Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]
3.47 The Glyph of [Reflect] I

I wake up early on Friday to the sound of my phone buzzing. Chloe’s still asleep, and thankfully wasn’t awoken by the muffled sound, but I still find it odd. I very rarely receive texts from anyone anymore, and certainly not at half past six in the morning. Partially irate and mostly perplexed by who would be trying to contact me so early, I slip around Chloe’s embrace and check the message.

My phone buzzes again in my hand, and I see the following pair of messages.

(Lindsey: 6:28 AM): Hey, Seraphina, I apologize for forgetting to tell you this sooner, but Tuesday’s a holiday, and Stefan wants me to go with him and his family to the fireworks celebration. Wish me luck!

(Lindsey: 6:31 AM): Also, I wanted to let you know that Stefan and I did a little dungeon excursion over on the northside of Red Clay City yesterday. It wasn’t a particularly high-level dungeon, so we didn’t even manage to gain a full level during our trip. <(‘៱‘) We did find an interesting mirror, and I wanted to send you some pics of something that looks like a glyph array. Maybe it’ll be useful to you. Anyway, let me know if you want us to come back in two weeks, or maybe next weekend?

Before I can respond, Chloe wakes up with a cute groan and a long stretch. “Who was that?” she messages me as she twists her waist and pops her back.

“Lindsey. Said she had to cancel our dungeon crawling plans because of the holiday on Tuesday. Also she’s got a date with Stefan and is meeting the parents.”

“Huh. Guess you’ve known my parents for a dozen years, so, I think we did that a bit out of order.”

Hearing the mention of parents in that context causes a dam of emotions to burst forth, long suppressed, but always there, always building. A part of me feels I ought not to, but right here, right now, I decide it’s as good of a time as any. I dive back into bed and give Chloe a big hug with both hands, allowing myself to be emotionally and physically vulnerable for the first time in a very long time.

My eyes grow watery, knowing that Mom never did get a chance to learn that the two of us were together. And, I guess I never really did take time to grieve her passing. I’ve always been too busy, too focused on immediate tasks. But right now, right here, with Chloe, I begin to cry. And I allow myself to do so without judgement.

Chloe accepts me, as she always does. Her arms rub my back as she pulls me closer, letting me sink fully into her embrace. And now more than ever, I am so, so thankful to have her, to be part of her life, to have been chosen to be her partner, joined together by choice and further solidified through our [Angelic Bond]

“I’m here for you, Sera. I’m always here for you. I’ll always be here for you.”

We stay like that for a good while. Her scent and the feel of her hands on my cheek and the warmth of her breath and the quiet strength of her steady heartbeat all calm me, ground me, give me comfort and something to buttress me as I let my emotions out. Throughout the whole of it, we don’t speak. We don’t even use our telepathy. The raw emotions, amplified through the passive effect of [Angelic Bond], tell each other all we need to know.

“Thanks, Chloe,” I say. Not feeling a hundred percent, but better. A lot better.

She pulls back to reorient herself, our faces across from one another, our eyes transfixed in each other’s gazes. And then she kisses me.

“We kissed before we started dating, too.” I message. “Another thing we did out of order.”

“We also moved in together before we even started dating.”

I start laughing. “I think I’m beginning to understand some of the stereotypes I’ve seen online about lesbians.”

“Like how we bring a U-Haul to the second date?”

“Well, I think we brought your mother’s SUV, and well before the first date. But yes.”

Chloe starts laughing. “Better my mother’s SUV than your overcosted piece of junk!”

“Overcosted?”

“I’m pretty sure that clunker wasn't even worth its scrap value.” She glares at me. “I suppose that we don’t have to worry about getting you a new one, now that you can fly people around.”

“I wonder if I should have one for if there’s ever a situation where I need to travel with a large group of people.”

“You know, that reminds me. We never did get my car out of the shop. Wonder if they’ve sent it to the pound already.”

“Hopefully not.”

“Anyway,” I say. “Have you thought about what you want to do regarding Lindsey’s message?”

“I guess I forgot that Tuesday was the Fourth of July as well. Do you want to see if Alana and Jasmine are available on Monday? They might still be interested.”

“Do you have their numbers?”

“Yeah, I’ll shoot ‘em a text.”

I go ahead and respond back to Lindsey.

(Seraphina: 7:46 AM): Hey, we’re going to ask Alana if she and Jasmine are interested in going on Monday. Good luck with your fireworks date on Tuesday! :D

(Lindsey: 7:47 AM): Thanks for the good luck! If Stefan or I see any more glyphs or other Ethertech that might be of potential research interest, you’ll be the first to know.

After a brief breakfast of scrambled eggs and some bacon that was only a day or two away from its ‘best by’ date, it’s finally time to get to work with this new glyph that Lindsey sent. I was expecting it to be difficult to piece together— even these fancy ten and twelve megapixel cameras don’t come close to matching the visual acuity my eyes can currently perceive. However, thanks to [Archangel’s Gaze], I’m able to rather easily piece together the structure of the glyph.

[Your [Archangel’s Gaze (Rank VII)] has upgraded to [Archangel’s Gaze (Rank VIII)].]

