My greatsword barely bit into the scale skin and bone lattice of Gabriel’s arm. As the blade touched her blood, it planted seeds into her flesh. Through the sword, I willed them to grow. The weapon’s Growth ability required visualizing the maturation for each plant and making adjustments based on the medium grown in, an all but impossible task for anyone without Exemplar.
“Ow.” Gabriel writhed. Roots seeped through her bloodstream and twisted around bone. Dozens of micro-adjustments to her form shifted critical anatomy around the plants as the waves of acidic blood purged sections of her body.
I held the sword aloft and exemplified the Abundance property, radiating the light of the sun. At these low tiers, Abundance would normally be incredibly slow, but pushing the effect caused the vines within Gabriel to flower and my own wounds to visibly heal. That effect would minorly restore friend and foe alike, necessitating careful placement less I wanted to burn my stamina to heal my enemy.
As the red petals burst from her skin, I lunged in and sliced the major arteries of her thighs. The extra heft of the heavy weapon struck Gabriel with enough force to lift her off the ground.
When I tried to uncurse Chase’s axe by smelting it with the Vitis elder’s core, the elder cursed the weapon. Some of those curses canceled Chase’s, but I ended up having to reforge the whole thing and mix in the only Vitis sunlit staff I claimed to fully mitigate them. My sealed life elemental powered most of the runes. I could feel faint stirring from it during the process. It may also waken soon. Since I was remaking the weapon, I recast it into a greatsword to effectively replace my envenomed blade with a heavier higher-tier version that also had a Durability enchantment.
The living metal blade was half a meter wide, two meters long, and flowed in a graceful edge around both sides. Through a strange interaction between the Vitis components and Chase’s original materials, the weapon had grown a wooden core and handle that pulsed with yellow vital energy. The elder’s soul remained trapped, but had been tricked into believing a hero of its own people wielded it. Its glow in the middle waxed and waned as it tried and failed to sing with the stars, a haunting melody only audible to those with sufficient shade growth.
Gabriel flapped her wings once and gained more air before grabbing one of the flowers and ripping the entire vine system out of her body. Nitroglycerin enriched blood drenched the sandstone arena and exploded. I went intangible with my Oni armor to avoid the blast and floated up to meet Gabriel. While I couldn’t see her, her wounds had healed with quicksilver, letting her fly behind and grab me.
I turned solid and reversed the grip on my sword to stab at her knuckle, planting a tree. My sword glowed brighter as I exemplified both the Growth and Abundance properties to push the roots deeper in her now toxic flesh.
Gabriel laughed with a light resonant booming. “What an invigorating glow!” She slammed her fists into the ground, sending a shock wave through me and a grinding in my bones. After lifting me back to eye level, she jeered, “An exciting trick, but I’ve adapted to it. Anything else?”
Darkness crept at the edges of my vision. When the tree pried Gabriel’s finger open, I summoned Fatecutter and exemplified the Chop Space property to tear a large enough gap to suck me out of her grasp. Traversal through the small tear threatened to scatter my atoms as the entire universe pressed down on me. My aura barely kept me together through the ad-hoc teleport, and I passed out for an instant on the other side.
My dueling partner kindly woke me up by tail whipping my body out of the sky. I crashed into the far wall in an explosion of pain, both weapons still in my grasp. I stored the seax, and ran toward Gabriel with my sword dragging behind me. Thornbushes, brambles, and ivy spouted in my wake. Rather than attacking her directly, I—
Burn Bright blew his whistle and rained fire arrows on my plants. “Congrats Exemplar, you're the first student to threaten the structural integrity of the classroom this year. Don’t plant shit IN THE FLOOR.” He sighed. “The duel is over. Hit the showers.”
Disappointed, I stowed my armaments and complied with the request. Gabriel shrunk to a human-sized dragon woman and loped by my side. “You’re running out of ideas, aren’t you?” she purred, her tail swishing behind her in rhythmic scrapes on the sandstone.
I can’t keep this up. Today’s fight burnt a jumping potion and a fear bomb to make up for the lack of a haste potion. If I hadn’t brought a brand new tier 4 weapon, she would have decisively won. “Let me worry about me.”
“Keep pushing. I haven’t learned my lesson yet.”
“No, you haven’t.”
Gabriel played along like I wasn’t losing this war. Mastering four mid tier magic items a week stretched the limits of my Exemplar ability, and that might not be enough soon. She countered my Gladesword faster than she had my previous weapons. My current tactics weren’t efficient enough. They consumed too much of my time and resources, leaving little to enhance the equipment of my companions. Once I learned how to upgrade items, I would need to bring all their sets to the next tier. That didn’t get into my lack of broad utility for the group. Throwing around a hodgepodge of enchantments to poorly mimic the proper abilities of other heroes didn’t compensate for my other deficiencies.
