Warper: Origins

by Riley Tune

  There was a kitchen, but no table or chairs. He didn’t keep much food around, either. Part of our training was that we were not allowed to eat every day in order to prepare us for a time when a contract might take us away from consistent meals. We usually ate once every other day, and before a job.

  This was one more reason, as if I needed more, that I loved visiting my family. My mother didn’t care much about Warper training, so if I came by, we ate. It wasn’t always grand, but it was food.

  What his home did have was candles. Lots and lots of candles. Ember seemed to love candles the same way I loved blades. He never told me what his obsession was with candles, but this house had thirty of them easily. With so many candles in one place, the walls always seemed like they were bouncing, which at times made my head and eyes hurt.

  Ember was on his makeshift bed on the floor, carving at a chunk of wood with a knife.

  He eyed me for a second and then went back to his carving. I'd expected loud screams, hurtful words, and cold stares. What I was getting instead was silence, and it was more uncomfortable than the outrage I had prepared for.

  I sat down on my sleeping area. Ember's knife stopped moving on his chunk of wood. What was he carving? I couldn’t make out the figure.

  From behind Ember slowly walked a short, wide, solid dog.

  “Hey, Sprits,” I said as he shook himself and trotted over to me.

  Sprits was Ember’s hound, and had been the only constant thing in his life until he found me. Sprits was a little over seven years old, stood less than two feet off the ground, and had wide brown eyes, a short stump of a tail, and rolls of fat skin.

  In no time he was on his hind legs, licking me. Sprits had earned his name because, as a pup, and even now, he had a very bad problem with holding his water. According to Ember, the name had started as a joke, but eventually stuck.

  “For Keeper's sake, Sprits, you traitor, get over here,” Ember bellowed. Sprits listened and instantly stopped licking me, slowly walking to Ember. He walked in a circle a few times before sitting down.

  “What happened today?” Ember said finally.

  “I hesitated,” I replied.

  “No, you didn’t. I saw you. I saw your posture; your hand was shaking harder than a leaf under the night's rain.”

  “It’s just—” I began, but he held up a hand to stop me from talking.

  “You know how old I was when I first killed a person and took on the curse?”

  I nodded. I did know; he had told me plenty of times. Most Warpers don’t find out what they are until around the age of fifteen, like me. Ember was different, though. He'd started warping at ten, and by time his teacher had come along, he had already had a good understanding of what he could do.

  “You were twelve,” I said slowly.

  “By the time I was your age I was feared in most of the five kingdoms. Galcon, Kameace, Walden, Thera, and Pradeep—all had stories of things I had done.” He took a deep breath. “Lox, this-this is what we are.”

  Ember began to spin the knife in his hand and then threw it at the wall, allowing it to make a loud thumping sound as it stuck.

  “And that is what we do. We kill. Hell, you can even consider it as keeping the balance if it makes you feel better. The faster you accept who you are, the easier it will become. There may come a time when I will not be there to force my hand because yours is too shaky. Even Warpers can’t cheat death forever.”

  I sat silent. I had never really considered the obvious—that one day I may be out here alone. Ember had done so much, and seen so much, that I honestly had just assumed he would always be there.

  “Now run your drills and then turn in,” he said as he got under his blankets, adjusted the pillow, and pulled Sprits in close with one hand. He always slept with a dagger in hand. “We have a big day tomorrow.”

  I wanted to talk more, but he had already turned, his back to me. The conversation was over, and in no time he would be asleep. I really didn’t want to run my drills tonight, not after the night I had already had, but I did as I was told. I was already comfortable on my sleeping area, and my eyes had started to feel a little heavy, but I forced myself up and started putting back on my bracers and my greaves. Once I was dressed, again, I shifted my attention to the large wooden dummy in the corner.

  It was a unique piece of training equipment with a body almost entirely of wood. Two sections of the body near the top were wrapped completely in padding, and so was a small portion at the bottom. Up top were various smaller portions of wood that protruded out to represent limbs. Here I would run through various combinations of blocking, kicking and striking.

