The sound of a gentle wind blew through the small forest path the caravan had started on. The slight hum of conversations filled the air, and our two cousins stood further in the back of the caravan. It had been a few weeks now, almost a month that the two cousins had been with the caravan, which also marked a month in the strange world they had found themselves in. Only a little has changed so far. Besides helping with the caravan, Orion focused on cooking and any manual labor that someone needed help with. Much like Orion, Alex concentrated on helping with manual work, where he quickly learned that super strength helps immensely with moving things and holding them in place.
While the two were helping out with the caravan, eventually, someone asked if they wanted to be hunters since they had semblances, both of them decided to roll with that idea and tell them that yes, that is why they were going to Vale. They wanted to go to Beacon to become hunters. After this conversation, it was revealed that some of the other people in the caravan already had their aura unlocked, with it being explained to them that having aura while on the road makes things easier, mainly for protection. Still, it also means if someone gets hurt, they won't have to wait as long for them to heal.
After this conversation, Alex convinced Orion they needed to try to get someone to unlock his aura for some of the same reasons. Sure, right now, sure, he has these incredible powers they both do, but he's more squishy than he was, Alex could tank bullets, or at the very least, he could survive multiple shots and heal himself, but Orion, without his magic was a regular person, which leads to an interaction with the Caravan leader.
The two boys had managed to get a private moment with Marlowe. It was near the end of the day, with night surrounding the small camp dinner, which had just finished, and most of the others were having small conversations or getting ready for bed. Making it the best time to have a private conversation.
"So what can I do for you boys tonight?" Alex stepped forward, deciding to try and start the conversation. "Mr. Marlowe, we were wondering if you could help us out with something?" He nodded towards them. "Depends, but I can do my best, so going on with you two?" "So you know about our semblances, right?" Once again, he nodded to them. "So we have our semblances, but we kinda don't have an aura, or at the very least, Orion doesn't." The man's face morphed into one of confusion. "I didn't think anyone could have a semblance without an aura."
"Well, we didn't really think that either, especially from what we've been taught, we always heard that you had to get your aura unlocked and then unlock your semblance, but we think we know why." "Alright, lay it on me. How did you get your semblances before your aura." "Before we decided to join the caravan, we were living somewhere else, and we had been living there for our whole lives, but something bad happened to where we lived and us." his voice wavered slightly, if he needed Marlowe to believe this, he needed to act it, Alex did his best to remember bad memories or thoughts to keep it going. "I-I don't really want to go into full details about what happened, but we were put in a horrible and stressful situation where if we did anything, we would die, so I guess under stress, our bodies went straight to unlocking our semblances instead of our aura."
"Or, at the very least, it unlocked Orion's semblance, so we were wondering if you could unlock his aura." The two boys stood there anxiously, watching as Marlowe took in all the information. "I've heard of situations where someone was put into a stressful or dangerous spot, and their aura was brought out, so I doubt that a semblance appearing before an aura wouldn't be too different from that. Although, usually, a semblance drains aura when in use, so maybe it's less. If your aura isn't fully unlocked, it might just be laying dormant as a fuel source and nothing else."
"That can be dangerous not knowing how much aura you're draining from yourself; if you drain too much or try to pull aura when you've expended it all, you can hurt your soul. So unlocking it should make it easier for you to track your semblance usage, and it also comes with the obvious of you having full use of your aura." The two boys were looking back and forth at each other. This was it; one of their goals was being completed already! "Orion, come over here. If you want me to unlock your aura, I need to touch you physically for it to work." Alex let out a slight snicker before pushing his cousin forward. "Go on, go get touched." "I hate you."
Orion would move to stand in front of Marlowe, his cousin's comments going ignored as he focused more on getting this thing unlocked. "Alright, you can keep your eyes open or close them for this, but unless you want to stare at me, I'd suggest closing them." Deciding to take Marlowe's advice, he closed his eyes. He flinched when he felt something touch his head, and then he heard Marlowe start to talk, he could tell he was close, almost directly in front of him.
"In this world, kid, your aura is your shield and your strength. It's not just a force; it's a part of who you are – your grit, your resolve, your will to keep moving forward. It's the quiet fire that burns in your heart and the unyielding shield that guards your journey."
He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in. "You've come far, and you've got further to go. But remember, your strength comes not from the light of your aura alone but from the bonds you forge and the choices you make. Let your aura be the reflection of your spirit, and let it guide you through the darkest roads."
With a gentle push of his aura into Orion, Marlowe continued, "Now, let the journey you've embarked on awaken the power that lies within you. Rise, not as a mere traveler, but as a guardian of your own path. Your aura doesn't just protect you; it defines you." As he finished speaking, the glow of Orion's aura began to manifest orange in color; it quickly flashed before slowly seeping back into his skin. Much like Orion's, Marlowe's aura quickly flashed around him a deep blue before sinking back into his skin. "You can open your eyes now, how do you feel?"
Slowly opening his eyes, Orion was able to catch a brief glimpse of his own aura as well as Marlowe's he felt the sensation go down to his core, it felt like a warm ray of sunshine was hitting every part of his body and warming him from the inside out. His body felt rejuvenated as before it had been a bit tired from a full day's work, but now? He felt amazing, like he just took two shots of expresso mixed with an energy drink lemonade. "Amazing. I feel awesome right now." Marlowe couldn't help but bark out a laugh. "Hehe, yep, that's pretty much the same reaction everyone has when they first unlock their aura. It feels like they can do anything and everything, yeah?" Orion nodded, feeling like he could do just that, which is why when he suddenly found an aura-enforced punch to the gut, it brought him to his knees. His aura quickly flashed around his body before quickly bursting, showing that it had broken, the air was knocked, out of him as he fell to the ground, he looked up to see Marlowe looking down at him, his arm still extended.
Alex looked at the scene in shock, not having moved an inch as he watched it happen. He could hear the blood and adrenaline rush to his ears. Smoke was flaking off of him as it gathered around his arms and upper body. But before he could even think to do anything, Marlowe raised his hand in a surrender gesture. "That's why you need to be careful." he kneeled down and helped Orion back to his feet. It took a few seconds, but he was able to breathe again. "I know that was bad, but I needed to remind you." he looked over at Alex. "Both of you that even with aura, you can still be hurt, killed even, you don't know how many people I've seen get killed thinking aura was the one all be all for protection only to find them weeks later dead on the side of the road being eaten by Grimm. You both seem like good boys, so I don't want to see that happen to you two, okay?"
Both boys stood there in silence, digesting the hard lesson they had just witnessed or been a part of. They have these powers, but they aren't invincible. "Yes, sir." Alex was the first to respond, while Orion just shook and nodded his head. Yes, he understood the lesson, but he was still angry about how the man did it. "Thank you. I understand it was probably a rough approach, but you both needed it if you were to get anywhere with the way you're both going." He looked over to Orion and nodded. "Here, Orion, I know that Tobias might need some help getting ready for his hunting tomorrow. Do you mind helping him?" The boy nodded. "Sure." "Thank you, Alex. Do you mind if I talk with you for a minute?" he was a bit hesitant, mainly because of what the man had just done to his cousin, even if in good faith. "Sure, sir."
"Early, you mentioned how the situation you both were placed in unlocked both of your semblances, but not your aura. Why is it you didn't mention yourself or ask me to unlock your aura?" his voice was calming, as if trying to reassure the boy it was okay to talk to him. The jokes were on him, and he was already okay with talking about it. "My situation is a little different, from what I can tell, my semblance was unlocked like Orion's, but my aura is odd. It's like it's halfway there you probably already know how strong I am, right? I think my aura is always active, but under my skin? Or something like that's why I can use my semblance and still have my extra strength."
The man got quiet as if thinking, "So you don't want me to try and draw out your aura then?" Alex paused. He could definitely try, but he knew his powers were different than Orion's conduits had a kind of elemental type of powers to them, but they drew it out of the power they have in their bodies, so if someone tries to put a new energy in there or draw it out he didn't really know what would happen he might lose his powers for all he knew. "No, that's okay, sir, I think I'm happy with the abilities I have right now. I'm not as squishy as a regular person I can tank a decent bit." Or he assumed he could the day he tests that is going to suck.
"Alright then, one last thing before you go then." The boy looked up he had already started to walk out when Marlowe had started talking again, "Yes, sir?" "I can see you're trying to help your cousin out, and I wanted to say you're doing the right thing so far; from what I can tell, you're a caring soul, so try and keep that up when you make it bigger out there eh, it'll take you far just don't let people take advantage of it, now go on I'm pretty sure your cousin will start to worry if you don't come back soon." Alex felt heat blossom in his stomach as he heard this. It felt nice hearing someone tell him he was doing the right thing so far, it's a nice feeling. "Yes, sir, and thank you."
To think that's how Orion had gotten his aura unlocked by the leader of a caravan wandering the forests of Vale and Mistral, only to get punched in the gut immediately and have it shattered. Alex snickered at the memory, "What are you laughing at?" Orion looked at his cousin, an odd expression on his face. "Just remembering how when you got your aura, you immediately got shit on." His cousin rolled his eyes at him. "Alright, I'd like to see you take a punch to the stomach by a super-powered man." "I know I wouldn't have my super cool power immediately break and fall to my knees, unlike you." "Alright, come here, and we'll test that theory, smartass." The two looked like they were just about to get into a 'fight' when they heard someone talking ahead of them.
"Hold it, guys. It looks like there are some tracks ahead that look like people." They hadn't encountered any other people besides the occasional farmer on the road. They had only seen other people in small villages. The cousins looked at each other. Orion moved his head to try to tell his cousin to try to talk to him. He made sure no one besides his cousin could hear him and started whispering. "It might be bandits, there was a group that wondered mistral, and if it is, we're fucked they have one of the strongest people of the series there right now." "It looks like it's only two people from the tracks." They heard Tobias call to the rest of the group he was the Caravan's hunter and tracker, mostly keeping the place fed if they needed or wanted extra food, plus he's been helping the boys learn to hunt a bit as well.
"Orion, Alex, and Nadia, come with me, the rest of you. Try to stay back. We'll signal if it's trouble," Tobias called to them he was wearing his hunting gear, his rifle slung over his shoulder, a brown overcoating white undershirt with a brown belt underneath that had a few pockets on it full of ammo, dust, and his knives, his pants were a light gray with brown combat boots. Nadia joined the boys. She was one of the caravan's hired protections who had stayed long enough to call the caravan home. She wore a black button-up shirt with a black scarf, and she had a strap-on knife and holster for her pistols. She wore jeans and regular boots. Her hair was a dark black the boys theorized she dyed it regularly because some days it was lighter, then suddenly it would darken again. When asked, she told them to stop asking and stay away from her stuff.
"Come on, we're going to go ahead a bit to try and find where these people are. They're pretty close since these tracks are fresh. You can tell because of the dirt's sharp angles, and it hasn't dried yet. They would be more rounded off and drier if they were older." The two boys nodded, taking in the new information, and the small group began rushing ahead, Alex was about to walk through some bushes when he was suddenly pulled back. Tobias had grabbed him and covered his mouth, pointing ahead of them where they could see two figures ahead of them they looked like they were resting. Looking back at Tobias, he motioned for him to go up. It took a few seconds for it to click on what he meant.
Crouching slightly, he tensed his legs before jumping and turning into smoke, launching himself higher and into some trees closer to the two. Alex reformed higher up into the trees, a few small smoke particles flying off into the distance from his hiding spot. Alex looked down, looking for the people he had seen seconds ago. It took a few seconds, but when he found them, he realized they had also found him, the two figures staring right at him, One holding a giant hammer and the other holding two pistols with green blades attached, both aimed directly at him. "Shit."
It was Ren and Nora.