Chapter 6:

39 Days After Fall’s Beginning

140 Days After The Ra’tok Attack Amia Village

Valley of Ivory, The Talri Clan, Main Road

I woke slowly, a rhythmic rocking permeated my awareness; then the uncomfortable feeling of something hard jabbing into my ribs. A neigh breaks through the silence and I open my blurry eyes.

At first I’m confused, because everything looks upside down; then I realize I’m upside down. Righting myself as best I can, I look around.

Vicar and the other warriors are riding their horses. I am on a small, brown and white horse with it’s reins tied to Vicar’s horse.

We are surrounded on all sides by thick forest, similar to the Jungle but there is still a clear difference in flora. The group of horses plods down a small, well traveled road, clear indications of where wagon wheels packed the dirt, curve out of sight.

“Wh-what?” I croak, trying to make sense of why I am like this. Vicar glances over his shoulder.

“Ah! You’re awake,” He looks to his men behind him, “We will stop here for a while.”

He leads us into a small clearing and the warriors dismount, tying off the reins to nearby trees. They grab food fromtheir saddlebags.

I try to get off the horse, but being laid across its back and tied to the saddle makes it near impossible. My fingers feel numb and are hard to move; every movement I try makes me feel sluggish, heavy and wrong.

Vicar walks up and helps me off the horse. He picks me up easily and sets me on my feet.

I don't feel right.

I wobble precariously, but grab onto the horse’s saddle for support.

“How are you feeling?” Vicar asks, holding out a canteen.

I reach out for it, but my vision blurs and before I know it I’m on the ground, my head is spinning.

Arms lift me up from under my armpits, setting my back to a tree.

“I’ll take that as not too well.” Vicar uncaps the flask and puts it to my mouth. I drink greedily, the flow of water quenching the desert in my throat.

He takes the bottle away.

“What happened?” I ask, looking at Vicar. His image blurs and I feel bile rising in my throat, but I gulp it down.

“It’s been 2 days since you fell asleep. The healer we brought over said there was nothing physically wrong with you, other than your arm, that is. But she did say that you were suffering from Katra poisoning, and the only thing that could be done was to wait for it toclear out of your system. So we slung you over a horse and have been trekking back to our town.”

“I don't feel okay. Everything feels… wrong and heavy.” I struggle to think, my mind fuzzing.

What is going on?

I close my eyes, focusing my mind’s eye inward. I look into my core, it is empty except for a drop of foreign Katra.

My thoughts start to order themselves. Gray Katra.

It’s contained within my core, so why am I being affected?

Then I remember. I absorbed a ton of it, and it leaked into my body! Gods, why am I still alive?

I scan through my body, following the pathways of my shattered Katra channels. There are clusters of the Gray Katra all through my body, most of them near my joints and organs.

It is unsettling how they have grouped together, covering entire sections of my organs, a large portion concentrated around my heart. I have never heard of Katra doing this. But who has ever even heard of Gray Katra?

I can now understand why I feel sluggish and am having a hard time moving, my entire body is infused with the stuff, while also being completely drained of my Pure Katra.

The bile rises back up into my throat, and I can’t stop it this time. I lurch to the side, throwing up most of the water I just drank along with stomach acid. The vomit is a murky clear color, gray even.

Coughing out the last of what is in my stomach, I sit back up and wipe my mouth.

“I don't think you should eat anything right now, but I’m going to leave the flask here, I need to go tend to my men. I’ll be back shortly.”

I nod and Vicar places the flask next to me, standing up and shouting at his men.

I best try and get as much of the Katra dispersed or in my core as possible.

Mentally grabbing onto one of the clusters of Gray, I try to pull it back into my Katra channels. It is tightly clamped down on my heart, not wanting to let go.

This scares me. Even if it is foreign Katra, I still should be able to move it in my body. It's almost like it’s alive. Shaking off that thought, I pull even harder on the cluster.

Pulling on it with all my mental strength, it detaches with a inaudible pop. I start to drag it back into my channels, but stop in horror.

The cluster dissolves between my imaginary fingers, dispersing around my body. With a panicked eye, I follow a strand of the Gray. It settles around my lungs, forming tiny, crystalline structures of Katra.

