Student and Teacher

 A few days after the events of Paradox, Cain was awoken early one morning by someone knocking on his door. He was immediately curious. After all, the only person who visited him regularly was Rina, and she never knocked. Cain stretched and let out a loud yawn to make sure whoever was on the other side knew they were disturbing his beauty sleep. He walked over and opened the door, only to be greeted by Gunnar’s hulking figure taking up most of the doorway.

“Mornin’. You busy?” He asked, the wrinkles on his face more evident than the last time Cain had seen him.

“Not really.” Cain replied with another yawn. “I didn’t oversleep did I? Is it time for training already? Sorry, Rina usually wakes me up when it’s time, but I guess she-”

“No, no, nothin’ like that.” Gunnar cut him off, “It’s just that between your actions at Avcad and everythin’ you did to help out down in Paradox the other day, you’ve really been workin’ hard. Not to mention how much you’ve improved in your trainin’. I know you didn’t ask for any of this, but I wanted you to know that I appreciate all the effort you’ve put in despite that. Which is why, I’ve prepared a little gift for you, both as thanks for what you’ve done so far and motivation to keep improvin’.”

“Really?! I mean, uh, thanks Gunnar, you didn’t have to do that.” Cain replied, failing to contain his excitement about finally being thanked for his efforts.

Gunnar simply chuckled. “Right, well, follow me. We’re goin’ over to the armory.”

After taking a few minutes to change clothes and make himself a little more presentable, Cain followed Gunnar to the Research and Engineering wing. Gunnar stepped towards the engineering side and went to a door to the left of the larger one that led to the factory where Cain first met the Wanoggi twins. As the big metal door labeled ‘Armory’ swung open with a loud creak, the smell of dust and steel rushed out.

Gunnar ran his fingers over a glyph on the inside of the door and a light flickered on, giving Cain a full view of the vast array of weapons stored in this room. Gleaming weapons lined the stone walls like priceless artifacts in a museum. Swords covered in glowing runes. Spears made of metals Cain couldn’t name. Shields like castle walls. Suits of armor that looked as though they could shatter any weapon brought against them. Each and every piece looked like a masterwork beyond compare.

“Back here, kid.” Gunnar called as he strode over to a table in the back corner of the room. “That other stuff isn’t suited for you, from what I’ve seen. And frankly, most of ‘em are more trouble than they’re worth. What I’ve got for you is over here.”

Cain stepped past racks of weaponry and armor to the small table that Gunnar stood over. A box sat on the table, clearly aged, but also well maintained. Gunnar pulled off the lid of the box to reveal a pair of gauntlets, forged from some shadowy gray metal that Cain didn’t recognize. Each gauntlet had three circular slots carved into the forearms.

“Well?” Gunnar said expectantly, waiting for Cain to try them on.

As Cain slid them on, the first thing he noticed was their heft. When he tightened the strap however, the weight seemed to balance out across his arms, almost like they were made for him. He clenched his fists as he tried to get used to the way they felt, and he could have sworn he felt the metal vibrate, like the gauntlets had been waiting for him.

“What are they?” Cain asked as he stared at his murky reflection in the metal.

“Rune gauntlets. One of my finest works, used all the knowledge and experience I ever gained to make them. Used to be mine back in the day, but I could never quite get ‘em to like me. Seems they suit you perfectly though. Looks like I was right on the money about your fighting style matching theirs.”

He produced another smaller box from a shelf next to the table and opened it up. Inside was a journal, a stack of circular stone slates, and eight different colored pieces of chalk. Gunnar took one of the slates and held it up for Cain to see.

“Next is the hard part. If you want those things to be more than armguards, you’re gonna need to learn how to draw manasketch glyphs.” he explained.

“But I can’t use mana due to my…condition. How am I supposed to draw glyphs if I can’t use mana?” Cain asked, puzzled at where Gunnar was going with this.

