Chapter 114: Chapter 114

We were on our way to Xokrist academy when I explained how I had come across my discovery about the Weave. It reminded me I had a few charges of the temporary Affix, Soul Sight, still left under Sacrifice.

Linak shook his head in amazement. “The more I learn about your ability to Sacrifice things, the more it feels like there is still so much else I could discover about it.”

Mage Privant was remaining behind to tend to Artificer’s Guild matters. Though, Linak had promised that he would tell the Rakshasa about everything that occurred once he got back.

I grinned at the Plumefolk. “Well, if you joined the Sun Cult, you could always gain Sacrifice yourself and start figuring it out on your own.”

“I think I shall pass,” he said with a chirping laugh. “The historical facts about the Weave, things like when it arose and how it came to be, etcetera, are obviously of great interest to a lot of people in the community. Something you’ve clearly guessed since you seemed prepared to use your knowledge as a bargaining chip.”

“I figured academics would be quite interested, yes.”

“I might not be an academic,” Sigrouen said from behind. “But I’m real interested too. I want to know how and when and why it decides to give some people its blessing and not others.”

I had introduced Linak to the Scarthralls and vice versa when we had set off. Like everyone else, he had performed a little double-take at the sight, but his reactions from thereafter hadn’t been anything noteworthy. He wasn’t tense like Silhatsa and everyone else at the Mage Guild had been.

“We do know some reasons as to why that occurs,” Linak said. “Although the historical reasons behind its current operational methodology are indeed hotly debated topics.”

The Scarthralls were awestruck when we made our way through the Preserve, and it tickled me because my reaction had been much the same. Odd because I was familiar with living trees, real grass and flowers, streams with edible water and fish in them, and so on. But commonplace though they had been on Earth, on Ephemeroth, they were practically miracles.

We were stopped by the guard at the end of the Preserve, though not for long. As much as he clearly wanted to prevent a group of Scarthralls from entering Ring Two, he didn’t have enough authority to countermand both my letter from Urhei and Linak’s personal assurance.

And then we were in Ring Two.

If the Scarthralls had gawked and gaped at everything we had seen so far, now they just stared mutely at everything around them. That included the people, some of whom clearly took offence at that, judging by the scowls they flung back.

Credit to Linak. He didn’t seem at all flustered by the fact that he was being accompanied by people who were not only looked down on, but who were also garnering a decent amount of heat from the locals.

We were asked to wait within a small pavilion when we reached Xokrist academy. Linak had gone off to retrieve people who would be interested in what I had to say.

“Could we join the academy too, Cultist Ross?” Lujean asked while rubbing his chin contemplatively. “Since Vandre could join the Mage Guild with his mage-like Aspect…” New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on NoveI-Fire.ɴet

“It’s not impossible,” I said. “Or I guess it shouldn’t be, ideally. But I don’t know what the process is behind joining the academy, nor do I know the benefits and pitfalls.”

“You don’t know if it’s worth it.”

I was satisfied with what I had, with what I was already a part of, and that was a lot. Adding even more onto my plate was probably not a good idea, even if facilities like the Attribute Chamber would have been a lot more accessible if I had been an academy student.

Linak returned shortly, accompanied by a Scalekin mage. Old though she was, there was no mistaking her for the other aged Scalekin academic I was familiar with. Unlike Urhei, this professor's scales were a dull, washed-out green rather than grey. She was also pretty tall. The only thing that kept her at the same eye level as me was the fact that age had made her stoop.

“Ah, are you the one with the interesting titbits about the Weave?” she asked, her rheumy eyes landing on me. “I am Professor Izithy, head of the Department of Woven History at Xokrist academy. Glad to make your acquaintance, Mage Moreland.”

I bowed to her, fist to chest. “Same here, Professor Izithy. And yes, I’m the one who discovered the Weave has… versions.”

She laughed, delighted. “Yes, yes! Please, do tell me more, from the beginning if you would. And worry not. Linak has told me about your wish to use the Attribute Chamber, and I believe you have a recommendation as well. I will take that, if you don’t mind. But yes, arrangements can certainly be made, especially if you prove to be valuable to the academy.”

I offered her the letter Urhei had written for me, then launched into the same story I had told Linak. Though, I needed to add some explanation of how Sacrifice worked on even things like fantastical visions now, thanks to my Experientiality Affix.

“Very intriguing that you were experiencing Path Interactions before hitting Silver,” Izithy said. “That is quite promising.”

“Quite promising of what?”

“Promising of where you are likely headed, Mage Moreland. Historical evidence suggests Path Interactions occur more frequently when the Paths have significant potential to be explored, especially the interconnected potential between them.”

“Could you explain what the interconnected potential means?”