I pressed Gabriel to the tiled wall of the showers. Green motes flitted about us and scrubbed our skin. “And I’ll keep finding ways to hurt you until you do,” I promised.
She wrapped her wings around us, enveloping us in darkness with only a few motes for illumination and hissed through razor-sharp teeth, “Good. And when you’ve let out all your frustrations, then I’ll pound mine into you.” Her claws dug thin cuts in the back of my neck. “You’ll be crushed under my heel, breathless and too broken to move. When you’re at the edge of death, I’ll stop and let the helplessness seep into your bones. It’s a suffocating feeling, knowing you are doomed and unable to change anything.”
Gabriel then vomited ink in my eyes and moved her consciousness into her tail before collapsing the rest of her body and slithering down the drain. I pretended not to notice her leaving as I wiped off my face.
Despite it being impossible, I was going to keep holding on by the skin of my teeth and push myself to new heights. We had to be equal, or we weren't halves, and I wasn’t going to be a part of her legend.
On the way to Advanced Fabrication, I kept an eye out for orc assassins. My extra vigilance paid off when a wolf shaped eye-beast lunged at me from one of the vents. I summoned my Gladesword and smashed it through the creature, pulping most of the eyes and spraying gooey green ichor over myself and nearby students.
“Ew,” one of them complained. “Oh shit, the eyes are rolling away!”
My trek to class was briefly interrupted by finding all the orbs with my peers and smashing them before they could roll together and form an eye-ooze. The ever evolving demons weren’t too dangerous if you kept them small. If they were allowed to amass enough eyes, then they could reasonably take from the students. There was a previous year where an out-of-control infestation threatened to destroy the school. Midnight started earning his name by killing that creature at the cost of his vision. No prosthesis or enchantment ever let him see again.
By the time we finished, I was a mess and reluctantly slipped on my cleaning ring before taking my place in class. Jeremiah had shaven, and his motions were more sure. If he was all broken glass last time, his current version had melted the pieces back together, not whole but functional. X2 remained its unflappable self. Both of them were working on a set of grenades.
Bianca looked like hell. Her hair was frazzled, her cheeks were sunken, and deep bags hung under her eyes with only the barest perfunctory makeup attempting to hide them. She listlessly poked at a flail arm attachment for her void golem.
Since we had fought side-by-side, she had moved from ‘someone I know/fellow Crafter’ to ‘my companion in arms’. Her well-being was now tactically relevant to my own survival and not just something I was expected to care about.
“Have your experiments to reduce the necessity of sleep succeeded?” I asked instead of directly addressing her hidden nature as a golem in public. “I follow such research, hoping for a breakthrough. The need for it bothers me greatly.”
She blinked her owlish eyes slowly. “No, my body remains stubbornly resistant to modification.”
“Dreadful,” I sympathized. “Before adding new capabilities, you may consider mastering the ones you already have. What are your abilities and why do you consider them useless?”
Jeremiah elbowed me. “Oh, you’ll really appreciate how ‘useless’ they are. I know I did.”
“I can shoot lasers out of my eyes and breathe fire,” Bianca grumbled. “Neither of which help my Crafting.”
My mouth fell open. I looked at Jeremiah to see if he heard that as well. The man shook his head. “I tried to tell her that a sight-accurate precision killing ability combined with an area of effect attack was an ideal Vanguard combination but—”
Bianca interrupted him. “I don’t care what my random abilities are. They don’t change the skills I’ve cultivated all my life or…” She trailed off and touched where her stomach had been wounded to reveal her artificial internals. The life she remembered was not one she lived. “...who I am as a person…”
“I’m glad you don’t let forces outside your control define who you are. That's a noble, heroic quality to have.” I nodded. “Buuuut you really should use your abilities. Gyro would be dead a hundred times over without hers.”
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” The professor stopped by our table on her way down. “Mari is right. While we can mimic many powers with Crafted items, abilities are robust and never fall behind your own growing power. Not only are they useful, but learning more about them informs how your shade and aura will behave. For example, I can see through nearby shadows. My shade has enhanced my night vision and altered my occipital lobe to handle far more visual data streams than a regular human. I’ve leveraged that adaptation to pilot drone swarms with more direct control. My aura also effortlessly assists with stealth because that is related to my ability, a fact I only learned by practicing with it. That hasn’t directly helped my Crafting, but I’ve escaped a lot of bad situations because of it; a few of those were with the Savior himself. He wasn’t always omnicompetent. My point is, don’t ignore your abilities. They could save humanity.”
