"Alright, we should be safe here, " Sebastian''s savior said, effortlessly. They had reached a forest.
In contrast to his savior, Seb gasped for air - like a fat kid taking the stairs for once. He wasn''t in a that bad shape, but the cosplaying mr. Olympia next to him disagreed. Seb had just finished the craziest run of his life; a sprint of pure fear; fear of pursuers and fear of the man leading him. He didn''t know anything about medicine, but his bleeding executioner from earlier didn''t look like he''d last for long.
His feet exploded in pain, as did his neck. Only God knew how many times he had twisted it in weird angles while running. Well, running and "running," his savior had been kind enough to slow down the phase a couple of times. How was it even possible to be this buff? How did these people run around like Aragorn at day to then CrossFit all night? Insane! Roids 10/10.
Anyhow, Seb''s neck hurt, but it was worth it; one does not simply flee on foot without looking backward once every five seconds.
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Sorry, bad meme, but:
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Sebastian''s savior sat down on a half decayed trunk. Seb copied him without contemplation; he was exhausted the past hours had all been spent walking in the other''s footsteps.
The air of the forest was damp, chilly, and filled with evening fog. The cold was overbearing. Running in it was one thing, his body heat would counteract it, but stopping to rest in it was an entirely different matter. Seb''s could feel his fingers grow stiff, soon followed by his arms. Sitting still on a damp trunk didn''t help any, and Seb''s linen "tunic" was too thin to provide any insulation. 10/10 Grandma would not have approved.
"Man, you''re shivering! Use your heatstone already!" The man laughed, walking over to Seb. Seb stank in his dirty "clothes," he knew it, but the stranger was kind enough to pretend not noticing. He opened one of the leather pouches on Seb''s leather belt.
"Wrong one..." the stranger closed it, opening the other one.
"Hmm, the cheap fucker was all about looks huh? Shiny saber, fancy clothes, but when it comes to glyphs the brat only had one" he muttered.
"Here," he handed over a Stone. Its surface was smooth and adorned with runic carvings. It looked like one something Seb''s grandma could obsess about at a flea market; that lady couldn''t get enough weird stones for her garden.
"Erm, thank you... Mr? Seb asked-thanked hesitantly, careful not to aggravate his savior.
"I''m sorry, I suppose you''re used to fancier glyphs, but you''ll have to do with that one. Don''t wanna catch a cold, do you? Damn, it''s getting pretty cold here, I wonder how long she''ll take... Oh, sorry! Raziel''s the name. Could''ve told you on the run, but you didn''t look too interested in talking back then. Damn, I''ve never seen anyone so close to passing out from just jogging."
Raziel opened a satchel, grabbing an orb-like stone, similar to the one in Sebastian''s hand. The orb lit up, shining like a glow stick between his fingers, and not just that; a warmth spread around it. It even eased Seb''s shivers.
What was that? Seb leaned closer to the glowing orb. The closer he got, the hotter his cheeks felt. In seconds, his freezing lessened to a light chill. Strange. For something to heat up the air like that, Raziel''s hand should''ve gotten third-degree''s burns, yet the man didn''t flinch. His eyes were casually glancing into the distance. Seb''s eyes didn''t follow though; they were transfixed at the handheld sauna heater.
The "heatstone" sprung an interest in Sebastian, hidden dormant since the age of seven, the time when the daycare lady informed on the inexistence of magic. The glowing stone didn''t disprove her, but it sure made fantasizing easy.
"Wow." These cosplayers sure went all in on the replicas. Seb was an engineering student, but even he couldn''t figure out how the stone worked. Raziel''s orb defied any thermodynamic law known to Seb.
Two explanations came to mind: The first, and easiest was that a heating device was hidden somewhere, generating heat, making it seem like the brightly shining orb was causing the warming sensation. But why would anyone set up an illusion in the middle of the forest? Raziel had chosen the place, so it was a possibility; but the combination: cut open one guy, save the other to then show him a fancy trick in the forest didn''t make sense!
The past days had left Seb scared, short on teeth and slightly paranoid, but the heat surrounding him being caused by a massive illusion didn''t make sense, not even to him.
If not a stationary illusion, then Seb''s money would be on the heatstone dispensing some neuroactive drug through the air. Capsicum? - No, the jalapeno chemical couldn''t affect the skin like this, could it?
