Mimic Arcanist [Chapter 7]

Hey peeps!

Here is chapter 7 of Mimic Arcanist. It contains spoilers from Grandmaster, which is why I hesitated to post it before now. HOWEVER, you can now see enchantments out in the wild!

Hopefully, you all enjoy.

Shami

CHAPTER SEVEN

ARCANE VEINS

The hike wasn’t as awful as I had imagined.

The pathway was well-worn, and trees grew on either side aplenty. With the shade as our ally, we made our way over gently rolling hills, away from the sad village of Red Cape.

And while the entire trek was uneventful, I knew the instant we had reached our destination. Not because Captain Leon had said something, but because everything changed. The vegetation, the trees—even the air was different.

For two hours, the grass had been green, and the oak trees had been vibrant and lively. Now the grass was teal, and the trees were thick and twisted. Were they even oaks anymore? Their long leaves seemed closer to willows, and their trunks were so thick, they could be hollowed out to make a small home.

And it had all happened in an instant, like we had stepped over some threshold and entered a new land entirely.

While everyone else in my class gawked and marveled at our bizarre new surroundings, Captain Leon continued forward as though nothing had happened. Perhaps the man was color-blind, or maybe he had other thoughts on his mind, but he barely even gave the nearby area a second glance.

The flowers were purple, the dirt a shade of dark red, and the clouds overhead were tinted orange.

“Do you know what this is?” I asked Twain.

My little kitten eldrin shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like this!”

“It’s like the world decided to color itself differently today.”

“Maybe the woods are sick.”

Captain Leon glanced around and then abruptly stopped. He wheeled around on his heel and rubbed his hands together. “Here we are, class.” He motioned to the blue grass all around us, then pointed to the thick trees. “You might notice something strange about this area.”

His cerberus circled him once before taking a seat, his tail wagging enough to kick up red dust.

“This place has been changed by the arcane veins,” Captain Leon said matter-of-factly. “Think of it like a magical ore. Like iron. Only it shows up randomly and sometimes without warning.”

Nasbit’s hand shot into the air. His arm practically trembled with excitement, and he huffed out his breaths, barely restraining himself from speaking.

Leon pointed to him, his brow furrowed.

“Arcane veins are like star shards!” Nasbit blurted out. “They’re rare phenomena that produce magical plants and materials. Whereas star shards fall to the ground from the sky, arcane veins sprout up from the ground. The veins are clusters of ore that look like rubies but are actually just crystalized magic.”

A lighthearted giggle filled the air around us. Everyone glanced around, searching for the source. Although I didn’t immediately see her, I knew the laugh like it was my own.

Professor Helmith.

I spun around just in time to catch her walking up the path.

She wore a dress as light and feathery as dew on a dove’s wing. It trailed behind her, fluttering on the gentle breeze. Her inky hair swirled around her heart-shaped face, framing her cheeks and accentuating her lavender eyes.

Professor Helmith had the poise of a dancer, and the regal bearing of royalty. When she approached our class, everyone parted to allow her through. She smiled at each person, acknowledging everyone.

Then our eyes met, and she giggled once more.

I hoped my face didn’t redden, because I’d never hear the end of it from my classmates. I turned away as soon as possible, and rubbed at my face, hoping to hide even my expression.

I was glad Professor Helmith was here. Even though her magical abilities only dealt with dreams and sleep, I felt safer with her around.

When Helmith strode by, I took note of her shoulders. She wore a sleeveless dress that exposed her arms all the way to the edge of her collarbones. Blue and pink swirling tattoos flowed across her skin down to her wrists. The mystical tattoos were in the shape of storm clouds, stylized and glittering with power.

“Nasbit, you’re correct,” Professor Helmith said as she took her place next to Captain Leon. “You must’ve been studying.”

Nasbit nodded once.

“Star shards are the magical component needed to make trinkets and artifacts—permanent magical items.” Helmith held up a finger. “But the ore here has special properties that can enchant living creatures, such as arcanists and their eldrin, making them permanently more magical.” She pointed to the glittering tattoos across her shoulders. “These markings here are enchantments that empower my magic.”

A group-wide oooh swept through our class.

“But how does it work?” Raaza asked. “If we touch the ore, do we get enchantments?”

“No, unfortunately. The ore must be ground into a fine powder and made into an ink.” Helmith smiled wide. “But there is one other way. Some mythical creatures carry enchants on them. Like a sickness, it can transfer to those that interact with them. But that is very rare.”

