Chapter 19: Swordplay and Magic

“…So, it’s important that you don’t use your origins for a couple of weeks, so they have a chance to heal. The more you use them, the longer your recovery period will be. With how clean your breaks were, you’ll probably get functionality back in a week or two, but just to be safe we won’t have you using your matrixes for at least three weeks.”

Yeah, screw that. Sel thought. If I’m going to die, I’m going to die after using magic!

Sel wasn’t sure how long she and Mel had sat there listening to Mel’s dad talk. But it had been way too long. His long explanations had been interesting at first, but after a certain point, she’d just started to zone out at the less important parts.

Mel squirmed on the couch next to her. Fiddling fingers, leg bouncing, darting eyes… Mel had trouble sitting still, and if Sel felt bored, Mel must be going crazy. Just watching her devolve more and more into a caged beast was enough to slightly blunt the edge of boredom.

Slightly.

“It might even be better to wait a bit longer until you two start fully using magic. A couple of studies have shown that the best time for a break is in your late teens. I know many noble families like to do this earlier, but even they don’t start opening new matrixes for a few years. Wouldn’t want to mess with your growth period by—”

Mel was dying. Twitching and squirming, the boredom causing minor spasms.

Weakling! He’s only been going on for two hours! Is this really all you’ve got!? Weeeeeak!

Seriously. This was nothing compared to listening to old ladies talk about proper sitting posture, which cutlery to use for this salad, or the proper depth of a curtsey for situation A vs B.

Those were boring. Selina missed many things about being a ‘proper noble’, but that wasn’t one of them. If she never had to listen to another one of their sermons it would still be too soon.

Luckily, she wasn’t the only one to notice that Mel was slowly leaving this world as her father orated the benefits of “Proper origin nurturing practices”.

“And that’s why it’s best to take things slow for now. Additionally—”

“Dear, perhaps we could finish up soon?”

Mel’s dad blinked. Looking back and forth between Mrs. Quinton and the two of them on the couch.

“Cough, I still haven’t covered—”

“Make it quick then. We’ve all got stuff to do, and the girls look like they need a break.”

Mr. Quinton, glanced at the clock, his eyes widening, almost imperceivably, before his face resumed its usual smiling countenance. He had an excellent poker face. Sel could almost hear the old ladies singing their praise.

“Well, time seems to have slipped by me. I’ll make this last part quick. Don’t mention what happened last night to anyone else. I’m working out a deal with some of the nobility to hide some of the more embarrassing points from last night. The Senate is investigating and many of the nobles are more than happy to fork over some cash to hide their dirty deeds. I’ll let you know soon what parts to keep quiet about. There are other things I wish we could cover, but your mother is right. They can be covered at another time.

You girls have been very patient. I’ll let you go now, but make sure that if you feel anything unusual, that you come and get one of us right away.”

Mel leaped off the couch.

“Thanks, Dad, we’re going outside!”

Mel reached down and grabbed Sel’s hand yanking her towards the stairs. Making no attempt to hide the fact that she was in full retreat.

“Wait, Selina, didn’t you say you had something to ask us about?” Mel’s mom asked.

Ah, right! She was going to ask about getting into the Emporium.

“We were wondering—” Yoink!

“Later!”

Mel pulled harder with her one good arm. Dragging Sel up the first few steps before she got her feet under herself and started scrambling up them on her own.

Mel didn’t let go until she’d pulled her up the stairs, through the kitchen, and out the backdoor and into the backyard.

“Wah! That was so boring! Dad likes to go on, but that was even worse than usual!”

She watched as Mel dramatically collapsed in the grass. Rolling around and picking up bits of grass and leaves in her hair and clothes, finally settling. Spread-out, facing the sky. Sel sat down next to her counting the grass that had gotten in her friend’s curly red hair.

“It wasn’t that bad.”

Mel glanced over at her, before once again looking up at the blue sky. The clouds from yesterday nowhere to be seen.

“Maybe, but only my dad could have made a talk about magic that boring.”

Sel gave Mel a smirk. Hard to argue there.

Mel flipped over onto her stomach. One arm supporting her head, legs sticking up and kicking at the air. A giant smile on her face.

