A/N: One of the dev edits on the todo list is to have a vision for the prime wand activation! I have to go back and add Ethan’s, but here it is for now. This would happen as the “body upgrade” is ongoing.
— Ethan’s POV —
As the magic poured into his body, burning, crushing and tempering him, Ethan’s mind was whisked away. The pain faded into the background and for a moment, there was nothing. Then Ethan opened his eyes, and he was someone else. Or at least, it felt like it.
He was watching over the shoulder of a stout, dark skinned man. Korin. Ethan didn’t know how he knew the man’s name. Somehow, information had made its way into his consciousness without him realizing.
For example, he knew that Korin was right now in a challenge dungeon. A separate, small dimension where one could test their mettle against whatever the dungeon masters had created, and the challenge, in this scenario, was to carry a bowling-ball-sized enchanted gem to a remote temple, through a path that cut through the wilderness. On this path, there would be monsters, which was a classic, and there would also be some crafty bandits who wanted to claim the temple’s bounty for themselves.
The journey was supposed to be done slowly and methodically. The challengers were to take on the threats one by one, recovering whenever they could, and then keep going. It would take nearly three days to whittle the distance down, and he was supposed to save his strength for the last push through the temple guardians.
But Korin had other plans, and to be honest, he had never been a patient man. He liked to keep things simple and for this dungeon, his plan was easy: he was going to run.
A set of curved horns appeared atop of his shaved head as he stretched his legs. He went through a couple more exercises to lubricate his knees, hips, and shoulders over a handful more minutes and then, Korin picked up the large gem, tucked it under an arm, and started running.
Ethan watched as a deep golden glow began forming around the man as his leather boots sent the soil flying behind him. The corona of light was hazy, trailing softly behind him, and for a few minutes, Korin ran unbothered. But it didn’t take long for him to arrive at the site of the first encounter, and as he stepped under the dark forest’s canopy, three direwolves crept from behind their trees and onto his path.
Korin’s cloak of golden light flared, suddenly gaining in density, and the man blurred forward. The wolves growled, took a step and leapt, teeth and claws bared.
Korin barrelled through them like an uncaring foot through a child’s sandcastle.
Ethan laughed, and he didn’t even know if it was his own laugh or Korin’s that he was hearing. Over the next few hours, the man charged through obstacle after obstacle, tearing through haphazard barricades, monsters, walls of summoned bramble, and anything else that tried to slow him down. Ethan found himself looking forward to more obstacles to blow through, until finally, the man arrived at the temple, panting, just as the sun began to set over the horizon. The destination was set right into a mountain’s face, barely an hour out of the dark forest, and just as Korin began to slow, the last barrier appeared, rows and rows of monks in red robes, with weapons of all sorts in hand; the temple guardians.
Unfortunately, the vision had decided Ethan had seen enough, and as much as he wanted to see the next part, the orange glow of the cave came back into his vision, and he woke up.
—End of Ethan’s POV—
—————————
It was amazing how fast one’s perspective could change.
As Amelie sat with her back against the wall, ignoring the sore pain pulsing in her back and up the arm that had caught her fall, the last few months flashed into her mind.
Barely a couple of years ago, Amelie had been the pride of her overachieving parents. They had her schedule filled with manicured activities, from music practice to swimming lessons to socializing events and best of all, Amelie had just gotten into med school and was on track to ace her first year.
She was a model daughter. Overachieving, just as they claimed they were. They said she was smart. Popular. Athletic. Pretty. She never back-talked or said anything out of line, unlike Audrey who’s name was barely ever mentioned in family dinners or around guests.
A perfect daughter, that’s what they’d called her. She’d smile and bask in their approval, and deep down, the weight of their expectations would gain an extra couple of pounds, while the fear of disappointing them would claw at her throat and chest every night, filling her ever-worsening slumber with nightmares and anxieties.
Today, Amelie couldn’t even recognize who she had been. Had they been medicating her without her noticing? Had it been the constant barrage of stress and activities that never allowed her a second to step back and realize the tailor-made mold she’d encased in?
Whatever it was, one day something gave. Maybe they missed a dose, or maybe Amelie had just snapped out of it. That day, as she sat sobbing, clawing at her throat for breath in the swimming pool’s hallways, she finally understood why Audrey had left the family home at eighteen. The countless fights, the praise Amelie would get while Audrey would be ignored or berated. It all clicked.
Hours later, after she’d managed to collect herself and calm down, Amelie had spent the night staring at the ceiling of her room. She’d keep the facade for a bit. But as she tried to untangle the mess in her own mind, she realized she had no idea of who she was or who she wanted to be. But she very much knew what she didn’t want and over the next few days, she reconnected with her sister. They talked. More than they ever had through the occasional texts and checkups. They really talked. About their parents, about why Audrey had left, and about what Amelie could do. Because she wanted to get away.
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She worried she’d somehow get shoved back into the mold and back then, she didn’t know if she could fight back as well as she would today. After all, who she was now was the product of a lot of therapy, games, and a drive to enjoy life as it came.
A few weeks after her breakdown, Amelie pulled the trigger and hopped on a plane, went to see her sister, and has not gone back to the east coast since.
Of course, her parents had flipped out. At first, they were shocked, but that quickly turned to concern, then anger and resentment, followed by threats, but at that point Amelie wanted her independence and in any case, she was an adult. There was nothing for them to do. And apparently, Audrey had dealt with the same crap from them, so her sister’s support had helped her weather the storm.
