Nero
“No, no, no. You need to focus and strike it like it’s a giant bat trying to nip your ears off,” Saraf says sitting next to the fireball generator. “It should come off of your styk faster than it started.”
“But shouldn't I be adding to its Aether as well? How am I supposed to do that when my styk is empty?” Natina asks waving the piece of wood in front of her and wearing a pair of clear safety glasses.
“Yes, but you can’t jump over a pair of donkeys if you don’t clear the first one first. Odoki is a very delicate skill and any Aether in your styk can cause it to overload if you aren’t practiced. It takes time to control how much and how fast you transfer Aether through Odoki. Just like deflecting Aether it’ll take time and practice. Trust me, this is the best way. I've had many of my styks blow up on me because I tried to rush this. We need to practice small first, adding energy purely through the physical contact.”
Is that what happened to my broomstick when it exploded? Nero continues to pedal the bike. “Why does the stick explode?”
“Odoki puts a lot of strain on your styk. If you have a lot of Aether built up and you attempt this with poor control, all the energy will try to empty instantly. This can exceed the Aethersotto of your styk, which will cause it to overload and explode. Same goes if you try to do this to an attack more powerful than you can deal with. Your styk won’t be able to handle the stress. A true master can modulate exactly how much energy releases from their styk.”
“Why would you risk this?” Nero asks.
“This is the fastest way to drain energy from your styk. So you would use Odoki if your styk is almost maxed out, or if you simply want to go on the offensive to change up the tempo of the battle, potentially giving you an edge. It’s also much faster than trying to deflect or block an attack, so if you’re desperate, this will help speed up your defense.”
“If you are adding Aether to the attack, what happens to the cast?”
Saraf raises his eyebrows and smiles. “That’s a very good question. To think I used to make fun of your feeble brain… When you deflect an attack, nothing happens to the cast, but if you perform Odoki the cast of the attack will change to that of your styk. Though your styk doesn’t actually absorb the attacking Aether, they become one for just a moment.” Saraf turns back to Natina and places his hand on the fireball generator. “Remember, there are two important aspects to this Odo form. First you need to swing at the Aether and make contact, which can be challenging in itself and second, you need to focus on driving your stick through the Aether. For especially powerful attacks, it may feel like you’re hitting something as hard as Grebson’s head but just keep your styk moving forward. This is a good mental trick to keeping your styk strong. Are you ready?”
Natina nods weakly and Saraf hits the button. A fireball grows at the tip of the generator slowly, when it finally reaches the size of an apple, it detaches, oscillating in shape like a droplet of water that just dripped from a faucet with swirling colors of orange and red twisting in on each other. Natina curls her lip and swings with her whole body. The blob of fire brightens as she makes contact and flares to a yellow before it zips off at Nero. Nero dives from the bike as it explodes against the wall. The momentum from Natina's swing causes her to spin around in a circle before she catches herself. Grebson chuckles.
Saraf looks at the giant scorch mark on his wall and shakes his head. “Nice hit slugger. You didn't need to murder it. You nearly took off Nero's head!”
Nero dusts himself off. “That was awesome!”
Natina smiles at him. “Thanks.”
“Could I try Saraf?” Nero asks quietly.
Saraf frowns. “You’re going to keep asking until I let you, aren't you?” Nero nods. “Well I suppose we can give it a shot one day, but you must earn the right first. You need to have your basic physical skills down first. When you become proficient in Roroon then we can give it a try, but it's your fault if you get hurt.”
Nero smiles. “Deal!”
“Good.” Saraf turns to Natina. “We’ll have to figure out a better arrangement so you don't destroy my training room because at this rate there won't be much left. In the mean-time, let's move on to Odora, you can’t do much damage with Aether drawing.” Saraf walks over to a rack and grabs a leather strap. He attaches it around Natina's waist and then ties her right arm, with the styk in her hand, behind her back. Saraf hops on the bike and starts to pedal. “You two know the drill. We'll warm up like normal before we give Natina any Aether.”
