August 31, 491 U.C.
A bald man in a white coat studied the medpod. Since I don’t know his name, I shall call him Doctor Frank. Frank let out a long sigh as he studied the display.
Dad peered at the display. “Doctor?”
“She’s stable and should recover; she still has a potion of some sort in her that is helping.” Frank executed commands. Robotic arms began entering my leg, piecing bone back together. The metal arms moved with increasing precision as he grew more comfortable.
Dad began pacing back and forth while he waited. Periodically, he’d turn and study the screen again. Warnings and errors were everywhere. “Should I be concerned?”
“It’s her physiology.”
Dad began trying to read it. Spinning, he paced. After a moment, he returned, trying to read it again.
Frank scowled and turned. “Stop hovering.” He turned back and resumed monitoring the system. Then he pulled out several bags of fluid and fed them into the medpod.
Dad frowned and took a seat at my desk. Then he started drumming his fingers as time passed.
“I assume you have a healing potion?” Frank asked.
Dad jumped up and grabbed one from my shelf. He handed it over. Frank poured it into a bag and inserted that into the machine. Returning to the display, he resumed monitoring while the machine performed surgery on me. Minutes turned to hours as the robotic arms opened flesh and rebuilt bones.
Dad got food for both twice. Finally, the doctor issued a few final commands.
“Have a bone-mending potion?” Frank asked.
“No, unfortunately.”
Frank hit another button. “She’ll need to be sedated for a week.”
Dad nodded and stood, following him out of the room. “She’s stable?”
“Yes.” Frank headed for the door. He paused. “My son?”
“Your family is on the list. He’s on it too.”
“Inform me if you need further assistance.” Frank reached for the door.
“We need additional blood samples for her. And prepare your own; you will need to hide it.”
“Understood.” Frank walked out of the house.
Dad turned and headed back to my room with a long breath. Taking a seat, he stared at the pod. “Damn it, Casey.”
Minutes turned to hours as he waited once more.
~~~
I glanced around my little forest. The water trickled into the pond that had grown larger.
“Casey, why?” Ela asked sadly.
I lay there, feeling the grass between my fingers. “They’ll kill me.”
“They won’t.” Ela flitted over and patted me.
I glanced over at my two new trees and didn’t bother moving. My legs hurt. Everything hurt. “Can you tell me more about my spells?”
“Not unless you authorize a scan.”
I shook my head. “You’ll report it.”
Ela grinned. “It wouldn’t be a bad thing, Casey. I could get you a proper mentor to avoid this type of thing.”
“Forget it. I’ll look later.” I shut my eyes.
Ela landed on me, her little feet tickling my chest. “Please, Casey?”
“No. Stop.”
Ela crossed her arms and sat on my chest. “Mean. We saved you. Twice!”
“I know,” I whispered. “But if they knew, they’d kill me.”
“Why?” Ela asked, scooching forward.
I met her eyes and debated it. I was tired of her asking. “You can’t report it even if I tell you.”
“I know that. I can only report what you authorize. Why?” Ela asked.
I stared at the ground and admitted the truth to my familiar. “My mom was one of the first guardians. She got pregnant and figured out the fae are turning us into them. To save my life, she went into hiding. I was born, proving that they are doing it. Sadly, the fae found us all a few weeks later. Mom fought with Eluna; Dad escaped with me.” I swallowed and wiped away a tear. “That’s why I don’t have a mom. That is why I only have Dad. Eluna killed my mother. She’ll kill me too.” Covering my eyes with my hands, I cried softly.
Ela went quiet. I wiped away tears and tried to shove the thoughts aside. Don’t think about it. We have Dad. That’s what matters.
“It’s the only way for humans to get magic,” Ela said quietly.
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“So they claim.” I shut my eyes. Then my curiosity grew. I reached over and touched my trees.
Tier 4 User Time Dilation
- User experiences eight seconds for one earth second.
- 50% force transference. Costs .5 mana per earth second.
Select One:
Time dilation doubled. Cost doubled. Force transference reduced to half. Force transference doubled. Cost halved. Cost quartered.
I picked the first one again. Then I touched the others. My pocket dimension had gotten bigger, and I had spells for teleport and time stop.
With a long breath, I eased myself onto the grass and shut my eyes once more.
“Please, Casey?” Ela asked quietly and then nestled into my hand.
“Sorry, Ela,” I said quietly as my eyes drooped. Then I drifted off to sleep.
~~~
I woke up and saw the interior of the medpod. “Open!” The canopy slid open. I sat up and looked around my room; my dad was elsewhere. Blinking, I looked at the clock. A week? I was out for a week.
I forced myself up as my stomach rumbled. With hunger surging through me, I slipped on a bathrobe and headed for the kitchen, my bare feet traversing the wood floor.
Dad glanced up from his coffee. “How are you?”
“It hurts a bit. What did you have to do?” I asked.
