Who was he really? He still often thought of himself as a young, simple woodcutter experiencing the world outside his village for the first time. For awhile he had thought of himself as a student and most recently as a soldier. Now he wasn’t sure what to think. He had found out that he was a wielder only a couple of weeks ago. Now he was being told that he would become a master wielder. He wasn’t certain if that would happen or not, but what if it really did?
He supposed now he would begin training in the ambience and learn what he was truly capable of. It appeared that he wouldn’t be returning to Calyn on the Arrow or joining back up with the Royal Army any time soon. Instead of standing on the beach waiting to be picked up in a week, he would be learning an all but extinct form of power.
So who was he now and what would he become? What would be expected of him as a wielder? He wondered if he would end up spending years studying in the keep, mastering different aspects of the ambience. He could make Faldor’s Keep his new home. Eldridge had said that he was the heir to the keep. Did that really mean it was now his? He dismissed the thought. It was no more his than it was the keeper’s or the guardians’. It was merely a place to house those guarding the secrets of the ambience and those learning the secrets.
How long would he be a guest here? He could technically spend the rest of his life within its walls growing in knowledge. However, he knew that wouldn’t happen. He would learn to control his newfound power and then leave when the time was right. How long that would be, he didn’t know. But he was sure of one thing. When he did leave the keep he wouldn’t be leaving it as a commoner or a simple soldier. He would be leaving it as a wielder of the ambience.
He shifted in the chair and tried to get comfortable. He also tried to clear his racing mind. His headache had not gotten any better, and he wanted to rest before he began his training. He hoped sleep would relieve most of the pain. He thought of getting up and lying down on his bed, but before he made the effort to do it, he was fast asleep in the armchair.
Traven woke up several hours later without a headache but feeling famished. He looked outside and saw that it was just past midday. He hurriedly straightened himself up and made his way down to the great hall. He looked through the large open doors and saw Eldridge sitting towards the front, already eating. He hurried across the hall to join him but paused when he saw the table behind the keeper. There was a huge hole in the middle of it and an indentation in the solid stone floor underneath. He flushed with embarrassment at the vague memory of his ball of liquid fire dropping through the table and crashing to the ground just as he had passed out.
“No more liquid fire in the keep,” Eldridge announced with a large smile, seeing what Traven was staring at. “If you want to practice that, you better do it outside.”
Traven was relieved to see that the keeper wasn’t upset about it. He would need to remember to be more careful no matter what situation he found himself in.
“Hurry up boy,” Eldridge said. “Your food is getting cold.”
Traven quickly sat down next to the keeper and began eating the lukewarm soup and the large hunk of bread that were waiting for him. Eldridge finished his meal before Traven, having already eaten most of it before he had arrived.
“I’ve been thinking about where to start,” Eldridge said while Traven continued eating. “I should probably start with an explanation of what the ambience is. What do you know of it?”
“Not much,” Traven replied between mouthfuls. “All I really know is that it’s magic. I’ve heard some stories of how powerful it can be, but that’s about it.”
“Fascinating!”
“What?” Traven asked confusedly.
“You don’t really know anything about the power you have, and yet you are able to wield it anyway. Most wielders had to be taught how to use their power by someone who already knew. However, you, like some of the greatest wielders of the past, have taught yourself.”
“Not really,” Traven answered as he finished up his meal. “I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
“What you mean is that you don’t understand what you are doing,” the keeper corrected. “You know what you’re doing. I’m fairly certain you meant to create the flame last night and meant for it to grow into a ball of liquid fire. You have incredible instincts. Let me try and help you understand how you do what you do.”
The ancient man pushed the bowls aside and turned to face Traven. His excitement to finally be able to share his knowledge was easily recognizable and made him seem younger than he was.
