Beginners' Luck

Above the canopy, the sky roiled like a living thing—obsidian clouds churning in a slow, predatory spiral. Within their depths, amber light pulsed like a dying star, veins of lightning fracturing the darkness in jagged bursts. The forest below shuddered leaves curling inward as if the trees themselves feared what fell from that wounded heaven.

Altha sat frozen at the cabin's threshold and asked, "Is that fire or just hell coming to claim me?"

Sat beside him close enough that their ankles touched. She smelled of vanilla and sandalwood, "Huh? Oh right, you've never seen one of those before, have you?" Cassilyth asked.

Altha shook his head, "No, where I'm from it's usually just water. The rain can be really acidic sometimes though."

Cassilyth offered a chuckle, "Yeah, well, the same is true for this world. However this forest is a bit special, you see. This is what common folk refer to as a dark forest. Those flames are minor deific fires, keeping its blight and corruption contained."

"Huh, talk about raining down hellfire." He said jokingly, "I guess it's like its own self-sustaining system."

Cassilyth looked up and smiled at the comment, "Yes, I suppose hellfire isn't far-fetched from what they are. They're said to form in places where the Living Multiverse overlaps with the 'Ashen Pyre'."

"The 'Ashen Pyre'?" He asked

Finding the book she was rummaging for, Cecily tossed it to Altha, and without thinking, he caught it effortlessly. The book's cover read "Arcana-Mathematica: Vol 1" and held approximately six hundred pages of content by Altha's measurements.

The cover felt surprisingly warm, its pages edged in gold leaf that shimmered like bottled lightning while the book's spine held an insignia that smelled like petrichor, "Uhh, am I supposed to read this whole book in less than 5 days?" Altha asked, his voice nearly breaking.

Cecily chuckled, a witch's laugh, "Obviously not," Cecily drawled. With a flick of her wrist, a second tome disintegrated from a shelf, unravelling into crimson threads of light before reforming atop the 'Arcana-Mathematica'.

The book read 'Eidolimancy Script: Vol 1' and was nearly as thick as the first book. Its spine bore an Insignia that made Altha's emotions calmer.

"Start here—" Cecily said, tapping the Eidolimancy text. "before diving into the 'Arcana-Mathematica'. I don't want you confusing yourself. Eidolimancy Script will teach you some much-needed fundamentals."

She sat back down on her workbench, "You did very well carving that Insignia into that Golem's nape, Altha. You seem to possess a high aptitude for Eidolic Script, and it seems your... Unique Essence allows it. Gods know we could use more practitioners of the Runic Arts. Arcanum Studies are only getting bigger and bigger so we need more innovations."

"No, I just copied the symbol on your bracelet is all. That was simple but this..." He paused, "I was simple beginners' luck."

"You didn't copy—you interpreted." She raised a finger, "Adapted its structure to the golem's Athar Signature and forced resonance. Instinctively. That's no feat of mere luck."

Gently squeezing his shoulder, Cassilyth spoke softly, "She's right you know. It took me multiple attempts to scribe my first Insignia, and that was me after already knowing Runic Script, making it easier to do, but you were able to replicate her Insignia with no prior exposure to even Aethear Theory. It's honestly really impressive. I won't lie and say I wasn't caught off guard by your performance during that whole trial."

Altha's face flushed at the compliment, and he reflexively looked down in embarrassment.

A thunderclap split the air. The ground trembled, and for a heartbeat, the storm's amber light painted Cassilyth's face in stark relief—a queen of ash and ember.

"You know what this means, don't you? If Cecily's trusting you with Eidolimancy…"

He shrugged and jokingly said, "That I'm your lab rat for whatever nightmare you're building?"

Cassilyth laughed, low and rich. "Worse. You're our colleague now."

Before he could respond, the storm flared. A tendril of amber flame lashed downward, incinerating an ancient oak in the distance. The blast wave hit them seconds later—heat and force.

"Uhh, should we be worried about that reaching the cabin? Also are Solace and the others gonna be ok?" Altha asked.

"Still thinking about your spar with Solace, huh?" Cassilyth asked, her hand dimming before eventually squeezing gently on his shoulder.

