The Few

The Few is the third part to Tales from an Alternate Constant. The Few is the thing that TAC(Tales from an Alternate Constant) is based on, as it was the first part that we wrote. Here is an oversimplified version of The Few:

Part 1:

Four friends by the names of Walter, Alexander, Weston, and Walker woke up in the middle of an unknown forest that was inhabited by giants, later specified as Deerclops', Beargers, and Vargs. They discovered items that would aid their survival. Alexander found a staff and was told by a ghost to guard it with his life and to find all of the gems. Still thinking that they knew where they were, they started head north until they entered a desert a few days later. They held up in a giant tree for a three nights before they started heading northwest until they found an abandoned town west of a ginormous pyramid. The town, though it was abandoned, was being guarded by sand-logged machines. They eventually had to flee the town to another giant tree where they were attacked by a powerful, rather dapper, wizard. A violent sandstorm covered Walter and Alexander's escape, but the wizard had apprehended Walker and Weston. Walter and Alexander were able to sneak through the town, using the sandstorm as cover. They climbed to the top of the pyramid and found a glowing red gem. After a while of puzzling about, Alexander realized that it fit in a slot in his staff. In his staff, the gem glowed brighter and heat resonated within the staff. Alexander had studied books about archaic gems, but never elemental gems. He figured they weren’t too terribly different, so he tried some basic spells. To his surprise, he was able to project pillars of fire from his staff. This is where he got his nickname: Wielder. As they started trekking back southward, they noticed that where their was once sand, there was now a life filled swamp. And as they kept trekking, their route became severely flooded and were forced to take refuge atop a giant tree, but the waters kept rising and they thought they were going to drown. That was until a whale surfaced right next to the nearly submerged tree, and when the whale opened its mouth, there was a rough, old looking pirate on it’s tongue who invited them in. With no other option, Walter and Wielder accepted, and entered the beast. They learned that the pirate was named Woodlegs, and he lived with his pet monkey Wilbur in the whale that he rescued after it was ruthlessly pursued. Woodlegs offered to take them to the Shanty Island to speak with a well known pirate general, having no other option, Walter and Wielder obliged. This pirate general was actually a skeleton, who in his own words, was cursed with never-ending life. This skeleton was a highly decorated pirate who led all of the skeletons on the island in a fight against Maxwell. When Walter and Wielder asked the skeleton why the fought Maxwell, he told them that they for their freedom. Maxwell had been drafting almost every skeleton he came across into his slave army, converting them into monstrosities of war. When they followed that up with a question about the rapidly rising water, he answered:

”The points have folded in on each other once more, our livelihoods have collided, and I assume it’s no accident. You, wielder of mystery, are our shot at an offensive strike.“

”Why would you say that.” Wielder responded.

”Ahh, so you still do not truly understand the power you grasp. That weapon is a modern mockery of an ancient weapon used by the North in their fight against the Dark. As I can tell you have gotten your hands on the fire gem. Even with that alone, we have a significant advantage over Maxwell’s grunts.”

”I grasp that you aren’t from around here,” he continued, “as you can tell, the only form of people still around are grisly bone-men, husks of our former and forgotten life. But we recognize that if we want to live again, we want to reap life’s opportunities, but that wizard doesn’t like our ideal society. He wants to play god, we want to be free, so we have to fight it out, and now you and your friend give us a chance to start this war on the right foot.”

Walter and Wielder pondered on their options, Walter wanted to help because he thought that the wizard knew how to leave this strange world, Wielder to help because he also wanted to leave, but he thought that he could also figure it out on his own.

”We will help you, now what do you want to do?”

”Ok, there is a fog bank rolling in so we will start our attack when it reaches the castle. You and your friend will ride on my galleon with my crew, but when we get there, you will need to beeline toward the castle and get to the lower levels.”

”Why the lower levels?” Walter asked.

”Because the entrance to the caves in the castle is there. And in those caves is the light gem, and that is what we’re after. With that gem in hand, we have the power to defeat Maxwell and his shadow legions.” The skeleton finished.

”Seems thorough enough, so when do we head out?” Wielder asked.

”We leave at about midday, when the fog is about an hour ahead of us. So you can explore the island or get acquainted with the crew.”

