Day 36, Month 4, Day 8
—
Name: Phoenix
Journey Tier
Attributes: 0 points
Strength: 7, Constitution: 14, Coordination: 13, Mentality: 23, Will: 17.3, Charisma: 18, Luck: 13
Skills: Ritual (Worship Arachnae) 38%->40%. Acting 21%->23%, Persuasion 25%->27%
Arcane Skills: Magical Theory 63%->65%
Luck Uses: 1
—
Phoenix’s rest was once again disturbed by nightmare-like dreams in the night. It made finding the blissful timeless reverie difficult and fractured, and as a result he felt out of sorts. Still, it was just past midnight, and he had six or so hours before he needed to present himself at the War Tower to help Yvonne. He decided on a regimine for those six hours, first exercising, then his meditative exercises with his passage, then set out the process and notes he would need to Inscribe his new metal exoskeleton.
He threw himself into the plan with a will, the exercise helping clear his head and relax his mind, even as it tired out his body. While it had slowed down improving his strength and constitution, he thought perhaps it just needed greater vigor applied, so he really pushed himself. The meditation went smoothly as expected, and he figured even with his theft of Magic Pool maximum from the demon, he could always use more. Additionally, he could feel the ridges and slight discontinuities left by the absorbed demonic power, and wanted to smooth all of that out.
Having finished all of that, he did his morning routine, bathing and then going to Arachnae’s shrine to worship. Finally, while he waited for the Acolyte’s to wake up so he could get breakfast, he dressed up first in the silk underwear gift from Melite, then the stronger gold metallic thread that matched its cut on top of it. He put the exoskeleton on after that, then shrugged the gold thread cowl over the whole lot. It was a lot of clothes, especially compared to what he had been running around in, but the magically enhanced cowl adjusted perfectly. It gave enough room to accommodate the added bulk, and adjusted its temperature so he wasn’t too hot with the layers underneath, a feature he was ridiculously grateful for.
Now that he had the exoskeleton on, he could feel the potential inside of it. The blue slate attached to the right arm fit nicely under the loose sleeves of the cowl, and he tapped it experimentally.
“Arcane Combat Enhancement Personal Frame. Activation Complete.
Charge: 0%. Modules: Empty. In Line Spiritual Assistant: Empty.
Respiration Engaged. Press the orange Glyph to draw from users' Magic Pool.”
The screen didn’t flicker or come to life, the characters that made up the words simply floated up out of the surface. White, glowing softly, with black edges that could be seen against the blue crystal. Finding the orange Glyph on the surface was easy enough, and with a shrug he tapped his finger against it. Immediately, he felt a draw on his personal Magic Pool, points trickling away at roughly one every other second. After draining twenty points, it stopped, and Phoenix easily recharged his own reserves with Draw Breath.
“Arcane Combat Enhancement Personal Frame. Ready.
Charge: 100%. Modules: Empty. In Line Spiritual Assistant: Empty.”
He made a thoughtful face, then nodded to himself. Once the charging had stopped, the frame itself became weightless, or rather it seemed to offset its own weight with motive force, helping his limbs and torso move. It took a little getting used to, but it gave him a lightness of step and even smoothed out some of his clumsiness at the same time. Phoenix called up his panel to see if anything had changed.
—
Name: Phoenix
Journey Tier
Attributes: 0 points
Strength: 15 (7), Constitution: 14, Coordination: 21 (13), Mentality: 23, Will: 17.3, Charisma: 18, Luck: 13
—
His smile became a grin- double the strength! And a hefty bonus to his coordination! If it did nothing else it was already extremely useful, and he had suspicions that it could do a lot more.
He spent some time then plotting out his Inscription plans. He had a lot of defensive abilities and getting them all to play nicely with each other, magically speaking, was going to be tricky. This passed the early morning hours and before he knew it, the time had come for him to get breakfast for Yvonne.
Phoenix was completely lost in thought as he left the temple and went across the street to the breakfast vendor he had been frequenting. He noticed a slight pinch around his neck, but he dismissed it as getting used to the interface with the Personal Frame, or perhaps it interfering uncomfortably with the collar Lady Celeste had given him. When he got to the entrance of the War Tower, the fourth squad was once again on duty, and Hella was staring at his chin, eyes wide.
“I miss some food? What?” He asked, putting his hand up to his high collar to feel around for some neglected scrap.
“No, your collar…” Hella pointed at it, looking concerned. “It activated, did you do something wrong?”
“Wrong? All I did was get… breakfast. Ugh, Lady Celeste didn’t want me leaving the temple, and I went across the street to the kiosk. Goddess this is stupid.” Phoenix felt both ashamed and angry at the same time.
“Hey, if that’s all it was, we'll getcha sorted quick ok? But I can’t let ya’ in until then, just hang tight.” Hella said.
At that moment, the big door to the tower opened, from the inside, and Magus Yvonne stepped out. She looked a bit sour, and she latched eyes on Phoenix.
“Well, I see now why I was woken up. Get in here, let's get this handled. On my authority, soldier, I have her key right here.” And Yvonne held up the same key that Lady Celeste had used at the beginning of this mess.
It took a great effort of will for Phoenix to smother a groan at the sight. The last person he wanted to have any more power over him! Hella snuck him a sympathetic glance, and Phoenix made his way into the tower.
Yvonne led him to the elevator, quietly grumbling to herself. “Did you get breakfast for your sins?”
He held up the provisions, and Yvonne nodded. “Well, it was an innocent mistake then. Lady Celeste can be too paranoid for her own good sometimes. Honestly!” The last exclamation seemed to be borne out of frustration or annoyance.
When they reached the laboratory, Yvonne stood in front of him for a moment, looking up at his chin. He realized for the first time how short she was compared to him, which was a shock given that almost all the women he had met in town were his height or taller. Except for Michael. Sadness washed over him, but he pushed it aside. Zie was alive. No body was found!
“Fena, kneel please.” Yvonne said, like that was the most reasonable thing in the world to ask.
Sighing and just trying to get this mess over with, Phoenix did as instructed, lifting his chin so she could see the collar.
Yvonne lightly held his cheek with one hand, doing something complicated with the key with the other. Eventually the pinch feeling he had been ignoring disappeared, and he sighed in relief.
“You have an Acepf. You didn’t yesterday. Care to explain that to me?” Yvonne was still holding his chin, her sharp gaze finding and holding his own.
“An Acepf?” It took him a second to pair the acronym with the description on the panel he had seen. “Is that what they are called? I got it from Acolyte Panna, she suggested with all the trouble that it might be best if I had a suit to inscribe, rather than trying to make something out of jewelry.”
“I suppose it's better than making something out of jewelry, at that. I wasn’t aware there were any spare suits in the military's inventory.” Yvonne paused there. She still hadn’t let go of his chin, and Phoenix was trying to decide if he should pull his face away or use his hand to pry hers off him.
“I was fascinated by your Acepf, Magus. I had made some inscription plans that I thought you might check for errors, as I wouldn’t want to waste my awkward skills on something so valuable without an expert to look over things.” He smiled up at her, trying to look innocent and helpful and gently moving his face away from her.
She let him go through the simple expedient of spreading her fingers apart, as if she had realized how long she had been holding him. Her look of suspicion was replaced by one of professional excitement as she started on her favorite topic- her research.
“Yes, mine is a modified Acepf, you are observant to notice. I say Acepf, but that is the military name for them, named after the God of Death, War, and Truth. I am sure they forced that acronym just to match, the military does like its acronyms. Better than Combat Arcane Linear Frame.” She tucked his key away in her cowl, and rubbed her hands together.
“Put your Inscription notes there, I am curious to see what you planned out. Let me just get some.. Here we are!” Yvonne held up a couple of long, hexagonal crystals in her hand. “Now, you don’t just go scratching a Glyph into an Acepf like it is a common tawdry decoration. Plus, it is quite common for an Acepf to survive its wearer and be handed on to someone else. No, what you do is inscribe one of these crystals, and install it in your module carrier.”
Yvonne took his left arm and raised the cowl’s sleeve. She pressed on an artfully hidden catch, and four hexagonal portals opened up in the metal. “There, four module slots, standard issue for the Acepf. You can inscribe four Glyphs, or four combination Glyphs when you have a little more skill and experience.”
Phoenix nodded along as he stood back up, fascinated in turn by his own diversionary topic. “What Glyphs have you Inscribed?” he asked.
Yvonne proudly revealed her own left arm, clicking it open to reveal four full chambers. She pulled out the crystal from each in turn, showing the complicated scrawling Inscription on each one.
“Death, Earth and The Lie, Air, and Spirit. A pretty typical combination. Death, if you have fully resonated with the Glyph, gives both a shield and a sword for you to use. You are familiar with the Illusory Earth, useful for any number of tasks but to the military mind it is for building defensive works. Air contains within it rage, so it provides powerful offensive magic. And spirit of course to defend against pesky spirits, one of the secondary weaknesses of the Arcane craft.” Yvonne finally wound down.
