Chapter 45: Confessions

  The room behind Celeste’s shop was as Alex remembered. Dimly lit, fragrant with crushed herbs, old books, and the faint metallic tang of dried potion residue. Alex sat on a low stool, drying his face with a towel she’d tossed him, while she leaned against a battered cabinet filled with alchemical glassware.

  He hadn't said much since sitting down.

  Celeste finally broke the silence. “You’re hurt,” she said quietly.

  “I’ve been worse.”

  “Worse than bloodied, exhausted, and half-starved?”

  Alex gave her a lopsided smile. “Worse than having your soul turned inside out and your mage core shattered? Yeah. A little worse.”

  Celeste flinched. “Your... core?”

  He nodded. “Gone. According to The System anyway. Not damaged, not even cracked, but utterly shattered.” His eyes didn’t meet hers. “It’s not looking good. I know that.”

  Celeste looked away, arms pulled tight against her chest. “You’re right. You shouldn’t be alive at all, actually.”

  The silence between them thickened. Alex watched as her expression changed, something passed across her face, regret, maybe even shame. A complicated expression of emotions Alex wasn’t quite able to decipher.

  “Tell me what happened. Tell me everything.” Celeste said. She set her tea kettle on the wood stove, and Alex settled in for a long story.

  ***

  By the time Alex had finished, they were both on their second cups of tea. He left out a few minor details, such as the existence of Obby. The rock was a secret he needed to keep to himself for now. Otherwise he told her everything about his new abilities, how he had broken his core, Doudra and the Kobolds, the Badger Den Mother, his friends being taken, and more.

  “A condensing item forced into a siphoning glyph ritual hmm? That would certainly do it. This, Doudra, probably took the brunt of the damage for you, which is maybe why you’re not dead. The fact you weren’t that far into your core attunement probably helped a lot too,” she said. “All that said, its a rough spot kid. I’m sorry. I probably should have helped you more. I could have.” Her voice cracked, just slightly. “But I didn’t.”

  Alex frowned, finally looking up.

  “I thought…” Celeste let out a hollow laugh. “I thought if I just did the minimum, kept you and Garret patched up, gave a few hints, maybe offered a spell. Then the system’s Worldteacher quest would reward me more.” She sighed loudly. “Look kid, here’s the rub. The Heavenly System gives better rewards in a Worldteacher quest if the student overcomes challenges and difficulties themselves. That’s what everyone says at least. So I didn’t exactly help you and your friend out as much as I could have.”

  Alex stared at her for a long moment and narrowed his eyes. “You were hedging your bets.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes, honestly, I was desperate,” she said. “I didn’t tell you before because… because I’m not just a shopkeeper who got stuck here for retirement.”

  She set down the tea cup in her hand on the table, like the words were physically heavy. “I’m a Third Tier mage, Alex. Or… I was. ”

  Alex’s brow lifted slightly, surprise flashing across his face.

  “My core’s cracked,” she said flatly. “Tried to force a breakthrough to Stage Four a few years ago. Pushed too hard. It broke... not completely, but bad enough. I can still use magic, some of it. You’ve seen that. But it’s painful, all the time, every spell. Like forcing pressure through a leaky cauldron, aether leaks out of my core and attacks my body constantly, making me weaker by the day.”

  Alex sat in stunned silence. Despite her outward physical appearance, for the first time in Alex’s mind, Celeste looked fragile.

  “I had been hoping that the Worldteacher quest would give me something,” she continued, voice low. “An elixir, or a relic maybe. Something powerful enough to fix me up. I was banking on it. So I held back and I let you struggle. I figured you’d be able to handle it.” Her eyes met his. “And now your core’s shattered, gone, because of something I might’ve helped prepare you for.”

  Alex didn’t speak at first. He watched her, weighed the words that sat heavy in the air between them.

  He nodded slowly, but his expression didn’t soften. “You didn’t break my core. Doudra did.”

  “Maybe. But I didn’t exactly fulfill my side of this quest now did I? Look Alex, you gotta understand, my core is cracked, and I’m in a bad way, but there’s hope for me. This quest reward or no, my core can be repaired” She said. “I don’t think you understand though, your core can’t be repaired. Broken core is a broken core. You really should be dead. I say this Doudra took the damage for you, that’s just wild guess work. A person can’t live without a soul core.”

  “It can’t be repaired? At all?” Alex’s tone nearly cracked from the despair he began to feel wash over him.

  If he couldn’t get his core back, how can he manage to learn the magic needed to get back to earth? How could he get strong enough to protect everyone? How would he even save them from the Kobolds?

  “No. There’s nothing I know of that can repair a truly broken core. Not even sixth tier magic held by the gods. Nothing.” Celeste gave him a pitying look that made Alex’s mood sour even further.

