Chapter 30: The Basics of Imbuing

Chapter 30: The Basics of Imbuing

When I wake up, I roll to the side immediately, my eyes snapping open as I prepare for the mantis' arm to scythe down towards my face but instead of dodging an attack like I'd expected, I just fall off a bed of straw and onto the ground.

"Ow." I groan. The straw isn't exactly far off the ground, but I'm pretty sure I banged my elbow on a rock.

And my tailbone. And most of my other bones, really. I've never really paid attention to how unreasonably rocky dirt usually is.

Tough Body dulls most of the pain, thankfully.

"You awake," Mari says. She peers over at me from the chair she's sitting in and snorts. "Why you roll onto ground? Straw perfectly comfortable."

"It wasn't exactly voluntary." I gingerly drag myself back into the makeshift bed. I expect it to be scratchy and uncomfortable, but to my surprise, it is actually comfortable there's a thin layer of Firmament over it that molds itself to my body, protecting me from the actual texture of the straw.

I'm still exhausted. My entire body aches, even though I didn't push it very far. Inspirations are much, much more taxing than I'd anticipated.

But powerful, too. I shouldn't have been able to push Mari back not with her actually trying.

"You need rest more," Mari says unnecessarily, and I groan.

"I know," I grumble.

"But you win," she adds. I glance over at her, and she's very studiously not looking at me.

"Did I?" I ask doubtfully. "I don't think we established a win condition."

"You push me back," Mari says. "I consider it win. You take."

"Does that mean you'll tell me how you and Tarin are so strong?"

Mari is silent for a moment, and I almost take it as a no. It's only when she walks into view that I realize she was grabbing me a bowl of grub. It's a strange, soupy mixture of indiscernible liquid and bug parts.

...I eat it anyway. I'm ravenous. And it's surprisingly delicious. Mari grunts with approval, and while I'm eating, she begins to speak.

"I not know if I tell you before," she says. "But different species have different FIrmament. Yes?"

I nod. Tarin mentioned something along those lines before. Crow Firmament is strengthened by creation, specifically; by building things.

"Crow Firmament stronger when we create. But there is trick, see? Build big, complicated thing, stronger Firmament. Build small, simple thing, Firmament also stronger. Better to build many small things."

She gestures to the home around them. For the first time, I realize it's filled with dozens of tiny knickknacks, most of which look like they're cobbled together from literal sticks and stones.

"We build lots," she says. "All crow do. But part of crow strength is... we can transfer. We put Firmament into thing, thing become stronger. But we also put Firmament into each other. You understand?"

It's starting to make sense, now. "Everyone gave you and Tarin their Firmament?"

"Yes," Mari nods at me. "Firmament stronger when in one person. Village must choose guardians. They choose Tarin and I. We strong."

"What about Naru?" I ask the question before I can stop myself.

Mari is silent for a long moment, and I worry I've offended her. But she shakes her head, and the smile she gives me is a sad one.

"We not give him our Firmament," Mari says. "Naru expect it. Waiting for Firmament. But he not ready. Then Trials happen."

I grimace. "He's had a power complex for a while, then."N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

"Trial make it worse," Mari sighs. "But yes. I not know how fix. He grow up with... expectations. Son of village leaders. We try teach him, but he not learn. Maybe we not teach him enough."

"He's got to take responsibility for his decisions at some point." I don't know how he was raised; maybe Mari and Tarin did make mistakes. But there's only so many times that can excuse him, and Naru's somewhere far, far over that line.

"You not wrong." Mari is silent for a moment. "You want learn?"

"Learn what?" I ask, startled at the sudden question.

"Firmament," Mari says. She gestures with a wing. "How crow put Firmament into stick. Effects different if Firmament different. Many different methods, also. But crow way strongest."

...Now that I'm paying attention, I think every single straw in the bed I'm sleeping on is individually imbued with Firmament.

"Crows clever," she says proudly. "We tie Firmament. You watch carefully, yes?"

