A Hymn of Blades

Darkness spread out around him, soon it dominated everything. Erend tried to move, but felt as if he was frozen in place, even his breathing seemed to have come to a standstill, though it seemed like he didn’t need it.

Awaken, child of dusk…? Am I awakening?

“You are, yes,” the whispering voice responded, seemingly to his thoughts. “You will awaken as the one promised to me, not as a servant or slave, but as my child…”

The stillness around Erend faded, he found himself standing in a forest of glass trees, surrounded by mist, a soft moonlight illuminated his surroundings. Through the mist he could make out the silhouette of an approaching figure.

“Promised to you? What do you mean?” he asked, relieved to find that he’d regained control of his body. I already have two parents that I like.

“Many years ago, an elven king’s bastard child fled the confines of her prison – her home. She was of mixed blood yet showed no signs of her elven heritage. When she was born, the king suspected he’d been tricked into thinking she was his, and so he ventured out into the world, in search of his former flame. Convinced that the woman was lying about the child, he killed her in a fit of rage. Upon his return to the elven kingdom, he locked the child inside a cage of ivory branches – to him she was nothing more than a dark reminder of a love long lost, but he lacked the strength to kill her, in fear of learning she was his,” the approaching figure emerged from the mist, revealing a pale figure, draped in a long white dress. She wore fine jewelry around her wrists, ankles and neck. A dark veil hung, covering her eyes and nose, connected to a thin circlet of silver that rested atop her ashen hair.

A gentle gust of wind blew through the forest, carrying with it the oddly translucent leaves. The woman continued, pronouncing every word with weight; “For hundreds of years, the girl was denied the privileges of life. She remained locked in her room, and despite the passage of time, the king’s suspicious madness looked past even her obvious lack of aging. I took pity on the girl, yet I could not intervene. With time, she grew desperate. In secret, she began praying to the myriad of gods, by the cover of night. One of those nights, she prayed to me, promising to give me anything in return for her freedom. That, my dear child, is where you come in. A pledge was made, and today I collect the fruits of it,” she strode forward, as if in a float, with the moonlight illuminating her every move.

“I don’t understand…”

“But you do. The girl in the story; she is your mother.”

“You mean to tell me that my mother offered me, her unborn child, to you, in exchange for freedom? That she sold me?”

“No, my dear… She never offered me you, not specifically. She offered me anything. I just happened to choose a part of her everything,” the ethereal woman said and drew him in to an embrace. He tried to resist, yet he was powerless to resist her arms. Her skin felt cool to the touch, but not the biting sort of cold, instead it was gentle, soothing and comforting. He should have hated her, but he couldn’t. Something about her felt strangely familiar.

“But my mother is human!”

“Thus thought the elven king, but she is not.”

Tears welled up in his eyes; “I don’t believe you. Mom would never do something like that.”

“You don’t need to believe something for it to be true, my sweet child,” she let him out of her embrace, still grasping him by his shoulders. The veil covered face was only inches away from his. She caressed his cheek with her left hand, drying his tears.

“And the dreams?”

“Visions of what’s to come.”

“Where’s mom?”

“That’s something you need to find out yourself.”

“Does father know?”

“You’ll have to ask him as you wake up.”

“An–” Erend was cut short as the woman pressed a finger to his lips.

“I’m sorry, time is running out. My power is waning, long have I lied dormant. For now, you must listen. Walk with me,” she said and beckoned him to follow, he did.

They walked through the misty forest, past trees of translucent glass, “On the plane Exodus you are alone, but on other planes you can find allies in the Order of Dusk. You don’t need to become a zealot, nor do you need to follow their tenets, but know that we are bound to each other by more than magic and a pledge; your will is mine, and my will is yours.”

They reached a glade, in the middle of it stood a large pillar of stone.

“Now, awaken.”

He walked to the pillar, but before reaching it he turned around and asked, one final question; “Who are you?”

With a soft smile the woman answered, “I’m known by many names but you may call me Elísitrá. You and I will not be able to speak again, not for a very long time, so remember well what I’ve told you today, and never fear the dawn. Oh, and try to keep this meeting secret, for your own sake,” she said with a smile. “Now, go on.”

She beckoned him to touch the stone. Erend complied and reached out with his hand, just before he could touch the pillar, he heard her whispering once more.

“Find the one wreathed in stone, balance the scales.”

Erend touched the pillar, just for a moment his eyes were forcibly shut. When he opened them again, he found that he’d been transported from the forest of glass to a completely empty space.

Information abruptly flooded his brain, making him reel from the pain. Text appeared before him, as if seared into his retina.

Awakening…

Source unlocked…

Alignment detected: Dusk.

Paths being altered…

Choose your path, Child of Elísitrá

The path of the Warrior

The path of warriors leads you down a path of combat. With the battlefield becoming your second home, your blade shall grow ever sharper.

The path of warriors seemed simple enough. It emphasized the importance of battle to improve.

The path of the Rogue

The path of rogues leads you down a path of trickery, deception and stealth. Within the shadows you hone your skills.

