The moment I heard the guillotine coming down, I was beyond convinced it was the end.
Though the prospect didn't sound so bad after a month of nothing but mental and physical pain, occasionally... Helped, by people who cared dearly about my final days.
Then before I could even notice the sting... Memories began flashing before my eyes-
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I saw the meeting hall of the Modevan capital. I think it was three years prior to my demise, when Father brought me with him...
"I worry I have to answer that with a no. We would prefer to keep the eastern branch independent."
The words were spoken by old baron Fangrice. There was no hair under his brown wig and the wrinkles could no longer hide his worries regarding the topic.
'Of course you would.'
I thought with an internal smirk.
On that day my father presented an offer that was crucial to securing additional budget for the city and his family. However, the memory was cut short.
Luckily I didn't have to see their disgusting faces any longer-
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"So like this?"
The next thing I saw was my first spell fling in the academy's backyard. Though there was no spell attached yet...
"Yes, now try to concentrate on connecting the image with the motion."
I wouldn't mind remembering it for a while longer, but the scenery changed again-
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I appeared in my study room... Forgot how beautiful the afternoon was on that fatal day.
"I don't understand. What are you saying mother?"
Ah. The expression my mother had when she told me... I kept recalling it in the cell that she had no intention of trying to get me out of. That impeccable acting of hers...
"Actions have consequences... Meiris. You can't avoid them, so please don't make this harder."
If you really wanted me to think you cared, you could've come alone- Or not. You would admit you knew something either way-
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"Uncle PLEASE. You know it wasn't me, IT WAS ALL THEIR-"
I never understood why he visited me in my cell. At first we talked almost like we used to. I thought that maybe... No. No one did-
"WHOSE, child? Will you blame your father? The king? Me?"
He shook his head when I fell silent.
"If you were going to learn such treacherous magic, you should've done it thoroughly. The mark cannot be faked."
If that were true, I wouldn't have had it-
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"Alright... It's alright... How could I have been so care-"
Eventually I noticed that those were only memories. I became aware of my recollections, something I wasn't expecting...
"Is this..."
For a split second I saw what I could only presume was reality-
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"S-so cold... What is- It's... Red. Warm..."
I was shivering from cold that felt like nothing I had experienced before.
In the haze that surrounded my sight, I saw a red crystal. It's warmth was all I wanted in the moment. But when I reached for it-
"I can- Why can I see through my hand?"
The closer my palm approached the crystal, the more... complete my mind became. Enough for me to grasp the implications of what I just saw.
"So even death was a lie... No matter-"
I touched it and my world stopped again.
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By the time Meiris opened her crimson eyes, the cold has already left her body. It was instead replaced by an overwhelming dizziness, making it hard for her to formulate thoughts.
She sat up, causing long blonde hair to slide down across her face. Colorful, yet dominated by orange tint light fell on and through her casual noble attire. It consisted of a white long-sleeved shirt, beige pants and enclosed azure low heels. Which used to match her eyes.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
It came with some difficulty, but she took a look at her surroundings.
The interior of the room was unknown to her. She's seen plenty marble, but not the star-like patterns this floor had. Several pairs of giant arches holding up a vaulted ceiling seemed no more familiar.
Yet... She recognized those stained glass windows. They were the same ones she had seen from the outside of the royal palace's eastern wing-
'The treasury...'
She was sure of it. All the artifacts present in the room proved it.
There was no one else inside, as far as she could see or hear. With that sense of peace, a different thought overtook her mind and tensed her muscles-
'WAIT, my body- Am I a ghost?'
It was an obvious conclusion given what she saw not long ago. Ghost stories weren't particularly popular, but the characteristic of see-through bodies was well known for its uniqueness.
'What is... That?'
But the surprises didn't stop there. The crystal she saw in the haze- It was now located inside her chest, right where her heart should've been...
For a moment she struggled to comprehend what happened, but concluded there was no point.
'Was there such an artifact?'
By there she meant the treasury. A logical assumption, given where she woke up.
'No, I can't stay here. I need to get out as quickly as possible. As far away from this cursed city as possible-
'But where?'
The first wave of realization hit her. She was in the very city she died in, right in the middle of it.
'No, that can wait. Anywhere but here is gonna be fine. People might not kill a talking ghost, but they will definitely kill me.'
