Luke Everhart
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Chapter 35 - ITS NOT MAGIC
🕑 Added 2024-11-11 14:14:22 +0000 UTCWhen they made it back to the others, it quickly became apparent that all was not well.
Kur, Gad and Viy stood to one side. Opposite, Cen had her back turned to them.
Mul had a blank expression on his face, and he was sitting a few feet away from his sister.
In the middle of the party, wringing her hands and shifting her eyes from one side to the other, stood Jul, looking scared.
“What’s going on?” Nar asked.
Jul looked up at them, and dashed to hide behind him.
“What’s wrong?” Tuk asked her, frowning.
“What do you think is wrong?” Viy threw at them, her words heavy with sarcasm.
Tuk took a step back in surprise.
“Woah… What’s happening here?”
“Ask her,” Viy said.
Nar stared at the spear woman in confusion. What in the pile was wrong now?
Kur passed a hand over his face. “She has magic, guys. And she didn’t tell anyone. The last time we leveled up was at the end of the Tutorial. So she either didn’t tell us then, or she’s had it since Crystal knows how long. Whatever the case, she kept it from us.”
The weight of his words hit Nar with more violence than those Sentry’s giant limbs ever could have.
“Yes,” Kur said, reading his expression accurately. “She’s had all that power all along. It could’ve made things so much easier for all of us. And so much safer, too.”
Nar stared at Cen in confusion. Why hadn’t she said anything? It made no sense to hide it!
Gad heaved a sigh
“Why didn’t you tell us, Cen?” she asked, her voice low, but carrying no accusation. “You are so strong. A real caster. Why use those little puffs of air, when you could have easily destroyed anything in our path?”
Cen’s shoulders shook, and she said something that Nar didn’t hear.
“I couldn’t hear what you said,” Gad said gently.
Cen spun around.
“I said, IT’S NOT MAGIC!”
Silence descended upon the party, only the Sentry’s flames crackling in the distance.
What… Did she say?
If that light and explosions hadn’t been magic, then what in the pile were they?
Nar found himself almost shouting the question at Cen. What else was that if not fire magic!
“What do you mean?” Tuk asked. “I saw it. It was bright and-and the explosions…”
“It’s not magic”.
Tears fell down her face.
“It’s [Aura].”
Nar covered his face.
He didn’t care what the others thought.
Right now… Right now, he had to cover his face.
He didn’t trust what sort of expression he was making.
[Aura]? [Aura]?
It had not been magic that had saved them, but [Aura]?
That dirty, disgusting, torturous punishment was what had saved them?
“No, it can’t be true,” Kur whispered.
She threw him a mockery of a smile and shrugged.
“I wish I was lying. But I’m not.”
“It can’t be,” Tuk said. “No. No!”
Cen’s expression twisted and she lifted her staff. A ball of gray light erupted from it, and shot into the darkness.
The caster had aimed high, and Nar followed its trajectory with his eyes.
The projectile of light curved at its zenith, and angled back down. A few seconds later, it impacted in the distance, exploding, and revealing just how massive the number of guardians surrounding them had been.
It also showed everyone just how tremendous a range the skill had.
“It’s a skill,” she said, to the stunned party. “It’s called [Aura Projectile], and it’s at level 2. I’ll even tell you the description if you don’t believe me!”
“Our UIs are gone,” Viy said, in a hushed tone.
Cen threw her a look of contempt.
“I’ve read it more times than I can count. I’ve memorized it. Here, listen. It says…”
-[ Aura Projectile 2 - channel aura through your staff and then release a projectile of aura that causes 2 n on impact, where n is your [Aura]. On impact, the projectile will also cause 0.75 n damage to anything within a 5-foot radius, where n is your [Aura].
Can be charged to further increase impact and explosion damage modifiers by 0.25 per second of charging, up to a total of a 30 second charging time. Explosion damage radius will also be increased.
Completely charging the projectile adds a flat plus 2 to the modifier.
Cost, 2 stamina.
Charged version costs an additional 2 points of stamina per additional charged second.
Successive projectiles deal 0.25 less damage per cast. A 3 second break, or charging the skill, resets the damage. ]-
She finished reciting and stared at them, daring anyone to doubt her.
