Chapter One: Explosive Beginnings

"The Shroud covers us all." Excerpt from 'The Shroud Divine' by Heidlebrand the Enlightened the Heretic.

Caeden breathed, deep and slow. Sweat trickled down his back, coating his body, soaking his roughspun clothes. His muscles were sore and burning, a deep ache settling into him. His breath drew hot, ash-filled air into his lungs. It was comforting to him after all these years. Familiar.

He stared at the forge, watching the flickering brownish-green of the ether flames. It was times like this that he regretted moving so far from his uncle. Usually, this was the time filled with banter and discussions of whatever piece they were working on. Now, it was just quiet.

Caeden had to move. He had reached his majority, and living in the city had put more pressure on his aunt and uncle. So he had moved out. To this town, specifically. People around here didn't mind shrouded.

Caeden let out a sigh and readied himself to get up once again and check on the plow head glowing red hot in the forge. This piece was almost done. It had been fully shaped a few heatings ago, but Caeden had to let the properties of the burning ether finish soaking into the metal. Now though, all that was left was to dunk it and then sharpen it up. He had done it a hundred times. Maybe even a thousand.

He was interrupted before he could even put on his heavy, metal-plated apron by a commotion outside. Normally, Caeden wouldn't be bothered. Even if this town was small, it wasn't that small. They had a few drunkards now and then, stumbling through the dark. This was different. He knew one of the voices. It was Mrs. Evaldy. She sounded scared.

That was especially concerning since Mrs. Evaldy, despite being over 60, had balls of steel bigger than anyone Caeden had ever met; and a tongue sharper than a razor blade. If anyone from town had tried to mess with her, she would have torn them a new one. Concerned, Caeden hurried outside. He saw Mrs. Evaldy, short and white-haired, facing a group of five boys, no older than 15.

"...Give it up, old bag. You don't want us to get rowdy, do yah?" The boy in the front was in the middle of threatening the elderly woman. Caeden didn't recognize any of these kids. Out-of-towners.

"What the hell are you doing?" Caeden yelled. His smithy was situated a ways away from town, so he didn't bother anyone with the noise. In fact, what was Mrs. Evaldy doing out here?

"Fuck off, asshole! This doesn't involve you!" The same boy shouted back.

Ignoring him, Caeden quickly walked up to Mrs. Evaldy's side. "Are you alright? What are they trying to get from you?" He asked in a low voice. He saw a small bag in her hand.

"Oh, Caeden, thank you for stepping in. These brainless hooligans are trying to rob me!"

"Really? Why?" Caeden couldn't imagine what could be in the bag worth stealing. The town ran on a barter system for the most part.

"It's money."

"What? What are you doing with money?"

"We borrowed it. Some out-of-towners came through and wouldn't trade with us. They still insisted on getting a meal, though." Mrs. Evaldy and her husband ran a restaurant and bar.

"Borrowed? Don't tell me…." Caedens eyes widened.

"It's from the Dromar."

Caeden nearly choked. These kids were fucking idiots. The Dromar employed basically the entire town and several others nearby. The plowhead that Caeden was working on was for the Dromar. They were also a family of shrouded. These idiots are trying to steal money from shrouds.

"Hey, cripple! Are fucking listening to me?" The idiot leader was still yelling at him.

Caeden looked him up and down, assessing him. Poser. He was a lanky kid, probably just starting puberty. He was thin as a rail, with a mop of bright red hair and freckles all over. He had that sort of smug, unshakable confidence of someone who had never been challenged.

"What do you think you're doing, brat?"

"What does it look like? I'm getting me and the boys some spending money!" He laughed cockily, his friends joining in. "What are you gonna do, cripple? Stop us?"

Caeden was baffled. He wasn't the tallest, only 6', but he still towered over these kids. Plus, he was heavily muscled from his work in the forge. Even if he was a cripple, he didn't understand where this little shit's confidence was coming from.

