Icarus Awakens

The commotion that rose in the square almost distracted Daniel enough to cause his enchanting to fail. That was saying something, as he’d learned he could train with Hunter’s senses when he was at the mana drip stage. There was as much emotion as sound in the air, and both were mixed together. Something was happening with Bards, although Daniel only knew that because Murdon had called for them right before it’d happened.

In truth, the process was too easy. Daniel was bored, but he couldn’t stop now. This was an important item: Murdon’s armor. In a few weeks, maybe just one, it would be what would keep him alive. The thought of that was something Daniel didn’t quite know what to do with. He also didn’t know what to do with himself.

He’d need 14 hours, maybe a little more, to make this armor. The heliorite was helping both in time and effort. The more he worked with the ore, the more he understood. It was like trying to solve a math proof and finding certain steps had already been provided for you. That left him able to divert some of his attention elsewhere, although he didn’t have a book nearby. Neither his mana supply nor concentration could survive prolonged training with Hunter, and everyone else was busy talking about how they’d kill the dragon.

He was getting bits and pieces of the conversation when the speakers were loud enough, and the rest through the conga line of people passing the news along the road below his window. They might have been people he could talk to, but he didn’t recognize any of them. At most times he was still just as shy as when he came to this world and opting for quiet boredom over potential embarrassment was preferable. Besides, what he was doing was important. He couldn’t get too distracted.

“I have a list of items the Commander is requesting,” a familiar voice said behind him. Janice. “Please review it and make sure there is enough material. If there will need to be revisions, I can carry your recommendations up the chain.”

Up the chain? What is this, an army base? “Uh, yeah.” Daniel took the list, looking it over. No tridents, as he expected. They would be useful for people fighting underwater as, otherwise, you couldn’t reliably use that element down there. He wasn’t sure how adaptation worked here but if a monster didn’t regularly encounter an elemental damage type, it wouldn’t make sense for it to have a resistance to it. In this case, they were facing a monster highly resistant to lightning, and trying to fight it in the water would be instantly fatal. He tallied up what had been requested and nodded. As promised, Murdon hadn’t cut into what Daniel wanted to use for himself. There was actually extra. “It’s good. I can do it.”

“You’re sure?” Janice asked with respectful disbelief, looking at the relatively small rock that was to produce an armory.

“Even though I’m making all these items at level two, I’m using level five material. Not that I’m too experienced with this, but that difference is important. It’s not exactly a 2:5 ratio size wise, but I can use way less material than you’d think.”

“You’d know more than I would, sir.”

Daniel blinked in surprise and was thankful his back was still turned. Even though he could carry a conversation, he had to keep looking in the direction of the heliorite. Sir? It wasn’t the sir that Gadriel appended in front of the names of people he liked. “Were you in an army?” Wait, do they still have those here? I really shouldn’t assume stuff like that.

“All due respect, it’s not something I like to talk about. Sir.” Janice took a couple of breaths behind him, not leaving. It was hard to know what she was thinking, if she’d taken offense, or if Daniel had forgotten to answer something she’d asked. It wasn’t anything of those things. “This, uh, wasn’t something I was told to ask, but it seems pertinent. How long do you think this will take?”

Daniel looked at the list again. “Can I write on this?”

“If you don’t need to change the tallies, that should be fine.” She watched as Daniel looked around and realized something.

“Do you have a pencil?” Pens probably don’t exist here, and this wasn’t written with ink. Damn, how have I not needed to write something before?

“Hold on.” Janice returned a minute later and walked in front of Daniel.

“Sorry. Gotta keep my eyes on it. Uh, thanks.” Daniel took the pencil, which was a less refined version of Earth’s but still a marking substance encased by wood, and made a few notations on the back of the list he was provided. He had to consciously use the written language of the Octyrrum, but not think about it too hard or a mental block would form as he continually questioned how he’d learned the language.

The armor and lightning wings would take the longest, with the largest weapons right behind. Daggers and bracers? He could do two or three of those in an hour. Optimizing his time meant mixing the big stuff with the little stuff, making sure he wasn’t wasting time or starting a project he couldn’t finish that day. Daniel wasn’t sure what would happen if he had to pause something he was enchanting. “Hmm. Six days? Might stretch into seven but I think I can do it if I don’t drive myself crazy first.”

“Is that a possibility sir?” Janice asked, completely missing the sarcasm. “If the higher grade material poses a risk in some way we should discuss ways of mitigating it. Delays if necessary.”

