6 – A Fine, Rare Vintage

“So, what constellation did you choose?” Kaylin asked her large companion. They were sitting together near the edge of the clearing as Jax cut the seals off the bottles.

“It was a harrowing decision!” He laughed. Loudly. “Obviously, my training has included most weapons, my family always knew I would choose a Martial tree, and I seemed to have qualified for two minor specializations: one in axes, not surprising really, and the other in polearms of all things. I guess Aster is a better teacher than I thought.” As he rambled, he removed the seals on the bottles.

Out of curiosity, Ren examined one of them, silently activating his Insight. The bottle appeared to glow as Juliette’s voice played in his mind: “[Fine red wine made of ripe scor fruit. Aged fifteen years. Imbued with strength, pain numbing, and minor healing properties.]”

The others didn’t respond to the glowing bottle, continuing on as if nothing had happened. Huh. Well, that’s good to know. Wonder how you make something with it.

“So, naturally, it took some consideration,” Jax continued. “Ultimately, though, I settled on the lesser axe tree.

Kaylin glanced at the large, double-headed battleaxe leaning against the trunk of a nearby tree. “Really? I would never have guessed…”

“I know! I know, not terribly surprising. Ah, there we go.” Seals removed, Jax uncorked the bottles with a soft pop! He placed one of them near his nose and breathed deeply. “Now, that is excellent. A fine, rare vintage from our family’s own vines. We only have ten bottles left. Not as good as some of the infused stuff, perhaps, but wonderful all the same!” He handed one of the bottles over to Kaylin, holding up the other in a toast. “To the newest Valdoris refined!”

“To not being under the thumb of the guilds,” Kaylin said, a hard expression briefly flashing over her face. They each took a large drink. “Now that really is an excellent wine.”

“One of the best! One of the best. Ren! You must drink.” Jax offered the bottle over to him.

“Umm, to the newly refined.” He took a small sip. The wine was sweet without being cloying with a sour note as it first hit his tongue, leaving the lingering taste of cherry and smoke. He smiled, handing the bottle back to Jax. “I gotta say, that is pretty good.” Other than a tart finish, Ren felt nothing of the apparently magical properties of the wine—I guess it needs to be prepared into a dish.

“In’dala?” Kaylin held hers out as a question.

“No. Thank you,” the bald woman replied, her tone emotionless.

Jax took another long drink before turning to the blonde woman. “And how about you, Kaylin? The Arcane cluster, no doubt, but which constellation? Focus? Frost? Study? Electric? Share the details!”

“Well…” She let the word hang. “I only had the specialization option for one choice.” She smiled. “Frost.” With a flourish of one hand, she pointed toward a tree on the far side of the clearing. A ball of crystalline blue coalesced in front of her outstretched palm for a moment before it streaked over the ground, smashing into the thick trunk and leaving behind a circle of ice two feet across.

“I knew it! Axe Master and Frost Mage! And with the Mana Engineering that Ignus received, what a party we’ll make.” He took another drink.

Ren decided to risk pushing for additional information. “So, you both, uh, started your path?”

“Of course!” Jax replied immediately. “Always one of the hardest decisions. I’ve spoken to some who took over a full day to decide. Myself, I wavered between three choices. It’s no problem, though. I will simply add the remaining one as I advance.”

“It sounds like there were some great options. What did you end up going with?”

“Warrior’s Cleave!” the big man said, puffing out his chest. “An imbued slash that could likely cut a night wolf in two! Here, let me try it.” Without waiting for a response, he handed the wine bottle back to Ren, grabbed the large battleaxe, and walked over to face a tree next to the one laden with fresh ice. Squaring his feet, he gripped the four-foot weapon in both hands. The entire axe started glowing a faint ochre as he brought it down against the rough bark.

The resulting smash jolted through Ren as a wall of energy shot out around the clearing like a shockwave. They all stared at the unfortunate tree, which now had a battleaxe wedged a third of the way through its three-foot trunk. Jax turned and gestured at the stuck weapon, proud as a new mother.

“Now that,” Kaylin said, “could prove useful. Assuming you don’t form a habit of getting it stuck in whatever you are attacking.”

Jax grabbed hold of the long, ornate handle. “Not a problem with our newfound strength.” He heaved against the weapon. It creaked, shifting perhaps an inch. “You. Just. Have. To. Pull it out.” He grunted each word, pushing and pulling against the embedded axe until it eventually slipped free, leaving behind an enormous gouge in the tree. “See?”

“That is really impressive, Jax,” Ren said. “You mentioned there were two others that were hard to choose between?” Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed In’dala studying him, her face unreadable.

“Yes, yes, of course.” Jax walked back over to rejoin the seated circle, resting the battleaxe across his legs. “It was the usual conundrum: passive versus area effect. As tempting as Blade Sweep was, my family made me promise to consider resilience, so I chose Iron Hide. You know, the usual: thick skin, resistance, all of that.” He held out his hand absentmindedly and Ren returned the bottle. The big man took another drink. “I will choose the Blade Sweep as my final novice star.”

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“And you, Ren?” In’dala asked, her gaze far too knowing.

“Hmm?”

“Yes, yes!” Jax said. “Ren and then Kaylin. I know it’s impolite, but seeing as we shared a nexus and all…”

“What did you choose?” Kaylin added. “Something Martial I imagine, though your choice of weapon…” She glanced at the wooden bokken resting on the ground beside him. “Is quite unique.”

“Oh, this? Yeah, uhh…” He tried to think of a reasonable explanation for why he was in the middle of a monster-ridden forest with just a training sword. He thought about all the new and strange things the last several hours had revealed and decided to take a risk. “Okay, I’m going to level with you. I have no idea what all of this”—he gestured vaguely at the glade and the pile of stone dust—“is. Or what it means, or any of it. I’m… I’m not from around here.” He couldn’t bring himself to say not from this world.

“Well, that much is obvious. You certainly have an interesting wardrobe and your markings are quite different than In’dala’s here.”

Ren self-consciously rubbed the intricate tattoos on his forearms. “I, umm, where I come from, we don’t have nexuses, or magic, or this.”

“You must come from somewhere very, very far off,” Jax said. “Imagine! Not having nexi? In all of Valdoris, I’ve never heard of such a thing. Tell us, where is this land? Where do you hail from?”

“It’s called Brooklyn, New York. Well, I guess I’m originally from the DC area, and was in Paris for a couple years, but Brooklyn the last six.”

“Brook land?” Kaylin asked. “How strange. Do you have many streams? No matter. If you don’t know the nexi, how are you refined? How did you even find this place? The wild ones are so remote, I’ve only known…” She trailed off, looking over at In’dala. “Most people cannot find them.”

“I just, kind of, woke up nearby? I stumbled on this place by accident. Where I’m from, I run a ramen—do you know what ramen is? Probably not, right? Well, I run a noodle shop, and, honestly, I’m just trying to get back there. Well, after I have a word with a giant badger.”

“Strange tidings indeed. It sounds like some form of dimensional or transportation magic, though that constellation is exceedingly rare. It’s incredibly difficult to practice and train. Perhaps the Meridian archives would have more.”

Jax cut in, “But you are refined, yes? It’s hard to tell so close to the nexus remnants, but I definitely sense latent mana surrounding you, so you must have a core.”

Two, in fact. “Uhh, yeah, when I touched the pillar, the nexus, I went to the dark star place.”