Ember Abiss: Rot Mage

Ember's eyes shot open as she felt something touch her shoulder, her eyes darting around unfocused. While searching her senses slowly started returning to her, first was her vision. She saw a young man kneeling beside her, his mid length silver white hair blowing across his face revealing flickers of his crystal blue eyes. With her mind finally catching up to her situation she put together that the man was asking her a question, but the language he spoke was like no other language she had ever heard before.

“Hell-ack…” Ember attempted speaking, but when the first vibration moved in her throat it seized on her. The pain in her throat was horrible, it felt like she tried swallowing sand and glass shards. Ember looked up at the man covering her throat then mouth while shaking her head, hoping he could interpret her attempt at charades.

The man let out a sigh of understanding and nodded to her. He started talking to her but once again she had no idea what language he spoke. Her closest comparison would be the Elven spoken in a movie she watched a few years back. She looked up at him and shook her head. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and using her finger wrote in the dirt around her, “Hello I am Ember.” She then looked up at him to see if he understood. He tilted his head and arched an eyebrow in confusion, then he too wrote something in the dirt she couldn't interpret. His writing looked like a combination of lines, squiggles, and dots but she couldn't make heads or tales of the script.

Ember grabbed the canteen on her hip and took a few swigs of water before attempting to speak again. The cool liquid burned at first before spreading relief along her tortured vocal chords. She looked back to the man and pointed at herself, “Ember.” She then pointed at him and waited. It didn't take long for the man to put together what she said was her name, he then pointed at himself and spoke, “Thorn Vyne.” Ember nodded in understanding and repeated it back. Pointing at him, “Thorn Vyne,” then to herself, “Ember Abiss.”

Ember then thought to herself that a game of charades may be her best chance to find out where she was. There was no doubt she was somewhere completely different from where she was hiking. The biggest clue was the complete lack of mountains around her and the field of grass currently in its place. She then started a labor intensive back and forth game of charades with the man.

About an hour later Ember came to understand she was in the county or region of Vynewood, the man was heading to a city some distance away, and he wanted her to follow him. He then mimed wrapping his head. She decided to follow him, mostly due to the fact that if he wanted to hurt her he had plenty of time to do it before she woke up. He led her from the spot where she woke up and after a short walk they made it to a rough looking dirt path running through the grassland. While they walked she began pointing at the various things they passed asking for their names.

Ember pointed at a big rock on the side of the road and attempted to use the word Thorn taught her. She said with a little effort to not hurt her sore throat, “Rock?” Thorn nodded and replied back to her “Rock.” putting emphasis on the proper pronunciation. He chuckled lightly at her and continued pointing out various objects.

After a few hours of walking and attempts at conversation Ember’s stomach let out a loud growl, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since she woke up. Thorn looked back at her curiously and slowly said, “You… something? You, me stop and something?” Ember looked back at him with her head slightly tilted as she pondered the meaning of the new word he just threw at her. Seeing the confusion on Ember’s face he mimed what looked like eating a chicken leg. “Oh! You mean eat.” she shouted in English, as it clicked for her. “Yes, you, me, eat.”

They began to make their way closer to the tree line. What started out as sparse trees and saplings started growing more dense as they got farther away from where they began. When they made it around thirty feet into the woods Thorn threw up his hand motioning for Ember to stop. She looked at him, about to ask why they stopped so suddenly, when he pressed a finger to his lips. Ember nodded in understanding and went on guard. She drew out her knife and started searching the trees around her. Seeing her knife Thorn lifted an eyebrow but said nothing about it. He motioned for her to look at a spot in his line of sight, directing her to notice the big bunny foraging around a tree. She nodded that she could see it and then lifted her knife and shook her head from the distance. Thorn smiled and pointed his finger at the rabbit and said another new word she hadn't heard yet. The next moment Ember jumped back and let out a startled yelp when she saw a bolt of electricity shoot from Thorn's finger tip, striking the rabbit. The rabbit let out a scream before falling over twitching.

“What in the hell was that!?!’” Ember yelled at him while taking another step back from him and hiding halfway behind a close tree. Thorn threw up his hands to show he meant no harm to her. “Thorn, friend.” He said smiling at her, trying to calm her nerves. He then pointed at the rabbit “Something something, eat.” and with a smile he started walking off to the bunny. Ember followed him, knife still in hand, as they approached the supposedly dead animal.

