Warning

“What do you mean?”

“What is Ristir? Is that a vague question?”

Teeg looked at Phillip with a blank expression. He didn’t even know where to start. He saw that he could use abilities and Ristir as well but he was surprised that he didn’t even know what they were.

“You’re serious?” Teeg slyly asked.

“Yeah!”

“Okay! I’ll tell you. Let’s first get a nice place to camp.”

They came across an open space near a cliff in the forest.

“This seems like a nice place to camp. Okay! I’ll go get some food and wood. You can set up the beddings but don’t overdo it.” Phillip said before rushing into the forest.

After a while, he came back with a deer, half burnt by his flames and a bunch of firewood.

Teeg helped to instruct him on how to butcher it and after, they washed the meat, ridding it of blood, prepared the fire and finally cut the raw meat into smaller pieces, placed them on wooden rods and then grilled them over the fire.

Phillip got the rest of the meat and evenly grilled it with his own flames to preserve it for the journey ahead.

“Okay, now you asked what Ristir was. But let’s start with the basics. Do you know about the abilities that people have?” Teeg asked Phillip who was sitting across the fireplace.

“Don’t know! I hear people calling them abilities. Some say magic.”

“Truly you aren’t wrong. But there’s more.” Teeg answered as he poked into the fire with a stick. “The everyday abilities that people have are, or rather were called Chars. The term originated from the word ‘Charkas’ of the ancient language that meant mutants or abnormal, but that term only became popular mainly in Baizefield, so other people simply called them abilities.”

“That’s some deep history!” Phillip replied.

“Yeah! With these abilities, there are limitations. Each ability/Char is based on a certain form of energy or phenomenon for example, fire Chars use fire, water chars use water and so on. No one can use their ability without being physically in contact with the element it corresponds with.”

“Why! I clearly can use my fire without holding it elsewhere.” Phillip interrupted.

“Yes! That’s where Ristir comes in. Ristir comes from the ancient language word, ‘Ristirios’ with a double meaning of absolute and remote control. It is an energy within a person that allows him to enhance his ability as well as increase his physical and mental prowess.”

“Anha!” Phillip replied as he turned the meat to grill the raw side.

“A person with Ristir can use his fire ability without a source, he can summon the fire from anywhere instead of calling it from only the source. The way a person uses Ristir with his ability is limited to his imagination only.”

“So I can use Ristir?” Phillip asked Teeg before he continued his story.

“Of course you can. It takes a person to go through serious trials to achieve it, but there are those who naturally have it in them.” Teeg responded. “But Ristir has three more definite forms, Detection, Psych and Agility.”

“Detection widens the scope of your senses, depending on the strength of one's Ristir. Agility boosts the physical abilities and Psych deals with control over your surroundings like telepathy, remote object control, teleportation and many others.”

“That’s overkill, especially for Psych.” Phillip said as he placed the rods of meat on two plates, that he got from Cott’s house.

“Well the Ristir of Psych is rare? But if anyone gets it, he becomes a league ahead of the others, depending on how he uses it.” Teeg replied as he received his meal from him. “Oh! Thanks!”

“Then what about magic!”

“Magic is only possessed by sorcerers. I haven’t met anyone but they don’t involve themselves in everyday conflicts. It seems that it was because of Magic that Chars came to exist.”

“Okay, that’s a lot of knowledge! Will you help me train my Ristir?”Phillip asked Teeg.

“Sure! Anytime but now. I’m quite covered in wounds and bruises all over. I would like to go to my base tomorrow morning. Would you help me over there? I promise that I can help you to get to at least the Western District.” Teeg asked as he took a bite off of the juicy meat.

“Sure.”

“Well then, tomorrow at dawn will be setting off.” Teeg said as he bit his last bite.

“Then you’ll have to wake me up. That time’s too early for me.” Phillip responded with his plate still full.

“Then I’ll go to bed first. Wake me up for my turn of watch duty,will you?”

“Sure thing pops!”

Teeg placed his plate by the fire and fell asleep on a rectangular leather mat with his bag as a pillow.

Phillip continued eating his pieces of meat as he looked at the starry sky, the forest and the plain beyond the cliff.

***

“So you came back to base with the girl yesterday morning?” Frank asked Melvin.

“Yeah, but we spent the night in the village of Thorne. We went past the base so that we did not alarm anyone. By that time you had gone to Cott’s with Teeg, as I was told.”

“Yah we left about one hour past dawn.”

