“Little Nanri…” The Astral Witch’s voice was frigid and Uru’s plague ward had already begun lighting back up with her mana. “What have you done?”
Is this lady serious? She saw it with her own eyes. Cira watched from her springside abode as the witches approached and began accosting Nanri. The sorcerer’s apprentice had stood tall against someone much stronger than her. Cira gathered her to be some kind of superior that she had a history with but could not tell more. Your intermediate light spell was obviously absorbed into the beautiful necklace hung from my charming assistant’s neck.
But oh, how I don’t deserve Nanri. If she weren’t there everything could have fallen apart, or my workers may have been hurt. I never would have asked her to face off against other witches though. I really thought this new one would take longer and arrive alone. Earth Vein must have some kind of outpost not long up the Noose.
Nanri held her head high but looked just as confused. “Your guess is as good as mine. This was just a gift.” But she couldn’t hide a slight smirk.
While her mentor flared in rage, Cira watched a girl materialize out of thin air, showing only her upper body. With dark hair and a wispy demeanor, this girl reached for Nanri’s pendant, “No way, where’d you get a celestial orchid—” Nanri slapped her hand away.
“No touching! I just told you it was a gift. I don’t even know what that is.” She looked at her acquaintance with scorn.
“I’ll give it right back…” The girl looked truly disappointed as she became slightly less visible. To Cira’s eyes this witch was endlessly fun to watch. She gathered it was the Lyren she heard about who enchanted Zero Stratum before, and she was no slouch with spatial sorcery. “I just want to look at it…”
She wasn’t actually teleporting or ‘appearing out of thin air’. The timid little witch was using something called Phase Shift. A few different kinds, actually. The dimension we live in is complex, and it seemed when this girl got nervous, she would react by Phase Shifting in such a way to allow increasing amounts of light through the space she occupied.
One could also Phase Shift to remove themselves from the physical realm entirely. Cira’s favorite part about this is that Lyren had figured out how to do this in partial so she could inch her way into the material realm at her own pace, never letting too much out. This of course blocked light as well, hence how only half her body could be seen, but she still got nervous and became translucent with the other half.
This amused Cira to no end because this type of Phase Shifting still left you subject to aethereal influence, meaning it was useless when facing off against a wielder of magic. There were other techniques for that, but this girl showed no sign of using them. She merely manipulated reality to suit her anxious tendencies.
There was a certain beauty in that which struck a chord in Cira’s heart, and she swore to practice her Phase Shifting when she had the time.
“This is hardly the time, Lyren.” Nanri’s exasperated voice had a familiar tone to it, almost like she was talking to an old friend. “Now tell me what a Celestial Orchid is. I thought this was a sapphire.”
“You—you stupid girl!” Estelle shouted again, “You would wear such a treasure and mistake it for a common mineral?!”
“It’s super duper rare…” Lyren continued, “It blooms in accordance with the stars and grows higher than anyone can fly.”
Nanri looked at her funny, “Then how do they find them? And do you mean to say this is a flower?” She tapped her fingernail on it—hard as stone. The exact same transparency and gleam of a precious gem.
“Who knows… It’s an orchid, like I said.” Lyren leaned out so far, she was balancing on the rim of her Phase Shift trying to get a good look. “It’s not something people just give away. Especially not enchanted.” She squinted at Nanri dubiously.
She wore a proud grin, “Maybe Cira is just that impressive.”
Dad gave it to me on a brooch when I was a kid… Maybe I should have asked where he got it. Cira only used it for the pendant because it conducted mana better than anything she’d ever seen. It was perfect. Good thing I don’t care about money. She continued observing the witches.
“I’ve had enough of this.” The Astral Witch stomped up holding her staff back, and Nanri winced as she swung it with all her strength. “Hyahh! guh—what…?”
Fool, did you think it merely absorbed magic?! Her staff glanced off an invisible force surrounding Nanri powered by her own spell, and the face it conjured was one you could only get by thoroughly baffling someone whose lived for centuries. Cira had been troubled, and likely would be again later, but watching Nanri act so cool while this other witch kept making herself look stupid was the best show she could ask for. There was no doubt she was powerful, but she was also rude.
“H-how are you doing that?!” She raged, “You’re nothing but a whelp to grind beneath my boot!” Her staff started firing off beams of light at Nanri to no avail. They kept absorbing into her necklace which grew brighter with each attack. It slurped up the mana faster than she could form the next one. How can anything conduct mana that fast? Did I overdo it again?
She was interested to see how much it held, or if Nanri would do anything with it. However, her mood was quickly soured as the apparently old witch continued laying into Nanri, “You’ve always been talentless, dragging at your parents’ heels!” Light grew in her eyes as she tried forming a mana crystal to throw at Nanri. “You’re useless, and now you’ve found someone strong who’s willing to let you leech off her, is that it?”
