PreCursive

  Ah.

  That was both…expected and ued, holy. Just before he had left the se of my duel with Rhazal in the cord, Tarus had made a cryptic remark about ‘seeing if we work something out’. I’d wondered what he meant about that, over the st few months. I suppose I was about to find out.

  I fixed a polite smile on my face. “And what does Lord Tarus want from me, Lady Shurenga?”

  The burning saber-tooth eyed me pensively for a moment, before dipping her head towards one of the grass mats oform. “e and sit with me, Nathaniel. And please, no need for formality here.”

  I followed the Shurengan progenitor over to the mat and sat cross-legged in front of her, as she did the same upon her haunches. I waited patiently as she gathered her thoughts. I couldn’t help but notice the brief flicker of her amber eyes, as they gnced up almost dourly at the midday form of Tarus shining through the distance opening of Mt. Umetsuji.

  Shurenga sighed slightly and then spoke. “My Father is…stubborn, at the best of times. Nosy, most of them. He and the Lady Elys pay stant attention to the people of Vereden during the times they bestride the sky. Little escapes their notice. From this snooping, Father has told me much of you and your panions, Nathaniel. And he has been keeping a very close eye on you indeed, of te.”

  There was one suspi firmed. I suppose it might be a bit difficult to escape the notice of the literal sun.

  Not…sure how I felt about that, holy. It almost felt like an invasion of privacy. Like, no matter what I did, there was an all-knowing eye in the sky watg all that I did.

  Scratch that, there was no almost about it.

  I didn’t like the idea of aruding on my life like that.

  A small frown crossed my lips, and I didn’t bother hiding it.

  Of course, Shurenga noticed. Her own feline lips curled humorlessly. “Believe me, I uand. I do love my Father, of course, but his attention be a bit stifling. He is not…malicious, in his vigi is merely the duty, the Mantle,” She stressed, almost exaggeratedly. “That he took upon himself, long ago. Father watches, endlessly, for those threats that would harm this world. He sees much, but does not speak unless necessary. In fact, Father has quite the reputation for trustworthiness, if you believe it.”

  I hummed, folding my hands on my p. “Is that so? When I met him, Tarus seemed almost…bloodthirsty, to be ho.”

  “Because he is also prideful,” Shurenga said wryly. “He takes his role so seriously that there is a saying, in Kawamara society. ‘The sun may shine, but it does not sing’. And so, to ‘sing’, is sidered to be spouting falsehoods. Perhaps you will have noticed that song was not very on, during your days in Hinaga?”

  I bli that. My c rapidly reviewed our time in the capital and…

  I couldn’t recall a siime I’d ever e across an actual soher in the single py I’d attended with my friends, or in any of the tea houses. Music, of course, wasn’t unon. It was just nonverbal and mostly came from skillful fingers plug at instruments. Even the py had mostly involved spokery and grand speeches, with the occasional background melody.

  I…just hadn’t picked up on that.

  “Father’s pride was slighted, a very long time ago, by the particur Camity you slew Nathaniel. He was quite ecstatic about his death. And so we e to his offer.”

  Here we go.

  Shurenga leaned forward, a glint in her eye. “Are you aware of Blessings?”

  I ined my head to her. “That’s how Mystic Beasts are created, right? A Greater Spirit extends their Blessing towards a young animal, granting them a degree of Mysticality. With it, the animal gains full sapiend accumutes power, to where they eventually bee a Spirit themselves upon their death.”

  “Just so,” Shurenga said, with a fanged smile. “Such a thing happeo me, many a tury ago. But did you also know it’s possible freater Spirits to extend a different form of blessing to mortals?”

  …sort of.

  I don’t think I would ever fet the sight of the Thunderheart transf into Werewolves uhe full and heavy light of Elys, guided by Taran. It was the kind of thing that stuck with you.

  Wait a minute.

  I’d hought of it in those terms, but…wasn’t I a kind of Were creature now? Vis Maledicta Exactoris wasn’t all that dissimir to that type of transformation?

  What did that make me? A…Werebat? Wereraptor?

  My c promptly called me a ‘Werebraptor’, and I promptly told it to kill itself.

