Draith
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Chapter 22 - A Prodigy
🕑 Added 2025-02-26 14:00:14 +0000 UTCNexxa had won the bet, much to my chagrin. It hadn’t taken me the full two hours, but it had been close.
The rest of the night was spent with the captain and Hash trying to one up each other with the most outlandish bar room brawls each had been part of.
Neither of them topped mine. The night the little mermaid shanked Dumbo was one of my few sober nights in a pub. Craziest Halloween bash I'd ever been to. Little mermaid and I had ended up on the same side after one of Dumbo's friends dragged the rest of us into it.
Chuckling to myself, I realized I couldn't really share the story. Perth had never been to a pub in his life. Besides, there were too many cultural references no one else would understand.
Which was the probably the first time in either life I’d felt homesick.
It was countered by the easy familiarity I shared with those around the fire.
I didn't get any practice in with my new and shiny Astral-soul and that was… fine. More than fine. I wasn’t able to stop myself from confirming the cracks were gone, the structure having fused seamlessly with the damaged slots, but that was all I allowed myself.
Still, as we celebrated, I did find myself contemplating the near miss. The scare explained why most didn't rush their progression. At least, not to that extreme. I felt we were missing something else though. Advancing a mage up a rank increased their mana generation by a factor of ten. That alone would be enough for some mages to risk it. Most even.
Sure, it had required Nexxa to come up with a spell for channelling mana into someone else but…
Actually… could it be that simple?
Nah. I was willing to bet other houses had figured out a similar spell. They just hadn't shared. In fact, I was pretty sure Nexxa hadn't shared it with our family before leaving. I’d seen that sort of thing happen back home, where another shop would figure out a workaround to a manufacturer lockout, but never share it. Then they’d go outta business, or the owner would nod off, and the fix was lost.
Looking across the fire, I smiled as I saw her, the captain and Hash, all with their arms interlinked, belting out one of the captain's off-color songs.
At least, I assumed it was off-color. I only understood about one in ten words.
It was a good night.
Unfortunately, it couldn't last.
The next morning had a rude awakening for us, as a tier-three swarm descended on the valley.
"Watch," Tresla said when I emerged to see what was causing the rumbling that had spread through the cabin.
It was a veritable tide of black carapaced forms, all of them leaping forward, smashing into each other with no regard for safety. Picking out the details was impossible, but I saw what I thought were stingers and thick claws, wide enough to snap me in half. It reminded me of the Front.
Had I been alone, I would've died that day.
Hash came out of the cabin, stifling a large yawn with the back of his enormous hand. In the other, he held a still waking Nexxa, who was rubbing at her eyes while staring in the direction of the swarm.
"Beautiful sight, that is," Hash said, as he set Nexxa on her feet beside him. "Lesson start now. Black swarm, very danger in close. No allow."
Nexxa nodded, bringing her arm up and tracing the targeting glyphs used to control most long range combat spells.
"Good. Yes, faster," Hash said, drawing his bow, the cord stringing itself as he nocked an arrow. "When too slow, kill brother."
I raised an eyebrow at that, but he aimed his bow at the approaching swarm, so I chalked it up to him misspeaking.
Nexxa simply nodded as she also stifled a yawn with one hand. The next instant the clear blue sky filled with a howling storm. She drew her hand away from her mouth, and thrust both towards the sky. And then, like she was pulling the very heavens down, lightning started crashing down on the hoard with every thrust of her hands.
After I counted at least five different strikes, it was hard to be exact with so many bolts striking at once, Nexxa started spinning her hands around each other. The lightning I thought had been discharged, suddenly leapt up, as if granted new life. It didn’t just sit there though. Instead, it spread outward, scything through the swarm as though they were wet paper as Nexxa stretched her arms wide.
"Oh," Hash said, his jaw hanging open as he let his bow fall slack.
I was right there with him, emotionally.
Nexxa just yawned again, rubbing at the drool on her chin.
I'd known, on an intellectual level, that Nexxa was a prodigy. The sort of mage a family produced once in a generation. Or so I'd thought. This felt… beyond that. Perth knew what Pegasus-soul mages were supposed to be capable of. Heck, I’d seen them myself on the Front.
And as I stared at the destruction she’d caused… well, their father was a Djinn-soul, and I’d seen what he could do with a wave of his hand. I suspected he’d be able to do the same, but only when he was putting in his full effort.
Nexxa was still half-asleep.
I could only hope it was because Nexxa had focused on combat, while their father was a fancy farmer and healer.
Nothing else made sense.
"Very good!" Hash said, slapping Nexxa on the back hard enough to send her forward two steps, startling a cough out of her. "This training maybe, take not long."
"Don't think you're getting off that easy, Hash. I've got you for two years, and I intend to keep you around for all of them," Nexxa said as she shook out her hands, seeming to finally notice the rest of us. "Besides, that was just the warmup. We've got three hundred square miles to clear."
