Jaiden Sentilion's Story

That morning, Jaiden had woken with an unsettling feeling in her gut. It had put off her appetite, distracted her from her chores, and left her in an odd, yet stormily silent mood for most of the morning. She had risen before the sun, when her father typically haunted the downstairs as his daughters slept.

He noticed her less-than-quiet movements as he sat in his study, reading something by the light of a lantern that was starting to get low on oil. Jaiden made a note to get more when she went into town later.

She was lacing up her boots, slipping on a pair of thin leather chaps that she wore underneath her riding skirt when he quietly approached her, leaning against the kitchen counter and waiting for her to notice him. She glanced at him once, twice, realized he was staring, then finally straightened, her hair falling in a tangled mess around her pale cheeks.

“What’s upsetting you Blue-Jay?” he asked, his voice a deep, rich rumble. In spite of his frail stature, her father had a beautiful voice. She could listen to him talk all day. She took a breath through her nose, sighing to herself before walking forward and allowing him to hold her.

“Just a bad dream.” She explained. “I’m going to take the horses up early today.” She didn’t want to be home later than she had to be.

She had her reasons.

Kissing his cheek, Jaiden pulled away from him, offering a slight wave before disappearing out of the two-story, wooden structure that had been her home for her whole life. A garden that her sisters tended provided the vegetables that they needed, and a few chickens pecked around her feet as she strode over dew-stained grass, towards the fields that housed the dozen horses that were in various stages of breaking in.

Standing at the wooden-post fence, she put her hand to her lips and blew a sharp whistle, smiling as two of the mahogany-coated mares lifted their heads in response. Kayla and Linor. Twins. They trotted over to her, nosing her hand, her shoulder, wherever they could in hopes that they’d get a treat. Jaiden took a rope from the post nearest her, and looped it around their necks, drawing them towards the gates and on out so she could properly get them tacked up.

The private stable they owned held enough gear to train the horses they had. Lead ropes, bits, saddles, blankets for when it got cold, they had everything they needed. She grabbed two bits, applying them to the horses she’d lead inside, before pulling herself on top of Linor bare-back, with Kayla’s reins gripped in one of her hands.

Keep your eyes open, Jaiden. Those who would stop our pursuits are on the lookout for you today.

The voice was a quiet whisper, a brush against her consciousness, but it caused her heart to stutter with the panic she’d been trying to subdue all morning. Shaking her head, and biting the inside of her cheek hard, she gripped the horse’s reins tightly before driving her heels into Linor’s flank, and the trio were off to Ceria to meet with their potential buyers.

-!-!-!-

The morning proved to be rather successful. Jaiden spoke with more than a half-dozen potential buyers, keeping a tally of the offered payments as the morning wore on. She was distracted though, her brown eyes flickering all around for any sign of the enemies that her quiet voice had warned her of.

She was about to pack up to go home when she saw them. The Knights of Lorandor.

As powerful and efficient as they were respected, she knew that these men were the ones the voice had warned her of. Her breath hitched in her throat, heart rate jumping as she drew back, closer to the shadows. As a young man passed, one of the stable-boys who often helped her with transporting wares back home, she grasped his wrist and pulled him close.

“Cale,” she said quickly. “I have some errands to run. I was wondering if you could take the horses back home for me?”

Cale looked confused, but his eyes brightened as she laid two coins in his hand. “Yes ma’am.” He chirped, going back to get everything he would need.

The guards hadn’t seen her yet, but they were drawing close. They would see her if she tried to run around back. The tack room had a window she’d be able to climb through, but with the boy in there, she wouldn’t be able to make an escape without drawing someone’s attention.

So she hovered, waiting with baited breath as Cale ambled back out.

“Hurry,” she told him, trying to put a smile on her face. “Father’s expecting you soon.”

The moment, the very moment he left the barn, she dove back into the tack room, sliding the window open and slipping outside. She needed to run..but where? Home. Somewhere. She needed to hide those books.

Stop wasting time!

“Stop telling me what to do for once!” Jaiden replied in a desperate whisper. She then set off behind the houses, moving as fast as she dared.

