Chapter Thirteen: Magic, Discovery

Seven pages.

Deciphered.

She had a few pages leftover and still quite a bit more to do but for now.

Waynev.

Was.

Done.

For good reason too.

In one day she had met her first peo- first non-aggressive people in Temporous, found out she was in Dockern, what rankings were… and what felt like a billion other things.

“I’m done. I’ll finish the rest tomorrow, right now even my vision’s failing.” Her yawns inciting another reminder of her overdue break.

Taking one last look at the quest she began packing the documents away.

Quest:

Reach [Hollowed] Rank 1.

Reach the stats required to break through to the [Hollowed] rank.

Consequence:

You lose your innate ability.

Time Limit:

Three days, 16 hours, 36 minutes remaining.

She pulled the papers off her deck, sorting them quickly into the leather bag. The ink had mostly dried except for her most recent addition, which she left above the leather bag.

Everything sorted Waynev flopped onto the bed, lazily going under the covers, her shoes long forgotten the only thing Waynev thought of was the pillow under her head.

Shadow on the other hand.

Patient.

Calm.

Laborious.

Today had been insightful for her, while Waynev had spent the whole day moving, on edge and reactive.

Shadow had been conserving her resources.

Though they shared the same head Shadow had an interesting ability.

Whenever there was a long silence she would tell Waynev she was thinking or pondering her next question, but in reality, she did what Waynev couldn’t.

She slept.

Which is why although their body was exhausted, mentally she was awake and ready to begin.

‘Time to test. Not to rest. At tomorrow’s behest.’ She thought to herself, hiding the thoughts from her other.

Waynev’s hair was no longer in twists and turns, despite its short length the last few days had done a number on it, as Shadow melted back into Waynev the first feeling was of her soft hair.

As Waynev slept unaware, one of her eyes twitched.

In tandem, her pained limbs surged with life.

Then yellow silhouettes met her pupils and Shadow’s eyes opened.

The latch near the window Shadow undid with care, Waynev not knowing was one thing but also making sure the other guests were unaware was just as important.

Her feet left the wooden floor slowly rising to the still’s edge, just below the window was a clear wall, leaning into the gap the building nearby was a leg away from her descent.

Lowering her self out of the still her feet connected to the neighbouring building as her back connected to the inn.

The slow shimmying wasn’t enjoyable but it did guarantee a way back.

“Oh. Whoops.” Walking away Shadow looked back to the still, staring at the open window before continuing walking casually away from the stables and her window.

She was no assassin or spy, sticking to the Shadows was something she did so often it defined her.

Even if it wasn’t willingly.

Her strides continued past drunks and hurrying people’s and the odd serperntkin who looked as if he were shivering before pacing away.

Finally her second obstacle getting out of the city, ahead of her lay the closed gate with telltale signs of lanterns patrolling the lone walls.

Looking around she was met with only tinted stone and old wood, all shaded in the same colour in the barely visible light from the street walkers.

‘Weird name for a floating lantern.’ she murmured finally finding what she was looking for.

Next to one of the walls a bar was animatedly laughing and shaking it's walls with a day’s troubles.

‘Not the best spot, but it’ll do.’ Already approaching the gap she began slowly grinding her way up the small crevice.

If old tricks work why stop using them?

Shadow’s feet touched the walls floor and as she was about to look over the edge she noticed a light then a red outline coming her way.

Crouching down to the edge, she shimmied her way down a few steps and hoped the guard didn’t check.

If he did it would be a long way down, and could lead to Waynev waking up in a cell rather than a bed.

Footsteps pattered closer, accompanied by the rusty swinging of a lantern, it seemed boredom was the same everywhere.

As the last peeks of orange and warmth left the wall Shadow made her appearance, crouching to the edge her head peered over the side for a moment before pivoting so her back faced the edge.

Then she slowly lowered herself.

Gripping the stone and slowly ascending a wall in utter darkness could be seen as crazy.

Shadow saw it as a test.

Slowly, with each step she held herself close to her lifeguard.

If she wasn’t close enough to kiss, she was close enough to miss and fall.

