Libriohexer ~ 9!

Chapter Nine

It was full dark when they finished dressing and left the Irondown Burrows behind, trading heated water and comfy beds for biting mosquitoes and the gloomy shadows engulfing the Forest of Chlorophyll Chaos. Arrow was disgruntled and Dizzy seemed to be on the hangry side since Velkan insisted that they forgo eating. The Wolfman was as stoic as ever, but Kai and Bill both seemed to be in good moods and Sam was actually feeling pretty happy with the choice to venture out right away. He was tired and his muscles ached from the strain of the day, but he knew that nothing good in life came without putting in the work.

Even in the dark tangle of the forest, Velkan navigated the landscape like a homing pigeon; moving with the sure footsteps of someone who had walked this path a thousand times. Except, he insisted he’d never come this way before. That was his Bushcraft skill at work. The Wolfman seemed to instinctively know when to duck hanging branches or sidestep snagging roots that tripped up others.

Though he had only the wan light of the stars and moon to navigate by, Velkan never missed a beat or a step. As for how he knew where to go, he said that was something all Wolfmen could do, and insisted that eventually they would be able to do it as their connection to The People grew. The Wolfman outposts moved constantly, so the Shamans devised a spell that allowed The People to sense the Totem Grounds; which were always located near the Den; a neat trick that showed the Wolfman were far more than the monstrous beasts the humans made them out to be.

It took their crew almost an hour of hard trekking before they emerged from a thick pocket of trees and saw the looming palisade walls of New Narvik. The landscape had changed, the pine trees, maples, and fur were gone, replaced by bushy hemlock, towering ash, and gnarled, moss covered oaks; but honestly, New Narvik looked nearly identical to Old Narvik. Warm fire lights illuminated the night, silhouetting the Wolfman sentries peering down from the guard towers dotting the perimeter. Seeing the different, yet somehow the same outpost, was oddly reassuring. Sam hadn’t realized just how much he’d come to enjoy their time in the mobile Wolfmen village.

“This way,” Velkan jerked his head away from the palisade walls and toward a wide clearing off in the distance.

“Can you tell us any more about the Totem Grounds?” Sam questioned as they walked, forging through the swaying grasses surrounding the newly constructed outpost. “Obviously it’s used for training, but what kind of training? Is it like an obstacle course, or are we going to be fighting monsters?”

“You will fight monsters,” Velkan replied, glancing back over his shoulder, his golden eyes gleaming with hidden delight. “But not the sort you are thinking of. They are the monsters inside yourself. The People value strength. Every interaction is designed to refine. To make us better than we are. Even a simple touch…”

He extended a claw and, with a flash, left a searing scratch across a surprised Sam’s check, “can improve us. Fortifying our Constitution and hardening our flesh. It is not only strength of body we value, but strength of character, will, and mind.”

Velkan tapped on his temple. “It is the mind of a wolf where true strength must be cultivated. Our greatest enemy is not others, but ourselves. Our own weakness and fear. The Seven Totems are empowered by the Sacred Shamans of Old. They allow us to train our seven individual attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Perception. No two training sessions are the same. The Spirit Guides bound to the Totem give us what we need to push us or break us. Often, you will experience death within the Totem Grounds.”

“Wait. Death?” Sam’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “But Wolfmen can’t respawn.”

“This is the secret,” Velkan replied cryptically. “Because inside of the Totem Grounds, death is only a stepping stone toward rebirth. It is a special place. We are here.”

He gestured to a mostly empty clearing that looked remarkably similar to the grassy sea they’d just trekked across. Mostly clear wasn’t entirely clear; there were seven gateways arrayed in a circle, though they didn’t seem to lead anywhere except to the center of the meadow. Each gateway consisted of two massive wooden poles, carved to resemble fearsome creatures, with a simple wooden beam running across the top.

“Walk with me. This is the Totem Ground. A place to master self. Each Totem Gateway represents a single characteristic.” Velkan growled, setting off as they did a lap around the clearing. He waved toward a gateway, held up by a burly bear covered in tribal swirls, “Mother Bear represents the strength of the arm and body. Father Bison, constitution. The power of stamina and fortitude. On and on it goes. Brother Peacock, charisma. Sister Rat, Perception. Cousin Crow, intelligence. Great Auntie Owl, wisdom. Uncle Monkey, dexterity”

“I’m sorry,” Bill interrupted with barely contained mirth. “Did I just hear there’s a Monkey’s Uncle? Just me? Fine.”

“Our People use these Totems,” Velkan continued, unperturbed by Bill’s commentary, “to both increase our levels through experience gains, as well as to refine individual attributes. You may go in as a group, but for first time, it is best you go alone.”

