Micheal woke up smelling the natural flowery smell of the soap he had washed Vivian with the night before. Her nose touched against his, and her lips brushed his. She was laying against his chest, her legs hung over his own and as he woke she laced her fingers into his own on the hand that lay between her breasts. He immediately pulled her in close and held her tight. Something about the night before and the way he slept made him feel tense, but having her so close was lovely. She chuckled and snuggled herself further into his embrace and even drew in for a few kisses that quickly had her repositioning herself. What happened next delayed their rise from bed for another few minutes.
After that he was fully awake and managed to stumble out of the almost too comfy bed. It was too hard to make himself get out of. Especially when there was a beautiful girl in it with him so pleasantly soft, warm, and willing, but nature called and he had to answer.
Finally a toilet. No pot or bush, and even some not too rough toilet paper. Wonderful. Simply delightful.
Vivian walked in as he was busy with cleaning himself and held her nose shut as she reached for the brush she had left inside on the wash stand. Micheal wafted some of the stink in the air at her and she ran off with a playful shriek slamming the door to the washroom shut as she went. He flushed pulling the little chain attached to the high tank and washed in the smooth clay sink. The water appeared to be gravity fed, and perhaps even clean enough to drink from the small storage tank though he was still unsure of the quality of the source.
After that Vivian got him dressed in the clean pair of clothes he had left. She still remarked on his short boots and none too tight fit trousers, but there had to be canvas workers in the city like this and would have one make him a pair of jeans or something very much like them. These pants felt like he was wearing some kind of sweat pants and without pockets they felt strangely wrong or too casual to wear. That however was his first stumbling block to an otherwise entirely pleasant morning.
The one problem right now was money. He had enough to feed himself and pay for lodgings now though the guild lodging was taken care of for their stay here. He had to get to training with Vivian and find his pace with whatever power he had manifested through his Adventurer's Mark. All that started with meeting the others.
Once dressed and cleaned he went out into the sitting room with Vivian at his side. Everyone was taking small plates from a large breakfast platter taken up from the kitchen in the levels below he got his second look at Vivian's guild mates. There was some small talk and awkward introductions made while they ate.
Evatain Darrain was a High Elf of the Shrouded Kin. She was pretty and reserved, and talked in a haughty and somewhat flirtatious tone with no matter who she spoke. Despite this when she wasn't competing with Vivian or a few other members she seemed to have a head for tactics and logistics such as she had provided some credence to her leadership role as a Captain of the Unbroken Guard. She was a bit too curvy for his liking which stopped right around Luna's athletic form, but would have certainly upheld the fantasy dreams of many men back home and of course on the internet.
“So you're the type of man Vivian's been after all along eh Micheal? Can't say I disagree after what I saw in the bath—I hope you know I mean your scars. I didn't go looking elsewhere, or at least I tried...” She said, with a laugh she hid with an open hand.
Vivian turned an icy cold glare on her, but that only made her laugh more.
“Forgive me I do really mean to just tease Vivian a little Micheal. A little poking between guild sisters is all. I'm glad she's found you and you've found her.” Durrain said, her charisma showing through her brilliant smile, and casual, yet elegant manner.
Luna was out walking Jack to give him a chance to see to his own calls of nature. Micheal was glad that Jack had gained the whole indoor pet training from the bond they had. With Luna gone the boisterous Lindsey was the closest one there to being as cute as the Bunnary bard. She had a sort of girl next door quality, both pretty and approachable.
“Hi Micheal.” The young woman said with a pleasant smile as she handed him a plate full of flaky fish fillets, eggs, rice, and a few slices of toast. She giggled after saying his name. “Mike never lets me call him that. He always thinks I'm mad at him when I do.” She said in a low conspiratorial tone.
Her brown hair was back in a ponytail that only took in the top and back half of her hair, her bangs were cropped to end near her brows, and the rest hung loosely around her shoulders and neck. It was very nearly the same way his mother had worn her hair when was young and he found it made him very fond of her friendliness. Revealed in the bath she was pale skinned in all but the most commonly exposed areas. Still she had a healthy and attractive glow Micheal found alluring in many active women he had met and known. He returned the smile as best he could, taking up the full plate of food from her hands.
