The Dancers in the Mist - Chapter 2

Here is the second chapter for my epic fantasy novel, The Dancers in the Mist.

A link to the book: The Dancers in the Mist available on Amazon, Kindle, and free with Kindle Unlimited.

I've formatted the text differently from the book to make it easier to read on the blog.

Chapter 2

Malachi swiftly walked east through the village; he skipped slightly as he went due to the cobbled stone streets becoming increasingly slick from spitting rain. The bustle of Blue Mist villagers storm preparations impeded his progress somewhat; as villagers and merchants rushed about trying to put away outdoor stands, drying clothing, and anything else they didn't want drenched. Many stopped to look at Maleo and greet Malachi, a few children even went to pat Maleo yelping at the static shot they received as they did. The attention on Maleo had grown with her size over the last year, after all it is not often you see a giant cat walking along side someone, even in the fantastical world they lived in. 

The great western mesa, rose above the mist filled lower levels of the village as he got closer, he could already see queues of merchants forming to carry their goods up the few lifts that were available for transporting goods. Many had already started pulling carps over their wagons, whilst some decided to brave the ramps to the top; Malachi decided not to do that with Maize’s wheelbarrow as there was nothing in it anyway, so he left it at a nearby storage area, before he began his long accent up stone staircase. As he walked up the stairs, he watched the lifts being raised to the top of the plateau by two large rockulls.

The rock elementals were as large as the orocks on the Jan farm, they were heavily armoured with a rock-like plate armour held together with essence, which glowed a brilliant white in between the creatures’ plates. The rockulls would pull on two bellows attached to two large water containers at the lifts base, the resulting pressure would push the water and subsequently the lift to the top of the plateau. There were shard art wielders on hand who steadied the flow of water as it rose to keep the lift level and not accelerating or lowering to fast. Maleo huffed and puffed beside Malachi, as they plodded up thousands of stone steps to the top of the plateau; each step differed slightly in height to confuse attackers in the event the walls were breeched. 

Unfortunately, this made it a little harder to transcend and the danger of tripping higher. By the time they reached the top, the storm was upon them. Thunder sounded overhead and the rain started pelting down, Malachi headed with Maleo in the direction of the north-eastern agora. On his way there he chose to divert to the central square shaped building; the building was the villages original ancient agora. There was a mural above the entrance to the agora with a carved image of a bull-headed man holding two scales, one had weights in the other various fruits, it was said to be a depiction of the old god Garillion who represented commerce. 

The agora was busy today; most were attempting to get out of the rain, so had packed themselves in to the building and others were browsing the wide variety of food, and craft stands that the villagers had to offer. There were still merchants rushing to get their goods in from the southern exit of the agora. The exit led to southern part of the eastern plateau, where hundreds of market stalls were usually set up on nicer days. Malachi and Maleo pushed through the crowds, as they headed for the northern part of the building; Maleo got many stares, as she walked alongside Malachi, who was sporadically stopping briefly to browse the stands. 

Maleo was eyeing a fish stand, so Malachi purchased the biggest salmon they had to Maleo's delight, a small crowd of children had gathered to watch as Maleo scoffed the fish down. When she was done, she stood up and shook off the rain, soaking all the kids much to their amusement. Malachi and Maleo continued their journey through the packed agora, as they were nearing the north exit, he spotted two of his friends at their family’s food stand, so he headed over to greet them. As they go closer Maleo recognised the younger and shorter girl and bounded over. “Hey Maleo, how’s my favourite kitten?” the girl said with a wide grin. 

Maleo wagged her tail and began purring as she got closer, then spontaneously rolled over. “Careful Lux, she's muddy!” Malachi said, Maleo took offence at Malachi's attempts to stop her getting a belly rub; so she shot a small bolt of lightning at him, much to Lux's delight. “Oh your muddy, yes you are,” Lux said as she stroked Maleo’s belly, she was careful not to get her blue nurses uniform dirty. Mud still speckled the white frilly colour and white shirt underneath however, so she stood up away from Maleo. “Sorry girl, gotta get back to work in a bit, you are a little mucky,” Lux said with a grin, as Maleo begged for more to no avail. “Hi, how are you both?” Malachi said as he got closer, “I'm good Mal, heading off for my apprenticeship shift in a bit, how are you? I ran into Claire earlier and she said you were off hunting rats again,” Lux said with a laugh, it seems Malachi's rat catching reputation was growing.

“Yeah, I hear there are lots of those buggers around lately,” the taller, and slightly older boy said as he began plucking two pheasants, he had just untied from his hunting bag. “Hey Prax, yeah there's been loads lately, even found a tunnel in Maize's farm, never seen one so large! Hopefully once he fills it, it'll be the end of them for a while” Malachi said cheerfully, although he was growing slightly tired of everyone asking him about his rat slaying adventures. “You know I've been seeing a lot of creatures around lately; something seems to have them riled up. I even saw a goblin scout the other day!” Prax said as he finished off plucking one pheasant and moved onto the next, with the skill of many hours of practice. “A goblin? Wow!” Malachi couldn't help being excited at the news, “I've only seen a few goblins, don't they tend to stay underground?” he said with evident glee. 

