Chapter 7: Crafted Future

Chapter 6

Crafted Future

June laid staring at the ceiling, her eyes lost focus. The feeling wasn’t sleep; it was more akin to that state between sleep and being awake. She could feel her body becoming less corporeal in a sense. The allure of the dark felt far more comforting than it had since she came here, but June had a feeling that she couldn’t quite give in, yet. A sense of obligation made her want to explore her new situation. Her curious nature singed doubt and concern with its fire, turning the lingering strands gripping at her mind to ash.

Finally, being able to calm the storm inside, her natural curiosity returned to the fore. The giddy excitement she got when she was truly invested simmered in the back of her mind.

June shook off the memory of the robed nightmare from last night eating at the edges of her emotions. Resolute, she wanted to give in to her curious nature. It was the one thing she felt a little safe with right now, so she dove off into its refreshing waters.

June held up her right hand, she looked at the glowing gem embedded within. The Class Gem still held that gentle purple glow that she saw when it first came into her possession. The Class Gem had to be her next goal, it oozed an increased sense of importance. As she stared at, it almost teased her with its pulsing light. Though despite that glow, the Gem sat there, frustratingly inactive. She couldn’t figure out how to better utilize the mysterious rock.

The skeleton tried to will it to respond, nothing. Exasperated, she even tried tapping it. Thinking through what happened over the last day, she felt a twinge of guilt. “You idiot,” she whispered to herself.

The frustrated undead saw the solution when she thought back to Bullin’s advice. June pictured the Mana orb of her core, she then envisioned the tendrils of black Mana being sucked into it. June turned her head and stared at a random spot on the floor.

Visualizing the sphere, she mentally commanded it to appear. At first, nothing happened. June continued to struggle with the concept. As she tried to visualize her goal, distracting thoughts washed in whether she wanted them to or not. Over the next few minutes, her ability to focus waned. She even felt her body begin to tighten and strain. She decided to take a different path, instead choosing to return to the redoubt of knowledge she was more secure in.

June pictured that black void again, trying to fall into it. She just needed to see her core and that void floating before her. Try as she might, she couldn’t quite form the visual. Defaulting to an old trick, she pictured something new. A wave of relaxing and hopeful energy washed over her in that instant. The girl pictured her favorite memory, a peaceful forest, filled with the songs of countless birds. The skittering of squirrels running through branches accented the scene, immersing June in a sense of tranquility.

June had always felt much more comfortable within a day-lit forest, blown by a gentle wind, than anywhere else. At that moment, tranquility slithered along her limbs, putting her body at ease. June was able to relax, finally, and she could picture the realm of shadow, at last. When she did that, the orb finally formed.

After the orb formed within the void, just in front of her, she eagerly swam towards it. The undead reached out and grasped it, letting herself be taken by the sucking feeling she keenly remembered. Her awareness snapping back from the formless void, she was aware of the bed again. The rotating mass of energy showed up in that spot on the floor, as if on cue.

She rolled off of the bed and squatted in front of it, much less nervous this time. Unlike before, when the shadows danced in the horrifying uncertainty of the unknown, the dark tendrils sat still, as if waiting to be commanded. June concentrated on the image she was trying to create. She tried to force the Death Mana into the orb as she had done earlier. To her surprise, the appendages seemed to eagerly bend into shape. As they did, that familiar image of an eclipse entered her mind’s eye once again.

As she watched and waited, a slithering tide of shadows eagerly poked its way into the chamber. Just like before, it was slowly twisted and rolled into a point, before being consumed. As one crop of shade burned in the rolling fire of the sphere, more waited in line, eager to be eaten. Like rats scurrying stupidly to their deaths, they leaped into the fiery void from their nooks of stone and shadow.

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The ebb and flow of energy twisting its way into the core was almost without end, and with unquenchable thirst, the core drank them all in. Angry waters of its surface twisted and opened, allowing more points of entry to form on its porous face. The shadow rushed into the new entryways, pulled into a mass of screaming shade deep within.

Within the core, invisible to June, the ball of shadow was unwound. Her core worked furiously at its task. Like a weaver spinning glittering thread, the core twisted the unspun shadow. The new shape of the darkness was alive with light, as the core spun threads of itself into the living weave.

As the Mana weave twisted in on itself, it bound tighter and tighter. The twisting mass burned with a barely contained heat. After what felt like hours, the coiled snake of fire and ash came to rest. June had consumed a steady stream of the Death Mana, so much so, that only the faintest whispers of pain and death remained within her chamber.

Like a torrent, her core had washed over every bit of shadow, snuffing and drowning it, before snapping it up. The ravenous hunger frothed one last time before its surface stilled. Not a shred of wild undeath remained. The energy had been drowned in unholy waters. Waters that had no ears to lend to the pained pleas of the damned.

As the core settled for the moment, June felt refreshed. She snapped back to her current reality in that moment. Gone were the core, the void, all of it. She felt at ease. Not even a hint of worry rested in her conscious mind.

Steadily, she raised her hand once again, what she saw surprised her. The Class Gem glowed with a vibrant violet light. Though it didn’t blind her or anything, she almost wanted to block it out.

She tried to relax, letting herself be taken by the gentle pull of the Gem. The next instant, she felt a slight pulling sensation. Her awareness was being drawn to the Gem. The uncertainty buried in its beam of power was pushed to the back of her mind.

Her gaze bore into it, seeing something new, a glittering star. She focused on the star, and the pull grew stronger. And then, in a flash, a new status window appeared before her.