I sat on the couch, staring at a paw, lost in thought. Or rather, lost in a spiral of thoughts that didn’t really go anywhere. Ben sat down next to me, having called off work due to last night’s events. “How’s the shoulder?”
I gave a half-shrug, only moving the one that didn’t get shot. “It’s healing. Probably still take a couple days. Very sore and tender, but at least it’s not bleeding.”
“That’s good news, at least. A human would need extensive surgery to recover from a wound like that. Even with surgery, that’s still weeks of recovery time, probably. I was worried we’d have to sneak you in somewhere like a vet’s office.”
“Mmh.” I didn’t really respond at first. Sighing, I figured I should actually speak. “Doesn’t matter. Not after what I’ve done.”
Ben let out a long sigh. “You had to. He didn’t give you a choice.” Seeing me start to speak, he cut me off. “Not a real choice, you know that. Are you really going to tell me it would be more right to have let him kill me, kill you, get back to Terra, and kill countless mages with guns from Earth? When you could prevent that, like you prevented him from killing Lydia?”
I squirmed in my seat. It didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t really find a good way to counter his words. “That’s… that’s different. I didn’t kill him to save Lydia.”
“But you said basically that you refusing to show up would be the same as you killing her. Very Three Laws of you, really.”
Closing my eyes, I tried to let the memory come to the surface. “Three Laws… Something to do with… robots? …I can’t place it.”
Ben smiled at me, that way he always did when he thought he figured something out. “More things you know from Earth… A popular author writing about a future with robots came up with three Laws that all robots had to obey. Your rules about Constructs sound a lot like them. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” I nodded eagerly at that, but he continued instead of letting me talk. “But that falls into the trap of the Trolley Problem. You took an action to harm one person who frankly deserved it, in order to prevent harm to many more.”
Turning my head to look away, I let out another huff. “This world has names and sayings for just about everything, doesn’t it?”
“Well, we have had millennia of philosophers all trying to figure stuff out. We don’t have the benefit of having direct proof of the existence of souls, we had to start from scratch.”
I looked down at my paw again, remembering the glowing runes, and the bolts of fire. “But… how did I use magic?”
“That’s something I was hoping you could tell me. I mean, it was a great shot, you did really well, but… I thought you said you couldn’t.”
Standing up from the couch, I started pacing. I wished I had something to punch or kick or throw right then, the frustration making me want to lash out. “I can’t! I… I’m not supposed to! I don’t have a soul, but I… I keep…” I lost my momentum quickly, fire draining from my body. “I keep replaying that moment, over and over, and… Well, not just that moment. But the moment where I used magic, I was thinking about how Master would’ve done it. And… somehow, I did it.”
The silence hung in the air for a moment. “Well, we have a contradiction. You don’t have a soul. Magic requires a soul. You used magic. So, one of these three things is false, because it’s impossible for all of them to be true.”
“But… magic does require a soul. It requires power, and that power comes from a soul, a-and… and a soul to shape it, to channel… All of it! It’s an expression of a soul’s will to impact reality! No matter how you put it into words, it always comes down to a soul!”
He nodded again, solemnly, and stared at me intently. “That only leaves the last option: You have a soul.”
I knew he was going to say it, but it still made my heart drop into my stomach to hear it said out loud. Which is why I’d been avoiding doing so, this whole time. I tried to say some kind of rebuttal, but everything he said was clear. Finally, I sat back down on the couch. “Okay. Maybe. I must have… gotten one, somehow. Except that’s not a thing, either. Souls come into being when something is… when the spark of life ignites. It’s what creates the life force of a living being, what Master had to imbue me with using a massive amount of energy… It doesn’t make SENSE!”
He listened, but didn’t say anything at first. “I don’t know what to tell you. Just that you have a soul.”
I stared at my paws, finally looking up to him. “What does it feel like?”
“Huh?”
“To have a soul. If I know what it feels like, maybe I can… figure something out. Figure out when it happened. I don’t know.”
Ben looked amused at me, trying not to smile. “But it doesn’t… If there is any kind of sensation, how could I describe it? I’ve always had it, right? Every single human in history has had one. How could we even develop words to describe something that is so universal that we can’t comprehend its absence? So innate that we can’t even be sure it’s there at all? Why do you think we’ve struggled with the question of whether souls exist in the first place? We can’t feel anything specifically ‘soul-like’, we just… exist.”
