ULTRAMagic Interlude BC - Chapter 24
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Olga and Mariya were Kresimira’s other friends that she had met later on in life, as opposed to Rowena who had been her friend from the start. Olga was an artificer for the Royal Guard, having tied back, blonde hair and light purple eyes. Mariya was a secretary for Ironfire station who originally wanted to be a member of the Royal Guard, but decided a desk job was more her forte. She had light red eyes and brown hair in a bob. Annoyingly she was stuck in her business suit whereas Olga had the chance to change into her casual clothes.
As the three women began talking with Ekaterina, Vlastimir felt reality slow down as a feeling he tried to suppress overwhelmed him. His mind fogged up as he could sense something was off somewhere. Was it a friend? Were they in peril? Negative thoughts ran through his head that he could not shake. His heart had a slight ache and his breathing became shaky. He would nod every once in a while so as not to worry the others, but eventually he stopped as he began to quietly mutter a poem to himself as his residual madness still had some business with him…
“The door only opens one way, unto gulfs of fathomless gray. The stars burn and writhe with hidden ire, begetting unseen masters that never tire. Our fleeting corpses walk… walk to… argh, in accordance with the eldritch plan… we end where we began? No, that wasn’t it…”
“What wasn’t what?” Kresimira inquired. Vlastimir had accidentally said his ramblings aloud, but not to a point where the others could easily make them out.
Mariya could see in him that he was incredibly stressed out. “Eka, I think Vlastimir needs some help…”
Ekaterina immediately recognized what was going on and put her hand on his shoulder. “Oh no, dear? Are you okay? Do you need another hug?”
“No no, I’m fine. It’s just…” Before he could finish, an explosion coming from the direction of Corentin’s warehouse went off, startling Vlastimir and causing him to fall back in his chair. “WHAT WAS THAT?” he exclaimed.
“CORENTIN!” Kresimira got up and stamped her foot. “Pardon me, everyone. I need to make sure he didn’t blow himself up…”
While Ekaterina helped Vlastimir up, the other three waited, snickering. Once they were sure Kresimira was gone, they started laughing uncontrollably. “HA, old habits die hard, am I right?” Rowena observed as she banged her hand on her table.
“Agreed,” Olga replied. “You can take the man out of the explosion, but you can’t take the explosion out of the man. Source, I’d love to have a man like Corentin in my life…”
Mariya nodded, then turned to Vlastimir. He looked a bit shaken. “Um, Vlastimir, would you like to have the floor? Perhaps talking to us will get your mind off of whatever was bothering you?”
“Maybe, even though my mind isn’t that simple… What should I talk about?”
“Oh, well how about your time in The Unlight? You know, aside from your interactions with Blood-Wraith and Drago. We know a fair deal about Earth now, but not what you did here, aside from what we’ve heard through hearsay.”
Vlastimir took a breath and cracked his neck. To start, he elaborated on what landed him in The Unlight in the first place: A battle was started by his mother after she released a demon from under the academy he was attending during his teenage years. Vlastimir was born as the ‘ultimate weapon’ and his mother wanted to test that. The entire affair backfired and sent the boy to The Unlight through no fault of his own. Finding himself in an unknown realm, he wandered aimlessly for some time in his true form. Eventually he got into a battle with a swordsman carrying a stone greatsword. Vlastimir found the bout quite fun, returning to his human form so he could talk to his opponent. This left the swordsman incredibly confused.
The man’s name was Gostislav Robles (which confused everyone given the surname). He was a sellsword with the blood of a satyr and a dragon. At the time he was out wandering with not much to do. Vlastimir recalled being amazed with the sword skills he had witnessed and asked to be taken on as a student or mentee. Gostislav initially refused, but quickly realized the boy needed guidance. It was a wonderful time as the half-dragon was a fantastic teacher and the two traveled all over the place. At some point Vlastimir decided that he wanted to strike out on his own and Gostislav let him. In hindsight this was a bad idea as the loneliness was a hit to Vlastimir’s sanity.
