《A Game of Hedrons》 1. I Am Here Its light hit me first, a blue glow cutting through the empty blackness, gradually brightening as I fell towards it. Then the shape that gave off that light, an enormous sphere, glass-like in transparency. Eventually, I landed on the sphere. The first thing I noticed was the landing. No bounce, no pain, despite the incredible distance of the fall. The second thing I noticed was the sphere; or rather, how it distinctly wasn¡¯t a sphere. The shape was instead trillions of faces, a polyhedron with so many facets that it appeared spherical until observed up close. ¡°Greetings, traveler, what is your name?¡± The voice, if it could be called a voice, came from the pseudo sphere, a vibration that shook the space around me. What was my name? That shouldn¡¯t be hard to answer, but for some reason, it was. I cycled through several, discarding each in turn ¨C too long, too complicated, too strange, didn¡¯t sound right. Yet time was incalculable here, minutes were not a thing I could measure, seconds were skewed by perception. I took my time thinking it over, finally settling on something ¨C simple, but not too common sounding. ¡°Greetings, Nezz. We are¡­in need of life.¡± The surface under me shifted, the light sharpening in places, falling to shadow in others. No longer curved, the ground became flat, the light a feeble new-born Sun illuminating the end of a massacre. The dying and dead were strewn across uneven terrain of rock and scraggly grass, marionettes once at war, now with their strings being cut. Somehow I understood ¨C one of these would become the template for my new life. I saw elves, giant bugs, ogres, goblins. Eventually, I came across a dying figure. It held no weapon, and wore little armor, but its eyes, his eyes, focused on me, unlike the rest. A hand reached out, a boney, scarred hand. I moved closer; whether I was floating, walking, or crawling, I could not tell. This was different. ¡°This should not have happened,¡± he whispered. ¡°It¡­¡± he stopped to take a ragged, laboring breath, made wet and raspy by the blood in his lungs. ¡°It was a trap.¡± Eyes closing, the man let his head fall back to the bloody stone. I reached out, instinctively feeling for the core of him, making it my own. It wrapped around me, pierced me, molded to my mind and my shape, becoming me as much as I became it. Words flashed passed my vision, there for as long as I desired them to be. ¡°You are a level 1 human, Nezz.¡± The battlefield vanished with the words, and I once again stood atop the impossible shape in that impossible place. The voice seemed to have been replaced by the words, another phrase appearing. ¡°As a human, you are capable of gaining a bloodline, a heritage that will influence your skills, statistics and path. Would you like to view the list?¡± I nodded, although I felt as if that was unnecessary. The voice had been able to read my thoughts before when I had decided upon my name. The list was long, but I read each option and its short description, methodically working my way through. Descendant of dragons, elementally imbued, demonic bloodline¡­ I continued scrolling, until I hit the end of the list. The option there made me grin. ¡°Unlocking special bloodlines¡­ Unlocking rare bloodlines¡­ Unlocking ancient bloodlines¡­ Choosing Randomly¡­¡± Several seconds passed before the text was replaced with a single word: ¡°Done.¡± The screen vanished, replaced by a large rectangle of reflective black metal. Although my surroundings, now a perfectly square room, were reflected in a strange, distorted fashion, I was not. At first, I saw nothingness where I stood, an anthropoid mass of mind-shredding emptiness. I blinked, partially out of confusion, partially from a desire to stop looking at the nothingness, and it was gone. I stood in its place, just how I thought I looked. Perhaps I was what I thought I was, in front of this mirror. I appeared tall, with light skin and short, straight black hair. Not very strong, average in most regards, save for the eyes, which were silver, like the man whose fading essence I¡¯d taken. Within the depths of the mirror, lines of silver fire shown through the black cloth of my shirt, but, looking down, I could not see them on my person. They burned an intricate glyph over my chest, set within a circle of similarly bright silver starting above my sternum and ending at the space just below the gap between my clavicle bones. The shirt itself was tucked into pants of slightly thicker black fabric, tied up by a narrow belt, to which was clipped a sheath, made heavy with the weight of a plain iron dagger. The boots covering my feet looked sturdy. Raising a hand, I noticed the thin black glove that covered it. I flexed my other hand experimentally, feeling the fabric of the matching glove stretch around it, before nodding, satisfied. Reality broke apart once more, reforming. This time it felt different, more solid, less something I could influence through mere thought. It flickered back on with me in waist-deep, limb-numbingly cold water, turned grey and turbulent by the cloudy sky. There was no easily accessible shoreline in sight, but there were cliffs, the rock of their ocean-turned faces pitted with holes ¨C conveniently useable handholds for climbing ¨C and crusted with salt and growth by centuries of seafoam. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Half swimming, half wading through the water, I pushed on towards the cliffs. I felt weak, my muscles bogged down with fatigue, despite the fact I¡¯d just started playing. There was a narrow ledge just above water level, protruding half a foot from the cliff side, which I used to rest before my climb, pulling my legs out of the sea. The water had been icy and the weather was similarly cold. So I wasn¡¯t surprised when the familiar blue text flashed across my vision. ¡°You have been affected by chill. -20% to dexterity -5% to strength -25% cold resistance.¡± The text appeared for less than a second, but somehow I understood every word of it. I huddled closer, drawing my knees to my chest, and folding my arms around my knees in an attempt to remain warm, made futile by the driving wind against my face, and the damp stone on which I sat. Trying to climb the cliff with this debuff might be fatal, but what other choice did I have? I wondered if I could somehow view my stats. The thought was synonymous in time with the blue text. ¡°You are Nezz, a level 1 human adventurer: No gold, no silver, and no copper. Your strength, which is being reduced by chill, and constitution are poor. Your dexterity, which is being reduced by chill, and wisdom are average. Your charisma and intellect are very good. Luck: 52%.¡± And skills? ¡°You have proficiency in the following skills: Swimming 10 (7) Athletics 5 (2) Cold resistance 8 (6) Rune lore 10 Void affinity 20 Magick affinity 10 Dagger fighting 15 (10) Precise striking 10 (6) Orienteering 35 Literacy 35 Nggelu language 40 Enael language 25.¡± I didn¡¯t even have the climbing skill. This was definitely going to be dangerous. Even still, I braced myself for the cold and stood up, almost slipping off the water-slick ledge and turned to face the climb, grabbing hold of two large crevices in the rock. I idly wondered if the tide had risen some in the last couple minutes. My numb fingers were not the best for climbing, so I used my dagger to widen gaps, chipping away at its durability, but the iron was good and it made the climb easier. I still cut my knees and scraped my palms on jutting shards of rock and craggy cliff. My stamina wasn¡¯t the best. I¡¯d called up the window with my vitals only a few feet into the climb. ¡°Vitals: Life: 50/50 (100%) Stamina: 28/30 (93%) Magic: 40/40 (100%) Psi: 0/0 (you don¡¯t currently have any psychic capability).¡± Hours of climbing and resting to regenerate my shitty stamina made me hungry and dizzy with strain. The arctic wind blew against the cliffs, cooling my sweat before it even started dripping. In the end, however, I made it to the top. I staggered about a meter away from the edge, and collapse to my knees, then, with a sharp inhalation of breath, on my side, the pain in my arms and legs finally registering, along with several bars of blue text. ¡°Physical exertion has fought off the chill in your body.¡± ¡°Your efforts have increased your dexterity slightly.¡± ¡°Your efforts have increased your strength slightly.¡± ¡°Your perceptiveness has increased your wisdom very slightly.¡± ¡°Your focus on the task at hand has increased your intellect very slightly.¡± ¡°Sore muscles: -5% strength -5% dexterity.