Chapter 20

A Ring of Power

June blitzed across the arena, firing several fire spells into the troll as it lumbered toward her. Striking true, the spells impacted its torso, blasting away bits of rotten flesh. But to her dismay, it seemed unphased as it advanced.

With surprising grace, it hefted its crude stone bludgeon overhead, whirling it down in an arc at June. Despite the ease of the creature evident from its lifting the giant weapon, the strike came in rather slow. She could slide pretty effortlessly underneath the stroke. What she hadn’t expected was its other hand to come swinging around, as the troll neatly spun its hulking form around like a whirlwind.

June threw her weight backward, desperately trying to avoid the gigantic fist rocketing towards her ribcage. Rather than take the blow, she propelled herself backward, stumbling back just out of range of the attack. She kept backpedaling, firing Hexes and Firebolts as she did. It continued its pursuit, unbothered by the barrage.

Though she was putting her all into her attacks, they just couldn’t break through. She didn’t have any meatier spells, and getting closer to this monstrosity was out of the question. One hit from its giant axe would probably cleave her in two.

June had the slightest advantage in speed, but she couldn’t keep throwing magic into it forever. She had to think of something. A flurry of images rushed into her head as she worked to find something in her memories she could use.

“Fuck it...” she whispered as she tried tracing Runes from the Fireball scroll. If she could craft it, she could cast it, she assumed.

Tracing the embers of flame through the air, she flooded the surrounding area with a mist of fire. Even without Mana Vision, any magic user could see the permeating force forming like a whirlwind around the skeleton as they ran around the arena. A slight smirk crossed Bullin’s features.

The mana coalesced around her hands as she drew more runes; some would focus her magic, others would help shape and solidify it. Rapidly, June pulled the mana, attempting to force it into a spinning ball. June recalled her emotional state while making the scroll, she lit the proverbial fuse and let the bomb form in her grip. With her off hand, she traced more runes as she ran, etching them into the surface of the bubbling orb of magic.

With a sense of elation, June completed another sequence of focusing runes. The orb suddenly turned from weightless to seeming like a lead ball in her hand. In a panic, she aimed it at the prodding troll and let it fly.

A status window told her she’d just successfully learned the Tier 2 spell, Fireball. She dismissed the window so that she could watch the fiery impact.

The rocketing ball of red and orange mana slammed right into the chest of the bulbous undead, boiling its flesh away in a glorious explosion. Chunks of rotted meat fell away from its blackened bones as its pace slowed. But it didn’t stop. Determined to smash June flat with its axe, the Troll kept coming.

June tried to bring up reserves of mana to fire off another spell, but she just couldn’t draw the Runes without losing focus. She needed more mana, but she also needed time to accrue it, plus time to convert it. The sting of her last failure in that endeavor burrowed into her, but she pushed it aside and kept moving. June had to fall back and do it fast.

The caster gained some distance by sprinting as fast as she could to the other side of the sandy pit, but the Troll was persistent. Twice, she’d had to dodge out of the way of a lazy axe swing on the way around the edge of the arena.

June settled into place against the ringing wall, hoping to take a moment to cultivate, but she had misjudged how fast the troll could trudge across the sand. In just a few seconds, it would be on her, and it had already heaved its weapon into the air.

She would be too late, and there was nothing she could do about it. Helpless, she watched the axe come slowly in, aimed right at the head atop her slouched frame.

In an instant, a thunderous crack echoed across the arena. A smoking hole in the troll's cranium revealed a glittering silver hammer poking through one of its eye sockets. And with a thud, the troll fell, and one last gurgle marked the end of its second life.

June stood frozen, staring at the rapidly decaying corpse as its ashen and rotting form disappeared into the sand.

A rather happy-looking dwarf jogged up and removed his hammer from the skull of the undead behemoth with a sickening squelch.

“I’ve never been one for signs,” sighed Bullin. “But if I were of a betting type, I’d put money on you goin’ far.”

Shaking herself out of her stupor, she responded. “Why?” June asked, genuinely curious what the smiling dwarf was talking about.

“That was some rock-solid runework you did there. Most people crack under that kind of pressure.”

“Well, thanks, I guess...” June remarked unevenly.

“Since you did so well, we’re going to move right on. I’m supposed to give you some other task, but I think you will do just fine without Varren being such a worrywart.” Bullin paused, beckoning June to join him in the middle of the arena, and with a callout and some mana expenditure, they teleported to the storage level. “First, we need to get you ready for actually getting out of here, and that’s where your ‘reward’ comes in. Your reward for putting in the effort, even though ya failed that last quest, is that we’re moving your training ahead.”

