Jaded Series (Books 1-2)

It was only another hour by the time the group of Servants made it to the wall. The unrelenting mist made it more difficult to navigate, but eventually, they reached the stone edge of the circular tower. Jin idly wondered if she might one day be strong enough to punch a hole through the wall to let them escape, but somehow, she thought that had already been tried before.

Their party had mostly remained quiet as they walked, the others not wanting to prod the emotional open wound Hadia wasn't bothering to hide from her face. Her brutality had made the others nervous around her, but Jin hoped it would be a temporary unease.

Unfortunately, the section of the wall they had arrived at was not where they had first entered from. Jin checked her bracelet for the time and decided to pick a direction to walk for another hour before doubling back in order to make it to the cabin before dark.

It only took half that for Jin to be relieved that she had guessed the correct direction and found the evidence of their first monster battle. Blood and shredded silver cloth lay scattered everywhere, and Jin was both grateful and disappointed that there weren't any bodies for them to find.

The monsters had devoured them.

Jin bent next to the fur pelt and handful of Mana Bits from that first Caerbannog she had killed. Picking up one of the Bits, she asked no one in particular, "We want to make sure to keep all of these for doing rituals, right?"

Alim walked closer and signed, "I saw you speak but didn't catch it."

"Sorry," she signed back and handed the Bit to him. "You need those for rituals, yes?"

He nodded. "And we'll want them if we hit Crystal Caste."

"When we hit it, you mean."

Alim gave a soft huff and rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not so optimistic, but yes. Once we're full Casters, we can eat Bits instead of monster meat for food."

Jin looked back at the tiny, translucent stone that was tinged with a murky gray color, then back to Alim before clarifying, "It's edible?"

"Not to us right now. We'll get very sick if we try eating it. A Crystal Bit would probably kill us. One Bit of equal Caste, though, can serve as a whole meal for a Caster."

"Are these Mundane versions even useful then? How many would we need to eat to equal a Crystal?"

"Not sure," he replied with a shrug. "The higher the Caste, the more refined the mana is. I'm not sure if sheer quantity could replicate that. These are still useful as ingredients and are often used as currency too since people use them to fuel things so frequently."

A loud sniffle followed by a quiet sob drew Jin's attention to the scene behind her where Basima had fallen to her knees. Karam awkwardly kneeled next to her and patted her back while whispering words Jin couldn't hear from this distance.

Looking back at Alim, he had apparently followed her gaze to take in the scene himself with a frown. When he noticed Jin looking back at him, he signed, "Both of them were raised among the Servants. Our city isn't very big from others I've read about. People raised their whole lives within their Sect will probably meet most of their peers."

"You were a transfer, right? From the Whispers?"

"Yes. That's how I learned the signs," he confirmed with a nod. "Hadia transferred in from the Lovers. At least, that's what Karam told me."

Alim glanced back toward his friend and added, "Karam has always been kind to outsiders. He helped us feel welcome. He shouldn't have been put in here."

She snorted a laugh at that, remembering how Karam had basically said the same thing when Alim was called to be a Champion. Instead she tried to present her idea that she had been pondering for a while now, but wanted to make sure they were on the same page. "You want to protect him in here, don't you?"

He tilted his head and gave her a puzzled look before correcting, "I want to help protect everyone. I know I'm mostly useless aside from my knowledge, but—"

"But you activated the enchantments, helped us find food that wouldn't poison us, and kept me from getting cut in half from a sneak attack to the back," she pointed out. Shaking her head, she reached into her backpack, pulled out the last item she had looted, and handed it to him. "I think you should be the one to absorb that. It's a Shield Aspect."

His eyes went at the offer, and he stared at the miniature glowing shield in his palm. "Are you sure? You really want me to have this?" he awkwardly signed while holding the Aspect.

"You're the best choice for it. Can we do it here so we're safer going back?"

Alim nodded, still looking a bit mystified by the idea of getting another Aspect and getting himself one step closer to becoming that full Caster he seemed unsure of ever achieving.

"Good. Let's go do it back at the wall where it's clearer and away from all this sadness."

He nodded again, following after her as she finished packing away the loot that had been previously left behind. She had been glad to recover quite a bit of it so far, and the Aspect alone had made the trip worth it despite the danger.

Once everyone had regathered at the wall, Jin explained that her new plan was to do Alim's absorption ritual and then head back the way they had come, following the tree marks she had left behind. Nobody voiced any disagreement and seemed supportive of Alim getting the latest Aspect. He was already providing shields for them, so it just made sense to lean into that.

Alim looked nervous as he finished drawing the ritual circle with light from his fingertip, a wonderful effect from his cultivated Talent [Mind of the Magister].

While Jin watched him draw, it actually triggered an idea that she berated herself for not asking him earlier. "Hey, can you use that to draw anything with light?"

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He tilted his head in confusion with a raised eyebrow.

"Can you draw words to communicate with everyone?" she clarified.

Wide hazel eyes stared back at her before he tentatively wrote in the air, "Yes?"

"Oh my gods! Alim! Why didn't you do that earlier?!" Basima cried out in a mixture of exasperation and laughter.

"How long does it linger?" Jin signed to him while speaking aloud for the others and grinning at the success.

"Not sure, but I can dismiss it easily," he wrote and waved his hand to wipe it all away a moment later.

"Alright, we can test it later. For now, let's see what new abilities you get to work with."

Alim nodded and stood in the center of the ritual diagram as he silently mouthed the incantation, causing the lines of the ritual to glow brighter with mana and the Shield Aspect to crumble into him.

A sudden odd feeling seemed to descend upon her as she watched. Her body felt heartier and a feeling of security seemed to surround her. She wasn't entirely sure what was causing it but she somehow knew it was coming from Alim.

