NOVEL NEXT (Vol 5) Chapter 41: A Lot to Talk About
With the item out of the way, Sammy also utilized [Draw Mana] while she had the opportunity for a quick double MP fill — quadruple, actually, because it also counted as High Mana. 84 Mana Points returned to her.
With that done, she swam back to the shore, quickly banishing any water clinging to her by refreshing her ‘image’ through [Create Phantasms]. She donned her earring and checked it out in a mirror. A sizable crystal, but not gaudy. It had a faint blue glow, slightly more luminous than a crystal would otherwise be in faint light.
It’ll be better with a matching one — which I’ll definitely be doing soon.
When she checked on events ongoing, her timing was right on cue. The riverboat was just pulling into the docks of Mot Mekess, and slightly ahead of schedule. The sun had not even yet risen in the Borderlands.
Sammy materialized in the Green avatar on The Farm and Mirror Walked her way through the network to Mot Mekess, and once more to a mirror positioned in the room on the boat. This triggered Ash in the guise of Audrey to go down and ‘collect a box’ where Sammy was waiting for her for mere moments, still cloaked invisible and behind illusory screens.
After the door was closed, Sammy released the prepared and waiting Audrey, and the two twins faced each other, blinking in surprise.
“This is incredibly strange,” Audrey whispered, shaking her head and taking a deep breath, still getting her bearing after her ‘queenly’ time within the maze realm.
“Indeed it is,” said her twin with a polite smile. “Thank you for your help.”
“You’re most welcome!”
“Also, you should get that mole on your left ass cheek destroyed or healed — that is borderline cancerous.”
“What?!” Her hand immediately went to her rear in alarm. “How do you-”
Sammy chose right then to shimmer fully into visibility, which had the desired effect of startling them. “Hey — girls, keep it down, and by the way, we’re supposed to be making a quick, smooth trade here!” Sammy tried to keep it down herself, though she was whispering furiously.
Audrey quickly got over her bundle of confusion, alarm, and awe at the presence of her goddess. She bowed. “My apologies, Your Majesty! Please proceed!” Audrey grabbed the designated box and headed toward the door in an anxious rush.
Sammy did the ‘hurry sign’ to Ash — she almost grabbed the woman’s hand, but something made her shift and avoid that right then at the last moment. Instead, she took her by the arm and then turned toward the mirror, soon stepping through it and bringing Ash along for the ride.
Roughly twenty-two kilometers east they spat out of a mirror propped in a cave, wilderness just visible from an opening nearby. Ash gasped and almost fell, totally disoriented by the unusual travel.
Sammy held onto her arm, commenting, “Sorry. I should’ve warned you to not try and move at any point during the transition. If you stay totally still without straining, you should avoid most disorientation. Just wait until you feel me moving next time.”
Ash recovered and nodded to her, expression a bit sheepish. “You’re… bigger than I imagined.” Meanwhile, her eyes were studying Sammy judiciously. Her hand came up and squeezed at Sammy’s bicep. “And stronger. Do you have iron hiding under there?”
Sammy smirked at that. She didn’t exactly have a body-builder physique as no matter her strength her base form remained entirely sleek, but the definition was obvious. ‘Amazonian’ was the word. “Do you have some special fascination with women’s bodies, Ash?”
Ash didn’t seem bothered by the question at all. “All bodies, Goddess. Somewhat clinically, so to speak. I’ve studied anatomy, even first hand with a fresh corpse.”
This drained some of Sammy’s humor. Let’s not ask about how it got that way. “Let’s get you to The Farm. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
“Very true.” She glanced around the cave. “How much further? There is a range limit, yes?”
“Fourteen more of these to something between three and four hundred kilometers. And bringing you, the cost triples. Actually… would you mind parking in a mirror the rest of the way? It’s the economy method comparatively, and technically more comfortable for you.”
“Efficiency is always desirable, Your Majesty. Of course.”
“You can call me Madam if you prefer…”
Sammy Mazed her once more, this time parking her on a tower top, but with the sky giving a continuous feed of what she saw as she traveled through the mirrors. Ash was quite happy with the arrangement — even more so when Sammy said it was an experiment on a whim.
Always good to play around with abilities when you can. Never know when some obscure idea could be useful.
Two or three minutes later, Sammy was sitting down across from Ash at a small table in her and Azure’s room at The Farm. The chairs were comfortable, cushioned types. Ash sat up cross-legged and bootless in hers, a provided phantasmal cup of hot, luxury tea in her hands that she sipped at with near worshipful appreciation.
The quest “The Mirror of a Great Escape” is complete. 99 FE gained. 11 exp gained in [Goddess]. 9 exp gained in [Magineer] for cunning and creative supernatural ability use. 4 exp gained in [Bard] for acting, trickery, and social engineering.
90% reward grade achieved. All pure Mirror Powers are at +1 Effective Levels to any form of ability use dependent on levels. This does not increase any base-level effects.
Fucking yes! The EL bonus is a hell of an upgrade. [Mirror Maze] and [Mirroring Duplicates] are maybe the biggest ones.
