Rising Kite - A story from the world of HWFWM

“I thank you for your assistance in tempering my path” Kite intoned while bowing respectfully to the young woman opposite him.

“And I thank you for the same” she intoned, returning the bow.

As the formal moment ended, she gave off a huge sigh before grinning at Kite.

“That was great, Kite! I really thought I had you there, but your abilities are sooooo annoying!”

“You flatter me, Dragonfly. I’m sure the bout could have gone either way. Your axe is quite terrifying, enough that it will probably cleave the heavens if they would deny you entry.”

“Aaaw, you really think so?”

Kite and Dragonfly continued chatting while strolling back toward their respective mentors, who were watching from under the shade of a nearby tree. Uncle Walker was busy pouring tea for the woman beside him, who smiled at the two youths as they approached.

“Student, it would seem that our training is in need of intensifying. This is the third time young Kite has bested you, no?”

Dragonfly looked stricken as she sat down in the grass next to her mentor. “But master FoooOOoorrce…” she whined.

“Whining does not awaken mercy in me, girl. Give me results before expecting leniency.” her master answered with a wicked smile. “Young Kite is most kind to give me the opportunity to beat all of your complacency out of you.” she added with a wink.

As the good-natured berating continued, Kite smiled as he half-listened while drinking some water from a nearby bottle. Their journey sure had become livelier lately.

They had happened upon the pair about three days of travel after the encounter by the waterfall. As the winding paths from the forest had led to an actual road, it hadn’t been long before uncle Walker announced that he felt a friend nearby. Kite assumed it was his aura which helped him notice, and not long after they had met the two women..

Even as they closed the distance, it became clear that their respective mentors knew each other from their familiar greetings and that the students were both iron rank as they could sense each other's aura. What followed was the younger of the women immediately charging forward and challenging Kite to a clash of paths. No bets or prizes, but simply for practice and to prove herself. Today’s duel had been the third such challenge during as many days. Kite had prevailed during all three with some difficulty each time, but contrary to Kite’s earlier and only experience, the young woman seemed to like Kite even more after each duel and was always in high spirits afterwards.

It was only after the first duel that the young woman had gotten around to introducing herself. Her name was Dragonfly over Sun’s Reflection, and had so far been chatty and energetic with a stubborn streak. She had rosy pink hair with bouncy curls and a freckled face with clear laugh lines, and stood about a head shorter than Kite.

However, during their sparring it felt like Kite was facing a giant. She had freely divulged that she had the might, axe and fire essences which created the avatar confluence, proudly proclaiming herself an 'avatar of the inner flame'. Kite could understand the naming as he had fended off an onslaught of swings from the huge, burning axe she summoned. Each of his attacks had felt like it fanned a fire inside her which only led to her coming at him even stronger and faster.

To Dragonfly’s annoyance however, she quickly lost her rhythm when they fought, as Kite’s rather unusual power set constantly removed the different enhancing skills and her conjured weapon. Never all at the same time, but definitely enough that she would be hard pressed to reach that critical mass that her powers could produce.

Her master, Force of Raging Torrent had taken it all in stride from the beginning, and often praised Kite that he forced her student to become more flexible and make do without all of her powers available. She was a tall, statuesque woman with short-cropped brown hair and a single long braid hanging from the base of her skull. Kite didn’t know her fighting style, only that she too seemed to be at the peak of bronze rank, but uncle Walker had assured him that it was even more forceful than her student’s. Apparently, her name had been given to her as a title for her deeds during the last monster surge and she had taken it on as her given name.

As it turned out that the two pairs were all on their way to Gilded with the same objective, they had joined up for the second half of the trip which was estimated to take about another week. The length was also dependent upon how many monsters the traveler’s would catch wind of on the way, and Kite and Dragonfly had been taking turns fighting all the iron rank ones they had come across.

“So Kite, why do you want to be an adventurer?” Dragonfly asked as they walked next to each other on their fourth day of traveling together. It was a fine day in late summertime, clouds lazily drifting through the skies as the wind rustled the myriad trees on either side of the road. Ahead of them, their mentors were still talking amicably while updating each other on the goings on in the area and the progress of their respective young charges.

Kite looked up at the clouds while thinking. “I suppose there are many reasons. It is one of the best ways to earn a living as an essence user, if you don’t mind the many dangers. Helping people should be rewarding too.”

He smiled wistfully while looking out at the forested landscape. “But most of all I think that it will give me the opportunity to be free, at least in some ways. It was not so very long ago that I received the knowledge that I simply exist for that very purpose; freedom. And it feels important that I make that freedom my own. To go where I want to go, to meet fated people and form unbreakable bonds. To have… well, adventures.

