Congratulations. You have reached level 23

No sooner had I fallen asleep than I leveled up. Kalli wiggled her butt to wake me up and said, Stop leveling. I’m trying to fall asleep here.

I repositioned myself and soon was fast asleep again. The dream from the previous night picked up with young Kalliphae practicing her favorite spell, “Pvruzth”, on the other orphans when they tried to pick on her.

She also used the magic to make fire puppets for the littles to enjoy. When compared to the twisted way that Carmilla Shaw had discovered magic, young Kalli was a breath of fresh air.

The girl trained every day with her new master. He provided her with a cabin hidden in the woods and enough food to keep her belly full at all times. Every night when he left she would sneak out of the cabin and made the long trek in the dark to give the extra food to the hungry littles. There was never enough to go around at the orphanage.

Her master was constantly amazed at how big her appetite was growing yet he never failed to provide more food for the girl. The man taught her to practice her magic constantly, refining the spell to perfection.

The improvements in her control were obvious after the first month. When she first practiced the magic, she had accidentally destroyed the things she was trying to touch. Her flame had a hunger for destruction that she just couldn’t control.

After a month, she managed to caress a sheet of parchment with her flame without even so much as a single singe. Her master constantly praised her.

He tried to hide it but Kalli felt a deep sadness in the man. She wanted to ask him about it but was worried that it would just upset him further.

Kalli’s master didn’t show any signs of weakness until the Hellquists made their move. A letter had arrived informing the girl that the terms of her contract had been modified. While at first, she was to marry a boy who was still a child, she was now betrothed to a fat old man. To make matters worse, the wedding was originally to take place in ten years was now just over a year away.

At first, Kalli didn’t panic. She felt certain that her master would save her. Then he took a deep breath and spoke. “This is a part of your destiny. You are about to embark on an adventure that will forever change your life. While I cannot interfere in what is about to happen, I assure you that you have no need to fear. Embrace your fate. Remember this always. You are special.”

She never saw him again after that. Feeling betrayed by the only man she had ever trusted, Kalliphae made her way out to what had once been a peaceful spot for her. A cliff far out in the countryside offered the girl a view of the world that was normally off-limits to her. She could see all the way to the ocean.

Defiantly, she looked up at the heavens and shouted, “I reject my destiny. If I am so special then why is this happening to me?”

Kalli looked down at her hands which were balled into fists and released them, letting the anger go along with it. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and spun on her heels to go tell the Hellquists that she refused their new contract.

Then she slipped. Her short life flashed before her eyes as the girl fell. As she plummeted, she felt certain that she was sure to break every bone in her body if she didn’t die outright.

Suddenly, Kalli was surrounded by a shimmering white light that blinded the girl. Her fall was arrested and she found herself disoriented in a small room. The only occupant was a scrawny boy who appeared to be unconscious in a pool of his own sick.

He kind of reminded her of the older children from the monastery who constantly bullied her. Or perhaps a noble. She had never actually talked to a noble boy before. Realizing that he had probably summoned her for something evil and not wanting to seem weak, she put on her best stink eye and spoke in the sternest voice she could muster, “How dare you summon me!”

I woke suddenly with the sudden urge to hold Kalli. She smiled and clutched at my arms. I’m glad you summoned me. You saved my life that day.

I’m glad I summoned you too.

What we didn’t notice was Mrs. Hodgins sitting quietly in the dining room staring at us. She spoke in a low voice and said, “Good morning you two. How long have you been sleeping together?”

Kalli waved her arms frantically, flopping off of the couch. “It’s not like that. I just don’t like sleeping alone. You don’t understand.”

Mrs. Hodgins heaved a sigh and said, “Oh, I understand all too well. I was young once too you know.”

A bright red Kalli plopped down at the table next to Mrs. Hodgins, who was serving food that I was amazed hadn’t woke me up in the first place. I stretched out and wandered over to join them for some breakfast.

After we ate Mrs. Hodgins turned to me and asked, “Have you discovered a solution for your Quetzalcoatl problem?”

Quetzalcoatl perked up at the mention of his name, making me feel queasy. I took a sip of my orange juice and replied, “Not exactly. We’ve been pretty busy for the last month.”

The serpent chose that moment to make his appearance, knocking over an end table in the living room when he appeared coiled around it. “Greetings mortals. Today is the day that you finally relieve me of this accursed book.”

I took the book out of my bag for a fresh look.

Item:

Codex Chimalpopocoa

Components

Cursed Mana, Ink, Parchment

Item Rank:

S

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Quetzalcoatl

Deleting was out of the question as I had already tried that. I focused on the components. First I tried modifying or deleting the cursed mana.

ERROR: CURSED ITEMS CANNOT BE EDITED

Then I attempted to remove the ink or make it invisible.

