Chapter 198

Feelings At Home

“And just where have you been?” Mallory asks, like some extremely angry mother who has caught their kids out after curfew. Well, caught in this case means awoken to the pounding of cops on the door, basically demanding to know “is this your child? And if so you might want to ask her where she has been.”

Not that this has ever happened to me. Well, not entirely true. I was in Mallory’s place due to Gwen of all kids. Kind of Ironic now that Gwen is the one waddling up here like a plump penguin, to likely help with this impromptu interrogation.

“So, I can explain, though to help with my explanation. Perhaps you could help by stating exactly where you thought I was supposed to be, and why I should be a prisoner here?” I ask, trying to make a joke pretending to take on the role of the petulant teenage daughter who chose tonight of all nights to break the rules.

Though apparently my joke fell short of its intended mark as Mallory just bites her lower lip in that exasperated expression that she pulls off.

“Okay, fine. Where were you is not important. You are a big girl, who has the ability to go out and explore the wide world wherever and however you so choose.” Mallory begins, and then lets out a breath.

I’m expecting a but, in this though I make sure not to speak this thought out loud.

“However…”

Dang it, was so close. Admittedly, I did have a roughly 33% chance of it being a but, with although, and however being the other two obvious choices.

“Hmm?”

Oh, I must have let my discontent at getting the interrupt word wrong as she has stopped and is now staring at me with her hands on her hips. This is good, open gestures generally mean they are trying to appear more dominant and there is still a chance for dialog. It is once the arms cross the chest that they are guarded and involuntarily try to protect themselves with their arms, that is when communication breaks down.

“Oh, nothing. I just realized…” I pause, as what I was about to say next about her body posture would prove I was trying to angle a better response. Then the next obvious path of saying that I now realize the intended question that she wished to ask is available, even though I tried to answer her original question, albeit poorly.

Raised eye.

Yeah, she has this motherly guilt trip down. That said I need to come up with something, so I go with the truth along with a twinge of flattery.

“I realized that it is a sign of a great leader who provides such a nurturing place for development. Where your subordinates are encouraged to push the boundaries of what is possible with innovation and most importantly tangible, repeatable results.”

Yeah, that was a lot more flattery and far too lacking on the truth portion than I originally intended.

Sigh.

“Fine, I get it. You don’t want to share what you did, or why you did it.” Mallory states dejectedly.

“Oh, I can say exactly why I did it.” I begin.

Mallory once again just raises her eyebrow in a, okay let’s hear it gesture.

“It was all Zero’s fault.” I state.

“Zero, your familiar?”

“Yes,” I state feeling from her tone that there is going to be a trap somewhere.

“The same Zero that is not here to defend himself.”

Yep, that was the trap all right. Set myself up for that one. Thinking back, Zero is still with my Third, no Fourth? Simulacrum in the Arcanarus Tower on floor 210. Which would answer the question that was originally asked of me, of just where was I. Which had I answered the first time, I would have been able to avoid all of this so far. Gods, Mallory is like Columbo, old and asks a lot of annoying questions that ultimately whittle you down.

“Yeah, the same.” I reply, realizing that this is not looking good under any circumstance.

“Okay, and what is it that Zero did to make it so you needed to create a whole new form of magic?”

“Well, funny story. He said that I shouldn’t go around making news spells as not everyone can cast the spells that you can, even if they are just simple Tier II spells.” I begin, “to which I pointed out that I could awaken the magical potential in those people for the necessary school of magic. So they could cast the simple Tier II Life and Spirit search spell that I created, which would mimic my Angel’s Sight, or at least a portion of my Angel’s Sight.”

“Okay, I’m assuming this will get to the answer somehow, so I will make sure that I am following. You state this is Zero’s fault, and the reason being that Zero wanted you to use your bloodline’s ability to awaken the magical potential in others to Tier II, and you chose not to?”

“No, well, close, but not entirely. See Zero told me that it would be a bad idea, and that I shouldn’t go around willy nilly awakening the magical potential in others. He then, said that even doing so, Tier II magic wouldn’t be that useful in the grand scheme of things.”

“So, it’s Zero’s fault for saying that you shouldn’t use your bloodline to awaken Tier II magic users?” Mallory asked, clearly confused.

“No, it was because he said there was no magic for Tier II magic users that was truly useful. That most spells worth casting required a higher aptitude. Or at least that was what I inferred from his statement.”

“Okay, so how does this lead to you inventing a new school of magic that the world sent out a notice about?”

“Well, I got to thinking that the thought that Tier II magic being useless was not only wrong, but entirely biased, and would be the equivalent of throwing away dozens of competent workers because two production lines could do the same easier.” I replied. While I didn’t state that to Zero originally, I feel this analogy makes more sense about my thoughts.

