Grimoire

As Espoir and Aria rushed along the gravel path, a somber thought weighed on the swordswoman's mind. “You can save them, right?” she asked Espoir. “What happens if we’re too late?”

Espoir’s eyes darkened as he considered her question. “It’s hard to say. Like a grimoire, I think as long as the girl still retains her sense of self and it hasn’t been too long, I should be able to separate them. But if the host loses control, or worse, tries to draw from the Eldritch, it could corrupt her. At that point, I won’t be able to seal it.” An unspoken tension filled the air as Espoir finished speaking. They both knew that if they didn’t hurry, the night could end in tragedy.

“We need to get there before the military,” Aria said quietly. Their job was to kill the monster, nothing more. People like them wouldn’t even consider the possibility that the monster was still human inside. They would prioritize killing either the monster or Sophie if she got in the way. Espoir gave Aria a reassuring smile. “It’ll be fine. I know we’ll reach them in time.”

Aria looked at Espoir and saw that, despite his earlier uncertainty, he was determined to save them. “Understood,” she replied.

“It’s so pretty!” Sophie exclaimed as she and Rachel entered a spacious cavern. All around them, a stunning array of multicolored chroma crystals jutted from the walls. Even without a light source, the natural glow of the crystals was enough to illuminate the area. Long stalactites hung from the ceiling as the two girls sat down. “I wish I had my sketchbook to draw this place,” Sophie frowned. She had dropped it when they escaped from Mother Lynda.

“Sophie… do you think they’ll come looking for you?” Rachel asked softly. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were in danger. Sophie thought for a moment, then grinned. “I doubt it. But if they do, I know you'll keep me safe.” Rachel’s many eyes lowered at her comment. Sophie was right. Rachel wasn’t going to let anything happen to her best friend.

As Espoir and Aria raced toward the mine, two guards standing on the road raised their hands to stop them. “This area is off-limits. It’s not safe for you.”

“We know you’re after the monster. Step aside,” Espoir commanded. The guards looked at them for a moment before blocking the path with their weapons. “If you know, then you’ll understand that this is out of our hands.”

As Aria gripped the hilt of her sword, Espoir sighed in frustration. “I don’t have time for this.” In a blur of motion, he charged at one of the guards. The guard lowered his halberd to defend himself while raising his shield defensively. A bronze-colored symbol 🜃 appeared on the back of Espoir’s hand, and his fist resembled the same metal as the blade. Using the blade of the halberd, the guard swung at Espoir. As the two collided, the halberd shattered, much to the guard’s shock.

“Spark.” In an instant, the earth symbol on Espoir's hand changed to a yellow lightning bolt 🗲 on the back of his other hand. Placing his palm on his chest, a jolt of electricity surged into the guard, causing him to scream in pain before collapsing onto the dirt path.

As the second guard rushed to help his partner, Aria activated her aura, causing her sword to glow a bright cyan. The guard swung an overhead strike with his halberd, but Aria swiftly sliced through the weapon’s pole with ease. Before he could react, she delivered a precise kick to the guard’s exposed neck, knocking him off balance. Espoir followed up by placing his hand on the metal chest plate. Using his Spell once again, the remaining guard cried out in pain before collapsing.

Espoir crouched down, checking the guards’ pulses to confirm they were still alive. “We must be close if they’re stationed here,”

As Espoir and Aria ascended the hillside path, they reached a landing where the mine entrance lay. It looked exactly as it had been drawn in the sketchbook. Standing outside the entrance, James Blackthorn smoked a cigarette, watching the two with interest. “Bit late for a stroll…” he joked, flicking his cigarette to the ground. He grinned, clearly aware they were responsible for the guards' screams just moments ago. “But I assume you’re here for a different reason.”

“You’re the ones dispatched to deal with the ‘monster,’” Espoir said, narrowing his eyes at the mine entrance. The military decals on James’ uniform marked him as a ranked mage from Albion, a member of the Mage Corps.

“Aye, of course. There’s a reward from the locals I hear, I assume that’s why you two are here.” James eyed the duo, trying to get a read on them. The hooded girl was obviously a swordswoman, and the boy seemed to be the one leading. Feeling James’ gaze on them, Espoir stepped forward, his eyes determined as he focused on entering the mine.

“What about the girl that’s with the ‘monster’? How does the military plan to deal with her?” Espoir asked, his voice low. James hummed before smiling nonchalantly. “If she’s smart, she’ll get out of the way. Our job is to hunt the monster; if there’s some... collateral damage, so be it.”

