-12-
[https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]
Immortality had been dangled in front of my face. I could be granted everlasting life for nothing in return for such a boon—well, I knew that wasn’t entirely true.
I would have to make manifest whatever this, ‘glorious purpose’ was, that the Celestial Goddess, Virgo, had tasked the Vanixian Empire with.
Since waking up here, I had tried to keep the thoughts of dread and painful emotions from taking hold. I knew that I had left my friends, my sister, and Hailey in a real-life nightmare.
How could I accept this offer and return to them when so many had died already?
Was Julius still alive? Could he have managed to survive the devastating attacks of the Terror Demon? If anyone could have, I suppose it would be him.
What of Soren, Alistaire, Luke, and Mei? There were too many unknowns in this plane of obscurity.
If I returned, and they were dead, how could I continue on without them and not feel guilty…
Doubt flooded my mind, gnawing at me. Taunting that I wasn’t that strong.
I had ventured away from Virgo and her winged attendants finding a particularly secluded part of the Coil’s grove, away from prying minds that would read my thoughts. Sitting within a ring of spider lilies, I ran my fingers down their stems and gently pressed against their tines.
The family palace had a small garden of these flowers. Whenever there was a death in the family, they would be arranged in a stunning bouquet with ebony roses. The vivid blood-red and black colors made for a striking placement, echoing the very chill of death. Seeing these flowers here reminded me a small bit of home.
I thought of my Father. Steadfast in his crusade against the demonspawn that stole away our legacy, he pushed me to take on a commanding role within the Republic.
He was overbearing at times. Stubborn and a real pain in the ass. But his love for my sister and I was true.
Did he know of his purpose? Our purpose.
He must have. To push me so far and so high.
Everything he did, was done for a dying Empire. Memories of which faded away each day that passed.
“Then I’ll bring it back.” I spoke softly to the lilies around me.
I think that if I accept this offer, I want to be able to bring my friends who perished with me back. And if that’s not possible…
If that wasn’t possible then I didn’t know what I’d do.
It would be selfish of me not to accept. In the halls of that grim and bloody Citadel, I left the woman I loved crying over me. Hundreds of people were counting on me to keep them safe, to find a new home for us.
Hailey would be strong, I knew that. She led our people from Axio out of danger without me. But given the option I don’t want her to have to suffer that burden alone any longer.
Rias was also an Altaerian, she could take my place as Empress—but no, Virgo said she would find another in the line to take her offer if I refused.
So Rias’ safety wasn’t guaranteed.
What if she also refused?
What would happen then?
I couldn’t let some other soul go in my stead and lead my people. Would they return as they once were… or would another soul just take my body?
I shuddered at the thought.
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“Virgo, I’ve made up my mind.”
My boisterous return to the altar site was met with indifference from the three beings.
Oh come on! I’m about to make the biggest commitment in my life, a little eagerness could be warranted.
“And your decision is?”
No acknowledgment towards my mentally-vented frustration.
I approached Virgo in a huff, “I accept your offer, without any conditions. But, I ask for another boon as well.”
She placed a taloned finger to her cheek, tapping softly.
“Hmmm… No conditions, but another boon? Is that not in itself a condition? I suppose you may ask. If it is in my power to grant, then you shall have it.”
“Those who died with me. I want them to be returned to life, and—”
Virgo’s finger stopped tapping.
“—I wish for them to be granted immortality as well.”
That wicked smile was back on her face.
“Hah! You surprise me little empress. I half expected the request to be great power, or unlimited riches. Instead, you ask for a selfless thing. For your friends to be alive and safe. Or perhaps it is a selfish thing. Either way, you truly are one of my chosen. You don’t know your purpose, yet you embody it so well.”
She turned to Mors and whispered something. Mors gave her a sharp nod and dematerialized through a dark green portal.
Then turning to the one in gold, she whispered something to her. The same sharp nod and another portal opened; this one was a rich ocean blue.
“I’ve sent my Avatars to see if we can fulfill your request. While I can grant you immortality, I cannot bestow you the power to grant others the same. However there is one among the Celestials who might, and you’re in luck because I know she wanted to speak with you as well.”
I bowed in respect, with my hands clasped in front of me, “Thank you for honoring my request.”
“Truly, if you are to be granted such a power… I think I shall give you a new title. One befitting the most devout of all the Altaer.”
Virgo was seemingly speaking to herself, tapping her talons on her cheek as she spoke. Abruptly snapping her fingers she intoned, “Ah, yes—I shall give you a title of standing, equal to one of my Avatars… Harbinger of the Immortals.”
“A Harbinger? Equal to your attendants here?”
“As if you were the very same. Do you find that unworthy?”
“I rather find myself unworthy. I fear they are much more powerful than I am. To be placed on a level the same as them… Are you certain?”
