Kyth Starts At the Zygon Society

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Story Script:

“I don’t remember the testing. It was done to every child then, shortly after birth. My test was surprising. My nursemaid’s name was Talya. She was anciently old, and yet, could keep up with me. She told me many times of the shock and surprise when I tested positive for several different rune abilities.

You see, rune abilities are passed on from generation to generation rarely. Each offspring has a small chance of inheriting their parents’ abilities. Many, these days, are inert. My father, the King of Grexly, King of House Comely, had one of the rarest rune abilities, diamond skin. My mother had none that we knew of.

They tested me for diamond skin first, just hoping that the heir to the throne had inherited such a powerful trait. When The Proebest saw my skin harden, the nurses cheered. Next, they tested an iron rune. It, too, activated.

You need to understand how surprising this must have been to my parents. With my father's diamond affinity and my mother had none, the further tests were simply a formality. The Zygon Society insisted on the full battery of tests for every child, to make sure no Chikors ever went undetected.”

"Chikors?" Jom asked.

“An ancient term for people with multiple affinities. As that is next to extinct, I believe the word has died as well.”

Kyth sighed, so much had changed over time, the world was so much more… dull.

“After iron, they brought in the High Dru to further test me. You see, even back then, Chikors were rare, but the chance that I… this baby might even be more than a Simple Chikors….

I have whisked away from my family for a time. Diamond and iron affinity are the easiest to test, as the results are visible and there is no sickness associated with il-tunes or a child who has no glipping ability.

I spent the following weeks deep in the Zygon Lair being tested and prodded. When I was returned to my parents, a Zygon Dru accompanied me. Since my father was the king, special concessions were made. I would be allowed to live in the palace, but required to attend Zygon training in the compound every day.

This was my childhood.”

———

“I was 15 when I moved out of the palace to live in the Zygon Lair. I had been training for hours a day with various Master Drus for years. Most of the Dru Masters could only do one affinity, known as Glippers, some few were Simple Chikors, and held the ability to control 2 affinities; one, my Master Grove, was a Master Chikor, and could control 3.

Master Grove worked with me for years before I moved to the Lair, and it was on his insistence that I finally moved in full time.

My Mother was tearful to my leaving, while my father was, in those days, mostly away. He was spending months at a time traveling to other kingdoms, attempting to convince the world to unite under our banner to fight the Nether.

I moved into the barracks on my 15th birthday. My mother and I had decided it would be best to hide my heritage. She thought, and it turned out to be prophetic, other students might try to make a name for themselves by taking down the son of the King.

I lugged my lone bag up the five flights of stairs in the Zygon Dorm. I didn’t need much, honestly. All students wear the simple black shirt and pants of the Zygon Society. The shirts were made for rune glipping. That’s what the students called the art of inscribing runes on one's body. Glipping was the first, second, and third course of study in the Academy. Surely we learned other skills as well, but there was no hiding, Glipping was why we were there.

Throwing open the door to my room, I was met by the small frame of who would eventually turn out to be my best friend in the world.

“Excuse me!”

A small voice came from a boy sitting at one of the two desks in the room. “I was told I would have my room this semester!”

“Not,” I said dropping my stuff on the opposite bed. “My name is Kyth”. I extended my hand.

“What are you, wait, let me guess…. a charger?”

I shook my head, hand still extended.

“A brute then?”

I nodded, smiling.

He stood and strode across the room, taking my hand, “well, if I’m going to have a roommate, it’s good to have someone who can carry my bags.” A hint of a smile spread across his face, “my name is Gibby”

Chargers was the term for people with a redstone affinity. They have the amazing ability to draw from their redstone runes and, while touching another Glipper, the other’s ability is multiplied dramatically. It allows for astounding feats.

A brute is, well, I suppose what you would expect. iron affinity allows for substantial strength. The other ability I knew about at that time was diamond. We, diamond Glippers were known as Rocks. It can make our skin harden, Bone be nearly unbreakable while the rune is active.

Gibby was… chatty to say the least. At first, I’ll admit, I was taken aback by his openness but as we settled in for the night, it made my little dorm room feel a little warmer. We stayed up late that night, talking about the Zygon School, classes, his family, and very much about his ability, Emerald. My new friend was a con.

