Vanya's journals, chapter 42: MagicAs you continue, you find runes scrawled across the margins – runes you've never seen before. You hope they aren't anything important, and continue reading. After a quick lunch, Katie took me up to our room, eager to teach me the skills I was supposed to learn. After coming in from outside, the barracks seemed dark, while in reality they were well lit, only dim.
"Do you actually know magic?" I asked uncertainly. Despite the almost fairylike quality to Katie's personality, it seemed a little hard to believe.
She didn't reply, but gave me a playful smile and spun around, laughing prettily as she danced farther away, swinging her arms gracefully about her. Then, she slowed to a stop, facing me, and let her arms fall to her sides. "
Winteos, diovaang liagen!" she called out. For a moment, nothing happened.
Suddenly, I gasped. Feathery light blossomed from her shoulders, curved and bent to form ethereal wings. The ceiling and floor about her glowed softly as the wings wavered gently in the air, almost as if touched by an unfelt wind.
"
Winteos, taunke!" she called out again, and the wings dissipated, seeming to dissolve into nothingness.
"What
was that?" I asked breathlessly.
She laughed. "Magic," she said, grinning impishly, and twirled away. "You've never seen real magic before, have you?"
"I've seen zombies raised by necromancers," I offered.
Katie stopped suddenly, growing serious. "That's a different kind of magic. It comes from the demons that reach out from the depths. Every world has an evil side; sometimes it's an alternate dimension, sometimes it's physical. That's black magic. My kind of magic draws power from the gods."
"How did you learn?"
She motioned me closer, sitting down on the edge of her bunk. "Ever since I was little, I've entered in the annual jetpacking competitions that Parasol holds. It's really fun, but kinda hard, too."
I sat down across from her. "You use the 'wings' spell in the competition? Does it help you fly?"
Katie laughed and shook her head quickly. "Yes, but I can't fly. Some spells let you, but I learned everything I know from my grandmother, and she only taught me the 'guiding wings' one. We're allowed to use magic in competitions, and she said she wanted to help me."
"Can you teach it to me?" I asked hopefully, though I didn't know how the wings would help.
"It takes a long time to learn," she said regretfully. "I'll have to start at the beginning. I don't think you'll have time to learn it today."
I nodded with disappointment.
Leaning back, Katie propped herself up with her hands. "Every spell has two parts," she began. "The first part is the name of your god. Mine is 'Winteos', Parasol's god of mystery. You have to be careful with the god you choose. The more your god likes you, the better your spell casting is, and the more you can cast before they stop granting your spells."
"What's the second part of the spell?" I asked curiously.
Katie shook her head. "No, no, you're going too fast! Slow down. What's
your god? We have to know that first. It's not good to switch between gods a lot, they get jealous."
"Can I use Winteos?" I asked.
"No, that's a Parasol god. He doesn't even know you."
I frowned. "How is a Parasol god in Everoc?"
This question stopped her for a moment, and she answered slowly, as if recalling something she'd heard said long before. "If I'm not wrong... When Parasol came to Everoc, their gods could pass over into Everoc, too... and Everoc's gods into Parasol. But... they fight sometimes. The timewar is as much a war between the gods as it is a war between companies." She looked at me insistently. "You
have to choose the right god, and it can't be one that hates you. The spell might backfire. Do you know of one that might like you?"
I shook my head. "I never –"
"
Think about it," she pleaded. "I don't want you to die while I'm teaching you. This is
important."
Sighing, I thought back over the course of my life. Despite how often I prayed to the gods, I couldn't remember a time when any one of them had visibly helped me.
"Which ones do you pray to?" Katie asked. "Maybe that will help. Which one do you pray to the most?"
"Tetoth, the god of orphans; Akam, the goddess of serendipity, and... Armok."
Katie frowned disapprovingly, staring at me as if I was nuts. "The god of blood."
"Yes." I nodded. "I didn't always, but... ever since I... Ever since..." trailing off, I stopped. The memory wasn't one I wanted to recall, but at Katie's prodding, I went on. "There was a jade spearhead," I said slowly, picking up the one Urist had sent me off the floor at my feet from where I'd tossed it the night before. "Urist and I were lost in the caverns below Spearbreakers, and it glowed with light, leading us back to the fortress. Urist told me it was Armok's doing."
Her eyes widened slightly, and she nodded quickly. "Armok, then. We'll try with Armok first."
I cringed. I would rather have cast with the goddess of serendipity.
