Welldark B2 Ch. 04

Me and my two female peers stood halfway, inspecting the contents of the scroll. Three layers of circles, each filled with their own runes, surrounded a symbol that looked close to a black sun. Rather than rays, the central, pitch-black sphere was surrounded by a vortex of swirls.

Smithson put his hand above the representation of a black hole. Deep purple mana was drawn from him and absorbed into the swirls. First, they sent the magical power into the outside runes. Once they were filled up, the magic instead gathered in the centre. After a minute of constant development, a pitch-black sphere, the size of a marble, hovered upwards. After five minutes, it had swollen to the size of a tennis ball.

Carefully, Smithson turned his hand around. The conjured black hole followed the direction of his palm at equal distance. "We call this a Spell Siphon," he told all of us. "As with all ritual magics, it is something that could be achieved by purely active means, but realistically exceeds the capacity of almost all mages. Every Spell Siphon is created either with physical or magical matter in mind. This is a weak, physical one."

Smithson got a lighter from inside his suit and held it up to the Spell Siphon. A flame was ignited. Immediately, it started to stretch. In a large curve, it was pulled into the supernatural black hole. It was a fascinating display, a localized cosmic development. As the golden fire was drawn into the superdense void, it turned crimson, then vanished entirely past the event horizon. A similar fate befell the lighter. The moment Smithson let go, its greater mass was sucked straight into the sphere. A moment later, Smithson dismissed the spell. Down dropped a pebble-sized marble of metal and plastic, condensed into one object.

"Much like black holes in reality, the destructive power of these is highly concentrated. Do not underestimate them. Spell Siphons can be adjusted in their range and destructiveness. A quite common application for physically-aimed Spell Siphons is to use them to shred through mountains or fortified areas. Magic-aimed Spell Siphons are good to make ranged magic combat unfeasible. The largest advantage of Spell Siphons is that, once created, they only require concentration to wield. You got all of that?"

All of us nodded and Smithson rolled the scroll back up. As he put it aside, he continued. "I lack the power to showcase the divine variant of gravity magic. It primarily serves to create actual centres of gravity that typically attract mass until their initially magical effect becomes purely physical. Gods use it to consolidate asteroid fields into planets."

The last slide was put on the screen and then swiftly put away. While Smithson got his Ashod out of the socket in the wall, we were left to ponder the possibilities of what we had just heard.

I had always imagined that walking on walls and hovering may have been part of what I could do, but having that confirmed made it all the more interesting. The Spell Siphon was entirely new to me, particularly the anti-magic variant. Learning all of this would be quite interesting and broaden my toolbox considerably. Ranged attacks were one tactic I considered myself vulnerable to. I had ways to close the gap, which still offered the opportunity for enemies to strike or reposition in their own time.

If I could figure out a way to quickly and reliably put a Spell Siphon together, that would neuter those who aimed to take advantage of my most glaring combat weakness.

Walking on walls was way cooler though.

"For the rest of today's lecture, I will teach you the basics of shifting the direction of a gravitational pull on you."

______________________________________________

"Embarrassing Karitas, can you walk with me?"

I understood Esther's demand, but I just could not help myself. Like an overenthusiastic skater, I saw an opportunity to test my newfound abilities on every slanted surface. Carefully, I walked along the ridge of a knee-high brick wall whose slanted top contained a raised flower bed. My feet were planted firmly on the flat, 45-degree angle surface.

Also like an overenthusiastic skater, I inevitably made a mistake. One hesitating step and suddenly my sense of perspective reminded me that my surroundings were not meant to be crooked. Vertigo broke my concentration and I slipped. Gravity was no longer convinced I was worthy of an exception. I was not worried about falling, considering what my face would plant into.

With a swift step, Esther put herself between me and the stone floor. By design, I was most certain, my field of vision was filled with the red of her shirt. Arms and boobs caught my fall. As a well-endowed superhuman of athletic figure, she most certainly made for the best landing pillow a lover of well-endowed women of athletic figures could ask for.

