April 15th

Year 2120

The Gap

Southern Wastes, Gartaena

“Thank you, both of you,” Merdilen told Kayline and Alvoren.

As soon as they had exited the mountains, they had run south, trying to make as much distance as possible between them, the bandits, the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team, and the Fergahnian army. They had been running and then walking for several hours, until they had long left the Southern Mountain Range behind.

They were now in a place only known in their map as The Gap, in which absolutely nothing was marked. Around the area of the Southern Mountain Range, there were several mountains, and even a settlement, marked on their map. Now, there was nothing. Just Morkilen Farenthar’s fortress, far south. They were going in totally blind. They had just sat down to have lunch, and Merdilen spoke once more.

“I mean it. You both saved my life.”

“It’s okay,” Alvoren said. “You saved my life too. I guess we’re even now,” he added with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah, it was the right thing to do,” Kayline agreed. “Don’t worry about it.”

Merdilen smiled at them, leaning on the ground with his hands behind his head.

“What about some meat to celebrate?” Kayline suddenly asked. “I really miss meat, and you, Merdilen, must be starving. After all you just went through.”

“Yeah, but, how are we meant to get meat?” Merdilen asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m certain there must be some kind of animal around,” she answered. “I’m going to search for anything I can hunt. Don’t worry, I’ll try not to get into trouble.”

“That’d be epic,” Alvoren agreed.

“Sure. But be careful, don’t get too far away,” Merdilen warned. “This is a dangerous area.”

“Don’t worry, I will,” Kayline said, getting up. “I’ll be right back.”

With that, she unsheathed both longswords and stealthily walked out of their makeshift camp.

“Hey…” Alvoren called out to Merdilen after Kayline was gone. “There’s something I haven’t told you. Something I thought about after freeing you.”

“Huh?” Merdilen asked. “What is it?”

“You see, this has to do with my own story…” Alvoren started. “My father was a drunkard, and my mother died when I was young, so I never had anyone to really be there for me. During my whole life before meeting you two, I had only one friend. Trambler Nerlumen. Trambler had similar family problems, so we both used to play make-believe together. In school, we heard a story about a great hero, a story we both started to love. The story about… the great hero Axerhos, a hero that fought several years after the Transmutation War, and helped rid the kingdom of Fergahn of shadow monsters. So we used to play about being the great hero Axerhos and his loyal companion, the great hero Brenkon. You know why?”

“No, why?” Merdilen asked.

“To feel valuable,” Alvoren continued. “To feel important. No one thought us to be worth anything, so we wanted to show ourselves we could actually be heroes. If everyone else told us we were worthless, we’d make ourselves feel worth something. And it worked. Even though we never did anything actually useful, we considered ourselves heroes, and you know what? We were happy. Even though the rest of the world considered us useless boys, we were happy. For the first time in our lives, we were happy. But nothing good can last forever.

“On a certain occasion, a group of bandits attacked our village. Of course, we went out there to be real heroes. We fought. Trambler didn’t survive the battle. Although us villagers eventually defeated the bandits, my friend, the great hero Brenkon, died during the fight. He died a hero. Other people would have given up on being heroes after that. But not me. The great hero Axerhos… would never give up. That’s why I decided to officially become Axerhos, and become a hero. But I hadn’t been able to do anything that heroic… until I met you, Merdilen. Thank you. You have made me feel valuable, like an actual hero. Thanks to you, and now Kayline, I can fulfill my friend’s wish and actually be a hero.”

Merdilen smiled. “You deserve it. You are the worthiest person in the world of wearing the mantle of the great hero Axerhos.”

“Thank you,” Alvoren replied, smiling too.

A while later, they saw a form walking through the bushes, and Kayline appeared with a hog over her shoulders.

“I found lunch!” she said, grinning.

“Great!” Merdilen exclaimed.

Using his Transmutation, he lit a small campfire, making a grill and placing one of the hog’s legs on top of it. The leg started to slowly roast, letting out a rich and tasty smell. The Fergahnian army had no way of knowing which specific direction they had gone off to, so they probably had time to have lunch properly before heading off again.

“It wasn’t easy to find a hog in this place, but I found one wandering around,” Kayline mentioned.

“This will last us for easily a whole week!” Alvoren exclaimed happily.

About half an hour later, the hog leg was roasted and ready, and they began to eat. It was good to finally eat meat again, as most of their rations were composed of other non-perishable foods, and Merdilen couldn’t Transmutate anything that had once been alive. They feasted on the pork, enjoying it. Merdilen hadn’t eaten good meat like that since he had left the house of his ancestors, almost one month ago.

