《Demonheart》


 1 - Awakening

    I awoke with a start. Or, rather, my consciousness ''snapped'' into being. There was no gentle easing of sleep or lingering drowsiness I would expect from waking up, I simply... became aware.


    Not that it meant much, I could neither feel my body nor move it, in any way I could determine, and, as a result, my eyes were still closed. No, that''s not quite right. There was a... darkness that I couldn''t quite describe, and I couldn''t hear anything, either, not even the steady thrum of my own heart in my ears.


    Status, I thought pointedly, sending the command to my augmentations to report my condition.


    Nothing happened.


    Were they damaged or disabled? Under normal conditions, they should give me an overview of any damaged or missing components, as well as a basic rundown of my personal health. Heart rate, blood pressure, and so on, but no matter how many commands I sent to them, they refused to respond.


    A side effect of receiving medical attention after void sickness, surely. It didn''t seem like something that could happen, but I was no medicae, not beyond battlefield first aid, anyway, so I dismissed the thought and resolved to wait.


    And so I did. I couldn''t tell how long it had been, not without my implants reporting it, or my senses to tell me how many heartbeats had passed, but I waited. And waited. And waited.


    Eventually, I began to ''see'' sparks and flashes of color, but I knew them to be hallucinations brought on by the sudden blindness. I didn''t think I''d ever experience it for myself, but in my youth, we''d been taught that without actual stimulation, the Human mind would invent visual data to cope with the loss of a major sense, as focused on vision as our brains were. Sudden deafness could do it, too, but usually you''d begin to hear your own heartbeat and breathing as all other distractions fell away.


    As if on cue, muffled voices reached my ears. They, too, were hallucinations, I knew, but they helped stave off the boredom, so I focused on them anyway. The sparks were still there, seven of them, one twice as bright as the others, with the swirling colors between and around them, but only the colors shifted at all, and I''d grown tired of watching them.


    My confusion only grew as the voices became less muffled, less distant, until I realized I was not hallucinating them at all. There were people in the room with me, how many, though, I could not tell.


    I still couldn''t feel my own body or see, but I attempted to speak regardless, hoping my body could move and I simply couldn''t feel it.


    [Medicae?] I tried. Apparently, it worked, as the voices stopped suddenly, before one of them picked back up a few moments later, finally clear enough I could understand what was being said.


    "Oh, Stars, it''s awake already! What are you gawping at? Finish the binding, now, before it gets its bearings!"


    Clearly, these are not my own people. I tried the same tactic with my eyes, hoping to open them without feeling them the same way I''d managed to speak without feeling my tongue, but nothing happened.


    Then, a thought occurred to me. If the voices had not been my brain coping with my deafness, then...


    I focused on the sparks I had been seeing with everything I had. Some reports and research indicated that invokers could ''see'' without seeing, and I had been an invoker, one of the greatest across the worlds.


    Slowly, my ''vision'' became clearer and clearer, faster than my hearing had, but still slower than I would like, until I could just barely make out shapes and edges, and the colors swirling along the floor exploded into sharp relief.


    Those colors were three concentric rings, each filled with symbols I did not recognize, much less surmise what they did, but something in me recoiled at the sight of them, some instinct buried deep in my otherwise unfeeling gut.


    Whatever they would do when their invocation finished, I would not enjoy the result.


    [I am a Legate of the Terran Imperium!] I shouted with my still-numb lips. [You will release me, now, or suffer the consequences.]


    But no matter how I struggled, I still could not move. I must also be bound somehow, strapped to something. Not that it would matter if I weren''t; without being able to feel or see where my limbs were, I would never be able to fight my way out. I would be lucky if I didn''t immediately trip and dash my skull against the floor of... wherever we were.


    Some of the shapes stopped, wincing at my voice and demands. I was a military officer, after all; I knew how to intimidate and command, through training and many, many years of experience.


    "Damn you. Quickly, you idiots! Don''t let its threats distract you!" The voice was... gravelly, but androgynous in its volume and tone. My vision even clearer now, I could tell the voice belonged to the brightest of the sparks, and focused my attention on it until it seemed to shrink from my ''gaze'' slightly. Just... a little more, and I might be able to see the face of whoever it was that kept me here.


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    Then, all at once, just as the invocation began anew, a door at the back of the room, that I could only vaguely make out, flew from its hinges, carrying chunks of whatever the wall was made from with it. Splinters of something from the door, wood or metal, exploded from the main structure and peppered the invokers before me in shards of itself and the wall, causing some to cry out in surprise, and one in pain, as the door itself smashed into them.


    A figure entered my limited field of view from the doorway, armored, I thought, in some kind of heavy plate, but not a design I recognized from its hazy silhouette.


    And there''s the rescue sq-


    My thoughts were interrupted by the brightest of the sparks swearing at the newcomer.


    "Stars-cursed witch-hunters," the invoker growled, enraged. Without another word, the outline of their hand darted towards... something at their waist, a satchel or pouch, and produced... I wasn''t sure, but it was bright, brighter than the invokers themselves, and the ritual circles on what I assumed was the ground.


    Witch... hunter? I did not know of any group, fringe or otherwise, that called the Inquisition that, and I should know, I was head of that very organization. There weren''t very many non-Terran Humans in the galaxy, either, but the silhouettes I could make out were all humanoid, at least, and I understood every word. What else could they be but Human? There weren''t any other humanoid species in the galaxy as far as the Imperium was aware, and even if there were, they certainly wouldn''t be speaking Terran.


    Distracted by my own thoughts, I almost missed the first ''witch-hunter'' dash forward, drawing a weapon, but it was too late. The brightest invoker pulse once, twice, and disappeared entirely, leaving a yawning void in my ''sight'' in their place.


    The ''witch-hunter'' swore under their breath, and spat at the spot the invoker had been standing before turning on the nearest less bright invoker and running them through with their weapon, a sword of some kind, by the silhouette. Other ''witch-hunters'' flooded into the room, and went about their grisly business, cutting each of the invokers down with ruthless, practiced efficiency before they could turn their invocations on the invaders.


    I mentally whistled at the sight. Not as good as my personal marines, but still. They would not be out of place in any force of the Imperium.


    Finally, having caught the invokers by surprise and cut them down in just a few short seconds, the witch-hunters relaxed, and stowed their weapons. It was strange they''d all used melee weapons, but I supposed it wasn''t that strange; the room was small, and a ricochet could easily be deadly. Still, should they not have at least sidearms on them, as well?


    Then, I realized, that the witch-hunters had ignored me entirely, and made no move to pull me from where I was bound. In fact, though I couldn''t see their eyes, none of them even seemed to look in my direction.


    [Pardon me, but can someone explain what the fuck is happening?] I heard someone snarl, and recognized my own voice halfway through.


    The effect was immediate; weapons appeared in their hands and they whirled around, looking for the source of my voice, and... yet, they still did not look at me. Not at first.


    After a few seconds of growing tension and confusion, the first ''witch-hunter'' seemed to realize something, and turned towards me. They struggled for words, at first, but eventually-


    "I don''t suppose you''re the one that just spoke," he - yes, he, I was sure now, by his voice - said softly, almost gently.


    [Yes, yes, it was me, thank you. Do you mind telling me where I am and what''s going on? Last thing I knew, I was on my ship, and now I am here, largely blind, and I cannot feel or move my limbs,] I replied. I knew I should have been more grateful towards my rescuers, even if they somehow hadn''t noticed me before, but it had been quite awhile since I''d been caught this off guard by something.


    The man sighed heavily, as his shoulders sagged, face towards downward. "They managed it. They actually managed it," he said, voice small, and tired.


    [Managed what? What is happening?] The others with him shifted uncomfortably, casting glances around the room at each other, weapons still in hand.


    Instead of answering immediately, he rubbed his face, and took a deep breath before looking at me again. "I''m sorry to tell you this, stranger, but your soul has been used as a catalyst during a ritual to create a Core."


    Wha- what the- [What the fuck are you talking about, soldier?] Something was wrong, very wrong, and my patience was wearing thin.


    His demeanor changed instantly, back straightening and shoulders squaring as he sheathed his weapon. "Simply put, you are no longer what you were before. You have no heart or lungs. Your soul inhabits a large crystal a forearms length in height, and a palms breadth wide. If you couldn''t use magic before, you can now. Before today, this was an inconceivable event, so... It is functionally impossible to reverse the process, and send you to the afterlife or your body," he spoke quickly and clearly, voice tinged with regret.


    I fell quiet, processing the information. It felt like hours to me, but I hadn''t seen his chest or shoulders rise to take a breath, so it could have only been a minute, at most. [I understand. What now?]


    He was silent for a moment before speaking. "I am not entirely sure. Normally, we would destroy a Core as soon as we found it, or remove it and turn it into a golem or living fortress, but... You are a person. This changes things."


    [I see. So, what will need to happen for a decision to be made?]


    "I will have to report to the Archmagus, the First, and the Queen."


    Archmagus? The First? [Well, those sound like terribly important people. Though... If this was thought impossible, I''m sure it will be done within a few days of them hearing of this.]


    He did not respond this time, simply looking at me. I couldn''t see his expression, not with my ''vision'' blurred and fogged like it was, but I knew he was trying to decide something, so I kept quiet awhile myself.


    [What''s your name?] The question was simple, but necessary. If I could establish a rapport, make him see me as someone who deserved to live... Well, I couldn''t tell how much influence this man had, but it couldn''t hurt to wager on him. If nothing else, he could likely include his opinion in his report.


    "Captain Markus, Witch Hunter Brigade," he finally said with a sigh, and gestured over his shoulder to the others, who sheathed their weapons, and slowly filed out of the room, taking that as their cue to leave.


    [Well met, Captain Markus, I am...] I trailed off, reaching for my name, but no matter how hard I sought it, it wouldn''t come. In fact, I couldn''t remember any names, not even those of my closest friends. [I... I cannot remember. I...]


    He grunted, a pained and stressed sound, interrupting my spiral. "Aye, that can happen, and often leads to worse, especially with... this," he finished simply, gesturing to the sparks that I knew were once living things scattered about the ritual array.


    The room was quiet for a long while after that, the blood slowly drying, as the implications of everything that had happened sank into the two of us.

 2 - Archmagus

    The next few days passed as a blur, stuck inside the crystal that had become my new body as I was. Soldiers moved in and out of my room, invokers following in their foot steps, taking notes, cataloging objects and evidence, and cleaning the bodies away, and I passed the time by focusing on my vision until I could begin to make out details of their armor, clothing, and faces. I still could not see color beyond the blasts of it that had accompanied the ritual before, but at least now I could determine who was who by their faces, even if my ability to read their expressions was... lacking.


    After awhile, the Archmagus, a middle-aged man with a preference for practical clothing, came by to speak and prod at me, making many hms and ahs. The First came by, too, but I was still entirely unclear as to what her skills were supposed to be, and she made no effort to explain her role to me. At least the Archmagus was talkative enough to answer my questions as I answered his, and his role seemed to be that of a knowledgeable, powerful invoker of some kind, though I''d learned they call themselves magi here, not invokers as we did.


    As we spoke during his visits, I managed to glean from the Archmagus that there was an enormous technological gap between this world and the one I''d come from, as we had cracked faster-than-light travel some three hundred years before I''d been born, and they''d only discovered gunpowder a little under a century ago. In contrast, though, the force they called ''magic'' was far better understood here. The Imperium had only discovered it two decades prior to my ''death'', and while our research moved apace, there was too much to learn before we could do anything other than conjure flashes of fire or heal minor wounds.


    Here, on the other hand, individual magi could summon flames enough to reduce a house to ash, were they to push their limits, and Archmagi, the most powerful among them, could burn entire towns, though doing so would likely put them in a coma.


    However, they did not understand classical mechanics fully, having only grasped the basics of gravity and kinetic energy. They had no idea what electromagnetism was, or the weak and strong nuclear forces. Classical mechanics were exceedingly basic compared to what the Imperium had been working with before I died, but they were still the foundation of it all, and if they hadn''t even mastered those, there was no way they could have competed with us on the battlefield, even with their mastery of magical theory and practice. They simply would not be able to reach our ships in orbit, much less crack their shields.


    I did ask the Archmagus, at some point, why I could understand and speak to everything else, considering I''d come from a place much further away than anywhere they''d been. He raised an eyebrow at that, understandably, but explained that Cores usually had enchantments on them to allow for that sort of thing, though most of it went over my head. I may have been one of the most powerful invokers in the Imperium, but that meant little when all my ''magic'' could do was work as a back up weapon, at best. Even sidearms normally packed more of a punch than what invokers could do.


    This was, as I understood it, because we were simply hurling energy and willpower at an idea without understanding the magical laws and how to apply them, and I couldn''t argue with that. All I had done was will it to be, and it would be. I didn''t know the mechanics behind what happened when ''magic'' was used, and, as a Legate of the Imperium, I had access to far more information than most could even dream.


    "My new friend!" the now-familiar voice of the Archmagus called out, shaking me from my thoughts. "How are you today?"


    [I am... I don''t know. I''ll figure that out later.] I''d found that while I could focus on specific things in my ''sight'', I couldn''t truly close my eyes. Still, I hadn''t noticed him come in, and when I ''looked up'', so to speak, I found the man, Callahan, to be carrying a small stack of books to a desk that hadn''t been there the last time I''d paid any real attention. [Books?]


    "Yes! Basic arcane theory and law, along with the only book on alchemy in several leagues. We are... not near the capital, nor one of the major trade cities," he explained, lighting the lamp on the desk with snap of his fingers. He didn''t even look taxed, much less tired.


    [Understandable. If the... magi that did this to me were breaking some kind of law, I would guess they chose somewhere isolated. Mountains, perhaps, for ease of access to resources and cave systems.]


    Callahan hummed, nodding slightly, eyeing me from his desk. "You''re a sharp one, aren''t you? The door there leads to a short... Corridor, I suppose, it''s too well constructed to be a tunnel... Out onto the mountainside. We''re at the base of a local mountain range, with a small village not a mile off. The cultists seem to have planned on moving you deeper into the mountain, as there is another corridor, carved by tool and spell, just down the path a bit in the other direction."


    [I see...] Mentally furrowing my brow, I fell quiet for a moment, before speaking again. [What is... A Core, Captain Markus called me?]


    "Ah!" the Archmagus'' eyes lit up, as if he''d been waiting for me to ask. "A fascinating subject, I''m sure you''ll agree, and not just because of its relevance to your current situation. In essence," he began, pulling the chair from the desk and turning it towards me as he sat with a small grunt of relief. "A Core is a semi-aware chunk of physical magic, called a mana crystal, with several enchantments placed on it, some discrete, some very, very obvious. They range from quite weak and relatively simple creations to great artifacts that Archmagi like myself spend decades crafting."


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    I hummed, unsure if the sound was audible to others. [So, what are they used for, typically?]


    Callahan nodded, as if my question was anticipated. I couldn''t imagine anyone who wouldn''t ask that question. Good that he''s prepared, though. "I''m not a specialist in Cores, but I know the basics of the technology, and occasionally use one myself. Most often, they''re the driving force behind arcane fortresses and objects enchanted to be autonomous, such as golems."


    [Golems... What makes mine special? Aside from being a vessel for my soul, of course.]


    "That is the question, isn''t it? Your material form is strangely small and refined. Most Cores are chunks of unrefined crystal, appearing much like a quartz outcropping, only larger. Yours, however, is carved and polished," Callahan explained, raising his hand to invoke... something. As he did, I felt, more than saw, something collapse into reality, and above his outstretched hand, the air shimmered and shifted, slowly solidifying into an illusory copy of myself.


    As the good Captain had described, my physical body was about twenty to twenty five centimeters long, and six to seven in diameter, if I had Callahans literal measure correct, and he was an average adult Human. The surface was well polished, the ends pointed, and light reflected off of the many facets. The actual material was a deep, foreboding crimson, pulsing angrily in waves of color I''d since been informed was likely mana, the fuel of magic. That made sense, as the only time I''d been able to discern color was during an invocation.


    "You see the color?" he asked, continuing before I had a chance to reply. "A Core tends to be a light blue, like a deep, clean river, maybe, or a tide pool. Some turn black, depending on how they''re used, but yours... Yours is like a pool of blood. It is... odd, and slightly disturbing."


    I hummed again, considering what he''d said. [Well, let''s set that aside until we know more, yes? Why did you bring arcane books? I have to assume you intend on teaching me.]


    "You are correct, my friend. I want to teach you how to use your newfound abilities. If done properly, the Queen thinks you might be an asset to the realm." I bristled at his words, and Callahans eyes widened slightly. I imagine my body had some physical reaction to my emotions.


    I''ll need to figure out how to prevent that in the future...


    "Ah, we''re not forcing you to do anything. Captain Markus has told me that you were a... Legate of you home nation? I''m not sure what that means, but it sounds like you were an influential figure."


    [That is... You aren''t wrong,] I replied, forcing myself to calm down. [A Legate is... Arguably the most powerful position in the Imperium. There were five of us, and, among them, I had the most autonomy, due to my specific responsibilities.]


    Callahan nodded, raising a hand to scratch at his short beard. "What about a king or emperor? You said the Legate was arguably the most powerful position."


    [Aye. Technically, there exists a throne and a title for the one who sits on it, but we haven''t elected someone to take it in hundreds of years. My predecessor remembers the last Archlord, but the woman was long dead by the time I was born.]


    The Archmagus furrowed his brow, and leaned in a little, eyes focused on me. "How... What were you, that members of your race live for hundreds of years?"


    [Ah. Right. I am Human. Medicine in the Imperium advanced to the point of halting age entirely. Most injuries, if not immediately fatal, could be healed without magic. Missing limbs could be regrown, organs replaced, and skin regenerated. I am three hundred and twenty six years old, and my predecessor is nine hundred and eighty four. The year was...]


    I paused, once again reaching for information that did not readily come to me. More missing memories from the shock to my soul. [13,487, Human Era. I... remember learning in school that we changed ''year zero'' to what is was ten thousand years prior in what was, at the time... 2043. Now, it''s...]


    Callahan moved towards me, concern etched on his features. "Are you alright, my friend?"


