The First Step

Lucia sat with her arms folded over her chest, around her there were a variety of monsters dying slowly, each one withering away into nothing little by little. The damage was particularly savage and cruel, it might tickle or trigger those who felt animals had rights or consider it some kind of cruel and unusual abuse. In truth, Lucia couldn't exactly say it wasn't but it wasn't exactly intentional either. She didn't buy food, drinks, or time at the inn, instead Lucia drained all of those things from those she fought. These small green struggling humanoids weren't any different. Though even as her meters were recharging, she was typing a message to Sera in an effort to get her attention.

Lucia

I need you to show up here asap-- bring some strong tools, I need you to break something. <Link>

The message was short and concise, largely because she already felt she possessed the girl wholly. Lucia wasn't particularly impatient though, if Sera was still at work, Lucia would merely go around killing a few more villages of those monsters before returning once more to the place she linked in her message. It was in that location that Lucia had dragged a large heavy case, the trail led quite a distance away making it clear she'd pulled it for as long as she could manage-- or at least to a safe distance before finally giving up. The case itself had a peculiar shape, even a glance could discern it's purpose as a coffin, but it was extremely ornate and intricately crafted. One look from an expert though would be able to tell them that it was a very exquisite and sturdy work that could last through the ages without wearing or damage.

Exactly where she dragged it from would require someone to trace her trail all the way back to it's origin point, but it's designs made it clear it wasn't something holy or 'good'. As if it were built to be a prison there were a myriad of complex and intricate locks, all of which Lucia couldn't open.

 

@Sera Phim

 

Sera practically jumped with excitement seeing a message from Lucia. "Strong tools? What kind of strong tools?" she wondered. She gathered up everything from her tiny workshop that she thought could possibly be applicable, as well as some things she figured couldn't possibly be it but she figured she could bring them just in case since she knew absolutely nothing at all. Once she had gathered everything she could, she made her way out to where Lucia was, making use of her pyromancy and aeromancy's abilities to grant bursts of movement speed, but being sure to not let her energy sink too long, since she would likely need it when she reached where Lucia was.

It didn't take her too long, two hours at the most, to reach the location. She panted a bit as she approached, her energy at about a quarter of her max. Luckily, her ring was helping it recover at a fairly steady pace, a bit faster than usual at least. She frowned upon seeing the coffin. "Uh, Miss Lucia?" Sera asked, pointing at the coffin. "That's not what I think it is, right?" she asked. "I mean, I actually don't know what I think it is. At first I thought it was a coffin, but coffins are built to keep the body safe just long enough to be buried, so the family can mourn something without having to be faced with it's reality. Typically, they break down pretty quickly after that, otherwise graveyards would fill up way too quickly. But this one is super ornate and built to last. Also, it's locked on the outside. Why would someone lock a coffin? And if they wanted it to not be opened, it would be smarter to have it lock from the inside, unless...." Sera stood up quickly and took several steps back. "Miss Lucia, is that a vampire's coffin?" she asked, panic clear in her voice. "Are you okay? You haven't been bitten or anything, have you?" she asked, moving closer to the woman to begin investigating to see if the woman was injured in any way.

 

Lucia only chuckled a little at Sera's response to the coffin. If it had been an active vampire's coffin, Lucia would no doubt be dead. It would have murdered her in a flash, enough for her to cringe at the very thought. "No no, this one is abandoned-- for whatever reason I found it in wreckage, not any kind of spiffy ruin." She answered, the coffin itself was found in the broken down wreckage of a ship by the beach. The coffin itself was almost completely buried by sand, if it weren't for her casual curiosity, she would have missed it. Giving it a few casual taps, it became clear there was nothing inside of it, she knew just from dragging it that it despite it being weighty it wasn't enough to make it impossible for her to drag.

