Chapter 23: Star Sanctuary, Part 3
Meanwhile, in another memory
"Agh. Let… me… go." Tommy grunted, struggling to escape the snake's grasp. He tried reaching for his bag, but he couldn't grasp anything. His arms fell short of any attempt as he was squeezed more and more.
"Quiet boy. The show is just getting started." The snake tightened his body around Tommy, making the young boy gasp for air as he watched a version of himself enter the room.
It was the same scene from earlier. He walked into the training room and his father was there. Instead of his interference, however, the memory went on as normal as he worked with the royal blacksmith to craft his very first charme. It was a blue disc that glistened in the sunlight. It was made from a special metal found in the Dwarven Mountains and was the highest quality material one could use to make a charme. All that was left was for him to inscribe it with an effect. And Tommy, with the help of his father, carved out a simple sequence of letters that spelled out light. And with that, his charm was complete.
Jubilant at the occasion and ready to test out his new spell, Tommy went to the center of the room and activated the charme. It began emitting a faint light as he supplied it with mana. It was a wonderful experience for the kid. Seeing his spell for the first time filled him with joy. So much joy that he didn't notice his light fade and began to flicker with white sparks.
Suddenly, Matthias hit the charme out of Tommy's hands and picked him up. Grabbing the blacksmith mid-leap, the room behind them exploded, and Matthias took the full brunt of the hit as he was propelled out of the room and crashed into a nearby wall.
"Well then. That was almost a disaster."
Matthias dusted himself off after checking Tommy for any injuries.
"Dad, are you okay?" Tommy whined.
"Don't worry, it was just an explosion. I've faced worse. What about you two?"
"Doing fine, but are you- Oh no, your cloak?"
"What!?" Matthias looked back, the bottom half of the cloak he was wearing gone, with the shreds of the once royal cloak slowly falling to the ground. Tommy looked over to his father, the man distraught by the loss. He knew it's significance, being a cloak the royals passed on from generation to generation. And here it was, destroyed with no chance of repair.
"Oh no, father, your father's cloak! I'm sorry, I don't know what happened!" Tommy cried. The boy was visibly shaking, his mind wandering over what his father thought. Does his father hate him now? Will he suffer the wrath of the ancestors for breaking such a priceless artifact?
He had no idea what this meant for him. And that only filled the kids brains with even more nonsense than his imagination can create. That was until he felt the warmth of his father as he was pulled into his chest.
"There there, kiddo, everything."
"R-really? I'm not going to get smitten by my grandfather's spirit."
"I mean, I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility."
"EEP!" Tommy yelped, hiding under the remains of the destroyed cloak.
"You majesty, not the time." The blacksmith sighed.
"Right, right, sorry." Matthias chuckled, scratching his head as he plucked Tommy out.
"Listen, kiddo, nothing will happen to you for destroying some dusty old cloak. It was an accident after all." Matthias ruffled Tommy's hair. "Mistakes are just part of the natural order of things. You shouldn't let them rule over you."
Matthias looked over his son. He saw his tears clear up, but he still sensed a hint of guilt in his heart. Wasting no time, Matthias went back into the door and picked up the charme on the ground. Despite exploding, it kept up it's form really well. The only visible difference was the cracks starting to form near the edge, and it would take much more than that to render it inoperable.
Exiting the room with the disc, Matthias handed the charme over to Tommy. The kid was hesitant to grab it, but he did it after receiving a nod from his father.
"Since you still look guilty, how about we make a promise? A promise that would make up for the destroyed cloak, shall we?"
/~/
"No, no! This is all wrong; why is it suddenly so wholesome?" The snake raged. In the middle of his tantrum, the grip on Tommy loosened, allowing the kid to slip his hand into his bag. Throwing a charme at the snake's tail, it did it's usual failed start up before exploding, causing the snake to hiss and release Tommy from the wall.
"Ow. That actually hurt you, brat!"
"I have a lot more where that came from. I was saving this technique for when I go on a real adventure with my father. But I guess a test dummy will work for now."
Tommy pulled out several charms from his bag and threw all of them at once toward the snake.
"Oh no, more explosive disc. Whatever shall I do?" The snake nonchalantly moved his head to the side, effortlessly dodging the attack. It chuckled at the attempt and raised its tail, but one of them came back around and crashed into the back of the snake's head, exploding on impact.
"The hell? These things can boomerang." Turning around, the snake only got a glimpse of several charme before they exploded in his face.
Tommy pulled out more charme and watched for the snake as the smoke obscured it's movement. And sure enough, the snake lunged out of the smoke, aiming for the boy. Prepared for the attack, however, Tommy rolled to the side and tossed more to cover his escape.
