n a flash of light, Isabelle felt cool, electric energy flowing through her veins. She felt a strange tingling, like all of her body had fallen asleep for but a moment. Then, she felt exhilarated, like cresting over the top hill of a rollercoaster and then zooming down, down, down.
[Raw Essence Converting to XP]
[...]
[...]
[Raw Essence converted successfully]
[Notice: You are ready to level up]
Oh, thank fuck. Now, she could finally do this. Isabelle was relieved. To level up was everything.
[Congratulations, you've reached level 74!]
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
Attribute Points to Spend: 70
Hp: 938
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 643
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 845
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
70 points to spend, and what to do with that? Actually, normally, Isabelle would've mused; but this time she didn't want to. Instead, Isabelle decided all 70 points should go into her hp. She'd end up with over 1000 hp points!
Skill Points to Spend: 79
Str: 563 Int: 389
Dx: 434 Wis: 420
Const: 448 Char: 300
79 skill points. Only ten points more than 69, Isabelle thought, which was nice. Still, she needed to allocate all these points somehow, didn't she? She did. Isabelle would never, ever become an auto-leveler. She remembered hearing about it back when she had first awoken in Beaubinte. Allowing the system to choose your stat updates for you? The thought sickened and even disturbed Isabelle greatly.
Suddenly, Isabelle had an epiphany. She could put all 79 points into her charisma, and it would still be her lowest skill. Well, with that, Isabelle finally knew what to do.
[Congratulations, you've finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name: Isabelle
Gender: Female
Level: 74
Class: Shadow Mage
Race: Human
Alignment: Chaotic-Evil
Affinities
Slots: 2
Shadow Affinity (I)
Predation Affinity (I)
Attributes
Hp: 1008
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 643
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 845
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Skill Points
Str: 563 Int: 389
Dx: 434 Wis: 420
Const: 448 Char: 379
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant: 3 Summon: 2
Heal: 3 Destroy: 13
Transmute: 3 Confuse: 3
Shadow: 5
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting: 8 Sneak: 12
Archery: 11 Lockpick: 5
Armed Combat: 18 Melee Combat: 4
Speech: 17 Sleight Of Hand: 8
Great! Isabelle was thrilled. Part of her did wonder if it had been the best move to pour all her Raw Essence into leveling up instead of, say, saving some to use to ugrade some of her magic and normal ability levels. But, there was always next time. Isabelle was certain there would be a next time. There always fucking was, especially in Beaubinte.
[Congratulations, you've reached level 75!]
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
Attribute Points to Spend: 80
Hp: 1008
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 643
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 845
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Now Isabelle had even MORE points to allocate. She wasn't totally sure what to do with all of them, honestly. Thankfully, after pondering for a moment, she managed to have an idea. Isabelle would put 40 points into mana and 40 into stamina.
Skill Points to Spend: 80
Str: 563 Int: 389
Dx: 434 Wis: 420
Const: 448 Char: 379
80 points for skills, too. Isabelle would really have to mull this one over. There were so many amazing things she could do to upgrade her stats, and all of those things involved numbers going in an upward direction. Yes, the endless march onwards, ever increasing exponentially... Isabelle had to just sigh about the whole thing. Finally, she decided she'd put all 80 into her wis score and leave it at that.
[Congratulations, you've finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name: Isabelle
Gender: Female
Level: 75
Class: Shadow Mage
Race: Human
Alignment: Chaotic-Evil
Affinities
Slots: 2
Shadow Affinity (I)
Predation Affinity (I)
Attributes
Hp: 1008
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 683
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 885
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Skill Points
Str: 563 Int: 389
Dx: 434 Wis: 500
Const: 448 Char: 379
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant: 3 Summon: 2
Heal: 3 Destroy: 13
Transmute: 3 Confuse: 3
Shadow: 5
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting: 8 Sneak: 12
Archery: 11 Lockpick: 5
Armed Combat: 18 Melee Combat: 4
Speech: 17 Sleight Of Hand: 8
Excellent. Wonderful. Marvelous, even, Isabelle thought. It truly was a rush to level up in such a way.
[Congratulations, you've reached level 76!]
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
Attribute Points to Spend: 80
Hp: 1008
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 683
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 885
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Once more, Isabelle had a choice to make. And once more, she had to think about her answer. Finally, after much deliberation, she decided to put all the points in her hp again.
Skill Points to Spend: 80
Str: 563 Int: 389
Dx: 434 Wis: 500
Const: 448 Char: 379
80 points for skills, too. It was the same number as the last round, and again, the answer was clear as day to her. She would put 80 points into her Int. score.
