Story Recap

  The very day Rylan became a Quinthar, he fled the Thistlethorn estate where he’d grown up, unwilling to be bound to them in a Spiritual Contract by the visiting Vidric Talon.

  Rushing down into the cloudsea in the dead of night, he found himself chased by his childhood friend, Soren Thistlethorn, and Vidric Talon’s bodyguard, Tamina Braveshield. The three of them then proceeded to fall off a cliff together, winding up inside a cloudwhale that carried them deep into the cloudsea before it crashed.

  After spending some time wandering around the foggy depths and learning about being a Quinthar, Rylan received a vision. Mysterious tingles travelling up his spine guided them to a massive bubble under the fog that contained the ruins of a lost city, where they met the stranded Black Sheep Pirate Mercenary Crew.

  The tingles disappeared inside the bubble, but came back after he left it on a hunt, to guide him towards a trio of Dungeons, where he gained a Spiritgear. Dubbed Arphin, the spiritblade showed him a vision of an entrance inside the city’s ruins, where the mysterious being required his assistance.

  Once there, the captured spirit Maris showed him how to release her with the console, using the Administrator privileges he hadn’t known he had.

  In return, she granted him a Blessing, which allowed him to see the spirits of beings like Quinthar, Malequints, and spiritgear.

  However, with Maris free, the ancient dehumidifier started suffering from a severe mana shortage, prompting a need for immediate evacuation. However, the search for the Aetherium the professor needed to get the Soggy Shepherd fogborne again was not going so well, so out of guilt and a sense of duty, Rylan came up with a desperate plan.

  He entered the Champion’s Dungeon, and faced a Sapphire-Grade Ramtusk Malequint for the chance to obtain an Aetherium Affinity, and the canister of gasified Aetherium it came with.

  However, his successful completion of the Dungeon was rewarded by Ethereon with nothing but an apology, and the claim that the ‘external modifications’ to his spirit made him unfit to receive an Affinity. Desperate, Rylan used his Administrator privileges to overrule the safety measures, and had Ethereon do it anyway.

  Only later would he find out that this somehow resulted in an Unknown Affinity.

  He returned with the canister, and the crew was able to get the ship fogborne. After a gruesome battle with Dreadmaw, they finally made it up to the driftline, and set sail for Cliffport.

  However, his arrival at the free city took a turn for the weird after Tamina implicitly let him know that her orders to bring him back were still in effect.

  His dream of strolling through the gates and taking in the sights was not to be. Instead, he found himself rappelling down into the slums around the limestone cliffs and following the glowing footprints of an old smuggler through a network of caves until he could finally enter the city through a manhole.

  But even inside the city, Rylan was not home free. A strange pushy man started following him, forcing Rylan to corner him in an alley. There, he learned that his face had been plastered on wanted posters offering a staggering one hundred gold crown reward.

  With the man’s blood on his hands, a new Skill called Knife-Fighting, and a pre-worn grey cowl covering his face, Rylan left the alleyway to search for The Knackered Hag mentioned in his father’s letter. Upon finding it, however, he learnt that ‘Red-Nosed Art’ hadn’t patronised the pub in a long time.

  Desperate and overwhelmed, Rylan took a chance on Burtrand, the pub’s owner, and revealed his Cooking Skill to obtain a job as chef.

  One night, a curious blob of yellow light came flying by the window of his new loft apartment, and Rylan finally learned why the wind seemed to help him so often. While Arphin and Izillia grew closer, an unexpected visitor showed up one day, drawn by the promise of his healing food: Leahna Hawktalon.

  That evening, Rylan at last met his father, Artoran, and learned the truth behind his parentage, and the identity of his mother: Helen Thistlethorn.

  Moreover, he learned that his father had been left badly hurt after refusing to give up Rylan’s identity and whereabouts while being interrogated by none other than Vidric Talon. Thus, he vowed to heal his father with his restorative Cooking Skill.

  His half-sister was initially quite cold, but they quickly grew closer over the weeks that followed, until he ended up offering her the Pearl of Inspiration Soren gave him as a parting gift, and helping her become a Quinthar through the Archery Skill.

