by Dakota Krout
“This is sounding more and more fun.” Dale deadpanned.
The three men arrived at a glowing stone door. “Here we go,” beamed Father Richard, “After you!” He swept the door open, showing a circular room roughly twenty feet in diameter.
They all walked to the center, where Father Richard and Dale sat while Hans flopped onto the ground in a prone position.
“Are you ready to begin?” Father Richard intoned in a ritualistic manner.
Dale nodded, too nervous to respond.
“Good. Now, go into your center. Sink into it as deeply as possible.” Father Richard commanded, waiting as Dale followed the order. “Excellent. Now this is going to be hard to do, I want you to listen to my voice, very carefully following all of my directions. Take my hands. Now, feel the meridians along your hands, and extend your Essence outward, allowing it to flow into me.”
“This will feel like you are giving up Essence. You are. This will allow me access to your center, following through to your own source of power. If I were an unscrupulous person, I would be able to take your entire cultivation base and keep it as my own.” Father Richard told him, making Dale rather nervous.
Dale followed the command; with a feeling like an artery being severed, Essence began to pour out of him like blood from a mortal wound. In seconds, He had been reduced a rank, dropping to F-rank five - which terrified him.
Father Richard’s calm voice sounded, “Prepare your mind Dale, I am going to speak a True Name, the name that allowed me to gain my status as a Mage. Linked as we are, you will understand it, if your mind is weak, or unprepared, it may break you.”
He leaned toward Dale, and spoke a word. Hans heard it as sonder, while Dale’s eyes went wide, then blank. Blood began to erupt from the ear that had been spoken into, though the flow quickly stopped. Dale’s mouth worked, but no sound came out and goosebumps rippled across his skin.
In Dale’s mind, the effect was far more intense. He was suddenly able to understand a basic truth of life that he had never really considered before, he found that each person was unique. Every being in existence was living a life as vivid and complex as his own in its own way. They had their own ambitions, friends, enemies, hopes and dreams. The life of each individual was an amazing, epic storyline that continues – grandly and invisibly - to interact with everything else that lives.
There were tens of millions of these interactions that shaped the universe, millions of lives that he had never before considered, which suddenly sang to him, bombarding him with information and ideas that threatened to strip his individuality. One voice stood out among the rest, guiding him to return to his own mind, filling him with power and control.
“There we go, Dale. Good lad. Welcome back, now.” Father Richard was saying. “Good, now you have access to my Mana, yet I can still shape your center. Focus inward, watch what I am doing.”
Dale still stunned by the outpouring of others, found it hard to focus on himself. He finally managed, and watched incredulously as his Chi spiral become more dense, brighter; without his input. It was a mesmerizing effect, well and truly hypnotic. The Essence he contained was exceedingly pure; the Essence pouring into him from Father Richard matched his exactly.
“This may hurt, Dale.” Father Richard murmured. “Shattering your Chi and Essence spiral is a process that takes between days and weeks naturally. I can easily handle the amount of Essence you have, so I am going to do it all at once. Look closely. You are now at the peak of the F-series; this is currently what your Chi spiral looks like. Your center is full of energy, which is too dense for you to really contain anymore.”
“This,” Father Richard was now straining, sweating profusely, “is D-series zero, where your spiral becomes…. a... fractal.” He pushed with his mind, forcing Dale’s Essence to shatter into billions of shards. Father Richard had certainly been correct earlier; Dale vomited, directly onto Father Richard’s body and face.
Father Richard tried not to gag as he continued his work, “Please turn your head to the side if that happens again.” He managed to say through gritted teeth.
Dale nodded and blushed, returning his attention to his center. He was weaker at this moment than he had ever been in his life; only the energy moving through him kept him upright, his muscles locked in place as though lightning had struck him.
