A Cracked Star

[Arya]

 

Over the last few weeks of the trip I’ve found myself staying inside the library Dawn created for me in our inner soul, home? House? It’s still confusing to me how we can enter this place. Like is it an entirely different world, or are we literally inside our own soul.

 

I’ve been trying to understand the process by which magic is used. From my understanding through practice, and the notes that Taleah has given me access to, people who have the potential to use magic, all have a magic core near their hearts. The difference between normal mages and sorcerers is that sorcerers have the core around their heart.

 

Mages absorb mana slowly from the atmosphere around them to regain enough energy for spells, however this has been seen to be painfully slow and never used. The only plus to this is that it satiates their hunger slightly. 

 

Mana is released into the world from the Weave, which is absorbed into everything in the world. More powerful mages are able to pull mana in larger quantities to aid their core for spells. From what Taleah’s notes say, this process puts a strong strain on the mages mana core, sometimes even fracturing their core.

 

A way for mages to gather their mana is to either rest for a period of time, which on average is said to be around eight hours for the best effect. Something I agree with from experience over the last few months. One thing I’ve noticed while looking within ourselves was that our mana core has cracks within it. 

 

I don’t know what all will happen with our core, but so far it hasn’t been anything bad. I haven’t had any problems with using mana for spells. It’s the actual idea and formation of spells I’m struggling to grasp. I understand how to manipulate the elements I have access to, but creating any complex spells with the respective elements is leaving me confused.

 

I wish to learn how to teleport from places so that way once we leave this place to head off back towards Stella’s home, we can always come back to visit the wolf pack. But at this rate, I don’t think we’ll be able to do that any time soon for a while.

 

I’d like to think that we can at least do a small jump through space, for quick positioning but even then I struggle to figure out the process. I asked Taleah about it but she said that space magic is one of the few types that mages can get no help with. It all comes down to the individual's understanding of the subject. 

 

“Arya, how long are you going to be cooped up in here?” I hear Stella call out from the doorway. 

 

“Is there anything interesting going on?” I replied.

 

“Actually yeah, Dawn arrived at the capital a bit ago and is starting to explore the place.” She said, grabbing my attention.

 

“Does she have any plans today?” Wondering if she actually put any thought into what she was doing.

 

“I think the only thing she has agreed to do is go to the guild to get her license. Other than that I think it’s just exploring.” Stella said, making her way over to me with Rosa in her arms asleep. 

 

“How long has she been here?” I said pointing at her.

 

“Since this morning, she told me she was tired from running around a lot while traveling.” Stella said lightly laughing.

 

“Mhm, okay, let me put my notes up and I’ll meet you and Dawn outside of here.” I started to gather my things before looking back at Stella again. “And make sure to put her somewhere warm. I still don’t understand how Dawn got this place to have actual temperature.”

 

“I’m not gonna question it.” She said before leaving me alone.