  As time passed, however, his food didn’t seem to be healing his father the way they’d hoped, so Rylan tried something new: using his Administrator’s privileges to restore Artoran’s access to his Status, Skills, and Ethereon’s accelerated recovery feature. When this initially failed, he set out to find a console to try again.

  Yuel and Nazyr helped him trick some local Quinthar into revealing the location of one. When a good opportunity arrived in the form of the Crown Princess’ visit to Cliffport, Rylan and Leahna together with Yuel and Nazyr set out to find the console, renting a prototype ‘cloudcrank’ to quicken the journey.

  At the site, Rylan managed to release his father’s Restrictions and gain the Stealth Skill. In the process, he learned that the Talons’ famed Contract Skill didn’t exist, and that his unknown Affinity is actually for Nimbium, or ‘cloudmetal.’

  At that moment, word arrived that the city is under siege by the Talons, seemingly in a bid to capture the city and the princess in one fell swoop.

  They hurried back to the city, made their way up through the tunnels, and rescued Artoran from some Talon soldiers sent to grab him. Together, they fled the city through a fogtube, climbing up in the southern harbour to steal one of the Talons’ warships.

  Their daring plan took a desperate turn when Vidric personally came to inquire what was going on, with Tamina guarding him. Taking the initiative, they attacked, and Rylan used textured mana to kill Vidric’s torturer, thus gaining the Redirect Skill and becoming a Sapphire-Grade Quinthar.

  The following naval battle threatened to overwhelm them when unexpected reinforcements arrived by warship: the Thistlethorns.

  Helen and Soren jumped aboard to help extricate them, and after they all safely made it back onto the Stalwart Drift, Countess Beatrice Thistlethorn raised her voice, sinking a warship and sending Vidric and Tamina packing with blood coming out of their ears.

  With the course set for Thornholm by way of Thistlebloom, Rylan now has to face something far scarier and more emotionally fraught than a siege.

  His mother’s side of the family.

  System Recap

  Ethereon’s Chosen are referred to as Quinthar. To become a Quinthar, you have to first unlock a Skill.

  Emerald-Grade Skills

  These are active Skills that enable the Quinthar to improve something they can already do with Mana.

  To gain an Emerald-Grade Skill, you need to meet its three Attribute requirements, which always total 6, and perform an appropriate feat.

  Ethereon awards 3 Attribute Points for the first Emerald-Grade Skill, 2 for the second, and 1 for each Skill after that. In addition, for each new Emerald-Grade Skill or Augmentation, the Quinthar furthermore receives 100 Quint Credits, to spend on accelerated healing or Quintessence Structures like the Mana Shell.

  Sapphire-Grade Skills

  These are auxiliary Skills that apply textured mana either directly, or in concert with another Skill.

  To gain one, a Quinthar has to produce its associated mana texture, and meet its three Attribute Requirements which always total 10, and invariably feature a Mind Requirement of at least 3.

  Compared to Emerald-Grade Skills, all rewards for Sapphire-Grade Skills are doubled, meaning Ethereon awards 6 Attribute Points for the first Sapphire-Grade Skill, and 2 less for each additional Skill after that, to a minimum of 2. In addition, for each new Sapphire-Grade Skill or Augmentation, the Quinthar furthermore receives 200 Quint Credits.

  Upon gaining their first Sapphire-Grade Skill, a Quinthar will be elevated to the Sapphire-Grade, which improves the effects of all their Quint Structures, effectively doubling their Mana Pool, generation, and Mana Shell capacity.

  Ruby-Grade Skills

  These are powerful Skills that rely on tinted mana—mana that’s been transformed through a Divine Element stored in the Quinthar’s bones—to create otherwise impossible effects.

  To gain one, a Quinthar has to first obtain an Affinity for one of the Divine Elements, by beating a Champion’s Dungeon.