“There was a bestiary at work I read, that said that goblins are fairly intelligent and dangerous; often travelling in large groups when on the surface, the scouts were sent ahead to look for possible targets for the larger group to raid. Once the raid was over, they returned underground with their haul,” Lux said with the confidence of a book smart individual. “Trust you to read a bestiary on goblins, when you’re practising to be a healer, Luxana” Prax said with a mischievous grin “Well sooorrry...if I like to be well educated, dope,” Lux said as she poked her tongue out at her brother. “So do you think they are planning to attack Blue Mist then?” Malachi wondered aloud to no one in particular. “It is unlikely, from what I hear they don't go for areas that are well defended, although the farms on the outskirts are of course always at risk, so keep an eye out I guess.” Prax said with a shockingly similar mischievous grin to Lux, they really are siblings, Malachi thought to himself with a smile. 

“Oh, shut up you! Last thing we need is a goblin raid! You'll bring them down on us by talking about it!” Lux said with annoyed indignation. “You mean, like you are doing,” Prax laughed, Lux playfully whacked her brothers arm then picked up her bag. “Anyway, I have to be off, my shift starts in a bit,” Lux said as she petted Maleo’s head and gave Malachi a friendly hug. “So Mal, your sixteen now, are you going for the adventurers test finally?” Prax asked as he finished off plucking the last pheasant. Malachi was caught off guard at the sudden change in subject, he had been trying not to think about the news he had earlier about the new entrance fees. “Yeah, well...I'd like to, Claire gave me the forms earlier actually. I need to look them over. The test is in just three weeks apparently,” Malachi said, not sure if he should mention the entry fee. 

“Yeah, how are you doing with the entry fee, I hear it's ten gold now! That's ridiculous,” Prax said curious, and clearly angry at the fee change himself. “Ahh so you have heard? To be honest Prax, I only just found out, I stupidly thought it was twenty-five silvers, as if that was the biggest hurdle I have to overcome,” Malachi said dejected, but somewhat glad his friend had broached the subject as he probably wouldn't have. “Don't worry Mal, you can do it. It'll be hard but if you do enough jobs and get good enough to defeat a higher-level creature, you should be able to just about cover the fee sooner than you know it,” Prax said with a hopefulness his face didn't show. Realising his mistake Prax continued “well I know it'll be hard Malachi; I mean ten gold! That is far more money that I could ever hope of having. Perhaps, I mean, there are other professions Mal. And there is no rush, the world will always need adventurers. If you save up; get better at fighting stronger creatures as I mentioned and do as many jobs as you can in the meantime, I think you might be able to pull it off…eventually.” 

“Yeah...perhaps” Malachi said dejectedly; he had been dead set on being an official adventurer as soon as he turned sixteen, but now it seemed like he might not get to be one at all, and all because of something he felt he had little control over. Thinking about his circumstances were clearly making Malachi depressed; so much so that Maleo, sensing Malachi's sudden mood change, came over and started rubbing herself against his body like a house cat. The static electricity she gave off stunned him out of his stupor, unfortunately she also left a large amount of mud and water on his already dirty clothes. “Thanks girl...I think,” he said to Maleo, as he attempted in vain to wipe the mud off his trousers. “Well I better get going, I wanted to have a look around the new merchant stands before I head back, and I have a bunch of shards to turn in,” Malachi said, although now he wondered again if he would ever spend money again, if he was ever going to save up for the entry fee. 

“Don't be so down Mal, you'll be an adventurer before you know it! Or do something just as exciting,” Prax said with an apprehensive smile. Malachi returned the smile half-heartedly, then headed on his way; Maleo, who was walking slighter closer than before, followed behind him. Malachi was trying his best not to become depressed, the thought that he would no longer be able to an adventurer though seemed to make that an impossibility. I will be an adventurer, might have to be a mercenary for a bit perhaps, he thought, trying to stay positive. Mercenaries were similar to adventurers in a way but they hadn’t been through the guild test and so they weren’t privy to the quests submitted to the guild or any of their other benefits. 

However they were occasionally hired to act as back up and support when the guild needed more people, or when people wanted help but didn’t want to pay the guild fees or do activities that were more unscrupulous. Most of the well-paid work went to the guild, as they had a total monopoly on adventuring work due to being the sole authority for the adventuring guilds. Besides would anyone even want to hire a sixteen-year-old merc? Malachi wondered. The guilds got away with having younger adventurers due to their reputation and extensive tests, but mercs were a mixed bag so it was harder to break into with a recommendation. Maybe I could collect shards for that amount? Malachi wondered, after a few moments he quickly worked out that it would take a thousand green level shards to get ten gold. Oh gods, and forty thousand rats, I really will be Malachi, scourge of rodents at this rate. Although Malachi Rat Bane has a nice ring to it… Malachi couldn't help but laugh to himself. 

