He slowly turned around. You could almost hear his bones creaking. Col was shocked.
Stella could talk. But not that well. It was like she had the knowledge of how to speak, but not exactly what the words meant or how they were meant to be used together. Sort of like she had a loaded gun but didn't know how to aim. So here shots were always at least a bit off.
But right now she had spoken quite clearly. And it almost made Col's skeleton jump out. His scalp turned numb. Countless possibilities ran through his head each more ridiculous than the last. And Stella just seemed confused at his confusion.
"This book, it helped me to.. understand I guess. Uh elder did I do something wrong?" Stella said confidently then more and more timidly the further she spoke.
Col was even more shocked. What had this little girl learned in that book? She was acting even more human.
Col quickly closed his mouth "Uh no its good. Taking initiative is great, just be careful when you do. Always be cautious because you may not know everything. I was going to study it later and make sure its safe but its good you already went ahead."
Inwardly, however, Col was sweating bullets. What studying he didn't even know the language. He swore to keep up his posturing because it may cost him his life to be sloppy!
Col turned back to the large pile of rags he had saved for last in his sorting. This was because his senses told him that there was something interesting there.
As he reached for it, his bones tingled and his heart quickened. The bundle was wrapped up in oily rags It was a dirty green, probably because of the filth of the ages on it.
His arms were shaking when he grabbed hold of the outer rags. Subconsciously, he knew that what he was doing was solemn and demanded respect. He removed the rag to reveal another layer of wrapping, only the wrapping this time was different.
The cloth beneath was quite old, but it was so clean that Col even doubted whether his grimy hands were worthy. It was obviously magical. When Col made contact with it he was almost let go but instinct stopped him. The thing almost felt … alive.
Brian started to feel weak. The cloth was siphoning his energy. He shouted to Stella
"This is a bit rough I'm gonna use some of your energy."
Col subconciously knew how to turn up the conduit, but he barely had any control over it. It was more of an all or nothing thing at the time.
Col immediately felt alive. The energy made everything around him vivid. The colors were deeper and the scents of the forest deeper. He could almost hear voices chatter around him but it felt just beyond him. Like a word you can almost remember but is stuck at the tip of your tongue.
It would have infuriated him if he wasn't bleeding energy at a rapid pace. The cloth seemed to come alive. Col could now see that it was a type of garment wrapped around a stick. As more energy flooded in, the more it regenerated and unfurled. The previous colors seemed to bleed out to be replaced by new ones.
From a dull green and washed out white to a lively mix of green, gold and black. The black took up the inner lining. It was obviously softer and more comfortable. The hem was embroidered in gold, in fact all the embroidery was gold.
Runes began to show up along the edges like fine pattern. Col couldn't understand for the life of him what they meant but they pulsated with golden light. Col was beginning to get worried. Stella had prodigious amounts of energy in comparison to him but even her reserves were approaching the halfway point and this process was evidently not winding down
The garment was now floating mid-air. It seemed undecided on whether to go to him or to go to Stella. In the end it neatly split into two. However, the glow it was emanating dimmed considerably, by at least half. Even the runes were less complex.
Col was relatively calm. His heart was now beginning to expect things to go strange with anything he touched. Was this how his every day was going to be like from now on? Picking up rags and they glow like divine treasure?
The two garments were like silk ribbons swimming in the air. Col couldn't make out the shape. Because it was completely chaotic.
Suddenly, they lunged towards them with a shocking amount of speed. Even Stella could barely react before they reached her and disappeared. Same with Col. He blinked and the ribbons were gone.
In their place were three distinct thuds. Col would have thought that he had been conned of a heavenly treasure if he could not feel that they were bound to him now. They were somewhere he could not access and he was able to call them out. All he needed was a certain amount of energy.
Energy that the both of them currently did not have. They were both tapped out and were scrapping the bottom of the barrel, which was incredibly dangerous in their position.
Luckily there was something left to distract him. Three somethings in fact.
He could vaguely feel that he was bound to these too. It gave him the same feeling of life that the garment did.
Col assumed that they were part of the same set. There were three things that they, well that Col was in dire need of at the time, Weapons.
Col drew the first one from its dull but obviously high-quality sheath. The sheath was a dull black and he could feel a faint repellance from it to him. Weird.
There was an eastern style sword, a Tachi, if Col remembered his lessons correctly. The blade was a dark purple and thrummed with electricity. It resonated with his bones.
Col's eyes gleamed in excitement. This was clearly a lightning-attribute weapon!
It even had an engraving in runic near its handle. The handle was made of animal bone and was disgustingly comfortable in Col's hands, as if the bones were of a living creature. The handle was long enough that the sword could be wielded with two hands should the owner choose to do so.
The blade was well=balanced and looked sharp enough to slice light. The tip was a bit heavy, just to give that extra weight when swinging it with both hands. It was actually quite heavy for a lightning attribute sword. It took him quite a bit of effort to actually lift it. It had quite a bit of heft to it, even with his reconstructed body.
It was single-edged and had faint runes going along the blunt edge. The wrist guard was made of a dark crystal which Col was conflicted about. Strange to say about a material, but one side of him found it beautiful but the other was incredibly disgusted by its existence. That was probably because it was an insulator. However he had no idea why it would also please his eyes as much as it did….
Speaking of which Col had a random thought. He was relying on instincts he didn't know he had more and more in the past few days. The change frightened him, more than knowing that he was now essentially a different race. This realization made him pause for a bit. Until he threw the thought to the back of his mind. Now wasn't the time.
There were still other…
"Mine" He heard the words from Stella.
The little Fury had already laid claim to the two other weapons. Col didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Do you even need weapons?" Col asked with a chuckle that was really not. If Stella wanted something, how was he supposed to say no?
He could order her but that was counterproductive. He didn't understand enough about their bond. What if one day the contract was broken? Was that even possible?
"Mine!" came the adamant reply as the child hugged the two weapons to its chest, like it was trying to protect its toys from the bad man.
Col sighed.. "But you don't even know how to use them…"
"Elder can teach me. Isn't that what you said was the job of the elder?"
Col sighed. "Enough with the elder nonsense. If you can't use my name at least call me Big Brother"
Col decided to take advantage of the situation. He had always wanted a little sister. And creating stronger bonds with the little death machine wouldn't harm anyone.
"But you're not my brother, you're my elder…." Stella seemed reluctant.
"The techniques I know were passed down from my family, so I can't teach you if you're just my junior, but a little sister…"
"Elder Brother! Please teach me." Stella jumped up and down with a wide, excited smile on her grimy face.
Col chuckled. The little brat had already learned how to be shameless. That wasn't his fault right?
"Okay, okay, not so fast little warrior. First we need to go to the waterfall to clean up. You can wear my hoodie, that should cover you up. And on the way, you can tell me what you read right?"