  The Dungeons

  Various types of Dungeons have been left behind by the Hermeans. Equipment Dungeons test the use of an Emerald-Grade Skill and reward Runegear—when available. Challenge Dungeons test a Quinthar’s ability to fight their way past stone guardians, and reward either an Attribute-increasing Enhancer or a Skill-inducing Pearl of Inspiration. Finally, Champion’s Dungeons pit a Quinthar against a Malequint that’s one grade higher, for the chance to obtain an Affinity.

  Runegear

  Runegear come in three different grades. C-grade runegear have a single runework, B-grade runegear have two, A-grade have three. Spiritgear are runegear that were either made to be sentient, or have gained sentience over the years.

  The Stalwart Drift puttered on, creaking as it traversed the slowly rolling waves of fog. Down below the reinforced deck of the Thistlethorns’ warship, sitting on a wicker chair in a little cabin, Rylan pondered the distribution of his six fresh Attribute Points.

  He was an actual Sapphire-Grade Quinthar now! Rylan could still scarcely believe it.

  The full night of sleep he’d missed to sneak out of Cliffport and find a console weighed on him, but he was far too wired to try and get some rest.

  Rationally, he knew that they’d done it, that they’d actually freed his father from his Restrictions and escaped the siege, but his body didn’t seem to have gotten the message.

  His sister clearly wasn’t suffering from the same issue, as she had conked out with her head on the little table pretty quickly, and had barely stirred when Rylan had lifted her up and deposited her in one of the hammocks.

  Their father, on the other hand, had slept through the night until the start of the siege, and looked downright chipper as he sat with Rylan to discuss his options.

  “I’m just saying,” Artoran whispered, leaning in over the little table. “Don’t write Presence off immediately; it’s a great Attribute! There are so many fun Skills that require it: Dancing, Singing, Skills with instruments... You’re missing out, son!”

  Rylan shot him a dry glance. “We’re at war, Dad. Fun is not a priority.”

  Artoran leaned back with an exaggerated pout. “I’ll have you know that morale is a very important part of war, thank you very much.”

  Rylan sometimes wondered if Artoran had learned that expression from Leahna, or the other way around.

  “Look, son,” Artoran continued with a sigh, his expression turning more serious. “I love you. Please believe that I say this with no ill will and only your best interests at heart, but... you could use a little more Presence.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Rylan’s brows drew together. “Why?” he asked quietly. “Why would I need to be better at gathering the attention of a crowd?”

  Artoran shook his head. “That is a very shallow interpretation of Presence, son. What you need to understand, is that Attributes work in concert. Consider a Quinthar who puts all her points in Strength, and none in Dexterity; she can swing a big hammer, sure, but can she still pick up a wineglass without snapping the stem?”

  Rylan scratched at his temple. Had he ever witnessed Captain Hammermore handle something delicate? He couldn’t remember. “So... Strength needs to be tempered with fine control? I guess I can see that... But there’s not really an Attribute that needs to be tempered by Presence, right?”

  “It’s not so much about tempering as it is about complementing,” Artoran explained quietly. “For example, Dexterity can help you make a proper and precise bow, but without Presence, you’re likely to get the timing wrong, and it’ll never be elegant. And Perception can help you notice minute changes in people’s expressions, but combine it with Presence and Mind and you’ll improve your ability to interpret them.”

  Rylan’s brow twitched. Is he saying I’m missing social cues? “I don’t really care about elegance,” he grumbled.

  “Don’t worry, son,” Artoran whispered with a smile. “Lifting your Presence from -1 definitely won’t make you elegant. It will give you other benefits, like making you feel a little more comfortable in group settings, maybe improving your posture a little...”

  Realising his shoulders were drooping, Rylan straightened his spine. “I suppose I could put one point in it,” he muttered. “So that I at least have the requirements for Juggling... I’ll get another when I gain that Skill anyway. But definitely no more than that, you hear?”

  “That’s all I ask,” Artoran agreed, leaning back with an easy smile.

  A small tendril of yellow light reached out from Rylan’s belt towards Artoran’s bright blue spirit.

