PreCursive

  Hours ter, I was ba the tavern again. It was early m at this point after mine and Azarus’s impromptu expedition. By now, it was very early in the m. roup had left after exhausting our options with the puter down below and then broken up to see to our preparations for the trip. I’d made a brief detour to grab my bag from the tower before retreating back to the tavern, which also apparently funed as an inn. I’d wao be aloh my thoughts and this pce retty much deserted at this hour. Hell, it’s not like I would have been able to sleep after what I’d learned, so I’d decided to just stay up.

  After I had found out that, whoever had built those bunkers had something to do with Precursors, I’d told my panions what I’d found. Just like me, they hadn’t known what to think. Azarus and Sylvia had been fused, but sympathetic, while Venix had just given me a sidering look.

  It’s funny, that had been the point where I had realized we’d never explicitly told him that I recursor. He’d just kind of…trailed along in the background and found out from our versations. I didn’t make it a habit to go around talking about what I was, but he seemed to be pretty damn loyal to Grey. I figured it was fine.

  But Grey?

  When I’d told Grey about being listed in the Records, his gaze had sharpened. I think, even more than I did, Grey uood that what I’d found had been important.

  “Nathan,” He’d said to me, ying a hand on my shoulder. “Right now, we have more important matters than to dive into this mystery. However, as both your friend aor, I promise you. Ohe war has beeled, we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

  Grey’s promise had, and still did, filled me with a fusing mix of emotions. On one hand, I’d been resolved for some time now to build a new life for myself here on Veredee having been literally ensved not too long ago, I felt that I was in a good position to do so. I was friends and allies with some powerful and iial people, one of whom had decided to take me on as an apprentice. Call it cowardly, but I’d beeant to even sider the idea of pursuing a way home to Earth. I was unsure if there was even anything waiting for me back there.

  Oher hand…

  There was an undeniable part of me that was furious that I’d ever been stolen from my home in the first pce. I may have made my peace with the idea of a new life, but I wanted answers about the death of my old one. In a way, I wanted some justice or closure or I don’t fug know. The words I’d seen projected on that s in those ruins had throw of wack.

  I sighed for the umpteenth time, staring down into the mug of water I’d gotten for myself. Like I’d said, it was dead in here. In fact, there wasn’t even anyone manning the bar, nor were there any lights on iavern. I, uh, I don’t even think I was even supposed to be in here. I’d kind of snu.

  I may have approached Sylvia during our travels about the gaps in my stealth training. I perhaps had asked her to teach me some lockpig. I either firm nor deny that I’d picked the lo the tavern to get into it.

  Oh, whatever. I’d left a few s on the ter for the trouble. I’d been given a small stipend as Grey’s appreo use in town. I hadn’t had much use for it, sidering how helpful the townspeople had been ohey’d discovered I was Grey’s apprentice. But it was the thought that ted.

  As we’d all been leaving the ruin, Grey had told me that on for the trip had been prepared. We were leaving at first light, which…wasn’t far away. In fact, I could see green light starting to creep through the sts in the wooden window cs, signaling the arrival of Tarus. I stood up, draining my mug and grabbing my bag. I deposited the mug on the ter o a few s ahe tavern for the tower.

  ……………………………………..

  Once I’d reached the tower, I entered into it in order to go pick up Fade. The wolf was smart enough to have sought out Walter ht as a kind of farewell for both of them, since Fade would be ing with me, but Walter wouldn’t. Colleg my pup, I said my goodbyes to Walter. He seemed to be settling in fine. Lately, I’d seen him ag as a kind of liaison with the Church of the Gyre. I think he was getting his own fort frion, after his experiences.

  If that was w, more power to him.

  Exiting the tower I was directed around the back of it by a guard. There, I was unsurprised to find a wagon waiting, with a few familiar faces alongside it. Grey and Marshal Leopold were locked in versation, while Sylvia was sitting on a nearby crate, idly toying with a dagger. Not wanting to interrupt Grey, I gave him a wide berth as I approached the wagon. This one had a pletely closed-off back, so I opehe wooden door and peered i wasn’t too packed with junk, not like Grens. To be fair though, we had been g for dozens of people and needed all that junk. Instead, this seemed more outfitted with habitation in mind. It even had actual bunks. There were still bags and crates ihey were just shoved off to the ers. I deposited my bag with the other ones.

  Once I was done, I walked over to Sylvia and sat o her. She greeted me with a nod which I returned. Fade settled down at the base of the crate and promptly decided to take an impromptu nap.

  “So, just us so far?” I asked her in a low voice.

  My Sculpted friend nodded slightly. “Yes. Venix is fetg the horses, while I believe Azarus is gathering some additional supplies.”

