August 13, 491 U.C.
Time is a fickle thing. Even if you ignore relativity, Earth’s rotation and Vuln’s rotation don’t line up, prompting a debate that lasted years.
Like many time-related choices, our ancestors made a mess of it. And that is why my clock said that it was two in the morning, even though it was sunny outside.
I watched the timer next to it while I stirred. Vials, test tubes, and beakers sat around me. I reached out and took a scoop of red powder that was ground from roots. Slowly, I added it to the steaming beaker in front of me.
The color of the potion shifted to red. Carefully reaching out, I picked up an eyedropper with some sap in it. I added a single drop. The white droplet swirled and left streaks. Stirring, I began incorporating it while a bead of sweat appeared on my head.
“Let’s do something fun!” Ela said. Her avatar was sprawled out on my desk. She slapped her fake hand against the desk.
“That desk isn’t even real to you!” I thought back, stirring away the white.
“So what?!” She flopped her arms. “This is boring!”
I reached for an eyedropper with water. “I have to make this potion.” Then I added it.
“Just join the guardians! I could get you classes on it.” She swatted at a pencil. Then she kicked at a beaker.
“Or you could tell me to speed this along.” I carefully reached over and added a millimeter of crushed bone. It seemed gross to me, but it was on the recipe.
Ela huffed, sending her silver hair flying. “I can’t. Just go to command already.”
“Then you can suffer!” I continued to stir. A smell, like dandelion tea, rose through the air. It was a marked improvement over the usual smell.
Ela sat up and crossed her arms. “Where are your friends? I need someone else to talk to. Maybe they can talk sense into you.”
“Mean!” I flushed and turned back to the steaming potion. I continued stirring while hoping it would work.
“Come on! Let’s do something fun!” Ela said, standing. She twirled her white dress as she walked forward.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Sign up for the guardians! Then you can use the portal! We can visit Earth! I can meet the other familiars. And we can go sightseeing!”
“No!”
Ela groaned and stomped her feet. “This is the worst! I should be gloating with the other familiars! Instead, I’m stuck here being all quiet. I can’t tell anyone anything. It must change!”
“Help me out then.”
“Yay!” Ela’s smile lit up my display, bathing it in golden light. “Just sign here.” She held out a paper; the text appeared on the screen.
I rapidly closed it and continued monitoring my first real shot at finishing the potion. “Stop that! Help me. I’m not joining.”
“Casey!” Ela groaned audibly and fell back on the desk with a whump.
This work was stolen from Magical Girl Platinum on Royal Road. Please message me there.
“Play a game.” I pulled up a puzzle game.
“Gah! Get rid of that!” Ela closed it. “We need to save people and talk to other guardians and other familiars!”
“Nope.”
“Mean. Mean magic girl!”
I stuck my tongue out at her and turned back. Then I turned my focus back. I was so close. Carefully adding the final ingredient, a ground seed, I began weaving my magic into the beaker. Similar to enchanting, I began forming a pattern inside of the liquid.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“Stir, stir, stir.” Ela flew over and peered into the vial, which was all sorts of distracting. She poked her head in; my glass rod went through her avatar.
“Stop that!” I barked.
“Help! Call command!” she proclaimed and fell inside with a dramatic splash.
For a moment, I thought she’d fallen in and ruined my potion. “Stop that!”
Ela fluttered out and landed on top of the vial. Then her outfit shifted.
Picking up the red fluid, I poured it into a vial and corked it. Then I waited with bated breath, ignoring the little devil who was kicking at the vial. The seconds passed with an agonizing slowness as I waited.
“It’s done! Can we go now?” Ela asked, flying out over the desk.
“Did it work?”
“Yes. Let’s go!” Ela groaned.
I smiled triumphantly and plucked it from the desk. My smile grew with every moment that the vibrant red stayed vibrant red. After a minute, I was positively giddy. In a triumph, I set it down and spun in my chair. I’d finally made my first potion. My stomach let out a triumphant gurgle.
