August 5, 493 U.C.
Like an evil hag, I cackled, sending the chilly noise ripping through the air. Frost gathered on the windows. Leaves fell from branches. A black cat perked up, and Dad rolled his eyes while I broke into giggles once more.
“Terrible,” Dad said. “But far better than this disaster.” He gestured to the television.
I scowled at him. I had just spent over thirty minutes tormenting people in the name of the greater good. He wasn’t remotely grateful.
“Sit down,” Dad ordered.
I took a seat on the couch. Then I looked over at the screen. I was walking up to a green and white coffee shop in my Viper outfit. You could see people inside. Several drones were flying in and out with paper cups mounted on them.
“Now, what was the goal?” Dad asked.
I turned to him and wished that I had gum. “Sow discord.”
“Elaborate.”
“Show that I had magic without the fae. The goal was to show that they can’t stop a villain. But we also didn’t want to cause enough damage to cause widespread panic. We don’t want them to turn to the fae in desperation. We just need them to wake up.”
“Correct.”
“Then what’s the problem?” I crossed my legs. “I did just that!”
“Let’s review what happened.” Dad pushed play.
~~~
I walked up towards a coffee shop. Honestly, I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing. Wanton acts of criminality have never been my thing. So, I mused on it as I walked up to the fake stone building with lots of windows. There were about twenty people inside getting coffee.
A woman with a baby in her arms and a little toddler at her side walked up with a haggard look. The baby was fussing in his blue onesie. The toddler was looking wide-eyed at everything and trying to get his mom’s attention by pulling on her pants. The mom was trying to console the baby by bouncing him.
Walking forward, I reached out and opened the door for them. The smell of coffee hit. It smelt good.
“Thank you,” the woman said as she walked inside.
“You’re welcome.” I followed her inside and looked at the various patrons. They were largely going about their business. One worker was behind the counter. He was punching in an order on the machine. Other people were just walking straight to the kiosks. It was a hub of activity.
Both the woman and I joined the line for the human attendant. A man in a suit brushed by us both as he walked outside. I smiled at him. Then I watched a drone zip off with some order. Another came zipping back up to the dock on the side of the building.
~~~
Dad pushed pause and gave me a probing look. “Well?”
“What? I just walked inside. Nothing has happened yet.”
Dad huffed and rubbed his brow. “You held the door open and said ‘You’re welcome!’”
“Oh. Well, that’s just polite. You’ve yelled at me to be polite for years. So, I guess you are just a good teacher.” I refrained from smirking at him.
Dad began gesturing with both hands. “Repeat after me. I am a villain. A villain is not polite.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think Grandpa agrees. He got so mad yesterday. It’s not my fault they wouldn’t just kill the fish. It’s called professionalism. I’m providing them with a service. They refuse to accept, but they also refuse to say no. It’s so annoying. I waste so much time.”
Dad facepalmed and rubbed his brow. He clearly had no counter to my brilliant argument. “What happened there?” he asked.
“Same thing. I was just trying to get them to kill the fish without taking four hours of my life. They take so long. Then there is the cursing and wailing. It’s annoying. I have to do something to speed it up.”
“You cried!” Dad said. “Have some sympathy!”
“That’s a lie! You weren’t even there!” I countered.
“You were crying when you got home.”
I huffed at him. “It hurt!”
“Why couldn’t you cause trouble like that in the shop?” Dad asked. “Embrace that version of Casey.”
“I did!” I protested righteously. “It’s coming.”
“No, it’s not,” he muttered and hit play again.
~~~
I waited my turn, standing in line behind the woman and her kids. My focus was largely occupied by the worker who was blitzing through orders. It was impressive to watch him zip around. I looked around for an employee of the month sign. He deserved it.
The toddler looked up at his mom and pulled on her jeans. “Mom,” he said sadly. “Mom.”
I smiled at him. He had brown eyes and curly hair. He also looked on the brink of tears for some reason. I squatted, covered my eyes, and then swung my hands open. “Peek-a-boo!”
He looked over.
I did it again. “Peak-a-boo!”
That was when he hid behind his mom’s leg and peered out at me. I smiled at him and did it again. Slowly, his frown shifted to a smile. Then he giggled as I made faces at him. I wiggled my ears and scrunched my nose at him.
“Is that the Viper?” some woman sitting at a table asked, nearly vaulting out of her chair.
Some guy shook his head. “Probably just a cosplayer.”
“No, I am Viper!” I exclaimed. “Mwahahahehe he he...” I failed at my laugh. It just sounded like a giggling girl. The little toddler joined me. We giggled together. Then I stuck my tongue out at him and giggled further.
