“Trio,” Gio deadpanned. “Is that really what you’re going with?”
His newest doppelganger fished through the mud with improvised shard chopsticks. He picked through bits of demolished stone and broken mirrors, successfully retrieving … a disembodied nose.
“What? Are you complaining about your own naming sense? You named this guy ‘Rio’.” Trio said, playfully holding up the fragment.
He gently seated Rio’s nose back into place, completing the puzzle. Rio’s swirling eyes flew open, and he lurched forth sputtering as he hacked out grit and water. Trio patted him on the back.
“Okay, but Trio? That’s a new low. I can admit that to myself.” Gio deadpanned.
“It’s perfect, and you know it. I guess I really am the sensible clone.” Trio replied.
Rio shakily sat up. He looked at both Gio and Trio, and then down at his glowing stumps, which were still trailing several holographic copies whenever he moved them.
“Wha?” Rio blearily exclaimed.
“Wakey wakey,” Trio prodded. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”
“Is… bright.” Rio quietly slurred.
Rio held up a stump to block the harsh light of the newly revealed sun overhead. It seemed that the lightshow from before completely disassembled whatever spell had caused the metallic rain.
“A little dazed, are we? Well…the three of us need to pull it together for a while. Two things will happen immediately. Firstly, we need to address this radiation issue. “
“Radiation? How…” Gio trailed off
His head was swimming with images and thoughts, but they were fading away with each blink, like the last vestiges of a good dream after waking.
“It seems like you drew some inspiration from the undead dragon. You corrupted the prismatic shape spell into a miniature sun, if not via a different route than Ara- Anarax- whatever that dragon’s name was.” Trio nonchalantly replied.
Gio blinked hard.
“Okay, but when you say radiation, you mean like… ionizing radiation? Like, the kind that nuclear reactions make?” Gio guffawed.
“Yes, in fact, exactly like the kind of radiation that a literal miniature sun might make. From what I could tell, your spell wasn’t exactly creating nuclear energy, but it seemed that you had sufficiently warped the spellform into making light- or rather, energy, that was radioactive. You really blasted the place, too.” Trio explained.
“I don’t… remember a lot of that. And how are we even safe right now? Shouldn’t we be like… melting?” Gio asked.
“Well, we don’t seem to be melting… but…”
Trio pointed to the construct, which was writhing around the steps of the Pagoda, clutching at its mask in silent agony.
“That’s the second thing that we need to take care of,” Trio said.
He helped both Gio and Rio up, facing the direction of the group. Jean was still holding up the bubble of purifying magic, warding away clouds of corrosive steam.
“Okay, here’s the plan: You and I are going to cast [Cleanse], and Rio is going to amplify our spells to scrub away the radioactive contamination,” Trio said.
Gio squinted at Trio.
“Would that work? Cleanse is not designed to do anything like that. But… then again, prismatic shape isn’t designed to make radiation either...” Gio said.
“Indeed. We should merge. I got infected a bit when I dealt with the aftermath of that little ball of nuclear fury.” Trio said.
He held up a finger, creating a little candle flame that swirled out into several copies against his will.
“You too?” Gio said.
Gio looked down at his arms, still feeling the “forbidden arcana” scratching away at the confines of his mind. Whatever “gift” that chaos had given him seemed to have a strong personality.
“But wait,” Gio said. “What would merging accomplish? Wouldn’t we just all get infected with…”
Gio gestured at Rio’s poor condition. Rio’s eyes still burned with a wild blaze of technicolor light.
“I don’t think so. We may all be the same person… but I don’t think that we’re evenly split. When I fragmented off from you, I think I may have taken a piece of one of your skills with me.” Trio said.
Gio furrowed his brow.
“Which skill? Are you able to tell?” Gio asked.
“I think I took a piece of the ‘knowledge seeker’ skill with me. I’m really not sure how that works.” Trio frowned.
“Well, we can look into it later,” Gio replied. “We need to get moving”.
Trio nodded.
The three bodies joined hands, or in most cases, stumps. They each activated [Fragmented Persona], merging in a swarm of glassy shards from which a more complete Gio stepped forth.
He flexed his hands, noting the renewed intensity of the spellflower as it caused phantom images to fly off, threatening to spiral out into untamed magic.
Trio’s memories bled into the collective. The newest fragment of Gio, it turns out, was not manifested from nothing, but was rather a function of his subdued rational thoughts violently rebuking the corrupting influence of Chaos. If Rio was a reflection of Gio that had been made into an aspect of chaos, then Trio was a reflection of Gio that clung to the tenets of methodical foresight. It made sense, in a backward sort of way- Gio didn’t consider himself altogether too chaotic before he became an aspect.
