Auratic

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Alicia had spent the entire night drafting the floor plan of the new buildings. For sake of uniqueness and character she included a few different variations of the same type of dwellings. There were few more problems that she wished to address, most of which related to plumbing regarding water supply, heating and sanitation. Issues regarding drainage engineering were left at the bare necessity levels at the moment. Until she had the time to devote into fully linking up the buildings in a proper system they had to make do without easy access to in house water. As such the blueprint plans had included foreign concept as a private washroom and latrine for future use. For now hygiene and sanitation had to be provided by a public bath house, another service building on her list. The construction projects had been explained in detail to Rosalia and supervision had been entrusted to Gustave. Many of the humans balked at the excessively large buildings - by their standards - and the sheer size of the undertaking. Although Rosalia did her best to reason with them it led to a certain degree of recalcitrance due to her youth and gender, Gamma’s short stature similar to that of a particularly young girl didn’t help in this case either. With the presence of the Elvish rangers and the Direwolves’ ears perking up to the commotion, no one sound of mind truly dared to openly rebel.

As for those lacking awareness… The ruly man quickly learned the deceptive strength behind Gamma’s stature when he broke his fingers against the quite literally stone hard exterior of the Enedra species while attempting to backhand her for ‘talking big for a little girl.’ A.Enedra more commonly known as the dungeon master would create labyrinthine tunnels connecting their den to the outside world. It wasn’t rare for these tunnels to collapse on top of them every now and then, in such cases they would consume the rock strata around them to free themselves which would be used to harden their exoskeleton. As such their exterior was strong enough to bear the weight of mountains of soil and earth on top of them, and tough enough to shrug off most weapons. Thus, despite her mimicking of mostly human form that lacked her hard exoskeleton, her very skin was equally durable rivaling that of finest steel.

It took everyone by surprise. Both his injury and the man ‘daring’ to raise hand against an Ordinal - an Araneae leader in direct service to Alicia who was held in extremely high regard by nearly everyone around. Besides his cursing and yelling a terrible silence befell, in waiting for the retribution from Gamma. But it did not come.

• “Fie, I don't have time to indulge you all and your stupidities. These are for thy own abode; if it isn't to thy liking, I may show thee another form dwelling that could suit thee better perhaps?”

She tapped the ground beneath twice with her forefoot. The earth trembled and shook, before a circular hole opened up in front of all the terrified mass. It was an opening that led to the underground tunnel network. She was offering them a place in the dark tunnels. Though from Gustave’s perspective - who is from a species of Araneae that preferred to exclusively live in the dark underground - it was a perfectly fine and serviceable home. For the people though, it seemed like she was threatening to bury them all alive. In an instant their dispositions changed from hesitance to frightening motivation.

• “Hmph, so be it.”

The opening was quickly closed up as the soil under it swole and raised upwards.

• “As for thee…”

Her attention shifted to the man who struck her, clutching his injured hand.

• “Wuh-whaddya want. Leave me alone!”
• “Thou have injured yourself… go to one known as Priest. Now.”

Intimidated by the ‘Little girl’ in front of him he quickly scurried away, not even knowing where he was supposed to go. He didn’t get far before the rangers ‘arrested’ him with an arrow laced with paralytic venom and dragged him away.

• “I thank you, lady Gustave. He was due for a punishment, but you spared him.”
• “Unnecessary.  If 't be true I were to go out of mine own way to deal with every dram insect that annoyd me, I wouldn't have aught done. Conveniently, Priest did want to try to set the human bones correctly.”

It was then Rosalia understood Gustave’s actions. By all means, any form of action against a liege’s delegate was equivalent to rebellion and punishable by death, rather people were hanged for less. This meant that it wasn’t out of mercy, Gamma simply didn’t see him as attacking her, but rather saw the very action as an irritation that one would feel from a gnat buzzing around them. Simply put, these people were so far beneath her that she didn’t even consider them to ever be a threat to her or her Mistress. While condescending, Rosalia knew it to be true so she could only make a wry smile. Though some luck was involved. Gamma was one of the rarer Araneae with a thicker skin towards disparagement and wasn’t as fervent as other Ordinals who might have taken up the occasion as an excuse to try… more extreme “corrective actions.”

