Dnoeth craned his head back and strained with tense fingers to maintain his tenuous grip. “Nothing,” he muttered in annoyance at the sheer wall of stone. The base had plenty of small holds and cracks, and he’d managed to free climb to thirty feet or so without issue. Now, more than three stories up, he was stuck.

With this body, his fingers and forearms could find firm grip in cracks he would have previously considered impossible. Unfortunately, that ability was irrelevant when the cliff around and above him was as slick as a Teflon pan.

Dnoeth had considered backtracking and looking for a better route, but he didn’t like his odds. The grips he’d been able to find going up were much harder to see looking down.

Focusing on the rock above his right hand and activating his Oread racial vision, he looked into the living energy within it. Instantly, his skill brought forth a view of the dense soup of energy within the cliffside.

He’d done this before, so the sight wasn’t so surprising this time, although it was still stunningly beautiful. Previously he’d just observed the million motes of lights–this time, he mentally asked the stone for a handhold.

The subtle magic of Kuora ignored him. Undeterred, he tried again with more confidence and a deep desire to connect with the stone. This was how he’d managed the best results during character creation, so it seemed correct.

He was stunned by the thin glittering tendril that extended from his hand. His shock at the sight broke his concentration, and the line snapped back, but not before Dnoeth felt his energy press against an invisible barrier.

Despite the brief instant of interaction, he grasped the problem. Relative to the energy within the stone, he was locked in a soundproof room. Something was separating him from its power, blocking his request to form a handhold. Nothing Dnoeth communicated could pass through the barrier.

“Ahh, this isn’t–” His attempt to explain died as looking down, Dnoeth discovered Roxanna coming up on his right. He watched and gaped as she pressed her nails right into the rock, lifted herself, and did it again with her other hand.

“Here.” She said, extending her arm and pressing a slot into the stone for his foot. Then, lifting herself higher, creating another as a handhold for him to shift sideways onto the alternating handhold ladder she was making.

When she created the second one, Dnoeth saw it happen. The liquid lights flowed from her fingers, mixed with those in the stone, and then settled into a pattern for the slotted groove she wanted to create. Instantly the energy motes vacated the area, moving the rock with it. “There you go, just follow me up,” Roxy said.

“Wait. How are you doing that?” Dnoeth asked, feeling a bit put out by the ease with which she was succeeding where he had failed.

“Not sure,” Roxanna said as she continued climbing. “I can just feel the rock, and it moves for me.”

“It just moves for you?” Dnoeth replied with a note of incredulity. “That’s it? Do you see the lights? Are you talking to them?”

“Umm.” She pondered while setting more grips and ascending. “Lights? No, there are no lights. As far as talking…” She paused, then said, “Sort of. It’s a bit like the stone respects me or respects my energy. So, when I want it to make a grip, it does.”

Dnoeth was frustrated with that answer; he had been doing basically the same thing. “Do you have some kind of affinity or talent that lets you do this?” He asked, trying to keep his disappointment from showing. He didn’t succeed.

“Feeling jealous?” Roxanna replied, and he could hear her smile, but gratefully she didn’t rub it in. “To answer your question, yes, it’s an ability called Foundational Influence that’s associated with my Carbonado Equilibrium.”

“Carbon-what?”

“Carbonado. It’s a really tough diamond that’s pretty rare and much better than normal diamond at cutting things.” She looked down, beneath a lifted arm, at him and said, “They’re usually black, and I always wanted one.” She smiled a genuine, happy smile. “Now I am one.” Roxanna’s radiant joy was enough for Dnoeth to drop his envious feelings, at least mostly.

So they continued, not talking the rest of the way, and ten minutes later, Ramal, having flown up to the road, grasped Roxy by the wrist and pulled her the last few feet. A moment later, he also helped Dnoeth then turned back to Roxy. “That’s a useful trick, manipulating the stone like that. I don’t suppose you could use it to make us some weapons?”

Roxy’s eyes widened as she cocked her head toward him. “Now there’s an idea.” She considered for just a moment, then moved toward the vertical stone on the far side of the road. “Let’s find out.”

