Origin of the Technomancer

The lightning struck close this time, momentarily blinding Vawn. Blinking away the spots as he wiped the rain from his eyes Vawn continued rushing toward home. Rushing because it was storming, but also rushing because he was late for supper. Again. He would hear about it from his wife, he was sure of that. He would also hear about the lack of an umbrella or hat to keep him dry. Funny thing about rain, you only get so wet and then it just rolls off. The rain had soak completely through his cloths long ago, but it was either through instinct or habit that he kept trying to shield himself from the relentless drops that pounded him. Onward through the twisting streets he ran. The puddles had joined forces and formed a continuous lake that surrounded every building making Vawn’s every foot fall a wet one. Another flash of lighting and thunder trailing close behind. Not as close as the last one, but still closer than Vawn would have liked. There was no one else dumb enough to be out and about on a night like this. Everyone else was snuggled into their nice warm homes, next to a roaring fire or wrapped up in a blanket. Wood paneling inside and out providing good protection against the storm. Fire in the hearth and oil lamps casting a warm glow across the room. Vawn looked forward to that very thing, casting himself out of his wet things and into a warm robe and something warm to eat to help heat him from the inside. Soup. Vawn hoped there was hot soup waiting for him once he arrived home.

He cursed himself for loosing track of time. If often happened when he was focused on a project. The frustrating thing was that this project had hit a brick wall and he was out of gas in the creative department. His assistant was not much help. It wasn’t his fault; he didn’t really know what Vawn was puzzling about most of the time but was eager to help out the best he could. He was certainly thankful for having such a helpful assistant. Deryn had come to him under quite unexpected circumstances. He had accepted a position at the Higher Learning School, moved all the way from the coast, but once he got here found that the position was no longer available. With no money in his pocket to return home he thought to knock on doors looking for work. Vawns door was the first door that Deryn had tried, and the rest, as they say, is history.

As Vawn turned the corner towards home, the wind drove the rain into his face. Vawn tucked his chin into his chest and covered his face with one hand to try and deter the ice like darts from pelting his face. After a few steps Vawn ducked into a small space between buildings. The gap wide enough for Vawn to squish into and get out of the elements. Rivers snaked their way down the mud streets carving miniature valleys on their way to the lakes forming at the bottom of the street. After a few moments of catching his breath Vawn threw himself back into the ice dart rain and continued his way home. As he fought his way down the street Vawn filled his mind with images of sitting by a roaring fire and sipping on a nice bowl of hot sou….

CRACK

Lightening stuck the tree directly next to Vawn Blinding him and making his ears ring. Instinctively, Vawn hit the ground and covered his head with his arms. Bits of the tree rained down on him adding to the rain that was now washing the mud of his exposed back and legs that had splashed on him when he fell to the ground. Once he was sure it was safe to do so, he lowered his arms and lifted his head. His eyesight was slowly coming back at the center of his vision. His ears still ringing, but that was abating as well. As Vawn stood, his head began to swim. He lost direction of which way he was going. His vision, such as it was, clouded. Staggering a step, he tried to regain his faculties. His feet were extremely heavy and clogged with mud making it impossible to move. Thoughts whirled round inside his head as though it were tossed around by the storm outside his head.

Then in and instant, like the cracking of a whip, the world came into focus. Not the physical world but an essence of the world. An idea. An inspiration. A finely developed plan finally and fully revealed.  He could see it before him. The solution to the very project he had been working on for months and getting no where. Hundreds of failed experiments. Dozens of long nights. Endless discussions with various likeminded individuals all forgotten and rendered useless. In a single instant, several months of recalculations, trials, frustrations were satisfied. He could see it. Study it. Rotate it in his minds eye to any angle to extract every detail. The image seemed to hover in front of him against the background of a burning tree. Then, he watched as what looked like mist formed out of the surrounding air. At first the mist had no real form or direction, then slowly at first and quickly gaining speed started to mix and swirl and form into what Vawn thought was raw power. The power then formed into straight lines and passed through the vision and down towards the earth. As soon as the power hit the earth, the world, the real world, jerked Vawn back to reality like a soggy slap in the face. Vawn found himself on his knees in the middle of a rain-soaked street next to a smouldering and smoking tree. It took him a few moments to realize where he was and why he was soaked to the skin keeping a flaming tree company the middle of the street. The vision fresh in his mind he staggered to his feet and made his cumbersome feet rush back to his workshop as fast as they would carry him. Long forgotten was the warm meal, dry clothes and being late. This was too important to leave to tomorrow. He did not want to forget the image he saw. He rushed to his workshop to record the event and the newly minted idea. First to sketch out the image he saw then record as many of the details as he could. The term Technomancer had never existed to this point and little known to Vawn, he was going to be the greatest one that ever lived.