“Father, what color was my light in the Resonance Chamber?”

His resigned look told me everything I needed to know. Of course. His character was meant to be a devoted, unconditionally loving father, after all. And the Resonance Chambers were like incubation chambers for magic users, filled with enhancing crystals in a very carefully controlled environment, to grow the inhabitor's affinity with various forms of magic as well as their overall magic output. For those with an especially strong affinity to a certain type of magic, the chamber would reflect the colors of the elements they resonate with. In my writing, Silvana had always seemed to be strong with all magic and reflected a blurred mixture of colors that grew darker each time she entered the chamber. Though her family had taken it as a sign of prowess, the colors solidified to black at her Ascension Ceremony revealing her dark magic that swallowed all others, causing the public to turn on her, especially those that had been jealous of her status as a prodigy. If Silvana was hibernating in a Resonance Chamber again for weeks right before the Ascension… maybe the Baron himself saw that she was a dark magic user, and took steps to protect her and tamper with the crystal, starting a chain reaction that altered the course of the story?  It matched the character perfectly, though it still left me unsteady to know that it was so far from what I had originally written. And it left a lot of details about the ceremony itself unknown.  

“If you insist on receiving an explanation now…” the Baron sighed, rubbing his forehead. “We weren’t expecting your loss of memory…” He steeled himself and met my eyes. “Only some of what I said with the doctor present was true. On your third day in the chamber, all light inside vanished completely, as did your presence on our monitors. We shut everything down thinking it had been some emergency, but you… you were fine.” His eyes were dark, “It could only mean that you were not given natural affinity with multiple elements as we thought, but affinity with the dark magic that consumes all elements. We tested it twice together to be sure. The dark magic was so strong that not only was it visible in the resonance chamber… in that comatose state, fed steady low-grade emissions of mana, you had drained the entire chamber of 15% of its power.” 

My eyes were wide throughout his explanation, in shock at the wild difference between the reality I was hearing and the one I had written for the game. What else is different? As a small consolation, at least my shock was a convincing reaction for finding out you’re actually the first dark magic user in living memory. 

“We had planned together a strategy to avoid revealing this, and after much damage to my coffers, we were able to obtain an amulet meant to suppress your magic and shield you from true contact with the crystal via a thin magical barrier, and another to emit water magic for the sake of the ceremony. We planned to devise a reason not to have you attend Academy afterward. But then, instead of performing as expected the Crystal shattered, you immediately lost consciousness, and the ceremony was stopped. The House Sage believes your dark magic may have affected the amulets and somehow disabled their power, or caused a catalytic reaction to the crystal and the Ascension.”

His expression was heavy with guilt, and I stammered out a reassurance. “I-I am confident I made the choice aware of the risks, and he is only speculating. Do not fret, you’ve done your best to protect me and I am grateful.” I was sincere. The only solid ground I had to stand on at the moment was my intrinsic, gut instinct that I knew this man and his motivations inside and out. He is exactly as I had expected him to be, as were many of the details of this world he described, which means this isn’t totally off course from the game. At least some things here were still known and familiar, and I was holding onto that thread like my life depended on it.

“So then…” I struggled to reign in my thoughts. “What happens now? What have the Great Sages said about my ascension?”

He looked a bit lost for words, rubbing his forehead. “The Sages are essentially of the mind that the ascension was not completed, and otherwise are awaiting the results of the investigation into the crystal and chamber. I am requesting a private re-creation of the ceremony rather than another public one, since you’ve been traumatized by the whole ordeal.” He looked at me meaningfully and I nodded, quipping, “Absolutely, if they ask me to do another public one I will be very convincingly panicked I assure you.” 

He gave a half-hearted attempt at a smile at my poor joke, somber as he searched for words. “Given that you are the first known of your kind, we are unsure how a true ascension would affect you. And with the prophecy… It may be best we devise another way to evade the completion of the ascension ceremony.”

My head was beginning to throb with the stresses of the day, and I nodded to him before rubbing my temples lightly and huffing a sigh. “I suppose you are right and I should rest… we will have much to plan and discuss in the morning…”

He grabbed my hand, looking into my eyes intently with an earnest expression, “Together, yes. We will overcome this as we have all else, Silvana. I will be right here with you.” My eyes welled up in gratitude, and I whispered back, “You truly aren’t afraid of me now?” 