[Congratulations, you've finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name: Isabelle
Gender: Female
Level: 76
Class: Shadow Mage
Race: Human
Alignment: Chaotic-Evil
Affinities
Slots: 2
Shadow Affinity (I)
Predation Affinity (I)
Attributes
Hp: 1088
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 683
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 885
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Skill Points
Str: 563 Int: 469
Dx: 434 Wis: 500
Const: 448 Char: 379
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant: 3 Summon: 2
Heal: 3 Destroy: 13
Transmute: 3 Confuse: 3
Shadow: 5
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting: 8 Sneak: 12
Archery: 11 Lockpick: 5
Armed Combat: 18 Melee Combat: 4
Speech: 17 Sleight Of Hand: 8
Isabelle was, again, pleased by this. It was always a treat to level up. She could only hope that this feeling of power would never leave her. She also hoped, in a far more secret place inside her mind, that she would never, ever become one of the auto-levelers. She'd rather die.
[Congratulations, you've reached level 77!]
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
Attribute Points to Spend: 80
Hp: 1088
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 683
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 885
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
So, what to do with these 80 attribute points? After thinking for a long, long minute, Isabelle decided to split them up. 40 in mana, 40 in stamina.
Skill Points to Spend: 80
Str: 563 Int: 469
Dx: 434 Wis: 500
Const: 448 Char: 379
And with her skill points? 80 points to her dex score seemed like a good idea to Isabelle.
[Congratulations, you've finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name: Isabelle
Gender: Female
Level: 77
Class: Shadow Mage
Race: Human
Alignment: Chaotic-Evil
Affinities
Slots: 2
Shadow Affinity (I)
Predation Affinity (I)
Attributes
Hp: 1088
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 723
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 925
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Skill Points
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Str: 563 Int: 469
Dx: 514 Wis: 500
Const: 448 Char: 379
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant: 3 Summon: 2
Heal: 3 Destroy: 13
Transmute: 3 Confuse: 3
Shadow: 5
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting: 8 Sneak: 12
Archery: 11 Lockpick: 5
Armed Combat: 18 Melee Combat: 4
Speech: 17 Sleight Of Hand: 8
Isabelle was so pleased. Pleased as punch, one might say.
[Congratulations, you've reached level 78!]
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
Attribute Points to Spend: 80
Hp: 1088
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 723
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 925
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Isabelle, feeling a surge of pure, chaotic impulse, decided to be reckless with these points. All 80 into Stamina.
Skill Points to Spend: 80
Str: 563 Int: 469
Dx: 514 Wis: 500
Const: 448 Char: 379
80 skill points? All into Strength. A berserker build for a mage? Ridiculous. Perfect.
[Congratulations, you've finished leveling up!]
Character Status
Name: Isabelle
Gender: Female
Level: 78
Class: Shadow Mage
Race: Human
Alignment: Chaotic-Evil
Affinities
Slots: 2
Shadow Affinity (I)
Predation Affinity (I)
Attributes
Hp: 1088
H-Regen: 2.4/5sec
Mana: 723
M-Regen: 4/1sec
Stm: 1005
S-Regen: 0.7/sec
Skill Points
Str: 643 Int: 469
Dx: 514 Wis: 500
Const: 448 Char: 379
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant: 3 Summon: 2
Heal: 3 Destroy: 13
Transmute: 3 Confuse: 3
Shadow: 5
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting: 8 Sneak: 12
Archery: 11 Lockpick: 5
Armed Combat: 18 Melee Combat: 4
Speech: 17 Sleight Of Hand: 8
"Are you quite finished flexing?" Ignis's voice, dry and exasperated, cut through Isabelle's internal stat-gasm. "Some of us are trying to not be erased from reality."
Isabelle blinked, the glowing notifications fading from her vision. The world rushed back in; the sterile, humming emptiness of the rift, the shimmering tear in space, the lingering smell of burnt toast and ozone.
"What?" Isabelle said, feeling the surge of her new stats like a hot bloodrush. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm getting stronger. You should be thanking me."
"I'll thank you when we're not standing in the middle of a glowing hole in the world that's still trying to sing itself to completion," Ignis said, gesturing with her snout at the rift. The chanting was still there, a low, dissonant hum that vibrated in their teeth. "The Cimillates were just the cleanup crew. The problem is still right there."
"She's right, you know," said a new, calm voice.
Lyra phased into view, her form shimmering as it settled into this corrupted reality. She looked the same: pristine, composed, her silver dress immaculate against the dusty, corrupted ground.
"About-fucking-time," Isabelle said with a sarcastic sigh, though a part of her was relieved. Lyra's presence, while annoying, usually meant answers. Or at least more interesting problems. "Where the hell were you?"
"Observing," Lyra said simply, her gaze taking in the scene: the shimmering rift, the piles of dust, the exhausted dragon, and the two kobolds who were now trying to see who could balance the most baguette crumbs on their noses. "Your solution was unorthodox. But effective. You've harvested a significant amount of Raw Essence."
