2.23 – Glowing

More violence than typical, but it's fine i think?

Several things struck Maple when she awoke on this day. The first of which was the system announcement, dragging her out of her slumber.

[Class Obtained: Arcane...

It hesitated. Maple felt her heart skip a beat. Please don't be sex magician, or—

—Dabbler]

Maple let out a breath. Arcane dabbler. Not pervert, not diddler, and not anything else weird. What a relief.

[Arcane Dabbler Level 1!]

[Arcane Dabbler Level 2!]

[Skill Obtained: Mana Storage]

She waited for more, but...

"I guess that's it—ow."

The next thing to hit her was her back. The skin around the bulges felt even tighter than the day before. The budding wings underneath had grown, and any movement around the area sent pain shooting through her. They also felt hot, and prana had congregated within both masses.

Maple shifted slightly, but getting up was going to require careful maneuvering. Or the help of Emma, who opened one eye at the sound of her human's voice.

"Good morning, you. My wings grew more, I think, and I'm an [Arcane Dabbler] now. But I had a really weird—dream?"

That was the third thing. She had given up on trying to reach Thera last night after only a few minutes, but another set of memories had now merged with her psyche. They weren't any fuzzier or more dreamlike than her usual memories, but the content, and the fact that the bundle had appeared all at once made Maple doubt their realness.

Emma made a lewd gesture with a teasing smirk on her face. A weird dream, was it? Maple blushed at the silent question.

"Yeah, actually. But I think it might have been real. Half of—uh, my soul? Me? Traveled to Thera. They were at the erogel spa and Remi was still there. And...we were all inside of Thera's body. She was naked, and then we caught Sylla secretly watching us, and—it was crazy. Remi said I 'astrally projected' or something."

Maple blinked at how absurd it sounded, despite coming from her own mouth. Reality really did grow stranger with each passing day, but Emma nodded as if it were all perfectly reasonable and expected of her human. She followed it up with a pouty face.

"Aw, I'm sorry cutie. We'll have to figure something out soon, so that you aren't left out. Maybe I can modify the [Telepathic Orgasms] spell? That's way above my level right now, but eventually?"

Emma accepted that with a nod and then 'gently' inspected Maple's back. Even the softest touch was awful, however, and Emma carefully moved away from the bumps.

Red. Supposed to be like that?

"I don't know. It hurts though. Maybe I should ask Sasha about it."

The location and type of wings differed, but succubus physiology was similar enough, in that they grew in during adolescence. Maple got only a few more minutes of rest before Emma was motioning her out of bed to go see Sasha.

"Jeez, you're such a worrywart. It only hurts a little."

Emma wouldn't take no for an answer, so Maple sat up on the bed and slowly stretched. She stared bleary eyed at her blue cutie for a minute, and then moved to lay back down. Emma stopped her and held up a finger. She threatened to poke Maple's sore spots with it, and Maple narrowed her eyes.

"You wouldn't."

Emma inched her finger closer with a dark expression. Try me.

She wouldn't, right? Not her Emma.

But the finger kept coming, until it was mere inches away. Maple squeezed her eyes shut, and instead of pain—

A set of squishy lips met hers. Maple breathed out a sigh of relief. She opened her eyes and saw Emma grinning with an absolutely-innocent expression, her hand pulled safely back. Maple shoved her cheek playfully, laughing and getting a good squish in.

"Punk."

Emma took her time writing with her chalk.

My dearest Maple, would you really think me so cruel?

"I knew you wouldn't do it."

Maple crossed her arms, grimacing at the motion, and glared at her. Emma extended a finger, threatening a second approach. But she wouldn't—

"Haha enough of that you silly. Jeez."

They went downstairs before the gag could go on for too long. Sasha was already up and quickly motioned the two into her room after hearing the issue.

"Aw, is our little Maple getting her wings already? They grow up so fast. Okay, shirt up. Let's see those bumps."

Maple tried to lift her shirt herself but quickly acquiesced to Emma's gentle assistance. Sasha sucked air through her teeth behind Maple.

"Yeah, that's rough. So. You wanna slice em open now, or later?"

Maple whirled at the sound of a blade leaving its sheathe. A curved black knife with a loop at its end. Sasha waved it casually through the air, and Maple took a step back.

