Enmity of Atlas

“You were born at the end of the Era of Hrothalagus?” Trenton blurted out, suddenly remembering why the date stuck out to him.

One thousand years ago, some mad king named Hrothalagus tried to take over the entire continent, nearly succeeding. However, he was killed before he could gain full dominion.

Walibeld glanced over at Trenton, a sudden weariness deeper than flesh overtaking him. “Very astute. It’s a long story, which is why I have no intention of divulging in full now, but to summarize, Era, the Benevolent, and I, were born into a time of hardship. It ended with us killing Hrothalagus with the help of the Bulwark and the other 9 guardians, effectively ending the era of Hrothalagus, and launching the world into the era of Discovery. It was a big deal at the time, but I suppose it has been a while since then. I assumed your history lessons would have told our names, at least.”

“Why did you never mention this? It feels pretty important,” Leo butted in, still reeling from the shock of the earlier comment

“You never asked, either,” Walibeld said matter of factly to Leo, who threw his arms up in response.

“To be fair, he was right. You didn’t ask, either” Trenton said, looking around Walibeld to peer at Leo.

“I…yeah, I didn’t. You’re right,” Leo responded despondently, falling back a little bit to trail behind Walibeld and Trenton.

A calm silence fell over the group, Walibeld taking the front to lead them, Trenton slightly behind him, deeply contemplating everything Walibeld had just told them, and Leo a ways behind both of them, picking his way along while muttering to himself like a raving madman. They continued on like this, the only difference to days prior being a light fog obscuring some couple dozen feet in front of them, until an impasse stopped them.

A sound emanated from in front of them, crashing down far below, creating a thunderous din, which was actually quite pleasant from their current distance–water. More specifically, a waterfall. Trenton and Leo leaned forward, desperately struggling to make out exactly what lied before them, the massive features only barely breaching the gloom of the fog. A massive rock face, stretching up a hundred or so feet and expanding left and right far beyond the cliff walls they were sat between the whole while they’d traveled, blocked any possible move forward. In the middle of the cliff, a brilliant flowing waterfall gushed over the smoothed stone, the water landing far below them

Now looking at it for the first time, Trenton took in the sheer scale of the feature. He’d heard of waterfalls before, but the only ones they had in the city were small ten foot drops in the middle of a river's passive flow. The one before him was much more grand a sight. As the water tumbled over the cliff above, it sprayed out, carrying the momentum from the rapid bustle of the river above, slamming into various jutting hunks of stone–giving the waterfall a more slanted look–before finally entering a freefall until it joined in the river below, continuing its steady march at a new elevation. For a second, Leo and Trenton stood in awe, marveling at the hammering power of nature, the mountainous resolve of something which could not even think.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Walibeld said, standing to the side to let the boy’s see better.

“It’s wonderful…I didn’t know something like this could even exist,” Trenton said, snapping himself out of his trance to look at Walibeld.

“I’ve always thought it a shame. Sights more grand than you could imagine are splayed all across the natural world. But, we’re unable to partake in them, forced instead into small walled cages,” Walibeld said, a hint of wonder in his voice. “Take it in. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

They sat there for a couple minutes, lost in the monotonous roar of the water, enjoying the light battering sensation of the few drops which stray away from the main body, landing on their bodies. Now faced with something so beautiful for the first time, the likes of dull city streets and artificial building lights being the entire world before this, it was difficult to pull away. But in this moment, built upon the glory of what was, and what else could be, Trenton pulled away from the waterfall, instead choosing to gaze upon the brilliant blue heavens. By now, the light fog had mostly pulled away, rolling along to wherever else it deems itself needed, allowing Trenton to see the sky in full.

Much like the day Aria fell, there were swaths of puffy clouds wreathed all about across the sky, the dazzling light from the sun highlighting every minute contour, giving the impression of a shape so complex as to be unknowable in its entirety. All about him, beauty sat in the world, just as prevalent as the woes. To mourn one's past, without even bothering to glimpse one's future, was the ultimate exercise in foolishness. Hmm, that seemed profound, or at least sounded profound to Trenton in this moment, and it helped organize the feeling he'd been trying to place since Aria fell. it wasn’t over yet. There was so much more to do. A smile, warry at first, but beaming in the end, crept across his face. That was a wonderful thought, actually. it was not over yet, simple, but inspiring.

“Come on, let’s keep moving,” Trenton said as he moved past Walibeld and Leo.

The two snapped out of their gaze, looking inquisitively at Trenton, before acquiescing and carrying on. They looked up at the wall adjacent to the ever flowing waterfall. it was nearly a sheer cliff, a difficult climb even on the best of days. But, surrounded by stone, the three had no choice but to make do.

“This is a good exercise, actually. I’ll consider this the start of your joint training. We won’t be able to do limb training, so this will have to do for now. Spread your presence evenly throughout your body, and climb until you make it to the top,” Walibeld said, scanning the cliff. He looked at Trenton, “Of course, you’re not allowed to use any geomancy. It would ruin the point of the exercise. We’ll train your magic, both of you, later today.”

“Limb training?” Leo asked, his voice shaky.

“Don’t worry about it. Start when you’re ready.”

Trenton and Leo stare at the task before them, looking for any possible route to success. Both of them had endured special training for many years, Trenton’s more vigorous than Leo’s, but in that time, it never consisted of much more than sparring, exercising, and casting practice. Occasionally, Walibeld would have Trenton do runs about the city to work on stamina, but typically he tried to keep it confined to the Boulreguard property, a safety measure if nothing else. But climbing? Never. Trenton didn’t even know where to begin. If he could use magic, he could form artificial handholds as he went along, but Walibeld would definitely force him to restart if he tried that, which means he’d have to do it the standard way.

Trenton walked up to a spot on the wall, a slightly slanted section leaning towards him, hoping to find some handholds he can use. The climb should’ve been difficult to start with, but looking up, Trenton saw the section he’s under slanting back higher up. If he was going to do anything, his best bet was starting in a harder section when he was fresh and going for an easier spot higher up when he’d be tired.

After a minute or so of running his hands along the wall, he found some holds he could use and a tentative path leading upwards. It was impossible to tell if he could even make it to the top from this position, but it was worth a try. Channeling his presence, and spreading it evenly throughout his body, Trenton hoists himself up, finding precarious purchase on three other spots he had found while searching. Tentatively, he made his way up the cliff, grabbing whatever handholds he could find, using his feeble presence to bolster his muscles and allow him to push through the burning sensation all across his body. It was slow, agonizing work for someone so inexperienced with climbing, but it was consistent. After Trenton scaled 30 feet or so, Leo began to climb, finding another spot about 20 feet off to Trenton’s right. Like Trenton, he struggled to find decent hands and footholds for a while, barely managing to stay aloft even when he did start climbing.

They both continued to make their way up, Trenton moving just a bit slower than Leo, until Leo got stuck. The problem with the route he took, and the reason Trenton chose not to climb in that spot, was that it eventually ran into a massive jutting piece of stone, which blocked vertical travel. If Leo could swing himself to the side, he’d be able to go around it, but there was no safe handholds anywhere close to him. In fact, the only place he could possibly grab was right at the bottom of the jutting rock, meaning he’d have to make a leap of faith out from the stone wall to try and grab onto the handholds. A maneuver like this was nearly impossible, the momentum required to make it that far pulling against his grip, even if he could actually make it. But, Leo was without any other choice. He looked down, seeing how far he'd already climbed, and how far he could fall if he failed, losing nerve by the second.

Trenton stopped climbing, finding a small shelf where he could place one of his feet and stand, the other one dangling unsupported. He turned to face Leo, shouting encouragement to help bolster his confidence, knowing that without some outside help, Leo would never gather the courage to jump. After hesitating for a couple minutes, occasionally preparing to jump, but losing faith last second, Leo gathered up the courage, and leapt out from the rock wall. He slammed his hands down onto the two holds he was shooting for, with an adrenaline fueled rush, and found solid purchase, managing to stop his momentum, leaving him to dangle there above the mortal drop. He made it. However, as he was swinging back inwards, the new force threw him off, causing his left hand to slip out of its hold. For a second, he hung there, the fingers on his right hand slowly slipping, desperately thrashing about to grab back onto the rock wall. When he could bear it no longer, he slipped, fingers peeling away from the rock, entering into an uncontrolled free fall.

Without a second's hesitation, Trenton twisted his body, slamming his right side into the rock wall, sending as much energy as he could to the stone beneath Leo, demanding it yield to his will. Just as Leo’s last finger slipped away, a thick slab of stone shot out from the wall, catching him just a few feet below the jutting stone. For a moment, panicked and confused, Leo stumbled about, nearly toppling off of the safe landing, before coming to his senses and steadying himself.

“Are you alright, Leo!?” Trenton shouted out to him, breathing heavily from the strain of causing such a massive chunk of stone to move so quickly.

“Y-yeah…I think so,” Leo called back, his voice shaky, and his balance unsteady.

He sat down on the slab, taking a moment to slow his heart. A ways below, Walibeld stood with his arms crossed, saying nothing. It was unlikely he’d make Leo restart for that, especially since it would take him some time to sooth his muscles, meaning they would be here any longer, but it wasn’t impossible. Trenton looked down at Walibeld, watching to see if he would say anything, but just like before, he didn’t say a word. After a moment of waiting, Trenton brought his attention back to the wall.

After 15 more minutes of climbing, Trenton made it to the top, grabbing a root poking through the stone to secure the last stretch. Finally, with the danger no longer present, he collapsed atop the grassy peak, sweaty and exhausted, a dense coat of foliage saving his eyes from the glaring sun. Even as he lay there exhausted, sweaty, and in pain, he also felt a warming sense of accomplishment. It was a small victory, but somehow, somewhere within his body, he felt sturdy, strong and solid–a mountain–which could only be felled by the mightiest of hands. It was a nice feeling.

Once he’d rested for a couple minutes, Trenton poked his head over the edge of the cliff, gazing down to see Leo just a little below him. Somehow, Leo’s path managed to take him to the same ending spot as Trenton, even making his way to the same root that Trenton used. Leo grabbed onto the root and Trenton’s extended hand to get him up the last couple feet. Given a few more moments, Leo would have easily made it up on his own using just the root, but the reprieve was nice, even if it came just a little quicker. At least, that’s what Trenton thought.