Malachi arrived at the exchange; there was a short queue of people thankfully. Some of those in the queue were clearly visiting adventurers, their high-quality gear made Malachi feel self-conscious that he really did look like a spiky tangerine, thanks Siva for that image! Two of the adventurers were very well armoured; a man and a woman that appeared to be in their early twenties, Malachi guessed by their crest – a golden lion with a crown, that they were members of one of the strongest guilds in Jan'arra known as Hyperion. I wonder what they are doing here, Malachi thought as he couldn't help but stare at the intricately crafted, black, and red wyvern scale armour both wore, with their long flowing white cloaks, and iron dragon horn helms. 

They looked quite out of place in the relatively poor Blue Mist Village. Malachi gawked when it became their turn to exchange their shards,’ as the young woman placed a red shard down. It glowed with an intense red aura, a sign it was full of essence. The clerk at the exchange was visibly shocked at the amount placed in front of her, as she called a supervisor and a guard to collect the amount from the vault. “If you bear with us Ma’am, we have to make sure we have enough, that is quite the haul you have there.” Malachi heard the exchange assistant say. “Really? This is nothing, is forty gold worth of essence really that much here?” The woman said, “You cleared out this back water village, Arc’anna,” the man laughed under his breath, with little subtlety. 

“As you know sir,” The clerk responded, clearly offended at the remark; “red shards only drop from some of the strongest creatures in Jan’arra which rarely come this far south due to the Whistling Mountain range to the north, that thankfully protects Blue Mist Valley from the most significant threats. The most anyone around Blue Mist Village would likely come across is a yellow shard from one of the local creatures who have gorged themselves. And even those are only worth one gold twenty silver when full. As such we do not usually need to carry so much gold in our vaults.” The assistant finished saying in a very matter of fact, condescending tone. 

“No need to get pissy Miss, we mean no harm, reds are fairly common further up north due to all the dungeons. We only came down here on request from the local lord, apparently some of you aren't paying your taxes...and need some encouragement,” Arc’anna said with a mockingly pleasant, clearly menacing tone. The male adventurer suddenly turned to Malachi, “Hey you there? Where did you get that gear, Hallows Eve is coming up and my niece would love to look like a scary orange.” The man bellowed with laughter; Malachi turned bright red and was too embarrassed to be offended at the sudden remark. “Come on now Jessup, it’s clearly a farm boy playing at adventurer. No need to make fun of him, besides, I doubt you would have the intelligence to use...orock leather, is it? to make armour!” The raven haired Arc’anna was quite stunning, Malachi couldn't help but blush at the seasoned adventurers back handed compliment.

“Ha well, I guess you are right! Arc. But it does look a bit silly...Holy gods. Is that a zaipen!?” Jessup suddenly said clearly shocked as Maleo trotted up beside Malachi. Zaipen? Malachi had never heard the term before, he had tried in the year since finding Maleo to find out what species she was, and where she may have come from. But no one had any idea, Claire mentioned she'd ask around at the guild but so far, she had got nothing. Malachi couldn't help being curious at what they knew, so with some effort found his voice finally. “Yes...yes ma’am its Orock leather, and I made it myself. I want to be an adventurer, so I made armour. As for a zaipen? To be honest sir I have no idea what Maleo is, I rescued her last year during the storm. I don't suppose you could tell me what you know?” Jessup was clearly still shocked at seeing Maleo and just stood dumbfounded staring. 

So Arc as he called her answered instead. “That is a zaipen, it is one of the rarest creatures in Terra’nor and extremely dangerous. The fact you are alive and appeared to have tamed it is impressive,” Malachi looked at Maleo who purred intently as she seemed to listen to the conversation. “They are said to make incredible companion pets, and as such are worth at least one goba.” Malachi almost had a heart attack, one goba!? A goba was a thousand gold pieces, it was short for gold bar and had been abbreviated over time. “This one however has clearly bonded to you making her a summoned creature, so I am afraid she can't be sold.” Malachi couldn't help but be slightly disappointed, not that he would ever seriously consider selling Maleo, as she was basically like a sibling to him now. 

Ark continued “A zaipen as far as I know, is a highly intelligent creature that usually represent different elements, I assume that one is a thunder zaipen. They are said to bond to the most powerful adventurers, or those they greatly respect. I guess you are the latter, not the former.” Maleo clearly liked being referred to as highly intelligent, as she suddenly walked over to Arc and purred loudly. Arc tentatively reached down and stroked her, then winced at the static shocked she received. “I see that would take some getting used to,” she said as she shook what looked to be a now numb hand. Jessup was still standing there in shocked awe, a zaipen clearly was a rare sight. “Oh right a thunder zaipen, they are rumoured to be born during the worst of storms. Anyway, what is you name kid? Anyone with a zaipen is destined to be a force to be reckoned with.” Ark said with a smile and somewhat envious and mischievous look in her eyes.

