Next Chapter: August 23 (approximate)
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Alden had wondered before what sky diving would be like. This experience didn’t match his imagination in the slightest.
“All right!” he shouted, only moments into his descent. “What do I need to do?”
He couldn’t see the others. He could hear their voices thanks to the comm dots on his ears, but they were firing demands and confirmations at one another using that in-group lingo that had given him trouble earlier. They were talking about releasing something, about whether or not there was an attacker, and about how much time they would have in the air. Alden couldn’t put it together into anything actionable.
I’ve fallen out of a plane. I’m falling. Okay. I just need to….what? What the hell do I do?
He was cocooned in his seat so snugly that he couldn’t move. He didn’t understand what had happened to the flyer or how he had gotten out of it. He didn’t think it had exploded. There was no fireball or falling debris. He’d just been in it, there had been shaking, and now this.
An ejection seat situation. I’m hurtling toward the ground.
But he couldn’t see the ground.
How high up were we? Is there supposed to be a parachute on this chair?
It was confusing. He didn’t feel like he was moving fast, but the wind around his chair indicated otherwise. He needed a reference point, and the sky was such a useless one.
Clouds, light, birds…where is everybody else?
There was nothing to hold onto.
Almost nothing.
Alden latched onto a familiar feeling. My entruster is that way. Bithe’s above me. To my right. There’s what’s important.
It had been a while since his sense of connection to an entruster had been such a comfort, but that comfort was short-lived.
Those tiny dots aren’t birds.
“Bithe, we’re getting farther away from each other fast!” Alden said.
The squad’s conversation shifted instantly.
“Why is he still in his chair?”
Tilliver.
“Alden! That’s too far! We said release!”
Bithe.
“What am I supposed to be releasing?” Alden asked.
“Seth, do you still have him?”
That was Emban.
“Yes! But not— ”
Seth.
“Alden, say ‘release’ right now! Say it!”
Bithe again.
“Release!” said Alden.
This minute of his life was just full of surprises. He thought he was about to get a parachute. Instead, the chair spat him out with a fwoof sound that was almost lost in the wind. Abruptly, he was falling through the sky without his cocoon of cushiony stuff.
This seems worse.
“This seems worse,” he said aloud. “The chair threw me out!”
“Good!” said Bithe. “Seth used her skill on us as we left the flyer.”
Driftseed?
His disorientation was bad enough that it took him more seconds to decide the slow spin he was doing, feet over head, wasn’t some normal way of moving in response to being released into the free air. Whipping his head around until he caught sight of the chair plummeting away from him toward the ground helped him with his perspective. The wind decreasing helped, too.
By the time Seth started rapidly explaining that she was using her skill in a way that was supposed to keep all of them drifting together in a loose cloud around her, Alden had sort of figured it out. Seth had hit him with her skill. Her skill couldn’t overcome the weight or magic of the chair, so not getting out of it as fast as everyone else had put him farther away from the group. He had complete control of his body in the sense that he could move his limbs however he wanted, but those movements had little to no impact on where he was in space.
Like I’m a dandelion seed flying around up here, affected by breezes and also by a loose attraction to Seth.
No matter how he turned his head around, he couldn’t see the squad right now.
“I’m not going to lose the drifting effect as we get too far away, am I?” he asked.
“It should last until you reach the ground,” said Seth. “But you’re not well tethered to me anymore. I don’t think you’re going to close the distance all the way. We’ll probably land in different locations.”
“That’s fine. At least I’ll land gently. I can find Bithe wherever he is.”
“This situation is not fine at all.” Tilliver sounded stressed. “You didn’t even know how to get out of your seat if the flyer went down. We’re going to look like irresponsible fools.”
Alden was too busy to respond to that immediately, and the others were talking without him anyway. He’d just discovered a miracle in the form of his backpack. It had been on the floor of the flyer, in front of his seat. Now, it was hooked around one of his legs, banging into his thigh and pulling at it as Seth’s skill and gravity batted him around.