Dnoeth immediately moved in close to watch, but she just stood them, arms at her sides, looking at the rock. After a moment, concerned that he might be missing something, he asked, “Can you do it like that?” Having asked, he could feel the lick of envy begin to creep in again.

The question seemed to interrupt Roxanna’s concentration, and she responded with confusion. “What?”

“Can you shape the stone like that?” Dnoeth indicated her passive stance.

Roxy glanced down at herself and realized what he was asking. “Oh. No.” She gave him a crooked smile. “I’m just thinking about what I’m trying to do. I think this will work better if I have a clear mental image before I start.” Then she leaned slightly away from Dnoeth with an appraising squint. “You seem awfully up in my business about this ability. What’s going on?”

Dnoeth felt outed, but he knew it was true. He sighed, turned his back to the cliff, and leaning into it, letting his head fall back. “Yeah, sorry. I have this… weird thing.”

She turned to face him, for the moment forgetting about her effort to create a weapon. Ramal came over and looked on. Dnoeth rolled his head to look at Ramal. “Did you get an Equilibrium bonus too?”

“I did,” Ramal replied. “Cold Iron. Seems a bit strange for an avatar with wings, but it suits me well.” He nodded his chin at Dnoeth. “We’re not talking about that though, what’s going on? Just down there, you had enough energy for all three of us.”

The comment startled Dnoeth; Ramal was right–his mood had dropped into the pits. He exhaled a heavy breath. “You’re right, Ramal. We’ve been here for two minutes, and I’m already stressed.” Despite his exasperation, he silently felt grateful to be talking about it. “So, I got one too. But it’s sort of… stuck in limbo.”

When he didn’t expound further, Roxy asked, “What does that mean?”

“It’s locked,” Dnoeth said after another moment. “Or inactive, or… I don’t know. Ink seemed to think it was exciting, but I just think it sucks. The system is basically holding onto it until I’m ready. It’s total BS.” They looked back at him with confused expressions. He grunted in frustration, and suddenly Dnoeth didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He just wanted to be useful.

“Ok,” Ramal said. “So, what do you have?”

The strait question was really great, actually. At that moment, Dnoeth realized he was deflecting and being vague because he was feeling insecure; he didn’t feel good enough to be part of the team.

The recognition angered him. That’s just bullshit, he thought. I kick ass at these games. Fortunately, it wasn’t the first time Dnoeth had to deal with self-doubt. After his Dad’s death, his seemingly endless hours of therapy had been rife with confronting feelings of inadequacy. So, he knew the best thing to do was talk it out.

“I suppose the way I’m feeling is probably part of it. I whizzed through character creation, and I know I unlocked one of the equilibrium things, but–” Dnoeth stopped; he wasn’t exactly sure how to explain. Instead of trying, he said, “I’ll just read it to you.” And he focused on reviewing his avatar datasheet.

When it appeared, Dnoeth read them the Equilibrium disclaimer, then dropped down and read the Champion without a Cause condition. He emphasized the final line, “Choose a path, commit, and own your power to resolve this condition and evolve.” After finishing, he felt a fresh mix of excitement, confusion, and frustration. He had no idea how to actually do any of that.

Ramal was nodding and rubbing his chin. “That’s really interesting, actually.” The big man said, looking away in thought, then shifting his focus back to Dnoeth; he continued, “Not many eighteen-year-olds have any idea what they want to do, so it makes sense. Hell, most thirty-year old’s are still figuring it out, so I’d say you’re probably ahead of the power curve.” The comparison didn’t help Dnoeth’s mood one iota.

“Is there anything else?” Roxanna asked. “Are there any skills or abilities linked to your condition?”

He nodded, “Yeah, there’s one. It’s actually why I’m so messed up about you moving stone around like playdough. Mine is called Bonded Elementalist.”

“Well, that sounds powerful,” Ramal commented.

“No kidding,” Dnoeth said, voice thick with frustration. Then he read the Bonded Elementalist description aloud. When he was done, Roxanna wore an understanding look and a half-smile.

