Manifest War: The Weapons Within

After walking for almost five hours straight, Carmen was beginning to feel tired and annoyed. Even though she had just started her journey, regret was seeping in at a rapid pace.

“Ughhhhhh, this sucks!!! Why didn’t Zalthia let me take a horse at least? This is so stupid, stupid.” She pouted in a bratty manner as she remembered a previous conversation she had with her sister.

“You’re going to have to figure everything out on your own. We aren’t helping you on your awakening journey, that defeats the whole purpose of it.”

Zalthia would often say in her usual condescending and annoyed tone.

“I should find some food, it’s getting late and I really don’t want to hunt in darkness.”

Carmen sighed and looked around her surroundings, now hearing her stomach growl loudly.

The sun was beginning to kiss the horizon and she still hadn’t found anything to eat. Feeling annoyed and dejected, she sat down on the grassy trail to take a short break. She glanced over her left shoulder and spotted something off in the distance. It was a giant Chickatrice, an overgrown bird with chicken and turkey related features.

This species of bird was native to Volaire and could often be found during the evening hours as this was the time it would search for food. Carmen quickly collected herself as she had just found the motherload of food.

“It's about time I found something!! That thing could feed me for a week!!” She exclaimed, beginning to salivate like a wild animal.

She slowly approached it while hidden behind the bushes, trying her best to not make a sound. Once in position, Carmen extended her hand and aimed her palm at the overgrown bird. With a soft grunt, her void based Core Energy released and ensnared the prey.

Large amounts of gravitational pressure began to crush the bird, rendering it completely immobile from the weight holding it down.

The Chickatrice succumbed to the force of Carmen’s gravity and she quickly collected her prey, doing a light celebratory jig in the process. Carmen dragged it to a clearing in the trees and set it to the side while she made camp for the night. She cut and cleaned the bird using methods from various survival books she had read, doing her best to prep it for consumption. She was by no means perfect, but it was good enough to put over the open fire and cook.

After filling her stomach with the tasty bird, she laid down and stared at the star filled sky. Not a single cloud could be seen amongst the sea of stars, sparkling like little jewels. Truly a beautiful sight. Carmen smiled and quickly fell asleep, exhausted from her first day of travel.

A few days had passed, and Carmen finally found herself outside of Olay Town. The town had quite the amount of quaint charm to it, being filled with rustic looking shops and homes. Even though it wasn’t that large, there were crowds of people everywhere, extremely packed and busy. Carmen fought her way through the wall of people and made it to a little bookstore off to the side.

The withered green and yellow sign out front read, “Millie’s Text Shop.” Having no idea if this was a good place to be, she stepped inside. All Carmen wanted was a moment of respite from the suffocating chaos outside.

A bell rang as she opened the door and quickly, Carmen was greeted by a heavyset young female with curly red hair and green eyes.

“Hey ther’! Welcome to my humble bookstore! Is there anythin’ you lookin’ fer?” The woman asked with a strange cadence to her voice. Carmen took a second to process what the lady had said, as she didn’t recognize the heavy accent.

“Ah, no. I’ll just look around for a bit, thank you.” Carmen replied.

“Well, if ya need anythin’ just holler! I’ll be at tha front desk.”

Millie smiled really big and hobbled away, pulling up her sagging skirt.

Carmen sighed as she composed herself, calming down before she looked around the surprisingly large shop. She honestly didn’t even need anything from here, Carmen just wanted to kill time long enough for the crowds to disperse a bit.

Even though the entrance was small, inside were multiple rows of shelves and a large lounge area to comfortably read. Carmen was impressed by the size of it all. She went down a few aisles and scanned the shelves before randomly picking a book out. She looked at its light green cover with great interest before slowly flipping through the fairly worn pages. Carmen stopped on a page and noticed that it was explaining something she was quite curious about, Affinities. It read:

******************

Affinities are the attribute that a Vesta’s ability is based around. There are a total of 12 Affinities on record, each vastly different from one another in both potency and effectiveness. They are as follows: Dark, Earth, Electro, Fire, Ice, Light, Mind, Plant, Time, Water, Wind, & Void.

When an individual is born in this world, the Core of Alaira will pass down an Affinity from their parents as a base for their abilities. If the mother has a Wind Affinity and the father an Ice Affinity, the child has a 50% chance to obtain either of those Affinities. Based on current research, no other Affinity can be gained.