“Soooo, what spell do you think you’ll get? I’m hoping for flight! Or maybe an element? Or super speed! Or… I don’t know! This is so exciting! What do you think? Maybe teleportation? Transmutation!? Something else, maybe!?”

Mel squealed happily, hopping to her feet.

“Just imagine! Mel and Sel! We could be adventurers! We should combine our names and come up with a cool adventuring name! Like M-sel or Smell! Actually, not that last one. Wouldn’t want to be called the “Smelly Adventurers” after all. We’ll have to think about it.”

Sel felt a smile try and work its way out of her mouth and onto her face. Mel’s enthusiasm infecting her.

“You have a muscle break, right? Hmm, muscle matrixes usually are body enhancement, fire creation, or movement… actually, there’s quite a few? No way to know for now.”

Sel drew from her past life experience to come up with a list, but there really were too many possibilities. They’d both have to wait to see what her friend got.

“All of those sound cool! What about you? What do you think you’ll get?”

Sel stopped for a second. Thinking. When she responded, she made sure her face didn’t reveal anything.

“Well, I’m from the Wrath family. So undoubtedly, I’ll have some artery or vein as mine. Those aren’t as cool. They tend to help with healing or mana movement. Some of them can be a bit weird, but they’re a bit more support and passive bonuses. Though there are exceptions.”

Mel offered her a hand, which she grabbed, letting the other girl pull her up.

“Well, if we get a boring matrix then we’ll just have to form another!”

Sel let a full-on smile bloom on her face. What could she do? Her friend’s mood was infectious, and she’d caught it bad.

“So? What should we do now?”

Mel’s eyes darted to the shed in the corner of the yard. Her eyes gaining a playful look.

“We could practice some swordsmanship! I usually have practice today, but since school was canceled…”

Sel glanced apprehensively at Mel’s right arm that was still in its sling.

“Are you sure? Your dominant arm isn’t working, and I don’t want to hurt you…”

Mel waved her off with her good hand.

“It’s fine! It’s fine! Don’t worry! I’ll just practice with my left. My right arm really isn’t hurting, my bicep and triceps just aren’t working right now. I wouldn’t even need a sling for my arm if it didn’t flop around so much without it!”

“If you’re sure…”

Muahahahaha! Let’s see how well you can defend yourself with only one arm Mel! I’m not going to be the one walking away with bruises this time! Finally, the time for the Demon Lord to show her power has come! Fear me!!!

Mel popped open the shed door, grabbing two practice swords.

“Hey, what happened to the practice sword I lent you on Saturday? Did you get to use it at all?”

Huh? What did happen to that practice sword? I… can’t remember where I put it.

“I… think I lost it? I did smack the goblin that was chasing me Saturday, but I don’t actually know where it ended up after that?”

“That’s fine. I have a couple of spares, it’s still weird to hear the word ‘goblin’ used in real life. Yesterday still feels dream-like. Like the whole thing happened to someone else.”

“I get that.”

She felt the same way about her new memories. It was hard reconciling the fact that she once had eight legs and eyes. Along with mandibles, fangs, fur, and spinnerets…

She shook her head to clear out the disturbing images. In her past life, she hadn’t cared about her appearance, but now…

Better to put it in the back of her head with the “Bug” pile.

“Well, should we start?”

Sel took her stance. Setting her feet and grasping the hilt with both hands.

“Ready!”

“Here I come!”

Mel lunged forward, sword sweeping in towards Sel’s right.

Her sword came up and smacked it away with ease.

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Mel's strike was… sloppy.

Mel grimaced, retreating as she blocked a tentative strike from Sel.

Still sloppy.

Sel pressed the attack.

She sent out a flurry of blows, gaining speed as she fell into the rhythm. Mel barely managing to block all of them while retreating. Her return strikes easily seen through and parried.

Sel felt the flow. Each strike leading into another, no longer pausing to transition between attacks. It felt so much simpler. Where before her feet and arm movements had felt separate and distracting, now they felt linked. No longer two motions but instead one continuous movement where each step lead into the next.

Never stopping, just sword against sword while pressing the attack. Attacking, blocking, and moving forward in one continuous dance without end.

It almost came as a surprise when her sword hit flesh.

“Eep!”

