Ember Abiss: Rot Mage

“Rrring-ding” Rang the bell attached to the top corner of the old wood door.

“Welcome!”

Ember heard a cute high pitched voice call out from another room. Not seeing where the voice came from Ember approached the counter. ‘For this to be a clothing store it's kinda weird that I don't see anything on display or out for sale.’ giving the interior of the store a good once over she noticed an abundance of fabrics on display. The walls had rolls of fabric leaning against them the bundles of rolls seperated by color family and material, a desk and table both seemed to be suffering from a cotton catastrophe as bundles of ribbon and fabric scraps piled higher than gravity should be able to support. ‘Hmmm… I guess it's a tailor.” She thought.

“Hello!” Ember heard from the room behind the counter. Her head snapped to the doorway with a jolt of surprise. Soon after calling out Ember saw something unbelievable.

“You're a fox!” Ember shouted in surprise. Standing before her was a short girl standing around four foot eight inches at the top of her head but five foot four inches if you measure to the tips of the fluffy white tufts on the fox girl's tall white furred fox ears. Her hair was a long silken white with deep red tips, the front flared off to the side in the front, cut short to show off the red while drawing you to her rich amber colored eyes. The back of her hair continued down past her shoulder blades to get lost behind the fluffiest tail Ember had ever laid eyes on.

“You're a hooman!” The fox girl shot back, pointing at Ember with her eyes wide and jaw dropped in an exaggerated manner. She then giggled, dropping her arm and gave Ember an adorably cute grin. “I take it I'm the first of the tribes that you have met?” She asked knowingly.

Ember tilted her head slightly in confusion. “Tribes?”

The fox girl rotated her ears and gave Ember a curious look. “Yes… I'm from the kitsune tribe. Have you seriously not even heard of the tribes at all? My family is fairly rare to meet so I can understand not knowing my specific tribe… but none?”

Ember stared back at the fox girl as she tried to piece together everything being rapidly fired at her. “Umm… yes…” she answered sheepishly to the overly energetic intgator. “I'm… new?” she replied nervously with the last word sounding more like a question than an answer.

“New?” The kitsune asked with an eyebrow cocked. “I don't recognize you, so you're not a local. Your clothing isn't like anything I've seen, and I've seen a few styles and customs in my travels. Oh! And you have a funny accent” she giggled out. “I think new is an understatement. Now come, come.” She rushed out from behind the counter and pulled Ember by the hand to an area behind a privacy screen. “Okay!” She pulled a tailor's tape measure out of her tail fluff and began to take Ember's measurements. “Don't move or your clothes won't fit.”

Ember stood stock still, half due to the overwhelming positive energy radiating off the girl and half to ensure proper measurements. “I… I'm Ember by the way. And I'm aware of my accent. I'm new to the language and I'm actually surprised with how quickly I'm picking it up.” Ember said nervously. “I'm sorry for pointing and staring at you earlier. Where I'm from the only people around are human. I didn't even know about the system.”

The fox girl dropped her tape and looked up at Ember. “You didn't get awakened at 15?”

“No?” Ember replied questioningly.

“That's crazy! How could your parents do that to you!?! You've lost years of experience and skill growth!” the fox girl said agast. She then leaned close to Ember's left and whispered “What level are you… If you don't mind sharing.” the fox girl pulled back with a slight blush.

“Oh… uhh… I don't really mind. I don't see what the big deal is about sharing statuses anyways” Ember stammered out. “I'm only level one, but my first skill just hit two!” she continued, growing excited at the end as she remembered that her skill leveled up when she was out hunting with Thorn earlier. “Oh, I never caught your name.”

The fluffy white tail of the kitsune girl grew even fluffier as her hair stood on end out of embarrassment. “I'm so sorry! That was extremely rude of me. I'm Tila, a level 12 tailor. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She blurted out before giving a curt bow. “Now please, tell me what you're looking for. Function or fashion? Enchanted or boring?” Then with a quick glance up and down of Ember’s tire she asked, “did you want to stick with your yellow, orange, and gray color scheme? The brighter colors are more expensive but look amazing.”

