Chapter 98, 1/2

Chapter 98, 1/2

What Erick called ‘burgers’ and what everyone else called ‘patties’, sizzled on the flat top stove, next to a nice pile of caramelized onions. Those two items alone were enough to fill the kitchen and the rest of the first floor of the house with savory smells. Kiri scattered bright red and black spices on the browning meat, further flavoring the air with dried peppers and crushed peppercorns.

“You know? You’re the only one who doesn’t cook with bluebell,” Erick said, as he washed the lettuce for the salad.

Kiri tossed the grilling onions, saying, “I don’t see the appeal. It’s too... soft? Not exactly flowery, even though it is a flower, but... it’s like? Eh. It’s too subtle. That’s the word.” She added more ground peppercorns, saying, “I want to taste the spice.”

Erick said, “There’s this spice on Earth that’s a lot worse than bluebell. It’s called parsley, and I never understood why anyone cooked with it. It’s basically lettuce, but sized for sprinkling—”

The door to the house opened. Someone walked inside.

Erick glanced over, through the light, his eyes acting as though he was there in person, in the foyer. He spoke through the light, to the arrival, saying, “Welcome home, Teressa!”

Teressa looked around. “What’s going on?”

Erick, still in the kitchen, but with senses in the foyer, said, “I’m playing around with [Lightwalk]. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes.” He withdrew back to himself, and called out, “I tapped the keg already!”

Teressa walked into the kitchen, saying, “You call it [Lightwalk], but that is not [Lightwalk].”

With a gentle grip of white glows, and while he was chopping onions three meters away, Erick filled a mug of beer for Teressa. He floated it toward her, saying, “A guy has to have some secrets, right?”

Teressa took the mug and a sip, then said, “I’m not complaining. Just sayin’.”

Kiri watched as Erick floated a jar of salad dressing out of the cold box, using nothing but a wrap of white glows. She said, “I think I need to get [Lightwalk]. Is that option for the light dungeon still available?”

“Yes.” Erick said, “As far as I know. Just gotta talk to Merith, the River Mage who oversees the whole thing. You remember her?”

“I remember her.”

“They might have some people currently harvesting it all, so you probably have to put in a request.” Erick said, “But whenever you want to go is fine with me. We can handle you being gone for a week.”

Kiri smiled as she poked at the onions, saying, “Thank you.”

“It’s an option for everyone.” Erick said, “Far as I know, that’s what I asked for and what the Headmaster agreed to.”

“I don’t want it,” Teressa said, walking over to the grill. “No bluebell?”

Kiri smirked, saying, “You can make dinner tomorrow with all the bluebell you want. I’m going to look into getting [Lightwalk]. Maybe they’ll be able to take me tomorrow and I can avoid your bluebell travesties.”

“Have you tried aura work, Kiri?” Erick asked, setting the finished salad aside. “I couldn’t manage any, but you should theoretically be able to remake every spell using that, too.”

Kiri flipped the cooked burgers, then added cheese. As slices of yellow melted into the meat, she said, “Aura work was considered purely esoteric back at the Tower, so I never got the opportunity, and I never had the desire. We mostly just fought with each other and learned how to work the spells necessary to hold the line, to be proper soldiers.” She added, “I mean. Obviously, soldiers are needed, and I learned a lot. But being out in the world had been better for me, I think. The point is: I never heard of anyone remaking any spells with any aura work, either. The only things they taught were how to feel out your aura, so you could avoid hitting your allies with any aura spells.”

“I still have to try that [Fireball Aura].” Erick said, “I wonder if it would hurt.”

Teressa laughed, then said, “I’ll get the rod of [Treat Wounds] ready.”

Kiri said, “The first time I used my [Fireball Aura] was the last time I ever used that awful thing. I needed a rush to the doctor— That reminds me. I once saw Jane use a [Force Shrapnel] fire aura, and a [Cleanse Aura] at the same time. It was interesting. They worked well together, for reasons I never really considered until recently.”

“Oxygen makes fire burn better.” Erick nodded, saying, “[Cleanse] would restore the oxygen in the air. Seems like an interesting spell?”

Kiri smiled, then added, “I made my first really good spell in a long while, this morning.”

“Oh?!” Erick asked, “Good job, Kiri! What’d you make?”

Kiri popped out a blue box, saying, “It’s... A minor goal that worked itself out, after I watched your [Comet Swarm] last night.”

Firelight Assistant, instant, long range, 502 Mana

Designate a target. Firelight Assistant bombards that target with a stream of 15 Firelight Bolts. Each Bolt deals an initial 15 + WIL damage, and WIL firelight damage per second, for 15 seconds. Each patch of firelight on the target will increase firelight damage done, up until the target is completely coated in firelight.