"Yeah, no shit," Isabelle said, patting the hilt of her new katana. The black flames wreathing it seemed to purr in response. "I'm basically a god now."
Lyra's lips curved into a faint, knowing smile. "A god with a very large energy bill. The rift is still open. The Great Builder's song is still playing. And you've just alerted the system that its janitorial staff can be dealt with."
"So what?" Isabelle said, feeling a thrill of defiance. "Let it send more. I'll kill them all."
"And it will send more," Lyra said. "An endless procession. Cimillates are not beings; they are functions. An automated response. You cannot win a war of attrition against a concept, Isabelle. You must change the equation."
"You cannot win a war of attrition against a concept, Isabelle. You must change the equation," said Isabelle in a high pitched voice as she rolled her eyes. Honey bunches of sanctimonious bullshit. "Look, Lyra, I'll be blunt. How do we close this fucking thing?" Isabelle gestured at the rift. The air around it warped, making the two kobolds in the background look like they were made of stretched taffy.
"You don't 'close' it," Lyra said, walking closer to the shimmering anomaly. "It's not a door. It's a wound. A place where the logic of Beaubinte is being overwritten by the Great Builder's original code. To heal it, you must introduce a counter-code. A piece of information so fundamentally chaotic, so inherently Beaubinte, that it rejects the intrusion."
"Like what? A really good knock-knock joke?" Tahsi Senior said, having won the crumb-balancing contest.
Lyra ignored him. "You need a Keystone. A physical object imbued with the raw, untamed essence of this world. Not just harvested energy, but a coalesced form of it. Something forged from chaos itself."
"A kidney stone? Yikes!" said Tahsi Senior as he burped up some bread.
"No, Tahsi, a Keystone," said Isabelle with a sigh as she rolled her eyes. Isabelle's mind raced. "Where do we get one of those?"
"They aren't found," Lyra explained. "They are made. The ritual is complex and dangerous. It requires three components."
"Of course it does," Ignis said with a mutter.
"First," Lyra continued, her eyes fixed on the rift's chaotic heart, "a focus. An object that has witnessed and absorbed a paradox. Something that should not exist, yet does."
"Second, a conduit. A being willing to channel the raw chaos, to withstand its unfiltered nature. It would require immense fortitude. A certain... sturdiness."
Her gaze slid over to Tahsi Senior, who was now attempting to eat the crumbs he'd just balanced on his nose.
"Finally," Lyra said, her voice dropping slightly, "a catalyst. A spark of pure, destructive intent. A will to unmake, not for order, but for the sheer joy of the void."
Her gaze landed squarely on Isabelle.
"Don't fucking stare at me like that," said Isabelle with a sigh.
"The focus is the challenge," Lyra said, ignoring her. "It is the rarest component. I know of one such object, in a place called the Silent Archive. But getting to it will not be simple."
"Silent Archive?" Ignis asked. "Never heard of it."
"It doesn't exist on any map," Lyra said. "It's a pocket reality, a library of forbidden knowledge, maintained by beings who... do not appreciate visitors."
"So, a dungeon," Isabelle said. "Or another Clockwork Spire situation? Or maybe it's just a gigantic, floating dildo."
"Isabelle, please try and take this seriously," said Lyra. "There is a TON of loot in the Silent Archive."
"Loot?" Isabelle said. She sighed, but it wasn't a negative sigh. More like a sigh that preceded exhilaration.
"Before you go charging off," Lyra said, raising a hand. "There is the immediate problem. The rift is still active. Its song is growing stronger. Another wave of Cimillates will arrive soon. We need to slow it down before we can leave it, or the damage will be permanent."
"How?" Ignis said. "We can't exactly stand here punching it."
"The Cimillates are drawn to the discord," Lyra said. "They are a response to the chaotic energy leaking from the rift. If we can create a temporary... stabilization, a small island of order within the chaos, it might confuse their detection systems. Delay their arrival."
She looked at Ignis. "Your magic is born of chaos, but you are a creature of immense, ancient order. A dragon. Your very nature is a paradox. You might be able to create a temporary harmonic field. A false signal."
Ignis blinked. "You want me to... hum? At the rift?"
"In a manner of speaking," Lyra said. "It will require a great deal of your energy. And it will only be a temporary measure. A distraction."
"It's better than nothing," Ignis said with a resigned sigh. She turned her massive head towards the rift, which pulsed with a steady, infuriating rhythm. "What do I have to do?"
"Focus on the core of your being," Lyra said. "The ancient, geological slowness of your kind. The weight of ages. Project that feeling into the rift. A counter-frequency. A drone of absolute, unchanging stability."
