RFC-Miniarc-An Average Day-5 (Nomad)

Nomad finished his patrol of the garden. And, as always, once he stepped through the front door, Geneva waited for him, standing in the middle of the welcoming room with her arms crossed behind her back and her tail swinging. She smiled at him, flashing dainty but sharp canines.

“The time has come for your lessons.”

Nomad inclined his head. Truthfully, he would rather not give the creature free reign to his mind and his senses. He didn’t think the people of this kingdom could truly fathom the horrors and wonders of the mind. Or what someone with mastery over the mental affinity could do.

But he was a simple servant. His vessel and mind were not his to defend. If his mistress desired to offer all he was to the monster wrapped in cute skin, then he had no basis to argue.

He followed meekly as she led him into the study and guided him to his usual chair. Nomad sat rigidly as the creature moved behind him and laid gentle hands on his head. “Are you ready?”

“I am prepared.”

The thrall giggled. “I have to say, working with you has been quite fun. Rarely do I get the chance to work on true puzzles of the mind. You are more than a few twisted corridors. You are a maze. So many layers…”

Nomad sighed deeply as he felt the creature’s magic seep into his body.

“You know what you need to do. Guide me to the beginning. As far back as you can remember.”

Frowning, the obedient servant searched his memories, aided by the creature’s magic. The first memories that came to him, the clearest ones, was his time as a bandit.

He saw the day Lourianne Tome stood over their prone bodies, sword in hand, demanding amusement in exchange for their lives. Then he moved through the blurry days he spent crouched along King’s Road, waiting in ambush for a suitably ostentatious carriage to pass by, and his time at the bandits’ camp, a random smattering of tents that moved every other day to avoid capture.

He saw the day Rat found him, frail, starving, and stumbling down the road. Lost. Malleable. No one would describe the fanciful bandit as a good man. When he found the vulnerable Nomad, he certainly did not do what was best for the young man.

He turned him into a pawn, one that didn’t flinch at the darker aspects of their profession. But his intervention had likely saved the life of the man who had no ability to take command of his life.

“Further.”

His memories moved to the days before his time as a bandit. These years were even more blurry, as he never stayed in one area long enough to leave an impression.

There was an endless barrage of faces. Kind ones that gave him food. Mean ones that thought to take something from him and beat him when they discovered he didn’t have a single possession to his name besides the rags he wore. A series of barns, derelict homes, and foxholes as he moved across the country.

“Further.”

For the first time, Nomad’s expression changed. He frowned slightly as his mind went further back. To his time with his master. The cold basement. The cage. The older man’s dark glare as a young Nomad stared up at him.

“Further.”

Nomad grimaced as nothing came to mind. He knew that when he was with his master, he couldn’t have been younger than ten. Memories were fluid at that age but he knew he should be able to recall something else. The place he was born. The faces of his parents. But there was nothing. Only his master.

“Ah. Here we go. Mm. This is quite masterful. Every day, I work on the knot. And every day, it twists itself back together. But, today, I have a new plan.”

Nomad shuddered as his vision blurred.

“I have been approaching your treatment as if your personal dissonance was caused by another master intending to destroy your ego. Further examination has proved that this is natural. Well, as natural as anything like this can be.”

The servant bowed his head as his stomach heaved. He felt as if he was going to vomit but it felt more powerful than disgorging the contents of his stomach. It felt like something crucial was about to come up, something he couldn’t afford to lose.

The thrall hummed in satisfaction. “Ah. There we go. It should be clear now.”

The study disappeared. Once again, Nomad was in the cold basement, staring up at his master. But he was no longer a young boy. He looked down as he raised his limbs, all eight of them. His translucent body glowed from the light of the summoning circle that both allowed him entry to the new plane and prevented him from going any further.

On the other side of the circle, stood his master. Before he was the master. When he was just a sour-faced summoner dressed in an elegant black robe decorated with coiling, golden dragons. In his hands, he held an old tome bound in leather.

It was strange. At once, Nomad was both his future and past self. He knew what was going to happen and was powerless to do anything. He was a witness, same as the creature using its power to view his memories.

His past self reached out to the summoner but his efforts to communicate went unanswered, the ape incapable of speaking with anything other than his flesh. As he was now, Nomad contained no flesh. Even if he understood the ape, they could not speak, could not negotiate. He had answered the call, as he was meant to, but it was a fruitless endeavor.

“So, you finally appear.”

His attention was grabbed by the summoner as the man waved his hand. Two other men, their faces covered by pure white masks, walked forward, escorting a young boy with dark hair and dark eyes. He was frightened, too frightened to run or scream.

The summoner’s eyes began to glow. “Unfortunately, we won’t be making a contract today, though we will be joined together. You and I…we will make history.”

The summoner’s eyes began to glow as he flipped through the pages of his tome. Nomad could feel the mana surrounding him. Then he felt it tugging him, pulling him beyond the bounds of the summoning circle. Toward the boy, who finally lost his composure and tried to fight the grown men holding him in place.

