Vacant Throne

What a strange world I’ve found myself in. Not exactly a pleasant world either. It’s missing so many modern luxuries. As far as I can tell, it’s a completely medieval society. They apparently have magic, but it either isn’t real or isn’t prevalent. I’m leaning toward the latter given that I’m in an entirely new world and was brought here thanks to an evil angel.

Ugh, got a bit distracted there. Anyway, I’m in a whole new world and it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to go home for a while. Because of that, I’ve decided that learning about this world and how it works is a pretty high priority. I don’t have much to go on just yet, but I did get to see a map of the lands thanks to a nice young boy named Aziz.

It uhh… looks pretty rough. I’m not sure I would trust the cartographer to draw anything with a steady hand. It must have been a cheap map. But it does give me a general idea of main locales and their relation to one another, even if the map isn’t even drawn to scale. Teneville (and my house) are down in the lower right corner on that little peninsula. The biggest city in all the land (or so I’ve heard) is straight north. Far to the west is some fortress that supposedly protects this land from monsters. There is a desert north of the city and the desert south of the fortress, so it isn’t a complete map of the entire world. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good idea of the entire world just yet. I don’t even know if such a map exists.

But I’ll keep a lookout and make sure to add to this note if I discover anything new that seems noteworthy.

Now if only it had labels.

Teneville

Tenebrael’s Hubris, more like

Teneville is a… village? Population is somewhere between one and three hundred people. I really shouldn’t judge cities in this world based on Earth, but it seemed so small yet acted like it was a larger settlement. As it turns out, Teneville is actually relatively large. But more on that later.

The buildings around Teneville are mostly wood and stone, most being only a single room. There are two primary exceptions. The Inn, run by a somewhat grumpy yet still kind man who goes by Yzhemal. It’s two stories, with the ground floor acting like a tavern. The second exception is Tenebrael’s Temple. A massive structure that towers over the single-story buildings that make up most of the settlement. The gothic-cathedral-esque temple looks like it had been carved straight from a mound of black marble that had been sitting in the middle of the town. It creates quite an eerie contrast to the surrounding village. The expansive graveyard surrounding it doesn’t help matters.

The temple is where Teneville gets its name from. That angel is an egomaniac of the highest degree. Not only does she have the people worshiping her and sacrificing themselves to her, but she has to go create monuments to herself—and she definitely created it, or so said Lazhar, the man who acts as her priest and something like the mayor of the town.

But, ignoring that eyesore, the surrounding area is really quite beautiful. I’d always liked the outdoors. I’m not some super camper or hunter like my brother and father, but I enjoy an occasional camp out. And the land is pristine for camping. They have rocky mountains nearby and forests not far from their open plains where they get most of their building materials. A river flows through right on the edge of the town, providing fresh water.

For the majority of the year, Teneville is just a small farming village. They grow a variety of crops, mostly grains and mint. Their mint gets exported to Lyria, but they also use it around their buildings to help ward off the stench of medieval life—which is quite foul. Their grains, where they aren’t eaten, are put to use making alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. Not particularly good alcohol, but the people don’t seem to care.

A small part of the year is dedicated to a festival. A festival in honor of Tenebrael. People show up in droves. Most are just there to party and have fun, but a small handful show up to… kill themselves, effectively. It’s a great big ceremony at the end of the festival where they sit around in front of the crowd and drink poison. Ugh… I don’t even want to think about it. I had to witness it. Tenebrael showed up and stole their souls…

Never mind. There are probably traditions just as bad back on Earth, though how many are still practiced is a question for historians, not me.

If I ignore the unpleasant festival, the people there are all quite nice. Very welcoming bunch. Somewhat sycophantic toward Tenebrael, which did make me a little nervous on occasion. All in all, if I were forced to pick a permanent home in this world, Teneville wouldn’t be the worst choice. It has food, water, and a decent amount of people, despite my earlier complaints on the population.

Leaving Teneville and heading northward to the ‘grandest city in all the land’ has given me a new perspective on population. I passed through several villages which don’t deserve their own entries. Most were small farming communities like Teneville, but if their populations reached one hundred, I would be surprised. Their village priests provided shelter on my travels, but I don’t think I’d be interested in staying in any one for any length of time.

Anyway, that’s getting far from Teneville, so I’ll stop rambling about it. There is something a little bigger to ramble about, though maybe I should explore it a bit before I write down much.

Lyria

The Grand City

First impressions? I admit, I’m impressed. It’s no New York City, but after those tiny towns on the way to Lyria, I had been expecting something barely bigger than Teneville.

It’s not.

Three towers, each taller than Tenebrael’s temple, are stationed around the city. A central building, even taller than the towers, sits in the center. It must be some royal palace. It probably has thirty or forty floors. The overall shape of the palace is a triangular pyramid, though instead of flat sides, they bend inward. It would probably look like the Mercedes-Benz logo from above.

A wall surrounds the entire city, separating the buildings within from the outside world. Outside the wall, there were more buildings. Almost like miniature villages that latched onto the sides of the city. Beyond that, fields of various crops as far as the eye can see. Well, not quite. The lush fields fade away north of the city, turning to a dirt and sagebrush desert.

Great aqueducts carry water from a nearby river to the fields and the city itself. They are higher than the ground and higher than the river. There must be some magic getting water up to their conduits.

Speaking of magic, they city uses it up near the gates! Actual magic! I admit, it was a bit fun to see the little jars filled with glowing light. They were like lamp posts, set around so that travelers can see their way into the city during the night. Or, more likely, so that guards are able to spot approaching threats.

Anyway, that’s just first impressions from outside the city. There will probably be a number of locations inside such a large place, so I’ll leave some room for further notes as I come across interesting landmarks.

The Northern Desert

I spy something beginning with brown

The city of Lyria is built right on the border of a desert. South of the city, the land is green. Rolling hills of grass and forests. But, after crossing north through the farmlands that surround the city, the land quickly dries out. The brown dirt gains a red hue and plants drop to small bushes with the occasional tree dotted about.

By far the most striking feature of the desert are the rock formations. Large buttes and columns jut high above the landscape. Some are small, narrow pillars that look like they could be pushed over by leaning against them in the wrong way. Others are wide and long, taking several minutes to pass by even mounted on draken. A few of the rock formations are large enough to support decently sized caves.

I assume that most of the rock is sandstone. Without having taken a course on geology let alone being a geologist, I can’t say for certain, but the rock has all the trademarks I can think of. It’s reddish, like the dirt of the desert, with definite lines. Layers? Probably layers. While some parts are smoother, the texture is generally rough to the touch.

What few plants there are around are generally unremarkable. Sagebrush, for the most part. No cacti that I’ve seen, but I have to say that I haven’t been paying too much attention. The desert is visually interesting with the buttes, but it quickly becomes repetitive after the first few hours. I have monsters, traveling companions, and life or death situations to worry over. Not plants.

