Alusion
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Chapter Eighty: When the String Snaps + Plus Fun Stats and Bonus Artworks
🕑 Added 2025-06-14 01:42:30 +0000 UTCHello, my lovely, handsome, and otherwise wonderful Patreons! We're getting close to the climax of Arc Two, which has turned out a whole lot longer than I thought it would. I'm so glad you've stuck with me for so long; you are all truly amazing!
Since we're getting close to another climax, I figured I'd take a moment at the start of this chapter to provide some updates on how things are going since dropping back our schedule, which is to say, really well! Working on Mistwoven Healer has been a lot more fun, and I've got a lot of other projects in the works for your future enjoyment. I'm working to get more content done for them before I start releasing anything (just to give myself time to refine and edit), but I thought I'd give you some fun stats.
Right now, Divinity Paradox is sitting at around 25k words and has mostly been on the back burner recently. The reason for this is that I want to get back to posting two chapters a week, and Divinity Paradox chapters simply take a ton of time to write due to their length.
The other story I've been working on, which is tentatively named Memoirs of Dust and Steel, has also been going really well — currently sitting at near 40k words. It's the work that I'm hoping to start releasing alongside Mistwoven Healer later this year. This story will have chapters about the same length as Mistwoven Healer's, so it will be much better for a regular upload schedule. And, of course, my lovely Patreons will be seeing all of this new content before anyone else!
Anyway, I hope I've hyped you all up just a bit about what's to come. There's a lot in store for Mistwoven Healer, and many more stories to come!
And, as a thank you for reading my rambling author's note, I've left a bit of bonus Mistwoven Healer artwork at the bottom of this chapter! Enjoy!
— Alusion
Chapter Eighty: When the String Snaps
I know a lot about Stygian Mana. How it affects people, how it can be removed, how to manipulate it, and now… how it feels. If I could muster my voice through the paralysis, I would be screaming in pain as the doctor’s tattoo gun injects its taint into my unresponsive arm. The feeling of the Stygian Mana entering my body… it’s indescribable. Scorching metal branding my skin, ice filling my veins, and the worst part… a deep throbbing need for more. This mana feels so much different than my Tributary Mana; this is pure, undiluted power. Stygian Mana requires no fighting, no earning; it’s just there, ready to be used… and it knows exactly what it wants to be used for, maintaining the intent of the doctor forcing it into my veins.
[Serena,] Celeste whimpers in my mind, her mental voice raw with the pain neither of us can escape. [We… we have to control it…]
“I-I… know,” I manage in response, but even that is a massive effort. I can feel the mana forcing its way into me, making itself a part of me. Insidious tendrils of darkness writhing under my skin, forcing itself into the eldritch shape of a dark symbol on my arm. When working on Candice’s tattoos, I didn’t understand how they maintained their effect, even after the symbol was broken. Now, though… the symbol itself is the mana outwardly expressing its intent. The mana within… it will keep doing its work until the last.
This, of course, is my biggest problem. The mana being forced into me isn’t inert. The doctor pushing it into me is doing so with intent, and now the mana is following through with that intent.
I can feel it… seeping deeper into me. Tears leak from my still-open eyes as I stare at the doctor in horror. I thought I could resist, but… no… I have to resist. Despite being unable to move, the Tributary Mana within me flares to life. It’s a well of power that I earned and is bonded to my soul, and thus, it’s much more potent than the foreign element invading me from the outside.
Through the agony, I force my mana into the shape of my Celestial Equilibrium ability, willing it to take dominion over the foreign elements. My control is sloppy, however, and I can feel that this isn’t the ability’s intended use case. It’s meant to control formless Stygian Mana without intent, to channel it and then expel it — as leaving it permanently in my body would be ultimately lethal. That is what would have happened if I pulled in the Stygian Mana in the incursion zone.
This situation is different, however. The mana being forced into me is guided — controlled by another willpower. And therefore, if I wish to control it, I must first push past the opposing will. The doctor wants me to be a slave, a crude magical berserker that will turn on my friends; I just have to want to be free more.
Joining my will to my familiar’s, I slam my mana into the dark power gathering in my arm like a hammer into a skull. Like fighting a physical battle within myself, I need to batter down the opposing will if I want to take control. If I can do so fast enough, then perhaps I can still stop the mana within me from becoming permanent. If I could, that would probably save my life… I think.
