“Sorry. Um. I found the torch,” Nips said as he moved the beam of light away from her face. The little LED pen light looked the size of a rocket launcher tube as the Brownie rested it on his shoulder. He turned and panned the light around the cave.
They were in a space about twelve feet wide and maybe twenty to twenty-five feet long. It was hard to tell. The weak beam from the flashlight didn’t travel far. Lanie couldn’t make out much from where she lay, but it looked like there were openings at each end of the space where the darkness continued, as though the chamber they were in was merely a wide spot in a longer tunnel.
The walls were rough stone, natural, not shaped by hands. She didn’t see any of the flowing, dripping formations that she remembered from pictures of tourist caverns. These rocks were sharp and jagged, as though the stone had been torn, rather than worn through by water.
The light passed over the body of the spider. It was a mangled mess. The carapace was a mottled black and gray with a sparse pattern of vivid green lines and dots. Lanie shuddered. Spiders had no business getting that big. “An Attercop, huh? I thought no spider has ever liked being called an Attercop. No wonder it was so ill-tempered.”
“Ah,” Nips’ eyes brightened in delight, “A Tolkien fan! I knew I liked you for a reason.” His brow furrowed in confusion, “How did you know it was called an Attercop?”
Lanie sighed, coming to a decision, “Alright. You told me your story, so it’s only fair I tell you mine, I suppose. Besides, I have too many questions, and I can’t get good answers unless you have some context. So, I’ve got this weird interface-thing, like a video game. There’s a stat screen and info boxes, and everything.”
“That’s… I’ve never heard of anything like that. How did you get it?” Nips asked. He lowered the flashlight to the ground, balancing it on its end so that the light shone on the ceiling of the cave, reflecting back to illuminate the area around them.
“Well, I was hired to steal a certain item from a traveling archeology exhibit…” Lanie told Nips about the heist and the chase that followed. She explained how she’d swallowed the artifact, and she told him about the little concrete room, and Cole’s fists, and Dieter’s cold eyes. The whole story tumbled out. It was easier than she’d thought it would be. It was a relief to say it out loud.
There was only one other person in her life that she’d ever been able to open up to, and that was only because Jorge had been there at one of the worst group homes. He’d put himself between the cruel kids and the younger ones. He’d stepped up and stood between Lanie and the adult aide with the grabby hands and roving eyes. He’d been there, he knew, he’d taken blows that would have been aimed at her. He made Lanie feel safe. She could trust him.
Nips felt the same way to her. She’d only just met him, and she didn’t understand why she felt that she could trust him. But he’d helped her. He’d worn himself down to a trembling nub trying to clean away the poison. The affection and care in his voice when he’d talked about his Lady had felt real. Her initial choice to trust him had been based on a childish wish and the memory of a fictional TV character, but her gut… her intuition… had been telling her all along that she could trust him. So, she put the matter to bed. She would trust him.
“So, when I killed those gremlins in the alley, I got 1 sakti point from each of them, and when I killed the spider, I got 2. I got another point from the venom. I’ve got 6 now. I could spend them, but I don’t really know what I’m doing.” Lanie finished her tale and her explanation of the system she’d been given.
Nips shook his head, “I’ve never heard the like. There are as many different paths to power as there are people reaching for it, but this one is beyond anything I’ve heard of. The terms sound like something from India—Hindu or Buddhist, maybe. That sakti seems to work like Foundational magic.”
“What’s Foundational magic?”
“Magic, at least in the tradition I was taught, is seen as having two forms: Foundational and Ethereal. Foundational magic is dense and hard to work with. The Last Wisp, the bit you get from killing a magical creature, is Foundational. It can be absorbed into yourself to build you up.” Nips cocked his head in thought. He put a foot against a small stone and rocked it as he searched for an analogy. “Think of it like this: Foundational magic is like bricks. Heavy, solid, and hard to change, but you can build with them. Stack them up right and you’ll have a strong base, or an unassailable fortress. Ethereal magic is more like sand: malleable and easily shaped, but ephemeral. It’s used for casting spells, or for short-lived bursts of power.”
“So, that’s probably what the Prana is that’s mentioned on my stat screen.”
“Maybe. As I said, there are a lot of paths, but most of them use the same forces, just with different names and terminologies. Magic is shaped by will and belief. The underlying laws will be the same, but the manifestation will be shaped by the person using it. For a Taoist cultivator, they may call the magic Tao and Qi, have their own conception and understanding of it, and use it in a different way, but it still comes down to building blocks and power.”
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Lanie pushed herself up to a sitting position with a grunt, leaning back against the lumpy stone wall. Just that small adjustment was exhausting, but she didn’t like how helpless she felt lying flat on the floor. “I have so many questions that I hardly know where to start,” she said. “But I’d feel better if we were somewhere those big spiders aren’t.”
