Chapter 4: A Rude Awakening
I groaned as I woke up to the warmth of a small fire caressing my skin. Rabbit was gone, as always, and I was left with the aftermath of what I had once again done to myself. My soul ached and my body screamed in pain and agony. Slowly, too slowly blood was starting to fill my veins again and yet I realized that maybe for once I should have waited. One step more and I would have been irredeemably lost.
“This has to be up there with the top other dumbest things you have done in the past, Lewana..."
“W-wha-” I could barely move my lips and when I tried another wave of pain shot through me.
“Save your breath, I don’t want to hear your excuses. You could have done something normal. Explore a little. Do some research on the structural differences of the arcane in this world." He ranted and just kept going:
"Maybe at least fucking wait for me for once. Not go through highly volatile, experimental soul rituals in a completely unknown environment while surrounded by ancient magical artifacts and under the obvious governance of some kind of overlaying framework... But noooo. Little Miss Genius knows better."
Through blinking eyes, that hurt as much as the rest of my new body, I saw Francis stare into the small fire he had erected. A woman sat next to him, was that...?
“Im-impossible..”
“You stupid stupid reckless girl. This is why your parents did what they did. And yes, through some forsaken way, while breaking a bunch of fundamental rules of magic you managed to not only survive splitting your soul eight ways before mending it back together, but you also somehow reignited the soul spark of the main sacrifice of this whole fiasco.”
I tried to sit up and pain shot into me and with a muffled scream I immediately let myself sink back into whatever it was I was lying on.
My old body turned her head to me, curiosity mixed with grief and once again I felt the whispers of revenge, grief, and hate. All things I had felt while inhabiting her body.
Class Akna, Caretaker of the Forest Level ???
“What made you do it, child? Did my hatred of the Emperor guide you to willingly mutilate your soul? Or was it something else... I wonder...” She spoke, her voice like the leaves in the wind and the dew in the morning after a cold night. "In any case... I apologize. This conflict was never meant to reach beyond the veil."
“I-I am not s-sure... I did not pla- I didn’t know.. I don’t know...?” I managed to say between waves of pain wrecking my body.
She stared at me for a long time. Her eyes were as firm as mother's and yet besides the hate, the grief, and whatever else there was, they held an undeniable love for the living. I let my gaze wander to Francis but he paid me no mind, still staring into the flames. Only now did I see that his clothes were splattered with blood and dirt.
Class Guardian Warlock Mastery Curse Magic Level 44
What in the name of the 36 ancient ones had happened while I was knocked out? I groaned some more.
The woman meanwhile just kept staring at me, and finally proclaiming with naught but a whisper:
“Born in blood the sleeper will awaken, torn away from the path... You shouldn't have walked this path in the first place... Yet you did, willingly even.”
“W-Wha-?” I stuttered.
“My name is Akna, child. A powerful name, given to me by the end of times. I am life for I am the mother. The one who tends to the broken forest of Uktum, the guardian of both the happy and the sad children, the protector of mothers, and the guardian of orphans. And yet an army managed to subdue me, seal away my divinity and sacrifice me to call a weapon to rain destruction upon the surrounding lands.”
I was silent, Akna was indeed a known name even in our world. An old Inuit spirit and a mother goddess. As well as the Mayan goddess of fertility. But those spirits and deities had been without power when the old world began to crumble. And a weapon? I might know some impressive battle magic but I could hardly be called a weapon.
“You don’t doubt the truth, merely the phrasing... Nevertheless, we can not wait for you to recover completely. Eight long hours we have watched over you, me, and your loyal guardian, and in that time the catacombs only grew in activity. The imperial army will take notice of that, and once the buried ones rise and threaten to spill out they will cleanse this place with false fire, as is tradition."
“Francis?" I asked, trying to figure out what the fuck any of this means.
“She speaks in riddles and yet her words hold true, this place is a death trap. The statues themselves are a part of this defensive system. From what I have gathered from the soldiers, who are alive before you ask, those catacombs are bait for invading armies. The entrance, as Akna told me, is rather easy to be found and there is powerful compulsion magic layered over it. Apparently it happened a few times in the history of this place that a general led his forces through here and up into the city...”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
He paused for a second, staring up at one of the giant stone figures.
“... And it just takes one fool to waken the dead. Suddenly the mighty invading army is surrounded by ghouls and skeleton puppets. Then they simply purge the catacombs with toxins and unknown death magic and once more the city and its secret are safe. Replace the compulsion, change the entrance around a bit... Voila."
“We are hardly an army!” I protested, seriously if there was one person who would have wakened the dead it was the stupid old coot of a summoner that dragged us into this mess in the first place.
“No, and that is even worse. So we are extremely lucky that we have literal divinity with us who knows more than one way out of this hole, straight into the heart of the city.”
“So it’s a repeat of Prague then? A mad escape through old catacombs and then plot our revenge from within the city walls?” I asked, the promise of battle numbing the pain enough for me to think and speak clearly. Well, relatively clearly at least.
Akna was the one who answered: “The false King will be punished, do not worry yourself with such matters my child. For now, we should move and burn the bodies.”
