79 Winter, 505 A.V.
The bone. The precious bit of the stray that Venser had connected with was held in his palm, the small jaw bone easily able to be held in his hand, yellowing teeth reflecting a small amount of the light illuminating the boy and his brother's room. It was another morning dedicated to the brother's education, Venser safely abandoned in his house, and today... there was no place that he would rather be.
The tears were still wet against his cheeks, the fifteen year old mourning the loss of his canine friend, the stray that he had encountered and learned to love. The concept of death, the body's last... transformation, was one he had not yet learned to accept with a knowing grace. Why did it have to happen? I mean, I knew it had to... I couldn't feed it, either. Father only gives me so much... B-but... it was just a puppy. Just a puppy...
The worst bit of it all was that Venser had subjected himself to this from the beginning of it. He had coldly calculated the pup's death, watching as its mother and siblings were lost to it, feeling its isolation and pain as his very own, supervising the canine's path to destruction. He never knew that he would become attached. He never suspected that such a small, fragile thing could be worthy of love.After all, I'm just as unworthy as Baurus was...
Ultimately, Venser could attribute his affection for the pup to the fact that he had given it a name. To label something was to give it an identity, to give it significance and value in one's own heart. Father knows this. There's a reason he has never called me by name. The boy shook his mind from the thoughts regarding his father, allowing himself to return to the matter at hand.
Preparations were all but complete, Venser having taken a small, metal hook with a sharpened edge to use as his engraving tool. The object was on his nightstand, the jawbone nestled in his hands, fingers caressing the jawbone, the last remains of the beast he had named Baurus, the stray he had attached himself to so. How hard it had been to do this to Baurus! How difficult it had been to shred its remains, to mutilate the dog he had adored from afar for weeks, and towards the end of its life, even spent time with, cuddled with, played with... He hated himself for allowing the dog to suffer such an agonizing death, but he also assured himself that the dog was going to live forever in some form. He owed that much to the pup that he was unable to save. To the entire family that he had been unable to help. He was going to make sure that Baurus' innate djed lived on, some of it, at least, even if his body was to be re-absorbed into the earth.
It was for this reason that Venser was grateful to his brother for allowing him to join in his study of Nader-canoch. The language was harsh, confusing due to how limited the vernacular was. It was a tongue that required close attention to be paid to the idea of a sentence rather than literally translated words. But, this language was the one in which the most useful of the information that he wished to learn was recorded.
The book! It had information regarding this very concept! In the haste of the idea, Venser set down the bone and hook upon his nightstand.
My last creations have been failures. But, I have been imprudent! I have to be patient. I have to study while I'm doing the work in order to succeed! I have to do it, because if not, then Baurus will be dead! And it will be my fault!
The boy stood up, a bright grin set upon his features as the desire built in him. He needed to preserve Baurus, he wanted to preserve his djed, unleashed, usable djed. Djed could be neither created nor destroyed, but without it being able to be used, then it was worthless. Without it being able to serve a purpose... Baurus was dead. Gone forever. Venser set out towards the small shelf dedicated to Verin's educational pursuits, the books Vilkas, their father, had given to him. Verin hardly touched the ones on the bottom shelf. That was where he had found it the first time... perhaps it was still there.
Once Venser reached the shelf, a small, thin thing that only reached to the boy's ribcage, he lowered himself to the ground, sitting cross-legged in front of the wooden structure, fingers caressing the grainy wooden shelf before skidding along the thin pages, rising to brush along the spines of each book, leather pressing into the pads of his fingers as he reached the first.Djunn-Canoch, The title made the book obvious, seeing as it was one of two that was written in the Ancient Tongue, and the boy troubled himself to pronounce it.
"Deejoon...Canoch... No. That can't be right. Djuun-Canoch. Wordcraft, right? Or is it Craft of Words? Art of Speech? This language is so confusing..." The boy allowed a soft sigh to escape his lips before he fished for the second, and only other book titled in the language he had come to know as nader-canoch. "Zapatl. This one's easy. One word makes it clear that it's the Legacy. In our tongue... Malediction." Despite the pain the boy had been feeling, despite his own growing frustration with the art that he had just spoken of, the word brought a smile to his lips. The potential of the craft was limitless. It's the key to keeping Baurus' essence alive...
Once Venser had collected both books, he rose from his place on the ground, carefully placing both of the worn, leather-bound tomes underneath his arm, feet quickly taking him back towards his room, where the hook and jaw bone were waiting for him to begin his task.
