by Andrew Rowe
I rolled my eyes. “I left after a brief skirmish.”
That’s technically a way of leaving.
Dawn chuckled in my mind.
“For the future, perhaps a greater degree of caution would be advised. I realize that you are a very capable fighter, but you seem to be underestimating your competition.”
She wasn’t wrong. I nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind for the future. Thank you, Grandmother.”
“Good. That will be all.”
I glanced at Reika, then back to Grandmother. “What, am I the only one that gets criticism?”
“For today, yes.” Grandmother nodded. “Reika did very well.”
Reika shot me a victorious grin.
I gave her a look that may have, admittedly, been a little petulant. “Don’t get too confident, Reika. I still got a higher score.”
She snorted. “Sure. You certainly scored higher on ‘number of times I almost died’, too.”
“You two can continue your childish banter elsewhere.” Grandmother waved a hand. “For now, get some rest. Your training begins in earnest tomorrow.”
I nodded, standing up.
I was looking forward to seeing what Grandmother had in mind for training. A few weeks wasn’t enough time to learn any significant amount of her sword style, but any knowledge of the local combat arts and philosophy would be helpful. The more I learned, the more easily I could develop tactics for countering the local martial arts.
With that, Reika and I headed back to our rooms. We’d meet up again in a few hours, but she wanted to read, and I needed a little time to think.
As irritating as it was to admit, Grandmother was right about my failures during the match.
I’d done exactly the same thing as in the preliminaries. I’d used my destructive aura multiple times, and I’d gone straight with my instincts to attack without slowing down.
I’d already figured out that Dawnbringer was reinforcing my instincts and providing me with additional confidence and courage before the match, but I hadn’t done anything about it.
Sure, I’d told myself, “I’ll be more careful”, but it turns out that saying that when you’re under the effect of something influencing your mind, just saying “I’ll be more careful” alone is pretty useless.
In fact, it’s probably pretty useless even outside of that situation, unless you actually take steps to reinforce it. Words without action behind them are about as useful as an empty cup in the hands of a man dying of thirst.
...No, Corin. Stop talking about enchanting the empty cup. You’re missing my point.
When I’d realized that I was being reckless, I needed to find a way to actually address that directly, and I hadn’t. As a result, I’d taken some injuries and lost valuable time on assaulting that tower. I could have lost the tournament right there.
Now that I’d seen real consequences, I needed to work on a real solution.
The ideal resolution, of course, was to just get so powerful that I could do whatever I wanted without having to pause to worry. But I knew I had at least five opponents on a similar level to mine or higher — Reika, two other wielders, the Green Guardian, and Lady Hartigan — and I couldn’t expect to beat them if I just kept charging in swinging any time a problem came up.
So, I needed another solution.
I could try to minimize Dawn’s influence on my instincts somehow. I could cut of my connection with her, or block her from influencing my mind, or just try to resist any changes she was causing. Those were all terrible options. My connection to Dawn was both emotionally important to both of us and tremendously beneficial to my combat abilities, even if it was causing me some difficulties. I wasn’t going to do anything to deliberately disrupt that.
I could try to do more pre-planning before each match, coming up with clear scenarios in which I needed to force myself to work against my instincts — like retreat or switch to defensive tactics. That was a little more viable, but I frankly wasn’t sure that would work any better than the more general “be careful” approach I’d tried before. In the heat of the moment, it was easy to forget my plans when I had the overwhelming desire to just break straight through whatever obstacle was in front of me.
As much as I loathed admitting it, the best option I could think of was one that I normally avoided at all costs—
Relying on other people.
Don’t get me wrong, I love people. It’s working with them that tended to grate on me.
I liked to think that I worked best on my own. Working with a team often meant that I had to hold back, since so many of my abilities tended toward causing collateral damage.
But maybe that factor was exactly what I needed to solve my current problem.
Maybe if I could reliably bring a teammate with me, like Reika or someone else Grandmother introduced me to...
I, uh, oh. You were listening to all that?
I’m sorry, I don’t want you to think I’m blaming you for any of this.
She was right.
I had been treating Dawn like a tool, not an equal. I knew intellectually that she was a person, just like I was, but I wasn’t immune to my own biases. It was simpler to think of Dawn as just a “talking sword” rather than another individual with her own ideas and goals, and I had fallen into that trap more than I wanted to admit.