“Malachi Jan... I help on my families orock farm at the moment. But I will do the adventurer test at the end of the month if I can get ten gold,” Malachi said, suddenly ten gold did not seem so insurmountable. “Hmm well, good luck Malachi...Jan... that name...it sounds familiar. Anyway, good luck that amount of gold around here would be difficult to get I guess. Anyway, ours seems to be here, so we are off. Cya around Jan.” The exchange handed over a large bag of gold coins, Ark quickly counted them Malachi couldn’t help but stare, forty gold! Malachi thought as shocked as Jessup still looked at seeing Maleo, he couldn’t believe how much gold was there. “Thank...thank you for the advice,” Malachi voice trailed after the two adventurers as they stalked off. 

Jessup was still looking back at Maleo, Arc hit his arm playfully causing him to jump, he ruffled his hair and took one last look before they turned the corner. Malachi handed over his shards to the clerk, “what arrogant people they are, don't you act like that when you’re a successful adventurer Mal!” The clerk: whose name Malachi finally recalled was Reina, said with an annoyed air about her. “Yeah, they were a bit rude...but she did give me advice and tell me about Maleo I guess” Malachi said as Reina handed over fifty coppers for the quarter filled blue shards, and suddenly the reality of getting ten gold hit Malachi again. “Argh, why did they have to raise the guild test price?” Malachi mistakenly said aloud. Reina sighed in agreement. “Yes that is unfortunate, I hear they were forced to by royalty. They are apparently unhappy with how much power and influence that the guild council has, so they want less people becoming adventurers. They have hidden it under the air of improving the quality of adventurers and insuring there are less casualties among new adventurers. To be fare that is a good reason to be more selective, but ten gold? it is too much. Itll force young adventurers to take on far too much risk or only allow the rich to become adventures.” Malachi didn't really understand guild council and royalty politics but seemed immensely unfair to him that they had to do this now when it was his turn to be an adventurer.

“Thanks Reina, I guess I’ll just had to get better then,” he smiled half-heartedly and carried on out of the building to the new agora. There was still heavy rain outside, so Malachi and Maleo ran across the muddy plateau to the new agora entrance. The newer northern agora was around a year old now; and was a large white marbled square shaped building, it differed from the old agora by primarily being roughly two times larger, with more space for indoor shops and temporary stands for travelling merchants. The agora had created hundreds of jobs for Blue Mist; and many saw it as the pride of the village, well at least that is what the sign outside said. In reality, the rental prices were so high it was only the travelling merchants that used the building. Many of the shop spaces that were meant to be for high end permanent shops were now reserved by high end merchants on a temporary basis and often stayed empty during the winter and autumn when fewer people travelled. Malachi headed into the building, with Maleo close behind. She was still drawing a large crowd, it felt strange to Malachi that he now knew what Maleo was, although what exactly that meant he was not too sure about. What did it mean to be born of a storm for instance. Malachi browsed the stands as he went, there was a variety of products on offer. A stand at the entrance seemed to be selling enchantments. The devices used essence powered devices to enhance equipment and sometimes the user’s abilities on a temporary basis. 

Malachi had a look at the devices, although there was no way he could afford any of them. Many were priced at two gold or more, they know this is a poor village, right? Malachi thought sarcastically as he browsed the extravagant wares. There was one particular device that stood out, it had a glowing black shard in its centre. A black shard was the second most powerful of shards, only the strongest of creatures had them. The shards contained a far larger concentration of essence within; from what Malachi had heard, every tenth of the shards total essence was worth ten gold, the amount he needed for the entrance exam. The device glow wasn't overpowering; at first glance he guessed it was three tenths full. It gave off the strangest of auras like a black smoke, which vibrated the air around it in a similar fashion to a heat haze. Nothing around it lit up, so perhaps glow wasn't the correct term to use, it emitted? but there was definitely some type of aura to it. Malachi read the sign, which said it was a necklace that enhanced essence potency and longevity. 

There were a few rings on the table, some did a similar thing to the necklace although one would assume with less potency. Others seemed to allow the casting of particular types of attacks, for example a ring that gave the user some control over fire. Malachi found the entire thing fascinating, although he found himself having to move on as the merchant appeared to be getting irritated at him browsing without buying, although judging by the looks he gave him it was likely due to Malachi's overall appearance as well. He was caked in mud after all, and oddly coloured makeshift armour. Malachi carried on browsing the stands, there were clothes stands that were selling ornately decorated dresses for high society functions, there were similar stands that sold the equivalent for men. There was a stand that was selling toy pets, which were pets so small they could fit in a small home. These too were extremely expensive, at a few golds each. 

The stand was filled with a variety of small cages that had various fantastical creatures in, from the humanoid shroom pixies, death cap spiders, and even grass wyrms which were one of the smallest dragon species, not much larger than an adult hand. They had regular pets as well like rabbits, cats and dogs, these ones were more reasonably priced at around twenty silvers to forty. Malachi had thought of saving up to get a dog himself, before he found Maleo. It would have been his goal after becoming an adventurer, he was starting to wonder if he would have to reassess all his goals now. Malachi pushed aside the creeping depression, as he approached his favourite section of the new agora, the armour and weapon stands for adventurers. He could not help but be excited, despite not being able to afford anything he saw. There were ornate swords, daggers, maces, and spears. Each were made of unique metals, and some glowed with essence from the embed enchantments or the glow from the rarer materials that were concentrated with essence. 

