Information

Shy
Legacy Name: Massacres

The Nostalgic Kanis
Owner: Porygon

Age: 14 years, 11 months, 4 weeks

Born: May 3rd, 2009

Adopted: 1 year, 3 months, 3 days ago

Adopted: January 29th, 2023

Statistics

• Level: 1
   
• Strength: 10
   
• Defense: 10
   
• Speed: 10
   
• Health: 10
   
• HP: 10/10
   
• Intelligence: 0
   
• Books Read: 0
• Food Eaten: 0
• Job: Unemployed

she who controls herself

cw: medical settings, strong language, graphic depictions of death & pain, infant death

A sprawling city littered with buildings that reach for the sky, Solstance is a highly populated utopia crawling with the seedy and the kind. It sits among mountainous circles and forests populated with many kinds of beasts. Though the road to the city is dangerous and grueling, many say that the sights once you enter the metropolis are well worth the journey. Colors and machines working in harmony with magic are abundant as this place mixes the homely life of the average mana user with the wonderment of technology not found anywhere else in the land but there.

One such miracle among the machinery and busy life is the Sunnyside Pharmaceutical company. Mana, versatile with healing as it was, couldn't cure everything. Disease and illness were practically untouchable by mana, meaning that the work done by the diligent workers of Sunnyside was particularly important. Often, employees here would find their due diligence rewarded with public praise from both citizen and government official alike. Among other, perhaps more dubious companies involving the luxuries of the drink and the pleasures of the flesh, Sunnyside Pharmaceuticals made a name for itself.

Our story begins with an employee from said company, one who doesn't get the praise she necessarily deserves and remains lower on the totem pole than her pharmacist or scientist coworkers, a secretary named Chamomile Tithonia. Preferring to go by her nickname, Cammy works as hard as others in her company-- perhaps harder, even-- but due to her rank and the nature of her job, doesn't receive the praise she should. Working as a secretary wasn't exactly glamorous and definitely wasn't getting her any awards or late night talk shows; it was barely getting her pizza parties.

Despite that grim reality, she continued to try her best and was content with the praise she did get. Her bosses never had an issue with her and she was well-liked among her colleagues. She came to work on time each day and handled their customers well despite her innate shyness. She took this job not because working as a secretary was thrilling, but because she wanted to try and best her anxiety she had been cursed with. It worked sometimes, but other days she found it a challenge to pick up the ringing phone, a burden to her sensitive and easily overwhelmed ears. Yet, she prevailed most days, and her productivity as well as the happiness of their company's partners showed.

It was when she started experiencing strange happenings around her that her normal life takes a turn for the bizarre.

"Something's been going on with me, and I'm not sure what it is," Cammy said, wringing her hands mercilessly as she sat upon the crinkly paper laden seat in her doctor's office. "It's like I suddenly have superpowers or something."

Her doctor, a woman well acquainted with Cammy by the name of Ivy, stepped forward and pressed her stethoscope to Cammy's chest.

"Your heart is racing," she noted, then stepped back to examine Cammy's face. "You look like you're going to break a sweat at any moment."

"According to my armpits, I already am," Cammy replied. "I don't want to be here, I don't want to experience these things-- I'm way out of my element."

Ivy nodded and scribbled something down on a notepad. Cammy noted how her colored pen contrasted well with the yellow paper inside.

"And your records show that you don't possess a hyglyph," Ivy said with a quick skim over the documents she now held. "These happenings are indeed strange for one who lacks the mana organ."

"I was lucky not to be born with one," her patient said with her gaze cast off to the side. "My mother dealt with cancer concerning the damned thing so she got rid of it. And then later, my older sister..."

Ivy set her files down and put her hands into the pockets on her coat.

"Yes, I remember her funeral," she murmured. "Lily had hyglyphoma."

"The cancer made her weak and frail for the last few months of her life. There were days I wasn't sure she even wanted to be alive anymore. My parents were going to remove mine anyway if I had been born with one, so it's for the best that my birth took out the middleman," Cammy said, an emotionless expression now rested on Ivy.