  Ember had told me that most Warpers really didn’t care how the kill was done, as long as it was done. He didn’t do things that way. He preferred to practice one killing blow a thousand times instead of doing a thousand killing blows one time. So if possible, regardless of the combination, he taught me to always allow my blade to find the throat. That was usually how he killed. Always the throat.

  I ran my drills time and time again until my limbs were sore. By the time I was done, my shoulders were on fire, my back was stiff, and my shins hurt, even with the protective greaves on. I may not have been ready to kill yet, but I could certainly hold my own in a fight. Sweaty, sticky and downright tired, I removed all of my clothing and got into my sleeping area. I could always bathe when I woke up; I didn’t smell that bad. I checked to make sure my dagger was in reaching distance and closed my eyes.

  5

  Whack.

  Pain shot across my face as my eyes jerked open. I grabbed my dagger and warped to the first area I saw. My back faced the wall, and my dagger was raised in case I had to attack.

  “Good reflexes, but it’s just me,” Ember said.

  “What?” I asked as I rubbed sleep from my eyes, dagger still in hand. “And why did you hit me so hard?”

  He tossed me a chunk of bread.

  “Thanks.

  How long you been up?” I asked between chewing mouthfuls.

  “Long enough. Snow’s been falling for a while now. Figured I’d let you sleep a little longer, considering the night you had.”

  I nodded as I continued to chew.

  “Wash up and then get dressed. I can smell you from here,” he said.

  He gave Sprits a large chunk of bread that he removed from a pocket under his cloak. The hound quickly grabbed the bread and trotted off to eat in a corner. Ember wiped the remaining crumbs from his hands.

  “Meet me on the roof when you’re done, and be quick about it. Keeper knows we don’t have time to waste today.”

  That was one thing about Ember that I hated, and I mean really hated. As smart as he was and as deadly as he was, he, like almost all people in Thera and across the kingdoms in The Prime Sovereignty, insisted on believing in the Keeper. A god that supposedly watched over us. I thought differently. If I couldn’t see it, or it couldn’t be proved to me, then I didn’t believe it. I had always been this way, and not many people thought as I did. Their belief was one of the few things my mom and Ember agreed on.

  To hear Ember tell it, our ability to warp was a gift from the Keeper, and we should believe more than others, but I didn’t. I also didn’t voice it as much as I wanted to. My belief shouldn’t have an effect on anybody else, and for the most part, I didn’t let theirs affect me.

  He warped away to an upper level of the house and began walking towards the stairs that led to the roof door. Sunlight shone in as he opened it. Sprits came over to me and leaned on my leg. He had finished his bread and likely wanted to play.

  I gave a final rub to the top of his head and got going.

  The first thing I did was gather my things. I used the wash room, got dressed, and then finished my bread. In what seemed like record time I was on my way to join Ember on the roof. The warmth of the sun radiated on my skin as soon as I stood outside.

  Like many mornings in Thera, the mixture of falling snow and sunshine provided a be
autiful landscape. I preferred the snowy days much more than the rainy nights, even though most of my time was dedicated to working at night. The nature of the job, I supposed.

  “So what’s this big day all about?” I asked as I stood beside him.

  “Not here,” he said as he pointed to a tall four-story building nearby. “There,” he said, and then he warped away.

  I exhaled, wondering why he couldn’t stop being dramatic for just a second, and then I followed, allowing my world to go silent as I warped away and reappeared beside him.

  The view from here was a hundred times better than that from the top of Ember's home. We could see the city on all sides now. People walked by, busy with their day-to-day activities. Carriages rushed down street, pulled by caprongs. Beast that stood taller than a horse, with large muscles covered by silky fur, and a head that resembled a wolf.

  “I have been thinking about our talk last night,” he said, without looking at me.

