CHAPTER TWELVE: SHOW ME YOUR MOST VILE CREATION

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The dread drove into Chronifer’s heart like a stab, his mind only now fully awakening as it quivered against Oniihino’s words. His thoughts churned, relentless and suffocating, each question mounting one after another, yet despite the promise of chaos, death, and change, he found a strange sense of quiet. He had expected this–the very thing his training had prepared him for. No longer lost in the illusion of a world tilting toward ruin, he stood at its edge–and that, in itself, calmed him, if only a little. The danger loomed, yes, but it was no longer an unseen event, a distant shadow beyond the horizon. He could feel it now–closer, more tangible–but still beyond his comprehension.

His mind still quivered at an unknown danger. What form of chaos lay ahead? What bedlam stood before him? And would his training–short as it was–be enough to help him?

More questions lingered: When would he see his parents again? Who were these mysterious Council members? And was all of this tied to the Integration? He believed it was, but he couldn’t be sure.

With a deep sigh, he sank back into the softness of his bed, his eyes drifting toward the frozen world outside the glass. His heart raced, beating in time with the steady rhythm of fear

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The next morning, a sharp knock jolted him awake. Chronifer groaned, his mind foggy and his body sluggish as he swung open the door. Standing there was a new face looking down at him.

The girl before him exuded an air of youthful mischief, her jet-black hair cut into a tousled bob that framed her sharp features. Tattoos of intricate designs peeked from under her sleeves, winding like tendrils along her pale arms. She stood with the kind of nonchalance that suggested she was used to being where she didn’t belong, her intense eyes glimmering with amusement.

“Who are you?” Chronifer grumbled, irritated at the intrusion.

He groaned inwardly. I thought I wasn’t supposed to be seen. But… why?

The girl opened her mouth to respond, but she was promptly pushed aside by a more familiar figure: Ruhira.

“She’s Shully,” Ruhira explained, her voice steady as she shifted a stack of books in her arms. “My best friend and pupil of Mistress Wombessa.”

“Good morning!” Shully chimed with a grin. “Can we come in?”

Chronifer sighed, stepping aside. He wasn’t particularly in the mood for company, but resistance felt pointless.

“Sure,” he muttered.

The girls entered, heading straight to the small wooden desk in the corner of the room. They deposited the books with an audible thud before turning their attention back to him. Chronifer shuffled back toward the bed, still trying to shake off his grogginess.

Shully leaned conspiratorially toward him, her grin widening. “So, I hear you’re a Montcroix-Wythe. Did you know there are rumors going around? About you?”

“Shully,” Ruhira interjected sharply, drawing her friend’s name out in a slow warning tone, although her expression said she was interested

“What? I don’t believe them,” Shully said with a mock-innocent shrug, her playful demeanor unshaken. “But you know, girls talk. I hear things.”

Chronifer groaned, rubbing his temple. “I’m well aware of what people say. Could you let me wake up properly first? And by the way, where do I even take a bath? I smell awful.”

Ruhira winced apologetically. “That’s... a bit of a problem. This wing doesn’t actually have a bath. You’ll have to manage for the week.”

Chronifer stared at her, unblinking. His left eye twitched.

“Great,” he muttered, sinking back onto the bed.

Shully giggled, plopping down in the chair beside the desk. “You’re going to love it here, Montcroix-Wythe. No baths, endless rumors, and the most charming company. What more could you want?”

“Shully,” Ruhira scolded again, shooting her friend a glare.

But Shully only laughed, her playful energy undiminished. Chronifer buried his face in his hands. It was going to be a long week.

“We've been tasked with building a blueprint for our leaves, at least one from each branch,” Ruhira said, her voice filled with eager determination. “And both the High Mistress and Under Mistress said you could help us. What do you think?”

Chronifer was out of his bed in an instant.

“I’m so in!” he replied, his eyes shining. “So, what are we doing?”

Chronifer had learned about blueprints from the book A Tree Within. He was hooked on the concept and eager to gain some practical experience. Although they would need…

“Well, both of you can do mine,” Shully said, stretching as if she had just woken up. “I slept late last night.”

Chronifer glanced at Shully, noticing something. She didn’t bow or do anything formal, something he had expected when meeting people. Strange. He made a mental note to ask Ruhira about it later.

“No, you're not getting out of this one,” Ruhira reprimanded, sending a stern look at her friend. “But don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

“So… what are we doing?” Chronifer asked, eager to move forward.

