Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 58: Enchanting

In his left hand, the pale gemstone pulsed with inner light softly, the energy inside it calling to him. The calling was not with words, but with a resonance, like a note vibrating in harmony with his spirit.

“All right,” he said aloud, “show me how this works.”

“You’ll want to prepare the surface first,” Obby’s voice hummed in his mind, but it sounded as though it came from somewhere near his left shoulder. It was something new Obby was doing that unsettled Alex. The consciousness in the little rock was still invisible but yet ever-present in the back of his thoughts. “Then use the parchment to transfer a minor binding glyph. The pattern’s simple enough. Even your shaky hands should manage.”

He pulled out a small scrap of parchment from his pack and quickly sketched the glyph Obby had projected into his vision. It looked like two concentric spirals interlinked by sharp branching lines, somewhere between a circuit diagram and ancient arcane runes.

He reached over to position the bracer’s leather surface and gently pressed the parchment against it. The lines glowed faintly before searing into the material with a soft hisss! He flinched from the heat, but it faded quickly, leaving the leather with slightly receded lines burnt into the surface.

“Good, now, press that slurry we made earlier fully into the lines. The mixture of aether crystal and the herbs.” Obby felt like he had switched to his other shoulder, close to his ear, hovering, like a creepy gym teacher.

Alex did as he was told, picking up the mortar and scooping out a finger full of the white goop, he began filling in the newly formed lines. He had thought Obby was pranking him when he talked him through how to make the mixture, as he was beginning felt like an Alchemist rather than an Enchanter.

The notification he received even proved his theory right.