Speaking of monsters, I had been worried that there would be ticks out here. I’ve checked myself over on occasion while traveling and haven’t seen any blood suckers sucking my blood. The lack of parasites had me thinking: What if there aren’t any ticks because ticks here aren’t tiny, but are giant monstrous ticks! The thought of meeting a human-sized tick actually made me tremble! I can only hope that I never come across one.

On the topic of blood sucking monsters, I don’t particularly want to meet a vampire either. They are so prevalent in Earth myths and movies that I can easily believe they’re real here. I don’t know if they would be the friendly neighborhood vampire type or the true stalker of the night, but I’ll be happy if I never find out.

But I digress. The desert is hardly a hospitable place despite the lack of blood sucking creatures. I’ve been traveling at night. It’s hot, but not so much that it is unbearable. More like a warm summer day. The story is completely different while the sun is up. The heat alone makes me wonder how what little plants there are haven’t shriveled up into dried husks.

Apparently, that is due to rain. I haven’t seen it myself, but my guild companions insist that torrential deluges of water can cascade over the desert at a moment’s notice. Flash flooding is a legitimate worry when traveling through the desert. We’ve had to make our camps high up on the mounds of dirt that tend to surround the buttes.

The rain probably explains how the plants survive.

Flora aside, there isn’t much fauna either. I’ve personally hardly seen anything worth noting. Except for one thing. Ants. Not little tiny ants. Because of course not little tiny ants. The monster species that stole the name of our tiny Earth creatures live in massive hives that match the surrounding buttes. I’m not sure if they hollowed one out and moved in or if they built it somehow, but the one hive I saw looked almost like a modern city’s skyline. Several tall towers all grouped together, covered in holes for exit and entry. According to Irulon, they could have a population up to a million strong. How a population so large could support themselves off a land so sparse was a mystery even to her.

Besides the ants, apparently a species of lizard people called the desert a home as well. I haven’t seen any, but if I do, I’ll try to remember to update this note.

I don’t have a map of the area, though some exist, but I don’t know how much really needs to be mapped. It is a expansive area without much in the way of landmarks. Aside from the buttes, that is, but they all look the same to my untrained eye. My compass still points the way back to my house, so I can’t get permanently lost as long as I keep it safe.

For fun, I took a quick panorama of the landscape at one of our camps.

Angels

Devils?

Description: Wings. Feathered wings. They look like humans with wings stuck to their backs. Sometimes they wear a halo, but when they do, it’s so bright that I can’t even look at them. I said they looked like humans, but that isn’t quite accurate. The one who got me into this mess has glowing white eyes with no iris or pupil to speak of and pasty grey skin.

Abilities: Could be limitless for all I know. What I have observed so far includes:

Divine Intervention — something that lets mortals have a sudden burst of inspiration.
World Transfer — I don’t know if this has a name, but it’s how I ended up moving from good old Earth to this messed up world. Took my house with it too.
Time Stop — Tenebrael decided to stop time for the sole purpose of having a chat with me. Bitch.

Danger Rating: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Notes: I wasn’t sure if angels should really go in this list. It seems no one else can see, hear, or otherwise interact with them unless they’re dead. I don’t know why I can. It’s a mystery that I hope to unravel one day.

Addendum: I have gained information on the hierarchy of angels and have placed it in a separate section of my notes.

Ants

Land-bound Bees

Description: I could just write ‘A Bug’s Life’ here and leave it at that, but that wouldn’t help anyone who hasn’t seen that movie. And I might want to loan these notes out to people sometime. So I’ll just say that they look like big bipedal ants. Definitely one of the more monstrous of monsters, though not in the frightening kind of way.

Abilities: Numbers?

Danger Rating: ♦ (potentially higher danger rating if there is a swarm of them)

Notes: I don’t think I would be afraid of a single ant. Unless their chitinous exoskeleton can deflect bullets or they have amazing strength hidden in their twiggy arms, I could probably sleep through one trying to attack me. But apparently they live in communities that number in the millions. A million could trample me and even a minigun wouldn’t save me.

Bunyips

Fluffy Snakes

Description: Bunyips are essentially snake people. Think Medusa from Greek mythology. They have long snake-like tails, no legs, but a humanoid body from the waist up. Instead of having scales on their tails and bodies, they have thick fur similar to that of a hellhound.

Abilities: Their fur is apparently quite strong, again much like a hellhound.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦

Notes: The one I met was relaxing in a large pool when we intruded on it. The second we did, it turned from quiet relaxation to threatening fight-mode in an instant, rearing up twice my height using its tail to appear bigger. Kind of like a cat puffing out its fur when threatened? Not sure how dangerous these actually are, but I don’t think I would want to fight one. Even Spectral Chains might not do much depending on how prehensile their tails are.

Cursed Swords

Forbidden Treasure

Description: Cursed swords have two forms, essentially. The first being their sword, the second being their host. A cursed sword in its natural state is, essentially, just a sword. To most, they’ll look like magical swords, but as with any sword, they are entirely immobile. That all changes once they are picked up by a human—or other monster? I’m not actually sure about that bit. The cursed sword starts exerting some kind of mind control, encouraging their host to use them more. The more they are used, the more the cursed sword takes control of their host until the host is completely supplanted.

Abilities: Mind control.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Notes: Extremely dangerous creatures. Although with a host, a cursed sword will look mostly normal, they still seem extremely violent. The one I met seemed to be held in check by Volta, however. Note to self: Don’t pick up any suspicious-looking swords. Also find out if other objects behave similarly. It would be just my luck to pick up some fancy amulet only to have my entire personality replaced with that of a mad scientist.

Cyclops

One Eye Sees All

Description: Straight from a mythology textbook, a cyclops looks just like a giant human with only a single eye in the middle of its face.

Abilities: Strength and size. Bad depth perception?

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦

Notes: The plural of cyclops is cyclopes? Cyclopses? Cyclopi?

Doppelgangers

Two-for-One

Description: Like mimics, doppelgangers are shapeshifters. There are a few key differences, however. Where a mimic can turn itself into just about anything, a doppelganger is limited to human and humanoid forms. This limitation does come with one advantage: their forms are far more substantial, capable of lifting weights on par with that of a normal human.

Abilities: Shapeshifting.

Danger Rating: ♦

Notes: I seem to be able to see their true form even while they are disguised. It is an oddity that I can’t explain, but might be related to how I can see angels. Maybe? That might imply that there is something divine about doppelgangers and bears further investigation.

Draken

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Description: Bipedal lizards that look an awful lot like the Jurassic Park raptors if the raptors were covered in spines. They have slit-pupils and nasty sharp pointed teeth.

Abilities: Speed.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Notes: The Black Prince of Lyria uses them like horses. And I’m pretty sure they’re faster than horses. More dangerous too. Their sharp teeth and slit-pupil eyes make me uneasy. Especially when those teeth are less than an inch away from my face. Their breath isn’t too great either.

Elves

What do their elf-eyes see?