“Collateral damage?!” Espoir’s red eyes widened in anger, shocked that they could dismiss killing someone so easily. Before he could continue, Aria put her arm in front of him. “There’s no use trying to reason with someone like him. Go and save them. I’ll deal with the mage.” Espoir’s anger waned as he remembered their mission.

James ran a hand through his dyed-blonde hair. “What a pain; I went from fighting the strongest to battling weaklings in the middle of nowhere.” He clapped his hands together, his eyes narrowing as he prepared to block their path.

Pulling out his pistol, Espoir aimed at the corner of the mine entrance. As the gunshot echoed through the area, a small spark from the bullet appeared beside James’ head. Using the sound as a distraction, Espoir rushed toward the entrance just as James recovered. Noticing his plan, the soldier tried to intercept him. Before he could grab Espoir, Aria swung her sword at him, forcing him to dodge. Sliding to the side of the entrance, the moon’s glow illuminated the two soldiers as Espoir made it past James.

Aria eyed the man as she readied her sword. “I’m only asking you this once,” she said, her tone deadly serious as she leveled her blade. “Seeing as you’re with the Mage Corps. Did you serve in the war?” Her hood and bangs obscured her features as she waited for his response, Aria's voice edged with the sense that she already knew the answer and only sought confirmation.

James eyed the swordswoman, caught off guard by her question. A cruel smirk spread across his lips; he knew only one type of person would ask such a thing. “Aye, I did... It was a LOT of fun too.” A small laugh escaped James as he began circling Aria.

“Fun...”

James laughed again, spreading his arms wide. “Of course! The best part was the women.” He grinned. “See, of all the ones I’ve been with, Easennian women are the gold standard. Not just their looks. No... They fuck the best!” A cruel smile twisted on James' face as Aria silently listened, aware his words would affect her. “Especially the ones we had custody over. They do it like their lives depend on it... though I suppose they did.” He chuckled again slightly.

Aria pulled down her hood, closing her eyes as a shallow laugh escaped her. James Blackthorn watched her with a hint of curiosity. He assumed she was from Easenna, given her question.

“Don’t misunderstand. I’m only laughing at myself,” Aria said simply. “After all this time, I forgot.” I’ve been shown so much kindness and generosity in these lands that I had somehow forgotten... “Yes, I forgot how much I truly HATE you people.” Aria’s green eyes burned with a bright glow, her rage radiating through her aura. There was an eerie calmness about her, as if the rage had always been simmering beneath the surface all this time.

“To treat my countrymen, living, breathing beings, as nothing more than game for you to hunt. Treating us as something to lay claim to, something to violate on a whim. The fact that your country can decide that another person’s life is no longer deemed human, despite them bordering you, living like you. I hate all of it!” Aria raised her sword, her knuckles whitening around the hilt. “You speak of the Easennian people you killed and pillaged as nothing more than prey for you and your ilk to hunt. Very well.

Tonight I will be the one hunting you.”

As Espoir ran through the mines, his eyes glowed with a faint light, allowing him to see in the darkness. I won’t let a tragedy happen… Not now, not again. As he turned a corner, a woman with dark green hair spotted him. Drawing her sidearm, she fired without hesitation.

Shit! Espoir raised his hand, his earth spell activating in time causing the bullet to crush on impact. “Don’t move,” she ordered, holding him at gunpoint. “James should’ve stopped you. The fact that you’re here means either you defeated him or you aren't alone,” Eliza said, her eyes analyzing the intruder before her.

“I’m here to save both the girl and the one you call a monster,” Espoir replied, raising his hands in surrender. “The ‘monster’ isn’t a monster!”

Eliza’s expression wavered in confusion. “It took a child. How the hell could it be anything except that?”

“What Eldritch takes children?” Espoir asked, hoping she could be reasoned with. If she’s a mage, then she knows this behavior doesn’t match what we know of Eldritch. She must see it’s a unique case!

Eliza’s eyes flickered with uncertainty for a moment before she steadied her gun. “Who can say it isn’t? Eldritch aren’t consistent. More importantly, who are you to barge into an active military zone and preach about things you can’t possibly know?”

“I’m a traveling mage who specializes in these sorts of things.” Eliza fired a shot near his head causing Espoir to take a step back. “Enough. I don’t know how you got in, but this doesn’t concern you.”

Espoir began to realize he couldn’t reason with the military. Even if she believed him, this woman would follow her orders. “If the girl the Eldritch ‘took’ doesn’t comply, are you really content with killing her?”

Eliza’s eyes widened at his question. Stunned, she hesitated, giving Espoir the opening he needed. He swiftly disarmed her, crushing the gun in his hand. Eliza tried to stab him with a knife, but Espoir elbowed her in the wrist before grabbing it. Flipping her to the ground, he struck her quickly in the stomach with enough force to knock her out.

“To think someone’s interfering with military business.” A man with spiky black-purple hair approached. His white-blue mask covered the lower half of his face as he carried a swirling ball of green gas in his hand. “I guess Eliza was too weak to handle an intruder. How typical.”

Rather than waste time trying to talk, Espoir activated [Accelerate], glowing in a lime green aura. Drawing his dagger, he moved to disarm the man, but his blade passed right through him, leaving a trail of gas in its wake. His ability lets him turn into gas? Before Espoir could analyze further, he felt something grip his throat tightly. Desperate, he threw his knife, but it passed through the man again, bouncing uselessly along the mineshaft. The grip around his throat tightened.

I need to act quickly. Swiping his middle and index fingers upward, a green triangle symbol 🜁 appeared on his hand. In an instant, a small gust of wind knocked the man back, and the pressure around Espoir’s neck vanished.

Coughing, Espoir narrowed his eyes at his opponent. My wind magic seems best suited for this. Just as he prepared to chase him, the man vanished completely. Espoir looked around but realized he was alone. He couldn’t have gone far.

Before he could move, something constricted around his neck again, and this time, his arms were also pinned. Espoir felt sharp pressure breaking the skin around his throat. His eyes darted around the dimly lit mine until he spotted a figure near the unconscious woman. So he can dematerialize and rematerialize, as well as detach himself? Wait... gases. He’s still likely affected by the fundamental principles of gas!

Espoir felt his neck starting to bleed as the man tried to tear it off. Acting quickly, he manifested a second symbol on his hand; a blue triangle 🜄 overlapped his wind symbol. “Advanced Spell: Cyan Winter.” A twin spiral of water and wind launched at the man. This time, instead of vanishing, he took the full impact of the spell. The spirals collided, freezing part of his body where his missing arm had been, a patch of ice formed in the outline of an arm. Around Espoir’s neck, the gas solidified into the outline of a hand. With a quick strike, Espoir smashed it with his fist, coughing again as the man across from him began to bleed from his now-injured hand.

“That’s your ability…” Espoir rubbed his throat, recovering slightly. “You can turn your body into gas and send your body parts out. But you can’t fully disappear and use that distance ability at the same time,” Espoir deduced, having figured out Charles’ power.

“What of it?” Charles winced, trying to vanish again, but his eyes widened in shock when his ability didn’t activate as quickly. “What?!”

Espoir pressed his hand against Charles’ still-solid chest, creating a patch of ice over it. His light-grey aura coated his fist before he punched Charles in the chest. The force made Charles cough up blood as the ice around him cracked.

“Gas slows down when it’s cold. How do you have an ability and not know how it works?” Espoir questioned, stepping toward him. There was a flicker of worry on Charles’ face as Espoir looked down at him and Eliza. Sensing the silent judgment, Espoir decided to reassure him.

“I’m not going to kill you. My job is to save the ‘monster’ you’re hunting. As long as you stay out of my way, I won’t bother you or your friend.”

“Save?” Charles repeated, shocked by Espoir’s words. “How could you possibly be here to save a monster?”

Espoir gave a small smile as he walked away, adjusting his coat while heading toward the cavern. As he tried to think of a response, his thoughts were interrupted, his eyes widening in mild frustration. He now realized he’d need to replace his dagger. “Damn it… I liked that knife too.”

Upon reaching a spacious cavern, Espoir’s eyes widened. Under normal circumstances, he would have paused to admire its beauty. Large chroma crystals illuminated the cave with a multi-colored glow. Various crystals jutted out from the ground, while stalactites hung from the ceiling above. The area had been used as an in-mountain quarry, with a main section dropping off into smaller strip mines.

“Stay back!” someone yelled. Espoir turned to see a girl with chestnut-brown hair and tea-red eyes glaring at him, wearing an orange hard hat and gripping a pickaxe tightly. “I won’t let you hurt her!” She swung the pickaxe, but Espoir effortlessly dodged the blow.

“Calm down. By ‘her,’ do you mean the one they call a monster?”

The girl, Sophie, growled in anger. “Rachel's not a monster!”

“I know. That’s why I’m here.” Espoir offered a gentle, reassuring smile and crouched down to meet Sophie at eye level. He could see the fear etched on her face. She must think I’m here to hurt her friend. “I’m a traveling magician who specializes in helping people like her. Call me Espoir.” Sophie hesitated but seemed to relax as she studied his expression. Slowly, she pointed toward a tipped-over railway car.

“Rachel! This man says he’s here to help!”

