Quinn woke bright and early as per usual. She set about her standard exercises and cleaned herself up before settling down with her newest book, A Beginners Spellbook. She had been wanting to read it for a while, but put it off so she could learn more of the basics first.
The first few pages were about what she was beginning to expect from a book on magic. They entailed the usual warnings and simple rundowns for a couple of chapters - simple stuff like the stability of magic being of the utmost importance. After the first two chapters, things started to get interesting.
The third chapter in was titled Finding Your Attributes! and listed several tier-one magics. According to the book, the easiest way to find elemental attributes aside from basing it on your Mana Signature was to cast spells of every element. If it wasn’t one of your attributes, there would be resistance in the flow of mana or something similar. Lifestyle Magic, since it was so stable and cheap, was immune to the resistance of attributes.
The best part of the magic listed was that each one was perfectly stable. She could cast them all without fear of being devoured. Not only that, but each spell had its runes translated and its effect described.
She started with the first magic circle in the book. It was called Sparks. She held out her hand and replicated the magic circle and copied the runes into her dark mana - the book said they were fire, expand, burst, and shape. She got a sense of wrongness almost like vertigo as she held the mana forming the circle. She focused her will, following the book's description and envisioning a burst of sparks from her palm. She then released her hold over the mana.
The circle glowed with a red light as a small flame condensed onto her palm. The fire blew apart near instantly and a shower of spark burst from her hand out a few feet. About a hundred or so sprang out, lighting up the surrounding area and showering the area in front of her.
Quinn was impressed by its effect. It wasn’t amazing nor did it have a ton of stopping power, but she was sure she could blind someone with the spell if given the need. The were a few weaknesses such as the short charge-up time between when the fire was summoned and when it blew up. She was a hundred percent sure an experienced enemy would close their eyes or dodge out of the way. And the obvious weakness of needing to be close.
Unfortunately, fire was not her element. That sense of incongruity within her mana was the sign the book had talked about when a spell didn’t fit her mana’s attribute. She was slightly bummed she couldn’t be the fire-slinging mage of mayhem that every fantasy game portrayed.
At least she still had badass gravity magic, even if it was weak for the moment. Quinn had no doubt it would become far stronger once she could cast a higher-tier spell. It was hopefully just a matter of time, though she still didn’t know enough about progressing through the tiers as a mage.
Next up was Spout. It was a simple magic that sent a beam of water from the caster's hand. She copied out the runes onto her magic circle - water, form, condense, and launch this time. Her mana easily flowed through her and out into the magic circle. She released her control over the mana and the magic circle activated.
A small blue ball formed over the purple ring. It grew in size until it was about as big as her hand. Then the ball compressed in on itself and launched forward, splattering the far wall with enough pressure to scrub some of the paint off.
Quinn froze up as she realized what she had done. Here she was, just mindlessly practicing magic and she had vandalized a wall. What would happen if the water had been rocks? Surely a hole would’ve been punched right through it. She needed somewhere better to train than a small room.
But not before she fixed the messed-up paint. She moved the table and chairs to that side of the room, perfectly covering the water-gouged area. As long as the proprietor didn’t notice until after she left, she would be all good.
On the bright side, at least Quinn knew that water was one of her mana attributes. With how easily it flowed, there was no way it wasn’t a part of her Elemental Attribution. It made sense, in a way. The gravity of the moon affected the tides of the ocean, at least in her previous world. She wasn’t quite sure how it all worked here. In fact, she had never even seen the moon. The Eternal Storm constantly bloated out the sky as if afraid to let even a beam of light touch the ground.
She paced about her room for a time as she read up on the other magics in the book. At least a couple could cause damage to her surroundings. It was best she found somewhere else to practice. But where?
She didn’t know the place, but she knew who to ask. Quinn packed up her belongings into her bag and made her way down to the Schel’s room.
Quinn was headed there for a few reasons. She needed a place to practice free from restrictions, so she would ask Arnz if he knew a place. She also needed to talk to Torrence about what happened at Epso’s Books.
She walked down the stairs, passing by the moody receptionist as she did. The worker didn’t even look up from her book nor had she at any other time than when someone approached her. Quinn soon arrived at her destination and knocked on the door.
