167: Interlude: Crisplet
Crisplet had been working hard on his statues. It was his favourite thing to do outside of cooking, exploring, and attacking evil creatures like tree bugs after all, and today was a special day.
You have reached level 5 in Ashborne Architect.
You have 3 available Evolution Quests.
Evolution Quest:
Craft 5 unique statues: 0/5
Tell a story in Ash: 0/1
Craft 3 objects that are utilised as a tool: 0/3
As he looked over his quests, he knew they would be easy to complete, so he got to work right away, first going to his friend, Lily, because he’d need to tell a story, and Lily always listened. Lily was the best.
He told a story of the bright days, the days before he was brought to this plane, his earliest memories, when he was just a small flame in an ocean of fire.
Setting the landscape as an ocean of fire and ash, with a small, tiny flame that represented Crisplet in the middle of it, waves of flame crashing over the top and drowning out the little flame, overwhelmed by it all, he didn’t know how long he had spent there. It was impossible to think, impossible to grow, endlessly moving with the fire. Then he was gone, taken from the bright place, and he could think, he could be. He was Crisplet.
He used dark ash and coal to explain how he viewed the world when he arrived. It was so dark, so quiet, but he had a friend. He had Trevor, and in the dark space was a single bright fire.
Remembering a time he threw a piece of coal at Trevor because he was talking about dismissing him, and he didn’t want to go back to the world of fire. He wanted to explore.
Several ash statues were made, showing Crisplet throwing a piece of coal at Trevor, causing Lily to smile.
Lily got called away to help Trevor with the big fat lizard he was cutting up in the other room, so Crisplet looked over his completed quests. He wasn’t too worried about the tools. They had Magic Man for tools.
Evolution Quest:
Craft 5 unique statues: Complete!
Tell a story in Ash: Complete!
Craft 3 objects that are utilised as a tool: 0/3
Three evolution options are available for Ashborne Architect.
Skill: Ashborne Architect → Ashborne Monument
- Sculptures no longer decay naturally.
- Highly resistant to weather and the passage of time.
- Sculptures emanate faint residual warmth.
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- Sculptures may move freely to support a story being told.
- Figures dissolve upon the conclusion of the story.
- Sculptures are capable of expressing emotion through mana, form and motion.
- Able to create semi-permanent sculptures.
- Sculptures can store and collect fire mana.
- Stored fire mana allows limited movement.
- Movement fades once stored mana is exhausted.
- If fire mana is absent for a prolonged period, the sculpture will decay.
But there was an obvious choice for him. The effigy would allow him to create something that could move and stick around. That was perfect. He remembered a while back when Trevor really liked the tree he had made with everyone sitting in the branches, and he really wanted to make that permanent.
Magic Man mentioned he could condense the fire magic and make it stick around for longer, but no matter how much mana he tried to put into it, it just made it burn off faster.
And super importantly, Shadow Lady Liane gave Crisplet a super important secret quest. She said he should make a statue of everyone he cared about, of everyone in the party. It was a great idea!
Lily told him not to make Auntie Lira bigger than Dragon Sylvy, though.
He selected Ashborne Effigy. It seemed like the best option. He didn’t need Lily’s advice on this one.
Time for more practice.
***
The next day, he had been practising again when Trevor told him he was heading upstairs for a nap. He knew he should probably go with him, but if he’s just upstairs, he could stay here and keep working on the statues. He was close to having all the people he wanted perfected.
So he chose to stay behind.
Several hours had passed before large man Hari entered and asked where Trevor was, so he would show him. Dismissing the statues, he went upstairs, leading Hari to the room where they knocked, but there was no response.
Opening the door and heading inside, something was wrong. He couldn’t feel Lily, and he couldn’t feel Trevor.
Trevor said he was coming here for a nap. He was supposed to protect him! Where did he go! Racing to the bathroom to make sure he wasn’t in there, panic built. Hari left the room in a rush, calling the others.
Where did he go!
Lily spoke of a bond between them, that he should be able to feel where Trevor was, so he focused on it. He could tell he was close by, but that was all. He couldn’t tell where, or even the direction.
He raced downstairs. Maybe he was with Magic Man in the library.
Seeing Hari talking with Liane and Jen, he got really worried and burst through the door leading to the library, catching Milo in the halls, but not Trevor.
Worry was really building now as he still checked the library just in case; nothing. Bursting back into the foyer, he was met by everyone. He felt Milo reach out with his mana, so he tried to convey that Trevor was missing the best he could.
Pulling up ash, he showed a picture of Trevor sleeping in a bed.
It was then that the fire girl showed up. Crisplet liked the fire girl. She was warm. She’d surely help!
Everyone split up and started checking all the rooms of the house, with Kathrine going to the guards. He stuck by Jen. She was nice. She would find him, and it was too hard to keep up with Liane, who had vanished instantly.
It didn’t take long before Lily showed up, her presence returning to the room upstairs before she appeared next to him.
“Trevor! Missing! Help!” Crisplet said.
There was an immediate shift in her pressure, from relaxed and lazy to angry and concerned.
Lily looked out into the distance, peering through a wall, and then she was gone. It was only a couple of minutes before he heard Hari yelling.
Rushing through the house at the sound of the yell, he pushed past Hari, seeing Lily leading Trevor towards them.
All the worry, the anger, all the emotions built up, and he couldn’t help it. He threw a piece of coal at him, a little larger than he had expected.
“Sorry, it was my fault. I should have told you I had changed where I was going to nap,” Trevor said.
But it was too close. What if someone really took him? Lily didn’t say anything, just choosing to vanish, but she’d be disappointed. He had failed in protecting him.
Never again. He wasn’t getting out of his sight.