Any other explanation was outrageous. If the heatstone was what it seemed, then someone somewhere had made the biggest revolution in applied physics since the 1950s. If that were the case, the next Nobel price would, no doubt, go to a cosplay loving geek. Seb grinned in disgust. Screw cosplayers! Everyone besides Raziel could die in some cosplay smallpox as far as Sebastian was concerned.
He inspected the heatstone in his own hand. Its fanciness and mysteriousness captivated him. The thing was probably filled to the brim with drugs of questionable legality. Oh, well Seb was all in for fancy drugs... as long as they didn''t make him wake up naked in the middle of nowhere.
He rotated it in his hand, looking for a switch, yet he didn''t find one. Was there a heat sensor hidden somewhere? It wouldn''t surprise Seb. If there were millions spent building realistic medieval towns, the replicas could as well benext level quality too. Damn, Seb wanted to smash the heatstone open to see the insides. His fingers scanned the runic carvings, looking for abnormalities.
The pattern on the stone was made from tens of individual runes, all connecting to each other in a symmetrical fashion.
"Huh?" When his hand passed over a particular part, it felt... special; like a void waiting to be filled. The feeling was similar to the one he had had when breathing in his meditative state, - but reversed. It was the same category of sensation, but if meditation was abundance, the carved rune was famine. Funny, could Seb mentally activate the same brain cells that were influenced by this drugs stone... or was it...
A childish playfulness consumed Sebastian for a second, awakening his seven-year-old self. It was a self obsessed with Age of Empires, his handheld poke-station, and playing "magic". Well, the old games were off topic, but magic darn well wasn''t...
According to the ancient memes, most people make the Jedi test at least once a year; trying to fly, move things without touching, or maybe just glance through the spam folder for that Hogwarts letter that never came. Some opportunities were just too marvelous to miss out on, even if they didn''t exist. Momentarily losing his adult seriousness, Seb felt ready to make some playful experiments. It wasn''t like the man next to him would judge him if he acted like a "mage".
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Seb sat down in a cross-legged lotus position, focusing on the thirsty sensation radiating from the heatstone. He slipped out of consciousness, making a seat for himself at his digitalized soul pond.
He breathed and exhaled, letting nothing else enter his mind. Proper Jedi tests required focus. As he let his breath enter and exit his body, he felt the surge of energy once again enter his body, filling it to the point of his entire body shaking. After deeply engraving the feeling to his mind, he returned to reality. He took a deep breath. This time, the ecstatic feeling was there, not remotely to its levels in the digital world, but it was there, tingling like the tenth of a dawning sneeze. It easily disappeared; Sebastian couldn''t afford to lose a single strand of focus.
An awfully familiar 8-bit sound rang in Sebastians head.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Contratulations! Biplanar Awareness leveled up!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Biplanar Awareness: 2/7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Connects the astral plane with the Earthly realm.
Unlocks: Mana Channeling.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Congratulations! Sebastian learned: Mana Channeling!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mana Channeling: 1/7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Channels forth mana from the astral plane.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
"What the!?" A blue transparent box appeared in front of Sebastian, its text digital looking. He waved his hand through it, looking for a light source, or reasonable explanation.
"What''s happening man?" Raziel asked, seeing Sebastian''s surprise.
"No, nothing, sorry," Sebastian replied, confusedly. What had just happened? Was it an illusion? A hallucination delayed from the lucid meditation? Had he made it up from his daydreaming on magic? It was to much like him to see the world from a video game perspective. His grandma would''ve put even stricter rules on the gaming time, would she know that this would happen.
Anyhow, back to business! The Jedi test wasn''t all done yet.
He took a deep breath, letting the tingling feeling come back. He focused on it and put his finger back to the "hungry" spot of the orb-like stone, but doing so stole too much focus; the tingly feeling went away. Seb wanted to see if the tingly feeling could have any effect on the stone, but each time he tried putting his finger on the right spot, he lost focus and the tingly feeling.
He looked over to his benefactor, sitting a few feet away at the same trunk. Raziel''s eyes gazed to the forest border, looking for pursuers and a person he had barely mentioned. Well, Seb wouldn''t break any social stigma if he zoned out a bit, focusing on the tingly feeling.