From behind the car, a girl with matted blonde hair crawled out. Her dress and skin were darkened from long exposure to the wilderness. The most striking feature, however, was her face. It was distorted, like a mixture of burnt flesh and aged leather. It was unnaturally white and constantly shifting between a human visage and something far more unnatural. Despite the unsettling appearance, Espoir remained unfazed. Whatever’s inside her has likely been there too long. I need to seal it quickly, Espoir thought to himself.

“How can you help me? I’m a monster!” Her voice trembled, and her body shook with fear. Despite her monstrous appearance, Espoir could see the sadness beneath it all, the weight of everything this poor girl had endured etched into her features.

“You're not a monster. You’ve just encountered something unfortunate… something beyond your control. You’ve been wronged, and I intend to correct that.” Espoir stepped forward with calm determination. Steeling himself, he extended his hand outward. “Appear! My Grimoire between light and darkness!” As he spoke, his black-covered grimoire materialized in his hand, its pages resembling a starry night sky. As he prepared to fix everything, Espoir realized he had made a crucial mistake.

Before he could use the Silver Grimoire to seal the Eldritch, Rachel lunged forward. Her glowing purple eyes gleamed with an otherworldly intensity, and a gaping maw formed in her face, an unfathomable abyss lined with a chaotic array of jagged, human and animal teeth, each one grotesquely elongated and stained with a darkness that seemed to writhe and pulse. As Rachel rushed at him, threatening to engulf him whole, Espoir's eyes widened in shock.

Right. Eldritch react to my grimoire. It hadn’t once occurred to me... the Silver Grimoire could accelerate the Eldritch’s grip on her. WHY THE FUCK DIDN’T I REMEMBER THAT!?

Espoir barely avoided dying to the Eldritch. In the process, he lost his left arm. Sophie’s eyes widened in horror as blood splattered across the cavern. “Stay back!” Espoir yelled, shoving Sophie away with his remaining arm. Still clutching the Silver Grimoire, his hand shook as the pain of his severed arm radiated through him. “Damn it! Vermeil Spark!” His lightning symbol 🗲 reappeared as he aimed to shoot a low-powered volt at Rachel using the Silver Grimoire. Arcs of multicolored electricity shot from the grimoire before a single bolt of indigo struck Rachel. Smoke filled the area as the blast collided with her, but she simply brushed it off, her fury unabated as she lunged at him with claw-like hands.

Dematerializing his book, Espoir attempted to grab her arm. As her claws pierced his flesh, he maintained a firm grip. “Rachel! The thing inside you still needs you to exist. I know you aren’t gone yet. If you give me even the slightest opening, this will all be over!” He hoped to weaken the Eldritch’s hold over her.

Just then, Rachel slammed her fist into his stomach, sending Espoir crashing into a nearby crystal. “Fuck.” He felt a trickle of blood running down his forehead and lips. Rematerializing the Silver Grimoire, he focused on healing the area where his arm had been bitten off. As he looked at his newly formed palm, he quickly clenched it in determination. He was so close to saving her. I just need one opening.

Sophie watched the standoff between Espoir and Rachel, her heart pounding. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “Rachel, please…” She knew that the creature attacking them wasn’t her friend. It may have looked like her, but Rachel would never try to hurt anyone.

As Espoir began to return to the center of the cavern, he focused on finding an opening. His eyes remained fixed on the Eldritch when he suddenly heard something in the distance. A bone-chilling command:

“Take the shot.”

Looking toward the entrance, he saw the two mages he had defeated crouched on the floor. In the hands of the green-haired woman was a high-powered rifle. Espoir's eyes widened in horror as he realized that Rachel wasn’t the target... “Get down!” he shouted, rushing toward Sophie. Just as he reached her, the unmistakable crack of the rifle echoed through the mine, resonating off the cavern walls like thunder.

BANG!!!

Sophie’s eyes widened in horror as the innocent-looking girl fell back to the cavern floor, blood splattering across the rocks. The crystals surrounding her were stained with crimson, a stark contrast to their vibrant hues, while the girl's expression became etched into the cavern’s memory.

Charles Dunwall

Albion Mage Rank: D

Spell Art: Sublimation State

This ability lets its user transform his limbs into a gaseous state. The user's mass over his detached limbs is entirely based around his body as a whole. He must have a part of him completely solid to remotely interact with objects. If he’s more gas then solid his limbs become intangible for a time. All damage he takes when his limbs are partially formed still connect and aura can be used to interact with his gaseous state.

Espoir

Advanced Spell: Cyan Winter

Using his wind and water spells, Espoir can create ice at a point of contact between the two spells met