Chapter 29:

  Legacies and Stones

  I let out a deep sigh as raw potential coursed through my body. The change was immediate, as if a wellspring of life had burst open within me. Strength flooded my limbs, and my blood surged to meet it, forcing its way through my veins as my body struggled to accommodate the newfound power.

  It was painful, and the discomfort lingered far longer than I would have liked. Had my body not also received the increase to Fortitude, I might have popped like an old wineskin from the pressure that continued to swell within me.

  When the pain finally subsided, I opened my eyes to find the elders around the table staring at me, concern etched across their faces.

  “Samuel…” Leonis Fisher began hesitantly, “is everything alright?”

  “Sorry about that,” I said, exhaling slowly. “I just progressed along the path, and it was a lot to take in.”

  Around the table, several eyebrows rose in quiet curiosity.

  Realizing I’d unintentionally invited questions, I quickly asked one of my own instead.

  “So... who is Yahm, and why did he bless me?”

  In response to my question, I watched every elder at the table react in varying degrees of shock. The oldest among them nearly fell off his cushion, while several others turned accusing eyes toward Leonis Fisher, who in turn regarded me with a measured stare.

  Halius’s expression cycled through a rapid series of emotions. First came surprise, then confusion, and finally, a broad smile that spread across his face.

  It was clear that anything concerning Yahm was a closely guarded secret, though I had no idea why. I was tired of having so many questions, and despite my reluctance to lean on inherited authority, I decided to press the elders for an answer.

  “As I’ve already said, I have no intention of abusing whatever authority I might possess. But I’ve spoken with this Yahm, and judging by your reactions, his name isn’t one often spoken aloud. So please, show me enough respect to begin our relationship on open and honest ground. I wouldn’t have shared the cup with you if I didn’t believe you to be men of worth.”

  I did my best to keep my nervousness from showing. Despite my firm words, my hands trembled as I tried to appear confident and in control.

  After a tense moment of silence, the eldest member of the circle regained his composure, stood, and bowed in my direction.

  “Forgive us, Samuel Garner. You are right in what you say. Master Yahm is a dearly held memory of our people, and very few outside our valley know of his existence. Had I not seen your surge of potential moments ago, I would not have believed it possible for you to speak with our founder. Yet my eyes have seen, and my ears have heard the name of our beloved guardian, Yahm.”

  The elder resumed his place at the table, receiving several nods of approval from the other men present. A few still eyed me with suspicion, including the thick browed man from earlier, but he kept his thoughts to himself. It seemed he had already learned his lesson about making wild accusations concerning my character.

  Leonis Fisher, having received the silent approval of the other elders, rose from his seat and turned to face me.

  “Samuel, tell me… what do you know of Legacy Stones?”

  Once again, my ignorance betrayed me.

  “Well, the first time I ever heard of legacies was on my Choosing Day. I didn’t even know stones were involved.”

  A ripple of laughter passed through the elders, their amusement gentle but unmistakable. Heat rushed to my face, and I found myself wishing I could take the words back.

  Leonis smiled faintly. “Then perhaps it would be easier to show you as I explain.”

  He extended his left arm to the side and spoke a single command.

  “Manifest armament.”

  A surge of power flared around him, the air bending with invisible force. In the blink of an eye, a rounded shield materialized upon his arm, its surface patterned like the shell of a great turtle. From Leonis’s chest, a soft green light pulsed outward, steady and alive with purpose.

  In that moment, standing before him, I felt as though I were once again in the presence of the great turtle, Yahm himself.

  “That’s... incredible,” I said, unable to hide the amazement written across my face.

  Leonis smiled faintly, then gestured toward the soft green light pulsing in his chest.

  “It is an ancient practice,” he said, his voice carrying the weight of history. “Legacy Stones are the cornerstones of every great civilization. You’ve no doubt heard tales of heroes and their mighty weapons, stories passed down as legends, diminished with every generation that retells them. But those are only shadows of the truth. Legacy Stones are real power: enduring, inherited, and shaped by every generation that bears them.”

  He placed a hand over his chest and, with a slow exhale, drew a glowing green stone from within his body. There was no blood, no pain, just a seamless transference from one plane to another. It wasn’t merely a physical object; it existed in both worlds at once, a spiritual manifestation bound to flesh.

  Its surface was smooth and glasslike, catching the dim light of the room with a glossy sheen. Within, green energy swirled and pulsed, alive with rhythm and purpose, as if the stone itself were breathing.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Leonis extended his hand toward me, gesturing for me to take it.

  With reverent steps, I approached and wrapped my fingers around the stone. It was about the size of a large apple and fit neatly into my palm. The sphere was Heavier than I expected; even with my increased strength, I had to cradle it in both hands to keep from accidentally dropping it.

  As my eyes focused on the stone, my consciousness felt as though it were being pulled inward, drawn into its depths much like when I’d stepped into the spiritual realm. The sheer magnitude of its power, the depth of its potential, was staggering.

  I looked up at Leonis, and from his expression, I could tell he knew what it was like to stand before such an object.

  “How?” That single word was all I managed.

  Leonis reached out and gently took the stone into one of his massive hands, returning it to the place where it had originally rested within his body. The faint glow of its light shimmered once more beneath his chest. As he did, the shield on his left arm flickered and vanished from sight.

  “Like your uncle, you are from the Belt and have likely spent little time dealing with monsters, beasts, or other creatures. Your coin is earned through the sweat of your brow and the yield of your soil. However, in Salt Brine, things are a bit more... diverse. It is a port city, yes, but it also hosts the local dungeon.

  “When you face creatures of moderate strength, you’ll begin to find cores within their bodies. These cores are used for trade, magical implements, and a variety of other purposes. They serve as both currency and the spoils of war for those who call themselves adventurers.”

