089, 1/2

Back in the third floor classroom, where dense air was absent and morning light streamed in from the eastern windows, Erick prepared to make magic. The first, and possibly the most important spell that needed creating, was taking [Pure Reflection Ward], and slapping it onto a [Force Wall], like Opal had suggested.

 

 

“But how to strip the [Personal Ward] designation away?” Erick asked, “Ideas?”

Kiri, standing to the side, said, “Maybe… Get a feel for [Force Wall], first? That’s what you’re combining it with, right?” She added, “[Force Wall] is necessary for those rifts, too.”

Erick nodded. “I could try for a rift, first. I haven’t actually used [Force Wall] since I leveled it.”

 

 

He asked, “Have you tried making a rift, yet?”

“A few times.” Kiri lifted her hand, bringing a blue box into the air. “I think I did alright.”

 

 

She added, “But it is so very, very bright. It’s gonna be hard to use in most normal ways.”

Erick smirked. “When did you make that? What combination?”

“With Sunny, last night before bed. And the day before, but that combination didn’t work out that well.” She patted Sunny, hanging around her neck, causing the green, feathered snake to flicker five different shades of emerald. “Even made the spell through her, too. I first tried removing the blinding aspects of it, how you showed me, but that just ended up with a dull spell that barely worked. That was the failed version I mentioned.” She said, “[Force Wall], [Force Wave], Mana Altering for Fire, and Light, focusing on intent only. Practically a 5 part spell, which is not recommended, but it worked.”

Erick smiled. “Excellent!” He asked, “Did you test it out, yet? In a monster kill, I mean?”

“Yeah. Twice, but neither time worked out so well.” Kiri said, “The first time was against a fire-eyebeam wyrm that Guildmaster Mog asked me to kill, and that was okay. The wyrm was distracted by the effect, and the rift made the wyrm a lot more durable, but all in all, it was a pretty easy kill. The second time, I took Sunny to the Hole. That’s where I encountered some inkers and was promptly shown why a strong, single directional light just makes the shadows stronger.”

Erick frowned. He asked, “What’s an inker?”

“Oh?… Uh. Inkers are rare, tiny crab-like monsters that have a symbiotic relationship with a lot of shadow-aspect monsters, but they’re very weak on their own, and a lot of shadow monsters would just eat them, so you hardly ever see them. They’re always the first to run from a fight, unless there’s a strong singular lightsource, and [Firelight Rift] certainly qualifies as a strong, singular light source.” Kiri explained, “So, there I was, fighting a trio of primal shadowolves —big shadowolves, the size of two orcols— and I was holding my own, dodging what I could and seeing how much damage [Firelight Beam]s and [Firelight Bolt]s were doing, which was a decent amount. And then, all of a sudden, the rifts turn half-dark. Inkers had sprayed their goo across them.

“Inkers have this magical goo, you see. It’s where they get their name. Half spell, half innate ability. It sticks to light sources. Transforms them into shadow sources.

“The primal shadowolves tore Sunny apart, moving in ways I’ve never seen before.” Kiri said, “I’ve never seen inkers before then, either, so I didn’t think to prepare.”

Erick said, “Huh.” He asked, “Are they in Ar’Kendrithyst, too?”

Kiri shrugged. “I never saw one when I was in there for a month.” She said, “I was warned about using light sources in the Dead City, though. Even shadow magic was more accepted in the ranks than light magic.”

Erick looked to his hand, frowning, “Shadows do like a strong light.”

“A strong singular light.” Kiri said, “[Shattering Light] is a hundred thousand smaller light sources. So stuff like that works well.” She added, “When I went back to kill the primal shadowolves, I used a few rifts and canceled them as soon as the inker acted. The inker fled before I could kill the wolves.”

“You didn’t kill the inker, too?”

“Well… No? I didn’t get a chance.”

Erick kept his voice even, but inside he was raging. “You should have killed it. You should have focused on the larger, longer lasting threat, especially since you were using Sunny to fight for you.” He said, “Inkers sound like monsters that instantly change an entire fight. Who knows how many people those things will go on to kill.”

Erick’s words seemed to hang in the air between him and Kiri.

