Chapter 1: Entry

Subject: Caim Location: Unknown

Caim awoke in a foggy trance. Around him was a suffocating white void. It was a painfully tranquil place.

Even though he had difficulty remembering precise details, he could recall enough of the bigger picture. The muscles in his arms tensed, and his hands balled into fists.

My role in this...

The shivering sensation of static electricity embraced his body.

A destination revealed itself as if it had always been there, obscured by ivory fog. The grounding plane he longed for rested nearly a meter below, but the actual distance felt much more significant.

Weightlessness gave way to free-fall. The surface of his body cast off an amber glow, illuminating the cave around. Before he could adjust to the free-fall, Caim touched down, and his body simultaneously expelled a powerful shockwave of energy.

His knees bent to absorb the impact of the landing. Surprisingly, it wasn’t painful, but it was forceful.

The cavern was a mosaic of forest green and rust-brown rock. Scattered murky white crystals illuminated the expanse, reflecting a light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Though the amber light from Caim’s charged entrance gradually faded, the crystals retained a dull glow.

A guttural growl drew his attention. Caim turned around and saw that he wasn’t alone in the cavern. Mere steps away, a young woman was locked in a fierce struggle with a monster.

The creature somewhat resembled a wolf, but it had thick blue fur, and it was much larger than the young woman wrestling with it. An elongated snout ended in crimson mandibles, between which the warrior had lodged a short, similarly crimson-metaled blade. The blade was the only thing preventing the beast from puncturing her neck.

This is about what I expected.

“I… don’t know… who you are...” the woman grunted, struggling to keep the blade locked in place as medium-length locks of straight black hair spilled across the cave floor, “...but you need to escape. Find Mille in the Guild. Tell her that I’m… that Alice is sorry.”

She tightly gripped the hilt of her weapon with one hand, while the other was pressed against a tuft of the monster’s underside. Its powerful jaws twitched, anticipating sinking into her flesh.

The beast’s glowing white eyes flitted to Caim. He shivered.

Blue light flooded through gaps in Alice’s ravaged black armor. Luminescent lines traced her skin like a tattoo. The glow pulsed brighter and receded, on repeat, gradually intensifying.

His mind raced. Countless thoughts spread in every direction, none helpful in Caim’s current predicament.

Then, all at once, his body relaxed. It was too sudden to be natural.

Caim’s hand met the cool surface of an object in his pocket, about the dimensions of a playing card, but slightly thicker. He didn’t know what it was, but it was crucial to his survival. He felt that it must be.

The beast bent low and disengaged from its prey, leaping back and reorienting in Caim’s direction.

Alice looked back at Caim. Her green eyes were faintly outlined by a blue glow. An expressionless stare looked through him. With rigid movements, the warrior stepped into the monster’s path.

“Don’t ignore me,” she called out. “You came for me. That makes you mine.”

The blue light tracing Alice’s skin confused Caim, but she seemed to be sacrificing herself for him. He hadn’t intended to intrude on this fight, so he was being allowed to leave.

Unlike before, Caim’s deliberations were calm and rational. He wasn’t a soldier, just a victim of circumstance.

He sprinted for the only exit. The beast advanced toward him, but Alice lunged to intercept.

Craning his neck while he ran, Caim saw Alice’s black hair take on a bluish sheen. Visible tendrils of energy extended from the warrior’s arms and reached for her foe.

Magic, he realized. It must be!

Nearly to safety, Caim slowed and turned. It was the stranger’s face. No matter how detached those relaxed facial muscles made her seem, there was pain-stricken defiance in her eyes.

I need to use it, he decided. Even if I don’t know how... I’ll find a way.

Subject: Caim Location: Unknown

The black card hummed as it activated on command, and Caim’s body moved of its own accord. He released his hold on the curious thing and allowed it to change shape.

A small constellation of black orbs spread before him. Three in all, they were arranged in an equilateral triangle. Threads of wispy black energy connected each circle to its partners.

A mark appeared on one of the orbs.

Only one spell. Is that what this means?