    [Yes, I... Some things are... blurry, and others are missing entirely, like my name. Like all names I''d known.]


    The man nodded, apologetic. "I wish there was something I could do for you, but magic that tampers with souls is..." he grimaced sharply. "Forbidden for a reason. But, you mentioned you are over three hundred years old? Without the use of magic? How..."


    [I don''t know how it works,] I cut him off before he could ask. [Understanding how most of our technology worked required decades of specialized training. When the alterations were made to us some thousand years ago, it took the greatest biologists their entire lives to create. All I know is that there are several flaws in the human body that cause aging, and solving them in the wrong way could cause unchecked growth of parts of our body, a disease we called cancer. The... serum or... treatment they used had to solve all of the issues at once while installing new countermeasures against things like cancer.]


    "I see, I see... I suppose that I will learn much from you, maybe even as much as you will learn from me," he said simply, chewing his beard.


    [I doubt it, Archmagus. I was a military commander, a government official. I made laws, set taxes, and led armies and navies. I only knew the basics of everything else, and even that is questionable, with my missing memories.]


    "Well," he began, straightening a little. "Those basics seem to be more than what we know."


    I started to reply, but realized we didn''t know anything about magical theory, either. [True. Might we get to the... magic? I am eager to learn.]


    A wide smile split his face and he set about choosing which book to use, calling for an assistant at the same time. While he busied himself finding a good place to start, a few others filed into the room, pulling some kind of board on wheels and a few other assorted pieces of equipment.


    [Archmagus.] I said flatly. [Is that a chalkboard?]


    "Hmm?" he vocalized, slowly pulling his attention from the book, before casting it to the board behind him. "Ah, yes. Is there a problem?"


    [Callahan, I can''t even see color yet.]


    The man blinked, started to say something, stopped again, and then sighed as his shoulders sagged, plans for the day derailed, at least for the moment. "My apologies, friend."

 3 - Magic

    The problem of my relative blindness was resolved surprisingly quickly. I still couldn''t see properly, of course, but after a few minutes of thought, Archmagus Callahan somehow imbued mana into the chalk, and, with some testing, we found that I could see writing made with it.


    [I suppose that confirms that my sight is based on mana,] I said as he wiped the scribbles away with a cloth.


    "Yes, it''s always good to double check such things," he replied, turning to me. "Again, my apologies for my short-sightedness."


    [It''s quite alright, Archmagus,] I told him, attempting my best to be friendly and personable. I would need him on my side when it came to convincing the Queen of my value. I didn''t know the woman, not yet, and Callahan had assured me she was a fair and just leader, but it couldn''t hurt to stack the deck in my favor, so to speak. It helped that I genuinely liked his eagerness to teach and be taught. [We were both excited to get to this. It''s understandable for some things to slip our minds, and I didn''t consider how you''d teach me these things, either.]


    The man hummed and nodded slightly. "Yes, I suppose you''re right," he murmured, scratching at his beard. He must have been a teacher that prided himself on his preparedness. Or he''s attempting to get in my good graces as I am his. "Regardless," he said suddenly, standing up straight and turning back towards the board. "Let us get to the basics, yes?"


    He took a few heart beats decided where to begin on the board, and, once his place was selected, he rapidly and precisely drew some manner of array, a simple one, with only a few symbols in it.


    "Now, since you already know how to move your mana, my friend, we''ll skip that step and move directly to weaving a spell," he started, pointing at a very simple symbol in the center of the array, a triangle with a line parallel with its base struck through it a third down and halfway out. "This is what we call an elemental rune. Every spell needs a ''center piece'', an element to manipulate, no matter what tradition you cast with. In mine, we use runes to represent each aspect of a spell, but I know of several others that envision spells as sentences, others as constellations. Truthfully, it doesn''t matter which you use."


    According to the Archmagus, the elemental rune or ''key-rune'' ¨C Like a keystone in an arch, I suppose ¨C he''d drawn was the symbol his tradition used for ''fire''. Around it, outside the center circle that contained the fire rune, there were descriptor runes, symbols that defined the behavior of the element to be manipulated, three of them, each spaced equidistant from one another, matched with the sides of the triangle in the middle.


    "These descriptor runes, you may think of them as verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and so on in a sentence, and the elemental runes are the subjects, the things being acted upon, or the thing doing the acting," he explained, before pointing to the descriptor rune in the top left, then top right, and finally bottom in turn. "These are the runes for ''ball'', ''forward'', and ''explosion'', in turn. Together, these three, and the elemental rune, make up the classic ''fireball'' that many magi find themselves enamored with. For most, they could forgo ''forward'' and bodily throw the spell, but as you have no hands, I thought it best to include the rune for your purposes."


    [I see. Does the placement of the runes matter, in your tradition?] I asked, curious if there was a reason for where he''d placed them in relation to the triangle.


    "No, not as such. The distance from one another matters, somewhat, but I place them around the elemental rune like this because I thought it looked nice as an apprentice," he said, chuckling to himself at his youthful habits. "They should be roughly equidistant, though, no matter their orientation. This ensures a steady flow of mana throughout the entire array. However..."


    He fell silent for several seconds, until I prompted him to continue with a slight hum.


    "Apologies, I was considering if that would be too advanced for you right now. You''re still learning the fundamentals, after all. It may be best to leave that for later, but I''ll leave the decision on that up to you," he explained, half-turning to look at me, as though he''d be able to see my face. I appreciated the thought.


    [I''ll admit, I''m curious, but if you think it best to put that off until I''ve at least learned the basics, then I''ll trust your judgement,] I assured him, and focused on the array once more. [Before we move on, is there any reason to choose any given tradition over another?]


    His eyebrow raised at the question. "That''s a surprisingly relevant question, but the answer is no, not particularly, and the reasoning for that is what we''d just agreed to talk about later. Without dipping into that subject too much, many magi will claim their tradition to be the most efficient, the most effective, or some such, but it''s largely nonsense.


    "Aye, some are slightly better for some applications than others, but the differences are extremely minute, and you''d only notice them if you were actively studying the subject. For example, my tradition is marginally more effective with ritual work, and the traditions I mentioned that use sentences to construct their spells are, likewise, marginally more effective with combat magic."


    [I see... So, shall we continue?]


    "Ah, yes," he nodded, and reached inside his coat to withdraw... something. Whatever it was, it was extremely bright. Not as bright as the object the magus barking orders on the day of my summoning had used to disappear, but still half-blinding. "Now, if you would trace this array in your mind with your mana, and then release it?" he said, and, seeing no real reason to refuse or question him, began to do as he asked.


    Halfway through the process, he gestured towards an assistant magus that had stayed behind to aid us if we needed anything. "Tesha, dear, get behind me, please. Just in case."


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    The womans eyes snapped up from the book she was reading to the Archmagus, then to me, and they went wide in shock before she almost ran to his side as I finished drawing the array, a stack of books clutched precariously in her arms. Checking it a second time, I pushed as much of my will into it as I had when I''d invoked fire before, and released it.


    Just as the spell began to collapse ¨C No, this is more of a crash ¨C into reality, I saw the Archmagus'' eyes go wide, as well, and a second crash mirrored mine, and the world went white.


    [Callahan!? Is everything alright? What happened?] I asked. I couldn''t see anything still, but I heard something falling, and I heard one the witch-hunters shout for the Archmagus from the doorway ¨C a doorway that had been closed a moment ago.


    "It''s alright, it''s alright!" the middle-aged man called back. "Just a minor magical mishap, don''t worry!"


    By now, my ''vision'' had begun to clear, and I balked at what I saw. The stone chamber was an utter mess. The desk shattered into splinters, the chalkboard likewise largely destroyed, chunks of stone spread across the floor, and the door was missing. The two magi were uninjured, however, though Callahan looked somewhat taxed by the ordeal.


    [My apologies, Callahan, I... I put as much power into it as I usually do when invoking, I didn''t realize it would be that much more efficient, even with my amateurish attempts at the runes...] A back up weapon? That was a grenade!


    "No, no, I-" he coughed, waving something away from his face. Powdered stone, I''d guess, from the damage. "I expected something like this. It''s why I brought the shield," he said, holding up the object from earlier, though significantly dimmed, almost invisible to my ''eyes'', in fact. "Still, that was... incredible. And you could put that much mana into a spell without casting properly? Without falling unconscious?"


    The witch-hunter behind the magi shook his head and sheathed his weapon, turning around to leave, muttering something about ''magi and their damn spellwork''.


    [Yes, though the result... wasn''t anything like that. A back up weapon, at best, the equivalent of a boot-knife, perhaps,] I explained, running my focus along the damage again. It would take some time to repair all that, if it ever was repaired.


    "Even that much is incredible, my friend," he said, dusting himself off and there was a slight snap as he cast another spell, a wave of some kind, if the colors dancing across my vision were any indication. Tesha staggered a little from behind the older man, and leaned against the wall, slowly sliding into a sitting position. "Most magi can only managed to light a candle without a proper weave of the spell. Once you catch up on the theory, and put it into practice, you''ll be a very formidable magus."


    [That, I think, will take some time. Months, most likely, if not more. I have too much to learn to focus on only magic right now,] I said, and sighed internally, frustrated that I could not vocalize my emotions in the same way anymore. When I had a Human body, I would have thought it would be useful, to avoid a slip of facial expression or body language during negotiation, but now... [Before we finish for the day, how will... recovering my mana work now? When I had a... In my previous body, I would just need to rest and eat.]


    "Ah!" he clapped, nodding. "An excellent question, and one I should have answered before you felt the need to ask it. It''s largely the same. You will draw in ambient mana from the surroundings, and slowly recover that way. It is slower, however. We mortals, with our squishy bodies, can draw mana from our food and drink, and we can drink elixirs and infusions to speed the process.


    "However, as a Core, your rate of recovery is tied to the amount of ''territory'' you have influence over. Right now, as you only have just this room, your recovery rate should be about that of a Human that isn''t eating or drinking, so perhaps half or two-thirds the rate of a fed and rested one," he explained, stroking his short beard. The details were somewhat fuzzier now than they had been before my first invocation ¨C Spell, not invocation. My ''vision'' must be based on my own mana to some extent... I''ll have to make sure I don''t dip lower than necessary.


    [I see... That seems a substantial downside. Is there any way around it?]


    "There are methods to recover faster, and improve the capacity your Core can hold, but those are irrelevant right now. We''ll talk about them as they come up, I''m sure," he replied, nodding to himself about something. "Don''t worry; you''ll be recovered by the morning, even with how much you put into that spell."


    [I understand, I''ll trust you on that. Thank you, Archmagus.] I made sure to use his title to impress on him how much I appreciated his expertise. I wasn''t sure if cultural norms would be similar enough for my social maneuvering to have the intended effect, but there was little I could do about it if they weren''t.


    "Think nothing of it, my friend! It''s been some time since I had an opportunity to teach such an eager student, and a clever one, at that," he said, smiling at me. "Now, let''s... Get all this cleaned up. I''ll have to have a new desk and board delivered..."


    [Ah, would you mind copying the array onto the wall with your infused chalk? So that I can reference it after you leave. I won''t be throwing any more of those, though, I assure you.]


    "Yes, of course, one moment." As he spoke, he turned to Tesha, and instructed her to send in some of the witch-hunters and other magi to help clean up, and take a moment outside in the fresh air, before approaching one of the walls close to me, and doing as I''d requested.


    As he worked, I focused on the young magus shuffling to the door. She was perhaps one hundred and sixty something centimeters tall, and had opted for a practical, jaw-length hair cut, parted near the side and tucked behind her ears. Young, too, I thought, in her early twenties, with a pretty face.


    Cute kid. Didn''t mean to scare her like that.


    Of course, she could likely dismantle my Core with passing ease, and there''d be little I could do about it. I''d surprised her with the force of that spell before, but she was a magus, and one the Archmagus trusted to work with on an unknown, untested Core. Now that she knew what I could do, I was very confident she would be able to counter anything I could throw at her and shatter me like glass.


    The rest of the day was filled with the soldiers and magi filing in and out of the room, clearing debris and chunks of charred wood as I practiced my ''spell-weaving'', using only the elemental key-rune, for now, to avoid accidentally harming the people I found myself at the mercy of. It was slow, agonizing work, though I did get results.


    I took the amount of mana I had used in my first ''spell'', reduced it to a tenth, and then reduced that to a twentieth again, intent on using as little mana as possible and aiming to use just enough to create a tiny flash of flame, not unlike a candle-flame. The first dozen attempts resulted in nothing but a spark, as my weaving had been too... imprecise and sloppy, but by the time the soldiers had finished cleaning, and said their goodbyes, I''d managed to improve that to a fresh lighter or large match.


    As they left, I asked one of the witch-hunters to apologize to Tesha for me, and turned my attention back to my practice. It really would take quite some time before I managed to trace the runes with the same speed and precision the Archmagus had, despite the fact I didn''t need to sleep.

 4 - Cores

    The next morning, or what I assumed to be the next morning, the Archmagus resumed our lessons on magic, though there simply hadn''t been enough time to bring in a new desk and chalkboard. The man had apparently foreseen damage to the chalkboard and other materials and furniture, as he''d ordered three of each, but the others had yet to arrive. Instead, he opted to to trace the arrays in the air, using some manner of magic he''d yet to teach me to make them visible, though he seemed somewhat tired by the task.


    Not a spell, then? Or perhaps a somewhat complicated one.


    Like the day before, we began with an explanation of various traditions and their benefits and weaknesses. Of the some dozen traditions he offered a basic analysis of, only two caught my attention.


    The first was an offshoot, specialized variant of the incantation tradition the magi that brought me here used, focusing on poetry and verse to make their incantations easier to remember and perform. That tradition, or so Callahan told me, was often used on the battlefield, in conjunction with song, since war drums, trumpets, and so on were commonplace in standing militaries, and the structure of the tradition allowed for flexibility in the spells being cast.


    The second tradition utilized a physical medium for the spells, such as silk or clay, something relatively tough but malleable, arranged in the proper shape for a given spell to pre-cast a spell to be used at any time, held together by their version of the elemental key-rune, which they called a lynchpin. This allowed a magus of this tradition to prepare a number of spells in advance, limited only by their personal knowledge and skill and the time they had to create their catalysts.


    While extremely interesting, none of the offered traditions stood out to me as something beneficial for me to learn, trapped as I was in an immobile body with no hands. The incantation traditions offered little benefit to me, as any manner in which I was forced to fight would be better suited by ritual spells or prepared traps, and the catalyst tradition was simply impossible for me to use in any concrete manner.


    So, I opted to continue training in the rune array tradition Callahan had taught me first. I imagine he took into account my situation, and offered me a tradition I could actually use, though I''m sure there was a personal bias at play, as well. Still, even if I''d found another tradition I could use, I would still choose the Archmagus'' in order to lean into any personal desire to teach his tradition he may have, and flatter him by having a foreigner indirectly proclaim his the best tradition.


    Eventually, though, I needed to learn about my new body and its capabilities, no matter how fascinated I was by arcane theory and practice.


    [Callahan,] I started, during a lull in the lessons. [As much as I find the practice and theory invigorating, I do need to understand what a Core is and what they- we can do. I would rather not experiment with enchantments and abilities I know nothing about.]


    The Archmagus hummed, and scratched at his beard, nodding absently. "Yes, that is true. Very well," he said, grabbing a somewhat-crude chair to sit down, and spare his aging knees. "As I said the other day, I''m no expert on the subject, but I can tell you about the basics. How about we start with something specific you''re curious about?"


    [Yes, in that case...] I paused, largely for theatrics, but also to give me a chance to string the words together. [What are... living fortresses as opposed to dungeons?]


    "Ah, a good question, my friend," he replied, leaning back in his creaking chair. "For the most part, there isn''t really much of a difference at all. A living fortress is a dungeon that''s been bound and controlled by someone to create, well, a living fortress, capable of reacting and changing, to some extent, in response to the needs of the person controlling the Core.


    "Dungeons, on the other hand, are wild Cores, seeking only to protect themselves and increase their power. Dungeons are, in fact, the primary source of magical Cores. They spring up in areas of high mana concentration, and instinctually use their abilities to create labyrinthine deathtraps, baited with magics and uniquely enchanted objects, so they''re quite useful for training specialist troops and knights, as well as researching magic."


    [I see... And dungeons aren''t sapient at all? I''ve been told I''m the first Core capable of speech that anyone knows of.]


    "That is correct. They seem to all function on roughly the same set of rules and conditions, but none have thus far been observed to understand speech, much less be capable of responding. Some Archmagi and artificers have managed to create more complex, adaptable Cores, but..."


    I hummed absently, considering how he described Cores. Magical ANI? But the fact they occur naturally, and have similar, if not identical, behaviors across the world implies they are created by some actor or force in the world...


    [That raises many complex questions, but I''ll put those aside, for now. I can''t say I''ll be able to contribute much to a theoretical conversation without understanding more of the basics.]


    "You''re not wrong. What we know implies a great many things about the nature of magic, some of them... less than pleasant. Anyway, what do you wish to know about next? Golems, perhaps, and other automata?"


    I chuckled to myself at his question, hoping the sound was audible to him. [Yes, golems and automata. I''m sure you can guess why I''d like to know.]


    "Of course. It would be one of the first things I asked about, as well, were I in your position," he said, nodding with somewhat sad expression painted on his features. Colors were still beyond me, but my practice with controlling my mana had improved my ''vision'' to some extent, and I could make out more subtle details now.


    "The Cores of golems and automata are structurally identical to dungeon Cores, and hunting naturally forming golems and elementals is the second most common source of Cores, followed by manual creation of them, by a wide margin. When a Core is taken from its dungeon or golem, they''re generally stripped of enchantments, and re-enchanted depending on the intended role for the Core.


    "A golems Core is enchanted with various effects, but the most prominent is the ability to move material connected to it by mana circuits. Unfortunately, the enchantments have a minimum size requirement, and we''ve so far been unable to reduce that size to that of an average person. At the moment, the smallest golem in the kingdom is eight and a half feet tall, and weighs nearly a ton."