I tilt my head. I watch as she picks up a stick and carefully threads her Firmament into it; unlike me, she's learned the exact amount of force she needs to apply, and she's able to push the right amount of Firmament into it and then withdraw in a single attempt. I feel the stick pulsing with Firmament.

Then so subtle I wouldn't have noticed it at all, if not for the fact that she's told me to watch carefully I watch a thin piece of Firmament thread itself off. It wraps itself around that innate Firmament in the stick, coiling around it and then slipping into the loop it's created.

She's literally tying a knot.

The word anchor makes a lot more sense now.

"Now you try," Mari says, her eyes glinting. She looks almost too eager for me to give it a try. I give her a suspicious look, then pick up a stick; I pulse my Firmament at it in waves.

One. Two. Three

On the third pulse, the innate resistance falls through, and my Firmament floods the stick. I pull it back immediately, and maintain only the smallest of threads, a tiny connection to my own Firmament.

And then I set about tying a knot.

It is, it turns out, a lot harder than it looks.

At the scale I'm working at, Firmament is surprisingly... slippery. It's difficult to keep it in the form of a thin thread, let alone manipulate that tiny thread to loop around itself. Tying it around the stick's own Firmament is basically out of the question for me. I sweat as I practice just coiling the thin thread of Firmament into a loop, twisting the end over itself again and again.

The look Mari gives me is almost infuriatingly smug. I level a glare at her, and if anything, she seems to get even more smug.

"It not easy," Mari says. "You keep trying. You get fast! I believe. Maybe take you a month, if you fast."

Like hell.

I'm almost sure I'm not going to be able to do this in a single day, though. As simple as the task is, I feel the Firmament slipping out of my grip again and again, and it does it more and more easily as I get more frustrated. My head begins to pound from my overuse of Firmament Manipulation.

Finally after a full hour of doing this I give up. I sit back, panting.

I've managed to nudge the Firmament into a full loop, at least. The only part I have left to do is to thread it through itself... and to do it while the stick's own Firmament rests in the center of the loop, which is a whole other layer of complication. The presence of that stick Firmament seems to mess with Firmament Manipulation, making my control of it a little less granular, like it's interfering with my control somehow.

I grumble.

Mari's been cooking, I think. She gave up on watching me sweat over the stick after about five minutes, and set about gathering fruits and making that soup again. It's only when I sit back with a sigh that she glances up at me, and she grins.

"You done?" she asks. "You not succeed, right?"

"Don't remind me," I grumble.

"Crow take years to succeed," Mari snorts. "Even basic imbuement take months. You already scary fast. No need faster."

I stay silent at that. I don't know if that's true. The Trials are still happening, and for all I know, humanity is dying off by the second.

I can't let myself relax too much. I can't. I need every advantage I can get, and imbuement is only one of them.

Mari seems to sense my thoughts on some level, because she sighs, and sits across from me. In a wing is a bowl of that fruit-soup she served me a few loops ago, and she offers it to me; I take it gratefully. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until this moment.

"Moving Firmament tiring," she tells me. "How you feel?"

"Frustrated," I grumble. Mari laughs at me.

"Good," she say. "Frustration good for crow! Learn faster."

"I'm not a crow," I point out.

"You honorary crow. I find you wings. We tape on your back. Use Firmament. Will look very handsome. Trust."

"I'd rather not," I say. I can't tell if she's joking. She maintains a look of perfect seriousness for a moment more before the feathers around her eyes crinkle, and she cackles the way only an old crow woman can.

"I joke!" she says, unnecessarily. "You look strange if feathers, yes? Like naked crow."

"I'd rather not look like a naked crow," I say dryly.

"Yes," Mari agrees. She settles down after a moment, grabbing a bowl of her own soup, and her expression turns quietly contemplative; after a moment, she lets out a sigh. "Okay," she says. "We need talk now. We need decide what you do next."