The past few days had Jennifer spending her time toying with her new [Blood Dagger] form. She found that she could change the swirling carving pen like form, back into a regular dagger with a thought. Being unable to use magic due to her injuries and with nothing much to do, she found herself intently studying the books about blood magic she’d obtained from Derim.

Her new spider companion had quickly tired of the exercise, and decided to wander around her room by himself. That is until she’d taken him to the library and brought him a few books on mind magic. It still baffled her how quickly the spider’s capability at reading was increasing, but even that was nothing compared to his proficiency at picking up new mind magic spells.

Xar had managed to learn ‘Invisible Hand’, ‘Mind Link’ and ‘Minor Mind Control’ all within a single week's time. Often enough, she’d find a bird flapping its wings in the most awkward manner possible before she would realize that the tiny spider inside was controlling it. She was glad he couldn’t use the ability on any creature with a more complex mind than a bird, or he’d be a terrifying force to contend with.

Yet this didn’t seem to be the end of his ability. Jennifer quickly learned that Xar could memorize spells at a glance. She’d made quick work of all interesting spells she could find within the books Derim gave her, and a further still from the library, having Xar memorize them so that she could inspect them later at her own pace.

Jennifer sat within the Academy’s library, her own notes spread on top of the table in front of her. Runes of an unfamiliar language were imprinted upon the parchment sheets, little descriptions and breakdowns of each one written next to them. Xar continued to share the content of the books to her through the mind-link, while he himself busied himself by controlling some nearby birds to once again try and make them fly without crashing.

Jennifer felt it a bit cruel to move a creature’s body against its will, yet Xar insisted the birds were fine with it. In return for letting him practice, he’d promised them something. Though he didn’t share what.

She returned her eyes to the notes in front of her, letting the spider mess around. This was her next task. The runes she’d found within the books on blood and soul magic were nothing like she’d seen before. The language was old, older than Zweirilian magic. She could recognise components of the runic language system that she’d noticed in the blood red runes that had turned her into a demon within these.

Whatever secret lay within the demon’s plans was hidden in these texts.

She stared at the runes marked onto her parchment sheet, frowning. It had been a week since she’d tried to break these down, yet they didn’t seem to follow any convention that she knew of. The worst part was her inability to test out the blood rune directly, as it would require a living creature to test on, and she didn’t feel comfortable carving runes into animals. She was starting to understand just why the magic was forbidden.

“Still no luck?” a woman’s voice echoed from nearby. Ithea’s light brown hair was tied in two long braids behind her as usual, as she made her way towards Jennifer.

“None so far. I thought runic translation was my strong point, but whatever these are, I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Jennifer replied, leaning back on her chair. Her eyes remained on Ithea as the [Librarian]. At first she’d had concerns over sharing anything regarding the topic of her research with the woman, but she didn’t seem to be aware of the origin of these runes. It had also been a test, to see if the Demon was the [Librarian] all along. But the suspicion seemed to have been unfounded, as Ithea merely continued to observe Jennifer. Xar had confirmed her assessment as well.

“True. Even my skills don’t show anything that could explain these runes. No tangential relations either. It’s quite a mystery language that you’ve gotten your hands on Jennifer. Perhaps even a lost one. I’m dying to know where you got your hands on it,” the [Librarian] said, leaning closer towards Jennifer.

Jennifer pushed her chair a bit further back, withdrawing from Ithea’s intense gaze, as she laughed awkwardly. “I’m not sure myself either. My friend told me she’d found a strange book, and it seemed magical. So I decided to take a look, and I’ve been stuck researching since.”

“Perhaps those arms are also a result of this new possession of yours?” Ithea asked, pointing at her bandaged arms. Jennifer pulled her arm back, glancing nervously towards Ithea. “No, I just—”

“—Just fought the spirit remnant of a sky-fang serpent in the dungeon. Half the academy already knows my dear, I’m merely teasing you,” Ithea said with a laugh.

“Though as a bit of help, I would suggest asking Magus Orvil. He’s a bit quirky, but he knows of almost every runic language there is, even some forbidden ones,” Ithea said, winking, before she walked away.

Jennifer glanced at the Librarian’s back, before nodding in gratitude. Taking her scattered notes, she stacked them together, leaving her seat. She had little else to do while her mana pathways healed, and she could not deny her curiosity towards just what exactly these runes were. Perhaps if she understood them better, she’d be able to work out the spell that had turned her into a demon, and stop it.

