Chapter 45: Of darkness and of thorns
It all happened in an instant. Dahlia's nervousness disappeared almost instantly. Afterall, she had more important things to worry about. The world had rapidly changed around her and there was plenty to take in, but out of everything she was most focussed on the sensation of her mana draining out of her body.
It felt like the air was knocked out of her. After every few seconds she thought she was about to recover only to have a new surge of mana rush away and it felt like she'd been punched in the solar plexus all over again.
Unlike plenty of other things she had experienced, this didn't actually hurt. It was uncomfortable, sure, but more in a 'I can't breathe and it feels like my blood is getting sucked out' kinda way, rather than any actual pain. There was a constant underlying discomfort accompanied by surges of sudden dizziness and breath loss. It was quite jarring to say the least.
Nonetheless, after about a minute passed, she began to become more aware of her surroundings. Ever since the domain was created, a thick darkness had completely swept over the surrounding area. Not only that but, while not fully nullifying them, she could tell that each of her senses had been muted. It was equivalent to how sound dampens and distorts underwater, except it affected every sense rather than just hearing. Sure, she could still make things out, but it was all quiet and muffled.
Honestly, she wondered if the darkness was as dense as she believed it to be. Waving her hand in front of her, the outline of it could be seen but it was difficult. Presumably, the farther away in this darkness something was, the harder it would be to see as well. However with reduced sight due to the domain mixed with her damaged eye, there was a real possibility that she was more blind than her enemies might be!
Assuming Bessie wasn't in the domain, she planned to ask the maid later whether she was able to see in when looking from the outside. If she wanted to analyse her potential abilities, she needed to at least know how her domain would affect those inside and out.
Moving on from the darkness and sensory deprivation, Dahlia began to notice other effects. The next effect wasn't immediately clear because it took time to build up. The longer she remained exposed to her domain the more it took a hold of her. It was an all too familiar feeling; like all of her organs clenching simultaneously. The entire region of darkness that her mana created didn't simply affect senses but the mind as well, and Dahlia could start to feel the sensation of anxiety building up.
One might ask how anxiety was beneficial in a combative sense, but it truly was. The most obvious example was when discussing the morale of troops. There's a reason why it was a topic so often brought up when waging war. Those with little motivation would not fight as hard, would contain more cowardice, and simply not give the 100% effort needed in many life or death situations.
In addition to morale though, the anxiety induced by Dahlia's domain was one which could cause distress, confusion, and rash decision making. Looking back at her nightmare from long ago, the uncontrollable desire to escape and find safety was heavily reminiscent of this current sensation, though it was now far more limited in severity.
Honestly, Dahlia might have found discomfort in it but… there was a strange familiarity as well. It wasn't very often you would find someone who says they enjoy the feeling of anxiety, but she was a little bit of an oddball. Did she like being anxious? Gods no! But, the tingly feeling that one felt in their chest was quite unique and for Dahlia that feeling was practically a sign of normalcy.
The girl had become so accustomed to being anxious that she was honestly quite functional. Unlike the fear, distress, and confusion others might experience in this dark aura, Dahlia just felt like she was greeting an old friend. Perhaps it was a friend that she never saw eye to eye with, but there was familiarity there nonetheless.
The final point to note for this domain was that there seemed to be small vines growing along the ground. They were thin, weak, and seemed to serve little purpose. They would grow quite rapidly, even to the point in which they would quickly wrap around Dahlia's feet and legs but… they were so wimpy! At least for the moment, she was having difficulty struggling to see how they would be useful. You might think they could restrain or trip someone but… nope. It was actually depressing how weak the little vines were.
'Oh well, it's not like everything would be perfect. Besides, as far as I can tell, my space attribute didn't show up at all. But the thing is… this is outside of the norm, but I think I have multiple domains. It would also explain why my dominant nature attribute hardly existed. If that's the case, then I can expect two other domains after this one. The nice thing with this darkness centric mana is that even though it affected me, it wasn't harmful. It was a good one to test first.'
She took a couple deep breaths trying to centre herself. While Bessie had certainly warned her that trying to restrain the mana was dangerous, that was for when it was still running rampant. Even though the domain would still need plenty of work before it turned into something truly respectable, the initial chaos was quite mild and had already simmered down. The sensation of suddenly losing the air in her lungs was lost too as the mana had started to flow smoothly rather than in surges.
Focussing on the flow of mana leaving her body and slowly closing the opened circuits, Dahlia finally released a sigh of relief as her senses returned rapidly and the tightness in her chest dissipated. Smiling to herself after seeing that everything had occurred without issue, she began to look around for her maid.
After a couple seconds, she finally saw her sitting against the wall, eyes wide from some form of surprise. Skipping on over to her, Dahlia cocked her head to the side like a confused puppy.
