Chương 43: Chapter 42

Serissa stood in the garden, working hard to control her aether as she wove the basic spell form. Holding the tiny threads of aether together had beads of sweat forming on her previously pristine forehead even though the aether threads were less than a hand's width from her body. Behind her, but outside of her line of vision, stood her tutor Madam Valerican. Serissa couldn't see her but knew that her tutor would be as placid as the water she so easily commanded.

Today she was dressed in a light blue silk dress that flowed out at her hips to cascade down to the ground like a fountain. A bonnet on her head shielded her from the sun, matched by Serissa's own bonnet of white. Next to Madam Valerican was Serissa's father. King Dominic Athaneas was an imposing man, even to Serissa. Where Serissa's hair was a rich brown, her fathers was a short cut blond. His black doublet was threaded with gold stitching which was mirrored in his pants.

The boots he wore were shined to a mirror sheen, and as always he carried his blade, Decimator, at his hip. The only blemish to him was his green eyes, which were so pale as to look like willow leaves. Those eyes were one of the few things Serissa shared with her father. Tomorrow, she would turn six, and the chance for what her father desired would slip through her fingers.

If she failed, she would become just another of her father's children to be turned into tools for his rule, rather than named heir to the country of Meravia, the greatest country on the continent! She pushed harder, commanding her aether threads to match the spell form that Madam Valerican had taught her. Finally, after another ten minutes, and with almost no aether left, the spell manifested in front of her. A small globe of water no bigger than a finger spun into being.

Then the spell matrix collapsed and the water went from a swirling ball to splattering on the grass before her. Serissa waited, expecting the Myriad Paths to notify her of her success. Nothing happened. Frowning, she glanced at her Paths. The Path of Aether Manipulation remained there with another twelve steps to Completion. Serissa had thought this would be enough to complete the Path. She sighed and shook her head. Her Father was already walking away while Madam Valerica rushed forward.

"How much more?" asked the older woman.

"Ten to go," Serissa whispered.

"We can still try. Come, child." Serissa followed, knowing it was futile. She managed to perform the spell form again but collapsed from aether exhaustion on the third attempt. When she woke it was in her own bed, well after midnight. In the corner of her vision a message from the Myriad Paths flashed, waiting to be read. Serissa opened it, already knowing what it would say. Achievement Acquired! Complete three non-rudimentary Paths to the ninth Tier or higher before the age of six.

Reward: Path of Aether Exceptionalism! Path Unlocked! Path of Aether Exceptionalism (0/10) She cried into her pillow. Aether Talented was still a useful Advanced Attribute, but it would only apply to aether-related Paths. She had failed her family, failed her father. She bawled into her pillow till she fell asleep. In her dreams, she had been truly Talented.

Kalin moved through the forms smoothly, his sword singing in the bright sunlight. Or so he thought. The thin bamboo stick struck out as his ankle moved an inch out of place, leaving a red welt on his skin.

"Again," demanded the Blademaster his mother had hired to teach him. The guards nearby said nothing about seeing their future duke whipped on the practice yard. They had, after all, seen it almost every day for two years. Kalin brushed himself off, his black hair tied back by a strap of leather as he glanced at his instructor with grey eyes. Then, as he had done a thousand times before, Kalin reset his stance, bringing his blade up in front of him as though saluting the man.

With respect shown Kalin fluidly moved into the first form. Controlling his footwork he transitioned smoothly into the second form. The Winddancer Style was famous in Southern Meravia, though few true masters of the style existed owing to the difficulty of wielding the longer blade in one hand. As Kalin reached the fifth form, this time without being whipped, he channelled his aether through the blade. The enchantment within sent a cutting blade into the target in front of him.

By the time it had hit, Kalin was already gone, moving into the sixth form as he channelled his aether again. This time, he activated the second enchantment and a blast of air emitted from the blade like a shield to deflect arrows. The blast pushed Kalin back and he slid on the grass, pivoting on his foot as he spun into the eighth form instead of the seventh to retain his balance. He expected the bamboo stick to strike once more but nothing came.

He didn't let his distraction cause a lapse in his practice, slipping from the eighth form into the ninth and then the tenth before resetting and coming to a rest.

"Better." The praise was about as much as he could hope for from Blademaster Simial. Kalin turned to face his teacher, sweat beading on his chest from the exertion.

"How much aether do you have left?" Simial asked, his loose and colourful clothes blowing in the southern breeze as the scream of gulls whistled on the wind from the docks far below the castle grounds.

"Enough for two more," Kalin answered instantly. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Simial simply nodded, running a hand over his shaved chin, the olive skin shining in the sun.

"Go again." Kalin completed two more sets of forms without receiving a strike from the bamboo stick before he collapsed onto the ground, puffing from the lack of aether, the edges of his vision closing in. Fortunately Samiel gave him a moment to recover, his breathing slowly evening out. His blurred eyesight cleared enough for him to look up, though the dizziness remained. He found Simial standing over him, waiting. Kalin knew there was no weakness in the Blademaster, nor did he tolerate it in others.

