Draith
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Chapter 73 - Knights Exemplar
🕑 Added 2025-04-12 14:00:21 +0000 UTCAfter recovering from the shock of Calbern dropping the D-word, we headed to the upper side of Tetherfall. With Inertia still out chasing wyverns, and the Tethered running back and forth through the Waygates and the general chaos of shifting everything around, it was the best place to talk with a semblance of privacy.
"So," I said, sitting on a pack of bundled clothes that were destined to be moved down to the refugee camp later that day. After I'd seen the state of Tamrie's clothes, I'd asked Calbern to look into it, and it turned out most of the refugees were even worse off. Spellford wasn't all it was said to be.
Xoth and the others only brought the refugees because their government had paid them to get the refugees out of the city. Like sticking bums on a bus and shipping them out.
Calbern's constant movements about the camp had obviously drawn the eye of Xelinda, who apparently knew enough about the Knights Exemplar to have figured out that's what Calbern was.
"What would you like to know, master Perth?" Calbern asked. He was, for once, sitting beside me.
"I mean, honestly? Everything. And I do mean, everything. Still, we should probably start with the basics," I said, running my hand along the fabric. "What in the Rift is a Knight Exemplar?"
Calbern let out a soft chuckle at that. Then his smile cracked. "The Knights Exemplar are an order of Warriors who follow the path of the Kinya."
"Somehow, that tells me less than I knew before," I said. I held up a hand when he was about to continue. "Obviously, you're faster, stronger and have better senses than a normal human. Tougher than most ensouled, at least until we get to Hydra-soul."
Calbern nodded. "That is correct, master Perth. The path of the Kinya is one of reforging the body and the soul through the gradual cultivation of mana."
"That's… basically the definition of an ensouled."
"Ah. That is not incorrect. I suppose that it is a more literal meaning,” Calbern replied.
“Like the Forgeborn?”
“Not… that literal,” Calbern said, narrowing his eyes slightly. “It is… there are very specific words in Altean, that would perhaps serve me better than trying to explain in Elinder. I'm afraid I find myself rather clumsy with the tongue.”
I didn't bother pointing out that he already spoke it more eloquently than the elves who'd landed on our lawn.
"The Knight Exemplar is more than just a man," Calbern began, his voice having a deep cadence to it wasn't usually there. "The Knight Exemplar embodies what a man should be. An oath of service, not to any man or god, but to an idea. To the idea that excellence is not an accident, but the byproduct of proper conduct."
I raised an eyebrow as Calbern shook his head minutely, his voice returning to normal.
"The process requires the reforging of our bodies by submerging ourselves in specially prepared… I suppose you could call them baths. The Kinya. It is… unpleasant. Those who do not have the discipline to conduct themselves properly, do not have the discipline required to improve their form while the Kinya does its work. Before I took service with your mother, I had completed three Kinya," Calbern explained. "The third left me incapacitated. Even shuffling across the room could take me hours. It was… your mother saved me."
"Why were you doing it, if it was so painful?"
"Why did you push to ascend to Astral with such abandon? Did you let the pain stop you?" Calbern asked, his gaze fixed on the horizon. "I was not ensouled, so I found another path. As to why… well, the reasons no longer matter."
"Right," I said, clapping him on the shoulder. Not everyone was an ensouled. I could understand his decision. If I'd been brought into the body of a mortal, without the magic I took for granted these days, I'd probably have done the same thing. If I'd even been able to get the privilege. "Don't suppose you know how these baths are made?"
Calbern's gaze remained fixed in the distance. For a minute I thought he wasn't going to answer. Finally, he let out a soft sigh. "There were few who did. However, the Knights hold their secrets close. Closer even than the ensouled."
"Understandable," I replied. "So… you're stuck then? No getting stronger, unless you get another bath?"
"To a degree. The path of Kinya is a slow process. After the baths, it requires years of diligent effort to incorporate the mana of the world into one’s being," Calbern explained. "It is only after I attune myself perfectly that I will be ready for the next Kinya. I still have a long way to go before that point."
"Didn't you say the last one was before you started looking after me?"
"Indeed."
"Twenty years? Is that normal? Seems like a long time."
"Ah. Yes. I suppose it would feel that way for one so young. Sometimes I forget how rarely you interacted with your father," Calbern said, a note of sadness creeping into his voice. "Twenty years is not so long when one has centuries."
"I… how old are you?"
"Hmm," Calbern replied, simply raising a single eyebrow at me.
I thought back to Perth's memories. And Calbern had always appeared as he was now. An elderly, wrinkled man, whose distinguished features… never changed. "Got it. Pretty damn old."
Calbern let out a soft chuckle. "Old enough, that is certain."
I asked him several more questions, though he simply offered me sad smiles or the barest of shrugs in response. When I realized he wasn't going to give me anything else, I went ahead and told him about Xelinda's request.