.
.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Congratulations! Mana Channeling leveled up!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mana Channeling: 2/7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>A skill mastered to do the point of easy excecution.
Channels mana from the astral plane.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
There it was, the window again. Fuck, Seb would lose focus now....eh?
The tingly feeling was still there. Despite Seb lessening the focus on it. He found it alot easier to both initiate and keep the tingly feeling.
The blue boxes had quite accurately described what Sebastian had managed. Now wasn''t that some convenient hallucinations? It even put fancy names to the things he was attempting to do.
It was time to give the heatstone another try!
As soon as Seb put his finger to the thing, the "hungry" rune called for him. At first, nothing happened, but with a burst of genius, he tried to feed the tingly energy within to the stone.
Almost instantly, the "hungry" rune began shining, the runes around it, and the ones next to them. In the blink of an eye the entire heatstone glew. A feeling of warmth spread through Seb''s body, pulsing with each heartbeat.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Congratulations! Sebastial learned: Mana Streaming!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mana Streaming 1/7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Releases mana to flow at will</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Warning! Mana Channeling over 50% - Cognition affected!</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mana Channeling: 0.6/1</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Seb stared at the glowing orb, fascinated. The thing in his hand, how marvelous it was. It felt like drinking a full thermos of wonderfully warm chocolate while sitting next to open fire.
He could switch it on and on at will too, all he needed to do was to release energy. He double checked, just to see that there wasn''t some hidden button or something else activating it.
"Why are you turning it on and off all the time man?" Raziel complained.
"Sorry, I was just testing it," Seb stuttered.
''Oh, shit, don''t wanna make that person angry!''
"Well, that makes sense. You mages can''t keep your hands off meddling with those glyphs. Tell me, what do you think about it? Just leave out that technical stuff, I''m never gonna get those things properly nailed to my brain. "
"Err... It''s pretty good I''d say. It has an innovative heating solution... You''re interested in glyphs?" Sebastian said, 10/10 fake "i-know-this-shit face; he didn''t even know if there was a difference between a heating stone or a glyph. He hoped that Raziel would swallow his bait and switch topic.
"Well, not anymore, I mean, I did, but that was long ago. It was, you know, the regular "make a firebolt" that all kids do. My younger cousin lost a hand to the damned thing. It was all my fault... Can we leave it there?"
"Sure," Sebastian responded, igniting his heatstone. This time he left it on.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Warning! Mana Channeling over 50% - Cognition affected!</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mana Channeling: 0.6/1</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Seb stared at the blue box, wondering if this one was somewhat representative of his experience, weirdly so, it was. How could his hallucinations have known that before he did so himself? The subconsious is known to draw conclusions of things way before they actually hit awareness. But Seb han never heard of it generating accurate status reports in text format. This was some crazy black magic right there.
The world became slightly more violent when he used the heatstone. Obviously a side effect of the drug, or magic; Seb hoped for the latter, but couldn''t tell for sure. As he looked around he felt a bit sluggish, as if sleep deprived. The world moved faster, leaving Sebastian behind. He had to focus hard to catch what Raziel was saying. Having a conversation was harder than ever, especially when he had to struggle with keeping his breath tingly; or rather, to keep his [Mana Channeling] going, as the blue box suggested. Anyhow, the slight mental retardation was much better than freezing; he''d keep the glyph ON.
Raziel wasn''t very talkative. His eyes were all fixed on the distant horizon. Waiting for a mysterious third person to show up. Seb didn''t try conversation; he was afraid of saying something wrong, exposing himself somehow. He tried to craft a proper backstory, making it as LARPy and non informative as possible.
Luckily, Raziel was too focused staring into the distance to talk. He almost seemed a bit nervous. Seated with legs crossed, he impatiently bounced his knees up and down.
As time passed, the staring got even intenser. Eventually, the sunlight was all gone. The only light was the two heatrunes and a crescent moon, intermittently escaping the clouds.
Raziel regurgitated, preparing to speak for the first time in hours.
"We''ll sleep here," he said in a harsh tone, sounding more like seventy than the twenty or so that he looked.
Then he lied down, and that was that. Seb wasn''t sure wether or not running away was a good idea, but
i f there had ever been a time to make a run for it, then this was it.