Father Richard kept muttering, directing Dale’s energy as he wanted. He smoothed the shards into place, a nucleus of power forming in the direct center. That nucleus formed into an infinitesimally small spiral, directing the resulting power throughout Dale’s body into his life-force. Other spirals began to form, draining their Essence downward to be further refined by the next spiral in the series. The process continued for an immeasurable time, for them anyway, as they watched the progression as closely as possible.
As the danger of dying from lack of Essence began to wane, the process picked up speed. The spirals grew, moving further and further away from the origin, soon straining the boundary of his center. Father Richard gleefully exhaled as he released a final burst of Essence, affixing an enchantment he had prepared to the terminus of the spiral. This enchantment would keep Dale’s Essence in this fractal formation until Dale was able to hold the pattern for himself.
“Finished.” Father Richard happily stated. “Listen, Dale, the Chi threads are rough right now, broken beyond my power to repair. As you cultivate more energy, they will smooth and fix themselves, all the tiny breaks will be mended. Time and effort on your part are the only things you need to become whole again. When the threads are fixed, you will be able to feel the real power and cultivation speed this rank affords you.”
“Thank god.” Hans’ outburst caught Father Richard completely off guard, making him flinch. “You trapped me in this room with you and a pile of vomit for two days. The least you could have done was show me how to open the stinkin’ door!”
Dale stood shakily, his body adjusting to the flow of energy within him. He didn’t feel stronger, but that may simply be due to his near starvation as he waited for the process to complete. The others watched him carefully, making sure he didn’t abruptly die or explode.
“Well.” Dale was looking down at his soiled clothes, “I don’t suppose you have baths in here?”
Father Richard nearly slapped his forehead. “How could I forget bathrooms?” he rhetorically muttered in horror.
“No matter. Let’s… go get cleaned up, then find food. I’m… I’m not sure if I am ok.” Dale was wobbling while standing, trying to remember something... Something that had happened when Father Richard breathed a word, but it slipped away as does a dream, leaving only the word ‘sonder’ in his mind with no context to it. He felt like he had forgotten a profound truth, all he could remember was the process he had undergone afterward.
Father Richard opened the door and the small group slowly moved to find a spot to bathe along the river; sore from the lack of movement over the last few days. Father Richard happily scrubbed the dried vomit off of himself, shuddering even as he did so. Dale reached into himself, trying to follow the complex path his center had become. He was nervous that he would need to hold this pattern himself soon, though Father Richard assured him it would become as easy as breathing.
Clean but still damp, the three started walking toward the mess hall when a voice reached them. “Try the Pleasure House for lunch today! Forget the watered down gruel the Guild offers, fill up with a real meal!” A young teen boy was shouting, trying to find customers for the new business.
“It’s already running?” Dale was surprised and a bit upset by this development. “Where did she build it?” They walked over to the herald, asking for the location of the restaurant. The boy sneered at them as if they were insane.
“There’s two permanent buildings in twenty miles, and you can’t find ‘em?” The boy pointed out to them rudely, “S’over there.” He pointed in a direction, and they gladly left the unpleasant young man alone. They walked toward the area he ha
d pointed, and whistled as the building came into view. Whereas the church had sprawled, this restaurant went straight upward. At least four stories tall, the building was made out of gleaming walnut trees, which were growing and interweaving into an interesting design even as they watched.
Dale snapped his fingers. “That’s what it is! It looks like a really tall copy of the one in the capitol.”
The others nodded, and Hans piped up, “Yup. She is all about brand recognition. When it is done growing to how she wants it, she’ll carve it herself. All of her places look the same, so everyone knows where the best food is.” They joined the queue moving toward the door; in a few minutes they were in a small waiting room as a host took their names and started to put them on a list. When she made the connection of Dale’s name and something she had been told, she blanched and ran from the room.
“Dale!” Hans’ voice was mockingly horrified, “What did you do to the poor girl to make her run off like that?”
The other people in the room rounded on him with dangerous looks, starting to become rather rowdy, when the girl and Madame Chandra walked back in.