  [Pfff,] Arphin sent to both of them. [Juggling? What a useless Skill. I don’t think Boss should waste time on that.]

  “You know,” Artoran said slyly. “The fun thing about Juggling is that you could use it with anything you’ve got on hand. Cups, shoes... even knives.”

  [Oh... Well, I guess it might not be so bad after all.]

  Rylan bit down on his smile. ‘Arphin...’ he sent back through their tether. ‘You realise I’m not going to be able to juggle you, right?’

  [Huh, why not?!]

  ‘Because you’re made of skymetal, and juggling involves throwing things up and then catching them when they fall.’

  [But I would just keep rising! He was trying to trick me!]

  Artoran laughed quietly at the affronted spiritgear.

  [Just you wait,] Arphin sent. [Someday I’ll be able to move around so well I can just fake being affected by gravity, and then I’m going to be juggled, whether you like it or not!]

  It was not an empty boast, Rylan reckoned, as Arphin had been practising pushing himself around with little gusts of air. Either way, he certainly wouldn’t mind if the spiritblade continued practising that.

  “Well, that would certainly show me,” Artoran replied, his eyes twinkling. Then he hopped up out of his chair to grab his gittern. Humming softly, he started to loosen the screw that held the snapped string in place.

  It was still odd, to see his father moving around so easily. But definitely a good kind of odd.

  Rylan returned to his deliberations. Having a full six Attribute Points was obviously amazing, but it was also a lot to decide on.

  His highest priority had to be the Mind stat, of course. Now that he’d learned that his unknown Affinity was actually for Nimbium—and he’d become a Sapphire-Grade Quinthar—his path to Ruby suddenly appeared wide open.

  He’d have to learn to produce tinted mana to get there, however, and all he knew was that it would require some form of advanced mana manipulation. His Mind Attribute was one of the few things that could help him with that.

  What he really needed was a Ruby-Grade tutor. Perhaps one of the Thorns would be willing to teach him...

  Interestingly, Ruby-Grade Skills did not come with Attribute Requirements. Rylan wasn’t sure why—perhaps they simply weren’t relevant anymore at a certain level.

  Which meant the only other thing he had to take into account was the Attribute Requirements for any Sapphire-Grade Skills he might want.

  Sapphire-Grade Skills all had three Attribute Requirements that added up to ten. One of them was always Mind, which he had covered, but he needed threes and fours to supplement it and open up his options.

  Thus, with his father’s help, Rylan had chosen two Sapphire-Grade Skills he would like: Accelerate, and Pierce.

  Meeting their requirements was actually pretty easy, because aside from a Mind of 3, Accelerate required a Strength of 4 and a Dexterity of 3, and Pierce the other way around.

  Since his Dexterity was already at 4, all he needed was a single point in Strength to meet the requirements for Accelerate.

  Unfortunately, the only person he knew of who had Accelerate was Milo Fleetfoot—or ‘Dash’—and Rylan was in no position to ask him for pointers. When it came to Pierce, however, there was actually someone with the Skill on the ship...

  His mother, Helen.

  After some thought, Rylan decided to put a point in Perception as well, as he was interested in seeing what it might do to his spirit vision.

  So in the end, he wound up putting one point each in Strength, Perception and Presence, and three in Mind.

  “Blessed Ethereon, may I see my Status Window please?”

  Status

  Mana Pool: 14.6/36

  Mana Shell: 2.9/12

  Attributes

  Strength 4

  Dexterity 4

  Endurance 2

  Mind 8

  Perception 4

  Presence 0

  Skills

  Redirect, Rank 1

  Knife-Throwing, Rank 4

  Jumping, Rank 4

  Cooking, Rank 3

  Knife-Fighting, Rank 2

  Stealth, Rank 1

  Quint Structures

  Mana Core, Tier II

  Mana Pool, Tier I

  Mana Shell, Tier VI

  Quintessence Credits: 48

  Satisfied, Rylan leaned back in his chair. It would take a couple of hours for his spirit to process the flood of power Ethereon poured into him, but he was already looking forward to feeling the difference.