"Don't think I would forget so soon-- my mother was your family doctor for many years, after all." Standing from her leaned position against a counter, Ivy walked over toward the door. "We'll just have a little looksie and make sure you don't have a hyglyph."

"But--"

"I know they tested you when you were little and again when you were a teenager, but the procedure is non-invasive and quick. Doctors aren't infallible, y'know."

With that, the doctor left Cammy to ruminate over her rampant anxiety while she prepped her colleagues for the viewing.

***

Though the test hadn't taken long and hadn't hurt even a little, Cammy found great discomfort in being within the clinic's walls. Now sat back on the bench she found only mild comfort in wringing her hands as if they were a wet towel.

Dr. Stalk came back into the room holding a clipboard. Her face contained a great amount of confusion which didn't go unnoticed by her patient.

"Your results are back," Ivy started.

"Don't tell me," Cammy said, her tone grave, her eyes wild, fingers gripping the sides of the bench so hard she left tears in the upholstery. "There's-- there's no way."

Ivy sighed and set the clipboard down along with her rump.

"You were always astute," she remarked.

"You can't be serious...!" Cammy's hands took to her ears. She pulled down on them and shook her head to and fro. "It's not real, it's not real!"

"There's no hiding it," her doctor sighed. "You have an active hyglyph."

She already knew it. But hearing the confirmation from Ivy was a death sentence. Tears pricked her eyes, her ears still hostage to her trembling palms.

"And--"

"And?" Cammy's eyes shot toward Ivy. "What the hell do you mean and?!"

"You also appear to be afflicted with endoglyphosis. Do you know what that is?"

Blood rushed through Cammy's veins, her heart pounding against her chest. She shook her head slowly, conflicted between drawing out the diagnosis and wanting to rip off the band aid.

"Well," Ivy said, taking a small breath in preparation. "There's a similar condition that people with uteruses can have called endometriosis, where the tissue lining the uterus is found outside of the organ, often attaching itself to other organs. It can cause terrible menstrual cramps, heavy bleeding, difficulty getting pregnant-- it's awful."

"But I don't have that," Cammy countered. "Tell me what's in my body."

"There is a similar phenomenon denoted as endoglyphosis, which is similar, except instead of the endometrium-- or the lining of your uterus-- it's the gylphtrium, the lining of your hyglyph. That tissue is not meant to be shed, so it typically stays attached to the organs it has latched onto."

"It-- it's stuck to other organs?" She shook her head then and stood up. "Just remove the damn-- ouch!"

Ivy watched as Cammy bent forward, her hand above her hip. Her stomach dropped and she stood up from her stool.

"How often does that happen?"

"How often does what happen?" Cammy hissed as she stood back up. "I'm fine."

"Your pain in that spot. It happened when you stood up fast, didn't it?"

"It's been happening for awhile, it isn't anything to worry about," Ivy's patient replied, trying to brush the doctor's concerns away.

But Ivy wasn't about to let it go.

"This only confirms it," Ivy muttered. "The hyglyph's tissue has attached itself to your other organs."

"How do y'figure?" Cammy asked, her tone irate. "I just stood up too fast. Probably jerked a nerve."

"Your jerky movements made the tissue tug on your other organ. That's what causes that pain-- based on that area, I would say it's latched onto your intestines, or perhaps your uterus."

The imagery of her organs being crudely tugged on by her hyglyph sent shivers down Cammy's spine. She shuddered, then gripped Ivy's coat, pulling her closer to her snarl.

"Get rid of it, then! Take it out of me!"

Ivy, unperturbed by her sudden aggressiveness, merely frowned and looked away,

"It can't be removed," she whispered.

"Yes it can, they do it all the time," Cammy urged. "I want the next available surgery for removal."

"Due to your condition, we can't remove it." Ivy took Cammy's now slack hands and placed them back at her side. "The tissue is acting like a glue, and now that it's in between everything, it's the only thing holding your body together. Your hyglyph has been inside of you ever since you were born, based off of how your internal organs have formed and shifted around it. The gylphtrium has been spreading for years, so even if we were to remove it successfully, you would die without it."

Cammy's face paled. Nothing came from her mouth, now contorted in a horrified expression. The tears from earlier came back but the shocked rabbit made no attempt to hide them.

