A name...
It wasn't my fault that I had yet to find a name I knew for certain belonged to me.
And it was not like naming myself was anything urgent... right?
"How important is a name?"
To ascertain whether I was missing something fundamental, [Guided] and I decided to ask Elric about it, as after we left the Temple, it seemed like the roles had been reversed, and it was my turn to ask questions while it was his to answer.
He mulled over his answer for a bit before starting to talk. "Verily, a name mainly serves to facilitate communication between individuals, and as such, may not manifest as anything relevant outside this context and its very wide field of pertinence. But when has reality ever been concerned solely with the practical..."
Elric had his own way of answering, however, and unfortunately, it wasn't one I was yet verbally equipped enough to handle, leaving me to muse on the meaning behind many of his sentences.
Not that I hated it.
It was a fantastic exercise for me, all while providing [Guided] with an example of elaborate speaking which could be replicated later.
So, truly, I had no reason to discontinue asking questions, regardless of my lack of comprehension.
Which led me to ask what I was most curious about, after I was repeatedly [Guided] to delicately change my wording, sometimes multiple times in the same sentence. "Can you tell when I'm lying?"
Silence was the answer I expected to get in return for asking something so personal, but I was proven wrong when he soon opened his mouth to answer with a teasing smile. "What makes you think so?"
I didn't know how to answer without revealing [Guided]'s existence.
[Guided] did, though.
"It felt weird when you mentioned words like truth and instinct, and then there's the way you so readily accepted my absence of answers, like not knowing my age or not having a name..."
As if I had actually caught onto these details, which I had long since forgotten about and which hadn't struck me as anything important at the time, I reiterated every relevant piece of evidence from when he first approached me to when our private meeting ended and we departed the Temple under the bemused glances of the Seekers we passed by.
I was even getting convinced myself.
Could he... actually tell when I was lying?
What sort of Aspect could allow one to achieve something so mind-blowing?
Could I do that in the future?
"Your [Insight]s are truly formidable," he eventually said after too many breaths, but then didn't elaborate further on my question.
There was no way...
Right?
"We're approaching the middle floors. Now would be a good time to take flight, that way we'll skip the most heavily trafficked paths altogether."
Before I could ask another question, he unexpectedly brought up a massive piece of knowledge I wasn't yet totally certain about, but had been badly hoping for ever since my wings launched into a streak of unending growth and itchiness.
"Take flight‽" I probed back with wide eyes and a bit more eagerness than I was strictly [Guided] to let through.
He smirked, as if he had suddenly gotten a win out of me, then patted his left shoulder. "Hop on my shoulder. Let me give you a perspective of the world you'll become very familiar with once your wings and Essence finish maturing. The world wouldn't be so unfair as to give you wings and a feather's weight without giving you something back for it..."
◇ ◈ ◈ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◈ ◈ ◇
All of a sudden, I was pulled out of my reverie by someone knocking on the door to my office.
Slightly unusual though it may be, I wasn't dealing with anything even remotely urgent, simply constant, messy reports touching on a variety of developments, each more pointless than the last.
"Come in."
Hence, I welcomed this unexpected disruption, already picturing something exciting having finally taken place in this decadent and worthless city.
It was my own daughter, Lora, who opened the door to deliver me a piece of news I absolutely hadn't seen coming. "Magister, Guardian Elric has just arrived with a young fairy in tow and requested a special low-priority meeting."
"As in, low-priority enough for him to leave his station as assigned Guardian of a Lower Temple?" I immediately inquired, the two pieces of information being incompatible with each other, considering the worsening circumstances of the lower floors as of late, in large part due to the dwindling paste supplies.
"He didn't report any more information other than that he required a special low-priority meeting, with no detailed mention of it concerning the fairy accompanying him or anything else," she factually reported how things had transpired without making any groundless conjectures.
Just as I taught her to do.
"Send them in, then. Thank you for your accurate and efficient reporting, Lora," I said, then got started cleaning up the clutter of unread, read, and partially read reports that were covering my desk with the same degree of nonchalance I had grown used to.
It wasn't like investing myself more in my work would do anything for me at this point.
I had already risen to the rank of Magister, after all, irrespective of how fake it may ostensibly be as a locally restricted rank in this forgotten backwater in the grand scheme of things.
In any case, it wasn't like I intended to ask for a relocation to what many of my peers considered "proper" cities anytime soon, as even at best, I would be relegated to Archivist.
No, it was much better for me to remain here and make the most of my current authority to provide my most gifted children with the largest benefits and advantages I could, setting my future [Longevity] up to have sufficient potential to be reassigned as a real Magister.
All to say...
I knew my limits.