Seeing himself from a very unflattering perspective was sobering, but he would have ample time to introspect later. He reached deep into himself, gathering the hurricane of convulsing energies that had infected him. He dug it up by the root and pushed it out of his body.
Rio left with it. Sparks of mana jumped across hundreds of ghostly fingers.
Cleansed of the spellflower, Gio and Trio separated. They each cast a normal version of cleanse, holding a gentle white light not entirely unlike the prismatic shape spell. From an ample distance away, Jean visibly tensed, prepared for the worst.
Gio piped up, calling to his friends despite the distance between them.
“Don’t worry! I’m okay now!”
“Then why are there three of you?!” Hatra yelled.
“Uuuh… talk later!” Gio sheepishly replied.
Rio stepped forth. Gio nearly gasped as he felt the magnetic draw of the forbidden art that Rio bore, voraciously pulling on the threads of magic that held his spell together. Gio and his newest reflection fought with the hurricane of Rio’s mana, shaping the spell.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
As he watched the light of the spell throb and pulse against his grip, Gio tried to focus on the basics of spellcasting.
First, he concentrated on the flow of mana. Being the first thing that young aspiring mages are taught to sense and work with, most mages had a good understanding of this aspect of spellcasting- but Gio was not most mages. Gio had utterly mastered mana shaping, having doggedly practiced the most basic of basics since the moment he was shown them. Though the spellflower did try to wrest the flow of mana away from him, Gio managed to hold onto his spell.
Although differing traditions and schools of thought contested the next step of magic beyond shaping the mana, modern spellcasting tenets, as taught by the Crystal Ring Academy, dictated that the second aspect of spellcasting should be intention.
And the spell, having since grown a sort of mind of its own, intended to be everything. It was not as if the spell could think and feel, but the “direction” of the spell was certainly shifting with the tides of chaos. Gio could feel some of these directions if he focused inward.
To cleanse the grout of the stone from algae and hard water deposits. To cleanse the air of foul odors. To cleanse the water of microorgani- TO CLEANSE THEIR BONES OF FLESH AND- To cleanse the mind-To cleanse the soil of heavy metals-
Gio gritted his teeth at the swirl of different chaos-infected intentions. He reinforced his initial intention, hoping beyond belief that the spellflower would latch onto his argument.
To cleanse this place of contaminants and radiation.
Like a lit match to fuel, Gio felt the intention take in the heart of the whirl of energies. Gio’s light became a pleasant shade of blue, which expanded outward and spread over to Trio’s light, and then into Rio’s vortex of mana. Instantly, the glassy slag of mud underneath his feet dissolved away, trickling into pristine waters.
But the work was not yet done.
The last of the three most common aspects of traditional spellcasting was a culmination of the previous two elements. Using a prepared circuit of magical instructions, or a ‘spellform’, the caster would direct threads of mana and intention to form the core of a magical working, or put simply, a spell.
And in this third step, Gio was lost.
He knew what the cleansing spell was. He knew most of how it worked, having studied the blueprints intently when he scribed the spell. He didn’t necessarily have the most scholarly understanding of some of the more esoteric reasoning behind which symbols were placed where, but then again, it was understandable that he was only just beginning his journey as a mage, so did he really need to understand thousands of years' worth of innovations in spellcasting logic?
As the mana flooded the channels of his spell, Gio wondered if he had ever even learned anything at all.
The symbols lifted off the page as it crept to life. Rio’s influence curdled the magic, bending lines into wet noodles and causing minor symbols to rapidly flick through hundreds of variants like rude drawings in a teenager’s flip-book, scrawled into the margins of a deteriorated textbook. Being less enchanted by the intoxicating chaos, Gio could clearly see that there was something at play here besides just whatever was going on with the spellflower. The magic itself was evolving, turning into something new. While he couldn’t keep up with the speed at which the spell was changing, he could at least make out the meaning of a few of the symbols.
Is that… Wavelength? Why are there so many different ways to notate wavelength?!
The glow began to intensify, and under the serene blue light, the waterfalls, which had reduced to a brown frothy gurgle, returned to a spray of clean, clear water once more.
The symbols continued to shift. Gio watched as he guided the spell, awestruck by some of the shifts that he was seeing. In a massive tidal wave of changes, he realized that he no longer comprehended the general shape of the spell, nor the meaning behind any of the symbols- the spell had simply grown out of his ability to parse.
Gio frowned. It was normally inadvisable to cast magic without fully understanding what one was looking at. The “Grab and go” style of lackadaisical magecraft had gotten countless would-be wizards brutally eviscerated by their own spellbooks. Gio wondered if he should stop casting the spell, but in a way, it was doing what they wanted, right?
Or at least, I think it is? I can’t see radiation…
Trio’s face was scrunched in focus. He was clearly noticing some of the same things that Gio was.
