January 27, 2019, 3:01 pm

As the ship floats further into the heart of the city, I take a moment to look over my Status.

STATUS

Class: Cataclysm Seed

Level: Iron-6

ATTRIBUTES

Strength: 50

Constitution: 50

Agility: 90

Endurance: 60

Intellect: 125

Spirit: 125

Perception: 97.

Resolve: 97.

Integration Points: 0

Progression Tokens: 0

Advancement Crests: 0

Storage: 7.94 Cubic Meters

Bonded Armour: 3/6

RESOURCES

Health

Pool: 454/464

Edge: [31.4]

Regen: (334/day)

Stamina

Pool: 475/475

Edge: [36.5]

Regen: (372/day)

Mana

Pool: 1070/1070

Edge: [83.1]

Regen: (1006/day)

Focus

Pool: 1050/1050

Edge: [75.2]

Regen: (931/day)

Matrix Resources

Facet

Pool: 338/338

Edge: [23.1]

Regen: (289/hour)

I've grown a lot since I came to Akilo. Almost a different person. But I didn't come into my Status to reflect on my growth. I've been holding off picking my abilities, since none of them call to me. Except the teleport swap, Shifting Tides. I took that one immediately after talking it over with the others.

There's something about the aging one, Echo of Agony, that seems… evil. When I Focus on it, I can tell that it works on System-integrated people too. And it doesn't seem to have an off switch. Which would mean if I accidentally struck someone with one of my spells, I'd rip life away from them. I can't bring myself to do that.

Which leaves me with Lingering Bonds and Entropic Shift, neither of which are amazing. But they're both solid upgrades. Even if Lingering Bonds extra duration isn't very noticeable, in the middle of a Pause, maybe it'll matter? And Entropic Shift… will let me keep more spells in my spellbook. Or at least less elemental copies. It would be much more useful if I couldn't craft whatever spell I need inside frozen time.

Which is perhaps a good reason to take it. I don't have an unlimited supply of Facet.

Nodding to myself, I put a point into Entropic shift and two into Lingering Bonds. The second point in Lingering Bonds makes me raise an eyebrow. Instead of the triple duration I'd been expecting, it increases the duration of Ailments to six times the original. Do… all the multi-rank abilities work like that?

A quick question to Tipan and Rufka later negates that idea. Most are linear increases, though drastic jumps aren't unheard of.

With a flick of my fingers, I summon a crackling bolt at my fingertips. Holding it out, I pause time then tap Rufka on the back. It's not enough to overcome her Health Edge, but it still makes her fur stand on end. And she's shocked long enough for me to time it. It's still less than even a fraction of my Pause, but it's much longer than such a weak zap should be.

"What was that?" Rufka asks, looking over her shoulder at me when time resumes.

"Just testing one of my new abilities," I answer, smirking at her as I tap her nose, this time without pause.

She wriggles her nose, before bopping me back despite my attempt to dodge. If not from a 'harrumph' from Tipan, it may have turned into a wrestling match. Instead, Rufka pulls me to her side, holding me trapped as she continues the story she was sharing with Tipan before I interrupted.

"And when I landed, Felk was still staring. He couldn't bring himself to turn away. Not that I can blame him. I am pretty amazing."

Tipan laughs, shaking her head. "You ever thought of playing Desh'mersa?

"Nah. You need to take a subclass just to play, don't you?" Rufka asks as the barge drifts down to one of the docking stations to exchange passengers before continuing deeper into Aethire.

With a shrug, Tipan says, "Not all Desh'mersa players take the air jockey subclass. Not everyone needs it. I doubt you would."

"Really? I thought it was in the rules or something," Rufka says.

"There's a test required to prove competency, but that's all," Tipan replies, "Lethana tested through. It's why she's one of my favourite players. That and the Silva Pennites are amazing. Mom and I used to watch their games every year. Ivicka would…"

Tipan's enthusiasm disappears, her entire face drooping as she stops. Then she shakes her head, a slight smile appearing. "She used to put me on her shoulders so I could see better. Despite the protests of those sitting behind us. Even then she'd look out for me. I… I still don't understand what happened to her."