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  “Oh, you really are fucked then. Maybe I can just head into that soulspace and take over for you? Just give up here.” Obby taunted.

  Shut up. Wait, can you even do that? Alex suddenly began to wonder if the evil little pebble actually would try to take over his body after all.

  “Yes! Well no, I can’t… maybe. No, I can’t. Wouldn’t that be great if I could though? Your fleshy body with my excellent mind. The combination of the best of both worlds. Or the combination of a crappy fleshy world with a wonderfully awesome intelligent one.”

  “How many experience points did you put into your core?” Celeste’s voice pulled Alex away from Obby’s rambling.

  “Experience? None.” Alex said. Should he have been putting experience into his mage core? Could he actually do that? He remembered trying to much earlier when he was playing around with his screen, and The System wouldn’t let him because…

  “Because your core element wasn’t determined yet?” Obby added in his mind.

  Fucking hell, you’re right. I never tried again after unlocking my fire attunement. Alex bit the inside his cheek in disappointment. Barely arrived in Aetherios an he was messing up all sorts of things already. No wonder things turned into such a shit show for him.

  “None? None he says. Begged me to teach him magic, he did.” Celeste began to pinch the bridge of her nose again. “All for the best, they would have been wasted at this point. Hell, that might have been what even saved you.”

  “Look, I told you we didn’t know anything. You were supposed to be our world teacher, remember. And you already admitted you fucked that up.” Alex shot venom back at the woman, his frustration rising again.

  “Watch it boy. I had my part in this, but so did you. Complaining like a goblin infant ain't going to heal you now.” Celeste’s figure seemed to loom over him as she spoke. The faint aura of aether around her body began to intensify and writhe in Alex’s new magical vision.

  He gulped.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I’m still a bit riled up. You’re right. So what can we do now?”

  “Now,” Celeste stood, and began picking up the dishes from the served tea. “We prepare you properly. I can’t provide much, even at my level. I spent nearly every copper of my wealth as a Third Tier mage to try fixing my core. But I still have things that would be vastly useful at your level.”

  “Charity isn’t necessary, I can still pay for your help.” Alex exhaled, then reached into his pack and pulled out the small, pulsing object he’d taken from the den mother’s corpse. He placed it on the table between them.

  Celeste’s brow raised. “Is that—?”

  “A pseudo-arcane beast core,” Alex confirmed. “From the badger den mother.”

  “I’ll ignore the part of how you know what this is already. Let me see that.” She leaned forward, inspecting it with a professional eye. “Damn. It’s not fully formed, but still… this is worth a pretty copper. Fifty gold coins on the open market. Maybe a hundred if you sell to a desperate enchanter.”

  Alex raised an eyebrow. “You serious?”

  “I don’t joke about coin,” she said. “A true arcane beast core from a second-stage beast would fetch even more, but this? This is a windfall at your level. Especially for someone with no core. You can’t use it directly, but others would kill to get their hands on it.”

  She paused, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “I’ll trade you.”

  Alex’s body tensed. “What kind of trade?”

  “I’ll give you your pick of anything in my collection, spell scrolls, potions, gear and reagents.” She stood and walked over to a locked cabinet, tapping the glass revealed a complex glyph to open it. “I was saving some of this stuff for some last ditch effort toward my own recovery. But I think you need it more.”

  He stood slowly, following her gaze to the dozens of items neatly arranged inside: small scroll tubes with glowing seals, leather-bound tomes marked with faded runes, vials of shimmering liquid, and a few ornate hilts. All of it hummed softly with an aura of energy in his aether sight.

  “Why?” Alex asked, not accusingly, just quietly wary. “Why give it to me now?”

  Celeste softened. “Because I see what you’re trying to do. You got no core. No magic. But you’re still standing.” She turned to face him. “I know what it feels like to lose something that defines you.”

  Alex stared at the open cabinet, heart hammering.

  “I’ll be truly honest with you Celeste. I don’t plan on completing this System Trial. My plan is to find a magic that can get me back to my world before the timer hits zero.” Alex looked to her. “Would you help me even if it means not getting your Worldteacher reward?”

  “You wouldn’t be the first to try, nor the first to succeed in escaping The System as a Worldstrider. If the legends are to be believed anyway.” Celeste sighed. “That’s built into the risk of the Worldteacher quest to be honest. So my offer still stands. I don’t know if you’ll save your friends,” She continued. “Or if you’ll even manage to escape this trial, but I’ll help you stay alive until you do.”

  He looked at her for a long beat, then back to the gear.

  “Then I’ll take you up on that,” he said. “But not because I need pity. I need tools. Anything that helps me get my team back.”

  She nodded. “Good.”

  He turned back to the cabinet, scanning the offerings with new purpose. “Let’s get started.”