They left early the following morning, just before sunrise; the wagon meandering its way down the hill and through the dark and very quiet streets of the settlement that Fynn knew so well. He was sat huddled on the driver’s seat, wrapped in an oversized coat to ward off the chill. The soothsayer walked silently alongside, reigns in hand guiding the horse. There were no other signs of movement at this time and it made for an eerie atmosphere. He imagined this was what a ghost town looked like.

The previous day, following his meeting with his parents, he had returned to the soothsayer’s camp exhausted and conflicted and spent much of the remaining day resting and mulling over everything that had happened. His mood had fluctuated between one of exhilaration over his interaction with his father, to a contrasting one of despair and anger over his mother’s words. Even the dependable Anya, who had walked back with him, soon got tired of his unpredictable mood and left, but not before she cheekily asked him to bring her back loads of presents from Norfelk. The soothsayer, upon his return to the camp, had also done what he could to put Fynn’s mind at ease but eventually thought it best to let him process everything on his own.

However, this morning, as they got to the junction and landmark that gave Tenbi waypoint its name, Fynn couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of excitement. The wooden signpost, pointing out the roads to four different destinations, stood stoically like it always had and Fynn watched it go by as the soothsayer followed the direction of the sign he knew read “Norfelk- Low pass”. For the very first time, he was stepping out of the place he had grown up and known all his life and was heading into the unknown. It felt liberating, everything that happened yesterday seemed very distant at this moment and he wondered if this was why the soothsayer loved to travel. This feeling of adventure was surely very addictive.

They travelled in silence for a couple of hours, the sun had since risen and Fynn was now warm enough that he didn’t need the soothsayer’s heavy coat. He had enjoyed it thus far. Though it was nothing spectacular, he had been appreciating the scenery that passed by, which consisted mainly of open grasslands with a few bushes, shrubs and smaller trees. The soil in these parts was notoriously poor and couldn’t sustain even small forest, let alone the vast forests seen in the lowlands and other parts of the Arean Kingdom. The plateau had a gentle slope upwards as they headed east and the soothsayer had informed Fynn that, asides from the fact he enjoyed it, he preferred to walk so as not to overly tax the single horse that pulled the wagon.

‘Fynn, why don’t you hop down and join me, stretch your legs?’

Fynn did as Sentor suggested, jumping down to walk beside him. He quickly realised that what had looked, deceptively, like a gentle easy walking pace from his prior perch was, for his much smaller legs, anything but and found himself having to, practically, skip forward every few steps to keep up with the soothsayer.

Sentor grinned upon noticing Fynns predicament. ‘It’ll do you good lad. We’ll travel for a little longer then stop for a break. How does that sound?’

Fynn nodded, determined to show no weakness.

When they did stop, around an hour or so later, Fynn collapsed exhausted beneath a small tree they had chosen as the location for their break. Sentor, on the other hand, looked none the worse for wear and cheerfully started a small fire with which to brew some tea.

‘God it feels good to be back on the road. Not being rude, but Tenbi waypoint’s charms do start to wear thin after a while.’

‘Han, how long will it take us to get to Norfelk?’ Fynn asked pointedly ignoring the soothsayer’s previous comment.

‘Usually, at our current pace, it would take around three days. However, there are a couple of villages on the way that I will have to stop by and depending on their needs we may take a little longer. So I would say, taking that into account, no more than five days to Norfelk.’

Fynn groaned. The adventure was already wearing thin.

The rest of the day, he alternated between riding on the wagon and walking, or more accurately, jogging, beside the soothsayer. And on the few occasions that the road sloped downhill, the soothsayer would join Fynn on the driver’s seat and let the horse trot easily down.

That evening, the soothsayer found what he said was a suitable location for their camp, set out of sight from the main road and hidden by a few shrubs and trees. Another hour’s travel would have seen them arrive at the first of the two villages Sentor had mentioned, however, he informed Fynn that it was his preference to arrive in the morning, otherwise, he said, it would be a very late night indeed for them.

After they had seen to the horse’s needs, Fynn began to pitch his new one-person tent that Sentor had obtained him for the journey. As he did, he looked around nervously. He felt horribly exposed out here in the middle of nowhere and the encroaching dusk made it feel like something out there was just waiting for an opportunity to ambush them. The other travellers and merchants they had come across had, very sensibly in his opinion, chosen to spend the night in the nearby village.

‘Umm Han, do you always camp in places like this alone?’

‘Places like this? What do you mean?’

‘Well, it does seem pretty dangerous. Aren’t you afraid of….um I don’t know bandits or something.’