It was shocking. Both in that it truly wasn’t magic, and in the crazy damage that those numbers implied.
Nar’s own [Heavy Attack 2] paled in comparison. It was laughable to even put them side by side.
“But… Even so”, Viy said, finding her voice. “The numbers in that skill…”
Her voice trailed, as comprehension hit her. Nar understood it too, and he was sure everyone else had as well.
“You are what you do,” he whispered.
Cen, stared at him, tears flowing down her face again.
“You see? That’s why I couldn’t use it,” she said. She sounded so broken it made his heart clench. “If you take damage, you gain [Constitution]. If you deal damage, you gain [Strength] or whatever it is. But if you use [Aura]...”
“You gain [Aura],” Tuk breathed. “But [Aura] is our punishment…”
Damn… That’s… That’s… It’s so wrong, Nar though. It’s all so wrong!
That skill was repulsive. He would’ve never used it, unless he had no other choice. Just like Cen had done.
“How long have you had it?” Mul suddenly asked.
Cen sobbed and looked at her feet.
“How long, Cen?”
She heaved a shaky breath. “From the beginning…”
“So, when I asked you back then…” Kur said.
Cen nodded.
Mul stared at his sister in disbelief.
“And you thought that magic was more important than our lives?” he asked, his tone dangerously low.
His face had turned a deeper shade of gray. It was so dark it was almost black, and a large, angry vein had become prominent at the side of his forehead
“Gad and Kur almost died in that room,” he whispered. “Nar almost died stopping that second guardian. Viy almost died and I almost died with her! Me, your brother!”
Cen sobbed into her hands.
Gad approached Mul.
“No!” he shouted at her. “There is no excuse for this!”
Gad nodded.
“It wasn’t right, but…”
Cen whipped her head at Gad's words, her face contorted in anger.
“And what do you know?” she spat. “You’re a trolley pusher! You’re not an operator! You didn’t have to use aura every single day of your life! You don’t know how it feels to use it! How can you stand there, with your perfect attributes and skills, and judge me? Do you know what it feels like? Do you know how painful those projectiles were?”
She licked her mouth and spat on her hand.
“Come! Come and see what that did to me!” she said, raising her hand.
Nar closed his eyes. He didn’t have to look, to know that there would be blood on her hand.
He could still see them clearly. The fresh, wet patches on his clothes, after every double shift. The smooth, hot, feel of the aura receiver as he grasped it. He would push and push aura into it, never even allowing himself a break to get some relief for his numb fingers. The Unclean had a separate quota. One that was much more demanding, and there was no time for breaks for them. Any slight excuse, and the Clean would withhold their food from them.
A sharp intake of air brought him back to the present.
He saw something he thought he would never see.
Gad was angry.
“We are talking about life, and you’re talking about pain?” Gad rumbled. “Are you serious? What do you think a tank is? You have no idea of the pain I endure to keep you safe!!”
“Don’t talk to me about pain!” Cen snapped. “I suffered in that machine for nine years! Nine years! Every day, for longer than all the others! You’ve been tanking for less than three months! You think I’m scared of a little pain now?”
An unmistakable tang spread over Nar’s mouth.
He had to push against the memory of it, remind himself that the machine had stayed behind, in the cubeplant. That he would never have to touch that receptor again. But he could still taste the blood. Every day, there had been blood. Everyday.
So yes, he understood Cen. He understood her very well.
“Then why?” Gad whispered.
Cen deflated.
“For the future, why else?” she said. “This Climb will end, and our whole lives will be out there… I can’t bring this pain with me. This disgusting thing has to stay down here! I need magic! I need a future to look forward to!”
She looked at her brother, and he stared back. It was impossible to tell what was going through his mind at that stage.
“I risked your life, Mul, but I risked mine too. What point is there in reaching the top if we are too weak? If we can’t do anything? Without fire and ice and lightning, how can we survive up there?” she pleaded with him. “We don’t even know what’s up there, for Crystal’s sake! But I want to be strong for it! And I can be strong for us! We can both learn magic. We’re smart, we’re hardworking! We’ll be powerful! We’ll be the best and we’ll have everything we want! Do whatever we want! We’ll finally be free to make our own choices! But without it… We’ll be nothing.”