"Do you really think this-" Caeden held up his left hand. His pointer and middle finger, along with a chunk of the hand itself, were missing. "-is going to stop me from beating your ass?" He was genuinely puzzled.

"Ha! You wouldn't dare! My brother has a shroud! He would kill you if you laid a finger on me. Now give us the money!"

Ahh. Now it all made sense. Caeden relaxed. This kid was still from continents. His clothes were the same roughly made work clothes that Caeden's were. That meant his brother, if he even existed, would have no real backing or understanding.

Just like Caeden.

"Well," He said, tapping into the part of him that welled with infinite, primordial power. "If your brother thinks he can take on another shroud-" Raising his hand, blood-red streaks of buzzing energy, looping and twisting together like a ball of string that moved in rapid, aggressive motions manifested over his palm. "He can come find me. Ok?"

"Oh, shit!" Suddenly, all the boys bolted, sprinting away like he had lit their ass on fire. The lead boy whipped around after he was a good distance away. "You'll get yours, cripple! My brother is gonna fuck you up!"

Shaking his head, Caeden didn't bother responding. He would deal with this brother if he ever showed up. What was important was that Caeden had managed to refocus the boy's anger on himself instead of poor Mrs. Evaldy. Speaking of which…

"Are you alright?"

The stalwart old lady huffed, before smiling and patting his shoulder affectionately. "Oh, I'm just fine. Thank you for scaring them off." She frowned. "I do hope they won't come back looking for you."

Caeden brushed off her concern. "Don't worry about me. I can handle myself just fine. I'd honestly be surprised if that kid even has a brother. I wonder how many times that line has worked for him."

Mrs. Evaldy chuckled. "Now, there's a dreadful thought. I best get going. Come by soon, won't you? I believe I owe you a meal on the house." She patted his shoulder once and turned to go.

"Actually…" Frowning, Caeden looked up the road, the way the boys had run. "If you wouldn't mind waiting a few minutes, I could walk you up there."

"Oh, that's very kind, but I wouldn't want to impose."

"Nonsense. It's dark out, and we may be close to the ocean, but we're not that close. I would hate to hear some monster had attacked you because I left you walking around in the middle of the night. I have to finish up some work on a piece, but it'll only take a few minutes." Caeden coaxed.

"Oh, alright. You may have a point. It is rather late."

Caeden looked out over the hills, toward the Pillar in the distance. Stretching up endlessly into the sky, the faint light of the nighttime radiated from it. Way far off, he could see the daylight descending down along its length. "Yeah, It must be nearly ten or so."

Mrs. Evaldy followed his gaze. "Oh my, It's much later than I thought."

"Same here. I was so caught up in finishing this plow head that I lost track of time." Caeden opened the door to his forge and gestured toward the brightly glowing piece of farming equipment.

"Oh my. I don't believe I've ever seen ether forging. Old Bertram was just a normal blacksmith." Mrs. Evaldy shuffled to the far side of the smithy.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Evaldy. It's not as dangerous as what you've probably heard. All the merchants like to embellish. Especially when they are selling infused items." Caeden had heard some of those stories. The merchants that came to little towns like theirs would have you believe people died in droves working with ether.

"Mmm," She seemed to radiate uncertainty.

"You could wait in the house?"

"No, that's fine. So long as you're sure."

Caeden nodded reassuringly. He wouldn't have invited her in if he had been doing something volatile. Walking over to his workbench, Caeden grabbed the apron he had left draped over the anvil. The heavy metal-reinforced leather a comfortable and familiar weight. It covered all the way down to his knees and even had sections that went over his biceps.

At his workbench, Caeden pulled open one of several drawers that had thickened and infused plating. Ether might not be as dangerous as some rumors held, but that didn't mean a certain level of caution wasn't appropriate. He pulled out a large metal container and opened it to reveal several chunks of glowing blue crystals, all roughly the size of a finger.

"Shouldn't you have those locked up?"

Caeden almost laughed at the motherly disapproving tone. Mrs. Evaldy had gotten over her fear rather quickly. "It's locked from the inside." He explained, gesturing to a mechanism inside the drawer. "I have to use my shroud to open it."