“Your power is without limits, I should know, and you’ll grow into your title. Like a small puppy in a large collar. Ha-ha-ha!”
A green portal opened and Mors stepped through. Immediately after, a blue portal opened opposite Virgo, and the woman in gold returned as well.
“She will be along shortly.”
“Thank you, Vita. Expeditious as always.”
With a passing thought of ‘Is that your name? Vita?’, the woman glanced at me, “I am the Avatar of Life. I am Steward of this Plane, as Mors is Steward of the Wanderer’s Plane.”
I forgot about the mind reading again.
I sighed lightly. I would be done with this realm of the dead stuff soon enough.
I hope.
I waited for her to continue, but it seemed like that was all I was going to get. Which didn’t surprise me. I had asked who she was and nothing more.
Suddenly, the pressure in the air started to drop. The space around us began to crackle with static. Just as when the first portal opened, a tear started to form nearby.
Ethereal orange lines cut through the air in geometrically linear patterns. The static built in intensity until arcs of electric magick raced off the odd shapes. The portal opened and another Celestial Goddess came through.
This one looked similar to Virgo in some regards, and yet completely different in others. Her upper-body was also very... feminine—in both features and anatomy. She had horizontal dark stripes spanning across her skin and many runic glyphs just under her skin that pulsed a glowing orange light. She had long delicate hands, like an elf or human. Her lower half was unlike anything I had ever seen—her body slimmed past the waist into a serpent-like tail, but instead of being scaled and ending at a slim point it looked more like skin with had a number of fin-like appendages, with the tail ending in a twin-finned split.
The most prominent of her features were around her head. Like Virgo and her attendants, she had a human-like guise; but two long horns extended backwards from near her forehead, curving around in a spiral. Sharp slender ears framed them in a stark contrast.
Her silvery voice was just as beautiful to listen to as Virgo’s.
“Hello, sister, it’s good to see you. Mors, nice to see you’re still gainfully employed.
Virgo’s smile, now looking less predatory, had taken on a sincerity to it that I hadn’t experienced yet, “It has been too long, I am truly happy that you are here. Allow me to present my little Empress, Airis Vanixi. Little one, this is—”
“Capricorn, the Celestial Goddess of Aether. Avatar of Magick.”
She slithered forward, looking me over. Having encircled me a few times she stopped directly in front of me, narrowing her glare towards my face.
“She has an odd aura. What affinities did you grant her?”
“She is one of my Altaer.”
“Ah, one of those. Well, that explains the oddity.”
Capricorn backed off and looked at me intensely from afar. Her eyes flickered with a fiery glow.
“She may be able to handle it then.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. It didn’t seem like she was directing that statement at me… but everything about her was hard to read.
“Handle what, exactly? If I may ask.”
Her face crept forwards, within inches of mine, a slender forked tongue peaked out from her mouth, “My magick. Magick deserving of the Goddess of Aether itself.” She cackled maniacally. “Hahaha! It’s not so dramatic, I suppose. But! I’ll give you a choice, straightforward as they come.”
Her words came out slow and purposeful, as if her whole personality switched in a heartbeat.
“I’ll grant you an affinity, for Chaos, if you bind yourself to my Essence. It won’t work any other way. Do that, and you’ll be able to bring your friends back to life and maybe eventually, grant them immortality. Plenty of other things too.”
“…Chaos?”
“It's a type of… conceptual magick. One of my own design. I like to think of it as a metamagick.”
Conceptual… magick? Metamagick?
I had never heard of either of these terms before.
The Academy focused on the major schools of aetheric magick: Arcane, Fire, Frost, Lightning, Nature, and Holy. But the magisters at VxA didn’t really dig into schools that weren’t controllable by humans: Void, Sonic, and Mental.
So, maybe the Mental school was the closest thing to what she was referring to.
“It’s nothing like simple mental magick! Such a primitive form of aetherial manipulation doesn’t come close to my chaos magicks.”
I mentally slapped myself for slipping up with the mind-reading again.
“Okay. So let me try to wrap my head around this. What would it mean to ‘bind’ to your, Essence?”
“Part of my power would live inside of you,” A finger tapped dead center on my chestplate, “Think of it as… a focus crystal, but for your soul.”
“And what do you get in return?”
“Hah! You’re an inquisitive one, huh? In return I get satisfaction.”
I shook my head, “I don’t follow.”
“It’s not for you to follow, little Empress. I don’t plan to twist the deal in a way that makes you come out at a loss. It furthers my own agenda if you have this boon. I was going to offer it to you before you returned to the mortal plane, even if you didn’t ask for it.”
She crossed her arms and curled her tail around herself, “Take a moment to think it over. I have nowhere else to be.”
I reached my hand to my side, looking for a pocket. But found it empty. I guess my personal effects didn’t make it to the afterlife with me.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a coin I could borrow?”
