Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Spell Combination

My hand slid off the anvil to fall to my side. I couldn’t begin to know how to use it, and yet, there was a part of me that felt like I did.

I doubted it could stop the spread of black mold in my mother’s lungs. That being said, if I never returned, she would be doomed. A new spell combination could make the difference on these dangerous roads.

As the autumn leaves drifted past in slow motion and twilight bled across the sky, I flattened both palms against its warm surface and fed it a tiny amount of mana.

Light washed over the anvil, leaving glowing symbols in its wake. They were the runes of the Elder Tongue. One grouping formed the spell for Mana Splinter, another for Minor Healing, and the last thing was a hologram of my dagger.

Curious, I grabbed the translucent weapon, inspecting it closer.

So these were the three options I could combine. I placed the dagger back, grabbed the runes for Minor Healing and moved them toward Mana Splinter. As soon as the first rune for each spell overlapped, the overlapping ones changed into a new, unrecognizable rune. As I moved it further, sometimes the symbols would change, but other times the entire merged spell reordered itself. It really depended how far right or left I held it. All in all, I counted 17 variations for this one combination.

I sighed.

I didn't know many runes besides the ones for healing and mana-crystalization. The rest were just modifiers.

I dragged Minor Healing over the dagger, noting the limited variations. I did the same with Mana Splinter, and it resulted in many more. And when I raised the dagger over the runes, it projected its very own Eldric Symbols, which I could merge into the spell below it.

That’s right. I could add the dagger into a spell. A clever assassination spell could heal someone, only for a magic dagger to spawn an instant later, stabbing them.

Out in the woods, I needed something a bit more tactical. I was curious how the dagger would incorporate into Mana Splinter, so I went with that.

When I let go, the new symbols locked into place.

I waited.

Was that it?

This powerful anvil of old simply changed a few runes and/or reordered them? No dramatic flair? And where was the hammer or the furnace, for that matter? As I went to retrieve the spell scroll from my pocket, a vision hit me.

The anvil set against a thundering sky. Reality twisting and warping around it as it weaved a million glowing threads.

It was like looking into infinity.

I fell out of the vision with a gasp. As simple as the process seemed, what happened in the magical realm to make it possible was anything but. I scrolled down the new spell and named it: Splintered Dagger. I would have to feed my mana directly into the written runes to activate it, and only once I memorized the feeling could I cast it freely.

I pocketed the scroll.

It was time to get going. I felt at my side, then looked around. Where was my... The physical dagger was gone, apparently consumed by the process. I dismissed the anvil, leaving me alone among the standing stones and deepening shadows below the trees.

I glanced at my father’s leaf-ridden black robe. Almost grabbed it too. But those final moments were not how I wanted to remember him, so I started down the hill into deeper woods.

***

Clouds exhaling from my nose, and my cloak pulled tight, I neared the first stop.

Set in the middle of the clearing was a pond. It was a window to the starry sky above. The pond of stars, I’d named it.

Gravel crunching beneath my feet, I rounded the pond to the other side, where apples hung from low branches. I plucked them quickly, storing them in my travelsack. They would form a decent portion of the payment for the cleansing potion, but I needed more.

I kneeled at the pond to glean my reflection. My long black hair spilled from the thick green hood. I hadn’t acquired that cold stare my father possessed in his final moments, and I hoped I never would. I never wanted to be anything like that man. I’d rather be how he used to be. Kind. Hard-working. A stone against change and a pillar that supported our household even when draugr raids had heightened each year.

Now it was up to me to be that pillar.

The reflection of stars rippled, and two long eyes poked through. They flicked away the water, and two little pupils focused on me.

Its shell emerged, water spilling over the edges as it raised its snapping pincers.

A spider crab.

I backed away.

Its bulbous abdomen pulsated behind it as it scuttled toward me.

I hated spider crabs. So I spared it no sympathy as I channeled my mana into the scroll and formed the new spell, which, drained the entirety of my mana. A single Mana Splinter shot forward to crack the crab’s shell, making it spasm. I counted the seconds, almost believing that I’d made a defunct spell when it triggered.

Where the small splinter jutted from the crab, the dagger appeared in its place, violently splitting the crab into two pieces. Not exactly how I’d imagined it working, but it was a solid variation to my mind.

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A blue aura bled from the crab and into me. A soul. One too small to feel any change in power, but a soul nonetheless. I retrieved the fresh meat, wrapped it in storage leaves, and tucked it away. That left one more stop between here and Mountain Shade.

Only once before had I been so desperate as to approach her.

And I wasn’t looking forward to it.

***

I scanned the mountains for glowing blue eyes as I pressed into thick weeds. I parted a thorn bush with my two hands and stepped before a large dark cave. The light of the moon pierced a hole in its ceiling, passing through the dust as an ethereal ray. My throat seized. It had been over a year since I saw her, and much could have changed.

When your mind succumbed to a slow rot, you were bound to be unpredictable.

Each crunch of rock and leaves beneath my boots was a scream against the unnatural silence. I held forth the travelsack, an offering—one I hoped would appease her.

I waited at the edge of the shadow cast from the moon above and listened. Indeed, I could hear the slow rasp of her breathing. I guess she wanted me to come inside.

Had there been any other way, I would have taken it, but there wasn’t a single coin left back home, and I’d traded everything of value for food long ago. Food that had cost twice what it had the prior year.

As I pushed into the shadows, a growl ripped through the air, sending my heart into a rapid rhythm. A kneeled figure uncurled, its eyes glowing blue in the dark.

So she was still here.

Lila dropped from a ledge with a thud. She walked forward with creaking bones and a rasped breath. Immediately I felt something was wrong.

One year ago, Lila had retained the fragments of who she was as a living human, but that was only six months into her transformation. Why she was like this was a dark tale—one I’d prefer not to repeat. I would simply say there are no bounds to cruelty in this world.

But what I saw approaching wasn’t Lila. It was decayed beyond old age, teeth peeking through torn flesh. The heavy thud of its steps came within ten paces, then five, then three.

I held forth the offering, ready to bolt.

She slapped it away with a cold arm and stepped right up to my face. Her blue eyes burrowed into my own, just inches away. Her growling breath traveled into the earth and through my feet.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "You deserved better than this."

My breath caught when I noticed a slumped figure in the corner of the cave, that of a half-eaten man.

I won’t deny that I considered placing a Splintered Dagger right into her skull. It would have been a mercy. But I’d known Lila, a sweet, thoughtful, and beautiful girl, like a radiant star of happiness to everyone around her.

So I couldn’t do it. That she hadn’t attacked made me believe she was still in there. A draugr of the wilds wouldn’t have hesitated to bite a hole in my face.

She took two slow steps back, ripped the bag from my grip, and emptied the contents. She ignored the apples, kneeling to eat the crab meat instead.

I should have run. But I needed those mana crystals.

I held my breath as the seconds ticked, trying to identify the dead person, but Lila had chewed their face right off. After finishing the crab, she rose to her feet and walked to the end of the room, kneeling to retrieve something from the rotting remains of a chest.

I saw her retrieve a single shimmering stone. One more, please, I thought. Just one more.

Lila rummaged through the chest and froze. She stood without another. It wouldn’t be enough for the cleansing potion, but I wasn’t about to ask for more.

About ten paces out, she tossed it to me.

I snatched it out of the air.

"So long, Lila," I said with a heavy heart.

I walked out of the cave, never to return.

I felt something when I passed outside. A change in the air. Like the turning of an old stone. I could feel it spreading outward from the mountains.

Had I known better, I might have called it early winter. But I did know better.

Feeling more urgency than ever, I began the two-mile hike to Mountain Shade.

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