Shadow Clone Sorcery
Chapter 23: The Smith And The Ritualist (2)

Lukas helped Penelope set up the ritual. They were in the research center near the city’s center, where she regularly disappeared for several hours every day. Usually, a clone followed her and waited outside in case she needed porter services. This time, Lukas personally accompanied her.

Unlike with the city guard, security at the building stopped the woman and checked her luggage. They also questioned Lukas’s presence, and they had to spend a quarter of an hour getting him access and approval. It was the first time he saw Penelope genuinely lose patience when she chewed out the man in charge. They almost broke into a full-on argument until the research center’s head appeared and calmed things down.

A good deal of people in the building appeared to resent her. Lukas understood. Most appeared to have dedicated a good part of their life, if not most of it, to arcane research, many working in the same field as Penelope’s research. It was likely they believed that they could do better than her or deserved the opportunity. Lukas guessed none had a draconic bloodline or her personal experience. The organization she served, some sort of conclave of sorcerers, apparently held a good deal of influence and respect across several states around Fracture.

In the end, Lukas got access, and she guided him into the basement, where Penelope conducted her analyses. The cubes of frozen flesh went in heavy jars full of clear, viscous fluid. She dispelled the spell, and their color and texture immediately changed. Next, Penelope drew a detailed ritual circle with magic. Scars covered the floor, showing signs of lacerations, burns, and old spells. It seemed someone had smoothed the stone over but didn’t seem to have done a good job.

Meanwhile, Lukas identified several samples for her and wrote down what the journal had to say about them. Six out of thirteen carried the ‘mutated’ tag. Penelope had him mark the rest for disposal.

“I’ll be putting up a public job for healthy, non-mutated samples of them,” Penelope said. “If you were stronger, I’d send you down for them. But you’re both tier one, and Elvis just has the one shard—”

“Hopefully, not for long,” Lukas interrupted.

“Yes, not for long, but two tier-one abilities aren’t going to cut it. I’ll ensure no one without at least one tier-three ability can take the job. I don’t want people needlessly dying because the pay is high.”

“Then keep it low and leave an ambiguous ‘bonuses available’ in the description. More than half the jobs on the board do it.”

“And do people like it?” Penelope asked. “That would annoy the hell out of me.”

“Elvis and I haven’t taken on any jobs yet. We had plans to go down at least once before yesterday, but the smithy needed him, and I threw myself into picking up whatever magic I could.”

“And it paid off.” Penelope nodded toward the nearby table. Chalk, a pestle and mortar, and a simple knife sat atop it. “I need a few drops of blood. Then, crush and mix chalk into it.”

Lukas did as instructed. “Is it needed to help me form a bond with the shard?”

“No such thing. The ritual requires blood, and this is for your benefit. So, we might as well use yours.”

Even though she claimed to have done it before, Penelope needed to dig out an old journal for reference. She used a paintbrush to add runes to the spell circle, using the chalk-blood mixture as ink. Lukas held it for her, and they double and triple-checked everything multiple times. It was a slow and mundane affair. The need for special ink demanded everything be done by hand. At the same time, all the runes and syntax needed to be perfect.

A giant equilateral triangle sat within the circle. Its corners stretched over the edge. Smaller circles sat within them, right where the circle would’ve intersected the triangle. Penelope had Lukas place the essences and cracked shard within them.

“Are you sure you don’t want to use the Essence of Shadow?” Penelope asked again. “Given your soul ability, something that grants you stealth in the Body or Heart Pillar would make your life significantly easier.”

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Lukas nodded, placing the Essence of Phasing in one circle and the Essence of Change in the next. “I’d rather have speed and agility over stealth.” Arcane Clone already gave him enough means to trick and get around opponents. “I can always use Essence of Shadow when ascending the ability to a future tier.”

“It’s worth noting that only ascension to the second tier comes with significant changes. You want to use future essences to enhance what the pillar can already do instead of adding more functions. Potency trumps versatility.”

