Reto gave out yet another sigh as they felt no change in their Mana, or rather anything at all.

How can this be so difficult? I’ve literally seen Mana before- Wait. I’ve seen Mana before!

With growing excitement and whirling thoughts, they pushed into the other dimension.

I should think of a name for this place. I’ll use Mana Dimension as a placeholder, terrible as it is. Maybe Mana Plane?

Throwing away musings on what to call this place for now, they instead removed the daggers they had affixed on their belts, taking the place of their previous weapons which where now horizontal on the back of the belt, still able to be grabbed and even hidden if need be but not getting in the way.

As expected, they could see the lines of the Mana as they connected to their new daggers. Experimentally, they attempted to move back and with relief noted that the lines of Mana stayed in the Mana Plane.

Good. I should hopefully be able to try to make something similar on my own hands then. I don’t need sign language as much as magic, surely? I can just use the tablet, or just disconnect the mana if I have to. Maybe use {Mana Feeding} to continuously pull it back towards me? I should see if I can change where the mana from {Mana Feeding} goes, though it would prevent me from eating it actually so maybe not.

Back in the Mana Plane, they then tried to figure out how to do anything with it. Looking again at the daggers, it looks like a core has been drawn outwards, similar to glass blowing, perhaps, and connected to specific places along the dagger. They don’t know how it’s being powered, probably just a part of the enchantment really but it’s hard to tell.

Idea in mind they tried to figure out how to reach their own core. It being inside them made this rather difficult, but they had hope. After attempting a few ways of getting it to move outwards on it own and being faced with failure at every turn, they then tried to pull at it with Cursebreaker. To their shock, a small section of it started to be extruded outwards, creating a thin line of blue coming out of their chest.

Success!

Emboldened, they pulled the wire towards their left hand and, with care pushed it slightly into the surface. After feeling no pain and watching the wire move with their hand as they waved it about, not breaking at all no matter where it moved, they attempted this multiple times. Their first thought was to create multiple wires, but they thought it may be better to use lesser amounts of larger ones.

I have no idea what I’m doing here, and committing either way in one direction could be dangerous. Plus, having a bunch of wires running into my arm is cooler than one big one.

In accordance with this purely logical decision they widened the first wire and then created two others of similar size, having to pause for a few minutes to regenerate Mana. At the ends of these they created smaller wires that split off into various sections of their hand, six fibres from each larger wire. This created a hopefully even distribution across their hand, though it’s hard to know for sure.

I shouldn’t just immediately make another one though. I can’t test my left hand right now, but hopefully just waiting a little should be fine. Maybe at full Mana?

With nothing else to do, they played around with the stone they were gifted, technically a Tablet in the words of Kanan but they weren’t planning on calling it that. After figuring out the scrolling text that Kanan used they got tired of waiting and moved onto the next hand.

Soon it was finished, and all there was left to do was to test. As excited as they were, they couldn’t help but feel nervous. It was almost too easy, as if there should be some incredible difficulty involved in getting it to work. Minutes later, they were stood in a forest, the day since transitioning into night, hands raised.

The sign for fire in British Sign Language was both hands with palms facing each other moving up and down erratically, and fingers wiggling. It truly didn’t seem at all like something that would be used as a spell, but the cover of the book implies that it’s possible, albeit with the individual letters.

The realised they were just delaying, and before they could think any further started the motion. Immediately, a spark of flame appeared between their hands, growing bigger as one had went up and smaller with the other. The shock almost made them stop the movement all together, but fortunately they managed to keep it to just a momentary lapse. The flame sputtered and then continued, now less intense as their hands slowed down.

Time started to slow around them, but Reto wasn’t ready to stop quite yet.

No! I’m still doing magic. Actual, honest to god magic! I can’t believe it! What else could I do with this?

Through experimentation they found a few things. First was that the fire stayed at the point where, were there invisible lines coming out of the palms of their hands, said lines would meet. The intensity of it didn’t seem to get much lower, though it would completely stop after a certain distance. It’s possible their hands were pointing too far apart.

The vertical movement of their hands made the flames bigger, and proportionally more powerful. The speed of their fingers however did the same thing without increasing the size at all.

This seems incredibly complex for just one word. I wonder if longer sentences would have even more complex effects? What should I try though?

Unfortunately, all of the first words they thought of had to be spelled out through the individual letters, the number of signs that represent a full word is much less than most people would assume. The words they were going to try using before fire were ‘Summon’, ‘Make’, and ‘Spark’. There were others that got considered, such as start or light, but they decided it would be dangerous to cast a spell called ‘Start fire’ in the middle of a forest.

The first was ‘Summon fire’, much longer than make would be but with the possibility of an interesting effect. With this, they got the feeling of searching across a large distance before a fire was created in the same place as with the ordinary spell, and even with the same control.