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My destiny was to continue along this path of Chaos, as far as the threads of fate were concerned at least. Capricorn had materialized an exact replica of my coin—or she could have summoned my very coin itself, I’d never know, and the particulars mattered little.
I had called Heads to agree to the binding, and the coin had turned up as such.
I sighed.
Not in relief, or in anxiousness. But in resignation, that this path was inevitable. Should I not walk it, then another would.
Breaking my gaze away from the golden disc, my eyes met Capricorn’s. She shifted her posture and slid off the pillar she had been resting atop.
“You’ve come to a decision then?”
“I have. I’ll agree to this, binding… In exchange for the power to bring my friends back, that is.”
She clasped her hands together, and with a wicked grin and a wink she exclaimed, “Great! Then let's get you all bound up then.”
“U-uhh… Wait, what?”
“Nothing to worry about, you’ll feel a little pressure.”
Once again, Capricorn coiled around me. Her smooth skin brushed along mine, causing a shiver to run down my spine. An intoxicating aroma wafted through the air; it was sharp, almost spicy… like cinnamon.
From behind, both of her arms looped under mine. Her body was now pressed close to me.
“Relaaaax, little empress. The ritual is a tad… Intimate. Oh, and it might hurt.”
Just as she had said, there was a tight sensation in my chest as the pressure built up.
[https://i.imgur.com/Pobke5C.jpg]
Tendrils of orange energy swirled around us. The gale increased in speed and size at an alarming rate, within seconds we were engulfed.
Capricorn began reciting some incomprehensible ritualistic words. The vortex ceased its circular motion and began to pour into my chest.
My skin flared in pain as if it were set ablaze.
Moments later, the last of the aetherial tendrils were absorbed. A brilliant flash of light blinded me for a second, and the pain had subsided.
Capricorn released her hold on me and I fell to my knees, hands trembling.
“Aaaaah! What in all that is holy was that!?”
“What a fantastic outcome! Your soul survived the process. It was a fifty-fifty shot you would be overtaken by the binding and zapped away into nothingness. It will take some time to get used to the well of power that you have available now.”
“Zapped away into nothingness!?”
I frantically crawled away from Capricorn’s looming figure. Searching for Virgo, I spotted her nearby and as we made eye contact… she shrugged.
I am not a plaything!
“I suppose that’s where you’re wrong.”
Mors’ sullen words stung hard.
Even I knew I was wrong as I thought it.
In the game of cat and mouse the only outcome for me was likely to be deceived and taken advantage of. We’re talking literal Gods that created the world here.
“Oh come now, that pouting doesn’t suit a powerful Empress such as yourself.” Capricorn scolded me. “Besides, you have things that must be done before you return.”
“…”
Gritting my teeth, I scrambled back up on my feet. “What do you mean, I have things to do?”
“Well, while my sister here can give you the power to resurrect yourself, seeing as your soul is tied to her realms, she can’t control the souls of those who aren’t. It’s your own will to go back, right? Well, all those souls you want to return with you have their own wills.”
“They have to agree to come back, is what you mean.”
“You convince them to accept the terms, and I push power through you to… borrow their souls.”
“Borrow, huh? This deal keeps sounding worse and worse.”
“Tch.”
Capricorn made a noise that sounded like she clicked her tongue at me. Who knew a Goddess could be so sassy.
“That’s the best we can do. Unless you want to get Gemini worked up. Do you think that you, the soon-to-be immortal mortal, can take on the Celestial of the Void, the Keeper of Aver’teria, the Twin-faced Horror of—”
“No! I get it. Borrowing souls sounds great.”
“You’ll fit in just fine, Harbinger.” She placed a hand on my head and ruffled my hair as she moved past me. “Take as long as you need to discuss this with your comrades. After you’re done, come find me. I’ll show you how to make use of your new powers.”
I turned around, but she had disappeared. A low groan escaped my throat.
Is the crazy magick Goddess taking advantage of me, or not? At this point, I’m in so over my head that it wouldn’t even matter…
Mors had apparently ‘borrowed’ the souls at the same time that Vita had gone to inform Capricorn that Virgo was ready for her.
I didn’t know what I expected really.
After seeing the clothed figures shambling around the endless groves, I thought all the souls would look that way as well.
Wrong.
I was face-to-face with Julius. Just as tangible as I was, here in the plane of constant surprises.
“Hey, Julius.”
“Hey yourself.”
"Sooooo… I guess you died, huh?"
"You died too, dummy."
“True. Fair. Buuut, I died after we killed the big bad demon.”
Julius bobbed his head in agreement and pursed his lips. “Sure, still died though.”
He waved his hands around in a ‘well, what is all of this’ manner, giving me a quizzical look.
