NOVEL NEXT Sabbatical – Chapter 211: The First Changes
Adelita jumped out from Jester's shadow, the magic of her Class making the movement far faster than it had any right to be. It was not, however, fast enough as her former master bent backwards in a way that should have broken his spine, causing the blade she had thrust at him to strike nothing. Her other blade found no purchase either, despite the fact that she had aimed it at his kidneys and he had not moved those out of the way. Instead, a thin shield made from dim, yellow light stopped her blade just shy of his skin.
"What a naughty kitten," Jester said, his form flickering for a moment before he vanished and reappeared a few paces away from her. "You shouldn't bite — or stab — the hand that feeds you. Well, fed. But it's still incredibly rude."
Adelita did not reply, only narrowing her eyes at the man as she merged with the shadows on the floor once more. She only needed one good hit to win this fight and sooner or later, she would get one. Though Jester was indeed skilled with his Class, he was still nothing more than a mortal man, and one at a much lower level than she was. Not like he would ever reach three hundred on his own.
A lance of yellow light materialised, flying towards the shadow Adelita had used to hide and causing her to move to another. Her ears flattened against her skull as whatever magic Jester had used utterly erased her previous hiding spot. Where the comfortable shadow had once been, there was now a patch of disgusting magic that reeked of the enchantment that had birthed the thing that had stolen her body.
"Disgusting," Adelita hissed, her voice coming from every shadow in the room.
"For some, perhaps," Jester said as he positioned his back towards the patch of light he had made, his eyes darting from shadow to shadow. "But it pays to have abilities that work well against that of your most trusted slave. You never know when you will be betrayed, after all."
Adelita launched herself at Jester once again, once more aiming for his heart and twisting the dagger in her hand as he repeated his tactic of bending backwards. Her other dagger vanished, freeing her hand to grab Jester's arm as it swung a blade towards her. He struggled to break loose from her grip, but Adelita's nails grew into claws that slid deeply into the flesh of her former master.
"This isn't betrayal," she hissed and yanked on the arm she had secured, pulling Jester off balance. "It's revenge."
"For what?" Jester spat, a shield of yellow light blocking the blade Adelita tried to plunge into the downed man's heart. Her prey flickered again before he vanished, the magic taking far longer to take hold this time. "Giving you a life?" he asked, shaking the arm she had injured, causing some of the blood to splatter onto the floor. "Your kind is as low as it gets. Anything I have done was already more than you deserve."
Adelita did not reply, instead appearing behind Jester yet again, locking the man's backward-stabbing blade with a dagger of her own. Instead of striking at him for a third time, she dug her claws into his side and pulled her prey into the shadows with her, bringing them both outside. She did not want to linger where she appeared, digging her fingers deeper into Jester's flesh and forcing him back into the shadows. The trip was cut short by another flash of yellow light that banished the darkness she had sought and left them in a now dimly-lit alley.
Jester clutched his side, the same light that had stopped her teleports closing the wound she had given him. If only my claws had poison like the daggers… Sadly, she had the wrong Class for that, and if Lita had evolved that way then surely her former master would have prepared a shield of sorts for that, likely similar to the one that currently stopped her blades. Time for something else, then.
Her daggers vanished, and her right hand grew claws to match the intimidating adornment already present on her other hand. She had been toying with her prey, something she should not do. Not now, at least.
With another invocation of her skill, Adelita vanished, appearing in front of Jester and throwing a punch at his stomach. As soon as he moved to defend himself, she teleported again, this time to his side. The onslaught continued until she finally found purchase on Jester's throat and she squeezed as hard as she could, digging her claws as deeply into her prey as possible.
As Jester sagged to the ground, clutching his throat in a feeble attempt to stop the life from flowing out of him, Adelita's notion of him being an easy target when lacking the help of those he hired to protect him proved true.
She summoned her daggers again, plunging them through Jester's hands to fix them in their position around his throat. Then she simply stared at him for a moment, licking her teeth, her hands twitching as she savoured the smell of her prey's blood.
Adelita took a deep breath, the claws on her hands turning back into the perfectly manicured nails the thief of her body had enjoyed. "You gave me nothing," she said, and as Jester struggled to free himself of the daggers and the poison they spread, she simply pushed down on their hilts with her foot, pinning the lot to the ground. "You stole everything from me!"
No further comments were offered to the man, and she simply pressed him deeper into a shadow that formed under him. The world needed to see what happens to those like Jester Vinmaier, and she would make certain that everyone had a good chance to look.
///
Elder Wu could feel the hairs on his neck stand; a static building in the air. A shimmer of blue flickered to life around him as he did his best to shield himself from the attack that was about to come.
Instead of some idiot trying to kill him, however, the old Vampire felt a shudder run through reality itself. It pulled at his body, mind, and his very essence, flowing around to drown him in a wave of mana that could not have possibly come from the world itself. There was not enough magic left on Earth to produce this effect, which only left one option that Elder Wu could think of.
His suspicions were confirmed when, as though freshly risen from a distant memory, the tome the Voice of the World had used to communicate with him appeared within his mind. The pages that had so long been denied him came into focus, actively filling with new words, but before he could really read any of it the mental paper began to float upwards, gaining a silver border that looked suspiciously similar to the hair colour of one self-proclaimed creator of the universe.
|
Class adjustment imminent. |
The words meant little to him, as he had never had a 'Class'. A Profession, Job or, even Calling, yes — the Voice itself had even called them that — but not a Class. As if whatever force was actually behind the message had heard him, the message shifted slightly, replacing Class with Profession before it turned back into the tome he knew.