Ela landed on my lap. “Yay! Let’s go!”
“I need to eat!”
“You can eat at the mall!”
I headed for the door. “I can’t afford that!”
“I can fix that. You’ll get -”
“No!”
“Mean Casey!” Ela kicked at me, her avatar passing through without doing anything.
“Mean Ela!”
“You didn’t even mention my outfit. Look!” She floated up in a tank top and cutoffs.
“You stole my outfit! Thief! Guards, take her away!” I reached out to grab her avatar.
“Mwahahah!” Ela flew over to my plushie. “Stop them, Jaqueline!” Then she frowned and scowled at me. “Where’s my plushie? Why isn’t she here with Jacqueline?”
I didn’t answer as my face turned red.
“Casey! Where is it?”
“Dad was afraid it was bugged.”
Ela took that personally. “I did not have bugs in my plushie! It was clean! What kind of familiar do you take me for?”
Rather than answering, I headed for the kitchen. Pulling out two pans, I placed them on the stove and fired it up. Then I pulled out some fish from the fridge. Grabbing some vegetables, I began washing them.
Dad walked into the room. “How’s it coming?”
I spun. A massive smile spread across my face. “I made a healing potion! It took ages and ages, but I did it!” I reveled in my triumph by running to my room and bringing it back to him. Then I bolted to the stove.
Dad studied it. “On to step two then.”
Ela flitted out and landed on his head. “Tell him that we’re going to the mall!”
“No!” I resumed my prep, dicing up an onion to go with the Vuln vegetables.
“Boring! And lame!”
Dad took a seat. Then he watched as I prepped, musing about things.
“How are the plans?” I asked.
Dad leaned forward. “We’re ready for the next steps. Exposure is ramping, but we need the awakening potion. Focus on that now that you’ve managed healing potions. You have the book?”
“Yes.” My blade thunked against the cutting board as I finished dicing things. With a little oil, I began cooking, dropping in the vegetables and fish.
“You are still progressing, right?” Dad asked while pulling out his phone.
I flushed. My progress had slowed a bit.
“You’re going back to the forest tomorrow. Find that dungeon.”
“Dad,” I whined.
“Don’t start. You know the stakes, Casey. You know what will happen if they find any of us.”
I let out a long breath and placed the vegetables in the pan, creating a nice hiss. A chime rang from his pocket. Dad frowned and walked out of the room. His door clunked shut, leaving me with the sound of cooking food.
I finished cooking and dipped up my plate. Sitting down, I picked up my fork and jolted as yelling came from down the hall. With red cheeks, I resumed eating, biting into the fish.
“Why’s he yelling?” Ela landed on my plate and studied it.
“Work.”
“But why yell?” Ela asked.
“People are probably disobeying or got caught.”
“Is he a criminal or something?” Ela asked with a look of suspicion. “I can hear things with this.”
“He’s not.” I scowled.
“Don’t lie to me, Casey!”
“We’re working for the good of humanity. That’s all you need to know.”
“What does that mean?” Ela yelled.
“Don’t worry about it.” I munched on the greens. They tasted like watercress. The mana spiced them up a bit.
“Casey, come on!”
“No!” I sighed and ignored the terror.
Ela began spazzing around, kicking at things and scowling at me. I continued eating while she flew off.
Once I’d finished, I went to grab the fishing gear. Like most, it was boring; I can’t imagine that you want to read about it. So, I’ll jump forward again.
Current Level 3 Current XP 40.43% Current Max Mana 36.94 Regen per minute 0.21 Growth Time (Days) 1.24 Potential Mana 0.9 Reputation 250
Tier Skill Cost Tier 2 User Time Dilation (Haste)
- User experiences 4 seconds for 1 earth second. - Costs .25 mana per earth second. Tier 1 Pocket Dimension
- 4 cubic meter pocket space 8 mana Tier 1 Enchanting Varies Tier 1 Potions Varies