by J. J. Lorden
Val wasn’t really sure what to call her union with Entiarch, but sex was not the right word.
Val knew sex; she’d used it as a tool for most of her twenties. Her libido had been a river. It still was in truth; she’d just found ways to divert the flow–at least some of it.
But back not so long ago, she’d reveled in the game of pulling men in, teasing them, pushing and pulling on their emotions and lust, controlling them, conquering them, then burning their little egos to the ground.
Men were dangerous and not to be trusted, so they deserved the treatment.
All men were the same in her mind. They put on faces to get what they wanted. But she learned early that if she got them drunk or took the reins of their game, then the charade fell apart to reveal the truth–sex and violence were their nature. She’d used them for the first and punished them for the second.
Then, after a decade of grinding on men and then grinding them into the ground, she’d soured on the game. The shift came after a shamanic retreat that Austin had browbeaten her into.
As it turned out, the deep woods of Maine were every bit as transformative as the jungles of Peru–with the right drugs, drums, and chanting.
The spiritual trip into her deeper self had opened a window into compassion for men. Unfortunately, it hadn’t stayed with her for long, drifting away on the wind of memory within a couple days.
It was what she’d seen about herself that had stuck fast in her soul. During the ceremony, her consciousness separated into a small girl and an adult–leaving the adult unburdened by the memories of the child.
The memories were still there for her adult self; they just existed like a movie she could observe.
In that place, existing separate from the girl, she’d come to see how much she hated herself for not being stronger as a child. And how, as an adult, she was taking vengeance upon men for those years.
Then she’d seen the crux of it, the bitter truth. Her anger and unending vengeance kept perpetuating the pain, and she kept hating herself. She’d spent a decade hating and punishing both herself and men for the feelings of her six-year-old self.
Coming out of the retreat, pretending that she wasn’t also punishing herself had ended. She wanted a shot at having more happiness, and the game was in the way of that. So, she’d stopped.
She kept a few guys on speed dial; a girl still had her needs. But those men knew the deal–it was just about basic needs.
Val wasn’t cruel, but she also wasn’t available for anything meaningful or long-term. She still didn’t trust men, but she didn’t need to hurt them anymore.
The only exception to this was her boys, and they weren’t really men in her mind. Not in a negative way, she loved them both because they were a breed apart, humans before men. Her boys were her safety net–they kept her from feeling that the whole world was dangerous.
This though–this was more than that.
Val felt renewed. She felt more whole, less like the shift was an elevation in her awareness, and more like it was a new baseline, a happier normal. It was almost as if she’d unearthed some deeply buried part of her soul and fit it back into the crack where it belonged.
Whatever the case, Valerie was grateful.
A second message notice was still flashing, and she opened it.
Well done Valerie Breking, you have learned a new skill.
Skill (Very Rare): Bind Essence—The fundamental nature of all things has power. Life in all of its various expressions is attuned differently, but all resonate with unseen essential power. Essence Binders use their soul energy as a conduit to imbue and bind non-innate essential energy into inanimate objects. Binding essential energy requires a focus or binding point and a source for the energy being imbued.
Skill Level: Basic (able to bind a small amount of a single essence—amount and number of essences increase with skill level)
Use: Place the focus item and the source item side by side. Connect your sentient essential energy to the focus item first and prepare the focus item with your intention. When the focus is ready, without breaking that connection, link your soul energy to the source and prepare it with your intention. When both items are aligned with your intention, bridge the connections to bind the source essence to the focus item. (*Notes)
New Skill Experience gain—1000
Val focused on the notes addendum–additional information appeared.
*Bind Essence notes: Each sentient being possesses a unique blend of many essential energies which are imbued with consciousness, transforming them into a sentient soul essence. In this way, a sentient soul is fundamentally all essence types and none at the same time. This duality is the method by which soul energy can become a conduit for other essential energies.
Bound materials may be anything, but more well-structured substances have greater potential. Materials such as gems, certain pure or aligned metals, and particular woods are superior.
Of note, woven wood is one of the most dynamic foci. Magically generated materials are also a powerful, although somewhat unpredictable, focus.
All things in Kuora possess a measure of essence, which defines and governs their role and purpose. For this reason, energy transferred from a source object cannot leave the source totally drained. This is doubly important if the source is a living being or some part of a living being, as life will cease to be.
Val finished reading and rereading the notification as she considered. Essential energies appeared to be at the core of the Kuoran magical system. She supposed it was possible they were the exclusive domain of people with the Imbue Essence skill, but that seemed unlikely; the notification said essential energy was all-pervasive in Kuora, which was a perfect platform to build a magical system around.
The single line about soul essences was also intriguing. We imbued Virginwood with our soul essences. That’s why it’s sentient.
She regarded the staff and opened herself to it in the way she’d done with Entiarch. She could feel their entwined power within its core, but there was no response.
She read the line that spoke of woven wood quietly, “Of note, woven wood is one of the most dynamic foci.” She reflected on it. Dynamic? What does that even mean? Do they mean flexible?
Feeling a bit confused by the new skill description, Val decided to review her avatar data sheet in search of anything that might help.
Name: Valerie Breking
Race: Dragonkin–21%, Dark Elf–21%, High Elf–21%, Wild Elf–21%, Human (Nadric)–16%
Level: 2
Avatar Equilibrium Bonus: Jade
Attributes:
Per level gain
Strength:
16
+1
Constitution:
14
+0
Agility:
18
+1
Twitch:
19
+1
Intelligence:
16
+1
Willpower:
15
+1
Charisma:
12
+1
Avatar Equilibrium Modifiers:
+30% resistance to elemental damage
+30% effectiveness to all non-combat skills and abilities
+30% bonus to all essential energy skill gains
General Trait (Atypical): Guardian’s Soul—The Dramogan, High Elves, and Nadric Humans, all bloodlines that you possess, have deep-rooted traditions in defending those that cannot protect themselves. Whether it be in battle or a tavern brawl, these races are strengthened by the soul of Kuora whenever they stand between attacker and the helpless.
Effect: When you are acting to protect those that cannot defend themselves, gain a +15% bonus to Agility, Twitch, Strength, and Constitution.
Racial Ability (Typical): Night Vision (passive)—Your Elven heritage allows you to pierce the darkness of night and see clearly. This ability may combine with others.
Effect: See 100% better in the d
ark.
Racial Ability (Atypical): Night Walker—When the sun is down, the Dark Elves can draw on the power of the night itself to move soundlessly and with deadly precision.
Effect: Activate to silently glide above the ground and gain a +10% boost to Agility and Twitch for 15 minutes. Only works at night.
Cooldown: 1 hour
Racial Affinity (Rare): Arboreal Kinship—Your core energies are aligned such that you possess the natural capacity to communicate with living trees. Your connection is uniquely broad and allows for both empathic and telepathic communication.
Effect: You can form an empathic connection to young trees that lack self-awareness and a full telepathic connection to those aged trees that are sentient.
Arboreal Kinship is the foundation affinity for several advanced abilities, including: Sheltered Grove, Wild Call, and Wood Weaver. Explore and train this affinity to evolve one or all of these abilities. Sheltered Grove creates a space of healing and protection within the forest. Wild Call brings the creatures of the forest to your aid. Wood Weaver allows you to create items of woven wood from living trees. Note: To evolve any of these abilities, you must submit yourself to the power of a willing greater tree spirit for instruction.
Evolved Ability (Very Rare), Base Arboreal Kinship: Wood Weaver—You have bonded with the ancestral tree spirit, Entiarch, and learned to access the creative power of cooperative vulnerability.
Effect: Using your essential core energy, you can form a cooperative bond with tree spirits and craft items of woven wood.
Skill (Rare): Scout Pathfinding (passive/active)—Through the careful mental cataloging of your surroundings and the will to spatially track your traveled path, you’ve discovered the Scout Pathfinding skill.
Skill Level: Primitive (detail, accuracy, and recorded radius increase with skill level.)
Use (passive): As you travel, Scout Pathfinding will generate and record a map of the places you’ve been. Skill only works in line of sight and does not function if you are unconscious, drunk, or otherwise impaired.
Use (active): Scout Pathfinding allows the sharing of map data, in part or in full, with other party members.
Evolved Skill (Rare), Base Scout Pathfinding: Soul Walker– Your body and spirit are both one and not one. Within places you have thoroughly mapped, you can access this subtle truth via your map interface, allowing your conscious spirit to move independent of your body in the immediate surroundings.
Use: Access your map of any well scouted area, in which you are physically present, then activate this skill to slip from corporeal to spiritual form to explore the area.
Skill Level: Primitive
Range: 100 feet
Skill (Very Rare): Bind Essence—The fundamental nature of all things has power. Life in all of its various expressions is attuned differently, but all resonate with unseen essential power. Essence Binders use their soul energy as a conduit to imbue and bind non-innate essential energy into inanimate objects. Binding essential energy requires a focus or binding point and a source for the energy being imbued.
Skill Level: Basic (able to bind a small amount of a single essence—amount and number of essences increase with skill level)
Use: Place the focus item and the source item side by side. Connect your sentient essential energy to the focus item first, and prepare the focus item with your intention. When the focus is ready, without breaking that connection, link your soul energy to the source and prepare it with your intention. When both items are aligned with your intention, bridge the connections to bind the source essence to the focus item. (*Notes)
Avatar Equilibrium Bonus: Jade—Your avatar genetics are an exceptional balance that reflects your personal truth. This has a multiplicative effect on your starting power and ongoing growth. Also, your blended race avatar has been awarded with more and higher rarity starting characteristics.
As the path of the Equilibrium balanced grants greater power so too it requires greater effort from those that walk it.
Effect 1: +16% experience needed per level per race included in the equilibrium mix. Your avatar, with 5 genetic components, will need to gain +80% experience per level. After level 40, this effect is halved to +8% experience per level per race.
Effect 2: Gain the standard 6 attribute points per level plus 1.5 points per race included in the equilibrium mix (rounded up). With 5 genetic components, you gain an additional 8 attribute points per level, for a total of 14. Attribute points are distributed as follows: 5 are automatically allocated based upon genetics, 5 are based upon how the experience was gained, and 4 can be freely allocated. *
Effect 3: All of your base starting attributes have been increased from 10 to 12 and Intellect, your dominant attribute, has been increased to 14.
Effect 4: Your 10 freely assignable attribute points has been increased to 15 and system assigned. Due to the complexity of your racial mix these points cannot be changed.
*(Equilibrium bonus restriction: Free attribute points held in abeyance until level 10 or until additional requirements met.)
Val’s contemplation ended abruptly as a madman’s bloodthirsty yell banished the peaceful quiet of the night. Her head snapped up, and she shifted Virginwood to one hand. Hope swelled that it could be one of her boys.
The war cry came from the open prairie beyond the wood. Moving out farther on the branch, Valerie looked through an opening in the tree cover and quickly located the source.
A distant figure, tall and thick with shoulder-length hair, stood silhouetted against the star-speckled sky. He turned slightly, and she saw the figure was a man. He was at the crest of a long rise, well above her viewpoint. He jumped forward and began twirling two flail-like weapons, one in each hand.
She was disappointed to see the weapons–probably not one of her boys after all. She had started without a weapon, and from her mostly worthless interrogation of Ink, she had gleaned that starting without a weapon was basically the norm. Starting with a pair of flails was unlikely. Not one of my boys, but he could still be helpful.
A terrifying roar responded to the warrior’s yell, and she saw the beast crouched in the grass facing off against him. The creature was intimidating, even at this distance. It was a cat the size of a petite horse, and it was seriously pissed-off. That fool is straight-up nuts.
Glancing at her map, she saw the man appeared as a blue dot, the cat as a pink one, and the hill they were on was filled with general grass terrain icons.
That was interesting. Viewing from a distance granted her some map information, but not the details she gathered from directly scouting areas.
The dots closed in for a collision. Val dismissed the map just in time to see the man juke sideways at the last moment but get clipped by the airborne cat. The glancing blow turned his body, and he tripped, then tumbled to the ground and dropped from her view, hidden in the tall grass. The enormous cat sailed past, landed, and skidded to a stop.
Time to move. Friend or not, he’s way overmatched and needs help. Dropping down branch to branch and retracing her ascent, Valerie headed for the ground.
She reached out to Entiarch through their bond and sent gratitude–the sentiment was instantly recognized and returned. When her feet hit the forest floor, she took off at a dead sprint, staff in hand.
It was a pretty good distance to cover–she figured a couple football fields from the look of it. Reaching the edge of the forest, she found a dense tangle of thorned bushes. It looked impassable.
That cat got through here, didn’t it? she wondered. Val crouched and walked along the briar patch, looking for a path, finding nothing.
She glanced at her staff and then back at the thorns, considering the possibility of whacking her way through. That won’t work, at least not quickly.
She looked left toward the spot where she’d spawned; there weren’t any briars at that spot. She could see maybe a hundred feet, and there wasn’t a visible end to them. Consulting the map, she estimated it was a quarter-mile to
the spot where she’d fought the deaver, and the system had started recording map information.
Her spawn point was at least twice that far back, which meant a half-mile to her spawn point or a mile there and back. She was fast here in Kuora and had good wind, so she figured it should be about six minutes or less to get there and back.
After a moment, Val realized it wasn’t so simple. She was in a forest that was full of monsters. She’d have to run the first half through that forest, and there was no telling if any were lurking between here and there. If she ran into something like the big cat, she might not make it at all.
She knew the fight would be over far faster than that. “Dammit.” She hissed and looked back at the thorny wall of brush. “Time to learn a bit more about pain.”
She couldn’t clear the whole patch, but she could jump better than an Olympic athlete, so she could skip a good chunk of it. The map didn’t have any information on how thick the band of briars was. Apparently, her elevated view hadn’t included it at all. Her eyes scanned one more time for animal trails and returned the same result. She sighed. Jumping it is then.
Val jogged back thirty feet or so, picked a clear line, and sprinted right at the briars. A body length from the thorns, she exploded off the ground and sailed out over the thick briar patch. Once in the air, she could see it was about two of these jumps across.
The thorns between here and there looked extremely sharp.
She visualized herself as a gravity-defying projectile and imagined her body clearing the whole patch like an arrow shot straight into the side of the hill. It didn’t work. She crashed down in the middle of the thorns.
Without pausing to think, she began barreling through the wicked spiked plants with her staff leading. Held vertically and clenched tightly in both hands, it helped keep the thorns from tearing into her face and eyes.