These weapons were around the forty-gold mark. Malachi saw a similar wyvern scale armour to the ones Ark and Jessup had; his mouth dropped open slightly when he saw the price fifty gold! They were wearing full sets, so around four hundred golds worth of armour. There were stands nearby that had cheaper gear on, they appeared to be from the apprentices from the city of Lenora that was to the north of Blue Mist Valley beyond the Whistling Mountains. Although they were still out of Malachi's price however, with cheapest bronze sword being thirty-five silvers. Malachi carried on browsing when he arrived at the shops that had been rented out. Generally these were all higher end versions of everything he had already seen, but at the back, one store stood out to Malachi as it sold books. As Malachi got closer, he realised that these books weren't for entertainment purposes either, they appeared to be instruction manuals for various shard arts and fighting techniques, as well as many research journals for shard arts and other skills, books on tactics and strategies for fighting, shelves full of bestiaries and a variety of books on diverse skills such as carpentry, road building, and economics. Malachi mouth opened and closed in awe, I could learn so much from these books! But it was the ones on shard arts that really stood out to Malachi, who had been wanting someone to explain shard arts properly to him ever since his experience the year before. 

“Can I help you sir,” an elderly woman said as she came out from the back of the store. She had silvery white hair, with streaks of black. And was wearing a white v shaped bodice and an elegant black petty coat, something about her eyes made Malachi slightly wary as if she had some hidden power. “You appear to have the look of one who wants to learn,” She said, strangely astute to Malachi's wishes. Malachi looked at the prices, they were all over five gold. “I'm sorry ma'am I'd love to purchase your books, but I just don't have that kind of money.” Malachi said, he was hoping there would be a really cheap book he could buy for at least some insight into the shard arts. “Hmm, how about a trade then? I see you have a zaipen. 

Very are...yes...very rare.” The old women said with a glint of glee in her eyes. “Sorry ma'am I could never trade Maleo for anything,” Malachi said defensively. It was the second time he had heard Maleo referred to a as a zaipen, perhaps I should have tried a bit harder to ask around before, Malachi thought as he was surprised someone else knew what Maleo was. “Oh no, I would never do that, zaipen bond for life young man. You cannot simply trade them, no... no. But that does not mean they don't have value. I would happily trade for the lightning that it can produce for any of the books up to five gold,” the women said with a mysterious air about her. “Huh, how do I trade her lightning?” Malachi said completely confused “and why is it worth uh...why is it worth so much to you,” he added a little suspicious at his sudden luck.

“Firstly, I will not tell you my reasons for wanting the zaipen's lightning. That business is my own. Only that it is worth something to those like me who have the means to capture it and use it. Which brings me to the second answer, I have a bottle here that is infused with a special type of essence enchant allowing it to catch lightning. If you agree to this trade, simply have your zaipen fire a bolt of its lightning into the bottle.” Malachi listened intently, the thought of getting one of the books pushed his suspicions further back in his mind. What harm could it do? He thought, it wasn't like I would ever be able to buy the books any other way. Then something occurred to him, and he tried to formulate his thoughts as clearly as possible. 

“I'll give you three bottles worth, if you trade one book worth five gold, and give me ten gold in exchange for the other two.” Malachi said, perhaps all that time listening to Lux and Prax haggle, has rubbed off on me, Malachi thought. “Hmm, that is a tempting offer young man. Unfortunately, I do not have ten gold to hand, but I do have five gold. So I could give you two books, and five gold if you would oblige me?” The women said with a sly smile. Five gold! And two books? Yes please!! Malachi thought as he tried to hide his glee at his sudden change of luck. “I agree, thank you. So..erm...how should I do this again?” Malachi said, gesturing for Maleo to come over. “I will place these bottles on the floor, simply have your zaipen shoot its lightning, the best it can do, into each of the bottles.” She said as she placed three jars on the floor, each had a smooth dun red shard encrusted on the top, and a variety of full shards around the top rim and base. 

“Very well, Maleo did you get that?” Malachi looked at Maleo who had been appeared to have been listening intensely to the entire conversation and understood it, which baffled Malachi completely. Until something even more strange happened, Maleo looked directly at him and seemed to actually say Yes, Mal. If that is what you want, Malachi thought, he was imagining things. Did...Did. I just read her mind! Maleo suddenly lit up with electricity, it seemed to be charging for longer than it had done before, at least a full thirty seconds then a sudden and powerful bolt of lightning shot out at the first bottle. The elderly merchant yelped at the sudden intensity of the attack as it lit up the entire back of the agora and made a loud thunderclap sound. 

The merchant quickly sealed the first bottle which glowed brightly, as what could only be described as lightning in a bottle jumped around inside like a miniature thunderstorm. A few people outside yelped loudly at the noise and bright light. Maleo appeared to be panting, it seemed to take quite a lot out of her to fire off such a fully charged bolt. “Are...are you okay girl?” Malachi asked aloud, Maleo seemed to understand him and subtly nodded. I'm having a conversation with a giant cat, Malachi thought as the situation got increasingly surreal. Maleo began charging up another bolt, this time for about a minute, and once more she fired off a large bolt of lightning, which split into two. There was a double clap of thunder this time, and all three jars were full which Malachi gathered from the red shards on the lids glow.

