His mana lamps were iron rank, and couldn’t hold much more than an average iron rankers pool of mana at full charge. Given their ambient magic level was at a level of low to mid bronze, the mana lamps should have fully charged after the time it took to get a decent amount of rest, which they had. Zulli and August didn’t get much more than half a night’s sleep, but Arty seemed comfortable enough on his cot to go the full night, and had awoken in the morning despite the lack of sunlight reaching them in the sanctum.
“Should we get started then?” Zulli asked him, sitting cross-legged on her cot as she watched Arty inspect his mana lamps one by one. He had spread them across the sanctum so their fields wouldn’t negatively interact with one another and absorb the most amount of mana possible.
“We can, but I have a ritual and other things to prepare.” Arty replied.
Unbeknownst to Arty, Zulli put on a sour face, and August noticed by her slouching that she was disappointed.
“Zulli. You have an awakening stone.” August reminded her, giving her something for her mind to occupy while she waited.
“Yeah.” Zulli said, pulling the awakening stone from her dimensional pouch. “But I can’t absorb it like Sen. And I don’t even know what kind it is. I don’t even know if I should use it.”
“Hand it here.” August said.
Zulli leaned over onto one of her elbows and made a long reach to August, who leaned over from his sitting position on his chair to take it from her.
“Looks like a Dark stone.” He said to her as he inspected it between his fingertips. “I’ll check.”
August pulled out a small gray tablet from his knapsack. It looked like Sen’s MSRT but a bit smaller. This was an Adventurer’s Almanac, which held within it some of the Living Documents of the Magic Society and not much else, and was a widespread tool many adventurers used. August set the tablet on his lap and poked at it with one hand while he held the stone in the other.
“Awakening Stone of Dark.” August confirmed. “High chance of utility type abilities related to darkness, some aura and sensory abilities, low chance for offensive abilities.” He said to her, leaning over to hand her back the stone. “You’ve got an eye for rituals. I could try my hand at scribing down a ritual of awakening. You could check it over for me.”
Though Zulli was new to the world, and never had a formal teaching of the laws of magic, she had three different racial abilities that gave her insight into the inner workings of magic and reality as whole. These racial abilities: Universal Knowledge, Twilight Visitor, and Touch of the Stars, were wholly unique to Zulli’s race of Novabound, which was wholly unique in itself. There was no record of a Novabound ever existing, and the Magic Society took to documenting whatever they could about her race when she appeared in the world, just as they had done with Sen.
Zulli nodded slowly. “Okay.” She said.
August was being too nice, and Zulli could feel it coming from his aura. It was under control, as August had tight aura control, but oddly more reserved than usual. She could tell he was coddling her after he saw how she reacted to Sen being taken to the void, and perhaps he had felt some despondency of his own after bringing Sen here and exposing him to an experience he barely had the time to prepare for. August had developed a liking for the two outworlders on their short adventure from Vitesse to Silverwind. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of guilt for bringing them to this dark place.
August pulled out a block of chalk and stood up. The platforms leading down to the main floor of the sanctum were basically large slabs of flat black stone, perfect for a small ritual circle, which would be enough to fit Zulli inside it for an awakening ritual. August started by outlining a large circle with chalk, using all of the black slab that he could. He rubbed out certain spots with the bottom of his fist to redraw the lines until it formed into a nearly perfect circle. After several attempts and scrubbing, he drew more lines and sigils within the circle, until he was almost positive there wasn’t anything more to add.
Arty was back at the crystal dais, making sporadic glances at August. He was setting up a rod in front of the dais that stood straight in the air on its own, and had a small loop that floated perpendicularly above it.
“Zulli?” August asked.
She got up from her cot and stood next to August, and they both looked down at the ritual circle. Zulli held out her hand for August to pass her the block of chalk. She then began scrubbing away part of his work with the bottom of her fist.
“The awakening sigil has a larger curve on this line, rather than this one.” She said as she moved the chalk along the slab.
August nodded at her correction.
“And this line, I’m supposing someone told you that it’s fine to have it directly inbetween these two cardinal directions, and it is. But having it a little bit lower lets the magic seep in easier. Also, the closer you get that little circle to the size of the Awakening stone, the better.” She said, pointing at the circle at the end of the aforementioned line. “But your runes are great.”