What do I do now? It doesn’t seem to be harming me.

With a feeling that I should keep going, I slowly and painstakingly pull the clusters away from my organs, watching as they dissolve and form a crystalline layer over my innards and muscles.

A hand clamps down on my shoulder and I’m startled out of my trance. I react with an instinctive punch with my right hand.

My fist connects with Vicars jaw and pain blossoms up my arm. He doesn’t even move an inch from the punch.

Holding my black bandaged hand, I flex it. Seems fine, but it hurt so much!

“This one is so sorry, Elder Vicar!” I crawl as best I can to my knees and kowtow.

Vicar absently rubs his jaw, “You have good reflexes, but they seem a little too sharp. We will work on it. Are you feeling any better?”

I feel somewhat better, but still feel heavy, so I shake my head no. “I’m trying to contain the Katra, but I still need time. Are we leaving soon?”

“In about half an hour. Here, you need to at least eat something,” Vicar hands me half a loaf of hardened bread. I thank him as he walks off, leaning back against the tree.

I chew on the bread, taking periodic swigs of water. Finishing the bread, I go back to my methodical destruction of the clusters.

I can suddenly feel my blood pumping easier as I finishing pulling all the clusters away from my heart. It’s a weird feeling, slightly heady and also invigorating.

But what I feel most is fear.

The implications of this scares me. Was the Gray Katra affecting my body on a physical level? Even though I had never commanded it to do what I want? Never controlled it to do anything?

This was a strange and alien energy I knew nothing about other than what Sol had told me. Which wasn’t really anything clear.

An even more startling implication came to me.

Is it alive?

I continue to pull the clusters, letting them dissolve. I can feel control of my body slowly coming back to me. The crystalline layers continue to grow, forming over my muscles and organs.

As I look at the crystal like structures, I can see they are slowly sinking into my flesh. Almost as if… they are bonding with it.

I still don’t know enough about this Katra to understand what exactly is going on in my body. I had this gut feeling that it might turn into… something beneficial. But why should I trust my gut when it is covered in crystals?

For now, I will see if there are any side effects. I already know of the clusters around my organs, so I will keep a look out for those. I’ll scan my body every day for them.

“It’s time we leave, Kardin. Let’s get you on your horse. We should make it to Tarna by nightfall.” Vicar says, pulling me from my thoughts. I grab his hand and let him pull me to my feet.

He helps support my weight as I walk over to the horse, even though I feel better, I still feel weak; like I ran for miles without stopping.

Hopping into the saddle I thank Vicar. I lean onto the neck of the horse, resting my head on the back of its neck.

Vicar looks at me with concern creasing his features. “How did you manage to get Katra poisoning?”

I just shake my head and shrug, “I’m not entirely sure, but it’s nearly gone now, I just need to rest.”

I think it might be best to keep what's happened to me a secret for now.

Vicar nods, he unties the horse from the tree and ties it to his horses’ saddle. Mounting up he calls over his shoulder, “Let’s get going boys! We have a long ride ahead of us.”

He leads us onto the path again and starts toward The Talri Clan’s home, Tarna.

From what Vicar has told me, Tarna is more like a trade town with not many people living inside the walls, but many living outside, farming and hunting.

The Talri Clan controls the Valley of Ivory and sends out their youth on expeditions to gather money. Every boy of the age of 18 and older is sent out, for 5 years, in groups. They look for mercenary work, which mostly is done as caravan guards.

This allows the boys to accumulate experience. It is considered a rite of passage for one of the warriors to kill a man. They put the number of men they have killed as chevrons on their armor.

That is about all Vicar explained to me, other than the valley is famous for its abundance of tusked and horned creatures, bringing in a profit from ivory.

As we ride towards Tarna, I pull out one of my beast cores from my bag. Closing my eyes and I start to cycle. Envisioning the wheel slowly grinding away at the walls of my core, expanding it.

As my core is empty, and not being a Diamond, I have to manually cycle Katra.

If I can get my core big enough, and fill it with enough Katra, my hope is that I will be able to rank up. If I could do that, then I think I might even be able to go farther than just Highbronze.

