Enmity of Atlas

“Colossus Cliffs is the name of this region. It’s inherently difficult to travel due to its verticality, so it will likely take us some time to make it through to Wyrm’s Perch. By my best estimate, it should be about a month and a half of travel. Come, we’ll make our way along the cliffside,” Walibeld said, already moving ahead.

The two boys followed him faithfully, deciding to put their faith into the only remaining adult in their lives instead of their own distorted judgment. The three of them headed to the right, finding a narrow path which led alongside the cliffs many hundreds of feet above the river. One missed step, one wrong move, could mean certain death. Well, certain death for Leo or Trenton. Walibeld would probably have no issue surviving a fall like that. In fact, now with the knowledge of his potential magic, who knew what Walibeld was capable of? Maybe he could fly now, too.

As they traveled along, the sunlight slowly dwindling, they encountered several challenges. Occasionally, the path would cut in front of them, and they’d have to take time carefully scaling the rock wall up or down to find a new one. Sometimes, the path would drop out, potentially destroyed from a rockfall, before continuing some 30 feet further. At these, Walbeld grabbed the two boys, slinging them over his shoulders, and leapt the gap, effortlessly landing on the other side. Effortless for him, that was. For Trenton and Leo, it was everything they had not to hurl at the sudden burst of movement, the world lurching before them. Suffice it to say, there was no beaten path to travel, only mad wilds befitting of the beasts within it.

Creatures, too, they saw every now and then. Luckily, no dangerous ones, just common animals bounding about the cliffs, most of them having one means or another to cling to the rockface. Some of them just stared at the group as they passed, their beady little eyes boring into the travelers, clearly unsure of what they were looking at. It couldn’t be often that they had any visitors disturbing their domain, after all. They must have been so confused. As they traveled along, Leo and Trenton partook of these seemingly fanciful beasts before them, gazing at them from afar with wonder, despite their kind being both commonplace and of general little intrigue. At one point, a group of goats even scaled the cliffs next to them, climbing up onto the path they were traveling and standing before them like gate guards blocking the way forward. However, after a moment of staring, the goats simply started climbing again, making their way higher up the cliffs to reach those mineral deposits they so crave. Every step they took, Trenton gathered energy, preparing to speak for the first time in many hours. With the brilliant orange and red hues of the setting sun shining down upon them, they wouldn’t spend much longer traveling, and he wouldn't have a chance to ask what’s really been bugging him.

“Leo, what happened to all your injuries? I was certain you were wounded just last night,” Trenton said, summoning the energy to look Leo in the eyes, a look which was not easily returned.

“Was I? I don’t really remember much,” Leo said meekly, shoulders slumped.

Over his shoulder without looking back, Walibeld chimed in. “Truthfully, I had hoped to save this lesson for another day. Neither of you are anywhere near this level, so it feels pointless to stress goals that were so far beyond your reach. Especially since few are even able to reach this milestone.”

“Could you be more plain, Walibeld? I hardly need a lecture right now,” Trenton said.

“No, you hardly want a lecture right now. Trust me, I’d feel just the same in your shoes. However, there are no few words I could use to explain this concept. it’s far to foreign to you.”

“What were you talking about, some form of magic?” Leo added, suddenly pulling himself into the conversation.

“Depends on how you define magic. By the traditional definition, magic is the fourteen controllable forces that drastically alter the body, or the world around the caster, being of elemental, special, or worldly nature. This definition is fine, it’s specific enough to only include the different types of magic without drawing in external, worldly forces, but it’s not all inclusive. In a sense, you can think of magic as one of two tools that anyone can be born with, and that is the most important part–you must be born with this power. Magic is not something that everyone has, and as such, it inherently places some people on a higher pedestal than others from birth. You’ve heard the phrase before, haven't you? Elementalists are the weakest, specialists are the most unique, and worldlings are the strongest. So, even if you’re born with magic, there’s still an innate hierarchy that you can do nothing about,” Walibeld said, making sure to look over his shoulder to look at them every now and then.

“Where are you going with this,” Trenton cut in.

“There’s another power that rivals even the destructive power of magic, one that you cannot be born with, but rather, must earn. it’s called aspect, and is generally understood as the actualization of one’s true being.”

“What does that mean? Actualization of one’s true being?” Leo responded.