The hammer of my power clangs to a stop against the foreign elements in my arm as if hitting an anvil instead of a skull. Whatever willpower is backing that mana… it’s more powerful than mine, more powerful than I could imagine. If they could have, my eyes would have widened as a fresh surge of fear twists in my gut.
“What?!” I think frantically to Celeste, forcing myself to think through the agony. I expected to be able to simply crush the doctor’s willpower. The man isn’t a sentinel and doesn’t have any method of directly controlling mana, not to mention that my body should be my palace. So close to my soul gem, there shouldn’t be any will here that can oppose mine… unless.
[The overlord,] Celeste sends with despair, arriving at the same conclusion as me.
An overlord… only the reinforcement and invisible support of an A Ranker could give this doctor enough willpower to contest mine within my own body. Even still, Celeste and I spent days practicing within the safety of our soul gem, and while our willpower is weak in comparison to an A Ranker, it isn’t unrefined. Our power might still be sloppy, especially when considering the benefits of a higher rank, but our control should still be absolute within our own body.
“We keep… trying!” I force my thoughts to Celeste, and I feel her silent agreement in my soul. Together, we form our willpower together and start to slam it into the mana building in my arm, again and again.
For a moment, although our invisible battle continues, the doctor above me stops injecting more mana, staring at the trembling shape of the tattoo forming on my arm with curiosity. “How strange,” he says, caring not for my battle to survive. “I’ve never seen it behave this way.”
Whatever else he might have said, I don't hear it; every ounce of my willpower focused absolutely on my goal. Everything starts fading away as I throw everything I have into the task, slamming my power against the will opposing mine again and again and again. My vision slips away, my hearing deafens, and the world becomes nothing but unimaginable pain between clashes of willpower.
As we fight, I can feel the iron will behind the tattoo starting to weaken, but it isn’t enough. I need it to relinquish control over the mana to me. It might already be too late to entirely-
A fresh surge of horror washes through me as new mana stops being injected into my arm before immediately starting again on the other. The tattoo is finished… and its corruption already starting to spread. No! I would scream my fury if I were able to!
Celeste and I continue our battle, now fighting on two different fronts — each of us taking one. At the same time, however, we have to stop the spread of Stygian Mana from reaching our soul gem, for if it does… that will mean instant death.
For long moments, our fight continues to feel more and more hopeless. More alien mana is forced into us, causing more pain and eroding our willpower bit by bit as my very soul starts to falter. However, I can feel the overlord’s own willpower starting to fail as well. It isn’t here in the room, and extending its will into my body at all has to be taxing on the creature. Even as an A Ranker, I’m willing to bet the only reason it can do this is because of its innate ability to suppress our mana from exiting our bodies as abilities.
For every clash of will, the overlord has to contest me from taking control of the Stygian Mana within me. But, due to the nature of our battle, Celeste and I only have to win one clash, while the overlord has to win each and every one. If we gain control over the mana for an instant…
The overlord’s willpower slips just a little, and for the briefest moment, I take control.
Error: Title Evolution Detected
Unstable title, Soul of the Healer, has evolved to stable title: Soul of the Indomitable Healer.
Title: Soul of the Indomitable Healer
The healing and protection of others is your chief desire, a desire that cannot be warped or changed by any means. Your soul is inviolable, innately rejecting all forms of corruption. There is no damage that cannot be healed, and there is no threat that cannot be faced in order to save another. You are willing to help those in need, refusing to ever become the threat that faces them. Your soul is that of an indomitable healer. Go forth and heal the world by any means necessary.
Effect 1: You can directly observe life force.
Effect 2: Healing spells are 100% more effective when cast on others.
Effect 3: Shielding spells are 100% more effective when cast on others.
Effect 4: Foreign willpower within your body and soul gem is innately rejected. Power suppression effects, mind control effects, and all forms of invading willpower are passively nullified.
Warning: Previous effects of title, Soul of the Healer, that were not carried over are lost.
The moment I take control of the Stygian Mana within me, I feel the iron willpower lift from my body and mind like a heavy blanket being swept away. As soon as it leaves, my power reasserts itself absolutely. Not taking the time to read whatever notification just appeared, I get to work.
