The Gnat

[BenduLuke]

The thin black haired man sat watching the boy in the school yard from across the street, pondering why he was so glum. He stood and sauntered across the dusty street toward the boy. When the boy looked up he smiled and greeted him.

The man asked the boy "why so glum my boy?"

The boy responded "its my metal birthday."

"Well that doesn't make sense" the stranger said.

The Boy said "everyone expects me to discover my metal tonight, but I just know I will fail. All the others say so because no one has seen a hint of what it is."

The man said "here let me give you a present for you birthday. If none of the metals they give you work at least these will make you feel a little better. From where I was sitting I could see you have a lot of potential so long as you stay your true self." Then he handed the boy a pair of silvery bracers and a bag of powdery metal. "Now don't lose these or sell them because they are worth more than money can buy to you."

"Who are you?" the boy asked.

The man answered "just a man blown like Dust before the wind."

After school the boy went home for his metal party. When he walked in the door his Father noticed the bracers and asked "Kagi, where did you get those?"

"A man at the school gave them and this bag to me so I wouldn't be sad if nothing works at my metal party." He answered.

Now a metal party is a Terris tradition where the child is exposed to various alloys to see if they have any metal talents. They try to store attributes in the metals and see if they can burn any metals. Many parents can only afford the most common metals for the party so sometimes it may be years before a child discovers their metal art. Kagi's father was a poor potter so was in that situation himself. So when he saw the silvery metal he thought to himself if the metals I obtained don't work we will try those and if they don't work selling some of that metal will enable me to get some of the more expensive metals to try.

At his look Kagi asked "was it bad to let the man give me these for my birthday?"

"No Son. I think those might be lucky metals. What was the man's name?" the Boys father asked.

Kagi answered "he said he was dust."

His father said "lets get ready for the party."

Later that evening the guests were all gathered around the table after the cake and the games looking at a row of metals and dust set out for the metal ceremony. One by one Kagi tried on the bracers and tried to store attributes followed by swallowing a small amount of metal dust and trying to burn it. There were eight on the table. First Kagi tried Iron with no success, then came steel, tin, and pewter with no results. The next four, zinc, brass, copper, and bronze also failed to work for him. Finally his father took out the silvery bracers and dust saying try these. The guests stared in disbelief. One man asked how they could afford it and Kagi's father said a stranger gave it to them that day.

Kagi put on the bracers and concentrated then his eyes went wide. He said "I feel a hole inside them." When he swallowed some of the dust his he gasped and said I feel something burning inside me. The crowd cheered. One of the old men said you have a rare gift and one not normally discovered since aluminum is very expensive so be sparing with it. Then one of the youths jeered yeah old man but it is also useless since it doesn't do anything. Over the next hour as people filed out to go home they debated.

Finally once they were all gone his father told Kagi never to take off the bracers and to always be ready to swallow the dust if someone tried to take it. Keep the bracers covered in public and they painted them with his acrylics to hide the material explaining that they were very valuable so bad people might covet them.

[BenduLuke]

Following Kagi's metal day at school several of the students pointed, ridiculed, and bullied him thinking him to be an easy target since he didn't have a recognizable metal on his arms. One said he was nothing but a gnat, another pretended to trip into him knocking him down during break. He kept a stiff upper lip throughout the day, but inside he determined that learn all he could to show his abilities weren't useless. Since his father was a craftsman he regularly visited other craftsmen in his free time. From his father he was learning the basics of pottery. Just down the street was a smith that let him watch as he worked the metal. There were coopers and carpenters that let him spend time with them. His father encouraged him to explore skills of the various crofters and merchants in town to help him discover what he wanted to pursue as he got older.

Kagi discovered by accident as he got angry at the bullying that he could store the part of his identity that inclined him to anger causing him to be more patient. Like soothing could cause some emotions to become prominent by minimizing others he could focus and refine parts of his identity by minimizing others.

[BenduLuke]

Going forward in classes he started to store interest in topics that they were not studying to increase his focus on what they were studying. Over time his interest and focus required less identity shifting to maintain no matter the subject or activity. Each and every skill or activity had his full focus on demand. His instructors, crafts people he spent time with, students around him, and other trainers noticed that he was always present. Because of that focus people around him went out of their way to teach him. The students also noticed that he was almost imperturbable, but if attacked he had the same focus for fighting and was indomitable no matter the injury or opponent.

[BenduLuke]

One day a week after Kagi's metal day a group of older boys cornered him on his way home after school. The leader of the group was a thug and was obviously hopped up on pewter. He said "hey Nat you gotta pay us the new toll."

Kagi backing to a wall asked, "what new toll?"

One of the other boys responded, "the worthless Nat toll." as he tried to riot Kagi's fear.

Kagi burned aluminum and blanked the parts of himself that felt fear, pain, and mercy. His eyes went icy cold burning with chilling fury. He locked eyes with each boy in turn grinning and said, "make your move and I wont quit until each of you is in pieces or I am dead."

Three of the four older boys stepped back but the thug moved with inhuman speed and seized Kagi by the neck. A split second later Kagi grabbed his forearm and his hand lost all strength. Next Kagi grabbed his upper throat which neutralized the thug's pewter augmented strength below his neck. Kagi didn't stop there. He punched him in the adam's apple below his hand both pulling the thug toward him and holding him in place with the other hand. That brought the thug to his knees where Kagi started kicking him in the nether regions until a nearby adult pulled him off and scattered the group.