Entrance Festival

"Excuse me boy."

"Cough, Cough."

"Excuse me, boy what are you doing with my book?"

He closed the book and pushed it towards the elderly man with a blushing face and looked down at his feet.

"Ssssorrysrrrir, I like bookssss, and I saw it on the table and started reading it. I couldn't stooooop until I finished."

He watched from the corner of his eye as the elderly man picked up the book and looked at him. "Did you understand what this book is about?" The elderly man tapped the book's cover.

He nodded while looking at his feet.

"Yesss, the book was easy toooo understand, and the applications for other uses is simply outstanding."

The elderly man looked at him and stared at him in thought. "I see.Let's sit down at the open tavern and discuss this book further."

He followed the hooded clothed man towards a nearby open aired tavern and sat down on a stool pointing to another stool. "Please sit boy."

He sat down slowly looked around the open-air tavern and then stared back at his feet. He looked up glancing at the elderly man and then looked back at his feet.

"Two large mugs of hot water please." He heard the elderly man call out to the tavern workers. He raised his head and looked the at wooden table marveling at its imperfections, running his hands over its sticky surface.

He heard footsteps of someone approaching and placing the mugs on the table. He glanced up as he watched the elderly man pull out some dried leaves and flowers adding them to the hot water and stared as the leaves and flowers slowly started to produce a nice smell. The elderly man passed a cup to him.

"Boy, let's start with your name?" He looked around the room glancing at the elderly man.

"HHHHarnio." He stammered in reply and scratched his arm while picking up the cup of hot water, looked at the changing color and took a sip.

"Sir, the taste is verrry unique, thank youuuu." He quickly looked up at the elderly man who sniffed loudly and opened the book that he had just finished reading.

"Harnio, talk with me about the principals discussed in Gracin's theory of altering objects via battery implantation."

Harnio briefly glanced up at the dark robe of the elderly man and took a sip of the tea and then placed the cup on the table. He quickly looked around the room holding his hands.

"Sir, Gracin suggests that if we implant battery cores into an object, and gave the example of the tower walls, then that object would have the properties of the battery core as well, until the charge failed, and then the object would return to its natural state."

He saw from the corner of his eye the elderly man nodding and taking a sip. "Common knowledge, almost everyone here in the traders' area knows the, but what is Gracin really saying?"

Harnio finished drinking the leaf and flower flavored water and pushed the cup back. "Gracin is trying to say that after we implant the core, we also implant a second object, such as the wild grass implanted in the tower walls, so that whenever the walls are hit with winds they bend and turn."

Harnio stopped for a moment and glanced at the elderly man as he poured him another cup and was now leaning on the table with his elbows.

"Continue."

Harnio nodded and took a sip from his cup and let out a deep breath while enjoying the tea.He glanced at the book and looked around before staring at his feet.

"However, the same problem occurs when the battery core loses its charge the object once again returns back to its natural state."

He saw the elderly man smiling as he took another sip from the mug. "That is correct, so how to fix it? So that the battery cores never loses its charge because once a battery has been implanted it is quite difficult and expensive to recharge that battery."

He stared into the distance in thought then replied while still staring, "remove the battery essence from the core and just implant the essence, that way any type of energy that hits the walls will also continue to power the essence since it is out of its protective casing, however that approach is also very dangerous and can be very explosive as essence is very volatile."

Watching the elderly man's eyes gleam, nodding in agreement. "That is right Harnio, but the knowledge of removing the essence safely has been lost, since it was not written down." The elderly man tapped the books pages.

"Also, the last artificer died many years ago without passing their knowledge on which is very unfortunate." He saw the elderly man shake their head in sadness before they took another sip from their mug.

Harnio looked down at the book.

"Correct, the last artificer died many years ago, but if you read the second last chapter, it talks about the theory of how to collect the essence of a battery core in its liquid state, which would suggest that the knowledge was widely known, and it least it is the first steps in the process."

The elderly man sat back in shock for a moment then he watched as they quickly flipped through the pages and looked at the chapter carefully for a few moments. He stood up and looked at Harnio.

"You best be coming to the festival today, and once you have passed the trials come find me, so we can chat more about this, and drink more tea together."

He then put the hood over his head covering his face and walked out of the tavern while paying the tavern staff with a silver coin, then turning back to look at Harnio, "see you at the festival."

Harnio watched him in silence as he walked into the noisy crowd of excited travelers and sighed to himself.

"That's why I am here…" He finished his drink and glanced at the happy faces of the people as they ran around carrying tables, signs and others setting up banners.

