《I awoke as the hero of Oakvale》Chapter 4 Forsight
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When I created my "Time Control" I had a rough idea with what I would have to do and what the "spell world" would have to look like. It would have to somewhat resemble a clock and inherent talent/knowledge filled in the gaps but for Theresa's future visions I had no idea what her spell would have to look like. This is why many heroes like Maze and Thunder choose a basic element like lightning to cultivate. It's easier to picture a volcanic world of fire or a gaseous planet saturated in constant lightning. Future-sight is something that no one understands how it works. As with any power, a lack of knowledge is dangerous. Theresa would have to rely heavily upon instinct and that scares me. Yes, she succeeded in the other timeline but she was much older then and needed her power to see. Necessity is the mother of invention after all.
Theresa Sat upon a boulder in the plains that neighbors our village called "Barrow Fields". The first time Theresa tried to meditate she failed to properly quite her mind and broke the meditation. There were many failures after that too. It took over a week for her to learn to do so. An issue I believe is due to her having a child's psyche rather than the one of an adult I have. Focus is just something one learns to do over a long period. Wisdom was often attributed to age but was not the case. Wisdom comes from painful experiences: once you walk a jagged road barefoot you learn to cover your feet. A child could have strong willpower but in most cases, they would lose steam over time. The exception being something like the imminent slaughter of Oakvale that fueled the previous protagonist's desire for power.
She was lucky that all her biggest failures were long before she managed to get anywhere near cultivating a spell. Spell failure could result in a lethal backlash. A fact the game seemed to fail to ever mention. No wonder few ever became heroes and anyone who did was respected regardless of their morals. Second, was because of "Weaver the Guildmaster" who felt guilds should be impartial and offer quests from all sources that offer gold. The soft-hearted but naive idiot turned the Heroes Guild into mercenaries. Heck, even bandits, one of the most common enemies in the game can hire the Protagonist to kill farmers as one of the main story quests. This of course inevitably put the guild in a position of decline. There exists something called "Social Darwinism" and it means once one's actions exceed whats socially tolerable someone will find a way to put an end to it. There is always someone who is either, stronger, faster, smarter, or more talented. Even if that's not the case, the necessity of a savior itself will create one. I suspect this may even be why I'm here.
Theresa was getting somewhere in the development of her power now. I waited quietly as a shadow while she meditated since I did not wish to distract her. If she could succeed then together we could both foresee and alter events precisely. We would be true masters of fate!
A girl and her two guards could be seen entering the other end of barrow fields interrupted my thoughts I hoped it wasn't who I thought it was. Ah, that's right the grey family's childhood home was also near Oakvale. I tried to ignore the group hoping they would do the same and pass by but no such luck.
"What are you peasants doing here", a girl's voice said sharply.
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Now turning to look at the source of the unpleasant sound and acknowledge her presence. It was A young blonde girl it a slightly goth purplish dress. She was cute by most standards but she had a real arrogant attitude. Damn, its young Lady Elvira Grey! It could have been her older sister Amanda Grey but I doubted it. Amanda's supposed personality was much softer and kinder. Amanda fell in love with a commoner in the other timeline before Elvira murdered her for the position of mayor.
The game tells the player that "Jack of Blades" convinced her to murder her sister. Jack of blades was the villain of the game whose full motives are never revealed. He kills the Hero's whole family for a magic sword but it never explained why he thought he needed it. It's not even that much more powerful than legendary swords that can be bought in Bowerstone. His reason for turning Elvira into a sister murderer is also never explained.
Then in "The Lost Chapters" the added DLC that came later it turns out Jack of blades is one of three God-like void beings that appeared in Albion. He and the other two were defeated by my ancestor "William Black" who is known as the King of the old kingdom and the "Archon". Willian defeated Jack when the void being tried to enslave him with a magic sword. Stealing the sword later known as the Sword of Aeons and being he one he tries to kill my family for. It's still not explained why Jack needs the sword and what these evil God-like beings even desire or need. The fact that Jack will be part of the assault on Oakvale is disheartening. Such a powerful being will confront me and I have little means to resist even with my fate in my own hands.
Whats more Elvira Grey Appears in fable 2 as having become a Witch and was killed by Albion's inhabitants. She was cut into pieces spread over all of Albion that can be recovered by Fable 2's protagonist "The Hero of Bowerstone". It's pretty gross actually that both I and my descendant (Hero of Bowerstone) can marry this woman. Well, that is in that timeline. Now that I think about it I wouldn't want to let Jack ruin this Girl's future either!
