The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

WM [10] Final Days

Things around the palace were hectic for those in charge as the new administration had to reorganize how the city and domain would be run. Tanisha wasn’t a part of any of those meetings or decisions, but the maids and servants loved to gossip. The Tujewli Family would split, and the heir and his wife would start a new noble lineage. Soon, the domain would be the Jewel Domain under the brand-new Jewel Noble House.

“I heard that the city will be turned into a Free Economic Zone,” a maid said.

“I never heard of that before, but it sounds fancy,” another maid whispered.

Tanisha decided her time would be better spent preparing for her trip to the Mesha. The trip would take about a month not counting the towns they would stop in to sell goods. The young woman didn’t take long to slip into a new routine. 

She spent more time than she should have in Drew’s Herbal Emporium. She had to reintroduce herself as Sif since, like everyone else, he thought she was a different person. After that, she justified the hours she spent there because, of course, she needed to learn as much as possible if she was going to be a traveling alchemist. Not to mention, with the gold she got from the Princess, she could probably buy everything in his shop besides some truly legendary and practically one-of-a-kind draughts he had. 

Physical training never stopped, even when they were in hiding. Training breathing, flexibility, combat, and magic was a routine. The days in the palace stretched on as she began to learn the next form of the Way of the Rakshasa. She was still a novice of the third form, AgniKavach, the Fire Armor, but Joha explained that mastery came from seeing the weaknesses of each form and filling that gap with the other forms. One of the biggest problems with AgniKavach was the lack of offensive options, which she desperately needed when she fought Thyra. 

The second form, VritraVajra, the Thunder Dragon, would fill in some of that gap. They were both defensive forms, but where AgniKavach was about taking damage and pushing through it with unbeatable defense, VritraVajra was about redirecting that damage back at the opponent, using the enemies’ momentum, movements, and magic against them. The second form was more free-flowing than the restrictive and tight movements of the third form. Joha was trying to teach her to do the opposite of what she had been learning.

On top of that, Tanisha found a new problem. Her center of balance had changed since she was taller, and apparently, her tiara was more extensive and, therefore, heavier. Now, when she was learning forms, she also had to follow Joha’s intricate tail movements without thinking about it. The ground became Tanisha’s best but unwanted friend during each combat training session.

“Ouch!” Tanisha exclaimed as she hit the ground hard.

Bjorn fell beside her a moment later. The two had been tossed nearly half the length of the training field.

“Your teamwork has improved,” Joha said as red maya slowly disappeared from around him.

“Why doesn’t it seem like it?” Tanisha complained as she picked herself off the ground and rubbed her aching back. “We haven’t been able to hit you once.”

“And yet you managed to defeat a Hand I would have had trouble with,” Joha said matter-of-factly.

“That was more luck than anything.”

“Well, let’s see if we can replicate that luck. Are there any changes to your numbers on your mental projection magic?”

“Huh, I don’t know. I haven’t checked it in a while. One second, let me do that,” Tanisha said as she opened her status menu.

Status Menu  

Name: Tanisha Scalebound 
Species: Cernunnos 
Level: 32 
Vitality: 50 
Restoration: 45 
Constitution: 100 
Willpower: 130 
Strength: 55 
Dexterity: 80 
Stamina: 48 
Seiðr: 470 
Seiðr Regeneration: 35 + 200 = 235 (+100 from bond)  

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Skills Analysis  

Delta Familiar Contract: 
You are bonded with a Delta-class familiar. You gain +100 to seiðr regeneration. Your bond has grown, allowing you to convey emotions through your bond. Your bond is resilient against outside influences and cannot be forcibly severed by outside parties. Your familiar’s life expectancy is extended by five years.

Hard Air Constructs:  
Seiðr cost: Variable 
(I) Low cost, two seiðr. Speak the words of power and create seiðr air constructs. Form air constructs into any shape, interacting with the world, acting out the caster’s will. (II) Medium cost, six seiðr. Air constructs with darker aspects of seiðr to burn any that oppose you. (III) High cost, 16 seiðr. Constructs will become invisible and silent.

Ringularity Sage Core: 
Seiðr cost: Variable 
Chaos, mana, maya, and aether compose the inner workings of your soul. Their coalescence in one body created seiðr, an energy seeking to uncover the nature of the world around it. You can control all aspects that make up your core. Exerting your will over seiðr controls mana, maya, and aether. You can use tools from any of the energies that make up your core. Your will can dominate mana, maya, and aether outside your body for a short distance, and you can use ambient energies for your arcane machinations.

Chain Breaker’s Mantle: 
Seiðr cost: Variable 
(I) Low seiðr cost per minute. Seiðr will inundate your muscles and bones with the power to increase your physical attributes temporarily. (II) Medium seiðr cost per minute. The Marks of Seiðr greatly enhance unarmed strikes. Unarmed punches and kicks will produce a seiðr shockwave, increasing the range of unarmed strikes a short distance. (III) High seiðr cost per minute. The energies within you grant the ability of arcane shift to teleport up to five yards.

Sage Soul Forge:  
Seiðr cost: Variable
(I) Use seiðr to alter and twist existing spell forms connected to your Ringularity Core. (II) Unknown. Unknown. (III) Unknown. Unknown. Unknown.

Divination Hydromancy: 
Seiðr cost: Variable
(I) Create seiðr constructs with liquid attributes or condense water from the atmosphere, and control water from a water source. Exerting control over water allows you to change its state and temperature with ease. (II) Alter the properties of water to cause it to glow. Only those you choose can see the light produced. (III) Water in any state will condense into a blast of highly pressurized water. You maintain control of water even after it is fired, allowing it to change trajectory and home in on enemies.

