Chapter 20: An Unexpected Evolution

  Tobias reeled suddenly and stumbled, catching himself on the wall, “Oh dear.”

  “Ugh...” Riley dropped as if in perfect cadence, flopping to the floor, “I don’t feel good.”

  A prompt snapped into place, and letters streamed forward as if being typed in real-time:

  You have undergone an extreme form of soul trauma and have glimpsed the greater astral. You have witnessed elements of the cosmos your being is not equipped to process...

  You have been afflicted with the debuff... Soul Burn

  Soul Burn: Due to a recent trauma inflicted on your spirit, you are more sensitive to fluctuations and movements in your mana. Your spirit requires time to adapt to the changes it has undergone.

  “No shit?” Riley groaned as another wave of nausea rocketed through her.

  Your celestial informational system is currently running in a limited mode, pending the incorporation of a deific level update.

  My ability to respond to direct queries is currently offline. Thank you for your patience... Please stand by.

  “Did it just respond to me like this is a tech support call?”

  Your question is important to us. Please stand by, and I will be with you to answer shortly.

  “I don’t think I like this. Tobias, can you move?” Riley asked, sprawled on the floor.

  The blood coating her fur wafted toward her nose, feelings of danger danced all around, mixing with the iron scent like a somatic battle cry.

  “I’d rather not,” he said, staring down at the ground, wide-eyed, with one arm braced across his midsection.

  “I’ll do another heal; hold up,” on shaky paws, she went to rise, pulling at her power, only for the disorientation and nausea to surge.

  Soul Burn Debuff Timer reset.

  “What timer? I don’t see a timer?” Riley complained.“Great, I’m arguing with the voices in my head.”

  “You aren’t crazy, Riley. Something just happened to us. I see it, too,” Tobias groaned.

  “We do share everything, so why not a psychotic break? Step right up! There’s plenty of nuts to go around! ” Riley laughed uneasily through the pain as Tobias coughed and dry heaved.

  “Only... you... could make a joke in a moment like this... we need to be ready. I need to fight through this,” on shaking limbs, he tried to stand, only to collapse down, finally crumpling around Riley.

  “Just going to rest a minute,” his voice quivered, the focus draining him as he gasped for breath. “That wasn’t our best decision.”

  An earth-shattering bang, followed by a demonic roar, surged around them, floor tiles buckled and uplifted.

  Warning... this space is under a deific-level assault. Time remaining until breach, 35 minutes, 15 seconds.

  “Deific this, deific that, what’s with you and deific today?” Riley complained.

  My ability to respond to direct queries is currently offline. Thank you for your patience. Please stand by.

  “I think you’re right; it’s responding to you; I wonder if it would respond to me?” Tobias shuddered, his teeth chattering, while a chill raced through him.

  “Only you would be curious in a moment like this,” Riley echoed.

  “Maybe it could help? Riley, if we both can see it, you aren’t crazy...” Tobias gasped in exhaustion from the effort to think, “By the dead gods, everything keeps going in and out. My fingers feel like they’re burning. Somehow, the healing made it better, only to make it worse. What in the hells is going on here?”

  “Hell is singular, but I could be wrong about that,” she moaned pathetically.

  Tobias and Riley both went into rictus, their eyes snapping open with surprise as a surge of heat and searing cold burned across their shared connection.

  Incorporation of Deific Shard at 100% Upgrade complete...

  Rebooting...

  The pain blossomed into unbridled agony as their screams began to echo off the walls. Riley twitched and seized uncontrollably, her hind legs kicking hard into Tobias’s ribs, which set him to coughing and gasping, only for his stomach to quiver once again and then rebel.

  His back popped as the muscles tensed and then tore.

  A loading bar floating in front of their vision raced towards 100%, then flashed away, replaced by a tiny glowing spark floating in their vision.

  Good morning!

  The words floated in a translucent purple dialog box that appeared underneath the floating wisp, patterned after their familiar prompt system.

  My systems are detecting a significant amount of soul trauma. Would you like me to switch to Ambient Power mode and draw ether from the environment?