 

~~~~~

 

“So where are we?” I asked Dawn as she made her way around this weirdly structured city.

 

“God, fuck, do you and Stella both get off from scaring me all the time?” Dawn whispered, getting a few weird looks from the guard beside her.

 

“Honestly, I think Stella might but I was just asking a genuine question, seeing how I have, according to Stella’s words, camped myself in the library.” I replied.

 

“I mean she’s not wrong, you’ve come out maybe three or four times over the last two weeks to talk about magic with Taleah.” Dawn said.

 

“Is there a problem?” The guard asked her.

 

“No.” Dawn said, giving a cold stare at the guard. “Where is the guild again?” 

 

“It’s on the other end of town, the buildings that look like giant stairs leading up to the top of the wall. It will be on the third floor, the first floor is where the guild lodgings and taverns are. The second floor is where markets aimed more towards gear for adventurers will be. The fourth floor is more like the roof of the entire place, a garden, or park really, for everyone who lives here. It connects to the walkways that go from tree to tree through the city.” The guard said as he led the way through the streets.

 

The streets were quite packed honestly, from the families moving from one stall to another. I’m surprised at how many different races there are walking around. From elves to dwarves, I can even see dragonborn and a few humans moving about, not many though. One thing I noticed pretty early on is that we’re the only beastman here.

 

As Dawn walked with the guard, we received a lot of stares from the people around, and quiet talking could vaguely be heard. Some of the children who weren’t quiet enough even pointed us out to their parents, clearly from the race they’ve never seen before.

 

“Geez, they must not see a lot of beastman.” Stella said. 

 

“It could be worse.” Dawn replied.

 

“What do you mean by that?” Stella asked. I didn’t pay too much attention to their conversation as I was more focused on looking around and seeing the buildings. How the tree roots seemed to connect with the stone buildings on the ground, making for an interesting sight.

 

“In my world, while everyone was Human, they could be discriminated against based on just their skin tone, whether they were from the city or not. Now it wasn’t everyone obviously, but it happened enough that it was hard to miss when it did occur. Hell, it was frowned upon when I lived there.” Dawn said.

 

“Discriminated?” Stella asked. 

 

“Oh yeah, anything from physical abuse to denying a right to them that realistically, the person had no right to deny them of. I’ve even heard of cases where it happened more so verbally and could even drive the person to killing themselves.” Dawn replied. 

 

“And they did that just because of their different skin tones?” Stella asked Dawn as she floated around to face her. 

 

“Yeah.” Dawn said.

 

“I guess you aren’t wrong then that the treatment we’re getting now is nothing.” Stella replied.

 

The guard, while still confused from whatever Dawn was doing, led us to the building he was talking about. 

 

“We’re here, just head to the third floor to get to the guild. I’ll leave now to notify the general and priestess that you made it here.” The guard says.

 

“Let Taleah know that I’ll look for her later.” Dawn replied.

 

Standing a bit from the building, Dawn looks towards Stella and I. “So which of us should go through with the registration?” 

 

“I’ll do it, I know how to write common.” Stella said.

 

“Actually, I’ve been wondering about that, how am I able to speak common?” Dawn asked.

 

Hearing that I pitch in, “I think it might have to do with our merge, I highly doubt that our merge didn’t affect you two outside of sharing a body now. How I have to deal with everything you two have gone through, there are probably some things that bled between the two of you.”

 

“Noted, though I should teach you how to write common later shouldn't I?” Stella said, looking at Dawn.

 

“I’d appreciate that.” Dawn said before giving control over the body.

 

“The guard wasn’t lying about it looking like giant stairs huh.” I mentioned before looking out of the tree that can be seen growing through the center of the building

 

“It seems that way. Taleah said that we should give the letter she wrote to the receptionist when registering. So should we go do that before exploring the building?” Stella asked.

 

“Sounds good, I can go grab the letter if you tell me where y'all put it.” Dawn said.

 

“It should just be on the island in the kitchen.” I replied.

 

“Okay, I’ll grab that while you head to the guild.” Dawn said, quickly leaving Stella and I.

 

“Let's go then.” Stella said, walking into the building.

 

~~~~~

 

It didn’t take long to find the stairs for in between floors, after asking some people around, we found that there are normally about four sets of stairs on each floor, one set on both sides of the building and the other two are closer to the middle of the building, as if used to create four sections on each floor. 

 

Once we got to the third floor, we found ourselves being stared at by a lot of the adventuring parties that were seated at tables nearby. I couldn’t tell if they were gaging our strength or just wondering who we were. As we neared the counters, we joined where adventurers were lining up. 

 

Stella  noticed a receptionist staring at us, ignoring the adventurer that was trying to hand over a bag and paper to the receptionist. Pointing her out, we saw the receptionist had light brown hair that reached past her shoulders with leaves growing out of parts of her hair. The color of her hair reminded me of bark that could be seen on trees. 

 

Her eyes a light green as she continued to stare at us with a smile. Eventually she motioned for the adventurer to head to another receptionist before she got up from her own seat. Talking to a few other receptionists before walking around the counter and heading in our direction. 