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    [I can see incredible siege and construction applications for it, but... Yes, that''s much too large to act as a replacement body for me. I wouldn''t be able to fit anywhere.]


    "You''re not wrong. It''s common to have a number of siege golems attached to a regiment of soldiers. Let me ask you a question, though," he said, leaning forward in his chair and eyeing me. "We''ve been assuming that your minimum size is about that of this room, but the cult that did this to you aims to turn themselves into demons. What was the smallest range of your senses when you regained consciousness?"


    [Ah. I... am not sure. When I first awoke, I couldn''t sense anything. Not even sound.]


    The Archmagus blinked a few times, and leaned back in his chair, exhaling sharply as his gaze drifted to the ceiling. "That... Your minimum size should be about the size of your Core, then. I... Gods, they truly did manage it. They created a sapient, artificial demonheart."


    A... demonheart? [Archmagus, what... what are you talking about? What''s a demon?]


    "Ah... You don''t have demons where you''re from? No, I suppose that makes sense, if your people only discovered magic a few decades ago..." He sighed, sitting straight again, but casting his eyes towards the floor as he thought. For a few minutes, he opened his mouth to speak but stopped and returned to his thoughts several times.


    "Right. Cores are also sometimes called dragonhearts or demonhearts, as it''s said that dragons and demons have Cores in place of hearts. At least in the case of dragons, this isn''t true. They do have Cores in their bodies, but they also have a normal heart, much as anything dragon related can be considered ''normal''...


    "Demons, on the other hand... It''s unknown for certain if they genuinely have a Core instead of a heart, as it''s been centuries since one was slain without destroying everything around it, including the body. Demons are... beings of pure malice, and incredible power," he said, shaking his head, and pushing his hair back from his forehead as he stood up and began to pace.


    "The Queen will need to hear of this... Tesha," he said, the name louder than the rest of the sentence as he whirled around to look for the girl. I hadn''t even noticed her in the room, focused as I was on the conversation.


    Her eyes were wide with something akin to shock or fear, and she started sharply when Callahan called her name. "Er, yes, Archmagus?"


    "Write a report about this to the Queen, and inform Captain Markus of the situation. Include his recommendations for defenses and reinforcements in the report, and request a squad of warmagi to be deployed," he ordered, and the young magus immediately hurried out of the room and into the imperceptible hallway beyond.


    "I''m sorry, my friend, but... don''t worry. We won''t let that cult take you back, not while we still breathe. We assumed they would return in force to retrieve you, but... This information means they will be substantially more aggressive in their attempts," he explained, taking his seat again.


    [I... see. All the more reason for me to understand what I''m capable of, then. So, if my minimum size is about equivalent to that of my Core, then I could feasibly be put into a Human-sized golem, yes?]


    Callahan chewed his beard for a moment, but eventually nodded. "Yes, that''s correct. Unfortunately, any golem we used at that size would be exceedingly fragile, or phenomenally expensive. Stone, clay, even iron and steel would be too brittle or too heavy to function, and more apt materials... The ideal is adamantine, but I don''t think there''s enough adamantine in the whole of the kingdom to make a human-sized golem out of," he said, shaking his head, a bitter grimace on his lips. "Besides, we have no idea how that might affect your soul."


    [Yes, I... would rather not lose even more of my memories, even if it would get me a more able body.]


    Even if I was willing to risk that damage, I knew little of arcane automata, after all, and had no choice but to trust the man in his assessment. The Imperium had its own kind of automata, and though I wasn''t an engineer, even I knew that using a material too heavy would increase power draw drastically, as well as present transportation issues, and a brittle one would simply result in the thing being shaken apart by its own movement. These people likely had better metallurgy than I was imagining, thanks to their magic, but I still doubted they''d be able to make use of titanium alloys or extremely high performance steels as we could, as well.


    [In that case, I suppose we should focus on my capabilities as a living fortress, yes?]


    The Archmagus nodded slowly before turning his attention back to me. "Yes... Yes, that''s a good idea. We''ll have to wait for the Queens permission to begin actually utilizing those capabilities, but her Majesty has scheduled a... visit for a few days from now, so we''ll be able to ask her permission then."


    The rest of our time together for the day was spent with Callahan giving me as detailed a lecture on the capabilities and functions of dungeon Cores, though he had to reference multiple books several times to ensure his information was accurate. He''d been an adventurer when he was younger, he claimed, but that was decades ago, and the memories were faded.


    The exact extent of my abilities and how they worked was a complicated subject, but they could be boiled down to two major functions.


    The first, and less complex on a practical level, was that dungeon Cores could claim physical space around them and treat it as a part of their body, more or less. This could potentially drastically increase rate at which a Core could draw in mana, and allowed the Core to more easily perceive a greater area. My senses, or so the Archmagus informed me, were not a function of the Core, but rather that of any entity which could manipulate and detect mana, and it was easiest to apply to ones own body, so as my ''territory'' grew, the area I could readily sense would also grow.


    Secondly, the enchantments on a dungeon Core, though most living Cores did not share this function, would allow the Core to create subservient life and subjugate non-sapient life with mana. This, Callahan informed me, was how dungeons raised armies, created traps, and expanded its physical domain. Subservient creatures could be used to build traps, dig tunnels, construct equipment and defenses, and so on, as well as behave as a military force, when necessary, by defending the dungeon from intruders or raiding the surrounding area for more resources, and occasionally captives.


    Apparently, while the underlying mechanics applied to everything and everyone, dungeons and living fortresses were in a unique position that allowed them to draw incredible volumes of mana from slain foes. The mana in a creature would not dissipate upon death, and instead would seep into the air around the corpse, and anyone within range of the body would be able to draw strength from that mana. This was largely useful for recovering mana after a battle, but for Cores, and the occasional magus that knew how to rapidly absorb mana from their surroundings, it meant killing could be used as a method of growing ones power.


    Therefore, dungeons could be more accurately described as predatory places, a sort of genius loci, and a vicious, hungry one, at that. The most successful dungeons had figured out that they needed to strike a balanced between lethality and reward, in order to bait more and more people into them, seeking the treasures and power they laid out to draw in more prey while killing enough of them to recoup the losses of any creatures and magics destroyed and looted by the survivors.


    To aid in this, dungeons often commanded their denizens to create traps that would slowly sap the mana of any intruders, slowly weakening them and strengthening the Core while the intruders stayed within its territory.


    Hearing this, something clicked in my mind, and a plan began to form. It would take quite some time, and the express permission of the Queen, but a way forward had presented itself, and I would not let it pass me by.

 5 - Witch-Hunter

    It had been over a century since I hadn''t needed to read some report or give some manner of deployment order, even on my supposed vacations. It was for this reason the other Legates and I had been debating whether or not to increase our number, and by how many. Before my ship and escort fell into the ambush that claimed my life, the most recent proposal was to add four additional Legates over the course of the next fifty years, and so slowly ease our individual workloads without sowing chaos in the rest of the Imperium as our command structural changed.


    Not something I need to worry about now, I suppose... Still, I''d hoped that particular proposal went through. It was the best one in two hundred years, from the time I''d ''merely'' been second in command to my predecessor. I didn''t believe the Imperium would survive much longer if the other Legates didn''t allow that one to pass; corruption was beginning to seep into government at the highest levels, and even one of my colleagues'' lieutenants had been promoted to that position due to political pressure from her powerful family.


    Without the constant administrative work I''d become accustomed to over the last two centuries to keep me busy, I began to feel... listless, almost. Bored, I suppose the word would be.


    Even the relative novelty of practicing magic had become routine, the arrays being traced, infused, and cast almost without my attention, the constant thump of the spells collapsing into reality becoming the new heartbeat by which I measured time.


    Perhaps... Multitasking may be precisely what I needed to occupy myself. It wasn''t new to me, of course. When you have a paltry twenty people, the five Legates and three lieutenants to each, running an empire that spanned stars, it was natural that each of them would become extremely skilled at doing more than one thing at once, and that was without taking into account our sophisticated cerebral implants and assistant AI.


    That... I no longer have access to...


    At the same time, however, I was no longer Human; the limitations of an organic mind no longer applied to me, though I wasn''t sure how far that extended. Was I, more or less, an AGI? Or was I an ASI, and merely needed time to grow into my new cognitive abilities? Somewhere in between?


    I would need to experiment, to push my limits to find out what I was capable of now.


    Casting aside my questions and doubts, for now, I focused purely on drawing two arrays at once, the idle chatter of the witch-hunter and magus pair guarding the door fading into the background.


    It was difficult, excessively so, but not such that I felt the task impossible. It would take me weeks, perhaps months, to be able to draw the two at once with any degree of accuracy, much less refine the process to the point I could draw them and cast them as quickly and precisely as I could the one.


    Good. That would keep my mind busy for quite some time, keeping boredom at bay at least until my vision developed enough to read on my own, or I could put my plan to action.


    Failing to complete and cast these twinned arrays would also give me a chance to recover all the mana I''d spent over the last few days, as well; while drawing them did use some, it was nothing compared to a successful cast, even my most precise ones. I would have needed to stop my practice soon, anyway, as I didn''t know the amount of mana I needed to keep in reserve simply to remain alive, much less conscious.


    Even if I succeed earlier than I expect, I can add another, or cast two different spells.


    Hours passed as I laboriously drew the spells in my mind, each attempt resulting in the arrays disintegrating as I focused too much on one or the other. The process worked so well to consume my attention that I didn''t notice the guards had stopped talking and began watching me intently until the door opened, and Markus'' voice pulled me from my practice.


    "Report, Enna," I heard him say, and the witch-hunter he spoke to snapped to attention and saluted as I cast my focus to them.


    "Captain. The demonheart suddenly stopped casting spells three hours ago, but no other anomalies have occurred. Magus Amalie and I have detected mana being moved, but no spells being cast, and the territory of the dungeon hasn''t expanded," she said, holding her salute until the older witch-hunter nodded.


    "Well, stranger, how goes it? Your practice, I mean," the man asked, pulling up the creaky chair Callahan had brought in the day before.


    [Ah. Casting... one spell no longer holds my focus the way it did before...] I said slowly, focused on his expression as I swapped back to drawing and casting just one. Ice, this time, to avoid a gout of flame. [And my mana was dipping low, so I began attempting to draw two spells at once. It... is not working, of course, but it''s holding my attention, so I can''t complain.]


    As I explained my new practice routine, one of his eyebrows quirked up a little. "Already trying to dual-cast? I suppose that makes sense," he said, leaning forward a little. "Don''t worry, I won''t ask you to stop. I just had a free moment to come speak with you."


    [So it is possible to cast multiple spells at once? Good, good...]


    "You were trying to learn without knowing it was possible?"


    [I... Captain Markus. I cannot sleep,] I stopped casting the ice spells, and turned my full focus on him. [I cannot read. I cannot leave. I cannot do anything but sit here and practice magic, and occasionally talk to you and your fellows,] I ground out, more of my frustration leaking into my voice than I was comfortable with.


    His eyes turned sad, and his gaze lowered until it hit the floor and he closed his eyes, nodding slightly. "Yes, I... I''m sorry. It''s no wonder you''re anxious and stressed."


    I made a noise of acknowledgement, some half-grunt I hoped he could hear. [I was one of twenty people leading an empire that boasted a population numbering in the hundreds of billions. I haven''t... Every day of my life for the last two hundred years has been filled with activity and work. I am... unused to the... stillness,] I explained, half-hoping this would further my goals and improve his opinion of me, but... I would be lying if I said I didn''t want to talk, and I''m too old to lie to myself like that.


    [Do you have some time, Captain?] I asked, before he could put together a reply.


    "I can delegate a few things, for the moment," he said, nodding. "We''ve been scrambling to set up a real defensive position here, but reinforcements have yet to arrive, and even with the magi helping, it''s... ah, apologies."


    [No, no apologies necessary. That''s actually what I wanted to talk about. You, your work, your people. The laws of this country. Your culture, your beliefs. If I''m going to make a home here...] I trailed off, letting him complete the thought. He''d already expressed regret over my circumstances, so I''d wager on his sense of duty accepting me as a refugee or immigrant of some sort, and one he may be able to help, at that.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Markus took a deep breath, and leaned to the side a little in his unbalanced chair. "Alright. We are in the lands of her Majesty the Queen, Fianna Aisling, sovereign of Estraia. Our people are largely Human, like myself, though her Majesty annexed the Orcish tribelands of Vuthan... fifteen years ago, now.


    "I like to think we are a simple, honorable folk, but I can''t claim that others aren''t, as well. People are simply people, after all, no matter where you go," he said with a shrug, and I happened to agree with his assessment. "The Witch Hunter Brigade was formed around the same time as the realm itself... Two hundred, two hundred and fifty years ago, give or take a decade, for the sole purpose of destroying demons and cults dedicated to them.


    "I''d originally aimed to be a knight, to be honest, but the gods had other plans, and I was recruited into the Brigade by chance. I am... content with my work, don''t get me wrong, stranger. I still get to help my people in what ways I can, I just... Did not expect to be a witch-hunter when I was young. Did you have something specific you''d like to ask, or should we just chatter like old men?" he asked, chuckling as he looked up at me.


    [Your gods,] I said, maybe a little too quickly. [The Imperium had no confirmed knowledge of deities, but... There was a... Church, I suppose, that called themselves the Cult of the Dragon. My predecessor was a fervent believer, but I... Never really cared one way or the other. Ones faith in the divine didn''t impact their ability to do their duty, after all.]


    "I see," he replied simply, chewing his beard. "Well, the priests and theologians say that the gods are the same all over the world, just known by different names, and worshipped for different aspects, but I don''t know much about that. Don''t get paid to think about gods. My home town reveres Ylir, Lord of the Hunt, and the three wives, Danna, Aina, and Asta, Keepers of the Sun, Moon, and Stars."


    [The three wives? Who are they the wives of?]


    "Ah. Each other. The stories say they''re nigh inseparable."


    [I''m glad.]


    The man raised an eyebrow at that, obviously confused. "What for?"


    [Because that means people who prefer the same gender aren''t considered... unnatural, or worse. They may even be considered blessed or divine in some way,] I replied, recalling my history lessons. The Imperium arose in response to incredible violence on Terra, divided by race, creed, religion, and more, and less. Ours was a fitful infancy, on a world that seemed to loathe us for our birth.


    It encouraged terrible acts amongst my ancestors.


    "There are places where that''s the case?" he asked, his face a horrified mask of disbelief. "Was your home like that?"


    [No, not for a very long time, even by our standards. Well over a thousand years. The cradle of our people was... Not an easy place to live, and my ancestors were a... paranoid and violent people, and that was not the only excuse they hid behind to attack each other, not by far. We teach our children what was, so they never repeat it.]


    The mans face twisted into an expression of angry concern, before he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Well, I''ll have a theological book brought up to help answer your questions about the various divinities found here."


    [That would be much appreciated, Markus. What about the lands around here? What are they like?] I asked, a hundred and more questions ready on my mind.


    "We''re near the southeastern border of the kingdom, in the barony of Blacklake. I know, not a particularly inventive name," he said, chuckling. "But if you saw the lake on the other side of the village... Anyway, the land is ruled by the Baron Blacklake, a man by the name of Eirich Sonders. He makes his name in noble society by hosting a yearly hunt and feast here, and the village should be wealthy for the trade it brings, but I''ve long suspected he''s... Ah, I''ve strayed off topic again."


    [No, no, it''s very interesting. So, a yearly hunt? Then the region is heavily forested?]


    "Yeah," he paused to scratch at the side of his head with a gauntleted hand. "The roads are well maintained and well traveled, too. It''s... nice here. The weather is mild, year round, and there''s plenty of game to keep the Brigade garrison fed. No lack of monsters, too, though. Thankfully, they''re also mild, as much as a monster can be mild..."


    [Monsters? I assume you must mean magical animals of some kind,] I asked, and he nodded in reply. [Do they impact trade or travel much around here?]


    "No, not usually. Things have been particularly quiet lately, actually, which... I suppose is due to the cult slaying any that wander too close to the village, to prevent too many adventurers and other potential witnesses from investigating. It''s what I''d do, at least."


    [I would agree with that conclusion. Though I would do what I could to keep reports of monsters roughly equivalent, in case someone looked a little too closely at the trend.]


    His eyebrow quirked up a little, and a small smile spread across his face. "Clever. Are you experienced in this sort of work?"


    [I am. My role as a Legate was... Well, something akin to a witch-hunter and a spymaster combined, I would say. I had spies and agents spread around, of course, but I also had a standing military to deploy when necessary.]


    "I see... So, what other questions do you have?"


    We continued to ask each other probing questions about our respective peoples for hours, each of us intensely aware of the others skills and background, our roles being so similar. We eventually made an almost unspoken game of dodging questions and distracting each other while getting as much information as we could from the other without lying. I had the advantage, of course, being able to read his facial expressions and body language while lacking the same, but Markus was a sharp man, and ''scored'' against me a few times.


    Despite myself, I quite liked him.


    The Queen was supposed to visit somehow tomorrow or the next day, according to Callahan, so I focused my questions on the woman herself and proper etiquette for interacting with her, while he attempted to learn more of the Imperiums corruption and the issues I was meant to solve in my capacity as a Legate.


    Queen Fianna was a Human, though it was said the royal family had Elf-blood, and thus lived some time longer than the average Human. She took the throne in her late twenties while a three way war between Estraia and two of its neighbors was still in living memory. In fact, she''d been born at the beginning of that very war, and so she was a practical woman, with a good deal of military training and experience, even though the war itself had ended well before she came of age.


    At one point, Markus managed to distract me from my main topic by talking about rumors of the Queen having an Elf woman as a lover, but he refused to elaborate on who it was. I had the feeling he knew exactly who the Elf lover was supposed to be, maybe even met her, but I steered the conversation back to the monarchy not long after.


    Estraia was largely ruled by the Crown, of course, but they also had a council of influential nobles, and a council of likewise powerful commoners, mostly merchants, but a few of them were the heads of large workers'' guilds. These two councils nominally had the power to veto laws and orders set down by the Crown, and vote on which of a number of chosen successors would actually become the heir.