Sel’s sword had solidly collided with Mel’s leg, causing her to stumble back. She swung right to try and balance herself, however, with her right arm in a sling, she instead threw off her balance even more. Falling backward and landing on her butt.

“Ahh! Sorry! Mel are you okay!?”

Sel rushed over to help, but Mel waved her off when she got closer. Sel wasn't sure how to feel She’d wanted to beat Mel, but she didn’t really want to hurt her…

It was a weird reverse of their Saturday morning fight, though Selina noted that Mel hadn’t let go of her sword.

“Ah, I yield. That was awful.”

Mel dropped her sword and rubbed her right leg while giving a disdainful look at her left arm.

“Wow, you crushed me. I’m totally out of whack. I thought I could manage, but lefty just isn’t as talented as righty. I’ll have to train her up.”

Sel shook her head in denial.

“It wasn’t that bad. This is your first time using only your left arm and your right arms in a sling. Additionally, with two hands I can hit a lot harder than you can. It’s understandable that you were a little off…”

“Sel, I get it. Still, a loss is a loss. And those weren’t the only reasons I lost. You were doing a lot better. Like, a lot a lot.”

“Well, I did practice a little on Saturday?”

“Nope, that’s not the kind of improvement that you get with only a few days. There are some people in the club who don’t even move like you do. You were moving like someone who’d been seriously practicing swordsmanship for years. You were improving on Saturday, but this… no, this is something else.”

Sel took a sharp breath. This had been different. At first, she’d thought that all the practice had just ‘clicked into place, but with Mel’s input, it was easy to see where this new power came from.

She wasn’t sure if it was setting the trap in the barn, the chase through the woods, the burning of the barn, or perhaps a combination of everything. Or just time? Whatever the cause, her memories of her past had grown more… in sync.

The experience of hundreds of battles becoming hers, rather than something she merely remembered. The surreal feeling of watching from an eight-eyed perspective growing less strange. It wasn’t everything. She still felt a disconnect from them. The memories still feeling more dreamlike than real.

It was obvious though that they were growing clearer. More in focus. More her.

And it was terrifying.

She liked to pretend that the worst part about the memories were the bugs, or the hairy legs, and unblinking eyes, but the truth was, there was something much more disturbing than any of those.

Her past self had done terrible things. She knew that it was her. Felt it in her gut that it was the truth, but the dissonance between who she was now, and the surreal quality of her memories made it easy to forget those small details.

But if they kept getting stronger?

What made her Selina Wrath? Was all of it just the thirteen years she’d lived? Was that it?

How could that compare to the hundreds of years she remembered being a spider, and later the Demon Lord?

When would she cease to be herself? She didn’t feel all that different right now, but if this continued—

“You get it, right!?”

Sel blinked looking at Mel who had stood up and was giving her a triumphant look. Did she figure it out!?

“This must be your origin! Maybe some kind of coordination thing? I’ve heard that some nerve ones can do something like that! Or maybe it’s the superspeed kind? That could be a muscle like mine! Argh! I’m so mad my right arm isn’t working! We could finally have a good bout! Stupid Lefty!”

But isn’t Righty also at fault for not working? Wait, that’s not what’s important here!

Sel looked on flabbergasted. Had she really been worried that Mel had ‘figured out’ she had memories from her past life from a sword bout? Dummy.

Dummy. Dummy. Dummy. Dummy.

“Mel, I think I’m going to head inside and grab a drink.”

Just a moment to collect herself. That was all she needed. Just a moment.

“Sure, sure. Take your time! I’m going to be doing some drills. It was a little arrogant of me to think I could start using my other arm without any practice! Just you wait though! Next time I won’t be a pushover!”

Sel gave her friend a wave of acknowledgment before heading for the house. She hadn't been quite honest with Mel. She wasn't really heading inside for a drink.

She walked past the kitchen heading straight for the stairs. At the Wooden Mansion, privacy was something easy to find. Every family member had their own room, and if that wasn’t enough there was a ton of creepy decaying rooms in the back that one could use if they were truly desperate.

In Mel’s house, however, there was only one place one could truly find a moment to oneself.

The bathroom.

Closing the door behind her. Sel slid to the floor, taking deep breaths.