"What if-- what if I get hyglyphoma?" she finally asked, now back on the bench, her eyes diverted to the ground.

"We couldn't even remove the infected areas... and the tissue would act like electrical lines. They would only conduct the disease to your other organs and have a chance of infecting them, too."

"You're saying if I have that cancer, I'll die, too," Cammy whispered.

Ivy's hand clutched her coat sleeve as she watched Cammy wither in front of her.

"...Yes."

***

Treatment options for Cammy's condition barred none that weren't painful. She left Ivy's office with a referral to a mana therapist, one she probably wasn't gonna waste her time with, deciding to try and ignore what was happening to her. If she pretended it wasn't there, maybe it would just go away and she wouldn't have to worry about it.

Her hands in the pockets of her skirt, she stood and waited for the crosswalk to let the mass of people out. She heard nothing around her, all other sounds drowned out by her racing thoughts and the tears threatening to spill over once again.

A gasp shook her out of her thoughts. She glanced up and looked around for the source with disinterested eyes. There she saw a creature entirely shrouded in thick, black darkness grappling with a woman for her infant who was screaming and crying all the while. The beast took one of its clawed hands and seized the woman's arm by the wrist. Smoke poured from her body like steam. The woman's cries grew louder, her baby's lamenting increasing in turn, and the eldritch being tugged the infant away with a satisfied grunt. It kept the woman within its hold, intending to watch her dissolve, but its attention was turned toward its prize, the baby unleashing hell on those around it, guttural screeches ripping from its throat as it, too, began to dissolve.

By the time the infant had been released, it was dead. Its silence left a horrifying mark on those who bared witness to the tragedy; the beast merely returned to the mother, silent in her grief.

Citizens panicked afterward, all fleeing in every which direction, save for the mother of the deceased. She merely sat there on her bloody knees from when the creature had released her wrist in favor of staring at her child, its precious corpse now blackened and burned on the asphalt. Her eyes were empty; her life had fled with her child's.

Unmoving, she remained an easy target for the beast, whose curiosity and appetite for destruction continued to grow. It attempted once more to seize her within its grasp, only to be knocked from its place by a car that had been flung in its direction. Along with the automobile, it crashed into a part of a nearby sidewalk, and the culprit who launched the vehicle stared into its non-existent eyes.

"Pick on someone your own size," Cammy spat, her blood boiling, her eyes wide, fists clenched at her sides. "If you want a fight, pick one with me!"

The mother of the child seized the opportunity and stood up, racing to Cammy's side purposefully with a cold fury exuding from her being.

"I will help," she said, her tone steeled, her eyes never moving from the monster that stole a part of her soul.

Cammy looked around. A light pole sat next to her, marking a corner. She narrowed her eyes, then yanked it from the concrete.

"You have mana?" she asked, her eyes still on the rousing beast.

"Yes." The clipped nature of her sentences coupled with the ice in her voice told Cammy the bereaved mother knew exactly where her place was, and she would not be denied.

"Then," Cammy said, kneeling down as the beast eyed her. "You strike it when I beat it down!"

Beast and rabbit bolted from their spots in unison, both assuring their mutual destruction. Though Cammy had a plan in her head, she had never fought anything before. Only on TV and in animation had she seen heroes pull what she was attempting to do off-- even then, she remembered quite a few of her favorite characters dying from their efforts. Still, with newfound powers she had no choice but to embrace, she saw no downside.

Either she became a heroine or she died.

Sure that her plan was to run up to the beast and smack it like knocking a baseball out of the park, she found cold feet awaiting her when she was faced with the darkness cloaked horror. She yelped and instead worked off of instinct, clamoring up its arm when it swung at her and climbing up the beast. It roared when she got on top of its back and tried rearing her off. She jumped off of it before it flung her into the ground but not without error. Her heel shattered upon landing and so did her leg, the lamp post flung from her grip as searing pain shot through her body.

"S-shit," she gasped, glancing down at her leg. It had already started to swell.

And the beast could smell her misfortune, now entirely interested in her.

