Diamantine (Weapons and Wielders Book 2)

by Andrew Rowe

  “Rr-right.” Meilin blushed, then looked away.

  Mei? Reika already gave her a nickname?

  Reika grinned brighter, looking back to me. “You need anything?”

  I shook my head. “Might need to swap my weapon out, but other than that, I think I’m fine.”

  “Great! Now, I need to figure out if there’s something to eat around here...” Reika went about searching the room. I’d almost forgotten how much shapeshifting took out of her.

  I went and found a seat as far away from the group as possible to sit down and focus on Dawn for a bit. I could still hear the chatter of the others, but the waiting room was large enough that it wasn’t too distracting.

  You ready?

 

  I’ll try.

  I closed my eyes and concentrated on the essence flowing inside my body. I had plenty of experience with manipulating my essence, but this was a little different from what I was used to. I frequently called mana into my body, or shifted the composition, or even pushed my destructive essence outward — but transferring mana into another person wasn’t something I had a lot of experience with. If I made a mistake, I risked causing Dawn significant harm.

  In order to ensure the process was safe, I focused on distinguishing between the types of essence within me. The swirling crimson heat of flame mana, the heavy coils of metal and stone, and the cutting threads of silvery power that represented raw destruction.

  I ignored each of those, seeking instead things that were harder to find. A brilliant green that represented life was interspersed throughout my entire form, but focused mainly in my heart. Layers of translucent black and white, almost invisible even to my internal perception, overlaid my entire form, representing my shade and my spirit. There were many other types of mana in trace amounts — all those that a body needed to function.

  There were two things in particular that I searched for. First, the places where my mana types intermixed in roughly equal amounts, forming what you would call something like grey mana. This was, at least in theory, one of the safest things for me to work with. Cautiously, I focused on these areas and deliberately extracted the destructive essence from portions of them, moving it out of my body to form around my empty left hand. Externalizing my destructive aura would help prevent it from moving into Dawn during the process.

  Next, I searched for tiny, glimmering motes of luminous energy. Everyone from my continent generated trace amounts of each of the prime dominion essence types on their own, and light was a prime dominion.

  I found more of it than I expected. My connection with Dawn had caused my body to start generating more light mana on its own. I’d known that was likely to happen, but it was happening more rapidly than I’d thought possible — I could already see enough gleaming motes flickering in my mind that I suspected it would be possible for me to start casting the most basic of light spells with it.

  That was exciting, but it wasn’t what I needed to focus on. I grasped at that light mana, then began to slowly collect it into one point.

  Then, with the utmost care, I wrapped the light around a flow of grey mana and began to move it through my right hand and into Dawn.

 

  Is it uncomfortable?

 

  Could you share the sensation with me?

 

  A feeling washed over me so suddenly that I almost lost my concentration. That would have been bad, given that I was still carefully keeping as much of my destructive essence as possible collected harmlessly in the air around my left hand.

  It felt like the warmth of sunlight pouring over me like rain.

  I froze for a moment in surprise, goosebumps appearing on my skin. The sensation faded.

 

  Sorry, that was just distracting.

 

  Yeah. Thanks. Do you want more mana?

 

  I resumed the process. Dawn shared the sensation with me again.

  It was strangely relaxing. Not just the feeling itself, but knowing that we were sensing it together.

  I continued focusing my mana into her, ever-so-slowly, for a while after that. The others continued to talk around me, likely discussing things of importance, but they seemed to understand I needed some time to myself.

  As that time passed, my thoughts passed into a liminal space between waking and sleep. And in that space, I found her.

  I could see her there, in the darkness behind my closed eyes. A luminous form, so brilliant I couldn’t see her clearly. Trails of glimmering radiance coiled around her like ribbons, and her hair burned like the first rays of morning light.

  It was in that moment that I truly saw her for the first time.

  Dawn.

  Purely out of instinct, I reached out for her. I saw my own hand, glimmering silver, extending toward her. An expression of shock crossed her face, and then, swiftly and without reservation, she reached for me.

  My fingertips brushed against hers in the dark. I felt her there, solid, real as any flesh and bone. Warm.

  And I felt the power flowing between us, stronger than before. Like the beating of a single heart.

  That power burned brighter with every passing moment.

  My eyes fluttered open just in time to see the physical manifestation of that as white light exploded from my right hand, obliterating my glove.

  I heard a series of surprised murmurs as people turned toward me.

  I was too startled to say anything for a moment.

  The symbol on my right hand had changed.

  In between the three gleaming circles was a new symbol — a shield-like sigil that overlapped all three and joined them together.