The snake took on one of the charms to the face but kept moving as if the explosion did nothing to it. Dodging the rest, he followed Tommy as the boy maneuvered through the apparition of the castle. At one point, he even used the monster's ability against him, escaping through a hidden door he himself forgot about since it had been demolished so long ago.
"Damn you, brat. Why must your memories be so scattered?" The snake closed its eye, reading through the kid's memories to find the exit to the secret passage. After some digging, he found the location and made his way to it. Once he arrived, he found the entrance to the ballroom, an entrance that's conveniently opened with no one inside.
Seeing the obvious trap, the snake took a spear from one of the humans and tossed it in at high speeds. As predicted, the spear hit a string, making two charme come from the side and ram into each other, exploding upon contact. The snake could only laugh as it made it's way to the door.
"Nice try, kid." The snake smirked as it dashed inside. Not wasting a second, he rushed in. He stopped, however, as he didn't see Tommy inside. Looking around, he turned around just in time to see several charme heading his way. Instead of heading directly for him, however, they all split apart and began circling him.
"He curved them? No, these aren't normal. No one has the finesse necessary to pull off these types of throws." The snake dodged through the seeking charme, slithering and leaping between them with unparalleled efficiency.
Mid-dodging, he search the room for the source and notices Tommy up above, moving his hands around until he notice the snake spot him. Giving a nonchalant wave, Tommy closed his hands to where the echo-conda's position was, sending all the charme there. But the snake ran past them all and began climbing the wall.
"Don't think you can fool me any longer!"
It wasted no more time and located Tommy right away. Reaching the top, it lunged at Tommy, fangs ready to bite into the boy. But as he was about to reach him, Tommy disappeared in a ball of flames, landing on the ground below. The snake grumbled as he missed his catch once again. But he was suddenly suspended in the air by an invisible force.
"The hell. W-wait. I can't… move." The snake struggled to move as all the charme closed on his position. That was when he finally saw the thin line holding him in place.
"You sly bastard. Those weren't throws at all!" The snake braced for impact as all the charme hit him, exploding on impact. Only one of them, however, activated properly, and it began to freeze the snake in place.
Falling to the ground, the ice crashed, surprisingly keeping it's form. The snake was frozen solid, and Tommy was left dumbfounded as he touched the casing of ice.
My ice shell chame worked?!
Tommy hummed with excitement as he fumbled through his bag, feeling the once-abundant charme storage he had significantly thinned as time went on. Struggling to find his next charme, he finally grabbed one and began looking at the Charme that had activated. That was until he felt a sudden head rise from the ice. Backing away, Tommy is blasted back as a potent flame came from the ice.
"I must say, you almost got me there
"[Fire Cutter: Mega!] [Ice Slicer: Mega!] [Lightning Impact. Mega!]" Tommy tossed all three charme at once, but the snake had already ascended from the ice, muttering a rhyme.
"You can't trick me with your thread. Fire awaken, burn, and shred! [Star Flame Cutter]"
Swiping his tail around the room, all the charme approaching him fell to the floor as he cut through the wire holding them. Tommy was forced to let go of the string he had to avoid being burned.
"I think it's about time we get back to the task at hand. I want to figure out what makes you tick, not play a game of cat and mouse."
"Well, as humans, we have a brain and a bod-" Tommy rolled to the side, barely dodging the echo-conda's tail.
"Don't get smart with me, human. Your puny trinkets can't save you now."
"M-maybe. But I'll still try." Tommy reached for another disc, but the world shattered before he could pull one out.
The snake was gone, and he found himself in a storage room. He had no idea whether to be relieved or dreadful of what was to come. Still, with the time he had, he started to prepare. Grabbing some tiles off the ground, he began marking them with inscriptions in another language.
In truth, you can make a charme out of pretty much any material. It's just that most materials are very unreliable when it comes to conducting magic. This could lead to explosions or just the charme to not work at all. Tommy had no issues with this, though. At the moment, he needed more charme so he could survive. Besides. Every charm he uses always explodes or fails anyway, so he really wasn't gambling with anything.
While he was making the bootleg charms, however, he heard two familiar voices nearby. Voices that he hasn't heard in a long time. Peeking his head out the door, he saw the apparition of several maids in the room. The ones that caught his eye, however, were the two of his old maids, to be exact, the loudest and supposed proudest of the group.
He remembered this day. They had made him a new charme, under the pretense that the previous one was too much for a kid his age. And every day he'd spend an hour of his time in the training room, trying his best to make a charme work. Sadly, the only thing that followed was failure until the inevitable explosion. By the third day, he had his magic-resistant coat ready and a group of maids ready to clean up after him. And every day, when he left the room, he walked away completely unaware of the slander directed at him.
That was until a few years later, when he finally heard them. He had no classes that day due to an emergency. Usually, when that happens, he'll help the maids clean up the mess he made during the training. But the emergency was so sudden that half the castle had no warning of their departure. So when he went back to assist, he heard them for the first time.
