> [Soul Restoration] - 5th circle spell.
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> Element: Underworld.
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> Type: Soul.
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> Classification: Healing. Ritual. Variable output.
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> Target: Creature touched or creatures in the target area of the ritual circle.
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> Restores a moderate amount of damage to the soul. The spell is intended for use as a ritual but can be cast normally for a very small amount of healing. The effect is reduced on older wounds.
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> The ritual requires an assortment of rare medicinal herbs strong in spiritual energy.
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A group of knights took the lead escorting the carriage, the royal flag unfurled by the lead rider proof of the vehicle valuable contents. The sky was overcast, Spring rains threatening to give the filthy streets some well-needed cleaning.
The sound of hooves clopping on the cobblestone paving was drowned by cheers and shouts from people on the streets, on the windows, balconies facing the main street, and upon the roofs. Lumina, one of be bastions of the country's safety, their beloved princess, the royal family's fair maiden, the jewel of light, and several lofty titles were being thrown around.
Princesses were more than anything a symbol. A role model for girls. A strategic contingency in the hero summoning. A way to forge long-lasting relations with neighbors through marriage. A source of entertainment in the form of gossip about the events and relationships in the court. A sight for sore eyes for both male and female romantics.
Yutis was frozen in time for almost a year and a half. Ever since the attack on the square in front of the academy, the concern regarding the princess' health and safety caused the population to avoid doing major deals or life choices. Business involving large sums were withheld, marriages postponed, everyone holding out for any news good or bad regarding the princess. It could have a huge impact on prices and other evaluations and only those really in need dared make transactions that were mostly skewed against the one attempting to make the sale.
If Lumina dies, Yutis loses its symbol, the strategic deterrence, and the trade agreement with Heath is as good as ashes in a kitchen. Nobody wants ashes in their kitchen. Yutis would also lose a very promising and powerful tri-element mage, another insult added to the injury.
On a side note, rhinorses are forbidden inside the city walls ever since the attack by Royal Decree.
Then the kidnapping was announced. The princess was taken straight from the royal ward of the castle hospital. The amount of gold offered for the princess return was staggering. Chaos ensued as some shady parties accused one another of being involved and several searches and shakedowns disrupted the balance of the criminal organizations in the capital.
Everything changed a couple of days ago when a pair of knight scouts arrived with news that the princess was hale and returning home, inbound through the south gate in a few days. The news hit the city like wildfire. Bets were paid, the exchange rate of trade goods and imports adjusted to maximize profit. Promises hanging on the princess' recovery were fulfilled or dishonored, even some people got assassinated for whatever reasons the schemes they were involved with related to Lumina's reinstatement.
The gears of Yutis were turning once more at a vengeful speed to recoup for lost time and everything held back for the last seventeen months was coming to fruition now. All because of one young woman.
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Said young 'woman' was at that very moment shaking in fear inside the carriage.
"I couldn't believe Lumina would get this much cheer from her people. But seeing is believing, I guess." Pearl commented after looking outside the window. "Are you sure you don't want to show yourself outside, darling? It would be great publicity for us."
"Not if I can help. I'm afraid, Pearl. All this roaring is getting on my nerves."
For Dawn, so deep inside she couldn't even realize, this cheering on Lumina's return was a heavy blow on her right to exist. She was an illegitimate existence, a fragment of Aidan's soul living inside the princess' heart. A usurper, the fruit of unholy magic. She had no doubts the full description of the spell would enact a witch hunt of unheard-of proportions. Soul-stealing mages. Aidan on the driver's seat was only able to keep his poker face because he shunted almost all thinking processes on Dawn. The perks of having two brains.
The princess gave a reassuring grip on her body-snatching friend and smiled. "As long as we don't falter in our equanimity we are invincible, darling."
The street would split into two further ahead after a rather large market square. One way would lead to the castle, the other to the academy. In hindsight, it should come as no surprise as to which way was free and which was blocked.
They would naturally try to lead the princess back to the castle. It is where they belong, right? Well, not if Aidan could help it. He had a good track record of keeping princesses out of their castles.
"HALT!" The young man stood up and shouted. He braced himself on a bar near the driver's seat and the carriage shook as it came to an abrupt stop. The crowd went silent. Aidan exchanged a glance and a nod with Sora riding on the side of the carriage. She cleared the side and took her horse to the back of the carriage.
Stolen story; please report.
A knight rode next to Aidan. "What is the matter, milord?"
"Haven't we stated that our destination was the academy and not the castle?" He barked at the knight. "Why is the way to the academy blocked?"
The rider in plate mail looked confused. He was unwilling to answer because he could smell trouble and a cesspit would be fresher than what was coming up.
"Are you the leader of this escort?" Aidan would rather not waste time going up and down the command chain.
"No, milord. I am going to call the captain."
'Yutis has too many captains in their knight corps.' Groaned Aidan.
A knight with the right pauldron came next to Aidan. "Milord, I am sorry but I have orders to secure the princess in the castle. Her visit to the academy will have to be postponed."
Aidan closed his eyes for a while and rubbed his temples. "Captain, I hope these orders come from King Helios himself because Lumina will not be happy to be delayed."
His use of the princess' name directly and without honorifics spoke loudly of his alleged relationship with the princess. In reality, Aidan and Lumina couldn't be closer than they were right now, with the whole soul-sharing business.
