A Bond Broken: The Infinite World Book Two

by J. T. Wright

  Tersa crowded behind Cullen, seeking shelter in his shadow, even if the man hadn’t been much help when she’d been trussed up by that thrice-damned vine! Trent, who had put the goddess out of his mind, stepped out from behind Cullen to study the gate.

  It was a simple thing, made of wooden slats that didn’t stand out in the slightest. It was only upon closer inspection that he realized the gate had no hinges. It was completely unsupported and hung in the gap of the hedge as if it had grown there.

  “I can’t tell you what you'll face in there, but you will face it alone. Any who enter the Garden are sent to a separate space. Good luck.”

  It wasn’t an explanation. Clearly, this was the destination Cullen had been running them towards. He hadn’t spoken of it during the journey, and he didn’t intend to speak of it now that they had reached it. Under Trent and Tersa’s disbelieving eyes, Cullen made his way to a nearby tree.

  The Sergeant eased himself to the ground and leaned back. Taking out his pipe, he crossed his ankles and closed his eyes. Soon he was puffing away without a care in the world. His attitude clearly displaying the fact that he considered his job done for the moment.

  Tent and Tersa exchanged glances. They were expected to pass through that gate, and they had to do it without knowing what was on the other side. Tersa balked. Damned if she would enter.

  She made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. Trent was already moving towards the gate. So much for solidarity! So much for a unified front before their oppressor! She darted forward, intending to grab Trent’s shoulder and make him ask the questions that needed to be asked.

  Trent’s hand touched the gate before she could touch him. The second his fingers pushed on the wooden slats, he vanished in a flash of light. Tersa, committed to her headlong rush, found her fingers brushing the gate before she could stop herself. A second flash of light and the Sergeant was alone at last.

  He exhaled slowly. He deserved this downtime! The Trial wouldn’t kill the two. It was as safe as a Trial could be. Cullen’s eyes opened in narrow slits. The Trial should be safe. There was nothing inside that was inherently dangerous. Only, Tersa found ways to make things dangerous. She had nearly gotten herself killed walking into a temple. If anyone could find a way to die in the Garden, it was Tersa.

  Cullen’s head fell back against the tree trunk with a thud. Nothing he could do to help her now. If she could survive the goddess, she could… Cullen stopped thinking fate-tempting thoughts. It was up to the two trainees now.

  **********

  You have entered a Trial, Garden of Clarity. Clear conditions vary.

  It was Trent’s third time reading such a message from his Status, his third time challenging a Trial. Each message had been different, but each had held hints about what he would face. He knew that others didn’t get little hints about Trials from their Status. He should be grateful that he did.

  At least he knew where he was, The Garden of Clarity. It wasn’t much. In fact, with the addition that the clear conditions varied, it wasn’t anything at all. How did you challenge a garden?

  Trent looked around. The Garden of Clarity was different than Terah’s temple. He stood on a pathway made up of white stone bricks. Around him were perfectly planned and tightly regulated flowerbeds. He looked behind himself and found a table on which four nets attached to poles lay. Beyond the table was more garden, until a red brick wall rose to mark the outer boundary of the Garden.

  He was stumped. No enemies attacked, no wave of fire and pain presented itself to test him. All in all, the environment was pleasant, calming. His cowl was still pulled down around his shoulders, and he left it there. The sun shone brightly; he had no need for Dark Vision. In the Garden, with no one present, it was silly to hide his face just because that was his habit.

  He continued to turn in place, taking in his environment. Unlike the planned chaos, the simulated forest of Terah’s temple, this Garden was purely artificial. Roses and other flowers grew in their designated spots and did not mix with one another. No weeds were allowed to sprout, and the trees were all kept to a reasonable height, their branches pruned to prevent careless spreading.

  The biggest difference between the temple and the Garden was that the Garden had gardeners. He thought they were large bugs when he first spotted them. It wasn’t until one buzzed by his face that he recognized his mistake. Not bugs but tiny, winged, human figures!

  No larger than his hand, the gardeners flew rapidly around, watering and pollinating the various plants. They moved so quickly that it took a moment before he could concentrate on one long enough to use Identify on it. He was confused by what he found.

