Spell 14 - Riding the Current

The glyphs began to glow one after the other, revealing small lines of light that crawled their way across the walls toward the ceiling. They formed patterns that surrounded the entire chamber in rays of orange light.

From the upper levels of the dome, shapes began to displace, revealing hidden structures underneath. As the shapes moved to the side, strange figures stirred beneath, pulling themselves free from their confinement as if waking from long-forgotten slumbers.

They looked vaguely human, but their bodies and limbs were mechanical, wrapped in ceremonial plating that still held faded Clan seals. Their faces were shaped like horned demonic masks, while their eyes glowed with mechanical wiring. They moved slowly at first but gathered momentum as their limbs recalibrated.

"Be careful," Kagami said as she leaped onto one of the shelves. "These are Guardians, old tech built by the Clans to protect this place. Their purpose is to hunt Pact-bearers who choose to venture into this place unwanted. And right now, you are one of those Pact-bearers."

Ren's pulse quickened when suddenly, one of the nearest Guardians faced him.

"So you're not going to do anything this time around either," he replied, although, in truth, he needed no confirmation on the matter.

"I can't."

And there was no time to argue either.

The first Guardian lunged, morphing his arm into a majestic but deadly blade marked with old kanji symbols. Ren moved instinctively out of its reach, ducking beneath the swing.

The movement came naturally. He was less surprised by his reflexes now than he had been before, maybe because he was starting to accept them, at least in part. For starters, he knew he could channel power now, abilities he would never have imagined wielding. The problem was keeping them steady.

He focused on remembering how he had done it last time when he had let himself be consumed by rage. He didn't have the same motivation now as back then, but he did feel more in tune with himself, more aware of the way these new currents moved through him. 

"Ren, don't fight it," Kagami's voice echoed from above.

This time, he didn't mind her detached tone, because it just wasn't about her anymore.

He dodged the second strike, but then two more Guardians came toward him. They moved in perfect, almost choreographed patterns, all targeting him.

However, there was something unusual about the way they attacked. It seemed like they were only teasing him, like predators often did with their prey. Because if they truly intended to kill him, they would have likely succeeded from the start. There was no need for all the theatrics.

"Stop moving like a confused person," Kagami called down to him, still observing from her elevated shelter, hunting for every move. "Focus. Find your target and let the Pact do the rest. This is not your first time."

Ren then avoided another strike that went deep into the floor near him.

"Easy for you to say," he snapped back at her. "You're not the one being preyed on down here."

"Poor thing," she replied with her usual mocking laugh that instantly annoyed him. "Then stop behaving like prey."

He then cursed to himself but did try to do what she said, to let the Pact flow without forcing it. He tried to clear his head.

Slowly, his mind began to align and started catching the shape of lines forming, faint at first, then stronger, slowly morphing into something else. He somehow knew how to translate them into motion, so he began to draw those shapes in the air, tracing them as they unfolded in his mind.

But they didn't last very long.

The lines dissolved as soon as they began to form, slipping like smoke.

And that moment of hesitation cost him because one of the Guardians took the opportunity and lunged one more time. Ren barely managed to jump out of the way.

He then moved without thinking. There was no time for anything else. Rolling, pushing himself into corners underneath fallen debris or between shelves. His reflexes were fast, kicking aside broken beams and scattered scroll racks to create space between him and those things.

And for a moment, it even seemed like he managed to lose them, but the Guardians found him again and continued attacking him relentlessly. Their weight crushed everything in their path. Wood. Stone. Paper. It didn't matter.

Ren ducked between another stack, breathing hard and trying to regain balance.

Kagami leaped just above him.

"Centuries of knowledge, destroyed in seconds," she remarked. "Pitiful..."

Ren let out a ragged sound, swallowing his own words in frustration.

He didn't want to fail. He didn't want to feel that same old feeling, like all those times he had run from the Hounds up in the city and been left with nothing but feeling pity for himself. This was more than just survival.

As the Guardians closed in again, he forced himself to slow down and just... find that damn focus.

Suddenly, a memory surfaced. A memory unfit for the moment Ren found himself in, but it was there nonetheless, as clear as water. A flash of his brother's voice from long ago, teaching him how to ride a feathery kite with wings that moved on remote. It was a memory from a different time and place when everything was brighter.

"Find the right current, Ren! Then let the wings ride it."

Suddenly, it all made sense. And Kagami felt it, too.

Without hesitation, Ren pushed up from where he kept hidden, grounding himself. He turned his focus inward, and through that, everything else just unraveled. His hands moved without thought, tracing the same patterns in the air he had tried before. And this time, the gestures called to him, instructing him on what to do and how to shape them.

The glyphs formed cleanly. They were radiant and beautiful and, most of all, freeing. It was a new sensation, unlike anything he had known before. And despite all the chaos around him, he let himself sink into it completely.

Energy flooded through his body, locking into arms and hands, shaping them into fiery claws.

Above, Kagami's gaze glowed as she watched.

"...That's it."