¡± ¡°Repetitive dangerously high levels of exertion have wounded your body: -2% max hp.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve made it to the top of the cliff. Very lucky...¡± ¡°You feel more experienced after surviving the brutal climb: +50 (50/500) xp.¡± ¡°You have discovered a new area; you have a surge of new-found purpose.¡± SO the system was smart, it would store messages and display them at a suitable time, Based off of thought patterns, no doubt. I let my eyes slide shut almost involuntarily. I knew this probably wasn¡¯t the safest place to rest, but moving was definitely out of the question, and the game was likely to punish me if I tried resisting the fatigue after hours of stress. I did take one last glimpse at my vitals and statistics, however. ¡°Character information: Vitals: Life: 8/50 (16%) Stamina: 6/30 (20%) Magic: 40/40 (100%) Psi: 0/0 (you don¡¯t currently have any psychic capability). You are Nezz, a level 1 human adventurer: No gold, no silver, and no copper. Your strength, which is being reduced by sore muscles, and constitution are poor. Your wisdom is decent. Your dexterity, which is being reduced by sore muscles, is decent. Your charisma and intellect are very good. Luck: 49% You have proficiency in the following skills: Swimming 10 (9) Athletics 5 (4) Cold resistance 9 Rune lore 10 Void affinity 20 Magick affinity 10 Dagger fighting 15 (13) Precise striking 10 (9) Orienteering 35 Literacy 35 Nggelu language 40 Enael language 25.¡± 2. I Am Reading I am working towards longer chapters, eventual goal being 4k to 5k words. Also, I know formatting of things is not the best, if someone could tell me where to find a list of commands for editing/formatting text,, that would be awesome. Skills and things will eventually be explained, though whether or not I''ll be doing that from an in-universe perspective or not I''m still not entirely certain. Thanks for reading, and enjoy. ****************************** The clouds were gone when I awoke, replaced by the star-studded mantle of night. It was still cold, colder even, but the wind had gone out of it. The sky shown bright with the millions of constellations, and, save for the hunger gnawing at my stomach, I felt better. From my prone position on the ground, I caught a glimpse of something that cut my admiration short, a group of shadows only visible from the edge of my vision. They looked vaguely ape-like, but horribly deformed, with extra or grotesquely twisted limbs. Scrambling to my feet, I drew my dagger. Its presence was reassuring, despite its uselessness in this particular situation. I started running, away from the ledge of the cliff. The terrain vaguely reminded me of that battlefield, the sparse, half-dead plant life and the sharp, unforgiving stone underfoot. Chased by the shadow-things, I experimentally tried asking for abilities. ¡°You gain the following special abilities from your race (human): Appraise ¨C instinctively know the potential danger in opponents or situations, and the value of most common objects. Instincts ¨C humans are known for their strongly engrained fight or flight instincts. You gain the following special abilities from your bloodline: Soul sight ¨C detect the presence of invisible and magical entities. Awakened ¨C capable of learning magic, at the cost of an easily detectable aura. Cloaked essence ¨C with an effort of will, you can conceal your nature from the casual observer. You gain the following special abilities as an adventurer: Perseverance ¨Cbetter adapt to harsh conditions.¡± That was nice, I thought, still running. I had a feeling the only reason I could see these shadows was because of that soul sight thing. That same intuition told me the only reason they were chasing me in the first place was because of my tasty magic. The shadows were much faster than I was, and would definitely overtake me in a matter of seconds at this rate. They also didn¡¯t tire as fast as I did, flowing over the ground as fast and silent as mist. But maybe¡­I broke off my headlong charge, turning sharply and leaping behind a large smooth boulder. I rode the spike of adrenaline, milking the surge of power for all it was worth as I attempted to activate my cloaking ability. The intuition was similar to what I¡¯d been experiencing with the shadows. I drew power from myself, and then forced it all into a sphere in my chest. It lodged. At first, I thought something had gone wrong; funny, the things you don¡¯t notice until they¡¯re gone. My vision felt different, less sharp, my repressed magic manifesting as a throbbing headache. ------------------------------ Food, at last. It had been so long since they¡¯d feasted, and this meal would last them months, maybe years, if they were careful. The figure seemed asleep. They cautiously crept forwards, red eyes blazing like balls of hellfire in their malformed shadowy faces, careful to make no noise. Something that bright though, it was bound to sense them. It awoke, aware of the danger and, without hesitation, already running. It was slow; they were faster. United in purpose, they rushed at their escaping meal, snarling with silent rage. Then it suddenly changed directions, and vanished. Confused, they stopped, flying a wide perimeter around the space where their prey had vanished. No bright signal, nothing above the ambient levels of mana. Enraged, they dissolved into black mist, flowing into the vein-like network of hollow tubes that gave them refuge and passage, The hunger relentlessly clawing, sapping away their strength. ------------------------------ I¡¯m not sure how much time past as I sat there, breathing hard, listening for something. Minutes? Hours? It could have been days, except for the still night, the world¡¯s shattered moon still visible, hanging full in the sky. I took it slow, using the boulder for support to stand. Not slow enough. Groaning, I leaned to the side, throwing up on the ground. The vomit ¨C I self-pityingly noticed it was mostly bile ¨C pooled in an irregular shallow dip. Forehead against the boulder, I focused on my breathing, getting it under control. Sweat formed on my skin, despite the temperature. Another eternity went by as I scraped up the courage to try standing again. This time, I managed a drunken stagger, leaning against the concave inner surface of the rock, careful to avoid the jagged spikes that ran along its top. The thing wasn¡¯t part of the ground, but it was large enough it might as well have been. Its shape was somewhat tooth-like, a quarter-sphere, concave on one side, the side I¡¯d fallen behind, convex on the other. A series of sharp triangular cracks adorned the top of the rock, on the side facing me, as if the rock had been hollow all its life and torn off a larger chunk. I suppressed another grown of pain at the headache, raising a hand to my head. I felt like I could start walking again, if slowly, so I pushed off the stone and went on my way, hoping I¡¯d encounter civilization soon. ¡°You¡¯ve adapted to your suppression sickness.¡± The headache had in fact lifted slightly in the last hour of walking, and I didn¡¯t feel quite as dizzy. Except¡­were those lights in the distance? I picked up the pace as best I could, daring to feel hope. The explosion threw me backwards a good two meters, and I landed hard, tucking my head into my chest at the last instant. Breath left me as my back hit the unforgiving ground, ears ringing from the sound of the explosion. The impact sight was scorched, glassy streaks left in the stone where the lightning bolt had struck. Yet the sky was perfectly clear, and it was definitely too cold for heat lightning. I sat up first, and then carefully moved to a crouch, blinking away the afterimages of the painfully bright flash to start looking for the source of the attack as I cautiously got to my feet. Not that I¡¯d be able to fend off something able to cast down lightning bolts on a whim. ¡°Hello?¡± My voice sounded horse, rusty, like a disused machine. In this dead place, however, any sound was like thunder. The old man was tall, and dressed in loose white clothing. He limped towards me, using a cane of black iron for support. He stopped in front of me without a word, tapping the ground with the walking stick while looking me up and down. The cane looked heavy and old, despite a lack of rust on the gleaming black metal. The end in contact with the ground was a large irregular lump of glass, and it may have been my imagination, but I could have sworn that writhing lines of fire danced and slithered in its depths, twisting, shifting worms of bright light that continued to dance behind my eyelids, jabbering maddeningly¡­I tore my gaze from the thing, shoving down the sudden urge to look back. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it He snorted, breaking the silence. ¡°Most inefficient cloaking I¡¯ve seen in a long time. What has the art of spell-craft come to?¡± He measured his sentence with periodic taps of the cane. ¡°What¡¯s your name, boy? Who¡¯s your master?¡± He spoke Enael faster than I was comfortable with, so it took me a few seconds to extrapolate the meaning from his words. ¡°Nezz, is name. Master? Master, I have none. Shadow¡­things, attack. Needed hidden.¡± He made a face. ¡°If that¡¯s why you¡¯re using the poor excuse for a cloak, then you can drop it, the wraiths won¡¯t be coming here. What do you mean no master? Who taught you, boy?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No master.¡± He let out a sigh, reaching up with the hand not holding his cane to run it through his hair. Long and uncombed, it looked less like hair and more like a foot of snow had been dumped on his head. I had never been able to imagine icy brown eyes before, but the old wizard¡¯s gaze gave me the evidence I needed to prove the concept true. They drilled into me, cold, calculating. ¡°Alright, suppose you don¡¯t have a master. What is your native tongue? You don¡¯t speak fluently enough for it to be Enael.¡± I recalled my skills. There had been another language that I was more proficient in. The Nggelu language. ¡°My mother tongue is Nggelu,¡± I said, in Nggelu. It was the strangest feeling, the words were words I could understand, but the sounds of the language were alien to my ears. He blinked, smacking his cane against the ground. ¡°Your lack of a master makes more sense now. My apologies, wanderer.¡± His head dipped forwards in a shallow bow. The confusion must have shown on my face, because he laughed. A raspy, old man¡¯s laugh, like the wind scraping together piles of dry, dead leaves. ¡°No, not many would know. Drop that cloak and come with me. If you wish, I can teach you what it means to be a native speaker of that language,¡± he said, turning back to face the direction he¡¯d come from, as if he had no doubt I¡¯d follow. Cane cracking against the ground, he started walking at a surprisingly brisk pace, especially for an old man with a walking stick. I struggled to keep up; my concentration was split between trying to puzzle out how to undo whatever it was I¡¯d done to activate the cloak ability, and walking. The lights of the small town grew more distinct as we neared it, and soon I could pick out individual building silhouettes. Although there were guards walking a perimeter, there were no real defenses. They gave us curious glances, but it was clear the old wizard was well known here, so they didn¡¯t stop us as we walked into the town proper; a sign declared its name to be Athels. The buildings were low to the ground, and most were carved from heavy slabs of stone. The streets were narrow, and the rough rock of the plateau had been smoothed out and patterned in a grid of small squares. Athels was small, and I saw almost all of it on the way to the old man¡¯s house, as we worked our way through the winding streets. There weren¡¯t any true turns or corners; streets in the town were always curved. The wizard¡¯s home turned out to be one of the ones carved out of a single piece of stone. The walls rose naturally from the ground for two stories, and there was firelight visible in the windows ¨C squares cut into the walls, the town was far too small and poor for glass. It must have been later, or earlier, than I thought, by the time we reached the door of the house the stars were already fading from the sky. ¡°Stand back,¡± he said, raising the cane. Remembering the lightning bolt that had turned rock to glass, I did as instructed. He swung the cane at the door, cracking the glass knob on its end in what seemed to be a specific pattern. I tried to memorize it, but the steps somehow slipped from my mental grasp, like hands clutching at the rain. He chuckled, somehow aware of what I¡¯d tried to do. ¡°Maybe once we get to know each other a little better, I¡¯ll key you into my wards,¡± he said, still chuckling a little as the door swung inwards. The house was two stories, but made so that every part of the house was visible for any other part. Both floors were wide open, the kitchen, sleeping area, shower and living room taking up their own personal quarter of the first floor. The second floor was less a floor, more a platform near the ceiling. It seemed to be where the old mage did most of his experimenting. There were bookshelves, a desk, and, strewn across the desk and hung on hooks on the ceiling and walls, strange arcane implements, although¡­was that a frying pan? I thought it better not to ask. ¡°What is your name?¡± I asked. Ever since I¡¯d spoken Nggelu aloud, the words felt right in my throat, more comfortable than Enael. ¡°Tholmeus,¡± he replied. ¡°I¡¯ll need to work out something for your sleeping arrangements, been the only one living here for a while. Also, if you don¡¯t want to be burned, or killed, don¡¯t speak that language in public. Foolish superstition is everywhere here. They barely tolerate me, just because I¡¯m a mage, even though I¡¯ve healed their broken bones and sealed their opened wounds for longer than their parents have been alive.¡± The last half of the speech was less speech, more dark muttering as he kicked things out of his way on root to the quarter of the first floor devoted to his bed. ¡°Your first task, as my apprentice, is to read through all the books that have a vertical blue line down their spine, in the shelf with the quartered circle.¡± He pointed to the ladder in the middle of the room and gestured up, turning his back to me. I nodded to his back, looking for the first book with a blue line painted down its spine. Being up here was strange, the skin on the back of my neck and the palms of my hands kept prickling and tingling, as if from a constant field of popping static. It wasn¡¯t uncomfortable though, only distracting. Pulling the book from its slot on the shelf near the ground, I sat down cross-legged, ignored the prickling from what probably was proximity to the wards Tholmeus had been talking about, and started reading. The cover was brown and worn, with no title, as were the thick yellow pages stained with the black ink of writing. The handwriting was cramped, the lines from which each character was composed so thin as to appear illegible at first glance. But whether it was due to the ink used or some trick of the lighting, each character was cast in sharp relief. I looked down at the book open on my lap, then back to the shelf with the reading material. Two¡­four¡­eight...fourteen¡­eighteen¡­twenty-four, twenty five. Twenty five books I¡¯d have to read, as part of my first assignment. I stretched preemptively, mentally preparing myself for the hours of reading ahead. There were several backlogged messages about taking damage and discovering the town of Athels, but the latest message was the one that caught my attention the most: "So much reading to do...You have new-found purpose." Turning the page, I idly wondered if having purpose meant having a quest or goal. 3. I Am Hoping This never Happens Again A/N: Sorry for the delay on the chapter, silliness with me trying to use html for formatting and weirdness with the content meant editing was involved. Turns out writing down world building stuff is a lot easier than incorporating it into the writing, and when things went over four thousand words, I knew some shortening had to get involved. The rest of the information will still be integrated into the story eventually, but hopefully at a more logical pace ¨C I really don¡¯t want to have another one of these again, because if I do, it means I haven¡¯t been working hard enough to explain things in previous chapters. The following is the contents of the books which Nezz began reading in the previous chapter. Some of it will be in-universe, some will not, simply because I can¡¯t think of an in universe way of describing statistics and skills. ****************************** Stats: Statistics are the raw attributes of a person. Every person has the same set of attributes, and there is no such thing as a hidden attribute or stat. These are the core of your physical and mental state, describing personality, inclination, what you look like, but they don¡¯t control specifics ¨C that is the domain of skills. The stats are strength, dexterity, intellect, wisdom, constitution, and charisma. Strength is straight forward: it determines how much you can lift