"Oh, well that's rather clever then." Her disapproval evaporating.

Caeden shrugged. "I hear it's common practice on the islands."

Grabbing a mortar and pestle, Caeden ground up one of the crystals into a fine powder before stowing the rest back into their drawer. He then took his powder and dumped it into a large water barrel on the opposite side of the small smithy from the forge. Stirring the powder in with a wooden paddle, the whole barrel began to glow slightly.

"That's actually rather pretty." Mrs. Evaldy had edged slightly closer as he stirred.

Caeden nodded. As the powdered ether dispersed throughout the water, it made stunning patterns of sparkling cerulean light that grew in intensity, like a brilliant aurora whirling around with the motions of his paddle. Even after all this time, Caeden still found it beautiful.

Once the light reached the level of brightness and the water had sections of green and turquoise swirling in it, he stopped stirring.

"For this next part, please take a step back. I'll be moving the plow head over here, and I wouldn't want you to get burned." By the time he had stopped stirring, Mrs. Evaldy's curiosity had led her to stand right next to him by the barrel.

"Oh! Of course, I didn't mean to get in the way. It's all fascinating to watch. To think, in all my years, I've never watched anyone working with ether."

"Ha, yeah. It's not something anyone out here would see. Even back in Earthstrom, my uncle was the only ether smith in the whole city. Honestly, without the Dromar, I wouldn't even get to use all the skills he taught me." Caeden smiled wistfully. He should go visit soon. It had been years.

"Is that why you moved out here?"

"Yup!" Caeden smiled happily as he moved in front of the brown and green ether flames in the forge. He could see that the plow head had taken on the appropriate sheen of dark green he was looking for. "Wasn't enough work in the city for two ether smiths, and mooching off my uncle after I hit my majority just sat wrong with me. Luckily the Dromar were recruiting. They got me moved out here."

"Well, we've all been glad to have you. After Bertram passed away, getting anything made or fixed was quite the pain."

"Thanks," Caeden answered distractedly. He was concentrating on his shroud. The darting, writhing, blood-red energy circled and swirled around his bare hands. Focusing intently, Caeden forced the wild shroud to shift its form. Within a few moments, the shroud had settled over his hands like gloves or gauntlets. It even forms prosthetic fingers, filling the gap in his left hand.

Caeden marveled at the capabilities of his shroud. It was something like energy, but it had physical substance. Not to mention its more magical properties. It had taken him years of practice after his injury, but he had managed to form this pseudo-prosthesis. Now, he could use his shroud to protect his hands from the ravages of the ether flames in his forge without losing any dexterity. It gave him more confidence in dealing with the sometimes volatile infused metals he forged.

Grabbing the wedge shape of plow by each side, Caeden walked carefully over to the ether-treated barrel. Once the metal left the flame, it started to emit tiny brown and green sparks, with the green vastly outnumbering the brown. Another sign that he had done an excellent job with this piece. He plunged the plow head into the barrel, watching the light show that followed. All the brown sparks spitting out were absorbed by the cerulean swirls, and the green ones grew brighter and bigger when they hit the turquoise sparkles.

"Great! It looks like I got the timing and proportions just right. This one should be done by the time we get back." Caeden felt satisfied with the results of today's work.

"That's all? It really isn't as dangerous as Whenwood made it sound."

Caeden snorted at the mention of the notoriously boisterous merchant. "Of course he would be telling those tales, selling that subpar crap he does. What that man is thinking, trying to get hardworking folk to waste their money on infused junk, I will never know."

"Oh, most of his stock is normal things. So what if he has a few oddities?"

Caeden just shook his head. "Ready to go?"

"Is it alright to just leave that there?" Despite her earlier words, Mrs. Evaldy was shooting the barrel concerned looks.

