For once, I’d been right. My mentorship session began shortly after breakfast, so I left just as the serving area began to die down. I’d eaten by myself—again, just to prove I could—then returned my dishes only to run into Jenner and the other ashai in the process. They’d shown me how to tell time using my call-stone, and now I was wondering what else the thing could do.

But that was an item for another time. I had to get back to the Shaft.

I chuckled a bit to myself at the name. That was one bonus to being kind of stupid, at least. Easy amusement.

Managing to make it to the Opal Wing without getting lost, I began the long trek down the rickety stairs to the lowest level. And down. And down some more. Shivering, I pulled my fur wrap closer as, at last, I neared what looked like the bottom. Moisture beaded on the stone side of the stairwell and dampened the creaking wooden planks of the stairs. Stepping down from the last of them, I peered around as my eyes adjusted to the dimness of the light. It was a veritable maze of beams and pillars and industrial-looking infrastructure. The clean mineral scents of stone, the tang of metal and the fattiness of oil intermingled with the green fragrance of wet wood. And, branching all throughout the rough mountain rock of the walls, ran glittering veins of opal.

I took an absent step forward, and then another. An intricate array of sigils etched on every surface save the walls themselves served to light the place, albeit minimally, as well as to reinforce the support structures and prevent wood rot. Wandering amongst the pillars and beams until I neared the heart of it, I stopped short.

Someone else was here already. Someone who smelled incredible. Lavender and juniper berry and moss. I gasped, sucking in a heady lungful of the stuff.

A soft, scratchy chuckle issued from the shadows in a far corner, and a winged figure stepped into view. A smile bloomed across his angular features as he approached. He was a greenish, blueish-gray color, with scales that sported chips of flashing iridescence.

“Ah, Zia of Ashri, yes? Forgive me, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“You didn’t frighten me,” I lied, taking a step back. The other Opal stopped where he was, dipping his head a bit.

“Of course not.”

As my eyes roved over his features (pleasingly sharp) and his form (tall, with broad shoulders, narrow hips, and an abnormally long tail), his glyphs flickered into view.

8Gem Opal

Consume Ability
Fuse Abilities [3]
Drain Ability
Imbue Ability

“In any case,” he drawled, “I’m sorry to have disturbed you. I come here almost every morning.”

He started walking again, but adjusted his course to keep his distance as he moved around me and toward the stairs.

I followed him with my gaze.

“Why?”

“Can you not feel it? The power in this place?”

I could. It thrummed through my veins, my bones. A delicious, silent sort of hum which grew stronger the closer I got to the walls.

“You’ll return outside of class just to bask in it too, you’ll see,” he said. “Well, have a good first day.” Bowing his head again with just the hint of a smirk, he turned to go.

“Wait,” I called after him. “What’s your name?”

He paused, and his tail-tip twitched. But he didn’t turn back.

“Reshen. But you may call me Shen.”

Then, before I could ask about his clan or coven, he trotted off and disappeared up the stairs.

Huh.

The other three students in my first year mentorship group filtered in not long after that, eyes and pupils going wide as the energy of the opal veins purred into them. Two deepborn and a skyborn. But then another deepborn student ambled in—a broad, goofy smile stretched across their face—and everyone’s looks of appreciative awe transitioned to confused blinking.

“This is the first-year mentorship group, isn’t it?” said the one skyborn, coming forward. “Is one of us in the wrong place? There should only be four students.”

“Is there an issue?” wondered the newcomer, glancing around. “Another student lurking about in the shadows somewhere? You know, I would not be surprised. This place can be addictive.”

The skyborn stared at them, confusion giving way to realization.

The newcomer’s smile broadened. They had a thick build, and something which no other kobold I’d seen so far possessed—a mane. Long tufts of fur grew from the lower parts of their face and the underside of their neck, while the scales which lined the backs of their head and neck were bulky and flared. Like all of us, they had an opalescent shimmer to their scales. But unlike us, their color was a deep, vivid indigo.

I balked, trying to read their glyphs—but they simply wouldn’t come up.

