The creed of the Order of Sangranod

We dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of knowledge and understanding

For the fundamental essence of this universe exists around us

And we shall discover it's origin

The forest is filled with noise yet strangely silent, a cacophonous symphony of different animals. The sun overhead slowly descends toward the horizon and a breeze blows through the trees, rustling the leaves and branches, causing them to sway slightly as if dancing to the song of the wilderness.

This song is then interrupted by a consistent series of thumping noises, repeating consistently as they grow louder and louder. The animals of the forest watch with bated breath as the four interlopers lope into their home, heavy footsteps creating a beat by which they move. Nothing seems to slow them down as they run into and then out of the forest, continuing on their journey.

I hold up my hand as we pass the forest and reach the beginning of the Cracked Peaks. A series of hills that had been generously called a ‘mountain’ range, the change has made significant changes from when I was last here.

The small hills are gone, replaced by soaring mountains that pierce through the clouds. Heavy pockets of foliage appear to be randomly placed, breaking up the monotony of the rocky landscape, and seem to teem with life. Thick trees drown the pockets in deep darkness, the last vestiges of the sun’s light unable to break through the thick cover. I can see movement within them, the occasional flash of fur or scales hinting at the creatures that lurk within.

Through the occasional break in the clouds, I’m able to see the new form of the Cracked Peaks. Gone are the gentle hills with the occasional rock at the top. Their spot has been taken by enormous peaks jutting out of the ground like a cracked spear reaching into the sky. Snow coats the top and obscures sight of anything that could live in those conditions, the wind whipping up the gentle flakes and hiding all within.

With the heavy vegetation and snowy peaks most likely containing life that can challenge my new team, I throw my bag down on the ground and turn around the face the three of them. Alejandro appears as if the six hour run was nothing more than a casual jaunt in the park, standing tall with a ramrod back. His pack is still on his back but, at a gesture from me, he throws it onto the ground and sits on it, staring up at me in patient anticipation. Hakim and Carmen, however, are the exact opposite of my older and fitter teammate.

The two of them, upon sight of my hand offering a small reprieve, collapse onto the ground in a series of gasping breaths. Hakim is drenched in sweat, leaning on his pack and doing his best to try and match the example set by Alejandro. It doesn’t work though, as he falls back onto the ground in exhaustion any time he tries to stand tall. Carmen, on the other hand, doesn’t even try to present herself as anything other than she is. Spreading out in a starfish pose on the rocky ground, she stares up at the night sky and doesn’t move, the only sign that she is still alive being the heavy rise and fall of her chest as she tries to gulp in as much air as she can.

“Listen up everyone. I want you to go through your packs and take out anything that you think is necessary for combat. Weapons, Skill related tools, anything at all. Let’s see what you all brought.” I do my best to give off the impression of a strong willed leader, despite my complete and utter lack of experience in this area. In fact, my only frames of reference are the people that I’ve trained under, their tutelage providing the base of what I associate with leadership. With that in mind, I try to mimic an amalgamation of my father and Faul, embodying the crazed intensity of the Qual’Fan with the no-nonsense attitude that I’ve seen my entire life.

Alejandro quickly dives into his bag, removing dozens of small items and tools that comprise the majority of his pack. Were it any of the others, I’d berate them for bringing too much but that doesn’t apply to my team’s Technocrat. His true value to the team, beyond any combat abilities, will be the creation of items that we can all use. What he doesn’t realize at this point, however, is that I don’t plan on having him just make us things that can help us survive. Alejandro’s goal is going to be figuring out the strange science of Items.

From Hakim’s bag comes a strange assortment of weapons. Obviously unable to commit to a single preferred type, he throws a host of daggers, swords, hammers, and even a spear onto the ground in front of him. A quick glance into his bag reveals that the rest of it is filled with dry food, most likely scavenged from the personal store house in the guard’s building. A small smile breaks out on my face as I imagine my father finding the food missing.

Perhaps strangest of all of them, is Carmen. Instead of taking anything out, she sits on her bag with a stubborn look on her face, almost as if daring me to try and call her out. Of course, her stubbornness and unwillingness is just going to make this next part all the more difficult for her. If she’s opens her mind, which I know is almost impossible, it’s possible that she might be able to draw a lesson from what is about to happen.

