Arnimos walked along the docks staring out at the sea, the waves lightly lapped against the stone. The salt in the air lightly stung at his eyes as he stared out into the deep blue. He glanced down though the waves by the dock, he could see various creatures living in the water. Many were made by the Reborn of the past but he could also see the discarded shell of a Noctilusk, a species of Shalbross, and based on its size, about as large as a ox, it was likely from an adult or elder.
He continued his walk along the docks staring out into the waves. He tried to focus his mind on something else but he could feel his Dichotomies active now. They sat ready to pounce the moment he showed an ounce of fear, they needed only a moment of weakness before they could feast. He recalled what little he had been taught about Dichotomies and tried to focus on them, trying to push the energy they made from his encounter with the Personification back into them. Nothing happened.
Suddenly then two people stepped off from a side street and stood in his way. He stared them down, each had olive colored skin and short brown hair with light blue eyes. They looked like twins though with one difference, one of them had their hair standing on end like it was always charged with static while the other seemed to twitch constantly.
"There you are, you bastard," One of them said. "Thought you could avoid us?"
"Was hoping to not have to deal with you two jackasses today," Arnimos said. "Unfortunately it appears my luck isn''t that great,"
"Like hell we was gonna let you slip away," The other said.
The two approached Arnimos and he stepped forward as well till they were in each other''s faces.
"Why are you moping around here huh?" One said.
"Got something on ya mind?" The other said.
"Yeah you could say that," Arnimos said. "A few things in fact,"
The two looked at each other.
"Well then," One said. "Do you need-"
The first one raised his hand.
"Someone to talk to?" The other said. "We''re always here for ya, you know that right?"
Arnimos gave him a friendly handshake.
"Yeah, I came looking for everyone," Arnimos said. "Where''s Ronja and Filk-Kij?"
"Ronja''s helping the local Dichotomy expert teach young kids about their Dichotomies," The first one, his friend Hilmas, said.
"Apparently she has improved her Luxicon abilities greatly recently," The other one, the other brother Milhas, said.
"I suppose that old man would like a Luxicon of Fear to help," Arnimos said. "What about Filk?"
"Hear he''s got work as a "firemen"," Hilmas said, laughing to himself.
"Come on now," Arnimos said. "Just because he''s an Arbeross of Fire doesn''t mean you should make such jokes,"
"Don''t lie to me now," Hilmas said. "I can see you cracking a smile,"
"Yeah," Milhas said. "It''s as obvious as an Arackfear in the warrens,"
"That saying makes no sense," Arnimos said. "Arackfears live in the Warrens,"
"You don''t always gotta make sense to make a point," Milhas said.
"And what have you two been up to?" Arnimos said. "I hope no skullduggery,"
Hilmas shrugged.
"It''s just what we do," Hilmas said.
"It''s like asking a Luxicon not to break things," Milhas said. "it just don''t happen,"
"I hope nothing too bad then," Arnimos said. "So what is it this time, stole some meat from a vendor? Dumped a barrel of swill on a guard? Used your powers as Truths of Lightning to electrocute people?"
"All that sounds pretty bad," Hilmas said.
"Yeah, we just graffitied a wall," Milhas said.
Arnimos sighed.
"You two never change," Arnimos said.
"Oh we do," Hilmas said. "Just not in the way you want us to,"
"What, you want us to become guards or something?" Milhas said.
"Honestly, two Truths with usable Dichotomies like yourselves could make a living in the guard," Arnimos said. "I could even talk about them letting these stunts slip if you join,"
"Maybe in a few years," Hilmas said. "Once i got it all out of my system,"
"I''ll think about it," Milhas said.
"Now, back to our original point," Hilmas said.
Hilmas put an arm around Arnimos''s shoulder.
"What''s happening my man," Hilmas said. "What''s troubling ya?"
"My Dichotomies Awakened," Arnimos said.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Good for you man," Milhas said.
"And why''s that got you all down?" Hilmas said. "Did something bad scare you enough for them to Imprint?"
"They didn''t," Arnimos said.
"Come again?" Hilmas said.
"They didn''t Imprint," Arnimos said.
Hilmas and Milhas looked at each other confused then back at Arnimos then back to each other.
"What''s that mean then?" Milhas said.
"Don''t know, Tages seemed pretty confused by it," Arnimos said. "Don''t think that''s a good sign,"
"Well, i''m certain your teacher will get you up to speed on how to use it," Hilmas said. "Till then, let''s go get the others to get you mind off this,"
"That''d be fine," Arnimos said.
With that the three were off. They walked away from the docks and through the winding streets of the city, they passed by old houses and shops and through market squares bustling with activity. All manner of things were bought and sold here, from food and clothes to more exotic and advanced things from some of the Reborn Lords and even a few Fear-Made items. As they passed through the square Arnimos found himself getting a treat for him and his friends, a bit of meat taken from an ox, an animal from the Reborn. They enjoyed their piece of it as they passed through the markets to an old two story home.
It was old, designed in the traditional ways rather than in the styles of the Reborn, and looked like it was carved out of the ground. It had two stories and a small handful of windows with glass, a rarity, as well as a large walled courtyard, it was the home of Galtz, the local expert on Dichotomy. He would have been Arnimos''s teacher had Tages not been summoned for the job.
