by Dakota Krout
Wiping at his ears, the fuzziness vanished as drops of blood were wiped away there as well. Surprised blood wasn’t coming out of his skin at this point, he asked why he was bleeding. Had he been hit while he was so focused? What he should expect now?
Craig waved at him to try and calm him down and slow the flow of questions. “As your meridians are opened, they are also cleaned. The impurities in your system that are forced away have to go somewhere, after all. That blood is helping the filth to be washed out, that is all. You aren’t damaged, actually you are now far healthier.”
“I see.” Dale murmured, thinking out loud about the incredibly foul poop he had taken after his heart meridian had opened. Now it made sense why it had connected to his intestines, it was depositing impurities.
“I bet you do!” Hans called, interrupting Dale’s reminiscence. “Your vision should clear up, any issues you had before are gonna be gone. Oh by the way… HA!” Dale gasped as Hans shouted next to his head, his hands clapping to his ears with a wet smack of blood.
“Yup, looks like your hearing is improving as well!” Hans laughed, grinning maliciously.
“Mean!” Dale gasped. ‘Heh’ was the only apology he got.
“Get ready for a few sleepless nights, kiddo.” Steve rumbled fondly. “You are going to wake up to a herder on the next mountain farting tonight.” The men laughed uproariously at this.
“I know the one! He’s been eating too much roughage if you ask me! He needs to add some fruit to his diet!” Josh sounded off. The laughter only increased at this comment.
They calmed down after a bit, spirits much lightened. Craig continued the lesson, “As they say, eyesight and hearing will be better for you, and should stay that way. It is called the lower intestine meridian because as food enters your intestines, your body will now purify the food you eat much more efficiently, and you will even be using it for Essence gathering, as some of the... extra... will have the Essence drawn out of it.”
“Oh, that’s handy, I guess.” Dale was far more excited about the improved senses though.
“Your farts are gonna smell like death because of it!” Hans chimed in.
“You’re lucky ya have your own tent!” Steve crowed.
Craig sighed with a smile, “No manners, any of you. Alright, since we seem to have a surplus of energy, how about you start your punishment training with Josh, Dale. You did miss that trap.” Josh jumped to his feet face lighting up - he had forgotten that he got to beat up Dale by himself for an hour!
By evening, Dale was exhausted. With the intense day that he had, sleep was only seconds away when he finally got to bed. Enhanced senses or no, that night he slept like the dead.
~Eighteen~
The last group of people had finally left, making it far easier to alter myself. Those human auras inside of me had a nasty habit of making it difficult for me to directly affect things. I added openings from each cave to another, and let them level out the Essence in the air. It was slow, but I figured by morning you couldn’t cheat my empty rooms anymore. Not the way they had been, anyway. Just to be safe, I reconfigured the tunnels so that people couldn’t just retrace their steps.
Next, Dani flew out and looked around for a while. She came back with very interesting news, there was a giant sheet of quartz above us, not quite directly up, but nearly so from the Boss room. With her directing me, I moved the rooms above me out of the way, creating a cylinder of empty space up to the sheet while holding the integrity of the dungeon intact. Quite a lot of work, but far easier at my new ranking.
From my gem I had perfect vision in line of sight, but had mostly only seen the hole I was in and so used my influence to see. The downside was that I could only ‘see’ as far as that influence extended. Now, for the first time in my life, I looked up and saw the stars.
“Most people don’t bother.” Dani quietly voiced, also enjoying the view. The sheet of quartz above us acted as a giant telescope, letting us see further and more clearly than usual. It was especially beautiful when the moon came into view, it seemed huge.
She seemed to match my disappointment in others, “Most people tend to only look at, or think about, things that have value to them at that moment. They look so hard at what they want that they drown out the beautiful things that would give them hope, or allow them to look beyond their small lives.
They lose sight of living, trying to get to the next goal, the next important thing. They forget that everything is important, that the little moments of happiness added up overwhelm the greatness of the few large moments. Like making a friend smile, or making it to the two hundred and eighteenth page of a book. Sometimes, it isn’t about finishing your objective, it is about enjoying yourself on the way there.” She focused on me. “That’s why I have so much fun here, Cal. You put detail into the little things, and even when you are beat, you reward those who did well. You care more about being amazing than you do winning.”
“Well, I suppose the first thing you could do is build an exit!” She shouted, breaking the sober mood and startling me badly. We both laughed at how shocked I was.
I opened the ground up to the surface as far as I could reach, about three feet below the surface, and raised the gazebo on the stairs I was creating underneath of it. As it rose, it spun with the creation of the spiral under it. When it finally reached the edge of my influence, the top of my first building punched through the loosely packed dirt at the top. I could see the gazebo break into the surface through the clear quartz nearly one hundred feet above.