“...thankfully I met Tusk not too long afterwards and we went on some adventures. This stopped when he turned himself into a tree due to personal turmoil, however. I tried to hang around, but I left once it was clear he wasn’t going to budge.”
“And what happened after that?” Ekaterina asked, incredibly curious. “I imagine we’re getting fairly close to the stuff with The Lich…”
He nodded. “We are. So I went back to wandering for a bit after that. I sensed what was going on in the forest when Blood and the others went there, but arrived too late to be of any help. Also I was a bit loopy at the time for some reason. And then eventually I wandered into the Basalt Monolith Forest. The rest is history from over the past two months.” Vlastimir looked reasonably proud while the others were amazed.
“Wow, that’s quite the journey,” Rowena commented. “I’d lose my mind if I was away from my family for more than a week, ha.”
“And here I thought the Stone-Sword Wretch was some kind of dangerous criminal,” Olga stated.
“Well remember, Olga, people have a tendency to embellish things as time goes on,” Mariya pointed out.
“True, like how everyone kept claiming that Dunja had slept with Milosh…”
“Honestly I am flabbergasted as to how that rumor picked up so much traction. Sure, the Shadow Orb was quite appalling, but I don’t think that warranted insulting her that badly. It was outright slander!”
Rowena lightly cleared her throat. “Well I mean, it was sort of a 'you get what you deserve’ kind of situation…”
“I guess, but Milosh?” Olga questioned. ‘Really?” The three then laughed.
Rowena sighed. “Good point,” she conceded. “I suppose that was a bit harsh, even for Dunja.”
“Was the Shadow Orb really that bad?” Ekaterina inquired.
“Absolutely!” She immediately answered, pounding the table. Rowena seemed a bit irritated over the matter. “Nothing but dirty alchemy and black magic, topped off with that cursed void magic of hers. As an alchemist myself, that was what I consider to be a cardinal sin. I will give her credit in that she did smash it with her own hand, however. As offensive as that whole ordeal was, we can’t stay mad at her…”
“Especially since she went over to Shadowland to take care of Milosh once and for all, Rowena…” Mariya emphasized, looking her in the eye.
The alchemist straightened out her jaw and nodded. “I know, I know. Truthfully I’d rather have her with us than with that cretin of a man, despite my hang-ups.”
“Alright, I’m back!” Kresimira called out as she returned. “Everything is alright, Corentin just had an experiment go haywire.”
Ekaterina looked at her hand. “It wasn’t because of me, was it?”
“Unfortunately,” she replied as she sat down. “I guess your metal ribbons are more complex than initially thought. Also Corentin told me to tell you not to worry about it. He has had way worse backfires than that… trust me, I know.”
Olga’s interest peaked given what they were told. “Fascinating. You’ll have to have Corentin send me his notes when he’s done… er, with your permission, Ekaterina.”
She shrugged. “Sure, I guess. I don’t see why not.”
Vlastimir looked at his own hand. “Huh, figured my blood would’ve done that. Guess it’s behaving itself like I instructed.”
“Ekaterina, can I see your ribbons in action?” Olga asked. “I know it’s sudden, but I would really like to see them.”
“Alright…” she replied with a sigh. A ribbon emerged from the top of her hand that she lightly twirled in the air. The shine danced about as the metal wobbled back and forth.
Olga got up to take a closer look at it. “Amazing” she remarked as she carefully ran her fingers along it. “What I’d do to have an ability like this…”
Ekaterina retracted the ribbon. “You’re sure about that? You realize what this was intended for, right?”
“Yeah, because I told them what it was for…”
“Drago!?” Ekaterina leapt out of her chair. Dragoslava laughed.
“How do you always manage to sneak up on us, Drago?” Mariya asked as they shook hands.
“Years of practice while out exploring. The best way to keep your presence concealed is to breathe as calmly as you can and walk slowly. Most animals and people will think the noise is nothing and go about their business.” She then gave Kresimira a hug, shook more hands, and turned to Ekaterina. “Eka, stop worrying. Your ability is cool, end of discussion.”