Katie didn't notice, and went on. "All gods, in every universe, use the same language: the Diavallen. It's because there's a 'creator God' that made all of them, when he made the universes. While all gods know the languages of their people, you can only cast with Diavallen. Every spell is two words of it, like 'deovaang liagen'. You say the god name, and then the spell."
"How do you become good at a spell?" I asked curiously.
"Three things: practice, your god's favoring you, and willpower. It's important you don't use spells too often, or your god will start to get annoyed with you. Praying helps with that." She jumped to her feet. "Okay, are you ready?"
I put the spearhead into my pouch and nodded, standing and walking to the middle of the room. "I'm ready."
"I'm going to teach you 'Shield of Wind'. The Captain says you need it strong enough to deflect bullets."
She might as well have shot me with one. "Deflect
bullets?!"
Katie nodded solemnly. "She told me the rest of your plan this morning, and I'm not letting you go out there unless you're at
least as good as I am! It's not one I've practiced much with, but... We'll practice until you're good enough."
Though afraid, I was eager to learn. "What do I do?"
"You call Armok's name, and then call out, 'vendi scild'. That's the spell: 'Shield of Wind'. But not yet!" she added in a rush, stopping me. "You have to hold your hands the right way."
It took some time, but I finally got my stance arranged the way she wanted. "Shield of Wind is a hand-oriented spell. If your hands move from their position, the shield can go away. Powerful mages can hold their hands wherever they want, but since you're just learning, you should hold your hands the easiest way."
It felt awkward. I was holding my hands as if I was pushing a heavy object in front my head. "Can I try it now?" I asked impatiently. Although I wanted to learn magic, I didn't want to wait. We'd used up at least an hour already.
"Okay, go," she nodded, stepping back.
"Armok,
vindi scild," I called. Nothing happened.
"You're saying it wrong," she sighed. "Let's practice
just the Diavallen, okay?"
After another hour of practice, during which I became pretty frustrated, I finally satisfied my tutor.
"You have to get the intonations correct. It's not like Dwarven," she kept saying. "You have to say it loudly and firmly, but the intonations have to be
perfect."
"Okay, go," Katie said again.
I took a deep breath. "
Armok, vendi scild!" I called out, closing my eyes to calm myself. I heard a rushing noise, and felt a strange feeling... almost as if I was underwater. I could breathe, but it felt as if I was holding an ethereal breath with ethereal lungs. It felt... majestic... powerful... It felt
magical.
"Oh my gods!" Katie exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly. "Look! Silly, open your eyes!"
I did, slowly raising my eyelids with anticipation.
A domed shield hovered before me, reaching from floor to ceiling. It was largely transparent, but ribbons of white light faded in and out, stretching from the center to the edge. Tiny sparks flickered erratically across it like lightning, their color a deep, dark red – Armok's color. I could see my friend through it, beaming with pride.
"It's beautiful," I whispered, awestruck. "I feel... strange... Like my breath is being pulled from me."
"That's 'mana'," Katie explained, all but bouncing on her toes with excitement. "It
is like holding your breath – you can only cast a spell for so long before you need to take a break. Practice helps." Suddenly, she grabbed a pillow from a nearby bunk and threw it at me. When it collided, I could feel the impact; it felt like it was drawing even more of my breath from me, and I felt the slightest push on my arms. The pillow bounced harmlessly off the shield and fell to the floor. "Look!" she laughed. "It works!"
As she sat to put the pillow back on the bed, I 'let go', moving my hands. With a soft "whoosh", the shield disappeared, and slowly, the breathless sensation began to go away.
"That was amazing!" I said, sitting down. "It felt so..."
Katie nodded knowingly. Then, her jaw dropped, and she pointed a quavering finger at my waist.
"What's wrong?" I asked, and looked where she was pointing. What I saw nearly stunned me with dread and wonder: through one of the pouches at my belt, Urist's spearhead was glowing with an eerie, green shine. Hesitantly, I took it out and looked at it. Katie walked quickly over and sat down beside me, and together we read the minute, glowing runes that had appeared upon its surface:
Vanya, my favored daughter... Your struggles amuse me. Fight well, my conduit. After several minutes passed, Katie wrenched her gaze away from it and looked at me. "You'll cast with Armok from now on," she whispered.
I nodded in agreement, speechless.
After a solemn moment, Katie leapt to her feet and walked to the middle of the room. "Come on, let's try again," she said eagerly. "We'll have to stop and pray soon, but we can keep going for a little while."
I felt amazed, putting the spearhead reverently back into my pocket. I got up, putting my back to the door and getting ready.
