"Evening, Your Grace." Gerolt nodded as I emerged from a shadow in the corner. "Fancy a mid-day snack?"
"I do." I nodded. "The usual."
"Very well." He grinned turning to lift a wooden slab from the counter to pull an assortment of fruit from the enchanted refrigerator and begin arranging them on the island between us. "So, how goes His Grace's studies?"
"They go well." I amiably stated. "I'm just taking a break before I began to learn of spells."
"Oh! Spells!" He perked up with enthusiastic approval. Though I couldn't help but feel a little condescension. "Already, huh?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "Soon enough I'll be able to accompany you on your hunting trips."
At that he only chuckled nervously and leaned over to concentrate on cutting and making my bowl presentable.
I decided to remain silent and watch him work while I thought about the questions still burning in my mind. The many wonders regarding this strange world.
There were uncountable similarities to Earth. The clothes. The architecture. The language; or one of them, at least. Even a lot of the food was the same. There were apples and bananas and pineapples and your standard assortment of vegetables. But otherworldly entrees as well. Like the mass of sweet and juicy, rubbery growths called Hex Fruit. Or Mudroot, a fruit that, as the name suggests, grows in the mud and is a strange mix between a pear and potato. And, my favorite, Swamp Shard Nectar. Which comes from a putrid bulb that resembles a burnt pine cone and contained a mass of succulent syrupy yellow flesh.
Those things were trivial in the face of other observations, however. Namely, in the face of the fact that I had yet to see the sun.
Sure, I was a nocturnal creature and went off to bed as soon as the sun began rising and traveled through the Shadowfell most of the time. But I'd emerged from my room as the sun was setting on many occasions and found that the suns light had been cast from more or less the same angle. That in itself could imply a number of things. The world we were on; Maru, could be tidally locked and it was thanks to a piece of orbital infrastructure or its magical equivalent that gave us our day-night cycle. O,r it could be that Maru was tilted so far over on its axis and its orbital period was so long that a solar day would be equal to a few sidereal years. Or, it could be like Venus and have a slow retrograde spin. Giving it extremely long days.
The possibilities were endless, and my knowledgebase was insignificant.
A sudden thud ripped me from my thoughts and I gazed up to see Gerald retracting his hand from my fruit bowl with an apologetic smile.
"Didn't mean to break your concentration, Your Grace."
I waved the matter aside as I took my bowl. Then called out to him before he turned to grab a cleaning rag. "Say, Gerolt. How big is this world?"
"Oh. The Mortal Plane is far larger than any of us can imagine." He chuckled to himself. "I know that Maru is around 25 to 26,000 kilometers from any one end to the other. As far as the plane itself." He chuckled again. "You'd have to find a scholar to answer that."
"Jesus Christ." I gasped aloud.
And Gerolt's brows ruffled immediately. "Who?"
"No one," I quickly said before settling into my thoughts and my meal.
'Twenty five thousand kilometers.' I scoffed to myself. 'That's the equivalent of two Earth radii. That in itself is huge, but Gerolt made it seems as if that's pennies in the face of gold.'
After thinking things through over my snack, my eagerness to know more was beginning to reach the point of frustration. So I hurriedly picked up my plates and brought them over to the sink to wash away the scraps with water manipulation before placing them in the rack to be properly sanitized later washed. Then nodded to Gerolt before I slipped back into the shadows. "I look forward to you teaching me about hunting and the culinary arts."
"Yes… Your Grace." I heard his somewhat reluctant voice echo behind me as I stepped into the Shadowfell. "I as well."
Back in my room, I excitedly returned to my seat and began flipping through the last and smallest of the books- The Basics of Spells and Casting.
On the very first page was a thank you note to all the witches and wizards who came before. For remaining altruistic and choosing to disclose the secrets of their magical prowess. All for the betterment of humanities future.
"Hmm." I frowned.
