Shimmer's New Skills

The snow fell like feathered stars, blanketing the cold stone tower. It dusted the battlements, the worn crevices in the stone, the crenellations, and even Vastarael's cloak, though he didn't seem to mind.

The tower stood tall and alone on the edge of the Western City's upper ramparts, just outside the main watch post, but high enough to see the scarred outskirts of the city still recovering from the carnage of two days prior. Down below, life was beginning to resume but up here, it was as if the world had paused just for them.

Vastarael sat cross-legged on the stone floor, one knee slightly higher than the other, his arm resting on it with his fingers lazily trailing tiny glowing sigils across the stone. Runner sat across from him, also cross-legged, mimicking his posture but fidgeting every few seconds, adjusting her sleeves, shaking snow from her shoulders, or simply trying to keep still.

She was bundled in a too-long black scarf that looped twice around her neck. It dragged across the ground slightly when she moved. Her white hair was a mess, snowflakes clinging to each strand, and her cheeks were a bright red from the cold.

She finally mumbled, watching her breath puff out in the frosted air.

"Dad, I can't feel my nose."

Vastarael huffed out a chuckle.

"That's how you know it's working. Means you're alive."

Runner narrowed her eyes. "That's not funny. What if I'm freezing?"

"If you were actually freezing, your body would've activated Body Restoration automatically by now. That's the beauty of being Aeterium. You don't need to know you're hurt for your body to start healing."

"…Oh."

She looked down at her hands and wriggled her fingers slowly.

"I don't feel different."

"That's because the change is in the deepest parts of you. Your soul isn't just stronger now. It's restructured. It's more like mine than any other being in the Bridge."

Her eyes blinked wide. "Like yours?"

He nodded.

"Pure-blood Aeterium have several innate abilities. You've already started tapping into the first, Body and Soul Reconstruction."

Runner looked confused. "That thing you said you do when you get a scratch and it closes up real fast?"

"Exactly. Except it's not just closing wounds. You could regrow limbs, restore organs, even heal other people if your willpower is sharp enough."

She perked up.

"Wait—I can heal people?!"

"Can. Not yet. You're still in your early Ascension. You need a strong will to someone to even begin using it externally."

"Like… like Shimmer?"

"You could heal Shimmer one day. Maybe even me."

She beamed for a second, proud of the thought, before her expression twisted slightly.

"What else can I do?"

"Well…" he leaned back a bit, propping his arm on a knee. "You have Soul Vision now. It's not awakened yet, but when it does, you'll be able to see souls from miles away. Not just where they are, but their state. You'll know if they're corrupted, fragmented, incomplete, weak or strong. You'll know what kind of power they hold… even how long they've got left."

Runner's brows scrunched in a thoughtful wince.

"That sounds… kinda scary."

"It is. That's why I'm teaching you now. You're going to need discipline. And you'll learn. You're already stronger than you know."

Runner hugged her knees, frowning.

"What about Shimmer? Can she do all that?"

"No. Shimmer's a Sentient Krepsuna, which means her soul was already different from the start. She's half Aeterium by conversion. That means her Reconstruction is locked to herself. She can't heal others, at least not yet, and her Soul Vision will always be limited. She might access some of it when she becomes a Divine… but not like you."

Runner tilted her head, thinking hard.

"Why not?"

"Because you weren't born Aeterium," he said, tapping her forehead lightly with a gloved finger. "You were reborn into it. That kind of transformation… leaves imprints much deeper. Shimmer doesn't have that imprint. You do."

"...I was human. A Raukerai human."

At that, Vastarael smiled.

"Yes. And that matters because Raukerai Rune Speakers are different. You didn't use elemental runes. You used conceptual ones."

"What's a conceptual rune?"

Vastarael drew a small symbol in the air. This one didn't glow. It rippled, as if bending light around it.

"They don't manipulate elements. They manipulate reality. They don't say 'Fire' or 'Water.' They say 'Break.' Or 'Reverse.' Or 'Float.'"

Runner's eyes widened.

"Reality listens to those words because it knows what they mean, not just what they do. That's the difference."

She stood up slowly, brushing snow from her scarf.

"...Can I try one?"

Vastarael gave her an encouraging nod. "Go on."

She paused, thought for a second, then raised her hand and said;

"Float."

Her feet left the ground slowly, like a balloon losing connection to gravity. Her scarf dangled in the air. Her eyes sparkled.

"I'M FLOATING!"

"Shhh, tower walls echo," Vastarael said quickly, smirking despite the slight warning.

She giggled and flailed her arms a little.

"Okay okay… um—uh… Fall?"

Her body obeyed. She dropped like a rock, landing on her butt in the snow with a surprised oof.

Vastarael burst out laughing.

"You really should've said 'Land,' not 'Fall.'"

Runner rubbed her back and muttered, "Yeah, well… now I really feel it."

She paused.

"...But I didn't say it in Xinoraci."

"No, you didn't. And with that, I would say you really are more powerful than I expected."

He stood, brushing snow off his shoulders. His gaze lingered on her a little longer than before, his eyes now a little more calculating.

"You didn't speak the Xinoraci Rune Language."

"Then how…?"

"You didn't use Rune Speaking."

He stepped forward slowly, placing a hand on her small shoulder.

"You altered reality using your native tongue."

Runner blinked, not understanding.

"Which means… your Rune Speaking has evolved."

She tilted her head. "Into what?"

