The Forgotten Legacy

When Shaun got to the waiting room he sat down on one of the chairs and just took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down and stay logical. The effects from using the lightning was still lingering, the euphoric energy running through him had lessened considerably but it was still there. He ignored it though and focused on what had happened. He had killed Trevor, something he had tried to avoid the entire fight. He had given him multiple chances to concede but he didn’t, he just kept pushing and pushing until he just snapped and ended it. It was his fault that Trevor was dead, yes, but he wasn’t in the wrong here. Did he deserve to die? Maybe, maybe not. But what he did know was Trevor wasn’t a good person, he had shown that multiple times over. He chose death, it just so happened it was by his hand. The more he sat the more the effect he was feeling in the fight seemed to lesson until it just disappeared. What the fuck.

He didn’t know what had been happening to him, he had felt like he was all over the place, not in complete control. Using lightning in that fight had been stupid, reckless. He needed to do better. He had a few things he needed to figure out now, the first being that he had shown his hand when it came to his power. This wouldn’t stay a secret any longer so he needed to get a head of it. He needed to pull back his emotions and think more rationally about things.

Bringing in Eric and Gabe on his lightning ability was fine. He had been trying to build a solid relationship with them for a while and he was confident that they would do what he asked of them. Vivenne was more of a wild card though. But she was strong, and in the future he figured she would have her uses if he brought her in as well. He would try to be her friend, but if that failed he still thought he would be able to use her in some way.

He had fucked up here and he knew it. Still, there was opportunity here. As long as he didn’t expose any more of his affinities he could spin this as just a lucky chance rather than something more. If he shifted perception to him being not just the highest level but also someone that was head and shoulders above the rest he may have a chance to really gain something more from this tutorial.

After spending some time thinking over everything that had occurred, he felt better, much better than he had when he first took a human life. He didn’t feel good about it but he also didn’t feel guilty either. When he felt like he was fully back in control he stood up and finished walking out of the corridor, back to where Gabe and Eric would be waiting for him, and Vivenne as well he guessed. As he expected he saw them all waiting, none looking too surprised to see him without a scratch on him.

“You won then?” Vivenne asked.

“Yeah, its done.”

“Where is the other guy?” She asked him.

“Dead. It’s a long story.” He didn’t know how she was going to react to that one, but she took it better than he thought.

“Doesn’t surprise me. That guy was spouting all sorts of shit when you were unconscious. I’m assuming there is history there?”

“You have no idea Viv. We all worked together back on Earth, Trevor was a….” Gabe told her the full story from beginning to end, they walked behind him as they spoke while Eric came up beside him.

“You okay? You know, after what happened in there?” There was real concern coming from Eric, he was more aware of the impact that it could have on him and was checking in which was nice. Although they didn’t get off to the best start he was bonding with Eric. They had not shared much about their persona lives but that didn’t mean that they didn’t care about each other.

“I asked him to concede, multiple times during the fight, but he didn’t. Xavier declared it would be to the death, I didn’t care though, I still asked. In the end he chose to die.” He didn’t even have to lie when he said it either, spending that time processing after the fight was worth it.

“You on a first name basis with The Empire rep huh? Bet there is a story there!” Gabe exclaimed from behind him, apparently both of them had been listening in on his conversation. “Where are we going anyway?”

He hadn’t told them where he was walking yet, but it should have been clear. They wanted to talk and the only place he was comfortable doing that was a dungeon. Besides they didn’t have much time before they would be called to the nightly soiree and they had a lot to cover.

When they arrived at the dungeon’s he led them straight to the low E grade one, figuring he would need to show them as well as tell them what had caught everyone’s attention in the arena, they were getting dragged into this so they needed to be prepared. This was the first step in fixing his mistake. He would tell them what they needed to know to ensure that he could control the story.

“Why are we going into the dungeon? I thought you fought alone?” Vivenne asked him.

“We need to talk and we need privacy, now everyone accept.” He said to them all.

When they appeared in the dungeon they quickly got the notification for the first wave, none of the others were fully prepared to fight, although they did have most of the gear on, no one left their apartments without their weapons and most their armour, not in the tutorial. Before they even had time to talk he went in and killed 4 of the 5 ants, but left the fifth alive, just missing its legs.

“Why bring us in this dungeon if you just wanted to talk? Why not the F grade?” Vivenne asked, and it was a valid question. But he would get to it in time. She was questioning him a lot lately, she needed to know that he was the one in charge here, not here.

“A lot has happened in the past day. You all wanted to talk and there are some things you guys need to know before tonight. This soiree is going to be, interesting? Dangerous? I don’t know. But you can’t go in blind, not after what happened in the arena.”

“Okay, where should we start?” Eric asked.

“I will!” Gabe volunteered, which was good because he really wanted to know what had happened when he was unconscious.