Description: They are humans, slightly slender with pointed ears. And their skin isn’t in any human shade I’ve seen, most of which ranges from blue to grey.

Abilities: Master craftsmen, or so I’ve heard.

Danger Rating: ♦

Notes: They’re the only monsters I’ve seen wandering the city streets so far. Most people don’t look twice at them. Probably because they’re usually in chains. Slaves. I don’t like it, but I’m not exactly in a position to overthrow the city’s government and free them.

Fairies

Trust in me, Just in me

Description: Short little beings that look like tiny humans. Standing upright, they reach a height of only about a foot. Their eyes are vaguely luminescent, but not super bright. And they have wings. Thin and transparent ones, much like those of a dragonfly.

Abilities: Mind control. Super insecurity.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Notes: Tzheitza wanted to kill a fairy on sight despite it being trapped in a cage. I disagreed at the time. However, after actually interacting with one… I might agree that killing them before they have a chance to do anything isn’t such a bad idea. They look so unassuming. Their twig-like arms would snap with the slightest pressure. But they instinctively try to take control of anything that gets near them. While I was able to get out without too much trouble, I already know that magic acts strangely around me. Other people don’t have the same protections.

Gaunts

Lovecraft Nightmare

Description: Skeletons wearing black latex bodysuits. Not quite, but that is a decent picture. Their fingers are long and needle-like. Sharp as well. Everything about them is elongated. Their arms are thin and lanky. Their legs are the same. Their torso does have a rib cage, but it is far narrower than it should be. The only bulbous part of them is their heads, which are smooth and round. Except for the face. Their face is covered in holes, mostly small but some large. Thin strands of their rubbery skin keep their head from being one large hole to… somewhere.

Abilities: Invulnerability? Soundless movements. An alternate dimension where they store their food, hidden within the void behind the holes in their faces.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦

Notes: These things are proof that evolution in this world clearly went insane. Just looking at them makes me insane. Not actually, but pretty close. They are horrifying beings. Just remembering how they look to write down had me shuddering, even though I wrote it down so vaguely. To make matters worse, they are apparently unkillable.

So why do they get only three stars? Because they are slow. They are the slowest things ever. A snail could race one of these, take a nap just before the finish line, and still finish first. So long as you know one is around, you could outpace it at a casual walk. They also only eat one thing, maybe a cow, maybe a person. Then they fall dormant for a full decade. People worship these things thinking they’re protectors. And they go unharmed so long as they get a steak every ten years. So, only three stars.

Still, I wouldn’t want to meet one in a dark alley. Or a brightly lit alley. I should really just steer clear of alleys in general.

Goblins

Shame they can’t all look like David Bowie

Description: Diminutive little wretches. Green skin. Floppy ears. Sharp teeth. Hollywood has to get things right on occasion, I suppose.

Abilities: Size.

Danger Rating: ♦♦

Notes: Nasty little things that apparently like to make and use poisons, usually as coating on their blades. All they need is to scratch someone and then use their small size and relatively quick feet to escape while their target suffers a slow and agonizing death. Good thing they’re dumb as a box of rocks. They put all their intelligence points into poison making. According to Oz, more of them die to their own toxins than any enemy. Unfortunate that their reproductive rate is on par with rabbits.

Gremlins

Technicolor Hobbits

Description: Gremlins are short humans with large fluffy ears and strange colors of hair. On average, they only come up to my stomach when standing upright. They are quick and light on their feet, but not necessarily more so than a similarly sized human. If not for their neon-colored hair and large ears, they could probably pass as completely human. If a bit short relative to the average.

Abilities: Good hearing?

Danger Rating: ♦

Notes: Curiosity and playfulness might be a common trait of theirs. At least that is true of the younger generation of gremlins around Illuna.

Hellhounds

Not actually from Hell

Description: Like most monsters in this world, they are humanoid in form. Their arms and legs are covered in fur and their hands are massive paws with sharp claws, but they look remarkably human aside from that. Though they do have tails and big fluffy ears. The one I met had unnaturally black skin tone, but I don’t know if that changes between hellhounds like it does with humans. Their most defining feature is their eyes, which constantly emit brilliant plumes of fire.

Abilities: Strength. Agility.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Notes: If trolls got three diamonds for being strong, hellhounds get at least five. They’re strong and agile. More, they are intelligent. The one I met threw a man off a cliff as if he weighed as much as a feather and crushed another man’s head between her thighs like his head was a balloon. Luckily, their intelligence means that they can be reasoned with. Hopefully. The one I met seemed more than willing to help me, but that might just be because of having rescued her. I probably shouldn’t take that as being indicative of the entire species.

Harpies

It’s a bird! It’s a… bird!

Description: They look like humans except with feathered wings in place of their arms and talons in place of their feet.

Abilities: Flight, presumably. Sharp talons. They can swim too, surprisingly. I watched a harpy go fishing.

Danger Rating: ♦ ? Not sure yet. Haven’t encountered any. One diamond is probably good, considering the danger rating is completely arbitrary based on my whims. The sole harpy I encountered wasn’t hostile, but its talons were scarily sharp and it could fly extremely quick.

Notes: I sure hope they’re not actually angels. I really don’t need to deal with more of them. Apparently they tend to leave humans alone so long as they’re left alone in turn. Definitely not angels. Not super hostile either. The one harpy I came across was injured. An arrow was sticking out of her side. I helped her patch it up. After that, she tried to offer me some fish as thanks. I think anyway. They don’t seem to speak except in little bird-like trills and chirps.

Honey Bees

Just bee yourself!

Description: While their silhouette is mostly humanoid, they obviously aren’t up close. Their arms and legs are narrow and spindly, covered in some kind of black material that’s hard to the touch. Yet their main torso is somewhat fluffy, with black and yellow stripes. Their lips are stiff and their jaws barely move when they speak, they have compound eyes, wings, and a little bulbous… tail? with a stinger hanging off the end.

Abilities: Honey making? Presumably, given their name.

Danger Rating: ♦♦

Notes: They look fairly weak, but that might be a ruse. The one I met had heavy chains that she constantly wore. Their stinger probably isn’t anything to scoff at either, though if they die like real honey bees do, they might be reluctant to use it. Is it bad that I kind of want to try just a little honey? Purely to see if there is any difference between Earth honey bees and monster honey.

Mimics

The Table Laughed

Description: Placeholder if I ever find out their true form. (See notes)

Abilities: Shape changing.

Danger Rating: ♦ (with possibly more diamonds should they have access to poison or something)

Notes: I’m not actually sure how to describe something that can appear to be practically everything. Mimics can change shape, change form, change size, change color… You could drink out of one that looks like a teacup or have a lively discussion with a human without knowing that it wasn’t a human at all.

Minotaurs

Bull-Headed Men

Description: Minotaurs are giant humans with the head of a bull. Like the cyclops, minotaur seem to have been lifted straight from Earth’s mythology. Or perhaps Earth’s mythology actually came from real minotaurs, given angels repeated references to monsters as being ‘relics’ that belong in some ‘age of legends’.

