Aresan Clan pt 65

As soon as Samuel’s hood was removed, Westerly screamed for help. When he looked into the child’s eyes he be began to hyperventilate with terror. Samuel looked back at him curiously, not quite understanding what was going on, and reluctant to do anything. Westerly sense that he could not breathe only made him more terrified. He collapsed on the ground, and Samuel was immediately hooded clearly disappointed that he couldn’t see this little adventure through to its conclusion.

Westerly had to be helped out of the room by Rock and Jyorg, who also guided him to his private quarantine in a nearby facility.

Apamix, Taney and Sidd asked Eldeba to take the child away, so that they could discuss the boy in private. Eldeba took the hand of Samuel in his and led him out through the door of the room, the small steps of the child scrambling to keep up with Eldeba’s long gait.

Apamix began: “As supposed before, the child’s medium of influence is apparently through direct visual contact with the eyes. The shielding of his eyes appears to completely neutralize his powers.”

Taney added: “And as supposed, he controls his targets through an empathic manipulation of their emotions. He controls their feelings and uses that effect to actuate his desires. For example, it seems doubtless that the child seeks to escape and that he is trying to use our subjects to achieve his objective.”

Sidd further: “Though it is curious that the child appears to have different effects on different subjects. I was quite surprised myself to see how different the two subjects’ reactions were. Either the child was trying out different approaches or, as I suppose, the effect is really more unpredictable than we would’ve expected.”

The three philosophers nodded in unison as they each spoke in turn, all three concluding that further research would be necessary, though the results of this initial study were promising.


Amida spent the whole of the night following the trail of the unnamed courier who she’d seen speaking with Jule. They descended to the bottom of a valley and passed along a stream for much of the night, before the courier began to angle uphill and head up and over a pass and continue along the leeward slope of a mountain.

Amida did everything possible to avoid being seen, taking extra caution to maintain ample distance between her and the dark figure that was always but a tiny shape in her field of view. In the early light of morning, after walking the whole night without rest, she saw the man approaching what she could clearly identify as the smoke of a fire, probably a campfire. She hustled forward to broach the distance, and then as she neared the campfire, and could begin to smell the smoke and even the scent of what appeared to be cooking meat, she proceeded with even greater caution.

She was currently on fairly flat terrain, in the midst of a coniferous forest of sparse density. The ground was covered in exposed bedrock and limited underbrush. Amida used this limited cover to hide herself as she approach, crawling in on her hands and knees at a sluggish pace along the needle-strewn floor, slowing bringing the sounds of the camp within earshot.

As she approached closer, she heard laughter and the indistinct sound of voices. She recognized the language of the itinerant tribes, a language she could understand with some facility but which she would hardly call herself competent enough to speak.

At first she heard conversations about eating and drinking, then she heard the leader of the group greeting someone, apparently the person Amida had been following. She peaked over the hedges she hid behind to catch a glimpse of what she heard, and recognized the courier, now more detailed in her sight. She now could see his overgrown beard, braided hair and the animal-skin clothing that covered his chapped, leathery skin.

The courier said something along the lines of: “He burned the watermill; no one knows it was him, but they might be suspicious.” Then he asked if Jule should leave or do more damage. The leader of the group said to the courier what sounded like, “Tell him to stay.” And then offered the courier some food.

Amida was ready to retract at this point and return to the cloisters, when a pair of feet loudly stomped to the ground from above right next to her. When Amida rolled over the see who it was, she saw a young man in animal skins with a stone dagger pointing at her neck. From his lips she heard a familiar question that she could easily translate. “Who are you?” he shouted, as he threatened her with the dagger.

<-- Go to Part 64         Go to Part 66 -->

You can see what's been written so far collected here.

As soon as Samuel’s hood was removed, Westerly screamed for help. When he looked into the child’s eyes he be began to hyperventilate with terror. Samuel looked back at him curiously, not quite understanding what was going on, and reluctant to do anything. Westerly sense that he could not breathe only made him more terrified. He collapsed on the ground, and Samuel was immediately hooded clearly disappointed that he couldn’t see this little adventure through to its conclusion.

Westerly had to be helped out of the room by Rock and Jyorg, who also guided him to his private quarantine in a nearby facility.

Apamix, Taney and Sidd asked Eldeba to take the child away, so that they could discuss the boy in private. Eldeba took the hand of Samuel in his and led him out through the door of the room, the small steps of the child scrambling to keep up with Eldeba’s long gait.

Apamix began: “As supposed before, the child’s medium of influence is apparently through direct visual contact with the eyes. The shielding of his eyes appears to completely neutralize his powers.”

Taney added: “And as supposed, he controls his targets through an empathic manipulation of their emotions. He controls their feelings and uses that effect to actuate his desires. For example, it seems doubtless that the child seeks to escape and that he is trying to use our subjects to achieve his objective.”

Sidd further: “Though it is curious that the child appears to have different effects on different subjects. I was quite surprised myself to see how different the two subjects’ reactions were. Either the child was trying out different approaches or, as I suppose, the effect is really more unpredictable than we would’ve expected.”

The three philosophers nodded in unison as they each spoke in turn, all three concluding that further research would be necessary, though the results of this initial study were promising.


Amida spent the whole of the night following the trail of the unnamed courier who she’d seen speaking with Jule. They descended to the bottom of a valley and passed along a stream for much of the night, before the courier began to angle uphill and head up and over a pass and continue along the leeward slope of a mountain.

Amida did everything possible to avoid being seen, taking extra caution to maintain ample distance between her and the dark figure that was always but a tiny shape in her field of view. In the early light of morning, after walking the whole night without rest, she saw the man approaching what she could clearly identify as the smoke of a fire, probably a campfire. She hustled forward to broach the distance, and then as she neared the campfire, and could begin to smell the smoke and even the scent of what appeared to be cooking meat, she proceeded with even greater caution.

She was currently on fairly flat terrain, in the midst of a coniferous forest of sparse density. The ground was covered in exposed bedrock and limited underbrush. Amida used this limited cover to hide herself as she approach, crawling in on her hands and knees at a sluggish pace along the needle-strewn floor, slowing bringing the sounds of the camp within earshot.

As she approached closer, she heard laughter and the indistinct sound of voices. She recognized the language of the itinerant tribes, a language she could understand with some facility but which she would hardly call herself competent enough to speak.

At first she heard conversations about eating and drinking, then she heard the leader of the group greeting someone, apparently the person Amida had been following. She peaked over the hedges she hid behind to catch a glimpse of what she heard, and recognized the courier, now more detailed in her sight. She now could see his overgrown beard, braided hair and the animal-skin clothing that covered his chapped, leathery skin.

The courier said something along the lines of: “He burned the watermill; no one knows it was him, but they might be suspicious.” Then he asked if Jule should leave or do more damage. The leader of the group said to the courier what sounded like, “Tell him to stay.” And then offered the courier some food.

Amida was ready to retract at this point and return to the cloisters, when a pair of feet loudly stomped to the ground from above right next to her. When Amida rolled over the see who it was, she saw a young man in animal skins with a stone dagger pointing at her neck. From his lips she heard a familiar question that she could easily translate. “Who are you?” he shouted, as he threatened her with the dagger.

<-- Go to Part 64         Go to Part 66 -->

You can see what's been written so far collected here.

Aresan Clan pt 65