by Kyle Johnson
Some time later, they lay in each other’s arms. Aranos could smell the scent of the woman filling the tent; the floral smell of her hair swirled in his nostrils, mixed with the scent and taste of her body to create a curiously satisfying atmosphere. Saphielle shifted in his arms and raised her head to look at him.
“Tell me of your world, Aranos,” she said simply, staring at him. “What is it like, there?”
“It’s not much at all like Ka,” he smiled at her. “There’s no magic, for one thing, and humans are the only sapient life there. Well, as far as we know; I guess it’s possible some animals are more intelligent than we think.
“In any case, we use technology instead of magic. We have cars – sort of like metal carriages that use machines instead of animals to power them – and they drive themselves. We power things with electricity instead of mana, and we have communications networks that let us talk to anyone in the world or find out just about any information we need instantly.”
“That sounds a great deal like magic,” she pointed out a bit disbelievingly. “And if you have no magic, how are you so skilled at it, here? I have worked closely with the Wizards of the House of Stars, and I have spoken to some among that number. They tell me that only a small percentage of the House has your level of Skill, despite being far more experienced and possessing higher levels.”
Aranos chuckled. “For the first, it’s just really advanced technology. There’s an old saying that says, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is identical to magic’, or something like that. It took us thousands of years without magic to create most of those things, and even with them, our world has its own problems.”
“I presumed as much, or surely you Travelers would not be journeying to other worlds so frequently,” the Avenger nodded. “Tell me of them.”
“The first is that there are way more people in my world; too many, really. We can’t grow enough food for everyone, so we’ve found alternative food sources. Even with those, there’s rationing; most people eat just enough to stay healthy and nothing more. Same for water: our world has gotten hotter the past few decades, and we have to desalinate ocean water to make sure everybody gets enough to drink. We don’t get to take baths the way you do, and fountains like the one outside are really, really rare.
“With so many people, there isn’t enough space for everyone, so we’re all packed together in cities. So many people in close proximity, though, causes disease, and we’ve had several pandemics – kind of like plagues – sweep through big population centers in recent years. When food and water run low, some nations go to war with their neighbors, hoping to steal rations from them, but that just brings more diseases and more death.
“Some people call it God’s way of reducing the population, but I don’t hold with that. I think that God is just watching us slowly destroy ourselves, shaking His head in disgust.”
Saphielle listened silently. “So, you believe in the gods, as well. Here, we are taught that the gods of Light watch over us, even in exile, and that it is their words we see in our notifications. I cannot say that I am much of a believer, though.”
“No?” Aranos asked curiously. “Why not?”
Saphielle lay quietly for several moments, and Aranos wondered if he’d made a mistake asking that question. Finally, though, she began speaking in a soft, quiet voice.
“When I was born, there was a certain amount of rejoicing,” she explained. “Not for me, specifically, but because I was a twin, and such births are very rare among our people. We are a dwindling race, Aranos; more of us fall to the Darkness every year, and at the edges of the Elven Realms, our births do not offset our losses. Year after year, more of the Stronghold is abandoned, as there are simply not enough of us to occupy it. In some ways, our struggles are the dark mirror of those on your world.
“However, the birth of my sister and me was considered a good omen, and many hopes were placed in us. You may not be aware, but one who was born a twin is more likely to produce twins of their own, and our grandchildren might be equally fortunate, and so on.
“My sister was all that I am not. She was warm, sunny, and well-loved by all. She did not possess my Strength or Intelligence, but she was kind and wise. I have often thought that it was as if someone took a single soul and split it, granting some of that soul’s strengths to me and others to my sister. This would explain why I cannot repair my weaknesses: that part of my soul rests in my sister.
“Be that as it may, it was obvious to all that she would become the next Scion of our House, and that in her hands, we would be well respected and admired by all. As I said, all that I lack in Charisma she had in abundance, and she could accomplish more with her words than ever I could with my hands.
“That is, until an attack of the Darkness brought Blight to the Stronghold. Creatures we had never seen before crept in under the cover of an assault and hid within our walls. Pestilence poured from them, and although they were discovered and slain within days, the damage had been done. Hundreds were sickened and began dying.”
The woman’s face was blank, but Aranos could see the pain in her eyes, and he drew her closer. She rested her head on his chest as she continued. “My house is one of Healers, so you can imagine we were called to aid in this crisis, and my sister was one of the first volunteers to comfort the stricken.” She glanced up at Aranos. “House Miradan heals much as you do, with medicines and poultices, not magic, but we have techniques that allow us to work among the sick without joining their number.
“In this case, those techniques failed, and my sister fell ill.” Saphielle’s voice had gone flat, devoid of emotion. “Those of my House labored long to cure her, even turning to alchemic remedies and divine magic. Yet, nothing seemed to be helping.
“In despair, I went to the temple of Atanaro, he who the humans call Aren Sunlord, seeking more direct divine aid. After all, I reasoned, if the gods can speak to us, they must be able to hear us speak in turn. If they can grant levels, Perks, Titles, and Abilities, surely they could heal one elf girl. I knelt before his altar and begged for his aid, promising my eternal service in his name, that of my future children, and much more in exchange for my sister’s life.” She stared up at Aranos, and her eyes shone with unshed tears.