“it’s hard to say exactly as it’s not exactly well understood how aspect is unlocked–the conditions seem to be unique to each individual–making it difficult to study. On top of that, so few warriors ever even unlock their aspect, so there’s not a large sample size to pull from. Even looking across history only gives a handful of examples. The best guess Era and I came up with is that it had something to do with removing a barrier within one's core, allowing them to access their might in full. Magic draws on the residuals of your core's energy, just a fleeting representation of your internal strength, whereas aspect pulls upon all the energy within you, allowing you a power unique to you that far surpasses the might of traditional magic. As for how to remove that barrier, again, it’s unclear. Based on my experiences, Era’s, as well as several other aspect bearers we were able to contact, it seems the way that aspect is typically unlocked was through some sort of profound realization of one’s true self. It sounds simple, but it’s anything but. One’s true self can consist of pretty much anything about you, personality, desires, lusts, experiences, emotions, and so on. And even then, that’s only a part of the puzzle. Different people have unlocked their aspect in all sorts of different situations, some in battle, some out of battle, some while they were even sleeping, so it was possible there's some reliance on circumstance as well. This is part of the reason I hadn’t thought to mention this before now. It's all complicated and obscure. If you blindly chase after trying to unlock your aspect, you’ll likely never actually find it. No matter who it is, no matter when it was, no one has ever purposefully accessed their aspect. In every single case, it was accidental, sudden, and uncontrollable.”

“So you’re an aspect bearer, then? How’d you unlock yours?” Trenton asked.

Walibeld looked back at Trenton, brow furrowed, and sighed. “It’s a long story and not a happy one. I’ll save it for another day. I can tell you what my aspect is, however,” walking forward, without even glancing behind him, Walibeld held his two hands out, the right shining golden, and the left glowing with an odd darkness. “It may look like light and dark magic, but it isn't. I’m actually not certain what each of them are, but I do know what they do, more or less. With the left hand,” he held out the shadowy hand, “I create outlines, basic shapes, and structures for whatever it is that I might be trying to do. With the right,” he pulled back in the shadowy hand and extended the golden hand, “I fill in the details, adding the flesh and flourishes. Together, it creates my aspect–the ability to alter reality,” he looked behind him at this, seeing the dumbstruck look on the two boys' faces. “Yes, it’s a grand ability with no theoretical limit, but it’s not as useful as you might think. Or at least, it’s not as easy to use as you might think. Typically, aspect is like second nature to the bearer, summoning its power to cast spells being no more difficult than lifting a finger. However, my aspect, for whatever reason, doesn’t function this way. Spells are complicated, long, and irksome to cast, as well as being difficult to learn. Every ability I have, I’ve slowly uncovered over the last millennium or so that I’ve been alive, painstakingly dragging myself through the mud to figure out what it was I was even given. It’s not surprising, frankly. Making alterations to reality realistically shouldn’t be an easy endeavor. Still, because of the difficulty of use, I am somewhat limited in what I can do. It’d take a month to list all of the spells that I’ve learned over the years, but do know that I cannot do anything. What you saw yesterday, Trenton, was me effectively recreating the base of light magic to be able to cast even a simple light mote. It’s costly, slow, and inefficient. As such, I try to avoid mimicking other magics with my aspect, despite having the ability to do so. I made an exception last night to cast the motes so that we could see. And, I made another exception while you were sleeping to fix the injuries Leo had. It was a spell that returns a person back to their default state, which cures nearly any ailment and heals nearly any wound. It cost me an extraordinary amount of energy, and took me nearly all night to cast, but it was necessary. We wouldn’t be able to travel efficiently carrying Leo around. Not to mention, once given time to grieve, I expect to start training both of you before we sleep each night. It isn’t so simple as to take you to Wyrm’s perch and let you live there peacefully, as nice as that would be. In all likelihood, you’re being chased by someone, Trenton, which means that both you and Leo need to grow as quickly and possible to combat whatever threat it was that you’re faced with.”

Trenton threw up his arms, suddenly coming alive with energy. “I’ve been training the last decade and hardly have anything to show for it. Why do you think now would be any different?”

“I don’t. There’s no guarantee, anyway. But, there’s no other choice. We’re out of time, so it was now or never,” Walibeld stopped, looking at the rapidly setting sun. He moved next to the boys, grabbing them, and quickly leaping up several dozen feet to get to an open ledge where they might make camp for the night, set up much like last night's camp. Without another word said between the three of them, Leo and Trenton headed to sleep, Walibeld keeping guard for the night. When the two boys woke up, they ate another bland meal: some foraged berries, and preserved bread Walibeld had. Once they were done eating, they hastily packed up the camp, setting off again into the unknowable future.