~~~
“And your next mistake?” Dad probed with that same look of exasperation.
I waved my hand dismissively. “My dramatic heist is coming up! This is before that. Keep going.”
“Wrong,” Dad said. He held up his fingers and started listing my mistakes. “You were playing peek-a-boo. That is the antithesis of terror. Worse still, you giggled like a schoolgirl, and you stood in line. You are a villain, not some cog!”
I waved him off. “It’s polite! They were there first. And he was fun! You said we didn’t want big waves!”
“We need them bigger than this!” Dad let out a breath of frustration.
“It’s fine. You’ll see.”
Dad shook his head and hit play.
~~~
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
The two of us continued giggling. The mom smiled at me. Then the baby spit up.
“Okay,” the mom said as she bounced him. “I’ll just get a new one.” She tried to maneuver before it got on her.
I reached over and took the baby. Then I wiped his face.
“Who’s going to be amazing? You are! Yes, you are!” I said happily to the baby. “You’ll be just like your brother!”
Lifting him, I gave him an airplane flight through the building. He started giggling, which caused me to smile. Returning to his mom, I pulled him close and bounced him while playing with his little hand. He clasped my finger. I’ll admit that I may have wondered what it’d be like to have a sibling. He was so cute with his giggles.
The little brother moved closer and gestured, scrunching his hands at me. I reached down and picked him up. I bounced both of them while giggling. It was fun. That was when I contemplated opening a babysitting service. It seemed like more fun than making potions. The two were grinning while I bounced them.
“Thank you so much. You should really cosplay as someone else,” the mom said and took the baby back.
“But I’m the Viper!” I protested. Then I lifted the toddler above my head. Making airplane noises, I flew him around the shop and returned to the line. I set him down with a chuckle. He gave me the biggest smile. I returned it.
~~~
“Why’d you pause it?” I asked. “We were just getting to my dramatic reveal!”
“This is when you should have left.” Dad huffed. “You were supposed to be terrorizing them, not helping them. You needed to make the children cry!”
“I’m not terrorizing babies or toddlers." I scoffed openly at the idea. "That’s cartoonish levels of villainy. A villain needs standards. They are off limits!”
“You needed to disregard the baby, the line, and everything else.”
“They were nice! And they were fun!” I protested.
“You know that you destroyed your villainous credibility.”
“I did not. It’s coming up.” I crossed my arms in protest.
He massaged his brow and pushed play again.
~~~
A man chuckled. “There is no way that she’s Viper.”
“I’m the Viper!” I protested.
That was met with a lot of laughter. I supposed it was fair. They didn’t have a way to know. But I had ways to show it. I prepared for my dramatic reveal as I approached the counter. The guy working the place looked at me. He was wearing a green apron.
“I’ll take a large Peppermint Latte, please.”
“Ten credits,” he replied.
“I won’t be paying!” I pulled out a glowing sword and waved it in the air with a look of triumphant villainy. “I am the Viper. This is a robbery!”
The zealous worker nodded, handling the situation like a pro. “Sure thing, Miss. Put that down, will you?”
“Sorry.” I gave him an apologetic look while pointing it to the ground.
He punched in my order. “Next!” he shouted.
I moved to the side with a smile. Then I waved at the toddler again.
~~~
I groaned. “What now? Look at the terror on their faces!” I pointed at the screen.
“That terror is already gone! You apologized and then you put your weapon down! Do you have any villainous instincts?” Dad asked.
“He’d already acquiesced! We didn’t want them panicking, remember?”
“We needed a little panic.”
“That’s not my fault. I robbed the place, and they just acquiesced. What was I supposed to do?” I asked.
Dad scowled. “Cause a little mayhem. Scare some kids. Knock over a display and take the register.”
“No way. We're supposed to be the heroes! Remember that?” I shouted at him. I need a vacation... Hmm, where to go?
Dad let out a breath of frustration. Then he pushed play while shaking his head.
~~~
The employee must have hit a button or something because a man with a suit walked in. “Give her the coffee. And see if we can get a picture for the wall.”
“Can we get a picture for our hero wall?” the employee asked.
I nodded. “Sure, but put me in the villain section, please.”
“Wait, are you really the Viper?” someone asked.
I used haste, pulled out lipstick, and slathered on a nice coating. Then I skipped over and kissed his forehead. I did the same to the cashier’s cheek. Then I skipped back and dropped the spell.
“Holy Shit! It’s Viper! Can I get an autograph?” some guy asked.
“I guess.” I pulled out my stamp.
“Stamp our wall too,” the manager said. He was smiling. I didn’t fully understand that in the moment.
I skipped over and stamped it. Then I returned for my coffee, stamping some things as I went.