Nero walks over to Natina and they circle one another for a few moments before Nero attacks. It takes him a few tries before he finally gets a hold of her and they wrestle. Even with one arm tied behind her back, Natina and Nero are a close match. They grapple with each other and strain to win the advantage and finally Nero slips a foot behind Natina and puts her on the ground.
Nero throws up his hands in triumph. “Got you!”
Saraf claps. “Holy smokes, I didn’t think I’d live to see the day. Looks like those little muscles of yours actually work to some extent. Now Natina come over here and charge your styk. This time when you two fight, I want you to draw the Aether from the stick for extra strength.”
“This hardly seems fair,” Nero says.
“And I’m getting old and my back always hurts, which isn’t fair either, but I’m not complaining,” Saraf says.
Natina walks over to the Aether storage container and touches it with her styk. She walks back to Nero and smiles. “Why’d you stop dancing?”
Nero and Natina wrestle again, and again it is a close match with Nero just barely managing to throw her down. He performs a celebratory dance around her as she gets up, glaring.
“Just let the Aether flow into you Natina, and the rest should happen naturally. Don't try to fight or resist it,” Saraf says.
Natina closes her eyes for a moment in concentration. A smile spreads across her face. “I think I got it.”
Nero stops dancing. Great…
Natina lunges at Nero with surprising quickness. He dodges her hand once but the second time she comes around and grabs his arm. She spins him once around and throws him to the ground. Natina starts to dance. “What'cha going to do now skinny boy?”
Nero jumps up and tries to wrestle with her but her speed and strength are too much. He lands on his back again.
“Alright good job you two. Practice a few more times and I'll be right back.” Saraf hops off the bike and walks into his workshop.
“You know this is so unfair right?” Nero asks as Natina stares him down.
“Yeah. It's too bad you can't draw Aether.”
But I can! I just need to grab onto the styk. I think…
When they start again, Nero manages to just slide by a few of Natina's lunges. She swipes again and he goes low, throwing her off center. He grabs the styk in her hand as she tries to regain her balance. It vibrates with Aether and he opens himself up, letting it flow into him. A surge of strength runs through him and he tosses Natina. She lands with a thump on her back and her trapped arm, letting out a yelp.
Oh no!
Nero and Grebson hurry over and Saraf is close behind.
“What happened?” Saraf asks.
“It looked like Nero got a lucky throw and Natina landed on her arm,” Grebson replies.
Saraf gently unties her arm and she immediately cradles it with tears running down her face. “Who thought of tying her arm behind her back anyways?” Saraf asks.
“That was you Saraf,” Grebson says.
Saraf shakes his head. “What a numbcracker.” He pulls Natina to her feet. “Let's get you upstairs and take a look.”
Saraf and Natina walk upstairs while Grebson stares Nero down. “I saw what you did.” He reaches down and picks up the styk.
Nero looks down. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt her, I promise. Please don’t tell the king.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You drew Aether from the styk, didn’t you?”
Nero nods. “I think so.”
“How?”
“I'm not sure, I just did. I can also block and deflect Aether attacks.”
“I didn't believe her, but there is something unique about you.”
“Her who?”
“Only a few races other than Borukins can perform those skills. Humans definitely cannot, but you’re somehow different. Meet me before the sun rises tomorrow morning where Natina and I found you in the park, and come prepared. I want you to show me what you can do and I hope for your sake, you don’t disappoint.”
Nero swallows. “Okay.” I hope he doesn’t destroy me...
*****
Nero enters Sosimo's shop, which has a steady flow of customers scanning candy selections and being helped by Sosimo's employees. Two children excitedly run past him as he walks through to the back alley and then to the second floor where he finds the other children training with Sosimo. Iona and Ryder are working together and a small pit in Nero’s stomach forms.
Thea runs over to him immediately with a grin on her face. She holds up her smoking arm with a lepisent strapped to it and points it at Nero. “I just womped Korbin with this thing!”
