Vio smiled as she walked through a vast field within an infinite void. A gentle breeze swept through the area, bringing the scent of lavender through the air. The void sky, darker than black, was broken up by small multicolored motes of light that gently hovered around. Each one seemed to pulse and move of their own accord as most stayed well above her. Some were close enough to touch as she passed them. The gentle light they gave off revealed a purple path for Vio to go on. The young lady smiled as she followed the path with a bounce in her step, before looking at the lights themselves.
Each gave off a gentle glow as they seemed to communicate with themselves, flitting to and fro without much care. All seemed to be peaceful here, and Vio moved to sit as she saw them float, content to watch them.
Only for the void to be replaced with light. It was a painful, searing light that grabbed each of the motes and absorbed them one by one. A devourer of light that swept over the sacred darkness and burnt the scene to ash. The field became charcoal and glass, as the air came to smell horrid.
Vio didn’t understand a thing she saw, but as the light came at her, she felt something she couldn’t describe. It made her blood ice cold as she moved without thought. A ball of shadows formed in her hand as she felt an energy well up within her. She launched the ball at the light, then another and another. As each attack came at the light, it halted it for a time, before it started to move again.
Vio’s anger kept the dark spheres coming as she fought back the light, losing ground every second. Her desperation was answered by her magic as the attacks became bigger and more destructive. The burnt land was torn apart by the force as the glassed ground simply shattered from the pressure.
Yet the light didn’t stop. It made it to Vio, despite her efforts.
And everything was consumed by light.
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Vio woke with a scream as the room she was in was thrown into vast disarray. She gave heavy breaths as she looked around, panic clouding her mind as the shadows seemed to draw themselves to her.
A knock on the door jolted her and she fired off a half-made lance of darkness at the sound. There was silence for a few moments, before a voice spoke.
“Vio? Are you okay in there?”
Vio stopped at the sound of Umi’s voice, before taking a breath in. “Yes. . . I’m alright.”
“What happened? It sounded like a real fight in there.”
“I think I had a . . .” It was quiet for another moment, before Umi felt a pull on herself. “A nightmare. Some light came and I tried to fight it. But I couldn’t.”
“That explains a lot. Mind if I come in?”
“Please do.” Vio tried her best not to sound desperate.
She failed.
Umi opened the door to take a look around the room, and couldn’t help but give a low whistle. While the area had been mostly cave with a simple bed off to one side and a dresser on the other, it was now filled with impact craters from dozens of powerful attacks. The dresser itself had been embedded into the stone wall as it hung open, lances of shadow pinning it in place. The bed had moved to the other side of the room, covered in cracks and dents.
“Bad dream, you said?”
Vio nodded. “Please don’t be-”
“Upset? I expected something like this already. I’m more impressed you managed to do this much unconscious. Not many can even gather this much power.”
“Oh. . . that’s good. . .”
“Now, would you like to get something to eat?” Umi snapped her fingers, and a wave of condensation came around Vio, passing around her in a fine mist before becoming darker and fading from sight.
“I would like that.” Vio replied as she hopped out of bed, looking up to Umi with a small smile.
Breakfast was already cooking as the two came out of the room, and the smell of roasted mushrooms and meat filled the air. Vio took a deep sniff in, and it seemed like her worries melted away as she was led to a table, where an odd-looking steak was sat on a plate surrounded by various mushrooms of all colors.
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“It’s still not much since I wasn’t expecting company, but I’m sure it still should fill you up.”
“You said that about last night with those odd, green. . . noodles? But it still filled my plate.”
Umi chuckled. “It’d be silly to leave the pantry completely empty, ya know.” She took a seat and crossed her legs, drawing in energy from her surroundings as she had her own ‘breakfast’. Vio felt the energy flow in the air shift and thin as Umi’s glow grew brighter. She watched as she ate, wanting to ask, but not daring to as she filled herself on her meal.
“Something wrong?” Umi asked.
“Well, you are doing that instead of having food.”
“I’ll be fine with this, at least for now.”
“What is ‘this’?” Vio asked. “Can I try?”
Umi sat up as she shook her head. “Just a trick I found for keeping myself topped up. I’m sure you’ll need to learn a bit more before you attempt something like this.” She then laughed as she looked down to Vio’s plate. “Besides, the food’s better than the technique, trust me on that one.”
“If you say so. So what are we to do today?”
“Well, as much as I would like to get started on teaching you,” And learning about you, “I have to go back to the Monolith site first and check up on everyone
Vio gave a sigh as she looked into her breakfast and took another bite. “And me?”
“You’ll need to stick by me. While I am impressed on how much you’ve picked up in only a day, you are still young and need an eye on you to keep you out of trouble.”
“I guess.”
“Don’t worry, after we finish, I’ll take you out somewhere, so we can see what you can do.
Vio’s face lit up as Umi nodded.
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As the two headed back to the base camp that had sat where the Monolith was, Umi let herself think about the progression of things so far. Yesterday's events had taken her by surprise, not just in their events, but how she had taken them with the flow. She thanked her magical ties that she hadn’t panicked between moving as the guardian of a young god and having the ire of the council pointed directly at herself, but that could have just been seen as the facts just not settling in her mind
Looking to Vio, she was a marvel that defied the common sense known so far. The Monolith had stood for millennia, yet she clearly did not have those years within her, and much of that knowledge was no doubt borrowed from her and her co-workers. While she shared the Monolith’s magical potential, she seemed to take as the Monolith only gave.
And this was just scratching the surface.
Umi only hummed as she looked down to Vio. “You are going to make our work cut out for us.” She said with a chuckle as the two made it back to camp.
“What do you mean?” Vio asked, looking up to Umi.
Umi opened her mouth to answer, only for a gruff shout to take it’s own opportunity to fill in the blank. “THIS BRAT DID HOW MUCH DAMAGE TO THE PROJECT?”
“Um. . . Is that bad?”
Umi chuckled nervously as she looked over the camp. . . or rather what was left of it. Vio’s awakening had done more than a bit of damage as holes littered every tent, with those closer to the empty pedestal having much more. In some cases, the tent in question was no more than shredded tarp. Some dried red spots could be seen in the dirt, as a few people could be seen in the infirmary tents. Luckily everyone seemed to be alive and accounted for, but that seemed to have been the best news.
As this was said, Mort stepped out of his hole-ridden tent with a growl as he looked at the report in his claws, no doubt a damage report. Umi gave a hum as she came over to Mort as he skimmed the paper.
“So, what did I miss yesterday after we left?”
“Almost all of the inspection equipment is broken, a few of the apprentices have holes in their bodies, and the hundreds of holes on the tents and bags making work and transport just about impossible.” Mort grumbled as he looked up. “I almost envy your exit.”
“Don’t, I got to deal with the week-long anger of the Council.” Umi said with a shudder, water coming off her form.
“Luckily girl.” He said sarcastically. “Well, if your break is over, we need to fix this mess and do what we can before we return with our complete lack of findings.”
“Can’t really help with the gear, but I’ll see what I can do with the holey people.”
“One thing before you do. Might wanna leave the girl that caused it with me.”
“That seems like a worse idea.”
“Than shocking someone out for good?”
Vio looked as the two adults shot back and forth, before speaking. “So. . . who is the wolf man?”
Umi smirked. “This here is Mort. Try to help him out. I need to excuse myself for a moment.”
Mort only had the chance to look at Umi with disdain, before a 4 foot missile struck him in the side. He sucked in air as he only now realized his mistake. . . but not it’s full depth.