Chapter 47 - A Class Act

Nate didn’t need to get closer to the broken wand. He could read the sigils clearly from where he was, even though it was contained inside the wood of the wand rather than carved into its surface. Soul, the cause of and solution to Kiri’s problem. He could see it clearly now, as he stared into her chest. Her soul, or spirit, or whatever they called it. It filled her entire body, bound to her flesh as it flowed through her in rivers and streams. He could see her Class Core as well, and the ephemeral strings of her soul that connected to it. It was those strings that the Soul Dissolution spell was abusing, drawing them in, changing the flow of her soul so that it flowed towards her Class Core and was then consumed by the spell.

He glared in anger at the spell form. It was self-sustaining. It wouldn’t cease until it had drunk Kiri dry. Frick had been right. She was dying. But there was a path forward. A way for him to save her. With a thought, he had extracted all his mana gems from his spatial storage. Most had very little mana in them, except for two, two were still untouched, full of mana. Enough energy to save his friend, he hoped.

Activating Runic Creation he began to work, projecting his Barrier Rune into the air before him. He could see its shape now. See the dispersion pattern of the mana. See how that varied the power of the Barrier by enhancing it with the sigils for Strongest. He needed that now. But he needed more. His Barrier had done nothing against the Soul Dissolution spell. It hadn’t even created a ripple, passing through his defence like it wasn’t even there.

The heart of this new rune needed to be the Soul sigil. A barrier for the soul. He made the rune bigger, big enough that he could move the Barrier sigil out of the centre, replacing it with the Soul sigil. Surrounding it with four Barrier sigils he then added geometric lines so the mana dispersion would radiate out from the centre. Like reading a sentence it would grow like a ripple, Soul, then Barrier, then Strongest.

A notification went off as he completed the rune but he ignored it. Achievements were for later. He didn’t have time to create a material for the rune. His Channelling Speed was too low. So he would make up for that shortcoming with Magic Power and sheer mana quantity. He activated the rune and began guiding mana into it from his mana gems. He used only one of the full ones, for now, just in case. Activating Imbue Intent he shaped the barrier as it came into being, making it a sphere that enclosed Kiri’s Class Core.

A notification went off, not in the corner of his vision but in front of his eyes, uncalled for.

Class Core interference detected. Cease and desist. Cease and desist.

He ignored it, focusing on trying to contain the Class Core in the Soul Barrier. The mana drain was much larger than he had expected but he could maintain it for now. Better than his success though was that Kiri stopped shaking, relaxing into something resembling sleep. He’d done it! He stared down with his Eyes of the Runic Artist, and that elation quickly faded to worry. The rest of Kiri’s soul seemed fine, but the spell wasn’t fading. He’d expected without a steady supply of the energy it would have devoured itself quickly, allowing him to drop the barrier. Instead, it had subsided, still clinging to the edges of the Class Core, devouring itself a trickle at a time.

With his eyes he could see the energy as it vanished. Counting it out in his head, he frowned.

“What is it, Boss?” asked Frick, staring at him hopefully with his big blue eyes. He’d seen how Kiri had settled down and the rune hanging over her body made of pure mana.

“The Soul Dissolution spell can probably sustain itself for another hour. Even if I used all the mana gems I have to maintain it, this Soul Barrier is going to fade in twenty minutes. It’s not enough,” he whispered back to his Familiar.

Fuck that! He wasn’t giving up. There had to be another way. The spell was contained. It was feeding on the remaining soul energy around the Class Core. No soul energy, no spell! That was it!

Splitting his attention he used Runic Creation to shape his Life Drain rune in the air next to the Soul Barrier rune. This one was easier to alter as he just had to replace the Life sigil with the Soul sigil. It wasn’t perfect. Definitely wasn’t efficient. Likely costing more mana than needed and simultaneously providing less power for the mana it did use. But it worked. The notification went off but he looked down before activating his new Soul Drain rune.

There was a problem. His Soul Barrier was in the way. With some creative use of Imbue Intent he changed the shape of the Soul Barrier, turning it from a perfect sphere into something like a flask, with the opening outside of Kiri’s body. The barrier itself wasn’t physical. It didn’t interact with flesh and blood. Only soul. It didn’t even seem to interact with the mana in Kiri’s body, even though it was made of mana. That was interesting to him. But a problem for another time.

