A Dark Meeting

Beth reflexively jerked her right arm back, stopping just short of hiding the limb under the table.

“Warn a girl before you point stuff like that out,” she grumbled, laying her arm down, her bare wrist exposed. “Yeah. Got my sister’s ‘safety net’ wrapped around it.”

John frowned. “I didn’t detect it with Arcane Sense.

“Arcane sense’?” Beth asked.

“That’s my magic sensing skill’s name,” John disclosed. “Pretty much everything I can do is covered by a skill. I could feel your aura and magic flow, but didn’t feel anything about that.”

He gestured to her upturned wrist as Vivian lowered the goggles back over her eyes, leaning over the table to get a good look.

“I’m not surprised you can’t pick out the enchantment,” she said in a quiet voice. “It’s really well integrated into Beth’s magic. Can’t really make out exactly what some of it does. Looks like it was designed to hide in the wearer’s aura.”

“So no chance at just getting rid of it then?” Beth asked, disappointment clear in her voice.

“Not at the moment,” Vivian informed her. “But I can jot down what I can make out. Try to decipher it. Might be able to write up something that can make the whole thing stand out more.”

“Jot away,” Beth assented, and Vivian pulled out her notepad and began to take notes.

As Vivian began to transcribe what she could make out, John addressed Beth. “Might as well link you up. Something’s going to pop up in front of you, so don’t freak out. Invite Beth to Gamer Test Party.”

Beth only blinked as the invite manifested before her and she looked at it for a moment before giving John a side eye. “Really, ‘Test Party’?”

“Well, I started it as a test,” John defended himself. “And I’ve just been rolling with it.”

Beth shrugged her left shoulder and accepted the invite. “Oh, cool. You guys got bars over your heads.”

“Health and mana,” Aeolia informed her. “We can see yours now.”

“And you can see any sheet I can,” John added, willing the glove’s info into view.

“OK, that is pretty cool,” Beth admitted, before looking at Vivian. “How long’s this exam going to take?”

“A couple more minutes,” the redhead remarked, pencil scratching at paper.

“Might as well use the time for any more questions,” John suggested.

“Guess that works. So, what sort of things can you do with that item magic thing?” Beth asked.

“It’s called Evocation,” John explained. “And each item has its own unique effect. Like, the goggles can fire out a laser, my coat can increase my resistance to damage, Senka can bind people with dark magic…”

“Senka?” Beth cut in, a bemused grin in her face. “You named one of your toys?”

“W-well, yeah,” John stuttered out, his face growing red.

“And that was before it started coming alive,” Aeolia teased, causing Beth to look at them with wide, skeptical eyes.

“‘Alive’?” she pressed, prompting John to summon the knife.

“Yeah. Well, sort of,” John explained. “The summed up version of things is that by linking her with my abilities, it caused a spirit to start to manifest.”

“Like some kind of ghost?” Beth inquired.

John shook his head. “Ghosts and spirits aren’t really synonymous. The basics is that spirits are just bundles of mana and psychic energy. No need for something to be alive before one manifests. I’ve got a wind one bound to me.”

He willed his wind spirit into view, the green swirling orb kicking up a mild breeze that brushed back Beth’s hair.

“But I have no idea what sort of power Senka will have,” John continued. “She’s not a typical spirit, according to the people who taught me about spirits. But she’s close to being ready to manifest. Already helped us out of a sticky situation.”

“Guess that’s a sign,” John muttered. “The description didn’t mention the spirit thing last time I looked.”

“Maybe you should try to contact her,” Aeolia spoke up. “She saved our asses back against that tree monster. Mason did say it’d be rude to leave her waiting.”

“I thought you were asleep when I had that conversation with Mason and Cammie,” John said as he smiled at Aeolia.

“Just nearly,” she replied, returning his smile. “It was easier to pass out once you slipped in between us. You make a pretty good pillow.”

“Again with the flirting,” Beth groaned in a good natured way. “Are you going to continue with that or are you going to try to do whatever it is you’re planning to do with the spirit or whatever?”