“So, continuing with the story:”

…

We reached the village of Thorne when it was pitch dark. Nonetheless, I gave Vicky a hooded jacket to hide her facial features including her hair.

We spent the night in an inn and about two hours past dawn, we left for the base.

“What kind of base are you talking about?” Vicky asked impatiently.

“Don’t expect much! It’s just a cave, but I’ll show you something interesting.” I told Vicky as we approached the maple tree.

“Behold!” Placing my palm on the maple tree. The entrance warped like a ripple revealing the cave surrounded by a pond. “Isn’t that amazing?”

“Totally! This is what a secret base should be like!” Vicky said with her eyes wide open in surprise. For a moment, I saw her acting like a normal girl and I cursed the fate placed upon her that’ll surely rid her of her happiness.

“This world is unfair!” I thought as I gestured to Vicky to follow me.

“Welcome back, master!”

The same cheerful lad that showed me my way out was the same one that welcomed me taking my luggage and leading my horse to the stable.

“I’m back, son. How were things while I wasn’t around?”

“Not much, except that we got a surprise night visit from old Cott’s son, Danny telling us that they had secured someone.”

“That’s good news, we need to bring in as many people to become stronger to protect others whether it’s with or against their will. But it seems I’ll have to change the methods. So, who went there?”

“Old Teeg and Frankie!”

“I hope that they can succeed. By the way, this is Vicky. I need her to be here. Our barrier is known for not allowing any detection signals in or out the base.”

“Sure! Is she your daughter or granddaughter?”

“Well, she’s more than that.”

At that point, I had simply underestimated my foe. From the direction of the base, I could hear my comrades getting slashed one after the other.

“Oh crap! He’s here!” I shouted as I turned to Rein. “Rein! Take Vicky and protect her at all co— Hey Rein!”

Before I had finished my statement, Rein had already instinctively ran towards the base.

“Oh crap!”

I took Vicky by her hand, and ran as fast as I could into the forest. Not before long, I felt someone’s presence behind me.

“We’ll both be caught at this rate. At least Vicky has to survive.”

I masked Vicky’s presence with my ability and said, “Vicky, we have to split up. I’ve masked your presence, he won’t find you.”

“No, no, I’m too scared. I’ll die!”

“No, you won’t! Look at me! At this rate we shall both die. But if we split up, we’ll have a good chance to survive! Just be brave, girl. I’ll come running as soon as I beat this enemy.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. Now go!”

Vicky ran towards the East within the forest as I continued southwards into the mountains.

…

“That’s when I last saw her.”

“What happened to you then? Did he catch up to you?” Frank followed the story up with a question.

“Yah, we had a brutal fight but he managed to have mercy on me, leaving me with serious injuries, saying that he hadn’t felt anything like that in a long time.”

“As expected of the master!”

“You praise me too much. Come on now lad. You need your sleep. We’ll wake up tomorrow at dawn to search for Vicky!”

“Understood Sir!”

Frank put down his head and instantly fell asleep after the long day that he had had.

“Have a good life, Frank! May the heavens lead your way!”

***

“Jin, hurry up!”

A young girl shouted as she raced through the woods. She wore a dirty black dress, torn apart by some branches of trees. Her hair was an absolute mess and she looked weary and tired.

“Woof!”

The brown loyal beast ran beside her as she advanced deep into the forest.

“What terrible luck to have stumbled upon that in the middle of nowhere.”

Behind them, was a large beast, tall up to 11 feet and large as well. It stood on its feet bearing its claws towards them.

“What the heck is a bear doing in this part of the forest?”

“Woof woof!”

“What is it, Jin?”

Looking in front of her, there was a wide river with no means of crossing.

“Oh shucks! Why?”

Behind them, the bear didn’t stop moving at all. Jin moved in front of Emmy and barked ferociously at the beast. The bear wasn’t bothered by the barking at all.

Jin pounced forward and bit the massive bear’s leg. The beast cried in pain as it launched its claw towards the big brown dog.

Jin was sent flying towards Emmy. On collision, both of them fell into the river. Jin had passed out.

“Jin, Jin! Wake up! Somebody help!”

Emmy couldn’t swim and she had Jin to take care of as well.

“Not good! I’m drowning! I’m losing my consciousness.”

Emmy’s vision slowly faded until she passed out.

...

“Urg! Where am I?”

Emmy slowly opened her eyes and saw two people looking down at her.

