RE:volt! Chapter 19: SPELL BOOK SYSTEM
Entering into the rotting building that served as his quarters, Ark barely had time to close the decrepit wooden door before he was beset by a flurry of questions from an energetic blonde girl.
"WHOA! Are you ok?! I heard about the Apothecary thing! How'd she escape? Did you drink poison? Are you sick? Where have you been? Are you-" Nine rattled off, bouncing up and down and shaking Ark left and right. The little girl crying with a worried expression on her face.
"I'm fine! I'm fine! Let me go!" Ark yelled, his hand on the squirming girl's face and pushing the clingy child off him who began following him like a puppy.
Ark swept his eyes across the barracks, taking in the trainees and the state they were in.
Walking through the barracks, Ark could feel everyone's eyes on him. Rumors and gossip were one of the few pastimes any slave had, so Ark was instantly a pariah in their eyes.
Unfortunately this also meant he was known by the overseers, meaning no one wanted to approach him for fear of garnering the ire of their handlers.
Well… everyone but Nine.
Ark sat on his cot, pulling up the system screen as Nine continued to poke and prod him for answers with her finger literally poking his cheek.
[SPELLBOOK System Online]
[Would You Like To Run This Program?]
[Y/N]?
Ark clenched his jaw skeptical at what he was looking at. During his tenure in the holding cell, Ark thought long and hard, wondering if he should run the program or not.
According to Irelix, she didn't know what this system was or even what it did. Only that it was named after him and presented him with a choice.
Yes. Or No.
At least from what Ark surmised.
Although skeptical, Ark focused on the translucent letter Y.
[Running Program…]
[Beginning Tutorial…]
Huh?
In an instant, Ark was suddenly transported elsewhere, the once sitting boy now standing in an oasis of sand in the time it took him to blink.
But he wasn't alone, perhaps more shocking was that Irelix was beside him, the white and black scaled dragon blinking rapidly in shock as she lounged on a throne in the middle of filing her talons with her scales.
"What?" Ark let out, his head looking left and right as he no longer felt the weight of a collar around his neck.
He looked down, eyeing his body that was no longer the size of a child but that of an adult, his hands bearing the familiar scars of his former life.
"Interesting." Irelix said, sitting up, her body no longer translucent.
"Where are we? What is this?" Ark demanded, wondering if the dragon had done something.
Irelix smirked, her talons gripping her throne and cracking the armrests with a look of surprise before she opened her mouth.
"I believe we're in a reality sphere." Irelix said, picking the shards of her throne out of her claws. "A very intricate one at that."
"Reality sphere? What's that?" Ark asked, confused.
"It's-"
"A spell that alters the perception of reality and time." A familiar young man with green eyes wearing a yellow robe said, appearing between Irelix and Ark.
Immediately Ark's brow furrowed, his face twisting with fury as he charged the apparition that appeared.
"JASPER!!" Ark roared, throwing himself at the man only to land in the sand as he sailed through the mage.
"Hi Ark," Jasper said, the man smiling sadly at his scowling friend clamoring to his feet. "I wish we were meeting under better circumstances."
"RAAAH!" Ark screamed, his fist phasing through Jasper.
"First and foremost-"
"DIE!"
"I would like to say-"
"God damn it, why won't my fists touch you?!"
"I'm-"
"RAAH!"
"Ok, time out time." Jasper sighed, rolling his eyes before Ark suddenly froze in place.
Ark scowled, his face stuck between confusion and rage.
"Right." Jasper said, the man taking a breath as his head hung low for a second before he stared at Ark with sad eyes. "I suppose when we last saw each other it wasn't under the most favorable circumstances."
"YOU!" Ark managed to let out, struggling against the paralysis that gripped him.
"I just want to say. I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice… It was between you or my family… and if you're hearing this… well, my plan worked." Jasper said, his image turning blurry for a moment as his face twisted with an expression mixed with happiness and sadness. "By my estimate, twenty to thirty years will have passed. But… souls are tricky, and so is magic. It could be twenty minutes from your death. Ten years. Or even a thousand years from now… however the chances are high that when you return… I'll be dead."
Ark furrowed his brow, staring at his former friend-turned-traitor as he spoke.
"So…ha, you won't be able to kill me old friend," Jasper chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "My sincerest apologies… Another thing I've denied you. Ha… haha. Wow ok."
Jasper took a deep breath, composing himself before he turned to face Irelix who was lying leisurely on her throne and observing the spectacle.
"Salutations Empress Irelix." Jasper said, bowing with his hand shaped into a claw pointed at his neck.
"And salutations to you, M'rakcana." Irelix replied, a never-before-seen side of the dragon that spoke with a hint of respect as Jasper focused back to Ark.
"What you see before you is a fragment of my soul, diluted and mixed into the poison I would have fed you after the battle," Jasper explained as casually as he would the components of a spell. "In it, it contains an intricate sequence of runes and glyphs I've dubbed a program, which runs a system that I created to help get you back on your feet. In Silerona, you once asked me to teach you magic, well… I found a way… just uh, not the way you probably expected haha."
Ark squinted his eyes, finding himself able to move again as he listened intently to the mage.
"With Irelix's help, it is my hope-my plan, that you will be able to stop Roland." Jasper said, shaking his head lightly as his figure seemed to turn translucent. "His ambition… It was never about ending the reign of dragons… but prolonging it, using components from Irelix's body to…"
"TO WHAT?!" Irelix demanded, standing up from her throne with her voice reverberating through the space as wings of white ivory sprung from her back and white flames shot from her nose.