or carry, how hard you can swing a weapon, or how high you can jump. Strength describes the effectiveness of your physical body. Dexterity determines your overall physical speed. How fast you can move, how quickly you can swing or reload a weapon, how long it takes you to stand up from a fall, or how good you are at adjusting to the fall in the first place. It represents the adaptiveness of your physical body, in situations where reflex, rather than the mind, will save you. Intellect represents your ability to assimilate information, and keep stock of that information. It increases the rate at which magic users can cast spells, mana and psionic energy retention levels, and effectiveness at assessing situations critically. Where dexterity is the nimbleness and adaptiveness of the body, intellect is the quickness and adaptiveness of the mind. Constitution is the hardiness and durability of the physical body. Its ability to withstand damage, or prevent it in the first place, its ability to fend off poisons or ignore the effects of debilitating situations, and its ability to recover quickly from such situations. Strength may determine how high you are able to jump, or how much you can carry, but constitution represents how liable you are to get wounded while overtaxing yourself, or how long you can carry something. Wisdom is the ability to properly use one¡¯s intellect. It determines how much and how fast a connection one can make between related concepts, and how perceptive one is to the physical and conceptual. It represents experience, and the mind¡¯s reserves of memory and durability, helping negate the strength of psionic or magical attacks. Wisdom is the mental equivalent of constitution; a person with high wisdom is always mentally prepared for anything, and thus metaphysically armored. Charisma represents the sheer power of your presents. It determines how good you are at asserting your will not just over people, but on a magic or psionic environment. Charisma, also called willpower, describes how well you are at bringing might to bare, how good you are at utilizing your mental reserves, your wisdom, in a real, non-theoretical, situation. It is the mental or spiritual equivalent of strength, lending power to the use of arcane or psionic abilities. Luck isn¡¯t a statistic in the traditional sense. It represents karma, slowly falling on repetitive success in challenging situations, but slowly reaching a middle point over times of little activity. Upon repetitive failures, luck increases. Luck is represented as a percentage, with normal luck levels being at 50%. Skills: Skills are those experiences which have influenced a person in a mental or physical way throughout the course of their life. They represent training, or certain levels of knowledge. The application of a skill, or group of skills, to achieve a specific desired effect is known as an ability. How well one can utilize a skill is determined by the statistics which best govern the application of said skill ¨C dexterity and strength for an athletics skill, intelligence for a pyroturgy skill, charisma for a summoning skill, wisdom for an affinity skill. Skills are numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands, many of them hidden, lost, or only applicable in very specific situations. One¡¯s ability to learn a skill on their own is dependent both on the difficulty rating of the skill, and their intellect and wisdom. Technically speaking, everyone has every skill, however, until introduced, its level is effectively -1; someone can still throw a punch without understanding the mechanics of unarmed combat, copy a magic rune without understanding what the rest of the language means. Once a skill is taught, one gains bonuses to advancing their knowledge of it on their own, to a certain point ¨C every forty points, one must find a teacher to learn more advanced applications of the skill. Abilities: Abilities are specific applications of a skill, or group of skills. A mage might use their fire affinity, pyroturgy, concentration, channeling, and spell weaving skills to cast a fireball, while a monk might use concentration, unarmed combat, athletics, precise blows, channeling, and order affinity to deliver a chi-infused karate chop to the enemy. Even then, skills might use the same or similar skill sets, but at different ratios. Casting a focused beam of fire, rather than a fireball, might require more control and concentration, but not as much created fire. These skill usage ratios determine the percentage chance of raising a skill related to that ability. Abilities have a minimum and maximum proficiency number, both on a scale from 1 to 10000. One may have the knowledge of an ability, but not the proper skill levels to use it safely or properly. At this point the person would be able to identify it, but until their proficiency level, as determined by the level of ability related skills, is not at or above minimum proficiency, they cannot use the ability. Points above minimum proficiency raise the power, speed, or effectiveness of the ability, until maximum proficiency is hit. Points can go beyond maximum proficiency, until they hit 10000, but this provides no added benefit, and is only a side effect of possibly requiring similar skills for different abilities. The same way one might know an ability but might not have enough power to use it, it is always possible that there is an ability the user has more than enough skill to use, but does not know of. Universal Energies: A large ring, with a base element (earth, fire, air, water) at each cardinal direction, defines the basal sector. There is a smaller ring within the primary, or base, ring, the first ring, which defines the primal sector. The four first order amalgams (smoke fire + air, mist air + water, mud water + earth, magma earth + fire) are at the sub-cardinal directions of this ring. A vertical line traverses both circles, and extropy and entropy are both on this line, within the first ring, a pair of nested circles drawn around them. Spirit is at the center of the first and base rings, between entropy and extropy, and also on the line ¨C this line is called the axis prime. The second order amalgams (extropy: light fire, lightning air, ooze water, crystal earth; entropy: darkness fire, void air, ice water, taint earth) are on the outer ring of the extropic and entropic sectors, defined by the outer entropic and extropic rings. Lines connect the cardinal directions on these outer entropic and extropic rings to the corresponding base elements on the base ring. Collectively, these rings are called the second or polarity rings. Accordingly, the associated sectors are referred to as the polarity sectors. The third order amalgams (extropy: heat fire + air, thunder air + water, acid water + earth, metal earth + fire; entropy: cold fire + air, stone air + water, alkali water + earth, ash earth + fire) are situated in the third, or inner entropic and inner extropic rings, linking to the corresponding sub-cardinal directions on the first ring. A line attaches to each cardinal direction on the base ring, from spirit (entropy + extropy + fire + earth + air + water) spirit being the only fourth order amalgam element, forming the primal-basal junction. While third order amalgam elements do not use first order ones, they use the same combination of base elements, and so they stem from the corresponding first order amalgam elements ¨C the first ring. Spirit, entropy, and extropy are collectively referred to as cores; spirit is excluded in the case of polarity cores. The space between the lines that run from water to ice and water to ooze, and fire to darkness and fire to light, is sometimes acknowledged as the interpolar sector, or the interpolar pseudo-sector. The locations of air and earth on the base ring, north and south respectively, are commonly accepted, but the situation of water and fire is an often debated subject, and varies from model to model. Usually, the lines connecting elements are not physically required, and are mostly used for visualization and focusing training, or to teach a novice the relationships portrayed by the hylocosmic model. They are also a form of insurance, however, and used when the practitioner is not particularly pressed for time and wants a good model to work off of. Of note is the fact that energies are greater than the sum of their parts. While ice might consist of entropy and water energies, using the both separately would not amount to ice. This is because spirit must be the medium to bind all other energies together outside of a naturally occurring event. In a working measuring model, the rings spin clockwise. The two outer rings are concentric, and thus spin around the same center ¨C spirit. The two pairs of inner rings rotate both around their own centers, entropy and extropy, and around spirit, in such a way that, when all energies are in balance, all element-corresponding glyphs remain in perfect alignment with the lines connecting them. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. From this system most modern elemental magic is drawn. One familiarizes themselves with the desired energy and converts their spiritual reserves into a form better suited to manipulating the wild mana. Spirit and mana are not the same. Spirit is the base form of energy, containing equal amounts of all energy types, while mana is the wild energy of the desired type. When mana is drawn into the body it must be properly bound to spirit to form a useable form of energy for spell craft. Ones ease with binding a specific kind of mana to their spirit is called their affinity with that form of mana. As ones affinity increases, the amount of that element of mana and spirit hybrid energy source they can refine and store increases, and the ratio of spirit to mana required in the process decreases. Spirit is the raw amount of spirit energy a person has, which means the refined mana type can never exceed ones total spirit. Raw spirit energy is required for the continued life of most things, and using more than half of that, for whatever purpose, is dangerous. Spirit, however, is not a blob of energy. Every person has a unique shape to their spirit. Advanced techniques in spell craft can even allow a mage to draw from different parts of the spirit, dramatically altering the resulting spell. Most mages tend to focus on a closely related set of elements, rather than attempting to master them all, for the same reason scientists might specialize in a specific field of science. Other Forms of Magic: Although the system of refining wild mana and utilizing in spells is by far the most prevalent, magic has been around since the beginning, and thus it is expected that alternative forms of manipulating it have been used, to varying effect. Runes: The precursor to the wide-spread use of foci artifacts, rune magic uses magically imbued symbols to complete a desired effect. By empowering them with spirit, the runes will trigger on a specified situation, and use the supplied spirit reserves to produce the desired effect. For this reason runes are often combined into strings, or sequences, through which the spirit energy cycles. Rune magic itself has branched throughout the centuries, and is still very useful in the modern day world. In particular, wizards versed in the usage of runes have found great success in the fields of magitech and computation sorcery. Necromancy: Nature abhors a vacuum. Research into the refinement process has produced results that indicate the existence of a waste product, a form of energy, referred to as nether. It spills into the environment throughout the course of energy refinement and regular subconscious spirit-related activities, and is carried on the currents and flows of mana, pooling into empty receptacles. Most commonly, this means corpses, after the spirit within them dissolves into individual strands of mana that disperse into the environment. It is believed this has some relation to the form in which demons travel, but little else is known. Necromancers are mages who have studied the use of nether, and who use it. This gives them the common stereotypical label of corpse animators, but nether can be found naturally in the environment, especially around living things, and its uses are many. Priest Magic: Priest magic differs from elemental magic in that it does not use an external source of natural magic; at least, not external sources anywhere near them. Instead, a deity the cleric worships bonds their spirit with an alien form of energy which cannot exist outside the cleric¡¯s spirit. This divine power is a marker of how much favor the cleric has gained, and, when the cleric requests a favor of their deity, the deity will retract a portion of that power equivalent to the magnitude of the request, before granting the request, assuming the divine power reserves are sufficient. Similar to elemental magic, divine power reserves cannot exceed half of the priest¡¯s total raw spirit without risk of injury. Soul Magic: Also called vampire magic, primal magic, and all manner of other names, This is perhaps the least understood form of magic, mostly because it is only usable by entities of god-like power, demons, angels, and elementals (in a modified form). These entities do not have spirit of their own, and must gather it from other sources through interaction. Eating food, talking to people, personal enjoyment, drawing from a willing (or unwilling) victim, these are all viable. The only uniting feature for gaining spirit energy as that it must be gained from something living. It is believed that soul magic includes the gathering of nether energy in a similar fashion, although how, or even if, it works is completely unknown. This comes with many advantages: having no spirit, users of this form of spell-craft are affectively able to gather as much spirit energy as they desire. Furthermore, not requiring spirit energy to live, they are able to use 100% of this stored power without risk. However, because this requires interaction with things that have spirit, binding such entities becomes almost trivial, given the right circumstances. In the case of elementals, all power they are able to utilize comes from themselves, their very body being refined mana of a specific energy. They are able to replenish expended power only within their home realm, or by communing with things that contain a large amount of the corresponding energy type (a campfire for a fire elemental, the ocean for a water elemental, etc.). Wild Magic: Not a kind of magic in the strictest sense, wild magic is the field of magic concerning raw spirit. It is also what untrained magicians are able to do instinctively. The instinctive use of wild magic is basic manipulation of spirit, and thus cannot extend beyond the caster¡¯s body. Wild magic also applies to the natural ebb and flow of power currents, the usage of lee-lines and artifacts such as foci, and bonds such as those made between mage and familiar. Foci: A focus is the name given to an object capable of effected mana which has already been refined. This makes it a major component in any trained wizard¡¯s toolkit. It consists of three major parts: handle, shell, and core. The handle of a focus is the only part which can be held without hindering its power. This location is entirely decided by the user, and can be purposely made obscure so that enemies would not be able to use it. The handle need not even be physical ¨C it could be a specific way of holding an item. Legend speaks of a sorcerer with a sphere on a chain as a focus. The handle was the chain, but one had to cover specific links with specific fingers depending on the season. Finally, the handle of a focus is also the only part which can be safely influenced by any kind of magic directly at any time. Next is the shell. The shell is the only place where the focus becomes inert; this also not need be physical. A dagger¡¯s sheath, a ring with the gem rotated towards the body, both are valid shells. In political situations, an active shell represents respect, while, more practically, a focus with an active shell is, for all intents and purposes, not a focus, so it can be worked upon without risk. Unlike the handle, which is entirely decided by the wizard, the shell is decided based upon the creation of the focus, the temperament of its owner and the environment in which it is created. All foci are created with an inactive shell. Lastly is the focus itself, the core. The core encompasses the materials, the time and circumstances under which the focus was made. The core may benefit from additional rune work after it is completed. Being the focus itself, the core is what channels and alters the completed spell. Foci have affinity, a mana type that they help somehow alter, purpose, the specific way they shape the affinity, and ability, a distinct power unique to the focus. Familiar Bonds: A familiar bond is the bond created between entities that have chosen to share spirit essence. At the start of the bond this is expressed through the sharing of a very tiny portion of spirit, but as time with the familiar progresses and understanding on both sides of the bond is achieved this amount steadily