"It looks like the little prince did it this time. The hell was he experimenting with, a giga charme?" A maid sighed.
"Two Giga's. He wanted to test if charging two charme at once would lead to a better distribution of magic. As you can see, same results, just more damage." Another chuckled.
"I know. The kid was already a magical failure from birth. How can the king entertain such recklessness?"
"Because the brat insists on making our lives hell. Look at this. We have to replace the tile again."
"Such a smart ass too." Another scoffed.
"Alright, let's not get crazy here. We're talking about his magic, not the prince himself. Don't want our heads chopped off, do we?"
"Like that's ever going to happen." The group laughed, not noticing that the door was cracked open, with a head peeking through.
It wasn't till later that he found out this had gone on for years with the clean-up crew. Originally, he ran away crying. Later that day, his mother had some not-so-kind words to share with the group, which led to the mass firing, slapping, and career-destroying slander of the group, as well as any others who were outed speaking maliciously about the king's son.
Now, he did his best to ignore the comments and continue his work. Although it would be a lie to say that it didn't hurt, it had been so long since he heard those words that he almost forgot how bad the insults were. Still, he pressed on now that he was in danger.
"So that's what it was."
The wall to the storage room exploded, and Tommy was blasted into the training room.
"I was wondering why the first one didn't affect you as much. Destroying a precious family heirloom would mess with anyone. But it wasn't that you were dreading; it was that disc."
The echo-conda came into the training room, its back on fire as it slithered through the flames. Tommy threw his makeshift charms, all of them exploding in the snake's face. But it continued to move towards the kid, unaffected in the least.
"A charme you call it. The magic of your world. Every time you use it, it results in a pretty potent explosion. I won't lie; I thought I would be done a few times because of it. But each time you use it, your feelings spike, and that's when I realized. This is not the intended effect."
"I won't let you intimidate me!"
Tommy tossed every tile charme he made. He already knew his shortcomings; he didn't need another person to tell them to his face. But despite his efforts, the Echo-Conda reached him and smacked him with it's tail. Getting launched across the room, he crashed into a wall and fell to the floor. The bag he had took the brunt of the attack and was bacame torn, scattering themselves across the floor, and soon getting trampled by the approaching snake.
"This… mana Fluctuation. A genetic disorder from your world that makes it extremely difficult for the user to regulate their mana flow." The world shattered, and Tommy found himself in a room with the apparitions of his father and a doctor.
"Your son's type is high mana fluctuation, meaning that any type of charme he tries to use will usually end up supercharged, thus leading to an explosion as the charme can't handle the amount of energy poured in."
"So… that means?"
"Sorry, young prince. Your chances at using any type of magic are slim to none." The doctor frowned.
"But there's a way to fix it, right?" Matthias asked. He already knew the answer, but he held out hope that he was wrong. Unfortunately, the doctor shook his head.
"Sorry, my king. But there's nothing I can do. Some say you can surpass this with training. But all of those are rumors and are to be taken with a heavy grain of salt. Once again, I am sorry, little prince."
The doctor left the room, and Tommy began to cry in his father's arms. The world then suddenly shattered, bringing both of them back into the training hall, where an apparition of Tommy was training.
"That explains it. These explosions were just failed attempts at spell-casting."
"They are spells!" Tommy yelled.
"But not the one intended." The snake swiped all of the scattered Charme away from Tommy and flung them up to his head with his tail. Now defenseless, Tommy lied on the ground, and the snake continued.
"Look at yourself. Two years of "magic training" and you haven't broken any waters. You can be smart as you want. You can know how to make every type of charm and it's effects by just glancing at the material. But none of that changes; you can't even use them."
"I can use them. I just-"
"Just what! Why hold on to false hope!? Why be so stubborn that you put yourself in danger time and time again, just to arrive at the same results? The echo-conda muttered a rhyme and summoned two hands made of flames. Reaching for one of the charme of his head, he broke it in half, tanking the explosion that came with it.
"You need to realize that you've got no goal." The snake broke another.
"And each step is only causing yourself more harm. You quit when you realized how your obsession was affecting your work staff, yet you still come back because of what?"
Snap
"Is it for the pride of your family?"
Snap
"The feeling of powerlessness against the waves?"
Snap
"Or is it because you can't admit that you're a failure at all things magic?"
Snap
Tommy watched as all his hard work was slowly broken one by one. He didn't even know what to think. Looking up after hodling in his tears, only two charms were left, and his eyes widened at the last one.
"Fire ball fly. Something something, hit him in the eye! [Star Fireball]" With no time to lose, he reached out his hand, and Tommy generated a massive ball of flames. He tried to direct it, but it released before he could aim it, and instead hit the charme instead.
