Alister paced his room, each time more frantic than the last one. He reached for his lute and began to strum it but no tune came. He threw the lute against the wall; had it been of lesser construction it would have shattered. Instead, it bounced harmlessly off the wall onto the floor. He got back up and began pacing again and wringing his hands. Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer. Running to the window, he opened the shutters and screamed at the top of his lungs. Tears flowed uncontrollably down his face. He then balled himself up in a corner. The tears continued to flow.
Tomas was frantic. He paced the room, crying and pounding on the wall. Going to his hands and knees; teeth clinched, he let out a yell. Low at first, then louder. He pushed off with his hands, only on his knees now, yelling to the sky, tears streaming down his face. He jumped up and burst out of his room and across the hall to Relina. She heard him as he burst open the door and sat up. Her face was red from all the crying and screaming. Relina opened her arms and motioned Tomas to come to her. He ran into her arms. They hugged each other tightly. Still they’re pain could not be abated.
Obidaan screamed for over two hours. His very soul was being torn apart and the pain became unbearable. While three people tattooed him, another was misting water onto his face, while others were cleaning him. Obidaan had already soiled himself twice and threw up once.
After an hour, the others became unbelievably tired and passed out where they were. Even Don, who could feel it coming, tried to break out of his meditation but couldn’t before the desire for sleep overwhelmed him and he fell backwards onto the floor.
Obidaan was becoming incoherent. He babbled about nonsense screamed and finally, six hours into the procedure, passed out. The workers continued on their tasks, unaffected by the events.
It was morning before the others recovered. Obidaan could be heard screaming through the night as he faded in and out of consciousness. The others, in a somber mood, dragged as they made their way to the dining table. No one smiled or talked. They barely acknowledged each other. Relina helping Tomas with his food seemed to be the only acknowledgement of camaraderie. They each grabbed a plate of food, placed it in front of them, and pretty much stared at it. Don was the only one who seemed lucid enough to eat. He was also carrying the staff with him. Still even he had a hard time.
“I will not attempt to make small talk with you,” Zarinthis had a heaping plate of food and was digging in, “the sympathetic pains you are going through are normal for this procedure. In a way, they are a blessing to Obidaan because it distributes some of the distress among his loved ones. Mind you, what you feel is nothing compared to what he is going through. Still, every little bit helps. I would strongly urge you all to eat what you can. Not only do you need to keep your strength up, he needs you to as well,” Zarinthis put a whopping helping of eggs, bacon, and sausage into his mouth.
The other began to eat, but it was stiff and methodical.
“Don,” Zarinthis was slicing into his pancakes, “you have meditated with the staff? What have you learned?”
“Yes,” Don was more alert than everyone else, but still lethargic, “Yes. Like before, they are symbiotic in nature. They seem to have some sort of flow of energy around them. I can’t really describe it, almost like a life force. They definitely like to bond with humanoids. I dare say the only reason this staff has not bonded with me is because I have not undergone the tattooing. Still, I can feel it ‘giving’ to me. I think it’s the only reason I’m not as useless as the others this morning.”
“We’re not useless,” Terry shot back, Her head in her hand, she moves the fork to her mouth, only to drop it back onto the plate. Her head then sank down to the side and she almost went to sleep, just catching herself before her face hit the plate.
“Sorry,” Don replied. “Anyway, Zephyr here ...”
Zarinthis dropped his fork, “You… You named it?”
“It wasn’t intentional. I was meditating on it and all of a sudden I hear a voice ask ‘what is my name?’ it was a soft voice, like a gentle breeze, so I named it Zephyr. It thanked me then nothing.”
“This is most disturbing, yes. That should not have happened.” Zarinthis clapped his hands; an assistant appears. “Take the staff ‘Zephyr’ to lab 2. Have it thoroughly examined.”