“Regardless of what we’re going to be doing, I’m done,” Vivian reported, pulling the goggles off and returning her glasses to their usual place. “I think I’ve got enough from this to work out a way to reveal the whole enchantment’s structure. It will take some time, though. Some of this is rather complex.”

Beth shrugged. “It’s not like I haven’t lived with this for a while. Don’t stress yourself out trying to decode it.”

Vivian smiled at her. “It won’t be a problem. What are friends for, right?”

“Yeah,” Beth said quietly, looking like she was holding back tears. Composing herself after a moment, she looked at John. “So, how does one summon a knife spirit?”

“Not a clue,” John answered. “Getting the wind spirit was a matter of learning to detect it then linking myself to it. But Senka is different.”

John lapsed into silence and focused on the weapon in his hand. He activated Arcane Sense, searching for the spirit within. The knife flowed with a cool energy, like the shade under a tree during a sunny day, but under that current of potential power was something stronger.

It had the same flavor as the weapon’s but infinitely deeper, like looking down a deep well. In addition, as his attention focused on what he believed was Senka the spirit, it ‘twitched’, stirring as if nearly waking from sleep. John tried to link his emotions to her, but couldn’t get more than minor shifts.

“I can’t seem to connect to her,” he muttered as he let his senses return to baseline. “I can sense her, but it’s like she’s asleep. Didn’t even need to get myself into the right mindset to sense her either.”

“Right mindset?” Vivian repeated, a curious look on her face.

“Mason says the best way to sense and link to a spirit is to be on the same psychic wavelength. I had to recall moments of unrestrained joy and childhood whimsy to sense my wind spirit at first,” John explained.

“Maybe since Senka is connected to your powers, that means you can skip that step,” Aeolia theorised.

“That makes sense,” John said. “Maybe there’s something in ‘Perks’ that will let things progress.”

“Okay, looks like it's locked behind a perk,” John remarked, his finger hovering over the perk. “Not sure what’s going to happen when I pick it. Might summon Senka automatically.”

“We’d need another chair then,” Beth quipped.

That earned a chuckle from the others and John cashed in the points for the perk. The sheet vanished a second later and John placed Senka on the table as he closed her information sheet.

“Looks like the passive description of the perk was accurate,” John said. “Guess I need to try again.

John cleared his mind and focused on connecting with Senka, holding the mana needed for Spirit Link to solidify the connection at the ready. This time, when he reached for the deep core within the blade, the sensation of a slender pair of arms closed around him and pulled him into the darkness.

New Quest: The Shadowed Maiden
Find and form a spirit bond with Senka.
Reward: Senka integrated into Spirit Link, 3 Skill Points

John groaned as he opened his eyes to see the quest display, then he gasped as the sky above him came into focus. It was nearly pitch black, with neon violet clouds breaking up the dark endless canvas. John began to get up, noticing he wasn’t wearing his uniform anymore but was instead clad in the gear he’d worn the day prior.

“Where am I?” he asked as he took in his full surroundings. Trees as far as he could see, with leaves darker than the sky. It was eerily quiet, the air was still, leaving John’s increasingly heavy breathing as the only source of noise.

John’s eyes flicked to the still open quest details and he began to piece things together.

“Is this like Senka’s domain or something?” he wondered aloud. “I did feel like I was getting pulled down before I blacked out. So, she should be somewhere around here, right?”

With no answer voiced, John closed the quest screen and began to walk. The dark forest stretched on endlessly; shadows seemed to cling to every surface, obscuring low branches and protruding roots. John only walked about five minutes before he stopped suddenly.

“I’m an idiot,” he said, snacking himself in the forehead. “Didn’t even try Arcane Sense.”

John activated the skill once more and felt the same sort of cool power he’d come to associate with Senka rush past him. It was a constant flow, originating from his right. He adjusted his orientation and marched upstream against the phantom current, a bemused feeling washing over him.

