Millennial Mage

Chapter 384: Natural Magics

Tala headed back toward Kit, her mind already returning to the task at hand.

She was going to be initiating Kedva into the arcane path of magic.

-Giving her a rebirth, as it were?-

You know that Im not a fan of that description.

-But its accurate, and the people who have undergone it prefer that description.-

Tala decided to ignore Alat.

As she did so, Tala saw Kedva run over to her parents, giving them each a large hug and talking quickly with them and Brandon.

Even so, the girl was back at the entrance with Artia by the time Tala returned to her starting location and turned to face Kits door from the inside. She hadnt even delayed her turn at seeing Rane give her an affirming signal along with a smile. Alright, come on in.

Kedva glanced in the direction that Brandon and her parents were, hesitating.

I wont let it start without Brandon.

Artia squeezed the girls hand, even as she wove her arm through Kedvas, Come. Ill be with you, dear.

The two women stepped in, Kedva clearly braced against calamity.

-Yeah thats not good.-

No. No, it is not. Tala stepped forward, Kedva. You have to trust me or this will fail. If you dont trust me, there is no point.

I trust you. Her voice was soft, hardly sounding like the same girl Tala had met previously, I do.

No. No, you dont. Not in this moment.

Kedvas eyes were looking in every direction as she clung to Artia.

If you cant trust that I will keep it from starting, how will you trust me to actually help it succeed? Youll die, twitching and flooded with power that your body cant handle.

Kedva stiffened, seeming to rein herself in. How can I master this?

Tala nodded. That is an excellent question. Let me ask you one in return: Do you know, in your mind, that I want to help you, and I mean you no harm.

Yes, but that doesnt help the seeds of fear.

Tala shook her head. I know. You need to have faith in your knowledge.

Kedva frowned. I just said that fear is worming its way into my mind. That even though I know that you are going to help me, that its safe right now, my emotions are getting the best of me. How can I use one emotion to conquer another, internally?

Yes and no, Kedva. Yes, fear is your emotion. It is seizing onto your imagination and becoming overblown. Emotions and imagination are the enemy of faith and knowledge.

Her frown deepened. I dont understand.

Tala sighed. When you walk down a dark hallway, is it your knowledge or your imagination that tells you that something is trying to get you.

Kedva frowned. I assume you mean when I was younger? That was my imagination.

Good. Now, were your emotions inclined to line up with your imagination? Or with your knowledge?

She nodded at that, seeming to begin to understand. With my imagination.

Exactly, and if you fight down the fear, what are you acting on?

My knowledge.

Exactly. You are relying on your faith in that knowledge. Putting your faith in something without evidencewithout knowledgeis foolishness. You didnt lack knowledge, just like you dont lack it now, so knowledge isnt the antidote to fear, not knowledge alone. Faith is what you need to bolster.

The girl frowned again, but she wasnt frantically looking around anymore.

Progress.

-Yeah. Whered you get this?-

A combination of Master Nadro, Master Grediv, some of my teachers at the Academy and my father. Tala sighed internally. But you knew that and just wanted me to overtly acknowledge it.

-I aim to assist.-

thank you.

-Youre welcome. Now focus.-

Kedva straightened a bit. I do know what is coming. My Brandon and Adrill have worked hard with me to ensure that I know all that I can know about this whole process.

And you trust them. You have faith in them.

I do. She was fully straightened now, a small smile pulling at her lips and a loose grip all that connected her to Artia.

Brandon came in behind her, then. I have them settled. They will wait in a little restaurant around the corner.

Artia frowned. Arnolds?

Thats right.

She nodded. They do have great food, at least.

Kits door swung shut on its own, closing silently and vanishing similarly without a trace.

Brandon stayed next to his betrothed, on the other side from his mother.

Tala smiled. Alright, then. Lets get started.

An involuntary tremble moved through Kedvas body, but she nodded resolutely.

Lay down.

