"Alright, it's time to cook!" Ori declared with a clap, its echo resonating through the otherwise silent workshop. It was late morning the following day, and all his preparations for his first major enchantment had been completed.
He had prepared the Orichalcum by heating it within an enchanted Crucible, its once bronze matte texture turning mirror-like once its melting point was reached. Stabilising the Crucible’s temperature, Ori arranged the rest of the materials. He carefully laid out the silver brooch and the lesser essences of Lux (Light), Nox (Void), Tyche (Fate), Fury (Wraith), Aegia (Protection), Anima (Spirit), Nimbus (Aura), and Somnium (Dream), as well as the rare catalysts needed for the complex enchantment. All the materials, as seen through his arcane perception shone with vibrant hints of their affinities, with almost all of Ori’s senses being engaged as he carefully measured out the appropriate amounts for each.
Anticipation vibrated through Ori’s fingers—a minor tremor he couldn’t quite suppress—as the room was awash with a kaleidoscope of swirling mana currents and the auras of affinities radiated from the lesser essences. Despite an excitement which bordered on nervous tension, Ori began the intricate process of inscribing glyphs onto the silver. Each line had to be precise, the rigidity of the silver, fortunately, compensating for the slight shaking of his hands due to his mounting nerves.
As the initial channels for glyphs were carved, Mana and lesser essences were first infused into the brooch, followed by the molten Orichalcum, which instantly assumed the properties of Spell Ink. As he re-carved glyphs and the molten Orichalcum flowed, he drew upon the unaligned mana in the atmosphere, channelling ever-increasing amounts as the inscription progressed.
Ori soon realised he was running dangerously low on accessible mana. He had underestimated his needs; the brooch, now thrumming with latent power, demanded more than he could safely draw from his surroundings. In a desperate bid to maintain control over the enchantment, he imposed his will onto the mana he had already channelled, desperately attempting to recycle it in the same way his light orb had done, using mana permanence. During this tense moment, whether it was the brooch or his hands that shook Ori would never know as an errant scratch disastrously disrupted the delicate circuit of mana and intent.
An explosion propelled Ori backwards through the workshop. The silver brooch, now a twisted, molten mess, clattered to the floor amidst a shower of arcane sparks. Burning Orichalcum sizzled like hot coals on his clothing. Dazed, disoriented, and vexed, with his ears still ringing from the blast, Ori lay, his chest heaving in exertion and adrenaline, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
For a long moment, he questioned everything: not just whether this was the right enchantment, whether he had the skill or aptitude for enchanting at all. Setting aside his unique, and likely temporary, restrictions, he wondered whether a failure of this magnitude was something he could afford if he indeed took up the practice in future.
Just then, Poppy rushed in, her expression tight with concern as she surveyed the state of the workshop, the failed enchantment, and Ori lying in a heap on the floor. "Are you alright?" she asked, crouching near him. His arcane vision, still active, caught the delicate swirls of Grace and soul stuff swirling from her every movement.
Ori sighed. “I’m fine.”
The door opened, and Harriet stepped in, waving away the grey smoke from the burnt remnants of his misadventure. “What happened? Ori, are you hurt?”
Ori, still reeling from the explosion, shook his head. “I’m fine,” he repeated, the weight of their concern battling with his sense of failure. His Adam's apple bobbed and eyes burned as he found it difficult to swallow or find words that could mask his disappointment. He had failed in a way that wasn’t easy to overcome, using resources he doubted were easy to replace. He had wanted to keep his burdens to himself, to not add to the troubles he had already brought upon the two women. But as he looked into their eyes, he realised he couldn't keep them in the dark any longer.
"I was trying to craft the Dreamwalkers' Ward, but I didn't have enough mana. It backfired."
Harriet’s brow furrowed as she examined the ruined brooch. “Show me the crafting guide.”
Ori stood, fetched the scroll from the other side of the workshop, and handed it over to her. Her confused frown turned into a scowl as she read it.
