Illuminare

They were not going where he expected. When Rave said she wanted to get a lot stronger he had thought that she wanted to get to some secret Martial Arts society or a cave at the edge of town or…well some high-end fantasy shit. What he least expected and what he finally got was the most mundane of all answers: They were going to her house.

Rave turned the key and they entered. In the hallway birthday crackers suddenly went off. The air was filled with confetti and in the distance John heard a party horn go off. John could barely see anything but as the glitter started to gradually sink to the ground he could make out the form of Regan Hollmey.

Dad Extraordinaire, Abyssal Auction employee, Pun Master, 40k Tactics Genius. Rave’s father had many titles he could decorate himself with but the ability to pull off a clown costume was not amongst them. This was partly because with his somewhat lean figure he just lacked the body type to do it correctly but mostly because of his inability to choose one clothing style and stick with it.

Regan may have worn the complete make-up of a clown and a fitting yellow and red shirt with bright blue buttons, oversized gloves and a green vest over all of that, making him a living monument of the headache one might get when looking at contrasting colours, but he followed that up with Adidas sport pants and sandals.

He adjusted his red plastic nose and said. “Tadaaa! Just for your birthday I came back early!” “Does he do that every year?” John asked thoroughly baffled. “Ja, since the divorce.” Rave didn’t seem particularly happy about the fact. If he had to guess she wasn’t the type to celebrate her birthday due to some bad childhood memories. Yeah, with her backstory he could definitely see that.

“Come on, Jane.” Regan came closer and attempted to hug his daughter, “This is a day of fun and festivities so turn that frown upside OOOOMPH!” That last sound was Regan getting punched in the stomach by his own flesh and blood. He flew back about two metres by the unexpected **** before coming to a halt and rubbing the impact side. “On one hand I am very happy that my little girl can punch that hard on the other I want to know what is going on?”

“I just had a very bad day.” Rave pointed at her dad with a disapproving look, “And we both know that I don’t like celebrating this day.” “Well, yes, because we never really got around to it, your mother and I. I thought that I should make amends this year, you know? Little girls should have the-” “I am twenty now.” She interrupted his defence “No more little girl stuff!”. Regan seemed to shrink physically as his plans went up in flames.

“I just thought that with all the stuff that happened lately and…” He mumbled. Rave sighed and lowered her hand, “Yeah, thanks dad I appreciate the gesture but….ya know, not my style.” “Nevertheless, I insist to give you a gift!” Regan straightened his back, suddenly the avatar of fatherly love as he stemmed his hands into his hips and puffed his chest. The effect was somewhat diminished by his clown make-up. With a deep voice he asked, “What do you want, young lady?” “Illuminare.”

The last bit of confetti tumbled through the air in the quiet hallway. Like snowflakes on an LSD trip they covered everything as Regan took down the clown nose and tossed it on the ground. A moment later his aura cleansed the impurity of the make-up from his face and revealed the tired expression behind. “So, you knew, huh?” “Found it by accident.” Rave said in an apologizing tone.

“Ehm, might I ask what this is about?” John interjected as this whole conversation suddenly went into a direction way over his head. Illuminare sounded Latin, something along the lines of illuminate. That part was easy. Beyond that he was lost. “Mr. Newman, I hear you are familiar with basic elementalism right?” “Yes, I have an Earth Elemental, what about it?” “Well, Jane here has the innate ability to manipulate Light right, what do you think Light Elementals think about that?”

“Aaaaah!” John understood, “So Illuminare is some kind of book that shows one how to make a contract with a Light Elemental?” “No.” Regan said and left John confused again. “Ya have it the wrong way around.” Rave explained, “I am not going to make a contract with an Elemental like ya did, I will offer an Elemental to make a contract with me. Also it’s not a book.” “And you can pick and choose which one you want and how strong it is and all that stuff?” Rave nodded and John took a deep breath, “Sorry but I want to say this once: That is bullshit.”

She giggled while Regan raised an eyebrow. Putting a hand on his shoulder Rave just assured her father “It’s an inside joke, don’t ya worry.” “And why exactly didn’t you do it until now?” John probed further, “Because dad didn’t want to give me that book until I was old enough to make that decision.” “Honestly I would prefer it if we waited another year…but with how things have been going lately maybe this is for the better.” Regan said and then gave them a sign to follow them.

They walked down the stairs to the basement, “I am still a bit confused. How will that elemental make you much stronger? You already control light.” “To a degree I do, an Elemental would increase my mastery but also the scope of my ability.” Rave explained, “At the moment things like infra-red are super hard and I can’t use my abilities for many things outside of short burst attacks. I don’t know exactly what an Elemental would allow me to do but there should be some improvements.”

So, she was about as knowledgeable about what it would ACTUALLY do as he was. Regan also had no more words of advice. They entered the room where John had drawn the circle for Gnome’s summoning. The room was still almost completely empty, the only thing inside being some remains of the chalk lines on the floor and the tall shelf with the Blood Raven’s inside. Regan grabbed one of the figurines and took of the head. He pulled out a small vail sealed with a stopper with a golden glowing liquid inside out of the figure.

