Void of the Stones (Tentative title)

[Tacitus]

So, I'm working on a few books, (I have inspiration issues, so I need to cycle through them) but this is one of them, which is named, (For now,) Void of the Stones.

Chapter one- Mishi- The Thief

Spoiler

 

Mishi scaled the wall of a palace. The streets, hard stone. The houses, Wood, some mixed with mud or stone. The further they got from the castle, the shabbier they got. Mishi fused his power into the bricks of the wall he climbed, making them a gas in all but look. Slowly, he climbed the wall of one of the largest buildings in the known world, belonging to one of the most powerful men. 

So he could hide a marble inside. He had been hired by an unnerving man who had refused to show Mishi his face. He had heard of Mishi’s… skills, and hunted him down to give him this job. The stone that sat in his pocket had a dull red-black glow. Mishi had no idea what the thing was, but he knew he wanted nothing to do with it and the cult it inevitably belonged to. Mishi scaled the back wall of the building, where few guards patrolled, especially at night. Curious, that. It was, allegedly, a purely Calumnite tradition, but it was fairly common knowledge that the taboo had begun in Dir Ka. Mishi approached the King’s window.

 The King of Calum himself. Mishi shook his head slightly at the task he had been assigned. The cold was imperceptible to Mishi. A skilled Spectralist could let even the wind pass through themself, while still allowing air to enter their lungs. Just as Mishi’s employer had told him, the king’s window appeared to be locked, but that was a facade quickly nullified by flipping a hidden latch. The king was paranoid. Likely with good reason, considering Mishi’s current task.

 Gently opening the window, which was made of a higher quality glass than even the rich could afford, Mishi crept into the room. Slinking and shadows were of no use, contrary to all of the mystique presented in the marketplace novels. The king of Calum slept with a light snore. Quickly, quietly, Mishi slipped the stone out of his pocket and into a nook in one of the king’s hunting trophies, close to where he slept. As Mishi walked carefully back to the window, a board in the floor creaked. “Fshy’fa,” Mishi lightly swore as the king quickly sat up. Seeing this, Mishi pulled out a knife. This had been part of his employer’s instructions. Better he think you were trying to kill him, he had said. “Guards!” The king yelled in his powerful- if a little high-pitched- voice. Instantly, guards burst into the room. Duralists, Inevitably. They wore thin clothing and carried paper-thin swords. A sign of their abilities and station. “I hadn’t wanted to do this,” Said Mishi softly, to whoever could hear. And he sprang into action, leaping towards the Duralists. They reacted nearly as quickly. Mishi had been instructed to kill whichever guards saw him, which would normally be no small task. Unfortunately for the guards, they weren’t aware of a small fact. 

Mishi landed behind the guards and slapped aside both of their unnaturally thin swords, that were now swinging toward him, infusing them with his energy. 

Spectralism and duralism cancelled each other out. The swords flopped, now just ordinary paper. It was unusual that the duralism made them rigid. Mishi, unfortunately, didn’t know the extent of Duralism theory. Just how to defeat its practicers. They were momentarily surprised, and Mishi used that opportunity to touch one of their necks, infusing it with Spectral energy and softening it. Then he swept his knife across his throat. He died quickly. Mishi turned quickly, but the other Duralist had impressive reflexes. A sword, a real one this time, flew at Mishi. He lunged through it, tackling the duralist. As soon as his gaseous body and the duralist’s impenetrable one made contact, they were both neutralized, and Mishi forced the guard down, making him drop his sword, which clattered to the ground. Just as quickly as the other guard had died, this one did. 