 

---

 

June and Bullin walked through the corridors while Bullin yammered on. He explained he needed to prep a few things away from the Tombs, but that June had some work to do. During his time away, June was expected to figure out how that Gem of Insight worked, and to put it to use. June tried to press for details but was quickly rebuffed by a dismissive attitude from the dwarf.

The pair walked lazily through the various storage rooms, with Bullin gathering supplies. He explained more about what he was going to do. Apparently, he was headed south, to a city called Sunshear.

June’s memory flared when she heard the name. It had been the location for a 5v5 PVP arena in Duneria’s MMO world. Would the same hold true here? Curious, she asked the obvious question, “Is that where my first real quest is headed to?”

Bullin chuckled before responding, “you’ll probably be heading further south, Lazar wants you to meet up with a contact there for something.” Something about Bullin’s tone came across as cagey. She couldn’t place it for sure, but it felt like he was hiding something. “I’ll tell you more when I return.”

June discarded her suspicion for now and simply followed along. As she listened to him talk, and watched him gather various things, June’s memory was jogged. Amid the bundle of potions and scrolls she still had in her backpack, there was that bag of uncut gems.

June stopped for a second, fishing out the gems and presenting them to the dwarf. “I found these on the surface, thought you might put them to good use.”

The normally beady eyes of the dwarf lit up like small dark stars upon seeing the gems. “Where...” he stuttered out before seizing the pile of gemstones from June.

“Off of some random kobold nearby,” June said, proudly smiling.

A sour look crossed Bullin’s face for a second before he covered it with a soft smile. His eyes dimmed, returning to their usual beady state. The dwarf spoke again, but not before disappearing the gems into some unseen pouch.

“You’re quite the resourceful little bugger, ain’t ya?” Bullin said, a small smirk playing at his lips.

“I like to think of myself as pretty useful,” June smugly stated.

“Indeed, that’s why I’m going to do this for you, as long as you make yourself useful.” Bullin said as he held out his hand, “Gimme your hand,” he said.

As June placed her right hand into the mitt of the dwarf, he placed his off hand on top, and it glowed. Seconds passed, and June felt a warmth trail over her own hand.

“There, now you have access to the storage levels on your own.” Bullin plainly stated as he led her through one of the side doors. Before passing through, June noted the reliefs of multiple animals and monsters carved into the door itself.

Bewildered, June asked Bullin to explain, “why, I thought you said that would require me to learn how to use those new mana types?” The failure of her assigned quest hadn’t been shown to her directly, June had just assumed her death made that the case.

As he threw open the lid to a chest and fetched some small carved gems from it, Bullin responded, “I meant free access to the Tomes an’ all.” He then moved on to fetch another few items from the stash. “Consider this a consolation prize.“

And with that, they settled the matter. Bullin told her she needed to focus more on the Gem of Insight, and getting to Level 20. June checked her character sheet, and she still had class points to assign. She guessed that would likely be the key to progressing, but she put that decision aside for now.

 

---

 

Bullin didn’t even bother to escort her back to the surface to depart, he simply said he needed to head out, then disappeared in a flash within the teleporter. June did notice that had used a special stone to trigger the teleport, one she hadn’t seen before.

June wandered through the stacks, looking for things that might catch her attention. Her finger bones trailed across wooden and metal crates of many different varieties, perusing the wares. Some of the metal ones had complex rune configurations on them. June decided not to mess with those.

She found a few interesting runic items. One was an interesting metal vessel. She felt drawn to the spherical pot-like item. Its silvery surface glittered with a mysterious network of runes, softly glowing with untold power. She tucked it into her pack, adding to her growing collection of magical items.

As she explored further rooms, hunting for interesting trinkets, it turns out that she wasn’t alone, as she had previously thought. Several of those freakish zombies shuffled through the halls of this level, each one moving like a rigid puppet. These Drones, as a scan with her Mana Vision revealed, were set to some unknown task. The undead shuffled on, ignoring her presence entirely.

At several points, she tried to follow one around, only to become dizzyingly lost in the path they took through the deceptively similar halls and mountains of boxes. Deciding this was a waste of time, she tried to retrace her path back towards the entrance. June had to resort to using her Mana Vision to trace the flow of mana from the teleporter at the entrance.

After a few minutes, she returned to her private quarters. Eerily, Bullin’s forge felt off without him in it. Uneasy, she dashed her way through it and sealed herself inside her accommodations with her haul of books and trinkets.

She had a ritual to do, but no idea how to do it. She’d seen a variety of explanations within magical tomes on the topic, all positing one explanation or another; some called it the Weave, others called it the Ring. The number of references made her head spin. It was all too mysterious and intentionally vague for her liking. Though she could take solace in the amount of information she had access to. And mysteries had some answer. She just had to find it.

“Yay, another trip to the library,” she thought. That creepy giant skeleton was likely there, making it much harder to focus as it huddled over her. Before leaving, she grabbed a few books on magic and runes from her burgeoning collection. The library was as good a place as any to learn, but boy, was it annoying.

She walked like a silent shadow through the halls, dreading having to find what she was after. June dragged herself through the doorway. On this first day, she decided, it was better just to catch up on reading she had been putting off.

The library was just as she remembered, and once again, completely empty. She took a corner seat and sat down, beginning to read. The Gem of Insight’s item description mentioned a ritual involving a Nexus, so she figured she’d hunt for anything involving that.

 

---

 

June tried to read but was constantly struggling to find the information she was looking for. Sure, she had a term to hunt for, but no idea of direction. The books she had all talked about Cores and other simple concepts, there were only a few mentions of other terms, like Nexus and Mirror being used with some amount of reverence and focus. Clearly, these texts she had were predicated on some prior knowledge she didn’t have.

It also didn’t help her focus that the library was deathly quiet. The only sound was the occasional Undead Drone wandering by outside. That incessant tapping soon returned as well, grating at June’s patience. Every time she tried to focus on something, there would just a few taps on the surrounding stonework.

After a couple of hours, the Tome Lord appeared. Complete with its gilded robes, it sauntered through the space towards June.

“Ah, the young summoner returns. I’ve missed your curious presence within these hallowed halls,” said the robe-swathed undead with a deep bow. “What brings you to our humble repository?”

June responded, with an edge to her voice, “Just trying to figure out something called a Nexus.”

With a nod, the Tome Lord showed an instant understanding.

“Something of an advanced piece of magic, but not outside of the understanding of a novice...” he said, trailing off.

“How far have you gotten in your research?” asked the undead, an eager tone to their voice.

“Not too far at all,” June admitted. “These books aren’t much help.”

“No, I expect those basic tomes wouldn’t be of much use for your first Milestone.”

June thought of asking about what he meant by the term, but turning the idea over in her head, a flash of RPG-inspired knowledge slammed to the forefront of her mind. It must be some kind of gated leveling system at play. Few games used requirement-based leveling these days, but it was probably the case here, based on the way this process was being laid out for her. The next questioning statement from Mukkrag snapped her from her thoughts.

“I do wonder how far you are in forming and shaping your initial Core,” asked Mukkrag, sounding helpful, if esoteric.

“I’ve seen it when I try to focus on it, but everything’s chaotic, destructive.”

Mukkrag nodded, lost in thought at her words.

“Tell me, what do you feel when casting?” The Tome Lord inquired, leaning over the table.

June wondered how much she should share, before deciding to be totally honest, consequences be damned. “Anger at being pushed into whatever the hell this is. Hope that I can make something of it. It’s like a warm hug when I cast, but it’s full of strength.”

“Good. You should remember and use those feelings. But be warned, not every kind of mana will respond the same way. Emotions are much more than just tools, young one. They are the very source of our power, fuel for one’s inner-most thoughts and being.”

“That much I know,” June said in a low tone. “But what I can’t get a handle on is how to actually make it work. Like, what are the mechanics?” She asked, hoping for insight into the current conundrum.

A haunting chuckle crawled out from the giant skeleton’s maw. “Young one, you have already dealt with this problem.”

In a moment that made her want to facepalm, June realized immediately what the larger undead was referring to. This damn thing was a skill gem, just like the one that allowed her to use the Fire Imp perk. Reminded of Kotor not being around to cause chaos, June was feeling a bit more downcast than she expected. Nothing she could do about that now. It would have to wait, just like so many other tasks she had before her.

“The status window didn’t mention that, guess that’s why I never put two and two together,” said June, chuckling nervously.

“There’s only one reason you would inquire about such matters,” wondered Mukkrag aloud. “I take it you’re looking to form a Nexus soon?” they said, appraising June’s form as his sockets flashed blue for an instant

June nodded.

“Well, I may be of some help, then,” whispered the larger skeleton.