In truth, a part of me felt a particular way about disclosing my abilities to the greater world. It was highly probably that I'd encounter many powerful beings throughout my life; human or not. Snitching on myself was a surefire way to make a bad day possibility become a chaotic reality in an instant.
That said, I was also likely like the underlying concepts for my abilities would go far above their heads. From what I could see of this society that I was apart of, the age I was born into seemed to be just on the fringe of entering the renaissance era. With hints of modernity due to the many enchantments throughout the place. I had doubts that even a scholar in this world would've heard of concepts like gravity or radiation or beta decay. So, it wasn't as if I'd have lost anything.
'Oh well.' I shrugged and flipped the pages with wide eyes. Making sure to capture the entirety of the text within my field of vision before actually 'reading' the words with the Eternal Eye and flipping to the next page. Drastically reducing my reading time.
The book started off by saying that spells could be learned in two ways. Either by studying a Tome, or by developing a spell yourself. Making three types of categories for learned spells to fall into- Simple, Grimoire, and Stylized. Naturally, since stylized spells are unique in their creation and grimoire spells are; quite misleadingly, learned from a tome, the book only went into depth with simple spells.
As for which, there were many more than I initially expected. And the effectiveness of each of them were entirely dependent on what attributed mana was used during a particular engagement.
There was the obligatory Simple Attack and Defense Spells, of course. The former of which consisted of literally throwing the attributed mana at an opponent; or using it thrust, sweep or slam.
Defense spells on the other hand required one to simply condense a shield of mana around them; though the effectiveness of that shield depended entirely on the conflicting mana attributes.
Then there were Domain Spells like the one I unleashed in the training court. They are large regions of magical energy that changes the surrounding environment to the affinity of the user- A cloud of darkness in my case; or high electrical charge; or gravity.
More intriguingly were the last few types of spells. And more so, the section after that.
What was referred to as Craft Spells, came with a disclaimer. While they were indeed categorized as Spells, Craft Spells revolved around the art of using magic for more industrial or crafty means. It wasn't using raw mana to craft weapons of energy like the elves, but using attributed magic or even mana manipulation to create material items- to heat forges for iron and steel; to compact the earth and stone or mold metals. To build emplacements or infrastructure; or even furniture, with different attributes of magic.
Any spell emplaced in an area with any form of delay or trigger were referred to as Trap Spells. While they're most famously known for their effectiveness in ambushes. They are invaluable for more practical means as well. A water trap spell could be emplaced in a field for example, while a fire trap spell was emplaced in the fireplace of a farmer's home. And they could wake up to warm house and irrigated crops without leaving their bed.
From what I could gather about Reinforcement Spells, they acted as a form of magical body augmentation; where one would flood their body with mana to strengthen or empower it. Though once again, the element's compatibility with the human body was a factor to consider.
Lastly there were Binding Spells. Which, as the name implied, were used to bind and restrain a particular target.
Beyond that, was the section I became most engrossed in. A passage about the differences between active and passive spells. As one would guess, active spells required conscious effort to cast. They required the mage to imagine the effect they want their spell to have before manipulating their mana through the core, measure the volume and density of the gathered energy before directing it out of their body to unleash the desired effect.
Passive spells however, were more akin to buffs than actual spells. Granting abilities or resistances that were based off ones affinity and regulated like the automatic bodily processes.
'Perhaps that's why I don't particularly feel the cold.' I wondered to myself. 'Which implies that I'll have electrical and even radiation immunities after awakening the rest of my cores. If it's true that my natural darkvision is improved from my affinities, then that'd imply that I'll gain to see across the EM spectrum when I awaken my other cores.'
With my reading assignment complete I decided to get some meditation in and head to the training court at the first crack of dark. And so I hopped on my bed and assumed the lotus position before letting my mind wander.
***
I stirred from my torpor-like meditative state just before sundown and rolled out of bed to quickly get dressed and grab my final piece of reading material before heading off towards the training court.