When it shuddered to a stop, I connected its corruption stone to the inscribed Runes and felt the gazebo become even harder. The energy sluggishly filled it, glowing with a harsh purple-brown color. I was pleased to feel that the runes were perfect. The door out could only be opened from the inside, anyone attempting to re-enter would be crushed like a bug, or find themselves in a stairwell that had no exit at the bottom when I dropped a wall in the way and let them slowly suffocate. Good times. Well. For me.
Catching my attention as I was looking up, I realized the Silverwood tree had seemed to enjoy the new light coming in. A few leaves had unfurled over the night as the moonlight bathed us. What was that? There was a person, wait, two people directly above me! I was suddenly worried looking at the quartz above us. That could be broken couldn’t it? It was at the edge of my influence, but if I strained, pushing really hard; I was still able to make molecule thin patterns in the sheet with acid, slowly widening them until they were useful Runes. Since quartz was just stone, I planned on hooking it to a corruption stone.
My plan failed in the most wondrous way. When I finished the Inscription, a bright golden light flashed through the Runes. I looked at it carefully, the whole thing had been filled with celestial energy! On closer inspection, Dani informed me that the entire three-foot-thick quartz was just… stuffed full of celestial energy.
“Somehow, someone made this into celestial glass.” She gibbered, awed at the beautiful light we could see when we focused. There were no visible markings on it, even
though the Runes I had placed were obviously active. Odd. I couldn’t focus on this right now, though I truly wanted to solve this mystery. You see, dawn had come, another first for me. For the first time in my life, I was able to watch the sunrise. Even better, I got to do so with my best friend, the only being I loved as much as myself.
~Dale~
A soft grinding noise slowly roused Dale, his newly enhanced ears throbbing at the new sound. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, he walked out of his tent and meandered around as he looked for the source. It seemed to be coming from the lot the church would be built on, Dale wondered if some earth Mages had arrived to help build it. He wandered over, planning to see how it was done, and noticed a gazebo.
“Earth Mages? Father Richard?” Dale called. When no one responded, he went over to inspect their work. It was a single piece of granite that had no seams as far as he could tell. They must not have put the door in. He decided to look at it with his Essence sight ability, which was much easier to use now that the new meridian was open in the corner of his eye.
Inspecting the work, he could only see its natural Essence, and was impressed by the control the Mage who made this had used. Normally, there was overflow which had a ‘flavor’ to it known as the ‘Mages signature’. The smaller the ‘signature’, the better control the Mage had, the more the work was worth, because it would interfere less with Runes added on later. Looking closer, he saw beautiful Runescripted patterns cut inside the stone itself.
“That is so cool! I need to get this guy to teach me!” He thought, very excited to meet this master Mage when he returned. About to turn away, he saw what almost looked like earth Essence starting to follow the loops and whirls of the internal pattern. Entranced, he watched as the slow moving substance filled the pattern.
When it reached the last open spot, the stone suddenly pulsed, seeming to tighten and grow darker. Some loose sand shook off, and he was showered with dirt. The rock was suddenly opaque to him, the beautiful pattern no longer visible. It looked exactly like the slab of stone over the entrance had, as a matter of fact.
Now nervous, Dale turned to run and tell someone about this when Father Richard walked up with a “Morning lad!”
“Would you look at that?!” He whistled. “Is this whole piece a single slab of granite?”
“Father, this is, if I am correct, cursed earth.” Dale released in a rush.
“Hmm, I think you are indeed correct.” Richard frowned a bit. “It looks a lot like that blockage did, over the entrance to the dungeon. Come look at the quartz with me over here, it came awfully close to it. I hope it didn’t do any damage.” The look of nervousness on his face convinced Dale to help before informing the Guild.
They moved to check for any damage to the quartz, Father Richard frowned as he saw scratches along the bottom of the slab with the sparse pre-dawn light. Just before the sun crested the ridge to signal the start of a new day, the entire slab shone brilliantly, as if it - and not the sun - was the herald of the morning.
“Ahh!” Both of them yelled, clutching at their eyes. Blinking rapidly in an attempt to clear the spots dancing in their vision, they stumbled about in pain, Father Richard swearing in a very non-priestly way.
Silence followed by a gasp escaped Father Richard, Dale looked over with swimming vision to see him looking down with wonder in his expression. True sunrise had arrived, Dale looked directly down to see the Boss room he had fought in yesterday, as if it were only a few feet below.
“What?!” Dale joined in the gasping.
“That’s the Silverwood tree?” Father Richard pointed.
“Looks like it. But how can we see this? It has to be so far underground!” Dale exclaimed.
Father Richard didn’t answer, instead looking at the quartz again, looking for the scratches that had been there. After a few moments, he flopped down into a kneeling position.
“It’s a miracle.” He murmured, touching the smooth surface.
“Father?”
“Dale, the entire… The whole thing. It’s been enchanted. No, those are Runes, it’s been inscribed!” Tears of joy sprang to Father Richard’s eyes as he read the Inscription that Dale could not even see.