In my mind’s eye, my body lights up as a starfield of shining sapphire lights in the same way I view others when I heal them. I see myself as shining nodes of light, the ones on my arms filled with nodes of black taint — foreign mana working for a hostile purpose. The moment the overlord’s influence is gone, though, it becomes my mana working for my purpose.
The second I gain control of the Stygian Mana, I know that it’s too late. This Stygian Mana is a part of me now and is outside the bounds of Celestial Equilibrium to expel. If I had gotten to it faster, perhaps… but no. I… I’ll have to worry about that later. Maybe Calan or Kaipo will be able to help me, or maybe this mana within me will keep spreading until it eventually kills me. Either way, at least I’ve managed to negate its effect for now.
For the moment, it’s on to the bigger problem. While the doctor’s willpower is easily crushed by mine, I’m not going to allow him to just continue injecting dark power into me. An unconscious surge of Celestial Restoration washes through my body like a cleansing tide, and my eyes open wide as I realize that, somehow, I can heal myself now. My head feels clear of my previous dizziness, and my limbs feel strong.
I’ve miraculously managed to bypass both the overlord’s control and my own limitations. My ability cleansed me from the paralyzing agent, and now the good doctor is going to see what happens when you attempt to experiment on a pissed-off sentinel.
My control over my own body reasserts itself slowly, but the second my hand begins to twitch, the doctor stops with his tattooing, his eyes going wide as they meet mine. Then, he frowned. “The paralyzing agent wore off? Perhaps I underestimated the enhanced metabolism of-”
In a flash of blue light, I’m in my assault state, sapphire power flaring around me in a nimbus of light as wind and mist begin to swirl around the table I’m strapped to. I tug at the straps but annoyingly find them still strong enough to hold me, if barely. No matter.
My body dissolves into blue-white mist and reforms beside the doctor, who no longer looks so confident now that I’ve escaped my bonds.
“W-Wait,” the man stammers, jumping to his feet and backing away. “Your powers should be suppressed; how are you-”
I don’t give the evil man before me time to finish his sentence, surging forward far faster than any normal human could move and seizing him by the throat. My eyes burn with sapphire power as I stare deep into this evil man, looking past his features to see the life force burning within him. Even as the terrified eyes of the doctor look down at me, all I can see is the black sludge his life force has become. Echoes of the pain he just inflicted on me still burn my body and mind. I want to break down, to scream, to lash out at those who hurt me like an injured animal.
Over the course of my time as a sentinel, I’ve felt a string being pulled taut within me. With each disaster, each near-death experience, and every horrible moment, that string was pulled tighter and tighter, fraying at my nerves. Now, with this monster of a man standing before me… the string snaps.
I am a healer… and so I will heal my world by removing people like this. People who cause so much pain and suffering. Sometimes, one must cut out the cancer for the body to heal.
In an instant, I shift my hands around the doctor’s head, gripping his chin in one hand and his hair in the other. Then, I twist savagely until I hear something snap. Perhaps the man was screaming, perhaps pleading with me to spare him. I don’t hear it as, with a savage scream, I twist his head around so far that it’s on backward.
Letting go, the doctor falls to the floor, his neck snapped, and his life force hemorrhaging as his body struggles to stay alive. Not wanting to offer this monster even the chance of survival, I withdraw a simple hunting knife from my inventory and slam it down into his skull. I stab the man again and again, keeping at it long after his life force is snuffed out. Breathing heavily, I look down at my work with a mixture of satisfaction and horror. The room reeks of blood and fear, and the sight of my own crimson hands gripping the knife is surreal.
I… I did this, and… I don’t feel bad about it in the slightest.
In a swirl of mist, Celeste appears beside me. She glances at my hands soaked in blood… my arms still permanently stained by the black marks of Stygian Mana.
[We need to get to safety,] Celeste says, her voice cold as she too looks to the dead man before us. [There will be more of them, and the Stygian Mana within us is spreading; it’s already taking over more of our natural mana. Unless we can find a way to expel it permanently… it will kill us. Perhaps one of the stronger blue sentinels will be able to slow it down?]