I wanted nothing more than go and start flinging spells around since the moment I'd been born. To experiment and learn of the capabilities and limits of the dark energies within me. For unlike my dormant affinities, I had no inclination of how this magic truly worked.
The tome my grandfather gave me would serve as an invaluable hint, I assumed. And so I eagerly inspected the palm-sized scroll after settling in the center of the court before unfurling its contents.
Despite being sealed with wax or some other material, the parchment was severely tanned by age and tied off with a silk banner of a yellow-gold color.
And beneath that silken tie were only two lines.
'What is your shadow, if not a clone oneself; cast by the blue sky?'
'The Puppeteer Magi.' A. Cole.
'Not only a riddle, but a Haiku.' I snorted to myself. 'Great.'
'At least this one is simple though.' I then sighed, glancing down at my own shadow, mimicking my swaying head as my mind churned.
It was indeed a clone of myself when looked at from a different perspective.- a light-less region that was as animated as myself; of all things. A shadow entity, created by that matter that made me, me; and has since been following me since my birth. Tagging along with me wherever I went, whether it was shitting or training. Forced to mimic my actions in its two-dimensional world.
'So then, this… Doppelganger spell.' I wondered. 'I assume that at a base level, it'll allow this 2D clone to come into our 3D world and do whatever being it was spawned from could do. But if these spells were limited to imagination, how many effects could be stacked?'
The only thing to do was experiment and see for myself, so I focused on my shadow and began pulling mana from my well. As before, the energy was immediately drawn to the abyssal bean that was my affinity core and began spreading throughout the organ after passing the membrane; allowing me to grab hold of the now attributed energy and begin withdrawing it radially before it could be further attributed to death magic.
Now free of the organ, the shadow mana gathered and began condensing within the strange, ethereal version of my body that surrounded my well and affinity core and seemed to leak out of my physical body in the form of an aura of black mist.
Again, without a proper scale, I knew not how much was too much or too little for any particular spell. So, I decided to continue gathering the energy while I thought up as many conditions as I could.
To be able to copy abilities in addition to mimicking movements, if it could. To be sentient and capable of not only speech, but of making timely decisions as well; yet still able to be remotely by controlled by me, complete with a mental link. And above all, I wanted the Doppelgangers to be capable of persistence and growth. To dwell in the two-dimensional plane it was created from after the spell was canceled and to be capable of growing in tune with the being they were spawned from.
A tall order, sure. But if Telin's words were true, the possibilities were truly limitless.
With just over half of the mana in my well withdrawn and accumulated into a cloud of darkness within me, I reaffirmed my conditions on the spell before guiding the energy towards the soles of my feet and released the energy from that strange, spiritual body echoed on top of mine.
Like a dam had been breached, the umbral energy flooded into my shadow. Darkening and condensing it past what could be thought possible until the influx of energy came to resemble a soupy mess of a boiling dark fluid that grew to swell and rise at the center as the energy continued to pour from my body.
As the seconds passed, the mass began to rise and take shape into first a pillar of semi-solid darkness that then split apart at the base and top to further condense into leg and arms. Followed by a head and a split-tailed coat, slacks and loafers, all made from the dark mass of material continued to become more defined as the last flow of energy began to drain out.
With the energy within my ethereal body depleted, I began to feel a bit of fatigue in my mind. Like I'd just spent an hour or so running or exercising and the fatigue turned into stress and went straight to my brain, rather than my body. I felt a bit… on edge. Annoyed like I was craving a drink or cigarette. Though there were physical effects as well. My body was a bit tenser than it was before. I noticed my jaw was clenched and both my heart rate and rate of respiration had slightly increased.
And like the stream of water from a faucet, the ambient mana was cascading towards my body and passing through my mana pores to enter and recharge my well. Somewhat relieving the after effects of casting what I assumed was a powerful spell, but not entirely.
Meanwhile, my newly formed doppelganger was standing before me, mimicking my somewhat labored breath. The outline of its face, hair and clothes were all identically matched to mine, up to the smallest detail. Only colored in differing shades of black and gray.