Merdilen suddenly realized something. In two more days, on April 17th, he would have been on his adventure for a full month. It had been a full month already since he had left his ancestor’s home. There had been so much action and adventure during his journey, time had really flown by. It was strange to realize a whole month had gone by already. That was why the Fergahnian army vanguard had been able to reach the bandits’ lair so quickly. They had already had their army at the ready. They would have to move with haste.

“Hey… I saw something while hunting for the hog,” Kayline mentioned. “I didn’t want to say it earlier to not ruin the mood, but I have to now. I saw a group of three strange men walking around, with strange black tattoos on their faces. They didn’t seem to be bandits. And… they had shadow monsters with them. One for each man. I… I think they were tamed.”

Merdilen’s eyes widened, and Alvoren paled slightly.

Merdilen remembered clearly the words of the bandit who could tame shadow monsters, the man they had been hired to capture. A group of men attacked us, seemingly belonging to some kind of cult, a cult that treats shadow monsters as superior beings, he had said. They had learned to tame them and to use them in battle.

“Uh oh. Did you see where they were headed to?” Merdilen asked. “Can we avoid them?”

“Yeah. I think they were just patrolling, as they were walking casually, looking around,” Kayline answered. “I don’t know why they were patrolling that area, but I do believe we should be able to evade them with ease.”

“Okay,” Alvoren said. “Let’s finish lunch quickly so we can leave this place.”

They ate the rest of the pork leg quickly, and after dividing the remaining hog between the three of them, got up and started to walk once more. They veered slightly to the east, planning on evading the group of mysterious cultists.

They kept walking for a few hours, until Merdilen suddenly felt three powerful presences approaching them at perilous speed.

The shadow monsters from before?! he thought, alarmed. How did they find us? How is it possible?

“Shadow monsters!” he called out to the others. “Get ready! They’re coming!”

Kayline and Alvoren looked at him, confused, but they both unsheathed their weapons.

A moment later, the three shadow monsters sprang towards them from behind a small unnaturally sharp hill, one cultist riding atop each shadow monster. They rushed towards them, roaring, their sharp fangs and claws glistening in the sunlight. Alvoren raised his shield, Merdilen Transmutated a shield of his own, and Kayline jumped to the side, each resisting the attack of one of the shadow monsters.

But there were too many of them. They had never fought against so many shadow monsters at once. And their usual strategy—blinding them by slashing at their eyes—wouldn’t work this time either, as the whole back of the shadow monsters was occupied by their cultist riders.

Merdilen realized this too, so he strengthened his clothes, Transmutating them into steel, in an attempt to buy time. The shadow monster confronting Alvoren attacked him once more, and when he raised his shield again to block… it broke, overwhelmed by the shadow monster’s force. The shadow monster slashed at the defenseless Alvoren with its claws, creating deep gashes in his forearm.

Alvoren screamed in pain, and both Merdilen and Kayline called his name. But he was too far from either of them. The cultist rider spurred the shadow monster, and it roared, opening its jaw and preparing to bite Alvoren’s head off. Both Merdilen and Kayline sprinted towards him, but both were too far away, having been fighting their respective shadow monsters. Merdilen was slower than Kayline, and he was being slowed down by his armor too, so it was up to Kayline to save Alvoren’s life. But she wouldn’t make it in time either.

What could she do? What?! Acting entirely on instinct, she took from her belt their last option, their only hope. Their trump card.

The Manipulation serum.

While running, she took it out, and injected the syringe into her arm. If this didn’t work, and quick, Alvoren would die. As soon as the serum made contact with her blood, she heard a siss, like some kind of electric jolt, and a substance she had never felt before entered her body, running through her blood. Suddenly, the world seemed to grow clearer. Not visually, but she suddenly felt everything. She felt the lifeforms all around her, she felt the source of power that was Merdilen, she felt the dark presence of the shadow monsters. But most importantly, she felt the wind. Not thinking, acting entirely on instinct, Kayline concentrated, and prepared to Manipulate.

Everything seemed to slow down around her, and she tried to visualize the wind she was about to control. She visualized it surrounding her, pushing against her hair, her body, and everything on her. She then imagined it pushing her towards Alvoren, and her body shot forward at an incredible speed, pushed by the winds surrounding her.

