Chapter 9: Chapter 8

The girl looked elated, dropping her knitting supplies and bouncing around in joy.

‘I’m so happy!’ The world reverberated, the entire world celebrating this small accomplishment. The celebration was exciting, happiness oozed into me causing me to break into a wide grin.

I spent a long time with the girl sitting there peacefully before she asked me a question.

‘How did you get here?’ 

I told her of the ritual, how I had found the gemstone from a man who had stolen from me. I told her everything, from my burns to my fears about the future. About the doubts that constantly threatened to crush me underneath. She nodded understandingly, before embracing me in a hug.

‘It will all be okay,’ she reassured, and I believed her. I felt the reassurance assert itself in my very being, and I knew I would be okay, no matter what happened.

“I want your help,” I said, my voice weak and desperate, “I can’t succeed otherwise, and it means too much to me. Without my goal, I don’t know what I’d be doing.”

She smiled reassuringly, ‘I’ll do anything I can,’ she said as she stroked my hair. I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

“In return, I'll help you escape your loneliness,” I promised quietly, as my consciousness faded out.

___________________________________________________________________________

I woke up dazed and delirious, colors swarming my vision. I could hear sounds nearby as I tried to blink them away. 

“Trey, it seems you have finally awoken.” Martha’s voice resonated, startling me. I jumped up and tried to gather my bearings but realized I still couldn’t see. Wherever I was, Martha was right next to me.

“What happened?” I asked, sitting up.

“You collapsed. though apparently, it's a common reaction. The ritual went on and after it finished we dragged you to the side and started deconstructing the ritual space. How do you feel?” 

I sat there as my vision stopped swimming and pulsing. I was laying there staring at the warehouse ceiling. I sat up, and I felt… relaxed. I didn’t feel excited or nervous, just a blanket of contentment washed over me.

“Calm. How did the ritual go? Was it a success?” 

“As far as I’m aware you succeeded, but only time will tell. You should probably rest as your body adjusts. You’ll figure out how your inscription works soon enough; if you don’t have a sense of it already.”

I didn’t feel much of anything. 

“Thanks, Martha. Seriously, you went out on a limb for me,” I replied, as the weight of what happened settled. The older woman simply shrugged.

“It wasn’t a problem, besides I didn’t do it for free,” she stood up gingerly from the spot she sat on the ground next to me. Dusting herself off, she told me she had business to attend to and took her leave.

I left soon after, waving to the workers as they worked on cleaning up and gathering supplies.

As I walked home, I noticed I was being followed as I walked through Blacklight. I didn’t look back, but I heard the constant sound of footsteps a certain distance behind me. I cut into an alley and hid behind a dumpster. 

The footsteps followed and then hurried as they entered the alley. I saw a figure dash past me and I immediately grabbed them from behind.

They immediately started struggling and started screaming curses. I knew that voice.

“Hells Ella, you nearly gave me a heart attack,” I shouted, letting her go. 

“What the fuck! why the hells would you do that?!” she screamed, her body shaking.

“I thought I was being followed. With how things have been going lately, I didn’t want to take any chances. Why were you sneaking up behind me?”

“I… was curious where you were going. We don’t tend to run across each other often so I wanted to know what you do in your free time.”

“That’s… weird. Why in the gods’ names would you do that by following me instead of just asking?” That was weird right? Most people don’t just randomly follow their friends when they see them out and about. Right? 

Definitely weird.

I shook my head, mildly annoyed.

“Whatever, aren’t you up to anything better to do?”

“No to be honest, not really. By the way, when are we starting that project? You asked me to get on board but then haven’t brought it up since and mentioned that you’re ‘busy’ with something.” 

“Well, I have been, but you said you’re free today right? We can start right now.” I was free to worry about my project for the rest of the day, without worrying about how my inscription would go.

We headed to Liz’s house and I grabbed my stuff.

“Oh hey, that your new friend?” Liz asked as we walked in.

“Yeah, she’s helping me with my artifice project. What are you up to?”

“Watching different common inscription combat forms, seeing if anything is inspiring. Have fun you two,” she said not once looking up from her phone.

