Callie's Heroes

PART I - SIGILISM

“Recruit! You’re late!”

“S-S-Sorry,” Callie said nervously, her throat too dry to swallow.

“And what are you doing here?” Sergeant-Major Natala demanded of Vanis.

“Moral support. I believe you intimidate her.”

“Me? Why? I’m the nicest person in this whole damn camp!” the Dwarf growled.

There was a long beat of silence, as if Natala was expecting immediate agreement with her statement.

Vanis cleared his throat politely. “Also, in addition to being fascinated by this form of magic, I also brought this along. Callie indicated it can be placed on an object, and I thought this might be a good test if things go well.” He pointed to the lute strung across his back.

“Hmm. Good thinking. And what about you? What the hell are you doing here?”

Pixyl shrugged. “I was bored.”

Natala had been a half-step ahead of Pixyl, ready to chew her out a bit, but the Pixie’s simple bluntness actually made her verbally stagger. She quickly recovered. “Fine. Just stay out of the way, both of you. She’s the one with the new skill.”

Callie tried to swallow again, looking up at the Dwarf. She seemed even larger and scarier than that day of the Bogwump mission. Thorn had arranged for Callie to work with the Sergeant-Major on her new Sigil of Amplification skill, and Natala had chosen a few evening hours after dinner as apparently the right time to do this. Callie would have much rather worked with Kyra, but Thorn said Natala was the far better choice. For Callie, though, something about Natala was just butt-clenchingly intimidating, for some reason. The Dwarf was simply this wall of personality … that just … was there. Was it a skill maybe? Or was she just so much of a badass that her badassitry was pulsing out all around her?

“Alright, recruit,” Natala said in an almost fast bark. “Have you unlocked the skill?”

Callie tried to squeak out a response, but ended up only being able to return a quick nod.

Natala sighed, seeming to realize the potential intimidation Vanis was talking about. “My apologies for being so short with you. The first wave of visitors is arriving tomorrow for Midsummer, which means nothing but headaches for me, especially since there is at least …”. Her voice trailed off, before clearing it. “It doesn’t matter, just know that visitors like these are a pain in my ass. I’ll likely need to keep them entertained and out of trouble. I’d much rather be doing other things … and people.” The Sergeant-Major briefly grumbled incoherently to herself, and then forced a smile, looking back to Callie. “Let’s focus on you. Have you tried casting the Sigil yet?”

“I know I probably shouldn’t have, but I did try once when Vonn said Sigil magic wasn’t mana intensive,” Callie said weakly with a quick nod. “I didn’t know what to draw though, so I didn’t get very far.”

“That’s fine. She’s right and not knowing what to draw is common for first-timers. Do you know anything at all about Sigil magic?”

Callie shook her head.

“That’s good. Now I don’t need to unteach you anything.” Natala looked around the area of the field they were standing on, and then gestured with her head to a nearby tree. “This way. We’ll work over there. You two can follow along if you’d like, but I’m not slowing down for either of you.”

Together, all four took spots in the evening shade, the Sergeant-Major choosing to stay standing, gesturing at her leg, while having the others sit. Natala’s back was to the tree, and Callie was seated about two meters in front of her, Vanis and Pixyl on either side.

“Now pay attention. I’ll slow this down, but I only want to go over this once.” Natala began, her voice taking on a matter-of-fact lecturing tone. “Sigil magic is both the most-difficult of magic to perfect and potentially the most-powerful type to use, especially for high tier casters. It’s difficult, because a Sigil needs to be woven together perfectly, requiring finesse and careful attention, but once you have learned to master that, the resulting effect can be quite powerful given the low mana costs and semi-permanency of the results. It’s a good thing for you that I know a few tricks to make it a little easier in the beginning. You said you didn’t know what to draw, right?”

Reaching up with both hands, Natala began to draw in the air, using two fingers on each hand. Her motions reminded Callie somewhat of Doctor Strange in the Marvel movies, and how he did his magic thing, but not quite the same. Natala seemed a little more fluid, maybe? Four lines began to appear, two behind each pair of fingers. They hung in the air for a split moment, before each pair then braided together into one as the overall shape began to take form.

Natala continued lecturing as she drew. “The Sigil for every spell you weave is personal, and should be something you firmly associate with the effect. Depending on the skill, the Sigil will require a certain level of complexity in order to hold enough power to be effective. Sigil of Amplification doesn’t need to be terribly complex, but it does need to have some substance. You couldn’t make it only a single line, for example. There is a balance you need to find between the minimum complexity needed, while at the same time it’s simple enough to remember and get exact each time.”

