Moon Hidden Due to the Jealous Sky

  Before the attack

  Sky moved through the streets of the city, her thoughts rolling through her head. Sky wanted to be more for her friends, the first beings that did not shy away from her mental touch and embraced her. Sky loved working materials into new forms, and she knew that this would help her friends survive and become stronger, but seeing Axel rolled in injured from a hunt hurt her greatly.

  Sky, as she worked through the materials coming in, distracted herself from this fear by working, much like she had always done. Then came the hunt of the Durdons, where she found a way to help her friends through control of the battlefield, but again she failed her friends with her weak mental powers. Her kind normally could hold several conversations with one another all at once in the hive net, the network held together by the stronger of their kind so all information could flow between everyone in a given area.

  Sky was defective and did not have the true ability to multitask like any other of her kind. She could network, as she had in the trial, but it was much like a human holding a conversation with each of those people involved while each person was holding a high-level conversation on metallurgy or the perfect technique for hammering out impurities from a metal. This link should be easy for her any one of her clutch mates could network a six-person group with little effort, keeping a multi-way link going for hours and not minutes.

  When the group returned to the city and was again attacked, Sky found herself outclassed by everyone again. Roran and his mount held off the initial push from the novices from the forest, Lyra healed Aria and then helped push the attack back, Aria even with her injuries provided support, and Axel was a monster she had never seen before. Who kills five novices in moments then goes on to take down several Adepts?

  All Sky could do was try to give Larimar and Pearl the little breathing room she could, but they held off two skilled enemies all on their own. Sky’s thoughts slowed down as she arrived in the district every city had that catered to her kind. Sky then connected to the network to find one of the people she needed, but like always, it felt like light claws slowly scratching her mind. Sky endured until she found an elder’s location and changed her course to his house.

  Buildings for her kind were generally wider to make movement through them easier, and Sky saw a large set of double doors set in a well-decorated stone home. The building was not one of the ancient buildings that littered the city but a new construction built to this elder’s specifications. Sky walked slowly to it, feeling the mental power radiating from the home as an almost oppressive weight. She knocked on the door with her right manipulator arm, causing a loud boom to happen.

  A mental sweep washed over her before a gentle power opened a line of mental communication with her.

  ‘Greetings, little one,’ an ancient-feeling voice talked into her head. ‘What brings you to my humble home this fine evening?’

  ‘Greetings, Elder,’ Sky sent back, sending every bit of deference in her mental voice she could muster. ‘I am Moon Hidden Due to the Jealous Sky, and I wish for your help. My master gave me this if I was ever in need of help in my journey.’

  Sky pulled out a medallion from one of her many pouches and held it up in the air. Silence followed this proclamation until the voice returned.

  ‘Little Sky, what you hold is worth much in our world,’ the voice said in kindness and worry. ‘What has driven you to use a Grand Craftsman’s token for crafting a piece? Are you truly in such dire straits?’

  ‘I am holding everyone in my group back with my deficiency and need help training, but this training needs to be done by one who is at Ascension, or it will not help me.’ Sky started and then explained what had happened over the last few weeks.

  Again, silence answered her, and this time the mental weight rescinded, making it seem as if no one was there. Sky twitched in worry but stayed in place, waiting for a verdict from this person who had made it to one of the top powers of their world. After what felt like forever, the large doors opened to a Thalaxian who held white scars crisscrossing his carapace.

  ‘Little Sky, you understand what you are trading and the pain you will need to go through for what you are about to ask me for?’ The elder’s voice returned, but his pressure did not. Sky, if she did not see him, would not be able to tell he was there as she had to push to feel anything coming off his core.

  ‘Yes, I understand that this will likely make me wish to die, maybe even die from the shock, and that I only have this one medallion after completing my apprenticeship, but my friends need me, and I am not useful how I am. I need to be more, otherwise they may leave me before their time, and that is something I don’t think I could survive.’ Sky sent back with all the steel in her spine.

  ‘Very well,’ the elder said and moved out of the way, allowing Sky to come into the building. ‘I applaud your heart and will try my best to help you.’

  Sky walked into the building and was taken to a side room that seemed to be a mental amplifier as the range of her mental touch extended by almost one hundred times. The elder motioned for her to go to the center and asked one last time, ‘Are you sure?’

  Sky only nodded and tried to relax her mind for what was to come. Sky was born with a mental blockage that appeared in one out of every six hundred of her kind, but the only treatment was to get someone who had gone past the Grand Master tier who was a master of mental power to remove it. Sky’s master explained that this was one of the most painful experiences anyone would likely have, and many died just from the shock. Her master, before she left with Axel and Aria, had given her that medallion as a last resort, if she ran into an impossible situation, as he warned her away from trying to get the block, cleared as it could be made up with mental powers, though the power would always be weaker than others with it.

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  The pain began to rip apart Sky’s mind, then stealing even her sense of self and making her wish she was dead. This lasted for what felt like an eternity until it finally ebbed away, and Sky could feel her touch expand greatly, too greatly as she started to feel everything throughout the city. That was when she saw something that rocked her.

  There lay Axel with Aria lying over his almost lifeless body as someone who obscured his mind seemed to be there. The only reason Sky noticed the other person was how much power she was putting out at the moment, and even then, it was like a wisp of smoke leaving almost no trace besides small motes of sadness. Sky also saw through Aria’s thoughts what happened and the core of pure rage that was burning in her heart right now.

  Sky was then violently returned to her body and began to cough up blood, finding herself lying on the floor of the room with the elder still standing over her.

  ‘I have cleared most of the blockage, but any more and I fear your mind would shatter from freeing anymore,’ the elder told her while looking down at Sky, who was bleeding from everywhere.

  ‘Elder, please continue to clear it as something has happened that demands that I fully free myself,’ Sky sent and rose on shaky legs to stare at him. The elder read her thoughts and memories she sent with them, something she had never been able to do before, giving her a nod and continuing with his task.

  Sky’s world was pain, but she refused to let it hold her down as her friends needed her more than ever now. As the pain faded again, Sky’s mind was barely holding on, and before she passed out, she heard the elder send.

  ‘You are no longer Moon Hidden Due to the Jealous Sky,’ the elder’s voice held a commandment. ‘You are The Moon who guides from a Joyous Sky. Rest well, little one.’

  Sky then lost consciousness as her journal status updated with her new name.

  Roran Redsky

  The Night of the Attack

  Roran Redsky stood in a quiet courtyard of a church of the Silver Flame, holding a holy book and reciting prayers to complete officially his transition from House knight to Free knight. Roran knew that this needed to happen if he was to save the last piece of his parents, but unless he gained the strength to beat his uncle in a fair duel, he would never recover what he had given up.

  Seeing his fiancée one last time was a surprise but filled him with hope as his daughter would be protected and raised well with her family. Roran’s mind returned to the time he first met Siloe at the age of five. Not knowing any better, he challenged her to a duel as she had disrupted his training ground and caused him to be embarrassed for being thrown off his father’s mount. The duel was nothing special as both of them had only just started their training and ended in a draw.

  As the years went by, Siloe was his only real companion as his parents died only a year after that duel on an emergency mission. His uncle took over his family and tried to console Roran but to no avail, while the servants distanced themselves and the other knights seemed to take on a much harsher demeanor. Roran kept training as it was the only thing he could do that did not feel useless until Siloe came one day.

  Roran remembered standing in the pouring rain as thunder rumbled overhead with his wooden practice sword. He had lost a challenge match against another member of the house, bringing his standing in the family down to the point where he was being considered to be moved to a branch family building. Roran did not feel anything about it but the worry that Star, who had been struggling since shortly after birth, would not get the care she needed. That was when Siloe walked out of the main house. Roran was still not sure why she was there that day, but it was likely the challenge was broadcast to the other houses.

  Roran stopped in his swings as she arrived in front of him, both at the age of seven with her having received a growth spurt recently. Siloe then threw off her coat into the mud and held out a training sword in front of Roran while taking a stance.

  “Roran, I challenge you to a duel for the right of Mating,” she said in her clear voice that seemed to roll over the thunder.

  Feeling even worse, Roran knew the day had just gotten worse as they were set to be genetic partners from an ancient treaty of houses so that the blood would not twist and become bad from inbreeding. His cousin likely was part of this to further bring Roran’s status down and for further moves to be the next heir. All Roran could do was nod in acceptance as if he denied the challenge it would not do his honor or situation any good.

  Roran was tired from training in the cold rain, but the duel began immediately, and both combatants unleashed well-trained blows to counter-blow beneath the Goddess’s wrath. The fight seemed to Roran to last forever and end in an instant as his cold, numb hand failed to absorb one of the blows, causing his blade to fly out of his hands. Siloe then gently placed her blade against his neck with a gentle smile on her lips.

  “I have won, and now I will declare you my Mate from this day forth.” The power of Siloe’s voice rang out then for all in the house and likely the village to hear.

  Roran was stunned, looking into her clear eyes before she turned and marched back up to the house and began a fight with another female of the house, an old cousin of Roran from a distant uncle, and demolished her. Siloe beat that lady until she was a bleeding wreck only to once again lay claim to Roran as her chosen mate.

  Roran found out later that his aunt was trying to use Roran’s loss to move his position and match Siloe to her son Koran. Siloe learned of this and could not stand Koran, so she challenged Roran when he was tired after a duel to be his Mate. This was the first time but far from the last where Siloe would help Roran with the politics of the houses, though Roran was often helping Siloe out of whatever latest trouble she had caused, but he never had a complaint.

  Every year Siloe and he would have a duel on the day to claim him as a mate until they came of age with a record of one win to her, one win to Roran, and ten draws. Where Roran was swift and fierce using the Thundering style, his other half was elusive with the Tornado style. Each of their fighting abilities matched and enhanced the other. The only memory that Roran held as dear was the birth of his daughter.

  Roran returned his thoughts to the present time as while these memories gave him the resolve to keep moving forward, Roran needed to keep to the present. His first problem was his new friend Axel’s bounty that drew in more attackers, and stronger than Roran had expected. The fight outside the city was the most intense one he had ever been in, and he felt lucky that he made it through alive.

  Roran knew many a knight that would distance themselves from a companion like Axel as while there was honor in protecting a companion, it was another to throw your life away for someone you barely knew. Roran, being a Free knight, had even less expectation of him for a situation like this and even the social expectations to leave as he was not even a member of an expedition anymore or an official part of Axel’s Flame Seeker group.

  Roran pushed these cowardly crimson thoughts away as though he was afraid to lose his life and it would be easier to leave now that he was free of obligation. Roran used this time to harden his resolve to help Axel through this problem until he was at least able to not need Roran anymore. Roran was also under no illusion that fight that he could take Axel, even after summoning Star to help, as the man fought like a crimson when the ones he loved were injured.

  With this, Roran completed his vigil, and a knight walked into the courtyard to confirm that Roran had fulfilled his obligations. After getting his documents signed, Roran walked to the inn with renewed convictions and a smile on his face.