Torrence answered a few seconds later with a bored look on his face. “Oh, it's you…”
Quinn flashed an irritated smile. “Oh! It's you! Just who I wanted to see…” She mustered all the fake cheer she could into her voice. “How are you, friend?”
“I’ve got the morbs. And you?” What a weird word. The morbs. Maybe as in a morbid feeling? Is that the way of saying depressed in this day and age? I’ve got the morbs. Nope. It just feels… icky almost.
She shook herself free of the linguistic curiosity. “Oh, I’ve been better. You know, the craziest thing happened to me yesterday. I was just minding my own business when I was interrupted by government officials.”
He visibly blanched. “Ha ha. That’s crazy.”
“It is crazy, right? The bookstore you took me to just happened to be fraternizing with the occult.”
“I-it was an accident. I’ve been there a couple of times and nothing out of the ordinary happened.” She didn’t miss his frown directed at her as if she was the problem.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Do you really expect me to believe that I, out of everyone else, was picked to be toyed with by some cult?” This brat was speaking pure nonsense. Just because he was a few inches taller, he thought he could look down on her! He's got another thing coming!
Torrence sighed. “Look, I didn’t know that would happen. Maybe it's because you're younger than me that the cultists took an interest?”
“I am most definitely not younger than you!” Just because she didn’t have the normal wrinkles that came with age didn’t mean she was young! She was twenty-five years old, damnit!
He looked at her as if she was insane. “And I’m actually Kalys.”
She had no idea who this Kalys guy was, but she could definitely tell he was mocking her. “Listen here, brat, I don’t have time to bicker with you about my age. Where’s your grandpa?”
“Not here.” He moved to close the door in her face.
Quinn smacked the door and held it open. She spoke with barely contained anger. “Then where is he?”
Torrence glared at her hand in disdain. “He’s with the rest of the Schel Caravan preparing to set out in three days.”
“And where is that?”
He sighed deeply as if she was the biggest annoyance in his life. “You remember the market I took you to? Go into it toward the big pavilion, then take a left and you'll end up in the caravan district of Mauershein.”
Quinn glared at him one last time before turning away. She left the Shattered Grail shortly after hearing the Schel’s door slam shut.
The outside streets were fairly busy, as usual. Everyone was headed from someplace to another in their fancy clothes and sagen. She had no idea how they did it. Quinn was wearing light and breathable clothes and she was still getting a tad bit warm under her layers. Not to the point of sweating, but uncomfortable nonetheless. She was thankful Halis was in the north next to the Skathi Mountains and the glaciers that lay within. If it were any further south, chances were high the cities would’ve been far too humid to live in with all of the rain. As it stood, the Halis Empire had been the perfect amount of cold to temper the humidity.
She felt quite safe walking down the bricked streets amidst the clip-clop of horses and the gentle chatter of citizens. She had been in plenty of places that felt dangerous to walk around it. Here, however, the sheer number of pedestrians gave her a sense of comfort as long as she avoided the alleys. If anything felt unsafe, it was the constant horses and carriages passing around. Just the thought of one of the quadrupeds going on a rampage sent chills down her spine.
As Quinn walked down the busy streets, she had to hand it to the citizens of the Empire of Storms. They did a really good job with hygiene and trash. Sure, they literally cleaned it all with magic, but the scent of the place could’ve been much worse. Just a thought about a similar period in her own world made her shudder with disgust at how poor medical and hygienic standards were. As it stood, the streets smelled of burnt ozone and freshly baked bread.
Of course, this was all around a way of saying she couldn’t help herself as she passed by a bakery and bought far too much food than she should’ve. She was quite slow on the way to the merchant plaza as she grabbed at her overstuffed stomach. She should’ve stopped after half a loaf of bread, but the other dish had smelled so good. It tasted even better than it looked. What did the baker call it? Streuselkuchen? No matter, it was quite delicious.
She entered the merchant plaza with her sagen pulled tightly around her head. The atmosphere was almost instantly changed from a peaceful jaunt down the city streets to the chaos of merchants shouting what they were selling. The hubbub of people moved up and down the maze-like rows set up by the merchants. Quinn, of course, moved with them toward the center of the large plaza.
Quinn also didn’t miss the towering mountains in the distance of the city. Each flash of lightning illuminated their overbearing presence. Thunder roared from their peaks as if a not-so-silent warning to stay away. She hadn’t seen them before since everything was covered by colored tarps, but they were quite intimidating due to their gargantuan size.
It took quite a while to get to the center due to the congestion of the merchants and the pedestrians looking at wares. She passed through with far too much trouble as she was targeted by almost every merchant. She couldn’t necessarily blame them, she did look like a walking mound of money with her nice clothes and her youthful appearance. Still, she shoved through all the same and arrived at the center pavilion.
The center pavilion covered a large area in the middle of the plaza. The area was sunk into the ground into an almost amphitheater-type area. It was a large round space with seats engraved into the ground. The seated area surrounded a central stage area.
She stood on the edge of the large area. People of every look and age sat around the central stage, chattering as they watched the ongoing. They appeared to not have a care in the world and even a few people were walking around selling snacks. The atmosphere was rather happy for such an event.
It was all so very… surreal. The crowd was so apathetic as people in chains were marched across the large stage. They didn’t care as their fellow citizens shouted out price tags and auctioned for what were obviously slaves. The collars around their necks and their poor clothes said it all. The chains holding the 'merchandise' clicked together every time one of the slaves twisted and turned.
Quinn had known that there were slaves in this world for a while now. She wasn’t dumb enough to pretend not to know. It was only, unfortunately, natural. Her own world had slaves and slave owners for thousands of years and only in the last two hundred had it become illegal. And that was a world at peace, mostly. It came as no big surprise there were slaves in this chaotic world she found herself in.
With all of that said, it was still unsettling to see people walk up with a hollow- wait, no. That wasn’t quite right. The slaves walked around as if they were begging to be bought. It was her own misperception that they were hollow. The slaves flaunted their bodies and flexed their muscles as if they wanted nothing more than to be owned. If anything, it added to the surreal feel of the place.
She approached a man in a dress shirt and black trousers. He had a vest over his shirt and a tie neatly set around his neck. A sagen covered his shoulders and his dirty blonde hair, protecting it from the constant onslaught of rain. “E-excuse me, sir?”
The man looked over defensively at first but then dropped his wariness at the sight of Quinn. Probably because she looked so young if she had to guess. People treated her like a child far too much recently and was starting to get annoying. Perhaps she should get a mask or something. “Yes, lass?”
“C-could you uh, explain something to me?” She hated how nervous she got around strangers. It was so annoying not being able to speak straight without stuttering. But really, she didn't blame herself too much. She had always been a shy person even before the incident.
He smiled brightly, showing off his perfectly white teeth. Sparkling white teeth were surprisingly common since most people used Cleanse. It was yet another perk of living in a magic society where most mild annoyances could instantly be taken care of. Cleanse eliminated bad breath too, which was a welcome side effect of the handy spell. “Of course. What can I do for you?”
“Why do those people look l-like they want to be bought?” She pointed towards the center of the amphitheater area.
“Ah! It must be your first time in a slave market.” He continued after she nodded. “Well… it’s like this. If slaves aren’t bought within a year of becoming a slave, they are sent to fight on the edges of the Nightmare Wastes. And trust me, anything is better than the Nightmare Wastes.”
What was so bad about the Nightmare Wastes? She still hadn’t done much research into it, but from what she could tell it was just a place with monsters. Surely sitting on a wall and defending against the occasional small monster wasn’t so bad. She thought it would be much preferable to being someone’s property at the least.
“T-thank you, mister.” She bowed her head slightly. It was an unconscious movement that she wished she hadn't made. It made her seem even more like a child since she couldn't hold eye contact.
“No problem, lass. You should stop lollygagging around and get on back to your parents.” The man turned away from her.
She took the apparent sign of dismissal - although it was extraordinarily annoying for him to assume she had run away from her parents - for what it was and left the area. She cast one left morbid look at the surreal scene before leaving the slave pavilion. Quinn followed Torrence’s directions soon after, albeit carefully this time, and walked out toward the left side of the plaza.