The sounds were varied in the distance. It was like being at the bottom of a well and hearing the echoes off of everything in between the top and bottom. The distance didn't bring clarity, even with their powers -- not this early on, but I dared to listen and tried to discern something that might be being said. The anxiety had built up within my frame and without even concentrating, three small pebbles lifted up off the ground at my feet and began to spiral about my ankles slowly, revolving in perfect circles around my entire frame since standing. I hadn't a clue it was going on because I was staring through the bushes, listening to the girl as I tried to listen beyond our range.
Allow me... The voice probed softly and chuckled. A mental ripple ebbed from our location. It was such a bizarre thing to see, as a ring of light, a shade brighter than whatever it passed spread out through the small village and lined everything along the way. The tent walls and pegs, the billowing entry flaps, the small makeshift huts, sheds, lean-to's, and even homes further down toward the banks and to the port. A tavern acted as the pub, the inn, and the shop for anything the crew needed and across from that was something of an infirmary; this was where all the commotion was coming from and the waves of sound came back to the small girl and I with but a few snippets of conversation. Something explaining the girl in the forest. The men had found their friend broken and bloodied. A hunt would need to be rallied. Pirates...
I turned to her slowly, rubbing the back of my head, which now pulsed and thumped with a bit of pain from the exertion of energy. The ring had faded in the distance of the port waters and suddenly my mind flared like a balloon of alerts. The ping had barely just finished when it had fallen on something that had been floating toward the shore and whatever it was, our zenith were highly interested. I tried to decipher and the best I could come up with was that ... it felt like us. I glanced to the girl and nodded, "You... you're very welcome. Did ... you feel that?" I was leery of even asking her because I didn't want to sound like a retard, but the worst thing she could do was mock me or look at me like a lunatic. I felt something within her though -- something that made us related now...
I sighed, looking down with a nod to answer her question only to find these three rocks spiraling me lackadasically without any effort or reason. They revolved slowly, rotating in space and I reached down toward them and they reacted, climbing my body and pivoting like a serpent to coil and spin about my wrist instead of my body now. I held out my hand, watching with interest and confusion before taking a glance to my new friend. If she thought I was weird for asking bizarre questions, surely this would instantly nullify our friend status... "I ... I uh ..."
Before I could say anymore, a voice spoke between us, for both she and I to hear and it came from the rocks about my wrist which were resonating a sonic frequency.
"You two have been chosen for your strength of will. Your abilities are small right now, but will be vast with practice and discipline. We do not care whether you chose life or death for those around you, only that you grow stronger through us and survive. In time, you could be immortal. Take whatever you want. Earn your keep. Pay the Gold Cost."
I stared in astonishment and looked to the girl. I knew now that she was like me without a doubt in my mind. I held my hand in open palm, face up and the rocks hovered above it with nothing more than a thought. I laughed softly. It was stifled. Amazed, really, but what I told them to do, they did. I looked to the girl and gave her a somewhat sheepish grin before mentally tossing a rock in her direction. "Think. Fast. Catch." They were words that I felt would register simply and she would cognitively react without even using hands. Or at least I'd hoped ... otherwise she'd just be gently pelted with a rock... ha.
What is the limit to my lifting?
You have one? Retrain your mind and you can lift more than pebbles, dear boy. I blinked. Such a hard concept to learn, but I was headstrong. It couldn't have been more than a few moments until I heard people coming up the hill toward us. I would have turned around except my mind had already spread out a grid of their course direction and where they were at exactly. I pointed and motioned for the girl to follow me, crouching down and moving to the back of Captain Rottsan's tent, lifting the edge of the heavy tapestry flap for her to crawl under and whispered, "Come on..."