Down into the unknown, seconds became minutes but her breath was steady.

Observing Waynev for so long Shadow knew the secrets to succeeding in her goals.

A calm mind.

A feasible plan.

And of course.

The balls to act on it.

Dropping to the bottom the grass met the wall’s grace, then Shadow sprinted off towards the organic maze.

Waynev’s lips stretched farther then before and her lungs filled with so much air Shadow thought she would burst under the pressure before releasing them as she scaled tree’s with ease.

Jumping from branch to branch Waynev’s hesitation cost her much which she would never know.

Excitedly running through a tree’s leaves Shadow fell to the ground below, rolling and continuing running with the occasional sprawl to avoid voracious branches or tree’s hiding in plain sight.

“I’m alive!” Shadow shouted her voice assertive and courageous, she sounded just like she felt.

Blinking she looked around at the numberless bushes and rocks, barely outlines in the moonlight but it was enough.

“Phew.” Looking around Shadow assumed she had gotten lost before noticing the indent in the forest, that was the way back.

Walking back she hurried and checked the quest log.

Quest:

Reach [Hollowed] Rank 1.

Reach the stats required to break through to the [Hollowed] rank.

Consequence:

You lose your innate ability.

Time Limit:

Three days, 8 hours, 10 minutes remaining.

Four hours, passed in an instant.

Shadow closed the quest turned time-keeper and began jogging back, her nightly activities finally leading to their climax.

Scaling the wall was dangerfree this time, with no guards noticing her escapades.

Lowering herself down however Shadow noticed a man holding a knife to a scaled person directly below herself.

“Hel-”

“Don’t you dare.” His voice came out sing-song, as if drunk.

He brought the shiv closer to her neck as the woman gasped out.

“I don’t care if you’re hiding a tail down there, strip and don’t make a sound.” He grizzled out.

Watching the affair Shadow considered waiting it out.

Before a familiar emotion came to her.

Guilt.

Guilt of being unable to protect, unable to save, unable to prevent.

“Shit.” Turning her head over Shadow was still a few metres above the unwilling couple, the serpentkin was shaking as she began to shift out of her clothes.

“No better time than the present.” Shadow pulled in her legs in as she fell faster than a cat.

Her heels dug into his back as Shadow crashed into the now prone man, quickly grabbing his knife she prepared to fight-

Only to notice his head was bleeding and he hadn’t moved since Shadow crashed into him.

She killed him.

For first murders Shadow was pretty happy hers wasn’t someone innocent, her previous guilt now excitement as she saw the blood pool.

“Wa-Waynev?” An unbelieving voice directed at Shadow.

Her eyes rose as she recognised the serpentkin.

“Abigail.” She froze.

It was someone Waynev knew, just like that her secret was out.

Unless…

She eyed the blade before turning back to Abigail noticing her scrunched up clothes.

“Are-are you alright?” Shadow stuttered out of lack of experience.

“No. But I’m better than I would’ve been.”

Unruffling her clothes she kicked the man's body.

“What an ass he drank too much, wanted me to pay and fuck him? Ptui” Spitting on the corpse Abigail looked back to Shadow as she prepared to leave.

“Thanks for the save, leave the body, the watch will check him in the morn.”

“Alright, Abigail, does this happen often you’re… really calm about it.” She exited the sidestreet giving a quick look around before continuing.

“Avoiding getting raped? No. People die often in Aestern, one wrong move near a noble and it’s over.” Abigail casually remarked her voice gaining back it’s natural accent as she spoke more confidently.

“Waynev, let me thank you with-”

“No.”

“Sorry, I meant it’s been a long night and I need to sleep for tomorrow if I’m honest.” She didn’t need to fake the eyebags or the slight limp.

“Hah! It has been for me too. If you stop by the store I’ll give a discount, night!” She walked off after giving Shadow her first hug.

Shadow on the other hand blinked then pivoted nearly 90 degrees to a sidestreet.

“What a night…” She whispered to herself as she made her way back, the smile that painted her face back in the forest was back at half-throttle without herself being aware of it.