    There were restrictions on who, exactly, was a prospective successor, in order to prevent the royal family from being ousted every generation. Further, the status of heir was not set in stone, and could be changed every few years, so the Crown Prince or Princess had to maintain their influence to ensure they kept their title.


    Finally, etiquette among nobility was strikingly similar to the etiquette of the Imperium. Specific use of a title, name, and territory, or lack thereof, in how you referred to someone stated how important that aspect of who they were was to either you or the conversation at hand, often both, and failure to refer to someone correctly in a given circumstance could be considered a grave insult. Therefore, it was recommended to refer to someone by their most prestigious title or rank if you were unsure of the proper one for the context you were in.


    In the Imperium, if someone had called me Captain while I was discussing legal matters, they would be saying that my status as the captain of a ship was more important than my rank of Legate, and would thus be disparaging both me and the office of Legate. However, if someone called me Legate while I was aboard my ship and on the bridge, then they would be fine, though it might be indicative of them not being used to proper protocol.


    Now, in actual fact, I was called Legate in all military and legal contexts, and no one had ever insulted me by referring to me by my family name after I became a Legate ¨C and therefore attributing my authority and influence to my family, not my own efforts, but that was, by and large, how it worked in the Imperium, and how it worked in Estraia.


    There were some differences between the two, but I would, at least, not be inadvertently offending any but the most... particular of nobles.

 6 - Majesty

    When I was young, still in the orphanage, a ward of the state, the Legates always seemed so... imposing, and larger than life on the news, and during interviews. Of course, most of that was the cameras angled to make them seem larger, and more powerful, with make up and clever adjustments to their uniforms to help, but, truth be told, they needn''t have bothered, not with her.


    My predecessor was an enormous woman, like a marble statue come to life. Statuesque in every way, as though sculpted and crafted by a master artisan to be the perfect Human. I wasn''t a small person, either, but, even so, she towered over me, even the other Legates, when I finally met them, too. The average person looked like a child next to her, and I looked an infant when she adopted me, each of her hands almost large enough to cup my tiny skull like a baseball.


    To this day, the word ''majesty'' calls to mind memories of her, my predecessor, my teacher, my mother, the second Inquisitor, and I spent centuries chasing that image, modelling everything about myself on the ideal she embodied, from the way I spoke, to the way I stood and walked, even the way I wrote and ate, everything to become more like her.


    And yet, now, I could not remember her name. Her name, the words that identified her, that symbolized her, encapsulated all that she was and more.


    The thought burned, a constant ache at the edges of my consciousness, a hole in my identity, dulled only by constant activity.


    The day began with a changing of the guard, as always, but now, they weren''t replaced by another witch-hunter and magus pair, but half a crowd, moving in and out of the room that was my entire world, for now.


    Archmagus Callahan was there, too, shouting orders and directing the magi here and there as they drew some large array over the stone floor, while Captain Markus dipped in and out, checking on things, rushing to be ready.


    [Is something happening, Magus Tesha?] I asked the young woman as she paused to take a short break.


    "Oh, uh. The Queen sent word that she has time for a meeting today, so we''re setting up the ritual circle," she said, surprised at my sudden interruption.


    [Ritual circle? Are we to speak over a spell of some sort?]


    She nodded, breathless from hauling some reagent or tool or another in, and I started to speak again, to inquire as to the nature of the spell, but Callahan called for the attention of all the magi, cutting me off.


    "Right, we''ll begin weaving the spell in a few minutes. We may need to maintain the ritual for over an hour, so we''ll start with Tesha, Davyn, and Zepha and cycle out every ten minutes. I''ll take over during the gaps," he ordered, and turned to speak to me. "Don''t worry, my friend. The good Captain told me you went over basic etiquette yesterday? You''ll be fine. Her Majesty just wants to meet ''face-to-face'', so to speak, nothing so formal as an official audience."


    [I understand,] I replied, and stopped my ''dual-casting'' practice to focus all of my attention on the conversation I was to have with a foreign head of state, one that I had ''invaded'' the lands of, albeit unwillingly.


    A few minutes later, and swirling clouds of mana filled my ''vision'' as the magi began to activate the ritual spell. With the crash that had accompanied all large spells since I arrived here, a great portal snapped into being in the air, flickering and crackling with energy at the edges, and beyond, the Queen, awash in color.


    She was pale, with straight, dark hair pulled into a fashionably messy ponytail, and bright blue eyes framed by just enough make up to accentuate her features and a circlet of some kind, a metal I didn''t recognize, decorating her brow. She''d chosen what I might call parade armor for the meeting, likely due in part to what I''d told Markus and Callahan of my people, with a polished steel half-breastplate, a fine arming doublet richly dyed with blue and embellished by gold thread underneath. A half-cloak framed her left shoulder and arm, a deep red, almost crimson, with an emblem or crest of some kind stitched into the back that I couldn''t see most of.


    The royal coat of arms, I''m sure.


    "Can you hear me, your Majesty?" Callahan asked, looking up at the image. I didn''t know if it was on purpose, but her eyes were level with ''me''. I assumed it was.


    "Yes, I can hear you, Callahan," she said, her voice clear and measured, before she turned her attention back to me. "Greetings, Legate of the Terran Imperium. I am Fianna Aisling, Queen of Estraia. It''s good to finally meet you."


    [Likewise, your Majesty. My apologies for being unable to give you my name.]


    A few moments passed without a reply, and she looked back to the Archmagus. "Can they hear me, Archmagus?"


    "Yes, they replied, but..." he paused, furrowing his brow and starting to pace. "Oh, of course! But, that means..."


    "Care to share whatever enlightenment you''ve come to, Callahan." the Queen said sharply, more a statement than a question, shaking him from his thoughts.


    "Apologies, Majesty. We can''t exactly test it with the size of this room, but I believe that our guest here communicates using a kind of telepathy, not sound like we do. It would make sense, as their perception is based on mana," he said with a nod, as if assuring himself of his conclusion, before he stood straight and leaned to the side a little to look at the witch-hunters by the door.


    "Ah... Enna, was it?" he said, motioning for her to approach. "Please, act as an intermediary, if you would. The magi and I must focus on maintaining the spell."


    At his request, the witch-hunter somewhat rigidly strode over to stand beside me, facing the image of the Queen floating in the middle of the room, who patiently watched her subjects shuffle and reposition themselves with some interest. Curious about the magic, maybe?


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    It was a tight fit, nine people crammed into a room I would generously describe as ''small'', but without the chaos of the raid, it was relatively comfortable, by my standards.


    [Relax, Enna. All you have to do is relay my words,] I said to her, in an attempt to calm her nerves. [Should I repeat my greeting?]


    The poor girl stared up at me with wide eyes, but shook her head, and, shakily, at first, repeated what I''d said earlier.


    "Thank you, Enna. Now, this is an unprecedented situation for the both of us, so forgive my bluntness," she said, her gaze focused very intently on my Core. "My Archmagus called you our guest, and while that isn''t exactly wrong, you could also be considered an invader. No matter how much I might wish to simply extend you with every hospitality you deserve, I need to know which you are, first."


    [I am ready and willing to do what I need to convince you I bear you and your people no ill will.]


    At that, she launched into a series of rather pointed questions, mostly about the Imperium and my place in it, but also my ethics and philosophies, pausing only to allow the magi to refresh themselves. The entire thing only lasted fifteen minutes, nearly twenty, perhaps, but she seemed satisfied by the end, to some extent or another. I would not have been, not with such a short interview, but I also would not have taken reports of what happened here and what I was seriously, either, so I wrote it off as a difference in culture.


    Besides, I truly didn''t want to harm Estraia. I didn''t even know if I wanted to harm the cult that brought me here. On one hand, I was in a strange world, trapped in a crystal and unable to move or remember the names of people I cared about, but... On the other, I had been spaced. I had died, and, however accidental, however selfishly, they''d given me a second chance.


    Still, they had to be hunted down and destroyed. They tried to make a slave of me, after all, and they may return to try it again, not to mention what Callahan and Markus had told me of their experiments and rituals. No, regardless of how I felt, the world would need to be rid of them.


    "What do you think, Callahan, Captain Markus?" the Queen asked, pulling me back to the conversation as she looked between the two men.


    They looked at each other for a moment, nodded, and Markus stepped forward, inclining his head slightly as he did.


    "I believe the Legate to have the mind of a Human, your Majesty. Their Core may be that of a demon, but they have shown no signs of hostility or duplicity towards myself, my men, or the magi," he said, before looking back up to me, and then to the Queen once more. "In fact, they have expressed an interest in making a home here, and asked after the people, our gods, and our laws to prepare for it. I do not know if we can fully trust them yet, but they are, at least, not an enemy."


    "The good Captain speaks true, my Queen," the Archmagus said, stepping up as well. "The Legate is strange and perhaps a little aloof but has gone out of their way to make what friends they can and adjust to life here."


    Good, it worked. Now, if the Queen accepts that...


    The woman in question shifted in her chair ¨C her throne, maybe, but I couldn''t see, as the image didn''t even show her whole body, much less the furniture ¨C to lean against the armrest, the side of her face resting against her knuckles.


    "Very well, that''s good enough for me, for now," she said finally, sitting straight on her throne. "In that case, let me welcome you to our kingdom, Legate. I still can''t allow you to roam around unchecked and unguarded, not with that cult out there and causing no end of trouble, but we will treat you as a guest of the Crown.


    "Archmagus Callahan, Witch-Hunter Markus, our guest should be afforded every hospitality befitting their status, primarily access to any information that is not considered state secrets they wish, including the witch-hunter arts. The exception to this is intelligence on the cult that summoned and bound them; they should be given a copy of every relevant report that is sent to me on the subject."


    The two men echoed a ''by your will'', and Queen Fianna ordered a short break to allow the magi to cycle out and rest. The image of the Queen flickered and started to fade, but the Archmagus stepped in to stabilize it while the magi repositioned, and took up the task themselves.


    "Since that''s settled... Captain Markus, what will you need to properly defend the area from a counter-incursion from the cult?"


    "Your Majesty. As we requested in our most recent report, I would appreciate labor we can trust to expand the caverns to create living quarters enough to fit fifty men, and enough witch-hunters to fill them, including what we have now, a dozen warmagi, and six healers."


    "Is that the minimum you believe necessary?"


    "No, your Majesty. That is the ideal. The minimum would be two thirds of that number, but I would be most comfortable with the full amount, considering what we''re up against."


    "Understood. I''ll give the orders as soon as we''re done here. And labor? How many men and golems do you think you''ll need?"


    The Captain shook his head slightly. "I''ve never seen a golem small enough to work these tunnels, your Majesty, and even one of them would draw a great deal of attention."


    "Your Majesty, if I may?" the Archmagus offered, waiting for permission to speak. "I believe it may be necessary to test if the Legate can properly control a summoned denizen workforce. I realize it presents a security risk, but it would enable us to construct proper fortifications without drawing too much attention."


    The Queens eyebrow raised at his suggestion, and she leaned in a little, as if to look at him more closely. "This had better not be motivated by your own reckless curiosity, Callahan."


    "It is not, your Majesty. I truly believe it to be the best course of action available to us at this time."


    "Very well, then. You and the Legate may conduct your tests, so long as the denizens are supervised by enough witch-hunters and magi to ensure things don''t get out of hand if the Legate fails to control them."


    "The Legate will have to claim more territory in order to have the denizens work, your Majesty. As you may know, however, a Core can only claim an equal amount of territory as the mana expended, so there is no risk of the Legate claim the entire mountain without our knowledge."


    "I have already purchased the mountainside back from the Baron Blacklake, so proceed as you see fit, Archmagus," she ordered, and turned her attention back to me. "If all goes well, Legate, I hope to hire you as a mercenary to defend the border there. Would you be open to such a responsibility?"


    [I... would need to understand more about dungeons and Cores first, your Majesty, before I could even begin to answer that question. Do you have an expert in dungeons you could send to teach me?] I asked, and I could see a slight smile pull at the edges of Markus'' lips at the request.


    Queen Fianna exhaled sharply, closed her eyes, and leaned back in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Yes, I know one I can send to you, but she''s currently on another assignment, and it will take some time for her to reach you. Allow me to apologize in advance for her behavior, Legate. I pray she does not offend you too much."


    [I... believe it will be fine, your Majesty,] I assured her, confused as to who this woman might be that the Queen and Markus would react as they did.


    With that, the majority of the discussion was finished, and the Queen spent the rest of the meeting giving orders and asking questions about the most recent report. As she was giving her farewells to the members of her court present, however, I had one last thing to say.


    [Your Majesty. I... believe I have decided on a new name,] I said, and the entire room stopped to look at me, Queen Fianna smiling gently as she heard it.


    "It is good to meet you, Lycoris Raven Ashborn. I pray our relationship is a beneficial one."

 7 - Liminal

    I had signed up to the military my predecessor, and eventually I, commanded as soon as I was legally allowed to, years before I was required to by way of mandatory service. I started at the bottom, where everyone else did. There would be no nepotism, no skipping ranks, not with her. That was fine with me; I''d wanted to reach that ideal, reach her, under my own power, through my own efforts, and, little more than a child, I was ushered into basic training, first planetside, and then... Aboard a starship, the backbone of the Imperial military.


    Defanged, of course, for training purposes, but, nonetheless, a ship made for war, every meter of the thing armored and engineered to exacting specifications, if not for uncontested might, then for a reasonable level of it for the price being paid for it. And in that neutered weapon, the living quarters for its complement of marines, a crushing hundred of us for a ship barely longer than that in meters.


    The barracks were sparse things, meant to get the job done in as little space and for as little expense as possible, where the ''job'' was sleeping twenty five young Imperial marines to a room, the ''beds'' simple alcoves carved from the walls stacked three and four high, stashed to the back of the ship, far from the external walls so we might be able to reach any part of the ship swiftly in case of boarding.


    A sound tactical decision, its placement, but because of this, there were no windows, no portholes through which to view the stars that we traveled, shielded or no. Time... did not exist in those hellish, cramped places, with no sea of stars or ''outside'' to look out into.


    We called them sleep cubes, and they were maddening.


    I chose the name Lycoris Raven Ashborn to symbolically show my rebirth in this new world and new life, a transition from the old to the new, but it seemed it was not so easy to bury three hundred years of memories.


    Even the name itself was indicative of Terra and the Imperium. Lycoris was the name of a flower, my favorite, in fact, native to the cradle of Humanity. Deeply toxic, of course, almost everything was on old Terra, but beautiful, and the people that lived where it grew believed it to be a supernatural thing, a flower signifying the afterlife.


    A raven, likewise, was an animal from my old home, a bird with wings black as the void, and it was considered a messenger of the dead. They were clever little things, able to remember the faces of those they met, and describe them to their children, so they knew which individuals to avoid, and which were friends.


    Callahan had told me to refrain from using any mana at all, to allow as much to recover as possible, so as to ensure I had enough to expand my territory, and I would have to do it again when it came time to summon denizens.


    The lack of something to focus on showed.


    Without my practice to hold my attention, my mind was drifting, turned inwards on itself and trapped in a sleep cube with only the changing of the guard to keep me grounded, the same as during my training three centuries ago. I tried to make conversation with everyone that came in, but not all of them were as talkative as the Archmagus and the Captain. The same as during my training three centuries ago.


    Perhaps because of what I was.


    A demon. Or the heart of one, anyway. Back then, it was because of my mother, though.


    I didn''t know what that meant, not really, what a ''demon'' was. From what Callahan and Markus had told me, I could assume they were highly magical entities, and rarely, if ever, had benign interactions or intentions with the peoples of this world, but beyond that...


    "Lycoris, my friend!" the Archmagus called cheerily, dragging me from my listless, drifting stupor.


    [Oh, thank the Dragon,] I muttered. [Is there something you wished to talk about, Archmagus?]


    "I was coming to check on you, and see if you''re ready to begin claiming more territory," he said, carrying a new, more comfortable looking chair. The middle-aged man set it down, tested if it would rock in place, and, satisfied, sat down, looking at me expectantly.


    [Is it time, then? I... hadn''t noticed.]


    "It is," he nodded. "If you''re ready, we can give it a try?"


    [Am I allowed to choose where I expand to?]


    "As long as it''s somewhere we can reach, for now, yes. Did you have somewhere you wanted to go, for lack of a better phrase?"


    [The entrance,] I said simply, unwilling to elaborate further. I was sure he''d understand even if I didn''t.


    He made a small noise of realization, and an expression of sympathy crossed his features before he smiled. "Yes, that''ll be fine, my friend. Now, I can''t exactly guide you through the process, since... Well. There''s never been a Core like you before, and typical ones usually expand without meaning to, when they can hold no more mana. The mana they would normally recover leaks back out into their territory, slowly expanding it."


    [So it should be something similar, but perhaps I can do it on purpose... I see.]


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    His smile grew and he leaned back in his chair. I took that as my signal to begin, and, with nothing else I could ''see'', I poured my mana into the air and stone of the room.


    At first, I couldn''t tell if anything had changed, so I strained my senses as much as I could, and pushed even more mana into my surroundings, attempting to direct it out passed the threshold of the door that separated me from the rest of the world.


    Then, I realized I could ''see'' into the corridor that led out into the mountainside. Not very far, half a meter, maybe, at best, but I could see it.


    [It''s working. I can see into the corridor now. One of the witch-hunters is hanging a lamp on the wall outside the door.]


    "Ah, excellent. Now, the exit to the mountainside is to the left at the intersection," he explained, getting up from his chair. "Come, I''ll guide you."


    The Archmagus stepped out the door, stared at the ground outside, and hummed, chewing his beard as he watched... Something. The edge of my territory, I would assume.


    [Can you still hear me, Callahan?] I asked, and the guard outside nearly dropped the lantern in surprise, fumbling to catch it. [I''ll take that as a yes.]


    Callahan chuckled and nodded. "Yes, I can hear you. Good, we''ll have to figure out if you can focus your telepathy to a specific person or area, as well, at some point, so you can have private conversations, yes?"


    [I hadn''t even thought of that yet,] I admitted, and redoubled my efforts to expand the borders of my awareness out further, the Archmagus slowly walking along, just inside the range of my senses, until we reach the intersection.