increases. In a familiar bond that has reached its full potential, both spirits are equally mixed between partners. In a working familiar bond, spirit energy is constantly traveling between the two, creating a cord which thickens as the bond progresses. The cord is visible to those proficient enough with the ability to see magic in the environment. Familiar bonds are possible between a being with a soul and a being lacking one, such as a bond between a human and an angel, but not between two beings who do not have a soul. This is because even entities that do not have a soul still have the place for one ¨C a mold of sorts, for the souls they consume to fill. In a bond with two soulless members, any attempt at creating a flow of spirit would eventually drain both parties, become unstable, and shatter. On the other hand, a bond between a person with and a person without a soul would actually make the person without a soul more stable, especially once the cord is substantial, because their mold would be constantly filled by the bond. There are variants to the familiar bond, most of which are psychic in nature, so it could be the case that those with psionic capability would be more versed at the manipulation of bonds, both short and long term. Contrary to popular belief, in almost every form of the familiar bond, there is no imbalance in terms of power or ownership. Each is, technically, each other¡¯s familiar, and both participants benefit equally. For this reason it is common practice for authors of texts with relation to familiar bonds to avoid the use of such phrases as ¡®wizard and familiar¡¯, or ¡®bonder and bonded¡¯, since, even in a developing bond, the word ¡®wizard¡¯ and ¡®familiar¡¯ applies to both members. ****************************** Sorry, I promise there will be plot for the next chapter. As always, questions are welcome, comments, etc. Reader Interaction Hi, This isn¡¯t a chapter, but I¡¯d like some input for the direction of the story. I¡¯ve got some ideas, but I need some suggestions to¡­refine them, if you will. First question: what has the reader experience been like? What is this story missing? What does it have that you like? As a writer, what habits should I keep, which should I lose, and which should I work on developing? Next question: Should there be levels? Why, or why not? I¡¯m really torn up about this point: on one hand, levels are good for pacing; they demonstrate progression in a real, concrete way. On the other hand, levels are very over used. I could argue it breaks the flow of the reading, and makes this seem less like a world, and more like a game. Levels are useful mechanically also, they give me milestones to stop and update my notes on the story, how things have changed, how Nezz himself has changed and evolved since his last levels. But levels come with a ¡°over 9000¡± risk, where the main character becomes extremely powerful suddenly and basically ruins plots by powering through them. If you¡¯re curious, that¡¯s part of the reason the stats are displayed the way they are. No, I don¡¯t plan for this to be an ¡°I am suddenly unstoppable¡± main character type story. If it does, it won¡¯t be any time soon, and I want real character and world development to support why and how it happened. Anyways, levels, yes or no? Next: suggestions on a kind of magic Nezz should specialize in would be helpful. I have plans for several, so just pick from the information about the elements provided in the previous chapter and explain what you visualize happening with this element. Or you can just make up your own. Remember, pick a base first, earth, fire, water, or air, and then a progression from there: that element plus entropy, extropy, or another base element. Just a note for anyone thinking this is going to be a stereotypical wizard character, I don¡¯t plan for this to become a pure mage like story. Like all things, classes are not really defined, and who you are is determined by your skills, just like in real life. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. What do you want to see in this story? This is supposed to be reader interactive, in that I take serious input from readers, and incorporate it into the story. This means there are very few hard rules. In fact the only one I can think of right now is no sudden over powered main character. Anything else though, is basically rule of cool. Give me something awesome, and the world can adapt, because it¡¯s awesome. So what do you, as a reader, want to see most? Fast and furious combat scenes? Mystery plot thickening? Character relationships developing? More world building? I basically plan to have all of these throughout the story, but I need to prioritize. Lastly, I need suggestions on formatting. What would make the reading experience easier on the eyes? Should I focus on having more tables? No tables? More color? Where should I have more color? Should I bold things/ Make the text larger? Have more blank lines? I don¡¯t want this to be a pain to read. Basically, I¡¯ve got a whole mess of ideas, concepts, plot points and things in my head, so I need help with organizing them so that this will be enjoyable, and so that I don¡¯t lose focus on the story. I¡¯m happiest when my readers are happy, so I just want to work a little more on incorporating that reader interactive tag. Also, there will be sci-fi stuff later on, that¡¯s not just there for show, I promise. Could use the help, and as always, I love the comments/ratings/whatever¡­Not expecting reviews as of yet, considering this is only by chapter three, but I need to find a way to catch me some more readers. *waves virtual butterfly net* Thanks for reading, -Kthrelegon Also, I¡¯ve been considering having a kind of chapter word count update at the bottom of the fiction description, so that people know I¡¯m actually working, and not slacking. Thoughts? Only seven hundred or so more words until the next chapter, so hopefully that will be out some time later today. 4. I Am Ready A/N: Here¡¯s the latest chapter, please enjoy. It¡¯s embarrassingly late, but it helped me work out some things in the end, and it might not look like it, but it¡¯s the start for a lot of things to come. Hopefully the table shows up fine. Also, is there a way to insert some kind of divider line with bb code? Something similar to the html
tag. ****************************** Reading that much, even with breaks for food and bodily relief, does something to the brain. Words in that horribly precise handwriting, characters composed of lines thin and sharp as knives, still danced behind my eyelids, arranging and rearranging themselves into illegible patterns. At any rate, I was done. I turned the last page of the last book, flipping it over in my hands, so that the cover was facing the right way when I returned it to its proper spot on the bookcase. It slid into place, hitting the wooden back of the shelf with a solid thunk. Then I stood up, stretching, hearing my bones make sounds they shouldn¡¯t. ¡°Done, are you, boy?¡± Despite knowing my name, Tholmeus had never once used it. The old wizard had probably been keeping track of every book I finished. I¡¯d only been able to work through a couple of the shorter ones on my first day, letting my consciousness slip away on a mattress of solidified air as dawn lit the sky. I woke up at noon, to find the house empty and a plate of food on the counter in the kitchen section of the first floor. Eating was unceremonious and quick, and I rushed through the motions of waking up, in a hurry to get back to my task. I read through about a sixth of the stack that day, taking notes Tholmeus had lent me the night before, not turning in until well past midnight. Several days went like this ¨C I could probably count the times I spoke more than a single word at a time on the fingers of one hand. By the time noon of the fourth day swung around, I was done. That was one of the interesting things about this place. There was no window. Instead, time was kept through a set of runes cut into the stone of the roof. There were three lines, radiating outwards from the circumference of a circle. The lines were placed one to a third of the circle, and a set of interlinked runes ran along these lines at different rates, keeping time. The rune sequences were color coded: the green one completes thirty full cycles ¨C starting from the point of the line farthest from the circle, to the point on the line closest to the circle, and back to the starting point ¨Cthirty beats, before the yellow sequence achieves half a cycle. Thirty more beats completes a breath cycle, and sixty breaths completes a pause cycle, kept track of by the red sequence, and which number only fifteen cycles from sunrise to sunrise. There was a single blue rune in the center of the circle that illuminated the house, and the light would brighten during the day and dim during the night. I tried a brief check for backlogged messages. Most were about wisdom increases, a handful about intellect increases, but there were a few interesting ones: ¡°You have learned the skill: meditation.