“That sounds great, I had already planned on most of that, although I haven’t fully resonated with Death.” Phoenix said.
Yvonne gave him another appraising look. “How many Glyphs do you have?”
“Um, just a handful more than you have seen. Death, Air, Spirit, Dismiss, and Meld. ” Phoenix said.
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Technically the truth, the best kind of truth. He felt a twinge of guilt at the omission of Draw, but he remembered Tianna's warning and felt withholding Draw was best for now. A little lie of omission wouldn’t hurt anyone right?
Yvonne sat there and looked at him for a few moments, before speaking. “A diamond in the rough. Oh, to wish that you had been found early and brought to the Academy, what greatness you could have achieved. Well it is not too late! Let us make sure you survive this raid and then we can formalize our little arrangement nicely. Lady Celeste was only too eager to let me hold your key, but a brief apprenticeship to clean up your rough edges, and then an appropriate masterwork… yes yes I can see it now. Maybe the Dean back at the Academy will listen to a message regarding you, we could both go back to the capital once an appropriate replacement was shipped out..” She trailed off into her thoughts.
Terrific news I am sure. Not that I am ungrateful, but I do have plans outside staying by your side for the next couple years! Interesting that she thinks of the coming attack as merely a raid, Lady Celeste didn’t seem to agree. No wait, don’t get distracted Phoenix, stay on target!
He took advantage of the momentary obsession Yvonne was undergoing so that he could examine and memorize the Inscriptions on her crystals. As usual, he was impressed by the skill at which she practiced her craft, regardless of how annoying she was as a person. Her Inscriptions were clear, precise, and had a certain efficiency and elegance to them that he admired.
Yvonne had at this point gotten completely lost in her head, seemingly forgetting that he was standing there, so he turned and started plotting out his own Inscriptions. An hour or so later, he had gotten through Air, Spirit, and the melded Earth and the Lie, but was struggling with the Death Inscription. He turned and cleared his throat to Yvonne.
“Magus, you had said something about fully resonating with the Death Glyph. What would that entail?” He asked.
Blinking rather owlishly as she came back to the surface of her thoughts, she frowned, then brightened up a bit.
“Acepf is the god of Death for a reason. Death is what transforms The Lie into Truth. It is the infinitely thin edge that still somehow can never be bridged. That is why it makes such a great shield, and such a terrifying weapon. There are three aspects you must resonate with to fully resonate Death. That which ends the Lie and starts the Truth, that which forms the barrier between Life and not Life, and what it means to not have Life. What Death spells do you know?” Yvonne asked.
“Just Death Ward.” Phoenix replied.
“Well, you will need another one at a minimum, probably two. It would really have been convenient if you had died to that Myiktek, and been brought back to life by Priestess Reelwen. I wonder if we could properly simulate such an event…” Yvonne was drifting into some frankly horrible sounding plans there, so Phoenix hastened to interrupt.
“I should say that I have died and incarnated, if that will help?”
“Curious layers.” Yvonne said. “Well yes it will help, that is the most troublesome of the aspects of death to resonate with. I don’t know how the military does it, but many in the Academy have had to undergo sanctions because they used Necromancy as the gateway to resonating with Death. You can skip all that.”
Which is good, as Necromancy was on that list of forbidden acts by Arachnae! Already in enough trouble, thank you very much!
“So here we have the third aspect you will need.” Yvonne had procured a book from one of the bookshelves, opening it to the first page. “This spell is called Death’s Edge, although to be fair the edge part of the name has more to do with the mystic aspect of Death and less to do with an actual edge. A club can be enchanted just as well as a blade, but swords are traditional. Never mind, I am getting off track. Make a go of reading this and then we can sit down and I will guide you through resonating with Death.”
Phoenix thought he was quite restrained, not actually tearing the book out of her hands and instead patiently waiting a few seconds for her to hand it to him. She sensed his eagerness and smiled approvingly. It was a strange feeling, sharing such a trait with someone otherwise self-obsessed and arrogant, and he made a note to process that revelation later when he had time. Maybe he wasn’t as selfless and understanding as he hoped.
The book was fascinating for several reasons, beyond just teaching a new spell. The way it was laid out, the careful illustrations, the examples, the step by step walkthrough of the math, it reminded him of a physics textbook from his former life. He raced through the entire text once, to make sure he had it in memory, then went back and worked through the examples and deriving the math from the theory. Lunchtime passed and Anaxitrith finally pulled the pair of them out their respective obsessive focuses to eat the lunch Phoenix had procured, whence they immediately returned to their tasks.
—
Spells: Death’s Edge
—
It was midafternoon and he finally unlocked the spell, and he let loose with a soft cheer of victory. Yvonne heard him and broke away from her experiments to pat him on the shoulder.
“Excellent, we will resonate you with Death and then you can finish inscribing your Acepf. Come here.” Yvonne commanded.
They sat facing one another on the floor, and Yvonne held out one hand, fingers stiff and straight and held together as if to mimic a knife. “This is my sword.”
She then held her other arm parallel to the ground at shoulder level, her hand a fist and the back of it facing Phoenix. “This is my shield.”
Phoenix could feel Yvonne channel Magic Pool points into her two limbs, and the black mist of Death enveloped both. The first, an obsidian colored blade on her hand, and like chipped obsidian a fine razor edge. The other had the familiar feeling of his Death Ward, an infinitely thin and yet infinitely impossible to bridge gap between Yvonne’s Life on the inside and all the Death on the outside.
Phoenix copied her carefully, mirroring her hand motions and setting up his own Death’s Edge and Death Ward.
—
Death Ward. Death’s Edge.
—
“There is a moment, or rather a gap, in your memory of Death. A discontinuity between one consciousness and the next, like sleep. Only deeper, darker, more profound. Sleep is the little Lie that mirrors Death and the Truth. I want you to hold that sense of discontinuity in your mind, and merge it first with your Ward, and then with your Edge.” Yvonne whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.
He harkened back to that sense of waking up he first experienced in the Other world, that confusion and comfort and tangle of memories. He focused on that dichotomy, of what he could remember of his previous life, and when he first had memory of this one. It was hard to hold onto that gap, but it was easy, the easiest thing in the world, to merge it with his two spells.
—
Magic: DEATH GLYPH
Spells: Death’s Panoply.
—
“Excellent work!” Yvonne said when he opened his eyes. “And excellent work calls for more work, get that Inscribed on a crystal and loaded into your Acepf. Tomorrow we expect the first incursion of the raiders to reach the outer areas of the town, so everyone will need to be ready. I will be using your abilities to their fullest no doubt.”
“Thank you for your assistance, Magus. So I do not need to disturb you further, would it be possible to remove this collar?” Phoenix asked.
“Oh?” Yvonne looked thoughtful. “No, no not yet I think. Lady Celeste mentioned some need, still. But I will extend the area to the stores around Ring road, so you can exit the temple at least without alerting. Such a bother.”
Right, so I can get her breakfast without waking her up. Oh well, it was worth a try.
Yvonne returned to her research, after finding a handful more of those crystals so he could Inscribe one for each of the four modules on his Acepf. It took another hour, with the sun setting by now, to finish the Inscription of the Death Glyph, and then he touched each crystal in turn, sacrificing Magic Pool maximum to each as required.
—
Magic Pool: 35.3
—
“Arcane Combat Enhancement Personal Frame.
Charge: 100%. Modules: 4/4. In Line Spiritual Assistant: Empty.
Modules Detail:
Death’s Panoply, Reflexive Activation. Cost: 11, Duration: 5 minutes
Illusory Earth, Command Activation. Cost: variable, Duration: variable
Spirit Ward, Reflexive Activation. Cost: 8, Duration: 5 minutes
Spark Bolt, Command Activation. Cost: variable, Duration: variable”
Each of the modules could have had any number of beneficial effects on the spells that they were Inscribed with. Phoenix had chosen to circumvent the most difficult limit, their casting time. The two reflexive activations would automatically raise the respective spell in the event of an attack, always using the same cost and duration. This was, as near as he could tell, instantaneous, which should neatly prevent any surprise attacks from killing him outright. At least, as long as the Wards could hold out anyway. The command activations were more like a traditional spell, where he could devise the variable aspects within his range of mastery, but instead of taking ten to thirty seconds to cast, they could be done in five seconds or so. Still a long time, but much more doable in the face of a combat scenario.
The onboard energy would be used for the reflexive activations, and between the two wards, all but one point of the onboard storage would be exhausted. If there were insufficient amounts stored the reflexive spells would fail, so Phoenix resolved to keep it topped up at all times. The command activation spells could pull either from the onboard storage or his own personal Magic Pool points, so that was easy enough.
The progress had left him feeling confident and hopeful, so he waited for the other shoe to drop on his head, but nothing immediately transpired. He was reminded once again of Michael’s fate, and decided to hunt down Lady Celeste to see if he could get any news. Asking around the temple informed him that Lady Celeste was overseeing the defenses out on the wall and the full mobilization of the militia, and wasn’t expected back until late. The entire community was inside the walls, and if things were to go badly the temple was the last redoubt available, so all the acolytes and several of the guard were making preparations to house, feed, and provide other necessary logistics to the towns population. This apparently included moving his bed into the men's quarter, along with Lady Celeste, Priestess Reelwen, Captain Susan, and the leaders of the lumberjacks, farmers, craftsfolk, laborers, merchants, and sailors.
Phoenix rolled his eyes at this new development, despite enjoying a private room with its own bath, as speculation was already running rampant as to why he had been provided with such security along with the luminaries of the town. To somewhat misdirect folks' suspicion, he asked Panna if he could volunteer to help prepare. She was all too happy to work with him, and he spent the evening moving stores of food and helping to test and validate the four wells scattered around the temple interior.
Everyone seemed remarkably calm and focused for a town about to be attacked. Thus, he remarked on it to Panna as they were sorting through supplies.
“Well it is to be expected. Everyone here is a volunteer for the Expeditionary Service.” She said, explaining without actually clearing anything up.
“Expeditionary Service?” Phoenix prompted.
“Oh yes, well the Expeditionary Service is a prestigious guild that seeks to reclaim the lands that the Empire had to retreat from in the face of the demon invasion. It takes a certain kind of person to volunteer, usually younger siblings who do not stand to inherit anything from their mothers. Everyone signs a ten year contract, at the end of which you get a guaranteed plot of land. Every year of the contract, you get paid a bonus based on your conduct and contributions. You get access to training, mentors, and material. It really is a terrific opportunity, if you have the right attitude for it.” Panna gushed.
“I take it that raids like this are not uncommon?” he asked.
“Across all the border towns, two or three attacks a year. This town in particular has only been attacked once before, a horde of goblins who barely reached the walls, although they messed up the croplands something fierce.” Panna replied.
“Doesn’t sound so dangerous.” Phoenix mused.
“Well, every twenty years or so, we have a disaster. Sometimes it’s recoverable, sometimes it isn’t. Roughly sixty years ago, the city of Northstar was swarmed over by goblins and hobgoblins, and nearly everyone was killed. Seven thousand dead, it was a terrible blow. Most disasters are less dramatic, a breakthrough of the walls and some deaths, but mostly among the guard and the militia. Since the advent of the War Towers, our expansion has been both reliable and much safer.” Panna smiled proudly.
“Northstar. That was north and east of here right?” He asked, connecting the dots.
“Yes, maybe a week's travel.” Panna confirmed.
“I was there. It was pretty ravaged. Even some undead were still active.” He remembered the crushed tower there, no doubt the War Tower of the city, or perhaps one of them.
“Oh! That is sad. May they find peace in Lia’s embrace.” Panna said piously.
That unfortunately killed the conversation pretty effectively, and shortly after Phoenix finished his tasks. He retreated to his newly assigned room, walking first through the stares of the Acolytes and then through the stares of the various high and mighty who were hanging around in the central room, converting it into a livable space from the rather bare shambles it had been before.
He was heartened by the door to his room, which had quite a robust locking mechanism on the inside, which he cheerfully engaged. He then spent half an hour examining the prisoner collar in the bathroom mirror. Unfortunately he could not find any mechanism which he might attack, just braided metallic thread that allowed the collar to cling to his throat without giving him a feeling of choking. The same threads that made up his cowl, and indeed the undersuit as well. Could he leverage that in some way? Perhaps if he spent some time examining how the Acepf components were constructed, he could find a way to circumvent or remove the collar.
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand where Celeste was coming from. A stranger comes into your town, and suddenly you are under threat of an attack. Even he could admit to himself that it was suspicious. But the collar was a strangely invasive way to deal with that suspicion. He almost would have preferred being imprisoned, or a trial. Instead he was existing in this halfway state of being allowed to roam around freely, but tracked every step of the way.
On top of that, Yvonne definitely was reading something into the collar's existence that Phoenix did not fully grasp. There must be some cultural touchstone he was ignorant of, surrounding these collars and their use. It made him vaguely uncomfortable, and he had more than enough going on to not want to deal with Yvonne’s misconceptions about him. For tonight though, he would have to set his investigation aside. After all of that, he went into his trance, and for the first time in several days had no bad dreams, just him drifting endlessly through his mind in comfortable repose.