  I think part of my all-too-familiar internal struggle showed on my face, sidering the odd look that Shurenga cast my way. I pstered a smile on my face as my ched at me. “Yes, I’m familiar with that as well. But my uanding was that it wasn’t possible any longer, with the advent of the System?”

  Shurenga quirked an eyebrow at me. “Oh? So you’ve entered Taran’s little pack, have you?” She mused, before shaking her head. “That is only one kind of Blessing that be bestowed, and not the kind I’m speaking of. Taran is also not a Great Spirit, Nathaniel. No…I’m speaking of a form of Blessing the Great Spirits bestow upon favored mortals that the System allows.”

  “Envoyship.”

  The light cast by Tarus, shining from above, intensified for a moment. Oddly, both my skin and the core of my soul, the crystalliree that shined with the rainbow fme of my most powerful Skill, warmed from the sensation.

  It was an…odd sensation.

  I forced my hackles down a Shurenga’s knowing eyes. “And what is ‘Envoyship’?”

  “A gift of power,” She tinued. “Of responsibility…and radery. Ohat is held by someone I am told you’re quite close to, Nathaniel. Care to take a guess?”

  I furrowed my brow at the teasing tone in her voice. It…wasn’t hard to figure out who she was talking about.

  “Grey,” I said quietly. “Grey is an Envoy?”

  Shurenga ined her head. “Indeed. Grey is the only currently active Envoy upon Vereden. Many years ago, the Ivory Lady bestowed her Blessing upon the mortal she had e to love. He who stole the love of my Father is also the tip of her spear. And iurn, he was granted a sliver of her power to wield as he saw fit. The form it took was of his own choosing, and he has wielded it to great effect.”

  “…what form would that be?”

  “He carries it out in the open, for all to see. The slender form of that instrument carried him to stand as the current pinnacle of humanity.”

  Slender form…

  I sucked in a breath, my eyes widening. “Erux! The staff!”

  I’d always wondered what the deal with that thing was.

  Shurenga’s smile widened, and she me. “Indeed. Grey of the Shadowed ‘Sun’,” She rolled her eyes. “Chose for his Envoyship to take the form of a on of terrible might. It’s not unon for Envoys to do such a thing, and thus the Spire of Night desded upon Vereden once again.”

  Hmm…

  “Well, there’s a problem there, my dy,” I said wryly. “I’m ly wanting for ons. In fact, I perhaps have too many of them.”

  Between Tzo’s staff and my owions, I was almost drowning in armaments. With my General ons Talent fueling my extendable spears, Terractus, my unnamed bow, and hell! Even the handful of throwing knives I literally had up my sleeves, I wasn’t hurting for ons. I slipped one slim Oninite bde out for her to see as a demonstration, sidering that was all I had on me. I’d left everything else ba the guest room with the others to watch over since we were nominally in friendly territory.

  Nominally.

  Shurenga was unmoved. “As I said. Grey’s choice was merely one form of the Envoy's Blessing,” She said patiently. “If you accepted my Father’s offer, then it need not necessarily be that of a on. Yift could e in a number of distinct fashions. In the past, Tarusian Envoys have chosen powerful abilities that are marked on their Statuses as Unique Skills. Gifts of knowledge, or eveh are not out of the question. Even a el directly ected to Tarus himself, as a font of raw power is possible. ons of uioned power are simply one form the Blessing take. Once…” She trailed off before rallying. “Once, an Envoy asked for a diretervention of Tarus himself, here in the physical. That flict was soon ended.”

  I was quiet for a moment, sidering that.

  There were…things I could ask for, that were far more tempting than merely a strong stick or a sharp bde. Knowledge…that stuck out to me in particur.

  I had…so many questions I wanted ao, that an a being like Tarus could provide for me. Things that could be either me, my panions, or even Vereden as a whole. For instance…

  I could just ask for what I’d e to Goryuen in the first pce. The knowledge as that were waiting for me in the bunker, on this very isle. Surely Tarus was old and knowledgeable enough to know what was waiting for me in there?

  Knowledge about Precursors in general. There was…so much up in the air, about what I was.

  Grey said we were mysteries.

