July 1st, 2028, Talos, California

After a good night sleep in our new home, we all woke up and shared a breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham, and hashbrowns, all courtesy of our new food printer, in our new kitchen. After we had all eaten our fill, we all walked together to the teleport array on the top floor of our new domicile, Hillary dialed in the Shasta Archive and stepped through the portal after giving both her mother and I hugs WOOOOSH... Then it was our turn and we dialed in the Array for Catalina Island, and we stepped through the portal and WOOOOSH…

Hillary Rinn

I stepped out of the portal and found myself in an enormous cavern carved out of translucent black rock that is glowing a spooky grey and producing a low light that allows you to see perfectly. Every surface of the room is made of this beautiful black rock, and it is all luminescent as well as translucent. The shelves of this awe-inspiring archive are also made of what I’m guessing is Aether infused obsidian. This place is massive.

“John?” I call out.

“John Shastain, are you here?” I yell into the cavernous library.

“Yes, miss?” I hear from everywhere all at once.

“Miss, Rinn. Adam and Michael sent me here from Talos. They sent me here to learn what I can from you and study both Druidic Magick and learn what I can from the Beastiary.” I respond.

As soon as I was finished speaking, I turn around to see a large Native American gentleman sitting on a table made of solid Aether infused Obsidian, and he was smiling at me and smoking cannabis from what looked like a pipe made of wood wrapped in some kind of hide with beautiful beadwork all around it.

“Good morning, Miss Hillary Rinn. I am Jonathan Shastain, I am the keeper of the archive here at Mt. Shasta. I welcome you and must explain that you are now in a time dilated space, every 24 hours you spend in this archive, an hour of time will pass on Terra. This will allow us more time for you to assimilate the information I am about to provide for your study. I am also here to help and watch over your progression, we can discuss any aspect of the abilities you discover here within these sacred walls. Do you have any pressing questions before we go and select some material for you to begin with?”

“Nothing to pressing, but will you be willing to answer any questions that may come up as we go?” I ask politely.

“Of course, Miss Rinn, of course.” John replied.

Once we were introduced and John understood that I was interested in learning all I could about healing with the power of nature and science, John selected an all-encompassing info book on Druidic Magick, a specialized info book on Healing with Druidic Magick. I took about 36 hours to read and completely assimilate the larger all-encompassing book, then another 12 hours to assimilate the smaller book on healing. The next day John gave me 6 spell scrolls to review and learn to advance my training. I was given NATURES RESTORATION, NATURES GIFT, NATURES BOUNTY, NATURES COMMUNICATION, NATURES VISION, & NATURES WRATH.

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Natures restoration is a scalable healing spell that will get stronger as I use it, Natures gift, is a buffing spell that gives buffs determined by the recipient’s true nature, i.e. A ninja will be faster, a tank stronger, a mage wiser, etc. Nature’s bounty, is a scalable blessing spell, increasing both the luck and agility attribute by 10% for the duration of the spell. (24-hour cooldown). Natures Communication allows you to communicate with plants, beasts, and other sentient beings, you are able to understand their communication methods and they are able to understand you when communicating with them. Natures Vision allows you to see in the different spectrums of natural light or lack thereof, for example one could see in pitch back darkness as easily as one would on a beach at noon. All light spectrums are visible when accessed, both visible and invisible. Natures Wrath, is an offensive spell that brings down the wrath of mother nature, depending on how the caster manipulates the spell any number of outcomes are possible, for example if the caster was particularly upset the result might be raging lightning or a harsh crushing change in local gravity.

After assimilating all six scrolls, I spent about 48 hours meditating and circulating my Aether, smoking a large spliff beforehand to accentuate any gains made during my meditation session. I had been here for what felt like about 13 days so I had 17 more days to learn all I could from the Beastiary and practice my new spells with John, who is a Master level Druidic Knight. John gave me a number of helpful tips about using my Aether and casting spells using Magick, while some spells require spoken words, others require you trace certain runic symbols in the air while speaking, others still require neither but do require you to know the spell inside and out and it’s called an autocast which is I’m told, not within my current capabilities. The motions and the words all just come from the inside of my brain as though I’ve known them forever, as I practice using my new spells, the easier they are to use.

Studying the Beastiary is almost like reading an old fantasy novel, that speaks to your mind, the creatures spoken about within its pages are unbelievable. The book tells me that most humans have already started to change into horrible creatures most people only believed existed in the movies. The book was sure that there were already at least 25,000 Skinwalkers roaming the southwest of the USA from the dessert in eastern California, east to the edges of Texas, a large number of predatory beasts have been catalogued as well. In the pacific Northwest of the USA, an Army of Sasquatch have been reported numbering in the tens of thousands, as well as a pack of wolves at least 12 feet tall numbering in the hundreds, the flocks of thunderbirds are flying from the southern tip of California to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. The book told me that we were certain to find any number of carnivorous insects, arachnids, and other phylum not seen on this planet in millions of years. I took notes on the strengths and weaknesses of the most common, and also the deadliest beasts, monsters, and other nasties we may bump into on our travels, hoping all the information I recorded may someday save the life of someone I loved. John also took the time to teach me all he knew about the different venoms and poisons that we are likely to come across on this new planetscape we find ourselves a part of. John gave me an entire book on different species that are humanities primary predators as well as a book on Aether infused planets around the universe. One never knows what species will jump through the veil during the tribulation. There is a species of segmented sandworm called the Mongolian Death Worm, it has been roaming the deserts of Mongolia for 100s of millions of years. The first was called something different, it came through the veil during this planets last tribulation and was never rooted out by any of the dominant species here on the planet since it was introduced. These creatures are feared and respected by the local population; tales have been told about them for generations. Still, no one has ever exterminated them or driven them to extinction. They must be fearsome indeed, as there are no known pictures of the creatures. Only drawings were available to view. No one has ever captured one alive either.

After an enlightening experience with the Master Druidic Knight, and the Beastiary I have certainly taken my knowledge to the next level. I am super excited to share with my parents and the others, all that I have learned.