"Uhm, Bessie? What's wrong? It looks like you just saw a vision of armageddon."
It was true. When at first she simply seemed surprised, as Dahlia got closer she could see sweat beading up on her and a slight tremble that was just barely visible. The maid might have been trying to suppress her alarm, but it was obvious for Dahlia due to her habits of reading people. Seeing her this shaken was rather worrisome, not only because Dahlia cared deeply for her wellbeing, but also because if anything could frighten her then it had to be something Dahlia ought to fear as well.
As the girl started to look around in alarm trying to spot a threat though, Bessie merely chuckled.
"There's nothing for you to see. Not anymore at least. In fact you just missed the craziest thing. There was a domain just a moment ago created by an amateur that was almost as large as my own which I've been training for more than a decade. The amount of mana in it was so huge that for a second I thought the girl inside was about to instantly drain herself, but instead she just kept it up like it was nothing. Oh, and it emanated an aura of fear, did I mention that part?"
The minotaur-kin was letting out a deep breath as she ran her fingers through her auburn hair. She also had to take out a small handkerchief just to wipe the beads of sweat away and as she did so, Dahlia was trapped in her own thoughts feeling a little conflicted.
'Is she serious? I mean, I'm not that surprised by some of what she said, but if it was enough to even make her shaken… isn't that kind of terrifying?'
"Hey Bessie, I couldn't see clearly inside of the domain, so could you explain a bit of what it was like from outside?"
The maid paused to think a moment, clearly still recovering and gathering her wits but finally she started to explain.
"Hmmm, it was large like I said, though taller than it was wide. The best way I could describe it was a twenty metre radius plume of opaque black smoke that probably went about fifty metres into the air before dissipating. Also, even outside of the main domain, there was a constant aura of fear. It made my entire body tremble, made me not want to approach the domain itself, and just caused some general issues with dexterity and clearheadedness."
She gave it a little more thought before finally just nodding, saying "that's it" before giving her liege some quiet time to think things through. Meanwhile, Dahlia was furrowing her brows as she tried to come to terms with how this domain would actually be useful.
'Problem one: I can't see shit. Apparently people can't look in from the outside, but that doesn't mean that I'm happy being blinded by my own abilities. The way around this would be to either enhance my senses or create a way of sensing people through different means. Until then though, it's not very safe for me to stay within.
Problem two: I usually associate 'Lost and Alone' with stealth, causing disruptions, or avoiding combat. Creating a giant pillar of black smoke as a beacon doesn't lend itself well to that, at least not the stealth portion. It basically puts a giant signal on me saying where I am, and because it's a domain, I can't just leave where it is.'
She sighed and rubbed her furrowed brow as she thought through the third issue. This last problem was confusing. It felt less like an actual problem and more like she herself was missing something.
'Problem three: domains are supposed to help and facilitate casters and their magic. You'd think that the abilities of my 'Lost and Alone' would be more effective while the domain is active but… isn't it just redundant? I mean, Lost and Alone almost exclusively is for inflicting negative emotions, creating the dark, and dulling senses. If I have my domain active, what's the point of making a deaf person *double* deaf? It feels silly, but that also makes me feel like I'm approaching my darkness attribute incorrectly… I think I'll need to do more brainstorming later.'
Despite the success and problems associated with her first attempt, Dahlia couldn't help but grin wildly towards her maid, to which the woman rolled her eyes.
"You're going to test more, aren't you? And to think you already put me through such a fright. I'll still be here as I was before, so don't you worry. You were fine the first time but that doesn't mean I'm going to get complacent in protecting you."
Dahlia thanked her, but it was rather curt. She was incredibly thankful, but her mind was simply on other things. Mainly, which domain to try next? Of the two that remained, 'The Enticing Emerald Forest' and 'The Wood of Endless Night' both had their pros and cons. For the former, the idea of a primarily focussed nature element domain just sounded fun! It was her predominant element and Dahlia couldn't help but get a little excited imagining how it might be. The con for going straight to this is that she wouldn't be easing into it.
'The Wood of Endless Night' benefitted from only using a portion of the nature element and so her body was less likely to explode or something from accidentally growing a tree inside herself or something similarly gruesome. The issue for this one though was… that god damn space element! It was the only part of 'Triptych of a Lost Soul' that emphasised her space attribute. It was certainly present in the Enticing Forest, but the difference was night and day. Remembering how even a simple cantrip left her reeling and retching, Dahlia couldn't help but have an aversion to the theoretically cool element.
Nonetheless, she eventually relented. Even if it made her sick for a week, getting vertigo and confused was far better than dying from releasing an overly potent forest too fast or something. So with much chagrin, Dahlia finally walked back to the centre of the training ground and began to meditate. She changed her tattoos to 'The Wood of Endless Night'. There was no rush and so she let it happen over the course of half an hour. The pain was still excruciating, but not to the degree that she felt the need to faint.
Finally, everything was in place and she glanced down at the tattoos. Due to a slight fear of changing them without good reason, seeing something different from the dark and brooding 'Lost and Alone' felt refreshing somehow. Sure, this was still quite dark, but at least it didn't look quite so depressing.
She glanced over at Bessie who gave a thumbs up, and then began to follow up from the signal. If her maid was ready, there was no need to keep her waiting any longer. Once again, just like before, Dahlia let her mana flow out of her. It had the same effect of feeling like her breath and blood being sucked out but this time it was far more pronounced.
It might have been due to the increased concentration of nature element, or maybe just the sheer intensity of space mana. Either way, it didn't just feel like Dahlia was getting air knocked out of her, it was feeling like she might never breathe again. The intensity in which the mana flowed out left her muscles spasming and her diaphragm wasn't even managing to loosen from its contracted state.
Her face began to go blue as she asphyxiated and her entire body screamed at her in pain due to massive muscle cramps running through her, but just before Bessie felt the need to step in, a sharp gasp sounded from the girl. It seemed like she was still struggling, but she would be ok, at least for the time being.
Shakilly, Dahlia managed to stand, though she still was gasping and trying to get her breath back. She was stuck in that state for about eighty seconds and any longer and she would have passed out. Looking around now though, she was surprised by what she saw.
Unlike the first domain which seemed mostly instantaneous but with the emotional effects seeping in slowly after, this domain appeared to be slower acting and more similar to Bessie's. Growths had started small and immediately begun to form once the domain had started, but they continued to grow even now. At this point, from the ground to about chest height was littered with dense and sharp looking branches and tough looking vines, all of which had terrifying needle and razor like thorns.
Although far less dense than the branches themselves, conifer needles and deciduous leaves also appeared, each of them seeming to faintly shimmer in the light as though they dared someone to touch their knife sharp edges and points. The entirety of the dense forest that seemed to be made of torture implements also was shrouded in a dark shadow.
Unlike previously, the dark here was acceptable. It still wasn't ideal for Dahlia's eyesight, but even she could see relatively clearly. Frankly, this level of darkness was more what she anticipated for the previous domain. This would likely help her darkness spells without making them redundant. Regardless, this was this and that was that. She'd have to figure out how to utilise the other domain at a different time.
Besides, there were more pressing issues.
First of all, there was the nagging question of 'where the hell is the space attribute? Why am I not throwing up or experiencing vertigo?' This was a valid question. For something that caused so many problems before, she expected it to be downright awful but currently, it didn't seem to be showing head nor tail of itself.
The other issue was… the domain didn't stop growing. Horizontally, it had taken up almost the entirety of the courtyard. It was bigger than the previous domain, but it had stopped growing out. No, the issue is that it was growing taller and most importantly, denser. Branches and brambles spread out more and more, attempting to blot out the sun overhead and create a razor sharp jail cell locking away herself and presumably anyone else within the domain.
It was like a thorn coated cage that was trying to swallow her whole and as the branches began to encroach on her and were getting uncomfortably close, she took a step back to try to gain space but…
"W-what?"
She was surprised but it was hard to even voice it out loud. She was still reeling from the intensity of having this domain suck out her mana. Combine that with what happened, and the shock made it hard to even make a sound. In her attempt to step away from the thorns, she instead took a long stride directly forward into them, piercing and cutting herself all over by them. In the sudden pain and confusion, she tried to jump away more and escape, but that only pressed her harder onto the wall of pain.
It all happened rapidly, but once the initial confusion and shock wore away, even as the Wood of Endless Night continued to consume her, she only had one thought in the back of her mind.
'This fucking space attribute! Was it created to make me suffer?!'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AngelAsphodel
AngelAsphodel It's getting a bit routine, but this is just going to be me saying that uploads will still likely remain slow, though hopefully another will be out tomorrow. Thank you all so much for your patience!
Anywho, domains will likely become a pretty big deal in the future, so I hope you don't mind me giving them so much attention. Also, I know in the previous authors comment I already spoiled it, but here's a shout out to those of you who already expected Dahlia to have multiple domains. I applaud your insight!
Frankly, Dahlia's magic is incredibly strong and she's an absolute anomally. For now people around her are so incredible that it might be easy to forget, but compared to an average person she's kinda... absurd. That will hopefully be put into context more in the future, but for now you'll just have to take my work for it.
Anyway, as always, I hope you're having a wonderful day!
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone