Shards of Old

-I know you are aware of infusions, right?

-Pouring magic into one object to… do shit. Of course.

-A very… basic idea I see.

-Oh come on, you know that I know! We’ve been using that for ages! You literally, probably. Hell, we made ILMA that way!

-Hm… True…

ILMA, or rather what was her root of existence, was essentially a very large magic crystal infused with mana of our trio.

Well, back then it was just a trio, but now she’s got a LOT more under her belt.

-So… I am doing exactly that. But to myself - he continued. - Without that, I’d perish already. I mean, I am constantly pouring mana into myself, to sustain my body.

-I can’t see you doing shit - I pointed out. - Sure, I am not the best, but that’s something I would definitely see.

-What are you talking about? You have to be able to see this!

-I can only see your mana flame, that’s about it - I simply said. - Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, you might be sometimes brighter or dimmer, but…

-That’s not it… You sure you can’t see it?

-Nope.

-Strange… I thought… that would be easy to detect. That’s peculiar…

-Well, can you disable it for a moment? Maybe I can see the difference then?

He looked daggers at me.

That is a no, then.

-My bad. I am not trying to…

-I know. Eh… you’re sometimes too stupid. Yeah, sure, I can do that.

-Er, fuck you?

He rolled his eyes.

-Never mind. Just look closely.

He sat down next to me and focused.

Honestly, I couldn’t see much of a difference.

At least, in his magical form.

His regular body did change a little bit… it seemed like it dimmed down and…

Ah. Those particles of sand appeared again? But this time, they were more like gravel, not just sand.

A moment later, they again turned into thin dust and he took a deep breath.

-There… Anything?

-Actually, yeah, but not in a way I thought… I mean…

-So, that means that you are really not doing it… And I was sure that with your form… it’s so clean…

-Oh come on.

-You’re telling me you’re like that naturally?

He meant the lack of “gravel”? Or dust?

-I guess…?

-You’re more interesting than I thought… I guess everyone is really different…

-I mean… that’s given…?

-No, I don’t mean like that… I mean, as the pieces of Origin Crystal. We all have different powers.

Hold on a moment.

-Powers? That’s just spells, aren’t they?

-You said it yourself, you can’t see me spending mana, can you?

-Yes, but…

-And it’s not just two of us. There’s always ILMA. To be honest with you, I just thought that was only her because of her being an AI and overall weird…

-Well, she is…

-Yes. But just like you, she wasn’t able to detect my enhancements… I guess that’s not a spell after all… If not the ability of the Crystal, then what is it?

-Beats me. But wait, how does that even function? How did you even discover that…? You had to cast some kind of spell, right?

-Not really. When I was trying to train myself to hold more mana, I just did it accidentally. Then I tried walking back to the palace, just to slam my face right into the doorway, breaking it in the process.

-Wait, what?

-Yeah, that’s where the speed came from. And strength, I suppose.

Ah.

So that’s how we were chasing ILMA before. That “ability” of his.

I honestly was doubting that was the case…

-So wait. If that’s true, that would mean I also had some other ability like that. That ILMA had something. That EVERYONE who had a piece of the Origin Crystal had something.

-It seems like that’s the case, yes - he nodded. - I know what ILMA’s is. It’s not that far away from mine: it’s also strengthening, but not in body, rather in mind.

-Strengthening someone’s mind…?

-Her mind is unbreakable. Literally.

-Mhm… I think we know that’s not true.

-Oh, but it is. Even if physically in pieces, it is still together. Essentially, she can split herself into multiple pieces, while still having direct connection with them.

-That’s… interesting ability… - I said, not knowing why he was saying that as if it was some sort of secret.

After all, I’ve already seen it. Hell, it was the main source of most of our problems right now…

-Yeah, I am aware that you know. It’s kind of the whole point of everything…

-Mhm… And I guess the whole assimilation is also part of it?

-Yeah.

-Concerning.

-But, I have a better question. What do you think mine is…?

-Yours…? I am not so certain about that… I mean… I might have a guess or two.

-Go for it.

-Well… I think it also has something related to your mind.

-Hmmm?

-Yes… I think your mind is more resistant… to everything. Like… almost numb.

-Okay, are you trying to insult me?

-Quite the opposite. That was a compliment. I think… you are able to resist most of the mind influencing effects.

-I honestly doubt it - I said flat out, remembering multiple times when my head was influenced by many things.

-Yes… While I am not sure how exactly, you are resisting a lot of spells… some of those, well… I am ashamed to say, mine.

-Excuse me?

He chuckled.

-Oh, you didn’t even realize? I have… I mean, before, not now, tried using a lot of things on you. All of those failed.

-Like what?

-Like during our first meeting. I wanted to make you speak the truth. Wanted to look inside your mind.

-And you did - I pointed out.

-Oh, yes. But very briefly. See, that was supposed to be permanent.

-You what?!

-Yes - he said, not elaborating further. - Same with trying to read your mind, even now. I can only look at your external, very brief thoughts.

-And yet, somehow you are able to tell what exactly I am thinking pretty often.

-Because I know you. And you’re not trying to hide anything. I bet if you were to put your mind to it, you’d be able to conceal even that.

That was… an interesting perspective on things.

But, I had a bad feeling that he was not telling me the truth. Especially the second part.

What if he was actively trying to make me drop my guard? To make me think something I didn’t want him to hear?

Very possible.

But, I did consider it a possibility.

If he was telling the truth, I’d be very convenient…

-Okay… maybe… That’d definitely be useful.

-You don’t even know. But sadly, I don’t have any idea about the rest of your party.

-Not like it matters - I commented. - Those are most likely already assimilated.

-Maybe not. Maybe it does. See, if ILMA would know about those abilities, she’d definitely also be able to use them, you know.

-Shit…

-But, maybe it’s for the best that I don’t know.

He had a point.

But then… that only would be the case if they didn’t know either.

After all, after assimilating them, she would’ve instantly known it already.

The only good scenario would be THEM not knowing their abilities, either. And honestly, that was most likely the case here.

Still… I had my doubts.

Not to his story, no. I think he genuinely believed what he was saying.

But, as proved before, that didn’t mean shit.

I gazed briefly towards him, seeing how much he exactly picked up from my thoughts, but it seemed that either he was not going to acknowledge my worries, or straight up didn’t get anything from me.

Hopefully the second was the case, but I was not going to ask about that.

-So… you rest. I’m going to… prepare myself.

-I should be good in a minute.

-Mhm.

Just as he said, a minute was enough for him.

Pretty quick, especially after hearing about how he was “drained” and all that bullshit.

No matter. I was not going to delve into that.

-Good. Let’s go - he said, seemingly prepared.

I took a gaze on his mana.

In my eyes, he looked just like before: neither full, nor drained. Just… normal. Which meant he was drained to shit: knowing how his body was, he should be a very bright spot in my view.

Was that “ability” of his also to blame?

Who knows.

-Okay… Well, I am as ready as it gets… just let me be clear, you want me to try and teleport to her directly, right?

-I would prefer you to open a portal, if you can. Maybe then we can minimize the side effects, you know.

-Dilation and shit, right…

-Yeah… There’s still the problem of distance, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, you know.

-Right… Well, here goes nothing.

I took a deep breath.

Already, at my feet, in the dirt there was a magical circle. I did draw it beforehand, with him assisting me a few times, but that was just to fix things that I had accidentally erased while walking around.

After all, a drawing in the dirt was hardly permanent.

I focused on my contract. And…

Summoned it without any issue?

Hell. That went easier than before. I barely even had to exert myself for it to appear in front of me.

Good.

Now to open a gateway…

-Open.

I didn’t even think about it twice, but I used… just plain language.

And it worked flawlessly.

Right in front of us, filling the dirt-circle, opened a blu-ish void, with a foggy inside.

-Huh… good work. I thought that would be harder for you… - said Mike, clearly also surprised that I managed it on the first try without any issue.

-You’ll compliment me on the other side. Who knows WHEN this shit is going to toss us.

-Fair enough. Well, I am off.

Without much need of encouragement, he stepped forward and jumped in.

For a second I was worried that the moment he gets too close his crystal is going to absorb the spell and be problematic, but nope. He was either controlling it very well, or it was just the case of our crystals unable to interfere in each other’s magic.

If that was even true in the first case.

Anyway, he passed through smoothly, and so, without much of a thought, I just joined him, jumping forward a few seconds later.

Despite the looks, the journey through was a rough one.

The first problem was the obvious: changes in gravity during the trip.

I kind of expected that: I didn’t think we’d be getting any ceilings where we were going.

I probably should’ve planted the circle on the tree or something like that.

Whatever.

Second problem was more worrying…

Duration.

Usually, the portal takes less than a second. And I was falling for more than ten and still didn’t see the exit.

I mean, looking at the bright side: I could at least see what the inside of the portal looked like… While not really something I wanted to do, it was still an interesting experience. It was just a lot of blue fog. I sort of thought that I might see Mike in front of me or somewhere, but nope.

After about half a minute, I finally was spit out of the void and landed right next to a very confused Mike.

The entrance behind me closed before I even managed to get my bearings.

I looked behind me, and it appeared like we just got launched from a tree trunk.

Predictable, I guess…

-Fuuck… That was weird… - I mumbled, gathering myself from the ground.

-You don’t say… - he mumbled. - But’s the worst… I managed to regenerate myself quite a bit…

-Eh… Wait, what?! Did you absorb part of the portal?!

-Only part of the void - he explained.

-”Void?” That was the portal! Don’t you think that’s the reason why it took so long?!

-Ehh, don’t worry, that’s definitely not it… I only started it after it took more than a second to complete…

-More than… Okay, fuck you.

-What?!

I was not going to even try and entertain him.

He was definitely trying to mess with me.

Just a second?! No wonder it took so long. Why would he even do that?! To sabotage me or something!?

It’s not like it only affected me, though. If the portal collapsed, that would also be his problem.

Or… was he thinking that since he was first, he’d gone through first, he’d leave it before it became a problem…?

Not good.

But, where did we arrive, actually? Did we end up where he wanted to…? Or did his fuckery also cost us the destination…?