“Okay, so hear me out. It’s gonna sound crazy. And it might take a moment to get through it all…”
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“…No, yeah. Easy, I got it. You’re a member of a special race of humans, who has some secret purpose to fulfill. And now you’ve got super powers, and we’re all gonna come back to life.”
“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not, Julius.”
“Of course I’m not being serious! What kind of fairy tale nonsense—”
“I can still hear you. Remember the part about the mind-reading? Private thoughts don’t exist here? This isn’t fairy tale nonsense.”
He threw his hands up, “If the Celestials are here and giving us eternal life, then where are they, Airis!?”
Julius turned away in frustration, stopping short immediately. Mors had crept up behind him during our discussion, probably picking up on the overwhelming levels of disbelief coming from Julius.
“Oh—what the shit!?” he exclaimed while falling backwards.
“That’s Mors. I told you about them.”
Julius eventually settled down. I was now on my way to talk with the next in line, which seemed to be ordered by who died first—excluding those who were killed by ‘lessers’, a term used by Mors to describe the multitude of undead in the horde we had to fight in the Citadel.
Only the souls of those killed by the Archdemon were able to be retrieved.
I would say I argued until I was out of breath, but I didn’t really breathe here in the afterlife. Nonetheless, I argued as much as I could. Ultimately it wasn’t something we could do anything about.
A marker of sorts was applied to those killed by the Terror Demon, which could be used to exploit whatever unknown principles Capricorn had alluded to with ‘borrowing’ souls.
One-hundred and fifty-four raid members entered the fight with Asteryith, and just over one-hundred of us were killed.
So, one down. A hundred to go.
Next up was Soren. According to Julius he had withstood the initial attack, but must have been killed along with Soren moments later.
A shiver rippled down my stomach as I recalled being impaled and almost eviscerated by the monstrous demon…
I’ll avoid bringing up specifics with Soren…
I found both Soren and Alistaire together, laying on their backs in a nearby clearing. My approach had gone unnoticed; allowing me to make my way so far as to loom above them. Their eyes were closed, sleeping in tranquil ignorance of my presence.
“Ahem.”
Both sets of eyes popped open.
“Commander!?”
“Hope you had a nice nap, Alistaire. You too Soren. Nice to see you both.”
I looked them over. They both looked fine—Well, as fine as you can look for being dead. I happened to notice Soren try to discreetly move his hand from out from under Alistaire’s.
“I wasn’t interrupting you two, was I?”
Soren’s bewildered face betrayed him.
“Ah! Shit, I wasn’t expecting you to appear from nowhere!”
Uh huh. And why would it matter if I saw what I saw? Hmmm?
Both of them stared in disbelief. First, Alistaire was looking frantically at Soren. But once he noticed that his lips weren’t moving as he was think-talking, he whipped around to me. Just in time to watch me respond via thought.
“What in the Aether is going on? Commander?”
“Well, for starters… We’re all dead.”
I explained our situation, for the second time. If I had to go over this one-hundred more times, I’d lose my mind—if I still had one at this point.
The boys took it much better than Julius did. I asked if they had any questions, but they said they think they understood. Soren quietly asked if he could have a moment to think about it, and Alistaire said he’d like time as well.
So, I left them to mull it over while I continued my grove-to-grove sales pitch for eternal life.
I started gathering groups of ten. I tried a larger group, with over twenty, but there were too many questions and too much confusion. Ten was a solid group.
Most of the soldiers who had perished alongside me had some sort of unfinished business; family members left behind, wanted more in life, what have you.
Only six decided against returning. I didn’t pry into anyone’s reasons after the first had rejected the offer.
I was genuinely curious, with no motive to try and convince anyone against their wishes. An older man wearing the insignia of Initiate, a Divisional rank marking a new enlistee, had flat out rejected the idea of returning to life. When I asked him why, I discovered that he had lost his entire family in Axio.
Renaultian soldiers had entered his home while he was away for a late evening meeting with another family of nobility. They murdered his daughter and wife.
An artist by trade, he was swept up with the retreating bulk of other Vanixians as they fled the city.
He enlisted in the Divisional armies after being approached by Luke.
After the hardship and pain of losing his family, a burden of another life… a life away from his loved ones, didn’t suit him. He chose to pass on, and try to find his wife and daughter in the Underworld.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
I didn’t have the faintest idea if that’s how things worked. But if the possibly of him reuniting with them was true, I couldn’t stand in the way.
Alistaire was lurking around during my last ‘join me for eternal life after life’ briefing, making it very obvious he was trying to get my attention.
As the last soul departed he tip-toed his way to me and positioned himself in an awkward mid way between standing at attention and being at ease.
“Commander, Soren and I are ready to give you our answer.”
