Seed 12

June 16, 2032.

“Welcome to Pustula!” Ultima declared aloud as we approached the settlement south of Cruorpool. It was a set of islands. All of them connected and interwoven into a single landmass through the cultivation of tree sargassum, able to be used as a sort of living chinampa and used to cultivate and grow food and expand the area of their home.

And it shielded them from the boiling seas. As well as used to dredge up salt and minerals. By harvesting the sap that could be up a third of its weight in metal. Which actually reminded me of some experiments back on Earth with phytomining which had become a growing industry in Indonesia and some other tropical countries.

Which actually put the Woven Realm ahead of my own in some respects since using plants to gather minerals has been done for centuries in Calafia. Their technology when it came to the use of biology was actually quite sophisticated. When it came down to their understanding of the body and of life.

That Ultima could cast a body-scanning spell with a twirl of her finger was incredible. She wasn't even a specialized Healer, being a jack-of-all-trades.

Her magic was… just so much more innate to her, in a way that it wasn't for me as a human. But that was something that could be worked on, developed, cultivated, and broken down. It was why I was holding a flat board of charm hazel wood I had asked Althea for.

Several sifra glyphs were carved into it using a knife, finely whittled into the flesh of the wood.

Ultima leaned forward, blazing eyes watching me with something like affection. “So you've been working on my suggestion on stronger materials to support glyphs?”

“Yes, paper is easy and cheap but a fragile conduit. The ink dissolves after one to three uses while the paper dissolves after three to five uses.” I patted the carved marking with a smug smile. “Carving glyphs on the ground doesn't appear to damage it aside from the natural side effects of a spell. Cloth materials seem to keep the energy inside. It might be useful for enchanting my clothing. I've also been considering whether it's possible to link glyphs together.”

“So you've been reading some of the books on textual magic?” Ultima asked curiously.

I nodded, placing a hand on my hip as I glanced up and down the dock of the settlement. “Cyfrinic was the main textual magic of the Isles. A script which adds certain properties to an object or individual, closely akin to bardic magic.” I followed Ultima as she led me into the maritime town, surrounded by a fleet of metal fishing boats, reflective steel shining in the day sun. “A single glyph is powerful, but it takes a lot of effort to shape it into a spell I want.”

Glyphs provided the correct forces for certain kinds of magic. But as I had learned from Arali, materials, shapes, thoughts, movements could be used to rearrange magical energy. I needed a focus to shape and direct magic like I wanted.

An arrangement of glyphs to command magic in a more ordered fashion might do the trick, I just needed to do research on how they could be linked together.

I tapped a glyph, and smiled as I saw the subtle warp in the fabric of reality, surging up my arm in a flash. I didn't see a hint of damage or decay, simply a shining glyph flickering off.

I cast away the energy into a blob of kinetic energy. Tossing it at the ocean where I left a splash of boiling sea where it struck.

I frowned. “I know there's more I can do with this. The main trouble would be that I'm still limited in the number of glyphs I can place on an object. If I figure out how to combine them that likely means a single spell per object. But separate glyphs would make it unwieldy.”

Ultima’s eyes widened. “You’re trying to create a spell focus aren't you?” She sounded both excited, eager, and proud, grinning from ear to ear. “Using glyphs in the right pattern to make it easier to cast spells.”

“Yep, so far I’m lacking the correct glyphs for it,” I replied with a grimace. “I need a glyph that can be used to store power and magical energy within my focus, fire is too volatile, water too fluid, and void is a conduit, king, and queen, definer and divider. It would be part of a spell-focus glyph combination, easing the manipulation and casting of the Craft but…”

“It's not what you want huh?” Arali added from his perch on Ultima’s broad shoulders. “Not the right elements?”

Ultima started. “Air, water, earth, and fire are considered base elements, embodying the physical world. Void seems to be another base element. Light and dark are also considered base elements, though there are theories that they are derived from an unknown base element.” The implication wasn't lost on me, void was an element not known to witchkind. “Derivative elements include lightning, kin to fire, metal, borne of earth. Light is… a finicky element, it's the energy of the stars, the guiding wavelength of the universe, the power of the Others, the opposite of Dark, the yang to the Titan’s yin, opposing yet complementary powers.”

“Light might be the correct glyph for this, but I have to discover what that glyph looks like. Kaba is another ancient root word, so that's a good place to start. Which reminds me, why are we on Pustula again?”

Ultima gave a crooked smirk. “Just here to meet some old friends.”

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“Just some old friends huh?” I raised an eyebrow at my mentor as we watched a chaotic sport play out. It was a massive square of smoothly cut grass. Four corners marked with different colors, and a central net in the center in the shape of a cross.

Hundreds of people were gathered, watching with anticipation as four teams of four battled for supremacy. Witches were gathered all around, wearing uniforms designating their teams, huddled together as they prepared.

“Well, tahaz-pealla is a game played by some of my old friends from back when I was just a girl,” Ultima just smiled at my pout. “Two of my old friends are actually on one of the teams playing.” She pointed them out, claws radiating out for emphasis.

I blinked as she pointed out a blue team, wearing cute scarves to designate their team. The blue team had a male dwarf, an arimaspi woman, a spiderfolk woman, and a guy satyr. Who was kicking his hooves on the ground with a smirk on a narrow bearded face.

The dwarf was slightly taller than Arali, with a stout frame and limbs and broad-clawed hands. Skin of pale silver covered in hair, lips pulled back to reveal chisel-shaped teeth. His large beard and wavy head hair was colored like rust. And he wore a shirt and vest and work pants, neck covered in a blue scarf.

The arimaspi are a one-eyed witch species, possessing a single massive eye, which acts as a sort of plenoptic camera, an optical array of lens combining thousands of images into a singular image. They could see from nearly three hundred sixty degrees, at the cost of resolution… without extra optical processing being dedicated.

Individuals were either nearsighted or farsighted, able to see very clearly from far away or from close up, brain structures specializing for one or the other to reduce the energy costs.

The spiderfolk were one of the beastfolk, the witches who resemble the animalistic other kind. Bearing the features of man and beast to a human like myself. The player in question was an unsettling mix of spider and human, obscured under layers of white silk cloth finely patterned with black webbing, with eight jointed limbs, their position hidden by her outfit. She had four eyes and slightly tanned skin, and her snarl revealed fangs dripping venom.

The satyr had a humanoid torso ending in a pair of furry, goat-like legs with cloven hooves for feet. Plus horns, furry ears, and short tails with rectangular pupils, and wore a shirt and loose shorts to protect his modesty.

“Which two are your friends?” I asked as I glanced over at my mentor.

“The dwarf and the spiderfolk woman, Erik Varangr, and Emilia Reclusa are friends from my days after I graduated from our local katecheo. Think of a combined elementary school and high school,” she added before I could raise a question. “It's how the Chantry can stuff people’s brains full of propaganda and push out the Old Ways.”

“Sounds about right, now can you let me watch the game, please? I'm curious.” Ultima quieted down, instead ruffling my head with her long clawed fingers, a gentle scrape along my scalp.

It was oddly nice.

“Sure, kiddo.”

The other teams were mostly baseline witches, with one or two beastfolk, and a single centaur holding a wooden stick that gleamed with faint magic. I waited with bated breath… and the field exploded with action.

The field was filled with blasts of magic as a ball was tossed onto the field. I noted how players were split into their respective roles. The blue team satry played the most offensive role, headbutting and kicking players with ridiculous force, and casting concussive spells with a cackle, blasts of fire and blunt buffeting wind.

The arimaspi was running and scoring herself, practically blurring into insane bursts of speed to launch the ball into their goal, and covering against certain players of the other teams. The dwarf seemed to be leading his team with gusto, playing an amazing defensive dance and slamming his stick into the ever-thrown ball to feed them to the satyr and the arimaspi. While the spider woman used her many limbs to play the ultimate defense, partnering with the dwarf to allow for offensive plays.

She was using magic to compensate for having only a single ball-tossing stick, clawed digits surrounded in solid light to bat the ball. A scorer from an opposing team tried to cover Erik and received a devastating earthen blow when Erik covered his fist in rock.

I took an excited breath as sixteen witches warped existence around their fingers, and my eyes felt… itchy and strange. What was wrong with me?

Ultima noticed, and bumped my shoulder with hers. “Do you need a break from all the noise?”

I felt a twinge of happiness for how willing she was to make accommodations. “I don’t know, my eyes just feel… itchy, and I can smell something in the air.” It was a wild fragrance, like the richness of the forest, the salt of the sea breeze and the warm smell of smoke and flames

“I think you’re starting to get a better hang of sensing magic,” Ultima whispered sharply over the loud voices of the crowd. “Try to focus on the focal points I’ve told you about, try to calm down the flow.”

Her touch grounded me, along with the bloodthirsty shouts of Arali.

I closed my eyes. Continuing to feel that strange sensation under my skin, a writhing, twisting, multitudinous force, and aligned my body into a more comfortable position. I exhaled, and with it came the sensation of energy, like a rippling vapor flowing within my body.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

It pooled around the base of my spine. The energy there was heavy and dense, and I spread it outward and downward from the base of the spine, letting it swirl freely. It felt like the roots of myself, so I pushed the energy up, like the water inside a tree.

The energy settled around my loins, well around the sacrum really but same difference. The power shifted, becoming flowing and liquid like water as it reached my stomach, and I sighed in discomfort. One, two, three.

The third pool settled around my liver, and it whirled away , spreading throughout my solar plexus like air. I noted how the energy points seemed to have some… overlap, swirling vortices of power spreading out more like organs of the soul.

I pushed up again, and the air heated and exploded into flame right around my heart, like a firestorm was spinning inside my rib cage. I let my mind wander and flit about, ignoring the outside tingle of magic that made my skin itch.

In… and out, out and in.

Up and up the fire in my heart went, twisting and writhing as it shifted, becoming less and less solid, until it became a darkness writhing in my throat, like an orchestra dancing along the tissue of my vocal chords. Again.

The vapor rose once more, becoming less and less dark until it became light itself. A whorl of starlight right at my forehead, at the brow of my skull. I blinked rapidly, glancing at the field, at the strange echoing aura surrounding the witches for a split second. I felt less itchy, but there was one more to go through.

The light between my eyes began to morph and change as I pushed it higher, becoming more abstract, more ephemeral, until it became a void of infinite potential and thought, settling at the crown of my head.

I held the trickle of energy there for just a moment before letting go.

And watched the game.

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“Let me take a look at her!” I was jostled as Erik boomed loudly in greeting. Emilianna silently skittered behind him with a faint grin. “So this is your new apprentice ehh Ulti? She's a small one, I thought all humans were giants?”

I blinked at the dwarf’s response. “Average human height varies a lot though? Some humans can be almost nine feet tall and weigh over four hundred pounds, or only two feet tall and thirty pounds, including disorders and so on. Healthier ranges are in the under five to seven-foot range.”

Erik blinked. “Oh. Well, that's certainly a familiar sight.” There was a quiet sadness in those wide reflective eyes and Ultima’s smile twitched downwards at his response.

“Huh?” I blinked, confused at his words.

Ultima gave me a sad smile. “He's talking about my sister.”

“You have a sister?” Why hadn't I been told about her before? Was she just as incredible as Ultima? Could I meet her?

“I did, she was a witch who was incredibly curious about the world and about magic and all it was capable of,” her gaze was distant, staring past me entirely. “A lot like you actually, if a tad more neurotic.”

“You never talk about her.” I pointed out, uncertain of whether or not it was a good idea to ask.

“She died a few years after I took in Arali as an egg,” Ultima’s expression was full of pain. “She worked for the Chantry, joining their ranks to help out our family while I became a lawless witch. It’s been more than ten years now.”

“Oh.” I said quietly, not sure how to feel about that. Hadn’t I faced the same pain too? “I… I’m sorry.”

Ultima shook her head, carding her fingers through my hair with an affectionate chuff. “Nothing you could have done about it, Celia.”

“Not unless you want to burn down a Chantry temple or two,” Erik pointed out with a bitter laugh, and Ultima glared. “Sorry, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But she’s your sister not mine.”

“No, she was your friend too.” Ultima sighed, and I frowned when she pulled her hand away, just giving me a soft look. “Adalise would have loved you.”

I smiled. “I think dad would have liked you too.” Was all I said, and realization spread across her face.

She didn’t comment on it, but she understood and took a deep breath, heat rushing into the room as her power pressed down into reality.

“So this is the little bird you’ve picked up,” the atmosphere shifted when a certain spider stepped into the picture. “She’s quite compact is she not? Very tiny.”

Emilia was larger than I expected. Easily half a head taller than Ultima who was already around six feet. Now that she was closer I could see how strange her frame was, a trait she shared with Erik.

Both had a barrel chest, segmented and insect-like, like a thorax, though Erik had an impossible broad back, sort of like an upright beetle or turtle. I did remember that dwarves had an armored hunch formed from layers of bone matrix. He just looked off at a glance…

Emilia’s cloak had openings for limbs to come out of, two of them being black chitinous but humanoid limbs, and two more much longer pairs projected from behind her, revealing five segmented fingers ending with red claws, and she was hanging in the air off of the rear pair, crab walking. Wait, what did she call me?

I stuck out my tongue. “Don’t birds eat spiders?”

The pale spider woman released an unsettling giggle, four beady black eyes dancing with delight. “Oh, she is quite feisty for a human. How long has she been your student?”

“Four weeks?” Ultima said with a tilt of her head. Arali was hanging off her back, tail curled around her to keep himself in place. “Celia’s been pretty eager to learn, even discovered a new form of magic.”

I blushed. “That’s not that special is it?”

Erik guffawed. “I would say it is rare. I doubt you want to hear it but that’s a rather special thing you did. Won’t say anymore though if you don’t want to.”

I smiled gratefully at the dwarf. I really didn’t want the label of gifted child again.

“So you guys did pretty well on scoring for tahaz-pealla,” war ball was an interesting name for it. “It was close.”

Emilia giggled. “Oh it was quite challenging, we only lost by one goal,” she scowled, a low haunting chitter filling the air. “But I’m glad you enjoyed watching us, even if your teacher bet against us.”

I turned my head to Ultima, and she whistled innocently. “What? I need some extra coins now and then. A couple thousand coins is pretty good.”

I snorted, rolling my shoulders to get the crick out of my neck. The crowd of witches was gradually spacing out in the aftermath of the game, and I could hear lots of sharp whispers, a few gesturing to their golm-speakers with worried expressions.

What?

“—another lawless witch coven destroyed…”

“Grand Magister Thorsten slaughtered them… for consorting with dark spirits—”

I gulped.

“—bodies were floating downstream of Capillus…”

Ultima hissed, and I was pulled away in a hurry, every side covered by her, Erik and Emilia.

“What’s going on?” I asked quietly.

“It’s never good when that monster is active, Thorsten is a real piece of work, he’s the head of the Circle of Danab, so he’s got access to hundreds of warrior witches, and can levy thousands if he gets permission.”

“Hundreds of witches?” I said.

“Impressive, no?” Emilia chittered, a hint of distaste in her voice.

“Because of the magic, yes, but the numbers are small for me. My home region houses at least a hundred sixty thousand soldiers, and it’s only slightly smaller than Danab. Though we are considered a major military center in our country.”

Erik blinked slowly, and whistled. “Do you think…”

“I wouldn’t recommend it, at all.” I wasn’t going to go into detail on the likelihood of the United States… or frankly any country not pulling a region as divided as this one apart. “But why are we leaving so soon then?”

“Things tend to get dicey when there’s news like this. I do have a price on my head, and a certain Clanheir is still after you.”

“Oh. Makes sense, is Arali falling asleep? It’s only six.”

Ultima glanced at my eyes with a raised brow. “Better extra sleep than none with those bags of yours. I bet you’ll pass out when we get home.”

“No, I’ve got research to do.”

“Sure you do.” We headed towards the docks for open space to take off, and I bristled at the comment.

I was not passing out like a little kid…

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Her two kids had immediately crashed after their trip to Pustula. Arali had tugged the older teenager onto the couch for cuddling that had caused her to pass out in an instant. Ultima pulled off her cloak and delicately laid it over them, kicking off her shoes a second later.

It was a blissful silence that hung in the air, and Ultima laughed as she brushed back her white unruly bangs, claws tenderly unraveling knots in them. She emptied out all the money she had earned with her bet on Blue Team, dropping several thousand peca into a jar labeled ‘Medical Expenses’ for both Arali and Celia.

The house rippled and pulsed, and Ultima braced herself, Luna popping out of her staff in a blink.

The children sleep soundly, my Keeper. Peace be upon you, Luna.

Her familiar spoke, chittering and wingbeats became words, becoming language. “Thanks to you, Bayit. You provide them with comfort, safety, and strength.”

Ultima just smiled. “They’re good kids, even if they aren't really mine.” Arali had a parent at some point, she knew that much, and Celia had her mother still with her.

Bayit laughed. ‘Do not deny the truth, even now I see those bonds you have built. Everything alive is connected, ties that bind you to both the Child of Man and the Child of Dark. Both their souls are wreathed in your energies, claimed and marked.’

Ultima didn't deny it. But I can't accept that, I shouldn't. Not with the mistakes I've made, not with the things I've done.

Luna sighed, wrapping her soft fuzzy wings around her witch. Ultima felt their connection, as she projected images and feelings of love and affection. “They aren't her, my witch. You have done your best for Arali, and you have treated Celia as her own person. She cares deeply for you.”

She simply gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I've only known her for four weeks, Luna.”

Our point still stands. Celia has grown in leaps and bounds, she is beginning to open the World Eyes, as a Child of Man. I've not seen it ever done.

Bayit pointed out what she had seen of her apprentice today, and she couldn't disagree. Humans and witches were different, but how true was that really?

Humans were poorly known as a whole. None had shown up in at least three cycles of one hundred and eight years. They didn't lack souls, but couldn't use their khi to extend beyond the body and interact with the environment. She had thought perhaps they lacked the nodes of the soul, divided into the seven princely mendicants and one hundred eight sub-channels.

But they don't, Celia isn't missing a single one, same for her mother.

“Humans are weird, they've got all the machinery needed for the Craft, but none of their energy flows freely. Celia though… I've been getting her into meditation, trying to get her connected to her soul. Hasn't done much but… I'm thinking the glyphs are the key there.”

Luna laughed softly. “You've done more than anyone else could have done my Witch.”

“I just want my student to do well. But it's hard when I don't always know what she needs.” She confessed as her student grumbled, clutching Arali to her chest.

You are doing well, do not doubt yourself so much.

Ultima shook her head, and with a quiet and uncertain smile ruffled her apprentice’s hair.

“I'll… try.”