In the room, Sammy showed no signs of nerding out about it, sipping her own tea with calm and sophisticated airs. Indeed, she was entirely chill in the soft, moody lighting she affected during the early morning consultation with Ash.
Sammy cleared her throat and set down her tea, eyeing Ash across the table. “So, here we are. Why don’t you tell me why the Dominion was so desperate to capture you? How do you know the things you do? I suggest complete honesty from here if you expect me to trust you. I shouldn’t have to tell you how much I risked getting you out.”
Ash met her eyes soberly and nodded softly. She took a last sip of the tea, savoring it, before finally setting it down. “No, you do not, Madam. The cost may be yet to pay considering the depth of capability seeking me and my rescuer. I know it was heinously dangerous. Despite that what I tell you might innately cause you to distrust or hate me, and even to imprison or execute me for what many would regard as evil actions, I will be honest with you.”
Folding her hands in her lap, Ash continued, “I was none other than a full Dominion Inquisitor. A mind mage, a psionicist watching over the security of the realm. In addition to information gathering, I was gifted at necromancy. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of those who created puppet bodies to experience the rest of the world, so I studied it and advanced every chance I got, with all ambition.
“I committed terrible acts, many of them as part of the copious training required. Killing people, namely convicted criminals. Altering, breaking down, and destroying minds. I didn’t enjoy it, exactly, but I cannot absolve myself to say I did not fully commit to what I was. There is no choice among them, no room for a seed of doubt. You have to eradicate that from out of you. As horrible as it may sound, this is possible…
“However, windswept seeds can come from afar, or even return from whence they came. So it was with me. I came to see that my path would lead to my death. To avoid it, and to deny those that would lead me to it, I changed my path. That is the largest part of why I am here, Goddess. Self-preservation.”
Saw her path? She’s a daughter of Fate, after all…
Sammy’s eyebrows were caught raised and largely stayed there. She wasn’t exactly shocked by her being an agent of the Dominion, but a full-on Inquisitor was difficult to parse. Doesn’t matter. Beyond being One of Mine, she’s an incredibly valuable asset. “You underestimate how Fate conspired to bring you to me. I’m glad you had such a dogged motive to survive and defy. In that, you’ve already served me.”
Ash found this a pill difficult to swallow. Her eyes slid to the side. “Being among them was a mistake. Since I was young, I’ve had confusing and disturbing visions, particularly of deaths. As I aged, their clarity improved… I saw people die and then they did. A few times… I intervened and saved someone. Then I saw my own death burning at the stake as a witch and I… stopped.”
Her face twitched as she recalled things and emotions bubbled up. “I continued to see it, however. It changed. It became a vision of a blinding bright figure that incinerated me, and every time, in the last moment, I saw my own eyes staring back at me, as to one they hated and punished for betrayal.
“I didn’t know what to do, especially as an ignorant teen. It seemed like I was caught in the middle of a rope bridge, holding it by its last line with both hands. Either direction I could go spelled my doom. I needed to find a third solution.”
Sammy shook her head, imagining how terrible it would be having such a gravity of decisions at such an age. “And that was to become a Dominion wizard?”
Ash’s lips twisted into something of a frown. “I was very gifted at intellectual pursuits of all kinds. My family lived in the Capital so this was well-noted, especially because I was schooled. I was increasingly interested in spellcraft and the supernatural, as you might understand. I had a… special drive there. This combination led to me being offered a University scholarship at a young age.”
She paused briefly, her face cast melancholy as she stared at the table, but continued, “I took it, of course. Threw myself into becoming one of them. A thing that consumes your life because that is their way. And… and my visions just stopped. They completely stopped.” Her eyes rose to Sammy’s again. “What was I to think? It seemed I had gone the right path, the path where I lived on. I’d found a solution! Even hollow for what I lost, what I could be, I’d live.”
Sammy gave her a small, sympathetic smile. “It’s understandable, Ash. I can’t sit here and say I’d do any different. You even had the opportunity to learn more about your apparent attunement, correct? Death?”
“Yes! Yes, exactly. The goal of all sages is — at least partially — immortality, as achievable by mankind rather than divinity. You will not hear it uttered publicly, but everything the gods could do, we seek-... excuse me — they seek to replace. To mixed success. Prolonging life, avoiding death through necromantic tricks, these at least have been achieved.”
“Did you ever learn anything more about your visions?”
Ash grimaced and shook her head. “I tried to hide it, but when you go deep enough, you inevitably must reveal all of your mind to the Inquisition. Odd as it may seem, very little is persecuted other than total treason. They found it a curiosity and effectively forced me to try to utilize it actively. It was no use, though: it was dead. I had no visions. None, at least, until so recently when it came back like a mountain dropped on me…”
Struggling with herself, Ash lifted a hand to wipe it once over her face and take a breath. Finally, she met Sammy’s eyes, and now hers seemed haunted. “I saw that the eyes I had been looking into — the eyes of the one I betrayed — were not my own. They were… yours. You were the one I betrayed, Goddess.”
Patreon Link — 69 Advance Chappies!
Nice.