It was exactly the answer I was hoping to not get. I collapsed back over the couch, letting my head hang to stare at the ceiling, and let out a deep groan. “Do you have any idea how much that doesn’t help? I don’t… feel any different! Not in any sort of… meaningful way!”
Ben’s hand rested on my knee. “Maybe you’ve always had a soul. Think about it. We ascribe qualities like compassion, creativity, empathy, willpower, drive, all of that to one’s soul. Qualities you’ve had this whole time. What proof did you ever have that you really didn’t have a soul?”
I raised a paw as if holding aloft a crystal ball that somehow had the answer, and then let it drop back to the couch. “Master tested me. He had me try to use magic, just in case. But it didn’t work, because you can’t use magic without a soul.”
He frowned a little. “He tested you. He told you. Your knowledge of this comes from the man who created you and told you that you didn’t have a soul.”
My head lifted and looked at him with a wary gaze. “Are you saying he lied?”
“I don’t know. There’s probably other possibilities. I don’t know enough to be able to say. Maybe the test was flawed, maybe you held back subconsciously, maybe there’s another factor… Does it matter how you got the soul? You have it now, do you need to know more?”
I crossed my arms across my chest, gripping my upper arms, despite the protest from my wounded shoulder. “…Yes. Because… if I’ve had this since I was created… then it means Master put it there. Master knew, this whole time. He took a soul, somehow, and used it to create me. I… I could be the product of murder. My entire life, my entire knowledge of Master, everything I am and have been, it could all be a lie.”
Ben grimaced deeply, lowering his head in deep thought. “That’s… That’s a lot. Yeah, I can see that being… important to know.”
I put my face in my paws. I couldn’t hold the tears back any longer. “I just wish I could talk to him… I miss him so much. He’s the only one who might know, he’s… I don’t know what to do. I haven’t known what to do this whole time, I’ve just been running around at random, and look where it’s gotten me!”
As if on cue, right as I said that, my phone rang. Fishing it out of the torn and dirty clothing from last night, I saw that the screen showed Lydia’s name. Popping out the stylus, I tapped the Accept Call button, then put it on Speaker. “L-Lydia? Is something wrong?” My voice was on the verge of breaking, but if Lydia was somehow in danger…
Her voice was unbothered. “Hey, girl, it’s already four o’clock! Where are you? I don’t think you’ve ever been late for a shift, but it’s been an hour.”
Ben and I exchanged a look, grimacing a bit. “S-sorry, I… I didn’t even notice the time. I… can’t come in today. I’m sorry.”
“Aw, come on, really? Why not?”
There was no way I could even try to talk to her about this. “Look, just… I can’t, okay? I don’t… I might not be able to work anymore. Something… happened. Something really bad.”
Her voice took on a caring tone. “Shit, really? Hey, c’mon, you can talk to me though, right? We’re friends?”
I flinched. Some friend I was. A murderer keeping such secrets… “I can’t. It’s… I don’t know how to… get into it, okay?”
“It’s not alien stuff, is it?” What? I looked over at Ben, confused.
Ben spoke up, raising his voice for the benefit of the phone’s microphone. “It’s not alien stuff, it’s just been a really bad night, and we’re still sorting things out, Lydia. I called out of work too. If we can tell you more, we will as soon as we can, okay?”
The voice over the phone gave an exasperated groan. “You better, you two! It’s getting real old, real fast.” Lydia ended the call angrily, and I stared at the device in my paw. I was tempted to crush it, just to make sure I didn’t have to talk to Lydia again. But I settled for putting it on the coffee table.
Ben stared at it. “We’re gonna have to think of something to tell her.”
I joined in, my eyes on the rectangle. “Not just her. That guy on TV, Lieutenant Falk. Seems like every time I turn around, he’s somewhere nearby.”
“And your friend, Zach. He’s probably going to want an answer at some point.”
Laying back, I groaned. “Maybe I should just give up, tell everyone the truth. Just… go out in public, answering questions, putting it all to rest.”
“Tempting, but blowing the lid on magic for the whole world? I can’t see that going well for anyone, especially us.”
I sighed again. “This world sucks.”
That evening, I was pacing around the house. Being so confined was torture, but what could I do? Maybe late at night, I could try to sneak out, but without my disguise, I ran the risk of being followed. I could lead someone back here, to Ben’s house. So I stayed put, flipping through TV channels fruitlessly.
The door finally opened, and Ben came inside. I immediately bounded over to hug him tight, regardless of my shoulder’s protests. “Welcome home!”
