All I hear is giggling. Like a child, only somehow made sinister despite the innocent lilt.
And all I see is flickering lights, blurred movements, fluttering wings, and tiny grasping hands. They push and pull, push and pull… as if trying to get my attention.
When I can finally see the creature, I can’t help but find it adorable.
Then it smiles, and its needle-like teeth are all I there is.
My eyes snap open.
My heart hammers hard enough to be loud in my ears, breaths coming too fast and too shallow… but I don’t move. Or speak. Or blink.
Instead, I stare upward for half a heartbeat, frozen and disoriented, before reaching instinctively for my mask—
Only to find bare skin.
That sends a spike of regret and panic through my chest until my gaze catches on the bedroll an arm’s length away.
Bella.
She sleeps curled slightly to one side, crimson hair spilled around her like a loose halo, one hand tucked beneath her cheek. In sleep and low light, her face looks softer somehow. Untouched by the sharp confidence she wears so easily when awake.
For a moment, I simply stare.
My pulse slows, the panic bleeding out of me so suddenly it almost leaves me dizzy. The tightness in my chest eases with the realization that I didn’t keep my party awake. That I didn’t scream or cry out in my sleep.
My breathing slows, and it takes a second longer than it should to drag my eyes away from her.
When I do, Seraphine and Nyx come into focus near the wall, keeping watch over our little camp. Their eyes trace the room steadily as they hold a whispered conversation, though I can’t make out what they’re saying.
All in all, it only takes a few seconds to get my wits back after waking from… whatever that was.
My eyes drift back to Bella, catching on the small rise and fall over her breathing.
…Okay, mostly get my wits back.
A glance at the wall and its many depictions snaps me back to the moment quickly enough, though. A shiver runs down my spine at the sight of the faeries, but I decide that I can deal with that later.
Instead, I distract myself with better things by taking a look at my Status, because I hadn’t had a chance to since acknowledging the level-ups.
I find that I also hadn’t spent the free stats from my previous levels, so I’m sitting on a nice little cache of thirty right now.
I throw it all into Wisdom.
Then I take a look through my status, excited to see the changes from my recent windfall of progress.
Despite my efforts to remain inconspicuous, my tail twitches madly in my bedroll, letting out quiet thumps to match the rhythm of my heart. After double checking I have everything going that I will normally have during a fight, I take a look.
StatusName: Emilia KenRace: FaefoxAge: 20Level: 65 -> 68
Health: 35,397 -> 36,561Health Regen: 12,961 -> 13,481 per minute
Mana: 497,007 -> 510,048Stored: 994,014 -> 1.02mMana Regen: 4.49m -> 4.99m (1.57m) per minute(64% restrained, 4.5% reserved)
Stats:Strength: 505 -> 514 (1,082)Constitution: 786 -> 812 (1,708)Dexterity: 1,324 -> 1,361 (2,862)Intelligence: 1,005 -> 1,029 (2,163)Wisdom: 6,212-> 6,556 (13,785)Charisma: 507 -> 516 (1,086)Available Stat Points: 0
An extra 500,000 mana per minute will definitely help keep up with my output, even if the total expenditure of mana has increased proportional to my mana.
I fail to keep the grin off my face as I refocus—then freeze.
Twin orbs of glowing scarlet peer at me through the dim lighting of the room.
Bella, awake now after being suddenly bombarded with mana by a not-so-clever fox, watches me with a strange expression. Then her eyes shift to where my tail is, its war against confinement having never ended.
I swallow the sudden lump in my throat.
“Oh, sorry,” I murmur.
Her lips quirk into the smallest of smiles, and she blinks. Suddenly, the spell holding me captive is broken, and she delicately shifts out of her bedroll into a sitting position.
I’m only half a second behind her, though it’s more of a scramble than anything. The moment I free my tail from the blankets, I shift into a long stretch, tail arching high behind me and shaking out all of the lingering energy.
“So you can be graceful,” she teases the moment I come down from the stretch. “You just choose not to be.”
“I think I resent that,” I say through a pleased sigh.
“Glad you’re both up. We were just talking about you, actually,” Seraphine interjects, looking directly at me. “You want to tell us what happened yesterday?”
I frown, but nod despite the discomfort I feel at the question. I expected it, and even if my instincts tell me it’s not something I should worry about, they deserve to know.