Walter and Wielder walked out of the small shack and out to the beach to meet the skeleton’s crew, who were also skeletons apparently. They showed them around the lead galleon and around the island. The skeletons also gave Walter a flintlock pistol and taught him how to use it. At midday, Walter, Wielder, the skeleton general, and his crew set off Maxwell’s island, and this was the start of their problems. Woodlegs revealed himself to be a spy of Maxwell and almost escaped the skeletons, but they were able to harpoon his whale and capture him. When the galleon and the rest of the fleet arrived on the island, the attack began. Rifle wielding skeletons rushed up the beach toward the castle with cannon fire covering their advance. Walter and Wielder followed close behind them. Dark skeletons on the outer wall fired at the advancing troops with rifles of their own, and an archer was really hitting the general’s forces hard. Once the attacking skeletons got to the outer wall, they blew a hole in it with bags of black powder. Walter and Wielder killed several defending skeletons as they moved toward the inner wall, and when they got their Wielder melted the stones using the fire gem. Several friendly skeletons covered their advance toward the castle. Wielder set the wooden gates of the castle alight and they made their way into the castle. Walter and Wielder had a run in with Maxwell’s apprentice, and barely made it away, and they entered the lower levels of the castle. They navigated through the caves until they found a stone gate, and Wielder melted through it with the fire gem. On the other side was a vast stone chamber and in the center was the light gem embedded in an obsidian-like stone. Once Wielder approached the gem, he could feel a bright presence reassuring him about his doubts and fears, and when he put it in his staff, it was bound to it and it chose Wielder. Wielder blasted a way out of the caves that exited on the beach, when they emerged, they saw several skeletons slain on the battlefield.

”Ha, yes, you got it!” The general shouted to them from a row boat.

”Come on, we need to leave!” He continued.

Walter and Wielder sprinted to the row boat along with the surviving skeletons. The row boats made their way back to the fleet. Once they made it back to the galleon, Wielder brandished his new-found gem to the general. He congratulated him on the success of the raid, but then he got to the hard part, the casualties. They started with 750 fighters and returned with a little over half. They planned to later construct a memorial to the lives lost. They all grieved the losses, but that didn’t change the fact that this was a key victory. The galleons set sail to the south, but encountered another problem when they got about 70 miles away: the water level started rapidly decreasing until all the ships were beached in the middle of a lush evergreen forest. Realizing the ships were now useless, Wielder ordered the construction of a fort using the wood from the boats. And in two days, they finished construction and started thinking about their next move. Wielder thought it was a good idea to keep looking for more gems, and to be fair, it was a good idea, but Walter thought it best to gather intel on Maxwell. So they came up with a plan: they and about thirty skeletons would voyage through the forest looking for more gems on the way to a Pig city they heard about from the general. When they got to the city, they would gather intel from the locals and head back to the camp. When the fort was under construction, skeletons found old wagons that were used by loggers from that Pig city. Wielder had seven wagons built just like them as a cover for when they got into the city, but then another problem arose: they had no oxen to pull them. But also lucky for them, a few lesser Deerclops were discovered and were tamed and taught to pull the wagon. And then they were off! The wagons started their journey through the forest and they went for a few days before they found something notable: the plant gem. It was in what looked like a surface ruin guarded by Treeguards, overgrown skeletons, and Forest Deerclops’ that almost got the jump in them, but they were easily killed by Wielder. Once Wielder put it in his staff, he quickly figured out its purpose. Wielder was now able to control lesser Treeguards, the overgrown skeletons, and the forest Deerclops. Wielder sent them all back to the fort because he wanted to keep his recon small. They eventually came to the end of the forest and into a savannah. As they crossed the savannah, they met beefalo-riding skeletons who claimed to be fighting for the Skeleton Republic. At the end of the savannah were vast plains along with a few towns inhabited by Pig people, and eventually they got the city the general was talking about.

”All right skellies(slang term for skeletons), we are almost in the city.” Said Walter.

“Everyone ready your disguises, and conceal your flintlocks,” Wielder started. “The general said that guards will search the wagons, so once we get past the gate, we will stop right over a manhole. We will open the trap door and all drop in except for one to keep the cover. We will navigate through the sewers until we are in the inner city, then we ask around, is that clear?“ he finished.

”Sir, yessir!” the skellies responded.