I can’t believe I kept this! Did I have my ankle hooked through a strap as we ejected?
He collected the pack and put it on his back where it belonged, using absurd amounts of thought to perform the maneuver and buckle the sternum strap over his chest. It wasn’t even that hard, he just didn’t want to screw up and watch the pack shoot toward the ground below him like the chair had.
Having it, and all the supplies inside it, made him feel better. And by the time he’d secured it, he’d gotten more accustomed to drifting. Enough to listen again to what the others were saying and get some of the bigger picture.
They’d ejected in an effort to avoid a total wipeout. Since they were all still alive, and the flyer was now listed as destroyed, that had probably been a good decision. The knights had just received a call on their own comm device from another knight who’d seen their flyer disappear. They’d been advised to stay away from a particular area, where a hill that was almost a perfectly rounded cone was home to the demons that had presumably caused their accident. If Alden fell straight down from where he was now, he’d be miles away from it, so he wasn’t too worried about that. The ground was getting closer, but slowly, with his direction changing in response to air currents and whatever Seth was doing.
Alden had seen three members of the squad a minute ago before losing sight of them again. As long as they landed close enough together, in areas that were safe enough, the plan was to join back up and then make for their field.
“I have all of my equipment,” said Alden. “My kelsithe is still entrusted. I’ll be fine on my own until we regroup. Unless I end up somewhere terrible, I’ll move cautiously toward Bithe.”
Tilliver was getting weird, acting like he assumed the squad had to engage in a rescue mission to pick up Alden before they could do anything else. Alden wanted to prevent the regrouping from being framed that way as much as he could. They didn’t even know where they were landing yet. It seemed like Tilliver’s second thoughts from back at the staging area had returned with a vengeance now that they’d ended up in such an unexpected situation.
Like he thinks he brought a baby along just because I didn’t know I needed to get out of my ejection seat so that Seth’s skill could work.
Alden had said release as soon as Bithe had told him to say release. For the few seconds prior to that, they’d all been using the word release with each other without ever telling him what it meant. He couldn’t even see them. They could have been talking about doing absolutely anything as far as he’d known.
I think that was more their mistake than mine. If he feels the same, maybe that’s the bigger issue.
Alden waited for another gap in their discussion to say, “Running up the hill with a group of knights protecting me sounded too quick and easy anyway. I didn’t want to insult you all since you had that mishap this morning, but in my experience, it’s not an authentic corruption event unless something goes horribly wrong and I find myself alone, insufficiently equipped, and under-informed. Falling out of a flyer makes this closer to the right difficulty level, don’t you think?”
They all went silent.
“That was me being funny. Humans can be funny. You might not have known that.”
“We know humans can be funny,” said Emban.
“Just checking. The last time I met Noh-en, she thought she had to explain what exaggeration was.”
******
******
It was a long trip down with driftseed affecting them—the ultimate chance to appreciate the sky. Alden would have to tell Esh-erdi about it later.
He reached the ground ahead of the others, spending the last five minutes of his trip trying his best to direct himself over the crest of a steep green hill so that he could land near a spot he’d picked on the other side. Waving his arms and legs didn’t do anything, but he could adjust how he drifted somewhat by turning the kelsithe into different shapes and wafting the air around him. His trip back to the Mother’s surface ended with him using a large bowl shape to scoop air to give himself a little more time aloft. He’d originally thought he’d use the bowl like a parachute. Driftseed responded better to the scooping.
Briefly, he thought he might get enough loft to cross another hill or two, but an air current he hadn’t created caught him and blew him into the grass. He bounced off of it, so lightly that he wasn’t even sure it counted as touching down. But that was the only neat magical bounce he got. Seth’s skill quit on him, and gravity got to have as much of a say in things as it usually did.
He withdrew the kelsithe, twisted his torso in the way that felt most natural as he fell, and landed in a stable squat.
My Body Becomes My Assistant is such a good tool.