“Oof! Okay, hey…” He did hug back after a brief delay, patting my back, but he still seemed pretty uncomfortable. “Hey, it’s okay. You can let go now, Flopsy.”
It took me a moment to release the tension and pull back. “Sorry, I just… What if something happened? Like you got grabbed again?”
“Do you have any more cultists after you that would attack me to harm you? Any villains after the Superbunny that see me as your Lois Lane?” I tilted my head, the name giving me vague memories. These memories had been getting more frequent, more clear, the longer I spent here on Earth… “Never mind. Here, look, I got you something.” He held up a shopping bag. Reaching in, he pulled out a thick pink band, a new collar. It was a bit different than mine, made of some sort of woven material, incredibly thick and dense.
“A… a collar?” My ears were bright red, my tail flitting about behind me as my eyes darted from it to his face and back.
“Well, it’s not the same, but it’s something. You were complaining earlier about how strange it felt not to be wearing it, so I thought… Well, if you want to? You don’t have to, I just thought you might find it… I dunno, comforting?”
I took the band into my paws, the material stiff but pliable. My heart raced a little. Ben wanted me to wear his collar? I looked up at him again, trying to determine exactly what his intentions were.
He was looking pretty awkward himself, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. “I just thought maybe it’d help you feel a little better, if you had one. Even if it’s not THE collar, it’s still A collar, yeah? Even if it doesn’t have the same spells?”
The spells. Wait. I looked down at the band again. “That… That’s it! Oh, it just might work! I mean, in theory, it’s…” I noticed the look of confusion on Ben’s face. “I couldn’t possibly recreate the spells Master made for my collar, but… We could probably repair them! We could transfer them to a new collar, repair the damage… Imbue them into this one!”
“Wait, that’s a thing?” Maybe it was just my excitement catching, or maybe he was getting an understanding of magic. “That’d be great! How do we do it?”
I froze. “…Ah, um. I… I don’t know. I mean, I know the theories behind it, I know the concepts, but the actual… steps… Drat.” I started pacing, still holding the new collar. “If I could access Master’s books on enchanting, or any books…”
Ben sat down on the couch. “Yeah, but who would have books like that on Earth?”
There was someone… I jumped over the couch, which got a startled reaction from Ben as I landed heavily. But I landed right in front of the clothing I was wearing last night. Picking up the card I had, I held it aloft. “This guy! Locke! He’s been in the store a couple of times, and he had an enchanted item! He said he makes them, he’s gotta be able to help!”
“Wait, really? Can you trust him? …How much does he know?”
I grabbed my phone, sitting down on the chair. I began to dial. “Well, I’ve met him a couple of times, but he trusted me enough to show off the collar he made. I couldn’t really examine the spell in detail, but… Well, I’m sure he’ll know something. I don’t think I can trust him with the collar itself, but if I could borrow his books, maybe… I mean, since I can actually do magic… It’s something worth trying?”
Ben watched with a wary expression, but didn’t say anything as I began the call.
“Hello?” The tone was guarded. That made sense, he didn’t know my number.
“M-Mr. Dacolis? Um, Locke? This is Flopsy, from ‘Sparkle of Your Eye’. You gave me your card yesterday?”
The tone changed immediately, to a jovial welcome. “Of course! Were you able to find the gem I need?”
I winced. “Oh, ah, actually… I kind of ran into a problem, and haven’t been able to look. Actually, I wanted to ask your help.”
“My help? I came to you because you’re the one with connections.” The voice was more flat, bordering on annoyed.
“Yes, but… I was hoping maybe I could borrow some books on enchanting?” It wasn’t until I said it out loud that I realized what a tall order this would be.
Silence. “Books. You want… You realize what you’re asking? I mean, not only are you asking me to loan out something so valuable, but you’re asking me to help build up competition for my abilities.”
That last part caught me off-guard. “Competition?”
He chuckled. “Yes, allowing someone else to start making items of power, instead of buying them from me.”
“What if I promised I have no intention of selling any items? I just need to repair something of mine… Once that’s done, I can return the books. I swear, I’m not out to compete.”
More amusement in his voice. “I thought I sensed some magic coming from you. Well… Perhaps I can be persuaded. What I’d really like, is to be able to study something made by someone else.”
I grimaced. If I let him study the collar, he’d know my secret. “I… Hnnh… W-wait, my shoes! They’re enchanted too.”
“Those fetching boots of yours? I have to admit, they were quite unusual.”
