The Firstlings

Aaron sat in the large tent, waiting for the others to arrive, as they were still training and preparing for the horde. He was taking it easy, not wanting to overdo it before their first real battle, but anticipation wrapped him like chains, and he couldn’t stop his body from trembling.

He entered his Soul Space, while waiting, and inspected his Soul Flame. Aaron could tell that it had gained as much clarity as his mind had, but he also saw that even with just a short amount of exercise, his soul already looked more robust.

Further down the road, he knew that he would hit a wall and would have to think of more ways to nurture it into something even greater. He exited the Soul Space and rose to great Bently, who had just arrived.

“So, what’s this about?” Aaron grimaced. Karla and Bently notified him that a meeting was to be held with General Briant, as the man had insisted.

Bently chuckled at the look on his face and reassured him, “Briant is a good man at heart, but he can be a little more…traditional at times.”

“Traditional,” Aaron said, looking at Bently skeptically, causing the big man to laugh. They both knew that Briant was an ass, but Aaron did agree the General was resolute and steadfast in his commitment to the human race.

That was a part of the problem, though.

The human race.

The man could care less about the Firstlings and showed his contempt constantly. He didn’t agree with taking Aaron and his siblings in, like they were some saviors to monsters. Aaron initially understood where the guy was coming from, but it was getting annoying.

They were in this together, like it or not.

Thoughts of his Mother were still fresh in his mind, and it was hard to swallow, but he couldn’t help but feel like all of this was so amazing. The wonders of life still flowed through his veins with excitement. He looked over as Karla came into the tent, followed by General Briant.

“Aaron, good morning,” she smiled brightly.

“Karla,” Aaron saluted with a mischievous smile as he turned, looking at Briant. “I see Grumpy has arrived.”

She raised her hand to her face and choked back a giggle as Briant stormed off with a huff.

“You should be nice, Aaron. He’s a pillar of our community and is respected by the entire force. He can be a great help to both of us.” She explained, wiping away her smile.

“Trust me, that was me being nice,” he grinned as he followed her to the table. All the others started appearing and taking their places as the meeting began, led yet again by Cornelius.

Aaron let his brother deal with the humans because he was as grumpy as Briant and knew that he would give as much contempt as he got. 'His brother’s uptight attitude had its uses', he thought with a chuckle.

The meeting started with Briant voicing his concerns. “I will not have my men relying too heavily on any Firstlings,” he stated firmly.

“And we will not be fodder for your forces,” Cornelius shot back, as they both stood tall on opposite sides of the table.

Aaron gave up, even pretending to listen, as the two went back and forth, hammering out the details of how they would divide their forces and what would be expected. It was eventually settled that the Firstlings would be split into small units that would be incorporated into several different larger platoons.

He didn't initially agree with this idea, thinking it was unwise to split up, but Bently had assured him that there would be fewer casualties if they weren’t all in the same place at once. He relented after thinking it through and considering who was more skilled at managing soldiers. Aaron looked around the room and got bored, so he tied his brother’s robe to his chair for fun, then turned to the side, noticing Karla looking his way.

“I have good news!” She whispered excitedly.

Aaron could see she was practically glowing, so he leaned closer to hear the news.

“Orla had her awakening!”

He put up a shocked face on instinct as Karla explained to him that Orla had an awakening and received her Gift. Aaron couldn’t help but notice the bright face that she wore when speaking of the girl or anyone she cared about. He liked that about her and over time began to see Karla for who she really was.

The Princess of Lightcastle.

Which doesn’t imply a good thing, as the woman could never be who she wanted to be. She had to play her role and carry her burdens the same as any other, if not more, with the miserable conditions within the city. Aaron felt it was odd interacting with the woman, knowing what had happened between them, but he couldn’t help the fact that Karla’s smiling face, talking about the ones she loved, warmed his heart.

He wondered what it would have been like if the humans came peacefully and experienced Mother’s love.

Karla broke his reverie, leaning even closer, and staring deeply with her clear blue eyes.

“We used the Heart stone,” she said, looking at him questioningly, letting her statement linger.

Aaron knew instantly what she was referring to and gulped loudly.

“...,” He stared stupidly, like he didn’t understand.

“Aaron?”

“...,” He just kept staring, not knowing what else to say.

“Aaron!” She hissed.

“I… don’t know anything about that,” he replied curtly, turning away. He put on a concentrated face and pretended to listen to the meeting.

“Whatever,” she snorted. “We’ve all seen the changes Bently went through. I don’t know what was done or how, but..." She stood up to leave as the meeting was ending, looked at Aaron one last time with bright eyes, and whispered softly, “Thank you for helping us.”

He looked away, pretending not to hear.

Karla laughed as she exited the tent, clearly seeing through his escapade. Aaron smiled as he watched her leave and started to rise as well when he heard a loud crash and cursing. He looked over to see Cornelius fighting his own chair and laughed until his side hurt as his brother fought what appeared to be the toughest battle of his life.

Aaron talked with Bently briefly before exiting the meeting and returning to his own tent. He projected into his soul space and began to train his soul, but in a different way. Sitting in front of his soul in meditation as his soul mimicked him, he began to synchronize.

He slowly pushed on his soul with his mind and then would reverse and push onto his mind with his soul. A type of flexing that seemed to strengthen both ever so slightly when worked over time. Plus, it was a lot less taxing and could be controlled and fine-tuned for short exercises.

He tried to get some more rest but found he couldn’t calm his nerves, so he gave up and started putting on his new armor. Foster had some smiths work on some reinforced leathers for him and some of his siblings.

They were sturdy, and Aaron absolutely loved how they fit snugly and didn’t restrict his movements at all. ‘They even made room for his tail!’ He thought with excitement as he laid them out and started putting them on piece by piece. Once he was fully armored, he couldn’t help but feel empowered and braver than he should have been. Taking a different thought, he could also see how that could be problematic.

No one was invincible, and the minute you forget it, only death awaits.

Aaron still couldn’t help smiling wide as he flexed and went through motions, feeling the armor groan as he moved. He took out the last piece, which was a metal bracer for his left hand. He held his weapon with his right hand, but he was actually left-handed, as that was the hand he used to write with, but it was more for finesse.

He would use his martial techniques with his left arm reinforced with the bracer as his right hand wielded the blade. Aaron felt the bracer snap into place and smiled at his completed set, feeling confident as he opened his Gift to go over his Runes one last time before the battle.

Name: Aaron

Race: Firstling

Class: Prince (E)

Core: Great (F)

Blessings: Firstborn

Titles: --

Insights: Integration (Middle)

Authority: --

Attributes: Bonded - Mother’s Will - Golden Sight

Skills: Deadly Hands – Deadly Strike – Dance of Death - Domination

He had one Martial Skill and two Sword Arts, which wasn’t half bad in his opinion. They had been training for a little over a month, and from what the humans had told him, that type of growth was unheard of. Aaron smiled, thinking again of Mother’s nurturing and the wonders it had achieved.

Dismissing his Runes, he started to leave his tent when a shrill horn cut through the air. Heart racing, he ran out of the tent to see a burst of activity as everyone came alert and the whole camp exploded into activity.

The call had come.

Aaron looked into the distance, seeing the wind blowing through the trees, and smiled as tremors went through his clenched fist. He could faintly hear it in the breeze, and it made his blood sing.

Faint Howls carried in the wind.