  I stared at it for a moment, uncertain.

  It was Walter who broke the silence. “Oh. New attunement level? Congratulations! Excellent timing, too. We’ll need all the power we can get for the next match.”

  Walter knew it wasn’t an attunement. But, lacking the proper words in that moment, I simply said, “...Thanks. Sorry for the distraction.”

  “Not a problem.” He gave me a broad grin. “We’ll have to do something to celebrate later. Maybe we can get you a new glove!” He laughed.

  The others seemed to accept that explanation and turned back to whatever they were talking about...except for Rei, of course.

  She rushed over to kneel down in front of where I was sitting. “Keras! What was that? Are you okay? Is Dawn okay?”

  I gave her a slow nod. “We’re...fine.”

  I didn’t have to ask Dawn. I knew it was true.

  I could feel her in my body and mind more clearly now.

  Or, perhaps, that’s the wrong way to think of it — in truth, I could feel her in my spirit.

 

  Of course, that didn’t mean we’d merged into a single entity or anything. We’d just strengthened our connection. Dawn was still perfectly capable of snarking at me.

  I just fed you.

 

  Okay, first off, that’s rude. Second, are we going to talk about what just happened? Did you...see that?

 

  “I know you’re talking to Dawn right now, but can you focus for a second?” Reika asked. “I’m worried.”

  I blinked. “Sorry. Feeling a little more...distracted by her than usual.”

 

  I rolled my e
yes. “Dawn is being...Dawn. Here, you talk to her.”

  I passed Dawn to Reika.

  It was only at that point that I realized I still had a glimmering aura of destruction around my left hand. Fortunately, I didn’t brush anything with it. My instincts must have been strong enough to prevent me from wrecking anything, even when I wasn’t paying attention.

  Or, more likely, I’d just gotten really lucky. But let’s pretend it was good instincts for my sake.

  Anyway, Reika accepted Dawn.

  We got a couple odd looks from other people in the room, but no one said anything to us about it. I don’t know if they overheard the exchange or not.

  I was too distracted, because I still heard Dawn in my head.

 

  I blinked.

  I’d been able to hear Dawn while she was nearby since we’d first made our bond, but only when she’d been trying to talk to me.

  This time, she clearly wasn’t. Her message had been directed to Reika, and I couldn’t sense any intent to direct the message to both of us. Moreover, her voice was loud and clear. Previously, she’d always gotten quieter whenever I wasn’t holding her directly.

 

  There was a pause. Most likely indicating that Rei was mentally replying.

 

  Dawn, I can still hear you.

 

  Reika turned toward me, raising an eyebrow.

  “I can still hear her,” I explained out loud.

  Reika blinked. “Really? Can you hear me, too?”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. But maybe...” I shook my head. “We shouldn’t be testing this in here. Later.” I gave a hand gesture to indicate the rest of the people in the room. No one seemed to be looking at us directly, and we’d been talking quietly, but I didn’t want to make any more of a scene than I already had.

  “Oh. Okay.” She looked a little disappointed. “Definitely later, though?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. You can chat with Dawn for a bit, then we need to get back to talking to the others about plans.”

  “Makes sense.”

  <...So, you’re still hearing me right now?>

  Yep.

 

  It sure is.

  ***

  Reika passed Dawn back to me before the next match actually started. We discovered that the room didn’t have food, but it did have water, and we hydrated a bit before the next match.

  We also discussed what had gone right and wrong in our first match, but only briefly. By “discussed”, I mostly mean that Walter chastised us about a few things and asked some questions about the parts he couldn’t see.

  “We ran into some difficulties with the element-shifting of the ball,” Meilin explained. “I attempted to nullify the ball’s element with shadow magic as planned, but it was too strong.”

  Was that the plan? I hadn’t realized that was why Walter had put her in a runner position, but it made sense. Being able to hold the ball regardless of its current element was a huge advantage.

  It was likely I was missing a great deal of “obvious” strategy simply because I didn’t know the local attunements. I’d need to look into those eventually.

  Hah, I sound like Corin!

  Anyway, Walter replied to Meilin next. “They must be using stronger enchantments than usual for this competition. That makes things more difficult. Would you like to switch positions with Ari for the next round?”

  “Not really.” Meilin offered no further explanation.

  Ari looked at Meilin with wide, pleading eyes. She ignored him entirely.

  After a brief pause, Walter put his hands over his eyes, then sighed. “Fine. Stick with running, but let’s have you take a more aggressive approach. Stay invisible, then incapacitate whoever goes for the ball first and steal it.”

  “Understood.”

  We discussed other strategic elements for a bit longer, but I was pretty thoroughly distracted.