The forest shifted before him, the endless expanse of trees thinning to reveal a large, perfectly circular pond only a few meters ahead. As John approached the pool, he noticed two things. One was that the water was a black as the sky above and the other was that it wasn't the origin of the power flowing around him, the large tree that sat at the center was.

It grew out of the water like a mangrove, massive roots lifting the bulk of the tree above the surface. John let his magical perception lapse as he knew that he had reached his destination.

“Just how do I get there?” he asked aloud, stopping as he reached the edge of the pool. Contrary to his initial observation, the water wasn’t completely black. Flashes of red, green, burnt orange, gold, blue and violet light broke up the uniformity. The light show caused John to remember something and he looked at one of his hands.

“Isn’t this how Aeolia described my aura?” he muttered as he recalled what she said she saw. “Black with sparks of colors. That's what she said.”

He knelt down and tentatively reached for the water, a look of shock crossing his face when his fingers pressed into a solid surface instead of dipping into the pool. He pressed against the deceptive liquid, seeing if there was any give, and when he was certain it was safe, John tentatively stepped onto the water.

Ignoring the sensation of satisfaction that washed over him, John slowly walked towards the tree, his thoughts on the void beneath him and the tree before him.

‘If that tree is Senka’s core, then does this pool represent my power?’ he wondered as he neared his destination. The tree’s bark was the same color as Senka’s hilt and motes of purple light flowed up the rough surface and into the black leaves, causing them to fluoresce for a second before fading back into darkness.

“I’m glad you didn’t keep me waiting,” a soft, womanly voice said followed by a small chuckle. John followed the voice to its source and saw a tall, voluptuous woman sitting on one of the roots above him.

She was clad in a plum kimono that left a fair amount of her large bust exposed. Her hair, the same color as the clouds above and slightly lighter than her attire, was styled in curled pigtails and her lone blue eye sparkled with mirth, its twin hidden behind an eyepatch. Her lips, painted to match her hair, formed a small serene smile as she looked down at John.

“Senka?” he tentatively asked, prompting her to chuckle once more.

“Who else would be here?” she shot back amused. “Now hurry on up. We have some things to discuss.”

John heeded her order and climbed up the large root. A few seconds of scrambling put John on the same footing as the spirit as she rose to her feet.

Senka let out a pleased hum and her lone eye drank John in as his eyes went wide when he read her ‘Relationship’ number.

“So that’s what an Observe feels like,” she purred, sashaying closer to John. He didn’t react to her approach and she easily pulled him into a crushing hug, her slender arms driving him into her bosom. After his initial spike of arousal over being pulled into one of the promised lands, John felt a wave of guilt wash over him and he struggled to pull himself free.

“Oh, right,” Senka said as she let John escape from her cleavage. “You still have the instinct to breathe here. And I imagine you have some questions, yes?”

Doing his best to ignore her curvy body still pressed into his, John managed to say, “Yeah. Didn’t expect something like this.”

Senka nodded. “It is all a little strange, isn’t it? This is essentially a world created within the weapon bearing my name. Have you any ideas as to why things look the way they do?”

“Well, I suppose the trees are because of your handle,” John remarked, drawing a small frown to Senka’s lips. “Is that wrong?”

“No,” she curtly answered. “But please don’t assume that the blade and I are completely synonymous.”

“Um, you’re not?” John asked.

A flash of anger lit up her eye before she began to explain in a calm voice, “No. I am born out of it, yes, but I am more than just the personification of steel and wood. I am the experience of battle. Every strike you made, every cast of Shadow Snare and every use of the dark mana helped shape me into who I am. Of course the greatest thing that allowed me to form was sharing your experience with me.”

“Guess Mason’s theory was right,” John said. Senka’s arms continued to hold John and an unease began to build in him.

“For the most part, yes,” Senka remarked. “It is an odd thing. I know some things because I learned them through you, such as how to talk and general knowledge of things. But other things, like how I differ from lesser spirits, seem to come just from being.”