Bianca didn’t look convinced, but there was a flicker of doubt in her eyes. It festered from the part of her mind that wasn’t sure who she was anymore. I had seen it before in other companions turned monster. Becoming a monster meant shade corruption. If you believed your shade was the truest expression of yourself, then it changing meant you were fundamentally different. Not every hero believed that. Others clung to a continuity of consciousness to define who ‘they’ were. Bianca didn’t even have that.
With her advice given, Gyro proceeded to the front and began class. “Most of what we have talked about so far in this series of lectures won’t push your equipment into a higher tier. Elves can soulbind an item and enhance it through reincarnations. Dragons can drench an object in their blood and whisper new properties into them. Storm Giants can imbue their lightning bolts with more storms. The weapons of Horned Tyrants grow stronger with every kill. Feel free to attempt imitating any of these on your own time. If you succeed, let the faculty know, and we’ll help you publish your findings.
“Us humans have no special means or trick. Our auras let us kludge together what other species can do with simple spells. We have to scrape and struggle for every last ounce of power. In theory, there are other ways to upgrade gear, but item-item bonding is the most reliable for humans.”
She pulled a rifle and a scope out of her storage and showed them to the classroom.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“After you’ve prepared your original piece and refactored the scripts to accept a new addition, you can then make an attachment that shares all but one of the original’s properties. This rifle has Accurate, Unlimited Ammo, Pierce, and Steady Hands. I enchanted the scope with Accurate, Pierce, Steady Hands, and Priority Targeting. Together, they will be a single tier 5 weapon.”
Gyro slid the scope on and screwed it down. Nothing happened.
“Who wants to tell me why these are still two separate objects?” She roamed with her hand and pointed at Bianca. “Ms. Kohl?”
Bianca glanced up, absorbed the situation, and said, “Because they are still two separate magic items.”
“Exactly right. Once an object is enchanted, it becomes its own thing in a metaphysical sense. You have to change that, and like every other step before this, that takes tons of MP—not just any MP either—it must be MP aligned to exactly what the collective item is. If the items are similar and for the same purpose, then all you need to do is overcharge them while managing any problems with your aura. This is a conceptual manipulation like the previous steps. If you are still struggling with those, then don’t attempt this yet. Spend this class observing.”
Gyro used the remaining time bonding her two items together, finishing the upgrading process. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the needed materials prepared to follow along with her. At the end, the weapon glowed with a bright white light and started shifting.
“I’m going to go ahead and perform extradimensional mass disposal for the final shaping. We’ll get into the exact mechanics and theory next lecture, but essentially, without the supporting spatial enchantments, if you shove mass into a 4th spatial dimension, it stops existing. This is the easiest way to shuck excess weight so that every upgrade doesn’t result in a heavier item. Even the best Crafters struggle with this step. It can take decades to master.”
Seeing it once and feeling the process with my own aura was enough for me. I could upgrade equipment now. The aura manipulation required was esoteric and difficult, but it was very similar to other tricks I have done. By the time Jeremiah learned it, his Prestidigitation ability would be devastating. For this lecture, his brows only furrowed in confusion.
Gyro winked at me, knowing I got it instantly. Her weapon cooled down and the sleek tier 5 rifle was fully integrated with the scope. Many small details had changed in Gyro’s last minute reshaping, but she didn’t have a core Crafting ability; it wasn’t a different color nor did it suddenly sprout new filigree. The device only shifted enough to look like it had been one item since its creation.
When class ended, I bolted out of the university. Vanya already knew I had to cancel our coffee today if I wanted to meet Power at a nearby café before alchemy. The halls blurred by until I leapt out of a window and spread my body to catch the air during a several dozen stories fall to the grass below.
As the ground rushed up to meet me, I contorted my body and landed on my feet. At this stage in my journey, a fall without armor on couldn’t hurt me unless I intentionally increased my terminal velocity and dived from the stratosphere.
Once I landed, I sprinted off campus and climbed up the nearest skyscraper to bounce between facades, avoiding the foot traffic below. What I was doing wasn’t strictly legal in this district, but I avoided the eyes of any law enforcement.
When the location came in sight, I landed in the nearest alleyway, unruffled my outfit, and strolled into the establishment.
Odd place for Power to pick. The macho man normally languished in bars whenever he wasn’t writing, raiding, or on a mission. This locale had a distinctly feminine clientele lounging in an Art Nouveau patio with delicate tea cups and tiny snacks. The leafy metal furniture was covered in embroidered plush pillows, and most of the customers were not dressed for combat as they laughed and gossiped while separated by prim rose bushes.
