Breathing in the fresh, non-existent air, I begin to diligently note down the results of the first trial before repeating the circumstances again twice.
Exactly like the first attempt, the activation was flawless, and I found myself instantly transported to the station unharmed in a quite literal blink of an eye.
Grinning I review the experiment in full, and begin to write some further tests for the enchantment, built to stress-test the magic so that I don't die alone in the astral.
Taking in a deep breath I say "Oh this is going to be wonderful!".
—
I grumble to myself in my armor as I awkwardly put the twisted pole into position, angling it just right so that I can somehow press the button on my feet. After a bit of time and a few more clumsy scrapes, I get it in the slot, and press down the second I feel the button.
And in the briefest instant before I was frozen in stasis, I realized. Wait, whats going to happen to the po…
And in the next instant, I stand on the relay station, surrounded by metal debris, and the remains of the pole. Fucking hell!
—
HRT (Home Rune Transportation) System Development Log 2.2
Future models should not have the buttons placed on the feet. I am not sure what I was thinking or how it took that long for the metal pole to be shredded by my movement and become an orbital hazard. All it required was not perfectly placing it into the slot. Regardless buttons will not be placed in such ridiculous and awkward places.
—
Invoking a bit of Freedom, I fly away from the new anchor, this one thankfully free of any undesired floating metal debris, and as I do so, I hum a bit.
Settling into a groove, I begin to tap my forearms, and I begin to think, ‘Oh shit..."
I find myself mid-groove, attached to the anchor, and rendered utterly blind by random debris.
Disoriented, I scrabble at my eyes and take away a random piece of paper that somehow caught on my face plate while I was in stasis. Still discombobulated, I yell at my stupid forearms and their stupid singular button.
—
HRT System Development Log 2.5
Future models will have two buttons in sequence in light of the recent failure.
—
HRT System Development Log 2.6
Future models will have three buttons in sequence in light of the recent failure. Okay, now how is it that goddamn easy to press two buttons at once accidentally!
—
HRT System Development Log 2.8
For FUCKS SAKE, THE DEMENTED SPIRIT WHO MADE THESE RUNES WAS GODDAMN EVIL. WHY, OH WHY, IS THERE NOT A DOUBLE CERTIFICATION RUNE! FUCK IT 5 BUTTONS NOW!
—
My iron boots crunch on the thick ice that covers the planet of rotting ant meat and chitin, scraping away little bits of the ice that forms it as I traverse the planets surface.
Nervously staring at my forearm and the five visible runes placed on top of the metal, I, with great caution, begin the teleportation sequence one button at a time. Clenching my eyes shu…
I open them and immediately begin to choke, rotten ant guts and blood filling the inside of my helmet.
Panic overtakes my mind; my thoughts rapidly race through my brain, filled with idiocy and fear, but desperation sharpens my mind, and I quickly reason that my only way to survive is to keep pushing through.
Quickly, I tap all 5 buttons of the HRT System …
and find myself still stuck inside my own personal planet, sure to drown if I don’t escape its rotten insides.
I forcibly hold my brain down and press the sequence of buttons again …
And again …
And again …
And again …
Until finally, I find myself coated in fetid ant guts, spitting out their foul liquids, attached to the anchor station.
After tearing my helmet off, and releasing the ant guts to float into the ether, I take in a hungry gasp of not-quite-air, big heaving gulps of it, my knees held in a deathgrip as I slowly spin in the air.
But before I can find more than brief relief, I realize, that if there are two massive holes in the ice, then surely …
FUCK! Flipping the switch in my boots, a great blast of illusory rock rockets me towards the surface of the planet, where the resultant gases of decomposition have already caused the spoiled innards of the ants to bubble onto the surface.
I quickly begin the familiar process of sadness invocation, summoning memories of loss in order to freeze the bubbling gases in place.
Yet despite my attempts, the spoiled innards begin to rocket into the air as the trapped gas inside the planet finally finds an outlet.
Panicking I dig deeper and remember the utter emptiness of the sight of my fathers casket. The dull eyes, the ill-fitting suit, the ridiculous silence he would have hated. My eyes burn as a flood of ice erupts from my chest, stopping the burgeoning spout of trash and guts.
Unable to process the situation in the moment, I somehow remember Freedom, and fly to the other side of the planet, and patch the hole in the ice there as well with a scream of grief and some hand gestures to corral the ice.
Before I stand on top of the ice formed from my own torn-open grief, covered in the spoiled innards of dead ants, and begin to cry.
—
HRT System Usage Guidelines
1. NEVER EVER USE IT WHEN THERE’S AN OBSTACLE IN THE WAY.
2. Be careful of your surroundings, even if there isn’t a physical object in the way. Spirits don’t seem to notice or care when I’ve accidentally flung myself through their homes. But who knows what one might do if I get taken out of stasis in their territory.
3. Prepare yourself for a strange situation coming out of the stasis. There’s a bit of delay between arrival and awakening, and that delay could ruin you, whether it be through environmental danger or a clever enemy.
—
Looking over my short but hard-won list of guidelines, I realize that, at this point, the transportation is fairly workable.
A smile drifts across my face for the first time in a while, as I think this is a perfect opportunity. While I can’t blast through anything, in fear of waking up from the stasis in the middle of a wall or finding myself in the middle of a trap, the sheer speed of the enchantment means that I can be adventuring in one moment and at home experimenting in the next.
Pondering my options I begin to feel a bit stir-crazy as I look at the iron walls of my base—the same walls I have been staring at for the last month and change.
Shrugging my shoulders I think, why can't I just leave right now? I'm sure there is so much that I can loot; wait, no, so much that I can retain for safekeeping. I could really use some thrills that don't involve ant guts in my life after what happened. Additionally, if they aren’t strong enough to keep their things, they don’t deserve them anyway.
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As I think that, I immediately start to backpedal in my own brain. Because that is the sort of thinking that allows you to think you're a good person despite the fact that you are mindlessly hurting others.
However, in this situation, I mostly steal from dead people, and who cares for the wishes of the dead? They can’t exactly complain about their poor treatment.
Eager to get out of here, after having my preconceptions of its safety shattered, I begin to don the slightly updated armor, grab a bag that's bigger than it seems, and stuff a duplicating bag, my rune book, and many, many baggies of steel dust, and iron plates into it. In order to prevent a minor disaster, I also turn off all my factories on the planet below. Then, as ready as I can reasonably be, I climb onto the steel floor of the top of my base and get ready to take off.
But as I float above the floor of my base, I realize that I have some house cleaning to do first. Firstly, I should tell everyone nearby that I’m leaving and that they shouldn’t just pop into my base and wander around when I’m not home. I can’t exactly carry around the water tower, only my wrist, like it's an antique watch to check the time, but most likely my journey out will interrupt the lessons.
Additionally, while I have been doing pretty well for myself, the tribes below have been apparently using magic for what seems to be hundreds of years and would thus know the foundations of it much better than I do. So I should both drop into Kailin's dream, tell them what's what, and then ask Patient Bridge for a lesson on magic.
Alright looks it’s time to finally get to the basics.
—
With a practiced cadence, I walk through the ritual of dream descent, mumbling its mantras and hymns the exact number of times necessary to initiate the spell. Carefully pronouncing each word so that I might not be forced to repeat the extraordinarily hard spell from the start, as I was forced to many times in the beginning. Until I eventually feel the well-worn feeling of a soft fall through my bed and into Kailin's dreams.
I find myself in the beating heart of velvet that forms my teacher's dream, but this time it is a bit dull. Noting the fact that Kailin isn’t awake yet, I sit down in what could be called the center and calm my frenetic and excited mind with some meditation.
I imagine streams of energy entering through my nose and into my core before being dispersed out through my mouth. The pattern flashes over and over again until my mind feels at peace.
Soon, however, my eyes slowly open as the heart of cloth begins to beat with more vigor, and I see Kailin's self-made figure stand above me, their kind smile framed with wiry, and well-defined muscles.
Their strong yet creaky voice echoes out, “Tara, it is good to see you again so early. Although I do ask. Did you call me because you fucked up, or are we just going to read through some of your wonderful records?”
Bemused I answer back with, "Neither teacher, I just wanted to tell you that there’ll be no lesson for the others this week; I am off to explore the Astral, and I don’t want anyone running around my home while I’m not looking.”
Barking a laugh, Kailin says, “Hah, as if they could even get in without your well wishes, although I don’t doubt that those pricks won’t like the sound of you leaving for a bit with their machinations.”
Mildly alarmed, I begin to ask who exactly Kailin spoke of and what type of machinations they were doing, but before I can, they wave off the question and answer simply, “We’ll be fine missing this cycle, Tara; some just always want more than they deserve. Don’t worry, the petty ploys of the Anvil Council can’t really affect you.
Just return after the body parts settle to start working on your brain; it's a delicate script for changing that one, so you should stay nearby.”
Nodding, I reply, "Yes, teacher, I'll see you again next... cycle? It was a pleasure to hear your voice."
—
I ponder the question of distance in the astral, but as I do so the walls of the beating heart of velvet fade away, and I find myself strapped to my bed once more.
My eyes flutter open as I untie myself from my couch. Strangely, both ungroggy and not refreshed from my false sleep, I begin to paw through the various pieces of junk that float around me for Patient Bridges medallion.
Eventually, I find it and grasp it firmly, now knowing that merely touching it is what notifies Patient Bridge. Slightly bored as I wait for him, I browse through Stevens interface, looking for another faceslapper to mindlessly consume for a week.