Cammy limped over toward the streetlamp. She was in the shit now-- it was time to shovel it. It charged her again and this time she met it without trepidation, the streetlamp wound back in her arms. When it got within range she swung it with every ounce of strength she had, her pain and fear induced adrenaline only serving to make her stronger. Her weapon broke from the sheer force that it had collided into the beast, but her enemy was carried with the force and swung into a nearby building. Glass rained down into the streets and people nearby hollered and scrambled away from the scene as it tried to reorient itself.

Scorned, teary-eyed and overall shattered, the mother's eyes flared up into a surging inferno, fire swallowing her hands. She clenched her fists and unleashed a scream similar to the raw agony of her child, her voice echoing on the cityscape nearby, fire and meteors raining from the sky at her command. All of them targeted the horrifying creature, each one singing its body and each one causing it to cry out in pain like a wounded animal.

"Rot in hell!" she screeched, then launched another assault on it.

With her injury now holding her down, Cammy glanced around to see her nearest escape route. She couldn't believe she had actually managed to hit the beast and send it flying that far-- if this was the price of having mana, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all.

But even the meteors hadn't made the beast an amnesiac and it soon barreled from its spot, the taste in its mouth still for rabbit.

Cammy stared at it and grit her teeth. She wasn't close enough to anything to hit it with and her leg being shattered made it so she couldn't escape fast enough to survive. She did the only thing she could do and braced for impact, her arms in front of her face, as if that would help.

Her reckoning came in the form of a hulking, darkness leaking monster, and it intended to launch her into the heavens. But as lowered its head to send her into the stratosphere, it instead hit her body and was sent flying backward, its claws scarring the pavement below. Cammy unfurled from her protective stance and saw it, confused and unsteady, trying to right itself for another strike. It gave the mother just enough time to slam it with another round of attacks, and this time, it didn't rebound so quickly.

"It's almost dead," the mother hissed, watching as it attempted once more to stand. "We need to end it! Do something!"

"I--" Cammy fell to her knees with a cry. "I can't do anything like this!"

Its rebound came. It got back up, this time stalking toward Cammy like a cat. Its jaws were leaking some ink black substance, each step it took with more intent and malice than the last. Another round of meteors came streaking toward it, but one fell too close to Cammy and they stopped.

"You have to run," Cammy urged, attempting to scamper away. "Even if it eats me, you're still alive! You have to get help or else it'll kill everyone!"

The mother's face fell at the realization that she couldn't save not only her child, but this stranger who attempted to help her revenge. Right when she resigned, when she accepted that Cammy would be a sacrifice for the greater good, the beast slipped on a patch of ice, its head plunging down to the ground. And as it did, a small blunder of happenstance that would only delay the inevitable, a jagged spike burst from the earth, piercing its skull for all to see, the beast's jaws separating in one last cry before its eyes rolled into the back of its skull and it perished.

Cammy stared at it, confusion thick in her eyes. She attempted to scoot back further, then noticed the ground was cold. The trail of ice lead right up to her body on the pavement, still growing under her where her body touched the ground.

"For Pete's sake," a deep voice muttered from behind her. "Are you alright?"

She whipped around to see a trio, their leader a tall, muscular man with the tail of an otter behind him and a blue trench coat containing his impressive physique. Fanned out behind him, a woman and man with cat-like features, each decorated with ears and a tail. The woman, who upon further investigation appeared to be almost girl-like in appearance, ran up to Cammy with a heavy frown.

"She's been injured, Taru!"

"Heal her then," he responded, then turned back toward the beast. "Then get over here and cleanse this thing."

The man, a much older gentleman than his other companions, strode up to it with a heavy sigh.

"His influence is found even here," he breathed, his eyes now settled on the burned baby. "We have no choice. If the Necromancer has spread to even these lands, we will have to station similar groups like ours all across Sharmony."

"Whose influence?" Cammy hissed, her jaw clenched from the pain of the girl's healing.

"It's too much to explain here," the older man replied, now facing her. "I can explain, but be forewarned-- you're a target from here on out. Even if you choose to go back to normal life, there is a good chance you will be hunted for the remainder of your existence."

Cammy's eyes grew intense.

"Let them come."

