The following Day.
Trish got back into her routine after the nearly fatal encounter. Having asked her parents many times, but they were very tight-lipped about what happened after she lost consciousness. Her father clarified that her quick thinking was the only reason she was alive.
Although the fact that she was in danger at all was because of how careless Trish was in the first place, as her punishment, he had doubled her training, and now four times a week, her free time was taken up by tutoring her in history, math, reading and writing, court etiquette. She wasn't sure why she needed to learn so much history or court etiquette as she lived kilometers away from the nearest small village.
She still took the learning in stride and engrossed herself in her studies and training, determined to avoid making the same mistake twice.
About 3 years later
Trish was in a classroom she remembered so well, the floor covered in blood and gore, all familiar. The smell and the taste in the air were bringing visions of pandemonium.
Though what truly transfixed her was nothing more than the swirling vortex in front of her, what she sensed just beyond the portal caused a dread so absolute that it consumed her.
Reaching out her hand, Trish unwittingly touches the vortex of chaos, her vision twisting. Coming into focus before her stood a massive tree that seemed to reach into every dimension. The branches were more massive than universes, all interconnected to a boundless trunk, and below the unbound tree were an uncountable amount of roots breaching into darkness itself, or at least that's what she thought until she saw the fathomless expanse breach open and show a smile.
“What are you doing back here so soon it's not…” it said. It saw the small, insignificant girl and the chain wrapped around her leg.
“YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED HERE.” Everything shook at the might of its voice.
Trish was yanked backward and pulled by forces beyond comparison. Her vision shifted once again, and now she stood back to the scene she knew well, which is forever ingrained into the nethermost recesses of her memory.
Her feet were wet again, but it was a red-tinged river instead of viscera this time.
Glancing up, she saw the scene she dreaded the most.
Clarissa PoV
Trish's mother lay fast asleep in her modest bed beside her husband in the room parallel to her daughters. Clarissa’s eyes shot open. She felt a shift in the surrounding mana, her senses having been well-tuned to decades of fighting; even a slight change in the mana around her would never go without notice, and it was coming from her daughter's room again.
Knowing what this could mean, she rushed to her daughter's room—time seemed to stand still as she approached her daughter's room. Flinging the door open, she saw Trish lying in bed, fast asleep. Trish was coated in sweat and was tossing and turning as if she were in the midst of a battle.
Multicolored light gathered around her hands in massive quantities as if she was about to cast a world-ending spell. But just as it was at its zenith, it grew to the size of two beach balls.
The mana started to be absorbed by the five onyx armbands she had on each arm. Trish's incredibly dense mana was absorbed into the armbands just as fast as it appeared as it had done for the past fifteen years.
“Momo, I will save you!” Trish screamed her voice so loud the wooden wall shook.
A beautiful woman entered her room in a hurry. “Trish, wake up. You're having another nightmare about the past.” A warm voice reassured the sleeping Trish.
He appeared in the doorway awoken by the scream and glanced at his wife and daughter, a worry stricken his features.
Concerned about Trish, Clarissa decides to activate her ability, Goddesses eye of Insight, to check her daughter’s status. Her emerald eyes flashed a deep crimson, and then a simple display showed some data about Trish.
Name: Trish Braeja
Female
Age 10 (?????)
Lvl 2
Status Condition: Soul Torment
Class: N/A
Growth Rate:???
Adventurer rank: N/A
Title: Wanderer of Countless Realms, ?,?,?
Health: 15
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Mana: 10M+* (equipment attempting to reduce)
Seeing her daughter's troubling status ailment, she shook Trish with even more urgent force, but being careful not to use too much strength on her fragile body, finally causing her to wake up.
Trish's eyes fluttered open, but something was still wrong. Her eye glowed a deep purple.
Her mother saw something from the corner of her eyes on Trish’s status.
First, the status condition didn't change, and her daughter's mana amount caused terror to rise in her chest.
Mana: 10M+* (equipment trying to reduce)
Her only thought was, “That is enough mana to fuel a spell to vaporize the entire continent of Maternai. Her untrained mind can not keep containing such mana.”
“Think, Clarissa, think,” her worry lines deepening. A look of
She hurriedly activated a calming spell in one hand and another spell in her other hand and pressed her palms against Trish’s sweaty brow. “Leonis Cor,” a calming green light enveloped Trish like before when she was a three-year-old, except this time, black lighting surged from Clarissa’s other palm. The lock was once again placed on her soul. The lightning surrounded it like a cage. Unlike before, it barely held on and seemed to have splinters already that the lightning could hardly keep up and repair.
She saw the mana slowly reducing again, being drawn to the armbands, which now had millions of hairline fractures.
Using her eye’s ability again, she looked at her daughter's stats.
Name: Trish Braeja
Gender: Female
Race and Ethnicity: Malvian (?)
Age 10 (?)
Lvl 2
Status Condition: Soul Torment/System Malfunction
All system functions terminated (due to a Hero’s ability)
Class: N/A
Growth Rate: ???
Adventurer rank: N/A
Title: Wanderer of Countless Realms, Not the One, Jack of Trades, Chaos witch
Skill: All magics, skills, and modifiers granted by the system have been restricted, including modifiers (due to a Hero’s ability).