"Why does EVERYTHING she says have to be so goddamned pretentious?" said Isabelle with a sigh of exasperation. Plus, Isabelle was feeling skeptical about Lyra's insistence that Ignis was integral to solving this 'problem' they had with the Rift. She'd never seen Ignis do anything but blast things with chaotic energy and complain. The idea of her acting as a source of stability was hilarious.
Ignis closed her eyes. She took a deep, shuddering breath. A low hum began to emanate from her chest, not a magical sound, but a physical one. It was a deep, resonant thrum, like tectonic plates grinding in the deep earth. The air around her began to shimmer, not with chaos, but with a strange, heavy stillness.
She directed the hum towards the rift.
The effect was immediate. The dissonant chanting of the rift faltered. For a moment, Ignis's deep drone and the rift's high, complex song clashed, creating a nauseating wave of sonic dissonance that made Isabelle's teeth ache.
Then, Ignis's hum seemed to overpower it. The rift's light dimmed slightly, the chaotic warping of the air around it softened. It was still there, still a gaping wound, but its aggressive, expanding nature seemed to be held in check.
"It's working," Lyra said, her eyes wide with fascination. "Fascinating. The system is receiving conflicting data. Existence and non-existence, all at once."
"How long will that last?" Isabelle asked.
"Minutes? Hours? It's impossible to say," Lyra replied. "But it has bought us the window we need. We must go to the Silent Archive. Now."
[Updated: The Silent Archive]
[Objective: Listen to Lyra]
Isabelle looked at the humming dragon, the two kobolds who were now trying to teach each other to juggle pebbles, and finally at Lyra, whose calm expression belied the urgency of the situation.
"Wait a fuckedy fucking second!" said Isabelle, raising her katana of shadow flame. "How the hell do I know you've got my interests at heart? And what's more, Lyra, why the fucking hell do I care about the Rift? Why close it? Why do anything at all? Why don't we just get far enough away from this spot that the Cimillates won't cleanse us? Who gives a shit if the wilderness around the Spire gets scorched?" It was a fair question, she figured. The Spire was a real pisser of a place. The idea of it being destroyed didn't exactly, well, make her sad.
Lyra met her gaze, her expression unchanging. "You misunderstand the nature of the threat, Isabelle. This is not a localized event. This is a paradigm shift."
She gestured to the shimmering edges of the rift. "This is not merely destruction. It is replacement. The Great Builder's code doesn't erase; it overwrites. It sterilizes. The land itself will become a place where nothing can grow, nothing can live, nothing can change. A perfect, sterile, dead space. And it will expand. The Cimillates are merely its immune system. The rift itself is the disease."
"Right," said Ignis, not taking her eyes off the anomaly. "So we run. The Protectorate is huge. We could be halfway to the coast by the time it gets this far."
"You think you can outrun a fundamental rewrite of reality?" Lyra said, a hint of something almost like pity in her voice. "This isn't a fire, Ignis. It's a theorem. Once proven, it applies everywhere. Eventually, the entire world of Beaubinte will be rendered down into this. A silent, orderly, logical tomb. Your chaotic nature, your very existence as a creature of magic and impulse, will be defined as an error. And it will be corrected."
She looked at the two kobolds. "Their simple, illogical devotion to a non-existent bread deity will be purged as a corrupted file."
Finally, she looked at Isabelle. "And you, Shadow Mage. You, who thrive on chaos and destruction, who has just leveled up by consuming the very essence of this world's untamed heart. You will be erased. Not killed, but unwritten. A statistical anomaly to be deleted. There will be no record you ever existed."
Isabelle stared at Lyra. She looked at her new katana, the black flames a promise of the beautiful, destructive chaos she now commanded. She thought of the rush of leveling up, of the stolen Raw Essence humming in her XP. The thought of that being unwritten, of being reduced to a line of sterile, deleted code... it was a concept more irritating and terrifying than any monster.
"So, it's either we fight the boring, logical motherfuckers," Isabelle said, "or we stop existing entirely."
"You are correct," said Lyra. "But you seem to be forgetting something." Lyra paused.
"Right," said Isabelle. "The loot."
"It's VERY good loot, Isabelle," said Lyra. "Trust me, I'm a goddess."
"It better be," said Isabelle under her breath as she sighed. She still had access to magic script, and if Lyra was lying, well... Isabelle would just unmake HER.
[Updated: The Silent Archive]
[Objective: Follow Lyra]
"Very well," said Lyra. "Let us get the fuck out of dodge, as they say."
Royal Road is getting the early draft version of the book while I'm writing it. Once the novel releases on Amazon in May, I'll be removing Book 7 from Royal Road as part of the publication process. That means the chapters here will stay up for a few months as I continue to post drafts of later content.