When I realized that, I made a commitment to change. The first step of that was accepting what she’d offered.
Sorry, Dawn. Could you, uh, maybe help remind me when I’m getting in over my head?
That isn’t quite—
I sighed.
Thanks, Dawn.
That all made sense.
So, you’re saying you want to get to know my body better?
What if I just was in a flirtatious mood?
So, you just get inhuman ones?
<...That’s irrelevant. Anyway, stop teasing me! Only I tease!>
Nah.
That conversation went on a little while longer. Eventually, I agreed to try to focus on some of my other sensations during training with her, so she could get a better idea of how my biology worked.
I wasn’t sure she was going to enjoy sharing more of my pain and fatigue than she already did, but hopefully, it’d be a valuable lesson.
***
I visited Lia Shay just a bit later, like Grandmother had recommended.
“Oh! Uh, Keras. You’re here.” She smiled at me with a hint of awkwardness. I suspected she was a little overwhelmed speaking to a wielder. “Congratulations on your progress so far.”
“Thanks. You did me a favor by directing me here. I don’t think one of the more typical sponsors would have suited me, and Reika probably would have spent all our money on food within a few days if we tried to go it alone.”
“Oh! You’re welcome. It’s, uh, good for us too. I think you two might have a real chance of winning this one. Not that Grandmother’s other student’s don’t, but...” She looked a little sad, and I could see why. It had to be difficult to accept that a pair of outsiders were their best chances of seeing things through when some of them — including Lia herself — had probably been training with Grandmother Iron for years.
“We’ll make Grandmother proud. Don’t worry.”
She brightened a little bit at that. “Right. And, uh, it’s my role to help with that. I might not look like it, but I’m pretty good at getting information.”
I’m not sure what she pictured an information gatherer looking like. I pictured a scrawny guy who was always changing his glasses, since he was perpetually risking blindness with his illusions. Given that Jonan could look like anyone, the fact that I pictured someone at all was kind of ironic.
...He could have even looked like Lia, really.
I squinted.
I was pretty sure Lia wasn’t Jonan.
Anyway, to avoid looking overly suspicious and rude, I continued the chat. “I’ve heard. Do you have something specific you wanted to tell me?”
“Well, for starters, I wanted to give you an idea of what I can provide for the future. I have deals with a number of different attuned that are specialized in information. Diviners, Seers, and that sort of thing. I also have my own connections with the tournament itself, and I can use those to discreetly look up information on individual people, if you need it.”
“Could you get a magical item identified, and maybe appraised for value?”
The spear, Dawn. I mean the spear.
I tried not to laugh.
“Yes, that would be simple. I can also potentially sell your items to a shop. Turning around items you purchase with points can be a fairly lucrative activity, and I have some experience at finding the most efficient ways to do it if you’d be interested.”
I nodded. “I might be interested in that down the line, but for the moment, I have an item from the Unclaimed Lands that I haven’t quite been able to figure out how to handle. I know the basics of what it does, but it’s not particularly useful to me. If it has any significant value, I’d like to either sell it or trade it for something more useful to Rei or me.”
“Of course.” She nodded. “You can hand it off to me whenever you’re ready and I’ll see to it. Do you have any other requests?”
“Information about the other wielders would be the top priority. Beyond that, anything you can find about the Green Guardian and Lady Antonia Hartigan.”
“Oh, Lady Hartigan is quite famous, I should have no difficulty getting you a file on her. The others will take some work, but I do have something that might interest you now.”
“Like what?”
She reached into a pouch at her side, retrieving a palm-sized translucent crystal. “This is the main reason I wanted to talk to you today, and an example of one of the main things I provide. Are you familiar with memory crystals?”
“Sort of. I understand the concept, but I’m not an expert.”
“Understandable. Each memory crystal contains a recording of a memory. All you have to do is find somewhere comfortable, sit down, and say the command word to activate it. Then, you will experience the memory as if you were there. I purchase memory copies that are particularly interesting and relevant to the matches.”
I blinked. “Is that something common?”
“Yes and no. There are a few specific shops and Diviners that pay for people’s memories of matches — you may run into one or another at some point. I, in turn, have connections with the shop owners to get a first look at ones that might be valuable to the people I’m assisting.
Actual memories did seem like a much better way to learn about the capabilities of another fighter than just rumors or documents. I approved of the strategy, even if the idea of looking through someone else’s memories was a little strange. “Okay. And that one?”