“Everyone pick up the things they took from the packs and follow me. Leave your bags here for now, we’ll return for them in a bit.” Turning around, I hike about twenty feet up the mountain before looking around at my team. Alejandro carries an enormous bundle of items in his hand, finally looking human as he has difficulty balancing it all, and Hakim holds the weapons in his hands, ignoring the weird looks that Carmen is giving him.

As soon as they’ve reached me, I look at them with a slight smile, taking a small amount of pleasure from the shock that I’m about to administer. “When I was on Helldarvin, the only way to survive was to move forward, to continually push myself to the next obstacle. I didn’t have packs, or friends, or even prepared food. All I had was my wits. So we’re going to do the same thing.”

Snapping my fingers, I conjure three Fireballs and send them hurtling at the three abandoned packs. Within seconds they’ve gone up in flames, burning away all the food and spare supplies that my team had just spent the past six hours carrying on a grueling jog through the wilderness.

“Cael what the hell are you doing!!?” Carmen yells as she punches me in the arm and tries running down to her bag. She looks around for some sort of large material to help put out the fire but only finds rocks and dirt. Her face looks on at the flames in horror as her bag continues to burn under the intense heat of the Mana fueled fire. Within a few minutes, the bag has completely burned into ash, the only trace being the plume of smoke that rises into the air.

“What the actual fuck Cael, what the hell am I going to eat? What the hell am I going to wear? What am I going to SLEEP ON?” She screams as she comes running back up to the group, her face bent into a visage of pure anger and indignation. I won’t lie, the sight makes me chuckle a little as I watch my childhood acquaintance finally confronted with life outside of the city.

“You’ll sleep, eat, and wear whatever you can find out here. Did you really think we were going to train in easy circumstances?” I ask the question, turning around and looking at the entire team. Hakim blushes and looks away, obviously still uncomfortable around me, and Alejandro nods, understanding the deeper purpose behind my plan and obviously agreeing with me.

Looking back at Carmen, confusion beginning to creep in and mix with the anger, I continue before she can get a work in. “You’ve been living the easy life in Everwall, coasting off your one useful Skill. Here’s what you need to get through your head: growth only comes from challenging yourself, from throwing yourself into circumstances where your life is on the line. Thats what we are here to do.”

Turning to face the others, I continue. “All three of you are going to survive in the wilderness with only your wits. None of you are allowed to work together for the first week though. I want you to learn how to be self-reliant, how to manipulate your Skills to their fullest potential so that you grow with them.”

Alejandro nods his agreement and precariously picks up his bundle of items before walking past us and towards the setting sun. Before he can get too far, however, I whistle to get his attention. He looks back at me in slight confusion and is forced to drop his entire bundle to catch what I’ve thrown at him.

The Sigil of House Dor tumbles through the air and his right hand reaches up in an impressive display of Dexterity in order to catch it, his eyes widening as they take in the notification that I imagine has just filled his vision. Despite my desire to learn more about Items myself, I’m fully aware that my time is best spent focusing on other things.

“I got this on Helldarvin and I haven’t had the time to dive into the concept as much as I wanted to. See if you can figure it out better than I have and meet me back here in three days. You and I will do a bit of training and then I want you to fill me in on all that you’ve learned.”

Silent as ever, he nods again and then starts heading away from us, quickly fading into the distance like a ghost dissolving in the mist.

I then turn to Carmen, throwing a dark piece of cloth at her. She holds it up in complete confusion, raising her eyebrow at me despite the lingering anger from burning her pack. “What’s Foresight’s Skill level right now?”

“7”, she responds, becoming less perplexed and beginning to grasp the concept of why I brought the piece of cloth. “Oh good god Cael, I’m not going to wear this stupid eye – “

Before she can get into a tirade, I cut her off. “You can and will wear it. If you don’t then you will no longer be a resident of Everwall and you’ll be barred from ever returning to the city.”

Sputtering in complete shock, she responds, “Wha-what … you can’t do that!”

“I already have. If you return to the city without me then you will be exiled and refused entry ever again. I’m not playing around Carmen, you agreed to help me protect this city and its people, even if you did so for selfish reasons. You may be out here for some stupid house but while you are here you play by my rules.” I cross my arms to show her that I’m not messing around. It had taken some convincing to get my parents to agree to the punishment but I’d made sure they understood that my training would only work if there were real consequences on the line. For someone like Carmen, motivated by selfish desires, the only way she would follow my command was if the thing she wanted was directly threatened.

Muttering curses at me under her breath, she pulls the black cloth up to her face and ties it around her eyes, blocking all of her vision completely. “Now what?”