The design had continued to take form as the Dwarf spoke, and as she finished, the Sigil also completed. Natala pushed her palm against it, causing it to float towards Callie.

For a brief moment Callie considered moving out of the way, but a paralyzing look from Natala held her in place. As the small icon of light hit, it instantly expanded over her, binding her arms to her side and then forcing her to lay back and become rigid. The binding sensation continued until it encompassed her entire body and she felt practically mummified. She lay there, head staring up through the tree branches and unable to move so much as her toes, able only to keep breathing and looking around with her still-able-to-blink eyes.

“A somewhat simple Sigil of Binding, which I received at Bronze,” Natala said, walking over to Callie. She bent and ran a finger lightly down Callie’s chest, breaking the spell and releasing the Gnome. “A worthless spell in the manner I showed you.”

“It seemed to work pretty damn well to me,” Callie mumbled as she sat up.

“Oh, it’s effective, but quite complex, as you saw. Even for me, it takes too long to cast under pressure, so it is not terribly useful in close combat.”

“Oh, I suppose that would be true,” Callie agreed.

Natala smirked. She began to wave her hands and again the binding lights hung in the air. “There is a very good use however.” With another push, this time with a downwards angle, the light design moved forward. When it reached the ground, it turned horizontal and then flashed momentarily before disappearing. “Stand up and walk over it.”

Callie immediately knew where this was going to go and inwardly groaned. Slowly she stood, taking a hesitant few steps forward. She scrunched up her face as her stretched foot touched the area where the Sigil had disappeared, and sure enough, she was instantly wrapped stiff as a board by some unseen force. As she fell, Vanis had already been ready to catch her and set her gently on the ground.

“Traps, correct?” Vanis said, looking up at the smirking Sergeant-Major. “By that, I mean Glyph traps?”

“That’s right,” Natala said, reaching down to break the binding wrapping Callie, before offering a hand to help her stand. “Glyphs and Sigils are essentially the same thing, although sometimes we’ll use either term to refer to one that has been imprinted onto an object. Glyph is a term always used for one that’s waiting to be triggered as a trap, though. Also know that a higher tier Glyph could rest in place for hours, maybe even days, waiting for something to set it off. Even better, there is no channeling needed once it’s been imprinted. If you have the right Enchanting skills, you can also create Glyphs that never fade using Permanency.”

“That’s quite fascinating,” Vanis said, rubbing his chin.

“So this amplification thing has more uses than just making a speaker louder?” Callie asked.

“What do you think would happen if you were to trigger an Amplification Glyph trap?”

“I’d assume the person would just be able to speak loud, right?”

Natala smirked, drew a new, much simpler, design in the air that looked vaguely familiar, before pushing it down towards the ground. “Go ahead, give it a try. It won’t hurt you, but do plug your ears. Gnome hearing and all that.”

Callie groaned, this time out loud. She wasn’t sure what the effect was going to be, but knew without a doubt it was going to be something she’d hate. Sticking her fingers in her ears, she gingerly walked over and grimaced, before barely triggering the Glyph. Nothing happened, and Callie opened one eye. She looked back at the still-smirking Dwarf and started to turn. As soon as her foot hit the ground, the resulting crackle of dried grass and leaves was hugely amplified.

“Whoa,” Callie exclaimed. As she spoke it, the word’s volume was cranked all the way to eleven. It was loud enough to get past her fingers, in fact, and she doubled over wincing, her groan just as loud. On the ground, both Vanis and Pixyl likewise winced at the sudden loud noise, and beyond them, a few people on the field turned to see what was going on. Callie stumbled from the disorientation, her footsteps so loud she could almost hear the green grass bending. Finally she simply froze. Callie didn’t dare move or say anything, and pleaded with her eyes for Natala to remove the Glyph’s effects from her.

With a slight chuckle, Natala walked up to Callie and sliced the amplification off. “So you know, you can’t create Glyphs with this Sigil at Iron. At higher tiers, I suppose it could provide a good alarm warning if someone triggers it, maybe. Honestly, I’ve never used it as a trap. If I want to trap an area, I have much better and more-exciting Sigils to use.”

“How many of these Sigil things do you know?” Callie asked, wiggling a finger in her ear to stop the ringing.

