AN: Another chapter for you lovelies!
Slight Trigger warning for this one, it does include some small self harm.
TW is also down there just in case. I have struggled with self harm in the past and recently even relapsed, I know how easy it can be to get triggered, so I don't want anyone else to have to deal with it because of me. Also, don't worry, I told my boyfriend and he is making sure that it wont happen again and is taking good care of me :3
Gajeel is not a part of this chapter and wont be a part of the next one either so far. I simply don't want to bore you with the same thing over and over, since in my timeline, nothing new is currently happening at the camp. Also, I think I mentioned things like sinks, toilets and bathtubs and I have to confess: I'm too lazy to come up with a creative solution for that, so we will pretend that they work similar to the real deal.
Also, this story reached 10.000 views which is honestly mindblowing. I'm so happy that lots of people enjoy it and am really overwhelmed by such a large number!
Thank youuu :33
Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 15 - Magic
After the day Hades visited her, Levy started noticing more traffic in front of her door. The maids stopped talking to her or listening to her requests, instead just coming inside and setting food trays on her bed before disappearing again. She mainly ignored them and the guards who sometimes came in to check on her, she had more important things to do. Luckily for her, he seemed to still need her to translate the language and had not taken any of the books away. It took her two more days to start understanding the structure of the language and another two to be able to read parts of it. She started to read some more of the basic magic theories and slowly learned that the language was based on runes and was in itself already magical. It could be used to enchant, as well to use momentarily. She spent another two days translating most of the runes needed to create basic and advanced spells and enchantments, focusing on ones that would help her with the plan slowly forming in her head. Apparently, the magical runes could not be used to create simple things, such as a feather, but were rather concepts to use on things. There was no rune for door or table or ink, but there were runes for vision, light, passage, creation and so on. They could be used on their own or in combination with others and most interestingly to language enthusiast Levy, some, like creation could be written upside down for the opposite effect, destruction in that case. These ways of writing allowed an almost inexhaustible pool of possible combinations and thus, spells, as well as different ways to achieve the same thing. It was incredibly versatile, albeit difficult to understand and master for someone who was so used to letters and words. Nevertheless, she managed to gain quite a large vocabulary that could prove very helpful.
When the sun rose on the seventh day, Levy knew that this would be the last day for preparations. If she didn't escape before the next sunrise, she would be trapped, on her way to the battlegrounds with no possibility to run away. After a maid brought her food and a guard had come to check on her she started her final preparations. Lifting her pillow, she pulled out the lavender scarf. She had untied it a few days earlier, after the maids stopped making her bed and slept with it beneath her pillow ever since. It had lost all of its smell by now, but seeing it almost brought her to tears. She knew she had to let this prized possession go very soon, Jhuvaia, albeit being a benevolent deity did not give gifts without any kind of sacrifice. And the gift she was about to ask for was not without significance. Blessing a harvest or fishing season here and there, turning saltwater into fresh water or summoning some clouds for rain was one thing, but awakening ones magical power was something completely different.
Levy was thankful, that her magic had not been awakened for years by now, allowing her to keep this fact about herself under the radar. There was good reason behind no one outside of Mrithar knowing about their sacred rituals and magical abilities. If Hades knew she was able to use magic, he might have kept her under stricter observation, not allowing her the freedom she needed to escape from his hold. But he had even provided her with the perfect tool.
She let water flow into the sink, filling it up just below the edge. Salt from one of her food plates would need to be enough to simulate seawater, along with a few tears she had kept in a goblet for this exact reason. Wrapping the lavender scarf around her hands, she moved them slowly against each other, simulating flowing water. Ready to start the sacred ritual, she began praying in a quiet voice.
"Jhuvaia, oh creator of the sea and all life within, I hereby call upon your divine grace in search of your blessings. I ask you in your infinite wisdom to grant me the gift to change as the everlasting water does. Please grant me magic powers and the strength to use them wisely. I offer you this as proof of my undying gratitude. May the water wash it from all earthly attachments and leave only what you deem to be just." With these last words, she let the scarf fall into the sink and watched as it lit up in an almost blinding, bright blue light. Levy bent down and slowly let her head sink into the water, feeling it seep into her nose and ears, but she just continued praying to Jhuvaia for support, knowing the deity would never let their people be harmed by their own creation. She finally opened her eyes and mouth, feeling the water filling her mouth as well, but she could also feel the magic seeping into her body. The scarf seemed to have been a decent offering, judging from the amount she received. She was almost out of breath, her instincts planting panic into her body, when the water vanished in a flash of light, leaving her with the taste of salt in her mouth and magic ready at her fingertips. It felt like a surge of energy rushing through her, making the hairs on her body stand on end, as it brimmed with the newly awakened power. She smiled for the first time in weeks, the tears running down her face not from sadness or despair, rather from happiness at being filled with Jhuvaias grace and the long forgotten feeling of hope.
Remembering how limited her time was, she decided to try the runes out right away. Flipping through her notebook, which contained every single rune she had been able to translate, she decided the light rune would be a good start. To make sure that no one from the outside would be able to spot the light, she walked into the bathroom.
"Come on Levy. You can do it."