“Truth is, you don’t need to be able to use mana. I’m not as bad off as you are, but I’m not that magically gifted either. The trick is these runeslates. They’re made of a unique naturally occurring mineral called calyxite, which is known for its ability to store mana. The idea behind these runeslates is that you draw out the glyph for a spell including the colors of mana that it will need. Then, you take it to someone who can use that type of mana and have them trace over the glyph, effectively storin’ the spell in that runeslate. Runeslates are designed to break once they cast a spell though, so you’ll need to carry more of ‘em around if you want more than one cast. If you ever run out of runeslates, let the twins know and they’ll make you some more. The MOLE mines tons of calyxite as it travels, so there should be plenty.”

“Wait, hold on. Colors of mana?” Cain asked, desperately needing clarification.

“Surely you’ve seen it by now, right? The fact that manasketch glyphs all have different colors?” Gunnar said, raising an eyebrow, “Each color has significance and attributes that carry over into the effect of the spell produced by the glyph.

“Rina gave me a short rundown around the time I first got here, but I didn’t really understand it.”

“There’s eight colors in all.” Gunnar explained, “Red pertains to destructive forces like fire and force. Blue handles things like ice, water, time, logic, and stability. Green deals with nature, life, luck, and restoration. Yellow has things like energy, positivity, and transportation. Purple deals with more mystical things such as gravity, space, souls, and mystery. Brown handles earth, rot, and decay. White is purity, light, and order. And finally, black deals with shadows, corruption, death, and void. In addition to all of that, most spells past the basic level tend to have more than one color to produce more complicated effects.”

“That sounds like…a lot.”

Gunnar chuckled, sending a low rumble through Cain’s bones. “Because it is, and it won’t be easy. But, that’s what this journal is for. This journal contains all of my runeslate glyph designs that I’ve come up with over the years. Now, I’m givin’ it to you as both study materials and a tool for growth. Though, I had Rina put a magic lock on it to keep you from trying to skip to the most complicated spells. You’ll only be able to move on to more complicated material after you’ve mastered the stuff before it.”

Cain returned his chuckle with a nervous laugh. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to it.”

The next few days were filled with a combination of grueling training and meticulous studying. Cain spent the majority of his time in the training chamber punching training dummies shaped like Bottomless and sparring with Gunnar. The only time he really had breaks was when sleeping and when trying to scratch out more runes for practice.

“Do that one again.” Gunnar instructed, watching Cain try to draw out a glyph that would spit out a puff of fire, “Manasketch is all about intent. You’ve gotta make sure you properly tell the glyph what you want it to do. If you don’t, it could blow up in your face, literally.”

It was slow going, but after numerous training sessions and even more numerous failures, Cain finally started to get a grasp on how to draw manasketch glyphs. It wasn’t until Gunnar seemed to be pushing the both of them particularly hard one day that he started to question Gunnar’s intentions, however.

“Hey, Gunnar?” Cain asked, trying to catch his breath after the last bout.

“Yeah, kid?” replied Gunnar, equally as winded.

“Tell me the truth. What’s the real reason you gave me these gauntlets? We’ve been training way harder than usual, like we’re preparing for something almost.”

Gunnar sighed. “You’re too smart for your own good, kid. First off, let me say I really did want to give you somethin’ for all your efforts. Like you’ve figured out though, that wasn’t the only reason.”

“I knew it. It’s felt like you’ve been trying to push both of us past our limits. So what’s the reason?” asked Cain as he took a moment to stretch.

Gunnar was silent for a few moments before he exhaled once more. “Valerie gathered up the Vanguard the other day after everythin’ in Paradox was said and done. I can’t tell you all the details just yet, but just know she’s plannin’ somethin’ big. A real important recon mission that was gonna be extremely dangerous, but whose risk was worth the reward. I just wanted to make sure we were both in as good of a condition as we could be before it happens, you especially.”

