Chapter 11: Chapter 8 – Burdens and Resolve

Escape Time Limit ETA: 1 Week 3 Days

“The first spell I will teach you is the single most important spell you will ever learn.” Cynthia explains to Newt as he is practically bouncing with excitement.

“Now usually the original spell that I improved,” She says with a smug prideful grin, “is taught to somewhat competent Mages, specifically Mages near graduation from a decent Magic Academy, however we will skip the buildup completely.” Cynthia explains.

“Why?” Newt questions Cynthia, who gazes deep into Newt’s eyes, he swore that for a split second, he saw… Sadness? And something else… Resolve?

“Because we are short on time obviously.” She chops his head and explains with a prideful and calm voice, “You should be asking about what spell you will be learning!”

Newt shakes off his dazed thoughts and gestures for her to continue.

“The name of the Original Spell was known as, ‘Mage’s Simulacrum Domain’. Technically speaking it isn’t a spell, but it’s far more important and also more easier to explain so I will continue to call it such.”

Newt raises his hand, gets a nod from Cynthia and asks, “If so what would it be classified as? And also you haven’t explained what it does?”

“Brat, I will explain it in time, stop being so damn impatient! I get you’re excited but this spell, no… This Magic-Based Cognitive Skill, is something I have spent my entire life improving. As my disciple, my apprentice, you will learn to use this skill, it is the culmination of all my research, experiences and most importantly… My craft.”

Cynthia explains, the most serious Newt had seen Cynthia, clearly this was something of great importance to Cynthia.

“Understood.” Newt determinedly replies.

“Good, before I teach you anything I must get across the importance of this. You must NEVER, I repeat NEVER, teach this variant to anyone, unless the Gods are killed, church is fully wiped out, destroyed, and only someone you trust with every fibre of your being.”

Newt confused was about to ask another question but was cut off again, “I know, I told you not to trust anyone, however nothing is infallible, not gods, and not me, even I trust a few people. I’ve had my fair share of betrayals and I have regretted each and every one.

Not from the betrayal itself however, but from my own inadequacy. Every betrayal had numerous hints, numerous problems appearing, however I either didn’t notice or dismissed them. I chose to believe in them, like a fucking fool.

People I considered family were killed and crippled because of my lack of awareness, my lack of… Strength.”

Cynthia unloads a fraction of her burdens on her apprentice, one of the few she trusted, against her better judgement.

“Strength?” Newt questions after processing Cynthia’s experiences.

Cynthia nods and explains, “Yes, I had faith, not absolute faith, but very high faith in Uniune, so I pursued research, knowledge, thinking I was protected from the dangers of the world. I don’t regret it, but a small part of me wishes I had tried to become stronger.

To the point of any betrayal being moot, unaffected by those who wish me harm, and the ability to protect those precious to me.

When I said, don’t trust anybody, that was incorrect, let me rephrase. Remember what I said yesterday? Small action and a bit of paranoia is all that’s needed to reduce casualties, to easily and efficiently reduce the damage from betrayal, just don’t trust people, however, if you do trust someone, make sure to reduce the damage they can do when you’re at your weakest.

Those two are the minimum requirements, however these come with their own issues. The option that allows for the most freedom is simple. Become powerful enough that any betrayal won’t affect you, that any possible scenario can be overcome with brute force, this is without question, the most difficult path, and what I consider to be my end goal if I live long enough to achieve it.

However this is where I have ended up so far, not following my instincts and following my heart, my passion.”

Cynthia eyes glimmer slightly with light reflecting off her tear filled gaze as she bears her heart to her apprentice.

Newt’s emotions were all over the place, while what Cynthia is saying, is something she mentioned in the past, the difference between a stranger giving you advice and your master who you have known for weeks, and has been the only person to actually care about you is massive.

“I do think, if the world wasn’t the shit show we both know it to be, you could have follow my path of research and discovery, we could have improved the world and helped people all around the globe, though a mere pipe dream, it does hold some truth.

Newt, you’re a kind kid, I envy your innocence, hell even after being stabbed and nearly dying, you trusted in the ‘good of humanity’, I would love to protect that innocence, I really would, but we live in a world full of murder, theft, genocide, and politics. You could keep your innocence but your life would be cut short very quickly. Or you could lose your innocence, remember it, your ideals and hope, but throw it away and follow a long arduous path to the summit of this world.

As your master, I had to decide what was best for both of us. I chose the latter.

Newt, you will need to choose what you want to do, what you want to become, follow in my path and your clear interest in Research and Discovery, and become a Pioneer, the likes of which the world has never seen. Whatever path you choose, I will support it.

