The Hermit, The Tower, The World (Vol.2 Complete)

28th of Inandyl - 4th Emder

The next morning's training session went by at a snail's pace and it grated on Calas' nerves. Even Daz was a bit much for him to suffer when he inevitably came around to get some more half-hearted sparring in.

"Did I actually see you at the race over the weekend?" Daz asked as he moved through a few punching sequences. Calas met the movements and casually deflected them.

"Maybe."

"Cal! What in the World Tree?" Daz switched up his maneuvers with a sweeping kick. "Why didn't you come with us?"

Calas rolled back and his weight shifted to the back foot to avoid the sweep to his front. He used the momentum to counter, shifting his weight back to the front and pushed Daz off balance. Daz recovered quickly by spinning out of the momentum and returned with a forceful punch. Calas caught it with an open palm and shrugged one shoulder.

"I was with someone else." He admitted in the most casual tone he could muster.

"What?!" Daz took a step back, disengaging from their bout. "With who? Oh! Was it that curvy Infernai?"

"No," Calas chuckled and relaxed his stance, but kept alert for Daz to pounce again. "That one might be free if you're interested." Calas smirked. Turn about is fair play, Vesa.

"Oh, really? That's good to know…" Daz knuckled the metallic scales at his chin, swept up by the possibilities that floated through his head, no doubt. Calas thought that would have distracted Daz enough to drop it, but unfortunately the Drakari wasn't that hungover today.

"Wait, no! I'm not gonna let you off on this one, Cal. Who were you with?"

"No one you know." Calas waved away Daz's question.

"Try me." Daz challenged.

"Beat me first." Calas goaded.

Daz's bronze eyes narrowed before he tilted his head in contemplation. "You promise?"

"Absolutely." Calas took a step back and flashed a cocky grin at Daz.

He was glad for the distance as Daz moved with new speed to close the gap between them. Calas had finally found a way to motivate Daz into a serious bout during a break, and he was thrilled for the distraction of it.

Daz feinted center and came at Calas from the side, but Calas shifted toward him, intent on pushing him off balance. Daz didn't let him though, as he swiftly continued through and away from Calas' grasp and pivoted quickly to block the strike that Calas had made toward him.

The Drakari grinned wildly as they continued to match each other, blow for blow in rapid succession. Each of them turned the tide against one another to attack, defend, counter attack, deflect, maneuver, and repeat randomly at speed. Their bout only increased in speed and intensity across the length of the training hall like one of their normal bouts on the pitch.

Daz caught Calas with a blow to his side and Calas instinctively tensed while he grabbed Daz by the offending hand, pulling down and toward him. It was a solid hit, one of three that Daz had managed to land on Calas during their sortie across the hall.

The Drakari lurched off balance in the direction Calas commanded, and for good measure Calas led him by the back of the neck to the ground. His knee came down between Daz's shoulder blades and pinned him to the floor. Except for Daz's sharp grunt, the hall went quiet, and Calas looked up.

Calas had been too focused on Daz to realize that the entire hall had stopped to watch them. It was a good thing that he and Daz had an accord about not using magic in their bouts outside of class, or someone could have gotten hurt.

Shifting his focus back to Daz, Calas rose and offered the Drakari a hand up.

"That was close." Calas commented as Daz took his hand to leverage himself to his feet.

"Not close enough." Daz muttered, rubbing at his face where it had connected with the ground. "Damn. I thought I had you for a moment by the dueling box."

"You almost did," Calas conceded, but then he smirked. "But 'almost' doesn't count."

"Would you tell me anyway? Ya know, for the effort?" Daz pleaded sheepishly.

"Not a chance."

"Come on, Cal, give me something! I was so close!" Daz paused for a moment before inspiration visibly struck him. "What about that curvy Infernai? How can I meet her?"

Calas' grin widened to show teeth. Revenge was so sweet.

***

Once the training hall was locked, he went to the Great Hall and picked up two lunches. He rubbed at the tingle on his pinkie finger with his thumb, and wondered where he could find her.

He started at the Library as it was the closest, but after a stroll through the stacks, he concluded that she was not there. He tried the Sanctum next, but it was easy to see she wasn't there, either. Briefly, he considered asking about which room was hers, but decided that was probably taking it too far.

It dawned on him then. The east tower. She was probably in her secluded study like the adorable hermit that she was. It was precisely why he should be drawing her out of that shell of hers. In any case there was no harm in looking.

Calas arrived at the east watch tower over the bridge shortly after, and found the door unlocked as it was before. He couldn't hear anything save the wind whipping outside until he crested the stairs. He smiled at the sight of Rea, sitting studiously at her one desk and one chair in the room, quill scratching on parchment.

She was so engrossed in whatever she was doing, that she hadn't so much as looked up. He shook his head at her intense focus, and cleared his throat to announce his presence.

Rea's head whipped around, a startled expression on her face. Calas smirked at her surprise, but still winced internally as he hadn't meant to scare her.

"You scared me half to death!" Rea exclaimed and heaved a sigh of relief as Calas approached.

Chou fluttered up to him and trilled her usual breezy greeting.

"Good afternoon to you both." Calas remarked, holding out a hand for Chou to perch on. To his own surprise, the small creature did so.

"What are you doing here?" Rea asked tentatively, her cheeks still flush with color.

"You know, I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by." Calas chuckled as he set Chou on his own shoulder and dug through his bag, setting a lunch container from it on her desk. "I brought gifts, though."

Rea set her quill down as her focus shifted from the box to him in a loop. Each time her expression shifted as well; starting from astonished, melding into a shy smile, and finally came to rest on him with a playful appreciation.

"You shouldn't have." She finally spoke in a similarly awed tone.

Calas raised a brow at her quizzically. "Oh, so you've eaten, then." He stated, but the implication was clear that he did not believe she had.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

A flush of guilt covered her face as she bit her lower lip, shaking her head. He groaned inwardly and his outward sigh was completely unrelated to her admission of not eating. Setting down his bag by her desk, Calas pulled out his own lunch and nodded toward the couch at her.

"Care to take a break?"

Rea nodded with enthusiasm and joined him and Chou on the couch with her own lunch now in hand.

"Have you been here all morning?" He asked as they ate.

"Since after breakfast, yeah." Rea's tone softened as she averted her gaze. "My room is too quiet to focus."

"And this tower isn't?" Calas contradicted, though he had a feeling that she meant it was too empty without Cira.

"I guess not," she whined and scrunched up her face at the admission. "It's just easier to do here."

Calas chuckled as he ate and changed the subject after he swallowed. "What are you working on now? Any other pieces of ancient magic you want to dig up?" He nudged his shoulder softly which made Chou cling to his shirt with her thin legs.

"No, nothing so impressive." Rea laughed, but her tone quickly turned uncertain. "Um, celestial mapping," she reported with a grimace and sighed.

"Not going well, I take it."

She shook her head while chewing her food. "No. I mean, yes. In a way it's going very well. I'm able to map specific dates to the Nth degree, but I have no idea what they mean."

"I can relate." Calas scoffed while taking a bite.

"Really?" Rea's tone rose with incredulity.

"Mhmm." Calas hummed his ascent holding the fork in his mouth and wiggling his little finger at Rea as if waving.

Rea pursed her lips, avoiding his eyes as she groaned haplessly. "I still have no idea what I did to make this thing, either," she waved her wrist around and Calas could only assume she was gesturing at the thread.

"All right," Calas started, setting his lunch aside. "But dwelling on something that's already done is counter productive. What do you know about it, now? Anything?"

Rea set down her own lunch and thought hard as her eyebrows tried to connect. While she pondered, Calas also nudged his shoulder once more to get the familiar's attention.

"You too, Chou. You said you knew what it was, so what's it do?" His voice was stern, but not overly so.

"Bree!" Chou trilled anxiously at the attention, "But I said before that I don't know!"

"No," Calas admonished slowly, "you said you didn't know what it was. I'm asking, what does it do? What is its purpose?"

Chou's antennae twitched and she shrugged with two sets of legs. "It binds you to each other." Calas scoffed at the obvious answer.

"Thank you for that, Chou, but why and how?"

"I think," Rea started in a small voice, "I think it's because of what I promised."

"The combat class?" He asked and she nodded with an embarrassed blush. "I don't think so, or rather, I don't think it's just that. If that were the case, the magic shouldn't have latched onto me."

Calas thought back to the race and the exhausted frame of mind he was in before he made what he thought was a sure bet. All he could recall clearly was the confusion of what she would gain from her counter point and how whether or not she attended an actual class, Calas would find a way to help protect her in other ways.

He furrowed his brow at the last thought that ran through his brain as he took her finger in his and wondered if he promised more than what he thought.

"What makes you think it's because of your promise?"

"I thought, for a moment, that I wouldn't take the class—" Rea's eyes widened in panic as they met his as she reached out for his arm, "Only when you offered, though! But even in that moment, the thread… reacted."

"Reacted, how?" Calas asked.

"It tightened," she grimaced while massaging her little finger, "to a painful degree."

Her attention to the invisible thread shifted Calas' own to his finger, but he suppressed the urge to touch it as she had while her hand was on his arm. He couldn't say why he froze every time Rea touched him so casually. He knew it was stupid to freeze at her touch as if any movement might scare her away, but it was his first instinct and a hard one to break he found. He focused on her words instead of the warmth of her hand.

If Calas could produce the same reaction as she described, it would mean that he was also bound to the promise that he had not said out loud. With that in mind, he thought about the possibility of someone else being in charge of guiding her through the Martial Defense class, but nothing happened. Taking it a step further, Calas doubled down on the fictional scenario by making Gael her instructor, but knew instinctively that this would be a bad match.

Calas hummed to himself and shifted in his seat so his back was against the lumpy back of the couch. Maybe he wasn't bound to a promise, then. If he wanted to, he could let Rea continue on as she had been.