"I'd thought it was from a ship crash, it was very unique though, I thought that it might be something vampiric or mummified. Either way, it's something that would be useful for me. I'm getting closer and closer to my goal, though I haven't even reached an important milestone, it's better then nothing mm?" She spoke, trying to make her best effort at uncovering the secrets of the undead and the tal'darim counts. Glancing at Sera who was carrying her tools, she smiled gesturing to it. "So I want you to open it, to see if anything was left behind." She said with a hopeful grin. Naturally she got up off of it letting Sera see it closely. The locks themselves seemed complicated, with unique and bizarre keys along the edge of the coffin. Some looked like normal archaic keys, others were flat plats that seemed like giant versions of modern keys, and even large oddly shaped indents that were meant to contain puzzle-like keys that would fit into the complicated polygon perfectly. It was clearly something that wouldn't be opened easily if done properly-- it was for that reason she asked Sera to come to crack it open instead.

 

Sera mused over the coffin, examining every inch of it as best as she could. "Sunken treasure and an old coffin? Throw in a haunted house, and that's nearly every way to get yourself a cursed item that exists..." she muttered. If she opened it, and there was something dangerous to Lucia inside of it, it would be her fault, she reasoned. That made her not want to try to open it. On the other hand, Lucia had asked her to open it. That made her need to try to open it. She frowned, turn between her convictions to protect Lucia and her conviction to obey Lucia.

"Open..." whispered a voice into Sera's mind, though Lucia would not be able to hear it.

"Shush," Sera said without thinking. It would probably seem a little odd to Lucia, considering her prism wasn't visibly floating nearby.

"Well," she said after a few moments of thinking and looking the coffin over. "I don't know if I have any tools that would help open this. I'm a weaponsmith, not a lock smith or some rogue. But... I've been getting better at using Roy's magic, maybe they have something I can use to open it? I assume I can't just blast it open, as whatever is inside must obviously be pretty valuable." Sera bit her lower lip in thought. "Oh, right. Roy is what I've started calling the prism, and all the spirits inside of it. All their names were too hard to remember, and harder to say. Plus, it's easier to just say one name than seven."

"More..." the voice whispered into her head.

"Not now," Sera snapped. She shook her head. "Do you remember that spider thing that attacked that town a while back? Ever since then, I've been hearing other voices, every now and then. At first it was just when Roy was around, but now it's sometimes when it's not. Whatever I say to it, it doesn't respond, though." She frowned. "Whatever, not the focus right now. So, want me to try to blow it open with some small blasts at the locks? Alternatively... I might be able to break the locks..." she mused for several minutes. "Do you happen to have anything I can use as a bucket?" She asked finally. "If not, I can make something, it'll just take a bit longer."

 

Lucia only chuckled a little when the talk about curses and such came up. As far as curses went, it wasn't as if she was brainless on the subject, after all, she knew Malefimancy, her skill in it was particularly high as well. She already had the know how to begin taking her next step but lacked the materials. She hoped this little hint might disclose some location or at the very least offer a clue to acquire what she needed. "Even if it is cursed Sera, I'm prepared. I need a Necronomicon to take this next step-- if this coffin can help me find one, then I'm prepared to suffer whatever consequences." Lucia explained patiently. No matter what it was that awaited her, she felt she'd take the chance to make some progress.

Though when talk about not being a lock smith and using magic to blow it open came up, Lucia couldn't help a somewhat tired sigh. force was largely useless, she could have corroded it open but if it damaged any hint at a clue within, she would have been devastated. "I don't think even a lock smith and rogue would be able to open it." She admitted shaking her head with a measure of dismay. "They would need to be an engineer and Tinker probably, the locks come from all walks of life after all; from archaic to even more modern incarnations of a lock and key. Our best bet is to try and gingerly cut it open, but I lack the tools and the know how to strip this." She explained with a heavy sigh.

Lucia shook her head in answer when it came to the bucket. "I have nothing to help you like that, my tools are all usually bags or the like." She admitted, if it were a sturdy bucket she needed, Lucia couldn't really support her with such a thing out of the blue. Though the talk of the voice made her frown just a little. "What kind of voice? Let's not do anything strange alright? At the end of the day you belong to me Sera, I don't want you to be trapped or worse alright?" She murmured, her tone clearly worried and concerned.

 

"A Necronomicon?" Sera asked. She wasn't entirely sure what the book might be like in a game world such as this, but in the real world, she knew that the book was considered so evil, every known copy had been destroyed long ago. Any copy that appeared to be authentic sold for several million dollars, but most suspected that even the majority of those were fake. "That's the very definition of a cursed object. So we're probably looking in the right place... Just because something is cursed itself, doesn't mean the one who uses it gets cursed."

