Seed 3

The dream is strangely empty as dreams go. A blank and swirling mindspace of empty human thought. But it was colored by something else, a structure of mind that was not remotely human, vast and deep like the ocean, like the abyss, like the endless yawning void between the stars.

It was structured and dense and modular, a trillion minds made One, overlapping lines of code and instinct, all of them focused on me, with a winking eye of gold held within the prismatic cosmic horror of blacker than black mind. Traces of light fill that dark, in crimson and rust and pink.

The gold winks shut, and is replaced by a pair of eyes made of stars. Swallowing up the light. And it rose, revealing a body of prismatic crystalline flesh. The deep darkness shifting and morphing, a creature larger than anything I could comprehend. So large it pierced past the bounds of the atmosphere, reaching into the inner edges of space. With exaggerated features of hair and bone and flesh, legs merged into a single column before splitting apart as needed, and wings unfolding like flowers, spreading from horizon to horizon as it crossed a dark sea.

It wasn't alone, there were Others walking among them, some merely the size of islands, with legs high as mountains and heads the size of small towns, and others were even larger than it, more like walking continents than individuals.

The Entity glanced down with eyes reflecting gold and cerise. “What are you?” I asked with curiosity, with awe. Mesmerized by the cosmic beauty of the strange giant. There was a quiet and mournful expression on their face, and it loomed as it extended a hand a third the length of my home county.

I am.

Moment by moment its presence shrank until it was a thousandth of its original size, only large enough to cup a ship rather than an entire mountain.

“I don’t understand.” Two massive fingers poked me, one placed on my brow and the other on my chest, right above my breast. Those eyes of stars simply winked, one after the other.

The answer and the question.

I didn't understand what it was… She meant, but I did feel the pressure on my back, like the weight of the world was being placed on my shoulders. “That’s not helpful.”

You must listen between. The voices are quiet, drowned, stilled.

There was heat growing between my eyes and my upper chest. “How does this help me? How does this tell me what you are? Who are you?”

Find the void. Only then will your voice carry.

Everything became light as the dream was filled with an endless flood of gold.

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May 24th, 2032.

I woke to an unfamiliar ceiling. Painted with symbols and runes and images, many of them flying creatures like dragons and birds and insects with wings like glass.

Oh. That was real, wasn't it?

I breathed out, wondering how the hell that had worked. My mom was a suspicious sort. I was her only child and she was protective of me. But somehow she had bought our poor excuses, and Ultima had said she hadn't even used a single spell aside from her illusions.

Did mama want to get rid of me that much?

I slapped my face. Taking a deep breath as I ignored my intrusive thoughts and buried them deep down. “Okay, you're officially the apprentice of a real-life witch, a master of the mystic arts, act like it.”

Should I find a suitably witchy outfit… wait would I even know what that meant? I doubt my world’s ideas were going to be completely accurate, I could easily do something offensive by mistake.

I sighed as I changed my outfit to something clean and more suitable. Shimmying out of my jeans was always a problem. So I replaced them with the weirdly durable pair of gray sweatpants my mom had bought for me. My pajama shirt was exchanged for a black button-up top. I carefully brushed my hands through my hair, carefully unraveling knots and twisted masses of black hair until my hair was good enough.

Once that was done I took a deep breath and stepped out of the dusty bare room I had been offered by Ultima. I walked out into the halls, and towards the stairs. The first floor was dedicated to her kitchen, living room, and some type of research room for potions and other volatile magic experiments. The second floor had numerous rooms, four in total, and there was an attic above that for storing random junk. So I had gotten set up in a guest room. Oh wait, the first floor also had a laundry room.

I walked down the stairs and was greeted with a scene of controlled chaos. Luna was playing with Arali, keeping him occupied with a game of tag. Ultima was shuffling between numerous old tomes and cooking a meal that looked like scrambled eggs and potatoes… but I don't think eggs are supposed to be scarlet red.

“Umm?” I cleared my throat to catch their attention, and Arali reacted first.

“You’re still here? So we’re not eating her?” I narrowed my eyes at him and bared my teeth.