Before I can offer my sympathies, Rufka's placed her own paw on Tipan's shoulder. "Hey. I'm… uh… Well, I'm not sorry. She did try to kill us. Repeatedly. So… I guess I'm sorry she changed?"

I can't stop myself from snorting out a laugh, and even Tipan chuckles. She nods, patting Rufka's hand. "Thank you."

Rufka just shrugs as I ask about this game that Tipan seems so excited about, the view obscured by great ridges of bone, arcing up on either side as we get closer to the palace. We spend a few minutes as Tipan and Rufka both try to describe the game to me. A more advanced version of the racing we've done. It almost sounds like air-basketball, with dribbling and everything. If dribbling was done by bouncing off transparent spheres scattered throughout the 'court'.

There's other stuff too, like alternate ways to score points, other than just getting it through the goal. In fact, it might be better to compare it to pinball.

"Oh, hey, we should make a stop here. There's a shop I want to visit," Rufka says, leaning against the rail as we float over an empty platform.

"Sure. Your mum already went off-" Upon receiving my confirmation, Rufka barely gives me enough time to stand before yanking me over the railing. Even as we dive toward the platform, I can hear Tipan laughing from just behind us. When we land, I look back up. We just jumped from higher than my apartment building, and with just a small gust of wind magic, it was less painful than stepping off the porch wrong. As in, painless.

"You're getting better," Rufka remarks, throwing her arm over my shoulder while escorting me up a flight of stairs worked into the side of the hall. It lets out into a bustling area that makes the market from earlier feel like an empty field. I can't take a single step without running into an elbow. Which is especially awkward given the extras the K'tharn bring with them.

Tipan takes the lead, slipping through the crowd like its water. Rufka follows behind her, managing to guide me with only a few bumps and one mumbled apology. It's a scant few minutes later and we're standing at a rise, the rest of the bustling crowd sliding around below us. And I'm finally able to see what everyone is doing here. It's almost immediately next to one of the arenas that Tipan was pointing to earlier. Everyone is milling about, visiting booths with merch or food. Or watching one of the holographic projections.

"Forgot they added the arena," Rufka grouses, wiggling her nose in irritation. "We should've come later."

"But then we would've missed the game," Tipan counters, her eyes glued to one of the holographic displays.

"Eh, any-user could watch it later," Rufka waves it off, her eyes squinting as she peers at a merch stand that is loaded with sashes and skirts all emblazoned with one of the playing team's colours. Or… not at the booth, but at the sunken pit behind it.

"Is that?" I start, but Rufka's already pushing towards the booth, her hand still in mine. There's a sudden surge from the crowd, their voices ringing out in a deep roar. Even Tipan. I flick my eyes toward the display, but it's obscured by the surrounding crowd. Turning to Tipan, I try to ask what happened, but then there's another deafening roar. K'tharn are moving back and forth, yelling at each other and I'm seriously tempted to pause time to make my way through the crowd. But then we emerge, the thick press of bodies left behind.

"You coming Tipan?" Rufka asks, pausing at the top of the pit which I see is more of a long ditch with grates along the side peeking down into the abyss. Wisps of green mist float out of a pair of vents near the far end of the ditch, pooling along the bottom of the ditch outside a hatch that looks to lead even further down.

I glance back to see Tipan standing at the edge of the crowd, floating slightly off the ground while peering back toward the game. She keeps staring until Rufka repeats her question, at which point Tipan turns back to us with a shake of her head. "My apologies. Keeltha pulled off a tri-crispy while being hocked by two blockers."

I stare at Tipan for several seconds, waiting for her words to make sense. When I look to Rufka, her scrunched brow and tilted head tell me she's as confused as I am. "Sure, so that a yes?"