Abilities: Strength

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Notes: I gave them a high danger rating simply because I would probably be in trouble if I had to fight one. My Spectral Chains seem to be unbreakable, but anything too large would probably drag me around instead of the other way around. However, the one minotaur I have met is quite gentle.

Salamanders

Lizard people actually exist

Description: They have a humanoid form, though their body is mostly covered in scales. Their belly, chest, and some of their face looks more like bare skin but is actually some kind of tough leather. Their arms and legs are obviously inhuman, covered in spiny scales with sharp claws tipping their fingers and toes. And they have a tail. Not a long one, but not a short stub either.

Abilities: Strength.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Notes: The one I met had been heavily abused, so this might be biased, but I’m somewhat afraid of them. Rizk picked me up by my neck with barely any noticeable effort. She didn’t actually hurt me, thankfully, but I think I’ll be trying to keep my distance.

Shadow Assassins

A Primitive Predator

Description: Normally, shadow assassins are invisible. However, their invisibility can be turned off, seen through, or otherwise nullified. They look something like a cross between a human and a large dog, except they’re missing their head. Where their head normally would be is just a gaping maw filled with sharp teeth that leads straight into the torso. Their skin is obsidian black with greyish tattoo-like markings winding around every inch of them.

Abilities: Invisibility. Despair-inducing screams.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Notes: These things are nasty. I don’t know what they’re like normally as I’ve only encountered hostile ones controlled by a fairy, but I can’t imagine pleasant chaps earning a name like that. True to their name, they are used as assassins by shadowy organizations. If they can be detected, they aren’t that much of a threat. A bullet will put one down just as it would any human. The real danger comes in the form of their screams, which made me want to kill myself. Literally. I was in kind of a hazy trance, but the effect would have been the same in the end.

I don’t exactly know how high the rating system should go. The Angels entry has so many diamonds partially as a joke. I was thinking five would be the top dog, but I’m not so sure anymore. A dragon would probably be higher than these guys. Thankfully, I haven’t met one yet. For now, five will be the highest. I’ll add more diamonds if I come across more dangerous creatures.

Trolls

Ruining more than just the internet

Description: Hulking brutes, largely covered in fat and muscle. Their skin is more orange than any shade of people color.

Abilities: Strength.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦

Notes: Extremely strong—I saw one punch through a stone wall—but I took a diamond off in comparison to salamanders for their lack of agility. Their true danger comes in being surprised or, more likely given the noise their footsteps make, trapped. Or, I suppose, if your duty requires you to go out and fight them en-mass in a giant battle.

The First Sphere — The First Sphere is the highest order of angels. This order contains the most ancient beings in all of existence. Typically seen as the leaders, many angels look up to them even more as of late in light of recent problems with the Throne. Unfortunately, the entire order is in relative stagnation because of the Throne’s vacancy. In Tenebrael’s words, talking to any of them is like trying to have a decent conversation with a brick wall.

None of The First Sphere appear humanlike.

Seraphim — Burning beings with six wings. Defenders and caretakers of the Throne. There are few in number, but their power more than makes up for any perceived weakness. A single Seraphim is said to be able to sunder reality, possessing a fraction of the Throne’s true power. The Throne only deploys them in the most dire of circumstances. But they never lose.

However, with the Throne no longer giving tasks to angels, they are said to have ceased all duties, choosing to remain near the Throne as eternal guardians.

The most humalike in appearance, but even then, something is wrong with them. Their proportions are wrong. Their limbs too long and their bodies too bulky.

Cherubim — Four faced beings—one of a man, one of an ox, one of a lion, and one of an eagle—with four wings covering their eyes. They are guides and guards of the Endless Expanse. Once a Principality has collected a soul, it is up to the Cherubim to determine the soul’s fate. Some remain in the Expanse to be processed. Others join with the fallen angels.

They are the members of this order least affected by the Throne’s vacancy. Their job was to interact with souls. They continue to do so today. They will continue to do so for eternity.

Ophanim — Planet-sized wheels covered with an uncountable quantity of eyes. When they move, everything moves. When they stop, everything stops. They have no means of true communication. Once, they turned at the Throne’s whims. Now, they languidly rotate, dominating the sky within the Expanse.

The Second Sphere — The second order of angels. They, as a whole, are not as powerful as those in The First Sphere, but they are far more numerous. Their tasks tend to be administrative in nature, governing and ensuring that everything is running smoothly in all of reality.

Dominions — Dominions rule over alternate Earths. There is only one Dominion per world. They are the ultimate authority in their land, capable of nearly any task required of them. They maintain the authority to recruit lesser angels to assist in their tasks of overseeing their world. All lesser angels must comply.

Virtues — Information specialists and bookkeepers. They maintain all knowledge within the Throne. If an angel needs to know what is going on or otherwise lacks knowledge, they ask a Virtue. Very few Virtues ever leave the Endless Expanse and the presence of the Throne. They can be spotted on occasion out in various worlds if they are unable to gather the requisite information from Authorities or Ophanim. If they are forced out of the Expanse, they generally try to avoid interacting with other angels.

According to Tenebrael’s notes within the information she sent me, they talk funny. There is no elaboration on that.

Authorities — Authorities concern themselves primarily with the upkeep and movements of the cosmos. It is their duty to keep the fabric of reality from fraying and coming undone. They are the janitors, the repairmen, and the maintenance crew.

Another introverted species of angel, apparently. Tenebrael says that, in all her long existence, she has never spoken to a single one.

The Third Sphere — The lowest order of angels. They have the most interaction with humans, Tenebrael aside. The higher orders tend to relegate menial tasks to members of this order. They are by far the most numerous of all angels, reaching pure uncountable levels.

Principalities — Educators and guides. Principalities preside over all mortal affairs with an emphasis on death. It is through Principalities that most humans cast miracles. They speak directly with True Saints. Though, Tenebrael notes that now a days, they really only deal with the collection of souls. There have been no miracles and no True Saints in a very long time.

Archangels — Warriors of the Concord. The primary fighting force, for as much as angels actually need to fight. Their primary duty is in correcting mistakes in the plan. One, sometimes two, will occasionally be assigned to a wayward world to work with the Dominion of the land with the sole goal of restoring order.

Guardians — Also simply called angels, these are the common rabble—Tenebrael’s words. The least powerful but most numerous group of angels. Once upon a time, they would be assigned as Guardian Angels to select humans. Such a thing, like most duties angels are supposed to do, doesn’t happen much anymore. As such, bereft of their original purpose, they tend to be given the worst of the worst tasks by various Principalities and Dominions.

And that is… pretty much it. Ten thousand words condensed down to just under one thousand. Pretty good summary if I do say so myself. And I do. Say so. Myself, that is. Obviously, like all my other notes, I am leaving plenty of room in case I come across more information. Or in case I notice something I missed sometime when I am feeling masochistic enough to reread Tenebrael’s original text.