As we entered the room I was staying in, Ella sat on my bed. 

“That’s your friend Liz, the one you always walk in the morning right? I didn’t know you two lived together.”

“It’s temporary, I should have my own place again sometime soon,” I said. “So for the project, I was thinking of using mana gems to create an artifice that can manifest different mana-based effects that you can switch between at any time.”

“If we carve the right wards, that should be fairly simplistic. I know the wards for weaker fire manifestation and I believe that the wardbook you showed me before had some as well.”

“Wait really?” I asked as I immediately went to grab it and flip through it. The two of us dug through the wardbook searching for the runes Ella had mentioned. Eventually, we found wards for water manipulation and state changing.

“How ‘bout instead of different element summoning, we focus on something like water manipulation or earth manipulation? It would show a higher level of craftsmanship if there is mastery of a single element displayed instead of elementary understanding of multiple.”

“That's… a good idea. Let’s try that out,” I replied, then the two of us decided to head out and search for different wards we could use for compilation both from the wardbook I received, our studies, and what few wards we could find online. We created several lists of wards we could possibly use before Ella had to head back home.

The next day came and went. And the day after. And the one after that. I kept up my schedule of training and meeting with Ella on occasion. I started carrying the wardbook in my bag as well as some basic training gear in order to practice regardless of where I when. I still didn’t have an inkling of what my inscription did.

A bud of concern started spouting inside me. I should’ve felt something by now. Maybe the ritual went wrong?

Something was wrong. It had to be. I should be different, stronger or faster, or able to do things I couldn’t before, but I was exactly the same.

Why? Why was I stuck again when the ritual went fine? How long would it take for my inscription to start functioning?

These questions raced through my mind as days blurred by into several weeks. School has long since stopped, giving way to the last spurt of vacation before exams. My artifice project was gaining ground, we had found a set of runes we wanted to focus on and now needed to work on more concrete details such as design and how to get the proper functionality. Most of this was my job. I decided to work on a gauntlet that can condense water and phase-change it into large chunks of ice. It would condense all around the palm, allowing the user to wield the water or ice, and natural since it was a gauntlet the user would be protected from the ice’s cold. 

Ella would just inscribe the gems with the needed wards, and help with efficiency when going over the design details.

A month passed like that, I was making steady ground in everything but my inscription. Frustration was slowly mounting but I forced it down. There were less than five months until my entrance exam and I needed to figure out how my inscription works.

As I walked home with Liz one day I noticed something was off. The wind was …crying?

“Hey Liz, are you getting a bad feeling?”

“No, what’s up?” She asked as we both slowed to a crawl.

Something was wrong. I could feel it in the air. Hollow dread rode the wind in haunting silence.

Reality told me I run, it begging me to listen. I would die if I didn’t listen.

“Liz, let’s stop by Raul’s,” I said, already changing direction. Raul’s was a safe place, it wasn’t one where harm would befall me.

“Hey Trey, what’s going on?” I ignored Liz as I felt my mana swirl inside me. It burned away, fueling my connection to the world. The mana warned of danger, a large chunk of it was being swallowed up, forming a great explosion. Everything around me looked the same, sounded the same, and smelt the same but it wasn’t. There was something wrong.

 My mana drained, rapidly disappearing into the abyss.

I needed to know more. I dug deeper into the feeling

What is it? Where is the threat? I felt my mana stores drop precariously low. 

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Reality whispered in my ear. I began to fade away, ethereal and merging with all of existence. I felt the answer, it was obvious. I just needed to focus and bring it back with me so I could warn-

My mana ran dry as my mind snapped back, red hot pain stabbed through my skull, sending me reeling to the ground. I screamed bloody murder as Liz tried to calm me while I was lost in these stories from everything around me. I could feel the rocky road below me, taste it, see it, all of it. It went on for miles. The stones ended. 

Then I could feel the wind, how it fell and rose over buildings, small swirls picking up dust and debris.

The loudest of all was the mana. It was ever-present and felt ancient. It was here and not. Dancing between realms. 

