> [Butterfly Step] - 2th circle spell.
>
> Element: Mist.
>
> Type: Movement.
>
> Classification: Support. Buff.
>
> Target: Self.
>
> Lightens the step of the caster. It is possible to walk on surfaces that would otherwise not withstand caster's body weight. Increases the grip between caster's feet and the floor. Makes it impossible to skid or slip even on wet surfaces. Caster won't disturb the ground, leave footprints or kick up dust. Spell is broken if caster walks on a fluid more than two fingers deep. Spell is broken if caster is carrying a moderate load.
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> [Tailwind] - 3th circle spell.
>
> Element: Wind.
>
> Type: Movement.
>
> Classification: Support. Buff.
>
> Target: Self.
>
> Controls the air currents to match caster's movement intentions. Increases move speed and reaction times by 50%. Enemies sensitive to air movement can read the caster's moves and predict them.
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> [Shadowblossom's Veil] - 4rd circle
>
> Element: Darkness.
>
> Type: Enhancement.
>
> Classification: Support. Buff.
>
> Target: Creature touched.
>
> Wraps the target in a veil of shadows that dims and warps all light around target except over the eyes. Greatly increases difficulty to spot target even when moving. No sound escapes the veil. Target is incapable of speaking. Target can end the spell at will. Veil is dispelled if exposed to sunlight or an equally strong light.
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> [Sylph's Hands] - 3rd circle
>
> Element: Mist.
>
> Type: Conjuration.
>
> Classification: Support. Utility.
>
> Target: Creature touched.
>
> Creates a set of invisible hands that can manipulate unattended light objects at the caster's will. Degree of coordination and fine motor movements depend on concentration.
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After two millennia of interaction with summoned heroes, various elements of their culture seeped into ours. Although their seeds can't grow in our soil and their modern technology can't work in this world because the gods forbid them, pieces of their knowledge and culture were passed down throughout the ages. Weapon designs, clothing, behavior, some idioms and a few of their values were preserved by otherworlder hero enthusiasts. This knowledge has facilitated our interactions with the heroes. This is especially important for the princesses that will perform the summoning ritual and become their liaisons and chaperons in their travels.
Excerpt from Understanding Otherworlders and their Impact on Society.
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The next day Aidan discovered why the dinner party was lacking in the juvenile department. Five carriages with students from the Academy were held back because the whole castle was placed in lock down right when the assassination commotion started. And it only was lifted after the party was almost over. The carriages went back to the dormitories with a lot of unhappy teenagers onboard.
Still, as Sora said as they retired for the night, that dinner party would be talked about for years to come. And to aggravate things Cythrel and Pearl decided to do a sleepover and kicked Aidan out claiming again that he was in the one-fourth boy phase of his life right now.
Maybe that was the reason the real Lumina didn't deign to make an appearance even once during her own homecoming party. There were several occasions they were expecting her to surface and mess things up. There were three plausible causes. Either she was too weak to surface, the personal importance she put on the events was lower than they thought, or she was being suppressed by Aidan's new mindset.
It was probably the third option, if you consider the setup. Why would a soul mage have any problem suppressing a soul fragment inside him? Maybe he was giving her free rein before. This analysis was shallow and subjective though. It could be a fourth factor they didn't think of, like maybe... the assimilation process moving forward. Or the lack of willpower on her part now that she witnessed how her absence affected the castle.
There were too many variables. It was impossible to reach a conclusion. One fact remained. He felt much more himself than at any point during the past two months he was awake.
In another Dawn sat to get her hair done. A practical braid. Aidan walked in front of the mirror.
"Back to school. I hope I don't have to devour the soul of any other bully." He made a tasteless joke in front of the mirror as he did the finishing touches on his uniform. "If your Highness wants to remain quiet, be my guest."
Nothing. Aidan even considered provoking her for real, but he disliked bleeding with a passion.
Outside he finds Sora, Cythrel, and Gurf in their also brand-new academy uniforms.
"There you are! For crying out loud, you take as long as a princess to get ready." Cythrel teased in her usual way.
Aidan didn't entertain the elf's foolishness and went straight for Sora. After being forceful separated from her, he had a sort of craving that he denied for a long time. He wanted to kiss her but he stuttered at the last moment. A fear of doing something inappropriate in public, a bashful self-awareness hit him. He was not alone though. Sora had also leaned forward a little to sudden straighten up her back and blush.
