While I was writing letters, though, I did write one to my mother.
Mother,
I’ve discovered a bit of what happened in the spire.
I’m heading out of the country for a while.
I considered coming to you, but I think this is for the best.
I am safe. Sera will be with me.
And so will Patrick. He’s one of my retainers now, if you haven’t heard.
I hope that you’re safe and well in Dalenos.
We do have much to discuss. I hope you will be back in Valia by the time I return.
Your Son,
-Corin
I considered explaining that I’d met with Tristan, but I couldn’t trust that the letter would reach my mother without being compromised by someone else. The risks were too high.
And she already knew he was alive.
That fact still weighed heavily on me, but I tried not to think about it too much.
Was I being a hypocrite by not telling my father what I knew?
Absolutely.
But after everything Magnus Cadence had done, I couldn’t bring myself to care.
With my final business completed, I met with my friends.
Sera, Patrick, and Marissa – my closest companions.
Keras, my new swordsmanship teacher.
And finally Cecily.
I didn’t really know what she was to me yet, but I did look forward to finding out.
With them, I boarded the train to Caelford.
The trip across the continent would take about two weeks.
And so, those five friends persuaded me to tell this story.
I agreed under a few conditions.
First, they had to understand that I was going from memory, and that not every detail of every conversation was going to be perfectly accurate.
It was possible that I might embellish a few little bits and pieces here and there.
Second, they’d have to keep the story to themselves. I didn’t want this information spreading to anyone else without a chance for me to approve whoever we were going to share it with. Trust still wasn’t easy for me.
Third, I wasn’t going to omit bits for anyone. That meant there were going to be a few pieces of the story that might be a little embarrassing to me, or to others.
So, uh, sorry about telling everyone about when you asked Sera out, Patrick.
After that, though, there was one last condition.
This story was offered as a trade.
Sera, you’re going to need to tell us at some point how you walked out of your Judgment the ability to summon a god beast.
But first?
Keras, it’s your turn to tell us a story.
Tell us about Dawnbringer and the Six Sacred Swords.
Appendix I – Attunement Mark Levels
Attunement marks physically change when you reach an appropriate mana threshold.
Two factors make this obvious; one, the mark will physically change, and two, your aura will change in color.
Of course, not everyone can perceive aura colors. This is an advantage that Enchanters and Diviners — as well as their analogues in other countries — have early on. It is only at higher attunement levels that other attuned begin to detect auras, and even then, some never truly see them.
The aura colors follow the colors of the rainbow. Locally, we refer to these by gemstone names — Quartz representing clear, Carnelian being red, Sunstone being orange, and so on.
Some other nations use other systems; either simply referring to the name of the color itself, or, in Edria’s case, ignoring it entirely and referring to levels by number. This last case is most likely because Edria has so few attuned that see aura colors; thus, a numeric scheme for progression seems more logical to them.
These level thresholds are not purely a visual change, however. They represent a clear change in your capabilities. Most teachers like to talk about these in generalities — that you will gain a shroud at Carnelian, for example. In truth, the abilities you earn at each attunement level vary considerably from attunement to attunement. There are general rules, but it’s important to remember that there are also exceptions.
Today, we’ll be working on memorizing the basic runes for each attunement at their first few levels. Please do keep in mind, however, that attunement marks have variations. The ones we’ll be discussing here are the current basic marks for your generation. We’ll discuss what that means in greater detail later this year.
Diviner Attunement
Quartz
Carnelian
Sunstone
Guardian Attunement
Quartz
Carnelian
Sunstone
Elementalist Attunement
Quartz
Carnelian
Sunstone
Enchanter Attunement
Quartz
Carnelian
Sunstone
Mender Attunement
Quartz
Carnelian
Sunstone
Shadow Attunement
Quartz