There are so many realms.

Its existence blossomed in my mind, its presence demanding all of my concentration for me not to be washed away in its vastness. Then, the story it told twisted and warped. No, it was always this way, My mind had just moved from one portion to the next, I progressed from surface details to something deeper.

So much mana was being sucked away, dozens of grand workings maneuvering it in hundreds of ways. No thousands. Then it whispered to me and told a story of eradicating death. I could feel it at the edge of my mind,  a working of pure destructive intent. Who? Who would create such a thing? That was the question that formed as I struggled and raged against the fraying of my mind.

“Trey, my gods are you okay?” I heard, my mind finally snapping back to reality. Liz was nearly screaming over me, hands holding me to my side. My mouth tasted like throw-up, with a thin thread of drool leaking out the side of my mouth. The concerning part was the taste of metal in my mouth, the feeling of a blade tip gently nestled against my tongue. It took my full focus not to shoot up in a panic, but the blade was removed.

“S-sorry, but it looked like you were having a seizure and I needed something to hold your tongue down,” Liz stuttered out, she was shaking. 

I got up, moving slowly and my body shaking, disturbed by what just happened. 

What was that? I couldn’t tell, everything suddenly shifted, and then I felt different as if my perception was warped and disturbed.

Everything felt wrong. Like the shadows were jumping out at me, people were glaring. The wind howled ominously. My heart pounded in my heart, my mouth dry, and my hands clammy. Weirdest was my mana was completely empty, sucked dry. I could feel the strain on my mind, my soul. 

I was still trembling.

Liz grabbed me and lifted me in a princess carry at that point. She started carrying me the rest of the way to Raul’s.

As we approached the restaurant it felt like a weight was lifted off of my chest. I was still disturbed but the edge of the fear was gone, it no longer felt like I was staring down a predator.

 A few strange looks shot our way as we walked into a booth.

Liz placed me down and sat next to me.

“Trey, how are you feeling?” she asked, leaning in close to me, looking at me carefully. I was still catching my breath and processing what happened, it felt like a fever dream. The sense of danger and thick dread still clawed at my heart, I was nervous and scared. 

I sat there in silence as Liz watched me intensely. I wanted to talk. I wanted to explain. But the words wouldn’t come. Words failed to encapsulate my feelings. I had never experienced anything like it before.

A gear turned in my mind and I realized the lie I just told myself. A memory that threatened to hide, a story I was told, an experience that positively mirrored the things that just happened.

My mind began asking questions, but they fizzled out as I realized Liz was still watching me worried. I needed to answer her. 

“We were in danger,” I explained.

“What? What do you mean?” she asked me, confusion and fear obvious. 

I tried to articulate it, and explain what had occurred but it came out nonsensical, like mad ramblings. 

“Trey slow down, you’re speaking nonsense. I think we need to take you to a hospital, something seriously fucked you up.” 

“No! No. I don’t need a hospital. I’m fine, I promise,” I said, voice hard. I didn’t know enough to risk a hospital, inscriptions might be detectable. There was probably some method, and my various scars may raise questions. I didn’t want that.

“You aren’t fine!” Liz shouted, then lowered her tone. She whispered, “People who are fine don’t randomly spout nonsense, collapse, then have a seizure. We need to get you help if something is up. Trey did you… use anything?”

“Dear gods no! Never that. I…” my voice began to peter out as I began to realize the gravity of the secret I was keeping. Liz was my friend, first and best. I didn’t tell her something that was central to my identity now. Something important to everyone's life. I took a deep breath, “Liz… I-I got an inscription,” I whispered meekly. The weight of my words hung in the air as her face stood still for several moments. Confusion, shock, disbelief. Multiple emotions washed over her face in waves as she registered what I said.

“You’re lying!” she said. I just stared at her for a moment giving her time to process. “No fucking way,” Liz said, leaning back in her chair. 

“Liz I’m pretty sure it activated itself there. It’s what made my head freak out. I started getting all of this information but I couldn't handle it. It was so much at once and I-I cracked. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

She stared at me in utter disbelief. “When?”