‘Dangerous?’ Sentor laughed. ‘I’d feel safer camping out here than sleeping in that shack you call home. At least I don’t have to worry about the roof caving in on me at any time.’

He begrudgingly agreed that the soothsayer had a point, though he felt it was a bit mean of him to say that considering his parents were still living there.

‘Besides,’ Sentor continued. ‘Didn’t I tell you, I am a wielder, so what are you worried about?’

Fynn, skeptically eyed Sentor from the corner of his eye. Though he knew that it was probably true, he nonetheless found it hard to believe that this kind-hearted old man was one of the legendary warriors and champions whose deeds he had grown up hearing about.

‘I am. Really, I am,’ laughed Sentor clearly enjoying teasing Fynn. ‘Okay, let me put your mind at ease then. I’ll ask you a simple question. Who do you think Bandits are? I mean, where do you think they come from?’

Fynn thought for a moment. ‘Er, I don’t know. From out there somewhere I guess?’ He waved vaguely out towards the rapidly darkening surroundings.

‘So you think that they sort of materialize out of nowhere in remote locations and somehow manage to stumble across unsuspecting travellers to waylay?’

‘No,’ retorted Fynn indignantly. ‘But maybe they have a camp nearby or something and have lookouts to let them know where we are?’

Sentor had finished setting up his own tent up and was now helping Fynn with his.

‘Fynn, only the most organized bandits have something like that and it would have to be an extremely lawless place for them to get away with it. Lord Tabor of Norfelk may be many things, but incompetent he is not. He does know how to keep his own lands in order. Listen, the only type of bandits you will get around these parts, and indeed in the lands of most competent lords, are what you might call opportunists. They are typically regular folk like you or me.’

Fynn snorted at that.

‘Okay fine, not like me,’ the soothsayer corrected with a laugh. ‘But like you and your neighbors in Tenbi-waypoint and the people in surrounding villages. They probably have regular jobs, wives, husbands, kids, you get the point. But perhaps one month is a little harder than most and food and money is in short supply. One evening while they are having drinks with their friends, they overhear some information about a particular caravan that’s not too heavily guarded; it’s loaded with goods destined for Barydd. They know the route, the time it will travel, the number of guards and one of them thinks, well why don’t we lighten its load along the way? Do you get my point?’

‘I think so Han.’

Finished with the tents, they began to light a fire for their evening meal.

‘My point Fynn, is that there is no reason for these people to rob an old soothsayer who only has their best interests at heart. I treat their family members for almost nothing, give them free advice and tell their children stories. Do you think they would repay me by doing that? Besides, what would they get for their troubles?’

Fynn nodded. He had to admit it made sense and it did put his mind at ease, though it was an uncomfortable thought to realize that any old person he knew in Tenbi waypoint could have been an opportunist bandit.

As they sat around the fire eating their dinner, Fynn felt a lot better. He had done a lot of walking today and had felt his rapidly healing injuries twinge and complain a little, but sitting around a fire with a good meal gave him life. He realized that he should start learning more about becoming a wielder and to that end figured he may as well take full advantage of the soothsayer's expertise on the topic. He had told him of his visit to his parents yesterday and of what occurred but had not been in a fit state to discuss it further.

‘Han, what do you think my father was trying to teach me?’ He asked as he slurped down the chicken stew.

‘Don’t talk with your mouth full,’ the soothsayer reprimanded. ‘I had wondered when you would ask about that. Listen carefully Fynn, what your father taught you is very important and something only he could have done, or more precisely, something only he or another direct family member with the talent could have done. Of course, being that he is the only one that we know of, who is also most likely a wielder, then it makes it all the more important that you retain what he taught you. Particularly as it is extremely unlikely that he could manage to repeat the lesson in his current condition. I sincerely hope you paid very close attention.’

‘I did Han, I promise. But what do you mean by only he could have taught me that? You are a wielder too, so surely you could have taught me the same thing?’

‘True I’m a wielder and again true I could also teach you. But what I couldn’t do is actually show you in the manner he did, if I tried it would probably kill you or worse me,’ he winked in jest. ‘And more to the point, no methods or techniques that I could teach you would have the same level of effectiveness as what he showed you. I might have touched on it a little in my lessons in Tenbi waypoint but I’ll expand on it for you. You already know that you are more likely to have the talent if your parents also have the talent right?’

Fynn nodded.

‘Good, so you could, essentially, say that they gave you the talent. If a tall man and woman have a child, that child will probably also be tall and have traits of both. Have a nose like their mother, eyes of their father, ears of their grandfather and so on. Similarly, your talent, the energy itself and the channels in your body will bear the same patterns and traits as your parents and direct ancestors.’