"Yup! The only thing I really have to worry about is the byproduct when this renders down. That's actually explosive. But I have the correct ether here to neutralize it, so no worries." Caeden held the door for the elderly woman and offered her his arm as they headed up the road and into the hills around the Dromar's local household.

"So, tell me about this uncle of yours. He's an ether smith as well?"

Caeden smiled and rolled his eyes out of view of his companion. Of course Mrs. Evaldy liked Whenwood. She was a sucker for a good story, and a bit of a busybody to boot. He settled in for a pleasant late-night stroll. "He is. Taught me everything I know…."

{}

"What the fuck, Travis? I didn't know there was a shrouded around here!" The boy yelled breathlessly after their mad dash into the woods.

"Shut up, Jay. You think I knew that asshole was going to be there?" Travis, the red-headed boy, responded with just as much anger.

"What are we going to do now? Are you going to ask your brother for help?" Another member of the group spoke up.

"What? No, he wouldn't help us anyway. In fact, he'd probably just tell our mom about it. Especially with those islanders inviting him to their fancy school or whatever. He's been unbearable. Smug dick." Travis sulked.

The other boys all shot each other looks. "...Ok, then what are you thinking? Are we gonna try and get that money again?" All of them had followed Travis so far from home on the promise of some actual money of their own. That, and Travis had a knack for getting away with the craziest things, even if he was a bit of a dick.

"Nahh, she was probably taking it back to the family it actually belonged to. No way to get it now."

"What do you mean, the family it belongs to?"

"Did none of you figure this out? The only reason some crap bar in the middle of nowhere would have money was if they borrowed it from whatever islander people actually own everything around here." Travis stated casually.

"Are you crazy?! We were going to steal islander money?! What if we got caught?" Jay spat. He had not signed up for this.

"What other kind of money is there out here except islander money? If you couldn't figure that out, it's not my fault. Besides, there's no way we would get caught. Whatever money that lady had wouldn't be enough to make any islander blink. If they did go looking for the thieves, it wouldn't be very far or for very long. Why do you think we went so far from home?" Travis's smug confidence didn't fade an inch.

"Haaa." Jay let out a weary sigh. There was no arguing with him. "Fine, what's the plan then? Go home?"

"Not on your life. We're going to rob that asshole."

"WHAT?!" Everyone responded.

"You guys don't get it. That guy was shrouded."

"Exactly! Why would we rob a shrouded?" Jay interjected. "Do you want us all to die?"

"Shut up and listen." Travis shot back. "He's shrouded, alone, and from the continents. Plus, that was a smithy. He's got to be an ether smith. That means he's vulnerable and loaded. All we have to do is mess him up good, take all the ether, and we'll be rich."

"How exactly are we going to do any of that?"

"Listen up; I have a plan."

{}

"Thank you for walking me up there, Caeden." Mrs. Evaldy patted his arm.

"It's no problem. Otherwise, I would have just been waiting on my work to finish rendering."

"Still, I do appreciate it. You have a nice night."

"I will. Get home safe."

"Oh, I'll be perfectly fine from here." She laughed. It was only a short walk back to the village proper.

Caeden waved her off as he entered back into the smithy. Checking the barrel, he saw that most of the previous coloration had disappeared in favor of darker shades. Now the sparkles were primarily purple, and the streaks of color were a very faintly glowing navy blue. "Perfect."

Hurrying over to his workbench, Caeden popped open his ether drawer and pulled out another container. This one opened to reveal tiny refined beads set into a soft lining in pairs, one white and one clear. Just as he was grabbing the tool he needed, he sensed an object flying at him through his shroud. Whipping around, he saw a bottle with a flaming rag flying at him through the smithy's open window.

Caeden reacted reflexively, his shroud whipping out and slicing clean through the bottle, spilling it liquid and changing its trajectory.

Right toward the rendering barrel.

"Oh, shi-"

Caeden's world went white.

{}

BOOM!

The ground shook, and bits of smithing equipment and house rained done around the group of boys as they stared at the remains of the building they had been about to rob.

Travis looked at the others, fear in his eyes. "Run!"