Tread Lightly – Among Monsters And Men

Craftsman - Ability to create simple Ether-infused weapons and prototypes. Increases intelligence and memory. Commonly appears in Caste Beavers and rarely within Empirical Ants.

Shaman - Ability to create advanced balms using herbs. Things like healing, sleeping, or adrenaline balms. Increases plant growth nearby and allows one to sense nearby plants and their traits. Commonly appears in types of Living Trees, and uncommonly in Giant Spiders

-Excerpt from the Prime Sigils Manual.

 

Before my hand even gets near the cover of the old book in front of me, and really, tome is a more fitting word, it spreads open quickly on its own to the first page. This surprises me and makes me jerk my hand back in reflex. But quickly after, I realize that there is nothing dangerous or scary. It is just a bunch of illegible scrawls and scribbling all over the first two pages like a madman drew them erratically that are opened to the air. And at first, they appear to be completely mundane.

As I look closer though, the scribbles begin to glow and physically move on the page somehow even more erratically than they were placed. Entranced by this phenomenon, I continue to watch the scribbles move, and eventually, they begin to combine in the center of the left page in a heavy dark look that formulates a sentence, no, a question directed at me.

Wyatt Graves, what does a restraint look like?

Extremely confused by having a book ask me questions I pause and just look at the words on the page. Is this part of attuning to a Sigil? Does one have to answer odd questions? Damn Edmund, told me I didn’t need to know anything else. This would have been a good piece of advice to give me as I get the feeling it will affect my Sigil somehow. Maybe he thought it better not to tell me of this. I’ll have to see, but he did tell me to stay calm.

Following Edmund's lack of advice, my attention returns to the question after my minor bout of frustration with him.

A restraint. What is a restraint? Well, it's something that restrains someone, right? Considering the mystical aspect of the book, I assume that it is not asking for a physical restraint though and instead means a metaphorical or philosophical restraint. I’m no expert on philosophy or words. Ma only ever taught me what philosophy is, not the intricacies of it. After pondering for a few moments, nothing obvious comes to mind besides obvious things like obligations, traditions, and rules. Upon further contemplation, I figure it would be best to choose the one that I think fits best, and just as I decide on obligations the image of the chained Loperd comes to mind.

And with that image comes the thought that the restraint could be physical and metaphorical. Restraints could be chains that bind us both literally and mentally. Not just that, for I made it a personal obligation of mine to carry its memory onward. And there is no better way to do so than basing my first Sigil off a core memory of it.

I cement my decision very quickly on a restraint being a chain, whether it's physical or mental. I look at the book and the words written on the page unsure of how to answer. Based on when it opens from my intent to open it and reaching my hand towards it, I place my hand on the question inscribed into the page while thinking “Chains”.

Instantly, the words unfuse and begin to erratically move on the page once again, but they do the opposite of the first time. The words continue to spread until the full page is full of intricate and unreadable symbols on the left, and on the right side of the page, a huge symbol is drawn with another sentence beneath it.

But before I can read the page on the right, I feel words, phrases, and an incredible amount of information enter my mind as if flowing from the illegible symbols on the left.

The reader of this page now embarks on the journey to absolution on my behalf, and for that, I thank you.

Your first Sigil toward Release, toward Freedom, and toward Limitlessness now joins you.

The Philosopher

The ponderer and observer of reality. Able to see the chains in which that bind us with their very eyes, allowing your vision to supersede your frame. Your very body, mind, and soul have now been sharpened to a fine point. You will feel an increase in precision, speed, and introspection in every aspect of your life. And most importantly, your limit of channeled Ether has drastically increased compared to other Sigiled in preparation for your Release. Lastly, the final gift the newest aspect of yourself grants you is your mind the power to affect reality, although subtly.

May your journey, while certainly filled with thorns, be glorious, long, and worthy of my aid.

I recoil from the book in sensory overload from the words that flow into my mind along with an image of a hooded figure writing said words. There is so much for me to digest.

What is absolution, and whose am I embarking towards?

What are Release, Freedom, and Limitlessness?

What does it mean to be a Philosopher for your Sigil? Things like Soldier and Rogue make sense with their simplicity.

And most important and scary is who wrote all this? How does someone know what this Sigil does?

All I know is that my Sigil is Philosopher and the benefits the Sigil grants. The benefits seem to be many and at the same time perplexing. The increase in precision and Ether limit will be very helpful. It already answers a few questions about how the Loperd was able to so deftly disarm me. But the ability to view chains is an unknown.

