Sam was fighting for her life. She was frozen to her core, "Wait, not my core. I can still feel my core, both of them," she wasn't sure what that meant or how she was still alive when all her organs were frozen. What she did know was the toxin was no longer active now that her blood was frozen. The countdown timer kept going, though, so there was that. Now, all she had to do was keep her brain from freezing.
Sam had instinctively focused all her healing energy on her head when she felt her extremities begin to freeze. Her mana repair skill told her that if her brain froze, she would be dead, so she put everything she had into keeping her brain alive. She was thankful that healing energy seemed to be an acceptable substitute for oxygenated blood, at least in the short term.
Focusing inward, Sam felt her cores. There was power there; all the energy she needed to survive this was right there, housed in two spheres of purple energy. There was only one problem: she could not reach it. Try as she might, every time, she reached for the power to use it to increase her mana output. It was like her mind was diverted from it, not by any unseen force but by her. It was as though something inside her own mind knew it was wrong and stopped her.
A quick check of her health pool caused her some confusion when she realized her vital energy wasn't going down. It was her mana that was dropping rapidly. She watched, detached, as a steady stream of translucent numbers floated up from her mana bar. She tried to go as deep into meditation as she could. It wasn't difficult to do, given that her body was numb and her auditory and visual functions were frozen. There was only silent darkness around her.
Sam calmed her mind and tried to understand what was happening. “How am I still alive? What is keeping me alive? Looking back to her cores, she focused on the one in her chest. It was pulsing every second like it was a beating heart. Each pulse sent energy through her body, but she could see most of it dissipating before it could reach her extremities. She knew this was where she was losing some of her mana. It was not able to make a complete cycle. One thing she didn't see was the energy going to the core in her brain.
“Hmm, that could be a problem,” Sam thought, turning her mental attention to the core at the base of her brain. This one was also pulsing but erratically, like it was being shocked repeatedly. The erratic pulses were causing the energy flow to and from her central core to dissipate before they even had a chance to move. Only when they occasionally pulsed together was any energy able to travel between them, sending energy into her extremities as it was supposed to. “So, if the energies don’t pulse in sync, they aren’t able to cycle,” Sam watched for a few more metaphorical heartbeats, then realized, "The cycles are what allows my cores to produce mana! It's like a positive and negative energy flow or like a pump. My small core sends a pulse into my main core, telling it to release a certain amount of mana and where to direct it. At the same time, my main core sends a pulse back, confirming it did its job. The reason I am burning so much mana isn't because of the constant healing. It is because I am not subconsciously cognizant enough to keep my mind core synchronized to my main core. I bet if I get the two in sync, it will drastically reduce the mana needed to maintain my life force," she didn’t know if this was true, but it was the only thing she could think of at the moment. “Okay, now how do I do this?”
***
Sam focused all her mental energy on her mind core, poking and prodding at it. She was trying to 'feel' where the erratic pulses originated. Her mind core let her prod it as long as she wasn't trying to draw energy from it. The instant she tried to siphon the slightest amount of mana from the core, it locked down, and her mental probe lost contact with it.
When Sam finally managed to pass her awareness through the energized outer layer of her mind core not to draw energy out but to inspect the core. When her core opened itself and let her in, she was almost overcome by the emotions that swirled around inside the sphere. Feelings of fear, sadness, anger, hopelessness, and resentment all bombarded her. She overcame the initial chaos of the negative emotions with a concentrated effort of will. As she slowly acclimated to the chaotic emotions swirling around her in her mindscape, she began to focus on each of them, in turn focusing intensely to negate them.
Fear was easy; she was afraid she was going to die. Sam reached out and touched her fear. Raw terror slammed into her like a hammer, threatening to overcome her reasoning. It took a supreme effort of will, but an eternity of seconds later, she began pushing back with a feeling of hope. Hope that she would survive to see another sunrise. Hope that she will get the chance to explore this new world and maybe even others. Her fear eventually allowed her to begin to replace it with hope. The fear wasn't completely replaced, but it was becoming balanced with hope.
Pulling back a little, Sam could feel the cores were already more in sync, and the precipitous decline in her mana pool had slowed. Confident she was on the right track, she chose her next emotion, sadness. The instant Sam touched her sadness, it made her want to curl up in a little ball and cry forever. She had lost everything she had worked so hard to achieve. There was no firm to run, no friends to grab a meal or drink with, no hiking in a safe forest where the most dangerous encounters were tick bites. It was all gone; everything was gone in an instant. Sam had no idea just how much she missed Earth or how much of her negative emotions she had been suppressing until now. Sadness was much more challenging to suppress than fear and took much longer. She replaced the sadness of loss with the happiness and wonder of a fresh start. She always enjoyed exploration, and now it was ingrained into her soul. She would undoubtedly make new friends, and even if it was only for a short time, she knew it would be worth it. After what felt like hours her sadness eventually balanced with her happiness.
Her cores were almost entirely in sync, which was good because Sam knew she only had the mental energy for one more push. She knew she should probably pick an easier emotion than anger. Still, she also knew she would have to face it eventually, so she resolved to enter her mind core a final time. She was in no way prepared for the blast of white-hot rage that poured over her like a tidal wave. This time, her emotion had a voice, "How dare they try to kill me! How could they kill Arron and Alina so casually? They will PAY! I WILL MAKE THEM PAY!"
Sam felt herself slipping away, losing control. She wanted to shatter the ice encapsulating her with her magic! Who cares if all her limbs and most of her body would be destroyed? She could just build a new body after she killed those two! All she needed was her mind after all!
Her mental energy was depleting quickly. All Sam wanted to do was agree with the voice and let her rage take control; then, she could…win…be free. She could kill and kill and rage, and it would all be okay…
“No,” she mentally whispered the word quietly but with resolution more to herself than the voice of her rage.
“What? You dare defy me?” the voice screamed so loud it was a mental attack, “you are a coward to your core! Would you just let them go free? After what they’ve done to you?”
"No," Sam said again, but this time with more conviction.
"Then what, coward?" The voice screamed, "What could a coward do that I cannot do better?"
"I will use you for strength of mind but not for action," Sam was already channeling her inner peace through her meditation, so she gathered it all to her and forced it into her mind core.
Her anger resisted her peace, pushing back with hate and fury. The surface of her mind core began to crack under the strain of the two opposing forces fighting for dominance. But Sam knew she was not fighting for dominance but for equilibrium between the two emotions. She just had to convince her anger of that.
“I will never submit to a coward!” her anger shouted into her mind louder than ever.
Sam responded as calmly as possible, "I don't want you to. I want you to be my power, not my mind," to add a little more icing on the cake, she said, "Power has no need for reason. Power takes what it wants." With those words, her anger relented just a little, allowing her peace to enter her core.
"You're right. I take what I want…like the lives of everyone that has hurt me! I will show them all…I…will show…" The voice faded and was silent.
Sam was spent mentally but in good spirits, “Who knew dealing with pent-up emotions to restore the synchronization between my two magical cores so I don’t die after being frozen by an ice mage on an alien planet would be so exhausting? Certainly not me.”
Checking the mana flow between her cores, Sam was pleased. The cores were pulsing almost in harmony, and her mana had stabilized. She was going to survive. She mentally relaxed her mind. "Now, how long does it take magical ice to thaw out?"
***
The Moonblight yanked its clawed finger back with a hiss of frustration. "I can sense the mana. So much mana is right there! Why can I not take it? The other one was so easy. His icy mana still flows through me." The creature growled in frustration, "I need more mana, or she will take it back. Already, I can feel her presence crawling back like the pathetic worm she is."
“No, no, NO!” The Moonblight grabbed at its head in pain.
She was coming. She was coming to take it away again. She was going to take the mana her way. The wrong way! She did not know how much he needed to be free to feel again.
The grey figure pounded the forest floor, screaming its defiance at her.
***
Sam awoke on her back with a start and the worst case of brain freeze ever. "Shit, that hurts," she mumbled quietly so as not to exacerbate the pain in her head, "I feel like I got ran over by a bus. And when did I fall asleep?"
The last thing she remembered was being frozen and, “something about my mana cores…what was it?” Her eyes opened wide, “Alice!”
