How to break an Empire

The young inventor

The axe made from fragmented talismans reformed itself unto a spear.

It took a whole lot of concentration for the talismans to move around and go into the right places, the mapping of the connections in between them are still weak and unstable. Cliff finally understood why something like this hasn't been done before in the history of the Averdrian Empire.

Essentech is just another branch of science that deals with the proper ways to use essence and talismans, and what they can do to make our lives as humans easier.

"Woah, dude that's amazing!" Tristan jabbed his elbow unto Cliff.

Bang!

The spear slammed to the floor, disassembling itself into the hundreds of tiny talismans that made it up. Cliff heaved a sigh as his contraption fell unto the carpeted floor of their room. It was a failure; he would definitely be a laughing stock in the next invention fair that the university has planned for this year.

"Failure number 436..." Cliff mumbled to himself, "I am most certainly doomed, Tristan...I shouldn't have pitched this idea in."

"Hey now, this is much better than anything similar I have seen! Even Folgen Renoux himself didn't make anything this remarkable!"

"That's because he realized that this field of Essentech is utterly unusable and useless..." Cliff's shoulders slumped.

"Man, controlling these many talismans given the fact that you're Elmeric that in it of itself is a wonderful thing!" Tristan scratched the back of his head shuffling his silver locks of hair. "and who's to say that the council wouldn't give you extra points for being able to come up with a codeless talisman that can be controlled on your whims! This thing only has a single line of code a person could transfer essence and orders to it!"

"No one made it because it is useless, Tristan..."

Tristan slammed his palm unto his face. "You know, sometimes I really want to jam my fist unto your face. You're one of the best inventors in this whole university—at eighteen, mind you!—yet you don't have any sense of confidence in yourself..."

"Then do it—" Cliff turned around to see the fist barreling its way towards him.

Smack.

"Ouch..."

"You provoked me..."

"You didn't have to follow it through!"

Tristan looked at him with hard eyes, he is angry. Cliff looked back at him assessing his silver hair carefully as well as his light blue eyes. Wait for it, wait for it.

"Stop that, you fucking asshole!" Tristan yelled covering his face in embarrassment.

"Aww, what's the matter aren't you one of the most handsome people on campus? Why are you hiding your face now, huh?!" Cliff said looking harder at the visibly embarrassed Valtrian.

"Shut the hell up, man. Hurry up we're going to be late!" Tristan took the bag that lay on the top bunk bed and ran through the half-open door of their dormitory. The moment he got out Cliff was no longer able to control his laughter.

Three more days.

That was all he had to finish his entry to the contest, an entry which isn't even half-finished yet. If Cliff could just figure out how to make an amplifier that'll power up the connections in between the talismans then it'll make it easier to manipulate. Well, if it was a Valtrian holding the gadget then maybe it'll work but what's the point? Some Valtrians can manifest weapons made completely out of their essence in the blink of an eye, why carry around such a heavy contraption?