With a new idea to test out, Morgan reached out to the shell segment with Mana. Not the Mana within her own body, however. She reached through the mandible, using the magical energy stored within it to activate the shield enchantment.
You have learned the Spell [Mana Link]! Link multiple enchantments or sources of Mana together, allowing magic to flow between them!
“Booyah!” exclaimed Morgan. “Now if I can test the shield, I can learn to copy it!”
The faint ripples of the shield hovered a few inches above the surface of the shell’s ridges, its power linked to the crystal battery. The concentric patterns grown into the edges of the armored material pulsed gently, the overlapping hexagons just barely visible as disturbances in the air
Grinning, Morgan took two steps back and cast the weakest [Lightning Bolt] she could manage at the shield, staring intently with [Mana Sight]. The crackling bolt zipped out from her finger to hit the shield, causing it to flare up in coruscating ripples as her spell was reflected back at a close angle. The returning pellet of lightning left the scent of ozone lingering in the air as it streaked past, scant feet from her head, eliciting a startled oath from the young Sorceress.
The manifestation of the magic was only visible at full power for the briefest of moments at impact, and she spent over a dozen casts and a break to refill the mandible-turned-Mana-battery before she felt she’d learned enough to figure out how the shield worked.
After refilling the crystal once again, she took a few more steps back and moved a pace to her left. This time the bolt came straight back at her, and even with the new knowledge, she didn’t manage to get the shield formed in time to block. Her own [Lightning Bolt] struck her right in the midriff, doubling her over and blistering the skin just above her navel.
After taking a moment to heal, she tried again. This time she held the makeshift shield spell ready around her left hand as she cast the bolt with her right. She took several more jolts from her own reflected spells before she managed to nail down the timing, but her perseverance was rewarded on the eighth attempt.
You have learned the spell [Spell Parry]! Deflect or redirect incoming magical effects!
“Yes!” Morgan twirled in place and pumped her fist in the air as Lulu wurbled in frustration, trying to clean the soot and burned skin left over from its mistress’ repeated healing after each bolt. “Now I have somethin’ to work with!”
Without an anchoring substance to form a defensive enchantment, her own manifestation of the spell was only as coherent as her focus. A central hexagon of Mana, Lightning, Fire, and Air Elements mixed together, formed the center of the shield, and more hexagons spiraled out from the center in slightly overlapping layers. Each layer required more of her Mana and mental effort to maintain, and as the strain on her mind increased, the edges of the polygonal shapes began to ripple and deteriorate.
One single hexagonal shield section seemed extremely strong, but only covered an area about the size of her palm. “So if I add more plate sections around it, the shield gets bigger, but weaker…”
She added one ring of shields around the center. Then a second, and then a third; she kept adding layers until the shield threatened to collapse under its own weight.
“Seven seems to be my sweet spot…”
She walked back over to the boiled remains of the shellipede and broke for lunch, practicing with [Spell Parry]. The shield was definitely not something she could use for constant heavy blocking, and the name was appropriate. It formed most solidly right in the first moments of its creation, and every second it existed drained more and more of her Mana.
“So, I can parry spell attacks now, Lulu,” she told her ruffled companion, “but I also wanna figure out a permanent defensive enchantment I can set up, like that thing’s shield.” She tore a handful of meat off the shellipede corpse after reheating it with a touch of fire magic.
“That can wait ‘til tonight though; we need to get moving,” she said around mouthfuls as she chewed vigorously, eager to pad her calories in case of emergencies.
Remembering something she’d seen during her class selection dream, Morgan plucked several large leaves from a low-hanging branch. They were broad and reminiscent of oak leaves, and she was careful to merely hold them, as she was wary of triggering her equipment rejection.
Placing the leaves on the ground, she tore several smaller chunks of the meat from the monster and placed them on the leaves. She had no string, but wrapping millimeter-thin threads of earth around the leaves to hold her food was a simple matter with [Terrakinesis]. Picking up the three parcels, she placed them in her spatial storage rune. She wrapped up three more, but only two would fit, for a total of five.
