Morwin sauntered along the street, not sure whether to be prideful or worried. He was cut short when a servant sped up to him with a speed he didn’t know the older man had. Mr. Axwel’s face bore an expression of anger, worry, and hurt all in one. A pang of guilt rocketed across Morwin’s chest.
“Young Master Morwin!” Mr. Axwel cried out. “I trust you to behave and follow my instructions for just one day. And what do you do? You go ahead and sneak out. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
He was too tired to care. He kept on walking, residue of the alcohol twisting his brain into knots.
“Morwin?” Mr. Axwel said.
“I’m sorry,” Morwin replied.
The gentleman let out a sigh of relief. “I’m just glad you’re okay. Now, do I really need to station guards in your room while you sleep too?”
He didn’t say anything. He kept on walking, eyes on the road, his mind replaying past events over and over.
“Is everything alright Master Morwin?” Mr. Axwel said, walking beside him and keeping pace. “Have you been… drinking?”Just one whiff of his breath was enough to tell what kind of a night occurred.
“I’m old enough,” was his reply. Then he knelt over and vomited on the side of the road.
The two of them walked all the way back to the inn in silence. If there was one thing he appreciated about his servant, it’s that he’s rather good at reading people. More specifically, reading him.
Mr. Axwel always had a strange knack of being able to tell people’s moods. He recognized the storm raging inside of Morwin and decided not to discipline him. He wasn’t just Morwin’s servant. He felt like a second father. Or perhaps an overprotective brother.
When they arrived at the inn, Morwin gathered up all the servants. Despite him not knowing or talking to Phalmor much on the trip, the loss of him still hurt. Could he have stopped the chain of events that led up to it? Probably not, but it still didn’t change the way he felt.
“I have an announcement to make,” Morwin said. “While I was out, I ran into Lord Seldam. For some reason, he’s agreed to go with our demands. He will allow Lord De’Shai to station troops inside of Jovin City.”
At that, everyone clapped and applauded. Even Ishan, who was wiping down tables, stopped and clapped with them. Morwin scanned the room, locking eyes with Galvin. He only stared at him with a blank look. Did Galvin even want Lord De’Shai to gain access to this city? It would help Agnius, so most likely not. Morwin wondered if Galvin was with Justicar, why didn’t he do anything to try and stop Seldam from reaching this decision?
Guenevir was there as well, standing more towards the stairs. She wore her hair in braids today, letting it roll over her shoulders. Weird. He never noticed how pretty she is. Her piercing brown eyes and the way a dimple forms when she smiles.
Morwin shook his head. That was the alcohol talking. He could practically still taste the Stormwins Ale on his breath. It tasted more bitter now than sweet.
“That’s great news! When will we begin our trek back to Rathalin?” one of the servants asked.
Morwin thought for a moment. “Ishan!” he called. “Can we have the inn for one more day?”
The man laughed. “With what you paid for it? You can have it for another month if you’d like!”
“Thanks!” Morwin said then stopped himself, noticing something. He spoke for himself. The servants looked to him instead of Mr. Axwel for direction. He’d made the decision to stay.
Something had changed, and he couldn’t place his finger on it.
He nodded. “One more day it is. I will pick my servants for today so Mr. Axwel can relax, and the rest of you are free to explore and do whatever.”
He unconsciously glanced at Mr. Axwel for permission, and the older gentleman simply shrugged with a nonchalance.
The obvious choice for servants are Galvin and Guenevir. Vince actually wanted to be one of the ones chosen, but Morwin wanted Galvin specifically.
The day proceeded as normal, his servants unaware of what he’s been through. Galvin was the only person he could truly talk to about it.
They met outside the inn, a safe distance away to not be seen. “How’re you holding up?” Galvin said. They’d chosen a little patch of greenery around the roads surrounded by brushes. Guenevir lingered nearby, her arms folded.
“Fine,” Morwin said. “But I’d really want to start learning how to become a better Dragikiri.”