Jasper swallowed.
"To become immortal. To usurp your throne and become a creature to surpass you and all other beings." Jasper said, his expression of grave concern. "He promised to unite the world under his banner, to make a utopia that would span for eons. I can only pray that my calculations were correct."
"You? Pray?" Ark muttered unconsciously, causing Jasper to chuckle.
"So you can see the enormity of the situation." Jasper laughed as Irelix and Ark looked at one another.
Ark clenched his jaw, the man teetering on believing the mage or trying to punch him.
"So this system… you said it could teach me magic? How?" Ark probed.
"Simple. The same way you activated the system." Jasper replied. "By doing the one thing above all others that you excelled at… Murder."
Ark frowned, unsure of how to feel that the activation of this system was for him to murder, that Jasper had pre-ordained that it would happen.
"In this space, time moves differently. For every hour that passes here, a second passes in the real world." Jasper explained as transparent letters hovered in the air. "If my arithmetic was correct, you'll be able access this area once a day at least, allowing you to train. Something you and I know you love to do. Sadly next you arrive here, I'll be gone."
"That means-"
"Time is limited. Yes." Jasper chuckled at Ark's mixed expression before the mage directed his gaze toward the letters.
TIER 1 DRAGON CORE
[AFFINITIES]
FIRE
A
WATER
E
EARTH
D
AIR
C
LIGHT
B
DARKNESS
B
"The six elements of magic." Jasper said, each word presented with a grade and a floating sphere that represented the element. "What you're looking at is what the system has diagnosed as your innate affinities. Aggregating this data, I've compiled a lesson plan for you. Quests if you will, that will reward you with pages."
Ark took a breath, processing the information as the letters dispersed and reformed into a small screen.
"Pages?"
"Yes," Jasper explained, his image flickering. "You've always had a problem remembering things if they weren't written down. And let's be honest Ark… you weren't the most… academic of individuals, quite frankly the way you fumbled with spell runes was downright embarrassing. Set mankind back years if I'm being sincere."
"Great, I'm being called an idiot by a dead man." Ark sighed.
"But you were the most talented. The swiftest, strongest, and most important of all, a trait that set you in ascendence even above the dragons. You were the kindest. Well, besides Liliana of course."
At the mention of his deceased lover Ark's stomach plummeted, his emotions rising. Yet he said nothing, remaining stoic as he listened to the apparition of Jasper before he would make his judgment.
"But, I digress. Killing creatures, absorbing their life force, and raising your affinities, the spellbook will grant you access to magic. To spells that will unveil themselves should you meet the prerequisites." Jasper said before he gave Ark a soft smile. "You were strong without magic. Now imagine what you could be with it. This… is the purpose of this system. And it… is my final gift to you my old friend."
[SPELLBOOK LvL 1]
[SPELL USES]
T1: 3/3
[EXP:5/100]
[SPELL PAGES AVAILABLE: 1]
[Select your First Spell!]
[T1 Fire: Grasp Flame: Bind and move targeted flames]
[T1 Fire: Spark: Light a flashing spark of fire, the more ambient fire mana in the air, the bigger the spark]
[T1 Fire: Heated Hands: Will fire mana to your hands, coating your palms with scalding energy]
[T1 Fire/Darkness: Smokebomb: Conjure a cloud of magical darkness]
[T1 Darkness: Draining Touch: Siphon touched target of Mana]
[T1 Darkness/Light: Equilibrium: Combine the power of Entropy and Renewal to convert bodily resources into energy: 800 calories for 1 T1 spell slot]
[T1 Light: Mending Touch: Use Light mana to accelerate healing on touched target]
[T1 Light/Wind: Blunted Barrier: Combine Light and Wind elements to form a protective barrier to dampen blows]
"Fascinating. There may be hope for your pathetic race of monkeys after all." Irelix said as she analyzed the screen and then turned to the magician. "You are one of the good ones M'rakcana."
"You flatter me Empress," Jasper said, bowing lightly as Ark stared at the list, his mouth ajar, unsure what he should select.
"I know… that this is a bit much, but...," Jasper explained as the system suddenly minimized, reappearing in Ark's peripheral vision as an icon of a staff. "You needn't make the choice just yet. Take your time."
Suddenly the oasis around Ark seemed to shake a bit, the edges of the word he was in beginning to crack.
"Ah, it looks like our time is up. Too much time in here and your psych will collapse." Jasper warned, his green eyes darting around as his body began to turn into a mist. The ghost looked down at his now translucent hands before gazing up at Ark with a sad smile. "I'm sorry Ark. I truly am. I've never been a religious man, but if there is a hell… I know I will burn in it for what I've done to you."
Ark clenched his jaw, his emotions in turmoil as he stared at his former friend.
"Although our time was short, know that I cherish this moment. If it's any consolation my friend, I'll make sure that Liliana lives a safe and comfortable life." Jasper said, his body disintegrating as Ark's eyes widened in shock.
Jasper didn't know. Or at least this piece of Jasper didn't know. Hadn't accounted for the possibility that Roland would include the priestess in his plot of murder and kill her too. But it was too late, and despite being granted a means of gaining power, all Ark felt was hollow as the world around him melted away and he was sent back to his barracks with Nine poking him in the face.