Armok had talked to
me. He sent me a message –
me, Vanya Carena, the little elven skulker hiding among dwarves. The girl who used to run. The girl who used to be afraid of everything.
Me. I felt loved... even if it
was a bit weird how Armok chose to explain it: "Your struggles amuse me." I guess that's typical of him, though.
It made me feel special.
~~~
"
Armok, vendi scild!"
Katie stood at the other side of the room, standing with legs spread apart and rotated, her hands clawed behind her shoulders. "
Winteos, magia arril!" she called. Her hands glowed with lavender light, and she flung them forwards as if she was throwing a ball. Two magical lights rushed across the room, shattering against the horizontal dome before me with a flash. I felt my shield weaken, but I held it, willing it to stay strong.
"
Winteos, magia arril!" she called again, and moments later, two more purple spheres crashed into my shield. "You're getting better!" Katie laughed.
We'd been practicing for what seemed like hours, taking breaks to pray every so often. I was exhausted, but Katie insisted that I had to have it as strong as possible.
She planted her feet firmly on the ground in a different stance, and called, "
Winteos, wimir stoirmas!" As I watched, the air whirled about her icily, streams of lavender lightning arcing from the metal bed frames around her towards her outstretched hands. She closed her eyes, straining with the effort, and I braced myself for whatever she was doing. I'd never seen her use 'wimir stoirmas' before, and had no idea what it would do.
She thrust her arms forwards with a sudden motion. The temperature around me dropped, frigid air blinding me as it swirled past; shards of ice whistled as they shot through, my spell bending their paths just enough to keep them from slicing me to pieces. I felt my mana draining rapidly, so rapidly that I began to feel dizzy. I almost fell backwards from the force of it all.
"Stop!" I cried out weakly. "Please, stop!"
Katie lowered her arms, and I collapsed to the floor, panting, barely catching myself with my hands before my face hit the floor.
She rushed towards me, scrambling to my side. "Vanya? Vanya?" she asked in a worried panic, her voice taking on emotion. "Did I hurt you? Are you okay? Oh, gods, if I hurt you, I'll never forgive myself..."
I forced myself over onto my back, looking up at her worried face with a weak smile. "I'm okay, Katie," I told her, laughing softly. I closed my eyes, wiping at my forehead with the back of my hand. "What was that spell you just did?"
"Winter Storm. I'm sorry; I wanted to see how you would do against it. I didn't realize it was so strong – it's my favorite, but I've never cast it at anyone before." She looked about ready to cry. "Are you sure you're not hurt?"
For a moment, it brought to mind a memory. It was of the barracks at the mountainhome: my sister had hit me with her training sword, and I hadn't managed to block it... she'd done the same thing. "You remind me of my sister," I said softly.
Katie seemed uncomfortable, and looked away, getting up and pulling me to my feet.
"I'm fine," I finally answered, brushing off my armor. "I'm just tired, that's all."
"Are you sure?"
I nodded, motioning for her to go back to the other side of the room. "Mhm. Do it again; I'll see if I can hold it this time."
Unsure, she hesitated, but finally went over. "Okay, ready," she said, waiting for me to start.
"Armok, vendi scild!" The now-familiar shield formed in front of me, glowing and pulsating with Armok's power.
Across the room, Katie readied herself, putting herself in a firm stance as she watched me closely.
I braced myself with my feet, concentrating.
Armok, help me, I prayed.
"Winteos, wimir stoirmas!" she called, and again the air whirled around her, frosting over as it spun, lightning sparking from the metal around her.
As she thrust her arms forwards, myriads of icy, crystal shards flew forth at incredible speeds, sparking crimson and lavender as they entered the magical dome, deflected even farther than before. I watched in awe as they turned aside, some of them splintering before they even had a chance. Purple lightning from her hands writhed across the surface of my shield, crackling with power. The display of light was beautiful... it was like watching fireworks, while knowing that
you made them.
After about thirty seconds, she stopped, breathless, closing her eyes in exhaustion. I let my arms fall limp to my side as the shield dissolved into nothingness, as tired as she was.
"That was so cool!" she laughed softly, raising her head. Her eyes widened as her gaze passed behind me, and her laugh stopped short. I spun around to see what she was looking at, and the smile faded from my face.
Several feet from either side of the door, multitudes of icy shards had embedded themselves deep within the dirt walls, but what drew my attention the most was the fact that Lieutenant Almory was standing in the doorway, my daggers in her hand. Behind her, soft lights illuminated the inside of the trench, the night sky above speckled with stars.