However strive for strength, power, more than anything else. Otherwise Everything you have created and loved will be destroyed. Everything else is secondary. Only once you have power rivalling the gods, will you have the power to handle the consequences.

Take my teachings, carve them into your very soul, and etch your name into the stars.

I won’t ask you to etch my name beside yours, but please, once you have acquired the pinnacle of power, don’t forget about those who’ve helped you, sacrificed themselves for you, and change this cruel world for the better.

I don’t care if you’re a saint, I don’t care if the world declares you evil. You will always be my disciple, and if you have to burn down this world to create a better one?

I sure as hell will be there alongside you carrying a torch.”

 

———

Newt never really believed in anything, never strived for anything. He had an interest in Programming and Physics on Earth. Which was the only reason he was able to keep enough interest in the subject to become a functioning adult with a job. Was he taken advantage of and receiving fast less for his effort and work? Yes, but he was a perfectionist with OCD, it would annoy him more if he didn’t make it as perfect as possible.

This however, meant he didn’t have many friends, spending most his time sleeping, talking with Eris and working, in actuality, he had nobody he could truly call friends, at best acquaintances.

He had a few people who he grew up with at the orphanage who truly cared for him but the few which the underfunded orphanage could actually take care of were little, about half of those adopted were between 1 to 5 years old. teenagers? Only a fraction of a fraction got adopted.

Newt has gotten ‘Unlucky’ and hasn’t been adopted in his early years, and the other kids who didn’t usually passed away from diseases, infections e.t.c. Because the Orphanage couldn’t afford, or at least said they couldn’t, afford the basic sanitary necessities required to stave them off.

Even worse, this issue was never forced to be solved because for some reason nobody ever appeared to do any Health Inspections.

That was not even getting started on the healthcare system which was effectively asking any of the orphans to die because they had no way to afford it.

Leaving only a handful of children who actually survived, Newt, Eris, who took care of Newt and was like an Older sister to him, and a few others who Newt and Eris had lost contact with.

Meaning that outside of their relationship, Newt didn’t care about anyone else, he kept up basic human decency, acted kindly when he could but never really cared about anyone other than Eris.

Until his death.

This didn’t mean he was some sociopath who didn’t care about others, quite the opposite in fact, it’s just he has a hard time connecting with others.

Hell, he sacrificed himself to save a group of children at the expense of his own life, admittedly he thought it was more likely to survive and took the chance and passed away as a result, but the point still stands.

 

That was until he reincarnated.

In his few spare hours off, Newt would read some fantasy novels, including reincarnation stories.

Comparing reincarnation stories with his own reincarnation made one thing abundantly clear, there was no similarities outside the basic concept!

While Newt’s soul had reincarnated, his body hadn’t. Admittedly this wouldn’t have been a issue if say, he reincarnated into an adult body. Instead he reincarnated as a baby inside his birth mother’s womb, a baby with a barely functioning brain.

You see the soul and body have a rather unique relationship, a new soul inhabits a newborn body, and as the soul experiences more and more through the medium of the body, it grows larger and stronger, experiences are stored within the soul and gathered constantly.

Eventually the body dies, it loses its medium and wanders until it is pulled somewhere, Newt’s soul had actually grown far faster than most normal people. This allowed him to remember glimpses of the time his soul wandered and finally seemed to be forcefully phased into another plane of existence or realm.

His memories after that were blurry and unclear, however once he had reincarnated and been reborn, his soul was restricted in what it could remember.

The state at which a medium-less soul’s consciousness is akin to a half unconscious daze unable to make any coherent thoughts or movement. All memories are similar in that state, fuzzy.

Once it entered the unborn baby, the soul would be limited in what it could do.

Newt is an abnormality in the normal Reincarnation Cycle, nobody should have any memories of their past life. Most reincarnate and live a life like any other.

Newt on the other hand, or more accurately, his soul had kept the experiences and memories from his past life and was reborn as a baby, however, unknown to him, he grew abnormally fast whilst still in his Mother’s womb, causing a early birth, and not by a small amount of time, but months earlier, this caused the mother to pass away during birth as he was abnormally big for his age. He miraculously survived however, and even had traits that neither his father or mother had, green eyes and pitch black hair, the ‘demon’ child who killed his mother lived on. Becoming a haunting curse in the eyes of his ‘father’ and was ‘raised’ as such for 15 gruelling years.

Newt, during most of his life was just an ordinary street rat kid, flashes of memory and dreams occasionally reminding him of a life he never knew, he dismissed them as him wanting to escape and live a better life than he currently was.

