NOVEL NEXT Sabbatical – Chapter 219: In the Making
Elder Wu regarded the young man in front of him for a moment longer before he pulled a bottle of scotch from a drawer on his desk. Five in the afternoon was perhaps a bit early for some, but a drink in this situation seemed like the right thing to do.
Two glasses quickly followed the bottle and the noise they made when he placed them on his desk seemed to finally pull Jacob from his thoughts.
"May I interest you in a drink?" Elder Wu asked, pushing one of the glasses towards Jacob. "Refusing it is perfectly fine; some might consider it too soon for such a thing."
"I usually would be one of those," Jacob replied, taking the glass and holding it out for Elder Wu to pour into. "But not today."
The old Vampire gave a chuckle before he poured his guest the drink. "It's only a little while longer before this second wave begins, and I feel certain that there will be more than simply additional people awakening to the arcane — like yourself — headed our way."
"What else do you think will happen?" Jacob asked.
Elder Wu himself could think of a few scenarios. Monsters appearing for people to use their newfound powers on, for example.
"A dungeon of sorts, I would reckon. Aperio does not strike me as someone who would let normals die to monsters, so I am decently certain that she would safely contain any means for the awakened to grow stronger. Like a dungeon, or tower."
As if on cue, the notification announcing the second wave changed. The time was still ticking down, but it now had a second line of text informing everyone that they should prepare themselves for an excursion. Whatever that meant.
"Seems like I was right," Elder Wu said before he took a swig from his glass. "I guess I know what we will be doing when the time comes. Lucky you; I suspect that you will meet the All-Mother sooner than you thought."
Jacob gave a slow nod at the words. "Maybe," he said, mirroring Elder Wu and taking a sip of his drink. "I'm just not sure what I should even do when I meet her. I barely know why I feel like I have to find her in the first place."
"Exploring the unknown, perhaps? I know that drove me when I was younger."
"Maybe," Jacob said again. "But that doesn't feel quite right. I think there is something more to it."
"I guess only time will tell, then." Elder Wu leaned back in his chair slightly. "For now, there are other things we can talk about. Your experiences with magic, for example."
Jacob did not reply immediately, instead cradling the glass in his hand as his brows scrunched together. While Elder Wu was not able to read minds, it was quite obvious that the man was not sure if he should talk or not.
Ah, to be young again, the Vampire mused to himself as he emptied his own glass before pouring himself another one. He too had been so very indecisive, but that was ages ago. Nowadays, he just talked his mind to whoever would listen. There was no point in being secretive and trying to figure out the world's secrets on your own when people with answers were in reach and willing to help.
Just as he was about to offer some words of encouragement to Jacob, the young man took a large swig of his drink, grimacing slightly as he swallowed. "Sure," he said. "Let's talk magic.”
///
Caethya looked at the Dragon stalking around the ritual chamber with more than a little amazement. It was currently smaller than Aperio intended, but Caethya thought it was still plenty intimidating in its current form. Not only was it covered in dark blue scales that shimmered even when no light hit them, it also had large silver horns growing from its head from which arcs of what she guessed was pure mana jumped every now and then.
"Can it fly?" Eleanor asked, her eyes flicking between the Dragon and the All-Mother who looked decidedly too relaxed.
"Of course," she replied. "I can fly, and any other form I make will be able to do so as well. The room is a little small, but I can show you once I have picked a proper place and have actually created the dungeon that this apparition will live in."
"Is it self-aware?"
"It is me," Aperio replied, her voice coming from both the Dragon and her normal body simultaneously. "I simply formed some mana into the shape of a Dragon and am manipulating it to behave like one. It does not have a Soul, nor will it ever. I have no intention to bind any creature to a place where it will only await its death." She tilted her head. "Unless that is actually its wish, but then I would have to question what I did wrong to have created a being whose only desire is to die."
"I mean, none of us asked to be born in the first place," Eleanor said, her voice just a little quieter than usual.
"Neither did I," the All-Mother replied. "Though, 'born' is the wrong term for me. I simply… am." Aperio tapped her chin, her wings moving forward slightly as if she were wrapping herself into a hug. The motion was accompanied by a distant — almost intangible — pang of sadness, one that washed over Caethya but seemingly had no effect on Eleanor. "Just me, and nothing else…
"No matter," she continued, running a hand over the scales of the Dragon she had created. "I was thinking of creating a few islands, roughly the same distance away from every major population centre, that would all lead to the same dungeon. Do you think that would cause undue attention?"
"Are you for real?" Eleanor asked and simply stared at the All-Mother. "Not only are you just making some islands, you are also having them all teleport people to some random plane of existence we were previously unaware of. It will have all the attention in the world!"
"I see." Aperio crossed her arms in front of her chest and began tapping her chin a moment later. "I guess I could simply offer everyone a teleport there via the System? I do like the idea of a physical entrance, however."
A few steps brought Caethya next to her love. Her hand sneaked past Aperio's wings with practised ease, resting in the small of her back. "I think that's a good idea," she said. "It would probably take some attention off of you Especially if you go the islands yourself. Though, perhaps just making one that houses the dungeon would be better."
"And offer a teleport for everyone that already has their Class?" the All-Mother asked as one of her wings shifted slightly, wrapping itself around the Demigoddess. "I am convinced that nobody would be able to get there if I did not help them along. The various nations of this world do not seem inclined to share power, or even let people discover something unknown."