He then began glowing with a soft gray light, and Karam happily confirmed, "He's cultivating another Talent!"

When it was over, the glowing lines gone, Alim was grinning like a madman and pressed the Display rune on his bracelet to show them all the details.

"Oh, nice. I was curious what Aura abilities looked like," Jin said, smiling at her friend. "Is that what I'm sensing now? Your Aura?"

Alim nodded and excitedly signed, "Yeah. It's extremely useful, and I should be able to use it to help scout a bit now. Unless an enemy has some kind of stealth ability, my Aura should sense theirs."

She frowned slightly despite that being useful and voiced her concern while signing for him. "Doesn't that mean they can feel your Aura too and give away our own position?"

"Yes, but I don't think that's a large concern until we reach the next floor. At least not for the monsters we're hunting. The Mundane ones can't sense it as well as Casters, and even higher Caste ones don't always have the sense to locate where an Aura might be coming from even if sensing it puts them on alert."

"It's the other Casters I'm more worried about, honestly," Jin grumbled. She sighed and admitted, "You do make a good point, though. Knowing where the monsters are before they try to decapitate us will help a lot." She waved for the others to get moving again. "We should head back now. I don't know about you all, but I'm getting hungry again. Those berries were not enough."

The others followed after her, mostly refocusing on Alim and trying to congratulate him while walking. The floating words would unfortunately only slow them down while walking, aside from being a bright indicator of their location in the gloom of the forest, so they continued their efforts to learn the Whisper signs.

They were able to find a handful of monsters on the way back, thanks to Alim's new Aura. Basima ended up getting most of them with her ranged attack, but Jin got one with her spear, and Hadia managed to get the jump on a sleeping Ironhorn. Due to sheer practicality, Jin ended up looting that one due to the size making it too risky to try carrying, even with her boosted Strength.

No other people ran into them, thankfully, and Jin wondered if the next Midnight Tally showing everyone that she and Hadia had killed two Speakers would be enough to dissuade others from chasing after the bounty on her head.

They had collected quite a bit of meat and foraged edibles that she was daring to hope that they might have a peaceful week of getting to better know one another instead of killing. Staying safe in a cozy cabin might actually help them disconnect from the fear and constant adrenaline. Perhaps she could even pretend this was a fun camping trip… probably not.

Jin did want to get to know the others better, though, and would push to keep them within the protective enchantments, at least until her bounty was gone. It wouldn't stop someone determined and lucky enough to find them from attacking, but at least they wouldn't be going and looking for trouble. She hoped to focus more on their immediate surroundings than the sick game the gods were playing.

They managed to reach their base right at dusk, and Hadia went to work on dinner, with Alim joining her to learn more himself. He had actually joked with Jin and said cooking couldn't be that much different from alchemy… she just hoped that knowledge would translate to improving flavor.

Jin checked to see if there was anything interesting in the shop that she might be able to afford before it would change over at midnight. Nothing really stood out to her but she was pleased to see the rations still there again. It might be worth the points if it meant they wouldn't need to hunt again as soon with her bounty still in play.

Karam and Basima were happily chatting on the sofa beside her chair and Jin was only half paying attention to them reminiscing over their happy moments in the past with Kian or Mary. Basima had apparently been more familiar with Kian as they shared a love for music.

"Do you play an instrument?" Jin asked out of curiosity.

Basima gave a regretful sigh. "No, but I wish I could. I actually love to sing mostly and would love to be able to dance, but… well… you know how my feet don't like to listen a lot of times," she said with a faint blush of embarrassment.

Karam chuckled. "Maybe one of the Lovers could have helped you with that. Did you ever think about transferring into their Music Coterie?"

"Coterie?" Jin asked.

"Just a term to refer to specialized subgroups within a Sect," he explained. "The Servants only have a couple of them, like the Launders that Hadia got transferred into. The Lovers and Workers have many more, though."

"I thought about it," Basima quietly admitted. "I just… Well, I know we're told 'Sect before Self,' but I didn't want to leave my parents behind… I thought maybe in another year or two if they got tired of me hanging around them so much, I might ask about transferring…" She glanced around the cabin before settling her gaze on the roaring fire Alim had used his wand to ignite near the middle of the room. "If I had known I would have messed things up so badly with Salman, I might have done it earlier."

Jin frowned but couldn't argue with that assessment. It would likely be a regret Basima would carry around for the rest of her life, even when she made it out of the tower. "You'll see your parents again, Bas," Jin said into the silence. "Remember what I told you?"

Basima gave her a beautiful smile this time as she recited, "I am not going to die. I'm not going to give up and will fight back."

"Exactly. It might be a while, but we're going to get out of here."

Soft green eyes watched her for a long moment before the girl blushed again and quietly said, "I don't think I'll ever forget those words… I… I'll trust in you, Jin."

Jin felt her own cheeks heat under that look but managed to clear her throat enough to respond. "I'll try my best to not let you down." She let out a large exhale, attempting to break whatever spell Basima was casting over her, and said more to the others, "Anyone interested in playing a game or something? Maybe an arm-wrestling competition?"

Basima snorted a laugh at her, and Karam smiled brightly as he asked, "Are you left-handed? Because I'm pretty sure I'll beat you."

Jin chuckled and said, "I'm not, but I'll take that bet." She moved to the other side of the low table on the opposite side of the sofa and held her left arm up to accept his challenge.

He slid off the couch to better adjust for the height and took her hand in his. "Are you sure about this?"

Jin conjured her [Silent Spear] into her right hand and confirmed, "I am now."

Karam gave her a flat look and muttered, "Cheater."

She laughed. "If I've learned anything about your world since arriving, it's that cheating is the only way to win."