And as I finally find something that’s the right mix of not too racist or sexist and nigh-endless amounts of OP-MC beatdowns. Patient Bridge shimmers into existence amidst my junk drawer, a patient and calm smile gracing his face.
My words, slightly awkward due to the fact that I forgot to summon Patient Bridge in a more welcoming place, I shove out a "Hello, Patient Bridge, how has your day been? You must be busy with leading the tribe and all.”
Patient Bridge, brushing a few random pieces of junk away from the invisible floor he stands on, replies, “I’ve been doing well, Tara. Thank you for asking. As for the tribe, that has been a bit troublesome lately.
Encouraging him to continue with a timely nod, Patient Bridge sits down and continues by saying, “A local clan of hedge mages who had gathered many dream spells over the generations bargained with a spirit and then tried to evade their debt by blocking off their dreams so the spirit couldn’t descend and retaliate themselves.”
An exasperated and tired sigh leaks out as he expounds further, “What they didn’t consider, however, is that they aren’t the only ones in the tribe, and that the spirit was perfectly willing to torment and hurt their friends and community instead.”
Mildly shocked, I reply, “Wow, what a bunch of assholes, so what did you do? Kick the crap out of them and hand their sorry asses to the angry spirit.”
Patient Bridge, seemingly bemused, reacts, “No, of course not; there is a certain base violence necessary for change, but other than that, discussion and diplomacy are far more effective. I simply paid off the foolish clans debts and wiped their ability to astral project.”
Patient Bridgfe first makes a warding gesture towards me before continuing, “I am not diametrically opposed to violence; without it, my people would remain in chains and the children would go hungry without brave hunters killing our food, but forgiveness is not to soothe the aggressor, it is to benefit you. The hedge mage's eclectic collection of spells means that they are more useful when kept closer to the chest.”
Exasperated by Patient Bridges overly serious speech, a sparkle glimmers in my eye, and I decide to poke fun at him, saying, "Well, frankly, I’m surprised that you’re so vigilant about debts considering the mess that I recently pulled you out of.”
Cladding a stern and reflective face Patient Bridge says, “I was wrong; peace with the spirits is incredibly important, and my own failure four cycles ago caused a great loss of trade as the entire tribes crop was lost and some of our mines were taken by outsiders when they were untended for weeks. I caused great tragedy in that act, and only you saved my home from completely collapsing.”
Taken aback a bit, I stare at Patient Bridge, for few people are willing to admit their mistakes and reflect on them. Especially since there are even fewer leaders willing to admit their mistakes, it's always easier to pretend it was the fault of the world or someone else rather than admitting it's your fault and attempting to grow.
Patient Bridge, placidly taking in my eyes, asks, “Now I appreciate a bit of conversation, but at this point, I must ask, what did you summon me for?”
Embarrassed that I haven’t really had any social calls with Patient Bridge, and thus don't quite have the social capital to ask him for a favor, I nonetheless still choke out, “Patient Bridge, although I have persisted on my own, now that I know someone whose society has had access to magic for far longer. I was wondering if you could teach me the basics since you obviously would know more.”
Patient Bridge, mildly surprised, says, “Of course, that’s trivial, especially considering you have done so much for me and my people.”
Continuing he says “I will warn you, however, since I am the one teaching you, my perspective will color yours, and align it closer to mine own. Do you understand?”
Thinking through the fact that we already swapped our world views and saw through each other's eyes, I brush off his warning and say “I understand, however, this knowledge would be extremely useful for making new spells, something that is required for me to get back home.”
Nodding, Patient Bridge says with a bit of channeled gravitas and seriousness, "First, I ask you what I will eventually ask my disciple. What is your fundamental understanding of the world? What single phrase can show me, you?”
Responding with the same amount of seriousness, I answer, “Simple, the only true things are the things that you can observe, record, test; anything other than that are the illusions of hope and failure.”
A glimmer in his eye Patient Bridge says, “Excellent, now that is your perspective it is your quite literal view of the world. Only what your perspective illuminates can you understand and, thus, cast or see. It can be expanded, and in fact, it will naturally, but ultimately, everyone can only truly glimpse a fraction of the world.”
Patient Bridge pauses and places a hand on his muscled chest before saying, “I myself understand that ‘People are the only thing that matters’ and while others may blast their foes to pieces with spears of stubborn rock and lonely ice, I can only touch people, the one thing that I can understand.”
“My perspective has of course expanded over time; previously I could only understand humanity and thus found myself helpless in my encounters with spirits; before I lived, laughed, loved with spirits, ants, and jellyfish all across the astral jungle, and realized that they were people too.”
I frown and turn my head before I say, “So the reason that I can’t cast divine spells is because I fundamentally can’t understand the divine? Am I really stuck on this horrid plane because I’m an atheist?”
