This Ascent to Divinity is Lewder Than Expected

6.36 – Around the Table

Mantle was a big place. Like, a huge city—the capital of the Deepshunters. Larger even than Treyhull. The city spilled down the gigantic mountainside in a flurry of colors, growing denser the farther they went. The city did, after all, have the protection of Enzo d'Celestin himself, and the rest of the High Officers of the Guild, making it one of the safest places to live inside the dangerous, shifting realms that were the Fractures. Thus, 'regular folk' flocked to it for a number of reasons.

Getting lost in the crowd wasn't difficult. Zoey was somewhat worried Rosalie, famous figure as she was, would struggle to maintain her anonymity, but this wasn't the modern-day reality she was used to. People knew of 'Rosalie d'Celestin,' the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, spear-wielding daughter of Enzo, but essentially no one—in terms of civilians—had seen her in person.

As such, the four of them were just faces in the crowd. They explored the city briefly before finding a tavern to grab food at. Like usual, they took a booth in the corner of the establishment, and Maddy threw up a sound-dampening illusion. That was a smart idea in almost any circumstance, considering how their conversations tended to veer, both professionally and, uh, less professionally. Today's talk would include a number of sensitive topics. It was their first chance for a big team discussion since Lucinda's intervention.

"Alright," Delta said, pushing her cleaned-off plate forward with a satisfied sigh. She had piled the food down; she must have been hungry. "No more chit chat. Time to get to the real stuff. All four of us got new skills. Seeing how we're involved with a literal deity, and dealing with the end of the world, I think we're a little past being stingy with what they do. So let's hear 'em."

"Um," Maddy said. "End of the world?"

The three of them froze.

"Uh," Delta said slowly, clearly trying to come up with an excuse for her slip-up. "I meant that … metaphorically?"

Zoey rolled her eyes at the clumsy attempt at a recovery. "She needs to know, anyway. Was just waiting till we finished a shard with her. I guess now is as good a time as any." If admittedly, she wished they could have handled it more tactfully than Delta accidentally blurting it out. "Especially now that we're in Mantle." She faced Maddy, bracing herself for the long explanation.

This wasn't the first time Zoey had been through this conversation, so she had a better grasp on how to handle it. She laid the situation out for Maddy. The shard eaters. Ephy. And so on. She trusted Maddy by this point, and wanted her to stay on the team—so honesty was required, at least as far as Zoey was concerned.

"But none of that is all that relevant, right now," Zoey concluded with. "Realistically, our immediate future is just getting stronger, exploring shards. Like a normal team. There's some other stuff that only I have to worry about." Like Aria and Ephy's demand to grow a following. "But I wanted to tell you, if you were gonna stick with us. Since it's a big deal."

"No kidding," Maddy said, rubbing her forehead with a baffled look. "I guess it does answer a lot of my questions."

The mage stewed over the announcement for a few seconds, then, finally, shrugged nonchalantly, picked up her fork, and took another bite of her food.

"So, skills?" Maddy asked after swallowing. "All four of us moved up in advancement, right?"

Zoey blinked at her.

Well.

Maddy was from the Sovereign. Hardly some random wayfarer pulled off the street. Zoey guessed she was better braced to take astounding news than most people. Despite her apparent lack of concern, though, she knew Maddy would be chewing over the announcement for a while. Accepting things at face value and truly digesting them were different matters altogether.

Delta also snorted at Maddy's reaction. "The skill I got is the coolest out of everyone's," she said, moving past the heavier topic, "so I can go first."

"You don't even know what ours are," Rosalie pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. Mine is still the coolest. Yes, even better than Zoey's." The foxgirl twitched. "Though, I am curious what you got, like always."

Zoey paused. "One of them is pretty … interesting." Her brow furrowed. "But not in the usual way. It's different from anything we've seen so far." And because of that, she had been looking forward to a moment where she could discuss it with her team. "The other is pretty cool in a more normal way, though." That one, she was excited to work with Maddy on.

Delta, as the rest of the team, was obviously interested by the foreshadowing. Rosalie already knew Zoey's abilities—she had been the one to read them, obviously—but the others didn't. Zoey insisted, "You go first though." Delta had sounded genuinely excited to share.

The grin slipped back on. "Alright," she said. "You ready?"

Rosalie looked around. "As long as you aren't about to cause a bunch of property damage, or something. We have a reputation to maintain in Mantle. It's not like Treyhull, where we'll be leaving soon. We're here for the foreseeable future."

"Nah, it's fine. Check it out." She scooted to the right, pressing her shoulder into Rosalie's and making space on the seat to her left. Her face screwed up briefly in concentration, and a shadowy figured started to come fuzzily into existence. In less than a second, it finished manifesting.

"Say hello to shadow-me," Delta grinned.

The dark figure to her left gave a polite wave.