Mike however appeared to not be a morning person and simply eyed his wife as he ate at the table set into the center of the sitting room. His hair was neat however and his shirt and collar straight and spotless. No doubt thanks to Lindsey's efforts. Probably much like people thought of Vivian and him. She was wearing a maroon linen dress that set off her dark eyes and she wore light slippers of the same color. Mike wore a matching tunic that, like hers, tied at the collar, but with boots that went half way up his shins before they turned down. They both had similar belts too of dark and sturdy looking leather. Micheal took it as a sign that they had their clothes made by the same tailor.
He and Vivian sat next to Mike as he ate at the table and Vivian continued introductions.
The three young male Bunnary were Ted, James, and Fredrick Splinterroot. Micheal didn't quite get straight which of them was which as they bantered with Vivian, though they harassed her some they too looked at her with respect. Each of them were apparently twenty with...Ted? Being the oldest, and each of them separated by only half a year which was about the shortest time between birthing a Bunnary woman could manage he learned when he asked about their closeness in age. They were oddly open about it having heard from Luna that he didn't know much of anything of any of the Fae Born, and seemed to have relaxed from whatever aggressive stance they had taken the day before. The youngest, James he thought, kept eyeing some of the scars that stuck out on Micheal's arms.
“Did you remember our birthdays this year Vivian?” Fred, or maybe that was James asked.
Vivian turned a dry and baleful stare upon the young Bunnary who chuckled.
“What no gifts this time Vivian? Not even a lucky token from some journey you've been on without us?” The youngest of the three asked, a teasing smile lighting up his face.
Vivian shook her head at him.
“Don't mind them.” Vivian said as she picked at her food. “They all wanted to be just like me not too long ago, and I used to get them things to help them back when they were hopeless and couldn't make enough money by themselves.” She said, her gaze teasing, but holding the unspoken praise that had all three of them smiling.
Micheal recognized the shy girl now that she wore robes very similar to her battle gown she had worn during the raid on the camp. She was Pelanna Danjarous. She was a follower of Olivarch, of a minor noble house, and a gifted healer so everyone at the table was ready to tell him without knowledge of his own healing at her hands. She waved to him shyly at his recognition and said some quiet words about being glad his recovery was going well. She was an ordained priestess who had made the uncommon choice to leave her church and join a guild to find her way instead of relying on hints and directions given to her by her Goddess. She was well liked by everyone there, and she quailed under their praise of her modest strength.
To hear the guild tell it she could heal anyone who wasn't three days dead. Her white and green gown was made of light layers of various thicknesses of silken cloth and seemed to reflect a slightly roman design with the outer thick and tough looking green layer wrapped about her like a toga and decorated with silver runes and holy symbols. The white inner layer was plain, shining with a clear lustrous quality and represented her purity as a maiden as she seemingly loathed to tell him though she did so without any prompting of the question. She just seemed unable to stop talking even as she grew more and more mortified with embarrassment.
“Well what else could you mean by asking about whether the clergy could marry or not? I'm of age, but far from settling down I have my Mark after all, and my duty to my Goddess besides!” Pelanna replied in answer to a casually meant question from Micheal about her order. “I would save myself forever for her service, but she equally desires us to live and have full lives of our own! So it's not like I wouldn't marry, or don't feel I should. I just...There's just...You see--” She cut off in a groan as the cat-eared girl next to her burst out into gales of laughter while practically hanging on her arm.
The cat-eared girl beside her was Julia Velbarous. She was part of a Fae Born race that had a wide and not very well understood origin like the scaled people called Nomads. Her kind could be found in most parts of the world, but they had no binding place they called their own also much like the Nomads. For the most part her kind lived among other Fae Born and often acted as a bridge between cultures. From Julia's explanation they seemed to see everyone as kin to themselves which was an attitude Micheal liked very much.
“Dad always said to welcome everyone in the guild like they were family. The guild is the same way when we go to take care of people--at least it has been since Hans took charge. These people on our contracts are just people in our bigger outer family. We all need each other, and everything goes so much better when we all do our part.” The girl said, her voice deeper than her slight frame and stature might have otherwise suggested.
She sounded like she was used to laughing, or maybe just excited yelling, and in spite of her relaxed and casual attitude it was clear that she spent a great deal of time training. Her hands were rough, and her knuckles scarred, but for all that she was still pretty cute; perhaps undeniably with those cat ears. The black triangles twitched and moved as she talked, folding and wrinkling with her facial expressions giving every bit of conversation with her just a little extra life and action. She seemed a happy sort, young and tough, with a warm heart.
The girl herself was a mixed bag of fighting skills and magic. She liked to fight up close with her hands, knives, or spiked knuckle weapons when she could, but she admitted to bringing spears and bows to fights where a big monster was involved. She had magic attacks like Mike that were sourced from her enchanted weapons, and ranged support spells that triggered strange effects as she fought, and even a pair of spells she learned while exploring a strange deep ruin that summoned mysterious boxes at her foes' feet. It's effects were completely random, and it had low mana cost to use, but it could do anything from summon strange live multi-headed chickens to exploding with earth shattering force that sounded akin to a large brick of C4; to more commonly conjuring short lived terrifying creatures that Micheal could accurately described as murderous clowns that vanished after reaping a toll on her enemies.
She wore loose fitting linen clothes, trousers and a belted shirt almost like a fighting gi, fitting her fighting style. Her black hair was cut short around where her ears would be if she was human and she even had a tail that waved about very cat-like. He had learned from Luna once that they did not have cats here, but all sorts of panthera like lions, tigers, and leopards. Julia acknowledged the kinship with her ears and tail, but said that it might just have been some liking of the Fae that had become the first member of her race.
“I like to say they wanted to be tigers when those fae first changed into us, but I don't think I've ever met one of us with striped fur on our ears or tail.” Julia mused, leaning back and seeming to consider Micheal's question deeply. “But then why not the claws?” She asked herself, and then seeming turned the question on Micheal with her gaze. Before he could answer she did the unbelievable and actually raised her hands like paws and 'rawr'ed at him. All while mocking out her pretend claws.
“Think about it! It would be great!” Julia insisted, as he fought back from laughing aloud.
Beside her Pelanna was struggling to keep a straight face after embarrassing herself earlier. It wasn't helping that she had just taken a rather large drink of water either.
Zephdin Forgen was the serious looking man who was about four inches shorter than Micheal. He had just turned thirty this past month and the salt and pepper beard he had only added to the wrinkles at his eyes and his serious manner to make him look older. He was like Pelana in that he served a holy order, being a paladin of Lyanodred, but it wasn't as uncommon for a Paladin to found or join a guild as it was for a priestess to do so. As a servant to the God of metal and crafting he was a gifted smith and carpenter. He knew siege craft and a lot about basic mechanics too it seemed.
Micheal held his tongue thinking of how much more he could tell and teach Zephdin about the nature of physical reality. He wasn't sure how that would affect the world here to teach the man what he knew of advanced mechanics and the laws of physics. He was the first blue eyed Human Micheal had met here. The rest all had some variation of brown, and even the Bunnary he had seen or met with blonde hair had gray eyes instead of full vibrant blue like his. Once he finished his breakfast he took out a book and a pair of spectacles from a case set in his pouch with the book to make him look like the guild's grumpy dad.
“Mostly I just end up fixing roofs or maybe a wall or two that's caved in. Lots of reinforced doors too, and sometimes traps. Always best to deal with large and dangerous monsters with traps when you can manage it.” Forgen advised Micheal after he inquired what it was like to be a Paladin serving the God of Crafting.
His battle skills like Evatain's laid around supporting the party and he could even take damage for others up to a certain threshold. He was the standard sword and shield fighter for the most part with some subtle magics that worked to defend his party, and a core of most of the guilds actions so he didn't often get to practice his trade or spend time in workshop if it wasn't just for siege engines which had a larger application when it came to dealing with certain monsters like the giant hawks he had seen coming in. There was a brief explanation of a trap made from something like a short range ballista that could spear the things through when they came down after some bait. Micheal hadn't seen any of these devices yet, but they sounded interesting.
By then Luna returned with Jack. She was wearing a velvet purple dress and light linen cloak. Being her of course it had lace at the hem and near her shoulders in little cuffs that spilled down into the open slot just above her breasts across the mantle. Jack was happily wagging his tail and came to greet Micheal and take a few bites of fish from his hand.
After a brief pause at seeing Jack again since reportedly he had promptly napped in Luna's room upon arrival, almost all the group came to pet him. Micheal cautioned them to give him time and not mob him since Jack seemed to get a little overstimulated when too many people were around him.
Indeed one at a time seemed to be better for him. Which was good since it gave Micheal more time in which to eat instead of just talking with them all as pleasant as the talk became as he got to know them. They were all eager and ready to meet him after last night with not a few of them following after the Bunnary James to look with curious eyes at the pale skin of his scars where they peeked out under his clothes.
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The group was hesitant about having Jack out again on the crowded city streets, all of them quickly taken with the charismatic several hundred pound furball, but a short discussion among the Captains determined that the Bear Dog should come along with them on their trip to the Mages Guild for the reading. There was a range to some charmed familiars and no one wanted Jack or anyone else hurt if the effects of Micheal's binding faded and sent him into a panic. So the safest way was to take him along.
The three Bunnary boys took off the moment breakfast was over and Zephdin had business with the Adventurer's guild to deal with so he said some polite goodbyes and headed down to the first floor. Julia was curious and asked to come along, and that brought Pelanna to her side as well, the human girl shyly clinging to Julia's open interest as an excuse to come along. Lindsey and Mike had some things they were having repaired to pick up in town after the raid. He was pleased to learn that they too had been in the raid and found his fondness for the two had grown for just knowing that. Eva wanted to see his abilities too after getting a look at his attributes when given a few moments to inspect his mark upon his left hand. She gave Vivian a long meaningful look after seeing them and then asked in her prim and proper flowery speech to go along and supervise the ritual as a guild Captain.
Luna wanted to come, but was obviously torn by the fact that Dexter wasn't around. He had vanished well into the morning, but had left his pack in the shared living room of the apartment marking his intent he would return at some point soon. She looked to have wanted to spend time with him, but didn't say anything about it and instead provided that she would come along.
“Well I...” Luna said, stammering slightly as she struggled internally.
Lindsey practically dashed to her side and took up both of her hands.
“Go with them. It will probably be fun and interesting. Don't let Farren keep you down. You know he'll be back around–what with orcs running around outside of town and all. There's nothing to worry about Luna.” Lindsey said, her smile and charm undeniably picking up the other young woman's mood.
“Right..” Luna said softly, looking down at her feet for a moment as if uncertain, but then she smiled as she looked up at Lindsey and then to Micheal and Jack. “You're right of course Lindsey. Thank you.”
So with a party of women around him he made his way out of the Adventurer's Guild Hall and out onto the busy twisting and rolling streets of Mayonn. He ordered Jack by his side and Luna flanked the big black dog on the other side. The others milled about around and behind them as Vivian and Eva lead the way to the Mages Guild almost half way across town. Guards on patrol or looking bored in wooden watchtowers jumped at the sight of Jack, but they were usually quick enough to pick out the collar of a familiar on his neck. Otherwise they tried to avoid wagons and their horses so as to not startle them.
The Mages Guild Branch Office was in an old part of town. The stones of the street were worn smooth where they weren't turned over and lumpy. The road dipped and had several pot holes from wagons filled with sand or dirt here and there where they couldn't be avoided. This end of town was nearest the docks that left off into the river and he saw his first large ship leave from the docks as they passed near. It had small sails, but a good deal of oarsmen on deck working standing sweeps. They worked and stroked in an easy practiced rhythm without drum or call to keep time.
The Branch Office was an old, craggy, stubborn, and solid looking stone building with a dark tiled roof. It was a good deal larger than the Adventurer's Guild Association, but seemed to not need the space nearly as bad if the people going in and out were any sign. In fact few people went in through the high stone gate leading inside at all. A good ladder would put someone over the top of the stone wall around the perimeter, but it did have mages patrolling the battlements. A whole two who looked very bored when they weren't talking as they strolled. There was a small yard they walked through after the gate that looked like the staging area of the Adventurer's guild. All the grass looked well tended and undisturbed too unlike the other guild building which had adventurers camped out and practicing upon it. Though there was seemingly a target range of some kind in the back of this place.
They followed the stone path to a heavy looking pair of stone doors that opened at the touch of Vivian's fingers. They made there way inside past a few galleries of books and a small lobby that smelled like a library. They came to a desk behind some more shelves that was labeled “RECEPTION” though it was almost entirely out of the way behind those extra shelves that were taller than even Micheal's considerable height. With a look around he decided that what once had been open space for tables had been replaced with shelves and the mages hadn't bothered to relocate the desks to be more open or visible. They probably liked it better that way.
An old human woman sat behind the desk reading a book that she set down as they approached. She had iron gray hair and spectacles similar in design to Zephdin's.
“Greetings Adventurer's. Ladies, young man.” She said to them taking the time between her words to look over each of them with a keen eye that belied her old and frail appearance. “Oh and good familiar.” She said with a certain smile for Jack.
Jack cocked his head up at her, but wagged his tail nonetheless.
She blinked over her glasses at Jack and then looked at Vivian and Micheal, but scrunched up her nose before pushing them up to where they ought to be.
Everyone murmured some sort of greeting in reply.
“What's the nature of your visit today?”
“We--” Vivian began, but Eva overrode her.
“We require the aid of your specialists in Adventurer Marks. Our friend here just received his mark and has gained a Unique ability.” She announced, with a strong projection to her voice.
Vivian just gave her a flat look and slowly blinked at her until Eva gave her a gracious nod and stepped back. Vivian watched her still as talk grew up from beyond the shelves and around them as Mages and their like, adventurers or otherwise, peaked from where they sat or read against walls to look over toward the desk. She sucked in a slow, patient breath that made Julia giggle.
“Anyway.” Vivian sighed. “We need someone rather skilled to do a ritual or have you call one for us. Things have progressed and we need advice.” She said in a level and much quieter tone.
The receptionist nodded and flipped through a small ledger and shook her head.
“We have no one on site able to handle Unique abilities.” She said simply. Micheal almost let out a disappointed sigh when she stood. “I will get a hold of the Three Bridge Branch and see who is available for you. Can I see your mark, young man?”
He stepped forward beside Vivian and offered his hand. She smiled at the ease of it and lowered her spectacles to look on his mark. Her eyes went wide and she glanced between him, Vivian, and Jack before a curious smile spread across her face.
“I will request a specialist.” She said, sounding dryly excited. “One moment.” And she went off and down the hall.
“Why did she keep looking between you Micheal and Jack Vivian?” Julia asked while peaking around Micheal's shoulder once she was out of earshot.
“I think she can see magic when she's not wearing her glasses.” Micheal said, feeling like he was mumbling to keep his voice down as he felt gazes from all around the room find him. There were people literally leaning between the rows of shelves crying out loud!
Vivian looked at him sharply, her face showing that she was slightly impressed, but she nodded to Julia.
“We'll talk about it later.”
Julia looked after the women with a curious sort of eagerness once that was pointed out. Her face sort of lit up from some kind of memory and she touched the fist weapons hanging off her belts.
After some time with the women shifting about him and fidgeting with dress or belt the receptionist returned smiling at them all as she came close.
“Communication Room 3. You'll find it down the hall here on the left.” She instructed.
With that they all made their way as she said and found a room with a solid hand thick wooden door and heavy latch. That door led them into a small room where a man stood as if surrounded in mist and fog, but waved to them as they came in.
He was a bald man and wore the black and silver robes of a Magus, the upper teir of mages in the setting he had wrote. His Root was long, but not very thick, the colored rope cord displaying a number of colors, but mostly white and blue as it hung around his neck like a stole. Micheal couldn't remember what the colors mean what, that had always been in his notes, but this Magus, while no great power, was at least talented and skillful in what he could do by the number of colored threads. The Root was a ceremonial kind of display akin to breast of medals for the academic mages, it at a glance would tell another mage the breath of power another had, and in what areas his skills had been inspected and certified as having mastery over them.
“Hello Adventurers.” He said in a pleasant open voice. “I'm Specialist Magus Wheeler. I'm here to categorize and record the skill you've come across. Don't worry about any fees. We're glad to help and offer guidance in exchange for what we can learn from your new skill. Even after today don't be afraid to come ask for an examination especially if you make your way to Three Bridge. I will be more than glad to sit and talk with you some while over dinner if you like.”
Micheal was amazed as he heard the clarity in the voice and he could just faintly make out the wall behind the Magus. He had written of these communication orbs in his notes for the setting, but never wrote anything directly about them. He was glad to see how well they worked, and knew the pains they would have taken to assemble the collection of five rooms they had here to speak across distances with some of the limitations he had written about magic.
“This is Micheal Morrison.” Vivian said in greeting. “He's recently been blessed with his mark though the situation he found himself in when he got it was rather unfavorable. He..” She hesitated for the first time as she shot Eva a warning glance. “He and I are close and he's produced some sort of Unique ability spirit mark that shows on both he and I.”
The Magus was taking notes, but faltered at that last.
“Are you experiencing any ill effects? Health drain, fatigue of the body or mind?” He said with a cautious eye on Micheal.
“No, in fact I feel fine. Fresh almost every minute of the day in fact.” She answered with a glance at Micheal.
“And you Micheal.” The Magus asked. “Anything of the like? Tiredness, fatigue of the mind or body, or the feeling of being drained?”
“No, not at all. I got a little worn out when Jack...my uh familiar I guess got wounded in a fight, but other than that no.” Micheal answered. Jack came forward with his head up and sniffing the air as he stared at the misty man in confusion. Micheal patted his head comfortingly. “He's a projection boy, you can't smell him.”
Jack looked at him and then barked at the Magus who actually jumped.
“Oh my.” He said struggling to keep his pen in his hands. “What a large one that is. He's not a conjured familiar I take it?” He asked with a nervous laugh.
“No he's a troublesome Bear Dog we happened across that I managed to tame before he got too hungry and attacked somebody.” He explained.
“A Beast Binding perhaps?” Specialist Wheeler asked. “Is that skill labeled as Unique quality as well?”
“No. It's uh..” He looked at the mark on his hand. “It's iron now anyway, but it was copper at the time. I just have questions about the nature and full extent of the bond with Jack that can be set aside for now.”
“How long ago was this?” The Magus asked, ignoring his dismissal of the topic.
Micheal looked at Vivian, but answered. “Two days ago.”
“Copper to iron in two days is miraculous.” Wheeler said. “Do you have any skill or ability you know of that advances your skills?”
Micheal shook his head, but did look down at his mark on his left hand. “Anyway I just want to learn more about the Beast Bind with Jack to make sure he's safe for his and others sake. I'm more worried about the mark on Vivian because well it's Unique like you said, and I don't want it to be doing anything she wouldn't agree to.”
“Right-right of course.” He said with a flashed smile and nod as he jotted a few notes down.
Vivian stepped close and touched his hand briefly with a soft look in her eyes as the specialist finished his notes.
“With your permission I would like to record the expansion of your runes. The data collected won't be released in any general ability reports until they have your say so, but they will be able to be looked at by Senior Magus such as myself. Is that alright with you?” Wheeler asked.
Micheal looked to Vivian who nodded at him.
“Yeah that's fine.”
“Alright this will be easy because the mark is on your hand. A rather uncommon spot, but convenient. Just place it on the orb and I'll be able to look deeper into the runes of your abilities. You're comfortable with everyone here watching as well?” Wheeler asked.
Micheal looked back over his shoulders to the women behind him and nodded. “Yeah they are all friends.”
“Alright I've begun the recording. Please step forward and place your hand on the orb.” Wheeler repeated.
Micheal did so.
The Magus set a paper out atop the orb on the other side, a misty shade like a ghost before him and raised his hands above Micheal's. Lights sparkled and mist swirled around the interaction like some kind of interference, but it seemed not to impede Specialist Wheeler.
He brought out the rune from the glowing mark as it seemed to lift away from his hand and expand. The spirit mark was pulled out from a mass of lines and shapes running through the mark. Now that it was expanded Micheal could see that his outlines weren't just curvy shapes, but scrolls and quills running along outstretched and flowing pages.
Books and candles laid about desks at the corner and on one a computer screen sat sketched in shaded lines with a keyboard laid out before it with the vague images of empty cans and other modern desk detritus around it. Wires ran and mixed with the scroll work and looped together into fanciful borders, the meaning of which was given to him in immediate instinctual understanding. That kind of made him tense up at the thought of the contents giving him away, but none of them would know what the computer or anything else in the design referred to anyway.
The Magus blinked several times at everything even as he seemed to try to concentrate on the rainbow colored mark he had brought out larger than all the rest.
Julia and Pelana took steps forward before Vivian took them by the arm, but she only glared at Eva who stared wide eyed looking at what she saw on level with Vivian.
Wheeler seemed to push away the other parts of the mark after regaining his focus and brought the rune of the spirit mark out until it was as large as Vivian's on her back. He blinked several times as he read through the strange runes that looked to be a mix of old jagged Nordic runes and some sort of flowing Sanskrit in turns. He made the motions again with his hands to expand the rune and it broke apart into dozens and dozens more runes. He frowned and looked about them, and then expanded the rune more and more until the runes in the air around him numbered in the hundreds and then on into what must have been thousands.
Luna gasped and whispered as she watched. She seemed to be talking to herself trying to figure out what it meant, but Julia and Pelanna were just as amazed. Eva even took a few steps back as her eyes tried to follow the expanding mass of runes.
“This is..” Wheeler began. “This is spectacular Micheal. Whatever Spirit Mark you've manifested is of the highest complexity. So much so that it is beyond my ability to reason out quickly. I could take a few weeks of standing here to understand all the pieces, but I think I have a better solution. I'm normally the standing expert here in Three Bridge, but we've had another come in recent days that's even better than I.” He scribbled a few notes in his book and smiled up at Micheal. “Would you permit me to go get him? I've stopped the recording now by the way.”
Micheal nodded. “Um. Please do.” He said a little unevenly.
“Um yes you can take your hand from the orb. It will be some time before I'm back, but hopefully no more than an hour. You're willing to wait that long yes?” He asked. The man was so pleasant and earnest Micheal couldn't have refused if he wanted to.
“Yeah we'll wait I guess. I need to figure out what this does even more now after seeing that.”
“Good lad. I'll be back.”
And like that the bald little Magus was gone.
Micheal scratched his head as the mist faded from that end of the room. He looked to Vivian and everyone else, and then back to Vivian.
“I really didn't mean to do anything bad with the Spirit Mark thing if I had any control at all. I just uh..”
Vivian smiled at him broadly and suddenly he noticed his feet didn't ache at all like they had the last day and this morning. It wasn't all that strange, but it was kind of odd at the time. It was like Vivian's smile had washed it away at a glance. Maybe it was a new love sort of silliness, but it made warmth fill and spill through his middle.
“That ability of yours was full of all sorts of things, Micheal.” Pelanna said coming forward with Julia for once sounding confident. “The way they were connected reminded me of healing and protection spells, aura's mostly, like what rituals I use in serious fights to support everyone.”
Julia was smiling and looked proud of her friend.
Eva grunted softly and tossed her hair over her shoulder to get everyone's attention before she spoke. “Clearly whatever it is will be top priority for you to master. If it can support others, having a unique skill on our side will undoubtedly give us an advantage over the other guilds and draw in more members.”
Pelanna stepped forward and faced Eva with her hands clasped together at her breasts in that delighted girlish fashion that practically screamed the girl was half swooning at something romantic.
“I don't think it will be an advantage to anyone but Vivian Eva. I saw enough to see the structure of the aura, I think it is one, but it's bound between the two of them somehow.”
Luna came forward and touched Pelanna's hand as she did. She smiled and looked up at Micheal brightly. “It was like a song being sung just to her, or maybe a two part piece back to one another. There were parts inside that were like my spell songs, and Pelanna's right about the protection and restoration runes. I'm sure you saw at least a few of them, Eva.”
Vivian listened and stared at his hand where the mark there slid between all the colors of the rainbow and into silver and gold and iron and back again. He moved to her and she looked up at him with a hopeful and trusting look in her eyes. She touched his hand again like she had before and her slow smile took hold even as something clattered and shot up mist on the other side of the room past the orb.
“Sorry. Sorry.” Specialist Wheeler's voice came. “Just dropped my pen case. Oh dear it's ruined isn't it. Oh dash it all.”