He’d been confused to start with, but here he was, landing on his feet after falling from a plane. He’d gotten the hang of blowing the air around with the kelsithe more easily than he thought he should have, and he hadn’t even had to use the anti-nausea injector he’d brought with him.
Divin was barely speaking to anyone because she felt sick from all the unusual motion.
He took stock of where he was. He’d landed near the base of the hill he’d just crossed over. The grass was short. The land sloped down away from him toward a cluster of trees, then it rolled on, forming a few small hills before he would come to the next big ones. On the other side of those is our hill we’re trying to get to. He’d seen it from above. He knew where they needed to go. It was a hike, but he could use his trait and his wordchain.
Demons?
He didn’t see anything that looked like one. Some demolished turf between him and the trees might have happened hours or days ago. There was a very faint reddish tone overlaying everything out here, but it was more noticeable over there.
That’s the indication of heightened chaos.
This was one of the few things his interface would be doing for him. If they were in real chaos, he’d have a feel for it. He’d be able to tell when it was extra strong nearby. The red tint was a substitute for his ability to sense that.
Going through an area that looked like that would increase his likelihood of encountering something and lead to more simulated wear and tear on his equipment.
The squad was still up in the air. He could feel Bithe. They were going to end up a few miles apart.
“I’m down,” said Alden. “I’m safe for now.”
“Get to a spot where you have good visibility and wait for us,” Tilliver ordered. “We’ll be right there.”
Despite Alden’s attempts to calm the knight, he was still too tense.
“All right,” Alden said. “I’ll use good judgment.”
“Don’t rely on your own judgment. Just get to where you can see. If there are no demons there, wait for us to come get you.”
Alden frowned. He had amazing visibility from here. There were no demons.
I can probably run a couple of miles before they land, though. Just sitting here doesn’t seem like the right call.
The Bearer of All Burdens serves the entruster. I don’t completely know what it means to serve yet. That’s so much to unpack.
But Bithe’s my entruster at the moment.
And Bithe’s that way.
He’d entrusted Alden with this kelsithe. He’d appreciated the decisions Alden had made on the Here-to-There. Alden thought Bithe would also trust him to navigate a few hills, but they couldn’t talk about it openly without it becoming an argument that nobody needed right now.
“There’s a spot near me where the ground’s damaged,” Alden reported.
“How badly?” Tilliver demanded. “What does it look like?”
“Not too bad, but something happened there. I’m going to get some distance from it before I stop moving.”
If the distance just happens to be two or three miles in the right direction, isn’t that convenient for all of us?
“I’ll be careful,” he said. “You all focus on landing safely.”
******
******
I get it, guys.
If you summon an Avowed who’s not ready and he dies, it’s like you killed him. If the summoning happened, in part, because you were trying to make a point about a completely unrelated matter going on with your squadmates, then it’s worse. And there are people you admire watching. Friends and brothers. Newlings. Declared. Votaries. Family. Doubters maybe. People who have stood up for you in the past. Ryada-bess.
It’s only training, but it’s not only training.
You’re showing all of those people who you are.
I get it now even more than I did an hour ago. I care about what I’m doing here, too.
Alden was running. A smooth, ground-eating pace with his trait active and the speed chain boosting him. It wasn’t so fast that he couldn’t keep an eye on his surroundings, and he was leaving himself plenty of energy if he needed to sprint.
He skirted around the bottoms of the hills instead of going in a straight line toward where he felt Bithe, but the inclines still made his heart pound.
He expected them to call and say they were on the ground very soon. It was past time.
I get it because I can feel those people watching me, too.
And I care that they’re watching. I care what they think about me as Sina Stu-art’h’s friend. I care what they think about me. As me.
In a way, I’m watching me, too. I decided recently on a path. I decided that I’d like to push against chaos.
I need to see me even more than I need you all to see me.
I should be stronger today than I was the last time I ran this far. If this was Kibby on my back instead of a pack, would we be okay?
He ran with the kelsithe unfurled and preserved. Just a small round shield that he could get in front of himself fast.
I think we’d be okay.
