Chapter 139
The Dream
“Memaw. Memaw, I need you.” An echoing voice rang out in my mind.
Instantly, I knew I was in a dream. My mind was awake and aware enough to know I had worked well into the night, creating different parts that I would eventually need to string together to form a new training suit. I understood that, I even realize that right now part of my delusion might be the fact that my neck was at that odd angle, as I fell asleep slumped over my work bench. I could tell as I had a slight pinching pain in my left arm as it had fallen numb.
I knew all of this, and yet, despite slowly feeling my mind awaken, I heard the voice of my great-granddaughter Cassidy, or Cass for short. She was named after me, well her name was inspired by me, but it was close enough that I was excited by the naming. Which might be why she of all my great-grandchildren was my favorite. I remember her fondly, as she was six and a half years old when I began the transitioning process to join the world of BiPrism.
Yet, now after all this time I am met with a fourteen-year-old version of Cassidy. How I know it is Cassidy, I don’t really know, it is that weird insight that is only available within dreams, like how you see a blob that is talking and instantly your mind tells you that it is your significant other cheating on you. That last one actually happened to me, where I saw him cheating first in a dream, then found out the event actually happened at exactly that same time as my dream.
I knew dreams were an odd part of life, which is why I always place value in the messages behind them. Yet, for some reason this dream didn’t feel like a dream. More importantly, this was not my dream.
“Memaw, I’m scared, and I need you.” The voice of little Cassidy rang out, this time I couldn’t help but call out and answer.
“What is it?” I ask. There is an odd double echo as I think I am speaking both in my dream and in real life.
“Memaw, it’s mama, she’s sick. She has cancer again, and this time the chemo won’t work. I need you.”
“What do you need?” I asked, suddenly scared as I realized the pain in her voice was real.
“I need you to show me how to heal her.” She states.
“Show you how to heal?” I ask, the thought coming across as absurd. She can’t heal, that requires magic, and magic didn’t exist, not really. Then I saw it, the spark within her. It was tiny, small and almost invisible to most, but there was still a spark within her. At that, I gasped “you have the spark?”
“The spark?” She asks, desperately.
Then I can see that the spark is slowly dwindling. It takes me a second to realize why, her spark is being used to talk to me, but how.
“You need to get stronger, you need to…” I say, but then the connection grows faint, as I see the last lights of the spark within little Cassidy dwindle away.
“No, come back. Come back.” I cry out, now that she is gone, I can’t feel the connection. But now that the connection is gone, I can feel the pain that was welling up within her. The pain, frustration, and above all sadness that comes from intense grief. Cassidy, my little Cassidy was hurting.
“No, no, no.” I began crying out, desperately trying to remember how the connection was made. There had been a magical link between the two of us, of that I was certain. Mentally I began reaching out with my own magic, trying to reform the connection back to Cassidy.
I was so focused that I could feel the spell being created and woven. I was there, I saw little Cassidy passed out over the bed of her mother, my granddaughter, when suddenly the world began to violently shake.
Spinning.
“Wake up. Wake up!” Distant shouting.
I couldn’t stop, I was so close, but then it happened.
SMACK!
I felt a hard smack against the side of my face and suddenly I was pulled from the depths of my spell, from my vivid dream, and back to reality. Well back to the reality that I had accepted as my final resting spot.
“Huh, what?” I said groggily, as my mind began interpreting all the millions of impulses that were around me.
I saw Mallory and my daughter Gwen right next to me. Behind them were my guard captain, and of course Jhonny who was just now darting within the room.
“I’m so sorry, I thought she was safely sleeping.” The guard Captain said.
“She was.” Mallory said, resting her hand on her chest. “Then suddenly I got an urgent quest from the system to wake Cass up quickly before she…” with that Mallory trailed off. Or rather her lips moved, but no sounds came out. After a second of everyone looking at her, it was clear that she realized she had been muted, as if the contents of that emergency quest.
There was an awkward pause, until finally Gwen spoke.
“I too received an emergency quest to wake you. It said you were creating spells within your sleep?”
At that I paused, thinking to myself. Had I been casting spells within my sleep? I mean I did want to cast a spell and having seen the spell being used to reach me, I was able to mirror it back. Yet, I didn’t create a spell, that or if I had created the spell, the system either couldn’t keep track of what I had done, or more mysteriously didn’t want me to know what I had done.
I paused, my mind was reeling. Had it all been a dream? It felt so real. But then, if it was a dream, why were Mallory and Gwen both given the task to wake me up.
Then a thought came to me, I needed to check on something. Turning my face to Gwen, a useless gesture as both Gwen and I were completely blind, or at least close to it with our Angel’s Sight, and given that her third eye wasn’t currently open she had no reason not to see me. I turned to her and asked.
“Your daughter.” Since this was Gwen, mentioning her daughter would be easy as it would be known exactly whom I was talking about, as she only had one daughter. “She is back in cancer treatments?”
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With that both Mallory and Gwen looked shocked, but Gwen was the first to recover as she nodded then replied. “Yeah, how did you know she had cancer again? She didn’t fall ill until about three years ago.”
