Chapter 105 The Bond Barrier
Over a day later, Evernya awoke from her coma back in her bed. She sat up but immediately fell back down onto the bed as the room spun from her brain pounding migraine. She clenched her eyes shut while rubbing her temples, but it did nothing to help.
“You are lucky a temporary headache is your only issue after what you did. You nearly caused brain damage with how long you used your magic without a break! You scared Aya so much that she overcame her fear of me and woke me up.” An Angry elf reprimanded, causing a groan from the sensitive shifter.
Without giving her kitten a reprieve, Meira continued, “Without training, you cannot go hours nonstop without breaks, especially you. So from now on I will supervise your training until you can prove you can train without causing yourself harm. One of the most common causes of Psion injuries is over-training, which can cause severe damage to the brain.”
Evernya tried to apologize to Aya but found a telepathic brick wall blocking her, causing her to panic until she sensed Aya was fine and nearby.
“That doesn’t feel too good, does it? Think about how she felt when you were essentially slow cooking your body.” Meira commented, seeing Evernya’s panic.
“I really fucked up, didn’t I? I didn’t mean any harm. I just wanted to figure it out so badly.” Evernya muttered, teary-eyed.
Unable to continue reprimanding her sobbing kitten, Meira assured, “Give her some time, she will be fine. She’s busy destroying what remains of my yard you pulverized to blow off steam. Between the two of you, my poor yard never stood a chance. I wanted to go back to a more natural look instead of the trimmed grass for the last few years, so I guess this finally forces me to do it. That or go for the battlefield look that you two have been designing.”
Evernya continued to prod their telepathic connection, but found Aya’s barrier impenetrable. For the first time, she realized how much she relied on their connection in the short time they had known each other. Overcome with loneliness, Evernya broke out in sobs.
Meira hugged Evernya as Aya weakened her barrier to send warm feelings.
After a couple minutes of sobbing into Meira’s chest, Evernya calmed down. Meira continued to rub Evernya’s back as the last hiccups of sobs escaped.
“It’s okay. She isn’t mad at you. She just needs some alone time. She was by your side until just before you woke up. She wouldn’t budge until Elizabeth came over to make sure you were all right.” Meira encouraged, before giving Elizabeth’s report. “Elizabeth found some rapidly diminishing minor swelling in your brain and moderate mana vein overload, but after a couple of hours, the swelling dissipated. She stayed until late last night to ensure everything was all right.”
Evernya remained silent but was noticeably calmer, laying her back against the headboard of her bed, stroking her tail.
“So, what were you trying to do? Maybe I can help.” Meira inquired, to change the subject.
With a sour expression, Evernya explained in-depth her failures at sliding herself with her physics aberration active.
After her kitten’s explanation, Meira stared at her in shock for a few seconds before exclaiming, “Wow, I would hardly call that a failure! I have heard of abilities with similar characteristics to yours though less all right blocking physics. The glissade family has a racial or bloodline trait that causes them to excrete a corrosive lubricating liquid from their skin. Young members have to wear special clothing to counteract the liquid or they will slide uncontrollably.”
I’m so glad I didn’t inherit something like that, though I bet once they gain control of it could be pretty useful. At the very least, they are immune to road rash.
“To me, it’s a failure because I failed to accomplish what I wanted to do. Unlike that family, I can negate the effects with my own mana, but I failed. If I can’t accomplish something this simple, there is no way I could use physics aberration in combat.” Evernya grumbled.
Meira fell silent for a minute in thought before she revealed. “It will take a lot of practice, but I think I can help you, so don’t give up. One of my favorite hunting techniques, which I call feather step may help. If done right, it can also give an extra spring in your step, allowing for faster movements and lessened friction with the ground. Air magic works a little different but I should be able to give you some advice when you’re well enough to train again.”
“I’m well enough now, so let’s figure this out,” Evernya announced, throwing the covers off her legs, but Meira stopped her.
Meira forced her kitten down with a gust of wind before blowing the covers over her prone body. While staring down at her kitten daring her to defy her, Meira ordered, “You are not going anywhere, nor are you allowed to use magic for at least two days per doctor’s orders. You need to rest and get your feeding schedule back to normal. You fried yourself twice in less than a week. Please give your poor head a break. If you were a human, you would probably at the very least have brain damage right now. You won’t be able to achieve your goals if you destroy yourself in the process. Besides, you have some reading to do. Aya has already read most of the books I gave you two, so you need to catch up. She is a fast reader, especially considering the ring translating the books slows things down. We will find out next week if she has a memory like you do when we begin practical survival lessons.”