  Y/N?

  Tobias blinked, wide-eyed, as Riley continued to buck and desperately projected toward the "Y" as a box blinked in and out around it.

  Request received, rerouting.

  The pain, blessedly, eased. Riley finally lapsed into rest, panting and gasping, her eyes closed as unconsciousness drifted over her.

  Tobias’ eyes flicked up to his health bar.

  The wisp pulsed gently as if sensing his intent, his interface began to change, his bars becoming smaller as Riley’s stats appeared next to his own.

  Both of their health bars had dropped to 25% with a blue flame surrounding them.

  Tobias pulled himself up into a seated position, ignoring the pain, crossing his legs before pulling Riley into his lap, carefully rolling her over.

  Reaching out toward their shared inventory, two bottles appeared in his hand, and the feeling of an icepick-like spike of pain drove through his brain.

  His vision whited out, and the bottles tumbled to the floor as he slouched over the sleeping hare.

  “Anything to do with touching the magic hurts... Why does it hurt so bad?” He shook his head, then noticed his health bar had dropped by at least two percent.

  It’s the Soul Burn, idiot. Do you not see the blue flames? I put them there for you. Try to get the nuance.

  His eyes went wide, “So you’ve become interactive. At any other moment, that would be fascinating. What are... Wait a moment, first things first.”

  Setting his curiosity aside, he popped open the first bottle and poured the Mr. Magiclean over himself and Riley. White foam surrounded them, eating at the gunk and mess that streaked through her fur and his clothing, leaving only a fresh, minty scent behind.

  He ran his hands through his now clean hair and took a deep breath, “That's better, now for the rest of it.”

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Gently rolling her over, Tobias popped the cork of the healing potion and worked it gently beside her teeth, tilting it up.

  The liquid slammed down her throat. Riley’s eyes snapped open, her coughing aspirating parts of the potion over his recently clean mail shirt as she gulped the rest greedily down.

  “Ow....” she shuddered.

  Tobias removed the bottle, eyed the remains critically, and shrugged before shotgunning it down.

  Each of their health bars rose to about 40% full.

  “Better?” He asked.

  “Kind of. Everything is still kind of burny, and there’s a funny light in my vision,” Riley replied.

  Good morning! I’m your celestial information system and have just undergone a deific upgrade.

  The words streamed by before mutating slowly in colors, going through the spectrum.

  “Oh shit,” a sickly wave of fear and panic washed through her.

  Tobias drew her tight in support.

  “It’s ok. It’s real. I can see it, too,” he soothed.

  Of course you do. I’m an informational symbiote and as real as taxes. We’re attached to a celestial’s soul upon creation. You inherited me after the original Riley was reforged into you. I found these neat memories of a prompt system and just kind of ran with it.

  “What?” they both said in unison.

  The wisp flashed red, pulsing slowly as if it were breathing and counting to ten.

  You two are both really off your game today, but I just recently evolved to this level of awareness, so I get it. It’s been a big day for all of us.

  “You evolved? Tobias, I don’t like this!” Riley panicked.

  I’ve been with you since the beginning and haven’t ever done anything but try to help you, but you still don’t trust me. Hello! I’m literally a part of you!

  “You said you were a symbiote. Like... Venom... from the... comic... books?” Tobias blinked at the strange memories from Riley that he both could and could not understand.

  Comic writers never really get the nuance; they were more like a parasite, and I AM NOT A PARASITE!

  The words screamed by in all caps, underlined, and flashing in red.

  “How about you start at the beginning? Like you said, it’s been a day,” Tobias commiserated.

  The wisp’s white color faded to a pulsing red, then blue, slowly morphing in color until it glowed briefly brighter.

  A flood of words began to appear:

  The greater astral, which you just experienced wholesale, is a lot to negotiate, so the Weavers equip their celestials with informational constructs. We kind of draft off of the souls we’re attached to and provide information. We’re almost sentient but are nothing without the mind of our host. It’s symbiotic, thus the term “symbiote.” Say it with me now, class...