“Yes sir,” he said. Taking the staff from Don he proceeds out of the room. A few seconds later, a thud, a slight cry out, and rolling sounds were heard. Everyone looks to the noise and to the amazement of all, the staff was rolling back, on a flat surface, into the room and came to rest at Don’s feet.
The assistant came running into the room. “I’m sorry sir, I tripped and it got away from me.” He began to pick it up again.
“Never mind, you may go.” Zarinthis stops him, “Well, it seems we have something unprecedented here. This is the first time that a weapon has chosen someone. You are not the first from your sect to have touched or even tested our weapons. Still this is very unusual and unprecedented. You may keep Zephyr, however, we can not bind it to you since you did go through the test. I will be most curious to know how this union turns out.”
Don picked up the staff, concentrated slightly, and the staff shrunk to a size that could easily fit in his pocket. He placed it there and went back to eating breakfast. Again Zarinthis’ jaw dropped, “You have already begun to train it? This IS unprecedented. There is no way anyone should have kind of control over an unbonded weapon.” Then he noticed Don’s hand, “You’ve been cut? What happened?”
“Ah yes, very unusual. The exact place where I cut my hand and Obidaan and I declared ourselves Blood Brothers opened up last night. My blood spilled on the floor and as well as the weapon. I wonder..”
“If the blood bond between you and Obidaan triggered this.” Zarinthis continued, “But that still doesn’t explain the initial attraction.”
“What’s the big deal?” Alister finally piped in. “Lots of staves are made to do that.” He was a bit late into the conversation but Zarinthis had no problem continuing.
“Our staves are made to bond and store in the soul. There is no need to make it so it would shrink and be storable, that would be pointless.”
“Oh…Oh!” Alister finally got what he was saying, “So, this is the first time someone has bonded with an unbonded weapon!”
“Exactly.”
“And I was here for it. Ha! The other bards are going to be so jealous when they hear this story,” Alister seemed a bit perkier now.
“Nice to see the center of your universe hasn’t changed,” Terry said as sarcastically as she could.
“Hey!” Alister retorted, “I cried as much as anyone last night. Let’s face it, this is a story and I’m a story teller.”
“Indeed you are my brother,” Relina said raspily. “And I think you should follow this story.”
“Thank you, sis,” Alister seemed full of himself now.
“You are correct,” Zarinthis said, “This needs to be investigated, but not today. Continue to eat and rest. Unfortunately, you will probably experience another outburst. We can wait.”
After breakfast everyone went about their business. Relina went to pray and practice, Terry to hunt, Alister began writing the story and playing his lute and Tomas went for a walk around the grounds before returning to Relina. Don trained and meditated with the staff. He also managed to get it down to lab 2 for analysis.
After applying every chemical, alchemical, and magical analysis known, the only conclusion they could reach was it was a very well made staff, designed to go into the soul. They asked Don a battery of questions and learned about his training. Their conclusion was that Don’s heightened mental discipline allows him to see into the weapon and interact with it. Somehow his mental fortitude ‘tricked’ the staff into believing it has been graphed to him.
Later that afternoon the others went through another emotional bought, but it wasn’t
as bad as the first time. Obidaan was a mental, physical, and emotional wreck at this point; he was incoherent, unaware of his surroundings, and unable to even take a sip of water from a cup. He could not answer the simplest of question nor did he even know his own name. All he knew was he was in pain and wanted it to stop. As he screamed, the technicians continued to ignore him and proceed with the tattooing.
His mind was a whirlwind, bright flashes, flashbacks, and foresight. He could see himself with the sword, proudly displaying it to all. He saw his initial meeting when he first became a paladin. He saw Relina. In his mind he called to her and they danced. In reality, he babbled incessantly and attempted to move.
The next day was very unusual. The group woke up, feeling great. They were their old selves again, but happier. Hungry, they all bound down the steps like children and ran to the table. This time they didn’t even wait to sit before they started eating.