Thank the spirits that the voice maintained a semblance of quiet as she quietly made her way along the rear of the buildings, glancing in alleys to make sure she wasn't spotted as she started to move further and further away from the stables. She could hear the Knights mingling about, their loud, carrying voices asking questions about her whereabouts.

Faster. She needed to move faster.

The rattling pack snapped her eyes from the side to the man that stood just ahead of her. She froze, nervously glancing to see if he was wearing the familiar armor that she knew the Knights wore.

As the sounds drew closer, she realized that she either needed to hide, or risk getting arrested. She passed the man quickly.

"Please don't say anything." she told him hurriedly, skirting past him and making her way towards a stack of crates. "You didn't see me."

Then, without much further ado, she slipped behind the crates and ducked down, all but disappearing from view.

Heavens she hoped the stranger said nothing.

Don't lose sight of him.

Why the voice decided to speak now, she didn't know. But it hadn't served her well to ignore it in the past, she she resigned herself to obey.

She released a breath she didn't realize she was holding, her eyes closed as she lifted her hands to smooth over her face. A thin sheen of sweat had dotted her brow, brushed away by her nervous fingertips. She glanced up as the man sat on one of the crates, and for a moment she thought of thanking him and running.

But the voice didn't want her to leave just yet.

Her dress snagged one of the crates, making a small racket as she pulled herself loose, emerging from the stacks looking pale, disheveled, and scared. Looking left and right, she checked to make sure the coast was clear before taking a seat on a crate next to his.

"Thank you." she told him, pinching her nose between her fingers before resting both hands in her lap. She didn't know why she was sitting there, only because the presence, whatever it was that haunted her, wished that she stay with him. For the moment, she propped her elbows on her knees and shook her head.

Talk to him.

"This morning I was a farmer's daughter who raised horses." she said in a low voice. "Now...they think I'm a criminal."

She visibly relaxed, looking at him out of the corner of her eye and offering a small smile in return. His cavalier attitude was encouraging, and she felt the warmth of relief slip down her spine, releasing her lungs from their tight, anxious hold. Sitting up a little, she pushed her disheveled mop of hair back away from her face before facing him fully.

"I'm Jaiden." she told him.

Be honest with him.

"Their reasons are founded." she continued, glancing back over his shoulder. "I mean, I knew what I was doing was illegal but the v--"

She flinched as a sharp twinge of pain radiated in the back of her skull.

Not that honest.

"..the time," she ammended, blinking a few times before meeting his eyes again. "The time is right. I'm...closer than anyone else has ever been, and I don't think its wrong, what I'm doing."

Her voice lowered.

"At least not something punishable by death."

He was asking her about a plan.

Feeling her heart sputter with anxiety, Jaiden stood to her feet as well, wracking her brain for some sort of inspiration, some great arrow that pointed her in the direction she needed to go. One thing she was sure about, she needed to get back to her house to get the books. After that...she wasn't entirely sure.

Get the books. I'll show you where you need to go next.

"I need to go home." she told him. "There's a few volumes I need to collect, and then..." Getting around explaining the presence of the voice in her head was proving to be more and more difficult. But Aren didn't seem to be too pressed to bother her with intimate questions. "I..I'll need you to follow me. It's vitally important that you do."

She took the cloak, nodding her thanks before swinging it around her shoulders, flipping the hood up and over her head so that her face was shadowed. Moving ahead, she peered around the corner, looking for any sign of the Knights of Lorandor, before glancing back to Aren and waving him forward. Since morning had given way to afternoon, the roads weren't nearly as clogged, and Jaiden could predict a safe, relatively lonely walk back to her homestead.

"You don't look like you're around here," she said to him. Giving him another once-over, she noted that he almost appeared to have come right out of battle. Perhaps he was a highwayman, or a mercenary? Oddly, this sent a little thrill through her.

Don't lose sight of the goal. Get to the house quickly.

Jaiden had no trouble with keeping up. His pace was easy, by her standards, and even if it proved to be a challenge, she certainly would not have complained.

Ask him if he knows what the significance of elemental magic is.