“… I have literally never seen one before last night.” Kiri frowned, then she stood a bit straighter, and asked, “You okay?”

“… not really.” Erick went silent.

Kiri waited.

Erick focused inward, organizing his thoughts. He hated everything about what was happening to him, to Spur, to his goals in life. But events were proceeding as they were wont, and Erick needed to face the facts of it all. And he shouldn’t have gotten mad at Kiri like that.

He said, “I don’t want to be the person who calls for war. It’s never the right answer, until it is. Until they’re changing the system so that they’re the ones in charge, and everyone else is either dead or under their thumb, and all avenues of honest communication are gone. When that happens, war is the only Good response.” He asked Kiri, “That’s what the Shades want, right? To kill us all? Or am I misreading that?”

Kiri calmly said, “They kill unknown wrought on sight. But for the rest of us, genocide is not their goal.” She added, “They want to toy with us. To show us that they are in charge and the rest of us only exist at their sufferance. Only the weakest Shades will kill others without attempting to play games.”

“How do you know when the game ends?”

After a moment, Kiri said, “During my shift in the Dead City, I once saw a human woman Shade, floating beside a human man, as the man walked down a kendrithyst skyroad. The two of them were talking as though one of them was not a monster. They were discussing a book and character motivations. I was later informed that the Shade was the Librarian, and if you sent her a new, popular novel, at least a month ahead of your visit, and she approved, that she would allow you free rein to explore a vast majority of the Dead City. You just had to hold her interest while you were there.

“From what I heard, it wasn’t hard to hold her interest. You just needed a vast knowledge of contemporary and classical literature, an in-depth knowledge of the novel you sent her, and she had to like the book. The third requirement was always fulfilled on her end; if you went in there after she sent you a denial of the book, then she’d kill you instantly. But if she liked it, she would give you clear guidelines to follow, and if you followed them, your stay in Ar’Kendrithyst would be as safe as possible from other Shades. She didn’t even care if you disagreed with her, or if you were boring about your book ideas; at least the first time, and maybe even second time. She would rescind your invitation if you continued to be boring, though.

“Back to the man on the skyroad: He was part of a ‘book club’ that visited the Dead City once a year. There should have been five of them, but he was the only survivor. From his side of the story: one of their usual members said something mildly disparaging about some facet of their chosen novel of the year, in what was a completely normal fashion for all involved, and that set the Librarian off.

“Apparently, she did not mean to kill the whole book club, and was truly remorseful, and had just finished apologizing to him before we saw him on the skyroad. She sent him away with a million gold worth of magical gear, the bodies of his friends turned to ash and bound into books, and a promise that next year would be better. He told us he was never coming back, that he was going to change everything about his life, so that the Librarian could hopefully never find him.”

Erick frowned, as Kiri’s words confirming everything he already knew to be true about the Shades. They were capricious, evil beings, that saw nothing wrong with what they did.

“The only thing that I was ever told to watch out for in the Dead City, is change.” Kiri said, “And right now, there are no monsters at the gates besides the normal ones, all our archmages are alive, and everyone is ready to defend each other when the time comes.”

After a long moment, Erick said, “Not quite ready enough. But thank you, Kiri.”

Kiri put a smile on, as she stood back. “Time for more magic?”

“Time for more magic.” Erick held out his hand and channeled mana through [Force Wall], saying, “[Pure Reflection Ward] can stay. I can make a different tier 2 version with [Force Wall].”

The sound of [Force Wall] was similar to its glow: an even static that vibrated from a solid white sphere. Erick activated [Detect Intent Aura]. He separated the intent of the spell away from the Force how he had done before, with his other Force spells. In moments, [Force Wall] became an ethereal impression of solid intent. The true meaning of the spell was a simple, yet solid, demarcation in reality, upon which nothing was allowed to pass.

Erick cast that pure version of [Force Wall] into the air.

Immediately, a clear pane of solid Force, tainted white at the edge, sprang into being; a one meter by one meter window made of clear ice. It hung in the air like it was supposed to be there. Erick had made plenty of them before, but he never really poked around with the spell before now.

