Chapter 6
Zale ran the entire day. He never stopped. He never looked back. The forest canopy gave him protection from the lightning that seemed to strike at him every ten to fifteen minutes. He had dreamed of his awakening since he was a boy. Dreamed of breaking out of the farm to bigger and better things. Now his past didn’t seem so bad at all. Food at all three meals. A roof and fireplace to warm the bones. A family to love and nurture. No one or thing trying to kill him all the time.
He never thought rising to the top would be difficult. He always thought it just happened naturally. Someone was born with a strong ability so they became the best. Wasn’t that how it was supposed to work? He awakened to something only told about in legends and his own life wasn’t even guaranteed. Even Sorana Jeskai seemed like she would have a difficult road ahead of her; at least if her abysmal fireball was any indicator she would. In his fantasy’s Zale never imagined it would be hard. Now that he actually got everything he had always wanted, he was doubting if it was worth it.
He couldn’t go home. Even when the rain stopped. He had no idea when a storm would approach. If lightning struck his house while he was sleeping, he would never forgive himself. Zale just couldn’t risk his family’s lives like that. His mother and father had always been there for him despite their meager earnings. He had practically raised his sister. Before he was old enough to help in the fields his mother would work alongside his father, leaving Zale alone to watch Abigail.
He had nowhere to go that night when the rain stopped. In fact, he had nowhere to go for an entire two weeks. That was how long it took him to reach Delvers Ridge. The letter of recommendation the senior abbot had given him was his only real hope. He had never heard of General Malchi, but the empire never had “bad” generals. At this point Zale wasn’t worried about anything but surviving Lightning Rod, which wasn’t F rank for nothing.
Those two weeks of travel were brutal though. He walked most of the distance, only being able to catch a ride a handful of times for distances not nearly enough to matter. On top of that, one of the bad parts of fleeing his home was not bringing anything with him. His clothes were filthy from the road, and although he tried to wash himself in streams, a smell was definitely festering.
Nights were tough. Some nights, if he didn’t find a cave or cliff overhang he felt was adequate protection from would be lighting strikes, Zale wouldn’t even sleep. When he did find shelter he still barely got shut-eye, only truly sleeping when exhaustion took over. He was scared. He was scared of never returning home. He was scared of not living up to the potential he always knew he had. He was scared of the lightning.
The one thing he did do that was slightly productive on his two-week trek was attempt to feel out his other passive Impulse Control. It was C rank. Not exactly amazing, but it was possible it could be a little beneficial. When he really focused he could faintly feel small currents running through his body. It was such a weak feeling though he wasn’t even sure it was real. He certainly couldn’t manipulate it like his ability stated he should be able to do. It was more like closing his eyes and trying not to itch. As soon as he tried he felt the need to scratch everywhere but couldn’t seem to get the currents to do anything he wanted.
He needed a way to speed up the training of Impulse Control. It had taken the other user thirty years to raise the ability to level five. That was only the midpoint to mastering an ability. Not to mention that the recording showed only moderate increase in agility and speed. The active Lightning Steps could achieve that result at level one. It was said becoming an Elemental Master was a path destined to go against the heavens. Well if the heavens had been the ones to deal Zale such a terrible hand he wasn’t against rebelling.
When he stumbled into Delvers Ridge he was a ghost of the person he was two weeks prior. He had barely slept. He looked ragged enough to be a beggar and smelled worse. He was half starved thanks to his nonexistent survival skills. The only food he was able to eat over the last two weeks being the small amount of fruit he found on his journey, and the little extra he was able to mooch off of the people he bummed rides from. It wasn’t that he couldn’t pay them for food or transportation since the one thing he did happen to have on him was the gold the Senior Abbot of Jeskai City had given him. It was that none of the people he met were merchants carrying a surplus of goods. They were all normal travelers like himself, albeit much better prepared. They couldn’t offer much, and when their paths diverged he was left alone again.
Those two weeks had been a miniature hell for Zale. He had always thought he was at the bottom as a farmer. After these two weeks though he had a new appreciation for all he had. Delvers Ridge was known for being an outlaw city. The city was literally on the edge of the country, bordering the neutral zone. With Zale’s ragged and dirty appearance, he fit right in as he strolled into the city looking for someone who could help him live. Someone who knew how to survive lightning.
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