Chapter 18

Mikael

The room was brilliantly lit by the magic lamp suspended in the middle of the ceiling, while the last rays of the sun tried in vain to compete with it. The only noise that resonated was that of mouths chewing food, from time to time punctuated by the clacking of a plate against a plate.

“... How do you find the meat ?“ asked Helianthine, trying to break the cloak of silence that was crushing the dining room.

“... It is good.” Mikael replied succinctly, his eyes adrift, eating the succulent meal without really paying attention to it, unable to enjoy it by the thoughts that were buzzing in his head.

The young woman, disappointed, brought her eyes back to her plate, while her mother smiled sadly with a knowing smile, watching Mikael and her daughter in turn. Silence regained its right. From time to time Mikael’s hand trembled, his stiff body still painful from the three days of intensive fitness he had just come out of. His eyes were hollow, testifying to the little amount of sleep he had been able to glean from his nights when he was not carried away into his spiritual world, finding himself fighting a Lauryne almost as enraged as she was at the beginning.

Something then crushed his shoulder, creating a shock that reverberated through his whole body. Nana had just laid her hand on him, effectively drawing his attention.

“Since yah’re not in a state to see it, I must intervene, nay ? The girl is worried about yah…” She said, nodding her head to Helianthine.

“...so talk to us, a bit.” She ended by pulling off her hand like a bear’s paw .

He rubbed his sore shoulder while grimacing before raising his eyes to the almost eighteen-year-old girl.

“... Yes ?” He just asked, focusing on her.

She looked away a bit before bringing her eyes back to him, finishing her bite.

“... You haven’t said anything since you got home… no, since you woke up. I’d like to know how you’re doing.” She finally succeeded to say .

“... I… I don’t know. I’m not sleeping well lately.” He replied with a weak voice.

“Are yah having nightmares, kid ?” asked Nathalie of her usual grumpy tone, with a hint of anxiety discernible in it this one.

Mikael did not answer but his gaze were once more lost far away.

“... It’s about Lauryne, isn’t it ?” said Helianthine.

When the girl’s name was mentioned, Mikael became white as a cloth, then green, squeezing his teeth to contain the nausea that assailed him.

He saw Lauryne again burning, he heard her cry and felt the smell of her flesh being charred by the magic of her own brother.

She is not dead-She is not dead-She is not dead-She is not dead... Was he repeating relentlessly to try and reassure himself.

He came to his senses when he felt someone sticking to him. Helianthine had surrounded him with her arms, gently caressing his back, whispering softly, rocking him. He inspired, surprised, smelling the soap that the young woman had used to wash her hair.

'What are you doing ?' he asked her, showing a little more emotion than before.

'A hug. You looked like you needed it.' She simply replied, holding him tight.

“... I don’t understand.” He just said.

“We support each other among friends, and you clearly need a little warmth for now.”

“... Friends ? We haven’t even known each other for a month...” he remarked.

She released her embrace, retreating, leaving her hands on the young man’s shoulders, looking straight into his eyes.

“Yes, and during those three weeks you showed me that I wanted to be friends with you. You are kind and thoughtful, diligent and, even if you had shown me nothing of this, the simple way you treated Lauryne would have been enough. You’re worth it, so don’t break down between my fingers, okay ? And if you need to speak, you can always come to my place.” She replied with emotion.

Deep in his tired soul, something seemed to change, like a button that had just been switched, and a smile appeared on Mikael’s face. He brought Helianthine against him and began to cry on her shoulder. He dried his tears a minute or two later.

“Sorry.”

'Don’t worry, I’m here for that too.' She replied tenderly.

“So, yah came to your senses kid ?” Nana smiled.

“A bit.” said Mikael as he was sitting down again.

“The death… Lauryne’s death is still very fresh in my mind. It will take time to… to get closure.”

"Yep, after all we’re two months ahead of you. We weren’t better the next day, I can tell you, kid.”

***

They had finished eating, admittedly in silence, but at least with smiles. Mikael had helped Helianthine to clear and wash the dishes, the way he was using his hands soothing him.

“Mika, join me in the garden when yah’re done, okay ?” Nana said, her head through the kitchen door, tobacco in one hand.