“Ori, this is a High Enchantment, one that straddles the boundaries between High and Arch given the requirements. What on spirits' name were you thinking… No, actually, I believe I understand. You wanted to craft some form of protection, but this is an incredibly complex enchantment, Ori. Even experienced enchanters would struggle with this."
"It's designed to automatically protect the wearer from harm. It seemed relevant against Sovereign rank threats, and it was the only one I thought I could manage.”
Harriet and Poppy exchanged a glance, their expressions a mix of sympathy and concern. "Ori, this is an incredibly advanced enchantment," Harriet said gently. "One apparently, not even you could manage.”
Ori shook his head, frustration evident in his voice. "It's my lack of a Mana Nexus. That's the only thing holding me back. I know I could do this if I had access to more mana."
Poppy placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Ori, you’re a mortal, why is risking these enchantments worth the backlash?"
Harriet nodded in agreement. "She's right, Ori. Your growth as an enchanter has been astounding, but you need to be patient with yourself. Rushing into advanced enchantments before you're ready is dangerous."
“There is always danger! This is how I protect myself!” Ori all but shouted, annoyed with their patronising sympathy. Ori looked at the two women, his heart torn between gratitude for their support and frustration at his limitations. "if I had a Mana Nexus, I could draw upon more power, I could overcome these barriers. You have a way for me to make one, don't you??"
"There are ways. Rituals we High Elves have used in past ages."
"Do they only work for elves?"
"No, but—"
"Is it dangerous, like Quicken Perception? Or does it need rare materials or reagents?" Ori asked, his eyes gleaming with urgent need.
"No," Harriet said sternly.
"Then, couldn’t I perform the ritual? It’d be a massive help." Ori asked, his voice reflecting a readiness to shed his pride and seek assistance from the queen once more.
At this, Harriet's expression grew grave. She stepped closer to Ori, her eyes locked with his. "You do not know what you ask."
The room fell silent, the weight of Harriet's words hanging in the air. Ori, sensing the gravity of the moment, held his tongue, waiting for her to continue.
“Poppy, fetch the Lunaesutra’kuri Kari,” Harriet commanded. Poppy’s eyes widened, and then she grinned madly, Ori’s curiosity and apprehension rising as she traversed through the shadows to fetch what was presumably a guide to the ritual. Turning back to Harriet, he was met by the mask of a monarch, her straight back rigidly in place over the otherwise relatable young woman he had come to know.
“What is the Lunaesutra’kuri Kari?”
“A choice you’ll need to make.” She answered cryptically still unwilling to make eye contact. Thankfully, the wait for Poppy’s return wasn’t long, and as she handed over a large, leather-bound book to Ori, she darted in for an unexpected kiss on the cheek.
“Read it, and memorise the relevant ritual, I will have your answer tomorrow.”
They both left the room, Ori staring after them dumbfounded as he wondered what fresh hell he had stumbled on to now.
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Ori gingerly opened the leather-bound book, his fingers tracing the embossed title: "Lunaesutra'kuri Kari." As he delved into its pages, his eyes all but bulged out of their sockets with each passage, each lurid, explicit diagram, a growing mixture of fascination and disbelief washing over him. The book, it turned out, was a comprehensive guide to Lunaesidhe rituals, rituals that specifically used sex and the paracausal properties of Mana Union.
He couldn't help but chuckle as he recalled Freya's flippant prediction which now came true before his very eyes. The book was essentially the elven Kama Sutra, detailing various positions and techniques that, when combined with specific breathing patterns and spell forms, could apparently allow two people to control the same portion of mana.
There were rituals for bloodline elevation, healing rituals both of the body and the soul, their were sex magic rituals that enhanced fertility and others that attempted to share comprehension of affinities, classes or magical spells.
As Ori read further, he discovered a specific ritual where these shared mana flows, when channelled through the right sexual positions, could ultimately bridge the mind with the Spirit’s inception of Mana, leading to the formation of a Mana Nexus. The implications were staggering, and Ori found himself both intrigued and apprehensive at the prospect.