“Dude, this is totally zen,” Kai was grinning madly. “I’m all about this aesthetic. Like the spirit animals and stuff. So rad.”

“Yeah, sure. It’s cool,” Arrow’s tone was far more cautious, “but you still haven’t told us what actually happens once we go in. Is it a time trial? Or are there waves of monsters?”

Velkan just shook his head. “Yes. It is all of those. As I said, the Totems decide what will grow you best, and they will set the trial accordingly.”

“That sounds a lot like the trial I went through when I first entered Eternium,” Sam stated, getting nods from the others. “I wonder if it works on the same principle?”

“No idea. Dibs on Father Bison!” Kai took off at a sprint for a gateway held up by a stylized buffalo rearing up; its great horned head raised toward the sky. Kai’s legs were a blur as he ran. Everyone watched as he dashed through the gateway without even pausing… and disappeared.

Here one second, gone the next.

Bill let out a low whistle. “Does that look familiar, Sam?”

“Yeah,” Sam replied with a bob of his head. He had definitely seen power like that before… but only in one place. The Mage’s College. “That looks an awful lot like spatial magic.”

“Bingo-bongo,” Bill chimed like a dinner bell. “Spatial Magic is impressive enough on its own, but the fact that these Shamans can tear those things down and pop ’em back up in a day? That’s some next level spell-craft, if you ask me. Usually, spatial magic is built around fixed temporal points, but they must be using the Totem Gateways themselves as artifact anchor points. I wonder how they’re powering them, though? That kinda magic doesn’t come cheap and there’s no way they can draw from the users since most of the Wolfmen don’t actively have a mana pool.”

“Any idea how this works, Velkan?” Sam prodded hopefully.

The Wolfman just shook his shaggy head. “This is a thing of Shamans. It is not for us to know, only to accept that it works.”

<Gotta be an uber powerful Monster Core,> Bill sent silently, not wanting to upset Velkan with his academic thoughts. <I bet these Totem Guardians are similar to Dungeon Bosses. Abyss, these might even be portable instances. Wild, that these fur-faces are just sitting on some of the most powerful magic I’ve ever seen in my life; and I’ve been around a good long time.>

“Alright,” Arrow pulled his bow from his back, then checked his quiver. “I guess my interest is officially piqued. Looks like I’ll be a Monkey’s Uncle.”

“Thank you!” Bill shouted. “Finally.”

“No, Uncle Monkey,” Velkan corrected as though speaking to a daft child.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Bill hurried Sam along before he had to choose last. “Come on, let’s go explore already. I gotta know how this works. Since you’re what, two points away from the Wisdom Threshold, I say we go see what ol’ Auntie Owl has to throw at us.”

“Guess that leaves me with the strength bear.” Dizzy pulled free her war maul with an expression of grim determination. “Be safe in there, Sam. I’ll see you back on the other side.”

Sam moseyed along at a much slower pace, using the time to conjure his spell tomes. He was running low on pages in his Papier-Mache Mage volume. Each use cost twenty-five sheets, since it took proportionally more paper to cover a person than it did to fold a throwing star; the Shuriken had a one-to-one ratio. He had enough for one use, but he didn’t want to waste it. So, he left that tome tucked away inside Bill’s Soul Space and opted instead for Ink Lance, Fire, Ice, and Paralysis Shuriken, as well as his ultimate AoE spell: Rorschach Test.

As ready as he was ever going to be, Sam and Bill stepped through the Owl-Totem gateway and right into the heart of a raging blizzard. Sam whirled around and found the Totem Gateway behind him, looking out on the swaying grassy meadow outside New Narvik. Everything else was different. He was somewhere high in mountains that looked like the white caps of the Rockies in the dead of winter: all jutting gray stone and snow-swept peaks for as far as he could see. He caught a blur of movement in the corner of his vision and spun again. There was person huddled in a mass of blankets trudging along a winding, snow-packed trail.

No, not a person, Sam realized after a second. Something else.

Nearly as big as a bear, but with the head of a barn owl and a pair of curling deer antlers protruding from its feathery head. It wasn’t alone. A trio of tiny creatures, two or three feet tall and covered in thick white fur, danced around the owl’s feet, harassing the much larger creature with scratching claws and jagged, biting fangs. The Owl was doing all it could to get away, slapping at the white-furred things with gangly simian-like arms, and lashing out with taloned-feet. But they were too fast, and their frantic attacks were becoming more persistent by the second.