At that, Galvin reached into his pockets and pulled out a couple objects. When Morwin saw what it was, his heart skipped a beat. He rushed over and clasped his hand over Galvin’s. “Put those away, if you’re seen with those then we’re going to get in trouble!”
Guenevir chuckled. “Trust in our leader,” she spoke. “He knows what he’s doing.”
Morwin let go of Galvin’s hand and he unfurled them again. Eight. He counted eight different gemstones in the palm of Galvin’s hands.
He placed the gemstones on the ground.
“Reach out to them,” Galvin said. “See what you can feel from them.”
Morwin closed his eyes and reached out mentally to the gemstones on the ground, similar to what he did for his sapphire. And within all those gemstones he could feel different heartbeats, all conveying different emotions and beings.
The eight gemstones, from left to right, are ruby, aquamarine, topaz, emerald, diamond, opal, sapphire, and amethyst.
Morwin decided to start with the ruby. He Absorbed a tiny bit of essence. Even the smallest amount gave him the words, ringing in his mind. Fire, Power, Rage. The most distinctive thing about it is the rhythm of its heartbeat. He could feel a deep anger swirling in it, like a wolf watching another wolf steal its kill.
So much rage.
“Every known gemstone has three words,” Galvin spoke. “The first one refers to an outside force you can expel or control. The second is an attribute you can increase or decrease within something, whether it be yourself, someone else, or an inanimate object. The last word refers to an emotion which you can force yourself to feel or someone else.”
That made enough sense. Fire for the external force, power for the internal, and rage for the emotion. Every gemstone he Absorbed so far followed those principles to a tee.
Morwin moved on to the next one. Aquamarine. He Absorbed its essence and could immediately sense more of its heartbeat swirling within him.
But something wasn’t right. He felt a raging tempest within him, two distinct essences, polar opposites, fighting to gain control and dominate.
Both of his arms began to shake violently. Then his knees and legs. Sweat formed along his forehead and every inch of his body screamed out in pain. Morwin took a step back, the world spinning and spinning around him. He stumbled around.
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Guenevir ran over, concerned. Galvin moved to catch him as he fell.
“Morwin!” he shouted. “Morwin, are you okay?” He knew what words they were saying, but his mind had become a jumbled mess that he couldn’t comprehend.
The sun shone high in the sky. Could he see a face there? The clouds too, he swore they came alive.
The ground underneath him moved and shifted. Was it the alcohol coming back? No, it’d been fading. This essence is something else completely.
“Dispel it, Morwin! Dispel it!”
Dispel? What did that mean? He turned to look at Guenevir, and she smiled. All of her teeth turned into fangs and he could see horns coming out from her forehead. He looked at Galvin, and he’d turned into a demon as well. Their howling laughter sent chills down his spine, all over his body. Galvin’s skin turned a shade of dark red and an evil look made its way to the surface.
What was going on?
Morwin pushed himself free from Galvin’s grasp and stood up, stumbling around and eventually falling to the soft bed of grass. Or was it grass? He felt the blades of greenery turn into something else, like daggers, thousands of them all piercing through his skin.
The essences inside him were doing something to him. Something weird. Why hadn’t Galvin warned him about this?
“Morwin snap out of it! Morwin!”
He just wanted some rest. He laid down closed his eyes. No he couldn’t. What if he closed his eyes and never opened them again? Something about this screamed of wrongness to him.
The words made his way to his mind. Death. Despair. Doom. Inevitable. Four words? From an aquamarine?
No, those weren’t the words. That’s what the essences swirling inside of him whispered to him.
Something had to be wrong with Absorbing an essence into you while you already had some. It was doing something to him. Morwin had to get rid of one of the essences. He knew the words for ruby.
He focused on Fire.
An aura of flame emanated from him.
