Chapter 7 The Great Futures.
“A book of memories yet to be written, a painting of sights yet to be seen, a song of melodies yet to be heard, a play of decisions yet to be made.” Aria began. The chalk lines drawn into the smooth, well fit together, wooden floor started to glow a soft white that steadily turned cerulean blue. The orange flames of the white stick candles doubled in size and turned a deep red that was the perfect inverse of the glowing chalk lines. The sand in the hour glasses all started to flow upwards as the ritual began in earnest. “A singing pop-out picture book in the palms of my hands, as knowledge yet to be known is brought forth from the four winds of time. Give me a glimpse of the great futures. Show the sights that shouldn’t be seen.”
The room darkened so completely that only things actively producing light could be seen, everything else was merely a silhouette. Aria twitched and spasmed in pain in her seated position. She grunted as it felt like someone was grinding sand against her eyeballs. A moment passed in total silence save for the gentle pouring of the upwards going sand and the sizzling of the glowing chalk as it boiled away. After the better part of a minute of silence, Aria fainted. She slumped over herself and ungracefully rested her forehead on the floor. A few seconds later, the chalk finished burning itself out and the candles, that looked like they could have burned for hours before the ritual had begun, had burned out. The hourglasses started flowing normally and the room brightened back to normal levels.
Claus was at Aria’s side as soon as the ritual finished burning itself out and he helped her sit up. Aria groaned in pain and in protest as he moved her. Once she was sitting upright again her eyes were closed and tears of blood had marked her face in a pair of long crimson lines. She took in a deep breath and tried to open her eyes only to stop almost immediately. “Ow, ow, ouch.” She fired off and quickly gave up opening them until she was properly healed. Claus just shook his head as his massive paws enveloped her small shoulders to keep her stable and upright. “This is awful.” She declared. “I am never doing this again.”
“As much as I would love to thank you for going through with this, and maybe pick on you for looking like shit, Aria, are you going to be alright?” Isaac asked her.
“I need a priest.” Aria grumbled.
“What?” Isaac asked dumbfounded.
“I am completely out of mana and need a real healer, no offense Lenna, to dump their mana pool into my eyeballs while they are kept submerged in hot water to get all the blood out of them.” Aria explained. “Now, while it’s fresh in my mind, let me tell you everything that I saw.”
“Is it all lethal?” Isaac wondered with a hint of horror in his voice.
“Oh, right, you only wanted to know the super bad things.” Aria said and thought for a moment. She mouthed something here and there for a minute before she settled on something. “You will fight many battles and many of them will push you to the brink, who knows, you might even die in one or two of them but those deaths should not be the end of your story. There is one battle that will certainly end in both yours and Lenna’s permanent deaths.” She warned. “There will come a time when something will cause you to go on a rampage in Contantis, Isaac. Lenna will follow you but together you will not be enough to raze the city. When the time comes that you feel the urge to bring the former home of your wife to ruin, do not. You must wait until… until a dragon can tear the walls asunder. But not any dragon, a white dragon with black flames that is large enough to blot out the sun.”
“That is a lot.” Isaac told her.
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“Far more than I was expecting.” Lenna agreed.
“I mean, it’s a lot to take in, not a lot about our future. Something will happen that will cause me to want to tear Contantis apart at the seams, but what?” Isaac wondered.
“I have no idea.” Aria replied. “Just remember, Isaac, do not even think about going into Contantis without a white dragon with black flames that is the size of an inn. Anything else, anything less will be suicide.”
Isaac nodded even though she couldn’t see him. “I will. You said that Lenna would follow me which means that Lenna being there will not be the reason.” Isaac agreed and then speculated. “What could cause me to do something so reckless?”
Aria shook her head. “I have no idea.” She repeated. “Now, Isaac, you and Lenna should leave so Claus can lock the door behind us.” She told the people she had temporarily given her sight for. “Claus, be a dear and carry me to the temple of Halya. Those priests have nothing better to do underground. Everyone knows Halya doesn’t help mushrooms grow because they are not actually plants.”
Claus sighed and scooped her up like a sick child. “Key.” Claus said and nodded towards where a key sat on the counter. Isaac got up and grabbed the key and he and Lenna followed Claus and his burden out. Isaac locked the door behind them and handed the key to Claus. “Thanks.”
Isaac nodded in reply to him and looked at Aria. “Thanks, Aria, I mean it.” He told her.
“Yeah, yeah, the best way you can thank me is by listening to what I told you.” She told him. She then shifted slightly to point in the direction that Claus was facing, which just happened to be a wall. “Onwards my noble steed, to a healer!”
—
After leaving Claus and Aria to enlist the aid of the healers of Halya, the duo went to the general store and stocked up on preserved food. They then went to the Adventurers’ Guild and received a caravan protection job that would begin in two day’s time. Once that was out of the way the duo returned home and began working on their respective abilities and skills that needed attention while they still had a space of safety and silence.
Lenna had been controlling her aura, like before, in an attempt to cross over the threshold into level eighteen. Her aura slipped seamlessly over and around everyone that passed through it without it ever affecting them. She had restarted her training around the time the duo had headed to the dining room for breakfast. The mental strain was noticeable but not too much for her to bear. The real test was one of endurance. She had to make it a full day once again and this time the prospect of maintaining perfect aura control over such a flimsy yet powerful aura such as hers, one built on hatred that could easily turn to apathy if not focused on, was one that was possible but daunting to the greatest degree.
Isaac was once again locked in his office staring at his shadow. “Why, why won’t you just stay?” He asked his shadow with narrowed eyes. “What am I missing?”
Isaac gestured upwards and his shadow rose up to stand in front of him. “Now, just stay, just don’t fall apart or move as soon as I let go.” He told his shadow as if it could nod in response. The thought of making it do just that crossed through his mind but he quickly shook it away and refocused. As soon as Isaac released his direct mental control over the shadows they dissipated back into mana, again. “Damn it.” Isaac swore under his breath and then gestured for the fiftieth time for it to rise.
“Just, just Stay.” Isaac said with clear frustration and animated hand movements. His control slipped during that brief moment of outburst but the shadow did not start to drift away. Standing there, right in front of him was his silhouette. “What?” Isaac asked himself, mana, and his shadow. He reached out and touched his shadows gingerly. The simple contact seemed to break something and the shadows drifted away as if on an invisible wind. “Huh?” Isaac questioned in horror. “What happened? Why did it stay? Why did it go?” He questioned in panic. “Ugh why won’t thi-” Isaac shut himself up as he realized what he had done. When he had ordered the shadows to stay with more than just his words or intent but with the mana in his core, his entire being, the shadows had listened. When he had touched them, he had moved them which made them no longer stay exactly how he had originally intended which caused them to break continuity with the order he had given.
Isaac looked down at his shadow once more. “Rise.” He ordered it and his silhouette rose up to meet him. “Stay.” He ordered and it maintained its position and orientation perfectly. Isaac walked around it once and immediately noticed that it was a three dimensional copy of him, not a two dimensional silhouette. He also realized that it was flimsy and that some of the mana that should have been going towards his core was being directed away from it, before it even entered him, and into the silhouette to keep its integrity. Isaac let out a chuckle as he realized he had done it. His chuckle turned into a cackle and before long a deep roar of laughter, that could have come from the dark lord that Izen had satirically mentioned he could become, reverberated and echoed down the halls. He had done it. Now, even without a direct connection or constant focus, the shadows themselves would obey him.