The Road Begins
BOOK ONE: The New World
CHAPTER 9: The Road Begins
Arkyn was not sure if reciting the basics of Array weaving was out of delirium or just some way a piece of him was trying to keep his mind from trailing off.
'Once a container is made, I draw the static runes to pull in whatever power to each element it can find.' Twenty runes later, the step was done. He almost lost control of the mana twice, the pain making him lose focus and his body was feeling cold.
'Next is an inner array that maintains every element in my body and circuit. Water runes to draw moisture back into the body . . . fire runes to maintain internal heat . . . air magic for circulation . . . and finally earth keep the bones and muscles grounded.'
Arkyn let out a wet cough that filled his mouth with blood, his lungs were getting heavier with each inhale now.
'Then I just give it a power source to draw from.' He brought his hand up to his necklace. When he touched the little orb in the center of his amulet. By hooking the mana with his white finger, a string of golden light latched on as he pulled it away.
'Finally, I connect it and close the array.'
The golden tether of mana he guided touched the three largest runes, the ones he knew would carry the charge of magical energy into the entire array. Each rune started pulling from the tethers he made. The white light of his mana slowly turned yellow and then gold after the mana of the [Cinder Spark] washed over his own.
'There, I did it.' Arkyn sighed and let his limbs go limp. He had been holding [Mage Sight] the whole time. Without his magic sight, the tracing could have gone off track, and biggest concern was any misalignments ruining the overall effect of the matrix.
His mana circuit was dim now, desperately trying to draw in the natural energies around him. Once the [Mending Matrix] started to activate, the feeling was overridden by another sensation.
Suddenly the chills were gone, and Arkyn's body felt like it was set alight by an inferno.
The familiar effects of the [Mending Matrix] were settling into the skin, but he could barely tell with all the flesh being forced to remold and stitch itself together. Most of the time, accidents in the forge knocked him out or were simple cuts and bruises.
The little things minor scraps would simply itch as they closed back up, but there was one major thing Arkyn learned from years of workplace injury.
The worst kind of pain was the one that took the scream out of your body.
It was the kind that made every muscle clench in agony. Every part of the body was balling up in reaction to the pain, not even letting his lungs release to scream.
Arkyn felt his back arc off the ground before losing consciousness. He didn't fight it, his willpower was exhausted from all the concentration he spent rune writing. All he could do was clench his teeth and hold his damaged hand inside the circle.
Dusk felt him radiate pain before, and the blackout was a familiar part of the process, letting the snake finally relax too.
'I go to sleep for a few hours and this is the result. You nearly die and I get kicked around. You will certainly be paying me back for guarding against predators tomorrow, that is for sure.' Dusk made himself comfortable across Arkyn's stomach, enjoying the warmth of the [Cinder Spark].
The new array that was slowly pulling blood and bits back together. The heat created steam across Arkyn's body as the night grew colder.
Meanwhile, Arkyn began to dream.
He opened his eyes to darkness, his body was drifting aimlessly. It only took a few seconds to realize he was asleep again.
"Well my first day in the new world and I'm already a murderer." Arkyn spoke to himself. "This was a bad idea, maybe I should just go back to the castle."
Even when dreaming, Arkyn couldn't stop picturing the way Jehdin looked. The guilt was constantly overtaking the rage against Kuge though. It still lingered across the hand that incinerated his face.
Arkyn expected a response from the void, he hoped for one, but his father did not comment on his feelings this time.
"Yeah, Dusk will probably like that idea anyway. I can just put the [Cinder Spark] back, and we can rebuild the castle. I can fish off the coast and build a new home from the ashes of the old."
"How poetic, but it sounds as though you want to shy away from responsibility." A soft voice spoke out from the void.
"Huh?" Arkyn took a moment to register the tone, it was clearly female and spoke with a calm wisdom behind it. Definitely not how his father sounded.
"I-Hello mother, I can't say I expected you to turn up this time around." Arkyn didn't know whether to be surprised it was his mother this time, or that he almost didn't recognize her voice.
