The First Night

BOOK ONE: The New World

CHAPTER 7: The First Night

"Well I guess it should be known that Baron Slothgrit never put in the hard work like us common folk to keep the farms alive. Even now, the Baron uses his old family money to make sell-swords and sorcerers keep the town under his boot. 

There hasn't been a single decent harvest in the last five years for the demands he's been making." Jehdin's voice could not hide the built up stress in his tone.

"At the rate he has been going, the Baron is going to drive everyone out and the city supplies will be too little to survive the next winter, let alone if there is an outbreak from below." Kuge interjected. 

Arkyn was very interested in that last phrase. 'Outbreak from below? Interesting. I'd bet that it has some sort of connection with the Emergence.'

"Yes yes, but now we are leaving that all behind us. Off to start elsewhere." Jehdin waved off the comment.

"Starting elsewhere, are you no longer farmers?" Arkyn asked curiously, he could not imagine leaving behind blacksmithing and enchanting. It was a huge aspect of his life and what his family once did together.

'If not farming, maybe there are other jobs in this new world to pick up.'

"Aye, for the moment, we are no longer farmers. We abandoned the Stennick fields after the last interaction with the Baron's men led to the death of our cattle.

They were hungry, and said that starvation justified the slaughter of the last of our undried cows. Those cows still gave us the milk we needed to survive most days." Jehdin seemed to age even further at just the thought.

"So we tried going North to start another plot of crops, following the roads along the Dagarok Mountains. We traveled all the way up to Crenbull, but there's nothing useful for us there."

"Not anymore." Kuge uttered, pulling his hot knife from the embers.

"Quit griping, we have no need to press Arkyn here about our troubles. Some stones are best left unturned." Jehdin scolded. "The weather simply gets too cold past the town for farming, so we decided to turn around and look for places to work elsewhere. 

Arkyn thought back to the directions he traveled so far.

The Odbrane Castle was west of his current position, deep in the mountains along the Continent's coast, and the road he found the Stennicks traveling on was running North and South.

'So Crenbull is North and I followed these farmers South. They must be backtracking until they find a new place outside the boundaries of this Slothgrit character. 

It's too dark now to check, but I might have to climb some trees tomorrow to see if anything is visible from here and steer clear.'

"Father, I'm still hungry. Can we have some meat tonight too?" Pilm had gotten bored of the conversation, wanting food or entertainment to distract him.

Jehdin's face seemed to tighten at the question. "No! We are rationing until we make it to Bhavalos at least. Only a few more days now-- and speaking of the future days, you should be mindful of anyone you encounter. I know we may seem a jumpy bunch but not everyone is so patient on these roads."

"No of course, and you might think this bag would be normal for petty mercenaries that steal from others, but that is probably because you've never seen a tent like this."

Arkyn stretched out a hand that had been slowly pouring some magic into the ground during the conversation. He made a diagonal motion with his whole arm and a slanted wall of dirt appeared behind him.

After repeating the action, Arkyn summoned another wall that made him a tent that stood just tall enough for him to crouch inside. It gained a look of awe from Pilm and a smirk from Jehdin.

The little boy asked Arkyn to make him a tent too, and Arkyn did after a few minutes of taking control of the ground around his blanket.

"Well now I'm certain you're not one of the Baron's lackeys, otherwise that bastard would have spent half the city's gold on hiring you." Jehdin chuckled.

Arkyn was flattered, but he was concerned at how well received his basic mastery of earth magic was. 'Either being a farmer has set the bar low or the progress of magic has somehow backtrack during all this time. Either way, better play my role as the weakened mage.'

"That was just about all I had left. No more energy after today's excitement." Arkyn wheezed.

It was a complete lie, but Arkyn figured his chances for getting answers were better when he seemed exhausted and powerless. 

Arkyn had used a lot of mana, but with the [Cinder Spark] encased around his mana circuit, he would quickly recharge.

Under the circumstances of the old castle matrix would have a mage back at full capacity within half of a day. Without it, a mage would take a full day and a full night's sleep to recharge.

He hadn't tested the capabilities of the [Cinder Spark] amulet yet, but it seemed equal if not better than the old matrix. So much mana was being condensed around his body and only his body

"How do you do that?" Pilm asked as he tried making the same movement, but watching nothing happen.

"Well . . . magic is not just about how you move your body, but how you visualize the mana leaving it."

His words immediately stumped Pilm, clearly the terminology was not easy to understand, so Arkyn explained it in an odd but simpler way.

"Your body holds a certain amount of magic, like every living creature, and by practicing certain movements, you can sort of . . . shake it out of your skin. The better you get at it, the more magic will fall out of your bones."

'It also depends on your bloodline, as mages have to come from families with strong Mana Circuits, but it would be rude to dismiss him for that.' Arkyn thought while watching the young boy keep trying.

"But how do I vigil-wise the magic? I can't see it."

Arkyn had to hold back a smile as he recalled a moment like that in his early childhood. He never understood that when someone said to visualize the magic, he had just assumed they meant literally watch it happen. 

"Heh, what I mean is you need to picture how your moving arm is touching the ground using your mind, not your actual eyes." Arkyn said while gesturing at his own.

Pilm nodded and was about to try again, but his head snapped back to Arkyn. He stared back at his eyes with more wonder and amazement than before, confusing Arkyn.

"Father!" Pilm shouted, gaining everyone's attention. "His eyes, father! They're like the fire, they are really red." 

"Heheh, you'll have to excuse my youngest. He imagines all sorts . . . of . . . Huh, while I'll be damned by the Ether. He wasn't kiddin, your eyes. They almost seem to be colored like blood."

"Oh that, funny story-" Arkyn completely forgot about his red irises and [Mage Sight]. He started to explain a story he hadn't fully thought up yet, but he did not get very far. 

"I knew it!" Kuge sprung up from his crate, still clutching the hot dagger in hand. "There was something wrong with him and now I know what."

Before Arkyn got to saying anything to defend himself, the blade was already moving. He tried to veer back from the slash, but Arkyn brought his arm up instinctively. The blade pierced under his forearm and traveled all the way up the side of his wrist.

It wasn't until Arkyn felt the blade bounce off his bone that the pain shot along his skin and spread a flash of heat along his whole body.

Arkyn yelped in shock and pain, blood trickled down his elbow and dots of it starting pooling in the dirt.

"He's a hybrid, like that damn girl." Shouted Kuge while stepping forward and trying to cut him again. 

Arkyn stepped back and grabbed the hammer off his belt to deflect the blade with his good arm. He had a bit more range than the knife, forcing Kuge to take a step back this time. 

They were now positioned with Kuge between Arkyn and the campfire, while the other two Stennicks started moving.

Kuge's younger brother and father were standing there with knives out once again. Although they did not lunge at Arkyn like Kuge did, they seemed to be doubting his actions.

Arkyn felt the same, part of him was ready to swing his hammer and blast them with a bit of lethal elements, but seeing the look of anguish on Pilm and Jehdin's faces made him falter.

Kuge didn't miss Arkyn's hesitation to attack, and exploited it by jumping backwards over the fire. 

"He's a fucking Meld-Kin."