Chapter Seven: Arms Reach

“Good evening, to this the town of Lanmere king Soras Zelday sends his regards through us the Zelday play company, before we bring you tonight’s festivities; our king has a message.” A tall lanky man stood at the head of the stage dressed in a colourful robe containing red blue and green shades all mixing together. The crowd booed at the imposition on there merry time.

The festival had begun outside of the town, tables set about in the midst of lanterns and sellers ringing the scene. Stalls and carts: bartering food and trinkets for travellers coin. Merchants coming from afar carrying more exotic trades into the town. Sweet aromas mixed in the air as bright lights blared around them. Sol laughed as the old man saw fit to hurl a loaf of bread at the man standing atop the stage.

“Hey I’m just doing my job,” the actor yelled dodging the rapidly glowing bombardment

“Then do it faster!” Dranam yelled from the front. Sol laughed leaning back and taking a long drink from his cup of steaming mammile.

“The king is holding a midsummer festival!” The man screamed after receiving a potato to the face. The crowd decided to hold off on their assault, for now, the news starting to become mildly more interesting.

“On the day of the autumn festival the king will hold a grand tournament that anyone may enter he especially encourages the blessed ones to join, there will be a special competition for any guild where the rewards range from gold, to mystical artefacts and landed titles.” The speaker hurriedly blurted before running of the stage before another wave of attack could begin. The crowd began to mumble talking amongst themselves sharing momentary speculations. The old man was grinning at their table, the cogs of his mind dusting off and beginning to whir. And there was but one thing the old man would stir for.

“Honey what are you planning?” Jill asked. Telmin did not reply as a young man with a room began to clear off the stage before the actors could take their places. It seemed that they had come prepared

Sol watched as the story unfolded, he was silent as the players moved across the stage singing and dancing, indulging in false hate and love and woe. It seemed the story was about a foolish king. Or rather it seemed it was an inept king whose court was full of traitors and deceivers and it was the duty of the noble queen to and her knights to protect the king. Despite that they two were incompetent; the only one in the whole play whose brain seemed function in a coherent manner was the villain. However through the three acts of the play the king survived thanks to his ineptitude: forgetting the directions to his coronation and avoiding the trap laid there, eating so much food at a banquet he vomited out the poison within, and lastly how the king who accidentally survived an assassin by falling asleep on his throne during a trial and falling over. In the end the play was more about the villain who was constantly being thwarted by such fools. Before the God Sincai appeared before him darkly robed claiming that the villain would find no joy in killing the king, as the king was too foolish, any mundane method of assault would have slain him but it was the villains desire for a cunning and dramatic victory that undid him. Before the end the village ended up leading a happy life becoming a bard while the foolish king started a war and died. The villain no longer there to dissuade every other foe that would see the king dead. Sol found the characters interesting but thought the players rigid in their portrayals, though it seemed Lillan enjoyed it, laughing every time one of the characters would slip up or something would go wrong.

But soon the performance was over to a round of laughs and applause as all the actors left the stage at once. It seemed it was time for the bards and minstrels to begin their round upon the boards.

The bards turned to enter the limelight one by one each holding an instrument unique to them, and if he were honest most looked home made. Sol spotted metal drums, bizarre guitars and lutes along with something similar to a sitar. They began to play mournful songs as music flowed about the field.

“Lovely.” Mrs Vanda sighed, turning towards the stage

“Isn’t she just.” the old man chuckled; His eyes seemed to be fixed on a violinist sitting in the back Sol couldn’t tell how the old man could call her lovely she was shrouded in a dark green cloak and wore a white mask, he couldn’t even make out her eyes though she was certainly skilled with her instrument a strange elongated violin.

“What was that dear?” Mrs Vanda questioned leaning towards her husband. Before they could start arguing the musicians stopped playing a young girl took centre stage

Then the singer began a short solo before the musical instruments cut back in as an accompaniment; she couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen years old though her hair was an electric blue and her eyes a slightly darker shade of the same.

“What with the little girls hair colour?” Lillan questioned only the blessed ones tended to have such bizarre hairstyles.

“I think She’s a fae, they’re one of the six humanoid species.” Jill explained.

Sol looked to the young girl, she was a skilled songstress her voice was captivating. “Supposedly they don’t age, and they live hundreds of years longer than any human, course no one’s been alive long enough to prove it though, I doubt it considering how frail they are.”