  What he was not looking forward to, was interacting with the people he was trying to distract himself from thinking about.

  “So. Must be pretty weird, to be seeing the Thistlethorns again,” Artoran stated neutrally once Rylan had waved away his windows.

  “Yes. Very.”

  “How do you feel about them now?”

  Rylan let out a sigh that ended as almost more of a groan. “I don’t know. Conflicted, I guess.”

  His father didn’t say anything. He just continued staring at Rylan expectantly.

  Rylan knew what his father was doing, but he still couldn’t keep the words from spilling out. “I mean, they kept me in the dark for so long that I have to wonder if they ever planned to tell me. What is the fact that we’re actually related worth if they weren’t going to treat me like family, you know?”

  Artoran hummed.

  “On the other hand... they kinda did treat me like family when I was a child. But that also just made it hurt more when they stopped. It was like they’d changed their mind about me, like they’d decided I wasn’t worth...” Rylan trailed off, shaking his head.

  “I’m sorry, son,” Artoran said quietly, putting his hand on top of Rylan’s and giving it a squeeze.

  “I hated them,” Rylan continued after a moment. “Or at least, I wanted to hate them.”

  “But then they had the gall to come and save us,” Artoran finished.

  Rylan smiled wryly. “Pretty much. But even before that there was Soren, down in the cloudsea, where we rebuilt our friendship. And honestly, Helen, always looking out for me in little ways...”

  He lapsed into morose silence. Feeling conflicted about the Thistlethorns honestly wasn’t anything new. Normally, it wouldn’t be so bad either, but now... they were going to want to talk to him about it, weren’t they? They were going to press and needle him until he spat out how he felt, and even he wasn’t sure what was going to come out.

  “You know, I’ve always found it fascinating that people call it ‘carrying’ a grudge,” Artoran stated thoughtfully. “I think it’s one of those things where language is influenced by our unconscious understanding of the world. A grudge is something we ‘carry around’ or ‘hold on to,’ because deep down we know that, in essence, it is a burden. It wears on us. And forgiveness, by contrast, is not something we give to others, so much as it is a release of that burden, something we gift ourselves.”

  Rylan pulled back his hand, shooting his father a dry look.

  Artoran held up his hands in innocence. “Just food for thought, son, food for thought. I wouldn’t dare suggest a course of action regarding such a delicate matter; I know how you and your sister value your independent thought...”

  “Right, I’m sure you meant nothing by it,” Rylan replied tersely, then he shook his head. “I don’t know. At the very least, I have a lot of questions I would need satisfying answers to before I’d start thinking about forgiveness.”

  “Then I hope you get them, son,” Artoran said earnestly. “Life’s too short to live in anger and negativity.”

  “I hope so too. But to be honest, right now, I’m a little more concerned about the Talons than the Thistlethorns.”

  His father hummed. “There’s certainly cause for concern. But Beatrice is right about Thornholm; it’s basically impenetrable. They’d be very hard-pressed to get to us there.”

  “That’s the thing though,” Rylan said, his jaws clenching a little. “I don’t want to just dig myself in and hide from them, again. I’m so tired of living like that.” He looked up at his father. “We need access to another console, so we can figure out all of their secrets and help take them down somehow. Permanently. It’s the only way we’ll ever truly be safe.”

  “That’d be nice, son. That’d be nice.”

  Rylan opened his mouth to reply, but it turned into a massive yawn instead.

  “You should get some sleep, too,” Artoran told Rylan quietly. “We still have a few hours till Thistlebloom.”

  “I’m not sure if I”—another jaw-creaking yawn interrupted him, belying his words—“could.”

  “I think you’ll be just fine,” Artoran replied with a knowing smile, getting up to pat the hammock next to Leah’s. “Come on. Upsy-daisy.”

  Being helped into the hammock by his formerly paralysed father was... surreal. But Rylan would be lying if he said he hated it.

  “Good n... well, it’s just after noon, actually. Good rest, son.”