“First lesson: never judge an Opal’s age by their scent or appearance. Welcome, class. And congratulations! You’ve been chosen by the greatest of Gems. I am Professor Lektre, and I am to be your mentor for this year at least, and perhaps others to come. You’re here to learn exactly how not to waste that most precious of blessings which you have received, and I’m here to chisel you into shape to be worthy of it. Now come. This way.”

The professor led us through the labyrinth of pillars and pulleys, over to the wall with the largest of the chamber’s opal veins.

“Take it in,” ordered Lektre in a dramatic hush as they placed their palm to the stone, demonstrating that we should do the same. “That is the power, the sheer, euphoric force of pure and untapped potential. That is your birthright. Every one of you. There is not a single thing another kobold can do that you cannot. Remember that.”

They spoke with a feral fervor that simultaneously impressed and worried me.

Damn, this person’s really into being an Opal.

The energy of the vein was like fireworks going off in my blood, sizzling through my flesh in a fantastically delicious combination of subtle pain and obvious pleasure. Most of us let out quiet sounds of surprise as our palms made contact. But the smaller of the other two deepborn gasped and snatched her hand back at once.

“Oh yes, it’s quite intense,” said the professor, still grinning manically, fur bristling with enthusiasm or power or both. “And it is ours. Now, tell me…starting with you, little one.” They jabbed a claw in the direction of the deepborn who’d broken contact first. “What is it you wish to make of this potential? What are your goals, your dreams?”

“M-me?” stammered the other Opal, despite the clearly-pointing claw. “I, um. I honestly never thought I’d be an Opal, n-not once. I have no idea what I should do now. I was…I was hoping you could help me with that.”

Arms now clasped behind their back, Professor Lektre nodded, rather longer than was normal, actually.

“And what is it you thought you’d be, exactly…Topeh, yes?”

“Yes.” Now she was nodding like a bobble-head too. “Well, I thought I might turn out to be a Sapphire. And I really hoped—well, almost everyone else in my family is one, so…”

“And what about being a Sapphire appealed to you?”

The younger deepborn said nothing, looking rather flustered.

“Fitting in with the rest of your blood family? Enhanced intelligence?”

“Well...yes, but also…I don’t know. I wanted to be an architect. A really, really good one. I d-don’t really have the mind for it, as I am now.”

Lektre’s eyes flashed.

“It sounds to me you’ve been listening to liars,” they said. “Your mind is capable of more than they could ever imagine, I’ll warrant. With that mind, with that Gem, and with your Sapphire connections, you can design with brilliance and enhance your structures with sigilcraft of your own devising. If that is what you choose to do and you put in the work to attain it.”

The small Opal sniffed and nodded.

“Y-yes, Professor. Thank you.”

Giving an approving sort of huff, Lektre turned next to the skyborn Opal. She’d been hoping to be a Jasper, but figured Opal was even better—just hadn’t counted on it. And the other deepborn wanted the powers of a Diamond—which as it turned out were some of the most useful to cultivate and combine for a large swathe of common, practical sigilwork. That seemed to get him excited.

Lektre got to me last, twisting their lip thoughtfully upward as they considered me.

“So then. Zia of Clan Ashri. Now that you’ve confirmed yourself an Opal—with your history and your experience—what do you think to do?”

“I think…” I swallowed, mouth going a little dry as everyone’s attention turned to me. The whole time they’d been talking, I’d been rehearsing my own answer. “W-well, I want to invent new sigils and achieve things no one’s ever done before. I’m particularly interested in sigils used directly on the body.” And wings. But I’m not going to tell you that. “And…and I want to be the one to close the Rend.”

The skyborn barked in derisive laughter. The other two student deepborn shifted their stances a bit, clearly uncomfortable. But the professor’s lips drew up and back to one side in another crooked, snaggle-tooth-baring smile.

“A newling with a clear and ambitious goal in mind. How refreshing.” Their eyes flashed. “Well, if anyone can carve something useful out of a wretch like you, it’s me. Sounds like you have yourself a Trial.”