Her chest was on fire! Every beat of her heart sending little shocks of pain through her. Mel had joked about her new abilities being caused by her origin, but Sel knew for a fact that her origin wasn’t the problem.

She could feel it in her chest. Sitting there, inert. Hundreds of lines running through her heart, just waiting for her to push power through the dizzying pattern.

Sel could feel the mana in her heart too. A small pool of viscous power oozing into her from the enflamed crack that was her break. A small window, leaching power from another world into her heart.

She mentally nudged it, watching the mana jiggle.

Weird.

She knew from her spider memories that mana behaved… oddly. It was attracted to itself but at the same time wanted to move from a place of high concentration to a state of low. Pulling and prodding, she managed to pull a bit more mana out of the crack before losing concentration and watching as it was promptly sucked back up, returning her to the small pool she’d had before.

Yep, weird.

She moved it around some more. Finding the exercise very frustrating.

It felt like she was trying to write a paragraph left-handed with oven mitts on. Her ability to move it was sloppy and uncoordinated. Each attempt making her cringe at her ineptitude.

She felt like she should be able to send the mana singing through her body. Making it bend, and wiggle at her commands. Able to create glowing patterns and things of power. Instead of this sloppy scribbling. It was mortifying how bad she was at something so simple. Like trying to write a paragraph with her feet, when she was used to making beautiful cursive with her hands. Comparing the two was just embarrassing.

But she knew the letters.

With a thought and a little effort, she sent the mana flooding into the matrix. Feeling it rush through the symbols and shapes of the three-dimensional pattern that was her heart's matrix. Her use had been terribly wasteful, the majority of the mana not really contributing to the spell at all.

Still, what finesse and quality could do, quantity could make up for.

The matrix activated and Sel felt liquid ice flow through her veins.

She shuddered. Feeling the icy spell course through her. Slowly emanating out of her chest and up her neck and out to her arms. She wasn’t sure what the spell was doing, but she continued feeding the matrix power, waiting for a reaction.

It was only after doing this for a full minute that she noticed the small wisps of black mist seeping out of her skin.

Like a fog, the mist seemed to settle over her, making the already pale skin look even more ashen. Sel moved her arm back and forth and watched the fog flow, swishing back and forth with her movements much like water in a cup.

Weird.

By now she had an inch of the cold black mist hovering over her skin. It didn’t seem to mind her clothes, simply hovering under them and sliding through them when she moved. The cloth having no effect.

Sel stood up to look in the mirror. Trying to get a better glimpse of what was happening.

What greeted her was a mist-shrouded wraith! Well, almost...

The black mist had coated her entire form making her appearance look darker and hazier. Though not quite enough that she wasn't recognizable. It was like she has cloaked in shadows or something! Her red eyes peeking out giving her a dangerous look.

So cool! This looks so, so, so cool! Like a reaper, come to harvest the lives of men! Wah!

But what was it supposed to do?

“Move! Seize my enemies? Um, do something?”

A couple minutes of testing didn’t provide much further insight.

She didn’t feel any different. No improved or new senses, no superstrength. Thinking the icy feeling might be a clue she’d tried to freeze some water from the sink. Nothing.

She tried moving it with her mind but couldn’t really get it to do more than wiggle. It followed her limbs and fingers, but other than that it seemed to be inert. The mist looked super cool, but…

Well, this sucks. There go my dreams of sending waves of mist at my enemies! It’s got to do something, right!?

She’d never heard of a purely aesthetical matrix. The closest being some illusion matrices. It should do something. Definitely. Surely. I hope.

The matrix cut off. Sel blinked, only realizing now that the small puddle of mana she had left was no longer enough to keep it running. It was slowly flowing into her heart from her origin, but it wasn’t going to be back to full any time soon.

The mist still hung around her.

Crap. How am I going to explain this? Mr. Quinton was very clear that I wasn’t supposed to use magic, and now only an hour later I’m covered in a supernatural black fog. This… isn’t good.

Maybe she could wait for it to dissipate on its own? She’d been in here for a while and nobody had—

“Hey, who’s in there! I’ve been waiting for almost twenty minutes! Stop goofing off and open the door! Open up, Melody! I know it’s you! Mickey doesn’t take that long! Stop posing in front of the mirror and—”

Tiffany Quinton’s voice came crashing through the door shattering any hopes of escape. She edged towards the door trying to think of any way to hide the mist. Hide, move! Evaporate! Abracadabra!

