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Chapter 97 - Sanctuary Part 9
🕑 Added 2025-11-25 02:47:11 +0000 UTCAs he moved away from the necklace, Gio could no longer see the strange red strands.
Strings… this fragment in the cover of my spellbook… what does it mean?
Too much was happening too quickly. What had initially been planned as a simple, if not risky, trip to an obscure and relatively unexplored dungeon had quickly spiraled into a confusing mess of questions for Gio. He did his best to put those thoughts out of his head and move forward, but Chandrika also seemed to be dealing with her own share of uncertainty.
“Did you want to talk about it?” Gio asked.
Chandrika snapped out of a daze.
“Huh? Oh… I was just…” Chandrika sighed. “I’m feeling a bit… frustrated. Not at you, of course, but myself. I thought that I was getting better at controlling my abilities, but I… I can’t see anything. I initially thought that I was just tired, and I am tired, but… It’s like I lost my ability entirely. I can’t see the weave unless I really, really strain myself. And then there was you, with the red strings? I’m exhausted, confused, and I want to talk to my grandmother. No offense… but it would be good for me if we did what we needed to do here and left.” Chandrika stated.
“No offense taken. It’s been a long day for all of us. As for your powers… you know that you really saved all of us with your domain, right? If not for you, I’m not sure that we would have made it out of here. So… I don’t think that your power is faulty.” Gio said.
Chandrika blinked.
“... I guess you’re right. Huh. Maybe I just need to go to bed, and then everything will be fine…” she blearily said.
At that, Gio left his friend to her thoughts. Hatra and Jean were having a quiet discussion near the stairs to the next floor of the pagoda.
“-I know. I know… It’s just that the thralls might still be out there.” Jean whispered.
“What are you guys talking about?” Gio asked.
Hatra looked to the floor with a nervous expression. “We were just noticing that there’s no return portal, yet.”
“... and I was wondering if one would appear… if we were to take the necklace,” Jean added.
Gio scrunched his face in concern. “But that would mean potentially collapsing the dungeon.”
“It would,” Hatra said. “But we were discussing the fact that there still might be a small army of mind-controlled thralls waiting for us outside of the sanctuary.”
Gio thought for a moment. “If they haven’t converged on us yet, then I’d wager that they probably can’t.”
“But… they might ambush us the second we try to leave.” Jean rebutted.
“I guess… I don’t know. We’ll worry about it once we’re ready to go, I suppose.” Gio sighed.
Another thing to think about.
“Why do you guys look so gloooooomyy?” Sapphire frowned. “We! Are! IN! A! TREASURE VAULT!” We did the hard part, and it’s time to get rewarded! Didn’t you all just get a boon? Mine was FANTASTIC! Why are we all sad?!”
The blue-haired girl’s energy was electrifying. She went down the line, flicking noses and punching shoulders. Jean begrudgingly giggled as Sapphire’s tiny hands tickled his sides.
Even Gio was forced to smile at the much-needed levity.
You know what? She’s right. Whatever comes later can wait.
The group carefully but enthusiastically made their way up seven layers of the temple-like structure. The upper floors of the pagoda had windows that gazed out over the high walls of the sanctuary, looking down the flight of waterfalls and overlooking a serene waterscape. The cool breeze and gentle mist were refreshing, and coupled with the mystic engravings of the structure, made for quite spectacular scenery.
Sapphire was attracted to each cache like a human treasure magnet. All in all, they managed to find another three chests of treasure, a shelf of worn scrolls, and some kind of display case full of intricate glass vials.
Gio tried to say that he deserved a smaller share of the treasure due to claiming use of the spiritspring, a privilege that would usually be highly restricted among commercial dungeon-crawling parties. Sapphire and Chandrika briskly reminded Gio that this was not a commercial venture, and none of the rest of them had done the research necessary to use the spring, notwithstanding. Sapphire shoved three more spellforms into his arms.
Gio obtained spellforms for [Conjure Water], [Aquatic Grace], and [Purify Water].
[Conjure Water] (Tier: Common)(Schools: Elemental (Water), Conjuration) - A spell to conjure water. Potable water will take more effort to conjure than unpotable water. Conjuring more than a small amount with this spellform is impractical. This spellform uses dated scribing techniques and materials, making it potentially quite a collector’s item.
[Aquatic Grace] (Tier: High Uncommon)(Schools: Elemental (Water), Enhancement) - Move through liquids with enhanced agility. This spellform uses dated scribing techniques and materials, making it potentially quite a collector’s item.
[Purify Water] (Tier: High Uncommon)(Schools: Elemental (Water), Transmutation) - remove all non-magical forms of taint or impurity from water, rendering it safe to drink. This spell will not provide the minerals and electrolytes necessary for safe consumption if used on elemental pure water. This spellform uses dated scribing techniques and materials, making it potentially quite a collector’s item.
