M.D.Syl

Announcement.

Hey everyone. I'm back!

I'm going to move the release days to Monday and Thursday. (A day and two days earlier.)

Thank you for reading and supporting me.

I hope you enjoy your read. <3

Notes for the break.

This is the last chapter before the break I’m planning to take.

I will hit that break (pause billing) button tomorrow (the 13th of September) and again on the 13th of October. Which should stop charging those of you who decided to stay with me despite the break.
(Thank you for that by the way, it’s weirdly encouraging. And thank you for your support thus far, all of you. The fact anyone would love my work enough to want to support it like that wasn’t something I believed would be possible and I’m still a little shell shocked by that…[yes! Still!])

According to Patreon, subscribers won’t be able to join during this break. (Not sure why anyone would want to right now with the break, but I’ve just had another person joining which had me really dumbfounded in a really good way. So thank you! <3 [Dedication is up in chapter 104].)

If you don’t trust this Patreon function to work for some reason (something I’d totally understand, I’ve had enough things not working as I expected [nothing with Patreon yet though]) then you still have the day to leave. I’m not sure if it’d block leaving. (I don’t think it would because it’s not mentioned, but it not being mentioned is what worries me. [Yup! I’m a bit of a scardy cat if that wasn’t obvious already… LOL])

This should end on Monday the 13th of November, right before the Tuesday chapter when everything goes back to normal again.

Thank you all! Enjoy the chapter. <3

Chapter 114 colorless

Chapter 114 Apricot City.

We do not know to appreciate the simple life.
Only when we lose the simple life do we appreciate them.
Only when you lose a loved one, do you appreciate their presence.
Only when you lose your dearest and granted objects, do you appreciate it.
Cherish what you have, focus on the good in your life.
Because it may not last forever.

Lokamesh, Father of Mortal Kind.

Later that night I attempt to unlock my grimoire, I have no idea how to do it. I have no idea how to master a spell, none of the hag's guidance book tells me how to do it.

How do I go about mastering five spells? I can say I mastered ‘Minor Telekinesis’ due to Luard possessing me… let’s try.

"Latsa." <Lift.>

One of the seven odd gems that are imbedded in the grimoire's binding lights up in a light blue glow.

Good… that’s one…

So to master a spell, I need to depend on it for everyday things… constant usage… I can try doing laundry with the cleaning spell?

No. Transmutation magic is based on earth mana… It gives me a headache… I need something I can use constantly, something that won’t give me headaches… gravity and water magic preferably…

‘Water Jet’? I use it every day… I fill my bath with it, I drink it… how can I master something like that? What kind of fine control do I need?

Minor Telekinesis normally cannot control lightweight objects, feathers, hairs, that sort of thing, and now I can do that by practicing it and depending on it. I can do it due to necessity… What can I achieve by depending on water jet? What kind of necessity would lead to improving it? Increased pressure? I can add an amplifying pattern for an increased pressure… No. This should be about fine tuning and control…

I can probably train 'Repulse' on a single hair until I manage to blow it away... if repulse worked on smoke it'd be useful...

If I'm mastering things any way, I need to figure out more than just how to effect really lightweight stuff with gravity magic... I imagine this book will lock again later when I reach fifty or sixty spells and probably demand more spells mastered. No. I need to figure out a methodical way to master any spell I wish.

Waterjet. That's my pick. It's simple enough to be trained without causing too much havoc on the road.

I leave my tent, passing through the dark camp in the light of the few campfires and torches. I find my way to the riverbank and sit on a boulder, looking at the flowing dark water.

“Nimuwal.” <Water unlimited.> I spray the water jet into the river, watching it as it goes. And I need to master four more… it took me five days with minor telekinesis… Five days of torture! How am I going to master four more spells?!

It’s just water… pointless water… I’m not getting anywhere with it… if I was in a hot desert and needed it to survive, I’d still just summon water… what kind of mastery can I get with it? What kind of necessity can I force myself to use with it? I float my grimoire to me with my mind and splash it with water. To my disappointment, the second gem does not light up. The water creates a bubble around my magical book instead.

“Ritsa!” <Repulse!> I attempt to throw the book upward, but it’s unaffected. I didn’t know this book is immune to magic… it always worked just fine when I floated it around… If it’s immune to magic I could try and work something into my armor, have it against my chest or back… Sure, it’ll be heavy, but it can provide protection…

That’s for later. For now I need to master this ‘Water Jet’ if I ever want a chance of mastering a different spell that isn't just a lightweight gravity objects…

How do I summon water? Where does it come from? Does the spell create the water? Or bring it from somewhere else? If so, then from where? If it creates it, then how?

Let’s assume it creates the water… What about my made up cantrip that creates hot water?

No… another pattern is not the way. I mastered ‘Minor Telekinesis’… I gained fine control over it and broke a limitation… Then what’s the limitations of ‘Waterjet’?

A certain pressure and volume of water, which can be increased with alteration patterns… A certain temperature… A certain direction of flow… what if I can influence the direction? Control the water to a degree after summoning it? It should be possible! The cantrip contains the pattern for water, which is also there for the 'Water Evocation' cantrip... and 'Water Evocation' allows me to control the water and move it around.

I focus on the water, trying to move it with my mind as it flows into the river, trying to lift it and aim it upward without moving my hand. It’s like grasping at water, literally. The intense focus gives me a killer headache around the time my mana runs out. I sigh and shake my head. I've been at it for a while, time to get some sleep and try again tomorrow...

"What are you trying to do, Master?" Zoe's voice startles me. She stands behind me, hugging a towel to her chest, her wet long hair dripping water. It seems like she was washing in the river.

I raise an eyebrow. "Done avoiding me?"

She blushes in the dim torchlight. "Um... what were you trying to do with the water?"

I sigh. "Nothing. I didn't manage to do what I wanted anyway. Had fun with Salik earlier?"

She blushes in a deep shade of red that makes me smile.

"On a more serious note," I continue. "Are you sure about Salik? You know he won't..."

She averts her brown eyes downward. "I don't want to talk about it, Master."

I shrug. "Fine. You're the one who made the choice, none of my business. Anyway, Berthold spotted some tracks. We'll be going on another hunt tomorrow. Do you want to join? You'll need to learn how to hunt magical beasts if you're going to..."

"Can you not take the orcs on the hunt?"

"Why not? They're good hunters and sure are helpful."

She hugs the towel to her chest and moves some wet hair out of her face. "They're savages. They raided Red Cedar City when I was little. I... never mind. Do I have to come with you?"

"You don't have to come, Zoe. Hunting magical beasts is a lesson you have to learn, it's how we grow stronger. You'll have to provide yourself with souls in order to grow."

She turns toward her tent and I notice she wears an odd pair of sandals. "Another time then, one where there are no orcs around... I really can't understand how you trust them. Everyone know how they are."

"Oh? And how are they?"

She stops and talks with her back to me. "Savages. Raiders. They kill and enslave good people just because they're weaker than them."

"How is that different from sorcerers?" I chuckle. Kolag would be proud...

She turns with passion in her brown eyes. "There are good sorcerers. Sorcerers like you. Sorcerers from the tales. Yes there are bad ones, but I've never seen a good orc! I've never read or heard a single story about an heroic orc!"

"Never seen. That's the problem. There are good orcs. Lezere... my friend. She was someone I truly counted on to have my back, always! She was a hero, my hero. Balgrum is Lezere's father, I trust him. Before I met Lezere I only knew about orcs from books that have been written by humans and gnomes. I'd rather judge for myself with my own eyes. Lezere and Balgrum have both proven that orcs are nothing like the monsters they're depicted in literature. They have honor. Yes, they keep slaves, but humans keep slaves too. They kill, and humans kill too, everyone and everything in this world kills. Some orcs are probably different than the average like there are odd humans out there. Why won't you talk to one of them? Some can speak Sinteo pretty well. If they call you weak, show them your magic. They respect casters."

"Maybe..." Her shoulders slumps in disappointment. "Good night, Master."

"Good night, Zoe."

I sigh and shake my head. Back to training.

It doesn't take long for me to be disturbed again. This time it's Loyal, my magical carnivore horse who nudges his head against my shoulder. He's in his horse form fortunately; I don't believe I could handle the naked man form right now. Unlike the other horses, no one ties him up to a pole, I don't think anyone can anymore. He also makes the other horses nervous.

"What can I help you with, Loyal? Another clue to show me about my bloodline?"

"Niiighh." He shakes his long head and grabs a mouthful of my hair.

"Heyy... I missed you too." I sigh and pat his head. "I'm sorry... didn't have much time. First Jerro took you away, then the war, then the possession... and now I just need to unlock my grimoire. Damn that hag."

He neighs again, lets my hair go and licks my face.

"Stop it!"

"Niighihihi!"

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Nigghihihihi!"

"You are laughing at me. Great... what's so funny about me?"

He snorts and hits the ground over and over with his hoof.

"I have no clue what that means to say, Loyal... I'm sorry. I really wish you could just talk. And yeah, I know, it's not your fault and it's unreasonable to demand it from you. It's just a selfish wish."

He snorts and keeps hitting the ground with his hoof.

"I never had a pet animal of my own... if you're even considered to be an animal or a pet. I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure you're just doing whatever you want."

"Nighihihihihi!"

"I'll take that as a yes... You see... most people raise a pet to have someone that loves them unconditionally. They raise the said pet from a young age, and make sure that pet loves them. If animals were sapient I'd call that slavery... But most animals don't have a higher intelligence than a two years old child, it's mostly just instincts that helps them take care of themselves. And pets sometimes never develop the said instincts because their owner cares for them and it's a symbiotic relationship. You were never like that, and I never raised you from a young age. You chose me, you chose to save my life. I have no idea why you did that, but I thank and love you for it. You're one of my friends, even if I never fully understand what you're saying..."

He licks my face again.

"You're saying you love me too?" I ask with a smile.

To my surprise, my horse shakes his head.

"So you hate me?"

He nods.

"You hate me?" I ask again, just to be sure.

He nods again.

"Why?"

He licks my face again.

"Right... you can't explain... what am I doing that makes you hate m... Heyy stop!" He pushes me with his head, licking me from head to toe. "Loyal stop it!"

He doesn't stop, not until my clothes are drenched with his gross saliva. Only after a long while he backs off.

"Nimuwal." <Water unlimited.> "Or shakat." <True cloth.> I clean myself swiftly with my magic. "You hate me because I don't give you enough attention?"

He shakes his head.

"Well... If you hate me, maybe you should leave? Be free of me? I don't want you to stay here against your will."

He shakes his head again and nuzzles against my shoulder until I pat his nose for him to nuzzle against.

"You're not here against your will then."

He nods briefly.

"You are?"

He shakes his head.

"Good... I wouldn't want you to be here if you didn't want to. I wish you could tell me why you hate me though. I'll keep guess, nod when I hit the right one?"

He snorts and turns to leave.

"Hey! Where are you going? Loyal?"

He just ignores me, leaving me alone on the river bank.

Great... horse drama... just what I needed...

*

The next traveling day we hunt multiple different magical animals, and I drain the snake's soul before I craft a few more glitter potions. Half of these fail, wasting the ingredients, but half succeed, and I acquire enough potions to last Salik for another year. Also enough ectoplasm and meat to support my meditations, as well as Zoe’s who doesn't join us in the end.

Due to our hunts we don't cover a lot of distance every day, but it's worth it nonetheless simply because how valuable the supply of souls is. I end up emptying the bottles with Luard's soul since I no longer need that poison, I have plenty.

The orcs often get upset when I order them to kill smaller magical beasts, but I lie and tell them that I give these souls to my apprentice which calms them down.

I spend my time alternating between my attempt to master 'Water Jet' and meditation. I know I might not always have such an eager hunting group to provide me with so many souls and I consume a lot of them every day. The majority part of the snake’s soul, combined with all the other souls I absorbed is strong enough to push me close to connecting my water-mana pool. I only need a little bit more time and mediation to process the flood of mana in my bloodstream.

I also decide to learn and bind yellow version of 'Tukado’s Defense' spell, along with the 'Tukado's Push' spell.

A few days later, the orcish craftswoman hands me a set of leather pants and shirt made out of Marili serpent’s scales. I am impressed with her work, the armor fits me perfectly, not too tight, nor too big. It’s very comfortable to move in, with the only downside being the unbearable heat. This is the middle of summer, and this black snakescale armor is too hot to wear. I sweat drops in it, but I decide to wear it anyway. I try my hand at creating a cooling spell, but the cantrip I created doesn't last for more than a minute and I have to get used to the heat.

As for the armor’s magical ability, it cannot repulse objects like the Marili serpent itself, but it can hold and slow objects that approach me too fast, as long as they aren’t too heavy. I am aware that the armor’s magical ability will fade over time, and a year from now this armor will lose its power.

*

{28} Brigit (August) the 2nd

Apricot City.

The the first city I acquired through my deal with Tiara appears once the forest opens up. The tall wooden walls already have my banners mounted on it, according to Marasi, my spymaster, this city is waiting for me with open arms and they’ve been expecting me to arrive months ago. It’s about time to end their waiting period.

“Something’s wrong,” Salik says before I even take my first step toward the open gates. “There are no guards posted at the gates, something must’ve happened. I suggest we send in some scouts.”

I narrow my eyes and focused on the open gates, despite my flags that's fluttering in the wind, they do seem abandoned. “Agreed.”

After my order is given, Berthold, Ryon, Agilla, and Lepp leave for the city, leaving me behind with Salik and an awkward silence.

Half an hour of waiting passes and the group comes back from the city. “Da gangs having fun in da city,” Ryon says.

“Four groups are controlling different parts of the city,” Berthold adds with a nod. “They fight each other for control, there are plenty of bodies in the streets. We need an army to secure this city.”

“Hunting cowardly dogs is shame, we wolves want no part of that!” Agilla declares, making sure I understand that the orcs won’t help me with this one. Not that it matters. There are about twenty orcs in our camp, it’s not enough to form an army.

“We don’t have an army,” I say dryly. What little soldiers I have left—along with the majority of the orc tribe—had stayed back in red cedar city as a garrison force. There should be another solution… “Tell me about the gangs.”

“Not much to tell. You’ve seen one gang, you’ve seen them all,” Berthold says with a shrug.

“What are you thinking, kid?” Salik asks.

“I can join one of those gangs, take control of it from the inside. Take out the leader is I have to. Then form them into an army to take over the city,” I explain my vague plan. “Question is, which gang should I Join, which one is the strongest while being the lesser evil.”

“We could kidnap one of the locals and ask them,” Salik suggests.

“True, we could, or… Jerro? Which gang should I go with?”

Jerro, who seems to be dazed in his own world, wakes up, startled. “Hm, what?”

“Which gang should I bring to my side first? Which one will remain Loyal to me after they take control over the city? And which one is best for the people in this city?”

He rubs his temples and shakes his head. “The Fishermen, and the Red Spears will be loyal to you… the fishermen will be good to the people, their territory is at the docks.” He gasps and pants like he just ran a couple of miles. “There is something… something… this city is wrong, something is very wrong here. I can’t come with you, I’ll die.”

I smile at him. “It’s ok, stay here. Thanks. The Fishermen it is. I’ll be going in with Salik, Ryon, Berthold, and Sharla.

“The old man dies if he goes with you now,” Jerro adds, still panting. “You’ll need him later for the fighting… I can’t see well, something is wrong with this city… Something blocks my sight, and it’s not a god’s chosen… what on Lukam can do this?” It’s one of the rare times I see emotions from him, and this time it’s fear, he’s shaking like a leaf, hugging himself.

“Then Salik stays too. Any other insights you can share?”

Jerro hugs himself closing his eyes. “Variants, this city might end up burning, all of it, and might end up peaceful… Don’t get killed.”

“I’ll do my best,” I reply with a sarcastic smirk. I’m not planning to get killed, who plans to get killed?

“I’m coming with you!” Zoe declares.

“Are you sure you want to come? It’s not going to be pretty.”

“I’ve always dreamed about having an adventure with my sorceress master! And that’s an adventure, right?” She dances lightly in giddiness, her high voice full of excitement.

“I guess you can call it an adventure, as long as you’re aware of the dangers, you’re welcome to tag along. Anything else?” I focus on Salik and Jerro.

Jerro glances at Sharla, opens his mouth as if he's going to say something, then simply turns and leaves.

Salik nods to me. "I'll take care of everything around the camp with Balgrum."

"Good." I turn to the wooden abandoned walls. "Let's go!"

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 84/95 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream. Aria's Increased Voice.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors. Hot Water Conjuration. Boiling Waterjet.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesism. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Tukado's Pushb1x3. Tukado’s defense IIIb1x4. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.

Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.

Focus capability: 18 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Glitter ingredients. (1 bag)
Fresh rose petals, 36g
Fresh lavender petals, 7g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 30/100. Locked.

Present Companions:
Loyal
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Salik
Jerro
Zoe
Ryon
Berthold

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu <Wolf Tongue> 3/10

Injuries and scars:

Curses:

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1156 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 114 in color

Chapter 113 colorless

Chapter 113 On the Road.

Possibilities are a pain.
Possibilities are a joy.
Worry and wonder stem from one root.
What the heart makes to be pain and joy,
the mind shall dispel when it understands the unknown.

Amaret, the great sinner.

I stumble to my tent, limping due to my missing shoe. I really need a damned bath... and sleep... why did it take all night?! I'm not going to enter that damned river, not with the men taking their piss there... It's not like I have a bathtub. Why would I need one? I can simply conjure water... I also need another pair of damned shoes.

In my tent I take off my clothes. "Nim." <Water.> I conjure water and wash myself. "Or shakat." <One cloth.> My dress cleans itself in an instant. "Nogri sapo." <Cleaning ash.> A solid piece of soap forms above my hand. This is so useful! I never have to worry about the accessibility of these things. I never have to worry about food, water, hygiene... I just wish there was a spell to instantly clean myself. I wonder why a spell can cleanse cloth but not skin? The water is cold though... I wonder if there's a way to heat it up... I'm very low on mana though... I'll leave it for tomorrow.

*

{28} Amaret (July) the 11th

I spend the rest of the day nodding off in my saddle after being up all night, but it’s worth it. Knowing what bloodline I belong to, or at least having some sort of clue to that, will help me both in power, and with the possibility of finding my mother. But that’s in the future. At the end of the day I collapse in my tent, unable to look at any book or do a single thing. Only at the night after do I get some time to sit down with my grimoire.

Do I really want to look up a spell that heats water? Waste a page on something like that? Can't I figure it out myself? Can't I just create a spell that conjure hot water instead of simple cold water?

Let's see... I float my Nim <Water> dictionary close and look up for the word heat. Ok... Ga <Heat>... Now I need to figure out the pattern for heat... how would I do that? What if I look up a spell that uses a stream of hot water as an attack? Like a boiling waterjet... Better if I look for a first level spell... I can learn more patterns that way and actually modify my water jet with boiling water... I won't be able to cast the spell without the flowers... But I'll have the flowers in a month or two, I can learn it then...

I place my hand on the book. I want a 1st level spell that uses boiling water in a direct attack.

Mayan’s Boiling Wave.
Names: Mayan’s Boiling Wave. Boiling Wave. Mayan’s Frenzy. Burning Tides.
Element: Water
Sub element: Water
Level: 1
Words: nim, oue-rissu nirissu asuli fenu, aloki niam fainega nimuwal nimgafir, uwallota ri, asano walgafir gafir nia rissalwue.
Translation: water, here-a flect bending humble flower, cover them with red hot sea wave, stretch up a line, may the sun cast fire on your agile skin.
Quicken: Nimgauwal nimgafir <Burning boundless water wave.>
Patterns: 15
Gestures: Attach middle fingers > point middle fingers forward.
Offering: 5 belladonna petals.
Requirement: temperature above 1c and below 150c.
Range: 25 meters.
Target: advancing wave from the caster. 10 meters wide, 5 meters tall.
Duration: instant
Effect: 25,000 liters of boiling water (90c) form a wide wave from the caster’s hands. The wave will sweep creatures and objects in its wake. The wave will advance swiftly at first but will lose speed and water over time. The wave will be depleted of water entirely after 25 meters.
Cost: 60 water gems, 5 fire gems.
Bound cost: 40 water gems, 1 fire gem.
Altered cost: 4 water gems and 1 fire gem per pattern.

Great! This must be the pattern for heat! Let's try.

"Ganim." <Hotwater.> I try, weaving the pattern of water together with heat. While the patterns mix well, it doesn't conjure any water. What am I doing wrong? Is it the wrong pattern? Let's try another one that could be heat...

"Ganim. <Hotwater.> "Ganim. <Hotwater.> "Ganim. <Hotwater.> I attempt multiple possible patterns that might mean heat but none of them summon hot water or any water at all.

I hope I won't have to summon an elemental for this... Maybe I got the wording wrong?

"Nimga." <Waterhot.> I attempt to cast with the pattern that was my original guess for heat. A blob of boiling water appears above my hand. This is ridiculous... why does the order of the words even matter?! ugh!

Whatever... I can now summon boiling water... take a hot bath whenever I want and can probably do this. "Nimgauwal!" <WaterHotBoundless!> A boiling jet of water leaves my hand, creating a cloud of steam around me as it hits the ground.

Perfect! Next spell. Something that's first level, something that give me a wide array of patterns for gravity...

I want serious first level gravity attack spell... maybe something like this wave... except repulse. A mass repulse. I place my hand on an empty page. I want a mass repulse spell.

Tukado’s Push
Names: Tukado’s Push, Repulsive Field, Shockwave.
Element: Gravity.
Sub element: Repulsion.
Level: 1
Words: Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Nikit bach fukdi-ai fel ritsa.
Translation: Gravity, I command you! focus in hand mine and repulse.
Quicken: Nikit fukdi-ai, ritsa (focus hand-mine, repulse)
Patterns: 15
Gestures: right index and thumb connected. > aimed hand.
Offering: 10 rose petals.
Requirement: X
Range: 5 meters
Target: 30 degree cone area from the caster.
Duration: instant.
Effect: The spell will create a cone of repulsion from the caster. Any object or creature below the weight of 1 ton* to 500 kg will be repulsed away violently. The number of targets has no significance, as long as they’re within the cone of effect.
Cost: 65 gravity gems
Bound cost: 40 gravity gems
Altered cost: 5 per pattern
Notes: *The heavier a target is, the weaker the repulsion, 1 ton and above will not be repulsed. 900kg will only be pushed back. 800kg will be swept off its feet for 1 meter back. 700-600kg will find itself a few meters back. Anything less will be swept off its feet with a violent push.

Good... now cast and bind it!

I take out a few rose petals from my belt. "Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Nikit bach fukdi-ai fel ritsa! <Gravity, I command you! focus in hand mine and repulse!>

"Inara, can I come in?" Salik's voice comes from outside my tent, just as I finished casting.

There's no thunder like I've expected. There's not a single sound. My tent and everything in it gets ripped away from the ground and flies all the way to the other side of the camp. Salik gets flung violently in the air, along with a dumbfounded soldier who passed by my tent.

Woops!

No!!! "Latsa!" I twin and amplify the 'Minor Telekinesis' with every pattern I'm capable of forming. While I don't manage to catch them I do manage to slow their fall.

"Salik! Are you alright?" I run toward the disoriented man.

He sits up slowly, looking around for his straw hat. "Woah, kid... is this about me and Zoe?"

"What? No! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize I was going to succeed on my first try. Latsa." <Lift.> I float the straw hat and hand it to him. I turn to the soldier. "Are you alright?" I really shouldn't experiment in my tent... it's not like my palace and the stone walls...

I recognize him, it's the same soldier who tried to hit Kolag with his sword back when Kolag had turned into a demon. Lepp? I think his name was Lepp... "Ah... yes, Your Majesty. I've been blessed by your magic." He gets up and bows deeply, shaking with either fear or excitement, I can't tell.

Snakes... these people act all normal and it's easy to forget that they're all crazy cultists sometimes...

Salik impales his hat on his hook and dusts it with his healthy hand. "Got lucky, didn't break anything. Lepp, send some people to collect the Queen's stuff, don't want all these fancy books to get dirty now, do we?"

Rot and venom! My books!

"Latsa." <Lift.> I collect them all with a 'Minor Telekinesis' cantrip, and make sure they aren't damaged. Half of my books have broken or loose binding, but the pages are mostly intact. I should really be more careful when experimenting with spells... ugh...

"Again, I'm sorry, Salik."

He puts his hat on with a smirk. "Ah, don't mention it, kid. I figured you could use some physical training. Up for some exercise while the men fix your tent?"

"Sure." I smile.

"Alright. We run laps around the camp then. Let's go, kid! Run with me!" he shouts in his mercenary leader voice and begins to circle around our camp.

I follow suit, letting my mind wonder and come up with ideas for spells. It'd be great if I could enhance my voice to sound louder... like Luard back when he held Lezere hostage... It would be useful when commanding an army... or just to be heard when people try and talk over me in general.

What else...

Oh... I wonder if there's a spell that allows me to see things from afar... Also Luard used this weird white ray... I wonder what spell that is... but I bet it's a water spell so it'll have to wait... I need to focus on gravity spells for now. What about a 1st level version of kinetic burst?

Salik passes me and runs faster, he already made a few laps more than me. "Faster, girl! This is barely a walking speed! Are you jogging or running?"

I roll my eyes. I'm going to run an hour now... I'm not stupid enough to waste my energy.

"Faster! Faster! Come on!"

"Do you have to do this show of shouting? Can't you just tell me what to do and I'll do it?"

"Yes! Shouting helps with physical exercise, ask every soldier you know. Now move it, kid!"

"Fiine." I pick up my pace, but it's not enough for him. He keeps shouting for a faster pace. After an hour of sweaty exercise I'm back in my tent. Even with my sore muscles I still want to look up the spells I thought of while running.

I want a spell that increases my voice and makes it louder.

Aria’s Increase voice
Names: Aria’s increase voice, increase voice, artificial shout, preacher’s friend, king’s little friend, general’s little friend.
Element: Air
Sub element: Sound
Level: 0
Words: Tans fe-lasiuak
Translation: Loud words
Quicken: X
Patterns: 5
Gestures: thumbs touching one another, > fingers touching one another, > thumbs touching one another again, > Touch the target with thumbs.
Offering: X
Requirement: sound transmitting surroundings.
Range: Touch
Target: A creature that can produce voice and words.
Duration: 10 minutes or until canceled.
Effect: the spell will increase the voice of the creature the caster touches, making it increasingly louder. The creature has to be capable of producing words in any language (including animal languages.) Sounds without meaning to them won't be increased.
Cost: 10 wind gems
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: X

Huh... interesting... I wonder why it has to be words... the effect over sound should be the same. Regardless... it serves my purpose.

Next. I want a spell that allows me to see a living being or locations from a far.

Before I finish my thought, the page in my grimoire flips on its own from the 'Increased Voice' cantrip to the next page. Words appear on the hardened paper. I expect another form of increased voice, just like I got with Tukado’s defense. Possibly one that increases incoherent voices...

Instead I have a message from the hag.

Dear daughter.
You have learned thirty new spells.
Congratulation.
Knowing many spells is well and good, but it is useless. You can only cast so many spells at a time.
Now you have to master your spells.
Master five of your known spells or cantrips, and cast them in the grimoire’s proximity.
The gems on the binding will light up once a mastered spell had been cast.
You do not have to worry about this grimoire, you can’t possibly damage it.
Until the five gems are lit, you won’t be able to look up new spells.
‘Kinetic Burst’ cantrip is banned for this test, your awakening spell is always mastered.

Snakes this hag! I thought I have a hundred empty pages! Snakes snakes! I wanted to learn more spells!

Ugh... I'm too tired for this... I'm washing up and sleeping this off...

*

{28} Amaret (July) the 12th

I fix my hat against the harsh summer sun overhead. My small army of about twenty orcs and forty humans march in an orderly column. Lepp's voice rises in a song from the front, and soon the rest of the human men join him.

"On the road we march.
Oh hey, oh hey.
Toward the magical spell.
Oh hey, oh hey.
Silver water we touch
Oh hey, oh hey.
To old life farewell.

Oh, Master would you stay?
Show me to the spell.
Please show me the way.
Oh, show me a secret, I won’t tell.
We light with a prayer to Jalier.

On the road we march.
Oh hey, oh hey.
Toward the magical spell.
Oh hey, oh hey.
Silver water we touch
Oh hey, oh hey.
To old life farewell.

Oh, Cannary where you’re going?
Show me to the holy arcane.
Show me to the all knowing.
Oh, show me the path, yet again.
We light with a prayer to Jalier.

On the road we march.
Oh hey, oh hey.
Toward the magical spell.
Oh hey, oh hey.
Silver water we touch
Oh hey, oh hey.
To old life farewell.

Oh, sorcery will you come?
Give me the holy sign
I’ll bring coin of any sum.
Oh, show me the grand design.
So we can light with a prayer to Jalier.

On the road we march.
Oh hey, oh hey.
Toward the magical spell.
Oh hey, oh hey.
Silver water we touch
Oh hey, oh hey.
To old life farewell."

This is one of the five songs my men have been singing for the past few days, and I'm quite tired of hearing them.

I pull my horse besides Balgrum in his new black snakescale leathery armor, and Sharla who clearly teases him in fluent orcish. She wears the form of a tall female orc, but no female orc has such a seductive tone of speaking, nor have I seen a female orc giggling before. Not to mention she's the only female orc to sideride a horse.

Balgrum is clearly annoyed with her attempts, and ignore her presence entirely.

"Don't orcs have marching songs?" I wouldn't mind an orcish song right now...

"Grrrrr... we only sing for battle, celebrations, and important deaths."

Right...

Lepp repeats from the front in a horrible deep voice that makes me wince.

"Oh, Master would you stay?
Show me to the spell.
Please show me the way.
Oh, show me a secret, I won’t tell.
We light with a prayer to Jalier."

Ugh... they don't even learn magic? Why are they singing about it. I could understand if Zoe liked this song... speaking of Zoe..."Have you seen Zoe?" I ask Sharla.

The woman shifts back into her fairy form with the fluttering autumn dress. She gracefully rides sideways a spotted brown mare with ease and tilts her fragile-looking head toward me with a smirk. "She's been avoiding you."

Avoiding me because I found her and Salik together in bed? Why? Not like I care... Too embarrassed probably... "Of course... never mind. I actually wanted to talk to you. What do you know about the Rakshasa?"