Taking in big gulps of air, I continue to cycle. Pure Katra trickles into my core, the product of my cycling method. Though I think it might be more accurate to call it a by-product.

Stopping once again, I take breaths of air. Looking at my core, I am confused at first.

Where’d all my Pure Katra go?

I haven’t assimilated the Gray into my own Katra, giving it the Gray aspect.

Looking into my core, it is devoid of any Pure Katra but the Gray Katra ribbon has grown and is pooled at the base of my core.

It… absorbed my Katra? Can I… use it now?

I caress the energy with my mind, watching as it stirs. After a moment, I will it to move from my core and into my hand. I struggle to keep the energy in my channels as it travels to my right hand, keeping most of it in.

As it reaches my hand, I make a conscious effort to not send it into my gauntlet, but to let is coalesce into my palm.

I open my eyes and look at my cupped hand.

The black cloth contrasts starkly with the Gray Katra. The Katra forms into a thin, gray, translucent ribbon. I flick it with my will and watch as it lazily moves around, regardless of the wind from riding.

I have to absorb it back into myself and guide it back into my core before it all dissipates into the air.

So I can control it, is it my Katra aspect now? No, because I’m generating Pure Katra but I can control it.

Rubbing my head, I think, This is so confusing.

Looking back at my conversation with Sol, I remember him saying that Gray Katra absorbs other types of Katra to build itself up. He also said that I could imprint images on it; that it was mainly used for building.

Can I imprint it myself? Is that how I’m controlling it?

I mentally take a small bit of the Katra from my core, cupping it in my imaginary hand. I focus intently on it, wishing to imprint the idea of a sphere.

It takes a bit of time, but the ribbon seems to melt. It slowly starts to form into a sphere, but it is misshapen, there is a bubbly, unsmooth surface. Then it collapses as soon as I stop focusing.

It's like a liquid.

Encouraged by my success, I try to force the image of a flame onto it. After a bit, I can mentally feel it getting slightly hotter. But that’s all I get, no matter how much I think, I can't get it to form a flame.

Am I just not thinking hard enough? Or can’t it do elements? No, that wouldn’t make sense if it’s used in building Katra constructs. All Katra has many aspects, some clash more than others.

I also get the feeling of “Neutral” from the Gray Katra. It wouldn’t make sense if it couldn’t build a flame.

I think about this conundrum. Is it just that Gray Katra can only absorb other Katras? I don't think so, but am unsure.

I decide to set this matter aside for now, when I’m feeling better and less tired.

Going back to my cycling, time moves slowly.

***

After the warriors leave on their giant beasts, light slowly fades away.

Under a tree lies a small puddle of vomit. It is a murky gray color.

The puddle shifts as the light of the sun vanishes. A tentative tentacle reaches out from it.

The appendage searches for the warmth of sunlight.

It can’t find it.

The puddle shifts itself, moving out from under the tree. It forms many tendrils, touching blades of grass as it moves, searching for the warmth.

A small red bird lands on a stump near the center of the clearing. It starts to search the rotten log for insects.

The gray puddle notices the disturbance in the air from the bird’s landing. It can feel the vibrations of the bird’s chirps.

Curious, it slowly moves it’s way over to the stump and bird. The bird takes little notice of the puddle, sticking its beak into a hole in the rotten wood.

As the puddle reaches the bird, it can’t pinpoint it’s exact location, reaching out feelers to find it.

The bird hops away, munching on a grub. It looks for more in the mossy stump.

The gray puddle can’t find the source of the vibrations. After a few seconds, it ripples and a tendril pops up. It sways slightly, but stands still.

The tendril starts to glow a dim gray color. Then the puddle can see.

Energy flows all around it, in a myriad of colors. Green light flowing through the trees, a muddy yellow in veins within the ground. A pale, see through gaseous white moves along with the breeze. The light flows through everything.

The puddle shivers in excitement.

It looks at the small bird, tapping away at the wood of the trunk.

A thick, slow moving red runs through the veins of the bird. The bird looks warm, the energy a dark red color.

The puddle reaches out tentacles for the bird. The bird tries to fly away, but the tendrils quickly ensnare it’s feet and bring it back to the ground. A feeler caresses the distressed bird’s head.