  “What about it?” I asked. He dropped his hood and looked at me.

  “We—I—will not live forever, and there is so much more that I need to teach you. This world we live in has much more in it than you could imagine, and you’ve only seen a sliver of it. We aren’t the only special people in it.”

  “I know,” I replied.

  “Looking at the Emperor and all of his immortality has taught me that much.” Ember shook his head and turned away from me. “No, there are others. Others with gifts who can do things that even a Warper would envy.” My brow rose. I hadn’t expected this, but I had only known about Warpers for a couple of years. The list of things I didn’t know was likely long. I trusted Ember, though, and if he was telling me this, then eventually he would show me.

  He went silent for a moment. Was he thinking, or simply looking at the city? I moved to stand in front of him, but he spun around to face me before I could.

  “We have a job,” he said. I began to protest, but he raised his hand.

  “Let me finish. After this job, that’s it for me. I will not be taking contracts for the most part. Only here and there, to preserve my ability to warp.”

  Certainly he wasn’t serious, I thought to myself as he continued.

  “I will train you, and only approve your contracts after going over it with you.”

  “Wait, what?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Ember couldn’t just up and stop doing this. He had always told me that this is simply what we did. And as horrific as it sounded, Ember was good at what he did. What we did.

  I looked around at the city as I searched for a proper response, and nearby I saw a man with a bicycle. It jolted a question into my head that escaped my lips instantly.

  “What about living?” I asked.

  Ember turned his head slightly. “Living?”

  “Yeah. I’m sure you don’t have some massive pile of yolars saved up. How will you live? How will you support yourself?”

  He paused and rubbed his beard. “I could always just live off of your earnings,” he said casually.

  “It was a serious question, you know,” I said.

  “I know. I’ve been a Warper for over thirty years. Many people know my name, a few even know my face, and all know what I have done, and can do. After all that, all I really have are my weapons, a few homes, and a hound with a weak bladder. I didn’t go much in the way of saving. Never thought I’d make it this long, to tell the truth.”

  What was happening? As we stood on this building in the sunlight and snow drifted down around us, I was beginning to see a version of Ember that, in these two years, I hadn’t seen. He was, under it all, just a man. I’d always known it, but I'd always seen him as more.

  “This job,” he continued, “is going to be a big one. I haven’t got all the details yet, but if we do it—and yes, I mean we—then living shouldn’t be an issue.”

  I was speechless. Standing there under my cloak like a pile of caprong droppings. This must be some contract.

  “Just to make sure we are clear, this is my contract,” Ember said. “My blade, my kill, my earnings. You will come along to observe and do what I tell you. Do you understand?”

  It was back to business as usual. Stern and menacing.

  “I understand.”

  He put his cloak hood up and leaned in towards me and looked me in the eye.

  “This issue you have with killing.” I swallowed as my throat went dry. “It ends now. You bury it deep down and never look at it again. I have been giving you a cut for helping, but that stops now.”

  My eyes widened. My surprise was replaced by sudden anger.

  “You know my family needs this. I’m all they have,” I said, in almost a growl.

  Ember straightened up. “I do know. Shorn and the twins are the closest things to real friends or family that I have had in years. I know how much you love them, and that’s why I’m doing this. If you want them to eat, to live, then be the man you want to be and provide. Earn it for them. You love what you are, but hate what you have to do. What you were born to do. Well, tired is the arm that swings the blade, and it’s a burden you must live with.”

  He turned from me so fast that his cloak rose from the ground.

  “It may not be now; it may not even be a contract. But you will kill, and you will do it not because I say so, but because of them. So that they can live. So that you can live.”

  I felt like I was glaring a hole in his back as he spoke. I could feel my nostrils flaring and my breath felt like a pack of people running. I hated him for a moment. I hated what he had said and the decision he had made, while, at the same time, I knew it was final. There was no point in feeling this way, but I couldn’t help it.