"That I wish I could be one?" She giggles like a little girl. "I wouldn't be limited in when I can kill at least... Rakshasa is an arch fae, that's just below a fae monarch with the potential to become one of the monarchs. They're usually old, very old. They rarely have children of their own and they tend to evolve into a Rakshasa instead. What do you know about thuanonmah'a?"

"Thuan what?"

She frowns for a second. "Umm... fae evolution in your tongue. The fae calls it fae's evolution."

Did I understand the fae's language instinctively this whole time? "Wait did you use a lot of fae's language words when we talked? Or is this the first time?"

"I do use forest's word often enough."

"Forest's word?" Ok... my mouth clearly saying something different than what I hear. "Say it again please?"

"Sylvanintuto?"

I nod to myself. "Yes... it looks like I somehow understand your language as some sort of instinct. I don't even notice you're switching to it. I just hear the words as Sinteo sometimes even if they're clearly not... Anyway. What was it about fae's evolution?" This is clearly my bloodline... yet... how would it even work?

Sharla smiles. "This ability is more common than you'd think, half of the fae's blood tend to have an innate understanding of forest's word. I can teach you if you'd like. Anyway, back to fae's evolution. How much do you know about it?"

I pat Loyal's lush mane, oddly aware of the fact that my horse is becoming more and more sapient each day, the human form he took only made that fact more vivid in my mind. "Umm... animals evolve into magical animals and they can evolve into fae after they consume enough mana? That's pretty much all I know about it. I'm actually curious, what kind of magical animal were you before you became a fae?"

She snorts. "Guess?"

"I wouldn't have any idea where to start... some sort of magical chameleon?"

"Pffft... Do I really look like a lizard to you?" She rolls her starry eyes and turn them into humanoid hazel eyes. "I was born like this actually. While fae can evolve into our gnomenoid forms, we can procreate in them. My mother was a cat-sith I think... though she once said she was an atkol rabbit for a while. I have no idea how that works, and my mother is a big liar. My father is faeborn like me."

Atkol rabbit... the one who made me feel sorry for it... that makes a whole lot of sense with how Sharla makes everyone feel sorry for her... "So... how does it tie into the Rakshasa?"

Sharla lazily push one leg over the flank of her mare, straddling it. Her dress shift into an odd set of pants, hugging her slender legs. "Yeah... fae can evolve with the consumption of souls. We grow stronger when we feed on mortals' emotions. I personally grow when I feed on someone's pity. Just a little bit every time. Once we gather enough soul, our soul grow big enough that we can evolve into a much stronger fae. I can actually evolve into a Rakshasa if I chose to do so, but that'll be very far into the future and multiple evolutions down the line. Every Rakshasa in existence should be at least a thousand years old if not older. Unless born that way which is rare... Rakshasa don't trust each other to procreate and there are very few of them whom are still alive."

I raise an eyebrow. "Did you know a Rakshasa personally?"

"Yes. One. She's just shy of three thousand years old."

"She?"

Sharla tilts her head to me. "Yes. It's a female. Why do you ask?"

"She might be my grandmother..."

Sharla turns sharply to face me, her waist twisting in a way no human would survive. “You’re a Rakshasa blood?! By the monarchs and courts! Inara! No wonder!”

"No wonder what?"

She seems to be taken aback, contemplating in silence for a brief moment. "Wait. How do you know you're a Rakshasa blood?"

What got her so worked up? "I don't. The only clue I got, led me to the Rakshasa, but I’m not entirely sure if it’s my fae blood or not. Nor why would a Rakshasa mate with an elf…”

“Everything mates with elves.” Sharla chuckles. Her form shifts into an unworldly beauty. Silky strawberry blond hair, graceful facial features with almond green eyes, and a smile that makes my heart skip a beat despite not being attracted to women. Her body turns into a perfect curved figure that emphasizes all the right parts and not overtly so.

A few of the marching soldiers and orcs stop and gape, and one of them runs into the other. Berthold from the front turns to look at what everyone is looking at, he gapes for a moment and glances away. Salik doesn't bother to hide his appreciative look. He rides closer, taking place by Sharla's other side.

I notice an odd aura around her, something that attracts the eyes in a magical way. She has a dreamy expression on her face, one that makes me take a deep breath before she shifts back into the fae form she wore before. “They’re the children of Koshavi, in both beauty and lust,” she adds with a bitter smile.

Competitors on her field of expertise? “Anyway,” I continue. “I’m not entirely sure whether or not I have a Rakshasa’s blood, but this is the best theory I’ve got. I did a little reading. I know how Rakshasa takes control over a mortal city and enjoys manipulating everyone in it. I know how they feed on authority and dread, and it actually fits some of the urges I have at times. For example when we conquered Red Cedar City, the speech I gave? It was a weird urge, some sort of an instinctual drive. I actually planned to leave everything to Kolag and learn spells in my room, but I had this urge to show up at the trial and speak, and I told the people what they wanted to hear. What I wanted them to hear. I felt weirdly good later... and I was angry at myself for feeling so good that I made myself feel terrible..."

“Most rulers lie to their people,” Salik comments from the side. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Oh you poor thing.” Sharla shifts and sits sideways on her horse again. She fixes her autumn leaves dress, and a few dried leaves separate from the dress and float away in the summer wind. “You must have a high elf blood. High elves cannot lie and are honorable by nature. No wonder you're so critical of yourself with an impossible level of morality, or that you're trying to be honest and fair with all of us at all times, even sharing such a thing so openly with people in an earshot. Rakshasas on the other hand are manipulative pathological liars…”

“High elves can’t lie?” I raise an eyebrow.

Salik is the one to answer this one. “No, they can’t. They’re the children of Koshavi and Noxi. If a high elf lies or commit any action against their own conscience—something that is extremely hard for them to do—they’ll lose their beauty and sometimes even their long life spans. They’ll become fallen elves. Drow. While some Drow can live for long like elves can't, many of them die within twenty years of becoming one. Elves rarely leave their closed settlements, they both attract too much attention when they do, and the younger one abuse it to shake everything around them...”

“Actually.” Sharla flips her long blue hair. “I’ve been told that the Lady of Love created the high elves with another god of truth. A god of truth who existed before the Lord of Light. But it has been over five thousand years ago. The fae are old enough to remember, but even for us it’s only myths. It's funny that you asked about that Rakshasa. It's the same woman who taught me about it. She said that this is why the high elves are dying, they only have the Lady of Love to watch over them, but not the other dead god.”

Jerro clears his throat and startles me, I didn't notice he rode closer to us too. “There was a god of truth before Noxi. My lord remembers. Amiran, God of Honor. It was him Koshavi created the high elves with, not Noxi. Noxi is the youngest god of the major twelve. Our year count of 5780 goes by the day of his ascendance to godhood.”

Yeah... I don't care about that religious rot... Wait! "Ryon is a half drow. He isn't exactly ugly... quite the opposite actually."

Salik chuckles. "Elves who turned drow are ugly, not their descendants."

That makes sense I guess... It'd be unfair for the children to suffer for their parents' sins, something like that from a God of Honor would seem hypocritical... and I doubt the God of Honor or the former God of Honor would want to appear like some sort of a hypocrite...

"Back to the Rakshasa, Sharla. After we leave the Gray Islands, can you take me to her?"

She nods sharply, like an odd bird. "No problem. It's a bit of a journey, and I'm not sure your Master will let us go, but assuming she does, yes, I'll take you to her. I'd love to go home..."

It's possibly my grandmother... I'd really like to know everything I can about that fae... "What's her name?"

Sharla shifts awkwardly on her mare. "Inara, she's an archfae... she didn't share her name with me."

Right... names are dangerous... I forgot. "What did you call her then?"

"Nothing? The Rakshasa? We don't actually need to use names much in Sylvanintuto."

"Forest's word... Is that the only fae language?"

"No. There are a few more... If you're looking for a language to learn, you should probably learn some orcish. It'll be useful with orcs under your command, a lot of what they're saying doesn't actually translate well to Sinteo."

"Can you teach me?"

"Gladly, Mistress. A'ark means wolf. Ti-A'ark is the traditional orc battle-cry, it means 'we-wolves' in a direct translation but there's so much more to the word wolf in orcish. It means a predator, a dominant species. It means strong. It means a creature that doesn't need to turn away from a fight and can hold its own. Next is death. There are a few words for death in orcish, but I'll focus on the important two. Kolh’ak and yomh’ak. The first means an honorable death, a death in the pursuit of strength, one that happened during a duel of honor or the hunt of a mighty prey. While the latter means an honorless death. I'm sure you can imagine the implication as there is no greater shame for orcs. There's also Julh'ak that means useful death. Someone who died in the pursuit of their craft or to save a life. It is respected, but not held in a greater light like Kolh'ak does..."

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 91/95 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream. Aria's Increased Voice.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors. Hot Water Conjuration. Boiling Waterjet.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2. Tukado's Push.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.

Focus capability: 18 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Glitter ingredients. (1 bag)
Fresh rose petals, 36g
Fresh lavender petals, 7g
1 empty soul bottle. 6.5 Marili Serpent Soul shards. 2 Luard's soul shards. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 30/100. Locked.

Present Companions:
Loyal
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Salik
Jerro
Zoe
Ryon
Berthold

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu <Wolf Tongue> 3/10

Injuries and scars:

Curses:

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1156 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 113 in color

Chapter 112 colorless.

Chapter 112 The Swamps are so Friendly.

Knowledge leads to questions.
Questions leads to more knowledge.
It is questions that drives us forward,
even if we do not always wish for the knowledge they bring us.

Tukado, the Creator.

It is utter darkness, and the creature that is holding my feet attempts to climb up on my legs. I force its hands off me with my mind and kick him back into the swamp. “Revisor!” <light!> A ball of gentle light appears near my feet, shedding brightness on the moss covered water.

We are surrounded by humanoid creatures that look like a combination of a frog and a turtle. The glowing green eyes have wide pupils and their wide mouths with the sack below resemble frogs, yet the thick shells on their backs is clearly a turtle's shell. 

The slimy hand has webbing between the fingers, webbing I can feel around my ankles. There are about twenty of them, swimming toward us in the murky water. I spot another pair of green webbed hands clenched around Loyal’s front legs, preventing him from moving.

Another one of these creatures holds onto my feet, while its friend climbs up on its head. It wraps one wet hand around my knees under my skirts and tries to push its other hand into my butt.

A surprised yelp escapes my lips. What the hell is it trying to do?! I attempt push it away with a silent ‘Minor Telekinesis’ but this thing is way too heavy for a creature that’s no bigger than a goblin. With my hands stuck to Loyal’s mane I can’t cast serious spells. “Loyal! Let one of my hands go!”

The adhesive effect holding my right hand ceases. I twist back and put my hand on the head of the creature with its hand between my legs. “Myrsha ritsa!” <Gravity repulse!> The head explodes like a rotten melon falling from atop the Sapphire Tower, showering me with greenish black blood.

“Ritsa!” <Repulse!> I push down the creature holding my feet, but the hold is too strong and my legs get yanked with the shockwave. I lose one of my shoes and a disgusting wet hand grabs my sock covered foot. I’m pretty low on mana after brewing that potion, I need to be carerful. “Rinim rill shariss!” <Ice sharp fly!> The icy spike lodges itself into the creature's body. Or I can just use other elements…

I attempt to climb up to Loyal’s body but another pair of hands are already holding my legs, tugging my sock and skirt down toward the murky water below. “Ka ka kapaaahhh!” The creature calls as a another dirty wet beast jumps like a frog and wraps its slimy limbs around my neck and abdomen, trapping my one free hand against my body. Pulling my hand free is a struggle with the wet slimy body that's pressed against me, I manage to pull my hand, but not before its sharp teeth sink into my shoulder. I gasp and stab my fingers into the creature's sack-like throat. “Felul felik!” <Wind aircut!>

A torrent of green blood washes my hand and chest. The creature gurgles and drops down back into the murky water. Another pair of slimy hands wrap themselves around my waist from behind. I reach back and press my finger to its throat. “Felul felik!” <Wind aircut!> The green blood covers my back and damps my skirts. The slimy creature drops down.

“Enough! Rial aluwe ri!” <Cold surface stop!> I freeze the water below me solid, it’s a thin patch, but at least five of them get caught in it, including the ones that are holding my and Loyal’s legs. Loyal is also covered by a thin layer of frost. “Get us out of here, Loyal!”

Loyal bolts forward while I hang onto his mane. The hands holding onto our legs break with a sickening crunch and lose their grip. Ice cracks, water splashes, and the magical horse gallops across the pond’s surface. “Ka ka kapaaahhh! Ka ka ka kappaaaaahhh!” The creatures behind us call to one another as they attempt to chase and encircle us.

It feels like my hand is about to get torn out of its socket, and my body rocks against my horse’s flank. Then Loyal stops on solid ground, and I manage to climb onto his back. I'm covered in bruises, my shoe is missing, and green blood stains my blue dress. I glare at the weird frog turtle creatures with a chill down my spine. They stop at the edge of the murky pond, all looking at me with dark green glow in their eyes.

“Nim” <Water> I manipulate some of the water to my hand, forming blobs. “Nim ri rinim.” <water stop to ice> I freeze the blobs, shaping them into multiple sharp spikes. “Rinim rill shariss!” <Ice sharp fly!> I send a hail of icy spikes at the frog people. Most of my spike hit the hardened shells and break, but I manage to get two of them. The sharp ice penetrates their wide throats with splatters of mossy blood. Their green eyes dim and their bodies float in the murky water. The rest disappear underneath, and the surface seems like those things weren’t there to begin with.

Of course, Zoe and Salik get to enjoy a cozy night at their tent, while I’m here dealing with creepy boggarts and crazy frog people! “Let’s go Loyal…” I say with a sigh, and my horse trots forward.

Only now do I notice that this dark swamp is crowded with odd lifeforms.

Blue and yellow lights dance to our right, but Loyal ignores them. A glowing dark blue bird glides above our head, hooting again and again. A group of black butterflies crosses our path, but Loyal paces through them.

A dark green woman with moss-like skin swims in the muddy ground as if it’s water. She climbs onto a puddle of water as if it’s solid earth, rinses her long dark hair from mud. She waves at me and pats the puddle with an odd inviting grin on her emerald face.

Yeah… I don’t feel very welcome here, thank you.

An old wrinkly man stands on a boulder near the path, he’s leaning on a curved walking stick. I’ve met this creature back in Sha’ashbash. His four white horns are long and spiky making his head look like half a sun, and the fifth horn replaces what would’ve been a beard. His muddy white robes has delicate yellow patterns on them, and he eyes me with a pair of silver eyes with double triangle pupils. Oh not this thing again!

“Thou shalt stop!” the weird old man commands, but Loyal simply ignores the odd creature and keeps running on the muddy path of the swamp.

“Thou shalt be cursed!” The weird creature waves its walking stick above its horned head. “Thy love shalt bring thy death! Thou shalt face thy doom!” he calls out as Loyal leaves him behind.

Yeah… both you and Jerro keep saying that, just shut up! If two prophets are saying the same thing, maybe I should listen? I should just kill that thing and drain its damned soul! if only I carried my bottles on me…

This is a fae habitat, there are way too many of them here… how did Loyal know to bring me here? How did he know that the boggart will have an answer for me? It doesn’t make sense, Loyal is smart, but not that smart, who’s manipulating me through my horse? Who wanted to make sure I’ll hear that I’m a quarter Rakshasa? Someone is behind it… I lean forward on the green mane. “Loyal? I know someone told you to bring me to that boggart, someone you trust, please take me to that person.”

Soon the swamp turns into a forest, leaving behind the crazy fae habitat. By the time I reach the camp, it’s already dawn.

{28} Amaret (July) the 10th

Loyal trots into the camp and stops near Jerro’s tent. His adhesive mane lets go of my hands.

I drop to the ground, wiping my sweat. I am exhausted and covered in bruises, the gash on my shoulder pulses with pain and the grass prickles my shoeless foot. This was a long night with very unpleasant experiences, and I spent the previous day traveling, fighting a monstrous serpent, and crafting the most complex potion I’ve ever made. “Jerro asked you to take me there?”

“Nigghhhee,” the horse nods.

If Jerro is the one behind this, it means that the information I got from that boggart is either real or will set me on the right path… At least it wasn’t for nothing... I’ll talk to him later when he wakes up… I wish he would’ve simply told me and prepare me for the creepy encounters I just had. But I’m sure he meant well… I need him on my side, I’ll try not to be too harsh…

Jerro exits his tent a moment before I turn to leave. “Hello, Inara.”

My anger and fatigue overwhelms me and I slap him. “Don’t send Loyal next time. Just tell me where to go. You scared me to death! And those creepy creatures in the swamp, did you know about them when you sent me there?!”

“Yes. A Boggart. A Fafricon. And Kappas…” He rubs his cheek and speaks with the emotion of a cold stone. “I’m sorry. There was a high chance you wouldn’t agree to go there alone for a small possibility, you’d deem it too dangerous, but this clue is important to your path. You were never in any danger. A Fafricon can’t curse you with a curse you don’t already possess, and you are stronger than a herd of Kappas.”

So he thought this through, and he thinks I would’ve said no for a possible chance to find my bloodline? Why the hell would I say no? I really needed to know what my bloodline is and now I do. Either way, he meant well, I shouldn’t alienate him, I need his predictions… I pat his shoulder. “Thanks for helping me find out what my bloodline is. I know you mean well, but next time please just talk to me and let me decide.”

He seems baffled by my show of affection. “I do not want you to touch me, Sharlafyn might get jealous.” He scratches his nape awkwardly and changes the subject. “Boggarts can discern bloodlines by smell."

I pull my hand back. "I see... but how do I know that boggart didn't simply lie to me?"

"You don't. They enjoy misleading and lying. I cannot tell whether he gave you the truth or a falsehood," he states, leaning on his cane like an old man.

The snake?! "Then why the hell did you send me there?!"

"Every lie is based on a truth. You have a better starting point than you had yesterday."

"But if he just lied then..." He has a point... "Yeah. Fine. Thanks for using your gift to help me. But please, next time just talk to me and let me decide, don’t use riddles.”

He nods, his words apathetic. “You are welcome. I’m glad the kappas couldn’t drag you under the water.”

“Was there a chance for me to die there?”

He shakes his head. “You are fae. They wouldn’t kill you. It would’ve been unpleasant.”

“Then I have nothing to be angry about. Any luck with Sharla?” he’s been stalking her for the past few days, but I haven't seen him approach her yet.

He shakes his head again. “I don’t need luck, she is my soul mate.”

I roll my eyes. “Someone forgot to notify her of that.”

He nods with a grimace. “Yes, indeed, I think I should tell her that. Thanks for the advice.”

Oh boy… “That won’t help you, just tell her that you love her and wait for when she loves you back. I think she likes Berthold and talking about fate won’t change how she feels."

He winces. “It’s not fate, I can’t see fate. I see time. My gift and curse come from the God of Time, Tiyadi. I see time as it flows through this world, how it touches and changes people, and where would it flow. Fate is something else entirely. Fate is fought over by Rakisha, Tukado, and Koshavi, these three gods wrestle each other to control fate.”

And he missed my point entirely… I pat his shoulder in amusement, and head for my tent. “You’re beyond help, Jerro, good luck!”

“Indeed I’m beyond help, unless you have a method to bring death to the God of Death,” he calls out after me.

Kill the God of Death? Now that’s an interesting idea, I wonder if I ever get strong enough for that… “I’ll think about it. Thanks again!”

*~*~*

Interlude 112.1

Berthold

Berthold gulps while looking at the blurry feminine figure in front of him, his eyes follow the purple veins that sprout from her back to the dark monolith behind her.

He really doesn't have much of a choice. If she's good, and everything she said about Tonisha is the truth, then worshiping her instead is a good thing. And if she's evil... if he won't worship her, he won't leave this place alive. He saw the key in Sharla's hand, and he wasn't supposed to. They won't leave witnesses behind. Berthold wants to live.

"Yes. I will worship you." He kneels down with a shudder. His instinct screams alarms, this creature can kill him with a thought and he knows it.

"Then repeat after me," the blurred fairy says. "I Berthold son of Clara renounce Tonisha. I worship the Faceless Queen of Nothing. I worship The Blind Lady of Twilights. I worship the Maiden of Darkness. From now and forever."

Berthold takes a deep breath, this fairy queen knows a lot about him if she chose the name of his mother instead of his father. "I Berthold son of Clara renounce Tonisha." A weight is lifted from his shoulders. A weight he never realized was there. He's no longer afraid, no longer wary of the fairy in front of him. No more instinct that screams danger. He does not continue, and the blurry fae stands there patiently.

He's no longer scared. Why would she kill him? She has no reason to, why would she lie about it? Is his survival instinct gone when he renounced Tonisha? Logically he knows she would kill him if he doesn't worship her, but... He stands. "I renounced her. You got your vengeance. Will you let me leave if I do not worship you?"

"Of course, my boy. You are free to leave." She gestures and the purple veins that block the path behind him open. "I never forced anyone to worship me."

"But what about the key I saw?" Fool. Why ask? Why? He really needs to develop a healthy sense of caution again, it seems like his original sense of fear came from the fact that he worshiped Tonisha.

"What key? You won't remember a thing about it once you leave the clearing. It'll be shrouded in darkness..." Even if her face is blurred, Berthold can tell that the fairy is grinning.

That makes a lot of sense. She is not malevolent despite the darkness and the creepy purple veins everywhere, and she promised him the ability to see weaknesses he can shoot... Berthold kneels again. "I worship the Faceless Queen of Nothing. I worship The Blind Lady of Twilights. I worship the Maiden of Darkness. From now and forever."

"Rise," his patron says with a rich voice.

Berthold stands up. The fairy queen's feature are no longer blurred. She is beautiful. Long smooth purplish hair and a pair of starry almond eyes that resemble Sharla's. Her dark skin is marred with tiny stars like the night's skies. Her black dress hugs her body and emphasizes her curves.

Berthold can't help but sneak a peek at her starry and ample cleavage before turning his eyes elsewhere. He focuses on the purple veins that grows out of her back, and tries to think of something else.

"You are now one of mine," she continues with a smile that fills Berthold with warmth. "You will find that the shadows and the night will aid and hide your presence when you need them to, as for my promise, I will need to touch your eyes." She floats forward and caresses both of his cheeks. Berthold blushes, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. Her slender thumbs glide on his cheek bones and the starry fingers enter his eyes.

Berthold closes his eyes on an instinct. He expected pain, but he doesn't even feel a hint of discomfort, not even an itch. He can't see a thing, and there's a warm feeling in his eyes. The Maiden of Darkness pulls her thumbs back and Berthold can see again.

He looks at Sharla. Unlike before, he sees a starry spot on her chest as well as her head, and he knows that an arrow to these spots... no. It'll have to be an iron arrow, or a silver arrow. Or... a few other materials he doesn't know yet. But if an arrow like that hits those spots Sharla will die. Oddly enough, her heart is in the right side of her chest as opposed to a human who have it on the left side. Berthold looks at the Maiden of Darkness again, but unsurprisingly she doesn't have any weak spots.

"I... thank you. You're sure you're not evil? This darkness..."

The fairy queen smirks. "Darkness merely hide things, dear. I have many secrets, and I may ask your help in keeping them one day... but not today. Enjoy your new sight. When you have an offering for me, you will be able to feel where my closest altar is located."

"What about the key I saw?" Why ask?! Why? Why does he insist on putting himself in danger?

"That is another secret. I only ask that you don't mention it to anyone."

"Ok! I promise!" Why is he so attracted to dangerous women? Inara. Sharla. The Maiden of Darkness. At this rate he'll end up dead one day.

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 91/95 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.

Focus capability: 18 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of glitter.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Glitter ingredients. (1 bag)
Fresh rose petals, 37g
Fresh lavender petals, 7g
1 empty soul bottle. 6.5 Marili Serpent Soul shards. 2 Luard's soul shards. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Loyal
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Salik
Jerro
Zoe
Ryon
Berthold

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu <Wolf Tongue> 2/10

Injuries and scars: Bruises

Curses:

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1156 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 112 in color

Chapter 111 colorless

Chapter 111 A Clue.

I’m a clue, a hint for greatness.
Forward I lead, despite the madness
I light the dark, I’m a small mark, a spark.
Yet, everyone think they understand me,
in their own way.

Mayan, the Ocean Fairy.

I’m getting dragged by the weird man, and notice the dumbfounded faces of Salik’s men around the camp. This is embarrassing… how the hell am I going to explain this? Salik should be the one doing the explanations of what he’s doing in his snaking tent right now!

The men’s eyes fall out of their sockets when the naked man who drags me. The man's back bulges and grows in size, he leans forward dragging me with his head, my chest pressing against his massive back as he runs on four. The creature grows in size and turns into a massive black horse. His hair turns into his mane, and I am pulled by it to sit on his back. The horse bolts forward making his way between tents into the dark forest.

“Loyal?!”

“Niiighhh!”

Great… now they’re going to tell stories about how I’m snaking with my horse… this is just great! “What are you doing? Where are you taking me?”

“Niggghhhhehe!!” His speed only increases.

Where the hell is he taking me? What is he going to do?

Ok, calm down, panicking won’t help… if he’s intelligent, he knows what he’s doing… “I trust you can find the way back?”

“Nigghhhhe!”

I really hope that was a yes… “Good! Then I’m waiting for whatever it is you want to show me…”

We ride through the darkness. The dark forest turns into a swamp, but Loyal rides on the muddy water like it’s solid earth.

An armored humanoid surrounded by an aura of dark energy exits from behind one of the nearby trees. He stands in our way in the middle of the path, aiming a spiky spear toward Loyal’s chest.

“Loyal!” I call out in alarm. I can't even aim my hand to cast spells, my hands are stuck my horse's mane. I struggle, trying to release my hands, but the horse ignores me and gallops through the figure as if he isn’t even there.

I look back in confusion. The armored humanoid turns and scratches his head, looking at his spear as if it’s defective.

My horse keeps thundering through the swamps. He doesn’t falter even when a large black monster seeps up from the ground, blooming like an explosion until it almost equals Loyal in height. It leers towards us, movements strangely jerky, disjointed arms reaching towards us to present wicked claws that could disembowel me with barely a flick.

I recoil, trying to release my hand for a spell, but again, Loyal sprints through the creature, and the monster dissipates like it was never there to begin with.

I can’t help but laugh, this swamp is clearly magical, and I am beginning to enjoy this weird adventure. Where is he taking me?

Wherever it is, someone doesn’t want me to get there, otherwise why put these obstacles in my path… And that someone isn’t powerful enough to stop me by themselves, they have to use illusions to keep me away…

That… or my horse is way more powerful than I give him credit for…

“Neighhhh.” Loyal stops near a miniature hut on the swamp's shore. The little structure seems to be made out of shiny black leathers that I can't associate with any known beast. The adhesive mane of my horse lets my hands go and I can finally get off his back.

“Soli ma! Ma kuar loinma kuar!” A small black humanoid comes out of the hut. Like an Elfling, he’s about 10 cm tall, unlike an elfling, he has no facial feature. He’s only a mass of liquid blackness with humanoid limbs. “Ah! dulaim! Swii to dulaim kree?” the creature asks the horse.

“Um… do you speak Sinteo? <Speech>“ I ask, crouching down to stare at the faceless creature.

“Lo zare sinteo! Dulaim bali!”

I’ll take that as a no… “Toml’a maybe?” I switch to my native tongue.

Dulaim-bali! Dulaim-bali! Swii toril!

Guess that’s a no as well… “Lah sorer myrsha?” <You speak myrsha?>

The creature stops his chatter in the unknown language and looks at me, or at least I think he does, his face is simply a mass of blackness. “Nia sorer myrsha. Manus! Mia lah ossi bach niai mirs? Nia tsaf lah le sorer!” <I speak myrsha. Mortal! What are you doing in my territory? I command you to speak!>

Finally, we’re getting somewhere! I really need to learn more languages, I should’ve brought Sharla with me…

One thing at a time, Orcish and the magical languages first...

“Z’ill myr, nia lu ilema’ak. Ke shafi niai hala ta’adii ni yin, myr yas zoro ma’akisi. Lah ilema’ak mia ke ma’akisi?”

<Apologies, I don’t know. The horse-my has brought me here, must’ve had him a reason. You know what the reason?>

“Manus! Lu? Lah lu manus! Shonil? Lah lu shonil! Manus! Lu manus! Lu lu lu! Leri korma’au manus shil niko shonil? Karitsa nia sor! Karitsa! Hafla. Manus o lu manus, lah nayin ke tamishon, hafla hafty, lah rodaf.”

<Mortal! No? You are no mortal! Fae? You are not fae! Mortal! No mortal! No no no! Who creates mortal that she is fae? Wrong I say! Wrong! Come on in. Mortal or no mortal, you are from the faeblood, welcome, you are a guest.>

He says and enters his house, gesturing for me to follow him.

“Iyak nia amuft le dahafy lahi leyis?” <How am I supposed to enter your house?> I ask, looking at the hut that barely reaches my waist.

“Ah se?” <Ah that?> he asks in a sheepish voice. A wave of dark particles floods my vision, both the odd creature and the hut grow in size. He opens the door and gestures for me to enter.

I look back at Loyal. No, I look up at him. Up and up and up. He looms over me, larger than a mountain, more total than the sky itself .He’s not big. I’m small. Tiny, in fact. No larger than the featureless creature who inhabits the minuscule hut. I sway where I stand, he can squish me like a bug if he just moves his leg. I hope I’m not walking into my death here… I follow the strange creature into his hut.

The moment I pass the hut’s threshold, the door behind me shuts and bars itself with thick metallic bars. As if to confirm my paranoid thoughts, odd weapons from metals I do not recognize float from the ground. There are swords, axes, daggers, sickles, scythes, and all sort of other sharp weapons I can’t identify. They fly toward me gleaming blades aimed at my body.

“Ritsa!” <Repulse!> my duplicated cantrip pushes away the first pair of weapons, but more of them keep coming to life, this hut is packed with them. “Myrsha samir!” <Gravity protects!> “Ritsa!” <Repulse!>

“Ah!!! Dulaim bali Dulaim bali! dul irh’a lun! Dul irh’a lun! Dulaim bali!” The black fae shouts with clear panic in his voice as he dodges some of the flying weapon. It’s not his doing? What the hell is going on here?!