<Don’t just blunder in,> Bill sent silently into Sam’s head. <Look at the situation. Think about it. What’s the best play here, huh?>

Sam’s gut reaction was to shoot first and ask questions later, but he didn’t have all the answers. Not even close. Who would he even shoot? He squinted against the howling winds and considered the scene more carefully.

If he fired on whatever those white-furred creatures were, he risked bringing them down upon himself, which could spell disaster. What were they, and could he beat them in a brawl? Three on one weren’t especially good odds. Even if he did manage to hurt them or drive them off, what were the chances that he would then have to face down the owl monster? Was it better to just wait things out and let the monsters kill each other, then mop up whatever remained? That was his initial reaction, but after looking at the owl for a moment, he tossed the idea right out the window.

Although the Owl thing wasn’t human, it was wearing traveler’s robes… and the fear in its golden eyes was very real and telling. Plus, this was the Totem of Great Auntie Owl. He couldn’t just leave it to die, not if he could help. He could help.

Ice Orb probably wouldn’t do much against the white puffballs of teeth and malice, but those little critters looked flammable enough. With a thought and a whisper of mana, Sam unleashed a wave of Shurikens, peppering the creatures in an onslaught of fire and folded paper. His stars sliced through thick matted tangles of hair, leaving black char marks in their wake. The creatures howled and rounded on him, their beady red eyes like hot, angry coals. They squawked at each other, gibbering like monkeys, then dashed toward him as one, propelling themselves forward on all fours. Running with gorilla-like gaits.

“Quick thinking,” Bill condescendingly spoke, “glad we made the right choice there, by bringing them down on us like a plague. Cool. Cool, cool.”

“These things look scary, but they don’t look very smart,” Sam shot back, bringing a brown volume with a gold spine to the active position. Rorschach Test was his only current AoE spell. Sam rarely deployed it because it cost a staggering one-hundred and fifty sheets per use. He could only cast that spell twice before needing to resupply, but it was a great ace in the hole when things got dicey. Like right now, for instance. Pages and ink burst forth in a whirlwind, spinning and distorting as they took to the sky, morphing into a single giant scroll.

Because of his position, Sam couldn’t see what was inked on the front side of the floating sheet, but from the spell description, he knew the little horror shows would be seeing a giant Rorschach Test; one designed to induce absolute terror. The three white-furred critters skittered to a stop, their eyes wide in fear. Without missing a beat, they broke in every direction, each one wailing in fear as they disappeared, swallowed by the swirling blizzard. The fear Sam had seen on their faces was a firm reminder that you really were your own worst enemy.

“Hurry, child,” the owl cawed. “They won’t stay away long, best we seek shelter. My cave is just here.” It nodded toward a dark fissure, partially obscured by a snow drift. Without waiting for a reply, the owl creature ducked its antlered head and dipped into the crack.

“You sure about this?” Bill whispered against the wind. “This could be some sort of elaborate trap.”

“Yeah,” Sam replied with a shrug, “but I don’t think it is. I know that thing looks like a monster, but so do you… and here we are.”

“Hey, I resemble that remark!” Bill protested with a chuckle. “Though, I suppose to be fair, you have a point. I hate the snow. If that thing is going to murder us horribly and wear your skin like a coat, at least I’ll be warm. I say throw caution to the ice-wind and do it.”

“Always glad to have you in my corner, Bill,” Sam tromped through the shin-deep powder and wriggling into the fissure in the rock face. He gulped, half expecting to see flashing claws. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the narrow passage slowly shifted to the left, then let out into a single room cavern with a small fire already burning inside in a stone-ringed pit. The owl creature crouched on the far side of the pit, its clawed hands held up to the crackling flames.

“Well, come on in then.” Its voice was distinctly feminine. matronly.

“Are you Great Auntie Owl?” Sam quizzed as he padded forward to feel the delightful warmth of the flames on his skin.

“Indeed, I am. Indeed I am. Now come. Sit. Let me make you a cup of tea to thank you for your help.”

“It was nothing,” Sam waved away the remark.

“Oh, but that is where you are wrong, young one.” She rustled her wings, pulled aside her thick robes, and revealed a silver teapot, which she slowly prepared and placed next to the fire to warm. “You see, young man, you could’ve done nothing. Yet you chose to act, at great personal cost to yourself, no less. That is the first lesson to learn. Both action and inaction are choices, and all choices matter. Our choices are cumulative, you see. Why, you wouldn’t be here if that weren’t so. A human Mage, where only wolf pups tread? I can only begin to fathom the choices that have brought you to my humble cave.”

She fell silent as her little teapot vented a small stream of white steam, producing a pair of porcelain teacups with an artful flourish before carefully pouring each of them a cup. Sam watched her drink first, making sure it wasn’t poison, then tentatively took a sip. It tasted like old bathwater and mud. He suppressed a wince and held his tongue.

