Prologue:
Footsteps echoed through the stone halls of the castle.
Torches barely illuminated the dark corridor with their flickering flames.
Long silver hair reflected the light, as it weaved through the air.
A young woman, still barely 17 years of age, in a fancy dress was hurrying through the halls with unknown purpose, curses spewing out of her cherry red lips.
“These ignorant fools … an entire legion decimated … still they stuff themselves …”
A melodious voice filled with anger.
“And those bishops … ‘The Righteous Crusade will not fail!’ the silver haired woman imitated a haughty attitude.
“PAH!” she spat. “Sending others out to do their dirty work while they sit on their fat arses in safety! It’s their bloody fault we’re in this mess!”
The young woman continued her rant.
“You should watch what you say, Hime-sama, lest the Church sends one of their Inquisitors after you!” A second voice chimed in with a light-hearted tone despite the warning.
The princess narrowed her emerald eyes and fired back immediately,
“right … for all their sermons about the evils of Mana and Magic, they sure have little restraint in using it themselves.”
“But that is due to God’s Miracles, Hime-sama,” the second voice belonging to a blue haired woman in a maid outfit chided, still following the silver haired princess.
“God’s Miracles? They’re just using Fire and Light Magic!”
The blue haired maid chuckled while a third voice, a stern male one, entered the conversation.
“Did you study forbidden texts again, Hime-sama?” A red haired man asked nervously. He was taller than the girls by a full head but not overly burly. He seemed to be more Ikemen than warrior, despite the light chest plate that he wore.
Forbidden Texts. They were books and scrolls blacklisted by the Church, judged to be harmful to the spiritual safety of the people. Long before the princess birth, there was a grand spectacle where hundreds of ancient tomes and scrolls had been burned in a massive bonfire. Decades if not centuries of Magical Research and Progress lost in a single night.
All in the name of righteousness.
All in the name of the Church.
Every year the Church would organize a festival spanning a full week to celebrate their ignorance and burn books deemed unsavory and simple wooden planks the church provided for their flock. For a small donation, of course.
Every time the princess had to think of these senseless acts of idiocy, she grew even angrier with the bishops that now infested the ballrooms in the castle. Greedy pigs too fat for their ‘holy garments’ and far less innocent than the farmers and soldiers that defended the kingdom from the onslaught of the invading Alliance army.
The red haired knight continued to observe the silver haired princess, not surprised at her lack of an answer. All the small changes in her demeanor that spoke volumes of her inner turmoil were easily seen by him. He had stood by her side for a few years now and believed he had a grasp on her facial expressions. A smile threatened to form on his lips as he realized that only amongst the the three of them did the princess let slip her facade.
He suspected that not even the king really knew his daughter that well, having spent most of his attentions on the ongoing war-effort and his two sons.
The blue haired maid cut into the solemn atmosphere in a sing-song voice,
“but are you certain that this will even work, Hime-sama? You have never even attempted such a massive spell before, right?”
The silver haired princess groaned before replying.
“Well … true … but I have the theory down …” and almost in a whisper, she added, “I think.”
“YOU THINK?” the red haired man roared.
“Tehe” the princess stuck out her tongue and tilted her head to the side. “Don’t worry, it’ll work! Besides, this is our only chance before the Inquisitors arrive!”
“So unreasonably, our Hime-sama,” the blue haired maid added in an amused tone, while the red haired man just shook his head.
“I’m going to be burned on the stake and it’s not even going to work, is it?” he kept repeating during the rest of the way.
Just shortly after the red haired knight’s outburst, the trio suddenly halted in front of an unassuming painting. Taking position on opposite sites the maid and the knight surveyed the corridor before signaling the princess.
The princess closed her eyes, took a deep breath before bringing both her hands to her lips and began muttering. To any onlooker it might have appeared as if she were merely praying in front of the framed portrait, only cautious attitude of her companions hinting at something beneath the supposed pious act.
Something began to stir in the air, converging on the praying princess. Unseen but not air. There was no wind but something palpable began to move.
A small amber stone in a bronze ring on the princess’s finger started to glow faintly. Runes took form in the air with every word the princess spoke, arranging themselves in a ring around her.
“I call upon the ancient contract and ask the amber spirit to fulfill its duty: Reclūdere!”
With the last word, the runes converged on the amber stone before disappearing in a flash of light. An audible click resounded before the painting swung open, revealing a passage behind it.