That was, until he turned 15, everything seemed normal with no changes in his daily life, he picked up scraps from garbage, begged on the street for food, then went home and got his daily beatings, and passed out, presumably from the injuries.

His soul stirred within its vessel, and like it had in the past, and sent its experiences, memories, and life all into the brain of the 15 year old.

Shocking his brain with 23 years of memories.

Suffice to say, this changed the 15 year old timid and subservient boy.

He got up early, continued his routine, occasionally when he would get more food than usual he would hand some out to other starved kids.

Newt however, before and after gaining his memories, refused to hunt for rats, even if there was a abundance of them in the slums, this was for two reasons, first, he couldn’t bring himself to hurt an animal that’s just trying to survive and isn’t directly affecting him negatively, second, disease, having lived up in a slightly better situation then this, he knew disease and illness would be the number 1 issue for his survival, number 2 being starvation.

Time continued, Newt’s body, while still having malnutrition, was growing a bit stronger and taller as time occurred, this sadly angered his father more who in turn, increased the intensity of his beatings.

Everyone had a breaking point, in worse and worse situations it gets increasingly easy to reach.

Newt’s breaking point had been reached.

His father came home like most nights, stumbling over himself and reeking of cheap alcohol.

“You…Fuck! Get out here noooow!” His father angrily yelled for Newt, who approached, having gotten use to his father’s rage when he is drunk.

“Fuck… if weren’t for you Amanda would still be alive!” His father throws the mostly empty bottle of liquor at Newt, colliding with his head and shattering, sending an enormous amount of glass shards all over Newt’s body, some deep cuts but most shallow.

His father hadn’t finished yet though, swinging back for a punch.

Throwing out a punch towards Newt, who dodges the barely straight drunken hit and knees his father in the forehead.

His father quickly sobering up as adrenaline pumps through his veins and the instincts he had trained whilst working as a guard kicking in, he pulls out a knife, slashing deeply other air

Newt barely stumbles out of range from the slash in a panic at the unexpected knife pull snd his wounds stinging as some glass shards cut deeper into his skin.

His father rushes forward taking advantage of Newt’s lack of balance and stabs Newt in the chest.

Terrified and still suffering from shock as the stab wound isnt registering in his head, he takes the knife out of his chest and swings wildly at his father, who still seemed to be in a daze, moving on autopilot.

Newt’s father closes in quickly on Newt and with the full strength of an adult man, uppercuts Newt under his chin.

The sudden kinetic energy sending Newt’s brain flying back and hitting the inside of his skull.

Knocking him out and giving him a concussion.

 

———

 

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Waking up, his father was nowhere to be seen, the upper half of the tattered rags he had been wearing soaked in his blood, feeling lightheaded he grabbed a small stick like plank that had fallen down from the ceiling of his room, he props it against the door and crawls back to his room.

The one place he felt even a little safe, as he begins to feel drowsy, the surroundings becoming darker and darker as the near irresistible desire to embrace his unconsciousness.

He hears a voice, not the harsh rough masculine voice of his father, but a feminine one, opening his eyes a little wider he hears a question and nods.

She pours a liquid on his wounds and gets him to drink the rest of it.

The women quickly explains a clearly false narrative, saving Newt to put him in debt to help her trick the guards.

Her resemblance with Newt was somewhat uncanny, her dark black hair and connected earlobes to name a few. Though there are some differences, her being my mother would be incredibly believable. Newt concludes.

———

Waking up the night after tricking the guard was surreal for Newt. He still mostly believed the previous day to be a dream, and who could blame him?

A women who resembles him, shows up, saves his life with some fantastic potion and treats him better than anyone in his current life has?

Even if that is a low bar to pass, and she clearly has her own agenda, who doesn’t? She is far kinder than anyone else I’ve met in this world.

All of that aligning was damn near impossible.

Reality beg to differ, as the smell of meat and vegetables overwhelmed his empty stomach and olfactory senses.

“Morning brat. Eat.” She orders Newt who has already dug into the food, tears filling his eyes. A thought crosses his mind, Perhaps this is what it’s like to have a…

“What, have you never had good food before?” Cynthia questions, watching as streams of water flood out his eyes, and yet he doesn’t stop eating.

———

“Anyway sorry about that, got a bit passionate and well…sidetracked.” Cynthia apologises, clearing her throat making sure Newt is paying attention and begins teaching Newt.

“As I said before, the original spell is called ‘Mage’s Simulacrum Domain’, a mouthful I know. This spell is a necessity for any decent Mage attempting to create or practicing Magic.

