Chapter 39: 16.1

Previously on Centaurus: The band join an inter-city caravan on their way to the city. Lily and Kayla discover Vivi’s secret pet and promise to keep quiet about it.

◈ Now, Chapter 16: 

Fey looked over the two otterkin girls. They looked decidedly… suspicious.

It wasn't that Lily was no longer a six foot wide cum tank, or that the both of them had somehow acquired petite cum filled bellies, small midterm cum pregnancies fitting for their size and species. No, it was the shifty looks the both of them had, not quite looking her in the eyes, nervously moving their feet, quickly masked guilty expressions.

She had the distinct impression that they were hiding something, mostly she supposed because they were absolutely terrible at hiding anything.

But she had something more important to deal with right now and she didn't want to get distracted from it.

She turned to find Rina, the lamia woman was fussing over one of the caravans, one of the larger ones, a behemoth of a thing with eight huge wagon wheels. She flipped open a panel on the side and an iron lever was revealed. She wrapped a large hand around it and heaved backwards, setting her powerful tail in coils and applying her weight. The lever resisted and then after a moment's pause clanged downward with a ratcheting grinding sound.

From within the caravan came a clockwork metal clattering announcing machinery beginning to move, wooden panels sliding out of position, metals bars hinged at either end lifting and pushing heavy wooden shelves and walls, large canvas sheets stretching out on fanned spars up above.

Fey and the twins looked on in amazement as the caravan unfolded, becoming several times larger, in fact it spread out so much that they had to take a dozen steps back.

What was once a caravan was now what could be called a full on building, albeit with a canvas roof.

Rina gestured at the construction proudly.

“Behold, the keystone of our business.”

“It's amazing! ...But what is it?”

“Oh you know, just a fully operational shop with all amenities and tools necessary to function.”

The otterkins let out appropriately awed sounds.

“I didn't expect this when you said you could get a Class for our apprentices,” said Fey.

Rina gave a smug look as only a wealthy merchant could, her expression practically oozing money.

It was currently late afternoon. The band had spent the day accompanying the caravan and guarding it. That had been a relatively easy job, the only real threat that had appeared was a pack of wolves. Fey had expected Ellaria to handle it but the sheer ferocity with which she had attacked the wolves had left Fey and everyone watching stunned. The wolves hadn't stood a chance, instantly turned into so much charcoal statues amongst some blackened splinters that had once been trees.

Fey had the distinct impression that something had seriously upset the elf that morning but when she went to ask her what was wrong she had stalked away ignoring her. 

She had ended up spending the rest of the walk trotting beside the slithering Rina. They had eventually warmed up to each other as long conversations were wont to do and Fey had found herself talking about the band. The topic had stumbled on to the otterkins, their apprentices, and how they had no Class to speak of.

Zal had piped up at that point, the Dogkin was resting in a small cart, a pair of green feathered birds harnessed on the front which she directed with long leads. She had the cart all to herself of course because of her massive stomach which entirely filled it.

The dogkin did not seem displeased with her situation in the slightest, in fact she seemed to love every moment of it, which she expressed with a suggestion to Rina. Let the otterkin’s have access to their stock.

The shop that the caravan had now unfolded into housed said stock and Rina gestured at the entrance with a smile.

“Come on! This shouldn't take long, we have an amazing selection of Classes, I really am quite proud of it you know.”

Fey trotted to the door, a canvas flap, and gingerly pushed it aside peering into the interior.

Soft light filtered by the canvas above illuminated the inside, heavy shelves stacked with innumerable books of all sizes filling the interior, rows and rows of them. At the front of the shop was a large desk.

The twins ran in underneath her, between her legs, literally bouncing with excitement and jumping from shelf to shelf, eagerly reading the titles on the spines. 

Fey trotted inside more calmly and Rina followed behind.

“That’s… a lot of books. Back in my old clan we barely had two dozen for the whole herd and if someone wanted a Class they had to go from clan to clan begging to borrow a book.”

“Isn't it? It took us a long time to build up so many. Trust me I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was worth it, towns out in the sticks simply do not have access to the sheer range that Class libraries in the cities do so we provide an incredibly important service getting good Classes to those who need them.”

The lamia slithered forward to the desk and flipped open a miniature chest at one end of it. Inside was a crystal on a golden chain, the crystal a jagged explosion of clear crystalline spars that refracted the soft light from above sending rainbows dancing over Rina’s skin. 

“Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes, an Affinity Crystal. Extremely useful for finding a Class that you will be strong with.”

“We had nothing like that back home, I had to rely on my feelings and advice from the more experienced centaurs. It was incredibly nerve-racking, I was terrified I could end up with a Class that didn't fit right and would be useless and stunted.”

“Hmm understandable. Perhaps our caravan should swing by the centaur plains someday if it’s as bad as you say. In any case, Kayla?”

The otterkin looked up at the Lamia with round sparkling eyes, excited to see what would happen next.

Rina couldn't help the corner of her lip twitching with amusement. She coiled downward and put the chain in the otterkin’s hand. The crystal looked especially large next to diminutive otterkin and she struggled a little under its weight.

“Wh-what do I do?”

As she spoke however the crystal moved, pulling to the side and angling the chain from where it dangled in her hands. Kayla stumbled forward and was led across the floor by the crystal, pulling and tugging at her and leading her toward a book. It touched up against it, flashed a faint green, and then fell limp. 

Kayla blinked at it then read the spine.

“Boxer? I don't want to be a boxer!” cried out Kayla. “I’m way to smol for that!”

“Ah, it appears to be a weak Affinity, only a faint green, it happens,” said Rina.