She concentrated on her magic, feeling the elusive energy flowing through her. She bound some of it, imagining a thread being woven and guided it towards her index and middle finger. The tips of those fingers started to glow faintly and Levy couldn't suppress a grin, proud of herself that she had not forgotten what the priests had taught her so long ago. She lifted her hand, the two fingers stretched out and drew the light rune into the air, releasing the magic slowly by imagining the thread leaving her fingers. When the last line was finished, the rune in the air began to glow stronger, now emitting a clear, bright golden light. Levy had trouble keeping herself from letting out a triumphant shout, surprised and happy that the magic runes actually worked the way she had hoped. The rune vanished when she willed the magic to dispel, ready to try the next option, drawing runes on stationary things. She had read that the runes would work even when drawn on her own body, so she drew a small rune of light onto the palm of her hand. It lit up as the other one had and kept emitting light even when she moved her hand around or closed it momentarily, only vanishing when she willed her body to stop supplying magic to it. She wondered how other runes would work, but didn't dare to try it out without any supervision.
Her next endeavor required more preparation, so she went back into the main room. Rummaging through her closet, she found the scraps of fabric she had been collecting for several days from the dresses that she was allowed to keep. She laid them out to connect into a big piece and fetched her inkwell and feather. Using her fingers, she wrote the runes for connection and singular on one of the fabrics and watched as the edges of fabric melted into each other, creating a patchy piece of fabric, about as large as her duvet, large enough to cover herself.
TW: SELF HARM
At last, she opened the dresser to retrieve a shard of glass, a piece of a mirror that she had smashed a few days earlier during a particularly loud and busy time in the castle. She sliced the inside of her palm, gritting her teeth in pain, but concentrated on letting the blood, infused with the essence of her magic, drop into the inkwell. After she was satisfied with the amount, she tied some makeshift bandages, made from more fabric scraps around her hand tightly to stop more blood from rushing out. Her hand pulsated and the cut hurt every time she moved it too much, but she pushed the pain far away and concentrated on the task at hand. end tw
After rereading everything in her notebook, she dipped the feather into the inkwell and started writing. She wrote the runes for vision, upside down, together with the runes for deception and reflection, as well as the reversed rune of perception onto her makeshift coat. While not an invisibility spell per se, it should still make her invisible by reflecting the light, the deception and reversed perception rune would increase the effect and make her less detectable in general. Putting the cloak around herself, she took the metal platter from where she had received her food. She positioned it as a mirror and concentrated before activating her magic and thus, the magic imbued through the ink in the runes. When she opened her eyes she saw nothing in the platter, where her face had been before and almost jumped in surprise. She tried to look at her hands, but could only see the floor even though she moved them right up to her face. This kind of magic is amazing; it turns even advanced magical concepts into simple rune spells. Invisibility was not accessible for just every magic user, usually only very skilled individuals managed to create spells that could achieve it, but the fact that the language gave her access to at least something close to it it gave Levy hope for her escape plan. She hid her cloak and waited for the guards to make their rounds and look into her room for the last time before getting to work.
She spent the next few hours finishing up her preparations. Using the runes, she disassembled some towels into strings, later reassembling them to cords that she could use to secure the coat around her body and head, making sure that it would not just slip off. Next, she took all of the covers off of her bed, rolling the bedsheet and duvet together tightly. If she ever needed a blanket or more fabric, this would come in handy. Of course she hoped to find a way to get back to Terya as soon as possible, but realistically she knew that she might be stuck in the wilderness for a good while. She stuck the packet, that she made smaller with the help of the runes into the pillow cover, together with her notebook, the book on magical theories that she deemed the most valuable, a feather, some empty parchment and the inkwell, as well as some old bread that she had saved from the daily food she received. It was dry and would get hard soon, but could possibly save her from starvation. The two apples she also kept were in much better condition and would hopefully keep a bit longer. Giving the room a last look to make sure that she had not forgotten anything, she decided to also take the glass shard, slipping it in between the bandages on her hand. You never know, I might have to defend myself, or cut something. Better keep it handy. She tied her hair up, slipped into the only pair of shoes she had available and tied the coat around herself. At last, she filled a goblet with water and emptied it, not knowing when she would be able to drink something again. By now, the moon was high up in the sky, the castle was silent and the guards in front of her door had stopped talking to each other, most likely having fallen asleep, like the last few days.
Lifting her hand, Levy summoned her magic and started drawing on the wooden door. The runes for access, passage, the reversed existence rune, together with a rune for travel and one used for direction, facing upwards. To complete the task, she drew a line parallel to the door edges. The runes started glowing in a faint light when Levy activated her magic and she took a last deep breath before stepping through the portal she had created. Would freedom await her behind it?
/ end
Yes, what will await her behind it? I know but you don't ;P
The next chapter is actually already in progress and almost finished, but I don't know when it will be up. A lot is happening in my life rn so I'm even more unorganized than usual. A week goes by and I'm like damn, why is it sunday again?
I hope you like my magic runes, I'm quite fond of them. They are inspired by Japanese Kanji, Tarot cards, Levys actual magic and the magic from MoonbeamMadness' fic "The Walled Garden". I really recommend reading it. It's very, very dark, but oh so good.
To my wonderful reviewers (by the way, reviews make me write faster, so don't be shy ;P):
Dragonfly2311: The bunnies are as chaotic as can be, but I love them so much. Even when they chew on the wallpaper. And the table. And my carpet. And my pants. Mochi likes chewing on things. I hope you can wait a little longer for Gajeels dragon, I promise it will come ;). Goddamnit, why does everything sound slightly dirty?
rao hyuga: I actually wanted to make this one a huge cliffhanger, but we can't overdo it ;P
Livalibus: Aww, I did miss you on the other chapter :3 Your reviews are always amazing, so uplifting and so on point! What you're telling me is always exactly what I want to achieve with my writing, so it makes me really happy to hear that it had that effect :)
Until next time, take care of yourselves, stay safe and have a grand ol' time!
- love, mavi