I nodded, even though there was no way for him to know. “The horseshoes on them are enchanted. They’re what keep them comfortable to wear, keep me sure-footed, and protect me from… well, a lot. What if I let you study them, and hold onto them as collateral? They mean everything to me.”
Ben spoke up. “What, are you sure? That seems… kind of crazy. Wait, how are you even going to get them off?”
“Oh, I normally take them off once a month anyway. The magic keeps them from wearing out like normal iron would, plus they’re made of… special material.” I turned my attention back to the phone. “Please? I’ll… I’ll even track down that stone for you, for free.”
Another chuckle came from the phone. “You certainly sound desperate. Tell you what, you bring the shoes, I’ll bring the books, and if I like what I see, I’ll let you borrow them. How’s that sound?”
I looked up at Ben for a moment. “Um, I actually… Would it be all right if I sent my friend, Ben? I kind of… can’t… be there, right now.”
Locke’s voice took a bit of a cold edge for a moment. “A friend.” Then it warmed back up. “I suppose if they’re someone you trust that completely, then I’ll allow it, if you’re serious about that aquamarine. I might ask for other favors, we’ll see.”
Ben opened his mouth, but before he could get an objection out, I shouted. “Deal! When can you meet?”
“I could be at the store in about an hour. It’s still open, yes?”
“Until nine, yeah. It’s only six, so that’s plenty of time.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Locke’s voice took on an air of formal aristocracy. “Then I shall look forward to seeing… Well, your emissary, I suppose. Until then.” And the call ended.
Ben leaned against the counter at the crystal shop, holding a shoebox. Flopsy had given him the number of this mysterious gentleman, but hadn’t been all that helpful in actually describing him. “Smaller stature, dark hair” was about all the detail she could manage. She claimed humans “all looked the same” to her when he tried pressing her. So, he was stuck waiting. Lydia poked the box lightly. “What’cha got in there?”
“Shoes, believe it or not.” Ben smirked a little. “Flopsy is hoping to make a deal with some customer she met earlier.”
“And she couldn’t be here to do it herself?” Lydia tilted her head forward to fix him with a suspicious gaze. “And wait, you mean Flopsy actually took off those stupid boots of hers?”
“She couldn’t, and… sort of.” Ben opened the lid, pulling out the two orichalcum horseshoes and holding them aloft.
Lydia reached out and took one, turning it over to look at it closely. “There’s not a single mark on these. These aren’t hers.” She handed it back.
Ben set them back in the box. “I watched her pry them off myself. They’re the real deal.”
The two passed some time, with Lydia trying to extract details of what was going on, and Ben remaining evasive and stone-walling her. Finally, they were interrupted by Locke’s arrival, though he was alone. “Ah, pardon me?” Tucked under one arm was a large wooden case with metal bindings.
Ben looked over the newcomer. “Locke, I presume?”
“T’is I, yes.” Locke had a smirking smile, though he made no other move.
Looking over at Lydia, Ben’s lips went thin. “Uh, Lydia, would it be all right if we… used your back room for this? It’s kind of a private thing, I think?”
“Oh, hell, no. I gotta see what’s going on.” Lydia was eager to see what sort of trade was happening, especially with her store being the meeting point.
Sighing, he turned to Locke. “Is that… all right? We could go elsewhere?”
Fixing Lydia with a sidelong glance, he calculated for a moment. “They’re just books, right? No harm in letting her see books.”
“Well, if you’re sure.” Ben opened the lid again, holding the open box for Locke’s inspection.
Locke picked up one of the shoes, his eyebrows raised as he inspected it. Out of a pocket, he fished a jeweler’s eyepiece, bringing it up to look through it. What he saw made his eyes widen, taking a few minutes to look over the metal in detail. “Oh! Oh my. Oh my oh my. To be honest, when she… I didn’t expect…! Oh ho, yes… I think this would be adequate…”
Ben cleared his throat. “Now, those aren’t to be harmed at all, right? She’ll get them back just as she loaned them? Fully… intact and everything? If there’s so much as a sliver shaved off them, I’m sure she’ll be furious.”
“I wouldn’t dream of upsetting a lady like her. Especially one who walks around with, ah, things like this. Ahem.” Perhaps the implications of an enchantment to protect against impacts sank in, the spells that protected Flopsy from the impacts of her own strength during kicks.
Ben let Locke take the box. “And the books?”
Locke set his case on the counter, undoing the latches and lifting the lid. The velvet-lined interior safely nestled a quartet of ancient-looking tomes. “These should be what she needs. Of course, if I knew more about her… project, perhaps I could be of more assistance.”