She sat back down. “It doesn’t feel cool…”
“Nonsense! Have you tried coming up with a technique for it yet?”
“Um, no…”
Dragoslava clapped. “Well there you go! No wonder it doesn’t feel cool; you haven’t made it yours yet. Take it from me, getting used to my metal skin was difficult. Thankfully that changed once I realized it jived with my style of fighting and exploring. It became a cakewalk to figure out after that.”
Rowena nodded. “You know, Eka, the colosseum is open now. You and Vlastimir could head over there, reserve some space, and do some training. Have a ball, see what you can come up with.”
Vlastimir gave Ekaterina a very encouraging nudge. “Oh alright, I’ll give it a shot,” she conceded.
“There you go.” Dragoslava patted her on the back, then got out her pack. “Rowena, I got the sample you wanted from the metal oasis…”
“Nice!” She reached for the vials, but Dragoslava pulled them away.
“Don’t waste them, the oasis is a bit on edge at the moment…”
“Alchemist’s promise” Rowena swore with her hand raised. She was then handed the vials.
Dragoslava cleared her throat, indicating that something was on her mind. “Did you all know that the Oasis is actually a primordial? I found that out while I was there.”
Kresimira was surprised. “Really? Which one?”
“The Ferro of Old. He told me about how he was allowed to remain as is since he can’t really reincarnate. I also ran into another primordial that looked like a ragdoll named Andrew Gruell.”
“I’ve heard of that last one,” Kresimira recalled. “Papa has talked about a unique primordial that assisted him and Englehart back during the Vozenilek reign of Shadowland…”
“Yeah, he apparently recognized our family and asked if I was a Raynot.”
Olga chuckled. “Jeez, Drago. You manage to run into all sorts of great stuff. Maybe I should go get permission to join you some time…”
“Hey, if you want to come with me and Desislav on an adventure, you are more than welcome to. That goes for all of you too.”
It was nearing lunch time, so Kresimira went back inside to prepare some food. Rose and Desislav assisted her with this. Since Dragoslava was done for the time being, she figured she would join the group. Ekaterina felt better as lunch went on, and so did Vlastimir. Both of them realized that they were having fun and cast their worries aside. Kresimira noticed this as time went on and felt victorious.
Later on close to evening, Vlastimir and Ekaterina were back at their quarters, musing on the day’s events. “You know what, Ekaterina? I think I need to go home…” Vlastimir asserted.
She looked up from Vexation’s grimoire. “You’ve changed your mind, I take it?”
“Yeah. As crazy as things got back home, I need to rest my head in a realm that obeys the laws of physics. Besides, don’t you want to see your timeline again?”
Ekaterina thought about it and sighed. “I guess so… as long as I don’t have to see my parents.”
“Well don’t worry about that, because it’s apparently 2022 right now.”
She looked at him with wide eyes. “Wait, what?”
“2022. Why? Did you think I was born in the 1970s or something?”
“Vlastimir, you realize I died in 1922, right?”
He laughed. “Then you are going to LOVE modern times. Computers, the internet, constant electricity, cars, television, video games…”
“Did radios ever take off? I remember when I got one. It was utterly amazing…”
“Yeah, then they kind of died off once video killed the radio star. They’re more of a retro hobby these days. The internet further cemented that, but that’s not a bad thing. Imagine this: All the books, movies, and articles you could ever want, all at the tip of your fingers.”
Ekaterina seemed a bit overwhelmed. “Oh my goodness… just how far has humanity progressed?”
“Pretty far… just ignore all the petty screeching about whose politics are right and wrong.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Vlastimir, honey, do you think we were cavemen? I’m no stranger to political squabbles. That was every Tuesday and Friday for my parents. That stuff doesn’t phase me in the slightest. As me and my parents always said; Money talks, nonsense walks.”
“Oh, alright then. Other than that stuff, things are dandy back home. You’re going to have a great time.”
