Tori Transmigrated

Chapter 105: I Do Not Need This Right Now

Are you freaking kidding me?! I do not need this right now!

Tori nearly slammed her hand over mouth and nose. The sweet scent was faint, and she didn’t know how strong it had to be or how much she had to inhale for it to be dangerous, but she didn’t want to risk it. She grabbed one of the scarves she used to tie up her hair and snapped open her crystal carrying case.

The faint moonlight coming from the window was enough for her eyes to adjust and make out general objects in the room. It was quiet and she didn’t know what time it was. She didn’t dare wave her arm to trigger the light crystals. Something was wrong and it could be a trap.

Who knew if there was something watching the cabin? Illuminated windows would confirm someone was awake and any element of surprise she had would be lost.

Tori slowly felt her way around the crystal carrying case. If she didn’t know where each crystal was meticulously placed, she’d need to reach around and try to sort them by energy, which was ill-advised at the moment.

“Three to the left, two down,” Tori said to herself as she pressed her scarf over her nose with one hand and felt around for the correct compartment. Her fingertips brushed against some raw pieces of air crystal. She found three pieces about as big as half of her thumb and her stomach sank.

Three small pieces wouldn’t be enough to purify the air if the gas spread everywhere in the cabin. If it reached the third floor with the doors closed, then it must’ve spread to the lower floors. Those behind closed doors weren’t safe, either.

She needed to find the source and contain it or negate it. Then she could try to figure out how to clear the contaminated air out of the cabin. She switched hands, covering her face with the scarf with her right hand before clenching the three air crystals in her left.

Tori closed her eyes and grounded. Just a little energy. Just a little energy to activate them.... She could feel a thin, weak strand of energy from her trying to ground, and she frowned. This was worse than when she first started. How the hell am I going to clear the air? She pressed the scarf against her face and took a deep breath, still able to smell a faint sweetness.

She focused and as soon as she was able to connect with earth energy she could feel the air crystal start to work in her hand. She stopped grounding at once.

Tori held her breath and put her scarf on the table, quickly folding it with the air crystal in a pocket fold that would be against her nose. She tilted her head back and balanced the scarf over her face before tying it securely in the back, disregarding her mess of tangled black hair. She then grabbed another scarf and folded it in a similar shape, tucking the second air crystal in the fold. The last crystal was tucked beneath her bracelet.

She rushed back to the bed, to Piers’ side.

“Piers,” she said, trying to keep her voice low. She didn’t know what awaited them behind the door and she couldn’t rule out invaders. “Piers!”josei

His head turned towards her, and he lifted his hand to his eye mask. “Tori?” At once his seemed to freeze and sniff. He frowned. “Are you eating cake in bed?”

“It’s not me,” she said as she grabbed his arm and pulled him into a seating position. She held out the spare scarf in her hand. “Put this on!” His brows furrowed a bit and a faint look of confusion flickered across his face. He opened his mouth to ask why, but she cut him off. “Remember what I told you about the gas that put people to sleep when I was abducted as a baby?”

He tossed his eye mask to the side and reached for the scarf without question. His lips were pulled into a tight line as he held the scarf against his mouth and nose, then turned his head so the back was towards her. She grabbed the sides of the scarf and tied it firmly behind him.

While Tori knew that she couldn’t spread news of her infant abduction, she had thought it would be useful to tell Piers, as the method could be used against him one day. He’d heard of poisons in gas form, but not one that was sweet. It was such an innocent scent and in the right conditions, it wouldn’t be alarming.

“Are you sure it’s the same gas?” he asked, his voice only slightly muffled by the scarf.

“I have Kasey’s notebook with me and was using some of the charms he used as bookmarks. It reacted,” Tori said. Her hands were shaking as she looked back towards the desk. “We need to find the source and contain it.”

Piers slid his long legs over the side of the bed and stood up. “If we try to trace it by scent, we’d be putting ourselves in danger.” The air crystal purified the air around it, and so they couldn’t smell the sweet aroma any longer.

Tori plucked out a raw light crystal from her case. It was small and the light wouldn’t be more than that of a candle, but it would be enough for her to write out an advanced charm based on her brother’s and not alert anyone outside. “Can you charge this?”