A sharp pain constricted around his pinkie finger as a searing ring wrapped in the invisible threads. Calas' inhale mirrored the quick, crisp sensation while he quickly amended the thought of letting Rea continue on as she was. That was proof enough for Calas that they were both bound by a promise they made, whether aloud or not.

"Ow!" Rea gripped her hand and a sense of quiet dread filled Calas. That wasn't my fault, was it? Before the panic clawing up his throat could set in, he swallowed it down.

"Tell me you were just thinking of breaking your promise again." He spoke in a quiet, almost pleading voice.

"No, it was a resonance. Like a shock wave." Rea reported as Chou floated over to her shoulder.

"Resonance…" Calas repeated the word, half dumbfounded, half horrified. What else would be picked up through the thread that tied them together? Physical sensations? Emotions?

"Yeah," Rea went on, oblivious to Calas' internal crisis, "The thread may look like an aetheric thread, but it doesn't behave like one, I've noticed. It doesn't act like a spell, like one would expect, but more like mana. Like raw mana."

"How so?" Calas hung on her words, hoping that whatever she had observed would somehow provide answers.

"For one thing, it seems to react to our intentions."

"Like a spell."

Rea nodded before she went on, "But there is no end to it."

"Like mana." Calas remarked and Rea nodded again. "How odd."

"That's not the only oddity. The color changes."

"I thought you said it was red."

"Well, yes, but the kind of red changes. I think it's based on proximity."

"Like physical distance from each other?" He clarified and she nodded. "And it's made of mana?" She nodded again.

He lifted his hand to focus on the tingling caused by the thing he could not see. Applying his understanding of using his tattoos as a focus, he attempted to push his conscious thought through the warmth. It gave way like pushing a door open and he recoiled in shock. Laughing nervously, he tried once more and followed the invisible pathway to something ethereal that pulsed like the light of a star.

"What color is it now?" He asked her hesitantly, still focused on that pulsing.

"Vermillion." She giggled the word.

He stood and quickly walked to the far side of the room by the stairs. "And now?"

"Uh, a little lighter." She pursed her lips in thought before giving it a name, "Scarlet?"

Calas scoffed, not knowing the difference between the two as he continued down the stairs toward the entrance of the tower. He shouted up to her. "What about now?"

A muffled, "Crimson!", was the response from upstairs.

Calas threw up his hands in frustration. Those were all the same color! His focus shifted back to the pulsing, though, as he could tell it was moving. Silently, he kept his attention on the direction he could sense it from as he crept up the stairs. When he crested them again, he found Rea had moved to the window farthest from the stairs. It was the same place the focus he held drew his attention to.

"Well, I guess it does work both ways. Kinda." He commented, more to himself than to Rea as he wandered casually back to the couch.

"Really?" She responded anyway, joining him there. "Can you see it, then?"

He shook his head. "No, but if I treat it like a spell, there is…" his voice trailed off, pausing to find the right words to explain what he found there, "something almost tangible that I can follow."

"Tangible?" Rea's eyes went wide, an enthusiastic timber to her voice.

Calas struggled to explain, "Like light is tangible, but I don't so much see it as I feel it. Like how you can feel the wind or the sun on your face with your eyes closed." It was the best analogy he found.

They tested Calas' theory about locating the physical direction of the thread as it pertained to each other. Calas demonstrated first as he stood in the center of the room with eyes closed and ears plugged. He even stopped the wolf's extra perception for this particular experiment in which Rea would move around the room and Calas would have to follow her movements by facing her direction.

Rea was surprised to be able to do the same, even without having seen the thread. While direction was not an issue, Calas found distance to be particularly difficult to judge in this manner. After several attempts, the results were hit or miss and on the last miss, Calas nearly jumped out of his skin when Rea poked him right in the stomach.

Her fits of laughter put a smile on his face quickly and once she calmed down, he directed her to try that again. As he closed his eyes, he silently activated the wolf tattoo and his awareness of the space expanded. While Rea crept closer to him, Calas remained perfectly still as he had before. Just as Rea was about to poke him in the side, Calas caught her wrist and booped her on the nose with a finger.

Her shocked screech melted into joyous laughter and they both collapsed on the couch.

"How did you do that? Did it work?" Rea asked as their giggle-loop wound down.

"No, not at all, it's a spell I always have running."

"Really? Always?" Her surprise was only softened by her confusion.

"Yeah, so I don't get ambushed."

"Even in your sleep?"

"Sometimes, yeah."

Rea went silent for a moment as if mulling over his response. Finally, she looked up at him as they sat beside one another and locked his gaze with hers.

"Would you teach it to me?"

Calas blinked. He didn't know if he had heard her right and he played the question back in his mind to make sure.

"Yeah, of course," he started as a grin spread across his face, "What are you doing tomorrow morning?"

She shrugged in a casual manner. "Nothing, right now."

"Come to the training hall and I'll teach it to you."

"I'll be there, then." Rea beamed up at him and with a smile like that, Calas almost dared to hope that maybe Jem was on to something after all. Almost.

Calas couldn't tell if it was the pulse of the thread he felt or the pounding of his heart that set his body thrumming with excitement. At that moment, he really didn't care.