She got to Alvoren a moment before the shadow monster chomped off his head, and pushed him to the side. The wind currents automatically supported her arms, and Alvoren flew to the side, far from the shadow monster’s reach. She then jumped upwards, testing the Manipulation, and the wind complied. She slashed with both longswords at the cultist, and the longswords cut with incredible speed, throwing the man backward and far from his monstrous mount.

Meanwhile, Merdilen took advantage of the distraction, and Transmutating the ground, created a massive spear, several feet long and a foot thick, and thrust it towards his shadow monster’s mouth. It killed the beast instantly, and it slumped down, throwing its master to the ground.

“A-a Transmutator and a Manipulator!” the third cultist exclaimed in a hard accent. “W-we can’t fight this!”

With that, he started to ride away in fear, with the other two fallen cultists running after him.

Kayline took a deep breath, sitting down.

“...Whoa,” Merdilen said, looking at Kayline.

“That was insane!” Alvoren exclaimed at the top of his voice, looking at her too. “You used the Manipulation serum!”

“...Yeah,” Kayline confirmed. “I didn’t really want to use it, but it was the only choice.”

“Damn, now I’m the only one in the party without a special power,” Alvoren jokingly mentioned.

“So you’re a Manipulator now,” Merdilen muttered, his eyes wide open, trying to grasp the weight of the situation. “That’s amazing. But you’re gonna need training.”

“...I’m a Manipulator now,” Kayline muttered too, not believing it herself. “Merdilen, could you share with me what you know about these powers? If you don’t mind.”

“Sure,” he agreed. “But let’s get as far away from here as possible. Somehow, they found us; we have to make as much ground between those cultists and us as possible.”

“That’s right,” Alvoren agreed. “Let’s go.”

Merdilen, Alvoren, and Kayline walked for about an hour directly east, trying to make ground between them and the strange shadow monster cult, until they finally arrived at a clearing that seemed to be peaceful. They set their things down, and after a short while of Merdilen healing Alvoren’s arm using his Transmutation, Merdilen started to speak to Kayline.

“So, I’ll try to teach you the aspects of Transmutation that might be shared with the Manipulation,” he said, to which she nodded. “First of all, Transmutation is a mental power. It all depends on one’s strength of will, so for example, if one wants to do something especially difficult, the more determined you are to succeed, the better it’ll come out. That’s why I was able to heal you, Kayline, and Alvoren, something I before thought impossible. Because I’m determined to keep you two alive. On the other hand, if you think you can’t do something, you probably won’t be able to.”

“Oh… I understand,” Kayline said, nodding. “But then, why can’t you Transmutate at range?”

“Because it also requires experience,” Merdilen answered. “These powers are usually hard to control, so I’d probably be able to do it once or twice in dire situations, but not often, at least not until I’ve done it several times.”

“Oh.”

“But, mind you, the fact that it’s a mental power isn’t always good,” he then warned. “That also means that it’ll take mental strain to do stuff, which often causes headaches if you’re doing stuff too big. For example, my head would probably hurt like hell if I were to suddenly Transmutate at range. You gotta be careful with that, as suddenly having a massive headache in the middle of a fight can be a real pain.”

“Got it.”

“Also, something else, that I think will apply a lot to you,” Merdilen added. “Sometimes, the hard thing isn’t using your power, it is not using it.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Kayline asked.

“So, I think you haven’t been in this situation yet, but I believe you will find that sometimes you will accidentally use your power subconsciously. For example, try and jump over to that rock over there.” He then pointed at a big stone situated a few feet away from her.

She looked at him with confusion, but then did as instructed. Instinctively, she tried doing a long jump, and the wind currents instinctively pushed her forward. She shot towards the stone, passing on top of it it and arriving several feet behind it. She had overjumped, by a lot.

“See?” Merdilen pointed out. “I thought so. Your powers’ intensity is different than mine, as my power had been weakened by several generations of mixed blood. Your power is pure and raw, much more intense than mine. Therefore, it’ll be harder to control it. Try jumping towards the rock again.”

Kayline did it, and once again, she overjumped. She looked towards the rock angrily in frustration.

“Don’t worry. It happens to the best of us,” Merdilen said with a chuckle. “When I was little, I was constantly Transmutating everything I touched to toys and stuff like that, as that was what I desired those things to be. It takes practice to gain control of one’s thoughts. Let’s try that again.”

“Is there some kind of switch for this, to turn it on and off at will?” Kayline asked, frowning. “I don’t think I want to have it on all the time.”