"Uh, what? How about never?"

Sasha's smile was teasing, but she also looked much too serious.

"Well, they might still break through on their own, but I wouldn't wait much longer than tomorrow. It's a pretty common procedure for succu wings that don't breach. Things get nasty if they keep growing under the skin for too long. And painful."

She was serious. Maple blanched, and tugged her shirt back down herself. If she had to cut them out—they were almost the size of her fist. That was an operation you had a hospital do, not your [Innkeeper].

That was bad enough already, but Sasha continued talking.

"I heard about one poor lad who was so scared of knives and blood that he waited until his wings had grown in all the way, entirely under his skin. They ended up having to peel a huge chunk off around them and—ah. Sorry."

Sasha looked at Maple and stopped talking. She felt dizzy. It was far too early in the day to be imagining body horror like that. She hadn't known that could happen. What if /her wings did that? Letting Sasha slice her open wasn't sounding so bad after all.

Sasha sheathed the knife and gave Maple a consoling smile.

"Yours would be simple, don't worry. I'm sure Rachel has some numbing cream we could borrow, and then it's just a teensy cut, a few dabs of healing potion, and you're done. You wouldn't even feel it. See how you feel about it tomorrow. Were you gonna go watch the weapon tests today?"

"Um, I think so?"

Maple looked toward Emma, who nodded and gave a thumbs up. They'd talked about it a bit the night before, and decided they'd see how they felt in the morning. Sasha's tail swirled through the air behind her.

"How about I join you two then? The inn should be fine for a couple hours."

"Sure, if you want."

The change in subject was a relief. It'd be a girl's day out...to go watch a weapon test, but that still sounded interesting. And Rachel was involved, so it was kind of like they'd be showing their support.

The plan was set into stone by Emma, who raised her arms in a silent cheer and then hugged both of them. Maple laughed and tried to push the thought of wings out of her mind.

The day was bright and sunny, with a sky filled only by white clouds. Humidity lingered in the air from yesterday's storm, making it a few degrees cooler than usual. The street vendors were out in droves, especially as they neared the wall. Drumming could be heard coming from the top of it, off and on, as well as the occasional ringing of bells.

According to Sasha, something called recruitment week began in a few days, and today's event was somewhat early due to the beneficial rain. Soon there would be more demonstrations, along with [Recruiters] for the various branches of Syber's military and even the city watch.

While Sasha explained this, Maple considered whether joining the military would be right for her. She hadn't needed to think very long or hard. Emma, in contrast, posed with squishy muscles and claimed she'd make a great soldier. The very best, most elite one, in fact. Maple laughed and squeezed her arm.

"You'd be the cutest soldier."

Emma's laughing face said she'd settle for that, then she stopped and pointed to one of the food stalls. Sasha also stopped and looked around.

"Yep, best stock up on snacks now. They don't sell anything at the top."

They decided to split up briefly, and Maple eyed the path of stairs leading to the top of the wall. She didn't feel near as much dread about it as she would have before being able to enhance her body with prana, but still, that's a lotta steps.

Maple ended up in her own line for food, her thoughts returning yet again to her wings. Which was what her thoughts had revolved around for most of the day so far. Sasha's warning, especially, gnawed on her.

But the bumps were only a little larger than yesterday, so it wasn't like they were going to grow in the rest of the way overnight—unless, maybe, she absorbed a lot of prana that day? Was that possible?

Surely not.

Yet she kept imagining it, her wings continuing to grow under her skin until she had to be flayed open—it was ruining the idea of having wings at all, and then she thought about all of the other coming downsides.

It wasn't like she could stop the process. Her body was changing, and the only choice she had in the matter was: to be content with those changes, or not.

Perhaps it'd be foolish to choose to feel discontent over something she had no control over, that she'd chose to do to begin with—albeit hastily and with limited information, but—she was processing it.

Today might be her last day without wings.

And then, would people look at her funny, stare at the weird human with feathery wings? The bumps on her back already made her a little self-conscious. Soon, she would need to add extra holes to all of her tops unless she wanted to hide even bigger lumps.

Maple had expected all this, vaguely, but now, it was happening so fast. It was suddenly real.

For what it was worth, Syber was probably the best city to undergo these changes. A fact she was reminded of after rejoining Sasha and then watching Emma swagger over with an absurd number of arms formed, and in them, an even more absurd amount of food.