“Are you okay, young lady?”

***

“Rise and shine lad. It’s already an hour past dawn.”

The golden light of the morning sun shined upon the leaves giving them a golden light lining on their edges.

“Wake up, sleepy head. Don’t make me sing a reverse lullaby! Trust me, you don’t want to know what it sounds like.”

Teeg shouted at Phillip as many times as he could. Phillip on the other hand enjoyed his sleep even more.

“5 ..more... minutes!” Phillip groaned while turning himself from his left to the right side.

“That’s it! I’m fed up.”

Bringing a long thick stick, he stroked Phillip on his bottom so hard that the nearby birds flew away on hearing the sound. Feeling the impact, Phillip woke up incredibly startled.

“What the heck, geezer?”

“Say hello to reverse lullaby!”

“Reverse what?”

“Just get ready and we go. I’ve already made breakfast but we shall eat on the way. There’s water in the leather bottle to wash your face. We are very— Hey!! Stop rubbing your bottom and get ready!” Teeg shouted at Phillip without restraints.

“Whose damn fault do you think it is? What are you, a kid?”

“Just get ready!”

Teeg tossed the leather bottle with water to Phillip who caught it with a cinch. He washed his face and immediately put on his jacket and boots. He then rolled the leather sleeping mat and loaded it on the carriage.

“Now let’s go!” Phillip yelled as he jumped in the driver's seat besides Teeg.

“Breakfast?” Teeg prompted with a smirk.

“Sure! Wait, fish? What happened to the remaining deer?”

“That’s for lunch and supper. I’m sure that it’ll reach. Beyond that, no!”

“Okay!”

Phillip grabbed a stick on which the fish was pierced, held the reins and signaled the horse to move as he grabbed a bite of the fish.

“So where to, old man?” Phillip asked.

“Let’s continue to the west toward the Extorters’ guild. I want to see what if that woman was right about my comrades being annihilated.” Teeg replied while biting a piece of his fish.

“Aye! Meaning I would be dead if I had gone with you people earlier.”

“Luck is on your side then. By the way, you said that you wanted to learn how to control Ristir. Lesson one begins now.”

“Now? I’m riding the horse as I’m eating!”

“What’s wrong with multitasking? Anyway, just give me the reins.”

“Now you’re being nice!” Phillip replied with a smirk.

“Starting with Ristir of detection. Remember how you detected poison in my body? Now just do the same thing over there, but do it more precisely.” Teeg said while pointing towards a certain cave.

“That’s it? That was Ristir?”

“Just do it!”

“Okay!”

Phillip focused his concentration towards the cave and closed his eyes.

“Precisely. Precisely!”

His senses heightened instantly as if he was in the cave itself. He could hear each single water drop that fell from the rocks and he could also smell the dampness and the dust that had accumulated inside. He could feel the cold in the cave and when he had his eyes closed, he could see the images there in shades of black and white.

“This is amazing! It’s like I’m in the cave!”

“Yeah! That’s Ristir! The surroundings become a part of you. So, do you think there’s anyone there?” Teeg asked to confirm his findings.

“What are you saying, old man? There’s obviously no one here.”

“You’re sure?”

“Damn right I am. I can see there.”

Teeg fell into silence as he looked at Phillip with a puzzled look.

“You mean that you can actually see there?” Teeg asked him.

“Duh, shouldn’t I?”

Teeg looked at him in wonder.

“Honestly, on the first try, that’s—” Teeg paused in his speech.

“So, am I awesome?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, kid. Hurry up! We’re almost there!”

Phillip and Teeg finally reached the maple tree and got off the carriage. Teeg touched the maple tree to reveal the cave.

“So, where is the base?”

Hardly had Phillip finished talking when the forest ahead warped to reveal a cave.

“Okay, there it is! I should prepare for the weirdest from now on.” Phillip replied while trying to hide his excitement.

“Adorable!” Teeg said as he noticed Phillip’s hidden expression.

“Shut up!”

The two entered the cave and found it empty and surprisingly clean. There was nothing like a dead body or any blood stains.

“This must be Frank! Always being the honourable kind.” Teeg said so silently that Phillip couldn’t hear anything.

“Hey, Old man Teeg! Seems that there’s a letter for you.”

Teeg went towards Phillip and received the letter from him.

“It’s from Frank. Rather than a letter, it seems to be a warning!”

After skimming through, Teeg opened his eyes wide in shock.

“Phillip, we ought to go now!”