Initiation

Evor was a spindly seventeen year old boy with brown eyes and blonde hair that were of a darker shade than Arne's. His glow of greenish blue light seemed to have slightly faded. Was that because he converted the Surge to physical energy while falling and grappling the crystal, Arne thought. There were a kind of Surgeshapers, the Recasters, whose purpose was to convert Dragon Surge into different kinds of energy like heat, electricity and other variations. So it was possible that using the enhanced strength or sense when ingested with the Surge could deplete the said Surge inside the body.

Arne had picked up a small shard of crystal and was experimenting the manipulation of the Surge with it. He had by then realised that the blue light attracts while the green light repels. On trying, he found out that he could control the extent of attraction and repulsion. The polar nature of the Surge didn't affect any material other than the crystals. Currently he levitated the shard of crystal a few centimeters above his palm using repulsion.

"So," Evor said, "Do you have any idea where we are going?"

"I first need to find an acquaintance," Arne replied, "She must be somewhere near here."

"Okay," Evor said, "But what after that? Is there an exit from this place?"

"There must be one." Arne said, looking above. The chasm's opening was too high to climb out of but the area of the chasm didn't look that large, "And it probably won't be very difficult to locate."

He walked to the tallest pillar in the vicinity. Then removing his shoes, he brought out the blue light to the skin of his limbs and began climbing. Evor hurried to the same pillar and knocked it's surface, "This seems sturdy enough." he noted.

After a minute's climb, Arne reached the top. On reaching up the pillar's uneven but broad tip, he concentrated the Surge at his feet. This allowed him to stand firmly and have a proper look. The area inside the chasm was no larger than that of a couple of sectors. He turned, scanning the edges of the area to look for a route up to the platform.

Something pulled him from the back as he felt a force driving him downwards, back into the chasm. He heard a thrilled scream from that direction and before he could turn, a hand grabbed his shoulder, almost pulling him down and he would have fallen if his feet were not fixed to the crystal. The hand immediately released it's grip, allowing Arne to turn to find an auburn-haired young man kneeling beside him who was breathlessly gasping for air.

"Sorry…" the man panted, "I...didn't mean...hold on…" then he took a deep breath and proceeding to speak clearly, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"How did you even get here?" Arne asked, ignoring his apology.

"Oh, that?" the man looked up, revealing a mismatched pair of eyes. The right one was amber while the left one was green, similar to Arne's but a bit lighter. "The Surge can be shaped into this light of attraction, but it seems you already noticed that." He looked at Arne's feet, "So, I thought why not use to pull myself from one pillar to another."

"So you are jumping from pillar to pillar," Arne repeated, "By directing the blue polarity towards the top of the pillar. How do you direct the polarity, the light I mean?"

"Just focus at that point on the pillar and pull." The man told, "Since the pillar is heavier, you will be pulled towards it. I think this is because the Surge considers the mass of objects."

Arne hadn't thought about that relation earlier, and neither had he thought about focusing specific points of a crystal pillar. He had been experimenting with his Surge ability only on small shards and chips.

"That's an interesting hypothesis." Arne said, "How do you plan on getting out of here?"

"Through the extraction point." the man said, "I spotted it from that tall pillar behind. It's right there." He pointed in the direction opposite to the one where he had jumped from. Arne squinted and noted faint lights emerging behind the pillars from what seemed to be a cave cut into the mountainside.

"I am Sigurd Hildsonne by the way," the man said, "Want to accompany me to the point?"

"Yeah, but I was looking for someone." Arne told, "Have you seen a black haired girl? She is thick armed and about the same height as me."

"I think I might have noticed someone of that description," Sigurd informed, "She, like almost everyone, was headed in the same direction as me. You will probably find her there."

"Hey, Arne!" Evor shouted from below, "Did you...Who's that guy beside you?! How did he get there?!"

"Climb up." Arne shouted back, to which Evor asked "Why?"

"Get here,"Arne replied, "Then I'll explain."

Evor nodded and removed his shoes. Imbuing his limbs with Dragon Surge, he began climbing but slipped down immediately. Then he flexed his limbs and tried again. The result didn't change.

"It's not working!" he shouted.

"Maybe he's out of Dragon Surge." Sigurd noted, "What crazy thing did he do to lose such a significant amount."

"He stuck himself to a pillar for a good while." Arne informed and turned to Evor, "Walk straight in that direction. I will meet you there."

"Wait..you are not coming with me?" Evor asked, "I thought we were going to get out of this together."

"We will." Arne said, "I will wait for you over there. Don't take too long."