“Dale! There you are! You caused quite a stir, vanishing like that. Come in, come in! We’ll be using the private dining area.” She told the host in passing. Chandra personally walked them up several flights of stairs, stopping them at the very top. “Do you know how my businesses work?”
Dale shook his head. She smiled knowingly and explained, “The floors are based on price and quality of food. The higher you go, the better it will be - though more expensive. Don’t get me wrong, all of our food is sumptuous but as any true gourmand will assure you, high quality meals of varying ingredients are still very different. A quality salad will not match the flavor complexity of a quality steak dinner, for example.”
Chandra threw open the door, allowing a wave of tantalizing aromas to flood out as the group filed in. There was a kitchen attached to the dining area; she explained that each floor had its own kitchen and wait staff. No sooner had they been seated than a thin soup arrived for them to sip whilst they awaited their meal. The decor in the room was stunning, and the soup vastly superior to anything Dale had eaten in this area previously.
Several servers emerged from the kitchen as the last person finished their appetizer. Each of the servers laid out a massive steak, covered in finely diced herbs and a spicy sauce Dale had no name for. They ate with gusto, each time they felt full their stomachs would demand more. After the deprivation of the last few days they ate like wolves, stuffing themselves as full as possible. Chandra watched them, shocked at their poor manners until she took a good look at Dale.
“Who did that to you?” She gasped in horror, one hand going to her throat while the other clenched into a fist. “Dale, how did you reach the D-rankings in two days?”
Father Richard waved his hand. “I did. We made a deal for it.”
Chandra was not pleased. “And you thought this was a good deal? There is, what, a thirty percent survival rate? Maybe?”
Dale was shocked at this tidbit of information. “That low?” He looked incredulously at Father Richard. “You gambled a seventy percent chance that I would die for a dagger?”
“I knew you could do it!” Richard waved at them nonchalantly. “I put myself at risk too you know.”
Chandra glowered at him. “If it were up to me, I’d kick you off this mountain right now.” She looked meaningfully at Dale.
“Oh come on!” Richard looked up nervously, eyes darting between them before settling on Dale, “It turned out fine! He didn’t lose his mind, or die, or bleed out, or…” He trailed off as he saw his words were having the opposite effect he intended. “Ahem! Anyway, it turned out for the best! Look at him! Already in the D-ranks, and only twenty-one years old!”
“Hmm.” Dale looked at him. “If this weren’t so freaking tasty, I’d be mad at you.” He took another considering bite, just to make sure he still wasn’t mad. “What is this, Madame? It’s so flavorful!”
“This is seared Raile steak. Freshly butchered this morning, of course.” She boasted, still glaring at Father Richard.
Dale looked at the meat oddly, “As in the Boss Mob? Is this safe to eat?”
“Of course it is!” She turned the conversation to another topic suspiciously quickly. “About my granddaughter coming here to train, I was wondering if you might be willing to put her on your team.”
“Isn’t five people the maximum?” Dale got out around a mouth full of rabbit steak. “I’ve never seen more than five go in at once.”
“What?” Surprise evident in her voice, “You already have a full team? You made D-Zero today, I thought?”
“What? What does that have to do with anything?” Dale looked at Hans for assurances, but he wouldn’t meet his eye. “Hans? Did… Did I get kicked off the team?”
Hans shook his head a bit sadly, “Not quite as bad as that. At the start of the D-ranks, Guild rules state that you need to form a team of your own. You can have one person in the C-ranks join you for guidance, but the rest need to also be in the D or high F-rankings. The team is still here to train you and show you how to use your Essence and whatnot, but Guild law stands, even in your case.”
Dale considered this for a moment. The dungeon would be far more dangerous from now on, but he thought he had a good handle on the correct way of doing things after half a year of constant fighting. If the other parties that had completed the dungeon were any indication, the rewards for a lower leveled team were drastically higher than what they had been earning.
