CHAPTER 7: H&S
Careful not to touch, A ball of liquid Oxygen floats above my palms. The white sphere emits small clouds of gas as it swirls around it's centre. A chill emanating from its core. finding myself entranced by the pure absurdity that I’ve created, I think back to when I first crated liquid methane.
At first I thought the methane had formed a liquid because the bonds were somehow rearranged; I still believe this to be true. However, When Emery left I pulled the tubes apart, only to notice a thin layer of ice crystals around the outside.
Thus, the methane must have lost energy somewhere. Since I never noticed a sudden increase of temperature, I hypothesised that perhaps the energy became mana/went into the mana field if it exists. I really have no idea, but when Simbrain calculated the most optimal charge distribution and I visualised the energy being… absorbed; I was then capable of creating liquid oxygen.
Continuing to walking down the snowy rural road, Emery walks beside me in silence. His tall but lean stature, in combination with wizard robes and glasses made him seem like an older harry potter. Sometimes I couldn’t take his appearance seriously, but thought of someone being bound to protect me for the remainder of their life, was to me…troubling.
Perhaps not because I felt he was enslaved. No, I couldn’t believe how much dad was paying him, not to mention he had made the decision himself. No, it was the realisation that I would outlive him. Not just Emery, but everyone; Mum, Dad, Evan, and many others. I doubt I can advance this world technology fast enough to save them.
The ball of oxygen starts to evaporate exponentially until it dissipates. A sense of loneliness fills my stomach. I was going to be alone, forever.
I could always revive Dominic…
“What are you thinking about?” Asked Emery as we passed a post with an array of signs pointing towards townships. “Nothing, I’m just enjoying the walk” I reply, faking a smile.
“I see” Emery retunes to silence as we trudge through the soft snow. I wonder what it will be like, if I survive long enough, that is. Will I die with the sun, will I die when the last star goes out, or will I perhaps find myself in yet another universe.
I guess it’s better not to think about it.
“Lucy, I know you won’t tell me who you really are. But would you at least tell me how to do that?”
Emery stares at the new ball of liquid oxygen above my palms.
“And here I thought you were supposed to be my tutor” I reply playfully, trying to lighten my own mood.
A conflicted expression appears on his face before he gives into his curiosity. “I will teach you Air magic…in exchange” Wait… didn’t he need to teach me that anyway? Well, whatever.
“Sure, but from what I currently understand; magic depends mostly on the accuracy of your imagination and knowledge. So, I will teach you, but perhaps while we are traveling towards the capital”
Giving a silent nod to my answer, Emery places his hand on my head. “I doubt you have air affinity so you will probably need to learn the hard way” says Emery while I feel a surge of power pass through me. It wasn’t as strong as water mana, but it was certainly more noticeable than fire.
Wondering if I can cast it chantlessly, I send out a blast of air from my palms before recalling it into a sphere. I wonder… does this only control air?
Looking up, Emery’s gaze surprised me a little before realizing his concern.
“I highly doubt it you know. Not to mention, I really don’t think affinities work the way.”
Letting out a sigh, Emery shrugs his shoulders. “And why do you think that?”
“I don’t know for certain, and nor do you. But If I’m not mistaken, many children are born with unexpected affinities, and many couples accuse each other of adultery. But how many of those cases have ever been proven?
In the last six moon cycles, I’ve heard of three cases in our village. Yet only person admitted to it. Of course, it’s entirely possible that the cases were true, but in such a small village I find that unlikely; particularly since rumours spread fast here.
Thus, I remain unconvinced of the household god arguments and prefer a genetic one. That explains both cases of when there was adultery, and when there was not. Explaining that to you will take time though.”
That and Simbrain has finally found an unusual collection of genes I believe associated with magic. It’s going to take a while to test anything conclusively though.
The crunching underneath Emery’s feet stops and I turn around to see him holding a palm over his face. “Forgive me, but hearing a four-year-old casually speak about adultery is still unusual to me”
Did he even listen to my argument or did he just get stuck on that? “Emery, you are smart enough not to apply ageism towards me. But I’ll give you a helpful hint, my mental age is over two hundred and fifty years... probably”
A range of expressions flash across Emery’s face before he shrugs his shoulders and lets out another sigh. “The fact that I believe you makes me even more curious as to who… no, what you are. And what do you mean probably?”