When the wagons passed through the main gate, Walter, Wielder, and the skeletons entered the sewers just as the guards got to the inspection. Walter, Wielder and company trudged through smelly sewers until they got to the inner city. Once they took to the streets, they spent a few days gathering information about the city, its king, and Maxwell. After they all rendezvoused, they pooled the intel, and this is what they found: After Walter and Wielder roughed up his castle, Maxwell declared war on the so-called insurgents, and out of fear of being attacked, the Pig Kingdom pledged loyalty to Maxwell, in exchange for protection. This envoked a response from two factions that Walter and Wielder had never heard of, the Merm Empire and the Spider Kingdom. The Merm Empire and Spider Kingdom said they could their own against a bunch of pirates, and did not pledge loyalty to Maxwell. Other than military ties, they also found out what singlehandedly powers the entire city, a gem, the mud gem. If Wielder could get his hands on it, he could cut the head off eventual enemy and further his own power, and the capabilities of his insurgents. But if Wielder wanted that gem he would have to get to the palace at the center of the city, but lucky for them, the sewers that went under the palace were not blocked off. Walter, Wielder, and the skeletons made their way under the palace, and into a disgusting washroom. Once they all were in the palace, they split up to look for the gem. They searched corridor, rooms, and avoided guards. A few skeletons found the gem in a courtyard, but it was elevated on a stone pillar in plain view of several guards. The skeletons watched the guards for a few minutes until they found a blind spot, so one skelly climbed the pillar while the others spotted. The skeletons thought the blind spot would last a little longer, but alas, they were spotted, and a gunfight followed. The skeletons managed to kill several pig guards before they got pinned in a corner and were surrounded, and they thought that it was over, but it wasn’t. Walter had heard the gunfire and brought more skeletons to aid the others. Walter was able to kill several pig guards in hand-to-hand combat as musket balls whizzed past across the courtyard, and were able to kill all the attacking pigs. Wielder eventually showed up and held the gem for a few seconds, then he exhaled almost painfully, and handed the gem back to the skeleton.

“Wait, what, why- we just got thi- WHAT?” Exclaimed the skeleton!

Walter spoke through the now grumbling skeletons: “Wielder, we were barely able to get out with that gem alive, and you’re not going to do anything with it?

”I realized when we were gathering intel that this gem is so important to how this city functions, that civilians may die in our wake of conquest, and I will not let that happen.” Wielder responded.

”Wielder, this is war, innocent people are going to die whether you like it or not, and besides, this city is loyal to Maxwell.”

”These pigs, they might not look like us, but they have the same dreams and ambitions and a thirst for change. We are that change. We can finish this conversation later.”

”In that case, let’s get out of here!” Yelled a skeleton.

Several nightmarish shadow monsters blocked their escape back into the sewer, they soon thought the battle would end with their demise, but when Wielder revealed the light gem, the beasts cowered in fear and retreated to the shadows. This allowed Wielder and company to re-enter the sewers and escape back to the wagons they hid in an alley. Once they found the wagons, skeletons went to retrieve their tamed Deerclops and hooked them up to the wagons. The wagons rolled past dozens of pig guards and policemen now looking for them, and out of the city. Walter, Wielder, and company could hear muskets open fire behind them, only encouraging the Deerclops pulling the wagons to pull faster. Nothing of note happened on their journey back to the fort except for getting stopped by skeletons as they passed through their territory. Once they returned, Wielder told the General his realization about the mud gem.But during Wielder’s chat, a man watched, listened, and waited with a proposition.

Maxwell’s POV - Maxwell’s Castle.

”Wicker!” Maxwell shouted to his assistant.

”Yes, my lord?” The elder woman responded.

”Where has Wilson gone? He left unannounced, and now is nowhere to be found!”

”I don’t know, but he will return, I assure you.”

Maxwell sighed and retired to his throne in the royal hall. He worried about his project and about the four he brought in, and what could happen if things did not go to plan. Every person, every place, has a purpose and he- his train of thought was derailed by a grisly messenger entering the hall.

”A message from the Pig Kingdom has just arrived.” The bone-man stated. He handed Maxwell the scroll and quickly left the hall.

The message read: “Yesterday at midday, two men and many skeletons infiltrated the capital city and the palace. They killed several members of the Royal Guard and fled. We were not able to follow them, as they left undercover. We believe them to be the same insurgents that stormed your castle, because one of the men wielded the staff. Something must be done about these people before they are able to attack full force.” The Pig King’s stamp rested below the message on the parchment.

Maxwell grunted with rage and lit a cigar. He puffed as he pondered an early execution of phase two, but that came with risks.

“Oh Charlie, what would you do?”

Walter and Wielder POV - Somewhere southeast of Skeleton Republic:

The General walked into Wielder’s quarters and sat.

”What do you need General?” Wielder asked.

”Our skeletons our awaiting orders, they are unruly when they have nothing to do.”