Shadow aspect magic turns solid while firelight burns in the vicinity.

Erick said, “That looks nifty.”

“It’s tier 2, too.” Kiri said, “Mana Altering for Fire and Light, with a focus on damage over time, and then [Conjure Force Elemental]. The second half of the spell is [Force Bolt], and then you have [Force Crash] for the duration and multiple Bolts.” She added, “Joining the parts together, all at once, went a lot easier than I thought it would go. I just harmonized them all, and cast.”

Erick’s smile was that of a happy teacher. While a pleasant warmth spread in his chest, he said, “That’s really good, Kiri.”

Kiri withdrew into herself a little, saying, “It’s no [Firelight Comet Swarm], but it’s great for smaller targets.”

Erick happily said, “You did well! Good job.” He added, “That’s under projected costs, too, isn’t it?”

Kiri smiled to herself, then turned to Erick, saying, “A great deal less than what I thought it would cost. Those effects should have bloomed it to a thousand mana, or more.”

Poi walked into the room. “Dinner ready?”

Kiri said, “Yup!”

Dinner was good.

Erick read about [Teleport Other] till bedtime.

The next morning, he saw Kiri off, in the foyer of the house. She had contacted Merith, the woman overseeing the Light Slime dungeon, and had gotten clearance to come on down, and spend a week gaining [Lightwalk]. Kiri would be staying in Windy Manor, with Jane, and maybe they would come back together, when both of them were ready for the trip. Or maybe not? However it happened was fine with Erick. Kiri needed [Lightwalk], and now she was going to go get it.

Erick said, “Good luck! Don’t let anyone take advantage of you.”

“Thank you, Erick. If you need me back for anything, let me know. I shouldn’t take more than a week.”

Sunny floated in the air around Kiri, her serpentine form holding in a swerving, repeating pattern, as her tiny, feathered wings undulated in time with the rest of her. She flickered green, eager to go. Ophiel, for his part, chirped in the air a short ways from Sunny, eyeing the couatl-shaped [Familiar].

Erick said, “Have fun.”

“I hope so!”

Kiri blipped away in a green flash, followed closely by Sunny. Ophiel just stared at the fading green lights, his chirps turning a bit more sad-flute, than intrigued-harp.

Erick patted his own shoulder, saying, “Come on, Ophiel.” Ophiel quickly took his perch, as Erick said, “Let’s go read about [Teleport Other].”

- - - -

[Teleport Other] was not like [Teleport Object], in that the former dealt with living, consenting or denying persons, and the latter dealt with inert matter. Back on Earth, the difference between the two was largely philosophical, for how could anyone point to a part of the body, and say ‘Lo! This is what makes something alive!’, when there was no single part of the body that was truly any different than any other?

... Or maybe the instruments of Earth were just not good enough to recognize a living thing?

But whatever the case, on Veird, the difference between Object and Other was solid, irrefutable, and perfectly demonstrable, in the presence, or absence, or degree, of the existence of the aura that all living things possessed. Even plants had auras, but unless they were magical plants, or established plants, or older plants, then those auras were usually overshadowed by the presence of whatever other higher-order lifeform was nearby.

This was how a person could [Teleport] with fresh produce, and not have all their produce get left behind, or accidentally drop their gut flora whenever they blipped away, leaving messes behind wherever they went. If it wasn’t for this simple, ‘automatic overwriting’ of the various tiny things that were near a person, [Teleport] would simply never work, because it would kill a person in process; either right away, as some of their body mass left them, or slowly, as their insides failed due to massive disruption of the body’s biome.

(Reading this got Erick instantly excited, as his thoughts turned to the [Teleport Lock] of the Shades. Were there Force constructs, or perhaps bacteria, or something, that populated the air around the Shades, on command, for kilometers in every direction, that took hold of the gut biome, or some other smaller biome, and said ‘no’, to [Teleport]s, thus violating the ‘safety’ of [Teleport], and making it not work? Erick considered a construct as the best option. Some sort of higher-order aura, perhaps?)

(But as he flipped through the black Wayfarer book, and read about [Teleport]’s safeties, he started to severely doubt that he had somehow stumbled upon some great secret regarding [Teleport Lock] that no one else had been able to see in all the years of [Teleport]ing on Veird. If the problem was as small, and as large, as corrupting the aura of everyone nearby, then surely someone would have tried that before? Right?)

[Teleport] had a lot of safeties. Violating any of them would cause the spell to not work as intended, and thus cause the spell to not activate as desired. The ability to overwrite smaller auras was only part of these safeties.

One of the spell’s safeties was regarding destination. [Teleport] did not work if the target location was occupied; the spell would shunt you to the nearest unoccupied space, with preference given to a space that was along the direction that you blipped from, or close by the ‘line’ drawn from point A and point B. (Oddly, the problem of having air or water in the new location was not considered, since [Teleport] did not technically move you, because what blipping did, was put you in the new location as though you got there normally.) Another safety was regarding momentum; blips always bled off momentum, and stabilized the target to their new location. Orientation was another; you always blipped to the new location in roughly the same up-down configuration in which you started.

But regarding [Teleport Other], there were still safeties to keep in mind with the spell, that if they were not honored, then the spell would not work, or it would, and you would end up with [Partial Teleport Other]. [Partial Teleport Other] was a failure, though. The goal was [Gate], not ‘kill someone by blipping half their body away’, and from what Erick was reading right now, it seemed that people who opted for the killing spell never made it very far with any further [Teleport] magics.

The Wayfarers method of [Teleport Other] was almost ‘tricking the system’, so to speak. Just how like Archmage Opal worked her [Ward Destruction], the Wayfarers had broken down [Teleport Other] into a simple, complicated process. First, a mage had to overwrite the aura of another, or match their aura to the other’s, or find some compromise and force it on the other, and then make them [Teleport]. The problem, then, fully laid out, was thus:

Not only were you reinventing [Teleport], but you were also making someone else make the spell.

Another problem to this process was that other people were not discrete bits of ‘self’, they were sort of like spells, themselves; they were composed of many parts, all working under the power umbrella of an individual’s soul. But Wayfarers were not soulmages, and [Teleport Other] was not mind magic, either.

All [Teleport] spells were actually a form of elemental magic.

(It was here, that Erick learned more about Everlin Etherspray, the air Elementassi responsible for the creation of all [Teleport] magics on Veird and the founder of the Wayfarer’s Guild. It was here, that Erick learned of the real importance of the Elemental Bodies.)

(Back before the Sundering, Everlin was born to a slaver elven mother, and fathered by a summoned air elemental. Because of these well established birthing methods, and Everlin’s status as an Elementassi, Everlin should have been born with an innate control of her aura, and control of magic, and thus gotten a large step up on everyone else not born to an Elemental Body. It wasn’t till later in life that she was actually able to harness this innate ability, but that was a side note in the greater story. The point was this: While normal people struggled with aura control in order to work their magic, Everlin could turn her entire body into an ‘aura’ of air, and take direct control of the mana around her.)

(These children, gifted and burdened with Elemental Bodies, were the purpose behind the elven, and others', habit of summoning elementals for procreation. But in elven society, these children were not to be prodigies. They were to be slaves to their parents.)

But with regard to what Erick was here for:

Remaking [Teleport Object] was closer to remaking [Blink], since the range was so much shorter. There was also no other auras involved except the caster’s, since rocks and otherwise had no ability to say ‘no’. Because of this, Erick had a relatively easy time remaking [Teleport Object].

So that’s what Erick did, starting with [Watershape].

But first, a dry run.

Focusing on the first seed, hovering in the air, in a minor pool of water, Erick cast [Grow], using the purposeful, directed aspect of the spell, transforming and sprouting the seed into a plant similar to the original, but different. A green shoot lifted upward from the tiny seed while white roots descended into a hovering ball of water. Half in the drink and half lifting into the light, the plant grew until it was not much more than a fistful of roots wrapped around droplets of water and a green twig sticking up from it all. Erick hit it with another [Grow]. The plant expanded, until it reached waist-height, and a round, pale yellow grapefruit hung from a branch. This was good. The sprout looked healthy enough, so Erick moved on to the next seed.

Now came the magic.

On the second seed, he first looked to the rainy sky, and opened the funnels of his [Greater Lightwalk], flowing more of the rain into the hovering ball of water around the seed. Then he cast both [Grow] and [Watershape] at the same time, harmonizing their long-known vibrations within himself, attempting to combine them into a proper spell.

The seed sprouted, and Erick felt a connection to the growth like his connection to the light around him, or his Handy Aura, or any other action-at-a-distance connection of any of his other spells. This was the first time he felt that connection through [Grow], though. The maturation of the tiny plant was in his hands, and he fumbled, not expecting what he had received.

The green shoots curved, the roots split up and down. The seed became a tangle of direction and growth. Where was the light? Was it not all around?

