Luca DR
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Edge 142
🕑 Added 2023-11-19 17:14:26 +0000 UTC142 – Debrief
“Please sit.” Albert said.
They were in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by thick trees and hedges, a warm campfire burning in the center. Around it, chairs made of wooden stumps had been set equidistant to one another, with Albert already sitting on one of them. Gingerly, Lina and Scrappy followed his example, and they sat together for a while.
In the silence of the clearing, it was hard to imagine that mere meters away, the forest was not a forest anymore, but a hellish scene out of a nightmare, smelling of death and ashes. Horrific creatures roamed, the ground was oozing flesh, and the trees were bare and made of what looked like bone. Albert had said that only a minor part of the world was like this, mostly concentrated around here due to the battle that happened outside Bastion, but he also claimed that in time more and more patches of the planet would succumb to the same fate until there was nothing left.
None of it was visible from around the fire. The hedges were tall and thick, green with a vibrant color that veered on orange – the reflected light of the campfire. The air was clean, a gentle breeze blowing the smell of cooking meat from a grill hanging in the air over the fire as if by magic. And by magic it was. Albert had created this place out of the very same cursed forest that surrounded them in a mere couple hours, for the sole purpose of helping Lina out.
She still didn’t know how she felt about that.
“Your powers will revolve around three themes,” Albert began, jumping straight to the point. “The three scenarios we found while roaming your mind earlier in the cave: the ruby gem with wings and two weapons: a sword and a spear. Then, the ice octagon that can summon ice statues and shoot projectiles. And lastly, the crimson throne surrounded by blood statues. Any questions so far?”
Lina shook her head. In truth, she had many questions. Beginning from how in the world was he going to create a magic system for her, how she would be able to use it, how strong it was going to be… instead she chose to remain silent.
“Now,” Albert said. “If I were more powerful, we could tweak and fine tune the results to out heart’s content. It’s not like I’m one of those ‘destiny’ guys who claim that you need to accept what the universe decides for you or anything. Thing is, with how little power I have we will have to let the actual magic of the world do most of the heavy lifting, with me simply giving it directions.”
“We won’t be changing the theme either, mostly because I know for a fact that your mind somehow contains references to these three things and we don’t have time to trial and error.”
He paused, as if searching for something in her eyes. “I say that, and how do you feel?” He asked.
Lina flinched at the intensity of the gaze. “…excited?”
Albert nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Good. I can’t tell you much else beyond the fact that it will be three skills. They will start off weak, but all three will have the potential to grow much stronger through training and by absorbing magic from various sources. Perhaps even a bit of Doom, though I wouldn’t overdo it if I were you. We have no way of knowing exactly what it would do to you. The exact details we will have to figure out ourselves later.”
After he was done speaking, Albert got to his feet. He checked the food, nodding to himself in satisfaction, and pulled two plates out of thin air. They looked well-made, different from what she had seen him create with his magic back in the cave, and for a reason Lina thought they had been made by someone, someone very skilled. He also pulled out cutlery for two people, and after loading the plates with meat, vegetables and bread he handed them to the two girls.
When he gave the plate to Scrappy, however, the girl shot to her feet. It was with a gentle touch that Albert pushed her back on her seat.
“Eat, both of you. It’s been a stressful day and you need rest. Especially you.” The last words were for Lina.
“You are not eating, Sir Albert?” Scrappy asked.
The man chuckled. “I need to gather some cores. How else do you think we are going to power the whole procedure? Not with my own life force I would hope!”
Scrappy turned white and Albert laughed. “No, please, sir!”
“I would never.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Albert looked at her from head to toe. His head moved slowly, deliberately, but there was a playful tingle in his eyes that suggested that he was acting like this for Scrappy’s sake.
“You?” He said, pretending to mock her. “You are tall like a cat and a half. Perhaps a quarter even.”
“I—”
“Ha!” He held out a hand. “You haven’t even unlocked your class yet.”
“I don’t know how!”
Albert shrugged. “See? Make use of this time to meditate and see if you can gather some insights about your power. How about this: if you manage to tell me something interesting by the time we are done with Lina, I will upgrade your power a little bit. Ah, and give me your Defense Handbook.”
She did so without complaining.
“Will you be out long?” It was Lina who asked, concerned, surprising even herself.
Albert looked at her. She felt her hand move to cover her mouth in shame under his scrutiny, and she felt naked without magic. Her earlier bravado was gone, and she truly felt like a damsel in distress and hated herself for that.
“I don’t know. This place is safe. If I’m late, sleep. It would be no use having you all sleep deprived.”
With that, the hedges opened up and swallowed him in a tunnel of greenery. He was gone.
Within moments, Lina saw how eager Scrappy was to impress her master, for the little girl was already done with her food and preparing to meditate. Lina herself, however, was feeling too jittery to relax, and instead decided to try to make some small talk with her new companion. Albert was too inscrutable and – frankly – scary for her to attempt this, but she felt like she could get to know him more through Scrappy and perhaps she could come to understand what motives he had.
“Um,” She said, seeing how the girl’s ears perked up like those of a cat. “How did you two meet?”
“Oh, me and Sir Albert? It was a lucky encounter, that it was, lady Lina. I was starving to death in the city of Bastion, and he saw me and saved me! My world had been turned upside down, you see, and I didn’t know what to do! There were so many things that I knew how to do but… I couldn’t use them anymore. But then! But then Sir Albert said he needed a guide, and he gave me soooo much coin. I never used coin before, but I knew from watching people that you did everything in Bastion with coin, and I had so much! So I showed him all the secret places and shortcuts I knew in the city, and then he asked me to take him to an inn!”
Lina gasped.
“Yes!” The girl said, misunderstanding her gasp for enthusiasm. “He paid for a room and food and a bath and so many nice things for me… and told me to find him the next day downstairs!”
The girl paused. “He didn’t…” Lina began. “He didn’t make you do things with him, did he?”
Scrappy cocked her head quizzically. “He made me do all sorts of things, that he did. Why do you ask?”
Lina felt righteous anger rise from within. How dare—
“Ah.” Suddenly Scrappy’s whole face went red. “That misunderstanding again. I don’t understand why humans always think of that.” She muttered. “That I don’t.” Then she looked at Lina straight in the eye, and there was sense of danger that seemed to radiate out from her like a palpable thing. “No, he did not ask indecent things of me, lady Lina. He would never. He is not like that.”
Then, like a soap bubble popping, the whole tension was gone and back she was like a tiny frail girl sitting with her feet tucked beneath her body like an animal on the wide wooden stump.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Lina said. “But many people are like that.”
“Sir Albert saved me.” Scrappy said. “He found me and gave me a new name, he fed me and gave me power, that he did.” Then she smiled. “He thought I was a boy!”
“He did?”
“That he did.” Scrappy nodded. “Imagine! He was so confused when he woke up and saw me…” she trailed off.
“He saw you when he woke up?”
“Ah. There was… and incident. I found him passed out in his room but… no. It’s not important. I know what you are thinking again, lady Lina, that I do. I know I might look tiny and defenseless, but I am not naïve. Nor a child. He… he doesn’t see people like that, I don’t think. Not anymore, at least. I heard him grumble about it when he speaks to himself, late at night when he thinks I don’t listen. But I always listen, that I do. I hear everything, you see? He is very sad. He hurts. He might hurt others, but not because he’s cruel. You understand that, right?”