Active:
Magic: Chaos Bolt: Rank E lvl 9: A mass of true chaos can morph into any element at completely random and sometimes combine elements at random. It can be modified with relative ease.
Cedric Assist: Rank F lvl 1: An ethereal arrow shrouded in smoke is simultaneously shot out of the bow as another arrow.
Passives:
Menu: Rank ???: LVL 8:?
Inspect: Rank E: LVL 8: Allows one to inspect a target for more information.
Hard Work: Rank F lvl 4: Learn everything at a highly accelerated rate of 400%.
Weapon soul bound: bound to 2 weapons.
Pain Management Rank: E lvl 4: Reduces pain by 14%.
Language Mastery: Rank E: has learned at least 7 languages
Intermediate Archery: Rank E lvl 5: Increases all archery-related abilities by 55%.
Magical Anomaly Rank F lvl 1: Magic learning accelerated by 400%. When casting magic, a random magical event may occur .001%. Reduces cast time, Mana cost, and all Magical effects by 0.1%
Mental landscape:????
Health: 15
Mana: 50k* (equipment stabilized)
Stam: 22
Str: 25
Agi:32
Int: 5??
Wis: 9
Luck 6??
Perc: 12
She glanced at her husband, who was still in the doorway. "I feared this day it's time for her to learn to control her immense mana.” Clarissa said pensively. “Starting tomorrow, I will teach her to tame this mana, and when she can control it, we must tell her she is a reincarnate and why we have been preparing her like we have. If we are lucky, we may have a few years until she must venture forth, my love.
Pov Trish
Jarring awake, Trish nearly flies out of bed. Having done something she had not done since she was three, she had slept in. Rushing to get dressed in record time, she flung her door open. “I'm sorry I overslept, Mom and Dad.” Her voice is loud and breathless. She ran to the kitchen where food was waiting. Her parents were sitting with expectant, worried looks directed directly towards her.
“I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me,” she replied hurriedly, expecting a punishment.
“Don't worry about it this time, hunny. Today is the day you will learn magic and how to control your mana. All your academics are being put on hold until you can control your mana because if you don't, the consequences will be dire.” The response confounded her and left her mouth sagging in a complete stupor.
In her confounded state, she slowly sat and started to eat quietly and think, trying to make sense of what she was just told.
The only thing she remembered doing with magic was three years ago, but she had not told her parents about it. She was worried they had figured it out somehow, so she is now being forced to learn to control it. Shaking her head to clear it, she looked up at her mother.
“Okay, I'm ready to learn.” a hint of fear entered her tone unbeknownst to her, so her training in magic began.
“Follow me to the front yard,” her mother said sternly.
She reached for her jacket that hung by the door. Her mother spoke.
“Leave it. It will just hinder you.” Without even looking at Trish, she continued to the yard.
Following her mother outside into the crisp cool morning air dew still on the grass, birds chirping sing-song in the trees not far off in the distance, a gentle breeze carrying their songs to be heard for kilometers.
“Now sit and clear your mind.”
Trish hurries and does as her mother asks, but she is having trouble turning her stray thoughts off, and her mother seems to notice this.
“Focus on me and hold out your hands. I will begin circulating my man into you and back out so you can get a feel of how you are supposed to circulate mana,” she said gently.
Her mother grabbed her hands. She felt this electric surge staring in her palms, then began to circulate her body almost like she had a separate circulatory system under her normal one.
Her mother's mana traveled through her entire body with ease. The warmth she felt as she seemingly became one with her mother. Their breathing matched, and her mind finally cleared as she began assisting her mother clumsily at first, but slowly, she gained the hand of it little by little.
When her proficiency grew, she felt a sudden odd pull from the center of her stomach, a small string attached to her mother's mana. She became entwined as her mana slowly joined her mothers, not combing but following right beside at a much slower rate, but it felt like an endless string never reaching the end even as it circulated both parties.
Trish started to notice something her mother was withdrawing her mana, and after what seemed like minutes, she was now left with her mana circulating all on her own with no assistance.
Barley registered her mother as she retracted her hands. She was determined to stay in this position until she could do as her mother did with as much proficiency.
4 days Later
She had not moved beyond breathing, her concentration never wavering. She continued to circulate her mana. Just a few feet away in the doorway, her parents began worrying about their daughter again. The only thing stifling it was that they knew that her need for the everyday essentials was significantly reduced in this state.
“She is still young, but I see improvement every hour. Her control is that of a novice of two years. This growth is even more impressive than her academics and archery.” Clarissa said in awed, hushed tones to her husband. Her skills were not just for show; learning is easy for her, and magic when put on the path, she picks it up as if she was born for it. We may not have to worry about her outbursts as much.” her mother said proudly. She felt a sudden shift in the air where her daughter was meditating.
As if summoned by her very words, the air, mana, and space started to warp around their daughter. A portal had opened and was sucking in their daughter.
The portal started closing faster than it appeared. Trish's hand was outstretched, barely outside the portal. Clarissa's motherly instincts took over, and she had already moved without thought. Turning into a streak of green light, she grabbed the hand, and the portal pulled her into it, closing behind them and leaving behind her husband without a second thought. He had lost both his wife and child in a mere fraction of a second.
The howl of anguish he released from his soul was filled with pain, despair, and rage only a parent and spouse who had lost everything would know.
The portals have taken another victim.