Ben closed the lid. “Unfortunately, that’s up to her alone. Thank you for helping, though. You have no idea how much this means to her.” He held out a hand, and Locke shook it.
“I can only guess. Feel free to contact me when it’s time to arrange a return. I should be off, I have much to study after all.” Locke smiled, waving a farewell on his way out of the store.
With him gone, Ben let out a long sigh.
Lydia, meanwhile, finally spoke up. “So, antique books for horseshoes? Seriously, what’s going on?”
Resting a hand on the case, Ben sighed again. “I’d say ‘alien stuff’, but there’s no aliens. So, I’ll stick with ‘weird stuff’. Honestly, if you can keep yourself out of it, you should. I’m too wrapped up in it as it is.”
Her eyes were wide, looking at Ben with a look of apprehension. “Wait, I’m missing a night from… from not-aliens and Superbunny, and I’m not already wrapped up in it too?”
“Not yet. You’ve still got a chance to pull back. But it might be the last chance you have.”
A chill ran down her spine. She wasn’t used to hearing her friend talk that way, with a note of sadness in his voice. A note of pain. “…Are you all right? Do you need help, like, getting out of all this? Somehow?”
Ben looked up, surprised. “Oh. Well, no. I mean, on some level, I wish I’d never gotten mixed up in all of this, just been my quiet, normal life, you know? But… No, I don’t want to get out, I think. I’m in it, so I’m here to stay. I won’t abandon Flopsy, especially when she needs friends the most.” He was thoughtful, almost serene as the words came out.
“You like her, huh?” The question was devoid of the teasing that would normally be there.
It took a moment for Ben to answer. “I… She’s… She’s a friend. We’ve… What we’ve been through… I don’t know. I mean, I know what you mean, but she’s… We’re friends. We’re close friends. I don’t think there’s going to be anything… romantic there, since you ask.”
Lydia shook her head. “All right. Just… be careful, all right? And when you are ready to tell me… Please do, okay? I mean it.”
“I promise, as soon as I can, I will.” Ben left the store, leaving Lydia to contemplate everything that was said.
With Ben back home, I was eagerly reading through the books. The cover proclaimed them “A Treatise on Infusing Enchantments”, or at least the first four volumes of it. It would take time to go through these, but they promised to be incredibly helpful. I grabbed some paper and a pen to be able to take notes, and Ben helped by bringing food and snacks for the long study session. He also helped by letting me try to explain things to him, since if I could understand it well enough to explain, then that meant I likely understood what was being told. Of course, without being a mage himself, there was a good chance he’d miss some crucial question, but it was what we had to work with.
Minutes stretched into hours, hours stretched into days and nights. Most of the first volume was focused on the theory behind imbuing items with spells, but it also included a spell meant to let you study in detail what an item held. The book recommended infusing it into an item like a spyglass when you could, but for now I could use it by itself.
The trouble was the way my heart raced when I thought about intentionally using magic. What if the fight had been a fluke? Some kind of divine intervention? Some latent thing buried within me and forgotten? A hallucination entirely? No, Ben saw it, and Malik had reacted. But still, I hadn’t actually worked up the nerve to try using magic again since that night. If I was serious about going through with this, I’d have to push through that. I wouldn’t be able to deny having a soul, whatever that meant.
In preparation, I had copied the spell from the book onto paper, writing it down a few times to practice the runes and solidify them in my mind. Finally, with a deep breath, I set the ruined collar on the table and put my paws together. My mind screamed at me that this wouldn’t work, that it couldn’t work, that I was a fool for trying, or getting my hopes up… But I closed my eyes and focused purely on the runes themselves. I had watched Master do this countless times, but it was still so different to do it myself. Under my breath, I recited each one, and when it was done, I spread my paws. Looking through the gap between them, I was amazed at what I saw. The runes visible on the inside of the band were but a fraction of the true spells.
I had activated them enough times that I had a pretty good grasp intuitively of what they were. Even though I wasn’t the one casting them, my energy had still flowed through those runes. And I was there when the spells were created, I assisted Master with them, so it wasn’t completely alien to me. In fact, the damage seemed to be… minor? When Malik attacked it, he had essentially caused a single rune to burn itself out, so the vast majority of the spell was intact. Not only that, but it was only the spell that let me change my shape, my Nowhere spell was completely intact, though I still couldn’t use it without being able to wear the collar.
I spent several minutes just examining everything in awe. Actually seeing everything like this, it was incredible. Like seeing a clockwork marvel after becoming fully versed in how every piece functioned, seeing the entire ballet of moving parts.