Like that will ever happen. Ugh.

The Astral Authority is some kind of divine police force… except not really? I spoke with Iosefael about them. Between her being distraught about being trapped in a room with no access to the Throne and her being somewhat rushed (my fault), I might not have gotten the best information. Still, I’ll try to compile what I’ve learned here. To be honest, I am expecting to learn far more from my own encounters with them than I learned from Iosefael. But she at least gave me some insight into their organization and structure.

The Astral Authority occupies itself with demons and fallen angels, fighting both relentlessly with waves and waves of expendable minions. Individually, the minions don’t seem that strong. Mere mortals could probably fight a few off if they were coordinated enough. Their numbers are their real problem.

First, the Astral Authority is led by a Seraphim. See the above section on angels for more details on that particular breed of being. Iosefael suspects that, like all other Seraphim, this one is mostly inactive and leaves the actual leading to the Astral Authority themselves.

The Astral Authority is headed by the Cardinal Virtues. There are four of them, supposedly beings almost on par with a Seraphim.

The Cardinal Virtue of Prudence — The Virtue of governing and disciplining oneself by the use of reason. Might be considered the leader of the leaders.

The Cardinal Virtue of Justice — The Virtue which regulates dealing with others. The strongest and most warrior-like of the Cardinal Virtues.

The Cardinal Virtue of Fortitude — The Virtue of patience and perseverance. A bulwark the likes of which cannot be breached.

The Cardinal Virtue of Temperance — The Virtue of moderation of pleasures and appetites. Honestly, I have no idea what this one is supposed to do for the Astral Authority. Iosefael was somewhat incomprehensible at this point.

Beneath the Cardinal Virtues are the lesser virtues. Seven classes of seemingly infinite peons that can be thrown at whatever problem is facing the Astral Authority at the moment. From my experience, I can say that these things are more like robots than real living beings. They seem to ignore anything that isn’t immediately related to demons or angels… unless provoked. That might have something to do with a lack of souls, but I can’t see souls in angels either so maybe I just don’t have enough information about the subjects.

All members of the lesser virtues wear porcelain masks on top of their vastly inhuman forms.

Chastity — The antithesis to Lust. Given the duty of acting as an impenetrable aegis to the other members of the Astral Authority. Their form takes an insectile appearance, looking something like a cross between a spider and an ironclad beetle.

Equanimity — The antithesis to Gluttony. Acts as heavy front-line fighters. These things are huge. The front paw is the size of a small car. And they have paws. They’re large chimera-like creatures with a lion’s body, a scorpion’s tail, and a serpentine neck. Notably, they have no head, just a porcelain mask on the end of the snake neck.

Charity — The antithesis to Greed. Act as a logistics support personnel, opening portals and keeping communications organized. They are small humanoids, roughly the size of teens, but proportioned like babies.

Diligence — The antithesis to Sloth. Act as long range combative support. They take on the appearance of an eastern dragon, long and serpentine but with claws and short stubby arms positioned about their bodies like that of centipedes. They fly about the battlefield, firing golden beams from a long range. Their porcelain mask splits open when they’re ready to fire their beam.

Patience — Antithesis to Wrath. The frontline warrior of the Astral Authority. A life-sized doll crafted from tangled silver filigree wires. They wield spears, somehow swinging them around despite their hands being little more than ball-shaped knobs. These are probably the most common of all the Astral Authority. At least from what I have seen.

Kindness — Antithesis to Envy. Scouts and observers for the Astral Authority. They are, as far as I can tell, entirely noncombative. At least, their form doesn’t seem to be suited for combat. They are bubbling masses of endless eyes, winged with a mask slapped on one side of them. The eyes burst like bubbles every so often, only to reveal dozens more eyes beneath.

Humility — Antithesis to Pride. An elusive member of the Astral Authority. I don’t know their form or their true purpose among the others. Iosefael was both incoherent and ignorant of them.

So far, that’s about all I know about these things. I’ll definitely be updating these notes in the future if more useful information reveals itself!

Rank Zero

The Basic of the Basics

♦

Light

Effect: Creates a small orb of light that hangs around the caster, illuminating the local area. Can float through the air a short distance away from the caster to light up further away. Doesn’t create any heat.

Card Description: A simple wheel-like shape with an outer ring, an inner ring, and spokes stretching from the center point through the inner ring to the outer ring.

Alyssa’s Notes: The first spell taught to any aspiring arcanist.

♦

Flame

Effect: Creates a small flame no bigger than that of a candle’s at the tip of the caster’s fingers. Acts just like a lighter flame, though it doesn’t burn despite it’s proximity to skin.

Card Description: Four triangles, two side by side and two across from those two, their corners touching. All set inside a circle which connects with the spare corner of each triangle.

Alyssa’s Notes: Handy for lighting fires and that’s it. Doesn’t create enough light to use as a… well, light.

♦

Chill

Effect: Cools, creating a nice respite from the heat of the day.

Card Description: Two diamonds overlapping each other. Three wavy lines connect the lower left side of the left diamond to the upper right of its pair.

Alyssa’s Notes: Something about the symbol reminds me of an air conditioning logo. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

♦

Warm

Effect: Warms, creating a nice refuge from the cold of night.

Card Description: A single circle occupying most of the card. Nine smaller triangles are set periodically around the larger circle, drawn with their center on the circle’s line.

Alyssa’s Notes: Nights get cold on this world, or maybe just in this section of the world. Not surprising that the locals created a spell to ward off that cold.

Rank One

Laziness Rewarded

♦

Message

Effect: Sends a single verbal message to a single recipient.

Card Description: A square with a cross in it going from corner to corner. A smaller cross, this one aligned up-and-down, is set right in the center with its ends reaching only a fourth of the way to the walls of the square.

Alyssa’s Notes: Not actually useful for any extended conversation. Each card can only send one message and the recipient can’t return a message without a card of their own. Trying to use it like a telephone would require a stack of cards on either end. It’s more like sending a person to deliver a message than a phone.

♦

Grind

Effect: Mimics a mortar and pestle, though without the mortar and pestle.

Card Description: A half-circle set inside a larger circle. The half-circle has several leaf-like shapes filling it in. A single line stretches from the top of the large circle to the middle of the flat side of the half-circle.

Alyssa’s Notes: Put wheat in a bowl, cast a spell, get a bit of flour without all the hard work. Can’t be used on harder materials like rocks. I’m not sure how big the area it can affect is. If I got a big vat filled with things to be ground up, could it do the entire thing all at once? If not, there are probably higher ranked spells that do it.

Rank Two

Fantastical Tech

♦

Fireball

Effect: A ball of fire flies away from the caster in a straight line. It burns and knocks back away whatever it hits. If it hits something flammable, it might also catch on fire.

