Chapter Fourteen: Turning point, The Awakening

Patting her mini-me she hugged the child and sang sweet nothings as it’s breath calmed to a slow, melodious pace.

Looking up from her snuggly bed, where the linens covered more than just herself she looked over at her husband.

His face buried in a bundle of cushions, the lamplight covering his side of the room with engorged roses a tinted yellow, with grains of dust covering their beauty but only slightly.

Smiling she turned back to the frame next to her bedside as she took off her glasses.

She had restored the picture inside to it’s former grace.

“Hey Waynev.” She said softly, lovingly.

“Today remarks your thirty-eighth birthday,”

“I hope you weren’t too upset with me finding my hubby before you found yours.”

“Or maybe you did already?”

“Maybe you’re on your third kid, one already starting school… Maybe, you’re watching from the great beyond.” She slowly brought her love to the baby cottage.

“Whichever it is, I want you to know I love you. I’ll see you next year Waynev.” She whispered to the forgiven, time did heal many wounds after all.

Closing her eyes she thought she could smell someone cooking something.

The air was thick with fumes and the smell of gasol-

‘Wait. What is this stuff...?’ The room around her was covered in a thick animated fog.

‘It's… mana.’ The lights and flickers of different colours indicated that Shadow really had been drowning.

“How close was I bef-” Her voice croaked, a consequence of the drought their efforts caused.

Shadow controlled Waynev and made her sit up, her body desperately hungry and thirsty she drank but food wouldn’t come until Waynev awoke.

Feeling inside herself, Shadow found Waynev was still meditating, unaware of the plight that would’ve killed her.

Talking about killing her, even sitting on top of the covers she had overheated, Shadow took this moment to quickly wipe herself down and as she did she noticed something that should’ve been obvious.

She was controlling Waynev with ease.

No excessive movements or need to phase into her, she could instantly take control.

Perfect.

Running to the deciphered pages Shadow checked them over again, ensuring that her experience with roots and what she knew was the human genome was undocumented.

‘I must have a different affinity from Waynev… my colour was cyan instead of violet after all.’ Looking at her coin purse Shadow peeked inside, today they would have to do their job.

Waynev was hesitant to do it with only the knuckles but getting the magic texts had encouraged her and pushed her past the brink.

It would make her strong enough.

This reminded Shadow to check the stats but as she did, Waynev began to come back from her mind space, which Shadow thought was the soul but so far it had been documented as within the mind.

This sparked action.

Jumping away from the pile of paper, she swiftly dived back onto the bed.

Putting Waynev’s hands to her side and closing her frantic amber eyes.

“Woah” The bright flames grew as the last ember was assimilated, the universe had lurched and grew outward.

A new existence had been born.

And then a fog.

Opening her eyes Waynev looked around her, she felt hot but the violet flames cleansed her rather than burnt her.

“That was… amazing.” Her brown eyes looked at the world around her, everything seemed brighter, more vibrant and ...cooler?

“Finally awake? Notice how we nearly died?” Shadow’s sarcastic voice rang like a bell, snapping her out of her appreciation and nearly into shock.

“Died? How? It got really hot at one point but I didn’t notice any-” Waynev reflected on her seemingly easy assimilation.

“We nearly died because we have different affinities. Mine Cyan, yours Violet.” Shadow gave up trying to articulate complete sentences to the dazed Waynev.

“I figured out how to combine my affinity together in the end but it did nearly end in both us dying.” Shadow’s interruption scared Waynev, she hadn’t thought about their different affinities… or even hers in depth. So far she didn’t feel her ability, despite the lucky pairing.

“Mine’s Spatial with apt control and yours was telepathy with…” She sat on the edge of her bed, putting on her clothes waiting for Shadow to answer.

But none came.

“I’ll tell you when I need to. I know it’s worth something very important.” Shadow had plans for her innate pairing, the preparation would take some time but…

Unhappy with her answer, Waynev shoved her belongings into her pack.

“Before we leave, check your status, I do have some good news.” Shadow’s statement once again distracted Waynev away from Shadow’s secret.

“Status.”

Current Status: ([Contracted] Rank)

Agility:

1.9 → 4.8AH

Strength:

1.85 → 4.7AH

Vitality:

1.95 → 4.62AH

Wisdom:

2 → 2.80AH

Mana:

(Locked)

Blinking, she looked at her status again.

“It happened!” Her ecstatic voice helped swap between emotions.

She did feel faster.

She did feel stronger.

But she didn’t feel her power.

Happy and yet confused Waynev knew she had to confront this problem but a more immediate concern came first.

Money.

She peered at her bag again.

‘Paper as well.’

She needed to make sure her job went smoothly, especially since she would likely be working into the night.

“Our current goal is to earn enough to sleep, survive and buy paper to help with the last part of our advancement to [Hollowed] Rank 1. But we also need...”

“To strengthen our body, I think some ‘training’ at our job will help with that.” Waynev hinted at Shadow.

With haste, she grabbed her pack and left the shabby room, into the wooden avalanche of stairs.

Her trust in the inn (nice) went as far as they trusted her.

And from the looks they gave her at her crystal band, the trust was as much as a gambler promising to earn the money they owed back.

Scurrying past the guests and the complacent innkeeper she walked through the wide streets, it was no longer noon and from the look at the sky above her, it was going to be night sooner rather than later.

Sticking to the side of the scrambled road she hurried towards her next destination.

“The job shouldn’t be too hard, people go in there all the time… I wonder how it refills itself?” Wayne's pondering led nowhere, Shadow was staying quiet.

Splish

Looking up suddenly she saw plants being watered on the veranda, an old birdman with a twisted beak put the gardening pail down and ruffled his feathers, a few flying alongside the wind towards the neighbour's veranda.

Looking at the veranda she noticed a movement of green and yellow, the plants were growing like a year-long timelapse video, behind them she saw a vibrant birdwoman looking very similar to Ciet but also much less Stoic.

Her features showed appreciation at her efforts, trimming the bush she continued caring for the plant while the swept over to her balcony with arms outstretched at her work.

Looking away from the sights Waynev reminded herself not every birdman was evil and more importantly, they didn’t share the same aspect, fire and plants were what she had witnessed so far.

Rumble

Focusing on her body's needs she quickly navigated back to the square, in the distance she saw a particularly large plume of spoke suddenly stop, rushing forward she saw a scaled older man closing the massive furnace that was next to Abigail's stand.

Spying Abigail the baker, she quickly thought of the coppers on her. Did she have enough for a short meal?

Maybe but the people around her were all walking, some rushing in the opposite direction, making the short meal come with a short fight against the crowds. A fight that Waynev was thankful only lasted a few moments.

Waving at her acquaintance the bread maker smiled, noticing Waynev huffing slightly at the first real exertion of the day.

The stand was empty save for a few scraps.

“Waynev! Welcome. We have some rolls today, but please hurry. The arena is showcasing recruits! Tonight.” Abigail's accent made her words sound chunky yet feminine, Waynev couldn’t tell if it was due to her heritage or was just Abigail.

‘Huh.’ In Shadow’s nightly excursion she did notice the arena, mostly what looked like horse racing. But instead of horses, it was people.

“Arena? Also, I’ll have the rolls, mind explaining what’s the Arena?” Gesturing to the meaty rolls Abigail complied.

“The arena! Aestern was a bore before it. Bets! Fights! We even saw an [Arch Mage] slain last winter!” Abigail's excited tone was a stark contrast from the cautious girl from yesterday, Waynev glanced at her wrist unconsciously.

A killing arena.

At this time of year.

At this time of day.

At this part of Temporous.

Localised entirely within Aestern.

“Can we see it?” Shadow’s voice toned interest with a hint of sarcasm that Waynev had learned through experience to be wary of.

‘No, later we need to eat first at least.’ Waynev thought back to Shadow, quick enough to also respond to Abigail. Without the usual awkward silence that descended when Waynev replied to Shadow in public.

