Nero
Nero backs up to a large tree, the dark violet Entity closes in on him and the broomstick is vibrating harshly in his hands. His slow draw of Aether from the stick hardly seems to make it settle. Please don’t blow up. Please don’t blow up! He glances around in the early morning darkness for easy cover and sees nothing. I don’t think I can block anymore.
The Entity shoots a bolt of energy at him and he reacts instantly with the broomstick. Oh no! His body tenses and he pushes against the Aether. He feels the impact and hears a small pop off to the side of him. A ring of smoke rises from the ground.
Did I just deflect that?
The Entity flickers briefly and attacks again. Nero focuses on putting pressure against the Aether in his broomstick and sends another bolt of energy ricocheting off his stick.
This is awesome! Now I don't have to worry about this thing blowing up in my face! A smile creeps across his lips and he starts to advance, pushing the Entity back and earning himself some breathing room. “Not so tough now ‘Mister I can use Aether but I'm still just a blob of mist!’ Or is it Misses Pinky?”
The Entity grows even darker, only a hint of violet is visible and its attacks reflect the same harshness. Nero is driven on his heels, swinging the stick wildly in an effort to keep up.
“Alright! Pink’s not so bad.” Nero dives out of the way while blocking a shot. I need to go on the offensive or I'm going to get smoked! He deflects another few attacks, each time the stick is knocked around like he is blocking a ball. Wait a second! If I can deflect the attacks― I wonder...
He grips the stick in both hands, settles on the balls of his feet, and everything seems to slow. A small spot on the Entity brightens momentarily and an especially large bolt of energy emerges. Nero steps into it and swings with all his might, connecting with what feels like a small house made of concrete. There is a slight hesitation, then a painful increase in the stick's vibrations, a bright flash, and a surge of energy that propels Nero through the air trailing smoke like a streamer. He hits the ground first with his butt and tumbles backwards into a bush. Pain stabs him in the stomach each time he tries to take a breath, reducing him to short gasps. Slowly his breathing comes back and the ache through his entire body takes over. A strange smoky smell tickles his nostrils and he closes his eyes.
Ouch.
Hurried footsteps crunch through the surrounding area. Great... Maybe if I don't move they won't see me.
“Are you okay?” Comes the voice of a young girl.
Dang. Nero claws his way from the bush and struggles to his feet. The same Borukin girl and man he has seen at Saraf's are looking at him, Natina and Grebson. Princess! What do I do? The girl's eyebrows are furrowed while the man's face is completely neutral. He has the Aether cast symbols of Pahzan, Icor, and Moltrik tattooed on his face. Nero quickly glances around and to his relief the Entity is gone.
“What are you doing in that bush?” Natina asks.
“Uhhh... I was... um.... sleeping. If that's okay?”
The girl tilts her head to the side and frowns. “Then why are you smoking?”
“I don’t smoke!”
“No, look at yourself. You’re smoking!”
What is she talking about? Nero looks at himself and he is definitely smoking. He tries to clear the air with his hands to little effect. “Oh that? Uhhh... that's normal,” he says with a cough
She raises her eyebrows. “It's normal for you to look like you were roasting over a smoldering fire?”
Yeah I guess that was pretty stupid. Nero looks around for inspiration among the plants. Maybe I can change the subject. “What are you doing back here? No one’s ever back here.”
“Grebson,” she says signaling to the impressively large Borukin, “wanted us to go for a walk through the park after training. We heard a big explosion so we came to look and we found a overly cooked human boy!”
Nero's shoulders drop. Was it that loud? “You're not going to drop this are you?”
“No 'cause it's pretty ridiculous. Did you blow yourself up or something? What were you doing?”
“Nothing,” he spurts out quickly though she is unconvinced. Did she see anything? “You know... the usual.”
“I'd sure like to know what the 'usual' is.”
“Uhhh...” Nero steps from one foot to the other awkwardly and avoids eye contact. A few moments of silence pass by.
“Alright Natina, we should go.” The deep voice of Grebson makes Nero jump.
Natina shrugs. “Fine. He was getting boring anyways.” She turns and tramples off.
Nero swallows as Grebson walks up to him. “You work for Saraf don't you?” Nero barely forces a nod. “Good, then I'll see you later.” Grebson turns and follows Natina.