  Fairy

  The description was different than any he’d seen before. This description was too short. It contained less information than he had received when he used Identify on Beasts his Level or lower. Even if he couldn’t see the specifics of a Beast that he Identified, the fact that they were Beasts was always included. Along with the word Fairy, Trent should have read Beast or Trial Beast. If he could see the Beast’s type, then he should see its Level. Was the Fairy a Beast?

  Were the Fairies a part of the challenge of this Trial? The miniature folks weren’t acting hostile. For the most part, they ignored Trent, though a few had buzzed in circles around his head briefly.

  He turned to the nets on the table. A quick Appraisal told him they were bug nets, simple tools meant for catching insects. Was he supposed to use the nets to catch a Fairy? He dismissed that idea. Trapping the tiny gardeners would be like attacking them. He wasn’t willing to do that.

  So, what was he supposed to be doing? Besides the flowerbeds and trees, there was also a long hedge. Unlike the one that was outside the Trial, this hedge was only six feet tall. There was no gate, but the carefully pruned plant wall did have an opening at the center. An opening, into which the brick path led.

  Seeing no point in staying where he was, Trent started down the path. He looked around as he walked, and when he neared the third flowerbed, he encountered a plant that his Herbalism Skill couldn’t recognize. Small yellow flowers, with four petals and a center of blue pollen. He bent down to examine them more closely in hopes of increasing his Herbalism knowledge.

  Herbalism told him nothing, and Appraisal was useless as well. Curious, Trent brushed the flower’s petals with his fingers. His hand jerked back after making contact with them. The petals were smooth and cool to the touch but that wasn’t what startled him.

  Two things alarmed him! First, Earth Manipulation had reacted when he touched the flowers. Trent still didn’t know its name, but his new Ability told him that the plant had healing and cooling properties. It was nice to discover that Earth Manipulation had more uses than he’d realized.

  What really shocked him was that his vambraces, the soul-bound forearm guards he’d acquired, had also reacted. They vibrated! Not in response to the flower, but in reaction to Earth Manipulation!

  Soul-bound equipment grew with its user. Trent was an inquisitive person, but he wasn’t much for self-reflection. If he was, he would have checked his three soul-bound items more often. When he'd first bound the vambraces, he had noticed that they didn’t have much use beyond their armor rating. Because of that, he had almost forgotten about them.

  Maybe he took his gear for granted. A more experienced Adventurer would check a soul-bound item every time they leveled up, but Trent hadn’t checked his vambraces or cowl in some time. Sorrow and Strife, his named, soul-bound knives, had been left in Storage since they had been broken.

  The vibration reminded Trent that the vambraces were not simple things. He looked at the one that covered his right arm and started to use Appraisal on it, but he was stopped before he could activate the Skill. He noticed that a small red jewel, about the size of the nail on his little finger, had attached itself to the vambraces. That jewel was a sleeping Fire Elemental that had decided to make a home for itself in Trent’s armor.

  He didn’t think the jewel
was what had reacted to Earth Manipulation, though. He was nearly certain that the small brown dot that was drifting up from the vambraces to hover in front of his face was the cause of the vibration. He didn’t need to use Identify to find the name of the dot. He'd seen quite a number of these in the past. It was another Elemental Spirit! An Elemental of the Earth variety he was willing to guess. The color and the fact that he could feel its presence through Earth Manipulation were dead giveaways.

  Had the Elemental always been in the vambraces, and why? Orion had said there were, but other than the Fire Elemental, Trent had seen no evidence of that, not that he had been looking. He had assumed the Fire Elemental had come with him because of their previous interaction. The Elemental had taught Trent the Ember charm and showed him how to combine the charm with Spark to create Spirit Flame. They had also killed a Hill Troll together, though Trent didn’t like thinking about that. The smell of a Hill Troll was not a pleasant thing to remember.

  On a whim, he started to reach out to the Fire Elemental in jewel form with Fire Manipulation. Once he connected, he felt the sleepy and hungry presence of a familiar Spirit. Maybe he could learn more Spells from it?