With wide eyes, Zoey took the image in. "Woah," she said. "She looks just like you. Identical." Except black throughout: orange hair replaced with semi-translucent shadow, and the same for her skin and clothes, with varying degrees of opacity and thickness to give the form a clear shape and depth. "Is she—controlled? Or how does it work?"

"Yep. Controlled," Delta said, beaming at her shadow clone. She was obviously proud of the skill's development. "Can do anything I can, except at half power. Have to order her around myself, though, or she'll just sit there."

"Fascinating," Rosalie said, her tone, for once, completely earnest. She peered past Delta to take in the shadow clone. "Mental commands? How difficult is that?"

Delta wrinkled her nose. "Very. You know those dexterity tests where you have to move one hand in one pattern, and the other in a different? Imagine that, but with two whole bodies." She frowned as she watched her shadow clone start counting upward on her fingers, raising each digit in turn. "It's easier when I'm just sitting here. Making her do stuff when I'm occupied is … hard."

"Sounds like you'll need to practice," Rosalie said. "What an incredible ability, though. The tactical uses are …" she trailed off, an almost wondering expression appearing on her face. "Insane."

Zoey hid a smile. Sometimes she forgot how obsessed Rosalie was with wayfaring life—it wasn't just something forced onto her. Rosalie had adopted an almost dreamy look, imagining how useful two bodies would be in combat. Or even all aspects of a shard. The utility purposes were incredible as well.

"Can you see through her?" Maddy asked curiously.

"Yeah. And her other senses. Have to 'tune into them', though. Kinda necessary if I want her flanking and taking other angles than me, where she's not in my line of sight. It's super nauseating, though. Getting used to it is gonna be as much a problem as learning to control her."

"Are you making her look at me?" Rosalie asked. "Her eyes are tracking mine."

"Oh. Yeah," Delta said, turning to look at her clone. "It works like that for some reason. She reacts in basic ways. Don't fully get it yet." Delta lifted her hand up and, holding a flick, brought it close to the shadow's forehead. She went cross-eyed at Delta's proximity, then Delta released, her finger thumping into the girl. The shadow reared back and blinked rapidly. She didn't rub at her forehead though, which Zoey would have expected. "See? Pretty interesting."

"Huh," Zoey said. "Are we gonna need to equip her?"

"She gets copies of my own daggers." Emphasizing Delta's point, the shadow—of course commanded by its owner—lifted a dagger and set it on the table. The shadowy form of the weapon persisted there. "But maybe having real ones would be stronger? No clue."

Zoey picked the dagger off the table, surprising herself when her fingers wrapped around the hilt without problem; it was physical, just like the clone herself. She turned the weapon from side to side, inspecting it. Indeed, she recognized the item as Delta's equipped dagger, except black and the slightly transparent, like the shadow's body.

"Weird," Zoey murmured. "You're right. That's an amazing skill."

"Is there a penalty for her being hurt? Or killed?' Rosalie asked, as curious as always about the limitations and implications of the skill. "Does damage reflect onto you?"

"Tested that earlier," Delta said. "I can feel her getting hurt, but it's not debilitating. It's not reflecting the damage, just a heads-up. When she goes down, though, she disappears. Can't call her out for a good chunk of time after that."

"How long?"

"About twenty minutes."

Rosalie made a noise. "So if it happens in a fight, she's out for the rest of the encounter. Possibly several, if we're taking a fast pace through a shard."

"Yep. She's expendable, but not to the extent I can get her killed whenever I want. Or rather, that'd be a waste, in most situations."

"Even so," Rosalie murmured, her eyes locked on the shadow. "What an amazing ability. That has to be one of the strongest fourth advancement skills I've heard of." She paused, then turned a dry look at Zoey. "Besides a certain someone, who we shouldn't compare ourselves to." Back to Delta. "Even operating at half your strength, the implications of being able to be in two places at once, at targeting multiple flanks by yourself, greatly outstrips just a 'fifty percent boost.' It wouldn't surprise me if, once you learn how to use her, you'll be twice as effective as you were. Not to mention the stat boosts from your rank up. Just incredible…"

Delta seemed smug at the blonde's words of praise. Seeing her expression, Rosalie realized how much she'd been gushing over the skill, then blushed and tore her eyes from the shadow. She cleared her throat and said, "I'm just interested to see how she develops."

"Same," Delta said, for once not teasing Rosalie. "I'll probably need help getting used to her. I'm not kidding when I say she's really hard to control. Especially when I'm fighting in my own body as well."

"Of course. We'll have plenty of time to train, now that we're in Mantle."

Delta turned to Zoey, a mischievous grin instantly pulling on her lips. "Now, Zoey, you can go ahead and ask. Don't think I didn't see it on your face. Tell me, what kind of idea did you have, seeing my new skill?"