Captain Leon nodded. “It has gotten rarer and rarer since the God-Arcanist’s War. I wouldn’t bank on finding a creature in the wild with enchantments. Best to find it with the ore and make your own, I think.”

I had seen a few professors with the glittering tattoos before, but I had never asked what they were or why they had them. Now I knew. They were enchantments. Rare—very valuable—no doubt expensive.

Odd that Professor Helmith likened enchantments to a sickness, though. But maybe I was thinking too hard about that.

“All right.” Leon clapped his hands together. “Drop your things here. This is your first assignment.” He knelt and dug a hand through the blue grass. Then he stood, shook away some of the dirt, and showed off the thumb-sized rubies he had plucked from the ground. “See these? Bits of occult ore. I want you all to find more.”

Everyone glanced down to their feet, myself included.

Twain squinted at the grass.

I didn’t see any hints of rubies. Were we supposed to dig through the dirt? Were they everywhere here?

“These ores are more prevalent underground,” Leon said.

Everyone continued staring at the dirt.

“But some filter up to the surface, causing all the strange coloration changes you see around us. Now, I’m going to give you all thirty minutes to gather as many of these little bits as you can find. Whoever finds the most gets five camping points, and whoever finds the second most gets two.”

The talk of points got Ashlyn’s attention. She stood straight, and Ecrib flashed his massive dragon fangs.

“I want you to use your evocation as much as you possibly can.” Leon tucked the ore into his pocket. “Don’t worry, you can’t harm the occult ore with your abilities. It’s very sturdy. You’ll need to sift through the grass, dirt, and river to find these little bits, though. They should sparkle when you get close, makin’ it easy to spot them when they’re nearby.”

I wanted to use more of my abilities, and it seemed everyone else felt the same way. Everyone stood close to their eldrin, poised to run off in every direction.

“Professor Helmith, Sticks, and I will be setting up camp while you’re searching,” Leon stated. Then he waved his hands around. “This will be the site we’re staying at. You need to come back after thirty minutes.”

Murmurs of acceptance ran through the group.

“Okay, then, what’re you waitin’ for? Your thirty minutes start now!”

I dropped my bags and waited to see where everyone went. Phila and Exie ran off together, Knovak continued down the road, Raaza went for the northern tree cluster, and my brother took Nini toward the sounds of water—likely for the nearby river.

Nasbit and his stone golem didn’t hurry away like everyone else. They slowly headed toward the eastern cluster of trees, taking their time to search every inch of soil along the way.

That left me and Ashlyn. When I glanced over, I noticed she was glaring in my direction.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

Ashlyn motioned to our surroundings. “Which way are you heading?”

“Whichever direction has the least amount of people.”

“That was my tactic.”

“Great minds think alike.”

My quip-compliment didn’t make her laugh, like I had been hoping. Instead, she narrowed her eyes further, not amused by my antics. I wasn’t about to lose to her, though. I just wanted to search around without fighting everyone else.

We didn’t have many options at this point. We could go west—no one had gone that way—but south just went straight to a grouping of rocks. And they weren’t strangely colored rocks, they were just normal, plain, brown boulders. A small hill that was pretending to be a mountain, really.

“The two of you should just go together,” Captain Leon said, breaking me out of my thoughts. “That’ll keep you both out of trouble.”

That wasn’t the most ideal solution, but I didn’t mind it. If we gathered the same number of occult ore, would they split the reward between us?

Ashlyn sighed as she grabbed the neck of her typhoon dragon and then climbed onto his back. Ecrib was about the size of a small horse, and he could easily carry her weight. He happily stomped westward, his fin-covered tail swishing through the dirt as he went.

I glanced at Twain on my shoulder. “When can I ride on you?”

“Never.” Twain licked his paw and then smiled. “You’re my mount.”

“We’ll see about that in the future.”

“Hmpf!”

Then I hurried after Ashlyn. Before I passed Professor Helmith, I slowed and gave her a knowing nod. She acknowledged me with a small wave, and then I quickened my step. Once I reached Ecrib’s side, I slowed my pace to match the lumbering dragon’s.

The surrounding area was still bizarre to me.

Thick trees made the place seem like a maze. We traveled around a cluster of them, bringing us to a new field of blue grass. The trees seemed bloated, almost. Sap leaked from the bark in a surprising amount. Were they okay? It made me think they would explode is left untended for too long.