"The training is simple enough," Calbern said with a nod of his head. "So long as she understands I cannot make her a Knight."
"I'm sure she'll survive," I said as I stood up, looking down at the bundle of clothing, where a sleeve had caught and was being blown about. We'd need more soon. Which meant more fabric. Which meant more mats. "There's always something else, isn't there?"
"Indeed, master Perth," Calbern agreed, pushing to his feet. "An excellent reminder to return to our duties. Lady Bevel’s lessons proceed swiftly, but it is best I attend her."
"Let me know how it goes. With Xelinda, I mean."
Calbern inclined his head, then leapt over the edge. He didn’t even grab a rope first. As I watched him fall, using his uniform to steer himself towards a rope, I blinked. Then I sat down, pulling out a journal and started sketching. He’d given me an idea. One I'd been thinking about before, but I'd been worried about aerial predators.
Gliders. They weren't practical. Unless you had an easy place to jump off of.
My gaze drifted to Mount Eternia.
And what could be easier than teleporting to the top of a mountain.
I only made a few sketches before deciding I should be working inside Memory Palace. Yet I had less places than ever to settle into the spell without being disrupted. If Inertia was nearby, I could've asked her to watch over me. Or if I'd thought of it before Calbern returned to Bevel's lessons.
That was probably the best place for it, but I decided to put it off for a little as I remembered the books I'd made for the library.
With Calbern spending so much time with Bevel lately, I'd lacked someone to handle things for me, and to help me organize my day.
Maybe if I accepted Selvi's offer to be my bodyguard… no, letting her be my guard just so she could serve as my assistant would be silly. Same with Tanis, but for other reasons.
None of the other Tethered were even literate. I supposed I could attempt to find an assistant among the refugees.
I'd talk to Calbern about it.
Since I had more than one reason to talk with him, I sought Calbern out. He and Bevel were already back to their lessons. Again, pages were spread on the floor, and this time I listened in for a bit.
"The giant scorpion is ambush and… uh," Bevel said, holding a string with a pin in one end as she looked across several pages that had a great deal more pins in them. She stepped close to several, squinting down. "Venomous?"
"A good guess," Calbern said, clapping his hands. "However, only the smaller crypt scorpions are a venomous class threat. Giant scorpion venom is no more than a mild irritant to humans. For us, they are a bruiser threat type."
"Not for elves?" Bevel asked, and I also wondered about that.
"There are some elves who have an allergy, but most are unbothered. The giant scorpion's venom is especially effective on the prey animals of the Howling Wastes where most reside," Calbern explained, pulling out a map of said Wastes. I recognized it as one that Inertia had given us a while ago, back when she was first telling us about her home.
Deciding not to interrupt, I moved to the side of the room, sitting down and slipping into Memory Palace. Plenty of materials to make gliders with.
Once I was inside, I cleared the workbench and set to work summoning materials. For the moment, we still had cloth in abundance, and more than enough bones. We even had large amounts of hide.
Then I started pulling up memories on the physics of unpowered flight. It was a lot more complicated than I'd expected.
Clearly Inertia had figured it out.
Still, recalling the memories gave me a good place to start. The first thing would be to figure out what it'd take to build them. Even with the power of Memory Palace, it wasn't as simple as wishing things into place. Not if I wanted a glider that would actually work.
On the other hand, I didn't have to actually swap spells to use their effects inside Memory Palace. As long as I understood them, I could replicate them as though they were slotted. Which allowed me to use Adjust Fit to stretch the leather into place. As I worked, I smiled. It would've been prohibitive to make so many adjustments with the spell in the real world, but inside Memory Palace, all it cost was the cost I’d have to pay to keep Memory Palace running anyway. Plus an almost unnoticeable nudge on the headache thermometer.
Eventually, I had five different frames put together. I had no idea how any of them would perform in the real world, but I'd at least figured out the first step of designing them without wasting materials.
I'd run them all by Inertia first, since she had actually had experience.
As I prepared to exit, I looked at the open door that led out to the yard. Then to the dune buggy.
My gaze slid back to the gliders. Then it landed on several loops of rope I'd summoned along with the fabric.
Maybe I could test them after all.
Comments
Draith
It seems to be just on your end. At least I can't get the same error on mine. Hope it gets resolved
Dennis
Something seems to have happened to Patreon. The text herein is the same as in 72 though the comments seem to be referencing text I'm not seeing. Is this affecting anyone else?
Draith
Habit, since they've mostly been talking in Elinder since Nexxa's territory, cause of Inertia
Jason Hardman
So what of his current problems is inventing gliders solving? He should invent magical parachutes too. And then watch as the Wyverns enjoy a snack on the wing, with free delivery.
ThoMiCroN
Why would Perth and Calbern speak to each other in Elinder at all when there is no third party?