He stepped to the window, and touched it. It felt like solid glass, but a little slippery. It was not cold, nor hot; it just was. It was also about five inches thick. Erick glanced toward the spell.

 

 

He was almost tempted to leave it up to see how it would naturally decay, but he doubted that would have told him anything interesting or necessary. He dismissed the spell, then moved onto the next one.

 

 

Channeling mana through [Rebound], produced a flexing, almost gooey light, and an echoing sound. Seeing the spell with [Detect Intent Aura] revealed the exact same display of intent as the bouncy light. [Rebound] was not a complex spell, because it was not truly a spell, at all.

From his reading at Oceanside, Erick knew that [Rebound] actually used to be a part of Mana Altering in the beginning of the Script, but a Champion of Rozeta plucked it out of that skill and set it on its own. It was from that act, that [Scan] spells began to spread more easily across Veird, and monsters that hid in towns were found via their rads, and thus killed before they could act. Mostly. In the usual evolutionary games of cat versus mouse, both sides developed different measures. These days, rads were actually a lot more solid than they used to be.

Erick returned his attention back to his magic. He channeled the sound of an echo and combined it with the sound of a barrier, and as an experiment, cast the spell without any deeper thoughts attached.

A pane of opaque white force appeared in the air, along with a blue box.

 

 

Erick pressed a hand against the white square. It felt like touching solid gelatin, or the surface of a trampoline; bouncy, yet stable.

He stepped back, and shot a [Force Beam] at the wall. The lancing, bright white line of Force, crashed into the barrier and flashed wildly across the room, carving across Erick and the walls, and causing Kiri to yelp ‘eep!’ and jump out of the way. Erick did not move. His [Personal Ward] flashed bright as it soaked stray damage.

He turned to Kiri when it was over, asking, “You jumped out of the way?”

Kiri said, “I’m just gonna… Go. Don’t blow yourself up!” She added, “I’ll be right down the hallway, if you need me.”

Erick smiled, saying, “Sure, sure,” as Kiri scooted out of the room.

He turned back to the [Bouncing Wall]. He hadn’t put much thought into the magic, and it showed. The white wall was partially ripped up. His little [Force Beam] did do 300 damage per second, per touch, after all. Erick entertained the thought of hitting himself with his magic. Even if a stray beam had caught him in the head for a critical hit, it would have only done 3000 damage, but with a 24,000 point [Personal Ward], a simple [Force Beam] to the head would have been unimpressive.

It wouldn’t have done anything to Kiri, either. She probably had, what? A 10,000 point… Er… No. She probably did not have that much of a [Personal Ward] at all. No Class yet meant she had maybe half of Erick’s mana, and no -10% spell costs meant…

Did she have [Ward] Favored? Maybe not…

Uh.

Uh-oh.

Erick felt his blood turn cold, for the briefest moment. He went over and stuck his head into the hallway, forcing calm into his voice as he asked, “How large is your [Personal Ward], Kiri? I think I should apologize.”

Kiri, already in her room down the hall, was silent for a long moment. Then she blurted, “It’s only 2800 points.”

Erick rushed out of his testing room and ran down the hallway. He got to Kiri’s room, and said, “I’m so sorry. I did not consider—”

“It’s fine. It’s fine. I have Health, too, so…” Kiri was currently doing her best to appear calm, but hyperventilating flames flickered out of her mouth as she spoke. “I should have Favored [Ward] a long time ago, but I need to go to the Registrar and get a few things switched around to be able to do that. Your… [Force Beam]… that was a wake-up call.” She said, “You’re experimenting with reflective magic. Of course I should not have been there. Sorry. I have made you worry, and that is my fault.”

“… I’m so sorry,” Erick said. “Take some of the grand rads downstairs— Or. You’ve been killing monsters for Mog. You probably—” He pitched up his voice, trying for levity, “You’re rich, right?”

“Yeah. I am.” Kiri put on a smile. “Thank you for the offer, but it is not necessary. See you, later.” She vanished in a blip of green.

Sunny remained in the air where Kiri’s shoulder’s had been. After a rapid shift of colors from blue to red, the winged snake vanished in a blip of green, following Kiri.

