[Mkguild] Life As We Know It XI

[Jack Moore]

AN: I had a rather severe sinus infection and still am getting over it.
Slowly getting better.

Past—699

Somewhere South of Metamor

The sun always comes up too early when you’re anxious. My legs shook
despite it not being too cold.  I pulled my cloak as tight as I could
sitting in front of our pathetic fire.
Sotto gave me a smile but otherwise said nothing.  His fixation was on his
three small clay jars with the soul gems in them. Every so often he glanced
at me or the woods, but then back to the jars.
'Sotto told me those soul gems will never break.  How on Earth could he
possibly know that?' I had no soul gems myself, nor any souls I used as my
own. Sotto had told me I would find souls to be my partners after I was
made a full Enlightened.
'How did Sotto find unbreakable gems?  How did he get the souls in them?'
These are questions I didn’t have an answer for.  Now I do though.  But I
will get into that later.
“When did you meet these three?” I asked Sotto.  He looked up blinking and
confused.
“Haven’t I told you before?  I shook my head.  “How odd, I thought I had.”
 I sat up, trying to hide my grin. 'I’m going to be the fifth.  When we’ve
been around for five hundred years, they’ll remember me as the Fifth
Enlightened.'

“Well Paschalis, the one I’ve known longest of all, I actually met him
while still in the middle of discovering my abilities.”

“That must have been decades ago!” I exclaimed.  Mr. Sotto blushed.

“It was some time ago.” Sotto laughed.  “But it wasn’t as long as you
think.  I’m not that old”  When you’re eighteen soon to be nineteen,
everything a few years in the past seems ancient.  “I was only out of
Sondeshara for about a year when I met Paschalis.

“Were you excited?”

“To meet someone like me?” Mr. Sotto asked.  “To know I wasn’t just a freak
cursed by the gods?  Yes, of course I was happy.  Paschalis didn’t know
what to make of me or his abilities.  Actually working with him helped me
work out my own abilities.”

“I always thought you just knew how to do all this stuff from the
beginning.” I said.  “I never thought about you needing to be trained…by
you.”  Sotto smiled.

“As much as I appreciate your faith in my abilities, I was a novice once as
well.  Thankfully by the time I met Mirna and Umaro I was much stronger and
had Paschalis as my assistant.

“Mirna and Umaro had actually found each other.” Sotto looked past me, into
the woods.  “They were bonded when I brought them into my little group.
Paschalis and I knew how to draw out their abilities and we did so to the
best of our abilities.  Umaro…he was very skilled.”  Now he frowned.
“Something wrong?” I asked.  He shook his head.
“Just thinking about the past and mistakes I made.  Anyway, we agreed
eventually to separate and go out looking for more with our abilities.
Which is of course how I found you.”  I smiled.

'He’s been doing this for over ten years and has only found four people
like him.  I turned to my feet.  There are so few of us.  Would anyone
believe we exist?'
“
Before we separated we devised a way to meet to test new recruits.” Sotto
said.  “I admit Janelle, you will be the first person to undergo every test
we devised.  You should feel blessed.”

“I will if there is only one left.” I said.  Sotto nodded.  “Thank you
Eli.  I need a long vacation after this.”

“It’s been a long seven years of training Janelle.  You should feel proud.
Soon it will all be over and you can begin to look for your own
apprentices.  Eventually we
will have so many we will build a place for us.”

'A place for us…I wish I had a place where I belonged.' I pulled my knees
against my chest. 'I guess I’ll return to Metamor Keep after this.  Do I
belong there?'

The two of us sat in silence for a bit, unable to figure out what to say.
Finally snapping branches echoed through the woods.  I turned to Sotto who
nodded.
“That would be them.  Big smile Janelle.”  From between the trees emerged
two people.

What I was struck by right away was a sense of haughtiness from both of
them.  The male was lanky and amazingly angular.  His hair was long and
razor straight.  His eye were deep brown, almost black.  His nose was a
small point and his lips a thin slash on a pale white face.  He wore a
tight white shirt with black pants and leather boots, with black gloves.
In his right hand he clutched a spear with a wicked sharp point.

The woman was a thin blond with hair in a tight bun.  Her eyes were a pale
blue and her mouth set in a sneer.  She wore two earrings with black
crystals in them.  She wore a forest green tunic and white pants with a
tightly buckled belt.  Clinging to her left hip was a long sword which she
fingered while staring at me.
“Where is Paschalis?” Sotto asked.
“No idea.” The man said.
“He didn’t join us when we headed towards you.  In fact we’ve not heard
from him since we first split.” The woman said.
“We were hoping you had heard from him.” The man said.  Sotto shook his
head.
“I know we didn’t part on the best of terms, but still.”  He sighed.  “Uh
anyway this is the soon to be newest member of our little group Janelle.”
 I swallowed and gave a small wave.
Few things are as awkward as when you feel strangers studying you.  This is
the moment everything you’ve worked for can go wrong.  For the people
studying you, it’s Monday.
“Uh hi.” I forced a smile.  “I’m Janelle.”  Looking at the two made my skin
crawl.  The eyes of the two felt like they were trying to eat me.
“I am Umaro.” The man said.  “This is my associate Mirna.”  She grinned.
 “We’re eager to test you.”
“I bet.” I mumbled.
“How skilled do you consider yourself in channeling spirits?” Mirna asked.
Even her voice felt tightly constrained.
“Uh I dunno.” I said, laughing anxiously.  “I’d like to think I’m pretty
good.”  Mirna just shook her head.
“We can’t be pretty good.  Pretty good leads to possession.” Umaro said.  I
glanced back at Sotto, who was remaining silent.  “We have to be fantastic
if we want to use our abilities to their full potential.”
“I suppose now is as good a time as any to fill you in on what your final
test will be.” Sotto said.  He moved to stand with his two pupils.  Now I
felt three sets of eyes boring into my mind.
“My two pupils have both selected a spirit that they will use for this
final test.  You will channel this spirit into your body, bringing it down
all the way to your core.  You will demonstrate your control of the spirits
abilities.  Then you will channel it out again.” I nodded.  “You will do
this three times.”
“Three?” I asked.  “There are only two pupils.”  Sotto grimaced
“Unfortunatly my third student did not deign to show up.  We will wait a
few hours for him to arrive, should he fail, I will take his place.”  I
tried to smile but my fear made that impossible.  “Take these next few
hours to rest Janelle.  I will select a spirit to use in the event I am
your third instructor.  We will come for you when we’re ready.”
“Yeah-yes sir Mr. Sotto.” I’m amazed I got those words out seeing as my
mouth had dried up.
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