Soulforge Legacy Series

The air went from the cold of a well-covered space to that of a warm spring day. And given how the sun was just starting to peek over the towers in the distance, the day was likely to be on the warmer side. Not something I really cared about before, but that was before I had changed. Before I was forced to wear what amounted to a fur coat. With the dress and my new parts, who knew how my body would react to the heat.

Still, my mind didn’t linger on any of that for now. Especially when the cityscape around me was so different. Every building was unique. Sure, some looked ramshackle. Pretty much thrown together with whatever they had on hand.

But others. They were masterpieces. Buildings that might not have looked all that out of place during the golden age of the twenty-first century.

Of course, then there were the oddities. The structures that modern technology could never have supported. Massive towers floated on nothing but mana as people meandered through the little market that had been set up in the structure's shade. If not for the elevator set in the center, I would almost wonder if the thing was an art installation or something.

Wires of all kinds ran down the road. From the normal three-wire set along the top to a series of thinner wires that looked like they were some sort of phone or data wire. Which begged the question of why? Surely there was a better, more reliable way to transfer data without the need for wires? If that was odd, then the multicolored wires that pulsed with light took the cake.

Xander must have noticed what I was looking at as he spoke up. “While mana can replace most of what we had in the old world, mana is not the end-all be-all. Some things need a more old-school approach.”

I nearly laughed at the thought that anything electric was considered old-school. Not even the pods worked without electricity. Or did they?

Without warning, Ginger yanked me around a corner and down an even busier street. Every question I had about the various cables fled my mind at what I saw on the other side.

Trucks and motorcycles puttered up and down the road. Real trucks and motorcycles. I could count on one hand the number of working vehicles I had seen in the last couple of years, and it wouldn’t even be all that hard.

Yet here I was, staring at something I thought impossible. Fuck, it should be impossible. At least, unless someone found oil or something. That, or people finally agreed to finally embrace electric cars. But if that was the case, then the things would be limited to the city, as I doubted any other city in this world had the means to charge any of them.

The further we walked, the more oddities and styles were presented. Giant glass structures filled with nothing but plants towered over the surrounding buildings. Even here on the ground with tall buildings all around, I spotted more in the distance. Likely the city's way of providing at least some of the food for the population.

A sudden lack of any buildings to my right caused me to focus back on my surroundings and not the buildings in the distance. The road didn’t end, but circled around a massive square filled with various small pop-up shops. A number of the buildings on the edge had glass front stores. Others were what looked like restaurants.

Though, unlike any of those I had seen in movies and read about in books, these didn’t allow people to sit inside the building. Instead, they sat everyone outside and brought the food to them.

At first, I thought the concept of having only outdoor eating was incredibly stupid. What would you expect a customer to do if it just started to rain? Of course, the entire equation changed when one took magic into account. Especially when someone put their mind to the problem. Maybe there was a spell to repel rain or something.

Ginger pulled me toward one of the more popular spots. A man stopped her at the entry. “Just three today?” He made it sound like she was a regular.

“Yes.”

“Right this way.”

Before the man could take a step, Xander cut in. “Private if possible.”

His head turned enough to shoot a glare back at Xander. Like he was insulted by the insinuation that they wouldn’t give their customers every courtesy. “Every space has a privacy spell over it.”

With those words, he wove a careful path through the open space. Carefully making sure to step around various spaces marked on the ground. Every time we passed close to one, I took a quick glance over the circle that looked almost embedded into the stone.

Until now I had only seen the symbols of magic in ones and twos. These circles had what looked like whole sentences written out. And they were not just written with one language. Latin lettering and words cropped up time and time again. Almost as though the creator couldn’t pick one language and stick to it.

“Here you are.” Our waiter gestured at an empty table with three menus already laid out and waiting for us. “I will be back to take your order shortly.” With that, he vanished in the direction of the entrance.

Ginger tugged me across the circle as Xander pushed mana into something on the center of the table. Multicolored streams of light zipped around the circle. Then, as if it were being blown up by a giant, a shimmering field of mana rose off the ground. Lifting around us as it continued to climb until it stopped a few feet over even Xander’s head.