“There’s wisdom in that, too. Knowing when to hold your tongue and when to speak.” The old owl crooned, seeming to catch the gesture. She sipped slowly, seeming to savor the flavor of the awful concoction. “Tell me now why you attacked the Yorlings and not me, hmmm?”

“Because he’s a bleeding-heart softie,” Bill scathingly replied on Sam’s behalf. “I tried to advise him to ride it out, but no~o~o, not Sam. Kid’s always got to do something.”

“Perhaps this one could learn a little about holding his tongue.” She blinked, the motion slow and ponderous. A weight seemed to settle over them. Magic, but like none Sam had ever felt before. When he glanced at Bill, he saw with great astonishment that the book’s eyes were closed. He was asleep. That was impossible. Bill never slept. He couldn’t.

“Sometimes, you will find wisdom takes a quiet mind,” the owl turned her attention back to Sam, ignoring the softly snoring book. “Now answer. Why spare me and not them, hmmm?”

Sam shrugged as he tried to regain his bearings. “I don’t know. I guess the safer bet was to let you all duke it out? That way whoever was left alive would’ve been weaker if it came down to a fight. But then I saw your eyes. There was something there that I connected with. The fear maybe? Or the pain… hard to say. All I know is that I hate bullies, and those things looked like bullies to me. It was a risk, but I would rather take a risk doing what I think is right, then play it safe doing what I feel is wrong.”

“A wise choice it was. Had you waited, I would’ve turned on you the very moment I dispatched the Yorlings.” The great owl nodded sagely before hunching forward, peering at him with too-big eyes. Weighing him. Measuring and evaluating him. “Level ten Bibliomancer. Rare, but I would’ve destroyed you in seconds in my wrath.”

Sam’s blood ran cold under her withering stare. “What wisdom would that have taught me?”

“That not all things are as they seem. That a scorned foe is more dangerous than a hungry wolf.” She leaned back and offered him what he took to be a smile, her beak cracking just a hair. “But that is not what happened. You took the risk. You trusted yourself and earned the wisdom of experience. Now drink.”

Sam suppressed a grimace but took another long pull to be polite. This time, though, the tea tasted sweeter on his tongue. It hit his belly with a pleasant warmth that spread through his limbs. He felt tired, but not anxious. He dreamily stated, “This isn’t at all what I was expecting. I mean, the monsters. The fighting. That was what I was expecting. But not this.”

He swept an arm around the cave.

“Wisdom comes in many forms,” the wizened owl’s voice seemed to reverberate in his brain. “There is the wisdom of the battlefield, an insight born through bloodshed and hurt. Such is the lesson you would’ve learned had you failed to intervene. But there is also the wisdom of the kind soul. I can see you are bold and decisive when confronted with an external enemy, but in your own mind you are divided.”

“Your path is clouded. But, since you have shown me a kindness, I will show you one in return, young one.” She reached forward with her enormous, gangly arms and tapped his forehead, then took the cup and pressed it to Sam’s lips, forcing the remaining tea into his mouth. Now it tasted like honey and wildflowers. “Wisdom is bitter at first, but sweeter the more you taste of it. You have walked a strange path to end up here. The unwalked path requires the greatest wisdom to navigate. Trust your instincts and remember… all is not as it seems. Often the road scorned conceals the greatest treasures of all.”

The owl blinked her eyes again, the weight returning and settling over him like a heavy blanket. “Follow your gut. Trust yourself. Embrace the eccentric, for there lay true power.”

Sam was so tired he hardly saw the notice that popped up across his vision.

Wow. I can’t believe she actually talked with you. She usually just eats people!

Wisdom +2.

By surpassing two Thresholds you have upgraded the Title Soul-Bound Level 1 to Soul-Bound Level 2 (Upgradable)! Effect: Receive a one-time character bonus as a result of absorbing a portion of the Bibliomancer’s Sacred Tome’s Characteristic Points. +1 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, +5 Intelligence, +4 Wisdom, +2 Charisma, +2 Perception, -5 Karmic Luck (Artificially Artifact bonus).

As you bind more closely with the Bibliomancer’s Sacred Tome, you can upgrade this title to a maximum of Soul-Bound Level 4, unlocking a new, one-time character bonus with each successive upgrade! Until the maximum rank, this title cannot be combined with any other title nor removed for any reason.

Warning! You have reached fifty points in Wisdom! This one’s going to hurt, but it’s going to be worth it. As they say, wisdom is better than silver and more valuable than gold. Real power waits just on the other side. Body modification in process in three… two… one…