After making sure she had everything, she made her way out of the library.

***

A brief stop at the counter to ask Minceli the whereabouts of Magus Orvil later, Jennifer stood in front of the mage’s office. The door was tacked on with all sorts of wards and carving matrices forming a sort of array. It almost looked like art, if she focused on the strings of mana threads running through the gate.

Pulling her attention away from the strange gate, Jennifer coughed, and tapped lightly onto the door. Little waves of blue traveled from her hand upon the impact, activating some sort of formation. A buzzing hum covered her entire body, as mana passed through her body in a scan.

"Shiny!" Xar exclaimed, stealing a glance.

The door swung open with a click, revealing a messy office inside. “Who is it?” a scratchy voice asked Jennifer.

She lifted her gaze, and saw a boy who couldn’t have been any older than her sitting on the chair, sharp fangs poking out of his mouth and pointed ears pulling back from the sides of his head.

Jennifer stared in confusion at the boy, her eyes glancing around the room to look for the magus.

“Do you need something?” the boy asked, his sharp eyes set towards her.

“Oh, excuse me. Is Magus Orvil not here?” she asked with a stutter. She noticed the color inside the boy’s pupils shift through a myriad of hues in mere moments, as he looked at her.

“I’ll be the one you’re looking for,” Orvil replied.

Jennifer wasn’t sure how to reply. Trying not to be any more awkward than she already had been, she walked ahead presenting the bundle of notes in her hand. “Apologies Magus. I was sent here by Ithea. She said you could help me figure out what kind of runes these were. I haven’t seen anything like this before.”

The boy- or rather, the Magus took the sheet of parchments from her hand, swiftly going through them.

Jennifer found her gaze stuck at the Magus, as she tried to keep her curiosity down. Just how was someone so young already a Magus at the Academy? It would be impressive enough to be a regular mage. She would suspect elven blood to be at play, but neither the facial structure, the fangs or any other feature was appropriate. And elven bloods typically started their education after they have matured enough to leave as adults.

The Magus, perhaps having sensed her glancing turned to face her. A moment later, his eyes widened as he glanced down towards his body. “Ah this. Body alteration spell. Can’t remove it yet, I’m testing how long I can maintain it without harmful effects. Then I need to test how long I can maintain it without dying, or permanent changes to my physique. I must say, the form I’d tried to create popped up with a lot more changes than I’d anticipated.”

Something brushed at Jennifer’s feet, and she jumped in surprise. Glancing down, she found a scaled lizard-like tail extending from the magus’ robes, onto the ground moving left and right.

“[Prehensile Appendage], a test one. The potion doesn’t quite work the way I want it too, not nearly enough dexterity provided,” the Magus said with a smirk.

Jennifer stared blankly. Perhaps for the first time, she found herself more concerned than curious about a new and unknown kind of magic.

"Xar thinks it’s fun. Xar would like a big scaly tail too! Though Xar is of course perfect as he already is."

The Magus averted his eyes from Jennifer, quickly returning back to the parchment sheet she’d handed him. “Anyway, from the look of it, these are blood and soul runes, combined to form a unified Runic language. I can spot origins of two separate runic systems derived from the same base, used to form these. But not any of the standardized kind. Being reported with any artifact containing these will quickly get you apprehended, so if you’ve got your hands on something you shouldn’t have, now is the time to fess up.”

Jennifer quickly shook her head. “I found these in a really old book that my friend had gotten her hands on. I don’t have the book with me, I just took notes of the runes because I didn’t recognize them.”

The magus stared at her, his eyes shifting hues once more. “Very well. I don’t believe that you’re lying.”

Trying to divert the conversation from any criminal offenses, Jennifer pointed at the parchment sheet with her notes. “So, you know the origin for these runes? And perhaps which family they may belong to?”

“No, I’ve got no clue. Never seen these before, they’re from a time period likely before the system itself. No records would remain of anything that old, and if they exist, I have no access to them,” the Magus replied.

Jennifer pushed down a defeated sigh, as she nodded in thanks for the Magus’ help.

