I get up early. Since we came to this place I've had trouble sleeping. There are a lot of things here I don't understand and I'm plagued by uncertainty. Much depends on me but I don't really know what I'm doing.

  They call me a Great Saint. I'm not sure what that means. One thing I do know is that I have strengths and abilities far beyond what is normal. We all spend long hours training our bodies and our minds to fight.

  This includes learning magic, which I would have said was a silly idea a month ago. But here magic is real. I bear a dual-affinity Sigil: Fire and Kinetic.

  With my party and around the other Heroes, I act self-assured and put on a strong front. At night I cry myself to sleep and wake up early, numbering my worries again and again. When I can't stand that anymore, I get up and go out. Sometimes I train with my bow. Sometimes I put on my long white coat and roam the hallways.

  I like my long white coat. In the dim lighting I feel like a ghost and that tickles my fancy. It almost cheers me up.

  For a little while.

  On this particular day, I hear voices in an unexpected place. I'm passing through a hallway that leads to numerous small training halls. It's from one of these halls that I hear voices. It's well before normal training hours, so I follow my curiosity and peek in the window set into the door.

  Inside are a tough looking middle-aged man and a boy my age who looks familiar. The rough wooden floor of the training hall is littered with junk. Rocks and bricks, stones and marbles, boxes and boards. Covering the floor from edge to edge and edge to edge. What the heck?

  I can hear the man speaking, "Across from here to the wall opposite. Don't hurry but don't go slow neither. We want to train your balance and all your senses both old and new. Expect to fall down. Pain helps us learn." He gives a low sinister laugh.

  The boy nods and starts moving. First very slowly and then a little faster after the man starts yelling about arthritic old grandmas. He stumbles many times. I belatedly realize the obvious. He is blind.

  I finally get a good look at him. It's one of our broken ones, the blind boy whose name I can't remember. I haven't seen those guys in ages. I didn't realize they were still around. Although, why wouldn't they be?

  I find myself getting tense, silently rooting for him. About halfway across the room, his left foot comes down on some marbles and flies out from underneath him. When he tries to catch himself with his right foot he trips over a board and comes crashing down hard, the side of his head slamming into a brick. He lays there stunned for a moment and I can see tears forming in his eye.

  The man yells from the side of the room, "Get up! This ain't a night at the inn. Get moving!"

  "Yes sensei," the boy says as he struggles back to his feet. He resumes his walk across the room, not noticing the blood dripping from his ear.

  I suddenly realize that I have my knuckles pressed to my lips to keep myself from crying out. Wiping tears from my eyes, I turn away.

  This librarian is amazing! My first time in the library, I walk in the door and she hands me a book. The exact book I’m looking for. How awesome is that?

  I want to study light magic. I’ve been given a really powerful Sigil. The people who gave it to me indicated that it will do everything I could ever want to do. They seem to think that a Sigil is the only answer. I suspect they’re wrong.

  So here I am. In the library. Studying. The jock I used to be would be shocked at the person I’ve become. Voluntarily reading books. Whoda thunk?

  Acolyte of Fardenes, the Great Spirit

  Blessing: Great Saint

  Magic Energy Type: Mana

  Affinities: Light, Body Enhancement (Strength, Endurance)

  Skill Sets: Volunteer (Legacy), Light Support (Sigil)

  Role: Front Line Leader (Acolyte Boon)

  Excerpt from Saki's journal

  There is Mana everywhere. In the air, in the ground, in the objects around us, in our bodies.

  Mana is like a static field. But mana can also flow. Sometimes like electricity. Sometimes like water. Sometimes like air.

  It can be nebulous, like a gas. It can be thick and viscous, like molasses. It can be thin and runny, like soup broth. It can even be hard as rock if the conditions are right.

  To do Mana magic is to learn to manipulate the Mana field, manipulate the flow and state of Mana. You have to be able to see it, feel it, become part of it. Just as it is a part of you.

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  I'm using words to describe something that cannot be described with words. My bad.

  The summoned Heroes have been given Sigils for casting spells. But that's not magic. Sigils are to magic as an autopilot is to an airplane. They do a specific job very well but can't do anything else. Yeah, you're flying, but you won't be starring in any air shows.

  Using real magic is like being a bird in flight. Every movement, motion, gesture and thought changes the way the Mana flows around you. Birds don't think about air. Neither should the mage think about Mana.

  Birds learn the subtleties of flight across a lifetime of experience. Learning magic is the same. In time, I will become like that bird in flight.

  Mystical enough for you?

  “I want to go Dungeon diving!” cries Rio.

  “No you don’t.”

  “Yes. I do!”

  “No. You don’t. You aren’t trained for it, have no clue what you’re getting into, and don’t even know why you’d be there for.”