Next:
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
Olga and Mariya were Kresimira’s other friends that she had met later on in life, as opposed to Rowena who had been her friend from the start. Olga was an artificer for the Royal Guard, having tied back, blonde hair and light purple eyes. Mariya was a secretary for Ironfire station who originally wanted to be a member of the Royal Guard, but decided a desk job was more her forte. She had light red eyes and brown hair in a bob. Annoyingly she was stuck in her business suit whereas Olga had the chance to change into her casual clothes.
As the three women began talking with Ekaterina, Vlastimir felt reality slow down as a feeling he tried to suppress overwhelmed him. His mind fogged up as he could sense something was off somewhere. Was it a friend? Were they in peril? Negative thoughts ran through his head that he could not shake. His heart had a slight ache and his breathing became shaky. He would nod every once in a while so as not to worry the others, but eventually he stopped as he began to quietly mutter a poem to himself as his residual madness still had some business with him…
“The door only opens one way, unto gulfs of fathomless gray. The stars burn and writhe with hidden ire, begetting unseen masters that never tire. Our fleeting corpses walk… walk to… argh, in accordance with the eldritch plan… we end where we began? No, that wasn’t it…”
“What wasn’t what?” Kresimira inquired. Vlastimir had accidentally said his ramblings aloud, but not to a point where the others could easily make them out.
Mariya could see in him that he was incredibly stressed out. “Eka, I think Vlastimir needs some help…”
Ekaterina immediately recognized what was going on and put her hand on his shoulder. “Oh no, dear? Are you okay? Do you need another hug?”
“No no, I’m fine. It’s just…” Before he could finish, an explosion coming from the direction of Corentin’s warehouse went off, startling Vlastimir and causing him to fall back in his chair. “WHAT WAS THAT?” he exclaimed.
“CORENTIN!” Kresimira got up and stamped her foot. “Pardon me, everyone. I need to make sure he didn’t blow himself up…”
While Ekaterina helped Vlastimir up, the other three waited, snickering. Once they were sure Kresimira was gone, they started laughing uncontrollably. “HA, old habits die hard, am I right?” Rowena observed as she banged her hand on her table.
“Agreed,” Olga replied. “You can take the man out of the explosion, but you can’t take the explosion out of the man. Source, I’d love to have a man like Corentin in my life…”
Mariya nodded, then turned to Vlastimir. He looked a bit shaken. “Um, Vlastimir, would you like to have the floor? Perhaps talking to us will get your mind off of whatever was bothering you?”
“Maybe, even though my mind isn’t that simple… What should I talk about?”
“Oh, well how about your time in The Unlight? You know, aside from your interactions with Blood-Wraith and Drago. We know a fair deal about Earth now, but not what you did here, aside from what we’ve heard through hearsay.”
Vlastimir took a breath and cracked his neck. To start, he elaborated on what landed him in The Unlight in the first place: A battle was started by his mother after she released a demon from under the academy he was attending during his teenage years. Vlastimir was born as the ‘ultimate weapon’ and his mother wanted to test that. The entire affair backfired and sent the boy to The Unlight through no fault of his own. Finding himself in an unknown realm, he wandered aimlessly for some time in his true form. Eventually he got into a battle with a swordsman carrying a stone greatsword. Vlastimir found the bout quite fun, returning to his human form so he could talk to his opponent. This left the swordsman incredibly confused.
The man’s name was Gostislav Robles (which confused everyone given the surname). He was a sellsword with the blood of a satyr and a dragon. At the time he was out wandering with not much to do. Vlastimir recalled being amazed with the sword skills he had witnessed and asked to be taken on as a student or mentee. Gostislav initially refused, but quickly realized the boy needed guidance. It was a wonderful time as the half-dragon was a fantastic teacher and the two traveled all over the place. At some point Vlastimir decided that he wanted to strike out on his own and Gostislav let him. In hindsight this was a bad idea as the loneliness was a hit to Vlastimir’s sanity.