The fireball blew up, sending his charme to the ground and up in flames. Falling to his knees, a tear fell from his eyes as he scrambled over to the disc. The snake made no effort to stop him and only watched in pity as the kid struggled to put it out.
"Now your emotions are more clear. Panic, sorrow. These disc… their connection. I didn't see it because I skimmed through your wholesome memories. But now."
The world shattered, bringing both of them back to the moment they left at the start of their fight. The apparition of Tommy listened intently as their father proposed something. It was a promise that started this obsession in the first place.
"When you learn how to activate this Charme. I'll take you on a trip to our world's greatest phenomenon. This was the same trip my father took me on. And it's about time you start preparing for yours."
Matthias put a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Chin up, kiddo. You'll make an excellent mage in the future; I know it."
The world shattered, and they returned to the training room. Tommy's and his apparition were in the same place, both kneeling on the ground near a pile of charme. It is useful to everyone but himself.
What kind of mage was he if he couldn't even use the most basic form of magic in his world? Not to mention how every spell in this world is just as uncontrollable. He felt inadequate, even worthless even. He didn't want to be the child of a hero who couldn't even cast a single charm. But no matter how many times he trained, nothing changed.
"So that's it. A promise to your father that you want to uphold. But I can tell it's not that either."
The snake came forward, but Tommy didn't move. He knew he couldn't win. The last two charms in his arsenal were utility-based and are currently burning. Not that it would matter much if it weren't. They'll just fail anyway.
"You just don't want to come off as a failure to your father. It's a simple obsession that people harbor for those they idolize. But that obsession can spiral out of control, especially if you're trying to hold yourself to a standard you know you have no way of upholding."
The snake extinguished Tommy's charm and placed it in the kids hands.
"Sometimes. Breaking an unkeepable promise is the best course of action. If this charm is the culmination of all this discourse in your life, then you should be the one to break it instead."
"I-I…"
"It's for your own good. I know you're not a reincarnate, so I'll teach you the harsh truth instead of killing you. If you're a failure at one thing, it's best you find another profession."
Tommy struggled as he contemplated breaking it. The explosion didn't scare him; he knew he'd survive. But what would his father think, What would the kingdom think.
I don't have the physical stats to be a front-line fighter. Nor do I have the defense to become a tank. Magic is the only thing I have going for me. And I can't even use it right. Maybe the snake is right; fate has been against me for the longest time.
Tommy began bending the already decrepit metal. But the door to the training room was kicked open, and he flew across the room as his father stepped inside.
"Kiddo. Who said you can play with fire of the nonmagical variety!?"
Tommy shot up, turning immediately towards his rightfully angry father. He forgot about the memory thing and almost forgot about where he was. Beside him was a pile of charmeup in flames. And his apparition, standing there with a match in hand.
It was hours after the whole maid debacle. He carried all his charme into the training room and began burning them. It was one of his lowest points—a point in time he actually wanted to quit. He was actually struggling to make the same decision he was making now. In his hand was his very first charme, and he was about to throw it into the fire. But before he could, his father burst through the door, still armored up from the situation from earlier. And needless to say, he wasn't so happy that one of his rooms was a blazing mess at the moment.
Tommy wanted to explain, but he couldn't muster up anything. Instead, he broke down into a fit of sobbing. It was a pretty awkward scenario for the fire team, who just arrived to witness the little prince's breakdown for themselves.
"Woah kiddo. Where's the fire?" Matthias chuckled, trying to make light of the situation. But Tommy didn't stop his crying, making the hero very concerned.
"F-fa-father. Am I a f-failure?"
"What? No. Who told you that?" Matthias face turned from a smile to a scowl.
"I tried everything, but the doctor was right. I can't cast anything." Tommy sniffed. "Then the cleaning maids said I caused them problems. Am I just not cut out for it?"
"Pft. Maids, ignore them. I'll deal with them personally later." Matthias grabbed Tommy by the head.
"I understand you're struggling. After exhausting all your options,. It's only practical for one to quit."
"So I should!"
"That depends. What do you plan to do now?"
"My plans?" Tommy scratched his head and tilted it to the side. Matthias only chuckled as he patted his son on the head.
"Listen kiddo. If you don't have a backup plan, I don't think it's time to quit. Besides, you still want to beat up monsters like your pops, do you?"
"Y-yes!"
"Then take a moment and think about your next course of action. Never make any rash decisions you might regret later. Who knows, this charm could have come in handy; who knows how many years down the line."
Matthias picked up the charme in Tommy's hands. The charm they made together,
"You're a smart kid, Tommy. I'm sure one day you'll find a way to use charms in your own weird manner. It may take months, probably even years. But that's how all forms of training go. Just stick with what you have right now, and I'm sure you'll make it."
"What I got right now?"