Is this the right place? Like most restaurants, no one worked here. A few bound elementals were shaped like fairies and set dishes down next to women. I sat at an empty table and tried to not feel underdressed.
One of the faux-pixies dropped a teacup next to me with milk and sugar. When I sipped the black tea with no additions, a platoon of pollen and air elementals scrambled to set a small array of pastries in front of me. No menu? Supposedly, the best establishments determined what you would want via precog enchantments or other methods and gave you your food without asking. This place was mainly a garden and had a little box in the center where all the dishes came and went. There were no visible enchantments to determine my preferences, but I was ignorant of human cuisine.
I had been to less human restaurants than demonic cities, so I had little frame of reference as to what was normal. In one of the cruelest Trow strongholds I’ve been, the food service staff were fellow Trow that depended on donations from the customers to live. If they failed to secure enough largesse, then they would starve. The demons were truly unfathomable creatures of boundless evil.
A woman flew to the café that was clearly new to the ability. She held her sunhat in one hand and bunched up her white sundress in the other. While I had used a few flight items in the past, it wasn’t the same as a proper ability. Actual flight provided the necessary leverage for a hero to apply their full strength without the world breaking around them. The item derived equivalents couldn’t provide that effortless coordination. It’s why I hadn’t prioritized such gear. It would be slower than my land speed and reduce the strength of my attacks.
She alighted in the pristine grass and scanned the restaurant before walking in my direction. The woman had bright red, short hair and a sharp, angular face. A drone had clearly applied her too precise makeup, and there was a slight wobble in her step on those heels. As she approached, the sundress couldn’t hide the thick layers of muscle corded underneath a healthy amount of fat. A spike of jealousy went through me at seeing a woman with a more athletic build than myself.
This person struggled between the desire to curl in on herself and proper posture. Posture won, but the effort sent her heart thundering. When she stopped at my table, she said, “Hello, Exemplar.”
Oh great, a fan. “Hello, miss. I don’t have a lot of time to talk. A compatriot of mine should be arriving at any moment.”
She giggled and sat down. “It’s me.”
I examined her closer and reached for who she looked like. “You wouldn’t happen to be a relative of Power’s, would you?”
“Actually… that’s what I wanted to talk about. Most heroes that change like we do, change their name and start over. Historically, several of the named have gone through that process and even re-earned a new one. I’m deciding whether to be open about it and keep my name or pretend I’m one of my relatives.”
“Oh wow, it’s only been a few months since the last raid, and you look amazing.”
Power shrugged. “I had quite a war chest saved up, so when I decided I wanted to do this, a half dozen elixirs, a few surgeries, and a couple high tier healing potions sorted me out.” A chagrined smile played along her lips. “My fortunes are a tad depleted from my haste.”
“I’m sure the rank 9 hero can easily refill her bank account, provided you keep the name. Why would you want to talk to me about that?”
“Well…” The woman blushed. “This is embarrassing; you’re half my age, but I was inspired by what you did. I didn’t realize why at first. When I laid down to have my second ability imbued, I hoped to get Exemplar, not just for the normal benefits either. The way your ability helped you be yourself, I wanted that. I wanted to know for certain if my fantasies spoke to a deeper truth or didn’t mean anything.”
She paused to sip her tea and frowned at the cup.
“When I woke up with Flight, I was devastated. That disappointment crystallized that I really wanted this. So thank you. I don’t know if I would have figured it out without your example.”
“I’m flattered, but…” Do I explain that I had been reduced to my hero name? Before I finally gave in, there was nothing underneath Exemplar and there still isn’t, not really. I am the hero first, a person second. Without the name, I am nothing. No, no need to burden her with that. “...what do I have to do with you keeping your name?”
“You are the first named hero to do so. I wanted to talk before I followed in your footsteps and subsumed that part of your legend.”
Right… Named heroes tried not to eclipse other named heroes. Each of us were unique and that wasn’t an accident. We coordinated and planned around each other to maximize our shade growth by preventing redundancies. She’s going to take what makes me special. Wasn’t that the goal? Didn’t I want people to ignore my quirk and focus on the heroism? What makes me worthy of the name?
Nothing. Others have my ability. Power will be a better trailblazer than I ever could be. With Flight, her Superstrength made her a far more dangerous warrior. All that I had over her was my paltry Crafting skills.
I sat down my cup. “Power, that aspect of my legend need not be exclusive. If I helped you find yourself, then that’s enough.”
She grinned. “So, no hard feelings?” The cup reached her lips again and left a disappointed expression. “I wish this was beer.”