“Hold on just a second. I didn’t say I had nothing I could tell you,” the Magus said. Leaning sideways, he pulled open the bottom most drawer on his desk, taking a single scroll from within. Picking up his quill, he began to scribble away at the sheet, carefully drawing runes onto the sheet.

Jennifer watched him work, frowning as she tried to understand just what he was doing. A moment later, her eyes widened in surprise.

That’s- he did the runic breakdown of an entirely new, most probably lost language just now?

Her jaw hung open, as she stared at the words written by the Magus. Sections of the runes were being segmented, their structural and runic interpretations that could be tied into the Zweirilian standard being written down, while the rest were being approximated to decent estimates for functional purposes.

“The runes, any runes, are based upon the same fundamental principles. And no, I don’t mean manifestation and shaping. These are purely the mage standard that we use in our current era, many forms of magic do not follow these. Anyway, I’ll save the lecture for later. This sheet will allow you to string together basic interpretations for most spells written in this runic system,” the magus said, handing Jennifer the parchment sheet.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She grabbed the sheet, reading briefly through the contents. Closing her mouth, she turned towards the magus, clutching the sheet in her hand. Just who the hell was this guy? She’d never heard of someone decoding a new runic language so quickly, and with seeming lack of effort. Perhaps, if she could bring the runes from the spell that day to the Magus, he might be able to find a way to stop the spell.

Jennifer bowed her head. “Thank you for your help, Magus.”

“No problem. Just don’t use those runes, or tell anyone that I gave a first year something like these and we’re good. As much as I enjoy poking my nose where it doesn’t belong, I would not like to be dismissed from my job yet.”

Jennifer nodded. Hesitantly, she stared at the Magus for a moment longer, gathering the courage to speak up about her idea. “Umm, Magus. I… if, supposedly, I had a book that I perhaps shouldn’t have. With a lot more on these runes given in them. It would be your responsibility to confisticate something like that, right?”

She saw the Magus’ eyes turn wide. “You- just what are you trying to do?”

Jennifer ignored the outburst from the Magus, as she continued undeterred. “And if, if, you had such a book. As long as no forbidden magic is performed, just the study of that magic would not be punishable by the law in any way. Is that right?”

The magus stared at her for a while, before leaning back on his chair with a sigh. “Yes. It wouldn’t be.”

“A book filled with runes that may have been lost to time. All I’d like to do is learn a bit more, I can swear an oath to never use any malicious spells from the book as well,” Jennifer said, her heart pounding.

"Xar doesn’t like this."

“Fine,” Orvil replied. “You got me. I’m too curious to not accept. But do beware, if any issues arise from this, it’ll all land on your head.”

Jennifer nodded. She had plenty of resets to try again if things failed, but this was certainly worth a shot.

“In either case, find me tomorrow with the book after class hours. I’ll see what you’ve got in these books of yours then,” the Magus replied, turning away from her to face his own pile of work.

“Thank you Magus,” Jennifer said, bowing to the Magus as she left the chamber. She suppressed a smile, trying to keep the worries of the demon tracking her out of her mind. She’d need to find a way to secretly bring in the book to the Academy, and a way to end her life at a moment’s notice if things went wrong. But even those grim thoughts didn’t bring her mood down.

She might finally have an insight into this invasion, and perhaps the trial itself.

***

Jennifer shifted the books in her arms, awkwardly shuffling the cloth covering them. The day had passed quickly, as she’d spent the rest of it practicing her light shaping exercise. She could even do mental imaging training in her sleep with Xar, though too much of it left her with a headache the next day.

The dilemma of a way to control her reset had also been surprisingly easy to find. She found that Xar could simply turn off her mind for good, as long as she didn’t resist. She had been slightly terrified to learn that, but a few tests showed her that even the slightest resistance from her will broke the pulse Xar sent from acting on her mind. At best, he could knock her out.

I guess I need to work on finding some mind magic defenses too.

She knocked on the door once more, watching the runes flare on them. A moment later, the gate opened with a click. Orvil sat on a chair inside, a cup of some kind of hot dark liquid inside his cup that the Magus lightly sipped on. Jennifer felt like she could spot little bags under the Magus’ eyes.

“Here are you? Well, come on in, don't just stand there,” the Magus said, drinking the rest of his cup’s contents in a go.

“Excuse me,” Jeniffer whispered, closing the door with her feet as she walked inside. Stepping the books onto the table in front of the magus, she quietly observed him.

