(Vol 2) Chapter 1: Tripping Back From Space

The Great Library of the Hall of Seven Sages was the size of a palace — in fact, it was a palace, converted in the early days of the Purification and the original Seven who forged it all out of the darkness and chaos. The old name wasn’t used much, but it was not banned, either: The Talchasenna.

845,621 volumes at last count — he’d just asked. He wanted to live to see the million mark passed in his lifetime. A silly little goal to have, but old men were allowed a quirk here and there, even among the sages. The great number always went up. It was a pleasant thing to track.

Greizer thought of the library as the word he and his fellows had used in his days as a student: the Talcha. So many fond memories hung within… he wondered if students still kept the same informal name amongst themselves. Instructors, of course, would never tolerate such.

Anything in the City of Heavenly Order that had a name older than the Dominion tended to be suppressed at the very least. Teachers followed the grain or they wouldn’t be teaching.

It was one such old teacher he was seeking out there. Not just a teacher — in fact, the knowledge itself was technically grounds for erasure, because that instructor’s name and face had been wiped from existence when he ascended to become one of the Seven. He was now Ulraharrus Kaul, the Sixth Sage, the ‘Sage of Erudition.’

But Greizer had known regardless, because he knew his teachers well — he was very observant of human behavior. Studied it. Many had commented that he should’ve been an Inquisitor… that was likely true. He just despised them — secretly, of course.

He had pointed out his knowledge to Ulraharrus once he knew, to which the penultimate erudite simply congratulated him for discovering and for admitting. He did not consider it relevant enough to have corrected. This was something Greizer had also deduced of his former teacher, whose logic was always cold and indifferent. It was good that his deduction had been sound.

It was always Greizer’s greatest weakness, and perhaps why those above him did not seem to particularly care for him rising any higher. Curiosity. The same thing that had brought him there, to bother one of the Seven — possibly foolishly — for a favor.

Ulraharrus was levitating up high in front of a shelf, clad in the extensive, fine yellow robes of his station, with stripes of gray, black, and white, indicating the balance of erudition between all extremes — the place from which one either chose a path or chose to stay there in balance. He did not have a hat as a Savant would… just a cowl, of which the Seven only were allowed technically, in all the lands of the Dominion.

Hands behind his back, a book was being flipped through while floating in front of the robed legend. He did not acknowledge Greizer's approach, nor his stopping to look up… what seemed like a kilometer in distance. From above, soft magical light cast eternally from simple orbs. Row after row, all the same, all in perfect order. No needless beauty to cause distraction.

Politely, Greizer cleared his throat, then bowed. “Your Ascendancy…”

The Sixth Sage did not look down. A page turned. “Savant Greizer. Yes?”

Not bothering with any further pleasantries or small talk, knowing it would only detract, Greizer called out, “I’ve come to request a boon, my sage and teacher. I have a mirror… one from which I sensed a spirit presence, and analyzed an aura confirming access. But I could not, and cannot, cajole it forth no matter what is tried. I fear the access was temporary, which makes one curious as to where the spirit really is, if not invested directly in the item. So… I was hoping you might take a look.”

Another page turned. After a moment, Ulraharrus said, “It’s well-known and verifiable that you are particularly hopeful for informative matters that do not always bear relevant fruit. Are wasteful, even.”

“Admittedly true, my sage. But frequently not wasteful as well. Perhaps 70/30.”

“I’m afraid the grade is worse in recent years.”

“I see. That is unfortunate…”

“Your desire is that I use the spell of Psychometric Analysis on this object?”

“Yes, I feel that would be to Wisdom, my sage.”

A page turned. “Do you realize the spell has a three-month-long waiting list? That each casting is justified by a stamped form from three officials? That a layman would pay over a hundred gold coins for such a casting?”

“No, I didn’t… I hadn’t realized it had gotten so bad… I knew there was a waiting list, but not that long. I suppose I was seeking an exception.”

“You do not remember your teacher well, then. Or did I forget? Did I make exceptions, Greizer?”