"That was impressive," Almory said finally. "Katalina, you taught her well. And that spell you were casting seemed especially effective," she added, examining at the icy wall to her left with a critical eye.
Katie smiled weakly. "Thank you, Captain," she said, basking in the praise.
Almory held my daggers out to me. "Agent, here are your daggers. I think you'll find them somewhat more useful now."
I took them, thanking her, and immediately noticed the little golden spheres in the hilt: they looked just like the eyes of snakes.
"Katalina, come with me," she ordered, turning away and leaving.
As she passed by me, Katie squeezed my hand, and we shared a smile. "Thank you," I said.
"Always," she whispered, and left.
I watched her for a moment as she ran down the stairs, following the lieutenant, and then looked back down at my daggers, shifting one to each hand. As I gripped them, the latticework seemed to hum, laced with a blue light that seemed to coil itself about the hilt and blade. Finally, I slipped them into the sheaths at my waist and left the barracks, walking aimlessly down the stairs and through the trench.
"Aw, keep up, you guys!" I heard Gearbox boom. Looking up, I saw him standing on a ledge, lifting one side of the turret and walking slowly backwards. On the other, Reudh's party, Trebor, Saemin and Hawkins were struggling to make pace.
"You're half machine, if I dare say so!" Reudh exclaimed, panting. "It’s far more difficult for us, without having metal limbs! It’s dark and hard to see as it is!"
"Aw, it's not that different!" Gearbox laughed. "And there's seven of you, too!" I caught his eye, and he glanced over at me. "Hey, you! V! Look at me now! Better than new, yeah?"
I laughed, beaming with happiness. "I added a lot!" I called up. "You're doing great so far!" I continued down the trench, though I still heard them talking behind me.
"Don't I know it!" Gearbox boomed. "I can't wait until we're done with this, though, I'm getting hungry."
Hawkins groaned, stumbling under his corner. "You eat as much as Saemin."
I reached the armory door, opening it and going inside. The scythods were at the firing range, wielding four plasguns each: one in each armscythe tip, one in each claw-hand. At the end of the range was a humanoid figure, dressed in black armor. It stayed at the far end, dashing about at unbelievable speeds, running up the walls and flipping off the ceiling, changing directions rapidly and smoothly.
"Vanya!" Jonah called me over. "You'll never believe it!"
I walked over to him. "What's going on?"
"Do you see the robotic target?" he asked rhetorically, pointing towards the jumping man. "Watch." In scythod, he said "Start". Immediately, the scythods began firing rapidly, projectiles hissing through the air, every shot hitting the target's head and exploding in a shower of sparks. No matter how it jumped or dodged, they hit the mark every time.
I gasped, covering my mouth with a hand. Despite my strong dislike of guns, I couldn't deny that it looked amazing.
"I've never seen anything like it, Vanya," Jonah chuckled, shaking his head. "Your friend, John, taught me some basic phrases in their language, and we've been training for the past hour or so... but they didn't even need it. They can
hear where their target is, it seems. I'd love to do research on just how much they're capable of, once this is over."
"Hopefully, you will," said a voice. I spun around and saw Almory approaching us.
"Sir," I said respectfully.
She nodded in recognition. "Agent, the railcannon is almost into position, and the scythods managed two underground tunnels instead of just one. Things are looking up for us. Are you ready to do your part?"
I nodded. "I'm not sure if I can deflect bullets yet, though," I admitted, raising my voice over the sound of the plasguns. "I'm sure I can at least bend them away."
"Katalina assures me your spells will be more effective on the battlefield," Almory said, turning to the scythods. "You can stop now," she called out.
At this, K'bahth and Klade lowered their weapons. "I do not understand why we never used these before," Klade chattered. "They are extremely accurate at range."
"Old tradition, Klade," K'bahth answered. "Traditions are as mountain passages: they are hard to turn from."
Almory looked at me questioningly, wondering what they'd said.
"They say they like the guns," I explained.
Jonah laughed.
The lieutenant nodded. "You need to eat and get some rest, Agent. You'll be up before the rest of us, around midnight. We’ll be up two hours later. That gives you five hours of sleep, if you hurry. Get moving."
"Yes sir," I said, passing her and heading for the mess hall.
Looking ahead to the job I knew I would have to do, I was terrified... but determined. It was like Urist had said: fear makes you stronger, and keeps you alive. With Armok himself on my side... I couldn't see how we could fail.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2279956 times)