“Three days I spent at that altar, eating nothing, foregoing sleep, drinking only what the priests brought me to stave off death. And in the end, it was for naught, as word came that my sister had passed in the midst of my prayers. I – did not respond well, and the altar of Atanaro was quite nearly destroyed in my rage.”
Her face firmed and her jaw set. “It was in the aftermath of that rage, though, that I realized a truth. If the gods exist, they are not in exile; they are dead, or otherwise beyond the reach of mortals. Either this, or they simply do not care. In either case, I vowed never to waste another breath upon them or their kind in praise or worship. If they exist, it is meaningless to me, and I am beyond caring.”
Aranos lay in silence, digesting the story. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he finally spoke. “I think I’d probably feel the same way. I’ve actually met one of the gods of Ka, you know.” When the woman glanced at him, he nodded. “Morx. We chatted in the Realm of Dreams. He wanted me to join him, and I said no.
“He didn’t take it well, but I’ll be honest, I thought he’d just kill me with a thought or something. I mean, he’s a god, right? But I escaped him, and he found Lily instead and turned her.”
He turned to gaze at Saphielle. “My point is, I don’t think the gods are as limitless and all-powerful as they’re probably made out to be. I think that you might be right to ignore them, because if Morx is constrained, even after the gods of Darkness won over the gods of Light, then this Sunlord is probably basically powerless right now. Geltheriel told me that it was better not to rely on the gods to do things for you but to learn to do them yourself.”
“Your Avowed is far wiser than I,” Saphielle smiled sadly. “She told me much the same, long ago
, and I brushed aside her words. Then, when my sister passed, I cast off my House and sought vengeance against the Dark through force of arms. I thought that there would be great resistance at this, but my family not only allowed it, they encouraged me. At first, I did not understand, but it was not long before I realized that my face, a mirror of my sister’s but without her graces and charms, was painful to them. I was a reminder of what they had lost, and they were only too happy to have me out of sight.
“This is why I do not attempt to hold back my thoughts, Aranos, for I have learned that silence can be as great a betrayal as a blade in the back. Your Avowed believed that my family offered me loving support in my choice to join the House of Blades, and in her jealousy, she hurled angry words at me. I, hurt by my family’s betrayal and their relief to have me gone from their presence, responded in kind, but I did not offer her the truth. That truth was that her mother’s open and honest response was the kinder one, and my family’s veiled insult was the graver.
“I do not tell you this so that you will pity me, Aranos. Indeed, I could not take pity from you. I share it so that you understand me and what I believe. I do not turn to the gods, for I believe that we mortals are whole and complete in ourselves. All that we need is within us, should we have the courage to seek it.”
As Aranos lay quietly, cradling Saphielle in his arms, he thought about her words. We’re complete in ourselves. We have everything we need within us; we just have to be fearless enough to find it. That’s more accurate than she probably knows. I’ve got two more mana types within me, but if I want to find them, I need to go looking for them. Not in my spirals, but inside myself.
Aranos closed his eyes and fell into his mindscape. This time, though, he didn’t open his eyes once he reached that safe place within. His mindscape was a place of comfort and security. It was where he studied, where he crafted, where he learned. It wasn’t the depths of him, though, and it wasn’t where his deeper mana could be found. For that, he would have to abandon safety and delve within himself.
He put the image of his mindscape aside and sank deeper into himself. His mind resisted, at first – the mindscape was secure, and beyond it was the unknown – but he kept his will focused on diving down beyond it. Rather than forcing his mind deeper, he pushed gently but firmly, never letting up the pressure, concentrating on delving below his mindscape and finding what lay beneath it.
The image of his mindscape shivered and wavered in his thoughts, growing hazy and blurry. Aranos felt a stab of panic – if he continued, would he lose his mindscape? Would he lose all the benefits of it? Would he be crippled in his new class? -- but he set that fear aside and pressed his assault. Saphielle had to have been terrified to leave her House, to put aside everything she’d known, but she’d done it. Geltheriel had done the same, abandoning ease, power, and security to pursue the life she’d wanted. Aranos couldn’t do less; anything else would be a disservice to them, as if their lessons meant nothing to him.
The mindscape flickered in his thoughts, shuddered – and vanished. Power washed over Aranos, flooding his mind in a wave of energies that threatened to hurl him from his meditation. He fought at first, trying to resist the inexorable tides of energy, but his instinct screamed that it was the wrong tack. This isn’t just energy, he realized. It’s your energy; it’s the core of what makes you, you. You’re just fighting against yourself…
Aranos relaxed and let the rivers of power cast him where they would. He didn’t just float in the currents; he sank into them, burying himself in their depths, allowing his awareness to swirl into them and become one with the raging torrents. As his senses spread out to encompass the maelstrom, a flash of understanding lit the darkness, and their nature became clear to him.
These weren’t just currents of magic. This energy was the fundamental core of his being. It was chaotic and tumultuous because his nature was in limbo; he wasn’t really an aleen, anymore, but he hadn’t Evolved into anything else, either. His identity was uncertain, and that uncertainty had churned the center of his existence into a whirlwind of chaos.