“We go back to Akari,” I say aloud, surprised not to find a hint of emotion in my voice. My soul is in turmoil, broken and fractured by all that’s happened. My mind feels distant and disconnected from my body. I feel nothing as I turn toward the closed door.
[And the Reavers?] Celeste asks, her ears pressed back against her head with concern.
“We kill any who stand in our way.”
***
I remember the way back to Akari’s cell as if from a dream… or perhaps a nightmare. I stride forward, bow in my hand, and corpses in my wake. A part of me recoils every time an arrow finds a new home in the heart of a Reaver, but I don’t stop… I can’t stop. I will not go back to that room, and I will not allow myself to be their experiment again. I just… I want to go home. I want to be with my father, with Akari, and be done with this whole nightmare. I… I don’t want this anymore, any of it.
As I fight, I’m only partially conscious of the fact that the Reavers are doing an awful job trying to kill me. In fact, it’s almost as if they’re fighting battles on several other fronts, men running this way and that in a panic, none of them expecting to meet me.
Still, aside from the stab of pain each death sends through my soul, I hardly notice anything. I don’t see the fear in the eyes of those I kill; I don’t see the panic or the even bodies I wasn’t the one to make. All I can think about is getting back to that cell. I have to get to Akari; she’ll know what to do… she… she can make this better.
“Serena?” asks a cautious voice, the voice of someone incredibly familiar to me.
I whirl toward the sound and find the speaker standing in the hallway, her eyes wide with fear and concern. It takes a moment before recognition sparks within me… before I realize that the person I’m seeking now stands right in front of my eyes.
My bow slides through trembling fingers, clattering to the ground. Seeing Akari there, something within me just… gives out. The will to fight that kept me going since I escaped the pain of that room… it’s just… gone.
Vision swimming, I watch Akari’s lips move, her eyes wide with horror as she stares at something on my arms. Right, the mana, it… my head is spinning and-
***
“-needs healers now!” Akari is yelling as I blink awake, finding myself still in that dark passage. I… I’m on the floor? Beside me, Celeste is running around me in a panic, a mental mantra of [Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay,] racing through my head.
“What?” I murmur, my head swimming as I try to understand what’s going on. Akari isn’t the only one kneeling over me; I also see Claire, and Baylee, and… my team. They’re all here. What is?
“We have to move her,” Baylee shouts from-
***
I’m being carried, my body being jolted up and down as Akari sprints with me in her arms. All around us, Reavers shout and die under a hail of magic, and I become vaguely aware of something shaking the ground, like the steps of a colossal-
***
The open sky is above me and is filled with fire. A dark figure radiating more Stygian Mana than I can comprehend is doing battle in the heavens with sentinels that shine with radiance. Audrey and… a woman I don’t recognize battle the creature, the overlord, and deafening shockwaves ripple across the city with each blow of the combatants, shattering glass and destroying nearby buildings. The GDF has pulled out all the stops, but… there’s more. Hidden gun emplacements are firing in all directions, more battles shake the city in the distance, and chaos rules. This isn’t just a raid on the Reaver base… it’s a city-wide attack.
“How far from the healer team!” Akari screams, her voice nearly lost to the cacophony of battle.
“HQ says ten blocks!” comes Baylee’s reply.
Akari simply clutches me tighter to herself, running even faster. We seem to be running through slum streets, and the battle between the overlord and the sentinels is moving closer rather than further away. Far faster than I can process, the overlord clashes with the unknown A Rank sentinel directly above us, sending a shockwave that-
***
Akari is gasping for breath as she holds me, looking at a figure standing in the road between her and where she’s trying to go. It’s nearly impossible for me to think through the pain and disorientation, but even I can make out the dark form of Hikaru Kimura standing in our path. The man’s eyes gleam with hatred, but he smiles upon seeing me — the sight sending a streak of panic through me.
“Looks like your little girlfriend isn’t feeling too well, Akari,” he calls across the distance.
Gently, Akari leans me against the wall of a nearby building, even as gunfire and screams echo in the distance. Setting me down and seeming to find my eyes open, Akari gives me a sad smile. “Don’t worry,” she says through gasping breaths. “I’m never going to let him hurt you again.”
Propped against the wall, I look around weakly, seeing my other team members not with us. Akari is alone, facing her uncle and the source of years of torment. She withdraws a sword from her inventory, letting it flicker violently with soul-rending black lightning. With one final look at me, her face set with resolve, she steps forward to face her own personal demon.
With effort, I try to climb to my feet, try to conjure my bow and help, but… my vision starts to darken.
No, no, no! I need to stay… I need…
Akari and her uncle clash before me in a swell of unnatural darkness as I fall unconscious once more.
Bonus Artwork (and story time!)
As promised, here are some fun bits of information and concept art that all went into the making of Mistwoven Healer!
It took Harry and me quite a few attempts to get the outfit and pose right for Serena. My initial vision was to show her as a healer — and thus healing someone — but that was ultimately phased out in favor of the current pose atop a skyscraper.
After deciding on the rooftop pose, for its eye-catching looks, I always wondered what the cover would have ended up looking like if we'd gone the other direction. If you look closely at the top artwork, you can even see an initial vision for a Volcora peaking down from the top of a building.
Once we decided on the rooftop design for the cover, I just knew that I had to have Celeste in the shot. And thus I sent my initial sketch of her to Harry for him to do his amazing work!
This was my initial, and very bad (sorry for that), attempt to draw Celeste. It's the initial vision that made her what she is today!
While Harry was finishing up this masterpiece of an artwork, I was rushing to try and finish the final version of the story for release on Royal Road. It was the first thing I'd ever released to such a wide audience, and I was extremely nervous. During the build-up, I became so focused on getting the first arc right that I ended up redrafting it four times. Chapters were added and cut, and some of the earlier drafts contain characters and concepts that never made the final cut.
At one point, I even went to my friend and coworker, Spencer, for his incredible graphic design skills. He is the one who made all of the custom page breaks you see in the PDFs and on Royal Road. At the time, we didn't know that people could switch between light and dark mode, and so it didn't turn out perfectly due to a lot of the page break images being black, but I loved the custom art nonetheless. We've learned better for next time!
I tried to make everything perfect for the initial release, and, as you all well know, I made a lot of mistakes anyway. However, I am so immensely proud to be where we are now. I'm so incredibly happy to have all of you, and I hope you all enjoy this silly little story as much as I do!
As we geared up for a final release on December first, Harry went the extra mile designing full book covers for how things might look if we ever made physical copies. And while we might never get to have one of these on our bookshelves, I think they came out looking pretty amazing!
Anyhow, I think I've waxed sentimental quite enough for one post. The entire process of creating Mistwoven Healer was incredible, and it's amazing to know that I'm going through the entire thing again with Divinity Paradox and Memoirs of Dust and Steel. Except, this time, it will be all the better because I'll get to share it all with you!
Love you guys! ❤️
— Alusion
Comments
Illusion of Eris
Kinda saw the (semi?)permanent Stygian mana coming, it’s rather been leading up to this for a while, though I do hope she either purges *this* bit and find a better balance afterwards, or at least can change it from its current form, which seems to still be those tattoos. Those aren’t exactly going to give her any good memories. The Title seems to just be a straight upgrade, no losses, just the ability to heal herself and the immunity to essentially outside interference with her body. Which might make healing from others awkward, depending on IFF capabilities. Though it might deal with the constant surveillance she’s under from Althia, which would be a good sign in the eyes of the A-ranks, get them more invested in them.
Alusion
All fixed! Honestly, my day was kinda crap too other than this. I'm not sure if it was the bad experiences or what, but I've been wanting to share the process of making Mistwoven Healer for a while. Things like the initial designs and poses aren't much, but they still hold an extremely special place in my heart. It was my first time ever seeing my characters come to life, and I'm so incredibly happy that my work is able to make someone else's day a bit better.
Ria Corvidiva
Oh, hot damn, this chapter was good. Time for Uncle Hikaru to finally get the old what-for. And I have to assume the 'mystery woman' fighting the Overlord is Nightsong's Assault Form. Super looking forward to the conclusion of the arc. And, yeah, also of snagging me one of the books if that ever becomes a thing. Spotted one little mistake during the first read, might see a few more on the re-reads > Over the course of my time as a sentinel, I’ve felt a string being pulled taunt within me. taunt -> taut And thanks once more for the chapter. Really awesome, great end to an otherwise pretty unpleasant day.
