Chapter 15—Dark Paths

Magician couldn't explain why making it to 350 made him so happy. He felt like he could compose a sonnet about it, but who would truly understand? People didn't give you a second glance if your number was higher than 400. He could only think of one person who would, and he hadn't seen them in a bit.

No. He hadn’t seen Judge since before Fang’s graduation mission.

He supposed that meant that Judge had died. That hurt. He'd miss the guidance and sense of brotherhood Judge gave him. He'd miss how Judge made him feel like he had a family. He'd miss a lot about the old man, but for now, he missed having someone to celebrate with the most.

Raptor certainly wouldn't do, even if they fought at each other's side; even if he let Magician lead him to Micaela's lab. Sure, Raptor might congratulate him, but one thing he liked about the guy was that he was always blunt. It would only be a gesture, not a real party. It was a “good job for showing that idiot up,” not a, “I always knew you could do it!” Only business brought them together, and Raptor would never imply anything but that.

So, while Magician was happy, he supposed he’d keep that all in. Until this next meeting was done. Until they got through the grading grounds. And then? Maybe he’d throw a small party for himself.

That meant he wasn't smiling when Micaela's door slid open, but his eyes widened when he saw what awaited on the other side.

“Congratulations!” The people inside cheered.

“What? I mean, for what?” Or for who… He turned to see if it was for Raptor.

Raptor shook his head. “All you.”

“All me?” Magician murmured and turned back.

“All you.” Khalaf floated up beside him. “Aww, but don’t go for humble. The crowd loves a showman!”

“Why me?” Magician gasped.

Fang chuckled. “Your rank went up, didn’t it?”

“It did but…”

“It’s a lot, I know,”--she gestured at the food around them, pizza, donuts, chips, drinks—“but you did a good job, and just in time too. Consider it two celebrations.”

Magician gaped.

Micaela patted his back and nodded. “I know, right? This doesn’t seem like her at all!” She grinned.

“Pfft,” Raptor huffed. “She put her chips on a player and won big.” He grabbed a slice. “This is exactly what she’d do.”

“Ignore him.” Andra said to Magician and Micaela. “I think she’s just showing appreciation. Upping your rank that much is impressive. You deserve this.”

Her kindness shocked him and made his words come uncertain. “Thank…thank you! I didn’t think anyone would care.”

Fang shook her head. "Judge cared. I know he would have celebrated with you, he did it with everyone. With him gone I thought I'd try to fill his shoes." Fang flushed, and for the first time, he felt like he truly saw her. She seemed so small and delicate. He was always taller by a bit, but now he saw how slight her muscle was, and how he had to look down to meet her eyes.

“I appreciate you,” He said, felt his heart crash against his ribs, and added with a look around the room, “all of you.”

Hope and Andra clapped. King and Ace raised a cup to him. Fang smiled and his heart swelled.

“Let’s eat.” She said.

He didn’t hesitate.

Instead, he sat with the others and laughed as they traded stories of their best moments of glory.

Khalaf’s story had him out in the city in the early days of the Overcast. They found survivors and tried to extract them, but grays had swarmed their escape route.

“Was bad news all around. They didn’t notice us, but all it would have taken was one ‘Not Fair!’ to get the whole party going! I could feel the panic blooming.” So… he became the panic, swinging his way above the grays, calling out his best impression of their morbid cry. That got their attention. “I wasn’t Slasher, but you know what they called me when I made it back alive?”

"The legend himself?" Micaela offered. Khalaf's hand passed through hers as they shared a high-five.

Raptor was next in a battle royale that came down to him and one other.

“Me and her boyfriend.” He jabbed a thumb at Fang.

And how did he survive the man who’d become Assassin? By not fighting him alone.

“Everything was falling in on itself. I used the environment to my advantage. If the wall was weak, I went through it. If the floor was bad, I made it worse. I made him chase me and made it a pain in his ass. Eventually, he only had one arm and an ejection countdown left.”

“Nasty work… I respect it!” Khalaf grinned.

“I don’t. Stories about 214 are easy.” Andra rolled her eyes.

“Got better then?” Raptor growled with a smirk.

“Easy,” Andra said and brought up an evacuation sim. She was one of the vanguard. They had already breached a gray horde so the rest of the team could reach their targets. “If even one escaped, our targets would die.”

“So basically Khalaf’s story?” Raptor cackled.

Except that it wasn’t, slightly because the mission almost failed immediately. One of the “survivors” cried out too loud and the horde fell upon them. She had to be the wall between life and death. The bloodlust still made her heart race to this day.

“I swear I only had blood and sweat in my eyes in the end.”

“Scary work.” Khalaf whistled.

Raptor, however, shrugged.