The portrait shut behind them automatically as soon as the trio had entered, leaving them in darkness. The princess’s voice echoed in the passageway in another chant.
“I humbly ask a spirit of fire to light our way and show us the path...”
Again softly glowing runes began to form in midair, casting the passageway in a weak light, before arranging themselves around the princess in a circular fashion. This time faint lines began to form between the runes, forming a circle around the caster as well as a five pointed star, a pentagram. With the ever increasing light, the form of the praying princess became distinguishable from the surrounding darkness. Unlike the first time it wasn’t the bronze ring but an impure glass bead in a silver setting fastened with a leather strap around her neck.
Light gathered within the glass bead as the runes around the princess became more and more pronounced and small orbs of light filled the space within the magical formation.
“Refulgete!”
The runes and lines pulsed briefly before flickering out of existence while the orbs of light remained. Suddenly the lights began to move forward like a school of fish, lighting the passageway as they passed. Every few meters one of the orbs would disengage from the pack and remain hovering in place.
“Let’s … go” the princess said, sweat forming on her forehead. The spell had taken more out of her than she’d care to admit but that was the price she had to pay for being self-taught. If only she had an actual mentor that could teach her Magic, then maybe she could learn how to cast spells more efficiently. But now was not the time to regret the situation, she had a mission to fulfill and tonight might be the only time she had to succeed.
Thus, with heavy steps did the trio make its way through the barely lit passageway.
* * *
The flat-screen TV that was running a Mahou Shoujo anime was the only light source in the 4.5 tatami sized room (around 6.89 ㎡). A young black haired girl, wearing only a pair of white panties and a loosely fitting t-shirt, was sitting on the floor while enjoying Pocky sticks and watching the arbitrary transformation scene. Her emerald green eyes narrowed as the protagonist’s clothing burst apart revealing her peach colored skin.
A snort escaped the young girl subconsciously while watching the anime.
While doing a form of a Miko kagura dance, the glowing silhouette nude form of the - in certain areas, overdeveloped - young heroine was clad in a now familiar show of light orbs and different colored light streams. Finishing her dance in an unnecessary pirouette and taking a Mahou Shoujo pose the anime heroine was now clad in an over-sexualized Miko Outfit with an oversized Tamagushi while several burning Kanji behind her announced her assumed Form as the ‘Burning Goddess Battle Dress’.
The tips of the young girl’s long raven black hair reached all the way to the ground while she was sitting in front of the TV. But as she turned her head to look to her left where a red Hakama and white haori were hanging on a coat, the silky hair seemed to draw a large arc before the tips floated gently back to the ground.
The girl compared her actual Miko attire with the skimpy version the anime heroine was wearing while swinging her Tamagushi and was beginning to recite the words of a non-existent Onmyoudo-Spell.
A relieved sigh escaped the young girl’s cherry red lips as she returned her attention back to the TV.
The heroine’s opponent, a cursed doll who captured the latest of the heroine’s destined-to-fail love interests, was dodging the first attack of the fire spell and began to counter with endless barrages of whip slashes of her long black hair.
Needless to the say, the cursed doll was no longer its 40cm version but stood as a buxom kimono wearing woman, even if said kimono appeared to be more of a challenge towards the censoring bureau to see what the studio could get through in an evening program.
Clearly this anime was targeted for a different audience than the girl sitting in front of the TV now.
The young girl however continued to watch the anime, narrowing her eyes when part of the wardrobe on either side was destroyed and clicking her tongue when spells were chanted that even people with a bad case of chuunibyou disease would cringe over. Still, the young girl did not change the channel and moved on from Pocky sticks to other junk food.
A flash of lightning followed by thunder barely a few seconds later informed the occupants of the house next to a small shinto shrine that the center of the storm that had been going for most of the day was coming closer and closer.
The girl watching the anime paid it no heed however, still focusing on ‘Onmyoudo Warrior Angels’ running on the TV. Right now the main heroine had been caught in the many strands of hair and strung up in a shibari position emphasizing her breasts and the knot on her crotch.
Sensual moans escaped the heroine while struggling futilely against her bonds. The yokai of the week was looking on with her once beautiful face turned into a sadistic sneer.