Where The words died on Kedvas lips as she turned to look around and saw that not only was the door gone, but a bed was now behind her. Oh

My domain, remember? Tala grinned. I rule, here.

That had the intended effect, and Kedva seemed to relax a bit, even as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

Reinforce her knowledge that I have this well in hand.

-Yeah, shes heard stories of Mages all her life, seen them as beyond her capability. Wield that for her good.-

Precisely.

Artia walked around to the far side as the girl lay down, that way Kedva could hold each of their hands still.

Brandon kissed Kedva on the forehead, Youll do just fine. Mistress Tala knows what shes doing.

Yeah, build up her confidence. If there's no trust, she dies.

-And re-emphasizing that again would be counterproductive.-

Agreed.

Over the next few minutes, the six of them talked, Master Simon answering some questions, the others comforting Kedva, and Tala filling in where she needed to.

Rane stayed off to one side, smiling Talas way whenever she glanced his.

Finally, Tala motioned to the two holding Kedvas hands.

It was time, and they couldnt be in contact with her when it happened.

Artia gave a squeeze and let go.

Brandon leaned in and kissed her forehead once again, making Tala wish they were a little less overt with their affection.

-It literally doesnt matter how covert they were. You see everything in here, and in the vicinity. You see it, even if the me part of you keeps certain things from the you part of you for the sake of propriety and your mental state.-

I did not want to know that you have those things Archived.

-I didnt say I Archived them.- Alat responded evasively.

But you Archive everything we experience, see, or perceive.

-...fine. If we ever have need of something that happened near such a memory, youll thank me.-

Im sure.

Kedva, to her credit, maintained her composure. Im ready.

Tala smiled. I know.

With a releasing of her will, power snapped back inward.

Kedvas body acted as if it was hit with an electrical shock, arching up and back, arms spread wide, eyes widening and mouth opening in a silent shout of surprise.

It had begun.

* * *

Tala watched carefully as Kedva arched in shock and involuntary spasms as magic permeated her every cell.

There was a noticeable increase in the power flowing through Tala being funneled to Kit. That drain would slow once Kedva equalized, but it gave Tala a nice feeling similar to stretching a sore muscle.

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As to the impact on Kedva?

Tala had chosen to allow the weight of the full magical density within Kit to come down upon Kedva all at once for a very simple reason: It was easier on everyone.

A slow build up wouldnt hurt less, and it would make the whole process take longer.

So, theyd made the decision to do it in one fell swoop.

Talas aura had unquestioned superiority over this entire situation and circumstance.

This sanctum was hers.

They were within her soulbound companion.

The power in the air had come through her gate.

It had been purified by her earned magics.

The woman before her was on Talas guest bed.

Shed put herself into Talas hands for this rebirth.

-Ha! Youre calling it that now, too.-

Tala growled internally. Not really the time.

-Fine, fine, but Adrill and Brandon will be quite happy that youve agreed to use their word for it.-

Tala ignored her alternate interface; helping Kedva through her predicament was more important right now.

As such, Tala felt something almost seem to click into place within her aura, within her will and power.

If she wanted to, she could simply claim Kedvas iron, and it would be hers, unquestionably. There would be no effort, no reaching, no extending, nothing. If she willed it, it would be hers.

More than even that, if Tala so desired, she could control the girls every cell as she would her own.

What the rust?

Tala almost recoiled at the sense of sovereignty and ownership that she felt over Kedvas physical form.

The girl was at Talas mercy, within her sanctum, within her aura, and utterly under her power and authority.

Tala hated every aspect of it.

The very idea made her feel ill.

It reminded her too much of her circumstances in the House of Blood, even if her own vulnerability had never been quite this overt.

But she couldnt let her personal issues put Kedva at risk, and she had work to do.

Tala couldnt pull back.

She couldnt disengage.

Doing so would all but guarantee Kedvas death.

Thus, Tala would buckle down and do what needed to be done.

Even so, there was one thing that she had to mentally address first.

Theres still a soul in this body, right? That was the most logical explanation for Talas sudden seeming ownership of another body: The soul was gone.

-Yes, I know you can sense it, can see it, can feel it, but I also understand why you asked.-

How can I have ownership over her every cell while her soul remains?

Tala knew the answer, but it was important to express. -I think its best if you say it.-

Because the body is just a thing. It isnt the person. It is a possession that we are given for a little while, and then we leave it behind.

-Go on.-

Before the unmeasurable vastness of eternity, nothing that happens to our bodies matters. Even a grievous injury is like losing a piece in tafl. In the game, it's frustrating, even infuriating. It can mean the difference between victory and defeat. It unquestionably matters in the game.

-But outside the game?-

Losing a piece is meaningless.

Tala felt like the moment was expanding before her enhanced consciousness as this truth truly rolled through her.

In the view of eternity, only the soul matters.

-And the souls destination cannot be diverted by acts of magic, monster, or man.-

But does that mean that nothing here matters? Whats the point of all this? There is no point if thats true. Even the arcanes use of vestiges doesnt matter in the perspective of eternity, then. That cant be right. I refuse to believe that. If thats true, then Mistress Odera didnt matter while she was here, and her passing doesnt matter now that shes gone. This life must mean something.

-I dont have the answer for you. It is probably something worth asking Master Grediv aboutor Master Nadrobut after.-

Right. After.

-...but, if it helps, I think you are missing something.-

Oh?

-How we play a game matters. Even if the game, itself, doesnt matter in the end, how we played not only reveals who we are, over time, it will shape who we are.-

I I cant really process that right now.

-Fair. We do have work to do.-

Tala tucked her questions away into the back of her mind, returning her focus to the girl whose lifewhose very beingwas entrusted to her care.

She nodded to Brandon, and he began verbally giving the instructions for Kedva to attempt to act with her will and her power.

Kedva obviously had no power of her own, and her will was utterly untrained, but the act of at least believing that she was trying would help.

Toward that end, they had decidedly not told Kedva the true purpose of the verbal instructions.

Tala tuned out Brandons voice even as she used her aura as the medium for her magical manipulation techniques, long honed as an Immaterial Guide.

The power that had invaded Kedva moved at Talas direction, because it was Talas power.

The natural magics were carved into existence around the girl as Tala guided the magic with surprising ease.

All the while, Kedvas cells drank in the ambient power, so much so that they would have burst while still drinking in more if Tala hadnt forcibly directed the excess away.

There had been a lot of discussion on what spellform to give Kedva, so that she could easily bleed off the excess power as her body acclimated.

Unlike Brandon and Adrill, Kedva didnt have the basis in magical theory for magesight.

Tala didnt have a basis in arcane social structures that was sufficient to understand what the standard scripts given to infants of their various species were intended to do, let alone how they were meant to function.

There really was only one choice in the end.

It helped that Tala had a template ready at hand.

As discussed, Tala called a handful of fruit to her hand.

Now I literally have them at hand.

-Bad pun, Tala. Focus.-

Right.

The fruit was already cut in half, the deadly pits removed.

She gently placed them in Kedvas mouth, using her aura to pull enough power away so that the girl could chew and swallow.

Theyd discussed having her eat them beforehand, but from what they could determine, having such active magics within her would have utterly blocked the process from taking place, which is not what they wanted at the moment.

Regardless, Kedva finished eating the offering, and Tala allowed the full magic density to return with a swirl in the zeme.

An almost achingly familiar power spread throughout Kedva from core to extremities, and Tala continued her work.

Soon, Kedva would have the natural magics that had saved Talas life more times than she cared to remember.

The magic of ancient heroes.

The magic of endingberries.

* * *

Tala was in a maze of power, every wisp of it dancing to her tune.

The very zeme moved in patterns at her direction, creating patterns akin to weather patterns that would last until the day that Kedva died.

Tala was creating a cycle of magic within the girl that was beyond anything that she had fully planned beforehand.

