Peak of Autumn, Week 4, Day 6

“[Shadow Animation]”

I stared into Noir’s iridescent eyes, watching the light catch and shift the color of the thread. I threw a small ball of yarn across the room.

“Fetch.”

The knit bunny clumsily rose to its feet, wisps of shadow radiating from its body. Noir took slow steps across the room, going to the ball. Bending over and using its round paws, the bunny grasped the ball of yarn and turned back to me. Then, with what could only be described as a malicious glint in its eyes, dropped the ball of yarn and kicked it forcefully back to me. Only, a knit bunny doesn’t really have muscles, and a ball of yarn is relatively light, so the ball pathetically rolled halfway to me before coming to a stop and forcing Noir to stomp back over and kick it again in order for the ball to actually make it back to me.

I sat cross-legged on the floor and picked up the ball before looking back to Noir. This was the fifth time this morning I had used [Shadow Animation] and the second time I had gotten this type of animation. The first, second, and third times had all been executed with an excitable bunny that dashed after the ball, not letting it out of its grasp until the knit bunny was back in my lap, sitting on top of me and thrusting the yarn ball into my hands. The fourth and fifth times were not done nearly as happily. That was about the two-hour mark, and I had begun getting testy myself because I knew Maria and her squad of maids would show up soon. Much like in the courtyard, the animations seemed to feed off my mood. Perhaps that is what it means for something to be made of my soul.

I glanced around. About a third of everything I owned was packed into the five boxes the maids had dragged in —noticeably the entirety of my collection of knit items was packed into the box labeled ‘sentiments’. I was both irritated and confused. Irritated that they had pulled the bags out from under my bed and confused as to why they weren’t considered ‘miscellaneous’ or ‘decor’. The answer to that was easy once I had pried open the respective boxes and found miniature tables and chairs stacked in individual boxes within the larger container. There was even a miniature couch that matched the one that had been in my sitting area. I nearly made the mistake of pulling one of the miniatures out before I had a rather obvious realization about the exact duplicates of the furniture that was missing from my room.

Which, of course, was that this was the furniture that was missing. Which meant these items were shrunk. Or the box is larger than it looks. Or both. Honestly, I wasn’t sure —the deep blue runes that lined the box labeled ‘decor’ flowed so faintly and were so intermingled it was hard to tell when one ended and the next began.

It distracted me from thinking about [Steal Nerves] and [Sophism]. Both a different kind of trap set by the Gods. If I focused too much on either Skill, a disgust so intense it caused my stomach to roll filled me.

The ball of yarn hit my face, and my eyes snapped to the irritated little bunny halfway across the room as it sat down. It seems my time is up. I watched as the shadows living within the bunny fled Noir’s knit body and turned into a mist that dissipated in the air.

[Congratulations! Shadow Animation is now Level 3! Class experience applied!]

After I used the Skill for the second time this morning it had leveled to 2 —and given me another 5 minutes of time to run an animation.

“[Inspect]”

One day I would no longer need to speak my Skills aloud. That I was not there yet caused an uneasy feeling to itch under my skin. Instead of letting the dread fill me, I focused on the white words filling the green screen of the System.

[Shadow Animation: As a Young Lady of Darkness, you have summoned the unseen and commanded the world of the stalker. Now the unseen will use your soul to fuel a creation of your own shadow.Through your strength of will your shadows will begin to act of their own accord in line with your commands. No two shadow animations will be exactly the same. Additional animations unlocked upon level up. Duration increased upon level up. Cooldown decreased upon level up. Command comprehension increased upon level up.]

[Shadow Animation: 2nd Tier Skill. Immediate activation. Duration of 20 minutes. Cooldown of 9 minutes. Current animation options: Wisp, Infusion. Current level of command comprehension: simple. Current number of commands able to be issued: 1. Current number of animations on a single summon: 1. Current level [3] out of [60].]

Nothing but the duration and cooldown had changed. Staring at the screen I mentally closed it —that, at least, was within my capabilities. My eyes flicked back to Noir and the knit bunny slumped tot he ground a dozen feet from me.

“Do you think you’ll ever be permanently animated?” I asked the empty shell of a bunny, “There’s an option that says how many animations I can use on a single summon. Do you think that means I can make you more complicated or I can animate two of you?”

My voice was soft and unsure and unused to being either, so I could feel how it wavered. There was a brief moment I considered I could be going crazy. I was talking to an inanimate knit bunny. But it wasn’t always so inanimate, was it? I created it with my own Skill, I infused my magic into every stitch, and every so often it would come alive. Perhaps I should be talking to it more.

As I thought to myself, I felt [Quick Calculation] tell me it was once again time.

What kind of Noir would come alive next?

I stood and made my way over to Noir, wishing it would be a creation of excitement and whimsy. I wanted deeply for it to be a positive animation —I did not want my failure to overcome to bleed into Noir.

“[Shadow Animation]”

My voice was no longer soft as it became laced with the ice-cold weight of mana. I felt my breath chill as the cloud of magic left me and darkened. Wisps of shadow began clumping together as the cloud approached Noir, and upon contact the wisps sank into the knit bunny.