Ultima just laughed. “I doubt you could manage that, you still haven't hit your growth spurt, and she's tougher than she looks.” I flushed, remembering that yesterday a three-legged fish-dog thing had tried to eat me. So I ended up kicking it and breaking its jaw. “Anyways I've been looking into what I can, don't have much of a lesson plan but I can start with the basics.”

“That does seem relevant,” I pointed out, and a question popped into my mind. “What is magic exactly? Where does it come from?”

Ultima gestured for me to approach, casting a gentle witch light with a twitch of her fingers.

“Magic is the ability to enact our will on reality, to shape the world with the energies of life itself.” Ultima spoke honestly, gently weaving her witch light into a stream of colors. “Long ago, it was once said that the ancestors of the first witches practiced a form of internal alchemy, a purification of the energy in their bodies which allowed them to defeat disease and augment their might. They learned to control the energy inside themselves… and then learned how to control what was outside as well.”

I leaned forward, unable to hold back my curiosity. “Really?”

The older woman shrugged her shoulders, offering an uncertain grin. “Who could say, what I do know is that humans can't perform magic like witches can.” She created a field of light, creating two anatomical diagrams. One human and one… witch, which looked similar at a glance. But I noticed the presence of two stomachs, altered bone anatomy, the fangs, and claws. Two strange… networks of channels spreading throughout the body like biological circuits. “For us witches, magic comes from our life force, channeled through our mendicants, khi flowing freely through our bodies.”

I frowned. “And humans?” I asked, folding my hands together and feeling a jittery sensation of anxiety refusing to leave my body.

Ultima poked at her projection.“Humans don't have the same natural flow, they can't channel and direct their energies like we can. Our bodies and souls evolved to channel, contain, and generate magic, down to our very blood and bones.”

I felt a sharp cutting disappointment. “So I can’t learn magic, is that it?”

The witch shook her head. “Now I never said that, as I said, the stories go that the earliest witches couldn't cast magic innately, but that they did use magic in ways long since lost. I've been looking into it, looking into magic that might work for you.”

“Did you find anything?”

Ultima nodded with a hum as she went back to cooking, her light spell unraveling without her input. “Like I’ve told you before the Old Tongue, Cyfrinic is a language infused with magic and intent. Cyfrin chains are good when it comes to enchanting, and potions don't require any inherent magic either.”

So mystic chemistry, and needing to learn an entire language. Which I didn't necessarily have a problem with. I was already trilingual, and adding a fourth language to the mix sounded nice.

“So when do I get to start learning?” I asked eagerly, practically vibrating in my seat.

Her silver eyes went dim at my question. “Ahh. We’re going to have to hold off on that today. I've got some errands to run in Cruorpool, and I need some extra hands on deck for it.”

I felt my lips curl down into a dark frown. “So I'm going to be your errand girl here?”

“Yes,” Ultima said with a click of her fangs. “But that's because I have clients in town to sell my magical items, not many witches know Cyfrinic well enough anymore. Most other forms of enchantment… of item crafting are under the control of the Chantry. The Human Realm is a good backup for basic necessities, but…”

“There are things you need that can't be found in the Human Realm.” I understood what she was getting at, I doubt Earth had any magic items for her to use. “So we’re going into town to be what door-to-door salespeople?”

Ultima shuddered. “No, definitely not. We’re starting more basic, we’re meeting with one of my occasional business partners. Fayla, The Labyrinth Maker. She's incredible when it comes to creating structures and places infused with magic and power.”

I perked up. “So I’ll get to meet her?”

The white-haired witch replied with a toothy grin “Oh definitely, though expect to get caught up in one of her labyrinths. She likes doing that to newbies.”

…

“What?”

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I adjusted the robe that Ultima had lent me. A purple bordering on black cloak with a hood for hiding my ears. Apparently and I quote ‘The Woven Realm has their fair share of scum looking to sell exotic wares like, say… humans.’ She said it was best to present me as an apprentice first. To give me some protection from dangerous people. Mama is going to kill me someday if she ever finds out.

Ultima was wearing her own cloak. So I had gotten unwillingly enlisted in carrying the precocious brat known as Arali. He turned out to be ludicrously dense, about a hundred twenty pounds… until he wasn't and I didn't ask any questions on how that worked. But I did have other questions while walking the last few hundred feet to Cruorpool.