Ben likely noticed my expression, as when I finally put my paws back together and dismissed the spell, he was watching me patiently. “So, good news?”
I nodded, a smile spreading wide across my muzzle. “Good news. I… I really think this will work! But… But I’m worried. Enchanting an item is one thing, but moving it from one object to another… I might only have one chance at this.”
“Risky.” He frowned, looking at the spread notes and the books, and back to me. “What happens if something goes wrong?”
Sighing, I set the book back into its protective case, pulling out the next tome in the series. “In the process, the old collar… The spell might be destroyed. The collar itself might be too. If it doesn’t take in the new collar, then it’ll be lost.”
“No chance to… re-create it? Or copy it somehow, before we do that?”
I shook my head. “I can… understand it, I can fill in the missing pieces, but the actual, entire spell? That’s a bit beyond me. If I had, say, several months to study the appropriate books, I might be able to reach that level of understanding, but I have neither time nor tomes.”
Ben nodded grimly. “I was afraid that’s what you were going to say. What do we do? Do we try to get this Locke guy’s help after all?”
“I want to try to create a practice item, I think. If I can do that, and it goes well, then I think I should be able to handle this myself. It’s too risky to let anyone know exactly what this collar does. My secret would be out in no time.” Not to mention the idea that they could be used for evil, if they became widespread. The ones on my shoes were simple enough that I didn’t see them as a risk.
“A practice item, huh? Got something in mind?” He watched me flip through pages, jotting down notes. I didn’t have to speak to answer, as I was already sketching out a bracelet.
I didn’t want to be rude, though, so I still did tell him. “Yeah, I was thinking of something like this… Might need to have it custom-made, though. But the gems are ones we have at the store, and they won’t be that expensive.”
“I think there’s a jewelry shop downtown, I could ask there.” Ben started looking things up on his phone.
I looked at my crude drawing. “I might need to be there to explain what I need… but I can’t disguise myself. Even with a cloak or something, having a conversation isn’t going to work… Hopefully they’ll be willing to work with the Superbunny, I suppose.”
Looking me over, he nodded. “I’ll call and see if I can book a late appointment, maybe something after-hours.”
Something about the place had felt familiar. I was wearing a heavy coat with a hood, the closest thing we had to a concealing cloak, while Ben knocked on the door. Eventually, an older man answered, unlocking it and letting us inside. He looked familiar too, like I’d seen him before. Maybe at the store?
Ben started the conversation. “Thank you so much for agreeing to this, I know it’s an imposition. Believe me, if I could have done this normally, I would.”
The man shrugged. “Eh, it’s all right. Why all the secrecy, though? And what’s with the getup?” He gestured at me before crossing his arms.
I took that as my cue. Slipping the hood back, my ears sprang upright, and then I shrugged the coat off, setting it aside. It was nice to be free of it, the garment was oppressively warm. “The secrecy is my fault, I’m afraid. I’m a bit limited when it comes to visiting places.”
Not bothering to hide his surprise, the jeweler’s eyes were wide. “Holy moly! You… You’re the Superbunny!”
Ben cleared his throat. “Yes. I hope that’s all right? If not, we can leave, if you’d rather not do business with us…”
“Are you kidding? She’s a hero! She saved my store, she saved my niece, she’s been all over town helping out! I’d be glad to help out! But what could you need from me, er, miss?”
Now I remembered where I’d seen him, it was from TV. “Oh! That’s right, this is the store where those men were breaking in, isn’t it? With the prybars, and the one with the gun whose arm I broke. That was almost a week ago, wasn’t it? But there wasn’t anyone else there, was your niece inside?”
“Nah, nah, you saved her about a month back, from a group of muggers. Back when nobody knew about you yet. Huh, you really do have hooves!” He was looking me up and down, and I felt a little self-conscious. Without my collar or my horseshoes, I suppose technically I was completely naked.
I shifted my weight a little, not quite squirming. “Um, y-yeah, I’m a hoofbun. What I need is a bracelet, but one that’s got a custom design.” Digging through the coat pockets, I pulled out the papers where I had drawn it and handed them over.
Unfolding them, the jeweler looked them over, eyebrows raised. “Huh. I mean, I can do it, yeah, but why? I don’t get it. What’s so important about a bracelet like this? And these… what are they, some kind of runes? And it says you want them filled with… ruby dust? But they’re on the inside?”
I nodded. “Yes. Have you… never made a magic item before? I mean, I know my friend said there’s not much magic in this world, but surely you’ve been asked to make at least one, right?” Ben slapped his palm against his face, which means I probably said something strange.
The jeweler was giving me an odd look. “Magic? ‘This world’? Is this some kinda prank? I mean, really?” He was looking to Ben for confirmation.
Ben let out a soft sigh. “No prank. She’s not an alien, she’s from something like a parallel universe. But yeah, magic is real, and that’s not a costume. I… hope I don’t have to explain how much we’d really like you to not spread that information around.”
The man’s eyes widened even more, looking at me as fear and curiosity battled within. Eventually, I suppose my record spoke in favor of helping me, and he nodded. “All right. It’s not every day I can help some kind of real-life superhero. It’s gonna be expensive to get that much gold together, though. I’ll do it at cost, since you helped me and my niece out, but I still gotta pay for materials, you know?”
Ben grimaced a little. “How much?”
Meanwhile, I pulled my ruined collar out of a coat pocket. I didn’t want to leave it behind, and I had an idea. “I might be able to supply the gold.” Wrapping it around my wrist, I held the ends of the band together. With my free paw, I reached into the Nowhere.
But it burned, badly. The magic trying to go through the broken leather wasn’t flowing properly, and the energy seared my skin. Pulling out quickly, I had retrieved a leather pouch that I was after, but was left hissing in pain as a band around my wrist was raw and red, the fur burned off and the skin damaged. I waved it through the air to cool it off, and it dulled to a stinging, throbbing sensation.
Ben yelped at the sound. “What the heck was that? Fl–Superbunny?”
Gritting my teeth, I retrieved the dropped collar and sighed. “I thought I could use that part of my collar, since that spell wasn’t damaged. I just… didn’t know it would do that. But I did get what I was after.” I held up the coin pouch.
Ben gave me a stern look. “Did you know it COULD do that?”
I grimaced a little, giving a sheepish grin. “Well… I mean, there was the chance… That’s why I put it around my wrist instead of my neck.” Opening the pouch, I pulled out ten Sovereigns. “If you melt these down, would they be enough?”
The jeweler had watched with wide eyes at the entire process. “You just… You pulled that out of nowhere! Are these real gold? What coins are these?”
“My collar has a spell that lets me store and retrieve things, but it was damaged during a fight recently. So yeah, I pulled them out of my Nowhere. They’re the coins of my homeland, gold Sovereigns. The emblem on the pouch was the personal seal of my Master, it showed that I acted on his behalf for things like picking up orders. I can’t really use them here, so I just kept them stored, but if they can come in handy here, it’s worth giving them up. I’d be happy to let you keep a couple extra, as souvenirs? Maybe one for you and one for your niece?”
He was examining them, almost dumbfounded, nodding. “Oh, uh, yeah, sure! Wow, so you weren’t kidding about that whole magic thing, huh? That’s a neat trick, but are you gonna be okay? That’s a pretty nasty-looking burn you got there.”
I smiled and waved dismissively at the air. “Oh, it’s fine. I’ve healed from far worse. I’m just glad I didn’t lose one or both of my paws into the Nowhere! That would’ve taken forever to heal.”
Ben coughed, eyes wide. “Superbunny, no, parts don’t grow back. If you lose something, it’s gone.”
I tilted my head a little. “Really? Humans don’t heal like that? I lost a finger when I was fighting the gryphon, but it grew back over a fortnight. I thought I just healed faster than you, I didn’t realize you… Well, no worries. I got the gold out, and no real harm was done, I just won’t do it again.”
After that, we spent some time going over the details of the design. Once everything was finalized, the jeweler had only one question left. “So, uh, what size do you want it to be?”
I smiled. “I’d like it to fit my friend, please.”
Ben looked at me. “Wait, what? Me?”
“Oh yes, I was making it for you, after all.” I smiled again.
“That’s news to me. Okay, fine. Uh, I guess measure me?” Ben submitted his hand for measurements, and the jeweler nodded.
“Okay, that’s all I need then. I’ll rush this for you, and give you a call, probably tomorrow.”
With that, I got the coat back on, and we were on our way home.
The next evening, I had everything prepared. The bracelet was flawless, and I had Ben purchase three small rubies from the Special Stock at the store. Since they were for me, Ben only had to pay Lydia’s half of the value, and I simply wouldn’t get anything for the sale. With them affixed in the settings, the bracelet was ready.