In fact, after getting over the salacious nature of the practices, Ori became fascinated with how Mana Union could bridge Mana and Spirit as if it were a new vector he could use to manipulate and probe souls.
While he tidied up the workshop, his mind raced with the newfound knowledge as it interacted with the remnants of Eltitus’s and Freya’s knowledge. Meanwhile, Freya's guidance from his recent dreaming echoed in his thoughts, urging him to critically consider his value judgement and look at things from another perspective.
Perhaps he had overvalued their beauty, but if that were the case, why was he turning them away? Had he been so overzealous with his emotions that he had overcorrected, maximising the negatives while minimising the positives? Positives that included saving a life, returning the affections of someone he liked, and an experience he was already regretting passing up on.
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Ori knew that forming a lifelong, or even eternal, soul bond with Harriet and Poppy was a significant decision. The idea of becoming their lover, a requirement for the ritual's success according to the book, was undeniably tempting but could they separate that from the Taurna’diem? Should he even consider doing so? He felt a profound attraction towards both women and the connection that had developed during his stay was unlike any he had experienced before. Ori was reminded of Seraphine's words, "Take responsibility," underscoring the seriousness of their initial connection and the need for careful consideration in his decision.
Torn, Ori reflected on his feelings. He undoubtedly wanted to be Harriet's lover beyond the advantages the ritual might offer. His heart surged at the thought of her, confirming the depth of his emotions. He needed to fully understand the ritual's scope, its implications on their lives, and the consequences of any missteps. Additionally, Ori had to consider how Poppy's involvement would impact his decision and whether he was prepared to entwine their fates so deeply.
Ori spent the rest of the day immersed in the Lunaesutra'kuri Kari, he studied the intricate details of the ritual, committing them to memory while cross-referencing insights found on Lifeforce, Spirit, Souls and Mana theories with his existing libraries of knowledge. While he couldn't help but blush at some of the more explicit passages, his imagination running wild with thoughts of the elven beauties in the various positions described, the more he focused, the deeper the implications of the knowledge he unravelled became. Beyond the ritual to form a Mana Nexus was a wealth of techniques that could advance an individual far enough that they could racially evolve. This excited Ori as while forging a Taurna’diem might solve a lot of Harriet’s problems, it would ultimately be a stopgap measure.
As night fell, Ori knew whatever answer he would have to give Harriet would ultimately depend on her. While he’d do almost anything in pursuit of strength, he wouldn’t use people he cared about, for power or otherwise, and he did care about Harriet he realised.
It wasn’t until the early hours of the morning that Ori finally drifted off to sleep. Instead of dreamwalking and contacting Freya for more lessons, he allowed his subconscious dreams to be filled with erotic visions of Harriet and Poppy, their bodies intertwined with his own in hyperrealistic fantasies of passion and lust. Their scents and sounds were empowered by recent memories until within the dream Ori no longer knew what had happened in the waking or dreaming. He awoke with a start just before sunrise, his heart pounding and the air around him unusually muggy, his skin greasy with night sweat and his cock stiff and swollen with the worst case of morning wood he could remember.
As he took stock of himself and rose from the sticky bed, Ori took note of the barmy atmosphere before washing up and getting ready for the day.
Looking in the mirror, Ori found himself untangling dreams from reality and hoping that they somehow couldn’t read his recent memories or dreams else he’d die of embarrassment.
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Ori studied enchantment textbooks in an attempt to get his mind off sex. By the time daylight shifted to lunch, he had spent most of the morning mentally reviewing the failed enchantment, practising the individual aspects of the crafting, including the quickening that required the use of his domain. He was surprised to discover that his domain still had cracks appearing in the false sky that either overlaid upon the real sky or replaced whatever ceiling he happened to be under. The cracks, likely a result of his broken Soul Bound Artefact seemed to be more of a visual affixation, having no discernible effect on spell craft or mana manipulation. Beyond that, his domain was currently artificially constrained by powerful wards built into the castle, an interesting fact to note, though it was not the first time his domain had been suppressed by enchantments or external effects, he noted as he remembered the elven cell.