Activating his Soul Drain rune, using his remaining full mana gem, he used Imbue Intent to guide it down the funnel of the flask, inside the Soul Barrier and began draining away the soul energy around the Class Core. Notifications immediately started flashing over and over.

Class Core interference detected. Cease and desist. Cease and desist.
Class Core interference detected. Cease and desist. Cease and desist.
Class Core interference detected. Cease and desist. Cease and desist.
Class Core interference detected. Cease and desist or be flagged for punishment.

Nate continued to ignore them as he continued draining away the soul energy, forcing the mana from the rune to contest the desire for the soul energy to remain in the body. The white wispy substance flowed out of the top of the Soul Barrier. Nate didn’t think he should try and absorb the soul energy himself, so he guided the energy into the only thing that made sense. Frick. With his Eyes of the Runic Artist, it was clear to see that Frick was mostly soul energy with a little mana. There was a connection Nate could sense between the Familiar Contract and the soul energy. Like a gateway. But that was for later. For here and now, he guided the soul energy into Frick, feeling it flowing along his Familiars connection to the Contract in his chest. He had to keep his focus as a white flash lit up the night sky over his head, almost making him lose control of the energy flow.

It took a few minutes but finally the last wisp of soul energy was drawn out. Two things started happening straight away. The Soul Dissolution spell faded, with no soul energy to sustain it, the spell must have considered its job completed. A dangerous and powerful spell that had been imbued into a wand held by the Enchantress. That was a mystery to be solved later. The second thing was far worse. He could see the Class Core in Kiri’s chest beginning to crystallise before his eyes. The soul energy and Class Core interaction must be what kept the Class Core from becoming a physical entity. However, with that connection severed, the Class Core was now taking on physical properties, right below Kiri’s ribcage. Nate had a stray thought that this must be what happened when they killed a beast. The soul fled the body and the Class Core crystallised.

Thinking quickly, he grabbed Kiri’s remaining dagger from the grass near her unconscious form. Rather than wrestling with her armour he cut away the leather straps before flipping her chest piece off to reveal her tunic beneath. Shoving her tunic up to reveal the spot above her upper stomach where the Orb was forming, he got ready. He needed to grab it quickly but at the same time, he needed her not to bleed out. He wasn’t a Doctor after all. Or a healer for that matter. Not really. So he did the only thing he could and began channelling the Life Drain rune, targeting himself and funnelling the energy to Kiri. He prayed it would be enough.

Cutting her carefully, so as not to push too deep and sever something important. Blood immediately began pooling in the cut and rushing over his fingers. He needed to be quick. He needed to get it out so he could focus on the rune feeding her lifeforce. Digging his fingers in he managed to get three fingers around the crystallised Orb and pulled it out of her chest. Without waiting, he threw his Imbue Intent at the Life Drain rune, increasing the speed of energy transfer, driving it as he felt himself start to weaken.

“What in the Nine Hells do you think you’re doing?” asked a furious voice from behind him.

Standing up and spinning around made him lightheaded and his vision doubled for a moment before focusing in on Jorge who stared at him, fury and…what could be betrayal written over his face. Nate looked down, a dagger in one hand, an Orb in the other, clutched in blood soaked fingers. His eyes moved back up to meet Jorge’s and he opened his mouth to explain but before he could, he saw leaves for some reason, lightning flashing behind them. His last thought as consciousness faded was, where was Jorge’s other foot?

*************

Jorge rushed to his daughters side as Nate collapsed in the grass next to her. He’d dropped the dagger and Orb as he fell and now some little Blue Goblin was sitting beside the Mage. They shouldn’t be here! They were told not to come. That it was too dangerous. That it was too big of a risk! Jorge’s hands frantically moved to the wound on Kiri’s chest but when he ran his fingers through the pooled blood, he could only feel a scar beneath. Where was the hole? Where was the blood coming from?! Wiping it off her chest with his tunic he was able to see clearly, through the smeared blood, where she’d been cut.

That wasn’t what surprised him though. Nate had just pulled an Orb from her chest. Orbs only appeared when people died, and even then not always. Yet he could clearly see Kiri breathing, feel her heartbeat through her stomach. His daughter was alive. What in the Nine Hells was going on? Did they get the Orb from somewhere else? Kiri had clearly been cut, but was now healed? Did Nate do that? Trying to make his daughter comfortable, he looked over the scene.

Galen and Roland were clearly recognisable. Galen looked like he’d partially melted his throat, laying in a pit in the earth. His brother Roland lay dead nearby, with one of Kiri’s daggers buried in one of his eyes. Then there was the skeleton in the pit. Jorge would guess it was Torian but there was nothing to confirm it. No leather armour or axe. Finally, there was the deceased Mayor’s Assistant, dead with a hole in her head, crumbled dirt next to her body. What had happened here?

He prepared to pick up his daughter and take her home. Even with one foot, he could manage that. Before he could pick up – what he hoped – was his sleeping daughter, he sensed Deverell approaching. The man was stealthy, but he would need to do better than that to evade the Skills of a dedicated Royal Ranger.

“Jorge, you need to see this,” Deverell called, jumping across the pit and landing by Nate’s unconscious body.

“See what?” He asked with a frown. Right now all he had to concern himself with was his daughter!

“It’s your wife,” Deverell replied as he quickly moved around, gathering up a few things like the Orb and the dagger as well as what looked like a broken wand.

Jorge stared at him confusedly, “What about my wife?”

“She’s here, among the prisoners,” was all Deverell said, as he scooped Nate up, summarily ignoring the little Blue Goblin on his chest. Though that became impossible when the Blue Goblin spoke.

“That’s why they came. Found the damage to the garden and the house emptied. Came to save Rania,” the Blue Goblin said in a surprisingly clear and articulate voice. Was it some weird breed of goblin Jorge wondered? That wasn’t the most important question though.

“How do you know my wife's name?” Jorge asked.

Deverell snorted with a little huff, an amused sound. “It’s Nate's Familiar Jorge. It’s been in your house.”

Jorge made a little ‘oh’ face as he scooped up his daughter carefully, following Deverell as they walked back to the clearing. One of the Silver Badge teams stood over a few bound and gagged adventurers that had turned traitor the moment the battle had started. There was fury on their faces and it was easy to see why. One of their members was crouched over a corpse, softly weeping. They’d saved their friends, family and neighbours from becoming slaves, but that hadn’t been without cost. An old feeling he knew all too well. Glancing down at his daughter he was worried it was a feeling he might soon know himself. What had the Orb meant?

“JORGE!” Yelled Rania, a voice he’d recognise anywhere.

The other Silver Badge team was leading out the prisoners and his wife had started sprinting towards him. She slowed down a look of fear and worry on her face when she saw their daughter in his arms. She charged over and was babbling as he tried to calm her, reassuring her over and over that their daughter was alive.

Rania collapsed onto the grass and he lowered his daughter, laying Kiri down gently beside her mother, her head on Rania’s lap as his wife gently stroked their daughter's hair. He could hear his wife whispering to her, reassuring their daughter that she’d be okay. They both beamed a few minutes later, with people being led out of the cave and gathering in the clearing and the rain falling around them, as Kiri’s eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at Rania.

Hoarsely she whispered, “Did we save you, mum?”

*************

Kiri watched as her mother began to cry, hugging her head tightly. She felt terrible. The worst she’d ever felt. But that wasn’t the weirdest part. She watched as blue text, unbidden, appeared in front of her eyes.

Initialization complete. Welcome to The System Interface.
New User Detected.
Initial Scan Completed.
For results, think, ‘Status’.

You have defeated an enemy five levels above you.
You have defeated an enemy ten levels above you.
…
…
…
…
You have visited the Spirit Realm and returned.
You have survived Soul Dissolution.
Your achievement has been recorded.

Walk your Path. Reach your Goal. Become One with Mana.

She watched as a long list of achievements scrolled in front of her vision. What in the Nine Hells was going on?