“...thankfully I met Tusk not too long afterwards and we went on some adventures. This stopped when he turned himself into a tree due to personal turmoil, however. I tried to hang around, but I left once it was clear he wasn’t going to budge.”
“And what happened after that?” Ekaterina asked, incredibly curious. “I imagine we’re getting fairly close to the stuff with The Lich…”
He nodded. “We are. So I went back to wandering for a bit after that. I sensed what was going on in the forest when Blood and the others went there, but arrived too late to be of any help. Also I was a bit loopy at the time for some reason. And then eventually I wandered into the Basalt Monolith Forest. The rest is history from over the past two months.” Vlastimir looked reasonably proud while the others were amazed.
“Wow, that’s quite the journey,” Rowena commented. “I’d lose my mind if I was away from my family for more than a week, ha.”
“And here I thought the Stone-Sword Wretch was some kind of dangerous criminal,” Olga stated.
“Well remember, Olga, people have a tendency to embellish things as time goes on,” Mariya pointed out.
“True, like how everyone kept claiming that Dunja had slept with Milosh…”
“Honestly I am flabbergasted as to how that rumor picked up so much traction. Sure, the Shadow Orb was quite appalling, but I don’t think that warranted insulting her that badly. It was outright slander!”
Rowena lightly cleared her throat. “Well I mean, it was sort of a 'you get what you deserve’ kind of situation…”
“I guess, but Milosh?” Olga questioned. ‘Really?” The three then laughed.
Rowena sighed. “Good point,” she conceded. “I suppose that was a bit harsh, even for Dunja.”
“Was the Shadow Orb really that bad?” Ekaterina inquired.
“Absolutely!” She immediately answered, pounding the table. Rowena seemed a bit irritated over the matter. “Nothing but dirty alchemy and black magic, topped off with that cursed void magic of hers. As an alchemist myself, that was what I consider to be a cardinal sin. I will give her credit in that she did smash it with her own hand, however. As offensive as that whole ordeal was, we can’t stay mad at her…”
“Especially since she went over to Shadowland to take care of Milosh once and for all, Rowena…” Mariya emphasized, looking her in the eye.
The alchemist straightened out her jaw and nodded. “I know, I know. Truthfully I’d rather have her with us than with that cretin of a man, despite my hang-ups.”
“Alright, I’m back!” Kresimira called out as she returned. “Everything is alright, Corentin just had an experiment go haywire.”
Ekaterina looked at her hand. “It wasn’t because of me, was it?”
“Unfortunately,” she replied as she sat down. “I guess your metal ribbons are more complex than initially thought. Also Corentin told me to tell you not to worry about it. He has had way worse backfires than that… trust me, I know.”
Olga’s interest peaked given what they were told. “Fascinating. You’ll have to have Corentin send me his notes when he’s done… er, with your permission, Ekaterina.”
She shrugged. “Sure, I guess. I don’t see why not.”
Vlastimir looked at his own hand. “Huh, figured my blood would’ve done that. Guess it’s behaving itself like I instructed.”
“Ekaterina, can I see your ribbons in action?” Olga asked. “I know it’s sudden, but I would really like to see them.”
“Alright…” she replied with a sigh. A ribbon emerged from the top of her hand that she lightly twirled in the air. The shine danced about as the metal wobbled back and forth.
Olga got up to take a closer look at it. “Amazing” she remarked as she carefully ran her fingers along it. “What I’d do to have an ability like this…”
Ekaterina retracted the ribbon. “You’re sure about that? You realize what this was intended for, right?”
“Yeah, because I told them what it was for…”
“Drago!?” Ekaterina leapt out of her chair. Dragoslava laughed.
“How do you always manage to sneak up on us, Drago?” Mariya asked as they shook hands.
“Years of practice while out exploring. The best way to keep your presence concealed is to breathe as calmly as you can and walk slowly. Most animals and people will think the noise is nothing and go about their business.” She then gave Kresimira a hug, shook more hands, and turned to Ekaterina. “Eka, stop worrying. Your ability is cool, end of discussion.”