“Get down!” he heard Galvin say as he tackled Guenevir to the ground. Immediately after, a shockwave of fire emitted from the center of his body, traveling in every direction. The wave of fire ran through Morwin and scorched some of his clothing. Luckily, the fire wasn’t strong enough to do any substantial damage, as Morwin had only Absorbed a tiny bit of essence.
The feeling of doom faded away and he could stand up. His mind righted itself and he no longer felt dizzy. Galvin laid on top of Guenevir, shielding her from the attack.
“What… what happened?” Morwin asked.
Galvin stood up. “I should have warned you,” Galvin said. “Absorbing essence from two different gemstones causes it to fight for control inside your body, and it does… unpleasant things.”
Morwin frowned. “Well, thanks for the warning.”
Galvin chuckled. “I should’ve, but I didn’t because you needed to learn that lesson early on so you don’t make the same mistake under higher stakes,” he said.
With the essence of the ruby gone, he could hear the heartbeat of the aquamarine inside his mind. It sounded beautiful. A sound similar to listen a soft melodic song. In a way, it was similar to what he felt when he Absorbed a sapphire, but different.
The words made way to his mind. Water. Temperature. Confidence. Temperature and Water? What was the internal force he could control.
He focused on Temperature, and he reached out with his mind to instruct the essence to lower make the area colder.
He grew cold. He’d used all the essence on the word and, despite the weather being clear and sunny, he felt as if he stood on top of a frozen mountain surrounded by yetis made of ice in the middle of winter.
He shivered. Even his breath had fog on it.
Galvin chuckled. “Temperature controls the temperature within yourself,” he said. “Shall we move on to the next gemstone? And please, make sure you don’t have any essence inside of you this time.”
After making that mistake, Morwin made a mental note never to do that again.
The next gemstone was an emerald. This particular one shone a beautiful shade of green. Morwin closed his eyes and listened to the heartbeat of it for a moment.
It sounded free-spirited. A bird in the sky, a fish in the sea. Free of any stress in the world, living life from one moment to the next.
He reached out and Absorbed some essence, letting it fill him. A part of him expected a near-death experience to occur again, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Just like the previous two gems, the words came instantly to mind.
Wind. Balance. Freedom.
He focused on Wind and held out a hand, releasing a powerful gust in front of him which rustled some brushes and blew some leaves in to the air.
Morwin continued the process at the direction of Galvin for each of the gemstones. Topaz: Ground, Wisdom, Ancient. Amethyst: Healing, Strength, Invigoration. Opal: Illusion, Disguise, Shadow. He didn’t bother with diamond or sapphire, as he’d already used those before.
Galvin picked up all the gemstones and stuffed them into his pockets. “One of my favorites to use it opal,” he said. “Because it lets you do things like this.”
And then he vanished. Out of thin air.
Morwin looked around, searching for Galvin, but he was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t like a diamond where he could teleport.
A moment later, Galvin reappeared in the same spot he’s been standing on, holding the pearly gemstone in his hand. “It’s a very useful one,” he said before tucking it away.
The rest of the day was spent by Morwin Absoring the various essences and trying them out, Galvin giving him pointers on how he could improve, and Guenevir being on lookout for any passerby. She’d adopted a signal similar to a bird’s mating call to alert them of anyone.
The day passed by too quickly. Morwin could swear the sun was just out and about a minute ago. The moon rose high into the sky, casting a soft glow over the earth. That signaled the time for them to return. After all, Morwin had to get a good night’s rest, as they would begin their journey back home the next day.
When Morwin, Galvin, and Guenevir arrived back at the inn, he’d realized how tired he was. He’d enjoyed the day, as it reminded him of his younger years when Galvin was there, teaching him how to handle a blade. A nostalgic feeling passed through him, and he wished to be younger again to be free from everything. When he collapsed in bed, he thought of nothing at all. No stressors, no worries, no philosophies. His mind, for the first time in a long time, drew a blank and he drifted into unconsciousness seamlessly.