They were well away from the main road, already beginning to delve through the foot-hills on their way to the crypts. Jaiden knew where they were headed, but she wasn't quite ready to start talking business just yet. "Where do you come from, Aren? I dont' think I've seen anyone so heavily armed as you, not since looking at the Knights anyway."

They were a relatively peaceful town. Tiria itself didn't have many reasons for its citizens to take up arms.

In the back of her mind, she could detect a faint hint of annoyance resonating from the place she felt the voice resided.

Ask him what he knows!

"...and are you familiar with elemental magic at all?"

"All of them...to an extent. I'm still learning."

She adjusted the strap of her satchel, looking from his eyes to the road ahead. "I don't need stones to direct the magic. I don't know why, and I only just discovered this a year ago. So I'm still really, really new at all of this." She licked her lips almost nervously, clearing her thoughts and hoping to the spirits that the voice just remained quiet so she could get her mind straight.

"I have to find the stones." she told him. "And find people who will wield them correctly. What happened in the last millenia, it...was awful, of course, but there is a purpose to those stones, and if they remain in hiding for too long, then someone who isn't responsible or even remotely sensible will end up finding them. Accidentally or otherwise."

There was a moment's pause.

"I've been warned that there's something coming. Someone wants to recreate the chaos, and destroy the good things we've made for ourselves." She seemed nervous, her voice suddenly thick in spite of her efforts to keep her emotions under control.

"I suppose I just wasn't expecting everything to happen all at once."

In spite of herself, Jaiden laughed too, her misgivings, and the sudden swelling of fear disappearing at the sound of his laughter. It certainly did feel good to laugh.

It would be a few more hours before the pair would make it to the crypts. During that time, Jaiden filled him in on the basic skills she had learned, and been taught, in the last year. She didn't expect him to remember everything, and certainly didn't present the information in a way that would make him think he needed to have everything mastered, because the truth was, in spite of her year-long head start...she still felt like she knew absolutely nothing at all.

When at last they'd arrived in the sacred burial grounds, Jaiden fell silent, stepping forward cautiously as she listened. She was listening for something, though she didn't know what, whether it be an inclination or another word from her voice.

"It's in one of the tombs..." she suddenly said, straightening with a look of mild disgust on her face. "Oh, heavens.."

Lawrence Elantil.

Ah, King Richard's youngest uncle. If Jaiden remembered correctly, he was one of the few in the family who actually tolerated Elemental magic. Picking up her pace to a slight jog, she disappeared between the graves, careful not to step on the blossoms that grew over the grass-covered tombs.

At last, she found it, the stone structure rising before her with the name she'd been searching for engraved in emboldened, stone letters. She saw no way to get inside, however.

"Aren.." she called, though she kept her voice hushed. "Any chance we could make use of that hammer of yours?"

She was surprised that he was relatively...enthusiastic about doing as she had asked. With wide eyes, she took a few safe steps backwards, the voice of her own subconscious warning her that, if dabbling in elementalist magic didn't get her locked up in prison for the rest of her life, certainly breaking into and desecrating the crypt of one of the deceased royals certainly would. She clasped her hands together nervously, taking in a deep, calming breath before bracing herself for the initial impact.

It made her ears ring, her entire body tensing at the sound before she shook her head to clear it. The air was thick with dust, obscuring her vision for a moment as she drew closer towards the gaping, jagged maw of the monolith.

"That was impressive." she noted, a nervous laugh escaping her as she met his eyes. Peering into the darkness for a moment, she realized she wouldn't be able to see much of anything.

Unless...

Holding out her palm, she focussed her attention on it, watching as a small, candle-sized flicker birthed itself in the palm of her hand. She allowed it to grow to the size of a small coin, and held the flame out before her, examining the interior. It was as dank and dusty as she expected a tomb to be. Stepping inside, she looked back to Aren, waving him forward before tentatively stepping around the stone casket and on towards the back. The family crest sat at eye-level at the head of the casket, and when Jaiden drew near it...

...she just knew.

"It's in the wall." she told him, holding up the tongue of flame so he could see the crest.