***

Once the girl, Mercury, she had come to find out, had finished healing her leg, they all set out to an abandoned building in the city plastered with caution tape, keep out signs, and enough warnings of its structural integrity to make even the most seasoned urbexers think twice. But nobody aside from Cammy hesitated, and as the man with the long blue trench coat opened the door for her, she found she couldn't refuse to enter, too curious about what the inside contained.

"Don't worry," the old man, Cornelius said, "it's perfectly safe."

"Hotaru checked everything himself!" Mercury boasted, leading them down a dark corridor. "We've been sending people here hush-hush so they can get the building ready for another team. But I didn't think we'd actually have to use it."

Cornelius went up to a switch on the wall and pressed it. With a loud, analog sounding 'click!', it illuminated the room, each bulb of the fluorescent lights above singing their singular, low buzz melody. The room was barely furnished and hardly looked like anything suitable for the homeless, much less a crew of people with refined mana abilities. Bare, industrial carpet thick enough only to cover the concrete under it sprawled on the floor. Old chairs and desks sat atop of it, each one more uninviting than the last.

Cammy reluctantly seated herself in a chair that whined and complained under her weight, then watched the others as they followed suit.

"This place, uh... it's not much," Cammy started. "If it's for a crew like you guys, shouldn't it be a bit more... comfortable?"

"We haven't finished the repairs and furnishings," Cornelius replied, his thumb stroking his moustache. "We've only recently gotten the building stable enough for habitation."

"I think she would appreciate it if you got on with the explanation of that thing we just had to fight," Hotaru interjected.

Cornelius nodded and crossed his legs.

"You said your name was Cammy, correct?"

"Short for Chamomile, but I prefer Cammy," she nodded.

"Very well. To introduce myself again, my name is Cornelius, and I am the leader of this group made up of Hotaru and Mercury, former students of mine and powerful mana users in their own right," he explained. "Unfortunately, I am also the brother of the monster who created that beast that attacked you."

Cammy's breath hitched and her heart started going insane. Was she in danger here? But, surely if Cornelius had aided in the execution of the shadow beast, surely he was not a threat?

Cornelius could feel her anxiety thick in the warm air of the underground room.

"I am not your enemy," he continued. "My brother, however, has given up his humanity to become a mana user. He once answered to Nathan but is far better feared as the Necromancer these days."

Shivers echoed down Cammy's spine at the mere mention of the Necromancer. This was not her first encounter with that name. She remembered seeing reports of strange happenings in newspapers from other regions, the Sharmony Kingdom, the continent's capital, being the epicenter of all the excitement.

"That's all just in Sharmony though," Cammy said, a futile attempt to distance herself from the truth. "It's not come to Solstance."

All three shared a look of horror before Cornelius returned to Cammy, his eyes simply tired, his demeanor demoralized.

"The Necromancer has started his assault on other places," he said, his voice low, as if saying it quieter would make it go away. "He knows Sharmony is guarded by us, but other places-- Solstance for example-- lack a dedicated group. Without purifiers and fighters, his beasts are allowed to run wild, to spawn where negative mana seeps and create more of it to create a vicious, vile cycle. One that we've only barely been able to keep under control."

Cammy shook her head rapidly and put one of her hands out for him to stop.

"Wait wait wait-- negative mana? What in the world is that?"

"There is pure and negative mana in the world," Mercury said, kicking her legs from atop her desk. "Pure mana, also often referred to as just 'mana', is the mana found inside of living things. It can be found in the air around plants, from certain events, and sometimes during a fight where a lot of mana is being used, it gets left in the air like dust particles. Pure mana is something that, if absorbed, doesn't harm the person absorbing it."

"But negative mana," Hotaru sighed, his eyes on the ground. "Negative mana is mana that has been tainted, corrupted with negativity, whether emotionally or magically. And the Necromancer is able to control this mana to make his beasts. The stronger ones have souls within them... people that didn't pass on and are now being used to pilot whatever fucked up creature he wants to make that day. It's up to me and Mercury to free them."

"What about Cornelius?" Cammy asked, thoroughly invested.

