Tea abandoned, we adjourned from the table and gathered outside. I threw my staff behind me and skipped onto it. Gerald and Veronica took flight alongside me.
Waves from the villagers below became waves from rustling trees. A clearing beside the road guided us to our north-westernly destination.
The grass around the lake was well cultivated with flowers lovingly planted around it. A few meters below near transparent water ran a rocky bottom. I broke eye contact with my reflection when Veronica broke nature’s foreboding silence.
“First Art. Release.”
The iris of Veronica’s eyes shifted from gray to white.
“Waoh~ That looks so cool~”
“No one ever taught you this spell before dear?”
“No, I don’t think I’ve ever read- I was more taught in spells that used the transcendence component.”
Gerald’s laugh carried over our shoulders.
“Would you like Veronica and I to show you?”
“Yes please.”
We stepped away from the lake and sat cross-legged in the grass. I faced my new teachers with eager eyes.
“This is one of over two hundred spells that increase ether and anima exponentially, along with providing some additional benefits. It has a sister group of spells that are similar, but for the magic dampening effects that go along with prima.”
Gerald’s pupil shifted between all colors of the rainbow.
“Well, there’s technically over two hundred, but every one of those ten different colors corresponds to the material and ethereal groups of magical components.”
His eyes shifted pink.
“ᛗ - Mind. Also called illusion.”
His eyes shifted cyan.
“ᛉ - Body. Also called protection.”
His eyes shifted orange.
“ᚺ - Chaos. Also called burst.”
His eyes shifted yellow.
“ᛈ - Fate. Also called charm or enchantment.”
His eyes shifted green.
“ᛃ - Nature. Also called transmutation.”
His eyes shifted blue.
“ᚾ - Order. Also called summoning or conjuration.”
His eyes shifted white.
“ᛞ - Astra. Also called inversion.”
His eyes shifted black.
“ᛇ - Death. Also called containment.”
His eyes shifted red.
“ᛝ - Kin. Also called curse.”
His eyes shifted purple.
“ᚨ - Bond. Also called transcendence or projection.”
A burst of white heat cindered across Veronica’s hands. The embers faded into a pen and sheet of paper. Presenting her scribble, she ran her finger along the spaces left blank in the spell.
“All of the first arts are mostly the same, let’s try using the inversion component in the blank spaces.”
Runic Release: First Art _ Gaze
_+6 | ᛃ+4 | (🜁,🜄,🜃,🜂,ᛉ)
_ . 2🜁 . 3ᛃ . 4_ . 5🜄 . 6ᛃ . 7_ . 8🜃 . 9ᛃ . 10_ . 11🜂 . 12ᛃ . 13_ . 14ᛉ . 15_
...
“Imagine tendrils extending from your eye, picking it apart and swallowing it piece by piece until the light of _ shines through.”
Founded by Unknown
1-1 Early Spring Year 0: Age of Fracture
These instructions sound horrifying.
I stood up and spread my fingers over my eyes. Lowering my hand to my chin, I proclaimed to the lake.
“I am Marina Elysera, blightbound sorceress of Alindra. Remember these words for they shall be the last you hear. First Art. Release.”
Ahaa.. I used to be so lame when I got comfortable around someone.
Water funneled from my eyes, flapping my eyelids and coating my face. I fell back into the grass.
“Euw.”
“Mh- that’s a good start dear. Try to relax a bit more.”
Gerald stepped to the water’s edge, hand on his chin while he eyed the perimeter.
“Let’s try something different. Inversion might be a little too tricky, but what about swapping that out for the transcendence component?”
I spread my hands along the grass behind me and leaned back into them. A hard sting burrowed into my eyes, washed with a purple hue.
“Wao~ Ow-ow-ow.”
My eyes faded back to gray when I blinked. I hunched forward and pressed my hand against my eye.
“That’s really hard to keep up. It’s like balancing on a string but the wind keeps trying to blow you off.”
“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it in no time dear, shall we practice some more?”
We kept at it for about half an hour with little progress.
“Hmm. Veronica, what do you think of this, what if she places her staff against the bridge of her nose and presses it into the ground? Maybe shout something like: ‘Through my heart that burns eternal, my eyes are now purple!’”
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Eeeh. That’ll look so lame.
“I think she just needs something to eat, you can’t learn a new spell on an empty stomach. Oh, let me conjure us a snack.”
“I probably need to practice a bit more on my own. I’m sorry to keep you both out here for so long.”
“It’s no trouble dear. This brings back fond memories for us. Maybe we did get a bit carried away. It is getting late. So, shall we?”
We stood shoulder to shoulder, right arms extended. The water sloshed and churned in the lake until it came to an organized swirl. From the whirlpool spiraled a stone staircase. Oval stones splashed to the surface, providing us passage.
I hopped onto the first stone before Gerald and Veronica floated past me. Sinking embarrassment swimming through my mind, I looked down at the lake and jumped up into the air. I fell back down, stumbled, and scurried along the rocks to catch up.
A breeze brushed my hair over my shoulder as Veronica descended into the darkness ahead of us. The bell on her hat illuminated the tight, stone spiral. Hisses snaked along the walls below. The tunnel grew brighter with another turn. Cracks and pops of burning scales fizzled in brick-sized cutouts around us and baby snakes burned in flickering peach colored flames.
The final stretch of staircase opened into a dining hall sized study. Collapsed tables, broken glass, and scraps of paper littered the floor of the room. The smell of damp wood wafted through the air. Curiosity piqued, several sparse bookcases drew me in. Most of what I grabbed from their shelves were stained and illegible, but the few that weren’t I studied in silence.
The following is a document recovered from a hidden study below Lake Silver near the village of Druidale. The document is a revised first-hand account by Jeremiah Link in the former town of Jericho that existed on the border of modern day Leytania and the Corrupted Plains during the Age of None.
Begin record:
We just finished our work that day when we heard something scraping through the forest. I grabbed my hammer and ran outside. I was expecting to come face to face with some beast that was looking for trouble, but it turned out to be only a young boy. His face was covered by a mask made of leather and small stones. He told me he was attacked by bandits and was all alone after he managed to get away. So, I brought him into town and we offered him shelter, food and water.
When he ate with us, he started acting strange. His eyes would dart around without ever looking straight at anything for more than a second. He kept muttering about how the world wasn’t what it should be. How there weren’t any decent people left anymore. I tried lightening the mood, cracking a joke about how if we didn’t count as decent people I’d love to live in the world he imagines.
We retired for the night and I told Lissi to watch over him. That night, screams I still hear in my nightmares woke me up. I looked out my window to see the young man had broken into our food storage and was trying to destroy everything in sight with a hammer.
I rushed outside and confronted him. I managed to overpower him, but nearly failed because of his face. Oh Celeste, his face. It was mangled and twisted into a bloody smile. His shrill laugh made the hairs on my arms stand up. We threw him in a cage and locked him up to handle in the morning.
When dawn broke we woke to find him dead, his head torn apart by his own hands. My heart aches for him, he suffered so much before finally achieving rest.
Lissi heard him during the night. I’m not sure how true it is, but it makes my skin crawl.
“The earth sings to us. Can’t you hear its heartbeat? The pulse is ever present but it grows louder the more is stripped from it. It compels us. We are driven to do its bidding. Expel those unworthy of its grace from this world. Do not fear it, I will help you listen. A few scrapes of my nails shall clean the insides of your ears and its beautiful song shall turn within your head.”
End record.
ARC ALI 2000.068-2712:R1:TK
Sincerely, Marina Elysera
The following is a document recovered from a hidden study below Lake Silver near the village of Druidale. The document is a translation of a poem with notes scribbled in the margins that appear to be written in a language similar to Pycan.
Begin record:
A prince before his castle, the king held high above his people. Tumbled, did the king. Exiled, the prince sought strength. Freedom from the Kiln. Pain wrought through him, he ran. In his final moments he shed his flesh and became one above all. Legions laid to rest.
Dominium was born, by his hand but not his heart.
Eternum quelled his fears, but left a bottomless emptiness.
Rise from Pycanum, blightbound by birthright for his aversion to loneliness is a curse he insists must be overcome.