The ceiling crumbles and a massive white hand opens it from above. A gigantic face looks into the hut, the smile on its face is full of sharp teeth. “Kroska luro othiatas,” it declares in a victorious tone, although I don't understand the words I can roughly guess that it meant to say "I finally found you," or something of that sort. All of the weapons I just pushed away rise from the ground again to attack us.

*Clack*

A massive pillar forms in the middle of the room, dispersing the monster. All the weapons fall to the ground in an instant. No, not a pillar, this is a horse’s leg, Loyal’s leg. The leg sweeps the room and touches me gently. A moment later I grow back to the height I was used to, breaking the tiny hut in the process.

The black fae exits his ruined hut, shouting. “Ssnake thiiss rotten Kelpiiar! Can’t he let a good boggart have hisss feeed?!” The black fae shouts in ‘sinteo’ <speech>. “Go away! Shoo! Shoo! Let me have fun with your massster!” He looks at me and scratches his head sheepishly. “Oopssssy.”

I catch the little creature with my mind and make him float in front of me. “Explain yourself or I will kill you.”

“Ah, ah, you ssee, I was hungry and I neeeded to feeed yesssss feeed! But thiisss rotten Kelpiiar don’t let you get sssscared and I couldn’t feeed!” his accent is weird, he elongates every ‘i’ and ‘s’, but he didn't do so earlier when he spoke Myrsha or his weird tongue. Does it mean he didn’t actually talk earlier? Or did he simply let his accent show once he panicked?

Doesn't matter. Why did Loyal brought me here? I should get to the bottom of this. “You don’t make much sense, try again?”

“I-I will give you what you want! I will! Heere!” he moves his hand into his black liquid-like chest and takes out a tiny bottle. “Disstiilled feear, yessss, disstiilled feear! All yourssss, if you let mee go-o!”

I frown. “I don’t want your distilled fear, I want answers!”

“Ansswerssss?” it asks, still struggling against my magical hold.

“Yes! You recognized I’m a part fae, can you tell me what type of fae I am?”

“Ah, no-o! no no no no no-o-o-o!” he shakes his head repeatedly.

He obviously knows! Finally! Someone that can shed light on that blank! “Why not?”

“You’ll kiill mee if I tell you! When your kind learn what they are, they kiill everythssing iin ssight! Everythssing! I can’t!” The creature keeps shaking his solid-liquid head as it speaks.

“I’ll kill you if you won’t tell me, Loyal here will be happy to eliminate you. If you tell me, at least you have a chance to survive.”

“Ah no-o! No-o!”

Argh, stupid creature! Focus. Let’s keep him talking. “What kind of fae are you?”

“I’m boggart! Boggart! I eat gnomeniod’s feear! Yess”

“What court?”

“No court! No court!”

I give him a blank look; every fae has a court.

“Sspring court! Yessss.”

Is he lying? I went through existing dark spring fae in those books but I don’t remember this little thing… Still, there were a thousand of them or so… I can’t remember them all… and he may be light spring… though I doubt it… I’m still not sure what these courts even mean… Regardless, this is the first dark spring fae I’ve met… and we have nothing in common other than having dark spring fae blood… “What’s so scary about my bloodline?”

“Sscary! Sssscary!”

I raise an eyebrow. “You just want me to fear my own bloodline so you can feed on my fear. I don’t fear myself, I like power, and if my bloodline is that scary I’ll love it. You have one minute to tell me what bloodline I belong to, or I kill you!”

“You won’t! You want ansswerss! I will leeeave and feeed, yess!”

“Fifty five seconds!” Just in case you’re reading my mind, I will kill you! And blow up my only chance at figuring out what my bloodline is? Yeah right!

Can I even take him at his word? He can tell me anything and try to scare me off with it, he feeds on fear. He may not even know what kind of bloodline I possess, and just say things to scare me. I shouldn’t make idle threats, it’s a bad habit. If he isn’t telling me, I’ll assume he doesn’t know and I’m killing him, slowly, just in case he suddenly remembers…

The dark fae drinks his bottle of distilled fear and explodes into a mass of dark fog. His voice comes out from within the fog. “Dulaim-bali-Dulaim-bali-Rakshasa-ubrih’silo-bali” For some reason I understand every word in that sentence. <Human-stupid-human-stupid-Rakshasa-baby-stupid>

Loyal runs into the dark mass and it dissipates, there is no sign of the creature or his ruined hut. “Nighhhh.”

A Rakshasa? That’s a nasty one… they’re responsible for some mass genocides if I remember correctly… it’s indeed a dark spring fae… but it doesn’t make sense, a rakshasa wouldn’t mate with an elf… I’ll need to look into them, whether this creature is lying or not, it’s a potential clue, and I cannot afford to overlook it.

I climb on Loyal’s back and he gallops toward the camp, my hands stuck to his lush green mane. I watch in awe as Loyal rans on the murky water without sinking in.

I pat his neck and the lush green hair that's no longer as sticky as before. “You’ve grown Loyal… You’ve got stronger too, huh? I didn't even notice...”

“Neiiighhhe!!” He lifts his head, neighs and snorts.

I chuckle. “You’re one amazing horse! Turning into a human? How did you do it? Were you trying to talk to me?”

“Nigghhhee!” my horse stops sharply.

The sudden stop throws me forward off his back, I hang from his mane holding onto his curly hair that turns all sticky in an instant. If not for this adhesive mane I would’ve fallen into the swamp. “Loyal!!!” I shout angrily.

He neighs and lifts his head pulling me up. I hold onto his neck and attempt to climb back. My heart stops when a pair of rough wet hands pulls my feet down, my hands almost get torn off their socket with the sharp pull. I look down to meet a pair of green glowing eyes from the depths of the swamp.

*~*~*

Interlude 111.1

Berthold.

Berthold uses the thin moonlight to find his way in the dark forest.

They've been walking for hours now, through woodland and swamps. Berthold can find his way back, but it'll take him a long while to reach the camp, and it'll probably be dawning when they're back.

Sharla walks ahead of him, hugging a giant bone from the Marili serpent to her chest. Berthold offered, but she refused to let him carry the object. Despite the heavy weight she's carrying, Sharla impresses him with her ability to move quietly in the woods, but he should've expected as much from a fairy, the forest is supposed to be her home.

They reach an empty clearing, and the thin moonlight rays shine on a black stone monolith in the middle of it. "Wait here, Sunayaknash..." Sharla stops him from stepping into the clearing. Berthold nods, and the fairy steps forward raising the bone she carried above her head.

The moon winks out. It disappears entirely from the sky. The starry heaven above are replaced by an unnatural darkness. For a moment, Berthold can't see a single thing, a blink, and purple veins spread in the void above their heads, taking the shape of odd roots or lightning bolts. The odd veins create a dome above their heads, and the forest behind him turn into dark blackish roots that bar passage. He cannot go back.

One of these dark veins stretch down to the monolith in front of them, shifting into a blurry feminine form.

Berthold gulps, unable to shake the ominous feeling in his heart.

Sharla kneels in front of the blurry fairy, raising the serpent's bone above her head as an offering.

The bone disappears like it was never there. The fairy queen says something but Berthold cannot hear her words. The fairy queen caresses Sharla's cheek and Sharla gets up. The two hug and Berthold can hear the faint echoes of giggles. The purple veins above and behind him pulse in rhythm with the black monolith, shaking ever so slightly as if they're leaving breathing creatures.

The pair break their hug and turn toward him. Berthold gulps. Can he really renounce Tonisha for this fairy of darkness? She's clearly evil.

"Approach, dear." Berthold still can't see her features clearly, he can't even determine the color of her skin, one second it's dark the other it's silvery, her voice however is rich and low.

Berthold takes a few hesitant steps into the clearing. "H-hello?"

The blurred fairy chuckles. "You're such a treat! I see why you've brought him here, Sharlafynwynyeslun."

Sharla giggles. "He can see moonlight too, and he saw this." The silvery key flickers in her hands.

"Did he now? Tsk, that won't do. What do you say, boy? Will you renounce your scaly goddess for me?"

Berthold gulps, was he not supposed to see the key? Will they kill him if he says no? Did Sharla trick him into coming here? Who is this fairy queen? "I-I don't know?"

The blurred fairy floats closer to him, her back connected to the purplish veins from the monolith. "You're afraid of me, boy. There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm sure you have many questions. Ask. Ask freely. I'll answer all the questions you have as long as they are not secrets to be kept in darkness."

"W-will you kill me if I say no?"

The blurred fairy freezes on the spot before answering. "No. I'm not in a habit of killing clueless humans. Unlike your goddess who throws monsters at humans for her so called 'challenges'." The last word is said with sheer hatred.

"So... if I say no. I'm allowed to walk out of here alive?"

"Indeed. But you may never come here again." There's warmth in her voice, as if she cares, or maybe she just wants him to think she cares.

"I... I see."

"Is no your answer then?" The low voice turns sharp, conclusive.

"No. I mean! Not my answer. I'm still thinking. I have more questions." Berthold's heart pounds violently in his chest.

The blurred fairy chuckles and Sharla giggles behind her. "Very well. Ask your questions, boy."

"What's your name?"

"My name is a secret, boy. You may address me as the faceless queen. Your traitorous goddess had harmed me greatly in the past. Betrayed my trust in the worst way possible. I do not hold any love for her, and I am in a habit of recruiting any follower who wishes to leave her worship. Even if you do not want to worship me, renouncing her would earn you my favor. I know you are not fiercely loyal to her. I know you merely picked her as a goddess so you can read books about beasts."

Berthold flinches. She knows way too much about him for comfort. "Your favor?"

She hums with a musical deep voice, the deepest voice Berthold had ever heard that was clearly feminine. "One favor from me through Sharlafynwynyeslun should you renounce Tonisha. Should you follow me, my first gift to you will be the ability to see the weakness in any beast mortal or fae you look at. You'll be able to spot the exact spot where an arrow would kill or maim the creature you look at, and you will be able to tell the difference between killing and maiming. I imagine such a gift will be quite valuable for you, no?"

Berthold gulps, he can't imagine something like that would be free. "A-and what do I have to do in return?"

Even if he can't see her face, Berthold can tell she's smiling. "Renounce your scaled goddess and worship me. Offer a quite prayer to me before a hunt. Bring me some bones of my choosing. I might have tasks for you in the future, but these aren't obligatory. Unlike the gods, I do not force my followers to do my biddings. I offer incentives instead."

"Are y-you... are you evil?" Berthold regrets the words the moment they leave his mouth.

To his surprise the blurred fairy roars in laughter. The dark forest around them awaken with crickets, owls, and other nightly residents. It dies down when her laughter dies. "Evil is a matter of perspective and sides, boy. Your scaled goddess will call me evil. The Ocean Fairy will call me good. While the Lord of Knowledge will view me as natural. Evil and good is simply how the gods paint targets for their worshipers. The world is more complicated than good and evil. Is darkness evil? Good? No. Darkness hides. Darkness covers. Without darkness you cannot sleep and regain energy. Without darkness you cannot close your eyes and see nothing. Without darkness you cannot let your guard down and relax. Yet, without darkness you can't hide your misdeeds. Regardless, darkness is needed. It is just there. I am simply here and there, for I am darkness."

"And what is Ton..."

He doesn't finish the name of his goddess, Sharla covers his mouth, her arm turning into a long unnatural limb. "Don't mention her name unless you renounce her!" she hisses and lets go of his mouth.

"I'm sorry." Berthold gulps and eyes the blurred fairy queen, but she doesn't seem to mind.

"It is alright, boy. You are clueless and in the darkness about these matters. I do not blame you. Ask your questions."

"If you are darkness, what is the Lady of Venture then?"

"She is struggle. The survivor's strength, and the victim's weakness. The predator and the prey. The huntress. It is darkness that hides the weak, it is darkness that hides the predator. We used to be friends... Sisters if you may, but no more. She turned her back on the fae. She turned her back on me."

"What did she actually do? In-in laymen terms." Berthold dares another question.

"Stabbed me in the back."

Berthold holds his breath. "Are you going to kill her?"

"Yes."

Berthold releases his breath. The simple way this creature said she is going to kill a goddess suggested she is capable of doing so, or close to being capable of doing so. What has he gotten himself into? "Why me?"

The blurred fairy flickers her long dark hair. "I have already told you, my boy. I recruit your Lady's followers. My little petty vengeance for now... Now, I tire of your questions. I know she did not gift you with anything. You are not her chosen, merely another worshiper amongst millions. Will you abandon her for my gifts or not?"

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 91/95 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.

Focus capability: 18 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of glitter.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Glitter ingredients. (1 bag)
Fresh rose petals, 37g
Fresh lavender petals, 7g
1 empty soul bottle. 6.5 Marili Serpent Soul shards. 2 Luard's soul shards. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Loyal

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu <Wolf Tongue> 2/10

Injuries and scars:

Curses:

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1156 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 111 in color

Chapter 110 colorless

Chapter 110 Crazy Life.

Life is full of surprises.
Life is full of excitements.
Life is full of discovery.
Life is full of itself.
Life is good, life is existence.
Until death do us part.

Brigit, the Lady of Life.

Later that evening, I retire to my tent.

My first step is to learn the properties of this magical serpent’s body parts. I skim through Forests of Wonders by Lako of Twilights until I find what I'm looking for.

Marili serpent.

Description and Features:
An adult male of the species weighs 3 tons on average. It reaches the average length of 15 meters, and the average diameter of 1.4 meters.
An adult female of the species weighs 4 tons on average. It reaches the average length of 18 meters and the average diameter of 1.6 meters.
The beast features the typical body of a snake. No apparent changes from natural snakes other than size. The venom is extremely deadly, it attacks the nervous system directly. It’ll take between 30 seconds to a minute to die for the average mortal. For the case of a magical beasts or a magus, it’ll depend on their body size and poison resistance. It is a rare 2nd grade poison, that isn’t typical for a 1st grade beast.

Magical Grade:
A peak 1st grade beast. One of the first evolutions for a viper, serpent, and a cobra, although a rare evolution. The next evolutions are the 2nd grade Flying Marili or the 2nd grade Digging Marili.
The soul networth is the average of 7MS for an adult male, and average of 9MS for an adult female.

Living environment and Hunting pattern:
The Marili serpent is an ambush predator. It lays in wait, often climbing trees or high vantage points. Once it spots a prey, it pulls the unsuspecting prey into the air and pounces on it.
Depending on the environment, its choice of prey tend to be small creatures that do not look up, or large creatures that do not look down.

Abilities and Vulnerabilities:
Most notable. 2nd grade killer venom.

The Marili serpent’s scales has a constant repulsive effect. It is of no problem to the average magi since it can be overcome with enough kinetic pressure. Even a 3rd stage apprentice with a focus on earth or water can eventually overcome the repulsive effect. However, the average mortals do not stand a chance.

The Marili serpent’s mouth have an attraction crystal that will telekinetically pull on activation. The crystal melts upon the serpent’s death, the creature is to be kept alive in order to extract the item.

The Marili serpent can see kinetic forces and vibrations.

The Marili serpent is immune to most forms of gravity, and spatial magic.

The Marili serpent has extremely sharp hearing, as such, it is vulnerable to sound based attacks.

The Marili serpent’s scales offer zero protection against energy and temperature based attacks.

The Marili serpent will fall asleep when exposed to temperatures below 1c. It is the simplest way of capturing the serpent.

Known uses:

Eyes: A Marili’s eye can replace a mage’s eye via alatonmy. A single eye or two makes no difference. The eye grants the ability to see invisible kinetic forces and vibrations. Popular with gravity mages. Popular with females of the mortal sources: Elf, human, dwarf, gnome. Due to the eye’s innate beauty, gem-like features, and the special purple color that is considered uncommon amongst these races.

Venom: This is the Marili’s strongest weapon. This deadly 2nd grade venom can only be contained in a 2nd grade container or a Mithril-Cobalt container. Do not touch with bare skin, extremely deadly even in the smallest amounts.

Heart: Eating the heart directly grants no benefits. The heart is an ingredient in multiple alchemical formula, included but not limited to: “Etesa Kinetic Storm Potion”, “Ayla’s Magus Armor Potion,” “Imari Flying Formula.”

Fangs and venom sack: The fangs and the sack can be curved into a 2nd grade poison container.

Scales: The scales keep the repulsing properties for the duration of a year. After that, they only retain their hardness. Useful for a basic armor a starting magus might use.
The scales while fresh, are an ingredient in the alchemical formulas: “Etesa Kinetic Storm Potion”, Ayla Mage Armor Potion.”

Bones: The bones have low grade spatial properties for the duration of a week.

Taming:
Taming an adult Marili can be done via the correct combination of musical notes. Even while controlled by music, the serpent is prone to unpredictable behavior, and should be kept in confinement with a freezing failsafe.
Taming an adult female who is guarding eggs is impossible.
Taming a hatchling with music from the egg is the best way to ensure predictable behavior.

I close the book, and rush outside. I run between the leathery tents and reach the orc section of the camp. “Balgrum!”

“Gra?” I find Agilla instead, too busy drinking.

I hold her thick arm. “The venom of the snake is deadly, don’t let anyone touch it with their bare skin!”

She shakes me off, and reaches with the same arm for the alcohol barrel. “Grrrrrr Rokuro already dead, we threw away venom.”

Right… too late… “Make sure you keep the scales intact.”

She looks at me as if I'm a child as she refills her waterskin. “Yeah. We make armor.”

“Ok, good. I want one!”

“Shaman hunted snake, shaman get armor,” she replies and takes a long gulp from her drink. “All wolves who hunted snake get one.”

"Inara. I took some of the bones, ok?" Sharla asks from behind my shoulder.

I turn. "What for?"

The Nugle-kar’s skin gives a faint glow under the crescent moon above, her starry eyes dart around and the white specks inside move in odd ways, almost as if her eyes are full of shooting stars. "Ummmm... some fae stuff. Don't worry, I won't do anything weird like sacrificing them to some crazy god or anything. Nope! No way!"

I sigh. "Sharla... even if you want to sacrifice them to some crazy god, I don't mind. You can take the bones, I know they have some spatial effect that'll disappear soon. Just tell me what it is."

For a brief moment I see an odd silvery key flickering between her fingers, but it's gone the next moment. "Ummm... what if I can't tell you? What if I ask you to trust me and let me have these bones?"

I put a hand on her thin shoulder. "Then you can have these bones."

She looks at me intensely, the stars in her eyes no longer move around. "Really? Just like that?"

I smile. "Yep. Just like that. I trust you, Sharla. Enjoy those bones."

"Thanks! Toddles!" She turns and disappears between the vast amount of tents in my camp.

I sigh head back toward my tent. I wonder what she needs these bones for... maybe communicating with someone? Spatial properties will probably include long distance communication. The hag? Doesn't matter. Not like I can stop it, better to keep her on my side. Time to make that potion…

In the candlelight, I read the list of materials again, comparing it to the materials Salik provided me with.

A bottle of human ectoplasm, and a human heart from the same human.
Five wolf teeth, and a wolf’s liver from the same wolf.
Two cat eyes from the same cat.
Two guran leaves.
Three poppy flowers.
Five basil leaves.
A single bellflower.
A single onion root.
Honey.

Everything is here. Aside from the human heart, which is replaced by the gigantic Marili serpent’s heart.

Let’s get this started! I make sure my small cauldron is filled with water before I put ten spoons of honey in it and light up the firewood beneath.

“Anfero.” <Ignite.> I light my fifteen minutes candle clock. I spend the next fifteen minutes cutting the onion root, or reading, all while I keep an eye on the candle clock.

Once fifteen minutes have passed, I add the onion root and bellflower, then chant the ‘Rod’e’ <Wood> words I already know: “Si to fullnokta xnaul si xa.” <This one wish to bless the water.> as I weave four wood patterns, green smoke comes out of the cauldron.

When the smoke clears, the golden steaming content of the cauldron turns greenish-blue. “Anfero.” <Ignite.> I light up the five minutes candle clock and turn to cut down the wolf’s liver, making sure to cut it thin enough.

When the candle clock burns out, I put the cut liver with the teeth into the cauldron and read from the book in the ‘Nim’ <water> language: “fainim, nimalo, num asano riquill, si nimalo riquill, si quillim riquill, si aluwe riquill, asano nia rilasu aluwe rissgeno.”

<life’s water, beauty, I (my) wish remember, the shape remember, the age remember, the skin remember, may you shine forever.>

I weave the ten water mana patterns together into the mimicry of a spell. The liquid turns bright crimson.

Now the snake’s heart… I’m going to mess this up...

Probably… but if I won’t mess up a few times I’ll never learn…

Salik will die if I mess this up, how long does he left? Why did I never calculate it? I can't mess this up!

There are enough magical beasts here, and I can hunt more if I mess it up. I should focus.

I chop the heart into small pieces. Waiting for the red liquid in the cauldron to bubble up and turn purple is a nerve wrecking experience. Even if my hands are busy, my thoughts and anxiety boiling in my head like the cauldron in front of me.

“Shufa know shaman body.” The unfamiliar female orc enters my tent just as I finish butchering the serpent’s heart.

“Um… what?” I ask with confusion.

“Shufa know shaman body.” I back away when she attempts to take my shirt off.

“What are you doing?” I push her away with my bloodied hands.

The two meters tall and muscular orc follows me politely but persistently. “Shufa know shaman body, for prey skin armor!”

Right! She’s going to craft the armor and she wants to take my measurements…

While keeping a close eye on the candle cloak, I endure the orcish woman who wraps a rope around my limbs and body. She takes all of my measurements marking the rope with red.

“Shufa good now. Five moons. Shufa make good skin armor for shaman.”

“Thank you, Shufa,” I smile. Get out already! I have a potion to finish! Couldn’t you find a better time?!

The orc snarls at me and leaves my tent, just in time for the next step.

I spill the minced heart in the cauldron and add one ectoplasm bottle from the Marili serpent. I drop the three poppy flowers and light another candle clock. Now I have to stir the cauldron for three more minutes. Then I chant in ‘Fotyr’ <Fire>: “Vesy ta foltmo, vesy ta nartiumo, serva ek! Nomme chiri, nomme fita, nomme foraev.” <Soul the mighty-of, soul the fallen-of, serve me! Become nourishment, become life, become time.>

A thin trail of blood flows down my nostril. I wipe it carefully and sigh in annoyance.

White smoke comes out of the cauldron, it swirls and forms a vague shape of a snake, before dispersing. The viscous liquid in my cauldron turns pearl white. I've got to focus! I can't let the serpent's heart go to waste. What went wrong last time?

I light a ten minutes candle clock and throw in the basil and guran leaves. I stir the cauldron in a steady circular motion for the duration. This time when I feel discomfort I stop using my hands and take a step back while using 'Minor Telekinesis' to stir. I make sure none of my hair or sweat drop into the pot.

Ten minutes stretches forever, and the intoxicating smell that comes out of my cauldron makes me lightheaded. I bite my tongue in order to focus, and keep at it, trying not to inhale too much of these fumes. Snakes... I want to drink this... Why do I want to drink this? I know what it does and it'll make me depended on it. I don't even need it. Why do I want to drink it?! Focus, can't mess this up!

With a held breath I let the cat eyes drop into the cauldron and chant: “Kalidir! Miltajy se karitsa, miltajy se zilo, miltajy se yats lisuryats. Lu latsa, kagut leyl yan lahi!” <Fate! Ignore this crime, ignore this liquid, ignore this life lifeless. Don’t oppose, shut both eyes (of) yours!>

I weave the eighteen patterns and drain eighty five gems of gravity mana. I hope I made it… I’ll have to rest before the next attempt… Salik don’t have much time…

The potion turns translucent, and the air leaves my lungs in volumes. It’s a success, the snake’s ectoplasm didn’t go to waste after all. I cover the cauldron’s lid. “Nim” <water> I conjure a blob of water and use it to douse flame below my cauldron. I sit and leans my head back as the tension leaves me. I wipe the sweat off my forehead. This was draining, but extremely satisfying.

I wait for a while so the potion can cool off. I spend the time laying on my mattress, reading for fun. Once I believe the potion cooled off, I carefully pour the content into a prepared brass bottle. Although I have more of the liquid left, once someone drinks the dose in the bottle it’d lose its effect.

If I wanted to make multiple potions in one go like the hag, I’d have to put multiple hearts and ectoplasm bottles in the same cauldron, and that would’ve been riskier. Although more efficient since I’d be saving on mana and most of the materials.

I leave the steamy tent. The night’s breeze is cool on my skin. The summer’s heat isn’t as bad at night, which lets everyone around the camp relax from the day. I grin as I head for Salik’s tent. I still can’t believe I succeeded crafting this complex potion on my second try! Either I am a natural at this, or I simply got lucky.

I enter Salik’s tent. “Salik! I…” The words die on my lips. Salik and Zoe are both naked, interlocked in a very compromising position. Zoe?! Didn’t she hate his guts?

Zoe notices my presence and awkwardly tries to push Salik’s head away and cover herself. Salik with his back to me, doesn’t notice or simply doesn’t care.

“Um… sorry.” I leave the tent, trying my very best to forget what I just saw. He’s four times her age… should I intervene?

She can do whatever she wants, it’s not my place to tell her who to sleep with, and this is none of my business…

I head back to my tent, trying to shake off the image. Is this what I worked so hard for? Creating a potion to prolong this old pervert’s life?! Just so he can snake more girls with his extra time?

No, he’s doing a lot more than that, and he’s my right-hand man. He’s allowed to have some fun in his leisure time… But why with Zoe?! Why does it bother me so much?

Probably because he said he wouldn’t want sleep with me a year ago… that I’m not his type…but he’d sleep with Zoe… she’s immature and younger than me… But she looks older… and it’s probably her jugs anyway… Argh I hate this stupid world! Who cares! I want power! Not bigger jugs! And I can have both when I ascend to a mage… It’s not like I can have children, I’m infertile anyway… Just stop thinking about it… I managed to craft that complex glitter potion… Yeah… so that my general can keep having his sex life!

I enter my tent and gasp. A tall naked man stands in the middle, sniffing my cauldron. Aside from his long bright green hair that reaches his waist he does not have a single hair on his dark skin.

What in all the rotten snakes on Lukam is going on?! Is everyone naked today?! Except for Kolag who can never get naked of course… Just my snowy luck! “Who the snake are you?” I demand, not hiding my suspicion and irritation. I do my best not to get distracted by the naked male body in front of me.

He looks at me with a face that is pretty enough to be mistaken for a beautiful girl, the green wavy hair isn't helping, but the body is clearly male, with all the dangling bits. “Hihihihihi” The mysterious man lets out a creepy girly giggle and steps toward me.

“Put something on and tell me who you are!” I demand again and throw him a towel with my mind.

He ignores the towel that hits his hips and lets it fall to the ground, he steps on it as he walks toward me.

I nudge with my crown mana pool. He doesn’t feel like a mage, but there’s a feeling of magic to him He's probably fae... What does he want me? “Hod myrsha.” <Ground pull.> I triple the pull gravity has on him. The spell clearly works, but for some reason that doesn’t seem to bother him at all.

He catches my wrist and puts my palm in his curly green hair all while maintaining a large unnatural smile that stretches all over his face up to his very ears. “Hihihihihi.” He runs out of the tent. My hand stuck to his lush hair, I can’t pull it away. I’m forced to run after him if I don’t want to be dragged on the ground or lose my hand.

*~*~*

Interlude 110.1

Berthold.

Why does he still care what Inara thinks of him, isn't he with Sharla now? He has no chance with Inara and he loves Sharla. Yes. He loves Sharla.

"Hey Berthold~" Sharla's sweet voice makes him jump. Did she read his mind? Can girls read minds? Probably not, but maybe fairies can?

"H-hey Sharla... how are you doing today, my fair fairy?"

The fairy giggles, and the stars in her eyes twinkle. She gives him a light peck on the cheek and whispers in his ear. "Remember what we talked about? The fae monarchs. And please don't mention the Lady of Ventures or any other of the twelve."

Berthold nods. "I remember."

The fairy hums and whispers in his ear, creating the illusion she's whispering sweet nothing to the onlookers. "Hmmmm. If you want to speak with a monarch tonight, you can come with me."

Berthold spots Jerro peeking from the other tent with a pair of brown dead eyes. Berthold grins. It's good he can hurt that death worshiper in some way. "Yeah. I'll come with you."

Sharla clings to him. "So... will you renounce your... mmm Lady?"

"I didn't promise that."

She leans back and traces her slender fingers on his jaw. "No, but my patron will give you a choice. Renounce your Goddess, or leave. I'm warning you ahead of time, we don't want you to walk into that blindly, mmm?"

Berthold smiles. This woman is good for him. He always heard from others how deceptive women are, but Sharla had been nothing but honest with him. "Thank you. Yes. Let's go." He gives one last glance to Jerro and follows Sharla into the forest.

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 91/95 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.

Focus capability: 18 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of glitter.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Glitter ingredients. (1 bag)
Fresh rose petals, 37g
Fresh lavender petals, 7g
1 empty soul bottle. 6.5 Marili Serpent Soul shards. 2 Luard's soul shards. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Salik
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe
Balgrum

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu <Wolf Tongue> 2/10

Injuries and scars:

Curses:

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1156 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 110 in color

Chapter 109 colorless

Chapter 109 The Follies of Pride.

Pride and abundancy is survival biggest enemy.
Pride leads to overconfident and death.
Abundancy leads to complacency and decay.
Do not let your ego be the price of your life.
Do not let your riches be the rot of your family.

Tonisha, the Lady of Ventures.

No! Until this very moment, I didn’t realize how important Balgrum is to me. He isn’t Lezere, but he’s her family, her father. Losing him is almost like losing Lezere all over again.

I stare dumbfounded at the bulge in the snake’s body, hoping for Balgrum to break out of there like the heroes from the stories who tear the monster out from the inside. But the bulge slides down the serpent’s throat. The snake hisses and looks at the orcs from above, letting out its forked tongue to smell the air. Pleased with itself.

*Woooosh!*

An arrow lodges itself in the snake’s violet eye, it goes all the way through, and only the feathers stick out. The serpent stiffens, then collapses with a loud thud. Berthold instinctively fixes another arrow on his string, the expression on his face tells me he’s surprised it was this easy. It’s always like this, want to kill all these scary magical beasts? Hit them in the eye, get to their brains, and they’re done for. Why aren’t the eyes protected by the same magic? Maybe because they aren’t covered in scales? Or maybe because it’s near the mouth that has the opposite effect?

