Mother never mentioned books to me, so when she was telling me about these ancient legends I jumped at the chance to steer the conversation that way.

“And then Merrik, the Sky Fallen, slew the Black Dragon of Shadow Valley, its blood pooling deep into the ground and causing an Eternal Spring to come forth! Legends say it is this very spring that spawned Eastwind River, flowing forth from the Valley of Shadows all the way to the Endless Ocean.” Mother told me, wrapping up one of the many folk-tales she told me from time to time.

“Mom, how do people remember these old stories so well? Won’t we forget them sometimes?” I asked, hoping to solve one of the mysteries that had been bothering me for the last few months.

“Heller, my clever boy, what an intelligent question!” Mother said to me, clapping her hands together in delight (a daily occurrence recently…). “You are so much smarter than any of the other children in the village!” Again, a phrase I heard quite often… I had to be careful or I’d become an overconfident twat at this rate.

I simply smiled at her, waiting for her to get back on topic.

She continued after kissing my cheek, “Well, you know the symbols that your father uses to keep records in the Smithy? There are giant collections of even more complicated symbols kept by the Four Great Houses in The City, which record the entire history of our people.”

I opened my eyes wide in feigned amazement, “Can anybody look at them to learn our history?”

Mother shook her head, “Only members of the Great Houses are able to use them, Heller.” She had a somewhat distant look in her eyes that I hadn’t seen before. “Common people like us can only hear them at Academy, which you will go too as well in a few years’ time.”

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I had heard Academy mentioned before, and took this opportunity to get more details about what it was. Apparently parents were responsible for teaching their children the basics of language, but afterwards children attended a place called Academy to refine their language and learn the history of our people. From what I could tell, the normal course for children to stay with their parents until they were ten years old. They were taught the basics of language and the trade of their parents, then started going to Academy for a few hours a day until they were considered a young adult at age fourteen. By this time a young person was expected to be already involved in a trade – or they were expected to become a warrior if they had the aptitude. There were tournaments held in The City every year to select the top young fighters, with those who perform poorly becoming Guards and the top rankers recruited into the service of one of the Great Houses.

I had originally wanted to join the Painted Warriors, who are in actuality the army of House Flameward, the Great House that controlled North Stone Village and everything around it. But maybe with my newfound ability to design powers for myself I wouldn’t need their aid? I wasn’t sure, and I still hadn’t purchased any abilities as I had so few points. There had been some interesting changes to my character sheet over the last year, however.

Primary Stats: Personal / Modified Secondary Stats: Personal / Modified Strength: 3 Health Points (HP): 4 Dexterity: 4 Current HP: 4 Fitness: 4 Fatigue Points (FP): 5 Current FP: 5 Will Power: 14 Total Soul-points earned: 3 Perception: 12 Soul Points Spent: 0 Remaining Soul-points: 3

I had somehow earned another two Soul-Points (I really had to change that name… I mean, they should be Universe-Points, or Qi-Points, maybe… I wish I could ask Mark what he thought). The glowing formation from the tome, which I think the Celestial called a Cultivation Technique, seemed to be the same as before – but it was hard to tell with something you ‘see’ every day. If there were changes, they were minor and happened slowly over time.

Regardless, I still felt the refreshing sensation of energy flow into my body every time I pictured the Formation – it was somehow soothing and invigorating at the same time as it flowed through my veins, the sensation of the energy gathering near my heart and between my eyebrows infinitely comforting. I was fairly sure this energy must be the source of the... ugg… Soul-Points. Karma-Points? Oh right, crap, those were already used… Universe-Points is just as bad as what I’m already using… oh, Cultivation-Points! I liked that, and it abbreviated nicely to CP. I gave it a shot, going online briefly to make the change.

Primary Stats: Personal / Modified Secondary Stats: Personal / Modified Strength: 3 Health Points (HP): 4 Dexterity: 4 Current HP: 4 Fitness: 4 Fatigue Points (FP): 5 Current FP: 5 Will Power: 14 Total CP earned: 3 Perception: 12 CP Spent: 0 Remaining CP: 3

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I have horns. Or, maybe I should say I will have horns… right now they were just little black nubs growing out of my forehead. I hadn’t even noticed them starting to grow in a few months ago – that is, until mother started washing around the base where the horns were growing out of my skull. I finally managed to crawl on top of my parents’ dresser, where mom keeps a polished piece of steel as a surprisingly decent (if primitive) mirror.

My scales were also starting to fill out, each one having a bit more definition as the overlapping pattern was becoming clearer. They were also turning a darker green than before, which I was actually pretty happy about: My previous color was a bright mossy color, but it seemed to be heading to a much more respectable evergreen pine shade of dark green. But now I had horns as well.

Green scaly skin and horns. I honestly couldn’t look more like a demon if I tried… actually, scratch that. I could have had hooves or a pointy tail, although I wasn’t sure if having hooves was actually possible for my kind (tails definitely were). I was in the middle of inspecting the tiny scales under my armpits in the mirror when I heard a knock at the door. I quickly scrambled down the dresser, going back into our short hallway so I could peek into the kitchen (which was at the front of our house).

I heard a familiar voice and smiled as I made my way into the kitchen, waving at mother’s best friend (the lady with the anime-style eyes) as she came in from the rain outside. I stood silently by as mom cooed and fussed over her friends new baby.

“Heller, this is Zephyr.” Said the doe-eyed woman gently, kneeling down so I could get a better look at the child. My eyes widened as I took in the infants appearance: Her skin was covered in very fine coal-black scales, which contrasted wildly with her golden hair. And I mean metallic golden, not blond – it actually looked like hair made out of finely woven threads of gold. She looked to be about four to six months old, but when she smiled at me she revealed a full set of sharp looking teeth, with long fangs instead of normal incisors on both the top and bottom of her terrifying maw. Holy crap!