Once they got close to it Ember noticed a horn protruding from the rabbit’s forehead. She gave the rabbit a quick once over to check if it was dead or just unconscious. After checking a few different ways she came to the conclusion that the electricity stopped the little guy’s heart and the twitching was just residual electricity discharging in its muscles. Thorn knelt down by the rabbits' other side and began skinning and cleaning it. Seeing this Ember took it upon herself to go around and gather firewood. She didn't stray too far from Thorn and was able to gather a decent amount of dry limbs and branches to start a campfire. Periodically she would turn and check on Thorn's progress while she was getting the fire ready. She stacked the wood in a way to produce a good bed of coals once the fire burned for a bit. After shaving some bark and wood fiber from a stick She used it as a bed of tinder to catch the spark from her flint and steel.

Thorn brought the meat over wrapped in a leaf and the skin wrapped into a bundle. Ember reached for her backpack before remembering she left it behind at her campsite. She looked over to Thorn with her head slightly tilted in hopes that he would have something to cook the meat on. With a small laugh he pulled two metal skewers out of his shoulder pack and stabbed them into the meat. He then Steadied the skewers with stones and sat back to let the fire work it's magic.

“I… is that all? No seasoning?” Ember said and looked at Thorn, slightly puzzled. “I don't know the words. Oh I have some on me!” She reached in her cargo pockets for her travel spices. She pulled out a baggy of mixed seasoning packets and started pulling out the ones she wanted to use. She settled on simple salt and a Cajun seasoning pack. After sprinkling the contents onto the meat the smell of the Cajun spices filled the air. Looking over to Thorn Ember saw he was sniffing the air curiously and doing a poor job at hiding his desire to taste the seasoned Rabbit. A few minutes later Ember watched as Thorn comically tore into his portion of rabbit. After one bite he lost interest in everything else around him, not even looking up when Ember tried asking a question. Giving up, she started eating her portion as well.

Once they both finished eating Ember once again tried speaking to Thorn. “Name?” she asked, pointing at the skin of the animal. Thorn looked at the bundle of skin and replied back to her, “Rabbit.” satisfied with the new word she put out the fire and covered the coals with dirt. “Go?” she asked, pointing back to the path. Thorn nodded and gathered up his belongings. As they continued their way to town she started back up the game of pointing at objects and having Thorn give her the words for them. Around the time she could make out the first building over the horizon she felt she could introduce herself and ask for a name. “It's not much but hopefully it'll get me through until I can find a Library.” She thought to herself.

As they enter the small town Ember was Dumbstruck by the old world style housing and architecture. Before she knew it Thorn had stopped in front of a gated house and she walked right into him. “I'm sorry!” She blurted out embarrassed. Thorn chuckled and pointed at the house before them, “This, Thorn's home.” Looking up, she noticed the notably larger house Thorn gestured to. The Two story building dwarfed the neighboring single story buildings throughout the town. Thorn opened the gate and led her into the house, bringing her to what appeared to be a small Library or a large study. He then led her to a chair and asked for her to wait while he left. Not wanting to offend the hospitality of her host she sat and waited, only gazing around the room trying to read the titles written on the spines of some of the books with no success.

After what felt to be twenty minutes Thorn returned to the room he left Ember in, only this time he was accompanied by an old white haired woman dressed in a gray robe. “Hello… I mean hello.” Ember caught herself starting in English before correcting herself. The woman gave a kind smile before replying, “Hello, Young Ember. My name is Willow, Master Thorn here has stated you didn't speak the language But I had no idea it would be something so… different.” Willow replied nonchalantly.

Ember's eyes grew wide, “You … You can speak English? Where are we? Is this still America?”

Ember asked, with excitement growing in her voice.

“Not exactly, no.” Willow said apologetically, “I do not know your language or your writing system. What I am doing is using a skill deary. I'm using translate, you may not know it. It is a rare skill that no one really takes. I only took this skill in the past because I made my living mostly off escort quests and those often take you to other territories. As for your other questions, this is the city of Vynewood under the kingdom of Ash. As for this America you speak of… I've never heard of it before today. Is that the name of your hometown? Or possibly a kingdom?”