  I nodded in understanding. Cores weren’t unheard of, but they were rarely seen in regions like the Belt unless you were a specialized artisan. Items crafted using them were far too expensive for a family like mine to justify. Adventuring was a high risk, high reward profession, which is why young farmers so often ran off and got themselves killed chasing that foolishness, or at least, that’s how my father described it.

  “Cores are unique to those who are not among the sentient races recognized by the Path,” Leonis explained. “Creatures, elementals, aberrations, and the like are born without the ability to harness potential as we do. Instead, they rely on their innate properties and affinities to manipulate the ambient magic of their surroundings. Through their constant struggle for survival, that energy gradually condenses within their bodies over time, forming what we call a core.”

  I thought back to the gnolls Halius and I had defeated earlier that morning. I hadn’t even known to look for such things within the beasts, though I was fairly certain Halius would have said something if there had been. As I pondered the question, Leonis seemed to pick up on my train of thought.

  “The gnolls you and my son defeated this morning were too young to have produced cores of their own,” he said. “They had not yet bathed long enough in the ambient magic of the region, nor grown high enough in level to accommodate such a reaction.”

  Once again, I nodded. It was reassuring to know I hadn’t wasted honest coin through my own ignorance.

  “Now, I say all of that to arrive at my point,” Leonis continued, pointing to his chest and the soft glow emanating from within. “Legacy Stones are treasures, cores that have formed within the bodies of powerful magical beasts. Creatures that have endured the test of time, developed their cores, gained sapience, and claimed their own place upon the Path. Our beloved Lord Yahm was one such creature.”

  I looked down at my hands, the same hands that had held Yahm’s stone only moments ago. Oddly enough, after everything I had experienced during our conversation on the Path, this revelation didn’t shock me nearly as much as it might have a few days ago.

  “You said Legacy Stones are the cornerstones of kingdoms,” I said. “So how does this apply to a single stone? Surely, even as powerful as Yahm may have been, the stone must be only a fraction of that. I can’t imagine that shield you showed me being enough to prevent the kingdom from simply taking the valley by force.”

  Leonis gave me a patient smile, letting me speak my thoughts before he replied.

  “If Legacy Stones were simply powerful treasures that manifested a single armament, they would certainly be valuable, but not in the way I have described. The true worth of a Legacy Stone lies in its ability to bond with a family and be passed down through generations. Each bearer inherits its properties and can wield the abilities the stone unlocks as it grows in power.

  “However,” he added, his tone sobering, “there is a cost, a grave commitment borne by every successor who inherits the stone.”

  “And what commitment is that?” I asked, my curiosity overriding the tension that had settled in the room.

  “There are two conditions for those who wish to bond with a stone,” Leonis said. “First, they must share the same bloodline as the one who originally formed the pact. In doing so, the fates of the family and the stone become intertwined. If the family falls, the stone will starve and eventually cease to exist.

  “Second, the one who bonds with the stone must give up a quarter of their remaining lifespan. For example, if your maximum potential at birth is sixty years, your life would be reduced to forty-five.”

  That news was... staggering. If someone like Hershel had inherited a stone, he’d have already died of old age by now.

  “This does not account for abilities that can only be used if one is willing to sacrifice even more years of their life,” Leonis continued. “The armament I showed you costs nearly nothing, but others exact a far heavier toll for the power they grant. All of that potential is stored within the stone, allowing it to grow stronger with each successive generation.”

  Leonis looked to be a little older than my father. I’d have guessed late forties, his hair streaked with grey though traces of youthful strength still remained. If his natural lifespan was only seventy years, a generous number for anyone, that meant he had little time left before returning to the Path to join the fathers who’d gone before. Which meant Halius would soon become the next inheritor of the stone.

  I turned to look at the warrior I’d met earlier that day. He met my gaze and gave a small nod, as if he already knew the questions forming in my mind. My admiration for him only grew; his resolve seemed unshaken in the face of such a grave commitment.

  “So what you’re saying,” I began slowly, “is that people in power, such as the king, maintain their rule through the strength passed down within these stones?”

  As the words left my mouth, an image of the Duke sitting upon his throne came to mind. The throne was made from the skull of some great creature, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it had once housed a legacy stone of its own.

  Leonis smiled and nodded in confirmation.

  “The original possessors of these stones acquire them in one of two ways,” Leonis continued. “They either slay the creature and claim its stone as a trophy, or they are gifted one; entrusted to carry on the will of its original owner after they pass from this life to the next. Our guardian, the great Yahm, was one such creature. He gifted my forefathers his stone so that, even in death, he might continue to protect the valley he loved so dearly.”

  “And to our guardian, we give thanks,” the elders behind me said in unison, bowing reverently at the mention of Yahm’s gift.

  I couldn’t help but notice the teary eyes of each man at the table. Even those who had once regarded me with suspicion, seemed overcome with gratitude at the mention of Yahm’s blessing

  “Thank you for sharing this with me,” I said, bowing to each elder in turn. “I will not take lightly the things you’ve shared, nor will I disrespect the blessing of your lord.”

  Once again, the eldest member of the circle spoke on behalf of the men seated around the table.

  “You have been blessed by Lord Yahm, just as your uncle before you. You are as a brother, a neighbor, and a son. Please, treat us as family while you dwell among us. Welcome home, Samuel Garner.”

  This time, all the men present nodded in agreement. Whatever differences of personality lay between them, each was bound by a single shared purpose: the protection and care of the valley they loved, the land that had raised their children and sustained them through generations of hardship.

  I knew in my heart that it was true. These men were inheritors not by stone, but by shared love and purpose.

  Fun fact: Today is my birthday.