“I understand now.” She said. “You’re looking for anything that will help you unlock that ability.”

“Yep.” He said, nodding slowly. “Only now, after reading it aloud to you guys, I think I understand better. Watching you isn’t going to help me at all.” He gestured at the rock. “I can see all the little motes of essential energy in the rock, I can even feel how to communicate with them, but it’s like they’re behind a glass wall or something.” Dnoeth noticed the eyes of both of his companions go wide at his remark. “What?”

“You can see lights in the rock?” Ramal questioned.

“Yeah, you mentioned that on the climb,” Roxy said. “What are these lights?”

Dnoeth ran a hand through his long straight hair, noting that it was really different than his close-cropped, real-world cut. Their questions and attention were doing a lot to help assuage his feeling of uselessness. “Yeah. So, this place.” He gestured to the cliff and road, then out over the river and rolling hills that faded to mountains in the distance. “All of this is full of essential energy. At least I’m pretty sure that’s how it works. My primary race, the Oread, has a special bond with this essential energy, particularly the earth part. The Dwarves and High Elves do too, I think, but I’m not as sure about that.”

He stepped up the cliff again, put out his arm, palm flat on the stone, and activated Essential Sight. A circle about a foot across bloomed with points of light so dense it almost looked like a solid mist. He hadn’t considered it before, but by focusing, he could tell them apart. “It’s the Oread part that allows me to see the individual lights of this energy. It only works up close, like this, at arms-length. This is my max range right now, and the area I can see is about a foot across.”

He took a step closer to the cliff, so his face was about a foot away, and reached out with both arms, fingertips just touching the stone. “Now the circle is this big.” He smiled, looked back over his shoulder, and said, “We’ll have to keep an eye out for arm-stretching potions, could extend my range.” Ramal coughed a half-laugh, and Roxy chuckled.

“The density of the lights makes it look like a solid illuminated wall at first glance, but by focusing, I can pick out individual points.” He paused and cocked his head. “Huh. These lights are different somehow. I...” He squinted, trying to grasp how it differed from the lower cliff.

After a moment of waiting for Dnoeth to finish his explanation, Roxy prodded him. “So, are they good different or bad different?”

“Ahh...” He sounded hesitant. “Neither. They’re just, more well organized.” After a couple added moments of consideration, he dropped his arms and stepped back, deactivating the skill. “It’s called Essential Sight, and I think the more useful part will be its extended range when a mage casts a spell.”

He looked at Roxanna. “When we were climbing, I could see you making the handholds from at least fifteen feet away. Although the description doesn’t have an explicit range.”

“Yeah, that will be useful,” Ramal said. “Pure casters usually aren’t that hard to pick out, but mixed classes can be a real bitch. Melee fighters that get in close and suddenly hit you with a stun or a shock. Maybe you’ll be able to call them out before they can. Be even better if you had a targeted interrupt. Spot the mages and shut down their spells.”

Dnoeth nodded. “That would be pretty cool. Not sure how I’d get an interrupt, but I’ll remember it.” Then he took a deep breath, releasing it with the intention of getting back to the original point.

“Anyhow, if I understand more, I’ll make sure I fill you guys in. Besides that, it was helpful to talk about this. I think I’ve got a grip on what I need to do.”

“You mean relative to your condition?” Roxanna asked.

“Un-huh.” He nodded. “I understand the fundamental source of magic here, better than you guys do at least. So, I don’t need to worry so much about the mechanics; I think they’ll come. My condition won’t be resolved by understanding the how-to. I’m pretty sure it’ll unlock when I figure out why I want it to work.” He shrugged, still slightly dejected but glad for the added clarity, then looked at Roxanna. “I can’t do that by watching you.”

“Ha!” Ramal barked. “Well reasoned Dnoeth. C’mon.” He motioned for Dnoeth as he turned to move away from Roxy. “Let’s let her work. You’re gonna be fine. The fact that you get that much is plenty enough for now.”

Dnoeth smiled and nodded as he moved away with Ramal, leaving Roxanna to focus on crafting weapons from the stone.