An Unbound Soul

The impossible child, Peter, who possessed both space and time affinities. Affinity attunement is born of the soul, and no soul could be attuned to conflicting affinities. No normal soul. Peter's soul was not normal, a fact written into the very name of his trait. On our first meeting, he was terrified from just standing in my presence. He had the [Privacy] skill, usually taken only by those who are particularly embarrassed by their traits, and had likely noticed my [Eye of Judgement]. I deduced that he was frightened by his own trait and refrained from prying further. I looked forward to his growth with something that would be described as excitement, were I the type to get excited. What new magic could be born from the combination of two conflicting elements?

A year later, there was a monster attack on Western Farm. An attack that made no sense and had no precedent. Ineffectual, perhaps, but an attack nonetheless. What drew the monsters there? There was only one point I knew of that rendered that village unique in any way; it was the village where Peter happened to live. Was the whole thing a coincidence? Was the System itself trying to correct the abnormality? There was insufficient information. Delvers often retired early, and in circumstances in which a quiet farming life well away from any dungeon looks like a good option. I requested my friend Cassian to suggest that a few such delvers settle in Western Farm. He happily obliged.

One of those delvers, a front-line fighter by the name of Warren, had returned with Peter in tow. There had been another attack, this time not on the village but on Peter alone. That confirmed that he was the target. And it had been an orc, a monster that had never before been seen on the surface. Unlike slimes, an orc could not be described as ineffectual; one orc could have massacred a village of rank two farmers. Fortunately, Western Farm wasn't completely devoid of people able to put up a resistance, even if we excluded their delver guards. In that group, we apparently now had to include Peter himself, who had dispatched the orc very nearly on his own. The autopsy had revealed a broken leg, a gouged eye, and a pierced throat. The wounds were impressive, given that they had been inflicted by a seven-year-old.

Peter entered, along with his mother Lucy and a further man I assumed was his father. [Eye of Judgement] identified him as David, a second rank [Farmer]. Peter's [Privacy] now out-levelled my [Eye of Judgement], restricting the information I could see to that available to [Analysis], but it was enough to see his growth over the past few years. Disappointingly, I saw that he had taken the class of [Body Mage], his one other available affinity. That was a waste; I had wanted to see the combination of two opposites. Maybe I should have pushed further on our first encounter. On the other hand, his growth was truly impressive; I was, after all, looking at a child seven years of age who had already reached his second rank.

Cassian jumped straight to business, no doubt wanting to get it over and done with, so I started with the question I most wanted answered, despite that fact that in all likelihood the boy wouldn't have a clue. "It appears that something wants you dead. Would you happen to have any ideas as to what?"

Peter's parents looked shocked, obviously not having previously considered that the attack might have been deliberately targeted, but this time Peter was remaining calm. "I'm not actually convinced that the culprit wants me dead," he replied.

That was not at all the answer I expected. If you don't want someone dead, you don't throw orcs at them. But that wasn't the most interesting part; Peter expressed no surprise at all about the concept of a 'culprit'. It seemed that he had also considered the possibility already. "Oh?"

He went on to lay out a convincing set of arguments as to why he felt that the attack was not supposed to lead to his death, but rather to hasten his growth, leading to horrified looks from his parents. Apparently, he hadn't shared this theory beforehand, and I couldn't fault their reaction. Triggering an orc attack on a child to force them to gain levels was inexplicably reckless. A better option than trying to outright kill him, perhaps, but so departed from common sense that trying to predict their next move would be useless.

It also led to the question of why someone or something would do this, a question which, when posed to Peter, left him loath to answer. "As to why... You probably have the same suspicion as me..."

Yes, I had a suspicion; his unique trait. The trait description itself only listed the effect of soul magic immunity, but it obviously had effects beyond that. In our previous meeting, his mother blamed his intelligence on it, and I could also assume it was responsible for his affinity attunement. "You refer to your trait, and resulting fact that you are attuned to both space and time affinities, something generally considered impossible?"

For some reason, Peter looked a little relieved at my answer, and even seemed to relax slightly. Was it because I had backed up his theory? Again, this information surprised his parents, and Peter apologised to them once more for not mentioning his time affinity.

Was the System itself trying to spur Peter's growth? Why? The System was not generally believed to be a conscious entity, and even if it were, there was no reason for curiosity in this case; the System would already know the result of combining opposite affinities. But what else could control monsters? Dungeons? There were conflicting views on whether dungeons were sentient. They never communicated, but some experienced delvers insisted that some examples of monster strategy were not possible by means of communications between the monsters themselves, and required some sort of overarching intelligence. Was there some reason to spur his growth that wasn't the growth itself? A different end result that required Peter to be stronger? We had insufficient evidence for any sort of speculation here.

Cassian interrupted the conversation. "We can speculate all day, but we aren't going to get anywhere. First off, please give us an account of your encounter and fight with the orc."

Peter described the fight in excruciating blow by blow detail, Lucy becoming progressively paler throughout. At the point he finished, falling unconscious with forty seconds of life left, she was physically shaking and David was not looking much better. He really did seem to be keeping a lot of secrets from his own parents. What a mysterious child...

