1, Vhalar 71 dusk
A full cycle in the Skadiri had put Abra in contact with Frankfor Silverfoot. He was the one and only mage that seemed to be in the Skadiri that Abra had met. They went on missions together and had bonded. Much of the discipline he had as a magician had come from his mentor and Abra had developed a deep respect for him. Their bond had deepened enough for Frankfor to consider initiating Abra into another magic. Last time they met, he had given Abra a small envelope with a fancy seal on it.“Meet me at the abandoned mansion when the clock strikes twelve if you want to take your magic to the next level. I will make preparations to initiate you into attunement, should you accept.”
“Another initation,” Abra said when he read the letters contents. Frankfor was offering him a great opportunity or a quick road to death. “Going to talk to him can’t hurt.” Frankfor was a deeply troubled man, if he could even be called a man at this point. He was riddled with mutations and was part of the most sadistic military force in Melrath. It was the least he could do as his student to comfort him.
The magician had arrived at the old abandoned mansion in the morning and his intrigue quickly turned to panic. The last time he had come to this home he had failed a test mission. For his failure he had been humiliated for it. It wasn’t like his options were accept the initiation and be a faithful lackey or die. He felt like he had a choice in the matter. And now that Abra had some experience with Empathy, he was almost certain that he could defend himself against any tricks that Frankfor could pull. Nevertheless, the boy would walk up the winding path leading up to the door then knock loudly.
Abra didn’t even get past two knocks when the door swung open unexpectedly. Standing before him was Frankfor, and just the sight of him caused dread to well up within the younger man. He had never seen Frankfor look so downtrodden. It didn’t even feel natural, it was as if just the sight of Frankfor had triggered something deep within his tangle that caused an emotional response. ”What kind of trickery is this?” Abra would think as he did his best not to tremble. At first he thought it had something to do with the eternal connection he had with his mentor, but as Abra poked around in his own tangle, he was quite certain Frankfor wasn’t playing with his tangle. He didn’t even have an empathy spark, or did he?
Frankfor would stand there silently, a look of concentration masking all emotion from his face. Abra, meanwhile started to shake violently and found himself kneeling and wondering when that happened. His emotions were burning inside him and he wanted to blink away, but found he couldn’t even move. The unbearable pain continued for what seemed like a lifetime even though no time seemed to pass. At last, Abra realized that these were just his nerves getting to him. Frankfor stepped back and smiled. “I’m glad you came. Come on inside. I’ve made the preparations. There’s much to do.”
Abra had only just stepped through the door when Frankfor sliced his hand through the air and animated a skeleton of a dog. It hopped up and was ordered mentally to go fetch something. Frankfor led Abra around the mansion until they reached a cellar. It was a wine cellar by the smell of it. “We’ll be working in here. Initiating attunement requires that we are alone or things can go horribly wrong.”
“What are you doing,” Frankfor asked impatiently, “let’s get on with it then!” He opened a door but Abra stood back.
“I trust you, but do you really thing this is a good idea? I don’t want to, you know what I mean.” Abra didn’t want to bring up the obvious. Frankfor had overdone it with magic so many times that he was riddled with mutations.
“Attunement is special. It actually helps with mutations if you could believe such a thing is possible. This is why I need you. You can help me heal. I can help you heal. We can safeguard each other from the horrible mutations that magic gives us. Do this for me, and I will teach you all there is to know.” Frankfor was to tears with desperation. Abra could feel it on the surface of his tangle.
Abra sighed and nodded, “okay. Let’s get this over with.” While the risk of being killed during initiation was very real, Abra was confident that he could survive. He’d done it before. Twice before. The two walked down several steps and there they were. He got a sick feeling in his stomach, but at least he was here because he wanted to be here. “Is it going to hurt?”
Frankfor let out a cackle that felt like it had been stifled for much too long. It was so wicked that Abra figured he had to come to this kind of place to let his emotions run freely. “Torture level pain? No. But if your experience is anything like mine was, then it will be quite painful.” Frankfor’s laughter died down and he once again took on the persona of a furious madman.
“What does attunement do aside from healing mutations? It doesn’t sound very useful at face value.”
“It’s a method of hearing the world around you. Then once you learn to hear the world around you, you can start to seek things out. It’s hard to describe but using attunement I am able to help skadiri bounty hunters find a general location of a target. You will learn all these things in the times to come.”
Abra closed his eyes and try to think happy thoughts. The best that he could do for himself was time his breathing as he counted. Despite his desire to scream out in anticipated pain, Abra knew that being calm was the best thing for him right now. It began. Abra was as relaxed as could be as Frankfor started to sing. It was no tune that Abra had ever heard before and it didn’t seem like anything special at first. Then, as the humming continued, the horrible off key notes from Frankfor were overlapped by a harmonious hum that sounded otherworldly. The humming grew louder and louder to a point where Frankfor was practically putting the full force of his voice into the notes. Then the humming grew even louder surpassing what Abra thought was even possible. His ears didn’t know whether to bleed or rejoice as the horrid yet beautiful sound filled his very essence.
The music went on and one, long past the time that Abra stopped counting his breaths. And yet, the sounds still bombarded his ears. He fought with all his might to stop the sound from hurting him, but eventually his already weary mind gave in. Abra slumped to the ground like a limp bag of meat as his body started to convulse with the rhythm of the song. He couldn’t even think or feel anymore, he simply lay there until he lost the rest of his senses one by one. Then the feeling came back. He felt the cold ground beneath him.
Then the smell of death filled his nostrils. Then he could hear a fading tune in the distance. Then he could taste the blood in his mouth from clenching his teeth. Then, as he opened his eyes, he started to regain his vision. This one wasn’t as sudden as the other senses and took time. It was almost as if his eyes had to put themselves back together before he finally was able to gain focus. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he was sure that this was one sense that hadn’t been entirely the same as before.
“Look at you,” Frankfor huffed in exhaustion, “tough enough to survive three initiations. I guess that,” Frankfor cut himself off. He fell to the ground as well and the two would lay there for the rest of the night. Abra couldn’t move, so he simply lay there and closed his eyes. He was glad to have his senses back, but there was something more inside him. He had another sense now, almost buzzing within him waiting to be noticed. Little did he know, but this was his own frequency humming away in the dead silence. He hoped to the heavenly beings that were that Frankfor hadn’t died during all this. If this was to help him, then dying would make this all a big waste.