  Before he could fully wake the Fire Elemental, a brown dot knocking into his nose reminded him that others wanted his attention. Clearing his throat abashedly, Trent switched to Earth Manipulation and tried communicating with the newcomer.

  Greater, more advanced Elementals were intelligent. They were in control of their element, powerful and capable of speech. Also, from what Orion had told Trent, they weren’t shy when talking about their needs and wants.

  This flying brown dot that continued to bounce off his face wasn’t shy, but there was no greatness about it. It didn’t even have true sentience. It was merely a bundle of instincts and desires. Communication was possible with the right Skills, but it was a messy process.

  Through Earth Manipulation, Trent could tell that the brown Elemental dot was hungry and eager. It wanted him to feed it, but that was a problem. Trent had been able to feed the Fire Elemental with fire-based Charms. He didn’t know any Earth Spells, which were what he assumed this dot fed upon.

  He tried to convey this to the dot. It was difficult, but eventually, the Elemental settled down and rested on the tip of his nose. Trent’s eyes crossed as he tried to keep it in view.

  Images filled his head. Images of Earth flowing down his arm to gather in his palm. It was a moment before he recognized that the image was of Mana, his Mana. What was apparent, but less obvious was the pulse, the rhythm, that accompanied the images. It wasn’t the Mana that was supposed to pulsate, it was something else.

  A desire filled him, one not his own. The Elemental wanted a deeper, firmer connection. Trent was holding back, and that was inhibiting the process. Pushing aside his misgivings, Trent allowed the Elemental the access it craved. He regretted it immediately. Suddenly, his body wasn’t under his control. The tiny dot overrode his consciousness, pushing him to the side. He was no longer running things.

  Trent had an advantage when communicating with the Fire Elemental. He knew about fire. Heart of the Inferno, and the way he had acquired that Ability, gave him an intimate understanding of the workings of flame. He could interact with it freely.

  That was not the case with the Earth Elemental. Earth was foreign. Its subtle needs and desires were hidden. The Elemental had possessed him, yet Trent still felt no deeper connection to it.

  Helpless, Trent felt his tongue click and wiggle. His left hand rose to chest height and stayed there, palm facing the sky. He tried to cut off Earth Manipulation, but the Elemental wasn’t having any of that. It hardly noticed his attempts. Once let in, the Spirit was not one to be evicted. Trent’s Mana Pool began to fluctuate and swirl. Slowly, the magic force began to trickle down his arm to his left palm.

  Trent angrily battered the Elemental’s hold with his will, but it was useless. As he struggled, his tongue clicked stupidly, and a humming sound was produced from the back of his throat. Trent increased his efforts. So far, the Elemental hadn’t actually hurt him, but he still had no idea where this was going.

  He felt a sense of frustration from the being that had taken over his body. Whatever it was trying to do wasn’t working. Minutes passed as Trent’s MP ticked away, and his mouth continued to open and shut, producing mindless noise.

  It was the clicking of his tongue that caused a speck of understanding to pierce Trent’s panic. That click, it was like the pulse in the image the Elemental had sent. It was… it was a chant! The rhythmic words that a Charm required to give shape to Mana. The Elemental was trying to work out a chant.

  A being of simple instincts, the rude dot that controlled him didn’t have a grasp of language. It knew what it needed, but it did not know how to acquire that need. Desperate, Trent thought of the chant to Spark and thrust it at the Elemental. That chant only worked with the one Charm; it was very different from what the dot was trying to achieve. Trent just hoped it could serve as a reference.

  The Elemental resisted his attempts to help. It was too focused on its task. Trent tried thinking louder. He screamed within his own head. Slowly, the Elemental took notice. His mouth stopped moving as the dot allowed itself to pay attention to Trent’s thoughts. It seemed confused, and Trent was at a loss to make his intentions clearer.

  He was on the verge of giving up when noises began falling from his lips again. They weren’t words, not exactly, but Spell chants weren’t built from a true language. His Mana was almost depleted, but before it could run out, the Elemental figured out the trigger word.

  “Druuunst."