Nar mouthed her words.
We’ll be nothing.
The workers had forgotten much. Nar was sure he was only touching the tip of what he didn’t know about the Infinite Nexus above their heads. However, there was one thing that they had never forgotten.
The Nexus was a place of aether, and magic. It is the blessing of the Crystal for all Its children. Without it, one cannot live outside. It is impossible. Not that it was needed for classes. Not that it was crucial for paths. But that it was impossible to even live without it.
Because of the Original Sin, the workers had been stripped of it, forced to use aura instead to power their machines. It was the heaviest punishment that the Crystal could have imposed upon them.
“But, couldn’t you just use [Aura] now, and get [Aether] later?” Mul asked, in a very small voice.
“No!” Cen nearly shrieked. “I will lose the first attribute modifier to [Aura] if I keep using it. I’m already at 27 points, and I haven’t used it once! The damn thing just keeps growing on its own!”
What? Nar thought, stunned. It was happening to her too? But… But she wasn’t an Unclean!
“Imagine what would happen if I started to actually use it?” Cen continued. “And aura is our punishment, what if it affects my chances of getting aether? The two of them are supposed to be opposites! One is a blessing, the other is a curse!”
“Are you close to any of the others?” Mul asked. “Attributes, I mean.”
“I… What? No. Only [Aura].”
“Then couldn’t you just let this one go? The second modifier is not bad!”
“Are you even listening to me?” she screamed. “I don’t want to have [Aura] inside me anymore!”
“I am listening!” Mul shouted back. “I am listening to you saying how magic is more important than my own life! If it was me, I would’ve used it from the start, and fuck aether, fuck magic and fuck the Crystal! I would’ve gotten you up there, and then figured things out!”
“Crystal…” Tuk whispered, next to Nar. “Forgive him, he doesn’t mean it.”
Oh yes he does, Nar thought.
“You can’t survive up there without it!” Cen shouted, desperately.
“How the fuck do we even know that?” Mul asked. “We don’t know anything about the O-Nex! We didn’t even know what time was, for fucks sake! We’ve been down here for so long we didn’t even know what a fucking pillow was! How have you not realized it yet? Everything we thought we knew is shit! It's useless! We don’t know squat!”
“We don’t know that!” Cen said. “We still know some things that are…”
“Did you do it for you, or did you do it for us? Just answer me that!” Mul cut her.
Cen’s voice died, and she took a step back.
“I’m tired of this,” Mul said. “Just tell me. Did you do it for us, or for you?”
Nar sighed and rubbed his forehead.
What a fucking mess…
Mul was right. How could he trust anything that the workers had “known”? How could he even tell if magic was even real? All they had were the icons, and those damned drawings could mean anything. Fuck! Some priest down the line could have just interpreted it that way, trusting divine inspiration! Or mercy, or some other pileshit. And the lie had then been perpetuated down the line of his successors for Crystal knew how long!
Nar shook his head.
Was he seriously doubting the existence of magic now?
Come to think of it, while the priest had mentioned magic, the System had never once mentioned the word.
Crystal… Was that all a lie?
It couldn’t be. He refused to believe it.
“I see…” Mul said, simply, when Cen couldn’t’ reply. When she couldn’t lie to his face.
“Wait, no! It’s not…”
Bright yellow light suddenly flared in the middle of the party, silencing whatever she had been about to say.
“What now?” Tuk asked.
The floor shook underneath them, and the light turned into a beam that shot up into the infinite darkness above them.
Jul gasped. “Quick, get close to it!”
“What’s happening?” Kur asked.
“Quick, or you’ll be left behind!”
The party stared at her as she ran towards the beam.
When she got there, she looked around and realized that nobody had moved.
“Hurry! Do you want to die?” she shouted.
That, finally, got a reaction out of them. Also, the beam had started to flash ominously on and off.
Nar ran towards her, and next to him, Tuk did the same.
As they all got together, the light vanished, and the floor moved under them.
Nar would’ve sworn that it was rising.
“Hold on to each other!” Kur shouted.