Bringing order to that chaos, he knew, was fundamental to understanding himself and moving forward in his Evolution. The first step to establishing order, though, was knowledge: he needed to understand himself and the forces that comprised him if he was going to have any chance to bring all this power under his control.
Some of the powers, here, he recognized at once. His Primary mana was a ribbon of energy, a tiny swirl of power among the mighty rivers that flowed, here, and he understood that his SP wasn’t what he thought it was. It wasn’t a pool of energy filling his body, granting his Spells potency. It was his mind’s ability to master that power, nothing more. His elaborate hourglasses were a trick, a mental construct he used to focus and enhance how his mind could use mana, but they didn’t really matter. This was the true source of his magic, and it was a drop in the ocean that he could control if he mastered this place.
In fact, the entirety of his mindscape was just a façade for what lay beneath. It was a user interface, something that made it simpler and more convenient for him to master himself, but it also limited him. Here, in the true center of his being, he could see that everything tied together, how training in the mindscape shifted the flows of power in his body and gave him the abilities each Skill granted; how he’d been scooping energy from beneath and weaving it into his Spells through the filter of his mindscape. That construct was still there, but now he knew that he could put it aside if he wanted, once he’d truly mastered this place.
Enhanced mana raged about him, but as his mind encompassed it, he began to tease out what each current of power truly was. He could feel the flows of vital energy roaring through his body. The chaos of spirit magic raced about him, churning the maelstrom, infiltrating everything but touching nothing. Filaments of soul energy wound throughout the space, bringing everything into some sort of harmony, shifting as it had to in order to balance the flows of power inside him.
In this place, his mental energy was easy enough to spot. He’d sensed it before – in the memory stone, in Saphielle, in the totem he’d destroyed – and he’d sensed its lack in those that Keryth had slain. It was more ephemeral than even soul mana, yet it was highly ordered, and its patterns were easy to follow. He extended tendrils of soul mana out to it, wrapping it tightly and pulling it to himself. It felt comforting, in a way, but cold and impersonal; it was intellect without emotion, reason without passion, and it at once called to him and repelled him.
It was harder to locate the haze of spatial mana within him. That energy seemed to surround him, to encompass everything else. The rest of him was contained within it; at the same time, his power burst through the constraints of that field, reaching beyond this world. Once he found it, though, it was incredibly familiar to him. It was the curve of spacetime, the magnetic field, the fundamental forces that drove and powered his Primary mana. He could see where the stream of his Primary mana entered his body through this field, and he knew that spatial mana maintained his connection to this world while also allowing him to manipulate it beyond himself.
Now that he understood these powers, he also saw their limitations. There were greater depths, oceans that lay even further within and dwarfed the rivers of mana he was manipulating, but those were beyond his reach. This was his place, for the moment, and he had to master himself before he could consider diving down into those endless seas.
Bringing the powers in his grasp under his sway was one thing; melding them into something greater was another. Not all of the energies would mesh, and some seemed quite opposed to each other. Spirit and vital mana were quite happy to play together, and it was a simple matter to weave strands of vital energy and fill them with spirit. Spirit and mind, though, refused to interact; the strands of spirit mana wouldn’t follow the ordered matrix of mental energy he wove, no matter what he did.
Slowly, gradually, he discovered which mana types would mix and which ones would not. As he d
id, he wove them together gently, binding them into a single strand with a hollow core. Vital mana rested against mind mana, which was bound to a river of spatial mana. Soul energy tied spatial to spirit, and spirit flowed back into vital, completing the connection. Each type would meld with two others, no more, and as Aranos watched, the stream of Primary mana rose up through the center of his construct, occasionally touching the mighty river surrounding it with flickering tendrils that were mainly life and void.
Once the energy was under his control, Aranos saw how he could shift it, changing his nature fundamentally. He could empower his vital mana, becoming stronger, tougher, and faster but drawing energy from his mental and spirit flows to do so. He could weave a stronger lattice of mental mana, but he’d have to leach energy from his vital and soul mana to do that.
Each of his Enhanced mana types offered a different path for him to Evolve along, but none of them appealed to him. Each required him to sacrifice some aspect of his being to empower another. He could boost his connection to other worlds – he assumed that meant embracing his fay heritage – but that would weaken his physical body and connection to this world. He could empower his soul, but that meant sacrificing intellect and his ability to affect the world around him.
It was frustrating, and he gritted his mental teeth in annoyance, but he forced himself to relax and turned his mind away from the problem. Instead, he took in the structure as a whole, seeing the forces within him balanced carefully against each other. It’s no wonder that I can’t boost one attribute over the other; it’s a closed system. If I add power to one, that means I have to take power from somewhere else. Theoretically, I could increase the flows in three aspects, but that would shrink the remaining two down a lot. If I wanted to boost everything, I’d have to find a way to add more power to the system. It’s a shame I can’t tie everything into my Wisdom or Intelligence Stats; my mind and soul mana are already more powerful than everything else, thanks to that. Even my Charisma would be better…huh. I wonder why none of the mana types use Charisma in the first place?