Thenceforth the building projects went on as planned. Though Araneae acquired and transported the bulk of the materials, the construction procedure was mostly carried out by the humans under Gamma’s specifications and oversight. She often took over parts where people were taking too long or were not doing it to her satisfaction. Any dissension towards her command quickly disappeared as she scaled the structures with ease and lifted massive amounts of materials that was burdensome for groups of burly men effortlessly. The awe they held for her turned to reverence and shame as she worked with elegant craftsmanship tirelessly day and night without a moment of rest. Her prodigious industriousness inspired diligence and compliance in everyone. The people found coolheadedness towards her work encouraging. Though it was the result of her trying her best to finish the task at hand as quickly as possible so she could return underground. As normally she was quite dispassionate towards anything that was above ground. But her dislike towards the affairs of the overground was nothing compared to the pleasure of being of service to her mistress.

Alicia was procrastinating about surveying the mountain cave - even though she could more or less get there instantaneously through trespass - a brilliant idea came to her mind and she knew exactly the thing to try out.

⟨ Void Gazer ⟩

It felt some massive impact hitting her. Next moment, the world stood still as she observed… herself from behind. She felt dim and fuzzy, her thoughts drifting away, coming and going in a constant flow; never lingering long enough to focus and interpret them. She tried to move but only floated and glided, her body still as a statue left behind. She didn’t remember much of what she was supposed to do. Only a vague notion to explore before returning… ‘Return… return…? return, where… here?’ As her cognizance hovered close to the door leading out of her room she tried to reach out to open it. Except she passed right through it, it was strange, she knew that should have felt strange, was it strange? Physical matter did not constrict her movement. She passed through the walls roaming the familiar forest. She flew high to the skies, seeing as the eagles did. People… everyone seemed frozen mid action. Time itself had halted its eternal advance. As she drifted further on, her vision was becoming hazier and she felt a force tugging at her. Something was pulling her back… what was it… is that what she was supposed to return to? Spurred by curiosity she returned to the place she first found herself a room with her body. She touched her body, and it seemed to pull at her, yearning for her to come back to it, letting this drawing force guide her, the soul reunited with the mind and body.

Taking in a sharp breath, it felt as if her heart started beating again. Her hands were trembling ever so slightly. So closed her eyes, took in a deep breath as she clenched her hands into a fist as she recomposed herself. As her mind cleared up she took to the windows of her room. Leaves on the trees gently swaying in the wind, people moving about full of life. Time was moving as it should once again.

‘That… was a strange dream, almost a nightmare, almost. I guess this is what astral projection feels like, not something to look forward to. Let’s not use it often…

So what did I learn… time does not progress. And I cannot think… not normally. So I can’t use it infinitely to figure out a solution to a problem. I seem to become incorporeal during its use, I cannot interact with the physical… things, which is everything, basically. Moreover… I cannot go far from… my body, it's a leash that holds me back… or an anchor that allows me to return to life as I know it… The range seems… generous, I can use it to quickly case an area. I think that’s all… ah I was supposed to be able to mark things, I’ll have to wait for another time. Well not being bound to the physical realm does make it easy to survey an area, or find dangers that might be hiding… hm… The perfect tool to infiltrate somewhere, map out an area in advance, look for something or spy on people… to an extent, so it has its uses, it’s just… not very comfortable. And that seems to be a trend among Void magic… feels like I’m playing with fire… only a matter of time before I get burned. Gotta be more mindful of this thing…’

Whilst mulling over such affairs Alicia was skimming over the thinning sheet of reports. She had already taken action on everything that was deemed important by Alpha. Those that were left over were not as urgently pressing to be stacked at the top of the report pile. Leisurely flipping over the records, something caught her fancy. It was a file regarding the recruitment of the mages taken from the Empire. Majority of it were  names and injuries they suffered, but beyond that there was a list of professions and skills they had in service to the Empire.

‘Divination, Identification, Artificing, Magical scribe, Enchanting, Educating, Exorcism… These words don’t mean anything to me without context. I’ll have to ask for a more thorough report on this later.’

One of the names was circled with a written note by Alfred herself.

‘Strega… Expressed a personal desire to meet… me? To establish a concord. Claims to be an excellent enchantress, potentially useful towards creation of protective equipment as demanded from me… Huh, sure why not…’

>System enchantment assistance available. Action requires skill: Alteration.

‘Well that’s convenient, at least I won’t be completely lost.’

>Indexing complete. Catalog available.

‘Alright show it to me then.’

A list of all the enchantments she could apply were known to her.

‘Oh this thing just keeps going… Damn. Okay I definitely need to learn Enchanting from this girl, this is just free value waiting to be exploited.’

Few days had passed since Viveria had repelled their attackers. The Empire had made no diplomatic moves. Or rather their action was to brush off the incident as just another one of the petty border skirmishes. Militarily, the Empire could easily take on the Pyrinia and its neighbors all together handily but the fact they were being this timorous was telling of an internal political issue. They could afford to be belligerent for now. But besides the Empire there was something far more concerning that unfolded… Treason. There was undeniable evidence about some border nobles colluding with the enemy. With the Empire cutting all their ties, and being found out about the Kingdom, the nobles of these houses were dead men walking. Heads would roll. Literally.

• “My liege, Lord Valtima has arrived answering your summons.”
• “Let them in, and leave us be.”

As soon as Reynould entered, everyone poured out of the audience chamber. The heavy door slammed behind them, leaving the two men in deafening silence.

• “My king-”
• “No need. I told you before, have I not? When it is just the two of us you can call me by my name.”
• “Has your chamberlain stopped nagging you about it?”
• “Him? I let him prattle on about history and the importance of court manners on his own.”
• “Diederik, you haven’t changed a bit.”
• “Heh, come now, I made us tea in my chambers.”

They briskly headed to a room to the side through a corridor.

• “You had others make tea for us in your chambers. Besides I remembered you being the pandemain and muscadine type.”
• “Ah, the new cook knows his leaves, and fancies himself something of a herbalist. The drink he brews doesn’t stink of moss and rainwater.”
• “Fragrance, Diederik, and it’s no moss.”

Arriving at the spacious, elegant yet modestly decorated room, the crockery containing the steaming hot tisane was already prepared on the table. Sitting down first Diederik continued talking.

• “Aahhh, how long has it been since we sat down like this…”
• “Couple years… at least.”
• “Should be a joyous occasion, shame it's always when something goes south.”
• “How has the court been lately?”
• “Tiring.”
• “Same as always then.”
• “I thought about inviting a jester or a bard to liven things up for a banquet once. Then I remembered these imbeciles were enough of an entertainment for me.”
• “You’re the only one who finds it humorous. To me it's tragic.”
• “We were always in disagreement about drama and culture…”

With reminiscence out of the way the real talk could begin.

• “You mentioned something important only for my hearing in your letter, is it about the invasion?”
• “Not entirely. It’s about the black forest.”
• “What about those blasted woods?”
• “Has there been any, who succeeded in finding a settlement in that area?”
• “You should know, of every human that tried to conquer those lands, none survived.”
• “Not even in the past? The archives might have something.”

Diederik ran his fingers through his maroon hair, racking his brain for the recollection

• “Nay, not even in the past. I remember going over the royal archives for something about the Sinner’s exile, not even a hint of success, well none that doesn’t dip into the territories of myths and legends.”
• “Then it appears that we are seeing the unfurling of a legend, old friend. The place has been claimed.”
• “Claimed? Everyone can claim a land, it’s another thing to hold it.”
• “And it is being held by one known as the White lady, Alicia she calls herself.”
• “Seeing as how you’re not sniggering, it’s real then. I heard she’s the one who helped you push back the Empire.”
• “Yes, and the thing is, she’s no human.”

It was hardly a surprise, the feats he learned of her, was extremely unlikely to have been achieved by a single person.

• “That doesn’t narrow it down well, humanoid then? An Elf perhaps?”
• “Anthropomorphic… called herself an araneae hybrid.”
• “By the gods, I thought they went extinct?”
• “You know about them?”
• “Read about some old pagan legend about gigantic spider monsters that preyed on humans and what not, luring and punishing them for the typical moral shite the temples spout. Supposedly the last of them fled to the underground fearing the sun and was never seen again since the start of the third age. The creatures were called multiple things, araka something something and then there was araneae.”
• “Nothing there tells me that they went extinct…”
• “Ay well, it was hardly a firsthand account, it was on a religious text. Sounded like another made up monster that religion defeated to aggrandize themselves.”
• “The sun must be a stand-in for God, and the start of the third age is conveniently right after our history starts.”
• “See?”
• “Judging from the letters my girl sent, she might have been there for a while, and says there’s a town in that forest.”
• “Hooh, well… I suppose it hasn’t changed that no human has settled the forest.”
• “Diederik, listen to me, this is serious, we need to keep an amicable relation with her.”
• “You sound spooked. Tell me… how bad is it…?”
• “Really really bad.”
• “I see…”
• “It won’t be long before Empire and other actors find out about her. If someone else were to sway her somehow, it wouldn’t end well for us. We can’t let her be influenced by foreign threats.”
• “So what do we do? If she’s a monster I doubt coin or land is gonna do something. Can we win her over?”
• “I’m not sure, but what matters is that she doesn’t turn sour towards us. I have an idea… might work, might not, but it's worth a try.”

Auratic

https://i.imgur.com/iPGsjjN.mp4