"Balgrum!" I call out and float down near the serpent's dead face. "Get him out of there!" I command the dumbfounded orcs who are still looking at Berthold with awe.

The pair nods and pry the snake's mouth open. I let out a relieved sigh when I spot a movement inside. I push my hand into the mouth. "Take my hand!"

Balgrum's tugs my hand and almost pull me inside the dead beast. He climbs out when of the orcs offer him a second hand. “Graaaaahh! al a’ark oko kreka luska!” <I wolf chief ____ ____!> he yells with open hands, covered in a slimy saliva. The orcs break into a violent laughter, and one of them shows Balgrum the arrow in the serpent’s eye.

The well-built orc looks at the arrow timidly. I never thought I’d see Balgrum uncomfortable about anything, but it looks like anything can happen. He covers his face with both of his hand for a short moment, the motion reminds me of Lezere in a way that makes my heart hurt. While the orcs pushes him around between them and laugh.

I get near Berthold. “Amazing job, Berthold!” I pat on his back. Thank you for making that shot.

Berthold puts the arrow back in his quiver and flexes his muscles in a way that makes me wince and laugh at the same time. “Best archer in the world!” he exclaims. It’s good to have the old Berthold back… the one that’s not afraid of me…

Afraid or not, he is a damn good shot. “Oh, Berthold. Your archery knows no bound! Your arrows are like snakes in my heart! There’s no man I’d rather be with!” I giggle as his face turns red.

“And the maiden's face is a bloody sight again,” he quips.

He has a point… I wipe the blood off my eyes and nose. Casting spells of low affinity elements is a rotten pain, I hoped the necklace would let me bypass the affinity issue...

Balgrum approaches me and Berthold. “Head hunter claims the kill,” he says in Sinteo, gesturing at the snake behind them. The orcs howl, cheer, and circle Berthold, leading him toward the serpents’ corpse.

Agilla stands between the group of orcs and the serpent, her axe drawn. “Kreko a’ari no ria’ari! A’ark oko Ja’ak krek!” <____ weak and coward! Wolf chief ___ hunt!> She exclaims, her voice sounds quite hostile. “Kreka’ak no kolh’ak! Al no kreko!” <battle to death! I and ___!> she declares.

She is issuing a challenge for a duel. I glance at Balgrum, thinking that she’s challenging him for leading the tribe, since she did mention ‘wolf chief’. But soon enough, I notice that the orcs are all glaring at Berthold.

The orcs form a circle, and Balgrum takes my wrist, dragging me to join their circle. That leaves Agilla and Berthold in the middle. Agilla is challenging my hunter to a duel.

“Head hunter, a challenge has been issued for your position as a head hunter of this tribe, fight!” Balgrum declares.

Agilla charges forward, waving her axe at Berthold. Berthold draws his bow to a full moon with a frown, aiming at the charging orc.

I release my hand from Balgrum’s grip and step between the two with my hands aimed to both sides. “Stop!” I can’t let Berthold die here. I am not sure whether I consider him a friend or a subordinate, and it doesn't matter whether he's my pawn or my friend. I can't let my friend die to a stupid orcish duel, and I can't lose my talented pawn for the dumb orcish honor.

Agilla stops her face twisted in a snarl. “Shaman can’t intervene, it’s a battle to death!”

“Yes I can, and I will! I don’t need any of you killing each other over this, and I don’t care who claims the kill. Balgrum can claim it. Berthold doesn’t live by your tribe’s laws, the least you can do is ask if he accepts this challenge or it's not a challenge. I don’t think he even wants this claim, or the hunterhead position. Stop this nonsense at once!”

“Headhunter weak! Agilla take his place,” the orc protests, speaking of herself in third person.

“You can be head hunter then, I never said Berthold is the head hunter,” I say angrily. I’m not letting you kill him over some dubious honor!

“Grrrr, shaman say weak-dog lead hunt. If weak-dog is not head-hunter, why he lead hunt?” Agilla asks she eyes Berthold’s throat and runs her tongue on her sharp teeth.

“Because he knows a lot about magical beasts, about the prey. It’s not about strength, it’s about knowledge and wisdom. He’s smart.” From the corner of my eye I notice Berthold's red face and grin.

“What a smart?” Agilla asks with frown, scratching her head in the definition of idiocy.

“Shuka’a,” Baglrum translates, “A’arj shuka’a.”

“Like old wolf Gorlor?” she asks. “Weak, old, but knows many prey?”

“Yes!” I call out in relief. “I’m bringing him because he knows many prey.”

She puts her axe back in her belt. “Pah. I don’t fight old weak! He no head hunter, I be head hunter!”

“Ok,” I nod. “You’re the head hunter, but he’s still going to help me hunt.”

She snorts and joins the orcs who disperse and surround the massive dead serpent by now.

“I had her, you know!” Berthold says, putting the arrow back in his quiver. “My arrows are faster.”

“You’re both my subordinates, and this is a stupid reason to kill one another.” I reply dryly as I fill my glass bottles with the snake’s ectoplasm. I smile. I just filled seven whole bottles of ectoplasm. I even need to empty one of the bottles with Luard’s soul for this and fill half of the eighth bottle. Six and half ectoplasm bottles for me… that’s a whole lot! It’ll take a while to absorb…

“I’m not afraid of them, and I’m not weak. You don’t have to protect me,” Berthold insists.

I roll my eyes. “I’m all too aware that you can defend yourself, Berthold, but I need your skills to hunt magical beasts, ok? I’m thinking about my own benefits here. And Agilla is a good fighter, I could use her axe to fight for me. Why lose one of you over a dubious honor that doesn’t really matter? Why fight over such a thing? What’s the point?”

“But I’m not weak!”

“I never said you are. I’ve seen you fight a Trinag and attract its attention to you. Agilla would’ve just gotten herself killed in your shoes. I don’t think you’re weak nor a coward. I think you’re brave, but cautious. And if that orc wants to think that you’re weak, let her. Why does it matter what she thinks? The facts are what matters. The facts are that you can handle yourself in a fight, and you don’t take unnecessary risks, which I actually prefer over that reckless group…”

“So you don’t think I’m weak?”

I shake my head. “No. If you were weak you’d still be hiding with your mother and sister in Axero City. Instead, you got out on your own and you’re trying to raise money for their cure. That’s admirable and strong. Not weak. You simply know how to choose your battles, you know which risks to take and which aren’t worth it. Frankly you were right about this serpent. I might’ve been able to take it down eventually if I pushed my magic. But that has a cost, and using it too much might've done permanent damage to myself.” I wipe my nose bleed. I really should not overdo it with elements I’m weaker at… that was what? 1 spell and a few cantrips of light and fire? It’s annoying. I have the mental capability to cast these things, I have the mana with my necklace, but not the physical capability. Why do I always lack at my physical capability?!

“Even the orcs were outmatched, but they seem to like being outmatched,” I finish.

“I…” He stammers as his cheeks flush crimson, and scratches the back of his head awkwardly. He alternates between looking at me and averting his gaze. “What we had back at Numilla… I… I snowed it up, didn’t I? Did you really had feelings for me back then?”

I can feel the heat on my face. “No… I was just in a very bad place. I felt too lonely, and you were there. Not my proudest moment. It wasn’t fair to you, and I’m sorry for hurting you.”

He nods, biting his lower lip, then goes toward the gigantic dead snake.

I sigh. Not going to lie to him. Enough. Let’s bring this snake back to camp, I need the heart for Salik’s potion, and I want to make an armor from its skin.

This skin isn’t iron, and an armor capable of repelling incoming attacks while not hindering my magic would be invaluable to me. As for the soul of the snake, I have to use one ectoplasm bottle and the heart for an attempt at making glitter. But the rest of the soul is mine to consume, and this snake has plenty of meat to offer.

“Why does Salik needs these potions anyway?” Berthold asks as we help tie the snake up for dragging.

“It’s not my secret to tell, ask him…” I reply quietly.

He throws the rope over the snake. “Oh come on! I killed the damn thing, I deserve to know that much!”

I sigh and choose my words in a way that won’t give away too much. “He’s got a health condition, this potion will fix it. He needs to take one every month, and the main ingredient is a heart of a heavy magical beast… Does that satisfy your curiosity?” I push the rope under the snake as a pair of orcs lift it. Other orcs spread around the snake's long body to tie it up in groups of four.

Berthold tugs the rope from the other side. “What health condition?”

“Berthold… it’s his health condition, not mine. Go ask him yourself!” Why do you have to be so annoying about it? At least he’s no longer scared of me…

“He won’t find out that you told me.” He throws the rope over the snake again.

“I don’t care if he finds out. It’s common decency to respect his privacy.” It just feels wrong to talk about it…

“You owe me one!” he shouts from behind the snake.

I roll my eyes and push the rope under the snake again. “Fair. I do owe you one. Now, do you really want to waste a favor from me to learn something that won’t help you in any real way?”

He tugs the rope. “Now that you put it like that, I guess you have a point. I’m keeping that favor though!”

“Sure.” I chuckle.

I watch as the orcs put on the ground wooden logs they’ve just chopped. They drag the snake on the logs using ropes to roll it over. It’s dusk when we finally arrive at our camp near the forest. Fatigued and covered in sweat.

*~*~*

Interlude 109.1

Salik.

"Did you think about it? About us?" Zoe enters his tent dressed like a zephyr. Her skirt barely covers her knees, and the low cleavage shows plenty of her ample chest. She definitely did something to her hair, gods help him if he knows what women do to their hair to make it look like that. Of course, he knows that if he confronts her about it she'll fault the heat or say that she dressed like that for herself.

But Salik is no fool, he knows she dressed like that to seduce him, and fates help him, it might work. Salik sighs, trying to look into her eyes instead of the valley between her breasts. "Listen, Tulips. I only like you because you look like a woman I loved once." That'll send her away, women like to feel special for their man in their own right, they don't like being a replacement for another woman.

"So you finally admit that you like me?" The girl preens at him, brown eyes sparkling.

Salik gulps and tries again. "I loved a woman once. You look a lot like her."

She draws closer and Salik takes a step back. "Huh huh."

"Listen, Tulips, it's not like..." He doesn't finish that sentence, her lips meet his and he can't help but return the kiss, embracing her. What is he doing?!

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 91/95 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.

Focus capability: 18 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Glitter ingredients. (1 bag)
Fresh rose petals, 37g
Fresh lavender petals, 7g
7.5 Marili Serpent Soul shards. 2 Luard's soul shards. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Salik
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe
Balgrum

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu <Wolf Tongue> 2/10

Injuries and scars: Nosebleed.

Curses:

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1156 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 109 in color

Chapter 108 colorless

Chapter 108 On to a New Adventure.

A beast with nature’s blessings.
A man with nurture’s tools.
Who will survive? Who shall prevail?
It is only a matter of time and experience.
And many to pave the road forward.

Tonisha, the Lady of Ventures.

{28} Amaret (July) the 6th

The sun is high in the sky, and the summer's heat is unbearable. This island is the warmest place I’ve ever been to in my life. My skin burns under this merciless sun and I seriously consider traveling with a hood despite the heat. The road is rather empty, flanked only by some dry grass and the occasional tree, but no monsters or bandits hinder our way. Although, most of my entourage wearily eye the forest to our right.

The wide river to our left shimmer in the sunlight. The currents seem slow, and if not for the male presence in our group, I would’ve taken a skinny dip to shake off this heat.

I ride on Loyal’s tall back as we set out on the road leading south. Looking down from the tall horse, I feel like a giantess. Everyone else suddenly look so short, I’m too used to being the shortest person in the room.

Loyal refuses to let me put a saddle or saddlebags, and the adhesive effect of his skin keeps me stable instead. I’m surprised to find out that there is no sticky liquids or anything gross involve, the horse’s skin just magically attaches to anything that touches it. The normally wide back also morph in an odd way to support my legs, saving me the pain after normal horse riding.

Loyal seem to be controlling it, and when I want to get off his back, his skin is no longer attached to me. His mane is rich and curly, and it’s very comfortable to put my hands inside it or hold onto. I know that he’s a magical beast now and no longer a normal horse. It’s nice to have my own magical beast, I still have no idea why he’s so loyal to me, but it doesn’t matter.

We are a pretty large party. Salik with an entourage of his soldiers. Balgrum and a group of his orcs. They heard I planned to hunt magical beasts on the way, and couldn’t pass on the opportunity to join my hunt. Ryon comes along because of Agilla, his orcish girlfriend. Jerro, Sharla, Zoe, and of course, Berthold, the hunt depends on him after all.

The only person of my original group that stays back in Red Cedar city is Kolag. He claims that someone has to watch the city, and he can’t leave his newly trained knights without their leader. As much as I want him to come with me, I can’t object. Even if we left our disagreement partially unsolved, I trust him. I need someone I can trust to keep my home turf safe, just in case some of these so called “sorcerers” comes along and stir some trouble in my absence. If anyone can put down a mage apprentice going wild, it’s Kolag.

In the afternoon, we make camp. I join Berthold and the orcs on the hunt for magical beasts. In the first few days, we only find small creatures, rarely magical. I use their souls for Zoe’s meditations. The orcs don’t want to hunt them, and they’re pretty upset when I have Berthold shoot them anyway. But the orcs calm down when they realize I don’t bother eating any of these small animals myself.

Three days later we finally encounter our first real prey.

{28} Amaret (July) the 9th

“Berthold…”

“Y-yes, My Queen?”

I sigh. “There’s nothing I can say that will stop you from being afraid of me, is there?”

“Ah… I’m not afraid?”

“You’ve been avoiding me like wildfire, you stutter when I ask you questions, and you’re jumpy. I don’t see you being so jumpy near Salik or Zoe.” I comment.

“Aheem… hehe… I…” He scratches his nape, shifting awkwardly.

“Just out with it. There’s nothing you can say that’ll make me hurt you, Berthold. You can hate me and say it. I’m ok if you hate me, I mean… I did introduce you to the Maven, I shouldn’t have…”

“That? That was the best thing that ever happened to me! I… I’m sorry… he told you, didn’t he? This is why you two are fighting…”

“Who?”

“Kolag…”

I raise an eyebrow. “Told me what? That he’s a paladin of Noxi now? Yes. What does it have to do with you?”

He coughs, nearly choking. “Nothing… nothing… ahem…” He recovers and plays with his recurved bow. “Ok, yeah, you’re scaring me sometimes. And that war… I’ve never seen so many people die before, not even when a monster destroyed half a village. I’ve been thinking if that war was really worth it… why were we even fighting that other sorceress to begin with?”

“Because she attacked. Because I have a task from the Maven to rule over a number of subjects. And she attacked those subjects. It was a defensive war, we didn’t invade or provoke anyone. She attacked based on a personal misguided vendetta. I tried talking her out of it, Kolag tried talking her out of it. We both knew her… once. It didn’t work. Bad things just happen sometimes. We can only do our best and stop worrying about the rest.”

“I hear you… I… I saw you fighting… I saw you take out that archer who shot you… I always thought I could take you out if I get the drop on you… but… I saw that and…”

I roll my eyes. “And? I’m more deadly than you in a direct confrontation. Does that mean you have to fear me? Kolag is more deadly than you too. And I assume Salik can probably take you out as well even with a missing hand. Maybe not in an archery contest, but any other way, he could. I don’t see you stammering around them. How is my magic any different? Why is magic different than a sword?”

He fidgets in place. “I… I know. But a sword I’d at least see coming. You can summon anything with a flicker of your fingers…”

I tuck my hair out of my face. This is starting to get annoying… “Not accurate, not anything, there are some hard limits on magic. And you won’t see an arrow to your back either. It’s…”

“Prey ahead, headhunter!” Agilla interrupts our conversation with a loud whisper, the rest of the orcs are already crouching or hiding behind trees. In the clearing, there’s a massive black snake, half wrapped around a thick tree. From the size of it, I imagine I can easily stand inside its mouth.

“We will avoid this snake, it’s too dangerous,” Berthold declares.

“Dangerous prey is a worthy prey!” Balgrum exclaims and the rest of the orcs growl in agreement.

“Headhunter afraid?” Agilla asks with a sneer.

“What’s a headhunter? And yes I’m afraid, you should be too. That’s a Marili serpent, see the shine of its scales? That pattern? The glow of its eyes? It’s magical, my arrows can’t even touch it unless I somehow hit its eyes or mouth. The snake can suck you into its mouth with just a look. Its venom will kill you within two minutes, if the snake won’t swallow you whole before the venom does its work. I’m not getting close to that thing!”

“Oko, ti-a’ark krashi kreko kreknokreoak.” <Chief, we wolves ___ ___ meatforjaws (bait)> Agilla says to Balgrum in orcish, the rest of the orcs bark and laugh.

The noise of the orcs’ laughter makes the serpent’s head shift in our direction. It slithers our way, keeping its gigantic head low.

“A’ark!” <Wolf!> Balgrum shouts. As if on cue the orcs unsheathe their weapons. “Krekolak goa’ar! Krek goa’ar! la’aoko wuala’ak! Ti-a’ark!” <Death ___! Prey ___! Bonechieftess _____! We wolves!>

“Ti-a’ark!” <We wolves!> The orcs howl and charge toward the gigantic snake, spreading out to avoid being targeted as a group.

They stay in pairs, circling the snake. The first pair makes noise by shouting and smacking their axes against their shields. The snake hisses and looks at them. The pair backs off and hides behind the trees. Another pair makes the same noises from behind the snake.

As the snake turns sharply, the five other pairs of orcs throw their spears at it.

I expect the ten spears to hit the snake. But when they are about to hit its black scales, the violet patterns on the snake’s skin give out a dark purplish flash and the spears get blown away, almost as if they were all hit by my ‘Repulse’ cantrip.

The snake whips around and opens its mouth, exposing a pair of giant yellowish fangs. *Woooooom* An orc gets pulled toward the snake’s mouth, helplessly held in midair.

“Ti-a’ark!” she screams, waving her axe violently in the air in the direction of the snake.

The snake lunches forward, snatching the floating orc from the air, her screams turn from daring to painful.

Another hail of spears is thrown at the snake from all directions, but like the first hail, the spears simply get repulsed. The snake shakes its head violently, and throws the wounded orc to the side. She hits a tree with a loud thud, and drops to the ground, void of life.

If I expected this would damage the orcs’ morale, I am mistaken, it’s quite the opposite. Their morale flares up, now they’re all banging their shields and shouting. “Ti-a’ark! Ti-a’ark! Ti-a’ark! Ti-a’ark!”

*Hssssssssss!* The snake shifts its head swiftly, looking everywhere with its glowing purple eyes as if it's trying to get a full view of its surroundings or count the number of orcs. The orcs charge in. They wave their axes and spears, hacking at the snake’s scaly body.

When their weapons are about to hit, the orcs get thrown back. They fall to the ground, rolling and snarling. The “Repulse” magic on the snake’s scales is much stronger than my cantrip if it managed to send a group of orcs flying.

This snake is obviously using gravity magic, and the weakness of gravity magic is energy-based magic, fire, electricity, and maybe wind… making myself weightless will also give me a huge advantage…

I take out a handful of rose petals and move my fingers in the right gestures for a ‘Weightless Body’ spell. “Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Lu myrsha ni kull lah! Nia wuan nalahi myrsha!” <Gravity, I command you! Do not pull me onto you! I am free from your reign!> Purple smoke form around my hand, and a small violet speck of light circles me rapidly.

“Felul” <Wind> I fly up, reaching the height of the tree tops. The snake is too busy with the orcs to notice my actions. It lifts another orc with its magic, bites him, and sends him flying like the first orc.

I fly above the snake, reaching for some of the lavender petals from my belt. A few petals slip from my hand and floats down, scent of lavender enter my nostrils as I chant. “Reviss! Rit at kas tak! Kas at oarofisia!” <Energy! This thing needs you! Feed thing with your might!>

A yellow speck of light leaves the cloud of yellowish smoke and circles my wrists. Electricity comes out of my hands, and since the snake is higher than the rest of the orcs, the electricity gets attracted to it.

I am correct in my assumption that its scales cannot repulse energy. The electricity flows through the snake’s body sending white sparkles all over its dark scales. The massive snake spasms, squirming under my ‘Electric Channel’ spell. I keep channeling light mana from my necklace in order to keep the creature paralyzed, and do my best to ignore the headache that forms in my temples.

The orcs howl and cheer happily. They stand in a circle around the electrocuted snake, beating their axes against their shields. A loud chant comes out from the wild tribal group. “Potasi! Potasi! Potasi! Krek luska potasi!” <___! ___! ___! prey ___ ___!>

The serpent wiggle and shrinks downward, moving lower and lower, closer to the ground. It places its head in the middle of its body in a protective manner, then raises its head toward me from amidst the glowing dark scales and:

*Wooooom*

I laugh as its power has no effect. Electricity still sparking out of my fingertips.

My headache intensifies, there’s a limit to how long I can keep a light spell going with low affinity apparently. But this is my only strong long ranged spell that’s based on energy. I ignore the blood that's coming out of my nose, I ignore the patterns slipping away from my grasp, I have to maintain this spell until it kills that thing.

My spell winks out of existence after a few seconds of channeling, and my vision blurs when one of my patterns slips. A blast of blue light blinds me entirely.

If I die to my own spell it defeats the purpose!

My vision returns just when the snake's head launches itself toward me. “Felul!!!” <Wind!!!> I scream at the last moment and direct the wind to push me upward and away from the massive jaw.

I pant higher up above, and wipe the blood from my face. Warm sticky tears flow down my cheeks, my eyes are bleeding too. Using low affinity element is way too risky… what if I passed out? Or worse? I’ll have to limit it to weak cantrips now…

“Fotyr folo!” <Fire fly!> “Felul felik” <Wind airblade!> I start a small bombardment of ‘Fireflies’ and ‘Wind Blades’, staying out of the range of the snake’s pounce. Its scales doesn’t repulse these cantrips, but my ‘Wind Blades’ and ‘Fireflies’ can’t penetrate its skin either, and aside from small scorch marks or cuts they don’t do much.

I weave a 'Firefly' with amplifying patterns. “Fotyr folo!” <Firefly!> the normally thin fiery arrow, is now hotter, thicker, and the flames burn brighter. The arrow lunches itself into the snake’s side, and the creature wriggles with a sharp hiss. It hurt it, but the wound that's left behind barely removed a single scale and scorched a little of the flesh underneath. This is useless… snakes!

“Shaman! Let me!” Balgrum shouts from below.

“Go ahead, Balgrum!” I shout massaging my aching head between my eyebrows. Even if I do have the mana to spare, weaving so many patterns of low affinity elements is harsh. It’s like my mind can’t comprehend them as well as gravity or water patterns. At least wind is somewhat ok. It still doesn’t hurt to know these spells… they’re useful and I can remember them all… Gravity magic wouldn’t help me here… fire and light do… I just have to limit myself to low amounts of patterns and I’ll be fine.

Balgrum takes a spear from another orc and steps forward. “A’ark! A’ark!” <Wolf! Wolf!> He shouts toward the wounded snake. The snake hisses and turns to face Balgrum. “Luska nh’al a’ark oko krek!” <___ ___ wolf chief prey> Balgrum declares and the other orcs step back, hiding behind the trees.

The snake hisses and raises its head, looking down at Balgrum. Balgrum growls in response, raising his shield and spear.

The serpent opens its mouth and *Woooooom* Balgrum gets dragged by the gravitational pull toward the large cave-like maw. I hold my breath when the snake pounces to bite him.

Balgrum fixes his spear forward and the snake, and the beast impales its mouth on the spear.

The orcs cheer and howl as the snake moves back, shaking its head violently. The spear still stuck in its mouth with Balgrum who keeps holding onto it. When the snake stops waving its head, Balgrum climbs into its mouth, fixing the spear in a way that holds the snake’s jaws open. He holds onto his spear and hack at the snake’s fang with his axe.

*Crack!* The snake forcefully closes its jaws, breaking the spear. Balgrum disappears, his body creating a bulge in the snake’s throat.

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 91/95 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.

Focus capability: 18 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Glitter ingredients. (1 bag)
Fresh rose petals, 37g
Fresh lavender petals, 7g
7 empty soul bottles. 3 Luard's soul shards. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Salik
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu <Wolf Tongue> 2/10

Injuries and scars: Nosebleed.

Curses:

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1156 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 108 in color

Chapter 107 colorless

Chapter 107 The Matters of the Heart.

Survival is the only justification you’ll ever need.

Tonisha, the Lady of Ventures.

{28} Tonisha (June) the 30th.

I head down to my garden to restock on flowers and spell materials. I also need to collect other ingredients for the glitter potion recipe, such as basil leaves, bell flowers, and poppy flowers.

The old gardener limps near the rose bushes, carefully pruning to make sure the flowers won't grow into the pathways.

"Tiom?"

"Ah. It is you, young lady. I thought you might've died during the fighting. I'm happy to see you alive."

Is he that disconnected from the world? "I need some ingredients. Poppy flowers. Bell flowers. Basil leaves. Guran leaves... not sure what Guran leaves are. Never heard of them. And onion roots. What do we have from that?"

"We have a little bit of poppy. You may use it to cast fire spells instead of hibiscus, quite a potent flower that one. We do not have bell flowers, but they're quite common in Tolste's Rest Forest in the south. I do have basil and guran. Hm? Never seen a guran? Here, this is guran, let me show you." He motions me to follow him to the small patch of odd flowers that are used for cooking herbs and points at odd tringle leaves. "It is very similar to mint. Unlike mint, it is poisonous. Like almonds, it may kill a person if consumed in large amounts. In small amounts they're considered to be a delicacy."

"I see. Mind cutting some of them for me? I need them for a potion."

"Hmmmhmmmm... Of course, young lady." He crouches and carefully cut the leaves. I fold my hands and watch him work silently.

"Is the potion a gift for the Lord Gemhand?" he asks as he moves to the basil.

"Lord Gemhand? Why?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Ah... you did not plan a welcome party for him? He just got back to the city from his vacation."

I frown. Just got back to the city... that means he avoided the city during the war... but how did he know about the war? By the time it became public knowledge everything was already closed down, he wouldn't have been able to leave... That means he knew about it beforehand...

Why does it matter to me? He had his informants and left before a storm hit, nothing's wrong with that...

But why does Tiom tell me about it? Something's off... "Any particular reason you mention the Lord Gemhand?" I ask as I push the pleasantly smelling herbs into my belt pouch.

"No reason, young lady." He turns to the poppies and carefully cut ten red flowers for me.

Another guy with riddles... I'm so tired of riddles... I'll have Marasi look into Gemhand... "Thank you. I'll need some flowers for spells too. Got onion in there?"

"You can find onions in the kitchen, young lady. Let me get you some roses and lavenders."

*

After receiving enough onion roots from Marasi I ask. "Do you have any idea how Lord Gemhand knew when to leave this city?" I look around the empty kitchen, the maids all left the place at my order.

The elflings smokes a tiny pipe. He's seated on a shelf, his legs dangling below. "Hm? Gemhand does business. Probably heard the armies south were buying lots of grain."

Makes sense... but another pointless pursuit. "Look into it for me." I'm not even sure he's going to find anything. Tiom could just be making random remarks...

"Will do, Majesty. Anything else you might need?"

I fold my hands. "Yes. What's the situation in Apricot City and Green Pear City? We brought them under our rule. Did you or anyone sent someone over there?"

"Yeah, sure. They're rolling the violet carpet for you."

I very much doubt that. But at least they're ready to see me... I roll my eyes. "That'll be all. I'll leave you to it..."

*

{28} Amaret (July) the 5th

Salik and Berthold are finally back with the rest of the ingredients, and without further ado I head for my alchemy lab with Salik at my heels.

I fix the materials around my cauldron. My one handed general watches silently, he uses his bronze hook to pull strands out of his straw hat.

"Anfero." <Ignite.> I light up my candles and read my list of alchemical components one last time, just to make sure everything is here.

A single bottle of human ectoplasm, and a human heart from the same human.
Five wolf teeth, and a wolf’s liver from the same wolf.
Two cat eyes from the same cat.
Two guran leaves.
Three poppy flowers.
Five basil leaves.
A single bellflower.
A single onion root.
Honey.

I wince at Luard's heart on the desk. This is just wrong! But I have to use it. I know I won't succeed on my first attempt. This potion is way harder to make than a 'Lesser Healing' potion.

Snakes... I hate the hag for this... What if I actually succeed? Then I'll throw the damn thing away... No. I'll need it as a backup in case I won't get other souls for Salik...

At this rate, all of my moral dilemmas and internal conflicts will distract me and ruin the potion. I cannot afford distractions, Salik's life is on the line!

Snake this! I make sure the cauldron is filled with water, then put ten spoons of honey in it. "Anfero." <Ignite.> I use a duplicating patter to light both the firewood in the stove and a fifteen minutes candle clock.

I spend the next fifteen minutes cutting onion roots while Salik leans on the wall at my right, watching silently.

Once fifteen minutes have passed, it’s time to add more ingredients. I add the onion root and bellflower, and chant the ‘Rod’e’ <Wood> words straight from the book: “Si to fullnokta xnaul si xa.” <This one wishes to bless the water.> as I weave four wood patterns, green smoke comes out of the cauldron.

When the smoke clears, the golden steaming content of the cauldron turns greenish-blue. “Anfero” <ignite> I light up the five minutes candle clock and turn to chop the wolf’s liver with a cleaver. Cutting the cold wolf’s liver is a bloody work. Eight years ago—before I lost my comfortable life at my father's castle—I would have an upset stomach from this alone, but I’ve seen much worse since then.

When the candle clock burns out, I put the cut liver with the teeth into the cauldron and read from the book in the ‘Nim’ <Water> language: “fainim, nimalo, num asano riquill, si nimalo riquill, si quillim riquill, si aluwe riquill, asano nia rilasu aluwe rissgeno.” <Life’s water, beauty, I (my) wish remember, the shape remember, the age remember, the skin remember, may you shine forever.>

I weave a set of ten complex water mana patterns, this feels like casting a first level spell, only there’s no elemental summoning or gestures. The cauldron fills the lab with blue and orange smoke that makes me cough violently.

"You ok, kid?" Salik waves his straw hat in order to disperse the colorful smoke.

"Felul." <Wind.> My 'Breeze' cantrip makes his effort seem comical. "I'm fine," I say dryly, glancing into the cauldron. The potion turns deep red, letting out large bubbles with pieces of the wolf’s liver floating inside.