“We’re dead Alistaire. I think we can relax on the formalities for a bit. Whatever choice you both decided on will be fine.” I grabbed his arm, wrapping my own around it, and led him out to the glade the two had been napping in.
Soren jumped to his feet as we arrived. Alistaire went to go stand next to him.
I took a moment to steady myself for their decision.
“Okay, boys. Hit me with it.”
They exchanged looks with a slight tip of their heads and exclaimed in unison, “We’re going back with you!”
“That’s okay, I kinda expec—Huh!? Did you say you are coming back?”
“Of course we are. Soren and I still have so much we want to do. Plus we swore an oath to protect the Republic, right? If we have the option to go back and make a difference in the world, then we wouldn’t want to be anywhere but at your side!”
My heart swelled with pride and joy.
Though, inside my strained to breaking-point mind I was losing myself. I was so certain the two of them were going to go the other direction with this decision.
And with that, came a deep sigh of relief.
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Capricorn was weaving magick around me. Or, that’s what it looked like at least.
I had no clue what she was doing.
I’ve seen the highest level of magick used in action before, Tactical class spells required intricate set up practices and complex sigils. Some even needed to use specific reagents as catalysts for the spell to function correctly. Incantations varied but fell on the lengthy side, upwards of hundreds of words.
Capricorn just spun a spell that looked to be twice, or even triple, as complicated in forty seconds. With a dozen words that I couldn’t even make out as pronounceable. And after that, with just the snap of her finger, something that looked like a way more complex version of my personal interface appeared before her.
The labeling was in a written language that I’d never seen before. So even though I could see the panels being displayed, there was no way for me to understand what sort of information was listed.
“Uhm, what are you looking at?”
“You.”
“Of course you are. Find anything interesting?”
“My sister has gotten quite creative with you.”
“Well that sounds ominous. I imagine you’re not going to tell me much then.”
“It’s probably more fun if you find out about it yourself. I wanted to give you an introductory lesson on chaos magick, so this should work out great.”
She pointed to a block of her interface that looked identical to my grimoire’s display.
“Your OVERSIGHT ability. It is a primitive form of the spell I’m using now. With some minor… adjustments you could see what I see.”
“Adjustments? You want me to change how a spell works? I’ve barely cracked holy magicks—”
“I want you to believe that you can change a spell. Reject what you know about conventional magicks. Remove the idea of a fixed model for spell casting…”
A thundering headache radiated through my mind.
Without a way to track how much time had actually elapsed, I was just guessing, but it had to be close to a month.
It could have been two.
Julius, Soren, and Alistaire had tried to keep me company in my lessons with Capricorn. But after the first dozen they started making excuses, claiming they needed to be somewhere else.
Where could you need to be? We’re all dead!
This chaos magick was an absolute nightmare to grasp.
In normal magick I would say an incantation and if necessary, trace a sigil to anchor the spell. The words of the incantation would draw the Aether from around me and focus it through my body.
Whereas in Capricorn’s bogus metamagick world of make believe, I needed to enter gnosis—a state of altered consciousness—to focus my own wills and beliefs to affect… well, anything.
There were two main forms of gnosis: Inhibitory and Ecstatic.
Inhibitory gnosis wasn’t much different from meditation. Take controlled breaths, relax your body, and try not to think about anything.
Capricorn’s exhibition of Ecstatic gnosis still makes my body shudder. It’s the degenerates version of chaos magick.
Yeah, that’s right Goddess. I’m calling you out for being too raunchy.
Basically, you take advantage of intense emotions. Say, like the ones you’d get while aroused.
Yep, it was sex magick.
Come to think of it, it was actually around the first lesson of horny-gnosis that the boys decided they had those super important things to do…
According to my Celestial teacher, there was actually a third state of gnosis. But it wasn’t something that could be taught. I’d either achieve it, or I wouldn’t.
Great.
As the soul of someone who was dead, I couldn’t actually use any magick here. So all these lessons were just theory and principles. I would have my practical once I was returned to life.
After graduating from Capricorn’s introduction to chaos classes, I was able to retrain my sights on the original goal. It was time to learn the resurrection spell the two Goddesses had promised.
In an almost equally convoluted lesson, Vita explained to me the limitations of RESURRECTION. The spell did not simply bring anyone back from the dead.
What it did, was summon a soul back to the plane that the living world existed on.
I would borrow their soul from the Underworld, undoing their death and returning them in a ‘perfect’ state before they died.
And by perfect, it means the soul only. Meaning it doesn’t heals any wounds. It just brings them back as they were before whatever killed them had happened.
So, I would have to be careful not to resurrect anyone in the middle of a fight, or else they could return to their already injured body in the middle of battle, and just die right away again.
Magick created by these Goddesses was troublesome.