There were a few more scrolls that described some more… esoteric rituals. It was easy to forget that not all magic was constrained to easy-to-cast and convenient spellforms. He took them anyway, if only to study the methodologies described in the spells… Gio did, however, raise his eyebrow at some of them.
Among the collected scrolls, there was; a papyrus leaflet that loosely described a ritual of palm frond weaving and pouring of specially prepared oils that would conjure a spring of pure water in a desert. A needlessly unrealistic and wildly expensive spell (of which Gio was uncertain if some of the ingredients listed ever existed), which would enchant a large pearl. Said pearl would grant its consumer (to be swallowed whole! Even though it was as big as a lemon!) the ability to, as the spell called it, “bewych the hearts and mynds of lycherous menfylk” or, as Gio understood it, charm and manipulate people. There was also a month-long ritual to enchant an anchor to provide safe passage during storms, a needlessly complex and ill-advised summoning ritual that claimed to summon a beast from the sea (The sea, being already full enough of monsters due to the Hole in the World, and the spell worryingly not detailing anything related to the allegiance of said beast...).
If there was one thing that was good about being a shameless spell-scavenger, it was that the rest of the party had absolutely no interest in the archaic spellforms and strange arcana. Gio was fairly pleased with his haul from the dungeon- doubly so because he hadn’t really considered the fact that there might be spellforms to be received at all. And it seemed that everyone had found at least one or two baubles to walk away with, or in Sapphire’s case, a veritable hoard of potions and poisons. Mostly poisons, from the way that she kept pulling out testing kits and hazmat gear, but valuable for a budding alchemist nonetheless.
The group approached a raised pool in the center of the top floor. In stark contrast to the basin that held the necklace, there could be no mistaking the way that a dense fog of water mana leaked from the source of the spiritspring. The crystalline liquid sparkled in the light, painting a dazzling display on the pointed ceiling. Above them, panes of glass revealed the perpetual sun overhead, and to the sides, endless water, with the fog of the peripheral dungeon visible only if he strained to look for it. Truly, this place deserved the title of “sanctuary.”
Gio removed his shoes and waded into the knee-high water under the observation of his friends. The tickle of high-density mana against his skin felt like walking through a carbonated beverage, and Gio found himself giggling slightly despite his nerves.
This is it. This is what I came all this way for. I absolutely cannot mess this up at the finish line.
In theory, creating a sigil was a simple act of willpower, not dissimilar to casting a spell.
In all the materials that Gio could get his hands on in the Owl’s Respite, researchers and spellforgers each claim that the core of the process was much the same as creating a spellform, if not stripped down to bare essentials- intent and shape. A petitioner (an archaic way to refer to a sigil-maker) would mix their intent into the energy of the source, distill that down into an intensely concentrated form, and then shape that substance into a finite form, the sigil, which would then be ready to be used in spellmaking.
In practice, however, Gio had some concerns.
The problem was that the source of energy had to align with the idea to be impressed into the sigil, which was common sense, really. A raging volcano wouldn’t make for a good source for an ice magic sigil, and a floating temple of air mana wouldn’t be a good place to make an earthquake sigil. Gio was a mirror mage, and while he could probably make something with a water magic sigil, it wasn’t something that his heart was set on. But… Gio also didn’t know anywhere that had a mirror mana spiritspring, and he was lucky to even find this one, so he would work with what he had. He had thought of an… interesting idea to make a sigil more suited for his purposes, if not a little outlandish in nature.
So Gio readied himself and his supplies. He had prepared a special ink, made out of Freshwater Asphodels from the dungeon and Titanium Geranium petals from his garden, alongside some stabilizing agents courtesy of Sapphire as thanks for helping her with her experiments in their shared space at the gardening club. The geraniums were an odd species of flower, exceedingly high in metallic compounds that produced a strong metal sheen in the Ink. His nerdy cohorts, Papyrus Fabriano and Xerxes de Lamerie, had ‘invested’ in the endeavor as well, providing a square of high-quality cardstock and finely powdered silver for embossing. Gio took their gifts for what they were, bribes to get him interested in the Scriptorium. At the very least, they had saved him a few bits and a trip to his mother’s favorite stationery depot.
Gio focused, feeling the calm ebb and flow of the spiritspring around him. Before arriving here, he had imagined a raging storm of magic that he would have to fruitlessly fight against… but he was met with a calm serenity. The nascent water spirits twinkled about the spring, little more than motes of magic that whispered in small voices, singing unintelligible songs about water.
Gio listened.
Beneath the sea, or in the depths of rivers, to sink into the rock. Groundwater seeps up from aquifers, nourishing the roots of the world, exhaled up by plantlife and feeding the mouth of a stream. Evaporate to steam and form into clouds to rain down upon the world, and repeat again, and again, and again.
Gio responded, whispering an idea. He fed the new thought with his spirit and his internal reservoir of mana, trying to get it to take root in the spring.