I glance at the depictions of the little creatures once more and open my mouth to speak—then pause.
Did that one’s smile just get wider?
I narrow my eyes at the things, finding nothing changed. I barely hold back the urge to loose an instinctive growl at the mural.
Damned things… won’t just leave well enough alone, will they?
Seraphine takes a step closer, frown clear on her face at my hesitation. I hold up a hand quickly to hold her off.
“Just a second. I need to… figure out how to explain this.”
Her frown softens ever so slightly, but never goes away.
Tapping my chin, I watch the depictions of the faeries carefully as I think about telling my party about the creatures.
Nothing.
I open my mouth to speak my thoughts into existence—and stop the instant I feel a tingle… somewhere.
Then I realize what it is, and my Faen Oathstone appears once more, floating at eye level just before me.
All three of them twitch at its sudden appearance, but I ignore it for the moment.
I can explain later. But only if I have to.
I carefully watch the stone, probing it with my mind as I think of telling them about the faeries once more.
It doesn’t react.
Then I open my mouth, the word on the tip of my tongue…
…and a nearly invisible thread of pearlescent energy begins to stretch between the stone, me, my party, and the mural.
No… not the mural. Into the Weave…
The instant I see it, I know what it is.
Not fully. Not in any way I could explain.
But the feeling lands whole regardless, tied to something instinctive and ancient buried deep within my thoughts.
A tether of… something not quite fate, and not quite karma, but a little bit like both.
A tiny, fragile, almost meaningless imprint.
But real enough that I know if I speak—if I give shape to what presses against the Weave—then the thread will settle into place.
Not dangerous in and of itself, I feel. But a consequence, nonetheless.
And I know for a fact that I don’t want my party connected to those little cretins in any way, shape, or form.
But what truly gives me pause is that I know what it’s called. I know its name in all its forms, in languages that I couldn’t even begin to understand. But still, I know them.
Symathe. Contae. Memen.
On and on, the words come to me, each brushing the same meaning across my thoughts until one finally settles.
One that I recognize.
Geas.
The moment it squeezes itself into my thoughts, it makes me snap my mouth shut, the words dying on my tongue instantly.
Its thread dissipates just as quickly, and this time I do growl. Low and deep and downright furious, I snarl at the space between spaces, and at my own folly.
It’s a gods forsaken geas.
Not in the fullness of the word, but a trace of it. Of the dangers of interacting with other fae.
But my being recoils at the thought of letting it become real, regardless of how weak the connection would be from simply sharing the knowledge of their existence.
“Gods dammit all,” I groan.
“Are you okay?” Seraphine asks suddenly, her hand tight around the haft of her spear.
I wave her off. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. I just… I can’t really explain, but I’ll try.”
Bella nods encouragingly, while Seraphine and Nyx watch me closely as they wait.
Taking a deep breath, I quickly organize my thoughts.
“So… there are entities that tried to come here. Sort of,” I say slowly, choosing each word carefully.
Nyx’s brow furrows, and Seraphines grip whitens her knuckles as it grows even tighter, her eyes dancing around the room in search for this imperceptible foe.
Bella says nothing, but her attention sharpens in a way that I’ve started to recognize as her “noble scheming” face.
“They weren’t in the room,” I continue, glancing once toward the mural before forcing myself to look away.
Bella’s gaze follows my glance, despite my quickness, and she freezes. Understanding flashes across her features, and her gaze snaps back to mine, wide eyed.
And between us, a tiny, nearly imperceptible fragment of a geas snaps into existence, before stretching off into the between.
I curse mentally as she stares at me with dawning horror.
Thankfully, she’s the only one who caught my look.
I wrap my tail around myself and begin grooming it, keeping my eyes glued to my fur as I pick through it with expert delicacy.
“They were pressing against the Weave—”
“What’s that?” Seraphine asks. “I have the distinct feeling that the weave I know of is very different from the word you’re using.”
Nyx nods, expression serious.
The question gives me pause once more, as I don’t exactly know what the Weave really is.
But I do know the other name for it…
“The Realm of Mana?” I say hesitantly.
Nyx and Seraphine look at each other, still confused.
Bella simply frowns as she stares holes into the side of my head. Still, her understanding what’s going on helps more than it should.
I just shrug, unable to find a way to explain it better.
“Anyways, they tried to come through, and it just… took a lot more out of me than I expected.”