    [Left from here, you said?] I asked, expanding to fill the intersection completely. It was disconcerting to have a gap in my ''sight'' without a door in the way. At least in the room, I could delude myself into thinking it was simply just that dark beyond the door.


    I''ll just have to get used to it...


    "Yes, just there, it isn''t far," he said, gesturing down the hallway, and into the void I could not sense.


    [Oh,] I stopped, realizing something.


    "Hm? Is everything alright?"


    [Yes, yes, I just... Cannot see the ceiling, one moment... There. Apologies, let''s continue.]


    It took some time, but eventually, I did manage to extend my ''territory'', as Callahan called it, to the exit, witch-hunters and magi passing back and forth as the Archmagus slowly shuffled along, watching my progress. I stopped at the exit, however, despite how much I wanted to go out and see the sky again. There was something important, after all, to do first.


    [Callahan. We need to figure out how I speak to just one person or one room at a time, first. I wouldn''t want the guards outside to have to listen to just one half a history lesson or a conversation every time you or Markus come to visit.]


    "Oh. Good point... How to..." he trailed off, brow furrowed. "Right, we''ll need someone to test this. One moment."


    He stepped out of my awareness and onto the mountainside, calling a name that I couldn''t hear properly. Tesha, most likely. He was fond of bringing her in for assistance when we needed something.


    As if to make a mockery of my predictions, Callahan returned with one of the other magi, Davyn, the young man looking around, curious, as he stepped into my territory.


    Perhaps Tesha is busy. Or sleeping.


    "Alright, Lycoris. I need you to focus, really focus, on just Davyn, and then speak to him. Any time I also hear you, I''ll let you know," he instructed, and took a few steps away from the younger magus.


    It didn''t take very long for me to succeed in speaking only to Davyn, oddly enough. I had expected it to take most of the day, but the feeling was similar to when I gave something enough attention that the background started to fade a little.


    With that settled, I pushed my territory out into the world. Just a little at first, but I quickly grew impatient, and then very, very quickly. Before I''d realized it, I could see most of the camp outside my doors.


    The grass, the wind running through it, the blurry trees just outside of reach, the sunlight on it all. A dozen soldiers and magi, and all their tents and equipment, too, of course.


    And the conversations I could hear! Enough to keep me from drifting back into that liminal daze, at least while the sun was in the sky, and the people milling about were awake.


    [Thank you, Callahan.] I said, too distracted by everything to focus on him for it, and half the camp started at my words, reaching for their weapons on pure reflex. [For convincing the Queen.]


    The Archmagus chuckled, and waved everyone off. "It was no trouble, Lycoris, my friend. If anything, I''m sorry we forced you to live in the dark for as long as we did."


    I elected not to reply, simply taking in the relatively new sights and sounds, and when I shook myself free of the trance, I found Callahan and Markus speaking somewhat quietly at the entrance to the mountain.


    "... And is the Queen alright with this?"


    The older man shrugged, and grunted. "I''ll convince her to be alright with it. She''ll understand, don''t worry. I''ve known Fianna since she was a girl. The last thing she''d want is for Lycoris to be stuck in that pit for any longer than necessary."


    "If you say so, Archmagus," the Captain said with a shake of his head and a small sigh.


    [Ah, apologies, Markus,] I said, focusing on the two men so I didn''t disrupt anyones work or sleep more than I already had. [I just-]


    He cut me off with a wave of his hand. "Don''t worry about it, my lord. We were just surprised, that''s all."


    Oddly formal, for him. Is it because I''m a ''guest of the Crown''?


    [No need to be so stiff, Captain,] I said, with special emphasis on his title, to drive my point home.


    The witch-hunter grumbled a little, but relented. "Alright, alright. Well, I''ll leave you two to your experiments," he said, and turned back around to return to his work.


    [Callahan, should I claim the rest of the... ''facility'' as well?] I asked as the witch-hunter left.


    "If you think you have the mana for it, I don''t see why not, my friend. You''ll need to eventually, anyway," he replied and ducked back inside to follow the border as it expanded once more.


    I kept my focus on him the whole way, in order to make sure I spoke only to him, when I did. The process made me intensely aware of how odd my perception had become. I could ''see'' the bottom of his feet as he lifted them to walk at the same time I watched his face for signs of discomfort or surprise.


    By the end of the night, and I could actually track that now, I had claimed everywhere a person could fit in this section of the mountain, which wasn''t much. Another tunnel, and a slightly larger, but more crudely constructed, chamber at the end of it, and when I finished, the task had blurred my awareness of my territory. A lack of mana, the Archmagus told me, nothing to worry about. It would come back with time, much faster than it would have before, now that I had a greater area to draw energy from.


    There were some few natural tunnels here and there, but they were much too small for anything but an insect, or a lizard, perhaps, to fit through, so Callahan told me not to claim them, for now, since I was ''tired'', as he put it.


    We would be summoning some denizens tomorrow, after all, and I''d need every bit of mana I could get.

 8 - Denizens

    I was in my fifties when I got my first command. Over thirty years of service as a grunt. I was still a grunt afterwards, but a grunt with a squad to lead. A quick promotion, for us, but not unheard of. It would probably sound like far too long to the Captain and his people, but we were a society of immortals, technological gods that had conquered biology, outgrown our baser ancestors.


    Or so the propaganda said, anyway.


    Like any nation, corruption and nepotism were common. In fact, I would say such things were rampant, compared to other nations, along with the politicking and maneuvering, thanks to the fact that people only died in accidents and combat, and so their positions were never freed up through ''natural'' means.


    Being the adopted child of a Legate, I had been groomed for command, raised for it, taught everything I needed to know, and then set loose into the Imperium to gain experience. What parent doesn''t pass their skills on to their children, after all?


    The result was a series of relatively quick promotions, and accusations of nepotism from all sides. My subordinates, my commanders, the public.


    I was introduced to the darker side of the Imperium by being thrown into it at the deep end.


    Sink or swim, child, my mother had told me. There was no preparing for what awaited me if I followed in her footsteps and became a government official, she claimed. It would change and warp and twist in the years it would take me to learn the political landscape at the time. I would need adaptability to survive it, and that could not be taught, not like tactics, logistics, and critical thought could be.


    Sink or swim. Live or drown. Thrive, or die.


    I supposed that it was this experience, this object lesson my mother had thrust onto me, that let me adapt so quickly to finding myself trapped in a crystal in another reality.


    Why is it that this reality has Humans? Different conditions should have given rise to different species... If one soul can slip between the cracks, could a town, as well?


    "Lycoris! Are you ready, my friend?"


    Callahans voice interrupted my idle musings, and I turned my attention to him as he stepped over the threshold separating the mountain from the outside world. The middle-aged magus carried small stack of books under one arm, though I still could not see well enough to read their titles.


    [I am. Just considering a few oddities of reality,] I told him, and saw his eyes light up. [We can talk about that later, during one of our lessons, perhaps.]


    His face fell when I pre-empted his questions, but he nodded in agreement. "Later, then," he said, opening the door to my chamber, and lifting one of the books he''d brought. "Bestiary. One on dungeons, specifically. We should test at some point if you can summon things not normally found in dungeons, but for now..."


    [We''ll need to confirm I can control them first. No need to introduce two dangerous variables at once.]


    "Right you are, my friend," he agreed, pulling his chair from its place near the wall towards the center of the room. He didn''t really need to, but I suppose it was more comfortable for him.


    "Let''s see..." he muttered, more to himself than me, as he opened the book to leaf through its pages. "We''ll need the sapient section, then troglophilic... Hm... Elementals fit, but they''re only sapient when much too large for this nascent fortress, and they would take too much mana to summon anyway."


    [Elementals?]


    "Ah, you don''t have those where you''re from, either, I assume?" he asked, crossing one leg over the other as he looked up at my Core. "They''re animate magic, more or less, elementally aligned in some way, nigh invisible when they''re young."


    [And they''re aligned in a similar fashion to the key-runes you''ve been teaching me?]


    "Just so. Fire, earth, water, wind, lightning, ice... I''ve also heard tell of light and shadow elementals, but I''ve never been able to find real evidence of them. They''re largely considered myths."


    [I see... They have power over the element they''re aligned to in some way?]


    "Of course. Quite a lot of power, in fact. Even the modest earth sprites, for example, can move hundreds of pounds of stone in... Ah, I see what you''re thinking," he said, looking down at his book once more, to find the earth elemental section, I assumed. "Yes, that may work as a replacement for the golems..."


    Once he found it, he dog-earned the page, and flipped back through to another section. "Right, first, the sapient denizens. If you don''t mind, Lycoris, I will skip a few creatures that would make life for the rest of us mortals... rather unpleasant.


    "Which means, we are left with... two options. Just two? Hrm. I would''ve thought there would be more... Perhaps this bestiary is outdated. Anyway, we have the Goblin and the Kobold as options. Either would work for our purposes just as well as the other, to be honest, both of them being bipedal with hands that can use tools.


    "Goblins are smart, dexterous little fiends, and mischievous, too. They''re warm-blooded like us, but three heads shorter, and they have excellent sight in the dark. Kobolds, on the other hand, are about the same height as Goblins, but covered in scales, and cold-blooded, with sharp claws meant for digging, and sharper teeth for eating small animals. Kobolds may be cold-blooded, but this region has mild weather, and even the winter wouldn''t be too harsh on the little blighters."


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    [What about their... reputation, I suppose? How they''re seen by the people of this land.]


    "A fair question," he said, snapping the book shut and leaning back in his chair to think. "Goblins are commonly seen as raiders and thieves, pests for adventurers to slay, but they''re known to be amenable to trade deals, occasionally. They''re also commonly found in Orcish lands, sometimes as mercenaries, others as skilled craftsmen.


    "Kobolds, however, are more of an unknown. Truth be told, we don''t have any Kobolds in this country, and even if we did, we might not know about them. They''re reclusive, and insular. Though from what I know of them, that is more due to fear of persecution and the unknown than anything else. They''re largely spoken of in legends as the children, or perhaps... Servants? Of dragons."


    Ah. Well now I have to go with Kobolds, don''t I?


    [We will go with Kobolds, then. They seem most useful for the situation, and least hated. Besides... I told Markus a few days ago, but the Imperium had a... church that called itself the Cult of the Dragon.]


    "I see. And you were religious?"


    I let out a half-laugh. [No, not really. My mother, my predecessor as a Legate, was, but... I never really saw the point.]


    The man nodded, as if he understood, and dropped the subject there. "Sadly, my friend, I cannot guide you through the process of summoning a denizen, for obvious reasons. However, it shouldn''t be too difficult for you. I''d need to get into high level magical theory to truly explain it, but suffice it to say you just need to focus on the idea of a Kobold. This should be almost instinctual for you, as a Core."


    I turned in on myself at that, examining myself until I was satisfied with the method for my first attempt, and discovered that Callahan was right. It was easy. Where casting a spell needed me to carve a mold of the spell into my mind on top of pouring my mana into it, this was like the mold had always been there, at the edges of my memory, and it drank mana without resistance.


    A small creature, perhaps a meter or so in height at most, collapsed into reality between me and the Archmagus, catching itself as it touched the floor. It shook its head, and stood up tall, letting the two of us see it properly.


    The first thing about them that stuck me was they had a tail almost as long as they were tall, lined with small crested scales right down the middle. Then, they were digitigrade, like a wolf or cat, with thick, muscular thighs and calves, the toes capped by thumb-long claws. From there, their hands sported similar claws, though not as long, short enough to not get in the way of tool use, I would assume, with only somewhat thin arms that ended in rather Human-like shoulders ¨C though there''s likely only so many ways a bipedal creature could make a manipulator limb... - leading to a thick neck topped by a doglike head, swapping fur and ears for scales and horns.


    They were sort of cute.


    The little Kobold looked up at me in awe for several seconds before they heard Callahan shift behind they, and whirled on him, angry, and afraid, I thought.


    [Stop. That is a friend of mine.]


    As soon as I spoke to the Kobold, they froze and relaxed.


    [Good. Can you speak?]


    The Kobold turned back towards me, cocking their head slightly as they worked their jaw. The Archmagus behind them watched intently, leaning forward in his seat, legs no longer crossed. I could see the mana in him begin to move and coil, ready to be used.


    Finally ¨C "Yes... master?" Their voice was somewhat lower than I expected, with such a small body, but not grating.


    [Good, good,] I said, relaxing as my new denizen answered. [Callahan, it seems we''ve succeeded, in the summoning, at least.]


    "So I see," he replied, relaxing as well. "Still need to make sure your new denizen follows orders properly, though."


    And so we did. The next hour was solely dedicated to testing my control over the Kobold, and their loyalty. I found I could issue non-verbal commands, and telepathic ones, and the Kobold unquestioningly fulfilled both to the limits of their abilities.


    [I think that proves it, does it not, Callahan? As far as we can prove it on a limited time scale, anyway.]


    "I would agree with that assessment, my friend. I''ll start writing my report to the Queen immediately," he said, and carried his chair back over to the replacement desk to begin doing just that.


    [Now,] I started, turning my attention back to the Kobold. [What do I call you? Do you have a preference for masculine or feminine? Don''t worry if you don''t, child, you can decide later.]


    The Kobold tilted their head a little as they thought about it, but eventually indicated they did not.


    [In that case, as I did for myself, I will name you after a flower from my home that I loved. For you...] I paused, pulling one to mind. Since I couldn''t see the colors of the Kobold, I chose at random, pulling parts of its proper name apart and putting them back together until I found something that could pass for a name. [Fera, after the lotus.]


    Something in the Kobolds eyes lit up at that, and they sat a little straighter on their folded hind legs.


    [It is good to meet you, Fera, my first child, and I''m sorry to bring you to this world only to make you work and fight,] I told them, and they shook their head vehemently, slowly getting to their feet and walking up to me, reaching out as if to hug me, and then they did, climbing up the stone pedestal my Core sat on to wrap themselves around me.


    "No. Want to help, want to work. Thank you... Chief?"


    Feras actions surprised me, as did their words. It was most likely a result of the Core enchantments, I reasoned, but still, it was strange to me that they''d immediately latch onto me like this, not to mention the fact I couldn''t feel their embrace at all.


    [''Chief'' will work for now, Fera.] - I will have to think of a more appropriate title later - [Now, get down, child. I''m going to summon you some siblings.]


    "Siblings?" they asked, dexterously slinking back down to the floor.


    I planned on summoning five in total, but judging from the amount of mana summoning just Fera took, I didn''t think I would get beyond three in one day, not if I also wanted to summon sprites for them, and I still didn''t even know how much mana sprites would take to summon.


    So, I summoned two more, and each time, we had to repeat the process of telling the new-born Kobold that Callahan was my friend and he was allowed to be there, though the third and final time saw Fera and their first sibling almost tackle the third Kobold to the ground, and Callahan just chuckled at the display, and went back to writing his report.


    I named the second and third Paeona and Alva, after peonies and water lilies, respectively.


    I had my estimate for how many I could summon right, as well. By the time I summoned the second earth sprite, a tiny little glowing mote of yellow-brown energy, my senses already began to blur and fade a little. The third would take almost everything I had left that I was comfortable with spending.


    Once the third sprite was summoned, I assigned one of them to each of my new children, and instructed them to always be respectful and kind to their partner, as they were just that, not tools, and not servants.


    For the night, though, I simply had them work together to smooth out the corridor and chamber beyond, to make it more comfortable to move through and set up equipment and furniture in.


    More complex work could wait until tomorrow, when I could speak to Markus about the cult, and the counter-attack we knew would come down on us, sooner or later.

 9 - Fortification

    Imperial defensive strategy was, all in all, deceptively simple. Since the advent of relatively small-scale shield generators some three hundred years before my unfortunate demise, there had been no need for great walls and fortifications to be built, and we instead relied on impressive shielding. There would be walls, of course, and fences, dotted with surface-to-air missile towers and anti-air batteries, but the walls and fences were more for psychological comfort than anything else, and even they had begun to fall out of favor when I''d taken office.


    Trusting in the mighty shields designed by Imperial engineers become second-nature, after all, and why wouldn''t it, when soldiers had trained with them, saw their effects first hand for hundreds of years?


    The Terran lance may''ve been mighty beyond equal, but the Terran shield could halt it easily, and we proved it to our soldiers in every live-fire drill.


    We poured everything we could into mastery of shielding technology, the power sources necessary to keep them active, and the advanced single-purpose AI ¨C what we called ANI, for how ''narrow'' it was in scope ¨C that modulated them in response to attacks, and, as I could recall, one of the Legates had reported a breakthrough in personal-class shields, and hoped it meant we could equip all our soldiers with them soon, rather than just the upper ranks.


    I had been wearing mine, of course, when my ship took that fatal blow. It was built into my armor, and I would never be caught in a ship-to-ship battle in the void without my armor.


    Not that it helped much.


    No shields could keep out the void, much less personal-class generators, even that of a Legate.


    All of my military experience in was predicated on the idea that I would have ready access to shielding. I didn''t know how much of it could possibly apply to a situation where I had none.


    At my request, the witch-hunters had purchased a small wooden box, perhaps eighty centimeters in both length and width, and fifteen in depth, from the local village, as well as a table to set it up on at a height comfortable the soldiers, to fill with dirt, small stones, and other props in order to make a map I could read, and placed it in my Core chamber.


    The ''map'' was... decently constructed, as far as I could tell with my limited knowledge of the surroundings, and had my territory clearly marked in twine.


    "... and where should we put our watchtower?" one of the witch-hunters asked, a man by the name of Bann, as he looked around at our assembled ''war council''. Now that we had a workforce, modest though it was, it was time to truly begin setting up our fortifications in advance of the inevitable assault by the cult.


    Callahan, Markus, Bann, Enna, Tesha, and Davyn were in attendance, the witch-hunters and magi crowded around the makeshift map as they argued back and forth about what, exactly, could be done and how quickly.


    "No, no, he''s right. If we cram our tents there, there won''t be another place for the tower," the Archmagus agreed, humming as he stroked at his beard. It was growing longer, more unkempt, as he delayed his return to the capital.