A few people had come over to see what the commotion was, but the merchant simply waved them away. “Don't worry folks, just a little trade going on here! Nothing to worry about” She said with an air of authority she clearly didn't have. Maleo was panting loudly and sat down. Malachi gave her some dried meet, then just starred as she seemed to think thank you, Mal, Malachi was so taken aback he almost forgot to go and pick two books. “Thank you dear, these are actually much more potent than I thought they would be. As such, I will allow you to have any two books here. And I'll give you six gold as well” She said, Malachi just stood in wide eyed silence as she plopped a large bag of gold coins in his hands. Wait, didn’t she say she only had five gold? crafty woman…But he didn’t air his annoyance at clearly being haggled for less money that he probably could have got. “Uh...thank you so much Ma'am, you don't know what this means to me,” Malachi said in awe. “No worries lad, and back at you, you don't what this means to me,” she cackled with glee. 

“Now pick your books, was there anything in particular you were after?” She asked, as she seemed to be in awe herself at the three glowing bottles of lightning, she held. “Well, I want to be an adventurer. I'd like to learn more about the shard arts; I think that would help. Do you have anything that teaches what it is, how to use it, a theory book I guess?” Malachi said, as he voiced his thoughts. The merchant seemed to glance at his daggers hilt for a moment, her eyes transfixed. “Hmm, well, I do have this one. It’s my rarest and oldest book, I wouldn't usually offer to sell this or trade in this case, but you really have given me far more than I could have ever hoped for. And besides, I think this particular book would be of interest to you…” She said without elaborating. Malachi waited as she disappeared into the back of the shop. Is Maleo's lightning really that special? Malachi was becoming a more worried and suspicious of what he had just given away. 

Apparently, it was also more than she even expected to get. Hopefully, this doesn't come back to bite me. Malachi couldn't help but think as the merchant returned. She held an old, leather-bound book. It had a gold leafed latch that held it closed, that had worn with time showing specs of the green and orange bronze underneath; the leather was speckled with wear and tear, and discoloured patches. It really was an extremely old book; Malachi guessed a few hundred years. “This book was one of the first written about the theory of essence, if you really want to learn about what essence is, and ultimately how it can be used with what we know as shard arts, you should read this. As for a more practical book on application I have these two. One is how you can create enchantments by infusing essence, and the other is on fire manipulation. Although that may be far too advanced, and quite frankly dangerous for a beginner like yourself.” Malachi thought for a moment, “Yes, I’ll take the enchantment book and the theory book. Thank you for your advice. And once again thank you for giving me this opportunity.” Malachi gushed, the merchant smiled once more, “ha, my boy it is a transaction. We both got something out of this, and honestly I believe I may have gotten far more than you realise. Perhaps. Once you have read that book you will understand what you have.” Malachi bid farewell and walked back through the agora with Maleo. 

He couldn't believe his change in luck, he had just gained two rare books, and six gold! He now only needed four gold and twenty-five silver to do the test. It was definitely a much more imaginable achievement to accomplish. Malachi wondered around the rented shops some more, there was one that sold various tools, another that was full of various potions and rare herbs. He stopped by another shop that was selling various travelling bags and other equipment for adventurers. There were a few that were a few golds in cost, Malachi had a look at them out of curiosity. “Argh my boy, you have a good eye! This is a contraction bag, watch this!” The merchant said as he spotted Malachi eyeing one particular bag. Malachi stood mouth agape once more that day as the merchant grabbed a bunch of random items and placed them in the bag, as he did, they miraculously shrunk down considerably. The merchant then removed the items, and they somehow returned to their original size. 

“What. How did it do that?” Malachi asked the merchant. “Well, bear in mind I don't actually make them myself. From what I understand all things are made of essence; these bags are infused in such a way that they remove essence from an object that is placed inside. Then they restore the essence as its being pulled out. It allows you to carry many more things, although the weight stays the same regardless of whether it shrinks or not. So don't get over ambitious when you fill it” Malachi thought for a few moments, the cheapest of these types of bags was one gold seventy-five silver. It was extremely expensive, but if you can carry more, you can earn more he thought, and against his inner voice saying yes and no every few seconds, Malachi reached into his pouch and pulled out the money for the cheapest of the contraction bags. “I'll take this one please,” Malachi said of a football sized bag, which had a square shape to it, the leather was pitch black and had red accents around the seams. The bag could be strapped on to his travelling belt or be thrown over the shoulder. 