Nero ducks and Sosimo walks over to meet him. “Come on Thea,” Sosimo says. “Don't point that at people's faces.” She lowers the lepisent and looks a little embarrassed. “Why are you home early?”
“Saraf made me take the rest of the day off because I was feeling bad. I accidently hurt this girl he’s been training in the morning.”
Sosimo pats him on the back. “Don’t feel too bad. I’m sure it’s nothing serious. He seems pretty happy with your help so you must be doing a good job over there.”
“Yeah at least he doesn’t make fun of my brain anymore.”
“We need to get back to training, but stick around afterwards, I have something you might be interested in seeing.” He pats Nero on the shoulder and directs Thea back to training.
Korbin stands up from a rest and groans when he sees her coming.
Nero sits off to the side and watches the other children blast each other using lepisents. Seeing Thea hit Korbin in the middle of his chest with a shot of Aether brings a smile to Nero’s face.
He shifts his perspective and looks at the swirling Aether coming from the children. Ryder has a yellow glow, Korbin has a brown glow, and Iona has a green glow. Thea, on the other hand, has a combination of red, blue, green, and yellow Aether of which each is less vibrant than that of the other children. Nero stops to look closer when he notices that only her head glows with a green Aether. The Aether from the rest of her body mixes briefly about her neck as it pushes towards her head but the green Aether always surges back.
That’s cool! What does it mean?
At the end of the training, all of the children are well blackened and Sosimo sends them off to clean up.
Sosimo walks over to Nero shaking his head. “Not the prettiest sight, huh?”
Nero smiles. “It's fun to watch though.”
“It is. Wait here and I'll bring down my new toy.” Sosimo hurries upstairs to the restricted floor.
Iona sits down next to Nero. “Hey, so how's it going?”
“Alright. You?”
“I'm good. Playing with lepisents are pretty fun.”
“It looks like it.”
“Thea's doing the best. The rest of us are pretty equal. It’s tough but I enjoy it. What have you been doing? Are you still exploring the city at all? Any adventures?”
Nero shrugs. His eyes focus on nothing in particular and a smile plays at the corners of his mouth. A few.
“What about working for Sosimo's friend? Is that fun?”
“Yeah it's pretty sweet. Saraf has all sorts of cool artifacts and junk. Last month they let me watch them make a lepisent, which was totally awesome.”
“How did they do it?”
Nero's eyes light up. “So they got this essence and put it into a box and then flipped some switches that pulled the essence apart to separate its core from its shell. Do you know what that is?” Iona's eyes slightly glaze over. “Well the core is the part that―”
Sosimo stomps back down the stairs with a case. “Here it is Nero,” He says while he removes a single sided black metal sword. The sword has two slots just above the guard, with carvings and other materials laid into the metal. “Has Saraf ever shown you one of these?”
Nero shakes his head.
“Probably because he doesn't have one. I know he's going to hate me when he sees this.”
“Why's it special?” Iona asks.
“Here Nero, what do you think?”
Nero shifts his perspective and sees the majority of the blade is blurred by a gentle pulsing glow that churns with red, blue, and green Aether. Violet lines fan out from the two slots above the guard and meet up with a violet glowing edge. Occasionally a touch of Aether jumps from the main body and these violet lines briefly glow with the same color. The edge stays incredibly crisp. “Wow this is interesting. I see that it is mostly Pahzan, Moltrik, and Icor Aether with strange Aether lines similar to Katashne’n wood from these slots to the edges. What does it mean?”
“Saraf wasn’t kidding about your talent. It’s called a Porlimin sword and they’re very difficult to make. They accept spherical tursent Artifacts that are similar to lepisents but instead they supplement the Aether the blade cuts with. The two slots give you an instant choice of the Aether to use. The Aether you sensed in the body of the blade provides extra strength and protection from the Aether in the blade. If you look carefully, you'll notice that the edge of this blade isn't even metal, though it'll slice right through your finger.”
Nero looks closely at the blade and runs his finger on the edge. Sure enough he sees a wood grain in the edge and his finger starts to bleed. He sticks his finger in his mouth and hands Sosimo the sword.