For a few blissful seconds, I allowed myself to remain with my face between her twin hills. The presence of her bra did little to dissuade me. It was almost more about the psychological gratification of being allowed to bask in the glory of her rack in broad view of the public, than it was about the soft sensation of her breasts under my facial features. Almost.

I felt Esther's deep inhale in how her chest surrounded me, before I heard her sigh. That was my signal to go from full-face-plunge to chin-on-boobs. "Your sigh is a note hypocritical. It was you who deemed this was the way to catch me, knowing full well who I am and who I will continue to be."

"You are, indeed, my Karitas," Esther responded and puckered her lips. That was a way to get me off her boobs. I kissed her red mouth, then straightened up and wrapped my arm around her waist.

"I will walk with you."

"How generous," she responded, sarcastically, and we continued our path down the flower-rimmed walkway. It was a little divergence from the usual route we took to the Astral Cultivation Class. Tuesdays were great days. Not only did I get to sleep in, we also got to go to class together. All three of us. Aclysia had just taken a different corner a few minutes ago. She had Servant Class in this bracket. "How will I repay you, spouse?"

The way she said that, snarky and sharp, made me giggle. "You are repaying me plenty just with the proximity of your heavenly curves, lady of my love."

"You should repay me then."

"Hmm, I think I do every morning. Be it that our activities at dawn are never to anyone's loss, I do know that you enjoy them quite fervently. Like a hummingbird craving nectar, you do keep craving... well, there is no way to put in flowery words what you know I want to say."

"The nectar of your loins?" Esther suggested mockingly.

"That's so crude," I complained, the philosophizing tone in my voice dropping. "I could probably come up with a way to put it nicely if I thought about it for a bit."

"All your time is invested in thinking about the female physique. Come up with a nice way to say breasts, immediately."

"Heavenly mounds - their jiggling about - making flow the waters of my mouth."

Esther made a tossing gesture, not honouring me with a verbal response. I did hear the tiny chuckle though. Just as I did see the raised eyebrow from another female student we were passing. She did seem amused, but only in the 'someone said something weird in public' way.

That we made for an odd couple, I fully accepted. Outwardly, our personalities may not have meshed that well, but I had long come to believe that what mattered more about whether two people got along was what values they shared. The philosopher and the stoic could see eye to eye, if they both worked towards a similar goal. Ideas were like language in that way. Following wholly different ones would ultimately lead to a total breakdown of communication. There was wiggle room, of course. When it came to ideas, a lot more than in many other regards.

Esther and I got along splendidly because, for all our differences in expression, we ultimately were aligned about what we wanted this relationship to look like. We had been talking about our future and our faults. Not to the degree that we were certain yet which neighbourhood we wanted to raise our kids in, just enough to have an idea of if and under which circumstances either of us would like to have kids. Certainly, it helped that we were exceptionally compatible sexually. Erotic love and friendly love went hand in hand when it came to relationships.

The back and forth of our banter continued as usual, as we entered the Magic branch of the campus. A faint tingle greeted us, the mana of generations of practitioners filling the air, along with the pleasant fragrance of incense. The walls were covered in mystical symbols, some stylistically distorted runes, others wall-covering depictions of fantastical creatures.

A statue stood still in front of a picture of a busty goblin woman, the sun behind her as she lounged on a half-bed. It was by far the most erotic picture around, considering the goblinette was wearing little more than silk strips. I actually had to wonder how I had never seen that picture. 'Something like that would certainly catch my eye,' I thought.

Which was proven all too true when I suddenly realized that the statue I was happily ignoring was actually a person -- and not just any person at that. Omnius Magnari, Master of Magic at Welldark, pulled his hands out of his wide sleeves. Like always, he wore a particular, dark blue and grey mixture of oriental robe and suit. All manners of little trinkets adorned him, some seemingly video game related, others more representative of the mystical arts, like enigmatic, rusted keys or an unsolved puzzle made out of metal pieces. The moment he opened his eyes, golden and glowing even in the summer light, any likeness of a statue fell off the brown-haired man.

"Karitas, a word if you may?" he greeted me casually. "...Between the two of us," he added when Esther and I stopped.

"I don't think we'll talk about anything I won't tell her anyway," I dared to suggest.