The merchant seemed completely gobsmacked that Malachi could afford the bag, after looking at his mud-stained clothing and strange gear but didn't ask any questions when handed the gold. Malachi placed his new books in the bag that immediately began to shrink as he did. He could feel the heft of them still as the merchant said he would, but they were much easier to carry now. Malachi also placed his gold in the bag which seemed to have a lock. “Is there a key for this?” Malachi said baffled at the odd device that appeared to be a round dark violet shard, with a circular gold leaf rim. “Oh my supplier said that is an infusion lock, you put your essence into it, and then only you can open it. Although you'd have to be reasonably adept at shard art basics to do that,” Malachi sighed, I probably should have asked that before buying, oh well.  

He left his gold in his belt that he could lock and then headed to the door. The rain was still pelting down, and Malachi didn't want to risk his new, well old, books getting wet. Even though the tag had said it was waterproof. So Malachi found a place out of the rain to sit and wait the storm out. There was a large tree that was hanging over a wall from the other side, so he headed over and leant against it to skim read his books. Maleo laid down beside him as he sat leaning against the wall. She was clearly exhausted from the few fully charge bolts she shot off, I’ll have to remember that for when in battle, Malachi thought as he stroked her head and gave her the last of his dried meat. Malachi quickly added up what he needed to make now, to do the adventurer’s test. He had four gold twenty-five silver left now he had purchased the bag. Which meant he now had to make five gold seventy-five silver, to do the adventurers test, luckily, he had the admin fees saved up already. So he needed about five full yellow shards, when he broke it down it really wasn't as bad as he initially thought. I guess cost is relative, Malachi thought as he grabbed the essence theory book the merchant had given him. 

There didn't appear to be a title on the books cover, but when Malachi opened it up though it did say “Essence theory and observations, by Katilin Daw” Is this is a research journal? Malachi wondered. He turned the page. It did seem to just be notes and observations like the first page suggested. “Essence is found in all things; it is often said by the casual observer. As if all things are only partly essence. However, in truth all things, are in totality, made of essence and thus related to each other. I suspect we are entirely made of essence. Furthermore I believe a shard art wielder does not wield or manipulate essence in the way they assume they do, instead I believe they make a connection to it and then ask it to do what they want.” Malachi contemplated what he just read; Everything is essence...what? He was confused; he didn't think that everything was made of essence. Wouldn't we know if we were? He thought perplexed. The part about essence being asked to do something though did make some sense to him. If essence is alive, then you can probably train it, like he had done with Maleo.

When he pushed on the water buckets, he was thinking move in that direction. Perhaps he had to be more specific. He carried on reading. “Often shard wielders use their hands to gesture their commands, they believe that they are pushing and pulling, but I believe that they are actually subconsciously asking the essence to move with them,” Malachi felt like he had just had an epiphany, so he placed the book back in his new travelling bag and walked over to the entrance. The rain had died down somewhat, so he decided to just walk out into it, he was already muddy and wet after all from earlier. And a little bit of rain should be blocked by the leather of the travelling bag At least for that price it should! he thought. Malachi walked a bit further out into a quiet area of the plateau, there was a large puddle of water nearby and a bunch of boulders, so he went over to them. It was far enough away from the agora that he wouldn’t disturb anyone again. 

Malachi pulled out a blue shard; then he tried to feel his essence, once again it felt like something similar to a residual warmth from a heat source, although this time he felt like the warmth was coming from something coursing throughout his body. Surprisingly, this sensation came after a few seconds; much quicker that it had ever before, although he wasn't sure why. Well I was just talking to Maleo, so perhaps I was just imagining it being quicker. He thought, trying to come up with a somewhat logical answer. Although he was starting to wonder, if what his dad had said about being mist touched might be true. Malachi put aside his thoughts and concentrated on this strange new feeling. He then reached out to the shard to try and feel the warmth that it emitted, like he had done when he rescued Maleo. This time he felt a strange sensation, instead of one heat source he felt multiple, it appeared to Malachi that he could sense all of his shards. Hmm, that is new. He thought, impressed with his own advancement, especially considering how little he had improved the last six or so months. 

Malachi tried to concentrate on the shard in his hand, it seemed to become slightly hotter a few moments later. Then at first, he did what he usually did at this stage, he took that sensation of warmth and tried to push on the puddle. The result was as expected, as the puddle exploded sending mud and water in all directions. Maleo deftly dodged, but Malachi wasn’t so lucky and was now covered in even more mud. Wonderful. Malachi thought as he brushed himself off. Malachi then tested his new theory, he stared at the water, then visualised what he wanted the water to do as he thought, move up, as he also moved his hand upwards as he had seen his dad do many times. Amazingly the water did as he wanted, it rose a few feet upwards then stopped level with Malachi's finger. 

Malachi slowly swished his finger side to side, hoping to make the water wiggle, but the water suddenly collapsed with the movement once again splashing him with muddy water. Maleo had hung back in anticipation. Malachi shard became dun; I have just wasted twenty-five coppers lifting a puddle of water up and splashing myself. This could get really expensive if I’m not careful, Malachi thought. There must be a cheaper way of doing this, are shard arts really only for the wealthy? Malachi thought frustrated. The shard was almost dun so Malachi decided he might as well try one last thing. Once again, he reached out, Move up, He thought as he moved his finger up, once again the water in the puddle raised in line with his finger, Now move with the direction of my finger, Malachi tried the much more complicated thought once again. And to his surprise it worked, as Malachi made a circle clockwise with his finger the water also made a circle with a slight lag in response.

