The small, chubby Rahasan was wearing a simple fisherman’s robe, holding a fishing rod that was larger than himself, and had strange black markings on his yellowish-orange fur and skin that covered his entire left arm. “The name’s Yani, Yani Gella! Nice to meet you all!” He’d say gleefully, waving his hand in a kind gesture.
“Woah! What a fat Rahasan!” Iferos would unexpectedly say out of curiosity, running over to examine the small cat. He was amazed, since the only Rahasan he’d ever seen was Qantheos and his group, so he was expecting all Rahasans to be like that, but his expectations were shattered, albeit in a rather strange way.
“So, what brings you here, Mister Yani?” Reanne would politely ask the feline, who was just casually fishing what little fishes there were over at the pond.
“Oh me? I was just headed towards Parthia’s Last Light!” He’d say as he continued humming a rather familiar melody. “What about you folks? What brings you here?”
“We were actually just on our way there too.” I’d say, approaching him and sitting next to him on a rock just slightly overseeing the whole pond. “Would you like to join us, perhaps?”
“Oh, I’d love to! When do you plan on departing? ‘Cause I still have to catch some snacks over here” He’d say as he reeled in a small bass from the pond, “Perfect! This is my favorite!” He’d then put it in a basket filled with fish next to him.
“We plan on leaving tomorrow, we’ll need to take the time to rest here for now.”
“Okay! I have some spare sleeping mats and blankets over there.” He’d point to the spot by a tree where a few blankets and other necessities we had so desperately needed were. It was a blessing to have found him, if we didn’t we probably would’ve slept on the cold, hard ground for the night again.
The four of us took our time to settle down and get some much needed rest, and Iferos would start playing with Glenn, the owlbear cub. He looked at it with such sad eyes, I knew that he was hoping that Glenn and Damian were still alive and couldn’t bring himself to accept the harsh reality of their untimely demise.
Yani would get up from the rock and put down his fishing rod by the pond, heading towards his tent, “I’m just going to take a nap, wake me up if you need anything!” He’d yell before going inside his tent, it wasn’t even nearing nightfall and he was asleep.
We all decided to do our own things. Iferos was playing with the owlbear cub until they both fell asleep, the mother owlbear picked both of them up and laid them under the cover of the trees, so as to shade them from the sunlight. Reanne was busy teaching Viella about Numen by the pond, the light shining down on Reanne’s hair made it seem so bright as it was beautiful.
I decided to grab a blanket and cover both the owlbear cub and Iferos, who were fast asleep in each other’s arms, reminiscent of a pair of siblings; of Glenn and Iferos back in the prison. Afterwards, I went for a short walk around the area. “Talis…” There it was again! It was the same voice from last night! That familiar yet foreign voice… Only this time, it sounded closer… It didn’t sound too far from here; it was around the direction of Altrae’s Passing. I didn’t want to stray far away from the group until we settled somewhere else, like in the village.
“Talis? Where are you going?” Reanne would approach me; it seems that her tutoring time with Viella was done.
“I was just going for a stroll, don’t worry.”
“Do you mind if I join you, then?” She’d ask, grabbing my arm and wrapping it around her arm as we continued walking around.
“Yeah, sure. I don’t mind.” We both walked around the verdant trees, her arm still wrapped around mine, just like how lovers do.
“What’s on your mind, hm?” She noticed right away that something was still troubling me, ever since Glenn died. “You can tell me, you know? You don’t have to shoulder it by yourself.”
“It’s just… Sigh…” It hurt just thinking about it, let alone talking about it. I’ve seen countless people die on the battlefield, even those who I knew back then eventually died… But Glenn? To say he died in a horrific way would be an understatement.
“It’s about Glenn and Damian, isn’t it?” We’d stop walking and she’d suddenly grab my hand, holding it ever so tightly, caressing my thumb with hers gently. “It’s okay.” She’d softly whisper, and that alone was enough to bring me to tears.
“If only I had… Done something! If only-“ She’d interrupt me, covering my mouth with a finger,
“Shh.” She’d lower her arm and gently hug me. “Don’t blame yourself for what you couldn’t do, Talis. Instead, be thankful for what you could do.” She whispered in my ear; her soft voice was soothing to hear. “If you hadn’t ran away, you would have died as well. And perhaps me and the others too.”
