FWFW 3 - 60

Morgan watched as Issa lifted the box from the first niche in the inner vault and set it on the pedestal where the Vormendion bust used to rest. The box was made of dark, grainy wood, beautifully crafted, and nearly seamless where the boards joined. When she pressed down on the cover, it clicked and then lifted on tiny hydraulic, brass-colored arms and exposed a velour interior on which sat a heavy-looking, leather-bound tome.

The tome was unadorned save for an elaborately written V and the numeral 1. “How uncharacteristically unpretentious. I mean, he still included a V, but he didn’t write something like ‘Vormendion’s Stupendous Inheritance Manual Number One.’” Morgan chuckled, but Issa seemed too nervous to see the humor in his words. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Look at it like a dungeon reward.”

“It’s not, though—it’s from a mysterious ancient mage with questionable morality.” Issa frowned down at the book.

“You know, I never thought about it that way. Do you think this book could mess with you somehow?” Morgan asked, stepping closer. Issa looked at him and smiled, opening the front cover of the tome.

“Don’t worry, Morgan. I’m sure it’s fine—Vormendion was working with the System in some regard when he made this inheritance. That’s why you got the quest for it. I doubt the rewards would be cursed.” She flipped the page, and her eyes unfocused as she stared at the symbols on the paper.

“Curse?” Morgan asked, but she wasn’t listening to him. His excitement had turned to dread as he watched her stare at the page and then saw the dense, glowing glyphs start to lift from the pages and flood toward her eyes. Hundreds of characters poured into her, the page turned as if blown by a breeze, and hundreds more started streaming toward her faster and faster. The pages continued to turn, also at an increasing pace, until they were flipping one after the other, and a dense flood of symbols poured into Issa.

Morgan watched, unable to breathe from the stress, and several moments later, the flood tapered off, and Issa blinked rapidly, leaning forward, hands gripping the edges of the pedestal. Morgan gently rubbed her back and said, “Everything all right?”

“Yes, just . . . a lot,” Issa said haltingly. She reached up and started touching the air in front of her face, and Morgan realized she was reading through System notifications. “It replaced my Class, but I still have my skills and spells from Battle Witch. The tome granted me four Artisan skills and two spells, Morgan! And, there are sections for me to read at every tier up to seven!”

“Well, that’s pretty good, isn’t it?”

“It’s amazing! I feel like I know so much—I want to get into a workshop and try out some of these concepts!” Issa’s eyes were still distant as she finished reading through her System messages. “I didn’t think about how it would be suddenly having nineteen levels in a new Class! Morgan, I understand things that I didn’t even know I wanted to know . . . I can’t explain it!”

“Well, how do you feel about those?” Morgan gestured to the other inheritance boxes, and as Issa’s eyes followed the motion, they widened with excitement.

“Yes! I understand so many concepts related to the creation of highly cognizant objects and tools—I’m very curious to see how Vormendion’s spells work. I want to learn how to help Tiladia!”

“All right, let’s do the skill first?” Morgan asked.

“No, I feel it’s important to learn them in the order that Vormendion placed them in the inheritance. I’m not sure how I know that, but I feel like some concepts from the spell are important for fully learning that skill.” Issa started toward the shelves, placing the box with the Class tome back in its place before lifting out the second box.

“Really? I thought the two skills weren’t related to the Class, but it seems like maybe they are?” Morgan mused, voicing his thoughts as a question.

“I don’t think the Class is necessary, but I think anyone learning these two skills would certainly benefit from being an Artisan of some type. I also don’t think it would have harmed anything to learn the skill before the spell, but I think I’ll gain more this way.” Issa lifted a similarly bound book out of the second box, this one with a numeral “2” next to the “V.”

“You sure you’re ready?” Morgan asked, a little unnerved by Issa’s sudden enthusiasm.

“Yes, Morgan! Don’t worry!” Before he could question her further, she opened the book and started reading the runes on the page. The way her eyes darted side to side made Morgan wonder if she could actually read the runes now rather than just staring at them while waiting for the magic to work. In just a moment or two, brightly glowing runes were streaming into Issa’s bright, yellow irises.

When the stream faded away, a different sort of light started to gather around Issa. Bright golden motes of Energy began to form in the air, and then they streamed into her. Issa stood up straight, receiving the influx of Energy as it flooded into her chest, and when it ended, her face was aglow with the usual Euphoria following an Energy surge. With unfocused eyes, Issa waved her hand in front of her face, obviously reading more System messages. She paid and blearily focused her eyes on Morgan and said, “Level.”

“Is that all you’re going to say? What else?”

“The spell is amazing, Morgan. It's a dozen times more complicated than anything I learned as a Battle Witch. Also, I can’t believe how many attribute points I gained having this epic class! I mean, I know what you told me about your class, but it’s still hard to grasp! I’m not looking at my class selection options until I learn the skill, though. I don’t know if they’re already set or if I can influence the options still, but I want to learn it first, anyway. Do you think that’s wise?”

