Chapter 13: Elemental magic & Marks
The moon was illuminating the wretched yet glorified Nightshade City as its dwellers or its illusions prepared for their night.
Jaden and Selina still stood on the balcony of the mayor’s mansion as they continued their session of questions.
Jaden stood with his widened eyes while he looked at Selina standing beside him with her puzzled look... He was baffled by what he had just heard.
"What did you say?" He questioned again just to make sure that he hadn’t heard her wrong.
"Umm... Why would we check the drainage... when there’s none?" Selina answered.
Jaden looked at her and frowned as he thought.
’That... makes sense?’
But he was nothing if not petty, so he dissuaded her logic and asked.
’Hell no! It doesn’t.’
"How do you know there’s none without checking the map?"
She furrowed her eyebrows and replied in an annoyed tone.
"Because I didn’t see any?"
That also made sense if one deeply thought about it, but Jaden couldn’t care less.
’Nuh uh.’
"What if it’s hidden?"
Selina turned silent for a few moments as she considered his words. She lowered her head as she added in a low, empty voice.
"I didn’t think about it..."
Jaden placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded as he spoke.
"It’s fine that you didn’t think of that, it’s nothing to feel ba-" He stopped in his words and his face darkened.
He moved his hand and began to bite into his nails as he thought about it again.
"It’s fine that you didn’t think of it... But what about others? Why did none of the five of you think about it? It’s like..."
Selina had guessed the reason for his worries and added in a dark tone.
"Like we were not supposed to think about it..."
"Yes... The drainage either allows us to leave or it holds something important..."
She nodded at his words and added.
"But what could be important enough to stop the very thoughts of drainage?"
He turned to look at the moon and spoke,
"We will only know after checking it out."
Jaden felt that the way to leave the city must exist within the drainage; otherwise, there was no need for a specific hex to stop any thoughts related to it. However, he couldn’t move just based on that... not yet anyway, moving now would only grant death because of how weak they were. The others probably wouldn’t even follow his words... he had felt some kind of closeness to them, but it wasn’t enough to offer trust.
He heaved a sigh and just stood there for a few moments.
Meanwhile, Selina had her hands clasped together as she stared at him with her borderline dangerous, obsessive eyes... but there was some anxiousness in her gaze; she didn’t know Jaden’s thoughts on her actions.
He had just moved on from the topic for the sake of obtaining more information, and that didn’t sit well with her.
’Only if I wasn’t greedy for power...’
Suddenly, her eyes turned sharp as she thought,
’I will find that guy and make sure to make him pay.’
Right then, Jaden questioned in a heavy tone.
"How long have we known each other for?"
Selina was pulled out of her thoughts by his voice. He lifted her head and looked at him as she answered with a slight smile.
"Two years... including the time we have spent here."
Jaden nodded and thought.
’How old was I when I died?... How come I don’t remember my age?’
’Well, considering the time passed, I must’ve been sixteen...’
After organising his thoughts, he continued with his questions.
"How is the real world?"
"The real world is dying... the dream gates keep appearing, and more and more arcane-knights and mages die facing them. If the dream gate isn’t answered, the nightmares enter the real world and begin eating the world... making it part of the ’dream’ realm."
Jaden blinked a few times as he thought,
’Isn’t the difficulty just too high?’
"That doesn’t sound good at all," he added in a playful tone.
Selina gave a wry smile as she nodded at him and added.
"That’s why we must obtain our marks as soon as possible."
Jaden raised an eyebrow and questioned with a confused expression.
"Marks?"
"Mhm... Marks. When we enter the ’dream’ realm, we can begin absorbing mana as it creates the empty cores within us. To absorb mana, we need to learn a mana absorption art... and when we complete our first cycle of mana absorptions, we obtain the mark." Selina explained slowly, making sure Jaden understood everything.
"What does a mark do?"
Selina lifted her palm, and gold sparks appeared on it before they took the form of a multicoloured chrome cover grimoire with golden embroidery.
She flipped the book, and there was an empty circle for a sigil on the grimoire’s back. She pointed at it and continued.
"Everyone can learn the basic elemental magic—Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Ice, Darkness, Light. Based on their talent, however, with a mark, we can use magic different from the elemental magic. The mark allows us to use one to three magics out of the set of three based on the rank of our grimoire...
The Mark of Sun enables us to use: Solar magic, Holy magic, and Emotion magic.
The Mark of Moon: Lunar magic, Illusion magic, and Gravity magic.
The Mark of Life: Life magic, Nature magic, and Spirit Magic,
The Mark of War: Blood magic, Metal magic, and Will Magic,
The Mark of Storm: Chaos magic, Nullification magic, and Barrier magic,
The Mark of Dream: Mind magic, Astral magic, and Prophecy magic,
The Mark of Shadow: Shadow magic, Soul magic, and Death magic."
She paused for a moment and continued.
"Bronze Grimoire allows us to use one out of three, silver allows us to use two, and gold allows us to use three."
Jaden’s jaw dropped the more he heard. He continued to stare at her with widened eyes for a few moments, and at last, he gave a wry smile before replying.
"That’s a lot to take in, no?"