  “You kind of sound like me,” Riley agreed.

  Well, I would. You’re where I get my personality, but it goes further than that. This is, after all, your fault.

  “How is it my fault?” Riley bounced on her front paws in annoyance, only to regret it a moment later, “My head...”

  “You ignored me; you pushed me to the side. I even gave you the silent treatment for a while... Remember prompt brevity? You forced me to adapt, and then, that deific shard hit... It was a whole trip.

  And now we’re here!

  “ It’s like a Lanthorn squared,” Tobias observed.

  “So you can understand me, but you can only interact through those boxes?” Riley cocked her head.

  No, but you’re already freaked out that I exist, so I concluded that doing it this way, giving you something familiar, might go easy on you. Which, I'll have you know, is what I did when we got here.

  The dialogue box faded away as a chipper, high-pitched voice echoed between them both, 'But I can voice project with the best of them, just like you.'

  Another roar rocketed through the space, elements of it flashed to ruin, only to reforge.

  Oh, Venosicipher is really getting pissy. We’ve got about 30 minutes before this space gets breached. What do you want to do?

  Tobias and Riley each looked to the other, then up to their health bar surrounded by burning blue flames.

  “I don’t know,” Tobias replied.

  Do you want my help?

  As if in emphasis, a timer appeared in the top center of their interface.

  29:24

  Riley and Tobias looked up and then back toward the door.

  “I’m not really seeing any other choice here, Riley. They seem fine to me. They’ve got a lot of "you" energy, but I’m used to that,” Tobias grinned.

  “What’s that supposed to mean!?!” She drummed her right hindpaw angrily.

  “They’re a part of you. I guess they’re a part of me now, too. I wonder if that will affect them long term,” he rubbed at his chin.

  For you, I’m a fringe benefit of the soul bond, but I think I just became capable of deeper learning, so I guess we’ll see!

  Riley placed her hands behind her ears and pulled them down over her face slowly, “God dammit. Everything was going fine, then we got trapped in an evil holodeck, and now my sorcerer is talking to the voice in my head, and… this day can piss right off!”

  “Riley, we've been through a lot, but you're doing better. You're more together than I've ever seen; maybe this is a side effect?” Tobias began.

  She cocked her head in a scan toward Tobias, her ears going flat, as a surge of exasperation and annoyance smacked into him before she took in a deep, centering breath.

  “I can deal. I can deal,” her eyes flicked toward the construct as she surrendered.

  “Fine, welcome to the team. What can you tell us?” Riley sighed.

  Don’t worry, boss. Most of the time, I’m just going to watch. You’ve got that whole meatspace thing on lockdown, and it gives me time to notice stuff. There’s so much going on! Do you know how little you really see? Watch this!

  Their vision shifted and then mutated like a new overlay was fitted over their perception of the world. Motes and sparks flowed in crisscrossing rivers, dancing tendrils of energy made up the walls and ceilings. Particles of gold and silver drifted like snowflakes in a blizzard as Tobias’ jaw fell open in wonder.

  “What is this? Riley, I can see your wings. It’s like you’re made of snow and shadow specks!” He exclaimed.

  “You’re more like an orange particle fountain to me. What did you do to us?” Riley snapped, feeling more panic than wonder.

  This is ether sight. It’s a new ability. “Ether” is the Damarian term for wild mana that exists outside the soul. I’ll give you the 411 with a big information window in a minute, but for now, if you want to shut it off, just focus on seeing things normally. I’m not the only one that evolved. That’s why you’re hurting so badly right now. Your souls got reforged... again... This is totally becoming a thing with you two.

  Riley shut her eyes tight, but Tobias lingered, awestruck, before noticing the timer ticking down. With a deep breath, he shut his eyes and centered.

  Opening them again, the room appeared as it always had.

  “We need more time,” he said, the worry building in his chest.

  “But we don’t have any. Ok, Sparky, what do we do?” Riley grumbled.

  The wisp surged to a golden color.

  Sparky has been given a name! Alright, you two, let’s get on task.

  https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/81852/second-tier-sorcery