Then Malachi thought about the lifts he had witnessed earlier, and he had to try one last thing before the shard ran out. Compress with my hand movements, he thought and also tried to visualise what he wanted the water to do. He put out both hands, palms together and made a small gap with his fingers. Again there was a slight, but noticeable delay in the water’s response. But it did respond, in a way Malachi wasn't expecting. He had thought to make a high-pressure hose, like the one his dad did for washing the orocks. Then it occurred to him, but too late to stop it, his dad had only used one hand and with more subtle movement. Suddenly the water compressed and shot out in the direction of Malachi's fingers, with an unbelievable level of force. A bolt of water shot through the air making a loud popping sound as it did, then it collided with a nearby boulder in an explosion of rock dust and water. When the dust had cleared Malachi saw he had made a fist sized hole in the boulder. My gods...Malachi couldn't believe what he had just done. 

The excitement got to him, so forgetting the cost involved he pulled out another of the blue shards. First, he tried the method that he had just done, he made the hand gestures, and fired a water bolt at the boulder, once again it shot forward with a popping noise and caused another fist sized hole in the boulder. The shard hadn’t used as much essence this time, but he felt slightly tired as if he had just lifted something heavy. Why did that happen? He thought as he examined the now half full shard. Malachi waited a few moments for the rain to refill the puddle a bit more. Then it occurred to him, it’s raining... and so Malachi reached out and connected with the water that was falling around him. It was much more difficult than he anticipated, almost an hour past as Malachi tried to stubbornly make a connection. I can do this, he thought, somewhat in desperation.

The rain was beginning to let up, it was now or never. Maybe I am over thinking this, Malachi just let his mind go completely blank as best he could. He tried to ignore everything around him only focusing on the rain, then suddenly there was an odd sensation of being surrounded by sparks. Malachi could feel a slight warmth every time the rain struck him, and he could almost see a slight glow to each rain drop. Malachi looked at the boulder and then tried his best to think of the rain gathering together, as if they were moving into an invisible bucket. He was starting to realise his intent was far more important than what gestures he articulated, although they did play a part. I guess body movement is important for communication Malachi realised, I really am just communicating with the world around me. Everything he had learned up until that point finally just clicked. A year of work no longer felt like a total waste of time. The gathered rain now looked like a large droplet of water floating in the air; he looked at the boulder and envisioned the water striking it, as he simultaneously pushed his palms together. 

He also sensed an energy from within himself, so I used my essence perhaps. As the thought occurred to him there was a popping sound once more and once the water flew through the air, then a few moments later it stuck with a colossal explosion of water, rock, and dust. The entire boulder became a pile of rocks, and dust in an instant. Malachi's mouth was ajar with shock at what he had just done as he realised that the adventurers test was within reach, and he couldn't suppress yelling in joy. A few villagers had wondered over to see what the noise was and to Malachi’s horror, a city guard came over as well. “Malachi Jan? is that you? What on Terra’nor are you doing?” The guard said. 

“Sorry sir, I was just practicing my shard arts,” “hmm, very impressive, that water bolt was good enough for a member of the city guard.” The guard said as he observed the scattered debris and small crater where the boulder had been, “but do it somewhere else please, you are causing alarm.” Malachi grabbed his things, surprisingly locking the bag with just a thought. Huh, I think I just used my essence, I guess I have improved he thought. Malachi apologised for disturbing the villagers and making a mess then began the trip back to Maize’s farm, back down the long staircase. He collected his wheelbarrow once he had finally reached the bottom of the stairs, which had become perilously slippery in the rain. Maleo jumped into the wheelbarrow once again, but this time Malachi allowed it as she was clearly exhausted from the mornings work. 

Surprisingly, it was only lunchtime, so much had happened already that morning, it felt like an entire day had passed to Malachi. As he made his way back through the village, many of the merchants were now placing their goods back outside. Malachi headed to a clothes store as he was leaving and brought a black leather jacket and cotton trousers with some of his money, relieved to finally being in dry clean clothes as he changed. He picked up some more dried meat for Maleo at a local pet store and treated her to a Bronks’ steak. The bronks were a small, feathered bovine species that roamed the plains to the north. 

They were fairly cheap to maintain, and their feathers, milk and meat could be sold. His father had actually considered getting some to expand the farm, but a trial run ended with the bronks being bitten by the orocks poisonous tail. Maleo enjoyed steak that day too. His father elected to buy another orock instead. Maleo scoffed down her steak, and Malachi could swear she said thank you Mal, which was delicious in a young and deep woman’s voice. “I am losing it...” Malachi said aloud. Malachi greeted Regan as he passed the gates once more, “Woah Mal, you got new clothes and a new bag! That rat catching business is really paying off!” He laughed heartily. Malachi grinned, “yeah, something like that.” Malachi then carried on with his journey back to Maize’s farm.