"Good morning, Sora."
The memory of what he did last night hit him. Was he drunk? Why in the name of the twelve gods did he think it was alright to court her and kiss in the middle of the ballroom in front of the King himself? Aidan suddenly wanted to open up a hole and sink inside. He actually had to control himself not to do exactly that. Mages.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
His sudden bout of shyness only inflated Sora's own self-awareness.
"If you guys want to skip class, I can intercede with the headmaster. I'm sure the wise archmage will understand." Pearl spoke from their side.
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Meanwhile, a maid was very worried with her ward. "Your highness, are you ill? Do you have a temperature?"
Dawn was flooding with the same emotions as Aidan. Fortunately she was sitting in front of Lumina's dressing table.
"It is nothing. I just remembered something." She lied.
"Is it about the dashing hero of yesterday's evening, your Highness? I was told you two were very close." The maid gossiped.
"I'm not. We are done here. Please fetch my rapier."
"I'm afraid I can't, your Highness. Your rapier was taken to the smithy for polishing."
Aidan had no advanced knowledge of metallurgy beyond basic care for one's own weapons, but Dawn had that blade for almost a month now. It never even needed oiling.
The smithy should be near the knight barracks.
"Butterfly Step"
"Tailwind."
The air around Dawn picked up her thoughts and a draft pushed her in the direction she wanted to go. She raced through the castle's corridors and staircases. The wind surrounding her was an extension of her mind. It also stopped her braid from flailing around when she did sharp turns or her skirt from uplifting.
As Dawn passed through some guard posts she wondered if Lumina hadn't used this same stunt before, because at least one of the guards dismissed it saying 'It's just the princess'.
Lumina was a closet tomboy, Dawn was certain of that.
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"What is taking that girl so long?" An impatient Pearl asked staring at Aidan, who seemed a bit distracted.
"I'm just fetching my rapier from the smithy, where it ended up without my knowledge. I just don't know why the master smith would plea 'please don't blow the forge again'."
Pearl gave an amused smile that shifted to a devious one as she pondered.
"Lumina's private life became much more interesting. What else is she hiding?"
Aidan made a hurt expression.
"I won't tell you. Let's go, it is easier for me to go around the castle to the carriage than cross the inner corridors."
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The master smith was drooling over Dawn's rapier. She yanked the weapon from the man's hand, almost cutting him. She threatened him to know who did that and he told her it came there under her own orders.
Someone in the castle staff was going to get the princess approved short end of the stick soon.
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The carriage rocked through the cobblestone streets toward the academy.
As they crossed the gates to the campus, Aidan remembered the phantom pain of the assault. Pushing it to the back of his mind, he stopped caressing Sora's ears.
"Are we there yet?" The girl was so absorbed she lost her bearings.
"Yes. We are back, Sora. Now all we need is to fix her." He said, looking at Dawn.
The girl sat in the carriage the whole trip like a lifeless doll. The only signs she was still alive where the blinking of the eyes and the movements of her breathing.
"What is the plan?" Asked Pearl.
"We will have to go straight to the forbidden library. Sora, can you get Gurf and Cythrel to the registrar for their classes assignment?"
"Sword practice in the afternoon?" Sora asked just to confirm. She knew Aidan would want to spend the afternoon together.
"Yes. Book a training room for the six of us. It will be good to train together. Maybe archery as well."
Pearl stopped looking out the window and asked with a bit of indignation.
"Six of us? Are you expecting me to take the sword and bow as well?"
"Absolutely. Maybe long daggers for you. A baselard or stiletto given your frame. We could test your offhand dexterity to see if you can dual wield. And I'd like you to know your way with a short bow."
"Lord Aidan, the princess weaponizer." She joked.
Aidan lowered his eyes with a sad expression.A brief silence reigned the carriage, the clopping of hooves and the cranking of wheels dominating the air. And then Dawn reacted. He channeled the feeling, the thought that erupted from a dark corner of his soul not his own into the mouth of that thought's owner. The until now inert girl suddenly changed her bearing, assuming a regal posture.
Aquiline eyes met Pearl's and she spoke.