The real Tommy looked down at his charm and everything that it could do. Until now, that's what he's been trying. Experimentation on how to make charms work in his own way. He developed his throwing skills and learned a hefty amount of yo-yo tricks too. But when it came to actually casting the thing, it'd always just end up doing the same thing, exploding in his and everyone else's faces.
That's when his eyes widened, realizing something.
"I swear. How many training room memories can one person have?"
"Enough to realize something important." Tommy stood up, placing his Charme into his pocket.
"I should have expected this. Kids are stubborn by nature. And now I have to deal with this." The snake lunged at Tommy, but something unexpected happened.
Flying straight into his mouth was a charme. And once it exploded, the echo-conda fell to the ground, wheezing and coughing up smoke. Before he could even recover, three more came his way, injuring him even more as he was launched across the room.
"H-how. You sh-should have any m-more." The snake coughed.
Looking up, he saw Tommy wielding more charms. Even worse, his stats were plummeting by the second, so much so that he started feeling pain from the explosions coming his way again.
This kid. Whatever that man said gave him a new air of confidence. To be able to find such a resolve instead of falling into despair. This kid is something else.
The Echo-Conda became engulfed in flames and swiped its tail, sending a slash of fire at the kid. Instead of trying to avoid it, however, Tommy ran forward, throwing a charm at the ground that exploded and launched him into the air. Avoiding the slash of flames, Tommy threw down several more charme that all exploded on the snake's body.
Landing on the roof. Tommy muttered a few rhymes and shot away back towards the ground, just in time to avoid the echo-conda's attack.
Crashing into the floor, Tommy forced himself up as he went towards the stash of charme on the ground. But the snake noticed this, and its eyes began to glow.
"That's where you were getting them from." The world began to crack as Tommy ran at the snake one last time. Launching himself into the air once again, he prepared for an attack, but his charms disappeared midway through.
Now outside in the sanctuary, he was panicking as he rapidly approached the snake's mouth. He attempted to rhyme, but couldn't come up with anything. He didn't have a weapon on him either. There was only one thing he could rely on.
/~/
"When you learn how to activate this Charme. I'll take you on a trip to our world's greatest phenomenon."
/~/
"Sorry father. I must break my promise!" Reaching into his back pocket, Tommy rose a blue charme high into the sky. This is my ultimate charm snake; you wanted it destroyed! Well, here you go! Light: Terra!"
Tommy threw the final charm down. Briefly, it flashed a very bright light, and Tommy marveled at its glow before it slowly fizzled out.
Exploding in a massive white light, both Tommy and the snake were engulfed in the blast. Tommy shielded his face with his cloak, but he was launched into a nearby wall, losing consciousness as he fell headfirst to the floor.
/~/
Tommy opened his eyes, finding himself not in the various locations of his memories. But somewhere entirely different. He was in a room of some kind, furnished and decked out with all sorts of amenities one might find in a noble's house.
And beside him was a man, sleeping on the rug next to him. His face, along with many other parts of his body, were charred with black wounds. And he was bandaged all over, his left eye the only thing untouched.
"So you decided to break your charm, yet still keep your drive to fight with magic. I must say, you are one of the most stubborn and craziest people I've ever met. And I have met. And I have five other siblings who are just as annoying as you.
"Lo ere- al?" Tommy grunted as he sat up.
"Careful. Although your wounds may have been healed, your body is still strained from the fight. And you may be concussed after that fall… Can you even understand me?"
"An? Muk ulir nen konal? Wot, hie afil yia drie eip fen?" Tommy gasped. "Yia're dre tlake!"
Tommy attempted to get up. But the man pushed him back down.
"Fucking otherworldly language is annoying to hear. Be translated and get this gibberish out of my ear." A wave washed over Tommy as he began to understand what the man was saying.
"What did you do to me, snake? Where am I?"
"How did you even figure tha- Whatever, kid, I'm here to kill you anymore."
"You aren't?"
"It's because I ordered him too." A gruff voice said.
Coming through the door was an old man, walking in with a cane and a long white beard.
"Come sit. I have some tea made just for you."
Tommy hesitated to give up, but he knew that ignoring a tea offering could come off as rude and decided to sit down anyway. At a table made for seven, the three of them sat across from each other and exchanged glances. Tommy could tell the old man was another snake due to his eyes. But he felt less threatening as opposed to the younger snake, who was still radiating bloodlust. He was also scared, now that he had no way to defend himself.
"Excuse my son, young Orezmund. He's just a battle freak."
"Love you too, Dad." The snake scoffed.
"You know my name?"
"Indeed. I am a Memo-Conda, guardian of this place."
"Memo-Conda?" Tommy asked.
"Indeed. I am a snake that can absorb memories and pass on memories of any creature that enters my stomach."