“Mine was an extermination mission.” Hope followed his sister. “Except it wasn’t a call to action. I asked my team if I could do it alone. There was a complex, and I had to clear it of grays…”

And he did, decreasing a 45-minute sim down to 15 minutes.

“Efficient,” Ace remarked. “How’d you manage to do it that fast?”

"Same as Raptor, I used the environment." He smiled, but his eyes told a more precise tale.

It gave Magician chills.

“You already know ours,” King turned to him with a smile. “And we know yours. Good job again. It’s always great when a tech score beats a combat.”

Magician grinned. “Thanks! Though I was a little worried when he maximized his luminance.”

“Oh yeah,” Raptor spoke up. “203 did that too! What the hell do they have you guys learning in Luminance training?”

“Wait,” King stopped Hope and Andra from answering. “Did you mean to say amplified?”

Magician shook his head. “No. His luminance was already amplified.”

King’s eyes widened. Micaela’s did too. Magician cocked an eyebrow.

“Is there a problem with maximizing?” He looked from them to Hope and Andra.

“I’ve never heard of maximizing before.” Hope shook his head.

“That’s because only refracted harbingers should be able to maximize.” King replied.

“Which begs the question? How are there two people here who can?” Micaela squeaked.

“Mysteries upon mysteries.” Khalaf floated above them.

“Sounds like he should be higher than 350 then.” Raptor said between bites.

“Should we be concerned?” Fang threw the question at King.

“Maybe not…technically they are our allies. It doesn’t have to mean a luster is involved either. Harbingers were originally supposed to use a luminance cluster.” He answered. “It’s just…strange that they’re able to. Especially considering how New Dawn’s plans backfired.”

“Well they sure could! And it looked like their armor had circuitry in it too,” Raptor spoke up again.

“That could be explained by their bands being altered, or someone showing them how to change them…” Micaela offered. “But who and how?”

“Yet more questions!” Khalaf pouted. “But will we ever get answers?”

Magician perked up at that, remembering why he came to the lab in the first place. “I have some! About the umbra that is.”

The room gave him their attention. He cleared his throat, thinking back to how he’d simplify it.

“The darkness is alive.” He started.

Micaela let out a tired sigh, then shook her head.

“Wait! It’s umbra! I don’t have to teach anyone about this! Go on, actually!”

“I was thinking about the question Fang mentioned. What is your Dark Name? Even after telling us what it means, it still doesn’t make sense when we hear it. I think that’s because knowing what it translates too isn’t important. You need to know what it means.”

“Like interpreting a French poem from its English translation. You can call a flower a flower, but maybe the French version has context for why the rose might be thornless.” Micaela offered.

“Yes!” Magician replied. “What is your Dark Name? How about What should the Dark call you?” He offered. “Because a Dark name isn’t just about becoming a devil. It’s about becoming one with the umbra, becoming a conduit for it.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Elaborate more on that.” King asked. “You say conduit like umbra is something that paths through us.”

“That’s kinda what I’m saying. When you guys talk about Refraction, its about taking a finite light and manipulating it. That’s why there are limits to it and why you can’t grow if you do it wrong. It’s an internal system, but Umbra is entirely external. It’s all around us, and we can’t use it until we get rid of the light within us. To use Umbra it has to path through us, it’s the first time we become aware of it. Even us lightless types still need to terminate our luminance for it.”

“So it’s sort of like accessing a network?” Micaela offered. “But how does that make it alive?”

“Because it needs a name before you can access the network. Terminating your luminance lets you on the server, but finding your Dark Name opens up admin permissions letting you into deeper systems. This happens because the darkness recognizes you individually.”

“I miss Rashawn.” Micaella suddenly said, wistfully. Magician cocked an eyebrow but King chuckled.

"Me too." He smiled.

They looked at him to continue, not even slightly interested in elaborating. Despite the non sequitur, he had little other choice. So he raised his hands and spun a dark web in the air.

Starting from the outer edge, he explained, “Without a Dark Name, you can’t go much further than here and at this point, the Dark Paths are no different than Refraction Points with each one acting as a shadow. Once you get the name though,” He dragged his finger to the web’s heart. “You become one with the network. It isn’t just access, it’s integration.”

Fang nodded. “I see. That explains why I sensed it when you two terminated your luminance.”

King nodded. “Oh. As if each bend represents another devil, perhaps?”

“There are idiots in this room, y’know?” Raptor jabbed a thumb at himself. “Dumb it down.”

“You can’t shower until you have your name on the water bill.” Khalaf offered. “And once your name is, you always know how much hot water is left—so you never have to take a cold shower again.”

“Now that makes sense!” Raptor grinned, nodding emphatically. “Like, maybe you can make all cold showers hot, even.”

Khalaf hovered beside him. “And you thought you had no technical score.”

“Maybe you’re just sane.”

“Thanks. I’ve been accused of that on occasion.”

King ignored them. “So what are the Dark Paths?” He asked.

"Here's my current theory." Magician collapsed the web into a ball and shaped new forms with each new path. Like, refraction, he theorized six.

Consuming took the form of a thousand snapping maws, growing out to pull apart a star he dangled above them.

Deviating pierced the star like a needle and flowed through it like a ravine, its dark essence splitting a canyon into islands.

Engulfing submerged it, like a globe slowly filling, swallowing the star like its core.

Corrupting rose as a dark reflection, twinkling with it, each new flash throwing off its pattern.

Abstracting surrounded it like an aura each pulse of its radiance tossing a dark echo further.

Inverting pulsed within it, calling that radiance to implode like a black hole.

Magician’s eyes sparkled as he let these forms float around him. Micaela, however, shuddered.

“How’d you make me feel sorry for a sparkle of light?”

Magician beamed. “Because of the accuracy of it. Which loans itself to why fear plays a role for Dark Gods.”

“Let’s go over them first.” King said. “There are six so I’m wondering, are they parallels to refraction points.”

“Parallels is a good way to put it. I said shadows before too, because its important to remember that they exist separately from the light. A dark solution, not a dark opposition.”

“Like…Dark Magic and Light Magic?” Andra offered. “Like, there are dark forces you draw from. Witches get their power from a devil. Priestesses get their power from a god. Stuff like that.” She looked around, expecting someone else to get it. Khalaf and Micaela were nodding at least, so she had to be on to something.

“It’s perfect,” Magician even agreed, “because it speaks to the two different people able to interact with this power. Witches are like Dark Disciples. Priestesses are like Radiant Acolytes.”

“And that brings to mind Orders too!” Micaela exclaimed. “But what are the parallels?”

King stroked his chin for a minute, after raising his hand to get a chance from Magician. He thought it over and turned on a screen nearby.

“How’s this then.” A list slowly appeared.

Consuming to Bestowing.

Deviating to Guiding.

Engulfing to Adorning.

Corrupting to Forging.

Abstracting to Illuminating.

Inverting to Bending.

Micaela shook her head. “Based on what we saw, I would have guessed Deviating was Bending’s parallel.”

“I considered that.” King nodded. “Except that the deviation formed islands, as guiding is like building. It’s about changing the structure of your resource, whereas Bending…”

“Is about changing the polarity!” Micaela clapped.

King nodded, and Magician nodded to them both.

Fang said, “So when I cast Who lurks in the Dark? What path does that come from?”

“Deviating.” Magician answered without a second thought. “You use umbra to make portals. Based on what you told us, Assassin was the same. It’s just a difference of deviating the light, yourself, or the darkness.”

Raptor raised his hand. “And me with my raptorman form?”

“Corrupting.” Magician nodded to him. “Same principle. You’re corrupting yourself, the light, or the darkness.”

"Wow," Andra gasped. "So things like vampirism and lycanthropy would be corruption." In her way, everything was starting to make sense. He wished he could understand her words though.

“Let’s double back around to the darkness being alive though.” Micaela said. “I don’t feel like you mean it in the same way I’d say that luminance is alive.”

“Depends on what you’d mean.”

“Well, it’s the spirit right? Luminance maintains our intentions because even when its separated from us, its still us. It’d have to be bigger or, let’s say, more potent to count as being a duplicate, but otherwise, our luminance is alive because we’re alive.”

“Yeah, I mean it differently.” Magician smiled. “When I say the darkness is alive, I meant it more like the darkness is made of life. Everything that is dark energy is alive. Where light energy could mean anything from your spirit to a photon, dark energy isn’t so limited. It is always both alive and not alive.” He had been waiting to say that.

It was clear Micaela was thinking those words over, and King seemed to be right alongside her. The rest of the room waited with bated breath for their conclusion, except Andra, whose eyes suddenly shined.

“I just thought of something. What if a Dark Name is like an inversion of a God given name? In folklore, things like faeries could have control over you if they got your name or vice versa. Same for something like a demon. In away, it all comes from this place of being named under a god. Like, you can erase your name from the book of the dead and you’ll live forever.” She was thinking out loud. “If that’s the case, then a Dark Name is how you…hide from that god. Or…! Let’s say, it’s how you evade one!”

Ace's eyes widened as if their minds shared a track. "Then a Devil Name is the name of something born from the darkness but known by the light."

Micaela and King perked up at that, looked at each other, and then at Magician.

“Born from the darkness!” King sprung on that phrase. “Then what you’re suggesting is that the darkness its a place of life.”

“Like a microspace, or quantum space. Inherently alive, just not observably.”

Raptor shot a look at Khalaf, “can you dumb it down again?”

Khalaf grinned. “Hand sanitizer only kills 99.9% of germs, but germs spread fast.”

“So we’re basically viruses from the darkness?” Raptor looked at Magician.

“In…so many words…There’s still something to be said about scale, but you could put it like that.”

Suddenly, Hope asked,

"So a person with a luminance could never become a devil then?"

"Maybe not never…but considering how the dark call works, maybe you're right." Magician answered, though his eyes lingered on Hope. He had listened quietly for the most part, but those words said a lot about where his mind was going.

“At best, a Dark God…” King offered. “But that raises a question. Ace and I are God Coffins. We were revived because our masters use the reignited using the light of hells. We have human souls though, we just use umbra to trap a god’s light inside them…What about you three though? Were you ever human?”

Raptor grinned. “Better question. Are we even human right now?”

King agreed and looked at Magician. The room did as well waiting as he thought his answer over. If the darkness was alive, and Luminance is the memory of one’s humanity, then how could he say they were ever human? If they never had a luminance, were they just human in imitation only? What did that make them? He didn’t know. Still, he could say this…

"No, we aren't." He was sure of it, even as he raised his very human-looking hand. "And I think figuring out what we are is our next step." He lowered it and met Fang's eyes.

“Will it help us win?” She asked.

“I think it’s the only reason we haven’t yet.” He answered.

“God made us all in his image,” Andra thought aloud. “What if that was a blessing for some of us, and a curse for others?” She looked at Magician, and he took the words to heart.

Raptor rose loudly, grabbed several more slices of pizza, and looked around the room.

“So…are we done now. It doesn’t seem like you guys have anything left to say.” He took a bite. “I mean anything that’ll matter.”

“We’re done.” Fang nodded, then looked around the room herself. “Rest well tonight, everyone, tomorrow we’ll see what the grading grounds throw at us.”

“You guys can rest. I’m about to go see if that woman is as wild as she claims she is.” Raptor left without further elaboration.

Magician felt like there was more to say, but only one thing that absolutely needed to be said. As everyone began to divvy up the leftovers, he came up to Ace. His approach interrupted a conversation between him and Andra, but Magician wanted her present and thought this would be best for both of them.

“Ace, while we have to figure out what we are, I think you have to reevaluate how you look at the darkness.”

Ace nodded. “I thought you might say that. I’ve been using the umbra as a weapon. By coating the edge of my blades with it, I can cut gods without struggling. But you make it sound like there’s a lot more I could do.”

“We were just talking about that.” Andra nodded. “There are not really concrete examples of dark gods in mythology. There are evil gods, and gods for things like sickness and death, but gods with dark powers are rare. The ones who do have them are kind of known for them, like Nyx and Erebus, or the Morigna. After everything you all said, I was thinking that Ace is a lot more like them than someone like Zeus.”

Magician smiled. “I wish I knew these names and could offer some theories about them, but you’re right. Being a dark god is different. You’re not dark-orange, you’re Dark and Orange. Right now, the orange is empowered by the desire to seek revenge, but what is the dark?” He searched Ace’s eyes. “I don’t think I can tell you, but I don’t think you need me to either.”

“Do you think there’s a dark name I need to find?” Ace searched back.

“No, you’re more like a node if we’re sticking to Micaela’s metaphor.” He drew a new star from the darkness and wrapped it in a cage. “You can never become a full conduit for the dark energy, but it meets you as it paths through the network. I think what you’re looking for is a…dark persona maybe. Something tied to the light within you.”

“Dark Persona…” Ace murmured.

“I can’t offer more than that, don’t know enough about gods.” Magician gave him an apologetic smile.

“It’s fine.” Ace smiled back. “All I needed was a place to start. I’m sure Phosphorus found an answer.”

That was it then. Magician had nothing left to say. He started pushing past them, trying to get some leftovers before there was nothing left to take, but Andra followed giving him pause.

“What are you doing tonight?” She met his eyes with such a look that his heart slammed against his ribs for the second time today. “It’s not a date,” She said as if she heard it, “I just figure we could talk about gods and myth. Maybe there’s more we can find out together.”

He laughed, “I guess I’m free then. I was going to keep working on my paths, but I can do that and talk.”

She started helping him collect things. “We’ll need a lot then. No stopping to grab food.”

Magician looked at Ace and got a shrug back. He looked around for Hope and got the same reaction. The only one who could soothe the confusion that crept into his mind rose from the table beside them.

“I think you’re finally getting proof that you’re on the team.” Khalaf grinned. “Enjoy it, because tomorrow feels like it’ll throw enjoyment out the window.”

Despite himself, Magician supposed he should. He had been so focused on raising his rank, that he hadn’t had the chance to worry about the grading grounds or what it’d truly mean to be graded…

[Chapter 15 ends…]