A light flashed through the TV and a purifying arrow cut through the air, destroying the “ropes” of hair with sacred wind. Another skimpily dressed miko, this one with a green theme, armed with an azusayumi intruded upon the battle, the green glowing kanji in the background identifying her as the “calming Miko of the Spring wind Goddess.”
After a short round of not so witty banter, the two Mikos combined their power of Wind and Fire to create the “Purifying Tornado of sacred Flame” to vanquish their foe rather easily.
The buxom kimono clad woman moaned in unexpected pleasure and lost most of her clothing before turning back into her previous form, a 40cm high doll, and then burst into flames.
The love interest regained consciousness, ran to the remains of his doll while shouting something about his precious “tension relief” tool being ruined. The ikemen, turned sudden pervert, spotted the duo but before he could angrily berate them, a fountain of blood erupted from his nose, leading to another spell of unconsciousness.
The ending theme was beginning to play and the heroine, now back in her school uniform, looked at the setting sun vowing to find her true love with tears streaming down her face. Her ‘friend’ having transformed back into her own school uniform was about to encourage her, the heroine shouted ‘A cutie!’ and began shadowing a new boy while another glasses wearing boy who was walking by caught side of her.
With the credits rolling, the young girl, with a tired expression, stretched her arms and legs before looking up towards the roof. A sweet voice escaped her lips as she said,
“Magic, huh?”
* * *
Three people were occupying the circular room with only a few embarrassingly empty bookshelves and a large altar beneath a narrow window.
A large magic circle was taking up most of the space, its lines and symbols carved into the stone floor while runes drawn in chalk dotted the empty spaces between. Two parallel lines circling around three overlapping triangles with only a few runes at their tips, easily occupied two thirds of the floor. The blue haired maid was almost done with arranging the candles on the tips of the geometric patterns while the red haired knight jumped fearfully from empty spot to empty spot putting down crystals at seemingly random points, while a blonde haired noble looking girl was giving out instructions.
“Preparations complete, Hime-sama,” the blue haired maid informed the princess.
“After this, we really can’t hide it anymore, can we?” Asked the knight in a dejected tone.
“If… after this is finished, I don’t think we really need to anymore,” the princess said in a determined tone, “while the others may be content waiting for a miracle, I will not! There already is no other way to save the kingdom!”
“Hai hai, Hime-sama,” the maid added cheerfully. She knew that the princess was trying to convince herself just as much as her co-conspirators. The maid knew that the knight was acutely aware of the actual war situation, why else would he even allow this heresy. The only question that remained would be whether they’d be burned as heretics first or killed by the approaching army? She swore in her heart that she would sooner face death than disgrace by the enemy soldiers. Her hand moved to a spot at her right thigh and patted a slight bulge that was barely visible.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Alright, everything seems to be in order...” the princess alternated her gaze between the layout of the room and a book she was holding, before nodding excitedly. She began mumbling to herself as she continuously reread a single page in her book. After nodding one last time, the princess moved towards the edge of the magic circle, threw her hands into the air and began reciting a spell, tentative at first,
“in his periculosa horis...”
with every syllable her voice grew more firm and steady.
“...invocavero heros …”
the last two words were almost as loud as a shout,
“... salvare nos!”
The princess stood at the edge of the magic circle, her chest heaving and a mad glint in her eyes. The red haired knight stared with wide-opened eyes towards the middle of the circle, fear and just a hint of expectation in his eyes. The blue haired maid surveyed the scene as well, but her attention was mostly focused on the heavy-breathing princess.
“Uhm ...” the princess nervously bit her lower lip, her arms still outstretched, before tilting her head to the side. Confusion was quickly spreading on her face. Clearly, this result was not entirely expected. The princess, with her arms still raised, looked left, right, up, and behind to check if anything had changed.
* * *
The tv now reported news on the coming storm. Thick droplets of rain were battering against the window and the increasing wind howled. Lightning flashed again and again, followed shortly by loud thunder.
The young girl, still seated in front of the TV in her room, flinched briefly, the rapid succession of lightning strikes so close to her coming as a great surprise. She looked outside briefly, narrowing her almond shaped eyes. With practiced ease, she changed the channel without looking at the remote in her hands, and the catchy ending theme of ‘Onmyoudo Warrior Angels’ was instantly replaced with guttural moans, shrill shrieks and a buzzing sound. The young girl’s face almost instantly turned red and she slowly turned her eyes back towards the TV screen. As soon as her black pupils spied the pixelated M-rated scene, a thin line of blood spurted from her nose.