In order to test a theory, they moved the fire they were controlling to the ground, hoping not to cause a massive fire with it but trying anyway, and cast again. This time there was no feeling of searching, and the fire on the ground seemed to be sucked into itself before appearing in the air.

So it takes a fire from somewhere else and gives it to me then. Depending on the size limit that could be really useful, though I shouldn’t test it just yet.

Make fire had an unexpected effect. It created flame, larger than the one they had previously, but didn’t allow any control over it. Rather, moving their hands moved the location it was made, and increasing the speed made the fire get created faster. Spark fire, on the other hand, didn’t do anything unless it was pointed at a flammable material. In that case, it caused it to light.

They used Summon fire to collect these fires, and allowed them to dissipate into the air, leaving strips and spots of blackened grass behind.

I’ll try one more thing with fire, and then move on to something else.

The next thing they wanted to try was ‘Storm of Fire’. It could of course be incredibly dangerous, but they haven’t had any issues they couldn’t solve so far, and didn’t see how this would be any different. Just like before, the added words would have to be spelled out individually.

As soon as they finished the first word they knew they might have made a mistake. The sounds of thunder started to fill the air, wind picked up, and they felt droplets of water start to hit their skin. By then, they had already finished the second word and had no idea what could happen if a sentence is left unfinished.

They completed the final word and immediately stopped it, but the damage had already been done. Storm of fire, rather than being a manually sustained effect, didn’t immediately die down. The lightning and the water had stopped, leaving in it’s place a swirling whirlwind of fire, steadily growing larger.

In the few seconds it took to cast Summon fire, the storm had already set ablaze a diameter of a dozen metres around them, turning the closer trees to char. They felt the blazing heat on their skin, though they were in the eye of the storm and free from the main body of it’s effects. With the cast of Summon fire, the worst of the flames were all pulled into a single spot, which glowed with an intense blue light, and threatened to spread to the forest around it. With a flick of their arms they sent the ball of flame as high as they could, then repeating the process a second time.

Note to self, don’t be an idiot.

They looked to the area surrounding them, a perfect circle of charcoal.

I should get out of here.

----

I’ve been having a bad week. As the chief Mage of Frostcaster’s scouting division I’m expected to detect any major surges in anything magical and point the Investigator in the right direction to root out any enemy forces. Five days ago I detected one such thing, something which based on the appearance was a pretty large spell. I saw something, physical get dragged through a tube of Mana, but couldn’t pinpoint the origin, only where it ended up.

Or, I would have. I may have attempted to interrupt the spell. It got ruptured and the thing was able to escape. All I could tell was that it was somewhere around the Great Floating Mountain, though likely not actually on it because of the presence of Desolation.

I feel that I made a terrible, terrible mistake. That things soul, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Not incredibly powerful, just alien. A twisted mockery of a human, just similar enough to fool most people. And it’s out there, somewhere close to our city, and I let it get away.

That’s not all though. I let an entire mind-controlled town go under my radar. The magic, admittedly, is much more insidious. It essentially just modifies peoples bodies and then tells them things, making it have a very subtle effect. It doesn’t even have an effect in the Aether, or at least it has a small enough one to not be picked up by any of my skills.

Then, when it got freed there was a powerful surge of Enchanting right as they were freed. Now, enchanting is essentially the opposite of Greater Suggestion, being almost entirely anchored in the Aether. The surge I sensed was akin to the effect of the skills of hundreds of enchanters, focused on one spot. It almost seemed enough to move an entire person into the Aether, as foolish as that sounds. And these surges have happened multiple times, including within the city. Some minor ones were even in one of our own prisons!

There are so many other things that have gone wrong as well. The ward was triggered recently, nothing abnormal, except someone pulled whatever creature it was repelling into the city, possibly even the very same that has been causing every other problem recently. It would be nice if it were all the same thing. I could simply crush it with my {Greater Telekinesis}, oh how I would love to.

As if that weren’t enough to get my buried, There was a massive blast of fire in the forest. It was unable to spread very far, but the fact I was unable to sense any spells that took place is enough of a mark against me. The only silver lining is that I could tell that it was an enchantment, and a powerful at that. The Aether has been slightly warped in the area. I may be able to trace it even, should I still have a job after all this, or even be alive.

Her fatalistic musings were put on hold by the sound of a knock on the door, to which she waved a hand and pulled it open. Her shining red metal-weave robes were draped across her desk, and the armour she should have over it at all times is in a haphazard pile at the foot of a stone mannequin. The man who entered is, in contrast, wearing the garish yellow robes of a Will specialist, the one she had always hated. The robes that is, not the people. Not that she doesn’t hate them as well. He cleared his throat before confidently speaking.