Piers nodded and charged the light crystal to activate it. He had a foundation in the basics, such as grounding and charging, but that was about it. Tori took the small light crystal and placed it on the desk before taking out a piece of paper, soot ink, and a brush.

She took the glowing charm that was her bookmark and was about to write, but stopped. Her grounding was limited. She turned around. “Hand.”

Piers extended his dominant hand and she put the brush in it, wrapping his fingers around it before holding it above the paper. “Can you ground and charge?”

“I can. I activate the food testing charms,” he told her.

“Do it continuously to put energy in the charm, but let me write the characters. Don’t stiffen up and just let me lead you.” She maneuvered him in front of her and then stood to the side, with her hand over his.

“Okay.” Tori could feel a faint warmth against her hand as she dipped the brush and began writing the sloppy characters with her small hand over Piers’ larger one. It was difficult to control, and she frowned. It wasn’t Piers’ fault; it was just bulky and awkward. The smaller script she wanted to write had to be done slowly so as not to mess it up. At the same time, she made sure to keep their contact limited so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable.

She lifted Piers' hand and released him. Her eyes squinted at the charm. It was legible, but ugly. “Charge it.” She hoped it worked.

Piers put the brush down and pinched the bottom edge of the charm. A faint, slow pulsing glow came from the characters and Tori let out a breath of relief. “Now what?”

“The pulse should become faster and faster the closer we are to the source,” she said. “I don’t know how long it’ll last. Let’s move quickly.”

“Don’t wave for additional light crystals to turn on. Someone could be watching the house,” Piers said in a low voice.

“Yes, I know.”

Tori nodded and Piers took the small light crystal into his pocket. They walked towards the suite door. He was cautious as he opened it and Tori held the charm in her hand. The light crystals in the hall were dim, just enough to see a few steps ahead of them.

Tori sucked in a sharp breath as she stepped out and saw Sir Aguilar slumped on the floor by the door. She moved her free hand over the knight’s nose and could feel the steady warm breath.

“Sleeping?” Piers asked. Tori lowered her hands and gently shook Sir Aguilar’s shoulders. She paused and then shook her a second time, a bit more violently, to try to wake her. The woman did not stir.

“Unconscious.” Tori walked towards the stairs at the far end of the corridor and walked down, keeping her hand against the wall. When she reached the lower floor, she looked down the hall. Several doors were open, and Tori motioned with her head for Piers to come with her to check them.

He walked in front of her, taking careful, silent steps. Several knights who must’ve been on guard were asleep beside three of the four closed doors. If Tori was right, they must’ve been the rooms where Alessa, Dimitri, and Montan were.

They passed the first open door and found two knights; one laying on the bed and the other slumped over the side of it, as if having been tired and heading to bed, but not making it in time.

They checked each room with Tori waving the charm around to see if it reacted to a source. The further they went from the stairs, the longer the space between the glowing pulses became. The source wasn’t on this floor. All they found were drugged and unconscious knights and teenagers.

Sebastian was on the bed and Instructor Ignatius was slumped over one side, a few pieces of bloody heliotrope still beside him. The blood was almost dry. Tori frowned.

“Where is Idunn?”

“Let’s check the ground floor,” Piers said in a quiet voice. She nodded and followed behind him. They reached the ground floor and found several knights sleeping on the chairs and Idunn a few steps away, near the hearth. One arm was extended, and she looked to have been trying to use one of the plush sofas to steady herself before she succumbed to the poisonous gas.

Tori could guess that she came down to check the scent, but inhaled too much trying to find it.

“How many knights were with us?”

“Four Guevera knights, twelve imperial knights, two Tetri knights, and the two Tetri valets.” Piers motioned his hand to the cots by an adjacent room, where two older men who didn’t dress as knights, were sleeping. “The remaining Tetri knights returned to River View with Duke Tetri.”

Tori counted. She found Sir Iturralde in one of the rooms upstairs along with Sir Alvarez. Sir Rodriguez was asleep in the hallway. Four imperial knights were on the ground floor, and the two more were asleep in the hall, and the remaining six imperial knights and two Tetri knights were spread across the other rooms.

They were all accounted for. That was of some reassurance, as it meant that someone wasn’t caught outside.