Without a word, Mukkrag disappeared into the shelves. June could swear he was almost skipping with glee with how his form shifted around the heaving bookcases. After a few minutes of waiting, the huge undead returned, with a stack of various tomes balanced neatly on one hand. Without pause, it deposited them on a nearby table.

But not content to let her struggle, Mukkrag drummed large boney fingers together, almost appearing eager to continue a lesson. Mukkrag twirled their hands in a presenting motion, holding their open palm out towards June. As the giant’s eye sockets glowed blue, mana pooled in the outstretched palm. Moments later, a swirling ball of magic had formed within it.

The magic formed at first into a simple orb, before taking on a much more complex form. Plates and rings of differently colored magic shifted along its surface. Looking more like a self-repairing space station than a fiery star, June wondered just what the hell she was looking at.

“Is that...” she inquired, before being cut off.

“Yes, my own Nexus. This is what you will eventually form your basic Core into.” Mukkrag paused to let her bask in the sight before continuing. “I take it we have already given you the tools? Allow me to assist with the acquisition of knowledge.” He finished with a flourish, indicating the assembled texts on the table before her. “Please, avail yourself of these texts for as long as you require.”

June thanked the skeleton for their assistance and nearly dove into the pile.

June extracted multiple texts from the pile and dove into them as best she could. Problem was, these were some of the densest and most esoteric writings she had ever read. The way these authors wrote about magic would put Varren’s strange mannerisms to shame.

The books went into dizzying detail over the difference between a Nexus and a Core. It reminded June of evolution, as they considered the Nexus a more refined and focused form of magical center. Confusing diagrams on various pages laid out what she needed to do to begin the ritual, but something was missing. In one of the larger tomes, the diagrams kept depicting a focal point, something June didn’t understand.

No matter what version of the ritual she tried to envision, things just came across as too confusing. Instead of trying to plan it in her head, June tried the more practical approach, just throwing herself into trying the ritual.

 

---

 

Over the next several days, left to her own devices, June threw herself into reading while trying to cultivate more mana. To her dismay, her progress was dreadfully slow. A mess of ruined parchment and consumed potion bottles slowly spread out around her private chambers. The Gem of Insight sat on her bed, teasing her more and more.

Her first attempt had ended in complete silence, nothingness. No reaction at all from the runes, even when she pushed mana directly into them. It wasn’t until the second attempt at the ritual that she realized her mistake.

The scratch of ink on parchment filled the chamber as June copied down more rune configurations. Her steady hand traced out lines and spirals with practiced ease. After a few minutes effort, and only having to redo the runework once, she finished her prep. She placed the Gem of Insight into the center of the rune matrix, hoping that was the element she had been missing.

With a new mess of Runes arrayed out before her, June focused. Taking a moment to calm herself, June redoubled her efforts, attempting to will the gem to respect her wishes. She fed mana into the gem, imagining it cracking open and revealing its secrets.

June let herself fall into a vision she’d become very familiar with—the shadowy void of her core.

After the vision filled in, things immediately looked different. Something she hadn’t seen before, something previously invisible, surrounded her. The inky black void around her was alive with light. Tiny strings of blue light arced through the space around her like razor-thin lightning bolts. They trailed throughout the space, trending towards the sphere of her magical core.

As her Mana Vision followed the strings, she saw the truth. June had believed these bands were just effluences of mana, being sucked into her core to be consumed. Except they weren’t being sucked in, these tentacles of light were latched on, prying away at the surface of the core.

June recalled the visual of her core in the workshop. These tendrils were different. Instead of bright golden beams, these were thicker and more luminous. A twisted thread of many individual strands of mana banded together to form each line. Like a chain, they snaked off into the void around her core, then anchored to the surface of her magical center.

Peering deeper with her Mana Vision, she saw little flecks of mana falling away from her core before disappearing into the void. It was almost like these tendrils were doing more than just restraining her magic. They looked to be consuming it, the bits of mana reminding her of crumbs falling away from a meal. The bands of invasive energy chewed their way into the surface of the orb, pulling away life force from it. June could swear that she could hear echoing cries at the edge of her awareness like a crying child huddled in the corner.

Momentarily pausing, June thought through the problem. Without hesitation, she went with a brute-force approach. June wrapped her ethereal hands around one band, or at least tried to; some form of unseen force pulsed against her grip, flaring to life with a blue flash. Beneath her hand, runes flared against her touch, preventing her from reaching the bands around her core. Thinking back to how she’d overcome the troll a few days prior, June tried something new.