The sight made Maple's face crack into a smile, while those around Emma barely gave her a second glance. If they did, it was more because of all the food she was carrying than what she was.

Slimes were not a common species in Syber, but uncommon species in general were. Most were a type of beastkin or similar enough to fictional creatures she knew, but Maple had seen a few types by now that she had no context for. Staring was rude, no matter the species, so you simply stole your glance, tried not to judge too harshly, and got on with your day.

"Think you've got enough food there, cutie? And arms?"

It certainly put Maple's cinnamon almonds to shame, and she'd even bought a large bag so that she could share. Emma grew another arm and placed the hand on her chin as if to consider the question.

Sasha, with her own armful of food, gestured to the wall.

"She's got enough to feed an army. Alright, we ready for the stairs of death?"

Maple groaned good-naturedly, ready to put her prana to the test. Emma saluted, and they all made their way up the zigzagging stone steps. Up a flight, flat for a small section, turn around and continue up the next flight. Each section was inset deeper into the wall than the previous.

Maple stayed away from the railing along the outside edge, but the wide amount of space given made the height a non-issue. Physically it wasn't that bad either, and the view at the top would have been worth it either way.

All of Syber was visible from the top; its buildings, its people, the river bisecting it into two distinct sections. For a minute, they stood along the inside edge of the wall and admired that view. Sasha broke the silence first.

"It's quite something, right? There's the inn, over there."

She pointed, and Maple could barely make it out. Emma stared too, making an exaggerated o-face.

The drums from a further part of the wall suddenly grew louder, and Sasha stood on her toes to look over the crowd.

"I think it's about to start."

A crowd already stood along most of the outer edge, but the trio managed to find a gap to squeeze into. Farther away was a roped off section where only personnel were allowed. That was where the drumming came from, and there was a significant space between the spectators and what stood out in the center of that area: a ballista, on a raised platform.

A ballista was something that Maple...probably hadn't seen in real life before. It felt odd being unable to say for certain, but she'd been to her share of museums, renaissance fairs, and the like. If she had seen one in the before-times, then she didn't remember it now.

Yet there was a familiarity to it. They'd been common in movies and other fiction, so seeing this one felt like looking at a model; something made as a piece of art, or for a history reenactment, rather than actual warfare.

This one was real. She tried to make her brain accept that. It didn't feel real. The ammunition must have been about the size of a telephone pole, or a little smaller. The distance made it hard to tell.

Emma nudged her, offering her one of her snacks. Maple reached out automatically, and then froze.

"Thanks, cu—is that a lizard?"

Roasted, seasoned, and on a stick. Emma jiggled from her own laughter, clearly having predicted how Maple would react. The silly. She retracted that arm, and instead offered a candy apple, which Maple gladly took—

THWOOM.

The ballista loosed its heavy load without further warning. The sheer volume of the sound, even from a distance, had been unexpected and nearly made Maple drop the apple. She turned and watched in awe as a bolt the size of a telephone pole made a slow arc through the air. Emma watched blank-faced, too surprised to put on an expression.

The shot was more like a gentle lob at a slightly upward angle. It looked like it was moving in slow motion, completely surreal for something of that size.

Maple tracked it the entire way. The trajectory was nearly vertical when it landed in a clearing far from the wall and kicked up a mess of dirt. Some of the spectators in the crowd let out a cheer at that. A few sounded confused.

Troops were positioned along the road and along the other sides of a very large area around where it landed, presumably to keep people out of the danger zone. When nothing else happened, Sasha commented.

"Test shot? I wonder why they launched it so slow."

"I don't know, but wow. I'd hate to be hit by that."

If that had been all they were demonstrating, Maple would have been satisfied. Emma seemed equally as impressed, and excitedly took some almonds. Sasha munched on some too, with a smirk on her face.

"That was nothing, really. You should see when it hits at full speed, or one of the enchanted munitions. Did they have ballistae in your—home?"

"Nah. I mean, kind of. We had them like, hundreds of years ago?"

How did one succinctly explain how far weaponry had advanced since then? Not that she knew a ton, but put any of the weapons she'd seen during her time here up against a tank? A fighter jet?