  The word wasn’t quite right, but it was close enough. If it had been anything other than a Charm, the Spell would have failed. Fortunately, Charms were more about intent than precision.

  A pile of sand filled Trent’s palm, and as quickly as it had been seized, control over Trent’s body returned to him. He fell to his knees, his head aching from Mana loss, as much as his ordeal. He lifted his shaking right hand to his nose and gently lifted the Elemental from his face with one finger.

  He held it away from his body and stared at it resentfully. The brown dot ignored his discontent and rolled back and forth on his fingertip delightedly. It rushed to his left hand, which he still held out in front, palm up. The sand created from his Mana was piled there. The Elemental dove into the sand, hopped once, twice, then lay still.

  It was absorbing the spell, feeding. Trent thought about crushing his hand and smothering the tiny being. It wouldn’t do any harm; Elementals were not so easily damaged, but it might make him feel better.

  Watching the dot happily feeding, Trent sighed. He had just learned a new Charm, Dust. He couldn’t see the purpose of the Charm, other than being a source of nourishment for oblivious Elementals. Creating sand was hardly worth the price, considering how frightening the learning process had been.

  Trent stared at the feasting Elemental in his hand. He thought about casting the dirt and dot to the side, but he didn’t. This senseless creature had traveled out of the Trial in his vambraces. It meant him no harm, and possibly it might be of some use to him later. Though that might be wishful thinking.

  He settled himself into a sitting position. The Elemental was eating, and he needed to allow his Mana to recover. The Garden didn’t have any time constraints that he was aware of. He could afford to rest for a while.

  The speed of Mana recovery was determined by a Class Holder’s Wisdom. At 9 points, Wisdom was his lowest Attribute, unless you counted Endurance, which only had 3 points. However, Endurance was a secondary Attribute, and it couldn’t be easily trained or raised by free Attribute Points. With a mere value of 3, Endurance provided a lot more than Wisdom did. Even with his meager Mana Pool, it would be hours before his Mana completely recovered.

  Mana loss caused his vision to blur. Staring at the dot in his hand, his head began to swim. Blinking, he turned his attention back to the yellow flowers that were partially responsible
for his condition. It was the right decision. Focusing farther away caused his eyesight to clear a little.

  The petals of the yellow and blue flower drooped messily. Stubby leaves grew from its stem and sagged towards the ground. All in all, it wasn’t an impressive specimen of plant life. Despite its vibrant colors, the flower had an air of defeat and loneliness about it. If it hadn’t been for his inability to recognize it with Herbalism or Appraisal and the reaction of Earth Manipulation, he would have called it a weed and walked by.

  Now Trent questioned if he should try to pick it. It had to have some value, some use. He had been given books on Herbalism and a Skill Stone with Mining specifically for these kinds of situations. Gathering resources from a Trial was a normal act.

  Only, this Trial didn’t feel normal. It was a garden! He didn’t know much about gardens. The only one he had seen before now had been in the Al’drossford Keep's outer ward. That garden was meant to be observed and not disturbed. He was aware of that because once he had collapsed next to a flower bed, and a nearby servant had yelled at him for almost disturbing the plants.

  That hadn’t been his intention at the time. He had been too busy pondering how long it took for a person to die from running. Here in the Trial, would the Fairy gardeners protect their charges as fiercely as the Keep's servant had? Better not to risk it.

  However, seconds after he made this decision, the Earth Elemental finished its meal. It spun in slow circles as it rose from his palm. Its size had increased, Trent noted. The dot was now the size of a fat bumblebee. It hovered in the air above his hand, then moved idly towards the yellow flowers.

  Trent watched as the Elemental settled into the blue pollen of one of the larger flowers, bouncing lightly up and down on the center of the plant. It flew back and touched his hand, then like the laziest of all bumblebees went down again to circle the flower it had chosen.

  Trent’s hand reached out of its own accord. The Elemental wanted him to pick the flower. Before his hand could touch the plant’s stem, a Fairy appeared in front of him. The tiny, winged figure floated a few inches away and glared at him. His hand drew back. What the Elemental wanted was apparently not something the gardener would allow.