“Tori,” Piers said, stopping her before she got too far from him. “Avoid the windows.”

She nodded and held up the charm as she began to walk around the ground floor. Piers followed her, checking the rooms and doors as they passed. If the time between the glowing was too long, she’d walk in the opposite direction, careful not to run into furniture or sleeping people in the dark room. She repeated this until she found herself standing in the kitchen, just above the stove.

The kitchen jutted out from the rest of the cabin like a recently added extension and there were no floors above them, as there were small air vents for cooking. Tori moved her charm over the kitchen surfaces until her charm glowed continuously over the stove. Tori looked up, over the traditional wood burning stove. The chimney led outside, but there was also a narrow window just below the ceiling, beside the stove, to let out smoke and steam.

Tori had it open when she cooked.

“Piers, give me the light crystal,” Tori said, keeping her eyes on the stove top. She put the charm on the counter beside her and held her hand over the burners; they were no longer warm and were cool to the touch. She held out her other hand and Piers placed the small light crystal that was still glowing in her palm.

She bent down and held the light crystal over the surface. Her lips tightened into a frown as her eyes narrowed. There was a broken paper pouch that had a slit cut down its bottom and out of it spilled a fine mound of mineral dust. This close to it, Tori could pick up the sweet scent.

She followed a small trail that led up to the window. She couldn’t reach it, but it would be easy for someone taller than her to toss the paper pouch in and run.

“Is that it?” Piers asked behind her.

“It should be.” She moved away and reached into the hole where they fed the wood to heat up the stove. “Ashes will smother the reaction. Get me some water and a rag.” she said. She scrambled around to get one of the large, ceramic bowls and used her hand to shovel as much ash and soot from the inside of the stove into the bowl as possible.

When she had as much as she could, she took the water jug Piers brought her and carefully put water into the bowl, mixing it by hand until it became a paste consistency. She then poured the concoction on the stove, directly over the paper pouch and minerals. She then added more water to the remaining black paste and swirled it around before dipping the edge of a kitchen rag into the bowl and wiping down the wall beneath the window and everywhere she could reach around the stove.

“Will that stop it?” Piers asked, frowning at the dark streaks that he could make out. The ground floor was dark and only the light from the windows and the tiny light crystal could guide them.

“I think so. It should change the reaction. I’ve done experiments with Master Ramos on fine crystal and mineral powders. If the mixture and consistency is not correct, it won’t have the desired effect. Ashes are particularly useful; the dust coats the mineral and water can contain the reaction for larger crystals. Kasey said that when I was abducted, they separated the pieces and froze them in buckets before taking them elsewhere to be destroyed. Let’s hope this works,” Tori said.

“We need to clear the air. The air crystals we have are small,” Piers said as he touched his mask. “They’re not enough, are they?”

Tori shook her head. “If I can’t purify the air, maybe I can push the air out?” Tori asked herself more than Piers. She looked towards the windows above them “It’s only dangerous when it’s contained and inhaled. If it’s sent outside, it will naturally dissipate, right?”

“It should,” Piers said. He frowned. “But you can’t ground.”

“I can ground a little.” Tori tried not to avoid his eyes and remain firm. “I can draw another Metatron cube to gather more energy for longer. I only need to be able to ground a little to control the energy. I also have fluorite; it can’t purify, but it can move air.”

Half his face was covered, but she was sure he was giving her a disapproving look. “No. You’re still recovering.”

Tori used the remaining water in the jug to rinse her ash and soot-soiled arm over a sink. “You don’t know how to do it and Instructor Ignatius is unconscious. I don’t know how long it will take for him to wake up, and if the air inside remains as it is, it will only continue to do harm.”

Piers furrowed his brows. “What if you use too much again? Too much crystal fatigue will lead to shock.” His voice was solemn, and Tori hesitated as she wiped her arm dry.

She knew that and she knew it was a risk in her current state. But Kasen had told her it took days for multiple, large pieces of air crystal to circulate and purify the air when she was abducted. They neither had the time nor the crystals needed.

“The longer we wait, the more dangerous it is. I don’t know how long they’ve been breathing the air, but there are long term health problems with prolonged inhalation.”