To actually use this, the Mage has to create what is known as ‘Mind Space’

Creating the Mind Space is easily the most difficult part of the process, requiring precise control, lots of Pure Mana and help from a Great Mage.”

Cynthia stops her explanation as Newt raises his hand. “I will be creating this Mind Space right?”

Cynthia tilts her hand back and forth and explains, “Yes and no, you will be creating a superior version of my own creation.”

“Okay, so I assume we will still require the same requirements as the Mind Space, correct?” Newt asks, getting a quizzical look and nod from Cynthia, he continues.

“Okay, Pure Mana is easy since I don’t have Personalised Mana. But where will we find a Great Mage? Or better yet, a Great Mage we can trust?” Newt asks putting on the most pure childish innocence he could as he watches Cynthia trying desperately not trying to smack him and start a lecture on how much she has pioneered and discussed.

“Walking a fine line there brat.” Cynthia says with a definitely-not-happy smile with her eyes closed.

“Getting back on topic, what can you do with the Mind Space and how is yours superior?” Newt questions.

“Mind space allows the user to enter a sort of Pseudo World that represents your mind, this world can be anything from a hyper realistic version of reality to a sea planet, these aren’t actually The size of Worlds of course, merely a reality your mind set.

Mages have made this spell to practice and test spells within their own mind.” Cynthia sees Newt raise his hand again and immediately speaks, “No this won’t affect your mind negatively, it’s a representation of your mind, not your literal mind, it utilises the mind to create this world and have these effects. Worst case is over exertion and falling into a sleep lasting a couple days.”

Newt lowers his hand listening as Cynthia continues.

“Once Mages have created a Mind Space, they must accomplish ‘Mage’s Simulacrum Domain’ which involves linking your heart and brain, this is usually done shortly after creating a Mana Heart and infusing Mana into your blood vessels to be able to handle the pressure of and speed of Mana enhanced blood. The blood vessels then having Mana infused blood pumped into the brain.

This is for two reasons, one is to enhance you brain’s memory storage capacity and processing speed. The other being that while you can will Mana to do something, it is incredibly difficult to do, let alone to morph it into complex matrixes. The brain will, once you have infused the brain and nervous system, be able to send out signals throughout the body that command the Mana within to act. Effectively making manipulation more precise and fast.

‘Mage’s Simulacrum Domain’’s entire purpose is to help the Mage become able to create a Fake Personalised Mana within the Pseudo World. Otherwise, without it, it’s near impossible to use Mind Space for anything involving Mana.

Often Mages test new made spell matrixes to make sure it is stable and works under the same conditions as reality, of course making sure the Mind Space has the same Physics and Laws Magical or otherwise is one of the difficult parts of forming them.”

Newt once again puts down his hand, “If they need the spells and uh… Spell Matrixes to work under the same conditions as reality, wouldn’t having say, a water world or void make that difficult to test?”

Cynthia smirks and replies, “Excellent, yes this is an issue most Mages face, and so they have to at times dismantle and recreate the Pseudo Worlds to better fit the environment wanted.

Arch Mages and High Level Mages are an entirely different beast when it comes to this however.

They create the Matrix under the effect of no Physical or Metaphysical laws, and then one by one add more and more laws on till they have created a entirely realistic recreation of reality.

I’ve heard some have actually increased the intensity of many of these Laws for different environments, for training the stability, and altering the structure to improve the efficiency and more! It’s truly interesting!”

Cynthia accidentally goes on a tangent, clears her throat again and continues. “Anyway, the Mind Space has limitations, the most important ones being, the environment of the Pseudo World is merely in the shape of a reality, however they aren’t real. A hyper realistic Pseudo world, may look as if it is the real thing, but that’s it, you chop down a tree in that world, it disappears.

It looks like the real thing, but outside appearance, that’s all there is.

Another important limitation is lack of a physical body, you are a intangible air like existence who can only manipulate Mana, this is only possible because a portion of making a Mind Space requires you to infuse Mana into your brain, similar to the heart, but far more difficult.

I’ve dwelled over these and many more other limitations it has for a long, long time, and I created my Masterpiece!

I call it, ‘Creator’s Omniscient Domain’!” She pridefully exclaims, Newt waiting a couple minutes in silence before asking.

“Okay, very grandiose name, what does it do?”

“While grandiose, it’s fitting. The process to create it is, complicated to put it lightly. Nevertheless, once used correctly, not only would you have a physical body within the Pseudo World, but you will be able to create materials with the same properties as their real life counterpart!