“They are indeed what I practiced the most.” August responded, keeping his eyes locked on her corrections and editing of the ritual circle. Despite his characteristically stoic expression, he was astounded by her innate knowledge of rituals.
“I think that looks pretty good.” She said, taking a step back to view the circle in its entirety.
Arty took a pause from what he was doing to take a gander. “It does.” He said. He was standing a few steps behind them, looking at the circle. “You might want to take a wet rag to it to get rid of the correction marks, but the backlash on an awakening ritual isn’t that bad either way. “
They both turned to look at him.
Arty raised his hands in languid surrender. “I’m no ritualist, but I’ve been through all my awakening rituals too.”
Zulli looked away from him to look at August. “Do you have a rag? Sen still has all my stuff.” She asked, her voice drifting slightly.
“Yes.” August replied and went to his knapsack to provide it.
“Zulli. I’m feeling good about this.” Arty said, as he put a hand to his head to awkwardly rub his bushy hair. He motioned toward the crystal dais and his array of magical implements with his other hand.
Zulli didn’t know what to say in response. “He’ll be back.” She quietly said after a few sullen moments.
***
Sen was knocked to the floor. The attacks dished out from Uladin were swift and unpredictable. Bony wings with no apparent webbing had grown out of his back, and he would reveal himself from the nothingness of the void with a burst of speed in an attempt to ravage Sen with pure ferocity, only to disappear into the void once more. He grunted in pain. Despite having his axe in hand, Uladin had crashed into him with the more blunt parts of his structure, be it his shoulder or knee, and barely gave Sen a chance at getting back up. Sen knew why Uladin didn’t want to end the fight quickly this time around. He revered the savagery of violence too much.
When he had killed Sen the first time, his lust for death was too great to assuage. He was now satiated and wanted nothing more than the violence of the fight.
Sen could feel it hadn’t even been two minutes, considering his new vortex power was still on cooldown.
Another attack came. With Sen still on his back, and a bony blur appearing in his peripheral vision, he quickly lifted his feet in front of him to mitigate the blow. As Uladin’s brutish tackle connected, it sent Sen tumbling in the same direction. Flailing in the air, Sen latched onto the lich’s bony ankle with his gauntleted fist.
“Gotcha.”
They both flew into the dark abyss, as if the wall of darkness engulfed both of them. The crossroads disappeared, and so did all sense of light, as if Sen was entering the void for the first time once more.
***
Zulli sat in the awakening ritual circle that August had made for her. The awakening stone had been absorbed into it and light shone from the lines of the ritual. Slowly, the light faded, and Zulli then stood up.
“Well?” Arty asked first, impatiently wondering what ability had awakened within her, but then suddenly felt an odd feeling coming from around him.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
August’s head turned slightly as he felt it as well.
“Your aura.” August said.
Zulli looked down at her hands as she held them in front of her. She then looked behind her at her shadow being cast from the temporary glowstones set up in their makeshift camp.
“It changed my aura, didn’t it?” She asked.
“Not changed, supplemented.” August told her. “You got an aura ability. Something concerning this feeling I’m getting from my own shadow, I presume?”
Arty looked down at his own shadow, realizing August was right in that he felt something from it.
***
Uladin’s form seemed to stretch a million miles away from Sen, like reaching the event horizon of a black hole. Sen’s hand recoiled from Uladin’s ankle in the completely-human fear of being sucked into the abyss, despite already being there. Uladin’s foot then zoomed away from him at an impossible speed, following the million miles of stretched out lich body in front of him, until there was nothing. Uladin’s aura disappeared with his physical form.
Sen thought this might be another trick to catch him off guard, but the lack of sound and the lack of light made him uneasy, like this wasn’t meant to happen. It was like the first time he found himself in the void, without the pounding headache, the nakedness, and soreness across his body. But this time there was no floor, and he wasn’t falling, either. He was simply floating. There was no gravity, nothing pulling him toward and place or purpose. He took a deep breath, which the void abided.
“Hello?” His voice was muffled, he could barely even hear it, but it was there. His eyes looked left and right, then up and down. There was nothing. “More of this!?” He exclaimed.
Sen knew that Uladin was gone. He knew he was alone with the void again. This was another one of its lessons, another one of its games. Whether by tribulation or circumstance, he could feel his Void Guidance ability advising him he was where he was meant to be. He didn’t want to believe it, but he did.