“But that is Capitalism at its finest. Getting rid of dozens of workers for two heavy producers is not sustainable, and gets rid of a lot of potential human capital. That’s when I thought about his statement and realized that he was right. Currently, or at least at that point, the world was designed for one person to be able to comprehend dozens of different magical aspects combine them all and then use them to cast many tiered spells.”

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“Right, that’s how magic works.” Mallory said.

“No, well, yes obviously that is how magic works. But that is not the only way it can work. What if you take the individual components of the spell, break them down into individual but potentially linking parts that have loops and hooks that correspond to the next segmented portion of a spell that can then be hooked to the next segment and so on, until you have a bunch of tiny spells that link together to create a master spell.” I explain.

“That sounds excessively inefficient.” Mallory notes.

“No, that’s just it, other than maybe a slight variance for the hooks, the spell components themselves individually are easy to compensate for.” I state, then I show her my four spells that I already created.

Harmonious Magic Spell: Curing the Blight A [Tier II]: A fraction spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used in harmony with spell components B, C, and D to help Cure the Blight from an infected individual. Harmonious Magic Spell: Curing the Blight B [Tier II]: A fraction spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used in harmony with spell components A, C, and D to help Cure the Blight from an infected individual. Harmonious Magic Spell: Curing the Blight C [Tier II]: A fraction spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used in harmony with spell components A, B, and D to help Cure the Blight from an infected individual. Harmonious Magic Spell: Curing the Blight D [Tier II]: A fraction spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used in harmony with spell components A, B, and C to help Cure the Blight from an infected individual.

Seeing the spells, Mallory looked like she wanted to argue, but then she looked at the spell and I saw it, the moment her resolve crumbled. It began slowly at first, a slight tremble in the shoulders. At first, I thought I had done something wrong, especially as that tremble became larger and more pronounced. Then I saw it, tears began to form and fall from her eyes, as she reached up in shock to cover her mouth as she looked at the spells.

“Everything okay?” Gwen asked, having finally waddled her way over and managed to enter my compound, only to see her staring straight forward at the spells I created.

“Yeah, though I think I broke Mallory.” I admit, not quite realizing what I had done. Was it so odd for me to create a whole magical school?

“You,” Mallory began finally after a second. Then regaining her composure where her hands dropped to just before her stomach she continued. “You created a new school of magic, and the first thing you did was use that new school to cure people of the Blight?” Mallory asks, a new tear forming in her eye.

“Yeah, I mean, we might not see it here anymore. But the Blight is still a major problem in other parts of the world.” I state, remembering how this was going to be a big questline for curing Yggdraspirit.

“No, I…” Mallory began, her voice catching in her throat as not one, but two tears fell down her cheeks. “I think it’s beautiful.” Mallory said, while turning away and surreptitiously wiping away the tears. Of course, both Gwen and I could see that she was trying to hide her tears and failing, but it didn’t matter. We both let her have this moment.

“Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help with this.” Mallory stated, before stoically walking away before taking off in a sprint towards the chamber that Gwen and Mallory both shared.

“Okay, I am apparently missing something vital if she went from being bad cop to super supportive guild master.” I state.

“Idiot, don’t you remember how bad she had the Blight?” Gwen asks, a note of contempt in her voice.

“Well, yeah. But that was almost a year ago.” I state.

Shaking her head in exasperation, Gwen could only stare at me. “You have no clue how frightening this place was for her. How scary it was for her to come out here on a whim, in the middle of the Blighted Lands, after having her life slowly ripped away from her by that very same wasting disease. She still has nightmare about it, nightmares that I have to spend stroking her hair and hitting her with Healing spells, until she relaxes enough to finally go to sleep. So for you to go create a new school of magic, wasn’t too farfetched. In fact, many figured that you would either find a new school of magic, or invent one. But the fact that you learned to create a school of magic that focuses on breaking spells down into their base components and then chain casting them as a group, that is…”

Gwen paused, as she tried to understand. “That is both revolutionary and frightening. The fact that you learned how to make our bloodline into a way to have groups of people work together to cast spells that individually do nothing, but as a group will be able to accomplish miracles is beyond the pale. Honestly, that alone is worthy of the world calling attention to you. So kudos on that.”

By now even Gwen is tearing up, as she is clearly trying to come up with the best way to express this next part.

I of course, let her find the time to state what she wants.

“But to have the first spell you create with our bloodline’s potential in mind. The first spell ever created for this new school of magic is one to cure the Blight, the very disease that still frightens Mallory every night. The way you are able to break it down into simple components that any newly awakened mage could and should be able to cast. Meaning that Mallory is no longer dependent on just you and me to survive in case she gets infected again, that four random people from the streets could come together and cure the Blight, that is huge.” Gwen states.

“Yeah,” is all I can say, as I didn’t even realize how much my best friend was hurting by coming out here. How much faith she was putting into me to survive, while we made this little dump of sand our new home.

“So, now you likely know why Mallory was so emotional at your new creation.”

“Yeah, I get it.”