Ember paused for a moment to process Everything that had happened in the last few minutes before finally answering the impatient fox. “It's nice to meet you too. I Would like to get two simple shirts, a backup cargo hoodie, another pair of shorts, and ummm… a few sets of underwear…” she said with a slight blush. “I prefer function over fashion, I literally own one dress at home… and my mom bought it for me. I don't know what enchanting clothes does, could you explain that part.” Then with a soft smile she answered. “And lastly, yes please, orange and yellow match my hair and eyes. And to answer your next question, yes the orange highlights in the black hair is natural. I've never dyed my hair before.”

“Ooo, I love a girl that knows what she wants.” Tila replied cheekily. “I'm going to assume hoodie is a word from your native language but I do not know it.”

“Ah I… uhh… I don't know the word in common. It's what I'm wearing over my shirt.” Ember replied by plucking some fabric on her hoodie to emphasize it.

“Oh, I like that that, hoodie, it's much shorter than saying light cloth coat with a hood and many pockets.” Tila took fake gasps at the end of the sentence. “Much more concise.”

An hour later Ember had finished having her measurements taken and received a small bag to carry all but the shorts and jacket back home. Those would have to be custom orders which meant she would need to return in three days to pick up the last two garments.

‘Jeeze… That was more than I expected it to cost. I guess the handmade shorts and jacket deserve the cost. I just hate that I'm broke again. Eight silver for everything. I can still afford food and I can always try for more bunny horns… it feels weird just thinking that.’ Ember thought to herself as she walked back home to Willow's house. ‘I should do something nice for Willow with the last of my first paycheck… pay sack… quest reward? Silver… yeah my last silver. Ooo! I know I'll make dinner tonight!’

As soon as Ember set foot in the house she made a beeline for the bathroom, stripping clothes off the whole way leaving her hoodie on the floor just inside the door, her pants in the living room, shirt in the hallway, and finally socks and underwear in front of the tub. ‘I may have been over excited…’ she thought to herself, as she started filling the tub water from the large vase in the corner.

‘If I remember correctly I just pour a little mana into the crystal on the side of the tub.’ She did so and the water in the tub began to warm. ‘Yesss, nice and hot.’

“Ahhhhh…” Ember let out a soft moan as she lowered herself into the tub, letting her body melt in the relaxing heat. “Oh I needed this. I didn't realize how sore hunting and smacking rabbits with a stick could make me.” After washing all the dirt, blood, and grime out of her hair and off her body she took a few minutes to review her skill upgrade from earlier today. She saw that it went up a level but never checked the details of what actually changed.

[Name: Ember Abiss

Title: None

Race:Human

Age:23

Level:1

Class: “Locked”

Affinities: Rot, Nature, Void

Lifeforce: 50

Mana: 60

ki: 50

Alacrity: 5

Acuity: 7

Vitality: 5

Vigor: 5

Tenacity: 8

Fortitude: 5

Active Skills: 0/5

Passive Skill: 0/5

Classless Skills:1/5

Rot Aura - lvl 2 ]

‘Metatron, what changed with the level up of rot aura?’ Ember thought to her system.

[Notice]

[Skill Rot Aura Has Reached Experience Threshold]

[Skill Rot Aura Level 1 > Rot Aura Level 2]

[Rot Aura Level 2: Passive - 1 point of rot damage per second per 10 mana generated above maximum mana capacity.

Active - 1 point of rot damage per second per 2 mana per second while casting.]

‘Can I get any more details about the skill?’

[Rot Aura - An Aura emitted from the user in a two meter circumference, when damage threshold\durability of target reaches 10% of maximum the target will begin to rot. Rotting begins from areas of high damage and spreads through undamaged areas. Rot Aura Encourages the natural process of decomposition in any affected materials. Examples: living tissue will decay, metals rust and tarnish,stone corrodes to sand]

‘Wait a second… Does that mean my mana is the cause of the rotting and rusting or does it fuel the processes by supercharging the bacteria or fungi doing the decomposition?’

[Rot Aura - An Aura emitted from the user in a two meter circumference, when damage threshold\durability of target reaches 10% of maximum the target will begin to rot. Rotting begins from areas of high damage and spreads through undamaged areas. Rot Aura Encourages the natural process of decomposition in any affected materials. Examples: living tissue will decay, metals rust and tarnish,stone corrodes to sand]

“...” Ember sat stunned in the tub. ‘Di… did you just sass me?’

“...”

‘Okay don't reply then. Can you at least tell me how close I am to leveling up?’ She asked hopefully.

