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Pim

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On awakening I’m relieved to see that I’m back inside our manor. The last I remember was being in a void with my family. A strange warmth fills my chest when I think back to when we were all together. Trying to ignore the strange new sensation, I jump out of bed.

Outside the windows a large green-hued quarter moon hangs low in the sky. The last place I remember being in reality was in the Unrak village, helping work on fixing the mess brother made.

That was at least a month ago, Coil’s voice rings in my head, annoyed at something. I shrug, didn’t feel that long so it doesn’t really bother me. I walk over to the dresser and find one of the nightgowns in my size. The medium-sized robes hang between Luna’s doll-sized clothes and Scarlet’s tents. I slip it on before sneaking to the door.

I peek through the crack, scanning the darkened hallway for movement. All quiet. I carefully open the door and immediately hit something. I jump in place, what’s in front of my door?

“Lady Scarlet?” A man’s voice comes from the other side of the door. I scream silently in surprise. A small pulse of warped space expands from me, not even making it a foot before dispersing. My scream stirred whoever was on the other side of the door, because it forcibly swings open.

Standing on the other side of the doorway is a man slightly taller than me, but about as skinny. His long black hair covers most of his face, giving him the appearance of a grim reaper. “Oh! Sorry, my Lady. Are you Lady Pim or Lady Luna?” My heart races at his question. Why would he know to ask that? Does he know our secret?

No worries Pim. That’s Knight Porter, he’s pretty neat. Coil’s tone is tinged with a disgusting sweetness I’ve never heard from him. I start to calm down when the knight scratches his head, unsure what to do.

“I’ll guess you’re Lady Pim. Some of the maids had been saying you couldn’t speak, but I thought that was a rumor.” His face somehow shows less expression than mine. “So, uh, how do you typically communicate?” I go and grab my pen from the desk in our room.

I quickly scribble a simple clause onto my arm. ‘I can draw in air.’ The words glow a bright gold and are accompanied by a burning sensation on my skin. Once the phrase stops glowing I raise my arm for a test. I scribble out the words ‘Coil is a moron’ in the air with my finger. Sure enough the motion leaves a thin glowing line in the air, creating the rude sentence.

Thanks. I ignore the mental parasite and focus on Porter's reaction. He stands, staring at the words for a moment, before walking behind me. I don’t move, unsure what he’s doing.

“Ah! You wrote it correctly for yourself.” Oh… It would’ve been backwards for him. Right. I try to ignore my face blushing, hoping the darkness will hide it. I start to write more messages into the air for the knight.

“Why were you in front of my door?” My words hang for a moment before fizzling into sparks.

“We got to the manor at a late time, so there was no assigned relief for me. I decided to just sleep outside your door rather than leave you unguarded.” There’s no hint of joking in his rigid facial features, so I have to assume he’s being genuine. Why would we even need a guard? We’re probably the most powerful being in a large part of the world if counted together. Before I can write any of this he interjects, “I figured you would be okay, but I just felt better staying here.” Man, this guy’s a blockhead.

Be nice, he’s just… good hearted. Coil’s tone is back to that nauseating one, so I ignore him. I wonder if he can hear me ignoring him. I hope so.

I start to think about what I want to do, and realize I haven’t gotten to practice my magic since we left for the capital. I grab the knight’s hand and drag him behind me. After a few minutes of sprinting down moonlit hallways we make it to the indoor training center.

Once I make it to the center of the room, I sit down and touch the sigil on the back of my hand. The tickling sensation startles me. I’ve never had to use this before. I open up my status and feel my heart skip a beat. Where my class is listed, instead of having my expected class, Novice Mage, the words Novice Rule Keeper hang in its place. What… does that even mean? I quickly ask the knight about it.

“I’ve never heard of that, my lady. Are you sure it says rule keeper? I know that there’s a class called keeper, but that’s a religious class.” I shake my head and look at my status again. It definitely says rule keeper. I search further, looking through the abilities my new class has access to.

The list is full of strange and seemingly unrelated abilities. Usually classes are physical, magic, or religion based. There are a few exceptions, but not many. The list in front of me, however, contains abilities from all three groups, and some that have no group affiliation. Bind, default, collect, insure, dispel, summon, oath. All related by a vague relation to rules.

As I scroll through the list, one ability, a spell, sticks out to me. ‘Inspect’. It says it shows the information of people of your skill level and lower. I place one hand onto myself and try to activate it.

It takes me a moment to realize nothing is going to happen. Not knowing what else to do, I write the word ‘Inspect’ in the air with my finger. The thin gold lines left behind glow brighter before flashing out of existence. After a moment words start to filter into my mind.

Inspect Successful. Some data is hidden due to regu- ERR, blessing [Blessing of the Law] supersedes the regulation.

Retrying… Inspect Successful, hidden data is now included.

After the long rambling string of words pounds through my head, my status flickers into life in front of me. This time there are many more sections, and some actual values where there had been vague words like ‘excellent’ before.

My curiosity gets the better of me and I start poring over every detail. My stats are mostly what I expect, high magic and intelligence, low physical. What stands out to me is my race. Instead of just saying Homunculus, it has a full description available. I hesitate before opening the information. What if it’s unpleasant, or says I’m made with the souls of children…

Whatever…

I open the information, filling my vision with a detailed description of myself.

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Homunculus: An artificial human created through the use of the combination of magic and science. This race is purely hypothetical and has never been successfully created. This is due to a lack of any internal organs. All attempts to create a homunculus have ended with an undifferentiated mass of flesh shaped into a person.

What? But I’m alive? What does that even mean? I back up into my status, looking for anything else that might explain what I just read. I scour the information, finally finding another trait of mine that seems promising, ‘Miracle Child’. I quickly open the details.