He nodded back and continued to help the young woman, telling him stories while they were working together, how her professor, Merory, had accepted her coming to class despite her inability to pay for it, the fate of one of her comrades who had exploded her hair because of a wrong spell, the handsome Arthy with whom she had been drinking after school. Mikael could not help smiling when he heard the young woman speak of her days, of her dreams, of her plans, full of energy. In a better mood, he finally headed for the garden. There he found Nana on her rocking chair, smoking her pipe quietly while admiring the color gradient that the sun projected on the large white clouds that filled the sky. She turned her head towards him, taking her pipe out of her mouth.

“Do you want to kill Joseph ?” she asked him, smiling, leaving the young man stunned.

“P-pardon me ?”

“I asked you if you want to kill Lauryne’s older brother, Joseph.” She said to him again.

Mikael looked at her with wide eyes, and something changed in his soul. His eyes became cold as steel.

”Yes.” He replied with a neutral voice.

'Well, that’s what I thought.' She remarked, tapping the socket of her pipe against one of the arms of her chair, emptying it of the ash that was clogging it.

“Revenge. It’s something that can be seen in people’s eyes, with enough experience.” She continued telling, stuffing her tobacco pipe again, before lighting it with a small stick that she had taken out of her pocket.

She took a long breath, filling her lungs with the noxious smoke, then exhaling it out as a thick cloud.

“Yah’re totally outmatched. For now. I can give you the opportunity to become stronger, but it will be up to you to do something with it.” New inspiration, new cloud of smoke.

" So, what do you say ?"

“That I need to become stronger, more competent, whether for Lauryne or to find my friends. What do you propose ?” He answered with the same cold, even robotic, tone, his gaze planted in her own without wavering.

A slight tremor shook Nana’s lower lip, but if she was troubled, she let nothing else appear.

“... All right. Tomorrow begins the hunting season. You’ll come with me to the Mercenary Guild and get scanned by a status stone and, depending on this one, we’ll see what we can do with you. I can pull a couple of strings to help you find a beginner group, an instructor and a little gear, but it’s all expensive, like your hospital stay. Helianthine won’t tell you, but it made us tighten the belt, especially to her. She missed out on some golden opportunities for her future career because of you. Things like that pay off, okay ?” She asked him, pulling on her pipe again.

“Sure. Nothing is free.” Always the same tone, but with a nuance of honesty.

“I see you got it, kid. We’ll see what you’re made of tomorrow.“

He stayed there for a few more seconds, contemplating the sky next to Nana but, tired, lacking sleep, he finally decided to go back to his room.

It would be nice if I could see my sheet anytime. He thought while contemplating the ceiling of his room, remembering the nights he had spent there, Lauryne stuck against him using him as a big blanket, still feeling the tears she had shed, the fears that had embraced her, the long moments to reassure her. A time so short, and yet so long.

He then remarked that a series of symbols had appeared before his eyes, translucent blue, reminding him directly of the window that had appeared when he had laid his hand on the status stone for the first time. A series of varied symbols flashed before his eyes before they began to settle down and eventually create something intelligible.

[Mikael]

[Level : 17 (73%) Available Key Points : 16]

[Ressources :

• Health Point: 10/10
• Stamina: 10/10]

[Body : ]

[Mind : 1]

[Soul : 1]

[Capacity :

• Soul Duality
• Old Soul
• Sanctuary of Souls]

...What ?

***

He knocked on the door of Mellite’s room.

“You can enter Mikael.“ She said to him from the inside.

So he went in, closing the door behind him. The room was properly lit and Helianthine was reading, a book in one hand and a puzzle in the other. he smiled almost remembering the first time he woke up here.

“How did you know it was me ?”

“Ha ! My mom don’t knock on door before entering. So, what makes you come to the retreat of a young lady at this hour ?" She then asked, her chastised language hardly hiding the smile that was drawn on her lips.

“A few questions.“ He simply replied.

“But of course very dear, sit down.” She exclaimed, closing her book with one hand, then pointing to the only other chair in the piece of her work.

'Thank you.“ He said, settling in.

“So, what do you want to know ?“ she asked, as if eager to teach her things.

“... Are you going to become a teacher?” He said because of the impression she gave him.

“Ha ? What, why ?”

“I don’t know. You seem happy to explain things. Well, I’m not here for that.”

“Of course.“ she said, happy to avoid answering the question.

