Chương 88: Act 2, Chapter 41: The test realm

Day in the story: 17th December (Wednesday) When I selected the Infinity Knot icon and my soul core accepted my choice, the icon first absorbed the vast amount of essence contained in the crystal, then metaphysically expanded, occupying much more space. All of these changes occurred purely on a spiritual level as the crystal itself underwent no further alteration. Immediately afterward, a wave of shadowlight struck me, merging with my own and reshaping my authority.

It wasn't painful, but for a brief moment, I was suspended in the air, immobile, and an enormous influx of energy was pumped into me. My entire body steamed with the shadowlight leaking from me. In short, I looked as if a rainbows were smoking out of me. Pretty cool, right? Not the edgy kind of awesome, but still entirely magical.

"What do you think, Anansi? Shall we test the new soulmark?" [I can't wait,] my spider-like friend replied. Honestly, neither could I. I was practically bursting with impatience to try out the changes that had taken place within me. I instinctively felt that the basic function remained the same, but had been enhanced. That is, I could still teleport to places I had visited and painted.

Additionally, though, I should now be able to transport myself toward objects that contained my Authority and that was a far more intriguing ability. I sat down at my painting station and sketched Equinox on a sheet of paper. I took great care to make the lines sharp and strong, so that the form conveyed both the lethal power of a weapon and its simple elegance. The barrel looked polished, gleaming, and cold, delivering its fury regardless of pleas or entreaties.

The trigger guard was finished in a way that suggested protection while presenting the gun in a stable, unwavering form. The grip, with its black matte finish, gave it a slightly mysterious aura, to show that the tool didn't originate from any earthly factory. Once I felt within my aura that the painting satisfied my need for verisimilitude, I fetched Noxy and placed her gently on the black floor of my Domain, then returned to my sketch to experiment further.

First, I touched it and commanded myself to teleport close to Noxy. Unfortunately, the World didn't move for me, and I didn't advance even a single step closer to my favorite pistol. I had expected this, of course, because Noxy was still lying in her base, uninfused form. But now, I didn't need to go and touch her to make a change. Oh no, not anymore!

I was already powerful enough that, reaching inside my aura, I formed a connection between myself and the pistol and, with a single thought, asked for her to become Noxy. I watched as her elegant form lit up in blue, navy, silver, white, and almost-black shadowlight, absorbing my Authority and responding to my request in accordance with the trust I had placed in her. It was interesting that Noxy had her favorite shadowlight colors that she used.

Perhaps, subconsciously, I had given them to her by choosing these particular hues during the painting of a rail gun. Now, lying on the ground as the true Equinox, I once again reached for the sketch I had just prepared and, with my mind, asked to teleport closer to her. Without any fuss or delay, I immediately found myself hovering right above my favorite weapon, jumping with joy. Once I had calmed down, I returned to the sketch and tried something new.

This time, as I issued the teleport command, I imagined in my mind that I would appear where she was but holding her in my hands. The sketch responded instantly to my request, and in an instant, that's exactly what happened. I was a few feet away, and Noxy gently rested in my hand. Score! I placed her back on the floor and marched toward my sketch, humming under my breath. Objects aren't places, so I saw no reason why this shouldn't work the other way around as well."

Come to me, Noxy," I whispered, touching the drawing with one hand. In that very instant, Noxy appeared once again in my hand, exactly where I had imagined her. I looked at my sketch again, contemplating the implications of my new power, and a thought struck me. Sketches, drawings, and paintings were needed to set a target point for my soul, using the artistic expression of my memories of a place, or, as in Noxy's case, of an object.

But when an object was already within my aura, I shouldn't have needed an intermediary. The connection between Noxy and my soul already existed. It was time to test it. There was no other way. I stepped away from my sketch, took a deep breath, and pushed Noxy along the floor, a few feet away from me. When she finally stopped, I closed my eyes, focused on the connection between her and me within my aura, and once again willed myself to appear in her position. Before I even opened my eyes, I knew it had worked.