There was an awkward pause at that, as she was clearly referring to the fact that I had been in this world for the last seven years, and since Gwen was the only one who spoke to me from our children, it would have been hard for me to know other events from the real world, than ones she told me. And a quick mental log between our short correspondences showed that Gwen was right, she never told me about how poorly anyone in the family was doing. As she never wanted me to be concerned with what was going on in the real world, as I had other things to worry about in here.
“Nothing, just intuition, I guess.” I said, dismissively.
Either I came across as being so esoteric that such a comment was deemed acceptable to the dilemma posed. Or my daughter realized that if I didn’t want to say anything, not even trained interrogators could pull the words from me.
Silence.
“So, how are you feeling?” Mallory asked, a note of concern in her voice.
“I feel fine.” I state and meant it too. I even stretched my arm, swinging it about and letting the last few traces of prickling nerves go away.
Mallory and Gwen both nod in a sort of synchronized union. I almost comment on that, but then decide not to, they can keep their secret, well what they think is a secret.
“So I think it goes without saying that we should likely cancel classes for today.” Mallory states, turning to Gwen.
I almost let out a sigh of relief at the idea, but then realize that I need to use today as an idea comes to mind.
“Wait no.” I say.
“What?” Mallory asks, turning to me with a note of confusion on her face.
“I need to teach today.” I state, and mean it too, as I intend to impart some knowledge to Cassidy. If it was her, then she needed to get stronger, and I knew just the exercises that could help.
“You literally almost broke the world by casting a spell in your sleep.” Gwen said, pointing to the corner where I had fallen asleep on a pile of specialized gear parts.
Gwen was right, but at the same time, I couldn’t leave Cassidy in the dust. Then pausing, I realized Jhonny was still there. Then looking at him, I see something that makes me want to reach out to him specifically.
“Jhonny, you want to learn the basics about magic, right?” I asked.
“Yes.” Jhonny said, flustered, but instantly alive and excited by the prospect.
“Okay, clear my schedule for today. Instead, today I will just teach Jhonny the basics of magic. You can let anyone else who wants to learn about magic join in, but I will only teach Jhonny for now.” I state, as I realize there is the same faint spark of magic within Jhonny as I saw within my little Cassidy.
I don’t know if this was a sign from my dream to teach Jhonny, or if I am just projecting my sudden and unnerving need to use Jhonny as a proxy to teach Cassidy how to use the spark within her. But at this moment, I know I will not be able to do anything else.
“You are going to give a fundamentals of magic seminar today?” Mallory asked.
I pause, hearing that, then nod. “Yes. All other classes have already been given tasks and techniques to improve upon. But today, I will focus on teaching the basics of finding magic, balancing yourself, and circulating magic within yourself to then generate more magic potential.”
“You are going to show people how to increase their magic potential?” Mallory asks, a note of skepticism to her voice. “And you are going to start with Jhonny here?”
I pause realizing the weight of the words, and then nod. “Yeah.”
With that Mallory turns from me to Jhonny. “I am entrusting her to you. Don’t make me regret it, and most importantly, don’t let her do anything crazy.”
“I won’t.” Jhonny states emphatically.
Scoff.
At that Mallory just laughs at Jhonny, clearly thinking he is a bit too naïve for his own good.
“We will just be going over the basics of magic.” I state.
There was momentary tension as Mallory clearly didn’t want this to happen. But then seemed to come to her senses as realizing getting me to focus on anything other than a hobby or magic was nearly impossible. Taking a deep breath, she reluctantly nodded.
“Well, I guess this is better than her blowing up our fort by creating a spell in her dreams.” Mallory said. Then after a moment’s hesitation she paused and turned to me, “just what spell were you trying to cast anyways?”
Trying to? Nothing, I had that spell, and had little Cassidy never fallen asleep I am fairly certain that I would have connected with her and been able to help. Though I am certain that my way of helping might have broken something about the world we are in. I realize that, as to why Gwen and Mallory both were given urgent quests to awaken me so quickly.
There are a few more moments of talking to ensure I am correct. Even one where Gwen jokingly stated, “do we need to put you on a curfew?”
I did take exception to the slight, but I realized it was all good fun and that Gwen and Mallory both were genuinely concerned about me. That was way I decided to let the sleight and any repercussions slowly fade away.
Finally, after about an hour I was in the middle of my practice field with just one student sitting before me in the lotus position.
Seeing Jhonny there, I bowed and made sure to thank him for his assistance today. “Jhonny, first off, I wanted to thank you for always being with me and pushing yourself as hard as possible. I know you haven’t opened a unique Qi class, and we will work on that, later. But for today, I need you to go through the basics of Mana Circulation. I will teach you how to first feel your mana and then we will go from there.”
With that Jhonny just nodded. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.
“Today, I will call this lesson the Cassidy, named after my great granddaughter who so happened to be named after me. Well sort of.” I state.
“Cassidy?”