Vastarael stared at her for a long moment, then knelt to her level.

"Into Speech Manipulation. You're not just a Rune Speaker anymore. You're a wordweaver."

Runner's mouth parted slightly.

"Is… that good?"

"It's beyond good. It means the world responds not to what you cast but to what you say. Language becomes power. Thought becomes command. There's no channeling, no runes, no using Xinoraci. Just you and your voice. Alright. Enough soul talk. Access your system."

Runner blinked. "Oh. Right."

She adjusted her posture and closed her eyes, trying to still the pulse in her chest from floating moments ago.

"You remember how to do it?"

She nodded, mumbling,

"Yeah. Phaenora said it was embedded. She made sure mine and Shimmer's were synced to her... matrix?"

Vastarael's lips tugged into a faint smile at the mention of Phaenora.

"Good. Focus. Let your essence run up your spine and spiral outward. Your body should sync with the system naturally now."

Runner exhaled, and as she did, a soft sapphire shimmer began to pulse just above her chest, forming a flickering holographic square of light forming slowly in the air. The screen opened with a whisper-like sound, displaying the details in runic-threaded letters retranslated into plain speech for her.

Name: [Runner Richinaria.]

Alias: [None]

Age: [10]

Title: [None]

Species: [Pure-blood Human Aeterium]

Affiliation: [Dynasty Richinaria]

Status: [Second Phase Ascender, 500/2000]

Pinnacle Tethers: [Speech Manipulation]

Base Tethers: [Inventory], [Soul and Body Reconstruction], [Soul Vision], [Limitless]

Major Divinities: [None]

Minor Divinities: [None.]

Codex: [None.]

Artifacts: [Crystal Lotuses]

Boon: [Defense Invocation]

Bane: [Weapon Defiance]

______

Runner's eyes scanned it all slowly, her mouth falling slightly open.

"Wait… wait, I don't even have a Divinity yet?"

"You're still developing your Pinnacle Tether. Divinities only awaken when your soul reaches harmonic maturity with your essence signature. You're not there yet."

"What about a Codex? Don't I get one of those cool ones like your invisibility?"

"You will. In time. Codices don't form until you're ready to imprint your identity into the world. You've just started changing it. Soon, you'll be able to write into it."

Runner made a small face. "So… no invisibility, no divine essence, and no shiny powers yet?"

Vastarael gave her a flat stare.

"You have Speech Manipulation as a Pinnacle Tether. You don't need 'shiny powers.' You can literally tell gravity to stop working."

She grinned. "Yeah… that was pretty cool."

"More than cool. That's going to reshape the way you fight, think, move and exist in this world."

Runner gave a small laugh, but it turned into a curious look as she remembered something.

"Wait. I have five pseudo-cores?"

Vastarael sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Yes."

"That's… good, right?"

"It's very good. But it's also very bad."

Runner frowned. "Huh?"

He straightened up and pointed at her chest lightly, as though touching the part of her body where her essence engine sat, somewhere deep in her soul's metaphysical center.

"A normal Ascender has one pseudo-core core. That means their body processes essence like a steady stream, easy to manage, easier to stabilize. But you have five. That means five separate streams of power running through you at once."

She slowly raised her hand, fingers spreading as if she could feel the rivers of energy.

"That sounds… hard."

"It is hard. It means you'll burn out five times faster, your synchronization windows are narrower, and one mistake could overload your body. Even though your combat will be more powerful, you'll be fine."

Runner winced. "That sounds… like something I do not want."

"Which is why your training is going to be five times harsher than any normal Ascender."

She stared at him, slack-jawed.

"FIVE TIMES?"

"Five times the running. Five times the casting. Five times the speech precision. Every misstep risks collapse. You'll learn to think with five streams in mind. One will move your body, one will regulate your tether flow, another will stabilize your mind, the fourth is for speech interface, and the last will eventually become your backup core."

Runner flopped backward into the snow dramatically, groaning loud enough to echo off the nearby stone.

"Whyyy meee," she wailed. "I didn't ask to have five weird spirit engines!"

"You didn't ask to be reborn either, but here we are."

"Can't I just… be normal for once?"

He looked down at her, the snow beginning to layer over her outstretched arms, and said in that same unbothered tone,

"No."

"…Wait," she said, lifting her head slowly with a sly grin. "That means I'm stronger than Shimmer, right?"

Vastarael raised a brow.

Runner propped herself up on her elbows, eyes gleaming with playful vengeance.

"I mean, she only has one of those weird pseudo-core things, doesn't she?"

He nodded.

"No. She actually has five like you bye because she's been with them for years, her control is more stable. But in terms of raw essence?"

She grinned wider. "So I am stronger?"

"In theory."

Runner pumped a fist into the air.

"Yes! I win!"

"She'll still beat you if you don't train."

Runner froze. Her fist slowly lowered.

"...Then I guess we start training now?"

"Now."

She groaned and slumped forward again, burying her face into the snow.

"Why do I have to be the cool one with the hard stuff…"

He smirked and turned, his cloak fluttering in the wind behind him as he stepped toward the inner stairwell of the tower.

"Get ready."

And with that, Runner slowly pushed herself up, snow clinging to her scarf and the tips of her lashes.

She was now a Second Phase Ascender with Five pseudo-cores. She was happy. But one thing bothered her.

"Dad, can you look through my Boon and Bane? I didn't have these earlier before I became an Ascender..."