by Riley Tune
Once my cloak surrounded me, I felt instantly at ease. Not only at ease, but powerful and strong. I wasn’t just Lox anymore. I was a Warper, I was the Warper. I turned to the entrance of my room and reached inside myself for my power, and instead of warping, I simply held the power and allowed it to radiate within me.
I could feel my power now. It was like a tranquil life force of its own. It always seemed to react when I reached for it and held it. Almost like a cat that came closer after you rubbed it once. A power that was always there, but now I was starting to use it differently.
Since my encounter with The Keeper, and having my powers enhanced, I had learned a few things that I believed set me apart from other Warpers, likely because now I could use my powers to warp myself, and other objects as well.
Most Warpers could only do one or the other. Since my abilities were enhanced, it opened more doors for me, and allowed me to wield my gifts differently. One being that if I didn’t warp automatically, the power that I took hold of inside of me allowed me to do more than just warp.
For example, If I reached for the power, and then held it, but didn’t warp, my senses became heightened for a short time. I do mean short. The heightened senses only lasted for a few seconds, but still it was a valuable tool. Not only that, but if I was injured the power could heal me. Once again this was limited.
Massive cuts, I was out of luck. Same went for broken bones, but minor injuries and fatigue were within the limits of my newfound power.
I could have been wrong, though. These extra abilities, could have possibly been in my grasp all the time. Other Warpers could have access to the same power, and just refused to share their discovery to give them an edge. Either way, they were added weapons to my arsenal now.
After holding my power inside me for a few moments, and basking in its glory, I warped to the door. It was only a few feet away. A distance that I could have walked in seconds, but I just wanted to warp. I remembered how I always used to say Ember was showing off when he warped a few feet for no reason, but now I believe I was seeing things clearer.
It wasn’t showing off, it was simply reveling in the power of warping. The power felt marvelous, and every now and again you wanted to use that power outside of killing.
When I returned to the study, I found only Remy and Sprits.
Remy was, for all purposes, almost an enemy of mine. I even thought about killing him once. Mainly because of his plan with his sister Rema Thorne. It was her idea to kill the Emperor, and it was her idea to try and kill me as well. Remy never seemed to support it, but he did little to stop it either. In time, he had proven to be a valuable person to have on our side as Jolin took the throne, and was one of my closest friends now.
Sprits was the hound with a leaky bladder, that had once belonged to Ember. Now he had found a new home with Remy, and the two were usually together. Remy was looking at some of the books on one of the larger shelves in the room as Sprits lay on the floor oblivious to my appearance.
The last few months had changed Remy both physically and mentally. He still had his same hair, up top anyway, on his face however not so much. He had grown a rather large beard and often fashioned it into a large braid. He no longer wore the clothes of a noble, and instead wore the robe of a scholar.
His current robe was long and green that covered his feet completely. Mentally, he seemed to be altogether happier. The death of his sister was more of a liberation for the true Remy. As the patriarch of the Thorne house, he no longer had to live up to anybody’s ideals other than his own, and he was happy with that.
“Where are Vida and Jolin?” I asked him as I removed my hood.
“They had to leave. I was instructed to wait for you here,” he said as he allowed his hand to pull another book off the shelf. He looked at the book and smiled before placing it on the table. “You know, I didn’t even know this study was here. All this time, even before Jolin became King, a mountain of knowledge was so close and I was none the wiser.”
I could see Remy would be spending time here now. Remy was a man that not only loved books, but he consumed them. His gift seemed to be able to read them with unusual speed. I remember once that he read around seven books in half a day.
He pulled another book from the shelf and examined it, before laying it to the side as he smiled and looked at the shelf again.
“So, they went to the meeting already? It must be important.” I said as Remy slowly placed the book down on the table. “He didn’t tell you?” He asked as he grimaced and rubbed his chin.
The blank look on my face, combined with my silence appeared to have answered his question. He shook his head some. “Try as he might, Jolin is still getting used to being a king. One of the first people he should have told should have been you. You are perhaps the strongest asset in the in Prime Sovereignty, and you need to be up to speed at all times.”
“Thanks.” I said slowly as I walked to the window. The snow was still falling, but the light of day was fading. Rain was coming soon. This was the way in The Prime Sovereignty. Each and every day it snowed, and then each and every night it rained. Seeing this simple change of weather made me think of Nasium Suro, the boy who became The Keeper. The boy who had become a god. I remembered what he had said months ago.
That another god, the most powerful of them all called Grimsby Glen, was the reason for the weather change. He was also the voice I would hear in my head when I warped. Thankfully, I hadn’t heard it in a while.
I turned back to Remy. “So, what is happening out there?” I asked as I jerked my head towards the window.
“Death,” Remy replied softly as he exhaled. “Over a hundred confirmed in the last week alone. From all the kingdoms, not just ours. People are getting restless, and want answers. Answers that just we don’t have.” His breathing increased some and his fingers started to twitch as he delivered the news.