According to uncle Walker, the adventure society should enable that.” he continued “So it feels like the right means to that end.”

Dragonfly regarded him while he spoke. The young man looked so wistful while he spoke. Some strands of loose hair had escaped the small bun in which he normally kept it, and played around his face in the summer breeze. She thought that somehow fit his ambitions, those few strands of hair being a small omen that freedom was within his grasp and that his journey had just begun.

She giggled as she realized that his rather earnest reverie had snared her thoughts and put her in such a philosophical mood.

“Did I say something amusing?” Kite asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh no, don’t mind me. I just thought it was funny how we can be at a similar place in life for such different reasons. You almost had me reflecting over my reasons to exist there for a while.”

“Isn’t that important?”

“Sure, sure in a way. But for me, it has always been about getting stronger. To see how far I can go and if I really will be able to ‘cleave the heavens’ as you so aptly put it. While adventures and travel sound nice, they really are just means to a different end for me. I feel like I need to keep pushing forward. To keep my momentum.”

She winked at him. “So in a way, I think that you might be the greatest danger I’ve faced yet. Dragging me into reflecting about myself and my existence like that.

But you gave me your rice bun yesterday, so our karma is all good and balanced!” she added cheerfully, and their conversation drifted away into Dragonfly’s favorite subject of evaluating their battles.

It was evening as Walker and Force sat in their camp, drinking tea while listening to the sound of clashing weapons, battle cries and essence abilities being discharged that echoed between the trees.

“How are they doing?” asked Walker as he looked at his colleague and friend. Her aura senses were sharper than even his, and she could probably sense the battle raging in the woods in greater detail.

Force took a calm sip of tea. “Dragonfly’s aura feels like it’s on fire, so all should be well. Kite’s remain quite calm and collected too. The boy seems to have taken well to aura training. It was only a week ago that he awakened an aura ability, correct?”

“Indeed. Crow would be proud of him. She was always a stickler for proper aura control. But I believe Kite’s introspective nature is doing the most work. It’s a trait that has matured along with him for his whole life as far as I can remember from my visits.”

“Speaking of Crow, how are the lovebirds doing nowadays? Have they built the nest Dove always went on about?”

“Oh yes, they have quite the nice home. Two story wooden house on the absolute top of a peak next to a patch of starberry bushes. It might not surprise you that Dove has cultivated quite the garden as well. The guest cabin has been my home for many a night, and the view is spectacular.”

“Sounds quite dreamy.”

“Oh it is. The interior matches the personalities as well. If the path to power could be achieved by creating a safe and comforting environment, they would both be diamond rank already.” Walker finished his statement with another drink from the steaming cup in his hands.

“Speaking of safe, how did starberry peak weather the last surge? It was seven years ago now, I think?” asked Force, before halting slightly as if listening to something. “Dragonfly’s aura surged a bit, so I think they’ve downed another of the beasts”.

Nodding to the last part of the statement, Walker went on to answer her question.

“According to the lovebirds, it went as well as expected. They all retreated to the nearest fortress town, and Crow’s arrays kept the collateral damage quite low. Unless a silver ranked monster traipsed through, that village shouldn’t suffer too much damage unless people remain. As usual, the beasts get a lot more motivated if there are people inside.”

“That they do…” Force muttered, eyes distant in memory. “Did I tell you where I picked up Dragonfly?”

Walker shook his head, waiting for her to continue.

“We got word that the arrays of one of the most remote fortress cities were failing. Unfortunately, they did just that before we got there. The defenders must have fought like possessed however. When me and my team arrived, the only ones to remain were a handful of civilians, a couple of whom had a single lone essence. All the rankers had perished, taking the beasts with them.”

“One of them was a little girl of about nine years. When we had secured the place, she suddenly marched up to me and tried to shove a might essence into my hands. Apparently she had found it under the corpse of one of the biggest beasts, and she wanted me to use it to kill all the monsters in the world.” Force had a sad smile on her lips.

“The young thing barely knew what it was, only that it meant strength. So she wanted to give it to an adult who could make all the monsters go away. The monsters who killed her older sister, one of the iron rank defenders. Apparently, it was the only family she had left. So I explained that I couldn’t use it, and instead asked if she wanted to become strong. Strong enough that no monster could hurt her again. And thus, our young battle-maniac was forged.”

She looked wistfully into the forest, where battle still raged. “The years with her have been exhausting, but also rewarding. Children are quite remarkable. The horrors of the surge have left scars, but still she fights on and finds a perplexing amount of joy from life. I find her confluence rather fitting. So hurt, yet stronger for it.”