“I don’t think you do, not really, but that’s fine. Still let me know what I can do to help. This sounds like it could both be a blessing and a curse.” Gwen states.

“Yeah, I only intend to create beneficial spells with this new school. If others come along and learn how to chain the different spell components needed for creating volcanos, or moving tectonic plates we are likely done for. But for now, we have this new school of magic, and we can mostly control how the information of this school gets disseminated to others.” I reply.

Nodding her head Gwen takes in a deep calming breath, “well I guess I should ask if there is any way I can help with this? Likely pull the names of Guild Members who are deserving of a promotion in some way, but haven’t been able to get one? Particularly those who don’t have any magical inclinations, but wouldn’t mind getting awakened?”

“Sure, that sounds good. Minions are always useful.” I begin, then trying to add some levity, I continue. “Also if they could have wings and fly that would be ideal.”

“Flying minions? Would you want them to be monkeys in tailored suits as well?”

“I mean, if we are building a wish list of ideal helpers then yes, who wouldn’t want flying monkeys in cute suits to help.” I reply.

“You realize you are only a few shades away from the dark green needed to pull off that wicked witch of the West.”

With that I pause, and hold up my finger in protest. “Don’t you dare wish yet another skin color change on me.”

“Okay, okay.” Gwen said, apparently hearing the seriousness in my voice.

“Sorry, I just am close and I don’t want any bad thoughts like that coming through.” I state.

“No, I get it. Your skin color has changed with each evolution, so it would only make sense to be wary of a change to dark green.” Gwen states understandingly.

Suddenly I pause and look at her.

“What is it mom?” Gwen asks, seeing my look of shock.

“When did you become so observant?” I ask, realizing that my own daughter has revealed a hidden depth that I was not previously aware of.

Scoff.

“I was always observant, at least of people’s internal emotional states. I’d like to say I got it from you, but you are just observant on the things that interest you.” Gwen states, then pausing she holds up her hands in a defensive gesture, “I didn’t mean anything by that.”

“No, I didn’t take it as a personal attack, just an insight I probably needed.” I reply.

With that, Gwen nodded.

Finally, after a long pause, Gwen asked, “anything else I can do?”

“Well two questions. First, is it past midnight?”

“Yes, it is well past midnight and well into my pumpkin hour.” Gwen stated.

“Oh good, then I don’t need to hunt you down later today.” I state as I go over and push just enough energy into Gwen to make it so her baby is once again at that fifty percent mark for balance of Legendary bloodlines.

“Thank you.” Gwen states, letting out a sigh after that task for the day is over.

There is another pause, before I ask my other question.

“So, I take it you don’t need me for anything?” I ask.

“Depends, are you going to break anything else if we let you go back to play with Zero in the Arcanarus Tower?” Gwen asks.

I was about to ask how she knew, but then remembered this whole insightful part of my daughter that I didn’t know existed.

“I don’t try to break anything. I can’t help it that the world is delicate.” I state.

Shaking her head, Gwen just opens her mouth, before quickly closing it. “All right, well in that case have fun and see you on Monday.” She states, and then is about to turn around, before she realizes something. “Actually, can I ask you to Teleport me to my room? I really don’t want to have to make that walk again until Monday if I can help it.”

Hearing her, I can’t help but let out a chuckle as I fully understand. Then with a simple altering of my magical energy, I create a Short Range Teleport, that opens right on Gwen’s side of her bed.

Mallory looked concerned for a moment, but to her credit quickly relaxed when she saw Gwen stumble her way through and onto the bed.

“Bye Mallory, sorry for the intrusion.” I yell through the portal, before closing it and realize that I am once again by myself. Pausing for this one moment, I smile slyly to myself as I rub my hands together. “I am currently unsupervised, and I now have three minutes to do what I want.”

I of course, wasted five seconds making sure the last part of that sentence was not heard by anyone but me. For a moment, I think about all of the possibilities that are currently available to me, then pause as I realize Zero is still waiting for me back in the Arcanarus Tower. It is with the thought of Zero waiting for me that I exhale and realize I will have to find another time to use my remaining two minutes and fifty-five seconds of Confidentiality.

Tug, tug, poof.

Using our quick warning, I send the warning message to my Simulacrum that I am about to do a Positional Switch with them, and once again find myself on floor 210 of the Arcanarus Tower.

“You’re back,” Zero exclaims excitedly.

“Yes, I am back, and it is now Saturday morning, which means we only have a little over forty something hours before we need to get back and pretend to have had a boring weekend. Are you ready for some fun?” I ask, playing it up a bit.

“With you, always.” Zero says, and I know he means it.

And just like that I realize I am also home here, with Zero. I feel my throat tighten as I realize how important that is to feel at home just because your friend is there. But fortunately, I manage to catch myself before the pause becomes too awkward, which is when I ask.

“Okay, so did you find anything out about the tournament while I was gone?”