“A while ago at this point. Honestly, I was starting to believe that it didn’t work. When we were heading home just now something… happened. I don’t know, I can’t explain it.”

She crumpled back in her chair and shook her head.

“Words can’t explain how stupid I think you are right now,” she sighed. “Why didn’t you wait? You get inscription ability counseling, and many of the realm alignments that the government stones give out are indexed and the demons the bind are known quantities,” she explained patronizingly.

“I’m not a child, don’t talk down to me,” I snapped back. I knew what risks I took and I’d be okay living with the consequences. First activations were known to have growing pains. Some people injured themselves with flash fires or be burned into charred husks. Others would accidentally traumatize people due to uncontrolled mind pulses. It was called a gate collapse, your mana would be forcefully funneled into the realm connection, causing its manifestation to activation to activate with as much strength as your mana supplies could handle. It wasn’t unheard of but I honestly didn’t think it would happen to me. Luckily, I think I didn’t have enough mana for it to finish frying my brain.

“I wouldn’t talk down to you if I thought you didn’t act like a fucking idiot. I know you’ve been going through shit lately, but that doesn’t mean you need to make dumb-ass decisions like this. Besides, how the hell did you even get a stone?” I explained the events that occurred around the time my house was destroyed. Liz sat there and listened quietly until I finished. As I finished my story, Liz just looked at me.

“Wow, that’s…“ she stopped, gathering her thoughts. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” 

I… didn’t have a reason honestly. I just didn’t want to worry her, Liz had enough on her plate, and didn’t need to want her to have to think about my shit.

“Sorry,” was all I could muster up. 

“It’s fine Trey, I just worry about you ya know? I don’t mean to rip into you, just want you to be safe man.”

“Sorry,” I repeated like a broken record. “I’ll be okay though. I promise.”

Liz just sighed, but then her demeanor rapidly shifted.

“If that was an inscription, what did you mean by we were in danger?” 

“We were. I just felt it.” I described the feeling I had as best as I could. Liz looked at me like I was insane. “There was something wrong, fundamentally. It was in the air, I could hear it, feel it.” 

“You okay?" Liz asked me

I looked at her puzzled. “What do you mean?” 

Liz stared back at me confused. “You just zoned out and started mumbling.”

I was completely lost honestly, with no recollection of what she was talking about. I would’ve guessed Liz was fucking with me if it were any other situation. But with the gravitas of our conversation, it didn’t make sense. She genuinely believed that I did that.

Did I do that? I poured over the past few minutes, but nothing of the sort happened in my memory.

“Are you sure I did that?” I asked, an odd feeling settling in my chest. It wasn’t as if we were recalling events from a couple of days ago, It had just happened.

“Positive, you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?” She asked, worry staining her voice. It was obvious what was going through her head. 

“I don’t think my head messed up. I’m getting this weird feeling.” She tensed. “Not that type, this is just a normal hunch." She relaxed and continued staring at me in confusion.

"Never mind it for now though. Can we please get something to eat while we're here?”

After both of us finished our food I felt a lot better.

"So your inscription would be some type of meta-inscription? Analysis? Maybe perception? You could’ve detected something" I shrugged. Figuring out what type of inscription I had was difficult, if it was accurate it was probably some sort of analysis. The method of delivery was unique, It felt like a story being sent directly into my head. That was the only way I could conceptualize it. A mix of daydreams, and intrusive thoughts.

“Something like that,” is what I resigned myself to answer. 

“Wait, will you be okay for the ceremony? If the inscription interferes and you’re found out you’ll be in deep shit,” Liz reminded me,  “Assuming you survive that experience.”

She was right. I had put myself in a bit of a bind if the inscription wasn't settled by then. 

“Well, that's for then. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell is going on.”

The next moment there was a ripple as a primordial scream ripped through the world. I screamed for Liz moments before an explosion ripped through us.

The glass in the building shattered as a shockwave rocked us. I felt several cuts rip across my body and saw a shard rip across Liz’s face as I was blasted from my chair.

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