"Why would you say that?" Eleanor asked. "We've been free to do basically anything as far as I can tell."
"Then why am I still being followed by people working for something called the OSA? From what I have gathered, their sole purpose seems to be ensuring that nobody does anything magic related that they do not approve of." A wave of her hand caused a small projection of a building to appear in the room. "It took a bit for me to find this as those letters meant little to me, but once I tracked them down it became quite obvious that this is a sort of… watchdog for magic. I think that would be the correct phrase.
"In any case," the All-Mother continued, both the projection and the Dragon she had created vanishing, "the issue at hand is the dungeon I intend to make and how I should go about introducing it to the world. I am still quite fond of my island idea. Maybe I will put a temple or something similar on it."
"Whatever you end up making, you have to make sure to go there like everyone else would," Caethya said. "If you don't show up, people will think that you are even more special than they already assume you are."
"You said that before," Aperio replied, tilting her head ever-so-slightly. "I am not quite sure how that would work. If I go, they will very likely require me to fight in the dungeon I made specifically for them to get stronger. They would probably also figure out that the monsters that challenge them are not even an inconvenience to me, all of which would just reinforce their belief that I should be the foremost protector of their world."
"You can always just say that you are a pacifist," Eleanor said with a shrug. "So far, all that people know of you is that you broke up a fight between the police and someone who just awakened to their powers. How strong you are doesn't matter if they think you don't want to fight."
"It is an option, but I do not like lies and this would be one." Aperio crossed her arms in front of her chest as numerous projections of tiny islands appeared around her, all of them made of different materials, styles and themes, not a single one featuring the usual colours or motifs of the All-Mother. "Perhaps styling the island quite unlike how I usually would will help?"
Caethya could not help but raise a brow at a few of the proposed isles. If she didn’t know any better, she would think that a good many of them were made to fit her own aesthetic. There were the usual bits of black and silver she liked, as well as the general style of building typically found in Ahl Ghave. Some might consider it merely ancient and boring swaths of marble and pillars, but Caethya would be lying if she said she didn’t like it.
The one that caught her eye the most — and that, in her opinion, was the winning option — featured the same pillar-rich style she liked, but much of the marble and solid stone was replaced with glass and other materials that seemed to be more common around Earth.
“I think that one would work best,” she said, pointing at the island that featured the tower glass. “It fits with what we have seen of Earth, but gives it a quality the people here cannot quite reproduce.”
Aperio gave a nod, dismissing the other projections as she brought the group into her Void to stand atop the very island they had just been looking at. Eleanor immediately ran off towards the tower that stood tall in the distance, while the All-Mother spread her wings slightly and let out a sigh.
“It’ll be chaos, won’t it?”
“A little bit of chaos is good,” Caethya replied with a smile. “Just what the people of Earth need, I reckon.”
///
Adelita eyed the walls of the Terenyk estate once more. No matter how hard she tried to find an opening, none seemed to want to be revealed. The enchantments she could see did their job as a deterrent, but only because she knew that if they could afford those, they would have others she could not see that would most assuredly catch her. Next to that were of course the guards, all of whom were at least level two-hundred and wearing armour that the normal guards of Ebenlowe might actually kill for. And then the fucking maids.
Calling them that was a disservice. They were quite clearly more than simple maids. Especially Lula and Amelia. A Dragonkin of what seemed to be royal blood and an honest-to-the-Gods Tulmari were not beings you expected to see working a menial maid job. The magic maniacs of the Solito deserts were known for many things, but serving a noble house was not one of them. Seeing one care for a girl quite clearly not her own, but also appearing to be completely loyal to her house was something none of Adelita's contacts had heard of before. She might not fully trust her informants, but what she had figured out on her own supported their findings.
It definitely confirmed that Amelia was a member of that tribe, though she currently looked very much like a Human instead of a Beastkin. A Tulmari changing their race was, apparently, not out of the realm of possibility and for all they knew, the woman could be a dwarf in reality.
The uncertainty of the woman's species aside, Adelita knew enough to not even consider engaging her in any way — exactly what would happen if she tried to talk to Maria without a proper invitation. No matter how confident and routine the use of her Class was at this point, Amelia was practically tailor-made to protect Maria from attempts on her life; not that that was Adelita’s goal. And for those that slipped through the few and finite cracks in Amelia's formidable defence, Lula was there as a second line of protection. The things a strong blood mage could do truly boggled the mind.
"Guess it's gonna be Laelia, then," Adelita mumbled to herself.
That woman presented much of the same issues — probably even more, if she was honest with herself — but with her, she at least had the chance of starting a conversation.. If Laelia was sure that she presented no danger, there was no problem in just talking, right? She should find no issue with what Adelita had been doing. After all, the church of the All-Mother was very outspoken against slavery and their Goddess had quite handily removed all the Gods that supported it.
With a small tug at one of her skills, Adelita vanished into the shadows once more, the guard that had been blatantly staring at her resuming their normal patrol. With how strict security around the Terenyk estate was, the assassin could not help but question how anyone had managed to kill the late Agathy Terenyk. It didn't help that the woman herself had supposedly been a rather formidable mage.
With a sigh, Adelita emerged from the shadows in her makeshift office. She had some planning to do. There was more research to be done before she could even think of approaching Laelia. Let’s just hope it doesn’t flop like the Maria route did. Time wasn't necessarily on her side — it was only a matter of time before the idiots she wanted to rid the city of started banding together to take her out instead.