  “Thanks dad,” Rylan replied, closing his eyes with a sigh.

  [Sleep well, Boss! And don’t worry: I’ll watch over you! No Talons are getting to you while I’m here!]

  ‘Thanks buddy.’

  By the time the door quietly clicked shut, he was already drifting off.

  “Hey, come on, Ryles,” a voice said, as a hand gently patted his shoulder. “Wake up!”

  Rylan squinted up at Soren’s beaming face with a groan. “Do I have to?”

  “Of course! Even if we’re only stopping for a bit, you can’t sleep through your big homecoming.”

  “Is he always this cheery?” Leahna asked tiredly, her head poking out of her own hammock just enough for her to glare at Soren.

  “Unfortunately so.”

  Soren clapped his hands. “Less talking, more getting up!”

  Grumbling all the way, Rylan nonetheless allowed himself to be dragged up to the deck, where he had to shield his eyes as he adapted to the glare of the late afternoon light. When he got to the bow of the ship, however, he fell silent.

  They were still a mile or two out, and Thistlebloom looked so small. It wasn’t just the distance, however. The island was just... tiny.

  At least compared to the vast cities of Cliffport and Aeloria Waeld. It was still a few miles long and wide, of course.

  Still rubbing her eyes, Leahna came to stand next to him. “So this is where you grew up, huh? It’s quite pretty.”

  Despite himself, Rylan had to agree.

  In the large lagoon on the eastern side of the half-moon-shaped island, green leaves from cold-resistant crops peeked out of the shallow fog. The mist rolling in through the fence provided both water and protection from the worst of the cold, allowing the farmers to grow root vegetables like carrots and beets, and alliums like leeks, onions, and garlic.

  The last of those would be harvested by the end of Nebulis, to clear the field for Seminis, the planting season, when they would be planting rice and bamboo that would grow rapidly in the warmer seasons.

  The ship made its way around the southern tip of the island, giving them a good view of the village there, kelp clothing and sheets flapping in the wind on lines between the little sandstone houses with their bamboo roofs.

  And beyond that, at the crest of the western coast, lay the Thistlethorn estate.

  Its walls, that had once seemed so robust and tall, now looked almost flimsy to Rylan, who had just witnessed the siege of some proper defences.

  Defences that had fallen nonetheless.

  Still, for now, there was no warship other than the one they were sailing in on. And for all of Rylan’s misgivings about his childhood home, seeing the warm sandstone buildings with their lacquered blue rooftiles sticking out above the walls was enough to put a lump in his throat.

  The ship’s large kite was reeled back in, a steady hum reverberating through the deck as the captain switched to the Aetherium drive to manoeuvre his way towards the gap between the walls.

  Liveried guards on each side started cranking winches that lowered the steel net enclosing the marina. The same net Rylan had slipped underneath less than a year ago.

  Now, as he returned, he passed over it.

  Sheep bleated below the driftline, probably wiggling their little paws and tails to hurriedly float out of the way of the ship. A trained seal came leaping out of the fog to take a curious peek at what was disturbing its flock. Even before it finished its arc through the air, a whistle resounded from its shepherd below, ordering it to gather its charges lest they escape the marina.

  Meanwhile, curious onlookers were approaching over crushed shell paths that cut through grassy fields, to gather near the stone docks. Rows of yellow izillias lined the buildings, swaying in the breeze, and the little yellow spirit that Rylan had named after them came swooping by before it flew over to play among them.

  The breeze resulting from Izzy’s passing caused Leahna’s hair to flutter upwards, and she shot Rylan a knowing smile, seeming to somehow be aware of the little spirit’s presence, even though she couldn’t see it like Rylan could.

  Rylan smiled back, then allowed his eyes to drift over the grounds where he’d spent most of his life. The barracks where they’d pranked Grumpy Gordo, the greenhouse where they’d played hide-and-seek, the little bamboo forest where they’d imagined the wildest adventures...

  He let out a quiet sigh.

  Soren, appearing to have heard it, gently put a hand on his shoulder. “Welcome home, Ryles.”

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