  I looked over to the pair of older men speaking. Grey noticed me and nodded in aowledgment, causing the Marshal to turn slightly to look at me specutively. I tried to pretend that I didn’t find the huge, armored man intimidating. Man, did that guy wear anything else? I’d never seen him out of his blood-red pte.

  I furrowed my brow slightly, remembering something. I leaned in closer to Sylvia. “Didn’t Grey say there was going to be someone else ing? A healer, maybe that Preceptor?”

  Sylvia hummed. “Yes, but Preceptor Eduard was uo apany us. Instead, Father found someone else. Someone who could fun as both a representative of the Uprising and as a healer. You’ve evehem, but I don’t believe you’ve been introduced.”

  “Who?” I asked her.

  She zily lifted an arm to point to the entrance of the tower's backyard. “See for yourself.”

  I followed her fio find that a somewhat familiar Sculpted roag the wagon. It was that gold ohat had been shouting about their leader being abducted during the first war cil. Aurum, I think his name had been. He was carrying a pad wearing a set of robes in the colors of the Uprising, as well as a staff in his right hand.

  I was almost tempted to Observe him to see if he was the real deal, but I wasn’t an asshole. I was a good boy who ting to Veredenese social s, yes I was.

  I watched as he deposited his bag into the back of the wagon before turning around and catg sight of us. Aurum skirted around Grey and the Marshal to approach Sylvia and me. When he reached us, I was surprised when the golden-fed Sculpted bowed his head in Sylvia’s dire. “Firstborn,” He said, far more respectfully than I remember him being.

  Sylvia let out an audible exasperated sigh at the title. “Aurum, please. If we’re going to be on the same mission together, I would appreciate it if you would drop that.”

  Aurum raised his shiny bald head, refleg the sunlight into my eyes for a moment. The ptes on his face articuted against each other for a moment in indecision before he nodded. “If you say so…Miss Sylvia.”

  Sylvia sighed again.

  At that he turo me and smiled widely, revealing that even his teeth seemed to be pure gold. “And you! You’re the Headmaster's nerentice, ain’t ya?” He shifted his staff to his left hand and thrust his y right in my dire.

  “Ah,” I said, startled. I reached out and took his hand, leading the Sculpted man to enthusiastically shake it. I let g to discreetly some feeling bato it. For a healer, he sure had a strong grip. Must be because the guy was made of solid metal. “Yeah, I am. Nathan Hart, o meet you.”

  “Same here!” He said brightly. “Names Aurum! The Headmaster approached me for his rescue mission, and I was more than happy to e with! I’ll be ag as your assigned healer.”

  Well, he was certainly friendly. I guess it had just been passion or something that had caused him to interrupt the cil a few days ago. He seemed the type. Still, I was ied in him for another reason.

  I leaned forward on the crate. “So, you’re a healer?” I asked, ied. “How does that work? Do you have healing skills? Are you a Mage or a Cultivator?” Ever since I’d learned about how potent healing magic was, I’d been curious about it. I’d wao talk to the Preceptor about it during our trip to Hollow Hill, but the man had been busy twenty-four-seven. I’d just never gotten the ce.

  “Oh, don’t have healers where you’re from, do they?” Aurum asked curiously. At my shrug, he smiled widely. “That’s fine, I don’t mind talking about it! I’m actually a Mage, and that’s where I get my healing spells from! There are Cultivator healers, but they’re kinda funky. For me, it’s mostly about staying in the bad proteg people from harm. You don’t o worry, with me yonna be a-ok!” He said, givihumbs up.

  I smiled at his attitude despite myself, bemused. “Well, I’m gd you’re with us then. I’m guessing you’re hoping to find…Woodrick, right? At the prison.”

  Aurum finally lost his smile at my words. “Yeah,” He said somberly. “I’m pretty sure that some Royal agents nabbed him at the same time they he kids. I’m really hopihere as well. Me and the other Sculpted,” His eyes flickered over to Sylvia briefly before fog bae. “We’ve been kind of lost without both Rid the Headmaster. Rick is the real brain behind the Sculpted, you know? He’s always been different. Without him, we’ve just been kinda floundering and doing what the Order says.”

  I was struck then, with the remihat the Sculpted were a very, very young people. Even if they might have been structed any time i fifty-ish years, they hadn’t been scious of that existence. As a whole, most of the Sculpted had only gained full sentiend sapience during the Sed Initialization five years ago.

  Aurum tinued speaking. “He was one of the first to e to. He was fighting for our freedom years before we could even uand what that was.” His face fell. “We all miss him.”