“Having any luck? I’m officially lost.” Gio admitted.
“I think… that this is a different language.” Trio sighed.
Gio raised both eyebrows in surprise. He looked at the symbols, and to his shock, he could understand why Trio had thought that.
“But… why would the spell just… suddenly be in a different language?” Gio guffawed.
“Trust me, I’d love to know that. But… we don’t really have the luxury of figuring that out right now. “ Trio deadpanned.
They both resigned themselves to their ignorance, holding their blue lamps up and letting the rapidly intensifying light wash over the area in soothing waves.
After a few moments, when the water at their feet ran clear, Sapphire said something to the group, running over with the rest in tow.
“Okay, do one of you three want to tell us what in the absolute-”
“Sapphire,” Jean warned.
Gio grimaced, allowed the cleansing spell to float out of his hands, drifting down to float along the surface of the water.
“We’ll have plenty of time to talk after. First, we need to finish off our unfortunate… friend.” Trio said, gesturing to the guardian.
The guardian had stopped writhing on the ground, but hadn’t done much besides begin piecing what little remained of itself together bit by bit.
“Fine… but we really need to talk after,” Hatra said.
The group walked over to the base of the pagoda. Rio kicked the construct onto its back. The only things that remained were a head, a bit of shoulder, and a malformed lattice of metal in the mock shape of a ribcage.
Trio fashioned a spear of mirror before handing it to Gio.
“Would you care to do the honors?” Trio asked.
“I suppose so. But… guys, get over here.” Gio said, beckoning the group over.
They each gave quizzical expressions, before Gio grabbed Hatra’s arm and placed it on the haft of mirror.
“I want all of us to do this together,” Gio confirmed.
Chandrika limped forward, the bandages that Sapphire placed on her legs stained pink with blood and lymph from where she had danced herself raw. The Sage gripped the spear above Hatra’s. Jean and Sapphire were soon to follow.
Trio and Rio dissolved, merging into Gio. He cleared his throat, gazing deep into the hollow sockets of the scarred mask.
“I don’t… I don’t really know what to say, but if you can hear us… this is for the Telchines… and my Grandfather.” Gio said.
With the aid of his friends, Gio plunged the spear into the right eye of the mask. At the touch of the spear, the already deteriorated metal crumbled away in rusty flakes, and the guardian of Telchines’ Garden was no more.
Rewards:
-BONUS REWARD: HEAL+
-MAJOR BOON for all party members
-Looting rights
-Access to the Spiritspring.>
[Robust Specular Mind] - You may spend mana to retain perfect images within your mind. Captured images have the same properties as stored reflections. You have enhanced recall and may experience an easier time interfacing with divinatory magic. This is a learning skill.
A soft sensation blanketed the members of the group while they were reading their respective messages. White particles that looked like puffy snow showered down on each of them, washing away their respective aches and pains. Fragments fell away from Gio as the Shattered Man class peeled away from his soul.
Gio gasped a little as sensation suddenly returned to him, numbed as he was by the healing. It felt a bit like an intense sunburn that didn’t stop when it touched his skin, penetrating straight through his organs. He actually dry-heaved a little, spitting up a bit of black grit.
“You know, I almost wonder how bad that would have been if the spirits hadn’t been so… generous with the healing magic,” Trio said.
His two doppelgangers stood before him. The link that they previously shared due to [Fragmented Persona] had dissolved, and Gio could feel the barrier of Lot’s Intercession snap back into place, preventing Gio from merging with Rio once again. Strangely, Gio didn’t sense anything between himself and Trio.
Rio cracked.
More than that, he appeared to be weakening by the second. Even Trio had begun to slouch a bit.
“Uh, I think you two should probably go,” Gio said, eyes wide.
“Great Idea. Slight hiccup, Mirrorwalker doesn’t work for reflections, remember?” Rio said.
Gio’s stomach dropped.
“Well, I’m not about to lose both of you moments after beating the boss.”
Gio summoned an oversized plane of mirror right behind both of them, preparing to try something stupid and push his reflections back into the mirror dimension with Mirror Jaunt, a strategy that probably wouldn’t have worked.
Gio didn’t have to do that, because as soon as the mirror snapped into existence, his reflections were dramatically sucked backward, spilling back into the mirror dimension and tumbling over one another. Trio tripped, bowling into Rio and breaking his nose clean off. The dismembered nose fell through his bumbling hands, splashing down into the reflections of puddles below. Rio tried to pick his nose out of the water, but he kept fumbling because of the distorted images of his hands, courtesy of the barely restrained spellflower that he now bore the full weight of.
Gio couldn’t help but laugh.
I think chapters are going to be coming out quicker for the next few weeks, as I prepare the Patreon subs to transition into the first couple chapters of book 2.