    "Yes, and we have no guarantee Lycoris'' denizens will be able to carve out enough space for quarters inside the mountain, either, even at the rate they''re going."


    My children were working quickly, especially with their earth sprite partners, but the young man wasn''t wrong. I''d had them quarry stone in bricks of a standardized size to speed construction, and they were tireless, but there were only three of them, for now, and we didn''t know when the cult would strike.


    Outside, the other magi and witch-hunters were also hard at work cutting suitable trees and clearing the branches from them so they might work as anchoring posts for the stone, but, again, there were only so many of them. The true work would only begin in earnest when the reinforcements the Queen promised arrived, still near a week out, and, with them, a proper siege engineer to direct our efforts.


    [I will be summoning two more later today,] I reminded them, finally breaking my half-hour silence. [Along with earth sprites, of course. It''s not much, but I can''t summon more without a way to feed them.]


    "Aye," the Captain nodded, leaning over the table to get a closer look at some of the features. "What if we move our line to make room? It would require Lycoris to expand, of course, but the territory would give them more mana to use in the battle itself, as well."


    "It would slow progress, but..." Tesha trailed off, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.


    [I am willing, if everyone agrees to it. It would give me more to look at, anyway.]


    "Will you have enough mana, between summoning and expanding into the mountain itself, my friend?"


    [Not if I do it all at once, but over the next few days... Yes, I believe so, but it will be tight.]


    "All in favor?" the Archmagus called, casting his gaze across the assembled soldiers and magi.


    None protested. Unanimous agreement to allow me to expand a little more.


    [Then we''ll do as the Captain suggested, and move the line for the walls out to the current edge of my territory.]


    The older witch-hunter nodded, worked his jaw, and leaned over to pluck several small twigs, splinters, almost, from the dirt of the map to move them out to the twine that marked my borders. Beside him, Enna withdrew a spool of thread, twine dyed crimson, and marked the map in a semi-circle from the entrance, overlapping some of the trees of the forest.


    "Should we clear cut out to here, then, for visibility?" Davyn asked, gesturing with his hand to carve out a section of the wood indicating the area he meant.


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    [It would be... tactically advantageous,] I admitted, grimacing internally. I wanted to see the trees, and not as the blurred vagaries I could now.


    Enna picked up on it immediately, and nodded, murmuring an apology only I could hear under her breath. She and I had become well acquainted in the time since she acted as my mouthpiece during the audience with the Queen, particularly after I''d startled her during her watch outside three days before I''d summoned the Kobolds, when a few soldiers had left to purchase forestry tools from the villagers.


    x-x-x-x-x


    [Where are they going?]


    "Black stars!" she swore, almost jumping out of her armor. "Don''t do that, Lycoris!"


    I chuckled at her. [I would have announced myself, but, sadly, I cannot leave this room.]


    The young woman, hand clutched to her chest, exhaled sharply. "Apologies, Legate, I didn''t mean t-"


    [No, I know. So? What are your fellows up to?]


    x-x-x-x-x


    [There will be opportunity enough for me to see them later,] I whispered to her, and saw her nod just a little in response. I was enjoying my newfound ability to speak to a specific person with no fear of eavesdropping.


    "Should we put in a request for those golems in that case? If we''re going to be building stone walls and cutting away forest anyway, I mean," Davyn asked, hurriedly explaining himself as his eyes flickered over the higher ranked individuals at the table.


    Markus rubbed at his face with one hand, considering the idea for several moments before finally nodding. "Yes, we should, I think. We made that determination before we realized Lycoris is an artificial demonheart, after all."


    "Agreed, good Captain," the Archmagus said, tapping one of his fingers on the edge of the box that held the map rhythmically. "Though they likely won''t arrive with the main body of reinforcements, so we should make our plans assuming we won''t have them available prior to the first attack."


    "First attack, Archmagus?" Tesha asked, leaning in.


    "There''s no way there won''t be more than one, Magus," Enna told her, eyes narrowing. "Lycoris is a sapient demonheart, and if they ever get a body, they could be considered a real, in-the-flesh demon. No demon-cult would ever just... give up after one attempt at stealing someone like that away."


    [Eventually, Callahan and Markus will need to resume their typical duties, as well, Tesha.] Those two were too important at their individual posts to be away indefinitely. [Preventing the cult from whisking me away is important, of course, but I am quite sure I am not the only minor crisis in the kingdom. This is only one cult we''re dealing with here, after all.]


    The Captain exhaled sharply and nodded. "Aye, as much as I''d like to stick around for the foreseeable future, I will need to direct the other witch-hunters of Blacklake and read their reports, at least. For now, I can stay here, as most of the others are away on various assignments, but they won''t be forever."


    [Regardless, where do we put the warmagi? On the walls with the witch-hunters?] I cut in, eager to move on.


    "That seems sound to me, my friend. The witch-hunter arts can handle any magical attacks, but they''ll still need protection from mundane missiles, and the warmagi can create shields enough to protect them," the Archmagus confirmed, looking over the positions again. "They should be able to cast offensive spells, as well, if the battle doesn''t last too long."


    Oh? Shields? Ah, that''s right... We don''t have the numbers to use my standard tactics, but perhaps with an enchanted object, at some point...


    "How about we put half on barrier duty, and half on artillery?" Markus asked, and I could see the gears turning in his head. "Three of your magi can supplement the shields with their own. I know they''re not as accustomed to battle as warmagi, but they should be able to manage it."


    Rather than answer directly, Callahan gave Tesha and Davyn a pointed, questioning look, and Tesha nodded vigorously, though she seemed a little nervous about it. "Yes, Captain. That sounds doable. Will the Archmagus be part of the artillery group, then?"


    "Yes, I will, but not immediately. We''ll need them to get as close as possible before I start casting, so they can''t scatter when they realize what''s happening."


    [Archmagus,] I called, stopping the conversation for the moment. [We should resume my magic lessons soon. I can''t possibly get to the level of a warmagi in time, but if I learn to cast healing or barrier spells near the edge of my territory...]


    "Yes, yes, a good idea," he said, his finger tapping resuming as he considered the effect that might have. "Yes, you could cover gaps, and with your arcane senses, react faster to sudden attacks. Ah, but you''ll need a good deal of mana to make it work, and if you''re practicing all day, every day until we''re attacked..."


    "What if you return to the capital to retrieve mana crystal for Lycoris'' use?" Davyn offered, and Markus straightened a little, realizing something.


    "If you do that, we could even make a show of it," he said, a sly smile creeping across his bearded face. "Make them think there won''t be an Archmagus here. Return by traditional means, and then, once in your sanctum, crystals in hand, teleport back, directly here, and stay inside until the attack."


    The Archmagus'' finger stopped its rhythmic drumming on the box. "I''ll need to create a teleportation anchor here. It would be too long distance a teleport even for me otherwise, but yes, I think that''ll work."


    [How soon do you think you can manage it? The faster the better, of course.]


    "No more than three days, I think. I''ll leave right after the next meeting with her Majesty. Tesha can take over teaching you magic, until I return," he explained, and the young woman nodded. "She''s my most skilled apprentice, so you won''t find her lacking in that regard, my friend."


    That surprised me, a little. From how she''d scrambled to get behind the Archmagus before, I thought the girl a novice, but, then again, that first spell had pulverized all of the furniture in the room and scorched the stone, and she may not have had time to cast her own barrier when she realized what was happening.


    She wasn''t there when I told Callahan how I''d been invoking magic before, either.


    [Very well. That''s high praise from you, I think,] I told him, and turned my attention to the younger magus. [I''ll be in your care, Magus Tesha.]


    She smiled a little and bowed slightly in response.


    "I think that''s enough for now. Everyone, get some food in you and return to your posts," Captain Markus ordered. "We''ll being preparations tomorrow at first light, and reconsider the layout of the fortifications when our reinforcements arrive."


    With that, most of the people present left the room, but Enna and Tesha stayed behind as my guards. Callahan told me he''d create his ''anchor'' in the other chamber to give me room to practice the spells and witch-hunter arts I''d be learning soon.


    Finally, I summoned two more Kobolds along with wind sprite partners, and the first was given the name Carna, and the second Chrys, after the carnation and chrysanthenum from my home. I wanted these two to be able to hunt in the forest with their partners, or else be useful in the siege beyond throwing small rocks, and the wind sprites could apparently create small areas of chaotic wind that could throw arrows off target.


    The task ''exhausted'' me, however, so Tesha simply taught me the basics of the two spells'' construction. The key-rune was important, of course, but when it came to shields and healing, the description runes were just as, if not more important, and would need to be altered every cast to match the situation.

 10 - Children

    Truth be told, I never really wanted children. I certainly didn''t dislike them, no, but rather, I simply didn''t want to have any, adopted or not. No matter how hard I tried, I would never be my mother, at least not in this respect.


    My siblings had children.


    I was not the only child adopted by my mother, though I was the only to follow in her footsteps and strive to become a Legate, just like her.


    My siblings were good parents.


    They raised their children with respect and diligence, gave them everything they needed to succeed and more.


    My nephews and nieces and, eventually, grand-nephews and grand-nieces, were good people, capable in their fields. Peaceful.


    They were the sort of people I fought for, that I thought deserved to inherit all the wealth and comfort the Imperium could give them.


    When they were children, and I on my rare leave, I would visit them, shower them with gifts and all the love I could muster, and they would crowd around me as I told stories of their parents when they were the childrens age.


    My family had been large, and I felt fortunate to have them.


    But I never wanted children for myself.


    Still, now that I had created life, I would treat them as such, as my children, and give them all the wealth and comfort I could, the same as I had for my nephews and nieces, and their children, too.


    The Kobolds were industrious little things, clearing more and more of the mountain while I practiced my magic, and discussed our tactics with our ''war council''.


    At the moment, my scaly children were arguing about what to call me, and it offered a good deal of insight into each one.


    Fera and Chrys thought they should call me ''Lord'' or ''Chief'' or some other relatively neutral term, but Carna and Alva claimed they should append ''Mother'' to the end of whatever Fera and Chrys argued best fit, with Paeona taking up the opposite position, saying that I was more fatherly than motherly, and my title should reflect that.


    Of course, they were still children, and awful with using language to its fullest capacity, so it was nothing so eloquent, but they still managed to get their points across, and more than once it devolved into a semi-playful brawl.


    Alvas reasons seemed to reflect that the child was feminine herself, and saw that reflect in me, but Carna was the opposite, masculine, but his reasons were much the same, seeing what made him masculine reversed in me.


    Similarly, Paeona felt what made her feminine was the opposite in me, and my stern demeanor demanded I be called a father, not a mother.


    Fera and Chrys countered with the notion I seemed uncomfortable with a gendered title, and I supposed that was somewhat true, but the reason I had been uncomfortable when Fera called me ''Master'' was not that it was gendered.


    The debate did not last overly long. Fera claimed they were all wasting time, and needed to finish constructing the living quarters as I requested, and, besides, the debate would not flee them. They could pick it back up on their next break.


    They went back to work, and so did I, relentlessly practicing the healing array Tesha had taught me. What I could do wouldn''t do much more than stop a wound from bleeding, she told me, but that would be enough for a real healer to reach the injured in the coming battle, so it was fine, for now.


    While I was idly chatting with Enna, half my attention focused on properly drawing the healing spell, Alva called out to me, clutching something in her claws, holding it up for me to see.


    [So, I- Ah, one moment,] I told Enna, and focused my attention on the Kobolds. [Yes, Alva?]


    "Rock! Strange, friend-sprite couldn''t cut!" she said, before dropping one hand to point at the wall of the cavern where it''d come from. "From there."


    I couldn''t tell what color the stone was, of course, but I could tell it had a different shape and texture from the stone they''d been quarrying, and there was more of it in splotches, semi-crystalline outcroppings jutting from the stone.


    Mineral ore, most likely, I thought, and swiftly claimed the area of the wall beyond it that I could reach, only half a meter or so, for now, and found more in the stone.


    [Apologies, everyone,] I said, speaking to the whole of the camp at once. [Are any of you familiar with metals? I believe my children have found an ore vein.]


    During their breaks, while they laughed, played, and ate, I''d become accustomed to reading the facial expressions and body language of the Kobolds, and I could only describe the look on Alvas face as she registered what I had called them as ''joy''.


    "Aye," one of the witch-hunters spoke up, and one of the magi joined him in the center of the camp. "My father''s a smith."


    "So''s mine. Have the little one bring it out where we can see it?"


    Once I relayed the request to Alva, the other four Kobolds decided to follow her out, as well, curious what it was.


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    It only took a glance for the two to confirm it: "Iron," they said at once, and the magi continued. "Hematite, looks like. Good for smelting, and common, too."


    "Aye, there''s probably a few hundred pounds of the stuff in the vein you little ones found," the witch-hunter added, patting Alva on the head, causing her tail to swish back and forth a little. She seemed to enjoy it.


    "Not to worry, Lord Lycoris," Davyn said from his campfire. "We bought some wooden boxes to put ore in, just in case. Hard to dig through a mountain as much as you have without finding at least a little."


    [Thank you. Apologies, again, for interrupting your work. If you show my children where the boxes are, they''ll bring them into the mountain.]


    The witch-hunter grunted and waved off my apology, but quickly went back to his tasks, and a few minutes later, the Kobolds were also back in the mountain, Carna and Chrys shoveling as much of the ore the other three could dig out into the boxes. They needed to clear that section to finish this chamber, anyway, so I left them to it.


    [Tesha,] I said, focusing my attention back on my guard/tutor. [Is there an efficient way to move distant objects with magic? Telekinesis.]


    "Ah, well. That depends on what you mean by efficient, but yes," she replied, looking up at my Core with a sly, self-assured smile on her face. "It''s actually my specialty as a magus. I''m even more skilled with it than the Archmagus is."


    As she spoke she gestured towards the desk Callahan used when writing his reports, and an impossibly thin tendril of color snaked through the air to wrap around one of the books as I watched. A moment later, the thing lifted into the air steadily, and flew towards her, as if pulled by wire, and the magus caught it easily.


    [Interesting. How does that function? I was under the impression that using unguided mana was very inefficient.]


    "It is, normally, but for this, a good deal of the mana returns to me, as you saw," she explained, a few more tendrils growing from her palm as she held it up, the book lifting from her grip and steadily floating in the air, supported by the lines of mana. "You can simply create a wave of force, too, but the mana doesn''t return to you in that case. Still, it has its place. You never know when you might need to throw a few people away from you."


    [Ah, that, I can confirm. That was the only known use of telekinesis by magi in the Imperium.]


    "I see. Why do you ask?"


    [Well, beyond the practicality of being able to touch and move things again, I thought it might be useful if I could pass bolts to the witch-hunters on the walls, or some other task to free up more hands. How do magi typically train telekinesis?]


    "Mm, well, we don''t. Even the Archmagus only learned because I was interested. It requires line of sight or truly advanced mana senses to use properly, so it''s not very useful for most magi," she said, shrugging. "For you, though, your mana senses are beyond anything I''ve ever seen, so you might find it to be an essential skill... I trained with a series of cast iron rings and balls. Once I was strong enough to lift the heaviest ones, I would juggle them, to practice coordination and response time."


    [I see. I wonder if the village smith would make some for me if I asked some of the witch-hunters to take some of the hematite to them?]


    "I don''t see why they wouldn''t. Why don''t we start practicing making the mana thread to start?"


    [Right. Better to know if I''ll be able to make use of them or even need them first. How do I start?]


    "The idea is mostly to draw your mana out of your body in the shape of a rope or thread, and wrap it around things, really. For me, it helped in controlling them at first if I imagined each thread to be a hand," she said patiently, pulling the threads of mana back into her body to let the book drop with a thump into her hand.


    While the young magus answered my questions, I stopped drawing the healing array for the moment, and followed her instructions. It was difficult, grueling work, and if I still had a body, I would likely have given myself a headache in the process, but my Core could not feel, so I was comfortable in pushing it further.


    At first, the best I could do was thick, misshapen ropes of mana only a few centimeters long, sticking out of my Core at odd angles, but by the time Enna was replaced by another witch-hunter, I had managed to halve the diameter of the things and extend them half a meter out.


    "You''re a very quick learner, Master Lycoris," she told me, and I had to quash my irritation at the title. To these people, the word ''master'' meant the same as in the phrases ''master of the house'' or ''master of their craft'', not what my people usually meant when they said it. "You''re picking this up even faster than I did."


    [This is not... entirely unfamiliar,] I told her, and saw her brow raise a little at that. [My people had advanced mechanical prosthetics, and, often, they could be considered improvements over the natural body. This is not my first time controlling prehensile tendrils. Your experience of treating them like hands gave me the idea.]


    "I see... These prosthetics, do you know how they worked?"


    [More or less,] I replied, drawing the threads of mana back into myself before starting again, this time with only one. [Tiny machines called nano-surgeons would splice something called a ''jack'' to the nervous system. The jack itself would be the interface between the prosthetic and the body while locking the former in place, and therefore allowing it to be controlled by the mind.]


    "Fascinating..." she muttered, and sent the book back to the desk with her own threads, much more quickly than I could even begin to summon mine, and pulled a piece of charcoal and some folded papers from her pocket to begin taking notes. "Did you have a prosthetic that was made of something similar to these threads, then?"


    [No, no. All of my prosthetics were standard body shapes for Humans,] I replied, managing to extend the singular thread out a few more centimeters before I had to withdraw it again to avoid wasting the mana. [I had a neural jack, and a spinal jack, however, at the base of my skull on the right side and the seventh vertebra, respectively. Those two allowed me to, more or less, merge with some specialized equipment to control it better. My armor was one that used the spinal jack, and my helmet took advantage of the neural jack.]


    Her eyes widened at the idea. "Merging directly with your equipment? Is that truly possible?" she asked, more to herself than me as she scribbled the idea down in her notes. "So, some of the equipment you used were like these threads, then?"


    [Only a few times. The device was in trial to see if it could be useful. It... was not, not for the problem the engineers were attempting to solve with it, but it was an interesting novelty, at least.]


    "Were you a Legate yet when you tested it?"