“Sorry, but there isn’t,” Merdilen asked. “You either have it or you don’t. There’s no way to turn it on and off at will. The only alternative is to truly learn to restrain the power, as we’re practicing now.”

Kayline kept jumping towards the rock, again, and again, and again, until finally, at about the tenth attempt, she did it. She arrived at the rock.

“Nice,” Merdilen commented, and Alvoren clapped a little.

“...I guess it is possible to control this,” Kayline commented, stumbling towards them. “Still, it’s very frustrating.”

“True,” Merdilen agreed. “But practice makes perfect. You okay?”

“My head hurts a little, but I’ll get used to it,” she mentioned.

“Yeah, you get used to it.”

Then, Merdilen Transmutated the ground into what looked like a massive stone shelf, with thick ledges being several feet apart, the first one several feet from the ground too. It was farther than what any normal human could jump. But Kayline was no normal human. Not anymore.

“Jump to the first ledge,” Merdilen told her.

Bracing herself, she Manipulated the winds once more, jumping upwards and landing swiftly and effortlessly on the first ledge.

“Nice. Now get back down and jump to the second ledge,” Merdilen then said.

Kayline jumped down as instructed, and then repeated the procedure, jumping to the second ledge. She was able to do it, but barely.

“Be careful when coming down this time,” Merdilen warned. “Try to Manipulate the winds to slow down your fall, or else you’ll take damage.”

She did just so, making the wind push slightly upward, reducing the speed of her fall.

“Try to get to the third ledge.”

Kayline tried, Manipulating the winds, but her head already hurt, so she fell just short of reaching it with her feet. She grabbed the edge of the ledge with her hands, pulling herself up.

“Get back down. I think that’s enough for now,” he then said. “Try to keep using your powers during the day, so you get used to it. Practice makes perfect.”

“You’re a good master, you know that? Maybe you should try to become a teacher instead of an adventurer,” she teased, jumping down from the third ledge.

“Heh, maybe I will,” Merdilen joked. “Once we fix this world. Who knows.”

To that, Kayline and Alvoren chuckled, and Merdilen added, “But I can assure you one thing. You’re gonna sleep like a log tonight.”

Kayline did not sleep like a log that night. They had kept going for several hours, finally set camp, and were now each lying down in their bedrolls. But Kayline could not sleep. A thought kept coming to her mind, disturbing her, worrying her.

She had originally embarked on her quest to kill Merdilen, the last Transmutator. That was because, during her whole life, she had grown up hating them. Her family had always been the same way. They had all felt that way, as it was because of the Transmutators that the world of Gartaena was the way it was.

So, now that she was a Manipulator, a person with similar powers to the Transmutators… would they hate her too? She thought they would probably accept Merdilen’s help, but would they accept their own daughter becoming one of them? Becoming similar to the very thing she had sworn to destroy? Would they accept her then?

Everything would be hard when she got back to her home. They would have to get accustomed to having a Manipulator among them, and no one would trust her anymore. She probably wouldn’t be able to make any new friends, and she doubted anyone would want to hire her for anything if they knew what she was. Life would be hard.

And, coming to think of it… how would she tell her family about her father? Knowing that he had become an evil bandit and criminal… that would definitely break their hearts. How would her mother feel when she found out she had stabbed him in the back? Even though they hadn’t seen each other in years, she had once loved him. She might still do. How would she tell her about his fate…? Worried about those troubling thoughts, she fell asleep, and had dreams of rejection, family, and hate.

“Breakfast is ready!” Alvoren called out.

Kayline drowsily sat up in her bedroll, looking to the side. Several feet away from her were Merdilen and Alvoren, cooking in a small campfire one of the hunted pork’s other legs.

“You seemed to be extremely tired after yesterday’s training, so we didn’t want to wake you up earlier,” Merdilen mentioned.

“Yeah, thanks,” she agreed.

“You okay? You seemed to be having a bad dream,” Alvoren said. “You were mumbling things last night and moving around in your bedroll.”

“Really? Oh,” Kayline said, flushing slightly. She considered not telling them about her dream, but she wanted to get it out of her chest, so she finally spoke. “I… dreamed about my family. In my dream, I happily went back to our apartment, but as I am now a Manipulator, they angrily rejected me, and I had to go away.”

“Don’t worry,” Merdilen said, and Alvoren nodded. “They’re still your family. If they are as loving as what you have said about them, there’s nothing to worry about. They’ll accept you no matter what. They are still your family, after all.”

“Yeah,” Kayline agreed, smiling slightly. “Thank you.”

