Chapter I: Tragic Origins (2)

Drowning in shock, I tried to heal Thyri for a month afterward. But the trident had torn her heart to shreds. I could only bury her in Rehab's lair and throw the bodies of our enemies to sea.

Finally, after mourning and nearly starving to death, I came to my senses and searched Rehab's liar. Nothing was going to bring Thyri back to me. And if I continued on my path, her death would be in vain. Everything I worked for, would be in vain.

While exploring, I found more of the Sky Blue Ore, an ancient currency of gold and silver. Sea and volcanic gems, weapons, and armor of Rehab's past enemies. All of it was nothing really of note. But I took what I could. With a treasured ship, I returned to Fjerda.

My destination was the sea hag's caves. I wanted to know more about what the witch had done to me. And I found out what immediately.

Besides treasures, Ulla's caves were filled with Grisha Tomes. I took the liberty of reading them. I learned much about what the books called, Merzost.

Merzost is an alternate form of the Small Science. It is the power of creation, of life over death; a corruption of "the making at the heart of the world." It requires the sacrifice of something essential from the person attempting it, and consequently the act of performing merzost drains vitality from the person. The power can be unwieldy in the extreme and is likely to produce unexpected or unintended results to a devastating degree. This was the wild magic that Thyri and I used. It was more corrupt than the true magic of the Sildroher.

Sildroher magic is shown to be a purer form of magic, not as limited and tied to science as that of Grisha's small science. Their songs could control things ranging from people's wills to the most devastating storms.

Next, I discovered what Ulla meant by the power of an amplifier.

Amplifiers usually consist of bones, scales, or teeth as the animals must be killed first in order to obtain their ability to increase power. This power is only available to the individual who killed them. The part of the animal that was used for the amplifier was usually sturdy enough to last for the entire Grisha's life, as they would wear it constantly; the usual amplifier would be a bracelet or a necklace. These could not be removed, but they were not fused with the Grisha's body.

I felt my body numerous times to find my mark of an amplifier yet nothing appeared. Still, I could fill the power swelling within me.

'This is odd' I thought, 'Did I actually fuse with the Dragon? But the book..."

I shook my head and decided not to dwell on the matter. Maybe such an instant was so rare it was hardly recorded.

I continued with my reading.

I learned about the world properly and not through the education of Ferjda. I learned what Grisha really were and the extent of small science and how my techniques differed from theirs. I learned of plants and Alkemi. Material and different Durast methods of creation.

Within Ulla's caves, I received proper education about what I was. So I studied and trained to become stronger, vowing to never experience the things that happened in Rehab's lair again.

Eventually, I learned that Ulla was a hag that loved to sow discord and traded wishes for senseless things. Her pleasure was the discord, especially if it meant discord within the sea. So her payments varied and gave me a well-rounded education. There were even tattered scrolls and books on swordplay, Sex, Cooking, Poetry, Fauna, and hand-to-hand combat.

A year passed as I had finally created clothes that were warm, lightweight, and flexible, while also maintaining the armored effects and protection against heartrenders. I created new bladed weapons with help of various Durast methods and my amplified abilities.

By changing the properties of materials on an atomic level, my blades were light and strong. They could pierce through rock with enough bend to keep it from breaking. My sword was forged as a two-handed long sword called, Darksword Oslo.

What I needed now was practical experiences. But I couldn't leave until after I finished the dairies of Ulla. The other tomes could be taken with me. But I had to understand Ulla. I had to know why she pushed me to this point and then casually accepted death.

Her dairies told me everything from her origin to how she came to be in the caves. It told of her family and her true mother.

It turned out that Ulla was half Sildoher. Her father was Sildoher and her mother was a Grisha with the power of darkness. A rare kind of Grisha that belonged to one family. Descendant of a powerful Grisha who had discovered the power of Amplifiers and Merzosts. Reading further I discovered that Ulla's bestfriend was the ancient queen of the Sildoher and she was betrayed by her and her lover.

Together, the trio had created eternal fire and slaughtered an innocent to do it. This fire was then turned against Ulla by her traitorous friends and she barely survived. She lived the rest of her years stuck on vengeance.

Even after the ones who wronged her had perished she lived on and continued to torment their descendants. In this section, I learned that Ulla had lived for hundreds of years. Her power was so great that it extended her life. She had also found her mother and half-brother once. They were also alive after hundreds of years. And when I read their story, the book fell from my hands.

"Darkling," I gasped, "I killed the sister of the Darkling."

Everyone knew the story of the Darkling that created the fold centuries ago. The fold was a sea of shadows in the middle of Ravka. Within that shadow sea were monsters like no other that killed many who entered.

