Jamie looked into the eyes of the two women and knew something was different about them. Both of them had a glint of something which hadn’t been there before, and Jamie knew it wasn’t by accident that the pair had found her now. Even though the word had only been mentioned in passing a few times, it rose in Jamie’s thoughts like a fountain.
“Aspects.”
They both had one. Jamie was sure even without asking. Cate and Kylie nodded. The air around the women was different. In the moments of contact when Kylie helped her to her feet, Jamie felt as though she could feel sparks flashing under the other woman's skin. Clashes of some energy she barely had a name for yet.
Jamie knew, however, that Kylie had received one of the strange crystals from her quest to reach level ten, though she had kept it private from the camp. Jamie hadn’t pried, but the woman’s growth in the last week had been explosive. She had told Jamie there was a quest involved in using the Aspect. She had been a woman possessed as she chased down this next opportunity for strength. Kylie confessed she had prayed to the System itself for the binding of the Aspect to be the key to her baby’s safe return. It seemed she had finally completed the quest, but the barely concealed anger in Kylie’s eyes told Jamie all she needed about the child for now.
Though, it seemed there were actually two Aspect users in their camp. Cate scratched the back of her head and shrugged at Jamie’s questioning look. “It happened quickly, and you were a little busy with the teenager. Kylie got her one finished first.” Then Cate’s face split into a wide smile and Kylie groaned before she even spoke. “Ask her what her’s is called.”
Kylie sighed and explained that she had gained the Aspect of Slaughter. While the ominous name was worrying, there had been no real change in the woman as far as Jamie could tell. She didn’t even blame Kylie for keeping the Aspect to herself, not with a name like that. Nor could she fault the woman for using whatever power possible to somehow get her child back to her.
“Yeah,” Kylie grunted, “it’s pretty rough sounding, but it's effective, Jame. It’s better than the Aspect of the Wasp.”
Cate gasped theatrically before throwing her hands up in the air. She shrugged once more. “You get what you get. Considering I killed a hive of giant wasps I wasn’t especially surprised to see it. The quest was simple, though. Defeat one hundred enemies with a piercing weapon.” She wiggled her spear with a smile. “Easy enough. What about you, Ky?”
“One thousand. Any weapon.” Kylie gave Cate a flat look, as though it was her fault before the two started giggling at each other. Jamie was honestly more surprised to see Kylie laughing than she had been at herself, and that had brought on a whole episode. She just watched the two make a few more jokes back and forth before they turned to her. “So?” Kylie asked, “you okay?”
Jamie had to laugh, but the sound was a short and pained thing. “No,” she answered truthfully. Her face was caked with dirty tears and the surrounding area had been churned up in her rage. The worst part was that she had no outlet for the anger other than to fight dangerous monsters, which even Jamie knew was a bad idea in her current mental state. The ice had broken and left behind something even more fragile.
“Wanna fight?”
Like a lightbulb had been turned on, Jamie saw the light. Kylie’s question ripped Jamie from her one track path, and a previous conversation immediately sprang to mind. Not willing to punish herself any further, Jamie didn’t fight the smile which came to her face. She might not be happy right now, but she could try to be fun at least. “You think because you have an Aspect you can beat me, now?”
Cate scoffed in the background, which gave Jamie a little pause, but Kylie held up her hands. “My Aspect isn’t really good for friendly use, but I’ll show you what it does later.” Then, she got a mischievous look on her face. “I’ll beat you without the Aspect, obviously.”
Jamie cracked her neck. Even though it was ridiculous, even though Jamie’s intrusive thoughts told her she was being disrespectful to the dead, she didn’t care. She decided to let herself have fun as she and Kylie prepared to clash. The air around Kylie really was different, Jamie decided. It was like a heat mirage, but one full of imperceptible sounds and sights. As their preparations completed, Jamie smiled. She hadn’t had an actual challenge since that first or second day at this point.
Time to stretch her legs.
Fighting was becoming a part of life. Yet, as their levels rose, the call to actually use their strength was waning. It was better to let someone lower level take on the lower level threats so everyone could reach a certain level of power and protection. This led to a level of boredom that was hard to shake. There had also been a swell of positivity since Jamie’s public presentation, caused mostly by her unwilling partner.
The burly man had taken his beating in stride. Jamie hadn’t actually struck him, but it had taken a decent amount of force to keep him corralled. Apparently, he either liked being pushed around or he had gained a healthy respect for Jamie. She didn’t have high hopes that the man’s thoughts were entirely pure, but for all he had been a bully when there was no oversight, now he was downright chivalrous. When Jamie had announced plans to establish a guard force which patrolled the area and kept the peace, it had been Huckle who stepped up first. Now, a few days on, he had a whole troupe of people playing knight.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
All of which would have been fine if Jamie wasn’t so full of confused energies, even discounting the still slippery mana within herself. As it was, Kylie's challenge had come at exactly the right time. She could burn off some of the rage, and hopefully capture some of the fire for herself long-term. Just as she was feeling gratitude for Kylie, the ground exploded underneath the other woman’s feet, and Jamie had no more time to think.