Card Description: Four triangles, much like the Flame spell, except this time, the circle is smaller and crosses through the ends of the triangles. There are far more angelic runes scrawled around the shape on this compared to Flame.

Alyssa’s Notes: What wizard can’t cast a fireball? Gandalf. That’s who. That guy only casts like three spells across four books. Fireworks don’t count.

♦

Nullify Fire

Effect: Makes the caster safe from heat and flames. He won’t be burned or even become uncomfortable because of the fire.

Card Description: A single small triangle with a three circles around it, each larger than the last.

Alyssa’s Notes: Apparently Fireball isn’t used all that much. And it’s because of this. But that doesn’t make any sense. If nobody uses Fireball, then nobody is Nullifying Fire because there is no reason to. Which means that Fireball is actually a great spell to use! Haha, I’m such a genius, I hope nobody else figures that out.

Alyssa’s Extra Notes: Two things. First, don’t know if there is an upper limit to this spell. Could someone fall into a volcano and come out just fine? Or does a volcano not count as fire and therefore would burn them anyway. Secondly, triangles seem to be a theme with fire spells, though I have seen triangles used elsewhere so they aren’t solely fire-related.

Rank Three

Is This Just Fantasy?

♦

Fly

Effect: Lets the caster fly.

Card Description: A circle with two ellipses inside, one touching the top and bottom of the circle—aligned with the card—and one touching the sides. The ‘corners’ or the circle, between the ellipses, have several lines extending beyond the circles that stretch out almost to the edges of the card before twisting in on themselves coming back in. Each end of the twisting loop had a symbol inside. Not like the angelic runes, which are fairly bulky, but lithe curls almost reminiscent of Arabic.

Alyssa’s Notes: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Arcanist Man! Sounds fun and useful, but I’ve been too afraid to try it. There are so many things that could go wrong. What if I can’t control it and keep going up and up, only for the spell to time out and I come crashing back to the ground at terminal velocity! What if I’m just flying about in perfect control and the spell times out! What if I go too high and pass out! What if what if what if! I don’t really like heights. Maybe I can find a spell that’s just Hover: Never go higher than a foot off the ground.

♦

Subjugation

Effect: Sends a wave of… energy? out from the card. Forces a target onto their hands and knees if they are struck by the wave.

Card Description: An equilateral cross going from corner to corner. Designs around the cross make it appear to be on fire, originating from the very center.

Rank: Three.

Alyssa’s Notes: A law enforcement spell. It forces the target to their hands and knees, allowing free apprehension. With it being such a low rank, its easy to arm on even those who don’t consider themselves to have much potential as an arcanist.

Death

What happens after death? I know.

♦

Spectral Sight

Effect: Lets the caster see soul states, a visual manifestation of a person’s soul indicating health and maybe more about the targets.

Card Description: A continuous spiral, sliced in two with both halves offset, contained within a half-circle. Angelic runes follow the spiral down, growing smaller and smaller as they get closer to the center point.

Rank: Three.

Alyssa’s Notes: A strange spell. Apparently it works differently for every caster. For me, I saw animals following people around, floating just over their shoulder. Some were large, some were small. There were bears, rats, cats, dogs, zebra, and even a dragon. I honestly have no idea what it all means, though more downtrodden people tended to have smaller animals—size wise, I saw a pig the size of a rhino, so the animal’s individual size doesn’t matter. Also, it shouldn’t be used in general public. There are laws against it, though I managed to walk around with the spell active for a full afternoon without any repercussions or, in fact, anyone noticing.

♦

Spectral Chains

Effect: Ties up the target in ghostly chains with one end of the chain leading back to the caster’s hands.

Card Description: Two spirals, both in opposite directions and connected at the mid-point with the end of one being the start of the other. All of which is contained within a closed half-circle. It almost looks like a skull with the spirals as eyes.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: Not a fun spell to be on the receiving end of. It really doesn’t allow much room for movement at all. If you ever need to escape, just remember, once they let go of the chains, the chains around you disappear. Or so it seems from the one time I had it used on me.

♦

Contract

Effect: Binds a target to a verbally agreed upon promise. If the target breaks that promise, they die.

Card Description: Spiraling lines surrounding a central over-wide pillar, looking somewhat like loopy chains hanging off.

Rank: Three.

Alyssa’s Notes: This spell requires the caster to state a task or agreement and the target must agree to it. So asking someone to jump as high as the moon would not work all that well, though possible to be agreed to if the target is foolish enough. It creates a black ring of smoke around the target’s neck while the spell is in effect, making clear to anyone who sees them that they are under some form of compulsion. Kind of a nasty spell, but there are probably worse. Just don’t agree to anything you don’t want to do, I suppose.

♦

Desecrate Spells

Effect: Violently rends magic from an area.

Card Description: One long spiral that starts out smooth. It turns jagged the further away from the center. The spiral is stretched along one axis while squashed along another, making it almost look like the grin of a Jack-o-Lantern.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: This spell is nasty. But also potentially extremely useful.  All magic is shut down entirely within the range of casting. Spells affecting people will be torn off with a pound of flesh taken with. Even potions are affected, leading to jars exploding and such. I encountered a spell that reflected my bullets back at me. This spell could shut that down instantly, allowing me use of my guns without fear of hitting myself.

♦

Rigor Mortis

Effect: Breaks any bone of a target that moves significantly from the position it was in when the spell was cast.

Card Description: Six lines, arranged from the top of the card in the pattern of a single line, two parallel lines, a single line, then another two parallel ones. A jagged spiral weaves between each of the lines, separating them.

Rank: Five.

Alyssa’s Notes: A spell created for torture and execution, according to Irulon. A very showy public execution. Those to be made an example of would be set up in some public forum and told that, should they survive until nightfall, they would be allowed free. Smarter people turned their heads to the side, snapping their necks instantly. The more foolish would try to remain perfectly still, only to suffer from a chain reaction when they failed to keep still and instincts to jerk back kicked in. According to Irulon, only two people had survived from noon until nightfall in the three hundred years since the spell’s creation. Most serious crimes are apparently punished with exile south of the Fortress of Pandora, so those put under this spell must have done something heinous.

♦

Spectral Axe

Effect: Manifest a scythe that rends souls from whatever it touches.

Card Description: Three rounded skulls made from angelic runes cross at the eyes. So while there are three complete skulls, there are only four distinct eye sockets. Patterns of lines form into crosses that run behind the runes, moving between individual characters where necessary to avoid crossing a character directly. It almost looks like a distorted Jolly Roger.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: This spell kills whatever it comes into contact with. The scythe doesn’t harm the physical body, but it tears the soul out, leaving it in a wispy form. Quite horrific. I’m not sure what a defense would be. Maybe there is a shield. Maybe avoidance is the only defense. Looking into that is a high priority now.

Physical

Manipulating the physical world!

♦

Draw Water

Effect: Pulls a stream of water from one body to a container or second body.