[Ember Abiss, Classless, Level 1 60%]

[Rot Aura level 2 14% (Rot, Nature, Area, Damage Over Time, Acuity)]

"Awesome!” She exclaimed, fist pumping in the water. Causing it to splash out onto the floor. “Oops…” I'll clean up after. I can work with percentages, and I'm over halfway to level two. Sweetness!’ Ember Stretched out in the tub with a big smile on her face. ‘Six rabbits got me to sixty percent. Hey, Metatron, was each rabbit worth the same amount of experience?’

[Kills Log:

Jackalope lvl 1 - 5exp

Jackalope lvl 3 - 15 exp

Jackalope lvl 3 - 15

Jackalope lvl 1 - 5

Jackalope lvl 2 - 10

Jackalope lvl 2 - 10]

Ember’s eyes shot open wide as she jerked up to a sitting position. “I HAVE A KILL LOG!” She yelled, “What the fungus! I don't want to remember everything I have to kill to level up!” Her eyes grew wide as she came to a realization, ‘I hope it doesnt remember people…’

Ember climbed out of the tub with her mind racing mindlessly drying herself and brushing her hair out. “Just dont think about it Em, focus on the good things. I got sixty experience from the rabbits, four of which were higher level than me.” Ember said to herself, growing a little smug towards the end. She then dumped out the bag of clean clothes on a side table in the corner of the bathroom. ‘Let's see, I got new clothes too. Two simple shirts, one black and one a soft yellow, three sets of cute matchy undies, and some plain jute colored pants. Seriously, I love the pink and yellow paisley one, but the black with orange lace is really nice too… though a little spicy.’ She cocked her eyebrow up looking at the pants left sitting on the side after she put on her new black and orange underwear and black shirt. ‘I didn't order these pants but I really appreciate the thought. I didnt think about it after I paid for my shorts but they are still being created.

Ember finished getting dressed and made her way to the kitchen. She found a box with a magic crystal embedded in it for chilling items and started to search for anything she recognized a recipe for. ‘This is really weird’ She thought to herself while pulling out a large chicken leg, except the meat was a deep red like venison. ‘I knew legs were dark meat but this is taking it to a whole nother level.’

“What the?”

She pulled out a large roast sized chunk of meat, it was dark like beef but had an odd flakey texture like fish. ‘I think I'll just have to hope and try.’ she thought to herself as she placed the flakey beef roast on the counter top. She then turned to the pantry in hopes of normal looking veggies or drygoods. “Sweet!” she exclaimed in a whisper. “Potatoes! The perfect side for any dish. Ooh I know what I'm making. I just hope this beef? Tastes right in the end.’ She began to separate out a few potatoes from the sack, smaller ones to throw into the pot with the beef roast and a couple of larger ones for mashed potatoes and gravy. ‘When I get home I'll have to thank my mom again for teaching me granny’s homemade gravy recipe. I can't wait to share this with willow.’

As the food cooked and Ember waited for Willow’s return within the hour she contemplated how she would spend the next few days. She wanted to level herself up to the first trial and pick a class but she knew if she were to rush through the leveling speed her aura skill would probably lag behind. ‘Unless I team up with Thorn again and have him paralyze all of them. Then I could just stand beside the critter until my rot aura did its thing.’ Ember gave the gravy one last taste test before pulling everything from the stove to the dining table. On her second trip back from the kitchen she saw Willow had managed to sneak in without her hearing.

“Hello Willow! I wanted to do something for you since you have done so much for me. I know it's not a lot but this is my best attempt to recreate a favorite dish of mine that my mother taught me. I hope you enjoy it. Please make yourself comfortable while I finish bringing everything.”

“Thank you deary, but you don't owe me anything. Just having company has brought me more joy than you would think. But yes, I will sit and wait for your return. It truly smells immaculate, quite the heavy savory scent.” Willow replied with a gentle smile. Before sitting to wait.

Ember soon set two plates with roast beef?, stewed potatoes, and a nice little volcano of mashed potatoes and gravy. Ember's heartbeat increased with excitement as she watched Willow try a tentative taste of the mashed potatoes drenched with a slightly thick brown gravy. Willow’s eyes grew wide, “I have never tasted this combination before. This sauce, the gravy I believe you called it, is delectable.” She took another larger bite. “Thank you, this is perfect dear.”