Somewhat slowly, I held out my fist and watched as it mirrored my movement until our fists touched. Then, he quickly retracted his hand as I did once I felt the vacantly cold texture of his shadow flesh. An amorphous material like rubber or solid gel that retained the solidity and hardness of a fist made of flesh and blood and bone.
"Can you speak?" I asked my copy.
"I can." The doppelganger mouthlessly whispered after a nod. Only the whisper sounded more like a ghostly wail in my voice that both loomed from where the doppelganger stood and echoed within my ears as if I were haunted.
"Nice." I nodded. Then took a few steps away from the doppelganger. "Let's see what else you can-"
"I see you've finished your assignment." A gruff voice came floating in from behind me.
My Doppelganger shifted his head to see around me while I turned to see my grandfather stepping in from the shadows.
"I have." I nodded, turning to fully face him. "I've completed my other assignments as well. I now know about mana wells and pores and know that this stress if feel is Mana Tolerance at work. I learned of the basic spells. The opening of the gates and humanity gaining affinity cores. And the abilities of non-humans and of the basic spells."
"It's only been a few days, Amun." He laughed in despair and disbelief.
"It's not as if I have anything else to do besides wander around and practice magic." I shrugged. "I'm bored."
"You're bored." Grandfather chuckled. "You can have anything you want; be it games or toys or anything that brings you joy, and you're bored." He paused to erupt a bit in boisterous laugher before stepping forth and placing his bear paw of a hand on my shoulder. "You are the High Duke of Odis, Amun. If you want something, all you need to do is say so."
"Okay." I amiably nodded. "I have no interest in toys and games. What I want is information and experience. I want a library. I want to go hunting with Gerolt. I want the freedom to explore outside of the estate. And I want my vassals here."
Grandfather gripped my shoulder tighter and shook as he grinned and said. "Acknowledged and understood." Then, released my shoulder to begin pacing back and forth before me. "Now," he said at his pivot point. "Are you ready to continue your lessons?
"Yes, Sir!" I bowed. Spurring my Grandfather's enthusiasm.
"Judging from your shadow clone, you have a grasp on withdrawing mana from your well and out of your core to produce darkness. But I wish to teach you one more darkness spell before we move on to death magic. A reinforcement spell that I call, Wraith Form. Though, you can call it whatever you like."
"Okay." I nodded, settling on the same name before pulling the mana from my well.
"Once you withdraw the darkness and it begins accumulating in an aura around you, focus on pulling it back into your physical body."
Like before, the energy began gathering my ethereal second body; causing a mist or smoke of darkness to begin wafting from my body like steam. Following the pointer given, I began pulling the energy inward, back into my body. Flooding my flesh with the same distant cold I felt whenever I plunged into the Shadowfell.
"That's enough." My grandfather held up a grizzled palm.
I stopped the flow of mana at once I continued pulling the last residuals of shadow mana into my physical body before relaxing my focus.
"Try to move about." My grandfather gestured to his side. "Try to jump."
I'd already been turning about in place when he gave the instruction and in that time, I noticed that my body felt… airy. Lighter as if it were no longer made of flesh and blood. Following his words, I hopped upwards and almost yelped as I rapidly gained altitude and came to a rest near the rooftops of the training court.
I felt a burst of shadow energy bloom below me and suddenly saw my grandfather rising up to my level. His legs replaced with black clouds that wafted and dissipated in the breeze.
"Reinforcing the body with shadow mana essentially transform us into phantoms. As the name suggests, this Wraith Form gives our bodies ghostly qualities. Physical attacks will pass right through us and we can freely fly around through the air and can move through cracks and crevasses in walls or in the ground. And if in darkness, these abilities are strengthened and we can even render ourselves invisible to the eye."
"Amazing." I gasped.
"Indeed." He grinned. Then grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me into the nearest shadow. "Now come."