“So I never asked, you said you aren't an Other even if you have some burning man in your ancestry… So what are you, uhh collectively?” There had to be an appropriate term for it right?

There was a pause, brief but meaningful.

“Otherkind.” She said easily. Silver eyes flashing brighter as she sauntered with confidence. “Every supernatural being of flesh and blood and bone, of spirit and mind and energy in this realm arose from the life-giving ichor of the Titans, from the smallest slithermander to the greatest and grandest dragon. Their blood gave us life and their graves gave us a home. Even in death, their souls are the driving force of the ephemeral realms, shaping the world.”

“So that's what you meant by a grave, are you saying this entire landmass is the burial ground of some type of… enormous creature?” I remember my brief sight of the ground below. Flying with Ultima I had noted the many strange landscape features of the region. From above there were areas where the land had been… flattened and paved away by something immense. Along with countless sinkholes and massive features of strangely organic nature. Like the many mountains of white stone splitting the middle of the island.

“Those… mountains in the middle of this island aren't mountains are they?”

“The Tagl Peaks? No… they aren't mountains,” I paled, and hid my face from Ultima as she kept explaining. “Most of our Titan’s body lies hundreds to thousands of meters down, its body became the foundation of this land, but hints of her corpse poke through even now like the neural spines of her tail.”

Those mountains were multiple kilometers tall. How in god’s name could something that massive exist? The Calafia Isles were well over two hundred thirty thousand square kilometers if the body under that was proportionate…

“No time to suffer an existential crisis on dead Titans, we're coming up on Cruorpool. I'm sure your inquisitive little mind is interested in a town of witches and otherkind.” Ultima offered a soft crooked grin, one which I mirrored hesitantly.

She was nicer than I deserved.

We walked over a mild incline. I lifted my head to actually look at the town we would be entering and gasped.

The town was built like a grid. With major buildings in the center. Shops and offices on three sides, and governmental-looking buildings on the other. It was decisively Roman in layout but the architecture was unique and varied, with buildings of stone and polished crystals sitting alongside ones made from bone and dried leather and metal.

Guess they don't have to deal with an HOA.

The walls themselves seemed to be manned by locals. I noticed a minotaur in steel armor etched with cyfrin chains fiddling with a bladed staff. He glared at my glance for a moment before snorting at my wide-eyed stare.

Arali gave me a light kick. “Faster, Ultima has way too long legs.”

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“Whatever, munchkin.” I grinned at his hiss as I picked up the pace. I walked in sync with my mentor, and we stepped through the open gates without getting talked to.

Ultima preempted my unspoken question. “Wall patrols are for otherkind beast attacks, some of the creatures here can be pretty persistent.” She explained with a light shrug, flexing her claw with a slight twitch of her long fingers.

The moment we entered the town was the moment my breath was taken away. The streets were bustling with people of all shapes and sizes. Oh my God.

I swerved around a centaur, who was far stranger than I ever imagined. He had an elongated mammalian torso. Like a cross between a praying mantis, a draft horse, and a human, with a coat of hair in brown and white and reds. Four powerful legs standing on cloven hooves, and two gripping hooves higher up. The centaur was using his four-fingered hands, two thumbs delicately turning the pages of a book.

He looked over to reveal an uncanny furry semi-human face, with a mane of black hair and dark eyes. His large donkey-like ears twitching at my gaze.

“Apologies.” Was all he said with a deep rumbling voice, an odd click to his words as he moved onwards.

I looked away with a muttered apology of my own, and marched after Ultima. Keeping pace with the older woman as we headed towards her friend’s place. It was hard to keep my focus, when there was a gold mine of people and interesting science to be done.

I saw harpies and mothmen, dwarves and lamias, satrys and elves, people made out of stone or burning with fire under their skin. People of all shapes and colors and races, and it made my head spin with both excitement…

And crippling anxiety.

“Celia?” I was brought back to reality by Ultima’s voice. I flushed when I noticed I had basically blanked through the rest of the walk to her friend’s place.