Ruhira had to be the kindest person he’d met in this life. He looked at her as she opened her mouth to explain, a flicker of doubt passing through his mind. I hope she survives through it.

“Well, we’ll be working on three of my branches and two of Shully’s,” she explained, pulling out some books. “Creating a leaf is always difficult because of the need to chase uniqueness.” She brought out three thick blackish leather objects from the stack and placed them on the table.

Chronifer walked up to them. “Are these…”

“Yeah, Architect's Ledgers!” Shully said, placing her palms on his shoulders. Chronifer was about to react, but her next words sent him into a fit of laughter. “Where all ideas go to get a reality check of how mundane they are.”

The author of A Tree Within had used a similar phrase. Chronifer smiled, feeling a bit of comfort slip in as he finally felt on steady ground. His mother’s education had prepared him for most of this.

I’m definitely not dumb. I know enough about the Soul Tree and essence flow control, although that won’t be useful until I’m sixteen. But I can work with this.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“So…” Chronifer hesitated, knowing that asking about people’s branches could be a sensitive matter. “What are your branches?”

“Oh, sorry,” Ruhira began, a touch of frustration in her voice. “Mine are quite rare and a bit hard to work with. High Mistress Oniihino says it’s a good thing, lots of the leaves I create turn out unique, but it’s super hard to create what’s expected of a witch from them and have the idea get a good potential rating.”

Chronifer could feel her frustration, but he wasn’t the one to ease her mind.

“I keep telling you, your branches are cool,” Shully said, peeling her hands off Chronifer’s shoulders and slinging an arm around Ruhira’s. “You just haven't seen it yet. One day, people are going to want your branches.”

“Thank you, Shully,” Ruhira said, seeming to regain her enthusiasm.

“Just telling the truth,” Shully assured her.

“Hmm, my branches are: Scarlet, Sanguine, Crimson, and Ruby. That’s it.”

“Wow, that’s going to be a lot of fun to work with,” Chronifer said, his mind blanking on ideas. Well, I never said I would have any ideas. He excused his vacant mind.

“You think so?” Ruhira asked, her smile hopeful. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Well, I need to hear what these expectations for a witch’s leaves are first,” Chronifer said

“Oh sure.” Ruhira said, her voice sharpening with clarity. “A witch's leaves are meant to embody absolute power–no limits, no rules–just the raw ability to take what should never belong to us. Life, death, emotions, the elements, even time itself–all of it is ours to twist, corrupt, and remake as we see fit. It’s about breaking the world apart and putting it back together in ways that make people fear what you’ll do next, but that can also be of assistance to allies. That’s what’s expected of a witch. And my branches… well, they don’t always give me that kind of control.”

Chronifer looked at her, remembering her words in the stairwell.

Okay, so witches are absolutely wmd’S but there's more than that explanation though… He thought his mind connecting dots between his image of the Caj'malarie and the expectations.

“What about you, Shully?” He turned to the other girl, curious about her reply.

“I was getting jealous you didn’t care,” Shully said, dramatically wiping her eyes. “Anyway, mine are…” She took a few steps back.

“Scale,” she said, mimicking the movement of a scale with her two palms measuring, judging. “Oaths.” She linked her fingers together like a chain, connecting, holding. “Bound.” She disconnected her linked fingers in a quick motion, clasping her fists around each wrist, subduing, limiting. “Shatter.” She traced her hands slowly across her skin, then wrapped them into tight fists. She opened both hands in a sharp movement, destroying, severing.

Chronifer was intrigued and found himself applauding. Shully seemed pleased and bowed with one fist clasped within the other.

"That's a solid list of branches, easy to think up things with. But the uniqueness and potential can be tricky," Chronifer said with a smile. "Anyway, don't either of you have any ideas?"

"I've run out," Ruhira admitted. "I get fifty to eighty percent uniqueness, but the potentials are all between zero and twenty."

Chronifer patted her forearm, since he couldn’t reach her shoulders. Then he turned to Shully, who was shaping up to be a fun addition to their work.

"Well, I think I’ve got one or two, maybe three or four... It's hard to keep track," she replied to his look.

"Well, try them out. Let me see," Chronifer urged. He caught Ruhira shaking her head by his side. I'm definitely going to think of something.

"Okay, little man, okay," she said, walking over to the armchair. She picked up a golden quill lined with golden feathers.