Looking past these unsettling stars, Caim watched the warrior Alice stalk toward the beast. Her footsteps were slow. She had been disarmed, and her armor was shredded, but she didn’t seem to care.

Alice’s tendrils of blue light were coiled around the hulking monster’s forelegs. Caim hadn’t been paying attention the whole time, but something she was doing seemed to be working. The growling was desperate.

It doesn’t look like she’s entirely aware of her surroundings.

Closer to Caim, the constellation collapsed in on itself, hardening back into the form of the black card. He pocketed it, with a little hesitation now that he knew a little more about what it was.

It was a tool for getting him up to speed.

Caim held out his hands, cupping his palms until a speck of silver light materialized above them.

The shape of the light gradually molded itself into something resembling a silvery flying insect. Caim locked his legs in place and watched on.

Layers of dark gray metallic plates stacked to form the creature's short thorax.

A spherical head welded itself atop the body. No antennae, no eyes, nor any other notable features resembling the sensory organs of a living creature. Caim had another guess at what the head was for, but he would have to wait to see if he was right.

Lastly, the glittering blue wings of a butterfly spread out on either side of the metal thorax. They were lined with silver bone-like scaffolding.

The exterior surfaces looked smoother and more intentional than that of an organic creature, but more jagged and life-like than an artificial one. On top of all that, it was created from magic.

The black constellation labeled this spell “Scion”. Vera had named it, and Caim had no attachments to the epithet itself. However, the construct’s appearance was distantly familiar.

Out of nowhere, Scion spoke to Caim. It reached out, not with words or any primitive sound, but into his mind, to ask him a question. Focusing hard on the sensation, he was able to interpret the question.

Your enemy? Where? Scion asked.

A potent emotional attachment formed between the adorable construct and its creator. Whether he deserved the title “creator” or not, given that he knew so little about it, was in dispute. But there wasn’t time for thoughts like that.

Scion fluttered its wings to keep itself afloat while it eagerly awaited a response. Why did Caim know the magical construct was so eager? He didn’t. As much as he hated relying on hazy intuition, that was his whole world in this foreign cave.

I made you, Scion. Vera’s balancing scales and all her designs can’t deprive me of this accomplishment.

Caim could tell that Scion didn’t understand his attempts to feel like one thing at all was in his control. It was a simple creature, and it wasn’t like he really knew what he was thinking about, either.

Where? Scion repeated, and Caim was reminded of Alice, who was still protecting him, even if it seemed like she wasn’t aware of his presence anymore.

She was still barehanded, recklessly gripping the creature’s neck fur, rooting her bootheels against the rock floor to keep her opponent from tossing her aside. Alice’s behavior was excessively daring. One wrong move invited sharp mandibles to gore her vulnerable body. Once upon a time, that layered composite armor had enough bulk to protect her, but not anymore.

While Alice struggled, her determination was peculiar. It was like the girl was aware of her objective, and keenly focused on it, but not the consequences of failure.

The blue glow had engulfed even the whites of her eyes. Those energy tendrils wrapped their way around the beast more completely. It flailed, but she continued to hold firm.

“My enemy is that,” Caim stated, pointing to the beast, but keeping his worried eyes on Alice.

There was no immediate response from Scion. It continued to flutter in place, and he started to worry that it didn’t hear him at all. If it didn’t understand him when he talked, how would it get the message?

After a delay, it asked a new question.

Your enemy is the gifted thing? Caim heard Scion more clearly, now that he knew what to concentrate on. The attacking one? it emphasized.

“‘Gifted thing?’ I don’t understand. My enemy is the monster, and yes, it is dangerous. I don’t know what it is called. It has four legs!”

Different selection. Your enemy is blightbeast?

It was still difficult to discern Scion’s questions. Caim heard the word “beast” somewhere, so he thought that was good enough, and it had read his intentions.

“Yes. My enemy is the beast.”

