Alice looked inward, this time immersing herself fully into the roiling waves of her core. She appeared once more inside the hall inside her soul and looked around, surprised. Coming back here hadn’t been her intention, but if she could get some experimentation done here, it’d be a nice bonus. With a start, she noticed that there was a small, almost imperceptible tether, more felt than seen, coming from within her core of Ether that attached itself to the middle of her chest. If she tugged with enough force, she knew that she’d find herself again amidst the deadened fields of the Mistfall killzone.
Carefully, she tried to pull off some of the Ether atop the pedestal that sat in the middle of her soul. Surprisingly, a thin thread of Pain approached her from the floating orb, and she felt like she had better control here than anywhere else.
A prickling sensation on the back of her head made Alice’s hair stand on end, and she instinctively knew that any mistake here would be amplified. Pondering if it was worth the added control in exchange for the augmented risk, she finally nodded to herself, confident she could get it right without catastrophically failing.
Pulling on the thread of Pain, Alice sat down and studied the strange energy. It behaved like a gas, but if she directed it with her will, it almost looked like a very stretchy solid or a syrupy liquid. Intently focusing on her energy, she gathered more and more into a ball. There was a lot, but less than when she had tried to create [Torment].
Staring at it, she felt her eyes watering and stinging, but she refused to look away. After a minute of careful observation, she once more noticed the black shapes that swam inside the currents of her Ether. Black chains, the exact replica of the ones that hung up above her soul.
Directing her attention towards those shapes, she tried to isolate one, only for it to slip away and join the larger gathering of Ether. The next two attempts to do the same thing bore no fruit, and Alice abandoned that method.
Going back to just staring at her Ether in search of a clue, Alice was struck with a sudden thought. What if instead of isolating the chains, she moulded her Ether into chains?
The process was a lot more complicated than she thought it’d be. First came the first link. Her first try was a small oval shape, too tiny and thin to do anything. As she started filling it with Ether and upping its size, the small link slowly grew into a loop made of pure ether that was more or less the size of her palm. Big enough to be a nuisance and not so small it wouldn’t do anything. The next loop came into being easier than the first one, and the next one even more so.
As she built her chain, she started to notice how it was slowly deviating from her own design. The links started to grow rusty and jagged, cruel barbs and hooks at every corner as each loop became more blocky instead of retaining the oval shape she had seen in every chain. Alice didn’t resist the change, as she had noticed that her spell was taking the form of the very chains above her head.
Just as she finished the last link of what she felt was a reasonable length, a small notification popped at the edge of her vision, completely see-through. She felt that she could dismiss it with a mere thought, but she wasn’t busy at the moment, so she brought it up.
Skill-up.
[1.1 Mindtap] up to [1.2]
It was a surprising change if a welcome one. She had definitely felt the change in how easily her Ether was handled at the end, and Alice was happy about it. Anything that helped her manipulate her Ether was something she desperately wanted.
As she finished up her chain, she noticed an angry-red orb within the very light of her soul, above the spyglass that was set on the raised dais that she knew represented her Explorer profession.
She approached it curiously, the unfinished spell in hand trailing on the floor behind her. Beneath the rattling of the chain, if she focused, she could almost hear a kind of… wailing, that set her teeth on edge. The mess of chains above her soul rattled and moved in an unseen wind, creating a cacophony of whispering sounds that both soothed Alice and froze the blood within her veins.
Quickly, she plunged her hand within her Ether, basking in the brief stab of pain that covered it as she retrieved the sphere. A prompt appeared to glow on top of the sphere, and she noticed that it was the exact same one [Torment] had. Did the object represent her spell?
Objects representing things that were tied to her soul seemed to be a running theme, as she had noticed with the strange spyglass.
Curiously, she stared at one of the walls within the pentagonal room, and she tried to picture a kind of stand or shelve where she could present each object in an orderly fashion, and not have everything eventually cluttering the floor of her soul. That just seemed like a bad idea.
Once more, she was taken aback by how much easier it was to manipulate her Ether while inside her soulspace, as a gathering of chains fell down from the ceiling in a teeth-rattling mess of noise, only to tangle themselves further like coiling vines from some kind of ancient, unspeakable monstrosity. Taking a step back, Alice noticed how each chain was slowly merging into a coherent whole.
After a moment of waiting, two blackened pedestals appeared in front of her, jagged and cruel. Carefully, Alice placed her orb into one, and when it became locked in place, Alice tried the same thing with her chain, only for it to get angrily rebuffed and sent back to her.
Groaning, she remembered that she hadn’t actually finished the spell. Not wanting to test a newly formed spell within her soul, she tugged on the tether.
After rapidly blinking to wash away the disorientation that came with instantaneously switching environments, Alice noticed that the other four were engaged in deep conversation, not sparing a glance towards her, except for Olivia, who occasionally seemed to check up on her.
Once the blonde saw that she was awake, she fully turned towards Alice, her action causing the rest of the group to look at her askance. The others mimicked Olivia a second later.
Alice tried to not let the pressure of four almost-complete strangers intently staring at her get to her nerves. To no avail, she had to look away once the staring became uncomfortable.
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Looking for a target whilst maintaining her hold on her Etheric chain she found one of the smallest rocks within the field, almost the size of her upper body. A perfect target.
Pointing at the rock, the name of her creation came unbidden from her lips, and a smile curled them as she noticed the warmth travelling from her core and towards the palm of her hand.
“[Oppress].”
A crackle of blackened, rusted and jagged chains burst forth from within her palm, flying the small distance towards her target and coiling around it. Alice watched with surprise as small chips of rock went flying all around her target. the tears and grooves her chains made left an angry, deep red colouration within the stone that told Alice that in no uncertain terms she should touch that.
With a mental prod, she noticed that this was only the first half of her spell, and as she wondered where the second one came from, she spoke once again.
“[Ruin].”
The chains bulged, then pressed down with a last squeeze that made a sonorous crack resonate across the field. Alice watched, wide-eyed, as the stone crumbled into separate chunks of varying sizes. Startled, she took a peek at her soul and status, finding more than half of her Ether gone. She guessed that most of it came from actually crafting the spell from earlier, and another, bigger chunk from the actual casting. As she let [Ruin] go forth she had noticed a significant drain on her Soul. That might be an issue in prolongated fights.
Well, she couldn’t do anything about it, at least not yet, so she put her energy issues out of her mind.
Two prompts graced her vision, and their sight made her smile like a hyena who had just spotted dinner.
Success!
You have created [Oppress/Ruin].
Learn?
Yes/No
Level-up.
Acolyte of Pain [1. 1] up to [1.2]
+3 Vitality, +4 Power, +1 Control, +3 Free.
She, of course, thought ‘yes’ even before she had finished reading the prompt. The prospect of actually getting to use her new spell filled her mind with giddy anticipation.
This time she focused on her body, and she could almost feel her skin becoming tougher. Not more leathery or rough, but harder to pierce. The small stones she had sat on as she delved into her soul didn’t poke her flesh that much now, and she could barely tell there was a small breeze crossing the clearing. That more Vitality gave better insulation was a thing she was rather glad of, as an aspiring explorer. One never knew when they’d find themselves in hostile terrain.
Quickly, she assigned her points where she felt they were needed the most, then proceeded to read the description of her new spell.
Strength
7→
8
Vitality
8→
11
Agility
9→
10
Reaction
9→
10
Power
12→
16
Control
9→
10
Oppress/Ruin [1.1]
Ash to ash, bone to bone. Macabre fetters darken your soul, and so they shall one day blacken the skies. Smother the light within, silence as your only witness.
Range: Moderate/None.
Cost: Small [Sustained]/Moderate.
Damage: Small [Sustained]/Major.
Other: Enhances bleeding/Corrupts injuries.
— Gaze upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.
Delighted, she hopped up, her limbs now slightly more nimble and responsive. She loved the feeling of advancement, the rush of seeing how her stats translated to this new and wonderful reality.
She almost felt like laughing out loud, were it not for the stares she was receiving from the other members of her group.
Even their weirded-out stares couldn’t really put a damper on her mood, immune for once to the mood of the people around her. It felt freeing.
“So, are we going in? We still have some hours of daylight, I think.” Alice asked, ignoring the wary glances and general unease of the group.
Olivia nodded after an uncomfortably long pause. “Yeah, we can make a small expedition.” She pulled out a small booklet and snapped it open on a page bookmarked with a small piece of flat wood. “If this is right, and it should be, there should only be beasts up to high tier one within the first ring of the forest, and a bit less if we stay near the shallower part of it and near the city.”
Alice tilted her head, and Arwen asked their self-appointed leader the question that had been burning the tip of her tongue for her. “You got a guide?”
Olivia smiled in that painfully bright way that made Alice want to hide in a corner. “Yeah, you didn’t?”
The rest of them nodded, and Alice felt relieved. She wasn’t the odd one out here, for a change of pace.
“Oh well, I can share it with you later. If you ask the Delvers for a copy they’ll give you the basic guide to the Blossom. It should have everything we need until we’re Tier Two at the least, and I’m sure there are advanced copies."
That made sense to Alice, even if not having thought of asking for something similar stung.
Well, she could always make up for it within the Blossom.
“So, who’s the spearhead?” Asked Alice, and every pair of working eyes within the field instantly turned to Julian and Noah. Both guys stood up and glanced at each other as they did so.
“Who will stay in the back of the group?” Asked Noah, and Julian immediately pointed at him.
“You can take a hit without flinching better than me, and if we get ambushed by some critter you’ll be able to survive better. I can see anything coming from the front and quickly apply a rune if I need it.”
Noah nodded after a moment, clasping hands with the other young man. “Your logic is sound, even if I don’t like being relegated to the backline. All right, I accept.”
“Well, with that settled we can finally get going.” Commented Olivia. “Everyone ready?”
A series of nods answered her, and the blonde’s lips stretched upwards in a smirk you could almost call hungry. “Let’s hunt some bugs.”
Alice couldn’t wait until they found some kind of ruin, even if that meant going deeper than the rest were comfortable with.
What marvels could possibly await inside?
She couldn’t wait to find out, a maddened glint dancing in her eyes, unseen by all.
The first step of many.