The night passed on as food was given out people travelled from stall to stall, the old man making sure to make a couple of lucrative transactions all the while music played, performers moved left and right; fire breathers and sword-swallowers. Sol smiled and watched moving from each area of the festival as the people spread from the centre where the bards were housed.

“Do you still plan on doing this?’ Lillan questioned turning to him, as the festivities drifted by them. Her tone was serious, worrying; there was great danger in what they had to do.

“I have to.” He laughed, unable to hide the worry and fear in his voice “After all, worst case scenario: I die.”

The violent passions and revelries were left behind leaving the duo marching alone through the orchard separating the field where the festival was held from the others beyond. Sol hoped the orchard of olive trees would disguise them at least for a while, so the experiment could begin. A howling wind lashed the unprotected moors and the gentle light that once graced the hills was relented to the harsh glow of the moon and the twisting cold that ensnared them.

“I really ought to buy a shirt.” Sol grumbled attempting to lighten the mood.

“Why don’t you then.” Lillan retorted cold as their surroundings,

“I already owe the old man twenty coppers in debt.” Sol explained

“Fair enough, so why are we going to an empty field?” Lillan questioned her arms crossed trying to protect her from the chill. Sol slammed down the torch in his hand at the edge of the field.

“Because if something goes wrong I could end up exploding everything around me this way the village is probably safe.”

“You realise how stupid this is, shouldn’t you run less dangerous tests first?” She questioned pointing out once again how dumb his idea was.

“How am I supposed to do that? Besides I’ve already gained the wisdom stat and can produce mahus inside my body I just need a way to get it outside. I believe that the cores are what is needed to allow for mahus to exit the body and since the cores themselves are made of Mahus, or at least I think so, I just need to create one in my own body.” Sol declared his idea. “I’ve studied the structure of the one I found and thought of a way to make it more compact.” He sighed looking up at the heavens unsure if he would survive the attempt, wondering if he’d revive even so, trapped in this strange world as long as he lived.

“Nothing ventured nothing gained.” He nodded to himself preparing for the next step of his plan.

Sitting down the wind turned the grass about him into lashing blades that struck at his skin while the silvery moon cast the entire scene in an eerie glow.

Sol took a deep breath and prepared to begin. He started by trying to force the Mahus into his fingertips. The result was the usual, a painful pulsing sensation that continued to grow. Pulling back the energy he focused it into the centre of his body localising it. He attempted to contain the energy within himself but it was like trying to hold smoke within his hands; it kept flowing through and out his grasp. The sense of pain began to grow in his core like his heart was bulging. He began to panic, he needed to master magic or he’d never be able to do anything he wanted, he’d be stuck as nothing more the bitter merchant with a broken dream.

He wanted to see all the wonders of the world, to exist in a place where anything was possible, mastering magic would be the first step on his path where he would walk with kings and battle dragons, where adventure waited his call. In his desperation at being Unable to contain the energy within himself he did something drastic, he caused it to spin, he made it spin faster and faster like a whirl pool dragging more and more energy in, more and more Mahus gathering in the centre of his body. It ached, it was a strange sensation, not quite pain but certainly uncomfortable like he was being crushed under an endless ocean, drowning in a sea of his own power.

Soriel

She wasn’t entirely sure what had brought her to the human continent perhaps it had just been a desire to see something new. Humans and all of their subspecies had always been a feared creature for the fae, for their physical prowess and their cruelty. She had heard many stories of humans and their barbaric nature. But on reaching the human continent she’d found that many humans were kind and friendly, they were not as strong as the dwarves or as fast as the elves, they lacked the skills of charisma of the fae and the dexterity and intelligence of the goblinoids. Humans specialised in nothing, which was why they were capable of everything. This utility of there’s made them a force to be reckoned with, well at least for the fae who held no outstanding military power.

She was on her brake, having performed the first song of the evening and a plethora there after she was tired, and had been travelling for many years across the human land, maybe it was time to go home?

After a long while of travelling she had seemed to settle into this way of life, but she was a restless spirit, a wandering soul that could not be bound to the earth. Olympus was a near infinite realm but she had seen all that mortal eyes had seen. Still it seemed like the blessed ones, who had just appeared, were an interesting enough people; perhaps they would bring her entertainment to pull her from the doldrums of everyday life. She would at least stick around long enough to see the autumn festival. The tournament seemed promising.

She was wondering through the woods the air chilled and refreshing bringing her awake, but she could feel something not far off, something disquieting, something powerful and something dangerous. She may have professed herself as an adventurer but here she was faced with something completely unknown, she was facing a strange eldritch power that should never have existed. And in its wake her terror forced her to run.