“Can you walk?” Nips asked, though his tone was more like someone pointing out the obvious.
“Not yet, but I’m getting there. Seems like I heal a lot faster since I got all this magic stuff.” Lanie pulled up her stat screen again and watched her health bar as they spoke. Her Health had already ticked up to 52/280, and her stamina was at 60/240.
“You probably do. I’m not sure why it works this way. Beings like me, creatures of Fairy, are as much made of magic as we are physical, and we heal very fast compared to purely mortal beings. One of my Aunts thinks it’s because the magic doesn’t like being inside a damaged vessel, but she’s an odd one, so I’d take anything coming from her with a grain of salt.” He shrugged. “I don’t have much experience with human magic, so I’m not going to be much help, I’m afraid.”
As she listened, Lanie watched her Health bar and counted. It ticked up about every 90 seconds. She did a little math. “Looks like it will take me around five to six hours to get back to full health. We can’t sit here that long.”
Nips rubbed his chin. “Let’s give it an hour or so and see where things stand. It won’t do us any good to stumble into a nest of those things while you’re still weak,” he said, pointing to the spider.
“Good point. I need to get stronger. Keep watch while I spend some points.”
“That’s not what I…” Nips started to say, but it was too late, Lanie had already tuned him out and was staring off into space at something he couldn’t see.
She’d already decided that buying attributes with sakti wasn’t cost-effective right now, so she went straight to the Chakra page.
Muladhara (Awakened)
Svadhisthana
Manipura
Anahata
Vishuddha
Anja
Sahasrara
This time, Muladhara and Svadhisthana were lit up, but the rest were still grayed out. She started by opening Muladhara. There had been other options available when she’d awakened it, but she hadn’t had time to look at them then. She took a look now.
Muladhara (Awakened)
Path: Shadow
Gift: Shadow Sight
Available:
Shadow Sight 2 (4)
Shape Shadows (4)
Light (3)
Shadow Cloak (8)
Shadow Step (12)
The display gave no information beyond the names and costs of what she could buy. She wasn’t sure what immediate use any of them would be. Shadow Cloak and Shadow Step looked intriguing, but they were out of reach with her current stockpile of sakti.
She backed out to the menu and checked the cost of awakening Svadhisthana. When she selected it, her screen showed an orange flower with several options listed:
1. The World — See clearly.
2. The Self — Internal sovereignty.
3. Manifest — To make real.
4. Flow — Move with the world.
5. Allure — Draw them to you.
This time, the cost to awaken the chakra was 6 sakti. It would take all she had, but when she’d awakened the first chakra, she gained a pretty substantial boost to her stats. It was a gamble to spend all of her points with no way of knowing what she would get for them. She could improve her dark vision. That was something predictable, and it would let her navigate these caves more easily, but it wasn’t a huge boost to her abilities. She didn’t know how useful shaping shadows might be, and the single word “light” was less than helpful. Would it let her conjure a light? Manipulate existing light? Make her lighter on her feet? Give her access to other abilities she would need, sakti to buy? There were too many unknowns.
She considered her options, chewing on her thumbnail as she thought. She needed to pick something that would improve her and Nips’ chances of getting out of here alive. ‘Why couldn’t I have gotten something straightforward, like a fireball spell? Hell, I’d even take Magic Missile. At least that makes sense,’ she thought. ‘OK, if I didn’t have magic options, what would I be doing? I’d find a weapon, and I’d try to sneak out of here without having to use it. I can still do that, even if my choice is a bust.’
She let out a breath, checked in with her gut, and chose the possible stat boost of opening the next chakra.
As soon as she selected it, she felt the change. It started from a spot just above the last chakra, and just below her navel. Warm power washed outward, filling her. It left her feeling both more solid and real, and more connected to the world around her.
Svadhisthana
The Self realized. Creativity. Passion. Flow.
You gain +5 to Dexterity, Perception, Intelligence, and Charisma. You gain +5% to Dexterity, Perception, Intelligence, and Charisma.
Abilities available.
Your ability to sense flows of power is greatly enhanced.
No mention of Paths this time. There was a list of abilities she could choose from, but they were all grayed out. She was out of points to spend. Her gamble had sort of paid off. She hadn’t gotten a way to fight or protect them, but even in her worn-out and aching state, even sitting still, she could tell that the Dexterity boost was a good one. She felt loose and limber. She felt like a bullet waiting to be fired. A sore, tired bullet at the moment, but the potential was there like coiled springs in her limbs.
She was about to open her stat screen to see the numbers when Nips’ voice drew her attention. His tone had changed to one of whispered urgency. “Lanie, I hear something moving back there.”