Erick grabbed control as soon as he felt what had been placed into his power. Supple green shoots went upward, as water went inward, through roots that went down. A tangle turned upright, and then grew more, and more. The spell, and Erick’s control over it, cut in fractions; a gradual waning of power. When it was over, the lemon tree, or more accurately, the orange tree, had a little orange fruit hanging from the largest branch, while the whole plant was maybe only a meter tall, from roots to tallest leaves. Aside from that rough start, it was an okay work of magic.

A blue box appeared.

Treeshape, medium range, 100 mana

Direct the accelerated growth of a tree for 5 minutes.

Erick smiled to himself. [Treeshape] would be good, going forward.

He looked to the next seed. This one, he wrapped in water and light, and cast [Grow] using both [Watershape] and [Lightshape].

The seed cracked as a tendril of brightness descended into hovering water. Roots spread under guiding light, soaking up the rain in fractal, directed upward growth. Stems turned to twigs, to branches and trunks, as neon green leaves unfolded under grey skies. When the growth stopped, the light barely dimmed. The tree seemed charged by an inner, small radiance. A blue box appeared.

Tree of Light, medium range, 200 mana + Variable

Bless a tree with accelerated growth, the ability to repair itself, and the ability to thrive without the need for sunlight or water. Effect lasts a maximum of 1 week.

Erick looked to the third plant. The leaves curled up and out, as roots continued to crawl through into the hovering water, the whole thing supported by Erick’s own [Greater Lightwalk], holding it aloft. Much like how [Control Weather] dissipated as it spread out to influence the rest of the world, Erick suspected that [Tree of Light] would last long enough to grow the tree to a size much larger than what it was, and then stop when it was forced to use up [Tree of Light], making up for a lack of sunlight, or other deficiencies.

While Erick watched, his theory proved true. The neon-green plant grew up and out, but lost its luminescence as bright, white fruits appeared; lemons, but of a meyer variety, and meant for juicing.

Erick smiled, then went through the remaining four seeds, [Grow]ing them to a normal yellow lemon tree, a red-skinned blood orange tree, a bright green key lime tree, and a dark blue lime tree. Not all of the fruits were their original colors, because Erick wanted to be able to tell them apart.

Under a rainy sky that did not reach him, but instead flowed around, over a bubble of light, Erick twisted and guided the seven citrus plants together, as he set them into soil and supported their growth, into one, complicated plant.

Was it actually a complicated plant? With a complicated magical signature? Erick had no idea. Maybe he was just playing around and not getting anywhere. But that would be fine.

Somewhere after the first hour of directed growth, as the seven-fold citrus reached up into the sky, glowing with seven separate dark brown trunks with separate roots and separate leaves, the plants became a six-fold citrus tree. One spell spread upon two intertwined trunks, where beginning and end were not so simple as a DNA test away.

And then six became five, as two other trees became one.

The whole mass of wood and otherwise was now three meters high, and twisted together like a spiral rock carving. Wood wrapped around wood, and branches wrapped into each other, while roots tangled out of sight, but deep and wide, eager to support the growths of their own selves instead of working together for the common good.

But the individual rebellions of the various citruses were no match for Erick’s gentle guidance. Five plants soon became four, then three, then suddenly a singular plant, all at once. Like a cluster of soap bubbles joining together, wood melded into a singular flow. A single cast of [Tree of Light] soaked into the entire structure, cementing the magic within.

Branches stopped struggling with each other for light and air as they unwrapped and flowed outward, in harmony. The rainy air filled with the scents of citrus flowers and fruit, as tiny blossoms, each of different sizes and shapes and colors, opened up across the full, five meter tall tree, all at once. Flowers fell like Autumn leaves, as fruits took their places, weighing down the tree with two types of round oranges, two types of tapered lemons, two types of pinched limes, and big round grapefruits. Each of the fruits looked very different than the others.

The whole, fruity thing looked rather odd; like a twist of meter-wide brown-and-tan trunk and a firework of branches above, fractal and reaching, and popping off with different colored fruits here and there. It was almost a work of art.

Erick watched as the tree settled into itself. Luminous glows stretched out cricks and bends here and there, while branches separated, giving the plant some space for itself, and roots, half out of the soil, wiggled downward into the dirt. As [Tree of Light] came to a conclusion, the citrus tree was definitely not a simple ‘tree’, and it surely did not qualify as an ‘object’. But would [Teleport Object] work on it?

Erick looked outward. On the edges of the Human District, past the intervening half a kilometer of flat orange ground, grew green trees and vegetables and plants. Farmers tended those gardens, as they did every day. Some of them had even stopped to watch Erick [Grow] whatever it was he was [Grow]ing.

