Shifting in her seat, the woman crossed her legs and leaned on her left elbow. Her lips parted in a slight grin, then she spoke again. “Dark power courses through him, but the boy is in control. We’ve seen this before.”
“Yes, and that’s precisely why I’m worried. He is not dead, mother; so that leaves only one way he could've gotten here.” Lady Aura sighed deeply, closing her eyes momentarily. "During his transition, my team was attacked by Avary. Then the demon vanished into this boy and the first thing he asked about after that was Illudrasile.”
“We are the orchestrators of destiny Auriella. Divanory have been guiding the fates of lesser beings since time immemorial. Why do you let superstition and a raving man’s rambling cloud your judgment?”
I wasn’t sure what to make of what I was hearing. Should I be scared, angry, or perhaps just grateful. Each time one of them spoke, new questions were raised. Who, or what exactly were they? She called them divanory, but what did that mean? What did the Queen mean by “guiding fate” and “orchestrating destiny?” There were many more things I wanted to ask, but they all related to these two things.
“…I have wasted enough time on this, I will not fear a fool’s warning and you would be wise to stop bringing it up.” The Queen roared, her voice far louder and more intense than the whisper-like speech I had heard so far.
Her anger surprised me. More than that though, I wondered what I had missed.
Auriella bowed deeply. “Yes mother, all things according to your will mother.”
The woman on the throne smiled and sat back in her seat, uncrossing her legs and laying both arms flat on her arm rests. “Good, child. Now take him to the forge."
With a nod Auriella pulled me backwards by the shoulder. As we neared the exit, the Queen flicked her wrists and my suppression cuffs fell off. Hearing them land with a clank on the floor Lady Aura turned back toward her mother, shock evident in her gaze. The two exchanged no words. The Queen only smiled, just slightly moving her fingers to shoo us on.
Crysallnum was full of sights and sounds I had never experienced before. It was truly a beautiful place and yet I couldn't appreciate it fully. I was too distracted just trying to make sense of everything I'd learned so far. Most of what I knew about the place was at best a slightly educated guess; I wasn't sure of any theory I'd come up with, but each bit of knowledge made the puzzle clearer and gave me some comfort.
I blindly followed Lady Aura, her shimmering hair like a visual anchor that kept me from getting lost as I muddled through my thoughts. Lady Aura stopped abruptly and spun around. I tried to stop, but I was still too close and bumped into her. My heart raced as I hopped back a step, afraid she might react aggressively.
She glowered, but seemed to move on quickly. Stiffly, the divanory gestured at what looked like some sort of compression chamber. “This is the forge,” she began. “Until you’re ready to return to Aeros, this is where you’ll spend every moment of your time.”
I nodded. “Thanks, but I’m ready now… I need to get back as soon as possible to—”
“To die for real? No, you aren’t ready.” She crossed a short distance to some sort of control panel beside the machine. Moving her hand over the knobs, she added, “The mother of light thinks you can be of use. She wants you trained so that you can…” she stopped talking as she began pressing buttons and turning knobs.
“So that I can what?”
“Get in,” she commanded without acknowledging my question.
Reluctantly I pulled open the hatch and looked inside. The device looked simple compared to everything else I’d seen. It had a cylindrical iron chassis connected to a long tube that curved up and ran along the wall until it hit the ceiling.
There was a space carved out, in the shape of a person, at the base of the chamber. I had no idea what the machine would do, but its name gave me pause. If the forge did what its name implied, I was certain the experience wouldn’t be comfortable or pleasant.
Lady Aura groaned loudly, then asked, “What are you waiting for? Weren’t you in a hurry to get back?”
I turned to face her. “Can you at least tell me what this does?”
With a blank expression and a dry tone she said, “It’s a device that’ll make you stronger, all you have to do is climb inside and lie down.”
I rolled my eyes, but got into the machine. It was clear I didn’t really have a choice if I wanted to get back to Aeros. Once I was situated, Auriella smiled and added, “Usually your kind don’t survive long in there, so I’d suggest you focus and find your potential quickly.”
“You should’ve told me that fir—” She slammed the hatch shut as I was sitting up to climb back out. “—st.”
A mechanical whir told me the forge had started. Within seconds I felt a flood of mana forced into the chamber. It felt warm and soothing like being in a hot bath. About thirty seconds later the next wave came and the soothing feeling was less soothing. With the third wave I was forced to lay back down, under the increasing pressure. By the sixth wave I was convinced the mana pressure would crush me.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The waves of mana came faster and faster until they were only a few seconds apart. Each new wave felt like a hammer striking my entire body at once. If this was supposed to refine me, or help me find my potential, I didn’t see how. It was a struggle just to maintain consciousness; some time after the tenth wave—I couldn’t keep count after ten—I felt my bones begin to break. Lady Aura said to find my potential. I assumed that meant refining my core further, but there was no way I could do that here.
Every second seemed to last infinitely long. My vision was fading, I felt blood dripping from my ears, and I couldn’t hear anything. Then finally, after what might have been ten minutes or several hours, something changed. Instead of feeling warmth flowing within the chamber, a chilling coolness washed over me. At first it hurt, like touching dry ice, then the pain receded leaving my entire body numb.
There was a break in the waves of mana and the pressure in the chamber was starting to drop. I had peace for several minutes, then I realized that mana wasn’t just flowing naturally out of the chamber, it was being pulled away. Whatever mechanism controlled this was extremely powerful and capable of pulling mana straight out of my body. Within seconds my body ached as the unconscious mana circulation that strengthened my cells came to an abrupt halt. Moments later, I felt mana drained directly from my core.
I fought to hold in as much mana as I could, but as my reserves continued to dwindle, I found it difficult to maintain focus. My thoughts became like scattered whispers, nothing made sense anymore…
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I wasn’t sure how much time passed, I was only vaguely aware of my existence. The repeating cycles of mana pressurization and decompression finally came to an end. The chamber opened and a shining face appeared above me.
“Silvon?” she called, sounding somewhat hopeful.
I blinked, still struggling to process anything beyond the pulsating pain that filled my body.
Sounding less hopeful, Auriella frowned and said, “You survived.”
“I survived,” I repeated listlessly, not fully processing her words or mine.
“Well…that’s good then. Mother will be pleased.” With all enthusiasm had gone from her voice, her tone didn’t match her words. Aura extended a hand towards me and held it in the air for several moments before saying, “If you want more, all you have to do is ask.”
I shook my head, or I thought I did. In either case, she grabbed me by the shirt and jerked me out of the machine. The sudden movement sent shocking pain through my limbs. The rush of wind over my skin felt like a barrage of needles and pinpricks. I nearly choked on my breath and my lungs burned.
Equally as painful was the jolt I got when the motion came to a stop. I slumped back against the side of the forge, unable to stand on my own. My legs wobbled beneath me. Even my senses were affected. My vision swirled and sounds seemed garbled, but this was brief. After a few seconds, sights and sounds returned to normal, but the pain had not yet subsided.
"Don't worry," Lady Aura comforted with a pleased smile, "you'll get used to it."
Then a portal appeared beneath me. It felt like I twisted as I fell, then I landed hard on my face.
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When I woke up I was back in my cell. My body still ached, but the pain was bearable. I sat up and learned against the wall. With the pain in my body subsiding, I noticed the pain in my core. Pain might not have been the right word, but there was definitely discomfort. It felt similar to the emptiness I felt before, but I couldn’t say for sure what it wanted.
I had hoped that using the dark mana to refine my core would’ve stopped the effects of the curse; the empty feeling told me that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t be sure if or when someone would come for me, but I thought it best to try and get rid of the feeling as soon as possible so that I wouldn’t lose control and try to use siphon on one of the divanory.
Currently there was nothing to draw from except for the ambient mana; fortunately there was an abundance of it. Once I began drawing mana I immediately knew something was wrong. I wasn’t in control. Mana gathered around my core, not settling, but also not being absorbed into it.
Eventually my core would be crushed if this kept up. Each time I had refined my core, something similar happened. I tried to stop the flow, but I couldn’t. Soon there was a thick layer of mana around my core. It pressed against the surface, but somehow it didn’t hurt. Despite the growing layer of mana, no cracks formed. Instead darkness spread from my core, through the mana. The darkened mana then spread throughout my body. Whatever was happening, it was something I couldn’t comprehend.
The dark mana forced itself into my muscles and bones. In the space of a few seconds, my entire body was packed with black mana. There was a burst of pain that lasted a split second, then nothing.
When the process was done I slumped forward, catching myself on my arms to keep from falling. I shouldn’t have been able to see in the deep darkness of the crystal chamber, but I could. It wasn’t like normal sight though, I was seeing mana but it wasn’t just muddled colors, I could see clearly.
I stared at my hands for several long moments before I tried moving one of them. In disbelief, I turned it around to look at my palm, then looked down at the rest of my body.
My skin was gray with hard black scales in some places, my nails were now black and elongated into sharp points like claws. My head felt heavy too, which I realized was due to a new pair of curved horns.
I felt stronger, my mind was clearer; my senses felt sharper too. The changes definitely would give me an edge in battle, but it worried me that I had no control over the transformation. I also wasn’t sure if this was an effect of the forge or if I had simply gone too long without using siphon and was now becoming a monster.
The fact I retained enough sense to consider that possibility made me doubt its likelihood, still I couldn’t write it off entirely. I also considered the words of the dark mass just before it fused with my core.
“I will consume you entirely.”
It was possible the entity wasn’t as subdued as I thought.
The cell wall opened letting in a flood of light that ordinarily would’ve been blinding, but this time, I didn’t have to squint or cover my eyes. Auriella stood in the opening, smiling at first, then gaping incredulously. “What did you…” she shook away her surprise then continued. “…nevermind, come with me.”