Once an Affinity is established, A link to the Core of Alaira is created and Core Energy will begin coursing through the child. This link is referred to as a Vesta’s “Strand.” Without a Strand, the Vesta will not be able to utilize any of their abilities nor summon forth a Manifest. All power generated by a Vesta comes from their Strand, the internal and direct connection to the Core of Alaira.

******************

“Huh, I see. I guess that explains why I have an Affinity to Void, but Zalthia has an Affinity to Mind. Interesting…” Carmen softly whispered, reading the excerpt with great interest.

Once she closed the book, Carmen suddenly heard a loud crash. She jumped, startled by the brutal sound. Carmen slowly went over to investigate the origin of the noise, trying to figure out what caused it. After peaking around the corner, she saw a young boy laying on the floor with books all over him. The entire aisle was in disarray and curiously, a ladder was tipped on its side as well.

“Umm, are you okay??” Carmen asked with a concerned expression on her face, scanning the area and trying to understand just how he fell down. The boy slowly looked up and couldn’t really see who was talking, only noticing a blurred image in front of him.

“Mother, is that you?” The boy asked in an almost drunken and dazed stupor.

“What? Are you serious? Of course I’m not your mother!”

Once he quickly came to his senses and realized the situation, the boy frantically looked around. He removed all the books off of him and stood up in a hurry, brushing the dust from his clothes.

The boy had very disheveled blue hair, slits on the sides of his neck, and blue scale-like markings on his arms and legs. He wore simple black pants and a light green colored shirt made from basic fabrics that loosely fit him. Though seemingly human at first glance, the features he had told a different story.

He was of the Siestian race, an underwater dwelling people from the Siestro Kingdom, the western region of Resotera. They all had distinctive fish-like features on their bodies, making it fairly easy to spot them.

Carmen was intrigued by his appearance as she hadn’t really spoken to a Siestian before, so this encounter was very new to her. The boy awkwardly smiled, but after a brief moment of realization, he began to panic.

“What’s wrong?” Carmen asked.

“My glasses! I can’t find them!!” He replied, squinting at the blurred mess around him.

Carmen searched the floor and as she glanced over, a glint caught her eye. The glasses were slightly underneath the bottom edge of a bookshelf.

She grabbed them and handed him the glasses, placing them gently into his hands. He graciously accepted them, putting the round spectacles on his face and restoring his vision. He thanked Carmen repeatedly, expressing his gratitude in his own weird way.

The two began to have a conversation and Carmen noticed that this boy seemed rather odd. He wouldn’t stop talking, had awkward mannerisms, and was very fidgety with everything. His nerdy demeanor exuded low self-esteem and a level of awkwardness she had never experienced before. After what seemed like an eternity, Carmen cut him off and sharply asked a question, interrupting his word vomit.

“Hey, what’s your name? You’ve been talking this entire time, but you haven’t even introduced yourself. That’s kind of rude don’t you think?”

Her patience was wearing thin, and her royal mannerisms kicked in with full force.

“Ah, I’m sorry! It’s just been so long since someone willingly wanted to talk to me. Guess I got a little carried away.” The boy responded with an awkward laugh, feeling embarrassed.

“The name’s Rivell Munis, nice to meet you! What is your name?”

He extended his hand out to shake hers. Carmen, feeling satisfied that he stopped the word vomit and finally told her his name, shook his rough hands.

“My name is Carmen, happy to make your acquaintance.”

Rivell took notice of her long brown hair and green eyes, causing him to blush a little by her attractiveness.

“So why are you in Olay Town? Seems kind of a random place to travel to from Siestro.” Carmen wondered, feeling curious as to why a Siestian was all the way out here. He nodded and replied quickly,

“I’m currently on my awakening journey. I started about two months ago and ended up all the way out here.”

Carmen was shocked to hear this because he seemed much younger than she was.

“Oh wow, me too! Although, I’ve only been on mine for a few days. Have you made any progress with your abilities?”

“Ahhh no, not really. I’m not very good at fighting and I don’t think my abilities will be of much use. I'm a little stumped on how to become awakened to be honest.”

He looked down at the ground with disappointment, feeling slightly saddened by his words.

“Oh I see... Well, it’s really just a matter of time. I’m sure you’ll figure things out.” Rivell awkwardly smiled at the words of encouragement, feeling a little better.