A raised hand from the archmage caused a bubble of white light to appear around the whole tree experiment, covering the garden and everyone inside, including the trees. Rain stopped. Sound ceased. They were secured, in a basic, perfunctory sort of way.

Ophiel hovered around Erick, popping the few floating [Scry] eyes that hovered here and there. Once sight had been denied to everyone else, Erick walked forward and touched the tree. He looked up. Branches reached overhead, like a comforting friend, laden with gifts of fruit both sour and sweet. He paused. He frowned at himself. He didn’t want to harm the tree; it looked rather pretty and smelled really good. It would be a fine addition to any garden; especially his own.

... Maybe it wasn’t an ‘other’, though?

Erick had an easy test for that possibility.

[Teleport Object].

The tree remained where it was. It was not an object! Rejoice!

Erick tried [Teleport Monster], and got the same result; nothing. [Teleport Familiar] and [Teleport Summon] got similar, negative results. Whatever this tree was, it was not any of those things. So maybe it was an ‘Other’?

Erick frowned again. A test right now would probably destroy the tree.

... He grabbed some rotten fruits from the compost bin, retrieving more seeds. He planted them away from the myriad citrus. A few casts later, and Erick had seven new lemon tree saplings. After twenty minutes of directed growth, both with [Grow] and [Treeshape], and even [Tree of Light], Erick had seven more lemon trees that rivaled the myriad citrus for size and stature. They were normal, brown-barked, green-leaved, laden with lemon, trees, each about five meters tall.

[Teleport Object] failed to work on them, too.

Erick stepped away, out of the garden, to stand beside Poi, as he conjured two more Ophiel. The first one expended itself casting a [Prismatic Ward] across Erick, Poi, and the Ophiel on Erick’s shoulder. The second one turned to light, and went to the lemon trees.

With a bit of [Greater Lightwalk], and some directed possibility curve stretching, five of the trees exploded, but the sixth tree survived the trip through probability. It appeared just to the left of where Erick had planted it, like it had been [Grow]n in that new location, this whole time. Two blue boxes appeared.

Special Quest Complete!

You have remade a Basic Spell.

Since you do not already have Teleport Tree, here you go:

Teleport Tree 1, instant, touch, 250 mana

A tree appears in another known location, max 100km distance.

“Predictable,” Erick said, looking upon the lemon tree. He turned, and faced the myriad citrus tree. “So! Are you just a tree, too?” He floated Ophiel over to the experiment, and touched the bark. He looked up through his [Familiar]’s eyes, at the branches stretching overhead, and cast.

[Teleport Tree].

Nothing happened.

Erick grinned as he uttered, “Huh.” He said, “Might as well try it, then.”

Ophiel turned to light, and touched the myriad citrus with a gentle caress, looking for the openings Erick had experienced several times already. The tree immediately assented, in a way completely at odds with every other time Erick had worked the spell. Ophiel twittered in violin flutes, like he had touched a live wire, as browns and greens and a multitude of colorful fruits turned neon, and the whole thing detached from the soil, lifting into the air.

An intense, concentrated emotion roiled through Erick’s entire being; he was not going to leave this experiment up to chance, or fumbling touch, or accident. While Ophiel held the tree in Erick’s light, Erick spoke a quick desire, vibrating the mana with his intent, and his light,

“A life yet lives, intact yet gives!

“A course here set, a land once met

“Emplace’d here then and always been

“a choice; another! [Teleport Other].”

Erick felt a twinge of mana rush through his body, through Ophiel, through the [Greater Lightwalk], like a vibration upon the world. The myriad citrus vanished, like it had never been.

Error!

Error!

Adjusting...

Special Quest Complete!

You have remade a Basic Spell.

Since you do not already have Teleport Other, here you go:

Teleport Other 1, instant, touch, 250 mana

A being you touch reappears in another known location, max 100km distance.

Erick almost collapsed to his knees as Poi rushed to grab him, to tap him with the rod of [Treat Wounds]. It was a valiant effort on Poi’s part, but a bone deep exhaustion had already spread throughout Erick like a cold, desolate wind.

Erick looked up at the disintegrating white dome that surrounded the experimental garden, one eye searching for his success, while the other looked askance, unable to be controlled. Double vision showed Erick’s two remaining lemon trees as four, exactly where he had put them, and exactly where he had not. But where was the myriad citrus?

As his eyes closed and a headache spiked, he tried to say, “I put it right back in the ground,” but the words that came out of his mouth were closer to garbled messes than anything intelligible.

Sleep came on like a barbarian horde, pummeling Erick into submission and here to stay.