Chapter 4 #2
“Time for us to get to work.” Seraphina moved to the golden doorways but glanced back at Harald as if to speak. For a moment she simply stared at him, frowning, but then she changed her mind and was gone.
“Good luck,” said Sam, leaning down to kiss Harald’s cheek, and then she hurried off around the table, blushing as she went.
“Master Kársek!” Brauxis finally pulled his fingers free of Shadowpaw’s maw. “Lord Alabenthos bids you follow us to where we shall train, as he believes you shall profit in doing so.”
“Very well,” agreed the dwarf.
“What’s our training to look like?” asked Harald, following the huge angel out the door. “You mentioned my needing to protect my Thrones?”
“You have hit the nail upon the head,” rumbled Brauxis.
“But more than that. You stand upon the cusp of real power. Without proper instruction, you shall grow henceforth in a clumsy and awkward manner, and in time become your own foe. I shall provide instruction to simplify and smooth the path ahead of you.”
“Become my own foe? You mean my Demon Seed?”
“Not at all! Though that provides its own soul-quenching trials. You shall see. Come.”
They followed Brauxis out into the hall, down a side corridor, and through several hallways and caverns until they emerged at last into a small circular cave.
It was lit by a skylight above, but the walls were craggy white with ferns growing from deep cracks in their sides.
The floor was rough but smoothed as if by centuries of passage, but there were no other exits.
“Ah,” breathed Kársek as he came to a stop, hands rising as if to palpate the air. “This is wondrous indeed. Such rare and refined Earthblood. Here I can prosper.”
“Precisely as Lord Alabenthos surmised,” boomed the armor-plated angel. “Make yourself comfortable, Master Kársek, and pay us no mind.”
The dwarf bowed deeply and hurried to a niche in the wall that formed a natural alcove, where he sat cross-legged, summoned his rune hammer across his knees, and closed his eyes.
“Very well!” Brauxis moved across to the far wall, where he turned, extended his wings, and rose to hover a yard above the ground to cross his legs just like Kársek so that his tattered tabard hung down over his sabatons. “Make yourself comfortable, Young Darrowdelve, and attend.”
Harald couldn’t help but feel a frisson of excitement. Lacking the ability to do anything but sit on the ground, he did so, and leaned forward, Shadowpaw flopping down by his side.
“Let us begin at the beginning.” Brauxis rested his gauntlets on each knee. “You are an 8th Level Abyssal Master and have acquired sufficient Angelic Essence to empower your first four Thrones. A worthy accomplishment for a young human! Take a moment to congratulate yourself.”
“Ah, all right,” said Harald, and scritched the thick ruff on Shadowpaw’s neck. “Congratulations, Harald.”
“Good. Yet your growth has been unstructured and purely organic, warped by the Demon Seed and forged by mortal battle. You are in possession of eight Active powers, and eight Passives, are you not?”
“Right?” Harald tried not to respond with a question but failed.
“Clumsy!” Brauxis sounded delighted. “Overwrought and needlessly complex! In battle, especially as you progress, you shall soon grow overtaxed by decisions and the need to juggle so many Abilities. I sensed during our little tussle that you were layering your auras, for example, and then empowering certain attacks with others. Foolish!”
Harald frowned but made no comment.
“Your Cosmos-granted Abilities are like a garden, Harald. Beautiful at first, with tender shoots rising longingly toward the sun, but in time, if left untended?” Brauxis paused dramatically. “It shall grow into a veritable jungle!”
“Right…” Harald tried to guess where this was going. “But I don’t get to pick my powers?”
“Correct. But proper guidance is needed to prevent your growing smothered by redundancies and the sheer number of options at your disposal. You noticed, perchance, my halo during our fight?”
“I—” Harald winced. “I may have noticed it, yes.”
“My Corona of Judgment is a composite power forged from three sub-auras that I manifested during my advancement. When I was but a First Ranked Emanation, I possessed the Nimbus of Condemnation, which hindered my foes when they sought to strike at me. When I was elevated to Second Rank, I manifested the Warding Blaze, which caused burning light to lash out against incoming ranged and magical attacks. Well did I enjoy its protection! And when I reached Third, I manifested Radiant Rebuke. This allowed me to create a punishing sense of unbearable weight on my foes. All were useful, but controlling all three grew cumbersome!”
“You folded them all into your Corona of Judgment?” asked Harald, eyes widening. “You can do that?”
“Anyone can, if their powers possess sufficient synergy!” Brauxis sounded delighted and clapped one knee.
“Auras are a prime example and the first to be compounded by most. When I reached Fourth Rank, I manifested Halo of Resplendent Fury, but was I content? No! I yearned for simplicity. Simplicity, Harald, is a warrior’s greatest friend.
Thus, under Lord Alabenthos’ kind tutelage, I blended all four auras into my Corona of Judgment. ”
“Right, right…” Harald leaned back, working through the implications. “That’s fantastic.”
“And there are other, greater benefits.” The angel leaned forward.
“Compounded powers consume less energy overall, as well as producing an augmented singular power that is greater than its component parts. Even then, one may choose which aspects of one’s power to manifest or muffle, depending on necessity.
For example, I chose to affect you with but a modicum of my Corona. ”
Harald blanched. “You did? Oh. That’s…” He shook his head sharply. “That was very kind of you.”
“I know! Now. Tell me of your aura powers that you wish to combine.”
Harald did so, listing out Aura of the Aching Depths, Thronebound Mantle, and Sovereign Silence. “I suppose Veil of Shadows could be blended in as well,” he added. “It causes me to blend into the darkness, gives me powers of stealth.”
“I would restrain yourself to pure auras. Three is sufficient for now. Most excellent, and to be expected at Level 8. The technique to combine them is to trace their powers to their source: your Class, its essence, and to find their commonality. This is achieved through deep meditation as you ponder the nature of your auras and find their root aspect. Once you have identified this, you must seek to manifest that root aura, and in time, the other three shall retract into it as a new power is birthed.”
“I… see.” Harald wasn’t sure he did. “So, I meditate on them?”
“Correct. Activate all three and then allow your senses to wander amongst them. Let your mind be akin to a feather floating on their combined breeze. At first you need not direct it; allow your instincts and affinity to your Class essence to do the work for you.”
Harald settled himself more comfortably, placed one hand inside the other in his lap, and closed his eyes. “Very well. Here goes.”
First, the Aura of the Aching Depths.
The power of the abyss flowed through Harald.
It felt akin to stepping into an icy waterfall, his body becoming a conduit for something greater, something alien, something of endless hunger to consume.
The sounds around him dampened, a subtle effect that stole the edge from Shadowpaw’s deep breaths, the pounding of his own pulse.
He felt his presence push out around him, the power of the abyss leaching into the very air itself.
Then, Thronebound Mantle.
Harald sensed the crown of twilight fire that appeared above his head, a twisted reflection of Brauxis’ own angelic halo.
Felt his presence grow magnified and exalted.
Felt his will flow forth in search of a target, and only at the last did he draw it back instead of focusing on the Emanation.
The aura filled the chamber with his dread authority, and blended with the Aching Depths, synergizing and growing more potent for it.
Of course. He’d felt that mutual empowerment before. Had intuited that they augmented each other. Now he understood why.
Finally, he activated Sovereign Silence.
He opened his eyes as the cave around him grew strange.
The air grew tinted as if seen through purple glass, and the lines and contours of objects—Brauxis’ plate armor, the cracks in the walls, the circular skylight above—grew subtly askew.
He’d formed a great dome that easily encompassed the entirety of the cave, and all within it now lay within his domain.
Brauxis did not seem perturbed, though Kársek cracked open an eye to look at him.