Chapter 6 - Arcane Sigils
[Arc 1— No Light Left For Us]
….
[A day passed]
Raven awoke with a startle.
'A nightmare…'
'That's a great way to start a beautiful day.'
Lately, the nightmares had been annoyingly persistent and they were starting to affect him, physically. His body felt like it had been run over by a truck and blood kept streaming down his nose.
Wiping his face clean, Raven slumped across a firm tree with his gaze completely focused on his broken arm.
He blinked, stunned.
Then he blinked hard again.
The cruel, jagged angle of the wound seemed smaller… very small. It was as if the injury was receding through time.
Minutes passed.
Then, a faint tightening sensation crept along his skin. The torn flesh along his arm and hand slowly drew inwardly, edges pulling together as if invisible hands were stitching him closely.
The angry red injury softened. Though not perfectly healed, it looked like an old wound. Days old. Maybe even weeks.
'... what?'
Raven's heart began to pound.
'Could it be… magic?'
A wound does not simply close on its own, and by the Lord— even the greatest medicines cannot seal flesh within a few hours. Unless he had somehow overlooked the great strides of modern medicines, there was only one plausible reason for his body's unnatural recovery.
It wasn't that far of a stretch… right?
Raven's eyes were clouded with thoughts.
'I mean, we are stuck in a world crawling with cruel monsters. We came out of a tower that literally reached for the sky. Oh— and the moon is definitely not a moon.I'd bet on Mist's life that there is something sinister going on with it. It speaks and moans for christ's sake.'
No.
Raven muttered, "No. Magic was not a far stretch. Not at all."
Thus, the looming question wasn't 'what' but 'how' and 'why'.
Digging deep into his mind, Raven replayed the course of events that led to the present.
Every event carried meaning; threads of a larger event he had willingly ignored. Not anymore.
There was something different this time around. Something had changed.
He had changed.
It felt as though he had shed an old skin— or perhaps torn away the garments that once bound him. He felt exposed. Completely bare and utterly naked. Yet beneath that vulnerability was a piercing acuity. His perception suddenly crashed the ceiling, his mind warped into sharp and surreal edges.
A new world unfurled; vast spectrum of energy, light and raw potent information cascading before him in a radiant flood. With a moan, Raven tilted his head back, surrendering to the intoxicating rush.
It was a psychic high. Everything felt… more. Different colors he didn't have names for. Textures he could feel without touching. A new 'frequency' to the air. Everything was vibrating, alive, and hauntingly beautiful— even the inanimate stones and dead leaves seemed to be whispering their own ancient stories.
The sheer volume of awareness pressed against him, and this was with him restraining himself—holding back the urge to gaze at everything and bask in the freedom of it.
The most beautiful things in existence are often the most dangerous. He had to look away or risk being consumed by the beauty.
Warm blood began to seep from his nose again, and his eyes grew reddened.
Raven ignored the warnings, forcing himself to put the pieces together.
'The sigil— It had a narration. What was it?'
Raven took himself back to the shallow. He remembered the white light.
He remembered the sigils.
He remembered the towering silhouette.
He remembered its sayings.
Raven muttered quietly, as thin as a whisper.
"Originating from the depths of Mysterious Ether, Arcane Sigils are tokens of the Anima Covenant forged beneath the Alchemical Star. Covenant bearers must partake in this ancient binding and receive their rightful boon. But beware, it is unknown what lies on the other side."
Raven went into deep thoughts. "Alchemical Arcane Elemental Sigils… I remember seeing it in the scripts"
"[Sequence: ]... It was listed under the sequence script."
As the last words left his lips, a strange whisper slithered into his ears.
Raven stared at his palms. Then his arms. He took off his shirt and scanned his skin for something— anything that seemed out of place. Somewhere where the whispers guided him.
He could feel some sort of marking on his back, fueled by heat and some kind of mysterious energy. The energy seemed to exist everywhere, full of life and mysterious undertones.
Raven reached for the sigil and muttered again. "Originating from…"
The tattoo flared to life seething his skin with a burning presence.
Inspired by the books he grew up with, Raven slumped to the ground and closed his eyes.
He focused on a single portent—the undertones emerging from the sigil. They were like faint omens; traces that led to the very depths. These traces guided his mind and he found himself sinking further and further into oblivion until the self vanished. Thoughts melted into nothingness and all that was before fell into the void.
Nothing but pure white.
….
Raven blinked.
A familiar scenery shot into view. The depressing shallows were sure as friendly as always. Its waters seemed higher now, lapping at his shins, but everything else remained the same.
Raven felt the strange pull. He summoned the light, stepping into the radiance and waited for its outpour.
Once in the realm of pure light, Raven found the scripts and even more.
[Name: Raven]
[Race: Human(Hemiling)]
[Rank: [Mortal: Calling] ]
[Sequence: Alchemical Arcane Sigil, Seventh Sense]
[Alchemical Arcane Sigil: [Immoral Garden of the Wild] ]
[Vestiges: [Starless]---]
[Innate Skills: [Natural Spatial Awareness], [Greater Accelerated Regeneration], [Accelerated Growth], [Superior Affinity—Nature], [Magical Aptitude—Etheren], [Major Affinity— School of Invocation], [Minor Affinity—Psy] ]
"Wow," Raven said.
The scripts had flickered into a panel, similar to the one the Moon used to communicate with them.
For the most part, it seemed easy to understand.
[Name] was unproblematic. [Race] and [Rank] were a bit understandable, but he was guessing this was just an issue of little information.
Then, there was [Vestige]; Raven was completely lost there. [Sequence] seemed to pertain to his source of abilities, which kinda made sense since his perception wasn't really tied to his sigil.
Raven glanced again at his sigil, "[Immoral Garden of the Wild]... that's a weird name."
Its innate skills seemed alright, but then again, he didn't know what to compare it with. Most likely, the others awakened sigils of their own as well. That would explain a lot.
Raven thought back to previous events. 'The fire at camp… what was it really? I think it's time to go back.'
Communicating his thoughts, Raven let himself be carried by the light, his mind drifting until he awoke back at the forest.
Raven spotted the group nearby. Zoe seemed to be smiling at Hayden, while Mist had her gaze utterly fixed at the boy.
He went forward. "Hey, I think we need to—"
"What the hell?" He noticed something.
Hayden appeared to be hovering above ground without any help. His movements defied every law of physics as he slowly slithered inches away from his original position with a joyful smile on his face.
The moment he heard Raven, he lost composure over his innate skill and fell to the ground, but that still couldn't deter his look of triumph.
Raven was still deep in disbelief.
He thought back to his innate skills, and looked at Hayden who was once again attempting to fly. 'Yeah, I might not have lucked out.'