They entered through the door to the courtyard, it was barren stone with a few bones and targets strewn about for training purposes. A handful of children, mainly from one of the 4 Big Races, sat listening and learning about Dichotomy. They appeared to be near the end of the lesson so the three waited until it was over and the children filtered out.
After a few minutes all that was left was the three men, Galtz and Ronja. Galtz was a short man with a portly frame and friendly eyes yet when you looked at him you felt somewhat unsettled, a result of him being an Arbeross of Fear. Ronja was a tall woman, towering over the short Galtz and being eye level with Arnimos, Hilmas and Milhas, with deep red hair and petrified skin that was smooth to the touch.
Galtz approached the three with a small smile on his face, he gave a small bow to Arnimos as he did so.
"And how can I help you three today?" Galtz said. "Come to try out your Dichotomies some more you two?"
Galtz glanced at Hilmas and Milhas.
"Just here to pick up Ronja," Hilmas said.
"But we''ll take you up on your offer later," Milhas said.
"Feel free to stop by anytime," Galtz said. "Ronja! I''ll finish up here, you can go out with your friends,"
"Thank you sir Galtz," Ronja said.
Ronja trotted up to the three and looked them over.
"So what are we doing today?" Ronja said.
"Ain''t sure yet, just getting everyone before we decide," Hilmas said.
"Maybe we''ll trash something," Milhas said. "That should be fun,"
"As long as it ain''t nothing extreme," Ronja said. "I''m in,"
"Good, we still have to get Filk though," Hilmas said.
"He should be at the fire station," Ronja said.
"Then let''s get going," Hilmas said.
The now four of them headed off towards the fire station as Galtz waved goodbye.
They made their way through the streets once more moving until they reached a guard post and the fire station. The fire station had a strange design with a large open area like some form of great beast was meant to be there, it was likely something was supposed to be there but theirs was just a design for one copied from some Reborn. They saw a handful of guys sitting around a table playing cards and waiting, Filk-Kij was there. As they approached it appeared the game of cards came to an end and Filk-Kij rose from the table.
"I''d love to keep beating you all," Filk-Kij said. "Unfortunately, my shift is already over so i''m going home,"
Filk-Kij turned and walked out the door and immediately encountered the four. He seemed to jump slightly as he suddenly encountered them.
"You''re gonna give a man a heart attack sneaking up on him like that," Filk-Kij said.
Arnimos looked Filk-Kij up and down, he looked different from the last time he saw him. He had the same tanned skin that radiated heat and the flamelike hair though this time it was put up much nicer and he walked with a much more confident air.
"Sorry about that man," Hilmas said. "Didn''t meant to,"
"Getting spooked by encountering us?" Ronja said. "If i didn''t know better i''d say you weren''t happy to see us,"
"Of course I''m happy to see you all," Filk-Kij said. "Especially you Arnimos, been a while since you came down,"
"Been caught up in studies and all that," Arnimos said. "Takes a lot of time,"
"What about you?" Milhas said. "Looks like you really turned it around, never expected the firemen to hire a literal Fire Man,"
Filk-Kij shrugged.
"They say us Arbeross of Fire have an incredible innate resistance to heat," Filk-Kij said. "They offered the job immediately upon hearing what i was,"
"Well that''s damn good," Hilmas said. "Now what about the pay? Government pay good?"
"Good enough," Filk-Kij said. "Especially since I''m still in training. Why? Are you planning on getting a government job?"
"Maybe, you never know," Hilmas said. "We always got someone who can help us with that,"
Hilmas lightly nudged Arnimos.
"Now let''s get back to the hideout to discuss our next scheme," Hilmas said.
"As long as it ain''t nothing too illegal," Filk-Kij said. "Rather not lose my job,"
"And I''d rather not bail you out of prison again," Arnimos said. "Just cause i can doesn''t mean i should,"
"Don''t worry, nothing too crazy this time," Hilmas said. "Now let''s get going,"
The five then left towards an old abandoned house on the edge of town they had been using as their "hideout" since they were kids. Normally such buildings would be torn down or resold but for some reason, i.e. Arnimos''s dad being the city''s lord, it had never been sold, torn down or messed with.
The interior was much nicer than the exterior. It had three main rooms on its only floor. The first had a large table with comfortable chairs dominating the space, the second had a store of various things they nicked when they were younger and never returned or as a storage space and the last had a small impromptu stove and a few hammocks hung up from when some of them spent their nights here when they were young.
As they entered Filk-Kij walked to one of the unlit candles and grabbed the top of the wick. He took a deep breath in then exhaled and the room seemed to grow hotter as the tips of his fingers became fire for a moment. He went around and lit each candle with this low level use of his Arbeross abilities as they all settled in around the table.
They all began talking amongst each other speaking of everything and nothing but Arnimos sat just at the edge sometimes interjecting though mainly when he was spoken to. There was still a lot on his mind and he just couldn''t drive the memories the Personification had shown him from his mind. He could see the flashes of war and wanton violence and while it scared him it didn''t seem to affect his Dichotomies, they didn''t greedily eat the fear he felt now.
Arnimos drove these thoughts from his mind and focused on spending time with his friends, he could just have fun now. He didn''t need to worry about all that for a few days at least.