Gabe told the story from the beginning, Vivenne chimed in to pick up the missing parts of the beginning of the story. When it came to them carrying him into a shower, stripping him down and cleaning him. It seemed like Gabe and Vivenne, or Viv, as she preferred to be called, got along, some form of trust had been established, which was good, he needed to count on that if he was going to bring her in. She was the type of person that could be helpful in certain situations, especially when it came to people.

When they got to telling him about the soiree they attended it all seemed pretty mild, the major faction reps were there but didn’t interact with anyone, and no one was willing to approach them, sensing that they wanted to be left alone. All three of them had been approached by some of the clans though, some extended further invitations to talk again and others just wished them luck. Overall, there was nothing too outrageous that occurred.

When they were done Viv looked like she was going to start questioning him again but he just held up his hand and stopped her.

“What do you all know about affinities?” Shaun asked. Gabe and Eric knew what he had told them, Viv however knew very little. He then started an in depth talk on what an affinity was, what the elements were, their rankings, and the impact they had on one’s growth.

“I appreciate you telling us all of this but what does it have to do with anything?” Viv asked.

“Swear to me, that no matter what, you will not repeat what I tell you. If you do and I find out, you wont like how it ends.” He directed this at Viv mostly but the warning was for everyone.

They all agreed, Gabe and Eric immediately, but Viv spent a minute just looking at him, considering what he was going to say.

“I promise, but I won’t give my life, or the life of my people to keep this secret. So, if that's going to be a problem tell me now.”

He thought about it for a second, but really he didn’t expect any of them to give their lives for it, he wasn’t going to tell them everything, just enough that they will understand the impact of what he had to say. That would help lay the ground work, showing trust to Viv now would pay off down the line.

“That’s fine, I don’t expect any of you to give up your lives or anyone else’s to keep what I tell you a secret.” He decided to just come out with it. “Gabe and Eric know this, but you don’t. I have an affinity. For fire.”

Viv just blinked at him, first once, then twice. She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it. “How?”

“You know the dungeons in the last stage?” She nodded at him. “You noticed how they were all attuned to an element right?” Again she nodded. “I got lucky in the fire dungeon.”

“Prove it. Show me what you can do with fire.” She said.

“Okay. But remember, I am trusting you Viv, I expect you to do the same.” He gave her a hard look then and she gave him a nod.

He walked over to the legless ant and quickly killed it with his sword. He then went around and looted all of the bodies. When the 1 minute countdown was over he had them all stand behind him and watch. He handed over his sword to Gabe and said that he would show them how he could fight with fire using just his affinity, and he did.

He threw fireballs, one for each of the ants but one, where they hit the ants were blasted back and quickly died. He then took his sword back and made another legless ant. The fight was over before it really started, but that was the point, an affinity, even a basic one, was powerful in a fight. They all looked at him in shock. Even Eric and Gabe who had never seen him use an affinity before, only ever his gauntlet.

“That was incredible! You seriously just created fucking fireballs and threw them around like it was nothing! And they were so powerful! None of my attacks are anywhere near that strong!” Gabe was, in that moment, acting like an excited puppy, jumping around and practically cheering for him. He appreciated the sentiment.

“It makes sense. It all makes sense now! That’s why you are so powerful! You have an affinity!” Viv said, starting softly in disbelief but quickly growing to shouting at him, not in anger but in excitement. “Help me get one!” He ignored the last bit, although helping may have some benefit to him in the future.

“He isn’t done.” Eric spoke, causing everyone to look at him. “We knew about the fire affinity, you wouldn’t have bought us in here just for that. What else do you want to tell us.”

“Okay, time for the third wave I guess.” This time with his sword in hand he killed the last ant and looted the bodies. This time he stayed between the group and the ants. Just as the countdown hit 0 he formed his platforms of air and ran up into the sky, overlooking where the ants were. Without hesitation he sent down air strikes, decimating all the ants. Damn it, forgot to let one live.

He quickly ran back to the others, “Let me kill this lot and I will remember to keep one alive this time.” The all just stared at him, no one replying to him at all. When the next wave appeared he quickly dispatched the ants, this time being careful to keep one alive but legless. Running back he stopped when he got close to them again. “I don’t just have fire, I have air too.”

“No. Just, no. This isn’t fair!” Viv shouted at him. “Two! You have two affinity while the rest of us have none!” She was starting to sound like a child, but he ignored it for now.

“I thought you said only the elite, like only the best of the best had two affinity?” Gabe said. He had calmed down now, more in shock than anything.

“And that’s why you needed to talk to us? You showed both of your affinity in the arena and now everyone is going to know?” Eric nodded along as he spoke. “But what has that got to do with us?”

“No! We are not just skipping over the fact that he has two damn affinity! When? How?” Viv was spitting mad, not at him, not really, but she had finally come to the conclusion that there was no way she could ever beat him in a fight, not only that but he was so far ahead of the power curve that it would be near impossible to catch up. At least she knew what she was dealing with now. Crossing him was not in her best interest.

“I got….”

“I swear to god Shaun, if you say you got lucky in the air dungeon I will shoot you!” She is real mad. He held back his smile, although it wasn’t easy.

“You have to have a strong pull, or tie to the element you’re bonding. It just so happened I found that with two basic elements in the last stage. I have a book you can borrow, give it a read, I don’t know if it will be able to help you bond any affinity but you can try. From what I read it can take people years, if not centuries to find and bond an affinity. I really was just lucky.” He said, he was pretty much done with the book so had no issues letting her give it a read. He doubted it would be much use outside of gaining knowledge. But at least it looked like he was being helpful.

“Okay, while Viv calms down a bit, tell us why this impacts us.” Eric tried to get back to a productive conversation but it was hard, Viv was annoyed and Gabe was still just staring at him like he had grown a second head.

“Its more complicated than that. I told you about how basic elements can be formed into advanced ones right?” He started.

“You have got to be kidding me. Seriously? I swear if you pull out another affinity I will shoot you!” Good luck with that.

“Okay then….” I am going to need to keep an eye on her. “I didn’t use any of my affinity when I was in the arena, not until the end.” He proceeded to tell them everything that happened, Xavier changing the rules, Trevor talking about killing him, his conversation with the reps and finally about all the threats against them, how Trevor threatened to hunt and kill each and every one of them. He spoke about what he had been thinking and feeling as he listened to Trevor spouting on about taking away everything he cared about. Eric and Gabe were the closest thing he had to friends, and although it was still a work in progress it was the closest thing he had gotten to people he cared about since losing his family.

They all just listened when he spoke about everything he had relived, losing his parents, the feeling of being alone, and finally, he cracked, he was pissed at Trevor, but pissed at the idea of someone that would dare threaten to take something form him, that caused him to kill Trevor. When he finished Gabe rushed up to him, hugged him with all of his strength. He was till getting used to being hugged by people but he let it occur.

“I didn’t know. I’m sorry.” Viv came up to him as well and gave him a pat on the shoulder, Eric doing the same.

“Right, so, advanced affinities.” He cleared his throat and continued on with his story. “When you have two basic affinity, if they match up, you can form an advanced affinity. It isn’t something that many can do and it nearly impossible to even have an advanced affinity in the E grade, most can only bond successfully in the D grade, if at all.”

“That’s what you did in the dungeon, right? You created the advanced affinity and it nearly killed you? Would have killed you if it wasn’t for the health potions.” Viv said, now much calmer than she had been.

“And that’s what you used in the arena, an advanced affinity, which is why everyone is up in arms. Do they even know you have the two basic affinity?” Eric asked, to which he shook his head. “Shit Shaun, what a mess. But again, why does it involve us?”

“Trevor. When he was threatening the people I cared about he called you out by name, both of you. He also mentioned Viv, and how she helped me after the dungeon. You’re all in their sights now. For better or worse.”

“Is that a bad thing though? I would have thought it would be a good thing, not many people are invited directly into the major factions.” Gabe said to the group.

“Not bad, necessarily, but it means that the attention will be on us and we need to be careful with how we approach the clans and factions. If you want to join one, and they want you to, I don’t see why you shouldn’t accept. But read about them all first. Here.” He took out the book on factions from his inventory, handing it to Eric. “Read it, think it all over. And for you.” He pulled to the book on affinity and handed it to Viv. “I will be wanting it back when your done though.”

Viv read the title and opened to the first few pages. “You’re actually letting me borrow this? Where did you even get it?”

“Bookstore.” Eric and Gabe said at once, causing them both to laugh.

“Now you know everything.” He concluded.

“Except for what this advanced affinity is.” Gabe replied, not letting him get away without a show and tell.

“That’s why we are in this dungeon, I have a lot of testing to do with this affinity, you guys can leave if you want, or stay, sit and read for a while, watch me fight. Up to you. Just be careful, watch out for any stray attacks.”

He didn’t want to waste what mana he had so instead of killing the ants with lightning he finished off the 5th wave with his sword, getting boos from the others watching. When the sparrows appeared though he was ready to show them what his new affinity was, and he was more than excited to really test it out. Channelling the lightning through his body felt euphoric, not as much as before, but he was also using a lot less of it. Raising both of his hands, having put his sword back in its sheath, he aimed for the closest bird and with a push of mana he sent an arc of lightning cracking through the sky. Where the sparrow wasn’t quick enough to avoid the lightning and was struck down with one hit.

“Lightning! You overpowered dick!” Viv yelled at him. He just smiled, these birds had just gotten a hell of a lot easier to take down. And he was glad he had looped them in, he was making the best of a bad situation and slowly Viv was becoming reliant on him.