Unfortunately for Shadow, her whispers meant for herself had been heard.

“What a night indeed.” The watcher remarked, impressed with what he had seen.

“A [Contracted] scaling the walls, avoiding patrolls and even instantly killing tonight's mark, I have to meet her.” The figure encased in black remarked to himself, his whisper unable to be heard by even the most sensitive of ears.

“Waynev. Hmm, she could be perfect.”

The morning, after a peaceful night’s sleep for one of the body’s inhabitants.

“Ugggh '' The aches and tells of an exhausted body met Waynev’s senses as she opened her eyes.

Looking at her watch she instead saw the crystal contract or the CC.

Shadow had discussed it with Waynev and in hindsight it was obvious.

People with higher ranks or social status had a higher quality CC, so far the CC was meant to protect the people in Aestern from each other but she hadn’t heard anything about other cities or kingdoms unrelated to Dockern.

Other than Swornhelm, which she heard from idle chatter.

Ripping her near-crippled feeling body out of bed, the rough linen covers despite their looks were comforting, the old blanket she had been hauling around had been discarded after leaving the contract maker.

“Status”

Current Status: ([Contracted] Rank)

Agility:

1.4 → 1.9AH

Strength:

1.25 → 1.85AH

Vitality:

1.3 → 1.95AH

Wisdom:

1.7 → 2AH

Mana:

(Locked)

“Not bad, but I feel like I could do more…” Her eyes focused on the leather bag next to her bed, inside were all the pages she had left out.

Reaching inside she grabbed the stack.

As her slight calloused hands touched the parchment, she felt a deep wanting. She had it, and even now she was wasting time not using the tool she had earned through cunning.

Her face contorted not in horror, disbelief or fear like it had done these last few month- days. Instead in concentration.

“Jesus.”

It had been days.

Not weeks.

Nor months.

Shadow used this moment to wake, and mistook her expression for the late-night scribe work.

“Meh, you know what they say about starting new things.” Holding back a giggle she continued.

“It takes a while to get used to doing it.” Leaving a pause she waited but ultimately was disappointed.

The triple meaning was lost on Waynev, as she once again focused on the lifeline in front of her.

“We’re going to master this.” Eyes and face once again contorting she organised the documents and reached for her waterskin as her eyes began reading the words written in front of her.

‘Delicos van houp der konf’

The words weren’t English and yet she and Shadow understood them easily.

However, after yesterday’s adventure, neither of them had even considered trying to understand what was written as they worked as a scribe.

“Thank god you remembered there was a way to read the words, I remember watching a detective show about using charcoal to find out what was written, but-” Taking a few chugs of water down her unnaturally dry throat Waynev continued.

“Damn that took forever. And were going to need more paper.” Waynev’s brown eyes gazed over at the 3 remaining pieces of paper if Shadow hadn’t asked to buy more they wouldn’t have been able to complete the first exercise.

“We need money. Though the shopkeep did give us some good suggestions on how to earn some, though I suggest today we use the rest of our funds to take a break and practice our magic.” Shadow’s subtle manipulation of framing her statement as a suggestion was lost on Waynev’s sleep-addled mind.

“Think about it. Being able to use even a fraction of it would let us survive in our new workplace, hmm **********?” Shadow’s last word was murmured but Waynev didn’t care, she knew what her new job would entail.

Mostly of its risks.

Besides she had just finished reading how to practice her violet magic.

“The shopkeep called it purple but within the book, we have to think of it as a powerful violet, dark and mysterious yet powerful all the same. Though…” Her face turned into a half-smirk, as she moved the pages back in order.

“I think making antimatter or any nuclear explosion is a long way off.” Putting everything away Waynev was ready.

She had to be nimble, fast, swift to catch up.

Her weapon, she was wearing more than she used to wear her watch had been taken off.

The crystal band had been kept on, however, in case of any ‘accidents’ she didn’t want to be vulnerable and outside the protection of the rules.

She moved back on to her bed and took everything but the bare essentials off.

Her skin glistened with an uneven tan, a small consequence of slightly ripped clothing, her bra and underwear, however, were thankfully intact and still clean from yesterday.