Eventually, by infusing a spell with chaos magick, I may be able to bestow the same immortality granted to me to the souls we borrowed. But it wasn’t something I’d be able to do right away. Even Capricorn warned it may not work the way I want it to in the end.
But the possibility was there. And that’s all that mattered.
After all these lessons and over complication, it was finally time. We were ready to return.
Mors would continue to safeguard the souls of my comrades in the Coil of Ascendance, allegedly it would make it easier for them to return.
Vita placed her hand over my chest. “Are you ready?”
Her blank look didn’t give me any indication of what was about to happen.
I nodded and a sudden pressure change around us was followed by a blinding light from her palm.
The force hit me squarely in the chest, knocking me off my feet.
An incredible pain tore through my chest as my heart jolted back to life. Feelings that had been held in stasis while I was dead raged around my nerves in a destructive rampage.
My eyes opened weakly.
Sunlight spilled over the long-haired silhouette wrapped around my waist. Her hands were clenched tightly around the straps of my chestplate. Strands of ruby-red hair clung to her tear-stained cheeks.
I raised my right hand, caressing her cheek in my palm. Flinching at the unexpected touch, her eyes widened in shock.
“H-heya, Hails…”
“Whaaa!?—”
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I think Hailey assumed I hit my head too hard.
While we both agreed that I was dead, verified through a status interface, she hesitated to embrace the idea that I had just returned from the heavens.
Was everything that just happened a fugue state? Just a glimpse of an afterlife where I could see everyone… Twisted perversions of my own hopes and desires in an addled brain on the verge of life and death.
No way. I died for real. That actually happened and I’m not about to gaslight myself into thinking otherwise.
I hadn’t noticed it right away, but something was definitely off about my wrist-bound rune. Normally it slowly pulsed a soft light when I had a notification—instead it was now rapidly flashing an odd orange color.
Capricorn, what did you do…
Almost absentmindedly I moved my hand to swipe over the runic glyph—but stopped myself, remembering what the Goddess of Aether had told me about adjusting my skills. My OVERSIGHT skill is what allowed me to see the attribute point increases in my interface readouts, among other things like combat logs.
According to her, I would be able to improve the information I had access to by altering the skill through chaos magick.
Locked in place by Hailey’s tight embrace, I resigned myself to make my modifications right here. Though it was an unknown, maybe she’d see this as proof that my story was true.
I relaxed my body, relying on Hailey to support me.
Take a deep breath… And let it out slowly.
Focus on a single point.
Hailey’s fingers were gently brushing across my skin as she absentmindedly traced hearts across me. I could feel the warmth left behind as each of her hands danced around.
“Oooh!?”
Her gasp pulled me out of my meditative state—initially causing me to be irked, but once I realized what had surprised her I also gasped.
Orange runic symbols danced underneath my skin where she had been tracing her fingers. They shined brightly, illuminating the two of us in a warm glow.
I felt… powerful. Not in a fierce way, like how wielding holy spells makes me feel. This was so much different. This was true power. The power to create. To destroy.
It was intoxicating.
I need to focus. Back to the spell.
Tracing the sigil that OVERSIGHT was based on in the air, I could now add in modifications to the spell’s core. A principle of chaos magick was that by believing in myself and what I was doing, I can affect things to become how I wanted.
I drew four new patterns into the core sigil. Knowledge, Status, Unbound, and Limitless.
Unbound was a sigil amplifier typically used in Operation and Tactical Class versions of lesser spells. The difference between casting LIGHTNING BOLT versus LIGHTNING STORM.
Limitless was an amplifier used in the creation of magi-tools. A master artificer could imbue a bottle to become an endless source of water, or a chef’s knife to never become dull.
I was using both of these to alter my spell to enhance the first two: Knowledge and Status. By having limitless knowledge which knew no bounds, I would be able to see all of my statuses.
That’s what I believe anyway.
I sealed the sigil and poured my own magicka into it. Casting my improved OVERSIGHT spell.
Hailey gasped again, this time with quite a bit more excitement.
Interface panels sprang into life in front of us. They were crystal clear, no longer an illuminated projection on Aethermist. My interface was now made of the Aethermist itself.
Whoa.
On this window, lines of text displayed in rapid succession showing a jumble of information.