“Surgery…” Dad told me that he called the doctor and all of the above. “We need a different option. Did you fall from a tree?”
“They used a magic attack. It broke the branch, and I fell. It was bad, really bad,” I whispered with watering eyes.
Dad sipped his coffee. “I assume you didn’t have time to run?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t realize it was impacting the wood until it was way too late. Speed does nothing when you are plummeting.”
“I can understand that. Get stronger safely, please. Focus on the safety part.”
I hung my head and then looked at the fridge. My mouth began to water at the thought of anything. I walked towards it.
“No more dungeons,” Dad said. “Focus on fishing and hunting until we can get you to a higher level. Run away if you feel at risk.”
“Thanks. Can I eat?” I asked.
“All you want. Local stuff is best.”
I began heating the pans. “Sorry for worrying you, Dad.”
“Be safe, Casey. I want you strong, healthy, and happy, not dead. We all do. Yes, we have enemies, but that doesn’t mean throwing your life away.”
“No more dungeons,” I affirmed, grabbing a fish filet and some veggies. Then I ate. The fish and veggies shot down my throat so fast that I hardly tasted them. Walking back to the fridge, I grabbed the tube meal. While it wasn’t on the list, I was still hungry.
Tossing the wrapper, I grabbed my fishing gear and headed outside. I meandered through the city, pausing as I got close to the wall. A shiver ran through my body. My eyes started to water. Anxiety gripped my throat. It’s okay. We’re just here to fish. I focused on the canal while I walked.
Ela fluttered out. “Are you alright, Casey?”
“No.”
“I could get help. There are therapists.”
“No.” I tied my spear down and peered into the water.
“Consider it, please.”
“I’m just staying inside the walls. No more quests for a while.” I turned back to the canal. It was safe here. I could run if the alarms triggered.
“Sorry, Casey,” Ela said softly.
“Thanks. That hurt. It still hurts.” I shook my head. “How do we not have more guardian deaths?”
Ela landed on my shoulder. “They aren’t allowed to fight solo like this unless we know it’s safe.”
“What level is that?”
“At least level five. Anything else, they have an escort. And no one fights below three.”
That clinched it for me. I was a fisher girl. The forest was a problem for some future day. I wasn’t about to face it again. I looked down and waited for a fish.
“What are you doing?” Fitzpatrick asked.
“Do you have to ask that?” I asked. “You already know the answer to it.”
He leaned against the wall with a sigh.
“Want one?” I asked with a smile.
“Stop offering!”
I giggled and waved at a local girl who was staring at me. She walked over with a fascinated look.
“Are you fishing?” The girl peered into the water; her brown hair falling into her face.
“Yes. I’m Casey.” I smiled nervously.
“Vanessa. Doesn’t it hurt?” Vanessa tucked her hair behind her ears.
“Not so much anymore. It sure did the first time.”
Vanessa walked up next to me. She leaned close. “Are you Platinum? You can tell me.”
“Nope. Want to try it?”
Vanessa shook her head with a grimace. I giggled and peered into the water, launching the spear a few moments later. Then I hauled in a fish that looked more like an eel.
Vanessa studied the blue and white, thrashing creature. “How old are you? I haven’t seen you at school.”
“Twelve. I’m homeschooled. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.” Vanessa smiled and peered into the water. “Does it hurt bad?”
I gestured to the fish. “Just touch it.”
Vanessa reached down and recoiled. Flicking her hand, she sent a few drops of water flying. “Is it worse?”
“A lot worse.”
Vanessa grinned and stared off at some clouds. I peeked up to see if it was about to rain again. Then I finished off the eel, gutting it and placing it in a biobag.
Vanessa pulled her hair into a scrunchie. “I saw you with Jacqueline. You are so lucky!”
I blushed. “She was nice.” We started chatting about random things while I slowly caught fish. Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days. With a firm no-forest policy, I settled into a nice fishing rhythm over the coming months.
Current Level 4 Current XP 3.42% Current Max Mana 58.19 Regen per minute 0.24 Growth Time (Days) 9.00 Potential Mana 12.77 Reputation 1000
Tier Skill Cost Tier 4 User Time Dilation (Haste)
- User experiences 16 seconds for 1 earth second.
- Force transference limited to 25%. 1 mana per earth second. Tier 2 Pocket Dimension
- 8 cubic meters of pocket space. 8 mana Tier 1 Time Stop
- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.
- Time does not pass in the demi-plane.
- The area is restricted to 50 kilometers. 50 mana to cast.
Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 1 Teleport.
- Teleports the caster.
- The range is limited to 500 kilometers. 50 mana Tier 1 Enchanting. Variable cost. Tier 1 Potions. Variable cost. Tier 1 Free casting
- Cast any spell you can replicate. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana. Tier 1 Familiar Manifestation. 20 mana to cast. 1 mana for each additional minute.
Tier 1
Attire Swap
- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform. 20 mana.