“I told you it was sharp. It is Katashne’n wood just as you thought. Anyways, I thought you'd appreciate it.”
Nero pulls his finger briefly out of his mouth. “It's really cool. How much was it?”
Sosimo shakes his head. “You don't want to know.” Sosimo puts the sword back in the case. “So did you remind Saraf we’re going to the second to last day of the Games?”
Nero nods. “What time are we leaving?”
“Probably a little after eight. We'll skip the morning Roroonki so you children can sleep in. It's going to be a long day.”
Yeah... Hopefully that's enough time for Grebson to kick my butt.
*****
Nero hurries through the park with his latest broomstick from Saraf's shop. The sun is just peaking over the horizon, breaking the night’s hold on the land. Nero slows down as he approaches the location.
I wonder where he is.
Be careful he’s hiding.
Nero stops and readies his stick. There is a flash out of the corner of his eye and he spins to block a ball of Aether, which feels like nothing, compared to the Entity's attacks.
Grebson steps out from behind a grouping of trees with a silver gauntlet on each arm. When Nero shifts his perspective, one gauntlet glows with red and the other with blue Aether. Grebson himself has a very detailed green glow about him that reveals all of his features, a styk in one hand has a fainter green glow, and a container he holds in his other hand has an extremely bright pulsing green glow.
Nero lets his perspective shift back to normal and he sees a sliver of a smile reach the corner of Grebson’s mouth. “Good, so you at least have skill enough to perform Odosa.” Grebson exposes the top of the container and transfers the Aether into his styk.
Nero lowers his broomstick and smiles. The hint of a smile falls off Grebson’s face and he instantly attacks with an arcing stream of lightening from one of his gauntlets. Nero throws up his stick and the electricity grabs onto it viciously.
I’ve never dealt with this before. The attack pushes him back but he continues to block. His stick slowly begins to vibrate. What am I supposed to do? He starts to draw some of the Aether for strength but the incoming Aether is far more.
Grebson cuts the attack and follows quickly with two fast moving balls of fire. With his increased speed and strength, Nero easily blocks them. He dives out of the way of a third and deflects a fourth straight back at Grebson. Grebson blocks the fireball with his styk.
Grebson looks at Nero with a bit of surprise. “I guess she was right... Let's see what you can handle.”
“Who is ‘she?’ Natina?”
Grebson hurtles another fireball at Nero and he blocks it. The attack knocks him off balance and Grebson starts to raise his left arm.
Great. Not again.
The electricity races out towards Nero. This time Nero tries to push the energy away from his stick. He feels the attack slam into the wood, knocking him one way but jumping to a tree behind him and scorching it. Another fireball flies at him and a stream of lighting follows closely. He deflects the fireball directly back and the lightning latches onto it, mixing the Aether together until it explodes, allowing Nero to move to the side easily.
That was cool.
Nero dives as another fireball zips over his head.
“Damn boy. Saraf won't believe this. How much can you take?”
Nero starts to smile but three more fireballs fly at his face. He deflects the first fireball into the second and they disappear in a flash of heat while he blocks the third.
That works awesome. I'm going to have to use that against the Entity.
He barely pulls his stick up in time as a huge fireball crushes into him. He lands on his butt and rolls backwards, popping back on his feet quickly. A stream of lighting grabs onto his stick, his hands sting and his teeth begin to chatter as the stick is loaded with Aether.
He rolls to the side and swings the stick hard, sending the arcing electricity to the trees. This time as he reaches his feet he jumps one more time. He feels the heat from another fireball wash over him. The broomstick vibrates uncomfortably in his hands.
I'm not sure how much more it can take. What did Saraf say about removing the stored energy? Grebson readies another attack and Nero widens his stance and digs his toes into the ground. BAD IDEA!
Grebson fires a quick moving fireball and Nero swings. The broomstick is jarred violently as though he is hitting a moving truck. He clenches his teeth and drives through it. The energy swells in the stick and travels painfully up his arms. Suddenly it calms. Nero opens his eyes and there is a haze of Aether all around him.
