IMPERIUM INSECTUM

“Woah, what a night!” Apollinaris yelled. “I didn’t think it was possible for someone's belly to move like that. How long do you think she spent practising that?”

“I don’t know Apollinaris. But it was fun.”

“Yeah!” she continued to gush about it with child excitement all the way to our room. It is nice seeing her like this. Maybe I should take her to see more places. We walked into our room. Apollinaris walked into the room and threw herself onto the bed, causing the bed to groan.

“That was so much fun. Do you have anything else planned for this evening?”

“Nope. You are free to do whatever you want. we have Plenty of time.”

I disrobed and sat on my bed. The cool air brushed over my armour.

“Feels great to have all that shit off,” I said as I walked over to the bed.

“You really hate wearing clothes don’t you.”

“Yes! They are too restrictive, and they keep getting caught in the gaps in my armour. I'm only doing it because the humans around us would lose their shit if they saw me naked.”

She chuckled. “If it's any consolation. I don’t mind if you're naked.”

“Well, thank you, Apollinaris. Nice to see someone with common sense” I tossed myself onto the soft white sheets of the bed. They really spared no expense for this room, huh? As I settled deeper into the bed, my eye caught the litmus paper that was on the bedside table. I picked up the paper and tried putting my mana into it again. Nothing.

I sighed. “Maybe I’m just not meant to use magic?”

“ don’t give up. I'm sure you can.”

“I don’t know. From the paper not working  and the experts being clueless, I’m kind of stuck.”

“I'm sure you can figure it out. You were a detective, right? Figuring things out was your job.”

“I guess your right…”

I sat up and folded my legs into a cross shape. Let's look at the evidence. What I know is that, yes, I have access to mana the system, and Apollinaris has confirmed that. However, the issue is that we don’t know my nature and the tool that’s supposed to tell me this has failed. No, that’s wrong. It hasn’t failed it just doesn’t work for me. Why? Well, let's recap what happened. I poured my man mana into it, and I got no response. Whilst the dwarf and the magician were able to get a response out of it. a response that is represents the type of mana it was given. I picked up the sheet of paper again. When I pump my mana into it, there is no response at all. Why? This paper is meant to respond to the different natures, but it doesn’t. Unless….. maybe this is the response.

“Apollinaris, how many natures are there?”

“well, we have the 5 core ones that make up the world. Earth, wind, fire, water and lightning, and you have faith-based ones like light and dark.”

“So 7 in total.”

“yep. There is also blood magic, but that’s kind of its own thing.”

“I see, and this paper should be able to pick up on any of them.”

“If what the packaging and the lady at the shop are to be believed, then yes. Wait. You're not suggesting…”

“I mean, it’s the only thing that makes sense. A hidden 8^th nature. Think about it. This paper responds to every type of mana possible, so it doesn't make sense for it to not respond to mine. So my theory is that the paper doing nothing is the response. Whatever my mana is, it relates to nothingness, I guess.”

Apollinaris pondered the idea for a while.

“I don’t know, diva. I mean, even if you do have some secret unknown nature. How are you gonna cast spells with it? You have no books or scrolls to guide you?”

“well, those spells had to be created somehow, right? I'll have to create and figure it out on my own. However, we can try using the same sort of techniques for a spell from a different nature.”

“What! That's stupidly dangerous. Different natures behave differently. If you are not careful, you can end up hurting yourself!”

“Do you have any better ideas?”

She stared at me briefly before finally conceding.

“thank you. Now what's the simplest spell, you know?”

“What, buy yelling loudly? That’s not how you do it. It’s about visualisation and manipulation. Visualise what you want the mana to do and manipulate the mana into that form. Look, watch me.”

She stuck her hand out, and suddenly mana flowed out of it. It was bright green.

“In my mind, I'm visualising a ball.”

The man continued to flow randomly around her hand.

“Now I'm going to start manipulating it.”

Without warning, the vibrant green mana swiftly transformed into a muddy brown hue. At the same time, the mana started to swirl and fold into itself, slowly forming into a ball. The scent of soil permeated the surrounding atmosphere as more mana converged into a cohesive mass. Minuscule fragments of earth started to materialise in her hand, multiplying steadily. The growing mass melded into a single entity, soon turning into a twirling stone resting in her grasp. I looked back at her in awe. How could she just do something like that so casually. If you could do this back on earth, people would worship you, but Apollinaris did it without a care.