“Good Scout Archmave. I, Specialist Nobleheart, believe I may have some information pertaining to the beast which has been plaguing the area, if I may be so presumptuous as to speak of it?”

Ugh. Why does he keep sending me these people? None of them are going to have actionable information anyway, at least not anything that wouldn’t be better in the hands of the Investigator, smug bastard that he is.

“Well? Out with it!”

“Ah, yes, apologies. I believe I have encountered the ‘beast’ you are looking for. He is a human male and, last I saw him he was wearing a unique sort of shirt which I haven’t encountered, I believe foreign in nature. It has it’s sleeves torn off, wrapped around wounds leading me to believe it is intended to function as an emergency bandage, as none would be so foolish as to venture int-“

As he continued to talk, Archmave got progressively more annoyed, face steadily darkening.

“Is this relevant?”

“Into combat- No. I suppose not. Regardless, he was wearing a blazer and trousers I believe, of again foreign design, and in dark colours. Last I saw he was heading to town, but appears to have been repelled by the wards. I saw him seemingly move in place until he vanished, and then reappear in a similar manner. At first I thought this a spell, but later evidence leads me to believe this isn’t the case. Mainly-“

So it is moving itself into the Aether then. Interesting. And it was repelled by the wards, and possibly tried to get arrested to get a guard bring it to a prison, where it used this same method to escape somehow? But the prison it was sold when the city started to sink, so why was it brought there? I’ll have to check capture records. I don’t want to waste Investigators time after all, do I?

“Thank you, Specialist Nobleheart. This information will be invaluable when capturing the beast, and putting it to death.”

At this, Nobleheart became visibly more nervous, strange for a Will specialist really.

“Tha-that would surely not be necessary though. I mean, what harm has it truly done?”

A stutter? Something strange is afoot here.

“Believe me, Specialist, if you’d have seen it’s soul as I have you would know not to trust it. That thing masquerading as a human is nothing but trouble.”

“But I’ve seen no indication of this through it’s actions. You see, he saved an entire town of people, didn’t harm a single one even when they were swarming him! Even when killing his enemies, it was swift, albeit perhaps not skilled or efficient. Not a one of my skills told me that he would cause any harm, even the more general ones! I’m sure you know that there isn’t a single thing in this world that they don’t work on.”

This idiot! Thinking himself so infallible, just because he gets a few fancy mental skills?

“That thing isn’t of this world! It was pulled from another reality, and only my efforts stopped it from being summoned exactly where it was intended, which if you didn’t realise was right in the centre of the Desolation! Nothing good comes from there. I want you to tell me straight why you seem to care so much for this creature before you lose your job and then your life!”

He seemed to become flustered, and there was possibly even a faint dusting of pink to his face.

Don’t tell me he’s actually gone and fallen in love with a cosmic horror masquerading as a human! It’s true form is probably a thousand times more horrible than it’s soul. As much as Reigners work is supposedly fictional, the idea had to come from somewhere and this creature is far too similar for it to be coincidence.

“You see, I was waiting for him at the city, it would be rude not to I hadn’t even gotten his name you see. But, he never showed up. I was confused by this, this is where he was headed after all, so I left to the Seers. I couldn’t just let such a heroic figure walk away without proper recompense. And the Seer, well every Seer that I could get to answer me said the same thing really. I think I still have it written down, one moment.”

The man checked each of his shirts pockets, eventually finding it written onto a Chisel Tablet in his inner pocket. Bringing it up, he read.

“They said ‘The person you are seeking will find their fate entwined with yours, be this friendship or more.’. That’s all they each said. The chief Seer even winked, though he does that for most things involving people so it is likely meaningless. Yet, I cannot help but find myself hoping, for at least a friend so close and steadfast as this Prophecy implies.”

Close in more ways than one based on the look on your face. This is also so messed up.

“I… Will have to think on this some more. With the Leak sprouting in the middle of the city I suppose I shouldn’t be so focused on this anyway.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Scout Archmave. I bid you farewell.”

Psh. Scout. I should have been a Wizard anyway, don’t know what they were doing with this. And that Prophecy is supposed to be anything? It was probably just some sort of weird prank the Seers pulled.

Just in case, I’ll go and ask about it. At least gossip is more interesting than just doing even more paperwork.

----

Reto Mason – Mage Adept – Lv.4

Health – 14/25

Will – 29/35

Mana – 26/65

Power

: Physical – 1.15

: Mental – 1.10

: Magical – 1.40

Durability

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.25

: Magical – 1.25

Speed

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.45

: Magical – 1.60

{Desolate Survivalism} - {Mana Feeding} - {Riven Spell}

{Anti-hero}

{Cursebreaker*}

{Dealbreaker}

{Adept Mage}

{Army of One}

{Dungeoneer}