“What’s going on?” Relina said through a stuffed mouth. “For two days we could barely move and couldn’t stop bawling like babies, now all of a sudden I feel like I could single handedly take on the world.” She was wolfing down the food now, “As soon as I finish eating,” she added.
Even Don could not contain himself. If anything, he was the worst of all. He had two heaping full plates, a small loaf of bread under his arm, a biscuit in his mouth, and balancing a cup of butter on his head. They couldn’t eat fast enough and the slowness of utensils quickly gave way to hands.
“Well,” Zarinthis was his normal self, also with a heaping plate of food like the day before. It was a wonder he wasn’t fat considering how much he ate, or any of them for that matter, “you see, it seems Obidaan has made it to the acceptance stage.”
They all made an attempt to say acceptance stage at the same time, but with mouths full of food, it came out completely incoherent. Don ended up spitting more food out than words.
“Please keep eating and I will explain everything. There will be no need for you to talk for a while, so please, dig in,” and they did, “You see, there is something we don’t tell the recipients. ‘What’s that?’” He said in a different voice to simulate the group asking a question, “Glad you asked. The procedure is indeed painful, but only for a day or two, depending on the person, three if they’re really stubborn. But there comes a time when the soul accepts its fate and embraces the soul object being tattooed to it. It is at this point the soul comes to realize what it is truly getting, and it is very excited. From this point on the procedure will be painless. We also add more workers to the tattooing at this time. The soul becomes anxious even excited to have the final product graphed to it. So much so that it tends to not let the needles go. So we have to make sure there are a couple of needles in the soul at all times. Also, the person comes out of their incoherent state and is extremely hungry and thirsty. That is what you are feeling now. Still we cannot feed the recipient at this time, and can only allow them small bits of water. When you are done with breakfast, I suggest you go outside and play something. Tag would be appropriate.”
“Not it!” Tomas yells
“Not it!” said Terry.
“Not it!” said Relina and Alister almost simultaneously.
“Huh?” Don looks up, both hands holding food and he is still chewing.
“You’re it!” Tomas screams.
“Yeah, you’re it!” Relina says, pointing at him.
“Ok” Don shrugs his shoulders.
The only thing odder than the fact they were acting like children is the fact they seemed ok with it. Zarinthis engaged them in small talk about their adventures and skills and they excitedly answered them. There was not enough caffeine and sugar in the universe to give a rush like they had. After breakfast, they burst out the door, screaming like little children as they ran from Don and all around the yard playing tag, for the next four hours straight.
When Zarinthis called them in for lunch, they were completely worn out, and seeming back to themselves.
“Were we just playing. . . tag?” Don asked.
“Yeah,” Alister replied, “And we LIKED it.”
“More effects of the bonding?” Relina asked Zarinthis
“Yes. But by tomorrow, you should be completely back to normal,” Zarinthis said nonchalantly, “now please, eat.”
Lunch consisted of sandwiches, soups, bread, and drinks. Beer and wine poured freely that afternoon. Even though they had had a big breakfast, they dug in like they had not seen food for days, but utensils were used. By evening, they were completely back to normal.
Obidaan awoke from his stupor, feeling no pain. “Water” was all he was able to say. One of the workers went and sprayed his face, then another one cam along and offered him sips of water. “Slowly” was all he would say.
“You should be feeling a lot less discomfort from now on. We still have three days to go till you are done. We can not give you food but will continue to periodically give you water, as well as spray down your body.” Her words were methodical and unattached.
“What’s your name?” Obidaan asked in a raspy voice.
“I’m sorry,” still detached, “I can not reveal that to you.”
“Why?”
The lady was silent and continued to tattoo. Just before he was to ask again, she said, “Please refrain from talking, thank you.” Obidaan was silent for the rest of the ordeal.
