11 (II)
Cooking
The first thing he did was create a few makeshift bowls. He found an abandoned shell of some kind after a bit of looking, and he carved some utensils using the stones scattered on the shore. He laid the shell on the fire, using it in place of a pot.
Shiv then studied his ingredients with greater detail. This time, instead of observing things like a chef, he used his Biomancy. His field caressed each of the food items he obtained, and his mind was awash in sensory detail. With a bit of struggle, he managed to separate the lean meat from the fat. There were lots of other feelings he got from the meat too, but he understood very little about what he could feel. It was a bit like having an architectural layout of flesh in his head—and it was strange to think of things that way. After prodding the cave biter meat with his field, he moved on to the shrimp. To his surprise, he found that the meats felt similar in a lot of ways in terms of composition, but the detailed differences were far greater.
It was like comparing two houses. You could tell there were bits of semblance between their shapes and certain materials, but in the end, a castle and a commoner’s residence were still not exactly the same thing.
Finally, he observed the mushrooms. And found himself absolutely lost. The mushrooms weren't like the meat at all. He had no idea what he was feeling or looking at. There were also so many small components to the mushrooms that he found himself getting lost in their biological composition, despite how small they were. Curious, Shiv chose one and compelled it to expand. It did, bursting apart and showing its dense inner flesh made out of pale, blue fibers.
“Well, mushrooms, let’s see if you end up killing me.”
“Killing you?” Valor said, sounding wary. “Mushrooms. Are you… Are you about to cook random mushrooms you found?”
“Yep,” Shiv said, snickering to himself. He could see the mushrooms challenging him, taunting him, daring him to discover how they taste. “We will see who is greater.”
“Are you… monologuing to the mushrooms?”
“The food needs to learn who the chef is,” Shiv explained. It was something Georges used to repeat. “And I need to know that I am the chef.”
Valor fell silent at that for a beat. “What color is the mushroom?”
“Bright blue.”
“Oh. Mendules, most likely. If that’s what they are, you will be fine. In fact, you can ingest them right now and gain a bit of focus. Or so I’ve been told. They have some minor hallucinogenic properties, but it is mostly auditory and comes with a sense of calm.”
Shiv stared at the mushrooms. “Well. That’s nice. I’m surprised. I expect everything down here to kill me.”
“Ah. I’m afraid you’ve gotten only a partial image of the depths. And the ugliest image at that. This place can be a realm of great beauty, wonder, and joy. But you are currently walking through the uncharted wilds—the places that none of the Five Faiths have colonized.”
Shiv wanted to ask about the Five Faiths, but remembered he was pretending to be a local. Just someone who fell from a bit higher up. If he asked something like that, he might just give away his game. That could change things between him and Valor. He didn’t know much about the dagger man either, but he didn’t need the only person helping him so far to turn into an enemy. Frankly, he didn’t want Valor to stop talking to him. The dagger had been the only positive company he had since—
Well, ever.
Georges was a good guy, but nice and encouraging, he was not. Him not insulting someone was as close to a compliment as they would get. Which was why Shiv was so surprised to hear Georges call him a pillar. That would stick with Shiv forever too. Pillar. I’m a pillar for myself down here as well. There was something encouraging about that. Something enduring.
Shiv began his prep work. He boiled the water and cleaned the meat as best he could. He peeled the shrimp and extracted the dense flesh from their claws as well. He didn’t know much about these current ingredients, but he knew of similar recipes that combined roast pork and crabs. Shiv would go with those as his base of knowledge and adapt accordingly. After all that was done, he sliced the meat he had into pieces. He applied the mushrooms first, added the shrimp next, and when the bubbling water was finally of a blue-gold coloring, he put in the cave biter meat and let it seep.
As he felt the flesh burn and pop, he examined the organisms again using his Biomancy. He felt how the textures of their composition changed—how their biological architectures warped and were altered. It was fascinating how much heat could do. A burn in a single spot could alter the shape of an entire organism. Living tissue reacted, adapted, and tried to accommodate. That might be the biggest advantage of the living, actually. They actively tried to adapt to suit their environment. Comparatively, dead metal needed to be rebuilt.
Shiv wondered if that was why the automata struggled to keep pace with most humans and elves as they grew their skills. They were born blunted from the world in some ways.
“Shiv? Are you still there?” Valor said.
“Yeah. Just watching the meat. Trying to make sure it doesn’t burn. This needs to be perfect.” There was another benefit to his Biomancy—he could judge just how finely something was burned. There was no more visual and taste-based guesswork. He could tell exactly how cooked something was now. This is going to be very useful. Getting Biomancy was worth that alone.“Meat tastes different based on how much you cook it, and different things have different tolerances. Like people. That’s why you have to do them at different times. Or adjust things on the fly.”
“I see. You sound like a skilled chef.”
Shiv shook his head. “I’m barely a student, but I am student to a master Chef. His cooking is like nothing you could—” Shiv trailed off, realizing he was talking to a dagger. “Sorry. This must seem very boring to you.”
“Not at all. I quite like food.”
The Deathless’s eyes widened. “You do?”
“Yes. Well, I did. Before I was sealed in this cage, I had quite the appetite. I liked trying new and exotic flavors wherever I went. Ah, Shiv, have you been to New Albion? Or the Middle Realms of Chen Sheng? Have you heard of the Golden Lands where the people remain untouched by the System, still clinging to remnants of the old ways?I have seen many of these places, made many friends and enemies, but what I remember most fondly are the flavors of their cuisines.”
Shiv felt his attention drifting, and would have let the cave biter meat burn if his Biomancy wasn’t constantly warning him. “That all sounds pretty great. But no. I haven’t… I didn’t have the chance to travel. To even live, really. Not till recently.” Shiv reflected on his life and found his loathing of Roland Arrow to be more pronounced than ever. What curse? It was just something that blossomed into a Path, and Shiv was fine. He wasn’t a murderer—hell, Adam Arrow and the others would have all been killed without Shiv. Well, maybe not Adam. He was taken prisoner. What was with that anyway… He sighed. Still too many questions. There was something about this war that just felt weird.
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“The world is a cruel and cold place,” Valor said. “You have faced a lot of adversity?”
Shiv considered the dagger’s question. “Yeah. Enough. A lot of it pointless. It didn’t have to be this way.”
“A common enough problem. That is the additional layer of salt upon the pain: Oftentimes, there is little purpose in suffering, and so the injustice is greater.”
“Yeah,” Shiv sighed. “Yeah. But we’re done with that now. I’m not going back to that life. Ever. I’m my own man now. A Pathbearer. I’ll do what I can to get better—to make this life something only I can control. And then… Well, right now, I’m living.” He chuckled. “Would you believe me if I told you this is the happiest day of my life? That everything I ever wanted was this? Monsters? Adventures? To go wherever I want? Be who I am? Face the dangers that threaten me, and terrify those who would have hated me? Then enjoy a bit of cooking after? This is the life.”
“I would. I was not so different from you once upon a millennium ago. But I… was also compelled a bit by something else. An extra incentive.”
Shiv found himself curious. “What was the extra incentive?”
“My real mother had my home burned and my adoptive family massacred. She was trying to kill me. She failed. And so I went after her, thus ensuring the conditions of a Curse. But that’s a story I will not tell in detail. Not right now.”
A slight sense of disappointment passed through Shiv, but he realized something. Valor might have offered that bit to draw some information out from Shiv. Hells, the dagger might be lying. But then again, Shiv was being sort of a liar too. At least both of them were pleasant about it. “You sound like you had a pretty long life, Valor.”
“I did. And it’s still going. This is just another tale in eternity.”
Shiv liked the sound of that.
As all sides of the cave biter meat were stained in a crisp gold-blue, Shiv doused the flames and tasted his food using his Biomancy. An explosion of calmness swept through him, followed by a rich aroma of seafood and what tasted like caustic lamb. It was a strange dish, but a strong one. He stabbed down with his kitchen knife and took a bite. The texture crunched nicely. The heat was perfect. He had a bit of shrimp, and he grunted in appreciation. Yeah. This was good. Shiv might’ve made a damn good chef after all.
He decided to compliment himself the Georges way. “It’s not shit.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Just quoting someone I know. It’s good. I did a good job.”
“Ah. Good to hear. You seem to have a healthy opinion of yourself.”
“Someone had to. When the world hates you and you’re all you got, you either join them like the beaten dog they want you to be or you stand for yourself. Like a pillar. And you prove them wrong as many times as it takes. Then you keep doing it, because you know they wouldn’t have made it half as far as you did in your shoes.”
“Quite the perspective. I can respect that. It is certainly healthier than my way of viewing the world as a child.”
Shiv considered Valor. If what he said about the whole mother killing adoptive family thing was true…
Shiv was Omenborn. People hated him. People tried to avoid him. People threw things at him and deprived him. He was starved. But what would he have been like if they were actually trying to hurt him? To kill him? What if Roland Arrow wasn’t so decent?
Who would Shiv be then?
“We become who we are to survive. Or to cope with the pain. Two ways of life. That’s the way I see things.”
“I agree. I quite enjoy talking to you. It’s far more appealing than Nomos, if I am allowed to speak ill of the dead again. She was… very angry. And blamed the world for many things. She was right sometimes, but her grievances and pain led her to make several poor decisions. It is an ugly thing to state, but I think she got her sisters killed. She was not supposed to be my carrier. The quest was not hers. But she wanted the glory and to prove herself. Now the Umbrals are dead, and a stranger to their culture takes on the task they could not conclude.”
“What was their quest anyway? And why are you trapped in a dagger?”
“Oh. To bring me to the Composer so that she might reveal how I might be able to be unsealed in exchange for my services. As for why I am trapped—well, someone managed to place a warding seal on something precious of mine. Things transpired from there.”
“Your services?”
A pause followed. “You don’t actually know who I am, do you, Shiv?”
The Deathless went stiff. He might have just slipped up. “As I told you, I was pretty caged all my life. I’m just experiencing things for the first time.”
“Ah. I understand. Well. It’s still surprising. And refreshing. I missed talking to someone who just treated me like a person instead of a myth or nightmare. But alas, when you make a name slaying Legendary Pathbearers and beings even greater than that, you melt into your own stories a bit. At times, you become the one people see in the fantasy, just because it’s easier for you.”
“Slaying Legendary—” Shiv nearly choked on his food. Roland Arrow was a Master Pathbearer, and he was by far the most powerful person Shiv encountered aside from the serpent vicar. Now, Valor claimed to be a slayer of Legendary beings? And higher? Shiv didn’t even know the Paths went higher than that. The members of the Auroral Council at the head of the Yellowstone Republic were all Legendary Pathbearers, and they were like living avatars for the gods or something. Shiv couldn’t imagine what kind of power they possessed.
Yet.
“Yes, yes. It’s all very loud and impressive. But also… less than you imagine. Many people die the same in the end, Shiv. Let no one tell you otherwise. The stories talk about how I slew Elder Vampire Count Halsbeth, but they don’t mention how he wailed for his mother, his wife, and for life as he begged me to take my blade out of his heart. I saw… a vision of him as a child in that moment. A child standing before oblivion. And as I killed him, it scarred me.”
Shiv didn’t know how to respond. “Well. He was a vampire, right? He had it coming.”
A deep sigh sounded from the dagger. “We all eventually have it coming, Shiv. If you live long enough, you will understand.”
Silence swallowed the conversation thereafter. Shiv suddenly felt like a very young child trying to trade experiences with an ancient. It was interesting at times, but more than a little unnerving at others. He would need time to adapt to this too.
After enjoying his meal, Shiv cleaned his weapons and spent a few minutes just resting. He took in the world outside his alcove, admiring the painted “sky,” the darkness, and enjoying the sounds of the river running by. A calmness sank into his very bones. It reminded him of these mushrooms.
Mendules.I’m going to get more sometime. This is good after a fight. Really takes the edge off. It occurred to him that this might be his equivalent to smoking. Looked like there was a bit of Georges in him after all. I’m finally a real chef now.
With that thought, a notification appeared.
Cooking > 20
A two-level advance in cooking. Shiv smiled and lifted a single arm in lazy triumph. Oh, he was going to cook so many things down here.
With that thought in his mind, he considered some other options. Now that I have a moment, I can start experimenting on myself with Biomancy and looking over some other things. My Toughness is ready to evolve—whatever that entails. I should start warping my body in different ways. See if I can figure out how to heal myself without turning myself into a walking hive of cancers. Or find out how to remove those tumors. That’ll be useful next time. If I could fight like the high vampire—or make myself a combat form, I could get a lot more dangerous.
And so, Shiv enjoyed a few more moments of quiet as he readied himself for some good pain. With the mushrooms cooling his mind down, even the slight edge of death vanished. Everything felt smooth.
Without hesitation, Shiv turned his mana field inward and, bit by bit, started dissecting himself in vivid detail.