Fynn absorbed everything he was being told and the various implications began to spring up in his mind.

‘Therefore,’ the soothsayer continued. ‘And here is the important thing, it follows, that the methods and techniques of controlling the energy chi, continually perfected and improved through generations, can also be passed down, and crucially they only work perfectly for direct descendants.’

‘Perfectly?’

‘Well picked out, yes I said “perfectly” because bloodlines do of course mix and it is likely that there are distant relatives that would also have the capability to utilise the same techniques though certainly not to the same effectiveness and potency. There are probably even many non-relatives that could use the same techniques, but again with even less effectiveness and not without significant risk of self-harm. That is why noble families guard their training methods and techniques jealously. Should a rival family happen to obtain them, while they may not be able to use them to their maximum potential, they would probably still be able to gain valuable insights that could give them an edge.’

‘So you are saying, my father was teaching me techniques that are unique to our family and the energy channels in my body?’

‘Correct. And as mentioned before, because you basically have the same hereditary talent, only he was able to teach you in that practical manner. If it weren’t for that, you would have had to endure years of frustration, learning purely through description and theory only. You would have had to figure out how the energy should flow through the channels, the tempo, patterns and everything you experienced, all by yourself, which while not impossible is extremely difficult. Truthfully you would be in a very handicapped position, as most people with the talent who aren’t born in a noble family are.’

He had known that what his father was teaching him was important, but of course, had not realized the full extent of it, and now that he knew better he had the sudden urge to ensure he did not let it go to waste.

‘Han, should I start practicing?’

‘Every chance you get. In the beginning, it is best if you find somewhere quiet where you can meditate. Close your eyes, breathe in the same manner he did and try imitate what he did. It will be frustrating at first, the energy will seem to have a mind of its own and it will hurt like hell, it is also extremely draining and you will be exhausted but your hard work will eventually begin to pay off. Your body is already stronger and more durable than it was, and that’s before you have even begun trying to circulate chi yourself, so just imagine what it will be like when you can, even just a little. What I would caution though, is don’t go thinking that you will quickly get anywhere near close to your father’s level, that will take many, many years and if you are lucky, by the time you are his age you will have succeeded. As your chi well grows and the quantity and potency of it increases, your body and channels will have to continue to adapt too.’

‘And once I have done that I will be a wielder, right Han?’ Fynn asked eagerly.

The soothsayer laughed as he took a sip of tea they had brewed to wash down their dinner. ‘Oh Fynn my boy, you have no idea do you? This is just a small part of it, granted a very important part, but still a small part nonetheless. The term wielder is not only derived from our ability to wield chi.’

‘Soul weapons too?’ Fynn whispered reverently.

The soothsayer choked. ‘Woah, hold your horses' young man, you are talking about running, no flying even before you can crawl. You first have to learn the basics of combat and regular weapons before mastering them and your chi before you begin to even remotely start thinking about wielding soul weapons.’

The soothsayer got up and began to pace back and forth, deep in thought.

‘Okay, I think I haven’t explained things to you very well, perhaps because I believed you knew more than you actually do. That is my mistake so I will attempt to rectify it. First, a question. Do you believe that everyone who has the talent becomes a wielder?’

‘Um, I guess. You told us that nobles are tested and have their chi triggered by the time they are eight and that they then train to become wielders at the academies.’

The soothsayer sighed. ‘I did indeed, but you have to realize that I was trying to give you a general overview of the origins of most of the wielders in the Heavenly Empire. Yes all nobles are tested and in most cases have their chi triggered, and a lot then do indeed aspire to become wielders. But truthfully the vast majority don’t succeed, perhaps because they just don’t have the ability or perhaps its because they lack the will and dedication required to succeed. For many, graduating from the academies having learned the techniques and methods to control and regulate their chi, so that it does not destroy them from within, is enough, and of course, that already puts them a class above the majority of the populace. In some kingdoms, only the males of the noble families have their chi triggered, for the females, it is recorded that they tested positive for the talent, which allows them to marry other nobles to ensure it is passed on to future generations.’

He stopped pacing and looked meaningfully at Fynn.