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE INCREASED:
» STRENGTH HAS INCREASED TO 38
» TOUGHNESS HAS INCREASED TO 30
» FORTITUDE HAS INCREASED TO 31
» COURAGE HAS INCREASED TO 47
» AGILITY HAS INCREASED TO 27
» SWIFTNESS HAS INCREASED TO 28
» PERCEPTION HAS INCREASED TO 22
» REFLEX HAS INCREASED TO 27
» AETHER HAS INCREASED TO 47
» INTELLIGENCE HAS INCREASED TO 50
» YOU CAN NOW LEARN OPERATION CLASS MAGICK
» WISDOM HAS INCREASED TO 33
» SANITY HAS INCREASED TO 45
» VITALITY HAS INCREASED TO 35
» ENDURANCE HAS INCREASED TO 27
» STAMINA HAS INCREASED TO 36
» RESOLVE HAS INCREASED TO 43
» DEXTERITY HAS INCREASED TO 41
» CLEVERNESS HAS INCREASED TO 38
» FINESSE HAS INCREASED TO 37
» INGENUITY HAS INCREASED TO 46
» YOUR AFFINITIES HAVE INCREASED, A NEW ATTRIBUTE HAS BEEN UNLOCKED:
» CHAOS HAS INCREASED TO 37
» WILLPOWER HAS INCREASED TO 20
» LUCK HAS INCREASED TO 67
» DIVINITY HAS INCREASED TO 25
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOU HAVE LEARNED NEW SPELLS:
» NEW OPERATION CLASS SPELL, RESURRECTION
» NEW TACTICAL CLASS SPELL, MASS RESURRECTION
» OVERSIGHT HAS BEEN MODIFIED, AND IS NOW INCORPORATED INTO OMNISIGHT
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN KNOWLEDGE, NEW AFFINITIES HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED:
» ABSOLUTE ℵ0
» DIVINE FAVOR
» HOLY MASTERY
» AETHERIAL MASTERY
» ELEMENTAL MASTERY
» ARCANE MASTERY
» UNYIELDING
» IMMORTAL
» SOUL BOUND
» CHAOTIC IMBUEMENT
» YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED A NEW TITLE:
» HARBINGER OF THE IMMORTALS
So the Celestials had kept their end of our deal. There would be no mistaking what those two new spells were the real thing. And the alteration of OVERSIGHT to OMNISIGHT makes it undeniable.
Good news. I’m not crazy.
“What did you do!?”
I pointed at the lines that read out the resurrect spells.
“Believe I met the Goddesses now?”
“But… that’s impossible!” She grabbed my face in both hands, “So you can bring them back?”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you, Hails.”
“Can you do it right now? How long does it take?”
I shrugged and smirked, “I don’t know. I was just dead, like an hour ago. Remember?”
She shrunk down, “I know… sorry. I’ve just been so…”
“Hey, I was just teasing you. This is all new to me, but we’ll figure it out together. I’m hoping we can find more answers on these status pages.”
I couldn’t resist navigating to my personal status interface and grimoire to review them. Dragging what looked like my old status page over, I noticed that not only did it contain a massive amount of new information, it also had another panel attached to it…
NAME: AIRIS VANIXI
RACE: ALTAERIAN
HEALTH: 270
STAMINA: 410
MAGICKA: 600
ATTRIBUTES
CLASS SPECIALIZATION: Paladin
STRENGTH ℵ0
Increases physical damage by:
38
38%
VITALITY ℵ0
Reduces physical damage taken by
35
35%
TOUGHNESS
Increases defensive modifiers of abilities and equipment by
30+8
38%
ENDURANCE
Increases the tolerance to withstand damage, increases health by
27
270
FORTITUDE
Reduces the negative effects of combat cycle penalties by
31
15.5%
STAMINA
Increases the length of time you can remain in combat, increases stamina by
36
360
COURAGE
Reduces negative status effects by
47
23.5%
RESOLVE
Reduces hit recovery time by
43
0.43 sec
AGILITY ℵ0
Increases attack speed by:
27
13.5%
DEXTERITY ℵ0
Improves reaction time by
41
41%
SWIFTNESS
Increases movement speed by
28+1
14.5%
CLEVERNESS
Allows the use of complex equipment, spells, and objects.
38
PERCEPTION
Improves senses by
22
16.5%
FINESSE
Improves the ability to handle delicate tasks and objects.
37+3
REFLEX
Reduces the cooldown of physical skills by
27+4
15.5%
INGENUITY
Improves mental capabilities while under pressure.
46
AETHER ℵ0
Increases magickal damage done, and reduces magickal damage taken by
47
47%
CHAOS ℵ0
Allows your intentions to manifest themselves.
37
INTELLIGENCE
Allows the use of more complicated spells classes. Increase magicka by
50+5
550
WILLPOWER
Allows you to cast more spells without being afflicted by magicka feedback.
20
WISDOM
Increases the speed at which you cast spells by
33
16.5%
LUCK
Increases the chance for things to turn out in your favor by
67
33.5%
SANITY
Reduces the cooldown of Operation and above Class spells by
45+10
27.5%
DIVINITY
Harbinger of Immortality.
Causes lesser beings to fear you.
25
AFFINITIES
DESCRIPTION
ABSOLUTE ℵ0
Your attribute affinities are undefinable.
DIVINE FAVOR
You have been bestowed with a blessing from the Celestial Goddess, Virgo.