Mishi grimaced. He could kill, but it was highly distasteful. That was why he advertised himself as a theif specifically. How his employer had known about his... skills, Mishi was unsure. However, he couldn’t argue with the man paying him for something he might have to do. Mishi glanced towards the window, but the alarm would have been sounded by then. .. guards always came in threes. Two to respond, one to raise the alarm. So Mishi exited through the door to the king’s room. The king himself would have already exited through a passageway near his bed. More paranoia. Of course, down both sides of the corridor, soldiers and guards stormed towards Mishi. Poor fools. Mishi Spectralised through the floor. Luckily, it was stone, one of the easiest things to spectralise through. Parallel to that, a duralist would find great struggle trying to Duralise one. Further evidence to the direct opposition of the abilities. Mishi shook himself out of his scholarly trance. Being in The Faith for so long had imbued certain tendencies in him. Of course, that was the idea. Mishi quickly found what he was looking for in the hallway, a small symbol marking a spectralist passage. They were hidden all throughout the city. Mishi spectralised the the wall, and quickly moved out of the castle, eventually surfacing in a small alleyway. Mishi sighed, and leaned against the wall. The job was done. He would have to see The Employer about his payment but the job was done. Mishi saw an oily smear collect in the cracks in the road. Not over time. It just appeared there. Mishi stood, walking backwards slowly. The black-red oil continued to collect. A drop. A smear. A puddle. A figure rose out of the substance, comprised of the sludge that collected. It turned it’s head once, and if it had a face, it would have been looking at Mishi. Mishi bolted. The creature followed. Running through the streets, Mishi looked back, and saw not one or two, but three of the things following him. He spectralised through a wall into a building, ran across, and burst out the other side. The creatures continued to pursue him. Where could he go where these creatures would not follow? Perhaps the employer. Mishi took off in the direction of the employers hideout. The creatures were quite fast, but Mishi was a Faith spectralist, so he could keep ahead. He swerved into an alley, and down a deeper one. The beasts were never more than six feet behind him. When Mishi reached the edge of the hideout’s threshold, the creatures slowed. Mishi turned fully, and watched the six oily beings that had accumulated disappear into the cracks in the ground.

Mishi shivered. He would never associate with the Employer again. He’d rather stick with plain old thievery.

I'll edit in some more chapters once I write them.

[Bread Simulacrumbs]

This was fun to read! I'm really digging the spectralism/duralism duality you've created here and I hope you continue to develop it. I assume Duralists are able to make flimsy materials more rigid/solid? So they can travel incredibly lightly, turning thin clothing into tough armor, sheets of paper into razor sharp swords, etc? So awesome! There's a bottomless well of really cool things you could do with that power.

I do have one question--just something I was confused on: How is Mishi scaling the wall of the castle? Here you mention he is making the stone immaterial

Quote

Mishi fused his power into the bricks of the wall he climbed, making them a gas in all but look

which I think is a really cool line and I love the way you wrote it--but what is Mishi grabbing onto if he is spectralizing through the stone?

Later, when he's fighting the guards, he is able to lunge through the sword by spectralizing again, which is also super dope. But if he can do that, wouldn't he be able to avoid stepping on a creaky board? Or would he just fall through the floor if he turned gaseous and tried walking around?

 

Looking forward to the next installment on this!

[Tacitus]

1 hour ago, Bread Simulacrumbs said:

which I think is a really cool line and I love the way you wrote it--but what is Mishi grabbing onto if he is spectralizing through the stone?

The stone below it, you see, there are two aspects to the ability, putting yourself through things, and making things go through other things, which is the same concept as the Duralists' blades. So Mishi would make part of the stone (An acquired skill) Spectral, and use that like an indentation in the wall.

1 hour ago, Bread Simulacrumbs said:

Later, when he's fighting the guards, he is able to lunge through the sword by spectralizing again, which is also super dope. But if he can do that, wouldn't he be able to avoid stepping on a creaky board? Or would he just fall through the floor if he turned gaseous and tried walking around?

Yeah, that's the thing, like, he would probably spectralize one of his feet once he heard the creak (Again, partial spectralization being an acquired skill), but before the noise, he had no way of knowing it would creak. He would fall through the floor if he tried to walk around Spectral, because wood is one of the easiest things to spectralize through. With stone, I guess, it might be closer falling into water, rather than air, but there's my explanation of why that works.

 

[Bread Simulacrumbs]

Understood! Thanks for clarifying.

Super cool.