“It’s the church's best Essence level Rune! Protection, increased celestial energy, and dissolving of infernal bonds.” He was freely weeping now. “It’s a miracle.”
“I can’t see the Rune, the Essence in the way is too thick.” Dale ashamedly mentioned, disappointed in his ability. A flash of insight crossed his mind, “Father, is it the same Inscription as… this?” He pulled out the pendant he was wearing which was filled with Essence of no particular elemental affiliation.
The Father’s eyes locked onto it and his expression changed to almost anger, “Where did you get this?”
“It was a drop in the dungeon, from the Boss of the first floor and the Mobs beyond.” Dale informed him nervously.
“Ah, sorry I didn’t mean to worry you. This is indeed the same Rune, but as I said it is one of the most powerful Essence level Inscriptions we have. I was just surprised to see it out of the hands of a cleric. Would you let me see it?” Richard politely asked.
“Of course, Father.” Dale handed it over, glad he wasn’t in trouble with this powerful man.
“Yes, it is the same.” Richard spoke, almost to himself. “Useless though.”
“Useless?” Dale was rather disappointed to hear that. Several people around the area had them for good luck.
“Yes, though filled with Essence, only celestial type is able to activate the full Inscription. Other types may be able to use the other parts, like this physical protection... I haven’t looked into it.” Father Richard muttered, tracing the pattern. He looked at it again, frowning. “Can I try something on this?”
“Sure.” Dale shrugged. It was useless anyway.
Father Richard smiled, held the pendant and started saying a short prayer. The first words had barely left his mouth when the pendant glowed with light, obviously activating.
“Wondrous!” Richard exclaimed, eyes shining. “You say this is a drop that is fairly common in the dungeon?”
“Yes, the first Boss sometimes does drop it, but we got three yesterday on the second level.” Dale bragged.
“I can activate them! Look,” Father Richard held up the pendant, “The Essence it contained has taken on celestial affinity!”
“Great!” Dale was enthusiastic yet still somewhat confused.
“Here, lad. Would you like me to bind this to you? You are its rightful owner, after all.” Father Richard offered.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean, Father.” Dale stalled, nervous for an unknown reason.
“Oh, it isn’t dangerous. If you place a small thread of Essence to a certain place on your items Rune, it will only activate for you if you are the first to do so. Many don’t, because then the resale value drops quite a bit, and you can still activate the Rune like normal. But, someone else could get ahold of it and bind it, rendering it useless to you.” Father Richard explained.
“Well it wouldn’t hurt to learn how, right?” Dale grinned. He loved learning new things.
“Right.” Father Richard assured.
“Ok, let’s do it!” Dale affirmed, excited for the new knowledge.
“Since you still use Essence, your power does not extend far past your physical body. Basically, you need to have contact with the place you want to put Essence into. Like your armor, since it is enchanted, has the power deposit placement on the inside against your skin, and your weapon has it on the grip, you can see it if you just look.” Dale didn’t inform him that he didn’t know how to activate his gear, he now planned to practice though.
Continuing his lecture, “Look here, every place you input energy is the same glyph, or a variant of it. That is the standard activation site. Here,” he pointed to another spot, “is the binding glyph of the Rune. Again, it looks similar across all the Runes I have ever seen. Try to put a tiny, tiny amount
of Essence into it.”
Taking the pendant back, Dale concentrated on pulling Essence to his fingertip. Having done this for his eyes often now, it was easy to do only on his little finger, close to the meridian. Getting a mirthful look from Father Richard when he poked the glyph with his pinky, he felt a tiny tug from the pendant and it glowed softly for a moment.
“Good job, you did it on your first try!” Father Richard praised, “You are the first non-cleric I know to have this particular active protection. Now, can you feel where it is?” He took and moved the pendant back and forth, and Dale felt as though he was being pulled in the same direction. “You’ll always be able to find it, if it doesn’t break.”
“Very cool.” Dale enthused, eyes shining.
“Remember to activate it when you need it, just having it does nothing!” Father Richard professed. “By the way, I’ll be letting people know that I’ll pay fifty silver for each of those, so pass it on.”
“Aren’t Runed items worth gold usually?” Dale looked at the cheap priest.
“Only if they are able to be activated!” Father Richard responded with a cheeky wink.
“Sneaky old man.” Dale very quietly muttered.
“What was that?” Father Richard growled.
“Nothing!”
As Father Richard watched Dale walk away, he thought about the now enchanted quartz and the Runed pendants.
“Maybe this post... wasn’t a punishment?” He dared to hope.
~Nineteen~
Dale moved away to meet up with his comrades. Following his nose, he quickly found them eating breakfast. Trying to tell his story, he was shouted down by the group, banished until he was fully armored, since he was under strict orders to wear his gear at all times. They would hear no argument, yelling over his voice every time he tried to explain himself. Exceedingly frustrated, Dale went back to his tent to get geared up, and found a masked man rummaging through his things!