“Uhm, it might be because of Vivi,” said Fey, “There was a reason she was pushing talk of being a warrior as much as she did, trying to make you think about it more, Affinity is a loose match to what you are suited to deep down in your soul and that is influenced by your interests and experience. If what Vivi was saying interested you it would have increased your Affinity for something along those lines, although a Boxer is quite a bad version of that, I’m not sure how it chose that for you...”

“Yes, a blacksmith might, for example, have a really strong Affinity for the Warsmith Class because they have a comfortable knowledge of it even if they aren't inherently suited to it. Someone after a specific Class might practice something adjacent to it so as to increase their Affinity, but the Class someone is best suited for will always be the one that is a convergence of their experience, interests, and what naturally fits their soul. Here, move around and try again, you might find something better.”

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Kayla, very dissatisfied with her first try hauled the crystal away and began stalking between the shelves. It wasn’t long before she found her next hit, unfortunately, it was even less promising with barely a flicker from the crystal as it alighted on an axe wielders Class.

“Erm, maybe Vivi’s words influenced you more than you realised?”

“I’m not having a useless Class! No way!”

Unfortunately as determined as Kayla was she continued to have terrible luck, each Class she was led to was progressively more useless for her size and build and all with terrible Affinity for her. She, at last, came to one that had an impressive green glow that illuminated the room in emerald but the title of the book made her drop the crystal and cover her face with her hands. The spine read “Wandering Innlord”.

“An innkeeper Class?” said Fey questioningly. 

Rina simply shrugged her shoulders. “I don't know the details of that one, it seems like it has a moderate Affinity, below average but decent, she could do well with it.”

Kayla groaned. “I don't want anything with even the word ‘Inn’ in it, no way, just no way! I’m not an innkeeper anymore!”

Rina looked a little deflated by this proclamation, her boasted collection of Classes having completely failed to produce results for the otterkin.

“Perhaps it would be better to wait Kayla, once we get to the city we can go and find a Class library, they might have something that suits you more”

Kayla nodded glumly as Lily grabbed up the Affinity crystal excitedly and began running around with it. It took all of ten seconds for the crystal to jerk to the side so hard that Lily was ripped off her feet and literally dragged across the ground as the crystal slammed up against the spine of massive black book bound in an ancient binding that looked like it was made from the skin of some creature. Fur and even claws still sticking from the rough stitched thing. 

The four of them stared at it and the then crystal flashed so bright that they all cried out and flinched back as the shop was filled with a searing light that burned their retinas.

Fey wiped at her eyes and blinked several times, clearing them of colourful dotted afterimages and flashing floaters. What the hell was that?

“What the hell was that?” said Kayla aloud.

“A r-really really strong Affinity, I- I haven't seen one like that… ever…”

Lily grabbed hold of the book, which was nearly as large as she was and hauled it from the shelf. It fell to the floor with a thud, its title made visible to all.

WITCH DOCTOR

Fey turned on Rina. “Why do you have a sketchy looking Class like that? Wait, are those teeth sewn into the cover? Rina!”

“H-hey I don't know do I! I have no idea how it ended up in my shop, I- I don’t recall purchasing it, it must have been Zal who acquired it!”

Fey stared down at the grizzly looking book which Lily was examining with a slightly obsessive air. 

“Are you sure about this Lily?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, absolutely! I can practically feel the book calling to me, it’s like it’s pulling at me, demanding I open it, I’ve simply got to have this Class Fey.”

The otterkin didn't wait for Fey’s reply, her small hand found the edge of the cover and she flipped it open. The lettering filled pages on the inside were a dark brown-red, jagged chicken scratches that reeked of the occult. Looking at the pages made Lily feel uncomfortable, it was wildly different than the paced, formed, writing of an ordinary book, instead the dynamic lettering seemed like it was designed to let your eyes fall into it, like a geometric fractal..

She kept looking and after a while she could see the pages moving of their own volition, dancing across her vision, rippling, unfolding, she could feel a migraine beginning but she couldn't look away. She felt as though she were falling into the page. The pages shifted, rolling across each other like waves, blooming like a flower but only moving laterally, abstract and not abstract, both at once, a concept that made her feel quite literally of two minds. 

She felt differently looking at the moving shifting script now, like she could assign meaning in a way she could not before. When she looked at one of the sharp blooded runes it evoked… something. She wasn’t quite sure what… and the roiling geometrices now… meant… something. She felt frustrated, lacking the understanding, like a word on the tip of her tongue, impossible to recall to the front of her mind. She tried pushing further, staring into the bottomless depths of the book, an endless void filled with elusive information.

Then she fell over the horizon.

A boiling object, black and transparent, like glass, a collapsing geometric star with many sides, falling in on itself like a tesseract. She could see the shape of it, she now understood what the book had been trying to impart. It burned through her like a firestorm, searing the star into her mind, stripping away everything she was until nothing remained simply to make it fit. It was agony, this waS wroNg, iT wAs rIghtt----

Reset.

It was a new way to see, a view of the world through an interloper's eye, an awareness of the mechanisms behind reality, behind magic… A Class.

The cover of a book is a bit like a door, when you open that door it is your mind that walks through. In this case literally.

Lily gasped and fell backwards from the book. The book was as it had been, to an outsider's perspective it had remained as it had been opened, unmoving, the same page, that is until Lily fell away, then it slammed shut with a bang and a puff of red dust. 

Everyone stared at the macabre black book, the book remained as it was, yet somehow, strangely, it imparted a feeling of smugness. The group turned to Lily who lay on her back breathing hard, her eyes bloodshot.

“L-Lils?” said Kayla softly.

“H-holy shit! That was, gods, I- I feel so-”

“Like your mind has just been put through a strainer? Like your brain has been doused with frosty lemon water?”

“Yeah, exactly, that stuff,” breathed Lily, still staring up at the canvas ceiling.

Stratothrax-After-Dark

(This is a 3 parter)

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