  Every few moments, I could hear tiny bits of speech in my mind.

  Things like:

 

  Or,

  They weren’t directed thoughts, and many of them weren’t even as coherent as those examples. They were just unfiltered ideas that were floating around in Dawn’s mind, just as chaotic as those any other person might experience.

  The idea of being able to peer beneath the surface of someone else’s thoughts and experience the inner depths of their mental process might sound like a good bonding experience, but in reality, it was one step shy of maddening.

 

  I’m not doing this deliberately. And I’m hearing your inner thoughts, too.

  <...You are? Oh, no! My secrets! My deep, terrible secrets!>

  I didn’t actually hear any secrets.

  ...Most likely because the moment I told her that, those inner thoughts got a lot quieter. She must have figured out a way to close off our connection a little bit.

  I could still hear bits and pieces every once in a while, but the constant stream of mental chatter ended, and I was grateful for that.

  By that point, it was time for the next match.

  ***

  Our second match started much the same way as the first. My position hadn’t been changed...at least as far as I knew. Walter and Ari had switched elements, but that was the only change I’d noticed. Honestly, I’d been pretty distracted. Maybe Walter had said something I’d missed.

  That would have been bad.

  Fortunately, even if Walter had expected me to do something different, starting the match the same way worked out pretty well. Better, in fact.

  As soon as the match started and my arm moved to cut the pillar free, I felt it.

  Mana, flowing through Dawn’s connection into my body, in vastly greater amounts than before. Fragments of light and spirit made my body and mind quicker and washed away my doubts. And the heightened connection between us was feeding me a new type of mana, too.

  Enhancement.

  When I cut through that pillar for the second time, I did it faster, easier, and without the slightest bit of hesitation. Before Ari had even grabbed the pillar, I was off and running toward the other team.

  When I felt the miasmic aura of the arena slowing my movement, my mind reached out to Dawn again. I didn’t need coherent words — she could easily understand me without them now.

  A burst of light mana flowed from Dawn into my body, and I channeled it outward into my aura. It formed a glittering field of radiance around my entire body, blasting back the arena’s suppressing effect.

  I heard a gasp from the audience — the bright aura of scintillating colors around me must have been a pretty impressive sight. But I wasn’t doing this to please the crowd. In that moment, I wasn’t even doing it to win the match.

  I did it because it felt amazing. The light blasting out around me felt like I’d burst out from underwater, and I could breathe again, easier than ever.

  I was a trail of color flying past the ball. Distantly, I could hear Meilin and Reika following behind me, but I paid them no heed.

  I charged straight into the oncoming enemy players, my sword flickering outward so quickly that my first opponent didn’t even react before the first time I hit him. By the time he’d raised his guard, I’d hit him twice.

  And that attempt to parry didn’t matter in the least. I struck him a thir
d time too quickly for him to even twitch his blade to the side.

  When my first opponent vanished, I heard gasps of surprise from the crowd.

  When I made quick work of the second, I distantly heard a murmur of awe.

  And when I sheathed my sword in flames to eliminate the sixth and final member of the enemy team, I heard the crowd chanting a single word.

  Dawnbringer.

  ***

  Eliminating the entire enemy team didn’t win the match outright, since I hadn’t used the right elements to keep them gone permanently. It did, however, cause a tremendous impact on enemy positioning and morale.

  We won the second match trivially.

  We won the third match easily.

  We won the fourth with somewhat greater difficulty, as we’d finally begun to face opponents on a level similar to our own.

  With each match, our enemies tried some unique strategies. Some of them were quite clever, and in the case of the fourth team’s group’s use of summoned monsters as distractions, extraordinarily frustrating.

  By the end of the fourth match, I was feeling amazing. Dawn was lending me power on a scale I’d never experienced, and our ability to project an aura of light was an effective counter to the suppressing effect of the arena. No opponent, even after seeing what I was doing, had been able to mimic the same effect. Light mana was extremely rare, and most people didn’t have the same experience at manipulating shrouds with different elemental energies to accomplish something similar. Meilin tried to use an aura of shadow to block out the arena’s suppression, and that did work, but not to the same degree as my light aura did.

  (Notably, I did discover later that a couple other players had used light auras like my own, but we never went up against them. I was a little disappointed by that.)

  After the fourth match, we were on a high from the series of victories, but I’d run into a problem — I was absolutely exhausted, and so was Dawn.

  When we stepped into the ring for the fifth time, I barely managed to summon the strength to cut through the pillar. And when I sent Dawn the mental instruction to help me form the light aura, I felt only a trickle of mana flow into my body.