The light cast clouded beams all around the interior of the tomb. She muttered a prayer of apology to whatever spirit guarded this sacred place, waving a hand in front of her eyes as she drew closer. The flame in her hand sputtered and danced in the draft that was brought from the room beyond, along with a sudden chill.

It's here.

Jaiden looked to Aren, her eyes wide with her own disbelief. She could hardly comprehend what was happening. This was real. They were in the reaches of the stone. Which stone, she didn't know, but what mattered was that it was here.

Standing on a polished pedastal, possibly no larger than a walnut...was the stone. Polished obsidian, it gleamed in the light of her small torch. She took a deep, shaky breath, looking behind her at Aren.

In spite of her confidence, in spite of knowing from the beginning that they would find this here...she looked scared.

"It's yours." she told him. "You have to take it."

The stone would feel weighted, but not cumbersome. Warm, but not uncomfortably so. Yet, as Aren's fingertips brushed against the surface, it vibrated, pulsed with energy in a rhythm that matched the pace of his heart. Before his eyes, a vision would begin to shape itself, a vision of the earth splitting into vast chasms, with columns of granite and stone rising high in the air. From the darkness emerged a massive beast, hulking, lumbering, yet swift, its teeth grinding together as it pulled itself from the depths of the chasms.

Eyes as black and glittering as the stone in his hand, the monster turned to Aren, reaching for him, its massive fingers threatening to close around him in order to grind him to dust.

----

Jaiden sensed the ground trembling, dust falling from the ceiling as her eyes shot skyward, and then to Aren. With a sudden sense of understanding, she rushed to him, grasping the hand that held tightly to the stone, and felt that similar rush of power, like the unstoppable wave of a dam letting forth its watery chaos.

"Open your eyes, Aren." She insisted, loudly.

Close it, Jaiden.

Breathing hard, Jaiden closed her eyes, swept up in the vision of the Elemental as it rushed the pair. With a power she didn't realize she had, coupled with the influence of the voice and Aren's presence, a shimmering, transparent force field formed between them and the monster. It slammed head-long into the invisible wall, all sound cut off as it roared in unadulturated rage.

"Your eyes, Aren.." Jaiden said again, barely able to pull herself away from the vision. "Open your eyes..."

Jaiden stood opposite him, both hands clasped over her mouth. She was pale, a sheen of sweat covering her brow as her lungs heaved for breath. The combined exertion was enough to get her worked up, but it was obvious that Aren's experience had been far more powerful. She watched him as he lay against the rubble, combing her mind for something to say, for the next step.

He will have to learn as well. Move quickly.

"Imagine if that fell into the wrong hands." she said softly, finally approaching him and holding out her hand.

"We both have a lot to learn. But we can't wait here. That tremor will not have gone unnoticed."

Jaiden lead the way out of the crypt, picking her way over the crumbled stone and occasionally glancing back towards Aren to make sure he was close. They did it. They had the stone! She almost couldn't believe it herself. The voice hadn't been wrong. She wasn't going crazy!

As she made her way through the dust-thickened air and on out into the open evening, Jaiden looked back to Aren, confirming that he was out safely as well. Turning forward then, she suddenly found her movements arrested with shock. She was staring down the shaft of an arrow loaded on a crossbow. The knight behind it watched her, his face an unreadable mask. There were four others with him, a second one aiming his crossbow at Aren.

Think fast! Have him use the stone!

But Jaiden was so choked up in her own surprise and fear that she could barely whisper her companion's name. Instead she reached and clasped his hand, the one that was not holding the stone. They hollared at her to stop moving, but she drew closer to Aren anyway.

"Open the door," she whispered in a low undertone. "Find the plane. Use the stone..."

"Step away from him!" the man with the crossbow at the company's head was stern and intimidating. Letting go of Aren's hand, she did as the knight asked, flinching when he began to approach.