    [Oh, Dragon, no, absolutely not. No engineer would ever ask a Legate to test their device until it was proven to be utterly safe. No, I was... Not much older than you, I believe. 33? 34? Around there. I had signed up to test it as a way of gaining respect among my peers and superiors.]


    "How old are you, anyway? If that''s not rude, I mean. I''ve heard talk around the camp about you being the oldest person here by far, but no one''s ever given me a number."


    [Three hundred and twenty six, though I don''t know how much time has passed since my death.]


    "Stars, that''s old even for a Dwarf. And you said you were Human?"


    For hours, Tesha asked her questions, and I answered them, as best I could between practicing the telekinetic threads and the holes in my self and memory, and she only paused to give me further instruction and advice on how to proceed.


    I already had a hundred ideas on how I could utilize these threads in the future by the time my tutor retired for the night.

 11 - Preparation

    Two days after my children had discovered the vein of hematite ore, the Archmagus informed me it was time for him to leave, and it was good timing. The bulk of the reinforcements the Queen had promised had arrived the day before, nearing dusk, and the siege engineer, an alchemist specializing in architecture, a man by the name of Nikol Venn, had already begun reorganizing and directing the construction efforts, both inside the mountain and not.


    We were on the clock, now; there was no possibility the cult hadn''t noticed some forty men and women marching through the forest towards us.


    There was no time for the listless introspection that had consumed me the previous week, and I preferred it that way. No amount of idle self-reflection was going to aid in our preparations, so I refused to let my mind drift like it had been, practicing my telekinetic threads, drawing arrays, and claiming new territory as Fera and their siblings cleared more and more of the area.


    I still couldn''t call myself truly competent yet, but I could control three mana threads, each two centimeters or so in diameter and three meters long. It was enough to reach the door to my chamber, but I needed to reach the camp and its walls outside.


    Even over the night, I had pushed my limits constantly, experimenting, training, learning, pausing only to receive further instruction or direct my children towards their next goal. It used an enormous amount of mana, but I had no qualms about spending it now.


    If I hesitated to pay this cost now, then I might pay a much greater one during the coming battle.


    Besides, Callahan was due back in a week or so with mana crystal sufficient to completely recharge my pool and see me through the fighting on the horizon, and the more I claimed, the faster I recovered to begin with.


    "Lycoris," I heard Markus say, holding a piece of paper up as he entered my chamber. "Good news. The Queen sent word that your denizens are free to hunt in the forest around here. The villagers of Blacklake have been made aware of them and this decree through planted rumor, as well, so there''s no need to hold back anymore."


    [That is good news,] I replied, pausing my practice for a few moments to look in on my children, hard at work clearing enough space for the newly-arrived witch-hunters and warmagi to sleep. [Carna, Chrys. You are cleared to hunt and forage outside of my territory. The Captain will assign a magus and witch-hunter to show you the ropes and protect you. Take a break, and begin as soon as you''re ready.]


    They looked at each other, a sparkle of joy and wonder in their eyes, and scurried off to gather what little possessions they had. Loaned water skins, small satchels of travel rations, a borrowed crossbow and dagger.


    [Thank you, Captain,] I told him, returning my attention back to him. [If you wouldn''t mind, please assign Bann and Davyn to accompany them. I know her Majesty only requested they be watched while excavating and building, but...]


    "I understand, Lycoris. I''ll have them meet the little ones at the entrance," he said, and put the letter on the desk before turning to leave, speaking to me as he moved back outside. "Don''t expect them to find any game their first few tries."


    [I don''t. I''d just like them to learn and grow accustomed to it as quickly as possible.]


    He nodded and barked his orders as soon as he left the relative darkness of the mountain, and only a few minutes later, the two men were escorting my youngest children outside of the encampment, and into the woods.


    To my delight, I could still see a little around them, not much, and it was somewhat blurry, and they seemed to slip from my sight if I wasn''t paying attention, but they appeared to carry a small piece of my territory with them, for lack of a better phrase.


    I could keep watch over them while I practiced and directed their siblings.


    Worked inside the mountain slowed for their absence, but it didn''t matter much, as several of the magi and witch-hunters had been assigned to help the Kobolds, using tools bought from the village on their last trip.


    Good, good... Another week, maybe two, and we''ll be ready.


    It was an optimistic estimate, of course, and there would likely be a few things left undone when the day came, but there always would be. No reasonable amount of warning or time to prepare would have allowed me to implement every change, every strategy, and every fortification I could imagine.


    As an experiment, I attempted to push one of my mana threads through the door separating me from the outside world, and found I couldn''t. Something about the solid nature of the thing disallowed my threads from simply phasing through it. I could likely drill a hole through it with the threads, if I kept at it long enough, but I could not bypass it directly.


    I see why Tesha said it required line of sight or exceptional mana senses to use properly...


    I withdrew my mana to avoid wasting it, and took a small break to check in on Carna and Chrys. They seemed to be managing fine, though Chrys kept tripping over exposed roots and getting their tail or horns caught in bushes, distracted by the outside world as they were.


    Their eyes were full of curiosity and sparkled at every new thing they saw, and often things they''d already seen, and constantly pestered their escorts with questions about things in their only somewhat broken speech.


    [Chrys,] I said, focusing in on the child. [Focus, child.]


    The scaly little creature started at my voice, and shrank into themselves sheepishly. "Sorry, Lord."


    [It''s alright. There will be plenty of time to explore later. For now, you must learn to hunt.]


    My youngest nodded, and stood a little straighter, doing their best to listen to the witch-hunter when he found tracks or signs of animals.


    Satisfied, I let them slip from my attention, and looked back over the wall being built. It was coming along quite nicely, already at knee height all around, with a gap for the gate-to-come, with the stone stacked in an interlocking spiral pattern. The architect of the design was hunched over a table, various alchemical tools and materials around him, as he mixed and brewed... Something.


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    Whatever it was, it acted almost like quick-setting cement, and bound the rough-made bricks my children had carved out with their partners together, ensuring at least some measure of stability in the structure.


    Inside, my eldest three quarried stone as fast as the witch-hunters ferrying it back outside could carry it with the help of their earth sprites. They were already two or three times as effective at their work than they were the day they started, and only getting better, it seemed.


    At this point, the Humans in the mountain had been relegated to support roles, like smoothing the walls after the Kobolds had passed through, or setting the support beams in place, which allowed the three to focus on clearing more, and faster.


    There would be no shortage of stone for the wall, at least, though even I knew that brick-making was better done from scratch, with clay, ground stone, and other materials cast into the shape required. Natural stone was simply too heterogeneous, with microfractures and differences in material strength running the length of them. It made it unpredictable in the worst ways.


    Still, we did not have time to set up such a process, much to Nikols annoyance, and mine, truth be told. We would just have to rebuild it later, when the threat had passed.


    There was very little conversation throughout most of the day. With the promise of more mana on the way, I spent it recklessly, focusing on improving as quickly as possible rather than any form of conservation, and between that and constantly checking, rechecking, adjusting, and directing the Kobolds and their work, there was little room for me to speak to others.


    It felt... Comfortable. Familiar. The kind of busy that I was used to as a Legate. The last time I''d had as much free time as I did lately was when I was in my fifties. Even my personal leave rarely lasted more than two or three days.


    This, however... This was right. This is what I had done for nearly three centuries, the exact thing I had craved since I died, and every meter of stone and ore my children cleared only allowed me to increase the workload I put on myself by increasing the space available for me to draw energy from.


    Is it the increase in territory allowing me to split my attention more, or am I growing into my capability as a Core?


    It could be that it was both, I couldn''t tell, and it didn''t really matter all that much, I supposed, not right now. Later, perhaps, when I had the time to test it.


    What mattered now is that I could attempt to draw two separate arrays as well as two mana threads, more, if I made them shorter, but number of threads was not what I was after. Distance, control, strength enough to carry ammunition to the walls, those were my goals.


    I still failed to cast the two arrays even when I focused only on them, but the fact I could even attempt it while doing other things was a great stride forward for me.


    If nothing else, it would allow me to focus on multiple things at once during the battle, and the utility of such capability could not easily be overstated.


    When it came time for Tesha to tutor me on barriers, we found that my sight had developed enough to be able to see the chalk trails on the chalkboard. I still couldn''t read ink on paper, not yet, but it at least let Tesha save a little energy by writing with mundane chalk, rather than the imbued sort that we had been using until then.


    "That''s great news. I am awful at imbuing objects," she remarked, wiping the test letters and runes away from the board.


    [You seemed perfectly adept at it to me,] I offered, and she shook her head.


    "Perhaps it seemed that way to you as a novice, but it''s extremely difficult for me," she told me, quickly drawing several different barrier arrays with only somewhat crude depictions of how they worked underneath. "Anyway, you already know that domed and slanted barriers are substantially more effective than flat, static ones."


    [Yes, armor and shielding worked similarly in the Imperium. It helps redirect the force rather than attempting to outright stop it.]


    "Exactly. What do you imagine the best way to counter a strong barrier is?"


    [For our shielding, the most efficient way was to hit it with as powerful a weapon as you could manage, preferably kinetic ones, repeatedly until the shield generator overloaded. Is it not the same for magical barriers?]


    "No, it is not," she said, indicating one of drawings that depicted a layered barrier. "A barrier has to compensate for every attack, drawing more and more mana as it''s struck, so, ideally, you would use a contingent of archers with moderately strong or enchanted bows.


    "This spell here was developed as a counter to that counter. It''s not perfect, but this honey-comb pattern pressed between two layers of thinner-than-normal barrier seems to have the most durability. Personally, I''m not entirely sure of the physics behind the process, but it''s very mana efficient."


    [I believe I can enlighten you on that, Magus Tesha,] I said, and she raised an eyebrow at that. [The hexagonal pattern, the ''honey-comb'', likely helps absorb excess force. I would imagine it compresses slightly, like a cushion supporting the outer layer of barrier, while the inner supports the ''cushion''.]


    "That... makes sense. I think. It would explain this descriptor rune here, at least," she replied, tapping the one in question. "Regardless, as you can see, it''s a complex array, so it''s not easy to cast. In fact, I cannot do it quickly enough to matter in a fight."


    She might have been understating the complexity of the array somewhat, as it had over a dozen runes aside from the key-rune, the most of any spell I''d seen thus far, including the healing array she had taught me.


    "It''s most often used by warmagi during large battles, or so I''m told. Spellswords and other disciplines that blend martial and magical skill use a different method, however," she explained, and indicated a different array, just as complex, and sporting two key-runes. "This one is a hybrid spell utilizing detection and barrier runes to create small, accurate barriers across an area in response to incoming attacks without further input from the caster."


    [And how does that work? Is it anything like the enchantments on a Core? ''Semi-aware'', Callahan called them...]


    The young magus smiled at my guess and nodded. "Yes, exactly. A two thirds of the descriptor runes are dedicated to controlling that. The small barriers it creates are relatively weak and only slightly curved, but it''s used by people that wear armor and expect to be outnumbered, so its function is largely to slow a great many attacks enough for the armor to deflect them by itself without drawing too much mana."


    [I see... Are you able to cast this one yourself?]


    "If... you give me a few moments, yes. Did you want to see it in action?"


    [Yes, of course, if you''re willing.]


    Upon hearing my answer, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and slowly, methodically constructed the spell, and it collapsed into being not long after. I could see the swirling colors of her mana in the air around her, but no other indication the spell was active.


    Curious, I probed at it with one of my telekinetic threads, but no barrier rose to block me.


    "It will have to be forceful enough to be considered an ''attack'', Master Lycoris," she chided me, eyes still closed in concentration.


    At her instruction, I began a real assault on the spell, starting with just one thread and slowly multiplying them as much as I could. Each thread slammed against a small, hexagonal barrier a hands length in each dimension, the barriers dropping as soon as I pulled the threads back for another ''attack''.


    Eventually, I was hammering away at her spell with as much force as I could muster in the threads, but I only succeeded in making the magus sweat a little in exertion. Not one of the barriers so much as cracked.


    [I thought you said the barriers were weak? I understand that I can''t put much more force than a punch into these threads yet, but...]


    "I said relatively weak, Master Lycoris," she reminded me, and dropped the spell. "A punch is actually weak, at least from the average person."


    I spent the rest of the evening, and much of the night, considering the implications of the demonstration while I practiced with the more basic barrier spells. Tesha wasn''t even a warmagus, and I couldn''t get past that adaptive barrier spell with six of the telekinetic threads.

 12 - Adventurer

    I was roused from my practice late in the morning by the arrival of a small party at the half-built gate of our walls. There were five of them, a Human, and two other species I did not immediately recognize, three of one, and a singular individual of the other. They looked very similar to Humans, but the three in the back towered over the others and had strong, powerful builds with facial features to match.


    I need to find a way to read the books Callahan bought me.


    The woman at the front, though she was nearly as tall as the other three, had a sort of... insubstantial look to her, and had pointed ears, besides.


    The spark at her core was brighter than any I''d seen aside from the Archmagus, but without him here to compare, I couldn''t tell if hers was brighter than his or not.


    Most of them wore fine, rugged clothing meant for travel with armoring here and there, but the Human wore heavy plate, though it didn''t clank as much as I would have expected as he walked. The woman leading the group seemed to have some sort of armor underneath the clothing, as well, likely between layers, but I didn''t look closer.


    I had no idea how much I could see if I truly put my mind to it, and would rather not invade anyones privacy, in the case I could see far more than I expected.


    The strangers were welcomed by Markus as they approached, and the witch-hunter led them through the camp to the mountain, introducing them as they followed.


    "Lycoris, these are the ''dungeon experts'' the Queen promised," he said, sparing a glance back at said experts as they followed him in. "They are adventurers by trade, contracted by the Crown to look into dungeons and slay monsters that require a specialist as they''re found."


    [I see. It is good to meet you, adventurers. I am Lycoris Raven Ashborn, and I have quite a few questions for you,] I told them, and changed my practice array over to a barrier to avoid surprising them with a gout of flame or spark of lightning. [Please, pay no mind to my children. They''re hard at work preparing stone for the wall.]


    "Likewise, Legate," the woman replied as she and her party stepped into my chamber, voice light and cheery but confident. "I am Evlynn Laithael, artificer. This tin can behind me is Eren, free knight, and the Orcs are Huw, Merron, and Iwan, hunters and a war cleric, in order," she said, gesturing with her thumb over her shoulder without looking.


    Good mana senses or does she just know them that well? Both, maybe.


    Admittedly, I couldn''t tell the three ''Orcs'' apart aside from the differences in their clothing and the weapons on their hips. They even had the same hairstyles, thick ponytails tied low and close to the base of their skulls.


    Triplets? Or are ''Orcs'' just like that?


    Looking closer, however, I realized that ''Iwan'' had a much brighter spark in him than the other two. It had just been out-shone by Evlynns to such a degree I hadn''t noticed before.


    The knight grunted his greeting, and the Orcs each inclined their heads, but neglected to actually speak, at least for the moment.


    While Eren and the triplets(?) divested themselves of their packs, Evlynn leaned in close to my Core and studied me intensely, eyes bright with curiosity. It was a very familiar experience at this point.


    [Miss Evlynn. I am still a person, no matter what my ''body'' is,] I said, and she pulled away from me and had the good sense to look slightly embarrassed, though she never took her eyes off me.


    "Oh, apologies, Cores are- No, I shouldn''t invade your personal space like that," the ''artificer'' apologized before she seemed to realize something, and blinked. "Hey, you called me ''Miss''!"


    "Not like anyone aside from other Elves can really tell how old you are," one of the Orcs grumbled at her, Merron, I thought. His voice was lighter than I would have expected from someone of his stature.


    [Apologies, but unless you''ve seen a full century...]


    "Oh, that''s kind of... Homey. I''m fifty-seven, Legate Lycoris. I thought you were Human? That''s what Fi told me, anyway..." she trailed off, a small frown creasing her face.


    [I am. Or was. But my people were ageless. I am three hundred and twenty six. I pray I have not offended?]


    The Elven woman ¨C that was what the Orc had called her ¨C waved the apology off. "No, no. It''s just been awhile since anyone treated me like my age. It surprised me. Anyway," she said, pulling her own pack from her shoulders. "You had questions for us? About dungeons and Cores, I assume."


    [More so dungeons, but if you can tell me more about Cores than Callahan could, I would not be opposed. He, by his own admission, is not an expert, in either subject,] I said, and she nodded along as I spoke. Behind her, I saw Markus give a small salute and leave to return to his work. [All I know is how to speak, see, expand, and summon denizens.]


    "I see, I see... Alright, first thing. Dungeon Cores can sort of share senses with their denizens, I think."


    [You... think?]


    "Well, it''s hard to verify when the Core isn''t capable of speaking, but we''ve noticed that even outside the bounds of the dungeon, their denizens can... coordinate. Much better than you might expect."


    [Ah. Well, when Carna and Chrys are outside of my territory, I can still see them, but their surroundings are... Blurred. That might be it,] I told her, and her brow furrowed a little as she shook her head.


    "No, it''s more... Precise than that. I''m not sure how to describe it. It''s as if... Things that shouldn''t be aware of their surroundings suddenly are. If that makes sense," she offered.


    I hummed a moment, thinking, before calling Fera from their work to test it, and a few moments later, they were standing in front of my Core, looking between me and my visitors, breathing heavily. They''d rushed to get here.


    [I am going to try something. Let me know if it hurts or feels uncomfortable immediately, understand?] I told them, and they made a sound roughly approximating an affirmative in response.


    Then, I focused my attention on my child, trying to put my consciousness in theirs. To my surprise, although it shouldn''t have been surprising at this point, I felt a portion of my awareness settle into them until I encountered a little resistance, barely there are all, and stopped pushing as soon as I noticed it.


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    I would not risk crushing my eldests soul, or mind, or whatever the resistance I felt was.


    When I relaxed the pressure, I realized I could, in fact, seen through their eyes, hear with their ears, and feel their body as it shifted balance.


    The walls of my chamber were a smooth, dark grey, fashioned to look like brickwork despite it being solid stone, and the flickering flames of the lanterns cast everything in a melancholic orange tint.


