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Chapter 11

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When Suwa and Moiya returned to camp, they were dragging the prize of their hunt on a makeshift sled behind them. The men had mostly cleared the camp, and hunger was starting to set in, so everyone was glad to see the two of them return. Especially Dobin, who was practically drooling.

“So, what did you bring us? What is it? Well? Well?” Dobin questioned impatiently, though in a playful manner.

“Believe it or not, Suwa here caught us a fellit. And a pretty big one at that.”

“See, Moiya, I told you he could handle it,” Sezio said with a slight grin. “And you were worried.”

“You're right. He did pretty well,” Moiya claimed while nudging Suwa, who was just standing there in an awkward silence.

The last one to check on Suwa's catch was Belo. When he saw the large animal lying on the sled, he rubbed his mouth and chin before scratching his cheek. After looking away, he finally spoke a few words of encouragement, “Well, you did good.”

Moiya laughed, and Suwa shot her a look that said, “See?”

“Come on, Belo, you can be more honest than that,” Moiya said through her laughter.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing, never mind.” Moiya covered her mouth with one hand to stifle her laughter before shaking her head with slight disbelief.

“Suwa, come here for a moment,” Sezio called. He had separated himself from the group and waved Suwa over to him.

“What is it?”

“Let them finish preparing the meat. There’s still more for you to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember what I told you about fire?”

“Of course. It's the first thing you taught me."

“And you remember how to create and control it.”

“Enough to remember that you said we can't create something that doesn't exist. And that the way we use era is by manipulating the era around us to take the form that we want.”

Sezio grinned, “Very good. And can you still do it? Perhaps you can make more than a little smoke this time?”

“Of course, just watch!”

Suwa kneeled in front of the fire pit that had been made the night before. Fresh wood and kindling were already prepared and in position, so the only thing left to do was to trigger its ignition. Suwa closed his eyes and grabbed a handful of the grass and broken twigs he would use to start his fire.

Even these things which seemed dead and could have no more use than to piece together a part of a gehm’s camouflaged clothing were, in fact, still filled with era that Suwa was now capable of feeling. The image of a burning flame came to his mind as he focused all his intention into the kindling. It didn't take long before he started to smell smoke, and shortly after that, he could feel the warmth of a small flame.

After opening his eyes, Suwa tucked the small fire under the wood where the pit had been prepared to spread the flames. With the kindling burning, he created an upward gesture with his hand the way Sezio had showed him to guide the fires growth. However, despite Suwa’s efforts, the flame refused to spread to the rest of the wood and was, instead, starting to die.

“You did well, Suwa,” Sezio claimed as he matched Suwa's gestures and guided the flame to burn hotter and brighter. “We’ll work on projecting your intentions more later, but for now, let's get ready to eat.”

While Suwa and Sezio were working on the fire, the rest were working on the final preparations for getting the animal’s carcass ready to cook. As the fire burned, they set the fellit up to roast over the flames and gathered around in anticipation. Unfortunately, with such a large catch, it would be a while before the meat was prepared enough to eat.

“You all have your own weapons, right?” Suwa started while they were still waiting to eat. “Did you make them yourself? When will I get mine?”

“Don't worry, you'll have one when you can make it yourself. But that's a different lesson for another day.”

“Oh, come on, Sezio. You can at least teach him the basics. Don't you think he's ready enough for that, at least?”

“Fair enough,” Sezio conceded to Moiya's pressure. “The weapons we use are not something crafted, exactly. It would be closer to say that they are a part of us.”

“What does that mean?”

“If you want to make one for yourself, then you will need to forge it with your own intentions using the era inside you. It will take on the shape you wish, be made of the substance you wish, and it will be capable of striking down any enemy you wish.”

“Even a great beast like Rashendala?”

Rashendala is small fry. If you can master it, you'll have a weapon held together by pure era that could strike down even a titan!” Moiya let her excitement interrupt Sezio's explanation.

“A titan?”

“Moiya is getting ahead of herself, but she's not wrong. It’s been done before by a certain gehm. A feat that should be unimaginable. But it's been done.” Sezio seemed almost reminiscent in the way he spoke.

“But what's a titan? Is it another kind of beast? Something even greater than Rashendala?” Everyone stopped to look at Suwa, and he suddenly felt like he had said something he wasn't supposed to, but then Sezio showed a calming smile.

“So, there is a bright side to living in the shadow of a beast.”

“Did I say something strange?”

“No, just unexpected. I'm surprised that you don't know, but it does answer a few questions. Let me explain. You already know how era can be found in everything, right? And the fact that beasts are able to sense and manipulate it.”

“Of course. You already taught me that, but I don't—”

“And where do you think those beasts and everything come from? Era might flow through everything, it might be in everything, but a titan is an incarnation of era. Their very existence and form is era. And it's them who created everything; beasts included.”

“But you said that we couldn't create anything that didn't exist; only manipulate it.”

“Us, sure. But the existence of a titan is completely outside your comprehension. It wouldn't be too much to say that they are the world itself.”

“Okay, Sezio, now you're just being dramatic,” Moiya interrupted again. “Don’t think too hard on it for now. You'll understand if you ever come across one. All you need to do is just keep in mind that, no matter how awe-inspiringly terrifying they might seem, we gehm still have the strength to kill them.”

“Now who's being dramatic? Anyway, foods done. We can talk more after we eat. And we'll be traveling again soon.”


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