Uttering an almost inaudible curse, the young girl changed the channel again, this time sleep inducing narration of a newscaster sounded out. The girl’s reluctance in changing the channel was surely but an illusion. Guiltily the girl looked left and right, her gaze lingering on the door while she quickly removed the thin line of blood from her face.
“... the winds have begun picking up over the city, with heavy rainfalls … flood warnings in the following areas ...”
The newscaster was listing a few local names, but the young girl was only half listening. Slowly, she rose to her full height, standing on tiptoes and stretching her arms above her head, her long raven black hair lazily moving along, at times almost floating along. She was not tall by any measure, barely breaking the 5 feet threshold. Even amongst her classmates, she was considered petite. And unlike the overdeveloped anime heroine from before, her twin bulges barely touched the loose fighting shirt she wore. At least she wasn’t flat, so she adamantly told her friends. She’s still in the middle of puberty, so there’s still room to grow! Her mother, despite her modest height of only 5’4”, developed nicely, although she frequently complained about back pain. And her father’s staggering height of 6’5” gave her hope for the future. And sometimes, hope is all you have …
Lightning struck again, and this time her eyes followed the electrical arc through the night sky. Barely a second later, thunder boomed, rattling her window. In the background, the TV newscaster continued on, warning of possible blackouts due to the unusual high amount of lightning, people being urged to stay at home. As if anyone would willingly go out in this weather.
Lightning flashed again, much closer this time, and thunder followed almost immediately.
“Strange arc … almost as if ...”
Again, lightning struck, this time the courtyard of the small local shrine her family managed. But something unexpected happened. The lightning snaked through the air but before it could strike one of the few cherry blossoms in the yard, the lightning diverted and struck one of the shimenawas on a wooden Torii. For a second it appeared as if the lightning hadn’t caused any damage on either the wooden pole or the rope around it, then, suddenly one of the papers burst into flames before being doused by the heavy rain.
The young girl’s eyes widened. She remembered how she had folded the paper a mere two weeks ago, before her father, the head priest, blessed it and the shimenawas were replaced at the big gate at the entrance of the shrine. While folding the paper, she penned a few Kanjis and Runes into the paper itself, something along the lines of a simple protection spell. But magic wasn’t real … at least not …
Another lightning strike descended from the heavens, worming its way through the air, trying to strike the courtyard again. And again, only a few feet from the ground, the purple colored plasma suddenly changed course and crashed into Torii again. The energies dissipated, nothing happened for a few seconds before another of the folded papers burst into flames.
The young girl started breathing heavily, a different kind of exhilaration filled her being.
Another lightning strike crashed towards the shrine. And another paper in shimenawa chain burst into flames.
And another.
It is said that lightning never strikes twice, but this storm seemed to have some grievances with the shrine. But it wasn’t even a storm god that people prayed to there.
Her eyes were wide in astonishment and her mouth was shaped like an ‘o.’ Only after the sixth lightning struck did the girl get out of her stupor. A small grunt escaped her lips before she put her finger in her mouth and pulled it out with a pop. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the sensation on her fingers.
“This is … no doubt … but, there’s no ...”
* * *
The princess still held her arms in the air, biting her lower lip. By her calculations, this should have worked. Granted, she had no idea how the magic would make itself known, but she was certain it would be big and loud. This was powerful ancient magic and it took the princess a few months to even create the necessary dictionaries to begin to translate the texts.
“Thank the gods!” The young knight almost shouted. “Princess, please cease this fruitless endeavor before the priests ...”
“Why didn’t it work?” mumbled the princess, ignoring the young knight. She studied the book once more, her eyes alternating between the diagrams and the room. Uncertainty quickly spread on her face, and tears began to collect at her eyes. Her gaze moved towards her maid, the pleading in them evident.
The young maid coughed, smiled brightly and pointed downwards. The knight and the princess followed with their eyes. There on the edge of the etched magic circle, just on top of it, disrupting the circle, stood a petite foot in Ghillie pumps.
With her tears at the corner of her eyes, the princess looked up towards her co-conspirators. A quick half-step and the circle was unobstructed again. Puffing her cheeks cutely, the princess glared at the other two angrily and said in a low voice,
“Not a word … to anyone”
“Yesh, Hime-sama,” yelped the red haired knight as instinctively assumed a salute, bringing his fist to his chest.