He only smiled and pinched my cheek, and I scowled and batted his fingers away though I couldn’t help the smile tugging at the corners of my lips. He chuckled and said confidently, “Never, my daughter. I know exactly who you are, and whatever difficulties you face are mine to share. Besides, I am not of the mind that any power is inherently evil. My only concern is how you will be affected by a power we don’t know well, and how others may perceive you. Nothing more.”

I was speechless. After a long pause, I squeezed his hand and beamed back at him, unable to speak through the lump in my throat. 

He nodded to himself and announced, “Strategy session in the morning then! I shall arrange for your favorite tea. And I’ve asked Howell to bring you some novels for your stay in bed, and left a calling bell here for you to summon me in an emergency–you are not to overexert yourself.” With that he gave my cheek another pinch and left the room.

A small thrill of excitement went through my body. Howell! He’s here! My absolute favorite of any NPC I had created. Howell was the House Librarian, a quirky earth magic user who had honed his craft in the preservation of materials, using new and innovative earth magic techniques to alter and repair the most fragile of scrolls by manipulating the material itself. House Ravenscroft employed him for his incredible talent with magic scrolls, allowing spells crafted centuries ago to be deciphered and cast again. He was an unapologetic recluse, who cared far more for books than people, with a dry sense of humor and absolute lack of tact. He would say everything I’d ever wanted to say to someone’s face with no shame whatsoever. I wondered idly if he’d be the way I imagined, like my father, or another element totally out of whack with what I’d written. 

I laid back in bed, my mind churning with questions and confusion. I felt excited, but also terrified. What if everyone is different, and the world isn’t one I created but one I mimicked somehow? Or is it because I didn’t finish the story, and this is… what the finished version would have been, with this drastic of changes? How did I even get here? Did I… die? Can I go back? I had no signs of real illness in my previous body, just fatigue… And everything had happened so suddenly, I was positive I hadn’t just died like that. But what had happened? I closed my eyes and attempted to remember. It felt intuitively as if I had been pulled into this body from my own, some outside inevitable force sucking me in like a vacuum… thinking of my body left empty struck me. Will my body die without me? My heart rate refused to calm. 

A loud knock sounded on the door, interrupting my thoughts. “Siiii-iilv, I have books for you!” His voice was somehow sing-songy and demanding, as he burst through the door without waiting for my response, and unceremoniously dropped the pile of books on the bed. I attempted to hide my absolute glee at seeing him. Howell it’s really you! He was dressed in dull blues, his clothes slightly wrinkled in some areas though he still looked distinguished, tall and handsome with black hair and brown eyes rimmed in dignified square glasses.

I huffed a surprised laugh, and before I could get a word out he said in surprise, “Oh, you really don’t look good.” I gave him an exasperated look and said sarcastically, “Why thank you, you’re looking rather irritating yourself.” He grinned at my response and poked my cheek–What is it with these people and my cheeks damnit–and said simply, “You’re pale as a ghost. How are you feeling?” I batted him away and sighed, admitting “I am very tired but my mind is not. It won’t shut up.” I realized I might have dropped a bit too much propriety but his speech was so casual and natural it was just too easy to throw away decorum with him.

He chuckled, “Well hopefully the books help divert you.” He instantly became animated, “This one is my new favorite, it’s a princess and another princess pretending to be a knight that start out as enemies and then fall madly in love and if you don’t read it by tomorrow morning so you can talk to me about it I will throw myself off the tower.” He nodded sagely, as if this were the only natural response one could have.

“Well heavens forbid, I will begin my due diligence at once.” I said laughing and snatching the book from his hands.  After my own heart, I thought happily. Thank god he was real. I felt satisfied that he and Silvana must have truly had a sincere friendship to behave so openly. He left quickly after that–he wasn’t one for extended quality time–and I felt a little bit warmer as I settled into the bed with the book. To my surprise, I drifted sooner than expected as I immersed myself in the pages, my mind finally calming the background noise and succumbing to blissful sleep.