Walker had listened intently to his friend. He felt they were in similar positions, yet their charges were quite different younglings.

“Kite has always been a more gentle soul. Honestly I wondered if he would balk at the violence of the world, but from what I thought were meek soil has bloomed a surprisingly resolute flower. He mostly needs a nudge here and there, but oh how he grows when he finds his momentum. His path is complicated, but I think he can become one of the best if he can make it his own and master it.”

Force chuckled. “And young Dragonfly is almost the opposite. The growth is so wild that a little pruning is needed here and there, lest she loses herself in progress. Let us hope that their paths may coexist so that they may continue tempering each other as they grow.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Walker said with a smile. He listened as the sound of battle had been dying down. “But for now, I think it might be best that we see how our little wildflowers have fared.”

Kite was once again sprayed with swathes of webbing. It tried to cling to his form, but seemed to have trouble finding purchase on his form as his next movement had it sliding off him and ending up in a tangled clump at his feet. Implacable motion was a power awakened through his resolute essence, constantly hinder enemy attempts at restraining, snaring or otherwise hindering his movements. When practicing, Kite had been surprised to learn that it would even affect someone or something trying to grapple him. While very efficient against opponents of similar rank, Kite knew that more dangerous or wily foes might still be able to leave him at their mercy.

Saying a silent prayer of thanks to Fortune, the power let him have his arms free to counter and dispel yet another gout of acid spit which followed after the webbing.

His opponent was an iron rank monster in the shape of a humanoid-spider hybrid. Sporting an arachnid body the size of a heidel, it had eight hairy legs ending in sharp claws. The body had bristles of grey-green hair and a surprisingly flexible rear which allowed it to cast its webs in most directions.

Where a normal spider would have face and mandibles, there extended a humanoid body with paler greenish skin. It had the slender torso of a female and a surprisingly human face framed by even greener hair.

Kite’s teenage brain still had trouble handling the view of exposed breasts as his thoughts warred between embarrassed interest and logical disbelief of why a spider-creature would have breasts in the first place as they weren’t mammals. The whole experience got new, horrible nuances as her mouth had distended to reveal a set of glistening mandibles as she shrieked and spit acid at him all while her arms ended in long, singular sharp claws which were slightly hooked at the end.

To Kite’s relief, he had been able to use his special attack to negate both the flung magic and some other abilities. One of which seemed to be some kind of coordinating ability for the monster’s young. Because it had a lot of young.

Swarming around the dueling pair had been over two dozen smaller spiders, although small was only in comparison. The spiderlings were about the size of a human torso. They lacked their mother’s humanoid body but still sported her acid spit which they applied liberally. The reason Kite hadn’t been overwhelmed by their numbers and devoured was named Dragonfly.

The young woman was currently busy swinging her fiery axe in cleaving circles. Her powerful strikes and swathes of flame had left over half of the brood as charred husks. Dragonfly fought with a semi-controlled abandon, dodging most attacks which seemed to want to grab her or had a big impact while ignoring the smaller streams of acid, letting them at least glance her when possible. Two minutes into the fight, her skin and clothes were seared and burnt by the acid in many places, but from all such wounds shone an inner glow.

This glow seemed to increase her physical parameters even further, which meant that while the swarm was doing small bits of damage at a time the damage to their whole was increased in leaps and bounds. Combined with Kite’s constant dispelling of the mother’s mental coordination meant that Dragonfly was having a rather one-sided rampage among the smaller monsters.

After thrusting twice against the matriarch, forcing her backwards, Kite had a breath to spare as he chanted “Ward” while glancing in Dragonfly’s direction. A barrier sprang up just in time to stop a leaping spiderling from clinging onto her back, and he heard a “Whooop” of thanks as he turned back to his opponent.

The spider-woman-thing tried taking back the initiative with another combined gout of acid and web, but as neither gave the desired effect she met him as Kite closed into melee. A furious struggle followed, where claws and acid mostly met barriers or was dispelled before they could do any substantial damage.

Kite’s defense wasn’t perfect by any means, and some attacks had struck true. His wooden armor was shredded in places, but he could feel both it and his body repairing as they fought on the mossy forest floor with the sun’s light trickling in through branches and leaves.

The battle came to a close like many others Kite had fought during his travels; the monster eventually growing more sluggish due to Kite destroying its mana reserves and damaging its body. While he was still pleased with his victory, he still sorely missed some kind of special attack that packed a punch in and of itself.