“What?” Ember asked with a confused look on her face. “No, no, no. North America is the continent I'm from, the country is the United States of America. I grew up in the mountains of Georgia, that's the name of the state I live in, in the city of Suches. Do any of those names sound familiar? Also what do you mean you don't know the language? We are speaking it right now aren't we? You are even fluent enough that your accent would make me assume you were from the same area I'm from. Like… I almost want to call you granny and fetch you a pitcher of sweet tea.” She said with a laugh.

Willow looked at Ember with a mix of confusion and concern. “I'm not sure of the location of any of those. I have not heard of them at the very least. I'm not sure how else to explain my comprehension of your language other than telling you it's a skill I have. It's a jobless skill, called language comprehension. It will eat up a skill slot but you will be able to understand any language, written or spoken, by anyone connected to the system. You look to be over sixteen so you should at the very least have 2 or 3 jobless skills yourself. Actually, what level are you if you don't mind my asking?”

“What are you talking about? Levels? Skills? Does this look funny to you or like a video game!?” Ember started shouting. “I'm lost, I don't know the language, and I don't know anyone here. You are the first person to even understand what I'm saying, so please, help me and don't play games?” She begged, looking willow in her eyes, with her own starting to tear up due to the overwhelming swirl of emotion bubbling up inside her.

Willow reached out and held Ember’s hands, a slight look of confusion written on her face. “Deary, I'm not playing a joke. Were you raised sheltered from the system? I've never met anyone that wasn't aware of it that wasn't purposefully kept that way. Are you on the run from someone?” Willow asked, Eyes filled with concern.

“No, I… I'm not. I'm lost and I'm scared but not because I'm being chased or anything like that. I was just out hiking on my own when a cougar came across my campsite.” Ember took a shaky breath, “It chased me into a small crevasse where I fell… fell… fell into … a void….” Ember's voice trailed off at the end with her eyes growing wide and skin going pale and clammy.

“Dear?” Willow questioned, “How about we change the topic for a bit? Let's check your affinity.” Ember gave a nod and started trying to focus back on willow. She had gotten up to scour the drawers in the room for something. After making her third attempt, Willow brought out a large green and orange metallic sphere. “This is it.” She said, placing the orb in front of Ember. “Place your hand on the ball and you will receive the system's blessing.”

Ember placed the palm of her hands on the top of the orb, it was cold to the touch but right after she made contact a feeling of warmth started growing in her palm. “Umm… is it supposed to warm up like this?” Ember asked nervously.

“Eeek!” She jumped slightly as the warmth then shot up her arm straight to her chest. The feeling was reminiscent of a strong shock she felt as a child; the electric tingling and numbness coursing through her body from fingers to her toes.

“That is perfectly normal. What you are feeling is the mana in your body being awoken and synchronized with the core of the system. It shouldn't hurt, but it may get uncomfortable as your internal mana settles into its new state.” Willow gave a reassuring smile before continuing.

“If this is truly your first time opening your status be prepared. You will be given some choices at the start, first will be Stat point allocation and second will be skill choice. Both of these decisions will have drastic and long lasting results on what path your life takes.” Willow stopped and placed her hand on Ember's shoulder, “So before making any decisions I suggest reading the details of every skill available to you. Not just the ones that catch your eye first, or you'll end up with a skill like hard light.” she said, giving a quick glare to Thorn with the mention of the skill name. “To do so just focus on the skill in question and think or say details.”

“O-okay… umm…. How long will the numbness and tingling last?” Ember asked with slight concern.

“Oh, that should pass in a minute or so. You'll only feel a lasting change if your affinity is strong enough to affect the world around you. For example, a strong ice affinity may lower the temperature in your immediate vicinity while fire or heat affinities would do the opposite.” Willow explained. “You will see your affinity on your personal information page in your status. It isn't the biggest factor in what you are able to do in life but certain affinities are seeked out. Whether it is good or bad is determined by the effect and strength of the affinity, and the identity of the person funding the search.”

“Okay, I'll give it a shot.” Ember said dubiously, “Status…?”