Curious about this strange creature, the puddle brings it’s seeing feeler closer to the bird. It can see the light running inside the bird.

Then the puddle smothers the bird, encasing it in gray slime. It worms the seeing feeler down the drowning bird’s throat, reaching for the light.

Then the bird dies without a sound.

The gray puddle reaches the source of the light in the bird. It starts to eat the insides of the small bird, quickly breaking it down. As the bird slowly starts to dissolve, the puddle breaks it’s rib cage open. What it extracts from the bird is a tiny red core. The puddle has more trouble eating this, but slowly starts to digest it.

It shudders in the pleasure as the rush of energy from the bird disperses through it. As the entire bird and it’s core dissolve, the puddle expands slightly.

It wants more.

Moving itself off the stump, keeping it’s feelers out and caressing the blades of grass. It sloshes away towards the trees.

The feeler atop it’s head starts to shift ever so slightly, splitting in half. It lets out a small, gurgling chirp.

Then it vanishes into the shadows of the trees, in search of more of the light warmth.

***

I open my eyes as Vicar shouts at me, “We’re almost there! Just a little bit further.”

The sound of nocturnal bugs buzz in the air, filling it with a low thrum. The moon slowly rises over the horizon, while the sun sets at our backs.

Looking around, the trees start to get noticeably thinner. Soon, all the trees are gone and in their place are fields of dry corn stalks rustling in the slight breeze. I can see wood buildings and a few copses of trees splitting up the sea of crops.

I can’t help but think back to my time helping Varick and Karla in the fields. It was hard work and now the memory stings with bitter loss.

When I was in the jungle, these thoughts seemed so distant, very rarely coming up. But now they are coming back. Maybe it’s because I’ve returned to civilization. Shoving these thoughts to the back of my mind, I focus on my surroundings.

In the distance, over the various fields of crops, I can see a grouping of buildings surrounded by a large stone wall. Counting the rooftops, I can say the buildings number a good amount above 100.

“That's Tarna?” I say out loud.

Vicar nods, “It’s not much to look at, but it’s home. Though most here consider Tarna almost the entire valley. The town is really more of a trading hub and the home of the clan.”

I think about that, looking at the veritable sea of crops. I can see the slopes of the valley thick with vegetation. We are close to The Jungle of The Gods, but still a distance away from the more dangerous parts.

As we approach the gates into the town, two guards on the top of the wall look down at us.

“Elder Vicar? Is that you?” One of the guards says, leaning over. His face is obscured by a helmet, but from his voice I can tell he’s young.

“It is.” Vicar stops his horse a couple feet from the gate. “Kria per tamus Talri.”

Both guards bang their fists to their breastplate, right where their hearts are. In unison they say, “Kria per tamus Talri!”

With that, one of the guards disappears from sight and I can hear a yell for the gate to be opened. There is a loud thunking sound and the thick wooden doors creak open.

“What’s that mean?” I ask Vicar.

“Glory to clan Talri in Old Tongue”

Vicar leads us through the gates and down a cobbled street. Many of the buildings are of the same type of architecture as Coskana. But the terracotta roof tiles are painted a creamy blue.

Lights in the houses are dark, but a few candle lights are on as many of the people are getting into bed for the night.

Vicar takes us to the center of the town. What I see is a mansion, but it also looks like a barracks was melded with it. There are large fields of sand behind the building and contraptions of wood that might be an obstacle course. I can see a shooting range and straw training dummies.

He leads us over to the stables, which are in the back. They are quite big; far bigger than I have ever seen before.

Dismounting he says to me, “Welcome to the Talri Clan! We need to get your horse situated, then we will find you a room. Follow me.”

I dismount with some difficulty. My legs still feel weak, but I am able to stand.

Then the pain hits me.

I stifle a groan, my entire lower half aches. My legs are stiff and hard to move. Saddle aches

The other warriors dismount without complaint, not even uncomfortable.

I want an Steel Body even more now.

Limping after Vicar and taking my horse by its reins, we stop at two stalls near the back. Leading my horse into the stall next to Vicar’s, I unsaddle it and brush it down. There is already some water and hay prepared so I leave it to enjoy it’s meal.