He knew not every battle would spare him the time for victory by attrition, and couldn’t help feeling a pang of jealousy as Dragonfly, looking almost like a wheel of flames, finished her last opponent with a spectacular, double-vaulting finisher.

She gave off a victorious howl as she threw her axe in the air where it vanished as her internal light died down. “Great job, Kite! You are really getting better with those barriers. It felt like you had my back all the time.” she exclaimed cheerfully. “It left me with only the fun parts. I think I’ll keep you!”

“You may meet others on your path to power, tempering yourself with and against theirs, but ultimately your path is only yours.” cited the voice of master Force as she and uncle Walker emerged from the trees. The proverb was common, and Kite had heard it more times that he could count even before he received his essence.

“You are both coming along very well, and it is good that you continue to practice teamwork. But remember, little Dragonfly, that Kite will not always be around with protection at hand. Use the experience to temper your judgment, and remember that complacency is the biggest bane to any path”.

“Yes, master Force.” Dragonfly replied, barely masking the sigh.

As they wandered back through the forest and continued following the road towards Gilded, their mentors had them evaluating the battle and their performance. When that discussion was petering down, Kite asked a question that had been in the back of his mind for a long time.

“Master Force, uncle Walker. Why is it that the path of power is always described as such a lonely one? I’ve heard it many times but I don’t think anyone has ever explained why. In stories and books, especially those from other parts of the world, adventurers often seem to fight in these tightly knit groups.”

The two mentors gave each other a look before uncle Walker answered.

“That, little Kite, is a question with a rather complicated answer. You are right that there are many different views on what is the correct way of battling and adventuring. In most cases it tends to come down to how a culture views self-sufficiency.”

“Here in Hua-Xi, in all our recorded history, we’ve had independent rulers who have ascended to the throne by virtue of power. While their families and friends have always risen with them, the throne itself has never been hereditary. I don’t know if you know this, but the succession is actually decided with the same clash of paths that you’ve already fought in.

So while connections, family and resources can take you far, in the end there is only your personal prowess that can take you all the way to the top. Hence the saying ‘ultimately, your path is only yours’.“

Kite thought with a creased brow. “But if that is the case when ascending the throne, why would it matter for the rest of us? Are the politics of the capital really so far-reaching?”

“Both yes and no. Let me ask you, little Kite; when someone wants to solidify their power through legitimacy, how do they do it? What or who do they look to?”

“Other people with power?” Kite replied tentatively, after some thought.

“Indeed! Let’s say that you are a powerful warrior who’d want to found an organization as a base of power, say a sect. You want the leaders of said organization to be viewed as legitimate, so you emulate the most solidified and traditional power in the country; the royalty.”

The younger man’s eyes widened a bit in understanding. “But then someone emulates the sects, and someone them in turn until…”

“Until it has become a cemented part of our culture, yes. Everyone wants to be like people they view as powerful, so they emulate them in the ways they can.”

“Is the adventure society like that as well? Does that mean I can just fight my way to the top?” This time it was Dragonfly who posed the question. She had pretended not to be interested at first, but couldn’t stave off her question any longer.

“No, at least not in structure. The adventure society follows the rules laid down by the international council. There have actually been problems in the past with our culture and their rules clashing, to the extent that the director of almost every branch in Hua-Xi is brought in from outside the country. While not perfect, this tends to ameliorate most of the problems.” Uncle Walker explained. He seemed to enjoy giving these kinds of lectures and showing off his worldliness.

“Every official in our branches of the adventure society are thoroughly trained as well, so expect that they will for the most part remain neutral and stick to the rules quite rigidly. So no marching straight up to them and challenging them, young lady.” said master Force, while directing a pointed look at her student.

“Does that mean that everyone works alone then?” asked Kite, master Force shaking her head as she continued.

“Fortunately, no. It would be way too dangerous. But it does mean that registered teams are quite uncommon and that people more often form a network of contacts for sporadic collaboration depending on their needs. It can work around here, where being self-sufficient is seen as an ideal, but definitely has its weaknesses. For example, those with more dedicated support powers tend to be viewed as weaker as they are dependent on others.”

She suddenly stopped in front of them, which made the rest of them halt as she faced them and locked gazes with the two iron-rankers.

“This is an important lesson, younglings, so listen carefully. I have seen prideful people reach an early demise trying to uphold the image of their self-sufficiency in the wrong situations. While it is admirable to want to tackle the world by yourself, as this will prove your path to the heavens, you need to survive as well. And in the end, your path is your own.

But while some might argue that it only means your own strength, remember that it can also be your own choices.” she finished.

