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Zenith
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Amy suddenly leaves before quickly returning to the room, her arms carrying a large, flat box. She cracks it open, and reveals a large circle of food she calls a pizza. She sits down next to me, placing the pizza’s pan on the floor.
“What did you do, anyway?” she asks between bites.
I shrug, hesitating to try the new, strange smelling food. “I just… put magic in it.”
She snorts. “Oh, yeah, just put magic in it. I know nothing about magic but what you did looked insanely difficult. You were even straining your face.” She does a reenactment of what I looked like.
I take a turn to snort in amusement. “Yeah, I’m sure.” I look down at the food again nervously. “Magic gets more difficult to control the more types there are in a spell at a time.” My teeth pull apart the warm food. It’s good! I take another bite.
Amy nods. “So how many types of magic did you put in the ring?” She moves on to her second slice.
I shrug. “All of them.” She pauses, putting more food into her mouth and looks at me.
Her eyes narrow. “Zenith, how many types of magic are there?”
That’s an excellent question. I think over all the ones I memorized, and the nameless ones I’ve personally figured out how to use. “Probably somewhere in the three to four thousands, I wouldn’t be shocked if there were more.”
Amy nods slowly. “And how many can a mage typically use at once?”
This one is easier, my tutor was the most talented mage not currently in the military. “My tutor said he had never met someone who could use more than him, and he could use ten at a time.”
Amy drops her pizza in shock. “The limit is ten and you used over three thousand at once?” After a second, she looks down at her slice of pizza, regret in her eyes. “How broken are you?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Broken? I think I’m actually pretty well put together, considering.”
She snorts. “Broken is a term in video games where something is unfairly good.”
I grimace. I had almost forgotten how eerily similar the rules of my world work to video games. “Let’s not talk about those. I’d rather forget about how my reality might be an interactive toy.” Amy nods, glancing at me sympathetically.
She finishes eating the floor pizza that she thinks I didn’t see her pick up. “By the way, what would've happened if you had lost control of that magic?” She picks up her third slice.
Another good question. “I hadn’t thought about it, but if I had to guess… The rampant magics would probably destabilize and my magical core would rupture. A radius of… probably six or seven blocks would’ve been reduced to dust.” I look at Amy again.
Her third slice of pizza falls to the ground.
】〓〓〓〓【
Scarlet
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I have a hunch my daughter missed me. I’m not sure why I think that. I might be able to see the reason if my eyes weren’t currently covered by wood and leaves.
Tara is in her dragon form, curled around me possesively. Her petal wings are covering me like a tent, so I can’t see much besides pink. She gets like this if I’m gone for more than two days at a time. I don’t really mind it, though, I’m just glad it comforts her.
The one disconcerting thing is when I lean against her my arms and head will blend into the wood and roots of her body. It doesn’t hurt or anything, just a bit freaky when the back of your head splits into pieces and wiggles between another person's wiggly pieces. If it’s ever bothered Tara she’s never voiced it.
I gently tap against her side, making the sound of knocking on a door. “Tara, hun, I gotta get up soon.” The light streaming through her petals alerted me that I should get up. My daughter lets out a loud draconic rumble in protest. I frown. “No complaining, I slept like this with you all night. Now it's time to get up.”
Reluctantly she stands up with the sounds of snapping twigs and strained timber. She swings her large head towards me and gives me big, pouty, apple-flavored puppy dog eyes. I tap her on the snout.
“None of that. Are you gonna change to human form or are you gonna follow me around all day like that?” My tone is not motherly! I’m being stern.
Another round of creaking and snapping sounds fill the room as the dragon rapidly shrinks down. The little naked girl runs over to a smaller dresser filled with her clothes. She throws on an outfit and heads for the door.
I laugh quietly, she didn’t want to get up but now she’s rushing to breakfast. I start to follow Tara to the dining hall when I remembered Father asked me a favor. “Tara, wait up, come back… and she’s gone.” I barely see the tail end of her dress as she rounds the corner at the end of the hall. I hesitate to let her go alone for a second.
It’s fine, she handles herself when you're not around, Scarlet. If she gets into bad enough trouble she can just crush it. I reluctantly walk towards the room Father mentioned. Quietly I sneak into the marked room.