Great... it's a failure. At least I didn't waste Luard's heart yet... I wish I did... I might just get my wish soon, probably at the expense of Salik's life.

I empty and wash the cauldron, then start over.

"Are you sure you can do this, kid?" Salik looks inside my cauldron and the liquid that just turned into an aquamarine color.

"No. I'm not sure I can do this. I have to figure it out. I'm trying. I should've tried sooner, but it wasn't on my mind with the war and everything..."

"If you need a break..."

I cut him off sharply. "I'll take a break when I need it." Why is he here? I need to concentrate!

"Ok. Maybe you should try cutting that liver thinner? I never felt anything solid in the glitter," he notes.

I nod and cut the wolf's liver thinner. After the chant, the liquid in the cauldron turns bright crimson with no sign of liver parts inside. Cut the liver thinner, noted.

I light a new twenty minutes clock, and eye Luard's heart with a pounding in my own heart. I can't do this... I have to! But... But Salik will die if I won't! I have less than a month to get him this potion, if I won't do it, he'll die, plain and simple. I cannot afford to be squeamish about it.

I pick the heart with a shaky hand, it's still fresh and even bleeding due to effect of my belt. I cut it up, make sure to mince it into tiny bloody pieces. After five minutes it's an unrecognizable gory mesh. It's wrong! It's survival! Salik's survival. Do I want him to die? But it's just wrong!

The candle clock winks out, and I drop the thinly cut heart into the cauldron. I take out another soul bottle of Luard's, and spill the ectoplasm into the pot. I stir the cauldron for three more minutes, trying my best to ignore the beads of sweat on my skin. I then chant: “Vesy ta foltmo, vesy ta nartiumo, serva ek! Nomme chiri, nomme fita, nomme foraev.” <Soul the mighty-of, soul the fallen-of, serve me! Become nourishment, become life, become time.>

I supply most of the mana from my necklace for this spell. This is a sixteen pattern fire weave, I simply don’t have the sixty five fire gems of mana this spell requires. It requires all of my concentration, and the pounding in my head is alarming. At least it’s not a channel spell, I don’t have to hold these patterns together for long.

I can cast this in safe environment maybe, but in a battlefield, a fire spell of this many patterns would be impossible for me. The most I can manage for now is the eight pattern 'Electric Channel' spell, and I have slightly more affinity for light than I do for fire. I should really learn more proper gravity spells instead…

White smoke comes out of the cauldron. The smoke swirls and takes the vague shape of Luard's face. His face contorts as if he's shrieking at me, but there's no noise. The wordless scream makes me back off in alarm. The smoke disperses and I let out a relieved sigh. The viscous liquid in my cauldron turns pearl white.

One more spell and it’s done! If I get it right. We'll have this potion... and... Don't think about it, just focus!

"Woah. Was that a ghost?" Salik's voice is fascinated rather than terrified.

The hot temperatures and the steam from the cauldron covers my body with sweat. I wince, wipe my forehead, and clean my hand on my skirt as I reply. "A shard of a soul. Ghosts are a type of undead as far as I know." I light a ten minutes candle clock and throw in the basil and guran leaves. I then stir the cauldron in a steady circular motion.

"I appreciate what you're doing for me, kid. I know it's not easy." Salik voice is low, almost whispering.

I sigh. "Yeah... I'd rather not see you dead, old man."

"We're leaving for Apricot city soon?" he asks.

I lean back from the cauldron and continue to stir, I'm way too afraid of my sweat dropping into the mix. Leaning back makes stirring very uncomfortable. "As soon as everyone are ready. According to Marasi they're waiting for me with a violet carpet..."

"I very much doubt that, kid."

"Yeah. Me too... Mind wiping my forehead? If my sweat drop into the cauldron this potion is useless. Make sure you don't drop any of my hair into the cauldron, it's the same thing as my sweat."

He wipes the sweat off my forehead with a handkerchief, allowing me to lean back over the cauldron as I stir. "This is more complicated than I expected," he says quietly. "Will you have to do it every month?"

"No. I'll make you a large batch once we get enough soul shards and magical beasts hearts."

The liquid is thick and viscous, stirring it takes more effort than I expect. By the time ten minutes are over my arms and back are sore. I'm a fool, should've asked Salik to stir it... Why do I make myself do everything?!

The smell that comes out of the liquid is intoxicating. I recognize the smell of ectoplasm, but this is better. Almost as if I just distilled the ectoplasm and turned it into an alcoholic beverage.

It’s finally the time to finish this potion. I throw in the cat eyes and chant in ‘Myrsha’ <Gravity> “Kalidir! Miltajy se karitsa, miltajy se zilo, miltajy se yats lisuryats. Lu latsa, kagut leyl yan lahi!” <Fate! Ignore this crime, ignore this liquid, ignore this life lifeless. Don’t oppose, shut both eyes (of) yours!>

I weave the eighteen patterns and drain eighty five gems of gravity mana.

The potion turns from pearly white into an ivory color, the liquid turns thicker, almost like a stew. I let out a sigh, I'm not sure whether I'm relieved at my failure or disappointed by it. "Failed," I announce as I turn to Salik.

Salik nods and his shoulders slump when the tension leaves them. "We'll get magical beasts souls then... Don't worry about it, kid. It'll be fine."

"It's me who should tell you not to worry," I note with a wince.

He chuckles and starts to clean the mess I made in the small lab. "Nah. I'm not worried. I lived a good life. If I die, it's the people who cares about me that'll be hurt... and you care, so thank you."

Why do I care? Why do I let myself care? People die... why the hell should I care?! I don't care! I don't! ugh! "Salik..."

"Yes, kid?"

"You're not allowed to die on us."

*~*~*

Interlude 107.1

Berthold.

Berthold lays on his back and watches the naked fairy stretching like a cat besides him. He loves this woman. Tonight is the best night of his life, they never did it this many times before.

The woman he loves curls up against him and traces a long finger on his chest. "Would you like to make a pact with a fae monarch, Sunayaknash? And please don't mention the Lady of Venture's name again."

He wraps his hand around the small of her back. "Why? What's wrong with my goddess' name?"

She leans up, and her starry blue eyes look directly into his, or at least Berthold thinks she looks into his eyes, there's no telling without a pupil. "Just don't do it near me," she says. "Mentioning a goddess' name will attract her attention, and let's just say that the Lady of Ventures and the fae aren't on good terms."

"Why?"

"No idea. Way before my time. But she makes her mortal worshipers hunt us like animals. If you want to make a pact with a fae monarch, you'll have to denounce your faith in her. The other fae probably avoided you because of whom you worship. We can feel things like that. Once you make a pact with a monarch, you'll be able to talk with many of the fae."

Denouncing his goddess. Berthold never held strong feelings for Tonisha, she was just... there? But denouncing his goddess feels like a bad omen. It'll let him see more fairies! He's already beloved by the fairies, even while worshiping a goddess they all hate. Imagine what it'd be like if he abandons that goddess?

Why does it feel so wrong? "Are fae monarchs like gods?"

"No. They're... different. They don't tell you what's right or wrong like gods. You don't have to act in a certain way. You do have to make an offering every once in a while. And at times they'll ask things of you, but it rarely happens."

"What kind of offerings?"

"It depends on the monarch in question. I follow the Queen of Nothing. She likes bones and teeth of magical beasts, mainly those of gravity alignment. In return she helps me hide when I turn invisible and empowers my shapeshifting abilities. I'm not sure what will she do for a human, but you do not have to follow my monarch."

"I'll... I'll think about it, Sharlafyn."

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 91/95 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.

Focus capability: 18 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Glitter ingredients. (1 bag)
Fresh rose petals, 40g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
7 empty soul bottles. 3 Luard's soul shards. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Salik
Kolag of House Befar
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars:

Curses:

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1158 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 107 in color

Chapter 106 colorless

Author notes:

This chapter is dedicated to Papa Legba for various edit suggestions and grammar fixes.

Thank you! <3

Chapter 106 Recovery.

Don’t love someone for how you want them to be.
Love them for who they are.
Or don’t love them at all.

Koshavi, the Princess of Dreams.

I spend the next week suffering, tying and untying myself while controlling my hands and ropes with my mind. I hope things will go back to normal, but they do not. I can barely feel the upper part of my arm after that week, and I know it’s going to take even longer until I regain full control over my hands.

The semi meditation doesn’t eliminate my need for food or toilet like middle meditation does. Which only makes my life harder. Zoe have to help with every basic need. Having another person wipe my butt is the most shameful thing I've ever had to deal with. And every time my spoon falls when I lose concentration over my 'Minor Telekinesis', Zoe has to clean my chin and clothes. I feel like a baby that needs to be taken care of, and I hate every single moment of it.

I could take the easy way like Balgrum wanted, and eat human meat. I still have Luard’s heart in my belt. But the easy way got me here in the first place. That will not happen.

Stubbornly, I push on, performing as many tasks as I can with my mind and the ‘Minor Telekinesis’ cantrip instead of my hands. Shame is a powerful motivation, and I improve my fine control over the ‘Minor Telekinesis’ cantrip. After a few days of being forced to use this cantrip for my basic needs, I can move even the smallest and lightest of objects in the most accurate ways.

After two weeks. I can even tie my hair up with my mind, or move single hairs at will. This is something I believed to be impossible until now.

After five more weeks of a living hell, I get control back to my arms and wrists. My palms are still being moved by Luard’s dying ghost, but I can assume my meditation pose to speed my progress. Two more days of meditation, and I finally get full control over my body. My broken hand is also back to normal by now. I’m fortunate that Luard’s erratic movements didn’t damage my hand or the healing process. I have to thank Jolla for that.

The long weeks of torment pay off. Along with the full control of my body, I fully strengthen and connect my gravity mana pool to the other nine pools, I even make a little progress in connecting my water mana pool.

I know that without Luard’s soul it’d take me much longer to do this. The benefits his souls offers are there, but I can’t get to them easily. I can't lose my humanity and my sanity.

*

{28} Tonisha (June) the 29th.

I get up from my meditation pillow. Finally free! I feel like dancing! Now if only I could heal my face, life would be perfect!

Maybe I can. Let's see...

I float my grimoire to my hands and flip pages with my mind. I find the spell and attempt to practice pattern control. After a quick attempt, I manage to maintain 18 patterns. Yes! Finally!!!

I go over to the mirror, take my mask off, and look at my mutilated face. I can finally heal this. Let’s do it!

I throw myself at practicing the spell that heals skin. Putting in a few hours of practice. I only attempt to cast the spell when my mana is topped. By evening, I manage to make it work after multiple attempts.

“Fai. Nim. Oue-rissu nirissu asuli fenu, oue nimfai rialuwe, fainim. Nimakee ni rilaluwe, akeloki si ril. Asano si aluwe nufilata.”

<Life. Water. Here’s a flect bending flower. Here’s a fish scale, blood. Caress my broken skin, smooth the edge. May the skin flourish.>

With an enormous mana drain, a pair of elementals show in red and blue clouds of smoke. Both of them are female this time, and both at least ten centimeter tall.

The scarlet elemental looks like blood is constantly flows down her voluptuous body, covering most of her features. Underneath the flowing blood I note an odd ruby crystalline one piece clothing that covers her abdomen from her breasts to her hips. Her long flowing hair is a waterfall of crimson, and her buzzing wing juts out from underneath it.

The azure elemental is a stark contrast for her friend. Her white hair is kept short, but puffs in all direction like the fluff of a cloud. Her figure isn't as provocative as her friend either, barely showing any curves. She wears a purple sleeveless dress made out of flower petals that reaches all the way down to her aquamarine ankles. Her wings flap lazily, slow enough for me to see the wing that would normally belong to a bee.

I hold my hand above my face and the pair circle my wrist. At first in in their full form, and then they both turn into specks of blue and red lights. I move my hand all over my face and chest, making sure not a single piece of damaged skin is left untouched.

Only then do I let the spell go, and the elementals disappear. I’m left drained of my entire mana and anemic due to the blood loss of all my failed attempts.

I sigh, taking a deep breath. The edges of my vision darkens, and everything seems colorless. Is it mana that makes everything more vivid and I got used to it? Or the lack of mana that put some weird strain on my eyes?

I get up and take a look in the mirror. I can’t help but smile in satisfaction at what I see. My face is back and my upper chest are back to normal. I notice I missed a few small spots of chain in my shoulder, but it doesn’t look as bad. It’s something I can fix later.

I grin, get dressed, and put my mask back on. “Zoe?” I ring my bell.

“She’s not here, Your Grace.” Another young maid enters my room at my call. “She’s meditating.”

“I see. Can you call Kolag for me?”

“Right away, Your Grace.” The maid runs along.

It takes an hour, and my excitement slowly dies out. I go back to a meditative state while waiting.

Kolag finally shows on my door step. “Inara? Anything we need to discuss?” he asks after closing the door behind him.

“Take off my mask…” I say in our native tongue, still sitting in my meditative pose.

“Why?” I can tell he’s frowning behind his metallic helmet.

“Just… Do it.”

He takes off my mask carefully, and I can’t help but giggle, giddy like a little girl. “All back to normal! My ribs and hand are healed too. Also, Luard is finally out of my system!” I exclaim excitedly.

“I… you did not eat his flesh, did you?”

Really?! “Of course not. I waited to absorb him slowly. Does the bucket on your face makes you blind?”

He lets out a sigh of relief. “I’m happy for you.” He tugs me into a hug.

I break the hug and arch, facing him with my hands on his metallic chest. “What’s wrong?”

“I…” He lets me go and takes a step back. “Noxi… my god… had answered my prayers… he…”

“What do you mean answered your prayers?” Again with the religious nonsense?

“His figurine? The one I’m praying to? It turned big and told me my prayers have been answered. It said I’m now his paladin, and now I can do this!” His black armor lets out a blinding golden light.

I gasp and wince at the sudden flash. I do my best to see him through the light, but I can barely see the vague shape of his armor. This is stronger than the ‘Blinding Light’ cantrip, and it’s a steady light, not a momentary flash. “I see…”

The light dies out, I can tell he’s smiling behind his helmet.

“This isn’t magic?” I can’t help but ask.

“No magic! I can feel the power from my god flowing through me. My demon is also being suppressed, I hear less of its madness right now." He moves his hands energetically with the explanation.

“That’s great news!” It’s worrying… a god putting an eye on him? Who would want that kind of attention?

“I can also tell truth from lie while I’m looking at the speaker, and you’re lying. You don’t think it’s great news,” he states solemnly. “Why?”

Fuck! And I can no longer lie or hide anything from him… just great… why would I want to hide anything from him? I shouldn’t. If anything it’s a good thing that he can tell lies, I can use him as a lie detector on the people I deal with. It’ll also keep me from crossing the line.

Damn it all to the five hells! “Too much attention from a god isn’t something I'd call a good thing… they’re powerful entities, and I’d rather if they didn’t care about you or me too much.”

He grunts. “That’s… I can't just tell if you're lying, I have to be honest too. Noxi… he puts me through a trial… he said that: if you ate the flesh of Luard, I have to kill you. I’m… I’m really glad you didn’t eat that.”

Fuck!!! It's one thing to know that the gods can be dangerous and a whole other thing to have a god in his head telling him to kill me! DAMN IT!!! “And what exactly is stopping Noxi from demanding my death over something else tomorrow? Do I have to follow his laws now? I do not worship him.”

Kolag’s visor gives out a yellow golden glow for a brief moment. “Noxi said… yeah… he heard you. He says that you do not have to worship him. Worshiping a god is the choice of a mortal. But you do have to follow the laws of humanity and a crime has to be punished… Inara. He’s the God of Justice.”

Fuck! He’s actually listening in?! Do I not get private moments with Kolag anymore? Some fucking god taking over the man I love and he’s happy about it?! He can order him to kill me and he’ll do it?! What the fuck?! “And what makes something justified? Good and bad is a subjective matter of perspective, what I count as bad you might count as good and vice versa. Why do I have to study his laws and follow them? And if I don’t, he’ll order you to do what? Kill me? Why should I just accept that?! Why should I accept the fact that I no longer have a private moment with you? If he can listen in on our private conversation, how do we have any privacy left?”

“I… I didn’t think about it.” Kolag gives out an echoing sigh.

“I know you didn’t… tell me Kolag, if he orders you to kill me again. Would you?”

“I… I don’t know.”

Fuck! “Get out.”

He turns and leaves me fuming in my room. I did everything I can to avoid the gods… Jerro is one thing, and he’s useful… but this?! How is Noxi any different from the hag?

Exactly… how is Noxi any different from the hag? Kolag accepted the hag… I should accept Noxi… it’s not like the hag isn’t spying on us… or can kill Kolag if she wanted to… And like Noxi she also has her own agenda…

Was I too harsh on him?

Does it matter?! He shouldn't make choices like that that endangers the both of us. That endangers me.

Was it even his choice? Is it possible to say no to a god? The hag didn't give me much of a choice...

Ugh I'm too tired for this. I should sleep on it, and maybe apologize tomorrow.

*

{28} Tonisha (June) the 30th.

“Kolag? I’m sorry. I was too harsh. Noxi isn’t so different from the hag… both can…”

“What?! How dare you compare the god of justice to that evil wench?!” Kolag storms out of my room stomping his metallic boots.

“Wait!”

“What?!” He stops at my door.

“I meant to say that both of them are powerful entities. Not that the hag is justified ok? Just let me speak?”

He crosses his hands on his chest. “Enlighten me!”

Treating me like Rushmia again… “We're both backed by powerful entities that we don’t fully agree with, and both of them can one day decide they want one of us to kill the other. You don’t like the hag or agree with her. But you’re still here despite that fact, despite knowing that she might want you dead or eavesdrop on us… I guess it’s only fair that I’ll accept Noxi despite all of the above.”

“You’re talking about the God of Light, Justice, and Protection like he’s some sort of malevolent being!” he protests.

“It’s not about good or evil for me, Kolag. I don’t see good and evil the way you do. I see threats. And if the god you worship will command you to kill me… that’s a threat to my life. Even if he’s a good and benevolent god.”

“I… I…”

The door opens, and Zoe steps into the room. “Master, General Salik is here to see you. He says it’s urgent,” she interrupts our conversation.

Kolag uses it as an excuse to stomp out of my room. “We’ll talk about it later!”

I sigh. I handled it really poorly… “Let him in.”

Salik takes off his straw hat as he enters my room. “Do you have a minute, kid?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t know how to say this…” He scratches the back of his head awkwardly, “I’m down to my last… ahem, glitter potion. I know you’re dealing with your possession issue, but is there a chance you could get me another dose?”

That’s right! I need to learn how to make these… This possession stalled me for far too long…

“I’ll try and make one right now, I just need the materials. You know, the materials for glitter usually come from humans, but I can use a magical beast substitute.” I continue. I’ll not be like the hag, I won’t feed him human beings without his knowledge. Will Noxi kill me if I make a potion out of it?

Salik pales. “Blood and venom… I’d prefer if you used a magical beast substitute, but if it’s the only way… By Nuriss’ bloody jugs! Why in the five hells would you tell me that?! Did you think I needed to know this kind of detail? Gods!” He covers his mouth, gags, and swallows.

“I’m sorry…” I apologize quietly. I didn’t mean to upset him, just inform him so he’ll know what I’m giving him. Wait… he’s been drinking this for years… the hag has been using humans… of course he’s upset!

“Why are you so calm about it?!” Zoe asks me from the side, a horrified expression etched on her face.

“Because it’s a fact I’ve already accepted, I can’t change it. When I first came to the Maven of Mysteries she fed me human meat without my knowledge. The glitter, I’m going to try and make will use king Luard’s heart as the main ingredient. I’ll most likely fail the first attempt… I… I don’t think I can do it…”

Should I just throw this bloody heart away then? What am I going to do? I can’t just watch Salik die… It’s not like my first try will be successful anyway… I can use it for practice. “Tell you what. I’ll be leaving next week to visit the other cities if they’re not in total chaos by now. I’ll take you and Berthold with me, we’ll hunt some magical beasts along the way.” I get up from my meditation pillow. “Here, I’ll give you a list of the rest of the required materials. Get as much as you can. The potion is pretty difficult to make, and I’ll probably fail a couple of times. I’ll try and craft the potion on the road.” I copy the list of ingredients from my book to an empty parchment.

"You knew about this. This whole time?" Salik asks me, anger in his brown eyes. "You've been delivering me this potion for over a year!"

"No. I only found out after we took over Red Cedar City, back when I started practicing alchemy. I knew the hag uses human flesh as food, but didn't make the glitter connection until I saw the potion's recipe."

He heaves a heavy sigh. "I... I see. Maybe I should just stop taking that thing... it'd be..."

"Salik. No." I stop him. "I need you. And I can make that same potion from magical beasts. Please trust me on this?"

He lets out a snicker. "It's not that I want to die, kid. But there are some things even I can't do... Rot that bloody whore, I know she's behind this. I bet she's laughing at me right now."

I raise an eyebrow. "The hag? Yeah... she's behind a lot of atrocities." I doubt she's laughing or care about you that much though...

"Not your rotten hag! Snowy snakes... ok, kid. I'll trust you not to feed me people... can you make this potion in time so I won't have to use my last one?"

"I... I honestly don't know, Salik. I'll do my very best, and I'll need the ingredients." I push my parchment against his chest.

Salik snatches the list with a frown on his face. “Wolf liver, how am I supposed to keep that thing fresh?”

“Put it on ice obviously,” I reply as a matter of fact. One of the very first lessons of water magic is that ice can keep flesh fresh.

His bushy eyebrows crease. “And where would I get ice? It’s the middle of the summer and it’s hotter than the Boiling Sea in here! Do you see mountains anywhere?”

The heat have been getting on everyone’s nerves… I can’t imagine how it must be for Kolag in that armor… No wonder he snaps… “Zoe will make you some ice, and if she doesn’t want to, I can. Just bring some boxes for it.” I need to learn a cooling spell…

The frown is gone. “Oh magic! Yeah, I’ll get going, kid, thank you.”

The next day, Salik and Berthold leave on a short hunting trip to get wolf’s livers and teeth along with the other list of ingredients. We only set off a day after they’re back.

*~*~*

Interlude 106.1

Salik.

“Don’t die out there…” Zoe hugs him from behind, holding tightly onto him.

“I make no such promises.” Salik sighs. The girl has been clinging to him for two months now. Resisting his urges becomes more and more difficult with each passing day. The temple of Koshavi has been destroyed in the war, and most of the Zephyrs are dead. Salik had visited a nice tavern with girls who had taken up the role instead, but something is missing. Zoe is available, and she wants him. It’s wrong…

The girl had seen him going into these taverns, and she still clings to him. Why does she have to look so similar to Anixa? Why does fate have to be so cruel to him?

“Why can’t Berthold go alone?” she asks.

“Because these potions are for me. And I’m the one who has to work for them. The kid is doing me a favor by helping, and I can’t throw all the work on his shoulder.”

“But…”

“Let go, Tulips.”

“No!”

“Kid…”

“Stop calling me that, I’m not a kid! I’m a grown woman, I can do whatever the snake I want! And I want you!”

“You’re…”

“No! I’m not making a mistake! I love you!”

It’s the first time Salik heard these words from her, and they only make him sigh. This isn’t going to end well, for neither of them. He turns and make her look him in the eyes. Her face is in deep shade of red, but she returns the look with her moist brown eyes. “I don’t love you, kid. Get lost!”

She lets go of him. He knows she's crying.

Curse the bloody whore of war, and curse the whore of dreams if she helps her with this snaking ploy. Salik had enough of the gods and fate, he can recognize when something isn’t right. “Let’s talk about it when I’m back from the hunt.” He’ll deal with it later, and he might not live at all in two months. Maybe it’s for the best if he dies.

Zoe tugs his shirt, stopping him from leaving. “No. You might not be back from the hunt, people die to feed some stupid hunger. And I might never get the chance to talk. I love you. Yes, you saved my sister. Yes, I just needed a hug that day. But I love you. And I want to take care of you even if you don’t want to sleep with me or think I’m ugly. I don’t care, I just want to be with you! Is it so wrong that I want that?”

“But I might die tomorrow… I will die for sure if I don’t get my potion. Are you ok with loving someone who can die without a potion that needs some human flesh in it?”

She leans her head on his back, he barely hear her voice. “Yes. We all die. We should use the time we have now instead of worrying about the future. I don't care what you have to do to survive. And hey, I’m learning magic. I’ll learn how to make the potion for you too. Master will teach me.”

Salik can’t believe he’s actually considering it. It’s the damn fate. She looks too much like Anixa… she’s not Anixa, but she’s his type. And being able to make the potion for him… Inara won’t always be there to do it. This is a chance to free himself from the Maven of Mysteries. Yet… using this kind hearted girl to do it feels wrong. He does not love her, he’s no longer capable of love. Not after Anixa.

“I’ll think about it. But I have to get going now.”

*~*~*

Brigit’s skin restoration.
Names: Brigit’s skin restoration. Skin restoration. Wrinkles smoother.
Element: life
Sub element: Skin (water) – restoration (light).
Level: 1
Language: nim <water>
Words: Fai. Nim. Oue-rissu nirissu asuli fenu, oue nimfai rialuwe, fainim. Nimakee ni/niyu/niar rilaluwe, akeloki si ril. Asano si aluwe nufilata.
Translation: Life. Water. Here’s a flect bending flower. Here’s a fish scale, blood. Caress my/his/her broken skin, smooth the edge. May the skin flourish.
Quicken: Fai. Nim. Nimakee ni/niyu/niar rilaluwe. <life. Water. Caress my/his/her broken skin.>
Patterns: 18
Gestures: holding hand above the target at close range.
Offering: Blood from the caster, 5 Belladonna/cyclamen petals, 5 fish scales.
Requirement: temperature above 15c and below 30c.
Range: near touch.
Target: damaged skin tissue.
Duration: channel spell
Effect: The spell will heal damage skin tissue at a slow rate. The spell will fully restore the damaged skin from any natural damage such as: fire burns, frost bites, acid burns, cuts, flaying (can grow new skin), wrinkles, etc. The spell cannot dispel skin related curses, nor heal skin that still has toxins embedded in it. In case of contaminated skin it is advised to cut out the damage tissue and regrow new skin using this spell.
Cost: 50 light gems, 30 water gems for initial cast. 5 light gems and 3 water gems per second to maintain.
Bound cost: 30 light gems, 20 water gems.
Altered cost: 10 light gem, 5 water gem. Per pattern.

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 79
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 16 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 26 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 19/20 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 39 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 6 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 13 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 91/95 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.

Focus capability: 18 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
King Luard's fresh heart.
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Salik
Kolag of House Befar
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
Nim <Water> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars:

Curses:

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 3836 gold coins. 123 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,881 humans, 1,836 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,158 orcs. 293 orc children. 529 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1158 Orc Warriors. 324 Footmen. 49 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 106 in color

Chapter 105 colorless

This chapter is dedicated to Little.

Honestly, I’m shocked I got a new patron right after I announced my future break. It gave me an amazing boost in confidence about taking a break, something I was terrified of doing. Thank you for that. ^;^

And thank you very much for your support! <3

Enjoy the chapter everyone.

Chapter 105 Possessed.

Acceptance is the ideal of embracing all that is different.
Yet, what about the ones who oppose acceptance? Should they perish?
A line has to be drawn, a law has to be made.
Those who oppose the law and oppress the weak, shall perish!

Noxi, Guardian of Light.

No! I’m not dying like this! Latsa! <Lift!> I weave a silent ‘Minor Telekinesis’ and pull my hands away. I use my mind and manage to distance them from my throat. I gasp for a breath of fresh air, panting heavily.

My hands keep struggling against the invisible telekinetic force that holds them away from my throat. The sight is disturbing, and the fact I can’t feel my hands from the shoulders down is downright terrifying.

What the hell is going on?! Why can’t I feel my hands? Why are they acting like that? Some sort of magic? A curse? Someone is using some spell on me? But who? And how? Doesn’t matter, how do I break it? Maybe something in the book… a potion?

Can’t really search with my hands being like that… “Zoe!” I shout out, hoping she’s near my door. But I get no response, I have to go looking for her.

Getting up from my meditation pose without my hands is tougher than I expect. When I finally manage to get up, the realization dawns on me. It’s Luard’s soul! The reason mages eat the meat with the soul is to prevent possession! And now he’s possessing me! But only my hands, why only my hands?

Maybe because I only drank one bottle? It’s only a fifth of his soul, and this fifth is only capable of possessing my hands… This doesn’t matter… I have to get him out of my body, or fully absorb him… I don’t need Zoe, I just need to eat some of his meat…

But I can’t! How the snowy hell did I get myself into this situation?! Usually, the hag has to manipulate me into those, but this time I dug my own pit… I should’ve just looked it up before I tried consuming… I was too concerned with morality to think about the possibility… this was really stupid…

I find Zoe in the nearby room, absorbed in my book. “Zoe, can you look for anything about possessions in the book?” I ask her, my hands still struggling against my magic. I hope my broken hand won’t be damaged further…

“Possessions? What’s happening to your hands?”

“King Luard is trying to possess me, could you please look up for anything about possessions?” I force my voice to remain calm, raising it won’t move her faster.

She flips pages at a very slow pace, looking a little while at every page, one page, two pages, three pages.

Ok, enough! “Can’t you do it any faster?!”

“Sorry, Master! I’m going as fast as I can!”

“Let me look at the pages just flip them.” I crouch near her, my reading speed is obviously faster. “Flip, flip, flip, flip!” I order her.

She stops moving pages and looks at me with awe. “How can you know what they say?”

“I read fast. You’ve stopped moving pages, faster!” My hands are struggling against my telekinetic hold. I have no idea if the effect will spread to the rest of my body or not.

She reaches the end of the book after five minutes. Despair wells in my chest, there is nothing but empty pages at the end of the book. She mentioned not to write on them, but she never added anything there. Then, words appear on the empty paper.

Body possession.

Do not consume a soul without the meat, child, less you become possessed.

Great… would’ve been more useful if you wrote it there from the start, don’t you think? The bitch wanted me to learn the hard way… As snaking usual... rot!

Should you become possessed there are three ways to exorcise yourself.

1. Eat      enough meat of the creature the soul had originated from.
2. Cut      off the possessed limbs.
3. Spend      time in meditation in order to assimilate the soul into your mana stream.      The amount of time varies according to the creature’s strength, it may      take a day, it may take a week, it may take a month, or it may take a      year. Every other option requires an advanced spellcraft, enchantment, or      alchemy that is not available to you.