“I did not expect you to find it though. I hid it here because I thought you detested 40k.” “I don’t hate it, it’s just really boring.” Rave answered, “And I found it by toppling over the shelf by accident once while I was doing Yoga here. One of them broke by the way.” “WHAT?!” Regan scanned his precious army, “NO MY CHAPLAIN!” He cried and searched for other damage, “My wonderful display army!” “Let’s get out of here, quickly.” Rave whispered and pulled John away. The Gamer was feeling with Regan as he started to actually cry. “JANE! THIS WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES!” A tearstruck voice echoed after them as they walked up the stairs. “NOT MY BANEBLAAADEE.”

‘The 40k memes are real.’ Was the last thought John had before he was out of range to hear more of the sniffling wails of his love’s father. “What now?” He asked once they were in Rave’s room “Now I drink this stuff and we see what happens.” Rave said, erected an Illusion Barrier and then pulled the stopper. With a “plop” the plastic seal was undone and Rave flicked it into a trashcan. “Here goes nothing.” She said and drank the few drops the vail contained.

From one moment to another the room was filled with blinding light and hundreds of voices. “PICK ME PICK ME!” They said. ‘They’ being little hyperactive elementals, the size and form of lightbulbs, jumping around the room. “YEAH PICK ME!” One of them said in its squeaky little voice and jumped on Rave’s shoulder. “I AM-“ “ENOUGH!” That was a considerably deeper male voice and the little elementals ceased their movements.

John’s eyes slowly got used to the light and now he was able to distinct more and more of the elementals. They came in all shapes and sizes, the little lightbulb ones, walking candlefires, human and inhuman body shapes. John could have sworn he saw Lyra the Sunshard in there, as a religious Miracle Rogue Player that card made him envious of priests.

The elemental that had spoken stepped forth. He was absolutely not what John expected when he thought of a Light Elemental. He expected something radiant and beautiful like the sun on a mid-spring noon. What he saw was surely radiant. Radiant, bulging muscles on a two-metre-tall bald dude made entirely out of golden light that glowed softly as he flexed his impressive biceps. “MHM! Let’s not make this beautiful flower…MHM!” He flexed again this time with both arms, “Waste her time. Every Elemental that thinks it can…MHM!” He turned and flexed his back muscles, “take up ME can stay, the rest scramble…MHM! MHM! MHM!” He continued his flexing as one Elemental after the other left.

Lyra the Sunshard was not amongst the three that stayed. One was the bald man Elemental, next one was a woman of cool beauty, pale as the moon in a thin dark blue dress that barely veiled her subtle curves and lastly was what John could only describe as a cat made from sunlight, of golden fur with ever shifting copper stripes.

“I said only elementals of my strength or higher should stay, cat!” The bald one said. The cat didn’t answer instead licking it’s left paw and then cleaning it’s head. “I said…!” “You are out!” Rave said and pointed at the bald elemental. “What…? But dearest Lightbearer, I am of great use in combat, I can protect you and aid you in your battles with my muscles of PURE LIGHT!” “I don’t care you are rude to cats!” Rave decided and repeated, “You are out!” “But…” “OUT!” The muscled elemental let its giant shoulders hang and dematerialized with a sad sigh.

That left the moonlight woman and the cat. John knew exactly what he would chose. The moonlight woman may not have the most impressive figure but she was beautiful nonetheless. Plus she smiled in a way that made his skin prickle as she looked at him. This wasn’t his decision though.

“So what would you do?” Rave asked the moonlight woman, “I would aid you from a distance, blind your enemies and protect you with shields of the mother moons light.” She answered and bowed, “It would be an honour to help you, Lightbearer.” Rave looked at the cat last. “And you?” The cat scratched itself behind the ear and yawned silently before answering. “I will give you the power to fend for yourself.” The cat spoke in like it already won the contest in a voice that was at the same time charismatic and slightly annoying. It’s Rubin red eyes blinked slowly, “You look capable I will just give you a boost while I run around the world.”

That actually sounded a lot like what he expected of a cat. “Okay, you win.” Rave said to the cat. “Just like that?” John asked, baffled, “Aren’t you going to min-max the gains and see what you need or how exactly he is going to ‘give you power’?” “Nope.” Rave kneeled down and hushed away the moonlight woman who vanished with a scorned expression. “Indeed, a wise choice, my name is Copernicus and…IN THE NAME OF THE SUN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Rave picked the sun cat up and rubbed the sunny fur against her face. “Man, ya are soft. This is great.” “Maybe this was a bad idea after all!” Copernicus struggled to break free as John stepped over and pet him, “You are right, wow, it is like I am touching a mixture of a heated cushion and….I don’t know something REALLY soft.” He marvelled. “Unhand me this once, Lightbearer!” The cat continued its struggle, “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all….” “Well, ya are in it now I already got your name. I am Jane Hollmey by the way so this contract is sealed.”

There was something in the air that shifted after she spoke those words. He couldn’t describe it but something about the world as a whole and Rave as a person felt slightly different than before. There was also a visible change in Copernicus. His cat form suddenly vaporized and became a streak of light that wrapped itself around Rave’s wrist as a copper accessory that depicted the solar system.

“Hey, change back…. What do ya mean you don’t feel like cuddles right now?! As your owner, I demand that…. Summoner, Owner, potato, potato, now get out here so I can cuddle you!” Rave argued with her new wristband as Copernicus answered through their mental connection.

A look into his menu revealed Copernicus’s name underneath Rave’s in the same Aclysia’s was under his. Well, if the group menu had changed, what about Rave’s Stats?

“Bullshit.” He said.