I lost my [Will] long ago, when I refused to move up and stayed in this city that no one but those like me cared about.
Seeking a promotion to the Archmagister rank?
No, thank you.
Being the local Magister here was only barely what I could still handle, what with all the paste supply troubles, the conflicts between Red Sand and all the other factions that wanted a piece of Red Sand Rift City for themselves...
At least I could consider myself lucky that no other big factions other than the Nexus Order had ever deigned to send any higher personnel than scouts and representatives, which made my job all the more leisurely...
"Magister Eliott," Elric's voice pulled me once again from my musings back to reality, where I looked to see one of the few hopefuls this City gave birth to standing at the door, a beautiful young female fairy proudly standing on his left shoulder.
"Guardian Elric, come in." I waved him in. "To what do we owe this special meeting? Does it have anything to do with this young fairy here? Please find anywhere to stand or sit, whatever, you know my opinion on unneeded formality."
Elric first helped the fairy jump off his shoulder to land on a chair he pulled from one of the walls, and only then did he begin his official report.
"Due to the extraordinary circumstances surrounding this young fairy, circumstances encompassing the entirety of her remembered life until now, I opted to bring her to you to decide on the course of action to undertake."
"What, or which, extraordinary circumstances?" I habitually saw through the official jargon he used and demanded clarification.
"She..." He sent a glance the fairy's way, likely asking for permission to share something, but she thoroughly ignored him, apparently much more interested in the many adornments present in my office. "She lived a life that I suspect exemplifies the omnipotence of Aspects against the willful flow of fate, in the truest sense."
A life that exemplified the omnipotence of Aspects...
Faith Of The Aspects' vernacular for an individual of high manifest potential with no apparent connections or relations to any other factions.
I took a second look at the fairy subjected to such high praise by someone as trustworthy as Guardian Elric.
Very young, no evident signs of hardship on her exposed skin or wings, well-outfitted, unique bearing, a disciplined [Cycle] which I presumed from its reach and stability had already advanced to Tier 1, some manner of [Stealth] and [Perception] Aspects...
"That is one very confusing case you brought me," I ultimately admitted, my sense for inconsistencies born of a long life spent with a Tier 3 [Awareness] Aspect painting a very contradictory picture of this young fairy. "Would you mind filling me in on the details? Or would this young fairy like to do it herself?"
The young fairy in question looked up to stare blankly at me, and after two seconds spent in befuddling silence, Elric socially coughed.
"Allow me. From what she recounted to me, it is like this. She was born in Volow, a town located out in the rust wastes, and was shortly brought into a refuge for forsaken children where she grew up surrounded by..."
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
The story, initially resembling the average tale of nearly all new life that had the misfortune of being born here in this barren Sector of the Nexus Realm, quickly took a turn for the truly extraordinary I couldn't have seen coming in a hundred years.
From being born in the worst environment to being subjected to the ongoing paste supply crisis, this young fairy should have rightfully joined the tens of thousands who had already starved to death, but through a series of discernibly Aspect-related wonders, she pulled through and somehow even thrived in her own way.
"Hmm, it's not that I do not believe you, but how far have you ascertained the veracity of her story?" I asked after he ended his retelling, as his confidence in that nameless fairy's story would in turn greatly impact my subsequent approach to this unique situation.
"Insofar as an objective investigation, I have no proof to provide, but through my own abilities and the contextual corroborations I made, it would only take a proper [Appraisal] of her Essence to validate the vast majority of her claims."
How typically unhelpful and evident.
Not that I should have expected much from a muscle-brain who converted from the Seeker Path to the Sentinel Path to begin with.
"Let us attempt that, then." I turned to the fairy. "I have the ability to peer at someone else's Essence if they enter a state of communion while pseudo-lowering their natural defenses. Would you subject yourself to this appraisal?"
"Communion?"
"That..." I frowned once I heard her repeat a word with the obvious intent of being provided its meaning. "Are you familiar with a way to meditate upon your Essence to enable yourself to apprehend the states of your Aspects?"
"Oh." Her mouth opened, and a glint of understanding flashed in her iridescent eyes. "With this appraisal, you will see... everything?"
"I am, unfortunately, or fortunately for you in this case, still far from touching upon such a revered level of Essence [Appraisal] where I would gain access to even a sliver of the same intensity of communion you can attain," I explained.
"Only if you grant me sufficient time to parse through the most certainly esoteric flows of your Essence would I grasp even the shallowest [Awareness] of which Aspects you have formed, and that, I repeat, only if you provide me with an abundance of time to do so."
She paused, clearly seriously considering the offer. "Can you tell me what all my Aspects are about... in exchange?"
My mouth opened.
Elric's mouth opened more.