Xander’s eyes bore into mine as he asked, “Where is your orb?”

Unlike the last time, the sphere was still in my hand. My fist was clenched around it, and I had to work to pry my fingers apart to show him. Ginger shot confused looks at the two of us and I wondered if she might know of a way to hide it. Something that neither Xander nor I had thought of. After all, surely she knew a good number of tricks when it came to hiding something on the female body. Or any body really. It wasn’t like I ever had to hide anything.

But was it worth revealing what had to be my biggest weakness to a person that was little more than a stranger? Honestly, did I really have a choice? Actually, what if I just said something vague? Maybe just that I had to find a way to keep the orb safe.

“Hey, Ginger.” My voice was a bit tentative as I tried to come up with the best way to ask her for help. “Do you have any ideas on how I can hide this?”

“I am just going to assume you can't just put it into your inventory for some reason, and that spatial bags are no good.” Her answer came surprisingly fast. “You could bury it in one of the nearby mountains.”

I shook my head fairly rapidly. There was just too much of a chance that someone might find it. That or a simple rock slide could crush it. Something that might possibly kill me based on what I had felt when the Kaelis had scratched at it with his claw.

Still, I couldn’t tell her any of that. So I tossed out the first excuse I could think of. “It needs to stay with me.”

“Well, what if we crushed it into dust.” My eyes nearly bugged out at the suggestion. “And put it into a bottle you can tie to a necklace. Actually, we could just drill a…” She must have noticed the ghostly pale look on my face because she trailed off. Before I could stop her, she reached over and took the orb and nearly face-palmed. “Of fucking course you're one of them. And here I was hoping I found another foxkin.”

“You cannot tell anyone about this.” Xander’s voice was serious.

“That won’t be a problem.” She waved him off. “Now stop being so overprotective while the two of us debate what can be done here.” Ginger handed the orb back as she gave me a once-over. “We could always go with a headband.”

“Too easy to lose.” Xander pointed out. “Alex here would lose her head if it weren’t so firmly attached.”

I grimaced because he was right. Still, her suggestion did give me an idea. “Bracelet?”

“That might work.” Ginger took a second to look at my wrist. Her fingers wrapped around without any issues. “Though that might be a bit too close to any weapon that might come toward you. Earrings?”

I thought about it for a second and almost agreed until Xander pointed out the issue. “It would be a bit odd to only have one earring. Especially one so large and colorful. Though I doubt anyone has something close enough in color to allow it to blend in.”

“What about a collar?” I recoiled at Ginger’s suggestion. Not because I could think of any glaring issues, but due to the idea of wearing a collar. I wasn’t a pet, damn it. “I know a guy who did some similar work for a friend of mine. I am sure he would be willing to give this a go.”

I had to rush to hide the orb as our waiter returned, stopping the conversation as we put in our orders. Well, the two of them put in orders. I had yet to look at the menu. Thankfully the man had a few suggestions. A minute later, and we were once again alone.

“But how would we keep her from losing it?” Xander just wouldn’t let that go.

“There are a few enchantments to lock an item to a person. Even one such as that.” She shot my hand a look. Her words brought forth questions about what she meant. Surely this was one of the only items with this issue.

“Are you talking about the items that help some people stabilize their powers?” At Xander’s question, Ginger nodded.

“Don’t forget about the items that need constant boosting to allow the owner a chance to even survive the changes.” To my surprise, the waiter appeared with our food. Still, Ginger continued. “While the city below might allow vampires to survive, there are those who have no choice but to live up here. Mostly due to a lack of any marketable skills.”

“Or the oracles.” Xander pointed out as he added some ketchup to his burger. “They would go insane without something to limit their powers.”

From there, the conversation died off as we all focused on our food. Ginger, unsurprisingly, was the first to finish. “Whenever you two are ready, we can head to the jeweler and see about getting something made. Though, I will warn you, he can be a bit brusque at times.”