“It’s as you assume.” She tapped her cane on the ground. “Unfortunately, I am mostly an academic in historical matters. It would be more prudent to ask those who are better versed in actual progression.”

We talked a bit more about exactly what I had seen when Sacrificing the vision about the sun god in annoyance. I had told Linak the overall gist of it pretty well, but I hadn’t dived into the specific details as much. Part of the reason was that I didn’t remember the specific details as well, but the subsequent talks had reminded me of some of them.

“Like I said, I saw a version number for the Weave,” I said. “As if it was a significantly later iteration. I think it was two-point-something. Sorry, can’t recall the specifics.”

Izithy had pulled a notebook and a quill out of nowhere and was furiously scribbling down the details as I mentioned them. “You said something about incompatible skills or something along those lines?”

“Yes. It tried to give me a skill at first, but—and I’m paraphrasing here—it said skills were incompatible with the Weave so it instead turned the skill into an Affix, which was also incompatible with any Aspects and just shoved it under Sacrifice.”

“Ah, I see. And are you capable of using said Affix now, if given the right circumstances to do so?”

“Um, sure. Would that really help? I thought we were finding out more about the Weave’s lore, not my Sacrifice Aspect.”

“Perhaps. But they all do seem rather connected, don’t you think? You witnessed and Sacrificed a historical vision only to gain a power that allows you to observe the history of what you Sacrifice. You see what I mean?”

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Hmm, I was starting to see how I could be even more useful to Professor Izithy and I wasn’t sure I liked that just yet. “Soul Sight is a temporary Affix, though. But I guess you’re wondering what happens if I Sacrifice something whose overwhelming significance is its historical relevance.”

“Yes, exactly.” She laughed with a stuttering hiss. “Of course, the academy would be extremely reluctant to part with any historical relics, regardless of what insights they might offer, if we have to Sacrifice them permanently. But back to the matter at hand—I believe your temporary Affix needs things to possess or have possessed a soul before you can observe its history.”

I nodded. “That’s what the name suggests, yes, although I haven’t tried it on non-living things yet. Not even on things that used to have a soul but currently don’t.”

“Hmm. Then allow me to procure something that might shed some light on the matter.”

She left us for some time then. I turned back to Linak and the Scarthralls, exchanging dubious glances with them because none of us knew what was cooking in Izithy’s mind.

When she returned, she was bearing a small necklace, which was thankfully not disgusting. I accepted it when she proffered it. The locket within held a strand of somewhat thick hair that wasn’t a single colour, but rather, glimmering multihued like a pearl.

“Please see if you can use your Affix on this,” Izithy said.

I was asking because storing a strand of hair so peculiar in such a manner screamed that it was pretty important.

“This belonged to…” Izithy looked down at the hair with a fond expression. “To someone who was very special to me decades ago. Although, I was possibly nothing special to her. Just a mere flight of fancy. I have cherished her parting favour for long enough, I believe. It is time I see it as a gift to use, not to merely hold. She would approve of it too, I think. Can’t let sentimentality get in the way of an opportunity, after all.”

Long ago, was it? “I’m sorry for your loss. Sounds like she was a great person.”

Izithy looked at me quizzically. “Loss?” She laughed again. “No, Mage Moreland. I believe she’s spryer than you, even now. But no matter. See if you can work your magic, please.”

I didn’t understand fully what kind of person Izithy was talking about, but it sounded like… I looked down at the hair. Even after all this time, it still gleamed like it had been carved from a prismatic gemstone, yet still possessed the flexibility of actual hair.

Yep, Izithy had been with an immortal or someone close enough.

I focused on Sacrifice, channelling my magical energy into the fine white strands that slowly overtook the glimmering hair. As I did so, I focused on Soul Sight, on the power it had used to grant me more visions of the subject that I had targeted. Hot pain needled through my body, but I had grown used to the sensation, so I was able to maintain my focus easily.

You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Hair of a Paragon-ranked [???] [1] / 1 [Moderate] Relic of a Bygone Era [2]. Windfall bonus activated.

Reward [1]: Inherent Aspected Potency of a Paragon-ranked [???] now suffuses your body for 2 hours and 20 minutes. All Iron-ranked Attributes raised by 35 Ranks for 2 hours and 20 minutes. All Silver-ranked Attributes raised by 30 Ranks for 2 hours and 20 minutes. All Gold-ranked—

No Attributes above Silver-rank discovered…

Diverting excess magical energy to Reward [2]…

Reward [2]: Soul Sight activated ]

Your Sacrifice Aspect has risen by one Rank.

Sacrifice: Silver VII ]

I didn’t really get to enjoy the first reward. All I got was an immense sense of weight settling on me, a buzz of incredible power that made my nerves pop and my vision drown in a multitude of colours, and then I was lost again.