“I understand. Nine abilities are more than enough. Any more, and it's like having too many different arrows in your quiver, and you end up not using half of them. Better to master the few and make the most out of them.”

“Precisely.” Penelope smiled, nodding. “If you have glaring weaknesses, it’s better to learn magic or commission enchantment equipment to cover them.” She took a step back and studied the spell circle again. “You want Essence of Phasing to play the primary role here. Not Essence of Change. Right?”

Lukas nodded.

“Then swap them around.”

“Got it.” He did as instructed and placed the cracked shard in the third circle. Meanwhile, Penelope placed the hollow shard in the square at the center of the ritual. He thought everything over one last time. “We had a look through the markets. It all looks good. Let’s do it.”

“I hope you understand there is no going back once we get started,” Penelope stated, kneeling at one of the triangle’s points.

“I understand.”

“Sit there.” She pointed at the point with the Essence of Phasing. Bass sat behind the Essence of Change. Her staff lay across her lap, the wisps within smaller than the day before. The sorcerer started once Lukas was in position.

All the lights in the room darkened, and the azure wisp flared. Its color bled into the ritual circle, spreading from where Penelope sat. Lukas had hoped to ‘borrow’ the journal containing the ritual’s details, but now he couldn’t help but wonder if it was magic that specifically required draconic lineage. If so, he had no hopes of replicating it, even if his magical prowess significantly improved.

The essences and cracked shard started to vibrate once the entire ritual circle lit up. As luminosity increased, they floated off the floated, all rotating rapidly. One by one, their outer surfaces started to melt. It started with the Essence of Change. The outside liquified, and a twisting beam tendril of light connected the ever-shifting mass at its center to the hollow shard. It, too, started to shake violently, rotating on its side.

It was the Essence of Phasing’s turn next. The exterior dissolved, and a beam shot from the black core to the hollow shard. Its black center looked like a viewing slit into the abyss that one of Lukas’s clones once had the misfortune of encountering. If Minarv of the Court of Owls hadn’t purged most of the memory, Lukas was sure it would’ve eventually driven him mad. He only remembered to look the other way if any such phenomena appeared again. Black-tinted glass seemed to surround the line, and the outermost edges were transparent. Light refracted, passing through it, making the world on the other side appear twisted and warped.

Finally, the cracked shard acted. Its contents leaked out of the cracks and flowed like water through a vacuum, connecting to the ritual circle’s center. Finally, the hollow shard took the air. It spun on the vertical axis, and the three beams slowly bled into it, mixing and twisting within.

The three individual presences seemed in conflict, trying to overwhelm, consume, and repel each other simultaneously. They all seemed to want the central spot. In the blink of an eye, three became two. The Essence of Change dissolved, its ever-shifting contents disappearing. The beam connecting the triangle corner to the center turned solid white. Meanwhile, the hollow shard gained luminosity, glowing almost as bright as the Shard of Duplication.

The remaining presences seemed to strike a harmony, the cracked shard’s fluid contents turned black and tar-like. It wasn’t as dark as the Essence of Phasing’s core, but close. The damaged shard dissolved altogether, and its exterior traveled along the now-white beam before merging with the hollow shard.

Arcane lights dimmed. All the reagents disappeared. Only the new forearm-sized shard remained, floating in the ritual circle’s center.

“Take it,” Penelope said, sounding drained. “Inspect it. Tell me what we created.”

“Shard of Fluid Mass,” Lukas read from the journal. “Interesting abilities. It gives—”

“I don’t need to know. Go back to the inn. Use it.”

“I could do it right here, and we can continue with work. It’s no troub—”

“I don’t know how it was for the Soul Pillar, but awakenings can be taxing, especially for the Body and Heart Pillars. It will hurt, knock you out, and you might expel waste—not the usual kind either.” Penelope wiped the sweat from her brow. Bass sat down behind her, enlarging himself to the size of a Saint Bernard. She leaned against him. “Return to the inn. Maybe get in the bath. We’ll talk later.”