"And we Echo-Conda's can make manifestations of said memories by using the negative emotions we feed off the victim." The Echo-Conda explained.
"So by working together, you can make victims of these two abilities relieve their past insecurities and regrets. And the more they regret, the stronger you grow, and the stronger you grow, the more memories you can manifest… Wait, I was in your stomach!" Tommy began wiping himself off with a nearby napkin.
"I told you this kid was weird." The snake whispered, only to receive a cane to the head from the old man. "Respect our guest, Rattle." The old man sighed.
"Excuse me, mister Memo-Conda?" Tommy asked.
"No need to be so formal. You can call me Rep-Tile."
"Mister Rep…tile?"
"Indeed."
"...Okay, mister Tile, Where exactly am I?" Tommy asked, dropping his previous question entirely.
"You are in the Star Sanctuary. Also known as Miguel's tomb. Your friend brought you here after your encounter with the horses."
"The horses?" Tommy gasp. "Oh god, where's mister Flores?" Tommy panicked. Tile pointed toward a section of the room where Flores was currently tied up and passed out on the bed.
"What happened to him?"
"Unfortunately. He lost the will to live and was soon consumed by the power of sin."
"The Curse Series. I remember my father talking about it before. Did he really activate it?"
"Indeed. Garter mistook him for a divine reincarnate and took matters too far. Both of my son took matters too far." Tile grumbled.
"In my defense, he was-"
"Shut up, Rattle. I'm not blaming you for doing your job. But for attempting to kill this kid time and time again,. And for what, just because he noticed you're a bad actor from the jump?."
"you'reabadactortoosoIdon'tknowwhyyou'retalking." Rattle grumbled.
"I see. So if Mr. Flores came here,. What was he here for? I can guess it's not for the previous hero's body."
"Good question. As the guardians of the tomb. We don't just protect Miguel's body. It's pretty useless at this point. Instead, we safeguard his knowledge to the future keepers of Morale. Inside, he even says holds the key to slay even the gods themselves."
"A god-slaying… key?"
"Not key specifically. But a special item that can reduce the miracles of "God" to zero. Unfortunately, we can't part with any of it. We're under strict orders to keep any and all knowledge sealed in this tomb. Even if your here to read the previous history of our world, you'll still find yourself out of luck. As you cannot read the language of the reincarnates."
"Dang it!" Tommy swore.
"Then I can just wait for mister Flores to wake up, and then he can-"
"Also no." Rattle interrupted.
"But why not?"
"It's as my son says. Right now, the hero is an unstable mess. We were told by Miguel himself not to allow anyone who can't face their past inside. This is for the safety of the world, as these tools should only be used for heroes that can defend the world against the four beasts and against those from beyond." Tile explained.
"If we aren't confident that a hero can defend the world properly, then we'll have to let the harbingers rampage once again."
"Then this adventure was all for naught." Tommy sighed.
"Far from it, actually. By entering this place, you learned to combat your past insecurities and even found new resolve in your promise to your father. Although it may be unorthodox in your world, I'm sure you'll become a great mage one day."
"You really think so?"
"I know so."
Tommy almost shed a tear but kept his composure as he sipped his tea. He was so giddy that he even forgot he was fighting Rattle about five minutes ago. That was until the man himself got up from the table and wiped down some snake skin on the table.
"Here. I'm not sure how good it would be when it comes to Charme. But I'm sure our misery absorption should do something."
"And."
Rattled sighed. "And sorry, I broke each of your charms one by one. I just hate stubborn idiots, and you were one of them." Rattle left the room as Tile facepalmed. "At least he said sorry. He's a… difficult boy, isn't he?"
"Most certainly. Now, let's finish our tea. I'll have my mate make some pastries as well."
"Thank the Jewelry Tools!"
/~/
"That should do it. His body didn't have many noticeable injuries. Whoever did the healing must have been very potent at it. He did have a few cursed wounds, though. The holy water will have to eat at that for a bit before it returns to normal." Cadenza patted Tommy on the head. "Good job, Tommy."
"Heh. Thanks." Tommy scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed by the praise.
After he exited the sanctuary, everything was silent as Atorie rushed them back to the sanctuary to treat his wounds. Tommy was also examined, but he was deemed healthy and just needed some rest to sleep off the stress on his muscles.
"So now that master has his medical attention. What in the name of Foo Ken'bitch happened in there?" Hollowtrix yelled.
"Snakes. Separated us, threw us into our worst memories, then beat us up. I lost all my charme in the process."
"Ha. Fork it over, Atorie."
"Ugh." Atorie groaned as she placed five silver coins into Azriel's hooves.
"So what about the book? Did you get it?"
"Sort of. I was given a chance to look, but it was in a language I couldn't comprehend. I also didn't have anything on me to document it."
"I say that counts. Give it back, Azriel."