“Zoe, get me some rope.” Another trick meant to force me to consume human meat. Stupid hag, you won’t learn. Stupid me for falling into this snowy pit. I’m going to try option three before the other two…

“How can you read so fast?” Zoe asks, her voice filled with awe.

“I do a lot of reading. Zoe? A rope?”

She gasps with excitement. “Can you teach me how to read so fast? I mean Tasiya taught me how to read, but she never taught me how to read fast as you do.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Tasiya taught you how to read? When?”

She averts her gaze awkwardly. “When you let me read the book, I went to her and asked her to teach me…”

“Why didn’t you come to me? I would’ve taught you. I'm supposed to be your teacher.”

“I… it was awkward…” She blushes and observed her nails.

"If you're too shy and awkward to admit you don't know something, you'll never learn a single thing. Why would you not want me to be aware that you don’t know how to read? No shame in that, it’s up to your upbringing. I can’t teach you to read fast, it’s something you get when you spend enough time reading… wait, what stories have you talked about if you couldn’t read?”

“Stories the bards tell at the tavern,” she says with eyes full of life. “Did you know that there are interesting stories at the library, like about the history of Red Cedar City, and this sorcerer hero Tolste Glass Hand, he saved this city and…”

“Right! It’s all very interesting but I need you to get me… wait, glass hand?”

“Yeah, that’s his name, I don’t know what glass means though. It’s not mentioned in the story.”

A sorcerer who uses glass, that’s odd. Not important! “Zoe. Please get me a rope before I run out of mana.”

“Right away master.”

I get Zoe to tie me up to the chair, ask her to focus on my hands, and do my best to sink into my breathing pattern. Without the correct pose, the meditation loses some of its effectiveness, and the progress—although faster than without any souls—is much slower. It's impossible to tie up my hands and keep the meditation pose, it'll have to do. Why the hell did he have to possess my hands? I can’t cast spells now… What would've been better? My legs? He could've walked me off my own window... my heart? Head? Hands isn't so bad actually... Snakes!

*

“Zoe told me you are possessed. Is everything alright?” Kolag's worried tone wakes me up from my trance.

“I’m fine. I can’t control my hands. It should pass with time, but I’m not sure how long I’ll have to wait. It may be long… At least my broken hand will heal by then. I had Jolla tie it up tightly, just to make sure the broken bone won’t turn into any serious damage.”

He stands there, frozen in place. “Is that because you drank Luard’s soul?”

I nod. “It’d be more accurate to say it’s because I drank his soul without eating a piece of his body, apparently this is the result if…”

"I’m sorry. It’s my fault.” He sounds as if he got the confirmation he wanted.

I sigh. Of course, he wants to confirm his guilt in this… “This isn’t your fault, don’t blame yourself over this. I just need to bear with it until it passes.”

“Pha! Just eat a piece of that twisted shaman!” Balgrum enters my room, dragging mud on my carpets.

“You’re familiar with this issue?” I ask him with a frown.

He snorts. “You’re not the first shaman who hafe ghosts in their spirit! You eat more, and ghosts go away. You eat heart, and ghosts go away forever.”

“But I can’t eat, it’s another human being!” I protest. Kolag nods in agreement, fixated on the orc.

“Grah! It’s dead meat. Why you humans insist on making yourselfes weak? Tie yourself like sheep. It’s wrong!” He points at my binding with a sneer on his face.

I raise my chin. “No. Power without morals or direction is wrong. Would the clan and its power survive without a chief and a shaman? Without anyone to give it directions or tell them what to do?”

Balgrum shakes his head. “If the clan don’t hafe a chief they fight, and the strongest wolf will become the chief. Shaman we hafe to find. Until there’s shaman, the clan hafe to wait in one place. We eat our prey! No one ties themselfes up like sheep!”

I’d facepalm if I could still use my hands, he missed my point in its entirety. “I can’t do that!”

“Why not? It’s dead flesh, you put it on fire and eat. It tastes good with salt.” He smiles at me with a mouth full of sharp carnivorous teeth.

“It’s wrong!” I insist.

He shakes his head like I’ve failed some sort of test. “Then my clan leafes! We won’t hafe a weak shaman!”

“So much for your tests and your word. Didn’t you guys say that I shouldn’t let anyone tell me what to do?”

“But you don’t tell us what to do either, you’re weak! Stop me from leafing, oh powerful shaman. If you can’t efen stop me from leafing your room of stone, you can’t stop the clan from leafing.” He turns to leave, just like that.

“Rod’ena.” <Vines.> The mana flows down my legs to the floor, and vines sprout out of the stone surface, they wrap around his feet and drag him backward. He growls and struggles violently, reaching for his axe. I direct one of my vine to wrap around his wrist, but he swings before my vine reaches him, cutting off one of my vines.

“Rod’ena!” <Vines!> I duplicate it with an alteration pattern, drawing more mana from the necklace on my chest. My head pulses with pain when I grow 8 vines, wrapping them around all of his limbs. This is the first time I’ve channeled this many wood patterns.

He manages to rip two of them with sheer strength. He draws a knife from his belt.

“Hod myrsha.” <Ground pull.> The pull of gravity triples for him.

“Myrsha.” <Pull.> I pull the bone knife to me and weave a silent ‘Minor Telekinesis’ to hold it before it hits me.

My head screams at me, and the wood magic patterns nearly break. I feel the trail of blood on my upper lip. “There! I stopped you, happy now? Is this enough? Or do I have to keep you here for a day?”

He keeps on struggling. “Graah! You won’t be able to!”

“Hod myrsha.” <Ground pull.> “Latsa.” <lift.> I lift a nearby vase with a “Minor Telekinesis” and drop it above his head, letting the vase smash on his face. I keep it up, moving random objects and let them drop right on his head. He screams and struggles, then passes out when I break the seventh bit of wooden furniture on his head.

I breathe a sigh of relief and let the vines go.

“Get some of that rope and tie him up,” I order Kolag who watches the whole ordeal without moving a single muscle. I can’t see his face behind the helmet, and it looks as if he’s apathetic. But I know he probably have a shocked expression on his face.

“You’re bleeding.” Kolag wipes my nose with a handkerchief.

Maybe I overdid it… 6 vines would’ve been more than enough… “Thank you. I hate wood magic…”

“Wouldn’t his tribe hear about it? What if they attack the city and enslave all of these people? You told me that we cannot provoke the orcs.” Kolag ignores my comment and asks with a worried echo.

“Orcs respect strength. He wanted to leave because I limit my strength by not eating Luard and tying myself up. Yet, I showed him that I’m strong enough to keep him here even with my hands tied up. If he still insists on leaving after he wakes up, I’ll let him go. Now tie him up!”

“Can’t you simply overpower them the same way with the slave issue?” he asks as he ties up the orc.

I shake my head. “No, the slaves are something they treat as their livestock. No matter how much they respect strength, if I take their possessions away, most of them will turn against me. This however, is decision making. It’s about my position in the clan. I’m supposed to defend it. It’s different.”

A couple of minutes later, Balgrum is tied up on the floor, leaning back the leg of my bed. Two more tense minutes pass, and he wakes up with a grunt. His face is covered by bruises, blood trails down his lips, and his cheeks are so puffed up, that I can barely recognize him.

“Leave my room oh powerful chieftain, I dare you!” I say in the same mocking tone he used ten minutes earlier.

“Kahkahkahkahkah kah…” he bursts into a throaty laughter. “Hafen’t had a good tumble with a shaman in years! You beat me. The clan stays. I still think you should eat, but you’re not weak, efen when you’re tied up like sheep.”

“Good! Let him go, Kolag.”

My armored boyfriend hesitates. “If I want to take slaves from your clan, do I need to challenge your people to a duel?” he asks Balgrum.

Balgrum exposes his sharp teeth to Kolag in a snarl. “Grrrr you want sheep to serfe you? Or you want to cut them loose?”

“What is it to you?” Kolag’s echoing voice is cold, threatening. I have the feeling that he sees this orc as nothing but a savage to be killed. The only reason he doesn’t hack the orc with his claymore, is the fact that the orc is useful to me. Or maybe because he is Lezere's father, or the fact that the orcs will most likely go out of control if Balgrum dies.

Balgrum licks his upper lip and the blood that’s trickling out of his nose. “If you want a sheep to serve you, then you challenge a wolf for a contest of strength. The prize can’t be more than a single sheep. You have to offer something of equal value to challenge. Remember! You cannot take more than one sheep from a wolf, and no one can die in your contest of strength.”

Kolag nods and unties the muscular orc. Balgrum gets up, cracks his neck, and pats Kolag’s pauldron. “You’re a strong rhino, thick skin. Good for the wolves to test themselves against, kahakah. He turns to leave, his laugh is oddly familiar, like Lezere’s except throatier.

“You’re going to challenge them, aren’t you?” I ask Kolag.

“Someone has to do it. Noxi detests slavery. If I have to free one slave at a time, I will!” His voice echoes with determination.

At least he found himself a new goal… Maybe he'll do some good... I hope he won't make anything worse... “Good luck! And Kolag? No diplomatic incidents. If something happened with the orcs that causes them to attack, they know I’m tied up here and cannot help. So please, be careful!”

“I will!” He leaves me to my tormenting meditation.

*~*~*

Interlude 105.1

Salik

Salik finally has an accurate headcount of their remaining forces. Needless to say, his army is in shambles. Without the orc force to back it up, there’ll be no fighting force at all.

Salik sighs. You cannot count on orcs, they’re too unpredictable. Inara refuses to listen, she’s convinced she has them figured out, but Salik had seen things in his life. Orcs may speak of honor, but they only ever respect strength. Strength and those who can bring them more food and slaves.

Salik heads toward the Palace kitchen. He’ll find something to eat before dinner, and maybe a good drink.

“Here.” Zoe hands him a plate with lamb and potatoes on it before he even make his second step. “You always head for the kitchen when you’re done for the day. I’ve made this myself, tell me how it is.” The brunette flips her long hair, and brings him a flask full of alcohol. Salik can smell the ale, his favorite.

“You don’t owe me anything, Tulips. I appreciate the gesture, but…”

“Just eat.” She points at a table at the garden’s corner. “I want to know how good it is.”

Salik shrugs, he won’t turn down free food, and if it can make the girl feel better, why not? “Mmmm… it’s good.”

“Only good?”

“Delicious! I’ve never eaten such a lamb in my entire life.” Salik hopes the accidental sarcasm wasn’t apparent in his voice. Why can't women accept simple compliments?

“And I’ve never seen such a handsome tall man in my entire life.” Zoe replies flirtatiously.

Salik flinches. That comeback was horrible. The girl is young, he reminds himself. She makes mistakes. “You’re too young for me, Tulips. I’m over ninety years old. If not for my potions, I would be a wrinkly old geezer, or dead by now.” Speaking of the potions, Inara needs to make new ones for him. He should remind her, or he’ll run out of them soon.

The girl tucks her long sandy hair behind her ear. “I don’t care if you’re old or if you need potions to look how you currently do. You clearly need someone to take care of you.”

“We have enough maids in the palace and…”

“I mean a woman who loves you. You’re alone. You need a proper woman to take care of you. See this?” She points at a stain on his shirt he never noticed before. “This wouldn’t be there if you were married.”

Salik snorts, that’s not the first woman to insert herself into his life. “Yeah… I like it that way.”

Zoe folds her hands on her chest. “I don’t like it that way! A man can’t live alone. And I like you.”

Salik sighs and lift the tip of his hat to look into her eyes. “Tulips. Kid. Lass. What you’re feeling is gratitude. You believe that offering your body to me will pay some debt you think you owe me for saving your sister. There’s no debt. I’d save anyone in that position.”

The young girl looks into his eyes, why does she have to look so much like Anixa. “No. I really like you!”

Fate must be toying with him. Maybe it’s bloody Nuriss again. Will that harpy ever leave him be? Did she deal with Koshavi to set this up? Salik wouldn't put it past the bloody whore above. He shakes his head and sighs. “If you still feel this way in a year or two, come to me and we’ll talk. Until then, there’s nothing to talk about.”

The girl places her hands on her hips. “So you’re telling me you don’t bed any woman who’s younger than you? Never! Do you only go for wrinkly old ladies?”

“I was never the man to settle down with one woman. That’s why the Temple of Koshavi exists. The Zephyrs welcome any man as long as they’re getting paid. They are kind enough, and know what they’re doing,” Salik replies nonchalantly.

“But that’s not love! That’s… it’s wrong what they’re doing!”

Over the years Salik found that speaking directly and plainly gives the best results. No room for misunderstandings. Women love to speak in hints, but this one is oddly direct. Yet, this directness is false, it’s a hint. He knows she truly wants something else. “And how is what you’re doing right now is different? I’ve seen plenty of women who ask to be bedded just because they needed a hug, warmth, comfort. If you need a hug, I’ll give you one. If you want to let me into your skirt to thank me, there’s no need. Regardless, you and I have nothing in common, Tulips.”

“So you don’t think I look good enough for you? You fancy Master Inara, don’t you? I can see how you look at her!”

That’s not true. Inara isn’t his type. And Zoe… Zoe looks a lot like Anixa. If Salik had to pick, he’ll pick the girl in front of him. Salik loved that woman, but Anixa is either too old or long dead by now, and this girl is simply another person. Another person who looks so similar to his past wife. Another person that toys with his feeling, arranged by fate, or most likely: The bloody bitch of war-Nuriss. “No. You look great. You’re even my type. But you’re young, and you’re making a mistake.” Salik pushes his plate and turns to leave. He had enough. He is not here to babysit little girls.

The girl hugs him from behind, crying into his shirt. Salik sighs, he turns and hugs her. The girl clings to him, still crying as he rubs her back slowly. He pushes away his primal urges, he’ll visit the temple of Koshavi later. The girl just needs a hug after all. She lost most of her family, it’s understandable.

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 73
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 11 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 22 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/17 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 33 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 5 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 46/50 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 17 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
King Luard's fresh heart.
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Salik
Kolag of House Befar
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars: Melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Left wrist broken. Broken ribs.

Curses: Possessed by Luard's soul shard.

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 923 gold coins. 136 diamonds. 200 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,877 humans, 1,840 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,157 orcs. 294 orc children. 532 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1157 Orc Warriors. 347 Footmen. 12 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom.
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 105 in color

Chapter 104 colorless

Author notes:

This chapter is dedicated to Chaz who joined me right before my break. In a way, it’s fitting that someone who joined right before my writing ‘interlude’ will get The Interludes chapter dedicated to them.

Thank you very much! <3 I’m both surprised and extremely flattered that you liked my work so much that you decided to subscribe right before the break. You really made my day.

This is one of my rare interludes only chapters 5k words of Salik, Zoe, Jerro, Berthold, and Kolag PoVs. These chapters aren’t too common to those—who like me—hate different PoVs… Though, I’ve found that plenty of people do love these. So here goes:

Chapter 104 Interludes.

If you think death is bad,
then you only ran away, not truly lived.
If you think death is good,
then you’ve been in pain, and never lived at all.
Death is merely the destination of your journey.
The sea which the river of your life flows toward.

Tiyadi, the Silver Lord of Time.

Interlude 104.1

Salik.

Inara surprised him yet again. Salik haven't met many arcane casters who are this humane. Arcane casters often view themselves as better than the average person, but this one does not.

Instead of going back to her magic studies or whatnot, the girl is organizing the maids to brew magical potions of healings for the cities. The potions aren’t perfect, they can’t heal broken bones or infections. The girl is still in her early stage of arcane casting after all. But using arcane magic to benefit others for free is nearly unheard of. Arcane casters tend to be selfish creatures.

She even offered to try and heal his hand, but apologized, saying she can’t cast the spell yet because she can’t manage this many patterns yet. Whatever patterns mean. Salik knows that if he sticks with her and she survives long enough, his hand will get healed eventually, free of charge.

Across his long life, Salik had only met three more casters like her, and they’re all dead now, got backstabbed by other casters. The towers do not encourage kindness. Quite the opposite. But the kid has good chances, her backing is legit.

As for his hand, a hook will have to do for now. Salik had already ordered one from a blacksmith. It'll take time until it'll be ready, the smiths are all busy with the rebuilding efforts, but it will be there eventually.

Another fight breaks out in the queue, everyone wants a free magic potion. Salik had asked Inara to prioritize the soldiers who fought for the city, but instead she demanded that they’ll prioritize the children, that the soldiers would want their children healed first too. She wasn’t wrong.

But now that all the children are healed, there is no clear order to things. Salik’s manpower is stretched too thin to maintain order.

Some women demands to get potion earlier because they’re women and they’re the ones taking care of the children and cooking for the working force.

Some men demand to get potion earlier because they fought for the city, and they are the ones who are rebuilding everything.

Even the ones who did not fight make demands now, people are only good for demands and complaints once they’re safe.

Some of the elderly demand to get a potion earlier because they’re old, claiming it’s not actually for them but some young person who can’t even come here.

It’s a mess, and it’s impossible to tell who truly want a potion to save a loved ones, and who just plan to keep a magical potion for themselves and sell it later for a small fortune. War is a mess. Charity is a mess. People always find ways to turn a good thing into profit to fight over.

People push each other, and Salik sighs. This won’t do.

“People of Red Cedar City!” The echoing voice halts Salik before he manages to reach the spot of the fight. The voice is so loud and dramatic that the fighting pauses. “There are potions for everyone. There is no limit. Queen Inara will keep making them as long as this city needs them. By fighting you are only slowing yourselves down, you are slowing your fellow men and women from receiving the help you all need. Do not fight. The next fight I’ll break with my sword, not my voice.”

Salik has to admit that the boy has a flare for drama. The towering adamantine armor and the claymore resting on his shoulder are quite intimidating. Even if Salik ever gets his hand back, he knows he wouldn’t win a fight with the boy. Yes, the boy lacks the lifetime of experience Salik has, but in terms of prowess, Salik knows a losing fight when he sees one. Salik would stand a chance with the blessings he used to have, but it has been years since he had them. He made his choice. He’s not regretting it.

And indeed, people go back to standing in line, murmuring to themselves and fighting quietly. The boy nods to Salik wordlessly, and walks back toward the construction area. Salik wonders if Kolag ever sleeps, or if that demon of his keeps him awake for the better part of the day. Salik doesn't remember seeing the boy sleep a wink, not even once.

“Uhhmm… Salik, right?”

Salik turns on his heel, surprised to see Anixa standing behind him. No. This is Zoe. Inara’s brat of an apprentice. He never noticed the similarity before, but he never saw the girl wearing this kind of painful expression before either. This girl used to be another happy blind fool who thinks the arcane is everything there is in the world. “What is it, tulips?” The world is so much more than just magic and power.

“Uhhhhmm…” She fidgets awkwardly, clenching her skirt. “I’m sorry about your hand…”

Salik snorts. The girl never liked his presence, he can’t help but wonder what she wants. “Thank you, tulips, I didn’t realize you care.”

“I do! I mean… I do care. I don’t know. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t bother you… I just wanted to say thank you.” A tear leaves her brown eye, she sniffs and turns to leave.

Salik stops her, he knows a girl in distress when he sees one. He wipes away her tear with his handkerchief, looking into her eyes. “Thank you for what, tulips?”

“For saving my sister and her baby. And for…” She takes a deep breath. “And for avenging my family. Thank you. I’m sorry for the way I treated you, I was awful to you. I…” She breaks into tears.

Awful to him? She thinks words can hurt someone like him? He stopped caring long ago. “Oh don’t mind that. If you were half as harsh as some of the people I’ve dealt with I might’ve felt a tiny sting, tulips. I don’t remember saving a baby, I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”

“My sister said it was you. And that you lost your hand at the doorknob for saving her? I mean… She described you perfectly.”

For the first time Salik is speechless. “A doorknob. Yeah… look kiddo, I was just passing through while fighting. Your sister got lucky. War is messy.” He probably shouldn’t be saying anything. He should probably give her a hug. But he can’t, she looks too much like Anixa, bad memories.

“Thank you! That’s all I wanted to say.” The girl turns on her heel, and runs down the streets, in the general direction of her house.

*~*~*

Interlude 104.2

Zoe.

Zoe paces toward her house. She hugs the book to her chest, and wipes the tears from her face. They’re not coming back. None of them are. Mina, her husband, and the baby are the only ones left. And none of them is the same.

Mina stares at the wall all day long. Aside from asking her to thank the tall soldier who lost his hand on the door knob, she doesn’t talk. At least she eats when someone brings food to her hands.

Korr, her husband, has lost both of his legs. He spends most of his time holding onto their crying son and taking care of him. At least Zoe got a potion from her master in time for Korr to survive. Zoe saved him, but he cursed her for it. He told her she should’ve left him to die. Zoe knows he didn’t mean that, he’s simply in pain, but it still hurts.

And the baby. Little Olsan no longer cries.

Zoe cries for all of them now. She regrets not visiting home more often, not seeing her family more often. She had to go out and chase her dreams, and now everyone is gone. Or changed beyond recognition.

The gods and sorcerers do as they please, and it has to be accepted. You cannot berate a sorcerer or a god. But this sorceress Phoebe? Well… Zoe is a sorceress now too, or she’s going to be soon. Phoebe will get what’s coming for her! Zoe can only be glad that her master had killed Luard. If master Inara had kept him alive, Zoe would’ve killed him herself, consequences be damned.

“I’m home!” Zoe declares, her voice fragile.

No one answers. Her sister and brother in law sit and stare at each other silently, little Olsan in Korr’s hands.

“Mina… I found the soldier who saved you.”

A reaction, Mina looks at her with a pair of dead brown eyes.

“I thanked him… it’s general Salik.”

“Thank you,” Mina replies with her hoarse voice. The first words she said in days.

“Can I get you anything?” Zoe tries.

Mina shakes her head and focuses on her nails.

Zoe turns and leave. She can’t be here anymore, there’s no point! They don’t need her. They don’t really need anyone. They’re already dead, they just don’t look like that yet.

She closes the door and comes face to face with Jerro. The last person she wants to see right now, a priest to the God of Death of all people. Why does master Inara keeps someone like him around? Death cultists are the worse!

“What do you want?” she demands to know.

“To prolong your life,” the tanned priest answers quietly.

“Excuse me?” Zoe don’t have time for this. She strides forward, hugging her book. She still got magic, for whatever good that’ll do now. She can still become a sorceress, and once she does she can kill that Phoebe harpy by herself…

“If you head that way, you’ll cry by yourself, and you will decide that life and revenge are pointless. Too painful, too lonely. You will find yourself a quiet spot behind a clothing store that's now crumbling. The same place you hid at as a young girl. You will slit your own wrists, ending your life prematurely. I am here to prolong your life.”

Zoe stops. The cold way this man speaks makes her shudder, the idea of suicide have vaguely been on her mind, but she never actually planned to… and how does he know about Juahni Tailor? She loved looking at the dresses when she was little. Does the place even stand after all this fighting? Did he say crumbling?

He’s a priest, a powerful cleric to Tiyadi God of Time and Death. Maybe even a chosen one. Zoe always dreamed of becoming a chosen one to Jalier. But Jalier isn’t Tiyadi, Jalier is not the God of Death. Who in their right mind would follow the God of Death when you can follow the God of Magic?

“Why does death even happen?!” She lets her frustration out.

“Because when the body no longer functions, it cannot contain a soul,” The nonchalant reply comes crashing like the hard reality.

“Yeah, but why? Why did the gods create the world this way?! Why are they so cruel to us?”

He doesn’t answer right away, he reaches for her leg instead. Zoe watches wide eyed as he grabs it, too shocked to react. Doesn’t he love Sharla?

Jerro moves her leg, pushing Zoe back a bit, and points at the ground. “Why are you so cruel to these ants? They worked so hard on gathering food for their hive, and you just walk and stomp them to death every single day when you leave your home. You and your family. They hate you. They curse you with their dying breath. They wanted revenge and they finally got some of your family killed. Now they’re celebrating. They share alcohol at the long table of the ants deep beneath the ground, and eat some of their hard earned and gathered stockpile.”

What? What does that even mean? Zoe stares at the dead ants near her feet. She kills them every day and she doesn’t even notice… “The gods don’t even see us, do they?” The understanding dawns on her.

“They do. Unlike mortals, the gods can focus on many things at once,” comes the apathetic reply. “But they focus more on fighting one another than any mortal. They’ll only focus on a mortal relevant to their fight or those they favor. Death just happens on the way, and my lord is there to collect his due. Everyone dies, one way or another. Even the gods die eventually. It just takes them thousands of years to get themselves killed. No one is immortal, and death is the end to all living beings, it’s only a matter of time. The death of one, nourishes another, until that life ends as well and feeds the next with its death. It is not a cycle like many think. It is an endless state of hunger and devouring. New life feeds on the old in order to feed their hunger. In order to live.”

“Did my family died to feed a hunger then? Who’s hunger?!”

“Ruphus son of Melor. Kariel son of Kornik. Your family died to feed their hunger for blood. To feed their desperation for something meaningful in their life. To feed their belief that the word of a sorceress is the word of a god. The rival, the sorceress who calls herself Phoebe had ordered the slaughtering of every man woman and child in this city if it gets her to our queen.” He states all of it as if he's stating that the sky is blue and the grass is green.

Zoe stares at him, tears in her eyes.

He continues. “They too, died at the hands of the man I call the General. The Blood Hound of Esmira and his soldiers. They fed his desire for saving a young girl in need. They fed his need to live a life by the blade and die by the blade. They fed his need to have someone who loves and cares for him, for he is alone for many years. Everyone he knows keeps dying on him, he no longer cares. He finds love in the comradery of his soldiers instead.”

“Death is an endless stage of hunger and satisfying the needs of the living. Not a cycle. Death is the end of all living being, and it’s only a matter of time until death comes to collect. Accept this fact, and accept that you still have time. Don’t spend it idling in misery, and don’t end it too early. Do not throw away the time you have left on a mere whim.”

Zoe stares at him. How is this supposed to make her feel better? To know that her family died to feed some bloodlust of a pair of thugs?! That their death meant nothing at all. At least Salik killed those thugs… she’s glad she thanked him before she’s gone. And they fed his desire for love by dying, how does that even work?

Jerro turns to leave, striding down the muddy street.

“Hey wait!” Zoe tries to grab his arm.

“I’m needed else-where,” He says slowly, but doesn’t slow his pace.

*~*~*

Interlude 104.3

Jerro.

"The apprentice will no longer kill herself. She will now make sure the general finds love, and the general needs love in order to help the queen. Everything as it should be. Now, make sure the hunter do not die. Collect his favor when its needed."

The faint whispers of Tiyadi vibrates in Jerro's skull. Jerro receive a swift vision as he hurries his step. Jerro has to make sure the hunter does not die by an unfortunate accident. The hunter is important for the queen’s survival, the hunter is important for the survival of the love of his life.

He’s right on time. He always is, and always will be. Right on time. There are no mistakes, his lord makes sure of it. He’ll even die right on time.

A tall wooden beam snaps, the half destroyed building collapses entirely. Jerro jumps forward and tugs the hunter’s shirt back. The house collapses, and a wooden splinter leave a scratch on the hunter’s cheek, but he is alive. A few people groan under the collapsed structure.

"Vosif son of Kitsk will die in two minutes. Girsak son of no one will die in three minutes. Sholyr son of Ulmar will be saved today, he will drink a potion of healing, and die tomorrow when he falls from his bed and his broken rib will puncture his heart. All in due time, all of no true consequence to the queen." The whispers of Tiyadi flaps in Jerro's mind like the silent wings of an owl. Jerro knows that the rest of the people here will be saved. Ten in total. Jerro doesn’t know their names yet, his lord did not mark them for death, but they do not matter. The hunter, the hunter needed his intervention, or he would’ve died.

“Thank you…” The hunter seems shaken. Most mortals are shaken when coming so close to death. Save for a precious few. The queen is one of them. In the face of death she’ll be determined to live. Determination, fury, and cold logic.

“It was no trouble,” Jerro replies. He has to maintain cordial relationship with this group, by the decree of his Lord.

“If there’s anything I can do to repay…” The hunter mumble.

“You have already done enough for me. Saving Sharlafyn is the only thing I care about. She is the one I love, my soul mate, and you saved her life. I owe you a life, I merely repaid a debt.” Jerro hear Tiyadi's annoyed murmurs of protest in his mind. The god would've preferred for him to save this debt and collect it on a later date. But Jerro cares about Sharlafyn, and the hunter had saved her life.

Yes. Sharlafyn is the only thing that makes Jerro feel anything, the only thing that makes him hunger. A soulmate, one who truly understands him and the way the world is. Yet, he cannot understand her. He has to understand her, he has to understand why she doesn’t love him back. Why she doesn’t even look at him that way, after saving her life time and time again.

He saw their future together. He saw how happy they’ll be together. He even knows the name of their combined children. Yet. He never saw how he gained her heart, for some reason he cannot see that.

Why my SilverLord? Why do I love her? Why doesn’t she love me? Why can’t I see what to do?

The whispering reply is swift. "It is only a matter of time, my dear nephew. You have to be patient."

Jerro nods. It's always a matter of time, he has to wait patiently.

*~*~*

Interlude 104.4

Berthold.

Berthold takes a deep breath, eyeing the back of Jerro. That was a close one. The guy may be a creepy death cultist, but then he saves your life like this, and you can’t help but to be thankful for his existence. Then again, Berthold will never forgive the cultists of Tiyadi! He still got to repay them for the curse they've put on his mother. If not for his sister's life on the line, he'd put this Jerro down weeks ago!

He sighs and helps lift the broken beam and debris. His arms protest against the weight, but there are lives at stake, and he can rest later. Some people manage to crawl out, and Kolag rushes here with a box of fresh potions for everyone.

Two dead. Two deaths over such a stupid accident. As if the war hadn’t taken enough lives. Over what? Berthold doesn’t even know what this war was about. He asked, but he was only told that some other sorceress named Phoebe sieged them. Mages. Power hungry maniacs, all of them.

Oh Inara may craft potions for these people, true. But he still can’t forget the way she killed that man at Numila, the ease she did it with. Berthold can't wipe the image from his mind. This short seemingly harmless woman, with a blood splatter on her face and a victorious smirk. Gods help him, he doesn't know why he finds that attractive.

Berthold shakes his head. He's with the fairy now, and Inara isn't a good person. Inara is a cold blooded killer. Berthold had killed before, but always in a battle, always to protect his brothers in arms. Not like that. Not with a sick smile and a blood stain on his cheek. Killing isn’t something to take joy in, and Inara… she basks in killing.