Sera shook her head when Lucia explained that they would have to be very careful about opening the coffin to not damage what was inside of it. "You said you found this thing in a ship wreck, meaning it was under water, right? So the coffin itself is waterproof, which means it'll survive my plan just fine. See, locks are only as sturdy as the mechanisms inside of them. Break those mechanisms, and they open right up. In a world like this, with magic, it's not hard at all to break locks. In fact, we don't even have to break them, I can make keys to fit these locks. I just need some water to do so."

Sera took several steps away from the coffin. She spoke her contact word to summon her prism to her once again. "Right then, geomancy," she said. She placed one hand on Roy and the other she held over the ground. "I just need something to hold the water, because it's difficult to create and shape the water with the same spell," she explained to Lucia. She began to chant in a language she still didn't fully understand, the syllables each ending with a hard stop an English speaker might associate with the end of a word, and the words ending with stops they might associate with the end of a sentence, and a sentence an even longer stop. But, by the time she finished, the ground beneath her hand and shaped itself into an earthen bucket. "Pyromancy now, to burn it so it'll actually hold water," she said. Once more she began to chant. This time, her words were sharp and quick, flowing beautifully one moment only to jerk the next. When she finished, fire poured from her finger tips and coated the inside of the bucket.

Sera took a step back, and practically fell into a sitting position. "Now to rest for a bit, and then once I'm done resting, I'll fill it with water. Then, I use that water to fill up the locks. After that, I freeze the water, causing outward expansion which will cause the locks to break, or cause the water to solidify in the shape of the key, in which case it would be as simple as 'turn it' for most of the locks."

"As for the voice..." Sera frowned. "I don't think it wants to harm me, or take me away from you," she said. "In fact, of all of them, I think this voice likes you the most, and they all seem to like you. I think... I think it's a spirit of malefimancy. Maybe, in the future, you could try teaching me a bit, and seeing if that lets me communicate with it any better? I've already been able to use a tiny bit of illumancy, during the fight with that spider but I think that spirit is much more altruistic, and only helped because it could tell people really needed it."

 

Lucia nodded back knowing that there were l"ikely a lot of concerns towards such a thing. "A cursed object in a game though, there's no real danger to me as the player. Even if things become a tiny bit twisted, isn't it always going to be me in control? Even if it's not, I can always use the system to ask for help or guide you to help me." Lucia explained, curses didn't seem all that bad or tragic in a game-like setting, it couldn't influence her real world thoughts and at the same time wouldn't cripple her character-- otherwise it would be unbalanced.

At the talk of it being under water, Lucia shook her head, not sure if it had ever been underwater, she'd after all not brought it up from the sea itself but merely uncovered it after finding a portion of it in the sand. "I can't say if it survived the without any water getting in, I found it in the sand instead of in the water, among some wreckage that had been beached. If we need water though, we can make it happen-- Aside from your skills my only alternative was to melt it and hope nothing inside got ruined if there was anything." Lucia admitted, if worse came to worse she'd melt it open, but then she'd risk any possible rewards. It was for that reason she counted on Sera.

She watched the girl work patiently, not perturbed, she saw herself as the overseer and Sera was her diligent subordinate. There was no reason to add pressure or use carrot or stick when there was work being done. Her role as a supervisor was merely to watch and wait for the finished product. Though seeing her taking a break, Lucia reached a hand out to stroke her hair, smoothing it back with a gentle palm as she nodded in approval. "Ideally it will give us a peak inside. The worse case scenario; We've found a nice resting place for me in the future that could use some sprusing and remodeling. Best case... Well, they would have left behind a lot of useful tools." Lucia said with a sigh, not counting on the best case. She did certainly need a variety of dark books and tomes to be able to continue her changes, but that was going to be a long and arduous process. "As for Malefimancy... It's a very interesting prospect. Malefimancy personified..." Lucia mused thinking as she turned her head up, her hand coming to the bound book she'd received as newbie equipment. It was far from good considering her current well equipped self, but she made a point not to accept anything short of the important tools she needed to 'evolve'.