Her cold grip fit perfectly in my hand. I looked at her and smiled with joy, then immediately hurled her with all my strength across my domain straight at the wall. But before she could hit it, my soul, intuitively using my training and new power, pulled Noxy back into my hand, exactly as I had intended to do with conscious thought, but didn't need to. The power I had gained was extraordinary. Choosing connection first was truly the right decision.

Mobility in battle, but also beyond it, was incredibly important, and what I had now wasn't just movement, but convenience as well. I set Noxy down on the pedestal crafted especially for her, then decided to test this further. I reached for another sheet of paper, and within a few minutes sketched my jacket, the one painted to resemble a glacier. This has been the very first item I had subconsciously infused with my Authority, back when my Domain was only in its infancy.

After setting aside the pencil and light blue watercolor markers, I let my gaze wander across my Domain until it landed on that very jacket, hanging from a rack. I focused on it within my aura and, with a simple thought, asked it to become as cold as ice. The sleeves flared first. Blue and white shadowlight rippled along them like mist sliding down mountain slopes. As the jacket began to radiate icy power, I touched my new sketch and, thinking of it, asked it to appear directly on me. Stolen novel; please report.

Without any delay, as soon as I lifted my hand from the page, I was already wearing the jacket. Just as I'd expected, the clothing responded to my need and manifested on me properly—already worn. Once I rebuild my armor-outfit, this will be the perfect way to put it on instantly. Second test followed. I focused on the jacket I was wearing and asked it to return to my Domain.

Even though I doubted anything would happen, as after all, I was already inside my Domain, the jacket instinctively followed my command and slipped back to its place on the rack. Right after, I withdrew my Authority from it and sat back down in the chair. This new version of connection seemed like a tremendous step forward in terms of convenience. If I plan carefully and paint the images of my most important items into my Travel Grimoire, I won't have to carry them with me at all.

Unless, of course, the cost of transferring them to and from the Domain outside of it is far higher than what I feel here. My soul core greatly amplifies my abilities, after all. That, too, required testing. So I transported myself back to my room on Earth, bringing with me the sheet of paper depicting Noxy, and once again asked her to appear by my side. It didn't feel particularly demanding of me, so to be sure I asked my little spider what she thought of it. [Indeed, it wasn't very taxing. Probably because your Domain is practically a part of you, just like I am. Sending things to and from it shouldn't be too difficult, especially items imbued with your Authority.] You're probably right. That's what I thought as well. Still, I wanted to try something different outside the Domain. I set Noxy down on the floor and quietly—since it was the middle of the night and, I hoped, Sophie was asleep in her room—I slipped off toward the kitchen.

Noxy remained within my aura the whole time, so focusing on her, I made another jump. This time, however, I felt fatigue from the process. It wasn't much, but even then I already knew that performing a dozen such jumps within just a few minutes would completely drain me in terms of soul stamina. Moving myself this way required more Authority than simply sending objects into and out of my handy storage—by which, of course, I meant my Domain.

So I returned to my private universe, where the moonlight filtering through the cracked ceiling blended with the radiance of my soul core. I sat down at my painting spot and opened the Travel Grimoire to the first empty page. It was time for it to change from a mere log of destinations into my actual spellbook! About an hour later, one of the pages already held watercolor sketches of Noxy, Ella, the Depths Flame knife, each of my three new sheet-traps, and Usagear in its original form.

I assumed that, just as with Phillip's office, the soul was what truly mattered and even if a form changed, the connection would still function. In addition, I prepared a sheet depicting my belt with its card pockets and the chain that fastened the Travel Grimoire. I folded this page and placed it alongside the one representing my Domain inside my Lifeline Talisman. Now, no matter where I might be, I would always be able to summon my magical tome and through it, my other beautiful tools.

Hopefully, the days of being caught unprepared by whatever adversity arose were gone for good. The only thing left was to ensure my magical items were properly prepared, always ready to be summoned. For that, they needed to permanently carry my Authority. To achieve this, I designated a special chamber within my Domain where gravity did not apply. There, I stored my expanded sheets infused with Authority, so that the fact they radiated fire, cold, or weighed as much as steel didn't matter in the slightest.

