The afternoon sun pressed against the concrete path, drawing long shadows of the small rocks resting. Dharan's expression eased as he turned to the setting sun. The sun itself was covered by buildings, only the mixing of red and blue hues painted upon the heavens met his eyes.
'Even pebbles cast long shadows at sunset...'
He closed his eyes, before continuing the walk home from school. He pulled his phone, its cracked screen lighting up with the default home display.
'To think this was only fifty dollars. I skipped a couple of meals for it, but it was worth it. Rich folks throw away anything, even if it's just an older model.'
He tapped a browser, typed a few words, and waited as the page failed to load.
'No connection? I bought a plan... did I burn through it already?'
He exhaled, slid the phone back into his pocket, and kept his hand there. In this city, thieves were common enough that you learned to guard what little you had.
He had wanted to look up the abilities of the top heroes. Mediums were weak on their own, but Dharan knew they carried the potential to become decently strong.
They could tether to a powerful figure from the past, while possibly borrowing their power. Like two abilities in one.
Vow holders also earned privileges from the government, which Dharan fully intended to take advantage of.
No one was allowed to awaken before fourteen. Too many disasters have occurred as a result of that rule being ignored or disregarded.
A proper vowed one would have much better living conditions, so Dharan was more than ready to gamble his ability away.
Schools also offered free checks to test a student's mana and predict their future ability.
From Dharan's knowledge, vow holders always tethered to a random spirit, with the exception of a couple well known lineages. The chance of getting a weak spirit was heavily mitigated due to this.
Forming a vow is used through mana, so if a certain type of mana can attract spirits further back in history, then that type of mana which is passed on through a bloodline would get a clear advantage.
Especially since the seems to be a correlation between the strength of a spirit, and the further back in time the spirit had lived.
Dharan sighed.
'This is something which was scrubbed from any textbooks or media. I would probably have a hit out on me if it was made public that I knew..'
The spirits are a mere fragment of who they were, and in order to gain further fragments of said spirit, they must complete different tasks that relate to the spirit's life.
Sometimes, it's impossible or just not worth it. If you were to get the spirit of a millionaire, you may gain knowledge of how to earn money. The way to unlock the fragments in that situation could be to spend money. Money that you may not have.
Dharan didn't know much of history, but he knew that the strongest of spirits were usually from the Era of Nothing. The era that started 700 years ago, where nothing was recorded for 400 years.
He knew the weakest spirits were typically ones from 50 years ago, the Concord age, typically referred to as the tether age.
'Being able to tether your spirit only came about 50 years ago. Before that, mediums were just a mediocre power that had plenty of people to supply a demand for whoever. Meaning they never had the chance to overcharge for their services. I heard it was pretty fierce...'
He walked past the food merchant, overhearing a couple of familiar voices talking to eachother. They wore the same black uniform with a white undershirt that Dharan sported.
Two teens were leaning up against a wall chatting away loudly, eating some chips that they had most likely purchased from the store.
A voice called out from behind Dharan as he was walking by.
"Oi. Dharan."
He stopped in his tracks. He turned around, frowning.
He recognised the two teens. Oliver and Ravi. Those two were close friends, and you never saw one without the other.
Oliver lifted his bangs over his fringe, resting his palm on his almond forehead. The tips of his dirty blond middle part caught the light as he smirked.
Ravi followed behind, chips in hand. The sunlight caught on his coppery skin, turning his small grin into a flash of mischievous fire.
The small sound each piece of Oliver's jewellery resting on his left ear made rang loudly in Dharan's ear. Oliver leaned forward, earrings jingling as he smirked.
"You just now left, huh? You've been leaving school late a lot quite recently. What's up with that?"
Ravi chuckled, still stuffing his face.
"Yeah for real. The tethering's gonna happen soon. I couldn't care less, but you and Oliver, you guys gotta get plenty of sleep. Or something like that. I dunno."
Dharan looked at him with a hint of disgust.
"I appreciate the concern, but please close your mouth when you speak first, man."
Oliver glanced at Ravi, before covering his left peripheral with his hand, focusing back on Dharan.
"Ravi's right, though his advice was kind of bad."
Ravi objected, still eating.
"Hey-"
Cutting off Ravi, Oliver continued,
"Do you still get those dreams? Do you still feel the symptoms?"
Dharan nodded slowly.
A silence lingered in the air. They knew the weight of what Dharan was experiencing. Enough that even Ravi had the courtesy to let the silence linger a little longer for them to digest this.
Ravi balled up the bag of chips, having finished them off, assuring Gharan,
"Don't worry too much man. I'm sure it's gonna be fine. Oliver will be fine cause his family never fails to grab a big fish-"
Oliver interjected,
"Ok now how is bringing that up supposed to hel-"
Ravi covered Oliver's mouth with his hand.
"As I was saying, Oliver may not need to do much, but you do. This may sound unfair, and honestly it is. I've been meaning to tell this to you for a while, but I haven't gotten the chance. Even if you get some shoddy spirit, keep it together. We're here if you need us."
Dharan's expression softened, before returning to normal, leaving only a small smile behind.
"Thanks guys."
Oliver finally tore Ravi's hand off his mouth, before croaking out,
"Eugh, why would you do that? Just tell me to be quiet next time!"
"As if you would listen, maybe next time-"
Dharan closed his eyes, listening to these two bicker on and on.
He turned around, heading down the street without looking back.
'Those two live quite a distance from that merchant. The only thing it has is that it's on the same path I use to walk home.'
A smile briefly appeared on his face.
Dharan approached a small, humble home. The concrete walls were stained with years of rain, and the windows were taped over with a loose piece of cardboard that often flailed in the wind.
He rested his hand on the doorknob, before a couple clicks sounded from within. He twisted the doorknob gently, as if the knob could fall off at a moment's notice.
The thin wooden door groaned as the rusted hinges seemed to be screaming in protest. He gently closed the door, and the familiar clicks within the doorknob sounded again.
'These mana-locks are something else.. if I were to become a hero, I could buy hundreds of these. Not that I would ever need that many.'
The boy set aside his idealistic thoughts, and trotted over the creaky floorboards to get to his room. The rotted paint gave off an unpleasant aura, but he made sure to sanitise this worn down house quite thoroughly.
The place was broken in a dozen ways, but to Dharan it was steady. And steady was enough.
A faded blanket lay neatly upon a straw sack, just barely enough to fit upon the chipped wooden bed frame.
Sweat began to stream down his arms, his body burning like a fire.
He rushed to the cramped kitchen. It was nothing more than a simple sink and a humming fridge that seemed as if it were going to give out at any moment.
He grabbed a chipped cup atop the counter, and twisted the tap in one move. Cold water rushed out, falling into the ceramic cup.
Dharan downed it in one go, before drenching a used, but clean rag inside the sink. He tied the rag on his forehead, before rushing to his bed.
'It's never been this bad.. why is this happening? If it's because of the tethering as Ravi theorised a while ago, then is it because I'm reaching the age of tethering..?'
He laid down atop his bed, closing his eyes, letting the heat radiating his body take over slowly.
The shadows of pebbles grew large at sunset. Now, lying in his bed, the only thing that plagued Dharan's mind is if he too would ever grow to be his own. Despite this, he had always hoped that his shadow would never grow to be larger than himself.
***
Screams ripped Dharan from sleep. He lurched upright, then the room vanished. Sand slammed into his face, hot wind drove rocks skittering past his boots.
Thousands clashed across a burning plain, armor flashing as they tore at one another like rabid beasts. Standards whipped overhead; a blazing sun against gold, a blue moon against steel.
The power they threw felt the same, and yet reversed. Two halves of a broken whole. His gut flipped.
"Not this again…"