“Umm… I am human you know. But the reason why I’m unsure of my mental age is because my current body has affected my normal thought patterns” I’m certain of this, but It’s not like I can do anything about it; Simbrain was never designed for this situation.
“Lucy, everything you say leaves me more confused” replies Emery, hopefully giving up on asking me more.
A sudden chill flows through me as I beckon Emery to follow me back. I want him to be my assistant, but I also want him to be a competent scientist. That’ll take time, but I guess that’s not really a problem for me.
But how should I start? I don’t know much about this world’s education, but from what I understand… I’m glad I can skip the early stages with Emery’s help.
The most logical place for me to start would be the experiments I have planned later today. “Emery, when we use water magic, where does the water come from?” Emery gives a perplexed look but gives me an almost expected answer.
“That depends who you ask. The Elune believe it comes from the water spirits or gods, who trade water for mana. The Corbish believe it comes from the eight pillars of magic that surround the archroyneal Ice lands. There are many others as well, but humans tend to follow the belief of the Elune on these matters.”
Wait just how many sentient species are there on this planet, my parents haven’t mentioned any of them other than the Elune. “Are you telling me, no one thought that the water was already there?”
Emery shakes his head. “No, some humans and the Roylinds believe that water is in the Air around us”
I want to meet these Roylinds.
“Well, I can tell you that there most certainly water in the Air around us. However, is it involved in magic? I’m almost certain.”
Emery cast a large ball of water that hovers around his head. “I have always suspected as such, but really this much water surrounds us?” he asks while pointing at the ball of water increasing in size until it surrounds his whole body.
“Yes. It does vary though” Emery stops controlling the water as it splashes onto the snowy ground, before looking at me skeptically. “Sorry, but I am not quite convinced”
Staring at the large quantity of dissolving snow, a sense of doubt quickly flashes through me before I remember that I was unable to control methane until I produced enough of it. “you have a valid point, but I have another question to ask you as well. How do you know what Air magic does?”
Using fire magic, Emery heats the boots he just soaked before finally speaking giving a reply. “Well that one is obvious, the air moves when you use it”
Increasing my pace as it begins to hail, I try to think about the best way to demonstrate that he may be wrong. Finally deciding on a common example made by Peter Cathcart Watson called the 2-4-6 experiment. Turning around, I watch as Emery slowly catches up to me.
“Emery, I am going to write a rule in the snow. And you’re going to guess this rule by testing any triple of numbers, such as 2,4,6. If the triple follows the rule I will say ‘yes’ otherwise ‘no’.”
Manipulating the water in the snow below, the rule for the triplets is written but hidden from Emery’s view. Giving me an amused look, he eventually decides to play along. “So, I just have to give you three numbers, and you will tell me if they fit the pattern?” “yes”
“4,6,8”
“yes”
“12,14,16”
“yes”
“62,64,66”
“yes”
“Does it just increase by 2?” asks Emery
“Maybe” I answer only to see Emery’s face drop slightly.
“2,8,10”
“yes”
“1,2,4”
“yes”
“343,545,798”
“yes”
A smile appears on Emery’s face, clearly confident he has it right. “There is no rule, all numbers work”
“Nope” I can’t help but smile as Emery’s large brown eyes shoot open behind his glasses. ‘You did better than most, although I helped you a little. If it makes you feel any better, only one in five adults get it right.” Stepping aside the rule because visible for Emery to see.
Any real numbers that increase in value
“oh…” says Emery a few moments later.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Yes. What you committed was positive bias. In other words, you assumed a pattern and rather than trying to disprove it; you looked to confirm it. In fact, you committed it twice. The first when you assumed it to be n+2 and the second time, on your last guess.
In both cases, you should have immediately tried to disprove your hypothesis not confirm it. So, I’m going to ask you again; are you sure you know what Air magic does?”
Emery stays quite for several minutes while an icy Rohl village slowly comes into view. A certain sense of nostalgia overcomes me as I stare at the smoking chimneys of the Victorian era like village. It’s going to be sad, leaving this place.
“It’s that container, right? That big glass container you wanted me to take all the Air out of it, it is that one, correct?
Emery’s question pulls me back towards reality as I remember the conversation we are supposed to be having. “yes, but what’s the point in removing all the air?”
Emery lets out a sudden gust of winds that blows the surrounding snow adrift. “Because, If Air magic really only moves air; nothing inside the container should move. And if it does, I will be disproven. Still, I know Air magic like it’s a part of me. I highly doubt it does something else”
“Correct, but you should remember to never let our worldview interfere with science. It could be wrong after all”
“Science?”