In that same magical room, I placed Equinox, Ella, and my fiery knife—this time in its watery form—so that each of them carried my Authority rather than their own in case of a knife. Finally, there was the Travel Grimoire itself, which until now had never been imbued with Authority. But its form was already highly artistic: bound in faux leather, adorned, chained to my belt, looking for all the world like a true spellbook.

So when I asked it to become one, it accepted my Authority and its new identity without resistance. All these tests and preparations consumed a lot of my time, but I still had two hours left before my meeting with Penrose and his people. So, despite my stomach demanding to be fed, I decided to sit down and work on my next set of cards. This time, they were to depict the eyes of the Shattered.

I began with a human eye, drawn in the smallest detail, then added a crack running straight through its center, like a miniature canyon splitting the surface of a glass sphere. From that fissure leaked shadowlight. I chose silver for the glow, since it matched well with the browns and faint reds of the iris. When the first card was finished, I picked it up and quickly shifted back to my apartment, hurrying to the bathroom.

I set the card so that the painted eye looked into the mirror and asked it to become my eye of the Shattered. When the new stream of visual stimuli opened, it didn't seem much different from my ordinary human sight. Perhaps the details were sharper, like when my senses had once been enhanced by Usagi's mask. But I knew the true power lay in intention, just as Joan had suggested. So I focused on my intent: I wanted to see Sophie. Nothing happened. So I tried another approach.

Instead of clinging to the memory of her face, I focused on how my soul perceived her. It might sound subtle, but it is no small difference. Through the soul, we see people we knew well and those we have just met not just with our eyes or memory, but as a composite. The weight of first impressions layered with every moment afterward. With Sophie, it had begun with beauty. So striking that the first time I ever saw her, she literally knocked the air out of me.

But beyond that, she was sensitivity, diligence, kindness. Humor too, and that yearning to be better, always searching for the right outlet, her path. And now, her present confusion, her struggle to adapt to the shifting world around her, some of it caused by me and the magic I had unleashed, but also by her new boyfriend, and the situation with her parents. When I saw that version of her, my truth of her, not her simple likeness, only then did the eye of the Shattered activate.

At first, silver shadowlight seeped from the crack drawn across the iris. And then, through its vision, I saw Sophie in the mirror walking into the bathroom, practicing her smile in the reflection. She looked exhausted, stressed, yet over and over she forced herself to smile, making sure, as the saying goes, that her eyes smiled too, not just her lips. I cut the vision off immediately, pulling my Authority back from the card.

Even though I had a powerful urge to keep watching what the magical eye revealed, I knew I shouldn't. Sophie was my friend. This was meant to be a test, not a window into her private life. The test succeeded—point for me. My mood soured—point against. That's life. I returned to my Domain.

Since the eye of the Shattered was, most of the time, sharper than human sight and its deeper function required deliberate focus, rather than creating more new cards, I took my standard deck of eye-cards and altered each one slightly, adding a crack and the faint trickle of shadowlight. As I worked on them, my thoughts drifted from Sophie, to Peter, and eventually to Zoe. She was a Seer. She could feel, or perhaps see, the Authority hidden in objects.

Maybe her gift was the key to how I, too, might learn to perceive that aspect of the magical world. But to do it properly, I would first need to study her eyes in the form she wore within the Shadow World. And then, to talk to her. To ask exactly how it happened in her case. Was it a visual effect, or only a feeling?

When I finished with the cards, I had only a few minutes left. I decided to use them for another experiment, something purely to satisfy my curiosity. I took one of the cards, tossed it through the crack in the ceiling, and leapt to take its place. My feet landed on the roof of my Domain, which from above resembled a very low tower. All around me stretched a wasteland with no clear beginning or end, and only this small, enclosed fragment of my world formed any feature in the surrounding landscape.

Only it and, as I discovered after scanning the horizon more carefully, a small pond reflecting the moonlight, around which grass and flowers grew. At least that much, when it came to the emptiness of my soul. Above me was a clear sky, lit with colorful nebulae. The moon, solitary in its singular form, reflected light from some unseen sun, lending the whole scene an eerily unsettling quality. I sat on the roof, letting myself grow accustomed to the sight. It was emptiness, yes, but I didn't feel overwhelmed by it.

Quite the opposite—it filled me with joy to know I still had so much space left to fill.