“ Obviously, you would do it faster than that in a fight, but that comes with practice. However, remember that for different natures, you need more or less mana for the spell to work. Too little, and nothing happens. Too much, and it becomes unstable. This is why books are important. They tell you this kind of stuff going blind….”

“I know its risky. Thank you, teacher.”

“You're welcome.”

I sat down and started sending my mana to my hand.

“Visualise a ball,” I whispered to myself.

I cleared my thoughts and started visualising a sphere in my mind. At the same time, I started making the mana flow around my body, directing its flow towards my hand. I double the flow of mana, channelling more and more of it to my hand until finally, at long last, my mana left my body. Prior to this, I had never seen or even felt my mana outside. Sure, I could transfer it into things, but there was never anything to see, but this was completely different. I slowly cranked my eyes open only to see my hand covered in thick, inky black mana. My body shivered like it had seen something it shouldn’t have. To put it simply. It felt wrong. Like it was never meant to exist in this world. I looked towards Apollinaris, who was visibly shaken. Who can blame her? Even I was shaken by this. This was flowing inside of me?

“I…I… I think you should stop,” Apollinaris sputtered out. Fear had completely taken her. Swea was starting to build on her brow.

“I know what you are feeling, but we can't stop here. This mana is a part of me. I have to get comfortable with it. However, I think you should move away from me in case something happens.”

She quickly nodded and bolted to the other side of the room. I closed my eyes and continued visualising the ball. Once I was happy with the image, I started to manipulate the mana. But it was heavy, no, that’s not right, sticky like I was trying to manipulate molasses or tar. The more I tried to move, the more it resisted. I pumped more mana towards my hand. Maybe it needed more. When that didn’t work, I sent more and More. Until my whole hand started to ache and burn, but I still kept sending more.

“Diva!”
My eyes snapped open only to be met with a black writhing mass

“OH Shi-“

Before I could realise I was already in the air and heading towards the wall. A loud thud echoed across the room as my back smacked into the wall.

“DIVA!”

Apollinaris yelled as she ran towards me. My body ached all over. Like it had just been hit by a high-speed train. I moved my head towards Apollinaris, who was running towards me. In no time, she was by my side and immediately tried to help me stand up. My brain was still rattling against my skull.

“Diva, are you okay?” she said, panicked. She immediately started looking over and inspecting my body, looking for any sort of damage.

“I Feel *cough**cough* like I’ve just gone 12 rounds with a professional boxer” My vision blurred, and I nearly fell over.

“Please take me to my bed. I need to sit down”.

Without any word, Apollinaris put her hand on my hip and carried me to where my bed……… Where is my bed?

“Apollinaris.*cough* Where is my bed?”

“I don’t know. I was too distracted by the blast.”

I nodded. The blast had completely taken it away. But the oddest thing was that there was no sign or trace of it, like none. If it was burned away, we would have hand burn marks, but here there was nothing. Just what the hell is that nature?

 

 

I focused on the word nullity. Causing another box to appear.

 

 

“W...What?”

*Knock knock^

My head snapped towards the door. Fuck. That blast probably rocked the entire building.

“Crap, We need to “

“There is no we. You need to hide. Let me handle it.”

Before I could even argue, she dragged me into the bathroom and shut the door. Leaving me alone with my achy body and a whole load of questions. Why do I have such a nature? Why did Cindi give it to me? And how am I gonna learn magic if I can't use books or scrolls to guide me?

I waddled over to a small table and sat on it. Those are questions ill just have to ignore for now. I should just be glad it didn’t erase me from existence. My mind flashed back to when Apollinaris helped me discover my mana in the first place. My heart ached. What if that mana consumed her body and erased her right there and then ...... I shook my head. It didn’t happen that’s all that matters. But why? If this mana is meant to erase things, why didn’t it erase her? I pondered that for a few seconds before pushing it to the back of my mind. It's not important at the meantime, I stood up and headed towards. The sounds of muffled muttering came from the other room. Maybe I should send in my flies to hear what’s going on?