Nar reached out and grabbed Tuk by the arm.
“Is that you, Nar?”
“It’s me!” he said. “Jul? Jul?”
“I’m here!”
Desperate hands felt for him, and she latched onto his arm.
“Is everyone okay?” Kur shouted.
“We're all here!” Tuk said.
“Us too!” Mul replied.
“Jul, any idea what’s…”
A window appeared, interrupting the party leader.
-[ Warning!
Anomaly…
Emergency … been issued.
… location and stats … acceptable...
Quest, Follow the arrows, … ]-
The window buzzed with static, flicking on and off.
He had barely finished reading, and the words had already changed.
-[ Follow the…
Uncommon
Reward: ???
Follow … arrows.
You … decline … quest. ]-
This second strange window also disappeared and the floor underneath them began to shake harder.
“What’s happening?” Viy shouted.
“And what in the pile is a quest?” Tuk asked.
However, as soon as his words left his mouth, the knowledge filtered into Nar’s brain.
At its basic, a quest is an objective, or series of objectives, that you must complete. Usually, carried out at the behest of the System, their completion involves rewards. Failing a quest may also imply undesirable consequences.
“What in the pile?” Nar muttered. What did that even mean?
Suddenly, Nar’s stomach lurched, and he felt his weight increase, pushing down to the floor.
“We’re going up!” Gad said. “Hold on!”
The weight pinning him down increased and soon the high-pitched sound of air rushing by, at an enormous speed, deafened him.
The three of them huddled together in that dark ascent.
The force exerted upon him made Nar’s already exhausted body shake and tremble, but he stayed upright, supporting the other two with his [Strength].
His UI flickered to life behind his closed eyes, flashing on and off. Without his say so, his stats tab opened.
Without anything better to do, but hold and wait for it to be over, he read it.
-[ NAR293457741235645XAV
Basic 7
Health Points: 74/160
Stamina: 23/150
Attributes
● Strength: 13
● Constitution: 16
● Stamina: 15
● Agility: 9
● Speed: 9
● Aura*: 42
● ???: 8
● ???: 14
● Might: 4
● Endurance: 6
● Instinct: 12
● Reflex: 11
● Hearing: 7
● Sight: 7 ]-
Damn… I was almost out of stamina, he realized.
He had made gains in all of his sense attributes and [Reflex], but had made little progress elsewhere. And the modifier symbol by his [Aura] was like a fist closing around his heart.
In the end, he had lost it. His first, and most important modifier.
And as he stared at it, something even more appalling occurred to him.
Cen had used [Aura] to fight.
It was such an insane realization that he struggled to understand the implications of what that meant.
Cen used [Aura] to fight…
Aura could be used for more than just powering the machines.
That meant aura could be used even now, outside of the factory…
He also had aura. Or [Aura], whatever it now was.
In fact, he had a whole lot more than even Cen did.
What if… What if he would one day also be forced to use his?
What if he gained a skill that used [Aura]?
Like Cen had said, aura and aether were opposites. One a blessing from the Crystal to his children, the other a curse used for punishing sinners. If he ended up using it, what would happen to him, and to his chances of unlocking [Aether]?
He already had so much [Aura]… Would it affect his chances of gaining magic, like Cen had said?
Was the Crystal punishing him with it, and the more he gained, the lesser his chance of unlocking [Aether]?
He didn’t know. He couldn’t know. The workers knew nothing! He knew nothing!
Nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing makes sense at all! Nar thought.
Another window popped up, behind his closed eyes. It still flickered a little, static distorting the letters here and there, but it looked more stable this time.
-[ Warning!
Quest participant’s HP/Stamina points are too low.
Checking protocols…
Done.
Requesting permission…
Done.
Initiating emergency recovery!
Initiating forced application of gains! ]-
Something seized Nar by his feet, and before he could so much as utter a sound, it had climbed up his legs, torso, arms, neck and head.
He managed a half gasp half groan, before his body spasmed out of control.
Heat flooded him, quickly increasing past the point of unbearable.
It grew and grew in intensity, until it looked like it was going to reduce him to nothing but smoldering ashes. Then, with a loud bang that left his ears ringing, Nar was gone.