Subject: Caim Location: Unknown

Scion took off higher into the air, zigzagging towards the monster. When it was close enough, Scion unleashed a barrage of yellow bolts of light. The first such projectile disappeared into the beast’s blue fur with a muffled thud. Caim would have thought such a meager attack from a creature less than half his size would have no effect, but it produced a low yelp.

The creature’s crimson-mandibles twitched while it looked around for the cause of its pain, and its long tail thumped the ground angrily.

Both Alice and the creature disengaged at the same time. Alice turned slightly, head cocked in confusion. Her eyes swept horizontally, meeting Caim instead of Scion.

A moment of silence.

The strands of magical energy released their grip on the beast. Caim had disrupted Alice’s control. He hadn’t saved her, he’d only made her more vulnerable.

A moment of regret.

The second bolt of light pierced the air and struck the target again. This time, the creature spun around and whipped its tail in a circle. Though it wasn’t aiming for her, the tail connected with Alice’s side and knocked the air from her lungs.

Simultaneously, the impact forced her from the depths of the strange trance. The blue light began to recede.

Whatever spell Alice had been using had been the source of her calm. That much was clear now. She tripped and lost her balance, falling onto her backside. Alice scrambled further away from her foe, scraping her boots against the cave floor. Panicked eyes swept the cave.

She’s looking for her weapon! Where is it?

Caim began to search now, too. The dull glow of the crystals left much of the chamber in darkness. The blood-red blade reflected little light. Now that Alice’s body wasn’t producing so much light, her weapon was lost somewhere in the shadows.

Scion continued to fire a stream of magical bullets.

Alice’s back hit the cave wall with a thud. She could crawl no further, but the unexpected impact sent her further into a panic. One hand supported her while the other clutched her heaving abdomen.

Caim wanted to help, but he didn’t know how to.

I’m weak. I’ve never fought anyone or anything before. Not in person. Not directly. Why did I think I could help?! Caim’s thoughts attacked him for his foolishness.

“But Vera said I should try,” he protested.

Vera isn’t here. She sent me away. Who even is Vera, really?

“Vera is strong. She said I could be too!” he declared, having intended to sound firm.

And look where listening got me. This stranger might have won without my intervention. I’m repeating the past.

The sound of heavy liquid dripping onto the ground of the cavern echoed just loud enough to rouse Caim. A dark purple substance oozed forth from wounds on the creature’s body, spilling out across the rock with a strange viscosity. It didn’t look like any vital essences, Caim had ever seen before.

Blood.

Alice seemed surprised that the creature was wounded, and she looked for the source of the wounds. Scion was still fluttering around while firing off magical projectiles. Her mouth hung open, gasping with amazement.

The stranger’s refocused on Caim, and she seemed to calm down a little.

“You’re a Battle Synergist?!” She asked in a loud whisper of disbelief. “But... you wear the clothes of a civilian.”

Caim didn’t respond. He didn’t know how to respond, and he wasn’t allowed to think harder on it because the glint of crimson mandibles drew closer in his periphery. A gust of hot breath only chilled Caim’s blood.

“You’re twisted, Vera,” he cursed.

Caim wished he could see her one last time so he could say that to her face.

The wounded beast was not nearly dead. He slowly turned to face it and began backing away with trembling legs.

Before being transported to this cave, Caim hadn’t known a creature like this existed. He would have been perfectly fine without this information.

His back scraped against the uneven rock wall. A luminescent crystal cluster jutted out to his left. The creature was still stalking forward. He was trapped.

The beast bent its forelegs low and readied its hind legs to spring. It was about to pounce when a shadow slid into view to save Caim.

Alice had retrieved her blade, and she clung tightly to the creature’s bucking body while guiding the hungry weapon toward an open wound.

The warrior’s arms were swathed in that blue glow again.

Scion was still firing, and Caim didn’t know how to stop the conjured magical creature from accidentally hitting Alice with a stray bolt. He tried to call out to it using their mental link.

Scion! Don’t hit her! he begged.

Don’t understand, it responded. Dismiss me?