  Alveron said we were ons, poised at the hearts of the gods.

  Nehushtan had called us failures.

  Where did the truth lie? Maybe…Tarus could tell me.

  But I was wary of signing up with anyone else, at this point. I had just gotten out of one war, as a bde in the dark. I didn’t want to immediately jump right bato another. I was finding that I quite enjoyed my freedom, since my exit at the tail end of the struct War. Besides…

  “What does Tarus ask iurn?” I asked quietly. “rice does an Envoy pay, for power?”

  “It differs, from Great Spirit to Great Spirit,” Shurenga said, twitg an ear. “In ages past, Greatuncle Orus required grand works of his Envoys. They would fe and craft miraos to his majesty before he grew tired of the world areated to slumber. Lady Neris called for blood, the sacrifice of those who would befoul the os. Lady Elys…befrey, her Envoys were paragons of justice. They vehe nd to rectify great injustices born in the dark, seen by her watchful eyes. But since she took her new lover…well. None know what she asks of the Shadowed Sun.”

  I waited a moment for her to tinue, but she didn’t tihe great cat seemed lost in thought. “And Anima?” I prompted. “What does she ask?”

  That snapped Shurenga out of her ption. “Ah,” She paused briefly. “Apologies, but Lady Anima has aken an Envoy. In all of the history of this world, not once has she gifted her power to ahe Font of Life is elusive at the best of times. However, it was Father you were asking about. Tarus asks fince.”

  I furrowed my brow. “Vigince? From what?”

  Shurenga smiled softly at me. “Why, threats of course. Camities, rogue gods, mad beasts…anything that threatens the bance of pea Vereden or within the cord. If the danger grows too great for mortals to ha, my Father asks that his Envoys step forth and…deal with the problem.”

  I…

  Well, that made up my mind almost immediately.

  I wasn’t ied in being the guardian of aire damned p. I had enough problems on my pte as it was, without signing up for such a task. If I was going to help Vereden in a way like that, I was going to do it on my terms.

  My rules.

  And it wasn’t like I had no clues to find the answers I sought. I was here, in this pce, looking for them now.

  I could get by without Tarus.

  I fixed a polite smile on my fad stood up from the grass mat I sat upon. I bowed at the still sitting form of Shurenga. “I thank you and your Lord Father for the generous offer,” I said smoothly. “But I’ll have to dee.”

  The light shining from overhead dimmed. Flig my eyes up, I saw enough time had passed for the bright form of Tarus to pass over the rim of the caldera. It might have been my imagination, but the circur impression of the sun as it intersected the rock almost looked like a…frown, as mad as that sounded.

  “As you wish, Nathaniel,” I heard Shurenga say, entirely unbothered. Looking back at her, I saw that the matriarch was unruffled by my refusal. In fact, there was an almost amused tint to the flig of her two tails. “My Father is prideful, but he take a refusal. However…,” One of those tails reached up and into the fming mass of her ‘hair’. Inexplicably, it wasn’t burned as it somehow withdrew what seemed to be a small, e stohe tail whipped it in my dire.

  I caught it without thinking, afraid for a moment that it would be burning hot to the touch. But no, it was as cool as any other stone. Looking down, I saw that it was…beautiful, to be ho. The little gem held in my gloved Primordium hand appeared almost as if it was fire itself, frozen and shaped into a teardrop. Whorls of reds, es, and yellows danced in the light of the caldera as I turhe stone bad forth.

  I looked back up as Shurenga spoke again. “If ever you ge your mind, shatter the stone and Father’s attention shall fall on you at ohen, you may bargain for the Aegis of the Envoy if you so wish.” At that, Shurenga stood up. “Well! If that’s over with, the us adjourn. Father’s offer has been heard aed, and so I say it is time for supper. I believe your dwarven friend was grilling for the amusement of my children? I should quite like to try his fare.”

  I slipped the stoo one of my pouches, and followed Shurenga out of volo’s heart. I was quiet on the walk back to the guest room, p the opportunity that I’d summarily refused.

  Had I made the right decision? Was I just being as prideful as Tarus himself, by turning him down?

  I guess time will tell.