He sighed, "Is it that obvious?"

Cassilyth smiled at him warmly, "People usually mention the name of the first person they think of when referring to a group."

On the side quietly listening, Cecily crossed her arms, "You know you could have won against him in such a weakened state. It wouldn't have been easy, but if you'd gone all out, you could have certainly had a fair shot at it."

"Why do you think I held back?" He asked, challenging her notion.

"Just call it intuition. I gathered all the data, I cranked all the numbers, I did the calculations. Long before I gave Solace that bracelet to limit his strength. You were holding back." She stated.

Cassilyth comforted him, "Are you mad at him?"

He shook his head, "No, I think I'm just unsure how to express to him that he's not at fault for what happened during the spar."

"Socially Anxious too, noted," Cecily said,

"I think it's sweet that you're concerned for his safety and peace of mind, and if you were to ask him, I'm sure he'd say something similar. Both of you just need to talk to each other about this. Just to clear the air between you two."

He gave her a little nod.

Cecily snapped her goggles into place, fingers already dancing across the bracelet's circuitry. "The storm won't reach us here, and if it did, I've placed certain countermeasures. Solace and the others are extremely capable Astrals, so they'll be fine, I'm sure." She flicked her wrist, sending tools floating in a lazy orbit around her workstation. "Now I think we've talked enough. We each have our objectives so let's get to it."

Cassilyth drifted to the adjacent bench, her shadow stretching long in the arcane workshop's amber light. The device under her hands hissed. Sighing internally Altha cracked open the 'Eidolimancy Script' as they all worked the night away.

He didn't sleep. Couldn't. The Eidolimancy text unfolded in his mind even when he closed his eyes—equations rearranging his neurons.

Hours of intensive study passed, his mind and intuition trying to generate alternate interpretations of the ideas as well as integrating them into his own perception of this world as he fought off the whispers of slumber. Trying to remember the book's content through a method of a relation of ideas.

The night made way for morning's tender grip.

Waking to the sound of voices outside, Altha opened his eyes to find Cassilyth dozing next to him; flushed, he pushed himself off the workbench and looked around the garage. Cecily was nowhere to be seen; lazily, he opened the garage door, creaking as it lifted up, stirring Cassilyth awake.

"Five more minutes..." Cassilyth mumbled into her folded arms, lavender hair fanning across schematics like a mix of copper and strontium.

The morning breeze rushed in, its icy touch too lively on his tender warm skin. The grass was a vibrant green that glistened under the light of Sol—as it stung his eyes.

In the distance, four figures emerged from the treeline and into the canopy. Two warriors glistened in shredded form-fitting combat gear, with four insectoid carcasses heaped on their shoulders the size of Hippobears. Behind them were their pristine companions dragging an Ox-looking creature with red fur and horns as black as night. It was the cohort.

Despite the torn clothes and their blood-covered garments, their skin was untouched and remained flawless.

Altha sighed knowing what had to come next, his talk with Solace.

"Distressed about Solace?" Cecily asked, suddenly behind him.

Altha's heart skipped a beat at her sudden appearance, but quickly calmed. She spoke again, "You're overthinking this. The sooner you approach him the quicker your anxiety will go away." She gently nudged him forward.

Sighing, he went to meet the group, all the while cycling thoughts told him of all the ways it could go wrong no matter how unlikely he convinced himself it was.

"Altha," Sumi waved as she ran over the insectoid bodies bouncing at her shoulders, "You're-"

But before she could get another word in Solace was already running past her, another four bodies jumping on his shoulders, frost patterns crackling across his latest kill. The corpses hit the earth like wet thunder as his glacial stare pierced into Altha.

He spoke, his voice steady, "Yesterday I- I didn't mean to..." He scratched his head "I'm sorry. I made a mistake, please forgive me." He fell to one knee.

Following in his lead, Altha fell to one knee and said, "It's not all your fault. I should have been more careful—I should have known better than to hold back against you."

Solace's eyes widened, taken aback by his kind gesture. Solace's fist shot out - knuckles still flecked with alien blood stains, a gesture Altha was all too quickly getting accustomed to. He bumped fists with him.

Better than bumping heads I suppose.