Miracle Child: A child whose very existence is a miracle. Such a person should never have been, yet here they are.

Well, that’s unhelpfully vague. I continue to scroll through the many values and words, but eventually I start to get tired. Just as I go to close my status I notice that my blessing has the ability to show more details too. I tap it, hoping it’ll explain even a little.

Blessing of the Law: This blessing allows the wielder to rewrite the rules of the world. Any changed rule that would affect others has to be understood by all sentient parties, otherwise it will not go into effect. If a rule change would only affect the wielder, or no sentient parties, it will automatically trigger. Affect is defined as to influence an involved party directly, indirect involvement is not included. This blessing is only in the system as a technicality, and the requirements to receive it are impossible to fulfill

Well. That's unusually detailed. It also explains a lot. What it doesn’t explain is how I got something impossible to receive. I grab my head and wish I could moan.

“Lady Pim, what’s wrong?” I jump, scared by the knight's worried voice. I forgot he was here.

I write in the air for him, “I got some questions answered, but I also gained new questions.” I draw a little frustrated face next to my message, making the solemn knight snort.

Okay, time to try out some stuff. “Porter, can I use you as a guinea pig?” My words zip through the air, lighting the room with my question.

“Uh, a what, my Lady?” He sounds confused.

“A guinea pig!” I scribble in capitals.

The knight tilts his head.“What is a guinea pig?”

Well, it's… it's, uh… hmm… I feel my face blush when I can’t answer. “It means test subject.” I scrawl, blocking my reddened face with the floating words.

“Oh! Sure thing, my Lady. Please don’t do any serious damage, I have no one to replace me as your guard.” The knight trots across the large open space, not questioning my motives. Man, loyalty is scary. I mentally go through the list of abilities that piqued my interest, eventually remembering one that stood out. I try and activate the ability.

Unlike when I’ve used magic, which comes from the center of myself, this ability draws on something else. Something very different. It feels like every cell in my body is getting tugged on at once, creating an extremely uncomfortable experience.

I write out the word ‘Doctrine’ in the air before me, a religious magic that asks the user's god for advice. A crack suddenly splits my mouth plate as I hear a deafening cacophony of synchronized voices in my mind.

Huh? What? Who is this? How’d you get this connection? I don’t have time to pull my wits together before the words begin again. I have no idea what you think you’re doing, but don’t try it again, I’m very busy.

Just as the horribly oppressive presence starts to withdraw from my mind I feel the sensation of my blessing firing deep inside me. Instantly the loud entity is back in full force.

What? Who do you think you are?! You dragged me back to you?

Sudden silence fills my head.

Wait… that shouldn’t be possible…

The feeling of being stared at fills every fiber of my being at once, the sensation is very violating.

I… Fine… The doctrine you seek is to follow your curiosity.

Just like a bolt of lightning, the entity is gone. I fall to my knees, if I could breathe I would be heaving.

The knight runs to my side, crouching down to check on me. “My Lady, what happened?” The nervous man gives me a once-over. “Your faceplate cracked! I shall go get the doctor.” I grab the moron before he can get far and shake my head. “But, my Lady!”

I quickly scribble in the air to get him to shut up. “What the hell would the doctor know about treating a creature that shouldn’t exist?” I push my finger to where there should be lips and write out the word ‘heal’. The word flashes gold, as expected, and the crack quickly seals itself. “See? All fine. Nothing to worry about.” My words do not calm the knight, not that you could tell from his facial expression. His body language, however, is giving him away right now as he hops from foot to foot.

I crinkle my eyes in a smile and quickly write the word ‘Bind’ in the air. Four golden rings appear around the overexcited man before contracting onto him. The lithe knight falls over with a thud.

“You and Scarlet really are sisters, my Lady.” His voice carries a hint of annoyance. What the hell did Scarlet do to him? I push myself to my feet and walk over to the sideways man.

“Do you want to get up?” My golden words twinkle mockingly in the air above him. He gives a quick nod, prompting me to write out ‘Dispel’. Thankfully it worked, otherwise I’d have looked like a moron. The four rings fizzle out of existence, and the hyperactive knight hops to his feet.

“Wow, that was impressive, my Lady. Did that neutralize the other spell?” I give him a nod, confused as to what was impressive. “I wonder if that would work on Lady Zenith.” What? I feel blood rush to my ears. What happened to Zenith? I quickly write out the question to the knight, and he starts to explain.

【〓〓〓〓】

Zenith lays in her bed before me. She’s sleeping peacefully, as if there’s nothing wrong. But I can tell there’s something nasty clinging to her muscular frame. Although there's no visible signs, I can feel the foreboding hanging invisibly above her skin. The posted knight is standing way too close to me, probably nervous Zenith will attack.

Time to do what I came here for. I reach out with my enchanted finger and place it against her arm. Instantly the ominous sensation smothering the room changes into something actively hostile. I ignore it and slowly scrawl the word ‘Dispel’. The word activates correctly, but nothing seems to change. The hostile presence is stirred up now, making the air feel suffocating, and I don’t breathe.

Thankfully I saw a backup plan when I was looking through my abilities. Once again I press my fingertip onto the skin of her arm. My writing glows against her significant muscles. The words ‘House Arrest’ flash and fill the room with light.

House Arrest successful. Target is confined. Warning, target has left the designated area.

ERR, target is in and out of the designated area. Ignoring error, displaying target’s current location.

A bright blue map appears in the air, with two glowing red dots. The map looks like the area around Wornsbirth from above, I only recognize it from the noble tier’s layout. I rush to Zenith’s side table and pull out a notebook and pen. The book looks like some kind of journal… Sorry Zenith, I need to use this.

I draw a rough copy of the floating map, making sure to get the locations relative to Wornsbirth accurate. I motion to the knight as I dash out of the room, I need to see Father.