Erick stared at the space for a long moment.

“Fuck,” Erick whispered. “Shit. That was my fault.” He went back to the classroom, saying to himself, “Get it together, Erick. We’re not even on the battlefield and you’re already making stupid decisions.” He smiled to himself, thinking of Rats, spilling food at every loud noise.

… Hopefully Rats— Ah. No. Hopefully Xendross was doing okay, wherever he was.

Hopefully Kiri would forgive him, when she got back.

Erick walked back inside his classroom, trying to forget the mistake he had almost made. Worry over magic was not conducive to making magic, as Erick well knew.

He breathed a bit and centered himself, and when he was ready to continue, he did so.

He had already done well with [Ward] and [Rebound] to make [Pure Reflection Ward], months ago, but he was going to either have to attempt for a tier 3 version, using that and [Force Wall], and likely fuck it up and have to try again 10 days later, or recreate that entire spell from the beginning, starting with [Force Wall]. With the second, more complicated option, he could just try again tomorrow.

The second option was obviously the better choice for a longer term solution, but there was nothing preventing him from trying both ways, if the first option didn’t work.

Channeling mana through [Ward] produced a spherical ball, and a muted sound, like hearing a party down the street, or in another room. Erick brought the ball of light to his head, and once he got past the tingling sensation of having raw mana essentially billowing against his face, he heard [Ward]; it was everything, and nothing, all at once. It was the full breadth of magic, and also the dearth of interactions beyond a certain point. It was contained, variable intent and power, solidly placed.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

[Ward], [Force Wall], and [Rebound], all held a common thread that might not have been fully obvious, but it was there. [Rebound] was all about joining to other magic to make that magic bounce and change direction. [Force Wall] was about rigidity, and unmoving protection. [Ward] was the bridging concept. Together, the three spells would bring about a wall with the ability to transform any magic that touched it into reflected magic.

Add in a few ideas of what ‘reflect’ actually meant, with intent and magic becoming as light rays, returning harm back to where it came from, and—

[Rebound], [Ward], [Force Wall].

A brilliant sheen of reflected reality popped into existence in front of Erick. Success! Or…

Erick frowned.

For a long moment, while a blue box hovered just outside of his vision, he looked at himself in the floating pane of reflective Force. It was like looking through a dark mirror. He was physically younger, but looking at himself, he saw his worries manifested in his reflection. He looked aged, with wine dark eyes and slumped shoulders. His hair was growing in darker brown again, but the ends were still salt and pepper. He badly needed a shave and a haircut. He was unkempt; wild and half crazed.

The man in the mirror was a wreck. He was ready to go to war, to take on the burden of bloodshed and death, and yet, he was not ready at all, for that was not who he was, who he was capable of being, or who he wanted to be.

Erick sighed and saw how truly tired he was. The man in the dark mirror sighed with him, while Ophiel held on for the ride, silently clinging to his shoulder.

And then Erick looked past himself, directly at the shadows of the room that clung under the windowsill, and in the space between the open door and the wall.

Without turning from the mirror, he asked the shadows, “Why does your clergy have to be like they are?”

The shadow’s gentle movements froze at Erick’s words. Erick waited. After a moment, the darkness, or maybe the Darkness, began to swirl again, like nothing had happened, like he or they or it hadn’t heard his question.

Erick asked, “Why did you make monsters to kill everyone? Or tell the Old Demons how to kill all the halves? Or curse the dragons? Or raise up Ancient monsters? The Script is smaller than what you had, but it cannot be that bad.”

The shadows stirred again, as though they were listening.

Erick waited.

And waited.

And nothing happened.

He ignored the darkness, and turned his attention from the mirror in front of him, to his recent notifications.

Ah. His new spell had a pretty large mana cost. That would explain the drain he felt, and the activation of Meditation’s active effect, along with the subsequent un-reality he saw whenever Meditation was on. He wasn’t inside the dense, Restful air of his house, inside this classroom, after all.

 

 

“Pretty good.” Erick conjured an Ophiel and sent him blipping out into an unimportant part of the Crystal Forest. “Now let’s see how this works…”