“Eh, whatever do you mean, Hime-sama?” asked the blue-haired maid, tilting her head to the side, with a finger beneath her smiling lips.
Suddenly wind started blowing, pushing out of the center of the circle. Small balls of light began gathering in the middle, gathering into a purple and golden colored mass in the center. The mass began growing and glowing, much to the astonishment of the trio. Even the blue haired maid couldn’t avert her interested gaze. Without warning a purple colored tendril exploded out of the mass and hurtled towards the princess.
* * *
Thunder boomed again, and the girl’s eyes snapped open. As if possessed the girl jumped to her window and opened it. Immediately wind blew past her, tousling her hair and rain pelted her face.
The girl seemed to take little notice of the storm, closed her eyes again and took a deep breath.
A large smile plastered on her face, glee radiated from it, even while her hair was dancing wildly due to the wind.
“There’s no mistake ... ” thunder boomed again, and the girl opened her eyes, taking a longing look outside.
* * *
The purple tendril tore through the air towards the princess, only to be stopped at the edge of the magic circle, as if an invisible barrier blocked its way. Another tendril shot out, this time towards the maid, followed by another towards the knight. The tendrils looked like lightning, but they did not disappear. The lightning like tendril appeared alive and it looked like they tried to bore themselves through the invisible shield. More and more tendril shot out of the mass, and the trio couldn’t help but flinch.
The wind started picking up, throwing the room into disarray.
* * *
“... this feeling … this is ...” mumbled the young girl before her eyes rested on the Torri again.
Her eyes widened, this time with concern as she saw the shimenawas losing its last paper in a brief flash of fire.
Smaller arcs of superheated plasma seemed to gather together, bolts of electricity arced through black clouds. Just the as the girl uttered one more word, a powerful bolt of lightning, much grander than any before, snaked its way through the air. The usual purple light was diffused with golden energy, and it was traveling with light speed towards the open window. Almost as if the lightning was alive and had finally found what it was looking for.
The bolt of energy entered the window and struck the girl scare in the chest before bursting into an explosion of light that engulfed the entire room.
* * *
“... MANA!” Yelled the girl just as blinding light filled her entire vision and the lightning bolt struck her chest. But there was no pain. The young girl only felt a pulling sensation, almost losing her balance. In an instant, the flash of light disappeared, and the girl could open her eyes again. The young girl stared straight ahead.
Black almond shaped eyes stared into emerald green ones with a hint of gold.
The young girl found herself locking eyes with a silver haired bishoujo, barely older than her 15 year old self but a few inches taller, wearing a black victorian style dress with burgundy sleeves and a black corset emphasizing the bust. The young girl surely wasn’t envious, no way.
After a brief moment that might have been an eternity, the young girl broke eye contact and surveyed the dark and damp room she found herself in. The circular room was mainly made out of stone, but something strange had happened. Parts of the room seemed strangely modern, and overly familiar. The young girl saw parts of the wall covered in white plaster, her familiar desk with a stack of calligraphy papers on top, as well as an inkstone, her brush right next to her laptop. A stack of unused paper charms were slipping from the desk, covering the floor. Her shrine maiden outfit was hanging on a coat on the strange fusion of medieval and modern wall.
Even her bed had managed to find its way here, her school uniform carelessly thrown on top.
While surveying the room, the young girl spotted another blue haired bishoujo, this one wearing what appeared to be a genuine maid uniform. Unfortunately the skirt reached all the way to the bottom, and there was no lace headdress. Although the blue haired maid was smiling gently towards the young girl, a strange feeling of danger was emanating from her.
The only other person in the room was a tall red haired ikemen wearing light leather armor and a sword at his belt. Underneath the leather armor, the red haired ikemen was wearing a gold trimmed, red swallow tailed jacket, black riding pants and black calf high leather boots.
At first the red haired ikemen was keeping eye contact, but every now and then his gaze moved downwards, studying the young girl. With every downwards glance, the ikemens face blushed deeper red and before long, blood spurted from his nose.
The blue haired maid desperately tried to suppress her laughter.
The girl turned back towards the silver haired bishoujo whose face also flushed bright red, staring at the young girl’s chest area. She followed her gaze to find her loose fitting shirt to be drenched and almost entirely transparent.
Now her face also flushed red, she looked over her shoulder back towards the ikemen and simply said,
“Hentai!”