ERROR: CURSED ITEMS CANNOT BE EDITED

Quetzalcoatl hissed as he watched my efforts. “None of that is going to work. If it did, I would have done it long ago.”

Sighing, I decided to try erasing it manually. A powerful tail wrapped around my hand when I tried to open the codex. “No! You must not read the book.”

Turning back to the serpent, I asked, “So any place that we put this thing will effectively be your new prison, right?”

He hissed in my ear. “That was not our agreement. You must place the codex where no mortal will ever find it.”

Mrs. Hodgins cleared her throat to get the serpent’s attention. “How do you propose a mortal does that?”

Quetzalcoatl flicked his tongue at the woman. “I have faith. He appeared before me for a reason.”

Holding up the book, I stepped closer to the dragon. “I want to try something. Do you trust me?”

He repeated, “I have faith. Do what you must.”

I desummoned him, pulling his mana back to my core. Then I held out the book and attempted to resummon him around it. He materialized just to the left of where he normally would. Multiple attempts resulted in the same thing.

Growing frustrated, Quetzalcoatl hissed a question. “What are you attempting to do?”

I sat heavily in the chair and explained, “I was trying to get you to form around the codex, trapping it within your mana. No mortal can go inside you, right?”

The serpent looked down at his coiled body and hissed a sigh. “I have tried to eat the book in the past. It is toxic to me. I cannot consume my shame without perishing in the process.”

With that plan ruled out, I was back to square one. While I did have another idea, I was a little nervous about attempting it. “Tell me Quetzy. If I put this somewhere and can’t get it back, will that count as completing the quest? I can’t tell you for certain if no mortal will be able to access it but I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to.”

The serpent considered my offer for a moment before saying, “Do it. And don’t call me Quetzy.”

Taking a deep breath, I held the book in my hand. Holding it out in front of me and away from my chest, I focused on the couch out in the living room. Folding myself into my mana, I teleported.

The journey across the room was too short. I sighed in frustration and tried again, this time picturing my mom’s apartment. Once again, teleporting across town wasn’t long enough to do what I wanted. I was lucky that my mom wasn’t home or I would have startled her.

It eventually wound up teleporting back to my dorm to achieve the desired effect. While I walked the narrow path through the void between worlds…I released the book.

It hung suspended for a moment before drifting off into the void, propelled by my movement. Then I appeared in my empty dorm. There was no sign of the codex.

I think it worked.

Kalli was mildly upset with me. Did you just leave me here?

I smiled as I Imagined her face scrunched up in annoyance. Before she could say anything else, I teleported back. Only I didn’t make it back to Mrs. Hodgins’ house. I absentmindedly returned to my mom’s apartment.

While I wanted to lock onto my girlfriend and teleport directly to her, I couldn’t figure out how to make it work.

I still can’t teleport there. Can you come get me at my mom’s place?

She grumbled as she mounted the phoenix but I had a feeling that she wasn’t that mad at me. I had just made my way out to the field when she approached, the phoenix a shimmer of light in the mid-morning sky. I had often wondered what it looked like to someone standing on the ground.

While Kalli landed softly and immediately pulled the phoenix back into her dress, Quetzalcoatl ignored his surroundings and landed heavily beside me, kicking up a cloud of dust. “Did you succeed? I don’t see my shame.”

I nodded solemnly at the serpent and explained, “It’s as gone as I can make it. I dropped it in the void between worlds.”

He considered my statement for a moment before letting out a sigh that sounded like a drawn-out hiss. “If the book is truly not in this world any longer then I can rest at ease. If you will give me leave temporarily, I shall return with your reward.”

Kalli and I watched in silence as the serpent slithered his way into the sky. Once he disappeared, she turned to me with her arms crossed. You could have told me you were going to go back to school.

I didn’t know I was going to have to until the shorter teleport failed.

We sat together in the middle of the field while we waited for Quetzacoatl. After a few minutes of silence, Kalli took my hand in hers. Teach me how to teleport.

I stood up, helping her to her feet next to me.

Okay. I am going to do a short teleport of about ten feet. I want you to focus on how it feels. You are going to need to duplicate that if you want to teleport on your own.

She nodded with a nervous expression on her face. I gave her a little nod as I prepared to fold us into the mana causing her to suck in a deep breath of air.

As promised, I took us about ten feet forward. We arrived at our location almost instantaneously. The technique was becoming almost second nature to me.

I looked to Kalli expectantly, hoping she picked up something from my technique. Other than gasping for breath, she didn’t show any signs of understanding.

How did it go? Did you feel yourself being folded into the mana?

She shook her head abysmally. No. The only thing I felt was the air being sucked out of my lungs.

I teleported her back and forth several times until the poor girl was on the ground gasping for breath. She shook her head. I can’t do it. I still don’t understand how you do it.

In an attempt to cheer my girlfriend up, I made a suggestion.

There is something that I am fairly certain you should be able to do. Want to try?