"Hell no, that doesn't count!" Azriel argued.
"Before any argument,. What happened to Flores?" Hollowtrix asked, piquing the interest of the two horses as they listened closely.
"I'm not sure how bad it was on his end. But the snakes inside claimed he unlocked the curse series."
Cadenza spat out her drink, spraying hot water all over the unicorn.
"HE UNLOCKED WHAT!" Cadenza yelled.
"Um… I think it was arrogance."
"He unlocked the curse of pride!"
"Is that a bad thing?" Hollowtrix asked.
"EXTREMELY!" Everyone else yelled.
"The curse series is part of the weapons suicide prevention system. It gives unimaginable strength but corrodes the mind the longer it's used. It's not a series to be messed with." Atorie explained.
"So you're saying... he came out more traumatized."
"In a way, yes… Oh, fuck off." Atorie grabbed the five coins from Azriel and dumped fifteen more into Hollowtrix's hand.
"So, to make things short,. This entire trip was a huge mess."
"It's not all bad. I've finally figured out my plans for training." Tommy beamed.
"Good for you, kid. Well, since there's nothing for me here, I'm leaving."
"Hold on, Azriel. Since you're here, mind sparring some magic piss." Cadenza chuckled as she held up a jug.
"STOP CALLING IT THAT FOX!" Azriel yelled as he snatched the jug. "I'm only doing this to uphold my deal with the successor, not you." Azriel walked over to Hollowtrix and placed his hoof on her head. Removing his hoof, the outline of a horn appeared on her head, and quickly disappeared. He then left the room, slammed the door on his way out.
"Drama queen." Atorie scoffed. She plucked a few feathers off her wings and placed them in Cadenza's bag. Afterward, she walked over to Hollowtrix and touched her sides.
"Uhh… What are you doing?"
"The blessing of the pegasus. I'm not going to be one-upped by Azriel." Atorie released her hooves. Appearing on Hollow's side was the white outline of two wings, similar to the horn Azriel left on her. "There. That should give you some interesting options once you choose a path. So choose the right one, will you?"
Atorie began to flap her wings, hovering over the ground as she rose in the air. "Come to the pegasus domain some time. I'll be happy to show you around Hollow."
"You bet your ass I'll be there."
"I don't have a donkey, but I like your enthusiasm." Atorie flew off, leaving through an open window.
"Welp, I got what I needed. Once I get that magic dust, I'll be able to make Commando II! Ooh, and you start talking as well; I can make you a dress along with the others. Eek!"
"No dress, pants only."
"How about a skirt and shorts?"
"Also acceptable." Hollowtrix nodded.
"Good enough for me!" Cadenza ran towards the door. But before she could open it, she heard Tommy call out to her.
"Excuse me, Miss Cadenza, ma'am. You think you can help me out with something."
"Hmm. Uh yeah, what do you need?"
/~/
"Thank you for this. I'm still not allowed to use the forge myself, so I need a bit of help with this."
"Really? New world has different rules. You can be bad; break the law!" Cadenza maniacally chuckled.
"Though that may be true,. I'd like to keep the trust my parents have for me."
"Fair enough."
With a snap of her fingers, the forge lit up. Tommy walked over to Cadenza's work bench and placed four items on the table. The first two were the materials he got from Rattle. One is from the Echo-Conda's, and the other from the Memo-Conda's. The next was his torn bag. It was enchanted, like the rest of his clothes, to be highly resistant to magic. But even that didn't stop the burns it suffered from Rattle's potent flames. And obviously, there is a tear in the side. The last piece was his very first charm. It was snapped in half, and it was pretty much charcoal at this point. Yet it still had faint glints of blue despite all the explosions it's been through.
Cadenza looked at the items on the table, immediately understanding what Tommy wanted without even saying a word. Grabbing the bag first, the woman took out her sewing kit and got to work.
"This piece is from the echo conda. It's a-"
"A snake that can feed on emotions and replicate them to a certain extent. I assume you want this in your bag so that anything you put inside will get charged passively and be ready to toss with as little mana as possible, correct?"
"Uh yeah. How did yo-"
"I identified the monster, saw your broken bag, and came up with possible solutions. This one seemed to be the most likely, due to what you store inside of it. Aka magic stuff."
"I see. Carry on then." Tommy backed up as Cadenza got to work. Each of her tails moved at high speeds as they worked on integrating the monster parts into the bag. She decided to put the snake cloth in between a layer of black cloth so she could sew it in without ruining the design. Because in her case, bad fashion sense would kill your allies faster than the enemies could. Tommy had no idea how credible this saying was, but he didn't question the blacksmith as she finished the job in under thirty minutes.
"Alright, Tommy, over here."
"You need me?"
"Yes. Charms are a Lizen thing, so I need you to guide me on this. What am I doing? How do I do it?" Cadenza stated it bluntly.