“Thank you. Would you have heard of people able to see their sheet without the help of status stone ?”

“... Hmm. Rather specific as a question.” She said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, I’ve heard about it. This is a rather rare capacity, highly prized, especially by the criminal world or the independents, in other words all those who do not want the kingdom to put its nose in their business.”

“Understood. Then… how many points do you have in each of your Key Characteristics ?”

“Mff, Ah-hu, Ah-hu !“ A cough had caught her on this question but she had quickly recovered.

“For your information, what you have just done is at best extremely impolite, at worst a declaration of war. Avoid doing this with other people, especially at the Mercenary Guild. And to answer your question, I have seven Body points, twelve Mind points and four Soul points.”

He nodded and stood up, preparing to leave the room.

“Already finished with the questions?”

“Yes, and I don’t want to bother you any more than that.“ he replied flatly.

He was opening the door when she grabbed his hand.

“Stay a little longer to chat.“ she said, waving towards the chair with an uncertain smile on her face.

“... of course.“ He replied, suddenly smiling, feeling that something had changed in his soul.

***

|Old Soul : your soul is old, very old even, it contains a thousand and one secrets and countless and varied life experiences. Acquisition conditions for all classes and capabilities are reduced. You can now learn things that only your Ancient can provide.|

|Soul Duality: Your soul is double, composed of two layers with different functioning. From now on, your soul state will automatically change between your two options depending on the environment you are in. Your two states are:

• Steel Spear: You cut yourself off from your emotions, relying entirely on your Will to achieve your goals in the most direct and effective way possible.

Empathy fixed at 1. Resolve over-multiplied by 5. The capacity “Cold of Steel”. Other capacities and modifications may appear depending on the evolution of the capacity.

• Bountiful Lake : You leave yourself to your emotions, becoming extremely sensitive to the people around you.

Empathy over-multiplied by 3. The “Warmth of a Beach” capacity. Other capacities and modifications may appear as the capacity evolves.|

|Cold of Steel: All contact with your soul is toxic to the Empathy-capable Entities, dealing them Irreversible Anthropic Damage.|

|Warmth of a Beach: All contact with your soul is good for Empathy-capable Entities, caregivers and soothers of all forms of damage.|

|Sanctuary of Souls : By any whim of fate, you have been endowed with one of the Architect’s artifacts. It is now part of you, and up to you to make it reach its full potential.|

It’s because of that. That’s why I’m acting weird. He said to himself, frowning, his head leaning on his pillow.

That’s going to be a problem...

“... Pffff.” He sighed long, too tired to really worry too much about his new abilities. For all he knew, they might even be useful to him. He let himself go to sleep, praying that Lauryne would let him sleep that night.

***

“Come on kid, let’s get moving !“ Nana said loudly through the door of his room, waking Mikael up in a burst.

...a night without dreams. He thought.

At least I feel rested. He said to himself with a smile.

“I’m coming !“ Mikael finally replied to Nathalie to stop the incessant drumming she was producing on his door.

He got up and dressed in a hurry, then joined the others to eat breakfast. He eagerly devoured the porridge in which various sweet fruit and a little sugar had been added, made by Helianthine, being famished for one reason or another. When he looked up, he saw the young woman smiling.

“What is it, I have something on my face ?” he laughed.

“No. You look less tired and happier. That reassures me.” She said seriously before her smile grew.

“... Uh… thank you ?” He replied, continuing to eat greedily.

“Hurry, I don’t have all day yah know ?' Nana said in a grumpy tone, but with a trace of mischief.

Mikael did as she had asked and soon found himself following Nana through the streets of Kalastol, which he contemplated with ever so much curiosity. He hadn’t really had time to visit the city so far and used this occasion to see what it looked like. And his first conclusion was that it was very clean, for a medieval city, even if we could see how it was by the street plan, the completely chaotic layout. They soon arrived at a sort of large avenue, full of people, whose central lane was reserved for the passage of various vehicles. Already at this hour of the morning the city was in full effervescence, filled by noise and smell more or less pleasant. Nana made them pass through two doors through walls and a bridge and, each time, the standard of wealth of buildings increased.

