[i]Previously in Broken Honor…[/i] Suddenly, a step sounded from behind Clyde. Clyde began panicking, and he tried to call his lightning affinity, and though he felt the familiar warmth from the electricity arcing in his hands, he did not see the familiar blue light accompanying the feeling. Clyde felt a warmth breath on his neck, and he heard steps to his right. Suddenly, the blue light Clyde knew so well appeared in front of him, lighting up a man’s face in front of him. “Well, well, well… You’re awake.” A wide, evil grin broke out across the man’s face. [quote] “Alright, that’s enough for today. Mirage, you need to drink lots of water - that’ll help with your recovery.” Ronin stood up and began collecting the things that were set out around the campfire. “Jade!” Ronin called, then whistled two sharp, high whistles. Jade chirped once and ran off, ready to obey her master’s command. “Ooooh, my head… Ronin, please remind me to never do Bopsheezi’s catnip again…” Mirage groaned. She stood slowly, then took a water bottle from a bag and chugged it without stopping. Ronin placed all the bags by the rock wall and began to work on the campfire. Jade soon returned with some rabbits caught in her claws. Ronin took the rabbits and patted her on the head, congratulating her on a job well done. That night, the trio had delicious rabbit stew for dinner, one of the only meals Ronin has any kind of confidence in making. [/quote] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [quote] Ronin woke Jade and Mirage early. Though they grumbled about it, both of them got up and helped Ronin pack up the campsite. They worked in silence, eagerly anticipating the peak of the mountain. Ronin had predicted that they would reach the top that evening. They only paused after packing up the camp because Ronin held them back for a moment. “Listen, you two. I don’t think there will be anybody at the top. Let me tell you why.” [/quote] The morning that Shura and Velta headed to Elder Troy’s hut, Rysko made his way to the training school. That day, he was due to attend lessons with some of the other Mentors, namely Sensei Varvatos, Sensei Pancecé, and Sensei Feu Pur. When Rysko arrived, he met with Arte and Ichiro at the school entrance. “Rysko! Over here!” Arte waved as she called out to him. “Hey guys!” Ronin greeted the pair as he ran over. However, as he neared, he noticed a slight preoccupied look on Ichiro’s face. “What’s the matter, Ichiro?” “Well, Rysko, something bad has happened in the village.” At Ichiro’s words, Artie’s initially smiling face instantly transformed into a gloomy one. “Sorry, Arte. You probably don’t want to hear this again - why don’t you head on inside and wait for us in Sensei Pancecé’s class?” Arte nodded and solemnly trudged into the school. At that, Rysko began to get a little worried. “Ichiro, what’s going on?” “Arte’s father, Clyde, went missing recently. We have no idea where he is, not any idea how to go about finding him. The Hunters have gathered and are setting out right now, with several search parties. To be honest, Rysko, I’m worried. Your parents and my own are part of the search parties. Who’s to say what happened to Clyde won’t happen to one of them?” Ichiro looked out toward the elder’s hut while he spoke, a grave look in his eyes. “Ichiro… don’t say stuff like that. Come on, let’s go inside and get to class…” Rysko grabbed Ichiro’s arm and began to drag him toward the school, a mighty feat for him, since Ichiro was several years older and much stronger. In Sensei Pancecé’s class, the trainees would learn their everyday skills. Here, he and Sensei Feu Pur would partner up to teach the kids the daily skills needed to survive so far away from civilization. Today, they were to learn valuable cooking skills, but this was the one area Rysko couldn’t manage to grasp. “Rysko! How many times have I told you! Butter before the milk! If you do it the other way around, it ends up like [i]this[/i]!” Feu Pur gestured to Rysko’s dish, intended to be a simple pancake mix, but was now a messy sludge. The butter floated in the milk and slowly melted into the milk with the heat from the small fire below. “You have some real skill, Rysko. It takes [i]true[/i] capability to mess up this badly.” She shook her head and turned around. Rysko was saved by the other Mentor in the room. Pancecé walked up behind Rysko and put his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t