The apartment was cloaked in a warm hush that only mid-morning sunlight and half-drawn curtains could bring. A Kaslana laid sprawled on the couch, a thick, leather-bound tome balanced open across his chest. His eyes traced the ancient ink, he learnt the dead language using the Enhanced Mental Attributes given to him using the Visionary Pathway.
The book was obscure, untranslated in most circles, but deeply insightful from what he could understand. He'd come to it through one of his lesser-known aliases, buried away in a Zürich private collection.
The pages of the book sounded like rough sand paper rubbing against itself under his hand. The book contained quite a bit of detail regarding magic, specifically the field of rune magic.
It held the names Norn Stones as well as how magicians of old had used the stones.
It sounded exactly like the stone he had in his possession, the stone allowed him to see mana and move it to his own desires.
Okay Wow that is a long list of things, but I get the point. So The Urd Stone allowed one to override the will of mana with their own The Verdandi Stone allowed one to convert mana into raw Elements. Now the last stone...
'Fuck... so if I wanted to create world Runes I needed to have the third stone, the same stone which I would have to kill dragon for....
Ughh guess I'll have to end the fight fast, I don't want anyone finding out but I don't exactly have a choice if I want to the power, and considering how many threats can end the planet in this world, I need to be prepared.'
"I suppose I could try and weave the dragon into a dream..."
But that had its own issues; 'Could I trap him into a dream and make him completely unaware of that dream?
I mean its possible but with his awareness of magic it could tip him off... Or I wait, I wait until I become a complete sequence 2 and then try to deceive him.... Actually that'll work just fine. I just need a few months at least and then I might be able to drag him into illusions.
*Sigh* "I just need to be patient I guess"
Knock knock.
His thoughts paused.
Knock knock knock.
Persistent. Crisp. A rhythm that didn't match a neighbor or a delivery boy trying to rush through their route.
Auro blinked, the fog of long-term planning briefly dissipating. He reached out with his Observation Haki, a low ripple of awareness flowing from his body like a sonar pulse. No hostility. No anomalies. Just a courier on the other side of the door, shifting their weight impatiently.
With a small sigh, he closed the book and set it gently on the coffee table.
Opening the door with a casual flick of his wrist, he was met with a young man in a beige coat and gloves, standing in the hallway of the apartment.
"Package for Mr. Kasl—uh... A. Winter," the courier said, holding out a sleek, black briefcase. It bore no logo, no label. Just a small silver seal shaped like a snowflake with a diamond at its center.
Subtle—but unmistakably Frost.
Auro's gaze lingered on the seal for just a moment before his hand closed around the handle.
"Thanks," he said simply, voice neutral.
The courier nodded, turned, and vanished down the hall without another word.
Auro closed the door with a soft click and stared at the briefcase for a second longer.
Auro walked back to the coffee table and placed the brief case atop it. His mind racing; he quickly sat back on his couch and opened the brief case.
Upon black cushioning was beautiful black stone that looked as if constellations were contained within it a masterpiece of a gem, it looked similar to the stone hidden within his drawer but with a slightly different shape.
And atop it a note, quickly grabbing the note Auro checked what was written on it.
"Consider this a token of thanks—and an apology.
I had hoped to deliver it myself. The offer you made... to lay low, to step away, even if just for a little while—I remember it. And for a moment, I truly considered it.
But I'm far too entangled in the Hellfire web to vanish, even temporarily. Too many eyes. Too many knives. You understand.
Still, I wanted you to have this without delay. You've earned it more than anyone I know.
You showed me what was done to me. But more than that, you treated me like a person, not an tool, not an object to be lusted after. That kind of clarity and kindness doesn't come often in my world. I won't forget it.
This doesn't clear my debt to you, but it's a start."
—Emma
P.S. One day, when the world forgets to watch me for a moment, I'll take you up on your offer and when I do we'll dance until sunrise <3
A diamond white lipstick stain laid right next to her P.S. note
I smiled, she had helped me more than enough and it was nice knowing that kindness still got somewhere. I suppose I won't be able to meet her for quite a while but I'm more content with what I was able to do for her.
Standing up I walked over to my desk and I had it placed right next to the lamp where I could read it at any time. I smiled before speaking "I'll hold you up to that Emma, don't think I'll ever forget it."
I walked back over to the 2nd stone and I began activating my Observation Haki I let it bloom outwards, I moved around the coffee table and sat right back on the couch, this time leaning over the briefcase and the stone.
The stone hummed beneath my awareness.
It was subtle at first, like feeling the wind stir against your skin in a sealed room—wrong, impossible, yet undeniably present. The mana around the stone wasn't just still or passive; it was shifting.
Water vapor condensed slightly on the inside of the windowpane. The floor beneath my fingers warmed—not uncomfortably, but noticeably. The lights flickered faintly even though they weren't turned on.
It wasn't just mana.
It was how the mana interacted with the world.
The Verdandi Stone wasn't a blunt tool. It was a translator. A converter. My senses adjusted and I could feel the bridge being built between metaphysical potential and elemental reality—mana becoming matter, energy, effect.
It was like tuning a forgotten sense back into alignment. My body didn't just perceive the world—it now whispered a dead language of it. If the Urd Stone let me override mana's nature using pure will, then the Verdandi Stone taught me how to Exact Physical change using my Will, how to shape it into real tangible space.
I reached out—not physically, but with the inner current of my will—and watched as the air in front of the stone shimmered, just faintly. A flicker of heat, then a brief puff of cool mist, like a sigh.
The first stone had taught me control.
This one was teaching me expression.
And with both, I was starting to see the beginning of what real magic was meant to be.
This process couldn't be rushed it had to done slowly and methodically, I felt that if I rushed it out it be like letting all your frustrations out, it would be chaotic and dangerous. I had to do it slowly and methodically, I couldn't force things out using my will alone like I had done before.