“Sorry, so we're here then!” I replied chipperly so I could avoid a conversation on my sudden distraction and spacing out.

Fayla’s place reminded me of an unsolved Rubik’s cube, a strange unfolding mass of angles and corners that caught the light of the sun in a strange way. With a sign that said ‘Daedalus Homes and Fortresses’. It had a rather pretty and intricate design, made of shifting gears and pulleys like a demented art piece.

Ultima ushers us into the store, and I vibrate silently as I take in the interior of the shop. It was a menagerie of colors and displays of strange architecture and designs, with Fayla at the center of it all.

She was one of the more human-like witches, short and stout with red curly hair like threads of ruby, and pale of skin with dark freckles, and green-gold eyes. She wore a brown button-up work shirt with rolled-back sleeves revealing dense muscle, and something like cargo pants with many pockets, and an old-timey black vest.

The elements whipped around her freely as she worked on her models on their display pillars. She shaped foundations of stone and earth, and cut wooden frames and doors with wind, and filled miniature canals with summoned water. There was a soft orange glow to her eyes as she worked, streams of energy suffusing her models as she worked.

“Fayla!” Ultima greets her with warmth, silver eyes gleaming bright with affection. “How’s my favorite architect doing, your work on my home is still going strong!”

The woman looked up from her work with a barking laugh. “Oh, I’d be disappointing our Titan if that wasn't the case, it was a work of spirit and soul to give that place true power and will.”

Ultima snorted. “I see you're making some expansions, are the blue-bloods really so desperate for the skills of a witch outside the loving grasp of the Chantry?”

Fayla rolled her eyes. “Nobles are always so rude, always calling me a heathen under their breath when I refuse some of their stupid requirements.” Her attention shifted to me, smiling kindly. “Is this the young witchling you have chosen to take as an apprentice?”

I square my shoulders, feigning confidence. “I am.”

Fayla simply offered a toothy grin. “You’re cute, Ultima will teach you much of her Craft, she is one of the strongest witches in the Isles. Few are her match, and your aura is strange and dim… so I can't wait to see what Ultima will help you become.”

“I'm here too!” Arali added with an oddly chipper tone as he jumped off with a too slow landing.

Ultima smirked. “So you've got the books I asked for, and the new gemstone for my bounded field?” The air began to shift, the hair on my neck rising.

Fayla snapped her fingers, and a pulse of magic spread out in a shockwave of orange and gold.

“I do, but to earn it… you’ll have to face my labyrinth with your apprentice then, if both are willing?”

I blinked. “Sure? It's fine, just don't kill me?”

Fayla and my teacher shared a grin, and I paled.

In a second snap of her fingers, reality broke.

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My teeth clicked as I felt the magic run through the air like an electric current. There was a touch of elsewhere to the air, a recognizable pressure I felt whenever someone drew on their magic. It was cold too, cold like the emptiness of space, wrapping around everything like an invisible curtain, and I shuddered.

There was a smell to the air too, like ozone, like gunpowder, a sweet metallic aroma.

“Ultima?” I called out, as I noticed I was all on my own. There was a pulse of something through the air. I turned in the direction of that pulse. I didn't know how but I knew it was Ultima using her magic to give me a signal.

I was surrounded by walls of stone etched with strange lines and patterns, and I noted there were words written in Cyfrinic. Cyfrin chains. They were an interesting old magic. The Old Tongue had inherent power and magic, a Craft all its own. Using a combination of words linked by fancy lines to bind them into a powerful magic. It was a fine and potent way to create locks, enhancements, protection, and more.

The main complexity lay in the fact it was an entire language, some required a very firm understanding of word order and wordplay, and it certainly wasn't a fast or easy-to-master branch of the Craft.

The wall shifted, linking a once straight sentence into a circular chain and I paled as it lit up. I rolled, narrowly dodging a blast of crimson-orange fire, and I felt the searing heat at my back as I hit the ground hard.

I threw myself back onto my feet and started running as more cyfrin chains activated. I spun on my heels to avoid a blast of wind, and repeatedly circled around to avoid more and more elemental trap chains.

“Fuck!” I sprinted at full power, and was so very, very glad that mama had deemed my safety important enough to teach me self-defense. Forcing me to stay in good shape.

I lifted my arms up as I burst into a sprint. Following the odd pulse of magic that was so quintessentially Ultima. I kept an eye out for runes complete or otherwise, along with anything that could lay a trap.

There was a click, and I instinctively ducked, avoiding a volley of blunt arrows, and then blinked when the pulse shifted, twisting and turning like smoke and thread. How could I even tell?

It continued to twist and twine into strange knots. So I followed the strange magic, turning left a half dozen times. I was forced to avoid slabs on the ground, to duck under barely visible wires. As well as fight strange ephemeral creatures that looked like droplets of water, pebbles of stone, cyclones of air, and sparks of fire.

Which mainly involved pitting them against each other, and avoiding the ensuing fight. It was overly complicated, like something out of Indiana Jones and yet I was still moving, still fighting. It was a bit like one of those game shows mama likes to make fun of but… deadlier?

It took me another few minutes before I reached that trail of threads and smoke and magic. Crossing into a circular room utterly covered in cyfrin chains. Like a damn essay was written across the walls. In the center of the room on a raised platform stood Fayla, who was gently patting an irritated Arali while a smug Ultima just watched.

Fayla looked surprised at my arrival. “Oh. That is curious, but it seems everyone is here now. We can begin our trial to earn something from my collection, though… your apprentice is lacking in suitable tools.”

“On it.” Ultima made a strange gesture, and space subtly warped to spit out a… staff? “Celia, catch!”

She tossed the staff at me at top speed. I caught it with a hiss at the sting of the blunt impact.

“Thank you?” I said with a confused huff. “Why not give me this earlier?”

“My beginner's labyrinth is a test of reflexes and dodging, not fighting.” Was Fayla’s chipper reply, an unhinged glint to her eyes. “You’re the apprentice of The Wandering Abyss, her reputation precedes her, and the Chantry holds dominion over much of this land. Being able to protect yourself is… important.”

That was kinda concerning not going to lie.

“So what does this stuff even do?” It was strange… a miasma that surrounded the weapon. Quiet whispers and groans, pressing up against the edges of my mind.

Ultima was happy to explain. “That would be a weapon I've enchanted by infusing it with a battle-spirit, it enhances the fighting capabilities of any who hold it, and through sympathetic connection allows them to retain some of the skills it grants. A good tool for a beginner.”

“That… I have many questions you will be answering later on that topic.” I pointed fingers at my teacher and she just shrugged. “So are we going to start or not?”

Ultima nodded with a roll of her shoulders. “We are, just remember to hold onto your weapon, it'll be a surprise tool for later.”

“Of course?” I'm pretty sure that reference made no sense. But I wasn't in the mood to call her out on it.

Fayla gave the two of us a knowing look. “Then let us begin!”

The battle began with a burst of movement I could barely even see as Fayla reshaped her home to her heart’s content. Arali was shielded in the center. Watching the match with a bloodthirsty gleam in his dark, dark eyes.

The whispers grew louder, moment by moment, second by second. I moved without thinking, as the earth crashed against me in waves of blocks. I twisted on my heels. Feeling the blunt staff in my hand pulse less like wood and more like flesh and bone.

Move.

The whispers guided my movements, phantom sensations of pain and a roaring in my ear that made my heart dance. I blanched when a spear of emerald fire flared past where I had been standing.

Fayla exposed her fangs, a hiss filling the air, almost like a song. “Good! You react quickly, that will serve you well in this world, human.”

Left.

I shuffled to the side right as a mass of stone slid over itself, and knew Fayla had a few screws loose. Like I was one to talk, accepting this challenge.

“I am a Keeper, a witch of homes and places of power, so let's see what you've got!”

Fuck.

She moved like lightning, and I leapt into action, guided by the spirit inside my weapon, moving with purpose and weight. I extended my arm and slammed my weapon into her chest, punishing her for getting up close and personal.

I twisted and turned. Rotating my hips and adding power to the strikes I used to deflect stone bullets and block blasts of light.