As we sought freedom from the freedom that was wrought we brought about its creation and thus Astralum was born to accept our return.
End record.
ARC ALI 2000.068-2713:R1:TK
Sincerely, Marina Elysera
Veronica nudged my arm.
“These writings are all so dreary deary, take a look at this one.”
My eyes shifted from the crumpled note covered in scribbles to the one in Veronica’s hand.
The following is a journal entry from a man named Theadore Brime.
Begin record:
It was almost dream-like. I was sitting on a balcony beside a being made of the stars themselves one moment and the next I found myself back on the battlefield. There was no time to think and no time to process what had just happened. It has been several days and I cannot get that vision out of my mind.
I have returned home. I should be terrified. There are writings within old notebooks that I have no recollection of recording. They are in my handwriting. One passage I may have laughed off, but twenty books? But I feel nothing. I feel neither fear nor paranoia. I only feel a sense of surprise - no, that doesn’t quite describe it either. It is as though I have been presented with a wonderful mystery that requires investigating and I feel driven to find an answer.
When did I write this? Did I even write this? Why is there nothing?
End record.
ARC ALI 2000.068-2714:R1:TK
Sincerely, Marina Elysera
“Eyuck, this one isn’t too happy either.”
I grabbed a half-sheet of paper from my stack and handed it to Veronica. I leaned over her shoulder to finish reading it alongside her.
The following is a note with details pertaining to the slaughter of Vaulport in the south western region of the Valorgrim Desert during the Age of Quartz.
Begin record:
Bleached wings. Bleached bones. Bleached ambitions.
It is not a being to be trifled with.
It cannot be from this world, yet speaks our tongue.
It alone has cut our village’s numbers by half.
These events within Vaulport shall not go unnoticed, but what could we ever do about it?
Life is a blessing and in this encounter, my saving grace.
End record.
The note is stained in blotches of dried blood.
ARC ALI 2000.068-2715:R1:TK
Sincerely, Marina Elysera
A small snake cuddled up against my foot and licked the heel of my boot. I shrieked and scurried once around the staircase’s spiral. Laying my stomach against the steps, I peered through the top of the study’s entrance.
Veronica giggled and the snake burst into flames.
I sighed and stood back up. A small crevice met my eyes. It was a crawlspace about the length of the study itself that glowed a dim shade of pink at the other end. Bobbling, a white light danced around my head and I climbed into the cramped tunnel. I dragged myself halfway through when hissing, not from the tunnel, but from my mind sent shivers slithering down my neck. A shake, a struggle. The floor gave way and I plummeted back into the study.
Veronica rushed over and covered me in a green glow. I stood back up and my eyes followed the path I fell through to the back of the study. I placed my hand against the wall.
“It looks like there’s something behind here.”
Gerald pulled back on my shoulder. “Please, allow me.”
I studied the wall. A solid sheet of stone scratched with superficial cracks. No obvious signs of a mechanism to proceed.
“Maybe the bookcases-”
“Upon my spirit, essence, and soul as Gerald Felryr. I stand before you unyielding in my conviction. Fourth Art. Set my soul asunder. Release.”
“Gerald-”
Gerald reeled back his fists and chipped away the stone in a flurry of blows.
Ah.
Veronica sighed and shook her head while the wall crumbled away, revealing a small room. Vials and jars filled with preserved limbs, eyes still stuck to their stocks, and samples of things I dare not speak of lined the walls atop shelves painted a sinister color. A jar on the desk stuck out from the rest. Suspended in a vat of thick liquid, a glass chess piece fractured into hundreds of tiny pieces glowed a vibrant pink. The fractured pieces held their shape as if connected by invisible threads.
I grabbed hold of the glowing jar and tucked it under my arm. It was pretty, don’t judge me.
Gerald picked up a scrap of paper from the desk.
“It says, ‘new pen, new pen, I love my new pen.’ And then there’s a drawing of a heart. ‘Awaiting the arrival of my new BFF. Totes excited. Wonder when we’ll finally get to see Ken Tucky and the other guy. Her majesty’s such a tease.’ What?”