    I bid my child to look at each of the visitors in turn, and they did, eager to help me with my experiments.


    The free knight, Eren, was deeply tanned, though whenever he shifted I could see pale skin underneath the plates and fabric that protected his neck. His hair was a dark, woody brown hanging in gentle, sweat-laced curls over alert, bright green eyes. The armor he wore was textured like steel, but had a slight blue tint, likely an alloy of some metal I did not know.


    The Orcs had dark grey skin, like the pigment had been sucked out of them, with black hair. Their eyes, though, were a piercing blue, like the unclouded sky. Each wore treated leathers with discrete metal plating over their hearts and their lower legs and feet, and Iwans outfit had plates over his forearms. Each of them had different patterns all over their exposed skin, in distinct colors, though I couldn''t tell if they were paints or tattoos.


    Finally, Feras eyes drifted over to Evlynn. The Elfs clothes were a light, soft brown, for the most part, with hints and accents of other colors, blue and green, and she definitely wore some sort of armor underneath the other layer, as Feras eyes could pick out a little more detail than my mana sense could at the moment. Her hair was a dark, washed out blue, cut just below her jaw with a braid that started near her temple and wrapped around one side of her head to be tied there.


    She was a healthy, vibrant pale that told me she worked indoors but still saw enough sunlight to avoid turning grey, with expertly done make up framing her sapphire-blue eyes. She must have stopped in the forest just before arriving to put the make up on.


    She already knew my title, so she likely assumed I might be like other nobles.


    "Legate?" she said suddenly, stirring me from my thoughts.


    [Apologies. It worked, it... This is the first time I have seen color outside of magic since I woke up here.]


    Merron(or was that Huw?) winced a little in the back, but said nothing, and Evlynn smiled slightly. "Take your time, Legate."


    [No, no. I need to let Fera get back to work,] I replied, and thanked the Kobold for their help.


    The little thing smiled their Kobold smile as they looked up at me, raising their little fists in triumph. "Want to help! Happy to help!" they proclaimed, and marched back out into the mountain to quarry more stone, head held high.


    I kept my focus on them for a few moments so I could listen to them brag to their siblings about what had just happened before I started speaking to Evlynn again.


    [Thank you. I definitely felt I could... push a little further than simply sharing senses, however.]


    "Oh? That''s..." she hummed, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "You might be able to control them directly? I''m not sure."


    [We can put that aside for now. There was a... resistance there, like a barrier, or... structure, I suppose, and I do not want to risk hurting my children by breaking through.]


    "Understandable, Legate," she said, raising an eyebrow at the Orcs as they gestured back and forth to one another wildly.


    "Nothin'', Evlynn, Huw is just bored," Iwan told her, grinning wide enough for me to see some rather large canines, and went back to gesturing back at the other Orcs. His voice was the same as the other Orcs, but his tone more measured and even.


    Triplets.


    "Apologies, Legate. Huw gets bored easily during these kinds of conversations," the Elf informed me, shaking her head slightly at her companions'' antics.


    [It''s fine. Regardless, I have an... idea for after the immediate threat has passed. It would help me greatly with it if you were to tell me what you know about the hazards and structures of a normal dungeon.]


    The artificer grinned wide, a mischievous glint in her eyes, likely figuring out what I had planned. "I think I can do that, yes. So, it''s like this..."


    Evlynn, and occasionally Eren and Iwan, broke down the patterns, habits, and tactics of all the dungeons they''d ever seen over the course of a few hours. They also informed me that I would eventually be able to create ''linked Cores'' that had almost no abilities of their own, but would prevent my main Cores destruction so long as even one of them remained.


    Apparently, the linked Cores would use their mana to reconstitute my first Core even if it were completely destroyed, enchantments and all, and it was the primary method by which a dungeon or living fortress could increase its total mana capacity Callahan had mentioned before.


    Beyond that, the only thing they were really capable of was acting as the anchor for summoning denizens, and often had extremely powerful guardians to protect them. They wouldn''t even function to increase my territory on their own, but considering I could control when and where I did that already, that didn''t really matter, the adventurers told me.


    Modern society across the known world used the number of Cores a dungeon or living fortress had as shorthand for its danger level, as the primary Core had to have enough mana and territory to manifest and link a new one, and Evlyn claimed she''d been in a seven-Core dungeon and several six-Core dungeons, but the most dangerous was a five-Core.


    The rest of the party visibly grimaced at the reminder of the five-Core dungeon, and Eren told me that since I was sapient, I might be able to make linked Cores on purpose, likely to distract from the topic.


    He was clumsy in his social manipulations, but I let it pull the conversation away from the five-Core dungeon.


    I decided not to experiment with making Cores, at the moment, as I needed every scrap of mana I had in order to continue expanding into more of the mountain and practice my various abilities to prepare.


    Besides, I wasn''t even sure I had the mana for it anyway. I would likely need to be full-to-bursting for it to work, if it worked at all, and resolved to check after we''d fended the cultists off.


    Another idea did begin to form in my mind, though, a confluence of these ''linked Cores'' and my ability to see through my denizens'' eyes that would, if I trusted Evlynns gut, eventually allow me to puppet them like a marionette.


    Afterwards, they told me about the traps and layouts dungeons seemed to favor. There were different ''types'' of dungeons, but they all seemed to follow a set number of patterns, like they''d been programmed to do so, though no one knew how it was possible. The enchantments on wild Cores weren''t of the sort that would allow for greater-than-insect awareness, nor information transfer.


    One of the traps, a mana-draining effect, reminded me of my conversation on the subject with Callahan, and Iwan showed me an example of one at my request. It was not the same rune tradition as the Archmagus taught me, so I could not tease apart how it worked, but I did my best to commit it to memory anyway, just in case my teachers tradition did not have an array with a similar effect.


    Evlynn was a veritable library of information, mostly anecdotal, on dungeons, and she had three stories for every fact or hypothesis she could explain to me in an academic manner.


    She seemed intent on telling me every single one.


    Eventually, late afternoon, her companions left the chamber - a quick check telling me that they were socializing with the soldiers - but she stayed behind, asking pointed questions about how it felt to be a Core, how much I could ''see'' at once, and more, in between telling her sometimes exciting, sometimes awe-inspiring, sometimes tragic stories.


    According to her, the ''layered'' dungeon pattern, where one goes up or down in a dungeon floor by floor, was her favorite.


    "People think they''re very straightforward, and they are, don''t get me wrong, but it''s not quite true. In layered dungeons, if you pay attention, you''ll often find hidden passages, secrets rooms, that sort of thing, always leading to something interesting," she whispered to me, leaning forward as if it were a secret and grinning as she let me in on it.


    "Remember, a dungeon has a vested interest in drawing people in, and you can''t draw people in if you kill everyone that finds you, and you never give rewards to the people that make it out," she said, eyes sparkling as she leaned back and lit a pipe with a flash of burning color from her fingers.


    At some point, someone came in to give her a water skin - No, that''s wine - and a meal, which she ate without so much as slowing in her chatter, and by the time she finally excused herself, it was well after midnight.


    It wasn''t until Evlynn Laithael, artificer and adventurer, had left my chamber that it dawned on me that she was the Elven woman the Queen was rumored to keep as a lover.


    She''d even called her ''Fi'' earlier!

 13 - Mana

    Even with all my training, I still could not see color without magic. I had assumed it to be like my perception of fine detail, and would come in time, so long as I continued to practice and maintained my patience, but it was beginning to grate on me.


    Internally, I considered myself a relatively patient person, and it was possible that I might have been able to wait for much longer, but seeing the world through Feras eyes had lit a fire in me that I couldn''t put back out.


    The proverbial genie was out of its bottle, and, truth be told, I wanted to see the flowers of this world, in all their glory.


    Scent would have to wait until I could figure out how to replicate the sense with mana, but I assumed that if sight and hearing worked, the other senses should be possible as well, though likely not easy.


    My musings ¨C and telekinetic training ¨C were interrupted by the distinctive crash of a spell impacting reality, larger than any I''d felt thus far, more annihilating the space around it than ''simply'' collapsing into it, and the Archmagus appeared in the second chamber of my abode along with an over-saturated wave of neon mana.


    [Callahan. Welcome back,] I greeted him, as soon as he seemed to catch his bearings. Under one of his arms, he held a box, a coffer, made of wood decorated with rather skillful engravings around the edges of its lid. Vines, perhaps, with small, simplified flowers running their length.


    Color hung in the air around it, faint, but noticeable, like a thin mist or the steam from a kettle.


    "Ah, Lycoris, my friend, I hope I did not surprise you," he replied, the grin of a man who''d succeeded a gamble plastered across his face.


    [Not at all, Archmagus,] I assured him. [Is that the mana crystal Davyn and Markus spoke of?]


    "It is, it is," he said, nodding.


    I murmured a word of acknowledgement to the man, and updated him on the goings-on of the camp while he made his way to my Core chamber, taking a moment to check on the progress of the wall as I did. It was nearly complete, or, at least, as complete as it was going to be on short notice.


    "So, how did you find Evlynn?"


    [She is knowledgeable, and easy to talk to,] I replied slowly, wary of the question. Something about how he''d asked it set a warning off in my mind. Likely because of who she was, or, rather, who she slept with.


    "That one''s spoken for, my friend," he said, with a twinkle of mirth in his eyes.


    [Even if I wanted to ¨C and I do not, I could not. Besides, she''s a child, Callahan.] I knew he was ribbing me, but I couldn''t help it. Might as well get my own jab in return.


    He placed his hand over his heart in mock surprise as he stepped into the room. "Then I must as well. How vexing! And after all I''ve taught you..."


    [That''s the price you pay for being friends with an immortal, young man.]


    The Archmagus snorted in amusement and set the coffer of mana crystal on the desk, popping the lid to show me what lay inside and dismissing my guards ¨C not Enna and Tesha, today ¨C as he did.


    The crystals were small, not much larger than a thumbnail, for the most part, though one stood out among them. A fist-sized lump of faceted color, shimmering with untapped energy.


    "As you can see, mana crystals are, well, mana in solid form. They''re usually found in places with very high mana concentration, like near a wild Core or in a dragons nest," he explained, picking up a small one to show it off. "Some can be found inside powerful monsters, like this one here, and they''re characterized by a unique deep blue color that lets even those without refined mana senses tell what they are."


    [Ah, speaking of seeing color. During our first lessons, you acted like I should be able to see color already, but I still cannot. Do you have any ideas as to why that may be?]


    The man blinked slowly in surprise. "You still can''t? Interesting... I wonder why... For the most part, once someone figures out mana sight at all, color isn''t far behind. Perhaps something to do with the conceptualization of sight?"


    [The... conceptualization? How do you mean?]


    "Well, magic, as you well know by now, is largely based on the imagination. Even without a spell to guide you, you could throw flame at things before, no? Fire, and heat, more accurately, is an easy concept to understand," he replied, replacing the small crystal back in the box and closing the lid before taking his seat. "Mana senses are no different, at least in theory."


    That... made a great deal of sense. Once I figured out I had no eyes, I had been imagining my sight to be working similarly to LADAR, more or less ''pinging'' objects with mana in order to see, and hearing... Well, I''d assumed I was sensing the vibration of the mana clinging to air particles, but if it was based on concepts, then...


    [I suppose the fact I understand how light interacts with the eyes to produce sight has hindered me here.]


    As soon as the realization crossed my mind, I felt something click into place somewhere in my thoughts, and my perception subtly shifted. There was no color, not yet, more the impression of color, but it was more progress on that front than I''d made since I awoke.


    If that''s the case for color, then should it not be the same for all the other senses, as well? I''ve been worried about the difficulty of replicating chemical senses for smell, but it''s magic, I don''t need to interact with the chemicals themselves at all, just like I don''t need to interact with light at all to see.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    A second shift in my perception surprised me from my thoughts. It couldn''t have been that easy, could it?


    "Lycoris? Are you alright?"


    [Ah, yes, yes, I am. I... realized a few things about magic, and started to question my other senses. I''ve been interacting with magic as if it followed physical laws, but it doesn''t, does it?] I explained, speaking faster as I began to put my thoughts into words. [I''ve been trying to replicate phenomena using magic by going through each successive stage that mundane physics uses to accomplish the same or similar things. My knowledge of classical mechanics can still help, of course, particularly in visualizing the concept, but it will hinder my development if I allow it to build my assumptions for me as I have been. I will need to re-examine all of my magic for unhelpful biases.]


    As I spoke, Callahans small smile slowly grew into something of an excited grin. "It takes most magi half their lives to come to that conclusion, my friend. Sometimes, we as magi get asked why we call it magic," he started, shifting in his chair a little to a more comfortable position. "Particularly when we live with it every day and the word means something unmundane. This is why. It doesn''t interact with causality normally, it breaks it. One could argue that means it operates on cause and effect, of course, but that''s semantics, really. At least, I''ve never met an Archmagus that would agree with that line of thinking."


    [Yes, I believe I''m beginning to understand that...]


    The implications were enormous. Folding space to teleport, snatching souls from other realities, creating life from nothing, and none of it had to interact with standard physics. If it did, the amount of mana I would have needed to create my children would have been literally nuclear, and that was assuming perfect efficiency in the conversion of energy to matter, which was impossible.


    No, it might not be. Magic may not be subject to that at all, I reminded myself.


    [Anyway, let''s put that aside before I get too distracted. We simply don''t have the time for ruminations on the nature of reality and magic right now. The mana crystals?]


    "Ah!" he exclaimed, sitting up sharply before wincing. "Mm, damn back. But yes, you''re right. Honestly, using mana crystals is extremely simple. For us mere mortals, we have to have them very close, but for you, you should be able to readily drain the mana from them as long as they''re within your demesne, as it is, more or less, you. Go ahead, give it a try. Just... take it slow."


    I began to consider how I might draw energy from a physical object without causing an atomic reaction before I caught myself.


    Just do it, Lycoris, you fool. There''s nothing complicated about it, it''s magic. Intuition and conceptualization are the most important things here.


    I reached out with my senses, focusing on the crystals and the color they gave off, and pulled, and mana flooded my Core, filling my reserves to bursting before I swiftly cut the flow off, leaving a little to disperse in the air. I did not know what would happen if my mana ''overflowed'', as it were, so swiftly, and did not wish to find out first hand.


    [That... Why did you bring so much, Callahan? I could power a small Imperial city for a month with that.]


    I, of course, did not know the amount of nuclear material a power plant needed to supply a city off hand, and I could not compare it to what I''d just felt, even if I did, not in that manner, at least, but the raw energy in just one of the smaller crystals felt like it could level a city block, easily.


    The man grinned wide at my reaction. "I had to show off the power of our world somehow, after everything you told me about the capabilities of your ships, you know. I couldn''t let my home be shamed without a fight."


    [I do hope you did not bring your entire supply of these crystals, Archmagus. I can''t imagine the Queen would be pleased if you had.]


    "No, this is... a third of what I personally have access to. I am quite wealthy, my friend. One does not get to be the court mage of a nation and stay poor," he said smugly, but stopped and scratched at his beard. "Most of the rest of it is tied up powering various devices in my tower, though. I''ll be taking three quarters of whatever''s left after the battle back with me, thank you. That''s a lot of money, even for me."


    [You... Yes, please do so. I do not want that kind of power simply sitting on a desk next to me long term without sufficient protections. In fact, please put it in the chamber you arrived in, as far from the living quarters as possible.]


    Callahan barked out a laugh at my reaction and agreed to my request, and before long, I was explaining to him what Tesha had taught me, to update him on my progress, as he inspected the rooms the Kobolds had carved out. The soldiers made regular trips to the village, purchasing various supplies, furniture, and equipment, carried by hand-cart, to furnish the rapidly-growing fort we were building, and the Archmagus seemed to approve, to some extent, of the beds they''d purchased.


    My set of cast-iron training tools arrived not long after, with the witch-hunters sent out today, along with a large cook-pot and another bed. They could only bring so much a day, without horses and without allowing the villagers near, however, and it would take months to fill the barracks with sufficient bedding, not least of all because there were only a few carpenters in the village, and they could only work so quickly.


    They were well-paid, though, according to Markus, more than twice the usual amount for the beds and tables the camp had requested.


    Unfortunately, to make Markus'' plan work, Callahan could not leave the mountain until the siege was well under way, in order to properly take the cultists off guard, so he could not look over the fortifications himself.


    He made do by talking to me, and Evlynn, when she visited later in the afternoon, energetically about the barrier spells Tesha had taught me. Eventually, though, as Evlynn was breaking out her wine skin once again, something in the forest caught my attention.


    [No, of course no- ah. Apologies, one moment,] I told the pair, and focused on Carna and Chrys, to find them dragging a deer through the underbrush, and fending off Bann and Davyns offers of help. [Well done, children. Carna and Chrys managed to take down a deer. The pelt is nigh-ruined, of course, and it''s a small one, but they did it.]


    "Oooh," the Elf exclaimed from around the mouth of her drink. "Didn''t they only start hunting a few days before I got here?"


    [Yes, the day Callahan left, in fact.]


    "Stars, they learn quick, don''t they?" he said, laughing. "Well, I suppose we''re having venison stew the next few days."


    It didn''t take long for my two youngest to reach the edge of my territory, and when they did, they struggled mightily to lift the comparatively large animal above their heads together in excitement.


    "Lord-Mother! Deer caught! We hunt!" Carna proclaimed, and the occupants of the camp outside paused their work to cheer for them.


    [Well done, you two. Let Bann and Davyn show you how to process the carcass. We''ll share the meat with the rest of the soldiers to thank them for protecting us.]


    Carna gave his best roar of elation at my praise - which came out more as a long yip, but I wouldn''t dare tell him that - and marched through the gates with Chrys behind him, propping up the other half of their prey on their shoulders while the soldiers went back their work, a little more energy in them at the idea of fresh meat.


    That night, the camp ate well, and I had to gently let my children down when they tried to offer me some of the food, explaining to them that I couldn''t eat like they could.


    Little Chrys was devastated at the news, and curled up on my pedestal with me, bowl of steaming venison stew clutched in their claws.