“It is I that am in error, my sage. Forgive me.” He bowed again. “I will not intrude further-”

“Put it on the list, Greizer. If you feel you can justify it on the form. Or to the officials directly, via your resourcefulness. Consider it a test. For old-time’s sake. We’ll see about when I get to it… if you pass.”

“So I will. Thank you, Your Ascendancy, and have an elucidating night.”

Greizer bowed yet again, then departed. He smiled inwardly on his way out of the massive library that he had literally gotten lost in during his youth. In truth, he’d lied… he had known about the list, and he had suspected everything that happened in the conversation to have gone just as it did.

It was just that, he’d stuck the matter onto his teacher’s mind, and that was more personalized than the sea of other items he tediously had to go through. Many of them would be boring wastes of time, even for him. If he got annoyed enough, he might skip to one more… potentially interesting.

A shot, at least, though it would take some invariable amount of time. He couldn’t shake his suspicions about the mirror. Spirits and mirrors, anything and mirrors, was of concern to his mind. It was rather taboo for Dominion wizards to utilize mirrors for anything by way of very ancient customs — perhaps even superstitions — not that most yokels had any clue why.

Easily it could be nothing, but he wanted to make sure. If some idiot was playing with things they shouldn’t, they needed to be corrected. The horror stories of an age of time practically defined by a monstrous entity of mirrors were something any sage knew… and had a duty to prevent happening again.

Meanwhile, the Sixth Sage studied the critically important tome in front of him judiciously… turning pages, searching… and he muttered to himself, “Nutmeg in a cream sauce? For fish? How preposterous… hmm…”

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Sammy ‘woke up’ from her largely unconscious trip of the cosmos staring up at the beautiful, clouded sky of her mind realm. When her eyes slid over to movement, she saw a deer looking at her curiously, chewing on some flowering clover. She was lying in thick, warm grass, and felt every blade, too, because…

“Annnd I’m naked. Okay.” Quickly, she made a summery white sundress with flowers imprinted appear on her person, then sat up. The deer nuzzled her, and she smiled as she touched and petted its head and neck.

“You know,” she said to the deer, “If I had tried that on Earth, I’d probably have ants crawling all over and biting me. Murphy’s Law of Dumb City Girls in Nature Whilst Nude.”

The deer’s only response was to rip up some more greenery to chew and gaze at her.

Sammy stood and stretched — it just kinda felt right to do, felt good on some level, like some soul within the bones, if not the bones themselves, had laid around dormant for a long time. She knew that in reality, it had not really been very long.

There was practically nothing absorbed in the present, from her time drifting on the Sea of Fate. Just feelings left, and a sense of peace on some level. A bit of Zen, which followed after the satiation of awe and fascination.

Hmm, am I different? Eh. As Bugs Bunny would say, ‘I am what I am and that’s all that I am’... wait, no… who was it? Shit…

Squinting in thought, she suddenly thought about the huge clutch of new Followers she had — sailors — and she remembered which old cartoon it was with a laugh.

Popeye. Of course it was.

When she switched over to her throne to check on the world, she found that she’d missed all of the send-offs for the bodies, which was a little sad… but her hierophant had been there, at least. Probably had a speech, even.

Numerous crewmembers had passed out asleep from exhaustion. The rest ran the ship as a skeleton crew, spent and barely pushing through with the adrenaline wearing off. Samantha touched minds with them to encourage them and tell them they were doing great and they were appreciated. Then she dropped her endurance buff on them and they were moving with much more pep in the step and wakefulness.

With that, she drew up her stat sheet.