“Oh wow… That sounds pretty cool.” Not wanting to sound mean Waynev pretended to sound interested, grabbing the coppers and waiting for Abigail's swift claws to deliver a delicious brunch.

“It is! There is also an auction on the defeated items! Also rare goods but only nobles or [Forlorn] and above can participate. I heard one of Natura’s leaves was auctioned once!” The significance went over Waynev’s ahead but she nodded empathetically anyway.

Walking away from the stand, her pouch a bit lighter and stomach a bit heavier, Waynev hurried with the crowds, the arena’s auction sounded interesting but right now it was a waste of time.

“Nothing to spend. Nothing to get. Let’s avoid the merchant, I’m sure we’ll not come to regret it.” Shadow whispered.

“Let’s get to the entrance, trust me our knuckles are slightly different.” After Waynev had grabbed them she hadn’t noticed but the odd looks people were giving her weren’t from her bracelet.

Following the crowds, she went to the… unique business that the shopkeep had recommended.

“Should’ve asked if there was a library as well… though with how few books are in this world…” Shadow’s hopes would be answered, though not with the answer she expected.

Finding the massive lodge hadn’t been an issue, finding a way in on the other hand…

In front of Waynev stood a massive carved shield, that was also a building, it was formed much like a heart, but instead of rounded corners, there were spikes which incited bloodlust instead of… well the obvious.

Noticing a group sweep around the back of the building Waynev followed and was acquainted with a large door that was closed instead of hung open like the other shops she had found.

Though thinking about it this wasn’t a shop.

“Our first guild. Contracts make guilds seem more cultish than before… let’s see what we have to deal with.”

“Hopefully no scientologists... or pyramid schemes.” Waynev joked.

Moving and preparing herself she moved her shoulders back, did a quick stretch of the neck and barged through the large wooden doors, what stood in her wake was a bar, a reception and some stairs.

All of which were right next to each other.

Yet despite expecting shouting or some chatter it was silent.

Peering at the bar, she could see people slamming drinks and handing back crystals, nuggets or in one case a black skull.

Looking to the doorway Waynev noticed a small haze between the open rooms.

“Sound barrier?” Ignoring Shadow just to annoy her, her eyes found their destination.

A small counter was eret near the door where two people, likely receptionists were standing.

The guild was deceptively larger on the inside, the inside was also boxer compared to the outward curves that promised an unprecedented layout but delivered it poorly.

Turning to one of the receptionists she noticed a large map behind him.

“Oh.”

Temporous.

Aestern was that close to the coast?

Her eyes traced the mountain and surrounding villages, then finally Dockern.

“Hmm. We need to buy a map, at least for the South-East.”

“That mountain was massive, but Dockern is just as impressive. Do they have towers surrounding the city?” She asked, ignoring one of the receptionists curious gaze.

“Are they towers? Maybe their outposts or- Wait. Waynev don't get distracted.”

“I wasn’t, just thought it was interesting.” Waynev innocently claimed.

Walking up to one of the receptionists she cleared her voice, fishing out her last silver in her fist.

Waynev checked her stats quickly-

Current Status: ([Contracted] Rank)

Agility:

1.9 →4.8AH

Strength:

1.85 → 4.7AH

Vitality:

1.95 → 4.65AH

Wisdom:

2 → 2.8AH

Mana:

(Locked)

This close to the [Hollowed] rank, she could practically feel the call to the great beyond, her power finally finding meaning in its use and the timer losing its power over her.

Quest:

Reach [Hollowed] Rank 1.

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

Consequence:

You lose your innate ability.

Time Limit:

Two days, 23 hours, 43 minutes remaining.

“We have time.”

“We do but, we need to be careful.”

“Patience, clarity. This place accepts anyone. Expect the worst and the best.” Shadow whispered, calming Waynev with a feeling of safety.

“Prepared to succeed and prepared to handle failure. Idle threats become meaningless. Good luck.” Her guide finished with a mental push, nearly feeling compelled to control Waynev herself and get this over and done with.

“I’d like to form a contract with the Adventurer’s guild.”