Thinking she could rearrange them and possibly fit the last one, Morgan emptied the spatial pocket. When the last leaf-wrapped chunk of meat reappeared, [Runic Belt] gained a level, and she was hit with the corresponding notification. On the front of her left hip she felt a warm tingle as a new storage rune appeared opposite the first.
“Well, that’s handy,” she said while rearranging her leaf-wrapped pack lunches. She returned to the crystalline mandible she’d been using as a Mana-battery. While she had a feeling it wouldn’t fit into her storage as it was now shaped, that didn’t mean it had to stay in its current form.
Pulling the faceted jawbone up from the ground, she used [Gem Sculpt] to slowly condense its form. That kind of practice didn’t even slow her down, as she resumed her westward trek just as the sun peaked overhead through the forest canopy. With Lulu purbling happily on her shoulder once again, she set her pace at an easy, loping jog while keeping the shifting lump of crystal hovering above one hand or the other as she traveled.
Morgan was learning the forest now, more out of sheer necessity than by any genuine desire. It was no longer the terrifyingly impossible visage of doom she’d once seen it as, but that certainly didn’t mean it was safe . She relied heavily on her [Primal Instinct] to guide her feet around areas that felt more dangerous than others: shadows that darkened the ground more noticeably, depressions in the mossy floor that carried the impression of hungry mouths, and formations of stones or upraised hillocks that seemed eager to pull her down. With the aid of her instincts, she avoided these pitfalls with an almost prescient ease, padding through the forest in near silence. Occasionally, she’d [Fade Presence] in response to a silent warning, slinking around more organic threats that might otherwise seek to end her.
Threats weren’t the only things that stood out, though. She could hear various animal calls in the distance; the coos of some large type of bird conveying thoughts of supper, and the odd clump of brush or thicker section of boughs in the canopy seemed like good nesting places for wild critters, should she need to flush something out. Small bushes or green plants stood out with faint outlines that seemed to indicate they’d be at least somewhat edible, even if she didn’t think they would be particularly tasty. She even snagged a few of the familiar berries as she went past, a welcome sweet treat to contrast the greasy-rich calorie lump that was her usual fare from consuming defeated foes.
So it was that, as Morgan travelled, she kept her eyes and ears open for danger, and for useful or tasty things. All the while, she absentmindedly worked the crystal mandible from the shellipede. First she smoothed back the serrated inner edge, pulling the ridged sawtooth formations back into the main jawbone trunk while straightening the overall shape.
Crystal didn’t flow as fast as Earth did by any measure, but she felt like it almost wanted to be a straighter, purer, and simpler crystalline pattern. With each repaired imperfection, as the crystal returned to its natural form, the amount of Mana the crystal could hold increased.
Her footsteps devoured miles and hours, and by the time the sun had sunk toward the distant horizon, she’d worked what had once been a mandible down into a rough crystal spar. It was now a six-sided column, or roughly so, with rougher ends and formations of smaller crystals at the base and the former claw-like tip.
Now less than two feet long, it was as wide as her calf muscle. It held nearly twice as much Mana as when she’d started, the uniform interior allowing for a much greater density as she packed her magical energy into it. The day’s efforts had yielded two more levels for [Gem Sculpt], and even one for [Crystal Affinity].
Feeling proud of herself, she placed the crystal into her second storage rune, and felt her connection to the Mana within it simply vanish. “Looks like I can’t use it as an internal Mana Battery, Lulu,” she said as she petted her poofy friend. The scrubby gave a sleepy wurble, seemingly lulled to sleep by Morgan’s rhythmic jogging through the late evening.
She had no need to slow her pace yet—[Mana Sight] helped to compensate for the fading light and lengthening shadow—but there was no need to risk night predators, either. So she reduced her speed to a brisk walk, keeping an eye out for water and a good place to build another stone-house campsite.
Within another mile, and just after dusk had given way to actual night with the twin moons rising in the distant east, she’d found a small stream and a nearby copse of smaller trees. After a drink, she set about finding a good place to fortify for the night.