How does seeing chains work? Does it allow one to see in the dark or something? Cause’ that would explain how the Loperd kept finding me in the pitch dark. I guess I’ll have to see once I’m out of this cabin.

And upon reaching that thought of the cabin, I realize that the symbols on the left page have turned dark and dim, just barely recognizable as being on the page. This decreases the amount of light in the small cabin by half, just leaving the light of the large intricate symbol on the left and the words underneath.

Turning my attention to the right side of the tome, I look deeper into the symbol before I make a realization. This is a Sigil! And likely the Philosopher’s Sigil. It is Ether put into form and unlike the slipperiness of the Rogue Sigil, it feels deep and unfathomable.

Like a massive dark unending hole dug into the ground that you can’t see the bottom of, let alone estimate the depth. And if I look close enough, I feel as though I can see something that resembles chain links among the abstract lines beneath the surface.

Then after inspecting the Sigil, I read the words inscribed into the page below.

A Philosopher is able to see and question the world around them and the chains that bind us. But for a Philosopher to grow further, they must awaken to what the world truly is and grow their minds. And to be prepared to do so, they must find an answer to the Philosopher’s Metaphor.

If chains are the medium that restrains us, then how do they act upon the real world?

To begin, my Philosopher, place your mind within the Sigil and return to whence you came.

So is that the restriction that prevents people from just consuming more Sigils and growing powerful nearly instantly? They have to solve a riddle? Is that why Edmund is still a 3rd Sigil? Because he can’t figure out his riddle?

That doesn’t make sense. He’s intelligent and has had three Sigils for a long, long time. There must be something else. Maybe it grows beyond just simple riddles.

I hope it never grows to become math expressions. I hate arithmetic even more than I hate reading. Somehow it's even more boring than sifting through large amounts of uninteresting words.

Although, reading this tome was quite the opposite. I felt adrenaline course through me just looking at it. But I need to “return whence I came” to ask Edmund what is happening to me.

Following the unknown being’s directions, I try to place my hand on the Sigil with the pages and try to enter it with my mind as I did with my Rapier and the dead Loperd. The instant my mind touches the Sigil my vision goes black.

And from that black, comes whiteness, then grayness as I return to the dark cellar around me. I stand and look at myself to see if anything has changed and there is nothing new. Maybe I look a bit more muscular?

After that thought though, I feel a tingling in the back of my mind like a new muscle. And I follow that tingling, activating that new muscle which gives me a peculiar feeling, similar to moving one's ears with your scalp. After feeling a small flow-like sensation that ends in my eyes, this action causes me to see something on my body that causes me much surprise.

Five thin, dark red chains are wrapped around each of my limbs and one around my neck. I reach with my recovered left arm as I touch the one around my neck. My hand passes right through. Looking closer, at the chains on my left arm now that my hand is closer to my eyes, I see that they are ethereal, not quite fully solid, and are able to be seen through.

So this is what the tome meant. I can see actual chains. And I doubt it's just for myself.

Wanting to test this, I walk further into the cellar towards the darkness and wait for Edmund. I hear his boot smack against the stairs as he walks into the cellar and before I am even able to see him in the dark, I see the chains around him.

Compared to mine, his are much thicker and visibly more condensed. Not only that, but his chains are a different color; they are bright, almost white, and yellow. He also has an additional chain that is wrapped around his heart. My first thought is of the rainbow. The order of the Sigils must follow the colors of the rainbow, that makes sense right? If I’m red and he’s yellow that would fit with orange being between us. Maybe it has nothing to do with it, though. And the thickness might also determine the strength of the individual.

But how would I see the strength of someone? No that's not what I’m seeing. I’m seeing restraints placed upon them right? Maybe just the more that restrains someone the more powerful they are.

This might explain how the Loperd could see me in the dark. These chains are pretty damn bright and if Unsigiled have chains then it could have easily spotted as least my frame in the dark.

Furthering my investigation into this new sight, I look to my weapons to see if it works on them as well and I see nothing out of the ordinary, except that the Lily’s flowers now appear a bit closer to purple than red. I guess it only works on living things.

I’m going to call it Chain Eyes. Sounds cool and it fits, obviously. After deciding on the name for the new ability, or new Sigil skill according to the Hunter’s Prime Sigils Manual, I deactivate it and feel a small pull of tiredness offsetting the energy granted by the Lily. I’ll have to use this sparingly as it tires me to have it on.