Lia handed me the crystal. “The command word for activating that is ‘view’. It’s a very brief example, related to one of the other wielders. I have a couple more after you’ve watched that one, and I plan to pick up many more over time. I can look for ones specifically focusing on the people you mentioned.”
“Thanks. Anything you need from my side?”
She shook her head. “No, not for the moment. At some point, perhaps you could give me a better idea of your own abilities, so I can search for items you may wish to purchase.”
I gave her a hesitant nod. “I’ll think about what I might need, thank you.”
After that I went and talked to Rei. Following a brief exchange, she agreed that we’d sell off the Heartlance replica — she was already bored of it, and she didn’t seem to think her speed was meaningfully improving from practicing with it.
The results of that were a little disappointing, but hopefully, we’d find better ways to improve both of our capabilities. I was still extremely interested in the idea of elixirs — maybe the sale of the Heartlance replica would be sufficient to purchase one, but I didn’t know.
I encouraged Reika to visit Lia as well — presumably, Lia had information for her, too.
After that, I handed off the Heartlance replica to Lia to get it identified and appraised, then headed back to my room. I still had several hours to burn for the evening, and I couldn’t think of any better way to spend them than learning more about my competition.
***
I sat down in my room with the crystal Lia had given me, found a comfortable position, and laid Dawn across my lap. “Any idea if you’ll be able to see the memories along with me?”
“I don’t drool.”
I sighed, removing the crystal from my bag. “View.”
I had to force myself not to fight the sensation of foreign magic surging into my mind. Then, after an awkward moment, the world around me changed.
***
I was with a group of several other people, holding a bow with an arrow nocked, but pointed downward. We crept forward, a woman with a shield and mace at the front of our group.
It took me a moment to recognize my surroundings. I was at the bottom of one of the hills used in the last test. The people around me were all wearing blue flags.
Everything felt real, like I was experiencing the scene with my own senses. The sight of the people around me, the scents in the air, the feeling of the breeze.
I could even feel someone else’s heart pounding in my chest. That was strange, but I forced myself to ignore it. I inspected my surroundings, at least as well as I could from the perspective of someone who didn’t move the way that I wanted them to. I was merely a viewer, I had no control over the body of the person in the vision.
I didn’t see any wielders around me, at least as far as I could tell. Two of the people were carrying swords, but neither of them fit the description of one of the sacred variety.
Dawn, can you see this?
Dawn’s voice was distant, like I was hearing her talk from the other side of a wall. I couldn’t make out what she was saying. That was a little worrying, but I didn’t think it was dangerous.
People around me exchanged words in a cautious tone, but I couldn’t understand them. Apparently, this was an Edrian group, and the memory crys
tal didn’t come with a translation function. I’d picked up a couple words in Edrian since my visit, but nowhere near enough to understand a conversation.
The group crept over the hill in a tight formation, ready for a fight.
This is right near one of the towers, I remembered. The first one I approached. It’s probably from a different test group, though, so there might be different people present.
I got a little excited. The idea of experiencing a fight from someone else’s perspective was a real treat — I could see why some people would pay a lot of money for this kind of thing.
Briefly, I wondered if I could experience pain in a vision like this. I’d always had a high tolerance for pain, but what would it be like if I didn’t have my own body?
We crested over the hill.
The scene was familiar to me, for the most part. I recognized some large rocks and trees, and I was confident this was the same place I’d run into Reika.
There was one clear distinction, however — the tower was missing.
The entire, three-story stone tower, was simply gone.
Maybe this memory is from before the test...? No, that doesn’t make sense. There’s a team already out here competing.
An illusion, then? It has to be.
There was no rubble, no crater, no sign of an explosion big enough to wreck a massive tower like that. No sign of a fight at all.
From the chatter around me, I sensed similar confusion from the group of people I was watching.
They moved forward cautiously, heading over to the area that the tower should have been. Someone fired an arrow at the empty space where the tower should have been. It went straight through, landing on the other side.
Someone collected the arrow, showing that the arrow itself was real.
Not an illusion, then, or a very sophisticated one.
After another minute of cautious testing, the group walked into the space the tower should have occupied. They didn’t hit any invisible walls.
They searched.
I saw something black in the dirt near the center of the tower. The figure with the shield must have seen it, too. She walked closer, knelt down, and picked it up, showing it to the group.