Due to this suppression, Ori found that the mental load required to keep the domain active was greatly reduced, which led him to practise reducing the radius of the domain so that he could maintain it active for more than a few seconds. This was met with mixed success; while doubling or tripling the duration was significant, it wasn’t particularly meaningful when the base duration was only two seconds.
In the end, a total duration of ten seconds with a domain that barely extended beyond his reach was the best he could achieve. He was generally unhappy with this trade-off, especially considering that each time his domain shattered, it was followed by blacking out or a nauseating bout of vertigo. Nevertheless, with dogged determination, Ori experimented with his domain. With a light-aspected domain, he could bend light, hiding objects from sight or briefly concentrating all light within the domain into a pulse or scorching beam. Unfortunately, with only mundane light available, the light beam was only strong enough to light a piece of paper on fire, and little else—not nearly powerful enough to trouble someone at the Sovereign ranks. The Astral or Celestial aspects were more challenging to utilise, requiring several hours of research before Ori could replicate effects such as purify, with many other astral or dream effects needing test subjects for a proper assessment or levels of intent he couldn’t achieve yet. Meanwhile, using lightning, Ori felt there was some promise, though an instinct and a strange barrier that he believed was the current limit of his comprehension stopped him from pushing the domain further than static shocks and the occasional sparks.
While interesting and somewhat productive, the pain of backlash each time the domain collapsed made experimentation draining and ultimately unfeasible for now. Despite this, it gave him confidence that with his own Mana Nexus, Ori wouldn’t face any more roadblocks towards completing his enchantments.
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Lunchtime came and went with Poppy leaving behind a tray of food and refreshments. She smiled but seemed in no mood to linger, leaving just as swiftly as she had entered. However, just after she left the room, Ori heard a muffled conversation that quickly turned heated. Curious, he left his desk and strode towards the door. Peeking out, Ori's mood darkened.
"Irbron, this is a mistake. I have no idea what you plan to accomplish right now, but if you step inside that room, I swear I will make what that curse did to you, permanent."
Irbron stood just a few paces away from the door, Poppy's clenched fist and near snarl enough for Ori to react. His domain unfurled, his anger automatically choosing a hybrid of lightning and celestial aspects as his fury forced him to breach the comprehension barrier, attempting to freeze every electrical impulse within Irbron's nervous system.
"Elendil’s Tits! You have a domain?" Irbron cursed, his face spasming while the drinking glasses clutched in his hand crunched under his involuntary muscle contractions.
"Leave her alone," Ori growled, contemplating how he might kill a Sovereign ranker with his domain in the few seconds it would remain.
"Ori, it’s alright," Poppy said, her hand rising to touch his as she positioned herself between them. "You can release your domain."
With no real choice due to the limited duration of his domain, Ori exhaled as his domain dissipated, Irbron gasping as he regained full control over his muscles.
"What in the spirits are you? I thought you to be a fae-touched human, but now—" Irbron said.
"What the hell do you want?" Ori asked, his voice colder than his adrenaline-flooded mind felt.
"Yes, well, I suppose I should have expected such a reaction. I had wanted to make amends, introduce myself," Irbron gestured to the now shattered glass flutes and the bottle of what Ori assumed was wine in his hands, "and possibly discuss a mutually beneficial endeavour if you are open to such opportunities."
"Irbron, I have no idea what you’re pulling, but if you think you can hide behind tricks or plots."
"Poppy, I promise, there are no tricks, no plots, no schemes," he said, his words directed at the handmaiden. Something in his words or how he said it, seemed to reassure Poppy as a measure of tension drained from her posture. Irbron then turned to face Ori and bowed. "Prince Irbron, Errindel Thalionwen Luinilthar, High Namer at your service."
Ori simply stared at the androgynous prince as an awkward silence stretched between them. "What do you want?" Ori asked, more out of a desire to get this interaction over with than possessing any genuine curiosity.
"Firstly, I extend my deepest apologies for the unseemly and impetuous behaviour I displayed in recent days. The harm I have caused you and the disgrace I have brought upon my house weighs heavily upon my heart. Please accept my sincerest regrets."