Seraphine frowns. “And what are they, exactly?”
“That,” I mutter, “is the part I’d rather not answer.”
“Why?” Nyx asks.
Because even thinking too hard about it makes my skin crawl.
Because some part of me is writhing with agitation at the mere thought of telling them.
Because I’m suddenly very aware of how little I really understand about anything related to my race.
A problem I will be resolving the moment I get out of this damned dungeon and into the nearest library.
I say none of these things. Instead, I settle on the simplest truth.
“Because I have a very strong feeling that saying too much about them makes them matter more than I’d like.”
That earns me three very different reactions. Nyx looks downright skeptical, while Seraphine actually looks concerned.
Bella nods, believing me immediately and sending a flutter through my heart, making me wonder for a moment if the medicine is still working.
“R-right, well, I pushed them back. They stopped trying after that.”
“Pushed what back?” Nyx presses.
I bare my teeth slightly. “Something too curious for its own good. Something I absolutely do not want curious about any of you.”
That, at least, seems to strike true, because the next moment, Nyx exhales slowly through his nose and gives me a nod.
A begrudging one, but still.
“Will they return?” Seraphine asks quietly.
The answer comes just as easily as my inexplicable knowledge does.
“Not here,” I say. “Not right now.”
In the corner of my eye, I catch the glint of metal and my ears instantly perk.
“Oh,” I say, all solemnity vanishing in a blink. “Right. The loot.”
Before anyone can stop me, I push myself upright far too quickly, nearly stumbling when my legs protest, then catch myself and lunge for the nearest corpse.
They’d been shifted aside, away from the camp enough that they wouldn’t be an issue, but otherwise remained mostly untouched.
They didn’t loot them while I was asleep? What kind of nonsense, ass backwards logic did they scrounge up to… y’know what, it doesn’t matter.
More for me.
Seraphine stares after me. “That’s how you’re going to try to shift topics?”
I pause to look back at her, hesitating for a moment, then shrug.
“Yes,” I say, before crouching beside a body and tugging a particularly shiny silver clasp free from a pristine leather jerkin.
Nyx huffs a laugh.
“Our leader is an unrepentant grave robber, it seems,” Bella teases.
“It is salvage, thank you very much,” I correct, turning the polished thing over between my fingers.
Clasp of RepairingCommon
Enchantments:Lesser Total RepairThis item will slowly repair itself and anything it is touching into near perfect condition so long as its wielder has mana.
“Oooh,” I coo, before quickly pinning it to the waist of my pants.
I don’t have a specific use for it yet, but it can’t hurt to keep around.
I glance back at my party, only to find them staring at me with a mixture of disbelief and amusement.
“Well?” I ask, feigning annoyance. “Are you gonna help or what?”
By the time we finish, nearly two full hours have slipped by.
As it turns out, none of my party had a Skill that let them analyze items, so it actually truly was almost entirely up to me to find the goodies. Still, Nyx had an uncannily good eye for magical bits and bobs, and more often than not brought me something that’d actually prove useful.
Bella and Seraphine… mostly brought me junk. Expensive looking junk, to be sure, but junk nonetheless.
Still, by the end my Starlight Bangle is nearing full capacity.
I pause for a moment, considering dumping something… but the only thing I could dump would be the corpse of the statue creature, which just isn’t an option.
Even if it’s heavy as all hells.
I’d dumped the blood I collected long ago, as I can simply make my own by using Blood Burst repeatedly.
That, and I haven’t really found a good use for it yet.
Cari theorized I could maybe control a ball of it to wrap around someone’s head to drown them, or turn it into spikes like Bella’s ice magic, but my control over it is weak at best. Far reaching and broadly powerful, but incredibly unfocused.
Gods, I’m starting to sound like the examiners…
Regardless, I tossed it all out.
I’ll learn how to make better use of it at the Academy, if I can.
I shake the thoughts off as I shake my hands off after rifling through the last body. Instead, I look over our earnings.
Officer’s Threaded Mantle ClaspRare
Enchantments:Lesser Total RepairThis item will slowly repair itself and anything it is touching into near perfect condition so long as its wielder has mana.Self CleanThis item can clean itself of most substances, so long as the wielder has mana.
This one came from the body of the Fighter that seemed to be commanding the force, though I never noticed when it went down. I saw it near the beginning, but quickly lost it when I went to cause mayhem.