His impatience was mounting. His eyes found a glint of something that wasn’t there before: A faint texture of light and shadow against the abyssal backdrop. Squinting his eyes did nothing to make out the form of the object, so he flailed his arms and legs in a swimming motion in an effort to move his floating body towards it.
After struggling for what seemed to be a few minutes, Sen got close enough to make out the object. It looked like his sword. Its plain make and craftsmanship shone with glorious luster against the void. Having no other options, he continued his struggle of swimming through the abyss to reach it.
The sword lay flat on its side, resting as if it were waiting for him.
Sen caught his breath. Even though he had magically boosted his endurance by reaching iron rank, the struggle of moving where there was nothing to move against took its toll. He reached out to grab the sword by the hilt, and when he did, its form stretched away from him, millions of miles into the distance, just the same as Uladin. It escaped his grasp and disappeared.
“Oh, what the hell?” Sen’s muffled voice escaped his lips in a defeated tone. His eyelids lowered over his eyes in frustration. His hand came to rest over his eyes, when he heard something in the void, clearer than his own voice. It was a shuddering, whimpering sound. His eyes shot open again and he looked down to the origin of the sound, and saw the form of someone laying on their back.
Sen continued his struggle to move once more, and as he neared the body, the realization came to him like a fever dream, like it couldn’t be real, and he couldn’t believe his eyes. He got within a couple meters of the body when he stopped, almost paralyzed. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, and he was slow to catch his breath.
It was him, naked, cold, unresponsive, and shivering, lying supine on the invisible surface of the void.
Overcome by stuttered shock, Sen reached out a trepidatious hand toward his double. He was too far to reach. He pulled his hand away. The idea of struggling to reach his own body troubled him.
“Is it even me? Some kind of illusion? It’s a trick, isn’t it? Another game.”
He looked at his own hand, then the hand of his double like it was some kind of spot-the-difference puzzle. He closed his own into a fist.
“Hey!” Sen yelled out to himself.
The double’s eyes shot open and blinked. “What…?” He asked.
Sen was floating above him, inversely floating as an opposite to his double. He stared into his own eyes, and they stared back, but seemed to be looking through him rather than at him.
“Hello?” The double asked.
Sen watched the double stretch out his hand and squint as if he was looking for it, then move the hand to the tip of his nose and a look of frustration came to his face.
“What in the world?” The double asked, seemingly unaware of Sen’s presence.
“Oh.” Sen said, realization flooding him as he felt the DeJa’Vu of waking up in the void the first time. He felt pity for himself. The torture that he would go through, and the months, perhaps years, of excruciating loneliness he would be trapped in. He cringed at the hope he would gain for it to be crushed over and over again. He watched himself attempt to stand before falling back onto the floor. Knowing the tribulation that would follow his doubles wakening, all he wanted was to help himself, to alleviate the pain he was bound to feel.
He struggled to move in the void again, this time with newfound effort in his desperation. He had to help, even if he could just give himself a little push in the right direction, he could alleviate some of the anguish. Inches, that’s all he needed, just inches and he could give him a gentle hand, a warm push in the dark. His double attempted to move to his feet again, which allowed Sen those inches, and when he touched his own shoulder, his doubles form stretched away from him.
Millions more miles.
Sen audibly growled. It was a sound he never made before, an animalistic reaction. “What do you want!? You want me to fight!? You want me to help myself!? Or do you just want to take!? Well just do it! I already told you, I’m all yours! Just take me! Take me, or take your chaos, and shove it in every hole you have!”
The stretched form of his double’s body didn’t dissipate, but blended like an oil painting in the canvas of his vision. It blurred and shrunk, changing its color to a brilliant purple, and its form to a recognizable sphere. It floated in front of him at arm’s length.
Sen’s eyes furrowed. “I’m tired of your gifts.”
The awakening stone moved toward him, and Sen attempted to move back, flailing his arms and kicking his legs. It moved faster than he could retreat, until he could feel it against the armor on his chest. He could feel its warmth through the metal plates, juxtaposed to the cold around him. He grabbed it with his unarmored hand, and attempted to pull it away from his body, but the all-familiar sound of glass breaking resounded in his ears, and the stone shattered in his hand, releasing its power into Sen’s closed fist.
Jagged, deep purple crystal extended from his hand, coming to a sharp point several feet from him. It cascaded outward as if growing from nothing. He could feel his hand wrapped around some kind of jagged crystal handle, melded perfectly to fit his grip. The crystal partially wrapped around his hand in turn, and came to a similar, but much shorter point on the other side of his fist. The thing was far too big to be called a sword. Too big, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of raw crystal.
“We have serveilled-”
“Shut up.”
“-the joining of br-”
“Shut up.”
- Ability Awak-
“Shut up!”
The sword-shaped heap of deep purple crystal that was wrapped around and held by Sen’s left hand gained its own weight, and was soon pulling Sen downward with its own momentum. He gained speed, but with no reference, he couldn’t tell how fast he was going, but soon, the reference was in sight.
Black armor fitted around pale bones were in his view. Uladin was there, standing like a monolith at the crossroads, waiting for Sen’s return from communing with the mother-void. He wouldn’t have to wait much longer, and Sen’s return would be quite chaotic indeed, exactly what Uladin asked for.
Sen knew this was going to hurt. He might even die again. He was most likely going to die again. His commitment to death was basically a guarantee, not that he had much of a choice, it’s not like he woke up knowing he would be divebombing with a comically large crystal sword. But he embraced it and decided to end his plummet in spectacular fashion.
“Uladin! How’s this for cha-!” Sen’s timing was a little off, but he was able to engage his primordial transfiguration, wrapping his crystal blade in its power, allowing his entire silhouette to become a bolt of white ghostly flames as he plummeted into Uladin like a meteor.
The sword found its home in the gap between Uladin’s skull and shoulder pauldron. It almost pierced through Uladin’s entire body before Sen’s softer body reached him. The heap of crystal’s massive stature spread apart his body like an oversized axe splitting a twig. Splinters of bone and black metal exploded from the impact point. His torso was sent asunder, while his skull rocketed away, the pinpoint lights acting as the eyes in his empty sockets dimming before fading completely.
Sen had not fared much better. The blade had shattered on its own in a crumpling fashion once it pierced through Uladin’s body and hitting the crossroads. Luckily, or perhaps not, Sen had the presence of mind to activate the weightlessness of his armor. His timing was a little off, much like his battle cry, and he wasn’t completely weightless at the point of impact. His entire left arm was mangled, with the ravaging extending down through his left ribcage and hip. His back was definitely broken, he thought both of his eyes most likely popped from his head hitting the ground, given he couldn’t see anything. That was if he was actually making any coherent thoughts at all, he couldn’t tell. Large and tiny splinters of bone and jagged, deep purple crystal lined his body. He shuddered, trying to take a breath that he could not take. Weak, ineffectual grunting sounds left his lips. He leaked his blood all around him, soon surrounded by a pool of it, mixing with the black oil from the lining of his armor.
His aura senses were intact, and he knew Uladin’s aura wasn’t there. His own was waning.
Before he died the second time, he smiled with whatever was left of his face. Pain was temporary. The suffering was worth it. He didn’t know what he lived for, that was clear. Before he was transported to this new world, he lived day by day, not sure of his own purpose. Now, even still unsure of his own purpose, and without any true guidance of his own volition, he may not know what he lived for, but he has found out what he died for. The reasons became clear as they were the only two things his dying mind held onto. He wanted violence, there was nothing in his life he had ever done that he was more sure of than when he committed acts of violence on those worthy of it. The second was a selfish, stupid reason. He wanted to be with her.
His breath left his body in a wheeze that would have made him chuckle, had he been watching himself die.
***
“I think I had him, there was a faint flicker. But it’s gone.” Zulli told them. She held her hands toward the crystal dais as Arty worked frivolously on different small magical contraptions on the floor.
Arty practically jumped over to a series three of cubes and flipped them all on their backs before flipping them to their original positions again.
“Alright.” Arty said. “You can take a break.” Beads of sweat dripped from his brow.
They had been at the search for almost an hour. Zulli was attempting to direct her soul connection into the crystal dais. Arty attempted to calibrate it as the mana lamps supplied it with mana that travelled through the crystal and into the void.
“I really think that was him, but it was odd. I could feel him, and then he just vanished.”