After all this introspection, I walk over to Edmund who is busy moving bodies into the cellar and I wave at him, feeling a bit off with my arm's movement as they feel a bit stiff and robotic.

Edmund looks excited to see me up and moving and asks me what happened.

“Didya’ see The Cabin? How’d it go kid?”

I respond with a little bit of attitude yet am still excited about the recent change.

“Yeah, I saw it. Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

He moves a bit closer to inspect me as he shuts down my attitude.

“I thought it better to not sway your thoughts. The first question asked within The Cabin is always the most important. It lays the foundation of yur’ future Sigil’s powers. And in my experience, it’s best to follow the heart. Anyway, what’d you get? The beast looked like a possible Trapper, Shaman, or Prowler.” 

Backing away, I answer.

“That makes sense I guess. I got the Philosopher Sigil.”

Edmund’s face shrivels in confusion before his mouth widens into an overjoyed grin.

“Philosopher? I’ve never heard of that one before. Definitely not one of the twenty. Must be an unconfirmed Sigil! That’s great, Wyatt! What does it give ya?”

Puzzled by his excitement, I inquire as to what an unconfirmed Sigil is.

“Why’s that great? What’s so special about an unconfirmed Sigil?”

He answers quickly, still fueled with excitement for me.

“Unconfirmed Sigils are rare. So rare that they are, obviously, not confirmed to exist. This rarity gives them the upper hand in many different situations as they are hard to predict and analyze. I once knew a man with the Gambler Sigil as his first, and the luck that granted him alone was enough to push him high into the circle of Hunters. So, what does it do?”

His words alone excite me. Unconfirmed Sigils must be great then. I hope I can find more because if I remember correctly if you follow just one Sigil they tend to be more powerful than if you split them up. I answer Edmund after I have these thoughts.

“It gives me this ability to see chains around people. According to The Cabin, it’s supposed to be a manifestation of that which binds us. I’m guessing it allows me to estimate someone’s strength as your chains are thicker, more solid, and a different color than mine. It also said it increases my precision and my limit of channeled Ether.”

He gives me a nod as he puts his hand against his chin in thought. He then speaks, obviously trying to hype me up.

“That sounds incredibly useful. You’d be a good scout if you can identify strengths. That precision will be great with a firearm or a weapon like yur’ rapier. And probably most useful is that increased Ether limit. That’ll be a huge advantage over others. Later, I’ll show you how to control and use the Ether you now generate.”

It works and despite that all that has happened the past few days, I smile and laugh, completely forgetting my next question about what The Cabin is. Edmund continues speaking, though becoming more serious this time.

“One final thing, Wyatt. Now that you have yur first Sigil, I’d like to introduce to you the Hunter’s Plea. It’s a kind of promise to yurself' to help protect yur' own future and guard yur' mind. The Plea is something that can help pull one out of darkness as it's a plea to their future self to protect both themselves and others. It’s not required, or anything as we Hunters don’t have any kind of required pledge, but the Hunter’s Plea is famous. If you would like to make the Plea, repeat after me. I plea to my past self to be a strong enough anchor to push me forward. I plea to my current self to uphold the strengths of humanity. I plea to my future self to not fall to madness or succumb to the darkness.”

I can visibly see Edmund’s sincerity. And I repeat after him trying to say it as meaningfully as he did, putting my heart into it. I agree with its sentiments, entirely. That, and I have no reason not to. If it can help me later why wouldn’t I? Though, after I say it, no mystical effect or odd feeling comes over me.

I guess that’s to be expected though. Not everything is powered by Ether. Sometimes just a hopeful plea to the future is enough.

After his short explanation of the plea and my own Plea, Edmund pats me on the back and laughs along with me as he gives me a loaf of bread.

“Proud of you Wyatt. Good job on getting yur’ first of many to-come Sigils. Go get some rest as a celebration, and here's some food. We can hide in this cellar for a while. I’ll wake you in a few hours to actually train you for the first time.”

Smiling, I nod and thank him. I go over and sit near a rack of tools in a dark, but not unseeable level of a dark corner to eat my bread and relax. As I eat my bread, I finally notice what increased precision means. I can feel every piece of bread and can accurately chew it. I’m interested in exploring this odd new ability and the other ways it can benefit me, but I’m also exhausted. So, I lay my head on my backpack facing the wall as I listen to Edmund work behind me. I slowly unwind as I lay down.

For the first time in what feels like forever, I feel my muscles relax and my heart calm. And under my stable heart is an excitement for what is to come.