First Light, page 36
Lydia saw the group approaching, but her smile turned to a face of concern and worry when her eyes fell on her son, then the mark on his neck.
“What happened? Are you all okay?” Lydia shouted as she ran towards the party. Her shouts caught the attention of the two smiths who ceased their work to greet their family member and his friends. Lydia grabbed her son by the arms, which forced him to stifle a yelp. Though his arm was already popped into place, the rest of his muscles in his arms were screaming at him from the strain of his attacks without being enhanced.
“That is not from a Rock Goblin, son,” Vickar stated plainly. His tone was dangerous, as if warning Rune to tell the truth.
“A few months ago—” Rune started.
Teryn put her hand up and interrupted, “Father, Mother. Rune and I were in a party before this. We, along with Master Vincent and several men, were chased into the Greatwood by a large group of bandits. There we were attacked by a Wraith. Rune received this wound when he saved my life. His injury is my fault.”
Rune was left speechless by Teryn’s words. Ven coughed, nearly choking in surprise at the Volari’s forward speech. Lydia eyed the Volari girl carefully, as if appraising her fully. Vickar, on the other-hand slapped his son upside the head. “You fucking dumbass. You run from a Wraith, not charge it…but good job for surviving.”
“Oh, sweetie…why didn’t you tell us sooner? Why is the mark here now and not before?” Lydia asked. She had finished her appraisal of the girl who had tried to call her mother, but her face was unreadable at what her decision about it was. The only thing visible was the look of concern she had for her son. She pulled him into a deep hug, running a gentle hand through his hair.
Rune explained what had happened during the battle in the Greatwood, unable to escape his mother’s embrace. He detailed what his Awakening had been like at the academy. Professor Lyla had guessed that the more Aura he absorbed, the darker the mark became. He also explained that when he overcharges his reserves and starts getting closer to Overheating, a black web-like marks cover his neck, face, and upper body.
Lydia, Vickar, and Ulma processed the information silently as they listened to Rune’s explanation of events. Lydia looked to be on the verge of tears, while Ulma and Vickar maintained stoic expressions. After he finished explaining everything in great detail, Vickar finally spoke. “All of you are getting weapons.”
First Light immediately glanced in Vickar’s direction in surprise. It was one thing to get a custom forged weapon, but it was quite another to get one forged by a Metal-Weaving master smith. Tayven seemed doubly excited because once he had learned that Rune’s father was Vickar. The noble explained that his father, Erich, had had a weapon made for him special by a Metal-Weaver named Vickar, who possessed the rare ability to manipulate alderite. As far as Tayven knew, all three commanders of the Vanguard in the Faradin Kingdom also carried weapons made by this master smith.
“S-s-sir, truly? Will you truly make us weapons?” Tayven stuttered, not even containing his excitement. He had hoped to buy even a failed project from Vickar’s reject bin, but this was more than he could have dreamed.
“Yes. Besides. If any of you are going to stand a chance of fighting by my son’s side and preventing him from going feral, you’ll need the best. And failing that…you’ll need something capable of killing what he becomes,” Vickar answered solemnly. He cleared his throat. “Now, they will be suited for you, but I won’t be going as far for them as I did for Rune. He is my son, after all.”
He and Ulma then started collecting information from the group about what weapons they used and their preferred techniques. Teryn used a single-handed saber for quick attacks. Her fighting style relied upon speed and nimble movements while using her Plant-Weaving to trip up her opponents or to bind them.
Tayven used a longsword and shield. His style of fighting was a fairly standard style among the knights and nobility of the kingdom. Ven used a bow at long range and twin daggers up close, so Vickar would provide her with alderite versions of all three. Her current bow could actually be altered without being remade since Vickar had the idea of merely adding an alderite plating to the outside. Since the bow was made of wood, the intricate plating would look decorative when not being used and increase penetrating power and distance by double when she enhanced it. He also intended to give her a special bow string that used an alderite thread that would complete a full circuit through the entire weapon.
