The noises approached, coming ever closer. Kiresula quietly woke up the others with a hushed: "There are people!"
She had forgotten how well glitchling voices carry. Suddenly, the voices and steps zeroed in on her location. She mentally cussed, badly enough to feel slightly embarrassed. A shiver ran down her spine while she tried to stretch [Nightly Sojourn] over all of them, which the spell didn't want to do. She felt for its structure and tried to find the shape of the spell. It was not easy, especially as fear made it hard to think. She forced her breath to slow down and repeated to herself mentally that her heart rate was slow and steady several times until she felt able to think, to grasp the shape and turned it into the wider but indistinct shape of [Foggy Terrain], then she cast it. Immediately, everything was doused in an area of thick synthic magic. The others looked at her, seemingly aware that something happened but not what did. She saw their lips moving and motioned running. They got up and ran, but as they didn't hear the voices almost ran towards them. In fear, Kiresula blocked them with her shaking arms and motioned in the other direction. They understood and turned around.
Running was eerie as Kiresula heard nothing. Neither her steps, nor her breath was audible, not even her heartbeat. The low light gave little visibility. Kju stumbled and almost fell. Kiresula cast [Freedom of Movement] on him, Mayana and lastly herself and the eeriness only increased as her feet hit the slightly indistinct feeling of the stacked spells, not the ground. Now only the trees were obstacles to them.
As they ran, eventually the sounds returned. Kiresula frowned as she didn't end the spell and still channelled magic into it. As it obviously was no longer working, she stopped. They continued running, even though Kiresula didn't hear the footsteps or voices of their pursuers anymore. Eventually, at a rock formation that was mildly glowing with synthic magic, they stopped. Out of breath, exhausted and tired. They didn’t hear the noises of the others. “We threw them off?” asked Kju.
“Hopefully.” Kiresula said, “Is there anything that you can see in regular magic?”
Mayana looked into the direction that they had run from: “Nothing.”
Kju suggested: “Let’s just catch up on sleep, I am exhausted!”
The others agreed and soon everyone, except for Mayana who took second watch, was asleep.
After they woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. Kiresula and Mayana woke up in each other’s arms, hugging each other for warmth while Kju was sitting on a rock in the sun. “You slept like the dead!” Kju said when they finally stirred.
“We did. We were exhausted.” Mayana said.
“Let’s get away from this area. I don’t want to run into someone else around here!” Kiresula said.
They departed soon, eating while walking back towards Mabetshehir. They didn’t want to get near the city, but it helped for navigation. When Kiresula reached Mabetshehir, she knew where to go to Ilkshehir, but in the night she had no idea just how far she ran. Eventually, they found their previous sleeping place. She immediately shivered. It looked as if it had been torn to shreds and burned. She was unsure of the order. She saw the signs of spell damage. She shuddered. “I am glad that we got away!”
Mayana nodded: “Same! Not sure what would have happened to us if you fell asleep and didn’t notice the Holy Order.”
Kiresula asked: “Are you sure that it was them?”
Mayana shrugged: “Who else do you think did it?”
Making a vague gesture, Kiresula responded: “I am not sure. But the secular government also wasn’t too friendly towards us. It also could be just some run off the mill crooks and criminals… We should get away as fast as possible!”
The others agreed and the group rushed off towards Ilkshehir.
This time, the group stuck to the road as Kiresula was unsure how to navigate there otherwise. She had been to Mabetshehir but never to Ilkshehir and wasn’t sure if there were any obstacles in the way as the crow flies. On the way, the others gave them a strange look. Merchants passed in their wagons and sped up when they saw the group of glitchlings walking towards Ilkshehir, pilgrims changed the side of the road to avoid them as if glitching was infectious. Occasionally, people spat at them. Occasionally, Mayana responded with an expletive or Kiresula jumped away with the kind of agility that glitchlings should not have. Generally, they walked though as if they had still not left the blue system, pretending to be regular glitchlings in order not to arouse untoward attention. The nights they spent in the forest warming each other with their body heat. Sometimes, they hid in the forest and hunted like they did around Mabetshehir. And whenever they sensed broken magic around them, they rushed towards it and replenished their magic. The wisps of broken magic were however never more than ephemeral and never had enough substance to get any System updates like level ups even though Kiresula had the feeling that it was high time for another one.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Eventually, they were near Ilkshehir. They could see the golden spires of the city in the distance. The towers belonged to the secular part of the duarchy: They were part of the large, sprawling royal court.
Kju was immediately impressed: “Wow! I never thought that humans could build something as high as that! And is that real gold?”
Mayana explained: “It is not. It is enchanted gold that covers the stone in a thin layer. Yeah, the enchantment to allow the metal to thinly cover buildings is not cheap, but the gold that would be needed otherwise would be much more expensive.”
Kiresula added: “My wife has done some work like that for the Holy Order. Just at a much smaller scale. The golden pictures in the front of the temple were made with the assistance of Mayana.”
Mayana nodded and smiled: “Indeed. And just from a technical standpoint, the pictures are great!”
They walked further silently for a while, but then stopped: They noticed synthic magic in high quantities and moved towards it with the determination of a starving animal that smelled food. The synthic magic oozed out of a hole in the ground. It looked like a hole that an animal dug. Kiresula reached it first and crawled into it. She heard Mayana telling her to wait, but at that time, she already was partly in the hole. She saw the notifications and took a long, deep breath:
Class Achievement: Defeated 5 humans using your Elemental-Somatic spells. This provides experience in your Elemental-Somatic Mage class
Class Achievement: Lived 3 days off the land. This provides experience in your Seferian Mage class
Class Achievement: Reached Rank emergent, Level 6 in your Seferian Mage class.
60 stat points assigned, 5 free stat points.
New spell: Evaluate Plant
Class Achievement: Reached Rank emergent, Level 2 in your Elemental-Somatic mage class.
60 stat points assigned, 5 free stat points.
New spell: Move Soil
Kiresula quickly checked her status and assigned her 10 free stat points:
Name: Kiresula
Species: Emergent Glitchling
Highest Class Rank: Emergent
Highest Class Level: 6
Classes: Seferian Mage (Rank: emergent, Level 6), Elemental-Somatic Mage (Rank: emergent, Level 2)
Power: 483
Might: 90 (+60)
Fortitude: 346 (+40)
Willpower: 47
Speed: 389
Agility: 115
Mental acuity: 146
Perception: 128
Magic: 543
Magical force: 182 (+10)
Magical control: 203 (+10)
Magical defence: 158 (+10)
Social: 128
Charisma: 50
Empathy: 70
Cunning: 8
Health: 366/366
Magic: 510/510
Skills: Improved casting, Seferian Fortitude, Control of the Pioneer, Immediate Escape (only for: Dungeon of the Bridge), Enhanced Synthic Restoration
Learned Spells: Illuminate, Sunlight, Freedom of Movement, Travelling Light, Nightly Sojourn, Waterproof Object, Icy Terrain, Foggy Terrain, Spherical Vision, Enhance Ability, Grains of Time, Northern Star, Preserve Commestibles, Bite of the Elemental Beetle (Rank 3), Wind Step, Fire Strike, Evaluate Plant, Move Soil
She tried to crawl backwards, but her feet met solid ground. Just as she did, another message appeared:
Welcome to the Forbidden Dungeon! Your objective: Survive!