Evernya opened her mouth to argue but her migraine made itself known, causing her to clench her eyes shut to shut out the spinning room..
“Here’s your breakfast. I will be back later to give you lunch.” Meira announced after materializing multiple jugs of smoothies on Evernya’s bed.
“Wouldn’t it be easier for me to carry my meals now that I have a storage device?” Evernya inquired while keeping her eyes closed despite her hunger displayed by her descended fangs.
“It would, but someone has to make sure you eat enough,” Meira replied.
“At least give me some extra smoothies if you’re going to put me under room arrest,” Evernya begged.
“I already did. I gave them to Aya in case she needed a snack. I’m sure she will leave some for you.” Meira replied.
Evernya checked her storage band and found over a dozen two liter dozen smoothies. She materialized a smoothie in her hand as a test, but frowned when she felt the jug. “Why is it warm?”
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“What do you mean? I always cool them before storage. Maybe Aya had her flames too close to that one.” Meira questioned.
In rapid succession, Evernya made each jug appear in her hand before returning them. “They are all at least room temperature.”
“How is that possible? All storage devices hold items in stasis.” Meira questioned.
“Well, something is up. Maybe my mother did something.” Evernya commented.
“Drink your breakfast. I’ll be right back!” Meira ordered as she sprinted out of the room.
Evernya just finished her second smoothie when an excited elf returned carrying a large bag. The entire bed violently shook when Meira dropped the bag onto the bed. She spread out dozens of tools at the foot of the bed, most of which Evernya didn’t recognize. Meira poked through the tools until she grabbed a five centimeter-wide adjustable band from a pile of similar bands of varying sizes. She stalked toward the worried shifter, who pressed her back firmly against the headboard.
“Be a good kitty and let me put this around your neck.” Meira teased as she closed in on her prey.
“D–do I have a choice?” The cornered shifter questioned.
“Nope.” Meira denied.
With a swift attack, Meira wrapped the band around the sluggish girl’s neck. Evernya gave up fighting Meira as she tightened the band down, completely covering her slave band. Once satisfied with the fit, she pulled out her tablet and poked on it for a few seconds.
Evernya then felt a familiar scanning sensation on her neck, but this soon turned into an almost painful burning. A second later, the band exploded off of Evernya’s neck in pieces, shooting off in random directions, bouncing harmlessly off walls and furniture.
Meira dropped her smoking tablet to the floor before making it disappear into her storage ring, which then began to heat up. Meira immediately withdrew the tablet again and shot it out the window toward the lake.
They heard a loud explosion outside, followed by a surprised shriek. Both women dashed to the window to see the damage. Next to a small crater was a freaked Kitsune, sitting on her ass with all six tails puffed up and sticking straight out. Seeing Aya was okay, they retreated out of sight before she recovered. Evernya’s migraine reasserted itself, forcing her to stumble onto her bed and chug another smoothie.
“It seems your mother left a nasty surprise. Luckily I always backup everything, so I didn’t lose any data.” Meira commented.
“Let’s not do that again. I don’t think she could handle another surprise like that.” Evernya said between mouthfuls of her smoothie.
“Well, you never know what will happen when your mother tinkers with things, but I won’t try something like that again,” Meira assured.
“If whatever you are trying to do caused such an explosive reaction, what about going through the scanner at portal stations?” Evernya questioned.
“That’s fine. Neither Aya’s nor yours caused an issue when we brought you back here.” Meira replied.
“Every one of my so-called mother’s gifts has hidden surprises. I’m starting to wonder if they really were gifts.” Evernya commented.
“Well, I have to agree on her anti-tampering methods being a bit extreme, but it’s better than the alternative, though there isn’t much anyone can do since it is part of you.” Meira agreed.
Evernya’s eyes fluttered as she felt a nap calling her. “Are we done? I am tired.”
“Just one simple test left, then I will leave you be,” Meira assured as she poked through her tools again.
She picked up a small gray cube about the size of her palm, then materialized a new tablet. She linked them together, then handed the cube to Evernya. Evernya grasped the cube while cringing, expecting the worst.