It’s a pretty complex arrangement too— matching that of the elemental barrier glyph structures, but thankfully not that of [Gravity]. It contains the [Light] glyph, much as [Luminous Barrier] does, which makes sense. If this is related to the function of mirrors, it ought to be able to manipulate light. But it also contains [Repulsion], which is odd. It looks like it should have a similar function to [Luminous Barrier], but the remainder of the glyph is constructed entirely differently.

I trace out what I do know— the act of doing so helps center my mind, and the muscle memory helps jog my brain and perhaps knock loose key pieces of information that might be hiding in the back of my mind. And it seems like… No, it’s not quite that the linking runes are inverted, but they are arranged in a manner not too far from that analogue.

So then… If [Luminous Barrier] uses light as a means to push an object (or attack) away from its user, then this glyph is using something to… repel light? That would make sense for a mirror. But then, what am I missing? How is this pushing light, and what is the end outcome? The obvious answer is that this is some sort of [Reflect] glyph, but I dare not assume it works the way intuition suggests it ought to.

I turn to Chloe. I glance at my left arm. I know what happens when I get too careless with [Glyphcasting]. The power is there. The general principles are known. It is undeniably my path to power, along with mastering my latent power as 「The Anomaly」. If, indeed, those two are not one and the same. But it is one rife with inherent danger, danger which I must mitigate to the fullest extent possible through study, research, and plenty of practice. Outside of dangerous situations where I must fight for my life, if at all possible.

At the same time, it is far easier to gain Skill ranks in the throes of the most dangerous battles. A tradeoff, and one rife with complexities and sometimes contradictions. I do hold, despite this, that having as much theoretical knowledge as possible is ideal. And for this reason, I continue my study of the new glyph throughout the remainder of the morning and into the afternoon.

Four hours pass, and I’m roused from my entranced studies by the smell of freshly-chopped watermelon and the sizzle of bacon on the griddle. A plate, containing the aforementioned fruit and a BLT, is slipped right next to my notebook, as my beautiful girlfriend takes the seat across from me.

“Lunchtime, love,” she says.

I take a bite; it’s absolutely delicious. The best meals are always those prepared with love, and I can certainly taste the love in the mayonnaise— store-bought, not handmade— and the heirloom tomatoes and the crisp, crunchy romaine lettuce. Although I’m curious about something.

“Did you go get the watermelon yourself?” I ask as I chew. “I didn’t remember there being any watermelon in the refrigerator this morning.”

“Yeah, I slipped out this morning. I saw there was a farmer’s market a couple miles away. You were busy and I didn’t want to disturb you, so I slipped a couple of twenties out of your wallet and headed out there maybe an hour ago.”

My first instinct is to be angry with Chloe. Not because of what she did— she is her own person and is entitled to her autonomy. We’re bonded partners, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t free to do what she wishes. Although usually what she wishes is to spend time with me. I realize that the reason I’m tempted to be angry is because of worry for her well-being. The possibility that she could get hurt, that there could be an attack, and that I wouldn’t be able to protect her.

This is… not a good reason to be angry. It’s most especially not a good reason to be angry at Chloe, who did absolutely nothing wrong— wanting to surprise me with a home-cooked meal for lunch while I study this new glyph. Nor is her taking a few bucks from me a good reason; even though the half-million dollar check was made out to me, it’s money she earned as much as I did.

I mentally recenter myself as I finish chewing. “It’s delicious,” I say. “Thank you very much for the delicious meal.”

“I thought you were going to be mad for a second. I felt a bit of anger.”

“Just, always going to be worried about you whenever you and I aren’t together. But I realize that that’s not a good reason to be angry, especially not at you, so I acknowledged the feeling and set it aside.”

Chloe smiles. “Thanks, love. By the way, how’s the research into that glyph going?”

“I’m making some good progress. This is definitely a glyph of [Reflect]— I figured that out nearly an hour ago. It should create a panel that reflects light— if my preliminary assessments are correct, it should similarly reflect beams and rays as well. But I just can’t figure out the exact function of some of these runes. And I don’t want to assume I know how they work either. Because it might not just be an errant bolt of lightning next time if I screw it up.”

“Want me to text Lindsey? Ask her to [Identify] the mirror? Make sure it does what you think it does?”

I stare blankly for a second. Such a simple solution. It takes all my mental effort not to facepalm at such a harebrained oversight. I nod in approval.

A few minutes later, as we are finishing up our meal, Chloe’s phone buzzes. She unlocks it and flips the screen around for me, which I read through my [Archangel’s Gaze] while downing the last bite.

(Chloe: 12:27 PM): Can you [Identify] the mirror you mentioned to Seraphina and let us know what it says? Sera’s getting close to deciphering the glyph, but she’s missing a bit of context and wants to be sure.

(Lindsey: 12:32 PM): Sorry! I didn’t even think to do so, either! Here you go!

[[Thrice-Polished Mirror]: This shining, silver mirror has been polished to absolute perfection. [Defense] +12, [Agility] + 40. In addition to serving as a medium-type shield, this enchanted equipment has special properties that concentrate and [Reflect] damage with the Light-element property back at its attacker. (Damage reflected to an attacker that [Reflects] or [Absorbs] Light-element damage is instead [Nullified].)]

(Chloe: 12:34 PM): It’s Sera using Chloe’s phone. Thanks for that! That’s exactly what I needed to know!

With that knowledge in hand, I eagerly get back to work; there’s so much to be done, and I need to be as ready as possible before we head back into the Tower.