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Samantha, Virgin Goddess of Mirrors & Illusion
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Goddess Level 2 [9/20]; Minor Deity

Domains (3/4): Mirrors, Illusion, Fate
Faith Energy: 1557/2500
FE (Mirrors): 6 ; FE (Illusion): 6 ; FE (Fate): 10
Followers: 34 (Daily FE Gain: 40 [44])

Devout: 3
Priests: 3

Brute: 0
Rogue: 0
Wizard: 1 [11/20]
Bard: 0 [2/10]

MP: 3/25

Special Skills: First Aid, Tarot Reading, Priestly Ordination, Holy Relic Investiture, Create Servitor, Read Runes, Spell Construction, Detect Magic

Special Traits: Token User, Immortal, Demiplane Domain, Conceptual Body, Fueled By Faith

Spells: Identify (5 MP), Icebolt (3 MP)

Powers: Faith Energy Utilization, Grant Prayer (Illusion), Grant Prayer (Fate), Mirror Sense, Mirror Communication, Intuition, Alter Fate, Create Illusion, Grant Invisibility, Dazzling Spectrum, False Auras, Mirroring Duplicates, Reflect Force, Mirror Maze

Status: Token User Promotional Bonus (7/30), Free Minor Divine Enchantment (Accessory; 1-use), Create Servitor (1-use)

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Naturally, she was quite interested in the powers in particular.

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Intuition

You often guess right. This improves the odds of flat % guesses by 1/3rd — 50% becomes 66.6%, for example. For 1 FE (Fate) or 2 FE, you can increase the modifier to plus 50%. Odds out to 1 of 78 have a minimum of 13% (20% for FE-improved), and odds out to 1 of 200 have a minimum of 7% (10% for FE-improved).

Otherwise, this qualifies for +1 Effective Levels on any task where guesswork can be leveraged, but unless obvious, it requires an action (or possibly longer) to ‘feel through it’ and develop a list of possibilities (at least 3 distinct ones). It cannot assist raw comparison tests.

In addition, you can get ‘vibes’ about people with strong personalities, or other hunches about scenarios. The quality of information is random and may not be reliable.

The Eyes of Beyond (Mirrors Synergy): Your ‘vibes’ through mirrors are enhanced. Potential allies and friends can be detected and vice versa — strong compatibility will be flagrant one or both ways. Note that a lack of reaction does not mean anything absolutely (staunch friends or foes can arise from a neutral beginning).

Instinct For Fear (Illusion Synergy): With a hidden test on a subject through observation, you can acquire a vibe about one of their fears, for use with your illusion crafts. The vibe will be wrong if you fail. Even on a wild guess, you have a 25% chance (not improved by Intuition) of guessing something right if they have any common fears at all.

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Sammy laughed as she read it. “Holy fuck, I’ve always had this! Figures there was some fucking mechanical component to it.”

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Alter Fate

Once per day, and for 1 FE (Fate) or 2 FE, you can improve a task’s chances by 2 Effective Levels. If it would fail, it instead succeeds at the minimum effect of success.

Once per day, and for 1 FE (Fate) or 2 FE, you can reduce a task’s chances by 2 Effective Levels. If it would still succeed, it instead fails at the minimum effect of failure.

If you use this ability contrary to your interests (i.e. making an ally/yourself fail or an enemy succeed) — at relevant cost — you may recharge the opposite effect instantly. This can be done up to 3 times per day in total.

If you use this ability more than once in a 24-hour period against an enemy for direct contest purposes, you will suffer the stackable curse debuff 'Shadows of Fate' which will only clear on its own when it forces a key failure upon you or allies, as decided upon by specialized System processes.

Dealer’s Choice (Tarot Reading Synergy): For 1 FE (Fate) or 2 FE, as a casting action, you may create a small statistical buff or curse on any target as an action, determined by the card flavor of a random draw. Major Arcana have the most significant effects.

Only 1 buff or curse of this type can exist on a target — new replaces old. You may also affect targets in multiples of two with the same buff, for half the cost at 4 or more (i.e. one card effect for 8 targets for 4 FE (Fate) or 8 FE). The duration is 5 minutes x deity levels.

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I can literally save lives directly with this. Or punch above my level. Which is certainly something I need.

Staring at it, thinking… she wondered if she’d been using it subconsciously. But she was aware that the ‘curse’ part and the recharge came with level 2, more or less being multiplicative in power, and perhaps why she didn’t get another Fate power.

Alter Fate certainly sounded like something that would get more powerful in time. Eventually, she might affect reality itself. Or glean the future and be guided toward the right result.

“That would certainly be stacking the cards in my favor, now wouldn’t it?”

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