The book detailed preparing her body, strengthening it to be capable of handling mana.

The first step was to clear her mind.

“Let’s hope that both of us doing this at the same time will halve the usual time it takes if I have to spend an entire week focusing on my aspect…” Her grumbling coming to an end as she entered their mind’s eye.

While Waynev could feel that Shadow was still there she couldn’t tell where her presence had gone.

Closing her eyes as well Waynev focused on the violet purple.

It contorted like a fire, first, it was just embers.

Purple spots, glowing in an empty universe, devoid of stars and light.

Except for her power. Like waves, it rippled in beats of two.

It felt like minutes between each ripple, as different ripples from the purple spots pushed into each other Waynev had to calm herself. Detach herself from the pain.

She felt warm and hot.

Almost suffocatingly slow.

The ripples grew, becoming gentle waves with their own smaller ripples.

Growing in size beyond her eyes, beyond in her mind, Waynev could feel the mana around her grow in sync with embers, the violet light surrounding the embers grew in intensity as well.

The book detailed the process of combining the embers, but as they got closer in proximity it would also be harder to combine them.

The world began speeding up between the waves the embers gave off, it slowly became harder and harder to keep a steady mind.

The waves kept coming and smashing into each other as Waynev forced two of the smaller embers to merge.

Vwooompf

An alien noise came as two of the embers combined, a feeling of elevation came over Waynev as her small universe turned purple for a moment then lurched back.

Spiiiish

The combined embers gave an empowered wave, nearly giving her steadying mind a run for its money.

‘I hope Shadow at least is making better progress.’ Waynev thought, focusing on the next closest pair of embers, staying clear of combining the bigger purple clumps until she absolutely had to.

It wasn’t something she was looking forward to.

‘This isn’t right.’ Shadow had done exactly as the book mentioned.

However, instead of violet embers or purple-tinted rocks around her, she saw roots.

Cyan tinted roots.

Light-blue in colour they sprawled across the dayless atmosphere.

The lit up the blackness around them but only slightly.

‘Instead of embers why do I have roots?’

Trying to find an answer the first ripple of energy caught Shadow off guard and nearly shoved her out of her mind’s eye.

Calming herself she focused on the roots and tried to move them but instead of them shifting towards each other they stayed rooted in place, with her mind aching at the act.

‘Crap’ Noticing the incoming ripple Shadow braced herself but instead of a crash it just moved past her.

At least handling the ripples are the same as the book described.

Looking closely at one of the roots Shadow noticed that from each glowing root system the roots themselves were able to grow and be moved slightly.

‘Hmm… instead of connecting embers, maybe connecting the different root systems will achieve the same result?’

Moving fast she focused on the middle of the root system she had just been observing, it reached roughly a bed in length around her with tens of small roots reaching out.

The ripples were coming faster and faster as Shadow began wringing them together, making it harder and harder to stay concentrated.

Focusing on the cyan lit roots under her she began coiling them together, like the tree’s deeper in the mountains. Twisting and turning them the colours grew until a large spear-shaped root stood out in front of her.

The rippling from the root was whittling away her stamina, she felt as if her mind was melting as she finished the end of the system.

The end of the root was capped with the longest root and was the brightest.

Backing away to the other two root systems Shadow began sorting the smallest one’s tether’s in length and how powerful the root was.

She was growing nauseous and her sight was growing dizzy.

The ripples were growing in intensity and their frequency, Shadow finally began coiling the second root, wrapping and twisting she inherently knew there was a method to this madness.

It wasn’t a lost cause nor a desperate attempt at advancement.

The roots called to her, she understood them. Their need to be free and connect with others of their kind.

Shadow herself didn’t know if she was classified as human.

It didn’t matter.

As the ripples grew in intensity around her the world became muffled out, she was in a state of flow, pure focus and attention.

She simply was.

She wouldn’t lose her simple existence. Things were changing. She had a body.

She had a dream. She wouldn’t let herself or Waynev fail.

With renewed strength and mental resilience, Shadow continued through the laborious ripples, always in pairs and yet speeding up as her work of art reached its completion.

