Chapter 270: Nighttime Across Alexandria
Dave
Following the harvest, we had a quick meeting with the city council and decided to hold a festival in a week. Partially to give us time to go through everything we had managed to collect, but also so that I had time to get rid of Connie’s soul knot and recover enough to attend.
As for the world tree, Elody knew little herself. She knew about as much as Pryte on the topic, but promised to dig deep into the archives to see what she could find. With Karlinovo still at the Antarctic dungeon trying to fully determine what had happened, as he didn’t trust the world tree to be the only explanation, that left nothing else for me to do that day other than have a quiet dinner and get some sleep.
Surprisingly, I found Orglina, Red, Dean, Chip, Alpha, and the hoary marmot all camped out in my living room when I returned. “Not that you all aren’t welcome, but what’s going on?”
“Sleepover!” Alpha replied, with more excitement in their voice than I usually heard.
“Oh, well then, carry on. Chip, you’re in charge. I’m going to bed,” I said as I headed for my room. The hoary marmot squeaked loudly as I passed him.
It was the first time I had seen him actually come inside. Had the carrots had an effect on his growth, or was this just the natural progression? Either way, I was happy for the group, especially to see Alpha making friends like this. They had been the hardest hit by how empty the house was these days.
Those thoughts, of course, triggered others that I tried my best not to focus on. The perpetual worry for my family was always there. I was terrified I would lose them all. But Mel was with them, and I knew he would do everything he could to make sure that didn’t happen.
Tomorrow, I would get rid of the last soul knot. That would be another fear down. Once we had William back and everyone safe at home, I could sleep easy again. That hopeful future was where I centered my thoughts as I went to sleep. That future included the face of a smiling Elody.
Orglina
Orglina had a second motive for this sleepover. She wanted to play with her mana orb in a bit. Not the mean abilities, but the good ones. Red had suggested scary stories amongst friends.
She had learned from Dean, one of the Human kids at the school, that lots of kids on Earth had sleepovers and did that. Since it was Dean’s idea, she made sure to invite him. He was an orphan like her and didn’t even have any siblings. But he did have that cool little rat. She liked Bitey.
While Alpha made the popcorn, she checked over her anemoia mana orb again. She didn’t want to accidentally use the wrong abilities. Some of them were just downright cruel.
| Mana Orb |
| Anemoia (0) |
| -First Tier- |
| Vaguely Familiar (15) |
| Requirements: N/A |
| Vaguely Familiar fills the host with a sense of longing for something they have never seen, and yet can describe to near perfection. While this mana skill is active, all stories told by the host impart this same sense of longing on their listeners without the perfect recall. Further ranks increase the desire. |
| Sky Calls (15) |
| Requirements: Vaguely Familiar (5) |
| While active Sky Calls enhances Vaguely Familiar, giving the listeners a boost to the chances of success on their current activity, as long as that activity is somehow connected to what they are feeling from Vaguely Familiar. Further ranks increase the boost. |
| -Second Tier- |
| Invisible Strings (5) |
| Requirements: Vaguely Familiar (15) |
| Invisible Strings allows the host to alter the longing their audience is experiencing from Vaguely Familiar. While their main story is being told, they are able to split their focus and target another person, altering that story in a way that only the target can hear. Further ranks allow for more targets to be chosen at the same time. |
| So Far Away (5) |
| Lesser Mutation: Sky Calls (15) |
| The host may activate So Far Away to bring a crushing realization to the current targets of Sky Calls that their dreams can never be attained. While under this effect, the target’s abilities will all be weakened. Further ranks increase the mental blowback from the crushing realization. |
| -Third Tier- |
| Know the Way (0) |
| Requirements: Invisible Strings (25) Sky Calls (15) |
| Know the Way further enhances the effects of both Sky Calls and Invisible Strings while active, allowing the host to target specific activities per target to help boost the chance of success. Further ranks increase the chance of success. |
| Back There (0) |
| Requirements: So Far Away (15) |
| Back There allows the host to further amplify the effects of So Far Away. They must choose a target already under the effects of So Far Away. This will allow the host to further demoralize the target by flooding their mind with images of their lost childhood, juxtaposing those unrealistic dreams of a child against their current failures amplified by So Far Away. Further ranks increase the number of targets that may be affected at the same time. |