Arcane Projectors

Emily

When I come back from the park, I am brimming with excitement thinking about all Ary taught me today. It wasn't much, but I can do magic! The process where she fixed my core was a bit painful, and she couldn't perfectly mend everything, but what she did was enough. Even now I can feel that strange warm power filling me up. And making me hungry. Very very hungry.

As I enter the house, I head straight to the kitchen. Ary had warned me that the increased hunger would last for some days before dissipating, right before she dashed into body, refusing to come out. So now, I had to deal with my hunger by myself.

I open the refrigerator and find some leftovers which I can microwave. I begin to reach inside to grab it when I suddenly get an idea. I take my hand back out and close my eyes, doing my best to feel the roiling power within me. Then I open my eyes, doing my best to keep my awareness of the power as I raise my hand and speak a word. "Arrante!"

The words are strange, holding a sort of force… power that stirs up the energy within me, forcing it into a specific shape. Before I could sense what exactly the shape it, it vanishes as the spell comes into effect. The plate containing the leftovers is suddenly pulled to my hand, moving far faster than I intended. Alarmed I grab at the plate, but I am not able to get a good grip and it slips. Reacting quickly, I adjust my position again, and this time I manage to hold it firmly.

I stay silent for a moment, listening for any sign that Ian had noticed the small commotion I had caused. There is none. I heave a sigh of relief.

After preparing the food I head to my room and finally have what feels like the best meal I have ever had in my life. The hunger subsides and I am finally able to fully relax, at least for now. I have no doubt the hunger will come back sooner or later, but until that happens, I am content.

* * * * * *

On Sunday afternoon my phone rings and a quick check shows it is Trevor and Charlotte. I pick up the call and Trevor tells me to come to meet him at a spot not too far from my house before promptly cutting the call. I stare at my phone and ponder whether or not to meet them. Currently, I am studying noers, and right now I'd be lying if I said they weren't disturbing me. In the end, however, I decided to go and meet them.

Not too long after I spot them, and they are both smiling from ear to ear. Before I could ask what is going on, Charlotte walks up to me and flaunts the back of her hand, where a noer - or what looks like a noer - is tattooed onto her skin. From the excited look on her face, it is obvious that she expects me to say something, so I begin wracking my brain trying to figure out what exactly it is. I soon settle on what seems like the most likely answers.

"Arcane Projectors?" I ask.

She nods, "I can finally cast spells effortlessly. Check this out." She snaps her fingers and the Arcane Projector flashes with a blue light. A moment later a flame bursts into life above her hand. She moves her fingers and the flame dances around her. Then she brings it in front of her mouth and blows, a jet of flames roars outward until finally everything is gone. She turns to me with a glint in her eyes. "See that. I did all that without a single word."

I smile and congratulate them. To be honest I can see why they are so excited. Up till this point, anytime they wanted to use magic they had to use the Ancient Aldurian Language, and having to speak before casting a spell was, well, time-consuming. Now they could do it almost instantaneously, but that got me curious.

"How exactly does it work?" I ask as I take her hand, studying the noer closely.

Trevor answers, "Well, it can store up to ten sigils. Anytime we want to use it we just activate it with our magic, pick the sigil we want to use and boom, that's it."

That sounds suspiciously like how we Laen use magic. Seriously, why are they finding it so hard to figure out how we use magic with this right in front of their faces? It's like doing an exam with the answers in front of you, yet you are wondering how you are going to solve the difficult questions.

"You go to school, right?" I ask suddenly.

Charlotte answers, "Yes. Why are you asking?"

"Are they okay with tattoos in your school?"

She opens her mouth in a silent oh, realizing why I was asking. "Don't worry, they come off." She pinches the noer with her fingers and pulls, and somehow that causes the tattoo to materialize, coming off her skin and giving me a chance to see the physical appearance of the Arcane Projector. Contrary to its tattoo form, it is not just a noer, instead, it is a kite-shaped piece of silvery metal with a noer engraved on the front. To be honest, I expected it to look a bit more complicated, but what do I know?

She puts it back on and it takes on its tattoo shape again.

"Was that why you called me?" I ask. If it was, then I am going to be a bit pissed. They could have shown me the Arcane Projectors whenever, there is no reason why it had to be today when I was studying.

"No," Charlotte says, "We actually want you to accompany us. We are going to a Hido today."

Trevor adds, "It's a different one from last time. Bigger."

It is a struggle to stop myself from sighing. "You want to use me as deterrence?"

"Maybe."

I motion for them to start moving forward and follow after them. "What do you want this time?"

"Well, there are some pretty profitable missions they give in this place. But they require a certain level of combat strength to complete. We couldn't accept them before because we were too weak. Trying to use the Ancient Language in a fight is a bitch. Anyway, now that we have the projectors things are a bit different. We've tested it out and we think we can handle the missions now."

"How profitable are the missions?" I want to know what exactly they gain from the missions to make them so eager to accept them the moment they got a bit stronger.

"Well, a better-than-average one can net us over three grand. Or something magical of equivalent value."

I whistle. "That's a lot of cash. What exactly do you need all that money for?"

"Stuff," he answers vaguely. I briefly consider pushing him for an answer but decide against it. He must have his reasons for not wanting to tell me. My next thought is much simpler, I begin to wonder whether or not I should accept some missions myself. That was a lot of cash