The next day, after lunch, Zarinthis gathered the group. “We have done a full analysis on the staff and Don and the only conclusion is that Don’s monk disciplines along with the spilling of blood that allowed him to activate a soul rod, most likely amplified by jealously. Our guess is his jealously made him reach out to the staff and the staff responded. Are any of you jealous of Obidaan?” They all said no. “Still, I would like to try one thing. Follow me to the basement.”
A few minutes later they were in the basement, at the rack of weapons. “Now, it isn’t uncommon for us to give weapons away, especially to small groups. While you will have to come back to have it soul bound, we don’t recommend using someone else, but you can, we want to see if any of you can duplicate Don’s feat. So please, each of you, choose a weapon you would want tattooed to your body. Oh, there are corresponding sheaths for weapons that need them.”
“Even me?” asked Tomas.
“Yes, even you.” Zarinthis said.
“Be careful, Tomas” Relina said, “stick to a dagger or staff.”
They fanned out, touching weapons as they went by. The craftsmanship was unbounded. No one had felt weapons like these before. However, no one felt any of them calling them either. Relina chose a short sword, Terry also went for a short sword, Alister chose a rapier, and Tomas chose a finely carved dagger. Everyone admired the design, balance, and shear beauty of each weapon. The weapons seemed to be able to slice air. The balanced was such that it took no effort to hold them. Terry pulled out her bow and turn it into a bo staff. She went through several maneuvers with the stick and sword. Though she had been using the bow—staff for years, and it was of expert make, it now felt bulky compared to the sword. She tried her old short sword and now it felt uneven and unwieldy. She wondered how she had been getting along so long with such inferior products.
Relina spun the sword around and smacked it against her shield. It made a very nice resonance. She spun and flipped it through the air. Relina’s old short sword was one given to her as part of her vows. While hit had sentimental value, it was just a crudely made sword by comparison. She almost could not stand the sight of her old one now. She made a mental note to put her old one on a shelf somewhere and forget about it. This one, with its balance, weight, and sharpness was far superior to what she had before. She took her old sword off and quickly put this one on.
The dagger was finely carved and the carving on the handle almost looked like it was moving as you moved it. When gripped it felt natural in the hand as if there were n
o way to disarm you. Out of curiosity Tomas held the knife out palm down and opened his hand. To everyone’s surprise, except Zarinthis, the knife stayed put. He could still move it around and even switch hands, but could not drop it. It only yielded when Tomas put it back in the sheath.
“Form following function” Zarinthis said, “Some of my best work, that knife.”
The rapier was so fine you would think it would break, but when you pulled it, it barely yielded. Alister pushed it into a wall and it stayed straight, barely bending, regardless of the pressure he put on it. As he moved around with it, making whooshing sounds through the air. As he stared closer at the point he could almost swear that it kept going. Such a fine point could easily penetrate all but the finest of armors. Testing on some mannequins with pieces of armor on them he easily put it through every type, except plate, though it did leave a slight dent.
“So, how do they feel? How do your souls feel?” Zarinthis seemed anxious for an answer.
“There’re great weapons,” Relina said, “The best we’ve ever seen, but I feel no more a pull to this weapon than I do for any of my other ones.”
“Same here,” Terry said. “I love this sword but it’s just a well crafted sword to me, that all.”
“Sorry, nothing here either,” Alister said, “I can win a lot of bar fights with this, but I don’t think I’ll want to sleep with it.”
“The knife is cool!” is all about Tomas could say.
“Well, thank you. Please keep the weapons with you over the next few days, perhaps things will change.”
The next couple of days were uneventful and everyone seemed almost bored, but happy to be bored, compared to what they had gone through. They were sitting down at dinner when a familiar voice broke in.
“Boy, that sure looks good. I think I’m going to get a big whopping plate of everything.”
Everyone turned and stared at a man dressed only in a pair of pants. It was Obidaan.
Everyone turned to see Obidaan, smiling and happy. They all began to get up to go hug him when he raised his hand to stop them. “Please, don’t get up. I couldn’t handle any physical contact at the moment, my back is very sensitive.”
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