Chapter 15 - Midnight Rebellion

Before Dawn returned home for the evening, she gathered some wet clay and her hardened sheet. She sat in her room and began to think.

How does magic work?

She manifested a scalpel again and began to carve words, using the unfinished literacy that the teachers had made.

Magic is the usage of mana.

Mana can be used in four ways. Those are spells, manifestation, enhancements, and enchantments.

Spells use mana and runes to create effects.

Manifestation is the use of mana physically to produce a temporary object.

Enhancements are the use of mana to strengthen the body and senses.

Enchantments are the implementation of runes into an object to make it have magical traits.

Runes can be taught from one person to another, or discovered by deep meditation into the topic.

Anything else of major importance? These seem to be the basics. I should get it reviewed.

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“I have no issues with this, but is there really only one 'enhancement’?” Rosalia asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it just seems so… specific. Is there not something else it fits under?”

Dawn began to think. When a thought struck her, she reached out. She placed her hand on Rosalia’s shoulder and attempted to control her mana. Rosalia squirmed, and her mana refused to be controlled. Stopping then, Dawn grabbed the list she had made earlier and erased enhancements.

Techniques are the use of mana to produce effects without spells.

“Any other comments?”

Rosalia was lost in thought for a minute before answering, “No. This seems fine.”

“Good. I’m leaving it with you and your colleagues to update it as needed.”

“Ah, before you go. One of the Plerith students seems a bit weird. When they learned of the rat's attack and how Lynn was responsible, they sought her out.”

“Describe them.”

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Dawn stalked Iav, the suspicious Plerith member, as they went about their day. She cloaked herself in [Shadow] and hid with [silence], watching him throughout the day. He continued his day, appearing as an ordinary person. But, when night fell, and others slept, he left and entered the woods. Dawn continued to follow him into the woods, finding him eventually stop at a clearing with many others. The moon was full, shining brightly down on the crowd.

“Iav! Have you learned that rune?”

“Yep. [Control], it’s right here.”

“Perfect. We’ve been searching and found some perfect targets. Come on.”

The crowd left, moving in unison.

Perhaps they’re a former military group. They know each other and clearly have hunted together.

Dawn continued to follow for many minutes, as they traveled through the trees smoothly and quietly. Eventually, they arrived at a strange part of the forest, with bones lining a clear perimeter. The leader waved their hand, and the crowd stopped behind them.

“Inside here is a strong monster. Everyone, be quiet, and we’ll strike on my signal. Iav, ready [control] and cast it when the monster is weakened. Everyone else, remember it. You’ll all cast it when Iav does. If all goes well, we’ll get ourselves a strong ally.”

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Everyone nodded, so they entered. They found a large humanoid, with large bustling muscles, and a giant club lying beside it.

An ogre, perhaps?

The group surrounded the ogre, and the leader shouted, “NOW!”.

They all struck with their clubs, striking everywhere they could reach.

And they didn’t even remove its club? Unless they have a plan…

Dawn made sure she was hidden in the shade of the trees before dispelling her [Shadow] and [Silence]. She carefully sent her mana to the club and began to cut a small rune on the opposite side of the club of [Control].

Long-distance control is really tiring.

The ogre began to rise and bellowed. The crowd flinched for a second, but got back into the fight. But it was too late, as the Ogre grabbed its club and swung at them. The closest people were sent flying, crashing into the trees with an uncomfortable crunch.

Dawn slipped towards the injured, staying hidden and keeping her eyes on the battle. She [healed] them while simultaneously casting [soul] to make sure they were still alive.

One of their souls is departing.

Dawn channeled more mana into [soul], gripping the soul tightly and [healing] the body more.

Should be fully healed.

She shoved the soul back into the body, but it didn’t stick. She didn’t stop, though, hurrying out and carving [soul] onto the body and shoving the soul into the body again. This time, it stuck.

She focused her attention back on the fighting. The fighters were successfully avoiding the club, with the targeted fighter dodging while the others struck. The battle wasn’t going anywhere fast, with the ogre not hitting anyone else and not taking that much damage from each strike.

Dawn [controlled] the ogres' club, making it swing to the ground and stick. The fighters didn’t question it, instead dropping their defense and attacking with reckless abandon. The ogre finally showed signs of weakening, so the leader cried out, “IAV!”

Iav appeared from the wood work, casting [control]. The remaining fighters, not including the leader, all joined in.

The ogre clenched its head, roaring. But, it grew more docile, eventually dropping its arms.

“Comrades! We’ve done it! We have the monster under our control! Now, even Dawn cannot stop us! We will take Foxshire and offer their flesh to the First of Blood!”

The fighters cheered, hugging each other.

“Now, Gideon. Fetch Hannah.”

“No need,” Dawn stopped hiding herself, walking before the rebels. “I’ve taken the liberty of preventing their deaths.”

The excited atmosphere died in an instant, with the still-conscious warriors drawing their clubs.

“I should explain something before we begin. I want you all to be members of my empire. So I’ll make sure you stay alive.”

“Charge!” the leader cried, turning and trying to [control] the ogre.

The few warriors all arrived in front of Dawn in a semicircle. They all swung, but were too slow, all getting a cut in their chest from a single swing of her halberd and being knocked to the ground.

“It took your entire town to kill me once. What makes you think you few can repeat that?”

Dawn then cut off the hands of all the warriors, one at a time, before approaching the leader.

“It’s too late now! The ogre is under my-” before the leader finished, Dawn hurled her halberd through its head, killing it instantly.

While the leader was still processing what was happening, Dawn slashed, removing his hands. Holding her halberd's tip to the leader's neck, she asked, “So. Will you give up? Or will I have to abandon my plan to keep everyone alive?”

She waited. The leader, instead of responding, fell back unconscious. She [healed] the wounds of everyone, stopping the bleeding, before grabbing leaves and tying up everyone.

So everyone’s passed out from terror. Maybe today will be the final day of rebellion.

And while waiting for them to all wake up, she [healed] the ogre and carved [soul] onto it. Attaching the soul of the ogre, it began to rise again.

Ah. So the soul can control the body as long as the brain and spine are functional. But if the [soul] gets removed, it might die immediately. I should tell them that.

Dawn found the fighter whose soul she had reattached, and she slapped them to wake them up.

“Wha… ha…” they mumbled, shaking their head to clear the fog.

“Hello.”

“What! Why are you here!?” they yelled.

“I followed you all. Now, when you were sent flying into the trees, you died. And while I did revive you, I was forced to enchant you, with this rune,” Dawn traced the [soul] rune she put on the back of their neck. “That’s the [soul] rune, and if it gets destroyed, you’ll probably die. Take care of it.”

The revived fighter froze in terror.

Dawn then left, heading to Foxshire to gather some help.