Vicar looks me up and down as I close the stall door.

Shifting my pack on my shoulder I ask, “What now?”

“Now I’ll get you a room. Tomorrow you will need to take a bath and prepare to stand before the council.”

“Why?” I ask, sweat already forming at the thought of sitting before a group of people like Vicar.

“I need to introduce you and also vouch for you to stay in our clan for training. It is more a formality than anything, and it’s best to get it out of the way now,” Vicar starts to walk off, I follow behind him.

“When will I start training?” I ask, pulling up to his side.

“The day after tomorrow. After you are done meeting with the council, I will show you around a bit. After that, I think your training will start from the bottom. You will be placed with our 8 year olds in their martial training to learn the basics of fighting with weapons and without.”

I cringe when he says 8 year olds. It’s only a reminder of how weak I am. All the kids will probably be near or at Truebronze.

But I swore to get stronger, to bring vengeance to the monster that killed Karla.

With a smile I walk out of the stables, ready to begin my training.

***

Breathing deeply and exhaling, I open the door into the council room. I am greeted by 5 Elders. They sit at a half-moon table, level with my chest,

In the far most chair to the left sits Vicar, back ramrod straight. He looks smaller as his armor is gone and no longer providing him with it’s bulk.

Counting Vicar, there are 3 men and two women. They don’t look below the age of 50, lines etched deep into their faces. From what I can see, they all follow the same Path. Blue circles identical to Vicar’s glow on their hands, pulsing slightly.

“Kardin Amai, you stand before the council of the Talri clan,” the man in the center seat says. He has graying hair, stubble lining his chin. Sitting back in his high-back chair, he looks at Vicar. “Elder Vicar has brought you here because he believes you worthy of learning our way of fighting. Is that correct?”

“It is, Elder Bashir. He saved my life in the face of certain death, then helped me and my men chase it off.” Vicar says in a measured tone, “All this on top of having survived deep in the Jungle of The Gods for 4 months.”

There are murmurs between all of the Elders. The woman sitting next to Vicar says in an accusatory tone, “Impossible! Not even Overlords dare venture near the mountains of that accursed jungle!”

Talks camly, “I assure you Elder Asta, that I do not lie. I have proof.”

I calmly open my bag and pull out the head of what used to be my old spear. Then I pull out the two beast cores I have nearly drained and grabg the dagger, placing all these objects on the table.

Bashir picks up the spear head made of a beasts tooth. He inspects it. “While true these are of a high quality, there is no guarantee these are from the jungle.”

Vicar responds, “I have the accounts of 6 of my men, all will tell you that the boy ran out of the jungle with a rage drake on his heels. If that is not enough look at his arm with your Silver sight.”

I watch as they all look at my arm, their eyes glowing a neon blue. Vicar looks on as confused expressions start to materialize on their faces.

I don’t know how this is going to go. The Gray Katra is all over my body now.

“I can’t see him,” the other female Elder says, looking over at Vicar.

He looks surprised for a second when he switches on his Silver sight, but he schools his expresion. Looking at the other Elders, he says, “Kardin has bonded to an Artifact. We know nothing about it, other than he has control over the bandages on his arm, it also appears to completely obscure him in Silver sight.”

There is more murmured discussion among all the Elders. When it dies down, Bashir says, “Then it is settled! Kardin Amia, you are officially a member of Clan Talri. You shall be trained in both our basic and advanced fighting techniques. This is of course, on the condition that you shall serve the clan to the best of your ability if we call upon you to defend it.”

I have thought this decision over. It is probably my best bet at becoming stronger, but it comes at price of being at their call. I can always not answer it. And I doubt that anyone would be dumb enough to attack one of the strongest warrior clans out there. Though, they could still abuse it themselves.

I bow deeply, “This one is honored by your offer, Elder Bashir. I humbly accept and thank you.” I stand up again, straightening my back. I place my fist to my breast, over my heart and say, “Kria per tamus Talri!”

All the Elders do the same as me, saying in practiced unison, “Kria per tamus Talri!”

Gathering my things, I am led out of the room by Vicar who takes me back to my room. It is about the same size as my old shack used to be. There are windows on the wall opposite the door, curtains drawn up. A desk is lit by the beams of light from the window. A bed twice my size rests against the wall and a drawer opposite it.