The second path, the one of the rogues, was tempting. Lurking in the shadows just seemed edgy and cool. And seeing as he was aligned with dusk, whatever that meant, it kind of made sense.

The path of the Sorcerer

The path of sorcerers leads you down the path of source. Through raw instinct you learn to control source, while being doomed to never understand it.

The path of the Wizard

The path of wizards leads you down the path of source. Through practice and a growing understanding of the source your control and power shall increase.

The path of the sorcerer and wizard were similar to each other, yet very different. They both walked on the path of source, with the main difference being that one of them actually understood what they were doing.

They were both tempting, in their own ways. Choosing to walk the path of a sorcerer would grant him power immediately, enabling him to cast spells, however, it sounded as if the wizard would surpass the sorcerer given enough time, so choosing the sorcerer just didn’t make sense, making him lean toward the wizard. The wizard class had its own drawbacks, however, it needed time to grow powerful, and if the fighting was still going on in Exodus, time was the one thing he didn’t have.

The path of the Cleric

The path of clerics leads you down a path of devotion. You are one selected by divinity and have been graced by the opportunity to bless others by borrowing the power of your deity.

The last path didn’t tempt Erend in the least. He didn’t like the thought of being dependent on a deity to manipulate source. Sure, healing would always be useful and all, but it didn’t really offer him the power to protect his family and friends that he sought.

He thought seriously about choosing the path of the rogue for a moment before realizing that he’d always been a warrior in his dreams. If that was a vision of times to come, maybe it meant that he was more suited to being a warrior?

Whatever the case may be, my path will be altered by my actions. Might as well go with warrior for now.

He willed for it, and the source responded.

Path of the Warrior chosen.

Choose your starter class.

An impossibly long list of available classes spread out before him.

This is going to take a while.

He thought and got to work.

Before long he found a class that he thought he might have had in the dreams, he focused on it.

Lancer (Common)

The lancer is a fighter versed in using spears and lances.

Main stats: Strength, Agility, Constitution.

The class didn’t really interest him, so he moved on.

Pole master (Uncommon)

As the name suggests, the pole master is a fighter who leans toward using a staff, or polearm to fight.

Main stats: Strength, Agility, Dexterity.

A more fragile and offensively effective version of the lancer I take it.

Just as he thought that choosing a class would prove to be a difficult endeavor, a blue-white thread appeared, the same one that he’d seen in his dreams, it curled up around a class that he’d never thought of choosing.

Squire (Common)

A knight in training. Usually seen attending a seasoned veteran. Adept with a vast array of weapons.

Main stats: Versatile.

What? Versatile? Does that mean I can choose to develop it how I wish?

Of all the classes he’d skimmed, none had versatile main stats. For good measure he willed the list to show him if there was a class named Knight available, there was none.

In the description of the class, it said that the squire was a knight in training, so by all accounts the class should offer a paved path toward an advanced class. That, in itself, should be worth something.

Nothing ventured, I guess.

He focused on the class and felt something inside of him click.

Class chosen… Altering class according to alignment and status…

Class chosen: Acolyte of Dusk

For the third time this day he felt the world around him go dark, ever so slowly he fell into unconsciousness once more.

***

When he opened his eyes, the interior of an unfamiliar house greeted him. He lay in a large bed with crisp sheets, and an intricately ornamented canopy.

Where am I? How long was I out?

He moved to get up, but quickly fell back into the bed as his head pounded violently in response. He reached up to massage his temple and felt how his head had been thoroughly bandaged.

“Erend?” he heard a sweet voice from his side. Surprisingly, Elle of all people, sat by his side. She sat on a lavish chair with her feet swinging a good bit above the floor. In her hands, she held the wooden figures she was so fond of.

“Elle?! You’re okay!” he defied the throbbing in his head and forced himself upright to hug her. As he let her go, he regarded her, she seemed unharmed, and behaved as usual. “Where’s dad?”

“He’s also here, downstairs in the living room with the other grown-ups. They didn’t let me join, so I came here hoping you’d play with me. But you’ve just been sleeping for hours, even when I tried to wake you.”

“Sorry about that,” he said with a chuckle. “Do you know where we are?”

“Um, not really. But we’re in a very large house,” she said trying her best to support her claim with her hands. “Dad said it belongs to someone you know.”

“Huh, can’t seem to recall knowing anyone this wealthy,” he said and threw an eye over the room. A great distance separated the floor from the ceiling and the room was spacious enough to accommodate his entire family. Portraits of people with fancy frills and ugly clothes lined the walls. One portrait, the one closest to the door, was of someone he knew.

Bernard? The old man never said he was rich … not that it’d make a difference.

“Could you go tell dad that I’ve woken up?”

“Will you play with me if I go?”

“Of course.”

“Okay! Wait here,” she said and jumped down from the chair. He watched her skip out of the room before he laid back on the bed with a large smile. Thank the mother; they’re alright. A few tears managed to seep out of the corner of his eyes, he hurriedly dried them with his sleeve as he heard footsteps approaching.

“Son!” Thomas stormed into the room without his usual reservation. “How are you feeling? You took a nasty hit.”