"Hmph, too stupid to speak peasant?" The brat questioned.
"No, little miss Elvira Grey, just thinking about things you can't even comprehend." There was a demeaning tone in my response. She seriously annoyed me but regardless, for now, the only thing I figured I could do was to convince her I wasn't someone who could be messed with. She had two guards with her and both had long since taken an aggressive stance towards me since Elvira spoke to me.
"You can't talk to the lady like that!" Both guards shouted simultaneously and they rushed at me with batons in hand. They intended to teach the "Street Rat" a lesson. I instead slowed time and gave them a little lesson of my own. A lesson called "Never underestimate your opponent". It must have appeared almost instantaneous but both guards fell to the ground after I gave the inside of their knees a soft love tap from my tomahawk. A second later the already shocked guards found their batons were missing as well.
"Make even the slightest threatening movement against me and this rock will get to know your skull more intimately", I threatened. The guards didn't move they simply glared at me. The sweat on their foreheads gave away that they were afraid of what I may do next.
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"How dar..." began Lady Grey before I interrupted.
"Shut your mouth and listen!" I said covering her mouth with one hand before I continued, "I don't plan to hurt you but if you disturb my sister's meditation she may die. If she does because of you and your pompous attitude then you can bet I'll exterminate you and yours".
I looked back checking on Theresa and she was still calmly meditating. She appeared to be in too deep a state of meditation for the noise to have bothered her but that meant the risk was higher as well.
I sighed a breath of relief, " phew".
Lady Grey just stood there in silence watching me for several minutes.
"You genuinely care for your older sister" Elvira Grey stated. I was unsure whether it was a question, statement of fact, or surprise.
"Yes, even though it puts my own life at great risk", I passively replied.
"If that's the case then why? Wouldn't it just be better to be rid of her?" The now curious noble asked.
"Siblings always have differences but its always important to remember that you are on the same team. You can always rely on the family when others may betray you. I care for my sister and as such, she's worth the risk. Also fighting for what one believes in is how true heroes are made."
"Ha, so you think yourself a Hero?!" She scoffed.
" I may not be a member of the guild yet but I already have the power of Will. Someday there will be no enemy that can match me", I stated as fact as I truly believed it.
Recently, I had tested a new way of using time control. Normally when one slows time they also speed up themselves to normal speed as well. So "will" power is focused on two targets but it's possible to focus on just one target. Doing so I could completely stop the time of the said object. This I discovered had two effects. First, the object whose time was stopped would be immune to damage until it started again. Once "time" was started again the damage would instantly appear upon the item. Second, appeared to be a sort of equal and opposite reaction to stopping an object's time fully. An object whose time is stopped cannot be moved. This effect was most likely always seen as a huge drawback to halting time and was probably the reason nobody ever did it. Nothing like a gamer to find exploitation to the rules.
Its weakness was also a strength if you know how to use it. As I told her that I believed my will powers would grant me a hero's future I used time control to halt time on the bottom of my sandals at brief intervals. Doing this I climbed invisible stairs I looked down at her and her goons.
"Then... You plan to conquer the arena then?" Elvira inquired expectantly impressed with my display of power.
"The arena? Of course, not like that'll even be a footnote in my life's story through", I mumbled. I was mainly just thinking about the vast amount of experience that fighting in the arena would provide. Slaying monsters in the arena is done by most heroes for money or fame. where else could I get others to put experience on a platter before me and pay me to get it? I climbed down from my pedestal of time because my Will energy was low.
"Then I'll be rooting for you, farm boy", Lady Grey said Coyly and playfully ran off.
Her attitude towards me did a 180-degree turn. Trying to figure out why I remembered a line I'd seen after the arena quest in-game where Lady Grey introduced herself.
She'd said, "I've always believed that only a Hero that could conquer the arena, could conquer me".
"See you tomorrow!" Elvira waved before running up the hill to her mansion.
Ah hell!!! Looks like I may have met a few of her spouse requirements. The game always showed them as being arena champion, being virtuous, and having a certain amount of wealth. As a talented youth who would become a Hero guild member I met or would meet many of these requirements in the future. She probably felt this was some kind of predestined meeting. Now, I've got another problem and this one is gonna be harder to deal with in the long run.
"What's your name farmboy?" she called out one last question before entering her estate.