Natala shrugged with her shoulders and face. “Over six dozen, maybe? Some I’ve never really used much, except to practice with them.”

“You’re a Sigilist? Not a focused combat class?” Vanis asked, raising his eyebrow in surprise. “I never would have imagined, quite honestly.”

“Most people wouldn’t,” Natala said, almost beaming. “When I was younger, I spent five years studying spell design. As a result, I’ve experimented, learned and even designed several unique combat Sigils over the years, which has even led to a few surprise melded Sigil skills. However, my base class is indeed a Sigilist.”

“Is that a Wizard specialist?” Callie asked.

“Actually it’s a Scholar specialist,” Vanis corrected. “Most of their significant skills are defensive or utility in nature, I believe.”

“Really? How did you end up as a Sergeant-Major in the Army?”

“Lots and lots of work, and honing my skills using those combat Sigils I designed over the years. I’ve had to develop my own style of fighting using them, in fact.”

Perhaps looking forward to the opportunity to show off just a little bit, the Sergeant-Major held up a finger and walked with a slight limp several meters away. She began to weave a symbol in the air. “Sigil of Shielding,” she said as it moved into her chest, where it glowed brightly for a moment and then disappeared, a warbly haze appearing to surround her body. Continuing the weavings, she layered on more symbols. Some disappeared into her body, while a few others floated in a gentle orbit around her, suspended in midair. “Explosive Blast, Starfire Beam, Combat Premonition, Reactive Spikes, Shocking Aura, Healing Aura, Fleet Footed.” Each time she called out a name, she’d draw another unique symbol in the air, weaving her magic with an unexpected speed and expertise.

“Holy shit!” Both Callie and Pixyl gasped as one. ‘Holy’ wasn’t a word really used in this world, as religion wasn’t much of a thing, but Pixyl had picked it up from Callie as a good modifier for an expletive.

“Now, I’m a walking army of my own,” Natala called back, throwing her arms wide and actually grinning. She looked to see if the path was clear, and then pointed her arm into the distance. She made a fist and one of the Sigils rotated nearly instantly around her body to the direction she pointed. Next, a brilliant yellow beam of light shot out of it, simply vaporizing a wooden training dummy and leaving nothing but a smoking post in its place.

With a quick wave of her hand, all the floating images disappeared in a poof of light, and there was a brief flash on Natala’s chest as the internal Sigils were likewise dispelled. She walked back, seeing the dumbfounded looks on the faces of all three recruits. “And they say Scholars can’t make good combatants,” she huffed with a chuckle.

“I … I don’t know what to say,” Callie said, her mouth hanging open in pure awe. “What tier do you need to be to do all that?”

“Me? I’m well into Emerald,” Natala said with a shrug; you could tell she was trying not to be too smug, but was also proud of her capabilities. “I’ve been in the Army nearly all my life, for over ninety years, so I’ve obviously had some time to really hone my skills. That’s one of the reasons I never became an officer. I’d get soft and not keep learning. I think I may even make Ruby in the next year or so, I’m really close, although it’s so much slower since I’m not on the lines any more. A lot of those ninety years were during peacetime, too, hence why I’m not already there.” She may have been bragging just a bit, but there was no doubt that the Dwarf was an absolute expert at her craft, and the bragging was likewise absolutely deserved.

Natala sighed and then added, as if a quiet admission, “It did help that my family was able to afford a Symbiote for me when I came of age, so I’ve always had everything available to me, and learned much faster. Early on, I also mentored under two different master Sigilists, and I mentioned the time I studied spell design, too.” Natala laughs. “I’ve been asked multiple times to take up a training position in the Nexus, but that’s not for me. It would be too dull.”

“Sergeant-Major,” Vanis began, clearing his throat just slightly and straightening his posture, “should you ever decide your time in the Army has concluded, please consider it an open invitation should you wish a position in the Imperial Guard.”

“You don’t say? Well, I’m not leaving until at least the war is over, and have been thinking about becoming an adventurer when done, although I need to get my leg fixed, which will take about four to five months for proper Regrowth and the physical therapy to get it back up to strength.” She scowled, glaring down at her problem appendage before adding, “I just can’t afford the downtime right now, but I’ll get around to it. That said, a nice, cushy job in the Guard sounds like a good next career possibility, as long as I can keep working my tier. If you’re serious, I may take you up on that some day.”

“Please do!”