We did the work in the garage, since it had a smooth concrete floor for me to draw on. With the circle prepared, I double-checked all the runes, and then set the bracelet in the center. “This is it… If this works… I can hardly believe I’m really doing all this. Last week, I would’ve said this is impossible, and yet here I am…”
Ben watched, leaning against a wall to stay out of the way. “Life changes fast. Before I met you, I ‘knew’ magic didn’t exist. Last week, we ‘knew’ you didn’t have a soul. Who knows what we’ll learn next?”
I nodded, the weight of it still bearing down on me. But no sense avoiding it. I placed my paws on the edge of the circle, the Start and End runes for the design, and began to “push” my energy into it. The runes glowed as they activated, a light that began to focus on the bracelet, and especially the runes on the inside. Magic energy infused into the metal and ruby, far more than I’d ever expended before. It was similar to when I’d really pushed myself with my strength, or a magnified version of the drain I felt when using my collar, but so much more intense. I didn’t want to give up, though. I kept pushing, and finally I felt the burden lift. As the glow faded, I could relax, catching my breath. After a moment, I stood up.
Ben’s eyes were wide, watching as the light disappeared. “Is… is that it? Did it work?”
I smiled, stepping over the runes and retrieving the bracelet. Holding it aloft and looking it over, I nodded. “Yep. Here you are.” I handed it to Ben, gesturing for him to put it on.
Instead, he just looked at it in his hands. “So, what does it… do?”
I grinned proudly. “I infused it with the spell I used against Malik. That fire bolt spell, but repeated. As you wear it, the gems will charge with your energy, and each gem holds enough power to use the spell once. The more you practice with it, the faster you’ll be able to charge it, until you don’t even need to charge it in advance.”
His eyes were wide, almost in horror. “Wait, that… what’d you call it? ‘Flaeli’? Do I have to shout that to make it go?”
“Well, you don’t have to shout anything, no. Having a word like that can help you sort of… direct it. Like shouting when you throw a punch, it’s more about your own focus than anything else. I just picked that because… I don’t know, maybe I remember it from somewhere.”
He was still looking at the bracelet like it was going to burst into flames. “And you want me to… wear this? Have that kind of power?”
I wasn’t sure what the issue was. “Well, yeah. I want you to be able to defend yourself, if something happens. Malik might be dead, but what if we run into something else and I’m not there? What if a bandit tries to mug you, or someone finds out about us and goes after you the way Malik went after Lydia? Or anything? This way you can be safe even if I’m not there!”
Ben took a deep breath as he slipped the bracelet on, wincing as if he expected something to happen, but nothing did. The three rubies remained dark. They’d need time to charge, after all. “So what… happens now?”
“Now, you have to attune yourself to it.”
He looked at me with an incredulous look, but sighed and shook his head, looking down at the bracelet. “Okay, how?”
I thought of the best way to explain it. “Well, you know how if you wear something long enough, it sorta becomes a part of ‘who you are’? Like glasses, or a ring? It’s like that, but with a magic item, you can do it a lot faster. Close your eyes, and feel your energy flowing through your body. The energy comes from within, and goes into your arms and legs, and comes back. Once you can feel that, try to ‘push’ it into the bracelet, incorporate that into your ‘flow’. You should be able to feel it when you get it.”
Ben closed his eyes, taking deep breaths, and after a moment, opened them to blink in surprise. “Wait, I think… Huh. Yeah, it’s like… It feels like it’s just natural to have it there. It just kinda clicked.”
I smiled, clapping my paws together. “See? Easy! Now you just wait for it to charge, and we can try it out.”
He looked at the bracelet with a leery expression. “How long does that take? And how do I know it’s not going to… go off by accident?”
Tilting my head, I looked at him. “Accident? How do you accidentally use magic? It’s an act of will, you will your energy into the item and activate it. It takes… focus, active thought, will. I mean, it’s like ‘accidentally’ writing words on paper.”
Ben seemed to relax quite a bit at that. “Oh, that’s… That’s good. I was worried I was going to set it off in my sleep and wake up in a burning bed or something.”
“No, no. It’s a lot more involved than that. And… I don’t know how long it takes. Everyone channels magic power at a different rate, recovers it over time… The more you do it, the better you get at it, so if you keep practicing, it’ll go faster. Like I said earlier. It could be ready to use tomorrow, or it might take a few days. Depends on you.”
He held it up, running a finger over the rubies on the side. “I’m in no rush.”
I gave him a big hug, making sure not to squeeze too tightly. I was just so excited.