"Wait-what responsibility?! I made a promise to a ghost in my head that led to me killing a starving father. Let us not forget I ended his deranged son's life out of anger. I am a monster that should have never left his cave. Why should I not just go back?"
There was a silence before his mother spoke again, but not out of defeat. This alway happened before Arkyn was about to be proven wrong.
"Arkyn, you lived a life of solitude," His mother spoke in a stronger tone, almost commandingly. "Even before the world changed and Odbrane disappeared, you remained hidden in the depths of the castle. A lot of your knowledge comes second hand, but the stories and myths told inside a fortress are not the same as the reality. There is a darker nature in humanity, one that Odbrane shielded you from."
"Are you saying I have just been lied to my whole life?"
"No, but you cannot assume the world is always what it seems. Clearly there is something strange happening, there is talk of monsters below and corruption across the new civilization. You must be wary of it. "
Arkyn hadn't forgotten what Kuge said by the fire. Something about outbreaks from below and an event called the Emergence.
"So you must understand, not everything carries an innocent soul."
"I get what you are saying, but how can I go on while spilling blood. I worked everyday in that forge to help end the bloodshed of war."
"Arkyn . . . if you feel you've done wrong when trying to defend yourself, just know that you can do more good. Help the Continent if you feel you must atone, make your efforts outweigh the mistakes."
Arkyn wanted to plead more, he guiltily wanted to give up, but he didn't get a chance to respond.
Gravity took hold of him, and he felt a pressure against his back from his body laying down. He opened his eyes to the stars and remembered everything that happened.
When abruptly sitting up, Arkyn put a hand to his chest to feel the state of his wounds. The injuries on his hand and collar were gone, so a few hours must've passed. He could still taste a bit of blood in his mouth, but his lungs didn't feel so weighed down anymore.
His tunic was sticking to his side from Jehdin's drying blood and there was a long hole along the front, but that was not an immediate concern. Arkyn searched for the Stennicks around him.
Jehdin had not moved from the spot he bled out, and Kuge's corpse had gone cold right beside him, it remained unmoving.
'What happened to the youngest one? Where is Pilm?' Arkyn tried sending his questions through his telepathic link with Dusk, but it seemed to have faded after he lost consciousness.
That was when Arkyn realized he wasn't fully out of danger just yet.
Dusk was nowhere in sight, but it was also difficult for Arkyn to see in the darkness. The two knives on the ground were the only source of light. They reflected the light of the moon as it was directly overhead now. The burning logs from the fire were only small embers, giving no help.
Arkyn slowly brought himself up into a crouched position, scanning as best he could. He was wary of Pilm now, concerned he might attack again.
". . . Dusk . . ." Arkyn risked whispering for the Fractal Snake, anticipating a reaction from somewhere.
Nothing responded, he could only listen for rustling but could not tell what was just the wind or something actually moving.
After a minute of holding his breath, he tried whispering again. This time he heard something move near him.
"Dusk, have you . . ." Arkyn looked back to speak to the Fractal snake but did not see him. Only Kuge was there, now cold and no longer smoking from the fire blast.
Then he saw Kuge's hand twitched.
"Fuck!" Arkyn jumped and swore, thinking for a split second that the corpse had been raised from the dead somehow.
Turns out Dusk had gotten hungry and started eating the bits of Kuge that had melted off his body. He spent a good chunk of the night watching over Arkyn while he recovered, but his stomach got the best of him.
Once Arkyn managed to calm his breathing, he touched his forehead and focused. He established a link with Dusk once again, asking what became of Pilm.
'I never saw him. The little hatchling must've fled before I got kicked around. A very rude awakening I should say.'
"Then he must have fled, running into the forest must have seemed safer after watching his father die." Arkyn spoke at a regular volume now, it seemed like the danger had passed.
He stood up and felt the bloody side of his tunic was sticking to his side, the blood had congealed everywhere. His old forge clothes were mostly ruined now.
Arkyn looked down at the mess in deep thought. 'Outweigh the bad actions with good deeds huh? . . . I just hope I'm capable of doing something right this time.'