————————————————————————————————
Time heals all wounds. That had never been more true than since the arrival of the System. Cuts and fractures healed within days, not weeks. Certain lethal injuries seemed to be a thing of the past, within reason. As long as you stopped the bleeding and allowed some rest, even medicine was superfluous to a good Recovery attribute. With a high enough Resilience stat, it was possible to ignore the damage outright.
Jamie herself had been absolutely battered by Cate and Kylie, in what she had thought of at the time as a beating, but later decided was really just some much needed tough love. Jamie had been stuck in her own head, traumatised and raw. As the two Aspect users of the freshly named Newtown had taken turns beating Jamie in sparring battles, the pressure on her had faded away.
She wasn’t the strongest person in Newtown. She didn’t need to be. The respect she had earned from those first days didn’t wane, even as she allowed herself to be sad and slow down a little. With two weeks now having passed since Jamie and Kylie arrived in the area, it was pretty startling to see the changes. Jamie found it easy enough to remember how the devastation of the small town looked when they arrived, and the difference was nothing short of incredible.
The sun was shining. Birds were singing nearby. With her improved Perception, sitting on the roof of her small, one roomed home, Jamie felt her emotional defences thaw a little more. It was almost possible to forget the System had stripped away every aspiration and dream Jamie had held dear before it arrived but it was possible to find new ones. She could almost convince herself that the sights of productivity and teamwork were enough.
If I save the world, will I feel true warmth again?
Sighing, Jamie pushed away the dour thought and opened the System prompt she had received a few days prior. Jaie had received a quest when the first building of their new town was erected. She had not yet burned away enough of the frigid reticence within herself to be truly excited, but Jamie’s natural curiosity had begun to return to her. Why me? Did the System really recognise me as a leader or was it just luck and a high enough level? She wondered at the world, watching the numbers fluctuate and trying to think of a way she could lock in the final people required.
Faction Quest - Civilisation’s First Step
The arrival of the System strips away much. Community is one of the ways in which what was taken can be returned. The foundations are laid, and confidence in the safety of home is its own strength. By remaining in one area for some time, your footprints begin to become a path for others to follow.
Committed Faction Members: 60 of 100
Reward: Building Options, Random Aspect
Almost entirely by accident, the small camp had become a sanctuary. Jamie had thought a sensible level of bullying and disdain might push away the initial wanderers who found her and Kylie, but it had instead ended up hardening their resolve to make it work in their new home. Each time someone pledged themselves to this place, the number ticked up. If someone wavered, or passed away, it dropped. The promised rewards were interesting, but Jamie kept the quest and its rewards to herself for now.
No point agitating people when they were already so highly strung. For most, it was the monsters in the shadows which they still feared. Jamie had stopped being scared of death and pain when she walked through the back door of her house into the garden. Kylie, the moment she realised she would need to fight to get her daughter back. Their spear wielding ally, Cate, had a similar story, as did almost anyone who gained levels in those first days.
A switch had been flicked for all of them. A voice had counted down until the end and in a heartbeat, the world became one of brutality and horror. Jamie had to keep herself from rolling her eyes as a pair of patrolling guards passed below her. They saluted up at her while wandering past her home. Her’s was the closest to the bubble, so she saw the patrols often. They had taken to treating her like a commander, and if it wasn’t for the quest Jamie would have told them to stop. With the System almost forcing her hand, she could only grin and bear it.
It was a sour thing, Jamie knew, to become bitter at the calm. There were still dangers on the boundary of their safety, and worse likely on the horizon. Her skin seemed to itch with the promise of this innocence being shattered. The relative tranquillity and sudden lack of impetus had been a thorn in Jamie’s side, but attempting to keep her growing faction content was its own struggle. It kept her busy, if nothing else.
Logistics for their group had begun being handled by others, Ralph had teamed up with a married couple called George and Joyce Garren and the trio was now controlling almost all quartermaster duties. There was a market forming as people began to figure out what goods and services could be bartered. Food was still the highest priority in terms of commodity but as Ralph the butcher, whom Jamie and Kylie had saved in London, finally got some workable bodies, even that problem was becoming less pressing.
While terms like quartermaster duty felt bizarre to Jamie, and the reality of keeping over one hundred people alive was weighing on her, it was barely a blip in her mind compared to the other fantastical additions to their world. The fact Jamie was becoming a faction leader for a new town and using words like Quartermaster and Quest was just a small thing which got lost in the chaos of change.
The counter on Jamie’s quest ticked up once more, and she sighed at the sky. Enough of the ice had melted now that Jamie couldn’t stop the emotions when they wanted to appear. The clear sky made her throat hurt and her eyes burn. Jamie was far away enough from the sights of her childhood that she could ignore the pain there, but this place had its own ghosts. She looked around at what used to be St Gerrard’s University and didn’t even try to hide the tears. She simply sat atop her tiny home, wishing desperately that Grant could have been here to see this.
If nothing else, she knew Grant would have loved magic.