Patient Bridges face curling into an unwanted smile, they say, “Not exactly; your perspective is formed by who you fundamentally are; an uncountable number of factors led to your exact phrase being constructed. It is less that you are stuck because you are an atheist and more that your inability to understand what cannot be interacted with made you an atheist in the first place. You wouldn't be able to suddenly cast the spell we have to descend if you accepted God in your heart. Fundamentally, faith requires faith—the ability to believe in something even if you can’t prove it exists.”
“That is no mark against you; I personally couldn’t cast a divine descent spell either due to the fact that it doesn’t alter or change a sapient being; it simply transports them.”
Blinking my eyes in confusion, I reason together, “So essentially, if I can’t understand something, I can’t do it.”
Patient Bridge nods in approval and says with a pointed finger “Exactly, but let us move on to the next step, Belief. In order to do magic, you must believe that you can do it in the first place. Due to this, spells must be long, strange, and painful because it convinces the caster that magic is important and structured, and thus gives them the strong belief that the spell will work. Curiously, the more inconvenient you make a spell, the easier humans find it to cast. And those who learn a specific way of magic early can often do all the spells associated with it extremely easily, but they might find their perspective and beliefs tainted in such a way that they can only do those spells.”
Going on a slight diatribe, Patient Bridge continues by saying, “This isn't the only way to cast, but without a large structure that allows the caster to believe that magic will happen, most are unable to cast spells. You, however, due to your perspective that anything that you can prove and test, can and will happen in the future greatly helps you in this manner since all you need to do is make a magical effect happen once in order to believe it is possible.”
Puzzled, I turn my head and say, "So the reason that the tribes have such inconvenient and bothersome spells is because the more annoying a spell is, the easier it is to expect it to happen."
Clasping his hands together, Patient Bridge says, "Exactly. Humans, strangely enough, naturally believe that the more inconvenient and difficult a thing, the more important it is, and thus can most easily cast long, arduous rituals. Most powerful humans find a way around this, but it is a frustrating quirk of our psyche."
Pondering this, I realize I can most likely make spells much faster if I make them extremely inconvenient or stick to some sort of theme. But unwilling to waste these precious lessons, I gesture for Patient Bridge to continue.
Taking a deep breath in Patient Bridges says, "Finally, in order to cast any spell, you must either invoke or burn the emotion associated with the effect you want. These effects are tied to your perspective, and specific emotions will fuel thematically appropriate magical effects. For example, when I still had anger, burning my anger caused those around me to feel pain because I understood that all anger does is cause pain. Emotions are the fuel for all magic, conscious or unconscious, and have far more power than those who disdain them might think.”
Processing what Patient Bridge said, I wonder which emotions my earlier spells invoked. I try to be self-aware, but frankly, I never noticed any spike in emotions after a spell. Well, except for summoning nails, that annoyingly long ritual is the pinnacle of repetitive, dull tasks, I swear.
Wait a second, that’s definitely a boredom invocation spell! Hmm, I wonder what boredom invocation does; perhaps it summons or copies things since the nail summoning spell obviously summons nails. I should definitely try its invocation sometimes; although I should be a bit careful, my life could quickly turn horrendous if my already frequent spouts of boredom became incredibly intense.
Still pondering the various possibilities open to me, I muse to Patient Bridge “So you cast a spell by using emotions as fuel to do something you believe is possible, that you can fundamentally understand. So, for example, if I believed that saying ‘cold’ in a mysterious language summoned frost because I saw someone do the same thing, then if I said the same thing, I would also summon some frost after invoking some sadness?”
Nodding, Patient Bridge says, “Almost, based on your perspective, the emotion you burn might be different, in that example, you might burn speech instead to fuel the spell, cast the spell slightly differently, or be unable to cast the spell at all due to a difference in perspective. Perspective, while it might not seem like the most important aspect next to Belief or Emotion, still tints the rest of your magic like a pane of colored glass”
Huh strange that Patient Bridge knows what glass is—much less colored glass, oh well, not really all that relevant.
Regardless, this knowledge is quite useful, especially now that I know that I can expand my perspective by understanding more things. Which isn’t the easiest thing to do, but I’ve got the vast majority of humanities knowledge on my wrist, so I’ll manage.
Grinning I say to Patient Bridge, “Thank you for your courtesy in teaching me the basics of magic as you know it. However, I must be off; I have some adventures to get to.”
A gracious smile naturally forms on his face as he gets up and shimmers out of existence with an “Of course, Tara, may we meet again under warmer skies.”
—
I hear and feel the rattle of iron plates around me, as I blast off into the astral expanse by summoning ethereal rocks. Looking forward I see the grand expanse of living color, a smile playing across my face as I head off to a new adventure.