"..." It was such an outrageously personal and intimate request that I momentarily didn't know what to make of it, but my rationality quickly reasserted itself and I responded, "Like I said, my Essence [Appraisal] is very far from perfect, and even if you were to provide me a year's worth of time, I fear I would be unable to tell you more than the surface concepts embodied by your Aspects."
"And if my Aspects are good enough, I get to learn about reading, writing, numbers, counting, how to make the most of Origin Aspects, and the basics you have about Path Aspect formations, advancements, and synthesis?"
I exchanged a look with Elric, who was still agape at her shocking request to have her entire Essence appraised, but swiftly pulled himself together when she mentioned her demands. "I forgot to mention those are the reasons she visited the fourth-floor Lower Temple in the first place. It slipped from my mind."
Well, I could understand why he had omitted such a request for fundamental knowledge, which she would eventually find a way to acquire one way or another even if not from us, but I didn't like being taken unaware, so I sent Elric a piercing stare, then centered back on her demand.
"For this level of knowledge, without missing subjects such as Essence, Essence Entities, and Essence Corruption, we offer regular classes throughout the City, but if your story checks out, we can offer you private teaching sessions here in the Prime Temple. Let me establish a contract for you."
She clearly blanked out at the additional basic themes I added, but to be done with this matter sooner rather than later, I decisively formalized the deal on paper and signed nonchalantly before passing it on to her.
"There you go, you just need to sign it, as in do a random scribble there with this pen, and... perfect. Elric has witnessed the signing of this deal, so unless both of us and this piece of paper vanish, you have your guarantee. Anything else?"
She gazed vacantly at the contract, then into my eyes, and finally she shook her head.
"Good. I like it when things are done in an efficient manner. Should we proceed with your Essence [Appraisal]? I won't see you to the door, Guardian Elric. Unless you have other matters, I implore you to reassume your post in the fourth-floor Lower Temple. The times are too dire for it to be left without Guardian oversight. Tell Lora not to intrude until I call for her on the way out, would you?"
"Most certainly, Magister Eliott," Elric responded with a measured amount of mirth as he stood up. "I guess I'll see you in the Prime Temple, young fairy. Contemplate the matter of joining the Faith when you have time. It ought to be a truly rewarding path for someone of your potential."
I put this clumsy reminder about recruiting the young fairy in a corner of my mind, for once we were finished...
Then, once Elric had closed the door behind him, I momentarily entertained the notion of going through my usual modicum of symbolism to carry out the Essence [Appraisal], but upon taking another look at the apathetic fairy before me, I dismissed the whole thing and moved on.
"Please enter your state of communion. I will guide you to lower your defenses once we get there," I started, then entered a state of [Clarity] as I primed my [Awareness] for the [Appraisal].
Not acting overly suspicious, she responded to my request by closing her eyes, but whereas I expected her to take a dozen seconds, my [Awareness] nearly instantly caught onto a slight fluctuation of her Essence as it rose from the depths of her Essence Entity.
She touched upon her own Essence excessively quickly for someone who claimed to be so young...
"Perfect. Now, to lower your natural defenses, the most uncomplicated solution is for you to consider just the two of us, you and me, no one else, as being present. The outside is perfectly sealed, no one is going to interrupt us. Then you have to impress upon your mind that I am about to interact with you on a spiritual level."
Once I finished delivering my instructions, without wasting time, I elevated my [Awareness] and my [Appraisal] to the edge of what I considered the draining stage, and I felt it in my body when a faint pull manifested into being.
When I felt like the time was right, I unleashed the invisible weight of my [Awareness] on the young fairy and felt right away when we made contact.
"This intruding sensation you must be feeling is my [Appraisal] making contact. Treat it as an uncomfortable breeze. Something that can't harm you, no matter how much I could want it to do so."
Something gave shortly after I finished talking.
My [Appraisal] had started working, feeding me ethereal glimpses of concepts as embodied by the young fairy's views, perspectives, and experiences of reality itself.
"Excellent," I said. "Remain in this state while I complete your Essence [Appraisal]. It shouldn't take long."
And truthfully, it shouldn't.
My [Appraisal] was merely a Tier 2 Aspect, after all, as I had yet to successfully advance it to Tier 3 for reasons that were the same as for anyone else having yet to advance one of their Aspects.
I lacked.
Purely and simply.
Still, a Tier 2 [Appraisal] was more than adequate for what I was now intimately cognizant of as a newborn Essence Entity, one much younger than I had dared to imagine, and that discovery by itself inherently assuaged the entirety of my doubts.
As for her Aspects...