The few remaining days of the journey were rather uneventful as the traveler’s settled into a routine. After rising and some basic physical training they continued their trek. Kite and Dragonfly sparred before lunch and evenings in the camp were spent discussing and evaluating. If master Force or uncle Walker sensed any of iron rank, they sent their student’s to handle them.

Kite and Dragonfly were both quite spent when they finally arrived and could see the city of Gilded in the distance. For Kite, who had never ventured far beyond starberry peak before, the city felt enormous. At home, all villages occupied a single peak rising from the forest below. The city of Gilded was built around a dozen such peaks, and they were only the outer ring around the cityscape.

Between each of the twelve stone peaks ran a wall which used the natural mountains as a kind of tower. The valleys below were filled to the brim with houses, some three or more stories high. The houses looked to be a mix of stone and wood, where the roofs’ slant was usually slightly curved inwards. Even at a distance, Kite could see rows of colorful paper lanterns hanging over the streets,

What gave the city its name was the woodlands in the area. In and around the city, the foliage had predominantly yellow and orange colors. While much sparser inside the city, the trees were still a dominant feature of the cityscape, and Kite could understand that it could be likened to a city in gold as he saw it in the light of the afternoon sun.

During the final week of the trip, they had met an ever-increasing number of other travelers; from adventurers to merchants and farmers. When they were drawing near the actual wall, it had become a denser crowd which had Kite spending his time mostly looking at people. Here and there they could sense an iron- or bronze-rank aura, both in the crowds entering through one of the three gates but also among the guards manning the gate or walls.

Since both uncle Walker and master Force were adventurers, the process of entering the city turned out to be rather simple. They simply produced a badge each which they held against a magical glyph which verified them before identifying Kite and Dragonfly as their respective students. The guard noted both their names and affiliation to their masters before sending them on their way.

As he was putting it away, Kite saw a bit of uncle Walker’s badge. It was bronze-colored with the emblem of the adventure society on full display. There was also a row of three stars, whose meaning Kite did not know.

Walker took the lead through the tiled streets, which Kite felt grateful for as his head was soon spinning from all the noise, movement and auras mingling to form a wall of stimuli. His dazed mind took in new, alluring scents from street vendors and some less pleasant from certain alleyways. It was snapped back to reality as Dragonfly sidled up to him.

“This is your first time in the city, right Kite?”

“Mhhmm…” and a nod was all Kite managed to produce in way of answer.

“Then let me show you around tomorrow! Master Force had some business to attend to so I’ll just be waiting around anyway. Please, master Walker?” The last part was directed at uncle Walker, as she didn’t get much response from Kite who was lost in all the new experiences.

“That would be splendid, young lady, as I too will have business to take care of. I’ll make sure he’ll meet you at the adventure society campus, outside the administration building.”

Dragonfly gave him a beaming smile in response, before following her master as they went their separate ways. Kite waved a forlorn farewell.

It wasn’t until the door of uncle Walker’s small apartment closed behind them, shutting out almost all noise, that Kite felt his faculties returning. Walker guided him to sit at the small table while he retrieved some dried meat from his dimensional satchel which he offered to Kite.

“Thank you, uncle. I can’t believe we’re really here. The city sure is… a lot.”

Uncle Walker smiled wryly. “It sure is. While it has its definite perks, there is a reason that I’m mostly out on the road.”

He gestured to the small apartment around them. “It's not much, but this is where I live. For the few days here and there that I’m actually in the city at least.”

Kite’s tired mind had recovered enough to take in the small home. It was the attic floor of a three-story house. The insides were clean and simple, with a bed, table and bookshelf being the biggest pieces of furniture. While the pieces of furniture were few, the amount of memorabilia scattered around the place was substantial.

The slanted walls were clad in a hodgepodge mix of tapestry and other decorations, and the bookshelf and other surfaces also had their own collections. Kite could see a rather large, uncut crystal, the hilt of a broken sword, a few loose scales shimmering in rainbow colors, bottles of perfume and a myriad of other paraphernalia.

Uncle Walker continued. “I have a spare key, so make yourself at home for as long as you like. If all goes well, you’ll also be an adventurer soon enough and have your own contracts and trials to manage. It would be my pleasure to house you, and good that someone actually looks after the place a bit more frequently.”

“Thank you, uncle Walker.” Kite was bone-tired after the long journey, but couldn’t help the smile which broke through his weary exterior. He knew uncle Walker wasn’t beholden to take him in and that his duties probably had ended long ago. It felt good to have another to count as family.

“Now get some rest, little Kite, while I go and procure an extra bed.” he said while getting up and moving toward the door. “Tomorrow, we’ll see if we can’t get you started on your way to becoming an adventurer.”