Hearing that, I nod, “yes Cassidy. For Cassidy, we need to set a few ground rules and assumptions. We will state certain things here that might sound odd coming from me, but I need you to just listen, nod and carry on like nothing had happened.”
With that Jhonny looked visibly confused, opened his mouth, then closed it, clearly not understanding what was happening.
“Yes, as you have guessed, this training will be for my great granddaughter, Cassidy. I hope she finds it, and if not, then I hope someone directs her to this feed. Regardless, you like her have a few in common.” I state.
“With your great granddaughter?” Jhonny asks.
“Yes, will you keep up.” I snap.
With that Jhonny winces slightly but ultimately nods in acceptance.
“Good, now the first thing is you both, have magic and have even used magic. Though right now you are both at the instinctual level of magic. You might get faint calls to do something, to reach out to someone, to try to connect with someone.” I am beginning, trying to describe how I think Cassidy knew to reach out to me, even in my dream.
“Yes, that is exactly what happened. I knew that if I came to you, I would open my magic.” Johnny said, excitement evident in his eyes.
I almost wanted to chastise him for stopping me in the middle of my speech, but then stopped myself. Pulling off my hood, I showed my face. Me being in a fourteen-year-old avatar’s body might be easier to connect with Cassidy, which is why she might have reached out to me. Regardless, if she can reach out to me from the real world with her magic, then she just might be able to save her mother, with magic. I know, this is all crazy. I am in a dream world that I could only dream about as a kid. And yet, my dream from last night was so vivid, so real that even now I can’t shake it. So, if I need to teach Jhonny to use his untapped potential in magic to possibly be able to train Cassidy, then I will take that chance.
Once Jhonny is done talking, I nod.
“Now, the most important part for you is to take your internal mana, just as you did when you had these feelings. I want you to think back to those moments and concentrate on the area where that idea first sparked. Logically, you are going to choose your mind, as all thoughts begin with your mind. But that is wrong. I need you to look inside yourself and find that very spot where the idea for magic first manifested. Find it, and when you feel you have found it again, I want you to point out exactly where that spot is on your body.”
With this, I open my third eye. Jhonny, of course has a hard time not turning his Qi, as he has been so focused on that for the past few days that using his Qi is almost second nature to him at this point. I almost wanted to tell him to stop, but then realized that would likely confuse him more. So instead, I just let him try to find his mana on his own.
Then to my surprise, faint blue sparks of energy begin circulating through his body. They flicker and flare up for a moment, then stop. But all the while they seem to be drawn inward to one exact spot on his chest. From there, he gets an odd look of shock on his face, but then quickly recovers as he once again focuses on the exact spot, then points to his heart. Well not quite his heart, but where the basis for his mana core is, finding the spot he focuses and then I see sparks of mana flow to that exact spot.
Now if this is just a matter of dreams mirroring reality, or me just remembering the layout of Jhonny’s meridians and imposing them on a mental image I had of Cassidy, I don’t know. As the reflection and symmetry between what I see in Jhonny now, and what I remember existing in Cassidy are almost too close to be dismissed casually. Still, I focus on the lesson as I try to at least teach Jhonny the beginnings of how to unlock his magic potential.
“Good, now imagine that there is a magnet in that spot, and you are trying to pull in all mana to that point.”
There is a pause as Jhonny does just this, and as he does I try to explain what I am seeing and how to improve the process.
“Good, now that you have pulled all the mana to your core. Your next task is to send that clump of mana back out. Just like you did for the magnet that pulled in the mana, now I want you to imagine switching the polarity of that magnet and pushing all the little mana particles away.”
Slowly, over time Jhonny does just that, he managed to send away those tiny sparks of light. Then once they are at the very edge of his body and far away from his core I give him the next step.
“Now repeat the process. First pull in all the mana within your body to that one spot, your center. Then push it out, then back and forth. This will help clear up your meridians, once they are cleared we will go onto the second stage.”
“Cassidy two?” Jhonny adds.
At that I pause, now I know I am terrible at naming things, but this is just bad. Unfortunately, I can’t think of anything better myself, so I just nod and go with it. “Yes, we will go onto the Cassidy two point zero, but only after you have mastered this portion.”
“How long will that take?” Jhonny asks.
“Depends, how many times are you going to stop the exercise to talk to me, versus being able to do both talk with your mouth and move your mana simultaneously?”
“Right.” Jhonny said, and with that he lowered his head and focused.
Seeing how diligently he was trying, I couldn’t help but feel bad that I felt like I was snapping at him all day.
“Good job. I really do appreciate this.” I said.
“What? Getting one-on-one guided directions from the Doctor herself. No, this is nothing, and most importantly it is working. I can already feel the mana, and better still I already have new skills that have opened up to me.”
“Oh?” I asked intrigued, as I am always ready to learn new skills, particularly skills related to magic.
“Yes, Mana Circulation, and Mana Sense.”
And like that, my dreams of stealing new skills was dashed. But at the very least, I proved that I could get Jhonny to unlock his magic potential, meaning that hopefully if Cassidy had been watching she too might be able to follow the instructions given.
At least that was my hope.