“I know… But I just wished that-“
“It’s okay, Talis.” She’d hug me even tighter; her warm embrace was a remedy for the soul, “You did all you could, and I’m sure Glenn would have wanted you to be happy.” Her kind words and soft gesture left me in tears, I bawled my eyes out as she continued hugging me and patting my back, “We’re only human, always remember that. You don’t need to shoulder the weight of the world over something you couldn’t change or couldn’t do better.” The tears just couldn’t stop falling, the scent of spring daisies from Reanne filled my nostrils, and it felt like home; she felt like home.
I had always longed for the feeling of home, even in my dreams I did so. But I never knew you could get that feeling from a person. “Thank you, Reanne.” I’d wipe the tears off my face and she’d offer a piece of cloth to help. “I really mean it, thank you.”
“Of course, Talis.” She’d hug me one last time before she headed off back to the campsite, and I continued walking around to clear my mind. The scenery was something that you could find anywhere in Eden; it was common. But despite that, it was still rather nostalgic, being able to feel the wind lightly brush against my face, and the sweet smell of flowers.
Having the freedom to take strolls like this felt amazing. Back in the academy we never really had much free time due to the workload we had, and when we were at war there was barely any time to do anything as we always had to be on guard and alert, since we never really knew when we were going to attack or be attacked.
I would hear the sound of faint footsteps approaching me from behind, I knew there wasn’t anything to be wary of in the forest, so I calmy turned around and saw a fox. It slowly approached me, and this somehow felt… Oddly familiar.
“What are you doing here, little one?” It would get closer and closer to me, before suddenly stopping. “Lost now, are you?”
I crouched down to its level and urged it to come closer with a small raspberry that I had picked up while we were walking to our destination. It was hesitant at first, but it slowly and carefully approached me with eyes filled with curiosity. The little fox grabbed the raspberry from the palms of my hand with its mouth and started chomping down on it, allowing me to pet its soft fur whilst it was doing so.
Purr! Purr! It was jumping in place, and I think it was asking me for more berries. It was quite unfortunate but I didn’t have any more, perhaps maybe the others had some though. I stood up and started walking towards where we had camped by the pond and owlbear nest and gestured to the little fox to come and follow me.
We made it back to our camp area and noticed Iferos, Glenn the owlbear cub, and Yani were still fast asleep, while Reanne was busy tutoring Viella. “Oh! I see you’ve brought back a little friend this time, Talis!” Reanne would gleefully exclaim as she approached the fox with a hand full of berries, crouching down and extending her hand towards it, “Do you have a name for it yet?”
“No, I haven’t thought about it yet.” I’d say as I crouched down beside her, watching her pet the fox. “Do you have anything in mind?”
“Hmm…” Reanne would sit there and think hard about it, her arm now slightly extended as the fox ate the berries off her palms.
“Amber…” Viella would mutter to herself as she approached and crouched down with us to pet the fox.
“What was that, Viella?” Reanne would ask, “Amber?”
“Oh, it’s nothing… Don’t mind what I just said.”
“I like that… Amber. It has a nice ring to it.” Reanne would say, lifting the little fox up, “From now on, you shall be called… Amber!” She would proclaim, as the fox just looked at it in glee. It seemed to have somewhat understood our conversation. It did have a nice ring to it.
She’d put it down and let it continue feasting on the berries she had collected along the way, and the two of them would go back to what they were just doing. I stayed beside the fox; we were under the shade of the trees so the light didn’t hurt our eyes that much and eventually laid down beside it to take a quick nap.
Amber would cuddle up into a ball next to my chest right after eating and start falling asleep alongside me. “Sleep tight, buddy.” Purr… “Heh. Thanks.” I fell asleep watching the color of the sky turn from bright blue to the sun setting into a beautiful orange and red hue.
“Talis! Amber! Wake up!” Yani’s voice would ring through my ears, waking both me and Amber up from our nap. “It’s time for supper!”
The both of us would slowly get up and it was already so dark outside, the only light was the campfire right by the pond, with a rather large pot set up hanging above the flames. Me and Amber walked to the others and sat by the fire together, with Yani grabbing a small bowl filled with an assortment of berries just for Amber. The two owlbears were also with us, eating wild rabbits that were caught while we were asleep.
“This is absolutely DELICIOUS!” Iferos would exclaim, eating the stew that Yani and Reanne had prepared for everyone. “This is so much better than what we’ve been having the past few nights!”