Daniel had to smile at how serious she was taking this until he realized that was probably the right way to handle preparing for a dragon fight. “Sorry, just a joke. The thing is, this is going to be pretty boring, and that’s weird. I’m enchanting items that let people fly, and it’s boring!”

“As long as the work’s done and you stay safe, it’s fine by me sir. I might even say I empathize.”

“Right, guard duty’s got to be worse. You’re theoretically always in danger.” Daniel decided then that he liked Janice, even though she seemed incapable of relaxing and had punched him with a spear the first time they’d met. “How do you deal with that?”

“It’s not too bad.” Janice shrugged, dropping her use of ‘Sir’. Even if she didn’t stress it, Daniel caught the shift. “You see people. Get to recognize the locals. Helps when there’s a Rogue in town that can’t disguise themselves.”

Daniel suppressed his urge to ask questions about things he should know about already. “What was it like before the Upswell?”

Janice looked down. “Better. Shorter hours, fewer people I didn’t recognize.” Her brow furrowed. “Where’d you come from?”

Shit. Even when Daniel avoided the obviously wrong questions, it still somehow came back to this. He also remembered that Janice had caught him in a lie before. That might not have been a power since he had been a mess, but that also didn’t mean it wasn’t a possibility. Janice wasn’t the worst person that could find out, though. Murdon trusted her since she came to Roost’s Peak with Quala. Not that he would tell her if he had a choice, people needed to stop finding out. “I’m pretty new here. I hadn’t even settled in a village or Eido before it happened.”

“Not part of the initial wave then? Huh, wonder what brought you here.” She held up a hand to stop him from answering. “Don’t need to tell me, sir. People’s past is in the past here, that’s the point.”

What? “Uh, thanks.”

“I should get back to the door. Let me know if you need anything.”

…

The next few hours were spent in relative misery. The monotony was broken only by the occasional dive into Hunter’s senses. Credit where it was due, Daniel was up to five minutes. Either regaining his Focus had helped or he was getting better.

It could be worse. All he had to do was wait. And wait. And keep feeding the glowing rock mana at a snail’s pace lower than Moment of Clarity’s ongoing cost.

He really should get some books sent here, but they were still meeting in the town square and there’d be no one that could be spared. Everyone besides Daniel was wrapped up in the discussion. Even the normal villagers who wouldn’t take part in the actual battle were spreading the news like a virus. That made sense. When Daniel had decided between fighting or staying here, he’d likened the latter to being on the bottom deck of a ship during a storm. Now, the captain had come below deck to discuss their chances.

His next distraction came an hour before dusk. Evalyn. That was surprising, especially because the meeting was still going on. Daniel heard her arguing with Janice and yelled out the window to let her up. Any hesitation he’d have of speaking to her was weighed against hours of boredom and found wanting. She didn’t have what he’d feared to lose with Claire, and while he’d disappointed Evalyn, he also hadn’t gotten her brother killed.

“Before you say anything, I can’t turn away from the rock,” he told her, hearing her footsteps stop. He was now sitting on his bed, vacating the chair after realizing there were only two places to sit in the room. Daniel was not about to tell Evalyn to sit on his bed. “I’m not ignoring you, I just can’t stop looking it at.”

“You can’t close your eyes?” Evalyn asked as she took the seat and dragged it next to the window. There wasn’t a lot of space in the room, even considering it had been an original bedroom instead of a converted closet some people were sleeping in.

“No, I can, I just have to be careful not to fall asleep. Otherwise, as long as I’m facing it I’m good.” There was a pause between them, neither knowing what to say.

“They’re idiots,” she said finally. “I can’t believe them. Just like that?”

“What?”

“You didn’t hear? No, I guess not if you’re in self-imposed exile.” Evalyn leaned her head against the wall. “They want us to make a band.”

Daniel snorted. Her exasperation was just too ridiculous, but Evalyn gave him a hurt look so he took her seriously. “Why is that bad?”

“They want us to play together! I thought we’d just break off amid the groups but this.” One of her hands started pulling at her hair. Daniel remembered that other Bards didn’t get along too well. Also, Heroes and Bards, but that wasn’t relevant.

“Can’t you just do it this once? I’m assuming there’s a good reason to?” He asked quickly as she glared at him again.

“Terror,” she sighed. “The dragon we’re going to fight has an effect stronger than fear, we won’t be able to purge it as effectively. They want us to play together to combine our strengths and help prevent people from being affected in the first place,” she said tiredly like she was repeating an argument given to her. “But it’s pointless! I know what they say about us, that it’s just some stupid mental block, but I don’t see anyone ignoring stabs to the heart with force of will! Besides, it’s pointless.”