“What about the surface of the water?” Gio asked.
He looked down at his reflection, wavering in the ripples around his legs. There, Rio and Trio were ready, fused together to take up their role in this ritual.
Gio looked out at the dungeon, watching the play of light against the waves under the perpetual sun. He thought of how the surface looked from underwater, as the boundary shimmered with every ripple.
The spirits listened.
Gio grasped the current of magic, impressing his mental image onto it. The water of the pool began to froth, and a powerful, yet gentle, breeze rushed around the room. He kneeled down, facing his reflection in the glowing pool.
Gio traced a well-rehearsed symbol into the water. Where his finger touched, a glowing line of bright blue lingered. To most onlookers, the symbol wouldn’t have much meaning at all, being just a few curved lines in a thin column. To Gio, however, it represented hope.
Let’s see if my plan works.
Gio dove down, not into the water, but through it and into the Between. He cast his mirror-walking spell, emerging on the other side to the grinning face of his reflection. The mirror realm’s sanctuary still thrummed with power, much as Gio suspected it would. After all, even the reflection of such a place of power was bound to have some amount of magic itself.
The fused form of Rio and Trio bent down, peeling the inverse of the symbol that Gio had drawn onto the water away. The rapidly fading symbol pulsed with mana at Rio’s touch, as he filled it with mirror mana. Gio accepted the weightless half-sigil from his reflection, cradling it in his hands like a dandelion seed, hoping that it would not blow away.
Gio dove back down into the reflection, returning to the real world with a held breath as he closed his eyes.
He pushed his mana into the sigil as he crossed the boundary between planes. He focused on belief- specifically the belief that what he was trying to do could - no, would- work.
It had to work.
It would work.
Gio opened his eyes to the sound of gasps from the rest of the group. Gio held in his hands a shining sigil of pure silver light, pulsing in time to the racing beat of his heart. He felt the curiosity of the infantile water spirits as he felt the raw intensity of the attention placed on him at this moment.
This, the moment of anticipation before the petitioner made their mark upon existence.
The spirits, both near and small as well as vast and distant, waited to be told a story.
They waited as the petitioner cautiously made a ripple in a pond bigger than a world.
A singular, inquisitive, beautiful, and novel bubble in a sea of endless verisimilitudes.
Instead of yet another dreary sigil expounding on the obvious and overstated wonders of water, soullessly designed to produce tidal waves on command as they all seemed to want, this sigil would pontificate on the dancing reflections at the meniscus. The very boundary where water ended, and sky began. It was new. It was exciting. It was bold.
They sensed the petitioner’s hesitation. Where usually, this would be a flaw- a weakness to be exploited, and a path of escape for those spirits who did not wish to be harnessed by overconfident mortals… this naivety was somehow charming. A furtive glance to greater heights, as if asking for permission. How unusual, for one so young to show such reverence for ceremony.
A monsoon of eager spirits rushed forth to answer the call.
As if magnetic, both halves snapped together. They fused into a symmetrical symbol.
A sigil.
Gio would have fought to maintain control over the raging torrents of mana that flowed in from the realms of water and reflection, if that were necessary. Instead, the magic flowed through him freely.
The pool exploded, and a flood filled the room instantly. Air enveloped the members of the group in protective bubbles as the laminar flow of water trailed out into the sky. Dragons, beasts, wings, and claws made of water danced across the sky in a joyous parade. The glint of sunlight bounced off every scale, revealing a similar dance in the reflection beyond.
If viewed from the outside, an onlooker would see that the torrent of water started from the top of the pagoda, and as the mana dispersed down to the base of the pagoda, each floor erupted with its own waterfall.
As the water raged, the group of students watched unharmed as Gio floated in the center of it all, holding a newborn Sigil. Small water elementals in the form of fish-like froth bubbles circled him, as whirls of mana snaked across the temple, charging the arcane murals with an inner glow.
In the submerged world, the structures visible in the dance of light against the surface of the water glimmered with newfound power. Spirits of mirror and water frolicked together, touching briefly at the boundary between real and surreal.
<Congratulations! [Junior Spellwright] has qualified for an evolution.>
<Achievements:
-Successfully petition the spirits and craft a Sigil.
-Craft a unique spell.
-Modify an established spell beyond reasonable parameters.
-Understand surface-level details about the construction of spellforms.>
<Accept upgrade: [Junior Spellwright] -> [Spellwright] Y/N
<[Spellwright] Attained.>
[Spellwright] - You have demonstrated the ability to craft the magics of the world into shapes that suit you. Spells you craft are more potent, and you gain increased knowledge from studying the designs of others, particularly spells of historic or archaeological import. This skill develops as your ability grows. This is a learning skill.
Comments
Crazyone47
No we just have to worry about the familiar
NebulaeDreamz
I swear, you write surreal scenes like no other. First the wonders of the mirror dimension and now this. Just beautiful, thanks for the chap.