Piers seemed to think for a moment. “We can carry everyone outside,” he said. “The air is cleaner....” He trailed off. “Unless someone is waiting outside.”

Tori felt her skin crawl at the thought. She shuddered and looked down. She was almost sure there was someone outside. Why else would they poison a house full of knights? If they couldn’t beat them when they were awake, they could slaughter them when they were asleep.

“Are they trying to rob us or just kill us?”

“Likely kill us,” Piers said. “This may be retaliation from the poaching ring. Their compatriots must know that something happened by now.”

Tori closed her eyes. That was the most likely reason, but she still didn’t like it.

Piers stepped around her and walked out of the kitchen. Tori followed behind him and held out his arm to slow her down. “Stay away from the windows,” he warned again as he moved against the walls and approached one of the windows in the open area, by the front door. The knights on the ground floor were all sleeping nearby, still in uniform and with their boots on.

Piers kept himself against a wall as he craned his neck and peered through the delicate lace curtains.

“Do you see anyone?” Tori whispered from across the room. The drapes were all open, but the curtains still obscured the inside of the cabin. It would be difficult to see inside at night unless one came close to the window.

“I don’t,” he said. He narrowed his eyes. “But if we open the door or windows to release the poisoned air, anyone watching the cabin will be alerted that someone is awake.”

“If we wait too long, then not only will everyone continue to breathe in the poisoned air, but whoever is watching may try to come in.” Tori got goosebumps just thinking about it.

Piers seemed to think for a moment. He looked at Tori. She couldn’t make out the expression on his face, but she heard the hesitation in his voice.

“Can you force the poisoned air out of the cabin quickly?”

She crinkled her eyes and fidgeted with her bracelet. “I’m going to try.”

“Do you have enough energy?” He was still uncertain and if she were being honest, she was, too.

“No,” she told him honestly. She ran her hand against her bracelet and touched the velar. It used so little energy to write; it was still usable. “I can get it, though.”

She saw his hands clench at his sides. “I will go outside to draw their attention. As soon as I am, open all the windows you can and use your crystals to push out the air. “

Tori tensed. “You want to draw their attention?”

“They can’t enter when you’re doing crystal work,” he said. “My skills with crystals are far below yours, but I can keep you safe while you work.”

Tori quietly shook her head. “You are the first prince of Soleil. I can’t let you go outside-”

“I am one of the best swordsmen in the empire,” Piers told her. “And I doubt there are tigers waiting for me outside.”

She swallowed hard and drew her head back. “Let me draw the sacred geometry and get my crystals prepared,” she said. “When it’s done, I’ll go upstairs and wait by the window of the master suite. When I see you outside, I’ll open it. I’ll run down to open the windows in each room, making my way back here. As soon as I open those windows, I’ll start the crystal work.”

Tori turned around and rushed to the stairs.

“Tori,” Piers said. “If you can’t do it, get your dagger. I’ll try to clear outside. If you can’t ground, tell me. You can guard the door and I will drag everyone out.”

She nodded and ran up the stairs, directly to her room. She gathered her crystals, charms, and dagger in her arms then scrambled back downstairs. Piers had cleared a wide space in the open area in front of the main entrance for her.

It was right between two of the windows, allowing for enough light for her to work. She put her things on the ground and removed the velar crystal. She fell to her hands and knees and dragged the crystal across the wooden floor, drawing out circles and lines, then writing Old Sulfae around and inside them.

She then slid the velar back. She could already feel energy coming from the drawing and she shuffled through her crystals. She wasn’t anywhere near peak condition; she needed all the help she could get. She used the velar to write a few charms, then placed them around the drawing. Clear quartz and fluorite were spread around her, and she placed her remaining air crystal in the center.

Tori stood up and ran back to the kitchen to fetch the detection charm. She placed it on the grid before she looked up to meet Piers’ gaze.

He had a sword taken from one of the knights and held it in one hand. “Are you ready?”

Tori nodded and paused. She knelt back down and picked through the bottom of her crystal carrying case. She pulled out an obsidian charm on a leather chord.

“I was going to give this to Sebby, but you can use it. It’s an obsidian talisman I carved,” she said. She held it up and Piers looked at her for a moment. She couldn’t make out his expression as he lowered his head and walked towards her.

He bent down further. “Put it on me.”

She looped it around his neck. He stood up straight and reached up to touch the small, black carved crystal against his chest before tucking it beneath his shirt.

Tori gave him a firm nod. “All right. Give me a few seconds to get to the top floor.” She turned around.

“Tori,” Piers called out to her as she reached the base of the stairs. She looked over her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I will protect you.”

She swallowed hard and forced a smile beneath her scarf. “I know. I trust you.”

She turned and ran up the stairs. She got to the master suite and walked to the window. Her window looked over the front yard of the cabin and she would see Piers as soon as he walked out from beneath the porch.

In the moonlight, she could see someone step outside, sword in hand, and casually linger by the front of the cabin. Tori pushed aside the lace curtains and tugged on the metal latches before pushing the windowpanes open.

Without stopping to check if she was noticed, she ran out into the hall, carefully stepping over Sir Aguilar, and then down the stairs. She scrambled from one room to the other, ignoring the unconscious bodies in each room and the hall outside as she opened all the windows as wide as they could go.

As she reached Sebastian’s room and pushed open the window, she heard yelling and metal against metal outside.

Part of her wanted to look for the source of the noise, but she had limited time. She didn’t know how many people were outside, how dangerous they were, or if her attempt would be enough to move the contaminated air out. If she was too weak and couldn’t do it, they’d have to resort to Piers’ plan B which would take even more time, meaning everyone would be exposed longer.

She nearly tripped and fell down the last three steps before reaching the ground floor and stumbling to a stop, barely keeping herself from falling forward by grabbing onto the wooden handrail. She pushed herself off and ran across the room to open the two windows on either side of the main door.

Outside, people were yelling; shouting in a language she didn’t understand. There were heavy footsteps, shuffling, and weapons clashing. Despite her best attempts to resist, Tori looked out the last window as she swung the windowpanes open.

Her eyes widened. There were three bodies on the ground, a few steps away from each other, and Piers stepped around them easily, as he dodged a single-handed sword of a gruff-looking man.

“Don’t stand by the window!” She didn’t know how Piers saw her, but his voice snapped her out of a momentary daze. She pushed away from the window and nearly tumbled into her formation. She was on her hands and knees, careful to avoid moving her charms and crystals, and shut her eyes.

The weak stream of energy was thinner than earlier, and she swore aloud. “Come on... come on....” She ground her teeth together and focused all her energy on grounding. She just needed to make the connection and the sacred geometry, crystals, and Old Sulfae would do the rest.

The seconds dragged on and her sliver of energy grew even weaker as it searched for earth energy to connect to. As it began to wane, Tori choked back a cry. She really needed this to work.

She reached out with her left hand and grabbed the nearest energy charm and slapped it beneath her palm and the floor. As her energy went through, the charm activated and the little purple trickle she was desperately searching with doubled in strength.

That was enough.

A moment later, the rush of energy shot through her, and she was tossed into the ocean once more. Tori struggled to focus it on the fluorite littered around her and as soon as they connected she gathered the energy into a small cyclone to whip the sweet-scented air out through the windows.

The open area where she sat wasn’t a problem; all the gust of artificial wind had to do was carry the air out the windows, but she needed to maneuver the wind upstairs, down the hall, and into the other rooms. If she stood up, she could walk around with the fluorite and manually do so. However, in her state, if she stood up and left the drawing, she’d cut herself off from the boost and her little cyclone wouldn’t even be a breeze.

Shit, shit, shit...think.... Tori grit her teeth and shut her eyes tight.

A groan sounded and a heavy thud came from the door. The floor trembled a bit as someone was thrown against the cabin. Her stomach twisted at the thought that it could be Piers.

“That’s not me!” She heard his voice through the window.

Oh, thank God....

She gathered as much energy as she could and forced it through the multiple pieces of fluorite strategically placed around her and continued circling the air. What if she just forced it all out at once? There were open windows in every room. The air had a means to escape. She could force it all out at once and continue to do so if she could to release the poisoned air outside, where it could dissipate.

Then she could trigger the remaining air crystal to start purifying clear air she pulled in through the downstairs windows. She could use the air crystal to purify while pushing out the remaining bad air through the upper floor windows.

Pros: It was likely to work.

Cons: It may not work and then crystal fatigue.

Dammit, I just wanted to buy crystals and draft irrigation plans. That’s all I wanted on this trip. But no...my brother was nearly mauled by a tiger and everyone around me is unconscious. I didn’t even get to eat my stupid pastry. Stupid game. Stupid game world.

Anger and frustration welled up in her as she thought of the situation she was in and did not need.

She forced the energy through the fluorite and could feel her hair whipping around her face as the air moved violently around her. The source of the current came from the crystals as Tori funneled as much of that ocean of energy around her through a few small pieces of green and purple crystal as possible. They began to vibrate on the floor.

Her arms began to tremble, and a cold sweat collected at her back and the sides of her head. She began to sway and grit her teeth. Tori kept her eyes shut as she continued to force the energy through. She couldn’t keep this up. Her legs began to give way and she slumped to the side as she lost control.

A wave of nausea swept over her, but she kept her palms on the ground, greedy for energy.

She opened her eyes to look at the detection charm. The glowing was dimming and after it stopped and didn’t seem to continue, Tori cut off her grounding.

Her elbows buckled and she let out a hiss as she landed on her side, her elbow hitting the floor hard. The grounding cut off abruptly and as Tori looked around, she couldn’t see straight.

It was difficult enough to see without turning on the light crystals, but everything turned into vague shadows. They moved unsteadily and Tori squinted her eyes. She didn’t know if she was seated or lying down.

She didn’t know what she was looking at. Her hands moved around and felt the floor, brushing up against a few paper charms and crystals.

Her eyes narrowed as she grabbed on to what should’ve been a single piece of fluorite. As she picked it up, it split into three pieces under the meager pressure of her slacked grip.

Uncontrolled energy could damage crystals, Master Ramos had told her. Control was extremely important when using crystals and energy. Each crystal’s limitations were different.

But I controlled it. Did I overload it? Tori patted around the drawing, looking for the other five pieces of fluorite that were placed in the six points of the Metatron cube. When she found one, she’d pick it up, only to find that it had either split or there were flakes of it coming off.

Crystals damaged in this manner could not be re-used.

A heavy breath of regret left her as she slumped down. Fluorite was such a useful crystal, too. She also used it to air dry clothes.

“Tori!” The door swung open. Tori turned her head towards the voice and could see a dark blob against some moonlight.

“Piers?”

“Are you all right?”

“Yes...yes, the charm stopped reacting. Check to see if it stopped working or if it can no longer detect the poison in the air,” Tori said, patting in the direction where she thought the detection charm was. She couldn’t sense energy now.

She didn’t hear his footsteps as he approached, but felt a small breeze as he knelt beside her. “It still has energy.”

“Bring it upstairs and check the rooms,” Tori said.

“All right. Let me close the door and windows here, first.” She felt another breeze sweep past her and she looked towards the windows. There was a heaviness all around her body and she was exhausted. “I’ve locked the door. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Tori nodded and rested against the floor, unable to keep herself propped up on her arm any longer. She closed her eyes and tried to even her breath. She felt wet with sweat and shivered. She narrowed her eyes. She was very cold.

It was summer, she shouldn’t have a chill. Did she get sick? Was this a more serious symptom of crystal fatigue? She looked around once more. Her vision was getting clearer, and her surroundings were no longer swaying.

There was no lingering dizziness, and she wasn’t as sleepy as she was the last time she had crystal fatigue. She twisted her body to change position and froze. Her eyes widened as her heart dropped. She moved her torso and brought her hand over her thigh.

“It’s not reacting, and it’s still charged,” Piers’ voice came from the top of the stairs. “It has a faint glow when near the windows, so I’m going to close them!”

Tori didn’t give him an answer and instead continued to rub her leg. She poked at it. Pinched it. Her breath trembled.

“Tori, I put my air crystal next to Senior Benedict,” Piers said as he came down the stairs. “It should purify the air near him....” His voice trailed off as he stopped in front of her, just outside the sacred geometry she drew. “Tori?”

Her eyes were red as her lips shook. She lifted her head and looked up towards him.

“Piers....” Her voice was shaking as her fingers clawed into the wooden floor. “I can’t feel my legs.”