbed every inch of my body. I stepped over the pile of hopefully not trash and grabbed a bundle of cheap paper stuff that was specifically for wrapping dirty laundry with. I picked up the pajamas with it, then shoved it into a cloth bag and dropped it into the hallway. I knew the inn’s staff would attempt to save my clothing, but I doubted they’d succeed. Stupid impurities, I grumbled, then I walked over to where I’d dropped the gathering technique Knowledge Stone.

I picked it up, then sucked it back into my ring, mentally guiding it to the table where the other stones rested. I felt at my center and frowned at the tenderness of my spirit, my center. “Yeah, I probably shouldn’t replace any other runes for a bit,” I said with a frown. “Even if I found a couple of really cool ones. I wonder what’s available in Craesti City, or at Azyl Academy. Maybe there will be similar level of runes. I mean, there probably are, but this one was cool. Lava Aether, come on!”

I focused in front of me, holding my hand up and pulling up four motes of Earth Aether, three of Fire Aether, and one Metal Aether. I stared at the circling Aether motes, then reached out mentally to grab them. I crushed them together, thinking of the Hawaiian lava flow I’d seen on my trip to the islands. I thought of the different materials that made lava, the heat and stone and ash that a volcano eruption caused.

After a nearly a minute of effort, the eight motes of Aether merged into one larger one, a reddish brown in color that wanted to burn through anything in its way. I looked at my success, then laughed, folding over my waist as I giggled in success. “Okay, definitely need more sleep,” I wheezed before absorbing the Lava Aether into my center. The ball of advanced Aether didn’t break apart, and I realized that I could now hold combined Aether in my center. “This is awesome!”

I yawned again, the pain and effort draining me, and put on my second to last pair of pajamas. “Can’t lose many more,” I told myself, then shrugged. “Eh, got plenty fo storage. Just got to go buy a bunch more sets of clothes. Might as well act like I am rich, since I am, you know?” I yawned yet again, my mouth stretching, then I snuggled up under the blankets. I didn’t expect Jon to come back to our room, so I just closed my eyes yet again.