"Silly Pearl. We already are weapons of the highest order, of a strategic level. Those of us that fail the gauntlet to become weapons are turned into commodities to be auctioned to the highest bidder. Such is our tragedy, our fate for stemming from the womb of Queens and the loins of Kings."
Everyone inside the carriage froze. That tone of voice. The absolute belief in one's own words she imparted. The subtle derision. Dawn returned to her doll-like demeanor and all the eyes turned to Aidan. The boy was pinching his nose with a tissue, red slowly seeping through the cloth.
"A new trick I've discovered just now." He spoke with a nasal voice. "I just packaged the thoughts and feelings she transmitted and carried them out through Dawn. It seems that when our opinions match she won't hurt me very much."
Pearl was raising her heckles like a cornered cat.
"Trick?" She hissed. "You almost killed me right now! I thought you would just release Lumina into the world without giving us time to..." Pearl shut her mouth before she spoke something she'd regret?
"Run and hide?" Cythrel guessed.
"I'd say prepare our hearts." The princess corrected the elf.
"Anyway, I'd like you to learn to at least defend yourself." Aidan concluded.
"Promise me to give a warning before you awaken her again and I'll do anything you want."
"Deal." Aidan winked at Pearl. Cythrel rolled her eyes and Sora punched him.
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"Welcome to the forbidden library. Actually the Restricted Thaumaturgy Section of the library, but forbidden sounds better." Joked the Archmage.
"We'll be in your care, headmaster." Pearl curtsied.
"We can do without the pleasantries. Let's go inside, there is a lab already prepared."
He ushered the three mage students into a lab at the corner of the stone building. Wards hummed when he waved his hand, sealing the place.
"Good. Now lie down the princess' body on that bed and let's talk. I will teach you the spellcraft and wizardry exercises you need to restore Lumina, but first we need to discuss the method we are going to use."
Aidan and Pearl sat side-by-side on a couch across the headmaster's armchair. Astromelicus waved his hand and conjured an illusion of Aidan and Dawn's soul effigies without the orbs. Floating beneath them the sleeping shapes of their real bodies.
"The diagram of your spell, do you know who stole it?" He asked.
"Yes. It was Kazuya, one of Pearl's summoned heroes."
"And I assume you have no way of finding him."
"Not that I know."
"Not even using Pearl as a tracking link?"
Aidan looked at the princess. What could he mean? If the princess and the summoned hero were linked, and combining that with the fact that the summoning ritual was in part soul magic, it would mean that a tether should be formed.
Astromelicus seemed to read Aidan's thoughts.
"What is the problem? You couldn't see the tether so you assumed there was none, right?"
"Is there one?" Aidan was surprised. Why wouldn't it show on his spell?
"If your Highness doesn't mind, could we see your soul?"
Pearl didn't answer. She just puffed her chest and turned to face Aidan. The boy used his spell and touched her higher than usual, between the collarbones.
"Soul Reveal."
The usual pink effigy, the size of an outstretched hand projected in front of the girl. It was pink and the black spots still surfaced from time to time. They were less than before though. Her elemental orbs were the same but the mana orb was a little stronger.
"Mid-D-tier mana. It is healing well, Pearl. Maybe we can schedule the next session earlier than I thought." Aidan reported.
"Yes, but instead of admiring the princess' soul, you should find the tether, Aidan. Where is it?"
Aidan moved his hands through the image. Pearl thought she would feel something, but it was just an illusion. He moved to look at it from the sides and she almost cracked a nervous laughter. That thing could be just a pink blot but was shaped exactly like her body.
"I can't see it. It is not like there is anything going outside her soul. Unless..."
He took his time to look closely at the black spots. They would surface and it seemed they sucked some pink matter around them when they did. He stopped to think about the other soul damage effects he saw. His own. The wisps of soul matter trailing away and fading. They represented his dying state, his soul flaking off and being dragged to the afterlife. But if these black spots were siphoning her soul away and he was sure they were related to the summoning ritual, it would be a clue to the tether.
"... the tether is not going outside. It is going inward." All made sense. His face lightened up, the joy of discovery shining bright.
But the implications were terrible. He looked at Astromelicus and his eyes went wide with shock. His expression clouded all at once. Aidan clenched his fists. Even Dawn stirred in the bed.
"Pearl, we are doing the healing ritual tonight." He declared as if his words were final.