I place my bag on my desk, looking at Vicar.

“Your arm, it’s influence spread?” He asks, looking at my arm.

Shrugging, I nod. “I wouldn’t know, I don't have Silver sight.”

“How did it spread? I’m assuming it had something to do with your Katra poisoning.” I can see he feels awkward without wearing his armor, his hand resting at his hip where his sword would be.

I hesitate to say anything, but Vicar has already figured out most of it. I’ll tell him a few things, but not everything. “I gained some type of… Katra aspect from it? I’m not even sure if it is Katra. I can still make Pure Katra, but also control this Katra somewhat.”

“Show me.”

I close my eyes and focus on my right hand, I move to my core and scope out some of the now sizable pool of Gray Katra, pushing it to my hand. Bits escape from my channels and vanish into my body, but I can’t lose focus of the Katra, unless I want to let it all escape.

As it gathers in my hand, I push it outwards.

Opening my eyes, I watch as a long ribbon of Gray Katra forms from my hand, moving slowly in a nonexistent breeze.

Vicar studies it with a critical eye, “Do you know what it does? Other than obscuring you from Silver sight?”

I shake my head, “Only that is is called ‘Gray Katra’ and is ‘Neutral’.”

He pats me on the shoulder and says, “I think it will be best to not mention this to anyone. Just say that it is your artifact the keeps you hidden.”

I nod, looking at him. With a suspicious gaze I ask, “What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to our clan archives to see if I can find anything about this artifact and Gray Katra. I will show you to the training grounds tomorrow to introduce you to your instructor.”

With that, Vicar leaves swiftly.

“So much for being showed around,” I mumble to myself.

I don't think he’s going to find much.

Closing my eyes, I swiftly focus in on where I know I lost some of the Gray Katra.

I scan my body from head to toe, looking for those… tumors of Gray. I don't see any, or even remnants of the lost Katra, only the crystalline structures. Then I notice something.

Was it near my neck?

The layers of Gray crystal had grown. They were nowhere near my spinal cord or brain, only around my intestines and nervous system, stopping before reaching my brain.

Now they were growing along my spine, still small, but definitely there.

They aren't harming me in anyway… but it still makes me uneasy. Where did the escaped Katra go, as well?

Curious, I focus on the pool of Gray Katra at the bottom of my core. Mentally scooping up a droplet, I send it into my shattered channels. Letting it go, I follow it as it leaves my channels and enters my body.

The crystal’s flare with a dim light as the drop is absorbed by one of them. Then it starts to ripple outward, like a wave of light. The crystals behind fade back to their original gray color.

I follow along the wave of light, it circles through all the crystal in my body, eventually crashing back into itself. Then I watch as that crash creates more ripples and it repeats itself till there is no more.

Looking in the place around my spine and neck, I can see as small crystals start to form, just a few, but enough to notice.

This is like it’s dispersing the energy throughout the crystals. And me in extension. Almost like when I infuse parts of myself with Pure Katra!

I look closely at me heart, but still don't see any tumors. Getting closer to some of the larger crystals, I can see that they are entirely anchored to my flesh. I suspect even if I try to get rid of them, I will only be causing my self harm.

This new revelation both worries me and excites me. What are these crystals and what can I use them for?

I think about this for awhile, but still don’t know enough about them.

Since I seem to have some free time, I focus back on my core. I then bring up my old image of a wheel slowly grinding away at the edges of my core, expanding it slowly.

Stopping after a few minutes, I take in large gulps of air. Then repeat.

I do this till sleep takes me.

***

I unbuckle the case I got from Head Nazar. Grabbing all three pieces, I assemble them quickly.

This is my first time handling the spear, or any good spear for that matter. But I can feel it’s well balanced.

Spinning it, I test out my handle on it.

The material it’s made of is heavy and I lack the sufficient strength to wield it decently. I can already feel my arm burning from the strain of spinning it.

Stopping, I set the butt of it to the floor with a soft clang.

Looking at the tip, I can see the scripts of runes etched onto the blade. They are tiny and nearly unnoticeable. I run my hand along the spear head.