I ducked without thinking. A blast of lightning flew over my head to slam into a shocked Fayla’s face who blocked it with a mass of stone which shattered into chips with the force of the bolt. Ultima was countering Fayla's long range attacks. A constant barrage of spells kept me from being knocked out of the battle.

My mind accelerated as my veins filled with adrenaline, inspecting every detail. Fayla wasn't good in close quarters, attacking from range. Surrounding herself in a field under her control, pillars of ice, rock, and circular masses of fire spinning around her like a defense system, while vortices of air protected her from above.

Follow the pattern.

“One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four…” I sang quietly as the outer stone ring moved. “One, two, three, one, two, three…” I continued with the rings of ice. “One, two, one two. Got it.”

“Cover me!” I called out to Ultima who did as I asked and conjured a stream of moths made of light, surging against the field and distracting Fayla.

Go.

I jumped across the stone ring with a quiet yelp, then across the ice ring, and barely avoided getting sliced by sharp ice. That left the far faster ring of fire and the whispers followed.

Don't do what they expect.

I launched myself right into a fire, and slashed through it with my staff, the wooden weapon catching with flames.

Ultima choked. I ignored the buffet of wind as I stepped into Fayla’s reach with a laugh. I slashed with a low stance, and swept the witch off her feet, and her defense elemental spells were disrupted for just a second—

Ultima moved in an instant, flashing into existence, ending the fight with a grapple done in a split second.

Well done.

“Well… I was never so good at combat, so it's to be expected that I lost.” Fayla shrugged off her loss. Oh my God we actually won.

I held myself up with the word-inscribed staff. Feeling the strange sensation of magic flowing through the air, gently weaving around me like an old friend. The battle was over, Ultima had her hands on Fayla’s throat, claws curling quietly against bare freckled skin.

Fayla simply smiled, revealing the same blunt fangs held by every humanoid witch. “So yes, it seems you've got a very good apprentice under your wing. I'll be glad to give you my books, I've got quite a few on Old Magic for the both of you.”

Ultima puffed up proudly as she picked up Arali from his spot watching the carnage. “Well, she's proven to be a good student, I'm glad to be teaching her.”

I flushed at her compliment, gently rubbing my fingers together, skin sliding against skin as I absently calmed my nerves. “Umm. So now what?”

Ultima blinked. “Well once we get our prize, we’re going home.”

Home… what does that mean for me now?

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I curled my fingers and uncurled them, my body trembling with excitement and remaining adrenaline after my experience in Fayla’s basic labyrinth. We had flown home. I was leaning against a strangely warm wall, a gentle thrum pulsing through it. Like a heartbeat.

“How are you feeling?” Ultima spoke up from her study desk in the living room, paging through books rapidly. “Fayla’s labyrinths can be… quite an experience.”

“It was terrifying, and exhilarating, and the way the air was flowing with energy was..." I didn't have any words to describe how that stream of life felt, it just was.

Ultima nodded. “That’s a good sign then, it means you have a good burgeoning sense for magic. An important factor in being able to use magic is being able to feel it using the flow of your own energies.”

I tilted my head. “I thought you said humans couldn't do magic?”

“But you've still got a soul, which means you have access to life energy. If you can't move it outside, you can likely move it inside.” The witch explained while brushing back her pure white bangs. “That life energy is yours. Which means we can work to bring it out, even if you’ll never be able to cast magic normally. The fact you could sense and follow the thread I left of my magic is good, and getting a taste of Calafia Isles danger is just a bonus.”

“You’re trying to teach me about the dangers of this world then? And not just magic?” I asked bluntly, gently rubbing at my face. “Why are you putting in so much effort?”

There was something almost sad in her eyes at my words. The dark skin of her face pulled taut by a subtle frown. “Celia. To be an apprentice to a Witch is a very important bond within the Craft. I teach you all my ways, not just of magic but of living too, to grant you the power to walk any path you choose. I take you into my home, we share a part of our lives. It is my sworn duty to nurture your potential.”

“Oh…” I swallowed the emotions that statement invoked. “Thank you.” I grinned warmly at my mentor in magic.

Ultima’s crooked smile was soft. “Of course, you're a good kid.” My smile shrunk.

Was I though? While lying to my mother about the truth?