With all my visitors finally out of the way, I could at last focus on studying magic. I focused my manna around my eyes, looking at the Oni soul stone Zu had given me.
‘Nothing’s changed…’
Besides my best guess from its name, I couldn’t figure out what it was.
‘Maybe I could even learn a thing or two about the so-called mysterious ways this can be used. I wonder what he’s been up to? I should ask Catherine about him next time she comes to check up on me.
I scoured the book for mention of an “Oni soul stone” but I I couldn’t find anything and quickly gave up.
‘Well, it's not important right now anyway.’ I turned back to where I was earlier. I understood the most basic aspects of magic. It was common sense to study something you might have to fight against. After all, Even some of the monsters could use it.
As for divine magic, it didn’t interest me. I didn’t like the idea of borrowing power from someone else.
The thing I was most curious about right away was dark magic. ‘If it has a different source, being my soul, and not my manna, does that mean I could use it even with a broken gate?’ I turned the page.
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dark magic:
When someone uses dark magic, hexes, curses, or other spells that are considered taboo, they will begin to slowly drift further and further into the void of darkness. Because of this, only those with the strongest hearts can use dark magic without becoming corrupted. An Irony cast on us by the world of the arcane.
Dark magic can be used for a great many things. Some of the more common uses however are to speak with the dead, commune with demons, grant extreme physical power and strength in exchange for backlash, and mess with the natural order of life, granting and taking it. It is also the only magic that can fully conceal your presence, and even take away vision from others. Dark magic is considerably stronger in the dark.
The order of knights called Riftwalkers, were once famed for their use of dark magic and were the most successful group to ever fight against creatures of darkness. But despite its extreme effectiveness. The magic corrupted the knights and they became monsters similar to those that they had fought.
Most spells were lost to time, or locked away because of their dark nature. The few known spells are listed below:
Grounding
Darklight
Savage strike.
Hurricane swing
Oozing darkness.
One with the abyss
Abyssal rift
Devastation
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‘Really, only 8 spells?’ The other kinds of magic had hundreds, sometimes thousands of spells and applications for each one. I looked over each section individually, trying to gain some more hints but the information was incomplete, some entries having nothing at all.
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Grounding:
Dark sight: Allows perfect vision no matter the level of light
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Savage strike: A massive empowered strike swing, at higher levels a blade of darkness surrounds your blade, effectively enlarging it. At very high levels a sword isn't even required at all.
Hurricane swing: A reckless strike that is empowered in a wide arc sending out blades of soul energy to everyone within a certain range.
Oozing darkness: Summons small dark slimes that slowly creep, corrupting the ground and dealing extremely high damage to anything touched.
One with the abyss:
Abyssal rift: Open a dimensional rift.
Devastation:
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‘Hm… Darksight would be extremely useful if I ever had to fight at night. Hurricain swing and Savage strike are simple sounding at least, but I wonder how effective they are. Either way, they would be hard to pull off as my own natural strength.
I suppose I shouldn't even worry about that. It said it corrupts all who use it right? That means it will probably just cause more problems for me. Let's just… forget about it, at least for now.
“Siya?”
I yawned, raising my eyes to see Mara hesitantly entering the room. My eyes suddenly felt heavy as I began to slowly figure out how tired I was.
“Ah, you're still awake.” She continued, relaxing a bit as she walked in.
I felt as though I could fall asleep at any moment now that my focus had been broken. “Yeah.” I yawned again. “Probably not for long though, did you need something?”
Her eyes looked just as tired as mine. “No, I was just about to go to sleep as well.”
‘I guess she just came back for a change of clothes.’
I closed the book, pushing it to the edge of the bed with some effort, and pulling the blankets over me as I laid down. “Well, goodnight then.”
“Goodnight.”
My body still ached, but I had gotten used to falling asleep in pain a long time ago, so I was sure the moment she left I would go out like a light.
She was surely taking her sweet time though. After several minutes of hearing things rustling around I finally heard her let out a long groan, as if she was finally ready to go to bed.
In my mind, the thing that was supposed to come next was the creaking of the door. Whenever I was given my parent's room, she would sleep in Catherine's room, while my father would just sleep in his office.
The door never opened though. Instead, the floorboards slowly creaked louder and louder as she got closer with every step.
My heart raced as I closed my eyes tighter, not wanting to talk to her anymore. ‘I just want to sleep, can’t you just leave it at goodnight?’
I felt the blankets move as the weight on the bed shifted. Brisk air momentarily blew under the blankets making me shudder slightly before it all became warm again. ‘What's happening?’
I didn’t understand what was going on. No, I knew what was happening, I just didn’t want to believe it.
Right behind me, I heard her let out a heavy breath of air as she settled in, relaxing in the bed next to me.
Laying on my right side was only starting to hurt more as my shoulder ached, still recovering, so eventually I had to roll over to face her and when I did felt chills run through me.
‘She’s so close!’ Her eyes were closed, and her breathing soft. Without my eyes, I might not have noticed her at all.
I wanted to roll over again but I was petrified, afraid that she would wake up if I so much as blinked. ‘I mean… It’s her bed… If I don’t like it I should just sleep on the floor.’
I lifted up the blankets for a moment but shuddered again and yanked them back over myself, rolling back over to face her. ‘Agh… Whatever, maybe it isn’t so bad.’
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness left behind from the candles going out they softened, and I began to see her features more clearly.
Her hair lazily fell over her scar-covered face as her lips stayed just slightly parted, finally relaxing after what I was sure was another day of scowling.
Suddenly her eyes opened making me flinch, squeezing the blanket around me tighter.
“Stop pulling so hard on the blankets, are you still that cold?” She grumbled already half asleep, despite having just laid down.
“S-sorry.” I stuttered, worried I was annoying her for a moment before I realized she was the one acting weird. “Why are you here though?”
“Well it's my bed, and you're not sick, so why shouldn’t I use it.”
“I guess that makes sense…”
She pushed herself up a bit, rubbing her eyes. “Are you alright? Your voice sounds a bit shaky?”
Her movement jostled the blankets, causing another waft of cold air to blow under the blankets, making me squeak. “I’m fine…” I said, my voice’s high pitch telling her exactly what I was feeling.
‘Why am I so cold all of a sudden… I was fine before she came in…’
She rolled her eyes. “Agh, just come here if you're still that cold.”
I tensed up as she effortlessly reached out and grabbed my shirt, pulling me right up against her and wrapping me in her arms.
She loosened her embrace. “Oh, sorry, your bruises.”
Chills began to run through my whole body at how warm I started feet. “N-no, it's fine…” I looked down resting my forehead against her shoulder. “You weren’t touching them…” I mumbled.
‘Why is she so warm, is this just all in my head? Do I actually want to be close to her like this?’
In the end, it didn’t matter how I felt about it my body felt like ice, and her touch was the only thing that felt truly warm. Because of that, the moment she wrapped her arms around me I felt like if I left I might die.
Knowing my cynical side, had it been anyone else I would have almost thought they were using magic in some strange way. It was Mara though, she wasn’t even capable of casting a spell.
As my body finally began to warm up again, my heavy eyes won out over whatever tension I felt, and before I could so much as question whether or not I should be fighting it, I fell asleep.