I still can’t believe this is mine.

Walking to the door of my room with the spear in hand, I leave the room. Closing the door behind me, I face Vicar.

“Ready to start your training?”

“Yes, Elder.” I bow slightly.

He nods in approval and starts to walk off. Following behind him I ask, “So who will be my trainer?”

“As you know, you will be learning the basics with our 8 year olds. Your instructor for now will be Arms Master Taras.”

We walk in silence then, reaching the training yard a short time later.

As we reach the yard, I look around. It is covered in a gritty, yellow sand. There is a group of men in mock sword duels with each other over in the north east corner. I can see a group of archers at the range, firing pin point accurate shots.

Vicar leads me over to a group of children. They are all moving through a set of motions, in orderly lines. A burly man walks through their ranks, correcting postures with yells and slaps.

He has curly blonde hair merging with his thick beard. He is incredibly muscular and stocky. The characteristic Diamond sign of the Talri warriors on his hand.

When he sees us, I can tell he’s scowling through his beard.

“Vicar, you bastard! You’re still alive!” Taras envelopes Vicar in a bone crushing hug.

Vicar pats the burly man on the back, “Alive and growing older, I’m afraid.”

Letting go of Vicar, he says, “You’re still agile enough for your age, and don't think you can fool me with your talking about being old! Now, I’m assuming this is our newest member?”

Taras turns to me, putting his hands on his hips. He looks over my thin form, distaste flashing in his eye. Then electric blue envelopes his irises and his expression turns to one of confusion and interest.

Vicar puts a hand on my shoulder, “Kardin here is rather special, as I’m sure you can already see.”

Taras holds out his hand and it takes me a second to realize what he wants. I tentatively grab his hand and shake it. “This one is Kardin Amia, he looks forward to learning from you, Arms Master Taras.” His grip slowly tightens around my hand and I wince when the pressure gets too much, but don't try to pull my hand out.

Taras eases the pressure and lets go, “Not an Steel, eh?”

“Kardin’s channels were crippled from a young age, and so he has been stuck at Lowbronze. It is your job to make sure he knows the basics of fighting.” Vicar says.

Taras looks intrigued, “And his other… properties?”

“That would be this one’s Artifact, sir.” I say, holding up my right arm covered in black bandages and silver script.

He glances at Vicar and I can see some regret on his face. “Vicar, you know I’m not the right one to be teaching him to fight. You should be having him train with Ayria-”

Vicar interrupts him, “You need only teach him how to use his spear and a knife.”

Taras bites his lip but nods.

“What do you mean?” I ask, confused on who this “Ayria” is.

“You will learn the basics of fighting here, but once I deem you worthy of advancing, you will be moved to the Advanced courses.” Taras says, folding his arms.

Vicar says crypticly, “You will be taught by Ayria next, one of our more… specialised trainers.”

I’m not sure what to make of this. Should I be worried?

For now I’ll go with the flow.

Nodding I turn back to Taras. “I am ready to start training when you deem necessary, Arms Master Taras.”

Vicar walks off, back towards the build, he says over his shoulder, “I will come back at sunset to make sure everything is going well.”

Taras looks me up and down again, he scratches his beard, “We will need to get you in shape, if you’re to survive her. Your body doesn’t seem too much of a lost cause, and I can probably whip you up into shape in about a month or two… Alright, getting moving! I want you to lug that stick of yours around the yard 5 times!”

He points off to the edge of the sandy training grounds. I glance at him, but nonetheless start running.

Taras moves back to the group of children, yelling at them.

As I reach the edge of the yard, I start to run along its perimeter. I look at all the warriors dueling each other. They are using dulled metal blades and shields, trying to incapacitate or disable their opponent.

Some of the warriors watch me as I go by, scowls upon their faces.

I don't think I am being well received within the general populace.

I ignore their glares for now, but make sure to commit their faces to memory. Just in case.

Already taking deep breaths, my lungs burning, I push on around the yard.

Looking at how Taras is training his students, I can tell I’m going to be in for a hard time. I watch as he hits one of the children upside the head, then guides their limbs into a stance.

I think I should prepare myself for many of those slaps.