[Guided] (Origin)
[Exertion] (Tier 1-2)
[Cycle] (Tier 1-2)
[Insight] (Tier 0-1)
[Perception] (Tier 0-1)
[Tempering] (Tier 1-2)
[Darkness] (Tier 0-1)
[Will] (Tier 0-1)
An Origin Aspect I could not discern in more detail than that it embodied concepts closely associated with [Guidance], [Counsel], and [Advisement].
Nevertheless, as with all Origin Aspects, it most certainly had an Essence-defining twist to it that made it close to unique...
And seven Path Aspects.
Seven.
How prematurely had she formed her first Aspect?
Before she was even born?
If she had been born as a Pure Essence Entity that didn't naturally develop an Origin Aspect, she would have been in a world of hurt to progress further and rectify her early mistakes of recklessly forming new Aspects without proper planning.
Fortunately for her, owning an Origin Aspect rendered that facet of her Essence development void.
As for which of the two Essence development paths utilized by Origin Essence Entities—aligning with her Origin or rejecting it—she ended up relying on to achieve such results, it wasn't an element that could be discerned from her Essence.
In any event, while her Aspect formations may not have been properly designed, for someone so young, forming seven Path Aspects was simply an extraordinary amount that warranted her being heralded as a prodigy.
And truthfully, I found myself more impressed by the concepts of reality with which she had formed her Aspects.
Most notably, three of them.
[Cycle].
[Tempering].
[Will].
Those weren't Aspects one could form without serious dedication.
Dedication that exceeded the lower-Tier confines of an Aspect such as [Will].
And it truly made me wonder how much she had understated the suffering she endured to get where she was.
After getting all I could from my [Appraisal], I wisely didn't overspend my energy, already feeling a pang of hunger from this [Exertion].
"I finished your Essence [Appraisal], you can surface from your communion," I declared, grabbing the most appropriately sized piece of blank paper I had to hastily write down all the details still flowing freely in my mind.
I knew from habit they wouldn't last, irrespective of how much my [Clarity] Aspect endeavored to retain everything.
"I confirmed your approximate age and Essence to be in perfect accord with your story, and you'll be happy to know the Faith holds records of all your Aspects according to what my [Appraisal] returned to me, with the sole exception of your Origin Aspect."
"There we go, [Exertion], [Cycle], [Insight], [Perception], [Tempering], [Darkness], and [Will]. Your Aspects are written like this." I slid the piece of paper—still a bit too big for her, but nothing that couldn't be solved with some astute folding—to her and made certain she saw where and what I was referring to.
"Once you learn to read, simply take your first steps into the Seeker sanctuary and seek what records we have on your Aspects by yourself. It will be a good introductory lesson for you that way."
"And if you're still up for it at the end, I wrote three Aspects right underneath, [Guidance], [Counsel], and [Advisement]. I believe they are somewhat related to your Origin Aspect, but I don't believe we have any in-depth documents on them, so seek them on your own at the risk of wasting your time."
Going over everything I had to say following her Essence [Appraisal], I found nothing remained, and so moved on to the final stride before being freed to return to my hedonistic reading of unimportant reports.
"Lora!" I called my daughter, my voice piercing through this sieve of an office and shortly causing the door to swing open to reveal my beautifully earnest and serious daughter.
"Yes, Magister?" she inquired, her eyes instinctively landing on the diminutive form of the nameless fairy intently observing the piece of paper I had handed her.
"Prepare a place to stay in the Prime Temple for our little friend here. Either Acolyte or Initiate children's lodgings, it doesn't matter. And find an Acolyte willing to give intensive individual lessons on letters and numbers, compensated at slightly above current rates."
Instructions given and specified enough for Lora to understand what I wanted, I turned to address the arguably nearly newborn fairy for a final time.
"The Faith will offer you shelter until you can figuratively spread your wings and take flight on your own. That means until you can secure a living for yourself. It's not like with your size and [Cycle] you'll take many resources to keep happy."
I waved my hand in my daughter's direction. "In the meantime, you are free to follow my daughter, Lora. She'll take care of all your arrangements, from bed to food to study lessons. Don't hesitate to ask her about anything you're unsure about."
With that said and done, Lora indicated for the little fairy to follow after her, not sparing a glance at her old father, and soon enough, the door closed behind her, returning my office to a well-deserved serenity.
"I should probably send a missive to the Fairy House..."
Still, before I resumed reading interminable, purposeless reports, I gave some more thought to the matter to properly wrap it up so that it wouldn't backfire on me through my own present negligence in the future.
That had happened a bit too many times to count when I was younger...
At least with a missive sent and proof of transmission, even if it was left forgotten on a dusty counter, I would have a paper trail to throw at their annoying face...
Yeah.
Clean, simple, fast.
I liked that idea.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter