Chosen of the Abyss

The pain in my body quickly simmered out, and my breathing returned to normal.

The power left by the Lady of the Abyss was found by Selene? I had thought it was invisible to the powers of this world, as I tried to interact with it with my mana to no avail in the past. Better question is, how do I explain it? Do I explain my past life to Selene, or try to bluff my way out of it?

"It is different, but this power feels like an Inheritance Sigil used in ancient times to pass on magical power in Fae Circles. How does a human like you have one of these?"

So there is something similar in this world? It's not like I can exactly ask the Lady about what she gave me now, can I?

"I am sorry Selene, but I do not have an answer about what the power is. All I can say is I do not remember it not being a part of me. Can you find any information about it?"

"It is hard to say. Fae magic is different from standard elemental based magics, and involves a lot of symbolism and using materials to power it through a process called 'Alchemy', and deciphering it can be difficult even for the Fae." Selene said.

The magic in this world seems to contain more than just elemental magic then? There were "Royal Alchemists" in the Templar Order, although it was not magical and involved mixing herbs and other materials to create potions that were a highly effective medicine.

"Can this power be used to do anything about my situation without putting you at risk? I have tried to reach it with mana circulation before, but was never able to make the connection."

"All I can say for sure is that the power in your body consumed the mana that I was pushing into your mana channels when it got near it." Selene put a paw on my chest where the power laid dormant, and looked to be trying to detect any changes in it.

"It does not appear to have a defined form, yet it does look to have grown after feasting on my mana. I have never seen a power like this before, and even I can not say if this is good or bad for you."

"If it is able to consume mana, would there be a way to use it to eat the excess power from the mana core formation?"

"In theory, yes. However, I do not like the idea of doing so, because it has grown from eating my mana and it is unknown exactly how much it would have to eat for you to survive the formation process."

"Are you worried that it might have adverse effects if it grows too much? It does not appear to be affecting my body currently or even hindering my mana refinement."

"For now it is not causing problems. What if it grows to a size that takes up your entire torso for example, if it would not eat the mana in your body or core, or even start to consume you? There are too many unknown factors with this."

I could tell that the power was something that concerned her. Would the Lady of the Abyss really leave me a power that was going to harm me? What would she gain from that, when she is the reason I was able to come to this world in the first place?

"This is my opinion, but I do not believe that the power is malicious. There is no reasoning exactly, however I feel that this power is meant to help me and not harm me. Is there a way we can figure out more about it? You mentioned it being similar to the magic of the Fae, would one of them be able to help us with it?"

"The Fae are likely to be the closest thing to an expert on this subject… However they are a fickle kind, and are obsessed with research. Making deals with them is rarely ever in your favor, and it is likely not going to be a positive response that a human has a magic similar to their ancient magic."

"We can always risk me going kaboom and hoping the power is feeling hungry enough?" Selene did not look amused about my joke. It was worth a shot.

"I have worked with a talented Fae professor named Sylas in the past. He is likely to still be around as the Fae live a very long time. His… eccentric nature can be hard to handle, yet if anyone can solve this puzzle, it is him."

"How do you get in contact with the Fae, especially eccentric ones?"

"You don't need to worry about that one, little one. I will personally request his help in person. He's likely to ignore any form of communication besides that. We will postpone the Equals Contract as it may not be necessary to draw the attention it will to you at this time. It will take some time, but I promise to return with good news. Continue your training for now and avoid gathering too much mana in your chest for now."

"Thank you for the help, Selene. It really means the world to me." Selene nodded and stretched and a circle of mana appeared beside her and she jumped through it and was gone.

Teleportation? That was a power even some of the Divine could not perform! There is so much to learn about magic in this world, I was naive to think it was just limited to elemental magic.

Talking with Selene for so long had numbed me to the fact that time had been frozen, and now looked to be undoing itself and the world started once again.

Once the time had been unfrozen, my body quickly started filling up with discomfort. Light headed and dizzy, I tried to get my mother's attention by grabbing her hand but did not make it that far.

The last thing I felt was hitting the hard stone tiles on the ground, and everything went black.