”I need more time to think about our next move, but tell them to be on watch, as we might have been followed.”

”Yessir,” said the General as he stood up and walked out.

”Oh also, if you see Walter, send him in please.” Wielder added.

Wielder thought about several different options, but more importantly, he considered what he needed. You can’t win a war with 200 poorly trained skellies. He needed allies and a place to hide. Maybe he could seek refuge in a nation not loyal to Maxwell. But that would put innocent people in harms way, so many variables. Just as Wielder was about to go look for Walter, Walter walked in.

”Oh, perfect timing! I was just about to go look for you.”

”Well, the General found me and told me that you wanted to speak with me.”

”Yes, we need to talk about our next move.”

”Why do you need my help, you’re the one in charge.”

”Well that’s just it. Not only are we friends, but in our current predicament, we also need to be partners. I want you to have a say in what we do as a team.”

”O-ok, it’s just that you have studied this sort of stuff. The magic, the light and darkness in this place, hell, we don’t even know if we are even still on the same world! All of this stuff is above my pay grade, i‘m just the guy with the knife.”

”No you aren’t, you are so much more! When we were in the Pig capitol, you killed more of the guards than a skelly with a gun. You are the best soldier we have, and you were even able to bond with the skeletons on a personal level, hearing their stories and even sharing yours. That is why I need you to help me make these kinds of decisions.”

”But have you considered that I might not want to fight this war, I have a family to get home to. My kids are fatherless right now! Boston is a dangerous city and they need me.”

”I did not forget that, we do not have a way home. I would have asked the obviously powerful wizard, then he tried to kill us, so that option expired. We know that he has a way out of here, and he won’t let us access it. This means that we have to force him to.”

”There has to be a better way,”

”I wish there was but there isn‘t, so we must fight.”

Walter exhaled loudly and nodded his head.

”Now what is our next move-“ Walter was cut off by a skeleton barging into the quarters.

”Sir! Maxwell’s apprentice is outside the fort, he wants to speak with you.” Said the exhausted skeleton.

”A truce I hope,“ said Walter.

”I do too,“ responded Wielder as they both walked out of the quarters and into the courtyard of the fort. As they walked the gate of fort, skeletons grabbed muskets and climbed the walls next to the gate and stood behind the gate as if a siege was underway. Wielder and Walter climbed the ladder to the top of the wall and stood over the gate. They looked down to see a robed man with wild hair wearing a pendant with a Shadow Gem on it. Walter looked around and saw skeletons pointing muskets, waiting to fire.

”Open the gate.” Wielder ordered to the skeletons. This obviously shocked them as they looked at each other with puzzled looks. Skeletons on the ground scurried to the gate and pulled it open. The robed figure walked toward the gate, and as he walked forward, skeletons rushed out and surrounded him and pointed their muskets at him. The wizard‘s apprentice spoke with worry and haste:

”Please help me, I want to be free, I am trapped in an eternal bondage. This pendant keeps me trapped in the shadows wake, and only the Light Gem you stole can remove it. Please, I beg of you, I can help you defeat Maxwell. He promised a way home, but it never came.”

Wielder signaled to the skeletons to lower their weapons and he walked toward the apprentice and raised his Staff of Mystery and used the Light Gem to remove his pendant. The pendant slipped off the apprentice‘s neck and onto the ground. Walter watched from a few yards behind Wielder, and as he watched, he felt a nagging in the back of his head every time he looked at the pendant. He could almost hear it whispering to him. The longer the more he looked he looked at it, the more he heard. He started to walk toward, and then he heard it:

”Home, we can send you home. Follow the wizard, your family waits.” A wispy voice whispered to him.

”Home,” Walter whispered to himself, and he started running toward the pendant, he picked it up and ran into the woods.

”What the-“ Gasped Wielder. “Walter! Come back!” He yelled into the woods as started to pursue him but was stopped by the apprentice.

”You can’t stop him, he’s entranced,”

”What did you do to him!” Wielder yelled at the apprentice.

”Nothing, he was entranced by my pendant and is finishing what I started.“

”We have to stop him!”

”The only way you can stop him is to kill him."

Wielder watched as Walter ran at Godspeed through the forest, wanting to stop him, but knowing he couldn't.

Part 2:

“So we aren’t on Earth?” Asked Wielder without a drop of surprise in his voice.

“No we are in parallel universe that was created at the dawn of existence. This planet that we are on is called The Constant.” Wilson responded as he wiped sweat from brow. He continued to hammer metal plating onto a strange spherical frame.