Sam sat up quickly, her brain making her regret it, but she pushed the pain aside to look around. She sighed when she saw Alice tending a small fire. She was facing away from Sam, her forest green robes still bloody from the fight, and a cowl covered her head.
"Welcome back," Alice spoke without turning, "I'm glad you survived. Someday, you'll have to tell me how you survived being frozen solid for more than thirty-six hours."
Sam was surprised at how long she had frozen, but something else bothered her more. "Alice, did your voice change? And where are the kidnappers? How are you even here?" Something was wrong with the way the robed figure moved as she stoked the fire; it was far too graceful than she remembered Alice to be. Still, she wasn't sure, so she identified Alice.
‘Bing’ Mana Reaper [Nara Evander]; [Level 26]; Suspicious; Affinity(s): Neutral; (Ice)
"Who the fuck are you, and what did you do to Alice?" The imposter was wearing her robes, after all.
Sam tensed as Alice, no Nara, stood and turned to fully face her. Sam took a sharp breath when the woman pulled her cowl back.
It was kind of Alice. Only not Alice at the same time. The woman in front of Sam carried herself quite differently than the diminutive healer she had portrayed before. Where there had been clumsiness and submissiveness before, there was now a confident woman who maintained eye contact.
“Damn girl,” Sam thought, staring at Alice, who was now Nara. The woman was beautiful…in a not precisely human kind of way. Long jet-black hair framed an aquiline face with high cheekbones and a classical nose. Sam stared into Nara's deep blue eyes. “I bet those eyes get her laid a lot,” she thought, then mentally added, "Well, if it weren't for the pasty grey skin and sharp claws. That’s creepy.”
When Sam continued to stare at her long past the point of politeness, Nara babbled, "Look, I know what you're thinking, and it's not like the stories. I mean, it is like the stories but not for me. I can control the blight. I don't have to keep a soul crystal with me, see," she held out a hand and her claws retracted turning into regular looking blue fingernails.
"I'm not sure—" Sam started but was cut off.
"We don't have to fight!" Nara's voice went up in pitch as she spoke, "I have control of the Moonblight. I could have taken your mana and drained you while you slept, but I didn't! You don't have to fear me. Please tell me that you understand. I stayed and protected you because I wanted to, not because I had to. My contract is broken, or some of it is anyway. Please just let me explain before we fight."
Sam finally held up a hand, causing Nara to stop talking and take a guarded stance. "Whoa, hold up there," she told the nervous woman. "I just want to ask you a couple of questions." Nara relaxed, so Sam continued, "What is blight, or I guess Moonblight, and can I see your fangs?"
***
Sam thought Nara’s reaction to her questions was far too extreme. How was she supposed to know the woman didn’t have fangs? She had plainly said just moments before that she didn’t ‘drain’ her while she was sleeping. And she looked, for all intents and purposes, exactly like a vampire, or at least what Sam thought a vampire should look like. Plus, her class was Mana Reaper, for crying out loud.
"I mean, I can't help it if she looks like a kick-ass vampire; that's on her," Sam stared at where Nara was crouched nearly ten meters away, still staring at her suspiciously. “What’s with that girl?”
They had been this way for five minutes since Nara responded to Sam's questions, saying, "What do you mean what is a Moonblight? How can you not know? Also, I have no fangs! Why would you think I have fangs? Seriously, how do you not know what a Moonblight is? What are you, a daemon? No, even a daemon would know. You are something else, maybe a Child of the Light trying to trick me?” This was all said as she backpedaled to the other side of the clearing from Sam, crouched down, and erected a thin magical barrier of ice. Nara then just stared at Sam like she was a dangerous curiosity. Which is what she was still doing presently.
Sam had enough. "Hi, over there, I'm not a daemon or a light baby or whatever. I'm just a regular old human mortal," she waved at Nara, "Sorry, I asked to see your fangs. How was I supposed to know you didn't have any? You look just like the vampires I've seen in mov—that I have read about," Sam caught herself.
Nara asked from where she was crouched, "Tell me, where exactly did you say you were from? What was the name of the kingdom?"
"I'm from the Kingdom of America," Sam said. It was mostly true…sort of.
“And what is the current cycle?” Nara was staring intently at Sam.