She transmuted raw mana to usable fire, letting it pool into her hands. June combined her Mana Vision and simple command of magic to shape the flow of energy into something like a cyclone, then aimed it at the blue bands.

The twisting magical force slithered its way onto the tendrils, burning away outer layers of Runes and consuming their energy. Each second that ticked by saw yet another Rune consumed and destroyed. She had to exert more magical power into the connection. Doggedly, her magic continued its work.

June’s power forced its way deeper into the threads beneath the Runes. Each strand of color within the bundle broke away, giving up its strength to the all-consuming inferno. As the fiery consumption of each strand continued, her core responded on its own. The orb pulsed, pushing against the boundary of the ghostly chains. Attacked from both sides, the bonds were in full retreat.

A voice floated to June’s senses, coming from all around her. Something new and alien to her. June had no idea what or where the voice was.

“Flee,” whispered a resounding, thundering echo. Its intent was crystal clear, and the malice with which the voice repeated its command reinforced that.

June whizzed her head around, trying to find some source of the voice, only to find more darkness. She shook off the interruption and continued pumping mana into the wound. As she did so, the voice came roaring back.

“STOP!” shouted the booming voice, full of fury.

June ignored the voice, assuming that it was nothing more than a trick. If the voice, whatever it was, could fight back; it would have already done something about her attack.

But something did try to stop her, her own insecurity and uncertainty. Those feelings tugged at her mind, like that nagging voice at the back of her mind urging her to give up. Resolute, she pulled again, yanking with all her might at the band in her palms. The sound of sizzling and more echoed screams filled the ethereal space. And with a final burst of energy, June yanked one more time, and the magic came free from its mooring. With a blinding flash of blue light, a pained wail echoed out into the void in a deep voice.

The fresh wound on the surface of her core was like a dimming ember, threatened to be snuffed forever by a biting chill. Not content to watch this ember go out, she pushed Fire Mana into it. Abandoning any sort of order to the process, June let the magical entity feast on her own reserves.

Free from the chain of this invasive magic, her core came alive. Warmth bubbled up from its surface. The twisting fire of her core pulsed, almost alive, at her touch. As she reached closer, comforting whispers of affirmation and thanks came to her ears. A feminine voice congratulated June with little more than a whispered sound, strangely similar to a moan.

The warmth surrounding her core spread like a conflagration. All her memories and emotions from the use of magic came roaring back. Anger. Power. Hope. Instead of threatening to overwhelm her, this time the smoldering hatred offered something more comforting. The skeleton let the warmth of her inner fire feed on her aspirations like gasoline-soaked wood. There was no way she was going to give in now, not after getting this far.

No pain or fear, only a sense of elation. Power had coursed through her too many times to lie restrained and unused. The scars of magic had formed like armor over her bones, and she bore their weight along with all her sorrow. In that moment, June understood, she felt the sting of all her past mistakes and regrets. But they didn’t stop her then, and they wouldn’t stop her now. For the first time in a long time, she felt human.

As June floated, watching the outcome of her work, she noticed that the lightning bolts within the void had slowly been blinking out. As they did, the shadows of the void cracked and swelled. Immediately, the illusion broke. Falling away like broken glass, the clouds and darkness shattered bit by bit. Like sharpened daggers, black as night, they fell, cutting a swathe through the darkness. Jagged rips in the fabric of this imagined reality opened up all around her.

At the same time, her core expanded in size. As its surface shifted, the entire assembly morphed. It sucked bits of the bands and her errant mana in, floating on the surface. Like an extra layer of skin, they formed over the Core and hardened. The flow of mana to her core intensified the effect, adding new layers.

But June barely noticed, her attention drawn to the collapsing void. The scars that the daggers left behind revealed something bright and wondrous. Each beam cut through the darkness, a mix of red and purple beams. As another rip appeared in the sheet of darkness, more color flooded in. Lights of all colors broke through the haze of the darkness, bathing each section of the rapidly brightening void in a kaleidoscope of color.

The word beautiful jumped to June’s mind, but couldn’t escape her mouth. The overwhelming tidal wave of emotion made June want to sob, scream, to do anything. She just floated, silent and alone, but not filled with despair. Instead, she was overcome with a melancholic sense of contentment, an exquisite pleasure. And as the seconds elapsed, the void broke away further, revealing a bright and colorful realm of color and wispy energy.

When the light and its warmth consumed the entire space, it bathed June, fully content to float in its relaxing embrace. And from the bright mix of color and light, there came only blackness as her consciousness was lost in the tide.