She sat back down. “It doesn’t feel cool…”
“Nonsense! Have you tried coming up with a technique for it yet?”
“Um, no…”
Dragoslava clapped. “Well there you go! No wonder it doesn’t feel cool; you haven’t made it yours yet. Take it from me, getting used to my metal skin was difficult. Thankfully that changed once I realized it jived with my style of fighting and exploring. It became a cakewalk to figure out after that.”
Rowena nodded. “You know, Eka, the colosseum is open now. You and Vlastimir could head over there, reserve some space, and do some training. Have a ball, see what you can come up with.”
Vlastimir gave Ekaterina a very encouraging nudge. “Oh alright, I’ll give it a shot,” she conceded.
“There you go.” Dragoslava patted her on the back, then got out her pack. “Rowena, I got the sample you wanted from the metal oasis…”
“Nice!” She reached for the vials, but Dragoslava pulled them away.
“Don’t waste them, the oasis is a bit on edge at the moment…”
“Alchemist’s promise” Rowena swore with her hand raised. She was then handed the vials.
Dragoslava cleared her throat, indicating that something was on her mind. “Did you all know that the Oasis is actually a primordial? I found that out while I was there.”
Kresimira was surprised. “Really? Which one?”
“The Ferro of Old. He told me about how he was allowed to remain as is since he can’t really reincarnate. I also ran into another primordial that looked like a ragdoll named Andrew Gruell.”
“I’ve heard of that last one,” Kresimira recalled. “Papa has talked about a unique primordial that assisted him and Englehart back during the Vozenilek reign of Shadowland…”
“Yeah, he apparently recognized our family and asked if I was a Raynot.”
Olga chuckled. “Jeez, Drago. You manage to run into all sorts of great stuff. Maybe I should go get permission to join you some time…”
“Hey, if you want to come with me and Desislav on an adventure, you are more than welcome to. That goes for all of you too.”
It was nearing lunch time, so Kresimira went back inside to prepare some food. Rose and Desislav assisted her with this. Since Dragoslava was done for the time being, she figured she would join the group. Ekaterina felt better as lunch went on, and so did Vlastimir. Both of them realized that they were having fun and cast their worries aside. Kresimira noticed this as time went on and felt victorious.
Later on close to evening, Vlastimir and Ekaterina were back at their quarters, musing on the day’s events. “You know what, Ekaterina? I think I need to go home…” Vlastimir asserted.
She looked up from Vexation’s grimoire. “You’ve changed your mind, I take it?”
“Yeah. As crazy as things got back home, I need to rest my head in a realm that obeys the laws of physics. Besides, don’t you want to see your timeline again?”
Ekaterina thought about it and sighed. “I guess so… as long as I don’t have to see my parents.”
“Well don’t worry about that, because it’s apparently 2022 right now.”
She looked at him with wide eyes. “Wait, what?”
“2022. Why? Did you think I was born in the 1970s or something?”
“Vlastimir, you realize I died in 1922, right?”
He laughed. “Then you are going to LOVE modern times. Computers, the internet, constant electricity, cars, television, video games…”
“Did radios ever take off? I remember when I got one. It was utterly amazing…”
“Yeah, then they kind of died off once video killed the radio star. They’re more of a retro hobby these days. The internet further cemented that, but that’s not a bad thing. Imagine this: All the books, movies, and articles you could ever want, all at the tip of your fingers.”
Ekaterina seemed a bit overwhelmed. “Oh my goodness… just how far has humanity progressed?”
“Pretty far… just ignore all the petty screeching about whose politics are right and wrong.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Vlastimir, honey, do you think we were cavemen? I’m no stranger to political squabbles. That was every Tuesday and Friday for my parents. That stuff doesn’t phase me in the slightest. As me and my parents always said; Money talks, nonsense walks.”
“Oh, alright then. Other than that stuff, things are dandy back home. You’re going to have a great time.”
Next:
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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