“So what is that device you are building?” Wielder asked.

“This is a prototype for my ‘alchemy engine’. The name is a simplification of ‘alchemist object deconstruction and plan generating engine’. Wilson responded as he grabbed a box of nails.

“On a slightly more important note, the search party I sent after Walter said they saw him entering Maxwell’s Castle.” Wielder said with pain in his voice. Wilson turned around and looked at Wielder.

“Wielder, you aren’t going to like this, but you are going to have to fight Walter. Maxwell will undoubtably train your friend to kill you, he wants you dead, and he wants that staff back. Then, and only then, will he win.”

“That means we need to get him back before he tries to kill me.” Wielder responded with desperation.

“I’m not so sure that will be possible, I’m nearly certain that he try to kill you the next time you meet,” Wilson said as he grabbed Wielder’s staff but Wielder’s hand met to stop him,

“What are you doing Wilson?” He asked.

“I need it to dry-weld the plates together, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, no, no I don’t.”

“Thanks.” Wilson said as he picked up the staff, he opened the Fire Gem’s container and started melting the plates together.

“You know something about this Fire Gem?”

“What?” Wielder asked.

“A portion of the desert this was in was a natural swampland, and in that swampland were Merms, feisty buggers, when Maxwell sent in skeletons to harvest reeds for paper making, thee Merms attacked them and killed a lot of them. So we used the Fire Gem to burn down their villages, I’m not proud of giving the order. But it only made them angrier, they eventually threatened our northern border, so that’s when we dropped the gem into the center of their biggest village and over time, the swamp was replaced by a desert. But when you removed the gem and put into your staff, the desert disappeared, and when the points folded once again, the water restored the swamp, and eventually, the Merms will return.” When Wilson finished his monologue he smiled. Wilson picked up the dinky wooden lever he fashioned out of wood and put it in the pre-made slot in the plating. Wilson used the Fire Gem to heat metal and he warped it into a wide funnel and set it into the wide hole at the top of the metal sphere.

“Well, I think it’s done.” Wilson said as he tightened the sphere to its four wooden legs.

“Well, how do we test it?” Wielder asked as Wilson handed back his staff.

“We can use it to create the most useful ideas out of objects we drop in.”

“What do you think we should drop in first?” Wielder asked.

“Well, what do we need to improve in order to win this war?” Wilson asked in response. Wielder looked around and walked outside into the courtyard of fort and saw skeletons on the walls, guarding the gate, moving bags of powder and spare rifles, and other chore-like things.

“Well, where I come from, rifles are a bit better than what we have here,” Wielder started.

“Yes,” Wilson followed, “I owned a handgun back on Earth, if we can replicate the technology, it will give us an advantage over our enemies. Yet we do not have the capability to machine the parts, nor the full knowledge of them.”

“And that is where your fancy machine comes in, we know the materials needed, and we have all of them. I think if we put in a musket, a musket ball, and some black powder into the engine, and maybe we will get the plans we need.”

“One problem, we do not have any parchment to print the plans onto.”

Just as Wielder was going to propose a solution, the General walked up to Wilson and Wielder.

“Sir, I have realised something vital to our safety.” The General spoke hastily.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Your partner Walter will most likely give away the location of this fort. We need to leave immediately.”

“Yes we should, order the skeletons to collect all of the valuable information and supplies from the fort and store them in the wagons. We must make this the first priority.”

“Yessir.” Responded the general a he turned around to give the announcement.

“Men, gather ‘round.” The General yelled throughout the courtyard. Skeletons trickled into the center of the courtyard.

The General continued: “Wielder has made a decision, you are packing all supplies and information into the wagons and we are abandoning the fort. This is now the top priority, now get to work.”

The skeletons dispersed and started loading the wagons with all of the supplies. As Wielder watched the skeletons haul and move supplies, he pondered on all the factors to make their ‘escape’ as smooth and with and with as few casualties as possible. Wielder looked over to Wilson and relayed his idea:

“We will inevitably see combat in our exodus to a new refuge, and if our Deerclops get killed in a fire fight, we will be completely immobilised. So I have a proposition for you to make a reality. If we can shield the Deerclops, we can keep moving even if we are under fire. What do you think?”

“Well, it is a lot to ask, we can’t exactly fit a wagon into the Alchemy Engine, so I need to look at the Deerclops’ and the wagons and the materials we have to use. The Fire Gem will be very useful if we use metal.” Wilson responded.

“While you brainstorm, I’m going to head out and scout out path. Good luck with the ideas,” Wielder said as he walked toward the gate of the fort.