Orvil leaned forward, running a finger through the top of the book. “Old leather. I don’t recognise what it’s from,” the Magus muttered. He set his eyes towards Jennifer, narrowing them for a moment as he stared. A few moments of awkward staring later, the Magus turned back towards the books. “Very well, let’s begin. Take a seat,” the Magus said.

Jennifer glanced around the chamber, trying to find a place to sit. She quickly found a chair and dragged it over, taking a seat next to the Magus.

“Quite a few blood magic spells, and some soul magic. At least no necromancy from the looks of it,” the Magus said, flipping the pages of the book. His eyes swept through the pages at a rapid pace. A minute or two later, he picked the next book, repeating the same process as before. Jennifer watched the man quietly, wondering if he was truly able to gather any information from such a cursory look.

“Tell me something. While none of this is standard magic, being forbidden and everything. Especially certain sections that we’ll not be looking at whatsoever, but this is most certainly not the runes you’d shown me. Those were far older.”

“Would you believe me, if I told you I saw them in a dream?” Jennifer tried.

The Magus sighed, closing the books. “Listen, Jennifer. I really don’t want to get into the mess of finding out that one of our students is dabbling in forbidden magic. Very frankly, it’s not my problem. The reason why I’ve decided to work with you is because I enjoy studying runes, and I personally do not believe any magic to be inherently malicious, it is only their usage by the person applying them that’s malicious.”

“In that case—” Jennifer continued.

“—But that doesn’t mean I will ignore it when I see dangerous spells.” The Magus raised his hand, cutting her off. “If you aren’t going to be honest with me, then take these books back with you and I’ll pretend this never happened.”

"Jennifer, Xar wants to say something," Xar whispered in her mind.

"Not now Xar, I need to think of a way to convince the Magus. This was a risk I knew, but I didn’t expect it to go sideways so quickly."

"Xar can help. Xar can see minds, they’re like glowing suns of thoughts, too bright for Xar to see. But the strongest ones tend to flow through the ‘Web’. Xar thinks Xar can help," the spider said.

Jennifer paused, thinking over the spider's words. "Okay. What do you plan to do?"

"Talk to the Magus" Xar said.

Jennifer’s eyes widened, as the spider shifted from her neck, crawling out onto her shoulder. She shifted her hand instinctively to cover him, but Xar jumped over her palm, and landed on her thigh.

"Greetings Magus! My name/call/sound is Xardhviladrothic!"

Jennifer watched the spider lift a leg in a waving gesture, and she almost facepalmed. Before she could recover, she saw the Magus move closer to her leg and almost jumped back.

Yet instead of confusion or anger, she saw a smile plastered on the Magus’ face, his eyes shining. “A talking spider? I don’t sense any alteration spells. And to reach such size reduction from a spell would be an impossible feat. Then how? Nothing short of soul alteration will allow such capacity of thought to a creature with such a small brain,” the Magus caught himself, turning to face Jennifer. “Is this your work? Did you create this spider?” the Magus asked, his face lit up with excitement.

Jennifer shook her head.

"Xar is the greatest spider there is! No one created Xar but Xar himself." Xar said, tapping its abdomen with one of its front legs.

“I found Xar in the dungeon, alongside these ruins. I’ve been keeping him with me for now, because I didn’t know where else to take a sentient telepathic spider,” Jennifer said.

“You’re the serpent-slayer girl then?” The magus said, returning back to his seat with a thud. “Alright, you’ve got me now. A sentient creature capable of thought tied to blood and soul runes before the foundation of magic itself. I’m curious.”

“We need your help Magus. I don’t want to learn how to cast these spells. Merely to dispel one,” Jennifer said, looking at the Magus.

“Are you telling me that there’s someone capable of casting this magic walking around the city,” the Magus asked, his eyes set upon her.

Jennifer met the Magus eyes, not replying.

Orvil sighed. “Very well. We’ve got about four hours. Let’s get you started on the basics. In return, I’m keeping the books, and you’ll be bringing Xardhviladrothic with you whenever you come.”

Jennifer’s eyes widened at the mage’s usage of Xar’s full name without any pause. She nodded quickly afterwards.

“Let’s get to it then. I don’t have much time, and there’s a lot to cover.”