On the bed is a woman with vibrant red hair. For a split second my mind thinks it’s Emma, but the two look nothing alike. The sleeping woman has extremely pale skin, similar to Coil’s or Zenith’s. Her face is covered in freckles like Wight as well. All in all she looks a lot more like me and my siblings than the locals. Now I understand why Father had her brought here.
I sit down in a chair next to the bed. She’s laid on top of the covers, due to it being the hot season. She seems to be restfully sleeping, but Father tells me she’s been sleeping since they found her. Looking closer, I notice something strange.
A very faint light is coming out from between her eyelids. I reach over and gently pull back the lids of her one eye. Sorry, lady.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Instead of normal eyes, the woman has two perfectly circular disks. Inside are quickly moving images. Most of them involve a girl that looks identical to herself, but every image has another person. They’re a pale, sickly looking person. It’s like a skeleton bought just enough skin to pass as human. In every image this person is centered. I try to figure out what’s happening, but the images move much too fast to make any sense of them.
I let her eyelids fall back into place, feeling guilty for holding them open. As I go to stand up I feel a gentle tug on my clothes. Grabbing onto my skirt is a small branch that sprouted out of the armchair I’d been sitting in. I let out a sigh.
Ever since my race changed, I’ve been hearing the feelings of plants quietly, including wooden furniture. That’s bearable, what’s not bearable is how clingy they’ve gotten. I gently pull the branch out of the fabric of my clothes before petting the wood arm of the seat.
“Thank you, you did a great job for me.” Happiness drifts into my mind, probably from the chair. I snort before heading out into the hall. Father is probably spoiling Tara to no end. I thought he doted on me and my siblings already, but it’s nothing compared to how he treats Tara.
Just as the door to the dining hall comes around the corner I see a small flicker of movement in the corner of my eye. I look to see what it is, but the hall’s empty. Weird.
Coils' voice fades into my consciousness. Scarlet, something is wrong with Zenith. Mire sent a message to me at least a day ago and it just arrived. He said that Zenith fell asleep with both bodies and hasn’t woken up since.
My heart starts pounding. Who the fuck is Mire? No, that’s the wrong question. I should get to Zenith as quickly as I can.
“Excuse me, Miss?” a small voice comes from behind me. I turn around to find the redhead from the room behind me. She’s a head shorter than me, maybe more. Her eyes are very normal now, no longer small screens. “Could you tell me where I am?” She’s barely keeping her voice steady, the fear underneath is palpable.
“Yes, you’re at the Holdings manor. I’m Scarlet Holdings… who are you?” I smile down at her, trying to project calm kindness. It seems somewhat effective, as she isn’t shaking as much.
“I’m Amy, Amy Kezmark.”
】〓〓〓〓【
Zenith
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Amy roughly presses the final tube into place with a snap. “There, it's finished!” She beams over at me, which makes something in me squirm. “Ready to try?”
I nod at her. “This might not work, remember, I’m literally guessing most of this.” She nods, almost vibrating in excitement. I sigh. For her sake, I hope this works, otherwise she might explode.
I walk up to the strange PVC altar. In the center of the two outstretched arms is a small groove. Gingerly I press the multicolored ring into the small slot. The ring fits neatly in place. With that done I take a step back.
“Alright, Amy, if I nod to you, go through. I’ll come in behind you.” She gives me a thumbs up. I turn towards the monstrosity of smooth white plastic.
Usually when I use magic, even if I don’t rely on the system, I still use it on some level. Ever since I got my magic back in this world, I’ve had to manually do every part of a spell. It’s a bit more difficult and mentally taxing, but gives a much finer control over the spell. It’s also a hell of a lot faster.
I reach into the angry ball of flashing lights that fills me and look for the specific colors I need. Eventually I find the ghostly blue and deep purple that I need. The purple magic, space, is as difficult to use as three normal magics. The light blue magic is a type of homing magic, it’ll look for the origin of whatever it’s applied to.
With a twist I bundle the two colors together and push them into the world. The flickering strand of power looks a lot like lightning. I direct it towards the glowing ring with more insistence. Eventually the flashing purple-blue snake lands on the small gem.