The snake didn’t believe in most things. All she cared for were things beyond her. Things standing out in the far reaches. Why was everything so distant and unclaimable? Why was the world held back like that?

She slithered to the Great Tree and found she couldn’t even see its peak. Even when she climbed to the canopy of the forest, even after she had strained and trained so hard to claim her position at the pinnacle of her domain, she was so far beneath what she really targeted. For, even the lowest boughs of the Great Tree arced through the vast void of the cosmos, leaved with stars and bearing planets as fruit.

Same with the sun. The snake couldn’t even bask in it to warm up her cold blood. It burned too hot, too fierce, scouring everything with its scorching regard. Exacting a toll for life.

She detested it. She wanted it.

If only there was a way to reach the same heights, to get to the same peaks, to become more.

The snake found nothing at first. All she tried was ineffectual. Meagre little slithers that would never lead to the grandness that was truly worth it. While others eked out a facsimile of an existence, hoping desperately that they would not fall under the crosshairs of Those Above, the snake couldn’t bear it. Couldn’t settle.

She had to be one of Those Above. What point was there in life if one couldn’t become more than what one already was?

Yet, every serpentine path she slinked along was either blocked or broken or simply so far beyond her means, it was foolish to even hope to tread it. Foolish to even dream. Until she found the one who was stretched across the canopies perpetually.

It was perhaps a miracle she had discovered the serpent, the one with the thick body slung through branch after branch, the one whose tail and head were nowhere to be seen for their length was immense. Immeasurable.

But the snake knew she had found what she sought. When she finally tired of trying to find some inkling of the serpent’s head or tail, she knew what she had to do to climb high.

She turned around and twisted over herself, opened her jaws wide, and swallowed her own tail.

I gasped awake, the vision fading like a grainy dream. The world spun. I couldn’t deal with the disorientation, especially not when my whole being felt like it was on fire and drowning in ice at the same time.

“What in the—” I groaned, then coughed.

“Relax,” Linak said. “You’ve gone through a bit of an ordeal, Ross.”

I couldn’t not relax after how my body flared up if I got too excited. At least trying to calm down gave me some time to notice that I was in an infirmary-style room that smelled of sterilization, probably somewhere within the academy.

“I passed out,” I said. My voice was still croaky, but it was getting easier to talk.

“Yes,” Linak said. “You’ve been unconscious for a few hours now. It seemed your Sacrifice reward overwhelmed you. Even Professor Izithy was alarmed at the sudden surge in magical energy. No wonder you lost consciousness. That sort of sudden influx of mana without the right training and preparation would decimate anyone.”

“I definitely wasn’t prepared…”

Linak winced. “I do apologize, Ross. We should have clarified the parameters of Sacrifice again, instead of me foolishly assuming what I had told Professor Izithy would be enough without you needing to explain too.”

“I apologize as well.” Izithy walked in as well, cane tapping on the floor. “We should have discussed the very real danger that even a Paragon’s hair alone can present.”

I tried to relax for a bit, feeling weirdly like an invalid. Linak assured me that the Scarthralls were fine and waiting outside, and they had been rather protective of me when I had fallen.

Slowly, in fits and starts and after assuring the kindly nurse there I wasn’t pushing myself, we talked about my Sacrifice rewards and the vision I had seen.

“I believe I understand,” Izithy said with a bit of moroseness. “Ataksitha was always rather wary of others trying to pry into her business and hunting her down for her life as a Paragon. Considering her capabilities, it’s no wonder she Warded her very past from prying eyes. A testament to the Weave’s—to Sacrifice’s—prowess that it showed you anything at all.”

“So that vision… it was her life, just metaphorically?” I asked.

A Paragon. One of the most powerful people in existence, those who were just a step beneath the Ascendants who had banished the gods and set up the Weave. Just sacrificing one of their age-old hairs had essentially short-circuited the Weave and left me unconscious and sick. Insane.

Izithy was very interested in hearing about my tale, though, so I told her all of it. Despite its allegorical nature, she was sure the meaning behind it would be enlightening. By the changing looks on her face, I figured she was already piecing things together, but she decided against sharing much of anything.

She did mention that the big serpent I had seen in my vision absolutely had to be an Ascendant. Apparently, Ascendants and older Paragons had worked together a great deal before, during, and even after the Rupture.

Well, I could form my own postulations about what that vision had meant. I wasn’t a slouch in literary analysis.

But it was none of my concern just then. The more important bit was that Izithy promised that she would hasten the bureaucracy around using the Attribute Chamber, especially now that I had three academy recommendations backing me up.

I blinked, taking a second to consider that. “Three? There’s you, assuming you’re recommending me now too, Professor, and then Professor Urhei, and then the third…?”

Linak gave me a beaky grin.