I laughed. “Come on, I saw a bar nearby.”
“Aren’t I supposed to enjoy stuff like this?”
“There is no harm in trying new things, but you are the greatest arbiter of what Power wants. Be true to yourself.”
She sat down the dainty porcelain and discarded the hat. “Right you are, but we’re not going to that shithole you spotted. Terrible place. There is a little hole-in-the-wall about a block from here with real thunderbolts in their cider and dragon fire in their whiskey. I always wanted to try their karaoke too.”
“Alright, but you’re buying and I’m only having one pint. It’s a school day.”
“Why are you still such a cheap bastard?”
“I try not to carry money or need it.”
She shook her head. “Dumb. Kuai is a tool like any other.”
“Bah, what use have I for luxuries such as food or shelter? Monsters have both in ample supply ripe for the taking.”
“Okay, challenge accepted. Let’s show you a good time.”
The place Power took me to really was a hole in a brick wall to a set of stairs. Those led to a dark room illuminated by pink and blue neon lights. The bar was manned by a single drone. Power held up two fingers to it. The machine quickly poured two tall blue glasses and sat them in front of us before dropping a double shot of pink whiskey into both. The tops of both pints erupted into lightning streaked fire.
“Cheers!” Power tapped her glass to mine and we chugged the concoctions.
The drink burned the entire way down and sent a tingling feeling radiating from my mouth and stomach. My face grew numb as my worries faded. The warm soothing feeling spread through my systems until I felt wrapped in a fuzzy blanket.
Power began to sweat and fanned her dress until she grew frustrated and ripped it off. Underneath, she still wore a form-fitting one-piece, the only kind of outfit that could handle the devastation she unleashed without drastically straining her aura. The black spandex had a single clenched red fist at the center of her chest. The emblem was a little distorted by her new assets, but a tailor could sort that out. She’s still Power.
Despite my hurry, I did karaoke with her. The bar was empty at this hour, so no one appreciated how difficult it was to harmonize with the tone-deaf woman to various pop songs, but my mastery of the vocal arts was enough for both of us.
When I made my excuses to leave, Power ordered another drink and said, “Don’t work too hard. Big day tomorrow.” Her eyes went wide. “Dammit! Forget I said that. It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
“What? Sorry, I didn’t hear you,” I lied.
“Yeah… Hey Exemplar, was this fun for you or were you just humoring an old ma—lady?”
The room wobbled a little. “I’m mildly intoxicated. Most people consider that fun.”
She gave me a flat look.
“Power, do you remember when a greater Voider tried to descend on Last Stand? The Savior launched us at its underside. I set up the rigging and aligned the spikes while you hammered them with enough force to turn the air around us into plasma. We fought an unending horde of darkness as we climbed and punctured every vulnerable organ.”
The woman winced and took a drink. “Yeah.”
“No amount of revelry can compare to the fun I had that day.”
She hummed. “That’s not bravado?”
“It may have been at first… Once I became numb to the fear, only a fierce joy remained. I love heroism. It’s my work and my purpose.”
“Kid, you need a hobby.”
I shrugged. There was no point in arguing with one of the pinnacle heroes of our age. I left the bar and hurried back to Aspiration. The slight buzz reduced my coordination by more than two thirds, but there was no one in the air to crash into as I bounded between buildings.
One of the Valkyries spotted me and initiated pursuit. I jumped faster to outpace her and cracked a few windows. Oops. Once I made it onto school grounds, she broke off. The university was its own district with its own laws. Minor infractions weren’t enforced across polity lines.
When I stumbled into class, I whispered to Vanya, “I n-need you… to go with my team tomorrow.”
Her nose curled at my breath. “Are you drunk?”
“I imbibed a little.” A hiccup escaped my throat.
She sighed in disgust. “I was supposed to go with Gabriel’s team. Why do you want me to switch?”
“Can’t I want to spend more time with you?”
“Be serious.”
“In all honesty, I can’t tell you why. I’m not supposed to know.” I doubted more than a handful of heroes knew. “If I’m right, my team will need you.”
Vanya waffled. “That’s not a great reason.”
“I’ll consider it a favor.”
“Oh, I didn’t know we were keeping track of those. Fine, done. I’ll be there.”
“Great.”
. It's wonderful UK-punk take on the magical girl genre from the same author as Katalepsis and Necroepilogos. If—shockingly—neither of those titles mean anything to you, then what you need to know is that Hungry is really good making eldritch, existentially terrifying, magic systems. Maidens of the Fall isn't PG-rated punk. Holes get punched into people and fates worse than death can crawl out of people's dreams. I'm a huge fan.