¡± ¡°You have learned more about your status screen. Changes have been applied.¡± ¡°You have learned the skill: arcane lore.¡± ¡°Your tutelage under arch-mage Tholmeus has officially begun. Do you wish to choose an elemental specialization?¡± I didn¡¯t feel I had enough information to pick one, so the message vanished with all the rest. ¡°I am,¡± I said, unrolling the ladder attached to the edge of the platform and waiting until it hit the floor below before climbing down. There was a rope beside the ladder, a long rough piece of braided plant fiber. Pulling on it resulted in the ladder¡¯s rapid contraction, as it rolled up and returned to its place on the edge of the platform above. ¡°Good. Good. Well, we¡¯re going out today, need to restock supplies in the kitchen. You¡¯ll be accompanying me, seeing that you¡¯re done with your first assignment.¡± I nodded, holding onto pages of my notes with one hand. The sleeping quarter included a large wooden desk, with a chair that matched it polished surface for gleaming polished surface. Tholmeus rose from that chair, taking his cane from its leaning position against the corner made by the back of the desk and the wall. It had become apparent to me in the days of reading that he did not need a walking stick for walking. It made me wonder if that was perhaps his focus. He looked over at me on his way to the door, then down at the notes. ¡°And we can probably get you bindings for those, bring them along.¡± Curious, I tried calling up an inventory screen to attempt and store the notes in it. There was no flash of blue text, so after trying several things, I gave up. It turned out that the marketplace wasn¡¯t actually inside Athels. Instead, there was a fenced off area, accessed through a road leading east out of the mess of other identical roads. If it weren¡¯t for Tholmeus and the distinctive crack of his cane on stone I would have probably gotten lost more than once. At the mouth of the street, where the buildings to either side suddenly ended, and it opened up into a large flat space lined with portable stalls and bustling people, the old wizard suddenly stopped, turning to face me. ¡°Next assignment, boy,¡± he said, reaching into one of the many pockets concealed in the folds of his coat. The coat was a color somewhere between dark blue and dark purple. The article of clothing itself was somewhere between ridiculous and insanely useful. It had sleeves with pockets, the back had pockets, the front had pockets, and even the hood had pockets. On the old man, who was by no means short, it reached his knees, and the arm sleeves were folded so many times over, they probably had four times the amount of pockets than those visible. He withdrew two silver coins and through them at me. I almost missed one, but managed to catch both in one hand. ¡°Get yourself something useful, then meet me back here in¡­¡± he trailed off, looking up at the sky. ¡°Two and one fourth pause cycles. Understood, boy?¡± I nodded. The silver was a peculiar mix of cold and hot in my left hand. On one side of the coin, I could buy something. On the other, it had to be something useful, or Tholmeus would probably refuse to train me. ¡°And speak more, boy. Don¡¯t just nod at me, show some respect,¡± said Tholmeus, smacking the ground with his walking stick to emphasize the last word of each sentence. ¡°Understand you¡­I, sir.¡± He nodded sharply. ¡°Good. See you later, then.¡± Without waiting for a response, he marched off along the open space, vanishing amidst the crowd. I watched him go, trying to think of what might possibly impress the wizard. Food? No, he¡¯d complain about being able to scavenge for that, or live off the land or some such. A weapon? I¡¯d need to train with it first, and I had doubts about being able to get anything decent here. Besides, I already had my dagger ¨C I closed my free hand around the hilt, making sure it was still there. Clothing? I could improvise, just like food. A spell book? No, that might come off as an offense to his ability to teach me. What then? Fingers wrapped around the rapidly warming silver, I took a step from beyond the confines of the narrow street, glancing back before heading off. I blinked, and looked again. Nothing. How strange. It took nearly half of my allotted time to find what I was looking for, enough that I considered giving up on more than one occasion. Eventually though, I found what I was looking for ¨C a stall selling unwoven cloth. There was no line for this one, unlike the neighboring tailor¡¯s and leatherworker¡¯s stalls, so the purchase was relatively fast. I was by no means an expert, so I just bought the cloth that caught my attention the most. I¡¯d decided on a piece of black cotton, when something else snagged my eye. Less a bolt, more a braid, the muted silver of the material was almost entrancing to look at. The merchant assured me it was the most durable thing she¡¯d seen. ¡°Got it sold to me by a right strange fellow. Showed me how strong the stuff was, right in front of me own eyes ¨C took a knife to it, went hackin¡¯ and a sawin¡¯ for a full minute straight, and it¡¯s as you see it now, without a scratch to its name! Really impressive, and I¡¯ll give it to you for only one silver, since it¡¯s such a wee bit of cloth. Right done deal there, how ¡®bout it, good sir?¡± I nodded and let half my money fall into the woman¡¯s out-stretched hand. Her green eyes followed me, with cloth in hand, into the ocean of bodies in the marketplace. ****************************** The woman¡¯s gaze was a bright green, cool, collected, and full of life. It was a sharp contrast to the fiery red of her hair. Those eyes followed the apprentice mage man, Nezz, as he became one with the crowd. Then her gaze flicked down and to the left of him, focusing on us for the barest of seconds, before sliding away. Had she truly seen us? Impossible. There was no change to the stall from the outside, but the darkness within it thickened with our presence. The woman, unaware, was easy prey. Grabbing, clawing, we anchored around her hair, pulling her head back to expose her open mouth and throat. We smothered the screaming ¨C there¡¯d be more food to be had later ¨C forcing our way inside her, down her throat, in her nose, to the brain, heart, and finally, the soul. The beautiful green of her eyes dimmed and blackened, until they were orbs of pure darkness. She smiled. We smiled with her. We smiled as her. ¡°Thank you, Nezzzzz,¡± we whispered through our human lips, thrumming with that spark we so craved. The world was different, as we sensed through human senses, thought through the human mind. Such an invigorating feeling, soon, our brothers and sisters would join us, they¡¯d understand the gloriousness of being¡­full. There was a scream nearby, mostly lost amidst the raised voices of busy commerce, but we heard it, nonetheless. How foolish of them, that they would not be more careful with their new puppets, as we had been. ****************************** The cord of silver thread was short enough that I could wrap it around my wrist several times and tie it into a bracelet. I had to look down to do the knot; otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have noticed it. There were lots of people here, but even still, I was counting more shadows than bodies. I focused on them, trying to count the moving shapes and images. ¡°You have activated your spell sight ability.