Their Own Entity

 

It was a mistake, a tragedy. With what he thought was something that would work, Altan soon found that he had not perfected his ability yet and lost his son when he tried to gift him the ability to learn another craft.

His son disappeared from his hold, panicking Altan completely. Rushing around the whole town they were in, all those years ago, Altan did not find any traces of his son. His son had only been twelve at the time, being his most loyal and happy loved one. He had cheered him on everyday wondering what new thing that Altan had done. Just how could his son disappear?

 

Upon falling into his chair, Altan went into thought and tried to figure out what had happened. Was it that he was trying to gift a craft that he wasn’t born with?

He hadn’t been born with Wood Craft, to be able to do it naturally, like any other born with their only craft. Advancing his Wood Craft with skills that came with practice and time, Altan had been able to do any type of wooden furniture and was able to sell his work now...But could it really be the case that he couldn’t trade the craft or gift it away?

…With wood being an object, Altan decided to obtain the metal craft as well, forcing his hands to take in the craft. It had gotten easier at this time, to learn another craft, so not only did he sell woodwork, but metal work too…

There really could be so many reasons for it not to work, but why…Why had his son completely disappeared?

…Where did he go?

 

 

All things tend to change though, when something is going well, at least that thought came at least once at the time.

Altan had been climbing up the ranks at this point in his life, bringing in some nicer things into the house. His son was able to learn how to read and write, his wife talking happily with other wives once a week in a very secluded spot and he…He was a man that was started to be looked upon very well!

His work was unique, probably because he added one or two extra’s onto his chairs or tables, that no other chair’s or tables had. He added in his ‘thoughts’ if you will to his work, which made him more and more the ‘man’ around the area…Only making life a lot more worthy.

Yes, his life had never been so extravagant!

 

Altan’s boy, Daniel, saw his father doing more then one craft and would have always been asking and trying to do so himself, which had made Altan confused.

His boy didn’t really have much of thoughts, perhaps a small amount but…Why was the boy so…Wanting?

Children tended to want to learn from their parents, it was…Natural…

Altan didn’t even think of this at all but nonetheless saw how his son was so determined to learn more.

The next problem was, Altan had to find out how he learnt another craft, so that he could try to tell it to his son, perhaps help him learn it…But, with so much problems of trying to obtain another craft, Altan understood more and more upon why people were living the way they were.

 

Yet, what had seemed so difficult, ended up being so easy.

Altan found some books, old ones that looked extremely tatty and really did look like they needed to be thrown out. In those books were probably something that no one had ever thought of...Or if they did, they...well, whatever it was, Altan had found a treasure.

The book had wood in it, so he used his Wood Craft upon it and read what had been revealed by doing so. Upon reading the book, Altan found a way to be able to obtain other crafts...Which finally gave him the answer upon how he had learnt more than one craft in the first place…

 

Crafts were something able to do by hand, what people did not think is that if they put it simply, that was all there was to it. An opened mind may be put under more pressure, because they thought too much about it, but the truth is that more can be known by just letting your hands be your guide.

In smaller words, on what the book was describing, Altan states it as ‘hands’ seemed to have a will of their own. It wasn’t like they were their own being, which is why you were able to use what they were doing as a craft, it was more like another type of brain or something was in them. Then, as hands got better at it, making it more natural and becoming faster, a craft grew in skill.

So, what would have really sucked, was not having any hands at all…Then everyone would be some strange beast out there that only had basic survival instincts and perhaps acted rarely upon emotions, like being scared or something…We would be easily killed off though, becoming a beast that once used to be on this land of Kerrid.

Nonetheless, it seemed that hands were more then what they seemed!

 

So Altan had to forget about what he was born with and think simply upon what else could be learnt. This all meant that crafts are easier obtained then first thought, simply because you didn’t have to ‘think’ about obtaining them. In other words, if the people just tried to obtain another craft, they would have had more success than that of Altan…

How ironic…How ridiculously easy would it be for the people yet…They don’t…

To what extent is it that this world has gone to, to hide the fact that crafts can be so easily obtained?

The world really must have changed, it had to have changed to be in such a…Way! But how!? How had the world become like this!?

Nonetheless, with all these questions floating through his mind, the Metal Craft was much easier to learn after obtaining this ‘secret’, making it learnt in half the time of that of the Craft of Fighting and the Wood Craft.

 

His son had been eight at this time and for two years, Altan had forced himself to take in the Metal Craft like it was natural to him, like that of his other Crafts. Altan made many more things, just with metal this time, and became even more popular then before, getting a whole new lot of customers that needed metal objects to either get for their home or for their own craft. Then, for the next two years Altan was trying to find a way to pass this new Metal Craft to others.

Altan had never thought of how it would go, as in if he would lose it or just be able to open another path for the other person but…

Having been touching his son’s hands, urging his gifts upon his son, it had felt like there had been a barrier of some sort and he didn’t know how to overcome it.

 

It was a long stride, he was becoming a bad husband and a bad father but...If he could just give his son a better future, his wife a better house…

Saying all this was frustrating, simply because right at that time, his fortune was dwindling down, instead of rising. It was all looking towards the future and hopefully it would come true! He would become a better husband and father if he could just break down the barrier…Well, that was Altan’s belief…

 

Staying up late, staying in the room that his family could not go into, hardly going out to see his neighbors...Altan still was determined to break that barrier between both he and his son!

His reputation took a low and then no money had been coming in and since he didn’t work as much on his crafts, people went elsewhere to buy what they needed. With this damage done, having lost those potential customers, Altan lost out because they weren’t in a huge capital, where business might never run out…No, they were in a small town where having a craft can still have a family starve!

 

When Daniel became twelve, Altan and his family really were running low on finances…

Even if Altan thought back to this day now, he may not have much of an answer upon why he had rushed to try to finish what he had started with his son, but it could be several reasons.

There was the fact of losing money, then that of his boy expecting him to be some sort of hero. Sandra was showing signs of being upset and not talking much with him, her emotions showing through was rare, so it was something worth worrying about. Altan also thought that he was not doing enough, not good enough. He had it good not too long ago and at that time he was having to sell works, at a low price, just for some food…So, there were many reasons why Altan jumped into more and more practice with his son…

 

He had wanted to think that since his son was blood related, it should be easy but…It hadn’t been.

They had tried this a few times and seemed to never be able to break the barrier…Well that is until the last time they tried, and Daniel had disappeared…

Altan had only been pondering, pondering upon hands and how they are able to obtain crafts, like being a whole entity on their own. Then, when his thoughts drifted to crafts and how obtaining other crafts where through his hands, he felt like he was absorbing the barrier all of a sudden. It was a bit like the opposite of obtaining a craft, where one did it more by instincts then thoughts…This time he felt the barrier lifting as he thought more and more about how crafts worked and his intention of gifting a craft to another…

 

With his eyes closed at the time, concentrating, Altan had not seen what was happening but…Daniel really was ‘disappearing’…And…Having someone completely disappear was out of his expectations!

In time, Altan hates to admit it, but this was called…Absorbing…

Absorbing is a main, essential part of obtaining a craft and having ‘absorbed’ his son, Altan had done what no one else had done in a very long time…

 

***

 

(I hope you all understand more of this world because we'll be back to the 'present' soon. And the question at the end this time is: What can you do without thinking? You'll probably find that the list is bigger then you think...)