Chapter 8 Animate.
There was a knock at the door followed by a click from the latch. Isaac, who had been looking between the three copies of himself made of shadows, turned towards the door just in time to see Margaret push open the door. “Pardon me,” Margaret began. “but I assumed that you would be in need of some refreshments after your…” Her voice trailed off as she looked between Isaac and the copies of himself that were so black they were hard to look at directly. “enthusiastic celebration.” She finished.
“Thank you.” Isaac told her for going above and beyond her stated duties once again. Isaac knew that she was trying to get a wage increase as soon as possible, to shorten how long it would take her to pay off their debts, but that didn’t take away from how good Margaret was at her job.
Margaret bowed slightly at the thanks and wheeled the wooden serving cart through the threshold into Isaac’s office. She moved it out of the way and closed the door behind herself as she didn’t know if what was inside was meant to be shared with anyone else or not. “I have water, some of the mixed fruit juice from breakfast, everything necessary to brew you some tea, or I can go get something else if you wish.” She explained.
Isaac’s face lit up with an idea. “Just pour a glass of water for me and leave it on the cart. I trust you have a towel within reach?” He replied.
“Of course, my Lord.” Margaret told him and did as she was requested. She pulled a simple, perfectly clear, crystalline glass cup from the top shelf on the cart and filled it with water from a pitcher that somehow had frost coating it. She set it on the cart and waited to see if Isaac needed anything else, though, the real reason she didn’t excuse herself was because of her curiosity about what Isaac and his risen shadows would do.
Isaac nodded in thanks to Margaret and then turned to one of his shadows. “Solidify.” Isaac ordered the shadow and he felt a noticeable drop in the mana that should have been going towards his core as the construct’s mana density spiked. He glanced between the other two shadows. “Begone.” He spoke and they broke apart before drifting away on the mana flow that went through all of existence. He turned back to the first one. Now that the only two things drawing power from him were Shamesh and the singular silhouette in front of him, it was time for a real test. “Animate.” Isaac’s eyes widened in surprise at the almost nonexistent increase in mana regeneration loss. At first he thought that maybe it hadn’t worked but the shadow seemed to shift slightly and turn its head to keep him directly in front of its eyes.
Margaret gasped slightly at the sudden movement from the standing shadow.
Isaac smirked. “It worked.” He whispered to himself. “Good.” He then looked towards the glass of water. “Retrieve it for me.” He spoke to the shadow. Just the simple intrinsic intent, that came from words being directed towards a person or thing, was enough for the shadow to know that Isaac was talking to it and not Margaret.
The shadow turned and slid across the ground towards the cart at a steady speed. It took Isaac a moment to realize that it was moving at the speed of mana which was somewhere between a human’s speed walking, a lightfoot’s jog, and a dragon’s leisurely stroll. It reached out and clasped its hand around the glass before it turned around to move back to Isaac. Some of the water splashed out of the glass, at the quick turn, and immediately started soaking into the rug. Once the shadow was out of the way, Margaret moved to pad down as much of the water as she could.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Isaac reached out and took the glass from the shadow as it stopped in front of him. “I did it.” He whispered to himself again. “I speak and they will finally listen.” He eyed the shadow up and down as he drank from the mostly full glass. “Margaret, how would you feel about assisting me in a test of my new creation?”
Margaret swallowed as she eyed the standing shadow. “If I may ask, what might that entail, my Lord?” She wisely questioned.
“I want to see the extent of what this can do and how complex of orders it can follow.” Isaac explained. “I want you to order it around as you work, have it do various tasks and we can see how well it understands other people’s intent.”
“Intent?” Margaret asked.
“Yes.” Isaac replied simply. “So?”
“I, I suppose it would be alright, for a little while.” She conceded. “Though with how rough it was with the glass, I would hesitate to have it touch or move anything that is breakable.”
Isaac nodded in agreement. “That is a hesitation born of wisdom.” He agreed. “You will now have the designation: Shadow.” Isaac told the standing shadow. “Whenever Margaret gives you an order, fulfill it as she intends it to be fulfilled.” Isaac told the shadow. The shadow made no moves but simply stayed staring at him.
Margaret cleared her throat. “Uh, Shadow, come to me.” She directed the being made of mana. The shadow made no moves to comply with her order.
“Focus.” Isaac told Margaret. “Put some willpower into the order. Tell it what to do like a soldier would order her men.”
Margaret nodded once and squared her shoulders. She took a deep breath and pointed to the space next to her. “Shadow, fall in.” She ordered it but once again it made no moves.
“Fall in beside Margaret.” Isaac calmly instructed the shadow and it did as ordered without waver or hesitation. It stopped next to Margaret and then turned around to face him again. “I see.” Isaac said more to himself than to Margaret or the shadow. “Come back.” He told it and he returned to stand in front of him. “Thank you, Margaret, that will be all.”
Margaret bowed. “I am glad that I could assist you, my Lord.” She replied and left with the cart much the same way that she had entered.
Isaac eyed his shadow. “I got a level out of this.” He told his shadow once Margaret was gone. “I figured I would, but I still have no idea what uses I will have for this.” He shook his head. “Begone.” He ordered it and it broke apart much like its siblings. Isaac hummed in thought as his mind began coming up with ways to make his Scripted Shadow Control useful in combat. Shadows did not have a mind and thus could not follow orders but only intent. On one hand that severely lowered the utility of creating multiple shadow golems to do his bidding but on the other hand it meant that, theoretically, he should be able to mentally direct them in the same way that he did with shadows that were actively connected to him. Isaac cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. “It’s time to get to work. Lenna is going to be completely blindsided next time we spar.”
—
Lenna continued to sit cross legged in the ‘secret’ training area under their manor. Everyone that passed over her wasn’t permitted to even feel the presence of her aura as she guided it over and around each person. Madeline didn’t even notice the few degrees of increased heat in the front half of the manor as she went about her chores. Martha had unconsciously loosened her collar as she moved from little task to little task.
Lenna could feel each person and could tell what they were doing based on how her aura outlined them. She felt as Margaret entered Isaac’s study only to leave it a short while later. Based on her posture the woman was pushing a cart. Madeline was sweeping up after the latest delivery had, probably, tracked in more stone dust from outside. Martha was bouncing up and down as she bothered Shamesh who was, based on his location, posture, and movements, painstakingly going over every inch of either her or Isaac’s armor. Shamesh was making sure that everything would be as clean and polished as possible before they left on their trip.
Lenna’s attention paused on Shamesh and Martha as she felt the little one take something that Shamesh had offered her and then rub it on his face. Lenna snorted a laugh as she realized that she had to be polishing Shamesh’s bone so he would shine like that armor. She shook her head in disbelief at the young girl and magical bone creature’s antics. She smiled warmly to herself. “I am going to miss this while we are gone.” She said to herself and then chuckled. ‘I’m thinking out loud like Isaac again.’ She admonished herself internally. ‘It hasn’t been very long but those girls feel more like family everyday. That will make our homecoming all the better when we return. I just hope that Lenny and Fen will make good on their promises to be available for them.’