Once Kalin could stand, Simial simply asked, "Progress?" Two messages from the Myriad Paths floated in the corner of Kalin's vision and he opened them excitedly. You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Swordplay X (10000/10000) Reward: 2 Unallocated Stats. Unlocked the Path of Swords! Achievement Acquired! Complete three non-rudimentary Paths before the age of six. Reward: Path of Exceptionalism! Path Unlocked! Path of Exceptionalism (0/10)"I did it," Kalin whispered in disbelief.

"And with a month to spare," Simial commented.

"Go tell the Duchess." Kalin watched for a moment in stunned silence as Simial walked away to look over the edge of the balcony into the city below. Then Kalin's mind caught up with Simial's words and he dropped his sword, running from the practice yard. Two guards peeled off to follow him as he rushed into the palace. His mother, Duchess Alexia Calliade, would be so happy with him! He had achieved what few in his bloodline ever had. The true Path of Exceptionalism.

Vana peeked her head out of the alley. The streets this far from the oasis were more sand than stone, but she was used to it. After all, they had been her home for as long as she could remember. Just another waif left to die in the slums of Saatlubad. The greatest city this side of the Black Sea, according to its citizens. She wanted to spit at the very thought. Saatlubad was rotten as far as she was concerned, and if this was as good as it got, then the whole world deserved to be burned down.

She let that anger simmer in her chest as she waited for her mark to leave his home. She didn't have to wait long. The shifty, fat bastard exited not long after. Like the dirty rat he was, he paused to scan the area, before turning to lock the door behind him with a chain. Vana remained still long after he was gone. If she was too hasty, he might turn back to check.

Once she was confident he was gone, she slipped out of the shadows cast by the buildings, moved quickly towards the front door before continuing past it and round the corner. The window she had found earlier was really just a thin opening from a couple of loose bricks that had fallen out of the decrepit building. No grown person would have fit through them, but Vana wasn't grown. Far from it. Scaling the wall was hard, but shimmying through the gap was child's play.

The smell of sweat and worse things pervaded the inside of the building. In the end, it was the sweat that gave Pavel's secret away. Vana could see drips of it along the floor and traced it to a rug. It took all her strength to roll it out of the way, but with some effort, she managed to move it off the trap door beneath. No lock for this door. Just a bolt that could be twisted into the wood to hide the bulge beneath the carpet.

Peeling back the door, her face was assaulted by the smell of more sweat, this time laced with decay. Eyes stared out at her from the darkness, filled with fear that transformed into hope. It was Mikael's words that broke the silence.

"Vana, you came for me!"

"Of course I did, ya idiot! You're part of my crew!" Vana replied as she walked down the sandstone steps into the basement. Others started to talk. Young and old, man and woman, all set aside down here for when the next slave run would come through to pick up the dregs of humanity. If they were lucky, they would be sold to pirates and worked to the bone on their ships. If they weren't lucky…well, the snakekin to the south were said to feast on the flesh of other species, and their appetite was endless.

"Quiet down, you lot! If ya make too much noise, whadda ya think is gonna happen?" Vana whispered angrily. They quieted down, and Vana nodded as she pulled out her prized pieces of wire and got to work on the locks. She could've stopped after she freed Mikael. Instead, she sent him and the two other kids in the cage with him to play lookout as she worked through the other five cages. By the time she was done, she had freed fifteen from a future as slaves.

Not that she expected them to do much better on the streets of Saatlubad, but at least their choices would be their own. With the help of two of the men, they managed to bash the door open, and then all those who had been held prisoner were fleeing into the streets. Vana ran south first, with Mikael and another boy hot on her heels.

Only after she had gone three streets farther south did she begin to loop back to their hideout, a small rooftop attic above a warehouse for textiles that could only be reached by climbing onto the roof of the neighbouring building and then making a jump across a metre wide gap before slipping through a cracked tile. Vana was smart enough to know that in another two years Mikael would have grown too large to fit. Another year after that and the same would be true of her. The rest of her crew waited inside.

She hadn't wanted to risk them getting noticed moving south so she had gone alone. Tempe, the youngest, smiled at her return while the other three mobbed Mikael. The new boy looked unsure what to do and simply squatted on his heels. He'd kept up, so Vana would let him stay. She was about to settle down and see what food they had managed to scrounge up or steal when her vision flashed. She knew about the Myriad Paths, but still had expected a few more months before she might unlock hers.

It was hard to tell when she didn't know how old she was. She looked over the Status with a careful eye. She couldn't read well, so whenever she couldn't read a word she simply got a mental impression of what it was meant to represent. A few Paths were already completed. Running, Climbing, and Crawling. All things she had done regularly. Other Paths were in progress. Hiding, Sneaking, Stealing, Lockpicking, and Endurance to name a few. Nothing surprised her until she got to the Advanced Attributes.

She knew of a few, but she had never heard of one called 'Gifted.' Unlike the other words, from this she got no impression. She sighed. She hated not knowing something. It was why she had started learning to read in the first place. That meant only one thing for her. She would find out what it meant to be Gifted, and she knew just the place. The question was, how was she going to break into the Adventurer Society's library?