Morgan breathed out a long breath that he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He was immeasurably relieved that Issa had calmed down enough to ask him his opinion. She’d seemed so manic and voracious that he’d begun to worry if the new class had altered her personality in some way, but it seemed the flood of Energy had balanced her out a bit. “Excitement,” he said, nodding to himself, then he looked into Issa’s eyes and said, “Yeah, why not? Learn the skill before you look at the options.”

Issa closed the spell book and put it back in the case, turning to say, “It’s empty now, but I’ll put it back on the shelf, for now, all right?”

“Yeah, sure.” Morgan watched as she carefully placed the beautiful wooden box back in its niche, then lifted out the third box. The skill tome she lifted out of this box was twice as thick as the spell tome had been. When Issa held it in her hands, she looked at Morgan, demonstrating its heft by lifting it up and down with a grin.

“There’s a lot in here, Morgan. More than just a simple skill. I think it will lay many foundations for concepts needed to craft amazing vessels for spirits like Tiladia. I think this is the skill that Vormendion used to make all of his guardians also.”

“Yeah, but we still agree that it’s not okay to do things like that, right? I mean with unwilling or even unknowing spirits?”

“Yes, of course, Morgan! Just because I appreciate the knowledge and the skills required doesn’t mean I think what Vormendion did with them was okay!” Issa frowned at him, then she set the book down and moved closer to Morgan, reaching out to take his hand. “I’m sorry, love. I’m sorry if I’m acting crazy. I just . . . I never thought that I’d be so excited to learn these sorts of things. I’m so happy that I didn’t make a mistake and refuse. Morgan, I have a million things I want to try to do. I have a thousand things I want to craft for you, for our family, for our home!” She lifted Morgan’s hand and kissed his knuckles, smiling impishly.

“Oh, well, you should know by now that this is the best way to get me to do or say anything you want,” Morgan laughed, leaning over to kiss her forehead. “All right, go learn that skill book.”

“Thank you, Morgan. Thank you for everything,” she said, turning back to the pedestal and opening the leather cover of the skill book. A moment later, she was gripping the sides of the pedestal, and a stream of brilliant runes and symbols held her transfixed as they flooded into her eyes. This tome took more than twice as long to divulge its secrets, and when the runes finally trickled away to nothing, Issa fell forward, gasping, holding herself stead on the bronze pedestal.

“You all right?” Morgan asked, rushing over to rub her back gently.

“Yes, just . . .” she started to answer but was cut off by a torrent of large Energy motes as they coalesced around her and then smashed into her from every angle, not even forming a stream first. Issa shook and groaned, and her smile fell away as she gasped, her eyes rolling back in her head.

“Issa?” Morgan asked, concerned only because he’d seen her level and gain Energy many times and hadn’t seen a reaction this strong from her.

“I’m okay!” she gasped. “I’m okay. It’s just . . . it’s just so much.” She stumbled back toward the wall behind her, and Morgan followed, holding one of her wrists as she slid down the wall to sit on the cool bronze floor of the inner vault.

“Maybe we should have spread this process out over a few days, hmm?” Morgan asked. “Look at me, Issa. Let me see your eyes.” Issa was shaking her head, slowly back and forth, looking at the ground between her knees, but when Morgan asked her to, she looked up and focused on his eyes. When they made eye contact, Morgan squatting before her and holding her shoulders, she steadied and took a deep breath.

“I’m all right, but you might be right! This is an awful lot for one day. Morgan, I feel like my mind has expanded so much. I understand so many concepts, and I feel so sure about how to do so much! It’s . . . it’s hard to explain. This skill tome I just learned had so much more than a skill in it. It had all the underlying prerequisite abilities. Morgan, I could carve a lifelike bust of you out of solid bronze—just like that Vormendion bust.”

“God, please don’t.” Morgan laughed, gently rubbing Issa’s shoulders.

“I won’t,” she breathed with an exhausted but pleased smile. “I leveled again, too, and now I have a class refinement to look at!” She shook her head ruefully.

“No. Let’s hold off on that, all right? I’d like you to rest a bit, hmm?” Morgan stood and closed the now blank tome, putting it back in its box and then into the niche from which it came. “Come on. Let’s go get some lunch, and then we’ll see how you’re feeling. All right?” He looked back at Issa and saw that she was glassy-eyed, looking at System messages.

“Hmm?” she asked absently. “Just a sec, Morgan, I’m reading these messages.”

Morgan sighed heavily, realizing she hadn't heard a word he’s said. He supposed he couldn’t be angry or annoyed—would he have waited to go and “have lunch” if he had something so exciting happening with him? “Well, maybe,” he muttered, “but it would have to be a pretty good lunch, and I’d need to be hungry.”

Again, Issa said, “Hmm?” but didn’t look up, scanning through messages that Morgan couldn’t see. He sat down with a sigh, half splaying his wings out in the odd fashion he’d learned was the only comfortable way for him to sit on the floor, and waited. When her eyes finally refocused, staring into his, they twinkled and gleamed as she said, “One of my options is legendary, Morgan!”