Cassian was of the opinion that nothing about the fight showed the orc behaving in any sort of abnormal way, considering the low surface mana density. That suggested the orc wasn't being controlled; it was simply dropped right in front of Peter in such a way as to force him to engage it. And Peter had not been alone at the time... That was better than an attack directly on the village, but not by a lot. He had been with another child, Cluma, even younger than he was. All it would have taken was for her to trip over a stray branch and the village would have had a tragedy on its hands. There was nothing for it...

"Cassian, give Peter special permission to enter the dungeon. Peter, I won't tell you to deliberately throw yourself into danger, but do try to push yourself."

Everyone in the room, Peter and Cassian included, looked at me like I had gone mad. I sighed to myself; perhaps it was my unique position as the one responsible for this town and surrounding villages, but I thought my reasoning was obvious. "Peter said that the culprit was prepared to put him in harm's way, but it's worse than that; it's prepared to put those around him into harm's way too. The first time the whole village, the second time the child called Cluma. If he tries to hide in the village, it's highly likely that at some point in the future the village will be attacked by something worse than slimes. It would be better for him to advance fast enough on his own such that our mysterious culprit does not try to force the issue."

This time Peter was the one to pale, but he nodded. "Lord Reid is right. I don't want to put anyone else in danger."

"You can't. It's far too dangerous!"

"More dangerous than having orcs dropped on me while I stroll through the forest?"

Cassian sighed. "You're going to need some proper kit, boy."

His parents shuffled their feet, too embarrassed to speak what was on their mind. They didn't need to. Farmers from a remote village wouldn't have the money to equip someone with delving gear. Weapons and armour would need to be custom made; no-one kept a stock of such items for children. Survival gear was needed on top of that, plus an emergency potion or two. And even if they could borrow and beg to scrape together the money for it, would they want to when they thought the whole thing was a bad idea in the first place? There was no chance.

"Given his age, kit will have to be custom made. Get it ordered and send the bill to me."

That shocked everyone other than Cassian. Lucy managed to splutter out an objection. "We... We couldn't possibly impose, my lord."

"I should also point out that the guild sponsoring kit for new delvers is perfectly standard. I'm only stepping in because he won't be working full time. Nevertheless, like the guild, I expect to be repaid. And frankly, I'd prefer it if you did so by telling me what complex affinity is formed by combining time and space rather than with gold. I think you're wasting yourself specialising in your body affinity."

That made Peter smile. "I took [Body Mage] because space or time didn't have any offensive potential, which I felt was a priority with someone dropping orcs on my face. I intend to pick up the others when I get a chance."

Good. He was being logical. Cassian, on the other hand, seemed less happy, but that was simply because I expected him to do some work, so I had no sympathy. He was at least taking his job as seriously as usual, however much he complained about it.

"You'll need a team too, and it'll take time to make your equipment. I assume you want light armour and a normal wizard's staff? Given that there were years between the first and second attacks, I don't think we need to rush. Get to bed now, have Warren take you to get measured in the morning, then go home. Come back in the spring once it's easier to travel and we don't have to worry about you freezing your arse off. I imagine you'll only be here for a week or so at a time, so you can use a dorm here in the guild while you're in town."

"Kids grow fast. Wouldn't it be better to wait until spring before getting equipment made?"

"Enchantments for an improved fit are standard on armour. It's not effective enough to completely ignore someone's size, but it's more than enough to handle even a year of growth. It'll be better to get it sorted now than rush it later. Any objections from your side, Silvanus?"

"None. Again, I apologise to ask this of you, and please understand that putting a child in danger is not something I do lightly."

"I do. As the town lord, you must think of the safety of the village."

"Thank you. Then I will bid you farewell, and I hope to hear tales of your exploits."

All three of them nodded, Lucy looking obviously relieved that Peter wasn't about to go and charge into the dungeon right this second, before they gave their goodbyes and left.

With the visitors out of the way, Cassian turned to stare at me. "Really? You think this is because he has both space and time affinity? I'll admit that opposing affinities is something I've never seen or heard of before, but you said it's the result of a unique trait. I've heard of unique traits doing weirder things to people than that, and I've never heard of anyone else suffering this sort of problem."

I had to admit that at the start of the meeting, I did have an alternate theory. The trait description read 'the structure of your soul is completely alien to the lands you walk'. I could believe the monster attacks to be some sort of response to an invader. Just like the way we would drive out a wild animal who wandered into a town, the lands themselves could be trying to drive out this foreign soul. That didn't mesh at all with Peter's opinion that he was wanted alive though, and I had to acknowledge Peter's reasoning was logical. Were conflicting affinities enough for that? I was unconvinced. Maybe we'd never know, or maybe the next incident would be fatal.

No, wait... Peter never explicitly told me his theory for why he was targeted. When I mentioned the conflicting affinities, he looked relieved. In retrospect, was that really because I agreed with him? Or was it because I didn't see through the real reason? Looks like he's hiding his secrets even now... His desire to not put anyone else in harm's way was sincere at least, so I can leave well enough alone for now.

"It's as good a theory as any. Maybe next time the culprit will be kind enough to introduce itself and explain what it wants."

"Fat chance," Cassian snorted.

A fat chance indeed. Hopefully, time would serve to expose the truth.