The captain took a step back mentally. Of course, the order was not from the King himself. His Majesty was way too busy to micromanage things like the princess parade route or anything like that. He decided to go with the middle option.
"I don't know, milord. But the orders came from the castle."
Some blurb was beginning to make talking hard as the people around decided there was no immediate threat and started to chat and cheer again.
"Then I suggest you rethink your options, captain. Because Lumina is coming out in a few moments and she will not be happy. It is your arse on the line. Open up the way to the academy or it will get ugly."
The captain paused but answered noncommittally. "I'm afraid this is beyond my power to decide, milord." He lied. As the commander of the escort, he could lead the princess anywhere he wanted. He just didn't want to deal with the trouble of explaining himself later.
And Aidan knew that. "Three, two, one..." He counted slowly.
Inside the carriage Dawn readied herself. "Well, Pearl. You got it. I'm going out and I'm going to make a show. Ruthless but classy, isn't it?"
"Yes, my dear. Rage on like an injured dragon but strut around like a prancing doe. The world is your stage and you are the brightest star."
Outside, Aidan waved goodbye at the captain. The door of the carriage was thrown open and almost yanked out of its hinges. A female voice chanted a spell.
"Stone bones."
The figure of the princess leaped outside the carriage, sparkling jewelry capturing the sunlight. She landed gracefully on the ground, the impact of the jump absorbed in her reinforced skeleton. Dawn was glad she decided to wear a dress with a hemline that reached the ground. She could be in her traveling boots and nobody would be the wiser.
"CAPTAIN!" Dawn shouted, a fiery gaze trained on the mounted knight. Any answer was drowned by a cathartic cheer from the crowd. Lumina was literally jumping around, there was no better proof of her health the crowd believed. It drowned sound and there was no way a conversation could be held anywhere in that square.
'Rampaging dragon, right? Well, let's get the show going.' Dawn cheered on herself. And she used Lumina's hallmark spell.
"Lightning Bolt!!"
One problem with the combination of low elemental affinities, high mana affinity, and a lack of expertise with the element was regulating the output. Dawn overcharged her spell. It would fry a knight even with their warded armor. Fortunately for the man, she aimed the spell up.
Earth and heavens connected upon the form of a young woman. Dawn shot her lightning upward and unwittingly caused the cloud coverage above her to answer. The downward lightning met the girl's spell and the ensuing flash of light and thunder silenced the whole city. The electrical charges canceled each other high in the sky and she was unharmed. Everyone's ears rung. Cythrel, Sora and the more sensitive races present covered their ears too late.
"CAPTAIN!" Dawn shouted once again after a while. Her voice was the only thing people could hear over the ringing in their ears. Her hands outstretched, crackling with elemental fury. She ignored the tingling and stinging of the lightning. Her low affinity meant she took minute amounts of damage of her own elemental magic if said forces materialized near her.
Aidan focused to keep a poker face going on. Dawn's rage was still an act.
"Your Highness!" The captain snapped his heels on the stirrups.
"I warned you. Challenging Lord Aidan's orders was to defy me."
Dawn took a few steps toward the Captain, coming up close to his horse. The animal tried to buck away from the zappy person but the experienced horseman controlled the mount and made it move away from the girl. The size of the stallion made her a bit afraid but she was not finished. In fact, Dawn channeled her fears and anxieties feeding them to her anger. If her actions before the lightning bolt were calculated and staged, right now she was reaching a boiling point. Aidan was clenching the handlebar of the carriage in an attempt to look calm.
These two mages could lay waste to a quarter of the town before they ran out of mana.
"Heed my words, captain. Open up the way to the academy or I shall cook you inside your armor, enchanted or not." She barked. Dawn's hands were shaking. The coursing lightning was hurting her. Faint Lichtenberg figures could be seen in her skin. Not that anyone in that world knew what they were. She moved forward, forcing the rider to bring his mount back and away from the horses attached to the carriage, just as Dawn wanted.
"Your Highness, my orders were..."
'Wrong Answer and I'm sorry.' Thought Aidan.
"Lightning Bolt."
Dawn zapped the knight captain, this time casting slower and paying attention to the mana throughput for the spell formation. It hit the man and the horse and dealt no significant damage because of their enchanted armor but the animal promptly discarded its rider and made a beeline to the open street leading to the castle. It knew the way home and was dead set on getting away from any zappy people. The armored soldier fell on his back, metal clattering against the cobblestone.
"Lord Aidan," Dawn shouted.
"Yes, Princess Lumina?" He answered himself, projecting his voice. It would not do to forget her title.
"I really don't think we will have another discipline problem with our knights." She stared at several knights watching the scene. "But I'd like you to make room for me in the driver's seat. Please convey the escort my wishes, I am tired from all this commotion."
Aidan tried to Dawn up and was reminded of to dispel the stone bones. She was as heavy as two grown men. She sat in the middle of the bench and silently cast Undying Resilience. So long they didn't suffer fatal injuries the mana cost of the ongoing spell was manageable.
"Gentlemen, you know where the princess wants to go. Open up the way yourselves or I'll open it myself with extreme prejudice." Aidan ordered the knights. Unsurprisingly they complied.
Dawn smiled and the crowd took that as a signal to resume cheering. She even waved her hand at them. Nobody doubted anymore that Lumina was back. Face, temper and magic all spelled it out.
The entourage went on their way to the academy, leaving behind the captain lying down on his back regretting his life choices.