“Please put the cube inside your storage device if you feel anything bad happen, immediately withdrawal it,” Meira instructed.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Evernya questioned.
“No, but this test is less invasive than the last one. Before I was trying to collect information on the enchantment itself, this time I want to find out what’s going on inside. If it’s a regular storage device, I will get nothing back because everything is in stasis, but I have a feeling that’s not the case.” Meira explained.
Evernya stored the device and went back to drinking her smoothie while Meira gathered her other tools. After Evernya finished her fourth smoothie and Meira had all her tools tucked away in her bag, Meira had Evernya withdrawal the cube.
Meira’s eyes widened at the information displayed on her tablet. “How the hell is this possible!? This isn’t a storage device, it’s a true dimension! It has breathable air with gravity and a comfortable temperature of twenty degrees celsius! There is even time in the dimension, though it is moving three times faster! My cube wasn’t even able to measure its size, so at the very least it spans kilometers! Why would your mother give you something as extreme as this? Even someone like your mother probably couldn’t make something like this on a whim.”
“Wait, I have a world in my black band!?” Evernya exclaimed, hands touching her neck.
Her kitten’s question prompted a lecture, “Not in your band, more like your band connects to this dimension. Remember when I explained storage devices? The enchanted item links this world with another blank dimension. To make a storage device, I need to first buy access to a dimension. The bigger the dimension, the further away it has to be from our dimension, which makes it significantly harder to create and connect to. A dimension of this size would require an astronomical amount of mana to create and link to.”
“I don’t even want to think about how much a livable dimension would cost to make,” Evernya commented.
“Livable or not, it is impossible to transport a living being with its own mana system into one of these dimensions. Many have tried for various reasons such as smuggling creatures into a city, but every time it fails, usually with the storage device exploding or the creature dying before completing transport.” Meira revealed.
Meira paused while multiple questions go through her head but shook her head stating, “as much as I would love to study your dimensional storage, I think it would be best if I held off until I had a better safer plan. I’m going to get back to my enchanting backlog.”
“Oh yeah, if I am under room arrest you better take these to the fridge for me.” Evernya requested, just before Meira left the room.
She withdrew all the warm smoothies stored in her dimensional storage as Meira replied, “I can, but the lack of stasis probably ruined them already. Mana content doesn’t last long unpreserved like in my fridge, which has enchantments to slow down mana loss.”
Evernya tasted one of the small smoothies before chugging it. “Nevermind these are staying in my dimensional storage. Whatever is going on in there makes these delicious, though I prefer them cold.” Evernya announced after re-storing the smoothies.
“Interesting, so the dimension has mana as well, and a lot of it,” Meira commented.
“Apparently so. That smoothie, despite being warm, was more delicious than it usually is.” Evernya agreed.
Unable to resist her self she took out another small smoothie and chugged it. “It would be awesome if I could keep these cold. Is it possible to store a functioning fridge in there?”
After taking a second to think, Meira replied, “It would need its own power supply but yes, it should be possible.”
Evernya perked up at the idea. “Sweet, we will have to go buy one of those next time we go shopping.”
Just as curious if it will work, Meira offered, “We could get one when we go into town for your driving test and Aya’s test. I have those scheduled for this Friday so we will not have any distractions for your survival training starting on Monday.”
“I thought you left this week as self study and training?” Evernya questioned.
“It was until I remembered what day I made those appointments,” Meira replied, shamelessly.
“Will she be ready for that? Only a couple of days ago, she was panicking at just the mention of going to college with me. It’s only three days until then that isn’t much time to get her ready.” Evernya questioned.
With little worry, Meira answered, “She should be fine. Her test is fairly simple. They just want to make sure she mentally stable, which from what I can tell she is.”
“I don’t know, it would require her to speak out loud, which she seems to have issues with.” Evernya fretted.
“She’s fine. We were talking earlier. Her Sespinian needs some work, but she is understandable.” Meira revealed.
“What about her habit of speaking in third person?” Evernya questioned.
“She wasn’t speaking in third person, though she had a few slips-ups so I think she is trying to speak normally,” Meira replied.
“I’m glad she is adjusting and is opening up to you,” Evernya said while smiling toward the open window.
“After your latest incident, she seems to have grown to at least tolerate me. Anyway, I better get going, remember no magic.” Meira announced before rushing out of the room before they got caught in another conversation.