The uneasiness and tension just suddenly seemed to vanish, and it became much livelier ever since we came across Yani. “Oh! By the way! Pack your things and eat your fill, we’re leaving tonight.” Yani would suddenly say while we were eating, “If we leave now, we should be able to make it to Altrae’s Passing in two days.”
Gulp! “What?! I thought we were leaving tomorrow at sunrise?” Reanne was shocked, just as everyone else was, me included.
“Don’t worry about that, I’ll be sure that we make it in two days.” Yani would say, confident that he could get us there in such a short amount of time. We didn’t even have horses so how would we be able to get there in just two days?!
“Wait… Are we going to ride the owlbears?!”
“Well, you could say that.” He’d say having the biggest smirk on his face, even bigger than when he was busy catching fish.
We all continued eating our fill, both anxious and curious as to how in the world we were going to move around so quickly. Yani finished first and went over to the large open space and held out his left arm, the one with the strange markings. “What is he doing…” Viella would comment on how strange he looked.
“He looks like a madman; he sounded like a madman earlier.” Reanne would add on to Viella’s comments about Yani.
Suddenly, all their judgements about him disappeared, as the markings on his arm started glowing bright purple, and it seemed like he was using his Numen to conjure a carriage for us- but for something conjured out of Numen, it looked too real, as if it was actually made and built from scratch. We were all in shock and awe at what seemed to be a miracle be performed by him, and Iferos would quickly run towards Yani and praise his abilities.
“What was that! That was amazing!” Iferos would ask, his eyes gleaming with curiosity and admiration towards the Rahasan.
“That was my Numen. I told you we’d be able to get there in two days!” Yani would proudly say, gesturing all of us to get in the carriage, while he stays at the front to… steer? Steer what exactly? He’d grab the fishing rod that was latched onto his backpack and it would suddenly transform into reins and a large collar. He’d whistle, calling the owlbears, attaching the collar to the mother, fitting perfectly around her neck, it seems that she was comfortable with it and was used to this already.
The cub would get in the carriage with us, calmly laying down on Iferos’ lap, “Is everyone ready?” Yani would ask and we’d all nod in unison, “Alrighty! Let’s get going!”
The carriage would start rocking, it was to be expected from an owlbear that was sprinting. “What’s your Numen, Yani! How does it work!” Iferos was still in awe about his abilities, and the curiosity of a child had to be satiated.
“I can create shit!” Yani would say proudly with his whole heart and soul.
“What?! How does that work!” Iferos would say, we were all equally as puzzled as he was at what he just described his Numen as.
“Basically… If I know how to make something and the materials used, I can make shit.”
“Do you perhaps have a lost temperament, Yani?” Reanne would ask, her scholastic side curiosity was starting to show.
“Lost? Well, I did find it… So technically it’s not lost anymore, but yes, I do!”
“What’s a lost temperament, Reanne?” Iferos and Viella would both ask, and I, myself am actually curious about what that was too, since they never really gave any in depth explanations on what the other types of temperaments there are back in the academy.
“If Numen is the energy we use and it follows our will and has intent, then the Temperaments are the elemental capacities of our Numen Core, which we were all born with,” She’d start making a small, light-green sphere of wind, “The eight main temperaments are Flame, those who harness cinders- Gale, those like me, who control the winds- Water, those who can shape the tides- Earth, those who can cause the ground to shake- Shadow, those who wield the dark- Light, those who wield the luminescence- Frost, those who control the ice- and Nature, those who harness the power of the flora.”
We were all carefully listening to Reanne’s explanation of Numen, most of which I already knew but it was still meaningful to be learning from her. “What Yani has is an example of a lost temperament. There isn’t much information or books regarding this topic but what almost all records of these have in common is the interaction between the user and a lesser fragment of Pure Numen.”
“Wait, if the Numen we use isn’t pure, then what is?” Viella was curious, and I haven’t seen her this focused at all, I’m guessing she’s considering this as one of Reanne’s tutoring sessions.
“It’s hard to say, and there’s many debates over what exactly is Pure Numen, but what I like to believe is that it’s the Numen of the Gods or Fallen Gods.”
“Woah…” We were all flabbergasted, we didn’t even know things such as Pure Numen existed aside from beings made up entirely of Numen, “So… Does that mean… Yani is a God?” Iferos would as oh so innocently, his face lighting up just at the thought of it.
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