I felt when the animation took hold, a presence making itself known in my mind. It was something I hadn’t noticed the first few times I had used the Skill —it had only become more pronounced after reaching Level 2. At Level 3 it was undeniably real.

I had grown tired of fetch, though, so I tried something new.

“Dance.”

Maybe it will do a little jig, I mused to myself. Just something simple. To my surprise, Noir stood and held his hands out, and began stepping in a circle. I blinked. Still, the little bunny was turning in circles, its arms out.

I opened my mouth, then promptly closed it. I still only had one command so there was nothing I could do to stop it. Then an odd look came across my face as a memory flooded into my mind. A memory of elsewhere.

Silver dresses flowed elegantly around dancing women, and I could feel the wind tussle my hair as I twirled. My hand was held firmly in a much larger hand, and I felt a weight on my waist. My other hand was gently lying atop the man’s shoulder. I was looking into the distance, but his face blurred out of my awareness. I took a step back as he stepped forward. We were close, oh so close, and I let out a laugh.

So did he.

I blinked away the tears that were threatening to come to the surface and instead focused on the bunny doing the waltz. A small smile twitched at my lips.

“That’s not a simple dance, Noir.” I let out a light huff and sat next to the dancing bunny, holding out a hand and gently grasping one of Noir’s paws, lightly spinning him, “You know, it took me weeks to get down the simplest waltz. We called it the Oscarian Six Step. I kept tripping over the side swing, and–”

I cut myself off and laughed a bit at the ridiculousness of explaining things to a bunny I had knitted out of shadow. In fact, it wasn’t just the bunny bit that was weird. Sustained shadows were an odd thought too. And being a child. And dealing with the Dawns. A frown formed on my face as I thought about the past few days. It had been a series of misfortunes, from Raphael to being prone on the ground, from Theodore to the Countess. Getting thrown out of my own room for packing was unfortunate too, as it forced me to see Evelyn. There were too few wins the past week -no, too few wins these past months. Yet still, I felt as if I was on solid ground for the first time. Despite falling into memories of elsewhere I was still sitting here with a clear mind.

The boiling rage was still there, though. Just under the skin. Every action served to distract me, but if I spent too long unoccupied, I would come back to the same thought.

Grel and Brel brought me here. The Countess and her children made it hell. I just want an out.

I spun Noir again, dipping him backward as he tried to continue on his own. My frown felt comical as I continued faux dancing with the animated bunny. It didn’t have awareness. It was just my Will made manifest. I was to it what the Gods were to me. Inevitable.

I sat like that as the spell ran its course, sometimes frowning, sometimes smiling, sometimes on the verge of screaming. But not crying. Not falling apart. And with the stability came clarity of thought.

The villains in this house are children, they’re not monsters to be vanquished. They can’t be cut down, nor do I want to cut them down. The Countess simply didn’t like Eunora. Didn’t love her, or hate her. To the Eunora of before, perhaps these people were worth her love. To me, they spurned irritation and distaste. None of this gave me any solace. None of this meant I was any less angry at the Gods for ripping me away from everything I knew. But thinking about it made living it ever so slightly tolerable. There was something to be said for curbing debilitating depression with an all-consuming rage.

I watched as Noir slumped back to the ground, and I leaned back. As I closed my eyes, I let out a slow exhale. I let myself release the swirling anger that had gathered in my gut and began uncoiling my emotions. With another slow intake of breath, I felt something click inside of me. [Quick Calculation] told me my mana was still three-quarters full.

“I am so over-leveled for these Skills,” I breathed out as I opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling of my room —painted in oranges and pinks and purples with white clouds overlaid to mimic the sky at sunrise. The thin strands of light still twinkled above like a mockery of the night sky.

On a whim, I pulled up my [Status].

[Status Summary]

[Name: Eunora Dawn]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 8]

[Unallocated Stat Points: 0]

[Vitality: 55 Endurance: 28]

[Strength: 30 Dexterity: 56]

[Perception: 105 Magic: 55]

[Luck: 45 Divinity: 82]

[0th Tier Class: Child of the Gods, Level Max]

[Boon: Morloch’s Blessing]

[1st Tier Class: Young Lady of Darkness, Level 12/20 (3%)]

[Skills:

0th Tier: Inspect Lv. 2, Weaving Lv. 4

1st Tier: Quick Calculation Lv. 2, Silent as a Shadow Lv.1, Weave of Darkness Lv. 4

2nd Tier: Otherworldly Lv. 1, Mental Fortitude Lv. 5, Shadow Conjuration Lv. 3, Shadow Manipulation Lv. 3, Shadow Animation Lv. 3

Untiered: Tight Lips Lv. 1, Steal Nerves Lv. 2, Sophism Lv. 2

The green was a welcome sight. And irritatingly [Mental Fortitude] was the strongest of my Skills.

One day. I told myself, One day you will be strong enough to take care of yourself.