Estelle’s eyes were vicious, scrounging for ways to get under Nanri skin as her attacks repeatedly failed to reach and her mana crystals mysteriously failed to materialize. Cira did not like her tone one bit. The witch she had come to known had been blatantly indoctrinated and fed lies, only to get shoved in a cave at her mother’s whim. Yet she still had a good enough heart to see through the lies when they were thrown in front of her, and the unyielding resolve to make things right.
Nanri hungered for knowledge. Not just for sorcery, but for the world and how she should live in it. It was clear, the way Nanri looked like a bird let out of a cage as she followed her around over the last few days. She wanted more and hadn’t stopped for a moment in striving for it as she did her best to help Cira. Watching her stand off against this other witch with confidence she hadn’t yet displayed made Cira smile. She has a path ahead of her now. I can see it in her eyes.
But the Astral Witch was pissing her off. This entire time Cira had been avoiding interfering, only watching in case she absolutely had to step in. Cira did not want to be the omniscient hand of absolution throughout Fount Salt. For one, starting a fight could destroy the plague ward and/or Uru. For two, she did not want to cause even more trouble for Nanri.
She could not, however, find it in her heart to keep listening to this hag spout off at her ostensible friend. The rivers’ radiance grew as all her focus went into it, blaring through the windows a bright blinding cerulean directly into Estelle’s eyes.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Ahh, what in the—” Splash! Slap! “Gah, bitch—what is this?!” She snarled, soaking wet in Nanri’s face. The light around her burned bright as the weight bore down on Nanri, then suddenly, everything was blue again. The witch’s light was snuffed out and her face froze mid insult while she processed that fact.
Of course, Cira couldn’t leave the ol’ gal sopping wet like that. She lent her a hand by throwing small clumps of salt at her to help absorb the moisture as it puffed out on contact. She was quickly coated in a fine layer of salt. Her eye twitched as she worked up a growl.
“What is the meaning of this?!” She yelled super loud, Cira noted, yet still she directed her anger at Nanri as if she had done it herself, though it didn’t help that she was snickering and trying to hide it. Meanwhile, Estelle’s frustration grew as she seethed when a boisterous laugh came from the back of the room. My man, Triton.
“See! I told you guys, hah! Guess that settles that.” He dusted his hands of as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Well, I guess I didn’t plan to let him get hurt, but now I feel like he’s using me.
“Such insolence!” Estelle flared up in a pillar of light, burning off the salt and water and leaving her robes. Cira cut it off a mere second before she was done, just to irritate her. “I demand to know the meaning of this, Nanri!” She pointed her staff and let loose of a beam of light at Triton. Nanri wasn’t in the way this time and it flashed past her faster than she could see anyway. Triton had only just registered death by the time the beam had already been stopped. It hung there in front of his face and slowly floated away.
Higher and higher it climbed as it burned continuously brighter. Cira pumped it full of so much mana it was like a radiant sun. It reflected off the Astral Witch’s face as she stood there in shock, waving her staff around trying to control it. She couldn’t, of course, because it was Cira’s now. Neither could she conjure any other light and she stood there stammering as she could do nothing but watch the massive sun rise, assuming its place at the top of the chamber and bringing an early dawn to the plague ward.
“Nanri, I will have your—” Estelle was out of ideas and couldn’t contain her rage, but Lyren manifested in front of her.
“Hey, stop. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to fight her…” The witch skidded to a stop before colliding with her apprentice, an incredulous scowl plastered on her formerly fair face. “…She stopped your light magic… She sets primal curses… I don’t know what’s going on with the river, but… You might want to calm down…” She faded as she made her proclamation.
“Wha—get back here! You mean to say all of this was the Hidden Witch?!” She stretched out her mildly salty arms in show, “Tch. To stop my witchcraft. How is that possible, hmm? How is any of this possible?!”
Nanri watched the two argue in front of her with pursed lips, apparently unsure of what to do. Lyren continued her cryptic explanation after working up the courage, “Haven’t you noticed…? Ever since we passed Uren we’ve been inside of some manner of active spatial witchcraft. I think… I think she’s watching us now. She feels really mad…” She quickly disappeared. I can still see you, little witch.
She’s good though… Anyone could sense the stupid amounts of mana I’m flooding this island with, I thought, but to feel my gaze? Perhaps it’s another ability she honed in her quest to disappear. Cira didn’t get a bad feeling from Lyren. She didn’t seem too eager to even help Estelle past stopping her from various things. Nor did she seem to hold any ill will towards Nanri, even after she’d supposedly committed treason.
“You’re speaking nonsense, Lyren.” Estelle scoffed, “You’re saying as we speak, she’s off somewhere casting a spell over this entire island?”
“Yeah… pretty much. Gotta be.” She shrunk.
“I mean, that’s what I’ve been trying to say this whole time.” Nanri shrugged.