A tug, then another. Then I feel the magic being pulled from me so hard it feels like someone is stripping my insides clean. Eventually the horrible sensation stops. Then the ring disappears beneath a small purple orb. It rapidly expands, soon covering the entire PVC framework. I nod at Amy. She nods back before jumping through the orb.
I hesitate, the other side of the orb is pitch black. The inky void seems to mock my cowardice. Amy, she’s already in there.
With a last look around at Earth, I jump into the portal.
【〓〓〓〓】
Cold metal clangs against my limbs when I drop from the portal. The strange orb rapidly closes behind me with the sound of a sword being sharpened. Metal tiles line the walls of the room I’ve fallen into, pale yellow ceiling lights make a slight buzzing sound above me.
Amy is standing on the far side of the room, patting down the wall. I walk over to her and she notices my shoes clunking against the grated floor. “Zenith, for some reason I don’t think this is your world.” I nod in agreement, this doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen in my world so far at least.
“Oh, did I ruin your little vacation trip? I’m very sorry, but you had an appointment here.” A cold voice echoes behind us. Amy and I spin around to face the newcomer.
The spinning cloud of magic within me goes still for a moment. It’s the woman. My magic goes beserk, whizzing around inside me faster than ever. The one from the cave, from the subway, from those dreams! The stream pours out of my core, wrapping itself around my arms obediently. She looks amused at my display, unconcerned of the danger before her.
“Z-Zenith?” I glance behind me. Amy is pressed against the wall with a weak smile. Her eyes flicker between my face, my arms, and the woman.
Something goes wrong. I feel an unfamiliar power change reality in an instant. The woman is suddenly behind Amy, who’s now standing in front of her.
“Oopsie, Aiiznwes. Too slow!” She gives me a horrible smirk.
How’d she get there? What was that power? I wouldn’t have noticed it if not for the magic wrapped around my senses.
Things suddenly stop making sense. The woman grabs Amy’s head with one head and crushes it. Instead of gore and brain flying out, her head shatters into small glass panes that float into the air before disappearing. The woman laughs as the rest of Amy’s body fractures like an ice sculpture before exploding into small geometric shapes.
The mocking laughter stops. The sound of my magic whirling and crackling around me goes quiet. Every sound fades to nothing but a high pitched whine. Death and destruction flow off my arms, the multitude of magics tearing the world apart as they pour outward. Still silently laughing, the horrible woman’s chest explodes outwards as a crystal grows from inside her. In seconds her entire body is encased in gemstone. I flick my index finger, launching a tendril of vicious lightning that vaporizes the massive crystal.
Even though the source of my emotions is destroyed, the magics aren’t satisfied. They’ve been fully awakened, released from my strict grasp. Metal shatters, burns, vanishes, and evaporates as the visually aggressive colors and lights crawl joyfully through the room.
Underneath the metal is nothing. No stone, no concrete, no metal, just empty white nothingness. The magics are uninterested in the strange white space and cling to the metal and glass they’re rapidly devouring. I wonder what will happen when there is nothing left for them to eat. Will they turn on each other, turn on me? For some reason I can’t get myself to care.
A tendril of black energy subsumes the last speck of matter in the white space. The colors all pause around me, searching for new prey. Eventually they find something and shoot out in all directions. My core is tugged on as more and more energy is called from inside me. Manically the strands fly into the white void. Then the world cracks. Another fracture covers my vision, then another. With a loud smash the white void before me shatters.
I sit up with a gasp. With two gasps, actually. I rub my eyes and slowly realize I feel the wonderfully familiar sensation of doing things twice. After focusing I see the carriage, the one I had been riding in towards the… Rarkin kingdom. My bodies feel stiff and sore, so I move to get the one outside.
A dark shape lifts out of the shadow beneath me. Slowly a humanoid outline forms, followed by a detailed human face. The ink-like person has a worried but relieved expression.
“Lord and Lady Zenith, are you okay?” His voice sounds like a wine bottle being poured. If the wine was extremely nervous. I give him some nods.
“You’ve been asleep for three days.”