"Oh okay. This thing is beyond fried, but I want to see if it can be salvaged at least. We're going to need a new metal that's great at absorbing magic. And I want to see how I cimplementent this into it as well."
"Hmm." Cadenza looked at the snake skin and nodded.
"Memo-Conda Skin. An extinct snake's species from the time of Miguel. They gave birth to the Echo-Conda's and worked together in unison to trap and slowly digest enemies. Where did you get this!?"
"I got it from the old man in the star sanctuary."
"Miguels Tomb has extinct monsters! I want!"
"Unfortunately, you can't get in without Mister Flores, Azriel, and Miss Atorie."
"Damn it!" Cadenza shouted before covering her mount in embarrassment.
"Ignore that. I'll make this one count. We can use the skin to layer the outline of the disc. Though I'm not sure how that'll affect a charm or not."
"We'll just have to find out. Let's do it, Miss Cadenza!"
Tommy and Cadenza worked in synch. Tommy gave directions and gathered the materials around the room, while Cadenza worked her magic, melting and shaping the molten metal into a disc. It was tense; there was no room for error. Any mistake and the charm would be gone forever, and Tommy knew that. Despite all the fear he had, however, he held out hope and trusted Cadenza's skills as she worked hard on fulfilling his request.
And for what seemed like forever, Cadenza quenched the disc for the final time and rose it into the air. It was a mix of blue and red. The leftover blue from the dwarven metal was mixed with the red of sterrite. The two metals bonded perfectly, both being very high en- in both material and magic capacity. The snake layer was also melded on, with some difficulties, though. Despite that, Cadenza got it on, leading to a green trim around the charm's exterior.
Cadenza was thrilled. Her first charme crafting had been successful. Though she condemned herself for the time it took to complete it,. From start to finish, it took them both two hours of constant work to slowly and carefully make the thing. The melting point of the metals, the intigration of the snake parts, and the hammering to properly smooth out the edges. It was all longer than she desired. But she still couldn't help but cherish the disc in her hand.
"Eat it, Lizen. I'm the best charme maker now."
"Not quite. We still need to do one more thing." Tommy climbed up to the table using a nearby stool and began hammering into it with a chisel. Cadenza was horrified and wanted to stop him. But she stopped herself as she looked at the letters he carved into it.
"The words are one of the most important parts of a charm. No words, no effect, simple as that."
"So what does it say? What are you planning on making it do?" Cadenza asked.
"In the tomb, I learned that I may never be a proper caster. Any and all forms of unique magic just end up exploding in my face. And I've come to terms with that."
Cadenza could hear Tommy's voice get more somber, and she placed a hand on his shoulder, much to Tommy's delight.
"No need to worry. I'm still planning on becoming a mage. Though it would be different."
Tommy carved another letter into the charme. "I may not be able to cast unique effects like levitation or invisibility. But I can make them explode."
Clink
"They're as potent as most spells, if not stronger. So if that's the only spell I can use, I'll refine it until it's the greatest in any arsenal."
Clink
"This charm isn't going to have anything special. So I'll give it a unique name."
Clink
"So even if the spell goes awry, the result won't be any different, since I knew the results from the very beginning."
Clink.
"It'll be a sign—no, a symbol of the promise I made to my father. The blue is the first one that I broke, and the red is the new promise made to replace it. And the green, representing the ones who let this happen."
As Tommy finished carving the last letter, he held the charm up into the sky and smiled.
"Apologies for treating you so recklessly over the year. I promise to do better. You'll no longer be known as the Charm of Light. Instead, I dub thee as the Charm of Detonation. The first in a long line of detonation charms to come."
A bright light came from the charme, and Tommy moved back as it floated.
"Woah."
"That's not supposed to happen; what's going on?" Tommy panicked.
The charme glowed a white light, and a sellout began forming from it. It sprouted arms and legs, along with a child-like body."
"In such a short amount of time? Is it Riala's influence, or was two weeks really enough for it to form? Then again, it would make sense since it's a magic disc. There is so much mana to be absorbed; of course it would form after all these years with him."
"Miss Cadenza, what's going on!?" Tommy exclaimed.
"Don't look away, Tommy. You're witnessing the birth of a construct." Cadenza explained.
As the ball of light died down, a boy around six years of age stood there in front of them. He had blue hair with green tips and wore a red newsboy cap with a medallion on the front, depicting the picture of the charme they just made. His clothes were quite plain. Just a pair of black shorts and a white tee that anyone could get. Despite most of his features being human, however, his teeth were a different story. They were snake fangs, which Tommy assumed was the influence of the Memo-Conda's materials. Aside from that, it was just a very plain-looking boy standing on the crafting table.
"Good evening, big brother Tommy, miss Cadenza. Thank you for remaking me."