“Good luck with you as well.” Wilson said as he turned to the wagons.

Walter’s POV:

Walter trekked through the woods for hours following the Dark Gem’s guiding words. As he trekked further, he watched shadow creatures gather near him and marched through the woods with him. Walter and the shadows eventually walked out of the woods into a wide open expanse, and in the center of the expanse was a massive castle atop a hill surrounded by newly constructed wooden walls around the hill. Walter walked toward the castle until he was met by a skeleton riding a skeleton Deerclops. The skeleton looked at Walter for a long while before he turned his head and yelled to his comrades:

“He has arrived!” The skeleton turned back and looked at Walter, “Follow me.”

The skeleton rider turned and started cantering to the wall, and Walter followed closely. As they got to the gate of the rickety wooden wall, the guarding skeletons the gate stared at Walter as he followed the skeleton rider beyond the wall and toward the castle. Walter followed through camps of enslaved skeletons doing various tasks like cleaning weapons and bagging black powder. Walter followed the rider to the outer stone wall surrounding the castle.

“Go ahead to the inner wall and *he* will meet you there.” The rider told Walter as he pointed to the inner wall gate. Walter walked toward the inner wall, still following the Dark Gem. As he walked, he felt a nagging guilt that was being suppressed. He thought of Wielder, how he felt, how much betrayal he must feel. As he neared the gate, it slowly creaked open to reveal a tall, rather dapper figure, with a chin that looked as if it could kill.

“Ahh, welcome my pupil.” The figure said with a smile across his face. Walter walked toward the figure and kneeled.

“I will do whatever it takes to get home to my family. Teach me.” Walter said.

“Your raw will be most helpful to me, and then you. Follow me, we have a lot to talk about.” The figure said as he ushered Walter to follow him. As they walked, the figure introduced himself as Maxwell, though Walter already knew.

“You have potential you didn’t even know you had. On your journey to my castle, the Dark Gem bonded with you in a way that my former apprentice trained for years to attain, but it is unrefined, chaotic. Luckily for you, Wilson perfected the staff design.”

“I will do anything to get to my family, what do want me to do?” Walter asked as the two walked into the castle.

“I will train you, it should not be difficult with such a raw gift, now I want you to go to the lower levels and find the forge, a skeleton will bring a crucible to you filled with a metal, I want you to start the forging of the staff while I find Wilson’s plans for one. There are a few molds down there that you can pick from.” As Maxwell finished he walked to Wilson’s laboratory and Walter started looking for a way to the lower level. He eventually found a descending spiral staircase and found the forge. In Walter’s days of knife making, he used a lot of different setups and tools to craft the highest quality knives Boston had to offer, so he had no problem figuring out this forge. And just as Maxwell said, a skeleton arrived with a crucible of metal. Walter took the metal and poured it in the mold he selected. The mold was not yet full though, so Walter pondered on what to do next. Just as he was about to take it into his own hands, Maxwell came down with two more crucibles of the strange metal. Walter took them and poured them into the mold and attached the other side of the mold.

“Now is time for your first lesson in dark spell casting,” Maxwell said, “dark magic can take away energy in any of its forms, even sweltering heat. I will show you how to take the heat out of anything.”

Maxwell found a small cube of the metal and placed it in the crucible and Walter placed the crucible in the forge. Walter used the billow to heat the metal till it glowed.

"Focus on the cube, imagine yourself pulling the heat away from the cube. Do a motion of you pulling the heat.”

Walter focused on the cube, slowed his breathing, and pictured himself drawing the heat from the cube. He felt a heat rising inside him. He opened eyes and saw the cube slowly become a brassy-gold hue.

"Now that you have the have removed and contained the heat, you have two option, use that energy to cast your own spell, or dissipate it. But since heat energy cannot translate to an effective dark spell, you will most often dissipate it. So give it a try."

Walter held his hand out and opened his hand. He felt the heat travel down his arm and out his hand, the sweat on his hand turning to steam. He gasped as he saw the steam wisp away from his hand.

"I have never been able to do anything like this before. Why can I do it now?" Walter asked.

"This world brings out the strongest in people, I know firsthand of the Constant's sisterhood with the land from which you came. Despite separation of our lands, and the uncountable years of difference, the power that flows in the rivers and out the breath of every living thing will even draw the same power out of a foreigner."

Walter gulped and looked down at his own hands, he looked at himself now with fear but also a primal curiosity and a thirst for more.