Turning to Sigurd, he said, "Let's go."

Sigurd nodded and jumped from the edge with incredible strength, leaping three meters high in the air. Then extending an arm forward, he filled it with the blue light and bolted toward the tip of the pillar taller than the one they stood on. He grabbed the pillar's edge with the uncharged arm and pushed himself up, landing directly on the top.

Arne imitated Sigurd, jumping with strength enhanced by the Surge and then resurfacing the attractive polarity underneath the skin of his right hand. A terrible pain struck his arm as it shot through the air hauling his entire body's weight. The couple of seconds between the two pillars felt like hours and when he finally reached the edge of the top, he was surprised that his arm wasn't ripped off from his torso.

"Wow," Sigurd helped him up the top, "Your eyes didn't tear up in your first leap. You might be a natural at this, Arne."

"There has got to be a better way of doing this." He grunted, as Dragon Surge slowed depolarised and dissolved the pain in his arm.

"There might be," Sigurd told, "But this is not too bad. The pain will minimize with each leap."

That much was true. With each leap, the pain seemed to recede. Within a few minutes, they had traversed more than half the distance to the extraction point. Arne had seen some others who travelled by leaping with Dragon Surge. But he had seen a specific individual, a taller than average girl with platinum blonde hair, leap in an unusual way which was slower but somehow more regulated than the way Sigurd did it.

"Hold on," Arne told Sigurd as the two landed on the top of a new pillar.

"You want to catch a breath?" Sigurd asked, because he certainly did.

"What if instead of jumping physically," Arne flipped the polarity of the Surge in his legs, surfacing the green light, "We did this."

And then he shot up into the air, and charged his hands with blue light while retracting the green from his legs. He focused at the tip of a nearby pillar and swooped down in the direction. Just a few moments before hitting the surface, an idea struck his mind and he recharged his legs with the green light of repulsion. Again he darted into the air, repeating the process but this time he landed on the top of the next pillar.

"How did you do that?!" Sigurd asked with amazement. He had jumped to the pillar where Arne did the second propulsion.

"Use the green light to leap instead of jumping normally!" Arne instructed, "You will figure out the rest right away."

Sigurd didn't figure out the rest right away, falling down into the chasm several times. Arne didn't know how he had figured it out immediately, but he tried to explain it to Sigurd anyway. While instructing Sigurd about using the repulsive nature of Dragon Surge, Arne had found out that he could propel into the air even with a small piece of crystal if he perpendicularly applied the Surge against it while placing it on the ground. After a couple of tries Sigurd grasped the technique.

After a few minutes of regulated leaping, they had finally reached the extraction point, which was a small artificial cave in the mountainside. It was at the same level as the nearest pillar, which was at a distance of three meters from the cave's entrance, a physically leapable distance. That was the test perhaps, Arne thought.

Inside the cave, stood a group of soldiers and of course, Major Randyl. There were even some conscripts or initiates, as would be the appropriate term present there, eight to be exact. Thurid, as Arne should have anticipated, was already among them, standing at the edge. On seeing Arne, her face turned into a blend of amazement and curiosity and she waved at him.

Arne looked below and found that Evor was standing at the base of the chasm right below the cave. He didn't seem to have noticed them.

Arne turned to Sigurd and said, "You go ahead. I'll help him up." Then, without waiting for a response he jumped down, maintaining a slight attraction to the pillar to slow down the fall. He dropped right beside Evor, who was startled to see Arne jump appear beside him.

"You have got to teach me how to do that when I get some more Surge." Evor told him.

"He's a damn good instructor, I'll have you know." Sigurd dropped beside him.

"Why did you come down?" Arne asked, sounding confused.

"I doubt that you can lift him up alone." Sigurd told.

"Who is this?" Evor asked blankly.

"This is Sigurd Hildsonne," Arne informed, turning to Evor, "And this Evor Jomsonne, I met him half an hour before meeting you."

"Nice meeting you." he greeted.

Then Arne and Sigurd grabbed Evor by the shoulder and propelled him up to the top of the pillar, using a small crystal to repel against the ground.

"Is your physical strength still surge-enhanced?" Arne asked.

"Yes, I think so." Evor responded and leaped from the ledge. It was an impressive leap, with him landing directly into the base of the Extraction point. Major Randyl said some words to him and then he walked inside, where someone brought him some water.

Then, Arne and Sigurd leaped together, propelling themselves into the cave right beside where Randyl stood.

"Excellent, you are already familiar with using both of the Surge-Polarities," the Major said with a certain sense of pride, "I consider your initiation completed. From now on, you are official Venators."