¡± If I was at all uncertain about it before, looking at the ground with that ability active banished any doubts. There were the regular peoples¡¯ shadows. Then there were the other ones, the misshapen ones from before, a solid blackness weaving between the normal shadows. Finally, there was the last kind, the solid black shapes that had become the shadows of seemingly regular people. I shivered, not feeling safe in the press of bodies anymore. Where the Hell was Tholmeus? The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Not immediately breaking into a run was an enormous effort of will, to put it mildly. I started walking back towards the streets of the town, slipping between and around people. The sun had moved some since Tholmeus had left, but only enough for one and a half pause cycles to have past. To think I¡¯d been worried about not having enough time before; I couldn¡¯t help but feel how slow it crawled now, as I waited at the end of the road, looking at the sun, towards the crowd of people, and in the opposite direction, down the shaded street. This cycle repeated over and over; my remaining silver coin was already slick with sweat, and had been for hours, squeezed so tight in my left hand I was certain it would leave a circular mark. Thankfully, Tholmeus returned early, just ahead of three shadows. He was walking fast, but once free of the crowd, he ran, dropping all pretenses with the cane. Beside me, he flipped the stick over, grabbed it by the knob, and shook it, muttering something under his breath. There was no sound, no flash of light. One second Tholmeus was holding his walking stick, the next he held a hollow metal pipe in one hand, a sword in the other. ¡°Unweave from that, boy,¡± he said, handing me the pipe. The curved part of the cane had fallen to the ground, leaving behind a straight cylindrical tube of metal, with a hole where the sword had been housed. Spell sight still active, the threads of the enchantment were visible, bright against the backdrop of the pipe¡¯s natural construction. I reached out with the same sense I used to see the mana, taking hold of the strands of the enchantment, woven through the smooth natural metal, and pulled. The spell came apart, threads of lightning and fire twisting, as if they¡¯d been stretched taught and suddenly been let go. It was like trying to hold a mass of sentient sparking wires with the hands of a newborn. Even still, I wrapped the threads around the blade of my dagger, tying them together as best I could. It was nothing as elegant as the work on the rod, but I personally thought it looked decent enough ¨C a loose web of magic uniformly coating the blade of the dagger, warp and weft threads drawn taught across the weapon¡¯s natural earth-centric elements. The shadow things flowed up off the ground to attack, throwing punches with half-corporeal fists. They moved more like ooze than mist, collapsing and contorting their bodies to dodge slashes of Tholmeus¡¯s glowing sword. I let my focus on the individual water-like movements of mana fade away, focusing only on the physical environment. Distractions cleared, I lunged towards one of the shadows, blazing dagger in one hand, cane-rod in the other. The shadows stood in a triangular formation, with two flanking Tholmeus, and another doing its best to keep the wizard¡¯s attention on it, with obvious but dangerous attacks, while the other two slowly, but steadily, wore him down. My weapon sank into the back of one of the flankers without a sound, the creature spinning around to face me, wounding itself even more as the dagger passed through more of its shadow-formed body. It opened its mouth in a silent scream of rage and pain, taking advantage of my open guard to slam a fist of darkness into my chest. The blow made me stumble, but not from its physical power. I suddenly felt sick, like I had the first time I¡¯d tried to cloak myself, but worse. Color seeped out of the world, and I lost the required concentration for spell sight. Groaning, I fell to my knees, stabbing out wildly with the dagger. In the same instant, I felt some of me torn away, as if I¡¯d just cast a spell. It was like the constant drain that came with the spell sight, but more sudden, more vicious. My head hurt. The sun was still in the sky, but I had no idea how much time had passed. It could have been a second, or an hour, but the street was empty, except for me, and something at my feet. I reached down, picking it up. It was a black sphere, about the size of a child¡¯s fist. I stuffed it in my pocket, and looked towards the marketplace. The place was in chaos. Gates had been smashed, people were running around, blood had been splattered on the ground, and still-twitching corpses were strewn across the ruins of merchant¡¯s stalls and other rubble. Trying to activate spell sight only resulted in the headache exploding, and giving me a nosebleed, but I could still see the flickering at the edge of my vision that meant a shadow was moving, and there were hundreds of them out there. I saw no sign of Tholmeus, and the dagger I was holding was ruined, the blade twisted and crushed into a useless lump of iron. I still had the pole from the old man¡¯s cane, so I dropped the dagger, switching the metal stick to my main hand. What the Hell happened, anyway? ¡°Turn around slowly. No sudden movements, and show me your eyes.¡± Every bone in my body told me to jump, spin around and swing the pipe at the voice behind me. I wrestled the instinct down, feeling my shoulders tense and my neck touch the edge of something sharp with an intake of breath. I slowly let the breath out, turning on the spot. A hand on my shoulder -- it felt gloved through the fabric of my shirt, -- stopped me from completing the one eighty. ¡°Drop the stick.¡± It hit the ground with a crash of metal on stone. ¡°Calling more of your friends, are you?¡± I should¡¯ve thought that through ¨C the sound might attract more shadows. I stood still, hoping they didn¡¯t mistake me for one. ¡°Or it could have just been a mistake. Finish turning. I¡¯ll warn you though, I¡¯ve killed at least fifteen shadows today. I am not averse to staining my blade with the taint of one more.¡± I slowly finished the turn, feeling the pressure of the hand leave my shoulder. The voice was strange, hollow and distorted to the point where I couldn¡¯t even discern gender. It was definitely speaking Enael, though. Although I was standing directly in front of it, the figure was hard to make out, as if my eyes didn¡¯t want to focus on what was in front of me. Even when I pushed through the illusion, or whatever it was, all I could see were vague outlines. Narrow shoulders, tall frame, long hair, masked face. The only thing I could make out clearly was the steely sheen of the curved sword in the figure¡¯s hands. That wasn¡¯t what grabbed my attention. No, what I was looking at was behind it, and getting closer. ¡°I have never seen so many like this.¡± I didn¡¯t even need spell sight to see them. Most were shadows, but others were worse; shadows who had gained a body, hungry black eyes staring fixedly from a face where the musculature itself seemed off. The figure took a step back from me. I had not meant for the words to be spoken aloud, and I¡¯d spoken them in Nggelu. ¡°What the Hell language is that? What are you saying? Do you even speak Enael?¡± One of the shadows drew closer, emboldened by the show of fear. At least they seemed scared, or maybe confused, but why? ¡°Look out!¡± I yelled in Enael, ducking to grab the metal rod off the ground. Whether it was from the worry in my voice or something else, the person listened to my warning, turning around in time to meet a wave of shadow with its sword. I switched my own weapon to a two handed grip, the dregs of enchantment within the steel smoldering like coals between my fingers. ****************************** Vitals:
vital statcurrent amountmaximum amountpercentage
life455090%
spirit304075%
stamina3030100%
psi00n/a
Statistics:
statrating
constitutionbelow average
strengthaverage
wisdomgood
dexteritygood
charismavery good
intellectvery good
luck51%
Skills:
abilitycurrent proficiencyminimum proficiencymaximum proficiencydescription
appraisal5110000Instinctively know the potential danger in opponents or situations, and the value of most objects.
instincts201100Humans are known for their strongly engrained fight or flight instincts.
soul sight351350Passively detect the presence of invisible and magical entities.
awakened1110000You have the instincts of an untrained mage, and an unnaturally bright aura.
cloak essence141050With an effort of will, you can conceal your nature from the casual observer.
perseverance8190Better live and adapt in harsh conditions.
refine energy220200Refine natural mana into useable magical energy with your spirit.
spell sight295250Achieve the required mindset to observe the flow of mana in all things.
weaver stance155350Enter the trance-like state required to weave spells.
rune words5350725Understand the significance and effects of runes enough to utilize them properly.
flow surgeon1715200Read the flow of energy in living thing¡¯s, and comprehend how to influence it using physical means.
****************************** See you guys for the fights next chapter! I hate cliffhangers, but only when I¡¯m reading! *insane echoing laughter* *vanishes*