Forging the magics for the menAdrill and Brandonhad been an act of desperation, but shed done the best that she could.

Kedvas magicsthose that Tala was forging within her at that very momentwere planned and premeditated.

There was no magic that Tala knew better than that of the endingberry.

Even before shed wielded gravity, shed longed to replicate the feats of the heroes of old. Shed studied the legends about their magic and the theories on its potential sources.

Her first defensive scripts had been temporary, modeled after the endingberries cyclical natureeven if she didnt know that at the time.

Strength unyielding gained in exchange for a short duration.

Tala had built upon those magics, incorporating them as constant rather than temporary, always burning her gate-derived power, resonating with that gateher soul.

As for the endingberries themselves? Once shed discovered them, shed eaten uncounted thousands of the little fruits.

Shed drunk gallons of their juice, especially recently since it had become a staple drink with most of her meals.

Every ounce consumed had been turned into power, purified, and applied to her own defense.

Truly, there was no magic that she knew better, and few who knew any one particular bit of magic as well as she knew this one.

As such, she felt the call to push the possible.

That is why she went beyond what had been planned, if only just.

The power echoed off of the endingberry magics that were blazing from within Kedva, using their pervasive spread as the basis to resonate toward her goal.

Talas own magics, resonating and manifesting in existence added to the feedback of power.

Rather than a single spellform, which would have acted across Kedvas being at once, Tala forged the interlinking mesh in a mirror of her ownmimicking the actual effect of ending berries, rather than just copying their magics.

But Talas magic had a flaw.

A flaw rooted in her nature as a gated.

Her magic had a single source, even if that source spread out to feed her magics all at once.

The nature of arcane magic was that the body was a vessel for power, thus the body became the source, not the conduit.

True, it was a source like a bucket rather than a spring, but the idea still stood.

Thus, Tala didnt connect Kedvas magic into a central network.

Instead, she forged each minute spellform to draw power from the overflow given off of Kedvas very cells, directly.

The difference between Kedvas magic and that which Tala had given to Adrill and Bradon was effectively the difference between using a bucket with holes in it to carry water to a waterwheel when compared to installing waterwheels on every hole in the bucket.

The very act of failing to hold onto power would be what caused the power to be used as desired.

-That was a horrible metaphor.-

Yeah, well, Im sort of focused on other things right now.

-Sure, sure. Its interesting that youre effectively making her default state the use of magic, rather than requiring activation.-

Do you disapprove?

-No, no. It was clever when you thought of it, and it still is. Kedva learning to control her power will be her learning to turn it off, rather than just letting it run out.-

And learning to be able to amplify its use at need.

-That too. You know that your defensive scripts arent clean, right? They arent just endingberry power.-

You can see that I know that, Alat. Youre just distracting me.

-Right, right, but enhancement its not easy to adjust to.-

Im not giving her my enhancement scripts. That would kill her.

-But you are giving her the variation of endingberry power that makes every cell more capable of doing what it does.-

Brandon, Adrill, Kedva, and I agreed that Id give her my endingberry derived scripts. They know that this is a part of it.

-Oh, agreed, but I still think theyre going to be surprised.-

Tala grunted internally at that.

Alat was probably right. Most people didnt actually understand what secondary effects various magics had. Even though power rarely ever only did one thing, they would still act shocked by the side effects.

Adrill and Brandons own scripts were examples of this.

The spellforms that shed given them for magesightand that theyd have reinforced with inscriptions sooner rather than laterincluded the necessary alterations to allow their minds to handle the increased information.

You know I bet that the reinscriber would work on them. It does model its inscribings based on the persons natural magics

-That would be working backwards from the normal process, but it should work We would one hundred percent need a healer on hand.-

Oh, definitely. Wed also have to figure out what, exactly would be done about their focal point. It isnt like they have gates.

-It could actually be really enlightening to study what came of it, now that I think about it.-

But she was allowing herself to be distracted.

Kedva needed her full attention.

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