Harnio stood up and left the tavern staring at the tower base in the distance.

"Too many people here... I need to sign up for the test."

He saw the long line for signing up for the test and sighed.

"I better join the line, or I'll miss out on the exam…" He walked to the line and stood in the line staring at his feet and occasionally glancing around at the travelers from around walking around the stalls, buying batteries watching the blacksmiths, and tailors ply their trade.

Harnio stared at them as they worked." How can we put the essence into that item, or those clothes? If that can be done instead of using batterys, then Athlos would change and grow for the better."

He took a step forward and walked into the person in front of him.

"S.s..sorrry."

"I was busy staring at the blacksmiths and tailors working and thinking of how to implant essence into the objects that they make."

Harnio stumbled and stared at the ground, as the person turned and glared at him for a moment, and then turned back facing the engraved tower base.

He kept his eyes down staring at the ground until he made it to the front of the line. "That is an impressively designed gate. It has the tower and the different symbols for batterys around it."

"Yes, it is... Come forward and complete your application."

He looked at where the voice came from and glanced at the bored tower attendant sitting at a table. His face turned red and stood in front of the table.

"Name?"

"Harnio Graysen..." He watched as the attendant wrote it down on the examination form before handing it to him with a small card and a number written on it.

"Hold this, and complete the test when your number is called, go inside." Harnio smiled happily, "thhhanks..."

"Next!"

He glanced at the attendant and behind him as another was staring at him trying to approach the desk. He felt his face turn red and he walked through the open gate quickly into the tower courtyard.

"There are many people here, better at the back."

He moved to the back of the courtyard and looked at the large stone walls of the tower until the stone touched the earth around it. He sighed.

"That is really impressive, the ones who built this thought about it a lot and were able to make the impossible happen."

"That must be where they do the test." He looked at the makeshift stage.

"I wonder how it works?" He focused his attention at the items on the stage.

Two large boulders sat on the stage. "Both boulders have batterys in them... What are they testing?"

Silently he watched as a potential candidate approached the first boulder. They touched it which shone brightly when the candidate touched it. "Hmm, that is interesting…"

He then watched as the candidate with a smile on their face place their hand on the second boulder which would shine the same color as the first boulder, and place something on their hand. "What is that mark? What is it for?"

He took a small step forward listening to those in the crowd in front of him waiting for their turn.

"This is an easy test, just have to turn the battery on inside the rock." He glanced at the nearby professors clearly chuckling.

"It seems that this test is harder than it looks," and slipped into deep thought.

He looked around him as the world slowed around him to almost a crawl. He focused all his attention on the first boulder.

"I must get close to it, and study it in detail."

He started moving towards the boulder ignoring everyone around him.

"That is amazing, its battery is empty... It's using the candidate to turn on the battery. That is very clever." He whispered to himself as he blinked.

"How did I get here?" He looked at the stage in front of him and the mass of people around him.

He started walking back to where he was before. As he moved through the crowd with his firmly on the ground, he was able to overhear the debates going on around him.

"It's about how you touch the boulder and where you touch it. When you touch it, you are just completing the circuit for the energy to flow."

Another responded. "No, it isn't about completing the circuit as it already has a circuit in the stone. It is about if you can control the circuit that is already running in the boulder. The color is your ability to control the circuit." He glanced around and saw several candidates nodding in agreement.

Harnio shook his head."No, no, no, no. They have no idea." He kept walking towards the back as small debates around him started to heat up. A candidate stopped Harnio with an outstretched arm causing him to take a step backward startled.

"What do you think?"

Harnio glanced around him and saw the faces staring at him. He felt his heart beating and blood racing to his face. He stared at the ground.

"I-I-I don't k-k-k-know. Sorry." He walked around the person who stood in front him. He heard the voices behind him become louder and heard people pushing each other.

"I better get out of here before it gets worse." He shook his head and tried to move through the crowd faster.

"These people don't understand that the battery has no charge, it is using the body's electronic current to create a single charge!"

There was sudden silence around him. "Hey you. What did you just say?"

He stopped walking and looked at the ground. "Did I just say that aloud?" He felt his face start to heat up. "I must get out of here."

He run towards the exit of the tower courtyard moving through the crowds quickly as he felt tears forming behind his eyes. As he reached the gate, he felt a firm hand on his shoulder and turned around.

"Sir please let me go, I, I, I, I'll keep quiet yes, sorry please let me go?"

"Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum."

He could feel his racing heart and the sound of blood racing through his ear. Tears started to fall from his eyes.