Sam started to answer but stopped. “What year is it? That’s what she’s asking. How the hell would I know.” Her linguistics skill wasn't any help, and nothing in her interface displayed the year or time. At least none she had found.
Sam went with the truth, hoping she wasn't making a mistake, "the current solar cycle, according to my kingdom, is 2023 AD." She knew she had fucked up when Nara began shaking her head.
"You lie. There are no kingdoms that use the sun to determine the cycle. This I know," Nara looked around, obviously looking for an escape route, while saying, "You are a Child of the Light. I should have known. You are far too powerful to be anything else. But I have never heard of a pathfinder and cannot sense the light tainting your mana."
“I’m an outworlder,” Sam blurted and inwardly kicked herself, "shit. I don't trust this girl, but damn, I need some answers, and I am so done with this charade!"
“So, you are a Child of the Light then!” Nara sounded genuinely afraid. Panicked even.
“No, I still don’t know what that is. I am an Earthling.” Sam let that hang in the air for a minute. Again, Nara just stared at her.
Throwing her hands in the air in frustration, Sam said, "Look, Miss Mana Reaper, less than two weeks ago, I was transported to this planet in my sleep. I was nearly killed, given a class, and nearly killed again, and trust me, it has been a shitty time ever since!" She left out the whole System experiment thing; probably not the best idea to share that information. She continued, "oh, and guess what, out of the first three people I met on this new planet two of them died right in front of me within a day or so. The other turned out to not even be human, but some fucking Moonblight thing, and I don't have a clue what that is!" Sam couldn't hold the tears back when she thought about Arron and Alina dying. She wiped her eyes in frustration at her perceived weakness. “Why am I suddenly so emotional?”
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Nara cautiously stood up from behind her flimsy magical barrier. “I…I think you are telling the truth.”
“I am,” Sam confirmed, still feeling abnormally emotional.
Nara walked over slowly to stand before Sam, who was trying and failing to look stoic. Nara hesitantly placed a hand on Sam's shoulder and said in a calming voice, "Arron and Alina were not good people, Sam. They would have forced me to drain you for your power if they thought they could have. I know you have no reason to believe that, but it is true," she looked to her right as she spoke, "either way their deaths have been avenged. It is more than they deserved but was necessary nonetheless."
Sam followed Nara’s gaze to find five partially frozen bodies lying neatly in a row. That is when the realization hit home. “Oh my god!” Sam’s mind nearly shattered, “I killed someone!” She fell to her knees with her face in her hands and broke down in sobs.
***
After looking back and forth between the preserved bodies and the crying Pathfinder a few times, Nara finally realized what was happening. She knelt beside Sam and placed her arm around her shaking shoulders, saying nothing.
Sam felt Nara trying to comfort her, but it didn’t help. Her mind was in turmoil. "I killed a person, a human…and did it without thinking. How could I have done that? I've never even hurt a person, much less killed someone. Hell, before I got here, I had never even hurt an animal. I was mostly vegetarian, for fucks sake." Her body shook with the sobs of lost innocence. “What has this place turned me into? The System read my mind…is this what I already was?”
"Am I a monster?" Sam asked Nara, turning her tear-stained face to the woman.
Nara snorted out a very unladylike laugh. “No more than I am. At least we have empathy for those we are forced to harm.”
Sam sobered up a little at that statement. "Forced to harm…was I forced to harm that Ranger, Lita? I could have tried running, but then what would have happened to Alice, I mean, Nara?" She looked at Nara curiously, "Would you have survived without me helping?"
"I truly don't know. Probably…maybe?" Nara was noncommittal. "My Blight got them when they were distracted and unprepared. My mana was out, so they would have discovered my true nature rather quickly, and the ice mage would have known how to counter me, so I cannot say I would have survived." She looked at Sam with a raised eyebrow, "Why did you stay and fight? Did you have to?"
“No, I could have run, and I did consider running,” Sam admitted, “but I knew I would not have been able to live with myself if I abandoned you without at least trying to help.”
"Do you regret killing a human to save someone like me? Now that you know I am not human?" Nara was staring intently into Sam's eyes.
"No," Sam said with surety, "you are a person just like me. Only, you know, grey and a little scary. So far, since we have met, you have given me no cause to believe you mean me any harm."
Nara nodded solemnly, "I only hope you still feel that way after I tell you what I truly am." She looked away, continuing to speak, "But enough seriousness. I see you have stopped leaking saltwater, so why don't I get some food going while you check your notifications. I'm sure you have many that need your attention." she reached over and grabbed a large piece of bark holding it out to Sam expectantly.
Sam placed a dozen steaks on the bark when she realized what Nara wanted. Agreeing with Nara and over her initial shock, Sam got comfortable and opened her notifications. There were a lot of them. She started at the beginning.
'Bing' Congratulations! You have created a new spell, Arcane Bolt [Level 1]. By repeatedly forming and firing small, charged bolts of pure arcane mana, you have permanently etched the pathway onto your core, granting you the spell Arcane Bolt. You may now cast the spell Arcane Bolt at a reduced mana cost. Continued use of the spell may increase its efficiency and power. Experience has been awarded for creating your first spell. Good job, you have begun your path to becoming a true sorceress!
"Not that I'm complaining, but why hasn't that happened for all the mana spikes I've been shooting?" Sam glanced at Nara, who was tending the fire as she cooked. “We’re going to have a long Q&A session soon.” She went back to her notifications.
‘Bing’ Mana Caster has leveled up to level 14. All constructs cost slightly less mana to cast.
'Bing' Cyan Death Toxin has been quarantined by crystalline mana channels. You must expel the toxin from your body within five seconds, or all toxic effects will be applied simultaneously. This will result in 30,000 points of damage each to all vital energies.
Sam panicked and checked her energy reservoirs. Nothing out of the ordinary. They were all full, and there was no flashing warning or anything. She looked back at her notifications for an answer.
'Bing' Congratulations! You have learned Cold Resistance [Level 1]: By surviving being frozen for over five minutes, you have developed a natural resistance to cold. Although it is recommended not to freeze yourself in the first place, this resistance will assist you when you inevitably do so again. All damage from cold is reduced slightly. The slowing effect of cold is decreased slightly. Continue freezing yourself to advance this resistance.
‘Bing’ Cold resistance has leveled up to level 2. You are slightly more resistant to cold.
‘Bing’ Cold resistance has leveled up to level 3. You are slightly more resistant to cold.
'Bing' Meditation has leveled up to level 19. The regeneration bonus to meditation has increased. You can now meditate while performing more strenuous activities.
‘Bing’ Cold resistance has leveled up to level 4. You are slightly more resistant to cold.
‘Bing’ Mana Repair has leveled up to level 21.
‘Bing’ Congratulations! You have developed Synchronicity [Level Unknown]; Effects [Unknown].
“Well, that’s not cryptic at all,” Sam thought when she read the Synchronicity notification. A quick check of her stat screen told her it wasn’t an ability or skill. “So, what is Synchronicity?” She sighed; time would tell, she supposed. She went back to her notifications.
‘Bing’ Poison resistance has leveled up to level 13: You are now slightly more resistant to poison.
‘Bing’ Poison resistance has leveled up to level 14: You are now slightly more resistant to poison.
‘Bing’ Cyan Death Toxin has become inert and will no longer affect you.
Sam read that notification twice. "How did it become inert? I guess the timer ran out, but why didn't it affect me? Did it stop working when my blood froze? That has to be it." She went back to scrolling, not wanting to dwell on how that toxin could have killed her many times over.
‘Bing’ Cold resistance has leveled up to level 5. You are slightly more resistant to cold.
‘Bing’ Cold resistance has leveled up to level 6. You are slightly more resistant to cold.
This continued until:
'Bing' Cold resistance has leveled up to level 25. You are more resistant to cold. Numbing effects from cold are reduced almost entirely. Slowing effects from cold are significantly reduced.
"Ha! Take that! Future ice mage attackers!" Sam did a mental fist pump. Her elation was short-lived, though, and her eyes narrowed when she read the following notifications.
You have resisted Mana Drain. Your mana channels were not breached.
You have resisted Mana Drain. Your mana channels were not breached.
You have resisted Mana Drain. Your mana channels were not breached.
“Breached mana channels huh? Resisted being drained…like by a mana reaper.” Sam looked furtively at Nara, who hummed an unfamiliar tune while she cooked. "Hmm, she seems relaxed. Surely, she knows I will find out she tried to drain me. Either way, she has some explaining to do."
Sam started counting the notifications. There was a total of thirteen failed attempts at draining her mana. All but one had been done within a few minutes of her being frozen according to the time stamps. “Time stamps! I’m an idiot! It’s cycle…wait…what the hell does ‘19:07 3.86.763.4.13’ mean? God, I hate not knowing these things!” She looked closer at the time stamps; the last one had been much later than the rest. Nara's words rang in her mind: "I could have drained you." Sam wasn't so sure that was the case now…
'Bing' Hidden Quest [Survive the Ambush] completed. Your party has been ambushed by a more powerful force. Survive this encounter, and you will be rewarded:
Primary Objective: Survive – Passed
Secondary Objective: 50% of the party remaining.
Calculating contribution level…
Personal contribution 38%, experience points awarded accordingly.
Realizing there were no more level-ups and that that was the last of her notifications, Sam stood and walked over to the fire. She needed some questions answered, but first, she seriously needed some food. “It feels like I haven’t eaten in…oh yeah, like two days.”
***
Nara glanced up with a cheery smile when Sam approached. Sam noticed that even though the woman didn't have 'fangs,' her teeth were unnaturally sharp. “Well, if she was human, they would be unnatural,” Sam corrected herself.
Sam returned Nara's smile with one of her own as she sat on a log next to the fire. Nara handed a wooden bowl to Sam piled high with several juicy cat and wolf steaks. Sam thanked her, and, not even bothering to pull a fork and knife from her inventory, she grabbed the first steak with her hands and bit into it, ripping off a large chunk. The tender, delicious muscle fibers felt like ambrosia on her tongue. When she swallowed the first bite, it was like it fell into a black hole of hunger that would never be sated. She took it as a challenge.
***
Sam ravenously devoured ten of the twelve steaks she had given Nara to cook before finally leaning back on her log and patting her stomach in satisfaction. “That hit the spot!” She exclaimed.
"You were hungry, I see," Nara stated the obvious.
Sam saw her chance, "So were you, it seems."
Nara looked at her half-eaten steak and back to Sam confusedly.
Sam elaborated, "I mean, you were hungry for mana. Unless you're going to tell me, there was another Mana Reaper in the area while I was frozen."
Nara looked down at her hands, mumbling, "So you saw." It wasn't a question.
Sam simply said, “I’m listening if you want to explain yourself.”
***
Sam watched Nara struggle briefly with what to say but figured the woman would come clean, and she did.
"Okay, fine," Nara finally said with a bit of exasperation. "I tried to absorb some of your mana once I regained control of my Blight. But it was because I needed mana to keep the bodies preserved! All the other times was my Blight trying to drain your mana, the greedy bastard."
Sam stopped her with a question, "What the fuck is a Moonblight? I thought that was your race."
Nara sighed, "I'm sorry; let me clarify some things for you so you understand better. I hope you like history lessons."
Sam grinned, "I do, actually."
Nara rolled her eyes and then explained what she was and her history, "I am a Tenarian; although I was born here on Hallista, my people are originally from Tenaris…" Nara noticed Sam's lack of recognition of the name, so she pointed up.
"You're from the sun? No way!" Sam exclaimed, knowing full well that Nara was talking about one of the moons. She wasn't called a Sunblight, after all.
"No, idiot! The Tenaris moon! How could you think…oh, sarcasm." Nara cleared her throat and continued her story, "Yes, I, or at least my race, is from Tenaris. Of the two moons, it is the closest. The other is named Denaris, by the way." Sam was listening seriously now, so Nara continued, "Over a thousand years ago, the King of Tenaris, in his relentless pursuit of power, gathered the most powerful mages in his lands to perform a grand summoning ritual. No one knows how the king learned of the ritual; it was like nothing any of the mages had ever seen, but despite many misgivings, the ritual was performed." Nara paused to poke at the fire with a stick as she collected her thoughts. Then continued, "the summoning was a resounding success. The Blight’s were brought into Tenaris."
Nara stood, opening her robe and unlashing her leather shirt until a dark blue pentagram was exposed in the center of her chest. There was a circle around the pentagram, and each of the points had intricate symbols in them. The whole thing was no bigger than Sam's palm.
Sam examined the magical tattoo with her mana sight. It was positively thrumming with power, reminding her a little of the ritual circle the Red Wolf had used to summon its power.
When Sam finished her examination, Nara explained, "Think of a Blight as a parasite. One that cannot survive long in this reality without mana. The more mana it has, the more powerful it will become. The summoning ritual didn't summon the Blight into Tenaris but into all living beings on the entire moon. All who have this mark," she pointed to her chest, "have a Blight inside of them feeding off their mana."
"I see," Sam said, remembering back to the first time she met Nara. "So, you cannot produce your own mana. That's why Arron wanted me to give you mana when we first met."
Nara grimaced, "not exactly. Arron wanted me to see if I could fully drain you and take your powers. You see, when my Blight is dormant inside the seal, he only feeds on what mana I naturally produce up to a maximum limit. When my Blight, Naris, is his name, by the way, needs mana, he will wrap himself around my core. But when he is full of my mana, he will open my core to allow me to absorb more while only keeping a maintenance amount going to himself. Having him controlling my core allows me to charge my core with any mana type."
“Is that why your affinity says ‘ice’ in parenthesizes next to the neutral?” Sam interrupted.
Nara nodded, "Yes, I am now an ice mage, and I know all the spells the ice mage that Naris drained knew." Nara looked at Sam seriously, "When I take mana, I can control the amount I pull from my target. But when Naris takes mana, it almost always results in the subject's death because his mana limit is lifted once he has been released. It becomes a fight for his survival. He burns nearly fifty mana per second just to stay alive in our reality."
“Holy crap! Just how much mana can he store?” Sam asked.
"At our current level, he can survive for about ten minutes before he has to feed." Nara shook her head, "he won't wait that long, though. He will immediately begin feeding on anyone and anything he can sink his teeth into. And if he manages to fully drain a person, he…we learn their spells." Nara looked apologetically at Sam, "the asshole tried to drain you many times before I could wrest back control. In his defense, he has been shackled by my contract, unable to leave the seal, for nearly a decade."
"So, the contract thing. It's why you said you weren't safe? Also, how did you get from the moon to here on Hallista?" Sam thought briefly, "And why can't you or Naris take my mana?" Sam asked. Everything was clicking into place now. How Arron lost interest in her power when she said it was only skills she used instead of spells. Nara was trying and failing to draw mana from her mana thread. The way Nara was always cautious with how she spoke to Sam like she wasn't supposed to say certain things.
"My people escaped here after the Blight summoning through teleportation circles. Most Tenarians aren’t able to keep their Blights under control without ‘assistance’ from the Church of the Light. Nor could the thousands upon thousands of beasts on Tenaris that suddenly found themselves host to a mana parasite. There were teleportation circles in every major city connecting to Hallista. Tenarians used them to flee the hoard of Blights overrunning their cities. Millions of my people died within hours…" Nara paused to look at the clear sky and sighed again, "I will tell you more later. Just know we are now called Moonblights and have been hunted and enslaved by the Church of the Light for as long as I can remember. My village was discovered a little over ten years ago. The Children of the Light, the followers of the Church of the Light, bound me and Naris under a powerful spell that only they know how to cast and break. In fact, the only reason the contract didn't force me to kill myself was because I was incapacitated, and Naris took over when my core ran completely dry of mana." She held up a finger the nail, growing it into a razor-sharp claw, and answered Sam's last question, "I should be able to slice your mana channels wide open with this, and as far as I know, there is nothing you or anyone could do to stop me." She gestured for Sam to hold out her hand, "give me your hand and I will show you what happens when I try to drain you."
Sam looked at Nara like she had lost her mind, "Um, not no, but hell no!"
Nara clicked her tongue, "I won't be able to take anything, Sam. If Naris couldn't, then there is no way I can. And you forgot, I tried while you were sleeping. What are your mana channels made of? Diamond?" Nara threw up her hands in mild frustration. "I mean, I finally found someone who can generate mana faster than anyone I have ever seen, and I can't even get a taste of it." She looked at Sam with hard eyes, "I need mana, Sam. If I run dry again, I'm not sure Naris will be content to stay dormant. And if he takes control…" She let the statement hang.
Sam stared at her for a long moment before finally giving in. “Fine, show me,” she said while thinking, "She has already tried, I guess, and it didn't work, so why not."
Nara wasted no time and hurried over to sit next to Sam. Taking Sam's right hand, Nara cut into the palm with her blue claw. Sam squirmed a little; the damn claw tickled instead of hurting. It almost felt like a mosquito bite. Both women heard, and Sam felt a tink-tink-tink sound as Nara tried to cut deeper into Sam's palm with her claw. Nara looked at Sam as if to say, "See! I told you so!"
You have resisted Mana Drain. Your mana channels were not breached.
Sam giggled, pulling her hand away. "Stop it. That tickles."
“What are you made of?” Nara asked again.
"I have crystalline mana channels," Sam responded, closing the wound in her hand, "they are pretty much indestructible from what I can tell."
Nara just shook her head and looked down at her clawed hand dejectedly.
"I can give you some mana, but how will that affect your affinity?" Sam said. "Also, how do I give you mana?"
Nara perked up, "You only need to will it to me. You don't even have to be touching me. It can even be a spell, like a bolt of mana, so long as your intent is to give and not to harm." The Tenarian was practically bouncing up and down on the log as she spoke. "I will keep my ice affinity and spells as long as I don't fully deplete my core. If my core is fully depleted, then Naris will search for more mana."
Sam placed her hand on Nara's shoulder and willed her mana to flow into her. She instantly felt Nara pull at her mana greedily. After a brief panic, Sam realized she could regulate how much she provided and at what rate. Entering meditation, Sam started feeding Nara mana at twelve mana per second. She giggled again when Nara's back arched and threw her head back, her eyes rolling back and her mouth open in what Sam assumed was ecstasy.
***
An hour and over 43000 mana later, Sam pulled her hand away from Nara's shoulder and stood up. “I hope this wasn’t another mistake in what is becoming a long list of mistakes,” she thought, looking down at Nara, who was slowly coming out of her blissful state.
“Fuck me,” Nara whispered when she had recovered some.
Sam barked out a laugh, "From the look you were making, I would swear I already did."
Nara looked at her hands as if they were alien to her, "Your mana is…raw. I detect no affinity, yet it isn't neutral…it's like pure unstoppable power." Nara winced and growled to herself, "No! You cannot!" After composing herself and at Sam's raised eyebrow, she said, "Naris wants to meet you…and drain you."
"Never without my permission," Sam said absently in response to Naris's request as she stared at the bodies in the clearing. She knew they needed to get moving. They were too exposed here, and who was to say there weren't more bandits around. She was so distracted she jumped and was caught off guard when Nara spoke.
"You should loot the bodies," Nara said, looking at the corpses.
“I don’t feel comfortable doing that—wait, how do you know I have a loot skill?” Sam asked.
"I didn't," Nara said with a smile, "but I suspected after watching you with the corps pile, I can see your mana as you should have realized by now, and when you touched the pile of corpses, there was a definite mana transference. Also, the potion bottles you have are all System-generated. No alchemist-made potion provides such exact amounts of their given energy restoration. So, I guessed." She winked at Sam, "Thanks for confirming it for me." Nara clapped her hands together, "Now get to looting. I left their clothes and armor on, hoping you may be able to replicate some of it."
"Even Arron and Alina?" Sam had to ask. She was trusting Nara a lot, especially about Arron and Alina essentially being slavers.
"You don't have to, but Arron still has my contract on him somewhere. Probably in his storage item, which he lied about being full to get you to say you had a storage item, too." Nara looked Sam up and down, "I would like to know where you keep your storage item. If it's where I think it is, then…wow…just wow."
"It's not like that, I—never mind," Sam started toward the corpses. She could only think, “Please don’t give me their hides! I’m not sure I am mentally or emotionally capable of handling that right now.”