"I like to think things that are inherently evil never start that way. They always begin with the best and most pure of intentions; Protecting someone, Finding love, Bringing back Loved ones, Defeating enemies. These things taken to extremes always become harsh or cruel and once twisted, can never find their way back to that pure nature and lofty idealism they once tried to achieve." Lucia tried to explain with a warm grin, as if thinking back on her own life too, after all, her choosing Malefimancy wasn't exactly a coincidence, she'd planned every facet of her character very well and thoroughly. "Like drowning, it swallows them up and at first everyone struggles to justify themselves... Over time though, the darkness becomes comforting; a safe place where people can't see what they've done or who they've become. Where you can understand things deeper because you can't see them... but because you can't see them, it's natural you grow detached and uncaring, it becomes easier to lie to yourself, and that's how you get swallows up by it." Lucia tried to explain her own enlightenment into dark and evil thoughts. This was an enlightenment that came from both real life and extended into her game knowledge of Malefimancy. "There are a variety of kinds of Malefimancy, but I specialize in a more obscure version though... I'm not sure if my expertise would be extremely valuable to you~" She admitted knowing that her draining magic was rather unusual.

 

"Exactly," Sera nodded at Lucia's words. She hadn't exactly intended the idea of a cursed object necessarily to mean that it would curse Lucia. Like the stories of those cursed copies of the Exorcist, or whatever, where the dude threw his book into the lake because of how evil he felt it was, and the next day found it back in his desk drawer, soaked with water. It didn't harm the man, but an object returning like that must be cursed in some way.

She mused when Lucia said she had found it beached, not underwater. "Ahh... but, even so, the locks shouldn't have an opening to the inside, so my plan should still work without getting any water inside." She thought for a few minutes. "Luckily, hydromancy has control over both water and ice, so I should be able to word my spell in such a way so that the water moves into the lock, and hardens into ice.

She chuckled when Lucia made her joke about using the coffin as a place to sleep, then paused. It was a joke, right? "I'm sure we'll find something useful inside," Sera said. "This many locks couldn't be placed on something unless it was going to have something useful inside."

Sera listened to Lucia describing how things become evil. "I don't think good and evil are at all so black and white. If you do something for those you love, I don't think it could be called evil, no matter what others may see in it. I think people just use those labels, typically, to describe things based on how they want the world to be, or how far things are from their ideal. Obviously, no one really wants a world where everyone is killing other people for no reason, even the people who do that. Even so, I don't think people enveloped in darkness have to be uncaring and detached. I mean, look at us," she said. "I'm attached to you... you care about me..." Sera said, the second part in a voice more hoping she was right. She was obviously bothered, a bit, that Lucia would describe her own power set and explain that it made someone that way. She hoped she was just misunderstanding, though.

She shook her head. "I've rested enough," she said and stood up. "I can cast the next spell now, and then I'll need another short rest to cast the final one." Sera held her hand over the bucket she had created. "Making water out of nothing is a little difficult, and I don't want to rip it out of the surrounding life because then it would be obvious something happened here, making a trail for people to follow."

Sera began to chant, her words flowing in such a way that it seemed very hard to tell where one word ended and the next word began. Her voice raised and lowered, like waves on a see, tides pushing onto a beach only to recede shortly after as they returned to where they came. Roy floated over to the bucket, and as Sera finished her chant, water began to pour out of the prism until the bucket was filled completely to the top.

That part of her work completed, Sera let out a sigh. "Alright. I won't need quite as long of a rest after that, since it was just one spell. But the next one, I reckon, is going to need nearly all of my energy, since I'll have to be controlling so much water at once, then freeze it all, then turn it all."

(Does this take place before or after the raid? If it's after, Sera has some gifts for Lucia.)

 

Lucia mused a little, glad that Sera had a plan, while thinking of one herself would probably not be too difficult, she simply didn't have enough tools; whether it was the magic or the expertise with certain materials, she just didn't have enough. Her skills, while useful, didn't contribute much to breaking into and taking things from the inanimate. At least if it was capturing something alive, it wouldn't be hard, but that was far from the task at hand.