“So, where are you from?” He asked.

“I'm from Ariana City and my family rul-”

Carmen quickly caught herself as she was about to reveal that her family ruled over the nation and that she was of royal descent. Remembering that she was to remain undercover, she came up with a quick lie.

“Uh, my family runs a sheep shop... Yeah, a sheep shop.…”

Carmen hoped he would move on but Rivell, showing interest in this shop, asked her some questions about it.

“It’s really not all that interesting, they just sell sheep…” She annoyingly responded.

“Man, if i'm ever in Ariana, I’ll be sure to visit your family's shop!”

“Yeah, ahem, you do that.”

Carmen struggled to hold back laughter, because she knew full well there was no sheep shop in that city.

As the conversation continued, Carmen learned that Rivell wanted to be an alchemist so he could create remedies for sick people. He always had a desire to help those in need and getting into healthcare was the best way he could do so. Carmen found this very commendable and made mention of a highly accomplished alchemist that she knew.

“If we ever run into each other after we become awakened, I’ll be happy to introduce you to her.”

Rivell was very happy to hear this and graciously accepted the offer.

“Well, Rivell, I think I must get going. I’ve got a lot of traveling to do. Thank you for the lovely conversation.”

Carmen began to gather her things, slightly bowing her head before walking away.

“WAIT!!!” Rivell exclaimed with desperation.

“Can I tag along? I know I may not be of much use, but I think I could learn a lot from you! Please!”

He bowed his head as he pleaded with her. Carmen was taken aback by his declaration, but after quick deliberation, she gave him a response.

“Sure, don’t see why not.”

“I’ll be in your care then!”

Rivell’s face lit up with great joy as he swiftly grabbed his things. They exited the bookstore together, starting a surprising new friendship.

The duo made their way through the endlessly crowded streets, pushing against the shoulder to shoulder traffic. They finally arrived at the edge of Olay Town and went through the gate that led to the main road.

“Ugh, that town is way too small for all those people. Felt like I was suffocating.” Carmen remarked in an annoyed tone, panting heavily with her hands on her knees.

“Yeah, too many people is scary to me.” Rivell responded, also out of breath and expressing his dislike of large crowds. They composed themselves and began walking the main road towards Cable Village, Carmen’s next destination.

The road was wide and layered with small, sandy colored cobblestone, providing a fairly comfortable terrain to walk on. On each side were sprawling meadows and rolling hills lush with green grass and flowers of various colors. The views were straight out of a fairytale and the two couldn’t help but be in awe of this new road to travel. After a few minutes of walking, Carmen turned her attention over to Rivell, growing curious about something.

“So Rivell, what kind of ability do you have?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

He didn’t respond right away, only looking up at the large row of windmills off in the distance.

“Oh, uhh… Well.. It's kind of embarrassing to talk about if I’m being honest.” He nervously replied, not wanting to reveal his skills or rather, lack thereof.

“Come on, how bad could it be? It’s got to be somewhat decent for you to have made it this far from home.”

Carmen encouraged with a hopeful cadence, trying to show support for her new travel companion. Rivell heavily sighed while stepping off the road and towards a patch of grass.

He aimed his hand towards it and struggled to force out his Core Energy. Nothing happened... After a few, painfully uneventful seconds went by, a tiny pink colored flower grew from the patch of grass.

“I have an affinity to Plant which allows me to make flowers grow…. Not very useful…” Rivell said with a defeated tone.

“Oh… I see…”

Carmen looked at the pathetically small flower swaying in the breeze, slightly snickering at the sad display of power.

“I mean… It’s cute at least.” She replied with a snicker, patting him on the back.

“What about you? What’s your ability?”

“I’ve got an affinity to Void and I can manipulate gravity. Like this.”

Carmen aimed her palm at a nearby bush and after she exerted her energy, the bush was completely flattened, as though an invisible weight was dropped on it.

“Woah! That’s so cool. You’re amazing Carmen! When you awaken and become a Vesta I bet you’ll be crazy strong!” Rivell excitedly commented, impressed by her display of skills.

“Ah, this is nothing.”

She happily accepted the praise being thrown at her. They got back to the road and picked up the pace, not wanting to waste any more time. The walk to Cable Village was several weeks long, so it was time that they got a move on and started this new leg of the journey.