"Ha! Quite very correct. But now for, harvest must we," Hash said, pointing in the direction of the shattered insect swarm.
Nexxa nodded, glancing in my direction long enough to shoot me a smile. Then she turned to the captain. "Same deal as usual?"
The captain, who had been standing at the back, and hadn't so much as blinked at Nexxa's display, nodded once before turning around and walking towards her ship, already yelling out.
"Doubt she's gonna have room for all that," I said to Tresla as everyone else moved away.
"Most likely she will grind the carapace down to dust, then sell it to mages for a thousand times what it cost her to transport it," Tresla replied. "And they'll pay, cause they never leave their comfy little enclaves."
"Uh… are you saying that's one of the main ingredients used in scribing?"
"Properly treated, it is. One of the more common sources this side of the Front," Tresla said. "Inertia told me the Forgeborn harvest the black tide twice a year in the Howling Wastes."
It was only then that I realized I was actually talking with Tresla. There was no sign of Inertia.
"You've never been?"
"To the Howling Wastes? Me? I wouldn't survive five minutes," Tresla replied, her laughter ringing like a clear bell.
"Yet you're fine with the Frigid Peaks?"
"The Frigid Peaks are one of the safest regions on the continent."
"Seems pretty hostile. Cold enough to freeze boiling water solid in seconds. Plus, lots of monsters and not very many folk.”
"Exactly. Easy to bundle up against the cold. And monsters are stupid. It's people that are the true danger," Tresla said, pulling her cloak tighter.
"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," I said, turning to watch the sailors roll out carts full of heavy equipment towards the fallen bugs. Hash and Nexxa were marching alongside them, though Nexxa’s gaze kept drifting towards the cabin.
"Might be that I am. Or maybe I just keep my eyes open."
"Ah ha! So you do have eyes!" I said, laughing as I stepped back, expecting a swing that never came.
Tresla's head tilted to the side, still hidden by her cloak as she watched me. Then she shook her head, the entire cloak rippling.
"Sorry. Too much time with Nexxa," I explained.
Her hood dipped slightly, in what I suspected was a nod. Then she turned, her gaze moving towards the cabin.
A second later, Inertia exited, her head sweeping back and forth before locking onto Tresla. It shifted to me a second later as she strode towards us with long strides, whistling and chirping with each step.
"Inertia would like to know if you want to leave, or if you would prefer to stay until you have mastered Elinder?" Tresla informed me, smoke rings rising from her pipe once more.
Hadn't even seen her pull it out.
"Don't know about mastering it, but better than I am right now, yes. How about we plan to stay for a week, then decide after that? Pretty sure Nexxa wanted to stay near the valley for that long anyway."
"Inertia agrees. She also expresses regret that she ignored the black tide and missed your sister's display."
"Yeah, I bet," I said, looking out towards where the sailors were only just reaching the closest of the insects. "They're probably going to be busy with that all day. What do you say we start on that Elinder practice?"
Tresla turned towards Inertia, then shifted her head to the side. They stood silently staring at each other, smoke rings floating upward for nearly a minute before Tresla turned back to me. "Inertia says… I am at your disposal for the rest of the day. She wishes to stretch her wings."
"Wait, wings?" I asked.
But Inertia had already taken a step back from us. And the panels I had seen all across her chest and legs unfolded, stretching out into wings nearly as wide as the ship was long.
What I’d taken for armor was actually the intricate folding of her wings. Inertia’s profile had completely transformed in that single second. She still looked like a dangerous predator, though now she resembled a falcon more than a bear.
Crouching down, Inertia's torso grazed the ground.
"You might want to brace yourself," Tresla said as she took several steps back, crouching down with her arm in front of her face.
I moved to follow her, but I was too slow.
Inertia flung herself upward. The shockwave of her launch picked me up and launched me as well, sending me tumbling end over end.
When I came to a stop, I took a second to figure out which way was up. Once I had, I searched the sky for Inertia. Only to find her swooping down to give us a flyby, nearly sending me tumbling once more. As I pulled my hand away, I saw her ascending as she flew north. A few seconds later and she’d disappeared from sight.
"I swear, everyone else can fly except me," I said as I pushed myself to my feet, brushing myself off.
"You get used to it," Tresla said, brushing off her cloak with black gloved hands.
"Inertia? Or everyone else having flight?" I asked before pulling the books I'd been given for studying Elinder out of my spatial storage.
"Yes," Tresla replied. "Shall we get started? Why don't we start with something easy. What is the Elinder word for stupid? I have a feeling we're going to need it when she gets back."
I couldn't contain my laugh, and after a second Tresla joined in.
It was a surprisingly productive study session, though throughout, my eyes kept drifting to the sky.
That would be me, one day.
Even if I had to build my wings myself.