***

The sky was dark, the sun resting beyond the horizon for more than an hour. Now, barely an afterglow remained, as the moon began to rise high into the sky.

Jennifer stumbled out of the academy, feeling as if her soul had been wrung dry. The magus had been a great teacher, but he was fast. Even with Nathaniel, Jennifer had felt like she was capable of at least keeping up, but Orvil did not give her a moment to breathe, introducing new concepts and then asking to apply them a moment later.

But she couldn’t deny the effectiveness of the method either. With Xar’s help, she’d quickly memorized every relevant piece of information, learning how the blood runes ticked, and which mana thread to tug at to break the structure apart. Unlike structure's spread, the blood runes mana patterns were spread more like streams of waters doing all kinds of directions, curving, twisting, almost like veins and arteries. It had been a completely different system, but she’d managed to learn how to break the spell.

"Xar also picked up something!" the spider exclaimed, as a spell structure was sent to her mind. Jennifer used [Lesser Arcane Analysis] as a screen popped up.

Soul Link

Soul Magic

Tier-2

Joins the soul of two entities together.

Jennifer had quickly realized that the magic worked extremely similar to how the bonds between her, Xar and the Prince worked as well. There was clearly some sort of connection, and perhaps if she could figure it out, she could extend this bond with other people, bringing them with her into the time loop.

"Jennifer forgets the other thing she realised."

She paused at Xar’s words. Right, the integrity is likely to go down even faster, and there’s a chance that the other person’s soul will start affecting mine or vice versa, resulting in me essentially converting their soul into a slave.

She sighed, putting the thought aside. As much as she’d like to think that she could naively go around making bonds, for now, her abilities were limited to Bonded Marks. She would need to figure out how that aspect worked first and foremost before she could proceed any further.

"But Jennifer might just do it. She has time to practice, after all."

Jennifer nodded at Xar’s words, feeling a bit better. Within a few moments, she reached her house. Trying to lighten herself up, she shook her shoulders loose. Perhaps she could spend some time by herself, practicing her new blood rune disruption method. It needed a lot more fine tuning before it would work on a spell as intricate as the one she’d seen that day, but it was a start.

"Someone is nearby—

A hand grasped Jennifer’s shoulder, gripping tightly as Xar’s voice cut off. On instinct, Jennifer turned, as her [Blood Dagger] manifested in her hand. She raised the blade, ready to fight whatever demon was there, when another hand grabbed her wrist. She tried to shout, but her mouth was covered by the man.

Jennifer stared at the hooded figure, her heart beating wildly. The visage of the Mark of Drought, and his cold green eyes flashed in her mind, and Jennifer tensed.

“Calm down. I’m just here to talk,” the man said, before pulling back on his hood slightly. “Pretend that you’re fighting me, but don’t actually resist as I bring you over into the alley.”

The man’s arm twisted her wrist as a pained cry left her mouth, muffled by his hand still covering her mouth. Jennifer kicked her legs, trying to hit him with her wrist, as he pulled her aside. After making sure she was out of sight, Jennifer bit the man’s hands, pulling herself free.

“What in Sera’s name are you doing Irwys?!” Jennifer shouted, at the [Royal Knight].

“Saving your life. The demons attacked your home. Whoever you’d see inside would just be a flesh puppet,” Irwys said.

Jennifer found her breath getting stuck, her eyes wide in fear. She stared at Irwys, her throat clamming up. “Y-you’re kidding right? What about mom and dad?” she asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

Irwys didn’t reply.

The world spun around Jennifer as she stumbled towards the nearby wall. She stood blankly, unable to grasp just what had happened.

“They’re not gone. As long as you're alive, you can bring them back. Not to mention, your brother is waiting for you.”

Jennifer’s head snapped towards Irwys. “Keith is alive?”

Irwys returned a nod, taking out a bracelet of some sort that he put around his wrist. “He is. Now focus. We’ll go to meet the Prince.”

Wiping her tears, Jennifer took a deep breath. Something shuddered from inside her home, as tendrils shot outwards, rushing in her direction.

“Grab my hand,” Irwys said, and Jennifer obliged.

Somewhere, far off in the distance, she heard a quiet whisper. Yet one, that seemed to echo through her whole body.

“[Sanctuary of Fates]”

The world vanished around her.