The pair had kept their pace brisk for a day or more, pushing for the mountains and desperately trying to keep ahead of the others who might pursue. Jaiden wondered what kind of response would come from discovering the Knights of Lorandor, dead at the doorway of the King's deceased family. She was more than certain that there would be no mercy spared if they were caught, but she preferred not to dwell too much on that. The circulating thoughts that surrounded her killing one of the knights herself had consumed her to the point of distracting her from sleep. Her voice had tried to console her, but to no avail, and she hadn't mentioned word of it to Aren since the day it had happened.

They made camp near the foot of the mountains, and Jaiden only lit a fire long enough to cook whatever they had caught before she'd extinguished it. She sat, cross-legged, and watched Aren for a moment before she decided to speak.

"Do you think ... you could help me learn, you know, how to ... defend myself?" she asked, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. What kind of leader could she be? What kind of teacher, if she needed someone else to defend her? It made her feel weak and useless.

We're all learning. The man who doesn't know how to rely on others for help is the first man to die in war. Pride is the undoing of many.

The woman sighed. "I would just...rather that I know what I'm doing."

It seemed silly to her, but she didn't dare say a thing. Glancing down at the sticks that he had laid out between the pair of them, she walked up the line, finally settling on the stick meant to represent the short sword. Spending her life lifting saddles, performing manual labor, and training horses had given her a physique that certainly helped her to support and control a weapon of that particular size, but she knew that half the battle came from knowing how to move rather than having the strength to do so.

She held it in both hands, her brow furrowed thoughtfully as she wondered if she could fashion a whip to use. That was something she knew she could use.

"This feels good." she told him, glancing to meet his eyes. "If I could get my hands on a whip...I think I could use that too." Not think, know. She'd just never thought to use it on a person, rather than a horse.

His wink had her cheeks coloring, but she did her best not to acknowledge that.

Yes. That's only going to get you into a great deal of trouble.

Jaiden sighed.

Think of the blade as an extension of your arm.
You can lace fire with steel. Keep the channel open to your plane while you move.
You can blind your enemy and attack simultaneously.
Focus!

An hour later, Jaiden stood back from Aren, her arm sore, the bodice of her dress clinging to her skin from warmth and moisture. Her hair had come undone, and she was quickly working to tie it back away from her face. Well, that certainly had been an intriguing lesson. Listening to Aren and her voice at the same time...well, it had given her a slight headache, but overall she felt that it was extraordinarily helpful. She'd had to force herself to work past the pride of being corrected, but at the end of it all, she felt good, like she'd learned something. Her voice had a way of reminding her of movements and instruction that Aren had passed on to her.

She looked down at her stick, rolling her shoulders before tossing it to one side. Licking her bottom lip, she widened her stance briefly, looking towards an expanse of open space off to her right. Extending her arm, she curled her fingers towards her palm, smiling as a tongue of flame shot away from her fingertips. It held its shape, roughly the same length of the stick she'd been wielding, before she allowed it to dissipate.

She smiled at Aren. "Good news." she told him, gesturing to his weapon. "You can channel your power through your weapons too, not just through your hands and feet."

Hah! She loved learning new things. Holding her hand out, the flame appeared again, moving with her hand as she drew her arm closer. It held its shape, that same curious, undulating rod of flame. "Imagine if I could put this to a real blade." she said with wide eyes. Her gaze flickered to the mountains that rose above them.

You're going to need to become as proficient as possible, and soon. There are worse dangers that cannot be reasoned with, and it wouldn't do to lose you or Aren to the beasts of darkness.

"And you to your hammer." Jaiden added after the momentary distraction.

I'm going to have to let you figure out how to answer that one.

Jaiden inwardly cursed her voice. Part of her had hoped he wouldn't ask about how she just...knew things. She wished he could just become more interested in smashing down trees. But she wasn't so naive, and Aren certainly wasn't an idiot. Still, she didn't know how to explain anything to him without sounding like someone who had lost her mind. She couldn't risk him leaving.

I'd like to think he has more character than that.

Jaiden wasn't so sure. She turned away from him going to grab her cloak that she'd tossed to the ground. She dusted off wood chips, stalling, trying to think of a valid excuse.

"It was something I read." A half-truth. "It...didn't come to me until I actually started thinking about using the weapon."

She wasn't looking at him.