“We’re in the city center now. More for the big brass, normally I don’t come here but to the outside branch, it’s a lot closer to the exit of the city than this one but, well, since it’s your first day, we should make it a bit official at least, don’t yah think ?” She explained it to him by giving him a pat on the back, almost making him trip.

They continued to walk another fifteen minutes in this area from the city, Mikael crossing for the first time a person who... Well, who wasn’t human. He looked like a dwarf, but the young man couldn’t be more sure than that.

“There we go.” She finally said, stopping in front of an imposing building resembling more a fortress than anything else, without any building surrounding it within a radius of fifty meters from it’s ramparts.

“Every time I forget it’s this hefty.” Thought Nana out loud.

***

They had entered the castle through the large main door, two or three other persons going about their business taking the same path, crossing the drawbridge and passing under the massive half-lowered harrow, made of a matte green metal that Mikael did not recognize. They thus arrived in a large courtyard provided with a single civilian building, which stood out particularly from the various other constructions, all military. They passed through the door of the building and arrived in a large common room. It was relatively richly decorated and quite well lit. Bigger and smaller private alcoves opened along the left and right walls and a long counter stood in front of the back wall. It was separated into two distinct parts, the first part displaying barrels of various licit substances lined up behind the three tenants who served the customers, the other part being four receptionists dealing with various requests, queue of people stretching out in front of them. Not far away, to their right, a huge board covered a good part of the wall, dozens upon dozens of pages more or less large holding on it without apparent fastenings. A number of them were luminescent and, at irregular intervals, some of them appeared to be extinguished. The room was filled with tables around which groups of people clung together to drink, to eat or to discuss one thing or the other. Maps could be seen on these tables, purses and objects changed hands relatively often, and flashes of voice were heard from time to time, soon calmed down.

“Welcome to the Mercenary Guild Headquarters. Be careful, normal laws don’t apply here kid.” Nathalie exclaimed, starting to move towards one of the receptionists, the one on the far right, who also happened to be the one with the shortest queue.

A number of eyes turned towards her as she passed through the room, a lot of head signs, a lot of smiles too, to which she replied the same way. From a table farther away, a man almost as tall as a bear then rose and walked in their direction, dressed in weary leather clothing.

“Hey, who’s the probie ?” He asked with a powerful voice when he joined them, a smile on his face.

“Hello too, Jax. The probie’s name is Mikael. I think he has potential, trying to pull some string to help him to see if he’s worth it.” She answered in a serene tone by placing a hand on Mikael’s shoulder.

“Ah ? I didn’t think I would see the day when you would bring someone back to train. Things change, I guess. You come for a drink with us after, Cecile might have got us something good, okay?” He said and wink before returning to his table.

“A real beast, this Jax.” She commented to the young man’s attention as she started walking again to the fourth counter.

“He is very, very strong and very resistant too but, above all, he is very good at exploiting the land of the battlefield. It’s really pleasant to hunt with him.” She continued before stopping when they had reached their destination.

There, they had to wait about ten minutes, Nana commanding a beer to pass the time.

“What ? What is it ?” she asked Mikael, who was frowning at her.

"Is it normal to drink beer when it’s not even noon?" He then asked, looking at the other people who were already drinking so early in the morning, before bringing his gaze back to Nana.

“That ?” She said, pointing to her mug.

“It’s almost fruit juice, not very fermented. Do yah want to taste it ?” she suddenly asked him.

“... No thanks. I don’t drink alcohol. But it was nice of you to offer.” He declined peacefully.

They waited a little longer in silence, Mikael looking around to enjoy the atmosphere that reigned in the room, new to him.

“Hello, what can I do for you ?” asked the receptionist when it was their turn.

“I come here to sponsor a beginner.” she replied, pointing to Mikael with the head.

“Sure. Is he already registered?”

“No, we’ll have to do the whole thing.”

“Very good. It will be two pieces of silver, payed as usual.”

At this sentence, Nana grimaced a little, taking out a silver coin which she placed on the counter.

“Thank you.” Said the receptionist, before taking out a paper on which he wrote something before sealing it with a strange instrument, depositing a layer of wax with multicolored reflections at the bottom of the document.

“That’s it. Go to the first floor, the sponsored will be tested and you will be able to discuss the specifics of his sponsorship with the Chief Instructor. Good day.”

“Thank yah, yah too.” Nana politely replied, taking Mikael behind her.