Allowing you to experiment to your heart’s content on any material, to create any Artifact, if your skilled enough. Better yet, you can influence your Pseudo world and alter it far more easily, you can also change the way the False Personalised Mana, or in your case, False Pure Mana, to act as if your using it with your Mental Avatar! Allowing you to practice Magic and Manipulate it at the same difficulty as real life!

With none of the downsides!…Mostly”

Cynthia mumbles don’t go unnoticed even with Newt’s body vibrating in excitement.

“Mostly?” Newt questions with questioning eyes as Cynthia sighs and elaborates.

“Of course there is some downsides, for one, the process is incredibly draining to achieve, not to mention that to recreate a material in the Pseudo World, it requires you to understand and replicate the atomic structure of the material, and you will need to do that for every single material you want to recreate.

It’s more easy to do with enhanced control over the Pseudo World. You’re effectively a God who can alter atoms at will within it.

The downside for this is that controlling it, and needing the equipment and material to study its atomic structure to replicate it.”

“‘For this’?” Newt questions, causing another sigh.

“Of course when pioneering something, problems and issues will occur.”

Cynthia explains and elaborates on the other downsides. “You will also need to learn to manipulate Pure Mana in reality, and to actually succeed in creating the ‘Creator’s Omniscient Domain’ you need to… Reinforce the connection between your body and soul, and then break off a small piece of your soul and use it as a link between your mind and soul.”

Newt listening to this nods but feels something is wrong in his gut, looking at Cynthia’s face a suspicion he had arose. “Your lying to me aren’t you?” Newt questions, surprise flashing for a second on Cynthia’s face.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Everything about that seemed fine, however right at the end you were making the same face as when you tried your ‘experiment’ with my Mana Heart.” Newt accuses.

“Well…Perhaps.”

Newt was incredibly frustrated by this, demanding, “Why?! Just tell me these things! These are life changing decisions your making for me! Don’t you trust me?” Newt cries out tears beginning to form against his will.

“K-Kid, hahhh, yes I trust you, sorry for lying.” Cynthia replies solemnly, patting Newt on the head and giving him time to collect himself.

“Ready to hear what I lied about?” Newt nods, “Okay, as you probably guessed, most of that was true, however you don’t need to link your Soul and Mind, just your Soul and Mind Space, however this will cause a slight delay between actions made involving Mana in the mind space and the quality of the recreated materials.

Connecting the Soul to your mind, or in particular the brain, the metaphysical Soul and Body would have a closer bond, and would have numerous benefits, though many are unknown as research along with anything involving the Soul is banned everywhere, discarding that some benefits I could think of based off my own limited research on the subject would be greater resistance to mental and soul targeting attacks, theoretically speaking at least.” Cynthia finishes looking at her apprentice.

“Downsides?” Newt asks his master.

“Your soul could be destroyed if your body died, if you ever reach a point of your body and soul becoming one, then loss of limbs and organs will result in your soul getting fragmented.

If your soul is destroyed then this could be your last life, whether you remember or not.”

Deep Breath

“Cynthia, you tried to make a decision for me that could result in my permanent death with no reincarnation. WHY?”

“Remember, I am your master.” Cynthia starts to explain before getting cut off.

“I don’t care, WHY?”

“You didn’t let me finish, I am your master, and as your master I have a responsibility to help or decide what’s best for you.

In my opinion this was the best option in this scenario. Firstly, you’re already on a path to fight the church, you learning Magic and wanting to continue to learn it sets that in stone.

Secondly, the Devoted, we don’t know enough about them, but they are Devoted from BIRTH, that is incredibly suspicious, increasingly so when they are devoted to the only beings I know that are powerful enough to affect the Reincarnation Cycle, the Gods, I don’t like that, I would rather my soul be destroyed then get forcefully converted into an ‘Agent of the Gods’, which is why I have already done this entire process on myself.

Thirdly, if the gods are in control of the Reincarnation Cycle and can affect it how they like, if they can’t convert us, then what’s stopping them from obliterating our souls from existence?

I… Apologise, I’m…not exactly the most friendly person, I rarely interact with people I…Care about and well, I assume something which I believe to be obviously the superior choice, without consulting them because of my own bias.

In the past I would occasionally give my opinion on an important matter for a few old friends, and well… Not many have survived ignoring my advice.” Cynthia sadly reminisced.

“I understand that, but if you do believe in my intelligence, and personality, please, please, trust me enough to make the decision for myself.

Advise me if you believe my choice is bad and explain why, I will in turn explain my opinion, and we can make a choice that best fits what we believe in.

Okay?” Newt pleads with Cynthia as she bites her lip hard enough for it to bleed.

“Okay…Newt.”

“Yes?”

“Please don’t die on me.”

“I promise.”

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