HOLY MASTERY
You are able to control Holy based Magick.
AETHERIAL MASTERY
You are able to control Aether based Magick.
ELEMENTAL MASTERY
Mastery over all forms of Elemental Magick.
You are able to control Fire, Frost, Lightning, and Nature based Magick.
ARCANE MASTERY
You are able to control Arcane based Magick.
UNYIELDING
You are immune to Fear effects.
IMMORTAL
You have been granted eternal life and are no longer susceptible to death.
SOUL BOUND
Your soul has been bound to the Essence of Capricorn.
CHAOTIC IMBUEMENT
You are able to invoke Chaos based Magick.
TITLES
DESCRIPTION
Ruler
Title bearer has the authority to rule over a faction.
Harbinger of the Immortals
Bestowed by Virgo. This title identifies the bearer as a herald of things to come. Lesser demons and monsters fear your presence.
GRIMOIRE
MAGICKAL SPECIALIZATION: Divine Light
SPELL
SCHOOL
CLASS
DESCRIPTION
HEAL (MAJOR)
Holy
Action
Heals a major wound.
Requires touch range.
HEAL (MINOR)
Holy
Action
Heals a minor wound.
Requires touch range.
AURA OF LIGHT
Holy
Combat
Increases the effectiveness of healing magicks.
BRILLIANCE (MINOR)
Arcane
Action
Increases the power of spells and their chance to critical cast.
HOLY BOLT
Holy
Action
Inflicts minor damage. Inflicts moderate damage to Undead and Demons.
OMNISIGHT
Chaos
Action
Allows the caster to visualize a detailed appraisal of any target.
BATTLE STANCE
Physical
Action
A balanced combat stance that allows the use of Standard physical abilities.
BLADE SLASH
Physical
Action
A standard physical ability. A slashing attack that deals moderate damage. Reduced damage to armored targets.
WILD STRIKE
Physical
Combat
A strong lunging, slashing attack. Deals extreme damage. Increased damage to weak spots and wounds.
RESURRECTION
Chaos
Operation
Returns a soul back to its body. Revives the target to a state before their death.
Inflicts SOULBIND.
MASS RESURRECTION
Chaos
Tactical
Returns nearby souls back to their bodies. Revives the targets to a state before their death
Inflicts SOULBIND.
“Look at those attributes, by the Aether…”
“What do you think that absolute affinity thing means?”
“Divine favor, so the Gods do really like you.”
“That’s a lot of masteries!”
“You have a title!? Two of them even.”
Hailey’s commentary as we reviewed the pages was one outburst of surprise after another.
We were now both looking over the resurrect spells, which I had isolated into single panes for each.
“Are you going to be able to use the mass resurrect spell?”
“I think so?”
“But it’s a Tactical Class spell.”
“I know I’ve never cast one before, but I think I have the power to do it.”
“Your INTELLIGENCE attribute is only high enough to learn Operation Class spells though.”
“Yeah, but I’ve already learned it, right?”
She pursed her lips together and started lightly tapping her leg with her thumb.
I swiped across the panels, willing them away. The glowing light faded, dispersing the mists that made them.
“Only one way to find out. Guess I’m just gonna have to cast it.”
----------------------------------------
The bodies of everyone who had agreed to be brought back had been arranged in a circle.
Their wounds healed, as best they could be, by Hailey’s area effect healing spells.
I sat in the center.
My breathing was slow, but rhythmic. I focused on my inner self, tapping into the power of my will.
There it is.
That same warm feeling from before flowed through my body. When I opened my eyes I was met with the soft glow of runic symbols twinkling under my skin.
Tracing the set of sigils taught by Vita, I began to pour my magicka into the spell.
A shiver ran down my spine as I watched my MAGICKA hit zero on my status display—but power continued to surge out from deep within me.
Capricorn’s Essence. Alright soul binding, lets see what you’re made of.
The incantation for this spell wasn’t something that was immutable, rather it was whatever words I felt within my very will.
“Goddesses of Divinity, hear my call and instill your power into me. I, the Harbinger of Immortality, declare that these souls have not yet completed their journey. Soldiers of the Light, I open a pathway to return here. Come past the veil, seek me in a sea of mist. Endless Empire!”
As my words reached their crescendo I began to feel their connections to me. Aetherial strings extended from my soul, out to each body. I felt each tug as they made their way through the alien planes of the afterlife.
First to make it was Julius. His fingers twitched as life flooded back into his body.
The spell casting was not without incident, however. As soon as remaining souls started returning to their bodies, pressure rushed to my head. Sharp needle pains of magicka feedback stung my mind.
Instinctively my hands raced to brace my head as the oppressive wave assaulted my senses.
My jaw clenched and I shut my eyes tight—Then I passed out.