Card Description: Three oblong diamonds, two oriented horizontally side by side with the third shifted vertically between the two. A circle runs through the center point of all three.

Rank: Two, oddly enough. It is the lowest ranked specialized spell I’ve encountered.

Alyssa’s Notes: This spell, despite being only Rank Two, is fascinating and requires testing. Does it draw only water? What if there are things in the water such as fish, dirt, or even bacteria? It could be one of the most important spells ever if it truly only grabs water!

♦

Shorten Distance

Effect: Makes one point closer to another point. As in, a single step could let you cross a whole room.

Card Description: One horizontal line with several vertical lines falling from it, each of varying lengths. All of which is wrapped up in a circle.

Rank: Three.

Alyssa’s Notes: Thinking about this one hurts my head. It’s low ranked for such a mind boggling effect, but then again, it seems to only work over small distances, such as a single room.

♦

Lighten Load

Effect: Temporarily decreases the weight of an object.

Card Description: A single vertical line with two arms stretching out at a downward angle before they bend back in. The three lines terminate just before a small circle containing a rune. It looks kind of like an arcade claw machine grabbing a marble!

Rank: Three.

Alyssa’s Notes: This could be a lifesaver! I’ve been carrying my backpack everywhere and it is heavy. I mean, I’m strong, but ugh.

♦

Disguise Object

Effect: Makes one thing look like something else without losing the function of the first.

Card Description: A star made with three open-ended triangles? It’s the best way I can describe it. The center triangle, forming the top point of the star and its two legs, is larger than the other two, extending outside the circle its all drawn within. A simple drawing of an eye sits in the very center.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: Nobody seems to know what guns are, but if they figured out, this could be handy to carry them around without people knowing. Imagine someone’s surprise when they’re shot by a water bottle. Of course, it’s probably a bad idea. I’d end up shooting myself while trying to take a drink.

♦

Projectile Reflection

Effect: Creates an invisible barrier that reflects any projectile coming into contact with it, protecting the target or caster from arrows and… yes… bullets.

Card Description: A circle around a line, looking like a computer’s on-off button. A series of triangles with their corners alternating between pointing inward and pointing outward surround the circle.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: The biggest and most troublesome spell I’ve come across I think. It completely nullifies my guns. Because the barrier doesn’t have any obvious tells, I could easily wind up shooting myself by firing at the wrong target.

Fire

Is Something Burning?

♦

Immolating Gloves

Effect: The target of the spell winds up with their hands engulfed in flames, brief but intense, generally forcing them to drop whatever they might be holding.

Card Description: A pentagram with five triangles intersecting on the sides, connected at a single point in the center, making it appear as if an angled hand was mid-grasp.

Rank: Three.

Alyssa’s Notes: The description of this spell’s effect is remarkably simple and straightforward. The fire is real, not illusory or anything similar. It scaled my hand to the point where my skin was blackened and cracking. Not a very pleasant effect. As a side note: Bee oil is remarkably adept at treating burns.

♦

All Shall Burn

Effect: A narrow beam of fire.

Card Description: Circle inside a square inside a circle, inside a square. The squares were forty-five degrees off at a different angle.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: A beam of fire. The flames do burn, as the spell’s name implies, both as they pass through the air and when they hit whatever they were aimed at.

Warp

Shall I have Snotty beam you down?

♦

Recall

Effect: The caster sets a location that they can return to at a later date.

Card Description: A two-part spell. It actually has two symbols that need to be drawn.

Set card: The most complicated sigil I have seen. Odd as well in that it isn’t actually a card, you draw it on the ground at the intended location to return to. It starts with an outer ring, then an inner ring. The space between the two is divided up into thirty-nine spaces, each with a different angelic rune. Inside the inner ring, a double square—offset to make it look like an eight point star with sixteen outer sides—is divided up with more runes in the compartments. Followed by another set of rings. Those rings contain a triangle. There is more to it than that, but I don’t think I could ever adequately describe it well enough to recreate from words alone.

Recall Card: Remarkably simple in comparison to the above. It uses the same two rings with thirty-nine runes along the edge, but rather than all the complicated nonsense in the middle, three arrows point outward. The arrows are bulky and stylized with the tips extending beyond the outer ring’s edge.

Rank: Five.

Alyssa’s Notes: This could be it! A way to get between Lyria and my house. Or at least, I had hoped so. I mentioned it in passing to Irulon while she was teaching me how to draw spell cards. Unfortunately, it has some drawbacks. The first and most obvious of which is that you have to draw it out on the floor. The second is that it doesn’t last forever. The set card requires a charge, using a drop of blood no less, that keeps it active for twenty-four hours. If you try to recall outside those twenty-four hours, or if the circle is damaged by someone trodding on it, the caster generally experiences something Irulon called “Multi-world Existence Failure” which… doesn’t sound too pleasant. If I desperately need to travel between Lyria and my home, I’ll investigate other options before coming back to this one.

Fractal

Mirror mirror, on the wall, who is the insanest of them all?

♦

Fractal Mirror

Effect: Shards of glass surround the caster, each displaying a possible action the caster could take within the next sixty seconds. And then, by touching a shard, the spell ‘forces the world to comply’ with the chosen future. Whatever that means.

Card Description: Triangles within triangles within triangles within… The impossibility of how deep the triangles go makes my head hurt when remembering the pattern. There was limited space on a two-dimensional card, but somehow, the spell’s pattern seemed like it would continue for eternity. I doubt I could replicate it if my life depended on it.

Rank: Six. (The first Rank Six spell I have come across)

Alyssa’s Notes: I don’t like this spell. I don’t like it at all. I was excited when I first saw it used, thinking it to be some sort of teleportation spell. Oh how wrong I was. I saw everything. Every possible little thing that I could ever conceive of doing. Even slight variations on the same thing. Every one burned into my brain. I can still picture them clear as day. In one, I might sit perfectly still. Okay. Fine. In another, I might grab my fingers and start breaking them one by one. Why would I do that? According to the spell’s description, simply because it was possible to do. I don’t like this spell.

♦

Empty Mirror

Effect: Wraps a shroud of glass around a person or object, showing any observers what the world would be should the enshrouded person not exist. A functional invisibility cloak.

Card Description: Triangles inside triangles again, though far more comprehensible than Fractal Mirror. A looping line seems to connect every corner of the triangles together, wrapping the whole thing in a twisted circle.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: Invisibility. It’s pretty handy. I can reach out of the shroud briefly to interact with the world without the spell breaking. I imagine loud noises could also escape from the shroud, though I never actually tested that aspect. Doesn’t scare me on an existential level like Fractal Mirror, so that’s an added benefit.

♦

Empty Vessel

Effect: Creates a large bubble of glass around a person or object, showing any observers what the world would be should the enshrouded person not exist. A functional invisibility cloak.

Card Description: Triangles inside triangles again, though far more comprehensible than Fractal Mirror. A looping line seems to connect every corner of the triangles together, wrapping the whole thing in a smoothed circle.