“Good to know.” Cain said, getting back into a combat stance, “I appreciate you looking out for me, Gunnar, and I’m grateful for the gift and everything you’ve taught me so far. But I think I’m a little tired of being kept in the dark about everything, so some transparency would be nice in the future.”

Gunnar chuckled and assumed his stance as well. “Noted.”

Another week passed before Valerie made the official announcement of a meeting the next day. During that week, Cain continued training and studying almost tirelessly. He gained more experience with his new phasing ability, got used to the rune-gauntlets, and began to slowly master drawing some basic manasketch glyphs.

That week’s training culminated in one last sparring match with Gunnar two days before the mission meeting was supposed to take place. This was to be Cain’s final test to determine whether or not he was ready to start taking part in missions officially. Cain was equipped with his rune-gauntlets and two runeslates that would fire off a gout of flame, one in each gauntlet. Gunnar had nothing but his fists and his battle-hardened physique, more than enough equipment to intimidate Cain. The two stood in opposite corners of the training chamber, eyes locked on one another preparing to fight.

Cain moved first, breaking off into a sprint towards Gunnar, who responded by charging towards Cain like a raging bull. They met in a fiery clash, thunderous clangs echoing through the room as fists met gauntlets. Gunnar went for a low sweep to try and knock Cain off balance, only for him to deftly jump over it. Cain threw a punch laced with the fire from one of his runes, only for Gunnar to grab his wrist and redirect it. The two continued for a while, essentially fighting themselves into a stalemate.

At last, Gunnar made a move to break the tie, tackling Cain and putting him in a headlock. Cain could have panicked. In fact, he almost did. But he had been training for a while now to fight biomass creatures from another planet. He wasn’t the same Cain that came through that ritual circle nearly a month ago. Gunnar had made his move, so Cain made his.

Fire and butterflies, he thought to himself.

It had become a bit of a mantra to him since the events of Paradox. It helped him relive the feeling of blurring through attacks and striking back like a phantom. He still couldn’t maintain it for very long, but he had become much more adept at activating it and deactivating it at will. Cain’s body blurred as he phased his body through Gunnar’s ironclad headlock. Before Gunnar could react, Cain returned to normal and slammed his gauntlet into Gunnar’s left side, activating the red rune with a touch to produce a small blast of flame at the point of impact. The blow thundered through the training chamber and probably even out into the living quarters, knocking Cain back about ten feet while Gunnar simply dropped to one knee.

After a few moments, Gunnar stood up and let out a hearty chuckle. “Not bad, kid! I actually felt that one! Looks like those rune-gauntlets are treatin’ you nicely. Also seems like you’re gettin’ the hang of your flickerin’. On the path to controllin’ it at least. Hopefully, that’ll keep it from interferin’ with the mana in the runeslates.”

Cain stood up, shook himself off, and walked over to Gunnar with a smile plastered across his face, holding out his fist for a celebratory fist bump. Gunnar returned it, but seemed to wince a little and rubbed his left side where Cain had hit him.

“Are you alright?” Cain asked, a tinge of worry in his voice, “Did I go too far? Should we go to the infirmary?”

“Nah, nothin’ like that. It’s just been a while since I’ve taken a hit that tickled me that much.” Gunnar replied with a small laugh.

“Seriously, if we need to go get it looked at-”

“Enough.” Gunnar cut him off, “I’ll be fine, kid. A little hit like that ain’t even close to what it’d take to take down Ol’ Gunnar. If by some miracle it starts to bother me, I’ll go get it checked out.”

Cain trusted Gunnar’s words, but he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy at the way he acted. After all, over the past few weeks of training he’d learned a good bit about Gunnar’s mannerisms. Including the way he seemed to prefer his body’s natural healing over healing magic.

“But enough about all that.” Gunnar said, changing the subject, “You beat me in a sparring match fair and square. So, if I recall the terms of our deal correctly, I believe I owe you a story.”

The unease in Cain’s heart faded, replaced by the curiosity and excitement that those words evoked.