"Yes. Again, sorry for allowing myself to get drawn in."

"Nah, it's nice. Good to know you're like any-user else when there's something you care about," Rufka says, throwing her arm over Tipan's shoulder before leading us down the alley.

"Yeah," I agree, shooting Tipan a smile. "Nice to see you excited."

Tipan just smiles back as we step directly toward the pooling green mist. I can sense the higher concentration of wind mana in the lackadaisical green mana. But there's something else to it as well. Something I don't recognize.

"Don't step in it," Rufka warns as we get close. "Tathia's a Caustic mage. Best cheese in the city but, nasty byproducts."

"Why's she so close to the stadium then?" I ask, as I send a gust of wind to wash the pooling mist out of our path. It takes a great deal more effort than I'm expecting, like it's a barrier instead of simple mist. I end up having to switch to ice manipulation to push the caustic mist to the side.

"Her family's been here longer than the stadium's been around. History still has some value in Aethire," Tipan answers, though I can hear her drop in tone.

"Yep. Tathia don't get involved in Aethire politics either. Keeps to herself and her experiments. Mostly." As Rufka speaks, she gingerly reaches over to the door, pulling it open with the tip of an arrow before stepping back. More of the green mist comes pouring out, pooling near her feet even as I use more panes of ice to push it away.

"We're closed! Can't you read the sign!" a rich voice bellows from inside. Even at such a volume it sounds almost soothing.

"You didn't put your sign out, you fetid swamp-rat!" Rufka yells into the shop, prompting a small gasp from Tipan.

"Is that my least-favourite, tree-pounder? What're you doing back here so soon?" A voice calls, emerging from amongst the green mist that fills the shop like a whale rising from the sea. She's the most… uhh… curvy… K'tharn I've ever seen. I think. It's hard to tell if that's her natural shape or the shape of the thick outer layer of leather covering every inch of her.

"Ha, I think you meant your most favourite," Rufka counters, taking a step back as another gust of mist wafts by.

"So, you finally admit, you are a tree-pounder," Tathia states, pointing at Rufka with a pair of tongs. "I always knew you had too much love for your damn trees."

"No more than you love your cheese," Rufka shoots back.

"About that," I say, looking down at the green mist in concern. "All this mist… it's not connected to the cheese, right?"

Both Rufka and the heavy leather outfit containing Tathia turn toward me at my remark, Rufka snickering and… well, I can't really read the expression of a pair of goggles or leather helmet.

After a couple seconds, Tathia shakes her head. "No. This has nothing to do with cheese. What sort of shop do you take this for?"

"I don't know, I just… well, where I come from, cheese can be made with some pretty… uhh… intense smells. And I just…"

"Oh, yes. Cheese can definitely get smelly. But this is all Subclass related. Been working on breaking my Brewing through to Copper," Tathia grumbles, her rich voice settling into a smooth cadence. "That's why I put up the damn…"

Her words drift away as my eyes follow hers to where a thick wooden sign rests just inside her doorway. In big Vausian words, the words are clearly marked, "CLOSED! Subclass trials in progress."

Her thick form starts shaking for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Well, guess I did forget to put up the damn sign."

"So, does this mean we can't get any cheese?" Rufka asks even as Tathia hefts the sign onto her shoulder and steps up the stairs out of her shop.

Tathia doesn't even slow as she hops up the side of the ditch-like alley to grab a thick strut protruding above her shop. Her voice rumbles out as she slides the sign into place. "Not today, tree-pounder. Stop by next week."

Rufka lets out a deep sigh, nodding as Tathia releases the strut and lands next to us with a surprisingly loud thud. Enough that Smoulder pops her head out, ready to help defend me.

Which is right when Tathia looks in my direction, her goggles locked onto my jacket pocket as she asks with a hard edge to her voice, "Is that a mana-warped mana-hare outside my shop?"

Uhm… oops?