Shades of the New World

"It was quite fun, but I'd rather not do that again," Evin smiled back.

"I'm sure you won't. It's not like one can cast such Grand Magic every day, especially not as a half-core," Rith purred, "But more importantly, the Vulpine Mother was asking for you."

"Alright, I'll go meet her then,"  Evin soon found his way to the Vulpine Mother, who was idly lying in her cave, which was now located where Evin planned to place, thankfully. It would've been disastrous if he somehow made it appear on the World Sprites or the town itself.

[Welcome back,] a sonorous voice appeared in Evin's head.

Evin looked over to see Kyune lazily glancing back at him, her ears half-drooping down to her side like a dog of some sorts.

"I didn't know you could talk with me like this," Evin replied.

[Well, after that hellish experience your head went through the other day, I would be surprised if you couldn't take on my inner voice,] Kyune said.

According to the Vulpine, the thoughts of Beast Lords had lots of noise and energy accompanying them. So, when a normal person heard them, more often than not, they would hear something either too loud for comfort, or something almost unintelligible. 

Since Evin learned to ignore these accompanying noises and energies thanks to his practice with the totems, his mind was now subconsciously sorting out the unnecessary details from the Vulpine's thoughts.

"Cool trick, I suppose," Evin murmured in reply.

[How was your experience with the array?] Kyune asked.

"It was exhilarating and almost addicting, but I'd rather not go through the same experience again," Evin replied honestly.

[He-he, I actually thought you would fail quite a few times before getting the hang of it. I was prepared to wait a month or two for you to succeed as well. Who knew you would manage to do it in one try?] Kyune said smilingly.

"Now that I think about it, I feel the same way," Evin laughed sheepishly and asked, "What happened to the caverns outside?" 

[Look outside yourself.]

Evin peeked outside and saw that another exact same version of the caverns had come to be in the previous one's place.

"You really could just create such a huge thing out of nowhere?" 

[Of course I can. It's even easier since I just had to copy it as is… though it was a bit hard to match the timing with the portal you created to transport the thing into your shadow. Not to mention you transported it to a completely different location than what we planned at first,] Kyune chuckled.

"Huh? How did it appear here, then?" Evin asked incredulously.

[Of course I put it there. I tried to warn you about it, but you didn't seem like you were listening, so I had to take matters to my own hands. It was great practice for my rusty mana-core, since it's been such a long time since I've lifted such a huge mass by myself… Working on that totem array was quite nice as well. It really tickled my love for magic once more,] Kyune said in a nostalgic tone.

'How overpowered are you?' Evin couldn't help but think. 

Sure, he could make things weightless much easily through the World Switch of the Heavy World, but he definitely had his limits regarding that. In his estimation, if he used all his energy, he could probably make one loaded truck weightless. Undeniably, he couldn't make a fucking kilometer big cube made of dirt and rocks float in the air. But realizing that this power would be someday his, he couldn't help but feel exhilarated.

'Technically, it's already under my control…' Evin thought happily.

"How do you feel? Do you feel anything forbidding you, or do you feel any chains being imposed upon you?" Evin asked excitedly.

[For the time being, no. I do feel a bit weaker, but that's mostly because of the sudden relocation. I'll make sure to inform you when I do feel something off,] Kyune said and excitedly continued: [But for now, let's get out of here. The last time I've been to civilization was 300 years ago and it cost me a year in a sickbed. I'm excited to see what changed over the years.]

…

A week passed since Evin's great relocation and currently, he, Rith and Rhea were sitting inside the coffee shop, speaking of random topics. Since every time Evin appeared in the shop, the other patrons would mysteriously disappear, Rhea was free to take a small, indefinite break from the endless row of suitors that came toward her way. 

"So, you're telling you're the strongest mage in the World right now?" Rhea asked.

Evin heard the question and sighed profoundly.

"Not anymore. I was the strongest, for about three days… and just as I was about to go and take over the world, my powers disappeared," Evin narrated, "Perhaps I should've expected it, since the power was borrowed anyway, and the fact that I obtained it a bit too easily."

Of course, Evin was talking about Kyune moving into his shadows. Like the Vulpine Mother feared, three days after she moved into Evin's shadow, she started to notice some things. She was saying something about her mana being cut off from the main world, but she was too afraid to do something about it. At the end of the day, she realized that she was unable to affect the main world in any way imaginable. 

Unlike Evin, she could freely cast her magics from inside Evin's dimension, flaunting her powers to Rith and Evin, demanding praise and attention. She just seemed like a little girl at the time, joyfully experiencing all that life had to offer. But… that was very quickly replaced by weakness and drowsiness, as the Empress had declared her decree.

Kyune was still the godlike being inside Evin's shadow, but she wasn't allowed to leave the dimension anymore, and she wasn't allowed to cast any magic from inside the dimension. She also started to feel very tired, and soon went to sleep inside her cave. Kyune herself explained that it was just something temporary.

"I feel like you're just lying to me at this point," Rhea said doubtfully, after thinking about the matter a bit.

"Think what you will. Besides, it's not going to change anything either way," Evin said dejectedly, "Maybe you're right, and it was all a delusion anyway."

"Aw, don't be sad. You're a mage already, and soon you're going to participate in the Horn ceremony, right? I'm sure you'll get a nice horn for yourself, maybe even two. What's the best colored horns to get, anyway? The silver one?"

"Thanks, Rhea. I'm sure I will. Though something tells me my horn will be purple, or black."

"The purple ones?" Rhea said, as she put her hand to her chin, "In that case, I'm very sorry for you."

"What? Why?" Evin asked, confused.

"It's because the purple ones seem very hard to possess in a fashion sense. It doesn't really fit that well with other colors and there's not much purple dye to go along with it. Every time I see someone with a purple horn, they always look like they're struggling to fit their horn with the rest of their clothes."

'I suppose it's natural that a non-mage would care more about the horn's color, rather than their use…' Evin thought with amusement.

"What do you think the best-looking shapes for a horn are?" Evin asked.

"One that's shaped like a cone, that sticks right on top of your forehead," Rith interrupted suddenly.

'A unicorn?' Evin wondered, before realization hit him, 'Wait, she's just messing with me.'

"I'll tuck a horn on your head and see how you like it," Evin said.

"You can try it after you get the hang of the portals. I thought you had some potential at first, but you're only getting the hang of material portals now, though of course, you're nowhere near the level of practical use. Maybe you should be hoping for a golden horn instead of a purple one," Rith said.

"Just let me visit that 'old man' you keep talking about," Evin complained.

"I told you it's best if you visit him after you've learned everything, at least after you can cast material portals at an acceptable level. And also, stop asking for it more, or I'll make it so you can't visit him altogether," Rith threatened.

"Sorry, master. I'll be sure to practice my portals diligently during my work," Evin replied, "Very diligently."

Rith nodded and focused on the milk-coffee in front of her.