“Girl, do not, under any circumstance, let anyone know about this bowstring I will give you. If you need more, have Rune send me a letter,” Vickar warned. “This is a secret Volari alloy made of alderite and a few other metals that, when mixed at the right amounts and tempered carefully, create a thread-like product. The kingdom does not know about it. If I find any of you leaked this outside of your party…”
Vickar’s words hung in the air as his eyes flashed. Weapons around the smithy floated into the air, looming behind him. Normally, such a massive amount of inorganic material could not be manipulated at once. However, Vickar’s Weaving abilities affected alderite itself, meaning he could control a lot more with a lot less effort.
All of First Light gulped simultaneously, including Rune, while nodding their heads. None of them wanted to incite the wrath of this not-so-simple blacksmith. Ulma appeared to have formed stars in her eyes when she saw what her father could do. Since she shared his abilities, a world in which she fought off enemies with a horde of hovering swords obviously flashed through her mind. Rune chuckled nervously, reading her like a book.
Rune already had a top-of-the-line sword from his father, so instead, Vickar opted to improve the shield attached to his son’s gauntlet. The plan was to strengthen the bracing then move the buckler a little further back to allow complete movement of Rune’s wrist, making it easier for his left hand to activate his Drain easier. This left Brick as the last one with special requirements. Tayven and Teryn would only need swords.
Vickar had a few ideas for the brawler. Most brawlers only settled for normal hand protection or opted for none since they relied on their Enhancer skills to strengthen the body. Vickar figured he could create a complex armored glove with linked finger guards connected by the same bowstring woven between the lightweight chain. He claimed this would allow for Aura to evenly flow through the alderite circuits woven throughout the armor.
“Alright, big guy. This will be the first of its kind…also it relies on a lot of delicate alderite work. Whatever you do never, ever hit something with these on unless you are Enhancing them. Otherwise, they’ll shatter,” Vickar warned. Brick enthusiastically acknowledged the instructions. He was excited to receive a one-of-a-kind piece of equipment, even if it meant being a bit of a test dummy.
“Alright then. Ulma, let’s get to work. This is gonna take a while. Lydia, you come too. We are going to need some refreshments so we don’t kick the bucket from heat stroke. Damn snow could at least be useful and cool off the forge a bit, but no…” Vickar eyed Rune carefully and flitted his gaze to Ven and Teryn. Rune nodded in understanding and silently thanked his father for pulling his mother away. Brick also noticed the interaction and pulled Tayven into town for some sightseeing.
Rune asked for the two girls to follow him away from the house to the training area he used as a kid. When the three of them arrived, Rune started the conversation. “Ven, I need to know, is this going to be a problem for the group?”
Ven looked slightly wounded at the way Rune worded it, but kept her temperament calm. “Is what going to be a problem? You screwing another party-member?”
“Ven…”
“Oh, please,” Teryn chided. “You are just pissed off it wasn’t you.”
“Teryn could you not—”
“So what?” Ven said flatly. “Fine. I’ll admit it. I wish it was me. So what? Is saying it out loud going to change anything? No, it won’t. Don’t worry, Rune, we are still friends. And Teryn…I don’t hate you either. I don’t want either of you to leave the party. Look, you’re both strong and I trust you, despite how I feel in other ways.”
Rune and Teryn stayed silent. He was honestly shocked she was acting so maturely. She had come a long way since they first met.
Ven continued, “I get it, though. You guys saw some shit. You fought a Wraith, lost your friends, and she got to be there for you after. I only knew Rune for a short while before heading off to the academy while you two spent months together. So, yeah, it hurts a little to lose out on the little crush I had. It’s clear to me that Teryn feels strongly about you, Rune. I only ask you don’t flaunt it in front of me, okay? Do that, and we are good.”
“I promise,” Rune responded, “We will do our best.”
“Oh, and if we are camping outside the city, please keep it in your pants. I don’t want to hear anything while on watch or something.” Ven then turned to leave. Before she got too far, she sighed. “Thank you for actually talking with me about it, Rune. You know, instead of letting it fester. I guess I appreciate it.”
Rune smiled awkwardly and Teryn huffed slightly. Before completely leaving though, Ven stopped and whispered into Teryn’s ear something Rune could barely hear. “Watch yourself, Teryn. If you fuck this up, I’ll be right there to pick up where you two left off… after I kill you for hurting him.”
Rune
Vickar continued working non-stop, day and night, on the new equipment for his son’s friends. Ulma helped most of the time, but Lydia insisted, to the chagrin of both the girl and her father, that she needed more rest for her growing body. Ven bunked with Ulma at night while Brick and Tayven took Rune’s old room. Teryn and Rune, however, opted to stay at the inn near the gates instead of in the home. Occasionally, they would spend a few hours in town at the small market or visiting the church where Tara was buried. Every morning, they would arrive at the quaint home to spar and train with one another.
Tayven spent most of his time training with Teryn since she had a lot of practice with the instantaneous activation of her Plant-Weaving. This was something Brick also excelled at, but since he was a natural, he was a god-awful teacher. Brick’s attempts to train his friend resulted in both of them having multiple bruises from the lessons turning to arguments, then to all out fist-fights.
Rune and Ven spent a few days hunting with the town’s hunters on the outskirts of the Greatwood. Ven used this to practice her Pulser skills on moving targets to learn to control the strength of the shots to either make them large and powerful or small and weaker. Rune used this time to figure out how to turn off his disruption skill. He could not train it with Tayven, since Tayven needed to understand how to use his abilities with all of his power available, not some of it.
Eventually, Tayven managed to attenuate the power level of his Aura usage, which would allow him to fight longer. He was still working on instantaneous activation to conserve even more of his Aura reserves, but he had made a large amount of progress. By the time he had made that breakthrough, Vickar had also completed everyone’s upgrades and new equipment.
“Who’s ready to spar?” Vickar asked with an evil glint in his eye. Rune subconsciously felt himself sweat as a lump formed in his throat. The look on his father’s face was one he had seen frequently as a child when he angered his father before a training session. As much as he wished, he knew there was no getting out of it.
“I’ll do it!” Tayven called out excitedly. Rune said a silent prayer for him because the young noble had forgotten what they had seen Vickar do almost two weeks ago.
Tayven stepped up to face the blacksmith. There was a decent amount of snow on the ground, but they cleared out the sparring pit in advance. Vickar eyed the young man’s equipment before selecting a quarterstaff with a thin blade on each end. Tayven looked confused because he expected to be fighting someone with the same style as Rune, since Rune had told them all that his father taught him everything he knew.
Rune apologized to his friend in his heart, because he never clarified that Vickar had taught him everything Rune knew, not everything that Vickar knew.
Tayven charged towards Vickar with his new enhanced longsword held in a striking position and his shield held up slightly. Vickar dashed to the side and attempted to circle around his opponent. Not wanting to lose sight of the enemy, Tayven pivoted on his lead foot in the direction Vickar had gone just in time to block the blade at the end of the staff with his shield.
Sparks flew as the blade glanced off the shield multiple times in rapid succession. It was all that Tayven could do to continue blocking while Vickar held him at length. Tayven was well within striking range of the blacksmith, but the constant attacks kept him from reaching Vickar with his longsword.
Having had enough of this game, Tayven shouted out, “Enhance: Power Strike!”
A burst of Aura flashed through the veins in his sword arm as he brought it down against the quarterstaff, smacking it into the ground. This created an opening for Tayven to jump forward at Vickar. Just as he brought down his sword against the smith, Tayven felt weightless. Suddenly, his vision was filled with a blue sky and white, fluffy clouds. Air rushed out of his lungs as he landed on his back in a small snow drift.
“Nice plan to smack my weapon away with force. However, you did not fully disarm me, so I could recover and sweep your legs from under you. You made sure to always pay attention to your enemy’s eyes and body, but know where their weapon is at all times as well.” Vickar informed Tayven before turning to the rest with the same wicked smile as before. “Now, who’s next?”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Rune
Ven stepped forward to take her turn against Vickar in the ring. Rune’s father chuckled as his eyes glowed. With a wave of his hand, an archery target floated out of the smithy. Around each of the three legs that made up its base was a band of copper-colored metal. The target hovered past Ven and continued another three hundred yards.
“Shoot,” Vickar ordered.
Ven nodded and took aim at the target. She willed Aura to fill the bow by using the contact points built into the grip. Purple light flowed outward along both ends of the bow, like water in a channel. It then moved down the string until it met itself at the girl’s drawing hand. Ven's eyes glimmered with excitement.
She slowly exhaled and released the string. The arrow flew toward the target three or four times faster than normal, the only thing visible was a streak of purple left hanging in the air. A loud crack echoed through the air like thunder. Vickar smiled in appreciation of his handiwork. He waved his hand yet again and pulled the target back again. As it approached, a few people let out a low whistle thanks to the smoking hole that used to be the central circle of the target.
“Great. Looks like it works. Take out your daggers, girl,” Vickar demanded. He had already donned another set of equipment, this time a sword and shield.
The change-up from his previous weapon threw most of the group for a loop. Only Rune and Ulma were unfazed. Ven worked to clear her mind of the surprise as she drew the daggers. Vickar stood stark still while she advanced towards her opponent. Once she was in position, Vickar walked slowly towards the girl at first, but after he had closed the gap to about ten feet, he quickly charged her with his sword held out to the side.
Ven matched his pace and charged to meet him. She initiated a strike with the weapon in her left hand, but stopped after seeing Vickar initiate a strike as well. She altered the swing of her dagger to a more defensive position, then reinforced it with the second. The force of the blow lifted her slightly off her feet, but she used it to assist in a jump to the side. Before she could land, Vickar was already on top of her, this time with an overhead strike.
Ven immediately crossed her blades above her head, taking the moment to charge them full of Aura to increase their strength. Vickar’s blade came down on the spot where the blades crossed. Her arms took the blow well enough, but her legs trembled after Vickar pressed the attack instead of backing off.
“Thanks to your dedication to the bow, your upper body strength can handle a lot. However, your core and your legs leave a lot to be desired. If you want to take blows like this, work on your lower body as well, or use speed to your advantage.” Vickar coached. He refused to let up on the force, and Ven’s legs threatened to give out. Just as she was about to collapse, Vickar finally relaxed the pressure. Taking advantage of the reprieve, Ven moved to attack, but Vickar brought a foot up and planted it solidly in Ven’s gut, sending her tumbling backwards. The girl rolled a few times before coming to a stop.
“Next,” Vickar stated calmly. To everyone else, his face was expressionless, but Rune could see the excitement in his father’s eyes. He was having fun.
Teryn gulped, but stepped forward while Tayven scratched his head. “Quarterstaff, then a sword and shield…and he supposedly taught Rune. Where did this man learn to fight?” He was thoroughly confused, trying to determine Vickar’s origins.
Teryn drew her saber against Vickar, who had replaced his equipment again, this time opting for a saber of his own. Teryn charged her new alderite saber with Aura while Vickar did the same. For a few moments, neither moved, as if assessing each other’s stance. Teryn had already seen that Vickar could move in a multitude of different ways, but he had seen none of Teryn’s capabilities since he had been away in the forge for the last several days.
The first one to make a move was Vickar. He ran towards his opponent in a wide arc instead of in a straight line. His sword was once again held out to the side, but this time, it was pointed at a forty-five-degree angle, with the blade edge facing Teryn.
