Chapter 12
The Arcanum System
The Wastelands - 890 (seven years ago)
Nine-year-old Maia sat cross-legged in the cramped space at the back of the truck. The walls were covered with hanging tools, cables, and bits of scavenged tech that always seemed to accumulate no matter how much they tried to keep it organised. It was their makeshift home, a rugged place that suited the wastelands—but not for the kind of training she was about to do.
She loved when her father would take her out of the city for trips in the Dame. She’d spent much of her childhood living in it, so that it was comfortable to slot back into. This time they’d driven out into the wastes and her father had salvaged something he said was very important for her future.
Matthias sat across from her on an old stool, checking over a small silver device with slow, methodical movements, his eyes occasionally glancing up at her. He’d cleared the back of the truck to give them space, leaving only the essentials tucked into the corners.
“Alright,” Matthias said, his voice gruff. “You ready?”
Maia shifted uncomfortably, the coarse fabric of her worn-out trousers scratching her legs. “I think so.”
“Do not be afraid,” Matthias instructed, “it will sting a little but the arcanum will not hurt you… just a pinch in your mind, and then it will work with your overlays.”
“I’m not afraid,” Maia replied, but her muscles were tense, betraying her.
“Then we shall begin,” Matthias pressed the needle against Maia’s thumb, the point piercing her skin enough to draw blood. At first nothing seemed to be different and then her vision blurred. She suddenly felt an overwhelming nausea, then a sharp pain erupted in her head. She felt like someone was trying to pry out her eyes with a hot spoon.
Something bizarre appeared in her field of vision. It was ephemeral, like it didn’t really exist in the world. Her vision flickered and warped, and she was back in the ruin with her father, huddling around the campfire. As the blinding pain in her forehead dissipated, a blue box with white symbols appeared in front of her.
⊡⊒⊫⊼⊙∴
Maia whimpered softly.
“Are you okay?” Matthias asked.
“I’m… I’m fine,” Maia responded in a barely audible breath.
“What do you see?”
“Ow,” Maia pressed her hand to her head as another headache shot through her mind, “feels like an engine revving inside my brain.”
The blue box shifted and warped and a row of new symbols appeared.
⊓⊼⋰⊙∴⋂⊮⊇∷
“What does all this mean?” Maia said through gritted teeth. The text blurred again and began rapidly shifting between different shapes. Before finally taking form into characters that Maia recognised.
Language Calibration Complete.
Unknown Controller… Initialising Arcanum System.
Executing neural nexus scan…
“What does it say?” Matthias asked patiently.
“It wants to execu—” another sharp blinding pain tore through her. Her eyes felt like they were on fire. She couldn’t even make a sound, her mouth silently working.
Neural nexus scan complete.
Hello Maia, Welcome to #7H;Err!
Current Planet Identified: #4166 - #7H;Err! Known to inhabitants as “Solysterra”
“It knows my name,” Maia whispered. She shook her head trying to dispel the blue boxes, she was sick of looking at them. They winked out of existence as quickly as they’d appeared.
“Good,” Matthias nodded, “then it is done.” The pain was receding away.
“So the headaches will stop?” Maia could hear the element of pleading in her voice.
“Yes.”
“That was more than a pinch,” Maia glared at her father.
“What does it say now?” Matthias asked, ignoring her comment.
“Nothing, I shook my head and it’s gone.”
“Ah, you don’t need to actually move to do that, simply will them to be hidden, and they will comply,” Matthias advised, “call them back.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“How?”
As if in answer to her question the boxes suddenly reappeared in the centre of her vision. I wish they wouldn’t block so much of my sight. The boxes then shifted to the corner.
“It can read my thoughts,” Maia gasped.
“It is your thoughts. Do not be alarmed,” Matthias said, “the arcanum is not a sentient entity, it is merely an extension of your own mind, supplemented with the knowledge and understanding of the Verdant.”
“The Verdant were demons though, does this mean there’s a demon inside me?”
“Superstition,” Matthias spat, “I see Lani has been in your ear. There is no such thing as demons. The church simply deems any legacy of the Verdant as “demonic” but that is all myth and folly. You need to leave all of that nonsense Lani taught you in the past. Now, tell me, what do you see?”
“Blue boxes with text on them.”
“Really? Huh,” her father chuckled.
“I thought you had the same one?” Maia asked, worry creeping into her tone.
“Mine are black,” Matthias shrugged, “it is inconsequential, I think. What do they say?”
Name
Maia Cain
Age
9
Species
Human
Attributes
Strength
2
Dexterity
4
Vitality
5
Umbra
[Attribute is locked - cannot assess]
Maia read the information that was visible out loud, her father nodding along.
“Good,” he said after she was done.
“What is umbra, and why is it locked? Is yours locked?”
“Umbra gives strength to our scrav-powers, yours has a lock in place until you turn sixteen.”
“Seems arbitrary,” Maia replied, “who decided that?”
“The Archons.”
“Why would a god care about my magic?”
“The lock acts as a limiter, preventing you from using your full power until you are ready to. Also the Archons were not gods, do not think of them as such. They were powerful creatures, but that is all they were. They lived and they died, just as all other beasts on this world do.” Matthias spoke the words harshly and with such disdain that Maia felt herself recoiling.
Abilities Assessment Complete
Class
Soulrender
Ability
Description
Cooldown
Progression
Life Drain
Siphon life energy from plants, animals, and enemies to restore your own mana.
None
0%
Forcefield Manipulation
Generate energy barriers by manipulating latent energy in the environment.
30 seconds
0%
Augmentation
Use ambient umbra energy to temporarily increase your physical traits, including strength, speed and vitality.
5 minutes
16%
[Locked Ability - cannot assess]
[Locked Ability - cannot assess]
[Locked Ability - cannot assess]
Assigning an Arcanum Class based on existing traits and abilities
Arcanum Sub-Class Assigned
Class
Phase Shifter
Ability
Description
Cooldown
Progression
Shadow Dash
Speed is increased by 100x for 0.2 seconds allowing for near instantaneous movement
3 minutes
0%
Phase Evade
Parts of your body can become incorporeal for 0.2 seconds, any physical damage is negated. Ethereal force damage can still take effect
5 minutes
0%
[Locked Ability - cannot assess]
[Locked Ability - cannot assess]
“What is all of this?” Maia asked.
“These are your scrav-powers,” Matthias answered.
“But what does it all mean?”
“The arcanum system works with your overlays to give you a visual display of what your body already knows intuitively. It will help guide us as we train with your scrav-powers. You’re still too young really to understand much of how this works but I will begin teaching you.”
Maia blinked, her vision still a little fuzzy from the blue boxes as they flickered out of sight. The pain in her head had finally begun to ebb, but a dull throb remained. She didn’t like this… any of it. Not the Arcanum, not the strange, unsettling feeling that had taken root deep inside her chest.
“Call the interface back,” Matthias said, his voice cutting through her thoughts.
She hesitated, looking up at him. He stood there, calm and expectant, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. It wasn’t. But she wasn’t about to admit that. She closed her eyes and willed the boxes back, the symbols flickering into place.
“Good,” Matthias said with a nod. “Now, we’ll start slow. The abilities will come in time.”
Abilities. Fatebonds. Scrav-powers. The words rattled in her mind like loose gears. None of it made sense, not yet.
“You’ll learn to control it,” he added, though his tone was more commanding than comforting. “You’ll be strong, Maia.”
She wanted to believe him. She wanted to feel strong. But the truth was, the moment that Arcanum had opened inside her, she felt smaller than ever. The strange names of powers and classes… it was too much, too fast.
“Come on, let’s get some dinner going,” Matthias said, his hand on her shoulder now. “There’s no rush. We’ll take this one step at a time.”
She gave him a small nod, her eyes still glued to the place where the boxes had disappeared. As if something might crawl out of the air again.
As she turned to follow him, a final message blinked into existence in the corner of her vision, faint but undeniable:
Arcanum Stabilisation Incomplete
Shutting down additional arcanum functions
Awaiting User Activation
Her breath hitched, but before she could process it, the message blinked away, leaving her alone in the cool warm cab.
She wasn’t ready. Not yet. But as she glanced at her father as he climbed out of the Dame. She knew there was no going back.