“How dare you?!” The now powerless Astral Witch demanded, “Whenever did you become so vile, Nanri? You were always so meek, so worthless. So, what makes you think you can treat one such as I like this?!”
“Yeah, Nanri…” Lyren poked just her head out, “I didn’t know you were so cool.”
“You idiot! You think treason is cool?!” The Astral Witch did not like that.
“Estelle, enough of this. My exorcists need to get to work, and you clearly won’t find Cira here.” Nanri looked down at her now with a diminutive glare.
“Youuuuu bitch.” She growled, “I will destroy your alchemists.”
She raised her staff again as Cira rolled her eyes, but Lyren popped out again, “Hey, I mean… You shouldn’t do that. What if she cursed them too?”
“Wha—Urghh… unbelievable!” She threw out her hand in defeat, “What the hell is this witch?! Nanri… Where is she?” Her cold glare turned again to the young witch.
“I don’t know, the spring probably.” She shrugged, “That’s where I was going to look.”
Estelle grumbled for a while and finally managed to form words, “Lyren… we will find this Hidden Witch and kill her. Let’s go.”
“Oh, great!” Nanri beamed under the Uru sun, excitement clear on her voice. “I’ll come with you. And, um…” She nervously looked up, “Cira… if you’re listening. I owe you a slap in the face and you’re going to take it when I see you.”
“Gahh!!” Cira cried, startling Nina off her head again, “Dammit… She’s pissed. That checks out…”
The Astral Witch again pulled another haughty attitude out of somewhere not even Cira could see and spit venom at Nanri, “Then you will watch your friend die.”
Nanri’s smile did not falter. Ohoho… Cira thought, a smirk sliding onto her face, So, it’s a good old fashioned witch hunt, is it?
Cira started working on her checklist. She manifested some homes on the upper ring of Uru, where it led to the Last Step. This would become the exorcists’ home and hopefully they would find them as they were fully furnished.
She watched Nanri send off the exorcists and walk away with the other two witches, then repeated the process with the alchemists’ homes. They had beds made of the best wool she could conjure, which they could replace later if they felt like it. The houses were also fixed with light artifacts, a full kitchen, and running water connected to a river behind the plague ward. Everything had enough mana to last ten years, but the structures themselves got a little extra so anyone could clear out before they collapsed.
This display startled the alchemists, and they went to investigate, but she left them. There was one more thing she had to do before leaving the plague ward and began spying on the Earth Vein Official. He was trying not to look nosy as the witches argued, but now was calming down his ducklings. He stopped in his tracks as a beam of light appeared before him and an object started materializing in the air.
It grew to about a foot wide and it was made of salt. The Official nervously plucked it out of the air while sharing his shock with the others near him. Once he touched it, heat wafted into his face as letters were burned onto thin slate.
REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE
“What…” His eyes bulged as the plaque turned to dust in his hands, looking around him then up at the ceiling with an expression like he was questioning his entire life.
Cira’s focus returned now to Zero Stratum. It was now complete with sixteen total chambers surrounding the original queen’s nest, and Nina had even sent another group of queens down.
“Seriously, what are you, Nina?” She looked at her large friend with a smug grin but offered no reply.
The first waves of nymphs had almost made it to the bottom so that solved the stampede issue. They had plenty of room to live now. Whether or not Earth Vein exploited that was yet to be seen, but all they were really doing was sweeping up the prima salt. She didn’t see that as a big issue and couldn’t do anything about it except not rebuild Zero Stratum. The choice was obvious.
Meanwhile, her veins were quite full of titanium and most of her chosen pathways had surpassed the spring. Now she converted the chamber she stood in to be resistant to the elements. Personally, she liked the charm of the pristine salt cave with soft blues reflecting off it, but it would not last.
The spring chamber got a full casing of metal, of course. It would never move again, nor would any of its water escape the pathways she meticulously crafted for it. The only entrances to the spring now were above her up staircases, and there was a spillway that led into the sky in case something caused it to overflow. This island was watertight now, she only had to work above the spring to make water naturally trickle from Uren, but the city itself was going to take a special touch. She would hit it on her way out.
To get the water up there, she had to reimagine the infrastructure left behind millennia ago. Of course, the ancients had their time, but it would be too much work fixing their megalithic artifacts with all the missing material. Instead, leaving the elevators, she reclaimed all the rest of the brinstahl, using it inside to line the spring chamber. She thought it was a nice way to pay homage to them while destroying something they spent centuries building in seconds. There was a great deal left over, but she decided to save it for a nice little present she wanted to leave the island.
With most of her important affairs in order, her rough exterior had smoothed over a great deal as well, and Cira was starting to feel much more comfortable again. Less of a monstrosity and more of a… regular island.
This doesn’t look like a pearl at all… It just looks like an egg. And it’s upside down.