“Sounds like we might want to have a roundtable with Mason and Cammie,” John suggested. Senka’s arms tightened around him and he added, “Um, not that this isn’t nice, but I think we should do what we need to do to formalize things and get back to the others.”

“I think we can afford to linger a bit longer,” Senka said, her voice losing some of the warmth it held before. “Time here works faster than outside.”

Alarm bells rang in John’s head but he managed to maintain his composure. “Okay,” he muttered. “So, anything you want to talk about?”

Senka smiled down at John then let him free from her embrace, her arms lightly trailing down his sides. Then she led John to a spot close to where the root dipped into the water.

“Sit, sit,” she implored him, prompting John to drop onto the rough surface. In a swift and elegant motion, Senka settled herself into his lap, legs draped over one side and her arms looped around his neck.

John fought his first instinct to lock up and managed to say, “Pretty nice view.”

“Indeed it is,” Senka agreed, her eye drifting to the pool. The faint orange light of a setting sun reflected in the black water, painting the pair in a warm light. “Do you have any idea what it’s supposed to represent?”

“I had a thought,” John answered. “The pool is my magic, right?”

“Your magic, your aura, your very soul,” Senka remarked, her voice quiet. “An endless pool of potential, nurturing both blade and spirit.”

There was a melancholy in her words, an emotion reflected in her expression and John couldn’t help but ask, “Isn’t that a good thing?”

Senka smiled sadly. “In some ways, yes. You can grow to face whatever challenges spring up before you. But that is a double edged blade. As you become stronger, greater dangers will come. That is how the world works. Greater power draws in greater resistances.”

“It’s not like I can just walk away,” John said. “That blood stealing group is out there and they went after me before I even leveled up. And I can’t just abandon Aeolia and Vivian.”

Senka tightened her grip slightly and her lips dipped into a small frown. “No, you won’t. Despite the isolation and ridicule you’ve endured, you’re still a good person who will fight for what’s right.”

She sighed, expression growing even more despondent. “I suppose there’s no point in delaying things any longer.”

“Delay what?” John asked.

Senka didn’t answer. Instead, she brought her hands up to turn John’s head towards her. After giving him a sad smile, she stole a quick kiss then effortlessly disengaged from him, quickly putting a short distance between them.

“Delay our confrontation,” she finally answered.

“Wait, wait,” John hastily said as he scrambled to his feet. “Confrontation? We have to fight?”

Senka turned to face John. “Have you already forgotten Mason’s lessons? In order to bind a spirit, you have to understand its nature and learn to use that as you will it. I am born from a weapon. My nature, at its core, is to fight. You claim you have the resolve to fight. If you can prove that to me, then I will gladly serve as your blade.”

“We really have to do this?” John asked in a despondent tone.

“Beyond you simply just leaving and letting me remain here, with limited reach outside, no,” Senka answered. “I want to help you, to stand at your side. But besting me is the only way for that to become possible. And I know you don’t want to leave things as is. Your desire to explore what we could do together is something very clear to me.”

“Yeah,” John admitted. “I want to see what you can do. And I don’t want to just leave you here alone. That’s something I don’t wish on anybody.”

“Then there’s only one way forward,” Senka said, raising one hand obfuscated by gathering darkness. “I can’t throw this battle. I will give it my all.”

“Then I’ll do the same,” John added, equipping his glove and summoning his greatsword.

Senka’s eye twitched as she lifted her hand over her head and brought it down in a chopping motion. For a second, John thought she was just starting their bout, then a flash of pain raked down his torso.

-10HP

John stumbled back, left hand reflexively moving to his wound only to find no blood or damaged clothing. His eyes snapped to Senka, her dark cloaked hand held just in front of her face, the wisps of shadows mimicking a hand fan and hiding her lips. Then he noticed his mana bar had dropped about ten points and a sick realization hit him.

‘She can drain my mana and hurt me in the same move. This isn’t going to be easy.’

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.