“But, let’s move on to happier topics,” Merdilen then said, cutting a slice of pork for himself. “Can you do something for me with your Manipulation? After breakfast, of course.”

“Sure,” she said, cutting pork too. “What is it?”

“I want to see how fast you can run. When saving Alvoren, you ran really fast. Do you think you can replicate that?”

“I can try,” Kayline replied.

“Great, thank you. That will help a lot in measuring the limits and abilities of the Manipulation,” he added.

So, they quickly finished having breakfast, and Kayline got up.

“Try running to the foot of that hill over there,” Merdilen told her, pointing to a close-by short hill.

Kayline got ready, and once more imagined the winds flowing around her. She then Manipulated them and shot forward, the winds pushing her on. She soon enough reached the foot of the hill Merdilen had pointed, and stopped suddenly. She stumbled around, almost falling, dizzy because of the sudden speed. Her head hurt too, but she still managed a thumbs up. She walked back towards Merdilen and Alvoren, not wanting her head to hurt any more.

“Damn,” Merdilen mentioned. “That’s about the speed of a horse in full sprint. For a human, that’s fast. You can run about twice as fast as any normal human.”

“Wow,” Kayline mentioned. “But I fully sprinted back there. My head hurts because of that, much more than yesterday. I doubt I’d be able to keep up that speed for long, or run that fast often.”

“Of course,” Merdilen agreed. “Still, it’s good to know. What about a race?”

“Huh?” Kayline asked, confused.

“What about a race between you and me? I’ll Transmutate a flag we have to reach close by, and the first of us to get there wins,” he explained.

“But… I run twice as fast as you do. Won’t I immediately win?” she asked.

“Not necessarily. I can create obstacles for you. Earth is a great conductor for the Transmutation. That will also help us understand your dexterity and maneuvering ability while running.”

“...Sure,” Kayline agreed. “Just let me rest a little.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the long-awaited time has come!” Alvoren exclaimed, pretending to be a sports commentator. “The super-powered race is about to begin! To our right, we have... Merdilen Arthenmon, the last Transmutator and an experienced fighter! To our left, we have… Kayline Sherdaine, a new Manipulator and a determined challenger! Who will win?! We’re about to find out!”

He was standing next to the flag that was the finish line, roughly three hundred feet away from the two participants. Merdilen and Kayline were standing in a half-crouch side by side, ready to run. There were no rules; the only requirement was to try not to hurt the other person. Whatever means of getting to the flag were allowed.

“Three… two… one… Go!” Alvoren exclaimed, raising his hand high in the air.

Both Merdilen and Kayline sprang into action, Kayline dashing forward at an alarming speed. Merdilen Transmutated a big spring under his feet, shooting forward too. He quickly caught up to Kayline with his enhanced leap, and Transmutated a small wall right in front of her. Meanwhile, Merdilen used again the spring trick, leaping forward once more. He had supposed Kayline would have to stop or circle the wall, but instead, she just jumped forward, passing by the wall from up high.

They both kept running, Kayline using the winds to push her forward and Merdilen leaping forward by means of springs and other platforms. He stopped momentarily, pressing his right hand on the floor, and Transmutated the whole section of the ground Kayline was standing in into sand. She fell downwards with a yelp, falling into the small hole, and Merdilen got the advantage once more. He saw her come out shortly after, though, but he was already up front.

Merdilen suddenly felt a jolt of force in his back, and he fell to the ground as a sudden gust of wind pushed him to the ground. His eyes widened as he looked upward just to see Kayline, grinning and running past him.

I didn’t know she could do that! he thought in amazement.

Without getting up from the ground, he Transmutated, using his whole body as focus, and created a massive stone wall right in front of Kayline and himself. She stopped suddenly, and after realizing it was too big to be jumped over, started to run to the side, trying to circle it. Merdilen got up once more and ran straight towards it, Transmutating an entrance and getting to the other side.

He was close to the flag now. He could almost grab it…

Merdilen suddenly felt Kayline coming up next to him, and Transmutated the glove of his only hand into a much bigger and longer one, reaching out to the flag. Kayline shot another gust of wind, trying to pull the flag towards it. They both reached at the same time, and grabbed it.

The flag split in half.

“It is a tie!” Alvoren exclaimed, putting an end to the competition.

“Your Manipulation is quite strong, huh,” Merdilen said, catching his breath. “I’ll give you that. Kayline Sherdaine, Manipulator. It has a nice ring to it.”