Ash. The Legends of the Nameless World. Progression Gamelit Story, Kirill Klevanski [great reads .TXT] 📗

knows where the power came from, but a couple of eons ago, people became equal to nonhumans. Not all, of course, but only those who could wield it. They called it terna. Since then, the Ternites, those who could wield this power, were taught how to use this gift. No ordinary warrior is stronger than a Ternit Warrior, no alchemist wiser than a Ternit Alchemist, and no mage more skilled than a Ternit Mage. So, it was for many thousands of years until the Ternites exiled the ordinary people... And there was no more division.”

Gwel coughed again and Ash, not waiting for her to tell him to bring him water, ran outside to the barrel in which they collected rainwater. Expecting a long conversation, he filled the pitched to the brim, brought it back inside, and filled Gwel’s cup. She eagerly drank the cold water and, wiping her lips with a wrinkled hand, continued her story.

“In general, the Ternites replaced the Ernites ― ordinary people. The maximum that an Earnite can hope to achieve is to be given chainmail and die in a war as a soldier, or cannon fodder, as they’re more frequently called. The rest of the ‘jobs’ were taken over by the Ternites. Assassins, witches, magicians, paladins, necromancers, sorcerers, wizards, hermits, heretics, hunters, and so on and so forth... Like locust, they swarmed the Thirteen Kingdoms.”

Despite listening carefully, Ash had little idea what she was on about.

“At one point, there were so many Ternites that the cities became so small for their giant egos. And then the Kings, even those of ordinary men, decided that Ternites should serve only for the benefit of the mankind. So, thank you, I guess, you little maggot, for not yet doing them a disservice. Anyway... The Ternites now roam the world, carrying out various tasks. Those who refuse this sacred task are considered heretics and hunted like wild beasts. Such is life.”

“But what does that have to do with words?” Ash asked, stirring the brew.

“It has to do all with everything!” the old woman barked and coughed again. “With you, Ash, the terna is water and you’re a fish, it’s all around you.”

Ash shrugged. “I don’t feel it.”

“Because you can’t feel it! You don’t know how... But more about that later... Let me teach you about words. All, even the poorest people, have their language. Take a stone, for example, there are a thousand words with which to describe and call it, but they’re all false. You have one name, Ash. It’s not the best, but not the worst one either,” she said. Ash wanted to tell her that it was her that had given him that name, but he kept silent. “And just like you, this stone as its own name.”

“What is it?”

Gwel’s lips moved but he heard nothing.

“You don’t hear,” she said, “and you won’t be able to hear until you learn how to listen. Just like you and the stone, everything in this world has its name. Its true name, let’s say. Those names make up the language spoken by the Gods who created our world. And knowledge of this language, knowledge of the name, gives power. That’s why no one knows the name of our world, for the Gods are afraid of the power that it holds. This is the language you must learn how to speak if you want to understand the essence of magic.”

“Why does it have to be magic?” Ash asked.

“Look at yourself... You’re small and scrawny, you ain’t worth for anything else other than carrying a staff and an entire library in your head.”

The boy shrugged again. He didn’t care.

“Hold on,” she said, genuinely angry, “you haven’t seen me do magic?”

“You do magic?”

Gwel froze, then laughed, and then spent some time praising and cursing her Queen that had played such a cruel trick on her.

“Looks like the timing is right,” Gwel said suddenly. “Observe, little maggot.”

The old woman ran her fingers over her staff and whispered something. A moment later, the kitchen came alive. Knives jumped out of their boxes and began cutting herbs. The spoon with which he had been steering the potion leaped out of his hand and continued stirring on its own. The tablecloth suddenly rose into the air and move to the window to shake off crumbs off itself. The fire in the hearth danced vigorously and the chair in which Gwel was sitting swayed a little bit slower.

“Ah, I still got it,” Gwel whispered contentedly and closed her eyes.

“Are these words?”

“The best kind... Now, go outside. I want you to learn at least one word by tonight.”

Chapter 3

Two Days Later

A sh spent all his free time, of which he had many, outside but he never learned a single word. Gwel never got tired of teasing him about it, sometimes giving him particularly vile names. Ash was feeling what could best be described as “annoyance.” He felt like absolutely everything was trying to talk to him. The wind rustling to the treetops chuckled at him, the grass swayed, eager to tell him its story, the branches creaked, wanting to share wisdom, and clouds, sailing silently across the vast blue, wanted to tell him about distant lands.

Ash, lost in these sounds, almost reached the essence of the words a couple of times, but the moment he tried to focus on it, everything stopped. The wind was wind again, creaking just creaking, and clouds just giant tufts of white.

“Hey! Devil incarnate!”

Ash dusted his pants and returned inside where Gwel, as always, was rocking back and forth in her chair, gaze fixated on the fireplace. Perhaps she didn’t see what Ash saw in the flames. He was certain that he heard something in the crackling of the logs as for the first time in his life he felt something that could only be described