mind her. She’s been in a bit of a tizzy the last few days. It was a good effort, Rysko. Follow instructions and remember them, and you’ll be able to cook like a master one day.” He smiled a warm smile, then chuckled slightly. “Oh? It looks like your butter [i]is[/i] floating. How did you even do that, I wonder? Butter doesn’t normally float…” He chuckled some more as he walked off after Feu Pur, calming the unfortunate students who were forced to stand in her tirade. At the end of the class, each dish was compared, and Sky won the congratulations of both Mentors for a job well done. She had masterfully crafted heart-shaped pancakes, and each tasted even more delectable and fluffy than the last. It was like tasting a little bite of Heaven. She received many compliments and congratulations, especially from Pancecé, who dramatically lamented how he couldn’t take her under his wing permanently so he could take that talent and craft it into his very own masterpiece. During Rysko’s next class with Sensei Varvatos, Varvatos has his full attention on Rysko. Rysko’s affinity still being hidden after so many years was proving a fun challenge for the old Mentor. “Rysko, it’s absurd! You’re 11 years old and your affinity still has yet to reveal itself!” Varvatos was pacing around the room. “Rysko, listen very carefully. You must feel some sort of power, some sort of tenderer of [b][i]GLORY[/i][/b], don’t you?” Rysko shook his head solemnly, then shrugged his shoulders as he spoke simply, “Sensei, I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel. I guess I just feel… empty? No, that’s not right…” Varvatos then stopped pacing and turned ever so slowly to look at Rysko. “Wait, what did you say? Empty? Hmm…” He began scratching his own beard, looking upon the child with a new light in his eyes. “Yes… I see now. My own affinity has given me clarity once again, it seems. You say you feel empty? Well, tell me something - you learn other skills much quicker than the other students, don’t you?” Rysko nodded slowly, understanding slowly dawning on him. “Yes, Sensei. The other Mentors always comment on how quickly I can learn skills. I don’t know how I do it, it just happens. What are you saying?” “Let me explain something, child. Each and every person is born with some sort of magical affinity, this much you know. However, we draw on our affinity by accessing a store of energy from within our souls, called your Vessel. This Vessel contains the total amount of energy you can use to unleash your affinity. Understand so far?” Rysko nodded. “Good. Here’s where your affinity comes in. You have learned many skills, very quickly. I believe your affinity is the ability to build your own affinities. You have an empty Vessel, but you can fill it with whatever energy you like. You trained for a week with the sword, and now you’re a match for some of our best students! Your hunting skills surpass some of our Hunters, whose entire job it is to excel at that very thing! Rysko,” he knelt down in front of the child and spoke softly, his words heavy with importance, “your affinity is the ability to [i]learn[/i], one of the greatest I have seen in a very long time. Go on, test it with this.” Varvatos pulled a small knife out of his pocket and placed it on the floor. “I’ve always wanted to try something like this. Now, Rysko - imagine that knife with exact copies of it lying on either side of it. Concentrate, now.” Rysko stares with disbelief at his Mentor, but did as he asked. After a few minutes of standing, perfecting each and every detail in his mind, two exact copies of the knife suddenly appeared on either side of the knife. Rysko stood, dumbfounded, and stared at what he had worked. Varvatos cackled like a madman. “[b][i]GLORIOUS!!!![/i][/b] You did it, Rysko! You learned a new affinity! See? I told you!” He chuckled some more and sat down on a carpet, watching Rysko intently. “Now, practice with your new affinity. Find its bounds and break past them.” Rysko continued after a while, practicing with the affinity as he was told to. He figured out that the affinity involved creating illusions to deceive the mind. If he wished, he could choose which minds could see through his illusions. However much he wanted to, though, he could not alter reality - he could hide all traces of his magic, but it would still be detectable as soon as someone interacted with it. [i]Continued below...[/i]