“From the oxford dictionary: The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment”
“oxford dictionary?”
“Never mind. Just don’t assume you know how the world works” I guess I should have started there.
“the vacuum chamber has other uses though. Particularly, it’ll help us see if water magic is dependent on water in the atmosphere or not. Another one I want to test is how fire magic will react without oxygen”
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In the lab, a glass vacuum chamber sits on a desk, Emery using air magic to ensure it works correctly.
“Are you absolutely sure you removed all of it?” I ask as Emery as I see his face twitch in agitation. “Yes, yes, yes! For the last time, I removed all of it!”
Searching for spare parchment on my desk, I oversee the preparations to one of my most important experiments. Finding a few pages underneath my methane generation box, I scribble down the experimental process. Thankfully It’s just observational for now.
Vacuum chamber experiments
Background/Aim
Hypothosis
Experimental Procedure
Results
Experiment One:
Investigating the properties of water magic.
The origin of water magic, like all others it seems, is highly debated.
This experiment Aims to eliminate some of these arguments by determining the origin of the water used in water magic.
The origin of the water used, during the conduction of water magic, is already in existence both in the air and environment around the user.
Thus water should not form
Experimental subject 1, will attempt to create a ball of water within a Vacuum chamber.
Experiment Two:
Investigating the properties of Air magic.
Air magic appears to control the users surrounding atmosphere.
This experiment Aims to eliminate the possibility that Air magic can be used without air.
Air magic simply controls the surrounding atmosphere and nothing else.
Thus an object placed in a vacuum should not move.
Experimental subject 1, will attempt to create a gust of wind, inside a vacuum chamber, to blow over a thin wooden block
Experiment Three:
Investigating the properties of fire magic.
Fire magic seems to have no other explanation than fire will simply appear when commanded.
This experiment Aims to observe if this holds true in a vacuum.
Fire will appear in Vacuum chamber despite no source or fuel. Experimental subject 1, will attempt to create a ball of fire inside a Vacuum chamber.
Checking the setup once again, I tell Emery to stand exactly one metre away from the Vacuum chamber since I’m still uncertain of the effects of distance on magic.
“ok, let’s start” I say while listening to Emery’s chants to use water magic. My heart starts pounding as I nervously glare at the Vacuum chamber, I don’t expect anything to appear but I still feel nervous. 1.. 2.. 3..4. Nothing. Perhaps inappropriately I feel a sense of relief until I notice something strange.
“Lucy, something weird is happening!” shouts Emery as a small, almost transparent bubble of… something, begins to rapidly expand and contract inside the vacuum chamber.
“Don’t stop, let’s see what happens!” I reply excitedly, completely forgetting my previous hopes for nothing.
Small droplets of water begin to form around the outside of the Vacuum chamber. Though, none appear to form inside.
Eventually Emery is unable to keep going, the bubble dispersing immediately. “ha...ha….ha. what the hell was that?” asks Emery, kneeling down, regaining his breath. “I don’t know. But at least we discovered something new”
Writing down everything I saw, I realise a slight design flaw with my experiment. “Umm… Emery, could you by any chance open the vacuum seal?” Emery glares at me before getting back on his feet.
Several minutes’ pass before we finally manage to get the cap off using thermal expansion. “So, what are we testing next?” asks Emery as I place several old pieces of parchment into the chamber. “The one that’ll interest you the most as an Air mage”
Removing the air and resealing the chamber, Emery stands exactly one metre away from the chamber again. “So, I only need to use air magic inside the chamber, right?” Giving a small nod, Emery cast Air magic.
The paper within the chamber immediately flies against the container walls, appearing as if blown by a sudden gust of wind. Silently giggling at Emery’s shocked face, I record the results.
“But… how? There should be nothing in there!” shouts Emery after he regains his wits. “No, that can’t be possible. We studied Air magic for years, the results must be wrong!” Watching Emery’s denial, I can’t help but feel a little sympathetic. But ultimately facts are more important.
“You’re free to try again or question the methods, but I doubt it will change anything” After all, I truly believed that magic was impossible, even if it was in another universe.
minutes later and Emery is still blowing pieces of parchment around the vacuum chamber. “Common, give it up already. We need to start the final experiment”
Investigating if fire magic works within a vacuum was the reason I built the Vacuum chamber in the first place. Obviously, fire magic isn’t just plain fire since there isn’t really anything to oxidize. I know that I can generate heat and light separately by just imagining them, but I want to know what happens when someone tries to use a normal magical flame in a vacuum.