Taking a deep breath to calm his tumultuous thoughts, Dale made a request. “Hans, if Craig will still train me either way, would you join my team? You are fun to work with and I think that you would help me pick a good group.”
A bit choked up, Hans replied in the affirmative. He was truly happy that Dale thought so well of him. Through his bawdy jokes and teasing, he had really come to think of Dale as a friend, and it was good to see that feeling reciprocated.
Dale cleared his throat, “Your grand-daughter?” He prompted Madame Chandra.
“Yes! Of course!” Chandra started, almost flinching a bit, “Rose! Get in here!” Her manner was nervous, and she was casting pleading looks at Hans. A tall lady walked in from the attached kitchen, fluidly moving across the walnut wood of the floor. She stood nearly six feet tall, had grey eyes, flowing black hair and a slim, willowy figure. Dale was impressed by her graceful movement, but growing up in the mountains had him looking at her a bit critically.
In his mind, she was too tall and thin to do the work required of the highlanders. His people were average height, with packed muscles and stout frames. He understood better why Chandra was looking for a team for this girl; she didn’t look like she could survive an unescorted night in the city, let alone a dungeon in the mountains. His vision flipped to his Essence enhanced vision and he looked at her center, roughly at the same time as Hans.
Father Richard gasped in anger, “You just shouted at me for pulling Dale ahead in the rankings, yet you clearly did the same for her! Look at her center! It’s barely even healed from the trauma, just like Dale, and you try to foist her off on them!”
Rose looked a bit stricken. Embarrassed by the sudden judgement of her, she opened her mouth to speak. Chandra cut her off unintentionally, “You don’t get to yell at me in my place of business, Richard!” The tree they were in suddenly swayed ominously. “Look at her! Tell me why I did it! I know your reasons, you wanted to get away with not having to pay the worth of something and so handed out power like a treat!”
Father Richard was taken aback, and looked at the girl again. His eyes widened fractionally. “Oh. Oh, you poor girl, I am so sorry. Please forgive my assumptions.”
Dale of course had no idea what was transpiring. “Oh, spit it out. What?! What’s wrong with her?”
Rose’s face was becoming the color of her namesake, “Excuse me, I am right here.” She seethed, turning toward Dale, “An
d nothing is wrong with me, you ass.”
Her voice was cultured, and delicate for the harsh words. Dale was instantly mad at her, “I’m not going into danger with someone who can’t even be around people without them feeling sorry for her unknown weakness.” He announced harshly.
“Dale!” Chandra was aghast, “Where is this coming from?”
Dale looked at her coldly, the cold steel of a man who has had to force others to show him respect every time their opinions differed. “This is coming from a Highlander. I worked for what I have, I paid fairly for my increase in rank, if not in time then in goods. What gives her the right to come in here and start attacking me for asking a simple question? I’m guessing as well that you simply pulled her to the higher ranks for free. The look in his eyes and tone of voice,” He pointed at Father Richard, “Tells me other people’s charity and pity falling on her is not an uncommon occurrence. Her reaction,” a gesture at Rose, “shows that she has a chip on her shoulder that will get us killed if we take her. Either she will not be able to pull her weight or she will try to overcompensate and do something stupid. I need people that will work to keep me alive as I do the same for them, so find another team or explain why it benefits my team to take her with us.”
The others in the room were stunned into silence. They had not seen this side of Dale, and now they were realizing that - just maybe - they should be a bit warier of making decisions for him without his knowing consent. Hans broke into a proud grin when he realized that Dale had made a well-reasoned argument, while Father Richard started to sweat a bit over the future expansion plans he had for his church.
“Dale,” Chandra started uncomfortably, “Rose is - as I’ve mentioned - my granddaughter. My son, before he was murdered, eloped with a High Elf and eventually blessed us with Rose. She has been ostracized in society for being a half-breed,” her eyes darted to Rose to see if she was offending her, but Rose’s eyes were flint hard as she tried to stare Dale down. “That by itself is not too much of an issue, the real problem is her Essence.”