*YES, SEND THEM IN. SHE MIGHT RAT YOU OUT. YOU DON’T WANT TO GET STABBED IN THE BACK AGAIN, DO YOU?*

SHUT. UP. I pulled away from the door. I’ll let Apollinaris handle the humans. I need to make a plan in case they come in here. I searched the room but found nothing. No windows, no air vents or anything.

“Fuck. I can't let them see me.”

I looked around again, and then my eyes landed on the bathtub.

“That might work.”

........

“And that’s the long and short of it. “

“I see. So there was an accidentally magical discharge that completely vaporised  the bed.”

“Yep. Sorry. I’m a bit of a clutz at these things.” I lied. I decided it would be better to leave diva out of it as much as possible.

“Oh, it’s fine.” He finished jotting things down in his notebook. I was speaking to one of the security guards of the Jaded Rabbit. He was sent up to investigate after a loud noise rocked the building.

“I’m so sorry for causing you trouble.”

“don’t worry,” he said with a smile. “It’s not the first time something like this has happened. Adventures are always practising their magic indoors when they shouldn’t be.

I faked another laugh. Can this guy just go away already? I dont think I can keep this up for much longer.

“Thank you for the statement. All I need to do is inspect the room for any structural damage, and then I will be out of your hair.”

I gulped. Shit. What if he checks the bathroom and sees diva's real body. Out cover will be blown. Could we kill him? No stupid idea. Somebody will notice that he is missing. CRAP!

“Sure. No problem. Come in.”

I stepped aside, and the guard walked in. Straightaway, He made a beeline for where the bed was. He stepped around the area multiple times

“This is fascinating.”

“What is?”

“The bed. There are no signs of it existing at all. Just what kinda spell where you practising.”

“Oh, nothing special, really.”

“This looks like more than nothing. But guessing what this is above my pay grade.”

He stood up and started inspecting the room. Thankfully the bed bore the brunt of whatever that was. The checks went on for a few minutes before he finally came back to me.

“looks fine to me. Just gotta check the bathroom.”

CRAP!

I bolted in front of him. “You don’t need to go in there really.”

“Sorry, ma’am, but I kind of have to.” He gently pushed me aside and started walking to the door.

“My mistress is in there! She doesn't like her baths to be disturbed, and after me messing up with the spell, she's gonna be quite mad,” I lied.

“Well, for her safety, I have to check. She is going to have to put up with it this time.”

He pulled open the door only to be hit with a gust of hot steam.

“Gahh, so thick. I can't see!”

“WHO DARES INTERRUPT ME!”

The man took a few steps back. Thick steam still billowed out of the room.

“Im the security guard. I need to che-“

“How dare you!”

Suddenly a shampoo bottle flew into his face.

“HAVE YOU NO MANNERS OR RESPECT? WALKING INTO A LADY AS SHE IS BATHING.”

More and more bottles of soap and shampoo hit the man. He yelped in pain as diva constantly hit him in the face.

“FILTHY. RUDE, DIRTY. MAIDELESS MAN. ARE YOU TRYING TO PEEP AT ME! I SHALL SPEAK TO THE MANAGER..”

“AHHHHHHHH. I'M SORRY, MA’AM”

In an instant, he slammed the door, just in time to hear the thud of another bottle of shampoo hit the door.

“I told you my mistress doesn’t like to be interrupted.”

The man rubbed his head and walked away. He had red marks on his face where diva hit him in the face. The man walked past me and toward the door.

“I'll tell the manager everything is fine.” He said sheepishly. “It must be if the bathroom is working like that.”

And with that, he left the room. I shut the door behind him and went to the bathroom door. I pulled open the door. Only to get blindsided by a bottle of soap.

“OUCH! DIVA. STOP! STOP! ITS ME! IT'S ME!”

“Apollinaris?” I gently rubbed my head. Diva hit me square in the forehead with that bottle, and it freaking hurts. Doesn’t she know how monstrously strong she is? I continued to rub my head and watched as diva walked through the dense steam.

“Hahaha…sorry”

I gave her a disappointed look.

*sigh* “Next time, do your magic outside the room.”

“Yes, ma’am”