  “I do know! That’s where the money is. Did you know all of the coins come from Dungeons? There’s no mint. It all comes from Dungeon divers finding coins in the Dungeons.”

  “Yes. I knew that.”

  “Oh.”

  “Addie gave me the task of finding out about Dungeons and Hexes. I know lots.” I blow on my fingernails and buff them on my shirt front.

  “Smug is not a good look for you.”

  “I wouldn’t know. I can’t see it.”

  “Okay. I’ll train and find out more. But I still want to go Dungeon diving.”

  I give a sigh. “Okay. Where are you going to find one?”

  “You’re the Dungeon expert, you tell me!”

  “There are a lot of known Dungeons. Nothing close, though.”

  “They’re that rare?”

  “Well… maybe. I have a theory, based on the reading I’ve been doing.”

  “Well, please elucidate, O Great Sage of Dungeons.”

  “Sarcasm doesn’t look good on you.”

  “You can’t see.”

  “And?”

  “Just tell me the theory.”

  “Okay. Just keep in mind that it’s only a theory.”

  Rio sighed. “Go on.”

  “My theory is that there is a Dungeon at the center of every Hex.”

  “...”

  “That’s all.”

  “Well, if that’s the case then there should be one close to here.”

  “Yep. And what do you think is the center of the Hex we’re in right now.”

  Rio looked thoughtful, “The Palace.”

  “Bingo!”

  With a malicious grin and a snap of his wrist, Ettiene sends a ball of water into the back of James’ head, knocking him slightly forward. This puts him just within reach of his opponent’s spear. A blow to his chestplate knocks him further off balance causing him to lose his footing on the uneven terrain. When he falls, he goes sideways into Ella, trapping her arm against her body just long enough for her to miss her parry. Her surprised opponent doesn’t pull his strike in time, giving her a bloody gash across the center of her body.

  I watch all of this with disgust, then turn away. I can’t watch any more. The Great Hero Ettiene has informed his team that they need to learn how to deal with the ‘unexpected’ on the battlefield. The unexpected in this case apparently means one of your allies practicing their magic by firing it into you from behind while you’re engaged in a deadly battle.

  By this time, every one of the summoned has started referring to him as the Great Dick Ettiene. Even, or perhaps especially, the members of his own team. Previously his most ardent supporters, the looks on their faces right now imply a grim prospectus on what will happen if he ever steps into a dark alley alone.

  Suddenly I have an idea. I’ve had my Sigil for two weeks now, and had initially been disappointed that my affinities were Death, Dark, and Soul Magics. A rather grim sounding Metaclass that’s named Fiend. I don’t dare speculate about what that says about the hidden aspects of my personality.

  But right now, I can use that. My Sigil is an extremely powerful Dark/Binding construct that can let me move unseen while also hindering others’ movements. I turn to watch Ettiene’s group again with a gleam in my eye.

  They’ve paused for a few moments for healing and rest, but true to form Ettiene forces them back on their feet way too early. They square up against the squad of guards again and raise their weapons with exhausted arms.

  Triggering invisibility, I rush over and speak my plan into the opposing guard leader’s ear. He gives a silent nod and I rush away again. They begin their charge and Ettiene’s team lurches into position.

  Suddenly the guard commander throws his two reserve soldiers into the fray, making an end run around the right side of Ettiene’s group. As Ettiene’s teammates start to respond, I use my Binding Magic to slow down their movement. The two front-liners on the right stumble to their knees, taking them momentarily out of play. Those on the left are slowed and redouble their efforts to move to the right. I release them quickly, which causes them to stumble forward into their fellows. Now Ettiene’s left side is also wide open.

  Turning to Ettiene now, who has started to retreat hastily, I have shadows hinder his movement just long enough for two attacking guard soldiers to simultaneously slam into him from opposite sides. Thoroughly pulverized, Ettiene drops to the ground in a boneless heap and starts coughing up blood. Somebody calls for a healer.

  A resounding cheer rises up from all over the training field as people realize what just happened. A satisfying result. I’m starting to feel much better about the gifts I’ve been given.

  I look down the hallway at him, eyes narrowed in a glare. That boy needs to be slapped down. And I have a feeling I may be the one who has to do it. He’s habitually rude and crude. And it’s only gotten worse since we got here.

  Ettiene is a dick. He’s also a Great Hero. Go figure. Makes you wonder what the selection criteria are. Or if whatever God Blessed him was drunk or high when they did it. I’ve thought about it and I can’t figure it out.

  Why do Gods give Blessings? What’s it really worth? And why do they give them? What is the purpose of the mechanism?

  And who are the Gods really? I don’t even have any good theories. The books in the library are silent on the subject. That pisses me off.

  Lots of things piss me off lately. I need to find a steady source of blood or nobody will be able to stand being around me.