The ballista was interesting in the same way that a catapult tossing pumpkins was; it was practically a toy, compared to how Maple imagined war. She knew it was deadly, of course, but struggled to feel how useful it'd be during a siege or whatever.

Sasha had enough understanding of Earth's technology to nod silently. At the very least, it wasn't something they should discuss there.

Maple watched the group around the ballista work several cranks to rearm it, and then working together, slot in a new bolt. This one looked slightly different from afar, textured, like maybe something was attached to the outside. One of the operators held a torch this time, obtained from some kind of metal fire pit nearby.

"Rachel said it'd be like fireworks."

Maple took a bite from her candy apple. This shot would be even better. Sasha nodded.

"Sounds like Rachel. Whatever it is, it's likely something they'd pull out after attaining magical suppression."

"Magical suppression?"

"Mhm. Like a field around the enemy that disables magic or disrupts the ambient mana. It's a big part of warfare with larger armies, with entire [Mage] teams dedicated to both attacking and countering the enemy's attempts at suppression. It's pretty deadly if one side manages to succeed fully."

Emma nodded with a hand on her chin, clearly storing this information in case she ever became a [General]. That sounded pretty interesting, and Maple would have asked about it further, but she pointed to the ballista. She thought she saw the one with the torch light a fuse or something.

"I think they're about to shoot it again."

"Here we go."

They all watched expectantly. Emma jiggled around Maple's arm. The seconds dragged on, and the operators around the ballista grew more animated. One was gesturing repeatedly and saying something inaudible.

One of them punched the ballista, and Maple almost laughed.

"It looks like they're having trouble?"

"Hmm. Jammed, maybe?"

Their movements grew frantic over the next few seconds, until half of them suddenly dived off the platform. Maple's amusement turned to concern as she watched one of the ones who stayed behind hammer on the machine with something.

Sasha exclaimed just before the THWOOM from the ballista.

"Get down!"

The bolt was launched, and another bang followed almost immediately. Maple saw a flash of light before being pulled down by Sasha. Maple pulled Emma down with them. Her candy apple went rolling, and the almonds spilled out onto the ground.

The crowd of spectators turned to chaos. Alarm bells began ringing, and when Maple looked up, the sky was filled with smoke and little glowing bits drifting down like bright snowflakes.

Burning snowflakes, she realized. The air was full of them, each one trailing only a small a wisp of smoke. A faint smell of fireworks was in the air. Someone near the ballista was screaming, barely audible over everything else.

Most of the blast had been concentrated past the wall, but a fraction of it was falling over the city. One of the wooden structures near the ballista was on fire. Several embers had landed and were glowing bright even still.

It occurred to Maple only then that she could have tried forming a barrier. Luckily it hadn't been needed for herself or her friends, and the public seemed to have been kept far enough away in general. But if it had been needed—she would have been too slow.

"Oh my god. Are you okay? Em? Sasha?"

They were, thank goodness. Emma nodded and fervently checked Maple over. Everyone was rushing for the stairs, pushing and shoving all the way. Sasha put a hand on Maple's shoulder.

"Wait for the crowd to thin. A stampede is the bigger risk now. Look, [Hydromancers]."

Flying [Hydromancers]. They were humanoids with talons, clawed feet, and feathered wings. Their plumage was in a variety of colors, including one who had pure white wings. They split up and were each manipulating spheres of water to catch the falling lights.

"What are they? Harpies?"

"Yep. Never seen one before?"

Maple shook her head. Maybe she'd passed one before and just not noticed.

"Not surprising. They tend to stick together."

They were relatively safe where they were, so Emma managed to write on her chalkboard. She held it while staring at the sky.

It's raining fire.

Maple nodded gravely and rested an arm on her. The harpies were having trouble despite their orbs of water. The lights kept burning even while submerged, and it'd begun boiling the water.

They changed tactics and started using the orbs to dump the burning chunks on the outer side of the wall. A second team of [Hydromancers] was there on the ground making sure a fire didn't break out. Maple wondered briefly why they didn't simply pile it up on the stone, or that metal bowl they'd been using as a fire pit—and then she spotted the divots. The embers had melted the stone around it, burrowing into the wall.

At some point, the screaming from earlier had stopped. Had someone been hit? Maple imagined what one of the embers might do to a body, and could only hope that that wasn't the case.