——-

Gibby was a few months older than me and had gone through the typical iron and diamond testing at birth. Coming up negative, he lived a normal farmer's life with his parents until he turned 15 and took the advanced test.

You see, advanced testing is complicated and very dangerous. Babies can be tested for diamond and iron, as the results are physical and easily observable. I was, and am, in every way an aberration. When I tested positive for diamond and iron, the Zygon Proebest took me away to the compound to further test.

The mental tests are extremely dangerous, a baby can’t control its mind, with the power of Emerald, Redstone, or Gold, it could draw too fast and too powerfully on the rune if it has that affinity. The baby’s mind could be fractured into pieces.

When Gibby told me about his Emerald affinity, he was quick to assure me that he wasn’t using it on me. Cons is what we call Emerald Glippers because when using their runes, they can be extremely… persuasive. A skilled Con with decent power can get people to lose their inhibitions or do things outside of their comfort zone. A powerful Con…. well… they can make people do nearly anything. It is easily the most feared affinity.

What Gibby didn’t know, I had nothing to fear from his Emerald, because I also had that affinity. When the Zygon Drus took me deep into their lair, as a small baby for more testing, because of my iron and diamond skills, it was deemed safe to test me for all of the glyphs. The iron could give my mental strength to control it, even as a baby and the diamond could protect it from splintering.

I tested positive for all of them.

——-

Gibby and I went through the first few years of school together in most of our classes, outside our glipping, which were individual study. Though Gibby studied with three older students, all Cons for his afternoon classes, I was sent straight to Drus. I still don’t know if I would have studied with a Drus, due to my family or if it was because I was something unseen in centuries, a Full Chikor.

Only the Master Drus was aware of my multiple affinities, though only for a time. It all became known shortly after my 19th birthday.

Our class took our first mission. We started at Anduir's Rest, and we were supposed to make our way to the Arbor Druid’s home of Ajury, where we could learn some of the techniques they use to grow amazing trees that tower above the landscape.

My classmate, Fredeo, was put in charge of this mission, though it should have been straight forward. The five of us set out, following the map provided by the Drus. On the sixth day, tragedy struck.

We broke camp early in the morning and set out through the forest. Part of the exercise was to avoid roads. I believe the Drus was preparing us to move between kingdoms, unseen by man or beast. Either way, by avoiding the road, it took us under the canopy of leaves.

As we walked and joked with each other, no one saw the creeper emerge from behind a clump of trees. Fredeoand Choggah were caught in the blast and immediately killed. Gibby was wounded mildly and our other classmate Hef and I escaped unharmed.

I can’t express to you how shocking this was. We had seen creepers in school, in a very safely controlled setting, and we knew they could be anywhere, but after six days of traveling, we had all slowly relaxed.

Hef and I checked our friends' bodies’ for the map, only to realize the creeper had blown it up too. We were lost.

———-

I’ll skip through much of the sadness, crying, and panic that gripped Gibby, Hef, and I, but eventually, we decided to try to continue. Ajury Vault should only be three more days walk forward, to the west, while home would have been double that to the East. The longer we travel, the more room to get hopelessly off our route and lost in the endless landscape.

Hef was a charger. Having no abilities of her own, she could just charge other glippers. She charged me periodically so I could carry our friends' bodies more easily. iron glyphs last for a long while, and Fredeo was a Brute, carrying plenty of iron vials on him. We just didn’t feel it would be right to leave them there, near the creeper crater.

That night, we made camp in a clearing, making sure to craft plenty of fences and torches to light up the area around. I charged up an iron rune and went to chop wood for a campfire.

I returned, pulling a felled tree behind. I heard so much commotion at camp, it was obvious something was wrong. Sneaking to the top of a small ridge, my heart fell. No less than 25 pillagers were standing in our camp, going through our things and burning our tents. Gibby and Hef were nowhere to be seen.

People In the Story:

* Talya

* Kytholique Comely

* King Comely

* Queen Comely]

* Jom Comely

* The Proebest

* Master Grove

* Gibby

* Fredeo

* Choggah

* Hef

Locations are shown in Cinematics:

* Thumbnail: Explorers' Guild of Celaya

* Princeton

* Castle Caraway

* Underground Celya

* Path Of the Ice Seers

* Dargon Cave