If an inheritance was the cost of her being a puppet for her parents, then she would pass. She had been incredibly lucky to be born in an affluent family, of course, and she was grateful. But she had to step away.
Thankfully, with her high grades, Amelie had been able to transfer to another med program. She still liked medecine. She still wanted to help and heal people. But even though she still liked school, she couldn’t get herself to fully immerse into it once again. As much as she enjoyed learning and challenging herself, something had changed, and before she could come to a decision, whether to step away from it as well and figure out what she wanted to do, the system messages had begun, and the world had been irrevocably changed.
On that fateful Thursday evening, Amelie had been in the gym with Audrey. Both of them had quickly gotten into the portal and secured themselves the early bird bonus and shortly after, Amelie had been offered a healing spell, which she had been happy to take.
It had been perfect. She might not become a doctor, but she could be a healer. And unlike the videogames she’d been enjoying over the last few months, she didn’t want to be damsel or just a support. This time, she knew what she wanted to do.
Amelie wanted to fight her own battles. She wanted to carry her own weight in this dangerous new world, filled with monsters and monstrous humans alike, and with her newly acquired healing spell, she wanted to become some sort of fighting healer, someone that, if you’d cut off their arm, they’d grow another and smack you with their severed limb.
That realization had made the air shudder around her. At first, she thought she’d been imagining it but after meeting Ethan and hearing about Prime wands and that whole process, she knew she’d been on to something. Which was why the process had been so easy to trigger for her.
As the expected vision began, Amelie opened her eyes above some rolling hills, and in the distance, she saw walls. Towers.
A city of brick-red stone with white and black spires.
Below her, a woman was tying up her hair. She wasn’t tall. She might even be around Amelie's size—which was to say, a bit short—and she wore a blue, glowing suit of armour that seemed to be literally made out of flowing water. Along with the rippling magic, blood was being flung aside, sliding up from the chest piece and out of the flaring shoulder-guards.
Amelie couldn’t see the source, but she found that she could move in this odd vision, so she floated in front of the sapphire blue-eyed woman and recoiled.
The armored woman’s left eye was missing, as well as a good chunk of her socket and cheek. But seeing her demeanour, it was as if she'd been barely scratched and as Amelie watched, the remaining eye flashed with a soothing blue glow, and the wound began closing up. The flesh reknit. The bone mended and not even five seconds later, the terrifying wound was completely and fully healed.
The stranger cracked her neck and grinned. “So. Before we get into this, do you boys mind telling me who ordered this? Was it Magnus? Was it the assassin’s guild and if so, mind specifying which world and or faction ordered this little action? Or is this about the rift core I borrowed from Red Barry?”
The right most figure stepped forward, white mask leering at her. “That was a warning shot, Tempest. The Red Baron wants his property back. If you comply, we have orders to let you go. Otherwise, your corpse would do.”
The woman gave that a hearty laugh. “Barry hired you to come after me? For a measly little rift core? And please, call me Maleera. No need to get all formal with me. We’re waaay past that,” she added, wiping at the blood still stuck to her cheek.
With a flick of her left wrist, a ball of glowing purple and blue appeared in her palm, and Amelie’s eyes widened. Even though this was supposed to be a vision, she could sense the power radiating out of the snow-globe-sized item, pushing against her chest and spirit.
The three shadowy figures tensed, and in turn the woman just rolled the ball on and around her hand before she made it disappear once more. “I guess I should have stopped at his treasuries first. If he’s getting mad about a tiny little rift core, maybe I should have picked him clean and set myself up for winter.”
Two of the figures surged, one wearing thick, red-glowing gloves while the second–the one who had spoken–had a purple short-sword. Right as they moved, their third swung upward with a hand. In his grip was a curved, crystalline brown wand and following his movement, a pillar of earth-colored stone shot up from under the woman, ready to impale her.
But she’d already moved.
Maleera lunged at the gloved assailant, a maniacal grin on her face. She swung a fist, and the masked figure guarded. But it was as if they’d tried to stop a tsunami with a rotted wooden palisade.
The gloved figure tore through the air, as if catapulted, and was sent hurtling across the ground, skidding like a ricocheted stone.
Amelie watched, captivated. This was it. This was what she wanted to be like. She was thankful for Audrey’s shields and protection, but she needed to be able to take such hits and keep hitting back.
The second figure suddenly appeared behind the woman, and Amelie almost shouted, but it was too late. As soon as he’d appeared, the masked man stabbed forward and straight through Maleera’s heart.
Amelie expected to see the woman flinch or stumble. She expected to see her breath catch and potentially cough up blood if her airways got hit. Instead, the blue-armored woman swung back with an elbow and clocked her attacker right in the temple, and without bothering to remove the sword, she surged toward the spellcaster.
Over the next minute, the woman proceeded to dismantle the trio. She got stabbed, sliced, crushed, electrocuted, then burned, and she still kept going after them, although by the end of it, she was cursing and cussing more than just laughing.
Her ability to heal was unbelievable. At one point, a chunk of her head had been blown off, but it was as if her body didn’t even need her organs to function. No stabbed heart or damaged brain were enough to slow her down.
Amelie could have watched the scene play out for hours, unfortunately, the vision began to fade. The sounds and sights of the battle faded to black, and the blue lights of the glowing mushrooms crept back into her sight.
Prime Wand of the Battle Healer
She stared at her interface, trying to recall what she had seen in her vision. The memory was already growing hazy, losing its clarity as the seconds went by and as she tried to hold on to it, a new earth-shaking roar filled the cave.
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