“The power and ability to wield the ambience is something that certain people are born with. The ability is not entirely random. The children of wielders were more likely to possess the ability than children of non-wielders, so there is some type of inheritance to it. However, no one knows for sure who will end up with the power and who will not. The power is not manifest until sometime near adulthood. The dormant power that the wielder was born with unexpectedly bursts to life. The wielder suddenly notices a difference in the world around him. He sees sharper, hears better, and is stronger. All of his senses are enhanced. When this change occurs, it signals that he can now wield the ambience. This change is known as the wielder’s awakening.
“When the wielder’s awakening occurs, the power to wield the ambience is no longer dormant. The wielder has the ‘power’ to manipulate the world around him using the ambience. However, the actual ‘ability’ to wield the ambience needs to be learned. Otherwise, a wielder may never use the special power that he has been born with. If the power is not used, it begins to fade over time until even the wielder’s passive abilities of heightened senses and longevity fade to almost nothing.
“However, if the power is used often, it will continue to grow stronger and stronger until the wielder’s power eventually peaks. Every wielder peaks at a different level of power in the ambience. Some will have great power when they reach their peak while others may only be able to ever perform the most simple of tasks.”
Traven thought back over the last year wondering when his awakening had occurred. Had it been when he saved the Princess? He remembered feeling his senses heightened when he had woken up after the incident in the cave. It was from that moment on that he had started to use the ambience. However, thinking back further, he realized that his senses had been heightened even before the incident in the cave. In fact, he had felt different ever since the day he had left home for the merchant academy, ever since he had suddenly blacked out. Eldridge hadn’t mentioned anything about blacking out when the awakening occurred.
“Do wielder’s usually black out when the awakening occurs?” he asked.
“No,” the keeper replied. “I’ve never heard of a wielder blacking out when his awakening occurred. It is usually a very exciting experience. The wielder is suddenly filled with energy and vitality, and the world opens up to him like he has never experienced it before. Isn’t that how it was for you?”
“Not even close,” Traven answered. “I blacked out and fell off my horse.” Eldrige gave him a very confused look.
Why had it not been such a great experience for him? Why had he passed out when other wielders hadn’t? He did remember feeling different when he woke up and got back on his horse, but he hadn’t been filled with energy and wonder. His senses had been heightened, but that was all that had happened except for his father’s stone changing from blue to amber.
Thinking of the stone, he was reminded of the keeper’s earlier story about the creation of the might stones. The first might stone ever created had been blue. Eldridge had said when the wielders had approached it, it had begun to glow an amber color. It seemed that his father’s might stone and the stone from the story were one and the same. What had the stone ever done for him but burn him on multiple occasions? What special magic had the stone had?
“Eldridge,” Traven began. “I used to have a might stone that turned from blue to amber the day my awakening occurred. It remained amber for the remainder of the time I had it. I was wondering if it was the first might stone created and what powers it had.”
“The stone you are referring to is the ‘protection stone’. It is the only might stone that changes from blue to amber. You had it in your possession?” Eldrige asked.
“Yes, I used to wear it on a cord around my neck.”
“No wonder you blacked out when you had your awakening,” Eldridge chuckled. “It all makes sense now.” The keeper shook his head, laughing for a few moments before going on. “The protection stone was one of the most useful stones in defending the keep from the dark wielders. It was found to negate the ambience. Whoever held it could not be touched by the ambience. Of course, it worked in reverse as well. Whoever held the protection stone couldn’t wield the ambience either.” Eldridge paused to let Traven realize the implications of the stone’s power. “When you had your awakening, the stone immediately began blocking you from using your new power. That must have been the reason you blacked out.”
At least that explained some of what Traven had experienced after his awakening. He was relieved to know it was the might stone that had caused him to pass out and that there wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with him.
“The stone also burned me several times,” Traven said. “What would cause it to do that?”
“The protection stone gets hotter and glows brighter as it takes more and more of the ambience into itself. That is how the stone negates the effects of the ambience,” the keeper explained. “So my guess would be that the stone could burn the bearer of it if they were trying to use the ambience or perhaps if someone was trying to use the ambience against them.” He stopped and thought about something for a moment. “You mentioned that you used to have it. Where is the protection stone now?”