"I think we might talk about something you should tell her anyway," the Master of Magic stated, clueing both me and Esther in what variety of topic this was.

My raven-haired lady glanced at me, then distanced herself from me. I tightened my hold on her waist and pulled her back. "Perhaps we should carefully peel at that band-aid."

Esther saw fit to remind me, "That is the opposite of the recommended method."

"And I'm more comfortable with it nonetheless. Will you accept this small offer?"

"...I shall," Esther nodded.

Omnius clapped his hands and made both of our attention return to him. "If that is quite sorted out, follow me." He turned around and, while doing so, lifted one foot above the lower rim of the wall painting. First his leg, then the rest of his body, disappeared through the depiction of the female goblin. The art piece rippled for a moment, like the surface of a pond, then reverted to its 'solid' state.

Amazed at the illusionary wall, I walked towards it. Esther and I took a moment to inspect it. Our fingers dragged through the surface. It was less than two centimetres deep. The sensation was akin to dragging one's fingers through a strong wind. Behind it was just regular air. Together, we stepped through.

We emerged in a charming little room. It was filled with the scent of freshly brewed coffee. It originated from a tiny kitchen station at the opposite wall, where a goblin woman was currently working. She was the striking image of the picture we had just stepped through. Busty, with long, voluminous white hair, and extremely wide hips. She even wore the same outfit, made out of white silk straps that hid barely anything.

Gracefully, the short, stacked lady moved towards the table, carrying a pot of the coffee with her. "There you go," she said lovingly, as she poured Omnius a fresh cup. She had to stand on a stool to get that done. Once the pot was securely on the table, the Master of Magic rewarded her with head pats.

"Please, take a seat," he invited us and pointed across the table. I almost felt bad, stepping on the fine rug on my way to the finely fashioned chairs. Esther advanced much faster. A second after her, I sat down.

The goblin placed her immense derriere in Omnius' lap. The Master of Magic immediately began fondling her boobs, while drinking coffee by means of levitation. I knew I liked that man for good reasons. Without hesitation, his hands slipped under the silk strips. The little lady just lewdly grinned and nuzzled against her King. At least that's what I had to assume was the relationship at play here.

"I have heard Taurus is giving you his standard mustering," Omnius said, while bouncing two G-cups in his hands.

I did not stare. Holding my principles certainly helped in situations like these. Also, I had Esther's thick thigh to knead. There was no need to stare, because I had nothing to envy. "Did Aclysia inform you?"

"It reached me down the grapevine. One of my haremettes is good friends with one of his. You weren't the first, you won't be the last. I just thought I'd take this opportunity to extend my aid, of sorts." Omnius raised a hand, the back of it turned towards me and Esther. Like a leaf in the wind, it swayed left, then right. When he turned it around, a little flask fell down, stopping, dangling from a gold chain. It was filled with a few drops of a dark blue liquid, sparkling with silver dots. "Do you know what this is?"

"Astral Essence."

"You should not know what it is," Omnius said, his hand still swaying, moved by invisible tides. "Let's be real for a second Karitas: you're not human. I don't know what you are, but you're not that."

"I'm 100% a physical human," I insisted, almost exclusively jokingly. At least when it came to who was inside the room, the jig was clearly up. I was only talking around it to not reveal anything else.

"Physical," Esther commented and pinched my arm, shaking it as if the skin would come loose.

"Whatever your origin, however you came to be what you are, know that some of the more... mystically attuned teachers have an eye on you. We do not pry, but we do notice."

"If you do not pry, what is this about?" I asked. The tiny flask came flying my way in response. In a panicked hurry, I took my hand off of Esther's thigh. With both hands, I caught the tiny projectile. Barely, I managed to keep myself from glaring at the Master of Magic. 'Do I have to reprimand him in matters of his own field?'

Omnius just smiled, as he went back to two-handing the massive melons of his green-skinned haremette. "I would not trust any regular freshman to dive into the Astral Sea, but I think this isn't your first trip. This should keep you entertained in classes that would mostly be meditation for you." He pinched the goblin's nipples and she loudly moaned. "Do keep it hidden from the other students."