Nero slaps the sides of his thighs. What heck did I do this time?
*****
Nero hurries into Saraf's shop after Sosimo's morning exercise, his hair is still slightly damp from a quick rinse.
“Smoke flavored today Nero?” Saraf asks with a chuckle.
Nero sniffs his shirt. Still? He hurries off to his morning chores before Saraf can further comment. Where am I going to find another broomstick?
Mid day passes and the bell on the door jingles for the fourth time.
Saraf moves towards the front. “Did you leave something Grebson?”
“I'm here to talk about the boy.”
Nero glances up to see the massive Borukin staring at him. Here it comes...
“I know he doesn’t look like much, but his brain isn’t as feeble as you’d expect,” Saraf says.
“That’s not what I want to talk about.”
“Well it’s hard to find good work these days, especially when the people I train leave,” Saraf says looking straight into Grebson’s eyes. “So I don’t have the luxury to be picky even if he’s not Borukin.”
“Can he use Aether?”
Saraf beckons Nero closer. “Can you?”
“I don’t know.” Nero is unable to hold either of their gazes.
Saraf holds up a hand to Grebson. “Don’t let that answer fool you about the brain thing. I don’t think it’s properly connected to his mouth.”
“Aether or not, he seems to have enough time in the morning to light himself on fire, I think we should put him to work,” Grebson says.
“But I’ve already put him to work.”
“I can see that, but I was considering using him to motivate Natina during her training.”
Saraf walks over to Nero and lifts up his arm. “He's a bit skinny. I'm not sure how much motivation he'd provide.”
Nero pulls his arm back and glares at Saraf.
“True, but just having another person doing some of the physical activities, might help to give her some encouragement,” Grebson says. “She’ll have someone closer to her age to relate to and work with.”
“Hmm I just had a thought,” Saraf scratches his chin. “Even though Nero’s particularly skinny and his mouth isn’t connected to his not so feeble brain, Natina and him could relate, so she might try harder when we push her.”
Tattoos on Grebson’s arms ripple over his flexing muscles. “That’s a good thought Saraf.”
Saraf smiles. “The old man’s still got it.”
“So you agree?” Grebson asks.
Saraf nods. “Might as well. I'll just have to check with Sosimo.”
“He’s with Sosimo?”
“Him and a few other rascals as I hear.”
“Children? Is he getting better?”
“Why don’t you call him and find out.”
Grebson holds up his hand and walks out.
Saraf waves Grebson off. “Thanks Grebson, you have a good day too,” he says melodramatically. Saraf turns to Nero and thumps him on the back. “Well, I sure hope she doesn't hurt you.”
“I can take it. She’s just a girl.”
Saraf smiles. “That’s the kind of thinking that’ll get you hurt.”
*****
The steady drone of the Aether generating bike hums in the background.
“Is this all I'm going to do?” Nero asks as he pedals.
“Have you seen the size of your legs?” Saraf asks. “They’re shockingly toothpick like. This’ll do you some good.” He turns to Natina while he stands next to Nero in his training room. A device with a lepisent rests on a table and is pointing at Natina. Saraf puts his finger on the button. “Alright Natina, are you ready to start your Odo training? We’ll continue where we left off with Odosa.”
Natina nods while holding a light brown piece of polished wood in front of her. “I'm ready.”
Saraf taps the device and a small fireball shoots from it. Natina whips up her styk and blocks it. A puff of smoke curls away from a scorch mark midway up her styk.
Saraf frowns. “Come on Natina, focus.”
Natina tightens her grip on the styk and scowls at the lepisent fixture.
“Relax. It won’t work if you’re tense,” Saraf says.
Another fireball shoots at her and again there is a puff of smoke.
Natina looks from the scorch mark to Saraf. “What’s wrong? I did this yesterday!” She quickly glances at Nero but avoids his eyes.
“It’ll take time,” Saraf says. “Everyone has to work on it. You’re making good progress. Now try again.”
This time, the fireball winks out of existence as soon as it touches the styk. Natina jumps and Saraf smiles.
I can do that! “Could I try?”
“Odosa is a Borukin skill,” Saraf says. “To absorb Aether into a styk is not something everyone can do.”
“But I think I can do it.”