And according to Ulla, her brother was the one who created it. Many centuries ago, known then as the Black Heretic, the Darkling returned home to his partner Luda, who was also a Grisha Healer. Not long after his return, their home was surrounded by the King's soldiers, demanding that the Darkling turn himself over. The Darkling did as instructed and gave himself up peacefully. However, the King's men had no intentions of bringing him in and shot the Darkling with arrows. Fortunately, Luda remained hidden inside, healing the Darkling as he was struck with each arrow. However, one of the soldiers managed to capture Luda and kill her. Enraged by her death, the Darkling used his power, killing nearly a dozen of the King's men.

The Darkling rode on horseback to the sanctuary with Luda's body, hoping to heal her, but he was too late. The Darkling then informed his mother of the soldiers sweeping west. Baghra, Ulla's mother, blamed the Darkling for making the King afraid, so now in turn he sought to make the Grisha fear him.

The Darkling reminded Baghra that she taught him how to kill, meaning their blood is on her hands as much as his own. She urged him to flee west to Kerch and wait for the King to die. Then he could return under a new identity and make peace with the new King. However, the Darkling refused to run while Grisha were in trouble. He sought to train them how to fight, but with so few of them having the ability to fight, the Darkling decided he would make a new army by using merzost.

Despite his mother's warning, the Darkling sought out his Grandfather's journals in the archives. Just outside the sanctuary stood more of the King's men, armed with arrows. The King wanted the Darkling in custody. Surrounded by dozens of soldiers, the Darkling raised his hands. Using merzost, he turned the King's men into his own army, unintentionally, his power grew out of control and exploded, creating the Fold in the process.

If Ulla's diary was to be believed, it meant that the darkling and his mother could still be alive. Like Ulla, their power was great enough to keep them alive for centuries. The most alarming part was the signs of a great Grisha.

My appetite growing bigger over the years is just the begging. And now with the Amplifier, I was sure to roam for centuries. So I decided to do so in a place that was more kind to Grisha, Kerch.

After a month of reading, I finished Ulla's books but I searched her cave up and down as her last entries in the book said that she would end exterminate the last of the royal Sildroher blood after creating an amplifier like her grandfather, Ilya Morozova.

Morozova was the Bonesmith, one of the greatest Fabrikators who ever lived, and a man who tested the very boundaries of Grisha power, he was obsessed with amplifiers and had found them four times over. Ulla had failed a million times over and only succeeded once.

However, Ulla was half Sildroher and her methods were extremely different. In the end, she locked it away and wrote that it was unsuitable for her but perfect for a Sildoher prince with great ambition like their forefather. She wanted to use it as bait. Such a sinister woman.

When I finally found a casket made of Grisha steel, I opened it and boiling seawater spilled out.

"She actually used eternal fire to create this. A fire that can burn even underwater." I gasped.

But as the steam cleared, I understood why it was unsuitable for her. It was a fat 12-inch long sea urchin in the form of a schlong. At its end was a large clamshell.

"Fat Innkeeper Shell Worm. She really made an amplifier out of this thing." I looked at it in disbelief, "Fuck it, it's better I take it than allow someone else to do so. If I ever cross the Darkling or hope to enjoy freedom, I need power"

Like I had done to Rehab, I fussed the Shell Worm into myself. Like Rehab, it left behind no evidence of amplification. Instead, my lower member took the size of the shell worm and a blazing heat filled my body. Once again I had gained so much but I appeared to be just a well-endowed man.

Finally, I snatched the gift that was given to Ulla by her mother. It was created by her grandfather, the only one of its kind. A storage pouch. The pouch could hold an unknown number of things while maintaining its mundane appearance with no extra weight.

I placed all of the clothing I create in the pouch and its size remained no more than a fist. I then took looted Ulla's Caves. There were still a large number of Tomes I hadn't read and riches that could be used to build a life for myself.

Leaving the hag's caves, I sailed my ship to the wandering isle. The Wandering Isle is a nation bordered by Novyi Zem and the True Sea to the south, and the Bone Road to the east. It was no better than Fjerda but it was a good place to gather supplies, collect information on the current world and possibly find other Grisha looking to flee. After all, The Kaelish people, people of the wandering isle, believe Grisha's blood to be a cure-all, so they kill Grisha in order to drink their blood.

But which one of us hasn't experienced tragedy. The world is cruel and we can only blame ourselves for being too weak to resist it.

My name is Oberon Hel. My mother was a slave, my father abandoned me, and my uncle exploited me. I loved a woman and lost that woman along with unborn children. Everything until now was the fire and hammer that forged a blade that will cut through the world.