Grand Saint Alloy

Normally when someone regains consciousness it starts with awareness, followed by sensation. Typically pain, if the reason for their state was injury. Then comes memory and possibly screaming. That is what Tristan thought at least.

That is not how it went for him. Tristan’s eyes weren’t open but he could feel something. It was massive and cruel, but not in a malevolent way. Like a drill sergeant it hovered behind him, its existence was designed to keep him alive, not happy. As soon as Tristans consciousness returned he focused on the presence, however no matter how hard he focused he could not find it. It seemed that the harder he focused on it the further away it became. His focus was broken by feeling.

Tristan yelped in pain as soon as the feeling returned. All his bones felt tingly and itchy, it was a very unexpected feeling. Itchy bones did not sound like a big deal, but it was very unsettling. His arm throbbed dully, and his left hand only hurt when he moved it. Then something worse happened.

“He’s awake, give him the smoothie,” It was Sun Set.

Why was she sitting over him, then the most disgusting substance was given to him. Tristan gagged on Luke’s health drink. Hadrid had called it a protein shake? Maybe Hadrid’s dislike of Luke could be traced back to this shake. Tristan soldiered through the horrible taste, then he felt two hands pushing on his sternum. It tingled, but it was not uncomfortable.

Tristan opened his eyes and saw Sun Set’s pretty face looking down at him. He smiled up at her, unless they both died and went to heaven, that meant he was alive. The fact that Sun Set was also smiling told Tristan that things had gone well. He knew that she was terrible at concealing her emotions, it was ine of the reasons everyone liked her.

Lukes face interposed his face between Tristan and Sun Set, “So, I’m glad your not dead. Alls well that ends.”

He was definitely alive, no way Luke went to the same place as Sun Set, “Well,’ you mean ‘ends well’ right?”

“No,” Luke said with a shrug, “End your problems before they end you, its a very good saying.”

Tristan sat up, he was currently on a mat in Conni’s house. The table was pushed off to the side and Olfred and his team were playing dice under it. Most had various parts of their body bandaged and splinted. Conni himself sat on a couch, he looked exhausted but he was uninjured. There were some bruises forming on his shoulder and lower arm, but he was unharmed.

Tristan looked around the house, something was off, but he did not know what it was. There were objects in his surroundings that seemed to pull his attention. The pots in the sink, the door frame, something outside that he could not even see. The thing outside moved to the door, causing Tristans eyes to widen.

Siren opened the door, he was still crusted in blood and dirt. His armor looked dented and worn. The only object on him that was clean was a long black sword. It was curved and looked to be good for slashing. It was not a style that Tristan was familiar with and he was uncertain of its practicality. The warriors of the caldera used mostly straight blades, many mythical beasts had thick hides and a stab had a greater chance of getting through. This looked like it was made for killing people not animals.

“Good job kid,“ Siren nodded to Tristan, he looked over at Luke with a conflicted expression, “Its time for you to explain some things.”

Luke gave Siren a wolffish grin, “No, it does not concern you.”

Tristan frowned at Luke. Siren did not ask for much, so what would Luke need to explain. He narrowed his eyes at Siren, putting some facts together. Siren had taken a brutal beating, Luke had not. Siren should have been able to handle tier three elementals with no issue, so that meant that there had been something even bigger down in the mine.

“Luke, what did you do?” Tristan asked.

Luke stared to give an answer. He had intended to give an irritating one to get a reaction, but he watched Tristan’s eyes slide. Instead of keeping eye contact, his gaze followed something moving along the main road and out of camp. Luke checked the window and saw that there was a cart of ore leaving, it was almost forty-five feet away.

Luke sighed and changed his words, “Well, I guess it does concern you.” Luke stood and started walking to the door, “Follow me.”

“Siren is coming along,” Tristan said.

Luke shrugged, “Its his life to play with, I am not responsible if he kills himself because of what I tell you.”

Siren and Tristan looked at each other, confused. The warrior rolled his eyes at Luke, he was not scared, no warrior worth their steel would be. Siren extended a hand to help Tristan up. When he took the offered hand, he focused on standing.

His bones ached, his heart ached, his injuries ached, everything else felt great. Tristan stood and looked at his legs, nothing different in them, yet he felt light. It was weird to feel lighter, he wondered if there was still any adrenaline left in his body. He walked to the door and tried to open it.

Tristan frowned, he had basically hit the door with a palm strike. It was way more force than he intended to use. Frowning he pushed the door open slowly. It was like his body had forgotten about moderation. Tristan growled.

“What’s wrong?” Siren asked, to him it looked like Tristans aggressive actions showed anger.

“I think I have a brain injury, a concussion may be,” Tristan said while staring at his hand, “I can’t seem to get my body to do what I need it to.”

Siren sighed, “Its possible, though its more likely to be dark essence corruption.”

Tristan’s eyes widened, “Dark essence can do that? That sounds evil?”

They followed Luke out of the base camp and entered the pinewood forest. Siren explained to Tristan, “No, not evil. Making something less than it currently is has many positive applications. For instance, it can be used to reverse mixtures, a crafter could render steel down into iron, or an artist could use it to finely control the amount of dyes when mixing his paint.”

Tristan though back to Shadow Fist how had he used it. Truthfully, his father focused his abilities exclusively in battle and mostly to little effect. He was not a high enough tier to break down humans and his combat strength came mostly his ability to temporarily blind people and his martial arts. There was a lot of wasted potential.

Luke stopped at a random clearing with a rock in the center. He went and sat on it while waiting for his slower companions to show up. Tristan looked around, they had passed several rises and falls in the landscape, so he could not see the base camp. They would not be able to see him either, the dirt and trees made that impossible. Tristan wondered what was so sensitive that Luke would not risk the miners overhearing.

“Don’t think I’ll go down easy,” Siren said.

Luke shrugged, “Don’t need you to, we are far enough away, and the investigation would find scorch marks everywhere.”

Tristan looked back and forth. Why were the two of them threatening each other. Also, why did Luke seem to have the superior position. The tenseness in Siren showed clearly that even the veteran believed he would lose. It was not a question of what the result would be, simply how long it would take.

“OK, what is going on?” Tristan yelled.

Luke smirked, “I am about to share a very dangerous secret that Siren might want to silence. If he thinks that I am a danger, this is one of his only chances to stop me.”

Tristan stopped and thought, “What could make him want to kill you. I mean you are kind of a psycho, but you don’t just randomly cause issues.”

Luke held up one finger, “Yet. I have a tier zero air kern with tier zero potential.”

Tristan almost called Luke a liar, but he continued after priming his audience, “I am currently on the edge of breaking into tier five, and in twenty or so years, I will become a tier six and step in heroic realm. At that time no one in this Caldera will be able to stop me then.”

Tristans mind almost went blank. Luke a hero, he would be a match for the grand ancestor. He would be more powerful than Hadrid, and the crabby alchemist was tough enough to tell the whole caldera to leave him alone and they listened.

“Tristan,” Luke said, “I may have pushed you in this direction, but you still discovered it on your own. You are now tier one with tier zero potential.”