Titans - March of Progress

Sain sat on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands as he looked through the gaps between his fingers, to stare at his bare feet. He wiggled his toes a little, just to make sure he was actually awake, and not dreaming. Sure enough, they wiggled.

Letting out a sigh, Sain looked up and turned his gaze to his left, and to the window situated above his bed's headboard. It was still dark outside, but the sun was starting to come up, and was peeking over the horizon, setting the ocean aglow. That looks nice. Wouldn't think I have been awake most of the night with the ocean looking like that. Sighing again, Sain just stood up and groaned as his body protested. After perhaps a few hours of tormented sleep, his body ached, and he was sure he was covered in cuts and bruises. At least nothing was broken.

Taking a few minutes to get his things together, shoes on and some fresh clothes, it was not long before Sain headed out of his tiny room, grabbing his shoulder bag from where he had discarded it by the door hours before. He paused in the main room, looking at the small table and kitchen, then the small couch pressed up against a wall. For the first time in days, he saw his father there, curled up on the couch, a thin wool blanket pulled over his body and the bottom half of his face.

Sain just took a moment to look over his father, his face hidden mostly by the gloom, but lit up occasionally by a flicker of light from the kitchen, only meters away. Going to the kitchen, he stooped down by the open stove, and picking up a fire poker, he shoved it into the open fire beneath the stove, the door left open to let its heat out to warm the small house. He poked slightly at the few small pieces of coal and charcoal, getting a few red glows out of them. They would likely burn out completely.

Putting the poker down, and standing up, Sain turned to the table, and grabbed a block of cheese and some stale bread from a plate left out on it. His father had likely left it there for him at some stage. Readjusting his shoulder bag, Sain made for the door of the house, and exited, bounding down the stairs to the alley that flanked his home.

Leaving his home behind, Sain ate his breakfast as he sort of slinked through the streets, keeping to the alleys and side streets as best he could. Everything was quiet. So quiet, like many people thought the nights events may still be going on. He was not sure. And did not particularly wish to find out.

Walking for a few more minutes, Sain began to approach the factory district, and he started to hear in the distance the loud whistle of the steam train, shuttling the workers of Rindai into the city for their day jobs. If only he could be so lucky to be able to get a train to work.

As he reached the edges of the factory district, Sain stepped out from the alleyways and started to move along the main road, albeit at a slow and tired pace. His exhaustion was likely evident on his face, and he knew Clyde was likely to make some snappy remark.

Despite his sluggish pace, it was not long before Sain saw the factory gates. As he stepped through the gates, entering the complex, he saw the night workers coming back to the entrance office and signing out. He nodded to the few workers he recognized, and to the on-duty security guard.

Sain left them behind and made his way to the building Clyde used as his office and pushed inside. Looking around the ground floor of the building, he saw no indication that Clyde had been down from his office. The kitchen looked untouched, and the small sitting area was as disheveled as ever.

Aiming for one of the chairs in the sitting area, Sain moved in and sat, pulling his shoulder bag around to his front and placing it on his lap. He pulled out the book he had been given yesterday, and gave it a quick look over, checking if it had been damaged at all from the events of yesterday. Finding no evident damage, he sighed in relief, and then flicked through to chapter fifteen, one of the assigned chapters of homework he was supposed to have read for today.

Sain more or less flicked through the pages, grimacing at how boring the content was. He looked for key words in the book around energy, but mainly looked at the diagrams and pictures, and the blurbs beneath them. At least they were mildly interesting. It was mainly sketched pictures of Etherum energy crystal's, coal, and even mention of radios and printing presses.

After about ten minutes of skimming through the book, he heard creaking and muffled coughs from the floor above him, and he sighed as he figured Clyde must be awake and moving by now. So, he closed the book and slid it back into his shoulder bag and stood up, groaning as his body protested the movement.

Sain collected himself and his thoughts for a few moments before heading up the stairs to Clyde’s room, each stair he stepped upon uttering a deep, creaking noise and protesting his passage. Seeing light under the door to Clyde's office, he knocked and waited. After a few moments, he heard Clyde bid him to enter in a gruff tone.

As Sain opened the door with a creak and stepped inside, he saw Clyde who looked briefly at Sain and acknowledged the youth with a gesture of his hand, before looking back to his desk and continuing to wrap something up in a long bundle of cloth.

“Good morning Sain. If you can get that box for me and take it down to the unused gate house storage room” Clyde said pointing to a medium sized box in the corner next to his bed. Sain flicked a cursory glance to the bed, knowing Clyde kept a bed in his office as he often stayed late into the night with his research, and it was too much on the old man to travel back and forth from his residence in the city.

“Once you have taken the box down, I’ll need you to go and get some small un-bonded crystals and bring them back to the storage room. If I’m not there by the time you get back, just wait there as I shouldn’t be much longer here” came the next lot of Clyde’s instructions before Sain could even throw out a greeting. He wasted no time when it came to his business. He was all no nonsense.

Nodding to Clyde, Sain sighed and shuffled over to the box, and picked it up without a word. He then just turned and left the office, taking the box down the stairs and out of the building, making his way back towards the main entrance. He saw the Security office on the right near the entrance, and on the left of the entrance was a row of storehouses where most of the outgoing goods were stored. One of the middle storerooms was the one he wanted, and he approached that one. Pushing open the door, he stepped inside and deposited his box and shoulder bag near the door, before staggering around a bit, hands on walls as he tried to find the window's. He found one and then lifted up the glass pane, his sore arms protesting. Then he pushed open the wooden shutters, filling the room with natural light. Still somewhat dark due to the early morning, the light was rather weak, but would do for now.