“You said that. Why?”

Evalyn lowered her voice. “You-” She stopped, closed the window, and then the door. The window didn’t have a glass covering but a wooden shutter. It would still block out the sound, and Daniel knew why she was doing this. “Do you know anything about how my powers work?”

“Music right? You just play a- I guess there’s more to it,” he hastily said, sensing another glare before it happened. Evalyn was in a touchy mood, even if it wasn’t directed at him. That would have made being in a small room with her unpleasant, though it wasn’t. It wasn’t just her looks, it was the knowledge that she’d been right about Claire. That bought her a lot of benefit when it came to the doubt.

“I’m going to assume that song influences you the same it does the people in this world, seeing as my powers have worked on you before. Do you have a favorite piece of music?” Daniel thought for a moment. He hadn’t had a consistent one over the years, interest waxing and waning and occasionally aligning with popular interest. This was discussed with Evalyn in detail and she nodded. “That’s what I mean. If you play someone a song that at first moves their very soul over and over again, they will get tired of it. Do you know what that means?”

“You have to keep coming up with songs to use your powers?”

“Broadly speaking, yes. And works that are appropriate for each team member. If I’m with people that haven’t heard my music before then it is as effective as it ever was, so long as it’s the right thing to play for them. If they’ve been traveling with me for some time, or if they just don’t like the song, it’s less effective.”

Daniel suddenly got it. “That’s why you don’t work well together! If you share music then other Bards will use your works and you get less powerful because they’re putting your good stuff out there. I mean, you could just travel with the same Bards and play the same songs.” He remembered the avianoid Bard Lyrok and the conversation he had prompted. “But you guys don’t always like the same stuff.”

“Mhmm. You’re not entirely an idiot then. There are centuries of stolen work and credit making what they want impossible. Mind explaining that to the people outside?”

“I’m busy, sorry. I did hear the shouting and I shouldn’t get in the way,” he excused. “That doesn’t explain why Bards normally hate Heroes.”

“Gods, I am not going into that now.”

“Well, ok,” Daniel raised a hand with his index finger extended. “But, what exactly do you need to do here? What are they asking you to do?”

“Combine our talents to raise our side’s collective defense against the dragon’s roar.” Evalyn shrugged again. “It’s not a bad idea, but it won’t work. Inevitably, we’d have to decide on what to play, which means sharing the best of what we’ve made, and no one will do that. Even under threat of death. Well, not under the abstract threat of death. It’s not a problem that we have different powers,” she clarified. “So long as what we play has some element of mental fortification, it would work. I have Valor Song, for example. But it won’t work.”

“Is the main problem the songs then? I mean, in this case, it’s not an issue of what kind of music to play right?”

“Yes?”

Daniel walked over to the desk to retrieve his Focus and carefully walked backward to the bed. He had some kinks to work out in his enchanting setup. Evalyn immediately got his idea. “No, you can’t. I’ve heard the instruments involved and I don’t recognize some of them. Even if people don’t make the connection, which they shouldn’t, it will still raise questions.”

It was a fair point, but Daniel had an easy fix. He still thought for a moment. Combat music, something inspiring? Damn it, I’m not good with this. And if I don’t go with classical they’d have to remix-

“Daniel?”

“I’m going to play it for you and then you can pass it off as yours,” Daniel said dejectedly. He’d wanted to play a song first, just for her, and let her realize how clever he was. That wasn’t happening. “And I know I can trust you to keep this a secret because you already, ah!” Daniel almost had a heart attack as he remembered the last setting his volume slider had been on. It’d been reset to 100% since he didn’t have that function heightened, but that still would’ve been too loud.

“I can’t take credit for these songs, Daniel. It’s wrong.”

“What happens if we don’t have something to help us against the dragon’s roar?” Daniel challenged.

“We all run like we’re on fire and get picked off.” She thought to herself for a moment, face changing between a thoughtful half smile and a grimace. “You’d still need to give me something appropriate. The music we play can’t clash with the effect we’re trying to make, and what you played for me that first time won’t cut it. Not in a battle at least.” She smiled. “Just how many songs do you have?”

“Anything I can faintly remember I can replay. I haven’t used it too much, but it seems to be able to cover the gaps in my memory so long as I have a general feel for it. It gets it right, too, because I recognize what I’d forgotten. Let’s see.” Daniel looked away, Quick Mind providing an answer shortly afterward. “I think it’s somewhere just under a thousand songs, but I might remember more as time goes on.” He looked back up to catch Evalyn in his peripheral view and took a little too much enjoyment from her shocked expression.