I've definitely got to grow up, how do they even take me seriously? He thought looking at the ground which seemed ready to kiss him.

Chronifer stood beside her, intrigued, while Ruhira stood behind the chair, her eyebrows raised.

Shully’s hand moved decisively, and as the quill touched the Architect's Ledger, golden light erupted, as though she had cracked the surface of the Ledger. Chronifer’s eyes widened with a gleam; the quill didn't move, but he could see ghostly flickers of gold, like shadows of Shully's hand moving across the leather surface of the Ledger, writing in the depiction of the endless tongue. More cracks appeared across the leather surface of the Ledger, and below, two percentage counters fluctuated, jumping between zero and one hundred percent.

Then it all ended, the gold vanishing as if it were a fleeting dream.

But then the two percentage counters appeared once more, this time settling at the center of the leather surface of the Ledger, revealing the potential and uniqueness of Shully’s idea.

Uniqueness (45.08%)

Potential (69.99%)

“That looked amazing.” Chronifer exclaimed the first flashy mystical sight he had seen. I wonder what the mechanics behind it. Well, whatever.

Ruhira looked at him then she smiled darkly, “you won't be saying that for much longer.” She said her voice was eerie.

“Another bad one.” Shully mumbled frustrated. “Ahh, how are we supposed to get both ninety to hundred percent on both uniqueness and potential?” She said her voice sounded too dramatic.

Shully looked ready to cry, Chronifer didn't know if he was supposed to believe her emotions but he just held her shoulder for assurance, although he didn’t really care, he just wanted to put a quill on the leather and go wild but then something caught his attention, her skin cold against his palm, almost like that of a snake. Weird, Chronifer thought but tried not to react.

“Okay then, let me give this a try.” Ruhira said, tapping Shully to stand up. She sat down and began the process once more, Chronifer stood by her side for the first minute in amazement, after the second he looked at Shully, she only offered a shrug, her face passive. She sat on the bedside, like that the minutes passed and turned to hours. Chronfier not knowing when Shully had slept off.

He sat on the floor by the side of the bed, his boredom mounted and he began thinking of an idea for Ruhira branches, with the minutes his idea grew from an unrealised mess to something sensible and from there made slow progress.

“Is this supposed to take this long?” He mumbled, not expecting an answer.

“Yes, for more intricate ideas it takes anywhere from one to eleven hours.” Shully offered as she sat up.

She giggled. “You know what I did back there was a basic practical example to show someone.” She giggled as if she'd been waiting for him to ask that question.

“You… you made me feel it only took a few minutes.” Chronifer accused, his small yet husky voice sounding betrayed. Damned the tree within for only touching upon the ledger and not fully exploring it.

“Yeah, and it's always fun to watch.” Shully laughed. “Well, I am sorry about it, but I really couldn't help myself and don't forget Ruhira knew as well.” She said innocently then mumbled, “too bad she didn't get to see your reaction.”

Chronifer sighed, that was when the hunger hit him, and his stomach didn't wait before making its emptiness privy to the world. It growled, drawing Shully’s attention and Chronifer’s embarrassment.

“I'm famished.” Chronifer said in a low voice. He sighed, how do I even get food?

Shully ruffled his hair, then jumped off the bed and walked majestically to the door. “I'll be back with some goodies.” She smiled, her shine raised up like that of a hero. “You're going to lend me a hand with my branches though, right?” She asked puffed chested.

“Certainly.” He said, God , anything for food.

She opened the door. “Maybe a child's idea would certainly work.” And then she was gone, Chronifer left eye twitched once more, he took in a deep breath and sighed he supposed he had to remember he was still a short little kid.

Not long after that Ruhira stared and Chronifer was on his feet in an instant, gaze glued to the Architect's Ledger.

Once again the golden light vanished and then a few seconds after reappeared.

Uniqueness (90.97%)

Potential (80.99%)

“Fuck this!” Exclaimed Ruhira, slapping the Ledger away. One look at Chronifer and all her anger drained away. “I'm so sorry, Just a little point and I would have had it. It's really frustrating. I'm so sorry.”

“It’s no issue,” he offered but rephrased, when he saw that her eyes were getting moist. “Don't worry I've got quite the idea. I just need a bit of food…”

Shelly slammed into the room with a full tray of food and a silly smile on her face. Well, here we go.