Venomous Fang:
You have felt the venom of your Familiar; it now courses through your veins. Your saliva carries a necrotic venom. As this is a shared natural ability, you cannot level this ability by any means but through communing with your familiar. This ability is tied to your familiar; should your familiar die or reject your bond, you will lose this ability.

Poison Breath: 
Commune with your familiar to unlock.

Hydra Fire: 
Commune with your familiar to unlock.

Poison Infusion: 
Commune with your familiar to unlock.

Queen of Reptiles:  
Commune with your familiar to unlock.

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Her stats hadn’t changed since she killed Thyra, and she gained ten levels after that battle. When Bjorn bit her, it counted as communing with him, although that was not typically how communing worked. Communing was supposed to be some familiar magic ritual she would have to perform. The problem was, since he wasn’t an Iota familiar, the magic wouldn’t work. She was alone when finding out what would count as communing with him.

Tanisha sighed, “Bjorn, you ready?”

Bjorn wrote on the ground with his paw, “Ready!”

Tanisha smiled since he had been improving with writing, although it was still pretty rudimentary. She got into her fighting stance with the second form, low to the ground with her arms spread apart. Her seiðr flowed from her mouth as she activated Chain Breaker’s Mantle.

***

Owen was out of his room for the first time since the funeral. He never thought he would have to say goodbye to his wife. Tanisha came by every chance she got to talk with him or spend time with Wyatt and Caleb, but he found it hard to get out of bed in the morning.

He was going to give it his best shot. Joha and Tanisha were leaving, and she wanted them to see her off. He rubbed his tired eyes and stood up. His body felt heavy, and he wanted nothing more than just to sit back down and say, “fuck it,” but Helena wouldn’t let him be that lazy, and he knew that.

“Up-up.” He grunted as his feet touched the ground. “Let’s see our little firebug off.”

***

Bjorn watched as Tanisha said goodbye to everyone outside of the Fort Palace. He was surprised that even the First Princess and the Hands attended their sendoff. The Isi showed en masse, members who were not in the inner city during the attack. Friends and family of those that were killed, even town guards that would have been under suspicion had the First Prince and Salstars won the city.

The princess presented Tanisha with a bracelet and did the same for Joha. They were some storage devices given the magic that Bjorn could taste in the air, similar to Tanisha’s necklace from the Isi.

“Are you sure, your majesty? You have already given us so much,” Tanisha questioned.

“I am. Please be safe on your journey,” Sigrun said. “You both are friends of my faction. If you travel to any domain with nobles loyal to my ascension to the throne, show them these, and they will treat you as honored guests.”

Tanisha and Joha thanked her, and she quickly left to take care of other matters. It was also so everyone could relax. She knew her presence would only make things formal when this moment was emotional for many people. Most of them had come to see Joha and Bjorn off, as many people did not know that Sif was Tanisha. They thought she was another demon and Joha’s partner, which helped keep the fact that she was an evolved greater wendigo a secret.

Tyr was one of the few people who knew Sif was Tanisha, and the two hugged before it was finally time to go. A brand new wagon and horses were ready for the trip. Bjorn tasted a scent he hadn’t in a few days when he flicked his tongue. Owen, Caleb, and Wyatt all walked through the crowd. The two boys instantly ran up to Bjorn and hugged him first, only because he was the closest, then Tanisha, and finally Joha, who picked them up.

“Glad I caught ya before ya left,” Owen said with a smile.

“Owen, I am glad you made it too,” Tanisha responded teary-eyed.

“Well, bend down so I can give you a proper hug,” Owen said while motioning with one hand for Tanisha to get closer. “You have gotten too tall.”

Tanisha smiled and happily bent down and, for the first time, could return the goblin’s gesture of closeness by wrapping her tail around him as Helena had done for her so many times. She could hear the goblin sniffle, so she nuzzled him a bit, which was the wendigo’s expression of closeness. Bjorn decided to join in and nuzzled them both.

Owen eventually broke out of the emotional support soup and quickly wiped his face. He coughed and blinked a few times to clear his eyes as he walked to Joha, who was setting down the boys.

“Joha, take care of yourself and that little troublemaker,” Owen said, he as he reached out his hand for Joha to grasp and nudged his head toward Tanisha.

“Hey!” she said with mock hurt.

Joha took the open palm in a firm shake. “I will, friend, and you take care of yourself too.” 

“So, this is your new wagon?” Owen asked. “Looks pretty good, although it is a little low for you, Tanisha.”

“Oh, that is not my wagon,” Tanisha said. “I am keeping my old one that just had it repaired and repainted.” A box appeared in Tanisha’s hand. “That is yours. I know your old one was destroyed in the raid, so I wanted to ensure that my favorite goblin merchant had a replacement and that he and his family were taken care of.” Tanisha handed Owen the box but stopped him from opening it by placing her hand over his. “I want you to know, Owen, that whatever is in that box is yours. Don’t try to give it back.”

Owen opened the box and nearly dropped it as his hands shook. “Tanisha… I… I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” Tanisha said firmly, with a wink.

She closed the small box before Bjorn could see what was inside. The two hugged again, this time for longer. As they walked around Owen’s new wagon, Tanisha’s repaired merchant wagon and Joha’s foreign one were both on the other side. Joha could store the whole wagon in his maya, and he had it the entire time. He was given a new horse, as he couldn’t store living things, and his old one had either run off or died during the attack.

Everyone waved as Joha led the way out of the Fort Palace. Tanisha turned to Bjorn, who was curled up on the box seat. She modified it so he could sit up there with her until he grew to his larger size again. She petted him as her emotions were all over the place, to the point he couldn’t read them through the bond, so he just nuzzled her a bit. Together, they said their goodbyes to the Fort City of Lavi.