Alice’s blade found soft flesh. As the tip sunk in, the beast howled in horrible pain, and its legs gave out. Caim was terrified of the monster, but the howl was enough to make him sympathize with the agony it was experiencing. It struggled back to its feet and thrashed even harder, a flurry of desperate motion that was impossible to follow.

Murky purple ooze hit numerous chamber surfaces with wet *splats*. Alice’s blade clattered to the ground. After enduring this bucking for some time, Alice finally reached her limit. She was thrown from her thrashing adversary, slamming hard against the wall. The beast continued to flail about wildly, growling and twitching its mandibles aggressively with no clear target.

Alice didn’t get up. Looking closely at her slumped form, Caim could see that she was still breathing, but her blue magic had faded away again.

Her eyelids slid open, and she stared into Caim’s eyes. For a moment, Alice looked appreciative and determined to rise.

“Oops…” was all she managed to say weakly.

Caim wanted to say something back. He knew nothing about this hero, but she endangered herself for him. Even if the danger had already been there, what she did had to mean something.

Before he could say anything, Caim’s chance slipped away. Alice sucked in a deep breath, exhaled, and then did this a few more times. She wasn’t dead, but she was too tired to stand up right now. The wounded warrior closed her eyes.

The beast gradually calmed enough to refocus its efforts on Caim. Limping and barely alive, it still had enough energy to kill him.

Caim’s lightweight jacket was the most protective article of clothing on his body, and even that hung open. Vicious mandibles approached, and his heartbeat hastened. Fear and disorientation filled the borders of his vision with a white haze.

Staring at death, there was no self-reflection. Caim only saw the face of the person who sent him here.

For a brief moment, he didn’t feel the punctures in his upper torso, but his arms fell limply to his sides. Caim was unable to lift them. He stopped trying.

He stared up at the glowing white eyes mere centimeters away. Eyelids slid shut, and a gentle sleep pulled him into its warm embrace.

Then, a discourteous pain roused him to a state of hyper-alertness.

Caim inhaled a raspy, tormented breath. Parts of his body felt numb with cold. Others burned like a searing liquid was circulating through them. He was confused. Caim wanted to be angry, but he only just now remembered the expression on Vera’s face before she had sent him off.

She said she probably wouldn’t see me again. She said she was sorry she was doing this to me. She said… something confusing... about a loophole in the mission?

Caim looked up at Scion. It was fluttering in the air above him and the beast, which had pinned him to the chamber wall with its mandibles. He looked over to where Alice had fallen, but her body was gone.

“She left me?”

His anger at the stranger’s betrayal was short-lived. At least she was alive.

“Whatever. You were right, Vera. I wasn’t ready.”

“Who is Vera?” a voice casually asked.

A familiar blue aura appeared from behind the creature. Its blue fur didn’t shine this bright, and the dark blood matting much of it swallowed even more of the dim light’s reflections. There was only one likely source.

Alice hadn’t abandoned him.

The creature growled, withdrawing its mandibles from Caim’s chest. His pain peaked to an unbearable level, the worst he remembered ever feeling in his life, as the contents of his chest were jostled again.

An unsettling *squish* accompanied Alice’s blade burying itself in the beast’s thick neck before it could turn around. The monster shuddered and collapsed. Labored, raspy breathing fell silent.

Enemy gone, Scion announced.

Though numb to much of the world, Caim felt that his construct was proud of itself.

Caim also felt pride. He watched Scion swoop down to him. It hovered just out of reach. He couldn’t reach out because he was drained of blood, and the muscles in his arms wouldn’t respond.

Scion’s form shone brighter until it began to dissipate into a shower of silver sparkles. These ethereal particles vanished before reaching Caim.

“You’re dying, mage,” Alice stated the obvious in a dispassionate tone.

He looked up at his hero. It looked like she was still fighting a battle of her own. Deep inside her glowing eyes, emotions struggled back to the surface. As her power receded, her feelings returned.

“You’re… dying,” Alice repeated, this time lamenting Caim’s fate sorrowfully.

He smiled and closed his eyes.

That frees me from having to concern myself with her mission and my role in it. She’ll have to turn to the others, now. I don’t envy them.