The next two days came and went much like the first. Every now and then, they’d have to shimmy along small cliffside paths, leap over rubble or boulders that had fallen, or scale the wall in order to find a better path to travel, the angry river below constantly threatening to consume them, should anyone make a mistake. When the sun demanded, they made camp and rested with Walibeld keeping guard. Surprisingly, across the four days of travel, the three of them never encountered a monster, or even a hint of immediate danger. Trenton wasn’t going to curse their luck, however, instead sending thanks to Loarch, wherever he may be, for the favorable fortune. They set up camp on the fourth day, the boys settling in as Walibeld jumped about, grabbing various things for the camp. Only, unlike the 3 nights prior, Trenton did not immediately head to sleep. While Walibeld was popping in and out, Trenton and Leo walked to the edge of the sizable platform, sitting together and watching the sun slowly dwindle away. For a while, no words were said, the both of them gazing longingly up at the rising full moon, taking time to delight in the glory of the cosmos laid bare. Now that they were out of the city, Trenton realized the heavens were actually much more magnificent than he had ever realized. The brilliant colors, hues of blues and purples swirling together to form complex shapes and patterns above him, gave him an inkling of just how vast the plane truly is.

“How were you holding together?” Trenton said, looking over at Leo still peering above.

“...I don’t know, really. it was hard to believe any of this was even real…so I guess I’ve just kinda detached, like I haven't really thought about it at all. Maybe, I’m just waiting to wake up, and go back to my life like nothing ever happened,” Leo sighed, still looking up at the stars. “I think I’m still waiting for it to set in, the crushing weight, the guilt, the sorrow, but it’s taking its time,” he paused for a moment, before meeting Trenton’s gaze, “you saw it, didn’t you? I didn’t ask, but I figure Aria must be gone, since we’re traveling away from it…what did it look like? I have to know.”

Trenton looked back up, easing his gaze off of Leo. “Carnage. Walls shattered, the earth sundered and twisted, and…corpses everywhere you looked,” Trenton said, leaving out the detail about the stone spires. “When I found the city, I couldn’t even bring myself to enter. I just…fell apart. I assumed everyone was dead, but loathed the idea of checking. Almost like…they’d be alive tomorrow if I never confirmed it. It’d just be a dream if I was patient enough. But it isn’t…it wasn’t. it was all gone. They’re all gone. And whenever I try thinking about it, I just see their faces, melting before me. And…and…I curse myself for being useless. Like its-” Trenton choked up, tears streaming down his face, “like it was all my fault. Like I killed them myself,” he wept. His sorrow, his pain, his thoughts were all laid bare upon the table. There was nothing left to hide, now. Silence, for a while, dominated the night as they sat together and wept, neither daring to say a word, instead enjoying the comfortable quiet of each other's company, just like they always did before.

“...have you thought about if anyone made it out? I want to believe it. I want to believe someone out there made it. it was…it was a big city. Even if the whole place fell, someone near the gates made it out, right?” Leo asked hopefully.

“Yeah…yeah, probably. Maybe some of them had sense to run early. I hope so. Brus might have made it, but knowing him, he’d charge forward the second he saw a threat. He would never run away from the threat,” Trenton said, thinking not of the end of these people, but rather, the wonderful memories he made with them, the times they spent together. And suddenly, it was a little easier, like a weight was just lifted from his soul.

Leo laughed, “Yeah, he probably would. He’d charge steadfast against the Conqueror if he thought him an enemy.”

Through the tears, Trenton bursted out laughing, nearly doubling over. “Could you imagine that? Charging forward, battleax held high, not even coming up to his waist? it’s like a-it’s like a child challenging a mountain to a fist fight.”

Now completely doubled over with laughter, lost in his own delight, Trenton foregot, even for just a moment, his woes, Leo falling backwards in a similar fit of giggles. Moments ago, they wept, shed tears, remembered tragedies fresh in the mind. Now, they could not tell the difference between the tears born of sorrow and the tears born of joy. Although not the way they had intended, both boys now shared in an unspoken goal–survive. Beautiful, one may have even thought that a cataclysm gave rise to such an opportunity.