Her thoughts only kept accelerating, until-
"Huuu..."
She exhaled to gather them. One of the techniques she learned long ago.
'No. Calm down. Think clearly. This is not the kind of place people visit often.'
Closed eyes and an empty head allowed her to approach the situation with improved clarity.
'Right. Does this mean I can pass through objects?'
The floor stopped her hand when she pressed on it, but once she imagined her arm passing through- It did.
At that moment a weird feeling enveloped her hand. Similar to the pressure exerted by water in a bath. Though slightly different in the sense that it was both crushing and comfortable at the same time.
'So could I...'
If she could simply escape the palace through its walls-
shudder
But she couldn't. Her body easily submerged in the floor, but the crystal stopped her. The experience was greatly uncomfortable.
'Suppose that is out of the question...'
sigh
'Then what about mana? I was hardly a caster, but anything will help if I...'
A weak spell could still work as a distraction, so she wanted to check if she could cast one, but the thoughts she brought back under control... It wasn't enough to keep her from venturing down a rabbit hole that had seemed so distant before-
'If- If they are still here I- I could set them...'
She clenched her teeth and tears began gathering in her eyes as anger and sadness filled her heart.
'They... They would know I did it- In return for what they did to me...'
Ghosts couldn't produce tears the conventional way, but the boundaries of their being were thinner. This allowed Meiris to cry tears created with mana. Her first tears since the day her life fell apart.
'THEY WOULD FEEL AND LOSE IT ALL!'
It was the form of release she craved all that month, but what was the point when her life was bound to end? Not anymore.
*'But... No. Why? How likely is it that I would... *survive* if I tried?'*
She wiped the tears off her cheeks and chin. Unnecessarily, given they were created from mana.
'I want to live and it will be difficult as is- No need to make it any harder.
'Yes. I will become far more than they ever could. No one will take my life ever again. I will be the one to guarantee it.'
It was a bold resolve, considering she hadn't even tried her mana. Without which she could hardly do that on her own...
So she held up her right hand-
snap
A little magic circle dimly lit up and a small flame appeared above her hand. Much smaller than she had hoped for.
'There's definitely no need to make this any harder...'
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The plus side of the place in which Meiris appeared, was that thousands of powerful artifacts surrounded her.
Full sets of armor with a wide selection of imbued spells, blades, bows, staffs and much more. Most of them were just as beautiful as they were powerful.
Though in that regard, Meiris now harbored dislike for the white and gold aesthetic worn by the Kingdom of Modeva's important figures. Which was applied to a significant portion of the artifacts.
A much more reasonable issue she had with the armor and most weapons, was their high profile. Due to that, she opted to ignore those. Not like she could do much with them either way.
Instead she focused on small accessories. This was an entire country's finest collection, so even those ought to have been powerful.
For a start, she picked up a shiny bracelet with red decorative carvings. The plaque mentioned it being B class in conductivity. At some point Meiris had a lecture that covered what that was exactly, but conductivity was commonly known to be synonymous to quality.
Additionally the bracelet was supposed to amplify light spells really well. Which, admittedly, wouldn't help her.
snap
There certainly was an increase in the flame's size, but... Not a great one.
A persistent trend, as she soon found out.
Perhaps surprisingly, the best accessory she found was a pair of gloves made from a silver wyvern's skin, decorated with a few silver plates and braces.
The surprising part was them being an A class, yet they performed better for her than any of the S class rings she found later on. It meant her soul had a great affinity for the gloves. Too bad they only increased her potential by twofold.
She also tried putting on two artifacts at once, but her augmentation potential was too low to make any difference.
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Having quickly reached a point of no improvement, Meiris stopped paying as much attention to the artifacts as she did at the start.
There could still be something that would make the difference for her, but finding information about the crystal in her chest became the clear priority.
Because she woke up in the evening, her flame was now essential to illuminating her surroundings.
And while she was working her way through a set of cabinets near the entrance-
clank
The sudden, muffled sound coming from behind the door made her jump. She instantly put the flame out and ran to the edge of the aisle to peek as carefully as she could.
clank tap
Meiris heard voices coming from the proximity of the entrance as well, but they were too muffled for her to understand.
clank
Then the sounds faded away. She was frozen for a few more moments, until she realized-
'A guard shift...'
She tried to make a note of the time, but there wasn't a single clock in sight.