None of us needed it, though it was a clear improvement on the clasp I’d found earlier. So I stowed away the old one, replacing it with its newer, shinier cousin.
Bracer of Quiet ImpactRare
Enchantments:Lesser Shock AbsorptionThis item slightly reduces blunt force transferred through the wearer’s arm.Silence of MotionThis item reduces sound caused by rapid arm movement.
That one came from one of the Rogues, and though it looked overly specialized to me, Nyx jumped on it the moment I shared its description.
He had it strapped on before I even made it to the next body.
Restless LanternRare
Enchantments:Lesser Night SightThis item slightly improves vision in darkness.Greater WakefulnessThis item greatly reduces mental fatigue during extended periods without sleep.
A lantern that improves night vision. Go figure.
Both Bella and Seraphine stared at it for half a second before feigning disinterest.
Immediately, I find myself concerned that nobles treasure the lack of sleep more than they should, because there's no way they want the thing to use as a night-light.
Sleep is great. Even if I need less of it, why in the name of all that is holy would I avoid sleep?
Especially with beds so comfortable…
The memory of the mattress in my dorm room nearly derails me entirely as I drift into the world of daydreams for a few moments, and the lantern quietly disappears into Seraphine’s storage after a brief exchange between the two women.
Backwards BootsRare, Cursed
Enchantments:Lesser EnduranceThis item slightly reduces stamina loss during prolonged movement.Cursed Step RecallThis item slightly improves footing and speed when back-stepping. It also slightly hampers footing and speed when stepping forward.
I laugh the moment Nyx passed them over. After sharing the description, Nyx all but retreats to be about ten paces from the rest of us, glaring at the boots as if they’d spurned him somehow.
Seraphine looked personally offended by their mere existence.
To be fair, the things are truly hideous. Bright, gaudy purple, with all the elegance of a drunk noble’s festival mistake.
Meanwhile, Bella actually smiled as she read the curse aloud and laughed along with me.
That alone made them worth keeping, in my eyes.
For a moment, I consider putting them on… but even I have standards.
Maybe I can convince Cari to wear them…
I begin planning a fake list of enchantments she’d like even as I continue sifting through the loot.
Sadly we don’t find anything else particularly notable after the boots. A few Common items, with basic enchantments. Some of the heavier, bigger items we leave behind, none of us willing to completely fill our storage with items that are less than useful to us.
But to me, it’s more than enough.
By the end, I’m bouncing from foot to foot, tail wiggling despite my best efforts.
Besides, it’s much easier to focus on the goodies than tiny invisible horrors pressing at the edges of reality.
I pointedly ignore the looks my party gives me as we gather ourselves and move toward the corridor leading deeper into the dungeon.
Nyx takes point, naturally.
Bella follows beside me this time, close enough that I could reach her instantly if something lunges from the dark.
Close enough that the warmth of her presence keeps some small part of my mind from drifting back toward the murals.
I try not to think about our hands occasionally brushing one another.
I only mostly succeed.
Behind us, Seraphine gives the chamber one final long look before stepping into the corridor.
The murals behind us disappear, replaced by more along the corridor walls, repeating the same cycle shown in the chamber. In each iteration, the gods look more and more disappointed.
All the while, I make a point to not linger on the tiny smiles, focusing instead on our surroundings and the fact that I’m about to be rich.
Well… richer, I suppose.
I wonder what I should do with the money—
Bella’s hand brushes mine again, and my thoughts scatter somewhere they have no business going.
******
Authors Note:Just for funsies~
Symathe = SympathyContae = ContagionMemen = Meme
I'm not linguistically bright, but I wanted to make up some words that were close enough to the originals that they wouldn't be utterly nonsensical. lol
Also, I'm starting to think that book two will be significantly longer than I'd initially intended. I'm almost to the wordcount I'd hoped to be done with book two at (around 150k) and I still have a loooooooot to cover. And the academy classes haven't even started yet!
I'm definitely going to condense the slice of life stuff, so that'll help. It was fun to write, for sure, and a lot of the information there is important... but I can easily cram it into fewer chapters and still get everything. Lotta work though haha.
Edit: didn't mean to make it sound like I'm going to cut content or try to squeeze more into book two. I'm looking into tweaks is all, to make sure the book flows well. I don't do major rewrites <3
My To-Do grows ever more daunting!