“My head’s killing me, but I’ll manage. What about you guys? Did you ever make it to the harbor?”

“No, and thank the mother for that,” he said with a relieved sigh. “We had barely left the house when the sound of cannon fire reached us. By happenstance we ran into Albert who was returning from the nobles’ district, he kept us safe until we found Charles and his parents, they brought us here. We’ve been held up here for a few hours now, Albert said he’d return before long with information of what to do.”

“Do you know what’s going on?” Erend asked.

Thomas gave Erend a meaningful look, then turned his gaze to Elle, “Could you go and play downstairs for a bit? I need to speak with Erend, alone.”

Elle pouted but agreed and went downstairs, she knew there was no arguing with Thomas.

“Listen, we’re under attack. The enemies sabotaged the anchor hall, which resulted in that dreadful ringing noise, and then they blew the harbor to hell. Apparently, one of the military forts managed to repel their attackers. We were planning on going there as soon as possible, but the city is crawling with enemies, and it’s quite the trek,” Thomas said with a solemn look. “We’re not sure if we’ll have any guards to escort us, not aside from Albert. Everyone ran to save themselves as soon as the harbor fell, many of the guards included.”

“So much for being the stalwart shields of the Duke,” Erend replied, distaste clear in his voice.

Thomas nodded along in silence, then continued; “The nobles’ district is completely overrun, so is the harbor. Currently we’re close to the market square, they haven’t managed to get this far yet, but it’s only a matter of time. We were planning on moving as soon as Albert returned. Or, we were planning to before Charles and that noble girl, Cordelia, fell into their awakening. They’re still out cold.”

Right, the awakening.

He recalled the lessons of last week, Professor Abrams had explained that awakened could access their status by mere thought.

Erend willed his thoughts, and in response, lines of text filled his line of sight.

Status

Name: Erend Sulford

Race: Half Elf (Variant)

Class: Acolyte of Dusk (Rare)

Stats

Strength: 8

Agility: 12

Dexterity: 12

Constitution: 10

Wisdom: 6

Intelligence: 6

Source: 12

Free points: 20

Titles

Child of Elísitrá

Did the stats just call me stupid? And why is my strength so low?

“About that, seems I awakened while I was unconscious.”

“Oh, of course,” Thomas said with a nod. “Wouldn’t make sense if you were left out. Well then, go on. What did you end up with?”

“I’m not sure… But it says it’s a rare class. A variant of a Squire.”

“So, a martial class then?”

“Yeah… Sorry. There wasn’t really anything else available to me,” Erend said while eyeing his race. After deciding now was not the time, nor the place, to discuss his mother, he shook his head and asked; “So, can you tell me how the stats work? They say I have low intelligence. Rude.”

Thomas laughed heartily and patted Erend on his shoulder; “Don’t you worry about it. I suppose you won’t really need it anyway if it wasn’t forcefully allocated. How many free points did you receive?”

“Twenty,” Erend instantly responded.

“… Sorry, what did you say?”

“T w e n t y,” he repeated, emphasizing each letter.

“Well… I suppose you did receive a rare class after all… What are the class’s main stats?”

“Versatile.”

“…Did you have to choose such a tricky one?”

“I mean, I didn’t have to. But it seemed like a good fit, you know?”

Thomas scoffed, it was unusual for him to be taken by surprise like this, “I suppose you’ll have to think about what to do. Charles and Cordelia haven’t woken up yet. Rest up in the meantime. I’ll distract Elle for now, but you’d better keep your promise when she comes, or you’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Yeah, I will. Thanks,” Erend said softly. He laid back in his bed again as Thomas closed the bedroom door behind him.

Now then, what to do with these stats… How much of an impact do they even have?

He decided to test placing a point in one of the stats he felt he’d be able to perceive, strength.

A warm feeling of energy instantly surged within him; he could practically feel the source in the atmosphere being funneled into him. But he felt no real difference when he flexed his muscles, nor had he grown a six pack.

I guess its incremental. It wouldn’t make sense if people became superhuman as soon as they awakened. I guess I’ll round out the stats and increase the ones that are naturally high, that should give me a solid foundation. Oh, and I should probably improve my constitution, don’t wanna die from a gust of wind.

Without further introspection he allocated the points, making them look a lot more pleasing to the eye.

Stats

Strength: 10

Agility: 14

Dexterity: 14

Constitution: 14

Wisdom: 10

Intelligence: 10

Source: 14

Free points: 0

Feeling happy with his handiwork he confirmed the allocation.

Instantly, source stormed into, hitting his chest like a battering ram until it gave way, source filled him to the brim. His eyes rolled into the back of his head from the intense power roiling inside him. When it was over, he sat hunched over in bed, panting frantically.

Okay, that was fucking stupid. If it felt powerful when I only allocated one point, I should have realized nineteen would feel a lot worse.

He gripped his hands, feeling power surge through him. The pounding in his head had receded, probably thanks to his increased constitution. He sat up in bed, and moved to get up as he noticed text flashing in the corner of his eye.

Skills received.