Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (132/?) WiP 1

Author’s Note: Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 132 I hope you guys enjoy! :D

Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30, Emma and Thacea’s Room. Local Time: 1600 Hours.

Emma

I wanted to take back my words.

I desperately wanted to roll back time, even if it was only a few seconds, just so that I could stop my big mouth from running itself into this quagmire.

But I couldn’t… so I tried the next best thing. 

I took a deep breath with the intent to apologize, to interrupt, to desperately shift course from a discussion that would specifically dig into Thacea’s insecurities for my sake.

However, as quickly as I’d formed a coherent string of arguments, I stopped.

I felt a lump forming in my throat where a wordy apology lay in waiting, my eyes having locked with Thacea’s, and finding behind those sharp pupils a commanding presence far beyond what I was used to. 

There was an… authority in the princess’ eyes. One that I reluctantly deferred to, either out of respect for her own commitment, her own agency, or simply because I realized that resisting Thacea’s will in this case was both futile and disrespectful in and of itself.

So I relented, watching the princess as she wordlessly swooped her winged arms to the sides — bathing the room in that three dimensional weather map of dynamically flowing manastreams.

Nothing happened beyond this for the first few moments, save for the increasing complexity in the lines, squiggles, and directional ‘arrows’ present in the mana weather systems around us.

It was as if the princess wanted to hold off from the big reveal, almost like she was buying time and focusing her attention on the innocuous world around us for as long as she could.

I could tell, from the expression she wore, that she was… worried.

And for a moment, I felt a strong urge to finally speak up; not to deter or urge her away from her intent… but instead, to provide her with what I assumed was something she needed to hear.

“I stand by what I said on that first morning, Thacea.” I blurted out confidently, not allowing self-doubt or second-guesses to color the assuredness of my voice. “There’s nothing you can show me that’ll change my opinions on you. Not ‘taint’, not ‘miasma’, or anything else. And this isn’t just because I haven’t seen that aspect of you. It’s… it’s because I’ve already seen, heard, and experienced everything I’ve needed to. And if some quote unquote ‘scary’ looking shadow changes that? Well… that just means I’m probably not cut out to be anything more than a forced acquaintance.” I spoke firmly at first, before rattling on faster and faster, eventually causing the princess’ worried expression to shift into something more resembling a calmer, albeit wary and polite smile.

Suddenly, and without any verbal prompting, a vague outline started forming around Thacea.

It started small — these wobbly yet bold lines that echoed her silhouette — but slowly grew to encompass just about the same space Thalmin’s ‘aura’ did. 

However, given the objective and black and white nature of Thacea’s visual representation of mana, it almost looked like a sketchy black and white cartoon border had been drawn around her — mimicking the sketchy hand-drawn nature of cel-shaded animations. 

There were no signs of anything amiss, no shapes or patterns that struck me as threatening, let alone dread-inducing. 

If anything, it looked completely underwhelming.

That was… until the princess closed her eyes, and allowed the silhouette to change.

It was subtle at first, small undulations in her outlined silhouette, almost like little tendrils lapping at the local manastreams.

However, unlike Thalmin’s or Ilunor’s interactions with these errant currents, the effects of Thacea’s aura on the invisible world around her was strikingly different — as the calm and steady flow of lines suddenly erupted into a jumbled ball of haphazard scribbles. Slow and meandering currents quickly rushed to fill in the place of what was now a broken stream, only to meet their dooms as the effects of this… destruction compounded, eventually growing to envelope the space around her. 

This cyclonic pattern continued, faster and faster still, until almost every single manastream — from the meandering to the mighty — came to swirl around Thacea. The princess and her aura acting almost like the eye of a black and white stenciled storm. 

Then, as suddenly as it began, all of it came to an end — as the tendrils recessed, returning to a now unstable, undulating mass that enveloped the princess.

“This… this is the extent of… how shall I put it… a meltdown of control. This is the raw and unmitigated potential of what a tainted manafield — an aura — can do.” Thacea managed out through a steady yet nervous breath. 

Silence threatened to fill in the uncertain moments that followed.

But I didn’t let it.

Instead, I simply took a step forward, poking at the manastreams that’d returned to their natural flows.

“I gotta say, Thacea. Hearing about your alternative magical abilities was one thing, but actually being able to visualize it?” I paused for dramatic effect, the princess’ features darkening just as quickly. “It’s fricking metal as all heck!” I smiled widely, cocking my waist to the right whilst casually clutching my left.

The darkness from her face faded, instead, replaced by a genuine look of shock and confusion; as if she expected a vastly different reaction.

Her beak opened for a response, her eyes filled with a strong sense of… doubt. One that quickly evolved into disbelief, uncertainty, and then finally a wordless response.

The world once more changed. 

It started subtly, the princess taking in a deep breath as the various dashed, segmented, and squiggly lines that made up the manastreams around us were suddenly filled in with color. 

Slowly but surely, I watched as the world lit up into a veritable technicolor masterpiece, complete with vibrant pastel borders framing and lining the deep warm tones of the various individual streams of mana.

The world felt… alive, confusing, but rich in a way I couldn’t really put to words.

There was almost a living quality about all of it, as if the manastreams themselves pulsed with some unseen heartbeat, flowing to the tempo of some grand conductor.

I couldn’t tell if Thacea had noticed my sudden infatuation with this artistic rendition of the world, but it quickly became clear to me that she waited until the last possible second to reveal her artistic rendition of her place in the grand scheme of things.

The first thing I noticed was a creeping shadow, one that pulsed to a different beat, tempo, and rhythm to the world around it.

Then, it was the sharp and unabashed recoiling of the colorful world it came into contact with, as if reality itself was refusing to acknowledge, accept, or even interact with such an alien presence in its space.

This prompted me to quickly turn towards the source of the growing darkness, my eyes quickly meeting what I could only describe as a dark aura that stood starkly behind and around the princess, enveloping her in an ominous cloak of darkness.