The slight chill shifted to a freezing that seemed to reach her bones. The mist turning black and inky before fizzling and disappearing. The mist boiling away until there was nothing left but her skin. She shivered. The cold was so strong it hurt!

Not having any more time to speculate, she rushed to the door and popped it open. The face of Tiffany Quinton glaring back greeted her.

“Mel I’ll—oh, it’s you. Why are you still here? Actually, never mind. I don’t care. Move out of the way, I don’t know why you were loitering in our bathroom, but please refrain from monopolizing one of the only restrooms in the house. There are other people in this world besides you, brat.”

Sel started moving out of the way. Bowing her head slightly.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know I’d kept you waiting.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go play with my little sister and get out of my way. Don’t have time for your BS right now.”

Sel stepped out of the doorway. Letting Tiffany get by.

“I’m sorry if I caused you offense—”

“See that! That’s the kind of BS I was talking about. You’re always so prim and proper, the perfect little lady. Well stop it! I’m sick of how fake you are, with your doll-like expression! If you have something to say, then say it to my face! You nobles are always so stuck up! You don’t even care for us common folk. So, leave us alone! And—argh! Never mind!”

And with that, she slammed the door. Leaving a very confused girl standing outside.

“I’m sorry if my demeanor upset you!”

There was no reply, so Sel left.

Walking downstairs she found Mel sitting at the table sipping from a cup of water.

“Um, Mel? Did I do something to upset your sister?”

“I don’t think so? Did she say something?”

“She started yelling at me? Said I was stuck up and fake?”

“Ah, well she did come in muttering about arrogant nobles. I think something happened with her boyfriend Blake. He’s part of the Fury family, so she may have just been taking out her frustrations on you. I think her date last night didn’t go well. I wouldn’t let it bother you.”

“I guess…”

The Fury family tended to have fire origins if she remembered right. Her mom had always said that they were a disgrace to nobles everywhere. Though she couldn’t remember why. Something to do with lacking dignity or something.

Sel grabbed a cup and filled it with water. Her throat parched. She was just about to ask Mel what she wanted to do next when a voice echoed from downstairs.

“Girls are you ready for lunch?”

Mrs. Quinton’s voice. Sel looked at the clock that hung on the kitchen wall. The large and little arm indicated that it was about 1:30. Sel blinked. They’d pretty much used up their entire morning! Where had all the time gone? They’d merely had breakfast, listened to a two-hour lecture, played outside, then she’d played with magic… oh. That’s where the time went.

“Yes, mom! We’re both starving!”

Sel gave Mel a stern glance. She could have asked before including her in that statement. Though she was a little hungry.

“I’ll cook something up quick. While you wait could you both get ready for the school announcement? We’ll have to head out after we’re done eating.”

“Okay! We’ll be ready!”

Mel jumped off her seat and grabbed Sel’s hand

“Come on Sel! We need to find you some other clothes. Can’t have you wearing my pajamas all day. Let’s see if I have anything that’ll fit you!”

“Ah, I’m fine! I could just wear…” Sel stopped realizing that she didn’t actually have anything else to wear.

She resigned herself to the fact that she would have to wear her best friend’s hand-me-downs. How embarrassing! Still, better than venturing outside to face the crowds of judgmental plebs in her—friend’s—pajamas.

As Mel dragged her up the stairs and into her room. Sel continued to fiddle with the mana in her chest. Kneading it and making shapes. Trying to pull it out of the mana-filled world just a little bit quicker.

Her control was still sloppy, but that wouldn’t stop her from practicing. Slowly but surely, she would improve. Getting better and better at making the mana flow to her command.

Her heart ached. The fiery pain had grown worse since this morning. She ignored it. Practicing even harder with her small puddle of magic.

The pain taunted her, telling her to give up. That using magic had only made it worse. Give up, sleep, die.

She didn’t listen. Pushing her magic all the harder in defiance. She. Would. Not. Give. IN!

Even if it hurt really badly.

Even then…

Mel opened one of the drawers in her room, rifling through her clothes.

“Now, let’s see what we have to work with here.”

Sel gave her a small smile.