 

The receptionist was wearing a black suit with a white undershirt. On her chest I could see a metal pin attached to the suit, with what looked like a small sapling growing. Reminding me that I had seen that image outside of the building before we came in. She wore a black skirt that reached to her knees. 

 

I didn’t notice until she was just a few people away from us that the people around grew quiet. She stopped in front as she looked us up and down.

 

“Friend of Dryads, I welcome you to the Wak’iis adventuring guild’s branch. If you will follow me, I will help you with whatever issue you have.” She said, her voice calm and steady as she turned around. 

 

“Do we know any other dryad?” I asked Stella, only getting a slight shake of the head. Why would she call us a friend of dryads?

 

“I think it’s because of my skill.” Stella said, quietly following the receptionist as she led us to a room away from the rest of the adventurers. 

 

The room has a table and a few chairs beside a window that is covered by blinds. There is another door different from the one we entered through. Taking a seat, Stella stays quiet as we wait for the Dryad to take a seat across the table from us.

 

“Before I start, my name is Palra, I am the dryad of the tree that grows within the guild. You know, I had this weird feeling this morning when waking up, my tree was feeling happier than usual the last few days, but I couldn’t understand why. It really threw me off for most of today.” The dryad said she looked into Stella’s eyes.

 

“Seeing you now though, I could understand why, it’s not often that I meet one who has gained another one of my sisters' trust.” She continued.

 

“Trust?” Stella confusingly said, “Until today I’ve never met another dryad. The only thing I ever knew of Dryads was the base knowledge that most other people knew.”

 

“Tell me, did you grow up near a forest?” Palra asked.

 

“. . . I did.” Stella confirmed. 

 

“Then that’s all I need to say, the forest you lived near was home to one of my sisters. I’ve known some of my sisters to be more reserved with other races but still liked to watch over them. Like they are their own children. I like to treat others more as friends but I can see the appeal to that approach.” She replied. 

 

“That’s nice.” I say, getting a nod from Dawn.

 

“Then do you think she’s the reason I have this skill of mine?” Stella asked. 

 

“Skill?” Palra asked.

 

“Yes, it’s called Dryad’s Knowledge.” I said.

 

“Oh, I can see why you asked that.” She tilts her head as she thinks for a moment. “From my understanding that skill is not one a Dryad can give others, we can give a nudge but that requires one to become a friend of a Dryad and obtain her spiritual mark. My best guess is that someone in your family, or you yourself, spends time learning about plants, and because of my sister’s mark, the system gave you the skill. Am I wrong?” 

 

“No, my mother is an alchemist back home, and I learned as much as I could growing up from her.” Stella said. 

 

“Man, I wish I had some popcorn.” I hear Dawn say, getting me to quietly laugh.

 

“This . . . this isn’t the time for that Dawn.” I say, holding my stomach as I try not to laugh as Stella quietly glares at Dawn.

 

“What did you mean about a dryad’s spiritual mark?” Stella asked.

 

“It’s like a scent that lets plants and creatures attuned to nature know that you’re a friend to dryads, this only works for forests that actually have a dryad. Oh spirits shouldn’t attack either, they won’t seek you out though if they’re near.” Palra says.

 

“Can a dryad track me with this?” Stella asks.

 

“No.” Palra replied. “You would have to be within a certain range for us to even sense you. Even then, we can’t locate you until you’re within sight.”

 

Stella visibly relaxed before shortly after looking at us, giving us the okay to go on with our request, I handed her the letter after that. Palra has a look of recognition as she sees the letter. 

 

“I see that little one sent you, did she?” Palra said as she took the letter. She took a few minutes to read it while Dawn leaned closer to me. 

 

“Did she just call Taleah ‘little one’?” She asked.

 

“Yes she did.” I replied.

 

“We’re gonna use this against her right?” Dawn asked.

 

“Oh absolutely.” I said, a grin spreading across my face.

 

She high fived me as Stella watched, she looks like she’s had enough of our shit. Glad to see Dawn is opening up a bit though. Guess I should probably spend more time with her and Stella huh.