Chapter 44-Organization

Tasim stared at the book that sat in the corner. A gentle breeze was sent through the room by an unknown force, causing the candle that sat on Tasim’s room, alit overnight, to sway and flicker before dying, producing a quiet tsss. Sitting there, he finally decided to give in to fate, standing up and approaching the book.

The room seemed to get many degrees colder, enough to produce white gas as Tasim exhaled. He grabbed the book, and the room quickly settled, returning to a warm cabin. He looked at the front, watching the clock tick by, before opening it and reading his name.

Tasim

Compendium Edition: Burdens

Burden definition: A Burden is an artifact worn by a creature. Each Burden has an innate ability that may be activated through the use of thoughts, along with mana flow being directed towards the Burden.

Table of Contents

Page one: Spatial Ring

Page two: Frozen Veil

Spatial Ring

Rank, Fragment, Tier, 1 of 5

Spatial Ring Description: A spatial ring is an artifact capable of holding a limited number of items in a different space. This spatial ring may hold 10 items. The capacity will grow with the increase in rank and/or tier.

Spatial Ring Storage: Self-Defining Scroll.

Self-Defining Scroll: This scroll can be opened to reveal some truths about oneself.

Spatial Ring appearance: This spatial ring is a simple gold ring with a purple amethyst that adorns the top.

Tasim stood there, stunned as he read the compendium. After a moment of respite, he flipped to page two.

Frozen Veil

Rank, Fragment, Tier, five of five.

Frozen Veil appearance: This is a normal-looking gold cuff with no distinct features, though, during the night, it will glow bright naturally on its own, without the use of mana.

Rune meaning: Undiscovered

Frozen Veil abilities: Ghostly

Ghostly: Active Ability, when the ability is activated, all movement done by the user remains unregistered by anyone who may have been able to witness it. This stays in effect for only two seconds.

Extras: None

Now that Tasim had read the description, he remembered that, under the blanket, a soft light was emitted, despite the description saying it would be bright. Despite being worried at first, he now wondered what each unique word meant.

‘Where did the word “burden” come from? What does it mean for something to be a fragment? And how could I increase the rank? Wait… what about my own rank.’

Tasim summoned the scroll from within his spatial ring and slowly let it roll down and open itself.

The scroll at a glance was different,

Tasim - Vessel

Soma: Mortal

Vitality: Low

Will: Brown

Resonance: None

Title: None

Echoes: Nature’s Call

Echo Description, Nature’s call: This is an echo belonging to a beautiful entity who was once a powerful mage, clad in her signature red, silken dress. Nature’s Call allows the owner of the echo to connect with any living entity, unwilling or not, and cause a disruption in their body. Causing extreme growth or regression up to any point. The owner of the echo must have more mana than the one they use it on. This echo can only be used once.

Echo Condition: Usable

Compendiums: Burdens

“Vessel,” Tasim said aloud. “What is that?”

The marking on his arm somehow began to resonate with the word he just said. The branches that left the chain began to thicken and take root in his arm. He could feel a sharp pain surging from the branches that seemed like black veins. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist as he looked to his left arm.

“Damnit. What is this?” He cursed aloud as he watched the branches begin to still, stunting their own growth.

The pain eventually calmed down, allowing his heavy breathing to slow. Despite the intense pain, he felt a newfound power in this arm. It had previously developed a better sense of mana, allowing better efficiency and power, and he suspected the same thing would have happened now.

Tasim left his cabin and took a walk down a dirt path through a forest. The birds chirped, the flapping of their wings hitting against the leaves. And as he walked, he had mana flow into his left wrist. Through the next few seconds, a short blade of water was made; it didn’t have any sharp edges, but it did keep its shape.

‘I didn’t feel much of my mana drain.’

Tasim did the same, using his right hand. But this time, the shape was barely able to hold; water dripped down onto the ground, causing his mana to deplete as he tried to keep up with the disappearing water. He could feel and see the efficiency drop.

Tasim relieved the flow of mana to his arm and watched as the clump of water that had the shape of a sword dispersed, splashing against the dirt and producing a small pool of mud. In the distance, he could hear the howling and barking of a creature, while around him, sticks snapped in two.

He soon arrived at his destination, right before the clearing of the forest where a house sat, Master Chi’s house. And in front was that dog, sitting, staring into the sky.

‘That damn mutt. Hopefully, she’s not making life hard for them. Not that I care, though.’

“Whatever.” He said quietly.

The dog’s ears perked up, looking into the forest, and it began to pant with its tongue out. Her tail was wagging furiously, producing a small cloud of smoke. Before the dog could make out Tasim, he left, for what he thought would be for good.

***

“Where is the quest board?” He asked a fellow adventurer.

The large man with a sword on his back had a rather calm and sweet voice when he replied.

“Down the road, you will seea tavern-looking building, the exterior will be quite ordinary, while the inside will be packed full of people, there will be stalls inside as well for shopping, tables for eating, and an upstairs, which is where high rank quests are. To the side of the main quests are notices about random dangers that have been brought to the guilds of the town’s attention.” The man produced a soft smile as he pointed in a direction.

“Thank you.”

“Of course, sir.”

Tasim turned and walked down the road. On top of a chapel, a crow began to caw loudly, and as Tasim looked at it, the crow took off, flapping its wings into the distance. Tasim was intrigued, as crows are considered a sign of death; nevertheless, he continued until he found the building the man was talking about.

The inside was very crowded as the man had said, men, women, the strong, the weak, he could feel overwhelming presences within the crowd, he could see mages, warriors, swordsmen, smiths, and many other occupations.

Tasim found his way to a quest board, but he wanted to find something to do, something to help him grow, and he found just the thing. Another dungeon.

Grade D Dungeon

Available notes:

This dungeon was discovered on December 10th, four days ago. The dangers are unknown, and the rank was made through reading the mana levels. It is recommended to bring a party member adept with water magic, as fire magic was sensed from inside. Multiple floors were detected, the exact number unknown.

Below the notes was a map of Havefard and the dungeon, the dungeon was located north-west, halfway to the town known as Macketon. Tasim ripped the piece of paper off the board and walked to a clerk.

“Hello, kid, what is your rank?” An old-looking man asked.

Tasim stuck out his left wrist, showing his bracelet that read his name and C-rank.

“Oh, nice tattoo, kid. Where’d you get it?” The man asked after verifying Tasim’s rank.

Tasim quickly removed his arm, putting his sleeve back down. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Alright, kid.”

“Can I go to the dungeon or not?”

“Go ahead, kid.”

Tasim turned and quickly left, departing for the dungeon alone.

As he stepped outside, a crow with pitch-black feathers landed on his shoulder, cawing right into his ear. Even as Tasim turned his head, the pitch-black feather-winged animal didn’t fly off. Tasim caught a glimpse of his foot where a message was wrapped around it. Tasim soon unwrapped the message, and the crow flew off, producing another caw.

Tasim unraveled the message and began to read.

The Coiled Tithe has ordered you, Tasim, the One-Winged, to save a merchant on the outskirts of the town known as Stansey. The merchant is being held captive by a group of four rival merchants who want to sell him off. Rescue him by any means necessary. A map can be purchased in East Havefard

‘They always require me to do something at the worst time.’

***

“Hey, brother. Would you want to see something cool?” A young lady said to her younger brother.

“Yes, sissy! Please show me!”

“It’s something called magic; it is innate to all, and you can learn to use it too through hard work.” The young lady picked up a potted plant, and the young man with his round glasses watched attentively as the stem began to grow into a pleasent, blooming plant. “This is called a rose. It is one of my favorite flowers! Don’t you think it’s beautiful, brother?”

“That was so cool, sister! Teach me how to do that, I wanna make beautiful stuff too! Please, sister!” The young man pushed up his heavy, round glasses again that fell to the edge of his nose.

“I need you to focus if you want to learn to do this, really focus.”

“Okay! What now, sister?”

The young lady, with her dark black hair, bent down, her hair shrouding the plant in shadows, and the young boy then locked eyes with the lady’s green eyes.

“Now close your eyes and hold this potted plant.”

“Alright, sister!”

The young lady gave the man a different potted plant, one with just a sprouted seed and rich soil. She then sat back onto her heels, draping a purple blanket over herself.

“Now, feel the air against your skin, listen to the sounds in the background, try to feed any energy that may radiate from the life within your hands, or from within the air.”

The young boy, who was a natural and gifted with talent, quickly grasped the concept; his closed eyes could see small green orbs floating about, not many, but enough. The green orbs are short in quantity, flowing to the potted plant, absorbing, and without further direction, the stem began to grow; he could sense it, but not see it.

“Good job, keep going!”

The young boy, proud of himself but no longer focusing, began to mess up. The orbs disappeared from his view, and the growth stunted.

“Aww…” The woman said quietly.

Despite being quiet, the young boy heard, and he opened his eyes to see the plant no longer growing, causing him to quickly become gloomy.

“I’m sorry, sister..” he said with a low voice.

“It’s okay, brother! You did great! This was your first time after all, and I’m so very proud of you!”

The young children then heard a knock on their room, and the teen sister stood, opening the door. A large man clad in dark clothes opened the door; his beard hung down to his chest, while his head was as shiny as a mirror. Despite his outer appearance, his aura was very calming, and he had a sweet voice when he spoke.

“Hey, buddy, it’s time to go train in swordsmanship, get up.”

The man turned around, walking outside while carrying two small wooden swords. On his back was a blue shield, and in the center was a staff with two snakes coiled around it, and one wing on the left side.

“I will be outside when you are ready.” He said, walking away as his steps echoed down the hall.