Before another thought could form, time itself seemed to stop. Elder Wu was frozen. He could feel every fibre of his body; could see every little detail of his office. A drawn-out sound reached his ears, a word being spoken outside — no, downstairs in the lobby, but it was as clear as if the speaker were in front of him. The only reason he could not understand what was being said was the fact that time was moving too slowly for the word to be anything other than drawn-out noise.
As soon as it had started, the moment passed, leaving his sight and hearing just as sensitive as they had been in that strangely prolonged moment. He took a slow breath, the air in his lungs unneeded but still welcome. It had been far too long since he had felt this way, and yet it was so different now. Everything was clearer, the connection to his abilities somehow more in focus.
Elder Wu carefully stood up from his chair, his eyes darting around the room before he moved. The world blurred, but only for his eyes, as he could still perceive where he was and where he was going. The door opened as easily as ever, the heavy wood not even groaning as he moved it. When he stopped just outside his office, barely a second had passed on the clock he could still perceive within.
"I guess the council meeting will have to take place a bit earlier than planned," he mumbled to himself, trying his best to ignore the countless conversations that assaulted his ears. "It'll take some time for me to get used to this again."
All of this did mean that their guest was likely what she had claimed, or at least knew the one in charge well enough to be allowed to speak on their behalf. He moved once more, returning to his chair with an inexplicable smile on his face. The expression quickly vanished however, as he reminded himself what his return to form would mean for everyone else. Merlin will be insufferable…
The old wizard had always been a force to be reckoned with, but if their re-awakening was anywhere close to his own, trouble would be afoot soon enough. And then there is Aperio. The 'All-Mother' was also someone he had to keep in mind. There still existed the possibility that she was an emissary of sorts, but his encounter with her put that idea into even more doubt. The way reality itself had twisted to her whims had simply been too effortless and too direct to not support her claims.
With a sigh, Elder Wu pulled a piece of paper from one of his drawers, then blinked as the familiar motion ripped the sheet in the process. He shook his head, getting another, this time much more carefully, then reached for a quill and a well of ink. The old Vampire had a moment of hesitation, but shook it off as he began to pen the invitation for what would undoubtedly be the most important meeting of the council's history.
///
Eleanor sat frozen, like everyone else in the room. Everyone but Adam, that is. The mage that had accompanied the All-Mother seemed unbothered by the mana that had flooded the room, as though he had somehow skipped over the experience they all had had.
"I already have a Class," he said, almost as if he could hear her thoughts. "And the place we came from has a much higher mana density than this." He hesitated for a moment before he shook his head. "Knowing Aperio, however, this is only the beginning. This amount is probably to see how you guys behave when you are given a modicum of power. I wouldn't disappoint her if I were you."
"Is she aware of just how much power she hands out?" Damien asked, his usually milky-white eyes glowing ever-so-slightly.
"No," Adam replied with another shake of his head. "But that is because what you think of as power means nothing to her. You could, perhaps, be capable of beating me now, but Caethya is still, I believe, far beyond anyone else on Earth."
"Even other Faes, Elves, or whatever they actually are?" Eleanor asked, her voice more than a little hoarse. "Neither of them strike me as the leader kind."
Adam laughed at her words. "No, I am certain other Elves aren't stronger than either of them. Plus, Aperio isn't an Elf, she merely likes to look like one."
"Of course," Eleanor mumbled to himself.
It made sense enough to her, of course, as no mortal being could be as strong as Aperio, but perhaps Elves had a heritage they had never told anyone about. After all, they were already myths at best, and Eleanor herself had not really believed at first that they existed. All that was irrelevant at the moment, as what really mattered was the fact that magic was coming back.
The mana they had all felt was not simply a wave passing over them, but an ocean settling in to stay. Not only did a massive amount already ripple back towards them, but Eleanor could feel the whole of it was still increasing. She needed to get back to her study! There were theories to be tested that simply could not be tested before, and fresh access to old rituals that needed to be examined.
"What about the normals?" Ethan asked as Eleanor got up from her seat. "Will everyone awaken to magic?"
"That is the plan," the voice of Aperio replied, causing everyone to look around in search for the All-Mother. A moment later, the creator and Caethya simply appeared in the middle of the room as if they had always been there. "But not now. First I have to see how the ones that already possess magic handle the change. I am certain there will be chaos once the System becomes known to everyone, and I do hope that your people will reach out and offer some assistance to those who did not already know of magic."
"You realise that there will be countless deaths, right?" Ethan glared at the All-Mother; a challenge she either didn't understand or didn’t care about. "No matter how much help there is, people without power will be granted something that cannot be stopped."
"Death is not the end of life," Aperio replied. "Your Soul moves on to the next, building on what you have learned in your previous iteration. There is always more to learn; room to grow stronger."
"Easy thing to say for someone who doesn't die," the Vampire spat, crossing his arms and leaning back.
The room grew quiet and cold for a moment. Caethya said something to the All-Mother that Eleanor did not understand before she gently touched her arm.
"I know more about death than you," Aperio eventually said, her words burrowing themselves deeper into Eleanor's mind than usual with a feeling of anger and sorrow that the mortal mage could not quite describe. "And I am keenly aware that dying often makes you a better person in the next life."
She left no time for rebuttal as she turned to Adam and asked a swift question in her incomprehensible language, then disappeared. Caethya, Adam, and the God of Earth she took with her, leaving behind only a few feathers in seeming exchange. They drifted lazily through the air in the room towards the ground, dissolving once they landed.
"Is this where the apocalypse starts?" Micheal asked. "In my living room?"