"And secondly?" Ori asked, deciding not to dwell on the sincerity or insincerity of the apology.
"Yes, well. As you may recall, I am a High Namer, and as my sister explained at some point over the last few days, you have recently Quickened Perception. She believes your sight to be a transcendent ability, but, well. Either way, while naming it will provide you with the obvious utility of a free divination, by naming it, specifically a Naming from a High Namer such as myself, there’s a chance it could elevate the ability a tier if it is close to a rank threshold."
"Okay, and what do you get out of it?" Ori frowned.
"He likely gets more out of it than you do, just naming a Sovereign or immortal rank ability could advance his class significantly," Poppy interjected with a scowl.
"What do I need to do, and how long will it take?" Ori asked, while he had no desire to build goodwill between Harriet’s brother and himself, gaining further concessions, including having him out of his and Poppy’s hair, might be worth it if it wasn’t too arduous a process.
"Just provide your consent, the actual process takes but moments. Please, perhaps we should retire to the workshop to continue discussions?" Irbron offered.
"Irbron, we’ll do this naming, but in exchange, you will never bother Poppy again and if I hear Harriet no longer lives while you draw breath, I will find your soul, living or not, and it will never know rest. You get me?" Ori said, his domain shimmering into existence with the ethereal gleam of his Soulcraft affinity, the edges of his will flexed upon the boundary of Irbron's soul. Irbron cringed just before Ori’s domain dispersed.
"I… yes. Of course."
After entering, and agreeing to the naming, Ori provided consent, Poppy witnessed, and Irbron wasted little time performing his service. Before long, Ori could see a mountain of Peritia swirl around them all. Poppy gasped, and Irbron's face turned pale.
Like his previous divination, the ability name and description were provided as if they were written on a sheet of paper seen within his mind’s eye. As Ori read the description, he couldn’t help but feel goosebumps over the ominous details contained within.
> Ability Name: Vision of the Progenitor
>
> Type: Active, Perception
>
> Characteristic Requirements: Perception: ≥85, Will: ≥80, Spirit: ≥75
>
> Other Requirements: Unknown, Unique
>
> Effects: Grants the ability to perceive and interact with the essences of Lifeforce, Vitality, Soul, Aether, and Mana, seamlessly blending perception across physical and metaphysical realms.
>
> Description: Vision of the Progenitor is a Transcendent Rank perception ability, unique to the Library of Fates. It merges the highest forms of sensory and mystical insight, allowing the user to view the essence of souls, the flow of life forces, the intricate decompositions of aether, the harmonic interactions of Mana, along with hints of other Paracausal energies of Fate. Users can see the convergence of these energies within beings and objects, understanding their interplay in an almost preternatural manner. It offers a comprehensive view that transcends mere sight, providing profound insight into the very fabric of existence, including realms that may exist beyond the reaches of Fate.
>
> Notes: Upon activation, Vision of the Progenitor enables the user to gain insight and comprehension of observed effects —to which they have an affinity —at an accelerated rate. This ability also consumes and assimilates new or preexisting perception-related abilities or spells, morphing to incorporate aspects from the ability destroyed. Scaling with the user's perception characteristics, this ability not only allows for the detection of hidden life forces and soul conditions but also grants insights into the manipulation of these energies, suggesting possibilities of creation and alteration extending well beyond the divine. The power to perceive such fundamental forces carries a grave responsibility, as the knowledge gained could reveal the vulnerabilities and strengths of both living and non-living entities. Ultimate mastery of Vision of the Progenitor may lead to unparalleled power over life and death, creation and destruction, potentially reshaping the structure of reality itself if wielded without restraint. Consequently, the inception of Vision of the Progenitor heralds the dawn of the Age of Blindness, its ominous potential outshining and permanently diminishing the strength of long-term divination forecasts across all demiplanes, serving as a lasting reminder of the vastness of Fate, and the unfathomable potential of Irregulars on the Path.