“It was destroyed.”
“Impossible,” the keeper stated.
“It’s true,” Traven replied. “I was wearing it around my neck when it exploded. It almost killed me.” The keeper sat in stunned silence for several moments before continuing.
“Might stones are indestructible,” Eldridge said slowly. “At least that is what the writings say. You are certain that the protection stone was destroyed?”
Traven responded by pulling up his shirt and pointing to the scars that crisscrossed his chest. The keeper’s eyes grew wide.
“This is what happened to me when the stone exploded,” he explained. “I’m sure the stone was destroyed. How it happened I still don’t know. I think maybe it had something to do with me creating a lightning bolt while I was wearing it.”
“You were able to wield the ambience while wearing it?” Eldridge exclaimed. “That shouldn’t have been possible. Then again, the stone shouldn’t have been able to be destroyed either. The stone must have gotten so hot trying to contain the ambience that you were attempting to wield that it burst. This is amazing!” The keeper stared excitedly at Traven as he pulled his shirt back down and tucked it in. “You truly are someone special to already have so much strength in the ambience. I can’t wait to see what you will be able to do when you peak!”
It bothered Traven that the keeper kept referring to how great in the ambience he would eventually become. For now, he still couldn’t do much without passing out. He had almost died when he created the lightning bolt to save the princess.
“So why do I keep passing out?” he asked.
“I’m sorry,” Eldridge said, calming down. “I am getting carried away. A wielder passing out when trying to wield more of the ambience than he is ready for is common. Let me go back and explain what the ambience is.
“To understand the ambience you must also understand the world around you. Everything around us does not just spontaneously occur. There is order to how things are made and how things grow. Everything is made up of smaller and smaller pieces. For example, this keep did not just appear here. It was built from thousands of stones, pieced together to form this structure we now live in.
“It is roughly the same concept with the ambience. You do not just suddenly create something out of nothing. You start with the smallest of pieces and organize them into something larger. Does that make sense?”
“Kind of,” Traven replied. “I understand how a building is formed from many smaller pieces. However, I don’t remember ‘building’ the liquid fire I made last night from smaller pieces. I just pictured a flame in my mind and then pictured it growing and spinning.”
“When you picture a flame, what happens to the air around it?”
“I guess to me it seems like it is thickening and spinning around where the flame will be,” Traven said sheepishly. “I know that sounds a little crazy since the air is nothing, but that’s what it seems like to me.”
“Oh that’s not crazy at all,” Eldridge replied. “The air is in fact full of what you need to create things. I will try and describe what all happens when you create a flame using the ambience. Hopefully it will make sense to you as you think back to what happens when you make a flame.
“A wielder has the ability to focus his mind to such an extent that he can focus on a single moment in time. He then has the ability to control what happens in that moment. That is why it may seem to you that time freezes when you wield the ambience. As a wielder focuses on that specific moment in time, the air appears to thicken and move. The reason for this is the wielder is not just focusing on the air but all of the tiny particles in the air. Tiny particles that the human eye can’t see swirl around everything constantly as they float through the air. These particles are the smaller pieces that make up everything else in the world. They only need to be brought together in the correct pattern in order to create things.”
“That sounds really complicated,” Traven interjected. “How would I know how to put all of the particles together in the correct patterns?”
“That’s one of the things that makes wielders so special,” Eldridge continued. “They cannot only control these physical particles, but they can also control much finer, ethereal particles. They can see beyond our physical realm and into the ethereal one. The wielder, using his mind, forms in this ethereal realm the thing that he wants to create. Once the wielder has sufficiently formed this image, collecting the necessary ethereal particles, the correct physical particles will begin swirling around it, waiting to create physically what the wielder has created in the ethereal realm. When the wielder pulls the object into the physical realm, the particles in the air instantly adhere to it in the correct pattern, and the object is created.”