Inara isn’t even the worse of them. There are those like Phoebe or Luard. “Power hungry maniacs, all of them,” Berthold murmurs under his breath.

“I couldn’t agree more.” Kolag’s voice echoes behind him.

Berthold is surprised. “But you love her anyway?”

The knight ceases from his work and looks at Berthold. “She’s nothing like the rest of them. She cares. She does some good. She tries to do good whenever she can.”

The height difference between them makes Berthold take a step back. “She doesn’t. On my first job with her, she killed a defenseless man with a smile on her face… Berthold finds himself retelling the story, including the private moments at the inn. He doesn’t know what drives him to tell this unpleasant story. Maybe it’s jealousy, a part of him is still attracted to that terrible woman. Maybe it’s honor, this man should know who the woman he loves is. And maybe he just wants her punished, to have the man she loves turn on her.

“It doesn’t sound like she did anything wrong. Her kill was lawful. A guard should never raise his hand against a noblewoman – on any woman, with the intention to kill. That’s what an executioner is for. They had no right to arrest her over demands or threat she made to another noblewoman. Noblewomen threaten each other all the time, most of it is veiled by honeyed words. I cannot condemn her for a lawful justified kill done in self-defense.”

“It wasn’t self-defense! She goaded them into attacking her! And she was smiling!”

“And? Were they children? Being goaded into murdering someone isn’t an excuse. She doesn’t enjoy killing if that’s what you’re thinking about. She’s fast to kill, yes. But she doesn’t enjoy it. It’s all about practicality to her… The smiles to other noblewomen should be a practicality too. Thank you for telling me this.” The knight nods and turns to leave.

"And what about the slaves her savage orcs keep, huh?!"

The knight ignores his words and walks away.

Berthold eyes the knight’s back, a sickening feel in the pit of his stomach. The guy is blinded by love, Berthold was too, but not anymore. He knows too well who Inara is, he won’t ever forget. He’ll serve by her side to save his family, but that’s it, that’s the only reason he’s here.

*~*~*

Interlude 104.5

Kolag.

When Kolag goes back to the castle, it’s already night. Berthold’s words don’t leave his mind. He defended Inara’s name, this has to be defended and can’t be questioned. But he can’t help but wonder if Berthold was correct or not. Kolag shouldn’t doubt his love, but what if he’s wrong? What if she’s a monster? What kind of person smiles when they take a life?!

No. She can’t be. If she was a monster, she wouldn’t ask him if it was right or wrong to consume that soul, would she.

He shouldn’t have told her it was ok, but the desire for justice burns within him. That king doesn’t deserve an afterlife, and he knows Inara has to get stronger in order to survive.

Kolag hates himself, he just crossed a line he should’ve never crossed. Why does he keep comprising his virtues when it comes to Inara? Why can’t he stand up for what he thinks around her? Isn’t that what she loves about him to begin with? Aren’t his virtues and conscience the reasons she chose him in the first place? Shouldn’t he be her moral light?

Kolag is restless in his metallic shell, he paces loudly around the blue corridors of Red Cedar Palace. Unable to calm down, unable to think. The demon inside him rages, it’s hungry, unbearable hunger. Kolag needs to feed… no. no feeding! Not that monster! Kolag should pray to his god. Yes.

Kolag goes to his room, kneels in front of the Noxi figurine on his table. He prays from the bottom of his heart. “Please, father of justice. Help me uphold justice in your way, the way of truth! I’m blinded by love. I’ve never been blinded before, and I’m lost without your guidance! Please help me see the way!”

“Hush my son, for your prayers have been answered.”

Kolag stares wide-eyed as the small figurine of his god grows bigger until it reaches a full-sized humanoid. The wooden colorless figurine gets off the table, and the statue slowly gains colors.

Noxi’s short hair turns blond, his eyes turns into a pair of warm golden lights. His skin fair, and the sheathed longsword in his hand radiates sunlight even in its scabbard. His armor shimmers in the sunlight from his sword. The golden lion remains seated at Noxi’s feet, it yawns with a mouth full of jagged teeth.

Kolag heard about people who had their prayers answered, but this is the first time it happens to him in person. Any doubts he ever had about Noxi are gone in an instant. “Thank you. Noxi! I’m yours, now and forever!” Kolag can barely find his words, the presence of the god he worshiped since childhood is overwhelming.

“Hush my son, you’ll bring my light into this dark world. I shall give you my light, and it shall guide your way.” The living statue places his hand on Kolag’s metallic helmet, and a wave of pleasure and ecstasy goes through Kolag’s body. Kolag can feel the demon fighting the new light that forms inside him.

“There’s a demon plaguing my body,” Kolag notes, but feels ridiculous a moment later. He’s speaking to a living god, of course Noxi knows that already.

“Yes. Follow me faithfully, my son, and I’ll cleanse your body from this evil.” The god unsheathes his sword and a blind light washes the room. Kolag closes his eyes and the booming words of his god vibrate in his head.

“Your godless woman has been punished for her sinful act. The arcane corrupts, and the souls of mortal kind should not be consumed! Should she attempt to engage in cannibalism to escape her punishment, you’ll kill her where she stands.”

Kill Inara? Kolag isn't sure he could ever do that, but what if Inara were to eat human flesh? Wait, what does it mean have been punished? What happened to her?! “Punished my lord?”

“Yes, she’ll be tested. For the upcoming weeks, she will want to engage in cannibalism. Should she fail her test, you’ll kill her in my name. Should you fail to kill her, I’ll cut off my light to you and you’ll remain forever in darkness.”

“I won’t fail you, my lord! If Inara engages in cannibalism, I’ll end her life, even if it breaks my heart!”

The god sheaths his sword like a well-trained knight. “You shall serve me faithfully and uphold my honor as my paladin, I have spoken!” The wooden statue loses all life to it, the color fades and it no longer radiates life. However, it remains a human-sized statue, it doesn’t shrink back to a small figurine.

Kolag attempts to move the statue to the corner of the room, build a small temple. Only to discover that the statue’s feet are merged with the stone floor. Wood merged with stone, only the gods are capable of such miracles. Kolag spends the next hour building a small temple around the statue before he finally remembers. Inara! What happened to her?

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 73
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 11 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 22 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/17 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 33 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 5 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 46/50 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 17 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
King Luard's fresh heart.
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Salik
Kolag of House Befar
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars: Melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Left wrist broken. Broken ribs.

Curses: ???

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 923 gold coins. 136 diamonds. 200 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,877 humans, 1,840 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,157 orcs. 294 orc children. 532 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1157 Orc Warriors. 347 Footmen. 12 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 104 in color

Important announcement.

Important announcement.

I'll be going out on a break from the 13th of September to the 13th of November.

This is a scheduled break, and I'm mostly announcing it this early (over a month ahead of time [August the 5th.]) to not disappoint or wrong any of my current or potential patreon followers.

As mentioned above, the break will last 2 months, and by the end of it, I'll go back to releasing chapters as usual. Of course, chapters will be released normally until the 13th of September.

Thank you all for your amazing support! At first, I was extremely insecure about uploading any of my work, and I wouldn't even consider believing my work could actually have loyal fans, much less patreon supporters.

Thank you!

Long author blabber on R&R if anyone wants to read the rest of my thoughts.

Chapter 103 colorless

Chapter 103 The Aftermath of War.

Fear, doubts, and lies stems from the truth.
Much like how the shadows stems from the light.
Raise up your torches my sons and daughters.
Let’s chase away shadows and deceit from our world.

Noxi, Guardian of Light.

{28} Lokamesh (May) the 10th

I have a new mask on my face. My left wrist is in a wooden and cloth contraption that Jolla Silverquill has made, and she also wrapped some odd cloth bandages around my broken rib. Although, I still need to take pain tolerance potions daily or even talking would become a pain.

The palace kitchen is abuzz. Menservants and maids run out with used pots and come back in with pots filled with water for my potion operation. Marasi commends the preparation for food on the other side, and he has his own army of maids and manservants. I can barely see the various kitchen utensils and ovens due to the amount of people here who somehow manage to not get in each other's way.

I focus on my potion pot again. I am mass brewing lesser healing potions. Instead of a small cauldron, I do it in multiple giant pots that normally serve food for the whole castle. I have the maids doing most of the manual labor, while I cover the spell casting required for the potions at the correct time. I can't fit these large pots in my alchemy lab, so I have to do it right here, in the kitchen.

“Ton at revis, atno tonoar tonoto, kas rit ler tonoar atonome.” <Life and energy, here is some life’s blood, feed this water life’s healing.>

The blinding flash makes me wince. "Clean the pot." I order the maids as I move to the next pot on the fire. Another pot wasted.

I drop blood into the second pot. “Ton at revis, atno tonoar tonoto, kas rit ler tonoar atonome.” <Life and energy, here is some life’s blood, feed this water life’s healing.> This time the liquid turns scarlet red. Good! Now I have to get the spell right for the last one. I move to the next and repeat my spell successfully.

"Your Majesty. There's another riot. People are fighting over the potions again," Tasiya reports, red faced, still heavily panting from her run. "We need you to..."

"I can't leave these potions or we'll lose two pots. Where's Salik? Kolag? Go to them."

Tasiya tucks her gray hair away from her face, brown eyes observing the messy kitchen. "I've already sent maids, Your Majesty."

"They'll take care of it then. I need to finish this."

Tasiya wipes the sweat off her forehead with a handkerchief. "Your Majesty. Queen Tiara and Lady Jolla are waiting for you in the private meeting room."

Snakes! I facepalm, which turn into wiping my sweat off my forehead. I swiftly clean my hand right after to avoid contaminating the potions. "Snakes. I forgot! Let me finish these potions. Did she have any issue with lending me her men for the rebuilding effort?"

"She wants something for it," Tasiya says in an 'I told you so' tone. Of course she does.

"What about the orcs?" I ask.

"Lord Balgrum didn't object to putting his new slaves to work, Your Majesty." Tasiya circles the pot and looks into my eyes. "Your Majesty..."

I raise a hand to shut her up and spill small pile of fish scales and eyes into the second pot. “Fainim, nimalo, num asano riquill. Oue nimfai Rialuwe, rilasula. Nimakee si rilaluwe, akeloki si ril. Asano si aluwe nufilata.” <Life’s water, beauty, I (my) wish remember. Here’s a fish scale, eyes. Caress the wound, smooth the edge. May the skin flourish.>

I repeat the same for the second pot. "Don't prepare another pot." I order the maids as they bring another pot full of water from the outside. "Talk, Tasiya."

"Your Majesty. The orcs... they... ahem... they don't treat their slaves kindly, Your Grace."

Good! Those men deserve to suffer with what they've planned to do to this place. "That was my agreement with them, and I have bigger issues at the moment. Besides, those men tried to burn this city to the ground, they attempted to kill and rape everyone here. I couldn't care less about their fates. Especially since they'd all take you as slaves if they could."

"These two pots are healing potions." I point at the pair of pots with the bubbling red liquid. "Twenty potions each. Don't fill more than twenty flasks from each pot or they won't work." I've put twenty sets of materials in each pot, the water and the blood don't need to be duplicated, but everything else does. I've been doing this for a few days now, we have too many wounded and this is the least I can do.

When it comes to potions, the amount of liquid doesn't actually matter. The amount of materials used does. I do not know why it's like that, but this is how it works. On the bright side, I don't have to measure accurate amount of liquids, and can brew a large pot of potions at once. On the down side, I cannot use small amount of the same potion to heal myself multiple times. If it was all about the materials, I would've made tiny drop sized potions for everyone for healing and my would've been over a while ago.

"I'm going to see Tiara. Take care of this batch, it's the last for today." I turn to leave the kitchen, smoothing my skirt.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Tasiya bows.

I hurry through my blue carpeted hallways. I do my best to ignore the numbness my 'Pain Tolerance' potion creates in my head, or how sweaty I am.

I enter the cozy room, Tiara and Jolla are already seated around the mahogany table. Red banners cover the walls, standing in stark contrast to the blue carpets. A few yellow flower pots above the cold fireplace add another color to the room.

"Hey, Tiara, what seems to be the problem?" I take a seat and nods toward my dorm mate from the past.

"The Lady Jolla informed me you want Apricot City and Willow City. I planned to give you Green Pear City and Olive City." She points at the map that spreads across the table.

Really? Now of all times? I thought this was urgent, can't she see we're rebuilding things here?! Focus. This is important for later. I sigh and turn my full attention to the map, or as much as attention as I can with the odd numbness in my brain.

Apricot City and Willow City are both located on the wide river that splits this large island into two. While Green Pear City and Olive City are inland. Green Pear City is located on the other side of the vast forest near Red Cedar City, while Olive city is near a mountain chain further south. Tiara's capital is also on the river. If she keeps the two cities she wants, she'll have a strip of the river to herself.

Cities that are located on the river are easier to travel to, not to mention trade. It's clear why Tiara and Jolla are fighting over this. "Jolla?"

"You did not mention which cities in your agreement, that means we can take any two cities of our choosing," Jolla states, fixing her glasses on her white eyes as she observes Tiara with her.

Tiara folds her hands on her chest. "No. The cities I agree to, or there's no alliance."

They're both acting like children. Olive City is way too far for me. But I don't mind taking Green Pear City. "How about I'll take Green Pear City and Apricot City?" I ask. Those two are actually the closest to Red Cedar City. It'll give me a triangle with the vast forest in the middle.

Tiara hums and observes the map quietly.

"You'll keep the iron mines of Olive City," Jolla adds an incentive.

Tiara gets up. "I'll need to think about this. I also want to rewrite our terms of war alliance. I will not come to your aid in an offensive war, only a defensive one. I don't intend to attack anyone, and will not need similar aid."

I shrug. "That's fine. I don't intend to attack anyone either. Take your time, think about it. We'll meet again tomorrow." I'm seriously tired of these discussions, how long does it take to hammer a simple alliance?!

Tiara leaves the room, and Talbot enters with a list of bills I have to go through. "Your Majesty! The treasury is nearly empty! This cannot stand. We need to issue a tax," the old man demands.

"What tax? Did you look outside? We're rebuilding the city."

"But we're out of gold!"

I place my used diamonds and a small pouch of gems on the table. "Use this for now."

The old man grabs the pouch and starts counting the gems. Moving beads in his abacus.

I focus on the bills and read exactly how much gold I've got left in my treasury. "The orcs settled in?" I ask Jolla.

Jolla's quill runs fast on her notes as she answers. "Yeah. Just outside the city. Their... sheep are already helping rebuild. Pha, free labor force. Ryon settled in their camp for some reason. Not that I care."

A blond maid enters the room with a wooden tray of hot drinks. She puts her tray on the table and starts taking off her cloths.

"What are you doing?" I ask the blue eyed maid.

"Um... the L-Lady Keyholder t-told me to come here and d-dance for you, Y-Your Majesty?" the maid replies hesitantly.

Tasiya?! No. That's... "Sharla!!!" You shapeshifter bitch!

I hear the giggles behind the door. When I open it I only catch a glimpse of Sharla who rounds the corner. I shake my head and turns to the terrified maid. "Go back to work. If Tasiya orders you to do something that should belong in a Temple of Koshavi again, you have my permission to slap her.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The maid runs outside.

"Pha. By Tukado's beard, your fae pet is a handful," Jolla notes. Talbot still moves beads in his abacus.

I focus on my papers. Numbers. Numbers. Numbers. Numbers. Numb-ers... Nu-mbers... N. U. M. B. E. R. S.

Ugh... I'm way too tired. I really need a bath...

"I've had enough for today, I'm going to get some sleep. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Jolla snorts.

I head to my chambers and ask my maids to fill the bathtub for me. As they're working I open my grimoire, place my hand on an empty page, and concentrate. I need a spell that allows me to regrow missing bones.

Nothing. No reaction from the book.

So it’s a second level spell after all… The skin healing spell is a first level… but this must be second… it makes sense… growing missing limbs is a thing of miracles…

Let’s see if healing broken bones is possible. I need a spell that allows me to heal broken bones!

Brigit’s bone mending
Names: Brigit’s Bone Mending. Bone Mending.
Element: life
Sub element: bone-wood
Level: 1
Language: rod’e
Words: sefius, rod’e. si to rod’esud’e koxshixar, si to shixar! Xalus si rod’esud’e sus exaful xaxa!
Translation: Life, wood. This one’s bone is broken, this one was tricked! Mend the bone and a gift shall be yours.
Quicken: Xalus si rod’esud’e sus exaful xaxa! < Mend the bone and a gift shall be yours.>
Patterns: 26
Gestures: dip ring fingers in blood> smear the blood on the caster’s lower abdomen > smear the blood on the target’s nape > attach both hands to the broken or shattered bones.*
Offering: Snake skin of sufficient amount.
Requirement: X
Range: touch
Target: a creature with a broken bone within range.
Duration: instant.**
Effect: The spell will heal any broken or shattered bones that has no curse on it. All the pieces of the bones need to be there for the healing to occur, if a piece is missing the bone cannot be mended since the spell cannot grow bones.
Cost: 40 light gems. 60 wood gems.
Bound cost: 25 light gems. 40 wood gems.
Altered cost: 5 light gems. 10 wood gems.

26 patterns?! Just for broken bones?! No wonder growing bones is a 2nd level spell. I guess I’ll have to wait for my broken bones to heal naturally after all…

I sigh and let my maids remove my bandages for the bath. The feeling in my broken ribs slowly coming back, signaling the fact that the potion's effect will soon run out.

*

{28} Loamesh (May) the 12th

After another long day of brewing potions and working on bills, I finally come to an agreement with Tiara about which cities I'm going to get. Once our alliance is hammered out, Tiara sails off, taking her soldiers and a third of our work force with her. There's still much work to be done.

After a long tiring day, I find myself in my room, staring at the set of five glassy bottles that contain Luard's soul. I want it, I know it contains power for me, I know it can help strengthened and connect my mana pools. But the fact it came from a human being makes the act of consuming it feel evil.

Even if he was an awful person who tortured people for fun? Why can't I do it? What's stopping me? Who's to say this is evil? The gods? I don't worship the gods... I only have myself and I can allow myself to drink a soul of a horrible cruel person. I won't touch the meat, just the soul.

What would my father say if he saw me right now... considering if I should drink a soul out of my own free will... What would Kolag say?

What does it matter? It didn't stop me from giving Lezere's body away, why is it any different?

So have I lost my morals entirely? What's stopping me for just indulging in human meat and get stronger faster?

Ugh... Rotten snakes and venom... “Zoe, Please call Kolag here.”

“One second, just let me finish reading this part.” Her nose is buried in the guidance book I received from the hag.

“Zoe, I didn’t let you read this book so you can ditch your other duties.”

“Ugh fiiiine!” She folds a dog ear in my book and goes outside.

I sit on my windowsill, observing the working people below. The sun is setting in the distance to my left, casting a scarlet haze over my city. I spend the next half an hour reading restlessly on my window sill. and toying with the ectoplasm bottles.

“Inara!” Kolag’s voice wakes me up from my thoughts and dilemmas.

“Come in, close the door behind you.”

He enters my room in a loud metallic stride. “You have to stop these savages! You have no idea what they’re doing to their prisoners!”

“The orcs? Pretty sure I know what they’re doing, that was my agree…”

“They force themselves on those prisoners, they humiliate them. Female orcs force themselves on those men! I never thought something like that was possible. They spread broken bones on the ground and force them to walk on the shards, naked! They bind their hands and make them fight each other on these broken bones, they whip them, and they curve strange symbols on their skin!”

Good! Poetic justice! Those men wanted to do so much worse to everyone who live in this city. My city!

Kolag lets out an echoing huff before he continues. “You and I, we know how it feels like to be a slave, to be toyed with, to fight for someone’s entertainment! You have the power to stop this, and if you sit and do nothing, then you’re no better than the evil mages in their blue tower!”

Wow… harsh… “I’m perfectly aware of what’s going on with those slaves. That was my agreement with the orcs, I promised them that they’ll get a third of the prisoners. That’s why they fought for us, and they saved this city. Am I supposed to go back on my word?” I slide off from the window sill and face him, arms folded.

“No, but make them treat these people better! It’s people. Not pigs! Not that pigs should be treated that way.” His voice is full of passion, and his hands move with every word.

“I already tried talking to Balgrum about their slaves, he didn’t take kindly to it and I had to back off. The last time I saved people who were being abused in such a manner I got Lezere killed. And unlike the women who got abused by King Luard, these soldiers don't deserve my kindness."
I stab my finger in front of his metallic chest. "Tell me, what happens if I go there, insist that they stop, and the orcs turn on us? What if the orcs decide that I'm no longer their shaman, and now they want capture this city and turn all of the residents into their slaves? What then, huh? Can our current army stop them? Not to mention our army has fewer men, you’d need at least two or three human soldiers to take a single orc down. And with these holes in the walls?! We don’t stand a chance!”
I tap my bandaged hand. “And I’m currently limited in the spells I can cast too, I can’t cast with a broken hand. We can’t fight them, not now.”

He stands there quietly for a long moment, his heavy breaths are the only thing breaking the silence. “You’re right, I wasn’t thinking,” he says at the end.

“No. You care about those people even if they don't deserve that, I love that about you! You care about everyone, and you truly want to help. You have a heart, and you have a conscience. But we can’t always get everything the way we want to, we have to make do with the little good we can achieve. And there’s something else I need to your conscience for.”

He lets out an echoing grunt. “And what is that?”

I take out one of the glassy bottles that contain Luard’s soul. “This is King Luard’s soul,” I explain.

Kolag takes the bottle and holds it close to his metallic visor. “Is this how souls look like?” There’s awe and wonder in his echoing voice, as well as fear.

“It’s only a shard of his soul, I have four more of these.”

“What are you planning to do with it?” he asks.

“That’s what I need you here for. Consuming it will make me more powerful, it’ll save me a lot of time and effort, and might even bring more benefits to me. I want you to convince me.”

“Convince you of what?”

“Convince me not to drink it. It’s someone’s soul! As terrible as he was, it’s still eating a human being.”

“I think you should drink it.” He hands me the bottle back. “A monster like him doesn’t deserve an afterlife, and if it can help you reach your goals, all the better.”

What?! I stare at him, dumbfounded. “Are you sick Kolag? Fever? Having a crisis of faith?” I ask once I regain my wits.

“Why would you think that?” he sounds puzzled.

“I didn’t expect you to tell me to drink it, that’s all. I asked you here to convince me not to drink it.”

He takes a deep breath and taps the side of his thigh with a metallic finger. “But I think you should drink it. As long as you don’t have to eat the flesh, which is a corrupt evil act. Just consuming the soul of such an evil being? It doesn’t seem wrong to me. Don’t go around killing people for this stuff, but this guy was a monster, and he’s already dead. His soul doesn’t deserve peace. Go on ahead.”

If even Kolag thinks it’s ok, then I don’t need to guilt-trip myself over this. “Ok then… bottoms up!” I gulp down the content of the bottle. “I’ll be meditating now, I’ll talk to you later at dinner.”

He nods and leaves me to my mediation.

*

As I sit crossed leg, and regulate my breath in the required pattern, my mind wanders all over the place. I think, I calculate the reconstruction costs of red cedar city, I plan my trip to the other cities who came under my rule.

*Choke*

An hour into my mediation there’s a hand holding my throat, the thumb pressing on my windpipe, strangling me to death.

Gasping for air, I open my eyes and attempt to pull the strange hands from my throat. Except, I can’t move my hands, they aren’t responding. I can’t feel my arms from the shoulders down.

My own hand is choking me. The broken one struggles to move out of its wooden and cloth cast, but the healthy one is on my throat.

I panic, I can’t breathe, and I can’t move my hands away. My thumb is pressing down my windpipe with all the force it can muster, and I can’t stop it.

“Help!” My attempt at crying for help results in a choked whisper. Zoe isn’t in my room, she always leaves when I meditate. I am alone, dying for the weirdest of reasons.

My second hand manages to leave its sling, and shoots for my throat as well.

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 73
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 11 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 22 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/17 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 33 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 5 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 46/50 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 17 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1465 Magic Gems. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
5 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
King Luard's fresh heart.
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 27/100

Present Companions:
Salik
Kolag of House Befar
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars: Melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Left wrist broken. Broken ribs.

Curses: ???

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 923 gold coins. 136 diamonds. 200 magical gems.

Kingdom’s citizen: 3,877 humans, 1,840 human children. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,157 orcs. 294 orc children. 532 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: 1,1157 Orc Warriors. 347 Footmen. 12 Peacekeeper Knights.

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom
Balgrum Orc Chieftain.

Chapter 103 in color

Chapter 102 colorless

Chapter 102 Change.

Making good deals.
This is the art of making everyone happy.
This is the art of giving everyone a win.
This is the art of preserving everyone’s pride.
When you make a good deal, everyone walk away happy.

Kilako, the Golden Prince of Gains.

Tiara shakes her head slowly. “Take me as a hostage, let Phoebe go. She’ll bring Kolag here and exchange him for me.”

“I thought you said you aren’t an idiot. What’s stopping Janara from leaving you here to die by my hand? Not to mention that you’re worthless to me as a hostage.”

“U-unlike you, Inara, I don’t l-leave my friends to die!” Janara chimes in from the side in a brittle voice, her teeth chattering.

I turn to her. She is still encased in ice, with Jerro’s hand on her shoulder. “Oh? And I do?! Did you miss the whole point of this negotiation by any chance? Why did you imprison Kolag? Didn’t you listen to what he had to say? Didn’t he tell you that I didn’t kill Purson?!”

“Purson’s death was your fault! You and Kolag’s! You both got him killed! Even Kolag admitted to that! Master Rushmia’s death is also on your hands… and you killed Oshi.” She sniffs, her voice breaking.

So she talked to Kolag and still… Oh, I bet he went into that conversation with all of that pointless guilt he carries around… apologizing… Ugh what an idiot… Bucket head… “Yes, I killed Oshi. The person who manipulated you, and used your grief to turn you against your best friend. And Rushmia?! She was a monster, we both saw…”

Janara screams at me. “You don’t know Oshi like I did!” she whines in a broken voice, tears trailing down her cheeks. “She was lonely and insecure and scared… she had a good heart and…”

“You still buy her acts?! Janara, Oshi was a scheming madwoman, she used you!” Why can’t she see what’s right in front of her?!

“You’re the only scheming madwoman here! Oshi loved me in ways you can’t imagine… and now she’s dead… you always kill the people I care about, Inara… always!”

“I don’t know about Purson, but I’ll have to agree with Inara about Oshi,” Tiara says dryly. “That woman was a blight. She used you, she used Nalfit before you, and she used Maia before her. Oshi loved to find a naïve girl and toy with the poor soul. She tried it on me and failed, so she went to Maia and Nalfit. You were her playground Janara, I tried to tell you.” Tiara shrugs as if she doesn’t care whether or not Janara believes her words.

“You didn’t know her like I did!” Janara declares.

“You poor thing, I knew her better than you did, we’ve…”

“D-don’t patronize me! I hate when you do that.” Janara trembles, I am not sure if it’s due to her pain, anger, or the cold, it doesn’t look like fear though.

“Then wake the hell up!” Tiara shouts with fury. “Ahem…” She regains her composure and smooth her robes, shaking her head. “Your only way out of imprisonment or worse is me. My life is on the line because of you, which means I have to take extra measures to keep you alive. But I’m not omnipotent. If you keep sticking to your childish view of the world, and pull the tiger’s whiskers with your head in its jaws, we’ll both end up dead.”

The words don’t seem to calm Janara, quite the opposite. “It-It’s not like you care about m-me! You care a-about yourself! You’re just a-a selfish bitch!”

“You bet I’m selfish! You’re selfish too. Everyone is selfish!” Tiara shouts back, losing her cool again.

Janara looks like she has something else to say, but keeps it to herself. This seems like an argument these two had before. Tiara turns to me again. “Do we have a deal?”

“Jerro?” I turn to my prophet, nursing my broken arm. I missed his useful predictions, and this is the best time for a prediction.

The tanned man stands with his left hand on Janara's right shoulder and the other leaning on his cane. “I know where the knight is being held, but it won’t help us. The knight is not invincible, and he will drown before we get to him. The rival will keep her word should you release her, and she will give you the knight unharmed upon her release. But if you would heed my advice, I’d slay your rival, even if it means the knight’s death.”

No way! “Why?”

“Both the knight and the rival will bring you trouble in the future, they both need to die if you are to live. This is a perfect opportunity to kill them both,” Jerro explains coldly.

Ok… maybe I didn’t miss his constant predictions of doom… “If I hand Janara over, Kolag will be returned to me alive, correct?”

“Correct,” Jerro confirms.

I turn to Tiara. “Then I agree, but I want two more things with your surrender.”

“Name it.”

“Hand over two of your cities, the closest ones. I need to know you two won’t declare another war on me, and having more resources and armies will prevent that.”

“Done!” Tiara says without hesitation, and Janara snorts loudly. “What’s the second thing?”

“I want Janara’s ring. If I’m not mistaken, she got it from the hag… the golden-eyed archmage, correct?”

“That’s correct,” Tiara confirms. I knew it!

“That mage is my master, she planted you here as an obstacle for me, and that ring is supposed to be my reward for defeating you.”

“N-not e-everything is a-about you, I-Inara!” Janara calls out angrily. “Y-you are like the e-evil villainess from the t-tales who thinks everything is about her. E-even your face look l-like villainess now!”

I look at her. Her hair is disheveled, there is a bleeding scratch on her cheek, a collar on her neck, and half of her body is frozen. The stuttering only emphasizes how defeated she is right now. My face is probably worse… I bet it looks like a piece of grotesque gore… I really need to fix it somehow… at least my eyes didn't get damaged...

“True, not everything is about me, but this ring is. Otherwise, explain to me why my master, gave you a ring, which is enchanted with my main element? Or why she went to such lengths to put you in the same location she sent me, the gray islands are big enough, aren’t they?”

“Y-you really think everything i-is about you, d-don’t you?! Maybe she l-liked me? She said she might take me as her apprentice if I win the t-trial here.” Janara declares proudly while Tiara shakes her head with clear frustration.

If you want to be the hag’s apprentice then be my guest… “I don’t care, I’m not letting you leave without that ring. I shouldn’t let you leave anyway, the only reason you’re getting away is Kolag.”