Only now did I realize what I was actually lying on, I scrambled back surprised and my chest thanked me for this rapid movement with agonizing pain.
“It was needed to not let your weakened soul be corrupted further by the magic of this place, even I am not that grotesque.” Francis grinned mockingly as I awkwardly rolled off the pile of bodies I had apparently been napping on.
“By Morgana, I need a drink...” Sleeping on a bed of corpses was certainly not on my bucket list. At least he had dressed me up with the clothes of one of the soldiers while I was knocked out.
“Work first, pleasure later. Drink as much as you want once we have survived certain annihilation. I did not get this far in life just to die in some boring catacomb to join an army of undead city defenders. How pathetic would that be?” Francis proclaimed, his battle fever coming through a little bit.
I ground my teeth in pain, but before I could even attempt to fight through it, Akna held up her hand.
“Let me aid you.” She spoke and breathed something in my direction. Green mist enveloped me and slowly but steadily my body began to hurt less and less. I felt my muscles now, not their agony but their strength. This body seemed so much stronger than my old one ever was. Unnaturally so.
“You have picked well, Sleeper. Xaria was a powerful warrior in her own right, some of who she was should still be in you. This world is guided by rules unknown to you. Let your instincts guide you.”
“My instincts?” I wanted to ask before Francis yelled out: “CATCH!”
Before my mind could catch up he had already thrown a sword in my direction and just as I wanted to blast it away, my body moved on its own. My knees bent ever so slightly and then with one fluent motion I turned myself further into the path of the sword, my hand exploded forward and effortlessly grasped the sword handle while the sharp blade harmlessly passed an inch by me, the momentum carrying me into a spin.
“Wha-” I couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
“Hah, this world truly is amazing! You better get used to it, I already picked some things up myself!”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!”
“Well, get ready to find out. I hear more of them coming.” Francis grinned, as I was just standing around shellshocked. Oh no, he is enjoying himself.
Akna shook her head and scolded me: “Sloppy, so much wasted movement. Xaria would have jumped forward in order to get ready to counterattack immediately! But at least some of her talents still seem to be within you.”
She scoffed: “Now make yourself useful, child. I do not want you to sully the memory of my protégés.”
“Oh no, there are two of them!” As if Francis wasn’t bad enough, now two old fucks would yell at me all day.
I sighed and brushed some of the bright blonde locks out of my face. In the distance, there was shuffling and growling and I was surprised as the first skeletons entered the radius of our dimly illuminating fire.
“I think I prefer the vampires of Prague to whatever this is!” I hissed as Francis readied his first spell.
A wave of destruction sprung forth from his hands but to my shock it didn’t wipe out the skeletons closing in. Some fell to the ground, breaking into pieces of bones but others not only handled the ancient Sumerian spell without apparent issues but seemed to ready their own magic in response. Great, spellcasting skeleton zombies.
I readied my seals.
(Seal break: Zi-Badur! Allani! Kala Pani! Inanna un Uruk!
Then I was upon them and it was as if the vengeful spirit of the child itself was guiding my movement. I had not been completely unfamiliar with the noble art of sword fighting but compared to this, I had been a complete amateur.
Now however each strike was precise, each thrust as devastating to the bones as if I was striking flesh. Instead of wounds carved deep into skin, my attacks now shredded the skeletons into dust.
(Seal break: ANUR)
The old ritualistic seal broke and with it the restraints from the core of my still scarred soul. It was the first ritual I had put myself through. Taken straight from the heart of the fourth library and with this first step into old magic began my descent into the darkness of the arts.
Xaria’s body had been that of a trained warrior and together with the rituals that were imprinted on me I quickly fell into a state of flow. Rusty swords were deflected with ease and glowing spells of various colors dodged with unnatural grace.
A spear missed me by a mere inch and I was certain that without the unnatural physical prowess of this body, I would have met my demise. Well probably not, but it would have hurt like crazy.
I glanced back at Francis who was protecting Akna from the onslaught while throwing Russian, Greek, and Sumerian war spells into the fray. Green flames licked through the room and with played ease I saw him simultaneously control a giant flame whip that sliced through the enemies to the right of me.
Akna was healing him, at least that’s what I thought it was until an arrow made out of ice raced from far beyond the radius of our light and smashed into a golden transparent shield that sprung up out of nowhere.
Shield spells cast on the fly of such magnitude were impressive but certainly not unheard of. She suddenly dropped down to her knees with such grace that I felt immediately bad for daring to whine and complain about her flexibility and frailness.
Akna rammed her palms into the ground and it broke apart, massive vines and other plants rapidly extended towards the ceiling. They moved frantically, blocking spells and crushing foes. That display wouldn’t have been so crazy and unbelievable if it hadn’t extended to half of the hall.
Suddenly I wasn't standing in a damp hall anymore but in a jungle. The swipes of her plants leveled not only the skeletons in front of us but a whole area way outside my vision. Spells still impacted the golden barrier but the more the thundering in the distance increased in sound the less reached her.
While still admiring this impressive display of battlefield magic, I reflexively threw myself back to avoid a halberd that was aimed at my head, the halberd missed my head and instead dug deep into my left thigh.
My world drowned in pain and hellfire.