Nomad of the past didn’t fear the moment of collision. He, no, they were incorporeal. They would pass through the boy’s flesh. Not harmlessly. They were not physical but there would certainly be pieces of themselves left behind and there was no telling what that would do to the young ape.

An interesting fate to be sure, but they would not be around to see the outcome. Beyond the protection the summoning circle offered, their existence would conflict with the realm. In moments, they would be returned to their home, where they would wander the Sea of Stars until the time came to answer the next call.

Nomad of the future looked on with dread, knowing the moment would not proceed as they expected. Magic would pervert nature. When their essence touched the boy, rather than pass through, the two would fuse. Incorporeal would become flesh. The boy would scream as his very soul was torn asunder, collapsing under the weight of the intruder.

Then Nomad would stumble, nauseated to the point they couldn’t stand as they were assaulted by baffling senses. The confused invader had no time to come to grips with their strange circumstances before they were grabbed by the summoner, held by their new neck.

“Check it,” the summoner snapped and one of the men knelt beside Nomad. Their confused gargles and whimpers, the result of their new brain trying to interpret their attempt to communicate, were the only sounds to break the silence as the man laid a hand their small chest. Nomad felt the invasive mana but their very being was raw, vulnerable. Their mana felt…strange. Different. Something that should be impossible.

“The creature is not being dragged back to its plane.”

The summoner smiled. Hauling Nomad to their clumsy feet, he carried them across the room, holding it over a spell carved into the ground. It wasn’t elaborate but it was quite large, containing what the creature recognized as the human kingdom’s symbol for magic, a five-pointed star over a circle. Spread throughout it were nine stones.

Once again, Nomad was held to the ground as the man who examined them knelt by their side. A hand was placed on their chest and mana entered their body, this time far more aggressively. It pushed on the creature’s own mana, forcing it out. A very painful process that made them scream, an inhumane sound that echoed off the stone walls.

All the while, the summoner laughed. “It worked!”

The second, who’d been a quiet observer, clapped. “The group had its doubts but you’ve proved yourself a genius, yet again, Lord Gumfree.”

“Not once, but thrice over! A way to bind incorporeal elementals to this plane without the need of a contract and a way to gift someone another affinity. And not just any affinity.” Gumfree looked at the measuring spell, where the gemstones representing water, wind, and the rarest of all, the celestial affinity, all glowed with an inner light, though the last was the faintest.

“Haha! Those old bastards think Everett is the one who deserves to be the Summoner King? We’ll see what they have to say when they learn I can make prophets—"

The vision cut out, the study reappearing with a swiftness that left Nomad reeling. Already, a fog sought to cloud his, no, their memories, but they held on, focusing on every detail with a concentration their shattered mind found difficult.

The truth, the little fragment they had, strengthened them. Already, the face of their master faded, along with the words he had spoken. But Nomad knew what they were. Why everything felt so wrong.

“I do not belong here.”

“On the contrary.”

They looked up to see the thrall smiling at them. The expression was too wide, to a degree no normal creature could manage. In its glee, the creature had lost a fraction of its control. “I’d say you are exactly where you should be.”

“You cannot keep this to yourself,” Nomad said. Their focus and determination were fading, being muted the same as before. A sliver of clarity remained, a piece of the individual they had once been.

“Lourianne Tome declared you share with her any discoveries you made about me. Combined with your orders to act in her best interest and your order to deliver any interesting persons you discover while conducting your business in a timely manner, you cannot delay.”

“Oh? She didn’t tell me to deliver news about you, specifically, in a timely manner. Shielding her from the knowledge of your origins could be acting in her best interest if viewed right. You know how stressed she gets at the thought of prophets. Worse than her previous anxiety in regard to royals. And as for delivering her any persons of interest, I cannot deliver her something she already owns.”

“Logical rationalizations. Are you willing to take the chance the Guardian agrees with you?”

“If the Guardian disagreed, I would already feel its power readying to erase me.”

“Or not. Lourianne Tome is sleeping. According to your own rationale, choosing to delay while she slumbers could be seen as acting in her best interest without outright defying any previous orders. However, should you continue on your course of action once she awakens, are you willing to bet your life that you will be able to change course fast enough should the Guardian decide your actions break your vows?”

The creature’s smile waned to a solemn expression. “Ah ah. This is why everyone hates celestials. You crafty bastards see too much.” The pink eyes began to glow ominously. “I may have to tell her and deliver you to her but that doesn’t mean I have to leave you intact. Broken as you are, who’s going to notice a few more cracks?”

“She will. Our mistress is cautious. Once she learns of what I am, she will ask you for details. Every detail. Should she learn that you acted without her permission, acted with the intention to sabotage her—"

“I would face a most terrible fate indeed.”

“Which you know or you would have already acted.”

The glow disappeared from the thrall’s gaze as she shrugged. “I always move with the future in mind. Which is why I must ask you, traveler sailing a strange sea in an unfamiliar boat. What are your plans after this little revelation?”

Nomad paused. There was a faint light in their dark eyes before they stood, shoulders slumping and expression easing. “Before, I was something more. Later, I will be more again. Now, I am a simple servant. So, now, I will serve Lourianne Tome. I will continue my duties.”