“I’m sure, and you’ll think that right up until a fireball takes your face off and then what am I supposed to tell Sosimo?” He turns back to Natina. “Again.”
No one ever believes me! Nero looks down at the handlebars and tries to push his frustration into the pedals.
Little fireballs shoot from the device at a steadily increasing rate. Natina absorbs most, but a few produce smoke. Saraf continues to release fireballs until sweat is building on her forehead. When he finally stops, Natina smiles.
Saraf nods at Grebson who is sitting to the side. “You were right, she’s trying harder than normal.”
“Right about what?” Natina frowns at Grebson.
Saraf waves his hand. “Never mind. We’re here to train not chitchat. As you know, blocking Aether attacks relies on absorbing the energy and is accomplished by the blocker becoming one with their styk. If you don’t block correctly, damage will be done to the styk, but if you block too much, it’ll fill up and explode. There are several techniques you can use to avoid overload. We will start with the easiest, which is a simple Aether deflection called Odomi. This is a great skill to use when you have no other choice. It’s actually a bit easier when your styk has Aether in it. The only problem is unless you’re deflecting it at an enemy, the Aether’s being wasted.
“In order to deflect, you need to focus on keeping the Aether and your styk from merging.” Saraf points to a target drawn in chalk on the wall. “Try to aim there.”
Ooo. Could I deflect attacks back at the Entity?
Saraf sends out a fireball but Natina blocks it. “Focus Natina, keep the energy between your styk and the fireball separate, it’s a matter of stopping the Aether.” This time the fireball hits her stick and wavers for an instant, suddenly shattering into a shower of sparks. “Good that’s closer.”
Finally Natina starts to deflect the fireballs in pretty much every direction except for the target area. A ring of smoke rises from another scorch mark on the wall right over Saraf’s head.
Saraf straightens himself up. “Okay seriously, try to aim for the target.”
Natina continues and the walls are soon covered by marks. Only a few have actually hit the target on the wall.
Saraf looks around and shakes his head. “You did well but I’m even more impressed with the mess you made. We’ll definitely have to work on your aim.”
“Maybe if you’d show me how, I’d do better,” Natina says tauntingly. “Can you even do it anymore?”
Saraf raises an eyebrow and then looks at Grebson who shrugs. “Alright, fine,” Saraf says. “I’ll show you once after you and Nero are done sparring.”
Natina jumps up. “Great!”
Nero slows his pedaling. “We’re going to spar?”
Saraf beckons Grebson over. “Will you charge the Aether container for the demonstration while I train the little ones?”
Grebson nods and relieves Nero from the bike after adjusting the seat height. He flips it up to a higher gear and the hum that filled the room before, turns into a loud drone.
“You two are going to do something Nero,” Saraf says over the noise. “I hope it’s going to be something we can call sparring but that depends on how quick you catch on.”
Saraf takes a half an hour to go over some general grappling moves with Nero, while Grebson oversees Natina performing different sequences of movements with her styk.
“Oh boy, we’re going to have to practice this on our lunch breaks Nero. You need some work but none the less, the show must go on.” Saraf leads Nero over to Natina. “ “Alright Nero, I want you to try to take the styk from Natina.” Saraf eyes Natina. “Just don't hit him with it, Natina. This is a grappling exercise.”
“Uhh... How am I supposed to do that?” Nero asks.
“Just go after it.” Saraf pushes him forward but Nero resists. “Try something we just practiced.”
Natina waves the styk in front of him. “Are you scared because I'm a girl?”
“A giant girl...” Nero says under his breath.
“What did you say?” Natina takes a step forward.
“Nothing.” Nero squeaks just before he lunges for the styk.
There is a blur of movement and Nero hears a loud smack and the wind leaves his lungs.
Natina looks down with a smirk. “Did I hurt you?”
Saraf pulls Nero up. “I’m glad Natina is showing a bit of fierceness but jeeze Nero, did you pay attention to anything I just went over?”
Nero continues to get thrown around for several more attempts, the last of which leaves him on the ground struggling to catch his breath.
“Okay I think we should call that enough before we break Nero. We’ll have to come up with a way to even it out.” Saraf turns to Grebson. “How's the charging of the Aether container?”
“It's good enough for the demonstration. Nero, take over for me.” Grebson hops off the bike and goes to the fireball generator.
Saraf picks out a short styk that he holds lightly in one hand and readies himself. “Just one right now Grebson.”
Grebson turns up the knob on the device. The air around the fireball generator crackles with energy and a large, fast moving fireball shoots out from it. In a flash Saraf flicks his wrist and deflects it directly in the middle of the target area. “See? Piece of pie.”
Natina claps her hands. “That was great. Do more!”
Saraf stands back in front of the generator. “Alright Grebson, shoot a couple at me.”
“Are you sure you don’t want your normal styk old man?” Grebson asks.
“Who you calling old?”
“Suit yourself.” Grebson leans over to Nero. “Just keep on pedaling boy,” he whispers out of the corner of his mouth.
Saraf easily deflects the first fireball at the target, and before it even lands home, another one is blazing towards his chest. He flicks his wrist and again deflects the fireball directly at the target. Grebson continues to shoot fireballs as fast as he can. Saraf dodges and ducks around some while sending the rest at the target, even deflecting some in mid spin behind his back. Eventually the lepisent Grebson is using backfires and Grebson pulls back his hand.
Saraf looks at him breathing deeply. “Did you forget how to count?”
“You expect me to pass up an opportunity to try to get even for the stuff you put my brother and I through when we were younger?” Grebson asks with a smirk.
“How’d that work out for you?”
“Well you’re pretty fast for an old man, so I’ll have to try harder.”
“That I am!” Saraf turns to Natina who is beaming. “How was that?”
Grebson glances at Nero who is still pedaling and adjusts the knobs down on the lepisent fixture. He shoots a much smaller fireball, which scorches Saraf’s pants and makes him jump.
“That was low Grebson,” Saraf says while looking at his burnt pants. “These were my favorite pants.”
“I remember a wise man once told me to never let my guard down.”
“I can’t imagine you keeping any wise men for company you baboon.”
“You’re probably right,” Grebson says. “I’d like to talk to you upstairs before we leave if you’re done with lessons for the day.”
Saraf puts the short styk back. “Very well, let’s get it over with. Please clean up before you leave Natina.” Saraf and Grebson walk upstairs.
Natina grabs a rag, fills a bucket with water, and begins to scrub a blackened section of wall.
Nero walks over with another rag. “Would you like help?”
“Even after I totally kicked your butt?”
Nero shrugs.
“Sure then. Thanks.” She throws her braided hair back over her shoulder.
Nero starts to scrub the wall. “It seems like everyone here has long hair and those white tattoos. Why’s that?”
“It’s a tradition. The tattoos represent Borukin accomplishments and their status. Family crests are on our backs, accomplishments go on the chest and stomach, military rank goes on the arms, Corusmin achievements go on our faces, and only the king is allowed to tattoo his scalp. Only warriors that are in service shave their head. The length of your hair shows how long you have been out of service.”
“Even the girls shave their heads?” Nero asks with a slightly open mouth.
“The women in the military do. Why wouldn’t they?”
“I’ve never seen a woman with a shaved head.”
“Well then maybe you should open your eyes.”
“What does Corusmin mean?” Nero asks.
“Corusmin achievements go to people that have made it to the monoliths of a Corusnigma. Do you know what those are?”
“Really strong areas of a particular Aether cast?”
Natina nods. “Yes basically and at the center of each one is a monolith. It’s very dangerous and only very skilled Borukins attempt it which makes it one of our greatest achievements.”
“What do they look like?”
“I’ve never seen one in real life, but I’ve seen pictures. They’re all different depending on their cast of Aether. The Nesiv Corusnigma has giant rocks floating in the air. It’s so cool looking. To get to the monolith you have to go over bridges that span these rocks and traverse areas where the gravity is random and unstable.”
“That sounds pretty awesome. I’d like to see that some day.”
“Yeah me too… So what were you doing in the park when Grebson and I found you?”
Should I tell her? After a moment of scrubbing he speaks. “I was playing with this entity thing I found in the park.”
“An entity? In the park?”
“Yeah it’s violet and red and yellow, and it shoots electricity at me. We kind of have a little sparring challenge that’s really fun.”
There is a moment of silence until Natina laughs. “An entity! Ha! You almost got me Nero. Come on be serious. Were you playing with fireworks? You really should be careful with that stuff.”
“I know…” She doesn’t believe me either… Nero turns back to scrubbing in silence on a particularly dark burn mark. “Aren't you a princess?” He asks when it finally disappears.
“Yeah...” Natina avoids eye contact and focuses intently on a small scorch mark.
“Shouldn't you have servants to clean up for you?”
“What's that supposed to mean? Am I not allowed to work like a normal person?”
“No, I didn’t mean that. I just figured servants would clean up after you since you’re a princess.”
Natina lets out a puff of air and relaxes her shoulders. “There usually are, but for Saraf to train me, he demanded I take responsibility for my own actions and clean up after myself. Usually Saraf and Grebson help and it’s kinda fun. It makes me feel like I belong, rather than being detached from everyone around me. That's the lame thing about being a princess; everyone is afraid to talk to me.”
“But that’s pretty cool you have a body guard. Grebson looks like he could really kick some butt. He’s the biggest Borukin I’ve ever seen.”
“Cool, if you like having no privacy and always having to get permission to do things. It makes it hard to have friends, but Grebson is my favorite so far. He’s nice and not as scared of my father as the others so he lets me have some fun occasionally.”
“What did he do to get all his tattoos?” Nero asks.
“He won’t talk about it but a lot of people respect him. He completed three Corusnigmas and probably would have gotten four if he tried. There’s not a Borukin alive with four Corusmin achievements.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“He was going to the Nesive Corusnigma but a really bad Havityn hit Kiats. It killed his whole family. Only his brother survived. He hasn’t competed since and gave up his hunt for achievements. My dad says he became a hunter for the crown. He was the one that took out the Murderess. Do you know who that is?”
“Korbin has an action figure called the spider murderess is that the same?”
“Oh yeah. There’s only one like her.”
“I didn’t think she was real.”
“She used to be the most feared woman on the planet. She’d leave little spider tokens for her victims. If you ever got one, you’re days were coming to an end no matter what you did.”
“Scary.”
“Yeah…” They work for a few minutes in silence. “Are you excited for the games? They’re less then a month away! Are you going to watch? What’s your favorite event?”
“Uhhh…”
“My favorite is the Trial of Odosa. It’s on the last day. My brother, Kamin, is competing this year. He might even give Overseer Carason a run for her money but I don’t think Kamin really has a chance. She’s in charge of all of the schools in Kiats and my idol with no one to match her skill in Odo. I hope one day I can be as great as her. Then I could compete in the Games and my dad will be proud of me.”
Dad… Nero attacks another scourge mark.
After another half hour of cleaning and sparse conversation, they finish and Natina and Grebson leave Saraf’s shop.
In the afternoon Saraf closes his shop and Sosimo shows up, dragging behind him a large, heavy container on wheels.
Nero greets him at the door. “What’s that for?”
“It’s a large Aether container that has the Aether we’ll be using today. It’s tradition to make an Artifact from your own blood and sweat so I’ve been charging this thing for the last couple of weeks.” Sosimo pats the container. “Unfortunately this beast is heavy but it’s the only way to easily store usable Aether for a long period of time.” Sosimo whips his backpack around to one shoulder and reaches in. “And this is the essence I'm going to use.” He pulls out a cylindrical container with small silver windows and hands it to Nero. There is a gentle white glow coming from inside.
“This is just like the containers we found back home!”
Sosimo nods. “I'm not surprised; it's a pretty common design. The metal keeps the essence from escaping and the windows allow you to see if there’s anything inside even though they’re a bit dark; a thin metal layer covers them. Take it down to Saraf’s workshop and he and I will lug this elephant downstairs,” he says patting the large container once more.
In the workshop, Saraf opens a door to a sizable metal container that sits a meter off the ground. In the middle there is a sphere that stands on a rod like a lollypop and a small plank, that looks like a diving board, comes form the side. A coil of wire lies at the bottom. “Sosimo, may I see your net and vessel?”
Sosimo opens a small box on the cart and hands Saraf a crystal rod with inlaid red wood spiraling around the base to the middle and a metal webbing of the same shape connected to a metal base.
Saraf inspects the rod. “Not bad. It looks like it’s going to be a pulse lepisent, though I would’ve concentrated the wood more towards the end. This is red wood?”
“It is.”
“Interesting. Not my favorite, but this is your artifact.” Saraf sets the rod down and looks at the metal webbing. He pushes down a little clip and the webbing detaches from the base. He then splits it into two pieces and closes it together with the rod in the middle. “See this Nero?” He holds up the crystal rod with the webbing. “This is the vessel we’ll turn into an artifact and the metal mesh about it is called the net.” He points to the metal base. “That is called the base. Got it?”
Nero nods. “Easy peasy.”
“Now there are two parts to an essence: the core and the shell. The core is what channels the Aether and defines the essence’s characteristics, while the shell provides an anchor to our world and physical protection. The shell can take on many forms. For an Aether being, it’s their body and for an Artifact, it’s the vessel.”
He puts the base on the diving board-like plank and plugs the coiled cable into it. “This cable will energize the base, which will attract the core while the sphere will attract the shell.” Saraf closes the door on the container. “Sosimo, are you ready for the essence?”
Sosimo screws the essence container into the side and rotates a door release mechanism. “Alright, the essence is free.”
Saraf pulls Nero over to two switches. “This one powers the base, while this one powers the sphere.” He flips the switch for the base, and a little green indicator light goes on above it.
“Shouldn't we flip the other one too?” Nero asks.
“We need to let the core settle on the base. If we don’t give it time, both the shell and the core will get pulled towards the sphere, which doesn’t help us.” Saraf waits for several moments and flips the next switch. “The two should now be separated.” He opens the door to the large container and floating over the base is a mini white star.
“Is that the core?” Nero asks.
“It is. The only thing keeping it from dissipating right now is the energy from the base since it no longer has a shell.”
“What happens to the shell?”
“It’s mostly just Aether so we’ll use it in the next step along with the Aether Sosimo brought.” Saraf grabs the rod in the metal webbing and slowly connects the webbing to the base. The core brightens as it is forced inside the vessel. “The vessel now will provide the protection from the outside world, but they won't fully bond until we turn the power off the base. Before we let it bond, I'm going to force Aether through it. The core will react to this, and take on the same behavior temporarily. Before I stop, we'll turn off the power to the base, which will permanently bond the core to the object and set its properties to the Aether I was using. The actual design of the vessel determines if it is a continuous type lepisent or a pulse type.” Saraf turns to Sosimo. “So what behavior did you want?”
“I would like Electromagnetic radiation with a spread of frequencies of up to three hundred GHz.”
“Wow, would you like a cherry on top too?”
“If you can manage, sure, but I think you have your work cut out for you already.”
“That I do. This would certainly be useful to fight an advanced race that relies heavily on machines.”
“That's the point.”
“So that’s why Sosimo needs your help,” Nero says. “Your cast is Moltrik and Pahzan while Sosimo’s is Icor.”
Saraf looks at Sosimo and smiles. “Not bad for a human eh?”
“Not bad at all,” Sosimo says.
“There are ways to make Artifacts that aren’t your cast,” Saraf says. “It’s just tricky, never works as well, and requires some special tools. Let’s set the properties and finish the process.”
He sets the base into a holder while Sosimo brings over a cable from the long-term Aether storage device and connects it to a crystal sphere. Saraf places his hand on the sphere and touches the small exposed section of the rod in the metal webbing.
Saraf closes his eyes. “Here we go.”
Sosimo pulls Nero back a little ways. “It's going to be a little rough at first.” He places his hand on a switch. “I'll cut the power to the base as soon as it settles.”
Large sparks begin to arc between the object and the surroundings, causing Nero to duck. Sosimo shields Nero by stepping in front of him. Saraf's face grimaces and his breathing grows deeper and more labored. Waves of energy begin to pour from the end of the lepisent and the stray bolts of energy to the surroundings lessen.
“Is it there yet?” Nero asks, peering around Sosimo.
“Not much longer, it's almost settled.”
The sparks disappear completely and a continuous wave of energy radiates from the tip.
Sosimo flips the switch. “Alright Saraf, that should do it.”
The energy cuts out. Saraf opens his eyes and blinks a few times. He grabs the edge of the table for support and Sosimo hurries over to help him to a seat.
Sosimo smiles with a hand on Saraf’s back. “Not bad for an old man.”
“Old man!” Saraf grunts. “I could still run circles around you if I had to…” He puts his hand on his head. “Oye. I am getting old.”