I'm alive! He sees a gigantic ball of Aether flying for Grebson at incredible speed. “Uh oh.”
Grebson's eyes grow large and he pulls up his styk. The ball of energy slams into the stick, knocking Grebson off balance and ricocheting high into the air. Nero watches in amazement as it sails high.
Wow…
BOOM!
The morning sky lights up as the ball of Aether releases its energy, jostling the treetops. Nero immediately readies himself and looks at Grebson. Fire flares in Grebson's eyes and he shoots out a dangerous stream of lightening, which latches instantly to Nero's broom stick. Before Nero can shake it off, two massive fireballs slam into his stick as well. The vibration in Nero’s broomstick jumps critically in an instant and explodes in his hands, sending him spinning into a bush, nailing his thigh with a rock, and landing face down. Every part of his body aches from millions of pinpricks, his hands feel like they are on fire, his thigh is throbbing, and his ears are ringing. He is pulled out of a bush like a ragdoll and set gently on the ground.
“You alive boy?”
Nero grunts and squints his eyes to see. Grebson is standing over him with a touch of concern in his scowl.
“Sorry I lost my temper. I’m not as disciplined as I used to be. If it was an even fight, it would have cost me.”
“You think I could have beat you?”
“No. I’m saying that if we were evenly matched and I behaved like that you would have won, but if this was a real fight I would've just cracked your skull and been done with it.”
Nero holds his head. “You might have done it anyways.”
Grebson looks at his eyes. “You don’t look concussed so I think you’re fine. I’m not usually impressed, but your skill is more than I could have imagined. Your instincts are good even though you're timid in normal life, which is what threw me. I'll have to urge Saraf to let you train fully now, though I'm not sure it would be good for Natina.”
“Why not?”
“Your skill is beyond anyone your age or years older. You might not provide a reachable challenge for her to strive for. Who trained you in Odo?”
Nero looks around. “Uhhh. No one.” Grebson gives him a look. “I just played in the forest... by myself.” Grebson still is unconvinced. “I did listen very closely to Saraf.”
“That I can see.” Grebson reaches down and picks up a sliver of Nero's shredded broomstick. “Another thing that made me doubtful was your styk. I first thought you were holding a broken broomstick.”
“I was.”
Grebson's eyebrows narrows and he looks closer at the wood. “It does seem to be standard wood. Why were you using it?”
Nero shrugs. “I'm not sure, it was the only thing I had and it worked better than a metal shield.”
“Are you being serious?” He says in his deep voice that rattles Nero’s skull.
“Oh yes. Metal doesn't work well at all when blocking―”
Grebson throws up his hand. “I know and every Borukin infant knows. So the only reason you were using the broomstick was out of convenience?”
Nero nods.
“Well then I shall be interested to see what you can do with a decent styk. You do realize your Odoki I deflected could have killed someone? You nearly caught me off guard.”
Nero looks down. “I'm sorry.”
“It's not your fault, you should just be more careful so you don't hurt anyone by accident. If that had hit me I would have deserved it for not paying attention. That's probably why I lost my temper. You scared me.”
“I scared you?”
“Your attack certainly did.”
“But aren't great warriors fearless?”
“Who's to say I'm a great warrior?”
“I just thought―”
“No one is fearless Nero. If they are, they’re either lying or stupid.” Grebson looks about. “We should get out of here. We’re bound to have drawn some attention.” Grebson turns to leave but then stops. “I need to give you something.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a shinny brown, spherical stone with six blue gems evenly spaced around it. “A friend wanted me to give you this.”
“Who?”
“It doesn't matter, just don't lose it.”
Nero takes the token and looks at it. He can sense a very faint hint of red Aether when he shifts his perspective. “What is it?”
“It's a symbol of protection.” Grebson turns as voices float faintly from a distance. “Let's get out of here. People are coming.”
Nero hobbles back to Sosimo's on an aching thigh. He hops in bed with an hour to spare and sleeps peacefully.