33 Vhalar, Dawn
Abra had had enough of empathy experimentation and he had gone through the hassle of helping out a new businessman get on his feet. He was more than ready to go back to Melrath. He found a nice secluded place to cross into Emea and a short trip later he arrived at his home’s Brand. “Home sweet home,” he said when he stepped out into his bedroom. He had only been gone a handful of days but he felt a rush of warmth now that he was back. All he wanted was to lay down and sleep in his own bed again.
He fell back first onto the bed and heard the sound of crinkling paper under his back. “That’s odd,” he said while fumbling under his back. He held the paper up and saw that it was an official document from the Skadiri. He was wanted for an urgent meeting with a high ranking Skadiri. Abra wasn’t too excited about having to use empathy again without resting his weary mind, but he was willing to if they would pay him. He yawned and left his home with a sense of urgency and made it to the closest Skadiri establishment.
He first suspected that something was off when the receptionist gave him a look of shock when she saw him. “We thought… oh um… just a minute.” She called a name and someone came out of an office.
“Abra? Right this way.” This lady took him down a hallway and let him into a room where someone important looking sat.
“Ah, good of you to join us,” The man said. He looked friendly enough but Abra only looked at him with confusion.
“What’s going on?” Abra questioned, “I got back home from a trip and I found an urgent note on my bed. I came as fast as I could.”
“That’s odd, we went looking for you after you went missing without any notice. Tell me, where did you go? It’s suspicious for a member of the military to just disappear. It gives the impression that you have something to hide.” The friendly look was a thin veil behind which a master interrogator worked his techniques. He didn’t care about where Abra went but this was a lead in for his follow up question. He watched Abra try to put his thoughts into words but didn’t let him talk.
“How about an easier question. What forms of magic do you currently possess? I’m to understand that you have been using Empathy to effectively interrogate people for us. What other tools do you have at your disposal?” The interrogator’s gaze pierced Abra’s eyes and was able to discern whether the boy was telling the truth or not.
“Rupturing and Empathy have been my disciplines of choice for several cycles now,” Abra said with sweat forming on his head, “and recently I was initiated into a couple more. But…”
The interrogator interrupted Abra, “so why haven’t you reported this information to us? Being initiated has many implications. Who initiated you and the reason why are matters of utmost importance to us.”
“Frankfor asked for my help with healing his mutations so I allowed him to initiate me into Attunement. You probably know him.” Abra averted his gaze.
“And? Did it work? What happened next?” The interrogator seemed to be waiting for Abra to tell him something else. Abra knew exactly what he wanted to hear.
“He initiated me into Necromancy, is that what you’re after?” Abra asked shamefully. “If this is about that then all I can say in my defense is that I never wanted to be a necromancer. Frankfor trapped me and attacked me with an undead. It just sort of happened. I wasn’t off raising the dead or anything. I haven’t even used the magic yet. In fact I haven’t seen Frankfor since.”
“You wouldn’t have seen Frankfor because he’s in our custody. Bring him in!” From a door that was seemingly hidden Frankfor’s body was dragged in on a rope by a man carrying an executioner’s axe.
“What did you do to him?” Abra asked shakily.
“I’m asking the questions here,” the interrogator said calmly. “I’ll tell you this, I’m very impressed with you Abra. You told the truth and I get the feeling that you really have worked in Melrath’s best interests. We didn’t find anything on you that suggests that you’ve used magic on our people. However this matter of dark magic and what Frankfor has done cannot be overlooked. We don’t have the resources in the Skadiri to handle these matters so we will be sending you to the Syns.”
Abra was the one to interrupt this time. “So you’re just going to torture me? I didn’t do anything wrong! Don’t do this!” he had kept his sparks in check up until this point but the stress of the situation was waning his mental focus. His spark started to build up ether in his tangle and he was ready to lash out at any moment. If this path was a path to certain death then he wasn’t going to stand for it. “After everything I’ve done and sacrificed, it can’t end here!” He leapt to his feet and darted for the door but it wouldn’t open.
“Abaeil? Would you mind?” The interrogator asked. His friendly look was gone. He had a dagger clenched in each hand, each tipped with a poison potent enough to kill a large beast.
“Oh certainly,” a woman said who had walked in behind the executioner. She closed her eyes and focused on Abra and like magic he felt a calmness rush over him. His sparks were almost inaudible over the power of the Witch who had cast her attunement spell over him. Soothed sparks didn’t make Abra any less desperate. He slammed against the door over and over again until Abaiel shouted, “just stop it would you? Nobody’s killing you. We are transferring you to the Syns to join them not be killed by them my goodness. If the Ragnari wanted you dead you wouldn’t have even made it here. Now if you had been stupid enough to lie to us like Frankfor we might be having a very different toned discussion.”
Out of all his sparks, Attunement was the only one that wasn’t affected by the soothing effect. It showed its face for the first time and opened Abra’s ears to the frequencies around him. It had been so suppressed by the Empathy spark that it was only now that Abra was even fully aware of his ability to hear frequencies. Abra surrendered himself to the Witch without another word. He didn’t have his empathy spark to help him control his emotions so he felt like a trapped rat. For all the influence the spark had on him, it at least stopped him from being this pitiful. It just went to show how helpless he was without magic in his life.
Frankfor and Abra were loaded into a horse drawn transportation that was covered on all sides except for some holes in the roof for lighting. Frankfor was so bound and gagged that there was no talking to him. Abaeil sat with them though and she looked open for discussion. Abra took the bait and said, “how is it that you’re doing that? It’s like my sparks are almost inaudible.”
“You haven’t had Attunement for very long have you?” she asked, “this is something that we can do if you are gifted enough. I suppose you don’t know the first thing about frequencies do you? You’d do well to master it if you want to avoid the dreadful tendencies of your other sparks.” She spoke as if Attunement was a superior magic.
Abra took the advice and let himself fall into a meditative state. He let his uninhibited Attunement spark reach out to the world and start deciphering all the things it could feel. It was most interested in Abaeil so it naturally took an interest to her. She produced a static, much like a radio being focused on a certain wavelength. The spark made adjustments to how it was listening over the next hour and it began to crack the code. When it finally got a glimpse of the woman’s frequency Abra was hit by a series of wondrous sound that lasted for only a moment.
He gasped an opened his eyes wide. Abaeil, who had been keeping an eye on him the whole time, smiled and cocked her head, “it’s beautiful isn’t it?” She smiled and watched Abra while remembering her own first experience.
“It really is,” Abra said in amazement. He couldn’t wait to close his eyes and start again. This time he focused on a bird that sat on top of the canaopy of their enclosure. It was much faster this time taking less than ten bits. “It’s like everything has a melody,” Abra said with intrigue. “I could spend all day doing this.”
“Then you might make a fine Attuner. Let’s just hope you pass and are accepted into our ranks.”
They came to a sudden stop and loaded onto a boat. This began day one of their journey.