Janara smiles at me, her face covered in tears, and blood trickles from the edge of her mouth. “T-then kill m-me! I know y-you want t-to!”

“Just give her this cursed ring Phoebe!” Tiara loses her patience.

Janara turns her head toward Tiara, twisting as much as she can with her body half frozen. “D-dear selfish T-Tiara! How a-am I supposed to hand o-over a ring when m-my hands are fro-frozen?!” She has a point there, she’s an ice statue from the shoulders down. Although the ice is rapidly melting, and small chunks fall off by now, I figure it’ll melt off in less than five minutes.

I really wouldn’t want to be in Tiara’s shoes right now… being stuck with safeguarding that crazy girl… wait! I have the perfect solution! An epiphany strikes me “Tiara!” I call out. “What were my master’s exact words?”

“Uh?”

“The archmage. What were the exact words and conditioning she gave you about leaving the Gray Islands alive?”

“I believe I already told you. If Phoebe dies, I can stay on the Gray Islands, since I won’t be leaving the place alive.”

“Did she say anything about working for Janara? Supporting her cause? I have a new deal to offer you. Join me, become my ally. I won’t be treating you like she does. I’ll hand Janara over in return, she’ll become your prisoner. It’s much easier to keep a prisoner alive, than a hypocrite queen who treats you like the mud on her shoe. You can take over three of the cities Janara rules and rule them in her stead. When this period is over, you hand Janara over to the hag… I mean my master, alive and well.”

Tiara looks at Janara as if she’s considering what I’ve said.

“I’ll kill m-m-myself!” Janara threatens, her stuttering finally sounding like fear and not cold or anger.

“There are ways to prevent that,” I say quietly.

“I’ll b-b-bite off my t-tongue!” Janara continues threatening.

“We can chop off your tongue, you talk too much anyway,” I say, feeling much like the villainess from the bards' tale she described me to be just a minute ago. She’s the one who imprisoned Kolag who only went to her as an ambassador. She’s the one who marched thousands of soldiers on my city over a pointless grudge. Soldiers who raped and killed hundreds of innocents! All for some senseless need in revenge, and I am the villainess here?!

“I want that ring.” Tiara says at the end.

“Done! You can have the damn ring. Let’s make it a defensive pact while we’re at it, we’ll support each other if one of us is threatened by another enemy. Halve the taxes for trade within our cities, it’ll encourage people to trade within our territory. And we’ll put our armies to clearing these damn roads from monsters and bandits.”

Tiara shrugs. “Sounds good to me. I only need Janara to be alive, but you’re right, I can just pack and hand her over like a sack of wheat. As the ruler I can do what I want and finally focus on my studies.”

No more haggling? Is this a trick? “Jerro?”

The tanned man frowns, pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed. “I did not see that happening. I did not see that happening at all. That's... This is wrong.”

“Is she deceiving me?”

“No. But I did not see this route before. Now that it’s open, a lot changes with the flow of time. I see too much now. Give me a minute.” He winces as if he’s in pain while pressing and massaging his forehead.

“I just need to know if it’s safe to take this deal?” Which sounds way too good to be true… but it does make sense that she’ll agree… and as long as she doesn’t release Janara we’re fine… But that leave Janara as tool for the hag to be used later… Which I really don’t like, but it also keeps Kolag alive, and this is what’s really important here…

Jerro closes his eyes with a groan. “Define safe. You might not get your cities, but not because she didn't honor her deals... but because... I can't see clearly. You might get your cities too. There are no schemes involved, she will honor her deal. But she might lose her cities to other mages later, and the rival might get released in the future.”

Yeah… it leaves this loose end I don’t like, but I need to take what I can get. “Ok, let’s get this done. You can have Janara, take me to Kolag.”

Janara chokes, blood pours out of her mouth. She gives a victorious bloody smile to Tiara who hurries over. The expression on Tiara’s face does not change. She orders a pair of my soldiers in red to forcefully open Janara’s mouth. “Diskatu sufal” <___ heat> the bronze dagger in Tiara’s hand burns hot. She pulls Janara’s wounded tongue and cut it out, cauterizing the wound as the girl screams.

“Rinim ril” <Ice break> Tiara continues with a swift series of gestures, blue smoke coming out of her belt. The ice cracks, breaking and mangling Janara’s hands and legs beyond recognition. The crimson shards of ice litter the muddy ground. All four limbs detach from the wrists and ankles, leaving jagged iced stamps. The flesh of her arms and shins is broken, while the frozen blood doesn’t even trickle out.

Janara’s passes out from the pain. Tiara forces the unconscious girl to drink a healing potion, then orders the soldiers to carry her. All while maintaining the same expressionless face. Under her orders, the guards make a fire, and place the unconscious partially frozen Janara near it. I notice a few nasty frostbites on Janara's exposed skin.

Best if I don’t make Tiara my enemy… she’s way more dangerous than Janara…

Tiara melts some of the ice on the ground with her magic and picks Janara’s ring from the bodiless fingers on the ground.

“Jerro, what’s the current state of everyone?” I ask while Tiara takes care of Janara.

“Everyone? Define everyone.” He frowns at me. I lift an eyebrow. “Oh, everyone of importance? I, my soulmate, and the hunter are here, alive and well. The old man is alive but wounded, he lost his hand. The thief is entertaining a female orc with carnal pleasures. The apprentice went to the home of her family, most of her family died in the battle and she just found out about it. She is currently grieving and taking care of an unimportant baby. The knight is on a boat, hoping for his death.” Phew… so everyone is alive… wounds can be healed… even lost limbs and mental injuries… And Zoe lost her family... all because Janara wanted revenge...

“What happened to Loyal?” I gesture at the horse with my chin, the horse snorts and shows a row of sharp teeth he never had before. His eyes glow in an unnatural shade of emerald green. His curly mane—which drapes down almost to his legs—gleams with a similar verdant hue. He’s almost twice the size I remember him being.

How am I going to ride him now? My head barely reaches his chest! Do I even need to ride him?! I can fly now…

“He has evolved,” Jerro declares proudly.

I grin. “Is that why you took him with you?”

“Yes.”

I get closer to Loyal, and put my healthy hand on his nose when he lowers his face. For a moment, my hand is stuck to his head, almost as if his skin is covered by a strong adhesive. “Can you understand me?” I ask him. He neighs and nods lightly.

My heart misses a beat. I’ve asked this question in the past, he always showed some semblance of intelligence, but this is the first time he reacts to my words directly.

“You didn’t understand me before,” I state.

He neighs but doesn’t move his head.

“Other than moving your head, is there another way you can communicate?”

His response is to use his massive tongue to lick me from head to toe.

I chuckle. Ew, this is going to take hours to wash out of my hair… Definitely a communication though… With all this blood and gore the least I should worry about is his saliva… “I don’t have sugar for you, I’ll brush you later, ok?” Why his hair doesn’t get stuck to his skin? How does this adhesive skin works? Does he control what sticks and what doesn't?

He snorts and turns around. He pounces at one of the nearby corpses and tears it to shreds with his sharp teeth, devouring the meat like any other predatory animal.

“Okaaay... You don’t like sugar anymore, I’ll bring raw meat next time.” He neighs, lifts his head, nods to me, and goes back to brutalizing the human corpse at his feet.

“We won the battle, Shaman Inara. We’ll take our spoils as promised!” Balgrum strides forward. The orcs behind him eye the group of prisoners circled by my soldiers in red.

“I believe the deal was a third of the prisoners and their riches?” I ask.

“Yes, a third to the shaman, a third to the chief, and a third to the clan. We had a deal for this battle, so my third belongs to you. The next battle we wolves participate in, we’ll take two-thirds.”

I nod. I wish he’d clarify that one earlier, but I’d go with it regardless… The orcs are the only reason we’ve won. I don’t care if Luard and Janara’s soldiers will end up as slaves. They caused enough deaths. “You can go on ahead.” The orcs cheer and swarm the prisoners, debating and choosing in their language while checking out the prisoner’s muscles, private parts, and faces. It looks like an orcish version of a slave market.

“I sent my man to bring Kolag here,” Tiara says and wakes me up from my observations into orcish culture. “I thought I’d be taking Janara soldiers back with me, but we didn’t discuss prisoners of war, have we? Regardless, those are my men now, and I can’t have the orcs take them,” she exclaims with determination.

“Balgrum!” I call out.

The burly orc raise his head in questioning.

“I claim the humans wearing green as my share, let your wolves pick from the ones wearing blue.”

“Gra. They are less than third.”

I sigh and roll my eyes. “Fine, pick all the ones in blue and a few from the ones in green. I want the majority of the ones wearing green.”

He nods and translates my words to the orcs. Some of them seem to be disappointed, but they soon hurry to the blue uniformed men on the ground.

I turn to Tiara. “Done. You'll get most of them back. I want them to help me rebuild the city before you take them back, make up for the destruction they've caused. Stay for a week? We’ll sign a proper agreement and hammer in the details of our alliance.”

“Sure. But I’ll stay on Phoebe’s shi… my ships if you don’t mind. It won’t do if one of your angry citizens stabs me in the back.”

“Suit yourself.” I touch my damaged face. “Speaking of Phoebe, who fixed her jaw? I remember leaving it in a very sorry state.”

Tiara shrugs. “Oshi healed it somehow. No idea how, might be one of her fae abilities?”

That’s a dead end…

*

The city is half ruins when I make my way toward the broken gates. I stumble from the pain and numbness, nursing my broken hand. Bodies litter the ground and painful screams fills the air with dread. People dig collapsed buildings in a desperate attempt to save others who are buried underneath.

By now, I’ve regained some of my mana and the ability to drain a few more gems. I stop here and there to help with my magic. They need to see that I care, and I can’t just stand by knowing I can help and save some lives, especially due to the fact that I am partially at fault for their deaths.

It’s already dusk when I meet Kolag at the gates. He seems like he had never left, which means he never fought Janara, and just let her take him as a hostage. Don’t get angry now… must’ve been a reason, and he just got back, alive, celebrate that… I hug him with my single hand without a word, I am too afraid to say something I’ll regret later.

He hugs me back, silently. Then holds my shoulder looking down at me from behind his metallic visor. “Your face…”

“Yeah… I’ll heal it later. I hope… if I can't, the hag will heal it once I’m back in Axero… I don’t think it’s permanent. Or at least I don’t want to think it’s permanent.” I shudder for a moment and regain my wits. “But it was already pretty bad… and the hag. I’ve lost my hand and she healed it, I know it’s possible. So it’s not a big deal. Only death is permanent… and I almost lost you today. Kolag, why did you give yourself up to Janara?”

His shoulders sag. “I’m sorry, I tried,” he says. “I’m the one who got Purson killed, all of this is my fault, I should be dead.”

“No, all of this is Janara’s fault. She doesn’t deserve someone like you taking responsibility for her. Am I clear?”

He moves his hands to my arms, and I catch a glint of his eyes between the metallic crevices of his visor. “But she lost the man she loved, wouldn’t you do the same if I died?”

I look back into his visor. “No, I wouldn’t. I’d target the person who did it, not a whole city! I definitely wouldn’t get innocents killed for my revenge. Now, stop blaming yourself and help me fix this city, many people could use your help around here.”

“You’re right…” He goes into the city without a word and joins the first group who help people out of collapsed buildings.

“Take me to general Salik.” I command a soldier in red who leans on a broken spear, watching people who help the wounded.

“As you command, My Queen,” he says and limps forward, using his broken shaft as a walking stick.

My Queen… ha! I bet you’d be calling Janara ‘my Queen’ if she had taken over the city too, you change your loyalties way too fast…

Can I blame them? They need to survive somehow… I can’t fathom what these people are thinking, how can they worship mages or ‘sorcerers’ with all the pain we bring them? Why would they serve in our armies and fight these pointless wars for us? None of it makes sense! Religion makes people crazy!

The man leads me to a small alleyway, and I find the wounded Salik inside one of the houses, with five of his men trying their best to keep him alive. His wounds look bad, his left hand is cut off at the wrist, and a broken arrow is sticking out of his chest. I make the soldiers pull out the arrow, and give Salik my last healing potion. I really need to make more of these… it’ll help more than spending mana on moving collapsed building…

Salik wakes up, coughing. “I see you arrived in time, kid. By Nuriss’ bloody jugs, you look worse than I feel. Too early for me to die, eh?”

“Looks that way. I’m sorry about your hand, I can’t regenerate that yet, but the hag… the Maven of Mysteries can.”

He looks at his arm stub. “Ha, I’ll be taking a break from fighting for a while, or I can tie a shield to my hand. Did we win? Or they’re just letting you see me?”

“We've won, I’m also taking over some of their territory, so you’ll have your work cut out for you. You still need to continue my physical training. I’ll hold you on to that promise, so don’t die on me, old man. But my hand is currently broken, so you got a break there until it heals.”

He leans his head back on the table he's laying on. “Work, work, work, my life is just endless work, isn’t it? Where’s my brandy?” One of the soldiers hands him his flask. Salik attempts to drink, then looks at the empty hole with disappointment. “Is this supposed to be a joke? Fill it up!”

“Forget that order soldier.” I take the flask. “Get out, all of you! Help with the wounded and the people who need rescue!” I order the five of them who still stand there like a group of dumbfounded monkeys, they eye Salik with clear hesitation. “What are you waiting for? I gave you an order!” I exclaim angrily. Are they obeying him or me?

They hurry out and close the door behind them.

“So now you’re not letting me drink too?” Salik sounds aggrieved.

“The opposite. Let’s go get a drink together. I could use a drink right about now, and I'm willing to bet that the palace has some drinks for us. Can you walk?”

“I’ll manage!”

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 73
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 11 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 22 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/17 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 33 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 5 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 46/50 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 17 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1665 Magic Gems. 136 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
0 potions of Lesser Healing.
4 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
King Luard's fresh heart.
10 soul bottles-5 filled with Luard's soul. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100

Present Companions:
Salik
Kolag of House Befar
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal
Ryon
Zoe

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars: Melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Left wrist broken. Bruises. Cuts on the face. Broken ribs.

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children ?. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,243 orcs. 294 orc children. 164 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: ?

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom

Chapter 102 in color

Chapter 101 colorless

Author notes:

This chapter is dedicated to Deltaalpha for supporting me on Patreon.

Thank you so much for your support! <3

Chapter 101 Hostage Situation.

Saving lives requires payment.
Time, money, honor, and sometimes another life.
But what you buy in return is a whole life!
A person, filled with hopes, dreams, thoughts, and feelings!
Every life matters!

Brigit, the Keeper of Life.

“Husband!” A short raven-haired woman, wearing a revealing sky-blue dress, pushes her way between the soldiers in blue.

“Ah wife, don’t get jealous now. When I said nail I meant for victory, not for love. You can watch if you want,” Luard replies, his hand tracing the scar on my cheek. “Look at her face, I did that! I will do it to her body too.” He laughs excitingly like a madman.

“Oh, I know silly, I’m not jealous!~” she replies in a singsongy voice as she gets closer. She gives him a bright smile that reaches her blue eyes. “Oh husband. I’m so proud of you! You won just like you promised. I just can’t help it, I need to feel you again. Snake me! Here and now!”

“In front of all the soldiers?” Luard asks, dumbfounded.

The woman hesitates and shifts, her arms pushes her breasts inwardly, emphasizing her deep cleavage. “Oh you’re right,” she scoffs. “Forgot about the soldiers, of course. At least let me give you a victory kiss!”

Luard leaves me be, and hugs the crazy woman, kissing her passionately.

*Clack*

The familiar click startles me, but this iron collar locks around Luard’s neck.

“What is the…” He doesn’t finish the sentence, an arrow pins his leg to the ground. A group of soldiers in red charge into Janara's soldiers, joining the melee. An opening is created around the city gates. “Niiighhh!” A massive black horse charges through the opening into the group of soldiers in blue that's besides us. Jerro is seated on the horse’s back, he looks so small in comparison to the rest of the horse. The horse’ eyes glow green, he bites, kicks and whips around with a long whip-like tail. Is that Loyal?!

The few soldiers in blue who manage to gather their wits do their best to attack my horse, but they find that their weapons get stuck to the horse’s skin, and they lose their weapons with the horse’s charge. Some of the soldiers’ limbs get stuck to the horse’s flank, and they get dragged and flapped around by Loyal as he charges forward. None of them can reach Jerro on the nearly three meters tall horseback, and the smarter soldiers simply run out of the path.

“NOOOOO!!!” Luard tries to punch his woman. She dodges him with ease, flowing around him as if she’s made of liquid rather than flesh. An arrow sprouts from Luard’s hand, then from his other leg, pinning him to the ground.

The woman takes a key from Luard’s belt, and pats his cheek with a mad grin. He howls in pain, kneeling on the ground. She leaves him pinned and opens the collar around my neck. “Good to see you again, Mistress. I’m here to report the success of my mission,” she says with a curtsy and gestures at mad King behind her. Sharla…

I resist urge to touch my numb mutiliated face. “Thank you, Sharla, you scared me. Did you have to wait until he started punching me?”

She circles the kneeling King, her pitched giggles sound over his loud bellowing screams of denial. She holds his cheeks from behind and tugs his head backward. "I'll kill you, you rotten harpy! You'll regret betraying the King! You'll..." She covers his mouth to shut him up. He obviously bites her hand hard, but there isn’t a hint of blood.

Sharla grins at me, twisting her head at angle that would be extremely straining for a human, almost like an owl. “Actually, yes, I had to. Luard is a big scaredy boggart, aren’t you my love?” She plants a kiss on his cheek from behind. “Aren’t you a big scaredy boggart? Yes you are! Yes you are!” She talks to him as if she’s speaking to a child, or a pet.

His face twists with hatred or pain when she pats his head from above. “Just you wait, you little…” Sharla drives her hand into his mouth again, shutting him up mid-sentence. He attempts to bite her hand. This time I focus on it and note that her hand just morphs in an odd way with his teeth.

“Only when he was assured of his victory did he lower his defenses,” Sharla continues, an apologetic smile on her face. “He’ll need taming, of course.”

“Or you just enjoyed saving the day for once.”

She smirks and cocks her head. “That too.”

“How did you manage that? He said he caught you. And Jerro’s letter said you were wounded?”

“Oh?” She looks at me with confusion. “Oh, that! Yeah, he did. He’s not a typical man, way too paranoid, can’t let go even in his sleep. He caught me alright, but you know… it’s best to double-check when you try and kill a shifter, we’re very good at faking our deaths. And dear?” She circles the fallen king and looks him in the eyes, her hand still stuck in his mouth. “Remember~ Cold Iron doesn’t eliminate the magic of the fae, it only work on you, stupid mortal mages.” She slaps his cheek lightly, in an almost endearing way.

She giggles, tugs her hand out of his mouth, and turns to me, twirling on a single leg. Her body shifts to that of a young teenaged girl, her voice raises into a very high girly pitch. “Then, our big scaredy boggart arrived at a new city, where he met a young girl named Leafa, and her big brother Berthold. They instantly fell in love! They were so happy together!” She squeals with her hands on her heart. “The brother was more than happy to wed his virgin sister to a powerful sorcerer such as the big scaredy boggart. Isn’t that right my love?” She shifts back to the raven haired woman form, a vicious grin etched on her face.

Lurad lets out a frustrated grunt.

Why is he still alive? “Why did Berthold not aim for this monster’s head? What’s the value of capturing him alive?”

Sharla shifts back into her original fae form dressed in her autumn leaves dress, and bows deeply. “The value is to you, Mistress. Luard is a half Marrid, a water fae. You can drain his soul slowly, slightly similar to the way you would drain me. He could aid in your advancement.”

“So Jerro didn’t say to keep him alive?”

“He did not.”

That’s all I need to know. I’d like to torture him, it’d feel good… but keeping someone alive to torture them is inviting them to flip the tables. Both Oshi and Janara tortured me just now, Luard did too… and Lezere did say that torturing a wolf is a bad idea… I will not make that mistake. I pick an axe from the ground. I’ll kill him just like how he killed Lezere… poetic justice.

“W-wait!” Luard gasps and shouts as I approach, “I-I can give you knowledge! I know many spells I-I…” This is for Lezere! I push him down to the ground, and place my knee on his chest. I land the axe on his healthy wrist with all of my strength. Metal meets bone and flesh with a sickening splash.

My strike meets much more resistance than I anticipate, and my attempt is with my single healthy hand. Needless to say, the blade doesn’t fully go through, and his hand hangs by a few strands of meat and skin.

The man scream from the top of his lungs, he twists violently under my knee, squirming in pain. He does his best to push me off, but his other hand is pierced by Berthold's arrow. “Please, I’m worth more alive! I have spells, a lot of spells. Spare me! Please!”

“I don’t care how many spells you can offer me, you’re too dangerous to live,” I say dryly. I savior his screams and bring the axe down on his left elbow. This is for everyone he ever tortured!

This time the axe goes fully through the bone, and the forearm detaches from his arm. He jerks around under me, trying to struggle without hands. He gasps, tears fall down on his tanned temples and turn into odd milky pearls. His eyes flicker and flash blue a few times, and his breath releases something that looks like odd vapors, but there aren't too many of them.

Let's end this. “And Lezere would say it’s foolish to torture you… she’d call me a foolish chief if I did.” I chuckle mirthlessly. Wherever you are Lezere… I hope you’re satisfied with this… I bring the axe down on his throat.” This is for myself and everything you did to me. The blade pierces his flesh, but I do not manage to cut his head cleanly. His head hangs on by his spine. He gurgles, choking. I can’t stop looking into his pleading blue eyes. No mercy for this monster. He tortured and executed hundreds. He had women naked in cages in a rainstorm. He had women lined up and raped for his mere statistic pleasure. He deserves this, and more!

“But Mistress, it’s a waste!” Sharla protests.

“Maybe. I’m sorry to throw away your efforts like that. I know you worked hard on capturing him alive, but I can’t keep him alive; I owe Lezere that much. She’d say that being cruel to a wolf is dangerous, and I happen to agree. I can’t give him the chance to recover. As for the power, I’ve hunted a an alpha worg on the way to the orc camp and already consumed its soul on the way back here...”

Sharla sighs. “You should consume Luard's soul then. His soul worth as twice or even triple of some worg’s soul.”

I pull out the axe from his throat, and blood sprouts from the arteries in his neck. He’s still alive somehow, twitching under my knee. I can’t help but take great satisfaction from talking about the fate of his soul near his dying, aware mind.

If he’s a half fae and his soul is so powerful that he can be drained slowly like Sharla’s… maybe I should consume his soul… Monsters like him deserve such fate… Doesn’t make eating the meat any less disgusting… But it’s a lot of power… I won’t eat his body… just the soul…

Why do the hag eat the bodies anyway? The power comes from the mana in the soul after all and there wasn't anything about it in the book… Either she’s twisted… or there’s some reason I don’t know about. I wish I could ask her. I should try consuming the soul without the meat, see what happen...

I can’t let his soul go to waste… even if I won’t eat it, I can try and make a potion out of it, glitter for Salik… I take out a glass bottle. I can see the horror in Luard’s blue eyes, he knows what’s coming next. I can’t help but smile at him as his life fades away from these blue hated eyes. You got what you deserved, monster!

I press my ectoplasm bottle against his mouth, and channel the bits of mana I recovered in the past few minutes into the diamond stopper. I watch the bottle slowly fills up with a blue swirling gas, the gas turns into a clear liquid with a silver tint after a few moments. It feels wrong, I shouldn’t do it to another intelligent being. I hate him! I hate him so much! His soul don’t deserve to survive!

The diamond stopper heats up and I know the bottle is filled to the brim, I have to use four more bottles before his soul is drained entirely. That’s a very large soul… I’d really like to consume it… If Sharla went to such lengths to keep this guy alive for me, I bet his soul is beneficial. He is a monster, I can eat him without feeling guilty…What about the meat? I can’t eat that…

I don’t have to, I bet the meat makes the process more efficient or something, I can pass on that efficiency… what if it does more than that? If that’s the case, I’ll make a glitter potion for Salik, but I’m drinking that soul. If I make a glitter potion, I’ll need the heart…

I wince, hesitating to cut up the corpse in such a manner. What am I hesitating for? He did those things to living people!

Ugh, fine!

I draw my dagger and stab it under his rib cage. I dig through flesh, fat, and organs with a grimace. I have only one healthy hand to work with and carving out the heart isn’t the cleanest work to do. I take out the dagger and push my hand into the warm body, sensing around where the heart should be.

I gulp when I lift the heart out of Luard’s body. blood dribbles down my wrist and clothing, the gory mess I leave behind me wouldn’t shame a professional torturer. He’s the monster and the torturer! He deserves this end!

“Maybe he was perverted beast, but no one deserves to be defiled like that.” Janara says from the side, still encased in ice and an iron collar around her neck. “You’re a monster, Inara…”

I shake my head, wrap the bloodied heart in a piece of cloth and squeeze the soft object into one of my spell material bags, to keep it fresh. She’s right… I’m a monster… I’m going to use this thing to make a snaking potion! It’s disgusting! I’m disgusting! It’s not like I’ll succeed on my first attempt, this is way more complicated than a healing potion, I'll need the training… And she’s the one to talk about being a monster, huh?

“No, Janara. You’re the monster here. How many innocents died due to your pointless vendetta? How many of the common folk—people who used to be just like you before the tower—died?! Did you count how many people live in this city? What their lives were like before you brought your armies here? And what about your soldiers? How many young men did you enlist and threw forward into this war just to avenge Purson’s death? Just to avenge Rushmia’s death… Rushmia! Do you even remember how she treated us?! All I do is to curve out a man’s heart. Not just any man, someone who tortured and executed innocents weekly, and you call me a monster. I’m ending you right now!” I limp toward her, lifting my bloodied dagger.

The loud cheers around me cause me to look around. The orcs are howling wildly, ramming their axes and spears against their shields. While soldiers in red round up the ones in green and blue. Luard didn’t bring too many soldiers here, but Janara’s soldiers are still more numerous than my own, I can’t understand why they stopped fighting.

“No! You’re the monster! You’ve killed…"

I reach Janara and lifts my dagger to her throat. She shuts up and eyes me with her big green eyes.

“Inara, stop!” A familiar pale woman calls out to me just when I'm about to sink my dagger into Janara's throat and slit it. The woman's wavy dark hair hangs on her back. I only recognize her because of the dark circles under her blue eyes.

Tiara. Even back at the tower we didn’t talk much, but she was friendlier with Janara. Her brown robes hide her curves and from how clean they are I can guess she avoided the battle entirely.

I hold my dagger to Janara’s throat. “Hello, Tiara, give me one good reason to not kill her."

"Kolag will die if you do," she states calmly, crossing her hands on her modest chest.

She has Kolag... What is she even doing here? I need to understand her motives better before I negotiate for Kolag's release. I doubt she's here out of loyalty to Janara of all people.

"I didn’t think you’d join these two.” Unlike Oshi and Janara, Tiara only liked her studies, she shied from conflict.

Tiara's thin shoulders move with her heavy sigh, she massages her temples with a wince. “Not by choice, a powerful arch-mage forced my master to send me here with these two, she also said I have to help Phoebe…”

I switch to Toml’a. “She? Was it an old lady? Black robes? Gray bun? Golden eyes that make you feel all fragile and vulnerable?” Was it the hag?

She grimaces. “That’s the one. She said that if Phoebe dies, I can stay on the Gray Islands since I won’t be leaving the place alive.”

So the hag sent them here… meeting Janara here wasn’t a coincidence, it was planned! All this snaking war was planned from the start. The location I teleported to. The city here. Everything! Even the ring Janara has, is enchanted with defensive gravity magic, Janara’s elements are earth and wood. I bet the hag gave it to her, as a reward for me… a reward for beating Janara…

Was Luard planned as well? How many of these obstacles have the hag’s claws in them?

“I imagine you’re here to ask me to let Janara live…” That’s the only conclusion.

She gives the collared Janara a tired side glance and rolls her blue eyes in annoyance. “Yes. I don't have much of a choice.”

“Where is Kolag?” I ask, doing my best not to let fear into my voice, but I can tell that it’s shaking, I’m shaking. I can’t lose him too! Not after everything!

She shrugs like it doesn’t matter, and shifts her focus to her nails. “We have him, he’s alive and well.”

I need to see him! I can't trust her word! “Bring him here then,” I demand.

She fidgets, hesitating for a moment. “You’ll have to hand over Phoebe in exchange.”

“I might. First I want to see Kolag. And if you won’t bring him here, I’ll just kill her. Don’t test me.”

She folds her hands on her chest and lifts her thin chin. “Don’t test me either, I’ll kill Kolag if anything happens to her. Even if it’s the last thing I do.”

Focus! Stop shaking! I can’t show her a weakness and I can’t give in to her demands! Besides, Kolag is very hard to kill. “Good luck with that, Kolag is impossible to kill, I saw him surviving a spear in the face. The only reason he’s still a prisoner, is that he doesn’t want to harm your people, and freeing himself involves unleashing a demon. Now, bring him here before I lose my patience.” My voice is steady this time. I have the upper hand here, she represents the losing army, remember that! The only reason we’re even talking is because she thinks she has a hostage, once she realizes how…

Her words disrupt my line of thoughts. “We have Kolag on a boat, we’ll throw him into the river. He may not die, I don’t know if he can survive drowning, but he’ll still be stuck underwater with that metal armor of his, and you won’t know where to find him.”

Tiara frowns at the half frozen Janara behind me. “My survival depends on Phoebe’s life, I didn’t come to these islands to stay here, and if you think I didn’t come prepared, you’re sorely mistaken. I will not give up my only leverage and hope for your goodwill, I’m not an idiot.” She raises her fist above her head. I know it’s a threat, a supposed signal for her people.

Fuck! “So I should just give you Janara and trust in your goodwill, is that it?”

*~*~*

Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 73
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 11 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 22 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/17 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 33 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 5 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 46/50 gems

Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.

Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.

Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.

Focus capability: 17 patterns.

Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.

Personal Wealth: 1665 Magic Gems. 136 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.

Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
1 potions of Lesser Healing.
4 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
King Luard's fresh heart.
10 soul bottles-5 filled with Luard's soul. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100

Present Companions:
Sharlafyn Nettledew
Jerro
Berthold
Loyal

Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>

Injuries and scars: Melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Left wrist broken. Bruises. Cuts on the face. Broken ribs.

-

Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.

Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children ?. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,243 orcs. 294 orc children. 164 sheep-slaves.

Kingdom's army: ?

Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom