Edvarti Of Zon

     The family turned out to be migrant workers. Jenna had basically taken over the farming operations and hired them, giving Eloin and Van time to train. Things just seemed to work out when Vestis was around. Everytime he activated his power it set things in motion that might not come to fruition for months, even years. The family of Eddins were quite suddenly homeless when a rogue hurricane tore the roof from their home. Their patriarch had been interested in heading to the frontier and staking out his own homestead, so they salvaged what they could from the homestead and took to the road.       

      Van opened the book cautiously, almost as though something was going to pop out at him. Vestis' reaction to the book made him reluctant to peruse it. He had considered simply sticking with the sword, but then remembered how helpless he felt upon seeing Eloin nearly get felled in that last battle. 

     The frontpage read, 'The perilous and incredible adventures of Edvarti, previously and currently of Zon!' He had just found and attuned to his relic. He read on to Edvartis experimentation with the black energy. Van had to admit, he was much more imaginative then he was, and observant. He noted first how plants withered near it. He also noted, it passed the vitality on to himself. Van thought back to his previous battles. He thought he'd been experiencing a sort of Adrenalin rush, or battle fervor. 

      Edvarti was able to make the energy transparent and created a sort of shield effective against both energy and objects. However, it turned out his relics utility ability was making things invisible. Edvarti's favorite use soon became a sort of black fireball. It burned and spread like actual fire, but Edvarti could stop it at will, and even exert a control over the blaze. Rather then heat it gave off a chilling cold, so cold that feels like it's burning when it touches you. Edvarti posited that it was the feeling of losing life force, and since he was it's master never felt it as cold, but as a cozy warmth.

      As his fame grew and more of his adversaries abruptly abandoned battle with him, he found he had an inherent connection with those wounded and not killed with the negative energy. He could tell what direction and how far they were, how weak or strong they were, how they were feeling... and eventually they all passed. 

     Van read on, fascinated and horrified, as it seemed Edvarti was slowly losing his sanity. His service to the king of his time and place awarded him a fief and title of Duke. He began to revel in his destructive power as entire armies were consumed by black fire and lightning. If anything approached his shield he would dance, swirling watery jets of the dark energy around him. It was rare that even other relic users of his time penetrated past his black water defense, but when they did, the invisible shield did it's job. He enjoyed boundless youth. Although his tenuous attunement to his relic limited the amount of power he could produce, the properties of the black energy, the absorption it exerted on its victims, constantly regenerated his body.  

      Then came Darha, and Edvarti fell in love. She brought him peace. He slowly came back to himself, remembering where he came from. He began once more to feel empathy, then sympathy for others. Where once he exalted in the work he'd done for the King, he began dreading the kings summons. But Edvarti was still arrogant. He'd never even been wounded once battle was met. In his arrogance he began to bring Darha with him to his battles. She insisted, to share his pain, she said. And her presence comforted him. As long as it was what she wanted, he was more then happy to oblige her whim. By this time he had simply to show up and his mere presence forced negotiations, and more often then not, surrender. Then came the day he met his match. A relic holder with indestructible blades made his way to him. Quick footwork and un-surpassing skill brought him past the water jets. Surely the shield would stop him. It did not, shattering beneath the vorpal blades. as a last resort he surrounded himself with a negative energy ball flaring it outward. His foe lay on the ground, his veins blackening as he convulsed. It was then he heard a soft voice say his name. He could not adequately describe what he felt at that moment. He held Darha in his arms, and between convulsions she expressed her joy in his survival, and that she loved him. 

      The relic had always tried to caution and advise him, however Edvarti cursed the relic, blaming it for everything. That was the end of the journal. It didn't take a genius to know he destroyed his relic. Van wondered, did his unnatural life span end with the relic, or did he continue on? If he continued on... Van guessed it may very well have ended similarly to his own first life.

     He noticed a meal being slid in front of him. Looking up he saw Eloin. "You were kind of unresponsive so I figured I'd give you the day off," she chided, "but tomorrow, before dawn, we run."

     Since Vestis decided he'd be unable to help Van, and that martial training would help, Eloin once more would have the sole responsibility if being his teacher. Still, reluctantly Van requested a few hours every day for practicing his use of the negative energy. The vivid detail of it's abilities he'd read about in the book resulted in him beginning to fear it. At first he meditated, or just sort of manipulated the ball. He decided the next practical use would be a controlled range attack. Recalling the book, he began working to create and control the wave described therein. He made sure his practice was away from the farm but not too far. He kept the floating and flowing wave close to him at first. He discovered this was a much more natural state for it then the floating ball. He consulted with Oloss at night but he was inexperienced with this power type. He offered what help and advice he could, but Van could see that he too, was distressed.

     As Van sat down to eat one evening before retiring for his first sleep, he heard shouting from one of the rooms. A moment later a door flung open. Van laughed out loud as he saw what appeared to be a mummified version of Glam, so wrapped up in bandages as he was. "What's so funny?!" he demanded. Then he stormed towards the table, roaring with enthusiasm, "Someone get me some beer, I'm fainting for lack of it, over here!"