"Feel.... Dizzy... Need to gooo... please?"

"Breathe boy, breathe." He wiped away the tears in his eyes to see a professor with clear blue eyes was staring at him holding him in place so he couldn't move.

"Boy what did you say about the test?"

The professor stared at him, while his grip on his shoulder prevented him from escaping. Harnio looked around and saw that now everyone was staring at him in silence. His heart was beating quickly, and tears started to fall again. He looked at his feet and tried to fall onto the ground into a small ball to try and escape from all the stares. The professor's hold on his shoulder did not let up.

He watched as the professor knelt on the ground next to him with their hand still on his shoulder.

"Boy look at me, ignore the others, and breathe."

The tone in the professor's voice became lower and deeper. Harnio looked at the professor and saw a small battery glowing around the tower professor's neck.

"T-t-t-that's a sound battery."

The professor nodded."Yes. Now tell me what you said before, just keep looking at me and forget everything around you."

Harnio nodded as he felt his face turn red and tried to look at the face of the tower professor."I-I-I can't look at people."

"Then look at the sound battery instead." Harnio nodded and looked at the glowing sound battery around the professor's neck.

"The battery in the boulder has no charge it's empty. Those that can make it shine have the correct type of body that can hold a circuit with a battery hence either build them or research on equipment that will use them."

The professor nodded. "That's correct so far. However, you have missed an important aspect. What about the different colors that the battery makes?"

"Wow, he was able to figure that out just by looking at it once." He started to hear whispers and candidates talking to each other.

"Please... Let me go, it seems I was wrong to come and open my mouth... Sorry sir." He squirmed against the professor's grip yet no matter what he did. The professor didn't let him go.

"Boy, look at the sound battery… Breathe. Relax. You're safe."

Harnio took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.

"The different colors refer to the nature of the circuit, usually an easy way for people to find their strengths in study and research of batterys and their essence." He lowered his head and looked at his feet as he felt his face turning red.

The professor nodded. "Yes. You are correct.Anyone can use a battery to do as they will, but only few are able to work with the battery essence and create batteries for the people of Athlos to use."

He heard the tone in the professor's voice change and once again tried to get away from the professor.

"Now, it's your turn to touch the boulder." He felt the strong grip on his shoulder as he felt the professor forcing him towards the stage.

"If I just laid on the ground, I'm sure he would just drag me along the ground up to the stairs..." He said quietly as he looked around at the crowd letting them through towards the stage.

They walked up the stage's wooden steps and felt the professor push him towards the boulder until he was a few short feet away from the boulder. He looked at the boulder on the stage and forgot his nervousness and desire to leave. The boulder had all his attention.

"This is amazing, definitely the work of an artificer."

He walked around the boulder marveling at how the battery was implanted into the boulder.

"No burn marks or drill scratches that are normally seen in today's work." He mused aloud and looked at the professor who was standing at the staircase.

"An artificer made this test, a good one, at least several hundred years ago."

He glanced back to the boulder as he saw them nodding. He looked around him at the stands above him where other professors were sitting and watching him, and some were whispering to others.

He felt his face turn red, and looked down at his feet, and then back at the boulder. "Must forget everyone around me, and focus on this boulder only..."

He felt the world around him slow down as he focused on the boulder admiring how the battery was implanted into the boulder.

"Never have I seen that before, as the ones I have seen always have signs of burning or drilling leaving scratches and gaps between the battery and stone, yet this is amazing."

"I want to touch it, and feel it…" He looked at his hands in surprise. "I'm feeling urged almost compelled to touch it. Why?"

He watched as his hand moved on its own towards the boulder. "Don't fight it… Just relax..." He took a deep breath as he leaned towards the boulder.

"Circuit is complete… But I haven't touched the boulder yet." He whispered as he felt a pulling sensation from the boulder. A sudden blast of purple lightning shot from his hand connecting to the battery.

"I don't even have to touch it for the circuit to be complete... What does this mean?"

He smiled as he watched the arcs of purple lightning between him and the battery connected him to the boulder. He lowered his hand as a final arc shot high above the courtyard and faded. He glanced around at the crowd of people watching him with their mouths open. He turned to the professor who was now walking towards him slowly with their arms wide open. He took a step away from the professor and noticed that the professor stopped walking towards him.

"Boy. Relax. There will be no harm to you from me. I just want to welcome you to the tower." The professor lowered their arms and smiled at him.

"There is no doubt about where you belong. Finally, we have an artificer in the tower. It has been a very long time indeed."