There.

The binding tether formed another bright cyan cover.

Looking like the tip of a lightsaber, its glow pulverised the darkness surrounding it.

Now for the last tether.

Jumping away from the headache-inducing spear she came to the smallest, yet most intricate root system.

Its centre was a matter of roots, branching and twisting in between each other. Looking at it from above Shadow was reminded of something.

‘It’s like the brain. It's a neural network! That’s what the roots were reminding me of…’

Starting to wrap the roots in a bind, Shadow became focused on the roots, her mind flowing with theories as she zoned out the ripples, now feeling like waves crashing into her.

Spshhh

‘The waves are getting worse, faster and I can feel my sanity draining… even in my mind it feels like I want to sleep and pass with the waves.’

Shadow’s consciousness started to blind out.

First for hardly a second-

-then the ripples would blast her back to the task at hand, she was losing sight of the end.

What was her goal?

‘I have to… connect the embers.’

Looking around the waves emanating from the tips of the spheres were pushing into each other, fighting their way closer to her.

‘The roots… No the network… It’s connected to telepathy.’

PVOOOOOF

Another wave clashed with Shadow, her mental resilience was low, she was exposed to her magic and it began to bleed.

‘Bleed into me, through me, infecting me.’ Aware suddenly that the burning she had been feeling each time the waves slammed into her was mana, Shadow was suddenly very nervous.

‘The book said to take things slowly because of possible mana poisoning… how long have I been here is Wayne-’

Splshshsh

The waves were gaining in intensity and frequency again.

‘If I don’t finish this fast enough-’ Her mind focused, shrugging off her drugged state and began forcing its way back towards the last roo- neutral system.

The waves had shoved her a fair bit away, further than she thought possible.

‘Why was I thinking about saving Elise, if I can’t even save myself!’ Diving under the current she felt like she was swimming at the bottom of a lake, the light in front of her guiding her towards her lifeline.

Air. Or in this case, a root system that was slowly destroying Waynev’s body through waves of mana parsing through Shadow and Waynev at the same time.

She didn’t have minutes, she had moments.

Reaching the root system she clawed her way upward, securing the stubborn tethers and hairs as if she were braiding her sister’s hair in a hurry. Shadow organised and quickly reach the root cap.

Finally, with all three of them done they were parsing fiercely, the universe around her began falling apart.

She can finally re-

‘WAIT’

Snapping and focusing on the stumbling feeling, this didn’t feel like security. It felt like power.

Raw power surging through her.

Too much power surging through her.

It didn’t feel right. It felt off. She felt like she was about to die.

Looking at the root ends she saw the three root caps, the had moved towards each other, trying to reach out at their ends, growing small roots their attempts to combine would take years.

Shadow didn’t have years.

Moving to the cluster she grabbed at it and pulled, trying to force it towards the other root and failing.

The incoming waves, growing in size began to drown out the sound of the dual ripples.

Now dual waves, trying to compete with a Tsunami size-wise.

She had to do something but what?

Looking around she saw the roots slowing growing, slowly getting clos-

‘That’s it!’ Focusing on the root in her hand, she forced the magic empowering her into it.

Encouraging the root’s growth she just had to hold on as she was sapped.

The mana draining her of her sanity and her body was being sapped out of her, the root began working its way towards the other two caps.

Twisting and turning it bound itself to the root system on the left and with it, the crumbling of the starless night calmed yet still pulsed with activity.

The crashing of the waves lessened to a point Shadow could move and breathe again, no longer was her spiritual body submerged in mana.

‘Too much of a good thing can definitely kill you.’ Shadow’s voice tired, she felt spent the hotness turning away from overwhelming and towards an unpleasant sweat.

Numbly Shadow crawled her way to the last root system, the waves instead of pushing her away now helped her forwards.

Touching the root cap she pushed her reserves of mana into it, the ocean that had formed up to her waist was quickly absorbed and pushed into the mana genome she had created.

The roots surged forwards, meeting its allies and a bright cyan light took over the space.

A new star was born.