Removing all the parchment from the Vacuum chamber, Emery seems to take more care than ever in removing the air. “Ready” says Emery as he stands in his spot. “ok, just create a small flame at the centre”
An Intense ball of blue light appears within the chamber, creating an intense heat on my skin. Interesting, normally it’s red… “Emery, can you try making giving it more mana?”
Complying with my request, Emery starts chanting again. Wait, I never need to do that. A moment later the ball quickly changes from blue to violet. I wonder…
“Give it more mana!”
The ball disappears and the room is no longer illuminated in a deep violet hue. Emery appears surprised so I guess he’s still using fire magic, and judging by what I saw, I’m guessing the light’s in the low ultraviolet spectrum now.
“AHHHH!!!!”
An intense flash of heat overcomes me as I feel my skin start burn.
* Danger: Damaging UV levels detected.
* Immediate cellular repair initiated.
“STOP!!!!” I shout at Emery who collapses onto the floor, holding his hands to his face. The heat on my body increases rapidly as I run towards him; I attempt creating a wall of ice in front of the chamber, but nothing happens. What the hell is going on! “Emery, you have to stop it!!!”
“I can’t!”
Unable to drag Emery outside the door, I attempt the only thing that comes to my mind. “O Nir!” Shouting out the fire god’s name, I imagine a perfectly smooth electromagnetic field.
Unsure If it did anything, I attempt dragging Emery outside the hut again when the room abruptly flashes green and the heat disappears.
* Notification: Safe radiation levels detected.
Collapsing on the floor boards alongside Emery, feeling the rising and falling of my chest, I listen to his painful sobbing.
“…Lucy…are you hurt?” calls out Emery clearly still in pain. Slowly raising my arms, the image of healthy white skin comes into view. Thankfully I know my DNA’s stored within Simbrain. “yea… I’m ok”
“That is good” reply’s Emery, formal as always.
Gaining the energy to move, I roll over to see Emery’s red face. “You’re not though…” Emery tries to smile but winces in pain. “It’s nothing, some healing magic can’t fix” replies Emery now chanting healing magic. I hope he’s right, but what if it doesn’t heal DNA…
A white light surrounds Emery’s hands as he waves them across his face. He contorts in pain for a moment but degree redness on his face diminished extensively.
“Lucy, can we please not do this again?” asks Emery as he get to his feet, dusting his robes. I can understand his feelings… but that’s simply not what I want. “No, but I understand If you don’t want to be included”
Staring at me for a moment, Emery eventually lets out a sigh. “If you were a normal four-year-old, my life would be so much easier”
“Sorry. Still… at least you got to be part of history” I’m not quite sure what happened in the end though.
“I guess. Although, I never intended for such”
“That’s normal, most people don’t”
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Vacuum chamber experiments
Background/Aim
Hypothosis
Experimental Procedure
Results
Experiment One:
Investigating the properties of water magic.
The origin of water magic, like all others it seems, is highly debated.
This experiment Aims to eliminate some of these arguments by determining the origin of the water used in water magic.
The origin of the water used, during the conduction of water magic, is already in existence both in the air and environment around the user.
Thus water should not form
Experimental subject 1, will attempt to create a ball of water within a Vacuum chamber.
Created small ocilating tranparent bubble.
Condensation occured on outside of tank.
Experiment Two:
Investigating the properties of Air magic.
Air magic appears to control the users surrounding atmosphere.
This experiment Aims to eliminate the possibility that Air magic can be used without air.
Air magic simply controls the surrounding atmosphere and nothing else.
Thus an object placed in a vacuum should not move.
Experimental subject 1, will attempt to create a gust of wind, inside a vacuum chamber, to blow over a thin wooden block Paper moved despite lake of medium
Experiment Three:
Investigating the properties of fire magic.
Fire magic seems to have no other explanation than fire will simply appear when commanded.
This experiment Aims to observe if this holds true in a vacuum.
Fire will appear in Vacuum chamber despite no source or fuel. Experimental subject 1, will attempt to create a ball of fire inside a Vacuum chamber.
Increased mana leads to light of increasing frequency.
Also seems to have a runaway affect producing certain doom.