"Like my brother, I possess no mana ability," he sighed, standing up and turning away. He gazed to the ceiling with memories racing through his mind and fingers on his moustache. "He drove himself insane due to that fact. He consumed mana supplements and they led to his demise. The only reason he's still clinging to the fabric of the living world is because he was able to transfer himself into a body that he binds together using his newfound power."

So much information at once. So many new things she didn't know existed. Overwhelmed, exhausted, terrified, she felt the walls closing in, pressure on. And there was nobody around who understood her anxiety, nobody would could give her a safe distance from everything she just learned. Worse still, her powers, her involvement from earlier made her a target for the rest of her life.

"Am I always going to be hunted by the Necromancer...?" she asked, her gaze hollow, her awareness spacey.

Hotaru and Mercury exchanged a concerned glance, then turned to Cornelius who turned around to face Cammy at her question. He adjusted his glasses with a burdened sigh.

"Most likely. Your interfering with his beast from earlier lets him know you're not someone he can sway for his own ploys. You're a threat to him."

She knew the answer before he even spoke, before he inhaled to speak. But she still felt weight on her shoulders, a tugging in her chest, a squirming in her gut. Finally, after she gathered what she could of herself, she found Cornelius's attentive gaze.

"I won't be willing prey," she said, a still, concrete conviction in her voice. "However, before you try to recruit me, you should know that I'm unsure about the extent of my powers. I've only discovered I had mana today, and as far as I'm concerned I've only been able to have super strength and defense."

"The ice," Hotaru said, turning to her from the carpet. "That trail of ice from earlier that made the beast slip. You did that."

Cammy's face screwed up in confusion.

"Ice? Are you sure?"

Hotaru nodded.

"Nobody else here has ice powers. Yet, that ice came from your body where it touched the road as you scooted back. It was the opening opportunity for me to use Anubis."

The rabbit tilted her head, somehow even more confused than she already was.

"What's Anubis?"

Without warning, a large jackal dog appeared from beside Hotaru as if it had come out of his body. With hulking muscles and sharp eyes, it immediately locked onto Cammy. She shivered in its presence.

"This is Anubis," Hotaru started, standing up and brushing his chair aside. "In this world, there are mana users with an abundance of mana who can materialize, or summon, beings to help them fight. Such manifestations are called Summons, and their masters are called summoners. I take it you've never heard of such phenomena?"

"Only in passing," Cammy replied as she studied Anubis. "You use him to fight, then?"

"I can use him to fight but I can also use his abilities without his summoning." He turned fully toward Cammy, a glint in his eye. "Something tells me that you possess one of these as well."

"H-hey, Taru--"

"Can it, Mercury," he growled, still staring Cammy down. "If there's one proven way to drag out a Summon, it's to engage in combat."

Cammy's fur bristled. She stood up, her chair behind her crashing to the ground.

"I fought that thing earlier and my Summon never once showed up! Why're you so sure one'll show up now?!"

"It offered you its power earlier without warning," the otter hissed, now in a fighting stance. "So I think that with another taste of battle, it'll have no choice but to show up!"

Anubis roared as it now stood in front of Cammy, its eyes gleaming at her.

"Cornelius, you have to stop them!"

With watchful eyes, Cornelius narrowed his sights on Hotaru.

"Halt, Mercury. This might just work."

"But--"

"Go Anubis, use your fists!"

Cammy found herself in the midst of a flurry of fists. She blocked herself by making an 'x' formation with her arms and her body became steeled like it had been before. Anubis's fists didn't even bruise her.

"She's become as strong as a diamond," Hotaru said, stepping to the side to get a better view. "No worthy Summon would leave its summoner to die. Show yourself!"

There was a flash within Cammy's eyes when Anubis stopped its onslaught. Hunched over, her body contorted and twisted itself back to an upright position. A screech tore itself from her throat and from beside her, something appeared.

Feminine in appearance, whimsy in its movements, it looked disturbed that it had been drawn out from Cammy, who stood there in awe. It narrowed its eyes at Hotaru and launched a punch at Anubis, who blocked it but was forced back.

"So it shows itself," Hotaru said, his voice calm and level. "You'd never fought before until today. It was only a matter of time before danger drew it from you."