He steered clear of the redder areas. He went over options in his head for what he’d do if something came suddenly from above him or behind him, from the left or from the right.
As he rounded the largest hill so far, he made out a dark shape on the next one and he stopped, flattening himself onto his stomach, staring at it.
The light was getting dim. And he thought the distance was too far for him to see the red warning tint if that was a demon. He made himself breathe shallowly. There wasn’t much grass in this spot where he’d gone down. Without the ten-ring set he wore, the stones might have been cutting into his hands.
The thing moving on the opposite hill wasn’t a hazard mimic unless the ones they used out here were way more sophisticated than the one Stuart had borrowed for him.
They probably are. But still, that thing’s running up the slope so gracefully. It’s muscular. Quadrupedal. Like…
“Night vision,” he said as quietly as he could. “Magnify.”
His new lenses obeyed. The world became a little desaturated and significantly clearer.
Griveck.
Are they just here as an Avowed, or are they pretending to be a demon? I’m glad it’s not a griveck going about business as usual in the wild; I might already be dead.
That person definitely knew he was here. Because they were a griveck. No helmet even, natural senses fully available. Not to mention whatever their magic was.
But if they’re pretending to be a demon, they must have been given rules to follow. Don’t kill everyone you become aware of. Pretend to be a less intelligent and frightening apex predator.
The griveck hadn’t responded to him being here or talking to his lenses. So speaking again at that volume should be safe.
“Communicate. Local range,” Alden whispered. “Hello to the griveck Avowed near me in the float-stone hills region.”
That was professional enough, wasn’t it?
He didn’t think everyone out here would have the ability to communicate with him using tech. The griveck obviously wouldn’t have the same kind of comm dot earrings he did, and anything they did have might be broken. The other Avowed could have been out here for days killing things in the worst patches of chaos for all Alden knew.
But I think they can just hear me the regular way from here, right? If they don’t respond, they’re probably a demon.
The griveck spun around. A mouth gaped open, and Alden’s lenses gave him a high-definition view of a serrated tongue sticking up toward the sky. The griveck screamed.
<
Even from this far away, it was like having glass shoved into his ears. Alden wasn’t sure why the dots didn’t think he needed some sound muffling for that greeting.
So that’s an Avowed. And any demons that were around here just died of terror.
“Hello,” Alden said in what he hoped was a normal voice as he got back onto his feet. “Good hunting to you or good talk for me?”
<
I’m glad the translation on these works.
The griveck came to him so fast Alden had a hard time convincing his body that it wasn’t in danger.
She was as tall as him. Her name was another ear-stabber. She wove around him like a giant, deadly version of Victor, and she made it very clear that she was supposed to be busy by insisting twice more that she could only talk for a short while. Despite that, she seemed eager to set aside whatever important job she was doing to look at him.
He got the feeling she’d been resisting curiosity about him before he called out.
<
“I’m not a physically strong Avowed,” Alden said quickly.
<
“I’m on my way to join the others I was with. A squad of knights. We had a flyer accident. They’re that way.” He pointed straight toward Bithe. “Could you tell me anything about that direction?”
<
“Forduan?” Alden asked.
<
Alden pointed again and held it. The griveck looked in that direction.
<
Alden couldn’t hazard a guess at what name had been turned into Sssuuuu, but the info was good enough. “The squad was going to try hard not to land in Forduan’s territory, so them being right at the edge of it makes sense. Is it safe for us to come into this territory, where you and I are right now, and go around Forduan’s area? We’re trying to get to a hill with a chaos-resistant top. It’s—”
<>
“I’m not as prepared as you,” said Alden. “What can you tell me before you have to go?”
Any knowledge he could get might help them.
<
I have to go. Because they’re having fun. According to a griveck.
“Is there hunting that way?” Alden asked, hoping he’d misinterpreted.
<
“Thanks!” said Alden, launching into a faster run than before. “A pleasure to meet you! You’re right. I’d better go.”
She caught up in a couple of bounds.
<
“That’s so nice of you!” Alden said. “Good hunting!”
<
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