‘Think of it this way, had you not had that unfortunate incident with those boys, or fortunate depending on how you see it now, you would not have learned that you have the talent and your chi would not have been triggered. Nevertheless, in a few years, you could have still registered to join Lord Tabor’s army and depending on your ability and dedication you could have become renowned, rising through the ranks to seniority. Or on the other hand, you could have chosen not to push yourself and stayed a low ranked soldier. To become a wielder is essentially the same, it is a conscious decision to relentlessly pursue the path of the talent, growing and honing your skills, perfecting them to the best of your abilities. In For most in the empire, to be acknowledged as a wielder you need to have graduated from the academies with distinction showing rare talent and determination before gaining recognition and approval from a panel of confirmed wielders through a series of tests. In my own opinion, a true wielder is someone who, through sheer dedication and sacrifice, no matter the means, has reached a formidable level becoming peerless in whatever they have chosen to do with the talent. So Fynn, if you want to join the ranks of those that can call themselves a wielder, you need to start pushing yourself hard, very hard indeed. There are children your age that have long since began that journey and are, through no fault of your own, eons ahead.’

Fynn thought deeply for a moment. He knew what the soothsayer was trying to tell him and he looked scrupulously within himself to confirm that it was indeed what he wanted. He didn’t find a single shred of doubt. It was exactly what he wanted.

Going down on his knees and bringing his head down to touch the ground in the formal manner he knew was appropriate when requesting a huge favor of somebody with great rank, he asked. ‘Han, will you teach me? I want to be a wielder. More than anything.’ He had never been so serious about anything his entire life.

Sentor looked down at the boy, a slight approval in his eye at the manner the request was made.

‘You want to be my student? I had a feeling we might be going down this route,’ he said in a resigned tone. After a long pause, he continued. ‘For better or worse, our paths crossed and though there wasn’t much choice, I have had a hand in putting you in this position. So Fynn, with that in mind and also because I do see something in you, if you are absolutely sure about this, I will give you a chance.’

‘Thank you Han, I have never been surer of anything.’ Fynn said, his head still down. He kept it down to hide the unruly tears that had once again appeared.

‘I said I’ll give you a “chance”,’ Sentor reiterated. ‘And you have no idea how lucky you are even to have that, it is something that under any other circumstance I would never even have considered. You may not believe it but I have exceptionally high standards and I will give you until our return to Tenbi waypoint to prove that you deserve and want it enough. From this point on, you will follow my instructions to the best of your ability. Do you understand?’

‘Yes Han. I mean yes master?’

‘Master is fine. Henceforth, as far as anyone we meet on the road is concerned, you are my apprentice.’

For the next half hour, Sentor began grilling Fynn on his general knowledge. It quickly became apparent that the young boy didn’t know very much about anything. Not surprising, but it did highlight the challenges he would have going forward.

‘Well, it’s a relief at least that you were able to learn the basics of reading and writing, though we will have to continue working on that.’

Fynn through his friendship with Anya had been dragged along to the lessons her mother had arranged for her and much to his friend's great dismay, he had picked it up with ease, like a duck to water.

Sentor went over to the wagon and rummaged around in the dark before he came back with a bundle. He opened it in the light of the fire to reveal a thick book whose pages he pointedly flicked through. Fynn could see that the pages were completely blank.

‘This is the first thing I’m going to give you as my apprentice,’ the soothsayer said meaningfully. ‘If there is one thing I want you to learn from me regardless of how all this turns out, it is that knowledge is power. Every evening, I want you to write down, neatly, what you have learned that day. Summarise it so that you don’t waste any space unnecessarily. I will be looking through it regularly, so don’t disappoint me.’

Fynn had quickly begun to realize that his previous relaxed relationship with the soothsayer was a thing of the past.

‘I will set you challenges each day as well, do your best to complete them and more importantly think hard about what you learn along the way and what I am trying to teach you. Once you think you understand….’ He paused waiting for Fynn to finish his sentence.

‘Write it down?’ Fynn said hesitantly.

‘Good. Also, starting tomorrow we will begin your martial training.’

This brought a thrill of excitement over Fynn.

‘I don’t want you to just learn how to punch, how to block how to wield a weapon. I want you to understand it completely. Think about everything you learn critically, and more, I want you to find out the origins of the move, who uses it and why. This will all make more sense to you when we begin training but for now, understand that I expect you to write down in detail everything you learn about any martial technique you learn from me or any other source. Never be scared to ask me questions, there is no such thing as a stupid question and that will also help me judge your progress. Got it?’

Fynn nodded. ‘Yes master.’ A sense of dread had quietly crept into the pit of his belly.

Sentor smiled grimly. ‘Good. For tonight, after you have finished washing the plates and cups, I want you to go to your tent and begin meditating, try your best to recall everything your father taught you. I don’t expect you to have much success, to begin with, but continue for as long as you can bear it or as long as your chi last then get some sleep.’