Sol

He was sitting there completely unaware of the world around him, he did not have the focus to waste on it. Lillian stood at the edge of the field confused, it didn’t seem like anything had happened but her instincts were telling her something had gone dreadfully wrong.

The inward battle was not nearly as graceful as it might have seemed outside. He was fighting a torrent, he had reached a wall: before he could condense his mahus the spiral he had formed seemed to take over. A whirlpool that dragged everything in and prevented Sol from using it as he would have liked, he knew if he let it go the mahus would expand and likely kill him so he had to use all the willpower he possessed to prevent that from happening. But how was he wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long and the power within him continued to grow exponentially.

It was in his search for the cause of his rapidly increasing mana pool that he discovered it thin trails of mahus floating into his body. No it was not mahus it was something different, thin and frail. He followed it out of his body to its source. Its source was the world. He could see it a hazy shade superimposing on the real world a veil that covered everything living or not and filling the air. He was dragging that power into himself. But it was unnaturally fast soon he’d explode from the rapid increase. Seeing this he knew he had to stop the flow of the spiral at his centre. He began to pull more and more mana from his surroundings using it to his own ends. He began to create another two spirals one at his neck the other at his naval causing them to spin. The inflow of mana grew. Two mana spirals and one Mahus. As the two smaller spirals span he turned them in the opposite direction to the Mahus cyclone growing inside of him growing from a disk into an orb. Then with a final push of his will he collided them. The influx of mana stopped as an outpouring of Mahus and mana flew from his body like an explosion creating a violent wind that pulsed roughly a metre from his body before blowing back and even greater flood of Mahus gathering inside. No something greater than that: Mahol. It struck him like a wave passing in and out burning him alive as he felt something form in his chest. He couldn’t see it and unlike with his mahus and his mana he could not sense it. It was like a hole was growing inside of him.

He opened his eyes to see Lillan staring at him halfway between curiosity and boredom. Sol collapsed face forward into the earth.

Alpha

He woke from his slumber, “run basic check on all systems.” Alpha instructed watching the tiny marble of a world spin below amid the infinite void of darkness that surrounded it. He smiled gently at his creation as the report was returned. An anomaly in sector AAVG-One-Four Probably just a minor error he hummed to himself looking over the data, it seemed their wasn’t a clear read. Grumbling he turned is eyes focusing on the selected area, what he saw was enough to confuse him.

A rampant magical power, mahus… no Mahol, it floated around the unconscious form of a boy as if waiting for him.

Almost like it could detect the AIs gaze upon it the power fled away, born on swift wings to vanish from Alpha’s radar. He wondered for a moment what that power was, and why it fled. But he decided it paled in significance to the unconscious boy lying in the grass. A boy who lacked any Mahus within his body, all living creatures contained Mahus, mana or something similar, the only exception being creatures like slimes and golems who were powered by it and consumed mana from the surrounding world. Instead of Mahus the boy possessed a strange sort of core at the centre of his being, a crystal that seemed filled with all the colours of the world. A Monster core, or a variation seeing as it had a such strange shape, it had a round centre as large as a persons fist and was coloured a matte-black, and from it sprung two spire like structures formed in a helix pattern they seemed glassy and fragile creating a kaleidoscope of colours like those of a rainbow flowing through them, the entire structure pulsing like a heart. It seemed fitting really as the core had taken the place of the boys heart. A monster core was usually located in the area where the Adams apple should have been, Alpha was unsure what affect having it replace the heart would have on the boy. He doubted it would be good it seemed the boy was crippled trying to discovery magic

Alpha looked down in pity. He knew the boy… he remembered.

A desperate plea to live. How he clung to life so strongly and how it was still yanked away from him. Once more he lay on the verge of death, what power he could have held sealed away forever. That core at his centre absorbed all mahus, he remembered steering the boy in the direction of that power and now regretted it. He would never be the mage he so sought to be. Still Alpha admired him for the discovery of such a power within himself. He did not know how things would play out He was walking in unfamiliar territory.

Still the boys wish to live had been answered only to end up in such a sorry state. Alpha considered giving the boy another chance, fixing his body so he could try again. But in the end he decided not to, this mistake was the boys own, he would have to live with it and the consequences it entailed, his success or failure lay in his own hands. Alpha could not interfere.

Though it seemed like he would have to try and find the rogue power source, if he could. And if he couldn’t he’d need to think of an excuse.