"I will," I promised, already putting the chain around my neck.

I could feel a nostalgic touch on my skin, where the tiny container touched me. Like the smell of a parent's house or the voice of a long-lost friend, yet completely unlike either. I adjusted my collar and made sure the chain was covered by the red-shirt I wore in accordance with the school uniform.

"Since you are here, Esther, I should tell you that you will receive one of these yourself soon," Omnius told my raven-haired lady.

Adjusting her tricorne, Esther did appear to grasp the importance of what was said. "I will interrogate my Karitas about the significance of this in private," she stated.

"You do so," Omnius shrugged, lifting a tantalizing pair of tits in the process. "I'm in the mood for a lot of other things now so... goodbye," he nodded towards the illusionary wall we had come through.

The signal was obvious. Within five seconds, Esther and I found ourselves on the other side of the painting. We glanced back, to watch it vanish like dissolving food colouring, leaving a depiction of the Scale constellation behind. "I liked the other painting more."

"You do have a weak spot for... what was the term? Shortstacks?"

"Oh yeah. All the assets in a tiny package, it is glorious," I responded and put my arm back around her waist. "I do also love tall girls though."

"I have ample reason to believe you," Esther hummed.

______________________________________________

"Karit-ass!"

"Crocko!"

The mountain of muscle and I slammed our palms together. As best as we could, we arm-wrestled mid-air. He clenched his square jaw, and I presented a broad poker-face smile. Our muscles tensed, the pull on both sides bringing us closer together, until we just laughed and slapped each other on the back in half a hug.

We took half a step back. Jacko, or Crocko as I had come to call him, was larger than me, broader than me, had a buzz cut, and was an all-around very masculine guy. He was a showcase of just how many men with impressive physiques were running around.

I rarely gave it much attention, but the guys matched the girls when it came to being above the universe-wide standard. This was, in large part, because of where we were. Not only did an Astral Body help maintain peak shape, but Welldark's selection process did involve physical fitness. My friend Willt was one of the rare showcases of people that were intellectually able enough to get through despite subpar showings in athletic regards. Most of the men were some variety of trained, whether that meant they were lean like me, a powerhouse like Crocko, or an absolute titan with fair amounts of fat supporting their muscle.

The main reason why I called Jacko Crocko was lazily curved behind the upper half of his legs. A scaled tail, that turned flat towards the tip, with a ridge going along the upper edge. A crocodile tail, the only real sign he was of a different species than human.

Crocko and I had first met when I had asked him to step aside so I could speak to Esther. At the time, I had been more concentrated on patching things up with her, since that had been right after the debacle about my spending habits. In the weeks since, Crocko and I had grown somewhat close. He hadn't cared that I had removed his chances with Esther and I didn't mind that he had tried. We both understood that was just what guys did in our respective situations. He hadn't tried again and I hadn't meddled in any of his attempts to flirt with the 27 other women in class.

As the only other guy around, and a sociable type like me, we just naturally started talking. Our acquaintance was actually limited to about twenty minutes a week. We hadn't even exchanged our contact info. It was the kind of basic student relationship where we got along when we saw each other and nothing more. If either of us made the effort to dig out a proper friendship, it would have worked. Neither of us had so far. Maybe neither of us would. If so, we would just wave at each other in hallways in the future. Then we would graduate and think about each other once a decade.

"Any good news lately?" I asked him, as was our ritual.

"Haruka is still tolerating that I haven't figured the Anomalia stuff out, so I would say so," Crocko joked. Like Arlethia, he appeared to be a bit of a slowpoke. Most people, by now, had managed to perform the faux-Anomalia binding with the card-crystals they handed out. "Otherwise, nothing much, how about you?"

"Well, you remember how I told you Aclysia had moved in?" It was a rhetorical question. Crocko was my outlet for whatever random stuff I wanted to talk about with people who had a somewhat neutral ear. "Turns out her father has a testing ritual... so now I have to withstand his boosted presence for a whole minute to prove I have the fortitude to protect his daughter."

"Or else he's going to throw you out of the academy?" Crocko asked, one eyebrow raised.