The stream cut its way through several hills and trees, and she followed it to a small gap between two raised sections of earth. A natural deadfall of tumbled rocks made an uneven path alongside the water, leading into a small gully that opened up into a larger depression.
As Morgan hopped down from the last flattened section of rock, she realized her mistake. [Primal Instinct] screamed in her mind, panic building to a fever pitch—but it pointed at no specific danger, no incoming threat to run away from. The shadowy depression had seemed like a good place to build herself a shelter, and now she knew it was anything but.
The small ravine only looked small from the outside. Now that she was within its walls, she could clearly see it was far larger. Trees had become twisted, looming overhead, vines and leaves forming natural walls lending to a maze-like pattern. Not exactly eager to deal with the danger as her senses continued to impress the feeling of menace upon her—that of this entire ravine seeking her life—she turned to exit via the same rockfall.
And it was gone. All that remained was a tumbled section of boulders and loose scree that didn’t look as if she or anything else could have traversed its treacherous terrain. Panic rose yet higher, but she stood her ground, drawing on her [Terrakinesis], and trying to shift the stone to secure a safe path to climb out.
“Shit.”
The earth around her refused her Mana. As she tried to push it into and underneath the stone and rubble, tried to lift and move it, something pushed back, as if another will had infused the area with its own Mana that kept hers out. All she could manage was to shift a few pebbles and levitate a few handfuls of loose dirt.
Her instincts finally pointing to something behind her, Morgan turned around, primed to unleash flame, lightning, and ice. The trees muffled the rustling sound at first, and then suddenly an oversized deer-like creature burst through one of the vine-laced walls just inside the maze, eyes rolling in sheer terror. It looked around wildly before trying to stumble away. But instead of forward, its trembling legs carried it sideways while it wheezed and snorted in confusion. As it fetched up against a short tree with large blooms on low-hanging branches, one of the flowers suddenly snapped down and closed around the top half of the deer.
The flower heaved back, a sickeningly wet crunch accompanying a violent shudder, the deer’s exposed legs seeming to leap up for the briefest of moments before going still. The bloom pulled away from the once-living creature, leaving the legs standing in place, surrounded by a pile of viscera and bloodied, tattered fur. The scent of the animal’s blood and organs permeated the air, and it was all Morgan could do to not lose what she’d eaten as her instincts redoubled their harpy-like shrieking.
The various calls, the rustling of the underbrush, and the pulse of life from the very forest itself spread around her, circling her, promising her end.
“Shit,” she gasped again, wide eyes turning to her puffy companion, who was now wide awake. “I think we’re in a dungeon.”
Chapter 20: Eye of Madness
Morgan Mackenzie was hearing voices. Or at least, she thought she was; faint whispers seeming to echo down the twisting corridors, as if people were dancing and laughing just out of sight. The area she found herself in was maddening, with passages changing before her eyes as vines and plants drew back and regrew around her, almost as if shepherding her. No pathway stayed as it was for more than a few minutes, and within the first half an hour, she knew she was well and truly lost.
Before she’d left First Raven’s Roost, Moghren had briefly mentioned dungeons, if only to warn Morgan to avoid them if at all possible. Unfortunately the old crone had offered no specifics, and Morgan had had other matters on her mind, so the question of how to recognize—and more importantly, avoid —dungeons had simply never been asked.
Through experimentation, Morgan determined that the hostile Mana surrounding her only really affected her Earth magic, and had little other impact. She’d used Fire to burn away particularly aggressive plants, Lightning to “discourage” more mobile predators, and Ice to freeze a watery slime solid.
“Thank God for small favors,” Morgan muttered. Lulu made a noise of agreement.
The little loofah refused to leave her mistress’ shoulder, purbling warnings every time Morgan approached a trap, and alerting her to danger around blind corners. A good thing, too; her [Primal Instinct] could barely keep up with those comparatively small threats, as it screamed constantly into her mind about the imminent danger she faced by merely being in this place.
To give herself something to focus on besides sheer animal panic, Morgan had taken to collecting loose stone and dirt from the walls and floor, shaping them into small disks and cubes, carving runes into their surfaces, and then leaving them littered behind her. They served the secondary purpose of acting like breadcrumbs, letting her know where she’d walked before. By the end of the first ninety minutes, she’d come across her markers no fewer than five times.
It was growing increasingly clear to her that, beyond being shepherded, she was actively being herded toward the center of this place; by listening to how her instincts shrieked at her, she was able to determine that movement away from the center, where the heart of malice lay, was becoming an impossibility.
For certain definitions of impossible , she thought bleakly. Though the hostile aura permeating this place made it difficult, she felt reasonably confident that she might be able to simply force her way directly through the walls…if she wanted to drain herself dry and take hours in the effort. She had determined one thing: though her [Terrakinesis] was being blocked, the effect posed little obstacle to her [Plasma Glaive]. The only downside was, it imposed a fantastic drain on her Mana, and demanded all the focus she could spare to burn her way through the walls. Though she could recover by eating the meals she’d prepared, she simply didn’t have enough to make it feasible.
Night had already fallen when she’d stumbled into the dungeon, and she’d spent the last several hours—or more, she had no way to tell—wandering its halls. There were sources of ambient light inside the place that kept her from tracking time that way, even if she could see the sky: glowing flowers and vines; pale, pearlescent mists; and insects bigger than her thumb that reminded her of fireflies. If not for the constant, oppressive sensation of menacing danger that pushed down on her mind, it would have been beautiful.
The sounds of merriment coming from just around every corner were getting more pronounced the longer she wandered. Lulu seemed to be even more agitated by it than Morgan, the loofah emanating a much lower purbling sound into her ear that was closer to a growl than anything else Morgan had previously heard coming from her lacy companion.
“She cannot catch us!” came a high, childlike, and ethereal whisper of excitement from somewhere just out of sight.
“But she
can hear us,” giggled the response. “Too slow, too slow!”
The words came so softly Morgan could barely make out the meanings, the mocking tones pitched just right to carry along the foliage-covered corridors. Exhaustion pulled her toward sleep as well, the lullaby of distant music and laughter swaying with the walls as she walked.
Ignore them, she thought.
“She’ll sleep soon!” Another hushed exclamation.
“And then we eat her!”
Must not sleep.
“And her magic too!”
“I bet it’s delicious!”
She stumbled, toes catching in the scattered detritus of sticks, vines, and leaves littering the dungeon floor. Morgan had run all day, and then spent several additional hours wandering around in this lush maze of whispers; to say she was exhausted would be an understatement. The constant warnings of imminent danger from [Primal Instinct] lay upon her mind like a heavy blanket, and keeping herself hyper-alert was draining in a way she hadn’t experienced, even when running from the Pack.
Vision starting to blur and run at the edges, she regained her balance and lurched her way down the corridor for another dozen yards before slumping against the wall, legs turning to lead. “S…something,” she slurred, sliding down the wall and ending up on her knees, “is vuh…very wrong…” Lulu became frantic, the normally refreshing effects of the loofah’s ministrations now stinging her skin as it zipped across her body. Something was wrong with its mistress, but it could not find the source.
WAKE UP!
“No, sleepy…” she mumbled as she slumped to her side, sprawling on the hard ground.
Now I’m even talking to myself, she thought, slowly sinking down toward sleep.
No, you’re not. Wake up, or die!
But I just want to sleep!
WAKE UP!
The last thought slammed through her mind, accompanied by far more than words. Images of darkness, the bite of fangs, strands of webs, and an interconnected lace that spanned the world many times over rushed through her consciousness. Glimpses of things simply outside the reach of human understanding, cold and predatory, yet simple and without judgement. Alien, but not evil or malicious. The pain of the psychic intrusion was enough to startle her back to wakefulness, and she knew immediately something was very wrong. She hadn’t been talking to herself or to Lulu.
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