“Now I want you to train with Foresight. Turn around, head down the mountain, and survive for two days only using your Skill. Return to me in two days and tell me what you’ve learned about the Skill. The only advice I’ll give you is that you need to make the skill instinctive. Get to the point where you can activate it without a second thought and you’ll survive… now scram.” The last part is for my own benefit, as I take a small amount of pleasure from making her more frustrated. Maybe it’s the fact that we grew up together, or maybe it is the fact that I can’t stand her blatantly selfish motivations, but I can’t help myself.

Instead of responding, she loudly sighs and turns around, walking down the mountain and back toward the base. I’d down a little preliminary scouting with Combat Ranking and Echolocation while we had been hiking up and I’d determined that the difficulty level at the base was easy enough for her to survive as long as she uses her Skill to keep herself out of too much trouble.

Finally turning to Hakim, I find him staring at me with idyllic eyes, awaiting his task far more eagerly than Carmen was. Without a shred of frustration from burning his pack, he simply stares at me patiently. If I’m honest, it is a little disturbing. His looks at me as if it is impossible for me to make mistakes, placing an impossible level of expectation upon me.

Shaking my head, I start. “First off, I want to know if you have any limits with what you are willing to do in order to get strength. Some of the ideas I have are a little more … experimental than others.”

He nods his head as if to agree, not even fully comprehending the depths of the ideas that I am suggesting. “No limits. I want to become strong, just like you. What do you have in mind?”

“Let’s start with some more simple ones. Tonight we’ll work on understanding Mana, as that’s the fastest way to increase your power. After that, I want you to go off on your own and survive while working on your Skills. They’ll grow way faster when you’re thrown into the deep end without me.”

Smiling at the possibility of becoming the first of Everwall’s original citizens to explore the frontier of Mana, he nods his head and claps his hands together as if to show he’s ready.

The sun rises the next morning and I watch as Hakim jogs off into the distance, heading in some random direction that I picked this morning. Most likely he thinks I’ve planned out the exact vector of his direction to maximize his growth potential but hopefully he’ll shed his idealized view of me as we spend more time together.

Yawning away the creeping exhaustion, I pull up my Status screen and once again stare at the Class ‘Remnant of a Lost Universe’. This isn’t the first time I’ve done so and it probably won’t be the last. I feel a certain level of … pride, as I read the words. Created specifically for me, this Class is a culmination of my commitment to the people of Everwall, my knowledge of the old world, and my current path of Skills.

The biggest question I have is what my next Higher Energy should be. The description of the Class seems to suggest I receive a bonus in regards to ‘physics’ based energies, likely derived from my choice of Motion and Sound. Of course, those ideas by themselves are flawed.

Motion, for example, is mathematically a combination of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, time, and speed. Does that mean that the Higher Energy encompasses all of those different concepts? That seems … impossible. If I’d been actually controlling distance and time, I would have had a much stronger reaction when I forced the Motion Mana into my body.

Perhaps … Perhaps the Higher Energies I chose are comprised of smaller and more specific parts. Would all of these smaller components be Universal Constants? I can’t imagine that acceleration, which itself is also comprised of change in velocity and time, would be on the same level as time itself.

Also, in the context of my old universe, everything that I’m doing right now would be considered impossible. To the best of my knowledge, Mana didn’t exist and the ability to create fire, ice, motion, and sound out of nothing would break the fundamental laws of physics. Hell, the first law of thermodynamics was that energy couldn’t be created or destroyed in an isolated system. I broke that the first time I conjured fire from Mana.

Obviously this particular law doesn’t apply to this new universe, as I’m able to create a host of different things out of nothing but Mana. Wait … what if I’m not creating energy but I’m merely redirecting it, taking this strangely fluid form of energy and molding it into a new form? If that’s true, then it is possible that the first law of thermodynamics is still true, as this universe could be an isolated system with access to some unknown level of energy known as Mana. I have no reason to believe that Mana is an unlimited resource, although I also have no reason to believe that it is limited.

All of this is conjecture, however, as I currently have no way of verifying any information. Rubbing my temples, I try to dispel all of my hypotheses and focus on what I know, the things within my field of control and influence.

The most important thing I can do right now is expand my repertoire as quickly as possible, to churn out more Higher Energies that will allow me to create more diverse Skills. Obviously they need to be based in physics, or at least as much as Motion and Sound were. A few concepts come to mind as I fall into meditation to begin focusing on my next creation.