Excerpt from Saki’s Journal

  It’s a simple knife. Two sharpened edges coming to a point. The metal of the blade is a polished silver with a slightly blue tint. The guard is black and the hilt is wrapped in dark leather. Of more interest to me, is a double line of runes etched into each side of the blade. They are symbols I have never seen before nor do they match any language I’ve ever studied.

  “It's a demonic blade,” signs Penny to me. “A relic brought to the library by a knight several years ago.”

  “How can you tell it's demonic?” I ask. “Is it the runes?”

  “Yes. Plus, you can feel the demonic energy.”

  I bring my hand closer to the dagger and yet I feel nothing. I look at her in puzzlement.

  Here, let me teach you a spell. Which she proceeds to do, first diagramming it out on paper and then showing me the hand motions to go with the sign language. I test it out on the dagger and get it right the first time. A soft dark aura surrounds the implement and then fades out after about 10 seconds.

  “But what is demonic energy?” I ask.

  “It is energy specific to the demon lands and the world demons come from, Mlkh-nee. It flows into our world through the demonic portal.”

  I pull out some paper and sketch the dagger, being very careful to copy the character groups correctly. “Can you read the runes?” I ask.

  “No.” She answers. “The demonic language and their script is a mystery to us. Whenever we’ve had contact with them they speak in our language.”

  “Interesting,” I sign, mentally adding learning the language of the Demons to my bucket list.

  I can feel the power. The explosive power and strength of my body. The power of my magic. The power of my skills. It’s exhilarating, liberating, empowering, addictive, terrifying. Especially that last one. I compare my previous life to this one and I’m terrified.

  I was strong before. I had skills and abilities. As a high school athlete I performed at an elite level. Tops in the region, maybe even in the state.

  But nothing like this. Now I’m far beyond that. I’m smarter, too. Don’t ask me how that works. I don’t know and that’s scary too.

  I watch the others as they train and I see it in them as well. Even the least of us now wields power undreamt of on earth. The comics and movies featuring superheroes have it all wrong. There’s no way anyone on earth could imagine this kind of power.

  We’ve now surpassed the people who are training us. There are seventy-eight of us. As a group we are more powerful than the entire army of Grado, and our training has only just begun. Once we integrate fully with the local forces, we will be unstoppable.

  That’s what I’d like to believe. I have doubts. We were brought here for a reason. I feel that in my bones. And if there was a reason to bring us here and give us these overwhelming powers, what kind of force must we go up against? What is out there that is powerful enough to need something like us to face it?

  We have received the favor of the Gods, themselves. When the time comes, what price will they demand?

  Kari sits in front of me, holding her new book. A book entitled: On the Manipulation of Space and Time for Fun and Profit. Where she got it, I don’t know. She signed something about a Trial and a dragon. It didn’t make sense to me in a way that suggests I probably should refrain from further inquiries.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Nix is sitting beside me. I want to show him … I mean demonstrate to him a type of magic that I think he can learn to do, given time. Soul Binding.

  Soul Binding is a way to connect someone to an object at a deeper level. I sign to Kari, who repeats to Nix for me. It’s a type of Spirit magic that has some crossover effects with Primal magic. Using Soul Binding, an object can be linked to a person’s soul. Once linked, the object can never be lost. It can be stored in a special soul-space which acts much like Kari’s bottomless bag.

  “Whooooaaaa!” exclaims Kari.

  Don’t get too excited. The number of objects which can be bound is limited. Too many objects will drain the soul of energy, causing weakness or even death.

  “Then why do it?” asks Nix.

  A Soul Bound object can never be lost. If it gets too far from the person it’s bound to, it will automatically return to the soul-space. It’s primarily used with unique or powerful weapons, tools, or items to prevent theft.

  “Oooohh! That’s cool! Raises a lot of what-if sort of questions, though. Like what happens to Soul Bound objects when the person dies?” asks Kari.

  They will be lost. That’s a major down-side of soul-binding.

  “Okay. Interesting, but why are you telling us this now?” signs Nix, the practical one. Actually, he’s not notably practical except when he’s sitting next to Kari for contrast.

  I want to show you how it’s done. Especially you, Nix, because I think you can replicate the magic once you get a demonstration. I can feel Nix getting excited. With my magic, I can Soul Bind a book to a user. This was commonly done with mages and their spell books in the past.

  “How did you learn it?” asks Kari.

  I have a number of Librarian skills which I have developed. I dodge the question but they don’t seem to notice.

  “All right! Let’s get to it.” Kari hands me the book.

  It doesn’t take long to do a Soul Binding. I create the spell slowly so Nix can observe what I’m doing. I don’t really know if he can sense magic the same way I can, but I do know that once he is exposed to any type of Spirit magic he can replicate it in his own way with his Spirit Energy Manipulation.

  Success! I teach Kari how to send the book to her soul-space and retrieve it again. She’s thrilled! Nix looks thrilled, as well. I’m pretty sure he’s got it.

  Another day in the life of Penny, the Super Librarian. I’m not exactly sure what ‘Super’ means in this context, but Nix called me a Super Librarian the other day and I kind of liked it. Oh Gods! I’m crushing again… How will I regain control of myself?

  I leave the party late. Disgusted with the people I have to associate with: another group of nobles seeking to curry favor with the Summoned, as they call us. Fops and dandies with their petty schemes and desires. Looking to manipulate us for their own gain.

  I’m one of the few who will interact with them. My role, given to me by my leader Tia, is to watch over the others and make sure no one takes advantage of them. Like I would do what that bitch tells me to. I ignore them and they ignore me. Not like many of them go to these parties anyway. Everyone is too tired from training.

  The only good thing about these parties is the food. I can’t get more than a buzz off the alcohol. My hero metabolism burns it up too fast. The women are pretty and more than willing to throw themselves at a ‘Great Hero’. They throw themselves, sure, but once you catch them they pull away. Frigid little flowers acting as bait in the traps of their elders. It’s frustrating and annoying.

  I stalk down the dimly lit hall toward my quarters. Thoughts like these stoking my anger and resentment. That’s when I see her. One of the worthless ones. The one in the wheelchair. I sneer as I swagger towards her. Here is someone I can put in her place, at least. Someone I can take my frustrations out on.

  I come abreast of her and reach out to stop the forward movement of her chair. A cruel smile on my lips, I make a cutting remark.

  Don’t I? That’s what I mean to do. Why… ?

  I’m past her now, but I can hardly stay on my feet. So weak. Why? What’s happening?

  I trip and fall to one knee; so weak … eyelids so … heavy…

  What? What happened? I raise a hand to my neck and scratch absently at a sore spot there. I’m on my knees in the hallway. What happened? I’ve forgotten… Forgotten what? I can’t … can’t … remember.

  With great effort I climb back to my feet. I feel … I feel as if someone is watching me. Looking around, I spot her. The Cursed one. The girl in the wheelchair. Looking at me from the far end of the hall.

  Was she here before? I think … maybe? But maybe not? My eyes meet hers for a moment, and suddenly I’m gripped by a nameless fear. I. Feel fear…. Why should I … fear her?

  My heart beats fast, my breath comes in ragged gasps. With a shudder I turn away, stumble down the hallway toward my room, startling at each slight noise and at every shadow. What is wrong with me? I am a Great Hero! What could I possibly be afraid of?

  Lurching into my room, I quickly turn and lock the door. Check the lock on the window, draw the curtains tight. The servants left a candle burning. I scrabble through the drawers to find a dozen more, lighting them all so there isn’t the slightest shadow left in the room. Floundering into my bed, I pull the covers over my head and try to push the fear away.