Gosha shook his head. He was sitting on a small rock around the Tower of Earth, speaking with the stranger who had appeared and called himself Tsu.

“They aren’t dead, I was told they had other places to be.”

Tsu raised an eyebrow.

“And you believed that? Seriously?”

“I was knocked out just after the three of them arrived. They shot at me and the Princess and then something strange happened.”

“Woah…” Tsu motioned for Gosha to halt in an exaggerated way, “just hold on a minute. Princess? There was a Princess here?”

“Um, yeah, called herself Hi Megimi. I had no idea who she was, but at the end she said she was the daughter of the King of Crescent. That makes her a Princess doesn’t it?”

“Yes, yes it does. And what was a Princess doing in the woods?”

“She was on the ship that crashed down when the Clock Line vanished.”

“Oh, she was? And she survived?”

“She was the only survivor from what I could tell. Quite amazing if you ask me…”

“Ok, we have that sorted. But how did you end up at the Tower?”

“Some bandits showed up at the crash site and we ran.”

“Makes sense. A lot has happened to you today hasn’t it.”

“You don’t know the half of it yet,” Gosha looked a little depressed after that, “some strange things have been going on.”

“Right… So the ship crashed, you found the Princess, bandits showed up, you fled, and arrived here. How am I doing? Am I keeping up so far?”

“Yeah, we are getting there. The bandits chased us here, then they fled, then the Gemteks showed up. There were three of them. They seemed to be looking for something. They were talking about a reading vanishing but that it should have been here. I don’t know what they were on about. And then suddenly they shot at me, after saying something about a spoon. I think they had a screw or two loose.”

“Yes, you need to if you want to work there. Sane people don’t join the ranks of the Gemteks. They shot at you and then?”

“Well, the wind started to pick up speed, then stuff was getting thrown around, then a blacked out. When I awoke the Gemteks were gone, and my head was resting in a boys lap. He must have been about the same age as me. I don’t know where he came from, he wasn’t there when I got knocked out. He must have been walking by. And then after that I took the Princess to the edge of the forest and returned here. That’s pretty much how it went.”

Tsu nodded slowly, keeping a close eye on Gosha.

“Your story feels like it was cut into pieces, had bits removed, and then was strung back together.”

“Why does everyone I meet today think I am making things up?” Gosha said, remembering Megimi’s reactions when he first met her.

“I didn’t say you were lying boy, just omitting certain truths. There are a few facts that I know that you might not. For instance, there were a total of eight Gemteks that arrived in this area, and all eight of them met their ends here.”

Gosha’s eyes widened in a mix of surprise and fear.

“But that’s not all. I am a Gem Hunter, and one of the tools trade is a Gem Reader. I know that some extremely powerful Gem bursts were registered on my reader, but they did not stay for long. Lucky for you, I actually know what these are. And since you mentioned a boy here, I can take a guess at who was here and what actually happened.”

“The boy told me to come back here. But you were here instead of him.”

“He knew I was coming. He wanted you to come back so I would find you. He wouldn’t normally do something like this, we don’t usually see eye to eye. Something about you interested him…”

Gosha turned his eyes away and Tsu could see him start to fidget.

“I think I know what it might be,” Gosha said in a quiet voice, “he probably wants you to kill me for being a mage. Remember when I said the bandits fled. Well, that’s only part of it. The reason the bandits turned tail and ran is because I conjured some armour around myself and they thought I was a mage and ran.”

Tsu was visibly taken aback.

“Here I was going to say that you made a strange Gem weapon appear, but, wham, you sock me in the face with this magic stuff,” Tsu stood, walked in a circle and sat back down, “now, explain it to me properly, people don’t generally start using specific magic like that without training. Usually it starts out as bursts of non-specific energy, random stuff happening. What happened to you was very specific.”

“Well, there was the weapon too…”

“WHAT? This day just keeps getting strange and stranger. I feel every time I ask a question you say something that make another five questions pop into existence. Let us start with the armour, run me through what was happening step by step.”

Gosha took a deep breathe before he started. He knew everything was strange, and here he was just talking about it all nonchalantly with some stranger he had just met. But at least Tsu was listening, and he had not made any threatening moves yet. Maybe he wouldn’t try and try Gosha to a stake.

“The bandits were chasing after me. I was fighting with the leader with the sword. I was getting cut everywhere, then I fell. I could barely move. The bandit was thrusting his sword towards me, and then suddenly I was covered in armour. The bandits ran and the armour vanished.”

“So, the armour appeared at just the right time to protect you, hmmm. Can you elaborate a little more on how the armour came to be and what happened when it vanished?”

“Yeah. Um, how to explain it… It was like I was getting dunked in water head first, but then it solidified and was armour. Then when it vanished it liquefied again and seemed to pull around into my back. And that reminds me,” he turned to face his back towards Tsu, “the Princess said some weird markings appeared on my back. Can you see them?”

Tsu reached a hand forward, stopping just short of Gosha’s back. He could clearly see the marking on his back. He felt a tear welling in his eye, and quickly wiped it away.

“Yeah boy, I can see them. And I have seen the same before. It’s not magic. Well, not exactly.”

Gosha turned back around to listen. Something seemed strange now in Tsu’s voice. It had lost its gruff edge and was softer now.

“It is part of you, and extension of yourself. Obviously, at this stage, you can’t control it. But it appeared to save you, like a reflex. Like when you put your hands in front of you when he fall down. It is something you need to train, but there is no one that can teach you. You are a Gen’Ral. A race of people created in the Shadow War, that could sprout armour from their backs.

“There are none about now, the lineage has been watered down too much. There are rumours of them popping up here and there. There are also rumours about their powers. Supposedly they can pick up any weapon and know how to use it after only spending a short time with it, and can master it in a matter of months, as opposed to the years it takes normal people. They are stronger, faster, and have more endurance than regular people. And their armour cannot be pierced except by magic or Gem weapons with extremely high power outputs. Maybe you’ll see some changes soon, as your bloodline kicks in. The marks on your back are weak, but they will probably grow stronger as you age and learn how to control it.

“But, you must never show anyone. You need to keep it a secret. Otherwise people will try and kill you because of it. First you should learn to control it and stop it from appearing as a reflex. I do know a place where you can train for that kind of thing.”

“So,” Gosha started, stopped, and then started again, “You think I am one of these general things?”

“Gen… Ral. Gen’Ral.”

“Ok, Gen’Ral things.”

“Yes, most definitely. It is a lot to take in though. Now, on to the next matter. You were saying something about a strange weapon.”

“Oh yes,” Gosha shook his head to clear it quickly, “The Princess had this necklace. The bandits said it didn’t register on the reader they had. She dropped it, so I went back to get it. But when I grabbed it suddenly this sword appeared in my hand.”

“So you are saying that you made a Gem sword appear without the use of a Hilt?”

“Hey, that’s what the Princess was saying. She said normally there was a hilt which you inserted the Gem into to form the weapon. But this one just formed with the Gem itself.”

“And where is the Gem now.”

“I gave it back to the Princess.”

Tsu hit the rock with his fist.

“Um, should I have not done that? It was hers.”

“When she held it, nothing happened right?” Tsu watched as Gosha nodded, “So it reacted to you and you alone. Then you are one of the chosen, and you need training!”

“The chosen? Training?” Gosha was confused now.

Everything today had accumulated into a mess in his head and it was spinning now. The head wound he took earlier wasn’t helping anything either. And his cuts were stinging. What a day he was having. It appeared to be ending now as darkness closed around his eyes.

Tsu swore quietly as Gosha collapsed. But there was nothing he could do about it, the boy had been through a lot and things were definitely going to get worse.

He moved over, grabbed Gosha, and flung him over his horse’s rear end, just behind the saddle. Gosha didn’t even stir. Scratching his head Tsu thought for a moment, then grabbed a section of rope from his packs and tied Gosha down. Wouldn’t pay to have him fall off on the way.

Tsu then quickly swung himself into his saddle and started his horse walking. He would need to go to Crossing first, a bustling merchant town on the edge of the lake.