I didn't plan to answer her question but suddenly, "His Name is Arn!" My sister shouted in response. Her eyes glowed green proving she had not only succeeded but was looking at the future now.
All I could say after Lady Grey was gone is, "What have you done sister?"
The game always puts a rather narrow limit on the potential of Will powers. In less than a month after gaining "Time Control," I found several uses never done in the game. Unfortunately, I only found one directly offensive use so far and it was limited by circumstance. I could stop time on the air itself in a spot of my choosing. With this, I could create a shield that is fire, arrow, and blade proof. Like all time stops though it's super Will energy-expensive making it normally impractical. Then I tried freezing only a thin line of air thinner than a hair. I made it as close to a molecule thick as I could but I have no way to confirm how close I got it. To test its effectiveness I threw a beetle into the invisible blade. The insect was cleaved in two and died before it knew what happened.
So I got an offensive "Time Blade" that will take out an enemy as long as they run into it themselves. Like general Ackbar said, "Its a trap!". That is if they don't have good armor or a defensive spell.
It is a useful skill but it requires several seconds to form a lot of focus to maintain. The only real upsides are its lethality and its low Will cost. I'm going to have to spend a lot more time figuring this out. If I choose to keep focusing on time magic instead of gaining more powers I could lose my chance at success. The same is true if I waste my time researching another power as well. Time magic is the only Will power that Jack may not be able to simply overpower in combat.
The game always made changing which Will powers you used a pain. I suspect this may have to do with changing which spell world I'm focusing on at a time. A master wizard would probably be able to do this almost instantly but I'm nowhere near that experienced. If I choose another power though it would be "Physical Shield" because once activated it would maintain itself. I can't buy armor and as long as I have Will energy I won't have to worry about damage. The only issue is that my "Will Pool" is small. It is growing but I'm still a child and Rome wasn't built in a day.
In frustration, I pulled on the collar of my suit. That's right... "suit" is what I'm currently wearing. Next to me at the table sat my sister in a very nice yellow dress. On the other side of the table sat Elvira grey. Behind her was Ronald Her butler who with help of her guards brought the tea and china set on the table. The food as well was brought by Lady Grey's party.
This was one of many "Playdates" that started after that day in barrow fields. My parents were surprised when Elvira had nice clothes including a suit delivered to our home on my birthday. Everyone was surprised except Theresa who seemed to know this would happen. At first, I thought it was just her future sight but I found out she was in correspondence with Elvira. They had been writing letters back and forth about me. Now lady Grey who seems to be obsessed with me knows where I live and when my birthday is!
It gets worse as now she invites herself to our home for these "playdates" and I have to wear this uncomfortable frilly suit. There is no greater injustice in this world! I had hoped my parents would stop this but they seemed glad that their "Handsome Son" had won a lady's heart/interest. My mother kept saying things like, "Oh aren't you two such a cute couple". Damn it, mother, this girl is a psychopath!
Normally, our mother is gone most of the time due to her guild duties as a hero but it seems Elvira was able to put some kind of request of absence in from her father the Mayor of Bowerstone. Trying to ignore her at one of our mandatory tea party's Elvira revealed my secret.
"Since Arn already has a Will power doesn't that mean he should start guild training soon", Lady Grey directed at my parents.
I felt my parent's eyes on me as I choked on my scalding tea. "Come again?" My mother asked as my father stared slack-jawed.
"Since he can manipulate time already wouldn't that put him near guild graduate level?" Elvira said thinking she was clarifying the question. My parents didn't know I could control time as even if they watched me use "Time Control" it was invisible to them. Only I could see my magic at work but Theresa knew my secret and for some reason shared it with big-mouthed Lady Elvira.
"Can he?" was the response as I could tell my mother was trying to visually appraise my skills.
"This is a ridiculous accusation mother. I barely know this girl and she claims I can manipulate reality itself", I tried to sound as genuine as possible.
"Oh, so it is true!" My mother chimed in.
"Damn it!" I shouted and slowed time to a crawl.
Changing my uncomfortable shoes back into my sandals as I went out the front door. I wasn't in the mood to deal with this right now. I don't know why Theresa is causing this chain of events to happen. I know she can see the future after all but why couldn't she talk to me about it first. Having the wool pulled over my eyes feels like a betrayal.
I'll deal with this in a couple of days but first I'm going to hide out at the demon door in "Borrow Fields". Those sentient magic doors can't be forced open and I have an idea how to get it to let me in. plus I need the Will master's Elixer inside to increase the size of my Will Pool.
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