  “Well,” I said sympathetically. I couldn’t help but see him as a bit of a child, now. I know he wasn’t, and that even at the time of the initialization, he’d had a maturity level of a teenager. But Aurum specifically just gave me the vibe of someone who was a child at heart. “That’s what we’re hoping too. Nobody that the Loyalists had kidnapped deserved to be held the way they are.” At least, I assumed so.

  “Yeah. Yeah!” Aurum nodded enthusiastically. “Well, it was nice meeting you! I’ve got to go finish getti now, so I’ll see you ter! We talk more then, okay?” At that, the Sculpted man wandered away in the dire of the wagon.

  When he was gone, I leaned bay hands and gave Sylvia a bit of a side-eye. “Firstborn, huh?” I said teasingly.

  Sylvia ht groaned. “A title given to me by my Sculpted brothers and sisters. As the first of my people to both be created and gain sapience, I’m given far too much regard, in my opinion. It get a bit tiring.”

  I hummed to myself, amused. However, something else Aurum had said stuck out to me as well. “You know,” I said curiously. “I never asked. How long was it between when you gained sapiend the Sed Initialization happened?”

  “Four years. Why?” Syliva asked curiously, turning her head to face me.

  I ughed slightly. “So that means you’re teically only nine years old?”

  Sylvia snorted delicately at my question. “If you t from the moment I became aware, yes. You could just as easily say I’m nearly sixty, if you t the time from when I was created.”

  “Sure, sure,” I said, amused. Movement caught my eye at the entrao the yard, drawing my attention. Both Azarus and Venix were returning at the same time, each with their own cargo. In Azarus’s case, he was carrying a stack of crates taller than he was easily in his arms. Venix meanwhile was leading a team of four massive workhorses by the reigns. The two of them seemed to be talking about something.

  I hopped down from the crate and wandered over to them. My movement caused Fade’s ears to perk up, followed closely by the wolf itself. As I got closer, my pup on my heels, their versation stopped. I eyed them curiously, but said nothing about it. Instead, I spoke to Azarus. “Need some help with that?”

  Azarus shrugged. “If ya like.”

  Activating Sylvan Vigor at around twenty-five pert, I took the top crate from Azarus’s stack. I nearly staggered uhe weight before upping my skill to fifty pert. “What the hell do you have in here? Lead bricks?” While I was struggling with the crate, Venix passed me with a nod to attach the horses to the wagon.

  Azarus s me. “That one is a portable fe. We don’t all got a fancy skill to do our craftin’ for us. We ain’t got no idea what we’ll need out there, so I’m bringing it with. Rest are just supplies.”

  “Whatever ma's just load them up,” I said to him, waddling my way over to the wagon. Azarus and I loaded the heavy crates into the wagon just fi didn’t even creek uhe added weight. When we were done, I found that Grey had finished his versation with the Marshal. Said Marshal had left, leaving my mentor alohe rest of the group was gregating around him where he stood o ay crate. Azarus and I wandered over. Fade settled at our heels, watg the versation curiously, head tilted.

  Grey us. “Now that we’re all here, this is what we’re going to do.” He pulled out a map from his non-descript woolen robe and unfurled it on top of the crate. He poio a spot on the map, below the Barren Forest and slightly eastward. “Currently, we’re here. And our ultimate destination is here.” He said, dragging his fio point to a small isnd off of the eastern coast, much farther south than Hollow Hill. “However, in order to get there, we’ll o go by sea. The Uprising does not actually currently possess any ships that we could use this side of the blockade, which is obviously a problem. I possess one myself, however, it is unfortunately docked at the Academy and of no use to us. Additionally, we ot use any of the vessels uhe trol of the few noble houses still able to support us. They ot reach us, agaio the blockade. The north of Herztal has beeirely cut off from naval support, as they no doubt suspect us to be up here. That leaves us with one solution.”

  Grey moved his fio point to a spot on the east coast, unmarked on the map. “There is a, shall we say, unlised town here at this location. It is not strictly speaking a ‘nice’ pce. This is the location of Herztal’s rgest pirate cove. Marrowmist.”

  Azarus snorted in disbelief. “That’s your pn? Yon a bunch of pirates to take us to Caer Drarrow?”

  Grey smirked at him. “It’s not as crazy of a pn as it sounds. I have a certain…agreement with the leadership of the cove. If I lean on them, I have no doubt they’ll lend us a crew for this purpose.”

  You know, Grey surprised me sometimes. He wasn’t quite as morally pure as I sometimes thought of him as. He seemed pretty fident about his pn. His fidence was w to reassure the group, even people that initially seemed unsure like Aurum.

  I guess I was going to get to meet some pirates.