  “Come; we have to get going. Our contact is waiting at The Clarkton for us,” he said as he turned to glance at me. His eyes widened a little. “Take that anger and save it for when you need it, Lox. Use it for later, but for now, put it away. The Clarkton. Now.”

  He turned and warped away.

  Fuming inside, I had no choice but to follow. My curiosity had taken hold long before our conversation faded. Angry as I was, I wanted to know what the contract was. It must have been big for such a large pay out. It was likely dangerous, too. For now, I did as I was told. My anger would have to be put away for the moment. I checked my belt to make sure everything was there, and I warped off the roof to the furthest one away that I could see. The Clarkton was on the far side of Thera, and the journey there would take some effort.

  Warping was funny that way. In a battle we could warp with almost no drawbacks, because it was a small distance. A couple feet here and there was fine. Even long distances didn’t bother us much. It was the continuous large warps, though, that became a problem. The further the warp, the more it pulled the body. The longer we were gone to wherever it is we go when we warp away, the weaker we are when we reappear.

  Ember held up to this strain better than me. The decades of practice had made his body stronger. But for me, this trip was going to require some food after. After the bread last night, I normally wouldn’t eat for another day or so, but if I didn’t replenish after this long warp, I’d be asleep for half a day in no time.

  I warped and warped again, clearing large spans of the city. It was just my luck that Thera was the largest city in all the five kingdoms. Had this been Walden or Pradeep I would have made the trip and cleared most of the kingdom already. This entire time, I hadn’t caught glimpse of Ember. His eyes weren’t as young as mine, so he couldn’t see further away, and as a result he couldn’t really warp a larger distance. What he was, though, was fast. He was able to recover quicker and rapidly warp with almost no rest in between.

  I warped to another building and stopped to catch my breath. I had to lean over and place my hands on my knees just to keep from fall down, because I was feeling dizzy. After a couple of minutes, I warped to the street below, and I slowly walked in the direction of my destination. Thankfully it was close. I knew where The Clarkton was; I just had never b
een to it. To be honest, I had never even been in this part of Thera at all. None of the previous contracts had required us to travel this far out.

  All of Thera was nice. One of the best places to live in the Prime Sovereignty. This area, however, was depressing. Even more depressing than where my home was. I knew it wasn’t as nice as the area surrounding the Main Statue—no area was—but this was downright bad. The homes were smaller and built more out of wood and mud than stones or steel. I hadn’t seen a carriage for miles, and if a bicycle ventured into this part of town, the rider would likely be killed for it.

  The most disturbing part was that a lot of people were just living on the streets. Dressed in clothes stained in a mixture of blood and dirt, people begged others who were likely as poor as them for yolars.

  This part of Thera was dangerously close to Kameace, and it showed. The kingdom of Kameace was by far the most poverty-ridden portion of the Prime Sovereignty and some of its traits had trickled up into Thera. I didn’t want to cause a panic when I warped to the street, so I selected a less crowded part. If a person saw me appear, they would likely assume I was there to kill somebody, and that wouldn’t go well. I kept to the walls and shadows as much as I could, and began walking towards The Clarkton.

  “Boy, boy,” a voice called to me—a woman sitting on the ground, wrapped in a blanket that was covered with dirt and yellow stains that I assumed were urine. Her voice was raspy and crackled as she spoke. She coughed into her hand several times before turning away to spit on the ground. She looked back up to me. Her hair was thin as strings and was gray with what appeared to be dirt. The skin on her face was waxy, and the lines under her eyes made it look like she hadn’t slept in years. She stood, stumbled some, and then approached me.

  Purely on instinct my hand twitched towards my blade. When I realized what I had done, I felt ashamed.

  “Please, boy, I haven’t ate in eight days.” She wasn’t close to me, but when she spoke I could smell her breath and was instantly reminded of the bag that had been placed on my head while confronting Ashland. I pulled out a silver yolar. In an instant I realized it was a mistake.