“How do you have the same powers as Platinum?” someone yelled.
“Oh, I have power absorption. I can acquire powers from others,” I lied. “I ran into her. That was a good day for me. I got some good ones!”
“WHAT? That’s broken.”
“For sure.” I turned to the employee. “Thanks.” I took my coffee. Then I dropped a credit in the tip jar. “Bye little guys!” I waved at the kids and skipped out the door with a smile.
~~~
Dad let out a long breath. “You know that they would have paid you for that picture and autograph!”
“They would?” A giddy smile spread across my face. That sounded awesome. I hadn’t realized that fact.
“Why leave a tip and wave to the kids?” Dad asked.
“I was stealing from the corporation; he was a very good worker. And the kids were nice!”
“Stealing? Look!” Dad popped open another feed. The store was swamped with people. “You made that branch a fortune. It was like a magical girl press stop.”
I stared at the masses. There was an ad running outside. “Oh. Wow. Do you think I could get offers? Hmm. How do I get a protected email?”
“You do realize that you messed up?” Dad asked.
I nodded reluctantly; I had bungled it. “Yes. But we’re saving humanity, not tormenting people. I did show that I had magic and robbed it at least. That’s something, right?”
Dad shut down the video. “It’s something, but it didn’t exactly make our point.” He sighed.
I stared until he finally looked at me. Then I met his gaze. “I’m not torturing people, Dad. We’re doing this for humanity, not to humanity.”
Dad turned. “I need to call some people.”
I nodded and put on my mask, deciding to take a break. Teleporting, I hit a gem and headed up to the other gem in the library.
“Welcome to the library. I am the curator. I can aid you in finding various books. – Do you now understand?” the hologram spell thing asked.
“Yes, thanks,” I said happily to the woman.
“What information do you seek?”
“Books on spells. Oh, and why did the fae leave this world?”
“The experiment here failed. You may find books here.” A map displayed with the different topics.
I bolted over and grabbed several books on spells, enchantments, and potions. Then I dashed over to the history section and pulled out a book, The Kobold Enhancement Experiment. Sitting down, I began skimming it.
The council is reluctant given the aberrations. However, they have agreed since the natives on the world seem to have some sentience. Perhaps this will prove the answer to ending the aberrational threat...
The initial experiments have been a disaster. Not only did we not make progress, the kobolds have reverted to a more feral, non-sentient state. The council saw fit to place some on the seed worlds to prevent their extinction...
I finally had some measure of success. The kobolds bonded and were able to acquire far more magic than if they'd been left to natively adjust. However, it did have a side effect in making them more fae-like in appearance. Candidly, they are hideous. The council is irate about it too...
I'm facing an inquiry. It seems they were not happy to discover that I've continued my work. Someday they'll thank me. I'll leave my work here, hoping a more open-minded individual who doesn't accept the council will be able to use it...
I flipped to the last page. It had a poem.
The path to power's paved in black.
A journey for the bold.
Yet in the end, to see us win,
another story must unfold.
So I leave one final message,
before they come for me.
If there comes a day, you use my work,
beware of treachery.
And should you find the monsters
we accidentally made,
know it takes a vessel
to send them on their way.
Current Level 10 Current XP 99.90% Current Max Mana 8179.83 Regen per minute 13.63 Reputation 2000
Tier Skill Cost Tier 10 User Time Dilation (Haste)
- User experiences 256 seconds for 1 earth second.
- Force transference limited to 12.5%. 2 mana per earth second. Tier 6 Pocket Dimension
- 128 cubic meters of pocket space.
- Rapid stash and rapid draw.
- You may tether objects to your pocket space.
- Your pocket space preserves items inside. 32 mana Tier 6 Time Stop
- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.
- You may control the flow of time in the demiplane.
- You may summon in willing living creatures.
- This automatically triggers if you take significant damage. 200 mana to cast.
Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 6 Teleport.
- Teleports the caster or a willing creature.
- You may cast this on an unwilling creature if they are within ten meters.
- You may teleport inside an object, causing the matter to push outward.
200 mana for the caster.
400 mana for a willing creature.
1000 mana for an unwilling creature with no resistance.
- Short range casts cost less mana.
Tier 3 Attire Swap
- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform.
- Attire cleaned on swap.
- Attire repaired on swap. 20 mana. Tier 3 Enhanced Body
-Caster’s body is enhanced by a factor of eight. 2 mana per caster second. Tier 2 Enchanting.
- Enchantments last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Potions.
- Potions last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 1 Free casting
- Cast any spell you can replicate. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana. Tier 1 Familiar Manifestation. 20 mana to cast. 1 mana for each additional minute.