Rank: Six.

Alyssa’s Notes: Invisibility. On a large scale. This spell is functionally identical to Empty Mirror except that it can cloak a few people all at once in a rather large bubble.

♦

Infinite Regress

Effect: Enter into a mirror world where it is possible to effectively play out simulations of what would happen should certain actions be taken. Despite the spell’s title, it seems to be limited to three simulations per spell.

Card Description: Two parallelograms make up the base of the spell card. One is a mirror of the other, including its contents of jagged lines and angelic runes. Even the mirrored runes are reversed.

Rank: Five.

Alyssa’s Notes: I like the theory of this spell. Were I at a crossroads, I could easily discover which path held danger and which path was safe. However, it is not without drawbacks. If I get disemboweled while under the effects of this spell, I feel everything and that feeling stays with me even when cancelling a simulation. In cancelling a simulation, my intestines wouldn’t be spilling out anymore, so the pain does recede quickly. But that doesn’t make it any more pleasant.

However, I had a strange reaction to this spell wherein a simulation aborted on its own, throwing me back into the real world completely unprepared. It almost resulted in my death. If I ever cast this spell again, I will be taking great pains to be cautious in my usage.

♦

Unnamed Fractal Spell (Fractal Vision?)

Effect: Shards of glass surround the caster, each showing a vision of something the target of the spell interacted with recently. Tapping a shard of glass teleports the caster to the thing shown in the shard (a possibly unintentional effect).

Card Description: Like Fractal Mirror, which this spell is based on, the diagram includes a cascade of triangles. The biggest change is with the angelic runes, which I’ve not been describing much because they’re way too complicated.

Rank: Six.

Alyssa’s Notes: Irulon’s clones made this spell on the fly to fill a need. They said that it wouldn’t teleport me anywhere. It did. I was… unhappy with that. I still don’t know if it was intentional or not. Or even if someone else casting the spell would have been teleported. It could have been an error in the creation or something weird with how I interact with magic.

♦

Reality Sliver

Effect: Removes a small section of the world from… the world. It effectively creates an impassible barrier. If used over a doorway, nothing can get through until the spell is cancelled.

Card Description: A single circle split into a hundred diamonds. Not every diamond is the same size. The ones toward the top and bottom of the circle are squashed while the ones at the sides are narrow, making it look like the diamonds are wrapped around a sphere.

Rank: Five.

Alyssa’s Notes: Quite a simple spell for Fractal magic. At least, the effect is simple. What it actually does to the world is probably anything but. Still, if in need of holding out in a room, sealing off the entrances with this spell would work perfectly. Of course, it does have the drawback that you don’t know what is going on outside the barrier. A second spell can rectify that issue, however, and even get out of the sealed room if it has a teleportation component.

Arcane

Raw Magic given form

♦

Suppress Magic

Effect: Temporarily squelches all magic in an area, powering down any active spells or magical phenomena for the duration.

Card Description: A circle surrounded by many angelic runes. Within the circle, an angled line nearly connects the circle’s walls. Six lines intersect the angled one, all remaining parallel to one another. From the top intersecting line, a long curl swoops around one side of the figure.

Rank: Three.

Alyssa’s Notes: This spell is much like Desecrate Spells, except far less destructive. It is also temporary. When cast near a light potion, the potion merely dims then turns off, resembling a light switch more than anything. Desecrate Spells, used in the vicinity of a light potion, will destroy the magic and the potion’s container, like shattering a light bulb. Of course, since it is only temporary, Desecrate Spells might be better to use on anyone with a Projectile Reflection spell active, or similar spells. Still, it is a good spell to keep in mind.

♦

Disintegration Ray

Effect: A purplish black beam of sweeping light that destroys whatever it hits.

Card Description: Three circles touching one another at the edges, each with several circles and squares suspended within by thin lines.

Rank: Five.

Alyssa’s Notes: I like spells that do exactly what their names imply they’ll do. The stupid Fractal spells don’t make any sense at all. Disintegration Ray? It’s right there in the name. Though I’m a little confused on the difference between rays and beams!

♦

Annihilator

Effect: Destruction of matter within a narrow beam.

Card Description: An eye of providence with eight arrows pointing away to a symbol. The symbols are, clockwise from the top right, a sun, a tree, a skull, flames, an ankh, a crescent moon, a pentagram, and wavy circles. Each symbol is accompanied by angelic text.

Rank: Five.

Alyssa’s Notes: Narrow beam doesn’t seem to apply when I cast it. I accidentally destroyed a hillside… Oops? This should probably go in my general notes, but I’ve noticed a trend. It seems like higher ranked, four and up, are more likely to have aberrant affects when I cast them than lower ranked spells. I’ve never had a simple Light or Flame blow up a house on me.

Time

Tick-tock. The mouse ran up the clock.

♦

Loophole

Effect: Curse an area with twisting timelines, forcing anyone or anything to randomly retreat backward and jump forward in time for a short duration.

Card Description: Ten notches around a circle, though they only go from the twelve o’clock position to the nine o’clock. The remaining portion of the circle is drawn inward into a spiral.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: And I thought Fractal magic was bad. Irulon told me that her father specializes in Time magic. Now I know where she gets it from.

♦

Accelero

Effect: Accelerates the user’s presence in time, allowing them to act as if the rest of the world had been brought to a standstill. Super-speed, in a sense.

Card Description: A mess of disorganized lines and symbols, complex enough to cause headaches.

Rank: Six.

Alyssa’s Notes: I haven’t actually used this one yet, but I did snap a picture of one. If I can manage the headache of looking at it long enough to copy it down, it seems like it could easily be one of the best spells in my library. Unless it is like that one movie from 2002 and accelerates my aging as well, in which case it might actually be a terrible spell. The Pharaoh probably has another spell to counteract any possible aging effects… I wish I had a full scan of his spell tome.

Mental

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

♦

Tineye

Effect: Enhances all five senses of the caster, causing faint and distant sounds to appear as thunder, night to be day, brushes against skin to be heavy punches, faint smells to become putrid, and subtle flavors to overpower.

Card Description: A spike piercing two crescent moons.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: It’s too much, which is too bad. Trying to walk with this spell active feels like an earthquake. I could hear every conversation happening nearby, but cannot make out individual words without extreme focus. A gentle breeze feels like falling into a pit of needles. Besides that, there are apparently long-term detrimental effects related to overusing sensory enhancement spells. It could be a good spell in very specific situations, but those situations are probably too few and far between to make it worth creating more than one or two of these cards.

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Night Vision

Effect: A spell that adds a global light source to the arcanist’s vision, removing shadows and night almost completely.

Card Description: A geometric symbol that almost looks like a glowering owl’s head… if you squint.

Rank: Four.

Alyssa’s Notes: An extremely useful spell! Perfect for any kind of low-light situation. It apparently has some long-term detrimental effects on vision if overused though, so I probably should use a simple Light spell in most cases.