Though when SEra asked her if she was joking, Lucia shook her head in thought. "I wonder, I can't say I'm serious, but I'm not sure it wouldn't come in handy in the future should my next few stages take shape the way I imagine. Such a place would probably be comfortable if I do reach the apex." She admitted with a mellow chuckle believing that if she could evolve properly through her malefimancy into the kind of being she desired to be, then a coffin to sleep in would be a little cliche but at the same time very proper. Unfortunately it would be a long way to achieving such a thing, until that time came, it wouldn't hurt to keep it as a keepsake.

Though when it came to talk of darkness, Lucia chuckled a little, it was clear things weren't so black and white, but Lucia wasn't talking from a place of degrees, but instead from extremes. "Isn't that obvious?" She answered reaching out to stroke the girl's hair while she worked busily. Even so though, Lucia continued with a soft tender tone. "Would you really say we're submerged deeply into darkness though?" Lucia asked, a coy grin on her face as she posed the question. Evil and Good certainly weren't black and white, but did that mean they couldn't ever be? Lucia believed such extremes existed, though she wasn't going to endeavor to become one or the other, it was her goal to grow infinitely close without actually breaking through. Using a few fingertips she tried to turn Sera's head up towards her with a warm smirk. "Maybe that's just because I still have a little light left-- even if it's delicate and weak willed, it still flickers deep inside right?" Lucia explained while squinting her eyes playfully using colorful imagery to describe where she felt she stood in life at the moment. In reality she lived a life of extreme, but here, she had some light and attention at least.

"Malefimancy is a power of extremes-- like Illumancy, it's nature is very extreme and slides to the most white or black of sides. Can what we do with it really change it's orientation? Will it really change it's colors?" Lucia mused, as if she herself didn't really know very much. She only knew that she wouldn't become the darkest of black hearted villains merely because she used Malefimancy, but would that mean the magic itself was not evil and black? "They're all just tools dear, I could use you for a lot of things too, but I don't right? Isn't that because you're not an extreme tool? Though you are a very good tool~" She teased with a warm grin letting Sera get back to work when she mentioned having enough rest.

 

Sera couldn't help a tiny laugh at the fact Lucia was slightly serious about potentially using the coffin to sleep in. "You really are planning on becoming something like a vampire, then?" She asked.

She wasn't sure how to answer the woman's questions of being submerged completely in darkness. Lucia was trying to become a vampire, or something like it. How was that not the definition of submerged in darkness? "I can't say if you have a light flickering inside you, Miss Lucia," Sera said. "Only you can. But... I do know that you were right, when you said that someone who is completely in the darkness is uncaring. And I do think you care for me, so it stands to reason you have some light."

Sera smiled at the woman telling her she was a good tool, but the other words impacted her as well. "I think... I think I won't like using malefimancy, actually. Or illumancy. Extremes like that, I just don't think I'll like dealing with them."

When it came time to cast the final part, Sera stretched a bit first. The wording of this next spell would be tricky. She cleared her throat, then began to chant. "Espírito de água, ouça o meu chamado e responda meu grito. Levante estas águas deste recipiente, deixe as ondas tomarem várias cabeças. Aproxime-se deste caixão, este navio dos mortos, e preencha as fechaduras que se assentam sobre ele. Descansa dentro deles enquanto os mortos descansam dentro de seus túmulos. Deixe a amargura do ar do inverno se enraizar dentro de você e se endureça para o mundo exterior. Congele e fique sólido. Faça as chaves da forma gelada que você tira e destrave os segredos dentro deste navio. Este é o meu lance e o meu pedido. Me responda!"

The water slowly rose from the bucket and split into several large orbs of water, floating in the air. Each orb of water made it's way into a keyhole, and then, shortly after, began to solidify. As the excess was pushed back out the hole, it froze into a state much like the back of a key, perfect for gripping and turning. The spell complete, Sera fell backward upon the ground and gasped for breath. Her energy flashed a warning that she was low. "Miss... Lucia..." Sera gasped. She swallowed hard. "If... I have something, for you... If you don't find what you wish in their, maybe they can be a consolation prize. But if you do, they will simply be an added bonus..." she informed Lucia. Her world spun slowly, and she wasn't sure if she was going to pass out or not.