“Deaths ?,” I repeated back to him. “What kind of deaths?” Death wasn’t unusual in any kingdom, but Remy made it sound more complex than that.
“That’s just it,” Remy responded. “They seem to be random. Some are normal guards, while others could be palace workers, bakers, miners, or everyday people who are living normal lives and then, instantly, a rupture opens in the air around them and an orb will appear. Small at first, then it grows and encases the person closest to it.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, as Remy just looked at me silently. Of course, he was sure. “How long has this been going on?” Remy closed his eyes and rubbed his face as he looked away from my direction.
“A few weeks.” “A few weeks?” I asked back as my voice rose. I shook my head. “No. I would have heard about it. Jolin would have told me and Vida.” “We thought it was better to keep it quiet from the public until we figured it out. I thought he would have told you both though.
“We had hoped to know more by now. All we truly know is that some people die faster than others, while some don’t die at all. They just sleep inside of the shell that forms. These orbs that surround them, can last only an instant, leaving the inhabitants dead in moments or it can encase them for a longer time.”
He began to pace a little in the room before me, his green robe whispering dirt around on the floor as he did so. “There doesn’t seem to be any connection between the deaths. As far as we can tell, it just all comes together to be random. This meeting is hopefully a way to figure out a plan of action.”
I motioned to move for the entry door. “Where are you going?” Remy asked me as he quickly moved behind me. “To find Jolin.”
Remy placed a hand on my shoulder. It wasn’t a firm placement, but it was enough to stop me. “You’re angry we didn’t tell you. I get that, but Jolin has it for the moment under control. He has plenty of people here who can help him with a meeting, but only one Warper who can do whatever it was he asked of you.”
Remy was right. Keeper knows that’s no surprise. I was upset about how he, and Jolin,
didn’t tell me what was going on. People were dying at random and not only that but Vida, and my family, were out there at risk, too. I wanted to help but, at the moment couldn’t see how. I was the best option for this Clipasie issue forming in Galcon, though.
“Judging from your pause, I take it that I’m right.” Remy said with a smile as he picked up another new book and sat at the table. “Seems that way.”
I moved closer to the window again. The snow was gone and the rain was falling. I put my hood of my cloak up. “Good luck out there, Lox Keeper watch over you,” Remy said as he began to turn the pages in the first book he wanted to read. I snorted at his comment, and then, without a word, I warped out of the palace, and into the night.
2
I continued to warp over the rooftops of the city. The rain hardly even made it to my face with this repellent cloak. I made a mental note to thank Jolin again, if I made it back from this job. If I made it back from this job. That single thought made me see my family in my head.
I didn’t say goodbye to my mom or the twins. I didn’t even tell her where I was going. That was normal when I was out with Ember, but since moving into the palace, I tried to keep her informed of what I was doing.
No time to dwell on it now, but I made a promise to myself to try not to leave on a job, in the future, without my family knowing first.
I paused on a rooftop as I got closer to the edge of Thera, to catch my breath. As I looked around I could see the people of the city walking, oblivious to my presence. They didn’t even know of the unseen forces that were at work around them.
Of ancient god-like beings, or of civilizations beyond our waters. The people of Thera were just happy. Not only were they happy, they were better off since Jolin took the crown. Remy was right, and Jolin knew very little about running a kingdom, but he did know about living on its streets. He knew about poverty, and doing things you didn’t want to in order to survive.
From where I stood now, a few months ago you could have seen a huge statue that touched the skies. A statue completely made of bronze, that was sculpted in the likeness of the Emperor. The purpose of the statue, other than to display the immense wealth of the Emperor, was to memorialize the spot where he was first killed, before his resurrection.
To show all of the kingdoms that he was an immortal. This all proved to be a lie. The emperor, and his immortality, were both a clever trick crafted by the Empress and others. Jolin had the statue destroyed shortly after he became King of Thera.
His advisers urged him to simply reform the bronze and add it to his personal wealth, but Jolin had his own plans. Instead, he gave the bronze to the people of the cities. Not just Thera, but to all of The Prime Sovereignty.
The poorest areas received their bronze first, and in larger supply. This single act alone had increased the wealth of the kingdoms, while at the same time reducing crime. Jolin may not have been a well-versed king, but he was the king of the people, and they loved him almost as much as Cloud did. Contrast to this, however, was that some Kings didn’t take kindly to another king helping their people. Mainly Galcon and Kameace saw a problem with Jolin’s act of kindness.
The city was alive tonight, and even in the rain I could have watched it a little longer, but I had a duty. I reached inside myself and held onto my power, allowing it to wash my tiredness away. My breathing returned to normal, and the aches I felt in my feet from running and warping had disappeared.
I was ready to warp when something happened that I hadn’t seen in all my years of living. The rain stopped even though it was night. Just like that it was no longer raining. It always rained at night. The people of the city stopped as well. They began to speak loudly to each other as they looked up to the skies, surprised. Then something else began to fall. It wasn’t rain. It wasn’t even snow. I had no idea what it was.
All around me, falling from the sky were tiny, pea-sized orbs. They were a bright pale blue, and reminded me of stars. These blue orbs gave the city a slight glow as they fell in slow motion and when they came into contact with something, they would burst.
I held my hand out to catch some of the slow falling orbs. As they touched my skin and popped I could feel a slight tingle of warmth. The people below me on the streets began to handle this new development differently.
Some people, like myself, reacted well. They saw the falling orbs around them, and then returned to their normal evening. Others slowly began to panic. Some quickly found shelter, while others grabbed their children and ran out of sight.
I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew it had to have been the god Grimsby Glen. His power is what made the rain and snow come, but why suddenly change it now? Why these orbs? Did they have something to do with the other orbs causing the deaths around the kingdoms?
While this was off-putting, as far as I knew, it wasn’t more important than my task at hand.
Holding on to my power still, I began to warp again. In what seemed like moments I had
passed over the Thera border and into Galcon. The blue orbs continued to fall, and it had been a while since I had seen another person, and now I was beginning to understand why.
I warped to a small home that was abandoned and dropped to the ground from its rooftop. The darkness would had helped to hide me normally, but the glow from these falling orbs made it hard to be unseen. Already I was missing the tall rooftops of Thera and the added security they provided.
I looked around, taking in the area. All of the homes around me seemed empty, yet they were not old. Made out of mostly wood and dirt, these home on the edge of the city must have been a small village of sorts once. There were a little over a dozen homes spread out over the open area and all seemed empty. I moved my dagger from my belt and warped to another of the small houses and peered inside.
Nothing but damaged furniture. The doors on several of the houses were either missing or broken, leaving the insides exposed. I don’t know if it was the silence, or the glow from the falling orbs, but just being here in this abandoned little area made me feel uneasy.
“What happened here?” I said under my breath. If the Clipasie were the reason as we were told, I had expected more destruction.
I could hear loud rhythmic sounds coming from the distance, but couldn’t make them out clearly. I followed the sounds and slowly found myself going deeper into the village, passing house after empty house. The air changed as I got closer to the unknown sound.
What was once cool, crisp, clean air, now had a sour smell to it. It made my stomach turn and my eyes began to water. I couldn’t place the smell, but it was getting stronger as I moved deeper into the village. My nose had started to burn slightly as I continued to breath in the air.
I could see a light glowing just over a hill up ahead. Unlike the blue orbs falling around me, this light gave off an orange glow of fire. As I moved closer the smell of the fire, mixed in with the sour air, seemed to consume me and I could feel my head beginning to hurt.
I went to warp when I noticed a body on the ground. It was large. Far larger than any human body could ever be. The muscular and bare body stretched about seven feet long. The head was bald except for a long orange ponytail in the back, and the orange hair was a vivid contrast to the body’s green skin.
With massive feet, an inhuman chest, and arms as thick as a tree it was easy to see what this was. A Clipasie. I had only seen one before, and that one looked very different from the dead one laying before me.
I had originally assumed they all had pale skin, but apparently, they came in at least one other skin tone. The body was bruised, and laying in a pool of blood. Its eyes were open wide, and the head was still connected to a small portion of its remaining neck .
Seeing the body here like this made me wonder why was it dead.
As if answering the question that was in my head, a loud scream pierced the air. No, it wasn’t a scream. It was a howl. Singular at first and then followed by several other deep howls.
I warped from the body of the fallen Clipasie and reappeared on top of the hill. What I saw before me was unexpected. The reports Jolin had received were somewhat true. It wasn’t exactly a Clipasie army, but it was still a large gathering of them in one spot. Here in front of me, howling and moving around a large fire, were dozens of Clipasie.
For the first time, I realized just how truly large these creatures could become. Most of them stood over nine feet tall, dwarfing the one I had seen in the Clarkton that day with Ember. Not only were they taller, but they looked different.
They were all practically naked, except for the rag like cloth that covered their mid- section. All of them, even the ones that appeared female, were bare chested. Most of them had the same ponytailed hair, but in different colors.
Some had bright blue hair, while others had dark green or purple. Their skin appeared to be as varied as the hair. While a few displayed pale skin, others had brown or even orange. Despite their freakish size, appearance, and howls, they still looked like they were human to a certain degree.
My eyes darted as one of the pale skinned Clipasie broke off from the rest of his kin and walked over to an abandoned home nearby. I hadn’t noticed it before, but there, resting beside one of the abandoned homes, was a pile about four feet tall of Caprong bodies.
The bodies were lifeless and the sheer amount of them had started to create a stream of blood that slowly trickled down the sloping ground. The Clipasie that was alone used a massive single hand and grabbed one of the bodies by the neck, and used its free hand to remove the head.
He did this in one smooth motion, and it made a popping sound as the head was ripped away. As easy as a man breaking bread in half. Once the head was removed, he dropped it to the ground and took a huge bite out of the remaining Caprong body.
