Day 106, 7:30 AM

  An invisible force pulls a carp the size of my forearm from the pond and places it atop the paralyzed tarantula we caught along the way. Edna sings a wordless song of two trees which have merged as they grew next to each other, the other scene is more graphic, and once more reminds me of Manny, the joys we have shared, and everything I have lost.

  The song is different from the previous time when Edna merged two spiders. I suppress the vivid scenes and focus on the merging of the tarantula and the fish. Last time, Edna’s spell used green mana and that was it, but this one is vastly different.

  Most of the mana rushing into the two creatures is the green of life, but there are also streams of yellow and blue, and a hint of orange. Chaos and cowardice, order and bravery, and orange was supposed to be for the stars.

  None of these have anything to do with the fish and the spider. I consider what I’m seeing as the creatures join in a grotesque display of magic.

  Chaos and order can be explained, Edna is destabilizing and reordering two lifeforms into one, is orange there because of some astrology I don’t understand? I’m a well read man, I know what the concepts involved do better than Edna, but the power of the stars seems out of place here.

  Sweat drips down Edna’s face, her hands tremble, and her voice shakes, but she presses on, and the merger advances.

  The fish now has eight furry legs of a spider. Eyes sprout on its head, and short bristles spring between its scales. The tarantula keeps withering, and the fish’s mouth transforms into chelicerae, a word I never knew existed before reading a bunch of encyclopedias in Hadriuse’s library.

  I watch as Edna spends all the green mana in her body, and starts substituting it with other colors. Slowly, she drains herself, pouring everything she has into the spell.

  The creature spasms and thrashes as Edna collapses. I swat the poor thing with Batsy, ending its misery, and look at my friend.

  Huh? Friend? A strange thought, but I guess she has become one. I take her into my arms, and scanner tells me she’s exhausted, less than a fifth of her mana remaining. I let a bit of mine flow into her, a trick I learned in the library. Her unconscious body drinks it greedily, and after I give her a half of what I have I stop the transfer.

  “How did you do that?” She asks, she’s been awake almost from the start, examining what I’ve been doing.

  “There’s a book in the library which explains how to administer first aid to injured and over-drafted mages. This technique was amongst those it discussed. Now, how did we do with your advancement?”

  Edna’s eyes flicker, and she smiles.

  “Archmage, path of life, level zero.” Her smile grows brighter. “New skills, Supreme Mana Capacity and Life Magic Expertise. The former says it considerably increases my mana reserve, the latter considerably increases the efficiency of life spells.”

  Edna starts laughing like a demented villain.

  “I’m the first archmage in over a thousand years!” She wipes the rain off her face and stares into my eyes like a love-struck schoolgirl. “Thank you, this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

  My body turns stiff.

  “What do you have to do with the inquisition and the church?” she asks.

  “I have killed forty inquisitors and two priests,” my mouth moves on its own. “I don’t hate them, nor give a damn about them, but best destroy them if they keep pestering me.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Did you just tap into Blunt?

  No, I’m simply under a compulsion spell, my mouth detached from my conscious thought. I want to panic, my heart should be racing, but all organs are functioning normally, and calm is forced upon me.

  “Do you mean me any harm?”

  “No, but that may change after this abuse. I will kill all who betray me.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll forget this conversation, and I’m not betraying you, I’m ensuring you’re not betraying me. Do you have any plans to abuse me or my trust?”

  “No. I wish to learn as much as I can from you, but given how you think little about the natural world and wonders surrounding you, I’m afraid there’s little to learn, save for some spells.”

  Edna frowns. “How did you find Hadriuse’s diary?”

  “I grew interested in runes and enchanted items while reading books, and frankly I was bored stiff from all the reading, so I checked out how some magical items worked.”

  I strain against the spell, my face twitching as I fight for control over my tongue.

  “Release me, Edna,” I slur the words. “I’m getting angry, and when I get angry, I kill thirty inquisitors with a big stick.”

  Consideration flickers in her eyes for a moment, and the spell is gone.

  “Don’t you ever do that again.” I glare at her, wiping drool from the corner of my mouth with one hand, pointing a finger at her nose with another. “I will kill you, it’s not an empty threat.”

  She struggles not to laugh, the stupid bitch, but then she is calm once more. “I apologize, but I had to make sure you’re not an agent seeking my doom.”

  “And you think I seek it by helping you become the most powerful mage in the world?”

  “I know it sounds improbable, but I have lived through multiple events I never believed possible.” She smiles at me, and I can’t help but overlap the image with that of a suspicious man handing out candy in a public park. “I can improve your body now, if you’re interested.”

  I shake my head, hardly considering her offer. Who knows what she might do to me, other than improving my body.

  “I’ll do it myself once I’m an archmage.” The tension ebbs away slowly. I’m still considering killing Edna. Her value is questionable, and this violation has crushed the months of trust we built.

  I try to consider her point of view. I can’t deny I have done things against her wishes, taking advantage of the situation. Edna never wanted more than two people in her party, nor did she wish to waste time training the girls she considered a burden.

  A shudder crawls through my body, and I shake my cramped muscles. The brief spell really did a number on me.

  “Is there anything else you wish to discuss?” I ask, and she shakes her head.

  “Do you think you can take on the inquisitors as you are now?

  “I don’t think I can handle thirty, if that’s what you’re asking, but I have certain ideas — ideas my ancestors used to fight the wormlords, but no modern day mage could repeat.”

  I wait for her to elaborate, but she doesn’t. She stares into the distance, aloof, with her head held snobbishly high.

  “Go back into the house. I have a lot of things to do, and I will need to focus.”

  I turn around and leave without a word. Edna has changed in a heartbeat. Was she always like this, and the sudden power broke the chains which shackled her deepest desires, or did the archmage class itself change her?

  Should I redo? Day one hundred and six, ten minutes past four in the morning; I have two weeks to consider everything. If I feel threatened by Edna, I will redo and stab her through the heart while we are discussing the journal in the kitchen.

  Damn. I considered her a friend not half an hour ago, and now I’m plotting to kill her. Why is the world so savage and why are humans so irrational? We have a common enemy, a common goal, and yet the first thing she did when I gave her power was to violate me.

  Life is horribly complicated. She healed me, reattached my arm, granted me the use of my legs. And what? In the next redo, we sit at the table, I thank her for healing my wounds and then stab her through the heart for no rhyme or reason.

  I shudder. No, I won’t do that. I cannot do that. It’s another door leading to madness, another trap the damn death god made for me. Endless dying and endless erosion of all which makes me human.

  Curse you, nameless death god, and curse you too, Edna, if you betray me, but I won’t kill you while you are innocent. Once you slay me, once you prove yourself a worthless traitor, only then will I end your life.

  I want to get drunk, to bash my head against the wall, to sleep, or do anything which will remove the sting of conscious thought. I started caring about her, and this is how she repays me.

  A deep breath, in and out. She is what she is. I am what I am. And our future is what it is.

  Shamelessly, I lie to the naive door, telling it I have bought a ticket, and walk into the checkered entrance hall. I wish life was as black and white as these tiles.