"Th-that thing was inside of me this whole time?!"

Cornelius stepped forward to observe it better.

"Summons usually manifest to their summoners when they are young adolescents. Why did yours wait so long, I wonder?"

"It's great that you guys are so calm and collected about this, but how the hell do I use it? How do I make it go away? What've you awakened?!"

Anubis faded into Hotaru, and the tall man strode up to Cammy, whose Summon was not thrilled about his proximity to its summoner.

"Calm down. You can't expect to be useful with that kind of attitude."

"Thanks," Cammy spat. "You did this to me, now undo it!"

"I can't undo it," he replied, hands now in his pockets. "You have to feel it within you. When you want it to appear, really manifest that want in your bones. When you want it to go away, feel the want to make it go the hell away. I don't know what other explanation you want from me."

With another remark lined up, Cammy moved to point in his face, but her Summon disappeared as she did so. She froze in her tracks, her finger still pointed accusingly at Hotaru but her newfound burden gone.

"I see you willed it away," Hotaru remarked. "Good job."

"Tsk," Cammy mumbled, turning away and crossing her arms. "Whatever."

From beside her, Mercury bounded up to her with a bright smile on her face, her hands on her knees, the tip of her tail twitching excitedly.

"So, are ya gonna join us? Are you gonna be the next group of mana users here in Solstance?!"

Cammy remained silent for a long time. On the one hand, she didn't want to be dragged into this life. Having a hyglyph was horrible, having a Summon was disastrous-- she just wanted to return to her job, her quiet life, her humdrum existence. That's all she wanted for herself. On the other hand, there was something... exciting about the prospect of new opportunities, new experiences, and even she had to admit, having powers so far had been cooler than she wanted to acknowledge. It would be dangerous, sure, but she was a walking time bomb as it was. If she ended up with cancer, she would surely die, and if she didn't, she would be wasting her curse. Or, perhaps it was a gift instead?

After a long time, she finally turned around.

"Can I keep my job?" The others looked at her expectantly when she spoke. "I like my current job, too."

Cornelius cracked a smile.

"If you can ensure that the city will be safe under your watch at your job, then yeah. But you can't do it alone. You'll need at least two others."

"This city is so big, I'd wager she needs more than that," Hotaru mumbled.

"Maybe so," Cornelius responded. "But we can work the logistics out later. Right now, it needs to be clarified. Are you saying you're willing to join our sector in defending innocents from the Necromancer's destruction?"

She paused to think, then nodded.

"I am."

***

Cammy's agreement to become a part of a group to defend Solstance from the corrupted claws of the Necromancer had been months ago. In that time, she had learned how to make the best use of her mana by training with Hotaru. She had fought against different forms of the Necromancer's beasts in Sharmony during a week 'vacation' from her job at Sunnyside. She had even gotten to meet the prince of Sharmony, Prince Haegan, so that Sharmony and Solstance could form a pact allowing the government to fund another group like Cornelius's.

Willing to place the responsibility on herself, Cammy accepted the leadership position for the Solstance group, a team she would dub Sol's Sentinel. Cornelius said it was too dangerous for her to work alone, so she wouldn't need to report to the headquarters (affectionately named Sol's Grasp) until there were more members.

It didn't take long for there to be a willing volunteer: the mother whose child was lost in the first skirmish. She signed up without regard for her own safety, still hellbent on getting her hands around the Necromancer's soul and snuffing him out of existence like one carelessly blows out a candle. She introduced herself to Cammy as Lola Barnes and expressed great interest in 'seeing that child-murdering son of a bitch rot in Hell'. Cammy agreed, and while Mercury seemed fearful of her conviction, Cornelius and Hotaru both agreed she would make an excellent addition to the team.

Along with Lola and the two other recruits they found, one a childhood friend of Cammy's and another a newly graduated student of mana, they reside in Sol's Grasp when they're fulfilling other obligations, constantly on the watch for the Necromancer's lackies to start causing trouble for their wonderful city.

Maybe, with enough experience and time, Cammy can learn to live with her newfound hyglyph and learn to view it as not a curse, but a blessing.

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