We walked together as a group for a few minutes, no one saying a word to each other. Should I be the first to break our silence? I decided not to. Ashlyn still seemed irritated we were doing this together, and I didn’t want to add to her frustration with idle chitchat.

But…

She was the type of woman who would appreciate talks of strategy.

“So, here’s my plan,” I said, holding up both hands. “We carefully search a small area, rather than rushing around the place.”

Ecrib stopped near a flat portion of the field.

Ashlyn hopped off her dragon. “Okay, Ecrib. Search this area.” She stepped away and crossed her arms, never really acknowledging me.

I stood by her side and patted Twain on the head. What was her typhoon dragon going to do? He was a creature of the ocean, after all.

The monstrous dragon huffed. Then Ecrib slammed his claws into the strange grass and raked them through the dirt, gouging a huge chunk of earth straight from the ground. He was so large, and so strong, that the process was effortless.

Then he did it again, only in the spot directly adjacent to his last strike.

It was like Ecrib was plowing the field and prepping it for harvest—all by his lonesome.

He dug deep furrows into the ground, yanking up the dirt at impressive speeds and then chucking the clods around with little regard for where they landed.

“See, my thought was to just tear up as much ground as possible,” Ashlyn said to me. She had a slight hint of amusement as she added, “You’re more than welcome to go try your strategy elsewhere. The professors can’t see us here—they won’t know if we split up.”

Then she casually walked over to a clump of dirt and sifted through it. At first, I thought she wouldn’t find anything, but Ashlyn eventually pulled a small ruby-like piece of ore from the dirt.

One for Ashlyn, zero for me.

“Curse the abyssal hells,” Twain whispered. “At this rate, she’s definitely going to beat us.”

Ashlyn turned around, her blonde hair shining in the afternoon light. She genuinely smiled—not smugly or arrogantly—catching me off guard with her beauty. A lump formed in my throat, and I didn’t know what to say.

“Remember when we were tasked with finding star shards together?” she asked as she walked over to me. She held the ore up to the light, the scarlet inside glittering. “Sometimes I think these magical lessons are just chores in disguise, ya know? They could’ve just paid someone to come out here and collect ore, but instead, we’re out here.”

I chuckled, my voice awkward and strained. With a powerful couple whacks to my chest, I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I remember searching for star shards.”

“Someone tried to kill you out in the woods.”

“Professor Zahn, the Death Lord’s brother,” I said. “That was who was trying to kill me.”

Ashlyn’s smile disappeared. She glowered at me. “You know, in the future, you can just ask for help. I’ll help you. Ecrib will help you.”

Her eldrin stopped digging up the field. He glanced up, his scaled snout covered in mud. He shook his head and flung it everywhere. “What was that, my arcanist?”

“You’ll help Lexly if he needs help,” Ashlyn said. “Right?”

“Of course.”

“See? So, next time you’re in danger, don’t hesitate to ask for our help.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Did you just call me Lexly?”

“That’s right.” Ashlyn smacked me on the shoulder. “Everyone else calls you Gray. I want something unique.”

She wanted something unique, huh? That was a good sign.

“Maybe I should start calling you Cross,then. Since that’s your last name.”

“No,” Ashlyn said. “My family name isn’t fun to say. Unlike yours. I like yours.”

I wasn’t that fond of mine, either, but if she liked it, she could say it all day long. I wouldn’t mind that.

Now that her dragon had stopped, I stepped forward. “Twain.” I held out my arm. “Are you ready? Let’s show Ashlyn and Ecrib how to really find occult ore.”

My eldrin stared at me with half-lidded eyes. In a quiet voice, he said, “You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“Play along,” I whispered. “This will go great.”

“I have a bad feeling about this…”

I set Twain on the ground. “Digging through the ground is fine, but it’s slow. Allow me to demonstrate a superior form of searching.” I pushed up the sleeves of my coat and shirt.

Ashlyn and her typhoon dragon watched with neutral expressions. I wondered if she would be impressed with my plan. I hoped it would work.

I closed my eyes and searched for the magical threads of the arcanists and mystical creatures all around me. One of them would have magics that could help. Illusions? Fox fire? Shadows? Fear? Surely someone would have something…

Then I had a brilliant idea.

I tugged on a thread, and the arcanist mark on my forehead burned as Twain shifted shapes.