Shrugging, Sain exited the building and went in search of some unused crystals. Not finding any in the nearby storerooms, he made a stop at the junk house, where all the broken or useless shards of crystal were thrown. Finding a box of small shards that he thought would be satisfactory for any mad experiment Clyde had thought up this time, he exited the building and made his way back to the empty storeroom. When he returned to the storeroom, he found his master waiting patiently for him, standing in the center of the room, hunched over, with hands clasped behind his back.

When Clyde saw Sain enter the building, the old man did not waste any time and immediately asked a question.

“Did you read the parts of the book I told you to” Clyde asked from his usual hunched over position, a small scowl on his face. Clyde's eyes flicked over Sain's appearance, but if he noticed Sains disheveled appearance, he said nothing.

“Uh, yes sir. I did. It was all about the discovery of Etherum Crystals and how they are used for energy storage, as well as different applications” Sain said slowly as he mentally pulled on the text he had literally just read, even as he placed his box of shards down on the floor.

“Good. You read it. The book would have only mentioned how magic, and science merged to transfer the energy of fire into a crystal. The book only touches on the basics. What it does not mention is that fire is not the only energy source that can be used. There are five elements in total. You have fire, water, wind, earth and lightning. All have different applications. I will cover those another day” Clyde stated, his eyes locked on Sain like a predator stalking its prey. It made Sain a tad bit uncomfortable. He did perk up at the extra knowledge though.

“Wow. I didn’t know that. So, what are we doing today? And are these crystal's ok? They are broken” he asked, changing the subject so that Clyde would not ask more questions he might not be able to answer. He gestured to the box of crystals as well.

“Yes, you have some crystals, it doesn’t matter if they are broken” Clyde stated with a frown as he flicked his eyes down to the box.

“Now, something else that is not mentioned in the book is the transferal of energy between Etherum crystals. What I want to do is to try and complete a way of transferring energy between a bonded crystal and an un-bonded crystal, which to my knowledge has not been tried before. And to that end, I will first teach you how to draw energy from crystals and use them for casting” Clyde continued, answering Sain.

Sain perked a brow at Clyde’s words and looked at the crystals with a sense of confusion. This was one of the most elementary aspects of magic for any caster wishing to advance themselves. But the need to transfer energy? That was completely new, and he certainly had never heard of that being done before. He smiled brightly and shivered somewhat in excitement before asking a question.

“Why would someone need to transfer energy between crystals? It doesn’t seem important” he asked, genuinely intrigued and excited. Clyde frowned and seemed to think for a moment before sighing. He really hated answering questions.

“Pretend the crystal is a container of oil boy. What happens when it cracks and starts to leak? Gets a hole in it. What disaster can happen if the hole is not plugged, or the oil transferred to another container” Clyde asked of Sain, an eyebrow perked.

“Uh. I guess, it could catch fire” Sain stated, actually feeling a little stupid he even asked the question in the first place.

“Congratulations. You are not an idiot. Though with a bonded crystal, the energy can explode causing significant damage” snapped Clyde, his irritation burning through his façade of nicety. Sain looked down rather uncomfortable with the words. His feelings soon dissipated as Clyde continued speaking however.

“Now. If you have no more stupid questions. Let’s get on with it. I have a large source of energy, but we aren’t going to be using that until I am satisfied that you can draw on smaller amounts of energy and control it. Because if you can’t and you don’t give the energy somewhere to go, it can get extremely dangerous. So, until you can we will be using these” Clyde said as he shuffled over to a leather bag on a bench and produced a candle and tongs from its insides.

Passing the tongs to Sain, Clyde put the candle on a nearby table and brought out a set of matches. The old man struck a match and gently guided the small flame to the wick of the candle, lighting it. He shook the match out and gestured for Sain to place a shard in the naked flame. Using the tongs, Sain did so as Clyde murmured the bonding spell. Within moments the small shard was filled with fire energy and glowing a dull orange.

“Now, you are familiar with drawing energy from your own body for the bonding spell. Drawing the energy from a crystal follows the same principle, but it is far more important what you do with that energy. Because if you do not use the energy within a given time frame, it can do anything from scattering harmlessly into the surrounding environment, to blowing up in your face. As long as you are touching the crystal you will be able to draw out the energy, but if you think you cannot control it any longer, just drop the crystal. That will not get rid of the energy you have already drawn out, but it will stop you instinctively reaching for more. Understand? If you do, then go ahead and try it” explained Clyde, the old man bent once more, in a position most comfortable for him. He was near expressionless, if but for a glint in his eyes that may have been mild irritation.

Taking the proffered fire shard from Clyde, Sain nodded to show he understood, then took a deep breath and closed his eyes to help his concentration. From previous lessons with Clyde, he remembered that most casters used words or sounds to control their magic, whilst a minority could manipulate magical energy with just their thoughts and intent. Focusing on his breath, he emptied his mind and centered his consciousness on himself. He located the repository of magic within his own body, a familiar bright light centered on his stomach, though vastly depleted from yesterday’s exertions in combat.

Moving his mind’s eye down his right arm to his hand, Sain reached the small ball of energy enclosed in his fist. He first probed it with his mind and after a moment tentatively started to draw the small amount of energy out of the shard. Seeking to surprise the old man before him, Sain tried his hardest with the task in front of him. As he felt the gathered energy start to become unstable in his grasp, he lifted his left hand and held it straight out from his body even as he visualized a ball of flame above his hand and forced the energy to take shape. Opening his eyes, Sain saw the flame above his hand right before it scattered in a dull orange flash and wave of heat. He blinked in surprise and then flicked his gaze to look at Clyde. Seeing an almost impish smile tugging at the corners of the old man’s mouth he also couldn’t help but smile somewhat nervously in return.